The one,
when she was just coming out of a war with the most powerful nation on
earth; the other, when she was just going into a war, civil and
gigantic. Both were afforded every opportunity for dishonest
peculation, and both came out, despite the allurements of temptation,
with clean hands and untainted reputation. They were reared and lived
in the atmosphere of honesty; they sought the inspiration from the
hills and vales, blue skies, and clear pure waters of Middle Georgia.
The surroundings of nature were pure; the honest farmers and
mechanics, her professional men and merchants, were and are pure. It
was the home of Upson, Gilmer, Thomas W. Cobb, Peter Early, Eli S.
Sherter, Stephen Willis Harris, William Causby Dawson, Joseph Henry
Lumpkin; and now is the home of A.H. Stephens, Ben. Hill, Robert
Toombs, Bishop Pierce, and his great and glorious father, and in their
integrity and lofty manhood they imitate the mighty dead who sleep
around them.
Glorious old State! though long trodden with the tyrant's foot, there
is a resurrectionary spirit moving thy people, which will lift thee
again to the high pinnacle from which thou wast thrust, purified and
reinvigorated for a career of brighter glory than thou hast yet
known--when the men who plague you now shall be driven from your
State, and the sons of your soil, in the vigor of their souls,
undefiled and untrammelled, shall wield your destinies.
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