m s is WILLIAM & EVELYN BANKS LIBRARY FOR REFERENCE Do Not Take From This Room job Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/historyoflagrang1955iren THE HISTORY OF IAGRANGE COLLEGE BY IRENE B. BIRDSONG A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN EDUCATION The University of Georgia Athens, Georgia 1955 APPROVAL CERTIFICATE THE HISTORY OF LAGRANGE COLLEGE By IRENE B. BLRDSONG Approved: S/ Floyd Jordan Major Professor Chairman, Reading Committee Approved: S,/ Geo. H. Boyd Dean, Graduate School July 2, 1955 Date riiSHVSlsdO ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research and composition of a thesis such as this one requires the assistance of many persons. The fact that most of the early records of LaGrange College were destroyed "by fire would make it an impossible task except for the help and cooperation of alumnae, faculty, and friends of the college who had kept records, scrap books, and letters which belonged to their mothers and grandmothers. To Mr. R. R. Caswell, who wrote a History of Bowdon College, and who gave necessary encouragement and help to get this history started, the writer is greatly indebted. To Dr. Waights G. Henry, Jr., President of LaGrange College, who turned the College Library and the vault with its priceless records over to the writer, and who has con- tinuously given inspiration, encouragement, and assistance, the writer is especially grateful. To Mrs. D. P. Melson, Librarian of LaGrange College, for her efforts to make materials and space convenient, the writer expresses appreciation. For the many human interest stories, much information, and many suggestions, the writer is indebted to Mrs. Mildred Wright Robinette, The Rev. George W. Barrett, Miss Irene Arnett, Miss Verdie Miller, Mrs. Emmie Durham Murray, Miss Elizabeth Gilbert, Miss Ruth Whatley, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Smith, JJuV Mrs. Sara Tat urn Reed, Mrs. Mary Will Thompson, Mrs. Frank Davis, Mrs. Howard S. Wooding, Mrs. E. K. Farmer, Mrs. T. G. Polhill, Miss Jessie Boykin, and many other alumnae of the College. The writer also expresses sincere appreciation to Dr. Floyd Jordan, her advisory professor at the University of Georgia, for his inspiration, suggestions, and criticisms of the manuscript. .ail! ,feH tautdT a-*eC ,a*iM TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. THE BACKGROUND OF LAGRANGE COLLEGE 6 III. HIGHER EDUCATION FOR WOMEN BEGINS (1831-1860) 17 IV. LAGRANGE FEMALE COLLEGE THROUGH FIRE, WAR, AND RECONSTRUCTION (186O-I885) *+3 V. THE DAYS OF UNCLE REFUS (The Smith Regime, 1885-1915) 77 VI. A NEW CENTURY WELL BEGUN (1915-1938) 112 VII. AN OLD COLLEGE IN A NEW ERA (l938-19 1 +9) 1^0 VIII. LAGRANGE COLLEGE TODAY (19U8-I955) 160 LX. CONCLUSION 182 BIBLIOGRAPHY l86 APPENDIXES 191 Appendix A Charters 192 Appendix B List of Presidents 200 Appendix C Letters 202 Appendix D Outstanding Alumnae 205 Appendix E Alma Mater 212 I CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Until it became a coeducational institution in 1953? LaGrange College vas distinguished not only as being the oldest of the private or Church-related institutions of higher education in Georgia, but also as one of the three oldest Protestant colleges for women in the United States of 1 America. It has a heritage of which every alumna and every student should be proud. Since 1 31> when a charter was granted to the LaGrange Female Academy, 2 in which LaGrange College had its origin, hundreds of the noblest women of the South have gone out from this institution strong in character, rich in social graces, and imbued with spiritual powers to become teachers, religious workers, nurses in hospitals, business women, and missionaries to all parts of the world. However, most of them have become wives, mothers, and home- makers manifesting, in their lives of service to mankind and devotion to God, the value of the heritage received from a Christian college. Letter from Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., to Dr. Waights G. Henry, Jr., President of LaG ange College, written March 2, 1951. 2 Acts of the General Assembly of Georgia , Milledgeville, 1831. ui.t Lrri ae.' .'r.a laioce us. tloli 2 For any institution to progress as LaGrange College has, in spite of the many obstacles it has had to overcome in its century and a quarter of existence, it was necessary to have a firm foundation. The Rev. Thomas Stanley, Founder of LaGrange Female Academy, 3 realized this in 1831, and as a result, this institution stands today a monument to character and to the daring and determination of the men and women of Troup County and other parts of the Southland. Impeded in its infancy by general opposition to higher education for women, it overcame not only that preju- dice but also the adversities of two fires, three wars, and several periods of economic distress. Yet it has moved steadily forward every year, sending cultured young women out into all honorable walks of life. On December 17, lokf , the charter was amended to designate the school as the LaGrange Female Institute, with the privilege of granting degrees to graduates. The name, LaGrange Female College, was assumed December 26, 1851. In July, 1859, five young women received their M.A. degrees from the college. It was the first Church school in the ^Clifford L. Smith, History of Troup County, (Atlanta: Foote and Davis Company, 1933), P 328, **Acts of the General Assembly of Georgia, 18^7. 5 Ibid., 1851 South to offer graduate work. The present name, LaGrange 7 College, was adopted in 193^* It has never been the desire or expectation of any of its benefactors to make of LaGrange College a large institu- tion. Their purpose has been to provide the distinct advantages of a small college for the development of the individual student, by the close companionship of the students with each other and the friendly relation of the p students with the faculty. LaGrange College has been called "A Custodian of the Intangibles."^ The very atmosphere on The Hill is one of faith, love, trust, and understanding. However, there are many tangible evidence of what interest, love, and money can do to build and modernize a college of its caliber. After a period of more than a century one still senses the spirit of the Old South which emphasizes the abiding values of Christian education. Although LaGrange College has been under Methodist auspices since it was sold ^ Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 1936-3 , p. 10. 7 Act of Superior Court , Troup County, August 6, 193^ ^A statement made by Mrs. Paul Smith, a former teacher of LaGrange College, and a neighbor of the writer. 9t. Otto Nail, "LaGrange College Custodian of the Intangibles," Wesleyan Christian Advocate, July 13, 19*+5, p. a. h to the Georgia Methodist Annual Conference, January, 1857, ^ there have always been teachers and students of other denominations. The Baptist Student Union and the Westminster Fellow- ship of The Presbyterian Church are active on the campus with the Methodist Student Movement. All students were members of the Young Women's Christian Association from the time it was founded in 1895 until 1953 when the College became coeducational and the name was changed to the LaGrange Christian Association. So today, as from the beginning, the College sponsors non-sectarian Christian education.^" The writer became interested in writing a history of LaGrange College after living in LaGrange for ten years and learning of the invaluable contributions that the College has made not only to the city and state, but also to the uttermost parts of the earth. However, if the contributions had been limited to those of the social, cultural, and religious life of LaGrange alone, for the past century and a quarter, this influential institution would have a 10 Catalogue of LaGrange Female Institute, 1858-59. ^Information by Dr. Waights G. Henry, Jr., President of LaGrange College, 19^8. Mr 5 history worthy of recording. The purpose of this research is to present a documented story of the development and influence of laGrange College. CHAPTER II THE BACKGROUND OF LAGRANGE COLLEGE The century and a quarter of history of LaG ~ange College are closely linked with the development not only of the City of LaGrange, hut also of the entire western part of Georgia. When the vast tract of land lying between the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers was secured by the Indian Springs Treaty in 1825 and opened for settlement in iQZJ , one of the five counties formed on the western border of the State was named Troup in honor of the fiery governor. News soon spread to the older counties of the pure water, the air free from malaria, the fertile soil, the magnificent forests, the wild game, and the friendly Indians. So the new territory was rapidly settled by well-to-do planters from eastern Georgia, rather than by the poorer people who were generally the first in a new county. These pioneers were soon followed by others from Virginia and the Carolinians who were seeking land grants. They were people of some education and property, who brought tools, cattle, slaves, and household goods with them. They often bought "Clifford L. Smith, History of Troup County (Atlanta: Foote and Davies Company, 1933 )> P~~ > see also George G. Smith, The Story of Georgia and the Georgia People , 1732 to i860 (Macon, Georgia: George G. Smith Publisher, 1900), P. 387. - - corn, peas, chickens, and eggs from the Indians who lived across the Chattahoochee and who were usually friendly, but were sometimes very rude and had to be driven from their home.^ The cession of the territory by the Creeks had pro- vided for their transportation west of the Mississippi, but many of them, who were dissatisfied and rebellious, gathered beyond the Chattahoochee and lived by pillaging from the new settlers. Finally this pillaging and stealing of cattle became so intolerable that after one particularly vicious raid, the settlers pursued them across the river and burned their village. The log houses, which were always the first to be built in a new settlement, were replaced in a few years by handsome residences in all sections of the new county. Among the many beautiful ante-bellum homes, which supplied the LaGrange Female Academy (and Institute) with pupils, built before 1839, was the "Broughton Home . " This house occupied the site in the triangle between Greenville and Hill Streets in LaGrange. It was a large two story house with green blinds, broad halls, and spacious verandahs, having many windows open to the sunshine and to the fragrance of the gardens filled with old fashioned flowers. Mary Broughton, one of the seven daughters from this home, who attended the "Institute" later became the wife of Troup Montgomery. Clifford L. Smith, op^ cit. , p. 1*9 3loc. cit. ^Ibid., p. 191 - The Boddie House, located seven miles east of LaGrange on the Mountville Road, was built in 1836 by- Nathan Van Boddie. It was designed by the architect, Cullen Rogers, and is typically Southern Colonial in style. Its most outstanding distinctions are the beautiful Ionic columns, the fan-light transom over the front door, and the immense dining room wich is forty feet in length and twenty feet in width. 5 Before the advent of railroad in Troup County, David Beman, who owned and operated the Montgomery and Griffin stage coach line, had a relay station on the Boddie plantation, and Miss Belle Boddie relates that her grandmother consented to serve the passengers meals, and accommodate them for the night if necessary. There were two long tables in the capacious dining room, and four cherry tables which were added when there was an over- flow of guests. The fare was abundant and delivious, and Mrs. Boddie realized $8,000.00 from her venture. The Boddie House was the scene of many brilliant gather- ings, both political and social. She handsome dining room was also used as a ball room. Mrs. Boddie' s son Thomas graduated twice in medicine from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. Henarried Aley Womack Smith who entered the Primary Department con- nected with the LaGrange Female College when she was eight n years of age and graduated from the College in 1859. 5jbid., p. 190 6 loc . cit . 7Belle Boddie , editorial page of LaGrange Graphic June 15, 1928. 9 From its beginning, Troup County has been famous for its public spirited men and its brilliant and beautiful women. Its first settlers were men of culture and influ- ence. Perhaps the one most widely known was Benjamin Harvey Hill who spent his boyhood in the county, and his youth and the long period of his political life in LaGrange. The fiery Georgia senator, whose debate with Baines in the Senate destroyed the latter' s presidential hopes and began the movement which relieved reconstruction laws, is a son of g whom LaGrange is justly proud. His magnificent Colonial home with its stately white columns is still one of the show places of the city. It was soon evident that these cultured pioneers were concerned about the education and religion of their children, and at their insistence, an act passed by the Legislature of Georgia, December 2h, 1827, provieded for the selection of a county site to be made by the five judges of the Inferior Court, and for the town to be incorporated; also for two lots, one acre each, to be reserved for academies, and four Q lots, one acre each, for religious purposes. The LaGrange Daily News and Graphic -Shuttle, October 8, 1931. 9Actg of the Legislature, December 2h, 1827, Sec. k, Milledgeville , Georgia . I - The selection of a site for the county seat was a difficult one for the judges, but finally they agreed upon its present location, and named it LaGrange after the estate of the Marquis de Lafayette who had recently spent two weeks in Georgia as the guest of Governor Troup. The site for the town of LaGrange was purchased on March 5> 1828, and as soon as the subdivision were made and the lots set aside for churches, these cultured, Christian citizens began to organize and erect their places of worship. The Methodists completed a log church on the site of the present First Methodist Church before the town was incor- porated on December 18, 1828. The First Baptist Church was organized April 12, 1828, with eleven members; and on March 21, 1829, the Presbyterians gathered together and organized their church with seven charter members. The site of neither of the two latter churches today is the original one."*"*" One of the chief characteristics of these early churches was their strictness of discipline. One of the members was suspended in open session in 1832 for drunken- ness, profanity, and gambling. A committee was appointed to see the erring member and admonish him to confess, repent, and reform. If he complied, he was forgiven; if not, he 10 Clifford L. Smith, op. cit., p. 11 Ibid., pp. 155-158. a i - ... was called before the session, tried, and frequently sus- 12 pended. IaGrange Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians, regardless of their different creeds, were united on their views of Christian education. Not only did they want their sons to have a college education, but unlike most of the people in the surrounding counties, they also wanted their daughters to have equal opportunities. Just three years after the town of IaGrange was in- corporated, its ambitious citizens and the young women of the South received a never-to-be-forgotten Christmas present 13 in the form of a charter for the IaGrange Female Academy. The uniqueness of this gift cannot be comprehended without a knowledge of the antagonism toward higher education for women prevalent at that time. Women were considered inferior to men and incapable of a higher education. The ancient notion that sex deter- mined mental as well as physical capacity was as firmly fixed in the early nineteenth century in America as it was Ik in the days of Aristotle. Loc . cit. ^Acts of the Legislature , December 26, 1831, Sec. k. ll4 Walter S. Monroe, editor, Encyclopedia of Educational Research, American Educational Research Association (New Yorkf The Macmillan Company, 19*H), p. k09. - - i : 12 In 1783 Lucinda Foote, twelve years of age, was examined "in the learned languages, Latin and Greek." She could read and give the correct meaning of Vergil's Aeneid, Cicero's Orations, and the Greek Testament. She was declared fully qualified, except in regard to sex, to be received as a pupil in the freshman class of Yale Univer- As late as 1871, H. R. Storer, in his report to the State Board of Health in Sacramento, California, stated that "delicate girls were often ruined in mind and body by educa- tion and that they should be trained more in body and less Little more than one hundred years ago the possible effects of study on women's "gossamer" intellects were so much feared that those who set out on the experiment took unusual safeguards against ill health. Emma Willard, Catherine Beecher, Mary Lyons, and others from 1820 onward encouraged some very mild forms of exercises and calisthenics in female seminaries and colleges in order that study might not undermine health. The result was that instead of dying as they should, to improve in health. ' The old idea that marriages are made in Heaven received a sharp set back in the nineteenth century. As women's education assumed large proportions, it was ? Thomas Woody, A History of Women ' s Education in the United States (New York: Science Press, 1929^ p. 138. sity. in mind. 16 women students tended 16 Ibid., p. 1+09. 17 Ibid., p. Ul2. ill J .00 frequently asserted that the collegiate experiences blocked the work of Heaven. "Advanced women don't marry J" alumnae said. In 1819, one writer asserted that "errors of Education" and "extravagence of fashion" were the reason for so many, "antiquated damsels" and "super- annuated bachelors . m1 After much opinionated debate during earlier collegi- ate decades, the issue between Heaven and Academy was sub- jected to scientific scrutiny. The reasons found were: 1. Graduates became teachers rather than wives. 2. Graduates were more particular about their choice of mates. 3. Independence made it possible to avoid uncon- genial matches. k. Those who barely passed their courses were more likely to marry than those who took honors. According to Benson: The typical Southern girl of that period was a lovely flower-like creature who, when her brothers rode away on their blooded horses to University or Academy, was left at home to trail in long- skirted, high-waisted frocks and lace fringed shawl through the wide halls of her father's plantation-home. Her education was such as her governess, frequently a maiden relative or friend of the family, saw fit, or was able, to give her. It usually embraced the elementary branches of a little French, some music, and a great deal of fancy needle work. She was also taught how to curtsy and how to receive and entertain guests. This was the hey-dey of Southern hospitality and she was trained to adorn first her father's and later her husband's graciously porticoed home. If she looked wistfully upon the sheepskins her brothers earned and the freedom and independence to which they led, such yearnings were promptly frowned upon as unwomanly. u l 8 Ibid ., p. Ull. ^Loc. cit. 20 Carrie Fall Benson, "Century's End" (A short unpublished history of IaGrange College, 1831-1931), p. 2. ... iLT B yZF.Oi.tVi3rt.t .331.) y SB''' Ik Men not only withheld educational advantages from women, but they also never lost an opportunity to destroy Qr express contempt for any literary success achieved by them. 21 This foolish jealousy was well expressed by this old bard: Unhappy he that's doomed to wear The matrimonial collar, With her who's not only fair, But fancies she's a scholar. Puffed up with pride and vain conceit, She'll soar above her station, And think she has by dent of wit The right of domination. What though she scolds in French or Dutch, Or chatters in the Roman; One tongue is always found too much For a contentious woman. Therefore let man select a wife, For having sundry speeches; The more she has, the greater strife Will rise about the breeches. Therefore, I say, beware my friend, Of learned dame or grand-ma, Who will with tongue and brook contend About the rules of grammar. Nor let the youthful novice choose A woman for her leaning, For wives turn greater jills g shrews The more they are discerning. Legislatures of the several states were opposed to chartering even academies which were to be used exclusively pi tx Rev. Luther M. Smith, taken from an Address delivered at Commencement of LaGrange Female College, July 10, 1056. 2 ^Loc. cit. (part of- the Address; author not given) for young women. Georgia was one of the first states to depart from the policy of discrimination. Much credit for that fact goes to Colonel Duncan G. Campbell who was a pioneer champion of female education in Georgia. For five years prior to 1825, he had worked in his district and in the Georgia Legislature for female education. He believed that females should have the same educational advantages that colleges offered to males; and in November, 1825, he introduced a bill to be entitled, "An act to establish a public seat of learning in this State for the education of females. " 2 3 The bill passed the House of Representatives by a large majority, but was defeated in the Senate. Th failure of the bill showed that public sentiment was not yet ready for the idea; but it did bring the question of higher female education before the people. At Campbell's death, three years later, the University of Georgia, the bar, and the press bestowed the highest praise upon his service to the 2k public and to female education. Within the next ten years academies for women (as well as for men) sprang up in various sections of Georgia, among which the LaGrange Female 2 3f4argaret Miller, "The Founding and Early History of Wesleyan College" (unpublished Master's thesis, The Univer- sity of Georgia, Athens, 1935), p. 8; also Acts of the General Assembly of Georgia , November, 1825. 2l4 Xoc. cit. i - . solar. 9? saw . - Academy was the first. ? It is one of the few original academies for women, which has been in continuous operation and has grown into an accredited four-year liberal arts, college . 25 ^Clifford L. Smith, op. cit., p. 129 9fiJ- a* CHAPTER III HIGHER EDUCATION FOR WOMEN IN GEORGIA BEGINS (183I.I86O) The LaGrange Female Academy has its beginning in a beautiful and stately wooden building with large white columns across its wide front, very much like the old southern homestead of that period. Its original site was not the hill on which LaGrange College stands today, but what is now hOG Broad Street. It faced the main thorough- fare, a stage coach route at that time, but an Indian trail only a few years earlier. It was here that the "Young Misses" of the surrounding country came in 1832 for their first attempt at higher education. When the first students arrived in carriages and barouches, laden with bandboxes and parasols, they were accompanied by their Negro slaves. But, since the college authorities wished to develop independence in the young women, the Negro mammies were sent away. The girls wept and clung to them as long as possible, but the stern demands of woman's emancipation prevailed in the main. It is recorded that one fond father obtained permission for his daughter's Benson, op. cit . , p. 7* -y- nen.ow C OX black Mammy to go up to the school building at certain times "to tub, button, and curl young Miss. The little academy was called "The Stanley School" by many local people, in honor of its founder and first presi- dent. The heads of schools were usually called principals at that time. The Rev. Thomas Stanley, who personally con- ducted the school for two years, was a North Carolinian by birth, and a consecrated Methodist minister who believed that girls should have the same educational advantages that their brother had long en joyed. 3 Although this was considered a radical ideal by the majority of people in Georgia at that time, Mr. Stanley evidently received encouragement and support from the citi- zens of LaGrange and surrounding territory. Many of these cultured men had come from Virginia and the Carolinas. They probably knew of the success of the Sslem Academy for Women, k which was founded in 1772 in Winston Salem, North Carolina, and were anxfous for their daughters to have the same advantages as those in older settlements. However, these Atlanta Journal , editorial page, October U, 1931* ^Clifford L. Smith, op_. cit., p. 128. ^A letter to the writer from Dale H. Gramley, Presi dent of Salem Academy and College, Winston Salem, North Carolina, November 15, 195^. i \ 30 leaders in education for women were reminded occasionally that there were still scattered bands of savages in the nearby forests who made occasional raids upon the white settlements . Mrs. M. J. Morgan, one of the first young ladies to attend the Stanley School, often related an occurence that took place while she was a student there: There was an Indian alarm, and such a panic I have never seen before or since. The school was dispersed in all directions; the town in an uproar, horror stricken, expecting to be massacred by the Indians who were reported to be swooping down upon us. What a merciful providence that arrested that calamity. 3 What Mr. Stanley might have accomplished will never be known, for his untimely and lamentable death in 1833 prevented an adequate demonstration of his faith and methods. After his death his faithful wife, Mrs. Ellen Stanley, assumed the responsibility of the school until Major John Park, a native Georgian and member of a family famous in educational history of the South, became president, serving eight years from 1835 to 181+U. He was a graduate of Franklin College, as the University of Georgia was then called, and was one of the first trustees of Emory College at Oxford, Georgia, and offered the first prayer at the dedication service of that institution in 1836. ^Clifford L. Smith, op_. cit., p. 50 Information furnished by his granddaughter, Mrs. T. G. Polhill, LaGrange, Georgia (biographical sketch in appendix). 2 20 It is no coincidence but a commentary upon the affection inspired by the institution in those who became associated with it, that two grandchildren of the early president who now live in LaGrange have contributed many years of active service to the improvement of the College: Mrs. T. G. Polhill, untiring in alumnae work, and Dr. Emory Park, College physician since 19l6. Major Park conducted the Academy successfully until it was purchased by the Montgomery brothers in I8U3 . The three brothers (Joseph, Telemachus, called "T. F. "; and Hugh B. T., called "Troup") came from a family of marked culture, social prominence, and wealth in Dekalb County. All three were courtly men of bril- liant mind and personality. They had dark complexion, soft brown eyes, and hair which turned almost snow white before they were thirty. Mr. Joseph Montgomery, the oldest of the brothers, was a man of medium height, large and compact build, and a devout Methodist who later became a minister of his faith. His brother, Troup, the youngest of the trio, was of delicate build scarecely medium in height and a loyal Presbyterian who also became a minister after he left the college. Neither of these men married for several years after coming to LaGrange. The other brother Telemachus was the handsomest of the three, full six feet tall, per- fectly proportioned, erect and of graceful carriage and movement, who came to LaGrange as a widower with two children, who he placed in the Academy. Later he married a Miss Turner of LaGrange. While in the prime of early manhood, Mr. Joseph Mont- gomery and his brothers came to LaGrange search for a ^Clifford L. Smith, o. cit., p. 50. Belle Boddie, editorial page, LaGrange Graphic , July 20, 1928. a i . . : - ax 10 13J - location suitable for a female college. At first sight they were favorably impressed with "The Hill, "9 a name synonomous with the college since that time. A more magnificent site could not have been selected, though the stage coach drivers described it, at that time, as the reddest and ruggedest hill on their route. Although LaGrange is located in the hilly Piedmont section, the college hill is the steepest incline to be found in it. Geologists have said that it is definitely of volcanic 10 origin. Among the many large and beautiful trees which grew on the hill in the early days, quantities of crabapple trees flourished in the stoney soil, and "in the spring their blossoms made a fairy-like picture of the rugged eminence that overlooked the residential section of the town."' 1 "*' Mr. Joseph Montgomery bought the property (about thirty acres) in the fall of iQkh, and built a home on it before he and his brother purchased the Academy, little more than a block away 9^ Broad Street. The boarding house with large columns across the front was soon completed and the 9loc . frit . 10 Louise Moon Heath, editorial, LaGrange Daily News and Graphic Shuttle, October 8, 1931. ^Loc. cit. Ysiii dxigxa aa'ix'i a A 32?.9XIao olacsl a r io1 adatfjtwa noXuaooX aiioicotioc^a a&isxi a ^" t XXXH aa M xidXv i^saayiqau ^cfa'iGvax mow oxuxa Xaxii aai-xa 92&Xloo arid ^. i-aof?xaa nstju iY axi aoxx frxxjoa 9a xa aaaax j.x.u* ia?7i oi^.um A < a, Xa jar. IX ci-.-j t ax Loui'xoQob a'lovrib hoboo ggaa'a axiX ligjaoxid ctQUodalA ,sdi o\ %&1p5# no LLX:l d'aa&ggajji iana aagJ&bt-j: axla a -a arte t i-'oxJaaa anor.sijai^i "y^-Xi/i sxfj ni bgJaaoX a.t 9j\n.3'iCaL . Xx six bxujo'i D'.i x : Jxw sa; r i;u viJirr. aod o.'ll Jaor^oS ijooia #g .ywa ;(ooXa' s xiaiid Ln.3 Xo jo.ua o;; aooa aa;j JiiO'x'i sffd" aaoiaa annxdluo t^*i.oX . * wait * OQi a vai -: ... . j ^..x^tCsI 1 XaXio*XJt>9 t xida9H xiooM 9aitioi 0i axo . aa_i 12 Montgomery facility moved in, announcing that they were prepared to accommodate twenty misses with board at nine dollars per month exclusive of washing and lights (lights were tallow candles). Board could also be obtained in the homes of Major George Heard, Benjamin Harvey Hill, Esq., Dr. N. N. Smith, and James Bradfield, Esq., at the same price. ^ For several years the boarding pupils who lived on The Hill marched back and forth daily to classes held in the Academy building. "They walked in prim paris with eyes demurely down cast, lest the young gentlemen stare at them too closely." 114 " With Mr. Joseph Montgomery for president, the Mont- gomery regime was a success from the start. In less than two years the enrollment was over one hundred and in l8*4-6, three girls in the first graduating class received diplomas written in French. The ambitious faculty and patrons could see no reason for tueir institution not being allowed to grant degrees. 12 Boddle, loc. cit. 13 C atalogue of LaGrange Female Institute , 18U8 , p. 10. "^Benson, op. cit. , p. k ^Loc. cit. ; c caJ.s .f-f-i/oo >*iaofc . a9.fJkt.ao voXX-sd 9*sow ' , ' : 01 sc " - tfr^i 3 T T ^"jfAJ*a Slid" JflSOI^t 2^*1 '3 C 3 3V 9(Ii.fcjkflJCY 9.fIvX svxaotjq'o 3 fid* lo ttscfttsifli ict xfdcw oaxvrra^do no iskjjal iga j&ooqasraoo 10 asvid-aTgrj; iflsn cNj-^oxs t xaa ' \ : . . aedjofiiaairo 'x?:stx\t hue a9vJ.9a.isr.d jyiin^vog ^ gxiiifdon ^rj ? vf)r .d'3 7scjcri/a nso'ta 3*vJ r o/i nvd J'? 9^" do .hii3 iioLJjhJ ""dpi f)jtn 9iid *lo gnxl/od edd da snnafm odds Xaudoflif*? .ft'ocx nvo isd nx , led lo loorioa ;id 9 (f.aa f*tcb ricixrro arid ds s^njelbxtsdJe-ron ,9o':ono ' adng-raq antfOY. . fcsc 9*xoJ.od don aaw fronjQ,gfr/sr.idx3 eXirW Afiftteflr .83916 J&xtfl noauw nx dssn sxf od ftoiJi/t o v x tyxsv 39iL)s.i. .gey'? M^i.t.TiOa 25 "a proper use of the hair, teeth, and nail brushes." The finest bonnet allowed to be worn was a cheap white one made after the style of the sunbonnet. Patrons were requested to furnish very little spinding money and to allow no accounts PO to be contracted by the girls. This must have been a bitter blow to the spoiled plantation heiress, who hitherto had been allowed to indulge her fancy to the fullest in the way of India silks, Paisley shawls, and lace pocket handkershief s . However, all the girls did not come from homes of wealth. Mr. Montgomery opened the way of opportunity, and gave a special welcome to the poorer girls of the Southland who were even more eager for an education than their pampered sisters. He could never resist any worthy girl who came to him though it often meant a personal sacrifice to make a place for her in his college. Thus a precedent was set which has always been manifested in this school of Christian education. This business of getting an education was a serious affair to the young Adelines and Melvinas, for under their long curling tresses was the mighty burden of proving that a woman's brain was not, after all, so inferior to that of a man. The claim had at various times been set forth that a Loc . cit. Benson, op. cit., p. 7 mort - v ioo ton bib al-iig girl could not learn an abstract subject, such as mathematics. In order to disprove such an unwarranted accusation, these young ladies devoted one half of every day to the study of 22 mathematics. Every student was required to write one lecture each day, alternately on the several studies she was pursuing, and at least one composition every week. French was a require- ment for all graduates because their diplomas were written 2^ in French. According to Margaret Mitchell, it was during this period that Aunt Pitty Pat, one of the main characters, in Gone With The Wind , and her friend, a Miss Tomlinson who 2k lived in laGrange, attended the LaGrange Female Institute. In 1850, Mr. Montgomery began to carry out his original plan of having the entire school on the hill. After much necessary grading of the stony grounds, the cornerstone was laid on July k, 1851, with Masonic cere- 25 monies. Construction of the new administration building began immediately under the supervision of Mr. Benjamin 22 Editorial, Atlanta Journal , October k, 1931. ^ catalogue ^Boddie, loc . cit . 2 Catalogue of LaGrange Female Institute , 1851 , p. 15 . : 2CW o 28 Mr. Montgomery stated that his plan of instruction for teaching Intellectual Philosophy was different and more successful than any he had found elsewhere for teaching students to think independently and correctly, viz.: after reading a chapter, the students were required to close the 29 book and write the substance of it in their own language. Promptness was a virtue considered necessary to learning. Patrons were urged to send in pupils on the first day and to discourage frequent visits home during the term. President Montgomery said: It were as impossible to make scholars of such, as for a farmer to reap a harvest when the year had been broken in upon by trips of pleasure, and while his crop was being choked by the weeds. He also stated that: A good constitution is all important for any and all purposes and employments of life. A delicate and refined system of gymnastics in the form of calis- thenics, has been introduced into this institution, and so arranged as that it at once forms a part and parcel of our entire plan of education. To make this exercise more efficient, and to inspire the pupil with suffi- cient fondness for it, it is conducted entirely by the music of the violin. 