fK 
 
P 227 
 .H5 
 Copy 1 
 
 THE 
 
 piRiT OF Research 
 
 AND ITS APPLICATION TO 
 
 VIRGINIAN HISTORY, 
 
 BY PROF. JOHN B: HENNEMAN, M. A., Ph. D. 
 
 ;/ 
 
F; 
 
 zz^-j 
 
THE SPIRIT OF RESEARCH 
 
 AND ITS APPLICATION 
 
 TO VIRGINIAN HISTORY, 
 
 A REPRINT FROM THE VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE. 
 
THE SPIRIT OF RESEARCH, AND ITS APPLICA- 
 TION TO VIRGINIAN HISTORY.* 
 
 V^'->'ERHAPS I should preface with a few words, in 
 -1,^ order to explain the circumstances under which I 
 am present here this evening. At the last annual meeting 
 of the Virginia Association for the Advancement of Higher 
 Education, I read a brief paper urging the collection of 
 material scattered about everywhere throughout the State, 
 but more particularly in connection with our institutions 
 of learning, with a view to having ultimately written a 
 history of the educational, intellectual, literary, and social 
 life of Virginia. At the same time, as preparatory and 
 essential to this work, I stressed the importance of research 
 and independent investigation generally, and particularly 
 in our methods of teaching^ — not so as to make colleges 
 of high schools, and universities of colleges, but leaving 
 each to work within its proper sphere, so as to allow the 
 teacher to be as suggestive and stimulating as possible 
 with the pupils, to implant within them an enthusiasm and 
 desire to work for themselves, to collect material for pur- 
 poses of their own interest and discovery, and to be ob- 
 ser.vant recorders and faithful interpreters of the truth. It 
 seemed to me that this habit of thought and thinking, and 
 the methodical treatment of a subject with a definite pur- 
 pose and distinct spirit, were as important aims as the 
 accumulation of detailed facts and principles, whether 
 from teachers' lips or from the pages of text-books. 
 
 One of your faculty was kind enough to suggest that, 
 
 *A paper read before the Philosopliical Society of the University of 
 V^irginia, January i6, 1S92, l:)y John H. Henneman, M. A., (University of 
 Virginia), T'h. I)., (Derlin), Professor of English and History in Hampden- 
 Sidney College. 
 
 Gift 
 American Hletorlca] Review .'.- 
 FEB 2 6 1925 
 
as an alumnus of the University, on the occasion of a 
 visit, I read an informal paper, in a similar vein, before the 
 Philosophical Society, thinking that, perhaps, we might 
 arouse a fresh interest in an old enough theme, and that 
 a discussion might be productive of some good to those 
 of us participating. I take advantage of the opportunity, 
 therefore, to speak directly and informally and frankly. 
 
 In reading this paper, I am not pretending to solve grave 
 problems, still less to impart any fresh information. It is 
 my desire simply to direct your attention and thought to 
 a given channel, to seek and to obtain your opinions, sug- 
 gestions, and sympathetic criticism. 
 
 I feel that our work as teachers can only be vitally effect- 
 ive when the point is clear that each and every one is 
 laboring with a single object in view — to advance the edu- 
 cational and intellectual life of Virginia and whatever sec- 
 tions of the country may be represented in our several in- 
 stitutions. So far from looking with critical eyes upon 
 what is being done towards the great ends of education 
 and of culture, of scholarship and of research, anywhere in 
 the State, I am but too grateful for any interest wherever 
 manifest, believing, only, that this must assume a catholic 
 spirit and be founded upon the broadest basis in order to 
 rise to its full possibilities. 
 
 You will understand, therefore, how we teachers of the 
 colleges and schools of the State look instinctively to you 
 gentlemen of the University of Virginia for guidance, for 
 example, and for support. 
 
 Your responsibilities and our responsibilities are alike 
 great. There are not too many educational institutions in 
 Virginia. The necessities of the conditions in the near 
 future will demand either more colleges, or the facilities of 
 each and all must become enlarged. By placing together the 
 catalogues of all the Virginian institutions, it will be very 
 easy to calculate how many counties still fail to be repre- 
 
sented by a single youth off at college or university. This 
 is an age of university extension, of the popularization of 
 letters, of public lectures, cheap printing, reading rooms, 
 libraries, and all the laboratory apparatus of intellectual 
 physics. It seems to me that the problem, very nakedly 
 stated, is: Are the advocates of Higher Education in Vir- 
 ginia to utilize this interest and enthusiasm for their own 
 purposes by directing it to noble and the most beneficial 
 ends, or will they allow it to run riot and assume any 
 shape and hue, and assert any manifestation it may chance 
 to find in useless fads ? 
 
