Wake Forest University - Howler Yearbook (Winston Salem, NC)

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THE COLLEGES FIRST HOME— THE JONES HOUSE Scots to death? Arc women a curse rather than a blcssins; to mankind? Is slavery a moral e il? When the C ' .i il War was declared the students were prompt to volunteer lor ser icc in the C ' onfeder- ate Army, and in May, 1 862, the coUese was forced to suspend exercises. In January, 1866, when the college was officially reopened, only two of the former members of the faculty were left to reors anize the work: W. (i. Simmons and William Roxall. it a])peared first in 1882 and continued until l ' )3l), when it was succeeded by Thr Sludnil, which was originally a humorous and later a literarv-humor magazine. It was in this period of the 1880 ' s that the trustees and faculty showed their first interest in the physical training of the students and began to consider the establishment of a gymnasium. In 1882 football clubs were organized, but football soon lost its popularity, and students turned their attention to ba.seball, croquet and musicales and leaping, and in the colder months to roller skating. In 1888, however, Wake Forest beat the University of North Carolina in the first intercollegiate game of football |jlaycd in North Clarolina. Inipro cment in the a|)pcaranee of tlie campus began in 1H82, when the faculty voted that hogs and sheep be excluded, but that cows be admitted. The beautification of the campus was of special interest to President Charles E. Taylor, who devoted much attention and labor to laying out paths, en- closing the campus with a rock wall, and planting magnolias, maples, evergreens, and shrubs. Of invaluable assistance in this task was Doctor Tom Jeffries, the son of slave parents, who for forty- three years served the college, the period of his service coinciding almost exactly with the administrations of Dr. Taylor and Dr. W. L. Poteat. According to Dr. Tom, he had been ' lected to take charge of the grounds, the setting of trees and cutting of walks. In addition he rang the liell, cleaned the buildings, and did most of the work in constructing the rock wall around the campus. Throughout his administration Dr. Charles Taylor From its beginning the college has nurtured a fine tradition During ihc difiicult da s of the Reconstruction, President W. M. Wingale, beloved for his power as a pastor and a teacher, strove to salvage the school from the ravages of war. By the time of his death the endowment had been increased, one building was in process of erection, and another was projected. On the day of the inauguration of President T. H. Pritchard one of these buildings, the Heck-Williams Library, was formally dedicated. As early as 1835 each of the literary societies had begun gathering a library, exercising much care in the selection of bcjoks. In 187 ' .! the two libraries were consohdatrd and were tran.sferred to the new building. Also established under the supervision of the literary societies was the first printed periodital of the stu- dents, the W ' tiki ' ' oris Slwlnil. A literar magazine. sought to improve and enlarge the college, urging the creation of new departments of instruction and the election of new profes.sors. Although as early as 1872 the trustees had begun contemplating provisions for teaching law at Wake Forest, it was the planning of Dr. Taylor that brought the school into existence. The establishment of a .School of Medicine had been advocated since 184 ' ), when an article appeared in the liil ' lirn Recoider entitled A Medical Depart- ment for Wake Forest College, to Be Located at Raleigh, North Carolina. Opposition lo such a school remained strong, howe -er, unlil die lall term of 1902-03, when Dr. Taylor announced the opening of a School of Medicine. The first year thirteen students registered for the two years ' medical course, and the following year the school was admitted to 12

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S l stricken west. Sunic pco])lf in lliis Rip ' an Winkle State, however, had begun to awaken mil ol (heir torpor. Among these was a Baptist minisicr who iiad begtni the arduous task of acciuainting the people ol ' the state with the need for an eduialed ministry. This man, to become the first president of Wake Forest, was Samuel Wait. He had his efforts rewarded on December 21, 1833, when the North Carolina Baptist Convention, established three years earlier, was granted a charter permitting it to create Wake Forest Institute. Four years after its first student, John C ' renshaw, matriculated in February, 1834, the Institute became a college, the first except for the University of North C ' arolina, in the state. During these years in which the school followed the manual laljor plan e ery second of the student ' s day was lillecl. from dawn, when a bell summoned the studeni to prayers and a Virgil class before breakfast, imlil sunset, when another bell called him from the fields for an e cning of study. In accordance with the academic standards of the day and with the school ' s primary purpose of training ministers, the original curriculum was strong in language study and mathematics Ijut weak in natural sciences. Although originally there were no departments of English, history, or social science, training in these fields was done through the Euzelian and Philoma- thesian Literary Societies, organized in PVbruary, 1835. From the beginning an intense ri alr ' existed between the societies. Programs in the two societies were not always of the utmost interest for the students. Soon a fine of twenty-fi -e cents was imposed for indulgence in sleeping, and one secretary betrayed his boredom by writing into the minutes, after a long discussion and at last a tiresome one, the question was decided in the Negative by a majority of 14. The ciueries debated in these meetings, however, were aried. Was Elizabeth justified in putting Mary Queen of

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.Wl. membership in the American Medical Association. When Dr. Tun lor resigned he was succeeded by William Louis Poteat, the first layman to become president of Wake Forest. During the administration of Dr. Poteat there were few abrupt changes in the life of the college. Instead the changes came about gradually as a result of the ne s ' policies of the presi- dent. Until 1883, when the Rev. Mr. R. T. Vann was called to the pastorate, the Wake Forest Baptist Church had had as its pastor the presiding officer of the college. Moreover, imtil Jiuic, ril4, the students had been required to attend the Sunday morning worship service and to indicate in chapel on Monday whether dicy had attended church the day before. In the October, 1887, issue of the ] ' ake Forest Student there appeared an article in which the editor, J. W. Lynch, later pastor of the Wake Forest Baptist Church and chaplain of the college, protested strongly against compulsory attendance at religious services. At Wake Forest, he argued, there are 12 services weekly that are of a religious character. Attendance at 7 of these is compul.sory. We are opposed to this regulation in vogue in many of the colleges of the country. We are opposed to an thing that savors of ecclesiastical tyranny. Despite the students ' increasing dislike for chapel services, however, the religious life on the campus has always been wholesome, invigorating, and pervasive. This interest in religion has been due in large measure to the examples of the spirit of Christianity and de- otion to religious ideals and activities set by such men as President Poteat and his son. Dr. H. M. Poteat, Dr. W. B. Royall. Dr. J. W. Lynch, and Dr. W. R. CkiUom. As early as the summer of 1914 Wake Forest began to feel the effects of the First World War. In com- pensation for the depiction of students the trustees voted to accept the plan of President Woodrow Wilson whereby young men, by joining the Student Army Training Corps, could attend classes rather than be sent to a training cainp. Although hiking, digging trenches, kitchen police, and other aspects of the military schedule interfered somewhat with conjugating Latin verbs and com- ■wrffrn