HIS MONUMENT
The perpetual, unsatisfied longings of the Founder of Hollins projected
plans and schemes whose completion had to be left to other hands. In his
wise view, an Institution completed was an Institution already on the
downward grade. The large, expansive life of the age requires continuous
modifications and enlargements to meet the ever-springing exigencies of
society. In his eighty-first year, amid the desolations of a triple
bereavement, the aged hero sounded this note: "I will devote my energies
to putting the Institution on a permanent, broad basis, with facilities
of all kinds to meet the advancing demands for such schools; for
education of every kind throughout the South is on rising grade, and
Virginia, like New England, may yet have a reputation for school
facilities with scholarly men and women equal to those of any section of
this broad and progressive land." This is the same clarion voice so
familiar through two generations. Thus came from his lips the general
program, committed to his successors for the following thirty years.
With no consciousness of the fact, he was providing his own monument
which lives in the noble Hollins College of today.
When the Institution passed from the Trustees to Mr. Cocke, it became
the charge of a Board of Governors, selected from the members of his own
family. From that day, they have regarded as their precious inheritance
the plans of his mind and the wishes of his heart. His principle of
progress has been the guiding light of the Board of Governors and not
for a moment have they forgotten that the passionate desire of the
Founder of the College was to make Hollins, in an ever increasing
degree, a leader in the cause of the education of women.
What has been done during the nineteen years of the Board's control? It
is impossible to visit Hollins without feeling that the memory of Mr.
Cocke and his influence equally abide. He, being dead, yet speaketh. At
his death the Presidency of the college went to his daughter, Matty L.
Cocke, and the Chairmanship of the Board of Governors to his son, Lucian
H. Cocke. The business affairs, so long and heroically managed by
Charles Henry Cocke, are now entrusted to two of the Founder's
grandsons: Marion Estes Cocke as Secretary and Treasurer, and Joseph
Augustine Turner as General Manager.
[Illustration: HOLLINS COLLEGE]
The improvements on the grounds and buildings, and on the farm, have
been many. A beautiful Library building, made possible by the Alumnae,
was erected in 1908, as a memorial to Mr. Cocke. The Susanna Infirmary
was built in 1911, as a memorial to Mrs. Cocke. In 1914, the Science
Hall was built. Meanwhile important changes were being made in the
courses of study. The curriculum was gradually enlarged, and eight years
after the Founder's death, the institution was standardized on the basis
of a four years college course. When this change was recognized in a new
charter from the legislature of Virginia, the name "Hollins Institute"
gave place to that of "Hollins College."
The realization of the Founder's dream is an endless process, and the
motto will ever be, "Forward and Upward." In the very atmosphere of the
place, the sensitive soul feels a brooding presence. The trees on the
campus, nearly all of which he planted, seem to whisper the revered
name. His Ideal lives, and his Spirit interfuses all. His monument is
building still. Let it go shining down the centuries!
End of Project Gutenberg's Charles Lewis Cocke, by William Robert Lee Smith