THOMAS CARTER JOHNSON.
In Memoriam.
Colonel Thomas C. Johnson was born near Lynchburg, Va., on the 22nd of March, 1820. He was converted and joined the Methodist Church in his seventeenth year. In 1842 he graduated with the highest honors of his class at Randolph-Macon College. In the fall of the same year he was married to Martha R. Scott, daughter of H. B. Scott, of Nelson county, Va., and was soon after appointed Professor of Mathematics and Natural Sciences in the Female Collegiate Institute in Buckingham county. This position he filled ten months, when he removed to Potosi, Washington county, Mo., whither the parents of his wife had preceded him. Here he accepted a position in a classical school, in the meantime assiduously prosecuting the study of law. He was soon after admitted to the bar, and took a position with the foremost in the ranks of the profession in his district. The year 1849 was an eventful one. He conceived the idea of building the Iron Mountain railroad, and suggested it to the people of the county. He was by them nominated and elected to the General Assembly for the purpose of securing the passage of a bill for the establishment of that road.
In June, 1849, the cholera raged in Potosi. He was stricken down, and, while violently ill, his wife and infant daughter died of this disease. The following winter he served in the Missouri Legislature, and secured the passage of the bill for the Iron Mountain road. He was subsequently largely concerned in developing and mapping the entire railroad system in that State.
In 1851 he removed to St. Louis, and was appointed land agent and attorney for the Pacific railroad. In the year 1853 he was married, the second time, to Pattie B. Scott, eldest daughter of Rev. Robert Scott, deceased, of the Virginia Conference. He was elected in 1858 a member of the Missouri State Senate from the city of St. Louis. In this body he at once took a prominent position, and was a member of nearly every important committee of the body. In the session of 1860-'61 he was chairman of the Committee on Federal Relations, at that time the most important committee of the Senate.
He was decidedly conservative in his views, and anxious to secure the preservation of the Union, if it could be done consistently with the rights of the South; but when the Peace Congress proved a failure, the Crittenden Compromise was rejected, and Virginia seceded, he became a secessionist, and was heart and soul with the South throughout the struggle. His position and opinions on the vexed question forced him to leave Missouri. Without hesitation he sacrificed all for his principles, left his family in St. Louis, and joined the forces under General Sterling Price, on whose staff he served for two years as volunteer aid. Being convinced that the many reverses in that department, at that period, were due in a great measure to lack and inferiority of transportation, he called the attention of the authorities at Richmond to this point. He was soon after authorized to establish the Confederate Transportation Works at Columbus, Ga. To this important interest he directed his whole energies, and succeeded in establishing one of the best arranged, most extensive and complete machine shops in the Confederacy. This position he retained until the close of the War, when he removed with his family to Montgomery, Ala., and returned to the practice of law. While there he was elected to the Presidency of Randolph-Macon College. On reaching Virginia and entering upon his duties he found great difficulties in his path. But with characteristic energy he at once addressed himself to the task of re-establishing the College. Nearly two years of unremitted toil, under the most discouraging circumstances, convinced him that success could never crown his efforts at that location. He felt that to make the College a success it must be removed to a more accessible point. Fortunately, just at this juncture of affairs, the hotel property at Ashland was thrown upon the market. With his quick foresight, Colonel Johnson realized the importance of securing this eligible location.
It was not to be expected that the removal of the College would be accomplished without strong opposition on the part of some of its warmest friends. But in the midst of the contest Colonel Johnson bore himself like a Christian gentleman. He could appreciate the views of others, while he felt that the very existence of the institution depended on its removal to a more suitable site. We believe, indeed we have reason to know, that he entertained for those who opposed him in his plans no other feelings than those of friendship and Christian affection. To his particular friends, who were often indignant at the hard speeches uttered against him, he would reply, "Never mind, I keep my heart right before God." Believing that he was acting for the best he went forward like a true and earnest man in what he regarded as the path of duty.
Having seen the removal of the College determined upon, to relieve the Trustees of all the embarrassment in the election of a Faculty, he generously came forward and tendered his resignation, and soon after started to the West, the scene of his early labors and successes. It was while en route to St. Louis (on August 8, 1868,) that he met with the terrible accident that in a few hours closed his noble and useful life. The death of Colonel Johnson was a calamity to our church and to our country. He had passed the period of life when men are seized by ambition and borne off in pursuit of wealth or fame. He had gained both; the former he had lost in standing for his native land and State rights; the latter he still possessed in a more valuable form, as purified by the power and faith of his religion. Repeatedly has he said to the writer, "I only wish to live to do good." To the Christian education of the young men of the South he was ardently devoted, and to this work we know he wished to devote the energies of a manly and mature intellect.
The spontaneous tributes to the memory of this good man will best show how he was appreciated by those who knew him.
In a letter now before us from Rev. Charles K. Marshall, D. D., of Mississippi, to his bereaved family, that eminent minister says: "From my first acquaintance to this hour my affections took to and clung around him as one of the highest and noblest types of exalted manhood, as a true, steadfast, appreciating friend; and as a brother in Christ with whose inward spirit it was a joy to commune. Few men cherished so high and sacred views of the dignity and ends of life. Usefulness was the keynote of his being. Unselfish, wide-minded, spiritual, transparent, pure, he was a living epistle known and read of all. His life was hid in Christ, and the highest ambition of his soul was to live to and for Christ."
Rev. Dr. Deems, of New York, says: "His abilities and virtues rendered him one of the most useful men I have ever known. Every interview I have had with him since our acquaintance began has served to deepen my respect for the loftiness of his character."
Bishop McTyeire, who was a fellow-student with him at Randolph-Macon, says: "In church and state it seemed to me he was just such an one as we need now. With gratitude I remember his high Christian influence as a student. Our meeting and reunion at Montgomery, twenty-five years after, was one of the most pleasing events of my life. Who of us has not coveted his gifts?"
Such is the testimony, voluntarily given, by this eminent minister.
We are enabled to give a more detailed account of this sad event from a letter written by the proprietor of the hotel at Mattoon:
"When Mr. Johnson came out of the saloon of the sleeping car, the conductor told him to 'hurry up.' Thinking he would be left if he did not make haste, Mr. J. went quickly forward through the car, and was just in the act of stepping across to the forward car when the cars separated, and he fell on the track, and before he could recover himself he was struck by the rear car and fatally injured. His right leg was crushed in two places and his back broken. As soon as possible he was taken from under the car. His first words were, 'My friends, my name is Thomas C. Johnson, of Boydton, Va.; take your pencil and write it down.' A stretcher was then procured, and he was brought to my house. We did all we could for him. Doctors were at hand from the moment he was hurt until he died. The injured leg was amputated; and on further examination it was found that his back was broken. He was then told that he was fatally injured and could live but a short time, and that any directions he had to give must be given quickly. He then gave directions as to the disposal of his body, requesting it to be sent to his friends in Virginia. He was emphatic in saying that his death was caused by the mismanagement of the railroad officials. Before his death, at his request, a notary public was sent for, and his testimony as to the cause of his death was legally taken. He was sensible to the last moment, and spoke with deep feeling of the overwhelming effect the tidings of his terrible and sudden death would have upon his family. I sat by his side and heard every word he uttered. The general opinion of the public here is that the railroad company is responsible for Mr. Johnson's death."
