The age-herald., 1902-05-16
MRS. LEWIS RESPONSE
 TO ADDRESS OF WELCOME.

TO ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
 Those who heard the response of Mrs. Rose Garland Lewis of Birmingham to the address of welcome at the convention of the Alabama Daughters of the Con- federacy pronounce 1t to be eloquent l with patriotic sentiment and yet practi- l cal with suggestions touching upon the work of the Daughters brief reference to Mrs. Lewis remarks has already been made in this department, but the Daugh- ters throughout the state who were not present at the convention will read with 1 interest the response in full Mrs. Lewis has been elected vice president of the | Alabama division to succeed Mrs. Ellen Peter-Bryce. Mrs Lewis response on behalf of the visiting daughters Is as fol- lows:
 If is an unmerited honor that places me here today-to return the sincere thanks of the visiting Daughters to the cordial welcome which you so gracefully extend to us and which makes us feel that it is more a pleasure than duty which calls us together.
 It Is good to be thus brought in touch with each other, to feel that the same aspirations and the same love of country l love of liberty. love of justice animated each year-and If our organization Is l productive of good. as we fondly believe it is-it Is well to meet and discuss plans and unite our means and energies In car rying out its objects In doing this, let us keep all selfish and petty ambitions In srbiection. looking only to what Is best for the common good of all. It Is but natural that we may entertain different oninions on some things, look at some subjects from an individual standpoint We are here for this interchange of views and to bring into harmony the various conceptions of various minds. But let all our deliberations be in love and char ity. We are united by common bona | of sacred memories and when the recol- | lections of the past, with all its terrible trials, sufferings. privations broken hearts and blighted hopes, come crowding upon us, how can we feel aught put ten- | der sympathy for each otherE Is IL not the 'one touch of nature which makes us all akin?" i know that many Of you canont realize what that terrible strug- gle of four long years means to some of us older women. Many of you were little children then and fortunately, perhaps could not see and hear what is so indeli- bly impressed upon our minds, and from which we can never entirely recover
 This Is not the time or place to review the causes which led to the war between the states-enough to say that it was in- evltable-it had to come sooner or later, and I would rather 1t come in my day than that of my children; and I pray God that you may never be tried in such a fiery furnace, even though you come out as refined gold, fit for the Masters use.
 But time softens and takes off the sharp ness of grief, and we are thankful that the gloom of that dark period fades away in the halo of glory which encircles the | tomb of our lost hopes and which draws the wondering eyes of the. whole world in admiration to this fair Southland of ours. A distinguished Englishman has truly said:
 "No nation ever rose so white and fair, None fell so pure of crime"
 Our guns are spiked. our tattered flags lie furled, but we have nothing of which to be ashamed; on the contrary. our bosoms swell with just pride in contem- plating the magnificent record made by | our brave, heroic men. The world never saw their equal in valor, self-sacrifcing devotion, patient endurance under priva- tions and against overwhelming odds, nor their calm dignity under defeat.
 This. my sisters, is the grand record which we must help to preserve and as mothers and teachers transmit to coming generations And while we talk of pre-. serving history, we must bear In mind that we are also making history and sec to It. that posterity in turning its pages will see nothing to reflect upon the good sense and dignity of the Alabama Daugh- ters of the Confederacy.
 Our organization is living monument to our fallen braves. but we would per. petuate our sentiments in granite. in mar. ourselves and complete the monument al. ready begun to the first and only Presi- dent of our Confederacy and mark the l graves and deeds of Alabamas noble martyrs on every battlefield. You will find them where the fight was thickest and bloodiest and let us keep the soil thus baptized with their precious life blood as something too sacred for com mon use. Let us take up this work with such zeal that those who follow us will carry 1t on. Then we have with us a no- ble army of battle-scarred veterans. They deserve all and more than we can do for them, and we should consider it sacred duty to make their declining years as