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OBERLIN: 
 
 The Colony and the College. 
 
 1833-1883. 
 
 By JAMES H. FAIRCHILD, 
 
 President of Oberlin College. 
 
 OBERLIN, O. 
 E. J. GOODRICH. 
 
 1883. 
 
Copyright, 1883, 
 By James H. Faikchild. 
 
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To the few that still survive of those who aided in 
 laying the foundations at Oberlin, and to the memory of 
 those who are gone; to the many who helped to rear the 
 walls, " even in troublous times;" to all who by word, or 
 deed, or prayer, or gift, during the fifty years, have 
 shared in the work, this Record is faithfully inscribed. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Fifty years have passed since a community and a 
 college were planted together in the woods of North- 
 ern Ohio. An invitation has gone forth to all who, 
 during the fifty years, have been numbered with 
 the Community or the College, to return to the 
 family heritage for a brief reunion. As a help to- 
 ward rendering the occasion a season of interest and 
 profit, this brief record has been prepared. No one 
 can feel more sensibly than the author the inade- 
 quacy of the presentation. The struggles and tri- 
 umphs of the fifty years cannot be written. There 
 are many single lives that have been wrought into 
 the work, any one of which could only be inade- 
 quately presented in a volume like this. The record 
 as given is necessarily limited to the outward and 
 visible changes and movements which have marked 
 the years, while the inward and spiritual history 
 must be left unrecorded. 
 
 And even much that is visible and tangible must 
 be passed over without notice ; probably facts more 
 important that some presented in these pages have 
 been thus omitted. The author has had no personal 
 interests to serve, no feelings to gratify, no the- 
 ories to sustain. If important omissions or other 
 errors shall appear, they must be attributed to im- 
 
b PREFACE. 
 
 perfections of apprehension or of recollection. In 
 general, facts are stated with little exhibition of 
 authorities. Where such facts have been matters of 
 record the proper records have been consulted ; but 
 to a great extent they depend upon personal obser- 
 vation and memory, and can have no other endorse- 
 ment. The reader will make due allowance for all 
 the liabilities involved. 
 
 J. H. F. 
 OBERLIN, May, 1883. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Origin of the Enterprise — Its Founders 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Work of the First and Second Years 32 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Accession from Lane Seminary and Consequent En- 
 largement 50 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Early Spirit and Thought and Life 78 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Attitude and Experiences, Ecclesiastical and Political 97 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Early Missionary Activity 133 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Oberlin in the War 154 
 
8 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Special Features : Coeducation — Manual Labor — Music 173 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Financial History and Material Development of the Col- 
 lege and the Colony 204 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 General College Life — The Earlier and the Later 248 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Persons who have shared in the Work 272 
 
 Appendix 3°5 
 
OBERLIN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE ENTERPRISE. — ITS FOUNDERS. 
 
 OBERLIN is known in the world as an institution 
 of learning and a community, the two having a com- 
 mon origin and a common history. As seen to-day, 
 it is a pleasant village of thirty-five hundred inhab- 
 itants, surrounded by a prosperous farming commu- 
 nity, in the midst of which stands a college with its 
 various departments, theological, collegiate, prepara- 
 tory, and musical, and an average yearly attendance 
 of twelve to fifteen hundred students. 
 
 The foundations of the college and the town were 
 laid together, in the spring of 1833, in what was then 
 an unbroken forest, in the south part of the town- 
 ship of Russia, county of Lorain, and state of Ohio. 
 The tract of land secured for the purpose was three 
 miles square, with a very level surface and a some- 
 what stiff clay soil, entirely covered with the heavy 
 timber of Northern Ohio, beech and maple predomi- 
 nating, with a plentiful intermingling of oak, white- 
 wood, elm, ash, and hickory, and other varieties 
 usually found in such forests. 
 
 The people who took possession of this tract were 
 
IO BERLIN. 
 
 a number of Christian families, gathered from the 
 different New England states, with a few from New 
 York and Northern Ohio, who came to establish a 
 colony and an institution of Christian education, 
 with the added object of making desirable homes 
 for themselves and their children. 
 
 Such a movement, of course, could not spring up 
 of itself. The projectors and prime movers in the 
 enterprise were Rev. John J. Shipherd, pastor of the 
 Presbyterian Church in Elyria, in the same county, 
 and his associate and friend Philo P. Stewart, exten- 
 sively known in the country as the inventor of the 
 Stewart Stoves. 
 
 John J. Shipherd was the son of Hon. Zebulon 
 R. and Elizabeth B. Shipherd, and was born in West 
 Granville, Washington Co., N. Y., March 28, 1802. 
 He was carefully and religiously educated, and while 
 at school at Pawlet, Vt., in preparation for college, 
 his conscious religious life opened in a conversion 
 which began in intense conviction and conflict, and 
 resulted in great peace and joy. From this time to 
 the end of his days his character and life were marked 
 with profound earnestness and .restless activity. 
 
 He had prepared to enter the college at Middle- 
 bury, Vt.; and while spending a few days at home, 
 before leaving for college, under a slight indisposi- 
 tion, proposing to take a remedy, he swallowed, by 
 mistake, a poison. By vigorous measures his life 
 was saved ; but to the end of his days he was afflicted 
 with persistent irritation of thetoats of the stomach, 
 and with greatly impaired eyesight. After repeated 
 endeavors to resume his studies he reluctantly ac- 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE ENTERPRISE. II 
 
 cepted the necessity, and turned his attention to 
 such business as opened to him. 
 
 In 1824 he married Miss Esther Raymond, of 
 Ballston, N. Y., and removed to Vergennes, Vt, to 
 engage in the marble business. He had assumed 
 that his poor eyesight, which prevented his reading 
 more than a few minutes continuously without in- 
 tense pain, utterly precluded the idea of his prepar- 
 ing for the gospel ministry. All his prepossessions 
 and convictions were on the side of a full education 
 as a requisite for the work, and he resisted decidedly 
 every intimation that such a duty could be his. But 
 after a long conflict in his own mind, and many 
 marked providences, he entered the study of Rev. 
 Josiah Hopkins, of New Haven, Vt., where he spent 
 a year and a half, in company with other young men, 
 in theological study. He had already acquired a 
 system of short-hand writing, and his associates in 
 study helped him with their eyes. He adopted the 
 practice of arranging the heads and subdivisions of 
 his discourse upon a card, in stenographic charac- 
 ters, because his eyesight would not permit him to 
 write in full ; and this practice he maintained through- 
 out his life. His first year in the ministry was with 
 the church in Shelburne, Vt. The next two years 
 he was engaged in the general Sunday-school work 
 in the state, making Middlebury his headquarters, 
 editing a Sunday-school paper, and travelling through- 
 out the state in the work of organizing schools. 
 Then, under a strong conviction that the " Valley 
 of the Mississippi " — as the whole country west of the 
 mountains was then called — was to be the field of 
 
12 OBERLIK 
 
 his life-work, he took a commission from the Ameri- 
 can Home Missionary Society, and " went out, not 
 knowing whither he went." At Cleveland he fell in 
 with Rev. D. W. Lathrop, who had just closed his 
 labors as pastor of the church in Elyria, and upon 
 his invitation he came to Elyria in October, 1830, and 
 was installed pastor of the church the February fol- 
 lowing. During the two years of his pastoral work 
 at Elyria, he was intensely occupied in revival labors 
 in his own parish, and in the region round about ; and 
 under the same restless impulse to hasten the com- 
 ing of God's kingdom, he tendered his resignation in 
 October, 1832, and entered upon the work of laying 
 the foundations at Oberlin, being now thirty years 
 of age. 
 