[Illustration: JUDGE W. J. KILBY, Trustee of College.]
[Illustration: PROF. MANSFIELD T. PEED, A. M., 1877. Prof. Emory
College, Ga.]
Such was the end of a most useful and devoted Christian. In the midst of strangers, mangled, and bleeding, he died. By the grace of God he was sustained and comforted. Calmly he surrendered his life into the hands of his Creator. How wonderful are the ways of Providence! The workmen die, but the work goes on. Is the doctrine of premonition true? We often incline to the belief that it is. In many cases there appears to be a conviction that the work of life is finished, and the soul feels itself nearing the portals of eternity. Speaking of Colonel Johnson's experience, one who knew him well says, "I can but think that the last six months of his life was a period of preparation for eternity. I was deeply impressed with his growth in grace, the fervor and earnestness of his piety, and his forbearance and patience under severe trials."
The close of life was in happy accord with his previous religious experience. A letter from Mattoon says: "He died in perfect peace. I never saw a more peaceful expression than rested on his face after death." He leaves to his family the priceless legacy of a pure and noble Christian life. May they move on to the meeting and reunion in the house of our Father in heaven.—W. W. BENNETT, in Richmond Advocate.
The committee of nine appointed to elect professors and a president (in case of Dr. Garland's declination to accept) met August 7, 1868. Dr. Garland having declined to accept the presidency, the committee, all being present, elected Rev. James A. Duncan, of the Virginia Conference, and an alumnus of the College (class of 1849), president, at a salary of $2,500 per annum, and use of residence. Subsequently, on the first day of September, the committee, all being present except Bishop Doggett, in conjunction with the President-elect, Duncan, who had accepted the presidency, proceeded to fill the chairs of instruction. Thomas R. Price, M. A., was elected Professor of Ancient Languages; Harry Estill, A. M., Professor of Mathematics; Richard M. Smith, Professor of Natural Sciences. Their salaries were fixed at $2,000 per annum with houses of residence.
[Illustration: PROF. THOMAS R. PRICE, M.A., LL. D., Founder of the
School of English.]
[Illustration: REV. JAMES A. DUNCAN, D. D., President Randolph-Macon
College, 1868-1877.]
Subsequently, at a meeting of the Board October 1, 1868, the chair of
Modern Languages was filled by the election of W. W. Valentine, of
Richmond.
The sudden and lamented death of the late President Johnson was announced to the Board, and appropriate resolutions in regard to him were adopted.
At a meeting of the Board, held November 20, 1868, Rev. Wm. B. Rowzie was appointed Agent of the College in the bounds of the Virginia, and Dr. Nelson Head Agent (till the succeeding Baltimore Conference), in the latter Conference.
[Illustration: PROF. HARRY ESTILL, A. M., Professor of Mathematics, 1868-1878.]
The College opened at Ashland, October 1, 1868.
With great labor and many embarrassments the College furniture, laboratories and libraries had been transferred from Boydton to Ashland, under the special superintendence of Rev. T. S. Campbell. The buildings on the campus had been remodeled and repaired, and were in fair condition for occupancy, and for the work and use to which they had been converted. They had in former years been used for a summer resort, to which many visitors annually repaired for health and dissipation. The largest building was the hotel, which had several buildings attached. In the centre of the grounds was the ball-room, flanked by dressing-rooms. This building was converted into a chapel and society halls, while the hotel became the main dormitory building. The bowling-alley and other buildings also became dormitories. Three buildings were fitted up for professor's houses. The rooms on the lower floors of the hotel were made lecture-rooms. Though the buildings were extemporised, the whole arrangement was comparatively convenient and comfortable. What was defective and might have been complained of was more than compensated by the superb Faculty of instruction provided for the students in attendance. First and foremost was the President, Rev. James A. Duncan, D. D. Of him we will let others who were associated with him speak. His colleagues were Professor Thomas R. Price, M. A., Professor Harry Estill, A. M., Professor Richard M. Smith, Professor W. W. Valentine.
[Illustration: PROF. RICHARD M. SMITH.]
[Illustration: MAIN COLLEGE BUILDING, ASHLAND, 1868-1875.]
Rarely has such a combination of teaching ability been found in any college, or one which met the needs of the time more fully.
The name of the President had drawn from his far-away Southern home one of the most original characters the College ever had among its matriculates, John Hannon, of Montgomery, Ala.
JOHN HANNON'S SKETCH OF DR. DUNCAN.
"In the autumn of 1868 upon the train I first met Dr. James A. Duncan, as I was going to Ashland. Full-orbed, approaching his zenith, this pulpit star thus came into my sky. Though he has years since set behind the grassy hills of Hollywood, the light of his great character still lingers in the valleys and on the high places of my being.
"It is impossible in a sketch like this to give the full spectrum of a character so rich as that of Dr. Duncan. There were X-rays, delicate gleamings of light from his presence, that could be felt, but do not photograph themselves upon the plates of a biography. He was not a man easy to forget.
"There is a sense in which every man is a word of God, or a syllable of the word. But in some the divine articulation is not so distinct. Regarding humanity as a written word, such characters are what scholars would call a 'disputed text.' Not so with James A. Duncan. Looking upon him no man could doubt the authorship. The divine autograph was there in capital letters. A look at him shook our faith in man as an evolution. We felt that that man was a creation.
"Would I had a presence,' said one of our brainiest men to me. A lady of my congregation asked a friend in a Boston dining parlor who a certain man was, remarking that she knew he must be a distinguished person, for she said, 'He has a presence.' The man was Phillips Brooks.
"Dr. Duncan had a presence. Who will ever forget that Napoleonic build? That physique, the very motion of which was silent music.
[Illustration: REV. J. W. COMPTON, R. M. C. 1867-'68—1868-'69. Removed with College from Boydton to Ashland. Pioneer preacher Pacific Coast for twenty-three years.]
[Illustration: REV. W. WADSWORTH, D. D., Author and Minister
North-Georgia Conference.]
"Tremendous was to be the draft on this superb physique during the ten years that followed the day I first looked on it. The College with its endowment had gone down amid the ruins of the Confederacy. The outlook was gloomy; but it was resolved to remove the tree to Ashland. Here the railway system of the South would renew its roots and make it bud and bloom again. Jefferson Davis was thought of for the presidency, but in a happy hour Dr. Duncan was chosen to lead the forlorn hope in its rebuilding. Without funds, without laboratory, without proper buildings, he addressed himself to the task. Providence came to his rescue. By one of those flashes of common sense, which not always light up church enterprises, a Faculty pre-eminently adapted to the work had been chosen. Professor Thomas R. Price, a name synonymous now with scholarship, was in the chair of Ancient Languages. Harry Estill filled the chair of Mathematics. Professor Richard M. Smith brought the ripe wisdom and experience of his distinguished life to the chair of Natural Sciences. W. W. Valentine held the keys of the Modern Languages.
