The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-03-29
Monument to Hon. George
Davis.

To the Editor: The proposition of the
Wilmington Daughters OF the Confed.
eracy is as characteristic as 1t is ad-
mirable Nowhere on earth was that
great man, George Davis, so honored
and revered as among his own towns
: men and in his own section OF the State.
And of the people of the Cape Fear by
none is his memory more cherished than
by the women of Wilmington.
While as an intense admirer of this
illustrious Carolinian 1 feel that's I could
/ write at great length in aid of this
noble undertaking, l ask myself if there
is any necessity for praising the queen
ly crimson rose to the companion queen
ly rose on the same stem, or to say to
the lofty oak in the forest of giant oaks:
Thou art king amongst mOnarchs."
No. George Davis is alive in the hearts
, OF the people among whom he was reared
I and by whom he was honOred according
to his deserts and who forever will hold
1 in their memories his personal worth
and his glorious talents and services
He requires no monument of bronze
or marble or granite to perpetuate his
fame. But 1t will do his friends good
to erect it. Let it be built
1t had occurred to me-one of Mr.
| Daviss younger friends when | lived,
many years ago, IN Wilmington-thdt
that city would render to the memory
| of it's late citizen the highest pos
sible tribute if it would lay the founda-
/ tion at once of a local college and a
professional training school for the youth
/ of the Cape Fear region and Of the en-
tire south Atlantic coast. Such an in
| stitution, if endowed, would confer a
| greater blessing than almost anything
else that could be established there 1t
should be comprehensive in it's scope,
| teaching all that the practical wants
of the times exact, but laying the foun-
dation deep in principles, moral and
political, without which learning ana ac-
complshment go for little. There should
be a business school, a law school,
school of medicine and another or tech
meal science-perhaps one of technical
| industry-in addition to the academic
departments proper. This institution
might be superimposed either on the
| public school system or upon an existing
private academy. When l was in VIII
l..ington there were the Cape Fear Acad-
envy and at least one other. And the
name Of this seminary in order to do
full justice to the intelligence and graft
tude of the citizens, should be com
| pounded of the names of the two grand
| characters who have illustrated in two
revolutions the virtue, the patriotism,
the statesmanlike, the social graces, the
culture and the accomplishments OF the
Lower Cape Fear and adorned the annals
of two great Confederacles as few or
their greatest leaders have ever adorned
them. l simply give the names OF COR
nelius Harnett and George Davis. min
gled into a hyphenation and placed as
the fore-part of a full title-DaVis-
Harnctt College. The ladies of Whining
| ton, the Daughters of the Confederaey,
can do much to promote this great OBJ
| iect in connection with the one they
have in view
One further suggestion, if the Daugh-
tiers will bear with me. Mr.. Davis left
doubtless some valuable historical manu-
scripts. Much of his private cores
pondence, if handled judiciously, deli
cately, as he would handle 1t If living,
is important to the student Of our his
tory and interesting to the general
reader Mr.. Davis delivered number
of notable addresses on North Carolina,
| especially Cape Fear, history. THESE
have been, inadequately published. All OF
| this matter is worthy of preservation In
a. permanent form. A life of Mr. Davis
| is a desideratum. Let the Daughters
aid the Davis family and his intimate
| friends in bringing out in reasonable
| time the Life and Works of George
Davis from the press of some great house
in Boston or New York. 1t would,
1,nouy he Iob nf 1--we | believe IT
is a duty owed to the memory of the
noble dead and to the service and pleas
ure of the grateful living.
CIRCERO W. HARRIS.
Washington, March 25. 1903.