The new school-house is not only a monument to Mr. Ballard’s philanthropy, but also to the value and success of the mechanical training given here, as the work was almost entirely done by the students.
The day of dedication was the third of a succession of days unusually cold for us, and the air was full of snow-flakes, so that few of the expected guests from a distance made their appearance, and the extreme unpleasantness of the day kept most of even our near neighbors at home. However, besides the students and their immediate friends, we had as guests Miss Dickey, the honored head of Mt. Hermon Seminary at Clinton, with two of her assistants; Rev. J. B. Oliver, of the Congregational Church at Greenville, and Rev. C. L. Harris, of the Congregational Church at Jackson; also Mr. Moses Folsom, of Iowa, a representative of “The Burlington Hawkeye,” with a friend of his.
Probably none of the special days in the annals of the school have passed off with more unity and spontaneity of feeling, nor left a happier consciousness behind. The Sunday-school lesson had for its title “The Beginning,” and besides its regular and ordinary teachings, was specially and happily applied, and, at its close, ten persons were received into church membership. The regular dedicatory ceremonies and services took place in the afternoon and were good throughout. Rev. C. L. Harris, of Jackson, delivered the address. Always energetic and enthusiastic, and ready for whatever word or work his day and opportunity bring him, he gave us a really excellent address. He gave in the outset a sketch of the life of the Christian merchant who had considered himself the Lord’s steward of the funds required to build this school-house and the shops required for our trades. He then spoke at large upon the three-fold work to which this institution was dedicated,—the education of head, hand and heart, all tending to the firm and right establishment of the home and fitting for the widest usefulness.
The last thing in the service supplied an outlet for the manifestation of the loving and joyful interest with which the service had been participated in by the congregation, and was apparently at least as much enjoyed as any part of it, namely, the taking of a collection. The subscription, started with the thank-offering of Thanksgiving Day, for seating the new chapel, had reached $36.50. The collection at the dedication service brought it to $97.35, additional free-will offerings next morning making up the hundred. At this writing a beginning has been made on the remaining $66.25. About one-fourth of this has been given by our own students, and nearly one-half by the colored people connected with, or interested in, our school.
A sermon from Rev. J. B. Oliver in the evening closed the exercises of the day.
OUR SCHOOL OF OBSERVATION.
BY MISS ANNA M. CAHILL, FISK UNIVERSITY.
Sixty bright faces welcomed me as I took my place with other visitors, this afternoon, in the school-room of our practice school. These faces are the property of as many happy children—children with no more weight of years upon them than properly belongs to pupils in a primary school. As I looked down the rows of little seats on this my first visit for the year, I saw at once that many new pupils had taken their places in this company since the first of September, but some of the little folks have grown so familiar that I realize they are soon to “graduate” into the English department of the University. At least half a dozen of those before me are the children of parents, one or both of whom were pupils at Fisk at some time during the first ten years of its work. They come from comfortable and well-regulated homes in the city, as do the majority of those primary pupils.