The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1914-02-06
WHEN CROSS WENT DOWN
Henry w. Grady's Graphic Sketch
OF the South at the
Wars Close.

"hI Slpbo
"Let me picture TO you the foot.
sore Confederate ssldier, as, button
ing up his faded gray jacket, the
parole which was to bear testimony
to his children of his fidelity, he
turned his face southwark from APP
pomattox, in April, 1865. Think Of
him as ragged, half.starvcd, heavy
hearted, enfeebled by want and
wounds, having fought to eXhaus-
ton, he surrcndcrs his gun, wrings
the hands Of his comrades in silence
and lifting his toar-stained and
pallid face for the last time to the
grays that dot old Virginia hills,
pulls his gray cap over his brow and
begins the slow audpainful journey
What does he find-let me ask you
who went to your homes eager to
find in them the welcome you justly
earned, fun payment for your four
years sacrifice what does he find,
when, having followed the battle
stained cross against overwhelming
odds, dreading death not half so
much ms surrender, he reaches the
home he left so prosperous aud be-
autiful?
"He finds his home in ruins, his
farm devasted, slaves free, stock
killed, his barns cupty, his trade
destroyed, his money worthless, his
social system, feudaI in its magni-
ficence, swept away; his people with
out law or legal status, his comrades
slain, and the burdens of others
heavy upon his shoulders. Crushed
by defeat, his very traditions are
gone. Without money, credit, en-
ployment, material or training; and
besides all this, confront with the
greatest problem that ever met hu.
man inteligence-the establishment
Of a status for the vast body Of the
liberated slaves.
"What does no do-this hero of
u
sit down in sulIenness aud despair?
Not fOl Il day. Surely God, who
has stripped him of his posperity
inspired him in adversely.
"As ruin was never so Overwhelm-
ing, never was restoration swifter.
The soldier stepped from the tren-
ches into the furrOw, and fields that
ran red with blood in April were
green with harvest In June; women,
reared in luxury, cut up their dress.
es and made brooches for their
husbands, and with a patience and
heroism that fit women always as a
garment, gave their hands to work.
II see IA South, the home of fifty
millions of people, who rise up every
day to call from blessed cities, vast
hives Of industry and thrift; her
countryside, the treasury from
which her vast resources are drawn
her streams vocal with whirling
spindles; her valleys trampled In
white and gold of the harvest; her
mountains showcring down the mu-
sic of bells as slow moving focks
and herds 90 forth from their folds,
Der ruler honest aud her people Low.
ing, and her homes happy and their
hearthstones bright and their waters
still, and their pastIes green, and
her conscience clear; her wealth
dliTused aud poor houses empty; her
churches earuest aud all creeds lost
in tlp gospel. Peace and sobricty
walked hand in hand through her
border; donors IN her homes; up
rightuoss In her midst; plenty in
her fields; straight and simple faith
in the heart, OF her sous and daugh-
tiers; her two races walking togeth.
or III peace ~ d cOrteutmcut; sun
shine everywhere ana all the time,
aud night falling on her gently as
the wings of tire unseen dove"