Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1905-10-25
ROOSEVELT DAY
The President captivates His
Richmond Audience


paid to his enthusiastic audience
in Richmond last Wednesday by
President Roosevelt on the occasion
Of his visit to that city. Among
other things he said:
/ 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 a
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 the time, not only for
one nation, but for all the world,
on this honor roll Virginla's name
stands above all others. And in
greeting all of you, know that
no one will grudge my saying a
special word of acknowledgment
to the veterans of the Civil War.
A man would indeed be hut 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 &C.
casion, 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 oil now In fact as well
as in name a reunited people, a
people infinitely richer because of
the priceless memories left 10 all
Americans by you men who fought
in the great war. Last Memorial
Day / spoke in BrooYlyn at the
unwilling of the statue of a
Northern general, under the
auspices of the Grand Army of the
Republic, and that great audience
cheered every allusion to the valor
and self-devotion of the 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
it's memories remain. Think of it,
oh, my countrymen, think Of the
good fortune that is ours! That
whereas every other war OF modern
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
Northeruer or SOutherner, these
qualities render all Americans for
ever the debtors of those who in
the dark days from 81 to '65
proved their truth by their en-
deavor.
Here around Richmond, here in
your cwn State. there. lies battle
field after battlefield, rendered
forever memorable by the men who
counted death as but little thing
when weighed in Balance against
doing their duty as it was given
them to see it. 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
predi cted that when such a war
closed it would be impossible for
the hundreds of thousands of
ombatants to return to the paths
of peace. They predicted ceaseless
wild turbulence, the
alienation CT snsrchy and des-
potism. But the good sense and
self restraint of the average Amer
lean citizen falsified these prOph-
ecies. The great armies disbanded
and the private in the ranks, like
the officers who had commanded
him, went back to take up the
threads of his life where he had
them when the call to
arms came.
Great though the need of praise
q due the South fol the fo,dierly
Talor her sons displayed during the
Jour years of war, / think that
wen greater praise is due to her
or what her people have accom- ]
olished in the forty years of peace |
which followed. The Continental
roops in their blue and buff, who
ought under Washington end {
Greene and Wayne, differed entire |
y in training from those who in
,lue or gray faced one another in ;
he armies of Grant and of Lee, of !
sherman and of Johnston. And |
low the sons of these same Union !
nd Confederate veterans who q
erve in our gallant little army of b
oday, wear a different uniform, 6
AIRY a different weapon, and
ractice different tactics. But
he eonl If the aoidiar has remain