Healdsburg College by William C. Grainger

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 30, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 29.

Healdsburg College.

By William C. Grainger

THE fourth year of this popular institution will begin August 3, with bright prospects for the future. Its success in the past has been far greater than was anticipated by its warmest friends. That the hand of God was in its very conception, and that his fostering care has attended its growth and development, is apparent to all who are familiar with its history. When the question of its establishment was under consideration, its most enthusiastic advocates did not predict for it the success which it has attained.

Few schools supported by the State can boast a larger patronage in so short a time. Nearly two hundred students, each year, have received instruction within its walls. But the usefulness of a school does not depend so much upon the number of students who attend its classes as on the kind of training and discipline they receive. The spirit of the age is to do the greatest amount of work in the shortest possible time. We believe in work, and require our students to do all they can; but "not how much but how well" is the principle by which our school is governed. It is the aim of the instructors to develop character of the highest type, and scholarship of the best quality. To these ends the government of the school will have respect, and to the carrying out of these principles in the past is largely due the popularity which our school now enjoys.

We cannot yet point to a long list of graduates as evidence of success, but we can point with pleasure to scores of men and women who are making a practical use of the discipline they received here, that is highly honorable in itself and beneficial to those by whom they are surrounded. Members of our Biblical department are now laboring successfully as ministers and missionaries in Australia, Sandwich Islands, and in many of the States and Territories of this Union.

The trustees and teachers of Healdsburg College are determined that its students shall have better advantages for obtaining an education in its truest sense, than is offered by the public schools of our country. They are satisfied that improvement in morals and manners comprises no small part of the benefit to be derived from sending children to our College.

The Bible, the great text-book of morals, is given a prominent place in our course of study. To make useful citizens it is necessary to instruct the young in the principles of morality, while undergoing mental training, that they may be protected from those influences that are calculated to lead to distress and ruin. In many cases where the education is only intellectual, students, noble young men, have been sent home from college to disgrace their friends and curse society.

Believing that a sound body is the necessary abode of a sound mind, a system of labor has been connected with our school, by which the students are given that exercise necessary for the preservation of health, and at the same time are taught a knowledge of employments that will be of use to them in

after life. During the past year six different occupations were followed by the young men of our College, viz., carpentering, tent-making, gardening, printing, painting, and shoemaking. The young ladies were taught cooking, cutting and fitting, sewing, and housekeeping. This system of labor and study has met with the hearty approval of every student that has been connected with the school. There is not an exception of which I have any knowledge. All engaged in their work willingly and cheerfully.

There are hundreds of young men and women on the Pacific Coast who need just such training as is offered by Healdsburg College. To such I would say, Connect with our school at your earliest convenience. Put forth an effort, and make sacrifices to come and receive an education, that in after life you may be a power for good among those with whom your lot may be cast. No one will ever live to regret that he spent his time and means in obtaining an education.

The best investment a parent can possibly make is the money spent in properly educating his children. It is not to be compared to houses or lands, bank stock or railroad shares, which are often lost in a day, but is a legacy of which no man can deprive them. Send us your children now while they have a desire to come, before they form attachments not desirable, and thus lose their interest in school work. Youth is the most critical period of life. Habits and associations are formed that leave an impress upon their characters that can never be fully removed. How careful we should be that our children are placed under the best circumstances possible for the development of righteous characters. The father of a wayward child would make any sacrifice to reclaim him from a life of shame. How much better to devote some of the means God has given us to secure for our children a training that will prove to them a safeguard throughout their future lives.

While our school gives especial attention to the development of character, it is not a reformatory institution. Those who have incorrigible sons or daughters would better send them elsewhere, or keep them at home. We do not admit to our school any who do not furnish evidence of possessing good moral characters. If at any time we find that a student's influence is detrimental to the best interests of the institution he will be promptly dismissed.

Our College has been a blessing in the past, and it is desirable that its usefulness shall increase with each succeeding year. To this end competent teachers have been secured for all the different departments, and several branches will be added to our present course of study, during the coming year.

Our friends who rejoice with us in the prosperity of our school, and who have so nobly stood by it in the past, must not forget that they have a duty to perform in connection with the future. If you have unpaid pledges to college stock, you can help us greatly by paying them without further delay. If you have children who ought to be connected with our school, do not, under the plea of hard times, keep them at home until they have lost all desire to obtain an education, but send them now while their minds are susceptible, that they may be under the best instruction and influence that can be provided for them. You will not only benefit the College, with which your interests are identified, but you will confer a benefit on your children that cannot be estimated in dollars and cents.

All who contemplate coming to College next term should try to be present at the beginning. Most of the classes are formed at the opening of the first term and continue without interruption to the end of the year. Those who enter after the classes are somewhat advanced labor under disadvantages, and frequently have to be placed in a lower grade than they would have entered, had they come at the beginning of the term. Come at the opening, or as soon afterward as possible, and thus save time.

For terms, see article in this paper, entitled "Students' Home." W. C. GRAINGER. Healdsburg, Cal., July 23, 1885.