The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-06-09

TO get even with the toast master. Many
6ne stories were told. most OF them new.
but -ome Of the vintage 81 1872. but such
was the spirit OF fun and comrade~hIp that
actually the whole company laughed al
|antedcIuvian jokes with Is much real
IpIeaeure a. az the exploitation OF the new
st two. one brought by DR.. c Alphon>o
smith. from Louisiana. and the other I'M
ported for the occasion by Ex-Judge
Frank winston. from Paris. II Frank
Winston has not paid the tariff on that
Joke he ought to do so I had always
Hooked upon Mr.. Geo. ". Watts, OF Dur
ham. A. a very successful business man, Z
splendid Sunday school teacher and work
ar. whose modesty and retirement pre-
vented his shining in the role of an after
dinner speaker. but az a guest al the dln-
ner he quite won the company by his apt
ness III telling mirth- provoking jokes and
his successful application Of them II i
not inyidiou, TO say hat the speech that
imade the most impression at this informal
banquet was the one by Or. William j.
Holland. Director OF the Carnegie Instl-
tute At Plttsburg, Pa, who delivers the
commencement GRAFTON today. He could
tell Jokes almost az well as Governor
Vance and has d store OF brand new ones.
/ Al 1edSL liz ( A1N ~ liz $500
fence. A brand new joke Is 50 rare a thing
that it is well to be skeptical when you
hear OF one, and DR.. Holland, recognizing
this fact, III the quiet talks in the homes
Of professors, where he told some choice
ones was most careful to say: Nov |
Will tell you a 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 il an old joke,
to put the blame on an absent narrator
and give his authority and escape the re
spon>ibIlity for 1t. His tribute to the
University of North Carolina. its unsur-
passed faculty., its beautiful location, its
high standing OF scholarship, and It's Won-
dertul record IN making men, was warm
and generous and evoked the heartlest
Applause and the highest enthusiasm. He
drew a very fine picture OF what constr
tutes a University, showing without any
Of the old forms and with great power the
idea that It Is IN brains, III history, II
tradition, III 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
IN exceedingly interesting man, handsome,
brilliant, practical. virile. He is a North
Carolinian 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
a welcome SO warm and cordial that he
will 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
rnent showing the progress of the Univer-
sity was most gratifying. Within four
years it has increased its income from
fifty to eighty thousand dollars. It has
one Of the finest faculties in the South, a
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 ma~triculation of over six hun
bred. 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. It
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.
It is wonderful how well the boys OF this
generation can talk. They are always tell
ing US, the great speakers are, This IS a
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 III 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 lone in the past, be the dom
man NoaSA ~ liz pIopiC. / IldI ' ~ |
at the society banquet how we'll Mr.. Her
ring and Mr. Ross, called upon to repre-
sent their respective societies, compared
with the older speakers. In fact if Judge
Clark and Judge Philips and the others
had been speaking in competition with
Mr.. Herring and Mr.. Ross for the medal.
| fear that they would have been distanccd
in the race.
The debate on Tuesday night at Ger
rard Hall on the query, Resolved, That
United States Senator'S should be elected
by a direct vote of the people was on all
hands pronounced the best debate held
BY the literary society representatives
since the re-opening. Certainly it has not
been surpassed. Messrs. \. r. Graham
and A. II. Johnson, who represented the |
ii. Society. maintained the affirmative
OF his question, while Nessrs. Homer
Winston and E. S. Cameron took the |
negative. This question is ore that is de-
bated II the halls of Congress as well as
. : Ne ,n1tn-a. = !