ROANOKE COLLEGE'S FIRST INDIAN GRADUATE.

"That the Christian faith may be propagated amongst the Western Indians to the glory of Almighty God" was one of the reasons assigned in the royal charter for founding William and Mary college. There is no record, however, to show that an Indian ever received a degree from that famous institution. Although Roanoke College has been attended by Choctaws for thirteen years, Mr. William Harrison McKinney is the first one to complete the course and receive a degree, Bachelor of Arts. He has the distinction of being the first Indian, of full blood, to graduate at a Virginia college. Mr. Mckinney's Choctaw speech, so well delivered in his native tongue and then in English, on commencement day, was a feature of special interest. It was received with so much applause that Mr. Charles Dudley Warner in presenting the English Prize Scholarship, remarked that "Choctaw must be the favorite language in Salem." This demonstration of approval showed the good will and sympathy of the many friends made by Mr. McKinney during his stay of five years at the college. His standing in scholarship here leads us to expect that he will succeed well in his theological studies preparatory to entering the Presbyterian ministry. Now only twenty-three, he has the promise of a long and useful life among his people in the Indian Territory. The Collegian unites with his many friends at the college and in Salem in wishing him well deserved success.

As showing the changes in a hundred years, President Dreher, in his brief historical remarks on commencement day, called attention to the fact that on a bill overlooking our beautiful valley, with its musical Indian name, Roanoke, lie the remains of the distinguished Revolutionary general, Andrew Lewis, the famous Indian fighter of his time and the hero of the battle of Point Pleasant on the Ohio, whose statue is one of the proud group around Washington Monument in Richmond. On the same hill lie the remains of a Christian Choctaw who came from beyond the Father of Waters to study at Roanoke College. And this year an Indian who also came from beyond the Mississippi goes forth from the college "not in the war paint of the savage warrior, but clad in the armor of the Prince of Peace, a herald of the gospel of love." The patriotic duty of the past century was to drive the Indians across the great rivers to the wild West; the philanthropic duty of today is to receive them into our colleges and schools, and give them all the advantages and blessings of our Christian civilization. While a small part of the work is done at Roanoke, we rejoice in the increasing usefulness of such schools as those at Hampton, Virginia, and Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and note with great pleasure the awakened interest in Indian education throughout our country. [Roanoke Collegian.