University of Virginia Library

XXXVII. Student Life—Spiritual Side

In 1908, at least fourteen committees had charge of
the religious work of the Young Men's Christian Association;
and the management of its business affairs was
confided to a picked body of seven members. The
organization, had, by this time, been incorporated. The
old system was somewhat modified, in 1905, by the appointment
of a general secretary and college pastor, who
was to be the main director of the principal functions
of the association, in addition to acting as the assistant
to the different visiting clergymen in the chapel services;
delivering an occasional sermon; and ministering to the
young men. Mr. McIlhaney resigned from this office
at the beginning of 1908, in order to solicit funds for the
erection, just beyond the precincts, of St. Paul's Chapel,
to meet the spiritual needs of the Episcopalians among
the students and the members of the professors' families.[8]
He was succeeded temporarily by H. M. Peck,
who was allowed four assistants; and permanently by
W. W. Brockman, who had filled a similar position in

several States, and had, at one time, been the occupant
of the chair of English in Soochow University. During
the session of 1909–10, W. N. Neff was the assistant
secretary, and afterwards the full secretary. The offices
of president, vice-president, and recording secretary,
were reserved for the incumbency of students.

On the threshold of the Ninth Period, 1904–05, the
work of the association was made up of the following
particulars: it mailed, before each session began, a handbook
to each expected new student at his home, and on
his arrival at the University, assisted him in choosing
his boarding-house, and if necessary, found employment
for him that would defray his college expenses; it appointed
a weekly prayer meeting, to which the entire
body of students were invited, and at which many of
them were always present; it enrolled a large number
of the young men in the Bible classes, of which, during
1905, there were twenty, with an average attendance of
eighty-seven; it held missionary conferences and created
facilities for mission study; it established Sunday Schools
in Charlottesville and the surrounding region; it arranged
a lyceum course of instructive lectures, to which,
during some sessions over four hundred tickets were
sold; it issued the Madison Hall Notes; it gave a general
reception for students at the beginning of the college
year; it maintained an excellent reading-room; and
finally, it kept in good condition all the tennis courts
situated on the campus.

By 1908–09, the Bible classes had increased in number
to twenty-eight, and the mission classes to thirteen.
About twenty-six members were now volunteering for
foreign service; and to stimulate the interest in this
branch of Christian endeavor, deputations were frequently
sent to the churches of the large cities. Twenty-five

students were regularly employed at this time in the
mission Sunday Schools of the region around Charlottesville.
At the beginning of each session, an evening
was set apart for a mass-meeting in Madison Hall,
at which the matriculates in their first year were instructed
as to the character of the Honor System, and
informed about the traditions of the University.
Special evangelistic assemblies were now held by the
association; and it also encouraged its members to visit
the slums and jails; to study the practical side of the
local negro problem; and to lead in founding young
people's societies. It brought to the University Damrosch's
Orchestra and Ben Greet's Players. And it also
issued a weekly directory and an annual report.

In 1912–13, extraordinary attention was turned to the
enlistment of the students in voluntary Bible study,
—more than one hundred were thus occupied; and they
were enrolled in small groups for the purpose, and
taught by some fellow-student or professor. There
were also six public addresses delivered on Biblical
themes. The association was now providing a full
salary for its representative in the foreign mission field;
namely, Dr. R. V. Taylor, Jr. who was stationed in
China. In 1913–14, there was a students' evening, on
which occasion, a committee arranged, for local talent,
an informal programme, which included songs, readings,
impersonations, and gymnastic feats. A weekly meeting
was held every Tuesday night, in the course of the
autumn, to discuss every aspect of the different college
problems. The most distinguished graduates and athletic
champions were now despatched to the prominent
high schools of the State to speak on such vital topics as
clean athletics, the Honor System, and the like. The
association also decided to establish a free dispensary at

a site in the mountains distant about twenty-six miles
from the University. Dr. Hugh H. Young, of Baltimore,
promised to contribute the sum of two hundred
and fifty dollars to its support annually, for a period of
three years; a nurse was to be employed; and several
medical students were to conduct a weekly clinic. This
dispensary was thrown open, in 1915–16, in connection
with the mountain mission of Rev. George Mayo.

