VV*^ tf 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 A FOUNDATION BUILDER
 
 JAMES B. SIMMOXS AT 65
 
 '1 
 
 FOUNDATION BUILDER 
 
 Sketches in the Life of 
 REV. JAMES B. SIMMONS, D.D. 
 
 Compiled by 
 
 Robert Stuart Mac Arthur, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRUSTEES 
 OF SIMMONS COLLEGE, ABILENE, TEXAS 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 New York Chicago Toronto 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 London and Edinburgh
 
 Copyright, 191 1, by 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago: 123 N. Wabash Ave. 
 Toronto : 25 Richmond St., W. 
 London : 21 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street
 
 5 5*^1 M 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Early Life 9 
 
 II, Student Life 17 
 
 III. Married Life 28 
 
 IV, Life as Pastor 41 
 
 V. His Life as Secretary .... 63 
 
 VI. The Foundation Builder • • • 93 
 
 VII, His Connection with Simmons Col- 
 lege 104 
 
 VIII. Simmons College — The Crowning 
 
 Achievement of Dr. Simmons's Life 134 
 
 O 
 X 
 
 550343
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 James B. Simmons at 65 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 Birthplace of James B. Simmons 
 
 Bowl and Fork 
 
 James B. Simmons at Marriage . 
 
 Mary E. Simmons at Marriage , 
 
 James B. Simmons, 26 Years of Age 
 
 Robert S. Simmons at 30 , . 
 
 Mary E. Simmons at 30 . 
 
 Fifth Baptist Church, cor. i8th and 
 
 Spring Garden Streets, Philadelphia, 
 
 Pa., Erected During the Pastorate of 
 
 James B. Simmons .... 
 James B. Simmons at 45 . 
 Colver Institute, Richmond, Va. 
 
 LuMPKiNS Jail 
 
 Benedict Institute, Columbia, S. C 
 
 Leland University, New Orleans 
 
 Shaw Collegiate Institute, Raleigh, N. 
 
 The Estey Building, Raleigh, N. C. 
 
 Wayland Seminary, Washington, D. C. 
 
 Nashville Institute, Nashville, Tenn. 
 
 James B. Simmons at 70 . . . 
 
 Old Main Building, Simmons College . 
 
 Sarah Anna Simmons, Daughter of Robert 
 
 S. Simmons, at 8 Years of Age . 
 Girls* Industrial Home, Simmons College 
 
 12 
 21 
 28 
 
 34 
 38 
 44 
 
 48 
 
 50 
 58 
 66 
 
 67 
 
 72 
 
 74 
 75 
 77 
 
 79 
 81 
 90 
 
 105 
 
 116 
 
 130
 
 EARLY LIFE 
 
 PERHAPS no man in America, if in the 
 world, has been more directly instru- 
 mental in the founding of Christian 
 colleges than was the late Rev. James B. 
 Simmons, D.D., of New York. Sketches 
 from his life cannot fail to be interesting to 
 those who favour Christian education and to 
 every lover of humanity and of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. His active life embraced the 
 last half of the most active of all the cen- 
 turies, and he not only kept abreast of the 
 rapidly advancing tide, but he was a leader 
 in events that have revolutionized the world. 
 The useful lessons which are to be drawn 
 from such a life should not be lost to the 
 rising generation. 
 
 Dr. Simmons was born in Northeast, 
 Dutchess County, New York, of Dutch and 
 Scotch parentage. His great-grandfather,
 
 lo A Foundation Builder 
 
 Peter Simmons, came from Holland in the 
 eighteenth century and settled in Dutchess 
 County. Many of the best people of the 
 State of New York to-day are descended 
 from the early Dutch settlers. The Van 
 Rensselaers, Vanderbilts, Astors, Roosevelts, 
 Rockefellers, and Dutchers are proud to 
 claim Holland as the fatherland of their 
 ancestors. 
 
 Many of the most cherished ideas of our 
 American institutions are derived either di- 
 rectly from Holland or have come to us from 
 that country by way of England. Our British 
 ancestors were strangers to religious liberty 
 and freedom of the press until taught these 
 doctrines by William, Prince of Orange, 
 when he came to the English throne. The 
 early Dutch settlers brought with them from 
 Holland the Protestant ideas which they 
 had imbibed there, and they were engrafted 
 into the early institutions of our country. 
 Our present civilization owes more to Hol- 
 land than many people suppose. The 
 Simmons family, clinging to their ancestral 
 teachings, were industrious and economical, 
 with a dogged tenacity in what they be-
 
 Early Life ii 
 
 lieved to be right, and these qualities are 
 marked characteristics of this family, scat- 
 tered as it is over the greater part of this 
 country. 
 
 Nicholas Simmons, the grandfather of the 
 subject of this sketch, was born in Dutchess 
 County, and led an industrious life until 
 his death in 1840. His wife's maiden name 
 was Christina Snyder, a woman of marked 
 cheerfulness, wisdom, and industry. Will- 
 iam Simmons, the father of James B., was 
 born in Pine Plains, Dutchess County, in 
 1787, and grew to manhood there, and en- 
 gaged in farming in the town of Northeast 
 until 18 1 8, when he moved to Columbia 
 County, where he lived for five years. He 
 was married to Clarissa Roe, a lady of 
 Scotch and English descent, whose parents 
 were Silas and Mercy (Hervey) Roe, and 
 it was at the old Roe homestead in North- 
 east that James B., the youngest of five 
 children, was born. He had two brothers, 
 Hervey Roe, and Edward W., and two sis- 
 ters, Julia and Amanda. His father was a 
 successful farmer, and held various official 
 positions in his county. He was a soldier in
 
 12 A Foundation Builder 
 
 the war of 1812, and came out of the war a 
 non-commissioned officer. The mother of 
 James B. was a woman of rare gifts, and 
 while she imparted to her son the solidity of 
 her Scotch blood, she was deprived of giving 
 her motherly training to her baby boy, for she 
 was providentially thrown from a wagon 
 and killed when her baby was a little less 
 than five months old. Thus Dr. Simmons 
 was deprived of that best of all earthly 
 blessings to childhood, a good mother's guid- 
 ing hand and prayerful heart. 
 
 A kind woman in the neighbourhood, 
 Ruth Levings, cared for the motherless boy 
 until his father married a second time, and 
 all through her life Mrs. Levings loved him 
 and prayed for him as if he had been her own 
 son. James worked on his father's farm 
 and attended school at intervals until his 
 fifteenth year. Exiled from home at that 
 early age, he went out into the world cour- 
 ageously and joyfully to make his way as 
 best he might. He was determined to have 
 an " eddication," as he expressed it to his 
 sister, who corrected him by saying, " Edu- 
 cation, my child," and he began working on
 
 
 A 
 
 H^iw i 
 
 
 -s.^^- 
 
 ..:._- 
 
 BIRTHPLACE OF JAMES B. SIMMONS
 
 Early Life 13 
 
 the farm for his uncle at six dollars per 
 month, and saved up his scanty earnings. 
 
 His brother Edward was teaching a classi- 
 cal school at Sheffield, Mass., and he took 
 James B. into his school and prepared him 
 for college, supplementing the boy's earnings 
 with an advance of money for his expenses 
 till he finished his academic course; these 
 advances were faithfully repaid. Edward 
 not only did this, but admonished him as a 
 father, helped him when in trouble, guided 
 him in counsel, and above all led him sav- 
 ingly to Christ. Edward, who was eleven 
 years his senior, has long been a prominent 
 merchant and lawyer in his native town; 
 has held various positions of trust in his 
 county, and for sixty-six years has been a 
 member of a Baptist church. The two 
 brothers were greatly attached to each other 
 all their lives and for the best of reasons. 
 
 The habits of industry and economy, in- 
 herited from his ancestors and enforced by an 
 early life of poverty, were practised through 
 life by Dr. Simmons, and greatly aided him 
 in accomplishing a large work for the Lord's 
 cause by his labours and his means.
 
 14 A Foundation Builder 
 
 Although Dr. Simmons's father and 
 mother were church members, the son be- 
 came sceptical at an early age and was de- 
 termined that he would not be a Christian. 
 While living with his brother and going 
 to school, an evangelist by the name of 
 Crandall came into the neighbourhood and 
 began a meeting in the Baptist church at 
 Northeast. The brother said to James, 
 *' You had better go with me to church to- 
 night and hear the new man preach." " No," 
 says James, " my lessons are difficult and I 
 do not care to go." The next night the same 
 invitation was given, but the third night 
 the brother insisted that he should go to 
 church, offering to excuse him from the les- 
 sons. " I went," said James, " and it appeared 
 that the preacher aimed his sermon directly 
 at me. I was offended at first, because 
 I thought that my brother had told the 
 minister about me, and I was determined 
 to upbraid him for it when we reached the 
 house. The minister continued with his 
 pointed appeals, and long before he con- 
 cluded the sermon, I was subdued and weep- 
 ing. I felt as if hell was gaping beneath
 
 Early Life 15 
 
 me. I thought there was no sinner so bad 
 as I, and in great distress I began to read 
 the Bible. Before this I could not bear the 
 Bible, and though my father had offered me 
 ten dollars to read the Book through, I would 
 not do it. The meetings continued, and one 
 day as I was walking along the road I real- 
 ized that Christ was a great and loving 
 Saviour, and I accepted him as my Re- 
 deemer, and immediately sweet peace filled 
 my soul. I was baptized into the fellow- 
 ship of the old Northeast Baptist church 
 by Rev. John LaGrange, the pastor, and 
 immediately had a desire to tell others of 
 this great salvation. I worked some time 
 on the farm, taught school, and all the 
 time kept up my studies and worked in 
 the prayer meetings where I chanced to be. 
 I did not tell any one of my impressions of 
 duty to preach the Gospel; in fact, I was not 
 fully settled in my own mind on the subject. 
 I felt that the work was too great and sacred 
 for one so young, so ignorant, and so inex- 
 perienced as I. Once Abner Brown, who 
 kept the boarding-house of my brother's 
 academy, asked the different boys at table
 
 i6 A Foundation Builder 
 
 what they were going to be when they grew 
 up. One said he would be a sailor; another 
 a merchant; another a lawyer, and so on. 
 Then turning to me he said, ' And what will 
 you be, James, a preacher? ' I blushed and 
 said that I did not know what I should do, 
 but would wait till the time came to de- 
 cide. I did not then know that any one had 
 thought of me in connection with the min- 
 istry. The good man said, 'Well, James, 
 you go on and educate yourself, and then 
 the Lord will put you at such work as he 
 wants you to do.' " 
 
 " In the summer of 1846 I joined the 
 preparatory department of what was then 
 Madison University at Hamilton, N. Y., now 
 Colgate University." 
 
 Dr. Simmons spent three years in thor- 
 oughly preparing himself for the college 
 course, and entered the Freshman class of 
 the University at the beginning of the ses- 
 sion of 1847. Though poor in this world's 
 goods, he was determined to make the most 
 possible out of the gifts with which God 
 had blessed him.
 
 II 
 
 STUDENT LIFE 
 
 COLLEGE life fifty years ago was a 
 very different thing from what it is 
 to-day. Endowments were small^ 
 and revenues were scanty, and college pro- 
 fessors, as a rule, led lives of self-sacrifice. 
 There were no John D. Rockefellers, George 
 Peabodys, and James B. Colgates to give 
 millions properly to equip colleges for work. 
 The facilities were poor and meagre com- 
 pared with the advantages of the present day. 
 Our country lad began his college course 
 without money or wealthy patron, knowing 
 that he must rely on industry, economy, and 
 constant application if he succeeded in ob- 
 taining a collegiate education. The four 
 years' course seemed to him almost a life- 
 time to spend in study, especially as he had 
 struggled along for several years already to 
 prepare for college. He had been taught in 
 
 17
 
 1 8 A Foundation Builder 
 
 early life that if you wish to fell a tree, 
 it pays to take time to sharpen the axe be- 
 fore beginning work, and he applied this 
 teaching to the great work of life, and felt 
 that his axe needed much grinding before he 
 was ready to begin a task that would take 
 him a lifetime to complete, and during 
 which there would be no opportunity to 
 correct initial mistakes. 
 
 He entered the Freshman class in the sum- 
 mer of 1847, and soon took a good stand in 
 the class, through indefatigable labour. It 
 was the usual humdrum life of a college 
 boy, and with odd jobs of work mornings 
 and evenings and on Saturdays, he eked out 
 his slender means. He rose Sophomore at 
 the beginning of the next session, and pur- 
 sued the course to half advanced, when the 
 fame of Brown University, located at Provi- 
 dence, R. I., reached his ears. Dr. Francis 
 Wayland, the president, was regarded as the 
 ablest college man in the land, and students 
 from all over the country, as far south as 
 Georgia and South Carolina, were flocking 
 to Brown. A young Carolinian had grad- 
 uated a few years before who soon became
 
 Student Life 19 
 
 famous in his native State, and subsequently 
 was known all over the United States as 
 Dr. J. P. Boyce, the leader of the Southern 
 Baptist hosts in the work of higher educa- 
 tion. In the same class with Boyce was 
 John Hill Luther, who as minister, editor, 
 and college professor and president was be- 
 loved west of the Mississippi River from 
 Missouri to Texas. 
 
 Young Simmons could not resist the in- 
 clination to avail himself of the great abili- 
 ties of Dr. Wayland as a teacher, and with 
 his beloved classmate, Robert J. Willingham, 
 of South Carolina, set out from Hamilton for 
 New York. He had never been in a great 
 city, and was afraid lest he should be robbed 
 of his trunk and books. Landing from a 
 boat on North River, he and his companion 
 agreed that it was best not to risk their bag- 
 gage out of their sight, and so they hired 
 a man with a hand barrow to wheel it 
 across to a steamboat bound for Providence 
 by way of Stonington, — and they accom- 
 panied him on foot. Their idea was that 
 if he attempted to escape with their trunks, 
 they could manage him, as they were two
 
 20 A Foundation Builder 
 
 to one. This prominent trait of character in 
 Dr. Simmons, of wise forecast and caution, 
 thus manifested itself at an early day. 
 
 The young men arrived safely at Provi- 
 dence and enquired for Brown University. 
 The hackman could not tell them, but 
 shouted out, " Does anybody here know 
 where Brown's Universalist is? " Another 
 hackman gave him directions to *' Brown's 
 Universalist," and after wandering around, 
 lost occasionally in the darkness of the early 
 morning, they found at last the college 
 grounds, and were welcomed to its halls. 
 
 Young Simmons paid one dollar a month 
 rent for his room, and bought and prepared 
 his own food. He says, " I ate, principally, 
 bread and milk, indulging myself in meat 
 only twice a week. I had a bowl and fork, 
 and would stick the fork in a piece of bread 
 and dip it in the milk, withdrawing it 
 quickly, lest it should absorb too much milk, 
 for I had to be economical. My expense 
 for provisions did not exceed $1.12 per 
 week." The bowl and fork which he used 
 are still preserved in the museum of Sim- 
 mons College in Texas, as an inspiration to
 
 Student Life 21 
 
 poor boys who must struggle to educate 
 themselves. 
 
 He had been licensed by his church at 
 home to preach, and it was understood that 
 he was preparing himself to enter upon 
 
 Bowl and Fork 
 
 mission work, either in the West or in a 
 foreign land. He once related an amusing 
 anecdote of himself when at home on a 
 vacation, for Dr. Simmons enjoyed a good 
 story even at his own expense. " During vaca- 
 tion, I was invited to preach at my old home 
 church, and of course the whole community 
 turned out to hear the home boy who had 
 been to college. A day or two after, I met 
 ' Aunt Harriet,' as she was called, an old 
 maid who rendered herself generally useful 
 in the community, of uncommon good hard 
 sense, very pious and beloved and respected
 
 22 A Foundation Builder 
 
 by all. She said to me, ' James, Elder Gates 
 speaks very well of your sermon Sunday.' 
 (Elder Gates was a superannuated minister 
 who lived in the neighbourhood.) ' He says 
 the sermon was sound in doctrine, well 
 worded, and well delivered, and I was glad 
 to hear him praise it so, but if I were in your 
 place, I would not think too much of what 
 Elder Gates says. You know he is an old 
 man, in his second childhood, and hard of 
 hearing, and they think he has softening of 
 the brain, and besides, you yourself know 
 that Elder Gates never was a good judge 
 of preaching anyway.' She wanted to en- 
 courage me, and yet she did not wish me to 
 become too much puffed up." 
 
 Dr. Simmons used to tell, in speaking of 
 his college days, of a time when President 
 Wayland called him to book about being 
 tardy in coming to recitation. The time of 
 the recitation had been changed, and he was 
 late. The President asked his reasons for 
 his tardiness, and he replied that he had 
 forgotten about the change, and was shaving 
 when the bell rang. " At what time of day 
 do you shave, Simmons?" asked Dr. Way-
 
 Student Life 23 
 
 land. " No particular time, sir, but when 
 I think my face needs it." " And do you 
 use hot or cold water? " " Warm water, 
 sir, because it softens the beard." " Let me 
 tell you two things: always classify your 
 shaving with your toilet, and attend to it 
 first thing in the morning. Always use cold 
 water or you will never be a free man. Sup- 
 pose you should settle as pastor and should 
 be sent for quickly for some pastoral duty. 
 Do you not see that if you should have to 
 heat up water and shave before you could 
 go, it would cause great delay? No, sir, be 
 a free man, classify your shaving with your 
 toilet, and always use cold water." These 
 words became a saying on the college cam- 
 pus, and the lesson in system in small things 
 was beneficial to others besides young Sim- 
 mons. 
 
