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decided, in addition, to establish a high school in Georgia on the manual labor plan, so popular at the time. The latter was located at Covington. It was not productive of the best results, however, to conduct a high school and a farm at the same time, and the conference, under the influence of Dr. Ignatius A. Few, in 1836, decided to establish a college. For this purpose a charter was granted and a site for the proposed institution was selected about two miles from the manual school. One thousand four hundred acres of land were bought, a village laid out, and, in 1837, the cornerstone of Emory College was laid."

Doctor Few was the first president. Under him, the college was opened, in 1839, and two years later were held the first exercises of graduation. Judge Augustus B. Longstreet, the famous author of "Georgia Scenes," succeeded Doctor Few. He was formerly an eminent jurist, but relinquished the law to enter the pulpit. He was also at one time an editor of note. On leaving Emory, he became the president of the University of Mississippi. Dr. George F. Pierce, the great orator of Methodism, came next. But he was soon elected bishop. Dr. Alexander Means, the distinguished professor of natural science, succeeded him. Fifty years in advance of his day, Doctor Means predicted the motor car and the electric light. He was succeeded after a year by Dr. James R. Thomas, who was president when the war commenced. The college was suspended during the greater part of this period and the buildings used for hospital purposes under the Confederate Government. The close of the war found the institution without endowment and the people of the South impoverished. But Bishop Pierce took the field, made an earnest plea on behalf of the college and succeeded in keeping the fires alive until prosperity began to return. With the aid of Bishop Pierce's Endowment Society, supplemented by the zeal of a devoted corps of professors, the college began to revive. New buildings were erected, new students were enrolled, and an era of splendid growth was inaugurated. Dr. Luther M. Smith was the president under whom the institution was firmly re-established. He was elected to succeed Doctor Thomas, who was called to a college in California.

Next came Dr. O. L. Smith, but he resigned to take a professorship, and Dr. Atticus G. Haygood succeeded him. It was during the administration of this great apostle of learning that Mr. George I. Seney, a wealthy banker of New York, attracted by some of the broad views of the new president, gave to the institution the munificent sum of $150,000. With a part of this gift, Seney Hall was erected. The remainder was applied to the permanent endowment fund. Bishop Haygood resigned to administer the Slater educational legacy and was afterwards chosen bishop. He was succeeded by Dr. I. S. Hopkins, who resigned to become president of the Georgia School of Technology,

* Emory College was chartered December 10, 1836, with the following board of trustees: Ignatius A. Few, Lovick Pierce, Charles Hardy, William J. Parks, Elijah Sinclair, Samuel K. Hodges, Samuel J. Bryan, Alexander Speer, George F. Pierce, Charles H. Saunders, David P. Hillhouse, William P. Graham, Iverson L. Graves, Lucius Wittich, and John Park. (Prince's "Digest," pp. 879-881.)

an institution which was measurably the outgrowth of his own experiments at Oxford. Dr. Warren A. Candler was next called to the executive chair. Under him, the sum of $100,000 was added to the permanent endowment fund. Of this amount, Mr. W. P. Patillo, of Atlanta, subscribed $25,000. The handsome new library building, in honor of the president, was christened "Candler Hall." On being elevated to the episcopal bench, Dr. Candler was succeeded by Dr. C. E. Dowman, and he in turn by Dr. James E. Dickey, the present head of the institution. Since the incumbency of Doctor Dickey began, the endowment fund of the college has been greatly increased and the roll of attendance considerably lengthened.

There are few institutions in the country which surpass Emory in the standards of scholarships. The discipline is strict and the moral atmosphere pure and wholesome. The library of the college contains something over 25,000 volumes, including a number of rare folios. Three presidents of Emory have succeeded to the episcopal honors, Drs. George F. Pierce, Atticus G. Haygood, and Warren A. Candler. Without an exception the presidents have been preachers. Bishop Candler and Doctor Dickey are both kinsmen of the first president, Dr. Ignatius A. Few. Connected with the college, there is an excellent school of law, of which Judge Capers Dickson is the dean. Besides, there is also a department of pedagogics. The cabinet of minerals at Emory is one of the most unique collections of this character to be found in the South. It contains a number of rare specimens which cannot be duplicated. The college at Oxford is the joint property of the Georgia and Florida conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Dr. Ignatius A. Few, the first president of Emory College, is buried on the heights of the Oconee River, at Athens, Georgia, but in commemoration of his services to Christian culture there stands upon the campus at Oxford a substantial monument on which is chiseled the following inscription to the distinguished founder.

