Coming to Live in Oxford
by Susan Bonnell Stone
Susan Bonnell Stone was the daughter of John Mitchell Bonnell, President of Wesleyan, and the sister of John Fletcher Bonnell. She was married to Henry Harlan Stone, professor at Emory University
We lived in Macon until the summer of 1876, when we went to Oxford to live with my brother, Professor J. F. Bonnell, after my father died. How different it was from the big city of Macon where we had gas lighting. In Oxford, the lamps had to be filled and cleaned every day. The streets were so rough, where in Macon, they were kept in such good order. It was a long time before my mother and I could get to feel at home, for we left so many friends and loved ones in Macon. But we soon fell in love with Oxford and our newly made friends. Because I had been endowed with some talents, even thought I was but twelve or thirteen, I joined the Mendelsohn Music Club and enjoyed singing with Miss Claude Yarbrough by my side. Miss Claude’s sister, Miss Emma had a rich, mellow alto voice I liked to imitate.
The Mendelsohn Club often met in the house of that grand and wonderful president of Emory College, A. G. Haygood. He was a great lover of music himself and often came in to sing with us. His wife, “Sister Mollie,” as I called her, was a sister of Miss Emma and Miss Claude. She had a sweet alto voice.
Dr. Haygood loved young folks. His boys, as he called the students, could go to his study at any hour of the day or night for advice, instruction, or encouragement.
His greatness of heart was the cause of his refusing the highest place Methodism could offer in 1882. He said, “I feel it is my duty to stand by the college a little while longer.” A year or two after his refusal to accept the bishopric, some friend persuaded him to take the agency of the States Fund, and that made some of his Georgia friends dislike him.
The Mendelsohn Club often met in the house of that grand and wonderful president of Emory College, A. G. Haygood. He was a great lover of music himself and often came in to sing with us. His wife, “Sister Mollie,” as I called her, was a sister of Miss Emma and Miss Claude. She had a sweet alto voice.
Dr. Haygood loved young folks. His boys, as he called the students, could go to his study at any hour of the day or night for advice, instruction, or encouragement.
His greatness of heart was the cause of his refusing the highest place Methodism could offer in 1882. He said, “I feel it is my duty to stand by the college a little while longer.” A year or two after his refusal to accept the bishopric, some friend persuaded him to take the agency of the States Fund, and that made some of his Georgia friends dislike him.