Edgefield Advertiser

Memorial Day Observed in Edgefield.

Through the efforts of the members of the Edgefield chapter, U. D. C., Memorial day has been fittingly observed Wednesday, May 10. All of the Confederate veterans of the county were invited to be guests of the chapter and dinner was served in their honor in the dining room of the Baptist church. There were about 30 veterans present and they enjoyed the hospitality of the patriotic women. Immediately after the dinner was served all gathered about a platform that had been erected in the cemetery near the monument to the unknown Confederate dead. A programme which had been carefully arranged under the direction of Mrs. R. A. Marsh, the president of the chapter, was carried out. After the singing of several patriotic selections the master of ceremonies, B. E. Nicholson, presented Haddon Johnson, a young attorney of the Aiken bar, as the orator of the occasion. Mr. Johnson selected as his subject "Jefferson Davis, America's Man of Destiny." Mr. Johnson reviewed the career of Mr. Davis pointing out the fact that historians had failed to give him his rightful place in history. He alone bore bravely and well the responsibility of the government of the new nation and that while he was not as conspicuous as the Confederate military leaders yet he is entitled to more honor than he has been accorded. Mr. Johnson is a finished orator and his superb eloquence held the close attention of his hearers for nearly one hour. A collection was taken for the Shiloh monument fund. The chapter handed Mr. Johnson the amount of expenses he incurred in coming to Edgefield and he very hurriedly donated the money to the Shiloh monument fund. At the close of the exercises the graves of the Confederate soldiers in the cemetery and the monument on the public square were decorated.