The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-05-11
ARCHIBALD HENDERSON
By PROF. MAURICE GARLAND FULTON
of Davidson College.
Of Davidson College.

dDllAl SIlONn III MS WORK
AS some critic has recently said: For
long America has paid attention to
foreign critics and scholars. It is DR..
Hendersons distinction thai he has
made England and the continent
LISTEN
4 Would not have my emphasis on
TINS point of his national and interna-
floral recognition prove misleading.
Some might think DR.. Henderson a
writer with only an interest in the
more esoteric forms of literature. and
SO removed considerably from the in
terests Of his fellow-North Carolinians.
Such is very far from being the case.
He is a man with the deepest love
OF his native State and a most earnest
desire to make the higher culture pre-
vail within her orders This has
been a fundamental object in the writ
ing OF those books Of national and
international fame which l have al
ready mentioned, remote though thew |
may seem from the actual interests |
OF North Carolina. But in other WAYS |
he has shown this deep interest in his
native state. He has written critical
studies of those North Carolinians who
have achieved eminence in a literary
Way-such figures as John Charles
McNeill, 20. Henry "Christian Reid
Margaret Busbee Shipp, c.. Alphonso
Smith, r. d. w. Connor, and others.
He has likewise made valuable origi-
nal contributions to the historical lit
erature Of the State. For many years.
he has been making extensive studies
OF the movement of westward eXpan-
sion In the latter half Of the eighteenth
century in which North Carolina
played such an important role. The
results of this study, dealing with the
careers Of Richard Henderson, Daniel
Boone, Jane Robertson, Isaac Shelby,
l .JOhn SoVj0r- and GQOrCo p NCovc Oh r<
which have recently appeared serially
in one of our magazines, for the first
time show what North Carolina really
did in this great movement of west
ward expansion. his is only a frag-
ment of the work DR.. Henderson has
projected in this Interesting and highly
!, important field.
>, o. Henry Memorial Work.
2 Not merely by his writing has Dr..
: Hende1 son shown his interest in North
= iCarolina; he has also shown it by other
activities. An instance of this is his
activity in raising a fund of $780, 0
\ for a national memorial to 90. Henry
e The motive that led DR.. Henderson
e to undertake this difficult task and te
r carry it through to success almost by
his own individual efforts alone are
e interesting and characteristic. Feeling
v hat the State had been backward il
e the recognition of literary ability, an6
n believing that the State should prop
e erly memorialize he work Of this gifted
son as an encouragement to later gen
eratiOns, he began a campaign fOl
funds for this purpose. He nigh
have contented himself with the IA
lie easier task of raising a few hundret
dollars, a sum quite sufficient for
s third class memorial, such as an OF
II painting, a crude bust. or somethin!
of that sort; but his could not satisf
- Ir IandarcGn hn1oytcn ~ hiC hot;o
,e that if a writer is a great artist, h
% should be memorialized by a grea
a artist. Accordingly, DR.. Henderso,
% made his goal a sum sufficient to per
IS init the execution of a suitable memo
r. ria by some artist Of conspicuou
ability. In the memorial executed b
dorado Taft and adequately placed i
IF Raleigh, the State now has jus
w grounds for gratitude to DR.. Hende1
SON.. not only that he has reminde
IN North Carolina. but also that he ha
a. produced a writer who has won gres
fame in the world of letters and ca
produce more, and that he has show
% North Carolina how properly to cele
brate her "architects of the spirit
he Value of His Work.
iv From this very account,
hope one will get a clear idea Of tf
value of DR.. Henderson's literal
RI work. But in the case of the write
in as in the case Of every other man, tt
important question is, after all, n
what he does, but what he is, as Ca,
lyle has said, back of the book is a
as ways the man himself. Let me the
of endeavOr to give some impressions
DR.. HendersOn's personality. He
Of an exceedingly human type Of ma
at AS Mrs. Margaret Busbee Shipp h;
ID appropriately said the d%istincti'
No charm of the man Archibald Hende
I'D son is that he is not the complex Pc
ief sonaity Whlch ne can SO Suotly Pc
he tray, out a senlal human oeinS WI
|, - a splendid sincerity. simplicity a.
5, directness. The very versatility
his gifts makes him approach t
standard of the catholic man"
the writer. it seems that DR.. Hende
he Son is a particularly good example
To the modern type of American cole
Re- pfOIeSSOr-a man VINO toucneS NE