Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1904-01-28
GUlLSBO { NOES

gigantic stature measured by the
deeds that make men colossal: for
what did the South not suffer and
dare in the bodies and hearts of the
brave tBoys in Grey''-the immor-
tai men of the sixties! What would
our Southland be to-day without the
patriotic inspiration of the heroic
history they made for her? And yet,
not less glOriously will history re-
cord the matchlesS herOlSm Of the
immortal women of the sixties-the
sad-eyed, War-tried Rachels of the
Lost Cause-who, in the suspenseful
solitude of their homes, in the desc
latiOn of their ruined hearthstOnes,
in wars rude alarms, and even in
the red shock of battle, played the
part of the Spartan mother, wife and
sweetheart. Co-partners were they
in the stress and tragedy of those
four terrible years: the deel est ira
vail of their country's desperate Or
deal was theirs: they eagerly made
sacrifices hatcanonized saints would
have shrunk from; and in it all-and
since it itall-they were and have been,
found faithful as Ruth. God bless
the Daughters of the Confederacy
1 would be untrue, therefore, to the
sentiments of my heart were l to re-
main silent when they call upon me,
even though feeling unprepared to
do Justice to myself or the hallowed
memories that this memorial awak-
ems.
There is no parallel in history for
the hero whose fame we have come
together to-day to commemorate.
No other land or age has furnished
a man whose genius, in peace as we'll
as intrepid valor in war, was COM
parable 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 bloom from the cher
ished traditions of generations and
the most cherished tradition for gen.
erations yet to come in this South
land of ours will be the story Of his
noble life and peerless deeds.
The historian of the future will re-
gard him as symbol; and it is well,
and fit, and proper, that we should
teach our 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 personitication Of the
thought and sentiment of the South.
The temper, the mettle, the daring,
the loyalty, the truth, the unsplfish-
ness, the stainless valor of its ideals
found human realization in him.
He was as if the visib ible 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 fol-
lowed him with the same tender in
Election which comes involuntary to
their lips when they speak his name;
for when one of these men speaks
the name of Lee, "remem brance
swelIs at the breast,' and he lives
DER again the thrilling scenes, to
which that name relates. His ell
bows touch again the elbows of dead
comrades in the grey dawn's dress
parade for the coming fight. He
shuts his eyes: h9seeS the tattered
flags, tossing like feathers, caught in
the crimson eddIeS of battle: he
catches again the CLINT of Lees gleam-
ing sword: and then the line leaps
and surges forward across the Scared
field, in the wild rush of resistless
charge: and then-and then---there
comes a cold clutching at his heart,
as he confronts the end of it ALL
the panorama at AppOmattOx---the
furled banners, the sheathed sword
the stacked arms, and the thin grey
line Of shattered heroes, asthey move
mournfully away in broken ranks
from the field of their dead hopes
but, thank God, without a stain upon
their deathless deeds of matchless
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 manifesto
tions of a noble soul. His civic ca
reer 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 heart still
true and tender, and which he did
not shut away where the sunshine
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 tender
est love---and forever peerless.
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