NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE. 
 
 Old Series Vol. XXII. No. 1. New Series Vol. X. 
 
 EDITOKS: 
 
 PHI. DI. 
 
 George C. Conner, W. E. Rollins, 
 
 C. F. Harvey. E. Payson Willard. 
 
 W E. Darden, I Business Managers. 
 Howard E. Rondthaler, J ° 
 
 Published six times a year under the auspices of the Pilanthropic and 
 Dialetic Societies. Subscription, $1.00. Single copy, 20 cents. 
 
 ADOLPHUS WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 
 
 Memorial Address Delivered in the Chapel of the University, 
 BY Josephus Daniels, Sunday, May 31st, 1891. 
 
 We are gathered in the quiet hush of this holy Sabbath after- 
 noon, here where he lived long and well, in this chapel which 
 he loved, to pay perhaps the last tribute which affection evokes to 
 the memory of Adolphus W. Mangum, who died on the 12th day 
 of May, 1890. There is not wanting appropriateness in the time 
 and place for this last gathering of his friends. Already have the 
 Trustees of this great University, which he served with loving 
 fidelity, placed in durable form their estimate of his valued ser- 
 vices. Last December in Wilson the annual conference of his 
 church, to which his warmest and tenderest love clung to the very 
 last, gave official expression to the loss sustained by the church. 
 Fellow-soldiers of the cross, who had stood with him upon the bat- 
 tlements and sounded the warning to a dying world, paused to 
 drop a tear at the fall of a brave and eloquent comrade. The 
 societies to which he belonged were not slow to pay their tributes, 
 and from every section of the State, trustees and parents, who 
 had seen the value of his instruction and example in the better- 
 
2 
 
 ABOLPHUS V/ILLIAMSON MANGUM. 
 
 ment of the lives of their own boys, came letters of sweetest sym- 
 pathy and warmest love to those bereaved. But, perhaps, of all 
 the tributes paid by faculty, trustees, conferences, friends, societies 
 and others, none were more loving and generous in the soitow 
 which alone touches aspiring youth, than the testimony which 
 came up from the great body of students who have gone out from 
 the halls of this venerable institution since its re-opening in 1875. 
 What a cloud of witnesses they make, as from sorrowing hearts 
 they bear testimony to the piety and usefulness of their old pre- 
 ceptor. 
 
 I am to speak to-day of one whom I greatly loved and deeply 
 venerated — one whose confidence I enjoyed and whose prayers for 
 me rested, as I believe, like a benediction upon my head. It was 
 not my good fortune to be a student of this University and to 
 know him as instructor, and to receive the benefit of his teachings. 
 I came to know him well and to esteem him in a short stay in the 
 village, and to continue the friendly intercourse here begun 
 through correspondence and occasional meetings up to his death. 
 He won my esteem by his devotion to principle, and his purity ; and 
 gained a lasting place in my affections by his solicitude for my 
 advancement, his willing help in good advice and valued service, 
 and his prayers which I know always followed me in every under- 
 taking. It has been a sad pleasure since his death to read some 
 of his personal letters filled with fatherly counsel and Christian 
 admonition. ISTeed I say that holding him in such esteem, I come 
 to the task of estimating his life-work with grave doubts as to my 
 ability to do so with that judicial discrimination which is alike a 
 duty due to his memory and to posterity. It is no less easy for a 
 friend to divest himself of partial admiration, when he comes to 
 speak in memory of one much beloved, than for an enemy to 
 distort his virtues. I cannot forget that from "the language of 
 mere eulogy" the good man whose memory we honor to-day 
 "would have recoiled with instinctive and resolute disapproval." 
 "But he would hardly chide me, I venture to believe, if he knew 
 that, in obedience to the voice" of the Trustees of the University, 
 I had come here to tell you what I remember of him and sketch 
 the leading incidents of his life — "to recall how in him, as I pro- 
 foundly believe, the grace of God wrought with singular power 
 
ADOLPHUS WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 3 
 
 and efficacy, and how in his natural characteristics, enriched and 
 ennobled by the indwelling power of the Holy Ghost, there shone 
 forth a Christian manhood at once strong and pure, and so worthy 
 of our grateful imitation." 
 
 Adolphus Williamson Mangum was born at Flat Eiver, April 
 Ist, 1834. His parents were Elison G-. and Elizabeth Mangum, 
 whose father. Dr. Harris, was a leading physician of Boyden, Ya. 
 His father was a solid and respected farmer — not wealthy nor 
 scholarly, but industrious and ambitious for his son who early 
 gave promise of a brilliant career. N"oting the mental calibre, 
 ambitious dreams, reflective powers, and fondness for learning of 
 his son, Mr. Mangum resolved to give him the best advantages 
 and make a great lawyer of him. Dr. Mangum's father was the 
 first cousin of the eloquent and able Wiley P. Mangum. ^oi him- 
 self having a classical education, he had always grealty admired 
 the gifts of his distinguished cousin and the hope of his life was to 
 see his son Adolphus receive his mantle of legal and oratorical 
 greatness when he should be gathered to his fathers. He sent his 
 son early to South Lowell Academy and he was there prepared 
 for college by Prof J. A. Dean with the view, in the mind of his 
 father, of becoming a lawyer. He then entered Eandolph-Macon 
 College, where he graduated in 1854 with the degree of A. B. 
 Afterwards he received the degre of A. M. He was a good student 
 and led his class at college, winning not only honors but the affec- 
 tion of his class-mates and the esteem of his instructors. Although 
 he was always attached to his Alma Mater, was a Trustee of 
 Eandolph-Macon, at which he delivered the alumni address several 
 years ago, and from which in 1879 he received the degree of D. D., 
 it was not through choice that he was educated at that seat of learn- 
 ing. He was anxious to matriculate at the University, but through 
 the influence of his maternal uncle, who lived near that college, 
 his father was persuaded to send him to Eandolph-Macon. 
 
