CHAPTER I.
BAPTIST SCHOOLS MANAGED BY WHITE PEOPLE.
In 1865 four million colored people suddenly emerged from bondage, poor, ignorant, and in many cases with very crude notions of religion or morality. Not one-third of those who had arrived to years of understanding at that time can be found among the eight millions of colored population to-day. And consequently, the younger element of this race know little or nothing about the great conflict, the culmination of which brought to their fathers and mothers that boon of all human aspiration—liberty. "With the mutations of time in Egypt, a king arose who knew not Joseph. In these changes here, a new generation comes on, to whom occurrences of the past are but dim and sometimes distorted traditions."
To my mind, the last generation has been characterized by greater conflicts and has been freighted with more thrilling events than any generation through which the history of this country has brought us. Through ignorance, and sometimes indifference, we are in serious danger of depreciating the wonderful agencies that have been such potent factors in the growth and development of a people. It is, therefore, important that some close observer of events constantly keep before the people, in whose interest these factors have been set in operation, full accounts of all the developments, that the young may be inspired to noble aims and lofty endeavors.
While such a task is not an easy one, I feel it my duty to attempt its performance. All the data and every observation set forth in these chapters have been the result of personal investigation among the colored people. I shall give in this chapter a brief history of the schools conducted by white people of the Baptist denomination for the education of colored people. In this work the American Baptist Home Mission Society has expended since 1862 $3,000,000. The value of school property acquired by the society amounts to $900,000.
When before this society "came the vision of emancipated millions, desperately needy, in dire distress and full of forebodings, stretching forth their unshackled, but empty, unskilled and helpless hands for friendly aid and guidance," this society at once took them in and offered them shelter and comfort. The society has accomplished wonders for the colored people, and I am sure that the colored people appreciate all that it has done for them.
I shall begin my history of Baptist schools with Spelman Seminary.
SPELMAN SEMINARY.
The history of Spelman Seminary reads like a romance. Beginning in 1881, in the gloomy basement of the Friendship Baptist Church, Atlanta, Ga., a church owned by the colored people, without any of the accessories needed for successful school work, with but two teachers, Miss S. B. Packard and Miss Harriet E. Giles, and with less than a dozen pupils, it has grown to be the largest and best equipped school for the training of colored girls in the United States.
The institution has a magnificent location, and all of the buildings are specially suited to its needs. Spelman has a large and able faculty of earnest, devoted teachers, an attendance of pupils numbered by the hundreds, a constituency of friends and patrons rapidly extending in numbers and interest, and has made for itself a large place in the educational forces of the South, and established a reputation of a very high order.
The question of the education of the colored people as a preparation for citizenship, just after the war, demanded careful thought and prompt treatment, and among the noble women who ventured into the South, fully equipped to do the service they felt was needed, were Miss S. B. Packard and Miss H. E. Giles. The Southern white people could not reasonably be expected to throw to the winds all their cherished traditions and preconceptions simply because they had acknowledged defeat at the hands of the Northern people. They could not even be expected to at once admit their former slaves into political fellowship, recognizing them as equals in all the rights of citizenship; nor could they be expected to provide schools for the education of these people. Out of a consideration of these facts, Northern people, moved by noble and unselfish impulses, made their way to the South and established these great institutions for the education of colored people.
Both Miss Packard and Miss Giles had made for themselves a reputation before moving from their homes in New England to Atlanta. They were identified with the Woman's Baptist Home Mission Society and had indicated their zeal for the promotion of the Society's interest in the most practical manner. The work done at Spelman is a practical Christian work, and the young ladies who graduate from that institution are the very best specimens of cultured and refined womanhood. This school is modeled after those of like grade established for white people. This should be the case with all Southern schools. There are required the same qualifications in the teachers, the same text-books, the same course of study, the same kinds of discipline that are found in similar institutions. There seems to be no point in the equipment or general management of these institutions where they can diverge safely from those which the history of education has shown to be most desirable and best adapted to their purpose. The grounds, buildings, furniture, libraries, text-books, apparatus, endowments of a Negro school in Georgia, should not differ in any respect from the equipment of a similar institution for white pupils in Massachusetts.
Spelman Seminary is a power for good, and since the death of Miss S. B. Packard is managed by Miss H. E. Giles, principal, and Miss L. H. Upton, associate principal.
ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY.
