The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-06-06
Institution Has Fine Re cord.
Dr. John Massey, Its President. Has Served GaIlantly As soldier. Preacher and Educator In
 Alabama's History.
BY FRANK BURROWS.

| lutkeSee, June 5.-(Speclal.l--- When one member of family comes
 to the Alabama Conference Female College, all the rest who follow her, | will come, too"ti e
 The speaker was a member of the Board of Trustees of the State Metho- dist School. in attendance at the fif- I tieth commencement exercises here to- | day
 My wife attended college here" he continued, and her sister. as well as | two of my own sisters"
 I The truth of the statement was
 borne out by an incident which hap
 pened few minutes later. Miss Fan nie Delle Cook, of Montgomery, who is
 "a graduate in this years class. walked
 down the aisle of the college chapel | accompanied by an attractive but more l elderly woman. The lady was her
 mother, who Jas Miss Annie
 Gunter of Lowndesboro, had graduated from the college years ago.
 There are other instances of mother
 and daughter both claiming the Con- | ference College as their Alma Mater, at
 this commencement As the trustee said. 1t seems to be the general GUS tom for the mother who was graduated | from the Tuskegee institution, to send her daughters to the place where she secured her education And again, | when the oldest sister comes once to the school here. tsis |. seldom the younger ones do notefollow in her foot | steps.
 l pr. Massey. the president of the school, has in his class every day. the daughters of girls whom he taught years ago-and of men who have stud l fed under him also. for Dr. Massey's work as an educator of youth goes far l ther back than the thirty years he has been in Tuskegee.
 Just wherein lies the attraction which has given rise to the attach ment the graduates of the school | feel for their foster mother, is not easy 1 to determine.s Whether is be in the atmosphere of the place, in the quaint old building of yellow stone with its traditions dating back time out of mind; whether it be in the calmness and seclusion which seems to maks the college a. little world by itselfs or whether 1t is merely. the strength of former associations. it matters not. But that the hold it exerts over one who has once studied and worked and played within it's walls is strong. is evidenced by the annual pilgrimages of alumnae who come to see their daugh- ter, their niece of the srand-daughter, 1t may be. carry away the honors of graduation
 Attractions of the Spot. It is easy. even for the stranger to appreciate some of the attractions the | spot may hold: Set far back from the l quiet dusty street, in a quiet part of a | quiet town. the college buildings look beautiful trees. Shady spots, soft grass, the green of summer, make the place attractive It is a charming place for rest and tempting in its attractiveness. It bears the mark of the generations lightly. but the mark is. unmistakably there. The yellow walls of the main | h,Illdtno Ix.4 | of the spirits and voices of the hun dreds now scattered. who have. in | times past. gone in and out the doors Of the four buildings which the col lege now boasts, only one has lived through the life of the institution since it's founding. This is known as The College, large, square-framed struc- ture of yellow stone, marked but little by the ravages of age. This building, with the exception of three giant oaks, is the only thing about the college pr emises which was there when the doors of the institution were first thrown open to the young women of ago.
 History of school. The history of this historic place is full of interest. In 1854, the school was first chartered by the Legislature Of Alabama. under the name of the Tuskegee Female College. The corner stone of the college was laid in 1855 On February Il. 1856 1t was organized. with Rev. A. A. Lipscomb,, D. D., IL. D., afterwards chancellor of the Uni versity of Georgia, at Athens, as presi- dent
 Under the direction of Dr. Lipscomb. the college thrived. His superior cul- | ture crowned the enterprise with sue cess from the. outset. In 1859, howev- CT, Dr. Lipseonb retired; and Dr. G. w | F. Price succeeded him, retaining the position until 1862, when the Board of Trustees sold the property to Rev Jesse | Wood. who assumed control of the school.
 | In 1863, the property was again sold, | this time to Dr: c. D. Elliott, who re.
 mained president until the Alabama Conference of the Methodist church be-
 came the owner In fee simple, naming
 It the Alabama Conference Female Col l lege. Two men served as president
 of the school after that. before the | appointment of the present incumbent,
 Rev. H. D Moore, D. D., being in charge
 from 1872 until 1875, and Rev E. L.
 Loveless. D. D., the preacher In charge
 of the Tuskegee Station, holding the
 office for the remainder of that year
 pr. John Massey was elected to the presidency in June 1876, for a period of
 
 reelected at the expiration of each five year period ever since There are | few men In the South whose names are
 better known than Dr. Massey. Born
 in Choctaw County in 1884. the college
 president took his degree at the Uni
 versity of Alabama in 1862. At that
 time, he was urged to take up the l lifeWork of teaching. but yielding to
 the claims of a more Imperative call,
 h6 enlistend in Billiards Legion, and
 for two years saw active service in
 the Confederate army.
 In 1864, the governor of Alabama ap-
 pointed Dr. Massey to an assistant
 professorship at the State University, a
 position which he held until the col
 lege buildings were destroyed, April 4.
 1885
 A year later he was elected president
 of the Centenary Institute at Summer
 field, and during the eight years he
 spent there, was brought into contact
 with many students, whose daughters l have since been educated under him al
 the Conference school In 1869, the
 University of Alabama conferred up-
 or him the degree of Doctor of Laws
 Dr. Massey has been a member of the
 Methodist Church, South since he was
 twenty years of age, and is also n1em-
 ber of the Knights of Honor.
 In the years since Dr. Massey &C.,
 cepted the presidency of the Conference
 school, he has received many tempting | offers from larger universities, but he
 has refused them all, preferring to
 remain where he is, a guide 10 the