THE FEMALE SEMINARY AT BOTETOURT SPRINGS, 1852-1855THE FEMALE SEMINARY AT BOTETOURT SPRINGS, 1852-1855
But it was now that the battle with austere conditions and scant equipment became the torment of his mind. The Trustees could give no material aid, and popular interest in education was too feeble to proffer financial help. It is simple truth to say that on this vestibule of his great enterprise, the gravest doubts and trepidations of his whole career assailed him. In moods of depression the heroic man feared that he had attempted the impossible. Was he unnerved or unstrung? Not for one minute. In these black days he fronted his task with the resourcefulness of an uncommon manhood. The stamina of his nature came to expression in a way that surprised even himself. He made imploring appeals to friends who were well to do in this world's goods. A good providence put him in touch with two noble spirits, Mr. John Hollins and his wife, of Lynchburg, Virginia, members of his own denomination. Mr. Hollins presented the Seminary with a gift of $5,000 cash, and then the daylight began to break. The good man proposed as a condition of his gift that the old management by an Education Society and its appointed Trustees must give way to a board of self-perpetuating Trustees. To all concerned the proposition seemed wise and just, and it was so ordered. It was then generously agreed that the name of the Institution should be changed, and that henceforth it shouldbe known as "Hollins Institute." To Mr. Cocke and the dissolving Society, this appeared to be a compliment well deserved by the man and his wife who had saved the life of the school.
The transfer of all the property of the Valley Union Education Society to the Trustees of Hollins Institute was made in March, 1855. Thus in the first nine years of his incumbency, Mr. Cocke saw two revisions of the original charter granted in January, 1844. By the first revision in 1852, the Seminary was made a school for girls. By the second, in December, 1855, the name of the Institution was changed, the old management was abolished, and its functions put into the hands of a self-perpetuating Board of Trustees. No friction arose; all was harmony. The old régime passed, but its personnel remained steadfast.
In all the stress and tribulation of the past years, Mr. Cocke had been the central bolt that held the structure intact. Around his single heroic personality gathered all the forces that made possible the perpetuity of the Institution. His reward had now come, and a blessed assurance threw its foregleams on the future. He was now in his thirty-sixth year and athrill with that full health and masculine energy that was his blessing to the end of his life.
That was a high day, in the summer of 1855, when Hollins Institute flung its banner to the breeze. A munificent gift, a new régime and a new name put fresh enthusiasm into the Institution, and the gladness of hope into the hearts of all its friends. You have noticed how these joyous effects always flow from new deals and revisions of plans. A better day has dawned, bright visions float in the brain of Mr. Cocke, and the blue mountains seem to hail him with congratulation. The human heart would famish but for these fountains that break out in the midst of weary, toiling years. Economic conditions are improving in the Southwest. The Kanawha Canal now connects Richmond with Buchanan, a village just twenty miles away. The Virginia and Tennessee Railroad has been built (1852), supplying quick communication with the outside world; and the macadamized turnpikehas been built from Buchanan to the west, passing within a few hundred yards of the School. The general conditions were never so cheering, nor was the outlook ever so bright.
Some necessary changes have been made by the Trustees in internal affairs. The rates of board and tuition are moderately increased, and Mr. Cocke is put in charge of all departments, with authority to select his teachers and to fix their salaries. The new Board of Trustees knows the qualities and capacities of the Principal, and from this time forth they give him confidence and almost unlimited powers. Charles L. Cocke, not yet thirty-six years of age, had attained enviable distinction in the educational ranks of his native State. He will justify the faith of his friends.
The Hollins gift of $5,000 was put to work. The East Building with thirty-eight rooms, was projected, and by January, 1857, completed at a cost of $12,000. Alas, calamity crashed upon the school. In the fall of 1856 typhoid fever broke out and forced a temporary suspension. With cruel suddenness the epidemic worked a loss of public confidence, and once more the heart of the Principal was harrowed with discouraging thoughts. It was given out that bad sanitary conditions had invited the scourge, but rigid investigation exploded the theory. The fact was that the disease had been brought to the Institute byone of the pupils. Slowly the panic yielded and confidence returned, but the experience was shocking. Quickly the Principal regained his tone of courageous hope and its wholesome contagion spread far and near. In July, 1857, in a report to the Trustees, he made this important and assuring statement: "By affording these superior inducements the school has realized a degree of prosperity beyond that of any boarding school in the state, and has given an impulse to female education heretofore unknown. The plan and policy of our school must be considered the true one. This plan recognizes the principle that in the present state of society in our country,young ladies require the same thorough mental training as that afforded to young men, and accordingly, in the arrangement of the course of studies, and the selection of teachers, and the conferment of distinctions, we have kept this principle steadily in view. This feature of the Institution has given to it its prominence and past success, and other Institutions, originating since our plan was made public, have almost uniformly adopted it."
