The Adair County news., 1906-11-21

the children of Kentucky-the common
mother of us all-they were his broth
ers; they were entitled, not by grace,
but by heritage and by right, to every
privilege which he enjoyed. For hours
he dwelt upon this grand theme. For
hours he thrilled and swayed the
bosoms of that audience as the storm
king sways the bosom of the ocean. 1t
was indeed a storm, in which the speak
er's gavel and threats of clearing the
hall were unnoticed and unheard. 1t
was, in truth, a whirlwind of elo-
quence and patriotism, which again and
again swept to their feet that vast au-
dience in tempest of plaudits and
tears, and which swept forever from
the statute books every vestige of the
laws which had restricted the rights or
stigmatized the honor of the Southern
Kentucky soldier. And so having by
the arts of the statesman and orator
won the Uuion soldier into the Dem
ocratic fold, he now finished the great
work of reconciliation and peace by
throwing wide open to the Confed-
crates the doors of the same sanctuary
of fraternity and equal rights, of law
and liberty. From that day to this,
there has been no bad blood between
the Federal and the Southern soldiery
of Kentucky.
well remember the profound sensa-
ton which that memorable speech
made throughout the Commonwealth.
1t was talked of by every freside. By
each freside it was remembered, too,
and told that this was the same Col.
Wolford who had written to President
Lincoln the celebrated letter, on the
conduct of the war, dated July the
Both, 1864-a letter worthy of the pen
of Jefferson, letter which breathed
in every line the same grand spirit that
has served and sanctifed the cause of
liberty in all lands and in all ages. It
was the spirit that dictated the Decla
ration of American independence, that
summoned the patriots of 1776 to the
camp of Washington and fired their
hearts and nerved their arms in the
seven years war for independence.
1t was remembered too that this was
the same Wolford to whom the Union
men, of Lexington had publicly tender
ed costly sword and spurs. and that
because the presentation speech was a
savage plea for conquest, confscation,
and plumber, he had, with heroic dis
dain, refused to accept their gifts.
1t was remembered, too, and told
around many a blazing hearthstone in
old Kentucky, how this same Wolford,
while commanding a division of the
Federal army at Knoxville, in 1864,
was commanded by his superior officer
to detail his own regiment of Ken
tuckians to seize Rebel property and
recruit battery of negro soldiers,
and how he wrote upon the back of
that order the words, which l hope a
grateful State will one day engrave
upon his monument; 81 joined the ar
my to fight the men of the South, not
to rob the women and children
Is it possible, Mr.. Chairman, that we
can forget now, what we remembered
so we'll and so gratefully then? Can
we refuse to rescue this man from the
obscurity, and the honorable, but
grievous poverty to which his modesty
and his wounds have for years con-
signed him? Can we, oh, honest stew
ards Of just and honest party, oh,
generous men of Kentucky, can we re-
fuse the tardy recognition he asks at
our hands? Can we deny him posi-
ton which he will honor and adorn, an
which will gild the evening of his life
with the thought that his party and
his people are neither ungrateful nor
forgetful? trust not, hope not, ]
believe not.