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Page 17 text:
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The college also reserved the right to declare off limits any show or public enter tainment it might consider undesirable. lt prohitited profanity, prevarication, 'funcleanness of person and conduct or language, and the use of intoxicating beverages. Students are never allowed to be on the streets, nor in the stores, about town except on business, which is to be promptly attended tog nor to be away from their own rooms, except at appropriate times for recreation in some inoffensive and honorable manner. That things did not always go exactly as the book would have them, however, is amply attested in the faculty minutes which reveal that scholarly group spending endless hours in the decades which followed dealing with rebellious offenders of all kinds. The 1854 catalogue boasted that Fulton was 'fa healthy andtplea- sant village . . . blessed with a religious, moral and cultivated society, so that parents may be assured that their sons will be exemp from many rui-nous temptations, and be surrounded by many sacred influences. We've come a long way from those days. I 1 Westminster stood at the zenith of prosperity in the fall of 1860. President Laws' fund-raising activities had been quite successful, and the college endowment exceeded S100,000 exclusive of buildings and land held in trust. The Civil War, which shortly broke upon the scene, dissipated all of this, however, and left the college a struggling, starving institution for the remainder of the century. President Laws and the Board parted company in the fall of 1861 over problems of internal management, but the trustees voted to hold classes in spite of wartime difficulties.
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Page 18 text:
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With Fulton an occupied town of Southern sym- pathies, it is remarkable that Westminster was able to continue classes uninterrupted throughout the war-something that no other outstate institution managed to accomplish. The local editor deplored Fulton's decline and particularly the demise of her in- stitutions in the spring of 1862. I-Ie got a prompt re- joinder from the Rev. J. P. Finley, who had been hired to keep Westminster open, for deprecating the effort of those who were 'fdoing all we can to advance the in- terests of the College and instruct the youth committed to our care. From a low of 35 that spring, enrollment gradually climbed to 110 by war's end as a small, dedicated faculty struggled to hold things together. The college's lone graduate in 1865 proved to be a significant one. John Harvey Scott had been tutoring in mathematics for the past three years. I-le had so im- pressed faculty and trustees alike by his work that they now offered him the professorship of mathematics which he promptly accepted. Thus began what must be one of the longest faculty tenures in the history of the college for Scott would serve Westminster faithfully un- til his death on May 27, 1928. In all that 63 years he never had a leave of absence nor missed his classes for any ex- tended period. In 1869 Scott was joined on the faculty by John J. Rice, son of the minister who had laid the cor- nerstone for Westminster until his death on December 15, 1920-a ' span of 51 years-during which time he would become Westminster's first Dean and acting President on several occasions. These two giants head a long list of devoted faculty, many with long tenures, who have served the college during its 125 years. The years between the close of the Civil War and the turn of the century were difficult ones for Westminster as it struggled with divisions within Presbyterianism, a conservative pro-Southern constituence, and lean times economically for Missouri and the nation. Unlike some other institutions of higher learning, no wealthy benefactor came to its rescue to leave it with a substan- tial permanent endowment. - The academic routine still began with chapel each morning. Here, perhaps as much as anywhere, the penury of the college could be seen. Claude E. Field later recalled that with no organ or other instrument to ac- company the hymns, faculty and students would rely on someone with a forked piece of iron. This he would hit on the hence, hold it up to his ear, mumble something, and then light out. Sometimes we were off to a finish but occasionally we would chode down and have to start over. The hymnals became so worn out that cards were substituted during the winter of 1876-77. Students have always been given to organizational life outside their studies. ln the 19th century this centered largely around literary societies in which they debated and read orations. Gradually these were replaced by the present strong fraternity system whose story is detailed in the account of the individual chapters elsewhere in this volume. Other groups such as the Skulls of Seven and various honorary fraternities and departmental clubs have flourished over the years. 14 ,,s.,,,,:,.,2 .a,.:..y,...,.,., , -q '
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