"It has been said that what a university needs is not so much an endowment as a man. Randolph-Macon had men, and Dr. Duncan, a man among men. The Faculty itself was an endowment. Good material gathered around them as students. 'Facile princeps' among these were Wm. W. Smith, now LL. D., and President of the Randolph-Macon System of Colleges and Schools; Charles Carroll, now a brilliant lawyer of the Crescent city; Rhodes, since a judge in Baltimore; J. F. Twitty, of blessed memory, and a number of others.
"Dr. Duncan, while not technically trained as a teacher, yet showed himself a great teacher. What an inspiration he imparted to the band that gathered around him! How he lit up every dreary field of text! Blessed, yea, thrice blessed, was that school of young prophets. While himself the finest of models, nothing was farther from his thought than to make little 'Duncans' of every student. Bring up a boy in the way he should go, according to his bent, this was his idea. He would never have been guilty of putting the toga of Cicero upon Charles Spurgeon. With him good 'pork and beans' was not to be made into bad 'quail on toast.' 'Sing your own song,' only let that song be the best possible to you. Broad, Catholic-hearted Duncan!
"Making a great teacher did not spoil a great preacher in Duncan's case. On a 'star-map' of the pulpits of that day, the pulpit in the old ball-room chapel at Ashland would shine as a star of 'the first magnitude.' His sermons were not like Robertson's eruptions of internal volcanic fires lifting up new heights of thought; they were not Munsey's great, gorgeous cathedrals of polished words; neither were they Keener's cyclones filling the air with boulders of logic, cutting a pathway through forests of prejudice as old as our being. His eloquence was not the glacial magnificence of Wilson's great icebergs floating in polar seas with grassy shores; it was not Galloway's mountain torrent with 'optimism,' that music of heaven in its splash and the swiftness of redeeming love in its rush to the low places of earth. Very different was it from Sam Jones' wild tanglewood of tropic forest of mingled fruit and flowers and thorns. His sermons were the expression of what Carlyle would style a healthy nature. There was nothing wild or abnormal. They were like landscapes in a civilized land—great, like the movement of the seasons, like the coming of the tides—as the processes of nature are great; great as a summer day is great. The introduction was morning!—sunrise! not striking, not surprising. The thoughts not larks soaring heavenward, were rather sparrows on the sward. But we could see great stretches of thought before us. Now the morning changes into high noon. It is the sermon proper. We are now in the midst of vast grain-fields of ripe thought. Divisions barely visible above the heads of the choicest of the wheat waving now in the zephyrs of pathos. Shouts at times among the listeners, as like reapers they garner ripe sheaves into their bosoms; orchards now growing with ripe fruit.
"The peroration comes naturally, as evening follows noon. We hardly know when it comes. A splendid sunset, often tears like the dewdrops in the flowers of new resolves, now springing in the soul; solemn impressions, like shadows, growing larger; a deep hush upon everything. The sermon closes. It is night. But stars of hope are shining in the sky of the soul.
"At Haslup's Grove, in the seventies, in a great sermon, the rush to the altar was so great that the enclosure had to be torn down. It was pentecostal.
"I heard him on two great occasions. In 1876, along with Dr. Landon C. Garland and Lovick Pierce, he was fraternal delegate from our church to our sister Methodism at the General Conference in Baltimore. After years of estrangement the two Methodisms were meeting again. It was an occasion. You could feel it. The great building was thronged. When the time came for Duncan to speak he threw his soul into the 'God speed you!' of seven hundred thousand Southern Methodists. The audience for awhile it seemed would go wild. The day was a great triumph.
"During that same Conference the princely 'Jeff. Magruder' organized a great mass-meeting of the Sunday-schools of the Southern Methodist churches in Baltimore. Bishop Vincent, Secretary of the Sunday-School Board of the Methodist Episcopal Church, then in the prime of his powers, General Clinton B. Fiske, and Dr. Duncan were to speak. The speeches of Vincent and Fiske had been so superb that a gifted minister remarked to me, 'I am sorry for Duncan.' I responded, 'I am sorry for any man who has to follow two such speeches.' But I found that I did not yet know him. He pulled out new organ stops in his great soul that afternoon. His speech was a brilliant improvisation. The audience was captured. Southern Methodists who gloried in the flesh were radiant.
"When going to New Orleans, in 1877, I met him going to Washington City to preach the first sermon to the President-elect, R. B. Hayes. It was not long before wires flashed to me the startling news of his death. Duncan, Marvin, A. T. Bledsoe, Doggett, in a single year. Heaven was drawing heavily upon our beloved church. Duncan's old pupil, President Smith, took up the work he and the sainted Bennett laid down.
"The Randolph-Macon System of Schools and Colleges is a worthy monument to the memory of our dead Duncan. May the graduates of these schools be living stones in the living shaft, ever rising higher and higher to the memory of Olin, Garland, Smith, and their successors, who spent their best days for the advancement of Christian education at our alma mater."
The number of students matriculated the first session was 67. Under all the embarrassments and difficulties of the situation, this number was as great as could have been expected. The income from such a small number was insufficient to meet the expenses, and here ensued the old trouble, which had been such a clog in the past, that is, straitened finances. The condition of the country was anything but favorable to any effort to raise funds for the College. Various plans were proposed, some of which were adopted, but none of them brought speedy relief, and the embarrassment became very onerous and trying. By the efforts of the Agent, Rev. W. B. Rowzie, and the securing of a loan by D'Arcy Paul, Esq., the College was carried through the first session.
The first annual report of the President was made June 21, 1869. The following synopsis is given:
Congratulates the Board on the increase of patronage; the zeal and efficiency of the Faculty; the diligence and good order of the students; the general healthfulness and pleasant harmony of all connected with the institution, and the increased confidence of the public in the permanency and success of Randolph-Macon College; expresses the conviction that the only condition prerequisite to complete success, under the providence of God, is a determined and energetic purpose to succeed; affirms that the demand for such an institution to secure important interests of Methodism is imperative;…. refers to his visit to the Baltimore and North Carolina Conferences and the cordial reception given by these Conferences; recommends a fiscal secretary or director, whose duty it shall be to take entire control of the financial interests of the College, except as to matters in the hands of the Proctor, and to do all he can by travelling and speaking for the College.
The following degrees were conferred, on the recommendation of the Faculty, viz.: LL. D., on Professor Francis H. Smith, of the University of Virginia; D. D., on Rev. James L. Pierce, of the Georgia Conference, Rev. William G. Connor, of the Texas Conference, and Rev. John C. Granbery, of the Virginia Conference. The commencement in June was well attended, especially by visiting Trustees and others from the Baltimore Conference.
