The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1914-09-24

woodrow WllSOn-HOkG Smlth-GGOr-
gia Railway and Power Company
combination, people have been writ
ing to me from all over the South.
l wish to thank them, through the
Jeffersonian, in all the ways | know
how and more warmly than weak
words may convey. My heart has
been touched to it's deepest depths
by the tender consideration which
has prompted the offer of a fund to
be placed at my disposal for the
benefit of myself and mother, by my
noble hearted Southern countrymen.
l could not accept such fund; nor
would my mother. But while I have
the power to remember anything, I
shall remember, with a gratitude
which will outlast time, that South
ern chiyalry has not been indiffer-
ent to the fact that l have been
bounded out of the South by a Presi-
dent who calls himself Southern
gentleman. Sentiment is not dead
in Dixie, thank God! The pitiless
pursuit of me by Woodrow Wilson
has touched no responsive chord in
the great heart of the South. This.
knowledge makes it possible for me
to more philosophically endure the
hardship and the suffering inflicted
by man high in place and power;
while he is tenderly protecting in
important Federal Offices, lusty
Southern negro men.
The recent primary in Georgia re-
minds me of a story told me in
gentler days of peace, by a great
Captain who bore the banner Of
stainless memories through the
storms of four terrible years.
In the beginning of the hostili-
ties one Of the most important
strategic points for both armies was
recognized to be the Virginia PENN
sula, between the York and James
rivers. And the old wharf over
which CORVALLIS had trod became
the landing place of the Southern
hOrdes in the early Sixties. Here,
the little Confederate force which
was referred to as "the school boys
from Richmond" was expected to
hold the Virginia Peninsula against
the army and navy of the United
States. And for more than a year
they held the point and met and de-
feated the Unions best equipped
army commanded by it's foremost
general.
The piety of the Confederate SOL
dier has frequently been remarked
upon. Every gray-coated hero who
marched to the front in the Sixties,
was sure that God was on his side.
Equally confident of Divine favor
were those whose hearts beat be-
meath the Union blue. The negroes
held to the view, all through the
fighting, that it was just white
mans war in which Jehovah was
not mixed up at all. IN the cam
paigns on the Virginia Peninsula
the colOred servants frequently took
part in the battles and skirmishes.
One day brick engagement was
going on and a colored cook who
had often participated as member
of one Of the Howitzer batteries,
was heard to use an oath. He was
reprOVed by religious minded dar-
key: "You had better be prayin' to
God instid oh sWearin'." FLUSH, Mig,
ger! God hain't got nothin' to do
wild dis hyer wah. Dis am a white
mans fight dis am, sho' as you is
baWn."
I can we'll believe that God didn't
have much to do in the rounding up
at the ballot boxes in Georgia in the
recent primaries. 1t was not the
Georgia of Tombs and II II and Ste
phens and FELTON, which spoke at the
polls on the 10Th of August, 1914.
When disasters come upon States
and Nations, such as today shadow