LIKE everything else that Alexander Campbell did, the doctor observed, his scheme for an educational system was conceived in broad and comprehensive terms so as to include both mind and spirit from childhood to manhood. The College was only one of four branches of the "New Institution" which he proposed to build at Bethany. First, there was to be a Family Institution where boys under fourteen would receive their elementary schooling, living together under the careful attention of a patron and a matron who would have as much to do with the molding of their morals as of their minds. Next was the college preparatory division, the School, under the supervision of professors in the college, but not itself a part of the college. The third branch was the College, and the fourth was the Church, an institution which would permeate all others, not simply as a school of religious ideas, but as a laboratory of Christian living. "In this institution it will not be the theory of a church--of Bible-reading, Bible-criticism, Bible-lectures--sermons--church order--Christian discipline; but the daily practice of these. This church will be in session seven days every week."¹ The spearhead for the whole plan was the college, where an equal emphasis should be placed on the arts and sciences, where the Bible should be used as a textbook, and where instruction should follow the inductive lines of the Baconian method. [97]

      Robert Richardson knew that his friend had entertained the vision of such an institution for several years and that with the unexpected emergence of Bacon College at Georgetown, Kentucky, in 1836, he had postponed it until that school was firmly established and operating successfully.² Now, there was no longer any need for delay. Eighteen incorporators of the college were called into session, and the Bethany physician was one of them. Looking around him at the first meeting, he saw such worthies as Alexander Campbell's father, Thomas, and brother-in-law, Matthew McKeever; three sons-in-law; John C. Campbell, Albert G. Ewing, and Robert Y. Henley. In addition to those having family connections with the Campbells, there were the influential Adamson Bentley, of Warren, Ohio, and Samuel Church, of Pittsburgh, who sat with him in this historic session.³ The purpose of the meeting was to draw up articles of incorporation and to prepare the petition to the legislature of Virginia for a charter. John C. Campbell, formerly a Virginia legislator, and now a prominent Wellsburg attorney, would undertake to present the petition.

      To that end, Alexander Campbell and his son-in-law set off for Richmond in February, 1840. When they returned the next month, it was with a charter issued March 2, 1840, which stipulated: "That there be, and is hereby erected and established, at or near Bethany, in the county of Brooke, in this Commonwealth, a Seminary of learning for the instruction of youth in the various branches of science and literature, the useful arts, agriculture, and the learned and foreign languages. . . . And be it further enacted, That the said seminary shall be [98] known and called by the name of Bethany College." There was to be no "Theological Professorship." This charter provided for the first official meeting of the trustees of the new college on the "second Monday in May next."⁴

      Accordingly, on Monday, May 11, 1840, nine trustees, with the venerable and aged Thomas Campbell in the chair, met to lay plans for the building of college halls, the raising of money, the gathering of students, and the appointment of a faculty. Robert Richardson received his assignment as a member of the building committee, to serve along with John C. Campbell, William Stewart, Matthew McKeever, and Alexander Campbell.⁵

      Work was undertaken at once on a kind of hotel and dormitory to be called "Steward's Inn" and designed to accommodate a hundred students, and a few occasional guests. This was built at Alexander Campbell's own expense on a ten-acre campus carved out of his farm on an "Areopagus" hill which rose above the village of Bethany. The new campus was located at the extreme right of the upper coil of the Buffalo's enormous letter "S." Back of this hill, in turn, and as a continuation of it, rose the sheltering height of an "Acropolis," which as custodian of the college water supply, was soon to be known as "Reservoir Hill."

      When the trustees met again on September 18, they authorized the building committee "to erect such buildings as they may deem necessary" and to "procure permanent furniture, including beds and bedding, for the building in progress of erection." Mr. Richardson and his committee decided to build a second structure, just [99] to the right of Steward's Inn, to be known as the main College Hall. Carpenters and masons were called, and the work got under way. It was hoped that gifts of money toward the "Family House" would make it possible for them to build that structure and get sessions in it under way by the fall of 1842. In the same meeting Alexander Campbell was elected president and was requested to propose a curriculum and nominate a faculty and staff, his recommendation to be submitted to the next meeting.⁶

      Meantime the senior editor of the Millennial Harbinger had been publishing essays and news about the "New Institution" all through the year. Even before the charter was granted, Philip E. Pendleton, of Virginia, having seen the original proposal of a new institution in October, 1839, made a will in which he bequeathed $1,000 upon condition that the school should come into being within five years after his death.⁷ Mr. Pendleton had died on December 28 of the same year, and on February 23, 1840, notice of the bequest reached Bethany. By the time of the second annual meeting of the trustees on May 10, 1841, $11,054 had been received in pledges to the new enterprise, $1,405 of it in cash.⁸ The buildings under progress were to cost about $16,000, of which $10,000 was advanced by the president, who was also serving as treasurer.⁹