 In 1 85 1 Dr. Simmons graduated in a class 
 of thirty-one, among whom were many men 
 who afterwards became distinguished. He 
 did not take an honour, but was reckoned one 
 of the upper third in the class. Among his 
 classmates were Dr. Bates of Pennsylvania; 
 Hon. John S. Brayton, LL.D., of Fall River,
 
 24 A Foundation Builder 
 
 Mass.; W. J. Morecock, a distinguished edu- 
 cator in Georgia; J. O. A. Clark, D.D., 
 LL.D., perhaps, next to Bishop Pierce, the 
 most distinguished Methodist minister in 
 Georgia of his day; Warren Randolph, D.D., 
 of Rhode Island, the lifelong friend of Dr. 
 Simmons and his successor in the pastorate 
 of the First Baptist church, Indianapolis, 
 and of the Fifth church in Philadelphia, 
 also; and Professor J. L. Diman, who held 
 a chair in Brown University for many years. 
 
 Dr. Simmons was advised against taking 
 a theological course, and applied to the 
 American Baptist Home Mission Society 
 for an appointment in the West. In the 
 meantime, he was a captive to the wiles of 
 Cupid, and was married to Miss Mary Eliza 
 Stevens, a most excellent woman of Provi- 
 dence, who was ready to go with him to the 
 West as a missionary's wife, and of whom 
 a fuller account will be given in a subse- 
 quent chapter. 
 
 Dr. Benjamin M. Hill, the wise secretary 
 of the Home Mission Society, wrote him ad- 
 vising a full theological course before he 
 went West. Dr. Hill said that there was not
 
 Student Life 25 
 
 so much lack of quantity as of quality. " The 
 brightest and most enterprising of our citi- 
 zens go West; if you would succeed there, 
 you will need all the preparation you can 
 acquire." 
 
 What a mistake some boards make when 
 they think that almost any kind of a man 
 will do to send to a western mission field! 
 An inferior man may get along in a staid 
 old church in a community of fixed habits, 
 but in a new, enterprising, crystallizing com- 
 munity, nothing short of the best can suc- 
 ceed. Others seconded Dr. Hill's advice, 
 and young Simmons, after consulting with 
 his young wife, decided to take a full Sem- 
 inary course. She turned in some money 
 that her father had given her to set up in 
 housekeeping, and an unexpected event hap- 
 pened which made it possible for him to add 
 enough means to give him a full three years' 
 course in theology. 
 
 One of his early schoolmates, E. W. Clark, 
 declined to go to college, and said he would 
 go into business and get rich. He became 
 the brother-in-law of Edward W. Simmons, 
 and began business and succeeded rapidly,
 
 26 A Foundation Builder 
 
 but he was arrested by the Spirit of God, 
 and impressed with his duty to preach the 
 Gospel. About the time young Simmons was 
 deciding the question of a theological course, 
 young Clark appeared in Rhode Island to 
 begin a course in Brown, and called on Sim- 
 mons, the friend of his boyhood. Young 
 Clark said to young Simmons, " Go ahead 
 with your course, and draw on me for what 
 money you need." Simmons and his wife at 
 once went to Rochester where she took the 
 same course with him, working side by side. 
 Young Clark afterwards became the mission- 
 ary who, with his wife, has made famous 
 the work in the Naga Hills, Assam. 
 
 After a year at Rochester, Dr. Simmons 
 went to Andover and spent a year under the 
 famous Dr. Edward A. Park. He completed 
 his course, however, at Newton Theological 
 Institution, near Boston. His wife accom- 
 panied him at each place, and shared his 
 studies. He afterward repaid Dr. Clark 
 for the money advanced, both principal 
 and interest, and made him a present 
 besides. 
 
 He was soon ordained to the ministry,
 
 Student Life 27 
 
 and called to the Third church, Providence, 
 R. I., and entered upon the duties of pastor 
 at a salary of one thousand dollars a year. 
 What a lesson to young men! Here is a 
 poor country boy, struggling for nine long 
 years to fit himself for the great duties of 
 life, supporting himself at times by the 
 labour of his hands, at times borrowing money 
 and afterwards earning and repaying it, yet 
 with commendable courage and undaunted 
 perseverance continuing the even tenor of his 
 way until he had prepared for college, grad- 
 uated at Brown, and completed a full theo- 
 logical course, and was ready to begin life's 
 career splendidly equipped for the work. 
 Where there is a will there is a way. What 
 this young man did, any other young man 
 can do who has grit, grace, and sanctified 
 common sense.
 
 Ill 
 
 MARRIED LIFE 
 
 WHILE Dr. Simmons was a student 
 at Brown, he met Miss Mary Eliza 
 Stevens, a young Quakeress who was 
 interested in Bible investigation, and as the 
 student aided her in an investigation which 
 resulted in her joining the Baptist church, 
 they two became warm friends, and it was 
 but a step from friendship to a stronger pas- 
 sion. Shortly after his graduation the young 
 couple were united in marriage by Dr. 
 Francis Wayland, on October 28, 1851, both 
 expecting to go West as missionaries. 
 
 Mrs. Simmons was the daughter of Robert 
 and Deborah Stevens, who were themselves 
 natives of Rhode Island, and well-to-do 
 Quakers. Her grandfather was a Quaker 
 and a sea captain. In those days the captain 
 of a ship was generally part owner, and 
 Captain Cook acquired a competency in his 
 
 23
 
 JAMES B. SIMMONS AT MARRIAGE
 
 Married Life 29 
 
 chosen vocation. Mary Eliza was given as 
 good advantages as the country afforded to 
 women at that time for mental culture, and 
 on her graduation with distinction at the 
 Quaker College near Providence, she was 
 offered a position as a teacher, and for a few 
 years won golden opinions as an instructor 
 of youth. She was bright intellectually, 
 deeply pious, and strictly conscientious, so it 
 is not surprising that, after her investigation 
 of the Bible had led her to embrace Baptist 
 views, she should follow her convictions by a 
 change in her church relations. 
 
 After her marriage, her thorough course 
 in the Seminary with her husband, taking as 
 she did the Hebrew and the Greek, placed 
 her perhaps among the best educated women 
 of her day. It was manifest in after life 
 that there was no mistake made in this mar- 
 riage, for Mrs. Simmons graced every posi- 
 tion to which she was called as the wife of 
 her distinguished husband. She was the 
 right hand of his power in his work as pas- 
 tor and as secretary of our great Societies, 
 and stood cheerfully by his side in all his 
 benevolent work.
 
 30 A Foundation Builder 
 
 One child was bom to them, Robert 
 Stevens Simmons, in Providence, R. I., De- 
 cember 9, 1854, and this boy was carefully 
 trained by both father and mother, as those 
 who must give an account. After a literary 
 course, he graduated in the Homeopathic 
 Medical College in New York, and made a 
 tour of Europe, and settled down to prac- 
 tise his profession. He is quiet in manner, 
 but well read, and shares largely in his 
 father's benevolent views. Books are his 
 fad, and he spends much of his income on 
 his own library, which is one of the choicest 
 private libraries in New York, and in giving 
 rare and useful books to the college in 
 Texas which bears the family name. His 
 generosity is bounded only by his income. 
 
 After forty-three years spent in working 
 together for the uplifting of humanity, in 
 the year 1894 Mrs. Simmons's health be- 
 came frail. Change of place and the best 
 medical skill were unavailing, and on Sep- 
 tember 24, she was called to a life above. 
 She passed away as peacefully and gently as 
 a child going to sleep in its mother's arms. 
 
 The funeral services were conducted by
 
 Married Life 31 
 
 Dr. R. S. MacArthur, and the body was 
 laid to rest in the Quaker graveyard near 
 Providence, the home of her childhood. 
 Her grief-stricken husband with a sad heart 
 turned away to face the duties of life alone. 
 
 Some extracts from the hundreds of let- 
 ters of condolence which poured in from 
 every quarter of the globe — for this " elect 
 lady " was known around the world — are 
 here given. 
 
 Rev. Thomas Armitage, D.D., LL. D., for 
 forty years pastor of the Fifth Avenue Bap- 
 tist church, writes: 
 
 " Dr. James B. Simmons has met with the 
 greatest affliction, in the death of his wife, 
 that has ever overtaken him; an affliction 
 which only his own soul can ifeel in all the 
 * bitterness of grief.' I have met with but 
 few ' elect ladies ' whose sound sense and 
 Christliness exceeded those great attributes 
 in Mrs. Mary E. Simmons. The root sense 
 of the word ' wife ' is ' weaver,' because she 
 presided at the loom — making raiment for the 
 family, long before factories for silk, cotton, 
 and linen, were thought of at all. In cases 
 like that of Mrs. Simmons, the hand-maid 
 of the Lord spent her life in weaving high
 
 32 A Foundation Builder 
 
 and broad character in all its strength and 
 beauty of warp and woof. She helped to 
 make the noble character of Dr. Simmons. 
 Her grace delighted him, and her discretion 
 strengthened him, at every step of their 
 married life. To him her light was like 
 that of the sun by day and of the stars by 
 night. And now, that her untiring hand 
 and faithful heart have done their work, 
 her life will beat on and on, ever fresh 
 and beautiful in each one of her household. 
 Let my precious brother bear up and carry 
 his burden manfully. She never wove one 
 black thread into the texture of his days; 
 therefore let him be grateful that God ever 
 gave him such a wife." 
 
 Dr. O. C. Pope, of Texas, who had spent 
 months in Dr. Simmons's home, wrote: 
 
 " I saw in The Inquirer, Dr. MacArthur's 
 beautiful tribute to the lovely character of 
 Mrs. Simmons. She will always occupy 
 an exalted place in the memory of myself 
 and my wife. She was certainly an extraor- 
 dinary woman. May God comfort and 
 bless her sorrowing household." 
 
 Rev. J. B. Lemon, of Connecticut, wrote:
 
 Married Life 33 
 
 " I was away from home and did not learn 
 of the death of Mrs. Simmons until last 
 night. I am only as a child to Dr. Sim- 
 mons, but I do want to extend him my 
 hand, and say with the tens of thousands 
 who know and love him, that he has my 
 prayers and sympathies in this hour of his 
 sore bereavement." 
 
 Rev. W. C. Bitting, D.D., pastor of Mt. 
 Morris Baptist church. New York City, 
 said: 
 
 " Dr. Simmons has lost a noble wife. Her 
 ways were all the time full of beauty and 
 grace. I deeply sympathize with him. What 
 a joy it is to believe the words of Christ 
 about our dear ones who are absent from 
 the body, but present with the Lord." 
 
 Rev. Henry G. Weston, LL.D., president 
 of Crozer Theological Seminary, wrote: 
 
 " Few men have been blessed with such a 
 wife as the Lord gave to Dr. J. B. Simmons; 
 and how much she entered into his life and 
 became a part of his very being was evident 
 to every one. In her death he lost a part 
 of his very self."
 
 34 A Foundation Builder 
 
 Rev. Dr. Henry L. Wayland, son of the 
 president under whom Dr. Simmons was 
 graduated, and for years editor of the 
 National Baptist, of Philadelphia, and on 
 the staff of The Examiner, of New York, 
 wrote : 
 
 " I cannot tell how shocked and grieved 
 I was to learn of the sad and irreparable 
 loss Dr. Simmons has sustained in the death 
 of his wife. As a family we all esteemed 
 her as a truly Christian woman. I always 
 felt when I was in Dr. Simmons's home, 
 that God had given him the greatest bless- 
 ing that one can enjoy on earth, a loving, 
 wise, noble, congenial wife." 
 
 Rev. George M. Stone, D.D., of Hart- 
 ford, Conn., sent the following: 
 
 *' I have only just now learned of the 
 death of the beloved wife of Dr. Simmons, 
 whom I remember with such vivid and 
 pleasant interest. I cherish a very high esti- 
 mate of her qualities both mental and spirit- 
 'ial. Indeed I felt that her cheerfulness last 
 summer at Saratoga was really heroic, con- 
 sidering the suppression of natural suffering 
 which it involved. Well, the ' Summer
 
 MARY E. SIMMONS AT MARRIAGE
 
 Married Life 35 
 
 Land ' with its springs of pure joy, and its 
 visions of the King, is better than scenes 
 below. But I am aware, that the vanishing 
 from his side of one so genial and gifted, 
 makes a vacancy for our brother beloved in 
 the Lord, never to be filled until he passes 
 to the final reunion with her." 
 
 The following is from Dr. Joseph F. El- 
 der, who, for years, was on the Home Mis- 
 sion Board when Dr. Simmons was secre- 
 tary: 
 
 " The sad announcement in this morning's 
 paper, of the death of your wife yesterday, 
 draws my heart to you in sincere sympathy. 
 I have known you both long enough to mark 
 the fondness and unity of your married life, 
 and to realize how utterly lost and lonely 
 this bereavement leaves you. But she will 
 not pass altogether out of your life. The 
 tender associations and the hallowed influ- 
 ence of all these years that you have spent 
 together, will leave an after glow of radi- 
 ance, that will make the night of your 
 sorrow less somber. And this twilight of 
 your parting hour may blend with the 
 dawning light of a happy meeting, till you 
 will scarcely realize how dark the night of
 
 36 A Foundation Builder 
 
 your separation might have been. May the 
 cup of consolation which you have so often 
 prepared for others, be filled to overflowing 
 for you by him who is the Father of mercies 
 and the God of all comfort." 
 
 Mrs. Simmons was president, and vice- 
 president, of different missionary organiza- 
 tions. She was also philanthropic in spirit, 
 as well as missionary. For example, she was 
 vice-president of the Indian Association, 
 which has done so much to ameliorate the 
 condition of the Red men. She was a mem- 
 ber of the Baptist Home for the Aged in the 
 city of New York. And that board, in a 
 touching letter of condolence, said: 
 
 " Many of us recall her devotion and 
 faithful service, not only in this good cause, 
 but in many other branches of Christian 
 work. The ornament of a meek and quiet 
 spirit was hers, which in the sight of God 
 is of great price. And so there is adminis- 
 tered unto her an abundant entrance into his 
 Kingdom." 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, the 
 warm personal friends of Mrs. Simmons, 
 wrote :
 
 Married Life 37 
 
 "We desire to renew our assurances of 
 sympathy for you and yours in the time of 
 great affliction. Mrs. Simmons will be re- 
 membered by a host of friends, and her 
 works will continue to bless the world for 
 long years to come. 
 
 " Permit us to express our best wishes for 
 the success of the College work, and believe 
 it will be the means of accomplishing great 
 good." 
 
 No man knows a woman as her husband 
 does, and here is an extract from a private 
 letter of Dr. Simmons to his brother Ed- 
 ward, which is only a just tribute to his 
 devoted wife: 
 
 " For the first time since I buried her 
 precious remains, nearly twenty-one months 
 ago, I have visited her grave. It is in a charm- 
 ing spot, close by her father and mother and 
 grandfather and grandmother. By her side 
 a space is left for me. The thought of rest, 
 peaceful, and eternal, begins to seem pleas- 
 ant. 
 
 " Aside from my eternal well-being in 
 Christ, — of which I am not here speaking, — 
 the gift of God to me of Mary E. Stevens 
 to be my wife, crowns all the rest. Nobody
 
 38 A Foundation Builder 
 
 knows, nobody can know, the value she was 
 to me. So good, so wise, so patient, so 
 cheerful, so hopeful, so genial towards all 
 around her, so gifted and gracious in a 
 thousand ways, for every day of our married 
 life she was an untold blessing in my house- 
 hold, and in my public life as well. Her 
 woman's quick intuition, her rare practical 
 judgment, and her gracious qualities of 
 mind and heart, made her an invaluable 
 counsellor. Over and over again all along 
 during the forty-three years we lived so joy- 
 fully together, it was my habit to lay be- 
 fore her practical and intricate problems 
 which had perplexed me in my thinking for 
 days and perhaps weeks or even months, 
 and she would solve them in a moment, 
 right off-hand. It was marvellous! Some- 
 times I would deem the matter so weighty 
 and important as to ask her to take time be- 
 fore giving me her opinion. Almost always 
 she would reply, ' My mind is already made 
 up.' And I can scarcely remember an in- 
 stance in which her conclusions were not 
 unerring. 
 
