Dr. Walter L. Lingle gave this Founder’s Day speech in 1948, while he was President of Davidson College. Lingle was an ATS Professor from the beginning of the school, and was President of ATS from 1918-22; 1923-29. Dr. Frank McFaden was Interim President in 1922-23.
The Founders and Early Years of A.T.S.
by Walter L. Lingle
It did not take long for a generation that knew not Joseph to arise in Egypt. Nor does it take long for a generation to arise who know not the founders of Assembly’s Training School—nor even their names. So first of all I want to introduce you to some of the leading founders, all of whom I knew intimately. Perhaps it would not be too egotistical for me to quote those words of Virgil: “These things I saw; part of them I was”.
I. The Founders and the Beginning
1. Rev. A. L. Phillips, D.D. I thing that it can be truly said that the General Assembly’s Training School was born in the heart of Dr. A.L. Phillips. Let us look for a moment at the man. He was born in 1859 at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where his father was a professor of Mathematics at the University. From 1869 to 1875 his father was professor of Mathematics at Davidson. So Dr. Phillips spent his boyhood days from the time he was ten until he was 16 on the campus of Davidson College. In 1875 his father went back to the University of North Carolina, and Dr. Phillips graduated from the University. In after years he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from that Institution. From 1891 to 1898 he was Secretary of Colored Evangelization and head of Stillman Institute. From 1898 to 1901 he was a pastor in Nashville. From 1901 until his death in 1915 he was connected with the Presbyterian Committee of Publication here in Richmond, as Superintendent of Sunday School and Young People’s Work for our whole Church. He was the first person to fill that position. Physically, Dr. Phillips was rather heavy-set, and overflowing with energy, ideas, and good humor. In short, he was a dynamic personality.
2. Dr. R.E. Magill. At the insistence of Dr. Phillips, Mr. Magill was brought to Richmond as Business Manager of the Publication Committee. In 1903 he was made the Secretary of the Committee, and filled that position until his retirement in 1934. Mr. Magill was born in Chickamauga Park, Georgia in 1861, so he was a little boy when the battles of the Civil War raged so fiercely around that historic spot. For twenty years Mr. Magill was a business man in Nashville. He was also an elder in the church of which Dr. Phillips was pastor, and superintendent of the Sunday School. He was a quiet, efficient person. In fact, he could do more work and make less noise about it than any other man I have known. The friendship between Dr. Phillips and Mr. Magill reminded one of that between David and Jonathan. They worked in the closest cooperation to get the General Assembly to found a training school for lay workers. In fact, they had founded such a training school while they were in Nashville, with the cooperation of Dr. Payne, President of Peabody College; Payne was also an elder in Dr. Phillips’ church. They worked out a comprehensive curriculum. They also secured Dr. Richard Morse Hodge to teach the courses in English Bible. He proved to be an excellent teacher. The school ran for three years, closing for lack of funds in the very year that Dr. Phillips came to Richmond. As Dr. Phillips, in his new role in Sunday School and Young People’s work, travelled up and down through the Church, he saw the dire need for better-trained Sunday School teachers and workers. So the idea of having a General Assembly’s Training School for Lay Workers, such as he had started in Nashville, loomed larger and larger in his thinking.
3. Just here let me introduce you to Dr. Walter L. Moore, President of Union Theological Seminary, and one of the co-founders of the Training School. He was born in Charlotte in 1857, and entered Davidson College in 1874, the last year that Dr. Phillips’ father was a professor there. Dr. Moore, as a Freshman, probably learned to know Dr. Phillips as a fifteen-year old boy on the Davidson campus. At any rate, they knew each other intimately through the years. Dr. Moore was a great teacher and preacher. He was one of the most princely men, and the most impressive personality I ever knew. When Miss Annie Wilson, of Richmond, volunteered for the foreign field, and asked in 1907 the Seminary to allow her to take certain courses to prepare her for foreign work, Dr. Moore began to see the need of a Training School for Mission workers. A little later, he and Dr. Phillips put their heads together and had a summer school for lay workers in the seminary for two weeks in 1909. If my memory is correct, Dr. Phillips conducted similar schools for lay workers in our other theological seminaries. We will see Dr. Moore’s part in founding A.T.S. a little later.
