Longwood College - Virginian Yearbook (Farmville, VA)

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which afterwards drew from him the expression so familiar to us all, Young ladies, thank God for pain. While in Nashville, November, 1874, he mar- ried Miss Florence Boyd of that place, who died after little more than a year of most happy married life, leaving a son, Frank, who is now at the East- man Business College. In 1875, when the University of Nashville was bought by the trustees of the Peabody fund, and changed into a training school for teachers, Mr. Cunningham came back to his native city, and i n partnership with Mr. Joe Willis opened a drug- store. His career as a druggist was of short dura- tion. In 1877 he was elected principal of Madison School, Richmond, and again took up the work of school-teaching, for which he was so eminently fitted. With a deep insig ' ht into great principles which underlie subjects apparently superficial, he had the gift of engaging and holding the attention and the interest of his pupils. No subject so dry or tedious, but he could bring it in touch with their common daily life and experience — present his sub- ject in familiar and attractive guise and call into play faculties which the young are prone to applv to games or diversions. In November, 1884, Mr. Cunningham married Miss Martha Eggleston. a daughter of Mr. Stephen Eggleston, whose wife was Miss Martha Miller, of Cumberland. This marriage was the result of long and intimate friendship. Miss Eggleston ' s step- father being Mr. Cunningham ' s favorite uncle, Richard H. Cunningham, of Elkwood. Those who were admitted into the inner circle of his domestic life, felt that here the true man was visible. To his children he was father, friend and playmate ; to his mother-in-law a devoted son ; to his wife, a loving, thoughtful and considerate husband. In 1887 Mr. Cunningham was elected president of the State Female Normal School, in Farmville, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation oi Dr. Rufifner. This position he held until his death and here his best and most enduring work was done. Being a new enterprise, this has been little under- stood in conservative ' irginia, and the difficulties confronting any man at its head were great. It was still in its infancy, when Mr. Cunningham took it in charge, ofifering great opportunities to the women of Virginia, if conducted by a brave, inde- pendent, acti ve man, and original thinker, but, des- tined to failure, if carried on by the weak or the commonplace. Few men could have been better fitted for just this position than Mr. Cunningham, for, having been intimately connected with public

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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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schools, he knew their needs and entered enthusias- tically into any enterprise that looked to their im- provement. He was intensely interested in educa- tion, a great thinker, an acute observer, and verv far-seeing as to the ultimate effects of a given method of government or of training. These qual- ities combined with practical good sense and judg- ment, a heart as loving and sympathetic as a woman, a manhood pure and unsullied, and an executive ability possessed by few, he brought with him to this work, determined to make of it, not a monument to himself, nor, indeed, the vehicle for the expression of his own opinions, but, in truth, a training-school for teachers, and through them for the youth of otir State. To this end he gave, in more than the ordinary sense, all of himself — his time, his constant care, his trained and thoughtful mind. So en- thusiastic a leader could not fail to infuse energy and stimulate hope. Each year a larger number of untrained women learned from him the true prin- ciples of education, learned to discard unrealities, which simply dazzle, and methods that go on wid- ening and deepening with the year, learned that woman is capable of doing the highest and best work in the field of instruction, and how to do it. His success as an educator and his varied knowl- edge did not pass unrecognized by others than his own pupils, and in 1896 Hampden-Sidney College conferred on him the degree of LL.D. Great as was his work in the class-room, and in moral and intellectual stimulus to every individ- ual who came in close contact with him, this was by no means all. To many, the material improve- ment he wrought around him would seem his great- est work, certainly enough for one man ' s lifetime. His business methods were so effective, and his con- ception and practice of economy so just and true that, with comparatively small means he rebuilt old buildings and added new so rapidly that we learned to expect each summer when we left to find some fresh surprise in the fall, and we were never disap- pointed. The Assembly Hall, the Science Hall, and the Practice School were entire new buildings added during his administration. The main building has been enlarged and renewed, until not one brick of the original structure remains. We do not mean to say that we have actually more and better build- ings than most schools, or, indeed, as handsome as any other State institution, but we believe that few men have expended small means so wisely. His last work was to pull down and rebuild the main building, adding much to the attractiveness and comfort of the whole. A man so many-sided, who could teach any