USA > North Carolina > Biographical history of North Carolina from colonial times to the present; > Part 34
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The parents of our subject, Cornelius Marinus van Noppen and Johanna Maria Cappon, with their three young children, Leonard, Charles and John, came to America in 1874, when Leonard, the eldest, was six years old. After a three years' residence in Michi- gan, they settled on a plantation near Greensboro, North Carolina.
The faithful and industrious father, intelligent, brilliant and versatile, after an unsuccessful attempt at farming, for which by nature and by training he was altogether unfitted, found employ- ment more to his liking as a contractor in Durham. Here he be-
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Leonar Charles van Nappen.
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came much esteemed and was on the bright road to prosperity when, in 1887, at the age of forty-seven, he was killed in an acci- dent. Proud of his American citizenship, he strove in every way to be worthy of his adopted country. Also he labored assiduously for the education of his children, whose aspirations he ever en- couraged.
The sweet wife and affectionate mother, amiable, home-loving and charitable, had the grace and charm of the French tempera- ment. Unhappily she lived only a few months after the death of her husband. Leonard inherits her artistic nature and quick sensi- bility.
Members of bothi families have for generations been prominent in the professions. Three are to-day clergymen in the Established Church of Holland, and only recently a cousin, Doctor Marinus van Melle, was chosen, at the age of twenty-eight, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam, the youngest man ever to achieve that distinction. A paternal grandfather accom- panied Napoleon to Moscow. Another ancestor, Admiral Jose de Moor, who prevented, by his defeat of Spinola, the junction of the united fleets with the army of Alexander of Parma, was an important factor in the annihilation of the Spanish Armada. On the maternal side the de Bois connection was for several hun- dred years one of the wealthiest and most influential families of Flanders.
During their first years in North Carolina this interesting household, then located near New Garden, was brought into close association with the Society of Friends, of which both parents be- came members, while the three sons received their academic train- ing at what was then New Garden Boarding School.
After the death of their father, whose labors they assisted for several years with becoming industry, Leonard and Charles re- turned to Friends' School, now become Guilford College, where Leonard took the degree of A.B. in 1890. Later he continued his studies in literature at the University of North Carolina, where he was graduated B.Litt. in 1892.
At Chapel Hill he had the inspiration of the larger circle and
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made a splendid record as a student. Quickened by his environ- ment, encouraged by his teachers and kindled by the example of his friend, Henry J. Stockard, he gave evidence of his latent powers by some vivid poetical compositions. Furthermore he used his pen with vigor and effectiveness as the editor of The White and Blue, a paper established by him and others in opposition to the secret fraternities, which they believed had en- croached upon the rights of the student body.
In 1893 he took his A.M. at Haverford College, Pennsylvania. Here he had the rare advantage of study under that eminent scholar, Doctor Francis B. Gummere. The next Fall he returned to Chapel Hill, where he took the law course under Doctor John Manning and Chief Justice Shepherd. He successfully passed the examination before the Supreme Court, and in 1894 received his license to practice.
The literary instinct, however, soon revived, and in 1895, acting on a sudden inpulse, he went to Holland to study the literature of his forbears. ៛
During the two years of his first visit to Holland, he not only learned to speak the language fluently, but also he achieved his metrical version of Vondel's "Lucifer," the prototype of "Paradise Lost." This translation appeared in 1898 and was hailed by the r scholars of Europe and of America as a masterpiece. Doctor Gerard Kalff, Professor of Dutch Literature at the University of Utrecht, said of it : "The spirit and character of Vondel's tragedy are felt, understood, and interpreted in a remarkable manner ; and an extraordinarily difficult task has been magnificently done." Doctor Jan Ten Brink, professor at Leyden, was not less en- thusiastic. Doctor Francis Gummere said it "filled a gap in the Miltonic criticism." Professor Kittredge of Harvard and . Doctor William H. Carpenter of Columbia bore witness to its dis- tinction and general excellence. Doctor C. Alphonso Smith in Modern Language Notes praised its metrical effects and its fidel- ity ; while Mayo W. Hazeltine devoted five columns of the New York Sunday Sun to a discussion of its merits, which, he con- cluded, were "not unworthy of the great original." Many English
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reviews, furthermore, among others London Literature and The Athenaum, acclaimed it as an event of unusual significance.
