Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/641

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 573 vided by Elder H. P. Toug;, district mission- ary, and another fund or addition to the former, reaching the amount of one thousand four hundred doHars, was provided at Big Creek by the St. Francois Association, in September, 1878, and a committee consisting of W. H. Mayfield, J. Q. A. Whitener, and E. E. Graham was selected to effect an or- ganization and select a site. The first board of trustees consisted of the following gentlemen : J. Frank Sitze, W. H. aia.vfield, E. P. Settle, Alexander Jen- nings, H. M. Williams and AVilliam Spark- man. Those zealous in fostering the college were : W. 11. Mayfield, F. M. Wells, J. Frank Sitze, A. J. Mayfield, II. F. Tong, E. L. Graham, Francis Graham, Henry Cheek,i • Enoch Robertson, F. C. Shell, J. Q. A. Whitener, J. W. Revelle. J. C. Heinbrey and E. R. Graham. F. M. Wells is president of the present board of trustees, and -Jesse A. McGlothlin, seei-ctaiy. The college is supported entirely by tui- tion and the Baptists of South-Eastem Mis- souri. The Baptists of sixteen counties are interested and students are drawn from the surrounding counties. Under a re-charting clause recently enacted, it is impossible for the college to remain in debt, and it is thus placed upon a remarkably firm financial foundation. A large and attractive boarding- hall (Rosemont Hall) in charge of Mrs. Hendricks will house thirty-six girl students comfortabl.y. Professor W. A. Devault is vice-president of the college and a faculty of seven teachers is employed. Two degrees are conferred, namel.v: Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts. Twenty-three graduates were re- ported for the year 1911 and one hundred and seventy students were continuously en- rolled in 1910-1911. Strong departments of music and elocution are maintained in the institution, thus sending forth an appeal to students so inclined. A high moral training is an important feature, the methods of the college proceeding on the thought that mo- rality in the best sense can be taught only through the inculcation of high ideals eon- stantl.v kept before the minds of the student. The college buildings, which are commodi- ous structures, are situated on a commanding wooded height, and are situated in a health- ful locality, excellent drinking water of the mineral sort similar to that obtained from the Marble Hill mineral well furnishinsr a strong recommendation to parents to whom the health of their sons and daughters is dear. Professor A. F. Hendricks. There is no profession open to man so fraught with equal responsibility and opportunity to serve the race as that of the educator, for in equip- ping the young for their work in life he has somehow to combine all professions, and in the greater number of individuals that pass through his hands at the most pliant periods of their careers, he holds the responsibility for the mental, moral, and physical vigor of each recurring "next generation." One of the educators of southeastern filissouri w^hose calibre justifies his high calling is Professor A. P. Hendricks, the president of Mayfield College. He is a man in whom high ideals and exceptional vision are happily united with a broad exj^erience and keen sense of practical values, a combination of qualities needed but rarely found in the field of education. Professor A. P. Hendricks was born Feb- ruary 1, 1870, in James county, Tennessee, the son of Nathan and Mary J. Hendricks. His father was a skilled mechanic, and both the parents, knowing the inestimable value of a thorough education, were vastl.y inter- ested that their son should enjoj' its benefits. After having finished his preparatory work in the public schools of Birchwood, Tennessee, the son attended the seminai-y at Shumach, Georgia, and then went to Daj^ton Univer- sity in Tennessee. Following that Professor Hendricks went to the Valparaiso Universit.y, at Valparaiso, Indiana, graduating there in the class of 1904. He returned the next year and took post-graduate work in the same col- lege. In the year 1906 his desire to be thor- oughly prepared for his life work led him to t-ake graduate work in the Universit.v of Chicago. In his career as an educator Pro- fessor Hendricks has been in many places. In 1905-1907 he was principal of the Lutes- ville .schools. His first teaching was done in 1893, in Hamilton county, Tennessee, and he had charge of the Morgantown schools for three years, following by two years at the head of the Dayton city schools. In 1907 he was elected to the presidency of Will May- field College, and his incumbency of this of- fice has been such as to bring honor both on himself and on the institution whose policies he directs. Since his advent, an addition to