The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1910-04-24

and by legislative enactment made the
Both day of each May public national
holiday. 1t was designated, however,
as Memorial Day." and was not called
Decoration Day"
The both of May can never be
adopted as the Decoration or the
Memorial Day of the extreme south
ern states for the reason that on the
goth of May the flowers have bloomed
and gone, and the day is too early for
those flowers that come later.
Several states have by state legisla-
ton fixed the 26th of April the date
first named by Mrs. Williams, as a
public holiday, notably Georgia and
Florida.
In Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia
and other of the more northern states
Of the Confederacy, day in May is
usually selected as Decoration Day..
The 26th of April is too early for their
flowers.
The Origin.
When Mrs Williams first suggested
! the idea, which will live always in the
hearts of cur people, north and south,
| the writer exclaimed, How beautiful
your suggestion is. Tell me where
| you got the inspiration"
Her face beamed with the love that
| filled her heart as she told me the
story, while the unrestrained tears
| filed her expressive eyes, that spoke
! so eloquently OF love for her dead,
! duty to the living, and unperishable
! LOYALTY to the memories of our cause.
! She said that when visiting her hus-
bands grave, and laying upon it the
| beautiful flowers of his own southland,
| she talked to her little daughter about
| her soldier father, she being too young
at the time Of his death to understand
! his services to his country.
| One day, while on a visit to her hus-
| bands grave, the little tot, now, her
! self, an agel, asked, pointing to a plot
where many hundred soldiers lay
| buried:
Are not those soldiers graves?"
! Yes was her mothers reply.
! Then" she said, why don't we put
| flowers On their graves?"
! Then and there, in the city of the
dead, at Columbus, Ga, was born the
| inspiration that led to the suggestion
and to the appeal from Mrs Williams
which follows. But the matter was
not left here. Day after day appeals
/ from Mrs. Williams's pen urged her
] suggestion upon the people of the
south, and Decoration Day, as we'll
| as the Memorial Day of the nations
was born through the inspiration from
! the little child of the dead soldier,
veteran of two wars.
The Appeal.
! On March 18th, 1866, Mrs. Williams
! first made public the idea Of "Decora-
/ ton Day." in a communication to the
/ Columbus. Ga, Daily Times, of which
! the opening paragraph is the amplest
/ %n- lNl -, IL 3D.
the first to publicly appeal for a Deco
ration Day set apart to honor the
memory of departed Confederate
heroes.
The ladies'" she wrote, ARE now
and have been for several days en-
gagged in the sad but pleasant duty of
ornamenting that portion of the city
| cemetery sacred to the memory of our
gallant Confederate dead, but we feel
that it is an unfinished work, unless a
day be set apart annually for its spe-
cial attention. We cannot raise monu-
! mental shafts. and inscribe thereon
their many deeds of heroism, but we
can keep alive the memory of the debt
we owe them, by defeating at least
one day in each year to embellishing
their humble graves with flowers.
Therefore, we beg the assistance of
|
the south to aid us in the effort to set
apart certain day to be observed
from the Potomac to the Rio Grande,
and to be handed down through time
as religious custom Of the south, to
wreathe the graves of our martyred
dead with flowers; and we propose the
26th day of April as the day. Let
every city, town and village join in
the pleasant duty. Let the
soldiers graves, for that day at least,
be the southern Mecca to whose shrine
her sorrowing women, like pilgrims,
may annually bring their grateful
hearts and floral offerings
There should be more than one
Mary Ann Williams Chapter among
the Daughters Of the Confederacy.