Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1912-11-15
A TEXAS EDITORS TRIBUTE.

ginia," from the pen of Judge
Norman G. Kitrell, ST.:
| In every age of the world
men have by natural and in.
evitable intental suggestion as
Isociated with great deeds the
places where these deeds were
wrought, and many a place pos.
sessing within itself and by rea-
lson of its geographical or topo-
graphical environment no special
Icharm has become historic and
hallowed bee ause of the needs
and incidents of which it has
been the scene, and by reason of
which it holds peculiar place in
the minds and memories of men.
The world has been made bet
ter by the cherishing of such
sentiment, lust as it is made bet
ter by the influence of all these
things which have within them
the elements of the historic and
sacred.
The land of Palestine is ex-
ceeded in beauty by many other
lands, but through all the ages
yet to come it will be in the eyes
of men the Holy Land, because
it is a land touched by angel
footsteps and the land of lowly
Horeb and towering Carmel, OF
Bethlehem. of Gethsema ne and
of Calvary.
The Valley of Virginia can
claim nothing of divine presence
and association. save that in all
that is heroic and uselfish and
which is tinged and touched by
elements Of service and sacrifice
for duty's sake, there is the
elements of sacrifcial love. Yet
it is a realm covered with glory
as with a garment.
Apart from all association with
the deeds which have been en-
acted there, and putting aside for
the time all consideration of the
splendid civilization and social
system which reigned there, it is
a land of rare Typographical and
scenic beauty, and it is not sur
prising that the pioneers who
invaded the primal forests of
the peninsula nearly 800 years
ago pressed toward to occupy it
in that morn of its virgin beauty.
It's towering mountains looked
down upon far-spreading valleys
of marvellous fertility, and were
dotted with forests of stately
beauty and inviting shade, and
through every vale and valley
there could be seen winding like
, threads of shining silver rills
and branches and springfield
streams surging their way to
the sea.
A Christian civilization reared
according to the highest stand
ards and illustrated in men of
courage and culture and intellect
and all the elements of manhood
in its highest interpretatio and
in women lowered with every
social and moral virtue. grace
and steady growth of many days
and years, and is the fruit of
devotion to lofty idealsIand stand.
ards.
History attests that liberty
found her most ardent lovers and
her most valiant defenders
among those who were reared
and lived among the mountains,
and when the tocsin of war SCUM
ded in 1861 the world beheld a
most striking confirmation of
this truth Of history.
The sons of Virginia who
dwelt in the valley needed no
second call to arms. They heard
and responded to the first their
mother sent forth, and never since
men in the remote and misty past
| first did battle did such an army
gather under battle flag as that
which, under the leadership of
Lee and Jackson, swept up and
idown and over and across that
VALLEY which slumbers in the
shadow of the Alleghenies and
the Blue Ridge, writing its
achievements in blood on his
tory's pages and winning a fame
as fadeless as the stars.
The peace, the happiness. the
contentment of the fairest. good.
Hest land that heavens sunshine
ever kissed was rude]y broken by
} wars dread alarm, but the mer
and women who dwelt there
paused not to ask the reason OF
count the cost.
They heard of the tramp o.
hostile and invading legions, ant
there was no need of judicia
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