Newspapers / The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, … / July 19, 1901, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
FOUNDATION STONES OF ACHIEVE MENT. Prize Oration Delivered at Kenly Academy Commencement, June. 1901. ;2W> liAiroKoTHnHAit Fvumvii.Tiylur.N.C. Human accomplishment has been the inspiration of many a Jiterary production. It, is the 4?mud lionet of the present gener al thin that, more progress has tteen made than in any eoual kua ?if tin* world's history. \Ve refer -with pleasure and gratification to our l.ineolne, <1 rants, Iah*h, J.ongfellows, I'oes. Vances, and other national statesmen. Hut in our ecstatic joy and Diluted pride we neglect the millions of those who simply count one in -the census reports. The sparse ness of human results compared with tlu* uhuudance of human possibilities makes a frightfully unequal proportion. When we come to analyse the character of those whom we meet slay by day in onr journey through life we ut once conclude that for the most part men are neither mentally nor morally what they should be or what they might be with the proper exertion. When we contrast the real con dition of men who utv content with a dwarfed intellectual and spiritual growth with the great and glorious possibilities of a noble manhood which is within their easy reach what a vast dif ference! If we question the experience of -those whom we have n chance to study, will we notat ouce be eon winced of the sad fact that men are prone to sink to what is he low theui rather than Inclined by sheer force of will to use what is above them ? Men nml it niucti easier to ila grade than to elevate themselves It requires very little effort to go down a mountain declivity; but it means steady application to ascend to the summit. It must then Is* a conceded fact that it would be well for every young man when he launches himself out on the broad ocean of life to take for au example to lie guided by the pathways of the greatest jiien who have attained eminence -Among their fellowmen and to find, if possible, the very methods l?y which they succeeded and -4,hen to imitate these and not i>e found gazing in discouragement upon the many who are pursuing the downward course to failure or who have already reached their Waterloo. However humble our station in life we are under the very great est moral obligation to do what is liest under any and all circum stances. Should a man, and especially a young man, he con lent until he has used every effort to reach the top round of fame's ladder? If our life-work is worth any effort at all, does it not de mand the noblest and best part of lite itselt ? And is not any man who for the sake of his or j>er sonal comfort would neglect the i most important part of life and j economize his effort more than a i tritier? Tar too many are coif tent to lounge and loiter upon the dead level of mediocrity with the great multitudes and far too lew, with noble purpose and strong effort, will rush in frontof their comrades and from loftier eminences point to grander triumphs beyond, ever bearing in mind the unswerving fact that there is still av vacant place at the top. There can Is* nothing better for a voung man than self-exertion aiid self-reliance, taking ior his j guide those who have succeeded and though he may never obtain the full height of his ambition lie j will surely get farther on, than he who is content with the lot of j those who have gone to utter, .failure or those who aim at a lower standard. If there are difficulties in theh wav must we yield to them? So!, he who rises by his own ettort is i himself master of the situation i and to him success is assured, i Although discouragements may * gather around him fie will realize'! that they were made only to be, overcome and areof great benefit i to him in developing strength. i Are there huge stumbling iilocks i in the wav? If so they should be i transformed into stepping stones t upon which the resolute young i man may hasten onward in his ] upward course. Should the hills t of difficulty rise rugged and steep j I before him he will change them 1 by the magic touch of his perse-; i verance to mountains of delight I i from whose loftiest peaks he may 1 overlook all intervening ditfkul-,i ties i ito the celestial city of glori- t ous success! I He who by strength of purpose t would accomplish the beautiful i* task must ever bear in mind that c success in a prize which can only be achieved bv persistent untiring exertion and tiiat beyond the givat Alps ot difficulty lies the beautiful Italy of success. * The only standard of value by which true greatness may be in sured is permnneutund continual ; success and there must Is- a nor mal and steady growth of the {powers in order to attain this. \u achievement which would lie I a most signal failure for a ma ture man might be called a bril : limit victory for a youth, j It is not the intrinsic merit of i he performance of the lad that gives rise to the hO|ie of future i greatness, but the