Cop3 • PROGRAM OF EXERCISES ■1 NORTH CAROLINA DAY (MclVER MEMORIAL DAY) FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1906 CHARLES DUNCAN MclVER 1860—1906 ORATOR, EDUCATIONAL STATESMAN, TEACHER .A w ISSUED FROM THE OFFICE OF THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION RALEIGH "It has been too common a political teaching that the best government is that which levies the smallest TAXES. The future will modify that doctrine AND TEACH THAT LIBERAL TAXATION, FAIRLY LEVIED AND PROP- ERLY APPLIED, IS THE CHIEF MARK OF A CIVILIZED PEOPLE. The savage pays no tax/^ — Charles Duncan Mclver. Digitized by tine Internet Arcinive in 2010 with funding from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://www.archive.org/details/programofexercis05conn C'llAKLES Dl NCAX ^IclVER. PROGRAM OF EXERCISES NORTH CAROLINA DAY (MclVER MEMORIAL DAY) FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1906 COMPILED BY R. D. W. CONNOR ISSUED FROM THE OFFICE OF THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, RALEIGH, N. C. CHAPTER 164 OF THE PUBLIC LAV/S OF 1901. An Act to Provide for the Celebration of North Carolina Day in the Public Schools. TJie Gc>icj-(il _ls.s'( ;»/_//.'/ of yarth (''e recognized as the greatest educational leader of our day and as a great central figure in the educational and industrial development of our state. We wish this day to he devoted, therefore. to a reverent study of the life, character, and unselfish service of Charles D. Melver, the children's friend, the teacher's friend, the state's friend, the eflfective and courageous champion of all that vitally affected the interests of these. We know no more efTective means of teaching to tlie children of this generation the all-important lesson of civic service and civic duty, of inspiring them with the higliest ideal of patriotism and right living and of inculcating in them the hot educational doctrines than the study of the splendid objectdes-on in all to be found in the simple story of the life and teachings of this man. Every child in North Carolina ought to contribute something to the fund for the erection of an heroic bronze statue to his memory. Such contribution would Ije an olijcctdesson to each child, never to be forgotten, in properly honoring the memory of a great teacher who imselfishly devoted his life to the children and the state. Let every teacher urge every child to bring on North Carolina Day a contribution to this fund. Forward all contributions by post-office order, if possible, to me. Very truly yours, J. Y. JOYNER, Superintendent Public Instruction. NOVEMBEK 5. 1906. THE OLD NORTH STATE. BY \VILLIA:\r GASTON. [This was Dr. Mclver's favorite song-. He made it the rallyint? song- of the college, and had the students sing it at every commencement and on all other public occasions. It was a joy and inspiration to watch his face as the six hundred girls sang it.— J. Y. J.] Carolina! Carolina! Heaven's blessings attend her! While we live we will cherish, protect, and defend her! Though the seorncr may sneer at and witlings defame her, Our hearts swell with gladness whenever we name her. Hurrah! Hurrah! the Old North State forever! Hurrah! Hurrah! the good Old North State! Though she envies not others their nitrited glory, Say, whose name stands foremost in Liberty's story? Though too true to herself e'er to crouch to oppression, Who can yield to just rule more loyal submission? Hurrah, etc. Plain and artless her sons, but whose doors open faster At the knock of a stranger, or the tale of disaster? How like to the rudeness of their dear native mountains, With rich ore in their bosoms and life in their fountains. Hurrah, etc. Then let all who love us, love the land that we live in (As happy a region as on this side of Heaven). Where Plenty and Freedom, Love and Peace smile before us. Raise aloud, raise together the heart-thrilling chorus ! Hurrah! Hurrah! the Old North State forever! Hurrah! Hurrah! the good Old North State! CHARLES DUNCAN MclVER. \villia:\[ c. smith. Rest, son of Carolina, sweotly rest : The boon long self-denied now meetly thine. Obedience yield we to the call divine. Our comfort this — the ^Master knoweth best. He knoweth best, yet sore we feel our need ; So great the void, we may not smile nor sing. But, bowed in grief, our altar-gift we l)ring And mid our tears look mutely up and plead. Grant us with him to see where honor lies; To build for God and man, and not for self; To face the future witli untroubled eyes, Intent on lasting service, not on pelf. Thus life lives on its purpose to fulfil \Yhen weaiw evelids close and tired hands e:ro\v still. CHARLES DUNCAN MclVER. 