The bulletin of Atlanta University, 1907 no. 176

              Number 176                                      Atlanta, Georgia                                 November, 1907 To Our Donors A Letter from Ex=President Horace Bumstead Now that ray long service for Atlanta University has come to an end and my office as President has been assumed by another, I desire to say a few words to you in behalf of my successor, the Rev. Edward T. Ware, and the work which I have transferred to his hands. First of all I want you to know of the great satisfaction it is to me to have for my successor one who has all his life been endeared to me by peculiar ties of affection and who, as the son of my predecessor as well as by his own personality, gives gratifying assurance of a successful administration. It is also a great satisfaction to know that the life of the Institution is to go on with no serious break because of the change of administration, and that the historic policy and high ideals of the past will be maintained in the future. Surely all this must be a source of gratification to you also who for so many years have been giving generously for the maintenance of the work. Many of you are personal friends of myself or Mrs. Bumstead, and with a large number we have both of us been permitted to establish very pleasant relationships through personal calls or correspondence. We cannot forget at this time that interest in charitable work is often so blended with a kindly interest in the workers themselves that, when the workers change, there is danger of a lessened interest in the work. We trust that this will not prove true in the present case to any serious extent, but there certainly can be no harm in reminding our friends of the possible danger. Though no longer actively connected with Atlanta University, neither Mrs. Bumstead nor I can ever cease to be interested in its welfare. We shall carry its needs upon our hearts and rejoice, as heretofore, in every indication of its growth and prosperity. For our sakes then, and still more for the sake of the work, than which there is none more needy and at the same time more fruitful in its far-reaching results, will not you, dear friends, continue and if possible increase the aid which you have so kindly given in the past? Cumulative Influence The. large number of letters which come to us from the graduates of Atlanta University in all parts of the South, expressing their renewed devotion to this work, brings in to prominence the cumulative influence of an institution of such long standing as this. The five hundred and sixty-one graduates who are working in all parts of the South, many of them as teachers of public schools and secondary schools, as well as the large number of undergraduates who have left Atlanta, before completing their course, serve to spread the interest in and loyalty for this work. What Yale and Harvard Universities are to countless people in the North, stimulating interest and binding men together by ties of fellowship, that Atlanta University, and two or three others of the older institutions for the education of the Negro, are to these people in the South. This sort of influence can not be built up in a day. It is the result of the thirty-eight years of constant work, and as long as the influence is of the right sort it is cumulative in effect. The word that goes forth from this hill and the influence which spreads from this campus have a peculiar effectiveness among Southern Negroes. This is one of the points where the leaven is applied which is sure to leaven the whole lump. We wish that this thought might be prominent in the minds of those who wish to use their resources for the uplift of the race. There is always something peculiarly enticing in the fostering or supporting of a new enterprise, and of course the growth and development of a race always demands new institutions to meet the special needs of the present time; but when a school has once become well established and the sense of novelty and a certain flavor of romance has worn away, something else must take their place in the minds of interested people. Early morning is usually beautiful and inspiring, but the heat and burden of the day must be borne; and is it not then that the work of greatest effectiveness is often accomplished?   The   place   where At- lanta University now stands was forty years ago a red clay hill, surmounted by Confederate breastworks. A young man stood upon the breastworks and looking off towards the West saw a vision of green campus and stately buildings, which has been in large part realized. At that time a few young people, unaccustomed to freedom, assembled on this hill, thrilled with excitement and a curious sense of something miraculous in the learning of books. These people through experience have come to know that education means work and opportunity means responsibility. To-day there are three hundred and fifty young people of high school and college grade in Atlanta University. Many of them are the children and grandchildren of those who first came here to go to school. The vision of the future which came to Edmund Ware, who founded this school, has not yet been fully realized, nor will it be for many years to come. The vision of development and enlarging usefulness is still before us, but that which has been accomplished through the years ought to be resulting in the largest usefulness in the present. We have our beautiful grass-grown and wooded campus; we have our seven substantial buildings with their equipment for work; we have our young men and women coming from all over the South to study here in such numbers that we cannot accommodate all who apply; we have the cumulative interest which the years have piled up among the Negro people of the South; we have our graduates and our old students making by their lives centers for wholesome and inspiring influence. All this is our heritage from the past, the gift to us of those who have done their day's work well in the world, and some of whom have for it paid the last full measure of devotion. And in order that these real possessions may be put out at interest and bring the largest returns, we appeal to our friends to uphold our hands by generous gifts to this work which has so noble a past, so great an opportunity in the present, and such unmeasured possibilities for the future.