Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1901-09-12

thinking of what was and
what is. we havc right to add to
the other supcrlatives with which
we decorate ourselves that of the
most magnanimous people under
the sun.
ANY other people beneath the
sun, except the mighty race from
which we sprang and to which we
belong, would have been over
whclmcd by the misfOrtunes which
had overtakcn them. Any Others
would have hung their harps on
the willows and spent the remain
der of their days weeping by the
rivers of Babylon. Not so, how
ever, with these men who had
written their names in the best
blood of the land high mp in the
temple of fame. They took up
the heavy burden of life again;
they gathered up the few tangled
and ravrlcd threads of existence
left to them; they went bravCly
and rcsolutcly to work and in
thirty days after the ConfedcratcS
grounded arms the artillery ami
mails of Lee aud Johnson's armies
were pulling the pillow, and the
proud war horses of Hampton and
Wheeler. whose nccks were clothed
with thunder. were doing the
drudgrry of common hacks. Men
born To princcly fortunes, to lclS-
urc and to ease, performed the
hard work of negro laborrrS. The
tender hands of delicate women
were plunged uncomplulninglN in
to the wash tub. The secret of all
this lies in an idea which borrow
from my learned friend, Judge Ba-
con of Hannibal, that the men,
who, in lS6l, enlisted in the Con
frdcrair army without arms,
without money, without organlaa-
ton. without established govern
mcnt and drfcd the most puiSsant
republic under llcavcn--wcrc no
ordinary men, but had in them all
the elements necessary to cOnSti-
tutc the ideal soldier and the ideal
civilian.
Peace hath her victories no less
renowned than war, and | thank
God that the people of the South,
crushed and bleeding at every
pore, still possessed the wisdom
and the nerve to grapple with the
difficulties which confronted them;
that in the peaceful walks of life
they have eclipsed the crimson
glories of Cold Harbor, Stone Riv-
er and the Wilderness; that from
the ashes of their former splendor
they have builded n prosperity
wondrous as the tale of Alroy OF
of Monte Cristo. The day of her
rcsurrected and rchabilitated glory
is but in its rosy dawn. Every
furnace that flames against the
Southern sky. every mine that
yields mp its treasures for the en-
richment of mankind, every forest
that bows its stately head beneath
the woodman rs AK, every school
and church that lifts its spirc to
heaven is but prophecy of the
golden future of the land we love.
In the language of Tcnnyson, the
people of the bcautcous Southland
can say:
We hold it truth with him who sings
To one clear harp in divers tones.
That men may r>" ON stepping stones
OF their dead selves to higher things.
Truly and beautifully hath
Governor Bob Taylor of Tenncs-
see said:
When time has measured off
thousand years the world will
not forget the SuifcringS and sac
riiiccs of the brave men who 50
freely gave their fortunes to pre-
serve the most brilliant civilization
that ever houriShcd in any land or
in any age, for literature loves a
lost cause.
China's Poverty.
China Is the poorest great nation in
Tho y,prIl npeDi'p lie tppuinu mil