Dedicatory Exercises of the Agnes Scott Institute, Decatur, Georgia, November 12, 1891

COLUMBIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

DEDICATORY EXERCISES

OF THE-

Agnes Scott Institute,

DECATUR, GEORGIA,

NOVEMBER 12th, 1891

\

DEDICATORY EXERCISES

OF THE-

Agnes Scott Institute,

DECATUR, GEORGIA,

November i2th, i891

ATLANTA, GA. :

Constitution Publishing Company.

1892.

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INTRODUCTORY.

The Synod of Georgia convened in the Presbyterian Church
at Decatur, on the evening of November 12th, 1891.

The Agnes Scott Institute, being by Charter provisions
directly under the control of the Decatur Presbyterian Church,
belonging to the Synod of Georgia, the occasion was deemed by
the Trustees a proper time for the formal Dedication of the College
building to the cause of Christian education.

In response to the invitation of the Board of Trustees, the
members of the Synod attended upon the exercises. Tliere were
present also: Hon. John Scott, of Philadelphia, Penn. (with Col.
Oeo. W. Scott, the only surviving children of Mrs. Agues Scott),
the Rev. J. C. Barr, former pastor of Mrs. Scott. Dr. J. JNI.
Gammell, and several of her descendants and friends from Penn-
sylvania, the Session of Decatur Presbyterian Churcli, many
members of the Presbyterian Church from other portions of
Georgia, representatives of other Evangelical Churches, the Faculty
and pupils of the Institute, many of its patrons and others in-
terested in the cause of Christian education.

PROGRAMME.

1. Mll-^ic.

2. I^^ VOCATION, Kev. Jas. iStacy, D.D., Moderator of .Synod.

3. Reading of Scriptureh, 19th Psalm,

Rev. W. A. Candler, D.D.

4. Music.

5. Historical Sketch of the Institute,

Rev. E. H. Barnett, D.D.

6. Delivery of Deeds to the Trustees by George W.

Scott, Esq.

7. Acceptance and Response,

Rev. F. H. Gaines, President Board of Trustees.

8. Dedicatory Prayer, Rev. J. C. Barr.

9. Music.

10. Dedicatory Address, Rev. G. B. Striekler, D.D.

11. Music.

12. Bio(;raphical Sketch of Mrs. Agnes Scott,

Hon. John Scott.

13. Address, Rev. W. A. Candler D.D., Pres't Emory College.

14. Music.

15. Benediction.

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF AGNES SCOTT
INSTITUTE,

BY REV. E. H. BAKNETT, D. D.

In 1844 aud 1845 movements were made in the Synod of Georgia
to establish a school of high grade for females, in the bounds of the
Synod. Rev. Dr. Wilson, then the honored pastor of the Decatur
Presbyterian Church, earnestly advocated the measure, and proposed
that it should be located in the cultivated and thriving town of De-
catur. He even went so far as to choose the lot on which the build-
ing should stand, and, strange to say, he selected the lot on which
this beautiful building stands.

After much discussion two points were finally selected, Greensboro
and Griffin, and Decatur's location was abandoned.

But in the Spring of 1889, Rev. F. H. Gaines, the worthy successor
of Dr. Wilson, thought that the establishment of such a school was
a pressing necessity. He discussed the idea and feasibility of the
undertaking witli several members of the church, and finally, as the
result of his talk and earnest work, on the 17th of July, 1889, Messrs.
Geo. W. Scott, Milton A. Candler, Sr., Dr. Robt. C. Word, James
W. Kirkpatrick, James A. Mason, John B. Swanton, Geo. A. Rams-
peck, B, S. Crane and Hiram J. Williams, all members of the Deca-
tur Presbyterian church, met their pastor, at the manse of the
church, for the purpose of advising as to the need and feasibility of
establishing in Decatur a school of high order for young ladies and
girls, under Presbyterian control and influence.

After discussion, Elder Geo. W. Scott offered the following resolu-
tion, which was unanimously adopted, to- wit :

" h'csolved, That we determine to establish at once a school of high
character."

Two committees were, therefore, appointed, one to canvass for
pupils and a suitable building; the otiier to prepare and report a
plan of organization, and to correspond as to teachers.

This was the beginning of the Agnes Scott Institute. At a subse-
quent meeting, a week later, the first committee reported that thirty-

8 Agnes Scott Institute.

niue pupils had been promised, and that the residence of Mrs. M. E
Allen, a large frame building, which stood just in front of this edi-
fice, could be leased for three years.

The other committee reported a plan of organization, and suggested
that a charter be obtained from the courts, for a corporate institu-
tion, vesting the control of the school jointly in the Decatur Presby-
terian Church and such persons as might subscribe to the capital
stock.

The necessary legal steps having been taken, on August 27th, 1889,
a charter was granted by the Superior Court of DeKalb county, incor-
porating the '' Decatur Female Seminary.''''

The object stated in the incorporation was "to establish in Deca-
tur, DeKalb county, an institution of learning, for the moral and
intellectual training and education of female youth."

The capital stock was fixed at five thousand dollars, with the privi-
lege of increasing the same to twenty-five thousand dollars.

To quote from the charter, " the entire management, control and
direction of said Seminary, shall be vested in a Board of Trustees
composed of five persons, to be constituted as follows: the Pastor of
the Decatur Presbyterian Church shall be ex oflicio, during his pas-
torate, a Trustee and Chairman of the Board. Two of the remain-
ing Trustees shall be elected by the session of the Decatur Presbyte-
rian Church, and shall be members of said church in good and
regular standing. Tlie remaining two Trustees shall be elected by the
stockholders in said Seminary, and shall be members of the Presby-
terian Church in the United States, in good and regular standing."

" The Trustees shall submit annual reports of their transactions,
together with such ai formation as will fully show the condition of
said Seminary, to the session of Decatur Presbyterian Church, which
reports shall be subject to approval or disapproval by the session.
Said session shall also have authority, in its official capacity, to visit
and inspect said Seminary as often as it may desire, and to investi-
gate fully into its condition, needs and conduct."

On September 2d, 1889, the charter was accepted, the required
capital stock subscribed, and the following Board of Trustees con-
stituted : Rev. F, H. Gaines, pastor and ex otficio a member and
chairman. Rev. E. H. Barnett, D. D., and George W. Scott, elected
by the stockholders, and C. INI. Candler and B. S. Crane, elected by
the session of Decatur Presbyterian Church.

The Trustees subsecjuently elected Miss Nannette Hopkins, of
Warm Springs, Va., Principal; Miss Mattie E. Cook, of Augusta
county, Va., Assistant; Miss Fannie Pratt, Teacher of Piano, and
Miss Valeria Eraser, Teacher of Art and Physical Culture.

With this organization the Decatur Female Seminary opened its

Agnes Scott Institute. 9

doors, iu rented quarters, September 17th, 1SS9, and enrolled during
the first year fifty girls, of whom three were boarders.

During the early part of 189U some effort was made to secure an
endowment, but without success.

On May 27th, 1S90, George W. Scoti, a ruling elder in the Decatur
Presbyterian Church, submitted to the Board of Trustees the follow-
ing, to-wit :

Decatuk, Ga., May 29, 1S90.
To the Irustees of the Decatur Female Seminanj :

I have purchased Mr. Deas' residence and lot, and Messrs. Ansley
& Cowles' vacant lot adjoining Mrs. Allen's lot now leased to the
Seminary. I have also bargained for Mrs. Allen's residence and lot,
the conveyance to be executed on her return to Decatur next month.
These properties together, contain about o\ acres of land, and will
cost as they now are, 813,750. Upon the combined properties I pro-
pose to erect, at once, a commodious college building with the neces-
sary halls and class rooms suflflcieut to accommodate at least 150 pupils.

When these improvements are completed and the proposed main
building is ready for occupation, I desire, and will convey all of this
property to your corporation in fee simple upon two conditions,
to-wit:

1st. The institution shall be perpetually known as the "Agnes
Scott Institute." I desire it to bear this title in memory of my
deceased mother, to whose prayers and faithful training I owe much.