"I. A. Few, founder and first president of Emory College. Elected December 8, 1837. Entered upon his duties, September 10, 1838. Resigned July 17, 1839. 'Memoria prodenda liberis nostris.'"'

"In early life an infidel, he became a Christian from conviction and for many years of deep affliction walked by faith in the son of God." etc.

To the City of Macon, Georgia, belongs the oldest school in existence for the higher education of women. If there are institutions whose pioneer work date further back, an investigation will show that not one of them possessed authority to confer degrees. The first college in the world chartered for the express purpose of awarding diplomas to women was undoubtedly historic old Wesleyan Female College at Macon. It was only to a limited extent that public attention, during the early part of the last century, was directed to the educational needs of the fair sex. At first the various Legislatures of the country were averse to chartering even academies which were designed exclusively for women and Georgia was one of the very first states to abandon this policy of

discrimination. In 1827, the Legislature chartered the first female academy under state patronage at Harmony Grove, now Commerce, Georgia, in Jackson County, but it soon ceased to exist. The time was not ripe for such an innovation. Col. Duncan G. Campbell, of Wilkes, was the pioneer champion in Georgia of the new crusade. When a young man he taught a select school for girls in the town of Washington, and as early as 1825 he advocated in the State Legislature the wisdom of chartering a college, but he failed of success. In 1835, his son-in-law, Daniel Chandler, made an address at the University of Georgia, in which he made an eloquent plea for the admission of the fair sex to the same educational rights and privileges accorded to men and he called attention to the fact that at this time there was not a college in the world which conferred degrees upon women. The speech. of Mr. Chandler created a deep impression.

It also brought results. His views were heartily endorsed in Macon, and when a movement was launched to establish a female academy in the young town, Rev. Elijah Sinclair suggested that the wide-awake people of Macon build a female college instead. There came an immediate response to this proposal. The Ocmulgee Bank agreed to subscribe $25,000 to the fund, in the event the Legislature granted the charter, and other pledges of support were offered. The outcome was that a charter was finally granted by the Legislature, on December 10, 1836, giving legal existence to the Georgia Female College, the name by which the pioneer school was first known. In due time, the buildings were completed, on a scale somewhat extensive. There followed a rush of patronage, but the great financial panic of 1837 involved some of the largest subscribers. The builder closed his lien. The college was put upon the market. At this stage of the proceedings, Dr. George F. Pierce, afterwards bishop, stepped upon the scene, bought the college for Georgia Methodists, and, under the banner of the church, reorganized it as the Wesleyan Female College. Without an endowment, it was not an easy matter to keep the institution afloat. But friends arose, and fortune smiled.

The first graduation exercises were held in 1840 and the first diploma was awarded to a member of the class who afterwards became Mrs. Katherine E. Benson. She was the first woman in the world to receive a college degree. Bishop Pierce resigned in 1841. But he continued to work for the college in the field. Dr. W. H. Ellison succeeded him. Then came Dr. Edward H. Myers. Two other presidents next took charge in succession, Dr. O. L. Smith and Dr. J. M. Bonnell. Finally, the noted Dr. W. C. Bass was called to the helm, and for twenty-five years shaped the destinies of Wesleyan. It was during his administra

* Chartered as the Georgia Female College, at Macon. The original trustees of Wesleyan were: James O. Andrew, Samuel K. Hodges, John W. Talley, Ignatius A. Few, William J. Parks, Lovick Pierce, William Arnold, Alexander Speer, Thomas Sanford, George F. Pierce, Elijah Sinclair, Henry G. Lamar, Jerry Cowles, Robert Collins, George Jewett, Ossian Gregory, Everard Hamilton, Henry Solomons, Augustus B. Longstreet, Walter T. Colquitt, and James A. Nisbet. (Prince's "Digest," pp. 881-882.)