An excellent dwelling for the President had been erected by the liberal aid of a friend in Richmond. At an adjourned meeting of the Board, held in Richmond, Va., next November, there were several causes for encouragement. The Agent reported subscriptions amounting to over $13,000. Of this Samuel O. Moon, Esq., of Albemarle, gave $5,000 in Virginia bonds; the Society of Alumni, $1,200; Major W. T. Sutherlin, of Danville, $1,500 ($300 per annum for five years to meet current expenses). But the most important action taken was on the suggestion of Rev. W. H. Christian, an alumnus of the College (class of 1851.) In response to this suggestion, the following resolutions were adopted:
"Resolved, That we request the Virginia Conference to order that the deficiency in the yearly revenues of the College (which shall be reported by the Board to each annual session of the Conference) shall be divided among all the districts of the Conference, and sub-divided among all the stations and circuits by the district stewards, as in case of the Conference collection, and shall be raised by collections in every congregation, and embraced in the annual report of the recording steward of every charge to the Financial Board of the Conference.
"Resolved, That when the Virginia Conference shall have adopted the plan proposed, all its ministers shall be entitled to send their sons of proper age and acquirements to College without payment of tuition fees; that the Baltimore Conference, by adopting the same plan, shall be entitled to the same privilege, and that $2,500 be fixed as the amount to be raised by each of these Conferences for the next year."
This action has been considered, and rightly so, to have been for the time and under the embarrassments of the surroundings the most important and efficient ever taken by the Board. With a small assessment of about five cents on each member of the church in the two Conferences, the annual income was in a short time increased by the sum of $4,000, which was equal to the dividends on an endowment of about $70,000. The Conferences adopted the plan, and have annually raised a large percentage of the assessment, the Virginia Conference having in 1882 increased its assessment to $3,500.
[Illustration: REV. W. H. CHRISTIAN, D. D., Virginia Conference.]
In looking back on the period since, nearly thirty years, it really looks as if, without this action, the College could not have continued its work. Certainly this work would have been greatly narrowed and restricted. Great honor, therefore, should be bestowed on the name of William H. Christian as the mover of this plan, and the friends of Christian education in the State should render to the Conferences grateful thanks for having, under the promptings of the good Spirit, acted so promptly on the suggestion and carried it out for so many years.
[Illustration: JOHN HOWARD, A. M.]
The year 1869 was otherwise a notable year. In the latter part of the year the first general election for State officers and a Legislature was held since the close of the war. With the inauguration of the Governor elected at this election and resumption of the legislative functions by the General Assembly, the State resumed its normal condition, and military rule ceased to exist.
At the meeting of this first Legislature, a committee, which had been charged with that duty, appeared before the body and asked and obtained the change of the charter, and the sanction to the removal of the College from its original site to Ashland. The amended charter reads as follows:
"[Section] I. That the removal of the aforesaid College is hereby ratified and confirmed, and that there be, and is hereby, established at Ashland, in the county of Hanover, in this Commonwealth, a seminary of learning for the instruction of youth in the various branches of science and literature, the useful arts, agriculture, and the learned and foreign languages."
The suit which was instituted to enjoin the removal of the College never came to an issue. It was ably defended on the part of the majority of the Board by John Howard, Esq., of Richmond (class of 1844), and the argument was printed. It is worthy of reprinting here, but space will not permit.
The second session of the College had a larger attendance than the first by fifty, of which number twenty-five were ministerial students.
About the close of the first term of the second session (1869-'70) one of the professors was taken from the College by death—Richard M. Smith, Professor of Natural Science. He was the oldest man of the Faculty.
The following preamble and resolutions, drafted by Professor Price and adopted by the Faculty, was endorsed and adopted by the Trustees at an adjourned meeting held in Richmond, February 23, 1870:
"Upon us as friends who loved and honored him, upon the College whose faithful officer he was, upon the classes he taught with self-sacrificing zeal, upon the community and the church in which his virtues made him eminent, an overwhelming sorrow has, under God's will, fallen in the death of our late colleague, Professor Richard M. Smith. Even those who had not the pleasure of knowing, from intimate association, the beauties of his private character, may from the knowledge of his career form some conception of the vigor of his mind and the unspotted virtue of his life. For us, who had in him the closer and tenderer interests of a common work and an undisturbed friendship, his sweet temper, his wise conversation and lofty unselfishness, will ever be a source of blended sorrow and consolation; be it, therefore,
"Resolved, 1. That we tender, as a body, to the widow and family of our dearly beloved colleague, our respectful sympathy in their bereavement.
"2. That we request our President to publish this expression of our heart-felt sorrow for the friend whom we have lost."
Professor Smith had been a prominent man in his native State, first as an educator, then as editor of the Alexandria Sentinel, afterwards of the Richmond Enquirer. He was the first Professor to die at his post.
[Illustration: PROF. WM. A. SHEPARD, A. M., Class 1857; Major
Confederate States Army.]
The Board, after paying tribute to his memory, proceeded to supply the vacant chair.
On the first ballot Professor William Arthur Shepard, of the Southern Female College of Petersburg, was elected to the place. He was no stranger to the College, having served as Professor prior to the war, and having resigned his place to go into the service. Though a Northern man by birth, he threw his heart and energies into the Southern cause, and was so true and faithful that, after having been disabled for field service by wounds, he was promoted to be Major and Assistant Commissary.
It would be safe to say that the College never had a warmer friend or a truer man in its service than he proved himself to be for over thirty years. He entered at once on the duties of his chair.
At a meeting of the Board held in Baltimore, March, 1870, at the session of the Baltimore Conference, that Conference was requested to make an assessment to aid the College, on the same plan as that adopted by the Virginia Conference. This the Conference agreed to make.
At the annual meeting, June, 1870, the President made the annual report, which gave the attendance as 110; total earnings from fees for the session, $5,040. A preparatory school was recommended to take charge of students unable to take College courses; recommended employment of assistants in the departments of Mathematics and Ancient Languages, particularly the latter, so that Prof. Price might initiate the School of English, as described in the Catalogue. Reference was made to the old trouble of financial embarrassment; also, to his efforts during the last summer's vacation to arouse interest in the College, which efforts he proposed to continue the coming summer as far as practicable.
[Illustration: JAMES M. BARROW, A. M., Superintendent of Public
Schools, Columbus, Miss.]
The Executive Committee reported that they had appointed as instructor in the Introductory Department, as authorized, Col. Henry W. Wingfield (A. M. Randolph-Macon College), at a salary not to exceed $800.
The Finance Committee reported as follows: Liabilities, $26,475; assets (outside of College buildings and lots), $31,375. On some of the bills payable a discount of 12 per cent. had been charged.
At this meeting Rev. W. E. Munsey, D. D., was elected Financial
Secretary. This position Dr. Munsey declined to accept.
Dr. William W. Bennett resigned the place of Agent, and Rev. George W.
Nolley was elected in his place.
[Illustration: CHARLES CARROLL, A. M. 1872. Washington Hall Builder.]
On the recommendation of the Faculty, the following degrees were conferred: Master of Arts, on James M. Barrow, of Virginia; Doctor of Divinity, on Rev. James W. Wightman, of Kentucky.
Rev. David Thomas was appointed as Agent to attend to subscriptions and collections within the bounds of the Baltimore Conference.
