Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-02-15

casion shall be gathered to that
spiritual world.
Tonight old Lancaster "has
gathered here her beauty aud her
chivalry, and bright the lamps shine
Ger the fairest women of earth"
Women whose beauty, wit and grace
would cause to blush the Olympian
muses. or Athenian Hetairai.
Your gracious majesty has been
chosen to reign over The fairest and
proudest realm in all of Gods
universe.
The Realm of Holly extends no
further north than where the dreamy
Snsquehanua pours its ripping into
the bosom of the lordly Chesapeake.
No further west than where the rock
ribbed Alleghanies rear their crested
heads towards the vaulted dome of
Heaven, but it extends along down
our beautiful Atlantic coast, to where
beneath the sunny skies of Georgia,
the murmuring Savannah sends its
sparkling waves to greet the majestic
Atlantic.
The Realm of Holly is land of
flowers, of poetry and of romance,
filled with the memories Of a glorious
past. A few years ago, when a student
of William and Mary college, on one
lovely autumn eve l stood upon a
lonely isle where the mighty James
in its onward flow to the sea forever
sings requiem to the honored dead
whose silent tents upon its bank are
spread.
AS l stood there and gazed upon a
broken tower, with the vine clinging
to the mouldering wall Of all that
remains of the first English church
in America, / could but recall the
words of that poet-priest and poet
laureate of the South, Father Ryan,
who said:
"Show me a land without ruins,
and will show you land
without memories. A land with
out memories is a land with
out history. A land without
history is land without liberty.
A crown of roses may be fair to see.
A nation may proudly wear its laurel
crown, but twine within that chaplet
of laurel few sad leaves of the
cypress and that nation, though
beautiless and bleak, at once becomes
magnificently grand in its mantle of
consecrated sorrow.
"Crowns of roses and laurels soon
fade away and perish like the mist
of morning. Crucifixes and crowns of
thorns endure. The triumphs of right
are transient and are soon forgotten.
1t is the sufferings of right that are
deepest engraven on memory's tab
let while they win alike the sympa-
thy of nations, individuals and
historians"
Ours is land which has worn in
victory the laurel crown, and nobly
borne in defeat the cypress wreath
Tonight you are crowned with a
wreath of holly, diademed with its
blushing berries, the richest gems OF
the plant kingdom. The holly il
the emblem of love and hospitality
for which our section is proverbial,
Unlike the monarch whose brow is
encircled with band of gold, diadem
ed with the blushing rubies and radi-
ant diamonds, your crown is not
placed upon your fair brow by the
mailed hand of might, but is the gift
of free and liberty loving people who
admire and appreciate your womaaly
beauty and virtue. As God has given
you beauty and grace, so may he give
you wisdom to rule wisely over
your subjects that your reign shall
ever be remembered in the hearts OF
a grateful people.
Within the Realm of Holly has
occurred many of the most notable
events of American history. 1t was al
old jamestown in the month of May
when the dogwood blossoms shont
silvery white against their dark ever.
green background of cedar and holly
that Smith and Newport planted the
seeds of civilization from which
sprung our mighty Republic. Al
Middle Plantation Bacon mustered
his army to resist the oppression OF
Sir William Berkley, aud then struck
the first blow in the cause of Amcri-
can liberty. 1t was at williamsburg
that classic education was first intro
dnced In our Southland, and there
that eloquent patriot, Henry, dared to
denounce taxation without represen-
tation as tyranny. And by the blue
waters of the York the starry banner
was to take its place and shine the
brightest star in the galaxy of nations.
The Realm of Holly has produced