 Philo Penfield Stewart was born in Sherman, Conn,, 
 July, 1798, hence was about four years older than 
 Mr. Shipherd. When ten years of age, on account 
 of his father's death, he was sent to live with his ma- 
 ternal grandfather in Pittsford, Vt., and at the age 
 of fourteen he was apprenticed to his uncle in Paw- 
 let, Vt., to learn saddle and harness making. In 
 this apprenticeship he served seven years, with a term 
 of three months each year in the Pawlet Academy, 
 a privilege which he greatly prized and thoroughly 
 improved. Young Stewart had a natural mechanical 
 bent, and was famed as a whittler in his childhood ; 
 but the calling to which he devoted these seven years 
 of his life did not afford scope for his genius, and 
 had no special attractions for him. Under the in- 
 fluence of a Christian teacher in the academy, he had 
 devoted his life to the Master's service ; and after 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE ENTERPRISE. 1 3 
 
 completing his apprenticeship he experienced a sort 
 of second conversion, in a conflict with his love of 
 money, which seemed a natural tendency in his char- 
 acter. Thus he was prepared, at the age of twenty- 
 three, to accept an appointment from the American 
 Board to a mission among the Choctaws in the state 
 of Mississippi. The journey of almost two thousand 
 miles to his field of labor he made on horseback, a 
 pair of saddle-bags containing his whole outfit. The 
 officers of the Board had furnished him seventy dol- 
 lars for his travelling expenses. But from the time 
 of starting he entered upon his missionary work, and 
 preached the Gospel in the families along the way, 
 until he reached the Choctaw Nation, at an expense 
 to the Board of only ten dollars for himself and his 
 horse. 
 
 An important part of his work at the mission was 
 the superintendence of its secular affairs, for which 
 he was well fitted. In addition he taught the boys' 
 school, and with the help of an interpreter held ser- 
 vices on the Sabbath in the different Indian settle- 
 ments. His health failing, he returned to Vermont 
 to recruit, but returned again to the mission, in 1827, 
 with a re-enforcement of one young man and three 
 young women, whom he took over the long journey 
 in a wagon, at an expense only slightly greater than 
 that involved in his own journey six years before. 
 
 In 1828 Mr. Stewart, now thirty years of age, mar- 
 ried Miss Eliza Capen, one of the young women 
 whom he had taken out to the mission, the pre- 
 ceding year, from Pittsford, Vt. ; and together they 
 wrought in the mission two or three years more, when 
 
14 OBERLIN. 
 
 Mrs. Stewart's broken health compelled them to re- 
 turn North and resign the mission work. Still on 
 the outlook for a field of Christian labor, he corre- 
 sponded with his old friend, Mr. Shipherd, the com- 
 panion of his boyhood at Pawlet Academy ; and as a 
 result, leaving Mrs. Stewart behind, he joined him 
 at Elyria in the spring of 1832, and became an in- 
 mate of his family. Thus the two founders of Ober- 
 lin were trained for their work, and finally brought 
 together. They were one in consecration to the 
 great cause, ready for any sacrifice which the work 
 required ; were alike in their general views of the 
 wants of the world and the aim of Christian labor; 
 were both born reformers, strongly impressed with 
 the conviction that the Church as well as the world 
 needed to be lifted up to a higher plane of life and 
 action, and with an intense purpose to make their 
 own lives contribute to this result. 
 
 In constitution and natural movement they were 
 greatly unlike. Mr. Shipherd was ardent, hopeful, 
 sanguine, disposed to underestimate difficulties and 
 obstacles ; while Mr. Stewart was slow and cautious, 
 apprehensive of difficulties, and inclined to provide 
 for them in advance. It is rare that two men unite 
 in a common enterprise who are more unlike in 
 natural temperament. They had entire confidence 
 in each other, in respect to rectitude of heart and 
 purpose; yet their co-operation doubtless involved 
 some difficulty. A brief extract from a letter from 
 Mr. Stewart to Mr. Shipherd, written soon after 
 they had entered upon the Oberlin work, gives inti- 
 mation that they sometimes felt the difficulty : " The 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE ENTERPRISE. 1 5 
 
 letter was no less acceptable because it contained a 
 complaint against your poor, erring brother. I thank 
 you for opening your mind so freely — hope you 
 will always do so. Then, when you have occasion 
 to find fault with what I say or do, if I cannot give 
 a justifiable reason for my conduct, I will confess. 
 The difference in our views of things arises, no doubt, 
 from the cause which you stated, and as long as we 
 co-operate together we shall doubtless often feel like 
 complaining of each other. But if these complaints 
 are given and received in Christian love and kind- 
 ness, no injury will be done. You acknowledge that 
 you are constitutionally inclined to go too fast, and 
 I acknowledge that I am disposed, from the same 
 cause, to go too slow. If this be true, a word of ad- 
 monition now and then from each other may be 
 salutary. . . . But after all, I would not have you 
 like me in your constitutional temperament, if I 
 could. I think we may balance each other, and be- 
 come mutual helps. If you should occasionally feel 
 a little impatience at my moderation, and I at your 
 impetuosity, it would not be strange ; but if we are 
 always in the exercise of that charity which hopeth 
 all things, it will be well at the last." 
 
 During the summer of 1832 these two men talked 
 and prayed together over the wants of the world, 
 and especially of the " Mississippi Valley," and grad- 
 ually there grew up in their minds a scheme of a 
 community and school where their ideas of Christian 
 living and education could be realized. Mr. Ship- 
 herd was especially interested in the establishment 
 of a community of Christian families, from which, to 
 
1 6 OBERLIN. 
 
 a great extent, worldly influences should be excluded, 
 and where gospel principles should prevail in place 
 of worldly views and fashions. At times he seemed 
 to incline even to a community of property, as the 
 surest means of overruling selfishness, and subordi- 
 nating all interests to the common good. It was no 
 part of his plan to concentrate the interests of the 
 community upon itself. His thought was to estab- 
 lish a centre of religious influence and power for the 
 generation of forces which should work mightily 
 upon the surrounding country and the world — a sort 
 of missionary institution for training laborers for the 
 work abroad. 
 
 Mr. Stewart, on the other hand, was especially at- 
 tracted by the idea of a school where study and 
 labor should be combined, and the whole establish- 
 ment conducted upon such principles of thrift and 
 economy, that enterprising students could defray 
 all their expenses by their labor, without any detri- 
 ment to their progress in study. His mind re- 
 verted to the academy in Pawlet, Vt., where he 
 had spent six hours a day in the schoolroom, and 
 almost as many in his uncle's shop, and still made 
 satisfactory progress in study. The same academy 
 furnished an example of young men and young 
 women pursuing study together, in the same school 
 and the same classes, with increased interest and 
 profit, as he thought, on both sides ; and thus his 
 ideal school must involve manual labor and co- 
 education. 
 
 Mrs. Shipherd shared in their consultations and 
 prayers, and in a brief record of those times she thus 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE ENTERPRISE. I J 
 
 gives the scene in which the diverse views became 
 consolidated into a common plan : 
 
 " In their deliberations they would exchange 
 views ; one would present one point of interest and 
 another a different one. Mr. Stewart proposed a 
 college, of which Mr. Shipherd could not at first see 
 the necessity, as Hudson College was in its infancy, 
 and poorly sustained ; but Mr. Stewart suggested 
 the manual-labor system, which Mr. Shipherd fully 
 approved. Thus they labored and prayed, and while 
 on their knees asking guidance, the whole plan de- 
 veloped itself to Mr. Shipherd's mind, and before 
 rising to his feet he said, ' Come, let us arise and 
 build.' He then told Mr. Stewart what had come 
 into his mind — to procure a tract of land and collect 
 a colony of Christian families that should pledge 
 themselves to sustain the school and identify them- 
 selves with all its interests. They came down from 
 the study, and Mr. Shipherd, with a glowing face, 
 said, ' Well, my dear, the child is born, and what 
 shall its name be ? ' He then related what had passed 
 through his mind." 
 
 John Frederic Oberlin, a German pastor of Wald- 
 bach, in the Vosges Mountains, in Eastern France, 
 had died a few years before, and an interesting ac- 
 count of his labors in elevating the people of his 
 parish had been published in this country,as a Sunday- 
 school book. This little volume had been recently 
 read in Mr. Shipherd's family, and thus Oberlin 
 was adopted as the name of the establishment which 
 was yet to be. 
 
