The age-herald., 1900-09-19
TABLEIS .PRESENTEDss@ - :.
 TO THE EMPHASIZES
tcontlnued From First Page, Pa

i mighty .battleships and two great com l monweaths. ssf.= "On that fateful Sunday morning in l June, 1864, when the Alabama sailed out | of the harbor of Cherbourg to meet the | Kearsage, each commander knew that he | had foeman worthy of his steel, for they | had been friends and comrades in the past. | Each knew that they were to lock arms | in the embrace of death. The vessels were ! nearly evenly. matched. The Kearsage had | seven guns and one hundred and sixty | two men, and the Alabama eight gun and
 one hundred and forty-nine men. The guus | of the Kearsage carried more metal. For | one hour and forty minutes they sailed | around each other in fiery circle, huring | their missiles of death. The KearSage was | struck twenty-eight times, and had one | historic shell lodged In her exploded. It Is
 probable that she would have gone down | before the Alabama Semmes fought his
 ship until he had lost about one-fourth of l his men and never struck his flag until 1 he felt her sinking under his feet |.
 | When the battle ceased the Alabama | found her grave in the sea. There she has | slumbered until this resurrection morn
 when she reappears once more, the consurt | instead of the enemy of the Kearsarge, to fight under the same flag and against all 1 enemies of the republic, This memorial
 tablet joins them in enduring friendship, | and the commanders of both will have the
 heroism of Winsow and Semmes to inspire
 them to gallant deeds. 4-.-.
 What. an enormous advance. has been l made in the construction, equipment and
 defensive armor of batteships since that l engagement, and much of this, too, under | the direction of a son of Alabamai The l present Kearsarge, almost as impregnabIe l as the mountain from which she, takes her name, could sink whole fleet of yShips like | the first Alabama without incuTring any l danger to herself. .J-~ . {. But after al fellow citizens 1t Is the 1 courage and skill of the man behind the
 gun, and the inspiring and capable- officer | on the bridge, that wins victoEies. x.7 | "The glorious example set by a gallant
 Confederate soldier, in our late. War. with l Spain, will be of more lasting benefit.t to the l American navy than any battfeShip that
 ever iioated: One is immortal and ths other | "When Hobson, a son of Alabama, and
 his gallant little crew went on thdt. Mission | of death into the mouth of Santiago bay, they exhibited to the nations of the earth | the stuff which composes our navy, That
 act challenged history to prodice, their | equals in heroism and daring and courage | If he has not avoided other and more at tractve mouths since, then let liiIn cast | the first stone who has never been ready | to fall a willing victim to such seductive | craft His reputation cannot be wrecked on l a coral reef. '''f i7ft1 ' : | "Tradition tells us that many generations | ago a band of Indians, driven" rom their 1 eastern homes by ths invading fest Of the | rale faces. were seeking a new hunting 1 ground in the far West After many we ary 1 days they came one morning. as the sun | rose bright in a cloudless sky, to a. great stream of sparkling water, winding it's si- | lent course to the sea Tine banks of this | stream were shaded by giant trees, whose | wide-spreading branches were decora tied with long festoons of waving moss, and the 1 honeysuckle and the magnolia made the crisp air fragrant with their perfume. The l plains were covered with luXuridnt grass, | gay with many colored flowers, and the | red deer and the wild turkey gazed, without 1 apprehension upon the rcd men. The band l halted upon the banks of this stream, and
 the chief, viewing this lovely scene and 1 feeling that at last he had reached the
 happy hunting grounds drove his spear 1 into the earth and exclaimed: Alabama | Here we Rest!'
 "Here We Rest"
 q come from the capital city. upon the | banks of that river, from the common | wealth which bears that happy name, now | grown into a great State, with two millions | of free people, rivaling Pennsylvania and | Ohio in the production of coal and iron and ! steel producing enough cotton to cothe | and lumber to shelter all the people of | New England, and sending her products | into ever clime-a State with churches and l free schools in nearly every township, a l State with genial climate and fertile
 soil and beautiful women and gallant men,
 and balmy breezes, and where now only the dead rest.
 T come from that commonwealth and from her people, upon the gracious invita- tion of the State and people of New Hamp- l shire, to take part in these ceremonies, and | in the name of our State and in behalf of
 her people, to express to you, sir, our grate- full appreciation of the noble and patriotic
 sentiment that prompted your people to desire our presence on this happy occasion
 "How much grander it is, fellow citizen | to unite in enduring peace than t6 separate l by bloody war.
 If war should come again. as doubtless | it will continue to some so long as human 1 selfshness and greed shall prevail over 1 Christian charity and tolerance, and so long | as the ambition of man, the lust of power | and conquest and dominion shall be strong | CT than the love of justice and liberty and 1 equality; and if the Kearsarge, in deadly
 and unequal combat, shall search the horiz- | on anxiously for coming help, 1 know that i this tablet and it's inspiring inscription will | give swift wings to the Alabama to hasten l to the rescue and turn her flaming guns l upon the common enemy.
 ''Sir, I feel that I may say also for my l people that if an invading army shall ever | press its bloody heel upon our shores, and l by superior numbers drive your troops from l the coast, let some descendant of 'Starke | rally them at the foot of your great moun- l tain, kinde fire on its loftiest peak, and ' you will soon hear the impatient tramp of l the gallant sons Of Alabama. Then, side 5y-
 side with the men of New Hampshire, they l will never stay their irresistible steps un- l til the flaming cross of Alabama shall, c1 l the seashore, salute the Stars ant Str:r15 l floating victoriously from the mastheads of l the Kearsarge and the Alabama. h; l Sir, this tablet, with it's proud inscriD- | tion, that will be riveted upon .tbss s.rout 1 timbers of the Alabama, has already iert | ali unfading image upon the hearts Of c.s | people; one that will forever Unite New | Hampshire, with her majestic mountains | and thriving cities and thrifty people, te | enduring peace with Alabama, the fairest | of all the fair states in the fair land of | the Sun and Sky"
 | Because of the indictment weather the | proposed exercises on board the battleship l Kearsage were omitted and Captain ". F. l Folger of that vessel was introduced and 1 extended thanks to the state and city for | their magnificent gift.
 l Capt. William H. Brownson, commander l of the Alabama, was also introduced and | spoke similar lines. The exercises were concluded with an l historical address by former Secretary of l the Navy Hilary A Herbert. He reviewed