The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-12-11
BY ANNIE KENDRIck WALKER.

BY ANNIE KENDRlck WALKER.
" HE monument erected by the South
ern Surgical and genealogical as
ISOLATION 70 its founder. the late
DR.. w. E. b. laws will be unveiled in
Capitol park with fitting ceremonies on
Wednesday morning at II o'clock. The
unwilling exercises will be public and
hundreds of ,eople to whom the lam
ented surgeon was a familiar figure in
this city whFe he lived and died. will be
present on tits memorable occasion. The
association which will be in session here
from Tuesday until Thursday will ad-
journ its Wednesday morning session in
order to ttend the exercises in a body,
and the p'esence Of the most eminent Fell
lows in tie medical profession will add to
the histFical significance OF the occasion.
The MEDICAL profession of Birmingham
will bewell represented.
The dwelling exercises will be deeply
impressive. The Rev. DR.. L. s. aandley
will offer a prayer and there will be a
song by the pupils Of the High school.
The monument will be unveiled by Eliza
ben Davis, the little daughter of the
! bowed physician. The address of pre-
| shtation will be made by DR.. C. NJ. Ros-
sr of Dallas, Tex, an eminent surgeon
md a most eloquent speaker.
| The address of acceptance on behalf of
the state will be made by Governor Cum
bingham, and Mayor Drennen will make
the address Of acceptance on behalf of the
city. The addresses will be followed by
a song by the pupils Of the High school
and the closing prayer will be made By
DR.. A. P. Montague.
The special committee in charge of the
unwilling exercises is DR.. ]. c. LeGranda
DR.. w. H. Jordan and DR.. w. p. Nc
Adory.
The procession to Capitol park will be
headed by platoon of mounted police.
The mayor of the city and the board of
aldermen will also be In the procession,
and the artillery and cavalry will be rep
resented. Capt. E. j. McCrossin, COM
handing Troop D and Capt. e. d. Smith,
commanding the Brandon Light artillery
have been invited to take part In the
exercises, and Howard college will send
detachment of cadets.
The monument of DR.. Davis is consid-
cred one of the finest pieces of work ever
done by Signor Moretti, the Italian sclup-
tor. 1t is executed In bronze, and is OF
heroic size. standing nearly nine feet on
granite pedestal nearly ten feet Ugh.
The pose Of the figure Is characteristic.
1t Is not passive statue. 1t Is q statue
breathing Of life, of action.
The sculptor worked under difficulties
He was commissioned to make a statue
of a man who lowered physically and
mentally. His work was to be a bronze
memory Of man who was a giant in in
tellect. leader in scientific thought, a
master In surgery, and such a commissioa
was not easy. The monument, while ex-
pressive of these qualities of the great
physician, needed to possess other pecu-
liar characteristics. 1t must satisfy not
alone the ideal Of the men of science who
measure 1t by different standards, but it
must embody the qualities that would
have made DR.. Davis known to the world
as a patriot, had he not been known as
something greater-a physician.
The monument as 1t stands there today
In the park represents these qualities. 1t
will speak day after day through the
passing years of a great life. When
those who look upon It now are no longer
here 1t will still be standing in its bronze
impressiveness in its heroic beauty.
Thousands who will view the unwilling
ness and the simplicity Of DR.. Davis life
The people who knew him best and loved
him best will think It privilege to wit
ness the simple exercises. Men and wo-
men from every walk OF life loved the
dead surgeon.
Il will be q scene not easily forgotten.
1t is most fitting that the Davis monu-
nlent should be erected in this city, the
Asr41 anil So he
genealogical association. The resolu-
tons to erect the monument were intro
duced by DR.. c. M. Rosser of Dallas, Tex,
at the meeting Of the association a year
ago in Atlanta. They were presented i'm
mediately at the close of the memorial
address, which was delivered by DR..
Richard Douglass Of Nashville.
The action of the association has no
parallel In the history Of any society in
the country. 1t is not surprising that DR..
Douglass in his brilliant eulogy declared
that:
LAS he recalled the personality and the
incidents in his career, he was per-
suaded that the life Of DR.. Davis was
set aside for q special work, and richly
endowed with the attributes for its &C.
complishment
1T is easy to point out here and there
other southern surgeons possessiong sur
F~rS.t46 qudAiitdtiOHb III llilto VI
work. said DIR. Douglass, ''but view this
life In Its totality as 1t evolved from its
crude state amid discouraging surround
Ing, shackled with poverty, without facili-
ties save Of his own making. unbaffled, he
worked on and yet ere he had reached
his 10th year, he was rich In professional
honors and dear to the hearts of his peo-
pie. Surely this Is success. Parallels
there may be, but I know none such
Elias Davis was the foremost surgeon
of the south. He came upon the sphere
Of action twenty years afo; and, as a
master mason is chosen to square the
corners and bridges the arches In our
architectural piles, so he, the master
workman in our profession, was appointed
to construct the southern corner of the
magnificent edifice of nation medical
science
For him our profession knew no Sec
tional limitations. From the half dozen
members of the Alabama Surgical and
genealogical association. there evolved
the Southern Surgical and genealogical
association, geographically limited for a
time. by Mason and Dixon's line. Now,
were are a national body, and to his wis