The Opelousas courier., 1903-03-28

uOSpltdDle Olu CltJ OI OuIS iu'
receive here the welcome AM
benediction of their grateful
countrymen. The date set fo
the reunion draws near. w
want the venerable and venera
ted heroes-the thin gray lin,
that is growing thinner ever.
year-to move with martial treae
once more through the streets O.
the metropolis of the South
From Louisiana and her neigh
boring States of Mississippi, Ala
bama, Texas and Arkansas; from
far-away Tennessee and Florida
from farther away Virginia, the
Carolinas, Georgia, Kentucky anC
Maryland, and from the more dis
tant Northern and Eastern State,
in which Southerners have, since
the war, found congenial homes
and won enduring reputation
| from every point i'll the Union
we desire that ex-Confederates
and the sons and daughters OF
ex-Confederates shall come tc
New Orleans.
In the impressive PROCESSION
will be men who represent the
splendid soldiery of the South
that was ready at the call of duty
and is ready still-to fight va
liantly and to die without q muir
mur. Men who fought not fol
fame, not for empire, not Cthank
GodD for money, but for friends
and kinsmen, for home and coun-
try! In rejecting upon what the
Confederate soldier was, as we'll
as upon what he did, the people
of New Orleans have highly re-
solved that the reunion Of this
year shall be the most interesting,
the most impressive and the most
successful of all that have been
held by the heroes in gray. The
organization of United Confeder-
ate Veterans, has, it is true,
reached, if it has not passed its
zenith. It's meridian splendor-
the force and the fire that once
inhered to it-has waned with the
quick-going years. Against it the
fierce gales of necessity, and the
fiercer gales of time itself, have
blown pitilessIy. Numerically, its
power is necessarily fast denim
ishing; morally, its energy for
good is strengthening every hour.
The memories awakened by it and
the pride stirred by d sight of the
Confederate Veterans as they pass
in annual review on the occasion
of these reunions-are forever
consecrated and hallowed in the
hearts of the Southern people.
We need not recount all the names
on the sacred list, nor tell the sad ,
brave story over in all its desolate
grandeur of ideal and starving
suffering; but the picture, sketch
ed Or finished, is now, and will
always be, mrrored in the eyes of
every beholder. IF it is only for
a moment the people Of the South
will, on these occasions of Con-
federate reunions, lift the nobly
pathetic picture and reverently
uncover before it; for spite the
effacing influence of time, it may
never be forgotten that what
William of Oranges followers
were to Holland, what the men
who fought with Bruce and Wal
lace were to Scotland, what Mara
thon's ''ten thousand" were to
Greece, what, indeed, Thermopy-
lae's "three hundred were to
Sparta, the Confederate soldiers
were, are, and will be-always-
to Americans of the Southern
States.
It is to the Confederate soldier
to his high example in courage,
in fortitude, in patience and in
the capacity to suffer and to be
still-that the younger generation
of the South owes whatever is
worthy in its civilization. This
debt may never be paid; certainly
not within the lifetime of the
Confederate soldier; but the me-
roic sacrifice and the inspiring
example can live again in our re-
membrance and in the remem-
brance of our children. The re-
union to be held in May will re-
mind us of the high civic respon-
sibility that is ours, and will
prompt us to wider and wiser
patriotism. 1t will teach us that
the lamp of idealism should be
kept forever glowing, and it will
help the world to understand that
the spirit of the Confederate SOL
der, like the breath of the Holy
Man, died not with the prophet,
but survived him.
PAGE NJ. BAKER,
Editor New Orleans Times Democrat.
-ese@%-
The Woman's Suffrage Conven
tion in New Orleans ought to bt