Year: 1879

ing from q complication of the infirm-
tiles of old age. He was in his ninety
fifth year, having been born in Halifax
county, North Carolina, March "a,
1855. While he was yet a boy, hls pa
rents, who were farmers, moved to
we'll county. Young Lovick's early
life was spent ON the farm, where he
picked up such education as circum-
stances afforded. From his earliest
days he was a diligent student of the
few books which came within his
reach, making a speciality of Bible
study, and avaiiing himself to the ut
most of his remarkable gift of memory.
It was to this that he owed much of
the power which in after years charac-
terized his ministry. He could repeat
long passages of Scripture with unf,.il-
ing accuracy, and seemed to have the
whole volume from Genesis to Revela-
tion at his fingers ends, available for
instant use, whether in preaching or
for purposes of argument. All the
schooling he had before entering the
ministry was crowded into six months,
log school houses of the country. He
made profession of religion at an early
period, and resolved to devote himself
to the ministry. Pursuing his studies
in a homely way with such aid as he
could obtain, he was ready for ministe-
rial work at 10. He began his minis
try as boy preacher, and at once at
tracted much attention by his earnest
ness and a degree of eloquence which
gave promise of greater things for fu-
ture years. The work of the Methodist
circuit rider. was in those days far
rougher and more laborious than the
roughest missionary work of the pres
ent time in the far West. Mounted on
his pony, and equipped with his Bible
and a few books of old-fashioned theol-
ogy in his saddlebags, young Pierce
preached from place to place in such
school houses and other places of pub
lie gathering as the country furnished,
and frequently held service in dwell
ing houses and in the woods.


Physically he was an athlete, capable
of great endurance, and powerful to
Withstand any amount of fatigue, sea-
soning it all the time with an amount
of hard intellectual work which would
have sent most ministers of modern
days to Europe every year for recuper-
alton. He was of commanding per-
sonal presence, and endowed with a
magnetism which could hold any aud
ience in rapt attention. This magnetic
power grew upon him, and as he
reached maturity he became the lead
ing orator of Southern Methodism.
After five years of circuit work in
county, Ga, where, until 1872, he con-
tinued the same kind of work, the
effects of which are felt to this day.
When the war of 1912 broke out he
was appointed chaplain in the army, a
post which he filled in no perfunctory
style, but with the earnestness which
characterized his whole life. After the
close of the war he concluded to study
medicine, not with a view to substi-
tuting the medical profession for that
of the ministry, but to add to his use
fulness in his labors among the people
in a country almost unprovided with
what are necessities to modern civilfza-
ton. For several years he engaged in
the practice of medicine at Green's
boro, N. c., in connection with his
preaching and pastoral duties. But as
physicians multiplied he felt himself
called to give his whole energy to the
ministry, and laid aside the active
practice of medicine.


One of DR.. Piercc's most cherished
ideas was in behalf of female education,
and in this is to be seen a leading effort
of his life. In his early years educa-
ton for boys was scarce and difficult
enough, and for girls, next to impossi


BILE. His hopes and labors in this di-


rection took shape in the founding of
Wesleyan Female College at Macon.


To this institution he sustained from


its inception a very close relation. He


was its first travelling agent. He first


among the men of Georgia made an


effort to bring the education of young


women to the standard of college


curriculum. In this he was bitterly


opposed by many leading men who


believed in the inferiority of the female


mind. He combatted their opposition


by lecturing on the subject throughout


the State. He stirred the public up to


point at which contributions came in


with sufficient abundance to erect the


college building. These contributions


were by individual liberality, not a


dollar of State money being used. The


college was always known as a Metho-


dist institution, yet was established on


such broad basis as to escape the


odium of sectarianism. While DR..


Pierce was a staunch Methodist, there


was nothing bigoted about him. In


1878 he wrote: "I am the only living
member of the original Board of TruS