The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-20

| tily recall in this centennial year the great events in Louisiana's past and proud history.
 A Wonderful Infant.
 "She Is now one hundred years old, but hundred years ago she was the most l wonderful infant of the century-a very giantess at her birth. If were disposed to deal in metaphor I would say that i the Mississippi river, in it's entire stretch, was the tape-line which measured and the only line that was long enough to measure her length; for while her baby l brow was kept cool by the snowfiakes Of the Rocky mountains, her feet wera warmed in the tidewaters of the gulf l stream.
 She had scarcely passed her girlhood when, like her elder sister Virginia. she became the mother of an enormous prog eny of states and was adding new stars to this unions galaxy. ana there are now two more of her children ready to take their places in the great slsterhood of states.
 If we call the roll of her daughters beginning with Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas and then call Iowa, Minne- sota, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado. Kan sas and Arkansas, taking In the spirited. aspiring damsels. Oklahoma and Indian Territory, every one of them can histori- Ill.
 A Great Wa Record.
 But again, she was only about ten years old when she was receiving into her bosom the fire of the British guns: and when, from behind her breastworks of cotton bales, defeat and death were be- ing carried to British arms and British hopes.
 "She was not much older when another war came; and again she stepped to the front, sending her grim old sugar plant er Zachary Taylor, to win victory and fame in Mexico, and establish peace with our neighbor.
 And then, in the great war-the war between the states-her Washington ar l tillery, with its incomparable, world famed batteries; her modest and meek tigers" whose very name carried tremor to the nerves of all foes; her sun-burnt boys from her rich parishes, leaving cane fields and cotton to the care of faithful slaves-all. all of these sons were steadfastly at the front. writing the name l of Louisiana in richest blood, on every page of that bloodiest chapter in the rec ords of time.
 "Our hats are off to you. Louisiana. With uncovered heads and unbidden homage, we bring our heartfelt congratu- lations on the patriotic lessons drawn from the retrospect of your eventful past It Is your privilege to look back through four epochs of service to different gov ernments; and whether your allegiance is due to France, or Spain, or the South ern Confederacy. or the American repub- lie, it is but a simple justice to Louisiana to say that the flag of none was ever tarnished in her hands. If the honors that cluster around the brow of Louisiana gathered under four governments, could be distributed they would make fitting diadems for a dozen states.
 The Two Pictures.
 'If I were making this morning a sum mary of your great achievements, I would not exclude even that chapter which records the failure of New Or leans to successfully resist the advance of the Federal army near the spot where Andrew Jackson wrenched victory from the mother country In comparing these two tests of southern prowess, it must be remembered that the armies which "Old Hickory" so signally defeated had no iron-clads; and that the red coat of Packenham wrapped neither the heart of an American nor the soul of southern CT, whereas, the blue uniform of Farra- gut who led his gunboats through your batteries, enveloped the form of an Amer lean in whose veins ran southern blood; in whose heart burned southern fire. and from whose brain flashed southern genius.
 And now, dear friends of New Orleans. shall I close the next chapter which records the entrance. into your city of General Benjamin F. Butler, and of his somewhat noted administration? If you so order I shall obey; but let me break the seal long enough to point to one fact which I think Is worth noting if for no other reason than because 1t illus trates the strange mutations of that mar velous era. That fact is this, that if Gen eraI Butler could have had his way in 1sD. the name of the President of the United States for the four following years would have been. not Abraham Lincoln. but Jefferson Davis. But the book Is closed now.
 The Past and Future.
 We will not indulge on this centen- nial day, this political milennial morning, or at any other times. in any bitterness. We feel none. We pity those who do., We have long since drawn the curtain of oblivion over the regrotful and unseem-