Dr. Phillips and Mr. Magill, being in charge of the General Assembly’s Executive Committee of Publication and Sunday School and Young People’s Work, were in a position to press the idea of having an Assembly’s Training School. Dr. Phillips talked about it in season and out as he traveled over the church. By 1909 he began to present the idea to the General Assembly in his Annual Report to that body. He presented it again more fully and forcefully in his 1910 and 1911 reports. The upshot of the whole matter was that the General Assembly of 1912 approved of having a training school for lay workers, and appointed a committee to receive offers. Here it may be stated that Dr. Phillips and Mr. Magill did not want the training school to be located in Richmond or near any other seminary, for fear that it might be considered an annex to the seminary. They wanted it located in Nashville, near Peabody College, where the training school students could take the Peabody courses in teacher training. But just here Dr. Walter W. Moore went into action. He was convinced that it should be located in Richmond, near the Seminary. Accordingly, he went to work to see that Richmond should make a better offer than any other place. If you want to know just how hard he did work along this line, read Dr. McAllister’s Life of Dr. Moore.
Dr. Phillips and Mr. Magill, being in charge of the General Assembly’s Executive Committee of Publication and Sunday School and Young People’s Work, were in a position to press the idea of having an Assembly’s Training School. Dr. Phillips talked about it in season and out as he traveled over the church. By 1909 he began to present the idea to the General Assembly in his Annual Report to that body. He presented it again more fully and forcefully in his 1910 and 1911 reports. The upshot of the whole matter was that the General Assembly of 1912 approved of having a training school for lay workers, and appointed a committee to receive offers. Here it may be stated that Dr. Phillips and Mr. Magill did not want the training school to be located in Richmond or near any other seminary, for fear that it might be considered an annex to the seminary. They wanted it located in Nashville, near Peabody College, where the training school students could take the Peabody courses in teacher training. But just here Dr. Walter W. Moore went into action. He was convinced that it should be located in Richmond, near the Seminary. Accordingly, he went to work to see that Richmond should make a better offer than any other place. If you want to know just how hard he did work along this line, read Dr. McAllister’s Life of Dr. Moore.
4. Here I want you to meet Mr. Owsley Sanders, who was an elder in the Ginter Park Church, who should be thought of as one of the founders of A.T.S. He was President of the Presbyterian League of Richmond, and under his leadership the League raised a good many thousands of dollars for the proposed training school. Later he was a tower of strength to me when I was appointed Acting President of A.T.S. I do not see how we could have gotten along without him in those early years. In the meantime, Dr. Moore secured $3,000.00 a year for three years for the proposed training school, from Mrs. Kennedy of New York. Then the Seminary offered a two-acre site for the training school in Sherwood Park, just west of Mission Court. The present campus consists of 11 or 12 acres. That gives you some idea of the size of the proposed site. Montreat and Red Springs, the seat of Flora Macdonald College, also made offers. Nashville did not rise to the occasion. Inasmuch as Richmond had made the best offer, and was also considered the most suitable location, it was finally decided in 1914 to locate the Training School here. Richmond’s offer, including the amount raised by Dr. Moore in New York, consisted of the two-acre site, and a sufficient sum of money to run the Training School for three years on an economical basis in rented buildings.
5. And now let me introduce you to another founder to whom the Training School owes a great deal – Rev.William Megginson. He was elected Dean of the Training School, and put in charge in the summer of 1914. Mr. Megginson was a native of Greeneville, Tennessee, President Andrew Johnson’s town, and took his theological course at Louisville Seminary. Prior to his coming to the Training School, he had spent much of his life in Sunday School and Y.M.C.A. work. He was a genial, likeable Christian gentleman, and for four years gave himself with devotion to the Training School. He was the choice of Dr. Phillips for this position, and leaned heavily on Dr. Phillips, whose death a few months after the opening of the Training School was a severe blow both to him and to the School. Just why they called Mr. Megginson Dean instead of President, I never knew. Perhaps it may be well to pause here and rest a bit, while I give you some definition of a dean, which I have heard. These definitions refer only to deans of colleges, and have no reference to Mr. Megginson or any dean of the Training School.
I was once introduced to Dr. C.A. Beard, noted historian, who, in his deafness understood that I was a dean. He proceeded to give this definition: “A dean is a person who does a great many things with meticulous care which should never have been done.” Another definition is that a dean is a person who knows a little too much to be president, and not enough to be a professor. And then this story: The president of a civic club requested that the president of a college send him a speaker. He said they did not want anyone lower than a dean, and that they would like to have a wit. The president telegraphed back: “We have nobody lower than a dean. Have no wit, but could send you two half-wits.”
