The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1901-04-17
The Confederate Dead.

when we are in The habit Of celebra-
F.. ting In these is more incumbent on us
as duty, Or is performed with great
er reverence Of feeling and geuiueness
OF devotion than the decoration of the
graves Of the Confederate dead On
April g.
we honor ourselves in remembering
the Confederate dead, and in bearing
an annual tribute Of flowers to their
final resting place; FOR it was our
cause, AS we'll as their own, for which
they fought, for which they bled and
for which they died. Surely there
fore they. arc worthy of monuments,
and of yearly ceremonies, Ike these
gravc-decorations. to commemorate
their heroic performance Of what
their conscience told them was right,
and to attest at the same time the
fond rccollcctions that arc cherished
OF hem generation after the close
of their grand, il unsuccessful strug-
| gle.
These annual decorations. moreover.
are not meant for the present hour
and for the present generation alone.
They are meant also to instil into the
minds and into the hearts of those
who will como after us, when the last
Confederate Veteran shall have an
swered his final roll-call, and all Of us
who were born in time to see or to
hear OF the war 81 all have crossed
into the land of eternal night-to in-
still, we say, into the minds and hearts
oi those wic come after us the same
deep reverence for that sacred "Lost
Cause" with which the South will
never in thought cease to associate it.
self, and the same unchanging ad-
mlration for those gallant Confederate
soldiers who sealed devotion to that
cause with their blood. 1t is duty,
in short which we of the present day,
removed just generation from the
internecine struggle, owe to our chill
dren, and which they in turn will owe
to their children-to keep alive the
memory of this sacred cause, as it
were Festas fire in the shrine of
our innermost hearts, to preserve that
memory and the memory of the heroes
who championed it, and to pass it on
to prosperity legacy of priceless
valae.
All people arc purified and elevated
by periodical indulgence in the recol-
lection, the re- enactment Of griefs that
have gnawed and Of suffering that has
left its scars. The wounds, it is true,
bleed afresh on the occasion of every
rc-enactment, but it is healthier flow
that comes with every opening. There
is less and less of venom to exudc
each time-lcss Of any selfish, vindic-
tive feeling, more of santifed altruism
and cnnobled spiritual life. T ere.
fore it is we'll to have fixed occasions
for mourning.
1t would perhaps be too much to
say that the people ;n New Orleans
are never. seen to so much advantage
as on day of general mourning, like
this day of the decoration of the Con-
federato graves; but they are seen to
decided advantage on such a day.
They arc all day long, as it were.
under an awesome pall-a pail Grim
somed generation ago with the blood
OF their nearest and dearest ones; and
the solemnity of their manner, evi-
denoed both in word and act, be-
tokens the force with which the pail
overshadows their hearts. Strangers
have noticed in this community ON
this decoration day the still and SOL
emn demeanor Of the people, the alb
sence Of tie ribald laugh and the
drunken shout; and they have put it
on record that we are not altogether a
frivolous people, but that we are at
bottom thouQhtful, and even reli-
gious. people.
There will bo the usual march Of
the Confederate veterans to-day from
Memorial Hall to Canal street, whence
they will ride to the cemeteries, There
they will yisitth graves of their dead
comrades, and afterwards will be ad-
dressed by Capt James Dinkins, of
Mississippi-himself one Of their
cumberland will have the benedic-
tion pronounced by the Kew. 8. nj.
Palmer, D. D.-Frons The Ne,o Orleans
Times Democrat AprI &