Richard Irby resigned the office of Treasurer, which he had held for two years, and William Willis, Jr., was elected in his stead.
[Illustration: H. C. PAULETT, One of the builders of Library Hall.]
In the third session (1870-'71) the effort to build the Library building for the halls and libraries of the two literary societies was inaugurated. Up to this time the two societies had occupied the ante-rooms attached to the chapel, which were very cramped and inconvenient. Who was the first to suggest the building of the new edifice is not known to this writer, but it is well known who the parties were who did the main work in raising the funds. They were, on the part of the Washington Society, Charles Carroll, of North Carolina, and H. C. Paulett, of Virginia; and on the part of the Franklin Society, William W. Smith and Jordan W. Lambert, of Virginia.
An old alumnus offered to give to the Society which should raise the largest amount a copy of Audubon's Birds of America.
[Illustration: JORDAN W. LAMBERT, Franklin Hall Builder.]
This enterprise was prosecuted with great zeal and skill, and the building devised by the young men, let to contract by them, and paid for by them (in most part), went on to completion. It was the first brick building ever erected on the campus, and the first ever built in the town. More will be said of this in due time.
At a called meeting of the Board, held in Richmond, February, 1871, the committee appointed to make sale of the buildings and property near Boydton reported the sale of the same to Henry G. McGonegal, of New York city. The sum of the purchase money was $12,500. This included the claim on the United States government, which was transferred with the property to the purchaser.
This sale was a great sacrifice, embracing as it did the two large College buildings, the Steward's Hall, Hotel, and President's residence, all brick structures, and, in addition, the old Preparatory School building (also brick), and three other dwellings, and several hundred acres of land. But the pecuniary obligations of the College were heavy and pressing, and the rate of interest, even on bonds secured by real estate, ten per cent. Under these circumstances, the sale was ratified, and the Board parted with the old premises, built, for the most part, in 1830-'32, at a cost largely over $50,000.
At the annual meeting in June, 1871, the President, in his report, spoke in high terms of the studiousness and good deportment of the students. The whole number in attendance was 142. The prospects for further increase were encouraging.
Prof. W. W. Valentine resigned the chair of Modern Languages, chiefly on account of delicate health. He was a faithful officer and a nice gentleman; he enjoyed the respect and regard of his colleagues and the Board.
Great embarrassment had been experienced on account of want of funds to meet promptly the salaries of the Faculty.
The appointment of a "fiscal executive officer, competent to execute the plans of the Board, and also to invent schemes of his own for obtaining funds," was strongly pressed. This recommendation was promptly adopted, and a committee appointed to define his duties and to nominate a suitable man for the place.
During the session this committee made report, defining the duties of the Financial Secretary, and placing all the business matters and financial interests in the hands of said officer. He was also to travel as much as practicable through the Conferences to influence patronage, secure donations and bequests, and also to encourage the Conference educational collections. The salary of the officer was fixed at $2,000 per annum.
[Illustration: REV. A. G. BROWN., D. D.]
To fill the office the committee nominated Rev. A. G. Brown, of the Virginia Conference. He was not a stranger to the College, having served as chaplain there in former years. He was duly elected, and a resolution adopted asking the Virginia Conference to assign him to this work.
This was a fortunate appointment. The Financial Secretary, after entering on his duties, proceeded promptly to adjust the matters of the College, and soon got them into manageable shape.
Prof. Thomas R. Price appeared before the Board and explained his views in regard to the "School of English."
On motion, it was—
Resolved, That the Faculty be, and they are hereby, authorized to establish, if they find it possible, "a School of English and Literature."
This most important move was on the same general plan adopted in 1835, and carried out for several years by Prof. E. D. Sims after his return from Europe, where he had spent several years studying Anglo-Saxon and other languages preparatory to this course.
It does not seem, however, that Prof. Price was aware that such a course had been previously established, and it was as original with him as it was with the first mover in it. Fortunately, in this second movement it became a permanent course, and the influence of the move has spread far and wide.
[Illustration: REV. W. W. ROYALL, D. D., (R. M. C., 1872-'75.) Missionary to China. Member Virginia Conference, M. E. Church South.]
LETTER OF PROF. THOMAS R. PRICE, LL. D.
"COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK.
"Capt. Richard Irby, Randolph-Macon College:
"DEAR SIR,—The President and Trustees of Randolph-Macon College, in 1868-'70, deserve, I think, the credit of having made the boldest and wisest move in education that has taken place in my time. Dr. Duncan, above all, so great and wise in many directions, was, in my judgment, the most deeply devoted and the most far-sighted friend of collegiate education I have known. When made a member of his Faculty, in 1868, as Professor of Greek and Latin, I had, with my large classes, to struggle against great difficulties and grave discouragements. Amid all I had his tender sympathy and wise and loving help. The fundamental difficulty of all soon revealed itself to me. I was seeking, as all instructors of Greek and Latin of that period were seeking, to give a knowledge of the ancient languages to boys and young men that knew not enough of their own language to receive it or apply it. It was irrational, absurd, almost criminal, for example, to expect, a young man, whose knowledge of English words and construction was scant and inexact, to put into English a difficult thought of Plato or an involved period of Cicero. Dr. Duncan, to whom I imparted my conviction, shared with me the sense of the grave evil. Braver and more hopeful than I, he bade me not to despair, but to cut at the root of the trouble by introducing the study of English. His eloquence and radical good sense won the majority of the Trustees, and the English school was founded. I had the honor, which I prize highly, of having been made professor of English, giving up the Latin to Dr. James A. Harrison. I had the duty laid on me, by the Trustees, of drawing up the programme of the new course and of selecting text-books and supplementing text-books by lectures. My plan was, through the course of five years, to make the literary and historical study of our great language go forward evenly balanced. I began with the study of grammar and of easy texts in the preparatory section, and then, year after year, thus formed in succession the four college classes up to the Senior and graduation. I cannot give you the exact dates. The struggle began, I think, in 1869, and it was carried on to full success by 1873-'74. The catalogues of the College will give the work and programme of each year.
"To Dr. Duncan, and to the good and wise men of the Trustees, I am profoundly grateful for having used me to carry out the bold and noble design. It was their own work—not suggested from the outside at all, imitating nothing that existed, springing from their clear perception of what education meant and from their sense of duty to their church and their people.
"Yours very truly. THOMAS R. PRICE."
RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE AND THE STUDY OF ENGLISH.
