The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-07-09
THE FARMER AT THE UN1vRo
SITY BANQUET.
Extract from a Speech Delivered at II.
Centennial Reunion at the Uni,ey.
saty by Dr.. r. L. BeaU,
Of LenOtr, ~. O., Glass

OF 1852.
After giving g brief sketch Of h,
class which numbered fortv.two
graduates, he said:
And now I have come to a caS,
which l have left for the last-on tho
principle which governed Gen. CIino
man when to-day he addressed tho
ladies last-last because best of all
at least not inferior in dignity or i'm
portance. l mean our agricultural
class.
Among our distinguished tillers Of
the soil l find John R. Hutchins. NJ
Orange and George A. Brett, of Hert
ford. In my travels owe this broad
land from New York to New Orleans
and from Morehead City to St. Louis
l have not seen a more beautiful, well
arranged and scientifically cultivated
farm, than that of our classmate, Hon
Thomas NJ. Holt.
At the banquet and reunion in
Gerard Hall this afternoon, nv heart
swelled with patriotic pride as l lis.
tened with pride to speeches detailing
the triumphs of our Alumni on the
battle field, in public life, at the bary,
on the bench, in the ministry and as
physicians, their great services to the
State as leaders in public and private
education, in manufactures, internal
Improvements and trade. But a shade
OF disappointment comes over the
bright picture when the toast on Agri-
culture was called and not a single
voice responded.
MI. President, l know that our
farmers are q modest class, shrinking
from public notice and preferring to
let their deeds speak for them. This
omission ought not to have been. l
know it was not the fault Of the com
mittee of arrangements. l know
among our Alumni, farmers abund-
antly qualified to have set forth with
ability and eloquence our achieve
ments in this great field.
l listened with rapt attention to the
speech of DIR. Curry, and my heart
was filed with gratitude as he emu
merated the great philanthropists of
the North who had so generously
showered their treasures upon the
| educational institutions of the South.
But, sir, you may have millions be-
slowed on your institutions and in
vested in magnificent buildings and
the very best of scientific apparatus,
you may have a hundred professor
ships and every professorship endowed
with thousands of dollars, and yet
there might be one thing lacking,
without which your institutions would
be as " sounding brass" as nothing. |
mean men to fill your chairs, and boys
to fill your halls !!
Where will you get them ? l
answer mainly from the tillers of the
soil, directly or indirectly. l venture
the assertion, sir, that the majority of
the distinguished men among you, in
the liberal professions ever either
titled the soil themselves in their you'll
or that their fathers or grandfath@
did before them. Why, sir, in view
of the enervating tendency of Our
modern civilization, as manifested in
our town, city and public life, l an
tempted to think that the salt which
is to save us from national degeners-
ton must come from the farmers Of
the land.
Let a boy have his bones hardened
and his muscles frightened by toll, bis
lungs expanded and his blood purified
by the fresh air of the fields; let h5
powers of observation and reasoning
be quickened by looking into the
forests and fields and brooks and at
the varied forms of animal life he d,
sees around him, and let the finer feel
ings of his nature be developed and
his passions subdued by this inter
course with nature, and | say, sir, you
have the raw material out Of which
to manufacture a perfect model OF
an intellectual man. "Mens sanG "
sana corpore" was the classic model.
More than seven-tenths of our peO.
pie are interested in agriculture, and
l repeat, it is mainly from this class
that you must lookfor your patronage
l live under the shadow of a great
mountain, founded on the everlasting
granite, and lifting up its peaks nearly
six thousand feet above the waves Of
the sea, and to it are flowing people
from every quarter of our country
for health and pleasure and the beau
ties of nature. And now, sir, let ID
take this great mountain-or perhap
better still, the far greater mounts1
seen in prophetic vision, and to which
flowed all the nations of the earth
let US take it as the symbol of tins
great University, founded on the
strong affection and prayers OF ou
people of all classes, and from this
solid foundation let its domes tower
heavenward, and there will flow tor
"every people and kindred and