Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-09-09
standing place close enough to hear

standing place close enough to hear
Dir. Prentiss.
When 2:3O o'clock came 10000 peo-
pie were banked around the speakers
stand. A committee of Mississippians.
Tennesseans. VirGinians. Pennsylvan-
ians. New Workers. and other States
escorted Mr.. Prentiss to the stand
When Mr.. Prcntiss mounted the
stand the great crowd broke loose.
The men whooped and yelled and
cheered: the women screamed and hug
ged each other. and, with tears in
their eyes. thanked God aloud that
they had lived to see Mr.. Prentiss.
Kind reader. pause moment here.
please. and imagine low burning
camp fire on a cold October night, on
Chaliin's farm, near the big spring. not
far from the Iron Battery at Chafin's
Blum: see General Wise, then an old
man. with cotton-white, long hair and
clean-shaven face, tall and slim, with
no insignia OF military rank on his
person, stonding before the fire, and
several hundred sold iers sitting on
the ground around him.
PRENTISS OPENS ADDRESS
WHEN CROWD IS QUIETED
AS soon as order could be restored
and quietude prevailed. Mr.. Prentiss
began thus:
Il have stood on the rock bound
shores of Maine. where the icicles gilt
ter in June. and said. Fellow Citizens.
Il have gone to the floral strands OF
the sunny South, where the orange
trees shed their perfume in December.
and said. Fellow Citizens
II have crossed in id-summer the
snow-capped summit of the great
Rockies and stood where the blue waves
OF the Pacific kiss the golden lips of
California, and said. .Fellow-Citizens.'
II thank Almighty God that l can
stand here to-day, in the presence Of
this magnificent audience and almost
in sight of the spot
Where the rockets red glare,
And bombs bursting i'm air.
Gave proof through the night.
That our flag was still there
And repeat the proud refrain. Fellow
Citizens"
The great audience could not sup
press the electric effect of this mag
nifcent burst Of thrilling eloquence, in
which all saw the magnitude, the
grandeur and the coming power of this
young republic. The men again whoop-
ed and yelled and Rugged each other
while tears ran down their cheeks, and
the women again screamed and cried
like children. Some one cried aloud,
was a handshaking the like OF which
was never before seen on this earth.
Wise said it lasted fully fifteen min
utes.
More than fifty years have come and
gone; quite all who sat by that low
burning camp fire that October night
and heard General Wise tell this story
Of Prentiss, have gone to their re-
ward. and as the shades of the evening
of life are gathering about me-
~ feel like one who treads alone
Some banquet hall deserted,
Whole lights are fed, whose gar1ands
dead,
And all but one departed"
General Wise's tribute to Mr.. Prem
tiss that night was great, and grand,
and eloquent. The picture OF that
night on old Chafiin.s farm. with Gen.
eral Wise telling the story. will fol-
low me to my grave. could not,
even il / would. erase 1t from my
memory.
The speech that followed this exor-
dunn. General Wise said. was elaborate
and powerful, one OF the best ever
made In any political campaign up to
that date. -
Years afterwards. Wise left the Whig
party and became a Democrat. Many
are now living who remember him as