31 At the close of the terra it was customary to have a committee composed of the best scholars of the country to ^ 9loc . cit . 3 Ibid ., 1853, p. 21 31loc. cit. 29 examine the students or to observe the examinations given by the faculty. On October 13, I85O, the examining committee stated in their report: We have never known a class of young ladies to exhibit as thorough and extended an acquaintance with the several branches of science and such facility in the application of the abstruse principle and formulas of mathematics to the physical sciences. 3 2 In I85I, the name of the Institute was changed to the LaG range Female College, 33 an< i n July, 1853, the first class graduated in the new chapel. Before this time the 34 exercises had been held in the First Methodist Church. Those ensuing were glowingly described by Miss Carrie Fall Benson . Commencement then and for many yea s afterward, was the one great festive occasion of the year, when the college and all LaGrange over flowed with guests, every stage coach and private carriage bringing its happy quota. Not a self-respecting wife of the town, but had at least ten cakes ready on her pantry shelf. Chickens were prepared by the dozen. The best linen was brought reverently forth f rom its lavendered retirement. The negroes bustled excitedly about, from the pompous "Mammys" who presided in the kitchen to the small grin- ning black boys who held the horses outside the college grounds. The exercises lasted a whole week, beginning with the ordeal of a public examination of all the pupils, followed by a children's entertainment (given by the primary classes) and going on through the 32 Ibid ., 1851, p. 21 33Act of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia , December 26, l&^T. -^Benson, op. cit. , p. 9. . ixo . go crescendo of the "grand concert", the graduation and the "Levee." This last was the "Occasion" to the girls themselves, who were permitted to come forth from their cloistered life, and meet the young gentlemen, and "promenade" with them upon the newly terraced walks about the college. 3 5 In his commencement address to the Alumnae Society of LaGrange College in 19^8, the Rev. Charles S. Forrester said: Many interesting and humorous stories are connected with this more -than-a -century-old institution. It is recorded that at the Commencement of 1853, two young ladies from Texas arrived with their "baggage, thinking that 'Commencement' really meant to commence . When they discovered that it was the end of the school term and not the beginning, they were bewildered beyond words. Mr. Montgomery, who was president at the time, communi- cated with the parents of these young ladies, and was advised to "keep them." He "kept them" for four years, at the end/-of which time they returned home with their diplomas. In 1851, every student on entering the LaGrange Female Institute was furnished with a list of the following rules and required to sign her name in the Matriculation Book, thereby obligating herself to their faithful observ- ance: 1. Every pupil shall be prompt in attendance at the opening and closing exercises of the day. 2. While at her desk or in recitation, she must sit or stand perfectly erect; 35 Ibid-, PP. 9-10. Charles S. Forrester, "Commencement Address," Alumnae Day, LaGrange College, May 29, I9U8 (LaGrange College Bulletin, Vol. CII, No. 3), p. k. ZfSW DfT.B x e,SX o"om a in J ojjcw 3t. J. ;os.LL jOLx ieirn: .x sow oaJ xi'a/il si afro 1 ? : . illoO 3. Shall not whisper, laugh or talk in study or recitation hours. k. Must be respectful and courteous to the Faculty and her mates, 5. Shall recite not less than three nor more than five lessons a day, 6. Shall attend the Sabbath School and Church of her parents' choice; 7. Must always be neat, but plain in personal attire; 8. Shall attend no parties or places of amusement; 9. Shall not correspond with or receive attention from young gentlemen; 10. Shall not use snuff, chew rosin or gum of any kind. 11. Shall enter no shop except in the company with her parent or guardian, 12. Shall make no orders for articles of merchandise, but by permission of her temporary guardian. 3< Even though there is little to compare in the rules of 1851 and 1951 at LaGrange College, there is very little difference in the advice and understanding expressed in the following copy of a letter from a mother to her daughters written in 1852. The original letter is framed and hanging in the office of the President: Indian Spring 3 April 1852 Dear Daughters: Last evening I received a note from Josephine inform- ing me that you were both well and as well satisfied ^ Catalogue of LaGrange Female Institute , l8j?l , p . 20 . i ! - moil isoi with your prospect at school as you could possibly be. I wish you to be very attentive to your school duties and try to lose no time from your studies and to learn all that you possibly can during the time you stay at school as I don't know that you may again get the chance to go to school any more after this. I wish you to be polite and pleasant with everybody and insulting to no one old or young, taking especial care of yourselves allowing no one to be too free in their intercourse with you. I have heard by a letter from Col. Slatton of New Orleans, that your borther, John Clark, left New Orleans about the 20th of February and we have no tidings of him since. I do not know where he has gone. I am in good health or at least better than when you left, and the balance of the family is all well. Inclosed I send you a five dollar bill to pay for any little thing you may stand in need of. In case of sickness I must be in- formed at once. Your Mother, Cinthia H. Varner^ In order that the patrons might know that their daughters would live in a spiritual atmosphere without any denominational pressure being put upon them, Mr. Montf ornery stated under General Remarks in the 1853 catalogue: This College is strictly antisectarian and anti- denominational. One of the proprietors is a Presby- terian and the other a Methodist, whilst the Principal of the Music department is a Baptist. The professors and teachers generally are divided with respect to their denominational attachment. r object is to remove as far as possible, every influence that might tend to impress upon the minds of our pupils sectarian bigotry or prejudice. As far as we are capable, we inculcate upon their minds moral and religious obligations. But we go no farther. At the opening and closing of the daily exercises, the whole school assembles in the 3 u Copy of a framed letter hanging in the President's office. All letters were sent in care of the President. - O.'.OIJW chapel and spends at each time thirty minutes in reading the scriptures, singing and prayer. To facilitate our chapel singing, arrangements are made to furnish, by the opening of the next term, a splendid organ. ->? By I856, with the classes and dormitories on The Hill rules were a little less stringent, and several new courses had been added; among them were Elocution and a mild form of Calisthenics. Special attention had always been given to music; and the Ornamental department was teaching the future homemakers such decorative aets as embroidery, painting, and making wax fruit and flowers, at twenty dollars per term.^ Early in the scholastic year, 1852, two rival literary societies were formed and named Hentz and Judson. At that time literary reading was regarded as of little importance to the student in his scientific researches, but reading was considered peculiarly necessary to the accomplishment of female education. It was for this purpose that the societies were organized. They each had a regular constitution and code of by-laws, appropriate officers, etc and conducted all business matters with order and decorum. They were allowed Wednesday afternoons for reading in their respective halls. Every Saturday morning they met for the transaction of business, at which time each member was required under penalty to stand up and recite the substance of at least 3 9Catalogue of LaGrange Female Institute , 1853 , p. 22. Ibid ., I856, p. 16. djti-.i-iOJb - - J - Y - 2 - U - .. . - - i . - . 3 fifty pages of literature she had read during the past week. Before the year was out they had collected nearly one thousand volumes, a library of books, from the most approved authors of ancient and modern times. The improvement which was shown in the style of conversation and writing on the part of the pupils spoke volumes for the efficiency of these 1+1 literary organizations. That Mr. Montgomery had no compunction as to the ability and knowledge of the graduates of the LaGrange Female College was evidenced in the 1856 catalogue under a notice : TO THOSE WISHING TEACHERS In the present graduating class there are a half dozen young ladies who have pursued their education with a view of becoming teachers. Any person will do well to apply to the proprietors, who can procure for them teachers among those graduates, capable of giving thorough instruction in all the English branches, latin, French, and Italian languages, Music, Drawing, Painting, etc. None need apply, however, who are unwilling to pay a reasonable compensation for the most efficient services in the capacity of teacher. ^ Though the college was growing and flourishing from day to day, it was drawing its generous hearted masters to the brink of financial disaster. The Montgomery brothers Ibid., p. 19. : Ibid., p. 17. had invested their composite fortunes in buying and building the school, and their practice of taking in so many poor girls who could not pay their way had depleted their returns to an alarming degree. They realized that they were not business men and "Mr. Joseph" and "Mr. Troup" felt that they were called to the ministry. In the winter of 1856, the Messrs. Montgomery sold the college and all of its properties to the North Georgia Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for the sum of sixty thousand dollars. 1 ^ On January 29, l857> the Commissioners of the Confer- ence and the Board of Trustees met in LaGrange. Formal deeds being executed and tendered by Messrs. Montgomery, and accepted by the Commissioners, the property was turned over to trustees appointed by the Conference. That body then in session appointed the following Board of Trustees: Revs. W. J. Parks, John W. Glenn, William S. Sasnett, John C. Simmons, James B. Payne, Caleb W. Kay, G. J. Pearch, W. G. Conner, W. B. Martin, and B. H. Overby; and Messrs. B. H. Hill, R. A. T. Ridley, James M. Beall, A. E. Cox, and Robert J. Morgan. Thus the Montgomery regime came to an end and the first institution of higher learning for women in Georgia became the second Methodist educational institution in Georgia.^ ^3 Benson, jop. nifc., p. 10. ^ lc. cit . The Deed Record of Troup County , Book L, p. 57^. h6 Walter G. Cooper, The Sbry of Georgia , Vol. II (New York: The American Historical Society, Inc., 193&1 p. ^63. c'i sJiacH [ The trustees elected a new corps of competent teachers, and in September, 1857 > the college began its distinctive work of Christian education under the prisidency of Rev. W. G. Conner, who was then serving as a member of the Conference, and Secretary and Treasurer of the Board of Trustees. ^ The scholastic year began the first day of October, 1857, and ended Wednesday after the second Sabbath in July, 1858. Patrons were advised to send a supply of winter clothes, and two or three pairs of thick-soled shoes along with their daughters but not to send summer clothes until the next spring. They were informed that: Regardless of the style of the dresses that must cover the neck and arms. As in Institution we make no war on fashions, but for many good reasons we coul^g mention, we shall forbid the prevailing customers. They were not required to wear uniforms, but costly apparel and jewelry were not tolerated by the College. Neatness and economy in dress were taught as an essential element of a good education. No young lady in college was permitted to contract any debt with any person without the presence and permission of one of the Professors of the College. Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , l88l - l882 , p. 25. Catalogue of LaGrange Female Institute, 157_, p . 2 . ;.r.c. d - The system of merit and demerit was enforced in governing the students. Any one who received enough demerits to assure the faculty that her connection with the College was "unprofitable to herself and injurious to others" was promptly expelled. All pupils were required to attend the church of their choice each Sabbath, always in company with one or more of the professors of the College. Also, a weekly prayer meeting was held in the College by the faculty for the benefit of the pupils, who were expected to attend. Special attention had always been given to music in the College and in order that all the young ladies might be better prepared to enjoy singing, they were required to practice vocal music once each day free of charge. At com- mencement they gave a special exhibition.^ The catalogue for 1857 announced that a Resident graduate course would be added the following year because: Many parents find their daughters through the ordinary course of instruction, before their minds are developed, and before they are prepared to take their places in the "Drawing -Room" as young ladies. This can only be remedied by continuing at school. We have prepared a year's course for these, and confidently expect that faithful attention to it will do more to educate women than two years of ordinary study. As an ^9 ibid ., p. 17. ^Thid. , p. 18. ; inducement to faithful application we will give a second Diploma to those who graduate in this course, called "Mistress of Arts." 51 It was said that the graduating class of 1858, with- out an exception, bore testimony to the striking and heautiful fact that: The graduate of this institution, in leaving her Alma Mater, will generally carry with her those prin- ciples of Christian Morality which will guide her through life, sustain her in death, and crown her in Heaven . ^ The commencement exercises began on Sunday morning at ten o'clock with the commencement sermon. Monday at 9a. m., the Literary Societies gave a program; Monday night at eight o'clock there was a concert; Tuesday morning at nine o'clock, essays were read and a lecture given; Tuesday night the Grand Soiree Musicale was enjoyed; and Wednesday morning the graduating exercises concluded the four-day program to which everyone looked forward from one year to the next. 53 Although the College was progressing in every depart- ment and enjoying patronage from all parts of Georgia and adjoining states, Mr. Conner resigned at the end of one term in July, 1858. ^ 51 Ibid., p. 17. 52 Ibid., 1858-59, P. lh 53 Thid., pp. 20-21. Benson, qe.. cit . f p. 12. - In September, the Rev. William J. Sassnett, Professor of English Literature at Emory College, Oxford, Georgia, and a member of the Board of Trustees of LaGrange Female Col- lege , ^ reluctantly accepted the presidency but served only four months, resigning in December, 1858.^ The Rev. W. A. Harris, D.,D., who was an outstanding Professor of Natural Science and French in the College at that time, became President. He was a graduate of the Military Institute of Vir- ginia, and his testimonials showed the highest qualifica- tions. His success in Sparta, Georgia, the year before was sufficient to guarantee success in anything that he was 57 willing to undertake. Under the presidency of Dr. Harris, LaGrange Female College continued to progress in its program of Christian education, and in July, 1859, took the lead in sending out the first resident graduate class in the South. In this unique class of five young ladies, Alice Culler was an honored member. 5^ 1 55r. r. Caswell, "The History of Bowdon College" (unpublished Master's thesis, The University of Georgia, Athens, July, 1952), p. 7 ^^Benson, ioc . cit. 5T Catalogue of LaGrange Female Institute , 1858-59 , p. 5. 58 Loc. cit. ... ; . - Her sister, Mary Culler White, later wrote The Life Story of Alice Culler Cobb , in which she stated that at the age of fifteen years, Alice Culler, the youngest member of her class, was Salutatorian of the graduating class at Wesleyan College in Macon, founded in 1836. In her diary written on the last day of that year, while she was at LaGrange Female College, she wrote: I did not feel qualified to "guide my frail bark over life's troubled sea" without a pilot; so I went to LaGrange, and placed myself under the charge of those fully competent to instruct me. I am a member of the "Resident Graduate Class." I am here far away from home, from the loved ones, from Father, Mother, and Dr. Harris, the president of the College, recognized in Alice Culler the making of a real teacher and several months after graduating, when he was selecting teachers for the Martha Washington College of Abingdon, Virginia, of which he had just been made president, his first selection was Alice Culler, who went with him but later came back to Georgia where she became an inimitable wife, mother, world traveler, missionary, and a teacher at Wesleyan College for _ . 60 forty years. Although Dr. Harris resigned to go back to Virginia after being president for only one and one half terms, he 59wary Culler White, The Life Story of &ice Culler Cobb (New York: Fleming H. Re veil Company, 1925), pp. 46-47. 60. Loc. cit. Si - >0 aexslaoU' believed that the LaGrange Female College was well estab- lished with a great future ahead, and stated: The prosperity of the College under all opposing influences, demonstrates most clearly its permanence for the present and its success for the future. Heaven is smiling upon it. . . . The once gathering clouds are rolling away, and the dawn of a more glorious day is brightening the sky of its future. We trust the day is not far distant when the College will be freed from every pecuniary trammel, and will make quicker strides and greater progress toward the fulfillment of its glorious mission for the blessings of man and the glory of God. 51 Little did he dream that in the days just ahead, the clouds would grow darker and heavier rather than roll away. Just before the dark days of the Civil War, the South had reached its highest in luxurious living. Mary Elizabeth Godwin, who received her A.B. degree in l862,^ 2 made an interesting list of what the well-to-do planter's daughter took to college with her in her "Saratoga trunk": First, several bonnets were considered absolutely necessary, the obnoxious "sun-bonnet" rule having been lifted ere this time. Her hoop-skirted gowns, were of the finest rep and moire silk, and elaborately trimmed; the heavier materials were cool challis and alpace, bombazine and albatross. Then she must have a huge heavy cape and fur tippet, calf skin boots and woolen stockings, any number of shawls and a quilted double wrapper for the chilly outdoors of the old dormitory. For warmer weather she had frocks of French Calico, Swiss, and India muslin. The favorite fabric for Catalogue of LaGrange Female Institute , 1858-59 , p. 18. ^ Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 1888-89 , p. 8 (lj& of all graduates) . : c . - " . OTi* k2 commencement was white mull. However, the faculty adhered strictly to the rule of simplicity upon this occasion for the/- sake of the poorer girls, of whom there were many. LaGrange was by this time a thriving little town, decidedly cultural in atmosphere, the proud possessor of three institutions of learning, the others being Brownwood Military Institute, a high grade academy for boys, and the Southern Female College, owned by the Baptist denomination, which was established in 18U3 under the name of LaGrange Collegiate Seminary for young ladies. There was a good deal of friendly rivalry between the two girls' schools, Brown- wood Institute, needless to say, being quite popular with both. 61 * ^^Benson, loc . cit . ^Ibid., p. 11 CHAPTER IV IAGRANGE FEMALE COLLEGE THROUGH FIRE, WAR, AND RECONSTRUCTION (1860-1885) The prosperity enjoyed and progress made by the LaGrange Female College in its first three decades did not forewarn that the hopes and aspirations of its friends and supporteres were to suffer many reverses in the years just ahead. The year 1859 was a busy one. The journal is full of entries marking changes in the personnel of the trustees and faculty, and enlargement of the college facilities in many ways. Reports of the finance committee throughout the year tell of the sound financial condition of the institution, and praise the citizens of LaGrange for tbsLr generosity. 1 One rather amguing entry made by the Board, which met July 6, 1859, states: Whereas the citizens of LaGrange, prompted by their own generous devotion to the LaGrange Female College, have presented it with a large and fine college bell and are erecting on the college building a suitable dome for the same. Resolved, that as the Board of Trustees, we hereby very gratefully acknowledge and accept the handsome present thus generously made to the college. Journal of the LaGrange Female College, p. 52 (minutes of the Board of Trustees). 2 Loc. cit. - ; a 8 a jo ! For many years the whole town rose, dined, and retired to the crashing sound of the school bell. In December, 1&59, the Legislature passed an act to amend the several acts previously passed concerning the College. Under this act the scope and powers of the College 3 were strengthened and increased. The tempo of the social and cultural activities of the College had also stepped up, according to an article in the LaG range News and Graphic Shuttle : On the evening of March 28, i860, a concert was given in the auditorium. Students and guests were assembled in the administration building. Girls in bell like dresses of pastel shades carrying nosegays, smiled decorously up at attentive young men. Suddently there was a cry of "Fire" and the crowd fled to safety. The building was doomed from the start, as the equip- ment for fighting fires was inadequate, and the high March winds soon fanned the flames beyond control. As the dis- mayed spectators stood by helpless and hopeless, the roof fell in, and the beautiful columns which had been raised with such pride only seven years before crashed to the ground . ^ ^ Acts of the General Assembly of Georgia , Sec. 5 , assented to December 19, 1859 . ^ LaGrange News and Graphic S huttle , Thursday, October 9, 1931, p. 2. - 3 . 1 . ...... I . .. " - - ' - ! - < j rri True to form, friends of the College met before the ashes had cooled to make plans for rebuilding. The trustees met at the Methodist Church on the following morning and a committee was appointed to pass upon the condition of the walls that were left standing. A town crier was sent about the streets to summon people of LaGrange and its vicinity to a mass meeting at the court house at three o'clock.^ At this meeting subscriptions were solicited, and many donations of various sizes were cheerfully given. One of the first and largest was a draft of $1,000 from the Messrs. Joseph and 7 Hugh B. T. Montgomery who still loved the school devotedly. Contributions came from firms, corporations, and individuals all over the South, and from New York, Philadelphia, Balti- more, Charleston, and a number of other cities. An inventory was then taken of all college properties. The quaint list begins: one clock, one sausage grinder, one canister, twenty-five window curtains, one bucket, one dipper, four matlxesses, one center table, etc.^ Tne list of articles destroyed in the fire was much more imposing. Journal, op. cit. , p. 75. T lbid . , p. 86. 8 Ibid ., pp. 129-130. 9lbid., pp. 7 -80. I he It included the newly installed chemical apparatus, a number of costly musical instruments, a growing library, and other expensive equipment. It is also said that a small fortune in fine old mahogany and black walnut furniture was consumed by the flames. 10 However, the disastrous fire did not seriously interfere with the routine of coXLege work. Fortunately, the Stanley building was available and in good condition. Classes were immediately resumed there by young ladies whose mothers had occupied the same rooms a genera- tion earlier. 11 On pages 8^ and 85 of the Journal the faculty presents the following report: We are comfortably situated as regards room for carrying on the regular exercies . . . the rooms occupied by the professors are sufficiently large to accommodate any of the college classes. . . . Professor Akers is moving on with his department as heretofore. He is happily provided with everything, essential to carrying on the Mathematical department. The ornamental department is suffering. Professor Briggs has but two pianos, and there is no certaity of retaining but one of these for any length of time. . . . The Faculty would suggest to the Board that we have endeavored to make the best arrangements possible for the continuance of the regular college schedules. All of which is respectfully submitted by, The Faculty.-^ l0 Benson, op. cit . , p. 13 ^Clifford L. Smith, op. cit., p. 130. ^Journal, op. cit., pp. 8U-85. In July, the senior class graduated from the Chapel of the Southern Female College, offered for the occasion by the President and Board of Trustees of the institution which was located on the opposite side of town. Thus bravely and undaunted the faculty and students carried on their work. 1 ^ Appreciation for this gesture was expressed thus: Therefore, Resolved, that as the Board of Trustees of the LaGrange Female College we return to our kind friends of the Southern Female College our grateful acknowledgements and high appreciation of the kindness so generously tendered a sister institution in the hour of its great misfortune. On the sixth day of June, i860, the Trustees awarded the contracts for rebuilding the College to Mr. Benjamin Cameron who with his trained slaves had built the one destroyed by fire."^ The entry in the Journal states in part: Mr. Cameron proposes to take the contract for the college building according to the plans and specifica- tions. The building to be located on the old site, and such changes be made in timber as may be agreed upon before the final contract is entered into between him and the committee. Also the contract for a new boarding-house . . . the whole to be executed in the best style according to plans, for the sum of thirty thousand dollats, less his subscription of fifteen hundred dollars, adding to this the rock material for the building on the summit . . . the boarding-house 13 Ibid. , p. 120 ll+ Loc . cit. 15 Ibid . . p. 107 - to be finished by the 20th of December,- next, and the college by the 15th day of May, l86l. The work began and the dormitory was completed as scheduled in December. Mr. Cameron with his trained Negro slaves again made brick from clay at the back of the hill. For lack of proper material, and because of an accident which caused the roo'f' to fall in while under construction, the college building received a set back at a most critical period of its history and remained unfinished for many years. ^ The South had plunged headlong into the Civil War which raged disastrously for four years. Every project for public improvement, had ceased and no industry except that immediately connected with the sustenance of the people and prosecution of the war was promoted. There was no time to 18 think of building colleges. The Georgia Legislature had called a convention to meet at Milledgeville January 6, l86l, to act on the ques- tion of secession from the Union. It was an historic body whose personnel included the most outstanding leaders of the State; among them was Benjamin H. Hill, United Ibid ., p. 1^3. Loc . cit . -^Editorial page, The LaGrange Reporter , July 17, 1879. i-Jf. . .soY.sosGl ax belsrb dot j o ssvaJ. ! - . . - . . : e ...... ... - - Senator from LaGrange. The decision made by these men to secede from the Union had "far reaching consequences, full of tragedy and ultimate suffering for the people of . ..20 Georgia . Mr. HiH was at first opposed to secession, hut when he realized that his opposition was useless, he voted for it 21 on the final ballot. He also represented the fourth dis- trict at the Southern Convention held in Montgomery, Alabama, on February k, l86l, for the purpose of organizing the Confederate Government. 22 In l86l, the State was a vast recruiting camp with men, women, and children doing all in their power to prove their patriotism. The women made clothing for the soldiers and offered to give their silver and jewelry if necessary. Men volunteered not only their service but much of their 2^ fortunes. On April 26, l86l, the LaGrange Light Guards, with 1 Robert S. Smith as captain, and Miles H. Hill and Gustovus hooper, o. cit., p. 520. 2Q Loc. cit . 2 1 Ibid ., p. 525 22 Ibid ., p. 527. 23 Ibid ., p. 5^2-^3. . . t _ . _ ; - av x/o ^.noiaasoya cJ .ba^o L t4c . a,sw nolc - - - ...... - , Is . - .... a - - .... 3 iuli . o 10 i - J.. VOu3.jij iJX 1 ^ -t.-a.Xii Ji QS-i-Xf''; .0^13 ii.C0w('60 3 .'3 1*3 X;~;cj O JlSuO/l A. Bull as lieutenants left LaG range to serve in the Con- pi, federate Army for the duration of the war. Other groups from Troup County soon followed, knowing that the women left behind would continue to be "Home Guards" in every sense of the word. One company- of soldiers was equipped by Miss Sallie Fannie Reid, a belle of the sixties, whom they honored by calling themselves "The Sallie Fannie Reid 25 Guards." History also records that: During the Civil War LaG range had the distinction of owning the only company of women soldiers organized during the struggle. They were named for Georgia's Revolutionary heroine, Nancy Hart. This band of LaGrange women shouldered their muskets although tremblingly and learned to shoot to protect their homes. They were organized in the first year of the war by Mrs. Brown Morgan. When in lQ6k, a detach- ment of Wilson's raiders commanded by Colonet LaGrange, rode through the town that bore his name, the Nancy Harts lined up obediently with guns on their shoulders ready to do battle. Fortunately, Colonel LaGrange was a diplomat as well as a soldier, and so was able to persuade the gallant "amazons" to surrender on his promise to spare the homes of the city from looting and destruction. However, all the women of LaGrange were not willing to be *Home Guards", as is clearly indicated in General John Clifford L. Smith, op_. cit ., p. 7*u 2 5jbid.., p. 75. 26 The LaGrange D aily News and Graphic Shuttle October 8, 1931, p. 31. a -r.t - - - - - - . . pc . ....... s i 1 ) jsi . ixic - .. . Oil - Bi'Z j a - . - - - . .30 C - 0~vj u ,.'f. - -a 51 B. Gordon's Reminiscences of the Civil War , in regard to his wife: I had been educated for the bar and for a time practiced law in Atlanta. In September, 185I+, I had married Miss Fanny Harralson, third daughter of General Hugh A. Harralson, of LaGrange, Georgia. The wedding occurred on her seventeenth birthday and when I was but twenty-two. We had two children, both boys. The struggle between devotion to my family on the one hand and duty to my country on the other was most trying to my sensibilities. My spirit had been caught up by the flaming enthusiasm that swept like a prairie-fire through the land, and I hastened to unite with the brave men of the mountains* in organizing a company of volunteers. But what was I to do with the girl-wife and the two little boys? The wife and mother was no less taxed in her effort to settle this momentous question. But finally yielding to the promptings of her own heart and to her unerring sense of duty, she ended doubt as to what disposition was to be made of her by announcing that she intended to accompany me to the war, leaving her children with my mother and faithful "Mammy Mary." I rejoiced at her decision then, and had still greater reasons for rejoicing at it afterward, when I felt through every fiery ordeal the inspiration of her near presence, and had, at need, the infinite comfort of her tender nursing. 2 ' As the founding and growth of LaGrange and the College had been almost simultaneous for thirty years, so was the struggle for survival and reconstruction of both for the next quarter of a century. However, before the seriousness of the catastrophe was realized, an entry made in the Journal on July 5, i860, ^Mountains of Northeast Alabama, Northwest Georgia, and Southern Tennessee. 2 7john B. Gordon, Reminiscences of the Civil War , (New York: Charles Scribner and Sons, 1903), p. 3. ^firanb Allege uorary h baa J < 3 u )ftf i 3\i 52 shows what the Board of Trustees considered a serious problem: Whereas individuals of high character, friends of the college have complained of members of the Faculty for indulging in drinking beer and similar or stronger beverages, and such indulgences being in itself ques- tionable in morals and certainly injurious to the Institution. Therefore resolved that it is the opinion of the board that such indulgences publicly or privately must lead to bad results to the individuals themselves morally and also greatly embarrass the success and reputation of the college. Another problem which the Board faced in July, i860, 29 was the resignation of Dr. Harris. The Rev. Gadwell Jefferson Pearce, a member of the Board of Trustees and a teacher at 30 Emory College at that time, accepted the presidency of the struggling institution. He also assumed the job of being financial agent, at a time when the distressing condition of 31 the country made it a very arduous one. In July, 1862, the Board met and found certain stern facts to exist. The college was in debt for over seventeen thousand dollars. The main building was unfinished with no hope of being completed in the near future, and the walls, because of certain old portions having been used, were 28 Journal, op . cit ., p. 127. 29 Jbid., p. 122 3 Catalogue of LaGrange Female Institute , 1858-59, p . 3 . J Journal, op. cit . , p. 125. - believed unsafe. At this meeting the trustees, who were entitled to a small stipend for their services, agreed to add that to the meager salary which President Pearch had received during the preceding year. Under existing circum- stances they could do nothing more to show their gratitude 32 for his tireless and unselfish services. Like that of the entire Southland, the history of the College during the l860's is heart "breaking. The poverty striken parents whose sons had either been killed or seriously wounded on the battlefields had neither the means 33 or desire to send their daughters away to school. It is little less than a miracle that during all the turbulent war times followed by the dark days of reconstruc- tion that the institution never entirely closed its doors. With its meager equipment and only local students, the formerly flourishing college became little more than a day school with faithful teachers who kept at their task. Mr. Pearce, who served as president from i860 to November, 1863, worked unceasingly for the preservation and rehabilitation of Ik the College, receiving no salary for more than one year. 32 Ibid ., pp. 163 f. 33]3enson, op_. cit. , p. 2k ^k LaGrange Daily News and Graphic Shuttle , October 8, 1931, P. 2. It was a discouraged Board of Trustees which met on November 27, 1862, to try to persuade Mr. Pearce to withdraw his resignation which they had just received. He did so, and continued as President and financial agent until November, l863. 