benefactor of the college is the present president, Mrs. Key, whose gifts for its upbuilding have been considerable and promptly furnished as needed.

The present value of the property is fully $75,000, upon which there is not a dollar's encumbrance.

The patronage has grown steadily year by year until now it numbers 280 students and finds its friends and supporters among the best families of Texas and adjacent States. Among its several fine buildings is the Annie Nugent Hall, contributed and named in honor of the daughter of Col. William L. Nugent, of Mississippi; another fine building is Julia Halsell Hall. The main college edifice is a new, commodious, and beautiful brick structure.

During the past session the school had students from Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, Colorado, Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and the Indian Territory, besides those from Texas.

POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE.

The Polytechnic College of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was projected by authority of the Northwest Texas Conference at its session at Abilene, Tex., in November, 1890. Certain gentlemen (A. S. Hall, W. D. Hall, and George Tandy), friends of Christian education and of Methodism, proposed to donate one-half interest in a large tract of land near Fort Worth, if the church would accept the offer and establish a college. The conference appointed a committee of discreet men to inquire into the feasibility of the plan, and to take such action in the premises as they thought best. The committee met in Fort Worth in December, 1890, and was presided over by Bishop Joseph S. Key. After carefully weighing the proposition and realizing the great need of a high grade institution of learning in that part of the State, they voted unanimously to accept the offer and begin at once the work of founding the college.

Accordingly a board of trustees was elected and a charter obtained. Bishop Joseph S. Key was made president of the board, and Rev. W. P. Wilson was chosen financial agent.

At a meeting of the board held in February, 1891, Rev. J. W. Adkisson was elected to the presidency of the college, and he proceeded at once to organize a faculty and arrange for the opening. The college was opened in September, 1891. The first scholastic year showed a total of 105 matriculations, and the attendance has steadily grown until at the close of the seventh session the enrollment was more than three times as great as the first year.

The present value of the college buildings and grounds is something like $30,000. Plans are now being projected looking to enlargement,

and it is hoped that another and more commodious building will be ready by the opening of the next session.

The last catalogue shows the following board of trustees: Bishop Joseph S. Key, president; Rev. George S. Wyatt, vice-president; J. B. Baker, secretary; George Mulkey, treasurer; Rev. W. F. Lloyd, Rev. W. P. Wilson, O. S. Kennedy, Rev. M. S. Hotchkiss, Hon. T. T. D. Andrews, Rev. O. F. Sensabaugh, Judge N. A. Stedman, Rev. R. C. Armstrong, Rev. George W. Owens.

Rev. W. F. Lloyd has been the president of the college since June, 1894. Under his presidency the institution has nearly doubled in attendance, and a very efficient faculty has been secured. Prof. W. F. Mister, an A. M. graduate of the University of Mississippi, is chairman of the faculty.

SAN ANTONIO FEMALE COLLEGE.

This college was deeded unconditionally to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and falls under the control of the West Texas Annual Conference.

Its history shows that some nine years ago the West End Town Company, under the presidency of Gen. G. W. Russ, set apart 45 acres in their addition to the city of San Antonio and offered them to the church on condition that 5 acres be used as a campus and the other 40 acres be divided into town lots and sold and the proceeds used in erecting college buildings. Rev. W. W. Pinson, pastor of the Travis Park Church, accepted the offer and carried the matter before the annual conference, which in 1890 accepted the gift. A number of lots were sold and a large foundation was laid for the buildings. Capt. J. S. McKinnon was the largest purchaser of lots and contributor of money. The campus of 5 acres with the buildings (brick and stone) and improvements, including artesian well, equipments, etc., has the valuation of $32,000; lots unsold, $20,000. The attendance has steadily increased from the first year, and the grade of work has been raised each year until now the school is doing some real college work. There are schools of instrumental and vocal music, elocution, and art. There are 10 teachers and an attendance of about 100 students. The college began work in 1894 and was chartered in 1896. Rev. J. E. Harrison, a graduate of Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, was the first and has been the only president. The college is finely located and is accessible by electric cars from San Antonio.

CORONAL INSTITUTE.

This school is located at San Marcos, a beautiful little city of some 3,000 inhabitants, and particularly noted for the lovely springs which swell in great volumes from their rocky beds in the edge of the city

to form the San Marcos River, whose waters are kept cool and pure by them and clear as crystal.

The school was opened in 1868 by Mr. Hollingsworth, and a few years later was purchased by the Southern Methodist Church and remains the property of that church. The present buildings, grounds, and equipment are valued at $40,000. The attendence for a number of years has averaged about 300, nearly one-third being boarders. The names of the successive presidents are: Rev. B. H. Belvin, Maj. I. H. Bishop, Rev. E. S. Smith, R. O. Rounsavall, J. E. Pritchett, W. J. Spilman, and A. A. Thomas. The buildings are of stone and brick, commodious, and well furnished with modern appliances, including electric lights. The school is on the railroad between Austin and San Antonio.

