The Nashville Agricultural and Normal Institute
By M. Bessie Degraw
THOSE who are interested in the Southern cause, as well as friends of the students in the Nashville Agricultural and Normal Institute, will be glad to hear of the prosperous opening of the fall term on October 16. Ten years ago this fall the work of the institute began with a half-dozen students in one room of the old Plantation House. Some who took part in the work at that time wondered what the Lord really had in mind when he gave the instruction through Sister White that this farm should be purchased and a training-school established near Nashville, where men and women might be fitted to carry the gospel in a practical way to the mission fields of the South. At the time of its tenth opening the main room in Gotzian Hall was crowded to the limit. The new dining-room, known as Kinne Hall, has its capacity well taxed. The school family numbers over eighty. It has always been the purpose to have only a small school at Madison, to give a brief training and to make it very practical, and to hasten the young people out into needy fields. Through the spirit of prophecy God has said that the time of harvest in the South is here, and those who have entered the school this year prove by their presence that the Spirit of God is working upon the hearts of men and women in many parts of the North. Looking over the student body, one finds Ohio represented by eight earnest young persons. A company of seven came from the Pacific Coast. Nebraska is well represented. There are students from Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Wisconsin, as usual, is showing an interest in the Southern work. Minnesota has several representatives, and the Lake Union Conference, as organized for mission study, shows the largest attendance of all. Two young persons, whose parents are missionaries in Guatemala, are here to better fit themselves for work in that foreign field. Should a visitor want an introduction to the student body, he could do no better than attend such a meeting as was held at the beginning of the Sabbath, October 24. Practically all those in attendance testified that the Lord has given them a definite call to the South, that they are here for a definite object, and that it is their purpose to consecrate all their faculties to the spread of the third angel's message. Since the close of the summer school and the holding of the sixth annual convention for self-supporting workers, which was reported by Professor Spaulding a few weeks ago, the field work on the farm has progressed. In spite of the fact that the season was a trying one, the farm did remarkably well. An experimental patch of alfalfa has proved decidedly satisfactory. The silo has been filled for the winter use of the cattle. The garden has been an object-lesson, showing that proper tillage will carry the crops through even a severe drought. For ten years we have found it necessary to use the old barns that were on the place when it was purchased. These were made as sanitary as possible, but we always looked forward to the time when we might have better facilities in the dairy department. Last year Brother Nis Hanson, of California, visited us and expressed his interest in our work by donating the price of a new dairy barn. All the buildings on the school farm are the result of student labor, and in the building of the barn this same method has been followed. It takes more time to complete the buildings in this way, but when they are finished they stand as a monument to the work of the carpentry department. The new barn is nearing completion. It has room for twenty-five milch cows, and is an up-to-date structure. It also affords a sheltered feeding-shed for the cattle during rainy weather. During the last few weeks the school family has been favored with visits from a number of Nashville friends. Dr. H. J. Hoare conducted the communion service on the first Sabbath in October, and in the afternoon addressed the students, giving them a very practical talk on meeting the hard things in life. Elder J. W. Norwood, president of the Tennessee River Conference, was with the school family Sabbath, October 11, and Prof. R. G. Ryan, educational superintendent of the Southern Union Conference, occupied the morning hour Sabbath, October 25. In the afternoon of the same Sabbath Brother B. N. Mulford, one of the first students of the Madison school and among the first to leave the school and open work in the highlands, spoke on the hill-school work. When the school was first established, the spirit of prophecy outlined its work, including among other things the establishment of a sanitarium. The Madison Rural Sanitarium has been open to patients for the last five years, and every year during that time a nurses' class has been trained. This year there are twenty prospective nurses, under the tuition of the sanitarium physicians. The interest in Bible study never seemed more intense, and a class of twenty mature men and women, some of whom have reached middle life, is studying the Scriptures. The younger students are taking preparatory work in various branches. The work in the shop, on the farm, in the sewing department, in domestic science, is kept constantly before the students, and definite work in short courses is offered each quarter. There is a spirit of courage and good cheer on the part of the school family.