The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-07-02

Moral power, like intellectual power, is
a development and not gift. True the
talent is natural, but it's activity and de-
velopment are cultivated. 1t is a misfor-
tune that somehow We have come to re-
gard moral talents outside Of education,
but where there is right character there
must have been correct training in moral
truth. So Mr.. Burton was not prodigy
OF nature, but the product of effort long
and serious effort. Few men devote more
time to moral culture than he did. Nor
was his morality that type of correct con-
duct that seeks social responsibility and
professional confidence.
Mr.. Burton had the ability to be alone
He was seldom seen on the streets of
Raleigh, except as business required. This
trait OF character appeared in his child
hood and was one of the elements of his
strength throughout his life. 1t is the
mark Of balanced mind and well settled
character. The restless mind hunts the
crowd and revels in the excitement Of it.
The worst result that comes from such
restlessness is not the loss of time but
the demOraliZed condition of mind which
units it for work, for there is a condi-
ton as we'll as a strength that enters
into a great mental work. A man can
not go from the noise and rush of a crowd
to a great task. He must come from sOli-
tude if he would do great work. Be
afraid Of that man who stays much in his
own company. He is well armed. The
highest training which God gave the men
who show the greatest strength in the
history of the Bible was given in solitude.
Moses was taken from the revelry Of
Pharoahs palace and hid behind HOreb
for forty years. There he gathered
strength and found his mission. Elijah
came from the hills of Gilead. as John
the Baptist came from the wilderness.
Nothing Of worth has been done before
men that was not first done in the closet;
there is a private rehearsal OF great deeds
before they are given to the public. The
eye sees the most of the world 1T looks
from the stiffness of solitude. While other
men were busying themselves with the
gossip of public affairs, Mr.. Burton was
in his office or the State Library. There
was no inner call from his work. When
the day of work was ended, he quietly
went to his home and entered into the
qnietude of the family circle He did not
carry his office into his home, nor did
he throw the home into the excitement OF
the street by retailing its gossip to the
family. AS he passed along the streets
to his home men invOluntarly recognized
that disposition to stay with himself, so
in the sense of being 1.-The best known
man in town. he was among the least
known. But when his opinion on any
matter came to the public ear, everyone
knew that it was not the hasty work of
loud speaker. but a sober word coming
out of the careful mind which had con-
ceived it without mixture of street pre-
JUDGES. 1t had weight. Burton says
was signal enough to make Judge. preach
err lawyer merchant, and drayman listen
with an assurance of getting the best
thought. What greater position could
man covet than this? The expression
sanity of thought" marks real distinc-
ton, and all men bow to the sane think
er. Mr.. Burton never cheapened his name
and character by a common publicity. SO
little was he on the streets that prom
inent men in Raleigh did not know OF his
last illness till he died. That death
should have come to him when no one
was in his room at the hospital has
something of an appropriateness in it,
for alone he had met all other difficult
tasks of his life, and this last issue
should be the contest of the same soi-
tude man brave enough to live in the
solitude of duty was brave enough to die
in it.
Why Mr.. Burton selected the profession
of law for his life-work is not known
Probably no man is able to recite all the
details that Influenced him in the selec-
ton of a life work, yet more depends
upon the minor details of ambitions and
tastes than ordinarily are credited to
them. The popular belief of divine call to
the ministry is we'll founded, but it does
not exclude the reasonableness Of be-
lief in a divine call to some other line OF
work. There is certainly something in
the affections of man for his profession
that belongs to higher order OF emo
tions than spring from business calcu-
laton. man like Daniel Webster was
not lawyer because it promised him
fee, nor does anyone think of Henry Grady
as journalist driving a commercial bar
gain as the ideal of his life. All who
have wrought grandly have been moved
by unselfish motives. So in the whole
round of human callings those who have
worked best have answered motives ly-
ing beyond the immediate benefits OF
their labors. There is in the world
mystical voice that speaks within men.
and the noblest examples of success have
not been inattentive to it's words. Cold
natures may discard all belief in this
mysticism, but there are men who cannot
deny the facts of their own consciousness,
and they know there is something other
than self that is helping them to conclu-
sions and lines OF action Doubtless Mr..
Burton felt in early childhood drawing
toward the legal profession, and often
fancied himself pleading some cause be-
fore Judge and jury. Children live in
a fairy world where they plan and work
with enthusiasm and sure success. 1t is
we'll known that he had settled the ques-
tion of his life-work before he went to
college, and all his plans were directed
toward preparation for it,
Very much of his success was due to
the faith he put in his profession. He
believed in it. He was man who had
to get the consent of his whole mind be-
h.,t xr,ho In