15Y R. D. W. CONNOR. THE FARMER BOY. To-day there are thousands of boys and jrirls in North Carolina who are at school in pretty school-houses, sitting in comfortable desks, reciting to good teachers, and looking fonvard to bright futures, because Charles D. ]\lclver was their friend. They may never have seen him, and he may never have seen tliem: but he loved thom; worked for them; spoke for them; wrote for them; fought and won battles for them. His picture ought to hang before the eyes of CA'ery school child in North Carolina. His name ought to be on their tongues. They ought to know by heart the story of his life. Charles Duncan Mclver, the Children's Friend, was born in Moore county, in the Old North State, September 27, 1860. The names of most of the people living in the neighborhood began, like his own, with "Mac,"' for these people were descendants of Scotch Highlanders. His own grandfather was born in the Highlands of Scotland and came to North Carolina when he was only eight years old. So Charles D. Mclver was the grandson of a Scotch Highlander. -Last year in our "North Carolina Day" exercises Ave learned that^.the Highlanders are "a strong and active race, large in stature, well-devel- oped in body, robust in health." They are economical, thrifty, and char- itable. They are brave and patriotic. Tliey are generous and true in their friendships. They love the truth and fear God. Tliey believe in building churches and schools. They regard education and religion as the chief concerns of life. Such a man was the father of Charles D. Mclver; such a woman was his mother. Together they made him such a man. Tliere were two things the father always insisted upon his boys doing: first, to attend regularly the best school within reach ; second, to work regularly on the farm on Saturdays and during vacations. The best schools then were the private schools, and to one of these Charles D. Mclver was sent. He was a good student, for he knew too well the value of an education to waste his time in school. He was a good worker on the farm, for he knew too well the value of the lessons learned in the field to waste his holidays ai^d vacations in idleness. "Saturdays were as regular work- days for young Mclver as for any of the employees on the farm. He escaped no kind of farm labor, from planting, harvesting, splitting rails, minding the gap, log-rolling, corn-shucking, piling brush, and digging ditches, to iiIo\\ing- a deaf imile in a new ;i'i<:mnd with a liull-tonLiUC plow. Xo loafera were allowed on that farm. Idleness was considered an unpardcnalde sin."* \(;uii^ AIcl\ody els(^ who would come. They made eloquent speeches to them aliout the educition of their children. They urged them to vote taxes on their properly to support schools. They spoke about the Normal College for teachers and urged the people to demand that tlieir legislators vote the money for it. Everywhere they went the people became more than ever interested in educatiim ami in the improvement of their schools. Wlien the legislature met in ISHl IMcIver again went lo Raleigh to woik for the Normal College. It was hard work, for there were many people who were opposed to such a college. But he lost no chance to talk to them — in the capitol. on the streets, in the hotels, wherever he could get a member to listen to him. lie told them that the only hope tens of tliousands of lioys and girls in the state had to get an education was in the puldic schools. ]Most of the teachers in these public schools were women. For the good of the cliihlren. then, the state ought to have a great college where these women teachers could be educated and trained how to teach. If the state will build such a college, he said, tliousands of girls will become educated women, \\ithont such a school most of them would grow up in a state of ignorance. Ignorance is the worst kind of sla\ery. Such a college would free the white girls of North Carolina from this curse. Besides, North Carolina would then secure teachers better than she had ever had, "who wall bless her because she has blessed them."' Dr. McIver was so deeply in earnest and worked so hard that he persuaded the legislature to vote the monej^ for the college. It is called the State Normal and Industrial College for Women and is located at Greensboro. Dr. McIver was elected president and remained president until his death, a period of fourteen years. During these years the college has had wonderful growth. Tlie two or three small buildings on ten acres of ground have grown to eleven biiildings on one hundred and thirty acres of ground. The number of teachers in the college has increased fi'om fifteen to fifty. More than three thousand young women have been students there. They are daugh- ters of rich men and poor men; of preachers, doctors, and lawyers; of merchants, manufacturers, and farmers; of mechanics, engineers, and day laborers ; of men working in almost every form of honest labor. They have come from the country, towns, and cities. Girls from every county