The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-09-29
(B1ON II. BUTLER.)

ago. The teacher had a fashion on
a warm summer day of allowing US
To take our books and go out under
the big apple trees on the hill above
the country school house. Barefoot,
freckled little wisps of humanity we
struggled there with our accommodating
wisdom. l can slip my hand back IN
the attic of memory and pick ont a
fragment now of what we drOneu
there in the lazy summer afternoon.
North Carolina, Raleigh, near the
Neuse."
That bunch of toW-head colts and
FLIES has scattered, some to the four
winds of the earth some to the mn
mite mOrning-land. some to be the
griZzled monuments of the days that
are gone.
There, half a century ago, under
the apple blossoms Of yesterday. our
little bunch, in the care-free society
of childhood, made the acquaintance
of Raleigh. near the Neuse.
So you see, I am justified in claim
ing to be an old friend. even hollgh
we did not see much IF each other.
The Capitol.
Later on. as we came to be inter-
ested in architecture, a quaint struc-
ture was brought to the front to be
introduced as the State House at RAJ
eigh, a building of so much credit
that it has stood as a model Of archl-
lecture OIL It's klnO TO the present udy.
And one Of the first things when | set
foot in Raleigh some years later was
TO proceed to the Capitol building to
look at~the famous doors, and the
simple lines of the building.
Stored in the collection of m
are some two or three dozen State
Houses, parliament houses, capitol
buildings, and such things, but the
three that are on the front shelf are
the little old adobe structure at
Santa Fee, the house at Richmond and
that at Raleigh. Others are bigger,
and more expensive and more preten-
tious. But we do not measure our
friends by their Importance or their
pocketbooks, do we?
A Building Without Graft.
Pennsylvania has a magnificent
State House. But every time l go
up the steps that lead into that costly
building it occurs to me that the graft
in that splendid edifce cost the people
of the State more than the State House
at Raleigh cost. Something in that
which tells of more h grandeur Of
or of cost.
The first glimpse l got Of Raleigh
on the ground was one night years
ago when / was going down the road
from Washington to the South. One
train a day was the service On the
Seaboar at that time SOUTH, but at
Johnson street we were transferred to
a cabOose on a freight and started
farther on the voyage. That glimpse
of Raleigh did not make a hit with
me. Neither did the train service.
~SeabOard's Fine Service.
What a difference now. The Sea.
board runs trains today that had nc
equal then my place On earth. Five
each way every day with all the con
forts and c~onveniences that moder1
skill can devise. Today l am proud
of the Seaboard railroad and it
equipment and service, and I do no
hesitate to boast of it to anybody Wht
talks of railroads any where. Prob
ably l will never have a better chanc'
to say that in the hundreds of thou
sands of miles / have travelled on tn
railroads OF both continents 1 hav
never found a more courteous lot 0
railroad train men than l have en-
countered invariably on he SeabOar
in an experience covering twenty-fiv
years with that lfne.N The old con
ductors who are gone and the ne1
ones who have come and who ar
coming constantly show that highes
test of a gentleman, consideration TO
those with whom they come in con
tact. and the Seaboard officials ma
consider this expert testimony if the
want to.
Major Heart Takes Precedence.
Well, 7 kept Oh getting acquainte
with Raleigh. The first man l kne'
personally was Leo Heart. good OIL
scout, a fit sample to put in the fir.
line of the exhibit. From that 1 CON
menced to pick them up. and tt
other night 1 made up my mind
take in the whole bunch and make
unanimous.
I was born with a wandering foo
had to grow up and gain some yea
and dance several babies on my kne
before l could get that foot Quiete
down. But when l did get it tied
fastened it to North Carolina hill
and I ave lived longer on my Moo
county Paradise knobs, than l ev,
lived In one place in MY life befor
So you see l am more a North Car
linian h anything else, and Re-
eigh. near the Neuse, is my State CAP
tai, and ! have proprietary rights
well as a right OF discovery and
right of adoption. You see we are n