mathematics and astronomy. Inclusive of Doctors Bass and Smith, the board of instruction has, until lately, consisted of eighteen teachers, seven of whom were employed in teaching music. With the exception of four or five, these teachers are all women.1

THE COURSES OF STUDY.

The curriculum embraces the English, Latin, Greek, French, and German languages, a full course in mathematics, the natural sciences, mental and moral philosophy, logic, evidences of Christianity, parliamentary law, ancient and modern history, elocution, and composition. The preparatory department is designed for those who are unprepared to enter the regular college classes, and before the pupil is admitted to the second or lowest class in the college, she must "be able to spell well. and to read fluently; to write a fair hand; must have completed geography; have studied some elementary English grammar; have familiarized herself with the fundamental rules of arithmetic, including proportion, reduction, and decimal and vulgar fractions; and must be able to translate and parse simple Latin." Beside the regular A. B. course, there is a post-graduate or A. M. course at the Wesleyan Female College, the old custom, already alluded to, of conferring degrees upon alumnæ of ten years' standing having been abolished. This course extends through two years, and upon its completion the A. M. diploma is awarded. Metaphysics and ethics, English, Latin, Greek, German, French, and natural science are the main studies in the post-graduate

course.

The instruction in music imparts a knowledge of the piano, the guitar, and the organ, and of voice culture and harmony. This department is naturally divided into two schools, the piano school and the vocal school. Each school is separated into distinct grades, each grade comprising a definite portion of the pupil's progress in the school. Each grade is assigned, as far as possible, to a certain teacher, who gives instruction to all in that grade, so long as they continue in it; thus, on the principle of the "division of labor," securing the highest order of skill in the teaching of the whole course.

All who accomplish the work as prescribed in the piano school receive musical diplomas. The popularity of this department of the college is sufficiently evinced by the fact that, of the three hundred and twentysix students in attendance on the institution during the session of 1887-88, one hundred and forty-eight were pupils in instrumental music and forty-six in special vocal training.

The art department is under the direction of a talented artist, and is well supplied with all the casts and models necessary for successful

1 Among the professors of the Wesleyan Female College will be remembered G. W. W. Stone and C. W. Smith in mathematics; W. F. Cook, D. D., and J. T. Derry in ancient languages; J. M. Bonnell and W. C. Bass, D. D., in natural science; and J. R. Thomas and Mrs. A. C, Cobb in English literature,

study. The course includes every style of drawing and painting, china decoration, and embroidery. A full course in art, including perspective, entitles the graduate in this department to an "art diploma."

The munificent gift of over one hundred thousand dollars by Mr. George I. Seney, of Brooklyn, N. Y., has enabled the trustees to make such additions and changes in the main college building as to render it one of the most attractive and complete edifices for educational purposes which may be found either at the North or in the South. This building is two hundred and forty-six feet long and eighty-five feet wide. It is five stories high, including the mansard roof, and is surrounded on three sides by ample upper and lower colonnades. Arcades, stairways, transoms over every door, and broad passages throughout the entire building give adequate ventilation, and the structure throughout has every modern convenience and comfort. The first floor contains the parlors, library room, museum, and professors' family rooms; the second and third contain the sleeping rooms of boarding pupils, matron, and lady teachers; and on the fourth floor are located the art hall, society halls, and gymnasium. There are two other buildings on the college premises used as chapel, laboratory, and recitation rooms.

BENEVOLENCE OF MR. GEORGE I. SENEY.

Before concluding this sketch of the history and educational work of the Wesleyan Female College, it is proper to add a word in recognition of the bounty of one who has proven himself the second father of the institution. The building of which I have spoken is a living monument to the liberality of George I. Seney. Independently of the sixtyfive thousand dollars donated for the purposes of renovating, enlarging, and modernizing the old college edifice, Mr. Seney has appropriated five thousand dollars, to be equally divided between the college library and the scientific department and to be expended in their equipment; five thousand dollars for improving the grounds and furnishing the build. ing; and fifty thousand dollars to be set apart as "a perpetual endowment, the income from which may be employed according to the wisdom of the trustees." Of the last-mentioned sum, twenty-five thousand dollars have been applied by the board to endow the president's chair, which is known as the "Seney Professorship." By request of Mr. Seney, the other twenty-five thousand dollars were applied to the endowment of a chair, to be called the "Lovick Pierce Professorship ;" for, as the philanthropist declared, "there is no man, North or South, whose character I admire more, and whose name and virtues I would prefer to perpetuate."

In all, his gifts to the Wesleyan Female College amount to one hun

1 This is a large hall, sixty by ninety feet, well lighted and ventilated, and supplied with ample apparatus for healthful exercise.

2 Catalogue for 1886-87, p. 47.

3 They were all made in 1881.

dred and twenty-five thousand dollars—a similar sum to that received from him by Emory College, making a total benefaction for both institutions of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In appreciation of these gifts and of the noble Christian character of Mr. Seney, the faculty and students of Wesleyan Female College, with the sanction and hearty approbation of the board of trustees, have adopted his birthday, which occurs on the 12th of May, as a regular college anniversary. It is named in the calendar "Benefactor's Day," and is annually observed by suitable literary and musical exercises, in connection with the anniversary of the literary societies.

LA GRANGE FEMALE COLLEGE.1

The Methodists have the largest representation in colleges of any religious denomination in Georgia. In addition to the two just mentioned, they claim five others, viz: La Grange Female College, at La Grange; Georgia Methodist Female College, at Covington; Andrew Female College, at Cuthbert; Dalton Female College, at Dalton; and the Methodist College for young ladies, at Gainesville.

First of these, in many respects, is the La Grange Female College. Founded in 1833, it was, in its infancy, an academy of high grade, and its first teacher of note was Rev. Thomas Stanley. In December, 1847, under the presidency of Mr. Joseph T. Montgomery, a charter was procured, and the academy became a college. After several years of great prosperity, more than two hundred girls being often in attendance,3 the whole college property was sold to the Georgia Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. The trustees elected a new corps of competent teachers, and in September, 1857, the college began its distinctive work of Christian education under the presidency of Rev. W. G. Connor, a member of the conference. It enjoyed patronage from all parts of Georgia and from other States. Under the presidency of Rev. W. A. Harris, D. D., in 1859, it took the lead of church schools in sending out the first resident graduate class in the South, of which Mrs. Alice Culler Cobb, now a successful teacher in the Wesleyan Female College, was an honored member.

Well established in a career of enlarged and increasing usefulness, its work was arrested by a disastrous fire on the 28th of March, 1860. The college property, consisting of a handsome building, an ample 1 White's Historical Collections of Georgia, pp. 651-2. Catalogues for 1885-86 and 1886-87.

2 See an act to incorporate the La Grange Female Institute, approved December 17, 1847. (Laws of Georgia, 1847, pp. 120-1.) The fifth section of the act says 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. Name changed to La Grange Female College by act of December 26, 1851. (Laws of 1851-52, p. 312.)

3 According to Mr. White, who wrote in 1854, the college had averaged, for the six preceding years, two hundred and forty pupils. (Historical Collections of Georgia, p. 651.)