The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-06-14
Y0uR INHERITANCE.

brother speak | believe he would heartily
sanction it.
YOUR INHERITANCE.
First. let us glance at the condition OF
the South Immediately preceding the birth
of William Henry Horne.
In 1865 the most momentous war Of
modern times came to an end. This strug-
gle developed the matchless heroism Of
our men and the wonderful self-denial Of
our women, whose capacity for enduring
suffering and privations is beyond all
praise
-Four years Of civil war left the South
broken in spirit, bleeding, PROSTATE and
povertysstricken. In addftiea-te the great
drain on our energy and resources due to
the prosecution of the war and the de,
strnction incident to invasion by several
armies; not only did the South lose the
millions represented by the slaves, but
every financial institution was bankrupt,
every railroad worn out, every educational
institution crippled, all insurance compa-
MES driven out of business, and financial
ruin was staring every family in the face.
At this iuncture the assassination OF
President Lincoln-one of the great men
of the English-speaking race-was
catastrophe the effect of which can never
be fully known but it may safely be con-
jectured that, had he lived, his bound]ess
love for his fellowman would have pre-
vented the final humiliation OF our peo-
pie, which arose from the Acknowledgement
Of the slaves, and disfranchisement Of
their masters. all the horrors of the So
called reconstruction period, the influx of
the carpet baggers," the rule of the
"scalawag," and the ruin of the South.
These years tried the souls of our peo-
pie as they never before were tried, and
the fires of this reconstruction period
added to the proof the war had given that
the hearts of our Southern men and Vo-
men were as strong as steel and as pure
as refined gold.
No race of people under heaven has
shown anything superior, and but few
anything equal to the devotion and pa
triotic spirit of the Southern people dur
ing this period. So universally is this ac-
knowledged that nowhere in the civilized
world need we feel ashamed that our faith
ers and grandfathers pledged their lives,
their fortunes and their sacred honor to
the defense of cause they believed to be
righteous and just.
Under the advice of their matchless lead
returned to their desolate homes. Unlike
the soldiers of Cromwell, they had been
defeated; but like these worthy ancestors
they possessed that rare spirit which
makes it possible for men to turn, from
strife and carnage and take up the labors
of peace. And this notwithstanding the
fact that the Southern people had not
been taught to labor with their hands.
that the adjustment Of the institution Of
slavery and the enfranchisement of The
slaves seemingly condemned the South to
ultimate humiliation and left it almost
without hope.
But the spirit which taught our people
how to win battles in war taught them
also how to win industrial victories. Just
as without arsenals we had equipped
armies, without ship yards we had built
a Merrimac-an Albermarle, without fac
tories we had clothed our soldiers; so
without credit, without Industrial training,
with a National Government goading us
by hostile legislation, with State, county
and city governments Indifferent to and
incapable of protecting life and property,
we could and did build again the fortunes
of our despoiled but still beloved land.
/ challenge any critic, however partial
he may be. taking the conditions existing
in 1876, when our people came into their
own again, to furnish anything compar-
able to the progress the South has made ,
in the last q years
Those fathers and mothers gave you
characteristics which you should value and
and this Inheritance of every |
Southern boy is above all price,
YOUR OPPORTUNITY FOR PREPARA- |
TION.
Your parents laboring under the great i
est difficulties, saw and felt the need of !
the minds hearts and hands of
their children. Slowly but steadily they