The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-10

Ito hold up the glories of our dead' and to formulate plans for future good. Of the chapters now existing all werre rep resented save Tuskaloosa, which, though unavoidably absent, sent reports.
 In Montgomery the month of April Is dotted all over with Confederate memo ries. It was in April that her great and historic society, the Ladies' Memorial As sociaton, was organized on the 18th day of the month in 1866. It was 32 years af- ter this, on April s. 1897, that the State Division, United Daughters of the Con federacy, gathered. The former was or ganized Ito devise ways and means for raising funds to have the remains of Ala bama soldiers now lying scattered over
 the various battlefields of the war col lected and deposited in public burial grounds or elsewhere where they may be saved from. neglect" The stated object of the latter were social, charitable, his torical and memorial" To this end 1t will endeavor to draw into close bonds of friendship all of it's members and by unity of action to accomplish better re- suits in commemOration of the heroic deeds of our Southern dead to perform the sacred duties of charity to the needy soldiers of our Lost Cause and their fami- lies; to unite with our Confederate Vete- rans in obtaining an impartial history of the struggle, that the. children of our Southland may be taught to reverence the brave men of their own families who laid down their lives in defense of the purest principles of patriotism in 1861 -6o.
 Although it was 32 years since the loving ones with tender hands and aching hearts and empty purse had gathered the bones of their dead, and although to those who had suffered and lost that past was very near and very real, yet there was no spirit of bitterness in word or action for those on the other side who wore the blue-indeed, not even one bitter thought. The glories of our own were so strangely bright that it illumined all things and left no place for shadows.
 It was brilliant morning-one of those sparkling mornings of April known only to South Alabama. I remember how beautiful Montgomery was with her lovely homes and her wealth of Southern bloom, how fragrant the very air of roses and lilies, and the pungent odor, of pnks and violets and every old-fash- toned flower of the early gardens in their riotous blossoming sweetness. TO the writer was deputed the pleasing duty of escorting to the place of meeting Mrs. Rose Garland Lewis who was to reply to the address of welcome. I remember we'll her consternation, for she was not notified of this honor until the night she reached Montgomery, and, as we drove to the rendezvous, she declared that the beauties of the morning were dimmed, for she kept wondering if she were equal to the occasion. But the daughter of Chancellor l.. c. Garland and the widow of President B. B. Lewis need not have President B. B. Lewis need not have feared. The Council Chamber in City Hall, our place of meeting, presented an animated and unusual appearances, for though the women of the South had for more than 30 years been conducting so- cieties, it was in their own sweet unpar- liamentary way and the younger genera ton were very new and very timorous in their feelings concerning the big sound of State organization. But lead CT was in the chair, one look at her striking personality gave confidence and banished timid fear, for each felt un- bounded confidence in that leadership. The following named delegates were en- rolled as active organizers of the divi- sion: Birmingham-Mrs, Joseph F. Johnston, Mrs. B. B. Lewis, Mrs. Annie Feagin; Auburn-Mrs. McKissic, and Mrs. - Mell Camden-Miss Sallie Jones' Mrs. w. r. Spurlin; Cradle of Confeder- acy--Mrs. c. A. Lanier Mrs Martin Baldwin, Mrs G. w. Craik, Mrs. Paul Smith, Mrs. Harris Gunter, Alternates-- Mesdames E. T. Ledyard, Chappell Cory, J. s. Wilcox. Mary P. Watt Miss Airing ton; Selma--Mrs. A. H. Cawthorn; So- phia Bibb. Mrs. Thomas G. Jones, Mrs.