James Coffee Harris and his sixty years service as an educator in Georgia

JAMES COFFEE HARRIS

JAMES COFFEE HARRIS
AND
HIS SIXTY YEARS SERVICE
AS AN EDUCATOR IN GEORGIA
PRINTED BY PUPILS OF
GEORGIA SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF
CAVE SPRING. GEORGIA 1937-38

Chapter I
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF JAMES COFFEE HARRIS
JAMES COFFEE HARRIS was born April 28. 1858 at Magnolia, North Carolina, a village in Duplin County forty miles north of Wilmington. In 1862, when his father, who was a physician. became a surgeon in the Confederate Army, he direc~ ed his wife and children to refugee to Tuskeegee, Alabama. HIs father. Dr. Charles H. Harris, was born and reared in Tuskeegee. Alabama. attended the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. then attended the New York University, where he gr.lduated in medicine in 1856. Immediately after the War Between the'States. he moved to Cedartown. where he practiced medicine for fifty years.
James Coffee Harris. the subject of this sketch, was the oldest of the children of Charles H. Harris and Margaret Ann Monk. He attended the schools of Cedartown for seven years and completed the High School course. but owing to the fiinancial inability of his father to send him to college, he left school at sixteen years of age and began work. For the .first two years after he Quit school he rented a farm which he tilled mainly by his own hands. These were in the years 1874 and 1875. In each of these years. he taught a country school for three months in the summer. having passed the examination f' necessary for a public school teacher.
In 1876 he opened a private school in Cedartown, which had only 20 pupils at the beginning, but which continued to grow until it contained all the children in Cedartown who attended school at all. He continued to teach in Cedartown from 1876 until the end of 1885. when he became the principal of a school for boys in Marietta, Georgia. This school for boys, which began with nineteen pupils on the first Monday in January. 1886. grew until there were one hundred and sixtyfive boys on its rolls in 1890. In 1889 he was elected to the president of the Harwood Seminary in Marietta, which was a school for girls that gave a diploma at completion of its course. \(" It enrolled. two hundred pupils.
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In 1885 he was awarded a Master of Arts Degree by the University of Georgia, which was entirely honorary because he I... had never at that time attended any college. He had. however. prepared many boys for entrance to college.
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In June 1890. he was elected to the superintendency of the City Public Schools at Cedartown, which he accepted. The first graduating class of the Cedartown High School took its diplomas in 1891. He was elected to the superintendency of the Rome Public Schools in October. 1892. As this promised a larger work and a larger remuneration than Cedartown of-
fered. he accepted it and moved to Rome on November 1. 1892.
He continued his management of the Rome Public Schools for twenty-four years until he was elected to be the Superintendent of the Georgia School for the Deaf at Cave Spring. There he remained for 21 years until his resignation. which took effect as he was his entering his eigtieth ye'ar. In J uly, 1937 he was elected superintendent emeritus of the School for the Deaf. He then moved his residence to Cedartown. Georgia, the home of his childhood.
From the foregoing, it will be seen that he has taught fully sixty consecutive years, which seems to be five years longer than any other man has served who at present is in the service of the schools of Georgia. He is the author of a number of works which seek to portray the making of the universe through a process of evolution. He is also the author of a work on the "Mind and Its Freedom."
In 1879 he married Miss Ellen Simmons of Cave Spring who died in 1895. To this union three children were born, George Simmons. Agnes Ellen, and Margaret Monk.
George S. attended the Georgia School of Technology two years. and graduated from the Massachusetts Textile School. He was, for many years President of the Atlanta Exposition Cotton Mills, and is now (1937) Executive Vice President of the Springs Cotton Mills of the Carolinas. He has been president of the American Cotton Manufactures Association and was for many years on the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank.
