Evening star., 1941-09-28
New LincoIns From
the Old Mold
BIZ Frederic J. HaSkin.

| college or university which never has
turned to the fancy frills Of education,
and one which from its very beginning
tried to make an American out Of an
American boy, is Lincoln Memorial
| University.
This somewhat obscure institution OF
learning, as great educational instltu-
| tions of this country are rated, is located
at Harrogate, Tenn, mile and one
half south OF the stone that marks the
meeting of Kentucky, Tennessee and
Virginia. Founded in 1897 to educate
thousands of young people who inhabit
| the mountain regions for 200 miles
| around. it has an enrolment Of nearly
| 600 and a faculty of approximately 40
instructors. Not only does the unlVer-
sitvs name honor the Great Emancl'
pator, but it has endeavored to be the
kind of an institution which Lincoln
would choose to attend were he to live
again and decide a college education
worthwhile.
The log cabin has been the first shelter
| of many Americans who have boasted
of humble heritage and Of many great
Americans of whom this country, with
iustifable pride, also has boasted. But
the fertility of fields, vast forests, eX-
| haustless mines humming factories,
smoking mills and great arteries OF cob
weblike transportation have made the
pioneer of few decades ago aftuent
today.
Philanthropic interest in education
largely has turned its attention TO i'm
migrants and not the native-born, to
the melting pot and not the log cabin,
for the log cabin seemed gone, and Is
gone but for the Appalachian range,
which, when the western course of en-
pire took its way, was hurled over and
forgotten. Cities are filled with worthy
societies, maintained by commendable
charity and philanthropic people. These
organizations operate through trained,
specialized and often highly paid social
workers for the uplift of millions OF new
comers TO American shores, hoping TO
make out Of them good Americans, but
often, if not always, forgetting that in
the cabin homes up and down the great
Appalachian valleys there are real
Americans waiting TO be AmeriCanlzed.
To Go this task, Lincoln Memorial Uni
versity was founded and for nearly so
years has hammered away at the job.
1t has rendered good account Of its
stewardship.
Lincoln Memorial University might
well be called the University Of Lost
Americans" for its mission is that OF
pointing the way to progress for pure
blooded American youths who. although
descended from the pioneers who settled
in the southern mountains before the
Revolution, are hemmed in, isolated, out
Of step with the world, and living under
virtually the same primitive conditions
as did their forebears. Their customs,
speech and manners are much akin 10
those of Daniel Boone. So the Lincoln
type is there, and the mountains that
look down might tell of other battles
against poverty and circumstance OF
birth being waged today by the same
type of mountain youth.
1t is this type Of young men and
women who compose the student body Of
Lincoln Memorial University, which is
one of the most dramatic and democratic
institutions Of learning to be found in the
country. In the depth Of its appeal to is
students it is perhaps the greatest uni
versity in the world. 1t is an institution
of learning where every student works
not only with his brain, but with his
hands. The gymnasium of the college,
for example, is the open field and the
out doors. Those who get their edu-
cation at Lincoln Memorial pay for it day
by day. There is no frivolIty, and ap-
parently no time for such. This is some
what contrary to the philosophy of recre-
alton taught in most institutions, but
there is a type of recreation in work, aside
from study, which serves its purpose and
makes horny-handed men and the kind
of women depicted in the famous poem
The Bravest Battle"
The young men who attend Lincoln
Memorial University are the Lincoln
type, high -principled, clean-cut, up
standing 6-footers, clear-eyed and keen,
quiet, fearless and courageous. And
there is nothing in the way OF sacrifice
too great for them to endure for the sake
of an education. What some Of them
already have done to reach the campus
of this institution would make an epic.
They come for 200 miles around, often
with all their belongings in a bundle.
Occasionally a lad may have few dol
lars, but in the majority Of cases nothing
save will to work. The institution finds
it difficult to turn young man away for
lack of room, for on more than one oeca
sion the answer has been I'll sleep on
the floor"
The valleys that lie between the coal
and iron laden mountain ranges in the
Cumberland Gap, in which the university
is located, are rich in virgin soil and form
one of the best sections of the United
States for diversified farming, particu
larly for dairy and fruit farming. Aside
from this very practical instruction in
science and elements of agriculture, in
animal husbandy, agricultural chemistry,
dairying and agronony. the student is
required to follow the ploW on the TOO
acre university farm. Not only so, but he
is taught and becomes a worker in every
step from planting to harvesting. His
knowledge Of the horse is made by use Of
) the currycomb and harness. He is not an
observer in milking clinic to obtain his
knowledge of a COW. Instead, he is given
a COW, milking stool and bucket and
told to come back with the milk. Milking
is also one of the tasks performed by the