in the .state have been students there; and students of the Nor- mal College have taught school in everv countv. INIore than two thou- 11 sand teachers have been trained at this great college how to teach; and they have taught more than two hundred thousand North Carolina boys and girls. Truly, as Dr. Mclver said, these women have blessed North Carolina because she has blessed them. Charles D. Mclver built this great college. It is "not a thing of brick and stone," but a great school with "'an open door of opportunity to every worthy white girl, however poor, however rich, within the borders of the state — a means of fitting her for good and useful citizenship." It is a college in which is taught "sound learning, liberal culture, earn- est living, and high thinking."' It is "the product of the unselfish love and labor of one man" — Charles D. Mclver. THE EDUCATIONAL LEADER. The building of the State Normal and Industrial College is the greatest Avork done in North Carolina within the last twenty-five years. If Dr. Mclver had done nothing else, this work alone would place him among the greatest men of North Carolina. But he did much more. Wherever there was a word to be spoken in the cause of education, especially the education of Southern boys and girls, his voice was heard. "No meeting of Southern educators seemed complete without him ; no educational program satisfactory until his name appeared on it."" Three years ago a leading North Carolina paper expressed the gen- eral opinion of his work. "Dr. Mclver," it said, "has been a leading force in every movement looking for progress, educational or otherwise, in North Carolina. * * * When the history of this decade is written, the story of the public services rendered his state by Charles Duncan Mclver will be one of the brightest pages in the splendid volume of patriotic achievement. There is not a man in the state who has made himself felt so powerfully and so helpfully for progress."! In July, 1905, a great New York magazine. The Outlook, expressed the view held of him in other sections of the country. "In the Southern states," it said, "there is no man better entitled to be called a champion of public schools, and of the whole idea of popular education, than Charles Duncan Mclver of North Carolina. * "■ ■' He is a man of intense earnestness, energy, insight, and common sense. For the past twelve years his voice has been raised in behalf of popular education, not only in every county in his own state, but throughout the South and in great national assemblies. There is no abler speaker on this subject than Dr. Mclver. He has been the soul of the forward movement in his region."! This "forward movement" has been largely a movement for the improvement of rural schools. A few years ago several patriotic men from various sections of our country, who are interested in Southern * N. W. Walker in The University Magazine, October, 1906. t Quoted in MS. of Prof. W. C. Smith. 12 echiculiou, came togetlicr and formed the "Southern Eilncation Board." Tlieir purpose is to lielp impro\e the I'ural schools of the Soutli. ])r. Mciver was one of the leading- members of this board. When the bfiard decided to send speakers all over the South to talk to the people about education, they put Dr. Alelver at the head of tliat great work. Pei'ha])s no man in our country did mure for the education of the boys and girls on Southern faims 1han he did. Not only did he wurk liim-idf. Ijut he persuaded many others, men and ■women, to liglit for the cause of the children. Proud of the fact that the first vote he had ever cast was a vote for local taxation for schools, by his great eloquence and earnestness he persuaded thousands of others to follow his example. Local taxation for longer terras, better school- houses, better teachers, and better supervision — this was his plea. Elo- quently, earnestly, and successfully he pleaded the cause of the back- woods boy and the cross-roads girl when they had no other powerful friend to help them. Invitations to speak came to him, not only from all over North Caro- lina, but from the South, the North, the East, and the West. Often he had to make liis appointments months in advance. He went, not where he could make most reputation for himself, but where he could do most good to others. If any doubt arose the chances were nearly always in favor of the smaller and weaker community. The message was carried to the few hundreds that gathered at the cross-roads store or the country church rather than to tlie larger numlier who assembled in opera house or city hall. The message, too, had reference to the special needs of time and place, and so was a sowing of good seed in suitable soil. It is safe to say that Charles D. IMclver never addressed an audience without having a distinct end in view, and that end the doing of good works. There are few places in North Carolina where his voice has not been raised in behalf of some public measure. Large audiences, too, in great cities far removed from his native state, have greeted this educational leader, and from his lips have heard whole- some truths relative to our educational progress. Thus he has been invited to make educational addresses in more tlian one-half of the states in the Union.