Mississippi College - Tribesman Yearbook (Clinton, MS)

Page 17 text:

9 Ex-President Webb jR. W. S. WEBB was born in 1825 in the State of New York, the youngest ot fourteen children, where he attended the public schools until he was eighteen years of age, when he entered the academy at Kingsville, Ohio, under Dr Z C. Graves, the distinguished brother of Dr. J. R. Graves, where he’ was prepared for college and was converted and joined the Baptist church. From this academy he entered what is now Colgate University and was graduated from this institution with the A. B. degree in 1849, and with the A. ' M. degree two years later. That year he was induced by (. R. Graves, who was his first Greek teacher to take charge of an academy near Murtreesboro, Tennessee. He was here married and ordained to the full work of the ministry, Dr. Joseph Eaton, President of Union University preaching the ordination sermon. It was his deliberate purpose to devote his life exclusively to the preaching of the gospel but God seemed to have other work for him, and a call came just at this time to the presidency of Grenada Female College, Grenada, Mississippi, which he accepted, and, reaching Grenada by the old-fashioned stagecoach on Friday morning, September i, 1851, he “delivered his inaugural address on Saturday night, preached a funeral sermon on Sunday, and entered upon his duties as President of the College on Monday morning. When he left this position, six years later, it was the largest college for girls in Mississippi. I ow . fo,lowed a period of some fourteen years devoted to pastoral work with various c lurches in northeast Mississippi, from which field he was called to Clinton, first as pastor, and a year and a half later, at the resignation of Dr. Hillman, was elected to succeed him as resident of Mississippi College. Thus through a long chain of providences was he led into the great field of Christian education, to do a monumental work for which his peculiar abilities seemed preeminently to fi t 11m. A great work and a great worker thus met, but amid conditions that called for supei- uiman wisdom and strength. President Webb’s entire administration of eighteen years was under conditions that would have driven a less heroic soul not only into discouragement, , Ut ° des P air - He was called to the helm when the College was like a disabled ship that had )are y escaped the terrors of storm only to face unseaworthy and unprovisioned the worse terro rs of a calm with not a breeze to swell the sails. Indifference was added to ruin. It was tie heroic effort to steer the College into port over this becalmed sea, when all interest in the i ° ege seemed dead, that palsied those brave hands and shattered that stalwart frame which »s sacred yet, even in its ruins, to every old student of the College who felt and feels still the niora uplift to his life from personal touch with this second man of Rugby. From the humble p at orm of the old Lower Chapel there went out power which has advanced every good cause m Mississippi, and has been felt around the world. His dominant talent was to awaken the soul to vitalize the life, to build character and to enlist it in the noblest lines of the world’s T 1 U- He fl was the g randest character-builder that the State has known. The writer vet teels his influence as one of the strongest forces for good that ever entered his life l A niin, stratum being cast ,n a t, me when a moneyed endowment was a distinct impossibly he addressed h.mself to the even h.gher work of endowing the institution with student loyalty and denominational love, wh.ch was the best possible preparation for the present movement for greatly enlar ged endowment and equipment. e 1 We hail him, “Our greatest, yet with least pretense, Rich in saving common sense, And as the greatest only are, In his simplicity sublime.” The good gray head will soon be seen no more. For life’s self-sacrifice to him will soon be o’er.” P. H. E.

Page 19 text:

Capt. W. T. Ratliff HIRTY-FIVE years is a long time for one man to preside over a board of trustees and yet Capt. W. T. Ratliff has been President of the Board of Trustees of Mississippi College for thirty-five years. He has given the College a great deal of his time and thought. He has also been ready at all times to divide his money liberally with her. His name, his face, and his loyalty ought to he remembered by the friends of the College for all time to come. Capt. Ratliff’s parents died in his early childhood, and he was reared an orphan. Through his early boyhood he did hard work on a farm. A few years before the war he entered Mississippi College as a student. In his early manhood he was married to Miss Mary Cook, a member of one of the best families in Mississippi, and a young woman worthy of her family and of the manly young man with whose destiny she linked her own. When the war opened, young Ratliff was thrilled with the desire to prove his patriotism on the field of honor. He therefore enlisted in the Confederate Army, where he became captain of the famous Ratliff’s Battery. He was one of the bravest and best of soldiers, a just and wise commander, and has always been greatly loved by the men who served with him in the days that tried men’s souls. After the war Capt. Ratliff was elected chancery clerk of Hinds County, which position he filled with great credit to himself and satisfaction to the people for nearly twenty years. Later he was sheriff of the county. His long official record is without spot or blemish. In the affairs of the Baptist denomination in Mississippi, he has been greatly trusted and honored. For many years he was the moderator of the Central Association. For a number of times he was elected treasurer of the Mississippi Baptist Convention, of which distinguished body he is now the honored president. Capt. Ratliff’s three-score and ten years weigh lightly upon him, and we hope that his face and figure will continue to be often seen about the College campus for at least another decade. Near the close of last session Capt. Ratliff , celebrated his golden wedding. The faculty of the College presented him with a beautiful gold watch, with the hope that he would have yet very much to do with time before entering upon eternity. The Senior class of the College presented him with a beautiful gold chain, expressive of their desire that he should still be bound to time and that he should he bound by golden links. We wish you hon voyage, dear Captain, As you sail toward the evergreen shore, And when you have reached the fair haven We’ll keep your name fresh evermore. J 5 2