USA > North Carolina > Guilford County > Greensboro > The history of the first North Carolina reunion at Greensboro, N. C., October eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth, nineteen hundred and three > Part 12
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* His latest works are cataloged by the Methodist Book Concern, as follows :
HALSTEAD, REV. WILLIAM RILEY
Civil and Religious Forces { A discussion of the preservative forces underlying civil society in the United States) : 12mo: 60 cents.
Life on a Backwoods Farm, or the Boyhood of Reuben Rodney Blennerhasset (A story of an Indiana boyhood) : illustrated ; 12mo; 50 cents.
Christ in the Industries (A survey of modern industrial conditions in America, from the standpoint of a thoughtful Christian believer) ; 12mo; 76 cents.
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grandfather's; and his books are in steady demand from the Methodists. The spirit of erudite devotion skipped a generation or two. Dr. Albert Shaw, editor of the Review of Reviews, is the grandson of Rebecca, "eldest daughter of the latest John Halstead. of Currituck; and judging by the specific gravity of my printed productions. I ought to have a rank of magnitude as a literary fellow- laborer; but I struck polities, as Sherman's Bummers said they did a river in South Carolina-"endwise", and the habit of wading in deep, muddy water spoiled my style. I do not feel certain that the literary streak that shows itself in the Halstead blood, is due the leader of the emigration from Currituck. It is held that the mothers are a shade more responsible for the literature that is of a real good sort than the fathers, and it stands to reason true. In justice to my grandfather from Currituck, I must say though he once warned me not to waste time as a school teacher, he was not satisfied with the "expression "' of his long- ing for a larger literary life. in the ashes of the work he did not approve, though it was his very own. He was not the first man to find that one's views seem to change when they have passed through the hands of the printer. I have known, even in my own case, that a paragraph written at midnight, seemed in plain editorial type next morning to have a meaning more strenuous than had occurred to me at the moment of penmanship. The truth is the author of the book that was impetuously cremated, meditated over a formidable production of a theological nature, but did not meet with much encouragement, and though he took to the task assigned for his old age heartily at times, he left the manu- script in an unfinished state, and so it was not given publicity. The purpose was in him to produce a big book; but in advanced years his writing was diffi- cult. Eventually, the example he gave in the disposition of his small work was followed with his great one (that is the written sheets were fired); but if this is to be considered a family affair, I claim to have written enough bulky books to make up for the leaves that are lost, though I have lacked the courage to tackle theology. The truth is my grandfather was diverted from his career by fireside influences. that were only then and there combustible. There is blazing testimony that he cheerfully made a sacrifice. In order to do him the equal and exact justice recommended by Thomas Jefferson, to meu of all persuasions. religious or political. John Halstead, of Currituck, lost his high standing in the Church by the radical defense he made of the right of "The New Lights" to partake of sacrament, with those who were of good standing in evangelical denominations. In that generous service he mounted a stump (a real stump) at a camp meeting and made a speech that cut short his orthodox career-and he thought to right that wrong in a full-blown book and deal vengeance (?) around the land.
In the battle of Fredericksburg, the division of Meade made. with tem- porary success, an attack upon Lee's right, and a group of prisoners were taken. I had a few amicable words with a tall young man. and asked him from what State he came. He said "' North Carolina ". I asked what county was his birth- place; and he named Orange, my father's birthplace! An account that I wrote of the battle of Fredericksburg, drew from an officer of the National army, in relation to something I had said of the reported position taken by Stonewall Jackson, during a council of war, the night after the army of the Potomac crossed the Rappahannock and suffered terribly. A well-known Carolina Colonel gave me the direct testimony lacking in other reports, of what Jackson said:
Honorable James Y. Joyner Superintendent of Public Instruction of North Carolina
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"Washington, D. C., May 10, 1887.