Roger Williams University was founded in 1863 by Rev. D. W. Phillips, D. D., who was for many years its president. Its present president is the Rev. P. B. Guernsey, A. M. The total enrolment for 1900 was 222—122 young men and 100 young women. The school is beautifully situated in the suburbs of the city of Nashville, in the State of Tennessee.
Nashville has become the chief centre of education in the South, both for the white and colored people. No other city south of the Ohio offers so many advantages as the seat of an institution for higher learning. The University grounds lie close to the city limits, on the Hillsboro' turnpike, just beyond the Vanderbilt University. The location is high and airy, and commands an unsurpassed prospect of the city and surrounding country.
It is a school for both sexes. It has Collegiate, Biblical and Theological, Academic, Normal, English, Musical and Industrial Departments.
The Collegiate Department aims at a thorough liberal education which gives the student the possession of his faculties developed and trained, a general acquaintance with the broad principles of all human knowledge, and a preparation for a special study of any of the learned professions. This department has two courses: the classical, leading to the degree of B. A., and the scientific, leading to the degree of B. S.
The Biblical and Theological Department has a general and special aim. Its general aim is to make the Bible a living book to each student. Every pupil in the school receives during his entire course a daily lesson in the Bible. Its special aim is to furnish better preachers of the Gospel and better pastors of the churches. Every year a "ministers' class" is conducted for ten weeks, beginning with the first day of January. Members of the class have three recitations daily. They may also attend such other classes as they can with profit to themselves.
The Academic Department prepares for college. It consists of a three years' course in classic and mathematic studies that link the English Department to the college work.
The Normal Department aims to furnish, for the public schools of the land, teachers that will raise the tone of education and make these schools more efficient. It consists of a three years course in subjects best adapted for this purpose.
The English Department aims to give the pupil a thorough drill in the elements of common intelligence. Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Grammar, Geography, Spelling and History are taught by the best of teachers, so that the young people are prepared to take their places as citizens alongside of pupils of the most favored city schools. Parents who live in rural districts and in country towns, where the public schools are of short duration and scant equipments and feeble teaching, will find here facilities for English education that are not surpassed in the South.
Roger Williams University, Nashville, Tenn.
The Musical Department aims to give a musical education, both vocal and instrumental, that will make the young people efficient workers in church and Sabbath school and elevating and refining members of the home and social circles.
The Industrial Department does not aim to fit students for the various mechanical trades, but it does aim to give them instruction and experience, that will train their eyes and hands and make them handy in the use of tools.
The school has a total teaching force of sixteen persons. Six of these are graduates of the best Northern Universities. Others are teachers of excellent education and wide experience.
The young ladies are under the close and affectionate watchcare of a New England lady, whose treatment of them is noted for its conscientiousness, its piety and its motherliness.
A number of the male teachers live in the building with the young men and thus become to them constant advisers, counsellors and friends.
The religious influences of the school are pure, constant and strong.
The University is grandly located for accessibility, healthfulness, and beauty. It is near enough to the city of Nashville to give it all the advantages of city life. Yet it is so far removed from the crowded city with its slums, saloons and other evils, that it is virtually in the country.
The property of the school is valued at $80,000. It has a small endowment fund of less than $1,000. Several Indian youths from the Indian Territory have been students in this institution. The graduates are widely scattered throughout the South, occupying positions of influence and usefulness.
VIRGINIA UNION UNIVERSITY.
Virginia Union University has been formed out of two very excellent schools, where a great work has been done for the education and advancement of the colored people, namely, Wayland College, which was located at Washington, D. C., and Richmond Theological Seminary, at Richmond, Va. Both of these schools have a very interesting history. Wayland Seminary, as it was called, was founded at Washington, D. C., in 1865. Rev. G. M. P. King was president of it for twenty-seven years. The work began in 1865, was vigorously followed up by the purchase of property on "I" street at a cost of $1,500 from monies contributed by women of the North. The school was named in honor of President Francis Wayland, of Brown University. In 1871 a new site, 150 feet square, on Meridian Hill, in the northern part of the city, was purchased at a cost of $3,375. The erection of a new building was begun in 1873. It was a fine four-story building, with basement and accommodations for seventy-five students, with recitation rooms and rooms for the faculty. It cost about $20,000. The walls, from the foundation to the crowning, were constructed by colored bricklayers under the supervision of a master workman, an ex-slave from Virginia, who purchased his freedom before the war. Wayland Seminary has turned out some very able men, among them Rev. Harvey Johnson, D. D., of Baltimore, Md., who is one of the most noted colored preachers in the country. He has held charge of one of the largest Colored Baptist churches in the United States for nearly thirty years.
