Millsaps College - Bobashela Yearbook (Jackson, MS)

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Bobashela y mm ? 19 2 4 H of great personal charm and social gifts, a master of English, a man of striking presence on the platform and in the pulpit, able to deal on even terms with men of the first order of ability, and habituated to the management of large affairs. In addition to high ideals in scholarship and in morality, he illustrated something frequently lacking, but eminently desirable in the education of young men — the graces and finish of the best and most enlightened society. Manners maketh man, says an old English author. It is not a small thing that the president of Millsaps College should be a man, not only of scholarship and integrity, but that he should be a man of urbanity and an illustration of the graces that adorn life. Those who have known Doctor Watkins most intimately will bear the readiest testimony to the statement that no petty or unworthy sentiment ever found utterance by his lips, or showed in his life. The advancement of the college duung his administration speaks for itself. When he became president the college had no dormitories for college students, as distinguished from those of the academy, except the Cooper House, an old frame building badly in need of paint and repairs. Now there are two large brick dormitories equipped with every modern convenience. The main building burned down in the second year of Doctor Watkins ' administration. In its stead promptly rose the present administration building — fine, commodious, and costing more than twice as much as the building which was burned. If it had to be erected now it would cost four times as much. The dormitory of the Preparatory School burned in the first year of his presidencv. On its site stands a restored building better than the old one. A book store and a hut for the Y. W. C. A. have been added to the plant of the college. The old library, built on a marl foundation which has shifted and so rendered the building unsafe, is to be replaced bv a library costing more than three times the sum spent on the old one. The whole of the negotiations for the rebuilding of the library has been conducted by Doctor Watkins, who deserves the credit for the unusual action of the Carnegie Board in replacing with a better structure the library building which we have lost. The academic advancement of the college has been notable in the period of Doctor Watkins ' presidencv. When he came the faculty of the college consisted of eight men, including the president, who taught some classes. When he withdrew the faculty had grown to the number of seventeen. In the first year of his presidency the students numbered 144 in the Department of Arts and Sciences. In the last year of his presidency they numbered 329. In the first year of his administration the college had an endowment of $300,000.00; when he retired it had doubled that sum. The college was admitted to the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of the Southern states in 1912, the first year of his presidency. It then became officially recognized as of the highest rank by all the standardizing bodies of the nation. Two of the men whose college training was received under his presidency have been elected Rhodes Scholars from Mississippi. In choosing his faculty he kept in mind a certain type of man, and so succeeded in establishing a singularly unified body of men as instructors in the college. Of the sixteen professors in the college when he retired, he had selected fourteen. Among, them there is co-ordinated effort for a commond end, but no jealousies and no jars. After he had chosen them he stood by them, and consistently and persistently did all in his power to advance their salaries and their efficiency. His interest in the college remains unabated. One thing he accomplished which has not yet borne its full fruitage of success, but which will mean much to the college in later years: In company with Mr. W. M. Buie he obtained from the General Education Board the conditional gift of $100,000.00 to the endowment fund of the college, given to insure a raise of salaries for the faculty, provided the college obtains $250,000.00 from some other source. When that sum is raised the endowment will be three times what it was when Doctor Watkins became the official head of Millsaps College. The School of Education was established in his administration, and has attained a high rank among such departments. The W. S. F. Tatum School of Religious Education was established with an endowment of $100,000.00 and two professors, which gives Millsaps an enviable ran in religious education. Such is the record of the administration of Doctor Watkins. Of course, others have aided, but he has directed. And now he returns to his first love — the pastorate — enriched by the stored wisdom of many fruitful years, upheld by the I ' nseen Friend, who has been the source of his strength, and accompanied by the charming and gracious wife, who has been a blessing to him and to all others who have known her. We anticipate for him multiplied usefulness in his labor for his Master. May he have many souls for his hire, and may his path grow brighter until he passes into that sunset which is a dawn. We iv m kneia him sn Inn semi with him our admiration and affection.

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Bobashela 19 2 4 n Doctor A. F. Watkms, An Appreciation OR the past eleven years the roll of the Faculty, as it appeared in the Bobashela, has been headed by the name of Doctor A. F. Watkins, as president of the college. This year it appears as President Emeritus. Therefore it is fitting that the Bobashela should contain an appreciation of the man who has guided the fortunes of this institution for more than a decade, and to recount the progress which our Alma Mater has made in the years of his presidency. When D. C. Hull resigned the presidency of Millsaps College in 1912 the trustees of the college had under consideration many distinguished men as possible successors to that high position. Among them was a man who had served with brilliant distinction in many responsible positions in the Methodist Church in Mississippi, and in the South at large, and who had rendered great service in the establishment of the college. It is inspiring to hear a distinguished banker of Mississippi, now a loyal trustee of the college, tell of the fine young minister who first roused the Methodists of Mississippi by his advocacy of the project of establishing a great Methodist college in our state. The trustees accordingly placed in charge of the college, Dr. A. F. Watkins, who now closes a notable administration. Dr. Watkins sprung from a family distinguished for ability and character and for services to the church and the state. His father, Doctor William H. Watkins, was one of the most eminent ministers of the Methodist Church in Mississippi and was a member of the historic General Conference which separated the Methodist Episcopal Church into the Northern and Southern branches. Many members of his family are now prominent in Mississippi and Louisiana. It is not within the purpose and scope of this article to recount the honors which have come to Dr. Watkins in the service of his church, but hardly any other Methodist has occupied so many high positions in the gift of his brethren, or has rendered so eminent or varied service to his church and the cause for which she stands. Only a few of the many high offices which he has filled with distinction can here be noted, but a sketch of him, though brief, would be incomplete without some account of his work as a minister. Coming of so staunch a Methodist family, it was to be expected that he would attend a Methodist college, and while but a youth he won distinction in Centenary College, at Jackson, Louisiana, the Alma Mater of so many distinguished men of Mississippi and Louisiana. Yanderbilt University was then in its mighty youth, and attracting the choicest young men of the South to obtain a type of education not equalled in the South, except at the University of Virginia. Among the remarkable group of young men who attended Vanderbilt, one of the most promising was young A. F. Watkins, drawn thither from Centenary by the fame of the new seat of learning and his own steadfast determination to be content with none but the best. Among the ablest of that fine band, he was distinguished by his personal charm, his lofty character, his scholarship, and his devotion to Christian ideals. From the beginning of his ministry in the Mississippi Conference, to which he came on graduation from Vanderbilt, he advanced steadily and rapidly. He filled the best appointments with great success, and soon became known beyond the bounds of his home conference. He frequently represented his conference in the councils of the church at large, and was as eminent among the leaders who assembled at the General Conference of Southern Methodism and the Ecumenical Council of World-wide Methodism as he was in his home conference. Among the many positions of honor which he held were these: Field agent of the Superannuate Endowment Fund of Southern Methodism, delegate to the Ecumenical Council, member of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; seven times delegate to the General Conference, president of the Methodist Educational Association, and secretarv of the General Conference for sixteen years. It is a notable fact that, as his father was a member of the General Conference whose action divided Methodism into two bodies, so Doctor A. F. Watkins was a member of the Joint Commission on Unification which labored so earnestlv for several years to perfect plans for bringing together the two great branches of Methodism. To the presidency of Millsaps College, Doctor Watkins brought many eminent gifts. He had been president of Whitworth College, field agent for the establishment of Millsaps College, and a trustee of the institution for twenty-three years. He was a trained and acc urate scholar,

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