The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-07-27

sailors, and whose remembrance is
doubly kept in our Capital city!
We see the white sails of the fleets
that sought our shores, directed by his
genius. and equipped by his generosity
We see the first spot in America pressed
by the foot of an English woman, and
cultivated by the hand of an English
man. Yonder is the dusky form of
Manteo, the Indian, who loved the white
man as his brother, through \storm and
peril.
Far to the South, we see the canoes
of. the Tuscaroras Tor the Corees) as
they glide upon the crystal waters of
the Neuse, before these forest lords dis
appear, at the coming of De Graffenreid,
whose birthplace in the Swiss capital,
the city of the Bear, was to be COM
memorated by the New Bern, whose
Huguenots and Palatines, with these
brethren of the Albemarle and Cape Fear
were to write resplendent pages in
liberty's annals.
Sweetest vision of all is the angel
form of Virginia Dare, the fair babe
who was the first English child born
on American soil. The princess, by right
divine, in that innumerable line OF the
queens of home, beautiful, refined, de-
voted, and fearless, equalling the hero
ism and the loneliness of the best of
their sex throughout the centuries.
What a heritage is ours! Not only is
North Carolina the greatest State in the
Union in historical incident, original
area, and the conflict of battle, but she
is the most richly endowed in climate
and natural resources, while, thank God,
l. 4ho 70
their development.
She has the greatest fisheries in the
world, and her corn lands are the Egypt
Of the South She equals the best in the
quality of her cotton and tobacco, while
the product of her Golden Belt" sur
passes anything of it's kind on earth.
Her hills and mountains contain nearly
two hundred minerals, of which more
than fifty are of special value to man
kind her forests are unsurpassed in
| wonderful variety and worth. From the
sweeping Roanoke to the sparkling
Catawba, her water power is incalculable.
Once, in walking through the Art
| Palace of the Columbian Exposition, 1
saw the richest works OF the masters
| of painting, presenting the most gorge
| Gus mountain scenery of Italy, and
Russia, and France; of Switzerland and
Norway; but though the ice palaces and
shimmering precipices of the Alps, aye,
and the snow crowned Mont Blanc itself,
are more awe inspiring, more terrible
to behold, l saw nothing so softly,
sublimely beautiful, as the Blue Ridge,
and the Smoky and Balsam Mountains
of Western North Carolina, with Mount
| Mitchell, the highest peak east of the
| Rockies, lifting it's head to the Empyrean
and standing like a gigantic sentinel
of Eternity, upon whose lofty summit
| sleeps the dreamless sleep of death, y
the educator and patriot
l saw in that Art Palace a mammoth
painting of the White Mountain Valley
| of New Hampshire, by George Montclair
Inness, but l said, this is not so beauti-
| full as the Valley of the Swannanoa, the
French Broad, the Hiawassee, or the
Happy Valley of the Yadkin. And when
l look upon De Haas rolling surges on
| the Jersey coast to me they are not SO
beautiful as the silvery Albemarle, or
| the great inland sea of Pamlico, nor so
we-inspiring as the laundering pillows
| that beat upon the brow of Hatteras.
We read that when the Tai mahal of
India, the most beautiful building yet
erected by man, was built of white mar
| BILE and costly woods, that, to adorn it,
"Bagdad sent IT'S comedian, and Ceylon
| it's lapis-lazu1i, and Punjab it's jasper,
and Persia it's amethyst, and Thibet it's
turquoise, and Lanka it's sapphire, and
Yemen its agate, and Puma it's diamonds
and sardonyx and chalcedony." But my
| cOuntrymen, that Indian palace in all
| the glory of marble and decorative wood,
and splendid gems might have been
erected and adorned in North Carolina
| without going beyond her borders.
When l contemplate the natural gifts,
the beauties and the history of my State,
l eXclaim of her. as Virgil sang of
Italy:
Here the golden corn each laughing
valley fills,
The vintage reddens on a thousand hills,
Luxurian forests spread from shore to
shore,
And flocks unnumbered roam the pastures
DER.
Here Spring perpetual leads the laugh
ing hours,
And Winter wears a wreath of summer
flowers,
All hail, great Mother, hail loved of
fame,
Land rich in fruits, and men of mighty
name"
1t is in this spirit | appeal to you to
day. In the spirit of Patriotism. In tho
spirit of the love for our homes. our
traditions, the welfare and best interest
of North Carolina.
/ entreat you to stimulate the spirit
that fosters and encourages and would
perpetuate every item of history, that
stands for the glory of North Carolina,
and aid at least with your encourage
ment every interest that would promate
he'd welfare. Be always ready with your
best talent to serve your State.
But North Carolina's chief glory is
in the men of brain and toll who will
fashion these elements of power into
such levers, as shall elevate this land
of ours to the brightest field on the
galaxy of American stars, and the fair
women who lead the young with one
hand in the paths of virtue, and with
the other point the way to honor and
triumph.
State that Raleigh sought to found.
State that from Alamance to Benton
vile has written in blood every struggle