The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-26

graduating class at the late com>
mencement at Wake Forest College,
President Taylor made beautiful
little speech.
l. is worth reading and remember
ing by every young man in the land,
whether college graduate or not.
He SAID "In one of his charming
essays, Benjamin. Franklin expressed
the wish that be could awake at tho
end of q hundred wears and be wit
ness Of the wonderful things which
century would produce. Bat. far
seeing though he was, his prophetic
dream fell short Of the reality as we
know it. The vision, young gentle
mcr, which was denied to him is
granted to you. You enter life and
assume the toga virilis in such az
era as this world has never seen he
forc-an era of great and growing
enterprise, of widening knowledge,
of quickened sympathies, ,of universal
peace.
Especially are you to be congratu-
lated, as sons of the South, on CONS
ing into your well-tralned manhood
at such time as this. Whatever
problems you may have to solve, the
questions that harrassed your fathers
are settled for quarter Of cen
tpry flowers have been blooming on
the scared fields Of their battles. A
new era has opened for North Caro-
lima and her southern sister states.
Each mornings paper tells Of some
new enterprise-of furnaces. cotton
mills, factories, Improvement com
panie5. Therein we all rejoice. And
it is with feeling Of peculiar pride
that the old mother college sees SO
many Of her sons in the forefront Of
this bloOdless struggle. This is the
New South of which The eloquent
ana Iamented Grady was the pro
phet-New in its enterprises, in It's
leaders, in its spirit. And this spirit,
| need no. tell you, is thoroughly
materiallstIc. Chafed at being lag
CARDS in the race for wealth, weary
49, .I,o ,Ir,oe+ 1,i,o-soI ,,ouo-+, o,-
own Southern mea who have dis
cerned the hidden utilities in soil
and forest and sunshine are striving
with IS great inveGtiveness and ener-
gy as has ever been displayed by
NorthernY ankee or Western Hoosier.
Aad we say, God bless and speed
them.
Yet Of this scheme-weaving and iu-
tensity of application there are obvi
Gus tendencies which are to be de-
plored. The pendulum Is swinging
FROM listlessness and inactivity to
the rush and hurry Of all business
enterprise. May it not swing too
far?
Are not some Of the characteristics
of the Old South worthy of preserva-
| ton not as hallowed memories, but
as living realities? Ifit is the Gttest
that survives, they should not be
allowed to perish.
Your fathers will tell you, young
gentlemen, CT the spirit of that ciyil>
ization which is passing away. 1t
! taught an honesty which was some
thing more than the best policy. 1t
practised q neighborliness and hos
pitality which knit communities to-
gether like great families 1t breath
ed reverence for the hearthstone
and the sanctities Of h0me, for the
purity and dignity of Womanh0oa
such as has never been surpassed. I
1t was hallowed by a patriotism
which was as wide as it was intense
"a patriotism which took un8ellis b
interest in all public affairs, sought
the ablest for office, and was ready
to die for liberty, 1t believed that
gentleness made gentleman, that
personal honor was priceless. 1t
was illustrated By mang Il life such
that sentiment and poetry were as
true as science. It showed many s
sparkling fountain and fragrant
hower by life's waysjdc, believing il
! the enjoyment vi LIFE, rather than
the enjoyment of MONEY. If, as We
drift into the prosper!ties OF New
South. we arc 10 forget and lose all
tts-if the iower is to be crushed
and the fountain defled, u.ay not the
new have cost too mach?
But We need not lose it unless We
viii. And | avail myself of this op
portunity, in this presence, to delivel
a message from the Old South to The
New. Ii would bid you with a wise
! pclqcticisr1 to foster the hest in hOth