The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-06-04

such a school as he could furnish Woulu
/, be succeeded by the desire for 1t ana
! finally the ability to patronize 1T. And
| so the Doctor gradually spent his con-
siderable patrimony, seeing his fortune
| slipping away year by year upon old 81.
Mary's which his fathers life mad
| created, and his fathers death had LETT
as sacred legacy to the sons keep
ling and thus spending and being spent,
he preserved this blessing to the Church
| in the Carolinas, until such time as she
| felt able to take the burden upon her.
| self This heroic struggle in the race
| of an ever cheapening education, through
public and endowed schools, was made,
not for the maintenance of his own
school. owned by himself, but for
rented Plan which was yet fulfilling that
splendid office of the Chuch as the &c
clesia dozens and for the sake or
future which he foresaw, and which the
Church is now beginning to realize In
the purchase of the property. All honor!
all honor to the two Drs. Smedes TO
whose memory we all owe debt OF
gratitude which can never be repaid,
but in whose honor this memory viii
yet 1--WE predcD be perpetuated in this
enduring monument whose foundation
their loving zeal planted and then
guarded many years. Some day those
old students who so loved their Rectors
will enshrine their loving memorial in
chapel of stone, THE Smedes Memo
rial" the most fitting reminder of their
sanity characters.
In May 1897, the Convention of the
Church in North Carolina appointed
committee, Rev. F. j. Murdoch. ID. D.,
and Messrs. w. A. Erwin and r. H.
Lewis, M. D., to investigate the ST.
Marys property with view to purchas-
ing it, and granted them power to act
Mr.. Erwin was chief mover, and after no
end of encouragement from friends as
well as others, succeeded in buying the
property at price which has more than
once since been offered by real estate
dealers, and upon terms which assured
the ultimate success of the venture.
1t is a fact, that at this very moment
our ST. Mary's property can be sold for
more than the price stipulated, fifty
thousand dollars).
The purchase Of st. Mary's meant
much for the Church in the Carolinas.
The old traditions which cluster about
! localities, and which cannot be removed
elsewhere the old associations and char
| acteristics and memories. are all pre-
served.
1t takes years-not only that, but it
takes the proper sort of years in which
the time has been wisely used. guided
and finely occupied, to make such tradi-
lions and associations. Endowments can
not buy them, money does not purchase
them; men like the Drs. Smedes. and
women, such as st. Mary's has ever at
tracted to her. make them, and conse-
Grated time makes them. This it is which
makes the purchase of st. Mary's mean
so much to u.s.
DR.. Smedes lived only about a year
after the actual purchase had been con-
summated during which time he was the
first Rector under the new control by
the Board of Trustees. He was sue
ceeded by the present Rector in August,
1899, who was elected at the annual
meeting of the Board of Trustees in May
of that year
The campus of st. Mary's is naturally
one of the most beautiful we have seen
in the South. 1t occupies the highest
ground near the City of Oaks" and
slopes gradually from the buildings on
every side except the front, which is al
most perfectly level The twenty-five
/ acres are well wooded with original for