The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-04-29
M E N, w o M E N
 A ND T HIN G s


 have a good time.
 l think one of the great things in life Is to have lived in many places, although there Is much that can be said for the man and woman who have spent the best part of their years in the house in which they were born and the town in which they were reared
 look on Nashville with peculiar fond ness, as 1t opened up to me a new world in the wonderful days of my youth when entered Vanderbilt university It was then solid, substantial. aristocratic place with many years of stirring hls- tory behind 1t. and found much outside of my school to interest me.
 Even then it was known as the Athens of the south because of it's many insti- tutions of higher learning. The famous Ward school was in it's glory, and Prices was coming into it's own. It was in the days before the Belmont came into being, but at so early time the city was the educational Mecca for many of the ambitious women of the south,
 In the background was the Peabody institution with it's prestige as a teach CTS training school, and Vanderbilt had gotten rooted. but not deep enough, it seems, to withstand the later storm which swept it from out of the control of southern Methodism, the story of which am not going to set down here, al- though 1t was told me in detail by one Of the leading lawyers in the famous lawsuit over the property.
 US not for me, Baptist, to sit in Judgment on the courts decree or to rehearse the facts which led to the with drawal of the Methodists; but I hope will he permitted to say that all of my memories of 1t are entwined about It as a denominational school, as Bishop McTyeire was still living, and his son. in-law, pr. William Baskerville, the pro- lessor of English, was my dear friend. It was in the days of Tillett, Alexander and Tigert when Dr. Garland of blessed memory was chancellor
 rode through the grounds Wednesday afternoon, but what a change has taken place since the days when a carefree student l used to sit beneath the shade of the trees, wander through the walks, attend classes or work in the gymnasium! The latter, however, is little changed, save for what appears to be a temporary annex. l have never regretted the hours l spent in it, as I was getting my body in tune for later life. Our old athletic field has been plotted out by handsome homes. A baseball game was scheduled at Dudley field for the afternoon between Vanderbilt and Georgia, but didn't get to see it.
 Some handsome new buildings have been added to the old ones with which was familiar. A great endowment has been raised. The university, after the court decision, which was so far-reach- ing on it's future from a denominational standpoint, has gone forward at great rate in spite of it's losing the official patronage of the Methodist Episcopal
  church, south, and today is one of the great outstanding educational institu- tons of our people,
 The thing which made me realize more than anything else the passage of time were the trees on the campus. During my student days they had not assumed any great proportions, but now they look like the ones found in virgin forest. I had this brought close to me on re cent visit to my old home at Eufaula. I remember an oak in the front yard which 1 used to sway easily, but which had lifted it's proud head up heavenward, and it's trunk had grown so thick that I could not meet around it with my arms.
 I was with some Nashville friends, Drs. VanNess and McGill, of the Baptist Sun day school board, the former being the secretary and the latter the business manager; John Bell Keeble a distin- guished lawyer and the dean of the Van derbilt Law school, an old school and SS%AAS to come to Alabama for his wife, and Clifford Walker, formerly attorney gen. eral of Georgia, and recently beaten for governor by Tom Hardwick in the great political landslide which overturned some heavy political timber
 Ali being interested in schools, we took in Vanderbilt, then went out to Bel mont and found it to be great school in size, location and the numbers of pupils enrolled and in its purposes. l had remembered from my old Vanderbilt days the magnificent mansion and the attractive grounds and the beautiful sit gone up since then. until what was one of the greatest of the ante-bellum homes had lost it's original charm but the school has gained in having a suitable working plant I recall that during my months at the First Baptist church dur ing the centennial when pr. J. B. Flaw thorne's health failed, that l. had been invited out to speak to the student body
 Every one who knows anything about the Peabody knows that for years it has had all exceptional standing among the colleges of the south, and that owing to it's endowment it promises to be one of the greatest institutions in the whole country A most comprehensive plan has been worked out for the various build ings of the greater Peabody, and already