The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-06-04
Daughters of Confedera
cy Honor Memory.
AT SOLDIERS HOME
Eloquent Address BY State Auditor
Dixon and Touching Talk BY Col.
Kenan, Chapter Well Represent
ed and Many Old Soldiers
Were Present at Services.


ternoon the Johnston Pettigrew Chap
ter of the Daughters of the
Confederacy, celebrated accord
ing to their custom, the ninety
seventh anniversary of the birth of
Jefferson Davis on June 3. 1905.
There was a good attendance of the
chapter and d number of the old sol
ders present in the chapel TO listen to
the talks by State Auditor Dixon and
Colonel Thos. S. Kenan, in honor of
the day
The Daughters present comprised
the following: Mrs. Leo. ID. Heartt,
president of the chapter, Miss Kate
McKimmon, vice-pres1dent, Mrs.
Franklin Mcneil, Mrs. f. T.. Motfitt,
Mrs A. Jones. Mrs. Dixon. Mrs. Alex.
Stronach Mrs. w. |. Register, Mrs. Jas.
Briggs. Mrs Willis, Mrs. Anderson,
Miss Bilyew, Mrs Field, Miss Richard
son. Miss Mary Armistead Jones, Miss
Daisy benson, Miss Dixie Leach. Miss
Emily Steinmetz played the organ for,
the extemporized choir which sang
hymns between the addresses.
Veterans i'm Attendance.
There were present perhaps fifty of
the old soldiers living at the home.
Seen in mass, the veterans show
strongly the passage of time. There
are scanned faces, bent backs missing
legs and arms TO bring the war out
of the past up to date. Clutches sat
against the wall beside their owners.
Coming out of the chapel there were
many who walked on canes, some
whose comrades had to help their
palsied feet down the steps. In spite
of the marks of age and of physical
infirmity. the audience was on the
hnI no inc lot
ened closely to the addresses, their eyes
al times suffused with tears, as the
pictures of the old President of the
Confederacy were presented by the
speakers. 1t was pathetic to think of
them as actors who, playing mighty
roles were waiting for the end, yet
such they are; but it was a comfort
to contemplate the equally potent fact
that in the home they have found 4
harbor, that is safe against further
storm The old Veterans relics of
blighted hope, are peaceful in the day
of their inactivity.
The exercises were opened with the
singing of the hymn. Nearer NV
God to Thee" after which Captain a.
B. Stronach introduced Mr.. Dixon,
who delivered a feeling address on the
life and services to his country of JEFF
ferson Davis.
Dr. Dixon's Address.
He spoke of how the death of the
man had touched the whole South
land which thanked God that he had
been permitted to live so long. Yet
at his death a wall had gone up from
the South as from a child wailing for
its dead father He described his quiet,
peaceful death. surrounded by those
who loved him. He told how the ply
sicians had hoped for his life, and how
near the end he had, with a gentle
gesture. put away the medicine Of
fered him by his faithful wife; how at
the end he had gone away, his head
resting on his hand like a sleeping
baby.
As he had faced the past, declared
DIR. Dixon, so he faced the future,
calmly and courageously.
When Davis died. he said in a burst
of eloquence, the South felt resent
ment against Death, the mighty cpl
cure and glutton. as though it might
have been satisfied without that life.
Then briefly, but appreciatively, DR..
Dixon touched on the outlines of Davis
life his entrance to West Point at the
age.of sixteen his graduation and SER
vices in the Blackhawk and Pawnee
Indian wars, his meeting with Sarah
TAYLOR. and his marriage against the
wishes of her parents. He was then
q tall. straight. soldierly young officer
with fire in his eye, love in his heart,
and a flashing intellect in his head. 1t
was no wonder he won his wife, even
against her parents. He touched on
the ten years of quiet life on the Mis-
sissippi plantation before the Mexican
war, of his services there in the taking
of Monterey, of his brilliant work
when his regiment at Buena Vista
held the enemy against six times its
number and saved the day for the
army To go into the Mexican war he
had left his seat in Congress; on his
return he went to the Senate, taking
his seat with Clay and Calhoun. Web
Ster and Benton. OF his participation
i'm the great debates of that time Mr.
Dixon spoke of Davis words when he
stated that the North. when every
Senator from that section had voted
the repeal of the Missouri Compro-
mise had opened the Pandora's box
for future evils. or his words of Bit
ter scorn of those who charged him
with trying to disrupt the Union IN
which he pointed out that his father
and uncle fought in the War of the
Revolution, that three brothers fought
in the war of 1S12-one of them with
Jackson at New Orleans-and that he
himself had given twelve years to tie
preservation of the onion that his ira
ditions taught him TO love- OF how he
was made Secretary of War at the
time that Dobbin, of Fayetteville was
Secretary of the Navy of the trying
times of bleeding Kansas" when the
North again forced onward the newt
able issue to is climax. untis at las
he was called to the Presidency of the
new nation over which he presided
for five years
Keeping that sacred ark, who can
tell. said he, the agony that wrenched
his soul when hope declined He COM
pared Davis 90 an eagle, sitting at ease
on a rock with folded wings, watching
the tempest form, only to take his
fight unimpeded into clear and calmer
skies. He was great In success. great
er in defeat. Never did he either say
a word or do an act unworthy of the
pride held in him by his people. He
left memory, a record and a charac-
ter of which any people of any nation
might well be proud.
In conclusion Dr.. Dixon read from
Mr. Davis letter on the occasion of the