35 There ware no entries in the Journal from November 30, I863, until June 20, 1871. Upon one of the intervening blank pages is written a question that has not been answered: "Where are the records between these dates?" No catalogues have been found for the war years and the later ones give very little information of the College from 1863 to 1866. Mr. Clifford Smith's History of Troup County states that the Rev. Mr. Armstrong became president in 1863, but makes no comment about the administration. The reorganization of the College began in 1866 under the presidency of Mr. Armstrong, but the community was not yet able to support it, and the patronage soon dwindled so that for a time it was left in the charge of Mrs. Montgomery 37 and Mrs. Jack Cutright. The latter lady was the mother- in-law of Bishop Warren A. Candler, and it is this time that 35journal, op. cit . , p. 170. 3^Clifford L. Smith, op. cit., p. 132. 37 catalogue of IaGrange Female College , 1887-88 , p. 53. :uo& b - - ' . o: . : : - . J ; Mrs. Candler, looking back upon her little-girl memories, recalls climbing up on the bleak walls of the unfinished 38 building and looking down upon the town of LaGrange. Near the end of the war the buildtigs of the Southern Female College were used as a hospital for Confederate soldiers until they were destroyed by fire. 39 By this time both schools had only local patronage, and in order to survive, they combined their students and facilities, and held their classes in the boarding house of the LaGrange Female College. Mr. I. F. Cox, President of the Southern Female College, conducted the joint institution for two years, from 1867 to 1869. At the end of that time he retired and devoted the next eighteen years to rebuilding the Southern Female College. ^ In 1869, Dr. Morgan Callaway, a minister noted for his culture and brilliant mind, accepted the presidency of LaGrange Female College. Just prior to the war he had married Miss Leila Hinton of Greenville, Georgia, and accepted the presidency of Andrew Methodist Female College, at Cuthbert, Georgia, but at the first call to arms he had volunteered as First Lieutenant in the artillery service. 3^Benson, loc . cit. 39ciifford L. Smith, op. cit., p. ^k. ^Catalogue of. LaGrange Female College . 1867-88 . p. .1 . i .o.to 56 While in Virginia he and his company did fine work in many of the hardest fought battles under General R. E. Lee. For two years after the war Dr. Callaway taught school in Washington, Georgia, where his wife died. Then he moved to LaGrange and was President of the College until 1871, when he connected himself with Emory College at Oxford, Georgia, in and there spent the rest of his useful life. In the funeral sermon preached by Bishop Warren A. Candler, a most excellent tribute was paid to Dr. Callaway as a teacher, soldier, preacher, and man. Of the man he said in part: He was born of noble stock in Wilkes County, Georgia, April 16, 1831, and graduated from the University of Georgia with high honors in the class of 18I+9, being little more than 18 years of age at his graduation, what youthful habits of upright pure living, of devotion to daily duty, and of interest in the highest things are implied by this early attainment of his academic degree I If in the paths of those early days you had met him, the courtly manners of his mature life, coupled with the most engaging graces of young manhood, would have impressed you. This noble, dignified bearing was the index of the man; it was the efflorescence of his nature not an affected mannerism. In the narrowest circles and in the widest and most elevated places he was always the same. Nor was his grace of manner the result alone of contact with good society. That knightly bearing was ^T. W. Callaway, Callaway Baptist Preachers , 1789-1882 (compiled by T. W. Callaway and evidently pub- lished by him for members of the Callaway Family. No publisher or printer's name given.), pp. 53-5*4-- * - the becoming and unconscious expression of an elevated nature, inspired with the twin brother to his courage. It rested upon him in days of gladness as a fitting holiday attire and in days of darkness it was the digni- fied garb of noble sorrow. ^ In December, 1871, Dr. Callaway's resignation was regretfully accepted by the Board. Several pages of the Journal are filled with eulogies of his character and expressions of appreciation for his earnest and conscientious 43 administration of the College and its affairs. Reverend E. P. Birch was elected to fill the vacancy left by Dr. Callaway. He served only a few months, and resigned in November, 1872, because of failing health. ^ Mr. Birch was succeeded by Mr. J. T. Johnson who held the position for the next two years. ^ Little is known about the faculty, curriculum, or activities of the school during the administration of Mr. Johnson. If any records other than those in the Journal were kept, they have not been found. In it one entry by Mr, Johnson states: There has been during the present scholastic year an average -attendance of fifty five pupils. All the studies prescribed in the curriculum with one or two ^ 2 Loc . cit . 43 Journal, op_. cit . , pp. 266-68. 44 Catalogue of LaGranpe Female College , 1887-88, p. 54, 45 T Loc. cit. SI exceptions have been taught. We have endeavored to be thorough in teaching and conservative in discipline and have had as a general athing the cooperation of the pupils. 46 Although no catalogue for 1874 is in the college files, a reference is made to it in the 1876-77 catalogue concerning the status of the Music department which has always been outstanding at the College. It announces: Music Department The facilities here furnished for a thorough musical education are of the highest order. Prof. Schirmacher, the efficient principal of this department, is a graduate of the Musical Conservatory of Leipsic, Germany, and was for years a pupil of the great masters Mendelssohn, David, Richter, Plaidy and Boehme. For modest worth, for splendid attainment in music, for patient, untiring energy, he has no superior and his success during his five years' connection with the college is without a parallel in this country. The only two "Premiums for best performance on piano forte by pupils of any Female College," at the State Fair in Atlanta in 1870, were awarded to pupils of this college, trained by Prof. Schirmacher. The "Premium for the best display of Musical talent by pupils of any Female College" and "for best performer," were also awarded his pupils at State Fair of 1872.47 For twelve years the school had carried on in the depressing shadow of the unfinished walls of the burned building. Pupils were beginning to flock back to LaGrange, boarding with people in town, determined to have a college education. The Board of Trustees realized that the time had come to put the College in its former basis. It was a Journal, op_. cit . , p. ^ Catalogue of LaGrange cites Catalogue , 1874 , p. 13. 288. Female College , 1876-77, p. 15 1 - stupendous task which these gentlemen assumed, of raising money where there was none and completing the abandoned edifice. They immediately began figuring with different con- struction companies. The more they figured, the more impossible the task seemed. Finally, in July, 1874, Horace King, a Negro contractor of LaGrange, who had been trained by his master during slavery, submitted specifications for a new building of brick and stone to be built for the sum of nine thousand dollars. Five hundred dollars was to be paid when the work was actively begun, five per cent thereafter 49 monthly, and the remainder when the work was completed. Realizing the impossibility of raising so much money at one time, the Board entered into a contract with Horace King to complete the walls, put on the roof, and do certain other necessary things to the building that had been aban- doned thirteen years earlier, for the -sum of thirty seven hundred, twenty eight dollars. Operation began immediately. 50 Mr. Johnson resigned as President of the College in December, 1874, and the Reverend James R. Mayson was appointed by the North Georgia Conference to take his place. ^Benson, op_, cit., p. 26. 49 Journal, op_. cit . , pp. 289-90. 60 Mr. Mayson was a graduate of Emory College and had been head of the Mathematics department of the LaGrange Female College for several years in its days of ante-bellum prosperity. He had also been extensively connected with educational and religious enterprises in other institutions, and he had been a successful contractor in former days. He was well equipped to be president and rebuilder of LaGrange Female College. 51 In a biography of Mr. Mayson, written by Dr. J. W. Heidt for the Journal of the North Georgia Conference, a worthy tribute is paid to a "fearless but tender man who was imbued with power from on high." 5 ^ In part the tribute states: The community was depressed by the results of the war and almost without hope for the rehabilitation of the college. Finding himself facing a forlorn condition, and being under the two-fold responsibility of financial agent and teacher, he heroically undertook the task, and in less than four years, had reorganized the college system, greatly increased the patronage, raised ten thousand dollars on the building fund, and did so much towards the completion of the principal building, that he moved the classes into it and began its use for all the purposes of the institution, making its future com- pletion and enlargement a matter of comparative ease. 3 X LaGran,g;e Reporter . July 17, 1879, p. 1. 5 ^J. W. Heidt, "A Memoir to Reverend James R. Mayson," Ye ar Book and Minutes of the Twenty-seventh Session of the North Georgia Conference , held in court house, Gainesville, Georgia, November 20 - December 5, 1893, pp. 14-15. 61 It has often and justly been said that to him more than to any other, the LaGrange Female College owes its new life, and further, that he was perhaps the only man within the reach of the church at that time who could have done so much for that institution. He deserves to be remembered, not only in records and resolutions, but also in imposing marble or stone, solumnly reared on the ample college grounds. His active life covered a period of more than forty years and was given to the good of men. Whether as a teacher or a preacher, his labors were unceasing in training the immortal mind and leading the soul to God. His endowments for these high callings were rare, and his success in them was conspicuous. In the school- room he was kind, sympathetic, conscientious, pains- taking. He had the power to impart, and his pupils became scholars. 53 On his arrival in LaGrange Mr. Mayson found the boarding house habitable, but nothing was left of the main building except bare walls which had been exposed to the weather for thirteen years. His plans were soon formed and when he presented them to the trustees, they were so impressed with their extreme practicability that their enthusiasm made it comparatively easy to obtain by subscrip- tion funds necessary to accomplish the task.^ All debts against the institution had been paid, and the money raised was paid directly on the new building. Work was begun early in March, 1875. The completion was not all attempted at once, but when one part was completed, and Loc . cit . Catalogue of LaGrange Female College . 1879-80, p. 27. the subscription exhausted, another was obtained and another part completed. 3 At the end of Mr. Mayson's first year as President of the College, he made a report of several pages to the trustees of his accomplishments. It states in part: When I came to LaGrange the Board turned the college over to me, free of rent, allowing me to employ my own teachers, manage the internal interest of the school to suit myself, simply requiring of me success. You are now the judge of whether I have met the demand. If you think so, I am willing to continue upon the same terms for the present; if not speak out and I am ready to give place to another and resume my work in the Conference, a work dear to ray heart. . . . That the trustees were well pleased with Mr. Mayson's success was shown by his unanimous re-election and by the resolution entered in the Journal, June 16, 1876: Resolved that when the chapel of the LaGrange Female College shall be plastered, a marble tablet with suit- able and appropriate inscription shall be placed in the wall in honor of President James R. May son who has labored so efficiently in rebuilding the college. Unanimously passed. 57 In the midst of general depression and business prostration resulting from the war, Mr. Mayson raised $10,000, principally from citizens of LaGrange, with x^hich he completed the College and the College Home. ^Loc . ext. Journal, p. 314. 57 Ibid., p. 309. 58 Catalogue of LaGrange Female College . 1881-82, p. 25, 63 In the catalogue for 1876-77, Mr. Mayson and the Board of Trustees proudly announced the incredulous accom- plishments and bright prospects of the College. Among the reasons given why young ladies should attend the College was the location: LaGrange is located seventy-one miles southwest of Atlanta on the Atlanta and West Point Railroad. . . . Many girls have been sent so far North to be educated, that their constitutions have been completely broken down by the severity of the climate, and they have returned home confirmed invalids, subject to attacks of acute rheumatism, etc. Others have gone so far South as to fall into malarial regions, and their health has been undermined by chills and fever. We are located above the Pine Mountain range upon a high rolling country, and there are not liable to suffer from either of these dangers. LaGrange has been recognized as an educational center for many years. It is true her schools were destroyed by fire, and the country devastated by war; but we rejoice to know that she is fast regaining her former proud position in this respect. . . . The college is located on a high eminence overlooking the city of LaGrange and the surrounding country, remote from the stir of the city, and yet sufficiently near the church and the conveniences of business. 59 The catalogue also described the buildings so recently completed thus : One of the buildings is of brick, the other of brick and stone, both with tin roofs. The main building is 60 by 120 feet, two stories high. In it there are four recitation rooms 25 by 50 feet, separated by wide halls crossing each other in the center thereby affording free circulation of air and perfect ventilation. On the second floor there is a magnificent chapel 60 by 100 feet with capacity to hold 1500 persons. Back of the stage are four music rooms, and one for the ornamental 59 Ibid . . 1876-77, p. 12. : department, the Irenian hall, library and reading rooms, making altogether one of the most capacious and well arranged "buildings for school purposes in the South. The Boarding-House is fifty by ninety fee, two stories high, with rooms eighteen feet square, all opening into side halls , thereby giving easy egress in case of acci- dent. This department is under the immediate supervi- sion of the President and his lady.^ The fall term began the third Wednesday in August, l8T6, and closed Friday before Christmas. The spring term opened the second Wednesday in January, 1877, and Commence- 6l ment Day was the second Wednesday in June. That year there were eighty-seven students enrolled : U: Seniors 6 Preparatory .... 10 Juniors 11 Primary 23 Sophomores 15 Irregular k First 18 Total 87 The primary and preparatory departments included boys and girls of LaGrange, as there were no public schools. Since 1831, many of the women of LaGrange have received their entire formal education at this institution. Comple- tion tion of the following courses of study for the six classes was required for graduation: PRIMARY CLASS Orthography . Webster Reading .. Sterling's Readers Arithmetic (mental) Robinson Geography (commenced) Cornell Penmanship Spencerian System 60 Loc . cit . 61 Loc . cit . 62 Ibid . , p. 11. PREPARATORY CLASS Orthography Sainton's Word Primer Arithmetic (through fractions) Robinson Geography (continued) Cornell Penmanship Spencerian System Reading Sterling's English Grammar Smith First Class English Composition Quackenbos Arithmetic (completed) Robinson Geography (completed) ....... Cornell Latin (commenced) .... Bullions' Grammar and Reader Algebra (commenced) Robinson French (optional) Pasquelle Physiology Cutter History of the United States Derry SOPHOMORE CLASS Rhetoric Quackenbos Algebra (completed) Robinson Geometry (commenced) ..... Robinson Latin Grammar and Caesar French (optional) Fasquelle Familiar Science ... .... Peterson Botany Gray History of England .... .Anderson JUNIOR CLASS Moral Philosophy Haven Natural Philosophy Wells Geometry (completed) Robinson Trigonometry (plane) ...... Robinson Latin Virgil French (optional) ...... Telemaque Chemistry (commenced) Steele History Taylor's Manual Domestic Economy .. .Beecher .... Z..IL .?a raiqoeolx . . . 66 SENIOR CLASS Spherical Trigonometry and Conic Sections Robinson Geology Dana Latin , Cicero and Horace French (optional) ..... (Languellier et monsanto, ( Mme. de Sevigne Physical Geography Cornell Mental Philosophy Haven Logic .................... Hedge Evidences of Christianity Alexander Chemistry (completed) Steele ^ Astronomy .. Robinson Physical education was not listed in the course of study but a mild form of calisthenics was required because: "A sound mind in a sound body," is an old maxim, none the less desirable on account of age. To secure this we have a most accomplished teacher in this department, who gives daily instruction in the use of the wantds , rings and dumb bells, free of charge. The muscular develop- ment in her pupils has been most gratifying to their parents. Many who have been sent to us almost deformed by careless carriage, etc., have by constant drilling been made erect, and their muscular power so developed so as to give them a power of endurance almost wonderful. These exercises are all conducted by music, the time must therefore be perfect, giving the class the additional advantage of training in time.6U In the earlier years of the College there had been two literary societies, as was the case in most colleges at that time. However, Mr. Mayson believed that they encouraged rivalry which generated bitterness among the girls, and he hoped to avoid that by having only one. The Irenian Literary 63 Ibid . , p. 14. 6k Ibid. , p. 15. , nosnxcfoH -.Trfonoi^BA : : - +*X ,q , .bid 67 Society, which was organized, met every Friday afternoon, and the exercises consisted of readings, perusals, recita- tions, essays, etc., in which every girl took part. This group of young ladies also collected a librarv for the 65 school. In the fall of 1878 the Irenian Society began pub- lishing a paper monthly, entitled "The Irenian Casket." It was greatly admired by the subscribers and complimented by the press. It also gave the students a knowledge of journal- ism which they could not have obtained in any other way. They charged only fifty cents per year for each subscription, with which they paid all expenses for printing, etc., and used all profits for improving the society library. They solicited help from all their friends to contribute books, old or new, "if they are solid, and proper for young ladies to read." Trashy novels were not allowed a Dlace in the 66 collection. In regard to dress, neatness and economy were taught as an essential element of good education. Uniforms were not required. Calico of any color or texture with white aprons during the week, and one or two nice dresses for the 67 Sabbath were all they needed. 65 Loc. cit. 66 Ibid., 1879-80, p. 17. Ibid. , 1878-79, p. 18 68 Pupils were not allowed to contract any debts under any circumstances, except by permission of the President. Patrons were urged not to furnish their daughters with much money, except for necessities, and not to allow them to run accounts with merchants in LaGrange.^ In the 18T8-T9 catalogue, Mr. Mayson suggested that patrons refer to the curriculum and see the thorough grade of scholarship required of the pupils. He also assured them that the committee of educated members sent annually by the North Georgia Conference to examine the proficiency of the pupils and general condition of the institution was a very + . 69 conscientious group. The examining committee sent by the Conference in June, 1879 reported: The examination was conducted in writing. The papers submitted to the committee were carefully and minutely considered. The questions on the various branches of study took a wide range and were calculated to test severely the scholarship of each student. To say that we were pleased with the result would be using too mild a term. We are surprised and gratified at the abundant evidence these papers afforded of close study, habits of industry, and successful cultivations of the powers of reasoning and analysis. The marked individuality of thought and originality of expression were especially noticeable. Those girls had evidently been trained to think for themselves, rely upon their own resources, and what is of equal importance, to write intelligently what they had learned. We also gave close attention to the 68 Ibid . , p. 19 69 Ibid. , p. 2k - 69 public exercises of the commencement and the general behavior of the students. The expectations justified by their papers were not disappointed by their performances. The entire occasion deeply impressed us with the fitness of President Mays on and his assistants, for their responsible and delicate duties. We beg leave to refer briefly to the material condi- tion of this college. What was a few years ago a mass of weather-beaten unfinished walls, is now a magnificent, imposing structure, fitted in every way for its purpose. It was then bowed beneath a load of debt; now it is out of debt, with means in hand to complete the work. A splendid apparatus will, in the near future, assist the faculty in elucidating the mysteries and beauties of nature's arcana. For this happy condition of affairs, the conference is due President Mays on. and the Board of Trustees, a debt of gratitude which can only be dis- charged by hearty support and liberal patronage. The location of this, the only college this Confer- ence owns, is a very happy one. LaGrange is a beautiful city, noted for its pure air and salubrious climate, as well as for its refined society. The religious atmos- phere of the college is decided ajid refreshing. The future of this institution is very encouraging. To her complete success we ask you to join in our hearty TO amen. ,u At the commencement in 1879 , an appeal was made to the audience by REv. W.H. Potter, D.D. , for means to give the finishing touches to the buildings. This was the first time a collection had ever been taken at commencement, but it was so successful that the money necessary for completion 71 of the work was soon raised. Friends and visitors of the College for the first time were astonished to find buildings which compared with 70 Ibid. , p. 23. 71 Ibid., 1879-80, p. 27. the largest and most richly endowed in the State. They had thought it was in a class with many other institutions called female colleges. They were also surprised at the high course of study and the thoroughness of its mastery by the students. The College Home, which was managed by Mr. Mays on and his accomplished wife, was a Christian home where, as near as possible, all who lived in it constituted a family whose physical, mental, and spiritual needs were met. ' 2 The bedrooms in the boarding home were large and comfortable, furnished with two double beds, a dresser with four drawers (one for each of the inmates), a washstand, table, and a folding screen. Each of the four girls in the room furnished one pair of blankets or comforts, one pair of sheets, one pair of pillow cases, one coverlet or spread, and one-half dozen towels. The young ladies were expected to keep their rooms in perfect order, though chambermaids did the drudgery. The matron inspected the rooms daily, and at the close of the term gave a $5 prize to the girl who kept the neatest and most orderly room.^ Miss Jessie Boykin, one of four sisters to graduate at LaGrange Female College, told the writer the following story about her sister Sallie who graduated in 1879, and ? 2 Ibid. , p. 28. 73 Ibid . , p. 20. 71 later became Mrs. Cary: On the first day of April it was the custom of the college girls to celebrate April Fool's Day by running away. Sallie decided upon a novel way to wake up the crowd at a very early hour, before the college authori- ties were up to check their plans. Sleeping in a second story room with a front window she pulled her bed near the window and tied a string to her toe. The string was dropped out of the window, and some of the boys in town had promised to slip up The Hill before daylight and pull the string to wake her, then she was to wake the other girls. However, a pet goat, which stayed around the College Home, discovered the string long before the boys arrived, and chewing on it yanked Sallie 's toe. She arose immediately and waked the other girls. All were soon dressed and ready to go, but they had a long wait before day break, when they could see how to slip out and be off on their All Fool's Day adventure. Another of the Boykin sisters, Alice, graduated in 1882 and later became Mrs. Millard F. McClendon, mistress of the historic Ben Hill home. She was a loyal alumna and made many outstanding contributions to the College. She and Mr. McClendon were the donors of the famous Ben Hill gate posts that stand at the main entrance to The Hill. These gate posts add sentimental as well as artistic interest to the College. They once held heavy iron gates which guarded the entrance to the estate of Benjamin Harvey Hill, senator, statesman, and Southern hero, also a former frxend and trustee of the institution for many years. Iy Ik Miss Jessie Boykin, 311 Vernon Street, LaC-range, Georgia. Louxse Heath, Historic Gate Posts at College, LaGrange Daily News , October 8, 1931, p. 5. Jefferson Davis passed through these gates when he sought refuge in the Ben Hill Home as the Confederacy tottered, girls tripped through them in the picturesque costumes of the early 1830 's and Uo's when they "boarded" in the historic home and attended the LaGrange Female Institute. In September, 1879, the College opened with the finishing touches safely on. The main building was one of gracious, dignified lines, with ample classrooms, wide, cool corridors , and a chapel that was at that time the largest audience hall in Georgia. Behind it, across the green quadrangle, on the very top of the hill stood the dormitory, a beautiful temple-like building, with four large columns across the front. These columns have for several genera- tions been called with whimsical affection, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The grounds had been newly graded, terraced, and adorned with beautiful white picket fence, replacing the picturesque old rail fence, which with morning glories had 77 long enclosed the college property. Realizing that many more girls would have attended the College if finances had permitted, the Board of Trustees met June 20, 1878, and resolved that: Knowing the inability of our people generally to educate their daughters beyond the primary school, we propose to raise for the LaGrange Female College an endowment fund of one hundred thousand dollars, the 76 Loc . cit . 77 Benson, op . cit . , p. 29. interest of which alone shall he used in hoarding and educating young ladies whose parents cannot educate them. 78 Mr. Mayson and the trustees worked diligently to get an endowment fund of one thousand dollars started but it 79 was many years later before their dream was realized. After six years of prosperous labor and success in rebuilding the College, Mr. Mayson resigned his position as president, in order to return to the pastorate. The trustees then elected the Rev. John W. Heidt, D.D., who left the largest pastoral charge in the North Georgia Con- ference to assume his new duties in July, l88l.^ Dr. Heidt was a graduate of Emory College, a young lawyer in Savannah, and Solicitor-General of his circuit when he entered the ministry and the North Georgia Conference in 1866. It was said that he was genial in manner, ready in speech, unfailing in reason, and almost infinite in patience. 8l Few men were loved more than he. Dr. Heidt began his administration with an entirely new faculty of twelve teachers. During his presidency many 78 Journal, p. 351. 79 Ibid., pp. 351 ff. 80 Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 1881-82 , p. 25. 81 George C. Smith, The History of Georgia Methodism from 1786 to 1866 (Atlanta; A.B. Caldwell, Publisher, 1913), P. 335. improvements were made in the buildings and equipment. The course of study was advanced particularly in the department of religious education. The Music and Art Departments were outstanding, as they had always been. Elocution was a course required of all juniors and seniors. The degrees A.B. , B.S., and A.M. could be obtained by completing the required courses. The Alumnae of the College held an annual meeting to revive associations of the past and to contribute as far as possible to the prosperity of the Alma Mater. As an incentive to higher scholarship, prize medals were offered for excellence in elocution, vocal music, instrumental music, essay writing, pronunciations of French, and for the highest general average. ^ Although expenses were somewhat higher than before the war, two hundred sixty dollars covered the cost of board, washing, light, fuel; Literary, French, and music tuition with use of piano and incidentals for the scholastic year. No charge for tuition was made against daughters of Or clergymen living by the ministry. 82 Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 1881-82 , p. 5 83 Loc . cit . ^ Slbid . , p . 16 . ^Ibid. , p. l8. Dr. Heidt served faithfully and efficiently for four years, during which time the patronage of the school in- creased to such an extent that dormitory space was inade- quate. All dormitory rooms were filled and three rooms were made by closing ends of large halls. 00 Th e insurance 87 on the buildings was increased to twelve thousand dollars. The outlook is not very flattering. Endowed colleges are growing in favor with patrons because of their ample equipment, and our rigid discipline and high grade of scholarship will rule some pupils out, but we will not lack in true attractions nor fail in labor. 88 The main topic of discussion at every Board meeting from June, 1833, to 1885 , was the need for more rooms, con- veniences, equipment, repairs, etc., and of their unsuccess- ful efforts to raise sufficient funds. 89 In Dr. Heidt' s report to the trustees June 6, I885 , he stated that the future of the College depended much more upon enlargement of the College Home and a few conveniences than on an endow- ment fund. 90 He realized his failure as a business manager 86 Journal, p. ^50. 8T Ibid . , p. k5h. 88 . Ibid . , p. U53. 89 Ibid . , pp. U50 ff. 90 Ibid. , p. U76. but was proud of the religious influence of the College on the young ladies. He wrote in the Journal: Nearly every pupil is a member of some branch of the Christian Church, and has a conscious experience of religion. In the college home all are members without exception. Each member of the graduating class is a member of the church. 91 Two projects which Dr. Heidt especially hoped to accomplish were the addition of a wing to the dormitory and 92 the installation of a plumbing system. While the funds were being sought, he resigned, suggesting as his successor Professor Rufus Wright Smith, who was at that time president of the Dalton Female Academy in Dalton, Georgia. 93 Loc . cit . 92 Journal, p. 453. 93 Ibid . , p. 516. CHAPTER V THE DAYS OF UNCLE RUFUS (The Smith Regime, 1885-1915) When Mr. Smith accepted the presidency of the LaGrange Female College, the longest and most constructive period in its history began. The Smith regime, affectionately referred to as "The Days of Uncle Rufus" by those who knew him best, began in July, 1885, and continued until his death, on January 2, 1915; after which his son, Alwyn M. Smith, assumed the duties of president until the end of the term. During this thirty-year regime many additions and improve- ments were made in the course of study, the buildings, and the equipment. Also, a broadening of purpose and quickening of the spirit of the institution was soon evident.-'- v/hen Mr. Smith became president, the number of boarding students had dwindled to seven. In less than ten years there were two hundred and forty. 2 Among the most prominent civic, cultural, social, and religious leaders of the South today, there are numbers of 1 Margaret Edmondson, "LaGrange College Enters 108th Year of Educational Progess ," The LaGrange Daily Hews , October 18, 1938, p. k. 2. Memoirs of Georgia , Historical and Biographical , Vol. II (Atlanta: The Southern Historical Association, 1895), p. 929. - t 78 alumnae of that era, though many more have made their con- tributions and passed on. In order to get a true picture of this period, it is necessary to know something of Mr. Smith and his remarkable and talented family who comprised the majority of the faculty for many years. A memorial of Rufus Wright Smith, printed for LaGrange College, not only eulogizes Mr. Smith, but also gives many interesting facts about his life, as shown in the following excerpts : Rufus W. Smith, for more than half a century one of the great educators of Georgia, and for nearly a third of a century President of LaGrange Female College, was born in Greene County, Georgia, March H, 1835 . He graduated in 1856 with first honors of his class at Emory College, and received several other prizes for excellence in his work. In 1873, Emory College gave him the degree of Master of Arts. . . .3 Professor Smith first taught in Atlanta, and from there he went to Barnesville, then to Sparta, and during the unsettled years after the War between the States he taught and farmed near his old home in Greene County. Duping the war he became First Lieutenant of the Hancock Rifles, but was detailed shortly afterward by Governor Brown to the Griffin Relief Association, which work he kept up after the war was over, in providing for the returning soldiers so that they could reach their homes more easily. A Memorial of Rufus Wright Smith , Bulletin (LaGrange Georgia: Billinghust-Randall Printing Company, February, 1915), p. k. - .... 