Agnes Ellen graduated from the Georgia State College for Women, the Oread Institute of Massachusetts, and took her M'aster of Arts Degree from the Columbia University. For years she was Professor of Home Economics at the Women's College at Tallahassee, Florida. and has been for the last ten years Dean of Women of the University of Alabama. She has been twice elected president of the American Association of Deans of Women.
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Margaret Monk graduated from Auburn 'polyt chnic of Alabama and then took her Master of Arts Degree from the Columbia Univerity of New York. She is now Assistant Professor of Horne Economics at the University of Georgia,
In 1897 he married Miss Kate Robeson of Rome. To this union, one child was born, James Coffee, Jr. He graduated from the United State Naval Academy and became a lieutenant in the United States Navy. After several years service as an officer, he resigned and has devoted himself to engineering He now lives in Baltimore and is an electrical engineer in the service of the Baltimore Consolidated Gas and Electrical Company. He has secured several patents for inventions of machines using electrical and chemic'al processes.
JAMES COFFEE HARRIS AS EDUCATOR
T HE work of J. C. Harris as an educator was spent in Georgia and covered a period of 61 years during which there was no interval devoted to other interests. He founded a private school in Cedartown in January, 1876 which he managed until January 1886 when he founded an Academy for Boys at Marietta. In 1889 he was elected to the presidency of Harwood Seminary at Marietta, a school for girls. On July 1, 1890 he resigned from the management of his private schools at Marietta to accept the superintendency of the City Public Schools of Cedartown: In 1892 he accepted the superintendency of the Rome Public Schools which he managed for 24 years. In 1916 he accepted the superintendency of Georgia School for the Deaf which he managed 21 years. The 'official resolutions of the Boards of Trustees of these. public institutions give their estimate of the work done by him. These resolutions appear in the following pages:
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Chapter II
RESOLUTIONS OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF MARlETTA MALE ACADEMY
Marietta, Georgia. June 13th, 1890
P ROFESSOR J. C. Harris has been in charge of the Male Academy at this place four years and a half, he was our first
teacher after the erection of the new academy building. He began with about 20 pupils. and by the end of the first term he had mort than double that number. During the succeeding terms the school ran from 80 to 110, the enrollment during the last year has reached 165.
Professor Harris has made a study of te'aching. and is well up in the lat~st and best methods. He has been very successful in building up and conducting the school, as well as in impartin6 instruction. He has worked for the mental and physical development of his pupils, and their moral training has not been neglected.
Our people have been united on him during his entire charge of the male Academy. We should be glad to have him remain. He leaves at his own instance. to take charge of the public schools at Cedartown. We are sorry that he has made up his mind to go. He will carry with him the respect and confidence of the trustees and patrons of the school, and the esteem of the entire community.
It affords us pleasure to acknowledge the efficient services of Mrs. Harris in behalf of the school and other enterprises in our city. We wish them both success and happiness whereverthey go.
P. R. Cortelyou M. D., President Board Trustees Enoch Faw,Trustee
J. R. Winters, Trustee D. F. McClatchy, Trustee
J. H. Boston, Trustee The Appraisal of the Marietta People
After Professor Harris what? In a private school there is no hope of anything better. If we should secure another man as efficient, some more progressive place with a good public school system, will surely break up our school by taking away its efficient manager.-Marietta Journal.
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Chapter III
