Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 10.djvu/183

 GRADY

of a splendid and chivalrie oligarchy the sub- stance that should have been diffused among the people, as the rich blood, under certain artificial conditions, is gathered at the heart, filling that with affluent rapture, but leaving the body chill and colorless.

The old South rested everything on slavery and agriculture, unconscious that these could neither give nor maintain healthy growth. The new South presents a perfect democracy, the oligarchs leading in the popular movement — a social system compact and closely knitted, less splendid on the surface, but stronger at the core — a hundred farms for every plantation, fifty homes for every palace — and a diversified industry that meets the complex need of this complex age.

The new South is enamored of her new work. Her soul is stirred with the breath of a new life. The light of a grander day is falling fair on her face. She is thrilling with the consciousness of growing power and prosperity. As she stands upright, full statured and equal among the peo- ple of the earth, breathing the keen air and looking out upon the expanded horizon, she un- derstands that her emancipation came because through the inscrutable wisdom of God her hon- est purpose was crossed, and her brave armies were beaten.

This is said in no spirit of time-ser\nng or apology. The South has nothing for which to apologize. She believes that the late struggle 151

�� �