Prof. J. B. Henneman, of the University of Tennessee, writes as follows in the Sewanee Review. It is gratitying that the good work done by Randolph-Macon is so freely acknowledged:
"It was Randolph-Macon College, rather than the State University of Virginia, though it was the work of one of her graduates, that was to have the distinction of creating a School of English in the South which should send forth apostles with all the fervor of converts and enthusiasts. Randolph-Macon College would have deserved notice for devoting a separate chair to English Literature as early as 1836, almost from its inception; and Edward Dromgoole Sims, a Master of Arts of the University of North Carolina, gave a course on Historical English in the year 1839. He was installed in that year as Professor of English, after a stay in Europe, where he heard lectures on Anglo-Saxon. Tradition tells how, having no text-books, he used the blackboards for his philological work. At the end of three years he removed to the University of Alabama in consequence of having contracted a marriage not then allowed under the laws of Virginia. He was preparing a series of text-books in Old English, tradition again says, when he died, in 1845. Had he accomplished his purpose, these works would have preceded Klipstein's in point of time. (Other occupants of the chair of English at Randolph-Macon were William M. Wightman and David S. Doggett, both afterwards bishops in the Methodist Church, South.) It was again at Randolph-Macon College (though now removed from Mecklenburg to Hanover county) that, immediately after the war, there was founded a distinct school of English, based on historic and scientific principles, and productive of far-reaching results. I believe that I am but paying a worthy tribute to one whom all his pupils have found a helpful guide and inspiring instructor in making the statement that this movement was mainly due to the inspiration and effort of one man—Thomas R. Price.
"The suggestion of the course of English at Randolph-Macon College sprang from the study of the ancient languages. The feeling existed that it was impossible to expect appreciation of idioms in a foreign language when students knew nothing about those in their own tongue. To quote from Professor Price's own words at the time: 'It was irrational, absurd, almost criminal, for example, to expect a young man, whose knowledge of English words and constructions was scant and inexact, to put into English a difficult thought of Plato or an involved period of Cicero.' The course pursued in consequence was entirely original in its premises, and endeavored to meet these difficulties. Both the disease and remedy were brought out by the conditions present; and to this, I think, may be ascribed, in large measure, the success of the movement and its value as a stimulus. The end set was to place, in the ordinary college course, the study of English on an equal footing with that of Latin or Greek, giving it the same time and attention, aiming at the same thoroughness, and enforcing the same strictness of method. A knowledge of the early forms of English was demanded, not as philology pure and simple, constituting an end in itself, but as a means for acquiring a true, appreciative knowledge of the mother tongue, and thereby for understanding its literature and other literatures all the more. It now seems almost incredible that it required so great an effort at the time to take this step or that old traditions could become so firmly crystallized.
"Professor Price's efforts succeeded all the more easily in that they were seconded by his presiding officer, the Rev. Dr. James A. Duncan, a man of singular breadth and sympathy of mind, who had grouped about him, irrespective of church and denominational ties, a band of worthy associates. Price, as Professor of Greek and Latin, gave up the latter to his colleague, James A. Harrison, who had charge of the modern languages, and taking control of the English, developed it side by side with his Greek, so as to cover a course through four continuous years. This was the result of the work of two sessions, 1868-'70. The movement soon spread far and wide. Other institutions, impelled by the same needs, either imitated it outright—some of them actually going so far as always to unite the English department with the Greek, as if there were some subtle virtue in the connection (building possibly even wiser than they knew)—or developed out of their own necessities similar arrangements.
"After the men at Randolph-Macon had been drilled in the rudiments and given their primary inspiration, many of them were dispatched to Europe for further training, and returned Doctors of Leipzig and fired with a new zeal. In mere appearances, it should seem as if this Randolph-Macon migration to Leipzig was the beginning of the attraction exerted by that University on young Southern scholars, an attraction which has been rivalled in recent years only by that of the neighboring Johns Hopkins. The land lay open before these young men, and they proceeded to occupy it. Robert Sharp returned Doctor from Leipzig, and was soon called to Tulane; William M. Baskervill returned Doctor from Leipzig, and started an impulse at Wofford College, South Carolina, which he broadened and deepened after his transfer, in 1881, to Vanderbilt; Robert Emory Blackwell returned from Leipzig and succeeded Professor Price in his work at Randolph-Macon; Frank C. Woodward succeeded Baskervill at Wofford in 1881, and removed to the South Carolina College in 1887; W. A. Frantz has built up a following in Central College, Missouri; John R. Ficklen, having followed Dr. Price to the State University, has become associated with Sharp at Tulane. The English fever at Randolph-Macon became epidemic. Dr. James A. Harrison accepted a call, in 1876, to Washington and Lee as Professor of Modern Languages, and formed a new Virginian centre for specialists. Even Price's successor in the Greek chair at Randolph-Macon, Charles Morris, soon resigned to go to the University of Georgia as Professor of English. Nor has the manufacture of Randolph-Macon professors of English ever entirely ceased. Howard Edwards, formerly of the University of Kansas; J. L. Armstrong, late of Trinity College, North Carolina, and now of the Randolph-Macon Woman's College; John D. Epes, of St. John's College, Maryland; John Lesslie Hall, Ph. D. (Johns Hopkins), of William and Mary, are later accessions to a list by no means complete.
"It is very curious to trace these various ramifications of mutual influences, and to see them acting and interacting, crossing and recrossing. Three main lines may be detected. Just as the University of Virginia, through its graduates, became the pattern for many, especially State institutions, and Hampden-Sidney, Davidson, Central, and, particularly, Presbyterian colleges, felt the influence of the course at Washington and Lee; so Randolph-Macon affected, among others, Wofford, and then Vanderbilt, which, in turn, has become a new centre of activity.
"The transmission of this spirit to Wofford College, and thence to Vanderbilt University at Nashville, is peculiarly instructive. W. M. Baskervill, trained under Price and Harrison, and in Leipzig, came to Wofford in 1876, where he met with a sympathetic circle. The president, Dr. James H. Carlisle, had always been interested in English work, and was a close student of the history and meaning of words. Charles Foster Smith was fellow-professor with Baskervill, and James H. Kirkland, first an appreciative pupil, was afterwards colleague as Smith's successor. All three of these young scholars ultimately took their degrees in Leipzig, and were called to Vanderbilt University, of which Dr. Kirkland is the newly-elected Chancellor. The English language and letters have been steadily emphasized by the close sympathies uniting these three men in their common work in the department of languages. Kirkland's Leipzig dissertation was on an English subject, though he is now professor of Latin; Smith, the professor of Greek, has been a constant contributor on English points, and Baskervill is specifically professor in charge. Through the standard which their fortunate circumstances allowed them to set, a new centre of influence has been formed in Nashville.
[Illustration: REV. JOHN HANNON, A. M., D. D., Ukiah, California.]
"It was this Wofford influence, if I may be personal for a space, that had much to do with sending me to the University of Virginia to hear Price in Greek. And I but echo the feeling of many in Professor Price's class-room, that it was hard to know to which of the two languages his class leaned the more, Greek or English, so intimately upon one another, especially in the work of translating, did the two depend. At any rate, it is singular that his pupils, stirred by the Greek, just as at Randolph-Macon, have used this classical impulse to enter upon the keener study of their native language and literature. I was privileged to be in the last Greek class which Professor Price taught at the University of Virginia; and contemporaneous with me at the University were other pupils: Charles W. Kent, Ph. D., of Leipzig, just returned to his Alma Mater as Linden Kent Professor of English Literature; James Douglas Bruce, of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and the editor of this Review. Eventually Professor Price's strong predilections for English, and the memory of the work wrought while at Randolph-Macon, led, in 1882, to his acceptance of a call to the chair of English in Columbia College, New York, a change which, in the face of all he had accomplished at the South, many of his old pupils were selfish enough to regard with regret."
