The Tupelo journal., 1913-05-16
The Old State Capitol.

AoPShO
before the recent State Convention.
When it was suggested to me that
my paper for this evening be on Our
Old State Capitol, and Why 1t should
be Preserved, l felt a little timid in
undertaking this subject in the face OF
so much, and so much good that has
already been said. So it is not my
purpose to give you any lev thought
upon the preservation of Our Olo
Capitol of which we. as U. d. C's. are
SO greatly interested, but to sing the
old song over again, that it must and
shall be preserved, that is if diligent
work, as first suggested by our Organi-
cation, is to bear good fruit. The U.
D. C. were the first to advocate the
preservation of this building, and for
years have cherished the desire.
At the State Convention held at
Yazoo City in 1908, a resolution was
adopted looking to the restoration Ut
the old building and a committee was
appointed called The Old Capitol Com
mittee, which has been earnestly at
work all these years, trying to create
an interest and an influence for its
preservation. Our State President said
in her most splendid article or this sub
ject which appeared some months since,
that the Daughters of Confederacy have
been called an organization of senti-
ment. and we find that the preservation
of what has been of worth in the max
ing of history has always been a mat
ter of sentiment. Sentiment is the wine
of life. We instinctively turn to what
has been that we may more fully APP
preciate what is. The intrinsic value
of an engagement ring may be of no
moment-but who is so Indifferent to
the flowers that made fragrant and
beautiful the ''halcyon days of youth
as to despise that ring? That band of
gold is the repository of the deathless
memories of yesterday.
The life of a people is measured by
what they have done. What they have
done is told by what is preserved. The
heritage of the son is the fruit of the
sire. A nation without a history is
like a man without a country. What
we preserve of the past is converted
into mileposts of the nation.
All animal life walks in the change
less path of yesterday. The first beaver
that built a dam was as wise as the
last will be. The untutored savage
treads only the path of tradition. Prog
ress is practically unknown. Senti-
ment uses the measuring rod. She goes
to ~history-the record of the ages. The
future is a sealed book. She archives
of a nation contain the fountain of
knowledge that makes fresh and strong
our youth. Standing on the sacred sol
Of past deeds, walking through the
halls of oratory, exploring the hooks
of history, making places-these things
give strength and stability to what we
are undertaking now. Our old capitoI
should stand as a monument to the
men who figured largely in the develor.
ent of our State and Southland. We
tell our children the story of the ad'
venturous DeSoto, of Joliet and Pere
Marquette, we point out with pride
how, through La Selle and Tonty de-
scended to the mouth of our great river
and claimed all the territory, calling it
Louisiana, by repeated settlements anC
heroic labor our Fathers made possible
what we enjoy. We even preserve ir
story and song, and in the name of oul
cities, rivers and villages, the names OF
Indian tribes, the original inhabitants.
is it not of equal Importance that we
preserve some of the important build.
ings that mark the progress of oul
own people? Surely what we have &C.
complished is of as much Importance
as what was done by the aborigines,
and their immediate ancestors. 1t may
be true that '.Dreams are the children
of an idle brain"-but Shakespeare
would have been the last person to have
despised concrete expression of past
deeds. Esau despised his birthrlght,
but there came a time when even bit
ter tears would not bring him the
'loved and lost!
1--WE figure to ourselves
The things we like, and then W. buio
it up
AS chance will have it, on the rock OF
sand:
For thought is tired of wandering o'el
the world,
And home-bound fancy runs her bark
ashore!"
If we destroy our old capitol we have
-. ~ - kl.--- ~-~ IL --- ~