EXPANSION AND ACHIEVEMENT
1880-1901
The projection, building, and safe establishment of Cornell University,
in the State of New York, was essentially the work of that remarkable
man, Andrew D. White. In the face of many obstacles and antagonisms he
founded it, named it in honor of its chief benefactor, was its first
President and led its fortunes until he saw it take rank among the
famous Institutions of the United States. Another famous man performed
the same kind of service for his people in the South. The founder and
builder of Hollins Institute was long a voice in the wilderness. You
have seen the stern, invincible purpose of this man in the face of an
apathetic public, painfully straitened finances, epidemics, and the
desolations of war. Several times his enterprise trembled on the verge
of ruin. But in him was that iron quality that never knew when it was
beaten. Forty years of toil in the educational field sat lightly on him,
thanks to the natural vigor of a well knit body and the resilient tone
of a well endowed mind. We come now to the last lap of the journey,
which most gratefully takes the form of a triumphal progress. In the
good providence of God, the next twenty-one years were to be filled with
expansion and achievement. His years multiplied, but there was no
slowing down of energy and contriving strategy. Destiny put him
benignantly into a life-long association with the young, and he could
not grow old. To thousands of us still, no figure on the Hollins
quadrangle ever stands out so statuesque as his large form, becomingly
clad in a Prince Albert suit, and surmounted with a favorite tall beaver
hat. As he walked in unconscious majesty, one could hear that resonant
voice, issuing orders or bestowing courtly greetings. The grace and
evenness of the old Virginia gentleman sat on him like a crown, making
him ever accessible to student and friend. He was a worker, and he hated
idleness as sin. Unrelentingly he demanded work. Never a student was
allowed to escape that imperious law. For this his girls gave him honor.
Well did they understand that Hollins was not for fashionable finish, or
for money-squandering, but for downright honest study and true adornment
of womanhood. He requested parents not to encourage extravagance in
their daughters by putting in their hands undue sums of money to spend.
The sessions in the early eighties showed a rising volume of patronage
from the Southern states, a condition that was to go from more to more.
His chief resulting gratification was in the obvious awakening of
Southern people to better appreciation of the higher culture of women.
Along with this pleasing discovery, however, he began to realize a
serious barrier to the task at Hollins, created by the defective
preparatory training in the primary and secondary schools of the
country. In later years the difficulty began to disappear. To him,
education consisted in the acquisition of knowledge, the training of
faculty, and more especially, the broadening and multiplication of
powers. His students must think, reason, and understand. That is the top
of culture. Did he show any disposition to remain satisfied with the
standards already erected? Not by any means. This is a growing world
where nothing is stationary but a cemetery. The developing impulse in
the mind of the Founder would never subside while the perfect was
unattained. Even in this good summertime of 1920, nineteen years after
his going, the mighty momentum he gave to the College operates with
undiminished force. One does not expect spectacular variety in the life
of an educator, particularly in one whose labors for fifty years were
focalized on one spot. The philosopher Kant never went away from the
place of his birth, nor figured once in the publicities of his time, and
yet the patient thinker has won undying fame among the intellectuals of
the world. So we shall not find abundant incident at Hollins, but we
shall know that its organizing genius is ever active and sounding the
note of progress.
On the 15th of June, 1882, was adopted a new adjustment with the
Trustees. Mr. Cocke was still unwilling to take over the property in
payment of the Trustees' debt, but he had come to the conclusion that it
might be wise to take a lease on it for fifteen years. To this the
Trustees agreed, and the lease was duly written in favor of Charles L.
Cocke and his son, Charles H. Cocke. At this time the debt due Mr. Cocke
was $42,212, and by the terms of the contract, that sum might be
increased to $50,000. An annual rental of $3,500 was to be due the
Trustees, which was offset by the interest due on their $50,000 debt. In
this arrangement the only right reserved by the Trustees was that of
sanction of all improvements that might be undertaken during the period
of the lease. On the very day when this agreement was written, Mr. Cocke
submitted a plan for a Chapel. This was promptly approved by the
Trustees. The work began, and soon the sacred edifice was an
accomplished fact. A little later the open grates and hot air furnaces
in the buildings were abolished in favor of steam heat. The limestone
spring and the pump in the yard were abandoned to give place to a
reservoir on the side of Tinker Mountain, which supplied running water
on every floor. Needed philosophical and chemical apparatus were
forthcoming, and a beautiful Art and Music hall was built on the site of
Carvin's rock castle. Then followed a new and enlarged dining room with
all its appurtenances. The Trustees acquiesced cheerfully in all these
betterments, but they looked on the vast increase of their debt in a
sort of helpless wonderment. How should they ever meet the huge
obligation? While they forbore to put a check on this advance, they were
sure that there could be only one way of ultimate settlement.