Nor was there lack of interest among the literati. Ed- mund Gosse, Doctor Henry Van Dyke. Joel Benton, Vance Thomp- son, George Henry Payne, James Huneker, Walter Blackburn Harte, Henry J. Stockard, E. C. Stedman and Edwin Markham all expressed their appreciation of its poetic value. Richard Wat- son Gilder said it was "the most notable literary performance of a decade." To this chorus of praise also the distinguished Dutch poets Nicholaas Beets, Albert Verwey, Frederic van Eeden and A. T. A. Heyting added eloquent tributes.
To illustrate the ease and the vigor of the style, we give one of the speeches of Lucifer :
"Now swear I by my crown, upon this chance To venture all, to raise my seat amid
The formament, the spheres, the splendor of The stars above. The Heaven of Heavens shail then My palace be, the rainbow be my throne, The starry vast, my court; while, down beneath, The Earth shall be my footstool and support. I shall, then swiftly drawn through air and light, High-seated on a chariot of cloud,
With lightning stroke and thunder grind to dust Whate'er above, around. below, doth us Oppose, were it God's Marshal grand himself. Yea, ere we yield, these empyrean vaults, Proud in their towering masonry, shall burst With all their airy arches and dissolve Before our eyes: this huge and joint-racked earth, Like a misshapen monster, lifeless lie;
This wondrous universe to chaos fall. And to its primal desolation change. Who dares, who dares defy great Lucifer?"
In consequence of this work the young author was selected to deliver four courses of lectures on Dutch literature at Columbia University. Recommended by W. D. Howells, he gave also two courses at the Lowell Institute in Boston, and later lectured at Princeton, at the Brooklyn Institute, and elsewhere.
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When not engaged in lecturing at the American universities, he continued his studies at Leiden and at Utrecht. And he is to-day regarded not only as the first authority on the sources of Milton, but also as the only American specialist in Dutch literature.
Scholarship, however, has not smothered his creative instincts. He has written some significant poems; and is ranked with the best of our younger poets.
Here is a sonnet from The Century entitled "Chillon" :
CHILLON
"I stand within the grandeur-girdled room Where Bonnivard heard the dull oozing hours Drip from his stagnant life; here where the powers Of shuddering death from shadows hewed a tomb. I feel the horrors crawling through the gloom, And Judgment frowns, and trembling Conscience cowers. Here broods the Night, and Hell's grim terror lowers, And all the air is dread with coming doom. The mountains o'er these dungeons of despair For ages kept their silent sentinel,
€ Guarding the ghastly secret of the waves. Then Byron woke the spectres slumbering there: Once more is heard the midnight-shivering beil,
And the dumb waters are alive with speaking graves!"
The following sonnet appeared in Tom Watson's Magasine:
MARTYRDOM
"The world cries loud for blood; for never grew One saving truth that blossomed, man to bless. That withered not in barren loneliness,
Till watered by the sacrificial dew.
Behold the prophets stoned-the while they blew
A warning blast-the sad immortal guess
Of Socrates-the thorn-crowned lowliness Of Christ! And that black cross our Lincoln knew!
'Tis only through the whirlwind and the storm That man can ever reach his starry goal.
Some one must bleed or else the world will die! Upon the flaring altar of reform Some heart lies quivering ever. To what soul
That dares be true, comes not the martyr's agony?"
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LMII WAS HTAOV
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The San Francisco earthquake evoked A SUPPLICATION
"Prostrate before the triumph of Thy Face, O Lord of Desolations, millions fall : Anguish is all their glory, and a pall Blots out the sun; and, humbled to their base,
The groaning mountains cower into disgrace!
Death walks the world, and doomed cities call
Out of the flame and sink to silence, all, Granite at dawn, crushed by some mighty mace! The planet trembles and her quiet dead Feed the loud greed of the abysmal grave; And all our pride is shaken into dust. Great God of Judgment, be Thou more than just. Be merciful, and quench Thy lightnings dread; Revoke Thy thousand thunders, save, O save !"
À propos of the Russian massacres are these daring lines : ANSWER, O RUSSIA !
- "Answer, O Russia! that appealing blood, That human wine from living chalice shed, Whereof made drunken, thy oppressors dread, Flush to make feast on yet a dearer food. Let from thy broken heart no Neva flood Leap to a silent sea. O heed, instead. That crimson cry, and answer red with red- With thunders like the throbbing heart of God!
