The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1904-05-19
To the Soldier Who Sleeps.
Raleigh Times.

We may well afford to stop for a
few hours and live over again the
stirring scenes of forty years ago. A
long time. to be sure. and vet each
year. each month, and even each day
of that long period has held some
proud, though sad, memory for some
who still live, and who today will
join the procession to view again and
drop a flower upon the grave of one
who long ago went to join the ranks
of the silent majority. 1t may be a
son, a husband or Il father; it makes
no difference, his memory abides and
his face of forty years ago remains
the same. These men were the heroes
who made history, much of which
never has, nor never can be written
The best we can do, in fact all we can
do, is to take these occasions to
attest our love for their memory,
and our fidelity to their heroic sacri-
fees, even to tie laying down of their
lives, for cause they loved and be-
lieved to be right The most lovely
and fragrant of all our flowers will
be laid with gentle and loving hands
upon the graves of our friends and
kinsfolk. This is no perfunctory pub
lie service, done amid the beating of
drums, and firing of guns, but a
demonstration OF tender loving
hearts to one OF the household who
is not
The question OF whether sectiona,
animosity has ceased shall not enter
into the tender, the sacred offices OF
this day. It's enough to know that
he who sleeps in the dust of death,
once followed the brave leadership of
Lee, or Jackson, or Stuart, or John
son, or some one of the hundred
brave men who drew their swords in
defense of their country.
Let the young men listen to the
impassioned sentences of the orator
as he shall tell the story of the daring
deeds Of the men whose memory this
day shall honor. Speaking, as he
will, into the worlds great graphic
phone to be reproduced, by those
who shall preside over these occa-
sions in the years which are to come.
The comrades which still wait on this
side must, in the nature of things,
soon pass away. What we do for
their bodily comfort, or for their ele-
vation among their fellows, we must
do comparatively Y soon. But the
memory, the noble record of those
who are gone, will abide. We can
make it stronger than bronze and
more enduring than the granite
which marks the graves we thus
honor with our presence and with
the flowers of spring. The memory
OF these men can, and will, be as
eternal as the principles for which
they sacrificed and died.
'If a man die, shall he live againr!'
Some men never begin to live, for the
good of humanity, till after they are
dead The men whose graves are
covered with flowers today were, for
the most part, plain, unpretentious
and unknown away from the narrow
confines OF their homes. And yet the
triumphant principles for which they
died to secure have brought the widest
liberty to the individual, the finest
political system the world ever saw,
the richest commerce, the best social
organism, the grandest intellectual
and religious privileges that any peo-
pie on earth have ever enjoyed. Let
us not forget that while we have
greatness in the forum. wisdom in
the judiciary, and power in the execu-
tive branches of our governments. to
all OF which we point with pride, and
with satisfaction, yet in the graves
to which I'VE turn our faces this even
ing we possess a heritage which will
continue to enrich the lives of Us all
as long as time shall last.