28 LIFE AND WORK OF DR. A. A. MURPHREE

later, occupied the site of the present administration building.
The two other buildings consisted of two wooden dormitories,
one for the men and one for the women, both of which have
since burned, one in 1906 and the other around 1919 or 1920.
The classes were all held in the administration building, with
an average of fifteen or twenty students in each class. Dr.
Murphree, as president and mathematics instructor, was re-
ceiving a very meagre salary compared to salary schedules of
today.
 A number of older students attended the college in those
days, owing to the poor educational facilities in the state at
that time. Dr. Murphree was especially interested in these
students and gave them all the help he could, especially if
they were acquiring an education for the purpose of teaching.
He would make loans to some of the students and others he
would assist in getting part-time work, since there was no
employment bureau connected with the college. He was a
very good judge of the worth of a student, and has often been
justified by the results of the help he has given. Negroes were
used in the dining room at the time, and so that means of self-
support was not open to the students. Some teachers who had
had experience were employed in the preparatory department,
one or two students were employed in the office, and one or two
were usually employed at the house, to take care of the yard,
the horse, etc. Dr. Murphree also used his influence in secur-
ing part-time employment for the boys among the town people.
 The college had one academic department. The only pro-
fessional part of the college was the teacher training depart-
ment and Dr. Murphree seemed more interested in this than in
any other part, owing to the state's educational status. At that
time, there were only five or six high schools in the state, and
fully that many minor colleges. Consequently, there was
great rivalry among the colleges and most of them had pre-
paratory schools so that the students could make up for the
scarcity of high schools. There was a three-year preparatory
school in connection with the college. Because of the need,
it was Dr. Murphree's great ambition to produce efficient edu-
cational leaders and teachers for the public schools. A three-
months spring term for teachers was held every year, after