The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-07-16

May live 10 fight another day"
But the real authorship is probably
uncertain. Sir John Mennis is credit
ed with a Well known line running
They are neither fish. flesh, nor good
red herring"
But the authorship is disputed and
is stated TO have been "a proverbial
expression used long prior to the time
when Mennis and Dryden lived" | am
not indebted TO Bartlett for anything
connected with the line attributed to
"Hudibras' and what follows. but to
other sources.
l have shown by my journalistic life
that / was friend to every interest
of value and uprightness that concern
ed North Carolina. | have indeed been
from early manhood the steady friend
and supporter of the Moral, Intellec-
tual, Educational, Mercantile. Me-
chanical and Agricultural interests of
our dear Southland, the very best the
world has. While in a long journals
tice life | have been attentive TO the
educated tastes of my readers. | have
had also a steady eye upon questions
of popular utility and progress, and
have sought through we'll nigh fifty
years TO consider wisely. prudently
the great, everyday, practical ques-
lions Of life. Being native here and
to the manner born" and having spent
my entire life within the borders OF
North Carolina, with possibly one year
excepted, all told. | have become with
the years intensely North Carolinian,
and if that be deemed narrow, provin-
cial. antiquated, l glory in my
shame" North Carolina is first, last,
always supreme with me, and yet /
never held an office and never desir-
ed to hold one. l am proud indeed or
my dear old State. Heavens bless
ings attend her." I admire, under
stand, approve of her people, her in
situations, and all her laws but some
vicious and mean ones that have come
on since the great war with Yankee
doodledom. / believe her to be second
to no State in virtue, honesty. integr1-
ty justice, self-sacrifice and valor
And in saying this / am not ignorant
that in some particulars there is EVIL
dent positive decay. Ask the more
decent reputable merchants now Of
the great dishonesty of the people. or
a portion of them. with whom they
have to deal North Carolina has
made grand strides in some most i'm
portant directions since 1870, and par
ticularly within the last decade.
could reproduce many figures that
WOuiQ eSldUilSn InlS as true. however
much she was a laggard once in the
race of enterprise and prosperity it
can not be affirmed of her that such
is the case now.
l hold that North Carolina is richer
than any other Southern State in the
variety and quality of her minerals:
that she is blest with a climate sim
gularly varied and favorable to the
prolongation of life: that she has
soil capable of being made equal to
any, and with a water power of un-
surpassed greatness. She has eighty
rivers and many sounds, bays and even
lakes She is forging ahead bravely.
confidently. untiringly. / do not for
get that once she was greatly in the
rear of States not comparable to her
originally. OF course there were
causes for this. and yet the people
were TO blame for ii mainly. But the
grand old North State is wide awake
now, and her record for the last ten
years has been a great surprise to her
own people and. has 'astonished the
natives In other sections and lands.
Now North Carolina is on the rush in