79 Coming from a family of teachers Mr. Smith returned to his chosen profession as soon as possible. In the early seventies he became head of the preparatory school of Emory College; from there he went as President of the Dalton Female College, and then became President of LaC-range Female College in the summer of I885. In addi- tion to his personal and untiring service he contributed more than forty thousand dollars to this institution. h "Professor Rufus" as he was known in his earlier days , and "Uncle Rufus" as he was known in the latter years of life was in many respects the most unique character, and striking personality of his state. . . . He was not eccentric, but in his individuality he stood out and apart from his fellows .... There was not about him the semblance of the affected or artificial. The cast of his mind was philosophical; he sought to know the cause of that which he saw and of that which he knew. Without exaggeration he has been likened to Socrates. If the great Grecian and this great Georgian had lived in the same community, they would have been congenial and intimate friends, each contributing in his own way to the pleasure of the other, and both rejoicing in the search and discovery of truth. 5 Mr. Smith delighted many different audiences in Georgia on various occasions. He always had something to say and knew how to say it. His clear statements^ apt illustrations, epigrams, and brilliant flashes of wit made him a charming speaker.^ As a teacher, his methods were his own. He seemed to put little emphasis on mere knowledge of texts, his chief k Loc . cit . Ibid , p. 6. Wesley an Christian Advocate, January o, 1915. 80 purpose being to develop faculties and to teach how to study. He x/as a great teacher because first he was a great Christian, a product of a Christian home, devoted to Jesus Christ, loyal to his Church, but no bigot or partisan. His work, whether as a teacher in the school, church, as a 7 steward, or visiting the sick, was well done. In eulogizing Mr. Smith, his wife must not be over- looked since she was in her own way as much a power in the building of LaGrange College as was her husband. On December 2, 1856, soon after Mr. Smith's graduation from Emory College, he married a member of the faculty, Miss Oreon Mann, daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah D. and Mary (Jernigan) Mann. She was a brilliant and gifted woman who did many things well, a splendid mother and housekeeper and a capable teacher of many subjects, among which physiology and astronomy were her favorites. She was also an excellent writer. Her interesting and romantic novel , The rlovice , was published in I89U. Kirs. Smith had studied medicine, and was the "College Physician" in most cases of illness among the girls during her lifetime here. She filled most of her own prescriptions and some of them continued to be sold in a local drug store several years after her death. There was a Loc. cit. 81 great demand for her "Composition Tea," which was good for nearly all "ailments." Her grandson, Paul Smith, who was "brought up in the College Home and received his early education in the Primary Department of LaGrange Female College, told the writer many interesting incidents of his life there and about his grand- parents as : Grandma was a Spartan, never yielding to any physical weakness of her own and having little sympathy for chronic complainers, though she was ready at all times to help people in real sickness and trouble. She was also a fearless and typical "Rebel." On one occasion when Grandpa bought a History of the United States, she read it, and on every page where any reflection was made against the South or anything complimentary was stated about the North, she wrote in all the margins, "Lies, lies all lies I" and returned the book to the publisher. Her favorite word, when she opposed anything, was "Pshaw, Aw, Pshaw." She was very stern and though the girls respected her, they never felt as close to her as they did to Grandpa, who was always so gentle with them. Many of those who knew him best say that if only one word could be used to describe him, that word would be "gentlemess." He seldom felt it necessary to reprimand any one. Rather he seemed to inspire them to want to do their best. Many of the girls were a long way from home and did not see their parents until the end of the term. If Grandpa saw one weeping because of home sickenss, he would say, "Cry on, Sissie, I wouldn't give a hill of beans for a girl who doesn't cry when she leaves mother." One of his favorite Bible quotations was "I'd rather be a door keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tentss of wickedness." He had a very keen sense Information furnished by Mrs. Paul Smith, wife of a "ferandson of Mr. and Mrs. Rufus Smith, a former teacher of LaGrage college, and close neighbor of the writer. 82 of humor and chuckled often, but was never heard to laugh aloud. 9 His sayings to his graduating classes when he deli- vered their diplomas were gems of wisdom and volumes of philosophy, along right lines of living. On more than one occasion he told them that his greatest desire had been to develop in them traits of character which would make each of them a "real help meet, not just a help eat." He also told them that the three steps to greatness are: "den?/ yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus." His life was a clear indication that he practiced what he preached.^ Although a book could be written about the contribu- tions of each of the children of Rufus W. and Mrs. Smith, a short sketch in the Memoirs of Georgia , in l895 showed that they were well on their way in lives of outstanding leader- ship: Eight children blessed their union: Euler B. , pro- fessor of English in the LaGrange Female College, possesses rare classical and lignuistic attainments, has acquired distinction in Texas as a teacher and besides his profound knowledge of English and Latin, has mastered the Spanish language during a year's residence in Mexico; Cecil H. , a lawyer in Sherman, Texas, for many years county attorney; Hubert M., professor, literary department, LaGrange Female College; Clifford L., Statement by Mr. Paul Smith, grandson of "Uncle Rufus" and son of Mr. Euler B. Smith. 10 Statements by Mrs. A.H. Thompson (nee Mary Will Cleaveland, Class 1898), 201 Hill Street, LaGrange, Georgia. 83 principal high school, LaGrange (for six years teacher of Natural Science in the college); Leon P., professor of Latin and Chemistry; Maidee, teacher of instrumental music; Claire L. , also teacher of music. Alwyn M. , vocal director, spent fifteen years and thousands of dollars to acquire proficiency, and his wife, the former Laura B. Crain, also a teacher, took second honor at the Boston Conservatory. Both were graduates of the Leipzig Conservatory of Music and were instrumental in placing the department of music upon a high plane of excellence. Euler B. has been president of the Georgia Teacher's Association, and his wife teaches Geometry. The follow- ing orthographical triumph stands to the professor's credit: At a spelling match in LaGrange, a word was given out from Webster's Blue Back Speller; he did not follow its orthography and was called out. He seated himself under protest, afterward investigated the matter, corresponded with the p ublishers , and since 1886, the word has appeared as he spelled it. LaGrajige Female College is now equipped equal to any in the state, is located in a city of unsurpassed healthfulness , and under the experienced educators as President and Mrs. Smith, aided by a family of such wonderfully endowed children and other excellent teachers, cannot be achieve the very highest success. 11 Mrs. Paul Smith, a daughter-in-law of Mir. Euler B., said of him: He was the best informed, the most polite, and the most modest person I have ever known. He had a wonder- ful way all his own, of imparting knowledge without embarrassing anyone. 12 A short biography found on the first pages of the History of Troup County, published in 1935 and from which the writer has quoted many times , gives some interesting facts about its author, Clifford L. Smith: ' Memoirs of Georgia , op . cit . , p. 929. Mrs. Paul Smith, op . cit . Clifford Lewis Smith, the fifth child of Rufus Wright and Oreon Mann Smith, was born in Greene County, Georgia, March 25, I867. He came of a family of artists and educators. April 2, 1893, he was married to Miss Pearl Long (Miss Pearl Long, A.B. , 1891, LaGrange Female College. Catalog 1908, p. 9) of Greenwood, Florida, whose genius and culture have been an inspiration to him. After attending Emory College and Chicago Univer- sity, he selected teaching as a profession and taught several years in LaGrange Female College. When LaGrange established a public school system, he was elected superintendent of the schools and held the position for fourteen years. It is said by those who know that Professor Smith is the most versatile man in this section of the state. He has no particular hobby, but takes a delight in solving problems in higher mathematics. He has mastered chemistry and physics. He is an authority on subjects pertaining to botany and astronomy. He is a master in mechanics. He is a musician and knows the technique of music. He speaks French, reads Latin and Greek, and understands some German, Italian and Spanish. A distinct honor came to Mr. Smith in 1908. He was one of a number of American teachers invited by the teachers of Great Britain to visit the school systems of England, Scotland and Ireland. He made an extended trip to those countries and on his return wrote a report to the American Civic Federation under whose auspices the visit was made. This report relating to these schools and the educational systems was given the title of "Views and Values." He has written a number of treatises on different subjects, among them, Trees and Birds of Troup County. Professor Smith is a most pleasing conversationalist. He possesses a rare grace and charm of manner. He is courteous, unpretentious, genial and efficient. He is loved and respected by all who know him. He is a loyal friend, a good neighbor, an upright citizen, a Christian gentleman. Such is the author of the History of Troup County. 13 J.H. Me Is on, "The Author," in History of Trout) County, by Clifford L. Smith, on. cit. , p. iii 85 One of the first improvements made in the curriculum by Professor Rufus was the establishment of a regular Department of Education.. The Primary and Preparatory Departments of the College were used for Observation and Practice Teaching . The Catalogue of 1887-88 stated: The time has come when the public realizes that teaching is a profession, and those entering it must be qualified. A call to teach is a call to prepare to teach. The old school master was content with a know- ledge of the "three R's"; the ideal modern teacher, besides these must study the "three M's Mind, Matter, and Method. "Ik A Commercial Department was also added in 1897. The course included bookkeeping, commercial arithmetic, business correspondence, and a simple form of penmanship, doing away with the many unnecessary, ornamental curls and flourishes of the old Spencerian style. Every girl was required to take bookkeeping, because Mr. Smith believed that every housekeeper should know how to keep a correct account of her income and expense. A successful business man wrote him: I am glad to see you have a commercial department. Our women know very little about the every day business affairs of life. Many graduates can work out difficult problems, and read Latin and French; but how many can make out a post office money order, or tell the differ- ence between a draft and a check? You are on the right line. Teach your girls business. 15 Although the Music Department of the College had always been outstanding, it was greatly improved under the Ik Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 1887-88 , p. 25. ^Ibid. , p. 26. - 86 supervision of the Smiths. One proof of that fact was evidenced by a gain of over 56 per cent the first year in the number of students enrolled in that department. It offered: Theory, History of Music, Piano-Forte, Violin, Cornet, Organ, Sight Singing, and Voice Culture. The methods of teaching these courses were those used by the best in- l6 structors in America and European Conservatories. A few Press Excerpts in the Appendix of the Catalogue of 1887-88 will give an idea of the reputation of some of the instructors of this period: We reprint from the Wesleyan Christian Advocate an article from the pen of Dr. Weyman K. Potter, its gifted editor, concerning the outlook for the LaGrange Female College. It is a deserved tribute to a school which stands among the first. President Smith and wife are assisted by an able faculty Professor Euler B. Smith, whose capacity and success have given him a high posi- tion among Southern educators; Mrs. Euler B. Smith, who is a brilliant lady and a teacher without a superior in her department; Miss Pond, the instrumental teacher, whose past achievements are a guarantee that her work will always be efficiently done, and the accomplished Miss Witherspoon, one of the first young ladies and most gifted vocalists in the South. With such a corps of instructors there can be no failure. The college is enjoying great prosperity. The boarding house is full and the local patronage excellent. LaGrange Reporter , October 10, 1886. Opelika, Ala., April 28, 1888. (Special) To say that the LaGrange Female College Concert Company have carried Opelika by storm but faintly expresses the high appreciation Opelika has for the exquisite music rendered by them at P.enfroe's Opera House on Friday- evening. The singers all received rounds of applause. 16 Loc. cit 87 Miss Pauline Witherspoon was cheered to the echo, and while she was singing a pin could have been heard to fall, so enraptured were her auditors. The sweet, rich, and full voice of Miss Jennie Evans was fully appreci- ated. Alwyn Smith completed the trio of perfect soloists. Miss Luella Pond as an instrumentalist cannot be excelled. The vocal quartets and duets and instru- mental pieces fully sustained the refutation of the College as the peer of any institution in the South Atlantic and Gulf States. Opelika extends a cordial invitation to them to return at an early date and give another one of their grand concerts , when we promise them that standing room will be at a premium. Montgomery Advertiser . Prof. E.B. Smith, of the LaGrange (Ga. ) Female College, is in our city on business connected with that splendid institution. Mr. Smith is well known in Texas, having been long connected with the Normal School at Whitesboro, and has the reputation of being one of the best Latin and English scholars in the State. He has a thorough and practical knowledge of Spanish, having spent a year in the educational centers of the sister Republic. The magnificent institution he represents stands at the head of the colleges of the South, and the teachers are selected from amongst the best in the country. The art and musical facilities are unmatched. To those of our citizens who contemplate a finished education for their daughters, there is no place within our knowledge where it can be obtqined under more favorable conditions than at the LaGrange Female College. Corsic ana ( Texas ) Courier , September 2, 1887. The feature of the exercises was the splendid music furnished by Mr. Alwyn Smith and Miss Mai dee Smith, of LaGrange Female College. Miss Smith presided at the organ with grace and elegance, with her brother enter- tained the audience from time to time with some of the best vocal music ever rendered in North Georgia. Mr. Alwyn Smith is a cultivated singer perhaps the best vocalist in the State. Cherokee Advance , June 29, 1887, Canton, Georgia. Miss Laura B. Crain, whose home is in Brookfield, Missouri , stood second in her class , and her diploma is one of the best ever taken from the New England Con- servatory. This young lady was a close student, and during the years of study here has made many friends in the Conservatory. Having the advantage of beauty and 88 culture on her side, together with remarkable talent, she bids fair to become famous as a singer at no distant day. Boston Transcript. 17 After reading these excerpts it should come as no surprise that Miss Laura Crain was listed in the faculty of 1888-89 as Mrs. Alwyn M. Smith. Special attention was called to the fact that all teachers were liberally educated, enthusiastic, and esperi- enced. Their vacations were not spent in "mere idle recre- ation, but in studying matter and methods, thereby better l8 preparing themselves for their suecial work." Students were given monthly written examinations , and at the end of each three months, a term examination, after which a report was sent to the parents of each pupil. These reports not only showed the quality of their academic work, but also their church attendance which was a requirement of 19 equal importance. * The two members of the Senior Class having the highest average during their college course were appointed by the Faculty to deliver the Valedictory and Salutatory addresses at commencement. In the Junior Class the twelve 1T Ibid . , pp. 55-58. 18 Ibid . , p. 32. 19 ^Report cards of Mrs. A.H. Thompson (nee Mary Will Cleaveland, Class 1898). 89 young ladies having the highest class standing were appointed to read original compositions , and in the Sophomore class , as many as ten young ladies could be selected to read or recite extracts during the Commencement exercises. Medals were awarded several pupils each year for Excellence in Elocution, Art, Voice, Piano, and Essay writing and reading. 2 Three regular courses of study were offered in the literary department of the College, viz.: Classical, scientific, and post graduate, leading to the degree of B.A. , B.S., and M.A. Also, another year was added to the preparatory department, making six instead of five grades. 21 In his report to the trustees on June 5, 1886, at the close of his first year, Mr. Smith said that the College had been greatly handicapped because of the rundown condition of the College Home and the fact that no catalogue had been sent out for the scholastic year 188U-85. The attendance had dropped very low because it had been a slow process to notify parents by letter of the claims of superiority of the insti- tution. The local attendance was good, but the fall session of 1885 had begun with only six young ladies in the College Home. However, the spring term had ended with twenty-six resident students and a number of pupils boarding in private Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 1887-88 , pp. 33-3U. 21 Ibid., 1888-39, p. 3k. homes in the city. Sixteen young ladies graduated and six 22 got certificates in June, 1886. Citizens of LaGrange had subscribed about one hundred dollars in amounts from ten cents to ten dollars. Some repairs and painting had been done, but his list of addi- tions and improvements which would have to be made for the College to succeed was much larger. ^3 On June 6, 1887, in the Journal, he wrote: A kitchen is a necessity. The one now being used is in danger of being burned at any time. Twice during the past year this unsightly building caught on fire, and but for diligence and prompt action, it would have been consumed, and probably would have caused the loss of the boarding home also. Any feasible plan for enlargement now will be worthy of the best thought of this intelli gent Board 2h On June 2U, 1887, the Board of Trustees agreed to raise ten thousand dollars by issuing bonds and mortgaging the collegeproperty. The proceeds were to be used to build an annex on the south end of the College Home and make other necessary additions and improvements on the buildings, 25 equipment , and grounds . On June 27, 1887, the Board of Trustees leased* the LaGrange Female College to Mr. and Mrs. Rufus Smith, for a Journal, op_. cit . , p. 5^9. ' Loc . cit . Ibid . , p. 560 ' Ibid . , p. 576. *Developed in greater detail later in the study. 91 period of twenty years. It was to be managed and controlled by Mr. and Mrs. Smith but the contract was not to interfere in any way with the relations existing between the College and the North Georgia Conference of The Methodist Church South, "and the children of preachers and their orphans shall have the same privileges of free tuition as hereto- fore." 26 On August 19, I887, the cornerstone to the Annex of the College Home was laid by the Masonic Fraternity, Union Lodge No. 28, and a program of vocal and instrumental music was enjoyed most of the day. On August 23, the building committee reported that work on the annex was progressing rapidly and would be practically completed by September 15. 2 ' When school opened in September, 1888, the capacity of the College Home had been doubled to comfortably accommodate more than a hundred boarders. It was a handsome brick building, 50 x 160 feet, two stories high at one end and three at the other, containing thirty rooms for boarders, parlors, reading room, kitchen, store room, and a dining hall 30 x 60 feet. The bedrooms were eighteen feet square with doors opening into broad halls, and with two or more windows receiving air and sun- shine from without. Water works had recently been installed, 26 Ibid., pp. 585-87-. 2T Ibid. , p. 591. 92 had recently been installed, and arrangements had been made for electric lights to be furnished during the coming 28 season. A great convenience to many local students who did not stay in the College Home , but who walked to and from school every day, was a street railway, which was laid in 1887 from the railroad station to Main Street, and from the square down Broad Street by the College. In Mr. Clifford Smith's History of Troup County , he told of an amusing incident connected with it: The vehicle of locomotion was a muledrawn car, which was a great pleasure and convenience to the college girls. On one occasion one of the students entered the car while the driver was absent, probably in a flirta- tion with some girl. The sagacious mule, deciding that it was time for the return trip, started towards town with the one passenger and no driver. The college hill had not been graded at that time, and as there was no one to apply the brakes, that student had a most thrilling ride, until she and the mule were rescued on Court Square. 2 9 A cheerful note sounded in the minutes of the Board of Trustees, when they met June 2, 1888. It was in part: We feel that all the friends of the college have great reason to "thank God and take courage." ... We particularly rejoice in the fact as stated in the presi- dent's report that "the financial condition of the college is sound. "30 28 Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 1888-89 , pp. 1*2-1*3. 29 Clifford Smith, op_. cit . , p. 52. 30 , Journal, p. 609. 93 In the school year 1891-92 another wing 50' x 50' , three stories high, was added to the northern end of the dormitory, in which were housed the infirmary, a gymnasium, the prayer hall (where daily devotionals were held by the pupils), and bedrooms. The entire building accommodated one hundred and twenty- five boarders . The installation of a magnificent pipe organ in the chapel, the addition of several pianos and other musical instruments to the music department, also books to the library and typewriters to the commercial department were noteworthy attainments of the lo90's. The report of the Committee on Education of the LaGrange Female College, to the North Georgia Conference in 1893 stated: The President's report is interesting and suggestive. As noted in the report of this committee last year, Maj. W.S. Witham of Atlanta, Georgia, donated $10,000 for the education of dependent girls, conditioned upon the raising of $5,000 by the friends of the college by January, 1893. President Smith reports that this $5,000 was subscribed and the time of payment extended by Mr. Witham to July, 189^, on account of financial stringency. Two young ladies of high mark in scholar- ship have already enjoyed the benefit of Mr. Witham' s generosity.': All the friends of this school will unite in a grateful return of thanks to this strong friend of female education. This property is worth $80,000 and is in good repair and perfectly adapted to its work. The attendance the past year was as follows: Enrollment, 20h; boarders, 95; local pupils, 109; graduates, 31. The 31 Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 1892-93 , p. 39. 32 Benson, otj. cit. 9h college is very essential to our church in Eastern Alabama and Western Georgia. We beg for it an enlarged place in your minds and hearts. 33 Mr. Witham's loan fund was established in honor of Laura Haygood, a Missionary to China, and has been of in- estimable value to the College and students , who could never have obtained a college education -without such help. There have always been more ap-plicatns for aid from the fund than could be granted. At the close of the nineteenth century, on the last pages of the Journal, in which the minutes of the Board of Trustees had been kept since January, 1857, is written: We are pleased to note the administrative ability, and efficient discipline system of our worthy President and his most estimable wife, together with every member of the faculty in the management of all the details of the college. They each and all seem happily fitted for their work, and we must congratulate the board of trustees and the patrons on their good fortune in securing the services of so able and efficient a corps of educators. We feel that we are not saying too much, when we claim that the LaGrange Female College is the ;oeer of any institution of learning in all our land. 35 Year Book and Minutes of the Twenty-seventh Session of the North Ge or gi a Conference , op . cit . , p . 29 . 3U Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 1900 , p. 22. 35 Journal, pp. 632-33. 95 It was a well-known fact that Mr. Smith was never satisfied with the attainments of any pupil unless she was or came to be a Christian while in the College. Not only were daily devotionals held in the Prayer Hall, and Church attendance required on Sunday, but Bible study was also a 36 required part of the curriculum. One of the greatest contributive factors toward the religious life of the girls was the establishment of the Y.W.C.A. by Miss Maidee Smith, daughter of Uncle Rufus. Just as LaGrange College is one of the oldest colleges for women in America, so is its Y.W.C.A. one of the oldest chapters in the South. It was a charter member of what was first known as The Gulf States Divi- sions of the International Y.W.C.A. of the United States and Canada. In June 1895, Miss Maidee Smith went as a delegate from LaGrange College to the first conference for southern students, which was held in Rogerville, Tennes- see. She was deeply impressed by the consecration of the association secretaries, the earnestness of the Bible teachers , and the stimulating message brought by the Missionaries. Miss Maidee returned to LaGrange College with the determination to organize a Y.W.C.A. on the campus. The faculty and students were not enthusiastic about it at first, but an association was organized with about 30 members. Gradually the influence of this new organiza- tion began to be felt on the Campus , and by the next year every teacher and student had become a member, and a town division had been organized. LaGrange College girls owe Miss Smith a debt of gratitude not only for bringing this organization to the campus but for the large support she gave to it through the years and the high ideal exemplified each day in her life. Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 1890-91 , p. 39. The aims and ideals of the Y.W.C.A. were high. It endeavored to help each student to live nobly; to efface from her character narrowness and unkindness and to cultivate those traits which would enable her to meet bravely the challenges of life. It inspired in the life of each girl ideals that tend to build a beautiful character. The Y.W.C.A. emphasized physical and social development, believing that both were necessary for spiritual growth and Christian education. More than anything else on the campus the Y.W.C.A. draws the girls close together in the bonds of love and friendship, and made them feel like one great happy family. Every girl on the campus was a member. Its work was planned by a cabinet composed of a president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer. The president of the student government association, the chairman of committees, and their subchairman. Each member felt a vital interest in the work because she had the privilege of serving on one of these committees. The cabinet met weekly in the attractive "Y" room. 37 The twentieth century began with an excellent enrollment and the standard of the curriculum was as high as that of any female college in the South. The entrance requirements and those for receiving an A.B. degree were the same as those of Emory, Mercer, and the University of Georgia. ^ For the sake of economy and to prevent any discontent arising from disparity in dress, the girls were required to wear a uniform on Sundays and other occasions which the "Lady Principal" (Mrs. Rufus Smith) advocated. The uniform during the fall and winter consisted of Oxford cap and gown 37 "Local Group Is One of the Oldest Y.W.C.A. Chapters," article in The LaGrange Dai ly Hews and Graphic Shuttle , October 8, 1931, p. 31. 38 Benson, op . cit . , p. 36 97 of black lustrine, which cost about eight dollars. In spring the uniform -was a black skirt and white waist. For everyday wear no uniform was required but parents were 39 requested to dress their daughters plainly. Close supervision was exercised over the health of boarding pupils, and parents were urged not to let their daughters come home for frequent week end visits, and not to send them boxes of eatables, such as sweetmeats, calces, etc., since most sickness arose from such causes and the fare of the College was ample. The following list of regulations for boarding pupils shows what was expected of the girls in 1900: PUPILS MUST Wear the College uniform. Meet visitors only in reception room. Contract no debts at stores or elsewhere. Pay for damage done to College property. Promptly report sickness to Lady Principal. Arrange room before leaving in the morning. Be neat in person. Discontinue no study without permission of Faculty. Promptly obey rising, prayer, study , and school bells. Observe the Sabbath and attend Sunday-school and church, PUPILS MUST WOT Spend the night out of the College. Communicate with young gentlemen. Sit in windows, throw or converse therefrom. Leave grounds without permission and escort. Send or receive anything by means of day pupils. 39 Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 1900 , p. 23. Uo T Ibid., p. 26. 98 visit sick or exchange rooms without permission. Leave playing pianos open or visit music or art rooms without permission. hi In spite of the various restrictions thrown around the "Girls on The Hill," many of the best of them managed to get by with things not on the approved list. Mrs. Frank Davis, nee Annie M. Dunson, class 1903, gave two interesting experiences in which she participated as follows: A MIDNIGHT FEAST There were many interesting and enjoyable experi- ences ; for instance a box from home meant a Midnight Feast, an after lights occasion, which brought together all the special friends of the recipient , at least as many as could sneak out of their rooms and not be caught by the teacher who was keeping study hall. There were many girls each year from the surrounding counties and from Troup County itself, who visited home about one week end every month, returning with products from the farm suitable for the occasion. But woe unto any girl caught attending those feats, for no visiting was permitted after 10:30, and even before that hour special permission must be obtained by any girl wishing to leave her room for any cause. Uncle Rufus did not encourage too frequent visiting and any girl wishing to visit a roommate or friend over the week end must have written permission from mother and father. My roommates and I had stealthily taken part in a number of these midnight occasions so we decided we would have a feast with the Law behind us. VJe bearded the Lion in his den, which at that time was the first door on your right as you entered the dormitory. Uncle Rufus listened to our plans and readily agreed that we might have our party on Saturday night, even consenting to an extra half-hour, but lights must be out at ten- thirty. hi Ibid . , p # 2k 99 The guests were formally invited, the invitations being egg shaped and hearing the following message: "Mr. and Mrs. Biddie invite you to their nest from eight until ten-thirty. P. B. Y. P. (Please bring your pillow.)" No one refused and all were on time. While the eggs boiled, the coffee brewed, and the toast browned each guest contributed to the entertainment with a song, a story, and a funny joke, which was often a little risque. The menu consisted of three dozen hard boiled eggs, three gallons of very strong coffee, innumerable pieces of toast buttered and browned under the grate on the ash shovel, which was lined with brown paper. For dessert fresh ginger cakes made by Miss Angle Smith, housekeeper at that time, and who for some reason considered me as a sort of protegee since she had always known my family. She frequently invited me to her room downstairs and fed me choice tidbits. The Biddy's party was an unqualified success. The guests left promptly and in a few minutes quiet reigned excent in our room. In restoring the room to order we found a half gallon of coffee in the urn which I had borrowed from Hiss Angie; also a few eggs in the kettle, and almost a loaf of bread and plenty of butter. Now no true college girl wastes any food so we finished it off in short order. Then to bed, but not to sleep. The clock struck one, two, three, fourl By five we were slumbering peacefully. The rising bell on Sunday rang at seven instead of six. At seven-thirty all girls assembled in the Prayer Hall for morning devotions and roll call. But on this particular morning the girls in 22 slumbered on until a loud knock on the door sounded and an equally loud voice called out, "Mr. Smith says for you to come to the Prayer Hall." Imagine our embarrassment on entering to see every eye on us and grinning from ear to ear at four of Mr. Smith's model girls, caught on the "horn of a dilemma" as it were. For on several occasions to those students who flagrantly broke every rule in the book Mr. Smith had referred them to us as examples to follow. However, we later offered our apologies, which he accepted with a broad grin and a gentle pat on my back.U2 k2 True story contributed by Mrs. Frank Davis, nee Annie Margaret Duns on, Class 1903. 