During the session of 1916–17, the labors of the association
still fell under two main divisions. First,—the
work outside the precincts. A religious census was taken
at the beginning of each session for the information and
assistance of the churches in Charlottesville; the denominational
leanings of the young men in college were thus
discovered; and by this means, the association was able to
obtain for these churches Sunday School teachers, leaders
for the young people's societies, singers for the choirs,
exhorters for the prayer meetings, and occasional speakers
for the regular morning or evening services. As
many as eighty-seven students were, during this session,
enlisted in such activities. In addition to these zealous
young men, there was a gospel team,—composed of five
or six students,—which visited the smaller towns of the
State during week-ends and vacations, and discoursed on
general topics of moral significance. Speakers also were
despatched to different places to take part in evangelistic
labor, or to deliver addresses on the Bible, honest politics,
clean athletics, or the Honor System. Night schools
were opened at Simeon, Hickory Hill, and Birdwood,
and also in Charlottesville,—here for the benefit of
foreign working-men. The affairs of the dispensary established
in the Blue Ridge were administered with constantly
increasing usefulness. Two representatives of
the association were now supported in the foreign mission

field; one thousand dollars had already been contributed
for the continuance of their labors; and for a period of
three years, starting with 1915, twelve hundred dollars
had been pledged for each twelve months.

Second,—the work of the association within the precincts.
This was still carried on along lines which had
been laid down from the beginning of the Ninth Period.
The chief activity was still group and lecture courses in
Madison Hall.—prominent speakers from abroad, or
members of the Faculty, still delivered, during the
autumn and winter terms, religious addresses at the
weekly meetings. The mission classes,—which were
schools of methods in religious instruction,—were continued
with undiminished zeal; nor was there any relaxation
in the social ministrations of the association.

How many members could that association count on its
roll? Of seven hundred and eighty-five matriculates, in
1907, four hundred and thirty were members; and this
lacked only thirty of being all the professing Christians
among the students. The following table indicates the
relation of the University of Virginia in this particular
to the other prominent American seats of learning at this
time:

                   

	Students	Professed Christians	Members of Y. M. C. A.
Yale	3208	1906	655
Cornell	3052	2000	750
Princeton	1384	950	914
Pennsylvania	3558	1779	400
Illinois	2011	974	974
Michigan	3700	2400	2400
Minnesota	1900	900	900
West Point	463	201	396
Virginia	785	490	430

In 1912–13, the enrolment of the association was
five hundred and eighty-nine members; in 1913–14, the

number did not exceed five hundred; but afterwards, it
continued to increase until the close of this Period.

It was estimated, in 1915–16, that the value of the
property connected with the religious work of the University
amounted to $163,000. The appraisement was
as follows: the grounds, building, and equipment of
Madison Hall, $110,000; the chapel and its equipment,
$35,000; the parsonage, $8,000; and other items in the
list, $10,000. The endowment funds aggregated $86,000.
The income of the association derived from these
endowment funds, contributions, and grants by the Board
of Visitors approximated $12,550.00. There still prevailed
the rule that two dollars of the ten deposited by
each student as a contingent fee was to be reserved
for the support of the religious work of the University,
unless objection to such a disposition of that sum was
expressed in writing by him within one month after his
matriculation.

What was the proportion of students belonging to
religious sects, and to what extent were the different sects
represented? In 1904–05, two hundred and thirteen
were members of the church, and two hundred and eleven
were in general sympathy with some one of the several
denominations. The denominations which led in numbers,
both as to membership and affiliation, during this
session, were the Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Baptist,
in the order named. Every important religious body to
be found in the American communities, omitting Christian
Science, was represented. Throughout the Ninth
Period, 1904–19, the largest proportion of students belonged
to the Episcopal church, or, through their families,
were affiliated with it,—from one hundred and seventy-four
actual members in 1907–08, the number rose to one
hundred and ninety-five in 1913–14. The next largest

membership was attached to the Presbyterian church,—
the corresponding numbers for the same sessions were
one hundred and twenty and one hundred and twenty-two.
The third largest membership was attached to the Methodist
church,—the corresponding numbers were eighty-eight
and one hundred and thirty-seven. All these figures
would be very much increased by counting also the number
of students in affiliation with these denominations.
The Baptist membership and affiliation followed the
Methodist at some distance, while the number for each
of the other religious bodies was much smaller.

