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THE CONFEDERATE BATTLE
FLAGS.
We loved the wild clamor of battle,
The crash of the musketry’s rattle,
The bugle and drum.
We have drooped in the dust, long and
lonely;
The blades that flashed joy are rust only,
The far-rolling war music dumb.
God rest the true souls in death lying,
For whom overhead proudly flying
We challenged the foe.
The storm of the charge we' have breasted,
On the hearts of our dead we have rested,
In the pride of a day long ago.
Ah, surely the good of God’s making
Shull answer both those past awaking
And life’s cry of pain;
Hut we nevermore shall be tossing
On surges of battle where crossing
The swift-flying death bearers rain.
EGYPT and Greece and Rome
all made use of flowers in
their funeral ceremonies. The
Greeks and Romans honored
their heroic dead by magnificent fun
erals and various anniversary cele
brations. The greatest orators of
the period were proud to be selected
to pay tribute to the memory of their
fallen warriors. Pericles was chosen
to deliver the funeral oration over
the slain in the Peloponnesian War,
and Demosthenes over the dead in
tho terrible battle of Cheronea. All
great nations of the past have felt
and acted upon this sentiment, and
those of to-day are perpetuating the
beautiful custom.
Americans honor their patriot war
riors by strewing flowers over their
graves, and by reciting in glowing
language the historic battles in which
they fell. The American Memorial
Day is observed in almost every part
of the civilized world—American sol
diers lie buried in almost every clime,
from the Arctic T o .he ironies, in the
Far East as well as at home.
Originally designed as a day to be
set apart for patriotic teaching and
for the paying of a public tribute to
the men who died in their country’s
service, Memorial Day has in recent
years made its observance co-exten-
Blve with the boundaries of the na
tion. The decoration of the graves
of the soldier dead of the Civil War
was one of its impressive features,
but was extended in many localities
to the known graves of soldiers who
had fought in any of the wars of the
Government. Thus soldiers of the
Revolution and of the War of 1812
were duly honored, as well as those
who had served in the Civil War.
Much has been said regarding the
origin of Memorial Day. General
Joseph \\ heeler claims that General
Logan's attention, when in May,
1868, as Commander of the Grand
Army of tho Republic, he issued or
ders in regard to keeping green the
memory of the brave “boys in blue,"
had, no doubt, been called to the cus
tom of the Southern people of annu
ally setting apart a day to pay rever
ence to those who sacrificed their
lives for a principle that was dearest
and nearest to their hearts.
“The women of the South,” says
General Wheeler, "were ever assidu
ous in their care of the resting places
of their dead, perhaps because of the
customs peculiar on this side of the
Atlantic to Mobile and Xew Orleans,
where on All Souls' Day each year
the cemeteries were carpeted with
untold myriads of rare and costly
flowers strewn by devoted hands over
the graves of the beloved dead.”
During the contest between the
States the women and children of the
South delighted to bring flowers and
TO THE GLORY OF BOTH.
jfflkmodal Day
evergreens to decorate the graves of
the martyrs to their cause. As the
spring brought the anniversary of
the doomsday of the “lost cause,” the
fair women of Southland Instituted
another and a special day in honor
of their beloved soldiers; and the pa-
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thos of the devotion was the deeper
in that the sacrifice of their lives had
been made seemingly in vain.
April 26 was the day set apart by
a consent spontaneous in its univer
sal adoption. Alabama's and Geor
gia's first public Decoration Day was
1866. No more fitting time than the
anniversary of the loss of the cause
so dear to their souls could have been
chosen for the perpetuation of the
memory of their heroes.
"Women, and women alone,” says
General Wheeler, "inaugurated the
Again in the wind we are streaming,
Agam the war lust are dreaming
The call of the shell.
What gray‘heads look up at us sadly?
i? these the stern troopers who madly
Lode straight at the battery’s hell?
Nay, more than the living have found us,
Pale specters of battle surround us;
The gray line is dressed.
Ye hear not, but they who are bringing
Your symbols of honor are singing
The song of death’s bivouac rest.
