Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1906-11-07


will,
And you may depend on it,
When she says she won't, she won't
And that's the end on it,"
But l had said would not and /
had TO reverse my decision. The
fact Is, riding around Richmond in
a style that would have been envied
by those who had all their lives
been accustomed TO "Chaises and
four had given me an idea that
a youth who could make himself
interesting to the fairest daughters
of Orange would possibly be able
to stand unabashed in the presence
of the presiding genius of the Con-
federacy. And so | accompanied
the ladies on their call to the
President.
was first introduced to the
Presidents Private Secretary, Mr..
Harrison, if l mistake not. 1t has
been long time ago, but, as l now
recall | introduced the ladies to the
President. Embarrassment had
taken its flight, as it always does in
the presence of the truly refined.
If YOU desire TO experience embar-
rassment, find yourself in the pres
ence of those who imagine that the
world would be unhinged if the
Almighty should relieve it from
their imposing forms. Not unfre-
quently, however, in the presence
of such opinionated, contempt is
excited and thus embarrassment is
put to flight along shorter lines.
In life, which is now measured
by scores of years. / have never
seen a man whose ease and grace
of manner rested with greater
dignity than upon Mr.. Davis. The
eldest OF the ladies' in the party
made little speech, when intro
duced to the President, that | can
never forget In language such as
cultured woman only can use,
she expressed her appreciation of
the wonderful ability of the great
man in whose presence she stood.
Her expressions of confidence in
IN all that had been done, by the
first man of the COnfederacy, were
received by bow whose elegance
and grace were Chesterfeldian.
While the ladies ware talking to
the President and the President TO
them, / having been by the Presi-
dent introduced to Mrs. Davis, was
charmed with her conversation.
The time was all too short. In less
time than | have taken to write
this, the ladies rose to depart. In
doing so, the lady whose first re-
marks gave inspiration to the in
terview, said something like this:
Mr.. President, have been deeply
concerned about the welfare of the
Confederacv. You have done no.
bly, in the management of its affairs
and | am satisfied that the same
wisdom displayed by you in the
future as in the past, will soon
result in placing the Southern Con-
federacy, in the family of nations. "
The speech, referred TO, embod-
led the sentiments of every South
ern heart, but Notwithstanding the
fact that He who holds the winds
and the waves in his hands and
molds the destiny of nations" has
ordered otherwise, there can never
come a time in the experience of
men now living, or in the expert
ence of generations to come, when
the deep devotion of Mr.. Davis
and his queenly wife, TO the for
tunes of the Confederacy, can be
forgotten.
They were representatives of all
that favored the cause of Southern
independence and there has never
been a particle of reason, on the
part of our Northern friends. for
censuring Mr.. Davis more than
for censuring the humblest private
who bore his breast to the storm
of battle in that great struggle.
Though too weak to resist and too
proud to repine" after Appomat-
tox, the men of the Contederacy
won a fame that will glow with
increasing lustre as long as their
marvellous bravery and unfinching
courage are recited upon the bril-
liant pages of history. The time
whose harvest was death, whose
vintage was blood" demonstrated
the valor of the South that our
Northern friends have not been
slow to appreciate.