Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-04-08


no shower bath assure you. The or
Idinance used and the ordinances adj
ministered were loaded with shot and
shell, the missiles of death and hell.
If you were to ask me Of these old
heroes General Weaver and Major Ma
hon, I would say Of them that they
were the Modest Romans of us all. :
There were others of whom l would
like to make special mention, but
suffice to say that there were Germans
4 In that charge who stood as 1t were
like wall Of fire, and there were sons
] of Erin, too, who like their fellows In
following the Irish Duke of Magenta,
walked into the very jaws of death.
I Not long ago as was about to ad.
dress a graded school in North
i Carolina, the principal said to me, us
! your speech like cats tail?" How
is that said 1. EUR to the end" said
he. mo, sir" said I, my speech Is
more like dogs tail" "How So"
said he Bound to cur" said l.
Now if apologies were in order.
would say, IL I knew how, could de.
liver just as good an address as any
! body. However, be that as it may.
am frank in saying to you. that while
boy at school, was little fresh at
4 times, still never was freshman, and
never having been freshman, can
therefore lay no claims to ever having
| been sophomore. My old Alma
Mater being the old log school house
of sixty years ago, still represent a
very large and prosperous alumni.
| With due difference to those OF you,
| who after having served in Iowa regl-
ments, sought homes and lands and
| fortunes in other states and other
chimes, permit me to say that since
| the close Of that terrible conflict,
have travelled and traversed more than
three-fourths of the states and terri
tories of this great constellation of ours
and everywhere I have gone, have
climbed as it were to the topmost
peak Of the highest crag and cliff, and
there inscribed in burning capitals,
the name of Iowa, and then pointing
with pride said, there is the brightest
gem in the galaxy of all the states.
Iowa sits as royal queen In the sis
terhood of reunited union. Iowa is
the land of fair women and brave men.
Iowa is the Klondike Of America, the
land of hog and hominy.
have seen her cattle upon thou
sand hills and the righteous within her
borders have never been known to beg
for bread, and oft, as have looked
out upon her vast fields of grain and
growing corn, have almost wished at
times that. were a horse or Texas
steer.
am standing tonight within the
shadows of where spent my boyhood
days, and feel as II by some kind OF
inspiration, presumably by reason of
the renewal Of old associations. to-
gether with the formation of new &C
quaintances, that never before had a
higher conceptions or greater appreciar
ton of that sentiment SO beautifully
woven into song by the poet when he
said. There is no place like home"
The heroism of warriors may vanish
before the sunlight OF progressive
ages, the chiseled efforts Of the sculp-
tor may crumble into dust and find un-
disturbed repose in the valley of yes
terday, the pastor and the partisan
may lie buried together in the grave
yard of oblivion, but the matchless
lines Of John Howard Payne will be
sung throughout the ages, world with.
out end.
John Howard Payne never had a
home, never owned one, at the age OF
sixty-two he died in foreign land;
his body was subsequently returned to
this country and given Christian
burial and today all that is mortal Of
that great man lies confined within the
silent walls Of a windowless tomb.
His spirit set free, In some mansion on
high,
Mid the numberless stars of beau
tiful sky.
Speaking Of home, the soldier said:
Dreaming of home, dear old home,
home Of my childhood, and mother, Of.
when I wake tits sweet to find have |
been dreaming Of home and mother"
It was mothers tears and a moth.
er's prayers that encouraged you and |
I, while in the fore front of battle.
Speaking of mother, recently |
buried mine, ninety-two years old, and !
if am permitted to follow on and en-
ter "The Gates Ajar" and do not find !
mother there, do not feel that such a |
place would be heaven to me.
Historians have enshrined her mem
Dry in records that will never grow
dim with age; orators have |
painted her merit in pathos |
and in song; none have over
drawn. none have exaggerated Mother
is entitled to it all and more, and to-
night I weave naught but garlands OF
flowers sacred to the memory Of de-
parted motherhood
Thus far in my address l have, re-
Trained from using the words rebel
and rebellion, congressman the 61st,
but the 60 worst-having recently /
placed ban on the use of these terms.
An ex-confederate colonel recently said |
to me that THAT was the best legisla-
ton that the damned Yankees had en-
acted since the surrender"
Now, as for me, I believe in calling |
a spade by its right name, and I do
further say that am opposed to the
appointment Of certain men to place
and position. to the exclusion Of like
number of deserving men who wore
the blue. On this point speak with
clear conscience and no bad taste in