"A word at this point: In those days it was not deemed improper or unbecoming for ministers of the gospel to have decided views upon questions of state. There were clerical Whigs and there were clerical Democrats, and very stoutly did they maintain the cause of their respective parties. Of course, they never entered the political arena, but in private and around the fireside there was often no small war waged by these 'gentlemen of the cloth' over the great issues of the day. Dr. William A. Smith was a Democrat of the Calhoun stamp. He believed implicitly in the right of secession, a sacred right guaranteed by the constitution, and was not slow to give the reason for the opinion which he cherished. Still, in the earlier part of 1861, he did not recognize the necessity for the exercise of this right on the part of the South. He thought that some compromise might be effected and the Union saved; yet when Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated, and his policy forecast in the call for seventy thousand men to crush the rebellion, he no longer hesitated, but claimed rights which before he was willing to ignore; and the South had no stauncher friend or more zealous advocate than he during all those dark days of fratricidal strife, even to the close, when drums ceased to beat and the battle-flags were furled. "We start a new era. Vacation begins. The excitement in the land, if possible, becomes more intense. There is volunteering for service, drilling, hurrying on to the front. Everything is placed under contribution to facilitate and render successful the mighty trial of arms which is impending. The battle of Manassas is fought. The South is the victor; yet the fruits are not what were desired and anticipated. The war cloud, instead of vanishing, grows denser. The evidences of a protracted and sanguinary conflict become manifest. The trustees of the College, under existing circumstances, were embarrassed. They knew not what to do; yet in the early part of July they declared against the opening of the doors of the institution for the coming year. Later on, however, they reversed this decision, and the College began its fall session at the usual time. Several important changes are here to be noticed. First, the number of students was perceptibly smaller than usual; the whole body, perhaps, did not exceed sixty-five or seventy. A few of these were manifestly parties desiring to shirk military service; yet the great majority was composed of persons under the age of conscription and of persons who were already far advanced in their college course and looked forward to a speedy graduation.