The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-08-13

| Tended them. I hated them for the
all-Sufficient reason that Cleveland dld.
| The president was urging the repeal
of the Sherman law. Vance was pro-
| testing and warning and exposing ms
| duplicity and showing that the presl-
dent was either fool or a knave.
At that very moment Capt. Picot was
insisting that Vance was the same
true, tried and devoted and wise in his
position. / thought Cleveland was
the uncrowned king of Christendom
and the worlds perfection in all po-
litieal excellence. The midnight bond
sale had not then been contaminated.
How wisely did l recon? and how safe
and far seeing have / often thought
Capt Picot'S, opinions were as he pre-
dicted' exactly what followed. He had
followed the Confederacy through its
successes and it's disasters and come
up with the South to it's quondam
safety. He SympathiZed with it and
had the wisdom to know as many
others did when it was being betrayed
and despoiled. He was therefore not
a fool in politics, though the peda-
gogue is habitually called impractical.
The reader is about to. ask why the
school has not continued in it's old
time degree of usefulness. The answer
is that there is no opportunity now
for boarding in that country, and be-
sides the main end and object of Capt.
Picot's work was to give his own
sons their training, who have now all
grown up and this task is finished
Of those who received their early ed
ucation and impetus to the ambition
of life under his training, there are
goodly number and many of them
have made distinguished progress, but
succeeded them at the school several
years, and am not now in possession
of all their names and histories. L re-
call Mr.. Geo. Cowper, of WintOn, n.
c., a lawyer of distinction and ability
and in my opinion the most accom-
plished beles-Ietter scholar in active
law practice l have known in this sec
ton of the State since Maj. Latham
Capt Picot was the Gamaliel of his
early life and of his literary learning.
He drank deeply of the Pyerean
Springs while Capt. Picot held the
cup Judge B. B. Winborne, of Muir
freesborO, Mr.. Robert Winborne, now
of Buena, Va, and among Virginias
first lawyers: Hon. c. S. Vann, OF
Chowan, Mr.. John E. Vann, of Win
ton, his brother. Mr.. NJ Magett of
Columbia, and Mr. w. j. Peele, of Raj
eigh. Dr. w. H. Ward, of Plymouth,
and Dr. r. r. Vann, of the Baptist
University are among those L recall
who received tuition under him in
their early days and had their young
manhoods ambition stimulated and
supported by his learning and his per-
sonality. l have many times heard
him say, that the greatest pleasures
of his life had been to mark the prog
ress of such pupils as these in their
mental development under his teach
ingS in after life. 1t was loves labor
with him to pack learning in head
like that and see it expand, and es-
pecially see it succeed when the bat
tie of life had commenced. l saw ms
pride exhilerated once when in law
yer's office, the lawyer was discussing
with him the Latin of some law max
inns. He looked out on the street and
saw one of his pupils, and called him
in and turned to the maxim, quod
plantatur in solo, solo cedit, and had
the boy to parse it. His is the Oldest
and greatest name that / know among
the teachers of the State that links
the old order with the new. If the
reader wants an intellectual feast
and to meet an old time kind hearted
and hos-Itable gentleman, let him
ride out from Murfreesboro and see
him. He will find him in a comfort
able home in a delightful oak grove,
either rambling under the oaks with
his reed-root pipe or buried In his
books, in a library of over a thousand
volumes, among which are some of the
rarest anywhere to be found. If you
are a Frenchman, sail under your ma
tive flag. He will exchange as pure
and fluent French with you as Mira
beau or Voltaire ever spoke or wrote.
If a German he will greet you, not in
low Dutch, but in the chaSte and ell
egant dialect of Goethe and of Schil-
Ter. He is there. comparatively happy
and contented, with his life's work
which has been one of good to 9TH
ers, and not of selfish agrandiZement.
Money never entered into his life. He
commenced to teach when he was a
rich man, for the love of it. He has
always been comfortable there, and
has no doubt lived longer and happier
and certainly has done more good to
humanity than if he had followed the
profession of the law for which he
was educated.
I have written of him nearly as /
could exactly as / saw him 19 years
ago, but incompletely for want Of
space and more detail of information,
as was, with him but a short while.
Washington NJ c.. August 5, 1905.