The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1906-06-08
CONFEDERATE DECORATION.
DR.. steel's Pine Address at Opera
House-InterestinR Exercises.


the Confederate memorial exercises.
Members of the Warren Melon.
aid Camp assembled at the court.
house at 10 o'clock for the purpose
of participating. Then they formed
IN line and marched to the opera
house. There the ladies were as.
sembled. Or. Mckee presided and
the exercises were opened with
prayer by the Chaplain, Mr.. Cloar.
The first in order was the song,
fannie Laurie by Miss Wootson
Davis. Miss Cloar sang "The
Homespun Dress" She wa S
dressed in one of those homemade
frocks such as were worn in the
days of the civil strife. The song
was very appropriate i'd very
much enjoyed. Miss Martha Hef-
ley, with much skill, played piano
number, the very difficult and pop.
ular composition known as Mari
tana." Miss Mary Lawson pleased
the audience with her recitation.
After DR.. Steel's address Brownie
Dickson, little miss, sang Dixie, Z"
which captured the crowd. She
did it well, too, and was awarded
with bouquet of flowers. Lois
Carter, another little lady, repeated
her Thursday night success enti-
tled"Music on the Rappahannock.
This was followed by demonstra-
ton of applause. She responded
wit h Eugene Fields "Seein'
Things, also we'll received.
The address by DR.. Steel, former
pastor of McKendree Church, Nash
vile, and one of the foremost ora
tors of the Methodist Church, now
located at Ada, Ind. Ter, was one
of the best on that subject ever
heard in this or any other city. We
undertake to quote some extracts
and otherwise the substance of
portion OF this address.
After the address the Crosses
we're delivered. Mr.. t. d Council
was the only one of the number
present to receive his Cross. The
others were N. G. Bynum, T. L.
Bransford, c. e. Cobb, H. l.. Hart,
]. r. Oliver and John H. Hinemon.
An adjournment was then taken
for dinner, which was spread at the
The ladies Of til e
had charge of this and it
is needless to say it was one of
their very best. The repast was
immensely.
After dinner line was formed
with the Union City Concert Band
leading and marched to the Confed
crate Cemetery, where the graves
were strewn with flowers. In
number of these are the remains of
unknown soldiers and upon each
one of them lay floral tribute.
The service was conducted with
song and prayer, and then to the
beat of the drum the assembly
marched back to the city and dis
persed to meet again next year.
Dir. Steel's address in part is as
follows:
II salute with reverence those
before me this morning" T h e
speaker said he was not one of the
veterans, but it was not his fault.
He might have been but for the
fact that he was whipped under
peach tree behind the garden. He
made still another attempt, but
was caught, and then his mother
and General Forrest promised that
he might enlist at the age of 10.
II am glad to be with you. am
one at heart if not one of you.
DR.. Steel said that he was not con.
cerned about what history would
say of the Confederate soldier.
"Your presence is an evidence OF
the happy times in which we live.
Our flag as banner floats over a
happy people. The principles of
liberty and sovereignty make tree
people. think that 500 years from
to-day history will show that the
soldier fought for free
dom, not tor slavery. If the South
in its early history had been lis
tened to the institution of slavery
would not have existed New Eng
land imported negro slaves and
the traders of that country intro
iuced slavery into th United
States. General Gordon st a lie d
that so per cent of the Confederate
Army neither owned slaves nor
we're interested in the institution.