The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1902-07-17

and keep money may be safely
trusted as to the manner OF disbursing
it,
He was wise and far-seeing man.
Mr. Randolph declared that ''if wis
dom consisted in properly exercising
our judgment upon the value OF
things desirable, MIR. Macon was GER
tainly the wisest man he ever saw.
One or two instances will illustrate
this faculty of seeing ahead-when
the craze for internal mprovements
sprung up he wrote a friend urging
an examination of the Constitution
upon the -proposition-1f under the
Constitution there may be internal
improvement, there may be also
emancipation Of slaves. There Is as
much authority for one as for the
other. The man who introduced sup
Elemental reading in our schools is
called the John Baptist of Education.
Yet Mr. Macon advanced the very
same idea and proposed life of
Washington as the book to be used
for that purpose.
Men of today do not recognize the
issues involved in the Constitutions
struggles of the early period. They
were understood then to involve the
question of popular government.
Democracy was on trial. lie lived TO
see that uestion settled. There were
many encroachments that grieved his
honest soul, but the right and ca
pacity of the people to govern them
selves was fixed. If it be trne that
''They also serve who only stand and
| wait"
how great shall be the praise and
glory for the man who, through long
wears, resisted the encroachments
of power for the love he bore the
people.
In 1916 MIR. Macon, without his
solicitation, was transferred 20 the
Senate of the United States and was
cordially received with the same re-
spect which had attended his whole
public course. He was repeatedly
elected president of the Senate until
he finally declined the honor further.
He was rendered a position in the
Cabinet, urged to become a candidate
for President and was actually voted
for by Virginia for Vice-President
though not a candidate. In 1928
when he was three-score and ter
years of age, he resigned his offices
, of Senator, Trustee Of the State Uni
versitv and Justice Of the Peace
Twice after that he was called from
retirement-oncet to be member an6
president of the Constitutional Con
vention of 1885; again to be Presi
; Dental elector in 1886.
1t has been said that mo man il
, American history left better ma M
, than Macon, but the name was all b.
!, left" The last is not true. He bold
= ly and ably confronted great problem
. of national life on their political AM
, their moral side. The truth and in
tegrity Of his life, the sincerity Of hi
, thought and purpose, the nobility an
:. greatness of his character, have mad
: it easier for every man who has live
+ since his day to maintain the trut
p and sound principles.
! Mr.. Macon died June 90, 1887, a
Buck Spring, in the county of Warren
. in the 10Th year of his age, and wa
buried beside the wife whom he ha
a loved and lost long ago. His spiri
q has gone to its givcr. His memor
remains as benedction to the pee
:, pie of his and our beloved mother
= North Carolina"
q In closing | appropriate to hir
. words that were spoken of another
.'He who has been enabled, by th
= force of his talents and the exampl
- of his virtues, to identify his ow
;, character with the solid interests an
happiness of his country; he who ha
u lived long enough to stamp the in
preston of his own mind upon th
age, and has left on record lessons
:, wisdom for the study and improve
= ment of all posterity; he, | say, hs
~ attained all that a truly good ma
i aims at, and all that truly gres
= man should aspire to. He has erec
-, ed monument to his memory in tt
v hearts Of men. Their gratitude wi
: perpetually, though it may be siien
:! iv, breathe forth his praises; and th
=, voluntary homage paid to his nan
;, will speak a language more INTEL
- gible and more universal than an
- epitaph inscribed on Parian marble, {
70 any image wrought out by the GU
10 ming hands of sculpture