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WK JI
IN THE STATO’
VOLUJIL ONE.
NO. NINETEEN.
~
IXTY-THREE Years ago, at La Grange,
Ga., an institution was organized with
the purpose of providing higher educa
tion for women. In those days it was not
deemed necessary, nor even expedient,
that women should be educated beyond
the merest elements of learning. Fe
male Colleges were rare, and the few
“ that did exist had to maintain their ex
istence against prejudice and opposition. Great
honor is due the noble men who rose above that
prejudice, and fore-ran
their generation in cham
pioning the right of woman
to a 'cultivated mind and a
larger life, and who laid
the foundations for the
splendid colleges for the
higher education of woman
that are serving our civili
zation so well today.
Thus did Cox College and
Conservatory have its be
ginning, and through all
these years it has wrought
nobly, and contributed
much to the civilization of
Georgia and the South.
There is scarcely a hamlet
within the borders of Geor
gia where one may not find
the daughters of this insti
tion, and which has not
felt, through them, larger
powers and multiplied pos
sibilities of usefulness by
reason of their contact with
this college. As social
leaders, teachers, wives and
mothers the daughters and
grand-daughters of this col
lege have joined their
hands and hearts with
the workers for the high-
er good of humanity, and not a few of
them have been notable women. Some have
gone as heralds of the 1 ‘glorious gospel of
Christ” to the benighted lands beyond the seas,
making the influence of this school felt in the dark
est corners of the earth.
The leader in the organization, and the first pres
ident of the college was Dr. John E. Dawson, whose
ability as a pulpit orator was recognized far beyond
his own state. Talented, far-sighted and bold, he
was a worthy pioneer in the cause of woman’s edu
cation.
On account of failing health Dr. Dawson contin
ued in the presidency only a few months after the
organization. He was succeeded by Milton E. Ba
con, a man of superb intellect and broad culture.
In 1845 Mr. Bacon secured the first charter, under
NO'BLT. INSTITUTION.
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ATLANTA, GA., JUNE 28, 1906.
the name of the “La Grange Female Seminary.”
In 1850 this name was changed to “La Grange
Collegiate Seminary for Young Ladies,” and two
years later was changed again to “Southern and
Western College.” On February 17, 1854, the im
stitution was incorporated under its present formal
name, “Southern Female College.” Mr. Bacon
conducted the school as a private institution, and
boldly and very ably espoused the cause of higher
education for women. In a preface to the cata
logue of the school, for the year 1845, he thus dis-
COX COLLEGE, COLLEGE PARK, GEORGIA.
cusses the objections to woman’s education: “If,
in alleging that the education of females is unnec
essary, reference is had exclusively to its agency
in coining dimes and dollars, no argument need be
adduced. So contracted a view could not be affect
ed and exhibition of its most evident benefits. The
same objections may be urged against improvements
in food and dress. The plainest diet and the coarsest
apparel may subserve the necessities of man; but
the means used to elevate his condition form the
mainspring of civilized life. It perpetuates the
degradation of the savage, that he is contented when
the wants of nature as satisfied; but it is the char
acter of civilized man to aim at higher attainments
in his mental, moral and physical condition, and to
find happiness in loftier aspirations and nobler em
ployments. The well-informed man who confines
his view of education simply to its pecuniary bene
fits does not consider the happiness which his own
acquirements afford. Like the free air around him,
though the source of life and health, he has ever
enjoyed its gratutuous support with scarcely a re
flection of its existence.”
These would be forceful words today, when there
is a utilitarian side to woman’s education, but when
it is remembered that they were penned in those
days, “before the war,” when the home was wom
an’s exclusive sphere, they indicate very high ground
community asked for his
detail, that he might go on with the noble work of
the college. From 1860 to 1863, Dr. W. H. Rob
ert was associate president, and for a short time
sole president. The college building was siezed
for use as a hospital during the civil war, and the
work of the college was conducted in the Baptist
church. In 1864, while in use Iby the army, the
building was burned. The Confederate government,
then on the verge of surrender and dissolution,
could make no return. Nor was there any other
source from which to look for aid, but President
Cox resolved that the institution should not perish.
In spite of great difficulties he carried the work
forward, teaching for some years in various rented
buildings. In 1817 he purchased, in his own name,
a new site, and began the erection of new buildings,
on his own responsibility, and as a private enter-
TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.
FIVE CENTS A COPY.
indeed. It cannot be esti
mated how much woman
owes to these knights, of a
generation gone, who, with
a higher chivalry, advocat
ed the cause that secured to
her the position of dignity
and power she occupies to
day.
President Bacon retired
in 1855, and was succeeded
by John A. Foster. A year
later he was joined by Hen
ry E. Brooks, and as as
sociate presidents they ad
ministered the affairs of the
institution through the ses
sion of 1857. Mr. Foster
removed to Alabama to
practice law, and subse
quently became Chancellor
of the Southeastern Divi
sion of the State. Mr.
Brooks resigned to enlist
in the Confederate army.
These men were succeeded
by I. F. Cox, father of the
late lamented Charles C.
Cox. Mr. Cox also volun
teered for service in the
Confederate army, but the