The percentage of the attendance in the University,
during these sessions, which was allied with some form of
religious worship, in a more or less active way, ranged
from sixty-nine to seventy-five. During the session of
1916–17, the proportion, in actual numbers, stood as follows:

                   

	Members	Affiliated
Episcopal	264	56
Methodist	175	59
Presbyterian	150	44
Baptist	128	44
Disciples	38	4
Hebrew	18	16
Catholic	37	2
Lutherans	15	2
Remainder	15	8

In 1917–18, with the exception of thirty-two students,
the entire number enrolled were either actual members of
some sect, or were openly affiliated with some denomination,
—a total of ninety-six and a half per cent. of the
whole registration.

As late as 1915–16, the old plan of inviting distinguished
clergymen to deliver sermons in the chapel was
still in force,—during that session, twenty-nine appeared
before the University congregation; but the popularity

of these services had been steadily declining, under the
pressure of new local conditions. The presence of an
Episcopal church on the boundary line of the precincts,
the ease with which the edifices of the other denominations,
—Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic, and
Lutheran,—situated in Charlottesville, could be reached
by trolley-car, united to draw away the religious audiences
that had formerly filled the pews of the University
chapel. So small grew these audiences, even when famous
clergymen from other communities were announced
to speak, that it became difficult to induce ministers of the
gospel to accept an invitation to occupy that pulpit.
Finally, a state almost of vacuum was arrived at, and the
unbroken succession of clergymen disappeared from this
time forward, along with the former appointed chaplains.
The University had practically reverted to the condition
which prevailed at the start,—dependence was now
placed upon an occasional invited clergyman from a distance,
or a local minister of the gospel, for the ministrations
which only persons of that cloth can give.

But the work of the Young Men's Christian Association
never slackened in zeal, energy, and intelligence, and
its beneficence only increased in power with the passage of
the years. Professor Forrest, of the School of Biblical
History and Literature, estimated that, in a list of one
hundred and thirty-three alumni engaged in religious service
in 1915–16, twelve Christian denominations, with
the Jewish church added, were represented; that seventeen
of these alumni were bishops; that fifty-three were
professors or presidents of theological seminaries or
church colleges; that seventy-five were heads of conspicuous
city congregations; and that forty-two had won distinction
in religious journalism and authorship.

Previous to 1905, two hundred Protestant Episcopal

rectors, one hundred Presbyterian pastors, seventy-five
Baptist, thirty Methodist, ten Lutheran, and thirty-five
ministers of other churches, had been educated
in the University of Virginia. Statistics submitted
in the convention of the Students' Voluntary
Movement for Foreign Missions, held in
Rochester, N. Y., in 1910, revealed that, up to
that time, the University of Virginia had despatched
sixty representatives to the foreign field,—the largest
number sent out by any State university, and a larger
number than had been dedicated to that work by the majority
of the purely denominational seats of learning.

The religious record of the University of Virginia,
during the first one hundred years of its history, is now
completed. In the early part of that long period, it was
harried by idle or malignant aspersions of infidelity,—
aspersions that had no broader or more stable footing
than the fact that the institution, following the wise regulation
of its founder, declined to give the slightest countenance
to the preponderance of any one church, although
recognizing, with respect and dignity, the existence of all
the evangelical sects by the annual appointments to the
chaplaincy, and, afterwards, by the monthly invitations
to the chapel pulpit. Through the whole of that pregnant
interval, the balance between the denominations was
never shaken,—in fact, a perfect impartiality to them all
was shown by the authorities at the very time that veneration
for the religion which they all represented in common,
governed the entire course of the institution, from
decade to decade, without intermission and without divergence.

Some of the noblest men who ever proclaimed the gospel
of Christ and ministered to the spiritual needs of their
fellows, occupied, at one time or another, the office of

chaplain of the University, and as such performed all the
duties of faithful disciples of the great exemplar whom
they held up so earnestly to imitation. Indeed, there are
few spots within the confines of the oldest of all the commonwealths
where more eloquent or more comforting
words have fallen from sanctified lips than under the
gothic roof which still stands in the shadow of the Rotunda,
—a lasting monument, in its erection, to the unwearied
devotion and cheerful self-sacrifice of professors
and students alike in the cause of religious principle and
religious aspiration. The whole record of the Young
Men's Christian Association at the University of Virginia
is a record of successful service in every province of benevolent
endeavor, pursued session after session,
and passed on from one wave of young men to
the next, with ever-rising enthusiasm, and ever-growing
breadth of view, and ever-increasing practical
wisdom. That record alone would confer a noble
distinction upon that great institution even if it could
point to no splendid triumphs of scholarship, and to no
long roll of celebrated alumni.