Show OF SOUTHERN ORIGIN Chauncey Depews Eloquent Sketch Decoration Dec-oration Day 1879 When the war was over in tho south where under warmer skies and with more poetic temperament symbols and emblems aro better understood than in the practical north tho widows mothers and children of the Confederate dead went out and strewed their graves with flowers and at many places the women scattered them impartially also over the unknown and unmarked resting places of the Union soldiers As the news of this touching tribute flashed over the north it roused as nothing else could havo done national amity and love and allayed sectional animosity and passion It thrilled every household where there was a vacant chair by the fireside and an aching void In the heart for a lost hero who remains had never been found old wounds broke out afresh and in a mingled tempest of grief and joy thofamily cried May be it was our darling Thus out of sorrows common alike to the north and south camo this beautiful custom But Decoration day no longer belongs to those who mourn It is the common privilege of us all and will be celebrated as long as grat itudo exists and flowers bloom |