ESTABLISHED 1844.
GREENSBORO, N. 0., WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1907.
VOLUME LIX. NUMBER 4.
EDITORIAL COMMENT.
ROBERT E. LEE.
Last Saturday, January 19th, was observed
•throughout the South, and in many other
quarters, as the 100th anniversary of Robt
E. Lee’s birth. No man under defeat ever
bore himself more'admirably, and no man of
•a “lost cause” has grown to greater fame
and popularity than Gen. Lee. He was born
•of a family of soldiers, his father being
“Light Horse Harry” Lee, the distinguished
cavalry leader of the American Revolution.
Westomrelanu County, Va,, was his native
place, though he moved with his father to
Alexandria, Va., early in life. Gen. Andrew
Jackson, “Old Hickory,” secured his ap
pointment to West Point in 1825, from which
Lee graduated with distinction, and second in
his class/in 1829. Two years later he* mar
ried Mary Randolph Custis, the granddaugh
ter of Martha Washington. He so distin
guished himself in the Mexican War that he
was brevetted colonel, and in 1852 was i$ade
•superintendent at Wes| Point, that school of
.great soldiers, and during his three years
tenure ther^ greatly improved the discipline,
lengthening the course of study to five years.
When the clouds of war were lowering over
the South he returned to his home in Virginia
March 1, 1861. On April 18th following,
Frank P. Blair, on behalf of President Lin
coln, visited Lee’s home and offered him the
command of the army of the United States.
Lee wrote later: “I declined the~offer to
command, stating that though opposed to
secession and deprecating war, I could take
no part in an invasion of the Southern
States. ’ ’ April 20th he resigned as officer in
the U. S. army and three days later took
command of the military forces of Virginia.
This was the beginning of the greatest mili
tary character and career our country has
produced. Lee was soon at the head of the
Confederate army and remained its com
mander-in-chief till his surrender to Gen. U.
S. Grant at Appomatox April 9, 1865. Never
were soldiers more devoted to a commander
than were those who followed and fought
with Robt. £l. Lee. He was brave, yet merci.
ful, daring, but wise, strong-hearted, but
amiable, in truth a royal personage in citi
zen’s and in soldier’s garb. No mari ever
doubted his courage, yet no one ever called
him cruel. More than all he was a Christian
soldier who fought as boldly under the banner
of the Cross as he was brave under the colors
of his country, In June, 1865, Lee retired
to a quiet country place, but was called in
“October to the presidency of Washington
College, now Washington and Lee University,
Lexington, Va. He served in this capacity
most honorably and successfully for five
years, greatly enlarging and improving the
institution in every way. He died October
12, 1870.
The heat and passion of the war having
passed, Lee comes more and more to be recog
nized as one of the world’s greatest military
heroes and geniuses. His campaigns and war
record are studied in Europe and on the Con
tinent, as well as in our own country, and by
the highest authorities his conduct in the field
and with soldiers is without reproach and
takes rank with the greatest and best. Thous
ands honored his name and memory last
Saturday, a najne and memory which coming
ages will not forget, but magnify. Though by
fate not on the winning side he developed a
character, and made for himself a name, that
honorable men of all ages will esteem, and
that the world will not forget or let perish.
SPEAKER CANNON AND TEMPERANCE.
If matters are as they are reported from
Washington, Speaker Cannon, of the House
of Representatives, is making a sorry spec
tacle of himself in the high office he fills in
the eyes of pecfple everywhere who love
decency and fair play. There was a vacancy
last week to be filled on the House Judiciary
' Committee. By courtesy, and in course, the
minority leader on the floor was to recom
mend, and Speaker Cannon to appoint a man
to fill the vacancy. The minority leader
recommended Mr. Yates Webb, a man who
was known to favor temperance, from North
Carolina. This recommendation the Speaker
ignored, and though appointing a man of Mr.
Webb’s political faith, went to a whiskey dis.
trict in Kentucky to get him. The appointee
was not a candidate for the position, received
his nomination in surprise, and, be it said to
his credit, respectfully declined it. The sig
nificance of all this lies in the fact that this
Judiciary Committee handles the liquor and
temperance question in Congress, and the
Speaker declined to appoint a man favoring
temperance and named one from a district
where the liquor interests dominate. This is
all the more deplorable since it is known that
the Hepburn-Dolliver bill is to come before
this committee and Congress at this session.
This Hepburn-Dolliver bill provides that liq
uor shall not be shipped from one State into
the prohibition district of another State. For
instance, if North Carolina were to vote pro
hibition for the entire State, under existing
laws, dealers in Virginia or South Carolina
could still ship into this State all the liquor
ordered and the authorities would be help
less, since one State cannot control sales and
shipments from another. The Hepburn-Dol
liver bill now pending is to prevent this, and
provides that when a State or district votes
prohibition it shall have prohibition, and not
be imposed upon by another State or district.