100 HALLOWEEN PRANKS One Halloween night while most of the students were attending a recital in the Prayer Hall, Allevia Tucker and I met in the upstairs hall for a little visit. It was such an auspicious occasion we decided that we shouldn't resis assisting the spooks in their Halloween revelries. Going to our rooms we each donned a sheet covering all except our faces which we powdered profusely with prepared chalk. Even a genuine spook would have shivered at the sight. Allevia took the annex while I started down the main aj|ll. At the far end of the hall in what at that time was No. 16, a dim light was shining thro 1 a slightly open door. Cautiously and quietly I tiptoed down the hall and stepped .just inside the partly open door. A classmate and friend, Esty Askew was seated by the grate-fire with her feet propped against the mantel. Her electric light, shaded by a small red shade was also fastened against the mantel, throwing an eerie light over the room. As I continued to stand motionless the girl turned her head and saw me. She rose as if jerked from her chair and let out the most unearthly shriek I ever heard. Immediately doors began to open and rapid footsteps reached my ears. I grabbed my sheet up around my waist and ran as if a banshee were after me. Unfortunately there was a big hole in the carpet strip by the head of the stairs and as I fled my heel caught in the hole and I hit the floor like a ton of bricks. There was no time to stop for injuries and once more in full flight I soon reached my room. Here I shed my sheet and stuffed it under the mattress , crawled in bed and covered up head and ears. While I shivered in the darkness some one opened the door and said, "Quiet in here; only one person and she's as leep . 11 For at least an hour I hugged the cover until things quieted down, then I cautiously rose, put on night gown and kimono and strode casually toward the bathroom, passing a group of girls gathered under the electric light and discussing the disturbance. They finished the story. 101 Mrs. Smith had "braved the stairs and finally calmed the hysterical girl, who insisted that she had seen a ghost. Weeks afterward I finally told Estey that I was her ghostly visitor, after swearing her to secrecy. Allevia's experience was even more dramatic; she had seen a light in a tecaher's room and quietly entered only to find the teacher disrobed and taking a bath by the fire. The ghost did not tarry and to this day neither the teacher nor the ghost has revealed the secret. h3 In May, 190U, the local Alumnae made a temporary organization. As many of the Alumnae as could be located were invited to attend. Many ante-bellum graduates as well as those of later days were present. The welcome address was delivered by Mrs. Alberta V. (Amos) Heard, of the Class of 1853, who lived in LaGrange. Officers were elected for the next year and since that time the association has held a reunion each Commencement.^ Contributions from the Alumnae have made many worthwhile improvements in the "buildings and on the campus throughout the years. Secret societies were not allowed, as it was believed that they "tended toward extravagance and exclusiveness."^ There were two literary societies, the Irenian, established during the early seventies, and the Mezzofantian, established ^ Loc . cit . kk Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 190U-05 , p. 37. Ibid . , p. 36. 102 in 1887. They met weekly and had exercises in readings, debates, essays, criticisms, music, and practice in parlia- mentary visages. One of the societies gave a public debate U6 once each month on Saturday evening. They also published the Oreon, a delightful little magazine of about twenty- five pages, each month, for which a subscription was one dollar per annum. The following copy of the Index of the January, 1899, issue shows the versa- once each month on Saturday evening. tility of the subject matter: Index^ T Page Literary Department Why 1 Reading 1 Gerald's Reverts 3 The Fox Hunt k Indian Springs on a Summer Afternoon ... 5 A Sketch 5 Fine Arts Department Bach and Handel (continued) 7 Jenny Lind and the Dissipated Musician . . 10 Music 11 Pupils' Recital 11 Religious Department Little Doors to Heaven 12 Another Year 12 The Sweet Singer 13 Christian Education ... ih Editorial Department Editorials ...... l6 Exchanges 17 Current Events 18 News 20 This and That 22 About the Alumnae 22 U6 Loc . cit . 1*7 Loc . cit . 103 Publishing this magazine not only gave the young ladies valuable experiences in Journalism and self-expression, but also served as a medium of interest between the school and its many friends and patrons. It also kept the Alumnae in touch with each other and brought many worthy contribu- tions to the College from them. One such news article was : The Blance Drake Smith Memorial Fund has been estab- lished at LaGrange Female College for the benefit of dependent young ladies. The alumnae of the college and all other friends to this benevolent enterprise can , become members by paying the annual dues of one dollar. In 1906, Mrs. J.C. Davidson, of West Point, Georgia, gave the sum of $1,000 as a loan fund in memory of her deceased husband, Rev. J.C. Davison; and Mr. Hatton Lovejoy, a prominent lawyer of LaGrange , agreed to give $50 annually as an additional loan fund to students. In the meantime the $10,000 donated by Mr. W.S. Witham in 1893 had increased to over $22,000 and more than one hundred girls had received help from the fund. 5 1 By this time the public schools were so well estab- lished in LaGrange and over the State, that the College no U8 Loc. ext. ,9 i Ibid. , 1908, p. Ik. Loc . cit . 50 longer conducted Grammar School grades , although a course of study was offered in the Academy from the seventh through the tenth grades. 51 The College had long been famous for its Music Department and there were many young ladies who did not care to get a literary degree, but wanted to specialize in Music, Voice, Art, or Expression. They were classed as Irregular or Special students, but were required to take enough literary work to occupy their time. After completing the desired course of study, they received certificates. 52 In the early years of the twentieth century the College offered a wide range of choices in its course of study , including Latin, German, Greek, French, and Spanish, 53 but the Music Department often granted more diplomas than all the other departments combined. In 1898, thirteen Bachelor of Arts, and fifteen Bachelor of Science degrees were earned, while only two diplomas in Music and two in Art were received. In 1909 eleven girls obtained diplomas in Music, and only nine others graduated with Bachelor of Arts degrees. 5^ These figures also showed a decline in attendance at the College. 5I Tbid. , 1905, p. 11 52 Ibid . , p. 14. 53 Ibid., 1910, pp. 16-17. Ibid., 1917-18, pp. 73-79. 105 Relatively few changes in course of study, general rules, requirements, or expenses of the College are percept- ible in the catalogues from 1900 until 1913. Then a Department of Domestic Science and Domestic Art with a well equipped laboratory was added. Exhibits from the department made at the Troup County Fair in November, 1913, were awarded two first prizes and nine second prizes. 55 The Business Department which had practically died was given new life by a new teacher, Miss Dana Tatum, who was also Secretary of the College. The Bible Department was enlarged to include Religious Education. It proposed to make the department a Training School for Christian Workers, prepared to work in the various activities of the modern church, including the mission fields. ^ There was practically no increase in expenses for tuition, board, laundry, lights, etc. from 1900 to 191^. Expenses for the scholastic year 1911-12 were as follows : Board, Laundry, Lights, and Fuel $150.00 All rooms for two are at the rate of $5 per year extra for each occupant, except the corner rooms for two which are $10 per occupant extra, and rooms in Hawkes Building, which are $15 per year extra. "^November Bulletin, LaGrange College, 1913, p. 6. 56 Loc. cit. 106 Literary Tuition $50.00 Voice culture under Pr'of. Alwyn Smith 60.00 Voice culture under other instructors .... 50.00 Piano under any instructor 50.00 Pipe-Organ (with use of electric blower) . . . 72.00 The rate of Pipe-Organ includes use of Organ for practice. Harmony or Counterpoint in class 12.00 Harmony or Counterpoint private lessons ... 50.00 Use of piano for practice 10.00 Use of piano for extra time for each addi- tional hour per day 5.00 Violin (students furnish their own instru- ments) 50.00 Pencil, Charcoal or Crayon Drawing Uo.00 Pastel, Water Color, Oil or China Painting . .. 50.00 Expression for private pupil 50.00 Expresseion in class of four or five 20.00 Sight-Singing, Free-Hand Drawing, Theory, Musical History Free" 5 In spite of the fact that each catalogue stated that all fees must be paid by certain dates , "Uncle Rufus" was never known to turn any girl away who really wanted an education. He credited many, who promised but never paid him, and allowed several girls, who either lived too far away and could not afford to go home , or who had no homes , to stay in the dormitory with his family during Christmas holidays and even through the summer vacations. Most of these girls proved themselves worthy by canning fruits and vegetables during the summer for winter consumption, and doing what they could to earn their board, and show their appreciation to "Uncle Rufus. "5^ 57 Catalogue of LaC-range Female College , 1911-12 , p. 7. ^Information furnished by Mrs. Paul Smith, op. cit . 107 However, the financial condition of the College con- tinued to grow more serious. Many repairs were needed on both b uildings and a new dormitory was a necessity. Attend- ance was on the decline. Girls who could afford to go to endowed colleges which had more up-to-date living conditions were doing so. 59 Finally, in 1910, the "building of the Harriet Hawkes Memorial Hall was made possible by a donation of $10,000 from Mr. A.K. Hawkes in memory of his mother. The remaining $^0,000 necessary to complete the building was secured largely by public subscriptions. In the spring of 1911, the dedication service took place, and at the same time, the old College Home, which had been greatly improved, was formally named the Oreon Smith Building in memory of Mrs. Rufus Smith, who died in 1907. The new Hawkes building was considered one of the finest college buildings in the South. It is four stories high, built of brick and walls in the southern side of the court or quadrangle. At that time it contained the offices of the President, Bookkeeper and Registrar, and Librarian, each separate, a large library and reading room, two large rooms used for Geology and Biology, and a reception room on 59 Information furnished by Mrs. Jennie Lou Covin Wooding, LaGrange, Georgia, Class 1891. 60 Benson, op . cit . , p. 36. 108 the main floor. The lower floor was extra large and con- tained one of the largest gymnasium rooms in the South, adjoining a swimming pool which held thirty thousand gallons of water, and had several shower baths and lockers. The upper floors contained dormitory rooms for about eighty students .^1 Even though the new building and improvements on the old building increased the value of the college property tremendously, it also increased the responsibility which was beginning to weigh heavily upon "Uncle Rufus." In his Report of LaGrange College to the North Georgia Conference in 1913, he seemed to have a premonition that his days were running out. He had leased the College from the Horth Georgia Conference in 1887 for twenty years . The time had not lapsed but he had renewed the lease in 1902 for twenty years more, in order to cancel some old bonds and issue new ones, whereby he could make necessary improvements.^ His report stated in part: The president, with his resident family, consisting of wife, two daughters and five sons, as lessees, assumed the responsibility of fulfilling the conditions of the lease. This lease was taken, not as a pleasing privilege and happy chance to make money but as a 61 Catalgue of LaGrange Female College , 1912 , p. 12 Rufus W. Smith, Report of LaGrange College to North Georgia Conference," November Bulletin , 1913, p. 2. . 109 burdensome opportunity of the lessees to "build up the College and help the church and the cause of Christian Education. With this controlling motive, for meager compensation less than was offered some of them else- where the entire family gave their best efforts , for many years of their best time and strength to the accomplishment of this worthy task. Without this cordial co-operation, this task would never have been undertaken and could not have been accomplished. Educated Christian motherhood is the best asset and the most helpful agency the church has for Christianiz- ing the world. LaGrange College, as a material asset of the Conference, is easily worth $200,000. Read the history of the College in the lives of its graduates and estimate in dollars and cents, if you can, what has been its moral and religious worth to the world. In propor- tion to its patronage, it has in late years led all schools of Southern Methodism in its contribution of Christian workers in its mission fields. The attendance the past session was a little off, and the burden of financial stringency a little in- creased. . . . The causes that affected the attendance the past session only emphasize the importance of bringing the college interest now in closer touch with the Conference. Bishop Pierce, speaking in behalf of Christian education, said, "To educate women surely is to refine the world." The time has now come when the gereat Worth Georgia Conference needs a refining Dlant to be operated under her own patent right and process for the benefit of her own Methodist constitutuency. LaGrange College is logically that plant which is in good running order, and can be easily secured and operated to the satisfaction and benefit of all parties concerned. Twenty-nine years of service, including twenty-seven years of burdensome lease obligations, seem sufficient to .justify the hope of rendering an account of my stewardship acceptable to the powers that be. . . . The burden of increasing years, the increasing require- ments and expenses in every line of operating a standard grade college, as well a.s in every detail and need of domestic service, make it wise and desirable by all 110 parties concerned that the lease be annulled and the College be committed to closer and more responsible relation to the Conference. We ask your body to devise large plans for financing the college. Give it right of way next Conference year with your cordial, moral and financial support. You can thus easily satisfy the ambition and fill with gratitude the heart of the president and give to the North Georgia Conference one of the best educational plants in Southern Methodism. 3 In his report to the trustees in 191^ he spoke pro- phetically of his own affairs, statin*? that "age and prudence suggest that they should be settled soon."^ For more than fifty-six years he had given to the world the best that he had, through wise and loving guidance of the youth of the Southland. One of his girls said of his passing: Uncle Rufus spent his last day on earth just as he would have chosen in active service. On Saturday morning, January 2, 1915, he greeted his friends on the streets of LaGrange with his usual smile. About two o'clock that afternoon while taking a nap, he was translated into heaven. 6 5 During the thirty year administration of Rufus W. Smith the college property was nearly quadrupled in value, and its curriculum was advanced to that of a standard 63 Ibid . , pp. 2-4. 6k Annual Report of the President of LaGrange College to the Board of Trustees, 19lU. ^Mrs. Gene Coven Farmer, A.B. , 1893. Ill college. After his sudden death, his son Alwyn M. Smith, who was head of the Music Department, served as president 66 until the end of the term. 66 Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 1917-18 , p. 8. CHAPTER VI A NEW CENTURY WELL BEGUN (1915-1938) In May, 1915* Miss Daisy Davies, a former teacher in the Atlanta School System, and a woman prominent in the Methodist Church, was elected to succeed Mr. Smith. For the next five years the LaGrange Female College had its first and only woman president. It was rather an odd coincidence that during this time the trustees were induced to eliminate the word "Female" from the title of the school. Since that time it has been called simply LaGrangeCollege although it was several years later (August 6, 193*0, when p the Superior Court of Troup County made the name official. Miss Davies, aristocratic and stately in appearance, a good business woman, and a remarkable public speaker, began her administration with faith and enthusiasm. 3 Like her predecessors, she assumed the struggle for adequate iiiSsie May Brought, "LaGrange College History Is a Century of Progress," LaGrange Daily News , October 8, 1931, p. 2. 2 Catalogue of LaGrange College, 1936-37, pp. 10-11. 3 Sara Tatum Reed, a member of the faculty during Miss Davies' administration, now a close neighbor of the writer, furnished information. 113 financial support. The College was heavily in debt, wing a floating debt of eighteen thousand dollars, a bonded debt of over nineteen thousand dollars, and the added debt of seven thousand dollars for equipment bought from the Smith estate. The entire property needed repairs and equipment, and there was not a penny in the treasury. Two thousand dollars had k to be borrowed to get the building in order. At a meeting of the Board of Trustees on May 29, 1916, the president's salary was fixed at two thousand dollars per annum. Also, a campaign committee, which in- cluded Miss Davies and four members of the Board, was appointed to make plans for soliciting donations and sub- scriptions for the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, to be used for the College, first for the indebtedness, then for permanent improvements, and the residue for endowment. The North Georgia conference was to be canvassed for the purpose of raising this money. ^ The Committee met at the Piedmont Hotel in Atlanta, June 15, 19l6, and resolved to raise fifty thousand dollars instead of one hundred thousand as first suggested. The city of LaGrange was to raise twenty- five thousand dollars, and twenty-five thousand dollars was to be raised outside of LaGrange.^ h Report of the President to the Trustees, May 31, 1920. Journal, Vol. II, p. 11. Ibid. , p. lU. nk Other committees were appointed to advertise the campaign in newspapers, window displays, in the catalogues, in the movies, in the pulpit, and by any other means which would help in the solicitation of subscriptions. Miss Davies was authorized to spend any amount she considered necessary for publicity to raise the fifty thousand, and in the campaign for students for 19 17-18, the total sum not to 7 exceed twenty-three hundred dollars. ' The high cost of living due to World War I made it necessary for Miss Davies to suggest an increase in board, and tuition. The trustees agreed to leave that to her dis- cretion. 8 The catalopxie for 1917-18 stated that the total for board and tuition would be $272 for the year. In 1919-20, it was raised to $350.00, with several extra fees. " In 1917, it was decided to gradually eliminate the preparatory department and confine all teaching to college work. The first year high school was eliminated in 1918.9 At a meeting of the Board on June 6, 1917, the status of the Laura Hay good With am loan fund was discussed. The total assets of the gift of $10,000 had grown to $Uo,021 Ibid . , p . 16 . Ibid . , p. 18. Ibid . , p . 19 . 115 (Assets minus notes $26,127.00). A committee of three members drew up the following report: Resolved: By the Trustees of LaGrange Female College that the sum of ten thousand dollars of the Laura Haygood-Witham Loan Fund be retained in said Loan Fund; and that all of said Fund in excess of ten thousand dollars be diverted to an endowment fund for this college, to be known as the Laura Haygood-Witham Endowment Fund. 10 The resolution was unanimously adopted and hopes of the President and trustees were high that at last an endow- ment fund was begun. However, they were again doomed to disappointment. The financial strain of the entire country, due to World War I, made it necessary to apply the money on the debts of the College, and only the most urgent repairs and improvements were made possible by small donations from special friends. 11 After years of financial struggle, then it became necessary for the Southern Female College in LaGrange (usually referred to as The Baptist College) to close its doors in 12 1917. This made the citizens of LaGrange, who had been the recipients of a cultural and educational heritage of long standing, realize that if they were to continue to Ibid . , p. 32. 11 Report of President for Year Ending May 31, 1920. 12 . Clifford Smith, op_. cit . , p. 133. 116 enjoy the privileges afforded "by having a college in the town, adequate funds would have to be raised. Its very 13 existence depended upon it. A meeting of the Board of Trustees was held at the Wesley Memorial Church in Atlanta on March 26, 1918. After Miss Davies read her report, she was highly complimented for her efficient management of the affairs of the College, and re-elected President for the next three years. The trustees also turned over all the uncollected "building notes to her, and authorized her, with the assistance of her secretary, to collect them, retaining 10 per cent of all collections made for her services and expenses. A portion of Miss Davies 1 Annual Report for 1918 shows that there were more than financial problems connected with the College: The year opened with one hundred twenty nine students. In spite of six weeks of strict quarantine, several cases of influenza developed and for weeks our work was diffi- cult, though we did not lose a day. We had only fifteen cases, none serious. Frightened parents sent for their daughters, and some of them, having lost so much time, did not return. Sickness and death in homes of faculty members required changes in teachers and increased the problems. All of these things, added to the high cost of living, made the year a very difficult one. A gift of five hundred dollars from Mrs. R.D. Render added many needed books to the library. 15 Miss Daisy Davies furnished information to the writer ina personal interview April 3, 1955. Ik Journal, Vol. II, p. 35. 15 Report of the President of LaGrange College, 1918-19. Journal, Vol. II, p. 55. 117 Although Miss Davies spent a great deal of time looking after the business affairs of the College, the students -were never neglected, and the standards were held high. When it was necessary for her to be away from the College, Miss Hilda Threlkeld, Dean, Registrar, and Professor l6 of English, was Miss Davies' "right hand man." Miss Threlkeld, a graduate of Transylvania University, came to LaGrange from Maysville, Kentucky, and influenced quite a number of young ladies from her home town and state to attend LaGrange College. ^ The girls were not required to wear a strict uniform, but the administration encouraged simple and inexpensive clothes. Each student was required to have a simple dark blue suit, and a simple hat to match for street wear. The senior class wore Oxford caps and gowns in graduating exercises. ^ Following the policy of other progressive colleges, a Student Government Association was organized in 1917. Its laws and powers were granted by the President and Faculty, and it had control of all matters pertaining to the social l6 Sara Tatum Reed, op . cit . 17 Loc . cit . 18 00 Catalogue of LaC-range Female College, 1917-18, p. 18. - 118 life and conduct of the students. The life and work of the 19 College were based on the Honor system. Secret societies were not allowed because it was believed that they tended toward extravagance and exclusive- ness which are based upon wrong principles. Student activi- ties centered around departmental clubs. These organizations were mediums through which the students gained a broader knowledge of the various courses of study than was possible in the classroom and library alone. They not only provided for intellectual growth, but also for the social development 20 of each girl. The two literary societies, the Irenian and the Mezzofantian, described in the preceding chapter, continued to meet weekly and to publish The Oreon each month. The Young Women's Christian Association held weekly meetings for prayer and religious instruction through which it promoted intelligent interest in social and moral prob- lems. "Graduates of the College in both Home and Foreipn Mission fields are a compensating evidence of inspiration from this organization. "21 19 bid. , I919-20, p. Ik, 20 Ibid., 19 IT- 18, p. 12. 21 Loc. cit. - 119 The History Club was open to all students in the College. Weekly meetings were held for the discussion of historical and economic questions, biographies, and current events. Monthly open debates on popular subjects added much 22 to their interest and enthusiasm. The Dramatic Club was open only to members of the Expression Department. They met each week for the purpose of studying plays , ranging from Shakespeare to Modern Comedies, some of which they produced at intervals through- out the year m public performances. The Modern Language Club met weekly to promote in- terest in the respective language studied. Current litera- ture, songs, and readings were given in the original language, under the guidance of the Head of the Modern 2k Language Department. The Orchestra and Glee Club gave many public per- formances and recitals throughout the year. The Athletic Association, composed of members of the student body under the supervision of the Physical Director, had control of outdoor sports. It assisted in equipping the outdoor courts and track, formulated the rules for eligibility 22 Loc . cit . 23 Loc . cit . 2k Ibid . , p. 13. 120 in class and college contests, encouraged participation in outdoor games, always maintaining a high code of honor and true sportsmanship.*^ Miss Davies said that her work with the girls was a joy, but the financing of the College was educating. It required so much time and effort that she could not continue. A special meeting of the Board of Trustees was called March 26, 1920, to consider her resignation, to become effective at the end of the term. It was reluctantly accepted and the trustees expressed their appreciation to her for the "great good accomplished during her connection with the institution. "2^ VJhen asked why was she resigning, Miss Davies often answered, "Because I am so tired going from one store to another trying to save five cents on a barrel of flour, and from room to room turning off lights to save a few pennies." 2 However, her real reason was to get back into evangelistic work. 28 Each year there had been meeting after meeting of the trustees, with renewed resolutions to raise various 2 ^Loc. cit . Journal, Vol. II, p. oo. 27 . Mxss Daisy Davies, ot> . cit . 28 T Loc. cit. 121 amounts of money ranging from $25,000 to 3250,000 always unanimously passed. However, due to distressing financial conditions and general discouragement of the people during, and immediately following the war, their good resolutions 29 did not materialize. LaGrange citizens' had always cherished the College in their hearts, but it was not until Bishop Candler suggested moving it to Atlanta that they realized that they were about to lose one of the oldest and most valuable assets in the town. Every true and loyal citizen was indignant at the thought of the removal of the beloved institution. "What would the hill be without the college? "30 wag thg cry Qn every side. At last, in the spring of 1920, one of the most remarkable campaigns for educational purposes ever known in the State centered in LaGrange. It was heartily endorsed and supported by the citizens of the town and surrounding territory. Every high school boy wore a badge containing the words: "Save the college for my sister"; and every girl wore one with the inscription: "Save the college for me."^ 1 " Ibid . ; also Journal, Vol. II, pp. 10 f. 30 Mabel White, "College Campaign, 1920," The Quadrangle , 1921, p. 8U. 31t t* Loc. cit. 122 Young and old were so stireed out of their complacency that success was the only possible result. The school had long belonged to the Methodist Conference, but had always been non-sectarian, and people of all denominations, held together by civic pride and love of the finer things of life, gave wholeheartedly of their time and money for the improvement and reconstruction of LaGransce College. They swiftly raised a quarter of a million dollar s.32 In the meantime the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was attempting to raise by subscriptions the sum of thirty- three million dollars for the cause of Christian Education, of which sum the North Georgia Conference was to receive $1,775,000, and LaGrange College was to receive $350,000 of that amount. 33 In Miss Davies' last report to the trustees May 31, 1920, she said that the past five years had been periods of struggle and disappointment, but many improvements had been made on the buildings and campus during that time; also: The curriculum of the college has been revised and the standard raised. The one desperate need has been for raonev for reconstruction of buildings and endowment. I rejoice that after five years of constant pleading, the trustees have realized the need and the remarkable ^ campaign just finished insures the future of the college. 32 Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 1920-21 , t>. 10. 33 Journal, Vol. II, p. 82. 3h Report of President for Year Ending May 31, 1920. 123 In the summer of 1920, the sum of about forty thousand dollars was spent in improvements and equipment. The interior of the Oreon Smith Building was practically rebuilt and repainted, new wiring and fixtures added, the heating system repaired, and a new plumbing system in- stalled. The dining room was refurnished, and the school room equipment was greatly improved by the purchase of teachers 1 desks , blackboards , globes , and other apparatus 35 and supplies for the chemical and physical laboratories. All of these improvements, plus an endowment fund, naturally- put the College on a different basis when it opened in September, 1920, under the presidency of William E. Thompson. His brother, A.H. Thompson, was a prominent lawyer of LaGrange and a member of the Board of Trustees. William E. Thompson was born June 21, 1871, in Oconee County, South Carolina, where he received his early educa- tion. He graduated from Emory University in 1895, and on the day of his graduation accepted the position of superin- tendent of the Dublin, Georgia, schools, where he organized the public school system. Amon^ his other fields of activity were Clinton, Kentucky, where he served as president of Marvin College; Tallapoosa, Georgia, where he was superin- tendent of schools for two years; and Savannah, Georgia, 35 Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 1923-21* , p . 10 . 12h where he taught hoys in high school, and from which place he came to LaGrange College. He had also served for several years on the Board of Education of the South Georgia Con- ference of the Methodist Church. He was vice-president of the Southern Association of Colleges for Women, and twice presided over their sessions. Mr. Thompson did not claim to be any kind of preacher, although he did admit preaching one sermon. It was at a country church, and he must have set forth his text and presented his message in true evange- listic style; for at the conclusion of her sermon a pair of bashful lovers approached and asked him to perform their marriage ceremony. 37 On June 1, 1920, Mr. Thompson was unanimously elected President of LaGrange College at a salary of $3,600 per annu, with board for himself and family in the College Home. He accepted the presidency, and was given full authority to select and employ all members of the faculty and other emplovees, and to use his discretion in namin^- 38 their salaries, wages, etc. Since the College at last had a sound financial status, Mr. Thompson wanted to keep it that way. He 36 Thompson Regime Reflects Industry of School Leader, LaGrange Daily News and Graphic Shuttle , October 8, 1931, p. 5. 37 Loc. cit. 38 Journal' Vol. II, p. 80. D.*B ,3. 125 recommended that "no student whose account is unpaid he permitted to re-enter without settlement of her account ti 39 satis f act ory to the President. His recommendation was approved. That gifts of all kinds were acceptable to the College was shown in Mr. Thomnson's first annual report to the Board of Trustees. On May 28, 1921, he wrote: I take pleasure in reporting to you the gift to the college of two very fine Holstein cows. These were given by James W. Norton of Clarke County, whose wife I prepared for entrance to LaGrange College, and who is one of the brightest graduates of this institution. ho Among other interesting entries in the Journal at the same time were the following: Prof. Thompson recommends that reduction or discount in tuition to Minister's daughters be also applied to the daughters of teachers in the schools of this state. The motion was carried. hi President Thompson recommends that Mrs. Warren A. Candler be given an A.B. degree, provided that after examination by him she seems entitled to same. This was put in motion and unanimously carried. h2 Mrs. Candler was the former Antoinette Cutright of LaGrange. When Bishop Candler delivered the commencement address at LaGrange College in 1875 as a young ministerial 39 Ibid., Vol. Ill, p. 11. hO Report of President for Year Ending May 28, 1921. Journal, Vol. Ill, p. 11. 126 student, Antoinette was a freshman. He spied her in the audience and laughlingly said to the president, "I'm going yo J+3 have that one. The president laughed too, but the next year the pretty little brovn haired sophomore put away her books and pencils, and without saying a word to the president or her devoted parents, slipped away and became the bride of the young minister, who was destined to become one of the South' s leading Bishops. hh Ruth Whatley, Class 1921, told the following story about Mr. Thompson, who appreciated a joke on himself as well as on anyone else: In June, 1921, the auditorium was filled with proud parents and friends. The graduating class assembled in a hall just off the auditorium was waiting for music to start when Mr. Thompson welcomed every one and intro- duced the speaker. The speaker addressed the graduating class looking to his left, right, and behind him. Everyone started whispering and looking around. Finally one person stood up and said, "Mr. Thompson, the gradu- ating class is waiting to march in." The music started. The Seniors took their -daces. Mr. Thompson got up, faced the class, and apologized by saying, "Don't feel too badly. When I was to be married I forgot to go to the Church to my own wedding. "^5 Even though the financial condition of the College was greatly improved, it continued to have its problems. In January, 1922, a fire broke out in the cupola at the north end of the auditorium, burning part of the roof and resulting '"Bishop Candler Met His Bride at LaGrange College," The LaGrange Daily News , October 8, 1931, p. 1. Loc . cit . U5 Information furnished by Ruth Whatley, Class 1921, teacher of Home Economics, Bass High School, Atlanta, Georgia. 