 The earliest known presentation of the purpose 
 
1 8 O BERLIN. 
 
 and plan is found in a letter from Mr. Shipherd to 
 his father and mother, dated Elyria, August 6, 1832, 
 as follows : 
 
 " I have been deeply impressed of late with the 
 certainty that the world will never be converted till 
 it receive from the Church a better example, more 
 gospel laborers, and more money. We do not now 
 keep pace with the increase of population in our 
 own country. Something must be done, or a millen- 
 nium will never cheer our benighted world. The 
 Church must be restored to gospel simplicity and 
 devotion. As a means which I hope God would 
 bless to the accomplishment of some part of this 
 work, I propose through his assistance to plant a 
 colony somewhere in this region, whose chief aim 
 shall be to glorify God, and do good to men, to the 
 utmost extent of their ability. They are to simplify 
 food, dress, etc., to be industrious and economical, 
 and to give all over their current or annual expense 
 for the spread of the Gospel. They are to hoard up 
 nothing for old age, or for their children, but are 
 mutually to covenant that they will provide for the 
 widowed, orphan, and all the needy as for themselves 
 and families. They are to establish schools of the 
 first order, from the infant school up to an academic 
 school, which shall afford a thorough education in 
 English and the useful languages ; and, if Providence 
 favor it, at length instruction in theology — I mean 
 practical theology. They are to connect workshops 
 and a farm with the institution, and so simplify diet 
 and dress that, by four hours' labor per day, young 
 men will defray their entire expense, and young wo- 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE ENTERPRISE. 1 9 
 
 men working at the spinning-wheel and loom will 
 defray much of their expense. And all will thus 
 save money, and, what is more, promote muscular, 
 mental, and moral vigor. 
 
 " In these schools all the children of the colony are 
 to be well educated, whether destined to professional 
 or manual labor; for those designing to be mechan- 
 ics will learn their trades while in a course of study. 
 These schools will also educate school-teachers for 
 our desolate Valley, and many ministers for our dying 
 world ; also instruct the children and youth of the 
 surrounding population. To do this we want some 
 twenty-five or more good families, and two thousand 
 dollars' outfit for the schools. Dear parents, shall I 
 try ? I do feel that such an establishment would 
 not only do much itself, but exert a mighty influence 
 upon other churches, and lead them along in the 
 path of gospel self-denial. 
 
 " I have given you but a brief and imperfect sketch, 
 but you will discern its bearings. In all this Brother 
 Stewart, formerly assistant missionary to the Choc- 
 taws, is with me." 
 
 In a letter to his mother, dated a month later, he 
 says : 
 
 " My confidence in the utility of our colonizing 
 plan is strengthened by prayer, meditation, and con- 
 ference with the intelligent and pious ; yet I feel that 
 it is a mighty work, difficult of accomplishment. 
 But when any one goes about a great and good 
 work Satan will roll mountains in his way. Believ- 
 ing that all he has rolled in our way can be sur- 
 mounted through the grace of God, and that I can 
 
20 OBERLIN. 
 
 do more for His honor and the good of souls in this 
 valley of dry bones by gathering such a colony and 
 planting it, with its literary and religious institutions, 
 in this region, I am inclined, Providence favoring, 
 to resign my charge, and spend the winter at the 
 East for the purpose." 
 
 The resignation followed, and was accepted by the 
 church, October 29, 1832. These two men then 
 addressed themselves without delay to the work of 
 putting forward their favorite enterprise. In the 
 selection of a location the general fact had already 
 been determined in their minds that they were to 
 build somewhere in Northern Ohio, and on the West- 
 ern Reserve ; but the definite site remained to be 
 selected. Judge Ely, of Elyria, proposed to Mr. 
 Shipherd to give for the purpose the land which now 
 forms the beautiful portion of the village known as 
 " The Point," but which was then covered with a 
 dense forest. Another site proposed was in Brown- 
 helm, to be constituted of two or three farms lying 
 on the beautiful North Ridge Road. But neither of 
 these situations gave sufficient scope to Mr. Ship- 
 herd's ideal community. There must, in his view, be 
 room, for a score or two of farms, for the public 
 grounds of a large school, and for the village centre 
 which such a community would naturally form. It 
 was also essential to his idea, that this community 
 should have opportunity to develop its own social 
 life, and its social and religious institutions, apart 
 from any community already constituted. Hence 
 a considerable tract, remote from existing settle- 
 ments, must be secured. To buy out any such 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE ENTERPRISE. 21 
 
 settlement with its improved lands seemed impos- 
 sible. 
 
 The earliest immigrants to this region had natural- 
 ly taken up the more accessible and more desirable 
 portions of the country — the shore of the lake, the 
 pleasant ridges running parallel to the shore, and 
 the banks of the larger streams. The level clay 
 land of the south part of Russia township remained 
 in its primitive state, and the proprietors had 
 offered, upon certain conditions, five hundred acres 
 of this land for educational purposes. The day fol- 
 lowing the season of prayer in which light seemed to 
 fall upon their project, Messrs. Shipherd and Stew- 
 art mounted their horses, and took their course 
 through the woods, about eight miles, to this undis- 
 turbed portion of the forest. The line of a road, 
 north and south, through the tract had been marked, 
 years before, by a party of surveyors, who felled the 
 trees for a breadth of about four rods ; and this road- 
 way was now grown thickly over with bushes. At 
 a certain point on the west side of this roadway, our 
 friends dismounted, tied their horses to a tree, and 
 knelt under the boughs of another, in prayer for di- 
 vine guidance. A hunter came up soon after, who 
 informed them that about ten minutes before they ar- 
 rived, a black bear with her two cubs had come down 
 the tree to which they tied their horses. How our 
 friends interpreted this omen we are not told, but 
 they settled upon this ground for the Oberlin that 
 was to arise; and an undisputed tradition, running 
 back to the earliest days of the settlement, designates 
 the beautiful elm near the south-east corner of the 
 
22 OBERLIX. 
 
 college park as the tree under which they knelt to 
 pray. That brush-covered road is now Main Street, 
 in the village of Oberlin. 
 
 Messrs. Street & Hughes, the owners of this tract, 
 resided in New Haven, Conn. Captain Redington, 
 of South Amherst, about six miles north, was their 
 agent for the sale of the land ; but in a transaction of 
 such importance it seemed necessary to treat with 
 the proprietors themselves. The colonists, too, who 
 were to take possession of this portion of the wil- 
 derness, must come chiefly from the East. The de- 
 sirable Christian families in the region had already 
 passed through the experience of an emigration, and 
 the work of making homes in the heavy-timbered 
 country ; and one such experience, however enjoy- 
 able, suffices in general for a lifetime. Hence those 
 must be appealed to who could look with com- 
 placency upon such an enterprise. Such people 
 lived in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachu- 
 setts, and Mr. Shipherd had a wide acquaintance 
 among them. Hence a journey must be made to 
 New England for the threefold purpose of securing 
 the land, the money, and the men. In November, 
 1832, Mr. Shipherd undertook this journey. 
 
