Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 18.djvu/127

 Fairfax Monument. 127

Days come and go and the hands of the silent hours

Mark the sun's rise and set ; And the years have covered their battle-fields with flowers,

But their people remember yet How in the time of strife and tears their mother's

Breast bore the crimson stream Of the heart's blood of their unforgotten brothers,

Who died in the splendid dream.

And as long as valor and faith on earth are cherished,

And men shall honor the brave, Bright will grow the story of those who perished

For a cause they could not save, Till on history's changeless page serene and glorious,

While the spirit of truth find breath, Their deeds will glow through the eons of time, victorious

Over defeat and death.

Lo ! this shaft, which is reared towards God's skies in token

Of a love that shall never cease, Symbols not any hope that the years saw broken,

But a hope that shall still increase, Of a time when the bugles shall blow over heights supernal,

Till the quick and the dead are thrilled, And the Figure in Grey shall be crowned with the days eternal,

And his dream shall be fulfilled."

JAMES LINDSAY GORDON.

After an anthem by the quartette choir and benediction by Rev. Samuel Wallis, the procession re-formed and marched to the Court- house square where the orator of the day, Senator John W. Daniel, made an eloquent address, from which the following extracts were published:

"MR. CHAIRMAN, COMRADES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :

" Not long ago General Early addressed me a letter, and in doing so he used the same kind expression as the chair did in his flattering introduction, that the proudest distinction I have ever known, and the grandest title any of us have ever worn, is that of Confederate soldier; for there is no story of fame, no dream of glory, nor grander evidence of true manhood than doing simple duty, which those brave boys, a few of whom you have met here to-day to honor, did, I was about to say upon a hundred battle-fields. In the face of a bitter contest they stood firm, and when those fearful odds pressed them back for the last time they were yet the grandest people that ever knew defeat, that are destined forever to be free.