* He was always welcomed in large gatherings in all parts of the country among the great leaders in our nation. But Charles D. ]\lclver w^as never^ so happy as when helping a small rural community in his own state. Many honors came to Charles D. Mciver. He did not seek them; they sought him. The_y sought him because he thought more of the welfare of others than of his own ambition. In 1S92 he was president of the North Carolina Teachers' Assembly. In 1905 he was president of the Southern Educational Association. He held several high and responsi- * MS. of W. C. Smith. ble positions in the National Educational Association, thr' largest educa- tional association in the Avorld. He was president of the Normal ochool Department; and in tlie summer of 1905 came within a few votes of being elected president of the association itself. His friends believe that, if he had lived, he would have been elected president in 1907. He was a member of the board of trustees of the University of North Carolina and always gave the university his loyal support. Tlie university loved to honor him and conferred upon him the honorary degrees of Doctor of Letters and Doctor of Laws. He was offered posi- tions in colleges of other states at salaries higher than the one he was receiving. More than once he was asked to accept responsible business positions paying salaries from two to four times as much as the state paid him. But no amount of money could tempt him to leave the college he loved or to forsake the cause of the children of North Carolina. Had he yielded to these temptations, he might have left wealth to his widow and children; but choosing rather to serve others, he left them the glory of his name. He died poor that he might make others rich. Dr. Mclver was most happy in his home life. While he was teaching in Winston he was married to Miss Lula V. Martin, also a teacher. Four children, a son and three daughters, have added happiness to their home. A simple home was his, blessed by love and kindness and culture and trust in God. DEATH. The greatest ambition in Dr. Mclver's life was to be of service to others. It was while he was rendering a service to his city and to his state that he met death. On the 17th of September, 1906, he went to Raleigh as a member of a committee from the city of Greensboro to wel- come William Jennings Bryan to North Carolina. Returning from Ral- eigh he was attacked by a severe pain in his chest; and before medical aid could reach him fell dead in the arms of one of his friends. A lai-ge crowd had gathered at the little station at Burlington to hear the great Nebraska orator, but at his first words their cheers and applause died away: smiles became tears, joy changed to grief. "I am sure that you will agree with us," said Mr. Bryan, "that this is not the time or occasion for a political speech, when I tell you that just after we left Durham one of our party. Dr. Charles D. Molver, sud- denly died. He was the man who first invited me to North Carolina twelve years ago. 1 have never been to your state since but that he was on the reception committee and the first to greet and clieer me. When I recently reached New York from abroad Dr. Mclver was there to greet me and invite me to North Carolina. "His life, perhaps more than that of any man I knew as well, illus- trated the value of an ideal. He was an educated man whose sympa- thies were with the uneducated. He moved in the highest circles, yet snapped the golden cord unselfishly lifting others up, and he devoted that 14 life towards hrinpiim hlcssinas to t!ie ])noi\ His death is a loss, a fearful loss to Ills eoiuitry, lii> slate, liis eily nf (ircensboro. to the glorious insti- tntiiiii (if Icaininc;' wliicli is lunv his iiioniniient. to his family, and a frreat personal Id-s to me. 1 hid yoii a sad jjood-bye." The TU'ws of ])r, I\rclvfr"- drath earried gi'ief to thousands who had kiei\\-n and lnvc(I liini. 'I'hroiiLihoiit the South, in remote states of the North arid \\"c>1 . men who had been eneouraoed hy his words and inspii'ed hy his spiiit frll a sudden vacancy in their lives. In his own l)clo\cd statr ;jiii'f was universal. In every corner of North Carolina iln' ni'ws was heard with liowcd head and moist eyes. "Men on the street eorncis. women in the school-room, children in the remotest rural district — all felt Ihat. the state had suffered a terrilde calamity. A ])artisan pri'ss in Ihe mi