The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-02-08

~ SDSdh " hAAif
man and his peers mas
~ inst now told Us OF TINS
- servant of the people:
with the simplicity n DeaulS ol
,nadarned truth, the story OF MS ny
and service. Nor does this story ue-
light us less, because IT is a 1aHliial
part of our later history. Not a le"
have seen this ma este man moNilS
among US and leading us along the
high1r walks Of life. we say" nlnh a9
he came out from the storm OF war
between the North and the South, Sc
rene. undaunted, pointing the way OF
peace and safety and honor.
It all seems clear enough to US
now. We look back along the way we
have come, and we do not see -"
how we could have gone any other
way. But we are forgetting now DARK
1t was. Never, in all history. did
thicker darkness descend upon a p1o-
pie. and so suddenly. A president had
been slain; another, his successor,
stood before us impeached, distrustea
and despised by those who a placed
him in office. Our State governments
were dismantled AM our States be-
came military provinces. Our leading
citizens were in prison or their rights
of citizenship denied them.
Our e~mancipated slaves were APP
pealing to us. as never before, TO care
for them in their new relation to us
Our wasted fields and homes remalne1
to US. only to remind us of our former
estate and our wretched poverty. The
soldiers of the blue and the gray. look
ed into each others faces, aghaSt al
the ruin hey had wrought, Willia-
n ready to be frien Is, while the
foundations of the Tn on shook be
raath their faa4 with q fro m ar m NTe
ominous thar the shock OF battle. On
false step, and the ruined South with
blinded rage might pull down the pill
lars Of our government in the very
strength of its agony. We have called
these dark days Our era Of ~reconstruc.
ton. History will be true if it shall
write above this chapter, as it's title
the words of Thomas de Celano'
hymn of the judgment: Dies irae, die;
lila"
In these dark days. this servant 0
the people of whom We are thinkin
now, with love and gratitude, VAS O
those who saved us ana led US alon'
the way we have come. He was o
those h have given the r ives to tn.
service the people. He was O
those who loved the union Of theS
States, and h gave to it it's hol
upon our hearts. He was of thos
l. i6d rs hdNie3 lI1lU lar ulSCd1
seas ami made it's flag, not the ensigl
Of a world power of conquest, but
mission Of peace and good will to men
He was of those who sought Away
to ompose the quarrel of the section
that its angry contentious might no
DR. We US apart, ana he was of thos
who loved our Ola North State wit
an u~nspeakatle love, as the apple O
his eye. Gaston's hymn of deyotio,
RANG thr01Ch hjS haarf ona 7
was the refrain of his life and the in
heritance of his blood from Mecklen
burg. And SO it was that when h
heard the voice calling him which h
had needed always as the voice of hi
own mother, not doubling, he led h
sons, one by one, to the altar of sacri
fee, and bowed his own good. gra
head under the burdens that were lai
upon him.
Can we ever hin unmoved of thes
men of the South who turned, wit
Borrowing hearts, from the oil fla
to the defense of their homes? ]
there a heart SO hard that it does nc
burn with sympathy, when Lee
bidding goodbye to his old regimen
and coming home to V rginiao n
had crown old il the service whic
ne adorned as few have done an
which honored him above all other
what power could break the ties thu
bound him.? We knew hat no pol
teal creed, no party faction move
him It was the spirit of the South
the voice of Virginia call ne him t
her. and he could not disobey. Lii
him was he, whose lineaments the =
Vlnlty OF art has now shape fo. ,,
with unerring finger. and vh,e
heroic spirit speaks to us again fr,
the heart of the e,erl,stias rock oh
ed by the gan;as Or 49, 4r,o 49,
whose soul it has inspired.