records where these boards are named. The methods of instruction have been modified, but radical changes have been avoided, while many of those introduced have been adopted, not so much from a settled conviction that they were great improvements over older methods, as from a desire to conform to the custom of the times. No substitute for mental labor on the part of the student has yet been found to yield satisfactory results. The old tread-mill methods of drilling, although often now subjects of ridicule, secured a degree of mental discipline which no short method, involving merely a passive reception of what is taught, can equal.

In the curriculum of Emory and Henry it is still maintained that Latin, Greek, and mathematics should be held as standard studies for mental discipline. Much time must be devoted to a patient study of the natural, mental, and moral sciences, and the curriculum made yet more symmetrical by due attention to the modern languages, specially the German and the French; holding the idea as preposterous that any one-sided development that may be secured by a few weeks' special study of a few branches, intended as special preparation for some particular pursuit, can be properly regarded as education. To aid instruc tion in the natural sciences a "Science Hall" has just been erected, with lecture-rooms and a laboratory below, and a cabinet of minerals and museum above.

The facilities for boarding students prior to the time of the War were limited, at least in variety, being confined almost entirely to the two college boarding halls. The usual evils attending such a system were manifested-such as coarseness of manners, arising from an absence of refined family influences, and dissatisfaction with the fare. After the Civil War a number of family residences were erected in the immediate neighborhood, where boarding can now be had, and the students are permitted to select any approved place or to board themselves in messes. This last method is now quite popular and economical. Companies containing fifteen or twenty each take some building, provided by the college at a small charge, and elect one of their number to superintend their operations and employ a cook. In this arrangement one of the evils alluded to above is eliminated. They are never known to complain of their board.

In the government of the college and in the administration of discipline there has been much change. The system now practised would have been inefficient in ante-bellum days, nor would the former methods be applicable now. These changes have not only been in harmony with, but they have been necessitated by, a change in the general character of the students. The old dispensation was emphatically one of law, and a rigid enforcement of law seemed to be necessary. The patronage of the school was drawn almost exclusively from slave-holding territory. Among the evils arising from the system, a very serious one was that it tended to weaken inducements to study, by favoring an idea

in the minds of the young men of the dominant race that they were independent, not only of the necessity of manual, but in a measure of mental labor. Their relations to the servile race at home did not tend to make them specially submissive to wholesome restraints at school; the spoiled favorites of fortune, they were frequently sent abroad because they were unmanageable at home. With such boys college rebellion was a favorite pastime, to prevent which the severest penalties belonging to college discipline were inflicted; such as reproof, private, then public dismission, and expulsion, following these last with a publication of the same in the annual catalogue. In former years the dominant party was often composed of the worst characters, who held the better class in a state of abject fear. The idea was fostered that the faculty was one party and the students another, having no interests in common; that their stay at college, far from being a privilege, was a sort of durance, to which they were subjected contrary to their wishes, and from which they longed to be delivered. To these was added a spirit of vandalism that took delight in mutilating and destroying whatever had been prepared for the comfort and welfare of the college community. In all these things there has been a most gratifying change brought about, gradually, by many different causes. The overthrow of the "peculiar institution" prepared the way, by bringing our young men to feel that they were dependent upon themselves for success, and that education was a necessity. Much is to be attributed to the changes that have taken place in the whole social fabric; to the march of mind and of manners; to educational advantages that have been extended to all classes, and doubtless a great deal to such influences as have come from the pulpit and the Sabbath school. In the school itself much has been done, independent of faculty action or influence, to bring about this important transformation, inducing a higher and healthier tone of public sentiment among the young men, and giving to the better class a controlling power, both by numbers and influence. Among these we notice the establishment of the Young Men's Christian Association, which is becoming every where a power for good. To this may be added the presence of a large number of sterling young men in our college community who are preparing for the ministry; and, lastly, the influence of the periodicals published by the literary societies. Whether these in colleges generally are productive of good or evil depends entirely on the manner in which they are conducted. In Emory and Henry such publications, in late years at least, have been managed with surprising skill and prudence, reflecting great credit on those in charge of them, and by their timely suggestions and admonitions giving shape and tone to the sentiments and conduct of the students. In the midst of a body of students of this character, students who feel that their interests are identified with those of the faculty, there is but little use for so-called "college law." College law, as well as other law, "was not made for the right

eous," and might perhaps be laid aside almost wholly, leaving the young men to be a law unto themselves, were it not that still with each returning session there are present some few of the baser sort. Rules, both general and specific, however, are always necessary for the effi cient working of every institution of learning, which must be sacredly observed.