RESOLUTIO S OF BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE CEDARTOWN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
November 1, 1892
Y{ THEREAS, Professor J. C. Harris has tendered his resignation YV as Superintendent of the Public Schools of Cedartown in order to accept the Superintendency of the schools at Rome, it is hereby resolved by the Board of Education of the city of Cedartown:
1st. That the resignation of Professor Harris as Superintendent is accepted with the greatest regret. We recognize him as one of the leading educators of Georgia, possessing as he does not only a thorough knowledge of books but the equally requisite knowledge of human nature. He posseesses to an unusual degree the main essentials of a successful Superintendent-the ability to get his pupils interested in their studies 'and to enlist best efforts of the teachers under his direction.
2nd. We not only regret to lose his valuable services in our schools, but as citizens we regret his departure from our midst. He has proven himself a public-spirited and patriotic citizen during all his residence here, being active in every movement to advance not only the educational but material and moral interests of our town. No one can exert a better iniluence in a community than a Christian teacher, and the life of Prof. Harris here has been one of marked usefulness. .
3rd. In our reluctant parting with Professor Harris we wish bim the greatest possible success in his new :field of labor, and congratulate our sister city Rome most heartily on securing the services of such an able and successful educator and so valuable a citizen.
J. S. Stubbs,Chairman W. C. Bunn C. G. Janes J. K. Barton W. S. Coleman W. G. England
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Chapter IV RESOLUTIONS OF BOARD OF EDUCATION OF
ROME PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Rome, Georgia, June L 1916
R ESOLVED, That this Board accepts, with deep and sincere re"'ret, the resignation of Professor J. C. Harris as superintendent of the Rome Public Schools. We have endeavored to change his determination and to keep him as our superintendent.
ut the call made to him by the Trustees of the Georgia School for the Deaf to become superintendent of that institution has been so insistent, and the salary offered him and his tenure of office have been so attractive, that he has decided to accept and has felt compelled to resign the position which he has so creditably filled for the past twenty-four years.
In parting with our superintendent, we desire to place on record our appreciation of his splendid services for nearly a quarter of a century. He has been elected year after year by unanimous vote, and has always had the fullest confidence of the Board of Trustees, as well as the patrons of the schools and the people of Rome generally. Personally and officially our relations have been cordial. and not a single untoward incident has ever occurred to mar the harmon y and good will that existed between the Board and the Superintendent.
We desire in an especial manner to commend his efficiency, and his zeal and his devotion. At all times and under all circumstances he has had in view the best interests of the Schools, without regard to personal or political effect. His actions have been characterized by a love of justice and fair play, and he has never deviated from the strict path of duty, no matter what pressure or influence was brought to bear upon him.
He leaves for another field of usefulness, and we are sure that in the position which he is called upon to occupy, the same devotion to duty and the same splendid efficiency will characterize his efforts. We feel the loss of a personal friend and an official whom we all admire. The loss is a serious one to Rome.
We wish for Professor Harris in tbe years to come the fullest measure of happiness and prosperity, and we assure him that we will not only remember his services to our city and community, but will rejoice with him in bis future successes, and will watch his career with interest and pleasure.
~esolved, further, That this testimonial be entered upon our mmutes, and that a copy be sent to our late superintendent.
W. J. Griffin,Chairman J. T. Wilkerson, Secretary, E. A. Heard, W. J. Shaw, E. P. Harvey, (6)

