The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-01-02

afraid, the inner FORM t4dA All
and condemnation un"aNef-
ingly.
Their is an episode in his life that IN
nv opinion is very characteristic OF
and that / think has never been
thoroughly Understood or fuzzy appFr-
by the general public -feIer -
his ~esDousal of the Cuban cause You
will recall that from the very Deglh-
Of this latest-and it Is 10 De
honed !ast-of Cuban revolutions. Mr..
Gonzales aSpouSed the cause OF CUBAN
independence. adopted it unreserVedlE
for his own, devoted his powerful pen
to its eloquent advocacy ana Wrote
from an evidently full heart. POSSIBLY
there were those who considered the
something Of q tempest-liI-
4 teapot. a braWl OF lOW-caste half
breeds. somewhat after the
south American before-breakfast
revolution" rather beneath the notice
great republic like ours. Mr.. Con
zales' editorials did much 70 invest
the movement with the dignity which
succeeding events proved 1t r1cnly de-
served. In this, however. ne stood not
alone. and We're this all / should not
emphasize it here. But he nc more:
he laid aside his work, left his ONCE
and went to Cuba. not by the slow and
indirect route of the united
states soldiery, through the delays of
training camps, the Of
complicated red tape and lncompe-
tencies of an i~nVetebrate system OF
transportation; but seeking the coast
he went direct to the Cuban shore and
joined the Cuban army and saw active
and dangerous service on the personal
staff of General Gomez.
When he returned l VAS shocked at
his appearance; he left Columbia a
picture of robust health, ruddy and
full fieshed; he returned a ghost of his
former self, as though he had been
through a wasting siege of typhoid
fever.
TO have laid down such important
duties in such a critical stage Of his
enterprise was much, to hazard life
and limb vas to attest most SacredIY
the sincerity Of his editorial position,
not by celf-denial merely, but real peril
demanding bravery of no common or
der, manifesting thus an actual deVo-
ton that no one had any right and
few had n reason to expect. II he
had argued that grave responsibilities
and great interests !i@rt Ms
personal attention and limited his sup
port of the Cuban cause to the lnffu-
ence of his foTceful pen, no reasonable
man could have questioned the pro-
priety of his course. For myself, felt
that the curse he die pursue was not
justified by the circumstances. He was
more needed here than there, ana to
have his brilliant career terminated by
q Mause bullet in q Cuban jungle
would have been a lamentable waste,
Ia public calamity. Thus | reasoned,
and 50 | considered his curse any
thing but wise. But n. CT. Gonzales
was not wise! The course he pursued
was characteristic of the man. [
oubted the Wisdom-but / admired
the ma in this as in many other in
stances of like character.
| have marked the act as character
iStic, by which | mean that though the
incident was a mere episode. the spirit
that found expression through it was
not episode; it was the constant, uni
form spirit of the man. The severe
criticisms Of his editorial course all
involve this. To establish this fact
beyond question we have only to recall
the emphatic declaration of his critics
Was it not asserted or assumed owe
and over again by those u~nfriendly
to him that when a ma wrote as he
did, he took his life in his handr
Vas it not claimed with great vehem-
nee and insistcnce that such was the
universally recognized fact
Be it so then; we shall not quarrel
with the Observation-Disclosures since
the event seems to have justified The
position. We shall refer to it only to
draw the inevitable irrefutable infer
ence-his enemies themselves being
judges-he was a consistently brave
man, physically brave, who constantly
risked danger and death without
finching.
Moral Courage.
But physical courage is universally
considered It lower form of this adj
mirable trait. What is his claim to
that higher form Which men denomi-
nate mora nD1lraOnp Thn S,irit HI ~
stands for ones conviction III the lace
Of criticism and condemnation, misun-
I~derStandlng, mlSlnterpretatiOn and
misrepresentation; that accepts cen
sure where one Graves approval, blam
where one merits praise, abuse where
he deserves applause, and yet stands
steadfast to ones own conception of
duty. Had he the grit to espouse
and the unpopular cause?
No one who knew our lamented
friend can deny him the need of
this high praise; the possession and
the exercise of this nObler form of
courage was his a~bundantly; he made
this amply evident over and over again
There were times when he stood al
most alone, and there may have been
instances in which he stood abSOluteI
alone, unsupported ave only by hi.
own individual convictions of duty
and responsibility under the circum.
otdliIeS VI HIS peculiar DOS1JlOl, N0el
he proved himself ready to sacrifice
every personal advantage, yea fal
more than this, to imperil the Who'll!
fabric that he had been so long labor.
ing to build up under manifold diff,
ficulties and acknowledgements. Their,
could scarcely nave been a more ute,
ignoring of policy: he seemed never
for a moment to consider the effec
Of his u~tterances upon his own person.
al fortunes, or upon the success o.
failure of his paper as a business en-
terpr1se. Often he must have penneC
editorials in the certain knowledge
that he vas alternating supper BY
the expression of his opinion. Some.
times the probable result would b,
the loss of a whole section. This wa.
genuinely great and with Which n,
man can be really little.
Ability.
Something deserves to be said o
Mr.. Gonzales ability as a thinker am
writer. In another connection alIu
sion has been already made t,
the circumstances of his youth anC
, early We refer to thos,