between the years 1806 and 1810 from the largest cities of Georgia and South Carolina, ever became greatly distinguished; while the period including those dates was the most fruitful of great men of any of the same length during the whole time of Dr. Waddel's instructorship." 1

Although devoted to the classics, Dr. Moses Waddel preferred to follow the advice of Solomon rather than the precept of Plato with regard to the use of the rod. He managed his school through the aid of monitors, whom he appointed from among the best students, and he never whipped except on their report, and afterwards on the decision of a jury of the boys. He flogged only for misbehavior, but he "rarely, if ever, corrected a student for deficiency in recitation," knowing that if "turning off" did not cure him, flogging would do no good. "To be required to recommit a lesson was considered such a disgrace by all the students that he never found it necessary to apply any other corrective to this delinquency." He believed in the efficacy of the rod as a moral reformer, and he managed his school very largely on this idea. "His government was one of touching moral suasion, but he administered it in a new way."

All of Dr. Waddel's pupils loved and venerated him. He was a worker himself, and he required work of others. He was indefatigable in watching over his pupils, in studying their natures, and directing and encouraging each one according to his disposition. In spite of his apparent unkindness, he was affectionately devoted to their interests, and often advised them in private of their conduct, and warned them against bad associates. He often rode at nights to the different boarding-houses to see if his pupils were studying. If he found them idle, he told them of it the next day. Thoroughness in their work he insisted on, and the results of it are seen in the great number of his students that entered the Junior class in the different colleges. One of the early Governors of South Carolina, Patrick Noble, wrote: "I was examined by the faculty of Princeton College to-day and was admitted into the Junior class." John C. Calhoun within two years was prepared to enter the Junior class at Yale. The great orator McDuffie and the two Wardlaws entered the Junior class in South Carolina College. Judge A. B. Longstreet also entered the Junior at Yale. In fact nearly all who were fitted at this school entered the Junior class. Indeed the president of Nassau Hall (Princeton) said that the students from this school were as well prepared as those from any other part of the Union.

He himself, it is said, knew some of the Latin authors by heart, and it is related that he would hear the class recite in Virgil with his eyes closed. If a slight mistake was made he would instantly speak out, "That's wrong, sir!" and correct it without looking at the book. The drones of the class would prepare one hundred to one hundred and fifty lines of Virgil for a single recitation, while the bright leaders would

1 William Mitten, p. 98.

master one thousand. The brilliant, ambitious boys would not be held back by the drudges; he would form new classes and push the best students on. The school was large, probably too large, in later years for the force employed, as it numbered upwards of one hundred and fifty, and one authority puts it at two hundred and fifty.'

His character and individuality were impressed on his students so that the impressions were lasting even among their descendants. Men are still living who speak with pride of their attendance at Willington, and their children cherish it as an honor to the family. George McDuffie, when a Senator, and Thomas Farr Capers in after life revisited the place, and as they walked among the dilapidated houses, and recalled their old teacher and his school, they were moved to tears. No other man in the South, has so powerfully impressed himself on men who influenced the destiny of the country as this Willington master. He needs no monument, but lives in the great men whom he has trained. There went forth from this school "one Vice-President, and many foreign and Cabinet ministers; and Senators, Congressmen, Governors, judges, presidents and professors of colleges, eminent divines, barristers, jurists, legislators, physicians, scholars, military and naval officers innumerable.”2

It would be impossible to get a complete list of the great men edu cated there, but a partial list will give an idea of the influence exerted, In the early years of the school came W. H. Crawford, at the age of twenty-two, and remained two years. He was probably defeated for the Presidency in 1824 by an unfortunate stroke of paralysis, and is regarded as "the greatest of the citizens of Georgia;" Eldred Simkins, M. C., South Carolina, was a contemporary; and then came John C. Calhoun, who lived a life "more tragical than any tragedy," and stands forth the clearest of the great trio;3 W. D. Martin, judge and M. C.; James L. Petigru, eminent lawyer, who was a strong Unionist, and expressed his disapproval of secession by deliberately walking out of church, when the minister prayed for the dissolution of the Union in 1860; Andrew Govan, M. C.; Hugh S. Legaré, Attorney-General, foreign and Cabinet minister; George McDuffie, M. C., Governor, and U. S. Senator; George R. Gilmer, M. C., and Governor of Georgia; George Carey, M. C., Georgia; John Walker, M. C., Alabama; Henry W. Collier, Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Alabama, and Governor in 1846 or 1848; Lawrence E. Dawson, a distinguished lawyer in South Carolina and afterwards in Alabama, died in 1848; John S. Hunter, of Dallas County, Alabama, judge of circuit court and a distinguished lawyer; George W. Crawford, M. C., and Governor of Georgia; Patrick Noble, Governor; D. L. Wardlaw, judge; F. H. Wardlaw, chancellor; A. B. Longstreet, judge, and president South Carolina College; A. P. Butler,

