The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-20
RARBI MESSING SPEAKS.
Interesting Exercises at Girls Hig
 SahOnI.


 Under the auspices of the Paul Hayne Literary Society, the birthday of Gen, Robert E. Lee was observed with ap- propriate exercises at 1:30 o'clock yes- terday afternoon in the auditorium of the Girls High School. The feature ot the occasion was an address delivered by Rabbi A. J. Messing who spoke for twenty minutes.
 The exercises were attended by all of the grades of the High School. Miss Edith Andrew, President of the liter | ary society. presided.
 l After Miss Andrew called the meet | ing to order, an opening chorus, sword of Lee" was sung. Miss Andrew then 1 in few well chosen words introduced Rabbi Messing as the orator of tlte oc- easion. pr. Messing spoke as foi 'ows; Several months ago a few American gentlemen were having patriotic eel lebration. One of them proposed this toast: Here's to America, bounded on the North by the great lakes. on the South by the Gulf, on the East by the lAtlantfc, ron the west by the Pacific. This was thought too conservative by | the next speaker, and he put it this way: Here's to our country, bounded on the North by the North Pole, on the South by the South Pole, on the East by the rising sun and on the West by the setting sun' But as the champagne went down, the patriotism went up and a third speaker arose and said, Here's to America, bounded on the North by the aurora borealis, on the South by the procession of the equinoxes, on the East by primordial chaos, and on the West by the Day of Judgment
 Tt Is the habit of loyal Americans to boast about their country. But in- deed every nation thinks its own land to be the greatest, its own heroes fore most in the halls of fame. To Frenchman there is no country like La Belle France and no mortal quite so God-like as Napoleon. The stolid German drinks his beer and toasts the Fatherland, challenging the world to show a second Bismarck. The Irish man is moved to tears at the sight of l the shamrock and thrills with pride at | the mention of Robert Emmet. And every true son of Britain is convinced | that no place can compare with the na- tive heaths of merry England and that no soldier is quite so renowned as Well lington, the Iron Duke.
 ''But above the grand. heroic names immortaIized in song and story, there shines today, with an undimmed luster | all its own, in the sunny skies of Dixie, the immortal name of Robert Edward Lee. And from millions of SoIthern
 hearts there rings the challenge of the
 poet:
 "'Ah, Muse You dare not claim | A nobler man than he | Nor nobler man hath less of blame, | Nor bIameless man hath purer name, Nor pure name hath grander fame, l Nor Fame-another Lee. 1 "Civil war Is at best a heart-rend- | ing word, and if we of the younger gen
 eration fail to realize all it means, we | can still feel what it must have meant
 to our fathers and mothers. In an
 hour like this the past rises up before
 us like a dream. We can almost hear the sound of preparation and see the flushed faces of the men. There is Lee and Johnston and Stuart; Forrest
 Wheeler and Lomax; Clayton, HoltZ-
 claw and Clanton. We see them all as
 they march proudly away under Haunt
 ing flags, keeping time to the wild
 grand music of the war. And then we
 see the soldiers in hospitals of pain. in
 ravines running with blood, in furrows
 of old fields. We hear of them pierced
 by ball and torn by shell in the trench | es of the fort. We are at home when
 the news comes that they are dead