The bulletin of Atlanta University, 1886 no. 3

              THE BULLETIN OF   ATLANTA   UNIVERSITY. No. 3. ATLANTA, GEORGIA. December, 1886. This number of The Bulletin is issued in memory of our late President. It contains the Addresses delivered in the Chapel of Stone Hall at the Memorial Service held December 22, 1885, upon the Forty-Eighth Anniversary of Mr. Ware's birth, together with some extracts from the utterances of the Press and Pulpit, and some lines composed by one of the undergraduate students. EDMUND ASA WARE. Mr. Ware was born in North Wren-tham (now Norfolk), Mass., December 22, 1837, and was the son of Asa B. and Catherine [Slocum] Ware. He received his early education in the public schools of his native town. When fifteen years old he removed with his father's family to Norwich, Conn., where he entered the Norwich Free Academy, and was fitted for college by its principal, Mr. Elbridge Smith. In 1859 he entered Yale College, from which he was graduated in 1863. He then returned to Norwich, and taught for two years in the Free Academy, where under the guidance of his former instructor he began to develop his remarkable teaching power. In 1865 he went to Nashville, Tenn., where he served for a year as principal of one of the newly organized public schools of that city. In 1866 he came to Atlanta, Ga., and under the auspices of the American Missionary Association commenced the educational work to which he devoted the rest of his life. In 1867 he was appointed Superintendent of Schools for the State of Georgia under the Freedmen's Bureau, and travelled widely in the prosecution of his work. The same year a charter was obtained for Atlanta University, of which institution, in 1869, he became president, and continued in this service until his death. The school year of 1874-75 he spent in foreign travel, visiting the British Isles, various countries of the Continent, including Italy and Greece, and also Egypt and Palestine. He died suddenly of heart disease, September 25, 1885, in Atlanta, and was buried September 29, in Westview Cemetery, in the suburbs of the same city. In November, 1869, he was married to Sarah Jane Twichell of Plantsville, Conn., who survives him, together with three daughters and one son. HIS EARLY LIFE. BY  PROFESSOR   HORACE   BUMSTEAD. I am to speak, not of President Ware of Atlanta University, but of Edmund Ware, the New England boy. His boyhood was of that sort from which so much of the best manhood of our country has been developed. As we review it, we shall discover some of the sources of power which made his later life a success. Forty-eight years ago he was born in North Wrentham, now Norfolk, in Eastern Massachusetts. It was a pleasant boyhood, and its joys were innocent and wholesome ones. A white rabbit, a goat, and two hounds were the pets with which he played at home. He batted the ball and shouted " Hy-spy " with the village boys. He roamed the woods for nuts and grapes, and visited  daily the  snares  he had  set for par- :¦.-:::;::.„¦!:¦...........    .,¦ ¦' ~~r~--r»^~>.~^-^^^—                                                          tridges. He threw the line for speckled trout in the meadow brooks. He rowed his boat upon the pond to gather the fragrant water-lilies. Into all these recreations he entered with a spirit of enthusiasm which added to their zest and to their happy effect upon his physical and mental growth. It was an industrious boyhood. In summer he gathered blueberries, huckleberries, and blackberries for market ; not, however, disposing of his stock until he had thoughtfully turned over to his mother what might be needed for use at home. It was the custom for all the children of the neighborhood to have a daily task at the work of braiding straw. The rye was raised on the farms, cut, bleached, and split into strands. When a hundred or more yards were braided, it was sold to the agents of hat and bonnet manufactories. In this home industry Edmund engaged, and with such persistent application that, when at work, nothing could divert him until the task was completed. When twelve and thirteen years old he spent his school vacations in service as clerk in a vil- lage store. When fourteen he cultivated and harvested thirty dollars' worth of vegetables. All the earnings of his youthful labor he turned into the family treasury, contenting himself with such presents as he received from time to time, and letting even these accumulate until they amounted to fifty dollars. It was a conscientious boyhood. His mother has no recollection of his ever being untruthful. His village teachers all commended him for his unvarying conformity to the right in school. It is said that when fifteen years old he had never been absent a day nor had a mark for tardiness. " One morning as the bell stopped," writes one, " his seat was observed to be vacant. Those near the windows, looking out, saw him running at full speed trying to gain his seat before his name should be called. The teacher was seen to cast an eye to the window, and then to linger a moment before he called the roll. Thus he was seated in season to respond when the W's were reached." When serving as clerk in the village store, his employer showed him a certain article which had some defect about it, not very readily noticed, and bade him say nothing about the defect when offering it for sale. He promptly told his employer that he could not obey any such instructions. His conscientious spirit not only kept him from injustice towards others, but led him to resent the injustice of others towards himself. It was stipulated between his employer and himself that he should have every Thursday afternoon as free time. After a while the employer was disposed to disregard this part of the agreement by not being on hand to take charge of the store himself. As soon as this disposition was discovered, the young clerk quietly locked the store door, and took his afternoon, as had been agreed upon. It was an ambitious boyhood, — ambitious, of course, in the best sense of the word. He eagerly seized upon and improved every opportunity for self-improvement. When fifteen years old his father sold the farm in Norfolk, Mass., where he had been brought up, and moved to Norwich, Conn., to engage in the straw business. The purchaser of the Norfolk farm interested himself to get Edmund to Boston to go into business. But this opportunity was wisely declined ; and, accepting the father's offer to continue his education, he moved with the family to Norwich, where, after some preliminary training, he entered the Norwich Free Academy, one of the best schools in New England, of which Mr. Elbridge Smith was principal. Here many facilities for mental growth and culture not previously enjoyed were put within his reach. He had the reading of the best books and periodicals. The fact that here he first read "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is of in-