The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-08-03


A journey across the Blue Ridge was,
in the days OF my boyhood. quite a
serious undertaking. AS a boy. reared
in a country district OF Piedmont Viz
ginia, / used to look with no small IN
terest al a six-horse wagon which a
come all the way from "over the noun
tain" and was on its way to Freder-
icksburg with its load of produce from
1.-THE valley" Those huge wagons.
with their gigantic a and stalwart
drivers. who commonly owned them,
are things Of the past. The ubiquitous
railway has demolished them. The
great Chesapeake and Ohio line. rum
ming from Hampton Roads away
through the Blue Ridge n the Allie
ghanies. has played a conspicuous part
in this wholesale destruction of the
road-wagon.
l shall never forget my first trip to
Lexington. With an appointment as a
cadet Of the Virginia military institute,
I ook the train at Orange Court House.
to go over h mountain" The engi-
neering skill of the famous Colonel
CroZet was about to perform the feat
of tunnelling the Blue Ridge. which
had been a formidable barrier to any
large intercourse between Piedmont
and the valley. CroZet put two sets of
hands at work on opposite sides Of the
Blue Ridge, and made his engineering
calculations to have them meet half
way; n SO accurate were these call
culations that the two forces. tunnel
ling in opposite directions, did thus
meet, and, in the expressive words OF
a mountain rifleman, daylight was
made to shine through the Blue Ridge"
And soon the track was laid. n Pied
mont was joined to the valley. On a
temporary track over this road-then
called the Virginia Central Railroad
we made our way among the dizzy
precipices and yawning chasms n
deep gorge to Stanton, and thence by
a four-horse stage-coach to Lexington.
1t was a two days trip. Now a few
hours is sufficient for the journey.
For several generations Lexington
has been one of the most important
places in the valley of Virginia. The
original settlers were Of the sturdy
Scetch-Irish stock-mostly Presbyte-
rians in religion, and federalists in pol
itics. Here General Washington found
ed the college which was called by his
name, but which is now known as the
Washington and Lee university. Here
was the arsenal of Virginia, and here
consequently was founded the Virginia
military institute, a school on the
model of the United States military
academy at West Point. The faculty
was manned largely by alumni of West
Point. Colonel F.. H. Smith the trans
lator of Blot, and the author Of an AL
zebra, was superintendent and profess
sor Of mathematics. Major j. T. L..
Preston was professor of Latin and
also of rhetoric, logic and intellectual
philosophy. Gillian, the author of the
Tactics" vas commandant n pro-
fessOr Of chemistry, geology and min
eralogy. Williamson, the author of a
capital book on civil engineering"
taught that science, and was also pro-
fessor of drawing; and the professor
Of natural philosophy and artillery was
the amOus T. J. Jackson, who, at the
first battle Of Manassas, won the title
of "Stonewall," which followed him to
his grave, and follows him still in his
tory.
STONEWALL JACKSON AS A PRO-
FESSOR.
Stonewall jackson as a lieutenant
during the Mexican war, and as a BEL
lona's Bridegroom in confederate
times, is reasonably we'll known to the
reading world. The Life" by DR..
Dabney is, in a respects, worthy
Of the illustrious subject, as we'll as Of
the able and accomplished author. But
this Life" and all the other ~"lives,"
are devoted mainly to the task Of de-
picting the warrior; n as this is the
character in which Jackson figured
most ~conspicuously, and in which he
was most fully himself, it was natural
and proper that the ~biographers should
concern themselves most especially
with this manifestation of the man.
Still, as a matter of fact, it is known
that Jackson spent a, considerable por-
ton of his life in the position of PRO
fessor of Natural Philosophy and Ar
tillery" in the Virginia Military insti-
tute at lexington; n it must be
manifest to the observing reader that
this portion of his life has been but
scantily treated by the biographers.
This, however, is not due to n neg
lect on the part Of these writer's; for
they we'll knew that all intelligent
readers would like to know how Pro-
fessor Jackson lived; how he taught
his classes; what was his method of
instruction; what he said and did in
the class room; indeed, almost any
thing which would throw any light
pom h conduct n character of the
man who said so little and did so
much. But the truth is that there was
precious little to tell about this phase
anU per1OO OF jackson s lie. "A dog
raphy Of a great literary man is apt
to be little more than a review Of his
works; the biography of a thinker
must often be simply an account Of his
thinking and its results; and the biog-
raphy of a teacher, even though he
be a prince in his profession, will not
often present much that is new or
striking to the general reader.
But Jackson's life as a teacher was
singularly exceptionally .monotomous.
He had his text books, and he pre-
scribed the lessons, and at the appoint
ed time he heard" them; IND his was
about all. discussions" in the class
DON were almost unknown, and even
explanations were very infrequent;
and when they did occur they usually
left the matter where they found it.
The text was n great thing which
he came to hear" and we came to
say" if we could: and most of us
commonly couldn't, when the said text
was "Bartlett's Course Of Natural Phi
Oph Major was perfectly