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

you mean TO build up a really efficient
school system and not merely declaim
about II; II. in short. you mean busi1eSs.
lie sentiment shall be aroused which shall
send to Raleigh a legislature to vote the
money. without which an adequate chool
system IS impossible
instruction in history can of course be
had in the University. IN Trinity Col
lege. Wake Forest. Davidson. Eion.
and many another whose equipment
would do honor to larger and wealthier
states The shortage Is not there. but
with those less fortunate whose oppor-
t~unities in life are 10 be found IN public
schools. Il
You must first catch your rabbit-youI
must first get sufficient school terms and
school houses and school teachers where
BY something more than the three RS"
can be taughtEthen We reach h sec
ondary stage now to encourage the
study of the history of North Carolina
The first consideration when you have.
the schools and the leisure to each his
tory is you must make il interesting TO
ms pupils. Articles. brief and striking.
should be written upon the most salient
points Of our history. Canoes of his
line has been done by Mr.. Creecy and
Mr.. w. c. Allen and some others. Such
gems well set will attract the boy or
girl when grave compilations like those
OF DR.. Hawks, Colonel Wheeler and 9TH
ers Will repel.
Then If possible. the eye should lie
appealed to by PAINTINGS and engraytnss
every Massachusetts library and public
buildings you will find OF the
notable events in her history and Of
the great men who have led her people
on all great occasions
There you will find placed before the
eye of childhood the representation of
the landing from the Mayf1ower upon
that rock-bound coast in the depth Of
winter. the flight Of the British from
Lexington. the death Of Warren. the
-acnn= ~ har Tnlian u-ar- tho ninrIlTaC
OF Adams. of Hancock and Webster.
What Massachusetts child ever forgets
the native land which produced such
men or the spots whore such events oc-
Cured?
They have the landing of the Pilgrims
in 1920 What North Carolina school
or public building impresses upon
the mind of childhood that other scene
thirty-ive years earlier. when the first
English settlement on this continent was
made upon our own shores at Roanoke
Island?. Not amid the SHOWS on a bar
ZEN coast. as at Plymouth Rock. but in
with the great Expresses. hung with
moss. as sentinels of the historic scene
and the odors of Araby the blest waited
from the shores of this new land of hope
and of plenty.
In Massachusetts books every striking
scene in King Phillips war and in the
pens OF facile writers. but the painters
brush and the ~engraver's tool have faith
fully preserved the features of each To-
cality and imagination has restored the
features. the arms and the dress of the
actors in each stirring scene
What pen or pencil or engraving or
brush brings to the plastic mind of our
children the scenes of our own Indian
wars? There is that expedition by Gov
ernor Lane up the Roanoke in search
of the gold supposed to lie at its source.
Between Hamilton and Williamson he
was suddenly assailed by flights of ar
rows and driven back. Had that hap
necticut hat vivid reproductions we
should have both by pen and engraving.
From above Hamilton to the mouth of
the river the aspect of the Roanoke
the same today as it was on the day
of the defeat of that hardy expedition.
The writer or painter who wishes 20
portray that scene has today but to
visit some stretch of the lordly river as
it flows amid eternal silence and through
unbroken forests to its mouth. He has
but to draw true nature. There are the
great trees. and the same solemn silence
unbroken save by the rush of the waters.
the deer on the banks. the startled water
fowl. the wild flowers. the same ~riotous
magnificence of primeval nature. Let
him evoke from history and imagination
the picture of the canoes filled with Eng
lishmen slowly toiling up the stream.
their habits as they Wore. their arms.
their standards. the savages half con-
cealed on shore. the sudden fight of ar
rows. This and more faithfully written
OF sketched OF the pot and reproduced
by printing press and the engraving
| stone would give the children of North
| Carolina an interest in that event in
the history of their state and the con-
ception OF the conditions then existing
here which they have never had.
Then there are the terrible scenes OF
massacre of our own great Indian war
of I'LL. the march of the South Carolina
troops hundreds of miles through the
storm n sack of the Indian fort at Ma
hucke in 1918. which finally broke the
Indian power. Could our children ever
forget such scenes or fail to feel an in
terest in them if presented to their minds
by a graphic pen or appropriate engrav-
ing?
In northern school books. so largely
used among us, are stirring narratives
of the expedition to Louisburg and to
Canada. but where is the book which
contains a reference. much less a pic
tureSuue description or engraving. of the
earlier expedition of 1740 to South Ameri-
ca. or the capture of Havana in. 1852. in
both of which North Carolina had q
share?
Massachusetts books and Massachusetts
school ror[s bear many an engravn g
of the stirring times when patriots. dis
Boston fharbor in 1T3. But where are
the or the writer's who have
dren that scene when the brave men
under Waddell and AShe. unmaSked and
bravely in broad daylight in a few miles
of this spot, in 1865: eight years before
/ INC DOCNOAA ~ RUA' N1O0
! Britain 10 put her stamp act into execu-
ton in this state or even to Land her
stamps7
In painting and in bronze Massachu-
settS has preserved the memory OF the
| AttuckS riot in Boston on the eve of the
Revolution. On Boston Common the
! great memorial stands. But where Is
our Statuary or our painting. or our en-
craving of the battle of Alamance in
III?
They have Paul Revere's midnight rid
\ TO fame. Why leave unsung that other
| ride from Charlotte to Philadelphia?
Where. indeed. is our painting Of that
grand scene for which Massachusetts has
no parallel-the meeting which issued the
immortal declaration of indeDendence al
Mecklenburg on the Goth of May 1T5?
They nave immortalized by pen and
pencil the defeat Of the Americans al
Bunker Hill. Where and how have we
placed before admiring eyes the frs'
victory for the American arms. whict
was achieved at Moore's Greek in Feb
ruary. 116. hat striking scene when the
| planks of the bridge being taken up
brave men crossed on the stringers
amid the fires of battle. as the Moslems
tell US souls pass to paradise over A
Straits arch. spanning by a single hail
the flames of hell?