Longwood College - Virginian Yearbook (Farmville, VA)

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that he was assisting in the growth of an institu- ti(.)ii lie so much loved and in whose future he had such faith. Colonel J. P. Fitzgerald, elected iu January-, 1898, was called away by death in June of the same year. The value of Colonel Fitzgerald to the school can not at all be measured by the length of time he held the highest office iu con- nection with the institution. lie had been a member of the board since 1886, and no one more truly considered the interests of the school than he, none could be more sympathizing and helpful in times of perplexity and distress. Being a resident of Farmville and a skilful lawyer, naturally all knotty questions were carried to him and during the months the school was with- out a president his presence was invaluable. Hon. Robert Turnbull, elected October, 1898, is at this time president and we trust may long be spared to give us the benefit of his wis- dom, wide experience and unflinching integrity. There is now on the board only one of the orig- inal trustees. Dr. James Nelson, of Richmond. There have been three presidents of the school. Dr. Ruffner, the first, truly the father of the institution, sowed the seed but did not wait to see the ripening grain. Dr. Cunningham, com- ing soon after its organization, endowed with remarkable intellectual powers, much special knowledge of the needs of public schools and an energy and ability to lose himself in his work, rarely seen, accomplished in ten years what, with most people would have required twenty. To him the school owes prettj- much all that it is to-day. It was he who bore its burdens ; fought almost alone, its battles, planned its work, with his far-seeing mental vision, building it up on lines he felt would accomplish great results in the future. It has been said of him lately by one who has spent twenty years and more in the interests of educa- tion that Dr. Cunningham was the most advanced educator and thinker he had found anywhere in the South. Great as was his intellectual influ- ence, it was not so great as the lessons of unselfishness, kindness and honor that were learned from his daily life and familiar conver- sations. In the fall of 1897, he was suddenly called from his labors, and in December of the same year Dr. Robert Frazer was elected to suc- ceed him. Dr. Frazer, a Virginian by birth and a graduate of the University of Virginia, was at the time of his election, president of a large nor- mal school and industrial institute iu Columbus, Mississipjji. Having been nearly all his life con-

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work, and one year entirely professional. The model school was converted into a school of practice, in which every member of the Senior class was required to teach daily, her work being carefally supervised by the several teachers of methods, and bj ' an experienced teacher placed in charge of the practice school. To carry out this plan, the faculty was increased in number, the academic work extended to embrace Trigo- nometry in Mathematics; Latin and German were soon added; Ancient liistory was included; good courses in Physics, Chemistr y, Astronomy and Botanj- outlined, and the English course extended to cover the ground usually covered by the Eng- lish courses in the l)est secondary schools. The Legislature of 1888 appropriated tifteeii thousand dollars for additional buildings; that of 1890 increased the annual appropriation to twelve thousand dollars; that of 1894 still further in- creased the annual appropriation to fifteen thou- sand dollars besides giving five thousand dollars for additional buildings. The school has also received aid from the Peabody Fund of sums varying from one thousand dollars to fifteen hundred dollars per annum. With these sums, the course has been ex- tended from time to time. Shorthand and type- writing, as a department of industrial work, and French have been added in the last few years, laboratories for instruction in Physics, Chemistry and Physiology erected, adequate apparatus for tlie needs of the school purchased, and the foun- dation of a good working library begun, the capacity of the building enlarged so as to accom- modate more than one hundred and fifty boarders and man} ' comforts added. At the close of the session of 1897-98, we could number, including the j)ractice school, three hundred and fifty-two pupils and three hundred and fift ' -one graduates. Iq the fifteen years of the existence of the school, there have been four presidents of the Ijoard of trustees, viz: Dr. J. L. M. Cnrry, to whom the school owes much, General W. B. Taliaferro, Colonel J. P. Fitzgerald and Hon. Robert Turnbull. Dr. Curry, having done what he could for the establishment of the school, resigned the presidency of the board after one year of service, though he remained a member some years longer. General W. B. Taliaferro gave his heart ' s true afi: ' ection to the institution from the time of his election in 1885 until a few weeks before his death in 1898. It was his boast that he never missed a meeting of the board of trustees and it was his greatest pleasure 1o feel

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nected witli schools, knowing niiieli of life, with a mind well stocked, of earnest purpose and unbending principle, he is well prepared to lead on to yet higher things, the school begun by Dr. Ruffner, put on a firm basis by Dr. Cunning- ham, and every true friend of the institution must feel assured of its success in the future even more, if anything than in the past; especi- ally as Dr. Frazer is ably supported by a faculty well qualified by natural ability and by years of study and experience. These include graduates of Vassar, the Peabody Normal School at Nash- ville, the Oswego Normal School and those who have continued their studies at Harvard Annex, the Woman ' s College, Baltimore, and Cornell University. Such, in brief, is the history of the School, but no mere outline work like this can give an adequate idea of the life of an institution, for it is like the growth of a soul seeking high things and advancing by small degrees through inward struggles and outward contests. Compared with other like institutions in other States our growth has not been rapid, but when we consider that our highest annual appropriation has been fifteen thousand dollars while the lowest to any other State institution has been twenty thousand, and our highest special appropriation has been fifteen thousand and the first appropriation for an outfit to the colored normal school was one hundred thousand dollars: when we consider also the extreme slowness of conservative Virginia to adopt new ideas, especially in woman ' s educa- tion, we have reason to be proud of our advance and feel that our fifteen years of life represent far more than an aggregation of brick and mortar, but the steady growth of more liberal ideas of education in our State, with the promise of much better things hereafter. Our girls go out — twenty, thirty, forty, every year. It is impossible for them not to take with them some of the lessons of earnestness, patience, and truth daily instilled into them here, thus extending inmeasurably the influence of the School, fulfilling to the utmost the hope of its founders and carrying out the purpose of its establishment.