I was once introduced to Dr. C.A. Beard, noted historian, who, in his deafness understood that I was a dean. He proceeded to give this definition: “A dean is a person who does a great many things with meticulous care which should never have been done.” Another definition is that a dean is a person who knows a little too much to be president, and not enough to be a professor. And then this story: The president of a civic club requested that the president of a college send him a speaker. He said they did not want anyone lower than a dean, and that they would like to have a wit. The president telegraphed back: “We have nobody lower than a dean. Have no wit, but could send you two half-wits.”
6. Now that we have rested a bit, let us take up the thread of our story. The Training School was formally opened on Wednesday night, November 14, 1914, with a mass meeting of Presbyterians in the Second Presbyterian Church of Richmond. Thus the Training School began without a building, without a classroom or a boarding department. There were about ten out-of-town students, and they found rooms and board as best they could. Temporary classrooms were provided in the building of the Presbyterian Committee of Publication, which then stood at the Northwest corner of Sixth and Grace Streets. This building was later purchased by Miller and Rhoads, and a part of that great store now occupies the former site of the Presbyterian Committee of Publication. Dean Megginson was the only full-time member of the faculty, and only one who drew a salary. Other members of the faculty were from the Presbyterian Committee of Publication, and from Union Seminary. We Seminary professors who taught classes in the Training School had to run down to the Presbyterian Committee building to meet those classes. We soon discovered that it was not possible to keep up that arrangement indefinitely. It was hoped that somebody would give the money to erect a building on that two-acre lot, but the money did not come.
A better arrangement was made for the second year. In the summer of 1915 the large residence at the Southwest corner of Chamberlayne and Westwood Avenues was rented, and fitted as a dormitory with boarding department. A matron and a colored cook were added to the paid staff. It was also arranged for classes to meet in the dining room. There were about twenty students in the boarding department. That second year they were packed in like sardines. The conditions were very primitive. There was a lot of plain living and high thinking. The students did most of the household work. It was during those years in rented buildings that the students created the beautiful Christian atmosphere that has characterized the Training School from that day to this.
In 1916 another building was rented on Chamberlayne Avenue. Even with the additional building, conditions were crowded. More and more students were being attracted. Mr. Wade O. Smith wondered how so many got into the dining room without a shoehorn!
Just here there comes to mind a tragic event with some amusing features. Mr. Megginson had come from Biloxi, Mississippi, where the climate is semi-tropical, and he did not know how severe the winters could be in Richmond. When Christmas vacation came, all the students went home, and the rented buildings were locked up. Mr. Megginson also went for a little vacation. When he got back, all the water pipes in both buildings were frozen solid. He thought that if he would build fires in the furnaces and the kitchen range, they would thaw out, and all would be well. He learned better when things began to explode, with metal flying around promiscuously. The only thing to do was to take to his heels. I happened to be on the Board of Trustees at the time, and remember that the plumbing bill for repairs was $1,200.
At the end of the third year, the funds that had been raised for the support of the Training School were exhausted, and additional funds must be raised. It was hard sledding. Toward the close of the fourth year, Dean Megginson accepted the position of Superintendent of the Presbyterian Orphanage at Lynchburg, where he rendered a noble service until his retirement a few years ago. I doubt whether the friends of the Training School have ever realized how large a debt they owe to Mr. Megginson for those four years of pioneer service.
A better arrangement was made for the second year. In the summer of 1915 the large residence at the Southwest corner of Chamberlayne and Westwood Avenues was rented, and fitted as a dormitory with boarding department. A matron and a colored cook were added to the paid staff. It was also arranged for classes to meet in the dining room. There were about twenty students in the boarding department. That second year they were packed in like sardines. The conditions were very primitive. There was a lot of plain living and high thinking. The students did most of the household work. It was during those years in rented buildings that the students created the beautiful Christian atmosphere that has characterized the Training School from that day to this.
In 1916 another building was rented on Chamberlayne Avenue. Even with the additional building, conditions were crowded. More and more students were being attracted. Mr. Wade O. Smith wondered how so many got into the dining room without a shoehorn!