"To each man is given a marble to carve for the wall;A stone that is needed to heighten the beauty of all;And only his soul has the magic to give it a grace;And only his hands have the cunning to put it in place."
During the year 1858, the activity of the Trustees secured a good many subscriptions, and thegenerous Mrs. Anne Hollins rallied with her own gift of $2,500. The dark days of 1857 began to be a memory, and the revival of public confidence and patronage smoothed the brow of care.
It must not be supposed that Mr. Cocke lost interest in the education of boys when the co-educational system was abandoned in 1852. No man in Virginia was more enlisted in the education of all the people than he. There must be a school for the boys in the Virginia Mountains, and in the later fifties, though sufficiently burdened with local cares, he turns his attention to this interest. With the valuable assistance of Dr. George B. Taylor, later an eminent Baptist missionary to Italy, he was the chief factor in establishing Alleghany College, in Greenbrier County, one hundred miles northwest of Hollins Institute. This county was included in the new state of West Virginia, organized in 1861. The school opened with one hundred young men and ran well for a brief season, but was suspended at the beginning of the Civil War. The buildings were occupied by Federal soldiers, and shortly afterwards were destroyed by fire. All subsequent efforts to revive the college were unavailing. With characteristic loyalty, Mr. Cocke matriculated his son, Joseph James Cocke, at the opening of the first session. The brave boy laid down his books at the first alarm of war and entered the Confederatearmy, and in the terrible battles in Northern Virginia, he was twice dangerously wounded. That boy is now a venerable and honored citizen of the State of Texas.
Long years after, Mr. Cocke bent his efforts towards the erection of Alleghany Institute at Roanoke, and had great satisfaction in its commodious buildings and its promising attendance of boys. In the course of varying fortunes this enterprise fainted by the way and ceased to be. One can but fancy that if Mr. Cocke himself could have held the helm in these two adventures, the story would have been different. The storms beat and the floods came, but Hollins Institute stands. Her standards are stirring thought currents and stimulating like enterprises in Virginia and the nation. For our pioneer in the Southwest, this is compensation and a crown of glory. Without one thrill of jealousy does he see the spread of his views and the certainty of large competition. To stand in his own place and make good, is the one guiding and all-controlling purpose of his life.
In 1860, Mrs. Hollins, now a lonely widow, signalized her profound interest in a new gift of $10,000. This generous and timely act pushed up the contributions of the Hollins family to the handsome sum of $17,500. The growing popularity of Hollins sprung the problem of enlargedfacilities and to solve it was the design of this latest benevolence. It was greeted with boundless gratitude, and the Trustees deputed one of their members, Mr. Wm. A. Miller, to bear to her their most cordial thanks. Accompanying this message was an urgent request for the oil portraits of the two benefactors. In due time the portraits came, and to this day they adorn the walls of the Main Building, whose erection was made possible by the recent gift. An architect was employed, and work was begun on this building in the spring of 1861, on the very day that Virginia seceded from the Union. The tempest and blight of the Civil War came down to threaten the life of the Institution and to almost break the heart of the founder. Expectant hope had looked for early occupancy, but it was not to be. In one year the walls were upreared, the roof was on, and then the work stopped. The contractor quit his job because the war had disorganized labor and the situation was simply helpless. There stands the unfinished structure, and there it will stand, a ghastly skeleton for eight long years.
At this beginning of horrors, Mr. Cocke's reputation as a strong man was established, and the fair name of his school was extended beyond the limits of the State. Seasoned in old battles and richly schooled in experience, he stands in his placeunterrified. He dares, even amid the clouds and disasters of war, to send out his adventurous thought, thirty years to the fore. What ought to be, what may be, the facilities and achievements of this Institution a generation hence? He is now too well fortified in his convictions of educational theory and practice, and of their fitness to the needs of the time, to be affrighted by the spectres and goblins of ultimate failure.
