LETTER OF PROF. THOMAS R. PRICE, LL. D.
"COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK.
"Capt. Richard Irby, Randolph-Macon College:
"DEAR SIR,—The President and Trustees of Randolph-Macon College, in 1868-'70, deserve, I think, the credit of having made the boldest and wisest move in education that has taken place in my time. Dr. Duncan, above all, so great and wise in many directions, was, in my judgment, the most deeply devoted and the most far-sighted friend of collegiate education I have known. When made a member of his Faculty, in 1868, as Professor of Greek and Latin, I had, with my large classes, to struggle against great difficulties and grave discouragements. Amid all I had his tender sympathy and wise and loving help. The fundamental difficulty of all soon revealed itself to me. I was seeking, as all instructors of Greek and Latin of that period were seeking, to give a knowledge of the ancient languages to boys and young men that knew not enough of their own language to receive it or apply it. It was irrational, absurd, almost criminal, for example, to expect, a young man, whose knowledge of English words and construction was scant and inexact, to put into English a difficult thought of Plato or an involved period of Cicero. Dr. Duncan, to whom I imparted my conviction, shared with me the sense of the grave evil. Braver and more hopeful than I, he bade me not to despair, but to cut at the root of the trouble by introducing the study of English. His eloquence and radical good sense won the majority of the Trustees, and the English school was founded. I had the honor, which I prize highly, of having been made professor of English, giving up the Latin to Dr. James A. Harrison. I had the duty laid on me, by the Trustees, of drawing up the programme of the new course and of selecting text-books and supplementing text-books by lectures. My plan was, through the course of five years, to make the literary and historical study of our great language go forward evenly balanced. I began with the study of grammar and of easy texts in the preparatory section, and then, year after year, thus formed in succession the four college classes up to the Senior and graduation. I cannot give you the exact dates. The struggle began, I think, in 1869, and it was carried on to full success by 1873-'74. The catalogues of the College will give the work and programme of each year.
"To Dr. Duncan, and to the good and wise men of the Trustees, I am profoundly grateful for having used me to carry out the bold and noble design. It was their own work—not suggested from the outside at all, imitating nothing that existed, springing from their clear perception of what education meant and from their sense of duty to their church and their people.
"Yours very truly. THOMAS R. PRICE."