"MARTHA WASHINGTON COLLEGE,
"ABINGDON, VA., May 30 1877.
"MY DEAR OLD COLLEGE FRIEND: I have forgotten the name of the artist, a rising young man in New York, who copied it from a painting belonging to a wealthy gentleman of that city. Dr. Olin was on a visit to New York, and we put the matter in his hands. The artist was very highly recommended to him by good judges. His price was $600, but when informed by Dr. Olin that it was for a college literary society, he agreed to deduct one half. The frame, I think, cost $60, and freight about $20, making a total of $380.
"Dr. Olin scolded us for our extravagance, but when the portrait was finished, moderated his wrath. The amount was raised by subscription, altogether, among the members of the society—we numbered then over sixty members, as well as I can recollect. I. C. Croft and myself were on the committee, with one other, probably, J. O. Wingfield.
"When the portrait arrived and was placed in the hall, old John Blackwell, with his horse-collar legs (as Croft called them) was appointed to unveil it and make a speech. This he did in his peculiar style; and I think Old George was pleased with the eulogy delivered on him.
"Yours truly,
"WARREN DU PRE."
Rev. John Early, who had been appointed to visit the Baltimore Annual Conference of the M. E. Church, reported to the Board that the Conference had declined to cooperate in the College enterprise, with kind expressions of interest in it. Dickinson College had recently been made a Methodist College, and the Conference preferred to patronize that, it being more accessible to their people.
The charter of the College having been amended, so that a president of the Board could be elected by that body, Rev. John Early was elected President.
The following resolution was unanimously adopted by the Board: