North Carolina State University - Agromeck Yearbook (Raleigh, NC)

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a THE AGROMECK show of what material the A. M. boy is made, and the spirit such a college fosters. The loss of this building was a heavy blow to the College, but out of great evils sometimes arises great good. A larger dormitory was needed for the rapidly increasing number of students, and this need the new Watauga supplies. The new structure contains sixty rooms, well lighted, well ventilated and well heated, the dangerous kitchen being removed to other quarters where there will he no danger of the catas- trophe being repeated. The other new building is Pullen Memorial, named in honor of the benefactor, It S. Pullen. This building will add materially to the comfort and well-being of the students, since it fills the long-felt want of a large auditorium, a commodious dining room, and a spacious library and reading room. ' This increase in the number of buildings has been made necessary by the unex- ampled increase in the number of students. In ' 889 there were fifty students; today five hundred stalwart young men strut about the College grounds in the grey in which their fathers fought and died. Instead of a few boys loitering in the evening on the campus, the ground now trembles beneath the measured tread of a battalion of six companies. At the last State fair the boys in gray drilled so well that they re- ceived a continuous ovation along the whole route, and many were the compliments received by our able faculty on their bearing and deportment. The object is now, as it has always been in the past, to conduct an institution in which young men of character, energy and ambition may fit themselves for useful and honorable work in any line of industry in which training and skill are requisite to success. It is intended to train farmers, mechanics, engineers, architects, draughts- men, machinists, electricians, miners, metallurgists, chemists, dyers, mill workers, manufacturers, stock raisers, fruit growers, truckers and dairy men, by giving them not only a liberal but also a special education, with such manual and mental training as will qualify them for their future work. It offers practical and technical education in agriculture, horticulture, animal in- dustry, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, mining engineering, metallurgy, chemistry, dyeing, textile industry and architecture. It also offers practical training in carpentry, wood turning, blacksmithing, machinery work, mill work, boiler tend- ing and road building: Although the leading purpose of the College is thus to furnish technical and practical instruction, yet other subjects essential to a liberal education are not omitted. How can we judge of the future except by the past? With a glorious past we must and shall expect a glorious future. We can say what Webster said of Massa- chusetts, the past, indeed, is secure. Not only can we say that the past is secure, but also reasonably say that:the future is also secure. Our institution has had a short but honorable past, marked from the beginning by a steady and promising growth, but we cannot expect and do not wish a phenomenal growth such as that achieved by the University of Michigan, which in a few decades after its establishment had three 21 •

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H E AGROMECK ' km: see The infirmary is a two-story building, equipped with all the best appliances, and under control of an efficient matron and nurse. The boiler-house is immediately back of the main building, and contains the boilers, fire pump and the machinery connected with the steam heating plant. There are also four very good, but small, dormitories to the left of the main building as you face it. At present two buildings, which will add much to the College, in appearance and usefulness, are nearing completion. The new Watauga, which is a very handsome, well-equipped dormitory, rises from the ashes of the old which was burned on Nov. 30. 1901. The fire originated in the culinary department, which then occupied the VIEW 1.00KINO NORTH lower floor, and some of the students barely escaped with their lives, losing all their possessions. A few instances of heroism connected with this fire may well be men- tioned here: Some students, awakened by the flames, went from room to room, rousing the inmates and dragging them from their beds, where they would soon have been suffocated by the smoke and heat. These young men thus saved many lives, while all their own worldly goods fell a prey to the flames. Others formed a bucket brigade; others climbed on the roofs of adjoining buildings and heroically fought the flames in the bitter November winds. Many other instances might be mentioned, but these 20

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THE AGROMECK thousand students, for what comes easy goes easy. In Michigan, at the founding of the University, there were only one or two poorly-equipped colleges, and the found- ing of the University, with a princely endowment, naturally attracted to it all those young men in the state who had hitherto been compelled to go to other states for a higher education. The A. M. was not so fortunate. It was founded in a state where there are scores of other well-equipped colleges and schools. There were thousands of graduates from these colleges who naturally wished their sons to attend the college from which VIEW LOOKING SOUTN they had their diplomas. The revenues are so small that the college cannot he run on the broad basis which was intended. In spite of these difficulties and disadvantages, which have to some extent retarded the progress of the A. M., we have good reasons to believe the College has a great future before it. These reasons are : T. The A. M. is free. It is under no obligation, as are denominational colleges, to maintain and observe creeds and confessions. It stands for morality and right, and high living, but not, of course, for sectarianism. z. The second ground for hope of a great future for the A. M. is the nature and 2 2