Then he of the pulpit he talked of fire An' spoke of a wrath above, But the song from the tree rose higher an' higher, An' the soul of that song was love. An' it lifted me up on the wings of the song, Till my heart it repented of every wrong Two preachers were preachin'-Yes, that is the rule, SAM DAVIS From 'Songs and Stories from Tennessee.' "Tell me his name and you are free,” The General said, while from the tree The grim rope dangled threat'ningly. The birds ceased singing-happy birds, "Tell me his name and you are free," A tear gleamed down the ranks of blue— (The bayonets were tipped with dew), Across the rugged cheek of war God's angels rolled a teary star. The boy looked up 'twas this they heard: "And would you have me break my word?" A tear stood in the General's eye! Young Davis smiled, as calm and free The hills smiled back a farewell smile, O Stars, that now his brothers are, Who dies to save an enemy! MAURICE MOORE [1729-1777] Ο ALFRED MOORE WADDELL NE of the most highly cultivated and brilliant men, and one of the truest patriots living in North Carolina prior to the American Revolution, was Judge Maurice Moore-so designated to distinguish him from his father, Colonel Maurice Moore, one of the leading spirits of the earlier colonial period and founder of the town of Brunswick on the Cape Fear River, once historic but now extinct. The grandfather of Judge Moore, James Moore (son of Roger Moore, one of the leaders of the Irish rebellion of 1641) migrated from Barbadoes to the new colony of "Carolina” at Charleston about the year 1680, "and first appeared as one of the leaders of the people in 1684," says McCrady (I. 347); and the same authority gives his successive official positions as follows: Member of Assembly, 1692; member of the Council, 1695; Governor, 1701; and Attorney-general, 1703. He died of yellow fever, in Charleston, in 1705. His eldest son, James, was also Governor in 1719. His second son, Colonel Maurice Moore, removed to North Carolina after making an expedition with his brother against the Indians there in 1711, and for his services in taking troops to aid South Carolina, in 1715, he was invited before the Assembly of that province and received publicly a formal note of thanks. The subject of this sketch was the eldest son of Colonel Maurice Moore, and was born in Brunswick County about the year 1729. Where he received his education is not known, but he early became a leader at the Bar, and in 1768 was appointed one of the three Superior Court Judges of North Carolina, which office he held as long as the court lasted; that is to say, until the impending Revolution closed its doors. He was a member of the Provincial Congress which met at Hillsborough in 1775, and was appointed a member of the committee to draw up the address to the people of the British Empire setting forth the condition of affairs. This address was unanimously adopted. He was also a member of the Provincial Congress at Halifax in 1776, and helped to frame the Constitution for the new State, which remained unchanged until 1835. On the fifteenth of January, 1777, by an unusual coincidence, Judge Moore and his equally distinguished brother, Brigadier-general James Moore-who had been in command of the whole Southern Department, and was then on his way north to join General Washington-died on the same day and in the same house in Wilmington. The only surviving son of Judge Moore was Alfred Moore, who became Attorney-general and Judge of the Superior Court of North Carolina, and finally, in 1799, a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; after five years' service, he died in 1810. His only daughter, Sarah, married General Francis Nash, who was killed at the battle of Germantown, Pa., October 4, 1777. The letter signed "Atticus," which follows this sketch, and which well illustrates Judge Moore's gifts as a satirist and a master of invective, was provoked by the conduct of the colonial Governor, Tryon, throughout his whole administration of six years, and especially by his final performances after the battle of Alamance, when with spectacular display he hanged some of the "regulators" whom he had captured. The letter was published about a month after the battle, and just about the time that Tryon left North Carolina to become Governor of New York. Judge Moore, being a humane and honorable gentleman, was touched by the wrongs inflicted by oppressive officials on the "regulators," who were mostly ignorant backwoodsmen, and sympathized with them in their distress; but when they were brought before him for trial for the outrages which they had unquestionably perpetrated he was compelled to do his duty. He did it fearfully, if regretfully; but he afterward openly denounced the Governor (whose appointee he was) and then wrote the "Atticus" letter, which was widely circulated throughout the country, and added greatly to his reputation. It ought to have produced that effect, for it was an awful, overwhelming indictment of a vain, conceited, and ambitious military tyrant, who sought by alternately cajoling and bullying the people to establish himself with the English Ministry, and thus secure promotion. He succeeded in this design, but carried to his more elevated position the open wound inflicted by the sharp and powerful lance of "Atticus." As to the literary merits of this philippic there can be no difference of opinion. There is in it, from beginning to end, the flavor of a refined culture and the tone of a lofty spirit roused to righteous indignation. There is a nervous force in its sentences that strikes one's mind with a pleasing shock; and to one who loves antithesis there is continuous pleasure in reading it. There is irony, satire, ridicule, pathos, and fierce invective, each phrased with the skill of a literary artist, and driven home with the power of a vigorous intellect, |