Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1897-03-17
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DEATHsOF PROF VI. P. yENABLE.
The Passing of Il Ripe Scholar and Il Well
Equipped Man.

NJ. p. Nenable breathed his last at his
home on Solar Street, Bristol. A wear
ago Professor Venable attended the mu-
steal entertainment given by the Sher.
wood company. The night was bitterly
cold and there was but little fire, if any.
He contracted q severe cold and he never
was a well man since that night; but for
some months no serious consequences
were feared, but the effects of that cold
were silently, surely and inexorably
fastening upon that vital organ, the
heart. He continued, however, to work
with all his old time energy till about
August, and after that time he could
work a little every day, gradually les
SEEMING his work till November, when he
took his bed, from which nature never
recuperated his health sufficiently to al
low him to leave his room. His symp-
toms grew worse, but his family V
lost hope in the vigor of his constitution
to eventually rally. From the time of
his confinement the doctors never, at
any time, held out grounds for the slight
est hopes of his final recovery, and sew
eral OF the best physicians visited him
during his sickness. He began to sink
last Sunday and gradually passed into
a comatose state from which he never
rallied, and he passed away painlessly,
quietly, and without the slightest strug-
gle.
And thus passed away one of the pro-
foundest scholars of this section, a grad
nate of the University of Virginia and
right at the top of his class, and being
naturally endowed with mind that was
inquisitive and very logical, he loved to
solve the most abstruse problems of
mathematics, and there are few living
men that are his equals in this peculiarly
logical branch of human education.
Possessed of a wonderfully r~etentive
memory and an acute, restless inquisi-
tiveness, he acquired much that could
interest any scholar. In fact in every
field of science and philosophy he drank
deeply at the fountain head. His COLO
quail powers were equal to his knowl-
edge, and hence he was a welcome visi-
tor to any office, store or residence. His
superior powers never %engendered pride
or the least h%aut!ness, and there we NAV
seek and find the reason of his populari-
ty. Though he only came here seven
years ago from Little Rock, Arkansas, it
is doubtful if there is any citizen that is
better known or that has more friends
and fewer enemies.
In 1874 he took the Presidency of the
Fort Smith District High School at
Boonville, Ark. Here his versatile tai
ents and great energy shown out in a
great success. The school ~prospered and
many a successful person, who hears OF
his death, will attribute their success to
the teaching of their old "master."
Thence Mr.. Venable went to Little Rock,
Ark, where he had a p~rofessorship in
Stone Business College, and edited the
Southern Educational Journal. From
Little Rock he came, in 1890, to a pro-
fessorship in Sullins College. Here he
did a prodigious and versatile work till
1888, when he retired from school work,
and entered business in Bristol.
lie lived in the air OF scholars and pro-
found scientists, and hence like most
men of genius, he never paid much at
tention to the details and grosser things
of this life, and therefore never IL
tated much of this worlds goods, and be-
ing always willing to extend a helping
hand to poor aspiring youths in their
struggles for education, in the goodness
OF his heart he stinted himself to aid
them, and in many cases gave board and
tuition free of an! charge. Think of it.
Mr.. Venable wss a many sided genius,
almost within himself a cyclopedia of
information, anda man of varied accom-
complishments. TO read q masterpiece
in literature, was to be able to reproduce
it, and critically to enjoy and discuss it
and he began u read early, maintain
ing the habit through life. He had taste
for music also, ard most Of his life was
prominent in church choir service, at
times being the Efficient director Of this
department Of service.
a kinder heart never beat than his.
Generous he wa! to a fault. His last
morsel or penny he would share with
the needy, nor dill eve a sick man lack
for kind and skilful nursing, if he were
near and knew. The world was not to
him what it reall' is, but what his gen.
erous heart refleced. He assumed others
were as generous as h%e-thence came
most of such ills # life as came to him
He was born inFluvanna County, Va,
November 20, 1916 and when the civil
strife between Indifferent States began
his ardent, generous feelings were fired
by the call of his State to arms. His
services were vare and useful, and no
man saw more ofthe war than he. He