FIRST MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. (continued 2)

Candles being expensive, he thought the twilight sufficient to enable him to make up his morning toilet. This economy, combined with his other besetting habit, got him into a most ludicrous scrape. It happened thus: In writing out his voluminous notes he used many quill pens, which from time to time accumulated on his table. He took these—quite a number—one night, just before retiring, and washed them in his bowl, leaving the water in the bowl very much the color of the blue ink he was wont to use. The next morning in the dimness of twilight he failed to observe this discolored fluid when he went to perform his ablutions; when he finished he was blue—yes, very blue. Not taking time to look into his glass, he went to the chapel and took his place on the rostrum ready to officiate at the appointed hour, wholly unconscious of the very remarkable visage he wore, and thus unprepared for the scene which was to follow.

As the boys dropped in each one would stop, and look, and wonder, and then break out into most uproarious laughter, as perfectly uncontrollable as a storm in its fury. There was no use to attempt to be devout that morning. How the tutor got through with the reading and the prayer I can't say, but I fear he was not in a very devotional mood himself. How could he be when every one was laughing, while he could not see what was making them laugh. He was utterly disgusted with such rudeness and irreverence.

But he did get through. When some one informed him of his cadaverous appearance, he suddenly recollected the blue pens he had washed in his bowl. Then it was his turn to laugh, and laugh he did with a vim.

But lest I weary you, I will here conclude this reminiscence of the olden times by saying that with all the oddities of this old tutor I still cherish the highest respect for his character as a good and deeply pious man. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." I doubt not that he will be of that number in the great day when the jewels are counted.

[Illustration: PROF. DAVID S. DOGGETT, A. M.]

These made the Faculty of 1839-1842. In the latter year Rev. David S. Doggett succeeded Professor Sims in the English course. He was an eloquent preacher, in the prime of life, a diligent student, and dignified in his deportment. The pulpit was his place of power, and he did not remain long away from it. He was afterwards a Bishop in the church, after having served the church as editor of the Methodist Review for a number of years.

So much for the professors and tutors. What of the students under them? Taking the men who received degrees during the five years 1840-1844, it is pleasant, though it may seem invidious, to mention a part where it is not possible to name all.

The first name in the roll of his class (1840), and the first in honor, David Clopton, of Georgia, made his mark at College, and his after life was what his college life predicted.

He represented the Montgomery (Alabama) District in the United States Congress prior to the war, and the same district in the Confederate States Congress. Afterwards he served for many years as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama. He was also very prominent in the church.

James F. Dowdell, of Georgia, was a member of the United States Congress from Alabama prior to the war, and was a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Tennent Lomax, of South Carolina, also moved to Alabama. He was editor, soldier in the Mexican war, and was prominent in politics. He was killed while leading his regiment into battle at Seven Pines, Virginia, May, 1862, just after having received a commission as brigadier-general.

James L. Pierce was an eloquent speaker, a Doctor of Divinity, and President of Lagrange (Georgia) Female College.

In this connection it might be interesting to mention that Clopton's roommate was Robert Lanier, of Macon, Ga., a member of the Sophomore Class. He and Burwell Harrison, also of Georgia, married Virginia ladies, whose acquaintance they formed while they were at College. Lanier's son, Sidney, has been called the "poet laureate of the South."

Coming to the next class (1841), George B. Jones, first-honor man, was a fine scholar, but turned from teaching to business life. He was killed at Petersburg in 1864, while defending his city in Kautz's attack on it.

Thomas H. Campbell was a distinguished lawyer, served in both houses of the General Assembly of Virginia, and was president of the Southside Railroad Company.

Edward Wadsworth was a prominent minister in Virginia and Alabama, a Doctor of Divinity, and President of the Southern University, Greensboro, Ala.

In the class of 1842, Thomas C. Johnson, of Virginia, first-honor man, became a prominent lawyer in St. Louis, Mo., and a member of the Legislature of that State. After the war he served two years as President of Randolph-Macon College (1866-'67, 1867-'68).

William G. Connor, D. D., of South Carolina, was for many years a prominent minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Texas.

Ira I. Crenshaw, of Virginia, was tutor in Randolph-Macon College several years, and professor at the Female Institute, Buckingham, Va., and a minister of the Virginia Conference.

Dr. Samuel D. Saunders was professor at the Southwestern University. Georgetown, Texas, for a number of years.

Of the class of 1843, George W. Benagh, of Virginia, first-honor man, was a professor at the University of Alabama, succeeding Dr. Landon C. Garland, his old preceptor. He died young by accidental drowning.

Edward S. Brown, of Virginia, an eminent lawyer and member of the Virginia Legislature, is still an active, vigorous man (1897).

William H. Lawton was a faithful itinerant in the South Carolina Conference for nearly fifty years.

Richard H. Powell was a prominent man in church and state for many years in his State (Alabama).

A number of the members of this class died in early manhood.

Coming down to my own class (1844). This class in the Freshman year numbered thirty-three. Of these only nine took degrees. Four others came in after the opening year, making total graduates thirteen.

John Lyon, of Petersburg, was the first-honor man of this class. He entered the class in the junior year, when he was in his sixteenth year. Before his entrance there were several candidates for the first honor. It was not long before their hopes began to fail. He was precocious, but his precocity was not short-lived, as it so frequently is. Mathematics, the great rock on which so many aspiring men were wrecked, was apparently a pastime with him. President Garland, a natural-born mathematician, had no mercy on men not like gifted with himself. His course was beyond the power of nine out of ten. John Lyon was the one of ten, and was head and shoulders above all the others in the class in this course, while not equal to others in other courses, but high in all. His brilliancy made him in after life a successful lawyer. He died in Washington, November, 1897, aged seventy.

The second-honor man was William C. Doub, of North Carolina. He was an untiring student, gifted especially in the acquisition of language. He was a teacher all his life, having spent the most of it as professor in Trinity College, North Carolina, and Greensboro Female College. He was very prominent in the Methodist Church. He died in the high noon of life.

The third-honor man, William M. Cabell, of Virginia, was a man of clear-cut intellect, and he had the power of concentration in a high degree. This power was shown in his early life, and afterwards made him distinguished and feared at the bar and in the Virginia Legislature. He is still living (1897).

The fourth-honor man was Holland Nimmons McTyeire. Brought by his old preceptor, James R. Thomas, to Randolph-Macon, when otherwise he might have gone to a state school, he entered the Sophomore Class in 1841. College life was no pastime for him. His ambition would make it a stepping-stone to high position—as at first desired and designed—in the State. Like Dr. Olin, no place lower than the highest would satisfy his ambition. To attain to this, all the power of an iron will moving the enginery of a somewhat slow but giant mind was bent and made subject. Had not a change come to divert him from his original intention, he would doubtless have become as notable in the councils and courts of the State as he became in the church. When he first came to College he appeared indifferent in church matters, though it was known he was a member. Whether this was the result of a lapsed religious life, or was the result of a struggle to still the promptings of conscience, is not known. But the call to a higher life, heard, doubtless, before, but a while unheeded, was emphasized in one of those sweeping revivals which Dr. Olin valued more than laws of discipline, and which he pronounced as indispensable in college work. Worldly ambition ceased to be the mainspring of his action, and he began to seek to "have the mind which was in Christ." But it was no easy work to bend such a will in a new direction. It was like turning the mighty steamship on a different course. The passion to rule men around him, the gift of so doing (and it is the greatest gift with which man is endowed), was constantly asserting itself. It probably was "strong in death," but it was tempered and sanctified to other than selfish ends by that good Spirit which subdued a Luther, a St. Paul, and a John Knox. What Randolph-Macon did for McTyeire in strengthening his mental powers for what he was to become as editor and bishop and builder of a great university, in sobering and elevating his ambition and aspirations, and fitting him for the work he was called to do in and for the church, cannot be computed. He has made his mark as high as any son of his alma mater, possibly higher than any other.

Space will not allow me to dwell upon the names of Thomas H. Rogers, of Virginia, for a while a tutor in the College, afterwards M. D.; of Richard S. Parham, of Virginia, a clever student and lawyer, who died in the prime of life, in his adopted State, Tennessee; of "Judge" Fanning, of Georgia, the frequent butt of Prof. Duncan's wit, who was said (poor fellow) to have chewed his brains out along with his teeth; of B. F. Simmons, a prominent young lawyer, who died prematurely, and of Willie M. Person, a M. D., who also died young.

John Howard has been since early youth a prominent lawyer in Richmond, ranking very high in his profession. He was noted when at College for his love for, and proficiency in, English literature and composition. He is still living (1897).

Of my most intimate friend in the class, Archibald Clark, I quote what Bishop McTyeire wrote of him: "The most useful local preacher in Southern Georgia, is what his presiding elder said of him."

Among those who were students with me at the College, but left without taking degrees, the following were the most notable: William T. Howard, of Virginia, who became a distinguished physician and professor in the University of Maryland; Lucius I. Gartrell, of Georgia, who became one of the foremost lawyers of his State, and a general in the Confederate army; Chas. E. Hooker, of South Carolina, Attorney-General of the State of Mississippi, colonel in the Confederate army, and for many years a member of Congress; Colonel Joel B. Leftwich, of Virginia, for a number of years a member of the General Assembly of Virginia; Smith W. Moore, of North Carolina, a Doctor of Divinity in the Memphis Conference, author of several books, and poet. He was associated with Bishop McTyeire on the Board of Trust during the early years of the Vanderbilt University. James N. Ramsey, of Georgia, colonel in the Confederate army; Robert Ridgway, of Virginia, the brilliant editor of the Richmond Whig, and member of Congress from Virginia; Walter L. Steele, of North Carolina, a member of Congress, and prominent in business and state, matters; W. L. Blanton, a minister of the Virginia Conference, eloquent and zealous, who died in early manhood; James D. Crawley, a most estimable man, and a local minister for many years; W. K. Blake, of North Carolina, a prominent merchant in Spartanburg, S. C., and trustee of Wofford College; John Wesley Williams, a member of the Virginia Conference, whose useful life was early cut short by consumption.

Nearly all of my college-mates sleep in the dust of the earth. Many of them were "wise, and shall shine as the brightness of the firmament," and some "turned many to righteousness," and shall "shine as the stars, forever and ever."

[Illustration: GEN. TENNENT LOMAX, CLASS 1840. Killed at Seven Pines, Va., 1862.]

We go back now and take up the record regularly. At the close of the session of 1839-'40 the report of the Faculty notes the year as successful, and makes mention of the introduction of Anglo-Saxon into the course as the basis of the proper study of English. The Bible was also recommended as a part of the course of study. At this meeting the first legacy to the College, made by Rev. Robert C. Jones, of $3,000, was reported.

[Illustration: DAVID CLOPTON, LL. D.]