2nd. The property shall be used perpetually as a female seminary
of learning, and should its use for such purposes be at any time
abandoned, the title to revert to my heirs.

For the purpose of improving this property according to plans
now being prepared, I have set aside so much of the sum of S40,(100
as may be necessary, that being the sum T desire to give the institu-
tion ; the remainder of said sum not so expended I desire to invest
either for the endowment of needed chairs, or in establishing scholar-
ships for worthy young ladies. * * * * *

With my earnest prayers for God's blessing on this young institu-
tion fostered by our church, I am, fraternally yours,

Geo. W. Scott.

The Trustees and Stockholders unaniuiously accepted the gift and
agreed to the conditions.

An amendment to the charter was at once obtained, changing the
name of the Seminary to ''^ Agnes Scott Institute,^'' and also providing
for one additional trustee. Rev. G. B. Striekler, D. D., was elected
a trustee, and with those first mentioned, constitute the present
board.

10 Agnes Scott Institute.

The Second Term opened in September, 1890, with the faculty
increased to seven instructors, and an enrollment during the year of
one hundred and thirty-eight pupils from seven States, of whom
twenty-two were boarders.

Work was commenced on the foundations of this edifice on June
24th, 1890, and on October 20th, 1890, after reading of the Scriptures
by Rev. F. H. Gaiaes, the first briclvs were laid in the base of the
octagon toiver by the grand children and great-grand children of
Mrs Agnes Scott, and the teachers and pupils of the Institute.

The third year opened September 3d last, with an enrollment on
the first day of one hundred and thirty-eight pupils. The faculty to-
day numbers fifteen, and the enrollment of pupils has reached two
hundred and forty-six. representing nine States, of whom eighty-
two are boarders.

Miss Xannette Hopkins continues, as from the opening day, the
Principal.

This building has been erected entirely by day labor, under the
personal supervision of Col. Scott, and his son, Mr. G. B. Scott, who
have seen that only the best materials have been used and the work
done in the best manner.

Thus, after nearly fifty years the prayers of Dr. Wilson and his co-
laborers have been answered; the dreams of these faithful men of
God have been realized, and this commodious and beautiful struc-
ture stands here to be consecrated to-day to the cause of Christ in
the higher education of the girls of Georgia.

May it stand for ages, and from its halls flow out into the families
of our State streams of enlightened, holy influences that shall make
glad the city of our God.

Agnes Scott Institute. 11

DELIVERY AND ACCEPTANCE OF DEEDS,

In delivering the deeds, Col. George W. Scott said:

In compliance with the agreement set forth in the letter just read
by Dr. Barnett, I now hand to you (Rev. F. H. Gaines), as the repre-
sentative of the Trustees of the Agnes Scott Institute, the deeds to
this property. In it you will find a statement of the material used
and the cost of construction that you may see how fully I have com-
plied with my agreement.

Rev. F. H. Gaines, President of the Board of Trustees, in accepting
the deeds from Col. Scott, spoke as follows :

As the representative of the Board of Trustees of the Agnes Scott
Institute, I accept this gift at your hands. In this acceptance, how-
ever, I recognize the fact that I stand not only in an official capacity,
hut also, in some measure, as the mouthpiece of this community, of
the Decatur Presbyterian Church and of the school here gathered.
I feel, therefore, that every heart I represent here to-day, as well as
my own, demands from me an expression of the sincere and hearty
appreciation of your noble generosity.

We appreciate, my dear sir, not only your large pecuniary gift,
but also your personal supervision, your unsparing and untiring
labor, your unceasing interest and your love. We prize this splendid
structure not only fur what it is of itself, but also because we know
that every brick in it was laid in your love and prayers. May God
return unto you and yours double for all the blessings which you
thus seek to bestow upon others.

I proceed now to note the objects of this gift. These objects are
subjects of distinct understanding between the donor and the Board
of Trustees. They are as follows :

First. The glory of God. This object stands not only first in order
but first in importance. It is the supreme and ruling idea in this
Institution. Nothing inconsistent with this object is to be know-
ingly allowed in the school, but everything is to be done, that can be
done, to advance this end.

Second. The higher Christian education of woman. That is to
say, the design is to seek the glory of God in the higher Christian
education of woman.

Third. A memorial to Mrs. Agues Scott, the sainted mother of

12 Agxes Scott Ixstitute.

Colonel George ^Y. Scott. That a true mother ever lives in the
memory and atfection of true ehildreu is a blessed fact. That a true
son should desire to honor the meinor.y of a noble Christian mother
is in accordance with the best impulses of a true filial heart, as well
as with the law of God. " Honor thy father and thy mother" is the
first commandment with promise. And what more fit and beauti-
ful memorial than an institution which seeks to communicate to
young womanhood the impress of that holy religion which was the
adornment, the inspiration, the joy and the very life of that mother ?
If, under God, we can succeed in this Institution, in moulding a
type of Christian character like that of Mrs, Agnes Scott, the influ-
ence and power of this Institution will be incalculable. Her Chris-
tian character and spiritual life are beautifully illustrated by this
prayer found in her own handwriting in her Bible: "Heavenly
Father, I leave all that belongs to me to Thee. Undertake Thou for
them." (Speaking of her children.) "Bless them and make them
blessings. Hide them under the shadow of Thy wings and direct
their steps. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all."

This prayer was, doubtless, written when she was alone with God
and her Bible. Already this prayer has been answered in a remark-
able degree. May God multiply the answer many fold in making
this Institution a fountain of blessings to many generations.

I note, now, how these objects are to be promoted in this Institu-
tion. The trustees propose to make the Agnes Scott just the kind
of an institution which will most fully realize the great objects of
this gift. In accordance with this purpose they have laid down the
following great fundamental principles as the guiding aud controll-
ing principles in the management and the working of the school :

First. A liberal curriculum. The great advancement in female
education in recent years is fully recognized. The college course
embraces eight schools and is believed to be fully abreast with any
female college in the South.

Second. A high standard of scholarship. In order to pass from
one class to the next higher the student must make an average of 80
on sessional grade and final written examinations. In order to
graduate the prescribed course must be thus mastered step by step.
It is the desire of this Institution to do nothing but honest and
thorough work, so that its diplomas will represent actual attain-
ments and accurate scholarship.

Third. The Bible a text book. The Bible Course constitutes one of
the special features of this institution. It is a three years' course ;
two recitations a week. The object is to give a correct and systematic
knowledge of the Bible by regular study, class room drill aud writ-^
ten reviews and examinations.

Agxes Scott Institute. 13

Fourth. A Christian home. As no pains or expense have been
spared to make the building itself a beautiful and attractive home,
so it is designed in all its order and appointments to make it a model
Christian home. It is our desire aud purpose that this home shall
be characterized by a firm, but kind and considerate discipline; con-
stant regard for the health, enjoyment and the improvement of each
and all; refinement ; inculcation and practice of Christian principles
and the cultivation of all the graces of Christian womanhood.

Fifth. The best instructors. In the selection of teachers the Trus-
tees have kept in view two things : first, Christian character ; second,
special qualifications for teaching in each school ; but no teacher will
be chosen or retained who is not believed to have the highest Chris-
tian character.

The stewards to whom this gift is entrusted. In order that the
grand objects of this gitt may be attained ; in order that the kind of
school described may be secured and maintained, full provision has
been made by charter stipulation for the management and control of
the institution.

First. The Board of Trustees, constituted as already described, and
I need not repeat.

Second. The Session of the Decatur Presbyterian Church. The
charter gives to the Session of this church power to visit aud inspect
the institution as often as they may desire; and also requires that
the Board of Trustees shall make annual reports to the Session,
which reports shall be subject to approval or disapproval by the
Session. It is therefore eminently proper that the members of the
Session should be present to-day, in their official capacity, to witness
these ceremonies.

