The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1906-10-18
HENDERSON, N. c. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1906.

Boston ever produced. Colonel Hun
ter's ride with the halter around his
neck with which he was to be hung on
Fanning's own stallion, down the side
OF the steep rock to Deep river, put
Putnam's little exploit, down the
steps, out of sight. Her resistance
to the stamp act was bolder and more
effective than that in any OF the other
colonies. The defiance she flung to
tyranny and the love and devotion
she gave to victory was second to
none. Kings mountain and Guilfor,l
! Courthouse changed the tide of war
and led to COrnwallis's defeat at
Yorktown. She has always played
her part we'll, slow to determine but
prompt to act. She voted. against
secession and was the last State to
leave the Union, but the first blood
shed for the Confederacy was that
of one of her sons. She seems to have
raised a storm by asserting the proud
claim to "First at Bethel, furthest at
Gettysburg and last at Appomattox"
L am notgoing to get into hot water
by discussing this matter, but will
simply say that the glory that North
Carolina won in the Confederate war
will endure as long as this country
endures or as men revere devotion to
duty and splendid courage How
we'll she fought is shown by the won
derful record of 127, 900 OF her sons
sent to the Confederate armies, 49,
600 of these killed or wounded. What
a story! What u glorious record! l
wish that time permitted me to say
something more about this grand
old State.
ALL ONE IN INTEREST AND TIES
No Virginian will knowingly with
hold the praise that belongs to North
Carolina. She was once Virginia.
She was Virginia before the three f;,-
nous ship sailed into this beautiful
harbor, three hundred years ago,
whose advent North Carolina is go
ing to help us celebrate next year.
Her first permanent settlement was
made by Virginians in in 1858. When
she gave tobacco, potatoes and In
dian corn to the world she was known
as Virginia. 1t was all then ''Virgin-
la" All one then, and all one now,
ii our hearts are to make answer,
whatever be the difference in name.
Our destinies have ever been, and
must now be the same, bound togeth-
er as we are by a thousand tender
memories and a thousa nd ties of
common interests. AS in the past, so
in the future, America will again re-
quire the leadership of Virginia and
North Carolina.
In the past North Carolina was
singularly careless about her history.
She was content to do splendid
things and let others claim glory.
The old books told us her principal
products were "tar, pitch and turpen-
tine," but they said little OF her great
products-her splendid women and
her noble men. Believe me, she has
always had something precious and
distinctive in manhood and character
to contribute to American life. She
has awakened at last to the impor-
tance of letting the world know of
her great children, and what they
have done for this country. She is
showing past glittering with glori-
GUS deeds and an ancestry full of lofty
and heoric examples. The sole OBJ
iect we have in view in recounting the
great deeds of our ancestors and
keeping alive their memories is to in
fuse into the minds of the people a
like spirit. This, Lord Bolingbroke
says: 'It should be neither to
soothe our idolence nor to crafty
our vanity" The true and proper
object is a constant improvement in
private and public virtue. In this
age of money-making, when the lust
of wealth is threatening the ruin of
the country, it is we'll that the people
should be reminded by the examples
of men who have gone before, that
they owe something to their mother
land. A childlike attachment to the
native soil has in all ages been the
strongest and simplest basis of pat
riotism. 1t has ever been the inspired
theme of all great seers and poets,
and it is to-day the stronghold OF all
nationality.
THE SPIRIT OF WAR.
Wherever this spirit is appealed
to, in the rugged mountains OF
Switzerland, on the vine-elad waters
of the Rhine, on the sacred soil of
France, or in the marshes of Holland,
we see the old wOrld-worn nations
becoming children in the violence OF
their passions.
| What better way to foster this
spirit and infuse a love Of native
land and inspire the hearts of the
people than to keep before them the
great deeds of their ancestors. The
citizens Of Rome placed the images
of their ancestors in the vestibule OF
their houses, so that whenever they
went in or out those venerable busts
met their eyes and recalled the glo-
rious actions OF the dead to fire the
living, to excite them to initiate and
Ieven to emulate their great fOrefath-
ers. The success answered the de-
sign. The virtue of one generation
was transfused, by the magic exam
pies, into several; and the spirit Of
heroism was maintained throughout
many ages OF that commonwealth.
Let us continue to keep alive the
memory of the great men who made
these great States what they are,
keeping ever fresh the recollection Of
the illustrious deeds of those great
patriots who have gone before Us,
and by the magic Of example. let
them be infused into this generation.
Let the people know who were the
men that established Virginia and
North Carolina; that in their veins
ran the blood of fierce, war-like, lib
erty-loving ancestors, rendering them
} incapable OF counting the costs oi
) resistance when liberty was at stake;
let them know that the bold spirit
which sustained their fathers in the
trying hours OF the Revolution and
the Confederacy, has been transmit
ted to them unimpaired as their her