proposed by
the board of directors, which insures success and the satisfaction of
all concerned.

"God bless our Home," and let the light of His countenance shine upon
it and bless it.

And may God strengthen the kindly hands which have led these weary
ones away from thorny pathways "through green pastures and beside
still waters." May they never falter nor fail until the all-merciful
Father shall himself provide the "rod and staff" which shall guide all
through the dark valley to rest eternal.

CHAPTER IV.

THE MARCH OF TIME.

Thoughts suggested while witnessing the ceremonies attending the
unveiling of a statue of General Albert Sydney Johnston, erected upon
their tomb by the Louisiana Division, Army of Tennessee, in New
Orleans, Louisiana, April 6, 1887.[4]

[4] The article was first published in "The Illustrated South."

Little more than three years ago there came a day long to be
remembered by every man, woman, and child resident in New Orleans, and
by all strangers then sojourning within her gates. A day when the
souls of thousands held but a single thought, when all hearts beat as
one, when one impulse, strong, thrilling, irresistible led willing
feet to where, upon a pedestal, raised stone by stone by love and
self-sacrifice, stood the shrouded figure of General Robert E. Lee.
Above hung heavy clouds, alas! too suggestive of the hopes that
perished forever at Appomattox, but ever and anon the struggling sun
broke through, lingering awhile as if to recall the matchless glory
which, even in the hour of disaster and defeat, gilded and made
immortal the untarnished swords, the stacked arms, then and there
surrendered.

To me the terrific storm which soon broke, upsetting all arrangements,
abolishing all ceremonies, hushing all oratory, seemed to solemnize
and mark in a most fitting manner this great occasion. For no tongue
of man or angel could have evoked a feeling so strong, a sentiment so
lasting, as that written, as it were, by the finger of Heaven that day
upon the hearts of that awe-stricken multitude. Years hence, those who
were boys then will remember the lesson there learned. They will tell
you of the soldierly figures standing at the foot of the monument,
exposed to the pitiless storm, immovable, unshrinking ON DUTY, and
these were men who, following where duty led, had won an imperishable
record under the immortal Lee.

They will describe how, in the storm-swept streets outside th