Newspapers / Hickory Democrat (Hickory, N.C.) / June 13, 1907, edition 1 / Page 3
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Richmond and the Reunion Your correspondent reached Richmond at 7.30 a. m. on tfce morning of May 28th. The weath er was very cool and a small frost but br lliantly clear. The city, always beautiful, was decked with the red white in every form that could be devised with "here and there the U. S. colors, the latter being in bad taste, consid ering the occasion. We are in harmony with the editor of the News Leader as to this. Later'we were told that the decorations of a single establishment in sev eral cases amounted to the sum 0f5200.00. Coming at the time we did there was no trouble in ; getting lodging at a private house one bloek from Broad St This cost a dollar per nigni, and excellent table board was twenty-five cents per meal. By night the crowds, pouring into the city were having the greatest trouble to procure places of any sort. But the peo ple of the city were so anxious to please the visitors that manv gave up their own beds to applicants and slept on the floor. Tlie after noon of Wednesday was spent by the writer for the most part in the capitol building. The objects of interest were so numerous it is hard to specify anything in particular, but about the most interesting to us was the chair of the Speaker of the old House of Burgesses, brought from Rich mond. It was from chair that the Speaker, with other members, was called for the last time in the State's history to go before Lord Dunmore when that amiable gentleman dismissed the House for its refusal to sus tain him in his acts of repression. As one writer of the day expres sed it "Hear this British terrier growl at the lions of Virginia." Thursday was the day for the unveiling of the monument 'of General J. E. B. Stuart. The weather was fine, and the city swarmed with the veterans from all over the South. One of the most touching things in the whole reunion was the meeting of com- YOU CAN'T LOSE ON 'EM / • They Ape Just fcfi-Jhat Vou t&Jant FOP A Home OP In vestment 0 0 •hi -pn ~1 Lots "fcO Bg? Sold "fcO "fcll-G BtLglLGSlj DE3ic3_c3.©ii?., SAT. JUNE 15TB \ : Sale Beginning At 1 O'clock C&MPEELL AND BUCHANAN West Jlickory--Long View. Close to Ivey Cotton Mills | rades who had not seen each oth er for more than forty years. As these men, aged now, and worn with bitter to* la and lost hopes, grasped hands, straighten back their memories turned to the! days of Jackson's camp fires j ' and Stuarts cavalry raids, and i those who listened heard things! that have never been told in our books of history deeds of un known heroes, stories of courage and devotion that made the hear ers prouder than ever to have be longed to the same race as such men. Not verv many of the vet erans marched on foot and it was very hard to procure horses for the cavalry parade, but it was a curiosity to see how these old fel lows managed their half-breken mounts. There was the picture of the Soutnern rider borne in the saddle, a part of the animal he rode. No wonder, our cavalry were invincible. The crowd at the unveiling was so great, the crush about the grand stand so dangerous, and the wait so long that Leut Harnetts speech was not enjoyed as it should have been. In fact, many heard very little of it The statue, as a pos ture and strength of outline, is ideaL Mounted upon his steed poised at gallop, his splendid head bare, his hat grasped in the free hand, the great cavalry lea der turns to cry Cavalry charge to the men who followed him "Into the jaws of hell" on so ■ many bloody fields. , j On Friday, in company with several other ladies and a great company of old veterans, we started for Petersburg. The trolly ride is 21 miles, to which must be added the ride out through the city to the ceme tery and the crater —our destina tion. Before reaching the town, we ladies incited the veterans to give the rebel yell, and, as it sounded over the quiet town, the people ran to doors and windows and the store-keepers to their shop-doors, and screamed and waved in answer. This hearty response of the people to every- j thing connected with the Great War and the valor of their own soldiers was-the pleasantest pari of the whole thing. But noth ing was more infuriating in the entire "c in pign" than the fact that the persons owning theba;- tle-ground (that is the crater part) actually charged a quarter for these men to see the places where they died by hundreds The city of Richmond, through its authorities, had tried to make some airangements to prevent this scandal, but in vain. These persons knew they could carry out this one quarter per head scheme, as well as others, and did so. . There is one exceeding great comfort. Comrade Fret well, of Norfolk and others, de livered their opinion. It is also comforting to learn, as -we did later, that the man who' inherit ed the place and started the rob bery is not of Southern birth — not by any means. The spot where the mine laid by Grant's men, to such awful effect, exploded in the midst of our troops, is recognizable at once, though it has filled up a good deal, of course, in these long years since that red morn ing when so many brave men were swept to a fearful death by that volcano. Oue man of our i party showed us where he stood I on the very lip of the crater. Looking back, it seemed impos sible that men, made in human form, could have rallied after that