PROFESSOR A. K. SPENCE.
Rev. Adam K. Spence, for twenty-five years a professor in Fisk University, died in Nashville, Tenn., April 24, 1900. He was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1831. His parents removed to this country in his early childhood. He studied in Oberlin and Ann Arbor, graduating at the last named institution, where he taught for a time after graduation.
In 1870 he was appointed by the American Missionary Association as the principal of the school which afterward became Fisk University. Since then scores of young people have gone forth each year from this institution bearing the signate of Christian culture, and their widespread influence is telling upon the South. Prof. Spence laid the foundations of the Greek department in this university.
His love for music and appreciation of its finest effects amounted almost to a passion. He helped give the university a high standard of music, which has rendered it unique in Southern schools. Especially was he an advocate of jubilee music, and did much to gather these songs of quaint power and value into the archives of the university. His great interest was in the spiritual development of the students. Many revivals, resulting in the conversion of large numbers, were greatly promoted by his prayer and earnest efforts. Prof. Spence was always present at the prayer meeting when it was possible for him to attend, and his influence was profoundly felt.
At the funeral, when the people passed to take a last look at the familiar face, old men and women who had known him as their friend during all these years, students and little children gazed lovingly upon him. A large body of students went directly from Jubilee Hall to Mount Olivet, where his body was laid to rest.
H. M.