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In the Heart of the Blue Grass.
Only thirty-six hours in the heart of the Blue
Glass—but they were rich, full and inspiring!
Busy business in the office would only allow one
day at the great Educational Conference at Lexing
ton, Ky., but thanks to the Southern Railway’s
“lightning” schedule, and comfortable Pullman
service, I could go to sleep with the gathering shad
ows of evening and wake up amid the mountains
and the tunnels of the Queen and Crescent, just in
time to look out from High Bridge and sweep
the “Enamored vision” over that wonderful morn
ing scene of river ami valley and mountain and
sky.
The morning Herald in Lexington was full of the
opening speeches of Robert C. Ogden, Governor
Beckham and Governor Folk. And the heart grew
sick for the moment at having missed so much in
the opening night. But here came that thing that
banishes clouds—the gleam and glow of that rare,
round face of Dr. Wallace Buttrick with its corner
on sunshine. And before breakfast even came the
cheery greeting and cordial “hand-shake” of that
New York merchant prince, the organizer of the
movement who loves people better than he loves
dollars—Robert C. Ogden, with his ready wealth
of sunlit philosophy.
And behold! Just across the dining room I
caught the “good morning” smile of that superb
teacher of teachers, President E. C. Branson, of the
Georgia State Normal, while nearby, that genial
scholar, Prof. Rogers, the co-laborer of Georgia’s
noble and efficient School Commissioner, Hon. W. B.
Merritt, awakened fragrant memories of Sanders
ville and Mt. Vernon; and gallant Joseph S. Stew
art, of the University of Georgia, said “Hello Up
shaw!” in away that “touched a spring that un
locked the past,” when he stood by my cot one day
out under the trees before my old Cobb county home
and read my little speech of welcome to that as
piring company of Cobb county young people whom
I loved so well.
Three Thousand Think on Education.
But the Conference—it was an inspiration. In
this brief sketch the program in detail cannot be
touched. Educational leaders, North and South,
met on one platform of common interest and fear
lessly and helpfully discussed ways and means for
the larger good.
The men all spoke well, of course, but it was a
positive fact that the most taking speeches of the
morning during the reports of the commissioners
of education in the different states were made by
women. Mrs. B. B. Munford, Mrs. L. R. Dashiell,
Mrs. W. R. Hollowell, and Mis. L. B. Patterson
supplemented the reports from Virginia and North
Carolina, giving accounts of the work done by the
Woman’s Aid Societies for the betterment of
Schools. Mrs. Matford, of Alabama, was unexpect
edly called on, but her response was ready, fascinat
ing and effective. Indeed, all of these women
spoke with modesty, common sense and inspiring
suggestiveness. They simply illustrated what ag
gressive women can do in “making bright spots
for the children to look at” in our public schools,
especially in the rural districts.
Space will not allow even a comment on the gen
eral work of this Conference for Education in the
South. Here and there conscientious men honestly
believe that these Northern philanthropists have
MEaWSja?
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The Golden Age for May 17, 1906.
not pursued in every case the wisest possible
course. They be human; and if they had made no
mistake, they would be miracles and paragons of
wisdom and perfection; but their general purpose
is beautifully and unselfishly benevolent and the
present and ultimate effect of their efforts will re
sult in a wide-spread quickening of the educational
pulse in our beloved Southland.
Beautiful Georgetown College.
That event to the writer which made “a sparkle
in his existence,” was an unexpected visit to beau
tiful Georgetown College. It was only twelve miles
away from Lexington, and President J. J. Taylor—
that courtly gentleman, that accomplished scholar,
that brilliant orator and great preacher, who has
stood for several years at the helm of Georgetown
College, complimented a large company of visi
tors to the Educational Conference with a trolley
ride to Georgetown, a refreshing reception and ex
quisite luncheon. We met the college boys and
girls, nearly three hundred strong, and trustees of
the college with other prominent friends. It was
a flawless evening. It was a rare blending of social
and intellectual inspiration.
