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On The Statue For Meade, And The Memorial Fountain At Stratford Upon Avon, Sermon delivered by Rev. Sabato Morais [...] ... In accepting an official invitation to attend the exercises at the unveiling of a statue raised to the victor of Getteysburg, I obeyed a loyal instinct. I owe profound gratitude to the gallant soldier who, when the fate of the Union, but more immediately of Philadelphia, trembled in the balance, hurled back the raging wave that rushed on madly to overwhelm our fair city and lay waste the rich fields of our State.
George Gordon Meade was the man of destiny whom God made invulnerable, that he might stand unscathed the fiery ordeal of the three first days of , and gladden Pennsylvania on the glorious 4th with triumphal songs.
Equestrian statues are not the monuments by which a people can best eternize the memory of its heroes. A history recalling unflinching devotion to a righteous cause; a history whose pages will inspire future generations with growing patriotism, is the golden momento that the unsparing hand of time can never powder into dust. But so long as granite and bronze are moulded into figures for a recognition of splendid services rendered to an imperilled nation, the general who battled in "cemetery ridge" and hushed into dead silence the thunders of discussion, must have such a statue as that which the children of the great Republic he helped to reconstruct, have erected. Feeling this, I acknowledged the
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2 [...] invitation with thanks, and joined in the outburst of enthusiasm which the solomn occasion evolked. The utterances that fell from the lips of the orators, bro ght back vividly to my mind, the four years of trials which held civilization in fearful suspence, lest the wheel of progress be rudely thrust back. For had the country hallowed to freedom been sundered in twain, kingly pretensions wickedrys would have doubled its iron heel and fiercely crushed - "Divide et impera" is its motto, and we all remember the scheme of crafty Louis Napoleon, and the fatal end of his unfortunate tool, sent to Maximilian of Austria the would-be emperer atsent to Mexico to watch the result of our struggle for the maintenance of a United Republic. But at Gettysburg the unhappy fratricidal war, which gave tyranny joy, reached its crisis and the immortal Chief, who vindicated right, gained then and for ever a xiskax niche in the Temple of imperishable fame. I met the hero once at a family celebration in the house of a brother Isaaelite. His high stature, his his gentle courtesousness with his martial carriage, formed a beatuiful contrast with his lowly demeanour. Let us be thankful that as a Philadelphian, by nature of the military station asigned to him, and because of the handsome home which this appreciative city of ours prepared for his residence, George Gordon Meade left a reputation unsullied; the heritage of a character ennobled by civic virtues.
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••• The black stains on the excutcheon of Great Britain in the days of the Kearsarge and the Alabama, George W. Childs sought to wash away by an abundant flow of fraternal kindness.
The man in honor of whom an equestrian statue was raised has won by his prowess and heroism a golden page in the history of freedom. He who caused a well proportioned structure of great utility to be raised in the twon that produced the literary genius of two English speaking nations has secured a front rank in the order of real nobility - that of large hearted benefaction. For he encourages industry, rewards merit and with a spirit which disdains to set a wall of partition between creeds and colors, bestows his wealth upon whatever is deserving of his countenance. May Philadelphia never need again the priceless services of a General Meade, but may she always count upon the broad generousity of citizens like her distinguished civilian George W. Childs. In soul stirring prophecy of