The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1902-05-13

| klnard camp OF sons or the ct
Grams and my fellow citizens OF
| Newberrry:
With heartfelt interest in the
commemoration ofthis day, sacred
to the gallant dead of the Confed'
crate Army, and memorial to the
patriotism, the virtue, and the
valor of our southern people, l have
gladly come, at your request, tc
unite with you in its celebration.
To reverence patriotism, and tc
commemorate achievements which
do honor to our humanity are alike
the impulse and duty of every man
| ly nature. The sentiment that ex.
ats the examples of sacrifice made
on the altar of duty, is sentiment
which belongs to the higher and
| purer part of human nature, and
which adds not a little to the
strength of States.
"A people," says Lord Macau-
Law, (which takes no pride in the
noble achievements of its ancestors
will never achieve anything worthy
to be remembered with pride by
its descendants
Our memorial days perpetuate
the history of a noble endurance!
They preserve the memory Of
blood and treasure poured forth
from gallants hearts, and generous
hands, IN willing sacrifice, on the
altar of home and country. They
have become to us all symbols of
| the character of our fathers out
ward and visible signs of the rev.
erence we pay to our fathers, and
the duty we owe to ourselves.
But our Confederate monuments
and our memorial days my friends,
perpetuate the history of disaster
to our arms, defeat to our cause,
| destruction to our property, and
the material ruin of our homes.
they tell US of the brief life Of the
Confederacy we established; its
unrecognized existence in the fam
lily of nations; its high hopes
dashed to the dust its exalted en-
deavors and sublime sacrifices spent
and given in vain for the inde-
| pendence and self-government we
claimed as of moral and chartered
| right our due. They are memorials
of a peoples bitter disapPoint-
ment, and tell of a proud flag that
was furled, anda prouder heart that
was bowed down with grief. The
emblems on our shields are the en-
blems of a lost cause. The shell
are piled by the side of broken can
non wheels, the swords are sheath
ed, the flags are dropping by their
stafs, the silent soldier on our
/ monuments has grounded his rifle
bv his side. But his form is erect,
and his bearing is the form of a
man who stands before the gaze OF
friend and foe, and faces the world
| in witness of the heroic struggle
he made, and the patriotic pride he
feels in the unconquered truth, that
the monument which commem-
CRATES his defeat forever immor-
ltalizes his honor, his courage, and
his faith! In the clear light OF his
native skies he stands in silent mar
BILE, on granite foundation, the
Confederate Soldier, emblem for-
| ever of his peoples character! ex-
| ponent of his peoples action! He
| would not be there if aught in his
career rebuked the natural emo
tions of the human heart--if he
| was the representative of a sordid
contest for material prosperity, the
champion of bad cause, the hero
of a causeless rebellion. He is
there, because he and his people es-
teemed their characters of far more
value than their property, and
their honor and independence
dearer than life! And we, my
| friends, would not be here today,
| if his aged parents, his brothers
and sisters, his wife and children,
| aye his brethren all did not recog-
nize that he gave his hearts blood
|