and was again associated with both at Vanderbilt.

And all

three of these young men needed and recognized the conservative and suggestive influence, yet full sympathy, of their President, Dr. Carlisle.

Students in the college at the time recall how the two men, Smith and Baskervill, took papers and journals in common, discussed eagerly together questions and men and movements, in letters, in scholarship, and even in politics. It was a rubbing together of minds and keeping alive the flame of thought that was to do both good for many years. Shreds of these discussions would often come suggestively to the students. As an instance, I remember distinctly the enthusiasm of the two about Cable's Creole stories and "The Grandissimes," as they were appearing in the old Scribner's Magazine, and how intently both men were watching the beginning of the new Southern literature and Southern education. Possibly then and there was engendered the first conscious thought of Prof. Baskervill's later volume on Southern writers.

Meanwhile both Smith and Baskervill had left Wofford and had returned to Leipzig for the Doctor's degree. Baskervill was accompanied by his wife, who had been Miss Florence Adams, of Virginia. Dr. Carlisle has told me of the simple pathos of the message that afterwards came back across the waters by cable: "My wife is dead." Those were dark days, a dreary, gloomy winter in Northern Germany, accompanied with sickness and bereavement. He soon returned to America, with his child, to continue his work at Wofford, again going over one summer, if I am not mistaken, for the Doctor examination. Shortly afterwards, in 1881, he received the call to the chair of English just established in the new Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The position meant for him a return to his native State under the most flattering circumstances. But it also stood for much more. It offered untold possibilities for scholarship for the South as a whole. It would give the opportunity for influencing vitally the educational method of all the States in the Lower Mississippi Valley, and affecting even those far

ther away on the Atlantic seaboard. It was the founding of one of the chairs of English under true university conceptions and conditions in the Southwest. It was a splendid opportunity, and well might the young scholar enter upon his new work in the spirit of the fullest hope and expectation. At his leaving, Wofford bestowed upon him one of its few honorary degrees, the title of Master of Arts.

At the new institution the influences about him were still strong and helpful, deepening and broadening in their effects. Chancellor Landon C. Garland was a man apparently of the same forceful type as Dr. Carlisle. Bishop Holland N. McTyeire, who had been the chief agent in securing the means for founding the new University, was still active in his executive office and control. Baskervill's admiration for Bishop McTyeire's abilities was unbounded, and one of his projects, always in mind, was a biography of the late Bishop. This feeling was naturally strengthened by his marriage to the Bishop's youngest daughter, Miss Janie McTyeire.

His development and his accommodation to the demands of his new environment were soon evident. In the Wofford days his manner had been often characterized by those who had merely met him as lacking in warmth and cordiality, though even then those who got to know him well knew differently. He could thaw out and warm to friends, he was distinctly human at bottom; but it frequently took time for some to find this out, and he was often misunderstood. His seeming aloofness was caused by a natural reserve, which may have been the result of an early diffidence. At Wofford he studiously avoided every occasion to appear in public and make addresses; but in his class room and privately he would frequently become discursive, jest, and enjoy jokes. His one public speech, so far as I am aware, was the few words of thanks at Commencement upon receiving his honorary degree. He stood stiffly erect, seeming taller even than usual, and there was never a motion or sign of animation beyond possibly a nervous twitching of the fingers at his sides. All this became changed. With the

wider opportunities and new demands in his life he became an easy and at times an animated speaker.

He also developed rapidly in sociable and affable qualities, getting strong hold of many of his pupils, in and out of class room, by their own testimony. On his part he sought the friendship of his students and always remained particularly loyal to them. This entire change came largely from congenial surroundings, from new opportunities for broader and more useful work, and above all, no doubt, from his marriage and happy home and family life. Yet, unquestionably, his original habits of reserve and restraint stood him in stead in his critic's work of judging the value of a man and his production. One other result of his new environment not to be passed over was that it identified him much more closely, both in spirit and in active work, with the Church in whose ministry his father had spent his years.