127 in damage by water to several pianos, four of which were a total loss. The insurance was adequate to cover the cost of repairing these damages, and it was decided to make other needed repairs and to put the "building in first class con- dition at the same time, at an added cost of about $1,500. The Board of Education of the Methodist Church, South, continued to raise its standard of education, and require- ments as to admission, curricula, faculty, library, equip- ment, endowment, and income for its colleges. The president and trustees of LaGrange College, not wanting to lose the recently acquired classification, met on November 8, 1923, and among other resolutions made the following: Whereas, additional funds are necessary not only for endowment, but in the improvement of the property in order to carry forward the great work for the womanhood of the South which this college has been engaged in for many years; And, whereas, LaGrange College is the only College for women owned solely by this Conference .... be it resolved by the North Georgia Conference of this Methodist Episcopal Church, South, that the responsi- bility for the maintenance, improvement , and perpetuation of said college rest upon this conference, as the owner thereof. That the citizens of LaGrange have met their responsibil- ity for the college, with full measure, and running over, and that now the responsibility rests upon this con- ference . U6 President's report to Board of Trustees, May 29, 1922, Journal, Vol. Ill, p. 25. - 128 A motion is made that the board ask the North Georgia Conference to endorse and sponsor a campaign for $750,000 for the endowment of LaGrange College, of which sum the citizens of LaGrange have already pledged and raised $250,000.1+7 On October 28, 1921, Mr. Thompson and the Board of Trustees agreed to offer a scholarship of one hundred dollars for one year to the young lady taking the highest stand in scholarship in each of the high schools in the North Georgia Conference, and from each preparatory school operated under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, pro- vided her average was not elow ninety. 118 Every effort was made to increase attendance. Mr. Thompson and the representatives from the College were sent out to visit the high schools in the State and canvass for students. Several towns were visited by the College Glee Club during the Spring. The students , under the leadership of the senior class, organized a "Booster's Club" for the purpose of securing additional students. Results were shown in the increase of fifty-nine students in the enrollment from 1922 to 1923. 50 hi Journal, Vol. Ill, p. 71. Ibid . , p. 17. h9 Ibid . , p . 27 . 50 Ibid. , p. 53. - 129 "'Mr. Thompson soon recognized the need for enriching and enlarging the course of study and strengthening the academic rating of the faculty^ In less than ten years the lowest rating of any member of the faculty was as high as the highest had been in 1920. They held Master's degrees and in some cases, Doctor's degrees from Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, University of California., University of Chicago, 52 University of North Carolina, and others. Mr. Thompson, who avoided all personal publicity, was often called Dr. Thompson, to which he always replied, "I have no degrees that entitle me to be called Doctor." How- ever, his natural ability made up for what he lacked in higher degrees, and he directed the destiny of the century- old institution for eighteen years in a manner which upheld 53 the cultural traditions of LaGrange. The College provided opportunities for students to attend lectures , concerts , and other entertainments . They also had the privilege of attending good entertainments in town. During the scholastic year 1927-28, the following lectures and plays were given under the auspices of the College : "Thompson Regime Reflects Industry of School Leader," LaGrange Daily News , October 8, 1931, p. 6. Loc. cit. 130 ii 'The Merchant of Venice" . A Marriage of Convenience The Avon Players and ii 1 1 The Rivals" . Wales-Recital" The Cambrian Concert Artists The Cambrian Concert Artists "Anglo-American Relations and World Peace" . . . Addresses by ..... . C. Douglas Booth, London Samuel Candler Dobbs, Jr. Bishop Warren A. Candler, D.D. William Davis Hooper Rev. Louie D. Newton, D.D. 5^ The LaGrange College Scroll was organized in January, 1922. It was a paper designed to be a medium through which the student body could express its best thoughts, and to serve as a connecting link between the College and former students and alumnae. It was the literary magazine of the College. Students submitted short stories, essays, poems, and reviews, the best of which were chosen for publication. At the end of each year four students were selected to be on the SCROLL OF FAME. Chosen for their outstanding contribu- tions, these students were honored by having their pictures framed and hung in the English room.^^ In addition to the literary clubs which were active during Miss Davies 1 administration, the Honor Club vas established in January, I92U. Eligibility to the club was conditioned upon the literary hours taken and the character and academic standing of the student. Election to this club Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 1928-29 , p. lh. The Quadrangle (College Annual), 1953, p. 62. 131 was the highest distinction that could be conferred upon a student The International Relations Club was a new organiza- tion comprised of the entire student body. It was composed of two rival sections, each containing five discussion groups. Its program included round table discussions, formal debates, and lectures centering around international relations .57 The Quill Drivers' Club gave its members training in journalism, and also kept the College in touch with the outside world. A weekly report was made through its members rO to the prominent newspapers of the State. The Dramatic Club, known as the Curtain Raisers, limited its membership to twenty- five girls, most of whom were students of dramatic art. Besides the plays that they put on at various times in the auditorium during the year, they sponsored the May Day pageant each year. This was an elaborate affair, held on the quadrangle of the campus , in which girls from every department participated. In 1931, LaGrange College held the title of having a dramatic depart- 59 ment second only to Brenau among Georgia colleges. 5 6 Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 1927-28 , p . 15 . 57 T Loc . cit . 58 Loc . cit . 59 The LaGrange Daily Hews and Graphic Shuttle , p. 5. 132 Due to the small enrollment and heavy expense of the Home Economics Department for several years, the department was abolished in 1927. In 1928, the Board of Trustees, of which Samuel C. Dobbs of Atlanta was chairman, made a unique departure from the usual curriculum by establishing a Department of Household Science. It was not a Domestic Science Department as was the case in most women's colleges at that time. The head of the department was a woman trained in the science of housekeeping, biology, physiology, and profes- sional nursing. The purpose of the department was to teach rules of health, pre-maternity care, care for babies, dieting, the fundamentals of disease prevention, and all allied features which would tend to establish and maintain Christian homes of culture, comfort, cheer, and happiness. Supplementary to such training was the preparation of food, canning, pre- serving, etc. The department was amply endowed by Mr. Dobbs in honor of hxs wife, who was an alumna of LaC-range College. 60 Minutes of the Board of Trustees, March 2, 1927, Journal, Vol. III. . Editorial page, The LaC-range Graphic , Friday, June 15, 1928. - Much of the success of the College, under the leader- ship of Mr. Thompson, was due to the unusually distinguished Board of Trustees, all of whom were outstanding leaders in 62 their communities, and many national figures. The chair- man of the Board, Samuel C. Dobbs, a nationally known capitalist and philanthropist, was deeply interested in education. He not only gave time and thought to the up- building of the institution, but also made many valuable contributions to its material prosperity. 63 He was also a close personal friend of Mr. and Mrs. Thompson. In the spring of 1929, when Mr. Dobbs was in LaGrange, he visited Mrs. Thompson in her three-room apart- ment in the doraiitorv-, and was quite disturbed to see her with four small children living under circumstances so unfavorable to family life. He told her that he was going to build a house for her and the children. Through his generosity a handsome brick bungalow, to be used as a home for the President of the College, was completed in the summer of 1929. This convenient and comfortable home, located on the northwest side of the campus , a short dis- tance from the administration building, was erected by the 62 T IjOC . Clt . 63 Loc . cit . 6k Information furnished by Mrs. A.H. Thompson to writer. 13k donor in honor of his distinguished uncle, the senior Bishop of the Methodist Church. A memorial tablet bears the follow- ing inscription: Warren A. Candler Cottage Erected in Honor of A Profound Thinker A Great Teacher ^ A Noble Christian Statesman Dr. Dobbs also gave a large tract of land adjacent to the campus to be used for further expansion, a cash gift of $25,000 to the endowment fund in 1930, and made the astound- ing offer to match dollar for dollar any amount that might 66 be raised for any purpose of the College, up to S350,000. In the report of the President to the Board of Trustees, May 26, 1930, Mr. Thompson cited many improvements: It may be of interest to you to note the growth of the college during the last ten years, which comprises the period of the present administration. The number of degree students in 1920 was 6l; this year 128. The average salary of teachers in 1920 was $900; this year $1,6666. In 1920 there was spent for instruction $6,700; this year $15,000. The lowest literary degree of any teacher now is higher than the highest in 1920. At that time a graduate of LaGrange College was given the same certificate that a girl who attended the State College at Milledgeville two years received. Now our graduates get the highest grade certificate issued by the state. Our work was not then regarded as standard; now our students are given the same standing in the graduate 6 5 Catalogue of LaGrange Female College , 1928-29 , p. 12. 66 LaGrange Dally Hews and Graphic Shuttle , October 8 , 1931, p. 2. 135 school of the two universities in the state as their own graduates. 6 7 As the annual reports of the presidents of the College for more than fifty years had pleaded for the establishment of an endowment, Mr. Thompson pleaded every year for the endowment to be increased. Lack of sufficient endowment was the only thing which prevented LaGrange College from being admitted to membership in the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of the Southern States. In his report to the trustees May 26, 1930, he said: "It would be a gratifying achievement for the college to secure this standing and recognition in connection with the celebra- 68 tion of its one hundredth anniversary." A committee had already been appointed to make plans for the Centennial celebration in October. Mrs. Roy Dallis , who was chairman of the committee, reported to the trustees that a wonderful program was being worked out, and that the only difficulty was the matter of finances. Samuel C. Dobbs agreed to underwrite all the expenses, and from that time 69 plans began to materialize. At no time in the history of LaGrange have so many cultured and outstanding citizens of the South gathered to 67 Report of President to Board of Trustees, Journal, Vol. Ill, May 26, 1930, p. 5. 68 Loc . cit . 69 Ibid . , p. 16. : 136 celebrate a more momentous occasion than on Friday, October 9, 1931, when LaGrange College celebrated its one hundredth 70 anniversary. The mayor declared a holiday for the town. Hundreds of visitors, including outstanding civic, religious, and educational leaders, alumnae, and friends of the College were present. Greetings and congratulations were sent from governors, senators, presidents of other 71 colleges, and manv other notables who could not be present. Among the prominent speakers of the day were Bishop Warren A. Candler, Bishop W.N. Ainsworth, Dr. Henry N. Snyder, Judge John S. Candler, Chancellor Charles M. Snelling, 72 Dr. Harvey W. Cox, Dr. Samuel Candler Dobbs , and others. Probably the most colorful and entertaining part of the program took place at 3:30 in the afternoon when "The Golden Wheel," a pageant depicting the century of progress at LaGrange College, was presented. The pageant was written by Miss Carrie Fall Benson, college librarian, and directed by Miss Mildred Singer, director of Expression and Physical Education. Approximately one hundred and fifty students, teachers, and friends of the College made up the cast. It endeavored to show the beauty and sublimity of the history 7 LaGrange Daily Hews , October 8, 1931, p. 1. 71 Loc . cit . 72 Loc. cit. - : - 137 of the College through the mediums of color, movement, and 73 melody. Among the unusual alumnae present were the four only living members of a class of seven, who graduated in 1882: Mrs. John M. Taylor, Juniper, Georgia; Mrs. R.F. Walker, Decatur; Mrs. F.I. McDonald, Atlanta; and Mrs. M.F. McClendon, LaGrange. At that time Mrs. McDonald had not missed a commencement in the fort?r-nine years since she graduated. Many distinguished alumnae enjoyed a partial family reunion at the centennial celebration; among them was Mrs. Fay Gaffney of Columbus, Georgia, a prominent club woman and executive officer of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She was one of five daughters of Major Scott MacFarlane of LaGrange, all of whom were still living and attended the 75 celebration. There were many other family groups among the alumnae consisting of sisters, cousins, mothers, daughters, and even grand-daughters . 73 Loc . cit . 7h . Ibid. , p . 7 . 75 Loc. cit. 76 Loc. cit. 138 From 9:30 in the morning when the academic procession marched from the college quadrangle into the auditorium for the program of music and speeches until the alumnae banquet that night, the day was replete with interest to every 77 friend of the College. 1 1 In the college catalogues from 1920 to 1938, it is quite noticeable that more space is given to Bible and Religious Education than to any other course listed under Courses of Instruction. Mr. Thompson was a strong Christian character, who believed that daily living in a Christian atmosphere was the most important phase of education. He also believed in keeping the Sabbath day holy, and would not allow his own children to read the comic sections of the newspapers on Sunday. However, he did not express condemna- tion of the youth of his day, as did so many of the older nation.? 8 The well known depression of the late twenties and early thirties left its mark on the College. A steady decline was shown each year in attendance. In the scholastic year ending May 28, 193^, the total enrollment was only one hundred and forty- five, of which number only sixty-six were 77 Loc . cit . 78 Sara Tatum Reed, a member of Mr. Thompson's faculty, ;ave information to writer. 139 "boarding students. In 1935, there were sixty- five boarding students and the total enrollment was one hundred twenty- 79 eight. The president's report also stated: The salaries of teachers have, under your authority, remained throughout the year the same as last year. These salaries are kQ% of the salaries paid teachers and officers three years ago. V/hile our report this year is somewhat better than last year, the income did not even seem sufficient to warrant any increase in salaries. 80 On April 19, 1938, at a called meeting of the Board of Trustees, a letter was read from Mr. Thompson, requesting that they secure a new president for the next college year. A motion was passed acceding to the request, and a committee 8l was appointed to nominate a new president. A resolution was also drawn up expressing appreciation to Mr. Thompson for his eighteen years of Christian service to the College, and to Mrs. Thompson for being "the ideal president's wife."^ 79 A^uai Report of the President to the Board of Trustees, June 3, 1935 (pages not numbered). 80 Loc . cit . 81 Journal, Vol. Ill, minutes of Board of Trustees, April 19, 1938. 82 Loc . cit . CHAPTER VII AN OLD COLLEGE IN A NEW ERA (1938- 19U8) Hubert T. Quillian accepted the presidency of LaGrange College July 20, 1938, after a record of civic and educational service in the State. Coning from a family noted for several generations in the ministry of the Metho- dist Church, and having had a wide range of interests and experience, he was well qualified to assume the responsi- bility of the historic College. Dr. Quillian was horn June 26, 1890, at Thompson, Georgia, a son of J.W. Quillian, M.D., D.D. , and Lucy (Zachary) Quillian. He had lived in LaGrange three times before he came to be president of the College. Twice his father had served as presiding elder of the district. During his first residence, Hubert had attended Lynch School for Boys. When his family returned the second time, he was attending Emory College. In 1911 he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts at Emory University, after which he accepted a position in the Personnel Department of the Callaway Mills in LaGrange. From 1931 to 1933, he was similarly occupied at Georgia School of Technology. In 1933, he went to Rome, Georgia, and served as vice-president of Shorter College until July, 1938, when he came back to LaGrange for the fourth time. lUi Dr. Quillian had always been active in Church work, having been on the Board of Stewards of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Rome, and a lay leader and district educational director. He had been a trustee both of LaGrange College and the Young Men's Christian Association Graduate School at Nashville, Tennessee, for many years. He received a hearty welcome from the citizens of LaGrange as President of the College. 1 Dr. Quillian' s first annual report to the Board of Trustees in 1939 showed an increase in attendance; the total enrollment for the year being one hundred eighty-one. The Commercial Science and Home Economics Departments were re- established with thirty-six girls enrolled in the two depart- ments. Three hundred fifty books had been added to the library, and many other improvements had been made in the p buildings and on the campus during the year. Dobbs Audi- torium, in the oldest building on the campus, was greatly improved and named for one of the greatest benefactors of the College, Samuel C. Dobbs, chairman of the Board of Trustees. Mr. Dobbs often laughed and said that it was the only building ever named for him that he didn't have to Lucille Bryant Johnson, "New President Is Widely Acclaimed," LaGrange Daily Hews , October 18, 1936, p. 2. 2 Annual Report of the President to the Board of Trustees, May 29, 1939, t>t>. 1-2. Ih2 build. The dedication service was held at the 1939 Commence- ment. ^ A building campaign, which was a remarkable success, was begun on the day that Hitler started through Holland, and the contract was let for a new dormitory on the day that k Paris fell. Of the campaign, Dr. Qui Hi an said: We are hoping that its contribution to the welfare of society may be as constructive in its realm as these two events were destructive. Our deepest appreciation and gratitude is expressed to Mr. Cason Callaway and to Mr. Fuller Callaway for their generous gift to the endowment fund of $50,000 to match the fund for the erection of the building; and to all those who had a part in this truly magnificent enterprise. The total addition to the resources of the College during; the past year amount to approximately $125,000. The landscaping and planting about the new building, and the formal garden facing it, have been accomplished without the expenditure of any money on our part, but through the cooperation of Miss Tommie Martin and the Alumnae Association. 5 The new residence hall was completed during the summer of 19^0, at a cost of approximately fifty thousand dollars . It added much to the beauty of the campus , and to the joy of the upper classmen who were privileged to live there. Although it repeated the southern architecture of 3 sights G. Henry, "Old South, New Era Join to Make College Great," The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer , p. 5. k Annual Report of the President to the Board of Trustees, June 2, 19^1, p. 2. ^Loc. cit. 1U3 the historic buildings on the campus , it offered the newest and most modern conveniences for the comfort of the students. The dedication of the New Residence Hall was the feature of the Autumn Convocation September 27, 19^3. It was named the Pitts Building, in honor of Mr. And Mrs. W.I.H. Pitts, whose generous philanthropy in the establishment of the Pitts Foundation had meant so much to the College. Since the entire nation was so deeply involved in World War II, Dr. Quillian, in his second Annual Report, June 2, 19^1, pointed out that with the social and political unrest of the time, there was a need to restate the place of the Christian College in national defense. He said: As the college contributes to the morals of its students, its community, and its generation, it is helping to defend the inner ramparts of society, so essential to the preservation of our democratic ideals. Our great American tradition rests on a spiritual foundation, and it would seem that never more than now have we need for the influences that radiate from our Christian institutions. We are pledging ourselves anew to this high enterprise in the hope that we may be true to the best tradition of our heritage, and equal to the testing challenge of this hour. 7 The report from the standpoint of the general opera- tion of the College was very optimistic. The total enroll- ment had increased to two hundred ten. There had been no President's Report to the Board of Trustees, September 21, 19 UU, p. 2. 7 The Annual Report of the President to the Board of Trustees of LaCrange College, June 2, 19 Ul, p. 1. r lkk major nroblems of health or discipline; and the academic standing, as revealed by the Dean's List, was better than it 8 had been for several years. The total enrollment in September, 19^1, was about the same as the preceding year, though there were five less boarding students. Dr. Qui Hi an felt that it was remarkable that the reduction was no larger, due to the unusual circum- stances which made it possible for girls to be able to get 9 jobs replacing boys who had been drafted into service. During the summer of 19^+1 many improvements were made in the buildings and on the campus. Repairs, new equipment, and provisions in preparation for the opening of school in the fall were made at a cost of approximately six thousand dollars. The entire physical plant of the College was in a satisfactory condition. However, an even more important thing had happened during the summer of 19**1. Mr. W.I.H. Pitts, of Waverly Hall, had established the William I.H. and Lula E. Pitts Foundation under the direction of the Trust Company of Georgia. The income from the fund was to be distributed to enable worthy boys and girls of the Methodist Church in rural communities to receive an 8 Ibid . , pp . 1-2 . Report of the President to the Board of Trustees, September 11, 19^1, p. 1. Ih5 education. Anions- the five colleges mentioned as benefi- ciaries of this fund, LaGrsnge College was the only senior college, and was first on the list. It was specifically designated by Mr. Pitts as an institution doing the type of work that he wanted to encourage and facilitate."^ The following expression of appreciation appeared in the He s ley an Christian Advocate and several of the state newspapers : A NOBLE CHRISTIAN STATESMAN In a small Georgia community there lives a man whose insight and generous philanthropy has made provision for training and development of Christian leadership amone the Methodist rural youth of the state. He has- estab- lished a Foundation of many hundreds of thousands of dollars , the income from which may be used to develop Christian character, and train Christian leadership in the group of splendid young Methodists from small com- munities of Georgia. Is not this real statemanship, in providing for the future leadership of his native state? In this time of war he prepares for peace. This man in the modesty of spirit of true Christian culture prefers to stand in the background, and without ostentation or publicity provides a philanthropy that will prompt other men of wealth to emulate his example. "As one lamp lights another, nor its flame grows less, so nobleness enkindleth nobleness." Here is one who has been a "tither" through the years and who considers his wealth as a sacred trust from the Great Giver of all good and perfect gifts. He has learned through experi- ence the joy of sharing with others, and that "Who giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord." Of him if may be said as of one of England's noble great: "He gave of his substances to the poor, his Ibid . , p . 3 . Ih6 sympathy to the suffering, his hand to the helpless, and his heart to God." Truly the qualities of nobleness are so mixed in him that all the world may stand up and say, "Here lives a man. "11 In spite of war conditions, the president's annual report of June 1, 19^2, was most encouraging. He said that in many ways it had been the best year in the entire history of the college. The graduating class had the largest number ever recorded, and twice as many new students had made room reservations for the fall term as had made them at the same time the year before. Gifts from the new Pitts Foundation 12 alone had amounted to six thousand dollars. He also said that perhaps the best job that LaGrange College could do for Christian education was to train Christian teachers. The department of teacher training adopted the slogan, "A College Dedicated to Christian Culture . " Many efforts were made to improve the library in order to meet the standard required by the Southern Associa- tion. Mr, and Mrs. Charles Candler gave $150 to the library fund and seventy- five volumes from Bishop Candler's library valued at $205, but their real value to the College could Wesley an Christian dvocate . 12 Annual Report of the President to the Board of Trustees, June 1, 19^2, p. 1. 13 Ibid. , p. 3. not to be estimated. Plans were being made to build a new library/ 1 as soon as the war was over. At the annual commencement meeting of the Board of Trustees June 1, 19^2, Mr. Dobbs , chairman of the Board, suggested that the?/ each write letters or personally/- contact the Senators and Congressmen of the Southeastern States and urge them to vigorously oppose legislation which had been suggested relative to taxation of endowed colleges and universities. Among the many reasons given were the follow- ing: The education and character building work heretofore done by Denominational Colleges in this section has been of tremendous advantage to the Nation in that these trained men along with other men of like education from other states have done much to make the Nation great, and the Nation can ill afford to interrupt a continuous flow of this type of educated citizen into the body politic. Indeed, unless this work, if abandoned by the Church schools, is thereafter immediately done as well by some other agency, it would be national suicide. Healthy rivalry between state institutions and those supported by charity tends to improve the quality of the work of both, ajid this rivalry would be destroyed if either type of institution should cease to function. 15 During the scholastic year 19^2-U3, books and cash gifts amounting to $2,126.89 were given to the library. 1 ^* Ik Ibid . , pp. 2-3. ^Minutes of Board of Trustees of LaGrange College, June 1, 19^2, p. k. 16 Annual Report of the President to the Board of Trustees, May 29, 19^3, p. 2. 1W A bequest of approximately $7,500 came to the College from the estate of Ben Red-wine, Hewnan, Georgia. There had been some controversy- about the will, but through the skillful management of Mr. Dan Manget of Herman, bequests were saved not only for LaGrange College, but also for Wesleyan and IT Smory as well. During the scholastic year 19^2-^3, the College was admitted to membership in the Association of American Colleges. This was an honor which indicated high rating but not accreditation. The College had been on the non- member list of the Southern Association for four years, but that list was to be discontinued in 19^. That meant that the -twenty standards of the Association must be met during the next year, of which seventeen had already been met. The three remaining had to do with teachers' salaries, permanent endowment funds, and the library, all of which Mr. Q.uillian believed could be met. In his report to the trustees he said: We are too near the goal now to fall by the wayside and miss the mark completely; and yet in all fairness I must share with you the conviction that, unless we do quickly what we must do eventually, LaGrange College cannot hope to carry on. The splendid example which Mr. Pitts has set in the establishment of the fund from which we have received $12,000 to date should be an inspiration to all of us, IT Ibid . , p . k 1U9 of his abiding faith in the worth of the institution, and his confidence in its future. 18 The Endowment Fund Committee, which was appointed at that time, held an historic meeting at the Capital City Club in Atlanta, July 22, 19 1+3. Of this meeting Pierce Harris said in an article in the Wesley an Christian Advocate , July 13, 19^+5, that Stewardship was the power behind the success of the Endowment Committee of LaGrange College and that he had never seen anything like it in his life. Each of the seven men on the committee had his say, and every man came back to the inspiring idea that they were doing God's work, handling God's money, and hunting for a way to do God's will. The longer they talked the smaller the $200,000 seemed. I knew for sure then that we would get it maybe more. 19 The scholastic year 19^3-UU was outstanding in many ways. It was opened with an address by Bishop Arthur J. Moore, and closed by his wife who gave the baccalaureate address . In Bishop Moore's opening address he expressed beautifully the meaning and purpose of education as it is planned for students at LaGrange College: There are those who regard education as something apart from the training of our spiritual natures , but no education can be considered adequate which leaves out spiritual capacities. To claim that one is edu- cated simply because he has been well instructed in 18 Ibid . , p . 6 . 19 Pierce Harris , "Stewardship , teh Power Behind LaGrange College Endowment Successes," Wesley an Christian Advocate , July 13, 19^5, P. 1. 150 the arts or sciences, history and literature, or in anything which leaves out these higher ranges of our nature is to hold a false interpretation of education. To be ideal and adequate, education must make us better as well as more intelligent. 20 During the year seventy girls received scholarships from the Laura Haygood With am Fund amounting to $6,500; more girls were on the Dean's List than in any previous year; teachers 1 salaries had been raised 10 per cent; all out- standing obligations of the college had been met, and a small surplus had been left in the treasury. The general condition of the various departments was sound. The personal library of Miss Mai dee Smith had been turned over to the college library and about 32,000 had been spent for additional books necessary to meet the standards 21 set up by the Southern Association. Miss Maidee Smith, in her forty-ninth year at the College, passed away on May 5, 19^. Dr. Qui Hi an referred to her as the "Mr. Chips" of LaGrange College. Through the years she had endeared herself to the various college genera- tions who had been privileged to share her beneficent in- 22 fluence. 20 Editorial, "LaGrange College," ' he Christian Advocate , July 12, I9U5, p. 19. 21 Annual Report of the President to the Board of Trustees, June 5, 19^, p. 2. 22 Ibid. p. 1. 151 On Founders' Day, April 13, 19^6, the nieces and nephews of Miss Mai dee presented a beautiful silver service to the College honoring her memory and in tribute to her forty-nine years of service to the College. 2 ^ In June, 19 kk 9 the feature of the Commen cement exercises was the awarding of the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws upon Martha McDonald Moore, wife of Bishop Arthur Moore. It was the first time such a degree had ever been conferred by the College. Mrs. Moore's baccalaureate address on this occasion attracted such wide and favorable comment that it was printed in pamphlet form for general 2k distribution. Dr. Quillian had also recently had the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws conferred upon him by Piedmont College. On April 13, 19^5, LaGrange College observed its first annual Founders' Day, which was a momentous occasion. Samuel Candler Dobbs , LL.D. , chairman of the Board of Trustees, was honored for his eighteen years of service, generous contributions of time, effort, and money to the 23 President's Report to the Board of Trustees, June 3, 19^6, p. k, 2k President's Report to the 3oard of Trustees, September 21, 19 M, p. 2. 25 Hubert T. Quillian, Jr., furnished information to writer. 152 College. Dr. Quillian announced that the College had net the twenty standards set up by the Southern Association, and that he had been notified that it would become a member of 26 the Association at an early date. Due to the efficient handling of the Redwing estate by Dan Manget and William Banks of Hfewaaa, they provided more than seven times as much for the College as the original bequest would have been. LaGrange College was made sole owner of the splendid estate of 3,600 acres of Coweta County land. 2T During the scholastic year 19^5-^6, the dream of the president and the trustees came true. LaGrange College was fully accredited by the Southern Association, and received national recognition through the invitation to membership in the American Council on Education. Dr. Quillian said that the words of General Wainwright's prayer of thanksgiving after his release from prison seemed appropriate as an expression of gratitude and rededication: Keep us humble in the day of victory, make us wise in the presence of great problems , strong and brave in the face of any danger, and sympathetic and generous as we face the appalling need of a wartorn world. In gratitude for all those who paid the price of victory, Report of the President to the Board of Trustees , May 25, 19^5, P. 1. 27 Report of the President to the Board of Trustees, September, I9U5 , p. k. 153 we now dedicate ourselves anew to that cause for which they gave their last whole measure of devotion. Lord of Hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget. 28 Due to high costs, the total charges to students were raised fifty dollars for the next year, making tuition $225, > 29 room and board v325. Under the direction of Dr. Qui Hi an, the curriculum of LaC-range College continued to show evidence of loyalty to the liberal arts tradition. However, there was no blind devotion to the classics simply for the sake of scholarship. Language, history, mathematics, and the sciences were recog- nized as fundamental for sound education. Music, art, speech, and drama were considered essential to gracious living. 