soil-the American Union saved from the wreck of

war.

Now, what answer has New England to this message? Will she permit the prejudice of war to remain in the hearts of the conquerors, when it has died in the hearts of the conquered? Will she transmit this prejudice to the next generation, that in their hearts, which never felt the generous ardor of conflict, it may perpetuate itself? Will she withhold, save in strained courtesy, the hand which, straight from his soldier's heart, Grant offered to Lee at Appomattox? Will she make the vision of a restored and happy people, which gathered above the couch of your dying captain, filling his heart with grace, touching his lips with praise and glorifying his path to the grave; will she make this vision, on which the last sigh of his expiring soul breathed a benediction, a cheat and a delusion? If she does, the South, never abject in asking for comradeship, must accept with dignity its refusal; but if she does not-if she accepts with frankness and sincerity this message of good will and friendship, then will the prophesy of Webster, delivered in this very Society forty years ago, amid tremendous applause, be verified in its fullest and final sense, when he said: "Standing hand to hand and clasping hands, we should remain united as we have for sixty years, citizens of the same country, members of the same government, united all, united now, and united forever. . . ."

-From "The South and Its Problems."

Notes

Dr. Talmage: American Presbyterian clergyman, 1832-1902. Appomattox: town in Virginia where Lee surrendered to Grant in 1865.

Mason and Dixon's line: southern boundary line of Pennsylvania, run in 1763 by two English surveyors, Mason and Dixon. It has become famous in history as in part the old boundary between free and slave states.

Mr. Toombs: a South Carolina senator.
Lee and Johnston: Confederate generals.
Grant and Sherman: Federal generals.
Athens: town in Georgia.

Webster: Daniel Webster, a senator from Massachusetts.

Questions for Study

1. In reading this speech remember that it was delivered in New York City by an editor from Georgia at a time when the bitterness engendered by the Civil War and kept alive by the events during the period of Reconstruction had not yet altogether died out. Does Grady at any point fail in courtesy toward his hosts? How does he maintain his loyalty to the South? How do you account for the enthusiastic reception of the speech by both North and South? What do you think its effect was on both sections of the country?

2. To be successful a speech of this kind must not only convey fact; it must also arouse the emotions of the hearers. Select several passages in which the speaker is most successful in arousing sympathy while conveying facts that he wished to be considered.

THE BLUE AND THE GRAY

FRANCIS MILES FINCH

By the flow of the inland river,

Whence the fleets of iron have fled, Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver, Asleep are the ranks of the dead:

Under the sod and the dew,

Waiting the judgment-day;

Under the one, the Blue,
Under the other, the Gray.

These in the robings of glory,
Those in the gloom of defeat,
All with the battle-blood gory,
In the dusk of eternity meet:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Under the laurel, the Blue,

Under the willow, the Gray.

From the silence of sorrowful hours

The desolate mourners go,

Lovingly laden with flowers

Alike for the friend and the foe:

Under the sod and the dew,

Waiting the judgment-day;

Under the roses, the Blue,
Under the lilies, the Gray.

So with an equal splendor
The morning sun-rays fall,
With a touch impartially tender,
On the blossoms blooming for all:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Broidered with gold, the Blue,
Mellowed with gold, the Gray.

So, when the summer calleth,
On forest and field of grain,
With an equal murmur falleth
The cooling drip of the rain:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Wet with the rain, the Blue,
Wet with the rain, the Gray.

Sadly, but not with upbraiding,

The generous deed was done,

In the storm of the years that are fading,
No braver battle was won:

Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Under the blossoms, the Blue,

Under the garlands, the Gray.

No more shall the war cry sever,
Or the winding rivers be red;

They banish our anger forever

When they laurel the graves of our dead!
Under the sod and the dew,

Waiting the judgment-day;
Love and tears for the Blue,

Tears and love for the Gray.

Notes

This poem is said to have been inspired by the fact that on Decoration Day, 1867, the women of Columbus, Mississippi, strewed flowers on the graves of Confederate and of Federal soldiers alike.

The Blue: soldiers of the North.

The Gray: soldiers of the South.

Laurel: emblem of victory, as formerly wreaths for victors were made from laurel leaves.

Willow: an emblem of sorrow and bereavement.

Questions for Study

1. Can you tell from this poem that its author was a native of New York? Why is your answer significant?

2. Is the point of the poem that all men in death are equal, or that after the conclusion of the war no difference should be felt toward the soldiers of either side?

MY NATIVE LAND

SIR WALTER SCOTT

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,

Who never to himself hath said,

This is my own, my native land?