On the recommendation of the Faculty, the degree of A. M. was conferred on John Hannon, of Alabama, and William Waugh Smith, of Virginia.
The vacant chair of Modern Languages was filled by the election of Mr. James A. Harrison, of New Orleans. This officer proved to be a valuable accession to the Faculty, and his success at Randolph-Macon was the prophecy of further success at Washington and Lee University, and the University of Virginia, where he is at this writing.
In regard to the enterprise referred to at the last annual meeting, the
Board adopted the following resolutions:
"Whereas suitable halls for the literary societies of this College are imperatively necessary in the work of this institution; and whereas the Washington and Franklin Literary Societies have taken this enterprise in hand with commendable zeal and liberality: therefore,
"Resolved, I. That we gratefully recognize the efforts of the young gentlemen in projecting and prosecuting this enterprise.
"II. That we consider the success which has already attended their efforts as a gratifying evidence of the speedy completion of the work.
"III. That we commend this enterprise and the young gentlemen engaged in it to the liberality of all the friends of this College and the cause of liberal education.
"IV. That we pledge our hearty co-operation in this work in every way in our power."
[Illustration: PROF. J. A. HARRISON, M. A., LL. D.]
At the close of the college year ending June, 1872, the following items of interest were reported to the Board at the annual meeting:
The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company conveyed to the Board of Trustees a tract of land lying on the south of the line of said railroad, near what was called the Club House, containing about twenty acres, "on condition that the Trustees erect on the said land permanent college buildings within fifteen years after the date of conveyance, and that the deed shall contain the prohibition of the sale of ardent spirits without the written consent of said company."
This was considered to have been a better location for college buildings than the first occupied, and the project might have been carried out but for want of means to erect the buildings.
The Financial Agent further reported the need of additional college buildings on account of increased attendance of students. The number in attendance the past session was 167, being 25 more than any previous session at Ashland. Amount of fees, $7,652.30; amount remitted to privileged students, $6,182.50; amount received from the Virginia and Baltimore Conferences, $2,682.33. This was a gratifying result.
Available assets, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $58,729 65
Assets not now available, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24,603 67
Total, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $83,333 32
Liabilities, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23,216 49
Resolutions commending the Agent for his work were adopted, and pledging the support of the Board to him in his work.
The absence of the two oldest members of the Board, viz., Bishop John Early and D'Arcy Paul, Esq., on account of age and feebleness, were noted by suitable resolutions.
[Illustration: LIBRARY HALL.—Built by the Washington and Franklin
Societies 1872.]
President Duncan, in his annual report, said: "It is specially gratifying that I can congratulate the Board on the plan of fiscal management adopted at your last meeting. The experience of the last twelve months has demonstrated the wisdom of your action, and the same illustrating your good fortune in securing an officer whose efficiency in a most laborious task merits your high commendation…. The large number of students have been generally studious and well behaved, a large proportion of them are Christians, and thirty-two are candidates for the ministry. During the year the reputation of the College has extended, and its patronage steadily increased. Both the patronizing Conferences manifest increasing interest in the College."
The degree of A. M., on recommendation of the Faculty, was conferred on
Charles Carroll, of North Carolina.
Mr. Jordan W. Lambert, on behalf of the Building Committee of the Literary Societies, reported the Hall building as completed, at a cost of $12,954.40, on which the committee had raised $7,093.30, leaving a balance still due, $5,861.10.
A committee appointed to consider this report submitted the following:
"Your committee, after a full conference with the committee of the two Societies, submit a proposition made by them to secure from the Board of Trustees the necessary amount to discharge the existing obligations of the Societies, which proposition is made the basis of this report, and is most heartily recommended to the favorable consideration of the Board.
"It may be proper to state, in connection with this report, that the committee submitted in detail the accounts with the various persons from whom they had secured material, both by donation and purchase, and also the correspondence with various friends of education both North and South, all of which was most gratifying to your committee, as they exhibited on their face the evidence of great energy, system, and tact, which not only reflects credit on themselves, but also on the Societies represented by the committee as well as the College itself.
"In consideration of the foregoing facts, we offer for adoption the following resolution:
"Resolved, That the proper officers of the College proceed at once to raise $5,700, and if it be necessary, they be authorized to create a lien upon the property referred to, to secure the payment of principal and interest, and the Financial Secretary be instructed to pass over the amount thus raised to the Building Committee, to be used by them in liquidating the obligations created in the erection of the hall."
Accompanying this report was the following paper:
"ASHLAND, VA., June 27, 1872.
"In consideration of $5,700 to be advanced by the Board of Trustees of Randolph-Macon College, the Washington and Franklin Societies will undertake and pledge themselves to use their best efforts to pay $1,000 annually upon the principal until the whole amount is liquidated, interest to be paid by the Board of Trustees. It is understood and agreed that if the Board of Trustees should find it necessary to create a lien upon the property to raise the amount so advanced, they will not in any way bind the furniture of the two Societies.
[Transcribers' Note: In the original text, the names of those belonging to each society were bracketted, and "Committee F. L. S." and "Committee, W. L. S." appeared on the right-hand side of the page, beside their respective brackets.]
Committee F. L. S.
(Signed)
"J. W. LAMBERT,
"F. C. WOODWARD,
"R. E. BLACKWELL,
Committee W. L. S.
(Signed)
"CHARLES CARROLL,
"HERBERT M. HOPE,
"W. B. PAGE,
"H. C. PAULETT,
"JOHN M. BURTON,"
[Illustration: WASHINGTON HALL, Randolph-Macon College.]
[Illustration: FRANKLIN HALL, Randolph-Macon College.]
To show the appreciation of the work done by the Societies, the Board, on motion of Rev. A. W. Wilson, adopted the following:
"Resolved, That the President be instructed to express in the chapel, during the public exercises of the day, the Board's appreciation of the energy and zeal of the Literary Societies in the erection of the Library building, and that the Secretary furnish the Societies with a copy of the action of the Board."
In the chapel the same day Maj. Sutherlin pledged the Board to a subscription of $500 towards the Library Hall.
The above record in relation to this worthy and remarkable effort—one that has found few, if any, parallels in the history of colleges—is given at some length to show the spirit of the young men of the period succeeding the war, and also to stimulate a like spirit in the young men who are now filling these halls and others after them. Such an example seems to be needed at this time to rekindle the interest in these most worthy Societies, which is not as great as it formerly was, and as it should be.
At this meeting Major William T. Sutherlin, of Danville, who had manifested his interest in the College by agreeing to pay three hundred dollars annually towards the current expenses of the College for five years, submitted the following proposition:
"To the Board of Trustees of Randolph-Macon College:
"I propose to place in your hands good eight per cent. securities to the amount of four hundred dollars ($400), the interest to be collected by you, and invested in a suitable medal, to be presented at each annual commencement to the best orator connected with the college who shall contend for the same, to be decided by three competent judges who have no official connection with the College, to be selected by yourselves, whose decision shall be final. The fund hereby donated shall be held by you and appropriated to the above purpose in perpetuity, and to no other. Respectfully,
(Signed) "W. T. SUTHERLIN."
