The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-09-09
NORTH (. CAROLINA DAY
SEPTEMBER nth SET APART
FOR MEMORIAL EXERCISES.
PROPOSED FEATURES OF THE OCCASION.
A Golden Opportunity for an Exchange of Sen
timents Between Virginians and North
CaroInians Upon the Deepest and
Saddest of Human Problems.

Saddest of Human Problems.
To the Editor: break fixed rule
never voluntarily to place my name III
print except at the head of my own edi-
torial columns or in an advertisement, to
ask you to place it at the bottom of
yours, attached to this, an appeal to the
young men of North Carolina to unite
with the splendid survivors of the late
struggle for civil liberty in the south in
rendering North Carolina day at Stone
wall cemetery in Winchester, Va, on the
18th day of September, day worthy of
the memory of those whose resting place
in foreign soil it is designed that day to
mark, l take the liberty of making this
appeal, although as yet stranger in the
land of my sires, because, although | am
a North Carolinian by adoption and de-
scent, / am Virginian by birth, and it
lis to my cradle side in war-scarred Win
chester that Cardinals sons and daugh-
tiers are invited at this time. 1t is de-
signed to render this day memorable in
more respects than one. 1t is proposed
by the people of the Shenandoah valley
to demonstrate on this day ut their
splendid agricultural exhibition, which
will then be in session, that peace hath
her victories, as well as war, and that
He who makes two blades of grass to
grow were but one grew yesterday does
mankind as great a service as he who
leads serried legions to the destruction of
his fellowman 1t is also proposed by the
good people of Winchester to grant to
North Carolinians q favorable opportun-
| ity for exchanging information upon
many topics which are suited to the time.
Purely as a commercial venture, a trip to
| the Shenandoah valley at this time of the
year cannot fail to reward our Carolina
lagriculturists, for the mixed husbandry
which is there practiced must surely af-
ford some useful suggestions to our peo-
pie, as our own methods of care and cul-
ture OF our several staples would no
doubt be of information and of value TO
them. But, above all else, this opportuni-
| ty is golden for an exchange of senti
ments between the peoples of the two
great mother commonwealth Of the ST.
lent and the struggling South. Never at
any time in the history of either has
| there been SO great need for an eX-
change of thoughts and of feelings upon
those deepest and saddest of human prob
| lems-the problems of human govern
ment; and it is from a desire that these
Questions may be discussed in the august
presence Of the mighty dead that | earn
estly urge the young men of North Caro-
lima to unite with their elders in this
solemn and sacred pilgrimage to the tomb
of the illustrious past, and to make of the
place where this past has lovingly buried
Its dead the birthplace and the cradle of
a future effulgent with hope and illustri-
ious with the promise of daring achieve
ment. There in that great natural amphi-
itheater whose walls outlast the adamant
as they outlast the mists of dawn great
and glorious deeds have oftentimes been
done. And it would seem to me that no.
where can the young men of the South,
without regard to religion or previous
political conviction, gather newer or
higher note of inspiration for the future
then here in the presence Of the solemn
lspectres of this glorious past. The time
would seem to me to have come when,
without regard to State lines or State
pride, the young men of the Southland
should gather together determined like
Henry Grady, to live and to die, il needs
must, in order ito love this nation into
peace" and also to obey the equally sol
emn injunction of Henry Grady's dying
lips, ito preserve inviolate the interests of
the white race" 1t would seem also to be
a fitting time for some of us to stand
upon the mountains Of memory, and
snatch down from out of the passing PAN
Drama OF the past some thought Of the
sort called immortal. which will enable
us to present to our people some oppor-
tunity to solve that great and that su-
preme question sounded hg William Jen-
nings Bryan at Chicago, when he said
that the paramount problem Of the
American people was now to give to each
child of the common people an equal OPP
portunity to make the most of his or her
existence. 1t was said, believe, by the
German Shakespeare, Goethe, that his
greatest thoughts came to him at mid
night, when standing in the hallowed
lGod's acre of German university town.
he invoked from the eternal ether aid and
inspiration to plead the sacred cause of
the German peasant children. And
SO it would seem to me, that no moro
sublime spot on the surface Of the mi.
verse could be found for the young meu
of the Southland to meet and greet each
other than on that eternal canning
ground Of fame there at Winchester
over which glory has placed to guard
her children that matchless marble
man-at-arms, who stands a sleepless sen
tinel silhouetted against the sky, watch
ing and waiting for the resurrection Of
the dead. There in that valley we stant
upon sacred soil, drenched with the
blood of believers in constitutional liber
ty, and from that hallowed dust i
would seem that there could be created
copy of that great original constitution
al construction, which for so long en-
abled the American experiment of gov
eminent to become the proudest boast
Of the liberty glowing peoples of the earth
1t would seem to me that there we NIGH
be able to evolve some means of escape
from the hideous spectre of nationa
dissolution which is spreading its YAM