      In the second annual meeting, President Campbell submitted a curriculum, divided into five schools: Sacred History, Ancient Languages, Mathematics, Chemistry, and Natural Philosophy.¹⁰ He would himself take the first, while Andrew F. Ross, of Ohio, was nominated to [100] teach languages; Charles Steward, of Kentucky, for mathematics; and W. K. Pendleton, of Virginia, for natural philosophy. The chemistry professor was to be the Bethany physician and coeditor of the Millennial Harbinger, Robert Richardson.¹¹

      Some of Alexander Campbell's editorial enemies were sniping at him through their journals with such remarks as: "O yes! it is designed to build up something!--Mind, he is Treasurer!"¹² This kind of innuendo led Robert Richardson to fly to the president's support with a motion, in the May 10, 1841, meeting that Alexander Campbell as treasurer of Bethany College, file a bond of $15,000 (he had, previously given one for $10,000). He also moved that the secretary, as a cross check, be required to keep a special book, listing each contribution and the amount given in each case. It was in this same meeting that Richardson moved that the trustees begin buying the college buildings from Mr. Campbell, the first payment to be made October 1, 1843.¹³

      Edwin W. Bakewell, of Virginia, was appointed steward until July 4, 1843. It was "Unanimously resolved, That the boarding, lodging, washing, and tuition of a student at Bethany College, shall be one hundred and fifty dollars for the collegiate year . . . and that an entrance fee of ten dollars be required for each new student." Robert Richardson, ever watchful physician and hygienist, moved "That the Bill of Fare for the Steward's Inn shall be the same as that of the University of Virginia." Alexander Campbell, John C. Campbell, and Robert Richardson were made a committee to draft a [101] code of by-laws to be submitted in the next meeting, and the trustees adjourned until October 20, 1841.

      This summer the professor-elect of chemistry in Bethany College set out on a tour of Kentucky to recruit students and raise money and support for the new institution. While he rode along, his recent ventures in farming at Bethphage caused his eye to quicken as he surveyed the farms and observed farmers' methods. He was alert to nature as well as to institutions, and to men as well as ideas, as is seen in a letter to Rebekah from New Union, Kentucky, dated August 6, 1841.

DEAR REBEKAH,

      Not having heard anything from home since I started I have often felt anxious to know how you and the children have been and how John and Charles are getting along with the affairs of the farm. If you have written, I have not received the letters. Should you write when you receive this, direct the letter to Mayslick [sic] Mason Co., Ky.

      I hope you have all been well and that the divine favour has been extended to you. Tell Julia that I saw a little girl in Madison Co. just the picture of her, and that I will be home to see her after a while. Tell Anne that I wish her to read her book every day, and get by heart some verses of scripture--the beginning of the sermon on the mount. I want my dear Nathaniel to be attentive and careful of things for me and not to neglect reading every day, and attending the Sunday School. Mary I hope will be able to talk when I get home.

      This has been a dry season in Kentucky and the crops have suffered much in some places. I hope there has been no failure in mine and that John and Charles have been able to manage them advantageously. I wish them to save up the young clover as much as they can from being pastured too low. [102]

      Jane [the maid? ] I hope is contented and doing well--endeavor to have her read the scriptures. I saw James in Madison Co. He is doing well. My health is much better than it was some weeks ago. I will endeavor to be home in the beginning of Sept.

	Yours affectionately,
R. RICHARDSON

      [P. S.] I write this at the house of Louis Pinkerton. I hold a 2 days meeting near this place tomorrow and next day. Mr. Matthews the teacher who formerly taught at Carthage was here today and started for Harrodsburg where he had the care of the preparatory school of Bacon College. He wished to be remembered to you.

R. R.

      The opening of the college was delayed from the expected date of September 1 until November 2 by the uncompleted condition of Steward's Inn. The main college building itself would not be ready far occupancy until the following spring. Meantime, preparations were being made to use the Inn for classes as well as boarding and lodging.

      The committee on by-laws, of which Richardson was a member, reported in the fall meeting of the trustees on October 20. These by-laws, which were adopted, carefully delineated the conditions of student and faculty life in the college, which was to open in less than two weeks. Some of the regulations read as follows:

      The collegiate year [hereafter] shall commence on the 1st day of September, and terminate on the 4th of July following. [103]

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .

      Each Professor shall make a monthly report to the President exhibiting the days and the subject of lectures and examination, and the time occupied by each respectively.

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .

      The College Hall shall be opened every Lord's day morning for religious worship and instruction, to be performed by respectable ministers of various denominations; and it shall be the duty of all Students to attend worship either there or at some other place.

      Rough, frontier conditions tended to persist, as one regulation shows:

      No student shall introduce, keep, or use within the precincts of the College, weapons or arms of any kind, or gunpowder, or keep a servant, horse, or dog.

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .

      Smoking segars, or any other use of tobacco, is at all times strictly forbidden within the College precincts.

      There were to be no ten o'clock scholars in this college:

      The bell shall be rung every morning throughout the collegiate year at dawn. The Students shall rise at this signal, and assemble in the rooms for general meeting, to attend on worship, at such hour as the Faculty may determine.