 The decision to launch out thus upon an untried 
 experiment cost him a struggle. He was naturally 
 hopeful and sanguine. His life-long habit had been, 
 to depend upon Divine guidance, as indicated in 
 some inward conviction or illumination. The evi- 
 dence that he was to go forward was, to his mind, 
 unquestionable. The plan of the enterprise he had 
 accepted as divinely given, and through all his re- 
 
HISTORIC ELM. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE ENTERPRISE. 2$ 
 
 maining years he was accustomed to refer to it as 
 the pattern shown him in the Mount. But thus far 
 he had little human sympathy in his undertaking. 
 As a devoted servant of God, and an earnest and 
 effective preacher of the Gospel, he had, during the 
 two years of his residence in Elyria, secured a wide 
 influence. He possessed the confidence of the min- 
 isters and the churches of the region. But the 
 scheme of a college and a colony, to be located in 
 the wilderness, which he presented as the reason for 
 his resignation of the pastorate, seemed too vision- 
 ary to command the respect of reasonable and pru- 
 dent men. His earnestness and devotion and 
 intense conviction could scarcely save it from ridi- 
 cule. Here and there a single person was brought 
 into sympathy with his views. This was the situa- 
 tion when he set out on horseback for his eastern 
 campaign. Mrs. Shipherd's record gives us some 
 insight into the inward conflict : 
 
 " He had his horse saddled at nine o'clock in the 
 morning, but was unable to proceed before three in 
 the afternoon. The adversary assailed him and 
 presented every possible thing to discourage him ; 
 he prayed and agonized for light, but the temptation 
 continued. He finally started, but had to return ; 
 he had forgotten something, and we had to have a 
 second parting. The third time he had to turn back, 
 but I was not aware of it. He finally proceeded on 
 his way a few miles until he came to a piece of 
 woods, where he dismounted and fell upon his knees 
 and acknowledged to the Lord that he had no de- 
 sire for the work if it was not His will, and that he 
 
24 OBERLIN. 
 
 could not proceed until he had a ' Thus saith the 
 Lord.' He arose from his knees with his heart full 
 of praise, and remounted his horse with these words, 
 1 With Jesus at home ;' and this assurance followed 
 him through all his years of travelling without a 
 cloud crossing his mind. 
 
 " He accomplished the journey and arrived in New 
 Haven in about two weeks, where he stopped with 
 friends of ours. The day after his arrival he called 
 on Messrs. Street & Hughes, and laid his plan be- 
 fore them, and asked the gift of five hundred acres 
 for a Manual Labor School, proposing to gather a 
 colony of families who should pay a dollar and a half 
 an acre, for five thousand acres in addition, repre- 
 senting that this would bring their lands into mar- 
 ket, and thus prove a mutual benefit. But they 
 could not see the prospect. He called on them day 
 after day unsuccessfully, until at length he came 
 down from his room one morning, and remarked to 
 the lady of the house, our friend, ' I shall succeed to- 
 day ; ' and she told me afterwards that his face shone 
 like the face of Moses. He accordingly went over 
 to the office, and after the morning salutations one 
 of the firm said, 'Well, Mr. Shiphcrd, we have con- 
 cluded to accept your proposition.' They adjusted 
 matters, and he was prepared to proceed with his 
 work of collecting the colony." 
 
 The arrangement was to sell the five thousand 
 acres, bought for one dollar and a half an acre, to 
 colonists, at an advance of one dollar an acre, and 
 thus secure a fund of five thousand dollars for lay- 
 ing the foundations of the college. But Mr. Ship- 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE ENTERPRISE. 2$ 
 
 herd engaged that from this fund a saw-mill and a 
 grist-mill should be erected, to be owned by the col- 
 lege, as these were essential to the very existence 
 of the colony, and there was no probability that the 
 mills could be erected as a private enterprise. 
 
 It was to be a distinctively Christian colony, and 
 this was to be secured by personal consultation, on 
 the part of Mr. Shipherd, with families of farmers and 
 mechanics in New England churches, who gave 
 promise of usefulness in the enterprise, and who 
 could be induced to join it. This feature of the 
 plan had been criticised in advance by some as an 
 undesirable arrangement, involving a waste of Chris- 
 tian influence. It was urged that Christians were 
 scattered abroad in the community providentially, 
 for the very purpose of contact with the world, and 
 the good that results from it. Even Mr. Stewart, in 
 letters addressed to Mr. Shipherd, while on his east- 
 ern tour, expresses his own doubts upon this point. 
 But there was little ground for apprehension in the 
 matter ; sinners soon found their way to the colony 
 without an invitation. 
 
 To secure colonists of the right stamp, and inspire 
 them with the true idea of the enterprise, they were 
 asked to subscribe to the following covenant, called 
 
 The Oberlin Covenant. 
 
 " Lamenting the degeneracy of the Church and 
 the deplorable condition of our perishing world, and 
 ardently desirous of bringing both under the entire 
 influence of the blessed Gospel of peace ; and view- 
 
26 OBERLIX. 
 
 in" with peculiar interest the influence which the 
 valley of the Mississippi must exert over our nation 
 and the nations of the earth; and having, as we 
 trust, in answer to devout supplications, been guided 
 by the counsel of the Lord : the undersigned cove- 
 nant together under the name of the Oberlin Colony, 
 subject to the following regulations, which may be 
 amended by a concurrence of two thirds of the col- 
 onists : 
 
 " i. Providence permitting, we engage as soon as 
 practicable to remove to the Oberlin Colony, in Rus- 
 sia, Lorain County, Ohio, and there to fix our resi- 
 dence, for the express purpose of glorifying God in 
 doing good to men to the extent of our ability. 
 
 " 2. We will hold and manage our estates person- 
 ally, but pledge as perfect a community of interest 
 as though we held a community of property. 
 
 " 3. We will hold in possession no more property 
 than we believe we can profitably manage for God, 
 as His faithful stewards. 
 
 " 4. We will, by industry, economy, and Christian 
 self-denial, obtain as much as we can, above our 
 necessary personal or family expenses, and faithfully 
 appropriate the same for the spread of the Gospel. 
 
 " 5. That we may have time and health for the 
 Lord's service, we will eat only plain and wholesome 
 food, renouncing all bad habits, and especially the 
 smoking and chewing of tobacco, unless it is neces- 
 sary as a medicine, and deny ourselves all strong 
 and unnecessary drinks, even tea and coffee, as far 
 as practicable, and everything expensive, that is 
 simply calculated to gratify the palate. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE ENTERPRISE. 2J 
 
 "6. That we may add to our time and health 
 money for the service of the Lord, we will renounce 
 all the world's expensive and unwholesome fashions 
 of dress, particularly tight dressing and ornamental 
 attire. 
 
 "7. And yet more to increase our means of serv- 
 ing Him who bought us with His blood, we will ob- 
 serve plainness and durability in the construction of 
 our houses, furniture, carriages, and all that apper- 
 tains to us. 
 
 " 8. We will strive continually to show that we, 
 as the body of Christ, are members one of another; 
 and will, while living, provide for the widows, or- 
 phans, and families of the sick and needy, as for 
 ourselves. 
 
 " 9. We will take special pains to educate all our 
 children thoroughly, and to train them up, in body, 
 intellect and heart, for the service of the Lord. 
 
 " 10. We will feel that the interests of the Oberlin 
 Institute are identified with ours, and do what we 
 can to extend its influence to our fallen race. 
 
 "II. We will make special efforts to sustain the 
 institutions of the Gospel at home and among our 
 neighbors. 
 
 " 12. We will strive to maintain deep-toned and 
 elevated personal piety, to ' provoke each other to 
 love and good works,' to live together in all things 
 as brethren, and to glorify God in our bodies and 
 spirits, which are His. 
 
 " In testimony of our fixed purpose thus to do, 
 in reliance on Divine grace, we hereunto affix our 
 names." 
 
28 BERLIN. 
 
 This was not a church covenant but a colonial 
 covenant, and secured its end in presenting the pur- 
 pose of the colony, and in turning away some that 
 might have been drawn into the enterprise by con- 
 siderations of these worldly advantages. In so far 
 as it goes beyond a general expression of Christian 
 consecration, it subsequently afforded occasion of 
 earnest discussion, and sometimes, perhaps, of un- 
 charitable judgment. It was at length found neces- 
 sary to leave the determination of personal duty in 
 practical affairs to the individual conscience; and 
 thus, after a year or two, the covenant was no longer 
 appealed to, in the settlement of differences of 
 opinion upon these subjects. It doubtless had its 
 part in giving form to the social and religious life of 
 the place. 
 