sign of future brilliancy which may lw plainly seen in the effort. The loggard in t he graduating class at college may by steady effort be even more successful 'than the valedictoruan who car ries off the honors of his class and is content with the one achievement and fails to continue to attempt further advancement. History plainly teaches that the world's greatest men have not reached great achievement in early life, but like building u Htone wail they have started at the bottom and by continual effort have ream! the superstruc ture. I;et us look at the Uvea of some of our great meu. It issaid that John Quincy Adams when only seven yearH old astonished hie friends by delivering in the pres ence of the family a speech worthy of a youth of twice his age. This might he called precocity, but it was attained by a steady devel- j opnient which never ceased; for in lifter years he became preei-1 dent of the United States, and afterwards represented his dis trict in Congress for 17 years.! and is to this day kuown as old man eloquent. Bryant, the re markable poet of nature, won the admiration of the literary world at the age of lb by writing his poem on Immortality and after scattering effusive gems ior three score and ten years suddenly poursjforth his "Floodof Years," which for purity of diction has never been surpassed. But in spite of the few exam ples in which youthful genius succeeded in after years we are still forced to admit that a very large per cent, of the most brii-? limit achievements in the earlier part of life are followed by utter failure. There is certainly some reason for this in the philosophy "f things. Bet us look for a mo-; ment and see if we can find a way to clear up this great mystery. There is always something in the very character of success that, tends to paralyse their power and defeat their great ambition. Does not the beginner who gains j his first success find in the praise of the throng a kind of self confi- { deuce that dissipates his mind with fearful delusion that he is a lucky number and therefore the gods will protect him? Even J while we boast of our individu ality and claim to discard utterly the doctrine of fatalism, yet in the secret depths of the bosoms of most Americans there lurks a' misty but powerful impression that it is better to be born lucky than rich. Never wasthere more foolish sophistry than this. Buck is for him who fias the persever ance and ambition to surmount all difficulties and conquer despite his surroundings. To succeed one must not depend on luck, birth, fortune or talent. How often a noble example is blasted by a graceless soul Riches take wings when placed in the hands of some reckless boy. Every young man should have some aim iu life and use great effort to fit himself for the work of that station. Persistency will always outstrip mere briliancy. This is proven by the best of names in the archives of history. The progress of mental develop ment is more gradual in some cases than iu others, Just as it is in physical development, and ' early success is not always the forerunner of early failure; but ever bear in mind that tardiness J ?f development and delay of suc cess is not always unfortunate. If the youthful genius lies dor mant at first, it is the better be- j ginning, for when at last it un folds and grapples with the intri- j 'ate problems of stateit will erect 1 monument in the hearts of men I that will never die. Benjamin i Disraeli, that great English statesman who became Earl of Beaconsfieid,found that the path fhat led to his eminence was not * myw 1 road of flowers. His life t ind success furnishes an illustrn- c ion of what great toil and hu- j niliatiiigfailuresone must endure t :?) achieve permanent success, t fiismaidenieflorts in oratory, lit- t irature ami statecraft were most t lignnl failures. Every sentence i )f his first speech in the House of ( i T ?? Commons brought forth peals of derision, laughter ami ridicule. It was pronounced a great farce. Hut smarting under the jeer* hea|>ed upon him, he shook his tlst in the faces of the laughing throng and said. "The time will come when you will heur ine." The puges of modern history prove that assertion to lie true; for with great effort he prepared himself to me.-! the great emergency of life, and when he again attempt ed to *|?enk lie'took the house by storui. and great applause rang through the crowded galleries, and his manuscripts eonun tnded untold prices among t he eager publishers. To come nearer home, let us recall that the pivsent Coventor of our own State, thegreat head <sl, big hearttsl Ayeock, the brightest star in the political dia dem of this great and grand old commonwealth, was born within a few miles of t his very place and that, too, on a farm, where he could breath the pure country air. I,et us not low? sight of the great and important fact that every man should have a fixed purpose in life and drnvt his ener gies, time and talent to a given object. There should tie no divided aim. He should