In 1862, he speaks to his girls and the public in this fashion: "The organization of this school is unlike all others in Virginia. To some extent it is denominational, but decidedly anti-sectarian. Its Trustees perpetuate their own existence. Its funds cannot revert to any other object. It is responsible to no religious body and its success depends solely on its merits. It looks to permanent existence and to the good of the whole commonwealth. Its successes have exceeded the most sanguine expectations of its friends. It was first to adopt a high standard of classical education for young women in Virginia; first to place the English Department under a regular professor; and first in the nation to adopt the elective system of studies. With the prestige of a history of twenty years, it may properly and confidently appeal to the general public to make it an addition to the permanent wealth and moral elevation of the country. I believe its reputation willspread until it draws pupils from all over the South." Under the distressful conditions, is there not something morally grand in this utterance? It was a prophetic speech, and the daring prediction was more than realized in the thirty years that followed.
In 1863, one hundred girls filled every room, and seventy-five applicants were turned away. Oh, for the forty-six student-rooms in that unfinished hulk! Sequestered snugly in the mountains, no Institution in the country suffered less from the demoralization of the war. Families driven from the areas of invasion sent their daughters to the haven of its seclusion. The faculty of four gentlemen and three ladies had ample occupation. It was at this juncture that the President dropped the wise remark that the success of an Institution demands a capable manager as much as qualified instructors, and that he is harder to find. Of course, during this period, the depreciated currency and the correspondingly high cost of living required advance in the rates of the tuition and board. In 1864, one hundred and twenty-eight students were crowded into the rooms, and an equal number were turned away. In these days of inevitable stringency, the fare was far from luxurious, but it was accepted by teacher and pupil with that cheerfulness which becomes sensible and considerate people.
That year the school was not immune to the alarms of war. A Federal raid, led by General Hunter, rushed into the town of Salem, nine miles distant, and the news spread consternation at Hollins, but without panic. The President had prepared a paper, stating the defenseless condition of the college and entreating protection by the General of any invading force. This paper he kept in his pocket, ready to be sent by messenger, if from any cause he himself should be prevented from going to make an oral request. Happily, Hunter came no nearer than Salem, and the awful suspense was relieved. On that very day, George Newman, the faithful colored driver, went to Salem with his omnibus, and was waiting at the depot, when the horsemen in blue came thundering down the street. He cracked his whip over his trusty four and dashed southward across the river, amid a shower of bullets. He was going in a course directly opposite from Hollins, but that was the only avenue of escape. When he was not heard from for the best part of two days, he was given up for lost. But late on the second day, who should drive in but this same George Newman, with an air of triumph and an ecstasy of smiles on his face! He came bare-headed, having lost his hat in the impetuosity of that patriotic retreat. The girls hailed him with a storm of acclamation and instantly tookup a collection with which they crowned the hero with a new straw hat!
Mrs. Cocke, in these times of nervous excitement, was perfectly sure of her own demeanor in case of irruption by the enemy. She would stand defiant in the doorway and forbid all entrance. The family tell a story which the dear mother never denied. One day her son Charley, a lad of ten years, with some of the servants, was coming back to the stables with the horses which had been hidden in the woods of Carvin's creek, to escape the hands of the enemy. The youngsters came galloping down the road, when some excitable person imagining it a charge of Yankee cavalry, raised the alarm, and then followed the worst panic Hollins ever knew. Mrs. Cocke, quietly busy in the pantry, hearing the shrieks, following an irresistible impulse, left the pantry door wide open and vanished to some place, she was never quite sure where.
It was Mr. Cocke's custom in those days to send a group of girls in the omnibus to the Sunday morning service of one of the churches in Salem. Such was the economic stress of the period that a handsome new hat in the school produced a sensation. Fortune crowned one of the students with a beautiful headgear. She wore it to church, and generously, on the following Sunday put the treasure on the head of a comradewho was going up to worship. So the ornament became a regular attendant at the Salem services. Gathered at the church doors were the Salem boys, of course, and they soon became merrily interested in the new hat. One day after service, the girls found in the omnibus a note, inquiring: "Who does that hat belong to?" The owner lives, today, in Blacksburg, Va. Those trips to Salem ceased long ago, and now in the Hollins Chapel, regular Sunday evening services are conducted by chaplain pastors from the various denominations.
In the spring of 1865, pneumonia became epidemic in the school, taking off six of the pupils and two more in their homes. This disaster caused a suspension one month before the close of the regular term.