Just here there comes to mind a tragic event with some amusing features. Mr. Megginson had come from Biloxi, Mississippi, where the climate is semi-tropical, and he did not know how severe the winters could be in Richmond. When Christmas vacation came, all the students went home, and the rented buildings were locked up. Mr. Megginson also went for a little vacation. When he got back, all the water pipes in both buildings were frozen solid. He thought that if he would build fires in the furnaces and the kitchen range, they would thaw out, and all would be well. He learned better when things began to explode, with metal flying around promiscuously. The only thing to do was to take to his heels. I happened to be on the Board of Trustees at the time, and remember that the plumbing bill for repairs was $1,200.
At the end of the third year, the funds that had been raised for the support of the Training School were exhausted, and additional funds must be raised. It was hard sledding. Toward the close of the fourth year, Dean Megginson accepted the position of Superintendent of the Presbyterian Orphanage at Lynchburg, where he rendered a noble service until his retirement a few years ago. I doubt whether the friends of the Training School have ever realized how large a debt they owe to Mr. Megginson for those four years of pioneer service.
II. A New Era
1. Grounds and Buildings. With the exhaustion of funds, and the leaving of Mr. Megginson, the trustees, of which I was one, were up against it. At the suggestion of Dr. Moore, I was elected acting dean, or president. I was almost overloaded, and did not see how I could take it. In addition to a full load of Seminary and Training School classes, I was editor of the Seminary Review, Chairman of the Montreat Program Committee and Platform manager, President of the Trustees of Davidson College, and a member of the International Sunday School Lesson Committee. These extras took a considerable amount of my time, but I agreed to accept if the trustees of the Seminary would give their approval, which they did. From the Spring of 1918 to the summer of 1929, I was either the acting president, or president, with the exception of the 1922-23 session, when Dr. F.T. McFaden was president. For five of those years, I was acting president, and for five, sure-enough president.
From this time on, the story will necessarily sound very egotistical, as I am writing out of my own experiences. The General Assembly met soon after I was elected president, in 1918. I requested that Mr. Owsley Sanders be made a trustee, which was done, and he became my right-hand man, and a tower of strength to me. I also suggested that three women be elected trustees by the Assembly; Miss Katherine Hawes, our neighbor here in Ginter Park; Mrs. H.M. Price, of Baltimore; and Mrs. A.W. McAlister, of Greensboro, N.C., were elected. Miss Hawes became an active and valuable member of the trustees, and in due time was made Vice-President of that body. She also taught some classes in the Training School. So far as I know, this is the first time the General Assembly ever elected a woman to any position in our Church. It is true that Mrs. W.C. Winnsborough was made Superintendent of Women’s Work five years prior to this, but she was elected by the four Executive Committees of the General Assembly, and was not permitted to read her own report to the General Assembly for fifteen years because she was a woman. How times have changed!
One of the first things that Mr. Owsley Sanders did after being made trustee was to suggest that we purchase the residence which the Training School occupied at the corner of Chamberlayne and Westwood. There wasn’t a dollar in the treasury! He should be named along with the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11. He suggested that I try to raise some money among my friends, and promised that he would get the Presbyterian League to chime in. To begin with, I wrote three letters. In response, Mr. George W. Watts of Durham, sent a check for $3,000. Mr. C.E. Graham of Greenville, S.C. sent a check for $3,000, and Mrs. Burton of Danville, Virginia sent a check for $2000. So we bought the house. As time went on, we bought two other houses, and three vacant lots in the block across Westwood Avenue from the Seminary. We did not think that the two-acre lot in Sherwood Park was quite suitable for the Training School that we had in mind. So it was our thought that we might secure a sufficient amount of property in that block across Westwood Avenue for the future location of the Training School. At the same time, we felt sure that the property we were purchasing in that block would never be worth less than we paid for it, if we wanted to sell it.
And now, the Presbyterian Committee of Publication, under the leadership of Mr. Magill, donated fifty thousand dollars in United States Liberty Bonds to the Training School. That gave us quite an uplift. Then it came to our ears that Mr. John Stewart Bryan would be willing to sell us the present Training School campus. We conferred with him, and got some real estate men to make an appraisal of its value. My recollection is that we gave him $50,000.
