TALLADEGA COLLEGE.
The College, Farm, and Theological Seminary.
REV. TEMPLE CUTLER.
Talladega is beautifully situated among the hills of Alabama. It reminds one somewhat of Andover, Mass., only the hill on which the college stands is not as high. There is, however, the same outline of mountains in the distance, and the same soft light falling on the village nestling below, hidden among the rich foliage of trees. Talladega is by far the prettiest site for a college that I have seen in the South. Nature has done her part in fitting up the place for purposes of instruction. There is every incentive to mental improvement that nature can afford. If man will do his part, we may expect to find here one of the most important of those springs which are sending forth streams of moral and mental influence through all the wastes of this south country.
A week spent here has been exceedingly enjoyable. The teachers are an agreeable set of finely educated gentlemen and ladies, who spare no pains to make one’s stay a pleasant one. The hospitality is not made burdensome either to host or guest, but one quietly falls into the routine of life, and feels immediately at home.
There is a farm here of about 180 acres of land, most of which is under cultivation, called the Winsted Farm. This is being rapidly reclaimed from the waste of former mismanagement. The difference between Northern and Southern agriculturists is, that the land is improved under the former management, and wasted under the latter. In New England it is a sure sign of shiftless husbandry when the land runs out year by year. In the South there are but few farms or plantations that are not becoming poorer every year. The effort is begun on this farm to restore fertility, and in a few years we may expect to see a fine specimen of Northern enterprise in the products of its hitherto barren acres. The students work the farm in part payment for their education. How far this industrial department is going to succeed financially is a question that must wait for an answer. It is easy to theorize about the advantages of such a measure, but the surest proof that the pudding is good is found in the eating of it. One thing is certain: four or five hours a day of work in the hot sun does not fit a young man to bone down to real hard study. It takes a good deal of the remainder of the day to get rested and ready for work. It sounds pretty to talk about a man’s catching up his book between works, and so using up the odds and ends of time, a la Elihu Burritt; but unfortunately there are not a great many Elihu Burritts left, and I am afraid they are not indigenous to this climate, nor found among boys and girls in these schools. It is a question whether we can afford to run a farm and school together. The drain on both the treasury of the college and the physical powers of the student must be taken into our calculations.
The collegiate exercises of the school were creditable to the students and their instructors. The examination exhibited the usual enthusiasm of these students in their studies. The day is past when we need to parade proofs that the negro has a brain capable of improvement. We can now quietly assume that the color of a man’s skin does not necessarily affect his mental calibre, and there we may leave it. I must say, however, that I have not attended a closer and more satisfactory theological examination in many a day than that of the nine theological students who will graduate from Talladega next year. I have attended examinations in seminaries and associations and councils, and been through several such trials myself, but I never was present at one that gave me better satisfaction than this. If all our theological teachers will pass over to us men as thoroughly posted in the fundamental doctrines of the Bible as these young men appeared to be, we will gladly put them into the ministry. Prof. Andrews has solved the question of the practicability of a theological department in this school. We have henceforth no excuse for putting men into the ministry who cannot answer the questions usually propounded to candidates for the sacred office.
The public appointments of this week embraced literary exercises by the Soronian Society on Monday evening, public exercises of the Model School on Tuesday afternoon, and College Address in the evening: Wednesday, graduating exercises of the theological department at 2.30 P. M., and at 8 o’clock, prize declamations and essays, closing with a spelling match: on Thursday, 10 A. M., the graduating exercises of the higher Normal department; at 2 P. M., an exhibition of the agricultural department; and at 8 P. M. a concert by the Musical Union closed the week. I was not able to remain through all the exercises of Thursday. Those that I attended were of a high order, and compared favorably with similar exercises of the same grade in other schools.
The attendance of the citizens from the town through all the public exercises was a very pleasant feature. Talladega has made a deep and lasting impression on the white people. They acknowledge the good work that it has done and is doing, and believe in the possibilities that are before it.
Last fall, arrangements were made for an Industrial Fair, which called together some of the best specimens of work done by colored men and women in this State and a part of Georgia. This, probably, gave more impetus to the industrial enterprise of the people than anything that has been done since freedom. May the good work go on. That is just what we want to see—the people waking up to do their level best.