Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1894-07-12

Jul oluIGIIC CbI 1Cou IJboU. Ii lS
slight, fragile form, his serene,
beautiful face, wherein is blended
masculine strength and womanly
sweetness face that painters
love to linn and ladies to look
upon'-stands out like some finely
wrought cameo against a back
gaound Of chaos and revolution.
In his letters we catch glimpse
Of the ceremoniouSneSS, the
sleepless Difference, the delicate
punctillo of an unhurrying age;
in his merry mal1ings we seem to
reproduce the stately minuette,
the vanished draperies, the per-
sOnal royalty expressing itself
IN stately dignity of a time for
ever gone. He was a tender,
sensitive, loyal, happy gentle
man; a fearless, forceful, vigor-
Gus minded citizen; great ora
tor, a great lawyer. He loved
his friends and was by them be-
loved. I do not fancy he was
ever very popular. [ fear he
could be cold and disdainful at
times, and his graces and gifts
set him somewhat apart. The
great popular leader is the peo-
pie incarnate. In him the peo-
pie see themselves, their weak
ness their prejudices, their limi-
tations, their strength, their vir-
tues, their aspirations, gifted,
glorified, lifted up. The sight
of such a man thrills and
fascinates the multitude. He
soothes their vanity, he touches
their loftier life; he quickens
their dull senses and wakes to
life their slumbering am bitions.
Swift, resistlesS, chords of sym
pathy and love bind together the
hushed thrOng and their articu-
late voice, and his name is in
stinct with magic power forever.
When he dies the little children
cry in the streets, and around
firesides his history is told, and
to future generations the spell of
his name fingers. Hooper was
not such q man. The age some
how did not breed them. He
loved the people Of his State
and was willing to spend himself
in their service, but he was res
tive under criticism, resentful OF
distrust, unbinding in opinion.
He had that proud faith in fam
lily and breeding which, though
it hindered him from seeing the
splendid justice of Democracy,
taught him perfect self-respect
and kept him undegenerate and
free from baseness.
THE age in which Hooper
played his part will always be in
vested with apeculiar and heroic
grandeur. 1t was an age OF
ideas, of moral earnostness, OF
unpurchasable integrity, of faith
in God It was a critical, inquir.
ing age, seeking to find out ano
formulate the sum of human
rights, and to incorporate them
into the framework of State
The men of the time did THEN
work with conscientious thor
joughness, but happily there is nc
exclusive epoch Of unselfish, pa
triotic service. Though a bril-
liant century of intellectual au
dacity has swept the world into {
grander day, there is still worl
for men to do; not SO thrilling
and dramatic, perhas, but no less
vital and far-reaching. The
founders discover ed, defined anC
Iinaugurated. It is ours to inter
pref, to administer, to perpetu
ate. They set the child Self
| Government, timorous and COW
ering, in the midst Of nations
1t is ours to guard and direct an6
restrain the boundless strength
of that same child, grown inte
noble and puissant stature, will
con 5inents for his throne. Wher
ever party spirit shall set its de
crees above the ancient guaran
tees Of freedom, wherever cor
Eruption shall seek to weaker
national vigor. wherever intol
erance and ignorance shall dom
mate free thought and enlight
enment, there we may engage il
| highest patriotic warfare.
''The great army of humanity
marching up to higher things
kept step to the music of thei-
passionate outcries of liberty
. freedom and equality. It is ours
in the land wherein these cries
are facts of life and law, tt
teach the beauty of peace, th'
education of all men and th'
majesty of republican citizen
ship.
/ 'sAnd now my task is done
| God like and famous forever
among men are founders o
| States. So thought and said th'
| great Roman orator, as he gazet
upon the marble beauty of tn
imperiaf city. Hooper. Harvey
Caswell, Jones, Ashe, Iredell AM
their co-laborers were Stat
builders. Their passions, thei
purposes, their convictions, thei
dreams are mplten in the fram
and model Of North Carolina.
LET US hope and believe tina
their spirits lowering upon som
mount of faith see it to-day be
Meath this sum mer surl-a shinin:
stretch of bright waters, goldel
harvest fields, teeming orchard
and happy homes-a steadfas
Commonwealth girt about wit
beneficent laws and institutions
ministered to by the love an
wisdom of a free and undegen