With the fall of the Confederacy, Mr. Cocke had again to face a condition that seemed the mockery of his hopes. Everywhere were economic prostration, social disorganization, and pinching poverty. Shall Hollins keep up the fight? Will the sun of Austerlitz ever rise on her long and varying battles? What young Institution ever threaded its way through a wilderness so gloomy or by pits and precipices so dangerous? Hollins will go on, walking by faith, and its doors shall not be closed, even for the part of a session. That is the mind of the President. He and hisfaculty, though exhausted in means, will face the destitution and never give up the ship. The session of 1865-6 ran on with forty-five students. Rates had to be increased, and even with that, the college would have been compelled to close but for a timely loan from Colonel Tayloe to buy food. This noble friend and President of the Board of Trustees had been a comfort to Mr. Cocke from the beginning, and will continue so for thirty years more. Our great leader did not talk about his troubles, being always master of himself. Once he made this brief pathetic admission to his Trustees: "I am so burdened that I do not feel fit for my work." What can move us to tears like a strong man's grief? And there stands the ghastly figure of the unfinished Main Building, mocking his struggles and dreams. For five years now, pine boards have been nailed up to cover the windows, and not even a porch relieves the monotony of its ugliness. Two alternatives were before him: first, reduce the faculty, which is a most deplorable thing to do; second, go on as we are, but that is bankruptcy and ruin. Hear him: "I will go on; I will trust in God and the people." He insisted to his Trustees: "We must not descend to the character of a neighborhood school." Their sympathies were with him, but they felt unable to cope with the iron stringencies of the time. He did go on, never loweringa standard or abating the passionate cry for more room and better equipment. How he ever pulled through this slough of despond, he himself could not possibly tell. Of one thing he was in no doubt and it was this, that in the long night of anguish, there was a precious mystery of heavenly aid.
HOLLINS INSTITUTE Main Building Completed 1869. East Building Completed 1856HOLLINS INSTITUTE[Main Building Completed 1869. East Building Completed 1856]
One of the encouraging incidents of this season, was the fact that one of the finest young scholars in Virginia accepted a call to the Institute. When Professor Joseph A. Turner, in 1866, consented to become a member of the faculty, it meant that a finely accomplished man had confidence in the character and destiny of the College, and that certified confidence was a tonic to the President's soul. But Hollins is still in the depths. There is no bracing of firm rock under her feet. All the officials know that the whole property is in peril of a public sale. How did the School go on? You must find answer in the resourcefulness and adamantine will of one great man. Hollins did go on, and complimentary testimonials from leading scholars in the State began to be written and spoken. Mr. Cocke was cheered at the generous recognition and said: "We must lift our standards a little higher than ever before. Our school should be second to none in the State and we must reach out for more distant patrons." The tide beginsto rise, and on the horizon there are gleaming hints of a better day. In 1868, Mr. Cocke secured a loan of $10,000, and by the end of 1869, that nightmare of the Main Building was transformed into a handsome and completed edifice. The passing of this melancholy incubus made a new epoch in his life. It was the cutting of chains from his feet, and the addition of wings wherewith to fly. The new structure greatly increased the accommodations, and now begins active propaganda in the South, acquainting the people with Hollins Institute. Newly risen, like a star above tempest and cloud, she will shed benignant light on the homes and daughters of the land. May she go on shining forever!
The torturing issues of the past are now settled. Mr. Cocke will let them pass to practical oblivion while he presses on to larger realizations. Of course annoying problems will continue to dog his steps, but they will not wear the malignant aspect so familiar in the strenuous years. His ideal is a flying goal, and he will never see his loved college free from growing pains. The happiest decade of work that he has yet known is before him. He stands on its threshold with hope assured, and his face is lit with thanksgiving as he beholds the clouds receding, and the sunshine flooding all the sky. It is a time to grasp his hand and shower him with congratulations. He has now completed twenty-four years of toilsome labor beside the little sulphur spring. Into the holy enterprise he has grandly flung himself, his property and his family. Never had a man a more tactful and sympathetic co-worker than he found in his wife. Withoutone murmur of complaint she has shared all his burdens and cares. Her feminine quietness and grace have matched his masculine push and executive force. In him is a certain rugged virility which is delightfully supplemented by her charm of patient gentleness. With a noiseless and tireless efficiency, she has managed the domestic details, while he has handled the administrative affairs of the school. In the apportionment of praise, he would resent a bestowal that made her unequal to himself; nor would he fail to recognize the services of his children. Since the wedding bells rang, thirty years ago, nine have come into the home [Joseph J., Leila V. (Mrs. Joseph A. Turner), Sallie Lewis, Mary Susan (Mrs. C. W. Hayward), Rosa Pleasants (Mrs. W. R. L. Smith), Charles Henry, Matty L., Lucian H., and Bessie (Mrs. J. P. Barbee)]. Brought up in an atmosphere of service, all of them have, for longer or shorter periods, loyally served the institution.