Thus it will be seen that the management and control of this
school is secured to the Presbyterian Church. You will, therefore,
see that this gift is virtually a gift to the Presbyterian Church, and
the largest individual gift it has ever received. It is, then, highly
appropriate that we should have present to-day the Synod of Geor-
gia to witness these ceremonies and take part in these exercises.

Finally, as the representative of the stewards of this great and
noble gift, let me say that the success for which we strive is this :
the highest and noblest type of Christian womanhood, unto the
praise and glory of our God.

The Rev. J. C. Barr of Pennsylvania, the pastor of :Mrs. Agnes
Scott at her death, then oflered the Dedicatory prayer.

14 Agnes Scott Institute.

DEDICATORY ADDRESS,

BY REV. G. B. STRICKLER, D. D.

Subject: "True Culture."

This century in which we live claims to be preeminently the cen-
tury of culture; and in many respects there can be no doubt that
the claim is well founded. There are more printing presses, more
books, more literature of every kind ; more schools, more colleges,
more seminaries and universities, more teachers, more scholars,
more art, more science, more learning, more thoroughly educated
and refined men and women in the world than ever before. It is
true that much of the literature of the day is of an inferior character,
mere fiction of a very pernicious kind. It is also true that much
that is denominated science consists of very little more than an
attempt to array God's works against His Word, and to extort from
the world under the fires of the chemist's crucible and the blows of
the geologist's hammer, a denial of its Maker. And it is still further
true that many literary institutions, calling themselves colleges,
seminaries and universities, by so denominating themselves, awaken
expectations as to their standard of education that are never i-ealized.
Still, after all necessary deductions have been made, it is doubtless
true that there is more real culture in the world at the present time
than at any former period.

The word, however, has come to be very much abused. It is ap-
plied to much that does not deserve to be so designated. Many per-
sons fiatter themselves that they have true culture because they
possess a certain measure of superficial refinement of manners; be-
cause they have an acquaintance with the conventional forms of
good society ; because they have a good stock of polite and elegant
phrases with which to adorn social intercourse and epistolary corres-
pondence; because they have spent two or three months in travel-
ing in foreign countries, and have some knowledge of the best
known productions of art and literature, and because they are able
to exhibit, in dress and equippage and general surroundings,
the recognized insignia of accepted fashion. But, is this true cul-
ture? Is this all of it? Is this what the Nineteenth Century i&

Agnes Scott Institute. 15

boasting of when it boasts that of all the centuries it is the century
of culture? Is it to secure nothing more and nothing better than
this, that so many literary institutions are built and endowed ; that
so much time and means are expended for the education of our sons
and daughters? By no means. This is simply the imitation of true
culture. This is the polished brass that would pass for the true gold.
This is the plausible counterfeit that would be accepted for the estab-
lished currency of the realm. This is only a sort of social and
literary hypocrisy that would be received instead of those solid
accomplishments and that real refinement by which the best men
and women are characterized.

What, then, is true culture? I know of no subject more appro-
priate for our consideration on this interesting occasion when this
splendid edifice, the gift of splendid Christian liberality, has just
been consecrated to the cause of sound Christian learning.

The answer, in general terms, is that true culture is the process by
which anything is completely developed. It consists in making any-
thing all that it was originally intended to be; in perfectly fitting it
to accomplish the end for which it was originally designed. As
applied to ourselves, true culture means the complete development
of all our powers physical, mental, moral and spiritual so that we
shall be made all, and shall be qualified to do all, in this life, of
which we are capable.

In the first place, then, true culture consists in a complete develop-
ment of the body, so that there shall be health and vigor. This is
necessary to the liigher parts of true culture. It is necessary to the
development of the mind. In order that the mind may be fully
developed, years of laborious study are necessary, imposing a tax
upon the vital energies long protracted, and so great, that unless
there is health and vigor of body it cannot be sustained, and this
intellectual development, therefore, cannot be secured. Accordingly,
it is said that almost all of the great men of the world have been
men who. somehow, in early life, secured a good physical develop-
ment, thus effecting that storage of vitality and energy which
enabled them, in subsequent years, to do the great work on which
their great fame now rests, and which otherwise would nave been
impossible. Almost all of them, it is said, came, not from cities,
where physical development is apt to be neglected, but from the
country, from the labors of the open air and of the fields, which
secured for them that brawn and those powers of endurance which
made it possible for them to accomplish those glorious results by
which their histories are now illustrated. Physical development,
then, is necessary to mental development.

Not only is this true, but even when the mental powers have been

16 Agnes 8cott Institute.

developed, health and vigor of body are necessary to enable those
powers to accomplish the work for which they hav^e thus been fitted.
No matter how perfect a mechanism nia,y be; no matter how thor-
oughly adapted to accomplish an important end, if the frame work
iu which it is lodged is so delicate and fragile as not to be able to
stand the strain of its own movements, it is, after all, utterly worth-
less. So, many a thoroughly educated and brilliant mind has been
unable to perform any work worthy of its powers, because the body,
the instrument through which and by which it must work, was, on
account of feebleness, incompetent for tlie task.

There is still another reason why physical development is neces-
sary to true culture; it is necessary to secure beauty of person and
grace of form, excellences by no means to be lightly esteemed. It is
evident that God Himself attaches to them great value. We see
them in all the works of His hands; in every cloud that floats across
the heavens; in every flower that blooms; in every blade of grass
tiiat spring-* up at our feet ; in every leaf that hangs iu the forest;
in every mountain and hill and valley and landscape; we see them
wherever we look. There is no architecture so magnificent as His;
there are no forms in Roman Temples or in Grecian Partheiions, so
graceful as those with which He has crowded the universe; there
are no colors so rich and so beautiful as those which He has mixed
in the laboratory of the heavens, and with which He has embel-
lished and glorified the earth and the sky.

Not only is it true that He attaches great value to these excel-
lences, but it is also true that He has implanted in man a strong and
iustinetive love of them, so that he cannot but admire and rejoice in
them; and, all this being true, can it be possible that He desires
beauty and grace iu everything else and does not desire it in the
human form? Can it be possible that He desires it in every other
creature and not in that creature that was made iu His own image
and after His own likeness? Can it be possible that He has im-
planted in man's nature a strong and instinctive love of these excel-
lences, and yet would not have them wiiere that love prompts man
most to desire them : in his own person? Surely not. But they are
impossible without health and vigor of body.

Thus, there are several reasons why physical development is an
important part of true culture. The fact is, it constitutes the very
foundation on which the whole superstructure rests. And, there-
fore, in all schemes of education that neglect it, there is a radical
defect.

But the most iiiiportant jiart of true culture is the development of
the powers of tiie mind. For lack of time, I shall say, in general
terms, only that it consists in the development of the observing fac-

Agnes Scott Institute. 17

ulties of the iniiid, so that we shall be able to gather pleasing, useful
and necessary knowledge, not only from the books that we read, but
from all the persons and objects by which we may be surrounded,
and from all the events that fall under our notice. It consists in the
development of the memory, so that it shall become like the faithful
servant who is able at any moment to account for everything that
has ever been entrusted to his care. It consists in the development
of the undei'standiug, so that we may be able successfully to grapple
with the great problems of life that are ever presenting themselves
to us, and urging themselves upon us, for solution. It consists in the
development of the imagination and taste, so that we shall more and
more appreciate, and be more and more elevated and refined by all
of the excellences and beauties of art, of literature and of nature. It
consists, also, in the development of the will, so that it shall be able
to control all the other faculties of the mind; to bring them up to
their work, and keep them at it, until it shall be accomplished. I
emphasize this point, because I think it is very much overlooked in
education. The great difference between successful and unsuccessful
students; between successful and unsuccessful men in all depart-
ments of human endeavor, is not, generally, that some have more
strength of mind than others; but that they have more strength of
will, and so concentrate all their powers upon the task of life, and
keep them concentrated there until that task is successfully com-
pleted. Upon the will, I think, more depends than upon almost
any other faculty.

