Charles Elisha Taylor
Ills rt'iiuirkable r«‘«*or«l of service at Wake
Fores! will ever be» remembered, as u ill liis
achievements in Ihe progress of public cmIu-
cation throughout the state.
THE strife of the sixties and the
even greater woes of the Recon¬
struction era, found the col¬
leges of the three larger denomina¬
tions in sore straits and in dire
necessity, as a result of dilapidated
buildings, worn-out equipment,
and endowments swept away by
the collapse of the Confederate
cause. But in each instance there
arose a Moses to lead his people in¬
to the Promised Land. From the
desolation at Davidson there
emerged the great character of
John B. Shearer; from the wreck¬
age of Trinity (Duke) there came
the towering figure of Braxton
Craven; from the ruins of Wake
Forest there arose the mighty
leader Charles Elisha Taylor, who
was to render his institution dis¬
tinguished service from 1870 until
his death in 1915.
He was descended from notable
ancestry on both sides of his fam¬
ily tree, and his very face bore the
stamp of the aristocrat, yet Jeffer-
son himself was not more demo¬
cratic in his ways, or more catholic
in his views. His father, who was
born in England in 1804, became
an outstanding Baptist preacher
on the field of the South, and
served the Foreign Mission Board
of the Southern Baptist Conven¬
tion for twenty-seven years as its
corresponding secretary. His moth¬
er came from a famous New Eng¬
land family, her grandfather hav¬
ing been president of Yale Uni¬
versity. and her father having been
an aide-de-camp on the staff of
General Washington during the
Revolution.
Horn in Richmond
My subject was born at Rich¬
mond in 1842. and the outbreak
of the Civil War found him an
undergraduate at Richmond Col¬
lege. In April 1861. on the very
day that his native State seceded,
he left the college and volunteered
for service in the Confederate
army. He served in the legions of
Lee in the ill-fated West Virginia
campaign; then he became a mem¬
ber of Stonewall Jackson's famous
“foot cavalry" until the battle of
By R. C. LAWRENCE
Kernstown. where he was severely
wounded. In 1863 he became a
member of the Signal and Secret
Service Corps under the famous
cavalry General J. E. B. Stuart, in
which arm of the service he at¬
tained the rank of adjutant which
he held through Appomattox.
When peace had been declared,
he resumed his interrupted college
career, and was graduated from
the University of Virginia in 1870,
and in August of the same year he
was elected as "Assistant Profes¬
sor of Language" at Wake Forest,
a momentous day in the history of
our Slate for it brought us one of
the greatest of our college presi¬
dents. His mental calibre was so
large, his scholarship so ripe, his
character so lofty, his ideals so high,
that he soon won renown on the
field of letters, receiving the hon¬
orary degree of Doctor of Divinity
from Richmond College; that of
Doctor of Laws from the Univer¬
sity of North Carolina; and a simi¬
lar degree from Mercer University.
A Profound Latin Student
In the college catalogues from
1870 to 1882, he is listed as "Pro¬
fessor of Latin." and from 1885 to
1915 as "Professor of Moral Philos¬
ophy." He was a profound Latin
scholar, and as a master of the
Latin idiom and as a teacher of
that language, he had few equals.
So long as he lived, he retained his
interest in that ancient tongue,
teaching it in person to his chil¬
dren and grandchildren; and on
the campus he was affectionately
known as "Old Aorist."
His work as a college builder had
a two-fold aspect- the broadening
of the college curriculum, the en¬
largement of its equipment and
the increasing of its endowment.
The very first year of his profes¬
sorship gave evidence of the "new
birth of freedom" which had come
to the institution, for the plan of
independent "schools" was estal
lished and the elective system ir
troduccd. In this he followed the
lead of President Charles W. Eliot
of Harvard, whose work he great¬
ly admired.
He evinced such superb gifts ol
leadership, and possessed such fer¬
vor of spirit, that long before his
elevation to the presidency he was
charged with the task of raising
funds for the endowment, a task
to which he applied himself with
whole-hearted devotion. It was
Doctor Taylor who first interested
the Standard Oil magnate. Jabez
A. Bpstwick in the cause of the
college, and to his efforts were due
more than two-thirds of all the en¬
dowment owned by the college at
the time of his death. This was
surely a monumental service.
In 1884 he was elected as presi¬
dent. Among the qualifications
which indicated him as the man
for that position were his broad
and thorough scholarship, his cor¬
rect appreciation of educational
values as shown by his improve¬
ment of the college curriculum, his
success as a teacher, the esteem in
which he was held by his col¬
leagues, the respect and reverence
which he inspired in his students,
his gracious manner and personal
charm, his rare wisdom, his saving
sense of humor, his acquaintance
with the Baptist people of the
State, his great influence with the
denominational leaders, and his
comprehensive plans for the fu¬
ture of the institution. Such was
the splendid equipment which he
brought to the great task which lay
before him, and thereafter when
Baptist leadership in Carolina was
referred to, it was always spoken
of as "from Doctor Taylor down."
Increased Teaching Staff
Under his wise guidance the
teaching staff was largely in¬
creased; in 1887 the chemical
laboratory was completed and a
well - equipped department of
chemistry established; in 1888 was
added a chair of modern languages;
in 1894 the school of law came into
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25)
THE STATE November 3 1943