In their announcements the authorities of the institution state that they have tried both the exclusive and coeducational plans and believe the best results are obtained by educating boys and girls together. They add:

We are not running a reformatory, and hence no pupils who are “too bad to go to school at home" are wanted. Any pupil guilty of gross misconduct, or who positively refuses to obey any teacher, will be promptly expelled. A pupil once expelled will never be allowed to enter our school again.

AUSTIN COLLEGE, AT SHERMAN.

Austin College was among the first established by the State. It was chartered in 1849, and named after the great pioneer of Texas civilization, Hon. Stephen F. Austin, although the efforts of Rev. Daniel Baker, an eloquent and successful home missionary, secured the charter and most of the lands and money to put it into operation. The charter, for that time, was a liberal one. It allowed $200,000 worth of property to be held in the name of the college. Its board of 13 trustees was composed of men of many creeds, some of them of no particular creed, and no test of a religious character was to be allowed for either professors or pupils.

As stated in a catalogue giving the history of the institution:

In 1849 Rev. Daniel Baker, acting by authority of the Presbyterian Church in Texas, secured a charter for Austin College, to be located at Huntsville, and in 1850 the college was formally opened, with Dr. Samuel McKinney as president. Dr. McKinney was succeeded in 1853 by Dr. Baker, who remained president of this institution until his death in 1857. Dr. J. W. Miller succeeded Dr. Baker, and was himself succeeded by Rev. R. W. Bailey in 1858. In 1862 Dr. McKinney again became president of the college, and held that position until 1870, when he was followed by Dr. S. M. Luckett. The work of president and also that of financial agent was faithfully and successfully performed by Dr. Luckett until 1878, when it had become necessary to move the college from Huntsville to Sherman, a healthier location. The main building was completed and the college opened September 4, 1878, with Dr. H. B. Boude as president, and since that time it has continued to be one of

the leading institutions in Texas in its efforts to uphold the standard of higher education. Dr. Boude was succeeded in 1881 by Dr. E. P. Palmer, and Dr. Palmer in 1884 by Dr. Donald McGregor. In 1887 Dr. Luckett was again elected president, and held that office until 1897, when he resigned, and Dr. T. R. Sampson was elected to fill the position.

To the main building, completed in 1878, have since been added two wings, making the building now complete, containing ample space for class rooms, besides chemical and physical laboratories. There are also in the building two society halls, a gymnasium, a president's office, an assembly hall, and a library. The two society halls are memorial rooms, "Link Hall" being the gift of Mrs. S. M. Luckett, wife of Dr. S. M. Luckett, and "Files Hall" the gift of Mr. F. M. Files, of Files, Tex. The library has been refurnished and equipped as a memorial to Mr. Chadwick, of Chappel Hill, Tex., whose generous liberality has gone far toward placing the college on its present firm basis. By the effort of Dr. Sampson, a large and commodious gymnasium has recently been added and a convenient assembly hall fitted up, making the college more thoroughly equipped for good and successful work.

The first board of trustees at Huntsville was composed of such men as Gen. Sam Houston, President Anson Jones, of the Texas Republic, Henderson Yoakum, author of a History of Texas, and other prominent men. Col. George W. Rogers gave 5 acres of land and three lots in Huntsville on which to erect the college buildings. Rev. Daniel Baker was appointed financial agent, and was quite successful in his work in securing donations of money in Baltimore, New York, New Jersey, and South Carolina. Rev. Benjamin Chase, of Natchez, Miss., gave the college 14,930 acres of land; but subsequently, after much of it had been sold, what was left was, on account of his own failing fortune, reconveyed to him. Dr. Baker collected in subscriptions about $25,000, and yet the college was embarrassed. Like so many other young institutions, it was constantly struggling with debt, and not infrequently with other misfortunes. After appealing to the public for $10,000 to meet its obligations, President Bailey urged that the proposition be pressed upon the hearts of the friends and patrons of the college, declaring that "if their pulsations were not strong enough to meet the exigency it would be time enough then to announce the funeral oration of Austin College. The president and professors in the meantime were enduring the martyrdom of unpaid salaries. The college was forced to suspend operations, and Professor Grady rented one of the rooms for conducting a high school. A meeting of the college authorities was called to "face the facts." A debt of $12,000 still impended, the students went off to the war, and all financial arrangements were uncertain. President McKinney and his sons managed to keep the college going as a sort of high school, and had 125 pupils in charge. The board seemed to have lost heart in their work, and, so far as the records show, did not meet till in June, 1869, and then in Galveston, to see what could be saved from the wreck. Suits amounting to $5,000 were now pending against the college, and under the charter the trustees were personally liable for the debts.