With an adequate campus, we were now ready to think and talk about buildings. An architect drew a sketch of the present Watts Memorial. About that time I received a letter from Dr. D.H. Scanlon, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Durham, N.C., saying that when Mr. George W. Watts died the year before, he left his wife with a considerable sum of money, and that Dr. Thornwell Jacobs of Oglethorpe, Dr. W.W. White, of the Biblical Seminary, and others, were camping on her doorstep, and that some institution was going to get a handsome sum of money, as she was a generous person. He suggested that I present the Training School to her in person. I wrote for an appointment, and she graciously invited me and Mrs. Lingle to spend the weekend of January 1, 1922 as guests in her home. I carried the architect’s plans of Watts Memorial with me and showed it to her. She was the most gracious person I ever talked to about money, and before we left on Monday morning, she promised to erect Watts Memorial Dormitory, which she understood would cost about $200,000. It actually cost more than that, as the builders struck quicksand and a spring in excavating the basement. It cost a good deal extra to drive pilings to make a good foundation. Mrs. Watts later gave $100,000 for the endowment of the President’s Chair. Later she married Governor Cameron Morrison of North Carolina.
About this same time the Synod of Virginia put on a campaign for $1,000,000. The amount was oversubscribed, and a sufficient amount to construct Virginia Hall was assigned to the School, but Alas! And Alack! Many of the subscriptions were never paid, and the Training School found herself with a debt of approximately $60,000 around her neck. This cramped our style for a number of years.
With these buildings provided for, and the plans drawn, I felt that it was high time for the Training School to have a full-time president, and insisted that one be elected; whereupon the trustees elected Dr. Frank T. McFaden, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Richmond. He took charge July 1, 1922. He was one of the Lord’s noblemen, and made a large contribution to the Training School, both as a trustee and as president. With his election I felt that my work with the Training School was over, and that I could settle down comfortably in my chair at the Seminary. Dr. McFaden took hold of the work with enthusiasm and proceeded with the erection of Watts Memorial and Virginia Hall. And then, at the end of the year, he accepted a call to the First Presbyterian Church of Winchester, and left on July 1, 1923, after having served as president just one year. The trustees came back to me, and asked me to act as president some more until they could find a real president. Well, I began to act.
Remember that I am still speaking under the general head of grounds and buildings. Believing that the trustees could more easily secure a president if they had a home for him, I appealed to the Women of the Church in session at Montreat and asked them to build a home for the president, which they did. Bless their hearts! Later, I received a letter from Rev. J. Oscar Mann, pastor of the Church of the Covenant in Wilmington, N.C., saying that if I would come to Wilmington and preach for him, I might be able to raise some money for the Training School. Of course I accepted the invitation. He arranged for me to be the guest of Mrs. Jessie Kenan Wise, who was a very gracious hostess. On Monday morning, she handed me a check for $25,000. Later, she gave another check for that amount. The major part of these two checks was used in erecting the two faculty houses which stand on either side of the president’s home.
During the session of 1923-24 the trustees continued their search for a new president, with no success. Then, right out of the blue, in 1924, they elected me president. That meant severing my connection with the Seminary. It was a hard decision to make—but inasmuch as I had grown up with the Training School from the beginning, it began to dawn upon me that it might be my duty to resign from the Seminary and accept the presidency of the Training School. I have never regretted my decision.
2. The Faculty. The only full -ime member of the faculty for the first four years was Rev. William Megginson, D.D. Sooner or later, every member of Union Seminary faculty taught classes in the Training School. Several ministers in the city taught classes. Miss Katherine Hawes taught some classes. So did several members of the Committee of Publication and Sunday School Work. Most notable among these was Miss Anna Branch Binford, a woman of forceful personality and unusual intellectual vigor. I like to think of an incident in connection with a class of young people she was teaching at a Montreat Conference. Young Ray Doubles, who is now Dean of the Law School at the University of Richmond, was a member of the class. In trying to illustrate a point, she said, “Ray, what if you and I could exchange brains. . .” That was as far as she got. “Law, Miss Binford, I’d have the headache for month!”
After Mr. Megginson left, Dr. M.R. Turnbull was our first full-time professor. The Presbyterian Committee of Publication made it possible for us to have him by contributing an amount equal to his salary. A little later the Presbyterian Committee, under the leadership of Mr. R.E. Magill, made an annual contribution of $3,000. Don’t forget that when you think of the people who made the Training School possible. Dr. Turnbull came to the Training School as full-time professor in 1919, and filled that chair with marked distinction until his retirement in 1936, due to infirmities due to a severe automobile accident.
