The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1896-05-28
ZEBULON B. VANCE.
"REMINISCENCES OF THE MAN WE ALL
DELIGHT TO HONOR.
A llasterly Address By Hon. K. II.
Battle at the Normal and Industrial
School in Connection With the I'm
Yelling of the Vance Portrait.


School in Connection With the I'm
Yelling of the Vance Portrait.
AT the commencement exercises of
the State Normal and Industrial School
IN Greensboro last week Hon. Rich
ard n. Battle, of Raleigh, delivered
an address "Personal "reminiscences
OF Vance as Man and a Friend of
Educatlon,' in connection with the
unwilling of a portrait of the great
Carolinian by our foremost artist w.
&. Randall. We copy from the
Greensboro Patriot as follows:
Hon. R. H. Battle entertained the
assembly with "reminiscences of the
great man whose memory we all de-
light to honor. Intimately associated
with Gov. Vance for many years, he
is we'll qualified to bear testimony to
his sterling character, his lofty motives,
his patriotic sacrifices in behalf of
people whose welfare he held dearer
than his own, and the purity of his
public and private life. In closing
bis address he said:
What does this portrait represent?
LIST. AS work of art, it repre-
sents the skill, industry and genius Of
North Cardinals greatest artist; be-
cause every one who knew Governor
Vance well, during the last ten years
of his life, must recognize in it a per-
feet and almost speaking likeness-a
triumph Of the painters art.
2nd. In it we recognize the graft
tude Of great institution, this, the
Normal and Industrial SCHOOL, of
North Carolina. to the great man,
who, when his voice was most potent
among all the people of his native
of normal instruction that this institu-
ton became a possibility. True, it is
the creation of another great North
Carolinian, your honored president be-
side me, and we owe it mostly to him
that we have here so important fac
tor in the training and development Of
the best womanhOod Of North Carolina,
which is to me, the best womanhood of
the world.
3rd. In it we see Vance as he stood,
erect, gallant, self-confident, but
without suggestion of undue self-as-
sertion, the master of his subject and
his audience, addressing his peers in the
Senate of the United States, primus in
ter pdrcs, in the greatest arena on earth.
As we look at the picture we see the
man, as | knew him, the qualities of
his great mind, soul and heart appar-
cnt in his bearing, and shining in every
liueament of his countenance. Let us
analyze those qualities. What are
they: There is courage, moral and
physical, innate, and the growth of
three score years of conflict with the
hardships and foes Of the battle Of life,
| and of victory over them; allied to
courage, and her twin-sister, truth
speaks from that face and those lips.
| His direct mind sought the truth, as
| the needle the pole, and when found it
became part ofhis very life. He val
ued it as priceless jewel, and his
| honest heart impelled him to display it
| to the world, for its guidance and i'm
provement, and not as an evidence of
his own wealth in its possession. He
is speaking words of truth now. And
here is honesty, a development of truth,
its expression in the life of the man as
he dealt with his fellows, taking only
| what was fairly his and freely accord
ing to others what was fairly theirs.
And benignancy and charity beam
from that face, tender kindness for his
friends and indulgence for the faults of
his opponents-U say not enemies, for
few could be enemies of one of so open
and genuine 4 nature as his.l And
here is wit aad humor, keen wit twink
ling from that small eye, nearly con-
cealed by that honest brow, and racy
humor bubbling from those half open
lips And behind them a friend can
see half playful irony, with which he
meets the sophiStry OF a good natured
adversary, and biting sarcasm for the
malicious charge of one who would ira
duce his people or his party.
Here again is the pose and confident
power of the orator, mot the elocu-
ZIONIST merely, whose words carry con-
viction to the unprecedented, and con-
fusion and dismay to the prejudiced,
nearer. And here is patriotism, the
love of his fatherland, needing not
words for its expression, and gratitude
to his Creator for giving him SO fair a
land to love and nature so richly en-
dowed for enjoyment of its blessings.
And here is consciousness Of many
matchless gifts, to be used not for his
own glory, but for the good of his State
| and his country. In word we see in
this manly form an expressive face, a
| combination of those qualities, that
virtue, which make a man, a man
among men-such man as Anthony
described Brutus to be, that "Nohlest
Roman of them ALL His life was
noble, and the elements SO mixed in
him that nature might stand up and
say to all the world, this was man. y
Perhaps as ages roll by and dress
and customs change, a critic, in view
of many victories, in peace and war, OF
Nance's active life, may say the paint
er should have put crown of laure
upon his brow; but as long as any O.
his friends and their traditions about
the man shall live, these hoary lock;
will seem to be the better crown fol
that massive head. Thus he looked a:
we loved him, and thus he looked a:
we buried him, beneath the soil Of hi:
native county. in sight of the PLACID
waters of the French Broad river, auo
the lofty peaks of the Blue Ridge, thu
scenes from which he drank those in
SEPARATIONS which made him North Car
olina's most distinguished patriot, the
best beloved of all her children, and il
all the annals of history to this OaY