The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1909-05-13
Memorial Day Then and Now.
News and Obseryer, MAY 9th

News and Observer. May 9th.
Tomorrow the patriotic women OF
the State will decorate the graves of
the men who followed Leland North
Carolina robbed the cradle and The
grave to send more soldiers 10 the
Confederate Army than it had men
qualified to vote At the same time
in city and in town and in village
some soldier, or some speaker who
honOrs the brave men who wore the
gray, will tell the story OF the herOism
of the brave men who did not finch
before cold, hunger, hardshipS. want
in their families, or even death itself.
Raleigh is fortunate in having ~ it's
Memorial Day orator, Col. Robert E.
Lee, of Fairfax county, Virginia. a
grandson Of the great Lee whose
noble name he worthily wears. He
will have Hn audience who will hear
him for the Cause. for himself, and
the stainless name that is above
every other name of mortal man in
the South.
The Southern people on this Memo
rial Day should recall the sturdy viz
tues of the men OF the South who dur
ing War and Reconstruction were
true to their convictions and their
high ideals. In the days OF larger
prosperity the lowering of ideals is
preached in the nam9 of being "prac-
tical' and the surrender of convir-
tions On the plea that only by get ting
wealth can the South get power. To
these voices that would make the men
of 1910 unworthy OF the men of 1860
the South must turn n deaf ear. They
would honor those Southern men
most who have not been guilty OF
"fawning" in order to get thrift. "
The Younger men of the South, while
forgetting past bitterness, should
have as their chief ambition holding
steadfast to the virtues that called
forth Senator Hoar's eulogy OF the
Southern character upon the occasion
OF his visit to Charleston shortly be-
fore his DEATH
The Rutherfordton Sun. edited by
Capt. W. T. r. Bell, a knightIy Con-
federate soldier. closing an editorial
on the lessons of Memorial Day. said
'these old soldiers are u rebuke to
the spirit of disparagement and apol-
Ogy, because of their scOrn of place
or power at the cost of humiliation
or dishonor. Their past is safe-the
present secure" He then recalls two
extracts thar "bring wildly before us
the contrasts presented to these hon
Ored survivors,"
THEN.
Let me picture the foot-sore Confed-
crate soldier, as buttoning up in his
faded gray jacket the parole which was
to bear testimony to his children of his
fidelity and faith, he turned his face
Southwark from Appomattox in April,
1865. Ragged. half-starved, heavy
hearted and enfeebled by want and
wounds, he pulls his gray cap over his
journey. He finds his
home in ruins, his farm devastated his
slaves free, his stock killed, his barn
empty, his trade destroyed, his money
worthless; his social system swept away;
his people without law or legal status;
his comrades slain, and the burden of
Others heavy on his shoulders. Crushed
by defeat, his very traditions gone; with
out money, credit, employment or ma
terial training. Henry Grady, 1886.
NOW.
"We do not come as paupers, Mr.. Pres
ident. Last year the South added 81
800, 900 per day to the wealth of this
Nation. We made 100000 bales of
cotton, and ourselves used 2,75O,OOO of
these bales. Some 9,346,OOO spindles
made sweet music in our mills; Il ,OOO.-
600 tons Of coal were contributed to
warming our country, and 100000
barrels OF oil added light to our Nation
Eeighty per cent. of all the cotton raised
in the world is raised in the South; rs
per cent. of all the tobacco is likewise
raised there. One-third of all the stand
ing timber comes from our section. and
we raise % per cent of all the peanuts of
the whole world. For five years the to-
tai output OF the value CT the Southern
cotton crop has exceeded the total out
put OF the gold OF the world. 1895. OOO.-
900. '-Governor Glenn, Conference of
Governors, 1908.
KITCHEN FLOORS.
Make kitchen floor new. bright and
durable at hardly any expense Get a
can OF the l.. & Nj. Home Finish Floor
Paint from Melville Dorsey Paint the
floor in the morning. 1t will dry hard
enough over night to walk on, and
make your kitchen bright and cheerful.
DeWitt's Litele Early Rsers, the famous
little liver pills, small, gentle and sure Sold
by all druggists.
In his memorial day speech at Win
ston-Salem, Capt. Frank Robbins
said: Boys, wish CIV Watson could
be with us today" That wish was
shared by every Veteran present, and
every good citizen of North Carolina
will hope that Mr.. Watson will soon
be restored to perfect health, again
to take active leadership in patriotic