The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-05-05
SIDNEY HERBERT'S LETTER.
WHAT BOSTON ANTI-IMPERIALIsTs
TRIED TO DO.

srite Work Commented on-Can n
private Be a Gentiemant-A cues
zion which Gen. Charles King
proooscs to Discuss-Two Claim
ants for the Honor of Suggesting
.uemoriaI Day"-A Copy of a Pa
nor From the Phi1ippines-An Eng
fish Correspondent Who Spoke
sIightingIy of Our Volunteers, But
ron,pIimented the Savannah
uoxs~-Other Matters of General
interest.
pine Crest Villa, Maitland, Fla, May 4.
The March issue of the Confederate Vet
ran of Nashville, Tenn, contains pictures
and sketches of the late James p. Bull
,o.b c. S. N, and ]. j. MCGOWAN. C. 8.
the latter by J. N. Theus and the
CORNER by Lieut. r F Armstrong, c. S. N.
r1is is the last surviving officer of the
Alabama to whom I some time ago re-
4.rred as now residing in Halifax, N. S.
did not feel at liberty to mention his
name then, Surgeon Myers having re-
ouested me not to do so.
The Rev. J. L. Scully, in writing of old
g Paurs church, says it was used at
close of Civil War as a hospital and then
as stable. The practice of using church
buildings in this country for stables dates
hack to the Revolutionary war; when the
british soldiers stabbed their horses in the
NOW famous "Old South Church." on
Washington street, Boston, Mass. 1t was
a bad example to set any Christian peo-
ME and 1 am sorry some Americans have
followed it in later wars. The So
cietv of the ARMY of the Potomac eX-
pected to meet in Washington, D. c., and
participate IN the unwilling of the statue
to Gen VIM. T. Sherman. But the death
Of the sculptor, has delayed this event
and so the society is to meet at Utica,
n. Y, on May 1924, and Gen. Granville
NJ Dodge, U. S. ", is to be the orator of
the occasion. The annual en-
eampment of the Florida Department of
the Grand Army of the Republic for 1901
will be held at Tampa on Thursday, May
g. The higher officers are John S. Fair
head, commander; Frank G. PARCEL, SEN
Tor vice commander; Henry Donohue,
Junior vice commander; Rev. DR.. S. Her.
bert Lancey, chaplain; DR.. w. Kilmer,
medical director; Saml. w. Fox, adjutant
general PARCEL of Tampa will be pro-
NOTED to the commandership. 1t
is officially announced that Brig. Gen. W.
H. Jewell of Orlando, Fla, commander
of the Third Brigade of the Florida Di-
vision of the U. c. ", has appointed Miss
Mary Agnes Person as sponsor with Miss
Mary Green Deaderick as maid OF honor
for his brigade at the great Memphis re-
union of u. C. Veterans They are Orlan-
do young ladies'.
can recall but one more contemplate
piece of inexcusable petty spite than the
attempt of a Boston gang Of enti-impe-
rialists to prevent Harvard University
from giving the degree of doctors of laws
to President Mckinley. The more con-
temptible case was that of Bowdoin Col
lege at Brunswick, Me, in withdrawing
the same degree from Jefferson Davis
Since the degree Of .. d. and Ill. D. are
scattered about promiscuiously, being
given to unlearned as well as learned
men in these degrees, nothing but mean
petty spirit could deny the latter honor
to President who has proven himself
fully worthy to wear it with distinction
Gen. Charles King proposes to
discuss the question Can a Private Be
q Gentleman?" I should answer, unhes-
itatngly, Eyes, stree, he can, as thou
sands have proved" Now. let King dis
cuss, Can a commandments of the
Army and Navy of State be Gentle
man." and let his discussion cover the
State of Georgia. I mean, always a gen.
tleman, and especially on important oc-
casions. In the play of Box and Cox"
so familiar to all. good people, the land
lady is referred to as Mrs. Mouser, al
ways the lady" Some gentleman act
the blackguard at times, which no true
gentleman can afford to do.
II is hard work to keep things straight
in this crooked and perverse genera
ton" The Atlanta Journal and the Way
cross Journal state that Memorial Day.
was suggested by Mrs. Mary Ann Will
liams of Columbus. Ga, but a press tele-
gram from that city, on April 26, states
that the credit is due to Mrs Lizzie Ruth
erford Ellis. This seems to put two claim
ants into the field for this honor, as was
the case with suggesting the U. d. G.
But the matter, l think, can be easily
explained. Miss Lizzie Rutherford was
closely associated with Mrs. Williams in
her noble work for Confederate soldiers
and their families and in the honor Of
suggesting Decoration Day" Mrs Will
liams was then the widow of Gen. Charles
j. Williams, and later on Miss Rather
ford married Maj. Roswell Ellis a gal
liant Confederate soldier and an esteemed
friend of mine. Both these patriotic and
beloved women were my personal friends,
and they are sleeping in their graves
hear the soldiers graves the first decorat-
ed and every return OF Decoration Day"
sees their honored graves banked with
beautiful floral tributes. April rs. 1866
was set apart as the first Confederate
Decoration Day. by one or both of these
noble women, and Savannah was one of
the cities that promptly responded to the
suggestion and observed the day, al
though some of Gen. Sherman's troops
were still on duty there. As the shades
Of night slowly settled about the dear
ones who we're strewing flowers over the
soldiers graves in Laurel Grove Gene
terry, there fell upon their ears the music