Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1900-01-12
A SPEECH BY SENATOR oPIE.
He Thrilled the Capital Of the Old Domin
ion Bv His EIouuenco.

ION by his El0quenc0.
At an entertainment and supper CIV
en- last month at the Jefferson Hotel.
Richmond, by Col. Albert Akers, in
honor of the Tooth anniversary Of Dr..
Samuel johnson. there were quite a
number of guests present, who enjoy
ed the occasion to it's fullest extent.
When supper was finished Senator
John N. Opie, of this city. was intro
duced by the toastmaster and be spoke
in the following strain:
"Owen Glendower boosted that he
could call up spirits from the Vastly
deep. so a 1. replied Hotspur, 'but
will they Gomez
I'm this practical electric age, in the
pursuit of filthy lucre, the classics are
ignored, but he who delves in ancient
literature, and he alone, enjoys this
God-like power. He goes with Homer
to the siege OF Troy and witnesses its
battles and it's loves. and contemplates
with a critics eye the beauty OF It's
| Helen and it's Cresida. He witnesses
the destruction of that doomed city,
| and fees with Aeneas from the mighty
| confagration to build a Rome. Here
be fingers for centuries. He listens to
the chaste oratiOns of the tim1d
Cicero, revels with the intoxicated
Caesar, sips the Falernian with
the poetic Horace, and sups
with Luculius. He crosses over te
the beautiful Athens, and listens
with enchantment to the philosophit
discourses of Socrates, Plato and ole
Diogenes. If a horseman, he chal
lenges the princely Alcibiades, ant
beats him in Olympic chariot races
Longing for the society Of the fair sex
be sails on the Nile with the voluptu
Gus Cleopatra and the dissolute An
thony.
"Weary of dissipation and travel, b
} sleeps a few centuries. and hnall,
shakes off his lethargy and joins th
Crusaders, and at the siege of Acre b
charges the hosts of Saladin with th
I Immortal Occur D'Leon. He lives an
I loves and battles adown the ages
drinks sack and guys the Doll Tea
} sheets of London'with old Jack Falsta.
D|-sips wine and writes The Rambler
} and The Idler' with the illustrious d.
J Johnson-whispers sweet love in tn
willing ears of the beautiful Rosalint
, and plays the fool with Touchston
in the fooest of Ardennes. He battle
! for thirty years in the war of tn
Roses. over immortal and invulners
Bile.
Having finally killed that monster
Richard Third, be lays himself dow
to peaceful slumbers. Centuries pas:
and he is aroused by the Herculea
thunders of the mighty Napoleon. II
draws his sword and dons his plume
and marches and battles in beautifl
Italy, the land of lost gods and Goo
, like men. He charges at Lodi wit
the little Corporal. He beholds tn
} sun of Austerlitz-Marengo is en-
blazoned on the eagles. At the pyr;
) mids thirty centuries look down upo
j him-back to France and a supplar
} world is PROSTATE before the might
conqueror.
, "But thirsting for the u%nattainabl
[ misguided by his fatal star, he storm
the frozen North. and falls a victim
the elements.
al I'VE have lived and loved and VIC
and lost all through the ages. OF Oh
+ times, of our heroic struggles, our VII
= tories. our A~ppomattox, alas, yo
know full well. Yet we live, We low
we hope, and, thank God, we ha'
lived and we will live forever-we al
I immortal.
> "Truly, we ear call up spirits troI
u the Vastly Deep"