"Answer with death that ancient Wrong and dark ! Dethrone one tyrant that a million thrones Rise regnant from his mighty ruin. Hark! The Judgment, and the knell of midnight hour Dooms! To the Morning from that mist of moans
· The Age of Freedom passes, shod with power !"
Not without interest are these lines on Napoleon, entitled THE EXILE
"Lo! on a sudden island in the dark, Behold, encircled by a sea of death, Lone in a bleak and black futurity, The figure of an exile, stern and proud :- Some king of triumphs by a star betrayed ! Who, chafing at his doom inglorious,
STA GsP OdT
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Long with a tiger-pacing peacelessness Paves the bare edges of a brine-burnt coast :- One that pavilioned in august renown Once arrogantly summoned tq Assize Earth's aged potentates-all throned Powers Between the far Antipodean Poles ;- One that in midnight Councils like the moon Rose but to rule, and awed the ancient men ; Who, monarch of the moment, could achieve Ages of battle by his angry brows! Who, wilful, in his mad ambition, wont To juggle with the starry dice of fate,
Made splendid hazard and to win the world Threw in his soul, to tilt the even scales !--- One like a lion in the wilds of war,
Whose look was like the lion's when he roars; Who in the sessions of the peers of peace The Prince stood of the proudest; who, self-crowned, The Pontiff of a million destinies,
Armed with a thousand armies, poising dread His clouded threat of many thunders, like Some mitred moon stood plotting the eclipse Of hoary empires,-then from zenith pride Plunged, like a comet, down the drowning night, Dragging to darkness all his bright dream world!"
Mr. Van Noppen's metrical version of Vondel's "Samson," the source of Milton's "Samson Agonistes," soon to appear, will be published with critical addenda suited to the needs of the class- room. According to scholars, it promises to revolutionize the study of Milton. The "Lucifer" was inscribed to the author's brother Charles, whose timely aid made the effort possible; and this volume will be dedicated to Mr. George W. Watts of Durham, . without whose generous assistance this exhaustive study could not have been continued. Basing his scheme to some extent upon the plot of Vondel's play, Mr. Van Noppen also has written "Samson : A Drama of Revolution." From this original tragedy, symbolistic of the triumph of truth and of labor, we cull a few passages :
CHORUS.
"But how fell Samson, how did Samson die?
What mighty bolt laid low that mighty oak?"
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MESSENGER
"It seems some falling pillar, with no bruise Crazing his bosom, brought forgetfuiness ;- Yea, like a miracle of mother hands Pitied his tears and hushed his weeping heart, And so delivered him from life of dole.
Thus he. our foe, magnificently died, Despite his humbled state, died like a king! And from the dark his tall star-statured soul
Crashed. like a comet. through the gates of night, Dragging a shining sorrow after him! And still he lords the scene, who long against That armied menace stood antagonist, A tower of blindness in a sea of eyes ! King of a troop of thunders, lord of dooms,
Hurler of sudden death! Who with one swift-
One fierce, terrific wrench, with might tremendous, Buried a nation, shook a kingdom down; Who in that sea of triumph like a tower Fell. ruin rippling from him to the rim! So with one blow a bannered host he slew And like no mortal blotted out the sun ;- So wrought his vengeance throughly, emperor Of desolations, which he rules in death ; And like a god's his Name walks down the years!"
CHORUS
"His words were princes, but his deeds are kings!"
A PROPHECY OF THE CHRIST
"Now comes a silence as of brooding love And there is hush. as if the winds held breath, As if a whisper moved around the world, Mothering closely a most holy Name :- All other names forgotten in that Name! Then all the tongues that bode of times to come Unflint that frozen flame of prophecy And, blazing into royal rapture, make Annunciation of a King of Kings! And all the maiden Silences that pause, Conscious of unapparent conqueror, Unveil their hearts and blush into one Name !
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And now the soothsayers, the sages gray And miracle-commanding magi: these,
And the shrill bards of battle, clear their gaze, -- Beholding all, mid pealing jubilee, 'Mid singing silver and the laugh of gold, The advent of a Triumph through the air. So, seeing, tremble, seeing, are amazed, Awed into voicelessness, previsioning One coming from the Country of the Soul, Godly of mien, grave, noble and benign, Throned upon music: One whose lifted orbs Are shining prophecies! Upon whose brow, Haloed with brightness, like a rainbow broods Beautiful benediction ! And He seems Exceeding lovely, altogether fair,
"Most joyous-virginal, exhaling youth Immortal : One undimmed by dying years, With Face too fair to die! A Presence mild, Pure as the dew on lilies, white as dawn, Arrayed in resurrections like the sun !-
L A King of Mercies burning through the dark, Bowered in buds that break in roses, blooms Like wonderful, like world-devoted wounds ! And round His head, a mystic aureole ; And in His eyes the after-glow of dreams :- Such dreams as angels dream that sleep in God And waken, praising-wonder in their song !"