 " So far as my public life was concerned, 
 there was never a moment in which she failed 
 to fill her place by my side splendidly. Many 
 distinguished men visited our home and sat 
 at our table. And it was the universal
 
 JAMES B. SIMMONS, AT 26 YEARS OF AGE
 
 Married Life 39 
 
 verdict that she presided gracefully and 
 entertained her guests elegantly. It was 
 marvellous with what lady-like dignity and 
 ease and naturalness she met all the re- 
 quirements of occasions like these. Indeed 
 with all classes, from the highest and most 
 famous to the humblest and most obscure, 
 she was equally at home, and equally pleas- 
 ing and companionable and attractive. She 
 was introduced personally to two of the 
 Presidents of the United States, one in 
 Washington and one at Saratoga, and also 
 to other men quite as eminent as they, and 
 she conversed with them as sensibly and 
 cordially, and with as straightforward readi- 
 ness and good taste as with the humblest in 
 our mission work among the poor. All 
 classes were attracted to her. She was 
 greatly admired, and greatly beloved by all 
 classes. Only recently, on the street, I have 
 met two persons who knew her and who 
 spoke of her with enthusiasm. One of her 
 seamstresses, on hearing of her death, burst 
 into tears and exclaimed, 'Well! she was 
 the best woman I ever worked for!' More 
 than a hundred letters of condolence, — per- 
 haps nearer two hundred, — have come to me 
 concerning her death. They came from all 
 over the United States, from Mexico, from 
 Canada, from Great Britain, from Europe,
 
 40 A Foundation Builder 
 
 Asia, and Africa, and even from the * islands 
 of the sea.' 
 
 " The memorial service they held over her 
 death, two thousand miles away, down in 
 Abilene, Texas, and the polished marble 
 tablet that those strangers who never saw 
 her face erected in the College down there 
 that bears our family name, show the power 
 that her character is wielding."
 
 IV 
 LIFE AS PASTOR 
 
 WHILE Dr. Simmons was yet a stu- 
 dent at Newton, he was invited by 
 the Third Baptist church, in Provi- 
 dence, R. I., to become its pastor, and he 
 accepted and entered upon his labours in the 
 summer of 1854. His classmate and life- 
 long friend, Dr. Warren Randolph, assisted 
 in his ordination, and his old instructor. Dr. 
 Francis Wayland, offered the ordaining 
 prayer. 
 
 Dr. Randolph said: 
 
 " When J. B. Simmons entered the Sopho- 
 more class of Brown University I was there 
 to greet him as classmate, and as one like 
 him, looking forward to the Baptist ministry. 
 A fellow feeling at once sprang up between 
 us, and the work to which we were both 
 looking forward, engaged our attention. 
 During the latter part of the college course 
 we were drawn still nearer together by being, 
 
 41
 
 42 A Foundation Builder 
 
 with two other collegians, frequent visitors 
 in the pleasant home circle where my friend 
 Simmons found that ' most precious wife,' 
 who was his helper and his joy for more 
 than forty of the following years." 
 
 Dr. Randolph extended the hand of fel- 
 lowship to Dr. Simmons on behalf of the 
 council, and made a most touching address, 
 referring to their early struggles together to 
 obtain an education, and the strange co- 
 incidence by which they both became pas- 
 tors in the same city in New England, though 
 neither of them was a native of that section. 
 Of his pastorate in Providence, Dr. Ran- 
 dolph later said: 
 
 *' Introduced thus, into the pastorate of 
 the Third Baptist church, of Providence, 
 R. I., James B. Simmons soon made his in- 
 fluence felt, not only in that church, but in 
 the city and throughout the State. The 
 church had long been one of the most active 
 in personal religious work of all the churches 
 in the city. In the new pastor they found 
 an energetic leader. If his earnestness and 
 zeal sometimes outran the church, yet as a 
 whole they rejoiced in his leadership, and
 
 Life as Pastor 43 
 
 had, under his vigorous leadership, a greatly 
 quickened life. He was too far advanced 
 in his ideas and methods to gain the heartiest 
 approval and co-operation of all his mem- 
 bers, but he commended himself ' to every 
 man's conscience in the sight of God.' In 
 this first pastorate he gained for himself the 
 name of a ' reformer,' and though some of 
 the reforms which he advocated have not 
 yet been brought about, he made for him- 
 self a place in the Providence ministry, 
 which is held in honour to this day." 
 
 In his Providence church Dr. Simmons 
 found a man of some reputation and high 
 political position who often spoke unhand- 
 somely of young preachers. On one occa- 
 sion when he had been particularly severe 
 and offensive, Dr. Simmons cornered him 
 at the close of the meeting and asked him 
 to give particulars or else retract his un- 
 just and unkind utterances. The man (I 
 think) was Lieutenant-Governor Thurston, 
 but of this I am not quite sure. He indig- 
 nantly resented the attempt of Dr. Sim- 
 mons to secure a retraction of the offensive 
 remarks, and gave him to understand that 
 apologies or explanations even were jobs he
 
 44 A Foundation Builder 
 
 never undertook. Kindly, but emphatically, 
 Dr. Simmons insisted on retraction. He 
 asked it, not for himself as a young minister, 
 but for the brotherhood that had been as- 
 sailed. One week was given the offender to 
 take back what had been said. The trans- 
 gressor was not on hand at the next meeting. 
 The pastor followed him up, and before a 
 month w^as over the brother made a full, fair, 
 candid acknowledgment before the church, 
 to the amazement of those who knew him 
 best. 
 
 It was in this pastorate that Dr. Simmons 
 began the work of tract distribution, for 
 which he was ever afterwards noted in all 
 the different positions which he filled. He 
 rarely ever wrote a letter that he did not 
 tuck a tract of some kind into it. He began 
 in this manner: He asked the church to give 
 him a hundred dollars with which to pur- 
 chase good books and tracts for distribution 
 among the people. This request was some- 
 what startling in a staid church in a New 
 England city, by so young a man. After 
 some discussion, a brother named Stephen
 
 ROBERT S. SIMMONS AT 3O
 
 Life as Pastor 45 
 
 G. Mason, arose and said he would furnish 
 the hundred dollars if the pastor would 
 furnish the missionaries to do the work of 
 distribution. His proposition was accepted, 
 and the young pastor organized all the 
 members, who would volunteer, into a body 
 of mission workers to distribute the tracts 
 and accompany them with words of warning 
 and counsel. The consequence was a general 
 awakening of the church and congregation to 
 greater Christian activity. 
 
 Years after. Dr. Simmons met Mr. Mason 
 and said to him, " You cheated me in that 
 trade you made with me in Providence. I 
 had much the hardest end of the bargain." 
 " Yes," said Mason, " I knew at the time 
 that I had the easiest task, but neither of us 
 ought to complain, as great good resulted 
 from the work." 
 
 In 1857 Dr. Simmons was called by the 
 First Baptist church, Indianapolis, Ind., 
 then regarded as " away out West." After 
 much prayer and visiting the field, he ac- 
 cepted. Again we quote from Dr. Randolph, 
 who afterwards became pastor of the same 
 church :
 
 46 A Foundation Builder 
 
 " Though his place was changed, his 
 power was not lost. The Baptist cause in 
 the great State of Indiana was not, at that 
 day, in a prosperous condition. Fever and 
 ague was then the scourge of many sections 
 of the State, and the religious life was lan- 
 guid. The church to which Mr. Simmons 
 was called was in the centre of the city, and 
 the city itself was the moral, the political, 
 and the geographical centre of the State. 
 It was not the existing power of the church, 
 but its possibilities and prospective useful- 
 ness that drew the new pastor to it. He 
 saw the great work needed in the interests 
 of Christian education and of religion, and 
 into this work he threw himself vy^ith all 
 the ardour of his nature. He had more to 
 contend with here than he had previously 
 encountered. In New England he had come 
 in contact with men quite as radical as him- 
 self. In Indiana he was surrounded with an 
 atmosphere of Bourbon conservatism. His 
 bold championship of what he believed to 
 be the will of God and for the highest inter- 
 ests of humanity awakened the wrath of 
 ' those who were without,' who were ready to 
 ' gnash on him with their teeth.' As a re- 
 sult, while he suffered no personal injury, 
 the house of worship in which he preached 
 was burned. Proof that enraged enemies
 
 Life as Pastor 47 
 
 fired It was perhaps never established. But 
 ' lewd fellows of the baser sort ' greatly dis- 
 liked and openly denounced the radical anti- 
 slavery doctrine, and his meeting house was 
 burned. That was the most serious attempt 
 made to answer his arguments, or to counter- 
 act his Influence. Undaunted, however, he 
 pressed on, and when he left Indiana he left 
 a greatly strengthened and wisely compacted 
 church, as the result of his persistent and 
 painstaking work." 
 
 In Indianapolis Dr. Simmons one day 
 met a prominent man of his church reeling 
 drunk on one of the most public streets. Of 
 course he said nothing to the man at the 
 time, but very quickly he got him alone. 
 The man was thoroughly penitent, and ex- 
 pressed his willingness to take any step the 
 pastor might require. Dr. Simmons told 
 him that the offence was too public to be 
 privately confessed. He must appear the 
 following Sunday morning before the entire 
 congregation and there humbly acknowl- 
 edge his sin. He did it as soon as the ser- 
 mon closed the next Sabbath; he came for- 
 ward, and standing before the pulpit, he 
 made so humble and complete an admis-
 
 48 A Foundation Builder 
 
 sion of his lapse that others were moved to 
 tears of pity by his words. 
 
 In Indianapolis he secured a superb lot 
 for a church building. 
 
 Rev. T. R. Cressy and Dr. Sydney Dyer 
 were among his predecessors, and Dr. Henry 
 Day, Dr. Warren Randolph, Dr. Reuben 
 Jeffrey, Dr. H. C. Mabie, and Dr. T. J. 
 Villers have been among his successors. 
 
 The following are among the missionaries 
 who have gone out from this church: Mrs. 
 Rosa Adams Bailey, to Burma; E. W. and 
 M. M. Clark, to the Naga Hills, Assam; 
 Mr. and Mrs. John Newcomb, to India; and 
 Frank H. Levering, to India. 
 
 From the records of the church is made 
 the following: 
 
 "In October, 1861, Rev. J. B. Simmons 
 resigned the pastoral charge of the church, 
 and the resignation was accepted in defer- 
 ence to his judgment of what seemed to 
 him to be the voice of God calling him to 
 another field. Many expressions of sincere 
 regret were made at parting. His Christian 
 fidelity was commended, and the church 
 pledged itself to pray for his highest success
 
 MARY E. SIMMONS AT 30
 
 Life as Pastor 49 
 
 with the people to whom he was called, and 
 commended him to their confidence and 
 love." 
 
 Again we quote from Dr. Warren Ran- 
 dolph concerning Dr. Simmons's next pas- 
 torate : 
 
 " His next great work was in Philadel- 
 phia, where he became pastor of the Fifth 
 Baptist church. This was probably the most 
 perilous undertaking of his life, but, in the 
 good providence of God, it led to the grand- 
 est success, which, as pastor, he ever 
 achieved. 
 
 " The Fifth church was a reorganized 
 body from the famous old Sansom Street 
 church, in whose old round house of wor- 
 ship Dr. Stoughton gained his great fame as 
 a preacher. But by removals from the lo- 
 cality, the church had become so enfeebled 
 that it was found impossible to maintain it 
 in its location on Sansom Street below Ninth. 
 The property, however, was valuable, and 
 being sold, a lot was bought and the work 
 begun of building, at Eighteenth and Spring 
 Garden streets, a more elegant house of 
 worship than the Baptists had till then at- 
 tempted in Philadelphia. But the time 
 proved unpropitious. The civil war came
 
 50 
 
 A Foundation Builder 
 
 on, and the work of building abruptly 
 ceased. The chapel only had been com- 
 
 Fifth Baptist Church, cor. Eighteenth and Spring Gar- 
 den Streets, Philadelphia, Pa., Erected During the 
 Pastorate of James B. Simmons 
 
 pleted. The pastor then in charge was from 
 the South. His sympathies were with the 
 Seceding States, and so strongly with them
 
 Life as Pastor 51 
 
 that he expressed regret that the guns of 
 Fort Sumter had not blown the ' Star of 
 the West ' out of the water. Abruptly he 
 resigned and left. The church, loyal to the 
 country, to Christ, and to one another, was 
 ' cast down, but not destroyed.' That it was 
 troubled on every side, perplexed, and per- 
 haps some of its members were well-nigh 
 ready to despair, need not be denied. Left 
 without a leader, and with an unfinished 
 house of worship, with a debt upon what had 
 been builded, with an enormous shrinkage 
 upon all kinds of securities, and with a 
 fierce civil war raging, the end of which no 
 one could see, a darker sky can hardly be 
 imagined. In these circumstances the church 
 extended a call to James B. Simmons, and 
 he took his place at their head. Rev. Dr. 
 John Newton Brown, then the Nestor of the 
 Baptists of that region, who had once been 
 a member of the Sansom Street church, in 
 speaking of Mr. Simmons and his great 
 undertaking, said to me, ' He'll need to 
 put a cheerful courage on.' And he did 
 put it on. And God, and the courage God 
 gave him, carried him through what many 
 thought an almost hopeless task. 
 
 " I was at the time pastor in the sub- 
 urban village of Germantown. At Mr. Sim- 
 mons's recognition in this new pastorate I
 
 52 A Foundation Builder 
 
 gave him the hand of fellowship, for the 
 second time as I had done seven years be- 
 fore for the first time at his ordination in 
 Providence. And it may not be thought 
 amiss for me to add here that I have twice 
 followed Dr. Simmons in the pastorate, — in 
 1867 at the Fifth church, Philadelphia; and 
 in 1877 at the First church, Indianapolis, — 
 so that reverently using the words of the 
 inspired Master, I may say, ' We speak that 
 we do know, and testify that we have seen.' 
 " The details of Dr. Simmons's work in 
 Philadelphia would require a volume at 
 least. Suffice it to say that the church 
 under his ministration had a marvellous 
 growth. The Sunday school, or Bible school, 
 as he more properly taught the people to call 
 it, became a greater marvel still. When the 
 present writer took Dr. Simmons's place, 
 upon the latter's removal to New York, he 
 found the church numbering, as now re- 
 membered, 536, while in the Bible school 
 not far from 1,000 were enrolled, and nearly 
 400 of them were adults, organized in a de- 
 partment by themselves. The entire church 
 building was devoted to the uses of the 
 school — main audience room, chapel, church 
 parlor, and even the pulpit platform. The 
 last named was large, and here it was that 
 Mrs. Simmons had had a class of thirty
 
 Life as Pastor 53 
 
 adults. Probably in no other country was 
 the Sunday school such a right arm of 
 power at that time, as in this famous old 
 church. Pastor Simmons both believed and 
 taught, that, unless circumstances prevented, 
 every member of the church should be in 
 the school. And, determined to lift it still 
 further out of littleness, he insisted on call- 
 ing it the ' Bible school,' a name which 
 many others have since adopted. Holding 
 that it ought to be the church at work in 
 that particular direction, he was accustomed 
 to announce its sessions as regularly as he 
 announced the weekly prayer meeting or the 
 Sabbath preaching. He had no sympathy 
 with the fear of soiling the house by too 
 much using, and so he insisted on its being 
 thrown entirely open for Bible study, as 
 well as for preaching; for, he pertinently 
 asked, ' What is the meeting house for, if it is 
 not to save souls in?' No Philadelphia 
 summer was ever so hot as to cause a sus- 
 pension of the preaching and Bible school 
 service; but once, it is related, the sexton 
 ventured to turn out the lights in the main 
 audience room on a stormy night, giving as 
 a reason, that the chapel would hold all 
 who would come, but the pastor was so in- 
 tent on having the brightest light on the 
 darkest and most forbidding night that the
 
 54 A Foundation Builder 
 
 over-cautious sexton never tried to econo- 
 mize on light again! 
 
 " The main church edifice, whose com- 
 pletion has already been indicated, was fin- 
 ished and paid for in the early part of Dr. 
 Simmons's pastorate. From that day to this, 
 it has gladdened the eyes of all beholders. 
 It was at once declared to be one of the 
 most beautiful, and purest English Gothic 
 buildings in America. Here is a picture of 
 it. It is not a wooden structure, painted 
 and sanded to make it represent what it is 
 not, but is built of the handsomest, choicest 
 free-stone. Its value, including the land on 
 which it stands, was, soon after its com- 
 pletion, fixed at $150,000. With the en- 
 hanced values now prevailing, it is no doubt 
 at the present time rated at much more. Its 
 tower, spire, and turrets; its pointed win- 
 dows, angles, and recesses, make it an object 
 of universal admiration. When the builder, 
 who did not always use language which 
 should be employed about a sacred edifice, 
 showed the drawings of the rambling walls 
 of the foundation to my brother (a visiting 
 architect), he said to him, ' Did you ever see 
 such a confounded village as that? ' Meet- 
 ing a "distinguished Presbyterian minister in 
 Philadelphia one day, while I was pastor 
 at the Fifth church, he asked, ' Where do
 
 Life as Pastor 55 
 
 you preach now?' When I replied, * At 
 Eighteenth and Spring Garden streets,' he 
 said, * You have the most beautiful church 
 in the city.' An Episcopal rector, who was 
 afterwards a bishop, upon learning that I 
 was pastor at Eighteenth and Spring Gar- 
 den streets, said to me, ' You have the most 
 churchly looking church in Philadelphia.' 
 As long as its shapely stones shall fit into 
 each other, and its graceful spire point to- 
 ward heaven, in a most important sense it 
 w^ill be a memorial of James B. Simmons. 
 It was after he left Philadelphia that two 
 universities told men to call him Dr. 
 Simmons. But his work at Eighteenth and 
 Spring Garden did more to honour him than 
 a dozen universities could have done." 
 