-W. J. Grayson's Life of J. L. Petigru, p. 37. 2 William Mitten, p. 72.

3 See Von Holst's Calhoun.

U.S. Senator; and P. M. Butler, Governor, and colonel of the Palmetto Regiment in the Mexican War.1

George Carey prepared a thousand lines of Virgil for a Monday's recitation when at Willington. The Virgil class was too large, and its members were of such unequal grade, that the teacher announced that it would be divided on the basis of the work done by each one by the following Monday, and it was under this stimulus that Carey did his work. George McDuffie excelled this intellectual feat a year or so later with one thousand two hundred and twelve lines of Horace. He was poor, and was boarded gratuitously in the family of Mr. William Calhoun. His ability was first recognized by James Calhoun, who aided him in his attendance at the South Carolina College. He was a very hard student and is said "to have devoured his Latin grammar in three weeks." The Hon. Lawrence E. Dawson, father of the present United States Commissioner of Education, Col. N. H. R. Dawson, was a student in the school with McDuffie. His son relates his father's account of how closely McDuffie applied himself; that he would walk from his boarding-house to the school, a mile distant, with his open book before him, studying all the time.

The school was continued until 1819, when Dr. Waddel was elected president of the Georgia University (Franklin College). His success here was as marked as at Willington. He carried with him the same powers of organization, the same intense earnestness and prayerfulness, the same tender regard for the students, and the same zeal in religious matters that had marked his career at Willington. The college needed his vigor and prudence to raise it to literary eminence, "and to the wisdom and prudence and reputation of that good man is Georgia very largely indebted for the respectability and usefulness of her State College. The success which attended his efforts in raising the institution so rapidly as he did to respectability, has been to many inexplicable. But to those who well understood his character that success is by no means surprising." When he took charge of the college the circumstances were such as few men would have been able to meet without abandoning the object in despair." But at the end of ten years he was permitted to see a vast change for the better. Judge Longstreet says "the effect of his coming to this institution was almost magical; it very soon obtained a measure of prosperity altogether unequalled in its previous history." He took it only after the urgent solicitation of the trustees, and after earnest prayer on his part. But he deliberately concluded that a greater field of usefulness was open to him for advancing the cause of education, of religion, and of morality, and he considered it his duty to accept the place. But "in

2

Most of the above are found in William Mitten, p. 99; for the remainder the author is indebted to the kindness of J. F. Calhoun, Esq., Due West, S. C., and others.

Judge A. B. Longstreet, in Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, Vol. IV, p. 68.

consequence of advancing age and declining health," he retired from the office in 1829, and returned to Willington. He supervised the school, opened there by his sons, who made it as large as it was under him. In 1836 he suffered a stroke of palsy, by which his mind was affected. On the election of his son to a professorship at Athens, Ga., in 1836, he was removed to that place, where he died July 21, 1840. Judge Longstreet delivered a eulogy on him a short time afterwards.

He was a man of the most unwearied activity and the broadest sympathies. The amount of his charities will never be known, since he never gave ostentatiously. He was prominent not as an educator only, but as a minister, and it is said that the renewal of the Presbyterian Church in Abbeville County was due to his efforts. He preached regalarly there during his whole stay, and also at Athens he was very active in religious work. He was especially anxious to educate the young men preparing for the ministry. He assisted them with his counsel and with his purse. He interested himself at Athens to induce families to board such young men freely. "His discourses were always grave, solemn, and practical, possessing few of the ornaments of style, but occasionally enlivened with flashes of true eloquence." He never read his sermons, holding that the subject was so solemn and grand in its importance that a man could preach with freedom and power extempore. On one occasion a distinguished minister was reading his sermon, and the house became so dark that he was forced to close abruptly. Dr. Waddel whispered loud enough to be heard by all in the pews, "He is served right!" His greatest pupil, John