gather in from all the rich stores about him whatever he can to bless his bodily existence and to enrich his mind with all that may have a tendency,to foster him in his temporal circumstances and win for him the honor of the wise. All this selecting should be done with a simple and worthy aim in view. With these conditions lie may reap the golden harvest of conimcr *?, secure the gems of en- ? terprise and art, or cull the fair est flowers of literature. He may lay heaven and earth, mind and nature, society and solitude, na ture and art under contribution to aid him. He may live as lives the tree by drawing its nourish ment from every clod of earth at its roots, from every particle of 1 atmosphere around its trunk, from every drop of dew that glis- i tens upon its leaves, and from every sunbeam that plays amid i its foliage, and liv gaining strength from every passing blast or gentle zephyr that sweeps , over it. Hut if he be wanting in these three essentials, self exertion, self denial and self consecration, he1 lias made an utterable and miser able failure already. White Man Turned Yellow. (ireat consternation wan felt by the friends of M. A. Hogarty of l^exington, Ky., when they saw he was turning yellow. His skin slowly changed color, also his eves, and he suffered terribly, llis malady was yellow jaundice. He was treated by the best doc tors, but without benefit. Then he was advised to try Electric Bitters, the wonderful Stomach and Liver remedy, and he writes: "After taking two bottles I was wholly cureif." Atrial proves its matchless merit for all Stom ach, Liver and Kidney troubles. Only 25c. Sold by Hood Bros., Bruggists. Ape-Like Men In Congo. In speaking of his various jour neys, says the Westminster Ga zette, Sir Harry Johnston has been telling a Reuter's corres nondent that he had the good fortune to meet with the extra ordinary race of ape-like men first discovered by Messrs. (irogan and Sharp on the verge of the Congo Forest. His photographs and measurements confirm the opinion as to the very simian character,of these people, who must not be confounded with the Congo dw arfs, who are quite dis tinct in appearance. While the dwarfs are from four to five feet in height, the ape people appear to be of normal stature. Sir Henry Johnston and Mr. W. G. Doggett have taken and recorded measurements, on the lines laid down by the Anthropological Institute, of two hundred differ jut sjHfimens of men and women M the various tribes. It is easier to keep well than ret cured. Be Witt's Little Early Risers taken now and then, will always keep your bowels in per fect order. They never gripe but iromote an easy gentle action, y Hood Bros., Hare & Son. J. R. [>>dl>etter. A Pig With Three Tails. Mr. George Barker, who livesat ;he rectory, has a pig with three listinct tails. One occupies the dace where tails usually grow, ind the other two areoruanients o the two hams, or hips. These ails are the usual length, and. I he strangest thing about thein s they can all wiggle.?Lea ksville Jazette. ?1 Still Slandering tbe South. In considering wlmt it call* "The Secession of Senator Mc Laiirin," World's Work, a New ? York magazine edited by a for ' mer resident of .Voith Carolina, says that "war, ]>overtv, illiter acy, epidemics and tornadoes have all done less hurt to the South tnan (he it said with re spect to all men of breadth and tolerance) the ? politicians and preachers. For these have been the conservators of outworn opinions and creeds, and they hate suppressed intellectual in-' dependence. It is they who are to blame for the loss to the na tion of the old time Southern forces and character since the wit. They have suppressed thought, and prevented growth? these unscarred colonels who wear long hair and white ties and frock coats, and these doc tors of divinity who herd good women by the most stagnant waters of theology." Could those words have been written by Walter H. i'age? If so he shows an astounding j lack of good taste in thus slur ing at his native section. How any one who knows Southern conditions can speak in such a j slighting manner of the clergy and charge ministers of the Gos pel with responsibility for the South's alleged political narrow ness is inconceivable, even if the sense of propriety and reverence! did not prevent one from making a contemptuous allusion to a j class of men that is universally j honored and respected. As a matter of fact, the preachers in the South have bothered less with politics than is customary in any other section of the coun try. They have gone 011 pleach ing the Gospel and have not in terfered in political matters. Nothing could be further from truth, more unjust nor in worse taste than the words used by 1 World's Work. And aw far as the "unscarred colonels, who wear loaf? hair and white ties and frock coats." these are creatures of imagination. It is admitted that colonels have been rather more numerous in this section than the records jus tify, but these colonels, justly or unjustly so entitled, have