Lebanon Valley College - Quittapahilla Yearbook (Annville, PA)

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LEBANON VALLEY COLLEGE 1866-1929 By NORMAN C. SCHLICHTER, ' 97, Litt.D. THE big moment of every Lebanon Valley Fresh- man ' s first day ought to be when he is escorted by older classmen to South Hall and told that it was built in 1859, and that the Annville Academy, built in 1834 on the same site, was well enough known to attract students from other states as well as from Pennsylvania. He next should be told that South Hall was donated to Lebanon Valley College by the owners of the Academy, and that the College opened in this, its first building, on May 7, 1866. The third thing his enthusiastic upper classmen should tell him is that the attendance grew from forty-nine students the first term to one hundred and fifty-three at the end of the year. And the fourth thing, that Rev. Thomas R. Vickroy, Ph.D., a graduate of Dickinson College, served as the first President until 1871. Wouldn ' t it be a fine thing if scholarships or build- ings were given the names of Lebanon Valley ' s Presidents so that statements like this would not be necessary to bring them to mind again? President Vickroy was the author of an English grammar, of a rhetoric, and editor of a monthly paper, Phonetic Spelling. ' ' He was a scholar and leader and had an honored career in education in St. Louis follow- ing his leaving Lebanon Valley in 1871. The roll of Presidents who followed is on page 27. Nearly all of them attained wide professional distinc- tion and gave devoted and high-minded leadership to the College. The frequent changes in the leadership were largely due to the limited financial resources of the College dur- ing its first thirty years, which dis- couraged some of the earlier Presi- dents. The second thirty years of the College, end- mg this com- mencement of 1929, are the years of its highest develop- ment into an in- stitution of good financial standing, with a steadily increasing attendance. The greatest financial progress has been made during President Gossard ' s administration. His enthusiastic leadership is loyally supported by the alumni who were graduated before his term of service began. This is the best evidence possible that Lebanon Valley has long had a great spirit, and that the many years of self-sacrifice on the part of its faculty, who received barely living wages (not salaries) until within only the past decade, inspired deep love of Alma Mater in most of her students throughout her history. The Quittapahilla salutes the faculties of older days for their loyalty to the principles for which Lebanon Valley was founded. Today every alumnus and student should be Page twenty-two

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prouder than ever of Lebanon Valley ' s purpose, which is, first, to give spiritual, moral, and scholastic training to ministers for the United Brethren in Christ Church. For this have most gifts been given to her and most prayers said for her. Second, to give spiritual, moral, and scholastic training for every type of professional service. Her halls and classrooms have rung with echoes and reechoes of service to mankind, which President Lowell, in his last annual report to the trustees of Harvard University, says is no longer the first con ' sideration of many of Harvard ' s present students. This he deplores, and urges all the members of the faculty to help to reinspire this great aim in Harvard men, as the first true aim of life and of education. Granted the necessary buildings and means to carry on at Lebanon Valley, her real success depends on how well her leaders lead on, according to her purposes as just stated. Lebanon Valley ' s standing at our universities throughout the country has been high for the past forty years and more, and her present faculty and students may be proud of the records of the older grads, as we lovingly dub them. Most of the courses of study were fully modernized and ably taught by distinguished university graduates from the time of President Roop on, and during his administration and that of President Keister, an out- standing theologian of the church, the present excellent scientific laboratories were equipped. Most of the present buildings were built twenty- five years ago, during President Roop ' s administration. The Quittapahilla salutes the past with pride and rejoices happily in the prosperous present of old L. V. C. The two Lebanon Valley men whose work ap- proaches that of genius are John Wesley Etter, of the Class of ' 72, preacher, author, scholar, teacher — as bright a light as ever shone in the church of the United Brethren in Christ, and once a member of the College faculty. The Quittapahilla salutes the other, Horace S. Kephart, Esq., of the Class of 1879, still living at Bryson City, North Carolina, author of Our South- ern Highlanders, a masterpiece of American history and literature. The work of these men shows that Lebanon Valley ' s light, though smaller than now, was very bright long, long ago. With the new songs Lebanon Valley ' s sons will sing, let them not forget to sing her old songs, warm with the heartbeats of genuine learning and of love. I close with a stanza from my own Alumnal Ode, in which I have tried to express the ideals of Lebanon Valley. Be men and women far too proud To wear the darksome shroud Of cowardice and treason to your day. Exalt the life ' tis yours to live, Forbear, forewarn, forgive, And grace no station where you may not pray. For every heart that leaves its King Doth starve for truth and thirst for reasoning. Page twenty-three