C. Calhoun, testified of him: "It was as a teacher that he was most distinguished. In that character he stands almost unrivalled. Indeed, he may be justly considered as the father of classical education in the upper country of South Carolina and Georgia. His excellence in that character depended not so much on extensive or profound learning, as a felicitous combination of qualities for the government of boys and communicating to them what he knew. Among his pu

pils are to be found a large portion of the eminent men of the State of Georgia." He truly deserved the name of the "Carolina Dr. Arnold," given him by W. J. Grayson, the biographer of Mr. Petigru.

In personal appearance he was "about five feet nine inches high, of stout muscular frame, and a little inclined to corpulency. In limb nearly perfect. His head was uncommonly large, and covered with a thick coat of dark hair. His forehead was projecting and in nothing else more remarkable. His eyes were gray and overshadowed by thick, heavy eye-brows, always closely knit in his calmest hours, and almost overlapping in his angry moods. His nose was bluntly aquiline. His lips were rather thick, and generally closely compressed. His complexion adust. His tout ensemble was, as we have said, extremely au

1Alonzo Church, in Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, Vol. IV, p. 71. Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, Vol. IV, p. 67.

stere; but it was false to his heart, for he was benevolent, affectionate, charitable, hospitable, and kind. He was cheerful and even playful in his disposition." 1

He married Miss Catharine Calhoun, sister of John C. Calhoun, in 1795, but she died in 1796, leaving no children. He again married and became the father of several children, some of whom have been prominent as educators in the South. One of them, John N. Waddel, is now Chancellor of South-western University, Clarksville, Tenn. He left no literary work except a small volume, Memoirs of Miss Catharine Elizabeth Smelt, daughter of D. Smelt, M. D., of Augusta, Ga., in 1820. His fame rests with the great men he trained, and the secret of his success lies "in his sleepless vigilance over the conduct and morals of his scholars." "The fruits of his vineyard are scattered far and wide through most of the Southern States, and long have they been seen in rich luxuriance in the Capitol of the Union!" 2

By permission, the following sketch of George McDuffie while at Dr. Waddel's famous academy and the South Carolina College is taken from an unpublished eulogy upon Mr. McDuffie by the late Hon. Armistead Burt, of Abbeville, S. C.:

GEORGE MCDUFFIE.

John McDuffie and Jane, his wife, were natives of Scotland, and soon after the close of the Revolutionary War came to Columbia County, in the State of Georgia, and made their home in the pine lands near the line of Warren County, some thirty miles from the city of Augusta. He was better educated and more intelligent than his neighbors, and naturally exerted much influence in the community. He was well known for the vigor of his understanding and the energy of his will. Integ rity, courage, generosity, and benevolence were his characteristic qualities, and they commanded the respect and esteem of his neighbors. George, the younger of the sons, was born on the 10th of August,

See William Mitten.

2 See Judge Longstreet, in Sprague's Annals.

It is but natural to feel an interest in the subsequent history of the school, a sketch of which is given through the painstaking kindness of John F. Calhoun, Esq., of Due West, S. C., who ably met an attack on the school in one of the county papers in 1886.

The following list of the teachers can be relied on with due confidence: Moses Dobbins, 1820; Mr. and Mrs. DeWitt, 1821-22; John Hannah Gray, 1823-26; Dr. M. Waddel and his youngest son, John N. Waddel, 1830-33; Dr. M. Waddel and another son, James P. Waddel, 1833-36; Hugh Morrow, 1837; Mr. Boyle, 1839; Thomas Jenkins, 1840; Isaac Moragne, 1842; Jenkins Lee, 1843; W. A. Lee, 1844; Dr. Reese, 1845; William C. Ware, 1847; Mr. Beloit, in the interval of 1847-50; O. T. Porcher, 1850-53; J. F. Calhoun, 1953; after 1853, Mr. Jones, James McCutcheen, and Calhoun Simonds, the last teacher at Willington in 1858 or 1859. O. T. Porcher, the greatest of all the successors, revived the school and removed it to his home, one mile from Willington, and continued it successfully to his death, about 1875.