 While pastor in Philadelphia, Dr. Sim- 
 mons wrote several tracts and booklets. 
 His " Memorial Sketches," " Tribute to the 
 Departed," and " Young Child of Grace," 
 were all filled with loving words and sweet 
 counsel. But we are giving sketches of his 
 life and not of his writings, though the lat- 
 ter would be interesting and profitable. 
 
 After he had been pastor twelve and a 
 half years, — viz. : Three years in Providence,
 
 56 A Foundation Builder 
 
 four in Indianapolis, and five and one-half in 
 Philadelphia, God called him to another 
 sphere of work. On March 17, 1867, Dr. 
 Simmons addressed the following letter to 
 his church: 
 
 " When I became your pastor, five years 
 and five months ago, it was with the desire 
 that the relation might be a permanent one, if 
 God should so will. For twelve years I 
 have had a growing conviction that the in- 
 stability of the pastoral relation is one of 
 the most serious drawbacks to the growth 
 and peace and efficiency of the churches. 
 What one pastor gains is often seriously im- 
 paired by the coming of another, or lost 
 in the interval between. I therefore deter- 
 mined that no trifle, no amount of labour, no 
 ordinary affliction, and no obstacles thrown 
 in my way, should turn me aside from my 
 work; in short, that unless Christ, v/ho is the 
 great Master of the vineyard, and who has 
 a right to remove his labourers from one 
 place to another, should manifestly inter- 
 pose, I would keep to my post until dis- 
 abled by sickness, or till life should end. 
 Accordingly I laid my plans broad and 
 deep. My aim was, not simply to save this 
 church, but to train here a band of young
 
 Life as Pastor '57 
 
 spiritual warriors who should by and by 
 break forth on every side and take possession 
 of the surrounding territory in the name 
 of Jesus, the lawful king. I hoped that as 
 the years passed, this church, already the 
 mother of several, might be the means of 
 originating two, three, or five others, as 
 vigorous, enterprising and useful as herself. 
 My plans for accomplishing this, I have 
 never but partially revealed to you. Those 
 of you who are more enterprising, daring, 
 and aggressive in your dispositions would 
 have been, perhaps, unduly elated by them; 
 and others of you who are more conservative 
 and love the old paths, would have been dis- 
 turbed at the amount of money, sacrifice, and 
 labour involved. Hence, I have kept largely 
 my own counsels, and aimed to show you 
 rather results than theories. The plan of 
 making war upon evil before declaring it, 
 of doing a thing rather than promising to 
 do it, is with me a favourite method. I 
 regard it as the New Testament method. 
 Paul and the other apostles tell us very little 
 of what they intended to do, but the accounts 
 are long and full of what they actually had 
 done. 
 
 " This plan of working has so much of 
 the military in it, — it is so properly the 
 order of proceeding in the movements of
 
 ^8 A Foundation Builder 
 
 the church militant as she rallies her forces 
 and presses to the victory, — that it is no mat- 
 ter of surprise that some of you have not 
 altogether enjoyed it. Men whose age, 
 whose training, or whose temperament fits 
 them for peace, cannot so well enjoy the din 
 and disturbance and danger of war. I am 
 therefore not surprised that there should 
 have been occasionally one who has criti- 
 cized my plans of attack, or stood in doubt 
 as to the wisdom of the order of march. To 
 the opinions of such, I have always aimed 
 to show as much deference as duty to the 
 King and the success of the campaign would 
 warrant. 
 
 *' Keeping to my original purpose, not 
 to allow anything short of the mani- 
 fested will of the Saviour to divert me 
 from this field, I have declined more 
 propositions to leave you than any of you 
 are aware of. Nothing that has occurred 
 here has determined me to resign ; for never 
 at any period of my pastorate in Philadel- 
 phia have I had such general and hearty 
 co-operation as for the past three months. 
 Never were there so many of my members 
 standing ready to work with me and carry 
 out my plans. Never have I received so 
 many expressions of confidence, so frequent 
 words of cheer, or so numerous proofs of
 
 
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 ^ 
 
 JAMES B. SIMMONS AT 45
 
 Life as Pastor 59 
 
 love. Never in my whole history (and I 
 have resigned in two churches before), has 
 there been so little reason, — nay, such entire 
 absence of reason, — for a pastor to leave his 
 people. Everything, so far as you are con- 
 cerned, tempts me to stay with you. 
 
 " But, on the other hand, the great Master 
 of the vineyard seems to have called for 
 me. I am summoned to help conduct the 
 affairs of our American Baptist Home 
 Mission Society, whose object is the 
 preaching of the Gospel throughout North 
 America. 
 
 " He who is your Lord and mine alike, 
 who has redeemed us by His precious blood, 
 and who owns us, and to w^hom we prom- 
 ised to give ourselves up at the time of our 
 conversion and baptism in total and absolute 
 subjection, appears to lay claim upon me 
 for this service. He has spoken to me 
 through the voice, the emphatic and con- 
 current voice of numerous of my fellow 
 watchmen, who stand widely apart upon 
 the walls, and in whose call there is uncom- 
 mon unanimity. He has spoken to me by 
 minute providences, such as I love more 
 and more to watch, as the years of my 
 life move on. Chief of all He has spoken 
 to me in my inner spirit, and I dare not 
 disobey.
 
 6o A Foundation Builder 
 
 ^' I therefore resign my position as pastor 
 of this church, to take effect on the first day 
 of April proximo." 
 
 After a lapse of ten years, during which 
 Dr. Simmons was engaged in general de- 
 nominational work, which will be treated of 
 in a subsequent chapter, he was again called 
 to the pastorate, and took charge of Trinity 
 Baptist church in New York in 1877. Here 
 he laboured for eight and a half years, up- 
 building the cause in a section of the city 
 which was considered missionary ground. 
 He had the financial support of John D. 
 Rockefeller, and the personal support of 
 Horace Waters and a host of other workers. 
 It was a difficult field, requiring great pa- 
 tience and skill, but he turned it over to his 
 successor in good condition, being called to 
 the work of district secretary of the Ameri- 
 can Baptist Publication Society for the State 
 of New York. We again quote from Dr. 
 Randolph as to his pastoral work: 
 
 " But the greatness of his success and the 
 elegance of his surroundings did not make 
 Dr. Simmons forget that Christ gave as one
 
 Life as Pastor 6i 
 
 of the proofs of His divine mission, * The 
 poor have the Gospel preached to them.' 
 Always attaching great importance to pas- 
 toral visitation, Dr. Simmons aimed at mak- 
 ing it impartial. Long after he left the 
 field, one of our best informed deacons 
 said to me that he had never known a min- 
 ister so free from partiality as was James B. 
 Simmons. He strenuously opposed all 
 favouritism in the house of God. Such was 
 the influence of his teaching, that I found 
 one of the richest men in the church ready, 
 whenever there was occasion, to give up his 
 seat, and take a chair in the aisle, that a poor 
 man or a stranger might be well accommo- 
 dated. Throughout his ministry he seemed 
 to be acting as if the Master's voice was 
 continually ringing in his ears, saying, ' In- 
 asmuch as ye have done it unto one of the 
 least of these my brethren ye have done it 
 unto me.' Though somewhat extensively ac- 
 quainted with ministers of various denomina- 
 tions, I have never known another who laid 
 such stress on the treatment of offenders ac- 
 cording to the law laid down in the Scrip- 
 tures, particularly at Matthew 18:15-18, as 
 Dr. J. B. Simmons. It is said that he re- 
 quired candidates for baptism to commit to 
 memory the rules laid down in the eighteenth 
 chapter of Matthew and then sometimes
 
 62 A Foundation Builder 
 
 promise publicly to keep them. He insisted 
 also that public sins, like drunkenness, for ex- 
 ample, should be publicly confessed. Thus 
 he sought to make the church pure and keep 
 it so. As a wise master builder he was 
 eager to obey the instructions of him who 
 said, * See that thou make all things accord- 
 ing to the pattern showed thee.' "
 
 D 
 
 V 
 HIS LIFE AS SECRETARY 
 
 R. WARREN RANDOLPH very 
 truly says: 
 
 *' One of the most touching pictures 
 of the late Dr. John A. Broadus was 
 given at the service memorial of him, w^hen 
 it was said, ' The shadow of a broken heart 
 seemed to be upon him when he gave up the 
 work of a pastor and a preacher for that of 
 a theological instructor.' Yet he doubtless 
 obeyed the call of God when he took up 
 this new work, as much as when he first 
 came to say, ' Woe is unto me if I preach 
 not the Gospel.' In the greater service of 
 teaching others how to preach he made his 
 life illustrious. And so other men called 
 of God to preach may, by a later call, be 
 led to turn to even higher, though co-ordinate 
 forms of work. 
 
 " Thus it was with the subject of this 
 sketch. Grand as the work of James B. 
 Simmons was while he wrought in the pas- 
 
 63
 
 64 A Foundation Builder 
 
 torate, he entered a field of wider sweep 
 and made still grander achievements for the 
 cause of Christ, when he left the pastorate 
 for the secretaryship of the American Bap- 
 tist Home Mission Society. But, like Dr. 
 Broadus, under ' the shadow of a broken 
 heart,' he turned away from a pastorate of 
 ' unsurpassed attractions,' to take a fore- 
 most place in directing the great work of a 
 society whose aim is embodied in the motto 
 which Dr. Simmons himself originated, viz.: 
 * North America for Christ.' " 
 
 As corresponding secretary of the Ameri- 
 can Baptist Home Mission Society, Dr. Sim- 
 mons superintended the appointment and 
 paying of the missionaries in the field, and 
 won golden opinions from his compeers. 
 At this time there was great interest mani- 
 fested by all religious denominations North 
 in the condition of the four millions of slaves 
 who had just been freed by the fortunes of 
 war. Their ignorance, poverty, and de- 
 graded condition excited the sympathy of 
 Christians and philanthropists, and large 
 sums of money were given to do mission and 
 educational work among them. It was not 
 to be expected that the white people of the
 
 His Life as Secretary 65 
 
 South could or would do much in the way 
 of educating the negroes, as that section 
 was desolated by the war and its inhabitants 
 were generally engaged in a hard struggle 
 for the commonest necessities of life. The 
 negro must be lifted up, or as a citizen he 
 would prove a dangerous factor in our 
 country. Other denominations were or- 
 ganizing for this work, and a few leading 
 Baptists were endeavouring to rally the peo- 
 ple and organize them for this work also. 
 Something had been accomplished in this 
 line, but it was felt that the work lay prop- 
 erly within the sphere of the Home Mission 
 Society, an organization already formed and 
 enjoying the confidence of the denomination 
 North. Conflicting opinions as to the matter 
 of work were reconciled, and at the anni- 
 versaries at Boston in 1869, it was resolved 
 to elect a secretary to have in special charge 
 the education and mission work in the South, 
 and Dr. Simmons, who was unwilling to 
 take charge of a work for one race only, was 
 elected corresponding secretary for the Edu- 
 cational and Southern Department, and soon 
 began an active campaign for helping the
 
 66 
 
 A Foundation Builder 
 
 South. It was at first determined that only 
 funds, specially designated, could be used 
 for educational work, and this made the 
 task more difficult, as the people were 
 accustomed to contribute to the general 
 
 Colver Institute, Richmond, Va. 
 
 work of the Society, and Dr. Simmons's 
 special work must be sustained by special 
 contributions. 
 
 Richmond Theological Seminary 
 
 His first effort was to establish a Christian 
 school for freedmen in Richmond, Va., the
 
 His Life as Secretary 
 
 67 
 
 capital of the late Southern Confederacy, 
 on a firm basis. Dr. C. H. Corey was at 
 the head of a school called Colver Institute, 
 taught in a building called " Lumpkins 
 Jail," and this school was transferred to the 
 
 Ltimpkins Jail 
 
 Home Mission Society. The school had no 
 home, as the Lumpkins Jail had been rented 
 for the use of the school. It was formerly 
 owned by a man by the name of Lumpkins, 
 a slave-dealer, and used by him as a place 
 of rendezvous for slaves, where they were
 
 68 A Foundation Builder 
 
 kept until they were put upon the market for 
 sale. It was on low ground, and poorly 
 adapted to the purposes of a school. Dr. 
 Simmons wanted a good building, and suc- 
 ceeded in obtaining an appropriation of 
 $10,000 from the Freedmen's Bureau, then 
 operated by the Government, and with this 
 money purchased the old United States Ho- 
 tel, corner of Nineteenth and Main streets. 
 From " A History of Richmond Theological 
 Seminary," we extract the following: 
 
 " The main building, which is of brick, 
 fronts sixty-two feet on Main Street and 
 fifty feet on Nineteenth Street. It is four 
 stories high. An ' L,' one hundred feet 
 long and thirty-nine feet wide, runs along 
 Nineteenth Street. The building was 
 erected in 181 8, and it was at the time the 
 most fashionable hotel of Richmond. It 
 contains about fifty rooms. The property is 
 said to have cost originally $110,000. It was 
 purchased for $10,000. 
 
 " After obtaining possession of the build- 
 ing it was solemnly dedicated to God. In 
 one of the uppermost rooms we knelt with 
 Secretary Simmons, and besought God's 
 blessing upon the building and upon the
 
 His Life as Secretary 69 
 
 work of Christian education, for which it 
 was to be used. Extensive repairs were 
 needed; many of the windows were boarded 
 up; pigeons had taken possession of some 
 of the rooms, and the plastering had fallen 
 in many others of them. 
 
 " After the duties of the school were over, 
 the students in the old jail hastened daily 
 with alacrity to the newly-purchased build- 
 ing, and in various ways assisted in repair- 
 ing it; they contributed fully a thousand 
 dollars' worth of labour. They also gave of 
 their own means. They went through the 
 city, and from people, both white and col- 
 oured, they collected $1,000. This was se- 
 cured in small sums, and the list containing 
 the names of contributors was more than six 
 yards in length. 
 
 " The school for a long time had been 
 familiarly known as ' The Colver Institute,' 
 but for satisfactory reasons the more general 
 name, * The Richmond Institute,' was in- 
 serted in the deed which conveyed the prop- 
 erty to the trustees, and under that name it 
 was incorporated by an act passed by the 
 General Assembly of Virginia, February 
 10, 1876." 
 
 Dr. Simmons was a member of the first 
 board of trustees, and another member of the
 
 70 A Foundation Builder 
 
 same board was the sainted H. K. Ellison, 
 of Virginia, known and loved throughout the 
 entire South, and for years corresponding 
 secretary of the General Association of Vir- 
 ginia. What a stroke of wisdom to unite 
 one of the foremost Baptist laymen in the 
 South with the work of building up a semi- 
 nary for the negroes of the South, and that, 
 too, in a day when the depth of sectional feel- 
 ing was such as only a few of our older peo- 
 ple can comprehend. From a letter to Dr. 
 Corey, one of the purest men of his day, and 
 then president of the Seminary, dated Feb- 
 uary 12, 1870, something of Dr. Simmons's 
 purpose, and of his idea of self-help on the 
 part of those for whom he was labouring, is 
 learned: 
 
 " My heart is absorbed with a desire, irre- 
 pressible and painful, to found a school like 
 yours, and in a building as good as yours, 
 in every one of these Southern States. To 
 this grand work I must give myself. Hence, 
 I shall have to leave you and your students 
 the work of putting that building in order. 
 Tell the students so. Lay the heavy burden 
 on them. Have no scruples. Tell them I 
 want to know what they will amount to when
 
 His Life as Secretary 71 
 
 they become pastors, when each one ought 
 to raise from $5,000 to $25,000 alone in 
 building meeting houses, if all of them to- 
 gether cannot raise this small sum of $5,000." 
 
 In another letter to the president, dated 
 June 13, 1870, Dr. Simmons says, "These 
 colleges for coloured preachers, like the white, 
 cannot be carried along with real power un- 
 less they can have the benefit of permanent 
 endowment funds." 
 
 The work that this Seminary has done in 
 lifting up the coloured people and in sending 
 out well-equipped preachers and teachers 
 for the negroes, will never be known in full 
 until the secrets of eternity are revealed. 
 
 Benedict Institute 
 
 Dr. Simmons had scarcely succeeded in 
 getting the school at Richmond housed be- 
 fore he was trying to found a school in Co- 
 lumbia, S. C. He called on a lady in Rhode 
 Island, and laid the wants of the work before 
 her. She asked him for his subscription 
 book, and saying that her husband was dead, 
 and she wanted to be in great part her own
 
 72 
 
 A Foundation Builder 
 
 executor of her estate, put down in the book, 
 $i,ooo, and afterwards kept adding to it, 
 at one time $2,000, at another time $10,000, 
 and then $10,000 more, which, with smaller 
 sums, made $25,000 in all, given through 
 Dr. Simmons to this institution, until Bene- 
 
 Benedict Institute^ Columbia, S. C. 
 
 diet Institute, named in honour of the husband 
 of this noble woman, was finally established 
 in Columbia, S. C. Mrs. Benedict at her 
 death left the greater part of her estate to 
 this school, thus making it one of the best 
 equipped institutions in the Palmetto State,
 
 His Life as Secretary 73 
 
 with an endowment of more than $100,000. 
 It is now called Benedict College. 
 