.. My Dear Sir :
"Touching your statement that Stonewall Jackson favored a night attack at Fredericksburg, that statement can be verified by Colonel H. C. Jones. of Charlotte, N. C., and now the United States District Attorney for the Western Division of North Carolina. He was Colonel of the Twenty-third North Caro- lina Confederates, and was Officer of the Day on the occasion. He told me several times (inasmuch as we were ou part of that field pitted against each other, and after the war met and swapped stories about it) that a council of war, he being in waiting, though not in it, at which were Jackson, Lee. and others, Jackson lay upon the ground in the tent, in apparent sleep, and as mat- ters would be reported to him for opinion wouldl rise on his elbow and say ' drive them into the river; do it tonight'. No matter how mad apropos the question, he ever gave that response. Finally, he roused up and said, 'I propose to take my corps (or division) tonight, have my men strip to the waist, fire no shots, but charge them with the bayonet into the river'. His idea in stripping his men being that in the night they could more easily identify each other in a mix-up such as would naturally follow."
The night Jackson was urging his plan, I was in Fredericksburg with Gen- eral Burnside at his headquarters, the house of the Mayor of the city, and I have thought occasionally that if Jackson's suggestion had been accepted and the assault ordered made, it might have been a souvenir night to me. Lee thought Burnside would force a wholesale charge. and that it would be better for the Confederates than Jackson's midnight assault with bayonets, and so waited. Burnside wanted to do what Lee said he would, but was overruled.
The last speech made in Cincinnati by Stephen A. Douglas, was late in 1860. He, it is little doubted, would have been President instead of Buchanan, if it had not been for the Cuban polities in 1856, with Senator Soule organizing as leader. However, if it had happened that Douglas should head the ticket made at Cincinnati, Lincoln who was a strong candidate for Vice-President, at Phil- adelphia, a few weeks later, might have headed the Republican ticket. The only speech Abraham Lincoln made in Cincinnati, opened with the expression of the very sentiment and some of the words of Lincoln, who, as he was so close to Kentucky, said that he loved his native State dearly as any man born on her ' soil, and how friendly to each other were those who lived on the shores of the river. The last words Stephen A. Douglas uttered were in the Presidential campaign, when worn to illness by his excessive labors, and almost unable to make himself heard, even on the stand from which he spoke at Cincinnati. Governor Willard, of Indiana, occupied the time. In opening his speech, the Governor remarked he was sorry Douglas could not have the voice of Willard, or Willard the head of Douglas. The language of the "little giant" was "he especially regretted because he could not make himself heard. There was no place in America he would rather address the people than in Cincinnati. because nowhere else did the people know better, how easy. and natural it was for the North and South to live together in peace"'. It is not too late to learn that lesson, and perfect the problem of pacification.
The special message of your honorable and distinguished Governor to the General Assembly of North Carolina, contains this passage:
"Our sons and daughters abroad have not forgotten the State, nor has the State forgotten them. We want to see them face to face, and learn what they have done abroad and show them what we are doing here."
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I am flattered to be identified with a suggestion of value in telegraphing when there was a mistake as to my being a son of the State, in claiming to be a grandson. The grandsons and great-grandsons will, I am sure, feel au interest in the Reunions of the non-residents of North Carolina as the commemorations come with the years. The road is wide, public opinion formed, and the fashion fixed. Next to the house of the fathers is that of the grandfathers; and your invitation will be a command. Meeting you face to face. reciprocating the spirit of welcome your Governor gives, this is a day of happy greetings. Be assured of good-will for the stayers in the State, of the grandchildren. whose homes are beyond your borders, that their hearts are yours. The memories of the people are the true stories of nations and are priceless possessions. "Blood is thicker than water. " May our children and children's children stand side by side, hand in hand, friends, fellow citizens, lovers to the latest generation, while the ages on ages uphold and unroll, the proud histories and destinies they 'nherit -- for all our commonwealths, and above all, our common country.
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Address by Mr. R. M. Bartley, of Indianapolis, Ind.
Mr. Robert Madison Bartley. of Indianapolis. Ind., spoke next. He appeared as the representative of the largest delegation sent to the Reunion from any State. He declared that he was nothing of a speaker, but, nevertheless. made one of the best speeches of the day. He said :
Back in the fifties, while I was a young man, I clerked in T. J. Paterick's drug store, in Greensboro, which was on the lot where John Barker's store now stands; and it makes me very sad to find that only three of those who used to assemble at the drug store are now left among the living. Now before I go further. I want to express thanks (I feel that it would be safe to say of a major- ity of the best people of the State of Indiana, as the State is largely populated by descendants of Carolina) to the North Carolinians, and especially to the people of Greensboro, for the trouble, expense, and especially the hospitable manner in which they have entertained the non-residents, who fill many of the important offices of both the State and counties; and quite a number of Caro- lina's descendants are to he found in high positions as teachers and principals of the schools all over the State.
