It is a pleasure to leave the field of battle and of politics, and to turn to that of education. Heretofore, this story has concerned itself in many respects, with the combats of mortal enemies. Now that the "birds have built their nests in the cannon's mouth, and stopped its horrible din," the mind of man may consider what is best for the youths who are to come after the men who fought the battles of the country and who, for four years, held the center of the stage.

It is well to consider here the State University, as it is called today, though it has known more than one name and has languished under more than one title, only to flourish under another. It is impossible to contemplate this great school of learning without, at the same time, recognizing that splendid Scottish gentleman and scholar, James Kennedy Patterson, who stands at the very head of those who have made their life-work the education of the youth of Kentucky. From sources so various, that it is here impossible to give, as original, the story of his early life, the present writer is forced to use many statements and to give at once credit to all these sources without enumerating one in particular. It has been the purpose of this present writer to state, in his own words, all facts relative to the history of Kentucky, but in this instance, he is forced to depend upon other writers so numerous as to forestall the giving of that credit due to each.

He feels that this explanation is due since he wishes to be considered responsible for every word used in this volume.

The State University has had, to the period. when this work was begun, but one president, and that was James Kennedy Patterson. The following biographical statements are reprinted from several sources and are believed to be correct. They supply not only a biography of President Patterson, but the life story of the State University:

"James Kennedy Patterson was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on the 26th day of March, 1833. With his parents he came to America when he was but nine years of age and settled in the southeastern part of Indiana, which was sparsely inhabited and where school facilities at that time were very meager. He had no educational opportunities until 1849, when for two years he attended a school in Madison, Indiana. During 1850-51 he taught school near this place, and in the latter year entered the preparatory department of Hanover College. The four years following he taught school and attended college alternately, and in 1856 graduated. For three years after his graduation from college he held the position of principal of the Greenville Presbyterian Academy at Greenville, Kentucky, but in 1859 accepted the chair of Latin and Greek in Stewart College, Clarksville, Tennessee. In 1861 he was called to Lexington to accept the prin

cipalship of the Transylvania High School, which he held for four years. He was also professor of Latin in Morrison College, from 1866-69 and of history and metaphysics in the Agricultural College of Kentucky University from 1866-9. From 1869 until 1878 we find him president of the Agricultural College of Kentucky University, and in 1878 he became president of the State College of Kentucky, which position he has so ably filled to the present time.

"From the year 1878 dates the existence of

the heart of every student in the college, of every graduate who knows the history of his Alma Mater, and of every true citizen of the grand old commonwealth who can appreciate the effort and energy of a great man in attempting to attain his ideal.

"President Patterson received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Hanover College, Indiana, in 1875, and that of Doctor of Laws from Lafayette College, Pennsylvania, in 1896. "Governor Leslie, in 1875, in canvassing the state to find the man who would best represent

low of Society of Antiquaries in Scotland, 1880; member and president of American Association of Land Grant Colleges and Universities, 1903.

"A few words here concerning the birth and perpetuation of the State College would not be out of place, for it was the success of President Patterson's efforts in this direction that stamped him as a man of ability, of undeviating tenacity and one whose conviction was not to be shaken by the many obstacles that beset his path. In 1880 he obtained appropriations from the city of Lexington and Fayette County for the erection of buildings upon the college grounds; was principally instrumental in retaining the Agricultural and Mechanical College, which has subsequently developed in the State College of Kentucky, at Lexington in 1880, and in obtaining from the legislature a perpetual appropriation for the proceedings of a half-cent tax on every hundred dollars of taxable property as additional income for the college. It was at this juncture that the greatest fight of his life came which bespoke the future of State College, and a fight for which he may justly feel proud. In 1882 the tax was assailed by the denominational colleges of the state and one could only conjecture as to the future of State College. However, President Patterson, by his characteristic vigilance for his purpose, discovered their aim too soon and succeeded, single-handed and alone, in defeating their combined efforts.

