No ‘lost cause.’
Our memorial will be here in
Richmond, the heart and grave of the
Confederacy, and around it hovers the immortal soul of love and of memory, which for all times will sanctify it to all true men and women.
They will know that it is a memorial of no ‘Lost Cause.’
They will never believe that ‘we thought we were right,’ they will know, as we knew, that we were right, immortally right, and that the conquerer was wrong, eternally wrong.
The great army of the dead is here, the sentiment of the living is here, the memories of the past are here, the monuments of the future will be here.
As all roads lead to
Rome, so in the ages to come all ties of memory, of sentiment, of heart, and of feeling, will vibrate from
Richmond.
As every follower of the prophet at sunset turns his face to
Mecca, and sends up a prayer for the dead and the living, so everywhere in this great South Land, which was the
Confederacy, whenever the trumpet call of duty sounds, when the call to do right without regard to consequence rings over the woods and the meadows, the mountains and the valleys, the spirit of the
Confederacy will rise, the dead of
Hollywood and of
Oakwood will stand in ranks, and their eternal memory will inspire their descendants to do right whatever it cost of life or fortune, of danger and disaster.
Lee will ride his bronze horse,
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Hill (A. P.) will be by his side,
Stonewall will be there,
Stuart's plume will float again, and the battle-line of the
Confederacy will move forward to do duty, justice, and right.
The memorial of the
Confederacy is here, not built by hands—made by memory and devotion!
What else could it be?
The following officers of the
Confederate Memorial Literary Society and the Regents of the
Solid South and of
Virginia received in the entrance hall and reception room:
Mrs. Joseph Bryan, president;
Mrs. E. C. Minor, first
vice-president;
Mrs. James H. Grant, second
vice-president;
Mrs. R. T. Colston, third
vice-president;
Mrs. E. D. Hotchkiss, honorary vice-president;
Mrs. M. S. Smith, treasurer;
Mrs. Stephen Putney, recording secretary;
Mrs. Lizzie C. Daniel, corresponding secretary;
Mrs. James R. Werth, chairman of Committee on Relics;
Mrs. Hunter McGuire.
