The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-09-11

Vance Monument, Capitol SqW0
North Carolina honors herself to-
day by presenting to the world, and
the ages to come, this manifesto
ton of her love for the son who
loved her and we, his brothers and
sisters, because children of a COM
monmother honor ourselves by being
here to manifest our love and admi-
ration of him who was ever true to
that mother and to us.
His father was David Vance, and
his mother, Margaret, a daughter of
Zebulon Baird and the Vances and
the Bairds, sturdy Scotch-Irish peo-
pie, from Kings's Mountain down,
were patriots and leading citizens.
He inherited from such ancestors a
spirit of independence, a love of
freedom, and a reverence for the
true, the pure and the good, along
with a strong mind and a sound
DOuH- Nc uluCI1GCu' llDGIS CISS > 1Ol
his father died when he was a boy,
leaving a widow and eight children
to be supported on a small farm, and
besides a few slaves, scarcely more
personal property than was necessary
to pay his debts and funeral expen-
e S So EebUlon was a poor boy, who
had to make his own way in the world.
=
Becoming of age, young Vance in
the summer of 1851 applied to ex-
Governor Swain, President of the
University, for a loan to enable him
to enter the law school and take
some of the studies of the senior
class in that State institution. Pres
ident Swain, though eminently prU-
dent in business, was so struck by
the. manly tone of the application,
that with his proverbial partiality
for the mountain boys, and knowing
young Vance's people, at Onc ac-
oeded to the request and a friend
ship was then cemented between
them that ended only with the life of
the patron in 1868. He remained at
the University only a year, but it is
a testimony of those. who best knew
him there, that in so short a time no
young man had made a greater i'm
preston on law teachers, faculty,
fellow students and villagers than
did this mountain youth. 1t is true,
that this impression was largely due
to a yiVacity more striking, a humor
more genial and a wit more spark
ling than any other youth had dis
played at that secluded seat of learn
ing before. His mountain yarns,
his witty Illustrations in debate and
conversation, and even his funny,
though not disrespectful replies to
solemn questions from president or
professor, in the absence of a Der
feet knowledge of the subject in
hand, contributed to the enliven-
ment of college and village life,
Have you heard Vance's last?"
was a question frequently asked by
n student Of another and a laugh
always followed it's recital. But he
avaiied himself with avidity, Of the
opportunities of improvement af-
forded him, President Swain, Pro
feSsOr Mitchell and law teachers,
Judge Battle and Hon. S. F. Phillips,
and the most discriminating of his
fellows, in class and society, saw,
acquired fair English education, and
some knowledge of the Latin Ian
guage and literature, but.his forte was
an uncommon mastery of the Bible,
Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott.
These classics he had learned, in
wardly digested and thoroughly as
simulated, and they ever furnished
him ready quotation and apt illus
tratiOns for essays, speeches and
conversation.
His love for his mother and an in
nate sense of honor and truthful
ness, that ever prevented his con-
ceaiment of peccadinoes and sins by
falsehOod, We're his shield in the
fight, while in charge and, possibly,
an intuition that he was intended for
something in the world, he found
offensive weapons. At all events, at