Swarthmore College - Halcyon Yearbook (Swarthmore, PA)

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Swarthmore College ITS ORIGIN AND SOME NOTES UPON ITS EARLY HISTORY. By Edward H. Magill, LL. D. CHAPTER VIII. IXTEENTH YEAR, 1884-85.-011 the loth of Fourth month of this year the College lost, by death, the valuable services of the Superintendent. Thomas S. Foulkes. He had served the College with untiring energy and imremitting care for a period of thirteen years. His interest in its success was unsurpassed, and he never spared himself when his duties seemed to call for his services. His kindly and genial disposition warmed toward him the hearts of all by whom he was surrounded. His ever ready jests and good stories made his office a centre of attraction. Students of that time will recall with pleasure the cordial reception which ever awaited them there. He had a story ever ready and ap- propriate to illustrate the passing occurrences of the day, and in this respect he was not unlike our martyr President Lincoln. Plis unselfish devotion to his work may be illustrated by a circumstance not generally known. Forest fires were not uncommon in those earlier days of the College, when huts and caves of Preps were not infrequent on the wooded hillside along the Crum. The origin of these mysterious fires mav be readily conjectured. To extinguish these was frequently no inconsiderable task. It was at one of these fires, where, with others, he spent a good part of the night in surrounding and arresting the flames, that he was so exhausted when he retired toward morning that fears were entertained for the result 14

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SWARTHMORE COLLEGE. SWARTHMORE, PA. INCORPORATED BY MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, J 864. First Class Graduated 1873 COLOR— GARNET. YELL: ' Rah, ' rah! ' Rah, ' rah, ' rah! ' Rah, ' rah! ' Rah, ' rah, ' rah! Swarthmore! 13

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of that night ' s overwork. This was in very early spring, and he was never really well afterward, and be- fore the middle of the Fourth month that earnest, active life went out, and he passed on to the Life beyond. His memory will ever be most kindl} ' cherished by all Swarthmoreans of that early day. His place was filled by the appointment of William J. Hall, a graduate of the College of the Class of 1878. Other changes in the heads of departments were made this year as follows : Susan W. Gillam took charge of the Department of Elocution, in place of Joseph W. Teets, resigned; Gerrit E. H. Weaver, A. B.. of the Class of ' 82, took charge of the Department of History and Political Economy, in place of Ellen E. Osgood, resigned ; and Beatrice Magill, a graduate of the School of Design in Philadelphia, took charge of the Department of Art, in place of Ellen N. Griscom, resigned. The President of the College again resumed charge of the Department of Latin, in place of Professor Eugene Paulin, who, in addition to his other College duties, had been appointed Superintendent of Instruction and Discipline of the Pre- paratory School. The whole number of students this year was 275, about three-fifths of whom were children of members of the Religious Society of Friends, this proportion being larger than in any previous years. The propor- tion of College students continued to advance, and this year there were 112 in the College classes, and an increasing tendency to pursue one of the regular courses of study provided. To the eight schools from which students were admitted without examination, on certificates from their Principals, the Friends ' School, of Locust Valley, L. L, was added the present year. The Library, which was wholly destroyed by the fire three years before, had now reached 6,247 volumes, being an increase of 547 volumes in the past year. Some suggestions were made this year of providing a new Library building, that the growth of the Library might be facilitated, but I may say, at the time of this writing, about sixteen years later, that no such provision has yet been made. But we have gradually divided our Library, as it has continued to grow, and established Department Libraries in diiTerent rooms, and in this way the pressing need for a separate Library building has been, for a time, obviated. But the proper care of the books will eventually require a separate building, and toward sup- plying this need the attention of Friends must be turned at no distant day. In the report upon the financial condition of the College the present year, the Board of Managers dwelt upon the necessity of looking forward to -ard the endowment of some of the Professorships. LTpon this important subject they used this language: While it will be seen that the institution continues to be, IS