I am more than elated to find such an improvement in the system and schools in this my native State over what it was when I first started out in life for myself as an old-field school teacher. I taught in the poorly-lighted old-time log schoolhouses at Bull Run and Mulberry Grove, near Jamestown, Black Jack, Gray's Schoolhouse, and other places in Southern Guilford, before the war; when the pupils sat on slabs from the sawmills, with legs in them for seats. without desks, and but a wide shelf from the back wall of the house to write on. I am more than pleased to find the great improvement made in every way in the Old North State, and especially on the line of education. In the cities and towns, everywhere I have been. I find up-to-date graded schools and good school- houses all over the conutry and in many places up-to-date country graded school- houses. Besides, I have seen some of these graded schoolhouses under construction, and hear of many more going up. The best feature of all
Mr. R. M. Bartley of Indiana
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is these schools are and will be taught by etlicient teachers from the higher schools of the State, and mainly from the State Normal and Industrial Col- lege here at Greensboro, the leading institution of the kind in the South. Now all I find lacking to successfully educate the coming generations of the State is a similar compulsory education law to what we have in Indiana. The people, some of them, would kick hard, same as they did there; but they soon would get over that, in the same manner as they do with all good laws. Again allow me to express thanks for the Reunion. I believe that it has come to stay, and I hope that we may have a similar entertainment to this Reunion in. Indi- ana, and I assure you that there are enough of Carolinians and their descendants who will gladly entertain all Tarheels who will come, where they will be claimed as cousins by the Carolinians and their descendants; and I assure you that we will treat you as brothers and sisters if you will visit the Hoosier State.
As time is limited. I will wind up by saying that it is a sad thought, but nevertheless true, that we will all never meet again in this life; but I hope that we will all so live as to be prepared to meet in the great reunion on the shores of endless felicity.
Address by Honorable Jos. M. Dixon, of Montana
Mr. Chairman, Fellow North Carolinians, both Past and Present:
The thought came to me yesterday, at the Opera House in Greensboro, when the different speakers were telling of their love and veneration for North Caro- lina, that if these proceedings were changed into an ordinary County Fair, that I would be entitled to the blue ribbon. For while some of the speakers had traveled three hundred, some five, and a few six or eight hundred miles in order to participate in these proceedings, I had spent five days and had traveled three thousand miles in order to be present here today. And more than that- I had brought with me my wife and three little half-breed Tarheels, in order that they might here today receive the first degree in the Ancient and Accept- able Order of Tarheels.
And when I heard these gentlemen telling of the North Carolina Societies which they had organized in their different towns, I remembered, that in my own town in Montana, seven years ago, when we didn't have enough North Carolinians to forni charter members of a North Carolina Society, we organized a society composed exclusively of people born south of the Mason and Dixon line. But when we came to name it, we at first had considerable difficulty. We couldn't call it a North Carolina or a Virginia or a Missouri Society, for fear of hurting the feelings of the other fellows; so finally we compromised the matter by calling it the ' 'Possum Club". Every Christmas we give a regular old- fashioned Southern dinner, and we send down South for the materials for our bill of fare, and we have 'possum and sweet potatoes, crackling cornbread and persimmon pudding, and hominy and catfish. And I am sorry to say that last Christmas some of the members, who were more convivial in their nature than the rest of us, indulged in something that we used to call applejack.
Here, today, from whatever State we may have come-notwithstanding the accident of present location-all of us here asembled are North Carolinians.
To me it is pleasing that those of you who have remained behind, loyal sons and daughters of the old North State who have not been tempted away from
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her borders by the will-o '-the-wisp of fickle fortune, have today killed the fatted calf and invited your wayward brothers to return once again to the home of their youth, and bade them put on the robes of Carolina hospitality and feast once again at your bounteous tables.