 Leland University 
 
 Dr. Simmons knew a man living in Brook- 
 lyn, Holbrook Chamberlain, who had his 
 heart set on building a Christian school for 
 negroes in New Orleans, the largest city 
 at that time in the South, but Deacon Cham- 
 berlain was so radical in his views as to 
 methods, that he was unwilling to co-operate 
 with the Home Mission Society in its work. 
 Dr. Simmons visited him and they talked 
 and prayed together over the matter. It was 
 finally agreed that they should visit New 
 Orleans together and look over the field, 
 which they did. They found a splendid 
 location in what is known as Carrollton, the 
 best part of the city, and Deacon Chamber- 
 lain finally agreed to put in $12,500, if Dr. 
 Simmons would, on behalf of the Society, 
 agree to do the same. The proposition was 
 accepted; the property was purchased, the 
 deed presented to a board of trustees, rep- 
 resenting the different ideas in methods, and 
 the institution, called Leland University (to
 
 74 
 
 A Foundation Builder 
 
 perpetuate the maiden name of Mrs. Cham- 
 berlain), began its career of usefulness. 
 Deacon Chamberlain left the greater part 
 of his property, amounting to more than 
 
 Leland Uyiiversity , New Orleans 
 
 $100,000, to the University. By the wise and 
 conciliatory policy of Dr. Simmons, con- 
 flicting views were harmonized, and this 
 valuable institution was kept under the con- 
 trol of regular Baptists.
 
 His Life as Secretary 
 Shaw University 
 
 75 
 
 On the way to New Orleans, Dr. Sim- 
 mons stopped off at Raleigh, N. C, to look 
 over the ground there, as he was anxious to 
 
 '^ I ill I' I 
 
 Shaw Collegiate Institute, Raleigh, N. C. 
 
 have a Baptist school in each Southern State. 
 He found at Raleigh a young preacher, 
 Henry Martin Tupper, who had educated 
 himself with a view to going as missionary 
 to Africa, but who had volunteered in the 
 Federal army that he might acquaint him- 
 self with the negro in the South as a prep-
 
 76 A Foundation Builder 
 
 aration for his work in Africa. At the close 
 of the war he decided that he could do 
 more for Africa by establishing a school in 
 the South to train negroes as missionaries 
 to Africa. He had built a small church 
 house for the freedmen, with schoolrooms 
 in the rear of it, and was preaching to the 
 negroes and teaching those who would come. 
 There was a handsome building not quite 
 completed, called Peace Institute, which, on 
 account of the war, was in a moribund con- 
 dition, and was oflfered for sale. Dr. Sim- 
 mons asked Mr. Tupper about the building, 
 and the price it was held at, and learning 
 that the price was $20,000, and that Tupper 
 knew a man in Massachusetts who might 
 give $10,000 towards paying for it. Dr. 
 Simmons advised him to write to his friend. 
 He did so, and Elijah Shaw went down to 
 Raleigh, looked at the property, and agreed 
 to give one-half the money. When the 
 board agreed to give the other half, the own- 
 ers of the property refused to sell, because 
 the property was wanted for a freedmen's 
 school. On his return from Nev^^ Orleans, 
 Dr. Simmons stopped at Raleigh and was
 
 His Life as Secretary 
 
 77 
 
 much disappointed in not getting the Peace 
 Institute property. They found that General 
 Berringer was willing to sell his homestead 
 of eight acres, well located, for $15,000, and 
 
 The Estey Building, Raleigh, N. C. 
 
 2i trade was at once closed, and $100 paid 
 down, with the remainder to be paid in sixty 
 days. Dr. Simmons came on to New York, 
 arranged for the money, — Mr. Shaw giving 
 about one-half of it, — and then Shaw Uni-
 
 78 A Foundation Builder 
 
 versity was begun. It has since been en- 
 larged, and now has good buildings, with de- 
 partments of medicine, law, and theology. 
 This school is doing a magnificent work in 
 North Carolina. 
 
 Wayland Seminary 
 
 There was a school started at Washington, 
 D. C, and Dr. Simmons went there to se- 
 cure property and place the school on a 
 sure foundation. From an address delivered 
 by him before the Jubilee meeting of the 
 Home Mission Society, in 1882, we extract 
 the following: 
 
 " For several hours one day. General O. 
 O. Howard, then at the head of the Freed- 
 men's Bureau, and I, rode together in select- 
 ing this spot. I was then secretary of the 
 Home Mission Society. He strongly and 
 repeatedly urged that we put our school 
 within the grounds of Howard University, 
 and kindly offered us space for that pur- 
 pose. But the advantages of an independent 
 site, and the attractions of Meridian Hill, 
 determined me, and our board cordially ap- 
 proved. While erecting this building I re-
 
 His Life as Secretary 
 
 79 
 
 member to have applied to the late Asa Wil- 
 bur, of Boston, to give us his aid. He answered 
 
 
 ,,p^^^;:^^^^^ 
 
 Way land Seminary, Washingto7i, D. C. 
 
 v^ith characteristic promptness and frank- 
 ness: 'No, I will not. For there should be
 
 8o A Foundation Builder 
 
 no school at Washington. The corrupting 
 influences of Congress will destroy the morals 
 of the young men.' To which I replied: 
 
 " * You are mistaken. We establish this 
 school in Washington on purpose. We 
 mean to train our Freedmen preachers right 
 there in the face of Congress, to resist the 
 corruptions of Congress, and so to preach as 
 to reform the morals of Congress.' To which 
 he wrote back: 
 
 " * If that is your plan, all right; I ap- 
 prove, and enclose to you my check for three 
 hundred dollars.' " 
 
 This school was named In honor of Presi- 
 dent Francis Wayland, Dr. Simmons's be- 
 loved instructor in Brown University. It 
 was later consolidated with Richmond Theo- 
 logical Seminary, with Rev. Dr. Malcolm 
 MacVicar as president. ^ 
 
 Roger Williams University 
 
 In Nashville there was a small school 
 struggling for existence under the very 
 shadow of Fisk University. Dr. Simmons 
 went down there and spent a month in the 
 home of Dr. Dake and thoroughly investi-
 
 His Life as Secretary- 
 
 Si 
 
 gated the situation. A splendid property, 
 known as the Gordon estate, lying between 
 Vanderbilt University and the city, was for 
 sale. Rev. Dr. D. W. Phillips, then at the 
 
 Nashville Institute, Nashville, Tenn. 
 
 head of the school known as Nashville In- 
 stitute, saw the necessity of having a perma- 
 nent home for the school. 
 
 We extract from the Home Mission Her- 
 ald, of September, 1874, the following:
 
 82 A Foundation Builder 
 
 '' It was therefore manifest, that to remain 
 on our muddy side-hill lot, in a long awk- 
 ward old shell of a building, and under the 
 shadow of the great Fisk University, rising 
 so proudly over our heads, meant death to 
 the Baptist school! For we could not retain 
 either the patronage or the respect of the 
 coloured people, or of the whites, in such 
 circumstances. 
 
 " The coloured people and the white people 
 of Nashville therefore, and also Brother 
 Phillips himself, favoured leaving North 
 Nashville after looking at all the facts. I 
 told Brother Phillips plainly, however, of 
 the prospect that I might not remain at the 
 rooms after the anniversaries, and charged 
 him not to favour the purchase of the thirty 
 acres known as the 'Gordon property' (sit- 
 uated a mile and a half away), except with 
 that understanding. And in view of it all, 
 he not only favoured the purchase, but 
 helped heartily in consummating it; and I 
 am of opinion that Professor Phillips and I 
 never did a better month's work for the 
 Baptist denomination than in making this 
 purchase. Brother H. G. Scovel and other 
 friends in Nashville, who generously assisted 
 in this important transaction, are entitled to 
 special mention and hearty praise. The mo- 
 ment Brother Phillips first saw the Gordon
 
 His Life as Secretary 83 
 
 property, he said to me, ' If we could get that 
 place, it would be everything we could 
 ask.' I had been of this opinion for several 
 days, and we did get it, thanks to the kind 
 favour of our Heavenly Father. 
 
 *' So pleased was one of the noble-hearted 
 members of our Board with this purchase 
 (Nathan Bishop, LL.D.) that in the midst 
 of the board meeting in which I told my 
 story of the purchase, after returning from 
 Nashville last March, he voluntarily pledged 
 $1,000 towards meeting the payment of 
 September i ; and a brother in Rhode Island, 
 whom I went to visit about the same time, 
 has since pledged $2,000 more." 
 
 The property was purchased for $30,000, 
 and Roger Williams University is the result. 
 It has been said that the Home Mission So- 
 ciety has since been offered $200,000 for 
 this property, secured through the wise 
 management of Dr. Simmons for $30,000. 
 
 Augusta Seminary 
 
 Dr. Simmons purchased a small property 
 in Augusta, Ga., and the school there was 
 placed under Rev. J. T. Roberts, LL.D., a 
 native of South Carolina, and was carried
 
 84 A Foundation Builder 
 
 on successfully for several years. But it was 
 decided that Atlanta was a more central 
 position, and the school was transferred to 
 that city and became the Atlanta Baptist 
 Theological Seminary. 
 
 Seven schools were thus founded directly 
 through the instrumentality of Dr. Simmons, 
 as the efficient secretary of the Home Mis- 
 sion Society, and at a time when sectional 
 spirit was high and prejudices strong; yet 
 he held the confidence of the brethren North 
 and won the hearts of the brethren South. 
 Another quotation from his Jubilee address 
 shows his breadth of feeling for the people 
 of the South: 
 
 " The agony of the nation's birth-throes is 
 over, and we all rejoice together that five 
 millions of our African brethren have been 
 born unto liberty. No more earnest words 
 have been spoken in advocacy of the So- 
 ciety's work among the Freedmen, than have 
 fallen from the lips of such noble Baptists 
 as Governor Brown, of Georgia; Dr. E. T. 
 Winkler, of Alabama; Drs. Broadus and 
 Boyce, of Kentucky; Drs. Tupper and Curry, 
 of Virginia, and, last of all, our own gen-
 
 His Life as Secretary 85 
 
 erous-hearted brother, the inimitable editor 
 of the Religious Herald, Dr. A. E. Dickin- 
 son. And these brethren are not only talk- 
 ing on our side, but some of them are be- 
 ginning to give of their money, and are 
 also encouraging others in the South to give. 
 This is as it should be. The South cannot 
 afford to neglect these people, who are 
 starving for the bread of life at their very 
 doors." 
 
 Dr. Nathan Bishop, who was afterward 
 the efficient secretary of the Home Mission 
 Society, was the bosom friend and chief- 
 counsellor of Dr. Simmons in his great v^ork 
 of establishing these schools. He gave 
 thousands of dollars to aid in planting and 
 sustaining them; and, in speaking of Bishop 
 College at Marshall, Tex., established after 
 his death by that elect lady, Mrs. C. C. 
 Bishop, his wife. Dr. Simmons says, in the 
 Jubilee address: 
 
 " The Bishop Baptist College, at Marshall, 
 Tex., was established in 1881. It is named 
 in honor of Nathan Bishop, LL.D., the 
 memory of whose wisdom and piety hallows 
 all our denominational assemblies. Dr.
 
 86 A Foundation Builder 
 
 Bishop said to me one day as we were to- 
 gether alone: 
 
 " ' I have been blamed for giving so many 
 thousand dollars for the benefit of coloured 
 men. But I expect to stand side by side 
 with these men on the Day of Judgment. 
 Their Lord is my Lord. They and I are 
 brethren; and I am determined to be pre- 
 pared for that meeting.' 
 
 " These sound and devout words will one 
 day be engraven, I doubt not, upon some 
 mural tablet within the enclosure of the in- 
 stitution that bears his name, and in the eyes 
 of all right-thinking men will constitute his 
 best epitaph." 
 
 Dr. Simmons afterwards wrote an appre- 
 ciative sketch of Dr. Bishop's life under the 
 title, " The Man Greatly Beloved." 
 
 In 1874 Dr. Simmons closed his work and 
 retired, as secretary of the Home Mission 
 Society. At the anniversaries at Washing- 
 ton, the following resolution, offered by Dr. 
 H. L. Wayland, was adopted: 
 
 " Rev. James B. Simmons, D.D., entered 
 on his labours as corresponding secretary in 
 1867; tvv^o years later the work of the So- 
 ciety was divided; and the Southern and
 
 His Life as Secretary 87 
 
 Educational Department was committed to 
 him. The present condition of our educa- 
 tional work in the Southern States bears a 
 most impressive testimony to the wisdom, 
 the energy, and the consecration exhibited in 
 the location and the conduct of the Freed- 
 men's schools and in the development of 
 Christian enterprise and liberality in their 
 behalf. He has written his name upon the 
 religious history of an emancipated race. 
 Their future will be his monument. We 
 cannot ask more in his behalf, than that the 
 same blessing of God may attend him in the 
 labour for God and man which may here- 
 after engage his powers." 
 
 We cannot close this sketch of his life as 
 secretary without reference to his work for 
 Mexico. He had heard that there was a 
 young Englishman, Thomas M. Westrup, 
 who was a Baptist, living in Monterey, Mex- 
 ico, and a licensed preacher. He wrote to 
 Mr. Westrup, to meet him in New Orleans 
 and talk over the field. Westrup came with 
 Dr. Simmons to New York, and uniting with 
 the Strong Place church, Brooklyn, was or- 
 dained a missionary and sent back to Mexico. 
 He laboured several years under the board
 
 88 A Foundation Builder 
 
 of the Home Mission Society, and succeeded 
 in organizing several churches. The work 
 in Mexico was afterward discontinued by the 
 Home Mission Society, but the churches 
 maintained their organization through a 
 period of about ten years, without any help 
 from the Board. Dr. O. C. Pope visited 
 that field and recommended that the Home 
 Mission Society again take up the work, 
 which was done with vigour, and now the 
 whole region of Mexico is dotted with Bap- 
 tist churches. 
 
 Dr. Simmons was always looking for open 
 doors through which to send the Gospel, 
 and he did not hesitate to enter Mexico when 
 he found an open door there. 
 
 Agency Work 
 
 The Columbian University in Washington, 
 D. C, had a generous offer from Mr. W. V. 
 Corcoran, of property valued at $200,000, 
 provided $100,000 additional was contributed 
 to the University in two years. One year 
 and a half had already elapsed and only 
 about $40,000 had been raised. Dr. Sim- 
 mons was induced to undertake the work of
 
 His Life as Secretary 89 
 
 raising $60,000 within the time mentioned. 
 It was like leading a forlorn hope to attempt 
 it, but $300,000 for the University depended 
 upon his success. Burdened with the great 
 responsibility, but looking unto God for 
 help, Dr. Simmons threw his whole soul 
 and body into the work, and ere the six 
 months ended, he reported $64,000, and 
 thus secured $300,000 to the Baptist work 
 of Christian education. 
 
 The Publication Society 
 
 After a pastorate of eight and one-half 
 years with Trinity Baptist church. New York 
 City, Dr. Simmons was elected " unanimously 
 and enthusiastically " by the board of the 
 American Baptist Publication Society, of 
 Philadelphia, field secretary for the State of 
 New York. The officers at the rooms in 
 Philadelphia, from time to time, advised 
 with him on questions of importance, and he 
 has repeatedly been sent to other sections of 
 the country to adjust delicate and difficult 
 questions involving the interests of the So- 
 ciety. His work was much more than that
 
 90 A Foundation Builder 
 
 of a district secretary, and he was often 
 employed as the trusted counsellor and re- 
 sponsible representative of the Society in 
 different parts of its field. 
 
 As soon as he was appointed, Deacon 
 Horace Waters, who was a member of 
 Trinity church during his pastorate, and 
 the pastor's especial friend, said to him, " I 
 have left in my will $5,000 to aid in carry- 
 ing on the revision of the New Testament. 
 You may say to your board that I will pay 
 over that money immediately, and before 
 my death, if the Society will undertake the 
 work." Dr. Simmons placed the proposition 
 before the Society, and it was accepted, and 
 he was largely instrumental in raising a 
 fund of about $20,000 for revising and print- 
 ing the Bible. The revision of the New 
 Testament was done by Drs. Broadus, Hovey, 
 and Weston, and when published by the 
 Society, was pronounced to be the best ver- 
 sion of the many which have been pub- 
 lished. 
 
 Dr. Simmons persistently pushed the work 
 of raising contributions for the Bible work, 
 the mission work, and the Chapel car vv^ork
 
 JAMES B. SIMMOXS AT ~0
 
 His Life as Secretary 91 
 
 of the Society, and by his energy, his large 
 experience, his wide general acquaintance, 
 and loving spirit, made himself invaluable 
 to the great Society which is doing so much 
 to evangelize, by pen, and type, and tongue, 
 the teeming millions of this earth. 
 
 A pastor wrote: "Of all the circular let- 
 ters that come to me, that from Dr. Sim- 
 mons is the best. It is a delight to read it. 
 I said to my wife, ' This is a model letter.' " 
 
 Dr. Simmons was welcome to every pulpit, 
 and made friends for the Society wherever 
 he went. For fourteen years he held this 
 important position, and the Society had no 
 more able and efficient representative than he. 
 