The following degrees were conferred June, 1840:

A. B.

DAVID CLOPTON, of Georgia. JAMES F. DOWDELL, of Georgia. BURWELL K. HARRISON, of Ga. JAMES L. PIERCE, of Georgia. TENNENT LOMAX, of S. C. WOODSON L. LIGON, of S. C.

A. M.

JOHN C. BLACKWELL, of Va. R. E. G. ADAMS, of Virginia. J. W. HARDY, of Georgia. F. N. MULLEN, of N. C. JOHN TILLET, of North Carolina. JUNIUS L. CLEMONS, of N. C. WARREN DU PRE, of S. C.

[Illustration: D'ARCY PAUL]

The "Centennial of Methodism" occurred in 1839, and was celebrated by the church. Considerable collections were taken up during the year to increase the endowment of the College. This year a name, clarum et nobile, appeared for the first time on the records of the Board, D'Arcy Paul, of Petersburg. In the good providence of God, he was permitted to act as trustee for many years, and to exert a great influence in saving the College from financial wreck. At the time of his election he was a leading Methodist in his city, and probably the most prominent layman in the State. As a merchant, he had been very successful, and enjoyed the unbounded confidence of the business world. His liberality towards all church and benevolent enterprises was such as probably had never before been witnessed in Virginia. He was by birth a native of Ireland, but his whole life, except his early boyhood, had been spent in Virginia, and no son "to the manner born" was more enthusiastic in pushing forward all interests that enured to its welfare. When he accepted the place of trustee his heart and hand and credit were put at the service of the College. Taking the helm of the ship as Financial and Investing Agent, he held it for nearly thirty years, and it is not going too far to say that to him, more than to any other man, the College owes its continuation to the day when age and feebleness forced him to turn over to other hands the trust he had so long and faithfully borne on his shoulders. If it had the means, it should erect a monument to perpetuate his memory. Happy am I here to pay this feeble tribute to his worth, and to give the portrait, faint representation, though it be, of one who is worthy of all the honors that could be bestowed on him. His form was so erect that age could not bend it. His character, which beamed forth in a face of more than usual manly beauty, was still more true to the line of truth and righteousness.

[Illustration: EDWARD WADSWORTH, D. D., President of the Southern University, Ala.]

The report of the Faculty for the year ending June, 1840-'41, makes favorable mention of the work of the session and of the conduct and scholarship of the students. The financial condition of the College was found to be such as to call for an address asking of the patronizing Conferences needed relief.

The degrees conferred at the close of the year were:

A. B.

GEORGE B. JONES, Virginia. THOMAS B. GORDON, Georgia. ROBERT C. GILLIAM, S. C. WILLIAM H. DENTON, S. C. WILLIAM H. BASS, Virginia. MARCELLUS STANLEY, Georgia. THOS. S. ARTHUR, S. Carolina. THOS. H. CAMPBELL, Virginia. THOMAS H. JONES, Virginia. WM. W. HEREFORD, Mississippi SAMUEL B. SCOTT, Virginia. EDWARD WADSWORTH, N. C. OLIVER P. WILLIAMS, S. C.

A. M.

CHARLES W. BAIRD, Virginia. THEOPHILUS STEWART, Georgia. JOHN T. BRAME, N. Carolina. EDWARD H. MYERS, Florida. JAMES M. FITTS, N. Carolina. HENRY E. LOCKETT, Virginia. JAMES R. THOMAS, Georgia. EZEKIEL A. BLANCH, Virginia. GEORGE W. BLAIN, Virginia.

YEAR 1841-'42.

At a called meeting of the Board held April, 1842, Prof. E. D. Sims tendered his resignation. The law of Virginia at that time prohibited a person from marrying the sister of his deceased wife. The Professor was about to marry Miss Andrews, the sister of his former wife, daughter of Prof. Andrews, author of Latin Grammar, and therefore was compelled to leave the State to marry her.

The loss of a Professor so capable and eminent as Professor Sims was much regretted by the trustees and the friends of the College. Under the circumstances, it could not be remedied, for there was no one to take his place in the special English course. He had been elected to take the chair of English in the University of Alabama, which he accepted. At this institution he formulated a course of instruction in English based on Anglo-Saxon, similar to the one he had taught at Randolph-Macon. Here he proceeded with the work on the Anglo-Saxon Grammar and Dictionary. This work he was not long permitted to prosecute. He died in 1845. Forty years after his death the manuscripts of his Anglo-Saxon works came to Randolph-Macon in an unexpected way. Rev. Mr. Stephan, of Missouri, found them at a second-hand bookstore in St. Louis, and noticing the name of Professor Sims on the title-page, he purchased the lot, embracing other papers, and sent them to the writer. Prof. Sims labored faithfully, but "others have entered into his labors."

[Illustration: SAMUEL D. SANDERS, A. M., M. D., Professor Southwestern University, Texas.]

Rev. Dr. Capers, of South Carolina, was elected to fill the vacancy, and also president of the College, President Garland having tendered his resignation.

In the annual report in June, 1842, the Faculty say: "Our pecuniary embarrassments are becoming serious, and unless effectually relieved, it will be impossible to keep up the operations of the institution much longer. The trustees cannot give this matter too much patient reflection; and if it be practicable to sustain the institution in this respect, we have no fears for its success in all others."

The reorganization of the Faculty was recommended, also some modifications in the course of study; also, the establishment of a "School of Law." This school was established, and Edward R. Chambers, an eminent lawyer of Boydton, elected Professor.

The degrees conferred June, 1842, were:

A. B.

THOMAS C. JOHNSON, Virginia. JOSEPH SUTTON, Virginia. ALEX. B. PIERCE, N. Carolina. BENJAMIN Z. HERNDON, S. C. WILLIAM G. CONNOR, S. C. SAMUEL D. SANDERS, S. C. IRA I. CRENSHAW, Virginia. THOMAS R. EPES, Virginia. JOSEPH T. REESE, Georgia. LUCIEN H. LOMAX, S. Carolina. GEO. E. WYCHE, N. Carolina.

A. M.

ISAAC C. CROFT, S. Carolina. WILLIAM H. BATTE, Virginia. JOSIAH F. ASKEW, Georgia. CHARLES F. BURNLEY, Virginia AMOS W. JONES, N. Carolina. JAMES W. WIGHTMAN, S. C. JAMES R. WASHINGTON, Ga. Rev. DAVID S. DOGGETT, Virginia (honorary).

Rev. David S. Doggett was elected to the chair vacated by the resignation of Professor Sims.

1842-1843.

This year the second decade of the College commenced. The year was marked by great financial pressure, which was partially relieved by the sale of some of the funds of the College. A part of the proceeds of the sale was used to pay off a debt on building account and the rest for current expenses. At the low rates of college fees, the current receipts failed to meet salaries and other expenses.

In the annual report of the Faculty mention is made of a decrease in patronage, caused by the financial condition of the country and the establishment of colleges in other Southern Conferences; so that it was again necessary to ask the Board to do something to increase the income of the College.

This year a French course was introduced for the first time, and E. A. Blanch was elected tutor of French.

At the annual meeting, June, 1843, a committee was appointed, consisting of Messrs. Chambers, Rogers, Alexander, Leigh, and Early, to recommend a plan for the relief of the College from financial embarrassment. This committee reported as follows:

1. That it is absolutely necessary to raise a permanent fund of $20,000 to sustain the institution, and if we fail in doing so, it must and will go down.

2. That the Agent be instructed to endeavor to obtain one hundred subscribers of $500 in money or in bonds, the interest to be paid annually at the sessions of the Virginia and North Carolina Conferences, and the principal within a period not to exceed ten years, no subscription to be binding until $10,000 shall have been subscribed, the principal to be kept as a permanent fund.

The Faculty of the College showed their spirit of liberality and self-denial by the following communication:

"The Faculty, with a view to contribute all in their power toward the establishment of the College, propose to give to the Board of Trustees the sum of five thousand dollars, the same to be paid in five years by a relinquishment annually of $1,000 on their salaries upon the following conditions, viz.:

"1. That the balance of their salaries be paid promptly.

"2. That the donation shall cease before the expiration of the five years, unless the exigencies of the institution shall require it."

[Illustration: GEORGE W. BENAGH, A. M., Professor, University of Alabama.]

It being necessary to raise funds to pay the professors, Messrs. H. G. Leigh, D'Arcy Paul, Dr. Archibald A. Campbell, George Rogers, and Edward R. Chambers offered to loan the College $500 each, and Messrs. H. B. Cowles and Landon C. Garland $250 each, on the 25th of December next; and Rev. W. B. Rowzie, Agent of the College, offered, that if the amount of his collections should fall under $500, to make up the deficiency in a loan.

[Illustration: JUDGE EDWARD R. CHAMBERS, Professor of Law 1842-'43. Trustee of the College. Judge Circuit Court. Member of Virginia Convention 1851 and 1861.]

The above record is given to show the great financial strait of the College and to bring to mind the liberality of the members of the Board and the Faculty. But for this liberal action the College would have ceased its work, as so many others were forced to do.

Some steps were taken at this meeting to establish a Medical Department in the College.

The following degrees were conferred, June, 1843:

A. B.

GEORGE W. BENAGH, Virginia. EDWARD S. BROWN, Virginia. HAMPDEN S. SMITH, N. C. THOMAS E. MASSIE, Virginia. WILLIAM H. LAWTON, S. C. FELIX H. G. TAYLOR, Miss. RICHARD H. POWELL, Alabama. THOMAS W. BLAKE, N. C. HENRY B. ELDRIDGE, Virginia. WALLER MASSIE, Virginia. JOHN F. RIVES, Mississippi. NATHANIEL R. WADDILL, Va. JOHN C. WALKER, Virginia.

A. M.

JAMES F. SMITH, South Carolina.

D. D.

Rev. ROBT. NEWTON, England. WILLIAM WINANS, Mississippi. LOVICK PIERCE, Georgia. WILLIAM A. SMITH, Virginia.

1843-1844.

The dark cloud resting on the prospects of the College in June, 1843, still hung over it the succeeding year, notwithstanding the efforts made to relieve the embarrassment. Patronage continued to decrease. The session opened with sixty matriculates in the College and thirty in the Preparatory School, the smallest number in the history of the College up to this year.

The President, in the annual report, alludes to the depression of Faculty and patrons, neither of whom "could feel proper interest in an institution which might close its doors at any time." This feeling of despondency seemed to have pervaded also the members of the Board, for a bare quorum were in attendance at the opening session. The president, in his report, said: "We shall regard it as a calamity if you leave this place without making some definite arrangement by which our future may be relieved from all embarrassment."

[Illustration: HOLLAND N. MCTYEIRE, A. M., D. D., Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; Regent Vanderbilt University.]