And, judging from the number of expatrinted Tarheels who are present here, I should judge that your kind invitations have not been overlooked by inany of those by whom they were received.
I wouldn'tbe so unkind to my fellow visitors as to insinuate anything sinis- ter as to the reasons why so many of us have taken our departure from the land of our forefathers-but when I see the multitude that have returned in response to your summons. I am reminded of Private John Allen's'experience before the Arkansas Legislature some months ago, as related by himself:
He says that sometime last winter, when the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Committee, of which he is a member, was making heroic efforts to induce the different State Legislatures to make State appropriations for the Exposition, that it was determined by the Commission to send Mr. Allen down to Arkansas. to see what he could do with the Legislature then in session at Little Rock. When he arrived there, and had been introduced to many of the members, he found that a great many of them were from his own State of Mississippi. When the two houses had met in joint session to hear what Mr. Allen might say on the subject, thinking to somewhat ingratiate himself with them. he remarked that he had been surprised to discover that so many members present were from his own State-Mississippi. And while he was glad to meet so many of his old friends and neighbors again, it did cause him sorrow to know that so many of them had left the State of their nativity. He referred to the past proud history of Mississippi, and her boundless resources awaiting development. and thought possibly they had made a mistake in emigrating; for he wanted to assure them, confidentially, that if they had staid and stood trial, that most of them would have been acquitted.
And I understand that the failure of the Arkansas Legislature to make any appropriation for the St. Louis Fair is by some of the Commission unkindly attributed to Mr. Allen's unfortunate speech.
But I hardly think it fair to assume that Mr. Allen's intimation of the reasons for the increased emigration from Mississippi to Arkansas would apply in the case of the ex-Carolinians present here today. (Governor Aycock says he will pardon you, anyway.)
But I have found it to be true in my own experience-that meeting with former residents of my own native State, scattered up and down the length and breadth of the whole country from Maine to California, it is not best. some- times, to press them too closely as to the reasons for their having left one of the fairest sections on God's footstool to tackle the uncertainties of life else- where. Especially have I found this true if my fellow North Carolinian hap- pens to hail from the mountain counties; and more especially Wilkes or Yadkin. 1 well remember a gentleman who came into my office two or three years ago, to consult me about a matter that seemed to be causing him considerable mental worry. He was a tall, six-foot fellow, very sparely built, angular and wiry. with a dark and drooping mustache, slouch hat, and had the general appearance of not being on very intimate terms with the barber. I soon found he was from North Carolina, and consequently felt interested in both himself and bis cause. He informed me that he was from the "State" of Wilkes. N. C. I asked him the nature of his ease, but before unfolding his troubles, I noticed that he was nervous. He would get up from the chair; go to the door: look up and down
Honorable Joseph M. Dixon, of Montana Representative in Fifty - Eighth Congress
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the hall to see that no one was listening. Then he told me his troubles. He said that he had been away from Wilkes going on two years. That he had had some trouble down there with " the Revenues", as he put it, aud that for his own peace of mind and to save Judge Boyd the unnecessary expense of litigat- ing his troubles with Uncle Sam, he had coneluded to hit the trail (as we say out West). He had come to western Montana, and for some months had been employed on a ranch there; but some time before, he said, he had observed such a nice scelnded little clear mountain stream, hid away in the Bitter Root Moun- tains, that was so appropriate to his ohi-time business, that the homesick feel- ing came over him so strongly, that he just couldn't resist the temptation to rig him up a little six-gallon home-made still and manufacture a little of the genuine unstamped " mountain dew". It seemed that some neighboring ranch- man had discovered his outfit, and that a special agent from Salt Lake had come up and destroyed it. The old-time habit acquired in old North Carolina was too strong for his moral nature, even in far-off. moral, law-abiding Montana.
But the North Carolinian, abroad or at home, must not be judged by the funny stories of the moonshiner, as ontsiders are sometimes prone to do.
Not because I am a North Carolinian; not because we are here visiting, and want to say something nice and pleasing to our hosts; but because I believe it to be a fact, and one that is capable of demonstration, I believe the pure type of the old-time, liberty-loving, God-fearing American can come nearer being found here in North Carolina than anywhere else in America today. To start with, we had the base upon which to build the superstructure.
