The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-06-04

quet and call for the toasts. Nobody had
been asked to speak and Judge Phillips,
with steady flow Of wit and humor that
at times made the whole body hilarious
with laughter, called upon first one and
then another with some comment and wit
ty sally that put the speaker to his trumps
TO get even with the toast master. Many
fine stories were told, most of them new,
but some of the vintage of 1892, but such
was the spirit of fun and comradeship that
actually the whole company laughed at
antedeluvian jokes with as much real
pleasure as at the exploitation OF the new
est two, one brought by DR.. G. Alphonso
Smith, from Louisiana, and the other inn
ported for the occasion by Ex-Judge
Frank Winston, from Paris. If Frank
Winston has not paid the tariff on that
joke he ought to do so. / had always
looked upon Mr. Geo. w Watts, of Dur
ham, as very successful business man, a
splendid Sunday school teacher and work
er, whose modesty and retirement pre-
vented his shining in the role of an after
dinner speaker but as a guest at the din
ner he quite won the company by his apt
ness in telling mirth-provoking jokes and
his successful application Of them. 1t is
not invidious to say that the speech that
made the most impression at this informal
! banquet was the one by DR. William j
Holland, Director of the Carnegie Insti-
tute at Plttsburg, Pa, who delivers the
commencement Grafton today. He could
! tell jokes almost as well as Governor
Vance and has a store of brand new ones
At least they We're brand new to his aud
/ A no ioIra 10 Tqr q
that it is well to be skeptical when you
hear of one, and Dr. Holland, recognizing
this fact, in the quiet talks in the homes
of professors, where he told some choice
ones was most careful to say: Nov
will tell you joke of Willis Moore's, -
or by Prof. this or that" showing that
he was particularly anxious to give credit
to whom credit was due, or if an old joke
| to put the blame on an absent narrator
i and give his authority and escape the re-
sponsibility for it. His tribute to the
| University of North Carolina, its unsur-
passed faculty, its beautiful location, its
high standing of scholarship, and its won
derful record in making men, was warm
and generous and evoked the heartiest
applause and the highest enthusiasm. He
drew very fine picture of what consti
tutes a University showing without any
of the old forms and with great power the
idea that it is in brains, in history, in
tradition, in teaching qualities, rather than
in bricks and mortar and physical equip
ment that constitutes the vital force of an
institution of learning DR. Holland is
an exceedingly interesting man, handsome,
brilliant, practical, virile. He is a North
Carohnian by ancestry, though he was
born in Jamaica, while his family was on
that island, his father, think, being in the
government service. He had not visited
North Carolina in years. and it was his
second visit to Chapel Hill. He received
welcome so warm and cordial that he
viii always be glad hereafter when occa-
sion offers to visit the University of his
own State.
President Venable has grown in every
way since his election to the presidency
He has developed not only into a fine
executive and wise man of force, but he
speaks with the reserve power that is
characteristic Of the big man. His state
ment showing the progress of the Univer-
sity was most gratifying. Within four
years it has increased its income from
fifty to eighty thousand dollars. 1t has
one of the finest faculties in the South
faculty that ranks equal with institutions
paying three times as large salaries as are
paid in North Carolina. The increase of
students has been steady, the last session
showing a matrieulation of over six hun
dred The graduating class is the largest
in the history of the University since the
war, numbering sixty-three. DR.. Ven
able does not regard the above facts as the
most inspiring and the most gratifying
facts with reference to the University.
though he does not underestimate them
He says that the past year has been the
best in its history in every way, particu-
larly the department of the students and
the character of the work they have done
in their classes The University is now in
fact crowded to its utmost capacity 1t
could not give accommodation with its
present equipment and buildings to any
large increase in the number of students,
though the dormitory buildings have been
almost doubled in capacity within the last
four years.
1t is wonderful how well the boys Of this
generation can talk. They are always tell |
ing us, the great speakers are, This is
day of doing, the day of oratory has
passed, it is the man with the hoe and
the man with the hammer. and the man
in the mine, and the factory who does
things, who is taking charge of the worlds |
affairs" There is no doubt much
of truth in this. but the fact will remain |
that the man who knows something, and
who can tell it best, the man who thinks
something and can convince men to his
way Of thinking will in the future as he
has always done in the past be the dom
inant leader of the people. l marveled
at the society banquet how well Mr.. Her
ring and Mr.. Ross, called upon to repre-
sent their respective societies, compared
with the older speakers. In fact if Judge I
Clark and Judge Philips and the others
mad been speaking in competition with
Mr.. Herring and Mr.. Ross for the medal, /
fear that they would have been distanced
I