 The limits of this paper forbid more than a passing allusion to 
 his youth and college life. From a small boy he was devoted to 
 nature, beautiful scenery, flowers, landscape. As a youth he was 
 fond of everything that brought him close to animal life and to 
 the woods and flowers. He knew the name of every bird and tree 
 and animal, and felt a comradeship with them. He wrote often of 
 
4 
 
 ADOLPHUS WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 
 
 rural life and the pleasures of the country with a charm born of 
 deep love of the scenes of his boyhood. He had the eye and the 
 instincts and tastes of a poet. Those instincts led him through 
 nature up to God. When quite a boy, running before his parents 
 on a Sunday afternoon, as they walked through the fields of their 
 country home, he heard them talking very earnestly. Little did 
 they reckon that his young mind would follow them or that all 
 they said impressed him niore than the butterflies he chased. 
 Tired of his play, he ceased running and came to walk beside his 
 mother who, with a fervor not often exhibited, put her hands 
 solemnly on his head and said to her husband "this is to be our 
 preacher." It profoundly impressed him then arid ever afterwards. 
 It was the earliest awakening of the heavenly call to preach, and 
 that "laying on of hands" by a fond mother on that solemn Sab- 
 •bath evening was a consecration to the high office of a priest 
 which was recorded by the angels; and ratified when, at Salisbury 
 in 1860, Bishop Paine received him as an elder with solemn cere- 
 monies into the rank of those holy men who minister at God's 
 altar. 
 
 It was largely through the example and teachings of his moth- 
 er that his life was hid with Christ in God and that he became, 
 like Samuel, dedicated from his j^outh to the service of the Most 
 High. Blessings upon her and upon a land full of christian moth- 
 ers whose highest ambition for their boys is to see them humble, 
 devoted christians. 
 
 At Eandolph-Macon college he was not only faithful in his 
 studies, but took a deep interest in his own spiritual welfare and the 
 betterment of the lives of his companions, having been converted 
 at Mt. Bethel church, the church of his mother, in August 1849. 
 During those days he kept a diary. It contains the reflections of 
 a boy of poetic temperament and religious convictions. There is 
 an entry in that diary — made April 25th 1853, when he was 
 twenty years old, and at the risk of making this memoir long I quote 
 this entry. It is the key to his whole life, and is an example which 
 is well worthy of em.ulation. 
 
 "Eandolph-Macon College, April 25th, 1533, 10 o'clock A. 
 M. I am now forcibly impressed with the fact that it is 
 essentially necessary for the enjoyment of the great reli- 
 
ADDLPHU8 WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 
 
 5 
 
 gion of God, that he who professes this religion' should have stated 
 times for the prayerful reading of God's Holy Bible ; stated times 
 for engaging in sacred prayer to God ; and stated times for calm 
 and serious meditation on God and all good. Convinced of the ne- 
 cessity of these things, I do hereby record the religious duties 
 which I respectively wish to perform, with the time that I wish to 
 perform them each day ; and in so doing do most earnestly request 
 the aid of God's blessed spirit that I may have the promptness to 
 perform them. 
 
 1st. Immediately after breakfast I design spending 30 min- 
 utes in reading religious books, and in praying privately to God. 
 
 2nd. At twelve o'clock I design spending 15 minutes in the 
 same manner. 
 
 3rd. After supper I wish to take a walk and meditate on the 
 goodness etc. of God. 
 
 4th. I design spending twenty minutes every night in read- 
 ing the Bible and praying, commencing at 9 1-2 o'clock. 
 
 To each of the duties I hope and trust that I shall be enabled 
 diligently to adhere. When circumstances will not permit me to 
 attend to my private devotions at the fixed time, I design attend- 
 ing to them as soon afterwards as is in anywise practicable. 
 
 (Signed) A. W. Mangum." 
 
 This was not merely tho forming of a purpose to perform his 
 religious duties made in an hour of temporary fervor. It was the 
 deliberate conviction of an earnest young man who for forty years 
 observed this resolution made in the spring time of life. It will 
 take no profound thinker to come to the conclusion that the faith- 
 ful observance of these religious duties gave him the moral force 
 to impress himself upon the religious and educational thought of 
 the State. 
 
 After graduation he returned home to receive the love and ad- 
 miration of his mother and to gratify the pride of his father's 
 heart. He had given his son more advantages than his condition 
 permitted without some sacrifices, but these he gladly made in the 
 fond expectation of seeing him take a high position at the bar. It 
 was a great disappointment to his father when his son, whom he 
 had prepared for the bar, resolved to abandon all hope of prefer- 
 ment in the law and become a circuit rider. In those days when 
 