The new session of 1870-'71 began with the registration of eighty girls. The Trustees at this juncture stepped to the front with a cheering note, announcing that the Institute was "Getting on a firm basis," and expressing their intense gratification at its increasing popularity and patronage. They emphasized their high appreciation of thesystem of instruction, and the thoroughgoing diligence of the President and his faculty. All honor to these men who were sensitive to merit, and who had the grace to crown it with praise. These men also had learned that human progress is not much accelerated by whips of fault-finding and rebuke. In all their official records there is not an instance of clash between them and the President, nor even a hint of cross-purpose or loss of good understanding. When we think of the rough road they had travelled together, and the bewildering tangle of issues with which they had grappled, this concord is as surprising as it is honorable. An obstinate and wrangling Board could have crippled him cruelly. These harmonies were due to two facts: first, the absolute confidence of these gentlemen in the judgment and business capacity of Mr. Cocke; second, his reciprocal confidence in them, accompanied by the most cordial respect and courtesy. At the Board meetings through this decade they will not forget the value of commendatory resolutions, and it is pleasing to mention now, that this congenial partnership never knew a jar in all the after years.
Never was sunshine more grateful to the flowers, or music more cheering to a tired spirit, than were the tokens of the spreading fame of Hollinsto the soul of Mr. Cocke. Golden appreciations by distinguished men began to be spoken and written. Here is a tribute from Professor Edward S. Joynes, of Washington College, Lexington, Virginia: "I am intimately acquainted with the history of Hollins. It is an Institution of the very highest character, certainly second to none of its kind in this State. It has existed for upward of twenty-five years and been conducted upon the very highest standards of moral and intellectual education. Its success and permanence have been due to its merits alone. It is an unendowed Institution, founded originally by benevolence and supported by public patronage, and by the energy and economy of its administration. The President is a man of ability and of the highest personal character, and no Institution in this State has a higher claim on the public confidence." Dr. John A. Broaddus, of the Baptist Theological Seminary, Greenville, South Carolina, wrote his estimate: "I know of no better female school in the whole country, and very few, that for a moment, can be compared with Hollins. The instruction takes an ample range, and is able, skillful and honest." The Rev. Dr. J. L. Burrows, pastor of the First Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia, stated his view: "In beauty and healthfulness of location; in attractiveness and adaptableness of its buildings; in tasteful adornmentof grounds; in the wild grandeur of surrounding scenery, Hollins Institute occupies one of the most charming and sequestered nooks among the far-famed mineral springs of Virginia. In the comprehensiveness and thoroughness of its course of study; in the ability and devotion of its instructors; in the carefulness and homefulness of its domestic economy; in its seclusion from the distractions of fashion and social disquietude, I regard this Institution as one of the very best for girls on this continent."
Many such heartening notes by University professors, ministers, editors and heads of colleges for girls, began to sound forth as early as 1868. Golden opinions, rightly deserved and rapidly spreading, brought the natural result. The session of 1869-'70 opened with twenty-one girls from nine Southern States, not including Virginia. The year following, the number grew to twenty-eight from the nine states. The session of 1873-'74 reported thirty-nine girls from thirteen states outside of Virginia, and that of 1875-'76 enrolled fifty-three from fourteen states. The session of 1877-'78 registered a total of one hundred and seventeen students, seventy of them coming from other states. This noticeable decline in the percentage of Virginia girls is easily accounted for by the increasing competition of the new and excellent schools for girls, now arisen in the OldDominion. During this decade, the fair fame of Hollins spread swiftly, and from this time on, a gradually increasing and uninterrupted stream of pupils, from all points of the compass, poured smilingly through her doors. Nor did her native commonwealth fail in admiration and generous support.
You can imagine the emotions of the founder in this happy emergence from the dilemmas and horrible incertitudes of the past twenty-five years. His bearing was calm and undemonstrative, while in his bosom the peans of thanksgiving go up to the great White Throne. But on the gladness of these days, a blight of bereavement was about to fall. In 1871, the brilliant and able Professor Turner had married Miss Leila Virginia Cocke, an accomplished daughter of the President. He was a shining light in the faculty, and on him great hopes centered. For two years his health declined, and on May 5th, 1878, gloom settled on Hollins. Great was the grief at the going of the beloved scholar and teacher. His twelve years of service began in the dark days of 1866, and closed in the full tide of victory. The memory of him will never perish from the hearts of pupils and friends who almost idolized him.
