The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-07-10
INCIDENTS
4zHOBsERvATIONs.
BY II. Il. GRAY.

| ton to Nassau, clerk in the office OI
| Juda P. Benjamin at Lincoln's Inn
in London, follower of the Merchant
F.! Marine" and cOmpatriot of those ad-
venturous English who fling them
selves with such magnificent abandon
| TO the uttermost ends of the misty
beyond-finally, school teacher old
| fashioned pedagogue in the frontier
town of Laredo, Texas Grant pre-
sents today the ever-pathetic spectacle
| of a man who set for an active part
| has lived through the breakers only
to reach a shore that holds but the
| stOlid hostility Of new age for the
| poverty of the old.
The appearance of col" Grant sug
gests almost the tramp. His clothes
are old and shabby, one foot is set
awry as the result of a leg withered
by war. his shirt suggests the
meagreness of his wardrobe, his curl
| ing grey side-whiskers are gloomilN
unbarbered and his scant hair and
weather-beaten face tell of nothing
but hardship. And yet there is that
about him that tells, the cavalier, that
in the flash of his eye, in the crisp
curtness of his tones that whispers of
deeds of peril by land and sea, of
daring risks and quick decisions;
while, in the almost Old-World pre-
| ciseness Of his talk, in the particulars
ity of his use of words, there shines
the indefinable quality which, despite
the rags of distress and the CRIME OF
misfortune, inevitably distinguishes
the gently born.
Richard Grant went away youth
from New Bern in 1861, as second
lieutenant in the famous regiment of
Duncan *. MacRae, only to fall
wounded and crippled for life at the
bloody Williamsburg fight on the 9TH
of May, 1863. Precluded from furth-
er military service, he ran the
Charleston to Nassau blockade un'
til the close of the war. Going from
Nassau to England, he was given
a place in the law office of that great
barrister, Juda j. Benjamin. From
that haven he took to the high seas
threading in his travels the devious
ways of the Orient, the vast silences of
the arctic nights, the drowning heat oi
tropical jungles. Tossed like chip
upon the waves OF circumstance, this
old soldier and adventurer landed on
the banks of the Rio Grand, at
Laredo, Texas, where, furnishing up
his books, he sat him down, with his
stick. composing his limp to teach the
youthful mind Of a new century.
But perhaps there were more
stories than tasks at the La
redo school. One can see
the boys fiocking about at re-
sea-can feel the kindling light in the
old eye as he told of battles fought
and won or lost. Doubtless the
Laredo youth imposed on the "Old
Vet''-enveigled him to his stories,
more than his books. AT any rate there
came a time when the school lost
its old-time master, when stiff
wasted New England school mann
came forth to sweep out the school
room and sand the floor and in
sist upon the spelling book.
And the old school-master
started from the West, from the
broad reaches of the Texas fields to
humble, sturdy, commonplace old
North Carolina.
"This is day of progress" he says
with a kind of cheerfully philosophic
sadness, "a day of new ideas and new
methods--and an old-line pedagog
must get out OF the way"
So here he is back at home, to-
day with his old comrades by courtesy
of DR.. Dixon's letter of Introduction,
though the law can't let him live at
the "home"-and here, let us hope,
i'm the proper place, may his tired
feet stroll graciously to their final
rest.
1t was soon after the news came
from ST Louis of the remarkable Bry-
an ovation, that I was walking down
Fayetteville street with prominent
State official. Interest in the con"
yention was intense and, as we passed
along the street, we were frequently
hailed by people who wanted the
--latest news" firing with the repet-
ton of a stock phrase, the official
began to reply to these ina ltries that
Bryan had beer nominated: the ma
jority laughed at this statement ana
went on while some few showed by
an instant's glance Of the eye mat
it had taken reflection to avoid belief.
AS we separated at the postoffice, l.
saw the official engage in earnest
conversation with q well-known cltl-
zen who had been in 1895 and l9OU
a most enthusiastic Bryan man, put
who of late months has been decided
in his preferences for Judge Parker
Emerging from the postothce,
noticed this gentleman waving TO mo
eXcitedly and, as I crossed the street,
l thought that l detected a sllght
drCOp in the left eyelid of the State
official AS I approached the cltlzen
said to the official Nov let me talk
to him." and as l came up he blurted
cut with ill-concealed excitement;
What do you hear from st. Louis
Hear! Haven't you heard? It's
Bryan agan-that's ALI"
The Citizens face was study. AT
first blankly in amaze, the expression
shifted like drifting clouds across the
moon, from wonder to incredullty'
from incredulity to doubt, then, with
a burst of Illuminating light, to tnat
OF complete confidence In second ms
hat was off his head and an arm
raised high in excited gesticulation'
You don't say!"
Eyes, on the first ballot-same trick
as in '96-everything went-sWept away,
stampeded. No stopping EN-, they just
went Wild"
The citizen stamped with his feet.
Il gadn' he exclaimed in tone OF
mingled triumph and sarcasm, I gau'
Sir! l was for Bryan in '96; l was Tor
him in 1900. l CAD, sir, I'm for MIN
now! Lots of good all this 'eXpedlen,
cy talk now. now amt there, i gao
Pretty near persuaded me, too! ne
exclaimed, his face clouding again
with the look of a thought that nao
in it tinge of self reproach FIX
Iediency!' L CAD, sir, Bryan's the
man--thats what he is!
And the we'll known citizen lett Us
with scant show of farewell courtesy
tc rush down Martin street TOWARDS
the Postal telegraph office for details