Mississippi College - Tribesman Yearbook (Clinton, MS)

Page 10 text:

Editorial NITIATIVE! B What is the initiative?” asks Elbert Hubbard. “It is,” he says, ‘ doing the right thing without being told. But next to doing the thing without being told, he continues, “is to do it when you are told once.” Inspired by the spirit of initiative, it was decided by the student body last year that we should have an annual; this was the right thing at the right time. Then a staff was selected, and told to issue it; this, a necessary evil, was the next best thing: “But,” adds the Philistinian, “your pay is not always in proportion.” “Nothing, not even a blade of grass,” says Epictetus, “ever attained to perfection suddenly.” In doing the first thing for the first time, there is always an element of uncertainty, which cannot be removed and which can be minimized only by a vast amount of labor. It has been our utmost endeavor to produce an annual commensurate with the greatness of Mississippi College. The value of the product of our labor we measure by our success in accomplishing this. With much of gratification and some- thing of pride, we present the result, and believe the annual that surpasses it will be an eminent success. Gratitude ? Stacks of it. To those who aided us, to those who encouraged us, to those who counseled us, to the student body as a whole, and to the Faculty, are due it. Our annual, as representing the new era on which we are entering, is now an institution. We have attempted to set a standard, and may it with every succeeding issue be raised higher and higher. 6

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Dedication To Dr. William Tyndale Lowrey, President Mississippi College To thee, thou gentlest, kindest, noblest, truest friend — To thee, of whom, when thy life’s open book is kenned, It may in truth be said, “Here is a man Who lives for us and loves us; whose demand Is only that he be allowed to serve, Whose prayer that he from simple truth not swerve” To thee our highest, richest tribute it is meet That we should bring and offer at thy feet. Yet should we find the task beyond our skill To bare our hearts and into words instill The essence of our love, this much we know: If, in the evening’s gentle twilight glow, A friend should come with stealthy step to lay A rose beside thee and then should steal away Unnamed and silent in the gath’ring gloom, He’d know the flower would forever bloom Nor would from out thy memory e’er depart, Because twere not a rose he d give thee, but a heart.

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vr President W. T. Lowrey H K happiest fortune that can attend one’s birth is that he comes of parents of sterling character. This is a notable fact in the birth of the subject of this sketch. His father was one of ten children left to the care of a widowed mother when he was but four years old, and from that tender age his life was a struggle. He was converted at seventeen, went to the Mexican War at eighteen, married at twenty- one, and entered the ministry at twenty-four. His mother was a woman of exceptional native excellence, who with her marvelous industry and practical sense added a reserve power to her husband’s strength, which largely counteracted his lack of early training and made possible the splendid achievements of his later life. By wise use of small opportunities he educated himself after marriage, and rose steadily into commanding prominence as preacher, soldier, educator, and citizen. In the Civil War he rose to brigadier general, was called “the fighting preacher of the Army of Tennessee,” and was introduced by General Pat Cleborne as “the bravest man in the Con- federate Army. ” Such parentage is the best possible introduction into life. W. T. Lowrey came also of a large family. There were eleven children, and he was the eldest of six brothers. Such a family, if of wise parents, is in itself a school of life, calling for so much mutual concession and self-denial. It keeps one from growing self-centered, and fosters in him the sweet amenities of life. This effect is heightened when conditions are hard, and W. T. Lowrey’s childhood and youth were cast in north Mississippi in a time of civil war and reconstruction, a period of great adversity. From eight to sixteen years of age he worked on the farm and studied at home with brief intervals of attendance on the country schools. He was converted at eleven years of age. He was prepared for college by Capt. T. B. Winston, of Blue Mountain Male Acade my. He entered Mississippi College in the fall of 1878, and was graduated in three years with first honors. The writer’s first personal knowledge of him was when he entered Mississippi College in 1878. He then won a place in his esteem and love which he holds yet, only in a larger and richer measure. He remembers him as elegant in appearance, amiable in disposition, and winning in manner, beloved of faculty and students. He was a winner of friends, and knew how to be friendly. He liked the boys and loved the girls. He was a good mixer and was prominent in society work. If he ever had an enemy, I never heard of it. He had expected to enter the profession of law until about the time of his graduation, when he felt it his duty to enter the ministry. After graduation in June, 1881, he entered in the fall the So uthern Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville, Kentucky, and when he was about completing his Senior year there, was called home by the sudden death of his father and succeeded him as President of Blue Mountain Female College. This position he as- sumed on his twenty-seventh birthday, and on the first of September following married Miss 7