6 
 
 ADOLPHUS WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 
 
 circuit riders did not wear beavers and when a circuit embraced a 
 whole county and sometimes a Congressional District, and the sal- 
 ary was meager in the extreme, it is no wonder that the fond and 
 proud father was offended that his talented son should dash all his 
 hopes to the ground and join the band of unselfish and holy men 
 whose labors through hardships and privations rivalled the labors 
 of the ministry in apostolic times. Wounded and grieved at his 
 son's abandonment of the law and the honors which come to those 
 who make it a jealous mistress, it ought not to surprise us that Eli- 
 son Mangum lost his temper and wrote to his son strong words 
 of disapproval of his course which he thought led only to poverty 
 and privation. He saw not then the glory and the crown prepared 
 for those who wait on Him— of Him who careth for those who 
 leave father and mother and houses and lands to preach His gospel. 
 He closed his letter to his son by saying that if he had known he 
 would employ his talents in no higher avocation than as a cir- 
 cuit rider he would not have spent the money he had expended in 
 his education. This was a great sorrow to Dr. Mangum who vvas 
 grateful for his father's love and sacrifices for him. With filial 
 love he replied kindly and gently. But, with that faculty for doing 
 the duty to which he was called and not allowing opposition to 
 deter him an iota, be made application to preach, and in 1856 he 
 was admitted on trial to the N. 0. Conference and was first appointed 
 junior preacher on Hillsboro circuit. In 1858-9 he was pastor 
 of the Methodist church in Chapel Hill and while here carried on a 
 revival which resulted in the conversion of 112 souls, many of them 
 be'ing students. In 1860 he was pastor of Eoanoke circuit and 
 greatly endeared himself to the people of that county. In 1861 he 
 was sent as pastor to Salisbury and in the latter part of that year 
 he went as chaplain to the 6th JST. C. regiment. In 1863 he was 
 pastor at Goldsboro where he won all hearts and on Feb. 24th 
 1864 he was happily married to Miss Laura J. Overman, daughter 
 of Mr. Wm. Overman, of Salisbury. It was a love match and * 
 throughout a long married life there, was perfect happiness and 
 tender love. He often told how, as a lover, he would leave his 
 books and sermon-making and go the depot to await the coming 
 of the train that would bring a letter from his promised wife in 
 Salisbury. He never forgot that his wife was his sweetheart, and 
 
ADOLFHUS WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 
 
 7 
 
 if asked how long the honeymoon lasted he would have directed 
 the inquirer to ask one who had been married longer than he. 
 Conspicuous in his life was his intense devotion to his family. He 
 was a wise, loving father. He made his children his friends. He 
 racked his brain to give them all enjoyment which seemed 
 to him innocent. To his wife he was ever a loyal, tender lover. 
 He exacted obedience from his children, but it was not irksome to 
 them. They saw how desirous he was of their happiness and they 
 felt grateful to him and cheerfully submitted to his restraints. 
 His fireside was of the happiest. He played and sang with his 
 girls and entered into the sports of his boys. He played the vio- 
 lin well and sang a good song. 
 
 I will be pardoned, in alluding to his happy married life, for 
 quoting from a letter which his heart prompted him to write to 
 me three years ago upon my approaching marriage : 
 
 "May God bless you both abundantly forever. Put these 
 rules in your united heart: (1) JSTo secrets from one another ; 
 (2) Don't expect human beings to be absolutely perfect ; (3) 
 There is no union without compromise of will; (4) Love and 
 peace are cheap at any price but principle ; (5) There is no 
 such thing as happy marriage except where both hearts are true 
 to God." 
 
 These rules were those which had safely carried his matri- 
 monial ship into a peaceful harbor. 
 
 There is no period in the life of Dr. Mangum that presents the 
 true unselfishness of his character in stronger light than the years 
 of the war. He was an intense Southerner — believed firmly in the 
 doctrine of the lost cause and loved the Confederate soldiers. A 
 talented alumnus told me that once he found Dr. Mangum alone 
 in Phi Hall. He had been looking at the portraits of Gen, Petti- 
 grew and of other Confederate leaders. His eyes were filled with 
 tears. He said in a half subdued, half musical tone: "It cannot 
 be that all these precious lives were spent for naught." He had 
 strong convictions that southern morals and manners were better 
 than northern. He was an uncompromising opponent to the doc- 
 trine that the newest teaching and thought from the north was the 
 best. He refused to concede that the grammar and pronunciation 
 in vogue in the best circles of the north are better than that in 
 
8 
 
 ABOLPHUS WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 
 
 voffue in the best southern circles. This love of his section and 
 belief in its superiority, strong in his mature years, was naturally 
 more intense and deep-seated in the ardor of youth. Entering the 
 ministry just before the sections joined battle, he took a deep inter- 
 est in the controversies which resulted in the bloody visage of war. 
 He had no patience with the advocates of abolition. He then be- 
 lieved that the best place for the negro was in slavery, and that 
 there was no conflict between slave-owning and the Bible, provided 
 masters were kind and just; and most of them were. Enter- 
 taining these views, his heart was in the Lost Cause. On the first 
 call for troops, Col. Chas. F. Fisher, of Salisbury, at once began to 
 form his regiment, the famous 6th C. Dr. Mangum was then 
 Methodist pastor at Salisbury. Young, hopeful, impetuous and full 
 of zeal, he entered fully into the ambitions of the young soldiers of 
 the south. Upon the organization of Col. Fisher's regiment, he 
 was elected chaplain. His great popularity among the young men 
 made them desirous of having him in the company and they pre- 
 vailed upon him to accept the position. Early in June he joined 
 the regiment at Company Shops, where the several companies were 
 ordered to assemble for the purpose of drilling and making ready 
 for the campaign that awaited them upon the fields of Yirginia. 
 A few weeks thereafter they left for the front and arrived just in 
 time to take part in the first battle of Manassas — indeed just in 
 time, as many believe, to save the day for the Confederacy. The 
 battle was in full blast when they arrived upon the field and one 
 wing of the southern army was in full retreat. Col. Fisher and 
 many of his brave men were killed in that engagement, among 
 their number being Lieut. Preston Mangum, only son of the dis- 
 tinguished orator Wiley P. Mangum. He was a near kinsman of 
 Dr. Mangum, and he felt it his sorrowful duty to carry his body 
 home and console those who were bereaved by the death of the 
 lovable and aspiring young son of a noble father. 
 
 Of the young soilder it is true that 
 
 "The bravest are the tenderest 
 The loving are the daring." 
 
