Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 26.djvu/310

 300 SnufliiTii llislorirtil Society Papers.

Plucked and transferred thee to its lyric page; Intent to bind thy brows with oaken crown, And hand thy name in crimson glory down, Kindling the narrative from age to age To fire the hearts of hero, saint, and sage

Above the fear of tyrants or their frown. Come, take thy station by th' intrepid twain That shout o'er th' Athenian tyrants slain By that bold boy, that braved Porsena's flame, And burned his way through torture to his fame By him, Horatius, stalwart to the last These are thy kin, these great souls of the past.

General Wheeler has never posed as an orator, but his polished address, delivered with much force and earnestness, held his audience stillbound, save by several irrepressible outbursts of cheering, until the close, when he was given another ovation as he turned to go to his seat.

FINE SPEECH BY DE-ARMOND.

This was not to be the end of the feast of good things, however, though in the ordinary course it would have concluded the pre- arranged programme.

At the request of many of those present, Captain Lamb intro- duced the distinguished congressman from Mississippi. In doing so he paid a very warm tribute to that " gallant and heroic soldier, a true and tried friend, and a hero in peace as well as in war." Judge DeArmond said:

" If I could choose my place I would rather listen than speak. I would gather inspiration from these noble surroundings rather than mar this occasion by any feeble words that I might utter." Never, he said, ha'd he felt more honored than he did at being asked to speak, and never had he gazed into the faces of an audience such as that. There was everything there present calculated to inspire. " From the walls," he said, "looks down the heroism of the past. What thoughts of history! What heroes! I feel it is a proud priv- ilege to address the noble sons of sires so noble." A thousand things might determine a contest, without regard to the justice of the cause, the speaker said, but the thing that lives is the story of heroic deeds and heroic men. Perhaps nowhere on earth were there gathered together so many noble achievements as in this historic city of Richmond.