The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1908-05-14
AN ELOQUENT TRIBUTE.
Memorial Day Address Before the BUCK
Kitchin Camp of Confederate
Veterans.
BY HON. {. A. DANIEL.


to oratorical talents, and whatever
may be able to say on the subject
which you, Confederate soldiers,
have already made glorious would
be at best but a poor effort compar-
ed with what you have been accus-
toned to hear from your many dis
tinguished and renowned tOWnsmen
from the present all they way back
through him in whose honor this
chapter is named. But however that
may be, l assure you that l hold it g
high honor and a rare privilege to
be permitted, for the first time il
my life, to address an audience OF the
county of my nativity, and | further
assure you that it was with much
pleasure, mingled with apprehension,
that | received the invitation from
the United Daughters of the Con-
federacy of Buck Kitchin Chapter
to extend to you an address of wei
come. Confederate Soldiers, it is
with pleasure, because was to meet
face to face with the representatives
of the last vestige Of an age which
virtually exists to-day only in history
and literature; because | wish, to as
sure you on the part of the United
Daughters of the Confederacy and
the present generation that we have
an abiding confidence in your brave
ry and your honor, and to tell you
that when the last Confederate Vet
eran has finished his march down
here and has pitched his tent "on
fame's eternal camping ground
then we shall continue to send our
children and our children's children
on the 10th of every May loaded
with the white flowers of spring
time to strew over his grave as fit
emblems of your honor and your in
tegrity, your love of country, and
your devotion to duty, your knight
hood and your chivalry.
1t was with apprehension that | re-
ceived the invitation, lest l should
find myself unfit to deliver to you
the great message that has been en-
trusted to me for delivery, and lest
l should find words, at best, entirely
inadequate to express the deep emo
tons that swell the bosoms Of those
who have entrusted this message to
me for delivery, which trust hold
as a sacred find, the delivery Of which
| esteem high honor.
But, Confederate Veterans, have
accepted the invitation and now il is
that | come before you with heart
filled with gratitude and love. Graf
itude to you for the heritage yol
have left us-an honorable heritage
untainted by corruption Of any kind
an heritage to which we shall poin1
posterity as one Of the proud heir
looms Of noble ancestors.
1t is with love that I come to you
because my kinsmen, my uncles, m.
| father, were Confederate soldiers
and, like you, were ready to figh
and to die in defense Of a cause
which they believed to be as just ant
as holy as the cause of Christianit,
itself. And thus, you and they were
engaged in the defense of common
cause with a common purpose il
view, and you were their comrade
and for that | love you.
Something more than seventy-fv
years ago, little upward of three
quarters of century, as DAME
Webster stood at the unwilling O
the Bunker Hill monument and say
before him small handful of mel
with tottering footsteps and gra,
hair dangling about their shoulders
small remnant of those men VIII
participated in the battle that wa
fought upon that very spot just fit.
years prior to that date, it seems t
me that then it was that DAME
| Webster uttered the most appropri
ate words that ever fell from tn
lips of the orator when he said
Venerable men, you have com
, down to US from a former genera
, toni" So, as l see gathered befor
me a small handful of men wit
, tottering footsteps and gray hal
, dangling over your shoulders bear
, ing evidence of the fact that yo
: stand near the veil that parts thi
life from the vast unknown, you me
: who participated in those scenes tina
took place little more than fort
= years ago, those scenes that trie
the souls of men, so, sirs, it seems
, me that I would do we'll should
only add to these words of Webster
: Venerable men, you have com
: down to us from a former gener;
/ ton" and that. generation repr'
sents the highest type of honor an