In 1921 Miss Janie McGaughey, who has been the Secretary of the Women of the Church since 1928, was elected Associate Professor of Bible. She remained with the Training School for only one year, and was succeeded by Miss Jean Dupuy, who filled the position for 15 years. The students of that era still refer affectionately to “Miss Jean”, who was a good Bible teacher, and a good friend. In 1921, Dr. O.E. Buchholz was elected Director of the Extension Department and Professor of Missions and Personal Work. His bow still abides in strength. I was his pastor in Dalton, Georgia, when he was a boy of twelve. It has been said that the boy is father of the man, and that is certainly true of him. He was then just like he is now, only he is now more so. I always think of him as a real Christian.
In 1923 Miss Natalie Lancaster was elected Dean of Students, and filled that position with distinction for twenty-five years, until her recent retirement. She is one of the finest characters, and one of the most charming persons I ever knew. The fact that her former students raised sufficient funds to send her to England to see her brother, and back, plus a handsome purse besides, is an indication of the place she holds in their hearts. In 1928 Dr. E.B. Paisley was elected full-time professor of Religious Education. In 1933 he became president of the Training School. Both of these positions he filled with ability until he was called to Philadelphia in 1943 by the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.
This is as far as I go, as I resigned the presidency of A.T.S. in 1929 to accept the presidency of Davidson College. So somebody else will have to tell of the changes which have been made since that date. I wish that there was time for me to call the roll and pay full tribute to all those who have been connected with the Training School, including janitors and cooks, for they have all made a real contribution; but like the writer in the Eleventh of Hebrews, time fails me. I will pause long enough to pass on a piece of philosophy I picked up from a janitor. We employed for supervisor of grounds and buildings a capable man who had been a boiler maker in the Navy. As the Training School had furnaces and boilers, we felt sure that we had the very man. But he had caught the attitude of some army and naval officers which made him very deferential to superior officers, such as presidents and deans, but a tyrant in dealing with the janitors under him. So we had to let him go. I remarked to a colored janitor, who name was Walter, “Mr. H. has gone.” He replied, “Yes”, and stopped at that. I continued, “He was a good man, wasn’t he?” “Yessir, sousin’ his ways” was his reply. That applies to a good many of us. We are real sousin’ our ways. You might think about that.
3. Students. The students have had a great deal to do with making the Training School what it is. I have been talking largely about buildings and equipment and material things. The things of the spirit are vastly more important. There is the finest spirit here in the Training School than I have ever seen in any institution, and the students are largely responsible for it. For thirty-five years now this institution has been growing a spirit, or soul, of its own—each generation making a real contribution to that spirit. Miss Miriam Wilson, who has done, and is doing such a noble work at the University of Florida at Tallahassee, came to the Training School somewhat under age, and none too well prepared. In writing me a birthday letter on the third of October she said that for the first time in her life she was made to feel at the Training School that she was not unimportant. That is a part of the spirit of the place. Nobody is unimportant here. I think of the rather unusual prayer of the old Scottish elder, who, among other things, said: “O Lord, help us to think well of ourselves today. Help us to remember that we are the children of God, and then give us grace to live as the children of God should live.” That is a prayer that all of us should make.
From this time on, the story will necessarily sound very egotistical, as I am writing out of my own experiences. The General Assembly met soon after I was elected president, in 1918. I requested that Mr. Owsley Sanders be made a trustee, which was done, and he became my right-hand man, and a tower of strength to me. I also suggested that three women be elected trustees by the Assembly; Miss Katherine Hawes, our neighbor here in Ginter Park; Mrs. H.M. Price, of Baltimore; and Mrs. A.W. McAlister, of Greensboro, N.C., were elected. Miss Hawes became an active and valuable member of the trustees, and in due time was made Vice-President of that body. She also taught some classes in the Training School. So far as I know, this is the first time the General Assembly ever elected a woman to any position in our Church. It is true that Mrs. W.C. Winnsborough was made Superintendent of Women’s Work five years prior to this, but she was elected by the four Executive Committees of the General Assembly, and was not permitted to read her own report to the General Assembly for fifteen years because she was a woman. How times have changed!
