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one spoke or moved. Finally, a dainty, bonneted little
lady, the mother of seven children, arose and made her way
to the aisle.
"I want to make a pledge," she said as she proceeded
forward, self-consciously, to take the extended hand of the
minister.
"Yes, yes! Thank you Madam! And how much will you
pledge?
"Twenty-five cents," she said almost apologetically,
and added hastily, "Payable in the fall."
Money was dear and not to be had until fall when the
cotton crop was sold. With no funds, no permanent buildings
and no staff, the new school did open. After operating for
two years in a rented house, now known as the Leroy Langley
home, the school was moved to a magnificent site that Dr.
Ward had taken half in desperation. A real institution
thus had come into being. A less determined man would have
sunk, but Dr. Ward possessed an iron determination and an
unselfish devotion towards his fellow men and he made what
he started out to make - a place where poor boys and girls
could be given a chance. For long years the school was more
or less an experiment, living from hand to mouth, kept alive
by the money Dr. Ward went everywhere to raise. A
prospectus of The Southern Industrial Institute dated 1901
states that the school was located in Camp Hill in
Tallapoosa County on a beautiful plantation of four hundred
acres of land. It was opened September 21, 1898, and was
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