Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 17.djvu/216

 208 Southern Historical Society Papers.

of the weather. He spoke of the great gathering which organized this n)onument association, over which President Davis presided.

General Early paid an eloquent tribute to Mr. Davis, expressed his deep regret at his absence, and said that he knew he expressed the sentiments of this vast crowd when he expressed the hope that Presi- dent Davis would be here at the unveiling of the proposed monu- ment. [This tribute to Mr. Davis was loudly applauded.]

General Early said that Lee neMed no monument, but that we owed it to ourselves to erect it, and that, however certain men may go back on their principles, the noble women of the South would be ever true.

In fit phrase General Early introduced Captain W. Gordon Mc- Cabe, of Petersburg.

THE POEM.

The committee had been exceedingly fortunate in securing Captain W. Gordon McCabe, of Petersburg, to recite the poem prepared for the occasion by the gifted and lamented James Barron Hope, lately deceased. A gallant soldier, an accomplished scholar, a poet of no mean abilities himself, and the intimate personal friend of Hope, Captain McCabe was recognized by all as the man for the occasion. He introduced the reading of the poem by the following eloquent tribute to his lamented friend :

Nearly thirty years ago, when Virginia, in this beautiful capital of our Old Dominion, dedicated yonder noble and impressive monu- ment to George Washington, she sent her bravest singer, James Barron Hope, then in first flush of his youthful genius, to swell the chorus of praise and reverence due her greatest son of our first Revolution.

Nobly did he perform the command laid upon him, and his stately poem with its sonorous eloquence and lofty epic inspiration still stirs the pulse's play and has become a classic to every Virginian not dead to the heroic past of his mother State.

Thus when the men and women of Virginia, despite their poverty, resolved to erect a statue in enduring bronze to Robert Lee on yonder spot overlooking those ** labor' d rampart lines," where, after countless victories, at last ** he greatly stood at bay" — thus it was that by acclaim the same brave singer, whose genius had grown but mellower and his touch the purer with the lapse of time, was once more summoned to celebrate in song the deeds and virtues of