Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1902-01-02
interesting Letter from TazeweII sIrI.
Centenary College, lOct. l, 1901.


NV Dear Uncle:
The apology l wish to make for no
writing to you sooner is this; l wished Il
give you a full account of Centenary Col
lege, and as this cannot be done in few
words thought it best to wait until haC
ample time to write letter that would b'
satisfactory to both you and myself anc
also one that would give the school JUS
tice. Therefore | shall take advantage O
this opportunity to tell you all about Cen
tenary and my work.
arrived here Tuesday evening, sept. 3
and found that | was the first girl to come
Or. and Mrs. StubbIefeld gave me such
warm welcome that l soon felt tn wat
not entirely among strangers. Early
"Wednesday morning one of the teache'
kindly invited me to take a walk, which
gave me an opportunity to see something
of the town and also to get somewhat &C
ouainted with her. In the afternoon che
came I'M to NV room for little social
chat. mention these little cordlaiitiee
only TO let YOU know how genuinely hos
pitable was my reception at Cleveland
And in addition to these things l wlsh to
relate an incident that occurred on the
Train a. l came down. The day was not
and the car crowded. After had about
exhausted my strength in several vain ef'
forts to raise the window gentleman
kindly came to my relief. The next day
the same gentleman sat down to dinner
with me and proved to be no other than
the director of music, Prof-after much
time, labor and the aid of a catalogue L
have learned to spell it, but cannoe yet
pronounce-Ernest von Schechtendal.
But must not tarry too long here. SO
will proceed to tell you something OF the
opening of the school, which came of
Thursday morning. Sept. 8. Besides the
school and faculty we had present Rev.
George French, Rev. d. Emory Hawk,
DR.. J. A. Burrow and others, who gave us
inter esting and instructive addresses.
There we're also number of Cleveland's
intelligent citizens present. After prayer
the program consisted of excellent music,
both vocal and instrumental, rendered by
different members of the musical faculty,
and reading by the instructor in elocu
ton; these were followed by the short,
but pithy talks of the gentlemen before
named. l cannot give you the substance
of these speeches-it suffices to say that
they were full of good advice, sympathy
and encouragement for the students.
By Saturday evening the school of a
hundred and fifty students was thoroughly
Organized and regular work began in every
department Tuesday morning.
We have strong faculty, each with hls
especial duty well understood. Each teach
err takes pains to. explain every point SC
that we have ample opportunity to learn
our duty, but while these instructors are
patient and careful there is no drifting
about them and when an announcement Ii
once made it is seldom repeated. The
young lady who doesn't understand ha'
only herself to censure.
should like to tell you more of the fac
ulty and general management of thing
here and much of this beautiful town anC
the college surroundings, but ills would
take too much of my time to write an(
too much of yours to read. l will only sa'
that everything is as pleasant as one coul(
expect or wish.
My own individual advancement. i
nearest my heart, 20 will tell you some
thing of that came here with the desir
to complete, during this year, the reeula
course in mathematics and also to stud.
music, consequently un ertook review
of algebra and thorough course in geom
etry and trigonometry and both vocal an'
instrumental music, with three hours prac
tice. Not knowing how much of my alge
bra and geometry had slipped from M
during the five years that l have been on
of school, ] also undertook to carry
course in English literature, but this proved
loO much for me and l was forced to leav
it off, much to my regret. However, l re
manned in the class long enough to get
good review of the figures of speech anc
also to rub up my very rusty abilities IL
composition by paraphrase OF VIM. wet
more Story's English Language" Blu
now l am dividing my time about equally
between mathematics and music. My
class work IN algebra has not yet beer
much help to me. My work in trigonom
etry required more rapid review of alge
bra than the class afforded, for | soon dic
covered that trigonometry depended very
much upon a knowledge of algebra and as
had not looked into text book of this
kind for five years l could not state an
equation. Inability in this line has made
my work in trigonometry doubly hard, but
l feel that have kept up with my class
though l havn't as clear an idea of the
subject as l should like to have and as l
hope to obtain. Lines, tangents and &C.
cants are gradually unfolding themselves
to my benighte6 intellect.
The most interesting and pleasant study
l have is geometry. Miss Martin, the
mathematics teacher, is very patient and
also very strict in her requirements. l
feel that my interest is largely due to her
mode of teaching. have been able to
solve all the original problems and can
often demonstrate the theorems without
the aid of the text. Wentworth's Mathe-
mates is used here altogether.
Tie most important thing l have to tell
you about is the spiritual side of our
school, Our president, DIR. Stubbletield,
and our lady principal, Miss Ida Lee Dun
can. each try To imDress upon our minds