tion that Mr. George I. Seney, the noted philanthropist of New York, befriended the institution. He first gave it $50,000, then he afterwards increased this amount to $125,000. It may be stated in this connection that one of the earliest benefactors of the college was a wealthy planter of Houston County, Mr. James A. Everett. He first bought a number of scholarships conditioned upon the adoption of the college by Georgia Methodists, and then, in 1845, he lifted a mortgage upon the institution of $10,000. These benefactions, having been rendered at the start, though small in amounts, were far-reaching in ultimate results. The Seney gift was bestowed largely through the influence of Bishop Atticus G. Haygood, then president of Emory College at Oxford. In 1894 a well equipped chemical laboratory was installed, chiefly through the efforts of two members of the faculty, Prof. Charles O. Townsend and Prof. Joseph T. Derry. The present handsome four-story brick building was completed in 1900, and, in honor of Dr. J. W. Roberts, then president of Wesleyan, was christened Roberts Hall. Hon. Dupont Guerry, a distinguished lawyer of Macon, was next called to the helm. He was the first layman to be vested with the duties of this high office, and, though the institution prospered under Mr. Guerry, he returned after a few years to the practice of his profession. Dr. W. N. Ainsworth succeeded him; but resumed the pastorate in 1912. Dr. C. R. Jenkins is the present executive head; and, under him, old Wesleyan Female College is enjoying a degree of prosperity hitherto unknown.

CHAPTER XXV

AN ERA OF RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT-GEORGIA ACQUIRES AT THIS TIME THE SOBRIQUET BY WHICH SHE IS TODAY KNOWN: THE EMPIRE STATE OF THE SOUTH-IN 1831 A CONVENTION IS HELD AT EATONTON TO CONSIDER WORKS OF PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT GEORGIA'S EARLIEST CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY BEHIND THIS PIONEER MOVEMENT -CANALS OR RAILROADS?-SOME OF THE DELEGATES WHO ATTENDED ROUTES REPORTED, BUT NO DEFINITE ACTION TAKEN THE IRON HORSE AS A MOTIVE POWER OF COMMERCE IS SOON RECOGNIZEDTHE GEORGIA RAILROAD IS CHARTERED IN 1833-ITS INCEPTION AT ATHENS ITS FIRST BOARD OF DIRECTORS TO CONNECT AUGUSTA WITH EATONTON, MADISON AND ATHENS TWO OTHER CHARTERS GRANTED IN 1833-ONE TO THE CENTRAL RAILROAD AND CANAL COMPANY FOR A LINE BETWEEN SAVANNAH AND MACON-ONE TO THE MONROE RAILROAD FOR A LINE BETWEEN MACON AND FORSYTHATLANTA, THE OFFSPRING OF RAILWAYS-HOW GEORGIA'S FUTURE CAPITAL STARTED ORIGIN OF THE NAME ATLANTA-THOMAS BUTLER KING PREDICTS A TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY CONNECTING THE TWO OCEANS AND TRACES A ROUTE ON THE MAP HIS FORECAST IS VERIFIED ALMOST TO THE LETTER.

It was in the year 1831 that Georgia first acquired the title by which she is today known: the Empire State of the South. At this time the steam locomotive was an experiment. Only one passenger train was then in operation on this side of the Atlantic, running between Baltimore and Washington. But Georgia, even at this early day, was an exponent of the new progress; and while still inclined to regard the Iron Horse as a novelty, was eager to extend her industrial and commercial activities and to inaugurate a system of internal improvements. Consequently, in the fall of 1831, we find an assemblage of Georgia's captains of industry meeting in the Town of Eatonton to discuss economic topics. Delegates were present from every part of Georgia; and to the organized impulse created by this initial movement much of the state's development in later years may be distinctly traced. The main question to be decided was whether canals or railroads should be recommended. Routes were reported for both, but no particular plan was recommended. However, public opinion soon began to crystallize strongly in favor of railroads. Steam-cars, even though of the crudest pattern, offered decided advantages over stage coaches as vehicles for travel; and these advantages became more and more apparent as time elapsed.

But to return to the Eatonton convention. One of the most zealous promoters of this project was Hon. Irby Hudson, but he declined its honors. Hon. Thomas Stocks, of Greene, was, on motion of Mr. Hud

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