The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-08-20
MIR. EZEkIEL GILMAN.
He Preferred to. Labor i'm 1.-The By
Ways Rather Than I'm the High
WAYS of Life

To the Editor: In response to your
| request made in an editorial of recen,
date that your readers assist you In
rescuing from Oblivion the names OF
| some of the noble teachers of pas
| generations who labored for tie In.
| tellcctual bettermcnt of North Caro-
| lima, l wish to contIlbat. a brief
sketch of one whose service of sixty
years in the school room was indeed
labor of love, and whose life was
a inspiration tc many of the leading
| men of North Carolina. | refer to
Mr.. Ezekiel Gilman. late Of Currituck
county.
Mr.. Gilman was born i'm Massachu-
sets. in January, 1917, and died in
Currituck county, N. c., i'm June 1900
at the ripe age of eighty-three years
He was prepared for college at the IA
| nous Phillips Exeter Academy, where
he was a class-mate Cor school, mate,
of the notorious Ben. Butler After
thorough preparation he entered Har-
ward College from which institution
he graduated with the degree of A. +.
in 1899 in class with Samuel Cong
fellow, William Christy. Of New Or
| leans, and many others who later play
ed important parts IN our national
life. The Harvard class album Of
1899 shows Ezekiel Gilman to have
been one of the best students and
scholars of the class.
Shortly after graduation Mr.. Gil
man came to Currituck county, n. c..
and began to teach school. He taught
also in Camden county and possibly in
Pasquotank, though most of his life
was spent in Currituck, where he COR
tinued to teach until he lost his eye
sight shortly before his death i'm 1900.
After coming South Nj. Gilman soon
became identified with the Southern
people and to his last day he loved
the South and it's people with a
warmth of affection that seemed ma
tive. to q SUMMER cline than that OF
Massachusetts. When the great civil
strife came in '61 he continued his
school duties without interruption. ard
no patron ever took his child from
the school of this beloved teacher for
fear he would get yankee notions
in his head.
Mr.. Gilman was a gentleman an1
scholar of the old school. His schol-
arship was broad and thorough, his
knowledge embracing the whole
range of classic thought. He carea
little for the modern books of fiction
or the other cheap stuff dignified by
the name of literature But he knew
the characters of Shakespeare and the
ether great writer's as If, they were his
personal friends. He was familiar
with the Greek, the Latin. the French,
the German, and the Spanish Ian.
guages and literatures. Latin was his
favorite field of study, and the best
things in its literature he had at his
tongues end. To have sat at his feet
in the capacity of pupil is to know and
to feel something of the inspiration
that emanates from the presence OF
the true teacher. Though well
equipped for a college prOfessorship.
yet he preferred, to use his own ex,
preston, ITO labor in the by-ways
rather than in highways of life" find.
ing there his greatest pleasure and
believing there he could do most good.
The writer could name L>ominent
men in the pulpit and at the BAR in
the medical profession and in the edi-
tors chair, in the army and
in the navy, in business and
in the humber walks of life who
got their inspiration from Mr.. Gilman,
and the name of those who bless his
memory is legion. The people of Cur.
rituck county will long hold in loving