The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1908-05-01
IN MEMoaIAM
Continued from Page Three.)


may live. So in a defensive war,
war for the protection Of the home and
fireside, FOR the preservation Of the
higher ideals of government, for the
survival Of the great principles IF free
dom, We have the divine sanction, and
the larger the sacrifice the more price
less the boon.
The spirit that animated these men
90 lay down their lives, IL necessary,
for a principle, which this monument
is intended to consecrate, in the prov
idence Of God, still survives.
That war was for the exercise Of
the reserved rights guaranteed TO the
states under the constitution.
The exercise of these rights by the
governors OF the southern states at
this very time, in a larger sense and
a more wholesome manner than was
ever before performed, and the very
erection OF these monuments to our
sainted heroes all over our land are in
themselves proofs that those Of us now
living enjoy larger measure of free
dom and a greater tolerance Of opin-
ion than that possessed by any other
nation at any other time in the
worlds history, and these truths tell
Us that the war drums of 1860 did not
beat Tn vain.
Largely by virtue Of that struggle
this nation is stronger today in all
the cardinal virtues ordained in its
organic laws than it was when our
forefathers consecrated it to the
world as a child of freedom.
And in IL all the women played a
part, a large. a most conspicuous parr.
Their part has been beautifully en-
shrined IN verse:
Let me read you a story that is old,
very old,
A story that has often been told and
re-told,
And yet is as bright and as new as
the sun,
Or the dew in the spring when the day
is begun.
IT'S the story Of women, fair women,
and true.
Whose home in the southland, where
skies are so blue,
Where the flowers bloom always, the
birds ever sing,
And rewards are enjoyed that virtue
can bring.
The south in her glory-before the
long war
Came 20 scourge her and leave her
with wound and with scar
Was blessed with men gallant and
women most fair,
Whose home was their watchwOrd
and loved ones their care.
When war came. and outrage, who bid
the men go
And stand for their country in veal
dllQ III WOt.
Who waited and prayed for their low
ed ones away.
Consumed with their anguish and
longing each day?
Twas the women. Cod bless them.
they stood gor tie right
The men died n glory in the heat of
the night:
But the women. sore travelled in sor-
row and want
From the door fought the wolf, so
grim and so gaunt
Yet never a word OF complaint could
one hear,
From privation and want shed they
never a tear,
And they worked for their own. But
their warriors bold
Urged 10 fight for their homes, to have
and TO hold.
When the carnage was over and sol
diers came back
To the remnants of homes in the enc
my's track
The women! May blessings from the
hand OF God fall
On the women who met them, and
welcomed them all.
We greet you, oh, women! We South
rOns today,
AS the queens of our homes, our work
and our play;
For truth and for purity. for virtue
and love,
We bless you and honor you, all else
above.
DR.. Nunnally is president Of the Co.
lumbia College at Lake City. and is a
Confederate veteran, having partici- |
pated in the heroic struggle from the