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Alice
King: Reluctant Dean of Women and Professor of English for nearly a
third of a century
[Miss King came to Coe in 1886 as a professor
of History, Language and Literature and Lady Principal of the college
women. In 1902 she was appointed assistant treasurer and in 1905 became
the Dean of Women. King retired from Coe in 1909 and was requested by
President Marquis in 1912 to write some of her memoirs from Coe. This
is an excerpt from her work written May 1, 1912.]
This
record should be dated in Liverpool, England, August 1886, for it was
there and then I first head the name of Coe College. On going abroad
some time previous to remain indefinitely, I had left my business
correspondence in charge of a friend, and had learned nothing of what
she had been doing, until in Liverpool I received a letter dated from
Coe College and written by its President, Rev. Stephen Phelps. This
letter was brief, gentlemanly, kind. It informed me that I had been
elected Lady Principal of Coe College by its Board of Trustees, that
the position would be held for me until Thanksgiving, and that my
decision was desired as soon as possible, by cablegram. No words were
added as to my duties excepting that I should have a few classes in the
College, possibly in Latin and English. Curiously coincident with this
letter came another totally different in character. It was a request
from two millionaire fathers in America that I remain the London and
await the coming of four young ladies whom I was to chaperone in making
a tour of Europe. Arrangements had been made to have these young ladies
presented at the Courts of England and of Russia and no expense was to
be spared in making their travels delightful in every way. This letter
put a new element into the difficulty of a speedy decision. The pros
and cons were considered with all the wisdom I could summon without
anyone to advise me, and the result was a cablegram to President Phelps
that I should try to reach Cedar Rapids early in October. I have never
known whether my decision was correct...
It
was the last of September. The season had been very hot and very dry,
and the days were oppressive in the extreme. Dust whitened the foliage
and grass by the roadside, and came in the car windows in clouds. It
was later in the afternoon when Cedar Rapids was reached. At the depot
I was met by Mrs. President Phelps, her husband having been
unexpectedly called out of town. That was before the present Union
Station was build and the shabby depot buildings were far from
attractive. We drove up First Avenue, and I noted the street cars drawn
by mules. Just in front of the college stood a dummy engine, and
attached to it a small dingy car somewhat resembling a caboose of a
freight train, but at that time it was the only means of transportation
between Cedar Rapids and Marion. There were no houses on the south side
of First Ave. between 12 and 13th sts. but at the
corner...was a small grocery store, and extending from it to 13th
St. stretched a line of bill-boards, the most conspicuous poster that
afternoon being gorgeous pictures of a coming circus, the elephants and
camels and glittering band-wagon making a most brilliant pageant. Long
afterward Mrs. Phelps told me how she tried to engage me in
conversation as we approached the College so that I might not notice
these un-scholastic surroundings - but I did see them...
After
a short greetings to the students in the parlors after tea, it was easy
to excuse myself, but it was not so easy to feel at home in the room
assigned me, the one now used by the Dean of Women. The walls were
covered with a very dark paper, part of which inclined to sag and drop
off. The furniture was dark also, on the one small table in the center
of the room burned a kerosene lamp, its dull flame scarcely sufficient
to give any light, much less any cheer, and when the lamp was
extinguished, how dark it was! Before sleep came I heard voices outside
not far from my window, but felt no fear as I had rejoiced that I was
in a Prohibition State where crime must be rare. But the voices came so
near that I could hear what was going on; and it was policemen carrying
off, in a patrol wagon, a man who had been found in a drunken sleep on
the campus. Alas for my dream of Prohibition innocence!
When
the morning came, came Pres. Phelps, genial, kindly, considerate as he
always was, and under his guidance I went through the Main College
building, all the building there then was to house the College
activities. It was Saturday, so no classes were to be seen, but I
noticed an unusual excitement in the hall. Later, I discovered that
there was to be a reception in the evening, where I was to be the one
received and welcomed. It seemed to me I could not appear in such a
scene with the lonely, homesick heart that beat within me but Dr.
Phelps promised to stand by me both in a literal and figurative sense;
so the reception took place. I remember just two things about it, one,
the word "welcome" in green over the doorway between the Hall parlors,
the other, a hazy crowd of passers-by among whom only two faces are
distinctly recalled - one that of a student and one that of a
professor. I am sure that every one meant to be kind, and was kind, but
I saw only unattractive surroundings, not the brighter future.
Furniture in the Hall parlors was very scanty, and inclined to totter
when used, and the solitary furnishing of the entrance hall was a strip
of narrow, cheap carpeting, and a lamp handing (mean hanging?)
somewhere along its dismal length...
Monday
morning I began to look about me, to become acquainted with the girls,
and with my possible duties, for my impulse still was to run away from
what seemed an impossible situation. I even went so far as to tell
Pres. Phelps I could not stay, and my trunks remained unpacked. But
every hour brought a duty, a decision to be made, a plan to be
arranged, a student to be assisted. I should not have taken any
classes, but Prof. Gist was to be absent for a few days, and had asked
me to take two of his. Before the week ended I found myself getting
interested in the very problems that repelled me, trying to bring order
out of disorder, to improve conditions, to make the unattractive take
on a more pleasant look. I invited all the Hall students to an evening
together in the parlors, and forgot the tottery furniture in the
merriment of games and music. To put into a few lines what it took
months to accomplish, the trunks were unpacked; the walls brightened
with pictures; the empty bookcase held some friendly companions; a
re-arrangement of chairs and tables gave the parlors a less barren
appearance; window curtains gave a home-like touch; acquaintance with
the students revealed many possibilities, and - and -my life at Coe
College had fairly begun, and it has continued for a quarter of a
century.
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