 A prominent plan for raising funds, presented by 
 Mr. Shipherd, was the establishment and sale of 
 scholarships. Each donor of one hundred and fifty 
 dollars was entitled perpetually to the privileges of 
 the school for a single pupil. This scholarship did 
 not provide for board or tuition or any other of the 
 pupil's expenses, but merely secured to him a place 
 in the school. The pupil must still meet all his 
 expenses, as if he had no scholarship. The money 
 paid for the scholarship was to be invested in lands, 
 buildings, tools, and all the appliances of a manual- 
 labor school, and the holder of the scholarship was 
 to be entitled to the advantages which these af- 
 forded ; and Mr. Shipherd hoped, and encouraged 
 the donors to expect, that industrious and faithful 
 students would be able to meet all necessary ex- 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE ENTERPRISE. 2g 
 
 peases, by their labor. The idea of the scholarship 
 is thus expressed in his first published circular: 
 
 " The one hundred and fifty dollars is the propor- 
 tion of the outfit money expended to furnish one 
 individual with the privileges of the Oberlin Insti- 
 tute. It is therefore reasonable that those who en- 
 joy these privileges should pay this cost, if able to 
 do it. It is also right that indigent youth of prom- 
 ising talent and piety should become the benefici- 
 aries of scholarships established by others who have 
 the ability. It should be distinctly understood that 
 students can be admitted to the boarding and man- 
 ual-labor privileges of this seminary, only on scholar- 
 ships established by themselves, their friends, or the 
 benevolent in their behalf ; and that these scholar- 
 ships do not guarantee the student's support, nor 
 any part of it, nor pay his tuition ; but they are so 
 expended as to furnish board, tuition, books, etc., at 
 a very low rate, and give the beneficiary peculiar 
 facilities for defraying the expense of these, by those 
 services which are necessary, irrespective of support, 
 to a finished Christian education." 
 
 The advantage possessed by the holder of the 
 scholarship was, the guarantee of a place in the 
 school. Others were received and enjoyed the same 
 advantages, but they had no promise of a reception. 
 During the earlier years, nearly half the applicants 
 failed to obtain admittance for want of room. The 
 scholarship system at length became the occasion of 
 some complaint, when the facilities of the school 
 were so extended that all applicants could be re- 
 ceived ; but the complaints were of the same nature 
 
30 OBERLW. 
 
 as those of the laborers of the parable, who received 
 every man the promised penny. 
 
 This eastern tour of Mr. Shipherd's to secure 
 lands, funds, colonists, and students occupied him 
 through the winter and spring and following sum- 
 mer, and in September, 1833, he returned to Elyria, 
 and to Oberlin. 
 
 Meanwhile Mr. Stewart, joined by Mrs. Stewart in 
 the fall of 1832, had remained at Elyria in the care 
 of Mr. Shipherd's family, and especially occupied in 
 the work of bringing to perfection a cooking-stove 
 which he had invented, and which was known as the 
 Oberlin stove. His original undertaking was to 
 meet a necessity in Mrs. Shipherd's kitchen, by a 
 stove made of sheet-iron ; but the work proved so 
 satisfactory that he extended the enterprise, in the 
 expectation that his invention would not only prove 
 useful to the community, but yield a profit which 
 should contribute materially to the resources of the 
 new enterprise. This was the beginning of the 
 Stewart cooking-stove, which has become so well 
 known throughout the country. It was his expecta- 
 tion that the success of his invention would warrant 
 the trustees of the school in taking the pecuniary 
 responsibility involved, and thus all the profits might 
 go to the school ; but the trustees never felt author- 
 ized to assume this responsibility. 
 
 While carrying forward the project of the cook- 
 ing-stove, at Elyria, Mr. Stewart had the general 
 supervision of the work of the new colony at Oberlin 
 meeting the colonists as they came forward from 
 the East with information and counsel and encour- 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE ENTERPRISE. 3 1 
 
 agement, conducting such correspondence as the 
 progress of the work called for, from this point, and 
 holding frequent meetings with several gentlemen 
 of the region who had consented to act as trustees 
 of the enterprise. Thus the work at Oberlin was 
 begun. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE WORK OF THE FIRST AND SECOND YEARS. 
 
 The actual commencement of work upon the Ober- 
 lin tract was made by Mr. Peter P. Pease of Brown- 
 helm, who, April 19, 1833, with his family, moved 
 into a log house which he had erected, and which 
 stood on the south-east corner of what is now the 
 College Park, near the historical elm. Mr. Pease 
 was therefore the first colonist. He was also a mem- 
 ber of the " Board of Trust" already constituted, al- 
 though the school was as yet without any corporate 
 existence. The other members of this Board were 
 Rev. J. J. Shipherd, Hon. Henry Brown of Brown- 
 helm, Capt. E. Redington of Amherst, Rev. Joel 
 Talcott of Wellington, Addison Tracy and P. P. 
 Stewart of Elyria, J. L. Burrell of Sheffield, and 
 Rev. John Keys of Dover ; and these are the persons 
 afterwards named as trustees in the charter secured 
 from the State Legislature. 
 
 Mr. Pease at once entered upon the work neces- 
 sary to prepare the way for the colony and the 
 school, without reference to his personal interests as 
 a colonist. He was to make such provision as was 
 possible for the reception of the colonists as they 
 should arrive, and superintend and hasten forward 
 the work upon the building which was to receive the 
 school. Mr. Shipherd in his ardor had encouraged 
 
WORK OF THE FIRST AND SECOND YEARS. 33 
 
 the families coming on to expect that a steam saw- 
 mill would be in operation in the early part of the 
 summer of this year, and had assured the purchasers 
 of scholarships that the school should be opened on 
 the first of December. When it is remembered that 
 the forest was not broken in upon until the middle 
 of the spring months, that the tract was almost inac- 
 cessible for want of roads, that the entire country 
 around was new, and that the simplest mechanical 
 service could not be obtained at any point nearer 
 than Elyria, eight miles distant, and that there were 
 no funds to draw upon for the accomplishment of 
 the work, it will be seen that the undertaking was for- 
 midable. But these men who constituted the Board 
 of Trust were among the substantial men of the 
 county, and the undertaking did not seem to them 
 preposterous. Mr. Shipherd had somehow infused 
 into them his own courage and faith. The colonists 
 left their homes under the same inspiration, and all 
 who came upon the ground caught the common en- 
 thusiasm. There was a single exception in the case 
 of a young man, the first who came upon the ground 
 from the East, who was very homesick when he 
 reached Elyria, was not relieved on coming to Ober- 
 lin, and turned his face homeward in early summer, 
 greatly disappointed. Such cases must of course 
 occur, but they were rare. 
 
 The following extracts from a letter from the ear- 
 liest colonists, addressed to Mr. Shipherd, still at the 
 East, and dated " Oberlin Colony, Ohio, June II, 
 1833," shows the spirit with which they accepted the 
 situation : 
 
34 OBERLIN. 
 
 " The few sheep that are collected at Oberlin re- 
 joice at the opportunity of answering your letter 
 directed to Bro. Pease, which we yesterday received 
 with pleasure. The inquiries you make are very im- 
 portant. You ask, ' What are you doing spiritually 
 to make a moral reform ? ' We answer, ' Very little; 
 we have but just begun.' Through the good pleasure 
 of our God we have been preserved and permitted 
 to set our feet on the colonial ground ; and it is 
 ground, after all the reports we have heard about 
 water and mud, although the season has been wet 
 and cold. We assure you, brother, it is as good as 
 was recommended to us. We fully believe it will sus- 
 tain the settlement you propose. We are willing our 
 brethren from the East should call and see for them- 
 selves, assuring them, if their motive is to do good 
 and glorify God in their bodies and spirits, which are 
 His, they need not be homesick nor look back, but 
 first give themselves to the Lord and then to the 
 work. 
 
 " We have had meetings every Sabbath since the 
 commencement — had a visit from Bro. Betts [of 
 Brownhelm] : he will preach for us every fourth Sab- 
 bath till you return. Bro. Leavenworth [also from 
 Brownhelm] preached to us the first Sabbath after 
 the brethren arrived from Vermont — and a blessed 
 day it was, for the Lord was here. The people came 
 in from the east, the west, and the south. The num- 
 ber from abroad was between twenty and thirty. . . . 
 