This is from a passage devoted to THE MILLENNIUM
"And He shall build the Right upon a Rock, Wrestle with ancient Wrong and overthrow The triumphs of Untruth. shall banish cloud, Found chanting temples open to the Light And shall restore, like peace that follows storm, Beautiful Sabbath, tracing on the sky The Rainbow as His arch memorial ! And He shall guide the erring heart and be The shining pilot of the utter lost, And surely to the Sun of Suns shall lead The long night-marches of humanity ! Yea, through the midnight like a spirit-moon, Over earth's dim-communing multitudes,
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Brightly shall walk the darkness, leading up
All tides of meditation into God!
Then after time's dark anguish, after all
The darts of death are showered, He shall rise Rejoicing, crowned with sudden resurrections, A mighty Morning, robed with rising suns ;- Who, shepherding salvations to the dawn, Joyfully sings, and lifts his gladness high, Leading like lambs His white millenniums !"
It is needless to comment upon such work. It speaks for itself. While in Holland Mr. Van Noppen rendered valuable assistance to the Boer cause. Often consulted by the various leaders to de- vise means and methods to prolong the campaign, he carried the propaganda into America. He made the English version of President Stein's Independence Proclamation which, transmitted to the English Government, severed the relations of the Orange . Free State with the British Empire and was received as a declara- tion of war. Afterward, in Paris, he met Kruger and Leyds, and on his return to Holland assisted the Boer Press Bureau at Dordrecht.
At Jamestown, New York, September 28, 1902, Mr. Van Noppen was married to Adah Maude Stanton Becker, a connection of the family that gave two generals to the War of 1812, and later Lin- coln's Secretary of War. He lives at present at Westerleigh, Staten Island. He has a warm and grateful memory of his friends in North Carolina, and his new friendships do not weaken the grasp on his heart of those sacred old associations.
Thomas Hume.
HENDERSON WALKER
H ENDERSON WALKER, President of the Pro- vincial Council of North Carolina and later Governor of the colony, was born in the year 1660. He appears to have come into the colony about 1682, just after he became of age. By profession he was a lawyer. "In 1695," says Hawks, "the records of the court show that he fell under the dis- pleasure of the judges for some act of contempt, and he was pro- hibited from appearing professionally before them. He probably purged himself of the contempt very soon, as in October of the same year he was sworn in as Attorney-General." Walker soon became a member of the Council, and on March 17, 1699, was commissioned (together with Daniel Akehurst) to act in con- junction with representatives from Virginia in running the boun- dary between the two colonies. For years this boundary was a subject of dispute, and it was not settled definitely until a long time thereafter.
For several years Mr. Walker was one of the justices of the General Court of the province. The original minute-book of this tribunal is now in the office of the Secretary of State, at Raleigh.
Upon the death of Governor John Harvey, on July 3, 1699, Walker was chosen his successor, and presided over the govern- ment of the colony until his death.
At first governors were appointed for the county of Albemarle,
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but about 1689 Philip Ludwell was appointed Governor of "that part of Carolina that lies north and east of Cape Fear," and he appointed a lieutenant-governor for North Carolina. Thomas Harvey was Deputy-Governor of North Carolina under Governor Archdale from 1694 and until his death, and then Henderson Walker, as President of the Council, succeeded to the admin- istration ; and during the decade the colony was under their rule there was contentment, quiet, progress and development. They were among the principal inhabitants, and promoted the interests of the people.