"This great legal battle was primarily composed of two parts. The first attack of the denominational colleges upon President Patterson was when he was trying to secure the passage of the bill in the legislature. His speech and lengthy argument before the legislative committee on that memorable night evoked the applause and admiration of almost all the senators and representatives and of men from the bench, all of whom listened with admiration to the eloquence of the speaker. The second and last part of the battle was in the

state courts, where the constitutionality of the bill was tested. The denominational colleges had employed the best lawyers to be had, but again President Patterson represented State College, now State University, and won. In 1887 he took a prominent part in the passage of the Hatch act by congress, for the endowment of experiment stations, and in 1890 for an additional appropriation of $25,000 a year by congress for the further endowment of the State College. In 1904 he obtained from the state legislature an additional appropriation of $15,000.

"The most recent things accomplished by President Patterson was his securing about $30,000 from Mr. Carnegie for a library for Kentucky State College, and also the co-operation of senators and representatives from Kentucky for the support of the Knute Nelson bill for an additional endowment of State College.

"Thus we have some idea of what has been the work of President Patterson. He has kept steadily on his way, his strength proving equal to the beating heat of the noon-day's sun. This feat is the highest proof of his mind's elasticity and sanity. His career has attested the truth of the maxim, 'There is nothing so conservative as progress.'

"President Patterson is a brilliant converser and an eloquent speaker. In every discourse one feels the glow of his personality, rich in human interest, enkindling in enthusiasm and mellowed by intense spirituality. When his powers are excited in speech there appears upon his face a light which is not accounted for by mere intelligence, however superior; it is the radiance of something higher, genius we may call it, though it is without the wayward element too often due not alone to a passionate earnestness in the pursuit of truth, not alone to his happy sympathy with youthful minds striving to enter the mysteries of nature and life, but also to a certain poetic faculty which makes itself felt in the spirit and structure of his discourses.

"In listening to President Patterson's conversation,' says one writer, 'I have always thought that here is a man whom purpose and circumstances must have led into the deepest experiences in human life, yet through it all, knowledge has only chastened his mind and intelligence has won for him admiration. He is gentle, because he is great, like Robert E. Lee. He has a wisdom that is born of application to duty and study. He has the faith of a seer because he knows the inherent potency of truth and has confidence in man's response to Divine Love. You cannot but feel that this man has the vision of God, because he is pure of heart.'

"In closing, may it be noted that the monument James K. Patterson has established at Kentucky State University is and will be more lasting than brass, more influential and wholesome than anything that the hand and head of genius has been able to achieve, a living character close to the realization of one's ideal of energy and love of purpose. He has shone as one of the brightest jewels to light the pathway of Kentucky youths striving for enlightenment and excellence. He has been a most real and true conception of ideal democracy and general knowledge."

The venerable President Patterson, on his own motion, resigned from the presidency of State University in 1910, to the regret of all who were cognizant of his fine service to the young men of the state. This writer is fortunate in being able to state that during the most trying days of President Patterson's work for the university, he was in a position to lend him. assistance and is proud to know that the little which he did was received by that fine old Scottish gentleman with words of the warmest approval. The State University has a splendid history and a future that means much for Kentucky.

The retirement from the presidency of Professor Patterson was thought by the public to be a blow from which the institution would not soon recover, but by a happy inspiration

the Board of Trustees chose as his successor, Judge Henry S. Barker, chief justice of the court of appeals. Judge Barker (a graduate of State University), as a lawyer at the bar and a judge on the bench, had made such a record as commended him alike to the trustees. and to the people of Kentucky. He was recognized first as a Christian gentleman of the finest feelings, a lawyer who knew the law and its proper application, and a judge who knew no man in his decisions. It was the happiest of thoughts, this selection of Judge Barker for this high position, and the friends of education throughout the state were in suspense until he had declared his acceptance of the high honor which the position conferred upon him. President Barker, at the moment of this writing, has just taken his high position at the head of the University, but his every utterance since that momentous period has shown his appreciation of the high station he has been called to fill, and convinced the people of the state that no mistake was made by those who called him to this new duty. President Patterson remains with the university as president emeritus, and his days in the future, as they have. been in the past forty years, will be filled with the search for that which is best for the institution, to which he has so freely given all that was best of his life. Those who were nearest and dearest to him have passed to the Great Beyond, and he has publicly announced that what he may leave behind, when he has gone to join them, shall be the property of the great institution which his efforts have founded.

