The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-05-31

these should be ours, the support and
the solace. the meat and the drink OF
these battle-worn men.
We have come to find not only that IL
is true, but that the half had not been
man say or do to represent to this peo-
pie the responsive echoes of our deeply
stirred sensibilites? If ! possessed the
mystic power to catch and transmute
into burning sentences the thoughts OF
these brains and the rhythm of these
hearts, | might hope to give you some
conception of our appreciation of this
Kentucky greeting. Why has not some
Edison or some gifted scientist. moved
by genius divine, invented some means
of photographing human emotions? Why
did not that crafty deliver into nature s
secrets. who discovered the X-ray, give
us a double X-ray, powerful enough to
expose to Kentucky's view the emotions
of these men? If such an instrument
were at your command this morning. you
would see inscribed upon these hearts, in
indellible letters, the beloved name of
Kentucky.
The truth is, gentlemen, that your State
holds a place among her sisters that is
not only unique, but decidedly pictur-
esque.
She is sui generis. AS a Georgian, /
feel an unspeakable pride in my native
State, in her glorious past; and | conf
IDENTIFY predict for her a great and en-
viable future. AS Southerner l glory
in the unrivaled gifts of this section to
the general government; in it's illustrious
names in the untarnished honor of it's
1,.1l .a.~
achievements of it's sons in peace and
war. AS an American, who loves his
whole country, ] confidently claim for her
the foremost place among all the nations,
l proudly challenge the records of all
time to furnish a parallel to her career;
to equal the practical and developing
genius of her citizens; to match her high
and holy political aims; to present a spec
tacle so inspiring to humanity; as we
stand the nobiest representative OF
all that is pure in religion, conservative
in government or enrolling in freedom
the only commanding and conquering re-
public unchallenged in her leadership and
unapproachable in her isolation of gran
deur and glCry. Loyal as believe my
self to be to all States and sections, as
we'll as to the great republic itself. / new
ertheless declare my conviction that Ken
tuclIy's history taken as a whole, entities
her to a position in the front rank of
States. Look at her early struggles with
stealthy and blood-thirsty savages in the
wilds Of an unbroken wilderness, when
her bold pioneers were all heroes and
their wives and daughters were all
heroines. When even her faithful black
slaves caught the contagion of courage
and of sacrifice. What story in fiction.
for example, can compare in romantic
interest to that of Kentucky's three maid
ems captured and borne away by Indians,
and rescued by their three lovers after
long and eager pursuit day and night
through dense canebrakes and tangled
jungles? What creation of fancy ever
eQualled in thrilling details the story
of Kentucky's brave matron, Mrs. Woods.
who barred her cabin door against howl
ing savages, while the only one who
forced an entrance met his death at the
hands Of her dauntless daughter, who
with uplfted axe struck him down and
chopped off his head as he was held to
the floor by the lame but heroic black
slave. Would that the short time al
lotted me permitted reference TO the
long list OF other heroines of Kentucky S
early history, and to her Daniel BOones,
and her Clarks, and host of other stall
wart men and brave women who thus
blazed out the highway of progress and
of freedom.
Beginning her life amidst such sur
! roundings reared to statehood upon food
| so conducive to exalted manhood and TO
BILE womanhood is it any wonder that
kentucky's daughters of today are the
pride of a great commonwealth and chal-
lenge universal recognition as among the
fairest, the truest and tenderest of our
, peerless women? Is it any wonder that
the Kentucky Of today boasts of the
proud array OF her great sons. of hel
Breckinridges, of her Clays and her Crit
tendens, her Helms and her Hansons, hel
Marshalls and her Morgans; and her al
most endless catalogue of soldiers and
statesmen worthy the highest inches il
our republican Pantheon? Is it any won
der that from such field, sown with
such seed, we should today gather this
| harvest of generosity and lavish tribute
| to the heroic remnants of the immortal
| Confederate armies? Is it any wonder
| that such planting and such culture
| should have produced a hospitality as
| free as the air. and as boundless as the
ocean?
IN conclusion permit me briefly to re-
| call another chapter in Kentucky's life
| a chapter which embraces the most mo-
| mentous period of her history, or Of the
| history of this republic. During the stu
pendous conflict between the American
! States. Kentucky's most famous families
| and all classes of her people were rep
resented in both the Union and Confeder-
ate armies. In her marvellous fecundity
she had previously given birth to both
| Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln
| These two great sons born within few
months and miles of each other, nurtured
| on the bosom of this common mother
were destined in Gods mysterious provi-
dence to find homes in different sections
| to grow up under different institutions, to
become the representatives of conflicting
civilizations and the respective presidents
of contending republics. The one was to
die at last disfranchsed by the govern
ment which he had long and faithfully
served, and for whose flag he had shed
his blood on Mexican soil. The other was
to meet his death by an assassin's bull
let.
In like manner Kentucky's councillors