Washington College - Pegasus Yearbook (Chestertown, MD)

Page 22 text:

DR. SMITH SEEKS FUNDS xT IS easy to write that William Smith was successful in receiving support for the creation of the Kent County Free School into a College. But we must not fail to appreciate the problems and difficulties that beset the good Doctor when he so generously assumed a thankless responsibility. Seeking funds in impoverished, post-Revolutionary America was in itself a herculean task. The State had relegated the task to a five year plan, but Doctor Smith was not one to wait five years. In less than five months, he had met the State ' s de- mands, and thus assured life everlasting to Washington Col- lege. The undertaking required infinite patience, consummate diplomacy, and unflagging energy. There were certainly mo- ments of discouragement and despair. Doctor Smith must have known hesitancy, and have had cause to doubt the wis- dom of his task. The course of attaining success never runs smoothly. At his desk, in the pulpit, on horseback, any place was apropos for the realization of an ambition. Undeterred by the winter snows or the summer rains, indifferent to all the elements, he worked with an almost supernatural zeal in overcoming obstacles of which we could not have knowledge today. The enormity of his task was assauged only by the fire of his vitality and the depth of his passion. Of such men is Washington College history made.

Page 21 text:

Knowledge and Wisdom, far from being one, Have of times no connexion. Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men; Wisdom in minds attentive to their own. Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass. The mere materials with which Wisdom builds, Till smooth ' d and squared, and fitted to its place, Does but encumber whom it seems to enrich. Knowledge is proud that he has learn ' d so much; Wisdom is humble that he hjiows no more. Boohj are not seldom talismans and spells. — Cow per.

Page 23 text:

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