The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1905-10-18

said:
Mr.. Chairman and fellow citizens:
trust need hardly say how great
is my pleasure at speaking in this
historic capital of your historic State;
the State than which no other has
contributed larger proportion to the
leadership Of the nation; for on the
honor roll of those American worthless
whose greatness Is not only for the
age but for all time. not only for one
nation but for all the world, on this
honor roll Virginia's name stands
above all others. And in greeting all
Of you, know that no one will grudge
my saying a special word of acknowl.
edeement to the veterans of the civil
war. A man would indeed be but a
poor American who could without a
thrill witness the way in which, in
city after city in the North as in the
South, on every public occasion, the
men who wore the blue and the men
who wore the gray now march and
stand shoulder to shoulder, giving
tangible proof that we are all now in
fact as well as in name reunited
people, people infinitely richer be-
cause of the priceless memories left
to all Americans by you men who
fought in the great war. Last Memo
rial Day I spoke in Brooklyn, at the
unwilling Of the statue Of northern
general. under the auspices Of the
Grand Army Of the Republic, and that
great audience cheered every allu-
sion to the valor and self-devotion of
tie men who followed Lee as heartily
as they cheered every allusion to the
valor and self-devotion of the men
who followed Grant. The wounds
left by the great civil war have long
healed, but its memories remain.
Think OF it, oh, my countrymen, think
of the good fortune that is ours!
That whereas every other war of mod
ern times has left feelings of rancor
and bitterness to keep asunder the
combatants. our great war has left to
the sons and daughters of the men
who fought, on whichever side they
fought, the same right to feel the
keenest pride in the great deeds alike
of the men who fought on one side
and of the men who fought on the
other. The proud self-sacrifice, the
resolute and daring courage, the high
and steadfast devotion to the right
as each man saw it, whether north
erner or southerner, these qualities
render all Americans forever the deb.
tors of those who in the dark days
from 81 to 'G5 proved their turth by
their endeavor. Here around Rich.
mond, here in your own State, there
lies battlefield after battlefield, rem.
dered forever memorable by the men
who counted death as but little
thing when weighed in the balance
against doing their duty as it was CIV
en- them TO see 1t. These men have
left us of the younger generation not
merely the memory of what they did
in war, but of what they did in peace.
Foreign observers predicted that
when such great war closed 1t would
be impossib,e for the hundreds Of
thusands Of combatants to return to
the paths of peace. They predicted
ceaseless disorder wild Turbulence
the alteration of anarchy and despot-
ism. But the good sense and self.
restraint of the average American
citizen falsified these nrophecies The
great armies disbanded and tho nr,.
vate in the ranks like tho officer who
had commanded him went hack To
take lin the threads Of his 1,fe wberA
he had dronned them whom tho coll