Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1920-01-02
GOVERNOR JOHN j. CORNWELL,S
ADDRESS IN NEW YORK.
Following address delivered the 14th
of the New England Society York CITY on December
r. 1919, by Hon. John J. Cornwel West
"
Dir President. LutiicS ana Gentle.
men:

When the President of your So
cicty wrote inviting me to come to
this annual festival and take Il place
on the program he said: You may
or may not have heard of the New
England Society in New York"
In replying told him | first read
of the Society ihirty-thrcc years ago
and may | say that my mind, Just
now, rcvcI'tS to that occasion.
Ii was Il cold December evening.
in 1886. We were gathered around
the family fircSidc. in humble
mountain home down in West Vir-
9inia. was teaching my first coun-
try school. that winter. still in nv
teens. and had come to- spend
Christmas week with the ''Old Folks
ut Home"
That particular Saturday evening.
when the mail came from the coun-
try postoilicc, three miles away, |
read aloud by the Pickering fire
light. 4 speech made before this
Society by the first man YOU ever
invited from South Of the Mason and
Dixon line. TO speak to you.
The speaker was Henry w. Grady
and his subject was the New
South
| remember wildly. even after
the lapse OF third of a century.
with what emotion | followed the
picture he drew of the footsorc Con-
fcdcratc soldier. who buttoning
beneath his faded grey jacket the
parole that was to bear testimony to
his children of his fidelity TO lost
cause. lifted his eyes for the last
time to the hills of Old Virginia,
dotted as they were with the graves
OF his comrades. then turned his
footsteps southwark to find his
home destroyed and his land desc
lated.
We were glad there i'm that
humble home, that the voice of the
New South had been heard i'm
such frank and brilliant fashion as
placed ii before the country in a
proper light and in Il proper spirit
and We were unanimous i'm the
opinion that the New England So
cicty in New York had rendered the
South and the whole country a
distinct service i'm aiTording Henry
W. Grady that splendid opporiuni-
~ which he utilized TO The limit.
My mother. who sits tonight i'm
The Executive Mansion in the Cap
Itol at Charleston. who was then
quite unreconStructcd, was sure
that the New England Society was
composed Of some of the good
Yankees. otherwise they would moi
have chccrch Grady'S uiicranccs so
enthusiastically.
nv no stretch of The imagination
did We forScc That should ever be
invited to sit at your board. much
less gwen the opportunity to speak
TO your Society.
Being here, however. repcat the
thought expressed to your Presi-
dent in accepting his invitations:
maj ! DO not come with the hope
Oh beng able to utter any words
that will strengthen the love Of the
members OF This Society for the land
oi their fathers. for the country
those fathers helped to carve out of
me wilderness, for the government
ana lis institutions their sons were
so potent in founding knowing how
dccp-roOtcd is your devotion In
these things. but I come rather
with the more selfish ,hougb, that
my association with Won viii Slim.
ulatc ma 10 STRONGER and hrt,rr nf-
forts in the DISCHARGE IF nv du,ins
rs u public official and as nm Aunr;,
can rItiZrn and strengthen nv de-
termination To defend this govern
Incnt, It's institutions and IFS ideals
al
cost rom the Hood Of alien ideas
ana '"i>r PHILOSOPHERS that are
threatening I" "Tcrwhclm and de-