 I must now insert a chapter from my 
 cherished friend and brother. Rev. O. C. 
 Pope, D.D. He was for ten years a member 
 of the Calvary Baptist church here in New 
 York, and as his pastor, I am happy to bear 
 testimony to his great worth. He is a skilful 
 organizer, an enthusiastic worker, and a ma- 
 jestic leader of enterprises and of men. The 
 work he did in Texas as Superintendent of 
 Missions there, the work he did in Mexico, 
 and the still greater work he did as Super-
 
 92 A Foundation Builder 
 
 intendent of the Church Edifice Department 
 of the American Baptist Home Mission So- 
 ciety, speak volumes in his favour. He seems 
 now to have entered upon the crowning work 
 of his life as President of Simmons College, 
 Albilene, Tex.
 
 VI 
 
 THE FOUNDATION BUILDER 
 
 By O. C. Pope, D.D. 
 
 WHEN a small edifice or a temporary 
 structure is to be erected, one man 
 frequently plans, erects, completes, 
 and uses the building; but when the great 
 cathedral at Cologne was finished, the man 
 who conceived the plan and laid the founda- 
 tion, had been in his grave for more than 
 five centuries. The glory of the cathedral, 
 however, is a sufficient monument to his 
 memory. For a large structure, there must 
 be breadth of thought and work in the foun- 
 dation. Dr. James B. Simmons, of New 
 York, is peculiarly gifted in the ability to 
 plan wisely, and lay such broad foundations 
 that future generations may successfully 
 build thereon. 
 
 This is illustrated in his work in behalf 
 
 93
 
 94 A Foundation Builder 
 
 of Christian education. He does not believe 
 in working for one race, or one caste, or one 
 section, but has distributed his labours to 
 different races and different sections and 
 made them so broad that the capstone must, 
 of necessity, be laid long after the founder 
 has ceased to live on the earth. 
 
 Under his wise administration as corre- 
 sponding secretary of the American Baptist 
 Home Mission Society, locations were se- 
 cured for seven Christian schools for the 
 negroes of the South ; one each in Washing- 
 ton, Richmond, Columbia, Raleigh, Augusta, 
 Nashville, and New Orleans. These are 
 well chosen, strategic points, every one of 
 them. Six of these institutions, on the very 
 localities purchased by Dr. Simmons, have 
 had marvellous growth. The properties to- 
 day are vastly more valuable than when he 
 acquired them. For the thirteen acres of 
 the Roger Williams University at Nashville, 
 which he purchased for $30,000, the Home 
 Mission Society, as I am told, could since 
 have taken $200,000, had they been willing 
 to sell. 
 
 It was deemed advisable to remove the
 
 The Foundation Builder 95 
 
 school located at Augusta to Atlanta, and 
 it is doing a magnificent work there. Dr. A. 
 E. Dickinson, editor of the Religious Herald, 
 of Richmond, Va., well said: 
 
 " Those seven institutions of learning for 
 the coloured people of the South, which Dr. 
 J. B. Simmons was instrumental in estab- 
 lishing, will be a better monument to his 
 memory, than seven towering shafts of 
 granite." 
 
 Seven streams of light and knowledge for 
 over a quarter of a century have been flood- 
 ing the South with blessings from these 
 young colleges. And these streams have 
 been broadening and deepening as the years 
 roll on, and will doubtless continue to bless 
 generations yet unborn. These schools were 
 not founded for a day, a year, or a generation, 
 but for all time. 
 
 Here we have the example of a man who 
 was the grandson of a New York State 
 slave-holder, devoting seven years of the most 
 intense toil, anxiety, and labour, to the 
 Christian education of those who had been 
 slaves, and succeeding in establishing seven
 
 96 A Foundation Builder 
 
 institutions of learning, and raising money to 
 secure properties ample for their uses in the 
 long years to come. The foundations were 
 well laid, not on the sands of popular enthusi- 
 asm or partisan prejudices, but on the firm 
 rock of Christian duty, in loyalty to Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Rev. H. M. Tupper, D.D., President of 
 Shaw University at Raleigh, N. C, used to 
 say that Dr. Simmons had the best concep- 
 tion of any man he knew, as to the sort of 
 schools needed for the education of the 
 Freedmen. And it is not too much to add 
 that the seven original Freedmen colleges 
 which were fashioned under his moulding 
 hand, became in no small degree the models 
 for those that have been added since. At 
 the same time, he praises in emphatic terms 
 the good men who preceded him, as well 
 as the men who have followed him in the 
 work. 
 
 When Dr. Simmons retired from his office 
 as corresponding secretary of the American 
 Baptist Home Mission Society, that organi- 
 zation, in annual meeting assembled, adopted 
 the following minute:
 
 The Foundation Builder 97 
 
 " The present condition of our educational 
 work in the Southern States bears a most 
 impressive testimony to the wisdom, the 
 energy, and the consecration exhibited by 
 Rev. James Simmons, D.D., in the location, 
 and the conduct of the Freedmen's schools, 
 and in the development of Christian enter- 
 prise and liberality in their behalf. He has 
 written his name upon the religious history 
 of an emancipated race. Their future will 
 be his monument." 
 
 But Dr. Simmons was too broad a man to 
 confine his work to one race. He saw the 
 need of the coloured people and gave his 
 heart throbs, tears, and prayers, accompanied 
 in every instance by his own money contri- 
 butions, to help them. But many years be- 
 fore this, he had laid his vigorous hand to 
 the work of helping the cause of education 
 among the white race. As early as 1859, 
 nearly a decade before he was called to be 
 secretary of home missions, and when he 
 was not worth so much as $1,500 all told, he 
 pledged $1,000 of that amount, to assist in 
 founding an institution for the higher edu- 
 cation of young women, in Indianapolis, 
 Ind., where he was settled as pastor. And
 
 98 A Foundation Builder 
 
 he paid every cent of that money. The com- 
 ing on of the war, and other causes, led 
 to the discontinuance of the school; and this 
 thousand dollars, with the other property of 
 the institute, was afterwards turned over to 
 the Divinity School at Morgan Park, which 
 is now a part of the great Chicago Uni- 
 versity, and is still doing good in the cause 
 of Christian education. 
 
 In 1874, when there was a crisis in the 
 financial affairs of Columbian University, 
 located at the national Capital, he threw him- 
 self into the breach at the call of his brethren, 
 and raised in six months $64,000, to complete 
 the required conditions for an endowment of 
 $300,000; thus establishing the permanency 
 of that institution for Christian education in 
 the heart of the nation. 
 
 In 1 891 the writer of this, from his official 
 position, chanced to know that Dr. Simmons 
 was not content with what he had done for 
 the cause of Christian education, but was 
 looking around for further opportunity to do 
 good. About this time I received a letter 
 from a gentleman of Abilene, Tex., asking if 
 I knew of any source from which help could
 
 The Foundation Builder 99 
 
 be obtained in founding a much needed 
 institution of learning in that rapidly grow- 
 ing section of Western Texas. I gave him 
 the address of Dr. Simmons, and corre- 
 spondence was begun between them. Dr. 
 Simmons and his son visited the field, and 
 the result was that through the benefactions 
 of himself and family, Simmons College, at 
 Abilene, Tex., has begun its career of bless- 
 ing in the great Southwest. Located in a 
 fertile country, with a field to draw from 
 twice as large as the entire state of New 
 York, and which is rapidly filling up with 
 population, it is difficult to estimate the 
 future possibilities of Simmons College. As 
 to a name for this new school, Dr. Simmons 
 chose '' Christlieb College," which means the 
 '' College of Christ's Love." But his family, 
 and the vote of the college trustees, over- 
 ruled him. 
 
 A Northern man, a strong opponent of 
 slavery, and one who had given so much 
 of his time to aid the negroes in education, 
 Dr. Simmons now gave his means to found 
 a college for white people, in one of the old 
 slave states. He has helped ten colleges, all
 
 lOO A Foundation Builder 
 
 told. With him the question was not whether 
 a man is a white man, a negro, an Indian, an 
 American, or a Chinaman; not whether he 
 was a Northern man, a Southern man, or 
 a Western man, but was he a man, and 
 was help needed, and could it be given? 
 The foundations he has endeavoured to lay 
 are as broad as the needs of humanity, 
 without reference to race or conditions. 
 Strong in his convictions and outspoken 
 in his expression of them when necessity 
 requires, he is the soul of courtesy to all, 
 and charitable towards the opinions of 
 others. He always leans towards mercy's 
 side. 
 
 The following incident beautifully illus- 
 trates this characteristic: Rev. John S. Ezell, 
 a Baptist minister of South Carolina, was 
 confined in the military prison at Albany, 
 N. Y., having been convicted of complicity 
 with Kukluxism in his native state. Southern 
 papers were denouncing his confinement. 
 But Dr. Simmons, instead of stopping to 
 talk, went to Albany, visited the imprisoned 
 minister, encouraged him to tell his story, 
 went to Washington and personally laid the
 
 The Foundation Builder loi 
 
 matter before General Grant, then President 
 of the United States, and obtained his release. 
 He then took Mr. Ezell to his home and 
 treated him with Christian hospitality, and 
 sent him on his way rejoicing. Dr. Sim- 
 mons did not sympathize in the least with 
 the spirit of Kukluxism, or any other law- 
 lessness, but he delighted to assist a Christian 
 man in distress. No wonder that Mr. Ezell 
 has often written him with gratitude, saying: 
 " I was in prison and you visited me." Or 
 that Rev. J. L. Reynolds, D.D., of South 
 Carolina, referring to this, says: *' This was 
 well and nobly done. Such a deed appeals to 
 the South, and will do more towards bring- 
 ing about the era of good feeling, than all 
 the resolutions that could be written, or 
 harangues that could be spoken. We thank 
 Dr. Simmons." 
 
 I have spent months in Dr. Simmons's 
 company. We differed widely upon many 
 questions, and discussed them freely with- 
 out the slightest acrimony or ill-feeling. 
 Tenacious of his own opinions, and firm in 
 his convictions, he is yet so broad and full of 
 Christian love and courtesy, that he is the
 
 I02 A Foundation Builder 
 
 finest example I have ever known of the 
 " suauiter in modo et fortiter in re." 
 
 We may learn three lessons from his" life: 
 I A poor boy, thrown upon his own re- 
 sources at fifteen years of age, he has at- 
 tained great distinction as a man of learn- 
 ing and wide influence. Let no boy despair 
 of making a full-grown man because he is 
 poor. 
 
 2. He has often told me that he never 
 could have accomplished half of what he 
 has, but for the educational training which 
 he received. He spent three years in the 
 preparatory school, four years in college, 
 and three years in his theological course, ten 
 years in all. Let no young man rush into 
 his life work without thorough preparation. 
 Rather than work with dull tools, make any 
 sacrifice to sharpen them. 
 
 3. Dr. Simmons has a loving place in the 
 hearts of the people of all sections and of 
 the different races of the country, because 
 he loved them all. Let no man despair of 
 being esteemed and loved just as broadly 
 as he esteems and loves others. I am proud 
 to number Dr. James B. Simmons among my
 
 The Foundation Builder 103 
 
 warmest friends, on account of his great 
 learning, his true heart, and his broad 
 Christian charity. 
 
 The College which bears his name stands 
 as an outpost of Christian education in the 
 West. It is 1,600 miles westward from 
 Abilene to the nearest Christian College. 
 Although a young institution in a sparsely 
 settled section, it has property of about 
 $50,000 value, and not a cent of debt. What 
 is most needed now to put a capstone on 
 the last college brought into existence by 
 '' The Foundation Builder " is an endow- 
 ment. The small beginning of $15,000 
 which the college has, should be made 
 $100,000 soon by the friends of Christian 
 education.
 
 VII 
 
 HIS CONNECTION WITH SIMMONS 
 COLLEGE 
 
 IN 1890 the Baptist church at Abilene 
 appointed a committee to propose to 
 the Sweetwater Association that an ef- 
 fort be made to establish a college within 
 its bounds. 
 
 The Association received the proposition 
 favourably, and appointed a committee with 
 plenary powers, to receive bids from all 
 points desiring the school, to accept the best 
 bid, procure a charter, and to report to the 
 next meeting of the Association. The terri- 
 tory included in the Association was about 
 400 miles long, and 100 wide, with an area 
 of about 40,000 square miles, and there was 
 not a Baptist school within its limits, and 
 none to the west of it for 1,600 miles, nor 
 to the east, north, or south nearer than 400 
 
 miles. The population was rapidly increas- 
 
 104
 
 His Connection with Simmons College 105 
 
 ing, and there was great need for a school in 
 the elevated region, known as the " Abilene 
 Country," as many did not consider it safe 
 in point of health to send children from an 
 
 m 
 
 \.< 
 
 O/d Main Building, Simmons College 
 
 altitude of from 1,500 to 3,000 feet above 
 the sea, to the low altitude where schools 
 in the east were located. Bids were re- 
 ceived from several towns, but Abilene, 
 through a syndicate which owned what is
 
 io6 A Foundation Builder 
 
 called the North Park Addition, offered 
 sixteen acres of land and $5,000 if the school 
 should be located there. The offer was ac- 
 cepted, and the building begun. It was in 
 an unfinished condition, when Rev. G. W. 
 Smith wrote to Dr. O. C. Pope, then living 
 in New York, and superintendent of the 
 Church Edifice Department of the American 
 Baptist Home Mission Society, to obtain 
 help, if possible, in New York, for the enter- 
 prise. Dr. Pope was well acquainted with 
 Dr. Simmons, and knew that while he had 
 worked so vigorously to establish seven col- 
 leges for freedmen in the South, that he 
 was equally willing to aid in establishing a 
 college for white people where one was 
 needed. Dr. Pope handed him Rev. G. W. 
 Smith's letter, and gave him some informa- 
 tion concerning Abilene and the country 
 surrounding it. Dr. Simmons said, " Tell 
 Brother Smith to write to me concerning 
 the enterprise." This was done, and a cor- 
 respondence followed which resulted in 
 awakening great interest in Dr. Simmons 
 for the baby college to be located in such a 
 magnificent section of country.
 
 His Connection with Simmons College 107 
 
 Dr. Simmons sent his check for $5,000 to 
 complete the house, and a splendid brick 
 building, three stories high, and costing 
 $13,000, was finished and ready for 
 occupancy. 
 
 About this time Dr. Simmons had occa- 
 sion to go to New Orleans on business, and 
 extended his visit about 600 miles further 
 to Abilene, carrying with him a check for 
 $1,000, which he expected to give if the 
 prospects were hopeful. He was pleased, 
 and handed the trustees the check for $1,000, 
 greatly encouraging them in the work. The 
 trustees proposed to call the college by his 
 name; while he suggested that it be called 
 Christlieb College, or the " College of 
 Christ's Love," as he stated that he would 
 not have anything to do with the institution 
 unless it was to be distinctly a Christian 
 school. The trustees insisted upon their idea, 
 and in the fall of 1892 the school was 
 opened, bearing the name of Simmons Col- 
 lege, in memory of Dr. Simmons, his wife, 
 Mrs. Mary E. Simmons, and his son, Dr. 
 Robert S. Simmons, all of whom had con- 
 tributed liberally to it.
 
 io8 A Foundation Builder 
 
 Rev. W. C. Friley was the first president, 
 and he carried on the school for two years, 
 during which period Dr. Simmons was its 
 staunch friend, contributing money; getting 
 others to do the same; sending books as the 
 nucleus of a library, and using his influence 
 with such friends of his as Dr. Warren Ran- 
 dolph, Dr. George C. Lorimer, Dr. Board- 
 man, Hon. John S. Brayton, Hon. John 
 Wanamaker, Governor J. L. Howard, Dr. 
 Thomas Armitage, Dr. E. T. Hiscox, Dr. 
 R. S. MacArthur, and many others, to in- 
 duce them to send books for the library, 
 until now the college has more than 3,000 
 volumes in the library. 
 
 Professor G. O. Thatcher, Ph.D., was next 
 made president, serving for four years, dur- 
 ing which time the school increased in num- 
 bers; but times were hard, and it was found 
 to be difficult to meet the salaries of teachers 
 by means of the income from tuition, and 
 Professor Thatcher resigned, somewhat dis- 
 couraged, and many friends of the school 
 felt that its future was uncertain. Dr. Sim- 
 mons's faith never faltered, however, for he 
 gave, right along, until he had put more
 
 His Connection with Simmons College 109 
 
 than $12,000 into the enterprise. His cousin, 
 Mrs. Julia E. Nye, gave about $1,500; and 
 another friend of his, whose name he will 
 not suffer mentioned at this time, put in more 
 than $1,000. 
 
