has pointed to ancient and modern days, and rescued from oblivion's wave the illustrious names of many a daring, dauntless soul, of many a gifted, splendid intellect."1

In another place he said: "Give the female the same advantages of instruction with the male; afford her the same opportunities for improvement; and she will struggle with the boldést mind for the mastery in science and in letters, and outstrip in the proud race of distinction many of the favored objects of parental solicitude and legislative bounty."

This address was subsequently printed, and copies of it were distributed throughout the State. The effect produced in Georgia by its publication and dissemination cannot be over-estimated. It gave a new direction to the opinions and feelings of the people on the very important subject of female education, wrought a wonderful change in the minds of all who had ever disputed "an equality in the intellectual culture of the two sexes," and contributed in some measure to the establishment of several colleges and institutions which bave proved a great blessing to the State.

FOUNDATION OF THE GEORGIA FEMALE COLLEGE.

Pursuant to the suggestion first advanced by Mr. Campbell, the citizens of Macon were contemplating building a seminary for females, independent of the male academy, with grades of classes similar to a college course, when, in 1835, the Georgia Methodist Conference assembled in their city, and it was ascertained that that body had under consideration the foundation of a permanent and thoroughly organized institution for the education of women. At a meeting of the citizens of Macon held in June of the same year, it was resolved that a committee of four, consisting of Messrs. R. A. Beall, Jere Cowles, Robert Collins, and Henry G. Lamar, should be appointed to secure the influence of Revs. John Howard, Sinclair, and Tally, resident ministers in Macon and members of the Conference, who should represent to the Conference the intention of the citizens of Macon to establish a female college and their willingness to place it under its fostering care. A site was chosen, and nine thousand dollars were subscribed for the proposed college.3 When the Conference re-assembled in January, 1836, the tender was cordially accepted, and Dr. Lovick Pierce was appointed to serve as travelling agent to collect funds to build the college and put it in operation. In this capacity he continued to act for two years.

1 Chandler's Address on Female Education, p. 9.

2 Ibid., p. 31.

3 When, in 1832, the lots were laid off on the common for the purpose of sale, the five acres on Encampment Hill were reserved for a college or some public building. The citizens made an application to the City Council for a grant of the reserve for the Macon Female College. The Council agreed to dispose of it for twenty-five hundred dollars; and at a called meeting on the 8th of July, 1834, the above-mentioned sum was subscribed toward the college, which was afterward increased. (Butler's History of Macon, p. 121.)

Doctor Pierce was from the beginning, in more senses than one, the unswerving friend of the institution. A trustee of the college from its foundation to the end of his illustrious life, proudly cherishing its memories, and ever watchful of its best interests, he shares with his son, Bishop George F. Pierce, also a prominent member of the board, and at one time employed as its financial agent, a position in the Wesleyan's anuals which will always be the subject of grateful and admiring retrospect.1

The first official record of the Georgia Female College, contained in its charter, embraces the names of the persons appointed to act as its trustees. These were substantially the same as those which constituted the Board of Emory College, viz: James O. Andrew, John W. Talley, Samuel K. Hodges, Lovick Pierce, Ignatius A. Few, Alexander Speer, William Arnold, Thomas Samford, William J. Parks, George F. Pierce, Elijah Sinclair, Henry G. Lamar, Jere Cowles, Ossian Gregory, Robert Collins, E. Hamilton, George Jewett, Henry Solomon, Augustus B. Longstreet, Walter T. Colquitt, James A. Nisbet, and Robert Augustus Beall.

The board of trustees held many meetings, and had many interesting discussions as to the plan of the building, the ways and means of erecting it, the adoption of the curriculum, etc. Being pioneers, it is remarkable that so few mistakes were made. Two years after their organization, that is, in June, 1838, the trustees clected a president of the college and one professor, and in the following November the other professors and officers were chosen. The college, crowning Encampment Hill, since known as College Hill, was opened to the public and began its appropriate work January 7, 1839, with the following faculty: Rev. G. F. Pierce, president and professor of English literature; Rev. W. H. Ellison, professor of mathematics; Rev. T. B. Slade, professor of natural science; Rev. S. Mattison, principal of preparatory department; B. B. Hopkins, tutor; John Euhink, professor of music; Miss Lord, first assistant in music; Miss Massey, second assistant in music; Mrs. Shelton, matron; Mrs. Kingman, department of domestic economy; and A. R. Freeman, steward.