 He then returned to his regiment, where he remained until 
 the session of his conference, when he was again appointed pastor 
 at Salisbury. He was afterwards appointed to Goldsboro, but in 
 
ABOLPHUS WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 
 
 9 
 
 1865 was again returned as pastor to the Salisbury church. It was 
 while pastor of that church that he rendered the most faithful, the 
 most difficult and the holiest and sweetest of the services of his 
 useful life. There were several large hospitals located in Salisbury 
 during the entire war. He visited these hospitals daily and min- 
 istered spiritually and otherwise to the wounded soldiers who lan- 
 guished there. He attended the trains as they passed on south 
 with the wounded, carrying provisions, and cheering with his sweet 
 and tender words many who were suffering. His labors were un- 
 tiring. He could not do enough for the Confederate soldiers — his 
 heart bled for them in their sufferings and his prayer was that they 
 might win the fight of faith and come out conquerors through 
 Jesus. Noble was his devotion to the Confederate soldiers, his 
 christian love and fellowship was best displayed in spending his 
 strength in ceasless efforts to minister to the comfort and spiritual 
 condition of the Federal soldiers who were in prison in Salisbury. 
 Some 11,000 soldiers of the Federal army died in the Salisbury 
 prison and noM^ lie buried in the Federal Cemetary. His love of 
 his fellow-man knew no section. Intensely southern as he was, he 
 was a better christian than a partisan. He visited these Federal 
 soldiers in their prisons, preached to them, prayed with them, 
 and pointed them to the Savior. He was a welcome visitor at 
 that prison and did what he could to relieve their sufferings. His 
 sympathetic nature was deeply touched by the condition of these 
 prisoners. Many were the letters he wrote to loved ones faraway 
 to tell them of the death of a poor soldier who wanted to send a 
 last message to those he held most dear. And if he could add "he 
 died believing in Jesus" it would make Dr. Mangum's heart glad. 
 Naturally this strain told greatly upon a nature so sympathetic 
 and a body never over-strong. It reduced him almost to a shadow 
 and destroyed his nervous system. His friends do not think that 
 his nerves were ever restored to their normal condition. 
 
 One of the last public addresses made by Dr. Mangum was 
 delivered before the Historical Society of this University upon 
 "Prison Life in Salisbury." The theme was one of great interest 
 to him, and to his audience. In that address he only half covered 
 the ground and proposed finishing the address at a subsequent 
 meeting of the Society. But his health was shattered, and 
 
10 
 
 AD OLPB US WILLIAMSON MANG JIM. 
 
 though lingering more than a year, he never had the time to 
 deliver the second half of his address. However he finished the 
 account he had begun and left the manuscript, which, when pub- 
 lished will be a valuable contribution to the history of prison life 
 of the war. It is one of his last productions, and ought to be 
 widely circulated. It would correct false rumors and give the 
 truth of prison life in the Confederacy. 
 
 The limits of this memoir prevent any extended synopsis and 
 extract from that interesting address. A day or two ago I read it 
 to a few friends and as the horrible and revolting results of war 
 were graphically pictured by his graphic pen, they" were deeply 
 moved and could not restrain the tears. In that prison it was 
 imposasible to obtain sufficient medicine which the Federal gov- 
 ernment made a contraband of war, and the privations and hunger 
 which poverty enforced taught the lesson indelibly that w^ar is 
 hell. Bibles were very scarce. Dr. Mangum preached to the 
 prisoners, and used the only Testament he had, telling them dur- 
 ing the discourse that he intended presenting it to one of them. 
 "I was touched," he says, "by their eagerness to get it, quite a 
 number pressing up with expectant looks." He endeavored to 
 secure reading for the prisoners and wrote to the Tract Society at 
 Eichmond. But there was nothing there to be sent. Eev. Mr. 
 Bennett had gone to London to make arrangement to get some 
 Bibles and Testaments. 
 
 In that same address, speaking of the few religious privileges 
 of the miserable prisoners, he adds: "But I have seen th*^ light of 
 heaven in the eye of the suffering captive and heard from his lips 
 the glorious eloquence of salvation. From the tongue of another 
 I have listened to the rich avowals of Christian hope and confi- 
 dence, and heard the failing, almost inaudible voice mutter: 
 'Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will 
 give you rest.' These are glorious words. And doubtless amid the 
 gloom and horror of that old prison, there was many an upward 
 glance of the heart — many a struggle and triumph of faith — many 
 a thrill of redeeming love and heavenly hope which, all unknown 
 to friend or foe, were recognized by Him whose name is love and 
 who is mighty to save." 
 
 After the war he was pastor at Salisbury one year and in 1866 
 
ADOLFBUS WILLIAMSON MAN GUM. 
 
