The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-05-21

a Wofu OF BOOu cneef IN MS most teECl-
tous vein. The incident will never be
forgotten.
Others on the platform to-day were
Judge Dick and DIR. j. NJ. Spainhour,
of Lenoir. DR.. Spainhour and B. I.
Aycock retired from the board to-day,
their places being taken respectively
by J. E. Fowler, of Sampson, and DR..
j. o. Wilcox, of Ashe.
The alumnae essay was delivered TO-
night by Miss Bertha NJ. Lee, followed
by an entertainment by Uhe Adelphian
and COrnelian literary societies.
4 conspicuous feature of the eXer-
cises, which close tonight, have been
the exquisite musical selections that
have daintily filled the interims of the
programme all under the management
of the accomplished Professor Brown.
Hon. Charles w. Dabney, Assistant
Secretary of Agriculture, arrived yes
tcrday morning from Washington, and
his address was the feature of to-day's
exercises. Dr.. Dabney took for his sub
ject, woman, Her Nature and Her
Work" and made mastery
presentation. DR.. Dabney is a
young man of striking pres
ence, which at once arrests pleas
artly his audience. He is one of the
most accomplished of the young men
of North Carolina, Of big thought"
by which | mean thought that is being
used toward the uplifting of the peo-
pie of this State. He belongs to the
brilliant group of which I might men
ton many, there being among them
George I. Winston, Charles ID.
AIcIver the Avcoclls, Walter
II. Page, Sol. Well, How
ell, Blair, of Winston, Moses and others.
Their works will all come back upon
the waters for the good of North Caro-
lima.
Dir. McIver is doing a great work
here. When God Almighty put the
curse of sweat upon men, it even then
took people until the 10Th century to
learn that "Old Master" was in earnest.
Even until very recent years, one-half
OF the world have thought it the proper
caper to sweat and groan that the other
half might dream. But the dream
racket is playing out, and the class
racket, and the people of the world
are exclaimjro: Well, it's about t;Ee
lhat Ve were al! go;0g 10 work. accord
iry 10 the plan OF Inc lIe2t-1. A.
cCrdingly industrial schools ana cook
books are in many cases taking the
places of Latin and bucolics. 1t was
only in response to the pronounced
movement of the world that the Nor
nal and Industrial School here came
into being, and it has soul, because Nc
Iver symbolizes the intent of the whole
matter.
Thus last year he had Carroll d.
Wright, that man Of distinction in the
study of Labor to talk about work.
McIyer keeps the atmosphere about the
school full of the idea Of work. This
year, he had Mr.. X. II. Battle to tell Of
Vance, the man who chiseled his way
up through rock. And this morning
came Dabney, another practical man.
Il all means that people have made up
their minds that they might as well
come down to it and sweat" as Adam
was told he had to do, many, many
years ago.
Mr.. Battle yesterday morning closed
lis remarks by reading a formal pa
PER describing the portrait of Vance,
But his remarks, not his paper, consti-
tuted the cream OF what he said. lie
spoke eXtemporaneously, and seeming
" without preparation. lie had known
Vance forty-fiye years, from the time
the Buncombe county boy alighted
among strangers as a student at Chapel
Hill. That was in 1851. Seven years
after that Vance was in Congress.
If Mr.. Battles talk was rambling, il
was rambling not in the usual sense
Of the word. 1t was rambling rather
in the sense of the path that rambles
through the woods, not straight, but
nevertheless with a definite trend to-
wards the spring house at the foot of
the hill. This was the rambling that
Mr.. Battle did, lettering in the most
leisurely way towards the springs of
Vance's greatness.
Now and then he would stop where
vista of softened sunlight invited;
then he would feel his way through
shadowed turns in the path where
there was the April shower-witch of
tears. Mr. Battle combined the plain
simplicity of an old-fashiOned gentle
man with the polished speech of the
old-fashioned scholar. He took Vance
and treated him in his loving friend
ship as if he had here a flower. One
could see Vance grow. Battle would
now and then sprinkle on some sun
shine, and now and then he would
sprlkle on some tears. 1t was a sympO-
sium of pathos and humor, the ele-
IltillS III Which dnCe bOOh peSG TOO!,
and he grew and grew, his picture all
the while looking full at the audience,
and many eyes glimmering many
times during the reminiscent sketch,
which was order amid variety, in the
best sense, and, therefore, fulfilling the
law of the beautiful
Listen at this: Vance, the mountain
boy, was walking with DIR. Mitchell,
the learned geologist, one afternoon
at the University They came to an
cd mill with a broken dam. There
was talk of repairing the dam. Vance
pausing for a moment looked at both
mill and dam, and said to the good old
doctor, with straight face: Doctor |
that mill amt worth dam." The |
doctor thought that was just about the |
size of it.
That was not the last time the old |
doctor saw Zeb. Vance. Mr.. Battle |
told of the death of DR.. Mitchell in the |
mountain, near Asheville. His body |