The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-29

Superintendent of Education of Mobile
 COunty.
 eminence as the Queen City of the Gulf An! how pregnant are those years with themes to thrill the pen of poesy. inspire the voice of eloquence, and ravish the heart of the historianl I know full well. though, that in this cultured presence, a recital of Mo- bile's romantic history would be but thrice-toid tale.
 As has been already intimated. that complete fidelity to history, which consider the due of this convention, compels us to confess that Mobile Is a reformed fiirt, and that the territory contagious to Mobile Bay has been the most notable trysting place of modern times.
 In 17I1, dazzled by the glittering persuasIveness of the doughty Knights that came from the land of the lilies, she plighted her troth to France She was true to her first love until 1T63. when she transferred her allegiance to the King of the Britons, and fioated to the breeze the flag of England. This alliance survived for seventeen years, after which she fell a victim to the charms of the Castilian and placed herself under the shadow of the flag of Ferdinand. Then. in 1873, came the conquest and capture of her toya1 heart, when she was wooed and won by the United States of America. Tn 1880, unfortunate family differences arising, she transferred her affections to the Stars and Bars" and proffer- ed her life upon the altar of the "ill-starred Republic that fell" And she stood steadfast during i've bloody years, while the God of War "gnashed loud his iron fangs, and shook his crest of bristling bayonets." By the arbitrament of battle, her application for divorec was denied; Mobile came back to the arms of the Union, pledg- ed anew her loyalty. and. how, her great heart. sanctified in the crucible of three eventful centuries, Is inter woven, unto the end, with the desti- nies or our grand Republic.
 You know already, ladies and gen. tlemen, something of Mobiles achieve ments in the world of literature; how Madam Le Vert charmed nation with her rare attainments; how A. B. Meek left here the tracks of his sur passing genius; how. from this spot, Father Ryan soothed a suffering peo- ple's heart with the unutterable ma jesty and music of his verse; how Mrs, Augusta Evans Wilson has borne the name of Mobile to the forefront of the field of letters and illuminated a million homes WllH lHe purity anu beauty of her works; how Hamilton has wrought so potently in history and scholarly research; and how De Leon and a host of other kindred spirits, have enduringly inscribed her name in the temple of Southern schol- arship. Can we not say, without sue cessful challenge, that, in point of intellectually and mental activity MO bile is to the South what Boston is to New England?
 It Is appropriate. too. that con- vention of educators should assemble 1 in a county which was the first in Ala bama to frame comprehensive and | effective system of public schools-a l county which has contributed to the | cause If education the noble name of | Willis G. Clark; a county whose Spring | Hill College has given to Alabama and | her sister States distinguished coterie | of brilliant sons.
 But. ladies and gentlemen, boast as we will of our glorious past and our radiant present. the fact remains that there is no city or county In Christen- dom that ought not to feel honored to have within its walls the Alabama Ed ucational Association.
 When we think of the schools and | colleges and universities of our coun- try, we almost unconsciously borrow from Emerson his reference to the | SDT1hES Ol AllEIlCdh Llb0ltS anu SOA who are standing guard above those fountains of freedom, would honor, by your visitation any people of any com l munlty.
 The function of the teacher" some one has said, lis the science of the de- Yelopment of all the powers, animal. mental, moral and social; the subordi- nation of the lower impulses to the higher faculties; the symmetry and ! !, fza af a1 n and accurate definition of the ennobllng mission which inspires your exalted profession
 Be assured. then, Educators of Ala bama. that Mobile is genuinely proud to claim this distinguished body as her guests, Our people of one accord ! swing wide the portals of their homes and hearts, not alone because of your personal attraetiveness (persuasive | though that be) but because we cher ! ish here an unbounded enthusiasm for l the cause that animates your coming.
 We have lowered the draw bridge and raised the port -cullis, and you have only to march in and take complete ! possession of court, parapet and castle ! We capitulate. with honor, to so for | midable an intellectual army.
 The best we have is yours. We only ! beg that, when your important delib- i erations are done-after you have read the charms or the city that We love you will go back to your homes and tell them there that you have breathed the fragrance and witnessed the in- comparable loveliness of a spot that must have filled Byron's mind of prophecy when he sang:
 Know .ye the land of the cedar and vine,
 Where the flowers ever blossom, the
 beams ever shine;
 Where the light wings of zephyr op-
 pressed with perfume,
 Wax faint OCT the gardens of Gul in
 her bloomY'
 Mrs. F. s. Colston welcomed the members of the Association on behalf of the schools of Mobile.
 The President of the Association, James H. Foster. City Superintendent of Tuscaloosa. delivered the annual ad- dress, this address being well received. since 1t showed that there had been a decided progressive movement on the part of the orgauzation. with every appearance of improving stul more in It's work in the future. It was in a bonafY1 strain dfa0uee{pp