Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 23.djvu/364

 358 Southern Historical Society Papers.

obscure; but one in the common cause of devotion to valor, purity, and liberty.

OPENING EXERCISES.

At 3 o'clock the formal opening exercises took place in the main parlor of the mansion, toward which visitors to the various rooms had gradually gravitated. The Governor and his staff entered about 2:45, and took positions about the platform, on which stood a small table covered with a battle-flag, whose age and signs of service were its veriest grace.

The windows were curtained with flags, and the white of the walls was only trespassed upon by large portraits of Stonewall Jackson, Johnston, and Jefferson Davis. When the strong face and venera- ble figure of Rev. Dr. Hoge was seen to enter the main door, there was a general hush, for his arrival was the signal that 3 o'clock had arrived. The face and figure, the fine mind and splendid heart, have lived through so many crises in Virginia and Southern history, and the ministry of the great preacher been so thoroughly a part of the latter, that it was especially fitting he should be chosen to make the prayer, linking, as his years do, the present with the stirring past. Judge George L. Christian, always so happy a speaker, in- troduced Dr. Hoge, whose prayer, indeed a benediction, was as fol- lows:

DR. HOGE'S PRAYER.

Almighty God! Thou livest and reignest forevermore, and with Thee do live the souls of all who, having consecrated their lives to Thy service, died, committing their spirits to Thy hands and their mem- ories to our hearts. By Thy help we will be faithful to the sacred trust. We will perpetuate the story of their virtue, valor, and piety as a precious legacy to all succeeding generations.

We gather here to-day with hearts subdued by the tender recol- lections of the past and with devout gratitude for the mercies of the present hour.

We recognize Thy kindness in permitting the noble women of our Southland to renovate and beautify this building, which we dedicate with these impressive ceremonies to all the sorrow-shrouded glories of our departed Confederacy.

We come on this day, hallowed as the birthday of the Father of his Country, and by the inauguration of the Chieftan, who being dead, yet lives in the hearts of those who followed the