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Liuu.uucu.* uio auuxcdd wao a# ux ^literary excellence and abounded in evi- origin dences of scholarly culture, appealing the m alike to the finer intellectual perception be pre and the emotions of his audience. We confut take pleasure in reproducing it in full.— strife, He said: tions tLadies of the Memorial Association, worshSoldiers, Ladies and Gentlemen— boys ^Patriotism, just as religion, has its j woreJ fanes, its sanctuaries, and its altars, and the same principle of sympathy which constrains the Christian pilgrim to traverse burning desert sands and climb rugged. mounttain passes to prostrate himself at the Mount of Crucifixion, to | nizin£ wander about Bethany and all the sacred spots hallowed by the footprints of our Savior, animates the surviving comrades, kinsmen and friends of theConfederate hero, to gather around his ] ____.grave and consecrate a day to his mem-all all drums tie fla of the Wesume men v blazic barefccarnrv ]jarinrory. This emotional sentiment consti-1 tutes the poetry of man’s moral nature, vibrating through all the avenues of his soul, filling his mind with the richestthus i class:for ciiipictures of loveliness, and lifting his as- j ^ piratitfn from the probations of earth tothe beatific visions of immortality.mann only funionThis occasion suggests an epoch in the history of our country fraught with momentous events, wherein was enacted a most startling and picturesque tragedy. a A continent the stage; three millions of combatants, with flashing swords, whiz-zing minnies and booming cannon, the actors; the catastrophe death and the ^e£en fall of the most stately political edifices jove(jever erected by the wisdom of man.— chari] We are here to lay our offerings on the ^eau^ graves of our heroes in that strife, and ma^e( in the contemplation of their lives of sacrifice and deaths of glory, study les- eraj ^ sons of patriotic duty, and catch inspir-ation to*»the performance of the obliga- ^ tions which devolve on us as citizens of ^e( a Commonwealth which from the day gerce when Washington took command of the *nT;continental army until Lee tendered his . .^ ... .. _ to misword in defencp of his native State, k0pe * inept istood pre-eniin^pt in sagacious states- . (manship and military prowess among the * colonies and States of the American .1 Ol TQiUnion. To maintain this prestige and ^ ^ preserve untarnished the principles of justice on which free institutions are based, as he understood them, the Con-Hefederate soldier engaged in the bloody j strife, lasting from the capture of Fort or(^e? Sumter to the surrender at Appomattox, which transformed the Southerneffukman)States from smiling gardens of beauty into dreary wastes, blasted under the sirocco of war’s desolation.With the pseans of freedom rolling B^a^n down a century of time, filling all our mountains, hills, and verdant slopes V-1C^Q with their echo, it would be strange, in-deed, if the people of this great Valley wouj( were not especiully affected by patriotic reminiscences. To yonder blue moun- ^ tains in the troublous days of the first Revolution, in the darkest hour of his ~”~£n distress, the Father of his Country ^ pointed as the last citadel where liberty vojUI should erect her standard and his army confront the foe. Before the drums 5 beat to arms in the late fratricidal con-onlytest, John* Letcher, the great war Gov-ernor, was our Representative in the maTy halls of the Federal Congress. It was ^ Governor James McDowell who preced- , ed him, who made the great plea for peace j and a perpetual Union, in the debate on the ocmpromise measures which well ^inl nigh silenced the bitterness of faction. nokj( Oft and again down these highways the ^er j. Confederate legions tramped in “Stone- (jang wall Jackson’s way.” We can almost yar(j spy from here the spot where the ehival-rous Ashby fell; an hour’s drive will mart cafry us to the battle fields of Cross Keys and Port Republic, and at Lexing- yime ton sleep all that is mortal of Jackson ^ and Lee. aIf these mute soldiers’ slabs could eacj1 speak, what a story of fierce wrestling, 0ysn sorrowful heart-rending, and desolations, an ^ would they not rehearse!. And yet, with the war clouds rolling dun, her land- gher scapes wreathed in flames, the corses of pC her soldiers strewing the ground, and sad-eyed women and startled children a standing among the cinders of their homes, this great Valley still maintainedan esthetic power. entitHer very weeds were beautiful. birthHer waste more rich than other climes’ fertility ; and JHer wreck a glory, and her ruin graced than With an immaculate charm-'that could not be effaced. ?We are not here to discuss the mis- devo takes or the blunders of political diplo- ^hai maeies and excited faction which pre- an^ ( cipitated the schism between govern- ^as 1 ments whose destinies appeared blended a^ou by the most pathetic and patriotic trials san^ and dangers, and whose common record an^ from Dorchester Heights and the Dec-laration of Colonial Independence blazed 18 nowith a flarrift of crlnrv. Tt is fitting inst awar.pove:pie.
Newspaper Details
Harrisonburg Rockingham Register
Harrisonburg, Virginia, US
Fri, Jun 04, 1897
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
VA, USA 23 Jan 2022
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