The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-11-28

DIX. tTlLO. "A. AIIlJ-ANE.
Secretary and Treasurer Asheyille
Cotton mills, Asheyille, y. c.
He has no political ambition and has
never had any. lie has always been
earnestly DESTROYS of good government
and has been among the first in his
county to lend his influence to the ends
he thought would best promote the
prosperity and development of the
State He is North Carolinian-true
to the core, loving her past, proud of
her present, confident of her future.
He can look back with pride to her in
! dustrial past-that pride of ancestry
that honors toll by performing it
I with skill and large usefulness, as
his father did lie has none of the
silly family pride Of birth. He glo-
ries rather i'm the lessons of industry
and good sense that his father implant-
ed ia Bis Young heart and that he
/ comes OF stock that has made it's
way by intelligent skill and honorable
industry, and stock that looks back
upon its ancestors with admiration,
not for the tinsels and baubles, but for
the honorable and worthy deeds which
have not only enriched the family,
but been a blessing to humanity.
There is nothing pessimistic about
Banks Holt. There is no reason why
any sane man should be a pessimist,
but all the same you find them by the
scores in all conditions Of life. You
find poor ren thinking the world is
going to the bow-woWs at q 2;t6 gait.
and you are sorry for them. You find
men in moderate circumstances who
regale YOU with nothing but calamity
howls, and you have no patience for
their inQratitude You find men of
large estate. men who can write their
check with six figures, and you hear
them talking of the echo of the world
~ skeptic and pessimist and crying in
the market places that the world is
going to the bad, that everything is
going wrong, and that the world has
lost its brightness and its beauty,
and you have contempt for creature
who, blessed with every comfort in
life, is so wanting in common graft
tude as to almost berate Providence for
it's goodness.
Mr.. Holt is an optimist. He believes
in the world, in the men around him,
in his state and its growing prosperity,
in his country and its permanence and
usefulness. He has faith, and while
he has never tested his faith in the
effort to remove mountains, because he
has never seen any mountains he want
ed removed-Qoving their beauty and
aheir grandeur too much to want to be
rid of them)-he has exercised his
faith in removing many mountains
that were in the path of progress. He
has had to remove mountains of unbe-
lief ali around him as he has gone
about building great cotton factories.
When he piled brick on brick, added
spindle to spindle, and multiplied
looms till their number reached almost
those in the hundred year old New
England mills, some of his neighbors
shook their heads, and didn't see chow
it could be made to pay in the South,
just as fifty and more years ago his
fathers neighbors shook their heads
when his father started the old Ala
nance mill.
When after removing all the noun
tains that presented barriers to man
ufacturing success, Mr.. Holt turned his
attention, as a diversion as well as
a business, to establishing a great
stock farm in Alamance like those that
dot tne blue grass country of Kentuck-
tv, there were many who said that it
was good place to throw away mon
ey, and it would be a pretty thing for
the people to see and give pleasure to
all, but would disappoint the owner.
Such predictions would have "phased"
a less confident and hopeful man. But |
they only stimulated Banks Holt to
carry out his cherished project, and
now has q stock farm, The Alamance",
the pride Of the county, and also of the
state as we'll So much can faith and
works do in the material life.
Nh Holt has seven daughters. His
brother. MIR James II. Holt, has seven
sons. II it were proper to insert the
pictures OF his daughters in this edi-
ton, with Mr. Holt as the centre-piece.
as we have printed Mr.. James II. Hollis
picture with his sons, it would make
page that would be beyond compare
with all the other pages of this pro-
fuselv illustrated paper. Of the daugh-
terra, shrec are married. These are Mrs.
DR.. George A. Mebane, OF Asheville
Mrs. Morton b. Wharton, Of Graham;
aold Mrs II. w. Scott of Graham.
Recently Mr.. Holt has furnished a de
hghtful residence in Raleigh where
his family resides in the winter, so
that ms daughters may ENJOY the eau
cational advantages of Peace Institute,
Their residence in Raleigh is a great
addition to the capital of the State.
Hts hospitable home is presided over
by bis charming wife, who was a
daughter of the late Giles Mebane, of
Caswen county, one of the ablest men
| and most conspicuous patriots that
county has furnished to the State.
Mr. Hollis yariOuS farms cOmDriSe