fearful blow, and yet one giant from North Carolina, a member of the 26th, by the way, said, with -an air, as one would say, "I am the King of England," "I carried a United States flag out o' there." We will remember that man. The crowd grew very silent after a while. A strange depression came over you. The spirits of the dead seemed very near as we climbed down in to those depths, where now daisies grow and even picked wild strawber ries, whose red was as the awful stains left there so long ogo. And yet not so long but that all these living men recalled the very un- heaval. The rain bogan falling-. It seemed best to recall those scenes under fal'ing rain and and lowering skies.. Sunshine and bird songs seemed not to be long with them. We had but little time to visit, the cemetery, where, as one of the comrades said, "We buried many a better fellow tnan us." Blandford church will ever be a scene for Southern pilgrims to visit, and it is a matter of pride for all "Tar. Heels" that Virginia voluntarity kept the window next her own for their dead. This feeling was universal.When ever your correspondent answer ed an inquiry as to her home by saying "I came up from North Carolina,'' ssraightway some vet eran, it might be from Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, where not, would say "You ought to be mighty proud of it," and tnengo on to teil one of those tales that make your heart beat faster, and your eyes grow hot And, when the Virginians found that our birthplace was Wytheville, the kindness redoubled. God bless 'em all, w£ say. Saturday, the wind and rain were something terrible,but they did not keep one Daughter of the Confederacy from going out to the Veterans' Home where Vir ginia is giving of her poverty to keep her poor old soldiers in com fort. Here we visited fifty-four comrades in hospitil, talked with Capt. Russell, the custodian, saw Jackson's war-horse. "Little Sor rel" in his cage, and talked with the veterans in the John D. Cooke house. It is very pitiful to see them. 'Tis a hard heart that would not ache here, and yet they are so bsight and cheer ful—so ready to acknowledge the slightest courtesy. In the afternoon we visited the "Whita House of the Confeder acy"—now converted into a Con federate Museum by the efforts of our Daughters. In the North Carolina Room, the first thing that catches the eye is a magnifi cent three-quarter length por trait of Zebulon Baird Vance. It pictures him in his prime, and any North Carolinian who doeaj not thrill with pride in this man! and the others represented in the different portraits, swords, uni forms, etc., in this room is in deed worse than dead. Beneath Vance's portrait is a superb side board made of the wood of the famous blockade runner, named for the first Mrs. Vance, the "Ad-Vance." On Sunday, a niae Tar Heel Presbyterian girl now living in Richmond, took us to Sunday school at Grace Street Presbyte rian church, and we heard Dr. Witherspoon preach a most able sermon. In the afternoon we visited old St John's church,and stood Where Patrick Henry stood (his pew having been pre served in his changes) when he uttered those sublime word?, But as for me —Give me Liberty or give me Death." Very touch ing are the first graves you see in front of the old building. They are dated early in 1770 and are inscribed to the memory of two infants of the same family, one aged eighteen months, the other six weeks. Moons have waxed and waned, generations passed into oblivion, governments changed and fallen, and yet the love of the mother for these short lived darlings who were bone of her bone, flesh of her flesh, lives yet. Surely a comfort to those of us who wander among these decaying remnants of an unfor gotten past. Lightning struck one of the houses belonging to Capt John son, which is occupied by Prof. F. B. Phillips. Nq damage was done, except the occupants of the house were severely shocked. The same stroke jumped from the house and struck a tree in the yard of Mr. J. W. Nichols. Lightning also struck one of the ware houses of Mr, J. D. Flliott's, which was bunred to the ground. The Fire Company did noble work in saving the oth er ware houses and the residence of Mr. G. W. Wooten. Mr. El * liott's loss is about 12,000. f Indigestible Foods Jg| Some have so strong an organization that they " ' rPfln can continue the use of indigestible foods for years, KUHifij bat the time comes —and that usually in their early SKftjSt life—when the worn-out stomach fails to respond ana they awaken to the fact that thfey are seriously KKVI OTCV diseased. As a rule, It is a sale practice not to put li : Mir Tiff into the stomach anything that is not nourishing and Wen J 11IE PRICE'S % UIH WHEAT FLAKE CELERY / 5 FOOD f B is easily converted by the digestive powers and sup* Jl M" plies abundantly the nutritive wants of all parts of NlstaMe-lhtrHlm-lMy ef Plf—Uoa aad ready to Cat I Caafeeiemdhet. Pot le a tot era f* e few ilwtes; er c—t is Nil M I "'Jtssr 1 Grocers packagm Mi ll i ■ | I Am Still Adding to My j • STOCK OF SPRING HATS j \ SOMETHING NEW TO SE, ' ' \ I LECT FROM EVERY DAY J | work are just j I The Spring is hard on complexion. j j Try a box of our complexion goods at j t firs. A. P. Whitener's J \ Millinery Store. J { HICKORY. - NORTH CAROLINA
Hickory Democrat (Hickory, N.C.)
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June 13, 1907, edition 1
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