 It seems to me that what we need is combined, system- 
 atic work, so that we may husband all the resources and 
 that no useless energy may be expended. In this regard 
 you are particularly fortunate in the extent of your influence 
 at the University. While we of the colleges touch only 
 sections — in my own case principally the Southside, the 
 Southwest, and West Virginia — and necessarily a limited 
 public, you reach every section in the State, every State in 
 the South, and many both West and North. Moreover, 
 your students are both older and further advanced. The 
 leavening process may, too, operate better from above 
 downwards. This is, perhaps, the strongest argument in 
 favor of higher education even among the'wildest enthusi- 
 asts for free and common schools. The educated aristoc- 
 racy, /. c. the best teachers, must make the first move and 
 direct the progress of this thought. 
 
 With influences irradiating from this central point domi- 
 nant in philology, mathematics, the sciences, engineerihg, 
 medicine, and the law — and with an eye impelled towards 
 independent investigation and original research, your pos- 
 sibilities and your opportunities are boundless. 
 
 It is cheering and inspiriting for the student to use the 
 text-book and notes of his own professor, the material 
 which that professor has evolved out of his greater ex- 
 
5 
 
 perience and constant study and reflection. The work of 
 that particular instructor is rendered doubly eff"ective ; the 
 personality is both reached and impressed. But may not 
 the teacher find means in some way to advance a step far- 
 ther ? Cannot the pupil be given a peep into the teacher's 
 intellectual workshop, and be shown Junv these results are 
 accumulated, just how the tools are handled to produce 
 these works — even apart from the cunning, which, I 
 grant, is inherent in every workman and indicative of 
 his individual skill ? In addition to imparting facts and 
 results and insisting on the accumulation of details — all 
 perfectly good so far as it goes — may not more be done 
 in indicating methods, suggesting the zvJiat and the 
 hozv : what is still left and waiting to be worked up, 
 and how it could be reached and accomplished with the 
 best possible results ? May we produce not only work 
 and workers, but also zvorkinen ? 
 
 I have been literally filled with amazement that so many 
 first-class men with bright intellects and keen inteiests 
 work without all method ; or, even after getting up text- 
 books, have so inadequate a conception of the proper val- 
 ue of their accumulations ; knowing virtually nothing as 
 to the manner of gathering testimony, the nature of evi- 
 dence, the treatment of facts necessary to form an induc- 
 tion, the independent classification and correlation of de- 
 tails. 
 
 I speak here purposely from my own experience, be- 
 cause I feel that this course will be worth more to myself 
 and be more worthy of your own attention and considera- 
 tion. 
 
 I have tried to explain to my classes the method of 
 keeping various ledgers and note-books for given subjects, 
 alphabetically divided and arranged, ready for the inser- 
 tion of any fact or detail under its proper head. I have 
 attempted to impress that it is important thus to save the 
 
scraps of information which one is constantly running 
 across, and which otherwise soon go astray and are for- 
 gotten ; to preserve the ca\l^al and transitory thoughts and- 
 suggestions, often most valuable and trustworthy because 
 spontaneous, and seldom or never to be recalled with the 
 same force. 
 
 I do not advise .icrap-books, for they are necessarily 
 without much system and preconceived order, and the 
 pasting in may consume both valuable time and labor. 
 But a scrap-box is different. Into it may be thrown all 
 sorts of cliopings and notes, to be afterwards more defi- 
 nitely assorted ai.d arranged as to subjects and subdivis- 
 ions, discarding worthless and extraneous matter, and 
 bringing into use other boxes as both material and details 
 accumulate. Or, just as the largest libraries are cata- 
 logued, one may have a collection of cards or paper slips, 
 and jot down each point and reference and observation on 
 card or slip, which is afterwards placed in proper position 
 and correlation. 
 
 I know that the student will at first waste much, err 
 much, select of all things just that which he may not need, 
 will find much valueless stuff in his collections. But this 
 is an argument in favor of such a system. The habits of 
 observation and attention are formed ; and taste, discrimi- 
 nation and judgment are to be trained only by constant 
 exercise, or, as Matthew Arnold happily expresses it, by 
 " playing freely about the facts." 
 