An important part, then, of education is this development of the
mental powers. Indeed, it is so important a part that it is regarded
by many as all of it. Where there is an informed and enlarged
understanding; acute and discriminating logical powei's, and a taste
formed upon the highest models of art and of literature there, it is
supposed, we have culture true culture, the highest form of culture
that it is possible to attain.

The advocates of popular education have always insisted that all
that is necessary to make men what you wish them to be, is simply
to develop their intellectual powers. It is insisted that they will
then be intelligent, moral, obedient, useful. Experience, however,
is beginning to teach that this is a great mistake. It does not make
them truly intelligent. The leaders of those great movements that
are now most seriously threatening the most important institutions
of society; the great leaders of anarchism, of communism, and of
socialism, are educated men ; some of them are very highly educated
men. It does not make them useful and obedient citizens. In Prus-
sia, where popular education has been carried to the very highest
point of excellence, there are five hundred thousand citizens insist-

18 Agnes Scott Institute.

ing on revolution in the order of society, as to principles that ought
not to be changed, and cannot be changed, without destroying
society itself, as to everything good and desirable. It does not make
men moral; it does not make them conscientious. All history so
teaches, from the beginning to the present hour. Take, for instance,
the history of the Greeks. The Athenians had every day the oppor-
tunity of conversing with Socrates, the great common sense philoso-
pher of the world; of listening to the matchless orations of Pericles;
of witnessing the plays of Sophocles and of Aristophanes. Many of
them could recite from memory the whole of the Iliad and Odyssey
of Homer. Every day they could hear on the street corners the
rhapsodists reciting the noblest productions of human genius. They
lived and moved and had their being in the very presence of sculp-
ture and painting that have never been surpassed, and, in some
respects, have never been equalled. Often they could listen to
debates in the Areopagus, and on great questions of war and peace
that have constituted models for all the orators of subsequent ages.
Thus they had what many consider the highest degree of true cul-
ture. I suppose, however, that we are fully warranted in pronounc-
ing upon them the judgment of Dr. Samuel Johnson, that, after all,
they were only a race of polished barbarians, in morals utterly
degraded and debauched. There may, then, be the highest intellect-
ual development where there is the lowest moral degradation.

This is true, not only of Grecian, but also of Roman history.
When the intellectual life of the Romans was at its flood, their vices
were so great that none of the historians have undertaken to give us
a full description of them. When they do make any very plain
statement in regard to them, they do as Gibbon does they put it in
foot notes, or in appendixes, in dead languages that few can read.
During the Augustan age, two phrases, a distinguished historian
says, describe them: "heartless cruelty and unfathomable corrup-
tion." I may mention a Roman of that period as substantially
representative of a large class. He was very handsome the admira-
tion of the noblest maidens. He was remarkably graceful in all his
movements, and excelled in athletic accomplishments. His speeches
were greatly applauded. When he ascended the throne, as he after-
wards did, his reign for awhile eclipsed that of the worthiest princes
who had preceded him. Indeed, the first Ave years of his reign were
called the golden quinquennium of Roman history. He was saluted
on the coins of the country as Apollo; as Hercules; as the Saviour
of the world. The poets declared that there was no God in the
Heavens that would not think it an honor to surrender to him his
throne. In the extravagance of their laudation they assured him
that if he did not place himself carefully on the very centre of

Agnes Scott Institute. 19

Olympus the equilibrium of the universe would be destroyed. Vic-
tims were slain along his path, and altars were erected in his honor,
as if he were divine. Here was the highest intellectual and aesthetic
culture; and yet how far that may be removed from moral excellence
becomes plain when T tell you that that man was Nero ; the man whom
subsequent ages have uever been able sufficiently to execrate ; the
man who fiddled while his own capitol was burning, himself believed
to have been the incendiary; the man who sewed up multitudes of
Christ's servants in sacks, covered them with pitch, set them on fire,
and used them as torches to illuminate his pleasure gardens; the
man who wrapped the best men and women of his empire in the
skins of wild beasts, and threw them into the amphitheatre, where,
in the presence of thousands of spectators, they were torn in pieces
by famished dogs. Thus there may be the highest development of
the intellectual and aesthetic faculties a development that expresses
itself in eloquence and song, in painting and sculpture; and yet,
with it all, there may not be a particle of that moral excellence with-
out which man is but like the tiger a graceful and beautiful brute.
Something more is needed, then, for true culture than mere intellec-
tual development. It is necessary that this intellectual development
shall be of the right character. To develop the physical energies
secures an increase of physical power, but it does not change the
character of that power. To develop the intellectual energies secures
an increase of intellectual power, but it does not change the charac-
ter of that power. What we want, in order to have true culture, is
not only increased power, but right character to control that power.
Well, " Out of the heart are the issues of life." If the heart be right,
the character will be right, and the life will be right, and the increased
physical and intellectual powers will be used for right purposes. If,
however, the heart be wrong, the character will be wrong, and the
life will be wrong, and a wrong use of this increased power will take
place. The fact is, when we develop man's mind without cultivat-
ing his heart, we put into his hands a sword with which he is almost
as apt to do harm as to do good ; to assail the right as to assail the
wrong. We put in motion streams of influence that are corrupt at
their veiy fountain, and that wherever they flow are apt to generate
disease and death.

Now, what kind of culture is that for Christian parents to provide
for their children, which, while it seeks to secure this increase of
power, does not as earnestly seek to secure right influences to con-
trol the power, so that it shall be employed for useful and honorable
purposes'? What is to be thought of that kind of culture which,
while it labors to develop the understanding, and the reason, and
the taste, and the imagination and the will, does not just as earnestly

20 Agnes Scott Institute.

labor to cultivate the heart, that all this development may be so
controlled and employed that it shall be a blessing to those who
possess it, and to the Church and to the world ? The cultivation of
the heart, then, as well as the development of the intellect, is an
important part of true culture.

Not only should the heart be cultivated, but the conscience should
be developed. The conscience is tlie regal faculty of the soul. It is
intended to control all the other faculties, and to it all the other
faculties give account of the character of their exercises. To it the
understanding gives account of the character of its thoughts, aud the
will of the character of its volitions, and the heart of the character
of its emotions. But it, itself, gives no account at all, except to Him
who is the " Judge of all the earth." It may, and it often does, con-
demn the exercises of the other faculties, but they never condemn
its exercises. But while it is intended to be the regal faculty of the
soul, it is not so, in fact. There is a great difference between the
power of a principle and the authority of a principle. The con-
science has the authority to rule over all the other faculties, but be-
cause evil has come into the soul, it has not the power to do it. The
fact is, conscience has, in large measure, been dethroned, and evil
principles have the supremacy in the soul and wield the sceptre of
government.

Now, what must we think of a culture for the children of Chris-
tian parents that does not take account of this fact? What must we
think of a culture that does not seek to cure this disorder in the
soul? What must we think of a culture that does not, above all
things, attempt to put the faculties of the mind in their right rela-
tion to each other ; that does not attempt to put the higher powers
in the higher places and the lower powers in the lower places ? What
are we to think of a culture that does not aim, above all things, to
put the regal faculty of the soul upon its throne, that it may rule
over all the other faculties in their proper sub-ordination, for with-
out this there cannot be a healthy state of the mind ; there can be
no right action of its powers ; there can be no true morality ; there
cannot be exalted character; and our children cannot become what
we want them to be, and cannot live the lives of usefulness and
honor we desire.

The heart must be cultivated, then, and the conscience must be
developed, as well as the intellectual powers. In other words, mor-
als must be inculcated wherever we are to expect true culture. It is
said that morality ought to be inculcated at home, in the Sunday-
school, and in the Church ; and so it ought to be, because it belongs
to the home, to the Sunday-school, and to the Church. But it be-
longs, also, in the school. It belongs there just as much as it belongs

ActNes 8cott Institute. 21

anywhere. The whole government of a school like this must be
administered in accordance with strictest principles of the highest
morality. It must perv^ide all the intercourse of these scliolars with
each other, and with their teachers, and of the teachers with them.
In fact, the very spirit of the purest morality must infuse itself into
and pervade the very atmosphere of a scliool like this, else it is not
fit for the children of christian parents.

