The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-05-05
WHAT A REUNION SHOULD Be

shreveport HlitN, JuQSt .oldSk VI ! al
lulah evinces his soreness and displeas.
ure over a criticism of The Cauca star
as to What Reunion Should Be,
The articlce by Judge Slack defining
"What a Reunion Should Be" was giver
publicity in the Richmond (Na) Times
Dispatch, and therefore being public, j,
subject to review and comment.
The allegation of 'unfairness by the
gentleman aggrieved can not be sus-
tanned, and in retort it may be said he
was unfair" in not having addressed
his complaint to The Caucasian, from
whose office he was compimented witt
marked copy Of this paper with il
view OF What Reunion Should Be. ;
Had Judge Slack communication
been of reasonable length, it would have
been reproduced i'll full as printed in the
Richmond TimesDispatcf.
Relieved OF verbosity and reduced tc
The meat on the bone, the gentleman
would eliminate the sponsors and maids
of honor from a reunion of Confederate
Veterans. He would have two, parades
one made up exclusively of the old
Gray Backs representing the past and
another of the up-to-dates of the new
generation. He says III explanation
"There is no objection to separate par
AIDES OF the younger generation-but the
commingling Of the older and newer
generations as part of the same parade
is certainly out Of taste A woman has
no more business as part and parcel of
such parade than She would have on
the firing line.
And i'll his wall of complaint he says !:
More interest would be taken if the
old soldiers had a fairer show As it is
the majority of the camp followers will
not participate in a mixed parade,
whereby they are simply side issue
and cut ridiculous figure when placed
Wis Wis to thessounger generation
CIT is unnecessary to waste space III
a criticism of these two paragraphs.)
In his article in the Richmond Dis
patch he queried; How can it be called
a veteran parade, when the veterans are
not the attraction Who is he who cares
to look on the grim old fellows OF four
decades ago, when he can feast his eyes
on the loneliness of the sponsors? What
connedion is there between grin1-vis-
aged war and these lovely representa-
tives of piping peace?'
The Caucasian revised this view i'll
these words Our comrade is right.
There is not an Old Johnnie Reb' if
worth the powder to blow him up, who
would not glorify in Southern beauty;
in the loneliness OF womanhood
A reunion without sponsors and
maids of honor Perish the thought!
A reunion without the sponsors and
maids of honor would be dull as in
sipid as soup without the meat and the
salt; as fiat as mint julep without the
spirit
In this statement of fact Tie Cau-
casian has received the commentator
of hundreds of its friends, ladies and
"Old Johnnie Rebs, and to say the
least, the construction of the Judge as
suggested i'll this quotation from his
article evidently he is not Southern
veteran or he would not have compared
the old soldier to soup without salt and
'Julep without the spirits is as ungen-
erous and as unfair as it is ridiculous
Even a forced application to the simile,
III contrast, will not Justify the implica- |
ton Of ridicule Of the Confederate Sol |
Older by The Caucasian, the record of
whose editor, is an open book, is subject |
to the strictest scrutiny and to cllal-
lenge by any Confederate Soldier whose |
enlistment, as volunteer. dates from
the second company which left the State
IN 1861 when hoy Of II years and be-
ing III active service on the fighting line |
to the surrender in 1865. Seriously, by |
whom are the old soldiers eclipsed in
these annual reunions Not BY the
sponsors and maids Of honor not by the
Sons Of Veterans, nor by the various
military and civic organizations which |
contribute to the glory of the parade,
but BY the Generals" the "ColoneIs,
the Majors" and few scattered Cap
fans with frills and feathers and gilt
tering uniforms prancing on caparisoned
steeds, the admired OF all admirers.
BY whom are these Confederate con-
ventlons and reunions monopolized? |
Certainly not by the sponsors and the
maids of honor Excepting the first
reunion held in New Orleans. at the
reunions or conventions held since then
little of practical value has ever been
accomplished, and the proceedings or
the programme. apparently cut and
dried IN advance, have been rushed
through, and III which, with some rare