Remember Cliffside

ADDRESS BY HON. CLYDE HOEY
Brilliantly Extols the Virtues of His Friend, the Late R. R. Haynes.
From The Forest City Courier, June 29, 1922

Ladies and gentlemen: Just inside the entrance to the John Hopkins hospital in Baltimore is a magnificent statue carved in marble of the Christ. It towers up some twenty feet in height; it was the work of a master sculptor and portrays with almost infinite gentleness the eyes and face and features of the Christ. Underneath is written these words: “Come unto Me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” It was placed there in this building to honor the builder of John Hopkins Hospital, in that he had walked in a small way in the footprints of the Master of men and in that he had ministered, like Him, to mankind.

“It should not be merely a place where men work and women toil; it should not be merely a place provided with churches and schools, but a place where we can live close to Mother Nature and cultivate the finer feelings of friendship with our fellowmen.”

We come tonight to receive and to consider the gift of this splendid building down the way, in which rightfully might be placed somewhere within its portals a picture of the man whose life and service it typifies, and we might say rightfully: “Into this building shall come all you who are weary and heavy laden, and you shall find rest, entertainment, pleasure and good fellowship.”

The man whose memory we come to contemplate for awhile tonight is dead and yet he lives. He is living not alone in the masonry of the building like this, but he is living in the hearts of the men and women who knew him, and in the spirit in which he served and in which he shall he remembered as the finest conception of a man.

You know, I was impressed more about him in a little memorandum that his son, Charles H. Haynes, showed me a short time after the death of his father. This memorandum was found among his papers, and probably more than anything else in his life illustrates his ideals and the hopes he entertained and the purposes which he had formulated in mind. This was with reference to his funeral arrangements and those who should speak of him; he said that probably something they might say about his life would be an inspiration to some boy in Rutherford county. He had the idea of a young man or a boy being inspired for a life of service by the record of his success and his achievements. Not that he cared for any glory that might come to him in that hour; nor for any fine words that might be spoken about his achievements and the success he had attained, but, rather that the rising generation might know America is indeed and in truth a land of opportunity, and that even out from his humble, yet honorable, beginning, he was able to win such marvelous success and build so mightily and bring to pass such great things that should be to every boy in Rutherford county an inspiration and a keen conception of the possibilities that lie so easily within reach.

And that is the thought that dominated the life of Raleigh Haynes, and that brought to him the ideal that practically everything is within reach of the man who undertakes with zeal, with honesty, with industry, with perseverance and with indomitable will to grasp his opportunities.

I am glad a man like this lived in Rutherford county. You know the finest thing any county, any state, and country can produce is a real man. It is a fine thing to build great enterprises and great industries; it is a wonderful thing to make great developments but all these thing come as a result of the man and because back of it somewhere was a clear insight that saw these things and had the vision to see the possibilities that might be revealed. And that was the conception Mr. Haynes had of life. It was the dauntless courage and unfailing effort of Raleigh Haynes that brought into being this magnificent development and that transformed from the uninviting and unpromising hillsides of Rutherford county this model industrial plant.

I believe that about the finest element of success is not merely the accumulation of money, it is not gathering together wealth, it is not merely the accumulation of property but is the conception of producing something, developing something without the hope of growing rich.

And so Mr. Haynes placed himself in harmony with the laws of God and nature and he knew and dreamed of the great possibilities of this fine Southland and he put that dream into execution, not for the purpose of accumulating dollars, not for the purpose of bringing power to himself, but that he might undertake to get in harmony with the great plan of God and develop and build a village in which men and women could live and rejoice as they pass along.

You know we stand in great need of the courage and of the visions like Mr. Haynes brought us to see the things which lie so easily within our grasp. Only a few years ago we were denied many modern conveniences we have today. I was thinking of those things today. It is marvelous how in recent years the wonderful conveniences have been provided for our homes through the inventive genius and the constructive ability of far sighted men like Mr. Haynes.

Mr. Haynes had the vision to see the need of this community building and, as suggested by Mr. Charles Haynes in his address, this building was a dream of his, it was a thought of his. He had already contemplated it for this splendid modern village which he was developing fast into a large town. It should not be merely a place where men work and women toil; it should not be merely a place provided with churches and schools, but a place where we can live close to Mother Nature and cultivate the finer feelings of friendship with our fellowmen. Mr. Haynes knew that the great heart of men of this world hungered for human contact; and he was undertaking to perfect, as has been perfected since his death in this beautiful building, a place where this community can assemble together in its hours of pleasure and recreation, join hands and mingle heart throbs and help each other until the community will gradually grow into a higher development of civilization and into a finer citizenry.

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Reprinted with permission from The Daily Courier. Copyright owned by The Daily Courier.