His former Wofford associates were soon brought to Vanderbilt. One year later, in 1882, Charles Forster Smith came, temporarily as Professor of Modern Languages, and later for his real work in the chair of Greek. Five years later, in 1886, came Kirkland for the chair of Latin. By a coincidence all three were sons of Methodist preachers, were Doctors of Leipsig, were specially trained for sound educational work, were in perfect understanding of the educational needs of their section, and were in entire sympathy with the spirit of the new University. It was chiefly the work of these three men-each very different in his way and each with a peculiar strength, comprising the three vital departments in language work—namely, Latin, Greek, and English -that, in the writer's opinion, gave to Vanderbilt University much of its deserved reputation over the country in these

years.

The work was already begun for establishing a strong system of preparatory schools throughout Tennessee and neighboring States. It was realized that no genuine higher work could be achieved without first adequate preparation in the schools below. In the autumn of 1884 Charles Forster Smith had written for the Atlantic Monthly his first article.

on Southern schools and colleges, which commanded attention everywhere. Strict entrance examinations should be enforced, and this would build up the schools. The distressing practice of robbing school for college, and consequent frequent failure through lack of preparation, would be largely done away with. It was a privilege to be a pioneer in this movement; and while the name of Charles Forster Smith, by reason of his exceptional gifts of wide sympathy as a teacher, his intense personal interest in school work, and his Atlantic articles, is indissolubly connected with the conception and successful carrying out of this system, Prof. Baskervill was an active participator. The two men had worked together in South Carolina, and had maintained standards of classical study unusual for a small college; together once more, at an institution seeking to do genuine university work, they labored to build the only possible foundations for this broad and deep.

English was one of the subjects of chief importance to be pressed upon the schools. Higher and better attainments in Latin, Greek, and Mathematics, and hitherto virtually unknown attainments in English in the schools, were the chief ends sought. It was the new method introduced into American education in the late seventies by the best Eastern colleges, and before ten years had passed, by reason of a number of strong affiliated schools, Vanderbilt had been a leading influence in pressing the same educational system upon the Central South. Upon the formation of the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges, at the Atlanta Exposition in 1895, therefore, it was natural that Vanderbilt should take the lead in urging such an organized effort. Together with the Chancellor, Baskervill was present, representing his institution, and was chairman of the first English committee of the Association. Again, at the General Conference of his Church in 1898, he was one of the leading members of its Committee on Education.

In another particular his position was happy. With the preparatory work thus cared for, he was enabled not only to build up a strong undergraduate department, but to offer

courses for special and graduate study. From a number of causes it was his fortune to have a fairly large class of advanced workers, who came from many sections of the Southern country and Central West. Among other subjects treated, he interested his students in the study of their own literature. Nashville was, moreover, a central point for lectures and public readings. He came to know the leaders of the movement intimately, he entertained them in his home, and corresponded with them freely. His interest in the new school of Southern writers took more definite form. The idea grew with him. He had grown up with the passing of the Old South; he knew the life well which these writers were describing, for he himself had witnessed it: the memories before the war, the recollections of war itself, the chaotic shiftings and restless changings of reconstruction and renewal, and the steady inworking of new forces. He felt that his happy circumstances and central location made it possible for him, too, to be one of these same influences. He could impress the lesson upon his pupils, and could make them alive to the study of these conditions. The first result of this interest, as a public utterance, was his volume of "Studies on Southern Writers." Irwin Russell, Joel Chandler Harris, Maurice Thompson, Sidney Lanier, George W. Cable, and Charles Egbert Craddock" were the ones treated. Others contemplated, and perhaps in part left in manuscript, were Allen, Page, Johnston, Mrs. Harrison, Miss King, "Sherwood Bonner," Mrs. Preston, Peck, Cawein, and so forth. But he was called away in the midst of this preparation. It can easily be seen that from such a point of vantage, had he been spared, this little volume might possibly have proved merely an introduction to a fuller interpretation of the life of the Southern people, and their intellectual, educational, literary, and spiritual work. Such an undertaking with the widest grasp is still awaiting the critic who may possess the literary training and the love and consecration, as well as the scholarly insight, necessary for it. But it will not now be done by one who both belonged to the old and stood on the threshold of the new era.