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: