The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-10-24
CITY'S FREEDOM
TO VETERANS
Throws Wide Her Gates to
March of Confederates.
MAYORS " VELCO NJ E
The Fourteenth Annual Reunion OF
the Grand Camp.
GOV. CAMERON The ORATOR
wxrmun,es Incident 10 the Great datiierin
of The D lenders OF the Commonwealth.
seycBty-Six Camps Eepresenled-a
Bill to Repesi All Passions TO
individuals - United
Sons Day.
GOV. CAMERON The ORATOR
Especial Dispatch to The 7,lmes.o

the beautiful SKIES ana diiiio iiispti4ih5
scenes the fourteenth annual meeting OF
th. Grand Camp Of Confederate veterans
of Virginia was called to order IN Peters
burg to-day. Grand-Commander H. L.
Msury will preside over the meetings
held during the reunion in this city. Inc
meeting to-day was opened with prayer
by Rev. joan z. Hyde, chaplain-seneraL
OF Winchester. Mayor John NJ. Pleasants
then delivered an address welcoming the
veterans to Petersburg. response to
th:s address was made by the Grand
JcInmanoer. Former Governor William
e Cameron, in one of the most eloquent
addresses ever delivered in THIS city,
welcomed the veterans and visitors on
behalf of the a. p. Hill Camp, and re-
sponse to this ADDRESS was made by
Colonel Thomas ID. Ransom.
CAMERoN'S ADDRESS.
Colonel Cameron said:
.Grand Comfander and Veterans:
Through all the tender greeting and
the affcctionatc welcome which am
privileged to proffer you on behalf OF
Your old comrades il arms, there must
come q strain Of feeling. more subtle
and much deeper than any but ourselves
can understand.
The ties that bind US are not those
brittle things of yesterday, which form
the basis OF that which men call friend
ship now.
Far Back. in the springtime of our
lives and in the hey-day of our faith a:ld
hope We're born the roots of those ten
drills OF love which so forth from the
heart of one Confederate soldier toward
every other worthy of that name.
I'm you to-day our youth is renewed.
With your coming, the dear and sacred
past is come again. For you the ancient
touch OF elbow is close and true as ever
twas.
BUT A MONUMENT.
Looking again upon the garb of gray.
and on that battle-fiag which now, God
pity us! is but "a monument to all the pre-
cicus blood and fruitless heroism which
bathcd and consecrated it--the vision of
the days that are no more to become real
tiles again; the heroic dead who wore the
one, and gave to the other the fervor OF
their last embraces. are clothed once
more in manly form and vigor, and stand
once more beside US in the serried ranks
And when once we yield to such retro
spectire mood. how fast and close upon Us
crowd the lights and shadows, sad vet
splendid, of the vanished years.
We see again, or seem to see. the sac
lificial altar raised on high; its fires abla2e
with Southern patriotism, and our first
I'VE hear the rallying call to arms
The clans are gathering from the Rio
Grande to the Shenandoah. Then the
steady stream OF armed men toward the
Virginia frontier from all sister States
SHINES LIKE A BEACON.
Steadfast against all the powers Of evil
and of darkness-the bravery and the
constancy to duty of the Confederate
soldier. That 1llumines the dar1est day
as it has sloritied the brightest. Even
in the last sad hour of defeat that record
~shises like a beacon on history,s shores.
1t shed iustre inpeTishable upon The s.sse
you lived in and on the country for which
you fought: and ii is that record wh.ch
your countrymen honor themselves by
honoring in you to-day.
'I'is long ago. that April morning, when
the grand old army-eXhausted by It's
own Observation-Disclosures westward
fom Petersburg, with resolute step, to
confront the inevitable.
Since then the frost of rlany winters
has gathered on your prows. Since !ilen
many a summer the grass has grown
green, faded and blossomed, and witnare1
again, above the graves Of those who
died that we might live. The tented teid,
the embattle;s hosts. And then 1.-The game
of the GODS "the red front cf war and
the first wild cheers OF victory of men
who fight for fireside. and for freedom.
For one glad hour the waving of white
arms, as hearty cheers on the brave, and
then the vail of Rachel, mourning for
her children. yet sending other sons TO
take up the falles guns.
Onward, still onward, moves the I1han-
tom panorama. II is as the pageant of
some tickle season-now stirring suns;
now lowering clouds; now smiles; now
tears.
Anon. our Blood is stirred by some great
field of triumph, like that OF Chancellors-
vile. Anon, the scroll OF Fate unfolds a
tragedy of unarailing valor, like that Of
Gettysburg
But through all the chance and change
of protracted confiict-wlile gallant hope
is yielding slowly to even more courage
Gus despair, there is one thing rot 6cllle.
one thing that is now two-score years
Yet NE have not forgotten, nor can we
forget.
VICTORIES OF PEACE
The open seams of war itave now been
healed, and Time has tempered its active
passions. Peace hath won her victories
and mas reared temples Of industry and
of commerce wilere once the battles were
fought. Earths bosom, once sodden with
the blood Of martyrs. has smiled anew
with the bloom of many n harvest. In
place OF those we loved and lost, new
faces haze come from the land that we
know not, with infant smiles to bless and
console us. We have taken up the bur
den us new duties; we have wrought
out. In measure, new fortunes; we have |
accepted changed destinies; we have said
to our souls che STILL and ne have |
learned nor to rnIrsnIr at the providence
Of God.
Yet OH my friends. ne do not and
NE would not forget our past.
.Engrossed IN the cares of life, begailed
may be moments when memory seems to |
Glu1nber.
--1aas.A at sIeepa. whsn n an. as iirntsy