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .

      The dress of the Students shall be uniform and plain--shall be of a dark grey, or black color--at a price not exceeding six dollars a-yard--and the coat shall be made single-breasted, and the collar bound round with braid, and a star worked in black silk on each end of it: Provided, that a Student may be allowed to wear any clothes which he may have had when he matriculated; and in Summer any cheap light garments approved by the Faculty. [104] It is also recommended by the Trustees that the Kentucky jeans be selected as the cloth for common wearing apparel.

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .

      The Steward shall furnish the Students with clean sheets and pillow-cases at least once-a-fortnight, and with clean towels at least twice-a-week.

      It shall be the duty of the Steward to have the rooms of the Students well swept and ventilated every day.

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .

      The Steward shall not furnish luxurious fare to the Students; but the fare shall be plentiful, plain, served neatly, and well dressed--of good and wholesome viands. . . .

      The Steward shall furnish boarding, lodging, washing, fuel, and one candle for every two Students till bed hour; also, proper attendance of servants for domestic and menial duties . . . for all of which his compensation shall be one hundred dollars for each Student per collegiate year. The clothes to be washed for each Student shall not exceed nine pieces in Winter, and twelve in Summer, per week.¹⁴

      In this same meeting of the trustees, Robert Richardson was appointed, with William Stewart and J. C. Campbell, on an auditing committee.

      A regulation touching faculty salaries made them dependent upon the tuition. Fifty dollars of the $150 collected from each student was earmarked as tuition. From this fund the secretary and janitor of the faculty were to be paid, and the remaining amount was to be divided equally among the professors, the president of the institution counting as two. This made Professor Richardson's salary for the first year about $800.

      When college opened November 2, 1841, there were 101 students enrolled, of whom all but twenty-three were from [105] Virginia and Kentucky.¹⁵ Studying, reciting, and boarding, all took place in Steward's Inn. President Campbell announced in the January, 1842, Millennial Harbinger: "We have already formed more than twenty classes. Of these the first meets at half past 6 in the morning. To form and establish that most healthful and useful habit of using early, I chose that early hour for my lectures on sacred history, for Bible-readings, and worship." When the president was away from the college on one of his numerous tours, these morning lectures fell to Dr. Richardson.

      Professor Richardson rode daily to and from the college on horseback. Despite storms, and even floods, he made these trips without ever being tardy during all the years of his teaching. Buffalo Creek, which he was obliged to ford, often became a furious stream after a heavy rain, necessitating the horse's swimming the swift current with the doctor on his back. This was done so often that his horse became adept at it, always landing the rider safely on the opposite bank, though sometimes a long distance down the swift stream. His teaching schedule kept the doctor at the college during the entire day; often faculty meetings and other delays held him until nearly dark. Each day at the usual time, however, his faithful horse presented himself at the accustomed spot for the trip home. In case his rider was not ready, the steed would sometimes wander away, but would re-appear when the doctor blew the whistle attached to the end of his plaited riding whip.

      After his schoolwork for the day was over, the physician made his medical calls. In the evening he worked in [106] the candlelighted study, preparing his class lectures and doing his writing and editorial work. In the busy schedule of his crowded day, nothing was out of place, and no time was lost.

      Professor Richardson was an original teacher. Within the limitation of available apparatus, he used laboratory methods. He also enlivened his lectures with frequent sallies of wit, forerunners of which could be seen in his face and eyes several moments in advance of the humor itself. His students thought him "keen" and gave him close and respectful attention.

      He kept a very close check on the work being done by his students. His gift for reading men was almost uncanny. Hence, he was able to discern inner traits in his various students; this power made him an illuminating teacher and a helpful counselor. The impatient were guided to mastery, and the timid were given hope. Written lessons, tests, examinations, came frequently. He graded examinations carefully and gave rather low marks. He was exacting but kindly and he demanded, above everything else, that his students be open-minded and thorough.

      J. W. McGarvey, who studied under him a little later than the period under notice, said: "As a teacher he was as clear as the ringing of a silver bell, and he often indulged in exquisite flashes of humor. If the students were impressed by Mr. Campbell, they were charmed by Dr. Richardson."¹⁶

      Very early in his teaching career, parents of some of the Bethany students hit upon the idea of sending the funds for their college expenses to Professor Richardson for his [107] personal control. In 1841 his ledger reveals that a certain student from Kentucky entered the college under these conditions. His father placed his entire account in the doctor's hands. Two pages of the ledger reveal the way in which these funds were spent for bed, clothing, ink, books, postage, washing, pocket money, and the like. This type of trust was often imposed upon him. As these unofficial duties increased, the physician of Bethany--who was also coeditor of the Millennial Harbinger, farmer of Bethphage, secretary of the faculty, clerk of the Bethany church, and professor of chemistry--discovered that he had taken on another activity, that of bursar to the students of Bethany College. [108]

[HTB 97-108]