The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1901-09-12
WHAT | HAVE GATHERED ABOUT NORTH
CAROLINA.
BY JULIA TUCKER.

"In this fair, suDny Southern land
Where peace and JOY and mlrth
Reign supreme on every hand,
Glad freedom had her birth.
And of the States which made this land;
so brave so free and great,
No one will higher stand,
Than our grand Old North State
Although North Carolina has the
reputation of being so much behind
her sister States, yet when you read
the facts concerning North Carolina,
only very few States can be said TO
keep step with her.
Now, with her excellent schools
and her bright hopes Of obtaining
more, we hope that the machinery of
education will run along with regu-
larity, so that in the end, she will
have accomplished all that has been
expected of her.
Young men Of North Carolina, when
they go abroad, instead Of hiding their
faces in shame, when asked from
whence they came, ought to feel
noble pride in acknowledging their
birth and in presenting their State as
a model worthy of imitation.
There are many very interesting
facts about North Carolina that, per-
haps, but very few indeed are ac-
quainted with.
So my subject will chiefly be in
telling some of the many interesting
facts which we ought to feel pride
in.
North Carolina was the first State
out of the thirteen on which the
English landed at Roanoke Island in
1854 and was the birth place Of this
great country.
Through Lanes expeditions in 1855,
North Carolina first introduced to
potatoes.
Virginia Dare, who was of English
parentage, was the first white child
born on the soil of North Carolina.
The first gold mines worked by
Americans were the Reed mines in
Cabarrus county.
The first American battle was
fought on the soil Of North Carolina
at Alamance, in resistance to the
oppression of the British govern
ment.
At Tryon May IS, 1771, was spilled
the first blood that was shed for the
American cause.
1t was on Nav 20, 1775, that the
people OF Mecklenburg county declared
that they were under the control Of
no power but that of the Almighty
God. aud to maintain that independ
ence they pledged each other their
lives, fortunes, and their most sacred
honor.
This was noble and daring act Of
patriotism.
North Carolina furnished to the
Confederate army more than one hun
dred and twenty-five thousand men.
This was more than one-fourth of
all the forces raised by the eleven
Southern States, and out of these she
lost thirty thousand.
1t is said that there was not a
single regiment in the entire Confed-
crate service in which could not be
| found some former student of our
| University.
Our educated young men were the
| first TO offer themselves to the cause
and were among the first to fall.
Henry Wyatt, North Carolinian,
was the first man killed in the South
ern cause.
In the late struggle of war, what
State took nobler stand than North
Carolina, or what State sent out
more soldiers to the cause than she
did?
She went about it in way that re-
Hected honor on both the people and
the State.
Knowing all these facts ought not
every man to feel noble pride of
having sprung from such land?
There is no land that is as full OF
TRUE patriotism and loyalty to her
country, her first settlers were ust
and upright. spurqing the base and
the low.
1t is land that is full of domestic
affections and historical interest, and
in whose soil mingle the ashes of
many true patriots, Christians and
honest men.
AS sons and daughters of North
Carolina we certainly ought to feel a
very deep attachment to her very
name, for above all it is land that
way be depended upon to do her share
toward the maintenance Of truth,
| Justice and religion.