The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-31

| ly reunion here. half hundred years
have gone since they looked into each
| others faces. The bugle has long since
sung truce to them Together they be-
| hold the bow of peace in the bended
heavens, and together they look upon the
| flag of our union as 1t blossoms with the
stars of reunited states. These war tested
veterans are no more divided into hostile
camps, no longer arrayed on opposing
sides Their guns have been beaten into
| the implements of peace, and against
each other they shall know war no more.
My friends, what a glorious reunion that
will be. The angels will smile upon that
gathering, and the God of our fathers will
bless and approve 1t.
The Final Decree
The south accepted in good faith the
final decree of the sword. When the
brave remnant of Lees army stacked
their guns at Appomattox. General Lee
plighted to the union not only his faith,
but the faith of every confederate soldier
and his son, their children and their chill
drens children, through all the years and
generations to come. When bleeding
Cuba was smitten sore with she rod OF
Spanish tyranny. and lifted her pitifGl
pleading eyes in hope to the Stars and
Stripes, l saw the old soldier of the blue
and the old soldier of the gray, and theii
tmarshaled beneath the same flag. | saw
fighting Joe Wheeler of confederate fame
and General Shafter of the union army;
F1tzhugh Lee, the cousin Of Robert E
Lee, and Frederick Grant, the son of the
union general to whom General Lee sur
rendered at Appomattox, all grouped Be-
meath Old Glory's sacred folds in the war
with Spain, and l said IN my heart. Land
of our fathers, through thy length and
breadth a loO1- tl1o1 RI ie
done and on thy proud form shines the
splendor of the sun; thine own children
with heads erect and light on all their
faces are happy in the blessings and ben
efits of a reunited country. With love for
our living and tears for our dead we put
behind us the things that divided us once
and glory in the beauty and strength of
the union ties that bind us together now.
This, thank God, IS our countrv-ours to
love ard chersh--ours to guard against
evils from within and ours to defend
from dangers from without. Let the he
rolc dead of the war between the states
the blue and the sray-seep each in the
mellow moonlight of his own proud memo
ries. Let the living join hands and hearts
about a common center for the good of a
republic. Let the north and south and
east and west all work together for the
good of EACH and each for the good of all.
Rich in the heritage of history, proud of
glorious future, the south consecrated
in the loves, traditions and incidents of a
chivalrous people reconsecrates her heart
her strength and her all to the highest
and best interest of our common coun-
try. She will guard with intrepid vigi-
lance the civic life and honor of the state
and follow faithfully wherever Old Glory
bares her beauty to the breeze. America
incarnated spirit of liberty Our hearts
and our hopes are all with thee. Here
as the dove of peace bearing the olive
branch of love and loyalty circles above
the living and the dead. let us pray the
God of our fathers to sanctify this feeling
of fraternal love and fellowship to the
everlasting good and glory of the repub-
lie. Here on this battlefield, incarnadined
with the blood of patriots north and pa
triots SOUTH let us in the language spoken
by the immortal Lincoln at Gettysburg,
50 years ago, resolve that this government
of the people, by the people and for the
people shall not perish from the earth.
Let us here declare anew that the well
fare of the citizens is the highest end and
aim of constitutional government. Let us
strive to make our government so good
and pure and just that every heart Will
love it. and every hand defend it. Let me
in conclusion employ the language of the
loved and lamented Grady of Georgia.
LET us resolve to crown the miracles OF
our past with the spectacle of republic,
compact united. indissoluble in the bonds
of love-loving from the lakes to the gulf
the wounds of war healed in every heart
as on every hill-serene and resplendent
at the summit of human achievement and
earthly glory. blazing out the pain ana
making clear the way up which all the