The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-27

ing the cause of the North, others that of the South. Churches were divided, communities disrupted, families alien iated. Living on a beautiful farm, In the biue-g grass region, was father and two sons. This happy family was d. vided one of the sons drew his sword in defence of the South. the other In the defence of the North. They part ed to meet no more in life. In battle both were slain Their bodies were sent home for burial. A loving father laid them side by side. Over their graves he erected beautiful marble shafts, inscribing on each the name. the command to which he belonged. and the battle in which he fell. These shafts were united by a marble arch with ciasped hands. and upon this arch the father inscribed these words: God knows which was right
 Mission of the Hour.
 "The great mission of the hour is to forget the bloodshed and slaughter, the ravages of cruel war, but let us never, no never. forget the virtues of the brave soldier who fell maytyr to the cause he believed to be right. To honor the dead Confederate soldier is to keep watch over his grave. Ne heimer mourned over the desolation Of Jerusalem. the city of the great king. and his heart was especially sorrow ful at the thought that the sepulchers of his fathers should be dismantled and dishonored. Let us keep the grave Of our patriot dead as a heritage never to be forgotten
 The hardships. privations, sufferings endured by our Southern soldiery can never be fully comprehended, under stood. appreciated. unless similarly ex periepced. On picket, the cold winter night, in the falling snow or driven sleet the sentinel walks his post. No fire by which to warm. no comrade with whom to talk; solitary and alone he stands watch over the sleeping army ready to give the alarm at the approach of an enemy. Who is this sentinel? He is a private soldier; and vet the safety of the whole army is in his hands. Cold, hungry, tired, per haps thinly clad. he unmurmuringly does his duty. From whence did he come? from the farm, the workshop, the store, the office, every avocation gave us true men. The humble home, cleft in the mountains, and the splendid Southern colonial mansion, gave us heroes who fought side by side. No difference. The learned, the unlearned; the rich. the poor: the young. the middle-aged. the old. leaped with one bound to the front, and with words burning on their lips, like the ancient prophet, said: Here am I. send me Our army was main ly an army of volunteers. All classes and creeds; the native and adopted cit izen. alike displayed the same love of country. They gave their services in defence of a right. guaranteed by the Federal Constitution, as they saw 1t.
 NO truer men. or bravAr soldiers, ever went forth to battle. Marcus Cur tius. casting himself into the open chasm to save Rome, or Leonidas and aN tIA nf t,nr mdpylae were not more heroic. Alex ander had his cohorts; Caesar his le- gions; Napoleon his batallions; Well lington his old Guard but Robert E. Lee had the chivalry of a hundred years of freedoms growth.
 HerOism of Soldiers.
 "A voice comes from every battlefield, from Manassas to Appomattox, telling the story of our brave men. History informs us that the monument at the pass of Thermoplyae bore the inscrip- tion: Go. stranger. and tell at Lace daemon that we died for our country, and in obedience to her laws When the brave and gallant young Pegram Iay dying on the battlefield, he said to his comrades who had gathered about him, as his last words: Tell mother I died doing my duty Many a noble spirit, while the death damp settled on his brow. gave utterance ta such expressions of true devotion to our Southern cause. Many a devoted husband and father left as rich leg acy to his loved ones such words as these.
 "Eloquent eulogy will continue to chronicle their heroism; gifted poets will continue to chant their praises: fair and delicate hands will continue to scatter floral tributes to their worth. and the pages of impartial and unpret- udiced history will be made brighter that they lived and died in defence or our Southern cause Let us scatter over the graves the brightest beauties of life-the glad tokens of blessed 
 " Let each grave become a hallowed
 shrine--a Mecca for mems feet. Around wnose scattered bounds shall
 countless pilgrims meet.
 To bless the hands that struggled, the
 hearts that nobly bled,
 The soldiers and the sailors-the
 stricken, fallen dead.
 ' Thus to the hero -maytyrs-the brave
 who lived and died, To all who bled for freedoms cause.
 we'll point with holy pride And leaning OCT each silent bed, as
 here we bend today We'll place our choicest garlands OCT
 their consecrated clay
 Women of the south
 If it were possible for the Lord Cad to reach a limit 10 His creative pow CTS. it came when He made the noblest the greatest, the best of earth-Wo- man This memorial day would never have been inaugurated had it not been for the soulful sympathy and sublime that has ever characterjzed and inspired our Southern women
 During the dark days of war she