30 The fact that about sixty-seven per cent of the LaGrange College graduates were teachers was a compliment to the Department of Education and Psychology. In addition to such courses as Counseling and Guidance, The School and The Social Order, etc., the girls participated in practice teaching in the city schools. Annual Report of the President, June 3, 19*+6, p. 1. 29 bid . , p . 5 . 30 T. Otto Hall, "LaGrange College," Wesley an Christian dvocate , July 13, 19^-5, p. a. 15k Since most graduates "become homemakers sooner or later, they were taught that faith, love, trust, and under- standing are the most important components of a real home. The character-building liberal arts courses offered at the College developed all four. Home economics majors were required to take three courses in Bible, four in art, and 31 others from the liberal arts curriculum. The tempo of the schedule is unhurried, with plenty of time for concerts and lectures and golf at the country club, with all the girls enjoying all the privileges without charge. Hospitality is simple and sincere, and the president knows all the students by their first names. Friendliness is the very climate of the place. When an old Negro servant who had been with the school some thirty years passed on, the girls put up a memorial plaque in his honor. 32 One of Dr. Quillian's favorite stories was about the old negro servant, Ike Lewis, who felt that his thirty years experience should give him priority in the kitchen. "Uncle Ike" had been the cook for so long at LaGrange College that Mrs. Youngblood, the dietitian, often had difficulty in managing him. "Uncle Ike" insisted on doing things his own way regardless of Mrs. Youngblood' s instructions. Finally, she had to send him to the ^resident for discipline. After some counseling, Dr. Quillian saw the necessity of becoming more firm with "Uncle Ike." In a very serious tone, he 31 Loc. cit. 32 Loc. cit. 155 informed the chef that unless he improved, the two of them might have to come to the parting of the ways. To that Uncle Ike replied: "Lawsy mercy, Mr. Qui Hi an, whar is you thinking about gwine? On September lU, 19^5, Dr. Qui Hi an made a report to the Board of Trustees in which he stated: As we come to the end of the seven full years, we find the total resources of the College increased to around a million and a half dollars, its income increased from $U2,909 in 1938 to $111,370.27 in I9U5, of which the income from endowment and grants rose from $9,963.61 in 1938 to $1*5,1+62.60 in 19^5; its faculty paid on the basis of the Southern Association schedule of $3,000 to depart- ment heads and assistants in proportion, an increase from $19,7ll+.8o to $57,553.70; its buildings in good repair and repainted, with insurance increased from $91,000 in 1938 to $250,000 in 19^5; two new departments have been added in Secretarial Science and Home Economics; with enrollment increased from an all-time low to an all-time high.3l* V/hen school opened in the fall of 191+6, Dr. Qui Hi an announced that at least fifteen different individuals or organizations had established scholarships to assist students through college. Those in addition to the Dobbs Scholarship, Witham Fund, Pitts Fund, and five scholarships provided by the General Board of Christian Education in Nashville, 33 Information furnished by Mrs. Emmie Durham Murray, Head of the Department of Home Economics during Dr. Quillian's administration. 3h Report of the President of LaGrange College to the Board of Trustees, September lk 9 19^5, p. 6. 156 amounted to approximately $13,000 for that year.^ A sad note in the president's report for 19h6 was the passing of Mr. Alwyn M. Smith. It said in part: The last member of a distinguished family dedicated to God and the service of mankind, his influence, and that of his family, has helped to shape the present life of our community through LaGrange College, through the Church , and through the channels of our civic life. His years of service as professor of music brought honor to LaGrange College. The testimony of his influence of good upon the lives of the alumnae is in evidence today. 36 In the spring of 19^7, a survey of student opinion revealed that the spirit of democracy on the camnus , the accent on the dignity and worth of the individual student, and the wholesome prevailing Christian atmosphere were con- sidered the outstanding characteristics of the College. Nineteen students in the Religious Majors Club dedicated their lives to Christian service during the year. 37 On Founders' Day, April lU, 19**7, three distinguished service pins were awarded to members of the faculty who had served twenty- five years or more at the College. The reci- pients were; Miss Rosa Muller, teacher of piano, a graduate of Leipzig Conservatory; Miss Carrie Fall Benson, librarian, 35 Report of the President to the Board of Trustees , September 12, I9U6, p. 1. 36 Ibid . , p . 7 . 37 Annual Report of the President of LaGrange College to the Board of Trustees, June 2, 19^7, p 6. 157 also a member of The Atlanta branch of American Pen Women, the Poetry Society of Georgia, and The Georgia Writers' q O Association; and Dean E. A. Bailey. By June 2, 19^7 more reservations had been made for new students for the coming year than ever before at the same time. One applicant was from Havana, Cuba, and one 39 from Soochow, China. The many gifts and bequests made to LaGrange college during the scholastic year 19^6-1+7 proved the truth of Dr. Quillian's favorite quotation: "As one candle lights another, nor its flame grows less, so nobleness enkindleth nobleness." Notable gifts were made by Dr. S. C. Dobbs , Cason J. Callaway, Fuller E. Callaway, D. T. Man get, "William Banks, Mr. and Mrs. George S. Johnson, Judson J. Milam, and others. The terms of a bequest of $500 from the estate of Miss Ruth Nothern, to establish a scholarship in memory of her mother who graduated at the College, specified to girls who do not drink or smoke. The total amount of all gifts and hi bequests for the year was well over 5100,000. 38 Ibid . , p . 6 . 39 Ibid . , p . 5 . hQ Loc . cit . hi Loc . cit . . 158 The next big step in the improvement of the College, planned by Dr. Qui Hi an, was the building of a new library at a cost of something over fifty thousand dollars. Of this amount, Mr. William Banks, chairman of the Board of Trustees, gave thirty thousand. Although the contract had been let for the building, Dr. Qui Hi an never realized that dream because of failing health. For several months, Dean Bailey, with the cooperation of the faculty and the trustees, carried on the business of the College. ^ After an illness of six months Dr. Quillian passed away July 10, 19^8. Bishop Arthur J. Moore was assisted by Rev. C. 3. Forrester, pastor of the First Methodist Church in LaGrange, in conducting the funeral services. Dr. Quillian' s leadership and services were not con- fined to the College. His contributions to the civic life of LaGrange have rarely been equalled. He was president of the Rotary Club, served on the Board of Trustees of the LaGrange Memorial Library for several years, and was chair- man of the committee which raised funds to erect the library building. He served for several years as president of the LaGrange Welfare Assoc ait ion. He was also chairman of the h2 Annual Report of LaGrange College to the Board of Trustees, May 31, 19^8, p. 1. h3 Loc. cit. 159 local chapter of the American Red Cross. He seemed to be a vizard at raising necessary funds. After his death an article in the LaGrange aily news stated: It is safe to estimate that Mr. Quillian raised during his life time more than a million dollars for others. And those who gave, gave willingly "because of the incomparable charm and the unselfish motives of the man who sought the contributions. hk Because of the serious illness of Dr. Qui Hi an, the Board of Trustees appointed Dr. Waights Gibbs Henry, Jr., acting president of LaGrange College June 15, 19^8. Dr. Henry was at that time Executive Secretary of the Board of Education of the North Georgia Conference. After the death of Dr. Qui Hi an July 11, 19 H8, Dr. Henry became president. hk LaGrange Daily News , July 12, 19^8, pp. 1 and 8. ". G. Henry, Jr., Named to Head Local College," LaGrange Daily News , August 6, 19^8, p. 1. i CHAPTER VIII LAGRANGE COLLEGE TODAY (19^8-1955) The investiture of Waights G. Henry, Jr., as president of LaGrange College by William N. Banks, chairman of the Board of Trustees, was the feature of the 118th Convocation at. LaGrange College, September l6, 19^8. When Mr, Banks presented the new president, he said: "The trustees made a wise choice in selecting a new president to carry on Christian education, a bulwark against evils that could overtake us."" 1 " Dr. Henry was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, February 13, 1910, the son of Waights Gibbs and Mary Elizabeth (Davis) Henry. He attended Emory University in 1927-28, and received his A.B. degree from Birmingham Southern College in 1930, his B.D. in 193^ from Yale, and his D.D. in 19^7 from Birmingham-Southern College.^ On February l6, 1935 , he married Mamie Lark Brown. They have three children: George Madison, Waights Gibbs ,111, and Mary Ann. The Columbus Enquirer , September 18, 19^8, p. 2. 2 Who's Who merica , Vol. 28 (Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, Inc., 1954-1955) , p. 1,200. Also, Who's Who in Methodism (Chicago: The A. li. Marquis Company, 1952), p. 322. i6i Dr. Henry was assistant pastor of the Bunker Bill Congregational Church in Waterbury, Connecticut, from 1932 to 1936. He Joined the North Georgia Conference of the Methodist Church in 1936, and was ordained to the ministry of the Methodist Church in 1938. He served as pastor of the Methodist Church in Hoschton, Georgia, in 1937-38; Clayton, Georgia, in 1939-^2; the Epworth Church, Atlanta, 19^3-UU; executive secretary of the Board of Education of the North Georgia Conference from 19**5 to 19^8, when he became presi- 3 dent of LaGrange College. Since that time he has not only brought about unpre- cedented progress at the College, but his extra curricular activities also included the following: Chairman of the Joint Radio Commission of the Methodist Church which pro- duces the Methodist Hour and the Methodist Division of the National Radio Pulpit; President of the Georgia Association of Methodist Colleges; Executive Committee of the North Georgia Conference Board of Education; Director, LaGrange Community Chest; Artists Committee, LaGrange Concert Series Board of Managers , Camp Glisson; Director, Pitts Foundation; Director, Methodist Foundation for Retired Ministers; Director, LaGrange Chamber of Commerce; Delegate to regional and national church conferences; contributor to church 3 Loc. cit. lo2 publications; preacher on nation-wide broadcasts over CBS; columnist for Columbus ( Georgia ) Ledger-Enquirer ; judge of Miss America Pageant, 1952; member of LaGrange Rotary Club, and Highland Country Club.^ Dr. Henry is a speaker in great demand. He has con- ducted Religious Emphasis programs in many Georgia colleges and universities, and delivered commencement sermons and convocation addresses at others both within and outside the State. It is impossible for him to accept all the invita- tions to speak that he receives from churches, schools, and civic clubs in and out of the State. ^ In accepting the presidency of LaGrange College, Dr. Henry said: Looking at the past with pride and gratitude and at the future with exultant expectation, we examine the present to see if it be the logical fulfillment of the r dreams of yesteryear and an adequate foundation for a greater day to come. 6 When he did "examine the present" by making a check on LaGrange College students, transferred to other colleges or in the graduate schools of universities, Dr. Henry was pleased to find them irell at the top of their classes. Also, the graduate record examinations given to all k Loc . cit . ^ Rome Hews Tribune , February 27, 19^9, p. 1. 6 Waights G. Henry, Jr., "Address to the North Georgia Conference of the Methodist Church," Atlanta, July l6, I9U8. 163 sophomores and seniors indicated that their progress com- pared favorably with other American institutions of higher learning.^ The year I948-U9 began in a portentous mood because of the illnesses and deaths of Dr. Qui Hi an, former presi- dent, and Miss Lucie Billant, beloved professor of Romance Languages at LaGrange College for seventeen years. However, at the end of his first year, Dr. Henry said that the out- 8 look for the College had never been brighter. With a sizeable endowment and having been fully accredited, plans were begun for immediate improvement of the property, and increase of the resident membership of the 9 student body. In order to speed the latter, Mr. William N. Banks paid the travel expenses for a full-time student- recruitment man for the year 1949-50. Also, for the first time, men were encouraged to enroll as regular students of LaGrange College. A few local men had been admitted to classes at various times for various reasons for several years, but thirty-seven men from LaGrange and neighboring Annual P.enort of President , 19^9-50, p. 1. r ' ibid . , June 6, 19^9, p. 1. 1 Ibid . , p . 5 . Ibid . , 19^9-50, P. 3. l6h communities were admitted as regular students in the scholastic year 19U8-U9. In the fall of 1953, LaGrange College was formally declared a coeducational institution by the Board of Trustees. After one hundred twenty- two years of operation as an institution of higher learning for women, the doors were officially opened to men. Since that time the curriculum, progress, and facilities have been gradually changed to meet the demands of men students."^ The new William N. Banks library was completed in March, 19^9, at a cost of $50,000 which was donated by Mr. 3anks , chairman of the Board of Trustees. The dedicatory address was made by Bishop Arthur J. Moore, May 13, 19^9. On the same day the LaGrange Rotary Club presented a check for one thousand dollars for the establishment of the Hubert T. Quillian Memorial Collection. Dr. Quillian, the late college president, had been a charter member of the local Rotary Club and had served as president. Since that time 12 the Rotarians have given $100 each year to the library. Among interesting volumes in the library is a group of books by an alumna, Miss Fanny Andrews, a graduate of the Class of 1857. The volumes include: "wartime Journal of 11 Ibid . , May 18, 195^, p. 1. 12 Lucille Johnson, "LaGrange College Library," LaGrange College Alumnae Bulletin , Vol. 1, No. 3, December, 1951, p. 1. 165 Georgia- Girl , A Family Secret , published in 1876; j :-lere Adventure , published in 1878; and Prince Hal , published in 1882. Also included is a volume by Miss Andrews, Botany thi Year Around , which has been used in translation as a text in French schools."^ The late Carrie Fall Benson, college librarian for twenty-six years, was a well known Georgia poet. In the library is her volume of poetry, Every Year An April . There are also a number of plays and articles on Southern history by the late writer and librarian. Since her death Mrs. Davis Ik P. Me Is on has been college librarian. Among the other improvements made in 19^9 in the buildings were the following: a new guest room with private bath was exquisitely furnished by Mr. William N. Banks; Mrs. William H. Banks, and Mrs. Fuller E. Callaway, Jr. pre- sented needed furnishings for the parlors ; a suite for the com- fort and convenience of town girls was redecorated and furnished; the Alumnae gave new stage curtains; and Dr. and Mrs. Emory Park gave a pulpit desk, lamp, and Bible for Dobb's Chapel in memory . . 15 of Dr. Hubert Quillian. 13 Ibid . , p. 4. Ik Loc . cit. 15 Annual Report of the President to the Board of Trustees of LaGrange College, 19^9-50, p. 2. An event of great interest at the College in the fall of 19^9 was the entrance of "Miss Georgia of 19^9." Dorothy Johnston, a lovely LaGrange High School graduate, who scored high in the Miss America Pageant with her coloratura soprano voice, was awarded a scholarship "by the LaGrange Junior Chamber of Commerce when she was crowned "Miss LaGrange, 19U9." 16 Beginning in the summer of 1950 a renovation program involved the expenditure of $121,757.50, which was raised by a committee from the Board of Trustees, headed by Lewis Price and William H. Turner). The renovation program added greatly to the beauty and efficiency of the Dobbs and Hawkes buildings, and provided ample protection from fire hazards. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the one hundredth birth- day of Dobbs Hall, which had stood since the College was twenty-one years old. 1 ''' An article in the LaGrange Daily News said: If you are of the opinion that a dollar won't go far these da^rs (and most of us are) it will do you good to make a personal tour of the LaGrange College Campus some time in the near future and see just how far they made $125,000 go in the big face-lifting job that has been done "on the hill" recently. 16 "Miss Georgia to Vie Today for Top Title," The Atlanta Constitution , September 5, 19^9, p. 3. 17 Report of the President to the Trustees of LaGrange College, May 15, 1951, p. 1. 167 Buildings rebuilt from, the ground up, porches sub- tracted, terraces and services added, whole departments moved and enlarged; these are but a few of the spectac- ular achievements that have been accomplished in the past year. The Board of Trustees ix anxious, however, to keep the general public from getting the idea that the job is done, "That the tools may be laid away to rest." Said a spokesman for the board, "We need at least :100,000 to finish the renovation we have already under- taken. 11 18 In addition to the improvements mentioned above, the Science Department was completely equipped with modern apparatus and furnishings at a cost of $25,000 which was contributed by the Fuller S. Callaway Foundation for that purpose."^ A campaign for continuing the building and improve- ment of the College was launched on August 15, 1951. The campaign committee, composed of some of the leading citizens of LaGrange, West Point, and Hogansville, did an outstanding job, which resulted in raising $15 ^,1^5 . 5 8. Among the larger donations were: $50,000 by the Callaway Community Foundation, 512,500 from the General Board of Education of The Methodist Church, $10,000 from Mr. William H. Banks, $10,000 from Mr. Dan Manget, and $10,000 from Mr. Abbot Turner. 18 Don Downs, "5125,000 Face-Lifting Accomplished at LaGrange College," LaGrange Daily Hews , October 12, 1950, p. 7. 19 Report of the President to the Board of Trustees , May 15, 1951, p. 1- 168 There were, in all, over five hundred donors, a fact which indicates the widespread interest which citizens generally 20 have in LaGrange College. Dr. Henry's annual report at the end of the scholastic year 1952-53 shoved a total enrollment of 301, an increase of h'J over the previous year. Also, salaries of both the faculty and staff had been increased until they compared favorably with salaries of other first class church-related colleges.^ During that year, a special faculty committee spent weeks of serious study, drawing up a statement of the Philosophy of LaGrange College. It states in part: The purpose of LaGrange College is to foster the full development of the students as individuals and as members of society. The aim of Christian education is to pro- vide for growth intellectural, physical, emotional, social, and spiritual. Therefore the program should be flexible enough to prepare each student according to the individual interests, needs, and capacities for a life of maximum usefulness and service to society. The curriculum and program should be broad enough to provide opportunities for the students who wish to do graduate work, or transfer credits, and for the students who wish to go to work immediately after graduation. Fundamentals which are necessary for success in modern society should be provided for all. The curriculum and program should provide for an appreciation of our national heritage. We should make 20 President's Annual Report to the Board of Trustees of LaGrange College, November 7, 1951, p. 1. 21 Annual Report of President, May 29, 1953, p. 1. 169 an attempt to retain the best cultural heritage of civilization and build on that heritage. At the same time the curriculum and program should provide for an appreciation of world-wide conditions and make an effort to contribute toward international-mindedness. The administration and faculty seek to guide students in solving their problems , in making adjustments , and in selecting their life's work. The student's welfare is of paramount importance and the teacher-pupil relation- ship of prime significance. Training is given in the development of initiative, self-confidence, and depend- ability. The program seeks to instill within the individual courtesy, honesty, and respect for the rights of others, so that the students will be able to take their places as responsible members of a society, within the framework of the home and the community, in civic, religious, social, and business or professional activi- ties. 22 A real contribution toward friendly international relationships has been made at LaGrange College through a number of foreign students who have attended LaGrange College for several years. They have come from Japan, China, Korea, Holland, Brazil, Malaya, England, France, Egypt, and Cuba. The support of these students has come from contributions made by Mr. Dan Mange t, Mr. William H. Banks, the LaGrange Rotary and Lions Clubs, the Men's Bible Class of the West Point Methodist Church, the Men's Bible Class of the Peach- tree Road Methodist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, and the Woman's Society of Christian Service of St. Johns Methodist Church, 23 Augusta, Georgia. 22 Bulletin , 1953-55, p. l6. 23 Annual Report of the President to the Board of Trustees of LaGrange College, May 20, 1952, p. 3. 170 The academic program of LaGrange College reveals a strong and -well balanced corriculum, with seventeen majors offered. Students are expected to spend approximately two 2k hours in study for every hour in class. With classrooms, dormitories, and recreational facilities so conveniently located, there is plenty of time for study, work, play, and worship. Cultural subjects are considered essential for gracious living. The departments of art, music, speech, and drama offer students ample opportunity to develop talents and abilities that will help them to live a rich full life. The social life at the College is quite different with men in the student b ody. A student recreation center has been provided in the basement of the Hawkes Building, -foich meets a great demand for a place to enjoy a snack, listen to music, and dance. On May 6, 1950, for the first time a full scale formal dance was given the students by the local alumnae. It concluded the May Day Festival which is 26 an outstanding occasion at the College ever}/ year. There are four sororities on the campus with every girl invited to join one of them. They are local sororities, 2k Ibid. , p. lh. 25 Ibid . , p . IT . 26 Report of the President to the Board of Trustees of LaGrange College, 19^9-50, p. h. 171 but are older than many nationals. They keep their local status for two main reasons. It is inexpensive to belong to then, and their aim is to develop social graces rather than social superiority. The sororities sponsor parties, house parties, and athletic contests. They also sponsor two major dances each year, with escorts invited from Emory, Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, University of Alabama, and 27 Auburn. The men students have three fraternities, and promote an athletic program, and social events. They enjoy their own musical organization and present programs to the student body and to service clubs by invitation. They also take a major part in the production of drama, which is one of the most popular features of the College. The Curtain Raisers present 28 several full length plays each year. Miss Irene E. Arnett has been head of the Speech Department at LaGrange College since 19^1 , during which time many of her students have gained national recognition. Ten of them have played leading roles with the Barter Players in Abingdon, Virginia. Three have gone on to the Pasadena Playhouse, in Pasadena, California, where they have taken part in playwriting, producing, and acting. Five have been 27 LaGrange College Bulletin , 1953-53 , p. 13. 28 Loc. cit. 172 with the Priscilla Beach Sunnier Theater, at Plymouth, Massachusetts, and six of them have their own private 29 studios where they are teaching speech. Thirteen members of the 195^-55 Curtain Raisers belong to Alpha Psi Omega, a national Dramatic Fraternity. They are also represented each year at the conventions of the American Educational Theater Association, the National Association of Speech, and the Southeastern Theater Associa- .. 30 tion. Radio training is part of the Speech Department work, with emphasis on script writing, sound effects, productions, 31 and announcing. The front cover of the Georgia educational Journal , April, 1950, depicted the LaGrange College Radio Theater in action. That particular program featured the modern teacher in the elementary schools. It was instigated and broadcast over station W.L.A.G. F.M. under the direction of Miss Irene E. Arnett in cooperation with Miss Opal T. 32 Shaw, Atlanta Association for Childhood Education. 29 Information furnished by Irene E. Arnett, Head of Speech Department, LaGrange College, May 18, 1955. 30 Loc . cit . 31 . LaGrange College Bulletin , 1953-55, p. 14. 32 Georgia Department of Education Journal, Vol. ^3, No. 8, April, 1950, p. 5. 173 Music has always held a strong position at the College. From its beginning the best in faculty and instru- ments have been maintained. Miss Elizabeth Gilbert, vho has been a voice teacher and director of the Glee Club at LaGrange College for twenty years, said that her most promising students, who could have ha.d outstanding public careers in voice, had chosen marriage as their major career. Under Miss Gilbert's direction, the College Glee Club, known as the Chapel Choir, entertains the music lovers of LaGrange and other Georgia communities throughout the year singing at schools, churches, and civic clubs on invitation. For five years they have given at least one concert jointly with the Emory-at-Oxford Glee Club at Oxford and LaGrange, usually during the Christmas or Easter season, presenting such oratorios as the Messiah, Elijah, and The Creation. The Chapel Choir was the first college sroup to sing on the Protestant Hour Broadcast, 33 heard around the world. Since 19^5, Miss Gilbert and her choir have made annual tours, lasting from three to ten days, giving concerts in various towns in Georgia and Florida. In the spring of 195^, they went to Miami where they sang at the Easter Sun Rise Service in the Orange Bowl, and at the regular service LaGrange College Bulletin , 1953-55 P. 1^ 174 of the First Methodist Church in Miami. They also sang in several towns on their way to and from Miami. Even though hundreds of graduates from this depart- ment chose marriage as their major career, they have made remarkable contributions to the social and cultural life of their home towns all ove rthe South and will probably con- tinue to do so for years to come. The Art Department, under the direction of Mrs. Peaunette Everett Vaughn, a former student of Lamar Dodd, is outstanding. It presents exhibits in its modern gallery and showings are exchanged with other schools. Professional exhibits are offered to the student body and to the com- munity. The department boasts the fact that Lamar Dodd, one of America's top modern artists, got his foundation in art while a student at LaGrange College. The College also conferred the degree of Doctor of Humanities upon him at 35 the graduation exercises in 19^-7. Emphasis is placed upon Christian culture at the College. Outstanding ministers and religious leaders are brought to the campus for chapel addresses and sermons. In Information furnished by Miss Elizabeth Gilbert, Associate Professor of Voice, LaGrange College. Also LaGrange College Bulletin , 1953-55 p. 13. 35 Annual Report of the President to the Board of Trustees of LaGrange College, June 2, 19^7 p. ^ 175 the fall a Religion-in-Life Week is observed, at which time a noted scholar is invited to lecture on the place of reli- gion in his field of learning, and the contribution of his specialty to religion. In the spring a Religious Emphasis Week is scheduled, with a noted evangelist preaching two sermons each day and making himself available to students for personal counseling. All students are required to study 36 the Bible and to attend chapel three times each week. The Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian Churches have active student organizations for men and women. The Y. W. C. A. promoted a vital program until May, 195*+ when its name was officially changed to the LaGrange Christian 37 Association in recognition of the co-educational program. During the scholastic year 195^-55 the sum of $122,666 was added to the endowment fund, bringing the total endowment assets to $1,^75,^99. The two largest gifts were $50,000 contributed by William N. Banks, and $Ul,917 from 38 the Callaway Community Foundation. Mrs. Mary Will Thompson, alumna, contributed $U,000, which, with an appropriation of $1,000 from the general 36 Ibid . , p . 12 . 37 Annual Report of the President to the Board of Trustees, May 18, 195^, p. 5. 38 . Ibid. , p. 1. - 176 endowment funds of the College, will constitute the special endowment fund to support the Arthur H. Thompson Lectureship. This will bring to the campus each year a scholar to lecture on the interrelationship of his field of learning and reli- 39 gion. Mrs. William C. Key, alumna, gave forty shares of West Point Manufacturing Company capital stock to establish an annual scholarship award to a Baptist or Methodist senior student who plans to enter a full-time Christian occupation. During the same year, from the W. I. H. and Lula E. Pitts Foundation the College received $*f t 50h for current opera- tions. The annual grants since its establishment totaled $87,703. From the North Georgia Conference the college received $12,0^6.63, and the Callaway Mills Company made a ho special gift of $5,000 for the purchase of library books. E. Aubrey Bailey, dean of LaGrange College, was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by Florida Southern College, Lakeland, Florida, in March, 1950. The degree was conferred upon Dean Bailey in recognition of hi twenty-eight years of service as dean at LaGrange College. Dr. Waights G. Kenry, President of LaGrange College, deli- U2 vered the graduating address. 39 Ibid . , pp. 1-2. Loc . cit . Ul"Dean E. A. Bailey gets Honorary Degree in Florida," Atlanta Constitution , March 27, 1950, p. h. Loc. cit ITT At the commencement exercises of LaGrange College in 195^ Dr. Weston L. Murray, professor of social science, was presented with a diamond pin in recognition of his twenty- five years of effective service. The members of the college staff who have been awarded the twenty-five year service pins are: Dr. Hurray, Dean Bailey, and Miss Rosa Muller who retired in 195^ as head of the Music Department of LaGrange College after forty-eight years of service. Miss Muller came to LaGrange College from Leipzig, Germany, on the invitation of Mr. Alwyn Smith. In Appreciation of her services at the College for nearly half a century, the executive committee of the Board of Trustees made provision for her to continue to receive a monthly salary. ^ It has often been said that "Going to LaGrange tl li5 College is a family tradition. ' a number of girls who have attended the College in recent years have been members of the third and fourth generations of the same family who had graduated there. U3 Annual Report of the President to the Board of Trustees, May 18, 195*+, p. Loc . ext . "Going to LaGrange College Is a Family Tradition," Wesley an Christian Advocate, February 3, 19^9, p. 12. 178 Mary Perkerson, Greenville, Georgia, Glass 1952, said: "I like the sentiment and tradition that links our family with this wonderful old College." Her great- er ^6 grandmother, Lavma Byrd, was a graduate of lool. Elizabeth Reed Jackson, Hogansville, Georgia, Class 19^1, is the great granddaughter of Sara Cameron Kill, one of the three members of the first graduating class of the LaGrange Female Academy, in 18U6. Elizabeth's grandmother, Minnie Wilkinson Tatum, graduated in I89I, and her mother, Sara Tatum Reed, vas a graduate of the Class of 191 1 *. Elizabeth now has a daughter in the sixth grade of the Hogansville Elementary School who is planning to enter LaGrange College m 1961. In October, 1938, an article in the LaGrange Daily News began: The girls at LaGrange College are Just like the oft- mentioned "one big family," but they are related to each other in a much more literal sense. There are sisters, there are cousins , and there are daughters . . . . HQ Little did they think that in 195^ there would be brothers too. k6 Loc . cit . hi Information furnished by Sara Tatum Reed, Class kQ Margaret Cubine, "College Is Like One Big Family," LaGrange Daily News , October 18, 1938, p. h. 179 Many cultural and social affairs are enjoyed on The Hill by innumerable citizens of LaGrange throughout the year. For example: The Circle K Club of LaGrange College sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of LaGrange received its charter Thursday night, March 3, 195 5 at a joint dinner meet- ing of the two clubs held at LaGrange College with wives of Kiwanians and sweethearts of Circle K members as guests . Hilton Estes , president of Circle K, accepted both the charter and leadership of the club in an impressive manner. k9 In Dr. Henry's annual report for 195^-55, he expressed appreciation to the Callaway Community Foundation for the gift of several lots of land adjoining the campus; to the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation for a new scholarship fund of $1,500; and to Mr. and Mrs. . I, H. Pitts and Miss 50 Margaret Pitts for their continued strong support. 51 Aid to students for the year 195^-55 was as follows: Cash scholarships provided by benefactors . . $20,738.27 Honors and Music scholarhsip 5,7^2.00 Ministerial discounts 2,015.63 Work scholarships 6,268.75 Professional discounts 800.00 Other discounts 70.00 h9 Eleanor H. Orr, "Circle K Group Receives Charter,' The LaGrange Daily Hews , March U, 1955, p. 1. 50 Annua,l Report of the President to the Board of Trustees of LaGrange College, May, 1955 , p. 6. 