The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1901-05-31
.xTHE REUNIONS

The Eleventh Annual Reunion of
United Confederate Veterans was
held in Reunion Hall, Memphis,
this week, beginning Tuesday and
ending Thursday. The attendance
is said to have been the largest in
the history of the Association.
Gen. Geo. w. Gordon, Of Mem
phis, called the meeting TO order
and prayer was offered by Rev. j.
William Jones, of Richmond, chap
lain in chief. At the conclusion of
the prayer, Gov. McMillin was in
troduced and welcomed the delegates
on behalf of the state. The address
of welcome on behalf Of the city
was delivered by Mayor Williams.
The greetings of the Memphis vet
Grams were extended by Hon. Thos.
B. Turley- Bishop Gailor deliver
ed an address of welcome to the
veterans and of greeting from the
local branch of Sons Of Confederate
Veterans. The hall was rendered
to the veterans for their use during
the convention, and turned over to
Gen. John B. Gordon, of Georgia,
Commander in Chief of the United
Confederate Veterans. Gen. Cor
don responded III part as follows:
Governor, Mr.. Mayor, Bishop
Gailor and Representatives Of Mem
phis: For the third time it is my
duty and high privilege to respond
to Tennessee's welcome to the Unit
ed Confederate Veterans.
For the third time since our or
ganization this great State embraces
with her maternal arms these immor-
tai remnants of the South's match
less armies. First she welcomed us
at Chattanooga, then at Nashville,
now at Memphis. And what place
could be more fitted for such a
gathering than this city, by the
great river which was once the
highway for ironclads, whose wa
tiers were churned by torpedoes into
a seething cauldron and whose
bluffs were ramparts for the strug-
Cling people?
Four thousand years ago the an
cient Memphis, built upon the
banks of the Nile, was the home of
the gods, the seat of Eastern learn
ing and worship, the proudest me-
tropolis of the great Egyptian delta.
Within her limits were the temples
of Vulcan, Scraps, of Iris and of
the Sun. There Alexander the
Great was wont to worship, and
there stood the marvellous pyramids
to whose majesty the great Napoleon
appealed by reminding his soldiers
that from those hoary heights for
ty centuries were looking down up
on them.
But grandly impressive as is that
ancient city, as it is revealed thus
through the long vista of ages, it is
more than rivaled by this modern
Memphis in all the elements of true
greatness and human progress.
Here it is true there is no fertilizing
Nile, sprea ding its vivifying floods
over arid plains and converting
them into gardens rich and product
i've; but we offer in its stead the
more majestic, the far nobler Faith
err of Waters, gathering from the
slopes of mountains and a thousand
fertile hills the rich alluvions and
spreading them over far wider areas.
In lieu of the great Egyptian delta
which rivals it in fertility and vast
ly excels it in expanse, in the varie-
ty and value of its products, in the
grandeur Of it's forests and the
healthfulness and charm of it's eli
mate. In this modern Memphis are
no temples dedicated to sacred bulls
and chimerical gods; but here are
erected the glorious temples Of the
great Jehovah himself, wherln his
spirit dwells and his ransomed |
hosts bow to the only King of Kings
and Lord of Lords. In this Mem |
phis is no ancient seat of sceptered |
monarchs, but it was for long time
the home of Jefferson Davis, who