Roanoke Rapids herald. [volume] (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.) 1914-192?, 1921-06-10
mission until 1895.

n Butler for the United State
d Senate, in 1895, jointly by tn
r Republican and Populist par
n ties caused the Democratic voter
e to look for a man whom the
thought would make the hes
showing against the parties join
ed as one.
All eyes turned toward Captain
, Thomas Mason, the stalwar
statesman from Northampton
, Mason was declared their candi
date for the purple toga because
they knew that besides beinl
eminently fitted for the office
that the opposing party coult
bring no charges against a mar
of the Mason type. 1t was about
this time that a committee repre-
senting the trustees of his Alma
Mater, the University of North
Carolina, offered him the Presi-
aency of that institution. This
honor he did not accept because
he desired TO represent his State
in the United States Senate.
But owing to the fact that his
opponent was supported by two
united parties, he could not over
come such opposition. 1t is evil
dent that his supporters were
we'll satisfied with the showing
he made against Butler, for the
following year they again called
upon this ever faithful and cour.
ageous man to be joint standard
bearer of the democratic party
in the state with Cyrus Watson,
of Winston-Salem, who was their
candidate for Governor. Mr.. Wat.
son became i'll and the burden of
carrying on a strenuous campaign
fell wholly upon the shoulders of
Capt. Mason, candidate for Lieu
tenant Governor. His tour of the
state pleading the cause of Demo-
cracy during that memorable
campaign will long be remem-
bered as one of the greatest in
the history of our state.
So great was his ability as an
orator and scholar, that he was
eagerly sought as speaker on all
great occasions. He was a man of
rather large build, although some
what stopped, his shoulders were
broad and showed the possession
of great strength. Hiseyesseemed
to be sluggish. They never bright
ened while he spoke, and some
times the long lids almost closed,
and then, the expression was not
unlike the physical phases of
blindness. But elsewhere on his
face there was a dance and spar
kle of animation, which with
graceful speech and the sweep
of his tall frame, conveyed to the
listener a sense of correspon-
dance between easy fluctuations
of body and the suppleness of his
sentences. Although a stranger
to the articles of the actor, he
nevertheless followed Hamlet's
advice to the player which was
never to "O'er step the modesty
of nature. His singular energy
was hedged by the eloquence of
his naturalness.
OF the many speeches made by
Captain Mason, his address be-
fore the Ladies Memorial Associa-
ton at the laying of the corner
stone of the Confederate Monu-
ment, concentrating the deeds
of the brave sons of the Confed-
eracy, delivered at Raleigh on
May 20, 1895, and his plea for
prohibition in the senate chamber
will go down as two of the great
est pieces of oratory delivered
during his time.
Those who heard Captain
Mason's address at the laying of
he cornerstone of the Confederate
memorial will never forget his
powerful, and apparently instint-
tive, gestural emphasis at the
mention of Stonewall Jackson in
the trope inwhich Jackson and the
eagle are made in interchangeable
figures. Lifting b o t h hands
above his head, with palms
spread, with fingers apart, and
crooked as the talons ofa fowl of
prey, he spoke of the troops
$500. ! ID. 1901 - T,,uo 1000 oc |