The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1903-02-21


School at Natchitoches which is
now sending out hundreds of |
teachers to all parts of our State;
the Teachers Institutes that
have been making for SO much |
progress in public education, the
Chautauaua assemblies that have |
been provoking so much public
discussion of the needs and
ways and means for the educa-
ton of all the peOp1e-al these
have been inestimably aided by
the active efforts of. DR.. Curry
and by financial assistance OBJ
tanned through his agency.
might say that the very progress
of ideas which made this lnSti-
tuition Cthe Industrial instituted
possible was in great measure
due to this same agency. L fully
believe that but for the wise adj
ministration of the Peabody Edu-
cation Fund there would have
been no ChautauQua and lnStl-
tuteS in Louisiana until a date
ten years later than that on
which they actually began. For
| these things thanks to Dir.
Curry. All honor to- the great
and princely philanthropist, Mr..
Peabody: he it was who gave OF
| his fortune to education, while
DR.. Curry was the medium. But
! DR.. Curry was the man we saw
and we know that but for his
mediation, his keen insight. his
| SOuthernneSS, his knowledge OF
US and our confidence in him, his
zeal for education, his human
sympathy, his love of children,
and his immense personality, all
the millions of all the philanthrO-
pists in the world would have
availed us nothing.
When Mr. Cleveland became
president in 1885 he selected DR..
Curry to be Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary
from the United States to the
Court of Spain. No better choice
could have been made. In
preeminent degree DR.. Curry
possessed the graces of speech,
manner, and bearing, as well as
the heavy weight intellectual abb
lily, that fit a man to be the
spokesman of a nation. He inn
mediately studied the Spanish
language and the Spanish people
to such purpose that he became
tuition. to the literature of which
he made a notable contribution.
The present king of Spain, Al
fonso XIII, was born during DR..
Curry's am bassadorship, and he
was present at the usual cere-
monies attendant upon a royal
birth At AlfOnso's coronation
two years ago DR.. Curry was
again present as the representa-
tive of the United States, having
been named for this distinction
by President Mckinley.
In authorship DR.. Curry was
political and historical. He was
ever a true champion Of the
South. To reconstruct ignorant
and prejudiced opinions against
it. to restore it to it's true place
in the story Of the formation OF
our govern and to place a
Just valuation upon the record
of it's patriotism, its intellectual
force, its civic and military
achievements-th were pur-
poses deep in his heart and will,
and his pen and voice have gone
very far towards their accom-
| pliShment. The two volumes in
which he has done most in this
direction are The Southern
| States of the American Union in
their Relation to the Constitu-
ton Of the United States and to
the Resulting Union,' and the
Civil History of the Government
of the Confederate States, with
Some Personal "reminiscences.
These two books l have in my
private collection; if any of you
wish to read them, I should be
glad to place them temporarily
at the disposal of the Institute
Library. DR.. Curry's other
! pu blished books are SCOnstitu
tional Government in Spain
''William Ewart Gladstone
''Esta blishm ent and Disesta blish
ment in the United States,'
'Thirty Years of the Peabody
Education Fund.- and his regu
lar reports to the Peabody Edu-
cation Board of Trustees. Il
think l remember the ''Thirty
Years of the Peabody Education
Fund.- as having been in the
North American Review some
time last SUMMER
1t was my privilege to meet
Dr.. Curry and to hear him speak
several times. Well do l re
member the first Of these Occa-