The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-06-09
MABRY'S ADDRESS
1
LCVEFUL TRIBUTE TO HEROES
OF THE SOUTH
SOUTHERN WOMANHOOD

SOUTHERN WOMANHOOD
The Speaker Tuned His Lyre to Mem
ories Dear-His Audience Entranced
Over His Phrasing and Patriotic
Eloquence
The address of Hon. W. A. Mabry,
delivered on Jefferson Davis Memorial
Day, June 3, in the court house having
been omitted, unavoidably, from the re-
port of the exercises, is given space as
follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen: | appreciate
in the fullest sense the honor of being
placed upon your programme to address
you this afternoon 1t seems to me,
however, that on occasions of this kind
the proper persons to speak are those
who wore the gray, and helped in the
battle of that great struggle, the Civil
War, for they know too we'll the true
story of their hardships and their strug-
giles in that great conflict
But being the son of one of those
who marched under the banner of the
Confederate States, feel deep inter
est in the history of tat war and our
soldiers of the Southland, and | shall
ever cherish in memory the fondest re
collections of their heroic efforts.
Memory is a remarkable faculty of
the human mind: on its invisible leaves
are transcribed all the varied scenes of
each eventful lifetime. Its retentive inn
pressions portray all the lights and
shadows, the sunshine and the storm
clouds, the panoramic scenes of JOY and
sorrow, of hope and disappointment that
crowd into the series of years Its
vistas are never tinged with
forgetfulriess, but glow and radiate and
shine with the beauty and hues of the
rainbow tints. or are illumined with the
binding flashes of electricity darting
from the lowering. storm-clouds that
gather along the highway of every NOR
tai life. OH incomprehensible mystery
of the finite being Oh. indelible faculty
that is a portion of the finite man!
-
FRUITS OF HEROIC DEEDS.
Today, amid these scenes which are
the reflex of a memorable past are the
fruits of heroic deeds and the results of
the gigantic struggles, which the lapse
of nearly half a. century has transcribed
in heroic and indelible chapters on the
pages of an immortal history. History
truthful and impartial is the transcript
OF events of human life, of the acts and
deeds of the individuals and nations 1t
is written daily in flaming colors; paint
ed in softer shades, beautiful and en-
trancing, amid scenes of wfite-winged
peace; or startling, like the lightning
bolt from the bosom of the storm cloud
of wars horrid front
Today scenes, like these, enacted
werever Confederate warrior rests in
deaths peaceful slnmber all over this
beautiful Southland and the North as
well, are but the history of the mighty
combats of. the giants in the sixties.
After lapse of nearly half century,
the generations born since the close Of
that struggle pay tribute to its stern
realities and retain unsullied and intact
its memories, its nobility of purpose,
the devotion to principle, the preserva-
ton of the vital living power of Ameri-
can liberty.
The minds of men and women who
were not participants in that tremen-
ious conflict no doubt fail to compre-
hend or realize the mighty import of
hat combat of the American giants, be-
cause words are inadequate to convey
4 title of its realities
Ask the remnants of the South's bat
fling hosts, with their whitened locks,
arid cheeks furrowed by the fingers of
time, of their experiences of those trying
scenes.
THE SPIRIT OF WASHINGTON
They viii shake their heads and tell
Tou there are no words of language suf-
iciently strong, no expressions suffi-
,iently strong, no expressions sufficiently
vivid to convey its thrilling story; their
Eyes may sparkle and glow like brilliant
,oals of FIRE, unearthed from the ashes
# time as they recall its varied pictures
,f fierce struggles, or tears course down
heir cheeks as its pathetic incidents are
recalled from the misty past.
Turn back memory's folded pages
behold the youth of the South, noble
ions of revolutionary sires, gathering to
meet battles storm They are descend
lnts of the first American opponents of
he tyranny of kingly oppression. In
heir blood coursed the crimson tide of