 I am aware that we have encyclopaedias, just as we have 
 professors. Even if they served the purpose — and, of 
 course, they cannot — they do not teach the student how to 
 work for himself, how to arrive at inductions and deduce 
 other conclusions therefrom. The same principles are in- 
 volved as in the application of the physical sciences, a view 
 is gained of the subject as a whole, a philosophic grasp 
 taken with proper insight into the development and the 
 fitting together of the several parts. 
 
7 
 
 A scholar writes out of the great experience of a life- 
 time, or from a full note-book. These beget the inspira- 
 tion and the suggestive thoivght. In looking over his 
 collections new possibilities are observed, unsuspected 
 material is at hand for an essay, for an address, for a mag- 
 azine article, for a treatise, or even a greater work. 
 
 But another point of view. There is much to be gained 
 merely from concentration on some subject of interest, in 
 addition to and outside of regular everyday work. It is 
 strengthening to the mind to keep it constantly directed 
 to a definite end and employed on a stated subject, despite 
 the many temporary diversions it necessarily receives. It 
 is surprising how much one finds when on the constant 
 lookout for matter. Facts and thoughts which escape the 
 ordinary observer, and would pass by the investigator 
 himself unnoticed but for this unusual interest, are readily 
 caught and preserved. 
 
 Permit me to quote here the late Mr. Lowell : " There 
 is nothing less profitable than scholarship for the mere 
 sake of scholarship, nor anything more wearisome in the 
 attainment. But the moment you have a definite aim, 
 attention is quickened — the mother of memory — and all 
 that you acquire groups and arranges itself in an order 
 that is lucid, because everywhere and always it is in intel- 
 ligent relation to a central object of constant and growing 
 interest. This method also forces upon us the necessity 
 of thinking, which is, after all, the highest result of all 
 education." 
 
 To what extent the German Seminar may be reproduced 
 in methods of teaching, as supplementary to lectures, is a 
 question for each professor to decide for himself, looking 
 at all the elements entering into the conditions of his sur- 
 roundings. While some objection may be made to a few 
 of the detailed features, the idea is a most fruitful one. A 
 very modified form is that of giving references and rec}uir- 
 
8 
 
 ing parallel readings connected closely and vitally with 
 the subject, and demanding reports on the same, written or 
 oral, systematized and arranged. To inspire a wide-awake 
 youth to become sufficiently interested to work for himself, 
 to superintend his efforts, to guide him in choice of sub- 
 ject and by judicious criticism possibly as to result, tracing 
 knowledge to its ultimate source, is truly a worthy and 
 noble work for both instructed and instructor. 
 
 If I understand the principles of your Philosophical So- 
 ciety aright, this is, itself, a kind of Seminar. Would that 
 the time were also ripe and the pecuniary conditions feas- 
 ible for a University of Virginia studies, and periodical 
 circulars, and scientific journals — to be supported by your 
 own work and that of your students, both those in resi- 
 dence and the graduates teaching in the various colleges 
 and schools throughout the State and country! Would 
 that the combined effort of the State of Virginia might 
 support a distinctively literary periodical and a State his- 
 torical organ ! I do not forget — and I congratulate you — 
 that for several years the University has supported an 
 Annals of Mathematics. When a University of Virginia 
 graduate abroad may point to such journals as this as evi- 
 dence of the spirit pervading his alma mater in intellec- 
 tual aspiration, he may hope that she will be rated at her 
 true worth the world over. Rightly or wrongly, it is the 
 only evidence which our foreign friends will accept. When 
 the spirit is present, they naturally demand the manifesta- 
 tions. 
 
 Finally, to come to the heart of the matter in this discus- 
 sion of Virginian relative non-productiveness, the greatest 
 need everywhere in the State and with every institution is 
 increased library facilities. A well-stocked library is the 
 sine qua non of all independent work. Not only this, but 
 there seems to exist a positive disinclination among stu- 
 dents to use the libraries, limited as these may be, as they 
 
9 
 
 could and ought. I find the one thing difficult is to get 
 pupils to go to libraries to search out their own material. 
 This is the training which they lack and need. They are 
 too busy, they say, by some strange perverseness, instead 
 of being busy just through their library work and referen- 
 ces, sent thither constantly by the needs of daily recita- 
 tions, examinations, and general work. I confess with 
 shame much the same feeling while a student at the Uni- 
 versity. In one of my sessions, the statement was made 
 in the University Magazine that barely a third of the 
 students had taken a book out of the library from Octo- 
 ber to June. I was among this third, I can truthfully add ; 
 but I should be heartily opposed to the Librarian looking 
 back over the records to observe how few these books were 
 and just what was their general character. 
 
