The leader., 1900-06-13


mind that We hadn't thought of in
many a day, to-wit:
while ON the field Of carnage
The dead and wounded lay
Amongst them all was drummer boy
Who beat the drum that day"
This. together with many other
things of the sixties came crowdlng
into our mind, while memory ran back
% years and we saw our self beard
less boy, under sixteen years of age,
with a soldiers knife buckled on,
speeding our way to the field of con
flict. where we were 50 soon rushed in
front of booming cannon and roaring
musketry.
On our safe arrival at Louisville,
we saw the streaming banners and
heard the sweet music floating on the
morning breeze, and saw the almost
innumerable hosts already gathered in
the historic city for the occasion, and
saw the old Union and Confederate
soldiers shaking hands as if they had
fought under the same banner, we
thanked God that all this means.peace
and not war. May heaven grant that
our people may never more fight each
other. The seating capacity of the
great auditorium was said to be ten
thousand and was filled to overflow at
every meeting 1t was thing impos
sible to hear the speaking distinctly
in such mass of humanity. Time
would fail us to mention the greatness
of Loui svile. twas time for having
something pinned ON ones coat. There
were many ex- Federal soldiers present,
but none of them wore badge to dis
tingush them as such except one old
darkey that we saw donned in his suit
of blue with G.. \. Il. pinned on, what
seemed 20 be his old army hat. Nearly
every building, street car and wagon
was flying some kind of a flag, some
the Confederate flag only, Others the
Federal Many foated both flags as
if they were kinder mixed, as it were.
While on a street car ride away out
five or six miles east of the city, we
observed floating over an humble cot
tage in the suburbs, an old battle scar
red Federal flag with many bullet
holes through it and upon which there
were some faded letters and figures,
but from the car window we failed to
make them out We were impressed
that there lived man who was not
ashamed to show his colors and we
wanted to give him the hand of fellow
ship.
IF there's thing Oh earth we loyc to SEE
1t is fora man ITO be what he be-
After passing the flag on the cottage
we ''ruminated" on one verse of a song
we heard Yankee sing while we guard .
ed him prisoner during the war,
which was something like the follow
ing:
we do not want yuur cotton,
We care not for your slaves.
Hut rather than divide our land
Wen nll your southern graves
IN our "perambulations" thought [
stole its way into our mind that every /
sentiment and syllable of that song |
was bare faced lie from start to finish
and the cold chills began darting up
and down our back like unto a cat
squirrel and we discovered our tenn
perature was up to hundred and we
began turning ourself on our seat,
when something seemed to speak to
us in a small still voice and say: Thou |
fool, dost thou not know that We are
again united as one people and are |
willing to fight for our country as if |
there had never been any trouble be- /
tween us?' Then we began feeling |
ashamed of ourself and we here and /
now ask pardon of our Northern breth- /.
rem for allowing ourself to be caught /
having such unkindly feelings,
To US, the most touching scene at |
Louisville was the viewing of the
manned regiment on parade, following |
an old Georgia battle flag which was
literally shot into strings 1t was
simply wonderful to see the precision
with which they marched to the tune
of Dixie, as it was played by fine
brass band at the head of the column.
1t was during this parade that we came
nearer hearing the old fashioned Rebel /
yell of the sixties than at any time
since the war. The wild, deafening |
cheers which seemed to cause the
earth to tremble beneath our feet |
caused US, for a moment, to feel like |
going back aud ''whippin' 'em agin."
They never did whip US, but we became
involved in a net of difficulties and I
were forced to quit whipping them,
But our warlike feelings subsidized at \
once when we saw the tears streaming |
from the eyes of an old ex Federal /
soldier as he looked upon the ragged
of the old Confederate battle /
flag as it fluttered in the breeze and
aud remarked: 81 had noble brother
who fell in defense of that flag, and
for his sake respect and honor it,"
We gave him our hand and said
aThank God, it is all over now, broth
er, and we are united people," and
Just then our sight became dim and
We couldn't think of anything else to