The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-06-18

How many did Trinity college, Wake
Forest and Davidson have? All OF
them together not over 500. How many
high schools of state reputation were
there? Not more than three, liz so
many. How many buildings has The
University, Davidson. Wake Forest.
Trinity and other colleges erected
within a quarter of a century? l
need not mention the Agricultural and
Mechanical colleges for both races and
the Normal colleges, with their fine
equipment Go anywhere you will in
North Carolina today n count over
the magnificent graded school build
ings and colleges and academies that
twenty a g were not in existance
and you will open your yes. What
does il mean when beside the factory
and the mill the school building has
its place preserved n set apart? II
ean hat in this manufacturing and
commercial age. with h mad rush
for the dollar, North Carolinians, az
least. are going to provide, in the
language of Governor Holt, for the
training Of immortal mind"
No. we have faced to the dawn, and
were it not invidious 1 could name
members of this assembly and leaders
in educational thought in our state.
who are pledged by their honor not TO
let us face any other way. And that,
my friends, Is what We are here for.
We must ook for criticism because OF
our slowness, and some poor souls will
contend that we are making no prog
resS at all, and our educational gov
ernor must expect to hear it asserted
that his efforts have failed and hat
he has played false to his promise. He
nay not see the work of his hands es-
tabliShed upon him, neither will any
of US who are engaged in the build
ing for future years n future gen.
erations, as are the teachers, but il
all are patient we shall have no need
Of despair. Art and civilization are
long and time is f1eeting, but where
love is there is a patience which con-
ceals many faults. In a certain do
nestle establishment, sometime after
the honeymoon was past and the
sugar moon was in the wane, but be-
fore the vinegar and pepper moor had
said to mis- wife, Mary, let's begin
next Sunday morning and be perfectly
frank and honest with each other for
a week. each noting in the other what
ever of fault and criticism there may
be. and at the end of the week let
US then. for the sake Of natural profit,
candidly tell ach other his faults and
shortcomings" The wife agreed and
the week passed. The husband must
have been one of those exact and eX-
acting, not to say censorious, kind,
who may be met with in other states,
but never in North Carolina On Sat
urday evening he said, We'll, now,
dearest. the week has passed, and let
US speak candidly." The wife insisted
that as il was his proposition, he
should begin first. He accordingly be-
gan: well, Mary, 1 noticed that you
failed to dust the room carefully and
to sweep under the bureau; o were
also out of humor when / brought my
friend home TO dinner Monday, n
you were too busy talking owe the
fence with Miss Scandiebrewer, u
neighbor. to notice me when l came
in Tuesday and I had to get my slip
pers myself. Then, too, you have put
my newspapers out of sight, the Lord
knows where. nearly every day this
week. instead of leaving them where
I put them, On the floor by my desk.
And, dear, don't you think that we
might economiZe a little more n not
have to spend so much on Christmas
bonnets and things Of that kind?
These. my dear, are all little Things,
but having agreed to tell you all, l
felt I must be frank. 1 almost forgot
to say that you pouted a little when
I brought home hat box of perfectos
for my little Christmas smoke with
friends" The husband ceased, then
gave a long sigh n leaned back with
the air OF patient submission, ready
to take his medicine and to hear the
catalogue of failings he felt were due
to aim. Mary nesitated. but he en-
couraged her to go on. n laid down
her work. and coming to him, partly
in laughter and partly with tears o.
love in her eyes. said, with a KISS:
John. I have thought about it and
1 can't find a single fault in you; you
are the best man on earth" Fellow
teachers, that is the way 1 want us to
feel about the dc state: let us be so
full of love for her that we cannot find
fault with her: that we shall be so
blinded with tears of o that spring
UP that we canno see her faults and
shortcomings, and then we shall so
devote our lives to her that each day
we shall heap additional honors on
her, and each hour We shall labor the
more ~zealously for her good. I think
this is the love hat the immortal
Vance bore to her and for which the
people returned him such great and
enduring affection. Then, although
the pay she has for a teacher is meagre
and sometimes pitiful n thankless,
and the call of other states, with their
full purses. is loud. we can say with
Ruth: "Intreat me not to leave thee
or return from following thee, for
whittier thou goest 1 will go, and
whittier thou lodgest I will lodge; thy
people shall be my people, n thy
God my God: where thou diest I
will die and there I will be buried"
1 believe that with all your statistics
there are no greater people than these
North Carolinians. Much has beer
written and spoken recently about
emancipating the white man in North
Carolina politically. and there is some
thing in it, but at the bottom no man
ever saw North Carolina when its
| people were afraid to say n act as
they thought. Were they afraid on the
Goth of May, 1775? Didn't they take
their time before going into 1.-The COM
pact called the Tnion,' and did any
| ody dictate when they refused to GO
| out in 1861? Were they afraid to inn
| peach Holden? Were they afraid OF
| Grants bayonets in 1872 and federal
threats in 1876? Were they not acting
| as freemen in 1894, when their imDa-
thence on account of real and fanciec
wrongs. they overturned the existing
| order Of things? Could the emons o.