An event in 1874 meant much relief and comfort to our veteran educator, amid his manifold labors and cares. Charles H. Cocke, his son, now in early manhood, capable, courageous and completely responsive to the father's wish, took on himself the duties of business manager of the Institution. Here was a much needed and most grateful division of responsibilities, and the competent new official magnified his calling to the uttermost. The thoroughness and courtesy with which he handled affairs, won for him the confidence and affection of the girls. Have we ever found Mr. Cocke in a state of perfect satisfaction with things as they are? Never. He is a stranger to that experience, and will ever remain so. When we met him forty years ago as an assistant professor in Richmond College, his slogan was, "Betterment, enlargement, progress." The urgencies of an early ideal are still upon him, and he will never count himself to have attained. This fact touches him pathetically, now that he is nearing his sixtieth year. Unrealized aims add somber hues to every earnest life. "All I aspired to be And was not, comforts me." The equipment of growing Hollins is far from complete; much remains to be done. The spirit of advance gives him no rest. He has a vision, and "forward" is ever his imperious challenge to things as they are. Absolutely sure is he that his beloved College, with its reasonably low rates, and its high standards, is on the sure road to greatness in human service. All through this decade his brain had been active with schemes of improvements. In the early seventies, the Baptists of Virginia were freshly aroused on the subject of education, and made large plans for strengthening Richmond College. Taking cue from this new denominational interest, the Trustees of Hollins Institute determined to go before the public and ask for a contribution of $100,000. A financial agent went among the people with argument and appeal. The result was disappointing and the agent was withdrawn. The failure was depressing, but by no means unnerving. From the beginning of the "Seminary" in 1842, the intermittent calls on public benevolence had never met with notable response. Nor is this fact any real ground for reproach. The mood of the general public had never been toned and cultivated in the interests of liberal education. From first to last the benevolent gifts to Hollins amounted to but $35,000, exactly half of which had come from Mrs. Ann Hollins and her husband. In the light of the recent failure Mr. Cocke saw that there was no further ground of hope from this source of supply. The school's expanding reputation and growing patronage gratified him exceedingly, but the financial situation excited disquieting apprehensions. The Trustees had no funds in the treasury; the Institution was making no money, and their debt was growing every year. The mind of the President was filled with foreboding and grave anxiety. [Illustration: MRS. CHARLES L. COCKE]