 11 
 
 rode Orange circuit. In 1867 he was appointed agent of 
 Greensboro Female College and made a trip to the north to raise 
 money to aid in its re-building. In 1868-9 he was, at his request, 
 returned to Orange circuit where he could nurse his father who 
 died in 1869. Long before this his father had not only become 
 reconciled to having his son worthily wear the honors and bear 
 the burdens of a Methodist circuit rider, but actually rejoiced that 
 he had chosen "the better part" against his own remonstrance. 
 In 1870 Dr. Mangum was pastor at Greensboro, and in 1871 at 
 Charlotte. In 1872 he became pastor of Edenton Street Methodist 
 church, Raleigh, and for nearly four years filled the metropolitan 
 pulpit of his church at the capital, winning reputation and attach- 
 ing himself warmly not only to his own congregation but to the 
 leading men in the other churches as well. So highly was he 
 esteemed in Raleigh that in 1887 several of the leading members 
 of Edenton Street Methodist church wrote to him requesting that 
 he resign his chair at the University and again become their 
 pastor. He loved to preach and was strongly inclined to return to 
 the ranks of the itinerants, but his convictions of duty compelled 
 him to remain at the XJniversit}^. He was a clear and animated 
 preacher and occasionally rose to an eloquence seldom surpassed. 
 He was fluent and preached with great ease. His rhetoric was 
 ornate and his figures were clothed with beauty and grace. His 
 descriptive powers were of the best, particularly when he pictured 
 the woods or the fields, or portrayed the love of God. He was a 
 man of poetic temperament, of warm and tropical fancy, of ready 
 command of diction that was full and flowing and that at times 
 was intensely fervid and now and then rose to the heights of a 
 kindling eloquence. He preached "Christ and Him Crucified" 
 and sought to win men to follow in His steps. He was ambitious, 
 but he subordinated everything to the object of his preaching, the 
 winning of souls to Christ. His courage in the pulpit was Pauline. 
 He never spared to denounce social laxities for fear he might 
 strain social ties. The insubordination of children to home rule 
 and discipline — tiie slackening of vigilance in domestic government 
 and in the relations of servant and master, provoked his sharp and 
 feark^ss censure. He had a great objection to publicity of women, 
 even in good works. Church-fairs and church-concerts were not 
 
12 ADOLFHUS WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 
 
 approved methods with him for raising church funds, and women 
 on the platform roused all his antagonism. He thought that no 
 woman who attended to her duties at home as she ought would 
 ever be found there. I never saw any one who valued more highly 
 personal purity. His talks on this subject were peculiarly vivid 
 and strong, and it was a virtue which he sought above all things 
 to impress upon the students and upon all young men with whom 
 he came in contact. 
 
 I come now to speak of his connection with the University 
 and his labor here. Elected to the chair of Literature and Mental 
 and Moral Philosophy, upon the re-organization of the University, 
 he entered upon his work with zeal and success. He had an active 
 mind and retentive memory. Until the disease, which finally 
 killed him, poisoned his blood and diminished his nervous powers 
 long before he was stricken at Newbern, he was a diligent 
 student. Owing to the poverty of the University, his work was 
 so extensive, covered such a variety of great subjects, that he had 
 no opportunity to distinguish himself as a specialist. When the 
 increase of the University allowed the Trustees to give some of his 
 studies to others, he began a wide course of reading in his depart- 
 ment, but was interrupted in the midst of his labors by the insidi- 
 ous attacks of his fatal disease. His teaching was full of serious 
 hope. He inspired a belief in all his students that no life based 
 upon true principles would fail. He said enthusiastically to one 
 student: " Yes, sir, a life devoted to duty is the grandest thing on 
 earth ; it cannot fail." 
 
 As a college professor he was dignified and commanded the 
 respect of the young men whom he taught, but in his deportment 
 there was nothing of the starch ot the shroud. His nature was so 
 genial and free from pretense, that it would have revolted at the 
 stilts upon which some college professors mount and uneasily 
 and ostentatiously attempt to walk over the heads of the young 
 men they instruct. He never essayed to dazzle his students with 
 an exhibition of learning or to impress them with a display of 
 pedantry. Toward them he was frank, unaffected and sincere. He 
 taught them conscientiously, but when the lesson was finished he 
 did not feel that his responsibility ended and that the student had 
 no further claim upon him. He respected and held inviolate the 
 
ADOLFHUS WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 13 
 
 responsibility which the calling of teacher, not to speak of that 
 higher call to the ministry, imposed upon him. The student is, in 
 a sense, the plaster in the hand of the moulder. In many ways 
 the impression made upon him by the teacher fixes his destiny — 
 not alone in this world, but often in the eternal world as well. Dr. 
 Mangnm felt this truth deeply and sought to inspire every young 
 man who came into his class-room with loftiest and holiest pur- 
 poses. He set a daily example to scholars and teachers which is 
 the same that the world's greatest teacher has exemplified by his 
 life. It is, in a word, that neither book-learning, nor dry and 
 siccant scholasticism, nor ancient lore, nor modern science are 
 comparable, in lasting influence, with deep personal interest in a 
 boy's right living. 
 
 Never again, as in college, will a boy sit at the feet of instruc- 
 tors ready to be guided by them into the paths of literature, 
 science, law and religion. Woe be unto that instructor of the 
 youth who divorces religion from learning, or who is so wrapped 
 up in science that he cannot point out the hand of God in all that 
 he seeks to impart. Few ministers of the gospel of the Son of God 
 have such ready access to plastic hearts as the college professor. 
 Every year they infuse love of knowledge into aspiring young 
 hearts, and every year they send out young men who are to lead 
 the world of intellectual thought. Alas! how often it is that the 
 professor is so indiff'erent to the claims of religion, or is so en- 
 grossed in his studies, or is negatively skeptical that the young 
 hearts receive no moral or religious awakening from four years 
 contact, and goes out into the world impressed with the transcen- 
 dent value of knowledge and wisdom, but has had no impression 
 from his instructor and guide to "seek first the kingdom of God 
 and His righteousness," and with all his getting to get "under- 
 standing." 
 
