The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-10-19
JUDGE MoNTGoMERY's ADDRESS

In his address before the North
| Carolina Literary and Historical Soci-
ETY. on the placing of the first statue
III this States niche in Statuary Hall
| in the Capitol at Washington, Judge
A. w. Montgomery said:
"Tn the niche in the Statuary Hall,
at Washington, set apart for the erec-
| ton of the two statues of distinguished
| citizens of our State, there may be
! divided sentiment as to the second
place, but it can, / think, be safely
said that North Carolinians have
! formed an opinion, so general as to
| amount almost to unanimity, favoring
tthe figure of Zebulon Baird Vance for
the first. HIS great services to the
public running through a period of
/ forty years would be a sufficient Iea-
son for the peoples choice; but in
addition he was not only especially
liked, bit he was, by a very large pOr-
! ton Of our citizenship, much beloved
| for his personal qualities He was our
most popular citizen throughout his
whole political life, and probably the
greatest man, take him all in all, the
/ State ever produced.
This praise, | believe the well con-
| sidered opinion Of our people, is great,
for the old State has been the mother
of many distinguished sons; men re-
lnoWned for their public and private
virtues and eXceling in craftsmanship
! Jurisprudence and the learned profess
! sionS. But Governor Vance. as the
| people delighted to call him, was more
than any of the Others and had a hold
upon the hearts and understandings
| of North CarolinianS that no other
public man ever had.
There were causes for this. He was
not more honest. not more courageous,
mot more eloquent than some of his
: contemporaries; but he possessed all
Of these traits. and more. He was
more unselfishly devoted to, and more
deeply interested in the welfare of
the great body of the people than
, any of the other .f our Alblic men.
In the true significance of the words
he was sprung from the people. This,
neither in an invidious or disparag
ing sense; not as separating him into
a class for purposes of rivalry or strife
but as placing him in the universal
brotherhood of man, stripped Of the
conventionalities and artificialities of
a too cultured social life which weak
ell character and destroy sympathy
Tor humanity and put us out of touch
with our neighbOrs.
AS a man of learning, of honor and
of power he not only had sympathy
for the people, but, being one of them
ed all that God hath made. both man
and bird and beast
His birth and ancestry We're such
as any member of this great Republic
might be proud of. The V2nces and
BalrdS were of the Presbyterian stock.
His paternal grandfather, a promi-
nent man in civil life, was also at
Kings Mountain. He saw, there Fer
guson's war horse and the empty
GO n a 10 e. 81, Il Saft
zen and patriot. was on his way to
Mexico under the flag of his country,
when peace was declared. His moth
er nee Margaret Baird, was woman
OF fine intelligence of great personal
worth, fond of reading, deeply p1ous,
with the Bible as her constant COM
paniOn. She was of cheerful d1sposi-
ton and loved fun. She survived her
husband more than thirty years, and
Zebulon, twelve years of age when his
father died, was afterwards cared for
and trained by her.
From her doubtless, he inherited |
this wit and his acquaintance with, and
fondness for, the Bible. In his
speeches on the hustings and in delln-
eratiye bodies he drew freely
on scriptural quotations as IL
Illustrative of his subject. HIS love
of anecdotes and his frequent use
OF them 10 pOiiI Iiio oi Su-
ment would seem to preclude the IDEA
that he was of religious nature, but
he vet. was of a serious and religious
order of mind There was no can't in
his makeup. but he had high ideals
and noble views of his responsibility
to his Maker, and exalted thoughts of
the greatness and goodness and JUS
tice of God. .
The author of the scattered Ma
CONTINUED on Page Four)