On motion of Rev. A. W. Wilson—
"Resolved, That the proposition be accepted, and that the thanks of the Board be returned to Major Sutherlin for the generous donation, and that the medal be styled the Sutherlin Prize Medal for Oratory."
Rev. A. G. Brown, Financial Secretary, made the following review of the financial operations of the year:
"1. That the current expenses of this session have been promptly and fully paid to June 1st.
"2. That means are in hand to meet obligations to July 1st.
"3. That we rely principally upon the assessments and special donations to the College for the succeeding three months.
"4. That the assets of the College have been improved in value and in the amount of interest they yield.
"5. That the liabilities have been materially reduced.
"6. That the financial interests of the College are freed from legal or legislative embarrassments.
"These are gratifying results. I mention them for your information and encouragement. They are the sign of a better day. Let us consecrate ourselves to this noble institution, and, with the blessing of God on our duty faithfully performed, we may expect to see it what it ought to be in the scope of its usefulness and the development of its resources, a strictly first-class College.
(Signed) "A. G. BROWN,
"Financial Secretary Randolph-Macon College."
This gratifying report, the best that had been submitted for years, caused the Trustees to adjourn in a cheerful mood.
[Illustration: G. E. M. WALTON, Founder of the Walton Greek Library.]
[Illustration: MAJ. W. T. SUTHERLIN, ELECTED TRUSTEE, 1860. Founder of the Sutherlin Prize for Oratory.]
A called meeting of the Board was held in Richmond October 13, 1872. A letter was presented from Prof. Thomas R. Price, which was as follows:
"Rev. James A. Duncan, President:
"DEAR SIR,—As Professor of Greek in our College, I feel great pleasure in informing you, and through you the Board, of the noble act of generosity by which Mr. George E. M. Walton, of Hanover county, Va., has planned a lasting benefit to the School of Greek.
"Mr. Walton was, as you know, the father of Mr. Andrew Minor Walton, who, with rare learning and diligence, discharged until his death, in September, 1871, the duties of Assistant Greek Professor in Randolph-Macon College. In order, then, to foster in the College the studies that his son loved so well, and at the same time to keep alive in the College history and traditions the memory of that son, Mr. Walton has offered to give to Randolph-Macon College the sum of one thousand dollars to create and endow what shall be called the Walton Greek Library. This donation Mr. Walton desires to see, without delay, put into the proper legal form. His own wishes and intentions, as given to me in conversation, are:
"1. That the money shall, in consultation between him and the agents of the College, be securely and permanently invested.
"2. That ten dollars of the annual income shall be used to buy, in the shape of a valuable Greek book, or other appropriate gift, as the Faculty may decide, a prize that shall be called the Walton Greek Prize, and bestowed on the student that, in the judgment of the Faculty, has made during the session the best progress in Greek studies.
"3. That the remainder of the income arising from the investment of the fund shall be annually expended, under such regulations as the Board and Faculty may establish, in the purchase of Greek books, including the texts of Greek authors, Greek lexicons, Commentaries on Greek authors, works on Greek history, Geography, Grammar, antiquities, etc., and all direct auxiliaries to Greek study, to form a special and distinct collection, to be called the Walton Greek Library.
"4. That this Library shall be carefully guarded by the College authorities and secure adequate protection from theft and fire.
"There is visible in this act of Mr. Walton no less wisdom than of generosity and tenderness. The helps to the successful carrying on of Greek study are becoming year by year more numerous and more masterly, but, unluckily, more costly, too. To use them is indeed necessary for every earnest student, but to buy them is oft-times to the student impossible. To meet this necessity is the object of Mr. Walton's gift, while his prize will serve to stimulate and reward Greek study; in all the classes of our school the Library will, year after year, as it widens, open to students that are more advanced the treasures of Greek learning.
"Being sure that you will feel the same pleasure that I feel in this wisely-devised increase to our means of education, I ask you to make Mr. Walton's purpose known to the Board, and to have the proper measures taken for the consummation of the gift.
"With great respect, your obedient servant,
"THOMAS R. PRICE,
"Professor of Greek."
The donation of Mr. Walton was accepted with thanks, and an order was made to carry out his intentions as speedily as possible.
It may be stated here that this fund was safely invested, and the annual proceeds, from the year of its establishment, have been applied, as directed, in annual prizes and the purchase of books, until, at this writing, the collection has, become imposing and very valuable. The first prize was awarded June, 1872, to R. E. Blackwell, of Virginia.
The College year 1872-'73 was remarkable in the patronage and financial outcome. The number of students was 234, the largest in the history of the College up to that year. The receipts for fees amounted to $11,220; Conference educational collections, $3,411. The excess of current receipts over current expenses reported, for the first time in the history of the College, went towards needed improvements of the property and reduction of debts of other years. Available assets were reported at $74,610; liabilities, $26,377—net assets, $48,233. This exhibit, made by Rev. A. G. Brown, Financial Secretary, was highly gratifying to the Board, so long accustomed to discouraging reports.
Of the 234 students, 44 were studying with a view to the ministry, and 29 sons of ministers.
The honorary degree of D. D., on recommendation of the Faculty, was
conferred on the following: Rev. John C. Wills, president of Central
College, Missouri; Rev. Alpheus W. Wilson, of the Baltimore Conference;
Rev. John D. Blackwell, of the Virginia Conference.
The degree of A. M. was conferred on Franklin C. Woodward, of Virginia.
The "Sutherlin Medal for Oratory" was awarded Franklin C. Woodward, of
Virginia.
[Illustration: FRANKLIN C. WOODWARD, A. M., D. D., Sutherlin Medalist, 1873; President South Carolina College.]
The "Walton Greek Prize" was awarded to Robert Sharp, of Virginia.
An educational convention to devise plans to increase the Endowment and Building funds of the College was held in Richmond, April, 1874. The following plan was adopted:
"I. That delegates shall be appointed (by the committee under item III.), consisting of one layman and one preacher in each district, whose duty it shall be to present the subject to the several District Conferences at their meetings during the summer and fall of this year, and take up collections for this object, and that the presiding elders be requested to arrange the exercises of their district meetings so as to secure one whole day for the interests of Randolph-Macon College.
"II. That we earnestly solicit the co-operation of the presiding elders in this great work, and request the appointment of meetings in the several pastoral charges, in which this cause shall be presented and collections taken.
[Illustration: PROF. W. M. BASKERVILLE, PH. D., Vanderbilt
University.]
"III. That a committee be appointed, who shall attend these meetings, take up collections, etc."
(Committee: Rev. J. A. Duncan, D. D., Rev. A. G. Brown, and Richard Irby, Esq.)
It was resolved that a committee be appointed to mature a plan for the further prosecution of this work, and report to an adjourned meeting at Ashland in June, 1874.