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

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r. Alfred James Morrison N liVashington, after his return from evening worship Sunday, the 14th K5 of -january, a chill rapidly developing into pneumonia when he had been I 1- . . . 5 removed to bibley Hospital, and early on the morning of the Sth day Ur. if Alfred Blames lllorrison was dead-dead i11 his prime, a career of dis- ? tinction just opening before him. Thus one of the most gifted of her 5.4 Alumni, touched with divine firef, as a classmate said of him, has been J lost to Hampden-Sidney College, and, to the State of Virginia, an i11- valuable recorder of many phases of her history. Bo1'n at Selma, Alabama, the lltll of july, 1876, the son of a young minister, after whom he was named, brought in his infancy by his widowed mother to her old home, he inherited a love fo1' the college of which his grandfather, Dr. Atkinson, was long president, and throughout his life about it centered his devotion and from it radiated to and beyond the borders of the state his' manifold work whether as investigator or as writer. Graduating there in 1395, one of a class of unusually bright youths, himself markedly so, and an Honorman, he continued his StlltllCS at the State University, Zlllll finally, entering the johns Hopkins, where he was awarded a Fellowship, he took his degree of Doctor of Philosophy, the Romance Languages being his choice of subjects. Afterwards he spent several tentative years, as often happens, with no definite objective before him. Teaching, he had done both in Virginia and in Tennessee after his first graduation. In a spirit of adventure he more than once visited Europe, making a sojourn in Paris for further study of French. On this side of the Atlantic again, he was for a while manuscript reader for the Holt Publishing Com- pany, and when he was so employed his discriminating judgment gave to the public one of May Sinelair's earliest books and best, The Divine Fire, yet years later he told a friend that he no longer read novels, the result of a vagary, surely not with de- liberate purpose, for he was not free from the eccentricities of genius. In 19115 he held the chair of Latin and German in his old college, and for another session a pro- fessorship in Toledo University, Ohio, but the routine of the classroom was irksome to him as well as its confinement to fixed hours. Historical and biographical papers he had already written, the outcome of original inquiryg they are for the most part to be found in the College Library and are duly indexed. His bent thus decidedly evinced, he finally settled down to congenial labors, now fitted for their prosecution by his extensive readings, his wonderful memory, his untiring search for material. During this time he edited certain books of travel, .john Davis' Travels in the States, and a similar work by Dr. john Schoepff, in two volumes, which he translated from the German. His old home was now his residence and it may be the associations of his youth and the scenes about him led him to edit, first, the llinutes of the Board of Trustees of the College and, next, to prepare his Dic- tionary of Biography. This is a most noteworthy contribution to the history of the college, as it contains, in epitome, the lives of all the officers and the students for the first fifty years of its existence, from 1776 to 1825. It means all that its title implies and cost the compiler many months in collecting the material. Fortunately, in the lack of catalogues for those early years, the membership and minutes of the two Literary Societies early organized and actively functioning, and the Minutes of the Board of Trustees supplied a basis to b11ild upon. His intimate knowledge of the educational conditions of the state, as seen in another of his booklets: finally the limited territory fSouthside Virginiaj which for many years furnished in the main the clientele of the 9