Morals, then, must be inculcated in the school. But how is this
to be accomplished? If morality must be in the school, why not
bring it in ? Why not recognize its place ? Why not formally give
it its place ? Why make it necessary for it to come in clandestinely,
and, as it were, by stealth? Why not openly conduct it in with
becoming honors, and seat it on the throne, and crown it sovereign?

But how is morality to be introduced into the school? If there
were time, I should be glad to discuss this point fully. VVhenoe is a
true morality to be obtained? There is no true morality anywhere
except in the Bible. You cannot find it in any other system of relig-
ion. You cannot find it in any system of philosophy not based
upon the Bible; and in the Bible, morality so strikes its roots down
into the soil of all its great truths that you cannot separate it from
them without destroying its life. Therefore, if you would bring
true morality into the school, you must bring the Bible in. You
cannot have the one without having the other.

There are other reasons, of course, why the Bible should be int'o-
duced, for you cannot give any reason why these scholars ought to
study any book that is not a better reason why they should study it.
Should they study a book because its author is great? The author
of this book is infinitely great. Should they study a book because of
the information it contains? There is no book in existence that con-
tains information more important than this book contains. Should
they study a book for its history? There is no history anywhere so
valuable as that here recorded. Should they study a book for its
poetry? Milton himself said "There are no songs like the songs of
Zion." Should they study a book for its philosophy? Newton said
that the Scriptures contain the sublimest philosophy. Should they
study a book because of the influence for good it may exercise over
them? What book can exercise such influence for good as this book?
Should they study a book because of the great truths it contains?
Why, the truths in these Scriptures are so great that on all sides
round they touch upon the infinite; they are of such a character
that if our children read and study the book, their minds must be
enlarged; their intellects must be quickened; their hearts must be
purified; their consciences must be awakened; their characters must
be elevated, i-efined and ennobled.

22 Agnes Scott Institute.

Thus, there are manj' other reasons for introducing this book,
besides the fact that if j^ou would have pure morality in the school,
it can be found only in its pages. Many persons are coming to see
this. Our honored friend (Col. Scott) sees it, and this is the reason
we witness what we do to-day; this is the reason this splendid edi-
fice nas been erected.

Thus have I undertaken, in the limited time at my disposal, to
indicate to you what I conceive to be true culture; the complete
development of the body; of the intellectual powers, of the heart
and of the conscience, and all controlled by a pure morality and a
divine Christianity. That is the only culture that can realize the
exalted hopes of Christian parents for their children.

I rejoice, therefore, to-day, and I doubt not all present rejoice, in
the consecration of this splendid building to this kind of culture, and
in the fact that it is placed in the hands of a faculty so eminently
qualified and so earnestly resolved, to achieve the purposes to which
it is dedicated. I doubt not that the benediction of heaven rests
upon it; and that the answer to the prayer of the sainted mother is
right now before our eyes; I doubt not that the prayer of our brother
(the Moderator) at the beginning of these exercises, will also be
heard, and that forth from this place shall flow many streams of
sacred influence that shall make glad the City of our God.

Agnes Scott Institute. 23

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MRS, AGNES

SCOTT,

BY HON. JOHN SCOTT, PHILADELPHIA.

I was invited to deliver an address upon this occasion. An address
suggests the discussion of some educational problem or the privilege
of inflicting upon an audience a dissertation upon almost any phase
of current thought that may occupy the speaker's mind in connec-
tion with female education. I have no ambition to do either, and,
therefore, replied to the invitation of the Trustees that I would pre-
pare and read a very brief biography of ray mother, whose name has
been given to this Institute.

The generous act of my brother and its appreciation by the Board
of Trustees in thus naming this school will naturally beget some
desire to know who Agnes Scott was.

I am not about to write a long pedigree. One member of the
numeous families of Scotts did send me a dissertation upon the
antiquity of the name, and from it I learn that some writer traced
it back to the days of Charlemagne, in the 8th century; another so
far back as Scota, the daughter of Pharaoh, who, with her husband
Gathelus, he alleged, left Egypt, came to Portugal, hence to Ireland
and Scotland, and gave the name of "Scott" to the inhabitants.

Walter Scott's last minstrel is made to speak of "Good Earl Fran-
cis Scott," Earl of Buccleugh, and of

" Nine and twenty Knights of fame,
Kinsman to tiie bold Buccleugh."

who hung their shields in Branksome Hall.

Scotts there have been ; and Irvines, too, eminentin private worth
and public life; in church and state; but no long line of ancestors
will 1 array upon either side of the family of Agnes Irvine, who
became Agnes Scott.

McCauley says: "A people which takes no pride in the noble
achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything
worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants."

That may be true of the aggregate nation or people; but among

24 Agnes Scott Institute.

individuals, descendants make their own way, and we all know that
in doing that in these days ancestors are not of much account. He
expressed the sentiment I have quoted in closing a narration of the
siege of Londonderry, of which he also said :

''It was a contest, not between engineers, but between nations,
and the victory remained with the nation which, though inferior in
numbers, was superior in civilization, in capacity for self-govern-
ment, and in stubbornness of resolution."

In that town of Londonderry, and among the Presbyterians wlio
made part of its united Protestant population, and had the charac-
teristic of " stubbornness of resolution," we have good reason to be-
lieve were Irviues and Scotts. Enniskillen contributed the Irvines ;
and whether tlae Scotts M^ere residents of the town or came from
some other part of Ulster, it is among the traditions of the family
that during that siege one of its members, not over critical as to his
bill of fare, and doing his best in a scant market, paid a guinea for a
rat.

Now, as both my father and mother, being of kScotch and Scotch-
Irish Presbyterian extraction, would undoubtedly have made some
protest against certain doings that went on in the courts of the
numerous Pharaohs, and would not certainly have taken any pride
in being identified in blood with that particular Pharaoh, Scota's
father, who would not let Israel's people go ; and as they would also
have looked with disapproval upon the exploits of the more modern
barons, who located their castles with the view how best to capture
and secure the cattle of their neighbors across the border, I will not
go beyond Londonderry or the north of Ireland in even more recent
times; but, discarding courts, and coronets and titles, I am glad to
say that the lives of the Irvines and the Scotts, of whom I shall
speak, begin and in largest part continue with

" The short and simple annals of the poor."

Agnes Irvine was born in Ballykeel, County Down, Ireland, .June
13th, 1799. Her father was William Irvine; her mother's maiden
name was Mary Stitt. They were married June 22d, 1793. She was
their youngest child. Two sisters older than she, Susanna and Mary,
were born respectively in 1796 and 1797. The elder, Susanna, mar-
ried James Stewart; the younger died 29th December, 18U1. William
Irvine died in 1799. In 1805 his widow was married to a distant
relative, Edward Stitt. One sou, Jonathan, was born to them in
1806, and died in 1807. Edward Stitt died November 29th, 1814.
The family then left was Mary Stitt, his widow ; Agnes Irvine, my
mother, James Stewart and Susanna, his wife. These all sailed
from Warren's Point, five miles below Newry, Ireland, for Phila-
delphia, on the 29th of March, 1816, and landed at that city May 3d,

Agnes 8cott Institute. 25

1S16. Susanna Stewart having died during the voyage, was buried
at sea.

Mary Stitt and Agnes Irvine went from Philadelphia by the slow
and uncomfortable mode of travel then in use to the town of Alex-
andria, Huntingdon County, two hundred miles in the interior of
Pennsylvania, where some of their relatives from County Down,
named Stitt and Dorris, had preceded them.

I will not go back to Londonderry in detail; but suffice it to say
that among the names of my mother's maternal ancestors occur
those of Adair, Hamilton, McElroy, McClure, Stitt and Howell ; and
on the paternal side those of Irvine, Dorris, and McKee.