In July, 1882, came the first great heartbreak his own household had
ever known. His daughter, Rosa Pleasants Cocke, wife of the Rev. W. R.
L. Smith, pastor of the First Baptist Church, Lynchburg, Virginia,
passed to her dreamless sleep. She was young, beautiful, universally
loved,--the fairest bloom of queenly womanhood. She left a little Edith,
who, twenty months later, went to rest with her mother on the green hill
near Hollins.
The enrollment of one hundred and seventy-six girls in the session of
1888-'89, was the largest in the history of the school. At this date the
President found, by careful comparison, that during the past forty-seven
years, the average attendance had been greater than that of any other
school for girls in the State. The session of 1889-'90 registered two
hundred and nine students, and for the first time since 1864
applications had to be declined. The only minor chord that marred the
general joy sounded in the troubled minds of the Trustees. In his own
private reflections, Mr. Cocke had to confess that the solution offered
by the Trustees looked like the obstinate, unavoidable necessity. About
this time he made known to the Trustees and friends, a compliment to the
Institution, recently paid by the National Bureau of Education at
Washington. In a report of that body concerning schools for girls in
Virginia, Hollins was named the foremost Institution for girls, the best
known and the most effective in the State. The report continues: "There
is an admirable foundation already laid at Hollins Institute ... for
a woman's college of the type of Vassar, Smith, Wellesley and Bryn
Mawr ... in a beautiful and healthful region with ample buildings for a
great beginning.... An investment of a million would place here a great
school of the highest type, and perpetuate the well-earned reputation
of this well-known Institute,--for the past forty years one of the most
notable of Southern schools." This fine appraisement, coming from an
independent and impartial source, was unspeakably pleasing to the man
around whom this school had grown, and he could but cherish the hope
that some large-minded man of wealth would arise to follow the
suggestion of endowment made in the quotation.
A rare sensation was sprung on the Hollins community in the celebration
of Mr. and Mrs. Cocke's Golden Wedding, December 31, 1890. All unknown
to them, a group of loving hearts and hands had prepared an elaborate
and impressive program. But some days before the brilliant event,
mysterious hints, furtive interviews and beaming expectancy gave away
the secret. Mr. Cocke himself began the jubilee in the early dawn, by
slipping on the finger of his sleeping wife a handsome plain gold ring.
All day, by letter and telegram, came happy congratulations and "bridal
presents" from former pupils and friends. In the evening, Hollins took
on unprecedented splendor with illuminations everywhere. Chandeliers,
windows and doors were hung with ivy, and over the door of the main
parlor, in large green figures, were placed the dates, 1840-1890. At
7:30 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. Cocke took their stand in the large parlor,
thronged by loved ones and friends. Prayer was made by Rev. Dr. G. W.
Beale, pastor of Enon Baptist Church and chaplain of the college. Then,
the Rev. Dr. E. C. Dargan of Charleston, S. C., a former pastor of Enon
and college chaplain, made an affectionate address. Among the
appropriate remarks is the following quotation: "This great school, the
love and labor of your life, speaks for itself, both in glad presence
and widely extended absence. From over all the land, and indeed from far
distant lands, the pupils of Hollins send their love and
congratulations. Through the willing service of one who has labored long
at your side,[1] they present to you this book, containing the
signatures of hundreds, who came to learn of you. Their affection also
presents to you this portrait, intending that it shall be a perpetual
heirloom, at once a splendid souvenir of this day and a monument of
their lasting gratitude."
[1] Mrs. Eliza S. Childs, Associate Principal.
As these words were spoken, two of his little granddaughters, Thalia
Hayward and Leila Turner, touched a wire, and the veil dropped,
revealing the fine life-size portrait of Mr. Cocke, described in the
first chapter of this book. It was the work of his accomplished
daughter-in-law, Mrs. Lucian H. Cocke of Roanoke, Va. Mr. Cocke made
brief and tender acknowledgment of the honor done him, and then his
son, Mr. Lucian H. Cocke, expressed in few words the same sentiment.