A very important feature in the history of Emory and Henry College yet remains to be noticed, and that is the origin and working of the literary societies, known respectively as the Calliopean and the Hermesian. It has been claimed for these that they stand unrivalled in their history and operations. They were established prior to the year 1840. It would not be doing them justice to say that they had encountered no perils and surmounted no difficulties. The boys of either crew have sometimes proved their ship among the breakers, when the skill of all on duty was put to the test. Working side by side, it would have been a marvel indeed if they had never been antagonistic; the great wonder is that their relations have generally been so eminently pleasant and their intercourse marked by so much of reciprocal courtesy. Club-like in their character when first organized, without libraries or equipments, they held their meetings in the lecture-rooms. In the course of two or three years, however, they fitted up the attics in the wings of the main college building as halls. These were small, with ceilings low and means of ventilation imperfect, but they were rendered very attractive. Indeed, the ornamentation seemed to be in an inverse ratio to the fitness of the apartments otherwise. Limited in space for their operations as these societies were at that period, and subjected to inconveniences of various kinds, it is, nevertheless, questionable whether the god of eloquence and the queen of the muses were ever more lavish in bestowing success on their votaries. Indeed, the reputation which Emory and Henry has borne as a school eminently successful in elocutionary training was well established at this time. In the building of the Byars House, in 1858, by special contract with the literary societies, the third story was built and devoted solely to their use, affording two halls, each about 40 by 50 feet, with lofty ceilings, and sufficient space for libraries contiguous to each hall, and separated therefrom by arched doorways and glass partitions. A large collection of books had been made by each society, by purchases and otherwise, before they entered their new halls, but with new library apartments and ample space a spirit of rivalry sprang up which has resulted in large collections. The equipments of these halls are such as to make them highly beautiful and seemingly verging on extravagance, but as each generation of students has contributed only a part, the expense has been easily met. In the main they have been wonderfully free from internal feuds and schisms or party strife. The happy exception they enjoy from such evils is due largely to the fact that secret organizations are not allowed to exist as such in the college. A generous rivalry between these literary societies, with other good results, has

modified the bearing of the older students towards new recruits. The unkind treatment of new students, technically known as "hazing,” in some colleges, is here considered ungentlemanly and is practically unknown. The manly and business-like way in which the affairs of these societies are conducted would surprise any one not familiar with them. By inspecting the faculty record it may be seen that four members thereof were officially connected with and worked together as colleagues. for twenty-four consecutive years, while three of these were thus united for thirty-four years, and two of them are still thus associated. After a lapse of more than forty years we know of no other institution that can exhibit such a record. It indicates great steadiness in the working of the machinery and great harmony among those placed in charge of it, both of which are essential to success in operations of this kind. In later years, when similar institutions became more abundant, when competition became active and a struggle for existence began through lack of patronage, some changes were made which restored the confi. dence of the people in the college, and stirred them up to retaining the great school in their midst.

In the half century now closing on the history of the institution it has run a career of prosperity and usefulness surpassing the most sanguine expectations of its founders. If the career of Emory and Henry should end even now, our whole country should rejoice in the good it has already accomplished. It has proved a blessing to the country and to the church, such as has abundantly repaid all it has cost of labor and treasure. It has already aided in educating 5,200 young men; it has graduated more than 500. Of these graduates over 200 have belonged to the State of Virginia, more than 100 to Tennessee, and 31 to North Carolina, while all the other Southern States have been well represented. It has provided first-class teachers for high schools and colleges, while five universities are partly manned by its graduates. Our records show, in part at least, to what extent the pulpit and the bar, the editorial chair and the healing art, legislative bodies and our Congress halls, have been supplied with efficient men from these academic shades.

At a special meeting of the Joint Board of Trustees and Visitors of Emory and Henry College held on July 18, 1888, Major R. W. Jones, of Mississippi, was elected president of the college and professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of President Jordan. Mr. E. B. Craighead, of Missouri, was elected professor of Latin and French. The Faculty now stands as follows: R. W. Jones, M. A., LL. D., president; Rev. E. E. Wiley, D. D., treasurer and financial agent; Rev. Edmund Longley, M. A., professor of moral philosophy and English; Rev. James A. Davis, M. A., professor of natural philosophy, astronomy, and botany; George W. Miles, Jr., M. A., professor of Greek and German; Samuel M. Barton, Ph. D., professor of pure and applied mathematics; R. W. Jones, M. A., LL. D., professor of chemistry, mineralogy, and geology; E. B. Craighead, M. A., professor of Latin and French.

CHAPTER XIX.

ROANOKE COLLEGE.

BY THE EDITOR.

There is a short historical account of this institution in Dr. William H. Ruffner's Third Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1873, pp. 148, 149, in which attention is called to the original design of the college in the valley of the Roanoke. It was "for the especial benefit of the Anglo-German population of Virginia, who, to a great extent, then [1853] constituted the industrious, rural people of the valley counties and other parts, mostly of West Virginia, who from different causes, to a very limited extent, patronized the old estab lished institutions of the State."

Roanoke College was the historical outgrowth of a private Lutheran foundation called the Virginia Institute, established within the limits of the Mt. Tabor congregation, in Augusta County, by the Rev. David F. Bittle and the Rev. C. C. Baughman, in the year 1842. The institution was adopted by the Virginia Synod of the Lutheran Church in 1843, and in 1847 it was removed to its present site, Salem, in the Roanoke Valley. The Virginia Collegiate Institute was chartered as Roanoke College in 1853. The college is characterized in the original charter as "A seminary of learning for the instruction of youth in the various branches of science and literature, the useful arts, and the learned and foreign languages." It was distinctly asserted that nothing in the charter should be "so construed as at any time to authorize the establishment of a theological professorship." Although remaining under the auspices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the institution has always been conducted in a most catholic spirit, and has largely drawn both its students and its support from non-Lutheran sources. About two thirds of its present constituency come from other denominations. As indicative of the liberal tendencies of the college, it is stated that Roanoke College had representa tives at seven theological seminaries in 1886-87-Lutheran (Gettysburg and Philadelphia), Presbyterian (Union, N. Y., and Princeton), Episcopalian (Alexandria), Congregational (Yale), and Baptist (Louisville, Ky.).

The sources of information concerning the historical development of Roanoke College are few and scattered. Probably the most authentic are the historical articles of the late President Bittle, the first president