PETITION OF THE TEACHERS OF' RO E
To the Honorable Board of Education,
Rome, Georgia Gentlemen:
It having come to our knowledge that Professor J. C. Harris, Superintendent of the Rome Public Schools, has been offered a position, that if accepted would result in his severing his connection with the school. and it being our opinion, from our experience and knowledge that this would result in serious loss to the Rome Public Schools, we therefore beg that your body use its influence to induce Professor Harris to remain in his present position.
We believe that his thorough knowledge of all the details and conditions in the Rome Public Schools and his ability to save and economize aid very materially in enabling the schools to be run successfully on the amount of money that can be appropriated for the maintenance of the school. Also the thorough harmony that has prevailed during the last few years among the teachers and pupils is, we think, to be a large extent due to his tactful management.
We therefore ask that all possible means be used to keep Professor Harris in his present position.
Signed by all the principals and all the teachers of the Rome Public School.
Editorial in Tribune-Herald May 21, 1916
PROFESSOR J. C. HARRIS
The Board Trustees recognizing the capacity and eminent fitness of Profesor J. C. Harris for the position have offered him the superintendency of the state institution for the deaf located at Cave Spring. This has stirred up a number of his friends and admirers in Rome who have been insistent that the TribuneHerald prevent his acceptence which would mean his removal from Rome-if possible. In accordance with these numerous requests the Tribune-Herald announces that it is going to prevent his going if it can. Just how successful we are going to be we are not yet prepared to say.
But in all seriousness, the removal of Professor Harris, and consequent giving up of the position of superintendent of the Rome Public Schools would in our opinion be a serious loss to
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Rome. Mr. Harris has been the head of the public schools of this city for twenty-four years. He has seen these schools grow from a comparatively small educational system to a large up-todate. progressive and rapidly growing system. In fact the Tribune-Herald sincerely believes that there is not a better system of public schools in the South, certainly not in Georgia than the one that Rome is proud to boast of. This situation has been brought about very largely through the able and conscientious efforts to the superintendent who has devoted many of the best years of his life to building up and elevating the schools of this city. Not only has he been successful in promotingthe growth of the school, but he has harmonized conditions, to such an extent that there is scarcely ever a complaint of any kind.
This, considering the many ramifications, and the onerous duties of this position. speaks volumes for the executive ability and consummate tact of the superintendent. He has often demonstrated that he possesses those rare qualities of tact and discrimination that have enabled him to keep a large body of teachers and pupils in perfect accord. In addition to his successfulconduct of the schools Mr. Harris has made hundreds of friends during his residence in Rome, all of whom are unanimous in their desire for him to remain with us.
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Chapter V
RESOLUTIONS BY BOARD OF TRUSTEE OF GEORGIA SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF
Cave Spring, Georgia, November 12, 1931
To The Board of Control: Gentlemen-As the retiring Board of Trustees of the Georgia School for the.Deaf, some members of which have served more than thirty years 'and all of whom are devoted to the institution and its every interest, we wish, as one of the very last of our official acts, to earnestly and affectionately commend to your consideration as the man above all men we know as the most suitable for the Superintendent of the School, Professor J. C. Harris, whose service in this capacity for the past sixteen years has been entirely satisfactory and highly commendable. Our recommendation is based on the following facts:
. As the result of the splendid service he has rendered he has invariably been unanimously re-elected and the members of the present board have entertained no other idea than that he would continue as the guiding head of the institution so long as he lived and was physically capable of discharging the duties of the office.
2. Due to the administrative ability and the conscientious regard of obligations of Professor Harris this is certainly one Georgia institution which has always operated within its appropriation.
3. There has never, during the entire administration of Professor H;arris, been a complaint from any.parent of the neglect of 'a child or of any cruel treatment of a child by any teacher or officer.
4. The schools, white and colored, are moving harmoniously and the methods used are those approved as the most progressive in the country.
5. Professor Harris has devoted his life to the educational interests of Georgia, having been superintendent of the schools of Rome for twenty-five years, since which time he has been the head of the Georgia Schoolfor the Deaf and by personal characterand every intellectual qualification he is eminently and peculiarly suited for the continuation of the excellent service he has been rendering to these unfortunate children of our beloved state.
. We, .therefore, respectfully b~t earnestly commend to your consideratiOn as the man to contmue as the Superintendent of the Georgia School for the Deaf Professor J. C.Harris.
Fred J. Colledge P. M. Hawes J. P. Duncan W. J. Griffin C. C. Bunn
B. H. Hardy
Board of Trustees Georgia School for the Deaf
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T HE following letter received by Mr. Harris from the Board of Control indicates their appreciation of his worth and

