Hampden Sydney College - Kaleidoscope Yearbook (Hampden Sydney, VA)

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notification, at once a tribute to Dr. Mcllwaine and a model from one of the most graceful of letter-writers, must be given in full. Postmarked Richmond and dated April 14th, 1883, it reads: K My Dear Dr. Mcllwainez- ln these days when telegraphic news is flashed all over the country you heard of your election to the Presidency of Hampden-Sidney College long before it could be communicated to you by letter. But no telegraphic dispatch, and not even a letter, Could convey to you a full impression of the unanimity, the cordialitv and the enthu- siasm of our Board of Trustees in the discussion which preceded andthe action which resulted in your election. The important work in which you have so long been engaged cannot have been entirely congenial to you, though it has been one of' eminent usefulness. VVe trust that in the new sphere to which you are summoned your duty and your inclination will meet, and that you will be as happy in your work as we believe you will be useful. It would be to you a return to old and dear friends, to a place associated with some of the INOSI hallowed memories of your life, and to an undertaking connected with the highest interests of our church. '4The Trustees believe that you would be instrumental, under God, in building up the fortunes of the College, in filling it with students and in so conducting it as to make it a blessing to the country and the church. They are prepared to give you all the cooperation in their power, and they believe that all the old friends of the college when they hear of' your election will take heart and rally round you with the deter- mination to aid you in all the plans you may propose for the upbuilding ofthe college. It will be greatly gratifying to us to be assured that we may proceed to make all the necessary arrangements for your inauguration at the Commencement in the month of June. Vie remain, Yours, most respectflilly and sincerely, Moses D. Hoes, Chairman of the Committee. As President of Hampden-Sidney, Dr. Mcllwaine was to do his greatest and most lasting work. He brought to it unusual qualifications. He was a son of' Virginia and of that part of it in which the college was located. He was connected by kin- ship with a number of its leading families. He was an honor graduate and a loyal alumnus of Hampden-Sidney. He had held important pastorates at three points in the Southside. He had won a wide acquaintance through the South in his position as Secretary of Missions. ln all positions he held the confidence of all, and, entering upon his work in entire consecration, he could not but bring it wide success. Dr. Mcllwaine was inaugurated in the centennial year of the incorporation of the college, a fact touched upon in the inaugural address, which, practical, hopeful, was like the man. In this address the history ofthe college was dwelt upon and its present needs were fairly discussed. The fidelity then pledged to the interests of the college marked all later service. Entering upon his twofold work as President ofthe College and Professor of lN'Ioral Philosophy and Bible Studies, Dr. Mcllwaine brought efficiency 16

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I. As P.-xsrok 11858-18723. From 1858 to I86I Dr. Nlcllwaine was pastor of Amelia Church, Virginia, It was a fruitful and happy pastorate, sketches of whicl1 the readers of the Central PI't'.fl7'1'fz'l'l-llll have been enjoying within recent months. Wihen the Civil XVar began, the preacher, like so many others, volunteered, and he became lieutenant and chaplain of the 44th Virginia Volunteers, continuing in this capacity until, in I862, enfeebled health necessitated his release. This, however, meant for him only a technical, not an actual, discharge from service. He came back to Farmville only to take up and continue,until hostilities ceased, quite as needed work, as volunteer chaplain in the hospitals located there, and pastor, until 1370, of the Farmville Presbyterian Church. YVhen Hampden-Sidney made a call for his services in a special line of work, his people in Farmville revealed their attachment in a pe- tition in which was reneweduthe assurance of our unabated love and attachment: our increased confidence in your Christian zeal and untiring energy in the great work to which you have devoted your life, and in your special fitness and ability to effect still greater good in your present field of labor. WVhen the call came to him from the First Presbyterian Church of Lynchburg, resolutions, passed by unanimous and ris- ing vote, again assured him of our belief that he occupies a position of great useful- ness and that he has the cordial and very sincere confidence and affection of the whole community. His duty as he saw it lay in Lynchburg, where he labored for nearly two years fl87If2l, and drew to him, as at Farmville, the affection ofa united people. II. AS SECRETARY ll872eI883l. Dr. Mcllwaine left important work in Lynch- burg to enter on work for the whole Southern Church, becoming as he did Secretary of Home Missions and Coordinate Secretary and Treasurer of Foreign Missions, a work carried through the years from I872 until his call to Hampden-Sidney with unliagging energy and marked success. In 1882 the General Assembly of the South- ern Presbyterian Church resolved That this Assembly does hereby most cordially recognize the ability, efficiency and zeal with which Rev. Richard Mcllwaine, D. D. has discharged the duties of Co-ordinate Secretary and Treasurer of Foreign Missions for the past ten years, and that to his fidelity and patient labor are to be attributed, under God, a large measure ofthe success of this important department of church work. A year later, when the presidency of Hampden-Sidney had been accepted, the Assembly again gave evidence of its confidence when it was Resolved, That the overtures from the Presbyteries of Lexington and Paris, urging the General Assembly to use all proper means to retain Rev. Dr. Mcllwaine as Secretary of Home Missions, a position he has filled with singular ability and efliciency for many years, and for which he is better fitted, in our judgment, than any man in our church, and as the voice ofthe church expressed in her courts would probably be unanimous for his continuance in this most important work, the Committee is unanimous and hearty in endorsing the sentiments ofthe overturesg yet inasmuch as he has received and has accepted an invitation to become the President of I-Iampden-Sidney College and has requested the Assembly to release him from the duties of Home Mission Secretary, therefore it is recommended that this Assembly accede to that request. III. As PRESIDENT or HAMPDEN-SIDNEY H883-19043. To this position Dr. Mcllwaine was called by unanimous action of the Board. The Chairman ofthe Committee appointed to notify him of his election was one of the Board's most dis- tinguished members, the princely Moses Drury Hoge, of Richmond. The letter of 15

