II

UNFAVORABLE CIRCUMSTANCES

LOSS OF HELPERS AND BUILDINGS.--BOLL WEEVIL.--STATEHOOD
CHANGES.--EFFICIENT SERVICE REQUIRED.--INFERENCES.--BURDENS AND FRIENDS.

"All these things are against me."--Jacob.

The new era, that had been so auspiciously continued for three years,
and gave promise of rapid and substantial material development, was
destined soon to be interrupted by the experience of three dark days
that occurred, one soon after the other.

On June 5, 1908, one week after the end of the term and after three and
one half years of faithful and efficient service as a matron, the death
of Miss Adelia M. Eaton occurred at the institution.

On the 7th of November following the Boys' Hall, and most of its
contents were consumed by fire.

In the spring of 1909 Mrs. Flickinger experienced a serious injury by
falling from the open conveyance while on the way to Valliant, and,
going home for treatment during the summer was unable to return in the
fall and resume her former duties.

On March 13, 1910, the Girls' Hall, laundry, smokehouse, wood house and
Old Log House, together with most of their contents, suddenly
disappeared in smoke.

Nothing was then left of this cherished and promising institution,
except the chapel, temporary hall for the boys, built the previous
year, and a lot of ashes and burned rubbish, the sight of which
suggested the loss of comforts and working outfit; hopes and plans
indefinitely deferred if not completely blasted, and the expenditure of
a vast amount of labor and time to replace and refurnish the buildings
destroyed; and the utter impossibility of any immediate recovery from
the oft-repeated and fatal checks imposed on the enrollment, ever since
the loss of the Boys' Hall in 1908.

[Illustration: BOYS' HALL 1895-1908]

Two rays of light relieved the darkness of the gloom that followed the
experience of these staggering losses.

(1). All of the lady helpers manifested the real spirit of missionary
heroes. Presuming they were greatly needed during the period of
reconstruction, instead of running away when there seemed to be no
suitable place for them, they discovered a readiness to suggest
possible and acceptable arrangements for their comfort. (2) There was
also available for assistance, a clever squad of intelligent and trained
student boys, one of whom, having served for a term as an assistant
teacher, was believed to be capable of serving as a foreman of the
carpenter