Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1915-03-03
The Soldier of 1s6l-l9l5
No. 2.

/ u
not indifferent to the truths of his
tory, the fact too often perverted.
| Rather let us join hands with those
who fought, and sing praises to
glorious cause. But time, like riv-
er, carries off the Jagged edges of
sentiment aud halved between to
great nations. As the years pass on,
they carry farther away the scenes
and schisms of other days. The two
flags have been rewoven into one;
the southern boy has gone into the
war service of the United States,
wearing the blue coat, but the gray
hat. He belongs to one of the three
classes. He is known as the Amerl-
can soldier. His is not that patriot
ism which inspired his father or un-
Gle. His is desire to d. his coun-
try a service and gain for himself a
name for heroism. Though be wore
the blue and marched to the tune OF
Yankee Doodle" if southerner,
true southerner he will be forever.
In Manila and at Vera Cruz he is
an American volunteer soldier, but
he is more, he is southern Ameri-
can volunteer soldier. The Ameri-
can soldier is the product of g ma
, tion which could not wear a yoke.
Q mean the Anglo-Saxon race), they
were born to govern, to be free, to
create, to build social and politi-
cal structure, mighty and masterfal.
The soldier of today has the old
time enthusiasm of his race. He
fights as hard, he goes into battle
urged by the same zeal; he fires,
falls or dies in the same way; that
was manifested last year at Vera
Cruz. The soldier blood of fore
fathers flows in tie BOYS of 1915.
At Kings mountain, at Bunker Hill,
at Chickamauga, and at Franklin
their ancestors fought amid the kill
ed and wounded. The sword scar in
the fathers breast has its impress
upon the hearts of the boys of to-
day. The battle cry is not hushed,
the tramp of feet not still; the de-
sire to rise, go and meet the enemy,
is only sleeping,like the picket at his
post. But one rustic among the dry
leaves, one motion of a bough, and
an army is awake, ready to march.
The soldier of fortune seldom reaps
his reward. So it Is with the soldier
of adventure. But the soldier of
duty, of patriotism, oftentimes re-
turns victor to wear the honors OF
nations admiration, or else he
falls fighting for a principle taught
at the freside at home. He dies
man and in ahe winding sheet of
nations love is laid to rest under the
sky; no flowers but the stars, the
sforget-me-nots of the angels" no
monument but the hills, Gods sem
tinels to the plains, no tears but the
showers of the sky, ino prayers but
the signing of the wind through the
pines. The blending O.; the old spirit
of 1861 with the men of 1915 makes
the soldier of the present manly
man, soldierly soldier. He is a
creature of interest everywhere; he
wears halo no other can hope to
gain. Why do we say that? Because
he is linked in our minds with sol
diers of other days, and in rejecting
upon him we mean a subtle charm
| in which we find the knight of 9TH
er days. This true southern Ameri-
can soldier bears our national col
ors in life, he wears them in death,
and with angels and archangels and
all the company of heaven, his soul
passes into the great beyond; his
body laid to sleep beside friend
that died as he died, fighting for his
country. / believe that where SOL
dier left his home and all that was
dear and sacred to defend his coup
try, actuated from pure motives, as
did the Confederate soldier, and
fell in battle, is, by some means, by
the boundless grace of God, over
yonder across the river under the
shade of the trees, and that it is
we'll with him. Tie curse of God is
pronounced upon a people that will
not fight for their country when it
is necessary. Curse We Meroz," "
said the angel of the Lord, curse
We bitterly the inhabitants thereof,
because they came not to the help
of the Lord, to the help of the Lord
against the mighty
J. Russell Wright.
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