Her uncle, James Irvine, lived in Newry. After her father's death
she made her home for some years with this uncle, and was attend-
ing school in Newry at the time her mother concluded to emigrate
to tlie United States. This uncle was in comfortable circumstances
and wished to adopt my mother and have her remain with him, but
her mother decided otherwise. Her two husbands had been of the
class of small farmers in the north of Ireland, although I infer her
first husband had also, to some extent, engaged in trade, as the ruins
of the store-house built by him near Kilkeel, County Down, were
pointed out to me by some of his surviving relatives when I paid a
visit to that place in 1.S53. She believed it was best not to remain in
Ireland, and having means and courage enough in that day, after
settling her husband's estate, to do so, she came to America, where
she thought a better prospect opened for her children.

This was to my mother, then about seventeen years of age, a sore
trial. She came from the comforts of her home in Newry, not by a
seven-day steamer, but in a sailing vessel, which made the voyage,
doubly darkened by the death and burial of her sister, in thirty-six
days. A journey to the interior of Pennsylvania in 1816, before a
canal was opened or a railroad thought of, and a settlement even
among old friends and relatives, with the primitive mode of living,
necessarily attendant upon a new and sparsely settled country, so
strongly contrasted with the comfoits and opportunities she had
relinquished in the homes and schools of Newry, that she frequently
spoke of the bitter tears she shed after her arrival, as memory carried
her back to the Mountains of Morne, the beauties of Carlingford
Bay, the scenes and friends she had left in Newry and Ballykeel.
They made their home in Alexandria, and there, on the 29th of
October, 1821, Agnes Irvine was married to my father, John Scott,
then a widower with five children. He was a native of Adams
county, Pennsylvania, where his ancestors, after emigrating jrom
Ireland, had settled on Lower Marsh Creek, as farmers, as early as
1740. He was at the time of the marriage prosperous in his bnusiess.

26 Agnes Scott Institute.

It was before the days of large eorporatious or combiuatious of auy
kind. He conducted a manufactory of shoes and boots (roni leather
tanned in a tannery owned by himself, and with these supplied the
furnaces and forges scattered through the county, as well as the
community at large. He continued in business until about the year
1842. During that time her husband had been once a representative
of his county in the Legislature of Pennsylvania and of his district
in Congress, but his business had been kept in operation. He died
in 1S50, all his children by his first marriage having died before him.
The children of his second marriage were, Susan, who intermarried
with George Bucher, John 8cott, James Irvine Scott, George W.
Scott, William Scott, Mary Irvine Scott, and Alfred M. Scott. Her
mother made her home with her, and died in 1854. Her residence
continued in Alexandria, where she died October 23d, 1877, aged over
78 years. She was buried in the beautiful cemetery ground near the
village in which she spent so large a part of her life, and overlooking
the peaceful valley of the Juniata River. She and her mother
became members of the Hartslog Presbyterian Congregation hy
deposit of certificate of membership from the church at Kilkeel, and
when the Hartslog organization merged into the Alexandria Presby-
terian Congregation they continued members of it until their
respective deaths.

I take pleasure in saying, as illustrative of how Presbyterians keep
up their association, that in this audience, among those who have
accompanied me from Pennsylvania to be present on this occasion,
are the grandson, Dr. J. M. Gammel, and great-grand daughter,
Mrs. Eliza Cresswell Barr, of the honored woman who made gratui-
tous deeds to both congregations for the lands on which their houses
of worship were built; and also the pastor of the Alexandria congre-
gation at the time of mother's death. Rev. J. C. Barr.

Of the children I have named, James and William, died, respec-
tively, in 1836 and 1849. Alfred died in Savannah in 1876, and lies
buried in Decatur. Susan died in April, 1887, and in a month after-
wards Mary died in your midst; was borne back to be buried amid
the scenes she so dearly loved, and by the side of her mother, whose
memory she so fondly cherished. My brother George and myself
are all who reoaain.

Tlii, you will say to me, is an uneventful and every-day life. That
is just what it is. One of the every-day lives that through the homes
of this country give it the strongest hope it has of prosperity, honor
and stability. There were traits in her character of which others
would more appropriately speak. There yet live many outside her
own home circle who were the recipients of her kindness; who
sought not only her aid, but her counsel; who were encouraged by

Agnes Scott Institute. 27

her cheerful \yords; who were prompted by her example, and who
revere her memory. What they would say I will uot venture to
utter.

It is uot for the spirit of mortal to be proud ; but if men, yea, men
Avhose hairs are whitened with the flight of years, may justly, at any
time, feel any pride, I am sure it is when they mingle with that
pride the gratitude, reverence and affection which are due to an
intelligent, conscientious, good Christian mother. That pride and
gratitude, reverence and affection, speaking foi my brother, we
express of and to that mother whose name this Institute is to hear.

She is worthy of our pride, gratitude, reverence and affection, and
of your commemoration

She met the duties of her sphere with the sublimest faith and trust
in the goodness of God, and in His overruling Providtnce. "There
is a God who rules and reigns in the armies of Heaven, and who
doeth His will among the inhabitants of the earth," was one of her
daily utterances to her children. She was a Presbyterian, and loved
her church. She believed in the sovereignty of that God as devoutly
as in His goodness and mercy ; and did uot waste her time in meta-
physical disquisitions attempting to reconcile them, but diligently
went about her duties and saw to it that no child of her's should go
out into the world ignorant of the Shorter Catechism. Her early
education had awakened in her the love of the true and the beauti-
ful ; hence, the first of all books to her was the Bible; and after this
and her devotional books she appreciated Shakespeare and Burns.
I have two treasures from her hand, both presented on the 14th of
April, 184:0 a copy of Shakespeare and a Bible. In the lattei, writ-
ten with her own hand, is an admonition which was the reflection
of her own life :

Proverbs, c. 3 ; v. 5, 0.

" Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding."

" In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths."

Had she foreseen that her name would have been connected with
this school she could not have written more fitting counsel to every
graduate who shall go out into the world from it.

The poetry of Burns she admired, and took pleasure, when she
would speak of the fleeting character of earthly joys, in quoting his
beautiful and familiar words from Tam O'Shanter:

" But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the ilower its bloom is shed ;
Or like the snow falls in the river
A moment white then melts forever :
Or like the Borealis race.
That tlit ere you can point the place :
Or like the rainbow's lovely form,
Evanishing amid the storm."

28 Agxe.s Bcott Ixstitute.

When she did so she often closed with the remark, "But this i.
not more expressive and not so instructive as Isaiah's words. 'The
grass withereth, the tlower fadeth, but the word of our God shall
stand forever.' "

And thus it was that in her home alike in pleasure, in sorrow, in
the midst of the ever-recurring duties of wife, mother, friend and
counsellor, she seasoned all her lessons with the truths of inspiration.

I gladly note that in sending forth the announcement of this Insti-
tution you say:

" Next to the home we consider the school the most important factor
in the formation of character and in determining human duty."

It is because the home influence precedes the school that I have
said that the ev^ery-day duties of the Christian mothers of this land
are the most important factor not only in our domestic but in our
national life.

As she, in her Pennsylvania home, illustrated in her daily life the
doctrines of the Lord and Saviour in whom she trusted, so may there
come from many Christian homes, whether in Georgia, in Pennsyl-
vania, or elsewhere, to this Presbyterian School, those who shall
have added to their blessed home influences that sound training and
instruction which will fit them to go hence to meet the duties of life
in their various spheres, and in their time and homes, aid in bring-
ing speedily in our land, and in all lands the acknowledgment of
His rule who came to bring

Peace on earth and good will to men. '

A(iNEs Scott Instftute. 2 J)

ADDRESS OF REV, W, A, CANDLER, D.D,

President Emory College.

"another christian college in the south."

Mv Friends: I rejoice with you to-day iu the dedication of this
Christian College, founded by a great-hearted man to perpetuate the
memory of a Christiaji mother, and to educate Christian mothers for
the future. I am sure I fairly represent the Church to which I
belong when I say, nearly, if not quite, 150,0u0 Methodists in Geor-
gia salute you to-day witii words of congratulation and thanksgiv-
ing. Georgians ot every denomination, and of no denomination,
rejoice with you, and their joy would be even greater if they appre-
hended more fully the significance of this occasion.

