The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1905-04-13
North Carolina and Virginia.
Richmond News Lcader'4

Lynchburg veterans are urged by
the Charlottesville Progress to fulfill
their original purpose of attending
the unwilling of the monument to
North Carolina troops at Appoma-
tox, April 10th. l. is said that the
Lynchburg men I'M ended to go. but
object to the incriptiOn on the mon
ument: First at Bethel, furthest to
the front at Gettysburg and Chicka-
manga, last at AppomattOx," and
many refuse to be present. The di-
rect statements in this Inscription
are in dispute, but if the North Car
Ollnians wish to record their boasts
and claims, there is no reason why
any Virginian should object orshould
sulk and remain away from their Gel
ebration. These things are too far
away and too doubtful and the claims
Of the two States are too sincerely
believed and too strongly supported
for and i'll feeling or jealousy to be
developed at this late day. Let the
veterans OF the respective States be-
lieve in these matters as they like and
allow their old comrades the same
privilege.
We Nirginians have cultivated mar
rOwness, arrogance and provincial
ism too much. Too many of us un-
dertake to draw a kind of holy line
around our State and to assume that
anybody born outside of it necessar-
lily is inferior to a Nirginian and that
ali born inside it are on some kind of
a moral, intellectual or social emf
nence from which they may look down
on the rest OF the world. This is all
nonsense. We are not makinggood.
The welfare and reputation of Virgin
la depend not on what she and her
people have done in times gone by,
but on what they can do to-day. If
we wish to be in the world and part
of it and to take our places in it. we
must learn to disregard the questions
of Virginia birth or ancestry and take
men at their actual value as we find
them and adopt them. make use of
them and accept them as our citizens.
comrades and brothers on their own
individual merits. The North Caro-
hnlans are our neXt-dOor neighbors.
Certainly We haveno right to assume
any superiority over them or to deny
them and fellowship or honor. In a
good many respects they have showed
us the way and made progress while
we have been standing still, comfort
ing ourselves with old achievements.
No conclusive evidence ever will be
offered as to who was highest on the
hill at Gettysburg. The skeletons
Wondering there were all alike, and
IN the rugged semblance of uniforms
there was no difference. Ii veterans
OF one State or the other choose to
amuse themselves by marshallinr
testimony and engaging in intermin-
able disputes on this subject. nobody
need have any quarrel with them so
long as the discussions are in good
nature and manifest due Difference to
the feelings of all concerned. 1t is
pitiful to think of men who marched
and fought together forty years ago
holding alooffrom each other in their
maturity and age over an old contrO
versy which never can nor will be de-
termlned. We Join the Charlottes-
Vile Progress in the hope that the
Lynchburg veterans will goto Apo
mattox in full force and in behalf of
the whole State of Virginia, offer the
North Carolina veterans q roval vel
come, leaving the Bethe' md Gettys-
burg and AppomattoA Issues to be
debated Indefinitely and at leisure
hereafter. An attitude of exclusive
ness, an assumption OF speriority, an
lmpatience of the claims, virtues and
high qualities of the people of other
States, invite hostility and resent
ment. They cannot possibly do us
any good; they must inevitably do |
US harm, and if accompanied BY fail |
ure to keep pace with the procession
OF the States, will bring US contempt. |
We must get into our heads that a
man born in Vermont, Michigan.
Utah, Arkansas, North Carolina Rus
STA, Prussia or anywhere else NAV be
Just as good and valuable a man as
anybody bornin Virginia, that other
people besides ourselves have done
great things, that many other people
are forging ahead of US and that vir- /,
tue, yalor, strength and all the quail
tiles that make greatness are born
and flourish in many places out
side of Virginia.