 The value of the library, as a factor in education, is be- 
 coming, universally recognized. All research is handi- 
 capped under our present conditions, while library facili- 
 ties are so meagre. Funds are needed everywhere, so that 
 each Professor may be constantly adding the most neces 
 sary books in his department, to which he may continually 
 refer and send his pupils, and thereb}' render at least the 
 bibliography and history of the subject intelligible. 
 
 Allow me to indicate, just for the moment, what I have 
 been attempting under my own very restricted conditions. 
 Within the past year the libraries of the two literary scicie- 
 ties have been added to that of the college, placing at the 
 disposal of my classes from eight to ten thousand miscel- 
 laneous volumes, in addition to the independent and ver)' 
 valuable collections belonging to the neighboring Theo- 
 logical Seminary. I have been getting these books ar- 
 ranged according to subjects — fiction, drama, poetry, biog- 
 raphy, travel, history, etc. — in convenient alcoves and 
 cases, so that the student may recognize at a glance whn 
 he possesses and may use. I have endeavored to interest 
 
lO 
 
 a class especially in Virginian hist-ory and traditions, by 
 delivering during the entire session a weekly lecture upon 
 the History of Virginian Education and Literary Effort, 
 To insure their co-operation and attention, I have organ- 
 ized them for the nonce into a Hampden-Sidney Histor- 
 ical Society to pry into and glean all the details they may 
 be able to find respecting their local history. I further 
 assigned each a definite topic upon which to report. I 
 was much interested, therefore, in placing apart all the 
 volumes and pamphlets, some four or five hundred in 
 numlDcr, which bore in any way upon Virginia, her history 
 and her people, my purpose being to make this division a 
 running commentary and illustration of my remarks. I 
 have found the collection so valuable that I expect 
 to get my students to make a complete list thereof 
 and publish, if nowhere else, at least in the college maga 
 zine, so that these books may be placed on recard both 
 for my own classes and for the guidance of any future 
 worker in the field. How much relieved my own investi- 
 gations on this subject would be, if I could but know the 
 similar contents of every library in the State. Think of 
 havmg accessibl,e a list of all books in this State relative 
 to Virginia's life ! Perhaps a Bureau of Education or 
 Legislative Bill will some day effect this, if not some pub- 
 lic-spirited Maecenas. 
 
 If even our libraries, limited as they are, were but care- 
 fully arranged and catalogued according to subjects, with 
 authors' index and other side references, and these were 
 printed, or at least made generally and easily accessible, a 
 student or investigator might then know whether it were 
 worth his while to spend one or two weeks or even a few 
 days to consult such and such volumes, which he knew 
 definitely were to be secured. And certainly every local 
 student could work better with his material carefully 
 classified at his finger tips. 
 
II 
 
 Virginian students are further fortunately situated in that 
 they are relatively near and convenient to the great col- 
 lections of books in Washington and in Baltimore. None of 
 our institutions can act up to its possibilities until it makes 
 the most of its advantages, and presents its facilities in the 
 least restricted and best systematized shape. Of the libra- 
 ries in the State which I have visited and examined, that 
 of the Washington and Lee University and of the Theo- 
 logical Seminary at Hampden-Sidney seem to me the 
 most neat, happy, and effective in their arrangement. 
 
 Perhaps it may be considered visionary and utterly im- 
 practicable to advance further and speak of a rational sys- 
 tem of exchange between neighboring educational institu- 
 tions in the same or even in different states. And yet 
 England is thus liberal ! and books may be transmitted to 
 different points on the continent to special investigators. I 
 have even heard that some of our sister institutions North 
 adopt a similar liberal policy. This might bring us to realize 
 a little more clearly that we are all, everywhere in the State 
 and country, working with one great end in view — to ad- 
 vance the culture and intellectual growth of the nation. 
 To indicate how very far we are from this ideal condition 
 at present, it will be sufficient to note that a law — if I 
 have been rightly informed — observed or not, technically 
 prevents a book belonging to the Universit}' from being 
 taken even off University premises. If libraries are in- 
 tended for any purpose, they are to be used ; as well as to 
 be places for ornaments and bric-a-brac, and for dancing 
 Germans. 
 
