His first teaching job was at Blakely Institute, a combined elementary and secondary public school in southwest Georgia, required that he attend a July 1892 summer at Rock College Normal School, Athens, GA. There he learned of the educational theories of German educator Friedrich Froebel, kindergarten founder and learning-through-play advocate. He again studied at Johns Hopkins University, summer 1895, then taught seventh grade at and was principal of Anderson Elementary School, Savannah, GA, 1896–97. He was at Mercer University, 1897–1906, taught mathematics, was vice-president, 1900, and acting president, 1904–06, but resigned when the trustees were concerned about his doubting the virgin birth.