The Richmond Theological Seminary, at Richmond, Va., has a very remarkable history. It was first commenced in 1868, and started its work in Lumpkin's Slave Jail, and was first known as Colver Institute. In 1876 it was incorporated as the Richmond Institute. Subsequently the trustees and officers of the American Baptist Home Missionary Society decided to make it a school for ministers only, and in 1886 the name was changed to the Richmond Theological Seminary. Rev. Charles Corey, A. M., D. D., was elected president in 1868, and remained in charge until 1899, when the school went into the Union University. In speaking of the work, Rev. Corey said: "Of students there have been in attendance nearly 1,100; total preparing for the ministry, 540; graduates with diplomas from Richmond Institute, 73; total graduates with degree of B. D. from Richmond Theological Seminary, 27. Some of these graduates are now in charge of institutions of learning, others are professors in seminaries and universities. Six entered the foreign mission field. The former students of the Richmond Theological Seminary are to be found from Canada to Texas, and in the lands far beyond the sea." The school has had among its teachers such men as Prof. J. E. Jones, D. D., and Prof. D. N. Vassar, D. D. Both of these men are well educated and represent a high type of true manhood, and they have done much to advance the race they are identified with. Now Wayland College and Seminary and Richmond Theological Seminary are united under one board of trustees. They have at present the Theological Department, the College Department, the Academic Department and the Preparatory Department. An industrial plant will, it is hoped, be built. They already teach the students in a practical way the art of printing and of managing the steam and electrical plant. This last gives them quite a knowledge of engineering. The new buildings number eight—a fine library building, including a chapel and library, a lecture hall, a dining hall, a dormitory, a power plant, two residences and a stable. They are constructed of the finest granite, and could not be duplicated for $300,000. They are situated on a hill about fifty feet above the valley—a beautiful location in the centre of thirty acres. The buildings contain every modern improvement—steam heat in all the rooms and halls, electric lighting and a complete telephone system for the different buildings and floors, and most approved toilet and bath arrangements. It is said to be the finest group of buildings in the whole South.
Rev. M. MacVicar, Ph. D., LL. D., is the president of the University, George Rice Hovey the dean of Wayland Seminary and College, Rev. George F. Genung, D. D., the dean of the Theological School. The faculty consists of fifteen teachers of unusual ability, graduates of the best colleges, some of whom have made a name for themselves already. About one-half are white. The courses of study are equal to those of the ordinary Northern schools of similar grade. Virginia Union University will doubtless be the largest Baptist school operated for colored people, and it is located in a part of the country where the colored population is very large, and especially among the Baptists.
ATLANTA BAPTIST SEMINARY.
On the corner of Hunter and Elliott streets, in the city of Atlanta, Ga., there stands a smoke-begrimed and somewhat dilapidated brick building bearing the inscription, "American Baptist Home Mission Society, 1879." Directly in front of the building lies the shunting-yard of the Southern Railroad. The locality is one of the nosiest, dustiest and smokiest in the city. It was in this building, among these unfavorable surroundings, that the work of the Atlanta Baptist Seminary was carried on from 1879 till 1890.
In the old building no provision was made for dormitories. The students, most of whom were from the country, were left to find boarding-houses where they could, and besides living in close and crowded homes, where the atmosphere was not specially intellectual and where the opportunities for quiet study were not great, they were, except for the few hours of school each day, beyond the control and watchcare of the teachers and exposed to the distractions and temptations of the city.
For twelve years prior to the year 1879 the Seminary had been located at Augusta, Ga., and was known as "The Augusta Institute."
Upon the death of Rev. Joseph T. Robert, LL. D., president for fourteen years, which occurred in 1884, Rev. Samuel Graves, D. D., was appointed. Dr. Graves was quick to see that the first requisite to the vigorous growth of the school was a transplanting. Accordingly, he set to work to secure ground and building. As the result of his efforts the present campus was secured and the present building erected, and in the spring of 1890 the Seminary bade farewell to the old building and its noisy neighbors and took up its abode in its new home.