An event in 1874 meant much relief and comfort to our veteran educator, amid his manifold labors and cares. Charles H. Cocke, his son,now in early manhood, capable, courageous and completely responsive to the father's wish, took on himself the duties of business manager of the Institution. Here was a much needed and most grateful division of responsibilities, and the competent new official magnified his calling to the uttermost. The thoroughness and courtesy with which he handled affairs, won for him the confidence and affection of the girls.
Have we ever found Mr. Cocke in a state of perfect satisfaction with things as they are? Never. He is a stranger to that experience, and will ever remain so. When we met him forty years ago as an assistant professor in Richmond College, his slogan was, "Betterment, enlargement, progress." The urgencies of an early ideal are still upon him, and he will never count himself to have attained. This fact touches him pathetically, now that he is nearing his sixtieth year. Unrealized aims add somber hues to every earnest life.
"All I aspired to beAnd was not, comforts me."
The equipment of growing Hollins is far from complete; much remains to be done. The spirit of advance gives him no rest. He has a vision, and "forward" is ever his imperious challenge to things as they are. Absolutely sure is he thathis beloved College, with its reasonably low rates, and its high standards, is on the sure road to greatness in human service.
MRS. CHARLES L. COCKEMRS. CHARLES L. COCKE
All through this decade his brain had been active with schemes of improvements. In the early seventies, the Baptists of Virginia were freshly aroused on the subject of education, and made large plans for strengthening Richmond College. Taking cue from this new denominational interest, the Trustees of Hollins Institute determined to go before the public and ask for a contribution of $100,000. A financial agent went among the people with argument and appeal. The result was disappointing and the agent was withdrawn. The failure was depressing, but by no means unnerving. From the beginning of the "Seminary" in 1842, the intermittent calls on public benevolence had never met with notable response. Nor is this fact any real ground for reproach. The mood of the general public had never been toned and cultivated in the interests of liberal education. From first to last the benevolent gifts to Hollins amounted to but $35,000, exactly half of which had come from Mrs. Ann Hollins and her husband. In the light of the recent failure Mr. Cocke saw that there was no further ground of hope from this source of supply. The school's expanding reputation and growing patronage gratified him exceedingly, but the financial situationexcited disquieting apprehensions. The Trustees had no funds in the treasury; the Institution was making no money, and their debt was growing every year. The mind of the President was filled with foreboding and grave anxiety.
Let it now be said that not one dollar had ever been added to the debt by any form of extravagance. No head of an Institution ever practiced a more rigid economy in projecting improvements. Not even a fancy catalogue was ever sent out from Hollins. His severe frugality, and the constantly demanded investment of his personal means in improvements, actually limited the reasonable privileges and gratifications of his family. Never did a family bear restrictions more cheerfully and uncomplainingly. It was not in Mr. Cocke to rebel against the law of sacrifice, but once, in his annual report to the Trustees in 1879, he permitted himself to say: "It is a hard case, however, that a man should have all his means so wound up in an Institution, conducted for the public, that he cannot command enough money to give his family anything at all, except hard work and self-denial."
In 1846, by express contract with the Trustees, Mr. Cocke became Principal and Steward of the Seminary without stipulated salary. Neither he nor any one of his sons and daughters, who worked so loyally with him, ever received a salaryfrom the Board. That initial agreement illustrates the unbargaining generosity of the man. He pressed on the attention of the Trustees the certainty of continuous demand for enlarged facilities. To provide for this, it was agreed that the revenue from the boarding department should go to the Trustees, who would devote it to that purpose. How ridiculously small that revenue was likely to be, may be gathered from the fact that a student was boarded at the rate of $5.00 a month! Through all the subsequent years this principle of benevolent rates had never been abandoned. The figures were necessarily increased, but only with the view of keeping out of debt. Now what possible promise was there in this arrangement for increasing facilities? Absolutely none. So the long issue of events proved. By the same agreement, Mr. Cocke was to pay his teachers' salaries and maintain himself and family out of the tuition funds. What remained in the treasury after the teachers were paid was his. Out of that residue, it soon became evident, must come much of the means for repairs and improvements. There was no other source from which to draw. Improvements were made, and self-denial paid the bills.
