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Page 23 text:
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Shetcb of 2)r. John H. Cunningbam, H. m ,, %%, H). IN undertaking to sketch the Hfe of a valued friend, it is difificult to avoid one of two evils — to allow our affections to carry us into seeming extravagance, or, for the sake of apparent partiality to fail to bring out fully all the virtues of one who, it may be is worthy of heartfelt admiration, and often of imitation. It is our sincere desire to set forth this man as he was ; to show to those who knew him not, how noble and generous and sym- pathetic a nature he possessed, how full of earnest purpose, of unselfish impulse, to bring back to those who knew him and have lost him the real presence of the man with all his stimulating words, his ever helpful influence. John A. Cunningham was born in Richmond, June 24, 1846. His father Dr. John A. Cunning- ham, who graduated at Harvard and completed his education in Europe, was for many years a prominent physician in Richmond, but retired from active life in 1870, and spent his last years with his brother, Mr. Richard A. Cunningham, at Elkwood, Culpeper county. His mother, Miss Mary John- ston, was a first cousin of General Joseph E. John- ston, and was also a person of talent. The affection and intimacy existing between her and her youngest son was vmusual in kind and degree, and her memory was fondly cherished till the day of his death. To her he seems to have owed the emotional side of his nature, his buoyant and hope- ful spirit, his tender and ready sympathy, as well as his faculty for government and clear insight into character. From his father he inherited his posi- tive and open expressions of like and dislike, his high spirit, his keen sense of honor and his chival- rous abhorrence of injustice and oppression. As a child he vas delicate and spent much time in reading to his mother, who was almost blind. Being a woman of rare intellect, the little boy was
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Page 24 text:
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introduced to books far beyond most children of his age, from which he gained knowledge never lost, and which was afterwards made use of in his teach- ing. For the same reason, not being able to go to school very early, he accompanied his father on his professional rounds, gaining from him much knowl- edge of life both in its lower and higher sense, learn- ing how the intellect and soul are dwarfed b) ' physical weakness, having his attention directed to the importance of the smallest things in nature, and thus laying the foundation for the distinctly scientific bias of his mind. Between the ages of twelve and fifteen, young Cunningham ' s education was continued in private schools in the country. Part of the time under tutors in the family of his uncle, Mr. Edward Cun- ningham, at ; Iacon, Powhatan county, about twelve miles from Richmond, and part in a large private school for boys, conducted by his cousin, Mr. Jaqueline Ambler, in Fauquier county. In 1861, he entered New London Academy, Bedford county, which was then in charge of Mr. John H. Winston. Here he was a general favorite with both teachers and students, and was excelled in scholarship by none. In 1863, at the age of seventeen, Mr. Cunning- ham enlisted in the Confederate armv, where he served as a private in the battery commanded by Captain Willie K. Dance of Powhatan. Though a mere boy, he was a brave soldier. He loved to tell of his war experiences, and said some of the most useful lessons of his life were learned through the hardships he then endured and the close rela- tions into which he was thrown with all sorts and conditions of men. When the war closed he went to the Univer- sity of Virginia to complete his education. His work was of high rank from the first, especially in mathematics and kindred subjects, and when he took his degree he was fully recognized as one of the master minds among his fellow students. Leaving the University in 1868, Mr, Cunning- ham was associated with General E. Kirb} ' Smith, first in the Western Military Academy in New Cas- tle, Kentucky, in which he taught Latin and Greek, and afterward in the University of Nashville, where he occupied the chair of Latin. In 1872 this Uni- versity conferred on him the degree A. M. It was at this period that a great affliction befell him in the threatened loss of his eyesight. For seven years he was unable to do any studying, except what could be gained by listening to others read. All this time he kept his place, performing his duties satisfactorily, and learning some of those lessons
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