course.

has also met a real need, as there are almost no colored high schools in the State, and of those so listed probably not one gives a four-year high school The college preparatory and normal work has formed an important part of the school program. In addition the Industrial and Commercial Departments have made substantial contributions to the effectiveness of the work. The number enrolled in the College Department proper has always been small, owing to the limited opportunities for secondary education in the State, but the graduates and former pupils have a high record of usefulness.

THE ALUMNI

There are more than one hundred men in the Upper Mississippi Conference, and of these more than half are graduates or former students of Rust. Among school executives must be included President M. W. Dogan of Wiley College, President J. B. F. Shaw of Central Alabama Institute, Principal I. H. Miller of Cookman Institute, and Dean L. M. McCoy of Morgan College. The Hon. Perry W. Howard, recently appointed Assistant Attorney General of the United States, is a graduate here. There are also many of the successful doctors, dentists, business men, school teachers, and others in the list. Few schools have more in proportion to show for their efforts.

THE PRESENT PRESIDENT

President M. S. Davage is himself a graduate of

another of the schools of the Board of Education for Negroes, namely, New Orleans College. His father, a product of slavery, was one of the oldest members of the Louisiana Conference. When Mr. Davage had completed his study at New Orleans, he went to the University of Chicago for postgraduate work. He taught for a time at New Orleans College, served for ten years as business manager of the Southwestern Christian Advocate, and since that time has been successively in charge of George R. Smith College, Haven Institute, Samuel Huston College, and Rust College. Under his wise and experienced leadership Rust College should move on to even greater usefulness in the future.

RUST HOME

The Elizabeth L. Rust Home, under the auspices of the Woman's Home Missionary Society, was opened on the campus of Rust College in 1884. Since that time it has played an important part in the life of the school. In recent years it has been under the devoted leadership of Miss M. E. Becker, now superintendent emeritus, although still in active service, and Miss Rebecca Barbour. Each of these estimable ladies has given more than fifteen years to the work of this Home. About sixty girls live at the Home and all of the girls of the college are enrolled in the Domestic Science and Domestic Art Departments of the school, which are under the direction of the Home. The work in these depart

ments is thoroughly organized and carried on under the best of conditions.

It is perhaps not easy to appreciate how much this phase of the work means in the lives of the pupils. Some time ago one of the girls at the home was taken suddenly and seriously ill, and it became necessary to send for her mother. The mother arrived in due time, although she had never been ten miles from home before and never had ridden on a train previously. Her reaction to what she found was most illuminating. It was her first experience upstairs in a house, because she never before had been in a house that had an upstairs. Electric switches and other contrivances were marvels to her. Fortunately the daughter began to mend, and the mother was taken to visit the cooking classes, the sewing room, and other activities of the school. At every step of the way her oft repeated question was, "Does my daughter do that?" It all seemed too good to be true. When the time came for her to leave the school the mother said, "All my life I have wanted to go to school, and now I have really been through college.'

CROWDING

Like many other schools for Negroes, Rust College is crowded beyond its capacity. Five hundred pupils were enrolled in a recent year, and, although twice as many were crowded into the dormitories as they were originally intended for, more than one hundred and fifty pupils were turned away for

lack of room. New dormitory space and a modern refectory have been asked for. The continued success of the program of Centenary advance will determine whether these and other pressing needs of this very effective and greatly needed school are to be supplied.

Haven Institute

The Board of Education for Negroes has a second school in Mississippi. This school, now known as Haven Institute, had its beginning in the brain of Moses Adams, an old colored man, an ex-slave, and a "before-the-war" preacher. Started in 1865, the school has from the very first been under the direction of colored leaders. Among those who have had charge of the school are J. H. Brooks, J. L. Wilson, W. W. Lucas, the Rev. J. B. F. Shaw, Professor M. S. Davage, now president of Samuel Huston College, and the Rev. R. N. Brooks, now principal of Central Alabama Institute. The school is now in charge of the Rev. J. B. F. Shaw. President Shaw was born in a log cabin in the State of Mississippi, and as a youth was thoroughly disciplined in the school of hard work. He attended Rust College, where he earned the degree of A.B., and

later he studied in Chicago. He has had a successful career as a teacher and school administrator, having had charge of this same school at an earlier period. When Professor Alexander Priestly Camphor was made Missionary Bishop to Africa in 1916, Professor Shaw succeeded him as head of Central Alabama Institute. He remained with the school until 1921, when he was recalled to Haven Institute to take charge of the larger program which is now being made possible by the removal of the school to a new and more satisfactory home. In all of his work President Shaw is ably assisted by his talented and cultured wife, who is also a graduate of Rust College.