The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1903-09-25

look again into. those fearless eyes
that blenched not when death stood
before them, we may not clasp those
hands that "struck for liberty the
dying blow" And yet they are not
, dead. "He never dies who falls n 2
great cause. His bones may sodden
in the sun, his head be hung on city
gate or castle wall, but still his spirit
walks abroad"
Ladies and gentlemen, the cause for
which these men died, died with them
and is buried with their bones. The
flag they followed no longer proclaims
it will never again proclaim-the
existence of a new nation upon the
earth. "The warriors banner has
taken it's flight to meet the warriors
SOUL" and together they stand at the
bar of God willing to be judged. But
let us never forget that the cause of
the South was sanctified by the prayers
Of her peerless daughters: that it has
been baptized in the blood of her sons
Young men of the South, that cause
is lost, but do not forget that your
fathers died for it. That cause is
lost, but do not forget that your moth
ers prayed for it. When | appeal to
you, therefore, to cherish those hal
lowed memories of the past, when l
beg you to let no disrespectful word
escape your lips for the cause that
sleeps with the ashes of your sires, l
do by the authority of the Divine in
junction to "honor thy father and
mother"
Ladies and gentlemen, thoughtless
or malevolent persons have sometimes
reproached us for honoring our fallen
heroes and have demanded of US as a
pledge of our loyalty to a reunited
country that we give their memory to
oblivion and their graves to the vii
derness. They know not what ivy
ask. They would have US prove our
loyalty to the Union by proving our
selves recreant to the noblest senti-
ment that could swell the bosom Of
an American patriot. / say that the
valOr of our Southern soldiers; | say
that the fortitude of our Southern
women; say the fidelity with which
we cherish the memory of their deeds
and their sufferings are but the meas
ure of our devotion to reunited
country and to the flag that waves
over it from the lakes to the gulf, and
from sea to sea. If the time shall
ever come when the people of the
South cease to eXult in the glorious
deeds CT our Southern heroes and the
matchless devotion of our Southern
women, when their eyes will no longer
swim with tears as the sorrowful
memories of the old heroic days come
trooping back, then indeed may we be
scorned as degenerate and lgnoble
race who could not be loyal to any
country or faithful to any flag No,
ladies and gentlemen, the world re-
spects US for what we are doing to-
day. 1t will despise US if we ever
learn to despise our own glorious past.
The victors have a right to ask OF
the South that she shall submit hon
estly and in good faith to the issue of
that war upon which she staked her
cause. That submission the people
of the South have made. Proudly, |
patiently, with silent heroism which
outshiues all the deeds of valor that
were ever done in the crash and roar
of battle, they have accepted the new
duties and obligations cast upon Them
and have lived up to them with
martyrs courage and amartyr's faith.
ALI this the victors of that war may
ask of us, but no more. We admit
that we were defeated; we will not ad-
NIT that we were wrong. We admit
that our adversaries had larger army
but we will not admit that they had
the better cause. Let me say to you,
my countrymen, that there was some
things that were not surrendered at
Appomatox. We did not surrender
our rights in history, nor was it one
of the conditions of surrender that |
unfriendly lips should be suffered to
tell the story of that war or unfriend-
ly hands should write the epitaphs of
the Confederate dead. We have a
right to teach our children the true
history of that war, the cause that led |
up to it, and the principles involved |
We need not confess that our fathers
were traitors in order to satisfy per-
sons in New England that we are not
traitors now. We need not prove our
fidelity by damning the dead and |
eliminating the Elood in our own
veins. We resent such accusations.
not only because it is defamatory of
our fathers, but because it would be
most mischievous teaching for coming
generations, not only in our own
country, but throughout the world.