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Faculty J. H. C. VVINSTON, A.B., B.S., Ph.D. Proffstor of Chrmixlry and Grnlngy o X, X n fr A.l3. and B.S., Hampden-Sidney College, '94, Graduate Student, I'niversitv of Virginia, '94-'95, Professor, Tazewell College, '95-'96, Graduate Student, johns Hopkins University, '96-'99, and Ph.D., '99, present position since '99, and Acting Professor of Biology, '17-VZO. Asa D. VVATKINS. AB., B.D. Profrssor of English H It A, E T A.li., Hampden'Sidney College, '94, Instructor in English, Hoge Academy, '95-'96, Principal South Boston High School, '96-'99, Student of English and A.l3., Harvard I'niversity, '99-'oo, B.D., Union Theological Seminary, Va., '03, Professor of Bible, King College, '07-'11, Instructor in Bible Courses, Fitting School, VVofTord College, '13-'14, present position since 't8. J. B. Massey. A.B., B.D., D.D. Profrssor of Billlr, Plfilosojvlzy, and Pxyrlmlogy A.Ii., I'niversity of North Carolina, '00, B.D., I'nion Theological Seminary, Va., '03, Moses D. Hoge Fellow, Union Theological Seminary, Va., '03-'04, Student, Summer Session, Columbia University, '20, D.D., VVashington and Lee University, '20, present position since 'I9. THUM.-xs CARY JOHNSON, JR., AB., IN'I.A. Profrssor of History and Ernnoznivs KE AB., Hampden-Sidney College, '15, M.A., University of Virginia, '16, Instructor in English, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, '16-'18, and '19-'20, U. S. Naval Air Service, '18-'19, Student, Summer Session, Ilarvard l'niversity, '20, present position since '20, Instructor in History, Col- lege of VVilliam and Mary, Summer Session, '22. H. B. QDVERCASH. B.S. B.S., Davidson College, Professor of Mathematics and Science, Catawba College, Adjunct Pro- fessor of Biology, Davidson College, Professor of Mathematics and Science, Palmer College, Professor of Chemistry and Biology, Catawba College, Graduate Student I'niversity of Virginia and Columbia I'niversity. MACON Reign, A.B., M.A. Professor of Mzzfllffrzalirx AB., I'niversity of S. C., M.A., Columbia University, Professor of Greek and Mathematics, Presbyterian High School, Columbia, S. C., 'or-'04, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, I'ni- versity of S. C., '04-'05, Professor of Science, Peacock Military School, San Antonio, Texas, '07-'08, Headmaster, Donaldson Military School, Fayetteville, N. C., '08-'16, Associate Pro- fessor of Greek, Latin and Mathematics, Davidson College, '16-'20, Elected Associate Professor of Latin, University of N. C. in '22, released for present position. CARI. D. Laws, A.B., lNI.A. plsxislanl Profrxxor nf 1lIafln'matif.t A.B., North Carolina State Agriculture College, '21, M.A., University of Georgia, '22, present position since '22.. C. E. GREEN, A.B., Ph.D. Proffrsor of lfrnnlz and Spanish 8

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college and the succession of students from the same families for generations-the Venables and Cabells, the Carringtons and VVatkins-aided the author greatly in his task. The result is a volume full of interest, with an array of biographical detail, both intimate and historical, set forth in a manner at once unique and entertaining, with sidelights valuable in themselves and affording ground for additions and collections when the volume comes into the possession of families closely afliliated with the insti- tutiong priceless to them and of great general value, there being so many names after- wards made illustrious in the annals of state and nation. Another book published in 1917, East by NVest, with the subtitle, Essays in Transportation, is farther proof of the author's extensive reading, his quaint fore- word proclaiming the fact. This work follows through the centuries the trade routes of the old world and the new, from Babylon east and back again to Babylon by west- a wonderful story in its way. Dr. lklorrison had been living in VVashington for some two years, doing literary work of one kind and another when he undertook in collaboration with two other writers, Dr. Lyon Tyler and Dr. Philip Bruce, a History of Virginia, his part covering the period since 1861. He had already collected the necessary material and was about to return to Hampden-Sidney to give it final form, when he was seized with his fatal illness. A proper setting it would have been for the task, its inspiring surroundings not betraying him into idle romance, but, true to his keen historical sense, the facts would have been orderly marshaled and convincingly presented, with shrewd com- ments and snapshots of l1llIll0l' all his own. During the years of his literary work here Dr. lklorrison found healthful recreation in farming a few ac1'es and otherwise in brief visits to neighboring counties and daily walks near homey for he was a sturdy pedestrian, and naturally he dressed no longer in the fastidious attire of the young graduate, but i11 the rustic garb of the country squireg a familiar figure in the little community, the soul of its Literary Club, and a welcomed guest in every household, beloved by gentle and simple. He will be missed as no other, so much a part was he, in all his unobtrusiveness, of its daily round that it is not hard to fancy his spirit revisits the cherished objects of his life. Familiar scenes from earliest boyhood dear, Old walls time-darkened, Learning's hallowed dower, Topped with no turrets, pinnacle or tower, By simple lilies upbuilded, but severe, VVith aspirations fond, oft standing near The ancient pile, when had it first the power To stir the youth, to quicken into flower Gifts dormant, yet in time a bright career Foreshowing? when as in each, her foster-son, He told her worth, to state and nation wide Her age-long services. His pen had won In other work applause, and now the tide Ran fair, when lo! today our tears fall on The new-made grave of Alfred Morrison. DR. HENRY CLAY BROCK. I0