Swarthmore College - Halcyon Yearbook (Swarthmore, PA)

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For several years the course of study in the College had now included a constantly increasing attention to the study of English, and this growing interest is indicated in the following words taken from the Managers ' report ; In this department a mere general knowledge of our literature, with names and dates, is not ' considered sufficient, but during a four years ' course such representative authors as Chaucer, Spenser, Milton, Cowper, and Wordsworth are read with the same careful attention required in the Greek and Latin classics. The histoiy and growth of the language itself are considered, and its character, at the different stages of its development, care- fully noted. It was during this eleventh year of the College that, through the generous liberality of Joseph Wharton, a commodious meeting-house was erected on the College grounds. The meetings had been held until now in the general study room (now known as the Assembly Room) in the College. After the change of place the meetings continued to be held, as before, under the immediate direction and control of the College authorities. They were also attended by Friends and others from the neighborhood, and occasionally by visiting Friends. The following passage from the annual report of the Managers in 1S79 will be read with interest : Increasing care is taken to inculcate among the students, both by precept and example, the principles and testimonies of our religious society, and we feel warranted in saying to Friends everywhere that Swarthmoie is yearly becoming more and more worthy of their confidence and support in this important particular. The authorities are well aware that, with the large number of colleges now existing in the country, there was no room and no need for the establishment of another, except to furnish to our children and others opportunities to obtain a thorough collegiate course in a well-regulated lioine, and under the guarded care of Friends! ' The College reopened for its twelfth year in the autumn of 1880 with the same Faculty of government as that of the previous year. The principal change in the Department of Instruction was the resignation of Miss Marie Under- wood after several years of highly valuable services as Instructor in Elocution. Her efficient and conscientious labors for her department in the College deserve more than a passing notice, and for some account of her subsequent career and early death, the reader is referred to a notice in the Friends ' Intelligencer and Journal lox Second month 12th, 1898. The beginning of the elimination of the Preparatory School took place by the omission of the lowest class the present year. Notwithstanding this omission, the whole number of students was the same as last year, 266, being the largest number yet reached in the history of the College. 14

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This combination of Normal School and College work was entered upon with some misgivings as to the result. The attempt to make Practice Classes of our Preparatory students caused dissatisfaction, as their instruction was placed under the care of inexperienced teachers, and the apparent necessity of introducing younger students for these classes discouraged those who looked forward to making Swarthmore a College of equal standing with the best colleges in the country. After a few years ' trial the experiment was abandoned as unsatisfactory with the material at our command. The later introduction of the study of Pedagogics, as a part of the College course in the upper classes, has accomplished the end intended in the introduction of the Normal Department, without the objections that were earlier urged against it. No new buildings were erected during this tenth year of the College, but a new impetus was given to improvement in the neighborhood by the erection of several houses on adjoining property, among which were those of our Superintendent and our Professor of Civil Engineering. It was also during this tenth y ear that a material improvement to our grounds was effected by a change in the direction of the road in front of the College. The whole number of students who attended the College and Preparatory School during the first ten years was 1,335. At the opening of the College for the eleventh year (1879-80) there were 266 names upon the roll, a greater number than on any previous year. About one-half of these were children of members of the religious society of Friends. The tendency toward making Swarthmore a College began now to be more and more obvious, from the advance made in its courses of study, and the greater maturity of those seeking admission. Of the 266 students present this year, just 200 were either in the College classes or in Class A of the Preparatory School. There was one important change made in the Department of Instruction the present year. After ten jears of faithful and efficient service, since the opening of the College, as teacher and Professor of History, Maria L. Sanford resigned her place, and accepted a similar position in the University of Minnesota, at Minneapolis. The objection made to the use of Preparatory students as Practice Classes in the Normal Department was partly removed this year by using for this purpose only Classes C and D, the lowest in the Preparatory School. The Library now began to claim the serious attention of the friends of the College, as being one of our valuable auxiliaries in the great work of education in which we are engaged. The Friends ' Historical Library was also materially increased this year by the gift of one hundred volumes, relating to the early history and literature of Friends, donated by our friend, Charles Thompson, of Manchester, England, in commemoration of his visit to the College during the Centennial year. 13

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The need for a separate Scientific Building, felt for several years on account of the rapid growth and great importance of the Scientific Department, was earnestly pressed by the Managers in their report this year, and the sum of not less than $25,000 was suggested as the lowest amount for which such a building could be con- structed and properly furnished for the work required in the Departments of Chemistry, Physics, and Civil Engineering. To meet this pressing need, as well as for the necessary increase of the Library, and for the various improvements in the building and grounds, the importance of establishing a large permanent fund was again pressed upon the attention of the stockholders and friends of the College by the Managers in this year ' s annual report. It was during this year that the asphaltum walk from the College to the station was constructed, and the row of young oaks planted upon each side of it, with the fond hope of furnishing shade to future generations. At this writing, seventeen years later, that hope still promises to be realized. The death of Lucretia Mott occurred during this twelfth year of the College, and I feel that I cannot more appropriately close this brief outline of three years of College work than by quoting the following conclusion of the Managers ' report made at this time to the stockholders : It seems fitting, on this occasion, to refer to the loss which we have lately sustained in the death of our friend, Lucretia Mott, whose voice was ever heard in our annual meetings, cheering us with words of counsel and encouragement. She believed that the right cultivation and training of the intellectual faculties enlightened and enlarged the mind so as to make it a more fitting receptacle for Divine light and truth ; and as she was one of the earliest and ablest advocates in our society for a higher standing of education, her sympathies and inter- ests were enlisted in the first efforts to provide for the need she had long felt. The system of joint education also received her cordial approval, and although never one of the Managers of Swarthmore, she manifested a warm and living interest in the work from the beginning. A few months before the College opened, her husband remarked that, if they were younger, it would be a satisfaction to himself and Lucretia to offer their services gratuitously for the benefit of the institution, and added that they felt that they could devote their lives to no nobler or more useful work. The memorial trees which they planted still flourish on our grounds, and we can only trust that the interests and hopes that were planted with them may also flourish and bear fruit in the future. IS