The main building of the institution was erected in 1889 at a cost of $27,000. In this beautiful building the visitor will find chapel, library, eight class-rooms, president's apartments and rooms for six teachers, dormitory accommodation for about one hundred students, besides kitchen, dining-room and storerooms, laundry, printing office, workshop and boiler-room. Rev. George Sales is president.
SHAW UNIVERSITY.
Shaw University is beautifully located in the city of Raleigh, North Carolina, within ten minutes' walk of the post-office and capital. The grounds, upon which have been erected five large brick buildings and several of wood, are among the finest in the city, and include several acres. This institution furnishes by far the largest accommodations of any colored school in North Carolina, and, in the large number of advanced pupils, it is not surpassed by any colored school in the country.
Shaw University was founded in 1865 by Dr. H. M. Tupper, D. D., who conceived the desire for school work among the colored people while serving as a soldier in our late war. He started his first school, which has grown into the present university, in a cabin scarcely ten by twenty feet. The large brick structures, which now form a part of the institution, are looked upon with great interest because of the fact that the bricks in them were made by student labor under the direction of Dr. Tupper.
There are normal, collegiate, scientific, music and industrial departments, as well as schools of pharmacy, law and medicine, and a missionary training school, and all doing good work. Every graduate of the pharmacy school, class of 1900, recently appeared before the State Board of Examiners and obtained certificates as required by law. Prof. Chas. F. Meserve is its present president, since the death of Dr. Tupper.
The Baptists have cause to be proud of the good work done at Shaw University. Preachers and teachers by the hundreds have been educated at this excellent institution for home and foreign mission work.
BISHOP COLLEGE.
Bishop College is located in the city of Marshall, the county-seat of Harrison county, Texas. For beauty of situation, commodiousness of buildings, and completeness of outfit for the work, this institution is unsurpassed by any school for the colored people west of the Mississippi.
The Rev. N. Wolverton has been succeeded as president by the Rev. Albert Loughridge, who will push the work with the same degree of vigor. The dormitories are spacious and pleasant, the grounds are ample for recreation, and those who go there to live find all the advantages of a Christian home.
Every student must understand that, in entering the school, he stands pledged to willing and cheerful conformity to the regulations prescribed by the faculty for its government.
This institution was founded in 1881. It now employs nine white teachers and seven colored. Total number of students in attendance daily about two hundred. Amount of money expended yearly for the support of the school, $7,434.
BENEDICT COLLEGE.
In 1870 a desirable site for an institution for the education of colored people was found available at Columbia, S. C. As this was the capital of the State, and central, it was decided to locate it here. A noble woman in New England, Mrs. B. A. Benedict, of Providence, R. I., gave $10,000 towards its purchase, the cost being $16,000. The property consisted of nearly eighty acres of land. In honor of the deceased husband of the donor, Dea. Stephen Benedict, brother of David Benedict, the historian, the Board called the school "Benedict Institute."
It was opened December 1, 1870, under the charge of Rev. Timothy S. Dodge, as principal. The first pupil was a colored preacher, sixty years old. In October, 1887, Rev. Lewis Colby succeeded Mr. Dodge under appointment of the Board.
Upon his resignation in 1879, Rev. E. J. Goodspeed, D. D., was appointed. He entered upon his work in October, continuing until his death, in the summer of 1881. Rev. C. E. Becker was selected as his successor and went to Columbia in October, 1882, but at this writing the president is Rev. A. C. Osborn, D. D.
During 1879-80, Rev. Lewis Colby, deeply impressed with the need of better accommodations, especially for girls, devoted his time without compensation, and with the approval of the Board, to raising $5,000 for a girls' building. This amount being secured, together with an additional offering from Mrs. Benedict, two frame buildings were erected in 1881. Towards the furnishing of the buildings, the colored people of the State gave over $1,600. The girls' building is known as "Colby Hall." Better quarters for the young men are greatly needed. By special act of the South Carolina Legislature, through the efforts of President Becker and the co-operation of leading Baptists, the institution in 1882 was exempted from taxation.
LELAND UNIVERSITY.
Leland University was founded in 1870 for the higher education of such men and women as desired to fit themselves for Christian citizenship, either as ministers, teachers, or tradesmen. It is open to all persons who are fitted to enjoy its advantages, without distinction of race, color, or religious opinions. The University owes its existence to the late Holbrook Chamberlain, Esq., of Brooklyn, N. Y., who erected the buildings, assisted in its management, and at his death left to it the bulk of his property, about $100,000, as an endowment fund, the interest of which goes to the payment of teachers.
