The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-09-06
RALLY OF
Coming Reunion OF Old Students-Ihe
"Ney of the Light ArtiIlery"-C1ose
of Superior Court-Pieasant Ger
man.
Especial to The Messenger.l

The indications are that the rally of
the old students II the Donaldson
academy. to take place on Wednesday,
18th instant. will receive the APPROX
ing countenance and cordial co-opera-
ton of the people of the city and
county generally. OF course. only
very few are left Of the old students
Iof the time OF Rev. Simeon Cotton,
seventy years ago. and comparatively
few even OF the time OF Rev. Daniel
johnson. fifty and more years since;
but there are many living OF the ad-
Iministrations OF Rev. Georg McNeill,
IT. j. Robinson. j. r.. Mclean. J. A.
Brown, s. C. Rankin. etc. Besides,
hundreds all through the upper Cape
Fear country are proud of the historic
part of the old school. and solicitous
for its success. who may never have
been inside its walls.
Then, too, many of the dispersed
ABROAD" gray-haired, but warm-heart-
led, who cherish still an abiding love
flor their academic alma mater. will
lbe present at the rally. il is hoped: ex-
Justice James c. MacRae, dean OF the
University law school: Colonel ". J..
Woodward. Messrs. Harris and Louis
lBelden, Of Wilmington; Major C. NJ.
lStedman, The gracious and gallant
Igubernatorial candidate in the last
state convention: Colonel j. w. Hins-
Idale, a prominent lawyer of the Ra-
leigh bar; Messrs. Arch and Alex. Ora
Iham, of Charlotte; Major Murdoch
lMcLauchlin, of Richmond; James Pc
lterkin, Of South Carolina. n others.
If the weather fates are propitious
lin these first days Of mellow autumn,
land shall grant US a sky OF cloudless
blue for canopy, this rally of the gray
heads will be a function al fresco, with
the tables set out on the campus under
the "old mulberry which probably
WAS shedding it's leaves and dropping
its purple fruit one hundred years be-
fore The oldest boy of us all played
FOLD hundred I'M 1.-TWO eend cat" un-
der its spreading shade. The notable
housewives of Cumberland and Fay
l%etteville will illustrate their hospitality
in generous baskets, hampers and
lboXes of the good things Of pantry and
lkitchen; there will be music, vocal and
Instrumental, and doubtless one or
more of the silver tongues can be
persuaded to prove that oratory is not
Ia lost art among us since old Donald
Ison Academy Debating Society ceased
TO exist.
The movement is already taking
iShape, which will be carried our at
$500 ~ i"ASS Al " GILL
la memorial stone over the remains of
REV. Daniel Johnson. dear "Old Dan
lel,' who sleeps in an mark grave
near Floral College. His lullaby is
the sough of the gentle wind in the
Inodding pines; h plaintive dove coos
lhis requiem, her graceful head shell
tered in the leafy covert from the
~Inoon-day heat.
The rally of the old Boys axes
place on the day of the formal opening
jof the Donaldson-Davidson Academy,
las it is now styled. which is under the
Joint auspices and supervision of the
trustees of the Donaldson Academy
land Davidson College, though wholly
Inon-sectarian, and certainly it's pres
,ent bright prospects will be worth
ireading 10 the friends of higher educa-
ttion. It's present superintendent, Pro-
I~fessor Charles r. Wakeland. was edu-
lcated at Valparais College, Indiana,
land the Illinois University, at Bloom
llngton, n was for three years super
Iintendent of the graded schools of the
naSt-named state. Thence he was
elected to the presidency of Pike Col
Ilege, Bowling Green, Mo, subsequently
Ito the presidency of the Female Col
Iege, at Clinton, Mo-. whence he came
Ito this place.
Professor Wakeland expected a
lsmall school in the beginning, but the
main objects of his coming were the
recovery of health. a natural desire to
visit the state of his ancestors, togeth-
ler with a hope of finding leisure 10
complete literary work begun three
years ago. But Straightway The DON
taldson Academy appealed to every side
lOf his nature-itS past to his aesthetic
taste, its present to his ambition to
build on foundations so broad and en-
lduring, and he set hand and heart to
work to make it an institution second
Ito none in the state or the south.
Professor Wakeland has written and
llectured extensively on scientific and
literary subjects, and is now compos-
ling a work on pedagogy and physiolo-
ley which will soon be ready for the
lpress. His lectures on Alcohol, and It's
Effect on the Nerves. and on Physiolo-
ICY, with experimental demonstration,
have attracted widespread notice.
The situation of The Donaldson
davidson Academy is ideal, combining
rural salubrity and comfort with urban
convenience. It is located on a COM
Imanding hill Of Haymount, with per-
fleet drainage and pure sand-hill
Iwater. The surroundings are very
pheasant to the student-a home with
the superintendent and family, a
Ineighborhood of kindly. cultured pee
lple, n within easy access Of church
privileges Of Protestant and Catholic
denominations.
There is one remarkable fact in the
history of this ancient institution
(which cannot fail to impress the
thoughtful reader OF these lines. In
accordance with the plan outlined and
Submitted to it by h committee. the
General Assembly of 1928 granted
la charter 10 the Donaldson Academy.
(which provided for a school of manual
labor in connection with it. and the
trustees elected.
E. w. Barge, was it's superintendent
Ia good citizen. God rest his souli a
devoted and doughty soldier of the
lchurch militant, long since gone TO
Join the hosts of the church trium-
Infant. But these broad-minded wor-
lthies of by-gone days, though they
lbuilded wisely and we'll, were thinkers
lin advance OF their times. What they