 Dr. Simmons again made a visit to Abi- 
 lene to look over the field; met the board of 
 trustees, and encouraged them; advised them 
 to elect Dr. O. C. Pope president; tele- 
 graphed to Dr. Pope to meet him in Atlanta, 
 and urged him to accept the presidency to 
 which he had been unanimously elected 
 through his advice; and when Dr. Pope hesi- 
 tated, he paid out of his own pocket his 
 expenses to Texas, that he might advise with 
 the trustees. Dr. Pope accepted the position 
 and took hold to improve the college. Mrs. 
 Nye came to the rescue with money to fit 
 up the library and reading-room; Dr. Robert 
 S. Simmons sent a splendid typewriter and 
 hundreds of most valuable books for the 
 library, in the name of his daughter, Sarah 
 Ann Simmons. The new president raised 
 in Texas a goodly sum of money, and the 
 Boarding Hall was improved; the college 
 building properly renovated; a good faculty
 
 no A Foundation Builder 
 
 secured, and the college put upon a better 
 basis than it had been previously. 
 
 Dr. Simmons realized the great impor- 
 tance of the field which the college occupied. 
 The high, healthful section of the country, 
 the fertility of the soil, a rapidly increasing 
 population of live, progressive people from 
 every section of the Union, a country, on 
 account of its dry, pure atmosphere, bound 
 to become the great sanitarium of the United 
 States; all convinced him that it w^as the 
 very place for a Christian school of a high 
 order, and, with his influence, his money, and 
 his prayers, he continued to be its unwaver- 
 ing friend. 
 
 The following illustrates the place which 
 Dr. Simmons will hold in West Texas, when, 
 in future years, that section shall have a 
 million of inhabitants: 
 
 A visitor to Winchester School, England, 
 asked a labourer, " Who was the founder of 
 this school?" "William of Wykeham, sir," 
 said the man promptly. " Who was king 
 at that time?" was the next enquiry. "I 
 never heard 'is name, sir." Thus, after five 
 centuries, the memory of a man who es-
 
 His Connection with Simmons College 1 1 1 
 
 tablished a great school is cherished among 
 the common people. The mere monarch is 
 forgotten. 
 
 Dr. J. B. Gambrell, at one time president 
 of the Baptist Education Society for the 
 whole United States, wrote Dr. Simmons: " I 
 believe your benefaction to that people will 
 do 500 per cent, more good than the same 
 amount of money put in some great, already 
 rich institution. I congratulate Simmons 
 College on its large gains recently. You 
 are building for all time, and building 
 wisely." 
 
 Again Dr. Gambrell says: ''I take great 
 pleasure in stating that I have made several 
 visits to Simmons College, located at Abilene, 
 Tex. Under the management of Dr. O. C. 
 Pope it has made good progress. Great im- 
 provements in the buildings and grounds are 
 noticeable. Simmons College is well located 
 to reach the great West, and is bound, with 
 time, to exercise a large influence in shap- 
 ing the sentiment of that great section of 
 Texas." 
 
 Rev. W. C. Friley says: "Simmons Col- 
 lege is the coming school of West and North-
 
 112 A Foundation Builder 
 
 west Texas. If you wish to send your sons 
 and daughters to a healthy country, and 
 have them reap the benefit to be derived 
 from a first-class school, you will do well 
 to write to the President." 
 
 The following clipping from the West 
 Texas Baptist, shows the appreciation of the 
 school in Texas: 
 
 *' Some years ago, an eminent Doctor of 
 Divinity (who was once superintendent of 
 missions in Texas), and who has a national 
 reputation, wrote to the editor of this paper 
 upon landing in San Francisco after a trip 
 around the world, as follows: 
 
 " ' Taking all things into consideration, the 
 founding of Simmons College at Abilene is 
 the most important step ever taken for 
 Christian education in all the great South- 
 west.' 
 
 '' We thought, at the time, he was stating 
 the matter rather strongly. But, as the years 
 go by, and we see more and more the hand 
 of God, in the unfolding of his purposes 
 concerning this school which he established 
 in answer to prayer, the more we come to 
 take the Doctor's view of it. Its solid basis; 
 its broad field; and, above all, the manifest 
 fact that it is a tree of God's own planting
 
 His Connection with Simmons College 113 
 
 and culture, commend it to the confidence of 
 all who have money to give to higher Chris- 
 tion education." 
 
 Dr. Simmons's idea as to what is the cor- 
 rect purpose of a college is clearly set forth 
 in a letter to Rev. R. T. Hanks, then pastor 
 of the church at Abilene, from which we 
 make the following extracts: 
 
 " How great the need of scholarly men to 
 translate God's Word into all those 2,700 
 languages, and of missionaries too, to carry 
 that word to the millions of the lost race I 
 Impress this upon your audience, I beg of 
 you, till their hearts ache. Show particu- 
 larly to your men of wealth, both in public 
 speech and private conversation, that this 
 is what colleges are for, and that this is why 
 money is needed to build and endow colleges. 
 All of our colleges and seminaries spring 
 out of, and are required by the great Com- 
 mission. In no other way can we give this 
 gospel to every creature except by means of 
 learned men as translators and expounders, 
 and at least by well-equipped men as 
 preachers to those millions of our race who 
 speak other tongues and dwell under other 
 skies than ours. Just in proportion as you 
 make men of wealth see this, just in that pro-
 
 114 A Foundation Builder 
 
 portion will you get money from them to 
 build and endow schools. Do not let them 
 feel that a Christian college is a burden, any 
 more than the church is a burden, or the 
 Bible school, or the Bible Society, or the 
 Bible itself. All are blessings; all are easy 
 and light. Jesus says so. ' My yoke is easy 
 and my burden is light.' 
 
 " The great commission, Matthew 28, re- 
 quires Christians to tread every line of lati- 
 tude and every line of longitude over this 
 vast earth, and to preach the gospel at the 
 crossing of all these lines if only one human 
 being is found to dwell there. And as there 
 are three generations in each century vv^e 
 must cover the globe three times over with 
 our preaching and teaching every hundred 
 years in carrying the gospel into all the 
 world— to every creature. This will keep 
 us so busy that we need not stop over dif- 
 ferences of trifiing importance. 
 
 " That is what the college is for, to raise 
 up foreign missionaries as well as home mis- 
 sionaries. The greater includes the less. For- 
 eign missions is the greater, and for every 
 foreign missionary that you train and send 
 out from the College at Abilene, God will 
 give to you through this College ten home 
 missionaries. Try it and see. Talk it up, 
 pray for it, and work for it.
 
 His Connection with Simmons College 115 
 
 " Do you know the argument I am using 
 in my letters to my foreign mission brethren, 
 to induce them to keep on praying at the 
 waking hour for ' Christlieb College,' is that 
 from its walls we hope to send to India, to 
 China, and to Japan, their successors in the 
 work? That when they fall, our graduates 
 from Abilene shall be ready to seize their 
 wavering standard, and bear it on to victory. 
 In India I have a schoolmate and playmate 
 of my boyhood, working as a missionary; 
 in China, a member of my church in Provi- 
 dence, R. I.; in Japan, a convert whom I 
 baptized in Philadelphia; all brethren be- 
 loved; all noble missionaries of the Cross. 
 All know about ' Christlieb.' And all are 
 praying for it. 
 
 " To tell you the truth, I have no use for 
 Christlieb College if it isn't ' the College of 
 Christ's Love ' all round the world. I want 
 it to send missionaries all round the world, 
 not only to aim for that, but to do that. 
 ' North America for Christ ' was my favourite 
 motto. I originated that motto and gave it 
 to the American Baptist Home Mission So- 
 ciety when I was its secretary. By common 
 consent it was adopted. And for many years 
 it has gone forth on their letter heads, their 
 reports, and their monthly magazine. But 
 that motto, popular as it is, is only fractional
 
 ii6 A Foundation Builder 
 
 after all. This whole round Globe for 
 Christ, is the least we ought to think or say. 
 And for that we should work, and sacrifice, 
 and pray ' till Jesus comes.' 
 
 " I hope soon to send twenty copies of 
 the ' Life of Mary Lyon.' I want it to be 
 read by all the faculty and trustees, in all 
 their families, and in all the families of your 
 church, so far as is possible. I am sure that 
 scores of others in and about Abilene, will 
 find that little volume to be meat and drink 
 to their souls. Some of you no doubt have 
 read it. But go over it again. And you, 
 Brother Hanks, go up to the College, give 
 the substance of the book in the form of a 
 lecture, or address, and then exhort all the 
 students, male as well as female, to read it 
 prayerfully through. In The Mt. Holyoke 
 Magazine, which I shall send too (twenty 
 of them), you will find how Mary Lyon 
 used to collect money in sums as small as ten 
 cents for her beloved school. That's right. 
 It was a missionary school. So is ' Christ- 
 lieb.' And taking collections in small sums, 
 in churches, and from house to house, to 
 keep the College going, is just as really mis- 
 sionary as is preaching to the heathen by 
 the students of the College after they have 
 graduated and gone to their fields in Asia 
 or Africa."
 
 SARAH ANNA SIMMONS, DAUGHTER OF ROBERT S. 
 SIMMONS, AT 8 YEARS OF AGE
 
 His Connection with Simmons College 117 
 
 From the West Texas Baptist^ we take the 
 following: 
 
 '' It is known to some that Dr. J. B. Sim- 
 mons wished the College to be named Christ- 
 lieb, which German word means Christ's 
 love. But his wife and son, who have con- 
 tributed liberally out of their own property 
 to the funds, insisted upon making the school 
 a monument to the educational labours of 
 the husband and father. He had helped to 
 establish nine other colleges, North and 
 South. It did seem fitting that the tenth, 
 this one at Abilene, should bear his name. 
 He replied: 'Then it must be understood 
 to be the family name, for all three of the 
 family are generous contributors.' All are 
 agreed that it shall be Christlieb in spirit, 
 the College of Christ's Love. Never forget 
 that! The first move in establishing this 
 school was made by the First Baptist church 
 at Abilene. And that is a Christian body. 
 The Sweetwater Association next took hold, 
 and that is a Christian body. All the trus- 
 tees of the College are Christian men. Dr. 
 Simmons and his family are Christian; and 
 they made special written conditions in giving 
 their money, that the whole structure, char- 
 acter, and fibre of the College were first, sec- 
 ond, and last, to be Christian."
 
 ii8 A Foundation Builder 
 
 Professor G. O. Thatcher, formerly presi- 
 dent of the College, has this to say: 
 
 " At this time, our heart is full of gladness 
 and thankfulness for what has already been 
 done for Simmons College. We are filled 
 with gratitude to him, who ruleth all things; 
 for the wisdom of its founders in establishing 
 this school for Christian education here, 
 in this western country, where its present 
 field of labour and of usefulness is so large, 
 and the possibilities of development so un- 
 bounded. We are thankful for the many 
 friends the College has in Texas and else- 
 where, and that our appeals to them on 
 behalf of the College are not for relief from 
 a burdensome debt, but for the means of 
 enlargement and advancement." 
 
 The notice of the death of Mrs. Mary E. 
 Simmons, which occurred September 24, 
 1894, fell like a great sorrow upon the 
 friends, faculty, and students of Simmons 
 College. The members of the Literary So- 
 ciety were called together, and a committee 
 appointed to draft suitable resolutions of 
 respect to her memory. The following were 
 presented, and, with sorrowful hearts, 
 adopted:
 
 His Connection with Simmons College 119 
 
 " Whereas, The Wise Ruler of the Uni- 
 verse has seen fit in his wisdom to call from 
 earth the soul of this friend, who, during a 
 long life devoted to his service, ever at- 
 tracted the attention and commanded the 
 respect of those who knew her, Therefore 
 be it 
 
 " Resolved, I, That we, the members of 
 the Adelphian Society of Simmons College, 
 deplore the loss of our late benefactress, 
 Mrs. Mary E. Simmons, and bow with 
 reverence to the will of Almighty God who 
 doeth all things well. 
 
 " Resolved, II, That in her death Sim- 
 mons College has lost a true and valued 
 friend, one who responded liberally and 
 nobly to all the calls of education. She was 
 blessed with a kind, charitable heart, and 
 a warm interest in all that tends to uplift 
 humanity. In these personal characteristics 
 we recognize a lofty type of Christian 
 womanhood. 
 
 " Resolved, III, That we tender the be- 
 reaved family our sincere and heartfelt 
 sympathy in this great affliction. While 
 theirs' is the greater loss, may it console them 
 to know that other hearts share in their 
 sorrow and bereavement. 
 
 ^' Resolved, IV, That these resolutions be 
 published in the West Texas Baptist and also
 
 I20 A Foundation Builder 
 
 in the College Items. That a page of our 
 record book be preserved as a memorial of 
 her, and that the Secretary of the Adelphian 
 Society be instructed to present the family 
 a copy of these resolutions. 
 
 " Gertrude Swanson, 
 
 " Flossie Logan^ 
 
 ** Evie M alone. 
 
 Committee." 
 
 The name of the Literary Society was 
 afterward changed to the Mary E. Simmons 
 Society, and still bears that name. 
 
 The board of trustees and faculty arranged 
 to hold in the College chapel a memorial 
 service on November 23, 1894, and a large 
 audience, consisting of the citizens of Abi- 
 lene and the surrounding country, assembled. 
 President G. O. Thatcher presided. Rev. 
 G. W. Smith read the Scriptures, and led 
 in prayer. Addresses were made by different 
 citizens. 
 
 Rev. R. T. Hanks spoke of the beautiful 
 and consecrated life of Mrs. Simmons, her 
 helpfulness, her love for her race, and her 
 consummate desire to do good in many di- 
 rections; and appealed to the young- women
 
 His Connection with Simmons College 121 
 
 of Simmons College to imitate her noble 
 life. 
 
 Dr. J. T. Harrington spoke of the breadth 
 of her Christian character and love as shown 
 in giving her hard-earned means, not only 
 to a state she had never visited, to a people 
 she had never known ; but, more wonderful, 
 to a people separated from her by all the 
 necessary prejudices that would naturally 
 follow so long and bloody a civil war as 
 that through which her generation passed. 
 And he thought her good influence in the 
 direction of breadth of character and dis- 
 interested love would be felt long after all 
 present were dead. 
 
 Judge K. K. Leggett paid the following 
 beautiful tribute to her memory: 
 
 " The subject for whom these exercises 
 are held, we are informed, died in the 
 Christian faith, and doubtless her chair, her 
 pew, and her grave were garlanded with the 
 flowers of the Christian's hope, and added 
 to this, she had lived so as to cause this 
 people, two thousand miles away, to halt, 
 and drop a tear, as she passed from earth 
 to heaven. 
 
 " This community is largely indebted to
 
 122 A Foundation Builder 
 
 Mrs. Mary E. Simmons, in fact it is indebted 
 to her more than to any other person, either 
 living or dead. I would not withhold one 
 word of praise due that great and good man, 
 whose name this College bears, and due his 
 unselfish and pious son, but I do not doubt 
 that Simmons College, with all it is, and all 
 it will be in coming years, owes its very 
 existence to that beautiful character, Mary 
 E. Simmons. 
 
 " It is a matter of regret that no one 
 present had the pleasure and benefit of a 
 personal acquaintance with Mrs. Simmons. 
 
 " We only know her by what she has done. 
 
 '' I very much fear when I have finished 
 my labours, and have passed to the great 
 beyond, it will simply be said of me, ' He 
 was born; he died.' This really is the his- 
 tory of man. Not so with Mrs. Simmons. 
 Besides contributing a share to the gentle 
 and engaging graces which make life worth 
 living, she, aided by the members of her 
 family, has left this monument of usefulness 
 to bless the coming ages. Each and every 
 student who attends this school is a bene- 
 ficiary of her bounty." 
 
 Professor G. O. Thatcher, who felt that her 
 death was a personal loss to him and to the 
 College, said:
 
 His Connection with Simmons College 123 
 
 " The lady, whose memory these services 
 were to commemorate, was not known per- 
 sonally to a single individual present. Not 
 one had ever seen her, or heard her voice. 
 And yet, she was known; her name is familiar, 
 for linked with the name of Dr. J. B. Sim- 
 mons is that of Mary E. Simmons; thought 
 of one is complemented by thought of the 
 other, and sweet memories cluster about the 
 names of both. 
 
 " But the beautiful and beneficent union 
 of these two in life is now broken, and 
 the words of the speakers on this occasion 
 stirred the hearts of those present with 
 deepest sympathy for Dr. Simmons in this 
 loss of his companion and sharer in life's 
 labours. 
 
 " One beautiful feature of these services 
 consisted in presenting to the minds of the 
 young women present, the type of noble 
 womanhood which the life of Mrs. Sim- 
 mons so exemplified, and the Christian 
 graces which so adorned her life. The good 
 of such a life cannot be known, nor its 
 influence measured. 
 
 " In death she is still with us, and that to 
 bless. 
 
 *' The College, which bears her family 
 name, is a blessing to the world to-day, and 
 as its usefulness shall enlarge, who can meas-
 
 124 ^ Foundation Buildqr 
 
 ure the good it may carry to future genera- 
 tions." 
 
 The friends of the College placed in the 
 chapel a beautiful marble tablet, suitably 
 inscribed to her memory; and a life-size por- 
 trait of her husband hangs just above it. 
 
 She had realized her own favourite poem: 
 
 " Yes, heaven is nearer than Christians 
 think, 
 
 When they look with a trembling dread 
 To the misty future that stretches out. 
 
 From the silent home of the dead. 
 
 " The eye that shuts this moment in death, 
 Shall open the next in bliss; 
 
 The welcome will sound in the heavenly 
 world 
 Ere the farewells are hushed in this." 
 