 In this, presence one may quote the name and opinions 
 of Thomas Jefferson on educational matters with all due 
 respect and seriousnes.i. The system of education which 
 he developed and advocated anticipated many of our mod- 
 ern theories by near a century. Going to the continent of 
 Europe for much of his inspiration, he combined the best 
 
12 
 
 foreign thought and methods with due regard for the dif- 
 ferent conditions in the new world. Scores of years later 
 some of our more Northern institutions, seeking the same 
 sources, returned home with similar ideas, and proclaimed 
 to the American world as a fresh discovery what was only 
 a renewed inspiration. Mr. Jefferson not only had a place 
 for the common and high schools, colleges, and his central 
 State University, in his educational system, but in at least 
 one of his propositions he advocated, fourth and last, a 
 Library. This stood for not simply advanced and higher 
 work ; it signified especially reading and private research 
 and personal investigation as the crowning point of all 
 scholarship. 
 
 No one library in the State corresponds perfectly to this 
 description. The State Library in the Capitol at Rich- 
 mond i.s far more valuable than many suppose. One is 
 constantly lighting upon rare old books with distinct value 
 to the antiquarian and historical investigator, which have 
 never found their way into the imperfect records. But it 
 occupies at present a very limited space, is poorly housed 
 and shelved, and as a consequence badly arranged and 
 still worse catalogued. This is imputing no fault to the 
 officers in charge ; it is simply a mathematical problem of 
 limitations. [I am happy to note that a bill has just been 
 referred to the appropriate committee in the present legis- 
 lature for the erection of a commodious and fire-proof 
 home for these treasures of the State.] 
 
 Much the same may be said of your library here, if you 
 will allow me to speak entn nous, as an alumnus and well- 
 wisher of the University. Looking at my own department 
 1 am pleased to see many of the books on tlie study of 
 English philology brought together upon neighboring 
 .shelves. There only remains that the works in English 
 and Airerican literature should receive the same generous 
 treatment. The recent gift of a few thousand volumes 
 would be far more serviceable, not by remaining in lodg- 
 
13 
 
 ings where, to examine the contents, one must get down 
 on all fours and perform sundry acrobatic feats, but by 
 distribution of the various works it contains into the 
 proper apartments of philology, science, history, litera- 
 ture, etc., where they belong. I am rejoiced to hear of 
 this bequest. I have the feeling that a well-equipped, 
 well arranged, and well used library is worth to an institu- 
 tion two or three additional chairs. It is in itself a post- 
 graduate course to anyone in any line for all time. I 
 frankly long for the day when our wealthy citizens may 
 leave money to be expended for this purpose, as well as 
 for founding new institutions and for creating new profes- 
 sorships. We need the chairs which we already have, and 
 new ones too, to be rendered as efficacious as possible. 
 
 That in these illustrations I have been naturally thinking 
 more of my own two departments, English and History, 
 you will pardon. It is best that I speak wholly from per- 
 sonal experience and personal needs. 
 
 As intimated before, I have been attempting to get my 
 pupils and others interested in the collection of material 
 scattered all throughout the State and the South — in Vir- 
 ginian historical and literary traditions. It has been an 
 almost entirely neglected field in our educational institu- 
 tions, so far as any systematic work has been attempted. 
 The subject, further, appeals to the patriotism, the college 
 enthusiasm, the local feelings of the student,. It is in con- 
 sonance with the great interest manifested everywhere in 
 the study of American history and institutions. The study 
 of the history of Virginia, too, has great importance in 
 itself, being second to that of no State in value, and sur- 
 passing most. Above all, the inductive methods of philo- 
 •sophic research are clearly exemplified and practised : 
 how to use books, examine libraries, gather details, com- 
 pile notes, sift material, and draw conclusions. I am not 
 willing to have it urged that the painful collection of datr 
 is not the work of a scholar. .If scholars are not willino 
 
14 
 
 to do this, pray, who will ? And we cannot hope to gen- 
 eralize with any degree of assurance until the heaps of 
 evidence are first piled up and the working material lies 
 at hand. 
 