their regret that he resigned from his superintendency of the

Georgia School for the Deaf.

Atlanta, Georgia

March 3, 1937

Dear Mr. Harris:

The Board of Control at a meetng held on April 20, 1936, accepted your resignation with a unanimous vote of appreciation for your long years of service as an educator of the youth of Georgia-continuous service of sixty years.

With regrets that, because of the approach of your 80th year, you feel that you have earned a rest, the Board bows to your wishes and congratulates you on your long and useful life and wishes to assure you of love and sincere appreciation of your nobility of character, which has been a lesson of inestimable value to your pupils-an open book for all to read and of more lasting value thart many of the studies you have taught.

The Board members believe that probably no other teacher or school executive in our State has had a longer record of service, nor more assurances of the love and admiration of pupils and the respect and commendaton of parents than has come to you.

May many happy years remain in which you and your dear wife will enjoy the sunset of life, enriched with the knowledge that Georgia is a finer State to many of its citizens because you have "nobly dwelt therein."

With best wishes always, Yours very truly,

Mrs. Albert M. Hill Secretary of the Board

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APPRECIATION OF ASSOCIATE TBACHERS

Mr. J. C. Harris

t

Georgia School for the Deaf

Cave Spring, Georgia

June L 1937

As we approach the parting of the ways as superintendent and official family we should like for you to ~ave, as a token of

our sincere appreciaton and deep regard, this statement of what

you have meant to your teachers and officers individually, and

to the Georgia School for the Deaf, as a whole.

We feel that during your administration you have done

everything in your power to raise the standard of the school

and to advance the latest and most improved methods of teach-

ing the deaf. You have given your whole-hearted support

toward making this a purly oral school and its progress in this

direction is marked.

Not only have you given twenty-one years of service to

the deaf school. but you have a record of forty years in private

and public school. making an unsurpassd total of sixty years

devoted to education in this state. Few are those who have

approached this record.

Peronally you have been kind, considerate, and sympathe-

tic, a friend to whom we could go in joy or sorrow, in success

or disappointment.

A spirit of perfect accord has existed at all times between

you and those in your employ.

Before closing we should speak of Mrs. Harris, who during

her years of connection with the school has endeared herself to

each of us. She has added a touch of re"al home life to the

school. being ever mindful of the welfare and comfort of every

one. The beautiful shrubbery and plants which she has cared

for so tenderly will be a source of pleasure to those who follow

and a loving reminder of her when she is no longer with us.

As we have given you our l0yalty in the past, we now

offer our sincere regret upon your retirement and our very best

wishes for a happy future for you and Mrs. Harris.

We hope life's evening may be spent near us that we may

continue the contact with your "

deeper wisdom that

the years have brought The peace of soul from rich experience

learned. "

Sincerely,

Signed by all the officers and all the teachers of the Georgia School for the Deaf