The University has a library and reading-room, which is supplied with the leading journals and periodicals of the day.
There is a Literary Society, the "Philomathean," composed of young men and young women, which holds weekly meetings for mutual improvement.
The students also constitute a recognized branch of the International Young Men's Christian Association and of the National Society of Christian Endeavor.
Dr. R. W. Perkins was elected president in 1901 to fill the place of Pres. Mitchell, deceased. He will be supported by a corps of earnest, faithful teachers.
The University is situated on St. Charles avenue, New Orleans, La., and its retirement from the crowded part of the city renders it peculiarly adapted to study.
HARTSHORN MEMORIAL COLLEGE.
This institution was chartered by the Legislature of Virginia, March 13, 1884, with full collegiate and university powers.
Hartshorn Memorial College is located at the west end of Leigh street, Richmond, Va. The grounds comprise eight and one-half acres, well elevated, and shaded in part by a belt of native forest trees. The object of the institution is to train colored women for practical work in the broad harvest of the world.
The president, Rev. Lyman B. Tefft, D. D., claims that among the millions of colored women in the United States there is the same need and the same field for trained and cultured Christian service as among the whites. Life for them has the same meaning as for any other race. They have the same social, intellectual and spiritual necessities. They are a people essentially by themselves. There is, therefore, for the educated colored woman, the same wide and ready field of Christian work and influence as for any others.
THE MATHER INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL.
This school is located on a bluff in the suburbs of Beaufort, S. C. It was established just after the war, by Mrs. Rachel C. Mather, of Boston, Mass., who is still its principal, assisted by six other white teachers.
Mrs. Mather was a teacher in the public schools of Boston during the Civil War, and just after the conflict was over she went South to do the work of her life. The history of her efforts are interesting in every detail and inspires the reader with an appreciation for the noble work of a noble woman.
Mrs. Mather conducts an orphanage in connection with the school, and during the twenty-seven years of her labors in this section, a great many orphan children have been cared for and trained from childhood to noble manhood and womanhood.
It is the aim of this school to reach the homes of the common people and develop the good qualities in the young men and young women of the race.
I regard this work as being one of the most important schools in the South. This lady has borne all the cares, anxieties and difficulties engendered in this peculiar work for these many years, with remarkable fortitude and courage.
People who have always lived in the North cannot appreciate what it means to go South and take charge of a colored school. I have talked with many of the men and women now at the head of such institutions, and they tell me that it is the rarest thing for the Southern white people to ever come near them, or even speak of them, except in the most disrespectful manner. In fact, in the early days of freedom Northern teachers could hardly stay, because of their treatment on the part of the whites. There has been a great change, and many of the Southern people are willing now to admit that the white teachers have done a most excellent work for the race, but they still let them good and well alone. But in many cases it is a great help to be let alone, and especially when their recognition would not be friendly.
DAWES ACADEMY.
Dawes Academy is located at Berwin, I. T. Rev. Geo. Horne, principal. This school has an average attendance of about 100. It is developing rapidly. Rev. Horne is assisted by three teachers.
JACKSON COLLEGE.
This institution, as Natchez College, was founded by the A. B. H. Miss. Soc. at Natchez, Miss., in 1878. In 1883, as Jackson College, it was established in Jackson, the State capital. Rev. Luther G. Barrett, A. M., is president, a graduate of Harvard College and of Newton Theological Institution, a practical educator, and who was for a time professor in Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C. It is beautifully and healthfully situated in the outskirts of the city, with fine buildings and an able corps of ten teachers. Its field is immense, Mississippi having 800,000 negroes. It had, up to the present yellow fever scourge, 200 students, and will, no doubt, with the passing of the fever, soon eclipse this number, as under its present efficient management it is fast gaining in popularity. It does superior work, its academical and classical departments comparing favorably with those of similar first-class institutions of the North, while it is just beginning regular college work. It has also a fine preparatory department and excellent graded musical course. It is pre-eminently a Christian school, the Bible being taught in grades one hour daily. Revivals are frequent, and generally each session closes with nearly every student a Christian. Its students stand high in the State as teachers, while many go on to professional schools of law, medicine and theology. Its great aim is to supply leaders.
