The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-06-14

schools, who in behalf of the educ2c
l tional interests of Wilmington extend
ed a very genuine welcome TO our city
! and whatever we have. Professor
J Blair said:
WELCOME ADDRESS.
| 1T is an honor as well as pleasure
| to voice. Wilmington's greeting to the
| distinguished body I see gathered here
| tonight in this assembly or the teach
ers of North Carolina.
r "It is in the name of the educational
| interests that I welcome you.
| 1.-The school rooms are now closed
| and locked with all their disturbing
| elements and nerve wrecking Influences
| left behind. You come to enjoy this
| freedom of air, wealth of sunshine,
broad waters and blue sky. For the
| first time Wilmington, the leading city
| of the state. is honored with receivin 2
| and entertaining the North Carolina
4 Teachers Assembly, its sessions hav-
/ ing for seventeen years been held in
/ other places, among them being Black
| Mountains, Morehead City and Ashe-
| vile in the land of the mountains and
| the land of the sky.
1T is geographical truth that
natural conditions determine the loca-
! tions of the waters. great cities and
! that there position is not arbitrary
| with the men who founded them. Be
| fore a stone, has been laid or a pillar
erected the students of geography and
| other sciences could have marked the
! places upon which would rise the great
| cities of the earth.
1T is not an accident that the city
! of London was founded and built near
! the mouth of the river of Thames. 1t
| is not an accident that the greatest
| city of our western world is found at
| the mouth of the noble Hudson. The
| student had a right to expect the
To hou har NiGCiG-
sippi her New Orleans. the Rhine her
| Cologne, the Nile her Cairo and Alex
| andria, the Amazon her Para, the
| Tiber her Rome and the Arno her
| Florence-the flower of fair cities and
| the city of fair flowers.
| Il wish to introduce you to our own
I river, upon whose banks the city of
Wilmington stands, whose broad
! waters bear the commerce of nearly
| halffhe state and afford an ample
| anchorage for the ships of many for
| eign lands.
"she can be studied as the type of all
! great rivers. She is, to US, a source of
! wealth, the occasion for a variety of
! industries, and with her ever chang
| ing tide and varying aspect an object
! of interest and beauty. She has a
charm of sentiment thrown around her
by legend, story and song. She has her
| history, dear to every southern heart,
her romance and her literature. Such
/ a river is our noble Cape Fear.
Upon her banks were made among
| the earliest attempts at colonization
! and here was offered the first armed
resistance to foreign oppression,
| Here lived some of the states great
| est men and noblest women. Here were
| enacted some of the most dramatic
| scenes and incidents recorded in the
: annals of American history. This Cape
Fear section has produced some of our
| most gallant soldiers-as brave men as
| ever drew a sword Of fired a musket.
| I'VE place the history of our section
| of the state at your disposal and ask
| you to share with us the pride we feel
| in her glorious past.
I'VE invite you to learn of Moore's
I Creek, Fort Fisher, Fort Caswell and
| Old Brunswick with it's ancient ruins
] of the plantations of the Orton and
| Kendall, Lilliput and Clarendon of
| King Roger Moore, Governor John
| son, Cornelius Harnett and Sir Spencer
| Compton-earl of Wilmington-whose
| name our city bears. Our churches and
| schools, our public buildings and Hilton
| park are all open to you. The columns
| of our three daily papers are at your
| disposal.
| I'VE are the first city in the state
/ first in population, first in commerce
I and many lines of industry. Here the
| sun rises first. The gulf stream is
| nearer our shores than at any other
/ point on the coast of the United States,
tempering with its geniol warmth, the
| piercing winds of winter. The straw
| berry ripens first here and the Irish
| potato the pea, the beat and bean.
| The shad in the spring, first appears
| in our river while in the sounds the
| duck and oyters come first in the fall,
| the rice bird and coot being contem-
! porary with them. And we feel hon
4 Ored by yOur presence.
! The city has entertained within its
! gates some of our country'S greatest
| men. George Washington, Marquis de
I Lafayette, Daniel Webster. Lord Corn
; wallis, Joseph jefferson and Elihu Bur-
rift the learned blacksmith. Also
| variety of orders-and associations. The
| doctors, editors, lawyers captains and
officers Of the Raleigh, and various
base ball aggregations, and all have
| gone away deeply impressed with our
ability to warmly entertain.
Since this assembly movement was
| inaugurated eighteen years ago, our
| state has witnessed many changes of
/ an educational. as well as of an indus
trial nature. The period has given US
the State Normal College, the college
of Agriculture and Mechanics Arts, a
| department of pedagogics at the Uni
tablished at least twenty-five different
times.
We have large appropriations for
| schools. The school houses and grounds
have been beautified. the school rooms
have been frightened with pictures and
| other works of art, and thus made a
place Of joy and hope and happiness.
The profession of teaching has been
elevated and there has been an edu-
| cational awakening in the state. The
last campaign was largely campaign
| Of education and our chief executive the
honorble governor, has used his won
! derful gift of eloQuence and his influ-
ence on behalf Of public education.
There are new things In our profess
1 sion as well as in other departments of
| industry. The demands Of yesterday
| will not meet the changed conditions
of today. The ideals of yesterday are
| not the ideals Of today.