 Her remains, which for a time rested in 
 the Quaker Cemetery of the Society of 
 Friends at Providence, R. I., were removed 
 to a crypt in the campus of Simmons Col- 
 lege, at Abilene, Tex., where her husband 
 now rests by her side till the resurrection 
 morn.
 
 His Connection with Simmons College 125 
 
 A Tribute to Mary E. Simmons, by 
 Rev. Leander Hall 
 
 With deep interest I have read, in the last 
 issue of The Examiner, the most excellent 
 and comprehensive review of the life of 
 Rev. J. B. Simmons, D.D., who so recently 
 entered into his rest. Of him it can be 
 truthfully said, " Blessed are the dead who 
 die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, said 
 the Spirit, that they may rest from their 
 labours; for their works follow with them." 
 From The Examiner review of the life of 
 this godly man, I quote these words: "But 
 his chief pride was Simmons College, at 
 Abilene, Tex., founded by and named after 
 him. This excellent institution he felt 
 to be his best monument, and, most fittingly, 
 his remains are to be interred in its grounds." 
 In a personal letter to the writer of this 
 article, dated July 15, 1902, Dr. Simmons 
 said: "And what he says (J. B. Gambrell, 
 D.D., LL.D.) of my gifted and gracious and 
 beloved wife, will lead you, I trust, to pray 
 earnestly for the school in Texas that she 
 and I gave away wholly — wholly — to Jesus
 
 126 A Foundation Builder 
 
 Christ. Please read all of Gambrell's about 
 wife." In his letter Dr. Simmons enclosed 
 a copy of the West Texas Baptist, published 
 in the town where the College is located. It 
 was called " Our Memorial Edition." I 
 will quote a few sentences from that paper, 
 dated October 24, 1901, giving a full ac- 
 count of the " Memorial " services, includ- 
 ing the addresses delivered on the occasion — • 
 the chief one by Dr. Gambrell. The editor 
 says: "We dedicate this issue of the West 
 Texas Baptist to the memory of Mrs. Mary 
 E. Simmons, wife of Rev. J. B. Simmons, 
 D.D., of New York. Mrs. Simmons was 
 equal benefactor of Simmons College with 
 her honoured husband, for her beautiful 
 hands wrought in part in every task that 
 made the money which the family has given 
 to the College, and her mind approved it 
 all, and she carried the welfare of the Col- 
 lege in her heart to the day of her death." 
 ..." In the wall of the chapel of Simmons 
 College is a memorial tablet of marble on 
 which are inscribed these words: 'Mary E. 
 Simmons, entered into rest Sept. 24, 1894. 
 Jointly with her husband she was founder
 
 His Connection with Simmons College 127 
 
 of this College/ Dr. Simmons has erected 
 on the campus of the College a beautiful 
 and costly monument to the memory of Mrs. 
 Simmons, and on the 24th of September 
 (1901) her remains were laid to rest there." 
 ..." Of all the gifts Dr. Simmons has 
 made to our College — ' The College of 
 Christ's Love ' — none of them, nay, all of 
 them put together, do not speak so tenderly 
 and strongly of his devotion as this last one. 
 It is as if he had given the institution his 
 very heart, and planted it in the College 
 soil, to grow other hearts to love the school! 
 We are glad to devote this special issue of 
 the paper in memorializing such sublime 
 living, and loving, and giving, as the life 
 and death and burial of Sister Mary E. 
 Simmons exhibit to us." 
 
 I will give also two or three quotations 
 from the eloquent address of Dr. Gambrell 
 on this "memorial" occasion. He said: 
 " He (Dr. Simmons) was a student in 
 Brown University. In that cultured city 
 was a teacher, a young Quakeress of ex- 
 cellent family, solidly educated, full of life 
 and purpose; but a stranger to grace. She
 
 128 A Foundation Builder 
 
 was a chosen vessel for the exalted ministries 
 of her day and generation. She was to be- 
 come the helpmate of the young ministerial 
 student. She was providentially fitted for 
 this service by unusual social graces, by a 
 strong and resolute nature, by rare culture; 
 but she needed yet most of all the endue- 
 ment of the Spirit. God in answer to 
 prayer gave her a heart-breaking sense of 
 sin, and a heart-mending sense of the grace 
 that saves to the uttermost. From the depths 
 of despair she cried to God and he took 
 her feet from the mire and placed t-hem on 
 the Rock of a complete salvation. . . . She 
 joined him in his theological studies, taking 
 the entire course with him. . . . When Mary 
 E. Simmons became the wife of a preacher, 
 destined to fill large places of usefulness, and 
 largely through her unvarying support and 
 active help, she came into a large place. 
 All her strength, tact, and wisdom had the 
 fairest opportunity for enduring useful- 
 ness; born to a competency, she made 
 money a servant of humanity. Forty-three 
 years she wrought in this place for the 
 futherance of the Gospel, and the moral
 
 His Connection with Simmons College 129 
 
 and intellectual elevation of her race." 
 Dr. Gambrell closed his address in these 
 words : 
 
 " There is a fitness in bringing the mortal 
 remains of the founders of this school to rest 
 on the campus. The dying in distant lands 
 often long to be buried at home. The 
 Christian's heart is in his work, and the 
 home is where the heart is. This institution 
 stands for the abiding work of its founders. 
 Let them rest on the campus, and may the 
 lessons of lives devoted to the service of 
 God and humanity be deeply impressed on 
 the students of this institution as long as 
 time shall last." 
 
 I think I but echo the living sentiment of 
 Dr. Simmons's life, in coupling with The 
 Examiner's beautiful tribute to his memory 
 this tribute to the memory of his beloved 
 wife. When two such noble lives are linked 
 together in the close relation of husband and 
 wife, they cannot do otherwise than build 
 enduring monuments in the kingdom of 
 Christ. Let tributes to their memory go 
 down in history together. Together they 
 sowed and reaped, together they sleep on the
 
 130 A Foundation Builder 
 
 campus of the College they mutually 
 founded. 
 
 The good work at Simmons College still 
 goes on. The president is working to build 
 neat brick cottages for boys to room in. 
 One built through the generosity of A. F. 
 Crowley, of Fort Worth, bears on a marble 
 tablet the name of his deceased son, Charles 
 E. Crowley. 
 
 Mrs. Julia E. Nye, the cousin of Dr. 
 Simmons, subscribed the money to build 
 another, and Mr. H. J. Weber, a warm 
 friend and admirer of Dr. and Mrs. Sim- 
 mons, though not a Baptist, gave the money 
 for another, and the Literary Class of Cal- 
 vary Baptist church. New York, voted to 
 build another which is to bear the name of 
 their beloved teacher, Dr. Frank Rogers 
 Morse, who was the associate pastor of that 
 church. 
 
 Three scholarships have also been en- 
 dowed, and the prospects are that during the 
 coming year the facilities of the college will 
 be greatly enlarged.
 
 His Connection with Simmons College 131 
 
 Dr. Simmons has started a fund for en- 
 dowment, and others have contributed until 
 the college now has about $i5,o(X)* of in- 
 vested funds. When this shall have been 
 increased to $100,000, the institution will be 
 upon a firm basis of self-support. 
 
 Every friend of Christian Education, es- 
 pecially in Texas, should have a part in the 
 work which Simmons College is doing, and 
 is to do, under the blessing of God, for the 
 cause of Christ and higher civilization west 
 of the Mississippi River. 
 
 May the foundations laid by Dr. Simmons 
 in all his work for God and humanity, be 
 wisely and prayerfully built upon until the 
 capstone reaches the skies. 
 
 Dr. Simmons triumphantly ended his 
 heroic life, December 17, 1905, at the ripe 
 age of seventy-eight years. He was hon- 
 oured and beloved by all who knew him in 
 the varied relations of pastor, secretary, man, 
 and Christian. The funeral service was 
 
 *The matter on this page was written in the year 1899, 
 during the administration of Dr. O. C. Pope. See final chap- 
 ter, by Dr. Oscar H. Cooper, for the present value of property, 
 amount of endowment, number of students, etc.
 
 132 A Foundation Builder 
 
 conducted by the Rev. R. P. Johnson, D.D., 
 pastor of the Fifth Avenue Baptist church, 
 of which church Dr. Simmons was long an 
 honoured member. The large numbers 
 present at the funeral service testified to the 
 esteem in which Dr. Simmons was long 
 held. 
 
 He was a masterful man. He would have 
 achieved great success in any department 
 of business, had he chosen to give himself 
 to commercial pursuits. He might have 
 been a great railway king; he might have 
 been a merchant prince; he might have been 
 a congressman or senator of wide influence 
 and enduring fame. But he chose to be a 
 minister of Jesus Christ, in the Bap- 
 tist denomination. He loved the kingdom 
 of God with a love that was pure, strong, 
 and tender. He believed in the principles 
 of the Baptist denomination as the teaching 
 of God's holy Word. He loved and served 
 Jesus Christ as the King in Zion. He be- 
 lieved in Christian education as one of the 
 noblest pursuits and achievements of men 
 and women redeemed by the precious blood 
 of Jesus Christ. He believed that a great
 
 His Connection with Simmons College 133 
 
 institution of Christian learning is the most 
 permanent memorial possible on this earth. 
 He, therefore, gave Simmons College his 
 money, his wisest thought, and his earnest 
 prayer. As a man eminently wise in the 
 divine sense of that word, " He shall shine 
 as the brightness of the firmament"; and as 
 one who turned " many to righteousness, as 
 the stars forever and ever."
 
 VIII 
 
 SIMMONS COLLEGE— THE CROWN- 
 ING ACHIEVEMENT OF DR. 
 SIMMONS'S LIFE 
 
 By Oscar H. Cooper 
 
 SIMMONS COLLEGE was the domi- 
 nating interest of Dr. James B. Sim- 
 mons during the last six years of his 
 life. The writer came to the College in 
 1902, entering upon the work of president 
 on June 10 of that year. Four days later 
 came a letter from Dr. Simmons saying, 
 " Our trustees write me enthusiastically of 
 their joy that you are now President of our 
 College at Abilene. And I am up ' a great 
 while before day ' to join them in welcoming 
 you. God bless you a hundred-fold!" 
 
 This letter was followed by about two 
 hundred others, relating to the administra- 
 tion, perpetuation, and enlargement of the 
 
 134
 
 Simmons College 135 
 
 College, covering all the important events 
 in the progress of the institution during 
 these years, and outlining the policies which, 
 Dr. Simmons thought, should be followed 
 in present and future years. 
 
 These letters are of permanent value and 
 should be edited and published. They were 
 a source of constant encouragement and in- 
 spiration during the trying years when the 
 foundations were being slowly laid and the 
 standards established which have made Sim- 
 mons College an enduring seat of learning of 
 high rank among Texan institutions. 
 
 The policy most persistently and strenu- 
 ously urged by Dr. Simmons during all the 
 latter years of his life was that of securing 
 adequate endowment of the College. In 
 more than half of his letters this policy 
 was discussed and emphasized. Endow- 
 ment was the chief feature of his " Founda- 
 tion agreement " with the Trustees of the 
 College; nearly all of the money given by 
 him to the College during his life was given 
 for endowment; and his entire estate at his 
 death was devoted to this purpose, subject 
 to a life provision for his son, Dr. Robert
 
 136 A Foundation Builder 
 
 S. Simmons. He believed that a vigorous, 
 persistent, wisely-planned campaign for en- 
 dowment should be undertaken in Texas as 
 early as 1902, and was keenly disappointed 
 when the Trustees thought the time inop- 
 portune. Yet he never lost heart or became 
 critical, when his ideas were not followed — 
 he simply changed his line of attack, keep- 
 ing his main object steadily in view. Thus 
 it came to pass that the necessity for ample 
 endowment was permanently fixed in the 
 ideal of Simmons College and a beginning 
 was made which will grow with the years. 
 The immediate success of the effort made 
 soon after Dr. Simmons's death to raise 
 endowment for Biblical Instruction demon- 
 strated conclusively that he was right in 
 believing that the time was ripe for the en- 
 dowment of the College. 
 
 As the years went on the love of Dr. 
 Simmons for the College became a passion. 
 Every detail of its progress was read with 
 avidity and evoked a letter to the writer or 
 to Dr. Hanks, or to Pastor Scarborough, or, 
 less often, to other members of the Board 
 of Trustees. When the student enrolment
 
 Simmons College 137 
 
 passed two hundred (in 1903) he wrote a 
 jubilant congratulation; when the plan for 
 building a dormitory for girls was under 
 consideration, he was keenly interested. At 
 his suggestion, Dr. Robert S. Simmons, who 
 has been the chief contributor to the excel- 
 lent library of the College, transferred his 
 contribution of $1,100 from a proposed 
 Library building to this dormitory, which 
 was named the " Anna " hall in honour of 
 the daughter of Dr. Robert S. Simmons. He 
 gave attention to the details of the curricu- 
 lum and made many useful suggestions, 
 usually closing with an exhortation not to 
 forget the Book of Books — the English Bible. 
 His satisfaction and confidence grew as the 
 student roll lengthened from one hundred 
 to one hundred and eighty-nine, in 1902, 
 then to two hundred and eleven in 1903, 
 then to two hundred and twenty-nine in 
 1904. The enrolment has continued to 
 grow steadily. In 1905 the enrolment was 
 two hundred and forty-nine, in 1906-07 it 
 was three hundred and twenty-six, and in 
 1907-08 it was three hundred and forty. 
 The enrolment in 1910 up to the present
 
 138 A Foundation Builder 
 
 date (March i) is three hundred and thirty- 
 eight. 
 
 These years were not less noteworthy in 
 the history of the College for advance in 
 numbers than for corresponding advance in 
 the standard of scholarship. In 1902 the 
 standard for graduation was little above the 
 requirements of the best high schools; in 
 1908, a graduate of Simmons College was 
 admitted, without examination, into the 
 Senior Class in Yale University and grad- 
 uated there in 1909 with high standing. In 
 1902-03 the only college class was a class 
 of Freshmen; in 1910, twenty-five per cent, 
 of the students are of college rank, all classes 
 are well-filled, and ten Seniors are candi- 
 dates for graduation. 
 
 Dr. Simmons rarely suggested a candidate 
 for a position in the faculty of the College; 
 yet he often manifested a keen interest in the 
 members of the faculty. His ideal was that 
 of the self-sacrificing scholar who chooses 
 service on a small salary in the College, be- 
 cause he loves God and feels that the glory of 
 the Master is the chief reward of his days and 
 nights of strenuous labour. His own personal
 
 Simmons College 139 
 
 needs were so simple that he had little sym- 
 pathy with the teacher who taught only for 
 the pecuniary reward. He felt elated when 
 he found that men had been secured for the 
 College whose university training was of the 
 highest rank, and he often grew enthusiastic 
 over the fact that the students of the College 
 were being taught by graduates of Yale, 
 Berlin, the Sorbonne, and other leading uni- 
 versities of our own and other lands. 
 
 The growth of the College in buildings, 
 equipment, and endowment in recent years 
 has been noteworthy. In 1902 the valuation 
 of the entire plant and endowment was 
 about fifty thousand dollars; in 1910, it is 
 about two hundred and fifty thousand dol- 
 lars, divided about equally between build- 
 ings and grounds and endowment. The con- 
 tributors, large and small, number many 
 hundreds and the list is constantly growing. 
 The total contributions made by Dr. Sim- 
 mons and his devoted wife to Simmons 
 College amounted to about fifty thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 Simmons College is the most notable 
 achievement of the long and useful life of
 
 140 A Foundation Builder 
 
 this devoted man. It has reached a stage of 
 development in which it is secure against 
 premature death or decay. Its location — just 
 above 32° N. latitude, eighteen hundred 
 feet above sea-level — is ideal. For several 
 years its endowment has exceeded that of 
 any other denominational institution in the 
 state; nor can it be doubted that its friends, 
 far and near, will continue to add to its 
 permanent funds, for they believe in this 
 mode of building — in a long time, for all 
 time to come. These friends, some old and 
 tried, some new and enthusiastic, face the 
 future with strong faith that, under God's 
 guiding hand, this " College of Christ's 
 Love " will ultimately hold a high place 
 among American universities and encom- 
 pass the globe with its influence. 
 
 The College campus is hallowed by the 
 graves of Dr. James B. Simmons and his 
 wife. For, after the death of Dr. Simmons 
 in New York his remains were conveyed to 
 Abilene, and funeral services held in the 
 College Chapel, where fitting eulogies were 
 pronounced by Pastor Scarborough, Judge 
 K. K. Leggett, Dr. Hanks, and the writer.
 
 Simmons College 141 
 
 There, under the cloudless sky of a Christ- 
 mas afternoon, in 1905, Dr. Simmons was 
 laid to rest beside his beloved wife. 
 
 James B. Simmons has left an indelible 
 impress upon many thousands of people in 
 his own generation — chiefly by his great 
 work as a founder and builder of colleges. 
 It is a suggestive thought that this impress 
 will be wider and possibly deeper on the 
 next two or three generations than on his 
 own; for the fruits of his far-seeing planning, 
 giving, and working will hardly reach full 
 fruition within a shorter period. His mem- 
 ory will be a blessing to Simmons College 
 forever. 
 
 THE END
 
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