The bulletin of Atlanta University, 1907 no. 177

              Number 177                                      Atlanta, Georgia                                 December, 1907 Plans for Inauguration Day Tuesday, the 31st of December, is the day chosen for the inauguration of President Ware. This day has been decided upon partly because it is the nearest available date to the anniversary of the first President Ware's birthday. The program will include exercises in the morning in memory of Edmund Asa Ware, and in the afternoon the installation of Edward T. Ware. We hope to have with us Dr. Charles Cuthbert Hall, vice-president of our board of trustees, and other friends from the North, as well as a large number of graduates of the school and friends in the South. With special pleasure we are anticipating the presence of Dr. Bumstead, who will give the charge to his successor. With Other Schools A hurried trip of three days, covering about five hundred miles and stopping at four schools, can give one but a glimpse into the school life. Yet it may be worth while to set down some of the impressions gained in passing. One morning, about half past ten, I reached Tuskegee. The drive to the Institute does not give one a good introduction to the grounds of the school, for there is no good approach. One turns in at the gates, then turns again before one realizes that the great institution, builded up by that great man, Booker T. Washington and those working with him, is reached. Too much cannot be said of any school which offers an opening to the boy or girl with little knowledge and less money. To make such crude youths efficient contributing members of society is a grand work. Yet it is one that has its limitations. The beginning and the finishing of the process of education do not lie side by side. The school that devotes itself especially to giving students the start on the upward trail must look to other institutions to carry on the work more nearly to completion. In a very real sense Tuskegee Institute and Atlanta University are supplementing each other, the work of one for the masses of the Negro race and that of the other to supply teachers and leaders for a rising people. Several Atlanta graduates   have been  and  some now are connected with Tuskegee. Miss S. H. Porter, an Atlanta graduate, has just returned this year to take charge of the Woman's Department at Tuskegee. A night's ride on the train brought me to the Fort Valley school in the "wee sma' hours" of the morning. But the kindly hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hunt, known to all Atlanta University people for their loyalty to this school as well as for their success in their own work, sufficed to assure me a welcome even at that unseasonable time and provide for my comfort. This school is certainly doing a fine work. And it is growing. A girls' dormitory is in process of erection, the work being done almost entirely by the principal and the students. The school does not live to itself. In an outlying district a Sunday School has been organized, and is being maintained by Mr. Hunt with the aid of some of the more advanced students. Just now Mr. Hunt is much interested in raising funds to build a schoolhouse and open a district school. If he succeeds, and I find Atlanta graduates the succeeding kind, the school will have supplied a whole destitute neighborhood with educational and religious privileges. The Lawson School at Marshallville is one of the most interesting schools visited. Not alone the heroic work of two Atlanta University graduates, Mrs. Anna Wade Richardson, the principal, and Mrs. Blanche Curtis Walker, her able assistant, is worthy of mention; but the evident result of this work in the life of the community is to be noted. It is just wonderful what these women are able to accomplish with a pitiably meager equipment. Somehow they do train the scholars so that they master their studies, and what is more they are prepared to fill a useful place in life. The neighborhood where this school is located is being transformed by the influence which the school exerts upon its students. The houses are becoming real homes because of that which the Lawson scholars take back to them.  The Ballard Normal School of Macon but emphasizes that which marked all these schools, i. e., the cheerful devotion  of the  teachers  engaged   in   this work. Nor do they count it a sacrifice ; they gladly accept the opportunity to be workers together with God in developing a great race. Here, as elsewhere, Atlanta graduates have had their part in the work, nor is theirs a small part. It was a fitting ending to such a trip that I should visit the Negro Fair at Macon. Here among the school exhibits some of the best were the product of schools over which Atlanta graduates preside. Indeed I found the name of Atlanta University one that was held in high esteem everywhere, and in many places it was considered as the name at the top. J. Van Kirk Wells, Jr. A Notable Event at Howard University We wish most heartily to congratulate our sister institution, Howard University, and President Thirkield upon the notable success of the inauguration exercises which took place November 15th. On that occasion Atlanta University was represented by Prof. Thomas Chase, who has been for years in the service of Atlanta University and was only recently retired upon the honor roll of the Carnegie Foundation. We have a peculiar interest in President Thirkield, as he was for a number of years president of the Gammon Theological Seminary in So. Atlanta and was always a most cordial and helpful neighbor to Atlanta University. His long service in the cause of Negro education and his sympathetic association with the people of this race have resulted in making him a man peculiarly equipped for the duties of the office upon which he has entered. We feel that the cause of higher education for the Negroes has received the most encouraging endorsement of the nation by the speeches on that occasion from President Roosevelt, Ambassador Bryce and other men of national and international reputation, and we wish for President Thirkield the highest success in the office to which he has received such a notable inauguration. We count it an honor to co-operate with him and with Howard University in the great work of liberal education for the Negro race.