Now, while this involved inconveniences, it did not, of course, mean the making of gifts to the Trustees. In just business fashion, they recordedeach outlay of this kind as a loan to themselves. As a consequence they went steadily in debt to Mr. Cocke, until by 1864 they owed him $7,785. This included the $1,500 which he lent to them in 1846. This curious financial arrangement continued, unavoidable and regretted by all concerned. In 1868, the debt of the Trustees ran up to $17,473, and in 1876 it reached the sum of $22,094. Why had not these claims been settled? We have seen the source of the Trustees' revenue; how could they pay? The $35,000 raised by public gift had been given to the Trustees, who invested every cent of it in new buildings and accommodations. Not a dollar of it ever touched the hand of Mr. Cocke. On the contrary, as noted above, the growing plant had commandeered much of his own slow, hard earnings. Either this undesirable order of things had to go on, or Mr. Cocke had to abandon his dear ambition. But the time had come for better adjustments. He felt that the multiplying years required that he think of the interests of his family. With these views and wishes, the Trustees were in their usual cordial sympathy. The Institution was their property. They were in debt to Mr. Cocke in a large and yearly increasing sum. They had no possible way of liquidating that debt. What could they do? What ought they to have done? They solved the question byoffering to give Mr. Cocke a deed to their Institution in satisfaction of their debt. The proposition was declined. He did not want to own the College. Such had never been his aim. He saw that the move would be a relief to the Trustees, but a disadvantage to the school. He deprecated the idea of the College going into private ownership. The associated wisdom and responsibility of a good Board of Trustees he regarded as one of its best assets. Moreover, what could such a deal effect in the way of relieving his financial embarrassments? He could not see, and so the troublesome question was left unsolved. The school was prosperous, his heart was serenely grateful; and this personal matter could wait.
The projection, building, and safe establishment of Cornell University, in the State of New York, was essentially the work of that remarkable man, Andrew D. White. In the face of many obstacles and antagonisms he founded it, named it in honor of its chief benefactor, was its first President and led its fortunes until he saw it take rank among the famous Institutions of the United States. Another famous man performed the same kind of service for his people in the South. The founder and builder of Hollins Institute was long a voice in the wilderness. You have seen the stern, invincible purpose of this man in the face of an apathetic public, painfully straitened finances, epidemics, and the desolations of war. Several times his enterprise trembled on the verge of ruin. But in him was that iron quality that never knew when it was beaten. Forty years of toil in the educational field sat lightly on him, thanks to the natural vigor of awell knit body and the resilient tone of a well endowed mind. We come now to the last lap of the journey, which most gratefully takes the form of a triumphal progress. In the good providence of God, the next twenty-one years were to be filled with expansion and achievement. His years multiplied, but there was no slowing down of energy and contriving strategy. Destiny put him benignantly into a life-long association with the young, and he could not grow old. To thousands of us still, no figure on the Hollins quadrangle ever stands out so statuesque as his large form, becomingly clad in a Prince Albert suit, and surmounted with a favorite tall beaver hat. As he walked in unconscious majesty, one could hear that resonant voice, issuing orders or bestowing courtly greetings. The grace and evenness of the old Virginia gentleman sat on him like a crown, making him ever accessible to student and friend. He was a worker, and he hated idleness as sin. Unrelentingly he demanded work. Never a student was allowed to escape that imperious law. For this his girls gave him honor. Well did they understand that Hollins was not for fashionable finish, or for money-squandering, but for downright honest study and true adornment of womanhood. He requested parents not to encourage extravagance in their daughters by putting in their hands undue sums of money to spend.
The sessions in the early eighties showed a rising volume of patronage from the Southern states, a condition that was to go from more to more. His chief resulting gratification was in the obvious awakening of Southern people to better appreciation of the higher culture of women. Along with this pleasing discovery, however, he began to realize a serious barrier to the task at Hollins, created by the defective preparatory training in the primary and secondary schools of the country. In later years the difficulty began to disappear. To him, education consisted in the acquisition of knowledge, the training of faculty, and more especially, the broadening and multiplication of powers. His students must think, reason, and understand. That is the top of culture. Did he show any disposition to remain satisfied with the standards already erected? Not by any means. This is a growing world where nothing is stationary but a cemetery. The developing impulse in the mind of the Founder would never subside while the perfect was unattained. Even in this good summertime of 1920, nineteen years after his going, the mighty momentum he gave to the College operates with undiminished force. One does not expect spectacular variety in the life of an educator, particularly in one whose labors for fifty years were focalized on one spot. Thephilosopher Kant never went away from the place of his birth, nor figured once in the publicities of his time, and yet the patient thinker has won undying fame among the intellectuals of the world. So we shall not find abundant incident at Hollins, but we shall know that its organizing genius is ever active and sounding the note of progress.
