The second-honor man was William C. Doub, of North Carolina. He was an untiring student, gifted especially in the acquisition of language. He was a teacher all his life, having spent the most of it as professor in Trinity College, North Carolina, and Greensboro Female College. He was very prominent in the Methodist Church. He died in the high noon of life.
The third-honor man, William M. Cabell, of Virginia, was a man of clear-cut intellect, and he had the power of concentration in a high degree. This power was shown in his early life, and afterwards made him distinguished and feared at the bar and in the Virginia Legislature. He is still living (1897).
The fourth-honor man was Holland Nimmons McTyeire. Brought by his old preceptor, James R. Thomas, to Randolph-Macon, when otherwise he might have gone to a state school, he entered the Sophomore Class in 1841. College life was no pastime for him. His ambition would make it a stepping-stone to high position—as at first desired and designed—in the State. Like Dr. Olin, no place lower than the highest would satisfy his ambition. To attain to this, all the power of an iron will moving the enginery of a somewhat slow but giant mind was bent and made subject. Had not a change come to divert him from his original intention, he would doubtless have become as notable in the councils and courts of the State as he became in the church. When he first came to College he appeared indifferent in church matters, though it was known he was a member. Whether this was the result of a lapsed religious life, or was the result of a struggle to still the promptings of conscience, is not known. But the call to a higher life, heard, doubtless, before, but a while unheeded, was emphasized in one of those sweeping revivals which Dr. Olin valued more than laws of discipline, and which he pronounced as indispensable in college work. Worldly ambition ceased to be the mainspring of his action, and he began to seek to "have the mind which was in Christ." But it was no easy work to bend such a will in a new direction. It was like turning the mighty steamship on a different course. The passion to rule men around him, the gift of so doing (and it is the greatest gift with which man is endowed), was constantly asserting itself. It probably was "strong in death," but it was tempered and sanctified to other than selfish ends by that good Spirit which subdued a Luther, a St. Paul, and a John Knox. What Randolph-Macon did for McTyeire in strengthening his mental powers for what he was to become as editor and bishop and builder of a great university, in sobering and elevating his ambition and aspirations, and fitting him for the work he was called to do in and for the church, cannot be computed. He has made his mark as high as any son of his alma mater, possibly higher than any other.
Space will not allow me to dwell upon the names of Thomas H. Rogers, of Virginia, for a while a tutor in the College, afterwards M. D.; of Richard S. Parham, of Virginia, a clever student and lawyer, who died in the prime of life, in his adopted State, Tennessee; of "Judge" Fanning, of Georgia, the frequent butt of Prof. Duncan's wit, who was said (poor fellow) to have chewed his brains out along with his teeth; of B. F. Simmons, a prominent young lawyer, who died prematurely, and of Willie M. Person, a M. D., who also died young.
John Howard has been since early youth a prominent lawyer in Richmond, ranking very high in his profession. He was noted when at College for his love for, and proficiency in, English literature and composition. He is still living (1897).
Of my most intimate friend in the class, Archibald Clark, I quote what
Bishop McTyeire wrote of him: "The most useful local preacher in
Southern Georgia, is what his presiding elder said of him."
Among those who were students with me at the College, but left without taking degrees, the following were the most notable: William T. Howard, of Virginia, who became a distinguished physician and professor in the University of Maryland; Lucius I. Gartrell, of Georgia, who became one of the foremost lawyers of his State, and a general in the Confederate army; Chas. E. Hooker, of South Carolina, Attorney-General of the State of Mississippi, colonel in the Confederate army, and for many years a member of Congress; Colonel Joel B. Leftwich, of Virginia, for a number of years a member of the General Assembly of Virginia; Smith W. Moore, of North Carolina, a Doctor of Divinity in the Memphis Conference, author of several books, and poet. He was associated with Bishop McTyeire on the Board of Trust during the early years of the Vanderbilt University. James N. Ramsey, of Georgia, colonel in the Confederate army; Robert Ridgway, of Virginia, the brilliant editor of the Richmond Whig, and member of Congress from Virginia; Walter L. Steele, of North Carolina, a member of Congress, and prominent in business and state, matters; W. L. Blanton, a minister of the Virginia Conference, eloquent and zealous, who died in early manhood; James D. Crawley, a most estimable man, and a local minister for many years; W. K. Blake, of North Carolina, a prominent merchant in Spartanburg, S. C., and trustee of Wofford College; John Wesley Williams, a member of the Virginia Conference, whose useful life was early cut short by consumption.
Nearly all of my college-mates sleep in the dust of the earth. Many of them were "wise, and shall shine as the brightness of the firmament," and some "turned many to righteousness," and shall "shine as the stars, forever and ever."
[Illustration: GEN. TENNENT LOMAX, CLASS 1840. Killed at Seven Pines,
Va., 1862.]
We go back now and take up the record regularly. At the close of the session of 1839-'40 the report of the Faculty notes the year as successful, and makes mention of the introduction of Anglo-Saxon into the course as the basis of the proper study of English. The Bible was also recommended as a part of the course of study. At this meeting the first legacy to the College, made by Rev. Robert C. Jones, of $3,000, was reported.