 No scrap of information is too insignificant for these 
 purposes, for preservation in local libraries. Every shred 
 of the intellectual and social life is worth saving. No fact 
 and circumstance is too slight to be cast aside. In every 
 county, in each community, may be found and sketched 
 certain traditions and local colorings — the elements (often 
 neglected and usually overlooked) in which consist the 
 real being of the State, and whereby a true picture of the 
 life of the people, of their culture, their habit of thought, 
 their latent power and inherent force, may be obtained. 
 From a close study of old newspaper advertisements alone, 
 the economical and social life of the past may be almost 
 reconstructed. 
 
 It is not too early to be looking into our environment 
 and analyzing our conditions. Much valuable material is 
 continually being destroyed. Just this past summer a sad 
 case came too late to my notice. Barrels and boxes full 
 of papers and pamphlets, many relating to Hampden-Sid- 
 ney, and nearly all, in one way or other, to the State, the 
 accumulations of a life-time on the part of a venerable 
 and indefatigable reader and collector, were, forsooth, pi- 
 ously burned by the female portion of the household be- 
 cause this "trash" had always been in the way, and they 
 were now going to move in a new dwelling. And yet, 
 there were two libraries a hundred yards away, eitiier of 
 which should have been grateful to have received, assorted, 
 and preserved these documents. More lamentable in- 
 stances and greater losses than this, I have no doubt, could 
 readily be recorded. 
 
 Can any one wonder that little history and little litera- 
 ture has proceeded from a people who have such little re- 
 
15 
 
 gard for " trifles ? " and, I fear, the indictment is more or 
 less just against the people of the entire South. 
 
 There is hardly need here for suggesting the number of 
 monographs that might easily be written. Local students 
 might offer valuable contributions to the State's educa- 
 tional history; the young theologian would find a rich 
 and suggustive field in the theological controversy and 
 • religious experience of the past ; the interested scientist 
 could devote no little consideration to the analysis of the 
 contributions to his own department of thought ; many 
 others could examine the political activity, the social fea- 
 tures, the economical conditions, everywhere manifest in 
 Virginian life. Each of these headings is a theme not sim- 
 ply for chapter, but for a volume. It is virtually an un- 
 touched field, so limitless are its resources. Men have la- 
 bored for the State and seem in danger of being forgotten, 
 whose memory, had they lived in other sections, might 
 have been kept green, through memoirs and biographies 
 dedicated to their lives and deeds. I am indebted to a 
 suggestion in the selections from Dr. Bocock's writings, 
 that alone to write the history of Virginia's judges and at- 
 torney-generals, great lawyers and great teachers of the 
 law, would be as magnificent an undertaking as that noble 
 work entitled Campbell's Lives of the Lord Chancellors of 
 England. The history of Virginian journalism, the scien- 
 tific and professional interests, the military and naval 
 achievements, the personal adventures — all furnish mate- 
 rial. Even Henry Cabot Lodge's manufactured statistics 
 in the September Century awards Virginia the palm in 
 statesmen and pioneers. The real history of the Univer- 
 sity of Virginia and every literary institute in the State is 
 still to be written. The treatises of Prof Adams and oth- 
 ers on this subject merely indicate the way and suggest 
 what might be accomplished. 
 
 If I may be allowed to pass a criticism upon Dr. Thomas 
 Nelson Page's recent article in the December Lippiiicott 
 
i6 
 
 on literature in the South since the war, it is not conceived 
 upon sufficiently a broad basis, but is taken up altogether 
 too much with considerations of his own department, viz. 
 fiction. The South has a past, and it is natural that her 
 writers linger with tender and loving remembrance upon 
 its glories and its beauties. It is the romantic element 
 present in fiction — ^just as in the conditions which produced 
 Scott's Border Romances. This is one phase, and it is 
 finding beautiful and worthy expression ; the expression 
 of purity, tenderness, and nobility; of ideals lost but still 
 cherished. But it is only one phase in the complexity of 
 Virginian intellectual activity. There are glimpses of much 
 serious work being done in the South and in Virginia 
 apart from mere fiction — in letters, in science, in philo- 
 sophic thought, in professional life, to indicate that there 
 is likewise a present and a future, and a scnolarship among 
 educated men endeavoring to face these responsibilities. 
 