That grand layman, D'Arcy Paul, in this dark hour, came to the relief of the College by guaranteeing the salaries of the professors to the amount of $5,000 on certain conditions. Thus, in the good providence of God, the life of the College was prolonged.

[Illustration: COL. WM. TOWNES, TRUSTEE. Elected 1844.]

The following received degrees June, 1844:

A. B.

JOHN LYON, Virginia. WILLIAM C. DOUB, N. C. WILLIAM M. CABELL, Virginia. HOLLAND N. MCTYEIRE, Ala. ARCHIBALD CLARK, Virginia. THOMAS H. RODGERS, Virginia. JAMES G. FANNING, Georgia. JOHN HOWARD, Virginia. RICHARD IRBY, Virginia. RICHARD S. PARHAM, Virginia. WILLIE M. PERSON, N. C. BENJAMIN F. SIMMONS, N. C. J. L. GILLESPIE, Virginia.

A. M.

THOMAS B. GORDON, Georgia. GEORGE B. JONES, Virginia. Rev. EDWARD WADSWORTH, Va. FRANCIS A. CONNOR, S. C. Rev. THOS. H. JONES, Virginia. WILLIAM H. BASS, Virginia. HENRY F. JONES, N. C.

Rev. Henry B. Cowles having declined to accept the office of Agent, to which he had been previously elected, was again elected.

Warren DuPre resigned the tutorship, and Holland N. McTyeire was elected to fill the place.

It would be an omission if, in describing and relating other matters, the description of an old-time Annual Commencement should be left out. These occasions were notable events in the first two decades of the College. In those days preparations were begun four weeks before the Commencement day by releasing the Seniors from regular daily exercises so as to give them time to prepare their orations, which each one had to write and commit to memory and rehearse before the Professor of English, who was authorized to make corrections in matter, style, and also in manner of delivery. The Commencement generally was held the third Wednesday and Thursday of June. The Sunday previous a sermon was preached by some eminent minister appropriate to the occasion. Selecting one occasion that the writer witnessed as a specimen, that of 1842, the following description is faithful: The visitors, in the main, began to fill up the boarding-houses around the College and the hotels of Boydton on Tuesday. The Board of Trustees assembled on Tuesday at an early hour, holding their meeting, strictly private, during the day. Friends of the graduates from Virginia and the Carolinas were largely in attendance on Wednesday in time for the opening of the exercises in the chapel. On this occasion the far-famed evangelist, Rev. John Newland Maffett, had been selected to deliver the annual oration before the literary societies. He arrived on Tuesday by private carriage, having travelled over seventy miles. The Alumni Society orator had also arrived.

The exercises of Wednesday opened at 11 A. M. The band had been discoursing musical selections for hours previous on the campus, and continued in the gallery of the chapel, to which they and the crowd had repaired. The chaplain invoked the blessing of God on the College and the young men. The president introduced the alumni orator, who delivered his address to the Society and the audience. The applause of the auditors would have been prolonged but for their anxiety to hear the silver-tongued orator, whose fame was as wide as the country. He was in the prime of life. His dress was faultless; his black locks were unruffled, as when he left the hair-dresser's shop an hour before, for it was said he held his hat in his hand all the way from Boydton as he rode in the carriage to the chapel. Be that as it may, every lock was in perfect order. He was a native of the Emerald Isle, but was thoroughly naturalized. His manner was well-nigh perfect, possibly a little too dramatic; his voice musical, his enunciation rolling and faultless.

What was the theme memory cannot recall. All that is remembered is his action, voice, and the general effect on the auditors. The house was packed; the crowd outside was as great as that inside. The oration over, all breathed naturally again; the boys applauded, the ladies waved their handkerchiefs and fans, and the band struck up enlivening notes, and all said, as the morning exercises closed, "We have heard an orator to-day."

In the afternoon the representatives of the Washington and Franklin Societies—George Benagh and Felix Taylor of the former, and Marcellus Stanley and Rives Waddill, of the latter—did their societies great honor as their representatives by delivering in the chapel eloquent orations.

At night the Societies held their annual meetings, at which the presidents-elect, distinguished honorary members, presided and made addresses. In the debates following the honorary members were expected to take part. The Society medals and honors were delivered to graduate members. These meetings were held in the halls, and were not open to the public.

At night the parlors of private houses and the hotels were radiant with the wealth of beauty gathered mainly from the Old Dominion and the old North State. If there were ever fairer and more lovely women since the days of Helen this deponent never saw them.

The next day the graduating class made their last bows to a College audience, having, according to custom, appeared three times before in the last year of their course. It would be hard to decide which did best, if the verdict had to be given by the fair auditors who heard them.

The "Latin Salutatory" came first, delivered by the second-honor man. This was followed by the orations of others, without regard to grade. The closing "Valedictory" was delivered by the first-honor man, who in a manner represented the whole class. Then each graduate received his "sheep-skin," delivered by the President, who, in Latin, said, "Accepe hoc diploma," as he handed the diploma.

The graduating class was complimented by a "party" given in their honor by the students at the Steward's Hall, which was largely attended. This closed the Commencement.

So great was the interest in the Annual Commencements that parties came for long distances, even as far as South Carolina. Some of them came in coaches drawn by four horses with out-riders.

COLLEGE YEAR 1844-'45.

The tendency in patronage this year was still downward. The number of students was smaller than ever before.

A movement was made to carry out the project to raise $20,000 for endowment. The salaries of the Faculty were reduced, so that the President only got $1,250; the professors, $1,000; Tutor, $600; Principal of the Preparatory School, $600. This was done in the face of the fact that the dues to the Faculty at this time amounted to $7,000. This unfortunate condition of affairs was brought about and aggravated by several causes. The poorly paid officers worked without hope of remuneration. Students failed to attend because the impression was becoming prevalent that the College would be forced to close its doors. Besides, the farming community were receiving low prices for their crops. In 1845 the severest drought prevailed in Virginia ever known since 1816.

At the Commencement, June, 1845, a case of smallpox was reported on the morning of the first day. This threatened the total suspension of the exercises, and many visitors did return home. The exercises were held at Boydton, and the address of Rev. Dr. William S. Plumer, one of the greatest men of his day, served to put all in good humor and restore quiet. The next day the services were held in the chapel.

[Illustration: TURNER M. JONES, A. M., D. D., President Greensboro Female College, N.C.]

Degrees were conferred as follows:

A. B.

CHARLES B. STUART, Va. JOHN G. BOYD, Va. THOMAS T. BOSWELL, Va. JAMES T. WRIGHT, Va. WILLIAM F. BLACKWELL, Va. JOHN W. SHELTON, N. C. TURNER M. JONES, N. C.

A. M.

JOSEPH T. REESE, Ga. GEORGE E. WYCHE, N. C. THOMAS S. ARTHUR, S. C.

At the close of this year I. I. Crenshaw and H. N. McTyeire resigned their places as Tutors. The former went to the Buckingham Female Institute, and the latter took work as an itinerant on a circuit till Conference.

[Illustration: O. H. P. CORPREW, A. M., LL. D., Professor in Randolph-Macon College and Central College, Mo.]

Williams T. Davis was elected Principal of the Preparatory School.

COLLEGE YEAR 1845-'46.

The drought referred to continued till late in the summer. Many farmers had to buy corn at one dollar per bushel, and in some cases had to go as far as thirty miles to get meal.

At the close of the year in June, at the meeting of the Board, great financial embarrassment was reported. A bond to be secured by mortgage on the real estate of the College for $5,000 was authorized to raise funds to meet pressing indebtedness.

The following received degrees June, 1846:

A. B.

JOHN DAVIS, Va. OLIVER H. P. CORPREW, Va. FRANK X. FOSTER, S. C. EDWARD T. HARDY, Va. SAMUEL HARDY, Va. WM. G. de GRAFFENREIDT, Va. OLIN M. DANTZLER, S. C. BENJAMIN F. LOCKETT, Va. THOMAS J. LOCKETT, Va. THOMAS P. JERMAN, S. C. GEORGE HOWARD, Va.

A. M.

JAMES F. DOWDELL, Ga. WILLIAM F. SAMFORD, Ala. JOHN F. RIVES, Miss. THOMAS H. CAMPBELL, Va. WILLIAM G. CONNER, S. C. JOHN C. WALKER, Va.

D. D.

Rev. W. M. WIGHTMAN, S. C. EDMOND W. SEHON, Ky.

The session of the College, 1846-'47, opened very inauspiciously. In addition to (and probably in large measure growing out of) the financial troubles which had been thickening for years past, a want of harmony and co-operation between the President and some of the members of the Faculty began to be shown. This led to disorder and insubordination among the students. To inquire into the matter at issue a meeting of the Trustees was called in September, 1846, at which, after reciting a history of the troubles, President Garland tendered his resignation, and requested the immediate acceptance of the same. This was followed by the resignation of their positions by Professors D. S. Doggett and David Duncan, and Tutor Thomas H. Rogers.

The resignation of the President was not accepted for prudential reasons. That of Professor Doggett, to take effect at the close of the session, was accepted, as was that of Tutor Rogers. Professor Duncan was induced to withdraw his.

The Board then adjourned to meet in the succeeding November, at the session of the Virginia Conference, which was to meet at the College.

At the adjourned meeting held November 13, 1846, the Board accepted the resignation of President Garland. Rev. Wm. A. Smith, D. D., of the Virginia Conference, was elected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of President Garland. The Faculty, as re-organized, was as follows, viz:

REV. WM. A. SMITH (President), Prof. Moral and Mental Philosophy. REV. CHARLES F. DEEMS, A. M., Prof. Latin and Belles Lettres. EZEKIEL A. BLANCH, A. M., Prof. Pure and Applied Mathematics. DAVID DUNCAN, A. M., Prof. Greek Language and Literature. JAMES W. HARDY, Prof. Experimental Science, Astronomy and Optics.

The severance of President Garland from the College, after a service of fourteen years in various capacities, was a source of great sorrow to his old pupils and friends. However deficient he may have been in some qualifications for the presidency, which from the first he not only did not seek, but frequently declined, he preserved all along the unqualified respect of all as an able professor and scholar. So devoted was he to the prosecution of his favorite study, Astronomy, that he generally broke himself down every year by attempting to perform the arduous work of the president and also of full professor. Added to this he was for years Treasurer. To a sensitive nature like his, the demands of creditors made on him when he could not meet them was a burden of itself heavy enough for any one to bear. If the College had had an endowment fund large enough to pay the expenses as they were incurred, and had allowed him to retain a professorship at a fair salary, with a president taking on his shoulders the duties which in most colleges devolved on the president, his valuable services could probably have been retained—certainly if the dissension had not arisen in the administration of the College. It is proper here to state that this dissension was only with Professor Hardy, and was not participated in by the other members of the Faculty, and did not lead to the resignation of several of them.

