Davidson College - Quips and Cranks Yearbook (Davidson, NC)

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D. fH Q Dr. Walter L. Lingle President 1 1 niy A Quips and Cranks? Five minutes before the request to write this paragraph came. I had turned to Quips and Cranks of 19 1 to refresh my memory concerning a graduate of that year. A college president was inquiring about him as a possible pro- fessor. Quips and Cranks preserves more vividly than anything else the story of college life and of the individual student ' s life in college. Members of the faculty frequently use it in the practical way indicated above. In after years, the college graduate will find real joy in taking down his old copies of QuiPS AND Cranks and by their aid. living over again his happy college days and again associating in spirit with the finest friends he ever had. p i€i r c - tZoilc T Page Eighteen

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sounded: fast and furious the students fled the college hall to stem the invader ' s march. Even some of the professors left, and in the fall of 1861, there were only twenty-nine students. In order to give employment to the four remaining professors, preparatory students were accepted, but their presence was most distinguished for the disorder it caused. Privations of every sort were necessary for the demands of the Confederate army, and although no degrees were awarded in 1865, the college can boast of never being closed and merely shortened its term until April of that year. Almost miraculously. President Kirkpatrick was able to open college at the regular time. He appealed at once to the trustees for certain innovations and won their support, remaining in his position long enough to see the faculty almost doubled in number. His post had been difficult during the war but he held his ground admirably. Upon the foundations which Dr. Shearer set up. Dr. Henry Lewis Smith, his successor, began a period of further growth and expansion. He was consumed with the ideal of a college of superior moral and spiritual quality capable of attracting the best youth of the South. One of his first steps was to promote a campaign of writing and speaking on the importance of a college education. Few presidents have shown the initiative, energy and versatility which characterized Dr. Smith. He was suc- cessful in raising funds for the college and before he finished his tenure of office, the college plant had been enlarged by the addition of five new buildings. Thus the seventy-fifth anniversary, coming at the close of his administration, gave those interested in Davidson good reason to rejoice, not only because of all that had been accom- plished, but because of the brilliant prospects for the future. Dr. William J. Martin, the Pro- fessor of Chemistry, became the new President and the college continued to grow and prosper. The trials of another war period were survived and when a severer test came with the burning of Old Chambers, before the flames had died away, the faculty and student body assembled around the old well and pledged themselves to carry on. Expansion followed with the building of New Chambers in 1925, and the receipt of the Duke Endowment the next year. Dr. Martin retired in 1929 and Dr. Walter L. Lingle was secured to fill his place. The prosperity of the college at present, despite the difficult times, is eloquent testimonial of his faithful administration. He has continued to perpetuate the high ideals and noble traditions of the college and has won for her many staunch friends and admirers. His hands upheld by faculty and students, one can confidently predict even greater things for the future. If one of the stalwart members of the original committee which met in session at old Prospect Church could return to the campus today, he would marvel at the changes which have taken place. Were he to remain on the campus to acquaint himself with the faculty, and sense something of the spirit of the student body, he would remark that the ideals involved in its founding were the same, only clothed in new raiment: that the seed had lived, and had brought forth fruit in abundance. ' • u n NLW CHA.MliERS n Page Seventeen

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Dr. R. a. Dunn President of Board of Trustees Greetings From the Trustees This greeting comes from the Trustees of Davidson College to all those who have the welfare of QuiPS AND CRANKS at heart. I have been a trustee of Davidson now for more than forty years and have had an opportunity to see Davidson grow in the love and esteem of her many friends who cherish her great traditions. QuiPS AND CRANKS is a worthy medium through which the optimistic spirit of Davidson is poured out. and in which the high standard of efficiency and the versatility of her activities arc revealed. A graduate who takes this book with him when he leaves the college has a constant reminder of what Davidson was like when he walked the campus as a student. President of Board of Trustees. Page Nineteen