 " We trust you cease not to pray for us that we may 
 be guided in every path of duty and usefulness, and 
 above all that we may love one another with pure 
 
WORK- OF THE FIRST AND SECOND YEARS. 35 
 
 hearts, fervently. . . . Bro. Morgan, from Lockport, ex- 
 pects to move in to-morrow : we have built his house 
 on the east side of the road, near the bank of Plum 
 Creek ;* we live on the west side, opposite. We have 
 commenced our clearing, beginning at the centre, 
 and moving south and west ; have about twenty 
 acres now chopped — four cleared off ; are planting 
 two of it to corn, more than one we sow to oats and 
 grass for a little pasture, The remainder is occupied 
 by two log houses and the site for the boarding-house 
 and schoolroom. The school [college] will be in the 
 upper loft ; we have the timber all hewed, but one 
 day's work. The delay of the mill we regret very 
 much ; but as all things work together for good, we 
 hope to acquiesce in all things, and shall endeavor to 
 arrange all our affairs in accordance with the Divine 
 will, believing that the Lord will accomplish His own 
 purpose by us for time and eternity. . . . 
 
 "The brethren have mostly selected and procured 
 their land and are now chopping their village lots, 
 which will make a pleasant opening on the east side 
 of the road. We have about fifty cords of wood cut 
 for the engine. We can say ' Thus far the Lord 
 hath helped us ; ' may we ever acknowledge Him ! 
 Dear brother, pray for the peace of the colony. We 
 have a special prayer-meeting every Saturday even- 
 ing, in which we remember you, and hope to be re- 
 membered by you." 
 
 The writers speak of four Sabbath-schools in neigh- 
 
 * Morgan Street, running along the north side of his farm, was 
 named for him. He died many years ago. 
 
3G OBERLIN. 
 
 boring settlements, which they had established or 
 were about to open. This letter was signed by 
 all the men then on the ground, as follows: Peter 
 P. Pease, Brewster Pelton, Samuel Daniels, Philip 
 James, Pringle Hamilton, Wm. Hosford, Asahel 
 Munger, Harvey Gibbs, Jacob J. Safford, Daniel 
 Morgan. Three or four women only were here at 
 the time. Several of these colonists had come in 
 advance of their families, to make ready for them. 
 Several other families joined the colony during the 
 season. 
 
 Mr. Shipherd returned early in September, and re- 
 moved his family to Oberlin. He had engaged the 
 number of families that he supposed it desirable to 
 invite, had enlisted a considerable number of students 
 who were to join the school at its opening in Decem- 
 ber or the following spring, had looked up and se- 
 cured the appointment of the necessary teachers, and 
 had raised a fund, in contributions and subscriptions, 
 amounting to nearly fifteen thousand dollars. His 
 journey back to Ohio was characteristic of the man 
 and the times. Mrs. Shipherd had gone in the early 
 summer, with a babe six weeks old in her arms, to 
 her father's home in Ballston, N. Y. There Mr. 
 Shipherd joined her in August, and in an open bug- 
 gy, with a willow cradle at their feet, they made the 
 journey to Ohio, remembered by Mrs. Shipherd, to 
 the last, as the most pleasant journey of their lives. 
 The last two miles of the road before reaching 
 Oberlin was only a track cleared of underbrush, 
 winding among the trees, the roots of which extend- 
 ing across the track made it so rough that Mrs. Ship- 
 
WORK OF THE FIRST AND SECOND YEARS. 37 
 
 herd could not keep her seat, and she walked that 
 portion of the way with her babe in her arms. 
 
 The first college building, afterward known as 
 Oberlin Hall, was already enclosed ; and in a room 
 about fifteen feet square and seven feet high, in the 
 basement of that building, Mr. and Mrs. Shipherd 
 with their four little boys, and another family with 
 three or four boarders, found their home. 
 
 The steam-engine, constructed at Cleveland, was 
 brought on in October, and the saw-mill was soon in 
 operation. 
 
 The teachers engaged at the East could not come 
 on in time, and a student from Western Reserve Col- 
 lege, at Hudson, Mr. John F. Scovill, was invited to 
 take temporary charge of the school, at its opening; 
 and on the third day of December, 1833, the school 
 was opened. This opening was an occasion of solemn 
 rejoicing on the part of the little community of col- 
 onists and students. The evening preceding, they 
 were gathered to ask God's blessing upon the enter- 
 prise ; and during the progress of the meeting young 
 Scovill reached the place, and entered the little upper 
 room where they were gathered together. After list- 
 ening for a time to prayers and remarks he rose to 
 speak, and his first words were, " Put off thy shoes 
 from thy feet, for the place where thou standest is 
 holy ground." 
 
 At this time there were eleven families on the 
 ground. Several men who had spent a portion of 
 the summer and autumn here, had returned East, 
 expecting to bring on their families in the spring. 
 Forty-four students were in attendance during this 
 
3 8 BERLIN. 
 
 winter term — twenty-nine young men and fifteen 
 young women. Half of them were from the East, 
 the remainder from the neighboring towns. In ad- 
 dition, a primary school was organized as a depart- 
 ment of the institution, embracing the children of 
 the colony, about twenty in number, and taught by 
 Miss Eliza Branch, now Mrs. Geo. Clark, of Oberlin. 
 This primary school was in the original plan, but, 
 after the first winter, it was judged better to leave 
 the people of the place to provide for the elementary 
 education of their children, in connection with the 
 common-school system of the State. 
 
 This was the first practical trial of the system of 
 education which was to be introduced at Oberlin. 
 The students gathered here were, with few excep- 
 tions, mature, earnest young people, ready for any 
 effort or sacrifice necessary in obtaining an educa- 
 tion, and this continued to be their character through 
 the years that followed. They entered into the 
 work with enthusiasm, and identified themselves with 
 the enterprise. The one wooden building, about 
 thirty-five by forty feet in its dimensions, with two 
 regular stories, and a third story called an attic, made 
 by carrying up the central part about twenty feet in 
 width, so that small windows could be inserted along 
 the sides above the main roof — this one building con- 
 tained the college with all its operations for more 
 than a year. There was, however, an appendage in 
 the rear, embracing the kitchen and apartments for 
 the steward. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart presided in the 
 steward's department, and had the responsibility of 
 feeding the inmates. In the basement room, before 
 
WORK OF THE FIRST AND SECOND YEARS. 39 
 
 mentioned, lived the corresponding secretary and 
 general agent, Mr. Shipherd, with his family. His 
 office, the centre of all business for the college and 
 the colony, was in the room above, where also the 
 principal of the school found his study. Across the 
 hall or corridor was the dining-room, and above was 
 the schoolroom, chapel, and church, all in one. This 
 room, the scene of many interesting events and ex- 
 periences during the two years following, was called 
 in general " The Chapel." It was the place for the 
 religious and literary exercises of the school, and for 
 the gathering of the entire community on the Sab- 
 bath — a room about eighteen feet wide and thirty- 
 five long. On every public occasion it was packed 
 to its utmost capacity. The young women of the 
 school family were closely quartered in this second 
 story of the building, over against the chapel, while 
 the young men were sent into the " attic," where each 
 pair of them found a room eight feet square, with a 
 window of six small lights, above the head of the 
 student as he sat. This room was furnished with 
 stove, table, two chairs, and turn-up bedstead. 
 These occupied the entire area when the bedstead 
 was let down, as at night ; but during the day the 
 bed was tilted up against the side of the room, and 
 then there was space to spare. 
 
 Of course only sympathy with the enterprise 
 could make such accommodations tolerable ; but it 
 is doubtful whether any body of students was ever 
 more cheerful or better satisfied. A letter from Mr. 
 Shipherd to his parents, dated December 13, 1833, 
 gives his views of the situation at this time : 
 
40 OBERLW. 
 
 " The Lord is to be praised that we were enabled 
 to open our institution at the appointed time, De- 
 cember 3d. We have now thirty-four boarding 
 scholars, and expect forty for the winter. Appli. 
 cants are without number, from Lake Erie to the 
 Gulf of Mexico, and from Michigan to the Atlantic. 
 The scholars study and work well. Five minutes 
 after the manual-labor bell strikes, the hammers, 
 saws, etc., of the mechanical students wake all 
 around us, and the axe-men in the woods, breaking 
 ' the ribs of Nature,' make all crack. Nearly all our 
 visitors, and they are not few, express surprise that 
 so great a work has been wrought here in so short a 
 time. God be praised. I feel, as I said in my sleep 
 the other night, ' Oberlin will rise, and the devil can- 
 not hinder it.' This very sweet assurance, I hope, 
 rests on God, without whom we can do nothing." 
 
