University of North Carolina Greensboro - Pine Needles Yearbook (Greensboro, NC)

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THE CAROLINIAN talks willi taniKTS. editors, county ot ciaU and politicians, by ever}- apiirovcd method, in short, known to advocate and reformer the work was dihgently and vigorously prosecuted. And through it all and at the base of all and dominating all was the keynote sounded by Mclver: The cheapest, easiest, and surest road to universal education is to educate the women, those who are to be the mothers and teachers of future generations. The work was done as it had never been done before, — as it need never be done again in North Carolina. In 1891 Chairman jMcIver and his associates were again before the Legislature with a bill for the establishment of a State institution for the higher education and normal training of women. The bill passed almost without opposition and Charles Duncan Mclver was elected president. Now it was that this people ' s servant entered u])on the work of building a people ' s college, an institution that should be worthy of the great State that gave it l)irth. It should be an open door of opportunity to every worthy white girl within the borders of the Commonwealth — a means of fitting her for good and useful citizenship. A woman ' s college for North Carolina women it should be, characterized by sound learning, liberal culture, earnest living and high think- ing. The best that a State could give should be theirs ; the best that educated women could give should be the State ' s. In this spirit was the institution con- ceived, and in this spirit the State Normal and Industrial College lived and grew anad prosj ered. presided over, insjiired. guided and led by one who gave it all that man may give. It is doubtful if any other public institutitm was ever in so true a sense the product of the unselfish love and labor of one man. As to him in largest meas- ure are owing its conception and creation, so to him are due the policy which characterizes it, and the success which it has achieved. And this is true not merely in the larger matters pertaining to its general management, but in the many details relating to its work and administration. The college plant and its equi])nient. the departments of instruction, the courses of study, the various organizations, the ideas for which the institution stands, the spirit it exemplifies, the work it seeks to accomplish, all these are of his creation and this not through mere formal oversight and ofificial dictation, but through the living spirit of creative work and fellow-service. The hand and heart and l rain of Dr Mclver were felt throughout the insti- tution, but most, perhaps, in what may be called the spirit of the College. Its s])iritual and mental atmosphere was a life-giving tonic, an iminilse to noble

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THE CARO LI N I AN Stale. Aliire iinpurtant still as affectiiiy l)i)th his happiness and future career, he was married in 1885, to Lula V. Martin, a graduate of Salem Academy and one of the most successful teachers of North Carolina. She it was who first directed his attention to the inadequate facilities for woman ' s education, and at her suggestion he made, before a teachers ' institute at ' inston. his first public speech in behalf of the higher education of women. At the time of her marriage she was a teacher in the Winston schools. Later she was lady principal of a seminary at Charlotte and was actively associated with her husband in his insti- tute and campaign work. She had a mutual part in formulating the plans which led to the establishment of the State Normal and Industrial College, and gave valuable assistance in all the details of its organization. Meanwhile the husband grew more and more zealous in the cause of educa- tion, especially public education. He magnified his calling, emphasized the dignity of teaching as a profession, urged better preparation and advocated the establishment of a State training school for teachers. For five years he now labored with apostolic fervor for the higher education of women. The school teacher, he declared, is our most important public official, and the proper train- ing of women is the strategic point in the education of the race. He became the recognized leader of a new movement and as such was appointed by the Teachers ' Assembly chairman of a committee to urge upon the General Assem- bly the necessity of establishing a State school for teachers. He urged, he ])leaded, he wrote, he argued, addressing schools, clubs, institutes, general audi- ences, and the Legislature. The first bill presented to the General Assembly failed of passage by a few votes. Mclver knew no discouragement. Another Assem- bly would meet in two years, and he would in the meanwhile carry his message direct to the people. His earnest labors had already caused the dawn of an educational renaissance. Provision was made for two assistants to the State Superintendent of Education. Charles D. Mclver and E. A. Alderman were called to the work, their duties, briefly stated, being to conduct teachers ' insti- tutes in every county and to thoroughly arouse the people to the necessity of education. Now began one of the most important campaigns ever conducted in the State, and perhaps one of the most interesting in the history of public education. For three years, from September, 1889, to September, 1902, winter and summer, these men preached a crusade in behalf of unversal education. In every county and in every important city and town in the State, by lectures, by teaching, by iniblic addresses, by conferences with teachers and school committeemen, by

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THE CAROLINIAN ciuk ' a ' iir and unseltish service. Courage, ])atiencc, tolerance, self-reliance, patriolism, faith, self-control and, above all, a laudable desire to extend a helpins( hand to others — these were fruits of the s])irit, jjriceless in value and immeasur- able in influence. This was the C ' ulk ' e as .Mcl er founded it — not a local habita- tion of brick and stone, but a imwer in human life. Important as are these ser -iccs the ' constilnte but a |iart of the labors which won for Dr. .Mclver State and uatinnal recn ;niti( .n as an eihicational leader and statesman. He was, Ui (piote the words nt one editnrial and the substance of hund reds of tilers, the State ' s must useful citizen, a leading force in every movement Inokint;- for prnL;i-ess in Xi.rth Carolina. . ])preciative estimates ap])earing in our national journals. si,ch as 77 ,- Jl ' orhfs Work and The Outlook. referred to him as ] kTver of Xdrth Cai-olina and declared him to be the soul of the forward movement in his region. Df the extent and wide variety of Dr. Alclver ' s public service space does not permit us to speak. Nor may we even give a list of the honors conferred upon him, or the names of the scores of organizations to which he belonged. Some of these latter, such as the Xorih Carojina ketniion Association and the Women ' s lietterment Association, he organizeil: many of them, includitig the National Educational . ssiiciation, the Southern Educational Assnciatidn. the Southern Educational Hoard and the North Carolina Teachers ' .Vsseniblw he served in an official capacity; and all of them, local. State and national, felt tlie guiding influence of his wonderfully helpful and inspiring personality. Beginning with his first educational labors at Durham in 1881 and continuing to his lamented death, September 17, 1906, Dr. JMcIver gave to North Carolina and to humanity twenty-five years of active and beneficent service. Who shall estimate its value? dlo shall reckon its ever-continuing and ever-multi])lying influence? The Ceneral .Vssemhly has seen lit tc erect a memorial building in his honor. This is well, for it adds to the efficiency of an institution whose mission it is to serve the people of North Carolina. Others have said: The College is his monument. Look about you — all this we owe to Alclver. This is true and we do well to bear it in memory. But in a truer, larger sense, the ever-living Alclver memorial is the blessed influence of his life in others. It lives today, when we who knew him. and loved him, and leaned hard w Km him gratefully recognize its abitling influence; and it will endure — such our faith and consolation — till time shall be no more.