Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1920-01-29
Early Days of Shepherd College.
No. 4.

SIuStOIS. am Writing not from the
standpoint of an educator who wishes
10 show the development of the in
Sututon and who would give the
number of teachers that were employ
II when the college Was first launch
ID, with the duties of each of them
out from the standpoint of a country
soy of fourteen coming in contact for
he first time with an institution OF
earning differing so much from the
country school.
The study room of the BOYS of ths
college was under Prof d. ID. Pendle.
on. II school room is a beehive.
and work is 10 be judged by the
amount of buzZing that goes on, then
Prof. Pendleton's room stood for hard
and continuous work. To carry out
lie figure, the bees literally bump
ID against each other to get in and
out OF the hive, so intent were they on
their work. The buzz was so decided
hat a penknife in the hand of the
much-loved and good-natured in
5tructor pecked on his desk so con-
'inuously that the desk was pitted as
With smallpox, and had he ceased
pecking, the workers in this human
beehive would have stopped work.
probably, as though missing some
thing.
Prof. Pendleton was a slender man
of medium hei~' with very fine
hair with a tendency to wave, ant
scanty beard that was lighter in color
han his hair. He had gray eyes, a
pale complexion, and he dressed in
rebel" gray He was Eastern Vir-
ginia in his pronunciation, and has
1ersonitied refinement and culture
The boys all loved him. | saw him
brush away tear when some boy re-
cited "All quiet along the Potomac"
and heard him say under his breath
IL know What it means to have men
thus shot down on picket duty" Prof
Pendleton taught Latin and Greek
and other things, but his specially
was the classics, in which he was per.
'ectly at home. never think of his
ragic death without a shiver.
Prof. Samuel S. Smcl;zer had RUE
over the study room Of the girls. In
pite of his clerical ancestry and the
very clerical name he bore, "Schmuck-
cr" was not over-pious. He was
cutie a youth when he entered upon
his duties at Shepherd College, and to
make himself appear more dignified
as well as older he grew a prodigious
black beard, and wore a double breast
ID frock coat He had the reputation
Ut being a fine diSciplinarian. ]
shall never forget nv first recitation
in Prof Smeltzer's room. The text
cook was one on psychology What
The teacher did not know about the
subject would have made much
hat we were using. remem-
Der only that initial recitation, ana
larger book than Athens Psychology
my bewildermcnt when | got the i'm
preston that psychology was a sub
ject which was not understood by the
men who wrote on it; that teachers
who must teach it could not tell how
% study it; and that pupils who were
o recite must largely gang their
own gait" The study was somehow
thrust upon Prof. Smeltzer, who had
no special training in this sort of
study and no particular liking for
psychology or philosophy. In his
realm he was a fine Instructor, | was
told
now recall Mr. Smeltzer rather as
a man who told good jokes to us boys
on the side, and was fond of a hearty
laugh. He and his pals were to be
found at B. Bakers dry goods store
on almost any evening. felt that ]
knew him as man better than I did
any other of the teachers, and owed
to him my first job-that of teacher
in the public school at Mt. Hope, be-
low Charles Town. If Samuel
Schumacher Smeltzer was not a saint
it was not because he did not have a
sainted relative in Mrs. Geo. w.
Eichelberger, at whose home board
ed as teacher while in the Mt. Hope
neighborhood, who prayed for him
without ceasing but who, in spite of
her piety, had to laugh at times at
Schmucker's pranks and assumed
dignity.
Mrs. Lily P. Lee was the teacher of
the fundamentals, preparing younger
pupils for more advanced work. She
was woman of quiet dignity and
much refinement. Her smile was
sweet but sad. She came of family
celebrated for the beauty of the wo-
men. Mrs. Lees husband had been
killed in the Civil War, anc she was
left with wondrouSly beautiful
daughter, Laura, of whom wish to
speak later. The widowed soldiers
wife seemed to live only to watch her
daughter grow and to bask in the sun
shine of her daughters beauty and
buoyancy. Mrs. Lee was mentioned
on the deathbed of Gen. Jeb. Stuart
when he said: "My spurs, those al
ways worn in battle, promised 70
give to Mrs. Lily P. Lee, Of Shep-
herdstown."
OF Prof. Joseph McMurran,- the
principal Of the college, have al
ready spoken. When | come to speak
of the personnel of the student body
OF the institution, the unaccountable
whims of a boys fancy of >recollec-
tons embarrass me in writing If
am to be true to what | started out to
do, namely, to write as | actually re-
call persons and events, then there