“Stay and speak to the students at chapel in
the morning,” generously urged President Taylor.
But my plans called for my return to Atlanta
Thursday night. His arguments were convincing—
but the sight of those bright boys and girls was
even more so—and I capitulated. A telegram was
sent and I slept and dreamed in President Taylor’s
(Inn-'ng Kentucky hem lb empowered amid the
undulating beauty of the prettiest college campus
I have seen in many a day.
And those students Friday morning! I love to
meet students everywhere. They always touch
the electric button of my energies and enthusiasm;
bi't there at Georgetown I realized that I was walk
ing in the footprints of the great Dr. Dudley, who
was president for so many years; I was speaking
from the same platform from which our genial
and brilliant Dr. B. D. Gray had spoken so many
times to his beloved students; and I was facing
then and there many young lives who had been
taught and loved by Professor VanLandingham,
now filling the chair of English at Mercer University
—away over there in the corner I caught the in
spiration that beamed from the broad and generous
face of G. AV. Argabrite, who left flowers blooming
in Georgia wherever he preached and walked.
The movement in Kentucky to found a strong
Synodical College for young women under the joint
control of the two Synods is taking definite form.
We have already alluded in our columns to the
splendid gift of Mr. J. A. Shuttleworth, of Louis
ville, which makes this possible. The location pro
posed is at Danville where Caldwell College has done
good work for many years, and is now in a floiv
ishing condition. The proposition is to make this
the basis, and to give the two Synods equal inter
est in and oversight of the joint institution. Th)
raising of $30,000 was necessary to complete the
plans.
Weary not in well doing; this means, weary not
in courtesy, in civility, in doing well graciously—
not roughly, briskly.
—Joseph Parker.
The Bird Lanier.
The admirers of Sidney Lanier are contemplating
erecting a monument to his memory. Harry Still
well Edwards suggests that the most fitting tribute
would be to change the name of the “mocking
bird” to that of “lanier.”
A\ hen the thirsty day is ended and the twilight
gathers in,
Blurring out the sunset tinges in the West,
And the quiet of the evening supercedes the noise
and din
Os the daylight hours departed and at rest;
While a breath of balmy fragrance from the palmy
Indies floats
And goes whispering through the leaves no longer
sere,
A melody then floods the air as from a dozen
throats—
’Tis the night song of the poet bird lanier!
Come muffle now your noisy drum, you saucy cricket
s P r y,
And be quiet for a season, boisterous frog,—
A our noise at last is noise alone, no matter how you
try,
And your porper place is hammock, swamp and
bog!
Be still, you stars, and listen to a carol sweeter far
Than ever fabled strain of chanting sphere—
A roundelay as sweet as bells across the harbor bar
The night song of the feathered bard lanier!
Sing on! sing on! forever on! prince laureate of our
clime,
From flow’ry shrub, from blooming vine and thorn,
From stately oak and willow-tree, from maple, beech
and pine,
Our dense and tangled woodlands to adorn!
The lazy day make merry with your saucy mimicry,
With your laughter and our weeping and our jeer,
But when the twilight gathers and the moon floats
up the sky,
Atune your song to tenderness, lanier!
—Lawson A. Fields.
An agreement has been reached by the district
commissioners and the secretary of the Navy for the
sale of the Industrial School property, above
Georgetown, to the United States for the use of
the Naval Observatory for $183,404. The execution
of the agreement depends upon the passage of a bill
introduced in the Senate by Senator Hale.
Temperance Reform.
It is a noble history—the story of the temperance
reform. It will tone up your patriotism, for Ameri
ca is the mother country of the movement. It will
brace vour faith, for it has come to be definitely
a Christian movement. It will draw you to the
firing line, for it is the best story of chivalry dem
ocracy has produced.
If the liquor traffic had been as highly organized
aml as sensitive as afterward it became, it might
have forseen trouble from the very beginning of
our national government, although at that time the
drinking custom was all but universal and the traffic,
in public estimation, a worthy and necessary part
of any general store.—The New Voice, (Chicago.)
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