p. 283   Dr. David Dale Owen was chosen to do the work. The Reverend W. W. Stevenson, president of the state historical society, called, in January, 1842, for gifts of minerals, fossils, valuable books, reptiles, etc. Stevenson went west to California during the Gold Rush of 1849; most of this collection and the Owen collection were sent to Tulip (4).   The cadets felt very important in their uniforms; they were exactly like those worn at West Point, except for the buttons. All of the cadets were over fifteen or at the least fourteen, and could not exceed four feet, nine inches in height at admittance. The older cadets lived in barracks on the ground while the younger boys and girls boarded in homes adjacent to the school. Board, including laundry, fuel, and light, cost ten dollars a month. Meals came as extra expense. A normal tuition fee for a period of twenty-two weeks was sixteen dollars for the general academic course, the collegiate English course was twenty dollars, and the languages were twenty-five dollars each. Girls were not allowed to have charge accounts in the town of Tulip. Almost every session there were about one hundred girls enrolled in the two schools.   Under the incorporation act the Board of Guardians (trustees) had the right to endow the Seminary by selling scholarships and to grant degrees in the arts and sciences. The normal, or teacher training, program was excellent. For young ladies who completed the courses in English and in algebra the Master of Arts degree was bestowed (5). The visiting committee of the school reported in August, 1857 that a thorough course in collegiate instruction was being offered. They felt that no other seminary possessed quite the sound element of female education as did this one in Tulip. They further urged that the school be supported by Arkansans, since the young people of the state could receive as adequate an education in Tulip as in any other place (6).   ____________________ 4. Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. XI, p. 133. 5. Ouachita Herald, January 1, 1857. 6. True Democrat, August 4, 1857.             Contents  Words  Study Questions  Related Sites Next Page