A good farm containing 121 acres, together with barns, stock, farming implements, &c., have been added for practical instruction in Farming and Gardening; also shops, tools and materials for teaching Carpentry, Blacksmithing, Shoemaking, Tailoring, Masonry, &c., have been provided for the boys; and facilities for teaching the girls Cooking, Laundering, Sewing, and the general proprieties of housekeeping, have been added, and very gratifying results have followed.
Students are allowed to select their own trades, at which they are required to work one hour daily except on Saturday, when they devote five hours. They rise at 5.45 A. M., and retire at 9.45 P. M., thus devoting at least eight hours to rest and sleep; of the remaining time about ten hours are spent in Literary Work and Manual Training. The course of study is broad, thorough, and perfectly in keeping with the spirit and needs of the times. Nearly one thousand persons have received more or less training since the organization of the Academy, and few have any difficulty in securing profitable employment as soon as they leave school.
Since the death of Prof. B. O. Bird, the founder of Princess Anne Academy, Rev. P. O'Connell, a most excellent man, has been selected as principal.
Wiley University is located at Marshall, Texas, a quiet city of ten thousand inhabitants. It is now enjoying a period of unparalleled prosperity along all lines. For the years 1897-98, the enrollment reached 352. These pupils come from Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas, and represent some of the best homes in this section.
It is the aim of the management to keep the courses of study fully abreast of the best in the South. To this end the departments are being constantly strengthened. In addition to a well-equipped college department, the following departments are successfully operated: preparatory, normal, English, musical, and industrial.
Wiley University is distinctively a Christian institution and no apology is made for insisting on Christian instruction. The pupils are taught that the most enduring education has Christianity for its basis.
The faculty of Wiley is composed of 15 professors and instructors, all colored but two. Rev. M. W. Dogan, A. M., is a young man of most excellent educational qualifications for the place he holds as president of Wiley University. He has taught at some of the best schools in the South.