 Dr. Page himself is advertised in the prospectus of the 
 Atlantic Monthly for 1892 to furnish two critical articles 
 on Philip Pendleton Cooke and John Esten Cooke. So 
 Professor Trent, of the University of the South, is correct- 
 ing at the present moment the proof-sheets of his Life of 
 Simms for the American Men of Letters' Series. These are 
 two glorious opportunities for Virginians, discussing Vir- 
 ginian and Southern writers and conditions, to appear in 
 a serious and critical role before the most exclusive and 
 fastidious of Bostonian literary publics. I have both the 
 hope and the conviction that these two gentlemen realize 
 their golden opportunity and will accordingly grasp it. 
 
 I believe that the extension of research means an increase 
 in interest all along the line in every department of intel- 
 lectual work, It augers the era of a revival in both sci- 
 entific and literary effort. I do not think the spirit of the 
 two contradictory. They often go hand in hand in an age, 
 in a time, if not in an individual. The awakening of mind 
 
i; 
 
 is the sole condition, as in the case of the New Learning 
 preceding and leading up to the Elizabethan Renaissance. 
 This one may devote himself to the science and that one 
 to the art, but there is enough material to satisfy both 
 conditions, enough workers to accommodate both the sci- 
 ences and the arts. 
 
 I am loth to yield too much to climatic conditions and 
 the natural indolence of Southern youth. That would be 
 a total begging of the question. I believe we have energy 
 enough expended and wasted. We wish to create a con- 
 genial atmosphere, and direct this energy to a right appre- 
 hension and proper conservation of its powers. Please 
 understand me. I am in no sense decrying our work in 
 the past or even at present. I recognize its great good. 
 But teachers should be constantly questioning their con- 
 ditions and demanding: Can this work be rendered even 
 more effective ? Can these opportunp:ies be made more 
 vitally telling ? 
 
 A natural optimism almost persuades one that the cir- 
 cumstances are ripe. The State is expanding in a many- 
 sided activity, engaging no longer in a struggle against 
 odds, nor maintaining a defensive attitude in thought and 
 feeling. She is stirring and feeling herself. She is con- 
 scious. The nucleus of public libraries is being started, 
 systems of public lectures organized at many of our insti- 
 tutions, and in our larger towns and cities. As these 
 increase in population and opportunity, literary clubs and 
 social organizations are being everywhere formed. The 
 possibilities of modern city life means development along 
 many lines. All the signs point to new evolutions, and, I 
 am inclined to think, to increased interest in culture, in 
 the rarer heights of intellect, spirit, and social instinct. 
 The commercial swing of the day need not disturb too 
 much these calculations. It ought to be merely the basis 
 of and transition to better things and greater opportuni- 
 ties to those in whom the University has already instilled 
 a love for the noblest and the highest. 
 
i8 
 
 The universities and colleges which guide the young 
 men of today, who are the instigators of these movements 
 tomorrow, have opportunities to affect deeply, if not to 
 control, and direct this movement. Most of the young 
 men prominent in these scientific, literary, historical, and 
 social gatherings are old students of the University. They 
 are unquestionably acting in the full belief and persuasion 
 that they are advancing the cause in which they are en- 
 listed. But I have often wondered whether the direct 
 incentive was received here at the proper time, while 
 students, or whether these manifestations and interests are 
 but afterthoughts, and later and independent developments. 
 
 Social and economical considerations throughout the 
 entire country — and the same is true of this State — will 
 prevent there ever being any one exclusive centre, and it 
 is best that this should be so for many reasons. But the 
 city of Richmond, with its historic and social traditions, 
 and the State University with its high ideals and undis- 
 puted prestige must always command leading recognition 
 in Virginia. 
 
 The young Virginian is no longer absorbed exclusively 
 in politics. He is a scientist, an artist, a litterateur, he is 
 many things besides — even a baseball player and master 
 of the tennis racket, bicyclist, oarsman, and high-kicker 
 on the football eleven. All this is encouraging. It means 
 a widening of range and capabilities in matters hitherto 
 too much put aside and neglected. May not more of them 
 become, too, investigators, patient toilers and seekers after 
 light and truth ? 
 
 I close with a sentence culled from a letter of Professor 
 Stone's, to whose kindness and hospitality is due my pres- 
 ence here this evening: " Research is the key-note to all 
 futuie progress in Higher Education in Virginia" — and I 
 take it that this means research as adapted to Virginian 
 conditions, as favored by Virginian opportunities, as lim- 
 ited by Virginian circumstances, as applied to Virginian 
 students. 
 
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