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Bishop Green. Cor. of the NEWS AND OBSERVER.
CHAPEL HILL, N. C., March 26.
I have not seen enough said in our North Carolina papers concerning the life and death of this excellent gentleman. Bishop Green was a true North Carolinian, a thorough-bred gentleman and churchman of the old school, and though it is nearly forty years since he accepted the bishopric of Mississippi, still he never lost a jot of his love for and pride in his native state; and he was well loved here in return. Those who were young when he went awat and whose heads are whitening now, recall him fondly in those days, and tell their children it was a privilege to have know him.
He was a professor of Belles-Lettres at the University a number of years, occupying till 1850 the stately old mansion which afterwards was the Gov. Swain's residence till his death, in 1867. HIs second wife, Mrs. Charlotte Fleming Green, was one of the excellent of the earth, a woman of rare and exquisite delicacy and refinement of mind and person and manner, but with a strength and dignity under that feminine softness which made her one to be revered, even in the bloom of her youth. They carried with them from Chapel Hill a large and interesting family.
It is given to some people to be interesting themselves not only, but to have always around them interesting people. A romance or two might be written about some of the members of that family whom I knew in Chapel Hill. Excellent neighbors,
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bishop returned to us from time to time, with cheerful benedictions. Towards the last, in extreme old age, he breathed nothing but love and benignity, presenting us a picture truly venerable and apostolic. His last word in his last letter to his friend Dr. Phillips, written only a week or two before his death, was: "Pray for the unity of the church."
The Bishop was of Quaker ancestry, and something of the simplicity and loving kindness that marked his character may be ascribed tothis descent. In early life, his churchmanship was of the old-fashioned type - "high and dry." He was a zealous worker for the church and was never quite so happy as when he had begun, or was assisting to consecrate a new church edifice. The pretty little Episcopal church edifice in Chapel Hill owes its existence to his labors. Every birck in it is a memorial of him. The chancel had been draped in black since his death, which occured February 13.
But few particulars of his last hours have reached his friends here. His life had been greatly prolonged and his health to the age of 89 was wonderful. He enjoyed life to the last, and said he prayed he might not be having all his good things in this life. To a man of 89 years death cannot be said to come unexpectedly, but our good friend seems to have died suddenly. He had waked to a new day, alwasy a subject for gratitude to him, and had just repeated, "Glory to God - for all the blessings of the light." "Keep me, O Keep me, King of Kings, Beneath thine own Almightly Wings," when death touched him softly and his matin song was finished in Heaven.
I was very much pleased to learn from President Battle yesterday that Mr. P. C. Cameron has signified his intention to place a tablet to the memory of his old friend and his father's life-long friend in University Memorial Hall. Bishop green belonged to the class of 1818. The venerable Dr. Morrison, first president of Davidson College, was a classmate, and is, I think, now sole survivor. From 1820 to 1850 Bishop Green was associated more or less intimately with all the men then prominent in North Carolina: Bishop Ravenscroft, Bishop Ives, Judge Cameron, Judge Badger, Judge Henderson, Judge Nash, Judge Battle, Gov. Swain, Senator Mangum, Gov. Graham, Hon. Hugh Waddell.
These good and great men have all passed away. They were an honor to the state in their life. People were proud to know them, and loved to talk of them. When they die we should recall them from time to time - tell our children what they were, how they lived and why they were