Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1910-04-10
TIE SOUTH MAY YET
SAVE THE COUNTRY,
Its Sons Can Be Relied on
in Time of Danger.
Especial to Times-Recorder.l

/ Su1CdSo' 1Il'1 april Judge Emory
Speer, of Georgia, 'onight responded
to the toast, ITO the men who sur
rendered and since then have carried
the flag and kept to the music of the
Union" at the annual banquet of the
Hamilton Club. He had a brilliant
audience and awakened great enthus-
iasm. In closing his speech Judge
Speer said:
The SciOns of American Patriots.
When the rolls of the thousands of
jurymen in my own district, embrace
ing three-fourths of the state of
Georgia, are called, name can scarce
ly be found which may not also be
found on the roster of the continental
line, or of the citizen soldiery of the
American revolution. Not all Anglo
Saxon, for sometimes the Macs and
the O's are so mum rous that one may
almost imagine that he is with the
brave Sarsfield on the walls of Lin
erick, or that he hears the cry of
Scotland Forever" or "Highlanders
Shoulder to Shoulder" which ranA
wherever the meteor flag of England
has been borne with the cross of bat
tie the world around.
Nor can our county afford to depre-
ciate or discredt in any manner the
warlike character, or the military
honor of the American states called
southern, and nothing could be more
affrontive to strong and fearless
population, who have in the clearest
way demonstrated their devotion tc
the flag, than any authoritative attempt
to sully that southern symbol, the
stainless sword of Lee. 1t would oblit-
crate in every such state the felicitous
influence of personal knowledge of the
genial, courtly and manly president,
the tender memories of the gentle Nc
Kinley, and all else that has been done
or attempted to cultivate fraternity be-
tween the states once discovered, dis
cordant and beligerent
The South to the Rescue.
Besides the modern development of
ocean transportation has made the At
lantic or Pacific not more impossible
to the gigantic armies of Europe, Or
the warlike hordes of Asia than were
the North Sea, or the English channel,
to the rude fleets of Hengist and
HORSE, or the galleys of William the
COnqueror Careless of the teachings
of history is he who does not discover
a possible danger from either quarter
to our future. The time may come
when the descendants of the soldiers
of Grant, with all the energy and dar-
ing of their heroic line, may be hard
pressed, and almost overborne by in
yading arm es of our country's foes.
The close and deadly fire of disciplined
and countless thousands, reckless Of
death as at Mukden or Port Arthur,
may threaten the nations life The
triumphant "Banzais" of frenzied
swarms may drown the huzzahs of the
fainting remnant who overwhelmed
and outnumbered yet rally around the
flag. Every blessing of free govern
ment, the happy homes of eighty mil
lions of people, the gentle, the helpless
idols of our hearts, our existence it.
self, may be in deadly hazard. But
what terrifying cry is this, which rings
above the crash of rife fire, and the
roar of cannon? What fierce horsemen,
on swift steeds, standing in their stir
rups, with flashing blades and desis-
i've shouts, are swiftly riding down,
slashing and pistoling through and
through the enemy's columns? What
guns bounding forward with impetu-
Gus speed, rushing into battery front,
Numbering and opening upon the
foe?
The Sons OF the Vets of 61-65.
/ Wlns.t long determined lines Of i'm
fantry running i;ghrlv r. the front,
throwing themselves bslore their
fainting brethren and pouring upon the
enemy a fire so true, so close, so de-
vastating that they recoil in disaster
and dismay? All, my countrymen, may
| it not be the Rebel Yell, now hailing
and saluting the Stars and Stripes?
The horsemel, the sons of the stern
riders of Forrest and Wheeler, of
Stuart and Hampton. The gunners OF
the. cannoniers of Pendleton and Alex
ander, of Pelham and Cabell, of Carl
ton and Wharton, of Morton and Wal
ton And the infantry from the loins
of Stonewall's men, themselves sons of
Morgan's men in Washington's army,
sons of the North Carolinians OF Hoke,
of the South Carolinians of KershaW,
of the Louisianians of Taylor, OF the
,Mississipians of Barksdale, OF the
Tenneseans and Arkansans of Gle
burne and Cheatham, of the Kentuck-
ians of Breckenridge and Lewis, the
Alabamians of Pettus and Forney, the
Georgians of Gordon, who fired the
last shot on this fateful day so many
years ago, and the Georgians OF Law
ton. who when all others had failed,
broke the regular army of the United
States on the bloody field of Gaines
Mill. And if the souls of the departed,
as some fondly trust, can take concern
in the affairs of this transitory life'
devoted in their mysterious realm 10
our country's honor and her flag, coln-
rades true as in the days OF their
youth, above the press Of battle the
noble. the serene, the angelic forms of
r 90 and Grant may thrill and elevate