Mary Baldwin College - Bluestocking Yearbook (Staunton, VA)

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The Mary Baldwin Scwinary. 7 needy ; and the poor and wretclied received not only his hard earned shillinj s, but his love and sympatliy. To prove his tender, generous heart, we need but recall the house of John- son in Gough Square, where he spent the greater portion of his life in London. There, for some time before the death of his wife he had begun to gather about him a family group made up of a strangely assorted set of pensioners on his char- ity : Mrs. Williams, a poor blind woman; Dr. Robert Levett, an odd little man who practised among the poorest people in London and frequently received his fees in liquor; Frank Bar- ber, a faithful negro servant; and an old cat Hodge. These and other dependents surrounded Johnson in his poverty, and have become as familiar to us as objects that surround us from day to day. On account of his rough manners, John.son was nicknamed the bear; but Goldsmith said, No man alive has a better heart, he has nothing of the bear but the .skin. We might recall other noble qualities that adorned the character of Johnson, but are not courage, truthfulness and generosity, united with a high order of genius enough to secure for this great and good man the first place in our love and admiration? Elizabeth H. Turnbull, Durham, N. C. ASHEVILLE ' 97. Three years ago, it was decided by the International Com- mittee of the Young Woman ' s Christian As.sociation to have a summer school in the South, similar to the ones held at North- field, Lake Geneva, and Mills College. The first school was held at Rogersville, Tennessee in 1895. It was such a success that the next year the school was again held and this time at Asheville, North Carolina. La.st year it met in the .same place and this was the meeting I attended. The Conference lasted from the fifteenth to the twenty- fifth of June, and was attended by about forty or fifty regular students besides a great many visitors. The meetings were

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6 The Annual of men, and Garrick had achieved great success and prominence as an actor, while Johnson was still poor and in comparative obscurity. I ast among Johnson ' s intimate friends at this pe- riod of his life, was Sir Joshua Reynolds, one of England ' s greatest portrait painters. It was he, who, in after 5 ears with Johnson, founded the famous Literary Club. In later life, Johnson became recognized as holding a high position among litterateurs and became the recipient of royal bounty. Then it was that Burke took notice of this man of genius and grew to be so intimate with him. At this time, too, Johnson made the acquaintance of the solid thinking Thrale and his wife, the latter of whom was famous as well for the in- tellectual society she gathered around her as for her talents. In the house of these friends Johnson enjoyed all that friend- ship, admiration and wealth could give; frequently he made excursions to different parts of England in their company. We must not forget while recalling Johnson ' s friends, to mention the vain, tattling busybody, James Boswell, who, to give prom- inence to himself, sought the acquaintance of distinguished men. It is to him we owe our familiarity, not only with the more important things, but also with the minutest details of Johnson ' s life, as he has given them to the world in his biog- raphy of this great man. We do not love Johnson for his odd personality only, for his character is such as to excite our love and admiration. We find, predominant among his characteristics that of moral courage. It was his valor that helped him to rise so manfully above disease, disappointments and poverty, and, with .so many drawbacks, to live so noble and .so patient a life. Some one has said, Since the time of John Milton, no truer heart has beat in an English bosom than Samuel John.son bore. Then, too, Johnson was truthful in word and thought, and honest in action. His life testifies to the fact that the love of truth filled his heart and mind. Even in his writings there is not a line nor a sentence that is dishonest or other than it pretends to be. Perhaps more than by an ything else we are attracted to him by his tender heart. He gave freely of his little to relieve the

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8 The Annual of held in the Normal School building a short distance from the city, and we had chapel, dining hall, and rooms all in the same building. Miss Seevers, who was then a secretary of the In- ternational Committee, was the leader. Among the speakers were Miss Price, General Secretary of the International Com- mittee, Miss French of the Southern Presbyterian Mission, Mr. Stud of the China Inland Mission, and Dr. Schofield of Massachusetts. Our plans for the day were as follows : breakfast at half- past seven ; at eight, morning prayers, after which was a class led by Miss Seevers, who told us how the work of the Young Woman ' s Christian Association should be conducted in colleges and gave us plans for the next year. This class lasted for an hour, then came the Bible Class with Mr. Jamison, of South Carolina, as leader. We took up the book of Acts and studied it carefully, comparing the Authorized Version with the Re- vised. After this was the class for the study of missions, which often met out under the trees or on the porch. From twelve to one Mr. Jamison held a Personal Workers Class, in which the study of the Bible in regard to its use in personal work was discussed. The afternoons were given up to rest, preparation for the classes of the next day and sometimes to drives and walks. At five we all met in the Mission Room, a room in which were gathered together curios from many lands, books, maps and other aids for the study of missions. Here Miss French talked to us of the Chinese among whom she had been laboring for seven years. This meeting lasted till six, our supper hour. After supper we all wandered off by twos and threes around the grounds, and had a quiet twilight talk for a half hour, then met again for Vesper services. At night all assem- bled in the chapel for a talk or lecture. One night Mr. Stud talked to us of his work in China and told many thrilling stories of his experiences away in the interior of that country. Dr. Schofield gave us three lectures on the ' ' Holy Spirit and the Inner L,ife. These evening lectures were attended not only by the students but by many of the Asheville people.