not been unscarred. At least those who have been particularly prominent in public life have gen erally been men who did faithful service, as officers or privates, in time of war. Here and there a spurious hero may have ob tained office hut to do this has been nothing like as easy in the South as in the North. The Southern people have been slow to tolerate the men who refused to fight when war was raging and nave been ever ready to hon or those whose bravery and dar ing were undoubted. If Northern Republicans and their Southern sympathizers really wish to break up the "Sol id South," to foster a "secess ion" such as McLaurin leads they will do well not to speak contemptuously of the South's past. Such references as we have quoted will only recall the time when the chief capital of the Re- i publican party was slander of the South, when the "Confeder-1, ate brigadier" was held up to Northern constituencies as the great bogy that must be kept: down, and when never a chance was lost to humiliate tin veter- 1 ans whom the South will always honor. To continue such tac tics will be to perpetuate the "Solid South" and to keep the "Confederate brigadier" in the saddle as long as he has the life ; to sit there. Nothing could be more foolish from a political standpoint than for these apostles of the "New Democracy' to ca*t slurs at the Southern soldiers or the South- ( ern preachers Their doing so will convince theSouthern voters more quickly thau anything elst could that the "New Democracy" is the "Old Radicalism" in dis-1 guise?a conviction that would not be far wrong.?Columbia, S. 1 C. State. You can never cure dyspepsia by dieting. What your body needs is plenty good food prop- j erly digested. Then if your stom- j ach will not digest it, Kodol Dys- i p pepsia Cure will. It contains all of the natural digest ante hence must digest every class of food and so prepare it that naturecan use it in nourishing the body and 1 replacing the wasted tissues* thus giving life, health, strength am bition, pure blood and good healthy appetite. Hood Rros.,r J. R. Iiedbetter, Hare & Son. I Two hours after having been ; released from the county jail at fireen wood. Ia., an expert sneak J thief broke into the prison again 5 nnd stole his photograph from the rogues' gallery. NOW READY. A MODERN FOUNDRY AND MACHINE WORKING PLANT IN DUNN. Metal Working in all its Branches. Ten thousand feet of Moor space, crammed with brand new and ponderous machinery direct from the manufacturers. WE ARE AGENTS FOR THE FAHQHHAH, ENGINES v BOILERS J Of all Pfyies from to HHhorse power ALSO Threshing Machines, Saw Mills, Etc. WRITE FOR Catalogue aiid Prices. All Kinds Steam Fitting* Constantly on F\and. TOBACCO FLUES. ALL STYLES. Everything Guaranteed^ Freight rates equalized wrtb other points. We are in it~ Don't forget us. The John fl. McK,ay M'f'g Co., DUNN. N. C. S. R. Morgan, Cabinet Maker 8MITHFIELD, n. c. and Undertaker, will repair furniture and frame your pictures. Pull line of Caskets and Codies Men's, Ladies' and Children's Burial Robes and Shoes, Hose, Gloves, &c. Th&ukt to my friends and patrons for past patronaye, Hope to serve you In future Every Business MAIN Needs printed stationery. To use plain letter paj>er an<? envelopes without his address upon them shows that he is behind the times. This no, up-to-date, hustling business man can afford to do. WHERE CAN HE GET IT? When the man of business decides that he cannot get along* without printed stationery, the next question that confronts him> is "where can T get the best and neatest stationery at a reason able price." We can answer that question for him by saying Here is the Place. With our different faces and sizes of the latest and most mod ern designs of JOB TYPE we can suit the most fastidious in PRINTING. With our large and well selected stock of paper anil opes, (we carry one of the best and most complete stocks id Eastern Carolina)?fro 11 the cheapest to the highest grades,, we are sure we can please all classes. If you want pink letter and note heads we can give them to you. If you want assorted colors in envelopes we can suit you. If you need Anything in our Line write us for samples and prices, or send us your orders direoi and we guarantee to please you. We also sell BLANKS if all kinds, blank books, receipt and note books, bill files, letter file books and anything you may need in our line. WE ALSO PUBLISH The Srnithflelc! Herald, ONE OF THE LARGEST WEEKLY PAPERS IN NORTH CAROLINA. The price is only 81 per year. We send The Herald and thr NATIONAL MAGAZINE, Boston (price 81 per year) both one year for 81.50. The satisfaction we fcave given hundreds of customers io tforth and South Carolina shows that we can please. We have* deased others, why not you? Mail orders receive prompt ittention. Yours for buisiness, MeL. Beaty, Holt & Lassiter, SMITHnELD. N. C
The Smithfield Herald (Smithfield, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 19, 1901, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75