President Garland accepted the Chair of Mathematics in the University of Alabama, at Tuscaloosa. He never returned to his native State except on visits. The whole of a long life was spent, first, at the University to which he went, then at the University of Mississippi, from which he was called to take the Chancellorship of the Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tenn., which he accepted and filled for many years. Here in connection with his old pupil, Bishop McTyeire, he did valuable work, till age and feebleness forbade active work. Then he was made Chancellor emeritus. He died suddenly, but not unprepared, at the Vanderbilt University.

The closing years of President Garland's administration were the darkest in, the history of the College. Many of its friends were hopeless of its ever rallying again. Others gathered new hope, and their faith "staggered not" in this dark hour. All the older Methodist colleges had gone down, or were tottering to their fall. So much the greater faith was needed at Randolph-Macon.

It was a fortunate circumstance that this re-organization took place at the session of the Virginia Conference, which was held at the College, and presided over by Bishop Capers.

[Illustration: REV. WM. B. ROWZIE.]

Rev. W. B. Rowzie, who for many years had been Agent, resigned the position. A better friend the College never had.

At the request of the Board, Rev. B. R. Duval and Rev. Nathaniel Thomas were appointed Agents for the College. They were men of extraordinary energy and zeal, and they at once entered on a thorough canvass of the Conference in raising funds for the College. President Smith entered on his duties with characteristic zeal. He was fortunately possessed of an unconquerable will and a buoyancy of disposition, without which he would have quailed under the discouragements under which he labored.

"Wm. A. Smith was born in Fredericksburg, Va., November 29, 1802. His mother was a consistent member of the Methodist Church, and in death prayed that her son might live to preach the glorious gospel. His father was a man of honorable character and position. Both died when he was of a tender age. For a time the orphan boy had rough usage; but he was afterwards adopted and raised by Mr. Russell Hill, a friend of his father, and a worthy merchant of Petersburg. When seventeen years old, he was converted, and joined the M. E. Church. He had received a good English education, and had commenced the study of the classics; but feeling that he was called of God to the ministry, and not being able to attend college as he desired, he studied privately one year at the home of his uncle, Mr. Porter, in Orange county, and taught school two or three years in Madison. In 1824 he travelled the Gloucester circuit under the Presiding Elder; in February, 1825, he was admitted on trial into the Virginia Conference. In 1833, while Agent for Randolph-Macon College, then in its infancy, he met with a fearful accident: the carriage which he was driving upset and fell on him, breaking his right thigh and dislocating his left hip, and badly laming him for life. He was a delegate to the General Conference of the M. E. Church every session from 1832 to 1844, and occupied a high position in that great council as an adviser and debater. In the memorable appeal case of Harding, and in the yet more important extrajudicial trial of Bishop Andrew, which led to the division of the church, he won a reputation wide as the United States, and inferior to that of no minister of any denomination, for the highest deliberative and forensic eloquence. He was a member of the Louisville Convention which organized the M. E. Church, South, and of all the General Conferences of this church to the date of his death. He commanded universal respect and confidence among his brethren by the sincerity of his zeal, the wisdom of his counsels, and the power of his reasoning. His impress will long remain on the legislation and institutions of Southern Methodism. In 1846 he was called from the regular pastorate, by the urgency of the Trustees of Randolph-Macon College, sanctioned by the Virginia Conference, to the Presidency of this institution. He was selected for that place because his courage, energy and strength of intellect seemed indispensable not only to the prosperity, but even to the saving of this noble institution. Twenty years of his life was consecrated to this cause—years of self-sacrifice, of unremitting toil, of courageous battling with difficulties and victory over them; of hope where others desponded, of faith where others doubted, of resolution where others wavered. He was diligent in his study, diligent in his lecture-room, diligent in his travel through Virginia and North Carolina to collect money and to arouse interest in behalf of the College. The number of students steadily increased, the standard of scholarship was elevated, and through the joint efforts of Dr. Smith and the agents of the College an endowment fund of $100,000 was raised. Then came the terrible war, which emptied those classic halls and swept away the funds which had been gathered with so much toil. Yet not in vain had he labored. Scores of ministers, hundreds of pious young men, educated under his care, moulded by his influence, are this day in their several spheres carrying on the same grand work to which he was devoted, and have learned, from his teachings and example, never to surrender, never to despair of Randolph-Macon.

"We have not spoken of Dr. Smith as a preacher and pastor. He soon rose to eminence in the ministry, and stood with the foremost in the pulpit and pastorate for faithfulness, ability and success. He had a deep, distinct, happy, constant experience of the saving grace of God in Christ Jesus. His zeal for the cause of religion was pure, steady, consuming. He was fully consecrated to the work of the ministry. The doctrines and polity of our church had no stronger, nobler expounder and champion than he. His sermons were "logic on fire"—grand and solid discussions of the leading truths of the gospel, animated with deep emotion. Thousands were converted under his ministry; many of them became preachers of the word in our own and other denominations; the churches he served were ever edified and trained, not less by his pastoral fidelity than by his luminous discourses.

"As a man, he was of marked character. Who that ever saw him could forget that bold, frank, noble face and forehead, which revealed at a glance the lofty attributes of his intellect, the loftier attributes of his heart! Cunning and deceit he knew not; to fear he was a stranger; his convictions he was ever ready to avow and maintain. Yet, with all his courage and indomitable energy of will, he had a tender, sympathetic heart, and much of a child-like spirit, simple, unselfish, trustful, easy to be entreated." *

* Copied from Memoir in Virginia Conference Minutes.

Rev. C. F. Deems did not accept the chair of Latin, and O. H. P. Corprew was elected professor pro tempore, and filled the place.

At a meeting of the Board held March 31, 1847, an effort was made to establish a medical department of the College, but it never resulted in any permanent success.

[Illustration: BENNETT PURYEAR, A. M., LL. D., Professor Chemistry Randolph-Macon College; Chairman Faculty and Professor Chemistry, Richmond College.]

At the meeting of the Board held June, 1847, President Smith reported that the session had been pleasant and the prospects of the College improving. The success of the Agents in their work gave promise of better financial conditions. A committee was appointed to reorganize the Preparatory School system, and it was proposed to establish one or more at salient points.

[Illustration: WM. A. SMITH, D. D., President of Randolph-Macon College, 1846-1866. President Central College, Missouri.]

Professor J.W. Hardy tendered his resignation, which was accepted. He had been elected President of La Grange College, Alabama, where he died after a short service.

The following received degrees:

A. B.

BENNETT PURYEAR, Va. JOHN MOODY, Va. R. H. BEALE, Tenn.

A. M.

W. C. DOUB, N. C. JOHN LYON, Va. T. C. JOHNSON, Mo. ARCHIBALD CLARK, Va. THOMAS H. ROGERS, Va. JOHN HOWARD, Va.

D. D.

REV. D. S. DOGGETT, Va. REV. EDWARD WADSWORTH, Ala.

At a meeting of the Board held at Charlottesville November 17, during the session of the Virginia Conference, a further issue of life-scholarships was authorized.

The committee on Preparatory Schools reported in favor of retaining the old school at the College under certain rules, and the establishment of one at Ridgway, N. C., under a contract with the Trustees of the Ridgway Academy, with William C. Doub, A. M., as Principal; also of one at Garysburg, N. C., with C. B. Stuart, A. M., as Principal.

At the close of the year, June, 1848, the President in the annual report reported increased patronage, and a session marked by studiousness and good order among the students. The number in the College and the Preparatory School was about one hundred and forty.

The graduates receiving degrees June, 1848, were—

A. B.

JOHN C. GRANBERY, Va. JOHN H. CLAIBORNE, Va. JAMES R. BRANCH, Va. JOHN S. MOORE, Va. DALLAS SMITH, Ala. TAZEWELL HARGROVE, N. C. RICHARD G. MORRIS, Va. GEORGE W. FRIEND, Va. CHARLES E. WILLIAMS, Va. JAMES D. BLACKWELL, Va.

A. M.

CHARLES B. STUART, Va. TURNER M. JONES, N. C. WILLIE M. PERSON, N. C. J. W. SHELTON, N. C. THOMAS B. RUSSELL, Ga. JOHN G. BOYD, Va. WILLIAMS T. DAVIS (Hon'y), Va. BENJAMIN JENKINS (Honorary), Missionary M. E. Church, South, in China.

[Illustration: JAMES R. BRANCH, A. M., Colonel Artillery, C. S. A.]

D'Arcy Paul, Investing Agent and Chairman of the Finance Committee, reported the probable income for coming year at about $3,500, $2,000 of which amount to come from fees and the balance endowment dividends.

[Illustration: JOHN C. GRANBERY, A. M., D. D.]

We pause again in this narrative to give a reminiscence of College life as written in 1882 by a distinguished member of the class last named, John C. Granbery, who delivered the valedictory as first-honor man. The distinction then achieved was but a presage of his rank in the several positions he has been called to fill—Pastor, Chaplain to the University of Virginia, Chaplain in the Confederate army (in which service he was severely wounded and taken prisoner), Professor in the Vanderbilt University, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (elected 1882), and author of several works. At this writing he lives at Ashland, and is the President of the Board of Trustees.

"As the earliest of the American Methodist Colleges now extant, Randolph-Macon may be called venerable, if not ancient. But I use the prefix old in order to distinguish the College as it was at Boydton from the College as it is at Ashland. The features of contrast are many and important. In the old days slavery was, as we thought, a fixed and lasting institution; civil strife had not swept away lives and fortunes, and the South was proud, independent, fiery and enthusiastic, chivalrous withal, generous, genial; now we are just beginning to adjust ourselves to the new social and political conditions which have been imposed by a disastrous war. Then there was a single degree, Bachelor of Arts, for which the students strove, and the course of four years was prescribed, with its regular gradations of Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors; now the studies are eclectic, and the matriculates may select any one of several degrees, or study without reference to graduation. Then the lumbering stage brought up the tri-weekly, or perhaps daily, mail and passengers, and the word of the driver rang forth cheerily, but no shrill whistle of steam-engine or thunder of lightning trains disturbed the silence of the classic groves, and the attractions and distractions of the crowded, hurrying, clamorous city were out of reach and out of thought; now the steam-car and the steam-press are familiar objects, the capital is less than an hour's distance, and the stage-coach is a tradition.

