The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1912-01-12

speech IOllOWS.J
Professor Streator:-
1t gives me great pleasure to pre-
rent this flag to you and through you
20 the teachers, pupils and officers of
he Ocala High School. 1t is the
lift of DR.. James Chace, patriotic
md honored citizen of this communi-
", and a patron and friend of the
public schools.
Should we honor this flag, and
should we teach our children to hon
or it?
The glories that cluster about it
we're won in part by southern valor
and southern blood, and are ours by
right of Inheritance.
The hero of New Orleans, whose
memory this day commentaries and
whose intrepidity and valor gave ad-
ditional lustre to the folds of this
nag and made it respected among the
nations of the earth, was a native of
he south.
1t was southern arms and southern
valor that put stop to Indian hostil-
tiles, and made the settlement OF the
middle and western states and terri
tories possible.
The hero of "Lundy's Lane" who
gave immortal glory to our flag on
our northern frontier, was southern
born.
1t was southern men who led and
southern men who mostly followed
this flag to victory at Vera Cruz, Ger
70 Gordo, Pueblo, Churubusco, Cha
pultepec, and to the very gates of the
City of Mexico, a series of victories
almost unparalleled in the annals OF
war
1t was a southern man who conse-
Grated to freedom the foundation
stones of this government in that i'm
mortal paper, the Declaration of In
dependence, and, inspired by that
document, it was a southern man
Who led our revolutionary patriots
20 victory.
The greater number of the early
presidents and statesmen, who gave
direction, scope, permanency and life
30 our republic, were southern men.
Chief Justice Marshall and other
judges of the supreme court, who
gave wealth of intellect to that
- ToIv IL q
highest judicial tribunals in all the
world, were the gift of the south to
the republic.
So in all the glories and traditions
and achievements of the United
States, whether on land or sea, in
ield or cabinet, the south has COM
mon interest and a common heritage.
So, initiating the example and fol-
lowing the counsels of the early pa
triots, some of whom | have named,
we should regard ourselves as they
regarded themselves, not as southern
men, but as Americans only. This
is true patriotism, and without which
patriotism is meaningless.
1t is true that we had sectional diff
ferences which led to a sectional
war, the most desperate and terrific,
indeed, of modern times, but that
war having been ended and the diff
ferences settled by the ambitrament
of the sword, and settled for all time
TO come, the whole thing should be
forgotten, except as a horrible remi-
niscence.
The present nor the future should
be linked in bondage to the past.
That war grew out of difference
of constitutional interpretation-the
south believing that 1t was right in
its Interpretation and the north be-
lieving that the south was wrong,
and that it was right in its interpre-
tation, and neither side should be
ashamed of the valor or the courage
that was displayed and the hardships
endured in that great struggle, and
our respect and admiration for each
other should be intensified thereby.
IIfdnJ COuuUCI DIT AppOAAo1SO<>
was heroic, and l believe would have
been impossible under any other
form of government. 1t was the high
est illustration of patriotism known
to the human race. The magnanim-
ity he showed to the southern armies
and their leaders is without an ex-
ample in ancient or modern times,
and stands out like the shadow OF
great rock in weary land.
The ancients exhibited their cap
tives in cages through the streets OF
their principal cities, and after thus
humiliating them, consigned them to
torture and to death; in biblical
times, nothing was spared, whole
armies persisted, and women and
children were put to the sword by the