The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-04-05

All his life he lived in books and for
the most of il in books alone AS a lad
he seemed a dreamer, living solely in
the romantic past, in Plutarch, that
epitome of the classic world, in quaint
old Froissart. that golconda of the me-
dtevaI: in Shakespeare, in Gibbon, I'm
Scott. in Macaulay, In Burns and other
great objective masterpieces of litera-
ture His insight into them was pro-
found and of all he discoursed with mar
vellous aptness, sprightliness and origin
alitv. Surely said the cultured with
whom he came into contact this boy Is
a genius. But he is only a dreamer, one
whose contact with the practical is faint
and remote His is one of those rare
and beautiful but helpless, spirits which
can find no place in this cold world OF
facts. For his nature was so antipodal
to egotism and so sensitive that he show
ed no inclination to write or to seek
recognition in any form. With him moth
ing seemed the results of effort or even
of reconciliation. All was the spontane-
Gus. the almost unconscious overflow OF
a. strangely. richly freighted nature, ut
terly oblivious of self, seeking but to
give Measure to those he loved
While yet in his teens he quit school
and went to his fathers aid in business
From the start it was seen that the shy,
sensitive boy who had hitherto seemed
to live solely in books was as much at
home in the practical as he had been in
the ideal world. 1t was found that to
the fine sensbilities and ideality Of the
poet were strangely, almost incongru-
ously. added a vast fund of the most ro-
bust common sense, worldly wisdom or
whatever you might term that faculty
which makes for success in material
things He had the same intutive in
sight into business that he had into
books. Within a year the business into
which he entered was not only greatly
enlarged but completely transformed. All
of his plans were original and all sue
ceeded He was never known to make
an error of judgment Without visible
effort, apparently without even the OPP
opportunity to acquire it, he knew not
only his own business in all it's detail,
but, what was no less essential to sue
cess, he knew every other line of bust
ness as it bore on his own. Surely said
the business men of understanding who
knew him well enough to perceive his
breath of view and his grasp of practical
things this lad is a genius.
In organizing and administering bust
ness he was as original as in other
things He was never known to speak
harshly. He ruled through gentleness
instead of harshness; his employees
obeyed through love- not fear. None ever
voluntarily quit his employment All
worked for him as they would have work
ed for no one else.
no. H.
serenity of his life or stopped the cur
rent of his delightful talk. At one and
the same time he lived in two worlds,
the ideal and the practical With singu-
lar duality of mind he read and worked
or rather directed and inspired others to
work while he read Rarely among
mortals is a life seen as happy as his.
He seemed to have a genius for happiness
as he had for so many other things, and
his happiness was infectious Morbid
natures found health in its glow as the
dungeon blanched vine finds it in the
rays of the sun.
Ennui, lassitude could find no home in
mind alert and sprightly like his;
mind which found interest everywhere
and in every thing. Business, politics.
history, fiction, science, poetry, his mind
and imagination sped through as the
bright-winged creatures of summer haste
onward over f1owery reaches conscious
of the shortness of their days and of
their preciousness.
The sun of his family from his birth,
long before he reached manhood he be-
came its staff, the one upon whom all
lcant and on whom everything depended
For he was so unselfish that he wanted
nothing for himself. Indifferent as TO
what he ate or what he wore, laying no
plans for his own future, he was eyec
busy planning for the future welfare OF
father, mother, brother and sister His
unselfiShness was so complete that ne
impressed those who stood closest to him
as one of those rare beings, who cognlz-
ant of the fact that their stay in the
world was brief, see the needlessness OF
taking thought for self.
Two years ago consumption developed.
Since then he has seen death approach
as steadily, as remorselessly as Poe'S
prisoner saw contract upon him the iron
walls of his prison. But he faced death
with the same composure, the same Sc
renity that he had faced life. Laying wise
plans of business whose frIition he we'll
knew could not come till long after he
was dust, abatirg not one jot of his
sprightliness. regretting only that he
could not live long enough to place his
loved ones beyond all possibility of flu
ture want. he awaited undaunted the APP
Froach of his first and last foe His
| mind grew brighter his heart warmer,
his judgment even more unerring, his
wit and humor keener and SUMMER, every
gift seemed intensified as the end drew
nearer
At length, yielding to entreaty, he
went to Arizona last winter, taking q
friend with him. But the fell disease be-
ing seated in the throat the climate
proved unavailing. Like his grandfather,
Col. c. c. Blacknall, who died prisoner
in the Federal hands and from whom he
inherited his brightest gifts, it was his
fate to die far from home, beyond the
reach of those who loved him best For
the end coming suddenly, distance in the
latter case had proved as hostile as be-
leaguring armies in the former to thosg.
who sought to reach him. Fortunately,
imagination bridged the distance bring
ing him back to his beloved home at Kit
trelI In tho nurse he saw his mothar