Excepting the poor white settlers that drifted over the Virginia border line two hundred years ago, when Carolina was the frontier of the Virginia settle- ments, the colonists who settled the State, and from whom we sprung, were the best blood of all Europe. The English and Huguenot settlements along the coast, the Scotch Highlanders along the Cape Fear, the German Moravian and the Pennsylvania Quakers in Central Carolina, and the Scotch-Irish blood of the central and western portious of the State, all give a strain to Carolina blood that should make us more than proud of our splendid lineage.
Before the advent of the railroad-cut off as we were from commercial activity by the chain of sand-banks along our eastern coast-her industrial life had not gone forward with the same degree of activity as had some of her sister States; but from what I have seen of the wonderful growth and development here in the past twelve years, I of truth believe that she is at the threshold of a tremendous development.
Leaving my own self entirely out of the discussion. I think all of us will agree that the one great drain on her resources, and one of the drawbacks to her development has been (but I am happy to say is not at the present time) the steady stream of emigration that has constantly flowed from her borders. For fifty years prior to the Civil War, thousands upon thousands of her best citizens left the State for the free States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and else- where, on account of their feeling against slavery.
Seventeen years ago I was a student at the Quaker College ot Richmond, Ind. I remember on one occasion there we took a poll of the students to ascer- tain the State of their parents' nativity. Out of about three hundred students. some two hundred and seventy claimed North Carolina as the native State of their fathers or mothers. The whole great Northwest is today thickly studded with settlements of North Carolinians and their children. I noticed not long since, in the census reports of 1900, that scattered through the States of the Union, and mostly in the West, were three hundred and thirty thousand native-
F. N. C. R .- IX
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born citizens of North Carolina. I venture to say that, counting native-born Carolinians and the children and grandchildren of native-born, there are torlay outside of North Carolina more Tarheels than there are within her borders. Another thing: Wherever you find them, they are good, law-abiding citizens.
A Major-General of the Army told me the other day that the finest speci- mens of manhood, and the best soldiers in the regular army today, were recruited from the central and western portion of North Carolina.
In commerce and education, finance and politics, the North Carolinian who has emigrated will generally be found, to use a football slang expression, "hit- ting the line hard".
The next Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States was a poor Quaker boy, born within gunshot of the platform on which we stand.
I believe in North Carolina; and I believe in her people, and their immedi- ate future greatness. I am glad I am one myself. But if I had a sermon to preach to you today, I would sum it up in the one sentence-try and be a little more tolerant and charitable towards your neighbors' views of things. I may have been mistaken, but as far as my own self was concerned I never would have left my own native State, one that I loved and still love with all my heart. had I not at least felt that there was a dominant, intolerant, political spirit in control that brookel no questioning of its imperious mandates. I think it is the only thing that today stands between North Carolina and the achievement of a splendid career for her and her people. I say this, not as an outsider, but as one of you.
In conclusion, in the words of Judge William Gaston:
‹‹ * * Carolina, Heaven's blessings attend her! While we live we will cherish, protect, and defend her. Though the scorner may sneer at, and witlings defame her, Our hearts swell with gladness whenever we name her".
Address by President E. A. Alderman Of Tulane University, Louisiana.
I have come a long journey to be with you today, my dear friends. There were duties which held me so fast that I feared I might not be able to come at all until Sunday; and believe me, it was a heart-breaking thought, for my mind played unceasingly about this scene-these faces which I knew would be here. thrilling with the spirit of fellowship and good cheer, and this impressive plain which I remember so well, tonched on grass and leaf and bough with the solemn beauty of the dying year. I stood on a spur of the Monadnock Mountains in far-away New Hampshire this summer, and watched with interest the fires, which had been kindled on the mountain tops, gleaming welcome to the sons of that State returning to their old home. It seemed a hard thing that I should not be among my own at such an hour; and I am right glad of heart that I am here to render thanks to God, with my brothers, that it was our fortune to have been born in North Carolina; to greet the tender and lofty spirit that animates the old commonwealth today; and to have sight of the heights of power and achievement toward which the old home is forging its way.
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