The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-06-17

grimage to meet together, when We
see how prosperous our country has
grown. AT last 1 think we all feel
that the prosperity of the land is as
sured. When the savings of all pre-
vious generations were consumed in
the common disaster, ii seemed for a
while as if the south had to face the
bitterness of poverty for generations
to come. Statestnspship, literature,
art, culture, flowers of leisure and
opportunity. were to remain forever
withered or the soil once so z
ial: nothing was to be left but the
hard struggle with adversely till the
bitter end.
Il think we are convinced now that
the south is fully on its feet again.
In material prosperity we have now
not only reached, but surpassed, the
achievements Of our fathers: yet,
when / look about me for the men
who are to enter into the garden
which you my brave comrades, have
made bloom under such hard condi-
tions, / cannot but be sensible to the
Incompatible loss which the south
sustained. The tongues which would
have commanded the applause of
Senates were heard after the
cry OF battle was over; the genius,
that might have directed the coun-
sells OF nations, breathed its last upon
some forgotten skirmish line The
very flower and pride of our people
persisted in the battle front, and the
blood of our ace lost much of it's
most magnificent strain when they
went to their graves
L hold nc view of southern de-
generacy. but / deplore the irrepar-
able loss TO my country and the COM
ing generations. when those splendid
men, the raves and best the world
has ever held, went down in death.
Some one has said, that every genera
ton must have its war. If so, in
Gods name let it not be a real war.
The burning houses, the wasted
fields, the ravaged cities-I could see
them all go until the wilderness was
back again, and ~contain my GRIEF;
but I a bear to think of the
strength and beauty, the manly cour-
age, h stubborn nerve, the pure
chivalry, the peerless devotion, the
unstinted faith and loyalty, which
went into the battles deadly front
and never returned. 1t is the loss
of men like these that made the
south poor indeed, a loss that can
never be restored, not in forty years
No! not in forty centuries.
But, my comrades, it is a great
comfort to know that the south had
such men to lose. 1t was a revela-
ton to the world. 1t was a revela-
ton to ourselvea. What a magni-
'iNCiS loSS VI lIiCH. Hd d SpltIlulI
type of humanity. What courage;
what grandeur of spirit. What patri-
otism. What self-sacrifice. 1t was
sublime. 1t is wonderful beyond
compare. Not all were conquered,
Some of these men came hack. I see
them before me now. God has
bountifully prolonged their days. that
they may illustrate to the next gen.
Grafton the civic virtues, that they
may tell the wondrous story of
those days, that they may stir up in
the hearts of youth the emulation of
virtue, h passion for noble achieve
ments, the spirit of sacrifice.
AS he close of our days draw
near and the work of upbuilding our
country passes on into younger and
stronger hands, let us make it our
mission, comrades. to tell the story.
Do not let your children and grand
children forget the cause for which
we suffered. Tell it not in anger.
Tell it not in grief. Tell it not in
revenge Tell it proudly as fits a SOL
der. There is no shame in all the
history. Dwell on the gallant deeds,
the pure motives, the unselfish sacri-
flee. Tell of the hardships endured,
the battles fought, the men who
bravely lived. he men who nobly
died. Your dear comrades shall live
again in your woods.
The infinite pity and glory of it
all Will awake the hearts of those
who listen, n they will never forget.
Tell them of Albert Sidney Johnston.
of Stonewall Jackson. Of Stewart
with his waving plume, Of Forrest
with his Scorn of death. Tell them
of Wade Hampton and Gordon, the
Chevalier Bayards of the south. Tell
them Of Zollicoffer. of Pat Cleburne
and Frank Cheatham, of Pelham, of
Ashby. Tell them of the great soldier
with the spotless sword and the
spotless soul, who sleeps at Lexing-
ton, in the Valley of Virginia. Tell
them of the great President, who
bore upon his SAD heart the sorrows
of all his people, and upon whom
fell all the blows which passed them
over.
This, my comrades is your last
commission. Do this for the dead,
that they may be loved and honored
still. Do this for the living, that they
may also become worthy of love and
honor. Do this for your country. that
when the time is ripe she may again
be rich in heroes and in noble deeds.
Shall not the selfsame soil bring
forth the selfsame men,
When the great account is taken,
which page think you, my country
men, will the south most willingly
spare? Will it be the Did page torn
and ragged. stained with blood and
tears, which tells the story of seces-
sion and Dictator will it be the new
age of her latest census, with it's
magnificent figures of wealth and
prosperity? Whatever she chooses,
give us old soldiers the old page to
read and read again. This blood and
those tears mean more to us than to
al the world. The cause in which
they were shed will never be lost to
US, and the love we CAV it will not
die till the last gray jacket is foldei
and the last gray head is buried be-
Meath the sod.
My comrades, neither do I believe
our descendants will ever ihe1itate
to max the same choice. The peo-
pie of the south would not exchange
the story of the C~onfederacy for the
wealth of the world. At their moth
ers knee. the coming generations
shall learn from that tragic history
deeds make men great and ma
tons glorious. A people who do not
cherish their past will never have a