In his History of North Carolina (Vol. 2, p. 502), Doctor Hawks sums up the character of Governor Walker and the merits of his administration in the following language :
"The character of Henderson Walker deservedly stood high. Without much brilliancy, he possessed a sound mind, and was not unskilled in his profession. Naturally amiable, he was conscientiously religious; and few of those occupying elevated positions in his day did more than he did to obtain and perpetuate in Albemarle the benefits of Christianity. . . . It was during the administration of Walker that a very important change was made in the judiciary. Up to this time, the General Court-the highest tribunal in the province-had been held by the acting governor, the dep- uties of the Lords Proprietors, and two assistants. In addition to the fact that the judges were much too numerous (two more would have been enough for a jury), there was the greater evil arising from the circum- stance that there was never any security to the people that a majority of the court would know anything about the law, for they were not trained to the profession. . . . To remedy this evil, the Proprietors (notwith- standing Chalmers says they took no notice of Albemarle for seven years) appear to have issued a commission appointing five justices of the Supreme Court, two of whom were named of the quorum. and the presence of one, of which two was necessary to constitute a court."
To the above observations Doctor Hawks adds the remark :
"Walker's rule was exceedingly mild and judicious, if we may judge from the testimony of contemporaries, and the favorable report he left behind him."
In a list of American governors, with the manner of the election of each, made about the year 1700, we find this entry :
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"Henderson Walker, Governor of North Carolina, chosen by the Coun- cil only, in ye room of Thomas Harvey, deceased."
In his religious tenets Governor Walker was an adherent of the Church of England, and was elected one of the vestrymen of Chowan Precinct in 1701. The vestry of which he was a member gave a contract in November, 1701, for putting up a church building. Thus was founded St. Paul's Parish, at Edenton, though the present house of worship there is of more recent construction. In a letter dated October 21, 1703. and addressed to the Bishop of London, Governor Walker gives some interesting information concerning the condition of affairs in Albemarle, and incidentally mentions some important points in the history of the colony. He says: "We have been settled near fifty years in this place," which would make the original settlement some- what earlier than 1660; and, "I may justly say most part of twenty-one years, in my own knowledge, without priest or altar ; and before that time, according to all that appears to me, much worse. George Fox some years ago came into these parts, and, by strange infatuations, did infuse the Quakers' principles into some small number of the people, which did and hath continued to grow every since very numerous, by reason of their yearly sending in men to encourage and exhort them to their wicked principles."
From this statement it appears that there were no Quakers to speak of among the first settlers, but that the Quaker element had its rise about the time of Fox's visit, in 1672, some twelve years after the settlement.
Governor Walker continues, and says that "some time about four years ago" ( 1699) Doctor Bray sent to Albeinarle Mr. Daniel Brett, a minister appointed to this place, who was the first minister of the Church of England to come to Albemarle. "We did about this time two years, with a great deal of care and management, get an Assembly, and we passed an act for building of churches and establishing a maintenance for a minister among us; and in pursuance thereto we have built one church, and there are two more agoing forward." But up to that time that act had not been ratified by the Lords Proprietors, and Governor Walker urged
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the bishop to have it ratified and "to send some worthy good man among us to regain the flock and so perfect us in our duty to God."
. Governor Walker married Ann Lillington, a daughter of Major Alexander Lillington. After Walker's death this lady became the wife of Edward Moseley, one of North Carolina's most noted colonists.
Governor Walker died April 14, 1704, and was first buried five miles below Edenton, but recently his remains have been removed to the burial ground of St. Paul's Church, in Edenton. Of this parish, as has been noted, he was a vestryman. His epi- taph refers to him as one "during whose administration the prov- ince enjoved that tranquillity which it is to be wished it may never want."
Marshall De Lancey Haywood.
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" arte base of" bris bean 1 ir aved of godleid ses 1.LoD
efeirolos beton jeom
WILLIAM HENRY WATKINS
T HE writer hesitates to trust himself with pen in the portrayal of the character of the Southern boy who, reared in the love of the Union and in loyal respect for its flag, was required by loy- alty to his State to renounce such allegiance and to pledge his life and his all in the titanic struggle against that flag for the defense of his home, his altar and his fireside. The ordeal confronting the Southern boy in 1861, in the glow of the first blush of his blooming manhood and in the early pride of his conscious strength, was then and will ever be one of pathetic interest and tender, touching memory. To give freely of his blood-to give cheerfully four of the choicest years of his life-and to give gladly his inheritance, his hard earnings and his all, in that fratricidal conflict of fire and blood and death in the war between the States-without reward or the hope of it -- must ever and forever form a picture around which shall gather and cluster and linger the halo of our warmest admiration and ten- derest affections. It was the supreme test of every fiber of. man- hood. Under the awful test the flower of Southern manhood reached full bloom.
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