The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-06
CORNER STONE IS LAID
IMPRESSIVE CEREMONIES oc.
 CUR IN SELMA.
Exercises Under Charge of the Grand Lodge of Masons, With Hon. Fl. S D. Mallory Acting
 as Grand Master.
Advertiser Bureau.

| | sons of Alabama, Hon. H. s. D. Mallory acting as Grand Master. The orator oI | tho day was Hon. A. l.. Mcleod, duriae | whose administration as Mayor of Selma final arrangements for the building of the municipal home were made.
 Prior to, the formal ceremonies at the site of the building a procession was formed at Broad and Selma Streets
 whence a large crowd of city oficials, cit iscns and school children marched to the | city hall. The Chief of the Fire Depart ment acted as Grand Marshal and in the parede were members of the Fire De- | partment with the apparatus of the com
 panies. members Of the Police Depart of Selma Fraternal Lodge and Central City Lodge, A. F. and A. M., the Ab- bolt Rifles. in command of Capt. William B. Craig. and the members of the high school department of Dallas Academy. ] Mayor V. 5. Atkins, with Hon. A. l. Mcleod, was in carriage with President of the. Council, W. R. Peacock, and Chairman John G. Norris of the City Councils Committee on Public Buildin $ l resented by ". l.. Quinn, R. H. Agee, K. D. Berry, F.fY.s Elder, R. R. Korne- gay.
 At the laying of the cornerstone, Hon.
 be h Maogy araoG Sse asns o as asana ass sided. and at his command, Rev. W. l. Waller, acting as Grand Chaplain, invok- ed the Divine blessing.
 The impressive ceremony of the Masons was used. Grand Commander l.. W. Hub bard of the Knights Templar of Ala Dama. was acting Deputy Grand Master, pr. T. F. whitby, Senior Grand Warden; W. H. Trimby. Grand Junior Warden; Hon.. E. 5. starr. Grand Treasurer;
 Grand Secretary. L. Phillips was Grand
 A copy of the Bible. lists of the on cers of city and county, minutes of the
 Gsaea LSass a tss s ssa report of the Citizens Relief Committee 1 to Hon. Francis l.. Pettus during the yei- ] low fever epidemic of 1891. copies of The 1 Selma Journal and The Selma Times were placed under the stone.
 The building was presented to the Mia. sons by Chief Architect c, H. Hopson and C. w. Hayes, representing Contractor R. F. Manley; assisted in the work.
 Hon. A. l.. Mcleod, the orator of the
 occasion, was introduced by Grand Mas | ter Mallory, whospointed out that 1t wat during Mr. McLeod's administration that | definite steps for the construction of the | city building were taken, and that his se' lection as orator at the formal dedica- ton of the municipal hall was fitting. | Mir. Mcleod said:
 | "Upon an occasion like this, when VI
 celebrate the foundation of the home oi
 a municipality es great as Selma, it is
 of the city. to tell of the time when tht ground upon which we now stand wal | the forest primeval and the noble river
 rolled by, fringed with heavy woods no ether name, and had prospect oi | no other name until one of It's founder; | called from the wealth of poetry tns
 beautiful name by which we now know Moore's Binff widened, house by house
 and street by street, and how the woodi | gave way to the splendid city.
 ''lt would be proper to tell of the grea
 men who have gone forth from our mids ana become famous tn their work for thu | State and for the nation. and of the no | Dle women who at home and abroad havt | spread their cultivating and refining in | fiuences; of the illustrtous men who hav' | its honor and integrity. and have spen | their lives for its glory and honor. | 'But to relate all these things would | be too long, a task: they are written n
 the history of the State and are known O | all men. r-N t
 'rhe history of a city," said MT. Nc l Leod. '1s written in its public works al
 well as in the spirit and lives of it's peo | ple."
 that way down in some tropic region fa | to the south on the bank of a sunny. wll lowy fringed stream where broad pain
 leaves wave over the rippling waters I tucfG kTOWb A uSuCHlG lTuiL WHlEn 0A
 the quality of changing old age Into youth | that gives life to all 1t touches and in l fuses vigor and strength into the veal | and the decrepid, that gives spirit O
 sieepless progressive vigilance to all wh' | taste its flavor.
 "For many years Selma sat upon tn, | banks Of the noble Alabama gazing upol the shimmering river, content to drift ii gentle daillance as the river drifted; ex | tending a welcoming hand to the pass l ing EtranRar. hut making no effort tt | claim his allegiance, . sleeping cit. l dreaming no dreams of commercial O.
 civic progress and power.
 But a change has come. Selma hal
 eaten of the life giving fruit and 1t hal
 wakened her sleeping energies. Her olC men dream dreams and her young meI
 see visions of wealth and progress anC
 power. She still looks Ut the ripping
 river but with changed and quickenet | eyes She secs 1t TOW still fringed witt waving willows. ht.. also spanned witt 1 massive roadwavs which bring to her fee
 masses of humanity. She looks now wItl
 eager vision North, East, South and Wes
 and sees the steel highways along whicI pour into her bosom every product O.
 Commerce, to be distributed throughout
 her territories along every path of traf | fic,
 She began first to look at home. Sh,
 saw her civil government a homeless.
 wanderer about her streets. She saw
 what was for years dignified by the nam, of "Counci' Chamber a cumbered of ths
 ground. She saw the unfortunates who's, | moral natures had led them to trans
 gress her laws, imprisoned in a vile anC
 lothsome den. She saw the food tha
 fed her people distributed from a shack iI
 the midest of one of her fairest streets She ordered a change. Her officers under. | took te obey and for four years they have been laboring to carry out those
 orders, and this day. representing hei
 mayor and council and her othen officers II report to you Most Worshipful GranC
 Master. as to Selma, "The Ledge Is tiled.
 are securely laid No longer will shC
 desecrate her own fair streets
 '"rhe day the people of Selma by theil votes ordered the erection of this build ing. was milestone in her prOgressiv, history This day when we lay its cor
 sures it's completion is another milestone
 We can glance back to the last and SCI
 how far we have come. Along that lint
 of vision you will see a new court house | fcent churches, new railroad bridge,
 new passenger depot. two new lines O ! railway, the temple of noble charltabl, order many new and handsome homes
 many business houses remodeled, re | organized and furnished with fresh faeili
 the electric cars flashing on their cheer full way
 Shall we look forward? The prospec
 Is so glittering that it dazzles the eye
 city clinging to the heritage of old, bu
 throbbing and pulsing with new life anC
 energy and ambition, and to paint he
 future glory and power will take som' stronger tongue. We can say as th'
 Lord said of the second temple at Jeru
 salem built upon the ruins of the first fl
 the days of Ezra, The Glory of this lat | ter house shall be greater than of thu