 There never has been a professor at the University whose 
 influence for good was wider or more lasting than the good man 
 whose memory we honor to-day. His active and fatherly interest 
 in the moral and spiritual welfare of the students was realized and 
 appreciated by all who came in contact with him and his social 
 and genial disposition brought him into friendly relations with all 
 who belonged to the student body during his connection with the 
 
14 ADOLFHUS WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 
 
 institution. TJ" And even in those instances in which his influence 
 for good and his personal solicitude for right-doing, expressed in 
 private interviews sought by him, were not at the time effectual in 
 bringing about immediate reformation, they remained in the 
 memory of the erring boy and often eventually brought him to his 
 senses and stimulated him to an effort at better living. He always 
 appealed to the best instincts of the students, their sense of right 
 and honor and the obligations of morality and religion. In his 
 hands these never became weapons of offense; the student never 
 resented his admonition and never felt that his advice was uncalled 
 for and oflScioua. His sympathy was so spontaneous and expressed 
 with so much delicacy, that his reproof left none of that sting 
 which is so often unintentionally inflicted by well meaning but 
 tactless friends, upon young minds suffering from repentance for 
 wrong-doing. 
 
 Whenever he saw a student going wrong he was impelled by 
 his sense of duty, as well as his kindly nature, to interpose his 
 influence and advice. I remember talking recently with one alum- 
 nus, who had become distinguished in his profession, of an instance in 
 which Dr. Mangum's kindness and delicate thoughtfulness pro- 
 duced marked results. The young man, who is and was then a 
 high-strung and spirited fellow, had unfortunately gone off on 
 some pleasure excursion and became intoxicated. It was his first 
 experience and he was greatly mortified and humiliated. Dr. 
 Mangum who had heard of it went to see him in reference to it, 
 and said to him that he should not report the occurence to the 
 faculty as he believed the offense was the first and knew that no 
 member of the faculty could regret it more than did the offender and 
 that he should not even request him to pledge himself not to repeat 
 the offence; that he relied entirely upon the young man's sense of 
 right and his duty to himself and the University as a preventative 
 of further violation of college rules in that direction. So full of 
 kindness, thoughtfulness and tact was the good doctor's admonition 
 that he resolved that it should never be said of him again that he 
 was drunk, and never from that day to this has he been under the 
 influence of intoxicating liquors. The course of treatment adopted 
 by Dr. Mangum was exactly adapted to the needs of the student. 
 A public disclosure and a requirement that he should take the 
 
ADOLFHUS WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 15 
 
 pledge would, in all probability, have wounded his self-respect and 
 carried him into other excesses irf order to alleviate the suffering 
 which such a course would have inflicted upon his sensitive spirit. 
 He never speaks of Dr. Mangum except in terms of gratitude and 
 love, and he attributes in great part his escape from the danger of 
 contracting a habit, the most seductive and dangerous to men of 
 his temperament, to the gentle, affectionate and considerate treat- 
 ment received by him at the hands of the good man whose memory 
 he will always venerate. 
 
 Other instances of like character might be mentioned as evi- 
 dencing the character of the man and the cause of his strong hold 
 upon the students of the University. He seemed to enter into the 
 feelings and experience of the boys and they felt his sympathy ere 
 he had expressed it, and were on pleasant terms of intimacy and 
 friendship with him, which was productive of many good results. 
 1^0 student who knew him well hesitated to confide in him and to 
 seek his advice, and his easy affable and kindly reception of confi- 
 dence endeared him to those who sought his aid. The genial and 
 kindly humor which characterized him drew the students close to 
 him, and they regarded him with such kindly affection that they 
 did not hesitate to perpetrate practical jokes on him which they 
 knew beforehand he would enjoy as much as the perpetrators. 
 On one occasion he was lecturing to his class on the attractive 
 power of eloquence and illustrating it by an instance in which an 
 orator was so eloquent that his audience, quite unconscious of 
 what they did, approached closer and closer until they quite sur- 
 rounded him. As he proceeded to picture the scene the students 
 by common consent, drew nearer and nearer to the good doctor, 
 discussing a theme of which he never tired and wholly absorbed 
 in his entusiasm until he came to a sudden stop and found the en- 
 tire class crowded around him, apparently drawn to him by the 
 attractive power of his eloquence. He looked at thew an instant 
 and then burst into a laugh so contagious that it swept the class- 
 room and put an end to the lecture. 
 
 But the students, and all others who heard him frequently, 
 recognized that at times he was as eloquent as any man of whom 
 he spoke and that though his eloquence was not quite that sort 
 that might pull an audience from their seats, it was of a high order 
 
16 
 
 ADOLFRUS WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 
 
 and permeated by his consecrated spirit and his pious and useful 
 life, it attracted the affections of men, sometimes thrilled them with 
 new and strange emotions, and always excited in them the spirit 
 of high and noble endeavor. 
 
 Dr. Mangum mingled freely with the students and sought in 
 every way to influence them for good. He inquired what they 
 read outside of the prescribed course and made valuable suggestions 
 which were frequently of great assistance to students, who, for the 
 first time, found themselves in the presence of so many books that 
 proper selection was difiicult. As illustrating his habits of inter- 
 course with the boys and his solicitude about the books they read, 
 an anecdote may not be amiss. On one beautiful Sunday morning 
 the doctor, strolling about the grounds and seeing a student, William 
 by name, but who otherwise shall be " nameless here forever more," 
 sitting engrossed in reading a book which seemed . to give him a 
 great deal of pleasure, walked into the room of the said William, and 
 after the salutations of the day had been exchanged, inquired the 
 name of the book he was reading with such evident satisfaction. 
 William a little confused, answered promptly that it was " Pilgrim's 
 Progress," and thereupon the doctor launched out into a discussion 
 of the book, the purity of the English, its splendid allegory, and 
 the divine truth which it so graphically portrayed, and of the 
 pleasure it gave him to see his young friend so profitably engaged 
 on the Lord's Day. And William sat and assented to the doctor's 
 praise of the book, and bowed his acknowledgement to the compli- 
 ment paid him, but never told Dr. Mangum, nor did the good doc- 
 tor know that William was not reading Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, 
 but one of Mark Twain's books. But William's conscience was 
 never easy and whenever he afterwards told the incident, which 
 he frequently did, with every evidence of extreme enjoyment, he 
 always added with a sigh, as if to make amends for the deception, 
 " G-od bless the Doctor." 
 