STORER COLLEGE—FREE-WILL BAPTISTS.
At Harper's Ferry, W. Va., within sight of where John Brown made his famous raid, stands Storer College. The beautiful valley of the Shenandoah could not contain anything that would add more to its beauty than this splendid institution of learning.
This school has a most interesting history. Just after the Civil War, when the glare of cannon and the din of gun had faded away, this school was started.
The school is conducted by the Free-will Baptists.
In February of 1867, President O. B. Cheney visited Mr. John Storer, of Sanford, Me., in behalf of Bates College. Although not a Free-will Baptist, Mr. Storer was deeply interested in the history and aims of the denomination. During the conversation he said to Dr. Cheney: "I have determined to give $10,000 to some society which will raise an equal amount toward the founding of a school in the South for the benefit of the colored people. I should prefer that your denomination have this money, only that I fear that they will not or can not meet my condition. I am old and I desire to see the school started before I die; so as you came I was about writing to the American Missionary Association, making them this proposal, and I am confident they will accept and rapidly advance the project."
In reply Dr. Cheney pleaded that he be allowed to make an effort. He told him of the Southern enterprise, of its needs, and added: "A school there is just what we must have in order to carry forward the work. We shall feel that God has heard our prayers and is blessing our labor if you will give us your support. You may set your own time—one year, six months, or less—only let us try."
Mr. Storer came to a favorable decision before twelve o'clock that night.
Monday, Oct. 2, 1867, Storer College commenced its noble work—the outcome of which eternity alone can truly unfold. It began with nineteen pupils (from the immediate vicinity) and with one assistant teacher, Mrs. M. W. L. Smith, of Maine, under Mr. Brackett as principal. The school opened in the government building—known as the "Lockwood House"—and this one building served for dwelling-house, school and church.
The efforts to obtain a gift of this property were now redoubled. Dr. James Calder of Harrisburg, Pa., was especially active in furthering this project. Finally, through the earnest support of Mr. Fessenden in the Senate and of Gen. Garfield in the House, a bill to this effect passed Congress Dec. 3, 1868, and the four buildings, with seven acres of land, worth about $30,000, became the property of the institution. Had this failed, the site of the school would have been at the Bolivar Farm. As it was, the farm, through cultivation and sale of lots, largely assisted in supporting the school during its infancy.
In September of 1867 the Freedmen's Bureau donated $500, which was used in making needed repairs, and soon after the school opened, paid over the promised $6,000 to a temporary Stock Company organized under the laws of West Virginia. But the "Bureau" did far more than it promised, and as long as it existed ceased not to render generous and efficient aid. Among its further benefactions were $4,000 to renovate the shattered government buildings, and about $1,500 toward the running expenses. Altogether, including about $4,000 for the erection, in 1868, of Lincoln Hall—a boarding-hall for boys—the Freedmen's Bureau contributed $18,000 toward the upbuilding of Storer College. How the institution could have flourished or even lived without this external aid, it is difficult to realize, for the denomination was heavily freighted with the needs of other important enterprises.
The school is now in a flourishing condition and is doing a noble and elevating work in behalf of civilization.
Crowning, as they do, the heights of Harper's Ferry, the buildings of Storer College are conspicuous objects in every direction. A passing allusion should be made to the wondrous scenery which surrounds Storer College—to witness which, Thomas Jefferson wrote: "It were worth a journey across the Atlantic." And the most unappreciative observer can but feel that the outspread grandeur and beauty must exert an elevating influence.
The institution has three departments—Preparatory, Normal, and Classical. It has had over 1,200 different pupils, has sent out more than 300 teachers and about 30 ministers. In one year its students have numbered 232, and both total and average attendance are constantly increasing. In 1875 a summer term for teachers was inaugurated. Its session holds through June and July, and it is greatly appreciated by those whose only opportunity for further study and progress is at this time.
No one can visit Harper's Ferry without coming away overflowing with wonder and enthusiasm. One stands abashed before the brave spirit, the devotion and never-mentioned sacrifices of our toilers there.
Rev. N. C. Brackett served this institution as its president from its beginning until 1897, when he was succeeded by Rev. Ernest Earle Osgood, a young man of most excellent qualifications for such a position. He comes of that class of New England people who have done so much for the education of colored people. Rev. Osgood will doubtless, because of his youth, add vigor and energy to the school that will be helpful in bringing a larger attendance.