The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1903-02-21
MEMORIAL TO Or. J. [. NJ. CURRY.

MAS sacred ground the mortal
frame of one of the noblest
spirits, in my humble esteem. of
any that drew breath in America:
DR.. J. l.. NJ. Curry, soldier,
statesman, orator, minister,
educator, historian, ambassador,
trustee of philanthropy and edu-
cation-in every sense the truest
type of the chivalrOus Southern
gentleman. He has fought the
good fight, he has kept the faith,
and now is gone to his long home.
They have buried him from the
chapel of Richmond College in
Virginia, where he was once a
distinguished professor. His
noble life was of so great worth
and was so strong pillar OF our
Southern civilization, that for
his epitaph might well be written
the old Latin inscription:
..Gemit Ecclesia; Plorat Academia:
Sed Coelum plaudit, dunn lille InSFedttur
In gaudium Domini.'
1.-The Church groans; the Academy NOUNS:
But Heaven aPplauds, as he enters
Into the JOY of the Lord
1 have called you to meet here
this afternoon, that all together
and in the bonds of sympathy
we might deplOre his loss and
respect his memory: and in or
der that SO pure and useful a
life may not fail to have been set
ND before the minds OF our
young people here, as an inspira-
ton to high ideals, as a bright
conspicuous pharos to light them
into the harbOrs of right and
r,nhll-
lily of soul.
A thousand regrets are mine,
that you, the members of my
school, have never known the
MAGNETISM of his presence, nor
heard him speak from this plat
form. 1t was in vain that L
made repeated requests for a
visit from him to you. The I'M
abated labors of his busy life
and the increasing weight of well
nigh four score years forbade
his coming-and now it is for
none to see or hear him more on
earth. But let not the fact of
our not having known his person
deprive US of the great benefac-
ton we have gained from his
life. Let US learn all the more
what that value and virtue are
we have got from him, and all
the more greatly appreciate
them: so that the mission Of
death may be changed-and re-
versed indeed: for, so far from
having taken him from us. it
NAV prove only to have brought
him to US the more.
Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry
was born in Lincoln County,
Georgia, on the fifth Of June,
1925. Our students of history
will observe from this that he
was born into a time when states
manship was the intellectual at
mosphere with which our coun
try was pervaded: in days when
Democracy was young, fresh
with the vigOr of conscious
strength and of victory over old
world tyrannieS. He must have
been named for President Mon
roe, whose administration was
Just closing at the time of his
birth, and whose foreign policy
respecting the occupancy OF the
western continents has become
the embodiment of the nation S
rock like purpose to MAINTAIN
and preserve the republican form
of government forever. DR..
Curry's father moved to Ala
bama in 1888, but the son was
sent to college in Georgia, at the
State University, from which he
was graduated in 1913. Then he
studied law at Harvard Univer-
sity, and took his degree in 1915.
Entering the field of active poll
tics at an early age. he was
elected to the lower house of the
Alabama Legislature in 1S47-he
being only twenty-five years old.
After serving his State three
sessions in this capacity, he was
elected to the national Lower
House in 1857, where he was a
distinguished representative OF
the Southern side of the ire
presSible conflict then inevitable.
When the rupture came in I'll he
resigned and became a member
of the Confederate Congress that
Assem- bled in Montgomery, and
took part in the election of Pres
ident Davis. He continued in
the Southern Congress till 1864,
then left the forum and took the
field-as 1t. Col. of the 9Th Ala
bama Cavalry and Aide to Gen
eral Joseph E. Johnston. He
had previously served as a pri-
NInS;cn,,