 One of the forces that went to shape Dr. Mangum's character 
 was his brotherly interest in ''poor folks." By this class of his 
 less favored neighbors he will long be remembered and mourned. 
 He was not a man to go and pray over a sick person and so make 
 an end. He gave his sympathy and he shared his means to the 
 last day of his life. On one occasion he lost the sale of a house 
 
AD0LFRU8 WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 
 
 17 
 
 rather than allow a poor woman who had broken her arm and 
 begged for a temporary shelter there, to be disturbed, and she oc- 
 cupied it thenceforth to the day of her death. He believed in the 
 brotherhood of men, in the communion of saints. Among his 
 friends and associates many a one cherishes elegant little notes 
 written by him, and at his best. 
 
 Time would fail me to particularize his other labors. He often 
 said that he preached every week to a larger congregation than 
 assembled anywhere in the country. He wrote regularly for the 
 E"ashville, Texas and South Carolina Christian Advocates and occas- 
 ionally for other church and some news papers. His pen was pro- 
 lific, and he wrote with elegance and strength. In 1858, while 
 pastor at Chapel Hill, he wrote and j^rinted a book entitled "Myr- 
 tle leaves, or tokens at the Tomb." In 1866 he wrote and publish- 
 ed another book "The Safety Lamp, or life for the Narrow Way" 
 and was re-writing it for publication when he was stricken with 
 paralysis. In 1881, the So. Meth. Pub. House published a book of 
 sermons by leading Methodist preachers and Dr. Mangum was the 
 N. C. preacher selected to furnish a sermon. His text was "The 
 Hindrances of the Gospel." At the Centennial of Methodism in 
 N. C, celebrated in Raleiffh, he spoke on "The Introduction of 
 Methodism in Raleigh " and gave many historical facts of great in- 
 terest. Just after the war he wrote a temperance serial story 
 " Percy Brandon." He was getting up the material for the life of his 
 kinsman. Judge Wiley P. Mangum, at the time he was stricken with 
 paralysis. Mention has been made of his elaborate history "Prison 
 Life in Salisbury." He was a member of the American Institute of 
 Christian Philosophy. The limits of this paper forbid the reading 
 of a letter from Rev. Chas. F. Deems, President of that great relig- 
 ious organization, expressive of his appreciation of Dr. Mangum's 
 talents and his devotion and esteem for his many excellent traits 
 of character. 
 
 He believed in the University, and deprecated any movement 
 that threatened its growth and greatness. He once wrote — "I say 
 that while I love the University much, I love Methodism more. The 
 boys who go out from the University will exert a vast influence in 
 the State. This influence is sure to be secured by some one denom- 
 ination or several denominations. The question is: Will the 
 Methodists claim and realize their share." 
 
18 ADOLPRUS WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 
 
 For one hundred years this University has exerted greater 
 influence upon the destiny of the people of North Carolina than 
 any other agency. Dr. Mangum was firmly of the opinion that his 
 church should be as strong as possible at the University and 
 should sustain it. He believed it was not only best for Christianity 
 in general, but best for the Methodist church. He said repeatedly 
 that he had never known a Methodist student quit his church by 
 reason of joining the University, and that he had seen many cases 
 where they were made broader and more influential by such con- 
 nection. And not only so, but he had known the church to gain 
 influential and scholarly young converts from families in which 
 there were no Methodists. He contended that for its own sake it 
 was the duty of the Methodist church to support the University 
 and that it could not afford to fail in this duty. This was no hobby 
 he rode. It was a conviction born of wisdom, and though he may 
 have lost influence with some zealous leaders in his denomination 
 and given up chances of preferment by his insistence upon the 
 Methodists earnestly supporting the University, he was endorsed 
 by the more liberal and progressive ministers and members of his 
 church. 
 
 He was intensely devoted to the Methodist church. He 
 regarded it as the representative of Christ on earth. He remem- 
 bered that Methodism was born in a University — one that was 
 doubly barricaded against anything like Methodism by the domi- 
 nant power and prejudice of the established church. It was no ofl- 
 spring of religious fervor without knowledge. It was called into 
 being by Grod himself to purify the church, rid it of its worldliness, 
 and to carry the gospel to the poor. The agencies for this great 
 work of the Almighty were young scholars — not unlettered men 
 of crude ideas, but trained students to carry the gospel alike to the 
 spectacled professor and the ignorant toiler in the slums of London. 
 "The world is my parish," was John Wesley's broad view of the 
 field of Methodist preachers. Catching the breadth and power of 
 so inspiring a faith, Dr. Mangum wanted to see the Methodist 
 church exert its influence among students and thinkers exactly as 
 it does among the lowliest and the most unlettered. He held that 
 to do less was to invite a lowering of Methodism from the high 
 plane upon which its great founder had placed it, and therefore to 
 
ADOLPRUS WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 
 
 Id 
 
 circumscribe its usefulness. The wisdom of his belief is already 
 apparent. The University, strictly undenominational and knowing 
 no sect, is, strictly speaking, as much a Christian institution as 
 Trinity College, Wake Forest or Davidson. The only difference 
 between them all in regard to religion is that in the University 
 teachers and pupils from all the denominations meet on a common 
 Christian plane and in the denominational colleges they meet on a 
 sectarian plane. Both have their appointed missions to perform, 
 and there ought to exist no antagonism between them. This was 
 the position Dr. Mangum exemplified in his life, in his writings, 
 and in his teachings. 
 
