The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-05-14

he should have left so decided an i'm
press upon the community. He was
one OF those young fellows whom 1t Is
pleasant TO know; whose health and
eaGerness have q clean smell, as 1t
were; whose very being is like a breath
of out-of-doors. Wholesomeness was
his predominating attribute, a kind OF
manhood that chung to him and en-
deared him. He made friends at VIII,
and never seemed surprised. Friend
ship, and opennes, and ~frankness were
what he expected of life. There vas in
his fundamental optimism the appeal
ing note of a child, so mixed with the
qualities of a man that the result had
an exquisiteness all it's own. He took
the interest of the world about him
for granted-and the world about him
smiled and met him half way.
So that when the news first came
Of his death, the note it struck was
hat Of pity and resentment against
the choice which death seems to know
, so well how to make: the second was
that Of anger; and the third, that grew
slowly into light perspective, was that
Of pride that at the hour prepared his
city and State had such a man to give.
Loved 'Straight Play"
It is not often hat a man becomes
a heroic before the back
| ground of the school room has van
ished. Yet the schoolmates Of Bagley
are still young enough to remember
him in the trying period Of knlcker-
bockers, experimenting with long di-
vision and making awesome ventures
CaeSarwards. They recall him wildly
in that forum of real DemOcracJ,
where there is neither the will nor the
liberation for sham; and 1t is not the
least of the virtues which ought to 60
to form the record of his place in his
tory hat, even then, were marked IN
him that bluff and hearty humour,
that readiness to fight and that anbi-
ton to win which afterwards dist1n-
guished him in life and celebrated his
fame in the last heroic experience cul-
minating in his death. Not too much
of a student is he remembered, but
more of a boy; not all boy, but part
man; not all play, nor yet over-em-
phaSis of short the rounded
character and the pulse beat keeping
pace with that of brain. When Nor
sons room" and "Denson's room
fought out the long recess at football,
where everybody had a chance, it was
Bagley on whom often fell the brunt
of his sides engagement. 1t was Bag
ley who was feared, and who was
fought and who was respected to the
extent of the school-boy independence.
Very apt he was, in those days, to be
captain of the nine, or to be custo-
dian of the ball, or = knock a home
run or kick a goal. And yet he will
be remembered as keeping his poise.
as being able to fight without being 4
bully; and this, the best test Of all, as
teing a big boy" whom little boys"
honored with imitation instead of with
fear. Proves he had and ability to
excel both in studies and sports. But
he had, also. what is more rare, the
quality of being proud of his achieve
ments without giving offense. One felt
that with him, it was a straight game
,rIa F,;r r,,1ac r,hnr ha W. ~ -
joiced with an that could
only sting a fool; and when he was
beaten he took a jibe and swallowed
it with the better grace because it
made him vince!
A Refreshing Personality.
Afterwards, on the occasions when
he returned to Raleigh from the Naval
Academy and shortly after his appoint
ment as Ensign, he came unspoiled.
proud OF being in the Navy, glad to
be at home. He had an inordinate ca
pacity for loving his own people and
believing in his own plans and dream
ing of his W ambitions; and yet.
from what might ave been called q
superficial form Of s~e1fshness, there
sprang a universally of interest that
not so much deceived as warmed. He
was one Of those people who remem-
bered faces and hurried to give greet
ings, all the while shouting at one as
1t were from his overlooking nature
how glad he was to be alive. AMI
the people who met him were glad.
too. and somehow grateful for the
fact! With it all, he was quite capable
of an extra wagge in his uniform,
of a sort of assumption of proprietor
ship with Women of a certain super
confidence in himself which he was
never quite able-if ever he tried-to
conceal. And all of which he carried
because he Tas exceptional, and be-
cause he was a trifle more alive and
more in love with life thar other folks
1t was never a matter of for~ivins
Worth Bagley, so much as it was Of
envying him. He asked Of life only
the chance to fight fair. to win his
way. to live deep and,-if must be-
die nobly.
Born With Wish for Sea.
And he got his wish.
Worth Bagley wa born in Raleigh
on the sixth of April. 1874, with an an
cestry distinguished in revolutionary,
colonial and later North Carolina his
| tory. His father was the late Major