One of the first things that Mr. Owsley Sanders did after being made trustee was to suggest that we purchase the residence which the Training School occupied at the corner of Chamberlayne and Westwood. There wasn’t a dollar in the treasury! He should be named along with the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11. He suggested that I try to raise some money among my friends, and promised that he would get the Presbyterian League to chime in. To begin with, I wrote three letters. In response, Mr. George W. Watts of Durham, sent a check for $3,000. Mr. C.E. Graham of Greenville, S.C. sent a check for $3,000, and Mrs. Burton of Danville, Virginia sent a check for $2000. So we bought the house. As time went on, we bought two other houses, and three vacant lots in the block across Westwood Avenue from the Seminary. We did not think that the two-acre lot in Sherwood Park was quite suitable for the Training School that we had in mind. So it was our thought that we might secure a sufficient amount of property in that block across Westwood Avenue for the future location of the Training School. At the same time, we felt sure that the property we were purchasing in that block would never be worth less than we paid for it, if we wanted to sell it.
And now, the Presbyterian Committee of Publication, under the leadership of Mr. Magill, donated fifty thousand dollars in United States Liberty Bonds to the Training School. That gave us quite an uplift. Then it came to our ears that Mr. John Stewart Bryan would be willing to sell us the present Training School campus. We conferred with him, and got some real estate men to make an appraisal of its value. My recollection is that we gave him $50,000.
With an adequate campus, we were now ready to think and talk about buildings. An architect drew a sketch of the present Watts Memorial. About that time I received a letter from Dr. D.H. Scanlon, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Durham, N.C., saying that when Mr. George W. Watts died the year before, he left his wife with a considerable sum of money, and that Dr. Thornwell Jacobs of Oglethorpe, Dr. W.W. White, of the Biblical Seminary, and others, were camping on her doorstep, and that some institution was going to get a handsome sum of money, as she was a generous person. He suggested that I present the Training School to her in person. I wrote for an appointment, and she graciously invited me and Mrs. Lingle to spend the weekend of January 1, 1922 as guests in her home. I carried the architect’s plans of Watts Memorial with me and showed it to her. She was the most gracious person I ever talked to about money, and before we left on Monday morning, she promised to erect Watts Memorial Dormitory, which she understood would cost about $200,000. It actually cost more than that, as the builders struck quicksand and a spring in excavating the basement. It cost a good deal extra to drive pilings to make a good foundation. Mrs. Watts later gave $100,000 for the endowment of the President’s Chair. Later she married Governor Cameron Morrison of North Carolina.
About this same time the Synod of Virginia put on a campaign for $1,000,000. The amount was oversubscribed, and a sufficient amount to construct Virginia Hall was assigned to the School, but Alas! And Alack! Many of the subscriptions were never paid, and the Training School found herself with a debt of approximately $60,000 around her neck. This cramped our style for a number of years.
With these buildings provided for, and the plans drawn, I felt that it was high time for the Training School to have a full-time president, and insisted that one be elected; whereupon the trustees elected Dr. Frank T. McFaden, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Richmond. He took charge July 1, 1922. He was one of the Lord’s noblemen, and made a large contribution to the Training School, both as a trustee and as president. With his election I felt that my work with the Training School was over, and that I could settle down comfortably in my chair at the Seminary. Dr. McFaden took hold of the work with enthusiasm and proceeded with the erection of Watts Memorial and Virginia Hall. And then, at the end of the year, he accepted a call to the First Presbyterian Church of Winchester, and left on July 1, 1923, after having served as president just one year. The trustees came back to me, and asked me to act as president some more until they could find a real president. Well, I began to act.
Remember that I am still speaking under the general head of grounds and buildings. Believing that the trustees could more easily secure a president if they had a home for him, I appealed to the Women of the Church in session at Montreat and asked them to build a home for the president, which they did. Bless their hearts! Later, I received a letter from Rev. J. Oscar Mann, pastor of the Church of the Covenant in Wilmington, N.C., saying that if I would come to Wilmington and preach for him, I might be able to raise some money for the Training School. Of course I accepted the invitation. He arranged for me to be the guest of Mrs. Jessie Kenan Wise, who was a very gracious hostess. On Monday morning, she handed me a check for $25,000. Later, she gave another check for that amount. The major part of these two checks was used in erecting the two faculty houses which stand on either side of the president’s home.
During the session of 1923-24 the trustees continued their search for a new president, with no success. Then, right out of the blue, in 1924, they elected me president. That meant severing my connection with the Seminary. It was a hard decision to make—but inasmuch as I had grown up with the Training School from the beginning, it began to dawn upon me that it might be my duty to resign from the Seminary and accept the presidency of the Training School. I have never regretted my decision.