 It must not be inferred from the intensity of his devotion to 
 Methodism that Dr. Mangum was an illiberal Christian. While he 
 was strongly loyal to Methodism, he was always ready to concede 
 the good in other denominations. His last sermon was preached 
 in the Presbyterian church in Newbern. The only thing which 
 roused his indignation, was what he considered using the church 
 in order to obtain power, whether political, social, or otherwise. 
 He was always ready to denounce such attempts in severe terms. 
 
 But my memoir grows too long. I must compress the details 
 of his last days. I shall never forget the shock I experienced 
 early in December, 1888. At Newbern in attendance upon 
 the annual Conference, I had met Dr. Mangum who took a 
 deep interest in the proceedings. On Monday morning, as I was 
 going to the depot to take the train, the report came that Dr. 
 Mangum was suffering from a stroke of paralysis. It was soon 
 learned that it was partial and that hopes were entertained for 
 his recovery. Loving friends gathered around him at the station 
 and loving hands assisted him into the cars. He sat by his daugh- 
 ter very quietly, his pinched face evincing pain. There was no 
 word of repining. He tried submissively to suffer the will of Cod. 
 At Coldsboro, a few of his best friends, young men he had known 
 in college, came to see him to evidence their affection by any 
 slight service they might render. As they shook his hand in affec- 
 tionate farewell, he could restrain himself no longer, but the tears 
 coursed down his cheeks and his emotion was so great he could 
 not speak. 
 
 He came to his home in this "Sweet Auburn." The student 
 
20 ADOLPHUS WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 
 
 body and the faculty were deeply touched by his affliction 
 and lost no opportunity of showing their sympathy. Days drag- 
 ged slowly along into months, and before commencement he had 
 gained much of his strength and began to feel that he would be 
 able to take his place in the class-room the next session. When 
 the boys returned in August he resumed his duties, but it was not 
 with his old time vigor and it was not long before it became appar- 
 ent that his strength was spent and that his days were numbered. 
 His will power kept him up, but with the new year he became too 
 feeble to teach. He suffered greatly, but with christian fortitude. 
 During his last illness, when his body was racked with pain, and 
 nothing else could afford him relief, his daughter would read to 
 him from the German hymn — 
 
 Commit thou all thy griefs 
 
 And ways into His hands, 
 To His sure trust and tender care, 
 
 Who earth and heaven commands. 
 
 And also from that other inspiring hymn — 
 
 Give to the w^inds thy fears •, 
 
 Hope and be undismayed ; 
 God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears 5 
 
 God shall lift up thy head. 
 
 The reading of these hymns seemed to give him courage and 
 help him to fix his reliance fully upon God. 
 
 He steadily failed, and at eight o'clock p. m. on the 10th of 
 May he lost conscionsness. On the night of May 10th he said to 
 his wife and daughters that it was bed time and he would go to 
 sleep. He kissed them each good night, turned over on the bed, 
 lost consciensness and never woke again until his eyes rested on 
 the splendor of his heavenly home. He lost consciensness on Sat- 
 urday, but did not die until Monday. 
 
 The funeral services were held in the Methodist church in this 
 place, and students, professors and citizens paid the last mark of 
 respect to an instructor, friend and companion, who, after a well 
 spent and useful life, had entered into that rest which remaineth 
 to the people of God. His death, at home surrounded by those he 
 loved most tenderly, was in accordance with the way he wished to 
 die. When at college, only nineteen years old, he wrote a poem 
 " Where I wish to Die " which is preserved in his scrap book. His 
 
AB0LFIIU8 WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 21 
 
 own death was a fulfilment of that youthful poem which I do not 
 quote for its literary qualities but to show how God permitted him 
 to fall asleep in the way his youthful fancy had pictured as an 
 ideal death. 
 
 "WHERE I WISH TO DIE." 
 
 Ohl When the hour of death shall come, 
 
 I do not wish to be 
 Amid the gay and frolicsome, 
 
 Whose hearts are filled with glee. 
 
 I do not wish to breathe my last 
 
 In wealth and luxury, 
 With hearts with anxious care oppressed, 
 
 Or filled with revelry. 
 
 I do not wish to die upon 
 
 The blood stained battle plain. 
 
 Midst cannon's roar and war cloud's din. 
 The wounded and the slain. 
 
 I could not be content to die 
 
 Upon the ocean deep, 
 While stormy waves are swelling high. 
 
 And tempests fiercely sweep. 
 
 I would not die away from home. 
 
 Away from every friend. 
 While none but strangers near me come, 
 
 To see my poor life end. 
 
 But oh 1 I wish to fall asleep. 
 
 Beneath the shaded cot. 
 While evening zephyrs gently creep 
 
 Around the silent spot. 
 
 With friends to sooth my aching heart, 
 
 With Jesus standing near ; 
 Oh ! I could then from life depart 
 Unmoved by pain or fear. 
 E. M. College, Oct. 10, 1853. 
 
22 ADOLFRUS WILLIAMSON MANGUM. 
 
 In the Chapel Hill cemetery the remains of this good man 
 await the resurrection. A plain marble shaft marks his last resting 
 place, and upon it is an inscription from the Bible which was his 
 motto through life, l^ot a great while before his death he told 
 his wife that he wanted no inscription upon his tomb that would 
 tell of his achievements, which he reckoned as naught except as 
 they had been blessed of God. "But," said he, "when I am dead 
 and can no more put my hand in love upon the shoulders of the 
 students and give them loving admonition, and when no more I 
 can preach the riches of the gospel in the pulpit, I shall want still 
 to preach to all who look upon my grave." And his wife put as 
 the inscription on hie plain, simple tombstone the motto of his life: 
 " In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct thy paths."