The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-06-18
TEACHERS ASSEMBLY.
Annual Address of the President, J.
Allen Holt. OF Oak Ridge, at wri1hts-
Vile Beach June 1Ath.
President Holt said:
Fellow Teachers

Fellow Teachers:
1 felicitate you upon the ACCOMPLISH
ment Of another years successful work
in behalf of the old North State and
your Ii 1 were addressing
a body Of merchants gathered for
business purposes. or Of lawyers, or ed
itors, OF dentists, or insurance agents
valuable as their work may be in the
economy Of tie state, 1 could not
greet them in the same large sense
as having come up from a years la
Dor for their country. In this large
sense this greeting belongs only to
you n to the Christian ministry. L
congratulate my state because of your
faithful labors through mother year,
ana through you I would send greet
1ngs to that large army of your fellow
orker many of whom are not here,
many who would gladly join us were
II not that the poor pittance which
they are able to save out of their
meagre salaries. forbids. I congratu-
late the state on the renewed educa-
t1onal activity within her borders. I
felicitate every parent from the shores
OF this sounding sea to the highest
peaks, odOrouS with the
azalieS this summer night, that this
first year of the new century has with
in it new hopes and new Inspirations
for every boy and girl within it's Dor
-ders. 1t is an suspicious ear in many
regards for the old commonwealth and
in many ways I need not allude to.
Some n called the administration
of Monroe the era of good feeling"
So. in this year of grace we may apply
educationally I-owell's verse:
a.
how,
Everything is happy now,
Everything is upward striving;
It's as easy for the heart to be true
AS for the grass to be green or the
skies to be blue;
Tis the natural way of living"
The year has been profuse with
promise along every line for the COM
Jng generation. The people are to be
educational campaign and the bold and
aggressive efforts in behalf of the edu-
cation of our whole people by the pres
ent illustriOus governor of the state.
1t is highly significant when gov
ernor instead of playing petty party
politics and appealing to the passions
and prejudices of low p~artisanship,
grapples with the most important in
ternal question that car confront
North Carolina-the education of our
sons and daughters: not the SON ana
daughters of the well-tO-do. those who
live in good houses and own their
homes. but the education of the poor
mans child who in a few years is to
be as much a part of the state and
as potent for good or evil as the rich
mans son. / congratulate the state
that within her borders there has re-
Gently gathered some of the most dis
tinguiShed men of the OHM
who left their daily yocatiOns and aVo-
cations. left the pulpit, the editorial
sanctum, the railroad office, the char
of the college president, the profes-
sor'S class room. from within the state
and from without. wise men of the
east who have seen our star and come
among us to consult not about one
race or one class. or the good of one
section or one state, but about the
broad and general interests of all sec
tions. all states. all races. These men
patriotic, let us not doubt, with hearts
in the cause stopped awhile with us
to confer that a movement might be
started wnIcn would have for its ulti-
mate result he uplifting of the Whole
people. am tEanktu that TINS meet
ing at W~inStCn-Tdiem was attended
with much NOR and that while
men from the north of Mason 4 DIX
on's line spoke frankly, and the men
from the south Of that line spoke bold
Is as they always do. such was the
spirit mat dCIud4Su liz COiIllIlS -ilAu
assembling of hat distinguished body
that no sectional feeling or question
could find place in it's deliberations or
was allowed to interfere with ana
complicate the lofty humanitarian
spirit which pervaded the gathering.
1t so impressed me.
This gathering here OF men and
women OF h North Carolina Teach
er's Assembly. coming together now
the eighteenth time in its history, the
annals of which has been almost the
history of education for a quarter 81
Il century in our state, as II meets lot
the first time in the new century,
commits for much. as it marks a mile
stone from which we can reckon back
and as d vantage ground from which
We
Dir into the future far as human eye
can see, =,
See the wonder Of the world and all
the glory there shall be.
/ am glad that, as we lave met from
year TO year, sometimes annie the
beauties of the laurel-crowned noun
tains. sometimes by the restless sea,
We have not keen willing to let The
season pass in the mere social pleas
ures OF such meetings, the warm hand-
grasp. the heart to heart talk or the
exchange OF anecdotes from the reDer-
toire of wit and humor, sweet am
delightful and ex~hilarating as all
these things have been, but we have
spent some serious hours in laying
plans deep. and l nope wise, for the
betterment and advancement OF ever
thing pertaining to education IN oul
state There have gathered with Us
and given us OF their counsel, honored
governors of the commonwealth and
Others high in official life, emlnen:
Judges. wise and careful Legislators,
DISTINGUISHED superintendent OF ed i.
49, 80 -hiS state and of the United
states wise men from home and
abroad, great teachers from our uni
yersfties and colleges side by side WITT
the humble and conscientious men anC
women from the log school hous@the
strong and brave. the fair ana VII
thousand much has been dom S
arouse and sustain a. sentiment in Ia
Of urhnlaSnma nriYate ana puDll(