2. The Faculty. The only full -ime member of the faculty for the first four years was Rev. William Megginson, D.D. Sooner or later, every member of Union Seminary faculty taught classes in the Training School. Several ministers in the city taught classes. Miss Katherine Hawes taught some classes. So did several members of the Committee of Publication and Sunday School Work. Most notable among these was Miss Anna Branch Binford, a woman of forceful personality and unusual intellectual vigor. I like to think of an incident in connection with a class of young people she was teaching at a Montreat Conference. Young Ray Doubles, who is now Dean of the Law School at the University of Richmond, was a member of the class. In trying to illustrate a point, she said, “Ray, what if you and I could exchange brains. . .” That was as far as she got. “Law, Miss Binford, I’d have the headache for month!”
After Mr. Megginson left, Dr. M.R. Turnbull was our first full-time professor. The Presbyterian Committee of Publication made it possible for us to have him by contributing an amount equal to his salary. A little later the Presbyterian Committee, under the leadership of Mr. R.E. Magill, made an annual contribution of $3,000. Don’t forget that when you think of the people who made the Training School possible. Dr. Turnbull came to the Training School as full-time professor in 1919, and filled that chair with marked distinction until his retirement in 1936, due to infirmities due to a severe automobile accident.
In 1921 Miss Janie McGaughey, who has been the Secretary of the Women of the Church since 1928, was elected Associate Professor of Bible. She remained with the Training School for only one year, and was succeeded by Miss Jean Dupuy, who filled the position for 15 years. The students of that era still refer affectionately to “Miss Jean”, who was a good Bible teacher, and a good friend. In 1921, Dr. O.E. Buchholz was elected Director of the Extension Department and Professor of Missions and Personal Work. His bow still abides in strength. I was his pastor in Dalton, Georgia, when he was a boy of twelve. It has been said that the boy is father of the man, and that is certainly true of him. He was then just like he is now, only he is now more so. I always think of him as a real Christian.
In 1923 Miss Natalie Lancaster was elected Dean of Students, and filled that position with distinction for twenty-five years, until her recent retirement. She is one of the finest characters, and one of the most charming persons I ever knew. The fact that her former students raised sufficient funds to send her to England to see her brother, and back, plus a handsome purse besides, is an indication of the place she holds in their hearts. In 1928 Dr. E.B. Paisley was elected full-time professor of Religious Education. In 1933 he became president of the Training School. Both of these positions he filled with ability until he was called to Philadelphia in 1943 by the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.
This is as far as I go, as I resigned the presidency of A.T.S. in 1929 to accept the presidency of Davidson College. So somebody else will have to tell of the changes which have been made since that date. I wish that there was time for me to call the roll and pay full tribute to all those who have been connected with the Training School, including janitors and cooks, for they have all made a real contribution; but like the writer in the Eleventh of Hebrews, time fails me. I will pause long enough to pass on a piece of philosophy I picked up from a janitor. We employed for supervisor of grounds and buildings a capable man who had been a boiler maker in the Navy. As the Training School had furnaces and boilers, we felt sure that we had the very man. But he had caught the attitude of some army and naval officers which made him very deferential to superior officers, such as presidents and deans, but a tyrant in dealing with the janitors under him. So we had to let him go. I remarked to a colored janitor, who name was Walter, “Mr. H. has gone.” He replied, “Yes”, and stopped at that. I continued, “He was a good man, wasn’t he?” “Yessir, sousin’ his ways” was his reply. That applies to a good many of us. We are real sousin’ our ways. You might think about that.
3. Students. The students have had a great deal to do with making the Training School what it is. I have been talking largely about buildings and equipment and material things. The things of the spirit are vastly more important. There is the finest spirit here in the Training School than I have ever seen in any institution, and the students are largely responsible for it. For thirty-five years now this institution has been growing a spirit, or soul, of its own—each generation making a real contribution to that spirit. Miss Miriam Wilson, who has done, and is doing such a noble work at the University of Florida at Tallahassee, came to the Training School somewhat under age, and none too well prepared. In writing me a birthday letter on the third of October she said that for the first time in her life she was made to feel at the Training School that she was not unimportant. That is a part of the spirit of the place. Nobody is unimportant here. I think of the rather unusual prayer of the old Scottish elder, who, among other things, said: “O Lord, help us to think well of ourselves today. Help us to remember that we are the children of God, and then give us grace to live as the children of God should live.” That is a prayer that all of us should make.