What do we here to-day? We dedicate another Christian
College in the South. Such a fact means much.

Prior to the war between the States, the South had more children
in college than did any other section of the Union. But war, that
fell destroyer and arch-demon of evil, closed our colleges, dispersed
their patronage, destroyed buildings and endowments, and left most
of our people too poor to do anything for the rehabilitation of our
prostrated institutions. Worst of all, from our poverty and other
conditions resulting from the war, many of our people conceived a
passion for wealth and a hunger for mere material prosperity, which
has led them to ignore, if not despise, higher education.

And so it has come to pass, from having been the foremost patrons
of learning in the country, the Southern people have become the
hindmost.

New England has one college for every four thousand square miles
of her territory and five dollars worth of college property for every
man, woman and child within her borders; while the South mean-
ing by the word, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,
Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi,
Louisiana and Texas has only one college for every ^even thousand
square miles of territory, and one dollar's worth of college property
per capita for all her people. The average New England boy or girl,
by reason of superior wealth, can alFord to go twice as far to college

30 Agnes Scott Institute.

as the Southern boy or girl ; but as it is, the New Englander has ouly
about half as far to go as the Southerner to reach his college, and on
arrival finds it five times as well equipped. Massachusetts alone,
which is about one-sixth as large as Georgia, and has ninety thou-
sand less children to educate, has college endowments exceeding in
value all the endowments in the South by a million dollars; and lit-
tle Rhode Island, whose area is contained in that of Texas over two
hundred times so small that if it were lost in Texas, the services of
a land-surveyor would be required to find it has college property
valued at more than a half million dollars above the total value of
all the college property in the Lone Star State.

And great as is this inequality, it is daily growing greater. Of
bequests and gifts to colleges and universities in the United States
during 1890, institutions north of Mason's and Dixon's line, received
more than the entire value of every sort of college property in the
South. The amounts received by the institutions of Massachusetts
alone during last year, aggregated considerably more than was
received by all the Southern colleges during the same period. The
Leland Standford, Jr. University, with its eighty-three thousand
acres of land and fifteen million endowment, is alone worth more
than all the college plants in the Southern States. And thus it
appears we are falling behind even the West in educational enterprise.

It is well to look these facts squarely in the face and set about at
once remedying the evil which they suggest. It avails nothing to
plead our poverty as an oflset to them. To offer explanations of
them and excuses for them does no good. That is an easy but very
unprofitable task. Explanations and excuses can save our reputa-
tion only. But that does not greatly need saving. We should be
most concerned to save the generation of boys and girls now^ about
us, clamoring for the opportunities of a college course. To-day is the
day of their salvation. To-morrow will be too late, for they will
soon pass the age of pupilage and when that is gone it is gone for-
ever. To save them to the purposes of educated, Christian manhood
and womanhood, we must rely upon something more substantial
than plausible explanations of our poverty and fair excuses for our
illiberality. Nothing will answer for this great work but cold cash
and warm consecration.

Because I believe the munificence which founds this admirable
institution, marks the beginning of a new era in the histoi'y of edu-
cation in Georgia, if indeed I may not say a new era in the history
of education in the South, I rejoice in this hour with joy unspeak-
able. The Scotts and Pattillos and Harrises are harbingers of a
brighter ami better day in this commonwealth. Their example will
be contagious, and from them, others will learn the high art of

I

Agnes Scott Institutp:. ol

giving good gifts to colleges for the glory of God and the blessing of
men. Tlie sight of such men is an inspiration. The sight of a man
who foimds such an institution as this, is so refreshing, and in the
South so uncommon, I am tempted to ask our generous friend and
brother to stand up and let us look at him, and see what manner of
man is he wiio believes it better to invest money largely for the
elevation of the race, than to retain it tor the gratification of him-
self who finds his chief gratification in giving. A man who can do
such a thing without dying and while still in the flesh is a most
uncommon person. As great a man as the late Mr. Tilden, was
capable of nn]y post morfein benevolence. He made an assault with
intent to give five million dollars to a public charity, but died in the
act, and his relations have since interposed to prevent such an act
of violence against the peace and dignity of Mammondom. But here
is a man, still in life, of sound mind and memory, and many years
this side of the grave (we fondly hope) giving away thousands. It is
a most uncommon and glorious spectacle.

But I know his modesty and forbear, for he is like the first king of
Israel, not only in that he is head and shoulders above his fellows,
but also in that when the people are most inclined to honor him, he
is found "hiding in the stuff." Saul was a king of inches but one
who does a deed of benevolence like this, the completion of which
we witness, is every inch a king. In Europe, kings and princes
have delighted to establish and endow institutions of learning. In
this country we must look for such high service, not to men of regal
birth but of royal souls, and with the unconstrained loyalty of grate-
ful hearts we do reverence this day to the priucely man by whose
generosity this Chi'istian school is planted. The crown which a
loving people place upon his brow will provoke no enmity and
bring no anxieties, and it

" Shall new lustre boast
When victors' wreaths and monarch's gems
Shall blend in common dust."

While I rejoice at this dawning of a better day in Georgia, I am
especially glad that this is to be a Christian school. One of the most
hopeful facts in the present history of the United States is that the
higher education and especially that of women is for the naost
part in the hands of the churches, and is likely to remain there. Of
the 384 colleges and universities in our country, 2S8 belong to the
chui-ches; and of the 89,000 students in these colleges, there are over
70,000 in the denominational colleges.

Moreover, these religious colleges will ultimately become the rich-
est and best equipped educational institutions on the continent.
Many of them are so already, and every year will witness progress in

82 A(4NES Scott Institute.

this direction. Colleges and universities must depend in the niaiu
upon private benevolence for their equipment and endowment, and
the vast accumulations of consecrated Christian industry will, in the
future, be dedicated to the enrichment of Christian schools. The
wealth of these United States is in Christian hands, and the motives
which lead to its distribution for benevolent purposes are inspired
and influenced by Christian instruction and creed. It must follow,
therefore, that most of such benevolence will be bestowed in the
future upon Christian institutions. Neutral or negative institutions
cannot reasonably expect such support. And this is well. It guar-
antees the permanence of such gift^ and insures the best results from
them. The church of God never dies. States rise and fall; policies
based on the popular will fluctuate with the caprice of the masses;
personal and private enterprises perish with their projectors, but the
church of God goes on forever! And he who places in her hands the
administration of his gifts appoints an executor who is immortal, and
to whom is given the promises or divine guidance and the pledges of
divine favor "as long as the sun and moon endure throughout all
generations."

Furthermore, for doing the work designed to be accomplished by a
college, the church, of all institutions, is the best fitted. Most stu-
dents who secure a collegiate education must spend four years away
fri)m home. The I'eligious influence of the home is thus withdrawn,
or operates at best under the great disadvantage of distance during
the most critical years of life. During these years opinions are
formed, habits contracted and passions aroused which determine the
character of all after-life. It is indispensable at such a period, if the
student is to come forth at the end of the lour years a Christian, that
for the home iiiflupiice which has been withdrawn there shall be
substituted in the college the most emphatic and distinct religious
influence. In a republic like ours, where church and state are
widely and wisely separated, such a definite religious instruction can
not be had elsewhere than in a denominational college. Doctrinal
vagueness and ethical generalities are not sufficient to curb youthful
pissions, form youthful opinions and control youthful habits as is
necessary at such a time. An ambiguous faith and an indefinite
instruction are not reliable securities against the perils which beset a
boy or girl at college. Guizot said: "Iti order to make education
truly good and socially useful it must be fundamentally religious. It
is necessary that it should be given and received in the midst of a
religious atmosphere, and that religious impressions and religious
observances should penetrate into all its parts." All this I stead-
fastly believe, and I am glad this school is to be a denominational

Agnes Scott Institute. 83

school a Christian school for outside the denominations there is no
Christianity worth speaking of in this or any otlier land.