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AN APPRECIATION
By NELL A. GIBBO S, Member of Faculty, Georgia School for the Deaf
A LTHOUGH those most intimately connected with the Georgia School for the Deaf have known for several months of the resignation of our beloved superintendent, Mr. J. C. Harris, it is with a feeling of deep regret that we now come to the time when it must be publicly announced. As one who has worked side by side with Mr. Harris for almost twenty years and who knows his true worth not only to the Georgia School for the Deaf, but to the community of Cave Spring, it is my desire to express in a few words our feeling of loss and our admiration for him.
In reviewing the history of Mr. Harris's achievements in the educational world we find that he has given sixty-one years of loving service to the schools of our state. This record far surpasses that of any other person in the state.
Since 1876, when he founded 'a private school in Cedartown until the present time, he has served continuously as head of one school or another in Georgia. In recognition of his work as an educator, the University of Georgia honored him with a degree of Master of Arts.
After successfully serving the city of Rome as superintendent of the Public Schools for twenty-four years, he was elected to the superintendency of the Georgia School for the Deaf in 1916. Under his management the school has moved steadily forward along progressive lines.
Owing to financial reverses such as every southern family suffered at the close of the war between the states, Mr. Harris was unable to attend college. By perserverance and determination , however, he pushed on toward the goal of education which he hoped one day to attain. He re'ad and studied every
moment that could be spared from other work and today Mr.
Harris has a rich fund of information that is the envy of all associated with him.
Not only was he ambitious for himself but, being the eldest. he felt very keenly the responsbility of educating his four younger brothers. He personally prepared e'ach one for college and his reward has been that each has achieved the highest
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honors in his elected field of endeavor. One of them, Peter Charles Harris, is Major General in the United Stat Army. William J. Harris, another brother, was United States Sen'ator from Georgia until his death, Dr. Seale Harris is a highly successful specialist in diseases of nutrition in Birmingham and is one of the best known physicians in the state of Alabama. The youngest brother. Hunter. is a retired Major in the United States Army,
Mr. Harris has two sons and two daughters each of whom has attained success. They are George S. Harris, for many years president of the Exposition Cotton Mills of Atlanta. now executive vice-president of Springs Cotton Mills of North Carolina; Miss Agnes Ellen Harris, Dean of Women, University of Alabama. and for several years president of the American Association of Dean of Women; Mrs. Margaret H. Blair, Associate professor of Home Economics at the University of Georgia; and James C. Harris, graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy and ex-Lieutenant in the United States Navy, resigned to be electrical engineer for the Consolidated Gas and Electric Company of Baltimore.
It would not be fitting to close without a word of appreciation for what Mr. Harris has me'ant to our school, to the teachers, the officers. and the pupils. He has the happy faculty of being gentle yet firm. Ever kind and just in matters claiming his attention. when occasion demands he stands unshaken for his convictions. Thus he has gained the love and respect of everyone connected with the school. From those of the highest rank to the tiniest tot in school everyone loves Mr. Harris.
The following quotation taken from a pamphlet published by Mr. Harris on his 76th birthday portrays his real fineness of character.
"The surprising thing to me is that years since I have been seventy 'are proving to be distinctly the most delightful of my experience. For many years I have been freed of any anxiety as to the success of my children or my work or as to my future support, and my philosophy taught me long ago not to fear death which is nothing. I regret that I have not achieved more in many ways, but I know that I have done some things that are of value and I have tried to be helpful to others and to follow the right and the truth so far as I could determine what these were, Thus as I look backward I suffer no remorse and a~
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I look forward I have no fear. I am convinced that "If I live a life that is clean and square
And love my fellow man And lend him a hand that will help him bear His burdens wheresoe'er I c'an I need not fear what the future holds Or what the rewards shall be; I believe that the love which all enfolds Will surely take care of me."
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ADDRESS BY JAMES COFFEE HARRIS AT REpNION
OF FORMER PUPILS OF MARlETTA MALE ACADEMY, SEPTEMBER 29,1937
(The Marietta Male Academy was founded by J. C. Harris on January L 1886 and managed by him until July 1, 1890. S. V. Sanford now chancellor of the University of Georgia became one of the teachers in 1890 and was made its principal
in 1891. He continued in charge of it until July L 1892,
when it ceased to exist and Mr. Sanford because principal of the On September 29, 1937, fifty-one years after the founding
of the Marietta Male Academy seventy of its former students gathered in Marietta and held a reunion with a banquet to which they invited all those who had taught them there. J. C. Harris, S. V. Sanford, and H. L. Sewell were their guests of honor.)
From the summit of my 80 years when my sun must be dipping low in the west I salute you. I am glad indeed to see you, 'and glad that you see me as hale and hearty as when we separated 50 years ago. It would have marred your festivities to see me feeble and decrepit and to pity the sorrows of an old man whose trembling limbs have brought him to your door. True I have resigned from the work of school administration to which I have devoted sixty years, but it was because of my belief that public opinion opposes the tenure of a public office by 'a man who is past eighty years old. Legislation, both by our state and our nation, has designated 70 years as the time to quit service in our supreme court. Thus I thought it well to quit my work before I was asked to quit, to get out before I was kicked out.
