Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1904-04-14
SURRENDER OF LEE.
Thirty-Ninth Anniversary of the

How swiftly speed the years! To-
day is the thirty-ninth anniversary
Of the surrender of Gen'l Lee at APP
pomattox. It was on Sunday norm
ing, the 9th day Of April, 1864 that
that forever memorable> panorama
was enacted, and it is meet that it
should be brought to mind on these
anniversaries. It is proper that the
children of our day should be taught
as they grow up the true nature of
that great struggle-and, that the
history Of all time furnishes no par
ailel for the hero who at the head. of
his shattered army on the field at
Appomattox gave up his sword
to Grant. No other land or age has
eve produced a man whose genius,
in peace, as well as intrepid valor in
war, was comparable to Lees; and
especially was he the embodiment Of
the SOuth's ideal of true manhood
and nobility. He was the highest
type Of the soldier and statesman.
His noble spirit was a bloom from
the cherished traditions of genera
tions-and the most cherished ira
ditions for generations yet to come
in this Southland Of ours will be the
story of lis noble life and peerless
deeds.
The historian of the future will re-
gard him as a symbol; and it is well,
and fit, and proper, that we should
teach Il children, through these re-
curing memorials and by daily pre-
cept, the nature of the priceless leg
acy which he and the men who fol-
lowed him have left to the South
land. The men who followed Lee
followed the personifcation of the
thought and sentiment of the South.
The temper. the mettle, the daring,
the loyalty, the truth, the unselfsh-
ness, the stainless valor of it's ideals
found human realization in him. He
was as if the visible Avatar of the
Southern spirit rode before them
through all the clamoring days from
Manassas to AppomattoX: and this is
why few other names-if any-are.
ever spoken by the men who follow
ed him with the same tender infec-
ton which comes involuntary to
their lips when they speak his name;
for when one Of these e speaks the
name of Lee, Remembrance sWells
at the breast" and he lives DER
again the thrilling scenes to which
that name relates. His elbows touch
again the elbows of dead comrades
in the grey daWn's dress parade for
the coming fight. He shuts his eyes:
ne sees the tattered flags, tossing like
feathers caught in the crimson ed
dies of battle: he catches again the
CLINT of Lees cleaning sword: and
then the line leaps and surges for
ward across the Scared field, in the
wild rush of a resistless charge: and
then-and then-there comes a cold
cIutching at his heart, as he con-
fronts the end Of it all-the panorama
at Appomattox-the furled banner,
the sheathed sword-the stacked
arms, and the thin grey line of shat
tered heroes, as they move u
fully away in broken ranks from the
field of their dead hopes-but, thank
God, without a stain upon their
deathless deeds Of matches valor.
The world will never look upon
their like again!
The qualities which marked Lee
as superior in war made him great
in peace-for they were the manifes-
tations Of a noble soul. His civic ca
ree showed that he had been ma
tured and tempered by the expert
ences of war-not hardened; and so
he turned to face the future with
faith and without fear-with a heart
still true and tender, and which he
did not shut away where the sun
shine Of his peoples hopes could not
smile upon it, nor the tears of his
peoples griefs bedew it. Love is
the price-of love, and the people of
the Southland, to whose service he
gave himself, in war and peace, will
ever pay to his memory the tribute
of their highest honor and hold his
name in tenderest love-and forever
peerless.
And yet not less gloriously will
history record the matches heroism
of the immortal women of the six
ties-the sad-eyed, war-tried Rach-
els of the Lost Cause.-The. in the