Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-09-13
COL. SMITH ADDRESSES
REUNION At JEFFERSON
Commerce Orator Speaks to
the Veterans of Jackson
County and the Ladies of
the jefferson Chapter

! The following address was delivered by
Col. r. L. ]. Smith, of Commerce, at
the Confederate veterans reunion at JEFF
| ferson:
Ladies of the Jefferson Chapter Of the
United Daughters of the Confederacy,
Veterans of Jackson County, and La
dies and Gentlemen: IL
In the busy present when the energies
of men are especially directed to the
| accumulation of great wealth and the
! settlement of those issues. POLITICAL A.
| nancial and otherwise, that naturally
| arise in an age so largely one of ma
! terial purpose, we are all more or less
| wont to forget the duty we owe to the
! memory of those who have gone on be-
| fore us: and to shirk the payment of
| the debt we owe to the past. Whatever
! may be the glory of the present, let us
not forget that in a large measure 1t
Ia but reflected glory, and that the
achievements of today. tomorrow be-
/ come the possessions of a past which
each day recedes further and further
from our lives, unless we grapple 1t
with a firm, determined grasp, and hold
! 1t in the storehouse of memory as one
of our most precious possessions. The
ease and comforts of our present lives
are not achievements OF the present day.
The very ground upon which We stand
was once the possession of the Indians.
1t was made ours by the bravery, the for
titlSde, the determination of those death
less heroes who braved the dangers of
| the trackless forests and won a conti-
nent to civilization and Christianity.
The palatial steamer that swiftly plows
! its way across the broad Atlantic, bear
ing in it's bosom every comfort and con-
venience for it's passengers is not the
| product OF today. 1t Is indebted for Its
very existence to the genius of Robert
! Fulton and all those for more than
I century have been giving to 1t all the
| improvements that have come from year
to year from the ingenuity of the in
ventors and the ceaseless progress OF
| civilization.
The wonderful facilities OF modern life
| in the realm of electrical development,
| in the realm of steam. in the realm OF
chemistry, in the realm of nature. all
have their antecedents, their beginnings,
and whether we wish to do so or not.
the fact remains that tribute must be
paid to Franklin and Bell and Watt and
Stephenson, and hosts of others, who
in bygone days laid the foundations for
all this marvellous development.
We live In the midst Of a splendid
Christian civilization, but 1t is not the
product Of today. 1t dates back to the
life of supreme loneliness spent amid
the hills and valleys of ancient Judea;
and embraces the self-sacrifcing acts OF
millions who from the days of the mar
tyred Stephens up to this good hour
have added by their lives of unselfish-
| ness and virtue to the product which
we now call civilization, and to which
! we should add our quota Of good deeds
for the benefit of those who will fol-
low us.
The beneficent influences of the past
cannot perish. True, the lovely flower
will fade but in the sweetest of per-
fumes II will live again. A great people
NAV pass from the stage OF action, put
all that was worthy and ennobling In
their lives will live after them In bet
ter and nobler race of men. Nations
rise, flourish and decay, but the great
and good things for which they stood
are everlasting.
Less than half a century ago, in SOL
emn protest against the violation of the
constitution of this country, in defense
of their homes and firesides, beneath the
banner of true liberty, a great people
threw down the gauge of battle. The
story of their matchless struggle for
southern independence is now part OF
history that shall never, no never, pass
away. How bravely they all fought
through the years of 81, 81, '6S and d.
with what more than spartan fortitude
they bore all the privaSons that came
70 them during those Dark and bloody
days, with what sublime devotion to
truth and duty they battled on and on
as the clouds of adversely gathered thick
and fast about them, as their beloved
battle flag, the stars and bars, SLOWLY
fluttered to it's final fall, and then how
patiently they toiled to rebuild their
wasted fortunes, how resignedly they
bore all the disgraces that were heaped
upon them by a victorious, but not
maCnanimous foe, in the dark days of
reconstruction; and then, at last, thank
God, how grandly they triumphed over
all obstacles and restored to it's pristine
glory this wonderful, beautiful, sun-kiss-
ed southland of ours, that we all love
we'll; this is the history that makes up
the past, Of which none of us are asham-
ed for which none of us need apologize,
the lessons which all of us should learn,
and the glory of which, again thank God,
is ours and forever more. We are wont
at times to refer to the Lost Cause"
Such reference is at a.. times inappro-
pirate. If the cause of the south was
really lost, then there is little need to
endeavor as these beautiful Daughters
of the Confederacy are now doing, to
perpetuate the story of how that storm
Graded nation fell. If 1t really be lost
cause, then let it rest beneath the sod of
oblivion.
The only justification for Confederate
monuments, such as the Jefferson Chap
ter of the Daughters of the Confederacy
will soon erect, is the fact that the
cause OF the south, the cause of the Con-
federacy, was not lost. 1t successfully
survived the horrors of that great en-
sanguined struggle, it lived beyond the
furling of the flags at Appomattox, IL
triumphed even in the hour of defeat;
and it lives today and will live tomorrow.
and spotless and pure it will greet the
Great Judge on that final day, for the
cause of the south was the cause of
truth; and truth can never, no never, die.
But alas, the southern Confederacy is
dead Its war drums will beat no more.
Its battle flags will never again fEant
proudly in the breeze. Its martial array
will no more sweep in victorious majesty
across the embattled field. The roar of
it's cannon, the din of its musketry. will
never again be heard. But the echoes
of the past will sweep across the chasm
Of the years; the visions of those victo-
rious legions in gray will come trooping