 In February of this winter the college was char- 
 tered by the Legislature of the state, with university 
 privileges, under the name of the Oberlin Collegiate 
 Institute. Mr. Shipherd preferred this name as less 
 assuming than Oberlin College, and because it was 
 apprehended that it might be some time before regu- 
 lar college work would be done in the school. Yet 
 such work and even more was in his plan. In a 
 circular published March 8, 1834, — the first circular, 
 probably, that was issued, — he thus states the work 
 proposed: 
 
 " The grand objects of the Oberlin Institute are, 
 to give the most useful education at the least ex- 
 pense of health, time, and money; and to extend 
 the benefit of such education to both sexes and to 
 
WORK OF THE FIRST AND SECOND YEARS. 41 
 
 all classes of the community, as far as its means will 
 allow. Its system embraces thorough instruction in 
 every department, from the infant school up through 
 a collegiate and theological course. While care will 
 be taken not to lower the standard of intellectual 
 culture, no pains will be spared to combine with it 
 the best physical and moral education. Prominent 
 objects of this seminary are, the thorough qualifica- 
 tion of Christian teachers, both for the pulpit and for 
 schools ; and the elevation of female character, by 
 bringing within the reach of the misjudged and neg- 
 lected sex all the instructive privileges which have 
 hitherto unreasonably distinguished the leading sex 
 from theirs." 
 
 The name Collegiate Institute was retained for 
 many years, but as it led to much misapprehension, 
 as implying that the school had not the full organi- 
 zation and work of a college, the trustees in 1850 
 secured from the Legislature a change of the name 
 to Oberlin College. 
 
 The summer term opened May 7, 1834. Rev. 
 Seth H. Waldo, a graduate of Amherst and of Ando- 
 ver, who had been elected Professor of Languages, 
 with the duties of principal of the school until a full 
 faculty should be constituted, had arrived a few 
 days before, with his wife, recently married. Three 
 days after the opening of the term, James Dascomb, 
 M.D., from the Dartmouth Medical College, reached 
 the place with his newly married wife. He had re- 
 ceived the appointment of Professor of Chemistry, 
 Botany, and Physiology. Mr. Daniel Branch and 
 Mrs. Branch, a sister of Mr. Waldo, came about the 
 
42 OBERLIN. 
 
 same time. He too was a graduate of Amherst. 
 He was afterward principal of the academy in Ches- 
 ter, Granger County, where James A. Garfield began 
 his course of study. Mrs. Dascomb, who had been 
 a pupil of Miss Grant of Ipswich, afterwards Mrs. 
 Bannister, was soon made principal of the Ladies' 
 Department. Mr. Branch became Principal of the 
 Preparatory Department, and Mrs. Branch teacher 
 of Latin, French, and of other branches as occasion 
 required. Thus the new school was at once manned 
 by a corps of enthusiastic and efficient young teach- 
 ers, trained in the institutions of New England. 
 Oberlin, therefore, as a community and a school, 
 was the product of New England ideas and culture 
 and life. The founders, the colonists, the students, 
 and the teachers, were all from New England, most 
 of them directly, the rest indirectly. 
 
 The day before this regular opening, under per- 
 manent teachers, many students having already 
 come in, a meeting of the young men was held in 
 the narrow passage hall of the " attic," each student 
 bringing out his chair and sitting by his own door, 
 and a literary society was organized, called the 
 Oberlin Lyceum — the first literary society upon the 
 ground. This lyceum existed about two years, and 
 then gave place to other societies. It was not the 
 same as the society afterward known as the Lyce- 
 um, and now as the Phi Kappa Pi. The old lyceum 
 expired without any legal successor. 
 
 During this first summer term, there were one 
 hundred and one students in attendance — sixty-three 
 young men and thirty-eight young women. These 
 
DR. JAMES DASCOMB. 
 
MARIANNE P. DASCOMB. 
 
WORK OF THE FIRST AND SECOND YEARS. 43 
 
 filled every available corner of the building and the 
 settlement, and many places which, under other con- 
 ditions, would not be thought available. Everything 
 was new and rough. The trees had been cut from 
 the college square, but the stumps were still strong 
 in the ground, and so numerous, that an agile boy 
 might propose to cross the square by springing 
 from stump to stump. The roads near the centre 
 had been opened to the sunlight, but not thrown up 
 or ditched, and teams were sometimes mired in 
 front of the college building. At a greater distance 
 the roads were still only tracks through the forest ; 
 and it was not an uncommon thing even for young 
 women, coming to the school, to walk the last two 
 or three miles of the way. Two came from Elyria, 
 eight miles, in this independent fashion. The en- 
 thusiasm of the new enterprise made all things 
 tolerable. 
 
 The colony kept even pace in its progress with the 
 school. Mr. Pelton moved his hotel from the log- 
 house, first erected, to a comfortable frame building 
 on the corner now occupied by the principal hotel. 
 It was for a time a question whether the hotel under 
 the colonial covenant could furnish tea and coffee 
 to its customers ; but it was at length concluded 
 that to refuse would be carrying the principle farther 
 than was " practicable." Such questions as this, in 
 the social meetings, diversified the busy life of the 
 colonists. 
 
 A small flouring-mill was erected, to be driven by 
 the same engine which moved the saw-mill, also 
 machines for cutting lath and shingles. These ma- 
 
44 OBERLItf. 
 
 chines furnished labor for several students ; and the 
 whole establishment was owned by the college — a 
 constant source, of course, of annoyance and ex- 
 pense, but a necessity of the new settlement. As 
 soon as opportunity offered the mills were sold, and 
 became the property of individuals. 
 
 To meet the growing necessities of the college, 
 another college building was erected, known in after 
 years as the Boarding Hall, or Ladies' Hall, the 
 main part forty by eighty feet, three stories high, 
 with two wings of two stories each. This was not 
 made ready for occupancy until the autumn of 1835, 
 a year, and more, from its commencement. Want of 
 funds, and the effort to have a large portion of the 
 work done by students, delayed the enterprise. 
 
 It was an encouraging fact to the students and 
 colonists that, in the midst of these labors and de- 
 privations incident to the settlement of a new coun- 
 try, no sickness prevailed among them. There was 
 some sickness among young children during the 
 warm weather of 1834, otherwise the health was un- 
 interrupted. Very satisfactory progress was made 
 in study ; yet interruptions occurred such as would 
 be inadmissible under more settled conditions. 
 When the new boarding-house was to be " raised," 
 the students were called out in a body, and all study 
 was suspended for three days. Now and then a 
 temperance man in some neighboring settlement, 
 not finding his neighbors ready to assist him in his 
 " raising," without the support of the bottle, would 
 send word in to the students, who would rally at 
 once in the good cause, and sacrifice a day's study 
 
WORK OF THE FIRST AND SECOND YEARS. 45 
 
 to their temperance principles. Oberlin was as ag- 
 gressive and reformatory at this time as in after 
 years, only that the direction which its reformatory 
 efforts should take was not fully determined. Tea 
 and coffee were excluded from the tables in the 
 College Hall, and for the most part discarded in 
 private families. A plain, substantial diet was fur- 
 nished, at a very moderate expense. The charge for 
 board in the Hall was seventy-five cents a week, for 
 a purely vegetable diet, and a dollar for the addition 
 of meat twice a day. 
 
