At this meeting we have reported the first intimation of financial embarrassment in the affairs of the College. Notwithstanding this the salaries of the full professors were raised to $1200 per year. The acting president, Landon C. Garland, was appointed to prepare an address on the pecuniary condition of the College, the same to be published in the papers.
Professor E. D. Sims having returned from Europe, Rev. William M. Wightman, Professor of English Literature, tendered his resignation, which was received with complimentary resolutions to him for his efficient services. Prof. Wightman returned to his native State, South Carolina, and to the itinerant ministry. The Faculty as reorganized for the session of 1838-'39 was as follows, viz.:
LANDON C. GARLAND, A. M., Professor of Mathematics, and Acting
President.
EDWARD D. SIMS, A. M., Professor of English Literature and Oriental
Language.
DAVID DUNCAN, A. M., Professor of Ancient Languages.
JAMES W. HARDY, A. B., Professor of Experimental Sciences.
EZEKIEL A. BLANCH, A. B., Tutor.
SOLOMON LEA, A. M., Principal of Preparatory School.
This college year was marked by the first serious rupture between the Faculty and the students. The occasion was a requirement made on the Senior Class to attend a recitation on the "Evidences of Christianity" on Monday morning before breakfast. The result was the leaving of a number of students involved in the contest.
At the close of the year, June, 1839, the annual report of the Faculty made to the Board gave the following item: "The affairs of the College for the session have proceeded with tolerable prosperity and quietness." The following were recommended for the degree of A. B., June, 1839, and the same received it:
AMOS W. JONES, . . . . . . . . . North Carolina.
CHARLES W. BURNLEY,. . . . . . . Virginia.
JOSIAH F. ASKEW, . . . . . . . . Georgia.
THOMAS H. GARNETT, . . . . . . . Virginia.
JAMES F. SMITH,. . . . . . . . . South Carolina.
WILLIAM H. BATTE,. . . . . . . . Virginia.
[Illustration: REV. A.W. JONES, D. D., For fifty years President of the
Memphis Conf. Female College.]
The resignation of President Stephen Olin, tendered in 1836, was accepted at the meeting of the Board, all hope of his returning to the College having been abandoned. Prof. Landon C. Garland was then elected by unanimous vote President, and he accepted the office. Prof. David Duncan was elected rector of the Preparatory School, and Amos W. Jones, A. B., principal. William L. Harris was elected a tutor of the lower classes in languages.
[Illustration: LANDON CABELL GARLAND, LL. D.]
On motion of Rev. John Early, the following resolution was adopted: "That, as soon as practicable, the trustees of Randolph-Macon College will establish a Normal School as a department in the College, in which a good and liberal education can be obtained, and which, in its organization, shall be especially fitted to educate students for common-school teachers, and that the Professor of English Literature be the rector of said school."