The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1890-12-25
Influence.

lSpecial Correspondence Of the Gold LeGf.l !
Every result has cause, and behind
that cause is the governing power.
Sodom, that ancient city of the plains,
as a result of the neglect of duty, was
miraculously destroyed by shower OF
birthstone and fire direct from the
heavens. Greece and Rome flourished
and fell. Napoleon, the proud and ac-
knowledged military genius of his age,
whose onward march was signal OF
destruction to any power then known,
died a miserable exile. subject to the
caprices Of his enemy. Why? Because
they forgot their responsibility to that
Unseen Power. Should we not profit
by our knowledge Of these events?
Should we not. when we look around
us, at our prosperity and growth. ask
ourselves the question. are we ascrlb-
ing to Him the honor. who gives us the
bone. sinew and brain to carry forward
these enterprises? And are we proper
ly approaching the restraining influ
ences of his servants, sent among us to
look after the moral interests OF our
people:
DO YOU know, Mr.. Editor, and do our
people generally know, that on every
Monday morning four of your leading
ministers meet each other at one OF
their houses to consult and plan for the
moral advancement of your community?
Did YOU, as l have done, hear one Of
that number, on his knees, plead with
that Unseen Power, to which l have re-
ferred, to let his choicest blessings
rest upon the labors of his brethren,
and upon the citizens Of your flourish
ing town, thus strengthening the cord
of Christian sympathy that binds their
I hearts together and enables each to feel
an interest in his brothers work, and
60 forth in their respective fields OF
labor, eXerting an influence upon sOcl-
ETY., without which these splendid i'm
provements would cease; these stately
warehouses be worthless to their own
ers; these fine stores the prey OF the
burglar; these aspiring men OF renown
the victims of the assassin, and our fair
women, the pride of every enlightened
community, subject to insult by the
ruffian and libertine. Yet, to what
class of men is given the credit of all
material improvement? Almost every
one, with one accord, ascribe it to the
men of means, regardless of how that
!means has been obtained, one of your
contemporaries, in recent issue, going
so far as to say, 1T matters not what
the religion of our immigrants is, so
they have brain and money Not
withstanding we are very greatly
blessed people, and our storehouses are
full, and our barns groan beneath their
load, with a mercantile interest equal
to any town of 5000 inhabitants in any
State, with a tobacco trade surpassed
by none in the State, with liberal
amounts voted to railroads. with ample
banking facilities and county out OF
debt, with $4,000 in the treasury, yet
here is the proud and prosperous town
Of Henderson without a dollar voted to
public education; with no building Of
any kind for white public schools, and
with less than 20 per cent. of her white
children, of school age, in her public
school, in hired house; with her fe-
male college sold to a private individu-
al and unoccupied, an academy with
less than thirty students.
Why is this? Is it because our young
men and young ladies are off at college:
1 know Of only few of each. Or is it
owing to the fact that our Henderson
people are more interested in money
making than in the education of the
rising generation within her borders!
Can we not petition our next Legisla-
. ture to grant us the privilege of voting
sufficient amount to have a suitable
building erected, and have graded
school that will be. a source of pride as
we'll as benefit to all concerned? AND
by this means invest portion of oul
means in the moral and intellectual
advancement of the community which
will be potent for the good of genera
tons yet to come. &.