The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-08-24
WILMINGTON, n. c., FRIDAY, AUGUST "a, 1900.

was dead! The whole state was as
house OF mourning as for a father or
brother. No event since the surrender
OF the confederate armies had so NOV
ed all the people
And now. what does this statue rep
resent TO us? In IL. when the veil
shall be removed by Miss Epsy Vance.
granddaughter OF our statesman. We
shall see, as / think. Vance as he
without undue self assertion, the mas
ter OF his subject and his audience.
addressing his peers in the senate OF
the United States. the most august
arena Of earth.
As We look at the statue We shall
see him as knew him. the qualities OF
his great mind. soul and heart in his
beaming face and shining IN evely
Nneament OF his count enance. Let US
analyze those qualities. Thee is ccur-
age, moral and physical. Unborn and
augmented by three score years Of
conflict with the har ishiDs and the
battles of life: akin - courage, her
twin sister, Truth. will speak from his
hpe, truth which his direc1 mind
sought as the needle the pole. and when
found, ii was ever part of his very life.
He valued il as a priceless jewel, and
his honest heart impeiled him to dis
play it TO the world for its guidance
and Improvement He is speaking
words of truth now. And honesty you
will see, a development of truth, its
expression III the life of the man as he
dealt with his fellow-men. taking only
what was his and freely according 20
others what was fairly theirs. And
you can see benignancy and charity
beaming from that face. tender kind
ness for his friends and indulgence to
the faults of his adversaries. q say
not enemies for few could be enemies
to one of so open and genial a nature
as his.) And there is wit and humor-
keen wit, twinkling from his eye, and
racy humor bubbling from his half
open lips. And behind them a friend
can see the playful irony with which
he met the sophiStry OF a good-natured
adversary, and the cutting sarcasm for
the malicious charge OF one who
would traduce his people. Here again
is the pose and confident power OF the
orator not the elocutionist merely, but
the orator whose words carry conVic-
ton to the unprejudiced and confu-
sion to the prejudiced hearer. And
patriotism, too, the love of his father
land, needing not words to give 1T ex-
preston, and gratitude TO his Creator
| for giving him so fair land, and a
nature so richly endowed for the en-
| joyment of it's blessings. And there
| you may see consciousness Of other
| gifts to be used not so much for his
| own glory as for the good of his state
| and country. In a word We may see
| in his manly form and expressive face
| a combination of those qualities, that
| virtue characterizing a man such as
| Marc Antony described Brutus TO
| be .'the noblest Roman of them all.
His life was gentle. and the elements
| so mixed in him that nature might
stand up and say to all the world this
| is a mani"
Possibly, as ages roll by and dress
and custom change, a critic, in view OF
i Vance's eventful and successful life
| may say the sculptor ought to have
put a crown of laurels ON his brow
but as long as the friends who knew
him, and their traditions of him, shall
| live, the bushy lock will seem the bet
| ter crown for his massive head Thu:
| he looked as we loved him, and thu!
he looked as we buried hlm beneath
the soil of his native county, amid the
scenes from which he drank those in
spirationS which have made him, as
said in the beginning and confidentl!
| repeat, North Cardinals most distin
guished patriot, the best-beloved o
her children, and in all the annals o
her history the geateSt of her sons.