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to both. His administration was one of sustained vigor. The number of students increased until, in 1301-2, it reached 155, the largest enrollment ever recorded for the college proper, that is. apart from the Academy or the Medical Department. The curriculum was broadened and strengthened. The endowment was enlarged. The teaching force was added to in the person of graduate tutors, the system being intro- duced in 1836 and continuing through the session of 1004-5. Prize scholarships were established with the session of 1888-0. In the Science Department another professor was added. The Memorial Hall, a beautiful and commodious structure providing Chapel, lecture-rooms, and halls for the two Literary Societies, was erected at a cost of 525.000, and substantial improvements were made in other parts of the plant. In addition Dr. Mcllwaine was carrying on his work as a teacher, performing here, no doubt, his largest service for the youth committed to his trainingg and further, in ad- dition, he supplied for some years the College Church, after the death of Dr. Charles White and until a regular pastor could be secured. The service of these years was made larger by the hospitality of a home in which the students received always a gra- cious and helpful welcome. Hundreds of his old students scattered through the South felt that one of their number spoke for all in the letter of Mr. Robert Henning lVebb CA. B. of IQOI and A. M. of IQO2. now a student of Harvardl, written on the retirement of Dr. Mcllwaine. It so well summarizes the inlluence of the man that it merits quotation all but in full: lVIy Dear Dr. IWcIlwaine:- Ever since I read in the papers the account ofyour resignation from the presidency of Hampden-Sidney I have been intending to send you a few lines expressing my sor- row at this change in the old and familiar regime. You have been connected with the college for so long and have been so intimately concerned with its interests and affairs that you seem to me a necessary and integral part of the whole place, and the dear old college, which I love so well, will never seem the same to me without you as its official head. I only hope your successor will be willing to devote to it such hard, persistent, and loving labor as that which it had the good fortune to receive at your hands, I feel sure that there is not one of your old boys who does not share my feel- ings in the matter. We all owe you a great deal, and we are all grateful for yourin- fluence upon our lives. By your ability as a teacher, by your counsels as a friend. by your admonitions as our spiritual adviser, by your interest in us collectively and in- dividually, as students and as men, in the classroom and out. by many other means, you endeared yourself to us and made for yourself a place in our lives which seldom falls to the lot of men to make in the lives of others. In short, you proved yourself a friend we shall not soon forget or cease to love and revere .... It is a great pleasure to me to feel that I shall carry with me, through all the successes and disappointments of life, your kindly interest and good wishes. In 1901 Dr. IVIcIlwaine, without seeking it in any way, was elected delegate from Prince Edward County to the Constitutional Convention of Virginia, it being under- stood that if he would consent to serve, the opposing party would put no candidate into the field. The Board of Trustees also recognized his eminent fitness for this public service and consented to his release for such time as the Convention might hold in session, which proved to be a year. The Convention was composed of the leading I7