"A change has taken place in the manner and measure of collegiate discipline. This is due not to the change of locality, but to the spirit of the age. It has come to be a maxim that the best government is that which governs least. We seek the minimum of restriction on liberty that is compatible with the ends of government, viz., order, morality and diligence. Formerly the dormitory system prevailed; students were required to be in their rooms during certain hours of the day and night; professors and tutors visited the buildings, seeking to surprise the inmates, in order to ascertain whether the rule was observed; there were many minute regulations which have since been abandoned. This continued exercise of authority and plan of watching provoked insubordination and evasion; the wits of the boys were set to work in order to deceive the teachers, and to break the rules without detection, or, at least, with impunity. The risk gave to mischief and lawlessness a relish they would not otherwise have possessed. Unwholesome suppers were stealthily brought to the rooms by negroes at late hours of the night; calathumps aroused the neighborhood with most hideous music; blackboards were greased; the bell-rope was cut, and old John had to blow his horn at daybreak in every row of the buildings, as a call to prayers and recitations. This provoked him greatly, and he used to say, 'If you won't be rung up as gentlemen, I must blow you up as hogs.' How heartily I have heard Dr. Smith laugh as he repeated the old negro's complaint at such times, 'We have the worstest young men, and the mostest on 'em, I ever seed!' Practical jokes, sometimes of a very disagreeable sort, were played on professors in their nocturnal rounds of inspecting the premises. Calves were hauled up into lecture-rooms, and other silly tricks were perpetrated. I am glad that these follies have passed away, that faculty and students treat each other as gentlemen and friends, and that the public sentiment of the College would not tolerate any rudeness, though disguised under the name of fun. It is well to appeal to the conscience, gentlemanly propriety and honor, and generous and kindly sentiments of young men, rather than resort to espionage and multiplied restraints.

"I appreciate the arguments in favor of locating institutions of learning on the great lines of travel, and in or near large towns. It should be easy to get to them, and get away from them. The frequent mail and the time-destroying telegraph are now indispensable where students are a small minority of the population, and where there is a vigilant and effective police many disorders are prevented, and faculties and boards of trust are saved much trouble. Low vice is cheap, and will go to the most secluded spot in search of victims; but the city presents many refined pleasures which may serve to draw off ingenuous youth from haunts of sin and projects of mischief. But there are advantages on the side of the more quiet and retired situation. It favors concentration of interest on books, lectures, and light collegiate exercises. The whole life at the country college becomes student life. There is no division of mind and heart. There is nothing to tempt the earnest youth from his proper work. The esprit du corps of old Randolph-Macon was very strong. There were hospitable and cultivated homes in the neighborhood, and most charming maidens; those who visited them found entangling alliances for life, if the fair sex consented. But the number of young ladies sufficiently near to be easily visited was small, and many of the students were not, if I must use the modern slang which was unknown in my day, calicoists. The two literary societies were centres of enthusiasm. A new Randolph-Macon student can hardly understand the intensity of devotion "Washs" and "Franks" had for their societies in those times. All students were members of the one or of the other, and were ready to brag for it, quarrel for it, and, if need be, fight for it. They did not all attend regularly the meetings, or take part in discussion and other literary exercises; their lack of presence or performance was amply atoned for by the payment of their fines, for we were always eager to replenish the treasury. But a number studied carefully the questions of debate, reading largely, and thus, forming a fondness for books and habit of reflection; they prepared their speeches, and often waxed very warm. Indeed, bitterness and strife would sometimes arise, but they soon passed away. A frequent and effective debater of rather waspish and contemptuous temper alluded one day to the arguments of his opponents as flimsy cobwebs, as he quoted one after another, and answered it, 'I brush that cobweb away,' said he. A modest, merry-hearted man on the other side—he is now one of Lee's one-armed heroes—responded: 'The gentleman called my arguments cobwebs, and it may be that they are; but to-day is not the first time that I have seen a fly caught in a spider's web, and vainly struggling to get loose.' Colonel R., an intelligent gentleman of the community, said to me more than once, when he had been listening to a spirited debate, 'It is not inferior to the best debates I have heard in the Legislature of Virginia.' Some of the most skilled debaters in church and state would give a large share of the credit for their power in deliberative assemblies to the inspiration and training of those old Randolph-Macon halls. Many foolish things were spoken there, I must admit. 'I don't know I did the thing with which I am charged,' said an excited Frank; 'but if I did, I oughtn't to be fined, for I did it with malice aforethought.' 'With malice aforethought!' responded the censor, who was our honored and beloved Duncan; 'who ever heard before of that being an excuse?' 'I said it, and I repeat it, that I did it with malice aforethought; and if the gentleman doesn't understand, I will explain that it is a law phrase, and means I didn't go to do it!'

"There were many traditions in my day of giants who had been at old Randolph-Macon. They told how Dr. Olin, the first President, a man of great head and heart, would send for an idle or offending student, place his feet on the chair where the delinquent sat so as to hold him, a close prisoner, and talk to him faithfully, yet tenderly, until with burning cheeks and floods of tears the youth promised never again to offend. It was a memorable event when the great man preached; solid thought in vast masses was driven to the mark with resistless power. There was a story of an eloquent and mighty sermon from Dr. Lovick Pierce, of Georgia, from a text which astonished every listener: 'Let him that stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.' There were glowing reports of the wonderful pathos and power of Russell, of Georgia; how he melted the cold, stone hearts of the Faculty, who were bent on sending him home, but they had all their resolves converted into admiration and sympathy for the youth who pleaded eloquently his own cause; how often he electrified his society. It was my good fortune to see and hear him in the pulpit and on the platform, when he visited the College as Commencement orator."

During the session of 1847-'48, a man of more than ordinary distinction and talent became connected as Professor with the College, Rev. Charles Force Deems. He was a native of New Jersey, and a graduate of Dickinson College. In very early manhood he came to North Carolina to represent the American Bible Society in that State. He was there only a short time before he was elected to a chair at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When Dr. Smith was elected President in November, 1846, he was elected Professor of Latin and Belles Lettres. He did not accept the chair at that time. In December, 1847, he did accept another, and the January following entered upon his duties as Professor of Chemistry. He remained that year and then returned to North Carolina, and entered on the regular work of an itinerant minister. It is not known why he so soon severed his connection with the College, for which he always to his latest day expressed an attachment, evidenced by more than one or two acts of interest and generosity. It is probable that there was little kindly feeling from some cause not known, or congeniality between him and the President of the College. This doubtless was the root of the bitter feud between him and Dr. Smith in after time, culminating in the alienation of many friends from each other and the North Carolina Conference from the College.

The portraits of the two now hang near together on the wall of the Trustees' room in the library, and it is hoped that all "bitterness and wrath" having been laid aside they together share the blessedness of heaven.

COLLEGE YEAR 1848-'49.

The report of the President and Faculty gives the following items for the year 1848-'49:

Students in College proper, 61; in Preparatory Schools, viz.: at the College, 51; Ridgway, N. C., 20; Garysburg, 40; Lowell, N. C., 21; Richlands, N. C., 20; in all, 213.

"The schools in North Carolina from the last quarterly returns are in a prosperous condition, and promise in reasonable time to operate as valuable auxiliaries."

Professor Deems resigned the chair about December, 1848. The vacancy was filled, or arranged to be filled, by Charles B. Stuart, of the class of 1845, with the privilege extended to him to spend about a year at Yale College, where Agricultural and Analytical Chemistry were made specialties. This arrangement was carried out.

At the meeting of the Board, June, 1849, a department of Agricultural Chemistry was provided for, to be in charge of Professor Stuart.

[Illustration: RICHARD W. LEIGH, Major C. S. A.; killed at Murfreesboro, Tenn.]

The following degrees were conferred:

A. B.

JAMES A. DUNCAN, Va. WILLIAM G. FOOTE, Miss. JAMES W. JACKSON, Va. RICHARD W. LEIGH, Va. LEWIS MILLER, N. C. R.S.F. PEETE, Va. B. CRAVEN (Honorary), N. C.

A. M.

LUCIEN H. LOMAX, S. C. EDWARD T. HARDY, Va. O.H.P. CORPREW, Va. FRANCIS X. FOSTER, S. C.

COLLEGE YEAR 1849-'50.

The attendance this year at the Home Schools was 134 (College, 62; Preparatory, 72). Improvement reported in general morals and habits of students.

Great financial embarrassment reported, and urgent appeals for active measures to secure needed relief.

[Illustration: EDWIN E. PARHAM, A. M., President of Warrenton, Petersburg, and Hampton Female Colleges.]

Early in the session of 1849-'50, Professor E. A. Blanch resigned the Chair of Mathematics on account of continued bad health. Professor John C. Wills, a distinguished graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, was elected to fill the vacancy, and entered on his duties. He was a local minister in the Methodist Church, and a man of fine character and an accomplished teacher. The College was fortunate in securing such a man.

The Faculty now consisted of the following; Dr. Smith, President; Professors Duncan, Stuart, Wills, Corprew (Tutor), and Williams T. Davis at the Preparatory School near the College.

In June, 1850, they reported the Preparatory School as having done well, and the reception from it of twenty students for the next session, and four from the Ridgway Preparatory School. The school at Garysburg, N. C., had been discontinued. The schools at Lowell, N. C., and Richlands, N. C., in successful operation and accomplishing much good.

From the above it will be seen that the establishment of academies as feeders to the College was a fact accomplished before the late effort in 1889. They were all in North Carolina, and the subsequent alienation carried them away from the College with whatever patronage they were bringing to it.

Degrees were conferred as follows, June, 1850:

A. B.

EDWIN A. THOMPSON, N. C. EDWIN E. PARHAM, Va. EDWARD A. ADAMS, Va. JOHN F. DANCE, Va. WILLIAM A. BRAME, N. C. ROBERT H. WINFIELD, Va. BENJAMIN C. DREW, Va. THOMAS F. FITZGERALD, Va.

A. M.

REV. N. F. REID (Hon'y), N. C. BENNETT PURYEAR, Va.

COLLEGE YEAR 1850-'51.

Number of students reported this year: In College, 91; in Preparatory School, 62—total, 153.

The schools in North Carolina, except Ridgeway, prosperous.

The year was not satisfactory in the deportment of students generally, nor in finances.

[Illustration: PROF. WILLIAM T. DAVIS, Principal Preparatory School.]

In June, 1851, the following degrees were conferred:

A. B.

WILLIAM H. CHRISTIAN, Va. HUGH D. BRACEY, Va. WILLIAM M. CRENSHAW, Va. HENRY F. DRAKE, N. C. ARMSTREAT E. FOWLKES, Va. JOHN H. GUY, Va. HEZEKIAH G. LEIGH, Jr., Va. JOHN S. LONG, N. C. JAMES O'HANLON, N. C. JACOB M. PALMER, Va. REUBEN PALMER, Va. WILLIAM MCK. ROBBINS, N. C. RICHARD H. WILLIAMS, Va. HENRY W. WINGFIELD, Va.

[Illustration: WILLIAM MCK. ROBBINS, Member of Congress from North Carolina.]

