"And there-twelve hundred feet above the plain, let us place the old gray granite hat upon that noble head, with its grand eyes turned toward Atlanta-Phoebus and Phoenixholocaust and miracle of the Civil War-and from this godlike eminence let our Confederate hero calmly look history and the future in the face! "Shut your eyes and think of it. It will grow upon you until the glow and glory of the idea will keep you awake at night, as it did with Forrest Adair and General Andrew West, to whom I first confided it. "There will be no monument in all the world like this, our monument to the Confederate dead. None so majestic, none so magnificently framed, and none that will more powerfully attract the interest and admiration of those who have a soul. "The Lion of Lucerne, carved upon the mountain rock, commemorating the courage of the Swiss Guard and attracting the attention of visitors all over the world, lies couchant five hundred feet lower than our Confederate soldier's feet. Every traveler to Egypt from Herodotus through the Roman Caesar, the French Napoleon and the English Gladstone to the American Roosevelt has stood in awe beside the silent Sphinxmassive and solemn-cut from stone, and now remaining as a monument to a departed civilization. In far away India, a thousand miles northeastward from Bombay and as far westward from Calcutta, thousands go yearly to the little city of Agra to gaze upon the Taj Mahal, the world's masterpiece of architecture. Rome is famous for the Coliseum, Milan for its great Cathedral, Versailles for the Palace, Cairo for the Pyramids, Delhi for its Kutab-Minar, Rangoon for its Pagoda, and Kamakura for the bronze statue of the Buddha. "And so, with this heroic statue to Robert Lee, the flower and incarnation of the Southern soldier, and all for which he stood, chiseled by an American architect into the towering crest of the most remarkable mountain of solid granite in the world, the little town of Stone Mountain, nestling modestly upon the outer garments of the Capital of Georgia, will hold henceforth an object of artistic, romantic and sentimental interest unique among the wonders of the age.” Mrs. Helen M. Plane, then President of the the Atlanta Chapter, U. D. C., was from its very inception an enthusiastic advocate of the proposed plan. Though approaching her ninetieth year she began, with prodigious energy, to exploit the enterprise and to arouse the latent enthusiasm of the chapters, writing hundreds of letters with her own unwearied pen. In the course of time, the Stone Mountain Memorial Association was formed. Its charter, drawn by Wm. H. Terrell, Esq., of the Atlanta bar, was duly granted. Mrs. Plane became the first President. With characteristic liberality, Mr. Samuel H. Venable, one of the owners of the mountain, in association with other members of his family, made a gift to the association of a handsome tract of land, including that portion of the mountain to be used for memorial purposes. Mr. Gutzon Borglum, of New York, a noted sculptor, realizing the marvelous possibilities of the mountain, from a monumental point of view, became an eloquent champion of the project, and undertook to prosecute it to a successful conclusion. The mountain was formally dedicated with impressive exercises in the summer of 1916, and Judge Emory Speer, of Macon, in what proved to be the last great effort of his life, delivered a masterful oration. The movement was rapidly gaining impetus, when our entrance into the World War diverted the interests of our people into other channels. With the return of normal conditions, however, interest in the great project was revived. Mrs. Hallie A. Rounsaville, of Rome, became the association's next President and, with characteristic vigor, addressed herself to the great task. The association's founder, Mrs. Plane, is still its honorary President and is spared, in good health, at the age of ninety-four, to give it the benediction of her gracious encouragement; and, while this enterprise of patriotism was the inspiration of her declining years, it is to be hoped that she will yet witness, in splendid reality, the fulfilment of her dream. Hon. Hollins N. Randolph, of Atlanta, a distinguished member of the Atlanta bar and a descendant of the great Jefferson, is now the official head of the reorganized movement, and success is already in sight. Much credit is due also to Albert S. Adams, Esq., of Atlanta, who has proven himself a masterful organizer; to Messrs. R. E. Harvey, Lee Ashcraft, E. R. Black, D. W. Webb, T. W. Connally, George R. Donavan, Willis A. Sutton, Eretus Rivers, Mrs. S. M. Inman, Mrs. T. T. Stevens, Mrs. Charles Phillips and many others. The project has commenced to thrill a nation. Catching the vision, the late President Harding was one of the first to give his enthusiastic support to the great enterprise, declaring that he could not resist the spell of so wonderful an idea, the effect of which, to quote the President's own language, was fairly captivating to his imagination. Temporarily interrupted by an international upheaval, the movement has acquired a new impetus. Delay has only widened the outlook, enriched the ideal and intensified the interest. As a result of the great clash of arms, in which this country bore so decisive a part, there has been a broadening of the purpose, contemplated in this vast memorial. It will now be made to include the stupendous Armageddon from which we have just emerged, and in which our brave boys, on many a glorious field, have exemplified the best traditions of a land of Cavaliers. On Friday evening, April 19, 1923, a banquet was held, at the Capital City Club, in Atlanta, at which every section of the South was represented by distinguished guests, including Governor Brandon, of Alabama, Governor Peay, of Tennessee, and representatives from Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, and Missouri. It was a brilliant occasion, showing that all Dixie-land was behind the movement; while letters from President Harding and Chief Justice Taft testified to a republic's interest in the great Confederate Memorial. Some few weeks after the banquet, Governor Trinkle, of Virginia, was Atlanta's guest, and during his visit the actual work of carving the figures on Stone Mountain was commenced, with impressive exercises. These figures, the central one of which portrays Lee on horseback, have been carefully drawn upon a diminutive scale, in order to get an exact photographic likeness, after which they have been projected upon the side of the mountain by a powerful stereopticon. When the dream of the gifted sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, becomes a realized accomplishment, Stone Mountain will stand forth as one of the acknowledged wonders of the modern world, surpassing the far-famed Lion of Lucerne, carved from the living rock of the Alps, and dwarfing the Acropolis at Athens, crowned by the Temple of Minerva. It will cast into the discard the Colossus of Rhodes, will overtop the loftiest of the Egyptian pyramids, and will make the most enthusiastic Orientalist forget the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. It will give a belated but splendid realization to the dream of Phidias, which was to make of Mount Athos a colossal monument to Alexander the Great. But in place of the world-conquering Macedonian will be substituted the South's illustrious soldier, Robert E. Lee. It is the design of this great monument, while commemorating deeds of heroism, to promote the ends of peace. Not a single battle will be depicted. An enduring monolith, it will stand for national unity; it will be a monument of reconciliation; it will typify the spirit of brotherhood. But Stone Mountain is enriched with memories which reach beyond the cataclysm of the sixties. Cast in the colossal molds of a prehistoric age, it was born of elemental fire, to tell the story of a great convulsion. It was a famous rendezvous for the Indians, before the advent of the European. Among its storied recollections, may be included: the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the pioneer era of colonization, the arcadian days of the Red Man, and the tender romance of an old South. In the poem which follows, the whole field of Southern history is brought within the reader's perspective, but necessarily in a manner somewhat fragmentary and episodical. Written in blank verse, with an occasional burst into rhyme, it follows in an humble way the noble model of the Shakespearean dramas. Perhaps its only claim to consideration lies in the fact that it emanates from one whose heart is in his theme and whose pulse-beat is tenderly at |