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

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Rs 2,41 1 m f DEN iff., SYD Though he was, of all men, most modest and retiring, Professor Brock's scholarship was widely recognized. Forty years after his student days, one of his fellow students said: The rest of us wrote fairly correct exercises: Brock wrote French. A distinguished alumnus, widely known as a man of intellectual power, once said: Every faculty should contain at least one scholar. At Hampden-Sydney, Professor Brock deserves the name. Austin College conferred the degree of Doctor of Literature and Randolph-Macon that of Doctor of Laws. Dr. Brock had an intuitive appreciation of the exact shade of meaning inherent in words which made his translations from foreign tongues seem well-nigh perfect renderings of the sense of the original. Master of English, he chose his words with meticulous care-writing and rewriting-never satisfied until he had hit upon the turn and phrase which precisely expressed the thought intended. l-le possessed, too, the rare gift of suggestion in language and his style attained a richness, a beauty and a force far beyond the literal meaning of his words. Of Dr. Brock, as a man and as a friend, we need not speakg those who knew him loved him and appreciated him to the full. To those who did not know him, a true characterization would seem fulsome eulogy. Whiat he meant to Hampden-Sydney was expressed by Dr. A. D. Watkins in his own inimi- table way, as follows: To most of the living alumni, Hampden-Sydney, with- out Professor Brock, seems to lack its peculiar character. I-le represented much of the distinctly Virginian cast of the institution-breeding, gentility, manners, reserve, classical scholarship, chivalry-much that we should like to believe is of Hampden-Sydney's essence . . . Whatever new may come to the College-and much that is new is greatly needed-the loss of the 'tender grace of a day that is dead' is a sad loss indeed. ln times when refinement may have lost its flower, and honor is an oldish word, and chivalry seems not desired by womankind, some ask, with great concern, 'will it still be said that Hampden-Sydney produces gentlemen? H We, who loved him, miss our loyal friend-so sincere, so courteous, so gentle. Quis dcsiderio sit pudor aut modus Tam cari capitis? -W. H. Wi-1mNc, JR. I '01

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ing around among his patrons, as was the custom of the time. He thoroughly enjoyed this work and his association with the good people of the county and with his old comrades of the Ninth Virginia Cavalry. ln the fall of 1869 he entered the University of Virginia and, in l872, received the degree of Bachelor of Literature, meantime holding the position of assistant to Colonel William E.. Peters, the professor of Latinq From this time on Mr. Brock was a teacher of young men: l872-l879, associate in the Kenmore Academy at Amherst, Virginiag I879-1881, associate in the Charlottesville, Virginia, High School, 1881-1886, head master of the University School in Charlottesville. In l886, when Dr. W. S. Currell resigned the chair of English, Political Science and History at Hampden-Sydney, Professor Brock was chosen as his successor. ln l889, when Dr. W. H. Bocock went to the University of Cieorgia, Professor Brock was transferred to the chair of Cireek and French, for which he was peculiarly fitted by his splendid training under Drs. B. L. Csildersleeve and Schele de Vere, his old masters at the University. This arrangement continued until 1911, when the French was given to Professor J. A. Clarke and the Greek was left in Professor Brock's hands. ln I9I8, having reached the age limit, he was made professor emeritus of Creek, and retired from active class room work. After this he lived quietly at E.stcourt, his home here, among his books and Howers, dispensing a courteous hospitality, mingling with his friends, interested in affairs-local, national and inter- national-the home always pervadecl with the atmosphere of culture and genial friendship which the master unconsciously created. After he passed his eighty-fourth birthday Dr. Brock's strength failed, gradually but markedly, and the end came April 30, l928. While teaching at Amherst, Dr. Brock married Miss Mary Carter Irving, daughter of Honorable R. K. Irving and Delia Eldridge, of Rolfeton, Buckingham County, Virginia, a lady who will be remembered by our older alumni as marked by rare charm of person and force of character. There were four children-two sons, Dr. H. l. Brock, of the staff of the New 'York Times, and Honorable R. K. Brock, of Hampden-Sydney, and two daughters, Mrs. H. C. Thornton, of Asheville, North Carolina, and Miss Delia E. Brock, the presiding genius of our Infirmary. Dr. H. C. Brock and Dr. R. A. Brock were brothers-a pair hard to match for literary taste and achievement-the one a scholar of wide attainments and cultureg the other an antiquarian and historian of national reputation. l9l

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I I THE CGLLEGE