The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-05-30
YESTERDAY AMONG HOWARD STUDENTS W, s, Hendrix Wins in Junior
 0ratoricaI Contest DEDICATE LIBRARY HALL Named Montague Halr' In Honor of Presidents Late Wife-Reception By Ladies-Alumni
 Banquet.

10 ulGDldN lHtll dpililits dS bldAhls hN- fore their friends and the public in gen eral The exercises were held in the chapel of the college at 1o;3o o'clock yesterday morning. Following is the pro- gramme as carried out:
 Invocation-Dr N. B. Crumpton of Montgomery
 Piano Solo-Miss Bernard.
 Speech. "Opportunsm H. Akin.
 Speech, "The Message of the Great Arts"-H. II. Hagood.
 Duet Because I Love You, Dear Miss Carrie Wolff and Prof. c. w. Gun ningham.
 Speech, "The Prerequisite Conditions of a Poetic Age'-W s. Hendrix
 Speech, "The Nationalizing Power of the American sehopla-A. E. Page.
 Piano Soo-Miss Gertrude Wood.
 Decision of judges.
 Benediction-Rey W R. lvey of Oxford. George G. Miles of Montgomery, Hugh E. Ray of corlnth Miss. and J. F. Thompson of Centreville composed the committee of judges MT. Thompson act ing as spokesman and presenting the medal to the winner. In making his re- port, Mr. Thompson compllmented each
  ration that the speeches showed.
 He encouraged the losers by assuring them that the very loss of the coveted honor would serve as an incentive to greater effort in the future. He said that after considerable discussion the judges had unanimously agreed that the award should be made to MT. Hendrix of Syla-
 
 ceded to be a finished example of college eloquence and to have within 1t the fire and vigor that betoken great possibilities A. E. Page received honorable mention.
 Dedcatory Exercises.
 In the afternoon at 4 o'clock the dedi- catory exercises of the library building were held. This building, which has re- gently been erected. is a handsome two- story red brick structure containing rooms suitable for reference, reading and lecture purposes. It is situated in the left front of the campus and directly across from Renfroe hall. The interior finishing and the equipment have not been completed yet, but when it is finally opened 1t will have cost about s1oOOO.
 The exercises were conducted on the lawn in front of the building, and a good crowd of friends and patrons were pres ent
 The programme was as follows:
 Invocation-Rev. J. W. Partridge d9O6).
 Presentation for the Baptist Denoml- nation-Rev w. B. Crumpton, D. D., Montgomery.
 Hymn, How Firm Foundation"-C Col lege Students.
 Acceptance for the Board of Trustees Prof. J. B. Ellis.
 Hymn, Will There Be Any Stars In My Crown?'-Mss Carrie Wolff and Prof. c. ". Cunningham.
 Dedcatory Prayer-Rev. w. R. Ivey, Ox- ford.
 Benedictlon-The Rev. j. NJ McCord.
 Prof. Ellis acted as master of cere~ monies and after stating the purpose of the assemblage he introduced the Rev W. B. Crumpton.
 pr. crumptons Address.
 pr. Crumpton made a speech of about thirty minutes duration in his usual feli- ctous style, spmmarizing the inception and early struggles and present prosperity of Howard college. In happy vein he stated that he and pr. Davidson had sat up with the college when it was an in- fant, and that they had been associated with it's struggles keeping always in view the ambition for an ultimate princely en- dowment for the institution. He told how in 1876 the board of trustees had planned a campaign that was to secure this by getting dollar a head from the Baptsts of Alabama, and he detailed how he and Dr. J. J. D. Renfroe had made failure of this attempt.
 Continuing Dr. Crumption told of tho gloomiest days in the history of the in- stitution, when it was sold for a debt; ; when it was removed from Marion to East Lake on the promise of the support of the boomers of Birmingham; when they failing to live up to their contract and the college being almost without funds the people of the state had begun to lose confidence in it.
 gloomy God had sent them a man-Dr. A. P. Montague, the present president He then told how pr. Montague had literally walked down. S20, GOO for the college in the Birmingham district and had re-es- tablished the confidence of the people in its stability. He related how the presl- dent had been the moving spirit in the building of the magnificent new hall and of how he has planned a hall of science  with sympathetic reverence he said that what had sustained the president in his struggles was the inspiration of a noble wife who encouraged him in her quiet and gentle way; and he intimated that it would be proper to commemorate her influence by naming the hall for her.
 Trained Ministry.
 In conclusion. he said that the fathers founded the college because they saw the need for trained ministry that trained men required books; and that books re- qure building to serve as a repository hence the structure they were about to dedicate. As a last thought, he said: "The Baptists of Alabama lovingly and tender ly commend the care of this building to the trustees,' and he ended with q glow Ing prophecy of the great Howard uni- versity'' that he said is to rise on the hill of the campus.
 In accepting the charge for the board of trustees, Professor Ellis spoke briefly of the labors of the board for the college, and promised in their behalf that they would try to prove themselves worthy custodians of the hall After the hymn had been sung, in a few appropriate remarks he said that the unanimous desire of the board was to call the building Montague Hall" in commemmoration of the life of the late lamented wife of the beloved president. And thus the hall was dedi- cated.
 The dedicatory prayer of the Rev. w. R. Ivey was deeply impressive. After the customary words of consecraton. he spoke of the power of prayer and entreated that the hall may be devoted to noble pur- poses-that nothing may come in to it to defile the mind of any one.
 The dedicatory exercises being ended. the ladies of the Howard College Coop erative association rendered reception to