A. M.

RICHARD H. POWELL, Ala. DAVID CLOPTON, Ala. THOMAS J. KOGER, S. C. JAMES F. DOWDELL, Ala. TENNENT LOMAX, Ala. JAMES L. PIERCE, Ga. EDWARD WADSWORTH, Ala. ADDISON LEA, Miss. Rev. B. CRAVEN (Honorary), N. C. President Trinity College.

The Finance Committee reported to the Board that the sum of $57,000 had been raised in subscriptions, bonds, etc., towards the endowment of the College.

COLLEGE YEAR 1851-'52.

A number of changes took place this year. Williams T. Davis, A. M., who had for many years successfully conducted the Preparatory School, retired to go to Petersburg, where he spent the balance of a useful life in the education of young ladies. He was temporarily succeeded by W. G. Foote, A. B., and later by James S. Kennedy, A. B., of Emory and Henry College.

O. H. P. Corprew, A. M., tutor, was succeeded by Rev. J. A. Dean.

The annual report mentions better financial condition; decrease in patronage, due in part to changes of teachers; the introduction of the "Demerit system," which is noted as having worked satisfactorily; also the establishment of the degree of "Bachelor of English Literature and Science," allowing a degree without taking classical studies.

The Preparatory School at Ridgway, N. C., was discontinued. The other schools were reported as doing well, but no statistics as to numbers in attendance were given. The first volume of the Randolph-Macon Magazine, containing ten numbers and three hundred pages, was published in 1851. The Editors' Table states that "the primary object of our publication is the enlargement of our Society libraries."

The following is another extract from the Editors' Table: "The time is at hand for us to throw off our dependence upon the North, and establish an independent Southern literature."

The old Southern Literary Messenger was then published, and several Reviews, more or less literary. None of permanent standing are published now. Southern independence in government and literature seem to have both surrendered at Appomattox. Some of these young men laid down their lives for one, some have been too busy fighting "the wolf at the door" to do much for the latter. While we lament their defeat, we admire their pluck.

The following is the title-page of Volume I.:

[Transcribers' Note: In the printed book, the editors and agents are listed in two parallel columns. The left-hand column is headed "From F.L. Society." and the right-hand column is headed "From W.L. Society."]

THE RANDOLPH-MACON MAGAZINE.

PUBLISHED BY THE STUDENTS OF THE R.-M. COLLEGE.

"Adeo in teneris consuescere, multum est."

EDITORS:

From F. L. Society. ROBERT M. MALLORY. WILLIAM Y. PEYTON. JOHN WILLIAMS.

From W. L. Society. CHARLES H. HALL. JOHN S. JACKSON. THADDEUS L. H. YOUNG.

AGENTS: From F. L. Society. JAMES SANGSTER. THOMAS C. THACKSTON.

From W. L. Society. LEROY M. WILSON. EDWARD M. PETERSON.

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PRINTED BY CHAS. H. WYNNE, 150 Main Street, Richmond Va.

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The following degrees were conferred June, 1852:

A. B.

ROWLAND DOGGETT, Va. ROBERT A. JACKSON, Va. SAMUEL LANDER, N. C. ROBERT M. MALLORY, Va. BENJAMIN W. OGBURN, Va. JOHN F. OGBURN, Va. HORACE PALMER, Jr., Va. RUFUS R. PEGUES, S. C. HENRY H. WILLIAMS, Va. JOHN WILLIAMS, N. C.

A. M.

JAMES W. JACKSON, Va. JAMES A. DUNCAN, Va. R.S.F. PEETE, N. C. WILLIAM G. FOOTE, Miss.

COLLEGE SESSION 1852-'53.

At the annual meeting, June, 1853, the report of the President and Faculty was duly made, but, from some cause, it was not recorded.

[Illustration: SAMUEL LANDER, D. D., President Williamston Female College, South Carolina.]

The following degrees were conferred:

A. B.

CHARLES H. HALL, N. C. JOHN S. JACKSON, Va. EMBRY MERRITT, Va. HENRY D. MILAM, N. C. JAMES D. PROCTOR, Va. JAMES E. SEBRELL, Va. RICHARD W. THURMAN, Va. JAMES SANGSTER, Va.

A. M.

E. W. ADAMS, Va. JOHN H. CLAIBORNE, Va. RICHARD W. LEIGH, Va. EDWIN E. PARHAM, Va. GEORGE HOWARD, Va. LEWIS MILLER, N. C. ROBERT H. WINFIELD, Va. Rev. JOHN E. EDWARDS, Va. (Honorary).

D. D.

Rev. HEZEKIAH G. LEIGH, North Carolina Conference. Rev. CHARLES F. DEEMS, North Carolina Conference.

[Illustration: REV. CHAS. H. HALL, Of the Virginia Conference.]

COLLEGE YEAR 1853-'54.

There were in attendance this year 111 students in College and 43 in the Preparatory School. Great gratification was expressed on account of the good order of the session. The financial condition, however, was still very embarrassing. The scholarships sold had added something to the endowment fund, but the number of students paying tuition fees was reduced, and thus the current receipts were not increased. This embarrassed the officers of the College, because, while they preferred to remain, higher salaries elsewhere invited them away. The President stated that he visited the Virginia Legislature and made strenuous efforts to induce the body to pass an act which would give all incorporated Colleges $20,000 in State bonds for every $30,000 invested by them in State bonds. Though the project seemed to meet with great favor, nevertheless it failed, as all efforts to get the State to aid denominational colleges have done.

Dr. Smith adds: "But if the hope of succeeding with this scheme be not sufficient to justify you in making better provision for your officers, and another should not present itself to your minds affording better grounds of hope for success, it is respectfully submitted whether it be not better to close your doors until such of the officers as you shall deem proper to employ shall succeed in raising from the public an endowment fund sufficient to meet the wants of the institution."

The venerable Professor David Duncan resigned the Chair of Ancient Languages, September, 1853, to take effect June, 1854. So in June, after a continuous faithful service of twenty-one years, he bade farewell to Randolph-Macon, and went to Wofford, the scene of his labors to the end of a long life.

Professor O. H. P. Corprew, A. M., was transferred from the Chair of Natural Philosophy to fill the vacancy occasioned by Professor Duncan's resignation. Professor Corprew had been elected to the Professorship of Natural Philosophy in the previous December. H. G. Leigh, Jr., resigned as Tutor of Languages, and was succeeded by T. H. L. Young, A. B. Wm. H. Bass resigned the place of Principal of the Preparatory School, and was succeeded by John W. Stuart.

[Illustration: THOMAS C. ELDER, A. M., Of the Staunton, Va. Bar.]

John S. Moore, A. M., was elected to the Chair of Natural Philosophy, vacated by the transfer of Professor Corprew.

At the annual meeting in June, 1854, the following received degrees:

A. B.

JESSE P. BAGBY, Va. JOHN G. S. BOYD, Va. RICHARD BOYD, Va. WILLIAM H. CHEEK, N. C. THOMAS C. ELDER, Va. GEORGE W. HAMLIN, Va. GARLAND B. HANES, Va. GEORGE W. MAGRUDER, N. C. ADOLPHUS W. MANGUM, Va. A. C. MASSENBURG, N. C. SAMUEL MOORE, Va. THOMAS C. THACKSTON, Va. L. O. RIVES, Tenn. LEROY M. WILSON, Va. THADDEUS L. H. YOUNG, Va.

A. M.

WILLIAM M. CRENSHAW, Va. BENJAMIN F. SIMMONS, N. C. WILLIAM MCK. ROBBINS, N. C. HEZEKIAH G. LEIGH, JR., Va. EDWARD S. BROWN, Va. ARMSTREAT E. FOWLKES, Va.

B., Eng. Lit. and Science.

ALEX. HOGG, Va. J. KIRKPATRICK. W. H. SHAY.

D. D.

REV. T. B. SARGENT, Balt. Conf. REV. ALFRED T. MANN, Ga. Conf.

At a called meeting held July 26, 1854, which was well attended, a further effort was made to secure aid from the Legislature of Virginia.

At this session of the Board the following important action was taken:

Rev. Robert O. Burton offered the following resolutions:

1. That in view of still further elevating the institution and securing its permanency we will endeavor to increase the endowment to $100,000.

2. That whenever the amount of $100,000 shall have been secured, or the interest on the endowment fund shall amount to $6,000, this Board will grant to the ministers of the Virginia and North Carolina Conferences the right to educate their sons free of tuition fees for thirty years.

3. That one or more agents be appointed to raise the money, and that we earnestly ask the co-operation of all the ministers of the Virginia and North Carolina Conferences.

4. That subscriptions of $500 may be paid by the subscribers either during their natural life or twelve months after death, with interest from date, to be paid annually.

5. That Rev. H. B. Cowles be appointed agent, and that Dr. William A. Smith be associated with him.

[Illustration: REV. L. M. LEE, D. D., Editor: Richmond Christian Advocate.]

These resolutions were adopted, and the agents appointed were requested to make arrangements for the prosecution of the work as soon as practicable. It could not be done at once, as the Agent elected had to be assigned to the work by the Conference, which did not meet till November. So it was arranged that the work should be commenced next spring.

In the interval Dr. Leroy M. Lee, then editor of the Richmond Christian Advocate, proceeded to write and publish from time to time a series of articles on "Christian Education"—articles probably not surpassed in force and pertinence by any ever written on the subject. He kept the matter of the canvass which was to be inaugurated the coming year before the Methodist public, and thus effectually paved the way for better success.

In May, 1855, the agent and president of the College began the active field work to raise the amount to one hundred thousand dollars at Crenshaw's Church, on the Nottoway circuit, near Blacks and Whites station, on the the (then) Southside Railroad. At this church a mass-meeting was held, lasting several days. There were present, in addition to the leaders above named, Dr. Leroy M. Lee, editor, who was much interested in the effort.

Dr. Smith was the chief speaker, and he never appeared to better advantage, having the sympathy and interest of the audience with him from the start. Dr. Lee followed him. Agent Cowles struck while the iron was hot and took the subscription, which, in addition to what was secured in the circuit in the next few days, amounted to five thousand dollars. This gave the enterprise a good send-off, and was received and accepted by the church at large as an augury of final success, which proved to be true. The agents did not relax their efforts till the limit was reached.

There were several circumstances which made this effort a success. The men in charge were the right men. Dr. Smith was a great man before the people. Few men who lived in the State ever equalled, fewer still ever surpassed him. His colleague, while not deficient in public speaking (he was a most excellent preacher), was gifted with good business address and tact, well versed in reading and managing mankind in general, and thorough in his business transactions, securing all the benefits which were possible. Both were largely acquainted throughout the Conference.