This seems a just and equitable measure, but
reports are that Speaker Cannon opposes it,
and has begun, as above indicated, to throw
every possible obstruction in the way of its
enactment. It is a sorry spectacle and one to
be deplored by . temperance people every
where.
PROSPERITY AND A HOME.
From statistics, and the volume of business
everywhere, it is well known that our country
has never seen a more prosperous time than
ours. Work is plentiful and wages are high.
The one who is idle now, unless from disease
or infirmity, is idle by choice. Everyone who
wants work can get it, and at more than a
living wage. These are facts well known by
all. And here is another, equally patent:
such prosperous times, such profits and such
wages, cannot last a life time. Put these
simple facts together and this conclusion
comes to mind with emphasis: Now is the
time for the man and the family without a
home to buy one, and by earnings and sav
ings to own it. It is difficult even for “hard
times” to down and deprive the man who
owns his home and some land about it. When
“hard times” come it is the>man without
land and a home who suffers first and suf
fers most. The man who works and saves
can provide him a home in such times as
these. And he who is wise will make the
effort. We append this word and plea from
The Talisman:
“Now is the,day of opportunity for the
American wage-earner. Never in history did
the average workman have so much money to
spend as now. If he is only wise, he will use
his surplus jn buying a bit of land with a
house on it. Then, when hard times come,
and employment fails, he will find that he
has “taken a hostage from Fortune,” and
that with the aid of the products of his land
he can live, even if he can put in only half
time or less at. the shop.”
LEE, MAN AND SOLDIER.
General Lee as often rode out to consult
with his subordinates as he sent for them to
come to him. The sight of him upon the
roadside, or in the trenches, was jis common
as that of any subordinate in the army. When
he approached or disappeared, it was with no
blare of trumpets or clank of equipments.
Mounted upon his historic war-horse ‘ ‘ Trav
eler, ’ ’ he ambled quietly about, keeping his
eye upon everything pertaining to the cafe
and defense of his army. “Traveler” was no
pedigreed, wide-nostriled, gazelle-eyed thor
ough-bred. He was a dose-coupled, round
barieled, healthy, comfortable, gentleman’s
saddle-horse. Gray, with black points, he
was sound in eye, wind, and limb, without
strain, sprain, spavin, or secretion of any
sort; ready to go, and able'to stay; and yet
without a single fancy trick, or the preten
tious bearing of the typical charger. He was
a horse bought by General Lee during his
West Virginia campaign.
When General Lee rode up to our head
quarters, or elsewhere, he came as unosta
tiously as if he had been the head of a planta
tion, riding over his fields to inquire and give
directions about plowing or seeding. He ap.
peared to have ne mighty secrets concealed
from his-suboidinates. He assumed no air of
superior authority. He repelled no kindly
inquiries, and was capable of jocular re
marks. He did not hold himself aloof in soli
tary^ grandeur. His bearing was that of a
friend having a common interest in a com
mon venture with the person adddressed, and
as if he assumed that his subordinate was as
deeply concerned as himself in its success.
Whatever greatness was accorded to him was
not of his own seeking. He was less of an
actor than any man I ever saw. But the im
pression which that man made by his pres
ence, and by his leadership, upon all who
came in contact with him, can be described
by no other term than that of grandeur.
When I have stood at evenings, and watched
the great clouds banked in the west, and
tinged by evening sunlight; when, on the
Western plains, I have looked at the peaks«of
the Rocky Mountains outlined against the
sky; when, iq mid-ocean, I have seen the
limitless waters encircling us, unbounded
save by the infinite horizon,—the grandeur,
the vastness of these have invariably suggest
ed thoughts of General Robert E. Lee.
Of General Lee’s military greatness, ab
solute or relative, J[ shall not speak; of his
| moraLgreatnessJ need not. The-former, in
view of the conditions with which he was
hampered, must leave a great deal to specula
tion and conjecture; the latter is acknowledg.
ed by all the worlds The man who could so
stamp his impress upon his nation, rendering
all others insignificant beside him, and yet
die without an enemy; the soldier who could
make love for his person a substitute for pay
and clothing and food, and could, by the con
straint of that love, hold together a naked,
starving band, and transform it into a fight
ing army; the heart which, after the failure
of its great endeavor, could break in silence,
and die without the utterance of one word of
bitterness,—such a man, such a soldier, such
a heart, must have been great indeed,—great
beyond the power of eulogy.—John S. Wise
in “The End of an Era.”
