The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-08-08
ORIGIN OF THE ~HoRNEns, NEST.
A MccklenhUrg Mar Told the Story to
an Astonished Crowd ut the Ccnfctl-
crate Reunion at LOuisvifle-Zcb
Vance Said il to the Yankees.

After the recent Confederate reun-
ion at Louisville The Landmark called
attention to the fact that d reporter for
the Louisville Courier-Journal had
talked glibly about the 'wasp's nests
which the Mecklenburg contingent car
ried, which emblem, by the way,
has been the proud insignia of the
Mecklenburg patriots and he" SONS of
the Signers" (of the Mecklenburg Dec
/! Iaration) since the time Lord Corn
| wallis referred to the hamlet of Char
lotte as Il yeritable hornets nest.
To call the immortal insignia of
Mecklenburg's patriotism wasps' nests
| was expected TO arouse the righteous
wrath of the patriots, and The Land
| mark referred the case to Col. Wade
Hampton Harris, of the Chronicle, a
native of Cabarrus, but Il loyal adopted
son Of Mecklenburg, for proper express
| sion. Col. Harris dismissed the mat
ter with the remark that the Louisville
reporter was a fiat-healed idiot, or
words to hat effect. But here's some
thing for h Charlotte patriots to con-
sider that is worth while.
Mr.. Bob Leinster, of S~tatesville, at
tended the Louisville reunion, and
talking 10 The Landmark the other
day about the Louisville newspaper
man called the hornets nests wasp
nests. Mr.. Leinster said: II never
saw so many people in my life who
had apparently never seen Il hornets
nest before. Again and again | was
asked what those things were which
the Mecklenburg and other North Car
Olina veterans carried, and | told them
the Revolutionary incident of Corn
wallis and the hornets meets"
But the best thing Mr.. Leinster told
was the explanation given by a Neck
lenburg man of the meaning of the
hornets nest. The Mecklenburger was
| asked, as Mr.. Leinster had been so Of
ten asked, what the thing was he car
| ried and what it meant. And the proud
| M~ecklenburg man proceeded to en-
tighten his questiOners in form and
as follows:
This said the proud M~ecklenburg-
Ell, exhibiting his hornets nest, means
North Carolina. Wherever you see the
hornets nest o may Know North
Carolina is there" And hen while his
listeners gaSped with establishment the
M~ecklenDurg man grew eloquent as he
told how North Carolina came to be
called the hornets nest. North Caro-
lina,' he continued, was the last
| state to go out of the Union and Zeb
Vance was the last congressman to
leave congress. When the war came
on and other Southern states began TO
secede, them Yankees would go to old
Zeb every day and ask: ''Zeb, amt
North Carolina going to secede" and
Zeb would answer: old North Caro-
lima helped to make this union and she
proposes to stay in it. But by and by
the day came when North Carolina did
go out of the union. Early next morn
in gthem Yankees came to ask Zeb
about it and he wasn't in his seat. But
by and by he came in and they began
to ask him about North Carolina going
out of the union. Old Zeb made no
answer, but went ahead packing up
the things in his desk When he had
got his effects together and was ready
to go, old Zeb turned ON them Yankees
n said: Yes, damn you by your in
suits you have driven North Carolina
cut of the union, but l want to- tell you,
when you raise old North Carolina
you'll find a hornets nest
And continued the Mecklenburg
man proudly, lever since old North
Carolina has been known as the hOr-
nets nest
We respectfully Submit to- the Meek
lenburg patriots that this is a better
story that the CORVALLIS incident, and
we recommend thai it be substituted
for it, if the MecklenburgerS are will
ing to share the glory of the hornets
nest with the whole State.-Statesville
Landmark.