The Johnson City comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1916-1917, 1917-03-01

| VIII mafcn IN triumph through the
streets of Washingtou-from the capi-
tai to the White house!
And along the entire length of Penn
sylvania avenue, it will be "TThe South
in the Saddle. and riding goriously.'
Fifty-six years ago this confident
announcement would have created a
national panic. Today it is a welcom
proclamation of patriotnsm and peace
Camped at last in their country's
capital and lighting their bivouac
fires between the Washington monu
ment and the portico of the presidents
home, these battered and decrepit
veterans of a Lost Cause-soldiers of
Jackson and Johnson and Lee-will
have conquered at last the hearts of
| Washington, and achieved in peace
what they failed to accomplish at the
| point of their bayonets in war.
Never before have the confederate
veterans held a reunion in their coup
try's capital. They have met for twen-
ty-seven yeas in every southern city,
| holding their last reunion but one in
Richmond--the capital of the old Con
| iederacy--amid the glad hands and
the reminiscent tears of that great
old Virginia breed that made them
welcome there.
They cross the Potomac in June
| for the first time-the 27th reunion
| of the United Conferate Veterans, and
the 22nd reunion of the Sons of Vet
erans-and come to hold their great
est and perhaps their last assembly
in Washington-the capital of their
country now and forever.
The Grand Army of the Republic
has held its reunion in. Washington
Washington time after time. With
hags flying and brass bands blaring
and cannon booming they have swept
the historic avenue with fervent and
tender cheers. But the "Tatterdemel
ions of Lee"-now good American
citizens who for years looked grfrnly
from the Virginia hills upon the state
ly dome of our house upon the HILL
have never before linked these faded
Stars and Bars in loving fellowship
with the Star Spangled Banner in its
official home.
What a glorious reunion it will be
for these "old Confeds!" How rich
in memory-how inspiring in sugges-
tion. All the way that brings them to
Washington will feed their souls with
the fatness of martial recollections
! ney will travel under or near t.
Marye Heights at Fredericksburg
They may recall on historic grount
The fiery seige of Richmond and catcl
the CHASTITY thunder of that tragic
crater" that blew men skyward a
Petersburg. They may pass Manas
sas, and Bull Run and run near t,
Tragic Appomattox. They may se'
the peaceful soil where once wa!
fought the mighty Battle of the Wilt
erness. They may see where Je'
Stuart, the SOuth's brave cavalier o
cavalry, fought at Culpeper and foun'
his fatal bullet at yellow Taverl
They may mark the spot where Ston
wall Jackson passed over the rive
to rest under the shade of the trees
They will almost be in touch witt
that crowning and fateful field %
Gettysburg where Pickett wrote him
self immortal in the worlds mos
dauntless charge against the unbreal
able ranks of Hancock on the wind
swept hill And as they pass softl
beneath the slopes of Arlington, eacl
old hero worshiping hero of the deaf
Confederacy may murmur through
his loyal tears:
Nsiesl
For ah, if in song or speech,
In major or minor key
could to the end of ages reach.
| would whisper the name of LEE
4 ~wi~@ asaliS+
1t will be good for the nations cap
tai to have these old Confederate Vet
Grams here. The 4th of June will
them will make a nobler 4th of July
for us all. The Confederate reunion
at Washington cannot fail to carry
national significance. They coult
never come to better place at bet
ter time. The sight of them-tht
the sound of them-these old mel
with gray heads and broken bodies
and brave hearts-and above all the
love and honor, the respect and reyer-
ence shown them after fifty-two years
of memory-will tell the republic
some things that it needs at this time
to remember.
1t will tell to the young American
manhood of this crucial day, facing
the perils of possible war, and to the
pale faces of the pacifists blowing OBJ
struction into the nations honest ef-
fort to prepare:-
1st-That men who serve their own
land according to their own conyle-