The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-06-14

der how a school mate used to read
with such beauty and power one OF the
poeticaI selections so appropriate dur
ing commencement days and so often
lquoted:
I"Ye youth OF Carolina. / call upon YOU
now
Ito add one single Jewel to the crown
upon her brow.
You are entering from her college. The
battle-fields Of life.
And her fostering care has armed you
right nobly for the strife:
Walk onward, then. to glory; seek lit
erary fame,
And with the e OF history write Car
olina's name"
What editor nowadays permits his
Textbook to speak so e%loQuently to our
boys n girls? Had I my wish, that
book would be reset and adjusted to
modern educational methods and placed
in every North Carolina school. AS
state superintendent of public instruc-
ton. Calvin III. Wiley stands out as a
Iworthy model His office in Raleigh
was not the orIy arena in which he
lwaged war against the ignorance OF
the children or the indifference OF the
parents. In one OF his reports he mod
Iestly states that once in the spring
time Of 1853 he stood on the sandy
shores Of Currjtuck and spoke to the
fishermen down there for the education
or their children, and in the early days
OF the following autumn he was plead
ing for the same u with the hardy
mountaineers of Cherokee. He had an
lold buggy to which he used to point
and say proudly, In hat buggy / have
visited every county in North Carolina
preaching the cause of popular educa-
ltion." What man., since his day, with
q Ill Of thn -,
lei can say as much? No daily paper
iheralded his coming, but with a heroic
devotion to his chosen work he went
lquietly about his holy ministry OF ed
n paved the way for what
ever progress a been made since
in North Carolina A grander chariot
than that old buggy a triumphant Ro-
general never rode in, and a more
GLORIOUS march or holier crusade was
never made by king or prince than the
lone he made in that humble vehicle
over the sandy plains of the east, the
Trolling hills Of the centre and the lofty
mountains of the west. Not only did
he go into every county in the state,
but he visited many Of the 5000 schools
established during his term of office.
and so we can pardon his proud shout
of triumph as he says:
THE temple is erected and it's 5000
ley and every I'VE in every marsh
and bog and fen. Each one is, I admit.
Ia dim f1ichering light to those imme-
ldiately about it and who see only its
dim light, but to behold them, as it has
been my business and pleasure to be-
hold these 5000 lights grouped in one
grand chandelier, and from the ocean
to the Smoky mountains, penetrating
every square DOT Of so, 600 square miles
of and of shadows. with cheering
beams of knowledge is we'll calculated
to fill the coolest breast with emotions
of enthusiasm, and to arrest the hand
of the most daring invader Of this con-
l~stellation of hope"
I am glad that the memory of this
liable leader is p~erpetuated in the name
of one of our new school buildings,
and 1 take pleasure in presenting to
you, gentlemen of the committee, in be-
half of his family, his portrait, which
will serve as inspiration to the chill
dren gathered within the walls Of the
Wiley school as they learn the story
of his pure life and noble service.