University of Delaware - Blue Hen Yearbook (Newark, DE)

Page 17 text:

T ;Tit.' VW s s THE BIUE HEN Dw. Samuer Cuices MircHeL i 1 I CI- SAMUEL CHILES MITCHELL, Pu.D., LL.1J, Y HOSE were Belgian days in the South when I Samuel Chiles Mitchell first saw the light in 24, 1864. Very few Southerners had anything left by that time, and the majority had even less. The Mitchells belonged to the majority. All of which is to say that the subject of this sketch, had he tried, could not have found a more unfavorable time and develop an all-consuming passion for an education. For schools were scarce then in that neck of the woods, and though tuition fees were pitifully small, measured by present-day standards, they were far beyond the reach of poverty stricken people. Qnmequrmh. hun- dreds of white children born at that time were practi- cally doomed to illiteracy, and thar certainly would have been the fate of our subject but for his indomit- able will and his ceaseless craving for Inmm;, Hp.uf does not permit a detailed account of the years of heroic and finally triumphant struggle for his soul's l ?'??5'.' '-h

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THE BLUE HEN OFFICERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES Henry B. Tuompson, President Samuel H. Messick, Vice-President Cuanves B. Evawns, Secretary and Treasurer Execurive CoMMITTEE Henry B. Tuomeson, Chairman Charles R. Miller Charles M. Curtis Dr. 5. C. Mitchell J. H. Hossinger Dr. H. G. M. Kollock Henry Ridgely Finance CommiTres Charles R. Miller, Chairman William H. Heald W. W. Harrington E. B. Frazer C. B. Evans Grounns anp Buinnivgs Dr. H. G. M. Kollock, Chairman H. Rodney Sharp E. B. Frazer S. J. Wright E. C. Johnson AGRICULTURE J. H. Hossinger, Chairman D. W. Corbit S. H, Messick 8. H. Derby F. C. Bancroft InsTRUCTION Henry Ridgely, Chairman W. Mustard Dr. 8. C. Mitchell H. Messick C. B. Evans 5. Women's CoLLEGE Charles M. Curtis, Chairman Henry Ridgely Thomas Davis

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THE BLUE HE! desire. were comparable to those of Lincoln, and to th1s gay furnish the inspirational material for chapel talks and commencement addresses at his alma mater, Georgetown College, Ky. Others have helped Georgetown College with material benefactions, Eut the life and labors there of Samuel Chiles Mitchell first as student and later as instrucror will always be that Institution's greatest herirage. After receiving his M.A. degree in 1888, he was elected Professor of History and Greek at Mississippi College, where he taught with such marked success that at the end of twa years his alma mater invited him to return as Professor of Latin. This same year, Jlune 30, 1891,he marrned Miss Alice Vlrgmm Brc:adus. daughter of John Emadus, the South's most eminent Bapust theologian and minister, Four years later he was called to tEI chair of Latin ar Richmond College, Va. In 1898 he received the Ph.D. degree in History from the University of Chicago, and hence- forth taught that subject ar Richmond College. Though often invited to chairs in other institutions, and sev- eral times to the presidency of a college, he remained at the above institution until 1908, with the excep- tion of a vear's leave of absence at Brown University. It is noteworthy that he lectured here with such thought-provoking and interest-compelling power that his students presented him with a silver loving cup as a token of their esteem and love. Some instructors,we fear far too many, lose sight of their students in their engrossment in the sub- ject they teach; Dr. Mitchell is pre-eminent among those true teachers who use their subjects as instru- ments for laying hold on their students' souls, for moulding them and stimulating them to put forth their best energies and become the largest- mlnded and biggest-hearted men and women for themselves and their communities, Dr. Mitchell always clearly per- ceived that Latin and Greek and History and all the subjects of the curriculum, and all the instructors and laborarories and libraries and grounds and buildings exist for the pupils, and not the pupils for them. His love for his pupils was paternal, and his faith in them boundless and sublime. Many of them are to be found today in the different sections of the country holding high positions in the various occupations and professions who would most certainly be living on lower and less influential planes but for the initial and rsistent personal urge and inspiration they derived fPE om him. And this factthey now gratefully and lov- ingly acknuwled?lzl as if by prearrangement, by eall- ing themselves Mitchell men' But not only was he an exceptiunal teacher, he was also an exceptionally public-spirited citizen,a combination all too rare even when less highly devel- oped. He was not a scholar in politics; he was a scholar in civies. He initiated many movements for the public welfare in Virginia, and lent a valuable assistance to many more. Every cause that meant increased prosperity and progress found in him an enthusiastic and able champion. He made constant use of both press and platform to bring about the educarional, social, and economic reforms that were needed, and to him as much as to any one person Virginia owes her great renaissance. He suggested the