Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-09-26
Opening of OglethOrpe
Is Marked BY Impressive
Ceremonies at ArnlOry
Four Thousand People Hear
Distinguished Speakers on
Past and Future History OF
Great Institution

, Heralded by the jubilant and powerful
tones of the big organ, which Numbered
forth the stirring strains of a process
sional, the faculty, directors and stu
dents of the reincarnated Oglethorpe
university marched with measured but
triumphant step down the main aisle OF
the auditorium-armory at IL o'clock in
the morning Of Sunday, September "a
1864 date and occasion to be remem-
bered for years to come by everyone
present and above all by the sixty-two
young men who share the Incompatible
honor of constituting the first freshman
class and the first student body of the
reborn university.
Four thousand people were there
Presbyterians for the most part, who
had suspended services in all the church
es to attend the ceremony of reopening
their college. There were mothers who
had sons in the solemn march up to the
platform and there were other mothers,
inspired by the sight, who hoped that
their sons would some day be counted
among those who attended Oglethorpe
university.
The march UP the aisle marked a full
fillment and a beginning. 1t was full.
fillment Of the hope of few men that
the old university would be revived, and
it was the beginning of a brightly writ
ten history of what is ordained to be
one of the nations great centers of in
tellectual and moral effort.
Clad in the solemn caps and gowns
enlivened here and there by the gaily
colored hoods of the professors, the line
passed down the aisle and mounted the
platform, facing one Of the largest
crowds that has ever been assembled on
such an occasion in the south Be-
sides the body of the Presbyterian con.
gregations there were the student bod
:es of Agnes Scott, Cox college, and Of
Georgia Military academy, in reserved
sections.
HISTORY Is TOLD
Speaker after speaker recounted the
glorious ante-bellum history of the in
stitution, when at Milledgeville it was
one of the leading seats of learning of
the land. They told Of the painful
crisis following the Civil war and of the
dissolution of the college which seem
ed forever They spoke of the great
names that have been connected with
the history of the institution, Laniers
LeConte Woodrow and others, and re-
leTE6u 10 TIE HOpC CilSIlSlSu ny Il lew
for fifty years, that some day Ogle-
thorpe would rise like the sphinx from
its ashes, greater than ever before.
With pride it was pointed out that
this hope was realized, that a solid
structure stands on the new campus,
that a student body is enrolled, ready
on Monday to begin lectures. And it
was foretold that the rehabilitated COL
lege would stand for years to come as i
powerful factor into the life of the
country source of inspiration in
thought, and a moulder of the lives OF
men,
And as the traditions and ideals of
Sne past were recalled, the old college
spirit was invoked to hover over the new
campus, Just as though it's buildings
were already covered with moss and
vines and gray with the passage of
years
Following the singing of Praise God
From Whom All Blessings Flow DIR. e
NJ. Green, a member of the class of SO
of the odd Oglethorpe," led the invoca-
ton prayer, and DR.. F. H. Gaines, presi-
dent of Agnes Scott college, read a chap
ter from the book of Esther.
Miss Edith McCool. a talented singer,
Continued on Page 6, Col. IL