OPENING OF THE COLLEGE.

The opening of the college, even at that time, was recognized as an important event in the history of the times. John C. Butler, in his History of Macon, p. 298, says:

"It was an occasion of great interest and deep and thrilling excitement. A large and respectable number of the citizens of Macon assembled in the college chapel to witness the opening scene. The hopes

In his Report to the Patronizing Conferences in December, 1886, President Bass suggests the propriety of erecting a handsome and commodious edifice, to be known as Memorial Hall, and to bear the honored and beloved names of Lovick and George F. Pierce, as a monument to the devoted father and son whose lives were consecrated to the work of education in Georgia.

and the fears of its friends, the predictions of its enemies, and the eager delight of the congregated pupils, all conspired to invest the service with an interest additional to its intrinsic importance."

On that day ninety young ladies enrolled their names as pupils; and before the termination of the first term the number increased to one hundred and sixty-eight.

The first class of eleven graduated in 1840. Since that time1 eleven hundred and six have received A. B. diplomas, including the class of forty-eight young ladies which graduated in 1887. It has been the custom from the beginning, and until a very recent date, to confer master of arts degrees on graduates ten years after the receipt of their A. B. diplomas, and in that time more than seven hundred have been complimented with such honors. Beside these, there have been thirty-one graduates in the honorary first degree, eight in the honorary second degree, and fifty-nine in music. According to Mr. Butler, who wrote in 1879, the largest number of undergraduates for any one year was two hundred and forty-four (in 1863-64). The smallest was one hundred and four, during the session of 1843-44. The last catalogue, that for the year 1887-88, shows a total enrolment for the college of three hundred and twenty-six students.

EARLY HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTION.

Having given these figures, we proceed with the early history of the institution. The buildings were completed in January, 1839, at a cost of eighty-five thousand dollars. We have the following contemporaneously published account of the Georgia Female College as it then appeared:3

"The college is located on a commanding eminence, midway between the business portion of the city of Macon and the village of Vineville. Four acres are enclosed with a neat and handsome fence. The edifice is one hundred and sixty feet long by sixty wide, rising four stories high in the centre, with wings three stories high. The roof is flat and covered with tin, and surrounded by a parapet. The front view is relieved from the monotony of a plain surface of brick by a recess of several feet, over which the roof projects, supported by massive pillars. There are fifty rooms in the building, with a spacious dining-room attached, library rooms, parlors, etc. The rooms used for sleeping are usually eighteen feet square, with large windows, ceilings high pitch, so as to allow a full and healthful volume of air. The building can accommodate with comfort one hundred and twenty boarders. The view from the cupola is one

1 It is worthy of special remark that during the late war between the States the college was kept open, and went on regularly with its work, with the exception of two or three weeks when General Sherman passed by on his march to the sea, and of two days when General Wilson took possession of the city.

2 History of Macon, p. 298.

3 Quoted in Butler's History of Macon, pp. 296–7.

of the most picturesque to be obtained from any public edifice in the State. The city of Macon is spread on the plain below, with its busy streets alive with the signs of bustling trade. Splendid mansions are set upon the surrounding hills, and Vineville is seen stretching its quiet length until the pines that border its more thickly settled portions hide from the gaze its more retired dwellings; the mighty sweep of horizon, with its radius of many miles, round and round, without a break, until in the far distance the very heavens seemed to have leaned for rest upon the forest trees that tower up, young and old, in sturdy strength, as if glad to bear the honorable burden; the Ocmulgee, winding its current along, hid in the overshadowing forest, and leaving the beholder to trace its route by the vigorous growth that shoots heavenward from its fertile banks. It is a scene of beauty and grandeur, of active life, and of sober stillness; Art amid her manufactures and her ornaments, and Nature in her simplicity and repose."

