Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-05-13

DOneS lie ScdttereQ IToIH Tue UOTueIo
Of Virginia to the Rio Grande. But Of
these two branches, the glorious dead
are still having recruits added year by
year to their number. The other
branch, the living, the surviving, we
are taking our discharges one by one.
and the only possible way Of recruit
ing our ranks is by these dear ones to
whom the Confederate war can never
be anything but history. We can
only ask that you, sons and daughters,
| remember what we did, your fathers
and your mothers, and try forever to
maintain the honor and the sacredness
of your glorious state. (Applause]-.
AS I look around, I remember one
more spring. These soldiers Of the
Confederate army, remember, are in
two branches. These returned soldiers
found dismantled homes, their hearth
stones in many cases had been scatter
ed. Sorrow hung, over the land. sor-
row and ruin and desolation. It was
for them to take up this new burden
and strive as they had learned to
strive under their leaders in that
great struggle. Then 1t was that they
were called upon to show that the Con-
federate soldier had fulfilled the high
est type Of soldier, in knowing how to
dare and how to endure. The first
thing was to get food for the family.
to kindle again the extinguished fire
upon the hearth stones, to gather the
little fragments together, and to look
the world in the face at the same time
and to say boldly, II am not ashamed
nP what I have done. Fates were
against me, but I am still man, and
God willing, l shall deserve to be 30
recorded" That was their mission,
and in the meantime while providing
for their affairs, busy trying to build
| rho Qta Y,lapaq nndar thQ mower
which had laid defeat among them,
government had been established
which threatened to overturn all our
ancient civilization. So rank had the
ma!fea sance in Office become, that even
the most learned, the most enlighten-
ed, the most active leader Of these
people from the north, in the honesty
UP north that the horrors here were
beLon-ing nnbearable, and to use his
own language, that "the civilization Of
the Puritan and the Huguenot was in
reri'.
need not recount the struggles un-
der the. leadership Of our matchless
Hampton (applause1 and Of all the
One s'reng stupendous effort was
made and our state was once more
redeemed. Do you remember that
glorious spring when 1t was pro-
claimed among the opening OF the
flowers. that Hampton was established
as the governor Of South Carolina, and
that South Carolina had again come
to her own? A glorious spring that
should finger forever in the memory
living army has done much my friends.
to place its memory upon the histori-
cal field and deep down into the hearts
Iof you younger generation. There has
borne upon them since the close OF the
lpar the one inexorable command,
March on, march on" When the
Hampton victory was over. still the
same voice rested upon US, March on,
march on!" All Of our hills and val
Ilcys. all Of our. water courses, all the
material industries, had to be revived.
Industries had to be created. A new
or,er Of things had to be built by our
supreme efforts, with the sunshine OF
success. Have we done It? It Is Tor
you to say. Look at the spindles whose
humming Is heard throughout your
state. Look at the railroads, the In
telephone, and all of those other &C.
cessories of advanced civilization, and
let me ask you II you have not found
Ibe,,e ath them all the motive power OF
the Confederate soldier under the In
exorable law, March on, march on!"
I[Cheers1.
That we alone have done it, do not
pretend to say. But we have brought
in these younger ones with us, and we
have from time to time relinquished to
their hands what through our exer-
tions we have contributed to estab-
llish. I think that history will say tnat
the Confederate soldier on his return
to peace did not lie down idle, mere
object of charity, but that he was act
i've in restoring prosperity to his be-
loved land.
every one of the southern states. the
same thing has been done.
Now my friends, here comes anotn-
er spring. and what do I see before
me? Flowers everywhere, the smile OF
beautiful women on every hand. Those
hidden springs Of hope which always
dawn in the human heart, all seem to
have been assembled here today; and
yonder stands one evidence that IN
this glorious spring the good people
of Yorkville have turned aside from
all other attractions, and are going to
raise a monument to the Confederate
soldier. I did not understand you to
the Confederate dead. It is to the
Confederate soldier, and you have the
retaliation of that beautiful poem OF
our own southern poet:
'In seeds of laurel in the earth
The glory Of your fame Is sown,
/ And somewhere awaiting its birth,
The shaft Is in the stone"
There is the foundation upon which
the shaft Is to be erected, and doubt
less in the hands of the committee
having it in charge, the shaft Is al
ready prepared.
have mentioned these several open
7 have haan
SO much impressed today with the
beauty Of your spring time season.
This lovely spring has been associated
with so many things In my mind that
could not cast 1t out;
Now, with reverent ceremonies the
corner stone Is to be laid, to the mem.
ory of the Confederate soldiers, and
therefore I have spoken OF botn
branches of that army, the glorious
dead and the living. May we who are
called to see this fulflllment OF the
poets voice, be spared to see that fur
ther fulfillment that was uttered IN the
same connection.
Peace upon the busy march,
Peace where the hunter roams,,
Peace, God Of peace, In all our
| hearts,
And peace in all our homes"
Let us, my old comrades still obey
the voice, march on, march on, IN
everything that, tends to the glory OF
our people and the establishment OF
prosperity in this state. and then when
YOU and I shall come to lay down our
lives, and our names be added to that
other branch Of the Confederate army,
that Is resting under the sod, lres
conflicts and trials will not have been
endured in vain.
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