I wish you to know that I go to old age with delight. Life is increasingly interesting and increasingly delightful as I grow older. Though, if I could exchange old age for youth and live my life all over again, I would do so. I expect to enjoy my years past eighty, for I think Longfellow was right when he said:
"Old age is opportunity no less Than youth, though in a different dress. And as the evening twilight fades away The sky is filled with stars invisible by day."
I have moved my residence to Cedartown, the home of
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my early years, and there I have the books which I have been a lifetime collecting, with scant time to read them. I now expect to spend much of my time in reading and studying and writing, and really dream of producing a series of books in which I portray nature as a process of evolution.
Thus on the summit of my eighty years I have a past filled with happy memories and a future that beckons me with its happy possibilities. Among the happiest of my memories are those spent trying to educate the youth of my people, and it is really true that no part of my career as a teacher is so filled with these memories of happy days as the five years I spent with the boys of the Marietta Male Academy, from 1886 to 1890 inclusive.
I recall almost all the 165 boys that were my pupils at the Marietta Male Academy fifty years ago. Most of them had qualities that I admired, and in the course of time I came to love the boys themselves. Few happenings have delighted me more than to be present at this reunion of those who were boys then. It thrills me with delight to know that the memories of those years are so dear to them that they have come together so as to look again into each others faces and to see again those who taught them, and to revive the days that passed a full half cenury ago. It was 51 years ago, January 1. 1886, when the school began. The very sight of each other will bring back scenes and incidents that have been. for long years far off half forgotten things, and even those impressions which were So vivid that they have been often recalled will be brighter. We can say
"Still o'er these scenes my memory wakes
And fondly broods with miser care.
Time but the impression deeper makes
As streams their channels deeper wear."
It was at the Marietta Male Academy which I founded when I was 27 years old that I won my spurs as an educator. In this way lowe to my work there and to you who were boys there, the advancement to wider work that came to me during the 47 years I taught afterward.
My work as a teacher was continuous for sixty years. It has ended, but as I told you, there has begun what I hope will be a career of a student and a writer. I am not waiting for the end of my life, as an old poet said he was in the lines:
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"My boat is moored upon the strand My face is to the sea. I hold the rudder in my hand And wait the tide that calls for me."
but I am expecting to do several years of productive work before I begin to "wait the tide that calls for me."
I cannot teach you any new thing that has come to us in the last 50 years as to the essentials of a successful life for there have been none. These have been known since man emerged from savagery to civilization, perhaps twenty thousand years ago. Man began his existence about a million years ago, a fact proved by the finding of his bones in strata laid in the early part of the Pleistocene period. During this million years he learned what conduct helped humanity and what hurt it, what conduct was good, what conduct was bad.
Finally as the educator who laid the foundation of your education. who tried to inspire you to noble deeds and fit you for a successful life, I will inquire what are the essentials of a successful life. What man is really a great man? In what does greatness consist? There are five of them, five essentials to every human life worth living. These are truthfulness, honesty, kindness, industry and intelligence. Experience taught early man that these virtues could lift him out of the welter of misery in which he had been living, that the man who had these would be exalted amcng men, that the nation whose laws and customs promoted these would be exalted among nations. A man's greatness or his smallness may be measured by how much of these five essentials he has. Men have lived who were great in them all., John Huss died rather than utter a lie that would have saved his life.
Because the powers of the mind are in three different capacities. the sensations and the sensibilities, the will and the intellect, its capacities to feel, to act and to know. the whole life of a man may be divided into three different parts, to-wit:
A. His human relations in which he is first a son, then a brother, a husband, 'a father, a neighbor, a citizen: This is his life of emotions, affections and desires, his loves, friendships, and his joys and sorrows.
B. His work life. in which he earns what he gets from others, in which he is physician, lawyer, engineer, mechanic, merchant. farmer, industrialist, laborer. a home-maker,-his occupation.
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C. His knowledge of the world about him. his intelli-. gence. These. his human relations, his work life and his intelligence constitute the whole life of every man. That man is great who is a good son. good brother. good father, gooe neighbor, and a good citizen, whose work is skillful, and helpful to humanity. and whose intelligence enables him to understand the processes of nature and the behavior of man. That man is great whether he be rich or poor. whether king or peasant, who follows truth and duty. wherever they lead, who works with all his might to help humanity. and who thinks clearly and fearlessly and devotes himself to the search for truth-thaI man is great. -
That man is happy whose life is well balanced in its equal devotion to social relations, to work, and to knowledge.
Here's my prayer that each of you be a happy man and that each of you be loyal to truth and duty whether they bring prosperity or bring you loss.
"Who noble ends by noble means attains, Or failing smiles, in exile or in chains Like good Aurelius let him reign or bleed Like Socrates. that man is great indeed."
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Mr. and Mrs. James Coffee Harris and Their Children
FRONT ROW from left to right: Ellen Simmons Blair, James Coffee Harris, Sr., Mary Ann Harris, Kate Robeson Harris.
BACK ROW from left to right: Minnie Teague Harris, Margaret Harris Blair, George Simmons Harris, Agnes Ellen Harris, Vera Victoria Harris, James Coffee Harris,Jr., Vera Ackers Harris.

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