51 Loc. cit. 180 During the scholastic year 195^-55 the curriculum of the College was reorganized. Instead of the many one-man departments, five basic departments with a person holding a Ph.D. degree at the head of each one except for the Depart- ment of Fine Arts, were established. The departments are: Business Administration, Humanities , Science, Social 52 Science, and Fine Arts. Three courses in Bible, or two courses in Bible and one in Fine Arts, are required of every student at LaGrange College. In the spring of 1955 a. serious young man, repre- senting a group of students , asked Dr. Henry why students majoring in Business Administration were required to take Bible and a foreign language. Dr. Henry's answer was rather lengthy, but he ended his many reasons for both requirements by saying that he and the faculty wanted to make it possible for every graduate of LaGrange College to be conversant in all fields of knowledge represented in the liberal arts. He also said, "Take away the study of the 3ible and eventually the fruits of its influences will also pass away. The Bible is the single and irrevocable source of all human freedoms." Dr. Henry says that even though the enrollment of the College has increased, it is still not as great as it should 52 Ibid . , p. 3. 53 Ibid . , p . 2 . 181 be. In his annual report of May, 1955 he stated: LaC-range College , which has lived through many eras , is approaching the end of another one. We will not accept our present status as that announced by Matthew Arnold who declared that "we stand between two eras. The one dead, the other powerless to be born." We pass from life to life as we stand at the threshold of the 125th birthday of this institution. We have reason to believe that the future portends a greater development than LaGrange College has ever known. The foundations have been laid and we are building toward a nobler struc- ture. 5 h 5h Ibid. , p . 1 . CHAPTER IX CONCLUSION More than times have changed at LaGrange College since 1831, when the loveliest young ladies of the South began their quest for higher education. It is no longer necessary for a colored mammy to go up to the school "to tub, button, and curl young miss,"^ nor do the young ladies march in prim pairs from the dormitory to classrooms with eyes demurely downcast lest young gentlemen on the wayside 2 detract their minds from their studies. instead, coeds stroll hand in hand into the classrooms and there prove and improve their abilities to take their places in the modern world. For the past century and a quarter LaGrange College has held aloft the torch of intellectual and spiritual advancement. It was fitting that such an institution was set upon a hill, symbolizing the light which was not hid under a bushel, but shedding its rays of influence into all parts of the world through the lives of its alumnae. It would be impossible to estimate the extent of the contributions made to the religious, cultural, and social Benson, op . cit . , p. 7. Ibid . , p. Ik. 183 life, not only of this nation but to nations around the world by approximately four thousand alumnae of LaGrange College. A list of some of the outstanding alumnae, recorded in Appendix D, only gives an idea of the variety of contri- butions which have been publicized. It says nothing of the hundreds of wives , mothers , teachers , and others whose influence could not be measured. The sentiment of patrons for LaGrange College was illustrated in a letter to Dr. Henry from the mother of a young lady who received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the College a few years ago, with a major in mathematics. The young lady went on to a graduate school for her Master of Arts degree, and subsequently married a young man with his Ph.D. in nuclear physics. The letter to Dr. Henry stated in part : I am so glad that my daughter had four years at LaGrange College. The Christian faith which was taught her in her childhood and youth was strengthened and confirmed during those years at the College. 3 Dr. Henry said that this letter demonstrated what Dr. Hubert Quillian once said in an article in the Wesley an Christian Advocate ; Christian Education for Christian living is stressed in all the policies and activities of the college pro- gram, with the objective of the development of social 3 Letter in the files in the president's office. 18U and mental poise in the individual student in prepara- tion for service in home, community, church, and state, k The regard of the present administration for the rich history of the College is indicated on two historical markers erected on the north and south sides of the campus April 1, 1955. The markers were made available through the Georgia Historical Commission at no cost to the community or the college. It reads as follows : LaGrange College 1831. La-Grange College is the oldest non-tax supported institution of higher education in Georgia. It was chartered in 1831, as LaGrange Female Academy. The charter has been changed three times as the trustees altered the name to LaGrange Female Institute in I8U7, to LaGrange Female College in 1851, and finally to LaGrange College in 193k. It was formally declared a co-educational institution in 195*+. The LaGrange College is owned by the Horth Georgia Con- ference of the Methodist Church. 6 LaGrange College has an illustrious heritage which could be either a blight or a blessing a blight if a spirit of self-complaoency were allowed to creep in, or a blessing if past achievements are used only as an inspiration to higher levels of service. Words for the inscription were prepared by Dr. Henry. k Hubert Quillian, "LaGrange Christian Advocate , July 13, 19^5 College," "Wesley an p. 7. LaGrange Daily News , April 1, 1955, p. 1. 6 Loc. cit. It is deeply gratifying to all friends of the insti- tution that its alumnae, patrons, and 'leaders are so enthusiastically and unselfishly striving to build an even more glorious future. BIBLIOGRAPHY A. BOOKS Barrett, George W, , compiler. Year Book : iinutes i* the Twenty-s e venth Session of the ..orth Georgia Conference . Atlanta: Press of the Foote and Davies Company, 1893. T2 pp. Callaway, T. W. Callawa; Baptist Preachers , 1789-1882 . Compiled Toy T. W Callaway and evidently published by him for members of the Callaway Family only one hundred copies were printed. No publisher or printer's name given. Catalogues of LaGrange Female Institute , 18U8 , 1851, 1853, I856, l557 , 1858-59 . Catalogues E* LaGrange Female ollege , l859 1876-77, 1878- 79, 1879-80, 1881-82, 1887-88, 1888-89, 1890-91, 1892-93, 1900, 190U-05, 1908, 1910, 1911-12, 1913, 1917-18, 1919- 20, 1920-21, 1923-2U, 1927-28, 1928-29. Catalogues of LaGrange College , 1936-37, 1953-55. Cooper, H alter G. The Story of Georgia , Vol. II. New York: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1938. Gordon , John B . Reminiscences of th Civil r ar . New York : Charles Scribner and Sons, 1903. Memories of Georgia , Historical and Biographical , Vol. II. At.la.nta: The Southern Historical Association, 1895 Mitchell, Margaret. Gone with the Wind . Hew York: The Macmillan Company, 1938. Monroe, Walter S., editor. Encyclopedia of Educational Research (American Educational Research Association) . Hew York: The Macmillan Company, 19^1. Smith, Clifford L. His tor;/ - of Troup County . Atlanta: Press of the Foote and Davies Company, 1933. Smith, George G. rhe Story of Georgia and the Georgia People , 1732 to i860 . Macon, Georgia: George G. Smith, Publisher, 19 00. . The Story of Georgia Methodism from 1786-1866 . Atlanta: A. B. Caldwell, Publisher, 1913. P. 335. 188 White, Mary Culler. The Life Story of Ali ce Culler Cobb . New York: Fleming K. Re veil Company, 1925. ho's Who in i merica , Vol. 28. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, Inc., 195^-1955. 3,099 pp. .Tap's Who in Methodism . Chicago: The A. IT. Marquis Company, 1952. 860 pp. "Woody , Thomas . His tory of Women ' s Education in the United States, Vol. II. New York: Science Press, 1929. B, PERIODICALS Forrester, Charles S. "Commencement Address ," LaGrange College Bulletin , Vol. CII , Ho. 3, May 29, 19^8. Georgia Educational ournal , Vol. U3, No. 8, April, 1950, p. 5. "Going to LaGrange College Is A Family Tradition," 'Wesley an Christian Advocate , February 3, 19^9, p. 12. Harris, Pierce. "Stewardship a Power Behind LaGrange College Endowment Successes," Wesley an Christian Advocate , July 13, 19^5, p. 1. Johnson, Lucille. "LaGrange College Library," LaGrange College Alumnae Bulletin , Vol. I, Ho. 3, December, 1951, p. 1. Hall, T. Otto. "LaGrange College Custodian of the Intangibles," Wesley an Christian .Advocate , July 13, 19^5, p. a. Qui Hi an, Hubert. "LaGrange College," Wesley an Christian Advocate , July 13, 19^5, p. 7. White, Mabel. "College Campaign, 1920," The Quadrangle , 1921, p. Ik. C. NEWSPAPERS At lant a C ons t i tuti on , September 5, 19^9 p. 3. Atlanta Journal . October h 9 1931, p. 5. 189 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer , September 18, 19kQ, Columbus Sunday Ledge r-Enouirer , "Mid-Century Panorama of Progress, 1900-1950," " January 28, 1951, Section No, p. k. LaGrange Daily Mews , October 18, 1938; July 12, I9U8; October 9, 1931. LaGrange Graphic , June 15, 1928. LaGrange Reporter , July IT , 1879 . Rome Revs Tribune , February 27, 19^9, p. 1. D. LETTERS Gramly, Dale H. , President of Salem Academy and College, Winston Salem, Ilorth Carolina, letter to the writer dated November 15, 195 Letter from the mother of a LaGrange College graduate to Dr. Waights G. Henry, president. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., to Dr. Waights G. Henrj'', President of LaGrange College, dated March 2, 1951. Polhill, Mary Park, a letter to the writer containing biographical sketch of Major John Park, second president of the LaGrange Female Academy ( 195*0 . Varner, Cinthia, a letter to her daughters at LaGrange College, dated April 3, 1952. E. UNPUBLISHED MATERIAL Benson, Carrie Fall. "Century End." Unpublished story of LaGrange College, 1831-1931, 36 pp. Caswell, Render R. "The History of Bowdon College," Unpub- lished Master's thesis, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, July, 1952, 225 pp. 190 Miller, Margaret. "The Founding and Early History of Wesley an College." Unpublished Master's thesis, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, 1935. Smith, Luther M. "Commencement Address," LaGrange Female College, July 10, 1856. F. MISCELLANEOUS Acts of the General Assembly of Georgia , 1831, I8U7, 1851, 1859* Published separately for each session. Act of Superior Court , Troup County, August 6, 193*+. Annual Reports of the President and Minutes of the Board of Trustees from January, 1857, to May, 19^2. Journal of LaGrange Female College, Volume I, II, III. Annual Reports of the President to the Board of Trustees of LaGrange College, May 29, 1939. Hot included in Journal, 19 Hi, 19^2, 191*3, 19^5, 19^6, 19U7, 19^9, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 195k a 1955. Deed Files of Troup County , Book J, pp. 99-597; Book L, p. Stories and incidents furnished by the following alumnae and faculty members of LaGrange College: Mrs. Emmie Durham Murray Mr. and Mrs. Paul Smith Mrs. Sara Tatum Reed Mrs. A. H. Thompson Mr. Hubert T. Quillian, Jr. Mrs . Frank Davis Miss Ruth Uhatley Mrs. H. S. Wooding Mrs. E. K. Farmer Miss Daisy Davies , president 1915-1920 Dr. W'aights G. Henry, president, 19^8 - Miss Irene E. Arnett Miss Elizabeth Gilbert - APPENDIXES APPENDIX A CHARTERS 193 Text of the first "bill introduced into the Georgia Legislature "by Honorable Duncan G. Campbell in Hovember, 1825, to secure a seminary of learning for females: A BILL "To be entitled an Act to establish a public seat of learning in this State for the education of females. It is the distinguished happiness of the present generation to live in an age of improvement, and enjoy the means of ameliorating the condition of all classes of society. In a review of the progress of literature throughout the country in which we live, we are fur- nished with the fact that in no part of this vast Con- federation has the education of females been the object of public munificence. To this class of society is entrusted the early in- struction of both sexes, and our feelings and principles are of maternal origin. How necessary, then, that a department so high, and charged with duties so delicate and important should be early placed under the regenerat- ing hand of science and religion. These are the strongest safeguards, under Providence, of political security and individual excellence. To direct them in their appro- priate destinies is the grateful duty of those who wish well to the national prosperity. For the acquirement of solid and useful female education our sister states will afford but incompetent reliance. And if we were but satisfied of their sufficiency, the resort would be too humiliating for the generous ambition of Georgia and her means of indulging it. For the purpose, therefore, of rescuing from comparative obscurity the fairest portion of our community and enabling them to contribute to the vast store of literature, philosophy and religion, Be it therefore enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by authority of the same, That the superintendence and regulation of female education throughout the State, and parti cularly of the public seat of learning hereby established for that purpose, shall be committed and entrusted to one board of trustees to be denominated 'The Board of Trustess of the Female Seminary of Georgia. 1 Said Board shall consist of fifteen males and fifteen females : and that the seminary may be carried into effect as speedily as possible the following persons are hereby appointed trustees." (Here follow the thirty names.) 19 k There were seven other sections to the bill defining the authority of the Board and making all other necessary provisions for the permanent establishment of the institu- tion. The hill passed the House by a large majority, but contrary to expectation, met with strong opposition in the Senate and was lost. ACTS OF LEGISLATURE REFERRING TO LAGRANGE COLLEGE Sec. k Act approved December 26, 1831, Acts of 1831, page h. Sec. k. And that Wilson Williams, Julius C. Alford, Rufus Broome, James Herring, John L. Gage, William A. Redd, and Joseph Poythress, and their successors in office, be, and they are hereby appointed and declared to be a body corpor- ate, under the name and style of the Trustees of the LaGrange Female Academy, in the county of Troup. From Acts of iQkj , pp. 120-121, approved December IT, I8U7. Sec. 5. And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the principal of the Institute shall have power to confer all such honors, degrees, medals and privileges as are usually conferred in colleges and universities. . . . From Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia passed in Milledgeville , 1851-52, p. 312. . . . That from and after the passage of this Act, the name of the LaGrange Female Institute, Incorporated by the Act of the General Assembly, approved 17th of December, iQkj t be and the same is hereby changed to the name of the LaGrange Female College. From Acts of the Legislature December, 1859. Preamble, /.here as, the LaGrange Female Academy was originally incorporated by the Legislature of Georgia, and the same was duly organized according to the true intent and meaning of said Act; and whereas the name of said Academy was afterwards changed to the name of the LaGrange Female Institute; and whereas, the name was subsequently by act of the General 195 Assembly changed to the name of the LaGrange Female College, and certain privileges and rights were conferred by each of the said several Acts; . . . By Act of the Superior Court, Troup County, August 6, 193^, the name of the Institution was changed to LaGrange College. FROM ACTS OF 1831, p. 3, INCORPORATING LaGRANGE FEMALE ACADEMY Sec. k. And that Wilson Williams, Julius C. Alford, Rufus Broom, James Herring, John L. Gage, William A, Redd and Joseph Poythress , and their successors in office, be, and they are hereby appointed and declared to be a body corpor- ate, under the name and style of the Trustees of the LaGrange Female Academy, in the county of Troup. Approved December 26, 1831, Acts of 1831, page It: /Signed/ Wilson Lumpkin, Governor AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE LAGRANGE FEMALE INSTITUTE Sec. 1 . 3e it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- tives of the State of Georgia in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, that from and after the passage of this act, Sampson Duggar, Hampton W. Hill, Daniel McMillan, Orval A. Bull, and Thomas 3. Greenwood, and their successors in office, be, and they are hereby con- stituted a body corporate and politic by the name and style of the LaGrange Female Institute, said board to augment in number by the present board at pleasure, provided that not more than twenty-four shall at any time exist. Sec. 2 . And be it further enacted, That the trustees, and their successors in office, under the name and style afore- said, may use a common seal, and shall be capable of suing 196 and being sued, pleading and being impleaded; also, to have, take, possess, and acquire, by gift, grant, or purchase, lands , tenements , hereditaments , goods , chattels , and other estates, and the same to be used for the purpose of education. Sec. 3. And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the trustees, or a majority of them, shall have power to appoint a principal for the Institute, and that said princi- pal shall have the right and power to appoint assistants, prescribe a course of studies, to make and enforce all such laws as the internal policy of the Institute may require, establish the rate of tuition, adjust expenses, and adopt such regulations as the good of the Institute may require. Sec, k. And be it further enacted, That the trustees afore- said, in their corporate character and name, shall have peroetual succession; and when any facancy shall occur in said board of trustees, by death, resignation or otherwise, the remaining trustees, or a majority of them, shall have the power of filling each vacancies. Sec. 5 . And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the principal of the Institute shall have power to confer all such honors, degrees, medals and privileges as are usually conferred in colleges and universities, and shall preside at all the public exercises of the Institute. Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the charter shall be and remain in force for and during the space of twenty years from the date of its passage. Sec. 7* And be it further enacted by the authority afore- said, that all laws and parts of laws, militating against this act, be, and the same are hereby repealed. /signed/ CHARLES J. JENKINS, Speaker of the House of Representatives ANDREW J. SELLER, President of the Senate Approved Dec. IT, I8U7 GEORGE W. TOWS, Governor (See Acts I8U7, pp. 120-121) 197 FROM ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA PASSED III MILLEDGEVILLE, 1851-52, p. 312 No. 195 An Act to change the name of the La Grange Female Institute, incorporated by Act of Legislature, approved, December 17, lQk'J t and for other purposes therein mentioned. Approved, December 26, 1851. Sec. 1 . Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen- tatives of the State of Georgia in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That from and after the passage of this Act, the name of the LaGrange Female Institute, incorporated by Act of the General Assembly, approved, 17th of December, I8U7, be and the same is hereby changed to the name of the LaGrange Female College, and that all the powers, privileges and immunities, granted to the LaGrange Female Institute, shall continue and inure to the LaGrange Female College. No. 182 An Act to amend the several acts heretofore passed in rela- tion to the LaGrange Female College, to ratify the same of the same, and for other purposes therein named. Whereas, the LaGrange Female Academy was originally incorporated by the Legislature of Georgia, and the same was duly organized according to the true intent and meaning of said Act; and whereas, the name of said Academy was after- wards changed to the name of the LaGrange Female Institute; and whereas, the name was subsequently by act of the General Assembly changed to the name of the LaGrange Female College, and certain privileges and rights were conferred by each of the said several acts; and whereas, Joseph T. Montgomery and Hugh B. T. Montgomery removed said Institution to a more eligible location, and incurred great expense in erecting buildings and procuring apparatus, and in making great improvements; and whereas, on the 29th day of January, 1857, said Joseph T. Montgomery and Hugh B. T. Montgomery, by indenture, did duly convey said LaGrange Female College to William J. Parks, Caleb W. Key, Albert E. Cox and others, as trustees appointed by and acting for the Georgia Annual 193 Conference of the Methodist E. Church, South; and -whereas, said Conference has since said day held and managed said College, by its Trustees and has at various times added to and filled vacancies in said Board of Trustees, therefore, 28. Section 1. The General Assembly do enact, That the transfer and sale of said LaGrange Female College to the trustees named in said deed, and for the purposes there- in named, be, and the same is, hereby ratified and made legal, and that said new trustees and their successors do hold and enjoy and exercise all the powers, rights, fran- chises and privileges heretofore granted by the several Acts aforesaid, as fully as if they had been the original Trustees for said institution of learning. 29. Section 2. Be it further enacted, That the present Board of Trustees, to wit: Robert A. T. Ridley, President; James B. Payne, Caleb W. Kay, John C. Simmons, Cadwell J. Pearce, Charles R. Jewett, William J. Scott, John W. Talley, Robert B. Lester, George C. Clark, William H. Evans, James W. Hinton, Eustice W. Speer, William D. Martin James M. Chambers, James M. Beall, Simon W. Yancey, Albert E. Cox and Benjamin H. Hill, and their successors in office, be, and they are hereby incorporated and made a body corporate, under the name and style of the LaGrange Female College, and as such may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded in any court of law or equity in this State, and may have a common seal, and adopt all by-laws and regulations for the govern- ment of said College that may deem fit and proper, and not repugnant to the Constitution and laws of this State and of the United States. 30. Section 3. Be it further enacted, That said LaGrange Female College may confer degrees , grant diplomas , regulate instruction, and do all things necessary to be done, and have all the powers, privileges and franchises heretofore conferred upon any literary female college in this State, and may do all things properly attached to a college of the highest grade. 31. Section h. That said Board of Trustees shall have power to fill vacancies and enlarge their number, as 1 The Church body is now the North Georgia Conference of The Methodist Church. 199 desired, and shall have power to sell and transfer any property originally belonging to said LaGrange Female Academy or LaGrange Female Institute and to invest the pro- ceeds of said sale in accordance with the true intent and meaning of the original incorporation, and shall have power to hold and possess property, real and personal, by gift, grant, bequest, or otherwise, and to alien and dispose of the same under the direction and by the consent of the said Georgia Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Sec. 5. Repeals conflicting laws. Assented to December the 19th, 1859 APPENDIX B LIST OF PRESIDENTS 201 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF PRESIDENTS OF LAGRANGE COLLEGE Rev. Thomas Stanley Hr. John Park Rev. Joseph T. Montgomery Rev. W G. Conner Rev. W. J. Sassnett, D.D. Rev. W, A. Harris Rev. G. J. Pearce Rev. J. M. Armstrong Prof. I. F. Cox Rev. Morgan Callaway, D.D. Rev. E. P. Birch Mr. J. T. Johnson Rev. J. R. Mays on Rev. J. W. Heidt, D.D. Prof. Rufus V/. Smith Prof. Alvyn P. Smith Miss Daisy Davies Mr. William E. Thompson Mr. Hubert T. Quillian, LL.D. Dr. Waights G. Henry, Jr., D.D. 1831-1835 1835-18U3 181*3-1857 1857-1858 September, 1858-December , 1858 1859- 1860 1860- 1863 1866- 1867 1867- 1869 (College combined during this period with Southern Female College) 1869-1871 January, 1872-ITovember, 1872 November, 1872-December , 187^ 1875-1881 1881-1885 1885-January, 1915 January, 1915-May, 1915 (Acting President) 1915-1920 1920-1938 1938-19^8 19^8- - . . . APPENDIX C LETTERS 203 THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Washington 25, D. C. March 2, 1951 Dear Mr. Henry: Your letter of February 10, 1951, has been referred to this Division for further attention and reply. An examination of sources such as The "world Almanac and Book of Facts for 195 1 and American Universities and Colleges (Washington, D.C., American Council on Educations, 19^8) has revealed the following Protestant Colleges for women which appear to antedate LaGrange College. Lindenvood, St. Charles, Mo., 1827. Salem, Winston-Salem, N.C., 1772. Very truly yours, Henry J. Dubester Acting Chief General Reference and Bibliography Division. Mr. Waights G. Henry, Jr. LaGrange College for Young Women LaGrange, Georgia 20k SALEM ACADEMY AND COLLEGE winston-Salem, North Carolina November 15, 195k. Ilrs. Frank G. Birdsong 32 Morgan Street, LaC-range, Georgia Dear Mrs. Birdsong: Salem was founded in 1772 as a school for girls of the Salem Village, which had been founded in 1766. The school became a boarding school for girls in 1802 and was Icnown for many years as Salem Female Academy. It is nov, really two schools: (l) Salem Academy, entirely for girls, covering the secondary or high school years; and (2) Salem College, a four-year liberal arts college. Both institutions have their separate campus areas on the same total 56-acre area. The Academy is strictly female; the College admits a few men as day students but is considered primarily a woman's college. The enclosed material may be of aid to you. Sincerely, /Signed/ Dale II. Gramley Dale K. Gramley President DHG:ent enclosure APPENDIX D OUTSTANDING ALUMNAE 206 Listed below are some of the outstanding alumnae of LaGrange College : Ware, Caroline, 1353 prominent in U.D.C. circles Andrews, Frances, 1857 internationally known scientist, author, and educator. In 1915, with four other outstanding Americans (Woodrow Wilson, Thomas A. Edison, Nicholas Murray Butler, and E. E. Brown), was elected to membership in the International Academy of Literature and Science at Naples, Italy. Culler, Alice, 1859 (Mrs. J. B. Cobb) missionary secre- tary of the Woman's Board of Nashville, Tennessee. Douglas, Frances, 186 1 (Mrs. Lowe) First President of the Southern Division of Women's Clubs. Hill, Mary, 1871 (Mrs. Boyce Ficklen) Leader in all public work in her city; a Conference officer in North Georgia Woman's Missionary Society. Tray lor, Mattie, I869 (Mrs. Thomas H. Northen) Was written up in "Women of Georgia." Atkinson, Virginia, 1880 Served in China as a missionary for forty years. Parks, Carrie, 1883 (Mrs. Luke G. Johnson) One of two women on General Board, M.E. Ch. , S. A leader in Woman's Missionary Council; sent by Council to France in interest of work there; one of eight women appointed on Commission for Interracial Co- operation. Barry, Ellen, 188U (Mrs. Carvey) Spent some years in Mexico under the Woman's Board of Foreign Missions, where death interrupted her task. Cook, Margaret, student in iQdh missionary to Japan. Revill, Minnie, lQ8k (Mrs. R. J. Atkinson) Prominent in work of North Georgia Missionary Conference, an officer. Smith, Maidee, 1837 Was a missionary to Brazil and then later taught Bible and Religious Education at LaGrange College, LaGrange, Georgia. 207 MacFarlin, Jane L. , 1891 (Mrs. Mattingly) Head of the Mattingly School of Music. The Cable Piano Company gave a full window display of her compositions. Ferguson, Edna, 1893 (Mrs. Phillip M. Tate) First woman bank president in Georgia; also a successful manager of other business interests; the hub of all civic and educational work in her town. Ward, Antoinette, 1893 Unusually successful in musical line; author of a system of teaching Piano that has brought her much notice in Hew York City. Anderson, Louise, l&9h (Mrs. Frederick P. Manget) Missionary to China. Her husband founded Hoochow Hos- pital, where they served for forty years. College building at LaGrange named for her. Harvard, Es telle, 189^ (Mrs. E. E. Clements) .Missionary to Cuba. Johnson, Dr. Buford J., 1895 Professor of Psychology at Johns Hopkins University. Became the first woman to be full professor at Johns Hopkins University. Baker, Rose, student in 1897 Missionary to Cuba. Campbell, Annie, 1897 Missionary to China. Jenkins, Kate, 1895 (Mrs. Alonzo) Missionary to Cuba. Thrower, Mabel, 1899 (Mrs. George McDouvell) Served as missionary to Mexico and Cuba. Bradfield, Stella, 1901 Taught at LaGrange College for a number of years. Awarded Distinguished Alumni Itecog- nition by the College at Commencement, I96U. Bradfield, Kate, 1901 (Mrs. John S. Brown) Was the second woman in the State to be elected a county school superintendent (Henry County, 1921+). She was also the first president of the Henry County Federation of Woman's Clubs and active in other civic, state, and national committee work. Cotton, Lois, 1902 Missionary to Cuba (Mrs. P. H. Ellis). Park, Marguerite, 1902 (Mrs. D. L. Shertz) With her husband served in China as missionaries until 1950. Now are in Rodesia, Africa, as Methodist mission- aries. * . . . 208 Dillard, Annie Zu, 1906 (Mrs. J. G. Stipe) Served as missionary to Cuba. Jones, Juelle, 1906 (Mrs. Henry A. Willy) Served es missionary to Hawaii. Henley, Mamie, 1907 (Mrs. Joseph Meacham) Missionary to Brazil. Jenkins, Kate, 1907 Ilissionary to Brazil. Murphy, Lizzie, 1907 Missionary to Brazil. Pyle, Daisy, 1907 (Mrs. James L. Kennedy) Missionary to Brazil. Fox, Mary, 19 8 Missionary to Cut a. Gray, Ellie, 1908 Missionary to Korea. Now secretary at First Methodist Church in LaGrange. Price, Leta, 1908 Mission school work among the Indians of Montana. Godwin, Ella, 1909 (Mrs. Clifford Hill) Missionary in Mexico. Webb, Lucy Jim, student in 1909 Missionary to China. Burnside, Dr. Lenoir, 1911 Ph.D. of Johns Hopkins; employed in Psychological Institute research work in New York. Lupton, Edith, 1911 (Mrs. Frank Hunt) Missionary to Cuba and "Y" work in California. Moore, Mary Hill, 1911 (Mrs. Harry E. Heal) Missionary to Cuba. Towson, Manie, 1911 Missionary to Japan. Brinkley, Dr. Florence, 1912 Dean of Women, Duke Univer- sity, Durham, North Carolina. Brown, Dr. Susan Willard, 1912 MedicaJ. doctor as mission- ary to China. McGee, Eunice Hill, 1912 Critic and demonstration teacher at East Carolina College, Greenville, North Carolina. - 209 Walker, Ruth, 1912 Made outstanding record at Vassar. Taught Northwestern University. Eakes, Mildred, 1913 Educational Director for the Cincin- nati Conservatory of Music. Wrote the book of poems , Women Are That Way . Fox, Pauline, 1913 (Mrs. Claude Sitton) Missionary to Cuba. Grogan, Elmira, 1919 Author. Stories and articles accepted by magazines as "Century," "The Bookman," "Yale Review," "Woman's Home Companion," "Cosmopoli- tan," "Ladies' Home Journal." Member of the Board of Directors of Friendship among Children and Youth around the World, Inc., ITew York City. Lane, Mary, 192U Teaches in Waycross and writes for the Atlanta Constitution . Foster, Edith, 1926 Was one of two librarians in the United States chosen to participate in a symposium on adult education before the American Library Association in San Francisco, California. Is the director of the West Georgia Regional Library and is author of two books of poems , Beside the Wishing Well and T Wind A Chain . Floyd, Mary, 1927 Teaches at Pfeiffer College, Misen- heimer, Horth Carolina. Powell, Evelyn, 1930 (Mrs. Earl H. Hoffman) Interested in dramatics. Her production of "The Heiress" was selected, to be entered in the contest sponsored by Temple University, who annually award the best Little Theatre production on Philadelphia's Main Line. Car ley, Chrystal, 1931 (Mrs. Bill Starr) Was named "Woman of the Year" by the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Co. This is the highest honor the company can confer on a woman employee. Has now attained "Life Member of the Women's Million Dollar Round Table." Iviker, Betty, 1937 (Mrs. Carrol Johnson) Does an editorial stint for a professional educational journal., The School Executive. 210 Ayers , Adrienne, 1938 With the U. S. Information Agency as a public affairs assistant. For the past two years Miss Ayers was in Lahone , capitol of the Punjab province of Pakistan. Before going to Pakistan, she was on assignment in Stockholm, Sweden. Arrington, Anne, 19k0 (Mrs. Richard Dunphy) 19^2-U2 secretarial work, office of Price Administration, Washington, D.C.; 19^3-UU on Secretarial Staff of Senator Walter F. George, Washington, D.C. Perkins, Ida Virginia, 19^+0 ITow in Ascunsion, Paraguay with the Un's "world Health Program. She is in charge of establishing laboratories for the control of certain diseases. Bell, Jean, 19^+2 (Mrs. James M. Hill) Teacher at Appalachian State College, Boone, Worth Carolina. Hays, Kathryne, 19^3 Fashion Editor of Vogue Magazine . Bailey, Dorothy Mae, 19^ Assistant speech director, Bessie Tift College, Forsyth, Georgia. Brannon, Sara, 19^+5 Studied in Hew York with one of the theatre companies . Barbour, June, 19k6 Graduated from Pasadena Playhouse in California and is now writing for television and stage in Hew York. Wrote TV Play, "The Thing That Hever Happened," starring Sylvia Sidney in 1955. Carter, Mary, 19^6 A young scientist, is a fellowship student at the University of Edinburgh to pursue studies leading to a doctorate in the cellulose field of Chemistry, directly under the supervision of Dr. Hirst, internationally famous in this branch of industrial science. McKee, Beth, 19^6 (Mrs. William Hinshaw) Received her Master's degree from Pasadena Playhouse and now is doing television and acting in Hollywood. Jones, Jeweldean, 19^7 Chosen to be one of the four dele- gates from the Y.W.C.A. of the United States to the Third World Conference of Christian. Youth in 1952. After the Conference Jeweldean traveled for several months in India, after which she continued on around the world. Wow with YWCA in Atlanta. APPENDIX E ALMA. MATER ALMA. MATER Hail to thee, our Alma Mater, Guardian of our days ; For thy spirit never failing We will sing thy praise. High aloft we hold thy banner, Ever loyal, true; And to thee , our Alma Mater , We our pledge renew. In thy nighty groves of learning Wisdom's paths we've sought; High upon thy lofty hilltop Visions have "been wrought. From our hearts we sing the chorus Time shall never change, Hail to thee, Our Alma Mater, Hail to thee, LaGrange. Author: Dolly Jones House, 191*+. Adapted by Ollie Reeves , Poet Laureate of Georgia. 5