Perhaps it may be considered that this chapter on the educational movements in Kentucky has begun at the top and proceeded toward the bottom, but that is not true. Every movement for education belongs at the top. To the chronicler of those movements, the arrangement of their appearance belongs, and he, who is wise, does not demand that any one of these movements shall have precedence over another. The well-taught school in the log school

house, holds the germ of a university education, and none may say that the poor boy who, in the country school, first has his mind opened to the light of a complete education, is not the equal of that other boy who comes with him to the university from the advanced city school. And, now and again, there may be a countrybred boy, denied, it may be, by the necessities of those around him, an elemental education, who fights his way to the front through the textbooks, and refuses to be denied when he demands to learn and know what his more fortunate brothers know. There may be, too, that boy who, when he heard sound the tocsin of war, threw aside his books and responded to its insidious demands, and came back, when that persuasive sound no longer was heard, and demanded that the state for which he had fought the state for which he has offered his life-the state for which he had been wounded and torn upon the field of battle, should give him in return the opportunity to be educated. How this demand was arranged for in advance; how it was responded to by the state will now be stated in a detail that must be shortened as the limits of this volume draw near to completion.

Referring now to the system of education in Kentucky in its earliest days, the writer acknowledges his indebtedness to the "History of Higher Education in Kentucky," by Professor Alvin Fayette Lewis, professor of history in the University of Arkansas, who wrote the monograph embodied in "Contributions to American Educational History," edited by Herbert D. Adams, and published by the United States Bureau of Education. In the introductory pages of his monograph, Lewis says: "The first thing that strikes our attention in the educational history of Kentucky is the early establishment of schools at its various. stations or settlements, notwithstanding the extremely unsettled condition of its affairs and the great difficulties and dangers, especially from the Indians, which constantly beset its

early inhabitants. The pioneers in the settlement of the state were largely from the valley of Virginia, having entered Kentucky through Cumberland Gap, and were chiefly of ScotchIrish descent. The leaders among them especially were men of more than the average intelligence and culture and they are seen taking early steps to promote the diffusion of useful knowledge among themselves and their descendants. So, the beginnings of education in the state are almost coincident with its foundation. Within about a year after the first permanent settlement at Harrodsburg, in 1774, when it was yet uncertain to whom the territory now composing Kentucky belonged (as is shown by the organization of the Transylvania Company, by the ambitious and far-seeing Colonel Henderson) a school was being taught at Harrodsburg, probably in the spring of 1776, by Mrs. Coomes, the wife of one of the settlers, and that, too, when Indians were skulking around the station, ready at any time, to fall upon the unwary settlers. Some of Daniel Boone's companions had just been killed by them, and their outrages had driven many prospective settlers back to Virginia. These are rather unusual circumstances under which to teach a school, especially by a woman, but such were the surroundings of the first school taught in Kentucky.

"Other similar schools were soon established, as that of John May, at McAfee's station in 1777; of Joseph Doniphan at Boonesboro in 1779, and of John McKinney at Lexington in 1780, within one year after the establishment of the town. The perils faced by these and other brave pioneers of education in Kentucky are illustrated by the fact that several of them were killed by the Indians or suffered bodily harm from wild animals.

"It is not known who attended these early schools or what was taught in them, but they were probably mainly intended for the younger children of the stations where they were located and were of quite an elementary charac