Blow forth on the south wind to greet us,
0 star flag, once eager to meet us
When war lines were set.
Go carry to far fields of glory
The soul-stirring thrill of the story,
Of days when in anger we met.
—Dr. S. W’eir Mitchell.
custom, Men, more reserved in the
expression of the sentiments of their
hearts, might permit their departed
comrades quietly to become a part of
general history, but women would
not have it so. The Southern States
fell quickly into line, and then the
custom found its way into the North
ern States.
“But it is to General John A. Lo
gan, a distinguished soldier and no
less distinguished as a statesman,
then Commander of the Grand Army
of the Republic, that the nation owes
the establishment of a National Mem
orial Day. No doubt his attention
had been called to the custom of the
Southern people of annually setting
apart a day to pay reverence to those
who fell in battle, and saw the bene
fits likely to accrue to posterity by
establishing a similar custom in re
gard to keeping green the memory
of the brave ‘boys in blue.’ General
Logan issued this order May 5, IS6S.”
* __
tenderly bury the fair young dead—
Pausing to drop on his grave a tear.
Carve on the wooden slab o’er his head:
‘'Somebody's darling slumbers here.”
—Unnamed Southern Poet.
1\ ' him once for somebody's sake.
Murmur a prayer soft and low;
( r.- bright curl from its fair mates take
Vi.ey were somebody's pride, you know
JEFFERSON DAVIS,
TYPICAL SOUTHERNER
By General Stephen D. Lee.
Jefferson Davis’ life teaches us that
character is secure. Character was
his bulwark against all the slander,
ridicule, insult, which the wit of man
could devise, and that defense stands
sure.
He teaches us that love follows
sacrifice. He who bore everything
for his people received a reward such
as an emperor might have envied—
their unfeigned and abiding love.
As a soldier his brilliant and
promising career was cut short. He
had no opportunities to develop the
great qualities of Lee, the prince of
commanders. As a statesman he did
not quite reach, perhaps, the com
manding statureof Calhoun,to whose
work he succeeded. As an orator he
may have lacked the impetuous fer
vor of Yancey, the splendid declama
tion of Lamar; he surpassed them all
in his majestic thought, the chaste
beauty of his strength and his thrill
ing earnestness. But Davis was
greater than them all. He was an
accomplished soldier, a great states
man and a consummate orator of his
day and of all time.
Around him stood that marvelous
group—Lee, the flower of chivalry;
Jackson, the genius of war; Toombs,
the thunderer of debate; Benjamin,
the jurist; Campbell, the judge;
Bledsoe, the statesman—men fit to
measure with the knightliest. Yet
from the vantage ground of hisfor;.
his sublime head lifts itself above
‘hem all.
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Tax Receiver’s Notice.
First Round.
Hampton, Wednesday, April 3rd.
Sixth, Thursday, April 4th.
Flippen, Friday, April sth.
Stockbridge, Monday, April Bth.
Shakerag, Tuesday, April 9th.
Brushy Knob, Wednesday, April 10th
Loves, Thursday, April 11th.
McMullin’s, Friday, April 12th.
Beersheba, Monday, April 29th.
Sandy Ridge, Tuesday, April 30th.
Tussahaw, Wednesday, May Ist.
Locust Grove, Thursday, May 2nd.
Lowes, Friday, May 3rd.
W. W. PATTERSON,
tf Tax Receivers.
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WIKSTOKK C
CONSTITUTION OF OKLAHOMA
Is Finally Adopted and People are Now
Ready for Statehood.
Without a dissenting vote, but with
7 of the 35 delegates present not
voting, the constitution for the pro
posed state of Oklahoma, framed by
the constitutional convention which
has been in session at Guthrie nearly
five months, was adopted at 2:30
o'clock Friday afternoon.
Prolonged applause from the Boar
and galleries greeted President Mur
ray's announcement that the work of
the convention had been consummat
ed. At 2:45 o’clock President Murray
signed the sheepskin with an alfaffa.
The other details were affixed with
a pen presented by w. J. Bryan. The
election committee will report at once
when a definite time for adjournment
sine die probably will be announced