The times were propitious. The decade beginning 1851 was the golden era in the material prosperity of Virginia. The spirit of improvement in lands, building railroads, and plank roads, and other roads was at its height. Most of the great lines throughout the State were built during this decade—the Richmond and Danville, the Southside (Petersburg and Lynchburg), the Virginia and Tennessee (Lynchburg to Bristol), the Orange and Alexandria (Lynchburg and Alexandria), and the Roanoke Valley (Clarksville and Ridgway, N. C.), and others were built or projected. The last named brought railway communication within twelve miles of the College, and Keysville, on the Richmond and Danville, was within thirty-five miles of the College. Besides these improvements, a plank road was built from Petersburg to Clarksville, which was, as long as it lasted, a great improvement. Another plank road from Blacks and Whites, on the Southside Railroad, was built through Lunenburg in the direction of Boydton, but its terminus was twenty miles short of reaching it.

The Crimean war, involving the great Powers of Europe, raised the price of wheat to a price seldom, if ever, reached previously. It sold in 1853-'54 for $2.35 per bushel, and good prices were maintained for the balance of the decade. Lands in the State, which had been low in price, were increased in value one hundred per cent. and other property in something like the same ratio. All this made people more ready to contribute as well as more able.

COLLEGE YEAR 1854-'55.

This College year was marked by no special change or event. The President's report notes: matriculates in College during the session, 134, 72 of whom were on scholarships.

[Illustration: DAVID R. DUNCAN, Major C. S. A.; Senator S. C. Legislature.]

Professor Samuel Lander, A. M., entered upon his duties as Adjunct Professor of Languages, and W. A. Shepard was Assistant in the Laboratory.

At the annual meeting, June, 1855, degrees were conferred:

A. B.

GEORGE E. BOOKER, Va. JAMES B. DUGGER, Va. WILLIAM N. CARTER, Va. JOHN E. CHRISTIAN, Va. THOMAS A. GATCH, Va. JAMES C. HANES, Va. PETER A. MOSES, Va. ROBERT N. SLEDD, Va. DAVID R. DUNCAN, S. C. OLIVER G. SMITH, N. C.

A. M.

THOMAS E. MASSIE, Va. SAMUEL LANDER, N. C. ROWLAND DOGGETT, Va. JOHN F. DANCE, Va. JOHN F. OGBURN, Va. ROBERT M. MALLORY, Va. HENRY W. WINGFIELD, Va. BENJAMIN W. OGBURN, Va. SAM'L B. PAUL (Honorary) Va.

COLLEGE YEAR 1855-'56.

The celebrated trial of Deems vs. Smith took place at the Virginia Conference held in Petersburg, November, 1855. The charges were presented by Dr. C. F. Deems in person, and defence made by Dr. Smith. The verdict was almost unanimous, finding Dr. Smith not guilty.

The result of this unfortunate affair was the resignation of quite a number of the Trustees from the North Conference, that Conference having espoused the cause of Dr. Deems by a very large majority.

At the meeting of the Trustees in June, 1856, Dr. Smith tendered his resignation as President of the College. The Board refused to accept the resignation, only two voting to receive it.

This year the first catalogue, as printed, comes to us. Others had been printed, but no copies preserved.

Of the original charter members of the Board all had died or retired but John Early, William A. Smith, Mathew M. Dance and John G. Claiborne. All the original members of the Faculty had resigned. Students in College, 93; in Preparatory School, 36—total, 129.

We have no mention of the several Preparatory schools in North Carolina. Thos. A. Gatch, A. B., was Principal of the Home School.

[Illustration: W. T. BAILEY, Killed at Gettysburg; buried on the field.]

A resolution was adopted by the Board asking the Legislature to establish a school of "military tactics" in connection with the College, but nothing ever came of it.

In January, 1856, a most remarkable fall of snow occurred, with a temperature of ten degrees below zero. The snow was fifteen inches deep.

In June, 1856, the following received degrees:

A. B.

W. T. BAILEY, Va. GREEN A. JACKSON, Va. THOMAS L. JACKSON, Va. WILLIAM T. MERRITT, Va. JOHN P. FULLER, N. C.

A. M.

JAMES E. SEBRELL, Va. WILLIAM A. BRAME, Va. JAMES D. PROCTOR, Va.

COLLEGE YEAR 1856-'57.

The changes in the Faculty this year were the resignation of Assistant Professor Samuel Lander, whose place was not filled, and the substitution of Charles W. Crawley, Principal of the Preparatory School for Thomas A. Gatch, resigned.

In June, 1857, Professor Charles B. Stuart resigned the Chair of Chemistry and Geology, and Professor N. T. Lupton succeeded him. Professor O. H. P. Corprew at same time resigned the Chair of Ancient Languages, and Professor William B. Carr succeeded him.

The degrees conferred June, 1857, were—

A. B.

GEORGE W. ARMISTEAD, Va. WILLIAM I. COWLES, Va. RICHARD W. JONES, Va. JOSEPH E. LEIGH, Va. EDWIN G. MOORE, N. C. WILBUR F. DAVIS, N. C. JOHN B. WILLIAMS, N. C. WILLIAM W. PENNY, Mo. WILLIAM A. SHEPARD, Mass.

A. M.

WILLIAM G. CONNOR, Tenn. L. O. RIVES, Tenn. GARLAND B. HANES, Va. THAD. L. H. YOUNG, Va. JESSE P. BAGBY, N. C. ADOLPHUS W. MANGUM, N. C. SAMUEL MOORE, Va. THOMAS C. ELDER, Va. THOMAS C. THACKSTON, Va. WILLIAM H. CHEEK, N. C.

Number of students during the session, 144, including those at the Preparatory School (34).

The worst blizzard ever known in Virginia occurred in January, 1857; thermometer ten degrees below zero. Some suffering in the College for want of fuel.

COLLEGE YEAR 1857-'58.

This year was reasonably prosperous. Some dissatisfaction was expressed in the president's annual report on account of salaries.

[Illustration: RICHARD W. JONES, A. M., LL. D., Major C. S. A.; President Mississippi Industrial Institute; Professor Mississippi University and Randolph-Macon College.]

In June, 1858, Prof. Lupton resigned the chair of Chemistry and Geology, which was subsequently supplied by the election of Prof. Bennett Puryear, of Richmond College.

Dr. W. A. Smith again tendered his resignation, for reasons personal to himself. At the urgent solicitation of the students, the Alumni Society, and the Board, he withdrew his resignation.

[Illustration: REV. RICHARD FERGUSON, Virginia; Adjutant Eighteenth Va. Regiment.]

Degrees were conferred as follows:

A. B.

BENJAMIN H. THACKSTON, Va. RICHARD FERGUSON, Va. VICTOR M. BRANDON, Va. RICHARD B. HOLSTEAD, Va. ROBERT S. ISBELL, Va. ALEX. MALLORY, Va. ROBERT MOORE, Va. CLAUDIUS G. PHILLIPS, Va. PITTMAN R. VENABLE, Va. RICHARD O. WYATT, Va.

B. L. AND S.

WALTER M. IRBY, Virginia.

A. M.

GEORGE E. BOOKER, Va. PETER A. MOSES, Ark. THOMAS A. GATCH, Va. ROBERT N. SLEDD, Va. JAMES C. HANES, Va. Prof. JOHN C. WILLS (Honorary), Randolph-Macon College.

Students in College this session, 109; in Preparatory School, 16-total, 125.

THE ENDOWMENT RAISED TO $100,000.

At a called meeting of the Board December 27, 1858, the following action was taken:

"The Board, being satisfied, from an examination of the bonds and subscriptions obtained by the agent, that the endowment fund of the College, in bonds, cash, and valid subscriptions, has been raised to and above one hundred thousand dollars; therefore be it

"Resolved, That the following notice be given through the newspapers of the State, viz.: 'By order of the Board of Trustees of Randolph-Macon College, at a meeting held this day, notice is hereby given to those persons who have contributed by bonds and subscriptions to increase the endowment of the College that the said fund has been raised to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars in bonds, cash, and valid subscriptions, that their obligations have become absolute, and it is hoped that they will discharge them, in order that the money may be invested in permanent form as soon as practicable.'"

The herculean task of raising the largest endowment fund ever contributed to any college in Virginia or in the South up to this date by public subscription was thus confirmed. When it is considered that the larger part of this amount was contributed by individuals in sums ranging from five to one thousand dollars (the latter sum the largest contributed by one subscriber), the immense labor and difficulties of the undertaking may be, to some extent, estimated. But the large number of subscribers evidenced one gratifying fact, that after the subject of education had been ventilated in mass-meetings, the people had become interested in Christian education, and had given practical proof of that interest.

[Illustration: HENRY B. COWLES, Virginia Conference; Agent Randolph-Macon College.]

The friends of the College were jubilant over this great event, which seemed to insure new life and energy to the College, the subject of so many hopes and prayers. The three great moving and active agents in consummating the work—President W. A. Smith, Dr. Leroy M. Lee, and Agent Rev. Henry B. Cowles—are worthy of all honor, and their names should be handed down to succeeding generations as the benefactors of their State and church.

At the commencement, June, 1859, there was a large re-union of the Alumni of Randolph-Macon to rejoice over the endowment secured and to consult together about the interests of the College. Prominent among those present were Rev. President John C. Blackwell, the oldest alumnus; Rev. Holland N. McTyeire, D. D., editor of the Nashville Christian Advocate; Rev. James A. Duncan, Hon. Thomas H. Campbell, etc. A banquet of the Society was held, which was attended by many of its members and invited guests. The Society of Alumni adopted the following preamble and resolutions:

"Whereas the Bible, as the word of God, contains the highest wisdom as well as the highest truth; and whereas it is the oldest as well as the best of books, and bears a vital relation to literature and civilization as well as to religion; and whereas a knowledge of its teachings and the history of those religious opinions and institutions which have exercised a controlling influence upon the character and destiny of mankind is necessary to a broad, liberal and complete education; therefore,

"Resolved, 1. That the Bible, as a text-book, ought to occupy a central place in education, as it does in morals.

"2. That it is eminently proper for the church, in conducting education, to give the Bible such a place and distinct recognition.

"3. That we, the alumni of Randolph-Macon College, recommend and respectfully urge upon the Board of Trustees the creation of a Chair of Biblical Literature, whose instruction shall be accessible to all students of the College who shall desire to include them in their course of study, and shall be extended free of charge to any young men who are studying with a view to the Christian ministry.

"4. That we recommend that the Virginia Conference rand the friends and patrons of the College everywhere take measures for speedily endowing a Chair of Biblical Literature.

(Signed) "HOLLAND N. MCTYEIRE.

"JOHN C. BLACKWELL."

[Illustration: REV. WILLIAM S. DAVIS, Of the North Carolina Conference; General of Cavalry in the C. S. A.]