It is well for the people that the higher education of this country
should be in the hands of the churches. As I see it, the church
must control with her authority and permeate with her influence
the higher education of this great nation, or irreligion will become
the mark of intelligence aud ignorance the badge of piety among the
people. If this should ever be the case, godlessness would become
the fashion and holiness the jest of the people, and modish vice
would laugh obsolete virtue out of countenance. Ichabod might
then be written upon all our institutions, for our glory and greatness
will have passed away forever if such a condition of things shall ever
take place. Against the approach of such direful possibilities an
institution like this stands as a fortress of heaven, and he who estab-
lishes such an institution works a deed both of patriotism and piety
for wbich all men should be grateful. You (addressing Colonel
George W. Scott, the founder of the institute,) owe the public no
apologies for placing this memorial of your devotion under the
direction of the church of your faith and love the church which
blessed with its benign ministrations your ancestry, and which
will remain to guide with her instructions the footsteps of your pos-
terity. You are rather entitled to the thanks of the entire Christian
community that at the ver,y outset you give to the Agues Scott Insti-
tute a definite, strong, religious character. Let him who will, cari-
cature it with the bad epithet "sectarian." For one, I thank God a
Presbyterian has made a Presbyterian college which is not to be mol-
luscan in the pulpy vagueness of its instruction, but which, vertebrated
with a definite faith, will walk uprightly before God and man, bear-
ing the burdens and doing the work which only an institution thus
organized can endure.

It is proper that this ceremony should be enacted in the presence
of the reverend fathers and brethren of the Presbyterian Church in
Georgia met in Synod. Let this institution be baptized amid their
benedictions and prayers, and if it shall sei've to make the church of
Knox and Edwards and Alexander and Hodge and Thorn well stronger
in this section of the country, it will make this a better land to live
in, and will merit the favor of all good men.

Finally, I rejoice that a mother in Israel, whose unwearied minis-
tries, unj-een and unsung of men, produced such a son, is honored,
through his devotion, by such a monument. By it, the name of
Agues Scott will be carried down to the latest posterity. Unborn
thousands will enshrine that name in their hearts, and rise up to call
her blessed. That name will be entwined among the school-day
memories of thousands of girls who in the years to come will tarry

34 Agnes Scott Instititte.

here awhile, and go hence thanking God they ever knew such a
place. And when they have grown old they will whisper to chil-
dren's children in accents low and loving the precious name of Agnes
Scott.

In the shadow of the monument, erected to the memory of this
sainted woman, my mind reverts to the words of Robertson of
Brighton, concerning the monumental work of the Egyptian prin-
cess who cared for the infant Moses. He says: "In those days the
Pharaohs of Egypt raised their memorials in the enduring stone of
the pyramids, which still remain almost untouched by time. A
princess of Egypt raised her memorial in a human spirit, and just
so far as spirit is more enduring than stone, just so far is the work of
that princess more enduring than the work of the Pharaohs; for
when the day comes when the pyramids shall be crumbled into
nothingness and ruin, then shall the spirit of the laws of Moses still
remain interwoven with the most hallowed of human institutions.
So long as the spirit of Moses influences this world, so long shall her
work endure, the work of the royal-hearted lady who adopted this
Hebrew oi'phan child."

Ah! wlien one builds a monument like this a school which
instructs and inspires human spirits he builds a monument which
time cannot corrode or destroy, he builds a monument before which
the fleeting years pause in passing, to write ever new inscriptions of
honor and praise. How holy, how almost divine is the toil by which
is secured the means to build such a monument I The homliest
business is transfigured by it. The merchandise by which such gain
is got is exalted almost to the level of worship. Wny, sir, as I have
thought of how you were using the fruit of your labor for the bless-
ing of men and the spread of the truth, your vocation has become
suffused with a poetic radiance an epic significance. I have thought
of you as joining hands with the Almighty power, which, thousands
of years ago in preparing this world for the habitation of men, slew
hecatombs of beasts and creeping things, and hid away their bones
under the soil of Florida that those rich deposits might, in these
distant centuries, so fertilize the earth as to soften the rigor of the
decree of toil laid upon the sons of Adam, and multiply seed for the
sower and bread for the eater. Thither have you gone and exhumed
them and turned them into a vitalizing power which makes the
harvest fields of the South to wave in double beauty and pleuteous-
ness. But it has not been enough for you to unearth hidden resources
and quicken the fertility of all our fields. You have looked deeper
than secret treasures, and wider than waving harvests, to find the
meaning of life and the purposes of God in the ages which have
gone before and the years which are yet to come. You have found

Agnes Scott Institute. 35

in the soul of man the goal to which nature has tended from the
beginning, and with the rewards of your labor, you have sought to
develop the hidden resources of mind and to enhance the beauty of
that fairest growth under Southern skies Christian womanhood.

The fields bless such a man with their fragrance and fertility, the
heavy-headed harvests nod in reverence as he passes by, the valleys
rejoice and the little hills clap their hands. The prattling voice of
childhood praises him and the faltering accents of the aged call his
name in prayer. All nature blesses him. The heavens bend kindly
above him, while from beyond the stars the voice of a sainted
mother's approval comes softly falling down to mingle with the com-
mendations of all good men and the benedictions of the Almighty
Father which rest upon his head to-day.

God be merciful unto you and bless you and cause His face to shine
upon you, guide you with His favor in the day-time and guard you
with His faithfulness every night; establish the work of your hands
upon you, and make His glory to appear unto your children.

36 Agnes Scott Institute.

DIMENSIONS AND COST OF THE BUILDINGS
AND PROPERTY,

the main building

Is one hundred and ninety- four (194) feet in length, fifty-four (54)
feet in width, and is four stories high, exclusive of basement.

The engine room, electric and steam plant annex is sixty-five (65)
feet in length, thirty (30) feet in width and one story high.

The kitchen and store-room annex is fifty-five (55) feet in length,
twenty-eight (28) feet wide and one story high.

All of the buildings are constructed of brick, marble and granite,
and covered with slate, lighted by electricity, heated and ventilated
by the indirect steam method, and supplied with water, and fire hose.

cost.

The cash cost of the property, buildings, equipment and furniture
was as follows:

Five and one-half acres of laud, net S 9,5(0 00

Buildings 82,500 00

Electric light plant, steam heating plant and equipments,
school and household furniture, pianos, chemical and
physical apparatus and laboratories 20,150 00

Total cost grounds, buildings and equipments . . . $112,150 00

Agnes Scott Institute. 37

BOARD OF TRUSTEES,

Rev. F. H. GAINES, President.

Rev. E. H. BARNETT, D. D., - Rev. G. B. HTRICKLER, D. D.

GEORGE W. SCOTT, Esq., - - - B. S. CRANE, Esq.

C. M. CANDLER, Esq.

H. J. WILLIAMS, - Secretary and Treasurer.

FACULTY 1891-2,

REV. F. H. GAINES,
Bible Course. President Board of Trustees.

MISS NANNETTE HOPKINS,
Principal.

REV. JAMES MURRAY, D. D.,

Mathematics. Mental and Moral Sciences.

MISS L. A. FIELD,
Latin 3Iathematics.

MISS LUCY MAGEE,

Natural Sciences.

MISS M. LULA McKINNEY,
English and English Literature.

38 Ac4NES Scott Institute.

MISS N. R. MASSIE,
French History.

MISS mattip: e. cook,

Principal Prej)aratory Dejjartment.

MISS VALERIA ERASER,

Physical Culture.

MISS CLAIR BIDWELL,

Primary Department.

GUSTAV MEYER,

Director Conservatory of Music.

MISS M. S. McBRYDE,
Voice Culture.

MISS FANNIE PRATT,
Piano.

MISS ALICE SHIPMAN,
Piano.

WILLIAM LYCETT,

Director Art School.

HUNTER P. COOPER, M. D.,

Physician to the Institute.

MRS. E, G. ELYEA,

Matron.