The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-08-16
DR.. A. 4, MOMENTS
INTERESTING TALK
Addressed Meeting of Daugh-
tiers of Revolution.
THE PATRIOTIC SOCIETIES
Daughters of Revolution, Colonial Danes and
Sons of The Revolution Were All the
Guests of Mrs. {. {.
Mofitt.


Thursday afternoon, August 18th, the
North Carolina Socrety, Daughters of the
tary, Mrs E. E. Moffitt.
The Regent called the meeting to or
der at five o'clock and for an hour only
business matters engrossed the attention
OF those present
AT SIX o'clock, however, the society,
Daughters of the Revolution welcomed
representatives from the North CAIRO
lima Society of Colonial Danes and from
the Society Sons of the Revolution, after
which social pleasure reigned supreme.
Much was added to the entertainment of
the evening when Rev. DR.. Alfred Mo
ment, a gifted Presbyterian divine of
Brooklyn, New York, was introduced and
gladly welcomed in response to a request
from the Daughters of the Revolution
for an address on the subject of why
Should Americans be Patriotic? DR.. Mo
ment spoke as follows:
In that section of the country, where
more than half my own years have been
spent, there is yearly observed the an
nivesary of Evacuation Day, which has
now been on our national calendar one
hundred and twenty years. l do not
know that such an anniversary is held
in this section of the country But OBJ
served or unobserved, Evacuation Day
represents one of the two greatest politi-
cal events of history. The first of these
was that of Julius Caesar founding the
imperial government of Rome. His was
an age OF ignorance, lncompetency, law
lessness and tyranny. Therefore to gath
er up the reins of power into the hands
OF one great masterfu soul, making that
one responsible for all foreign eonquests,
all Industrial developments, the just exc
cution of all laws, and the place and
safety of all loyal subjects, was a tr1-
Gmph in the political history of the race
worthy the mighty Caesar, all worthy,
too, of Him who is the God of nations.
Evacuation Day in the American cal
erdar stands for Caesars triumph so
modified as to take Imperialism out of
the hands of one man and delegate it to
the people. That is, imperial govern
ment of the people, by the people and for
the people, is the most glorious political
victory civilization has yet achieved. 1t
IS a victory that is making progress
around the whole earth, though it is but
III the infancy of its power
AS early as 1863 the British Parliament
be gan with measures of oppressive taxa
ton upon the American colonies. Then
came Revolution, which for seven long
years, ragged with all the horrors of
bloodshed; starvation and inhumanity.
From Lexington to Yorktown history
has terrible tale to tell But victory
came-Evacuation Day came Then float
ed the Star Spangled Banner over an I'm
perial People; and the harp of New
Nation emitted the sweet music of true
Liberty!
But in the progress of the years, the
Nation became covered with a dark pail
and made sad at heart. Sackcoth covered
the valleys and robed the hills-the ocean
played heart7rending dirge against
these rock-bound shores-the screech of
the War Eagle was heard in the North
and An the South! The great American
Republic shook and split in twain by an
earthquake of Civil War. Homes COW
cred with grief-battlefields deluged with
Blood, $4,000 soldiers in the Federal
ARMY, 100000 in the Confederate army
out Of a population of thirty-two mil
lions, 100000 were harnessed into war
brother against brother-deeds CT courage
carried over a territory of 100000
square miles a national debt created of
two and one-third billions of dollars
while, and sadest of all, 8000,O 900 Amercal
soldiers, the flower of the nation, were
brought to premature graves!
All this reads like wild military TO
nance, rather than actual warfare. But, |
nevertheless, the facts tell of great prin
ciples at stake of all invincible patriotism |
and herosm of self-sacrifice never SUI
passed. But the end came, when the |
clarion of peace sounded out over all the |
land. There had to be a winning side |
There had to be a defeat experienced |
by one, or the other. Each had a noble |
cause viewed from his own political con-
victions. Hence, it was fore ordained that |
there should be a Lost Cause! But |
now, after these thirty-eight intervening |
years, while the North has been rearing |
monuments to its Union dead, and the
South has been rearing monuments to its |
Confederate dead, be it observed that |
Truth has reared her own monument
one grander in ideal than ever entered |
into the clearest vision of any man or
woman, North or South That monument
is this Nation itself as it is today! A
Nation, in which the American People
themselves have confidence; and in which
all the Nations of earth have also con-
fidence,
There was time when Europe looked
upon this transatlantic Republic as a
rope of sand; bat the time has come
when the crownheads there think of
America as a cable made of Damascus
steel! That is, we have come to be
not as a stay-at-home, money
making people. but as a people with a
mission for all the world-whose voice