47 



wlio settled (lie pai-isli and riiited States and striitialed 

 aniMst fi'ijiiitt'iil liardsliips for generations, were working 

 lliat citizens of this day might enj(ty the fruits of the splen- 

 did but hard-earned victory. And the snug and Indilferent 

 citizen of to-day who imagines in his folly that he is in- 

 dependent is the inheritor, in a direct line of the noble men 

 of the past, who bore the brunt of the battle and the heat 

 of the day. Civilization is a great co-operative society, and 

 every man is a debtor to the Past." 



Here are few extracts from address of Bisho]) Fitzgerald, 

 Methodist Church : 



"In the old South, and I add old Parish, were the roots 

 of the new. They have to-day the same soil, the same 

 heredity, the same traditions. The men of the South in days 

 of old fought Indians, drank all the strong drink that was 

 good for them' and more, exhibited a passion for politics 

 that has descended to their children and to their children's 

 children, and cherished a punctiliousness on points of honor 

 and a devotion to principle that was derided by those who 

 Avould have done better by imitating them. 



"Those old Southerners were a peculiar peojjle, trouble- 

 some to tyrants and puzzling to i)olitical tricksters and 

 trimmers. There never was a liner manhood on earth than 

 that of the old South. 



"If called upon to give my advice to our young men I 

 should say to them: 'Stay where you are and hold on to 

 your lands. There is no nobler secular calling than that of 

 a farmer. Conditions have changed somewhat but we un- 

 derstand one another, and with less assistance from abroad, 

 that we do not ask for, and the exercise of a reasonable 

 degree of common sense; and every square mile of this 

 Southern land would bloom in bountifulness and beauty,' " 



.My tale is told, im])erfectly done, I know, but it has been 

 a labor of pleasure to me. Now it is left for you to say 

 whether it has been one of interest to you, or will serve as 

 an incentive to better and nobler work hereafter. I trust 

 it will. That it may incite you to strive for the uplifting of 

 your homes and your I'arish. Tn order to do this well be 

 united, live as the men of old, as brothers, working in a 