On the 15th of June, 1882, was adopted a new adjustment with the Trustees. Mr. Cocke was still unwilling to take over the property in payment of the Trustees' debt, but he had come to the conclusion that it might be wise to take a lease on it for fifteen years. To this the Trustees agreed, and the lease was duly written in favor of Charles L. Cocke and his son, Charles H. Cocke. At this time the debt due Mr. Cocke was $42,212, and by the terms of the contract, that sum might be increased to $50,000. An annual rental of $3,500 was to be due the Trustees, which was offset by the interest due on their $50,000 debt. In this arrangement the only right reserved by the Trustees was that of sanction of all improvements that might be undertaken during the period of the lease. On the very day when this agreement was written, Mr. Cocke submitted a plan for a Chapel. This was promptly approved by the Trustees. The work began, and soon the sacred edifice was an accomplishedfact. A little later the open grates and hot air furnaces in the buildings were abolished in favor of steam heat. The limestone spring and the pump in the yard were abandoned to give place to a reservoir on the side of Tinker Mountain, which supplied running water on every floor. Needed philosophical and chemical apparatus were forthcoming, and a beautiful Art and Music hall was built on the site of Carvin's rock castle. Then followed a new and enlarged dining room with all its appurtenances. The Trustees acquiesced cheerfully in all these betterments, but they looked on the vast increase of their debt in a sort of helpless wonderment. How should they ever meet the huge obligation? While they forbore to put a check on this advance, they were sure that there could be only one way of ultimate settlement.
In July, 1882, came the first great heartbreak his own household had ever known. His daughter, Rosa Pleasants Cocke, wife of the Rev. W. R. L. Smith, pastor of the First Baptist Church, Lynchburg, Virginia, passed to her dreamless sleep. She was young, beautiful, universally loved,—the fairest bloom of queenly womanhood. She left a little Edith, who, twenty months later, went to rest with her mother on the green hill near Hollins.
The enrollment of one hundred and seventy-sixgirls in the session of 1888-'89, was the largest in the history of the school. At this date the President found, by careful comparison, that during the past forty-seven years, the average attendance had been greater than that of any other school for girls in the State. The session of 1889-'90 registered two hundred and nine students, and for the first time since 1864 applications had to be declined. The only minor chord that marred the general joy sounded in the troubled minds of the Trustees. In his own private reflections, Mr. Cocke had to confess that the solution offered by the Trustees looked like the obstinate, unavoidable necessity. About this time he made known to the Trustees and friends, a compliment to the Institution, recently paid by the National Bureau of Education at Washington. In a report of that body concerning schools for girls in Virginia, Hollins was named the foremost Institution for girls, the best known and the most effective in the State. The report continues: "There is an admirable foundation already laid at Hollins Institute ... for a woman's college of the type of Vassar, Smith, Wellesley and Bryn Mawr ... in a beautiful and healthful region with ample buildings for a great beginning.... An investment of a million would place here a great school of the highest type, and perpetuate the well-earned reputationof this well-known Institute,—for the past forty years one of the most notable of Southern schools." This fine appraisement, coming from an independent and impartial source, was unspeakably pleasing to the man around whom this school had grown, and he could but cherish the hope that some large-minded man of wealth would arise to follow the suggestion of endowment made in the quotation.
A rare sensation was sprung on the Hollins community in the celebration of Mr. and Mrs. Cocke's Golden Wedding, December 31, 1890. All unknown to them, a group of loving hearts and hands had prepared an elaborate and impressive program. But some days before the brilliant event, mysterious hints, furtive interviews and beaming expectancy gave away the secret. Mr. Cocke himself began the jubilee in the early dawn, by slipping on the finger of his sleeping wife a handsome plain gold ring. All day, by letter and telegram, came happy congratulations and "bridal presents" from former pupils and friends. In the evening, Hollins took on unprecedented splendor with illuminations everywhere. Chandeliers, windows and doors were hung with ivy, and over the door of the main parlor, in large green figures, were placed the dates, 1840-1890. At 7:30 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. Cocke took their stand in the large parlor,thronged by loved ones and friends. Prayer was made by Rev. Dr. G. W. Beale, pastor of Enon Baptist Church and chaplain of the college. Then, the Rev. Dr. E. C. Dargan of Charleston, S. C., a former pastor of Enon and college chaplain, made an affectionate address. Among the appropriate remarks is the following quotation: "This great school, the love and labor of your life, speaks for itself, both in glad presence and widely extended absence. From over all the land, and indeed from far distant lands, the pupils of Hollins send their love and congratulations. Through the willing service of one who has labored long at your side,[1]they present to you this book, containing the signatures of hundreds, who came to learn of you. Their affection also presents to you this portrait, intending that it shall be a perpetual heirloom, at once a splendid souvenir of this day and a monument of their lasting gratitude."