Evening star., 1909-04-25

young men and women who lack the
mental qualifications to become competent
teachers and preachers from wasting
their time upon the higher branches.
I'VE try to direct our students to teach
ing and the pulpit said Dean Wright.
but the drift is toward medicine and
pharmacy. which are the most lucrative
professions Of the colored people in the
south. The larger proportion OF our man
graduates adopt them; the larger proper
tlon of our woman graduates become
teachers
The first president of the university was
DR.. z. NJ. Cravath. who served for
twenty-five years, until his death In 1900,
and to him more than to any other person
the institution owes its development. He
was graduSoe Of Oberlin College and
Seminary, and was the pastor of a Con-
gregational church at Milan. Ohio, when
the war broke out. He became a chap
lain. and then entered the freedmens s
work as secretary Of the American Mis-
sionary Association. He went through
the south selecting strategic places for
stitutions here at Nashville, at Atlanta,
Talladega, Tugaloo and at other places.
He founded more schools for colored peo-
pie than any other man, and they are all
prospering.
DR.. Cravath was succeeded as president
by Rev. J. G. Merrill. DID,. who served
with great ability and fidelity until 1908,
too heavy for him. and he resigned. Since
then, In the absence of a president, the
administration of the university has been
In the hands OF g. committee consisting
Of Dean H. H. Wright. Warren Bookin
Dora A. Scribner, registrar.
Walden University.
Walden University was established here
under the care Of the Methodist Church
North, and named after Bishop Walden
OF Cincinnati. about the same time as
Fisk. and originally occupied a large
brick building known as the gun factory,
which was fitted up for school purposes
by the freedman's bureau. The school
was opened in September, 1857, with about
200 pupils. who paid tuition fee of 81
per month.
In 1871 the college proper was organ
NAL and theological departments, planned
to meet the demands and necessities OF
the colored people. The catalogue showed
an enrolment that year of 226 students,
normal department. These two depart
ments have been the chief features Of the
institution, like those Of Fisk, because
the greatest requirement Of the south is
intelligent teachers and preachers for VII
lage and plantation work.
Meharry Medical Department.
The founding of the Meharry medical de-
partment in 1876, however, was the most
important event in the history Of the
college, for that has become the largest
and the most influential medical, dental
and pharmaceutical institution in the
| world for colored people. with a very
large school for nurses. This department
was founded by five brothers, Hugh, Alex
ander, David, Jesse and Samuel Meharry
Of Indiana, who furnished the funds for
its establishment. They. have all passed
to. their reward. but they lived long
enough to see more than one-haH Of all
the educated colored physicians in the
southern states practicing with diplomas
from the school they founded. 1t has
been under the direction of DR.. George
w. Hubbard ever since it was established.
He Is the oldest living teacher in the
south. He came down with a Christian
commission during the civil war and has
been here ever since, with record OF
remarkable success In discipline, finance
and educational work. He has fitted more
colored young men for useful careers in
medicine. pharmacy and dentistry and
more young women for nurses than have
graduated from any other school.
The Meharry Auditorium Is one Of the
institutions Of the city. 1t is intended for
clinics and will seat a thousand persons,
being ninety by sixty-two feet in size.
1t is built OF brick, by negro skill and
labor, and has laboratories. recitation
rooms and small lecture rooms connected
with 1t. The faculty of the medical
school numbers fifty-seven, and there are
nearly thousand man and woman stu
dents OF medicine, surgery, dentistry,
pharmacy and nursing. Mercy Hospital,
attached to the college, Is one Of the best
in the south.
The Walden University proper has. in
addition to the medical school, collegiate.
normal, industrial, law and commercial
departments, with schools of domestic
science music and a Bible training school.
There were 90 students last year. with
a faculty of seventy instructors. The
greater part of the students are being
trained for teachers. The capacity OF
the institution Is crowded in every de-
partment and the students come from all
parts of the south. In future letter 1
will tell what becomes of them when
they graduate. for that. after all, is the
important thing, especially because of
the prejudice that exists among the white
people Of the south against the education
of the colored people.