eel at the South. Mason and Dixon's Line is laid down on no map
and no longer laid down in the memory of either side. The Mason and
Dixon's Line of to-day is that which circumscribes this great Union,
with all its advantages, all its hopes, and all its aspirations. This is
the Mason and Dixon's Line for us to-day, and as a representative of the
South, I am here to speak to you on that account. We do owe--these two
sections do owe--each other a great deal. But I will tell you what we
owe each other more, perhaps, than anything else. When this country was
settled for us it was with sparsely scattered settlements, ranging along
the Atlantic coast. When the first outside danger threatened it, the two
sections immediately drew together. New England had formed her own
confederation, and at the South the Carolinas and Virginia had a
confederation of their own, though not so compact; but the first thing
formed when danger threatened this country was a committee of safety,
which immediately began correspondence among the several colonies, and
it was the fact that these very colonies stood together in the face of
danger, shoulder to shoulder, and back to back, that enabled us to
achieve what we did achieve.

Standing here, on this great anniversary at the very end of the century,
facing the new century, it is impossible that one should not look back,
and equally impossible that one should not look forward. We are just at
the close of what we call, and call rightly, a century of great
achievements. We pride ourselves upon the work this country has
accomplished. We point to a government based upon the consent of the
governed, such as the world has never seen; wealth which has been piled
up such as no country has ever attained within that time, or double or
quadruple that time. It is such a condition of life as never existed in
any other country. From Mount Desert to the Golden Gate, yes, from the
islands which Columbus saw, thinking he had found the East Indies, to
the East Indies themselves, where, even as I speak, the American flag
is being planted, our possessions and our wealth extend. We have, though
following the arts of peace, an army ready to rise at the sound of the
bugle greater than Rome was ever able to summon behind her golden
eagles. We are right to call it a century of achievement. We pride
ourselves upon it. Now, who achieved that? Not we, personally; our
fathers achieved it; your fathers and my fathers; your fathers