The Bryan eagle. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1880-1913, 1911-05-25
VETERANS RETURN FROM
CONFEDERATE REUNION
Speech of Young Lady Secured for
Macon the Next Meeting

the Confederate reunion at Little
Rock. The party was OF one opinion
in voting it the most pleasant and en-
joyable reunion they have ever at
tended, and their coat lapels were
loaded with badges and souvenirs of
the occasion These veterans who live
within our gates look younger, stronger
and happier since their season OF asso-
citation with former comrades, and the
memories of the war days that were
brought back to life by the tales OF
former deeds seem to have created
new life within their breasts.
Mr.. Gee stated to a reporter that
he was treated royalty by the people
of Little Rock. Their hospitality and
appreciation of the veterans were evil
denced on all sides, and Mr.. Gee said
their courtesy and kindness knew no
bounds
When the time came for the selec-
ton of a meeting place for next year
many speeches were made and argu-
ments submitted by representatives
from different towns and cities. but
Macon, Ga, won the honor and the
Bryan veterans are of the opinion that
it was accomplished by the speech
made by Miss Grace Lumpkin,
young lady of eighteen summers who
spoke in favor of her home lown.
Through the kindness of Mr.. Gee, who
furnished The Eagle a copy, we repro
duce the speech as delivered:
Most Honored Veterans, Ladies and
Gentlemen am a Georgia girl
have come to you with a message
from Georgia.
81 feel that must tell you how
proud | am to stand before you once
more! How my heart stirs and thrills
at sight of you!
Confederate soldiers, how | love
you, for | am your daughter, as are
many of these about you here, and
when you meet to tell the story of
your deeds, and live over again those
four years of want, and grief, and bat
ties, and graves, our place is by your
side, our duty to hold your hands in
ours, and catch into our souls the
story that has made your lives i'm
mortal
ITO hear you tell of the cause that
was right, is right now, and will be
forever right! and it is only on the
scroll of eternity that there will be
room to write the deeds of you battle
SCARED heroes of Robert E. Lee.
These daughters who love you so,
will build monuments as long as there
is one of US left who knew you-and
when granite and marble shall crumble
and fall, with the cycle of the years,
the women of the South will gather
up the dust, and mixing it into mortar
and cement wiz build again the stately
shafts, and will write again the
bravery OF the mighty dead. No con-
quered land ever built monuments;
and, Confederate soldiers, you were
mot conquered, but worn out with
conquering.'
and those brave and noble women
Of the Contederacy! our mothers and
cur granimothers How they gave
their husbands and their sons to the
cause! And you, | know, would teach
the children Of the present and the
future that the mothers and wives did
as much for the South, in the silence
of love. as did the soldiers who gave
up their lives. Many a mother and
sweetheart died of the wounds her sol
der received, and the fingers that had
swept the Lutte strings and the harp,
made socks for the bare feet of her
loved ones in war, and the hands that
knew how to rear soldiers from birth
made the bread that her soldiers ate.
And when the angel shall shout
Resurrection, million Southern
women will go up through the lilies
that bloom over them here, to live on
as the lilies of God
You soldiers suffered the crucifiX-
ion of saber, and shot and shell!
These women suffered Gethse
names travail of heart.
"As We look on you this hour, we
call to our vision the old gray jacket,
and we hear again the music of Dixie,
I'VE see you again, broken, wound
ed, muddy, dying, who marched
through every weather sweating, but
fearless; shivering, without trembling;
kept on your feet by trumpet call, by
fever and by the songs you sang DER
conquered armies! You marched and
fought fasting; you marched and
fought four to one, and only fought
for glory and dry bread! You followed
as proud a flag as ever waved DER
iron legions, and that flag is torn and
battlefront and folded forever!
Your nation was founded on truth,
your cause was eternally right.
Your flag was as stainless Of