178 Musings by Camp-Fire and Wayside 



religious power for church and country lies there 

 awaiting the touch! 



Colonel Minnis, of Knoxville, insisted strongly 

 upon my visiting Maryville college, though I needed 

 rest and ability to sleep much more than college 

 history. I must deal very briefly with the problem 

 which besets Maryville. Mr. Than and Mr. Dodge, 

 and perhaps some others, made donations to Mary- 

 ville, on the understanding that the institution 

 should become white and black, co-educational. I 

 see that it is claimed that it always was so, though 

 it must have been only nominally. There are now 

 some three hundred and fifty students, of whom 

 only five are colored, and these not resident in the 

 college buildings. But these five — about the aver- 

 age — give repute to the institution; students refuse 

 to carry its diplomas, go elsewhere to graduate, or 

 conceal their ahna mater. If a single colored girl 

 were admitted it would be the signal for a general 

 dispersion, so I was assured. 



I was told, when about to sail for Europe, that 

 it was of no use for me to try to reconstruct the 

 continent — that I must adapt myself to it as it is, 

 and make myself as comfortable as possible with 

 things as they are. We must recognize traditions, 

 habits, and prejudices, the growth of centuries in 

 the South, if we would not be useless there and 

 impracticable. I said to the brethren that it was 

 not a matter of other principle than the principle 