Professor Wm. H. Pleasants read a poem, written for the occasion by a
former pupil and teacher of Hollins. Two other short speeches were made
by admiring friends and Dr. Dargan pronounced the benediction.
In every particular, this program was beautifully conceived and
gracefully executed, making one of the most felicitous and memorable
events ever known in the life of the Institution.
On the occasion of their meeting in July, 1896, the Trustees signalized
the completion of a half century of service by renewed expressions of
admiration and love for Mr. Cocke. One year later they returned to the
theme and took action which gave the most general delight. They passed
two resolutions: "First, that in honor of President Cocke, while living,
and after his death, in memory of his great achievements in education,
the 21st of February, his birthday, be set apart as a legal holiday in
Hollins Institute. Second, that the young ladies be permitted to
celebrate the day in such manner as may be deemed by the officers of the
school appropriate to the occasion." Such was the origin of Founder's
Day, only three happy celebrations of which the beloved President was
destined to see.
The eventide drew gently on, and that good, gray head was crowned with
glory and honor. His own health was still fine, but his dear family was
drawing near to a land of shadows. Three times in a very short period
the billows of bereavement went over him. An avalanche of grief fell on
his stout heart in the sudden loss of three of his children. Mrs. Leila
Virginia Turner, on October 21st, 1899, laid her burden down and was put
to rest beside her husband on the green hill. On the 3rd of May, 1900,
the noble Manager, Charles H. Cocke, passed away, and was gathered to
the loved ones gone before. Miss Sallie Lewis Cocke died on July 29th,
1900, and was added to the silent company of brothers and sisters.
"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." With chastened tenderness and
submissive resignation, Mr. Cocke held his course as one who gets
support from an invisible world. The concerns of the Institute pressed
on him, and he must still take hold on life's affairs. The lease, in
1897, had been extended for a new period of ten years. But, obviously,
it was now full time that his business relations to the Trustees be
brought to a definite and final settlement. The issue, pending through
many years, could be deferred no longer, and on June 2nd, 1900, a
radical change in the old order was made. The Trustees found themselves
in debt to Mr. Cocke $101,253, in addition to the $50,000 in bonds
already executed. Not yet had they been able even to pay the $1,500
loaned by him in 1846. He gave up his notes and bonds to the Trustees,
and they in turn gave over the Institution. Thus the Board of Trustees,
after a period of forty-five years, went out of existence, and Hollins
became the property of Mr. Cocke. It was not the consummation that he
wished, but there was no other alternative.
The venerable man, now in his 81st year, had on his hands the great
Institution he had so laboriously builded. If he could have called back
forty years, the responsibility would have rested on strong shoulders
and a confident brain. But the competencies of the earlier years were
spent, and age could only plan for the activities in which it should not
share. He stood a noble, picturesque figure on the peak of life's work,
looking backward with thankful satisfaction, and then wistfully forward
into those years when other hands, hearts and brains should shape and
guide the Institution. Not with one touch of gloomy foreboding did he
make this provision. He believed that his children and grandchildren
would loyally cherish his ideals and aspirations. They would hold the
legacy sacred, maintain its standards, and keep it true to its aims. In
the mellowing days of life's late afternoon this confidence gave him
comfort and peace. Human affection played around him soft and tender as
summer sunset on the mountains, but it could not be doubted that among
the deepest satisfactions of his soul was the conviction that his
successors would do him the real homage of preserving the fruitage of
his long, unselfish labors.
His form was unbent and his physical force gave him hope of ten more
years of life. It was not to be. In the summer of 1898 a violent
carbuncle brought him perilously near the brink of the great mystery.
Two years later, warning symptoms came upon him suddenly. They did not
yield to careful treatment, and with premonitions of the end, he decided
in January, 1901, to go to the home of his son, Lucian H. Cocke, in
Roanoke. This arrangement was his own device. He thought thereby to save
Hollins from the anxiety which his illness would create, and from the
shock of its probable end. What could be lovelier than the two letters
that follow?
"Hollins, Virginia, February 21, 1901.
