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 William Campbell Preston. human nature and practical ideas of life. It is well to unite the two methods. By com bining the two plans we obtain the highest degree of perfection. And then, besides, in Mr. Preston's case, the college was a gainer in another way, and a very important one at that. It received the advantage of the prestige which Mr. Preston had attained, and which he brought to it. In this respect it gained more than he did. He was greater than the college. I know that is saying a great deal, Hut I think it is in line with the truth. His reputation brought to Columbia, to be educated, young men from all parts of the country. It swelled the roll more than had ever been the case before. Even Mr. Calhoun, who had to some extent resented his colleague's political independence, felt prevailed upon to avail himself of Mr. Pres ton's influence and power as a teacher, and so we find him too becoming a patron of the college. And then there was another ad vantage to be derived from placing Mr. Preston at the head of the college. It en abled South Carolina in some measure to reward a faithful son. I have said elsewhere that South Carolinians were too intolerant before the war. I did not mean to intimate that they were more so than the people of sister States. Possibly they were not. It is always the tendency of majorities to become overbearing, and at the time of which we are writing the majority in Carolina was pretty large. A pressure had been brought to bear, and Mr. Preston had felt compelled to resign his seat in the Senate, and now that he was out of the way politically, it was a happy ¡dea to smooth over things and pbce him in a high and honorable office, like the presidency of the South Carolina College. Whatever motive had influenced his political opponents, certainly we must praise the State for the course she pursued in the matter. Again, we have spoken of the education which Mr. Preston received. Is it well to spend as much time and money on a col

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legiate education and a professional equip ment as Mr. Preston did? I would answer that in his individual case it was money and time well bestowed and employed. Every case, however, depends upon its own pecu liar environments. No general, or, perhaps, it would be better to say, no universal rule can be laid down. If a young man has only a limited amount of means, or if from any cause his early education has been neglect ed, and he finds himself lacking in time as well as in money, then he had better not take so extended a course. And even where everything is propitious, there is a danger of protracting too long the literary and pro fessional course. We may unfit ourselves plished for practical and life. so highly We may educated become that so accom we will be indisposed to pass through the first and most trying years of a professional life, when we have to do the drudgery and have to un dergo the humiliation and embarrassment which necessarily attend a beginner's course. And yet if a young man has the pluck and the nerve — if he has the requisite patience, I would say to him that, all things being equal, the more thorough his preparation the more likely is he to attain high success. If the reader will only think for a moment he will be surprised to see how many of our great men were well educated. John C. Calhoun received his academic training un der Dr. Waddell, perhaps the most celebrated teacher this country has ever had. He then went to Yale College, where he graduated. Daniel Webster was a graduate of Dart mouth College. George McDuffie and Hugh S. Legare were both educated at thé South Carolina College, and so also was James Louis Petigru. Indeed, in Mr. Legare's case, I might say that with the re ception of his college diploma, his education was only commenced. He took an exten sive post-graduate course afterwards and be came widely traveled. Alexander Stephens, Bob Toombs, Ben Hill, and Henry Grady were all university-trained men. And so, in