From what has been said of the auspicious opening of the Georgia Female College, its well organized faculty, the large attendance of pupils, and its admirably equipped college buildings, it might be inferred that a career of prosperity was in store for it. But such did not prove to be the case. The views and plans of the trustees were too liberal for their age, or at least for the cramped financial condition of the times.1 They became responsible for the salaries of professors and teachers; debts accumulated and creditors threatened to close the doors of the college. The Georgia Female College was actually sold and bought at sheriff's sale, and given to the Georgia Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The president and faculty resigned, but they were immediately elected to fill like places in the Wesleyan Female College, the new name given to the institution. Thus the college, without the loss of time in its great work, passed under a new jurisdiction, and set out upon a new career. The date of these occurrences was 1843.

In December of that year a charter was granted, establishing the institution on its present basis and under the corporate name of Wesleyan Female College."

GEORGIA FEMALE COLLEGE BECOMES THE WESLEYAN FEMALE COLLEGE.

In July, 1850, a committee appointed for that purpose reported to the board of trustees a history of the manner in which the Georgia Female College changed its title and relations and became the Wes1 It is stated by Mr. Butler (History of Macon, pp. 297-8) that when the college commenced operations it was encumbered by a debt of twenty thousand dollars, which was the main source of its subsequent embarrassment.

2 See "An act to incorporate a Wesleyan Female College, to be located in the city of Macon, Ga.,” approved December 19, 1843. (Laws of Georgia, 1843, pp. 41–3.) The composition of the new board, as constituted by this charter, was almost identi cal with that of the old, nearly every surviving member of the old board holding his seat in the new.

leyan Female College. A part of that report, taken from the minutes of the board, is here presented :

"The committee find it necessary to refer to the Georgia Female College in order to arrive at facts connected with the history of the Wesleyan Female College. The friends of education inaugurated the former with bright prospects, but it was found at the end of five years to be irretrievably bankrupt, not able to pay ten cents in the dollar. The most of its friends surrendered the enterprise as an entire failure. Here the committee cannot refrain from mentioning the names of Rev. Samuel Anthony and William H. Ellison as having used extraordinary efforts to sustain the institution. They called on a particular friend, William Scott, Esq., of Vineville, to advise them of any means by which the college could be continued. He suggested the whole plan on which the Wesleyan Female College is now settled. After the plan was submitted by their friend, William Scott, to Messrs. Ellison and Anthony, and approved by them, the friends of female education then came at once to its aid.

"Mr. Elam Alexander, the original contractor for the building, had a mortgage on it for a large amount, and was determined to sell it as soon as he could legally do so. When it was ascertained that his claim could be bought for ten thousand dollars, the following gentlemen, with their own money, bought the claim and divided it into ten shares, each one thousand dollars, as follows: George W. Persons, William Bailey, John Rawls, James Dean, William H. Ellison, Ambrose Chapman, one share each; and James A. Everett and William Scott, two shares each. The mortgage was foreclosed; these gentlemen bought the property and became the bona fide owners of the building. The object was not to speculate with their money, but to advance female education. They tendered the college building to the trustees for what it had cost them. Their agent, Rev. Samuel Anthony, made labored and repeated efforts to raise the amount necessary to purchase the college building, but was unsuccessful. There was still left unpaid between seven thousand dollars and eight thousand dollars, which the late James A. Everett proposed to advance, on the condition that the trustees would give him four perpetual scholarships in the institution. The trustees accepted the proposition, and got a title to the college buildings, which has been legally and correctly obtained."

Dr. W. H. Ellison was the second president of the Georgia Female College, and the first of the Wesleyan Female College. There have been four other presidents, viz: Drs. E. H. Myers, O. L. Smith, John M, Bonnell, and William C. Bass. Doctor Bass has held the office since 1874, and also occupies the Seney chair of mental and moral science. The Rev. C. W. Smith, recently1 deceased, was elected secretary of the faculty in 1852. He had been a professor in the college since 1854. At the time of his death he was occupying the Lovick Pierce chair of 1 April 5, 1888,