The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-05-11
GEN. DAVIDS0NpS
GRAND TRIBUTE
His Glowing Words on the Women of North Car
oIina Raise WhirIWind of
Applause.

Day address by General Theo. F. Dav-
idson, of Asheville. The hall was SIM
ply packed, galleries and all, with
Raleigh's best citizens, and on the
platform were the State officials. The
seats on the right side of the lower
floor were occupied by the veterans.
One could notice the battalion of gray
heads.
Capt Jacob S. Allen was chief mar
shall, and the ushers were Messrs.
Marshall Delaney Haywood, Dalen
Stronach John Stronach, Watkins
Robards Thomas benson and Samuel
Hinsdale.
After music by the band of the
Institute for the Blind, Rev. w. c..
Tyree, pastor of the First Baptist
church,
Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Love of country, veneratiOn for
the memory and pride in the valor
and achievements of ancestors, have
ever been the distinguishing charac-
teristics of great peoples, and have
been the inspiration of their statesmen
and warriors, their painters and
sculptOrS-the theme. of their hiStO-
rians poets and orators. All history
is the record of the possession and ex-
ercise-or the lack of these virtues;
civilization has no monopoly of them
the painted savage, chanting his weird
death-SOng over the body of his dead
chieftain, obeys and expresses the
same impulse and emotions that tuned
the harps of Homer and Scott, and
inspired the pens of HerodotuS, Taci-
tus, Hurne and McCaulay. Unhappy
must be the lot and contemplate the
character of that people-if such
there be--in whose souls these senti-
ments have no place. We feel their
inspiration today as we come together
NOT to recall--for that would as
sumo we had forgotten, or were in
danger of forgetting-bu to dedicate
an hour to the cOnsecrati ton of the
memory of one of the men and some
of the events of forty years ago, when
our fathers and brothers and COM
rades-the flower of the manhood of
the State-made the most heroic
struggle and exhibited the most il
lustrious qualities-courage endur-
ance, fidelity, devotion for which the
annals of mankind can furnish no
parallel. Most of them have crossed
over the river, and ''sleep the sleep
that knows no breaking" but thank
God their memories shall never per-
ish from the face of the earth.
"And. comrades, it is a most COM
forting and inspiring reflection, that
we also, when we shall have answer
ed the last roll call and Joined the in
Vulnerable thrOnSS VINO nave gone
before us. shall leave loving hands and
hearts who will see to it that our
names and services, however humble.
shall be preserved and honored
among the generations to come.
Brigatlier- Gen. Robert Brank Vance.
"Brigadier-G General Robert Brank
Vance was born at the head of the
beautiful Reems Creek Valley, in the
county of Buncombe, North Carolina,
on the oath day of April, 1928, and
died at his residence at Alexander, in
Buncombe county, at the foot of the
same valley in which he was born on
the 28th day Of November, 1899.
''The seventy-two years of his life
spanned the most interesting and
eventful period in the history of this
country, and in all of its events he
bore a conspicuous and creditable
part. He was descended from that
remarkable people known as Scotch
Irish who were among the earliest
settlers of the colonies, and who, from
the beginning. in peace and IN war,
exercised the most powerful influence
in shaping the destinies of the Re
public. In the life of his brother, the
late Zebulon Baird Vance, it is stated
that the family was of very ancient