Flora Macdonald College
The passion for education on the part of
the Scotch people in the* southeastern part
of the state made* possible the establish¬
ment and growth of this splendid in¬
stitution.
IK you can properly pronounce Midi
names as McEacbern or Mc-
Geachey ; if you can say "Hoot.
Mon** with the proper look an<! ac¬
cent; if you can sing "Roamin' in the
(■loanin' ” as could Sir Harry
Lauder; if you can dance the 1 lith¬
ium! Fling; then you are entitled to
admissions within the precinct* of the
land dubbed by Ambassador Josephus
Daniels as that of the “God Blessed
Macs." which of course admits you to
Flora Macdonald College, only college
ii. Carolina with a “Mac" in it* name.
Von feel perfectly at home now, so
if you hear some fair lady say :
"Fhad's a dh’thansas Hur air
machair
Marridh cliu na h-ainnnir
Chaoiah,”
you of course undereland her to
mean "While the flowers bloom in the
meadow the name of the fair maiden
'hall endure,” and you also are fully
familiar with the fact that the “fair
maiden” refers to FLORA MAC¬
DONALD, whose romantic assistance
to Ronnie Prince Charlie is known to
every schoolchild. She could not have
done otherwise — noblesse oblige — for
-lie was a princess of a woman and
her educational namesake is a princess
of a school.
The fathers founded
at Floral College down
in Robeson in 1841,
the lirst college for
women in Carolina
which was authorized
to confer degrees. It
had a flourishing ex¬
istence until the Civil
War, when the raiders
under Sherman passed
through that section;
and even after the
strife of war had
ceased, it continued to
-t niggle for existence
until in the late seven¬
ties the havoc of Re¬
construction wrought
it- final end.
Rut today its lineal
descendant survives in
Flora Macdonald, for
By R. C. LAWRENCE
the country pastor. Rev. Dr. Halbert
G. Hill, a preacher of such power
that he was elected as Moderator of
the Presbyterian General Assembly,
with the aid of other lenders of his
faith, wrestled to establish another
school, and they did not allow their
vision to escape them, hut pursued it
with all the zeal which inflamed the
soul of Sir Galahad a' he -ought the
Holy Grail.
Ry 1896 these leaders had deter¬
mined to found a college; that it
should bo located at Red Springs in
the heart of the settlement of the
Scots, and that Rev. Dr. Charles G.
Vnrdell should Income its head. Tie
was then serving as pastor at Now
Hern, and the invitation thus ex¬
tended was to become President of
something which existed largely on
paper. Rut the Doctor accepted the
invitation as a challenge, and he
came: and in Robeson he ha* since
remained, and here the monumental
work of his life has boon n<-com-
plished. James Ruehanon Duke has
been described as a Master Ruilder.
and such a phrase may properly be
applied to Dr. VnrdelL In some ease-
the mortar which goes into the wall-
of the stately buildings which rise
from a college represents the life-blood
of its builder, and so does the imposing
central building at Flora Macdonald,
for into it went the life-giving cur¬
rent which made it a living, breathing
force throughout Carolina.
The Guilford log cabin of Rev.
David Caldwell was said to lie "nil
academy, a college and a University,"
for from ils walls came forth more
than fifty Presbyterian preachers, two
Carolina Governors and a large num¬
ber of other men who became famous
in the life of our State. In the
modest academy of Brantley Yorke
lay concealed the future great Duk<-
University. Down in Harnett County
Dr. James A. Campbell built the
great institution now known as Camp¬
bell Collogo, with nothing to begin
with hut his own hare hands and an
abiding faith in the future.
The services of Dr. Vardell may
properly l*e compared with those of
these great lenders, for he wrought as
mighty a work as any of them. Nat¬
urally his institution had to struggle
for existence, and many was the time
when it seemed that its doors must
• lose. But even as the cruse of oil of
the widow who fed the Prophet Elijah
never failed, so also
was the cruse of his
college somehow kept,
filled hv its wonder
working President.
Years ago the medical
profession knew noth¬
ing of blood transfu¬
sions. and many was
the patient who died
for lack 'of them. Rut
today they secure a
donor from whose
veins the vital fluid
can he drawn and in¬
ject
«1
into the veins of
the desperately sick,
saving thousands of
lives. And so when it
seemed that the child
of his hopes must
iwrish. Dr. Vardell al-
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