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needs to be emphasized, that
we must see to it, that the facts are preserved.]
Toast-our cause in history.
Sentiment.—‘A land without ruins is a land without memories—a land without memories is a land without history.
A land that wears a laurel crown may be fair to see; but twine a few sad cypress leaves around the brow of any land, and be that land barren, beautiless and bleak, it becomes lovely in its consecrated coronet of sorrow, and it wins the sympathy of the heart and of history. * * * The triumphs of might are transient—they pass and are forgotten—the sufferings of right are graven deepest on the chronicle of nations.’
Rev. H. M. Jackson responded as follows, amidst frequent applause:
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen.—I esteem myself highly honored in being permitted to mingle with you on this festal occasion, to share with you in the reminiscence of events in which I had no part, and to join in the commemoration of a past of which I know but little—save by the hearing of the ear.
I could not help, you know, being born a few years too late; but, while the mere ‘accident of birth’ debarred me from participation in the glory and horror of war, I thank you that you admit me to share in these lingering echoes of the past, which, in the ‘piping time of peace,’ memory reproduces, in mimic minature, to kindle again the smouldering fires in the soldier's breast.
It is however, Sir, the duty, as it is the pleasure, of man, to look both backward and forward; and therefore, while memory plays her part to-night in recalling the past, you have directed that we should project our thoughts into the future to inquire how that Cause, which still remains dear to your hearts, shall fare at the hands of the historian.
It has been said of
General Robt. E. Lee that he often expressed the fear lest posterity should not know the odds against which he fought.
What then was in the mind of the great warrior?
Was he apprehensive lest his military fame should suffer?
Was he fearful that his name might not be written large on the annals of history?
All who knew that man know full well no such thought found harbour in his breast.
No solicitude respecting his future fame disturbed the serenity of a mind lifted above the petty ambitions of personal reputation; but, the daily witness of incredible heroism, daily spectator of the dauntless courage with which a decimated army faced undismayed an