"Our Dear Mr. Cocke:--
"We, the members of your Faculty,--or rather of your great household
here at Hollins,--deeply touched by your never-ceasing thought of us,
and your intense interest in the work of our classes which prompted you
even in the hour of great bodily distress to send us from your bed of
sickness a message of comfort and encouragement, feel that we can not
suffer this, your birthday, to pass by without some expression of our
gratitude and sympathy.
"We can never cease to be grateful for the kindly wisdom of your counsel
which has directed us always unerringly to what is true and right, and
for the firm guidance of your hand which has unfalteringly led us
through the dark places of doubt and despair. Though we miss your wise
head and guiding hand, we shall ever feel the inspiration of your spirit
and the silent influence of your example; and trusting in that Divine
Providence which has so long directed and prospered the labors of your
brain and hand, we will endeavor to carry out, along your own lines, the
work which you have so nobly planned and which you are now forced to lay
aside.
"In this time of your physical weakness and bodily suffering, our
thoughts are often with you, and we send you this message assuring you
of our sympathy, both as a body and as individuals. May our Heavenly
Father take you in His keeping and give to you unwavering faith and
comfort and peace.
"With the expression of our affectionate regard.
"J. M. MCBRYDE, JR.
"On behalf of your fellow laborers, the Faculty of
Hollins Institute."
"To The Faculty and Pupils of Hollins Institute:
"It is now nearly two months since I have been with you. During this
time I have been prostrated by great infirmities of body, and my
weakness still is extreme. During my illness, however, there has been no
time when I have ceased to have the welfare of each of you upon my mind
and heart. Of all the expressions of sympathy that have come to me, none
have been so comforting and gratifying as those that have come from my
faculty and pupils. I wish to extend to each one of you my sincere
appreciation of your earnest solicitude on my account. From every source
the information comes to me of the orderly conduct of affairs at
Hollins--teachers and pupils in their accustomed places, performing in a
faithful and conscientious manner each duty that the occasion demands.
It would be difficult indeed to adequately express to you the
gratification that this information brings to me. For many years it has
been my earnest desire to so conduct the affairs of the Institution,
that whether I was present or absent there should be no abatement in the
earnest purpose and devotion to duty which I have sought to make a part
of the atmosphere of Hollins. I can not express to you a proper idea of
what a pleasure it has been to me to know that this ideal is being
exemplified in your conduct, and I feel that in my declining years I am
greatly blessed in having your sympathy and co-operation in the proper
conduct of the work which has been on my heart for these many years.
"I trust that under the care of a favoring Providence, I may yet be able
to be with you, and exchange once more the kindly greetings that have
been a delight to me; but should it be otherwise, I always feel well
assured that I can rely with confidence upon you to give to the
Institution and the work with which I have been connected, the same
devotion and loyalty which you have, without stint, accorded to me.
"May our Father in Heaven preserve each one of you in His holy keeping.
[Signature: Charles L. Cocke]
"March 10th, 1901."
It was on May 4th, 1901, that the end came. In the early morning of May
6th, the body was brought to Hollins and placed in the Chapel. Mr. Cocke
had planned the two funeral services of the day. The first was held in
the Chapel, for the family, faculty and students, who crowded the room.
It was conducted by the Rev. Dr. F. H. Martin, Baptist pastor at Salem,
assisted by ministers of the Presbyterian, Lutheran and Episcopal
churches. At the beginning and close of the service were sung his
favorite hymns: "How Firm a Foundation," and "My Hope is Built on
Nothing Less."
At 4 p.m., the second service was held at Enon Church, which was
thronged by neighbors and friends. The pastor, the Rev. J. M. Luck,
presided, and after the singing of "There is a Fountain Filled With
Blood," remarks followed by the pastor, the Rev. Dr. W. E. Hatcher, and
Mr. William Ellyson of Richmond, and the Rev. Dr. P. T. Hale of Roanoke.
The service closed with "My Jesus, as Thou Wilt," and then the
procession moved up the hill in a sudden shower of rain. As the casket
was lowered, the great assemblage sang softly, "There's a Land That is
Fairer Than Day," and the Rev. T. J. Shipman offered the closing prayer.
Two impressive incidents followed. A procession of Hollins girls,
dressed in white and bearing white carnations, came up the slope and
covered the grave with flowers. In the same moment the setting sun broke
through the clouds and bathed the scene in a radiance of glory. Dr.
Hatcher, with felicitous tact, called attention to the shining symbol of
heaven's benediction on the proceedings of that solemn day.