State

Dr. Poteat “A Servant of Science,” is wliat Mr. Lawrence terms liim. but he was a servant to many other wortli-wliilt* things as well. By К. C. LAWRENCE ANTE bellum Caswell County was ZA famous as the birthplace of / Vlluiicd States Senator Bod ford Brown, Romulus M. Saunders, Min¬ ister to Spain, and Calvin Graves, Speaker of the Senate, whose deciding vote granted a charter to the North Carolina Railroad. Reconstruct ion Caswell was noted as the scene of the murder of Johu W. Stephens, in tin- very courthouse at Yanceyville, as¬ cribed to the Ku Klux Klan, which resulted in suspension of the writ of habeas corpus by Governor Holden, who declared the county to 1"- in a state of insurrection, recruited troops, and inaugurated the Kirke- 11 olden war. Modern Caswell is known to fame primarily for its product of Pot cats, for from her soil sprang William Louis Poteat, servant of science, pres¬ ident of Wake Forest College; his brother Edwin McNeill, preacher of power, president of Furman I'ni- voreity; their sister, Miss Ida, pro¬ fessor of art at Meredith College from its founding, until her death this past summer. His annals are indeed short and simple, for they concern but one place — Wako Forest. Born in 1856, Wil¬ liam Louis Poteat was graduated from Wake Forest in 1377, where he was made tutor iu 1S78, assistant pro¬ fessor of natural history in 1SK0, mid professor of biology in 1383, which chair lie held until his death, lie pursued postgraduate work in the University of Berlin, and s|ient many summers at the Marine Lab¬ oratory at Woods Hole, Massachu¬ setts. He served as president of the North Carolina Academy of Science, of the Teachers’ Assembly, and the Literary and Historical Commission, lie delivered courses of lectures at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, at the Hamilton Theolog¬ ical Seminary, at the Southwestern Theological Seminary, at the Univer¬ sity of North Carolina and other similar institutions. He was a voluminous author, his twenty-two baccalaureate addresses being flawless gems of logic and liter¬ ature, each stressing some aspect of the word “culture" iu its largest as¬ pect. Some of his collected volumes are: "Laboratory and Pulpit," "The New Peace,” "Can u Man be a Christian Today,” "The Way of Vic¬ tory,” and "Stop-Light.” His ad¬ dresses, monograph* and brochures are too numerous to even mention and cover a wide field of scientific, educational and religious subjects. An Engaging Personality Ho had the most engaging person¬ ality of auv man 1 have ever known. When I was in college a student might cut a class, hut it was not a class taught by Hr. Poteat. His per¬ sonality was so pleasing, his man¬ nerisms so magnetic, his lectures so uplifting, that he hound the student body to him with hoops of steel. More than one student "hitched his wagon to a star," but the star was Dr. Po¬ teat! Year by year lie grew in mental stature untii his figure attained co¬ lossal proportions, and lie became known as a scientist not only to the South but to the nation. In 1903 there was a vacancy in the presidency at Wake Forest due to the death of the beloved Dr. Charles E. Taylor, but there was division in the Baptist ranks as to who should suc¬ ceed him. All agreed that in the qual¬ ity of his mentality Dr. Potent stood preeminent; all agreed that his way was winning and his manner mag¬ netic; all agreed that his character was Christlike — but did be not be¬ lieve in evolution t And was not one who believed in evolution a skeptic' How could an evolutionist be presi¬ dent of a Christian college? Let it be noted that these questions were not asked by his students, by those who bad sat at his feet, but by strangers to his teachings. Those who had been accorded the privilege of bearing him daily knew that his Christianity was as that of Paul when he ex¬ claimed: "I know in whom I have believed.” Ilis figure towered so high, how¬ ever, that lie was elected to the presi¬ dency, and here he remained until his voluntary retirement in 1927, when he was elected president emeritus. which he continued to hold until his death, lie dominated the campus after his retirement as be did before bis election to the presidency. His memory will continue to dominate its shades for years to come, for his figure loomed too large in the life of his state ever to he forgotten. Was lie an evolutionist? Ho could have avoided attack on this issue by soft pedaling, side stepping, hair splitting, but be did nothing of the sort, lie avowed bis views openly and defended them in a manner quite ade¬ quate. There were once those in North Carolina who believed that an evolutionist was a skeptic if not an infidel, but 1 doubt if there be ninny today, and their scarcity is due largely to Dr. Potent. After years of en¬ grossed study of Darwin and other scientists, he reached the conclusion that God did not create the universe in six day* of twenty-four hour* each ; that He did not create man originally in his present figure; that He did not create present-day fauna and flora in their modern forms. His opponents claimed that he believed that man was descended from the monkey, hut he never believed nor taught any¬ thing of the kind. He was a the is tic evolutionist. He believed that God made all things, and that while He could have created the universe in six days. He in fact took perhaps millions (Continued on page sixteen)