The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-05-09
THEY ARE PASSING AWAY.

q west--they read of the passing of the aged and gray relics of a wonderfully l glorious struggle. Continually they are called on in every community to go out and join fin paying the last hon | ors to one who has preceded them but few years. They drop as the with | cred Autumn leaves drop and their places know them no more forever. The sod covers them. the maurners. de- part and one more name is missing from the roll call.
 | Forty-eight years is but short pe- riod in the life of nations. but 1t marks long step In the journey of human life. and 1t has been forty-eight years since this loved Southland of ours was alive with excitement and burning with 6 patriotic zeal as pure and noble as ever fired the breasts of men. Every where young men. midie-aged men. and mere boys in many cases were crowding forward for a chance to en- | suasion. was needed in those early days to get recruits; rather 1t was of- ten a matter of making room for the overwhelming volunteers who were afraid that if they were not among the 1 drst to so to the front they would be | too late to take part in the fighting. to@& sxa were but boys in most instances when the war began. A living Confederate under sixty years of age is rarely seen among us now. and most of. those who had become settled men when the call 1 to arms came have passed away. Those southerners of the younger generation were burning with zeal and the fever | of battle. The cause and the occasion appealed to them with force that was irresistible and they obeyed with an alacrity only felt by the young.
 And 1t is mournfuliy pathetic now To l look back almost half a century to that time when the flower of the land, the hope of the country. and the high est type of Southern manhood vied | with each other in their anxiety to be first at the front. weeping mothers, gray-haired fathers. loving sisters and younger brothers--all were bidden farewell by the aspirants for fame and hshting. Few of them took thought of the seriousness of the approaching struggle. They only saw and heard the blaze and roar of battle. antici- pated their own active part in 1t. and believed that in a few months at mos. they would be returning to their homes covered with glory and rejoicing that they had been permitted to take part and perform a glorious duty.
 Alas. how different was the reality from the anticipatedf Many thous. ands of those brave youths who left their. homes filled with such bright hopes never saw those homes or their loved ones more. The dread sickle of disease claimed many; the gory fields of battle took many other thousands. They vent 'n to stheir Eraves in every part of the country and were no more At home were mourning parents, broth CTS and sisters. often bereaved wives and little ones who waited. sad-eyed and lonely. for the return of those whom they were never again to see on earth. 4re
 And there were thousands who re- turned to their homes maimed and crippled for life. Somewhere. on some field of battle. or in some hospital, they had left an arm or leg to bear mute testimony to their zeal and courage and patriotism, while they came back to bear as best they could the duties of the future.
 And the many thousands who were wounds returned with sad hearts to ruined homes, poverty-stricken fami- lies and future which offered hardly a ray of light to cheer them in their hours of disappointment over the fail . ure of the cause for which they risk ed their all. With a courage not excelled on any battlefield, they bent them selves resolutely to the task of build- ing up a desolated country and provid- ing for those who were near and dear to them and dependent on their eff forts.
 And the burden that fell on most of the Confederates after the war was more bitter and discouraging than was anything they encountered In camp or battle. It was a struggle against fa te and circumstances so disheartening that the wonder is that they endured and conquered, for they did conquer in most cases and sturdily maintained the honor and independence which have ever been the heritage of the true sons of the South. As they had won on many a hard-fought battlefield. so they won against adverse circumstances, gloomy conditions and against the very fates which seemed enrolled against them.
 But they are passing with pathetic swiftness. They go down on every hand and soon there will be none left to repeat the story of the most glort- ous struggle recorded in history. We see few of them yet as we pass