Raleigh, N.C., May 1—There will be three public holidays in North Carolina this month, two of which have been legalized by the General Assembly. The third is observed by the post office department and other government agencies officially and unofficially by numerous business firms and some public places.
The two strictly legal holidays occurring during May are May 10, Confederate Memorial Day, and May 20, Mecklenburg Declaration Day. The sesquicentennial of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence will be observed this year., has come to be more generally observed in North Carolina since the World War. Prior to that time exercises occurred only where there were National cemeteries. At these cemeteries the graves of Union soldiers who fell in the Civil War were decorated by local committees. There was some sentiment attendant upon the occasion, however, the exercises were usually very formal, and not largely attended.
However, for many years it has been the custom of the inmates of the Confederate Soldiers’ Home at Raleigh to go to the National Cemetery here, each May 20, and decorate the graves of their former foes. There has always been an air of pathos about this, and never anything spectacular.
The Confederate Soldiers’ Home at Raleigh is located about half a mile from the National cemetery. From the Confederate Home the Stars and Strips are plainly visible, floating silently among the oaks of the National Cemetery. The place is not much frequented. About a thousand heroes of the Blue sleep there. It is a quiet spot. It is well kept. The government employs a caretaker who has a residence within the brick wall that encloses the small city of the dead. The flag is raised each day at sunrise and floats until sunset, when it is taken down carefully and deposited for the night with as much care as if it marked a military where live men were stationed. The cemetery is on a hill, to the east of the city.
The heroes of the Gray cannot afford expensive flowers. Their bouquets consist usually of hand-picked domestic flowers—the simple, smiling daisy, for instance, and other native flowers that grow in abundance in this section in Spring.
Nor are the Confederates spry. They are all past 80 and to walk half a mile requires effort. But they do it, many of them, starting in time to make the journey and return before sundown. Slow is their treat. Some go on crutches. Others use sticks. As they make their usual pilgrimage to the city of Northern dead, they walk over war scenes. There is nothing impassioned about their conversation on such occasions. They have no acrimony. That was buried long ago, they say.
Since the World War, May 30 has come to be more generally observed in North Carolina. White it has never been legalized by the General Assembly or proclaimed by the governor, yet, it is the day on which poppies are sold in memory of those who sleep on Flanders Fields. Decoration of graves has become more general, for there now sleep in the cemeteries of the state those who fell in the recent conflict—those who wore the uniform of the United States and fought under its flag.
There has been no concerted move in that direction, but however many have expressed the desire to merge all decoration and memorial days in North Carolina. This would mean to draw no distinction in honoring dead heroes—Northern or Southern, Civil War or World War veterans.
Throughout the state committees are at work raising funds for the purchase of material and preparing poppies for May 30 when they will be sold on the streets of the cities—blood-red poppies, for those who sleep in Flanders.
From page 3 of the Smithfield Herald, Saturday, May 2, 1925
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn93064755/1925-05-02/ed-1/seq-3/#words=MAY+2%2C+1925
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