This was the most pleasant and cheering commencement occasion which had occurred for many years. The catalogue showed the attendance to have been: Students in College, 119; in Preparatory School, 22—total, 141. This year the old curriculum of four years was abandoned, and the course was made elective, with the following departments, viz.:

[Illustration: THOMAS J. JARVIS, LL. D., Ex-Governor of North Carolina; Senator in U. S. Congress; Minister to Brazil.]

1. Ancient Languages, 2. Mathematics, 3. Chemistry and Natural Philosophy, 4. Moral Philosophy, 5. Modern Languages, 6. Preparatory.

A. B. and A. M. courses for degrees were established.

Professor J. C. Wills resigned the Chair of Mathematics. He left much to the regret of the Board and the Faculty to take a professorship at the Southern University, Greensboro, Ala. Mr. Robert T. Massie was elected to fill the vacancy. Robert S. Isbell was Principal of the Preparatory School.

The following degrees were conferred:

A. B.

WILLIAM S. DAVIS, N. C. AURELIUS T. GILL, Va. ADAM C. BAGBY, Va. JOHN L. JOHNSON, Va. HENRY B. COWLES, JR.; Va. JOHN DAVIDSON BLACKWELL, Va. WILLIAM H. DAVIS, Va. JOHN T. HUMPHREYS, Va. THOMAS J. OVERBY, N. C. JOHN L. CHAMBERLAIN, N. C. EDWIN S. HARDY, Va. JOHN W. JONES, Va. WILLIAM G. STARR, Va. CHRISTOPHER THROWER, Ark. LEROY S. EDWARDS, Va. LUTHER WRIGHT, Va.

ENGLISH AND SCIENCE.

J. W. HEARTSFIELD, N. C. THOMAS W. BRANCH, Va. F. X. MILLER, N. C.

A. M.

DR. SAMUEL D. SANDERS, S. C. WILLIAM T. MERRITT, Va. GREEN A. JACKSON, Va. ARGYLE HALEY, Va. JOHN E. CHRISTIAN, Va. JOHN WILLIAMS, N. C. ALEXANDER HOGG, Texas.

D. D.

Prof. A. M. SHIPP, Wofford College, S. C.

COLLEGE YEAR 1859-'60.

This was the first year under the new system of instruction. At the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees, the committee on "The course of instruction and new system of government" reported very favorably on the results, and advised continuance of the same, with some modifications.

The Preparatory School was abolished this year, after an unsuccessful course generally, for about twenty-eight years. The number of students in attendance this year was: in College, 149; in Preparatory School, 16—total, 165.

[Illustration: B. W. ARNOLD, A. M., Professor of Vanderbilt University; Member of the Virginia Legislature.]

Degrees conferred June, 1860, under new course:

A. B.

JOSEPH D. ARNOLD, Va. WILLIAM P. HILL, Va. THOMAS J. JARVIS, N. C.

A. M.

BENJ. W. ARNOLD, Va. ANTHONY DIBRELL, Va. GEORGE B. FINCH, Va. P. FLETCHER FORD. Va. WILLIAM M. JONES, Va. JAMES H. PEAY, Va. BENJAMIN I. SCOTT, Va. JOHN W. TAYLOR, Va.

A. M., under the old course.

WILLIAM I. COWLES, Va. RICHARD W. JONES, Va. JOHN B. WILLIAMS, N. C. WILBUR F. DAVIS, Va. EDWIN G. MOORE, N. C. GEORGE W. ARMISTEAD, Va. WILLIAM A. SHEPARD, Va. JOHN L. GILLESPIE, Va.

COLLEGE YEAR 1860-'61.

This College year reached into the first year of the civil war. The matriculation at the opening was fairly good, but during the second term many of the young men left to enter the military service. The Commencement exercises were dispensed with, and the Board conferred only a few degrees. Those receiving them were—

A. M.

B. L. ARNOLD, Va. B. J. HAWTHORNE, Va. RICHARD B. HOLSTEAD, Va. RICHARD O. WYATT, Va.

A. B.

JOHN THOMPSON BROWN, Va.

D. D

REV. JOHN C. BLACKWELL, A. M., Pres. Buckingham Female Inst.

Under the discouraging circumstances the Board determined to suspend the exercises of the College—a very wise move, but unfortunately it was countermanded at a subsequent meeting.

COLLEGE YEAR 1861-'62.

At a called meeting of the Board held August 29, 1861, the previous action of the Board was rescinded, and it was resolved, "That the College be opened at the usual time under a complete system of military government, and Rev. Major William H. Wheelwright Was elected Professor of Military Tactics."

At a subsequent meeting of the Board, Professor Lewis Turner was elected to the Chair of Mathematics, vacated by the resignation of Professor Massie, who had entered the military service; Professor W. A. Shepard had also entered the service, but his place was not filled.

At a meeting held in Norfolk, Va., November 22, 1861, a committee was appointed to secure a change in the charter, authorizing the military feature proposed for the College.

At a meeting of the Board held January 20, 1862, J. E. Blankenship was elected Professor in place of Major Wheelwright, who declined to accept the position offered him. On the 20th February the military organization was completed by the action of the Executive Committee. It was as follows, viz.:

REV. WM. A. SMITH, D. D., Col. Commanding Corps Cadets. J. E. BLANKENSHIP, Major, Professor Mathematics and Military Science. BENNETT PURYEAR, Captain. Professor Chemistry. WILLIAM B. CARR, Captain, Professor Ancient Languages. G. STAUBLY, Captain, Professor Modern Languages.

A long schedule of military rules was adopted—too long for their insertion here, and much longer than their existence would have justified.

Those who reversed the deliberate action of the Board at the annual meeting, carried away with the excitement of the times, thought they were doing the best, but, as we look at it now, it appears a solemn farce. It was also an expensive one.

At the close of the year, June, 1862, the following received degrees:

A. M.

WILLIAM A. ARCHER, Va. J. E. BUTLER, Ark. R. A. COMPTON, Va. WILLIAM S. WILLIAMS. Mo.

GRADUATES OF FORMER YEARS.

WILLIAM G. STARR, ROBERT S. ISBELL, JOHN D. BLACKWELL.

A. B.

WILLIAM E. EDWARDS. B. L. ARNOLD, Va.

[Illustration: WILLIAM E. EDWARDS, D. D., A. B., 1862.]

At the annual meeting, June, 1862, of the Trustees, the following resolution was adopted:

"This Board, having the utmost confidence in the ability of the Confederate States to maintain their independence, and that it is safe to make investment in their stocks (bonds), is of the opinion that it would be judicious to sell out our stocks which do not pay an interest of more than six per cent., and to invest the same in Confederate States bonds, bearing an interest of eight per cent. And that the President of the College be requested to confer with our Investing Agent on the subject, and that if the investing Agent concur with the Board in the propriety of the exchance of stocks, that he proceed to make it."

Under the military regime the session opened as usual in September, 1862. The number of students in attendance was small, as might have been expected.

The board of students was fixed at $25 per month, with the following bill of fare at the Mess Hall:

"For breakfast—Sugar, coffee (or substitute) or milk (those using the one will not be entitled to the other), flour-bread, viz., loaf bread and biscuit, and either batter-bread, waffles or muffins, butter, cold or fried bacon, or hash.

"For dinner—Boiled bacon and cabbage, or other greens, and one of the following kinds of meats, viz., beef, mutton, shoat or fowls, with the vegetables of the season, and corn-bread.

"For supper—Sugar, coffee (or a substitute) or milk, as at breakfast, flour-bread, viz., loaf-bread and biscuit, and either batter-bread, waflles, muffins, or toast-bread and butter."

What soldier could not fight on such fare as this!

In October, 1862, Professor Staubly resigned, and soon afterwards went to Petersburg, along with Professor W. B. Carr, to teach in the Petersburg Female College. They were thus engaged till the 9th of June, 1864, when General Kautz attacked the Home Guards, under the command of Major F. H. Archer. In this engagement Professors Carr and Staubly were participants, and the latter was killed, along with Geo. B. Jones, a Randolph-Macon alumnus.

At a called meeting of the Trustees held December 18, 1862, the President presented to the consideration of the Board the condition of the College, with an exhibit of receipts and disbursements.

After much deliberation, it was ordered that the operations of the College be suspended from and after the 5th of February, 1863, to the opening of the fall term, in September following.

"Dr. W. A. Smith was placed in charge of the property. At a meeting of the Trustees held July 24, 1863, the President in his report in regard to the closing term said:

"The College opened September, 1862, with about twenty students, which number gradually increased to forty-four. The Conscript Act then went into operation, and took nearly half that number.

Then, on motion, it was ordered that the exercises of the College be suspended until otherwise ordered. The Virginia Conference of the M. E. Church, South, held its annual session at Broad-street Methodist Church November, 1863. At this Conference the following resolution was adopted:

"Resolved, That we recommend the Trustees of Randolph-Macon College to remove it from its present site to some more eligible locality, and we call their attention specially to the advantages presented by Lynchburg as the place to which it should be transferred."

A meeting of the Trustees was called to consider the resolution of the Conference, and the Trustees assembled at Broad-street Church November 26, 1863.

As there were only nine members in attendance, the Trustees adjourned to meet in the city of Petersburg on the 20th of January, to consider the recommendation of the Conference, and an order was made that notice of the adjourned meeting be given in the newspapers of Richmond and Petersburg.

The Trustees of Randolph-Macon College met, pursuant to adjournment, at the Washington-street M. E. Church, Petersburg, Va., on Wednesday, January 20, 1864. There were present seventeen members. The chairman, President Smith, presented the resolution of the Conference, given above.

After considerable discussion, the following was agreed upon as the sense of the Board:

"Resolved unanimously, That while the Board of Trustees of Randolph-Macon College are not prepared to take decisive action on the resolution of the Virginia Conference in relation to the change of location of said College, yet this Board so far concurs in the spirit of their resolution as to appoint five members as a committee of the Board to take immediate steps to ascertain the comparative advantages offered by other localities with a view to its removal; and that the committee be requested to perform their duty with dispatch, and report to an adjourned meeting to be held in Petersburg, Va., on Wednesday, March 9, 1864."

The following were appointed said committee: Rev. W. A. Smith, chairman, Rev. L. M. Lee, Rev. J. C. Blackwell, E. R. Chambers, and R. M. Smith; and, on motion, Captain Richard Irby was added to the committee.

The Trustees met, pursuant to adjournment, in Washington-street M. E. Church, Petersburg, Va., March 9, 1864.

The committee appointed at the meeting January 20 last made report, as follows:

"The committee to whom were referred the comparative claims of the different localities which have been spoken of as offering the most encouraging prospects of success beg leave to submit, that such is the unsettled state of public opinion as to the financial condition of the country at this time, and for some time to come, that no enlightened judgment can be reached by your committee as to the advantages offered by other localities compared with the present location of the College, we beg, therefore, to be relieved from the further consideration of the subject.