Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/472

 CHAPTER XXXIII INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING St. Mary's Seminary — St. Vincent's College — Will Mayfield College — Elmwood Sem- inary — Parmington College — ^Marvin Collegiate Institute — Carleton College — Ar- cadia College — The State Normal School at Cape Girardeau. Efforts were made from time to time to provide educational institutioas in the south- east equipped to do college work. These at- tempts were at best but partly successful in most instances. It was inevitable that such should be the case. The backward condition of the elementary and secondary schools made it difficult to secure sufficient students to support a college and there was exper- ienced great difficulty in securing fuuds for these schools from other sources. Some of the schools succeeded. In spite of discour- agement and obstacles those connected with them persevered and wrought work of the utmost value to this section. St. Mary's Seminary The earliest institution for higher learn- ing actually put on foot here, is St. ilary's Seminary at Perryville, in Perry county. This was an enterprise of the Catholic church and had behind it the wealth and compact organization of that church. Out of this ef- fort grew the St. Vincent's College at Cape Girardeau, which for many years, was the great college of this part of the state, and St. ]Iary's Seminary to this day is a great and flourishing theological school. We have already given somethmg of the early history and struggle of this seminary under Bishop Dubourg, its foimder. As we have noted, the seminary was open for the reception of students in 1818. At that time there was only a single log cabin, and Father Rosati has preserved for us, in his diarj', a picture of the activities that went on within this single room. In one corner of it there was a kitchen, another part a laim- dry, in still another corner a sleeping apart- ment, while another part was given over to the students for their use in study and reci- tation. However, the seminary was not long confined to a single building. The necessity for such a school and the evident earnestness and abilit.v of the men in charge of its work, resulted in the gathering of funds and the erection of other buildings. The second one of these was a large two-story log struc- ture in which the seminary found much more convenient and comfortable quarters. From time to time the equipment in buildings was added to as need was foimd in the growth of the institution itself. Here were educated not only those men who were being trained for the priesthood but others who desired to pursue a college education under the direc- 412