The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1900-11-07

mere were soldiers mustered III tn
Confederate ranks. Crushed by iailur,
but sustained by loves anticipate
welcomes, we see them start upon tn
journey homeward only to find ashc
piled on ashes where " home, swc,
home" had been loved ones scatter
ed slaves cmanCipatcd mlitar
forces in possession; everything saw
honor lost, but undauntcd by advcrsitv
we see them pressing bravcly forwart
with the work of rehabilitation unit
beauty once more takes the place o
ashes and the South, like the huttcrtl
emerging from the chrySalis, burst
asundcr the bonds of humiliation ant
defeat and leaps into the radiant ant
triumphant Dixie of today.
We have hot forgotten our battle
scared veterans whose presence among
us still links the present with the past
We honor them for the lessons OF pa
triotism which they have taught us in
peace no less than in war. Dear to us
are their empty sleeves and thcil
wooden legs and their locks of white.
We cannotscnrich them with gold, but
we can crown them with honor and VIC
can keep on loving them until onr
hearts, like broken drums, have beat
their music out forever.
We have not forgotten our heroic
women. AT the iiresidcs of home we
see them through the memories of this
Sabbath night enduring stcrner hard
ships and displaying noblcr fortltude
than we find in the experience of our
soldiers at the front of battle. En-
compassed by the dangers Of invasion
they never llinchcd or faltered once,
but stcadfastly labored and prayed and
suffered that DiXic's cause might win.
In the quictude of home they knitted
socks and made clothes fol the rcri-
mcnts. IN the hospitals they nurscd
the wounded and the sick, wooing them
back 20 life with smiles of healing
sympathy OF kissing them to sleep
with tears Of sacred tenderness and
when the vaults of the Confcdcracy
were empty they even pledged their
trinkets and their jewels IN order that
failure might not come until the re-
sources of devotion were exhausted.
Dim and commonplace become The
crowns of honor which have rested un-
challenged for more than twenty cen
lurics upon the brows of the women of
Sparta when we contemplate the loftlcr
virtues which rcgalizc the women of
Dixie.
" What if we failed IN the struggle,
whose memories we recall toluighi.
They never die ingloriously who die
for principle and they suffer no humi.
liation who enroblc the defeat of arms
with thn >-iYtnri.S Of
hcroiSm Of which Warsaw is the Syno |
nym survives to-day, not III the triumph
OF the allied powers whose strength |
consisted in the force Of numbers, but |
in the handful OF intrepid patriots who
fell with kosciusko in defense of the |
liberties of Poland. Thcrmopolac lives |
today cmbalmcd not in The achieve
mcnt of NcgAcs'S banuclcd millions,
but in the sacrifice Of the immortal |
few who perishcd with Lconidas. So
may il be affirmed that the SAVIOR of |
heroic incense with which Appomat-
toX shall invest the pages of impartial |
history in the years to come will re
mind Americans less of the victorious |
lc9ions which prevailed with Grant
than OF the vanqulshed cohorts Of half
starved ConfcGerates who, in fealty to |
the constitution, followed the plume of |
our immortal Lee.
Veterans of the gray, your thoughts
arc sad tonights. Tears fill your eyes
as you dream with mellow hearts of |
the days which are no molc; but |
wcightier still becomes the load upon
your spirits when you recollcct that |
many or the faces which flashed rccooni-
ton into yours when last you met are
missing now. In the year whose sands |
are almost run more than score Of your
gallant comrades have fallen in the |
ranks. Weary of the march and |
Scared with the bruises of the battle |
they sweetly rest at length IN the
siumbcls of the hivOuac. Time moves
apace and ere you meet again still
others will retire to dreams. Thus
one by one fate closes the cyclids of
the veterans Of the Lost Cause, and
soon the hour will come when there
will be no more to follow. But may
we not soothc our bosoms with the
hope that some sweet day every camp
will call its roll up yondcr without one
soldier missing and every tic of com
radcship which death has sundcrcd
here will be knit once more together
in the reunions Of the skies.
" But one word more, and | am
through. Standing tonight in senti
mcnt beneath the flag of our reunited
country, we find no difficulty in re-
conciling our allegiance to the Stars
and Stripes with our tender recollcc.
tions of the Stars and Bars for if the
past which we love to think of teaches
anything, it teaches that III the will
ingncss of Americans to die for prin-
ciplc are grounded the triumphs of
the nation in the conflicts which are
yet to come and if the spirits of our
martyred dead could speak to us in
whispers through this autumn even
ing's silence they would nerve us for
lifc's coming battles with something
like the sentiment which Addison has
put upon the lips of Cato
"'Tis not in mortals to comm md sue.
cess,
But Wen do more, Sempronlus, wen
deserve it,"
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An undertakcr's business is adver.
tised for sale in an English newspaper
in terms which are hardly such as 10