The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-05-06

the dust when Dewitt Clinton was
laid to rest or Silas Wright tenderly
entombed. And so I know that not
in Virginia is the roll of great men
the roll of the dead alone. The spirit
of Patrick Henry is as alive as are his
words. The sublimity of Washington
/ can be conceded to no single mortal,
| but portions of his transcendent
qualities can be ascribed to the heirs
of his fame and to the guardians of
his dust. The versatility, the philoso-
| ply and the genius of Jefferson may
be united in no one being, but his viz
! tues and his principles cannot be con-
fined or restrained-or parodied-in
the State which he virtually made and
which in large sense made him. The
example as we'll as the decisions, the
character as we'll as the logic, the life
as we'll as the learning of John Mar
shall are neither an extinct nor an out
lawed inheritance among his people.
The genius and the faith Of Stonewall
jackson will ever be a factor among
those whom he led and for whom he
died. The greatness and the gran
deur, the magnanimity and the modes
ty, the conservation and the courage,
| the example and the incentive which
| Robert E. Lee personiGed on the field
Of war and in the still air of delightful
studies into collegiate shades will be
not only forever benediction, but
forever transforming inu6ence, not
only within Virginia, not only within
/ the South, not only throughout the
Republic, but acros the seas and
around the world.
| ssNor can any New Yorker, nor can
any Virginian any more than any
Georgian, nor can any American,
especially can no American of my pro-
fession, despair of commonwealth or
! of country when he recalls the familiar
figure and the shining face of Henry
Grady. His presence was an lncarnate
welcome. His voice was an inspiring
appeal. His thought and the memory
of it are an uplifting power. From the
South he gathered, so to speak, his
heart and mind. His experience of it
made the very blood and Drawn and
brain of his life. He gathered the best
of what he was and knew and felt,
| and had wrought into deathless words,
which he came up among us to de-
liver. and delivering, to die. More
/ immortal he than the immortals he
Joined. He entered their ranks younger
than they were at their translation.
The initial date of his eternity was
earlier than theirs. Better, perhaps,
that he died on the threshold of q
great career. He died at the zenith
Of the possibilities of youth. He was
saved from the misinterpretation OF
the years and from the disappoint-
1 ments and the misconception of the
evil to come. Neither mental nor
physical decrepitude was to be his. OF
him and all the great souls OF the
South in whom the North rejoices as
in precious national possession 1t
can..b said:
While round the sun old Mother Earth
! Pursues the ever feeting years,
1 a nation shall recount their worth
With mingled pride and joys and
! tears.
.sFellow citizens, let us remember
the oneness of our American derivation
and destiny. Let Us be thankful that
in the baptism of blood all serious
causes of division and reproach we're
purified away. Let us be grateful for
the years of peace through progress
and of progress through peace. Let us
hail them as but the prelude of still
better DAYS to come. From this table
land of time, looking backward on
| the past, and forward on the future,
| let us strike hands for the betterment
of politics; for the cleansing Of rule;
| for the moral trusteeship Of private
wealth and of fpublic Office; for the
| lifting OF poverty, through self help,
| into comfort; for the considerate lead.
ership of ignorance into knowledge
for the transmutation Of provincialism
| into patriotism and of patriotism into
philanthropy. In this work, while
our country is our solicitude, let our
field be the world. While our coun-
trymen are our preference, let humanl-
ty be our client. By recasting ourselves
on the lines of Gods laws in our
hearts, our State shall prosper, out
cities shall come to honor, our com.
munities shall conquer the pinnaces OF
material and of moral achievement,
and our nation shall attain to the
benign purposes of deity in it's discov-
cry and in its development. And from
the vantage ground of this republic
will sweep streams of blessings to all
the race of man. If to this We here
dedicate and here consecrate ourselves,
the North of our homes and the South
of your hearts, the North and the
South Of our country will eventually
be constrained to admit that we sought
we'll and thought we'll and wrought
| well for their behoof and for our
own.''
CONTINUED on third page.