The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-06-17

dustriaI College for girls and women is
the child of this organization. The es-
| tablishing of it, and of the Agricultural
and Mechanical College for boys and men,
| was and is the earnest of still better
| days.
But best end most important and high
over all is the growth and promise c
growth of the public schools. To be sure
this advancement has been far less rapid
| than some Of us had hoped to see, but
| there is great comfort in the fact that
the lump is being leaven3l
| Surely the Good Time Coming" canno,
| be far distant when a Legislature III
North Carolina makes, nOt grudeingiy
but freely, an extra appropriation OF
| 500 900 foR the public schools-not large
of course--but more than one tenth the
amount of the entire school fund Tor the
year previous; when, with all the chang
| ing policies and parties in the State dur
| ing the past six years all have been NOV
| ed by the desire to do something to i'm
prove the public schools, no matter now
bitter. or how wide the differences upon
| other subjects. When candidate lof
Governor of the State declares from the
public platform that if he is elected ne
will do his utmost to lengthen the term
1 of. and to improve the public schools OF
| the State-telling the people, if they do
not want this done they need not vote
| for him High tariff or free trade, free
silver or gold standard apart from any
| political consideration, glory and honor
| and success to this friend of the chill
| dren.
The three men who have stood at the
| helm for the last twenty -four years, nave
contributed much to the growth and de-
| velopment of our public school system
Then it was but a shadow, today it COM
| mands the respect and support OF the
best people in the State. If the present
| incumbent will pardon me, want public
| ly to congratulate him for the improve
ment of our public schools under his guild
| ing hand. He has been aggressive, watch
| full of the children's interest, and has
| kept the Importance of the public schools
| before the people. When he lays down
| his charge, he will do it with con-
seriousness of a duty faithfully and eff
GENTLY performed.
| want also, to say to the teachers
: present this evening, and through you TO
the Dissent ones throughout the State,
| that much of what North Carolina is to-
| day. and of what she promises to be- is
due to the work of her faithful and un-
selfish teachers. Because of this work,
the flowers of the coming spring will be
more fragrant, the harvests of the sum-
mers will be more abundant, the fruits
of the autumns will be more luscious,
the songs of the children around the old
| family hearthstone secure from winters
| blasts, will be more joyous and glad
some. May this thought help to soothe
the headaches and heartaches the buff
| lettings and complainings that so often
come.
Now last parting word
Unfortunately we in North Carolina,
and in some other places as we'll, (the
South have been, and to some extent are
still afflicted with a kind of satisfied
doing well enough" feeling disposition
TO live too much in and on the past, neg
lecting both the requirements and the
privileges of the present. Most surely
we should be true to the past with all
| of its traditions, but whatever else we
| do we can not afford to be recreant to
the present and faithless and hopeless to
the future. For myself, l feel like Shan
Mcbride did when Newton Basket makes
him reply to the statement of his sweet
heart You used to love Lizzie Williams,
Yes" sand Shan, but thank the Lord
Used'te amt Nows
| AS Thos. Nelson Page put it, we love
| to think of THE civilization of the Old
South, as it was both unique and distinct.
1t combined the elements of the three
great civilizations which, since the dawn
of history have enlightened the world 1t
| partook of the philosophic tone of the
! Grecian: of the dominant spirit of the
Roman; of the guardfulness of individual
rights of the Saxon civilization, and over
/ all brooded beauty and softness, the
| Joint product of chivalry and Christian
ity"
1t is, perhaps, with pardonable pride,
| that we wish it known, that it was a
| Southern man who first sounded the key
note of American liberty; that it was a
| Southern man who wrote the Declara-
! tion of Independence; that it was
| Southern man who led the American
armies of the Revolution to victory; that
| it was a Southern man who was presi-
| dent of the Constitutional Convention
| that it was a Southern man who was the
| first President of the United States; that
| it was a Southern man who was the first
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the
| Nation; that it was a Southern man who
| added the great Louisiana purchase,
thereby more than doubling the then area
of the United States and we could go on.
But while we would thank God for all
| the glorious heritage of the past, we
| thank Him more for the grander and the
| better present, with all Of it's incentives,
| with it's rushing tides of hope and inspi-
ration, with it's continuously opening av-
enues leading to higher and better things,
and for the promise of still a nobler and
| sweeter future with all of it's possibilities
ready to become realities, as soon as man
kind is prepared to step up and out into
the new era. The pledge of this New
| Time" is the promise, I'm the last days,
| l will pour out my spirit upon all flesh"
| We can see, even now, in our magma
ton, the golden light penciling and tint
| ing the eastern horizon of the Good
| Time Coming"-the time when a good
school shall be accessible to every child
| in Amerea-the time when there shall
! be no more night, as the electric light
will hang out all over the land, the time
when wireless telegraphy aerial naviga-
| tion and rapid mail transit shall be per-
! factad with c0untIoCc other wondorc