OUR PUBLICATIONS.
By Rev. D. E. Millard, D. D.
In a recent speech, President Roosevelt,
said: “I cannot understand any American
citizen who has the faintest feeling of pa
triotism and devotion to his country failing
to appreciate the absolute need of religion
in its broadest sense to the welfare of the
community. If it" were not for men whose
work is not for things of the body, but for
the welfare of the soul, it would not be a
nation to-day, because this nation would not
be a fit abode for civilized man.”
Nor can I understand any Christian who
has the faintest feeling of love to Christ and
his cause failing to appreciate the absolute
need of religious publications and of giving
them proper support as a means—and very
essential means—of spreading the gospel and
of upholding every good and righteous cause.
What we understand by a publication is a
work printed and published: any paper, pam
phlet or book offered for sale, or to public
notice. And so the phrase ‘1 our publica
tion” includes all the papers, books, pam
phlets, magazines and tracts issued by our
people in the interest of our church or de
nomination. The power of the pulpi^has of
ten been extolled, but to-day the press is
paramount in moulding public sentiment.
fhink of the vast amount of matter—good,
bad and indifferent—sent out by the secular
press daily throughout the civilized^world.
Then think of the millions of publications is
sued by the religious press in the interest of
truth and righteousness, and try to estimate,
if possible, the mighty work it has already
accomplished, and foretell, if you can, the
greater results yet to be attained.
Less than ninety years ago the American
Bible Society was formed, and during its
eighty-nine years of life it has printed in 100
languages 76,272,770 copies of the sacred
Book, thus sending the light of divine truth
into the dark lands of earth and laying the
foundation for the final triumph of the gos
pel of Jesus Christ in the world.
IN early an iiuiiureu yeai» agu iniicto oumu
issued the first number of the first strictly
religious newspaper in America. To-day ev.
ery religious denomination has its religious
papers, as well as other publications—for the
dissemination of its principles and to keep
the people informed of the work being done.
No denomination can afford to be without
such publications in these days of light and
knowledge. And yet, how ■ continuously do
we have to urge the duty of supporting these
papers upon our members. And what a
small proportion of our church people are
regular subscribers to any of them!
The paper established by Elias Smith is
our own good old Herald of Gospel Liberty—
the pioneer of the religious papers of the
world. This, aside from the real value of
the paper itself, should not only be a source
of pride, but an incentive for the friends of
our cause to patronize it and to aid in giv
ing it a circulation that will greatly increase
its usefulness. Besides the Herald we have
The Christian Sun, the Christian Vanguard,
and the Christian Missionary, all of which
merit a far more extended circulation than
they have to-day. Our Sunday-school lit- '
erature equals the best, and yet to our shame,
many of our Sunday-schools are taking other
publications—by no means jyjapted to the
wants of our people—simply because they
are a few cents cheaper.—Many good books
and other publications are lying idle on the
shelves of our publishing house at Dayton,
Ohio, for the lack of buyers. They ought
to be scattered abroad and made to do a
sort of missionary work in the world.
But what\I wish to urge most strenuously
to-day is the\duty of patronizing our religi
ous papers. Few people will feel that they
can take all of them. But one of them, at
least, should be in every home of our member
ship—as should also the Christian Mission
ary—one of the best monthlies extant of its
kind, and without which we cannot be fully
informed of what we are doing in the mis
sion field. .
One well asks: ‘ ‘ Who can be intelligent in
these days without reading?” What true
Christian can limit his reading to the daily
paper, with its greedy pandering to every
low association that will yield a dollar, with
it street-sweeper reporters gathering the news
of the filth of all reckless misrepresentation
of good men and the causes and principles
for which they stand? The daily must be
endured, but we must have in the Christian
homes Christian journals which are clean,
bright, newsy and entertaining. Such jour
nals we have. Do I address any here to-day
to whose homes they do not make their
weekly visits? If so, let me tell you what
one such journal will bring to you as it comes
regularly fifty-iwo times in a year: It will
bring tidings and messages from the good
men of the church and you will absorb some
of their spirit; it will bring news of what
other churches are doing and inspire you to
do more; it will give you strong heart for
the hour of adversity. Jt will give salutary
advice to the young. To the sorrowing it
will bring the balm of Christian consolation.
To the aged and departing saint it will give
supporting strength and visions of future re
ward. Therefore, I say to you—take some
one of our religious journals. Do what you
can to promote the circulation of our church
literature and especially our church papers,
for he who promotes the circulation of his
church paper in the field it occupies, proves
the sincerity of his belief and renders that
belief an excellent service.—In Herald of
Gospel Liberty.