 The first "Annual Report," published in Novem- 
 ber, 1834, estimates the entire expense of the stu- 
 dent for all his requirements, except clothing, during 
 the forty weeks of term time, as ranging from fifty- 
 eight to eighty-nine dollars. This amount was 
 readily covered, in most cases, by the avails of the 
 labor required of the student, four hours each day, 
 for which he received, according to his skill and 
 power of accomplishment, from four to seven cents 
 an hour. The arrangement seemed a great success ; 
 the expenses were reduced to the minimum, and the 
 student's labor provided for this. To the apprehen- 
 sion of the more considerate, there was one draw- 
 back. This labor of the student was not made to 
 supply the constant expenditure. It yielded no 
 money to the college nor even food for the supply 
 of the tables. It was wholly expended in improve- 
 ments, the erection of buildings, and the clearing of 
 the land. These improvements were needed, but it 
 was a question whether they could be afforded; and 
 
46 OBERLW. 
 
 whence was to come the supply for this constant ex- 
 penditure? 
 
 The arrangement of terms and vacations adopted 
 at this time involved continuous study through the 
 summer for the regular classes, with a winter vaca- 
 tion of twelve weeks, and continuous study through 
 the winter for the junior preparatory department, 
 with a long summer vacation. This arrangement 
 was intended to give the advanced students an op- 
 portunity to take schools for the winter, and those 
 in the beginning of their course opportunity for 
 summer work at their homes. This order, with some 
 variations, was continued until 1878. 
 
 The first college class was organized near the end 
 of October, 1834, consisting of four young men, 
 who came forward for examination to enter as 
 freshmen. Two of these had pursued their prepara- 
 tory studies in an academy at Brownhelm, and in 
 the Elyria High School ; another was from Phillips 
 Academy, Andover, Mass. They were all well pre- 
 pared, for those times, and would have been ad- 
 mitted to any college in the country. 
 
 The first " commencement," or anniversary, was 
 held on the twenty-ninth of October. As there 
 were none to graduate, these entering freshmen were 
 brought upon the stage, and a few others of the 
 more advanced students. The trustees were pres- 
 ent, and several visitors from neighboring towns. 
 The little chapel was crowded. The programme 
 presented, among other exercises, a Latin oration, 
 a Greek oration, and a colloquy, the aim of which 
 was to maintain the orthodox opinion on the sub- 
 
WORK OF THE FIRST AND SECOND YEARS. 47 
 
 ject of classical education. Thus closed the school 
 year of 1833-34. 
 
 Early in September of this year a church was 
 organized, called " The Congregational Church of 
 Christ at Oberlin," now known as " The First Con- 
 gregational Church of Oberlin." Sixty-two persons 
 united at the organization, colonists and students. 
 The confession of faith was Calvinistic in doctrine, 
 after the New England type ; and the church con- 
 nected itself with the Cleveland Presbytery upon 
 "The Plan of Union," after the fashion of the 
 churches of Northern Ohio. Rev. J. J. Shipherd 
 was at once called to become pastor of the church, 
 but in consequence of pressing duties as correspond- 
 ing secretary and general agent of the college, his 
 acceptance of the call was delayed until the follow- 
 ing year. Meanwhile he officiated as pastor while 
 present, and in his absence Mr. Waldo, the princi- 
 pal of the school, usually preached. 
 
 Several houses were erected on Main Street and 
 around the college square, during the year, giving 
 the town quite the aspect of a village, and Mr. 
 Hamilton's house, far in the woods, a mile south. 
 At a colonial meeting the principles of the Oberlin 
 Covenant were brought to bear upon the question, 
 What color shall we paint our houses? It was 
 clearly demonstrated that red was the most durable 
 and least expensive color; and thus it was voted, 
 not without earnest remonstrance on the part of 
 some, that the houses of the village should be 
 painted red. But a vote on such a question does 
 not always settle it. Each man claimed the right 
 
48 OBERLIJST. 
 
 to act according to his own judgment ; and three 
 dwelling-houses and the college shop were all the 
 buildings that ever submitted to the coating of red, 
 and these only for a few years. So early, under the 
 Oberlin Covenant, did taste begin to prevail over 
 stern utility. 
 
 Two years had now passed since Mr. Shipherd set 
 out alone on horseback to realize his plan. The re- 
 sult thus far was a community of thirty-five families, 
 a church of above eighty members, a college num- 
 bering a hundred students, with land and buildings 
 and other property valued at seventeen thousand 
 dollars, and such a movement toward the school 
 that large numbers of applicants had to be turned 
 away. Here and there appeared indications of dis- 
 favor toward the enterprise, partly because of the 
 peculiar constitution of the school, opening its doors 
 to both sexes, but chiefly because it seemed to come 
 into competition with Western Reserve College, 
 which had been established ten years before, and had 
 pre-emption rights in the territory. Some of the 
 trustees of Oberlin were warm friends of W. R. 
 College, and Judge Brown, the first chairman of the 
 Board at Oberlin, was a prominent founder and 
 trustee of W. R. College ; but at the close of this 
 second year he resigned his connection at Oberlin, 
 because, as he said, he could not " stand between 
 two fires." The founders of Oberlin were in heart 
 friendly to W. R. College, and had no thought of 
 opposition or rivalry. In his first annual report Mr. 
 Shipherd says : " Being distinctive in its character, 
 it was thought by the principal of the nearest liter- 
 
WORK OF THE FIRST AND SECOND YEARS. 49 
 
 ary institution [Elyria High School] to be no more 
 an interference with that or others in the neighbor- 
 hood, than if located more remotely. It stands not 
 as a competitor, but as a sister of all institutions of 
 Christian science." A little consideration, however, 
 would have suggested that the two colleges, less 
 than fifty miles apart, must depend essentially upon 
 the same constituency. The lines had already be- 
 gun to be drawn between the friends of W. R. Col- 
 lege and the friends of Oberlin. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE ACCESSION FROM LANE SEMINARY AND CON- 
 SEQUENT ENLARGEMENT. 
 
 The college year had closed ; the more advanced 
 students had gone to their winter schools or their 
 homes, and the less advanced had, according to the 
 arrangment, resumed their studies for the winter term. 
 Mr. Shipherd, under instructions from the trustees, 
 set his face eastward again, to look for a president 
 and a professor of mathematics, as well as to secure 
 funds to meet the growing demands of the work. 
 
 In a season of fasting and prayer, his habitual pre- 
 paration for a new movement, he received the im- 
 pression that he must go by Cincinnati : an impression 
 which he could give no account of, and which he at 
 first resisted as unreasonable. He knew no one at 
 Cincinnati, and he had special reasons, as he thought, 
 for going directly eastward ; but the impression in- 
 creased upon him, until it ripened into a conviction 
 which he dared not set aside ; and thus he took his 
 journey to the East by way of Cincinnati — a route 
 to New York from Northern Ohio which no one per- 
 haps ever took before. 
 
 Having reached Cincinnati, so worn out with the 
 journey that he was obliged to take his bed for the 
 day, he at length called on Rev. Asa Mahan, pastor 
 of the Sixth Street Presbyterian Church, from whom 
 
THE ACCESSION FROM LANE SEMINARY. 5 1 
 
 he soon ascertained the reason for his going by Cin- 
 cinnati. 
 
 A movement had been inaugurated in Lane Semi- 
 nary, a theological school at Walnut Hills, near the 
 city, which Mr. Shipherd saw at once might be 
 brought into connection with the Oberlin enterprise. 
 Of this movement there was no general knowledge 
 at Oberlin, and that Mr. Shipherd had heard of it 
 cannot be ascertained. The era of newspapers, rail- 
 roads, and telegraphs had not yet come. The facts 
 were these : Lane Seminary had been in existence 
 two or three years, and had collected a class of stu- 
 dents of unusual ability and energy. Many of these 
 were from Oneida Institute, a school which enjoyed a 
 few years of vigorous life in Central New York. They 
 were manual-labor students, energetic and self-rely- 
 ing. As an indication of their spirit, it may be stated 
 that, in going from Oneida to Lane, some of them 
 went down the Alleghany and Ohio as hands on flat- 
 boats, and pocketed a handsome purse to begin their 
 studies upon at Cincinnati. Among these Oneida 
 students was Theodore D. Weld, a young man of 
 surpassing eloquence and logical power, and of a 
 personal influence even more fascinating than his 
 eloquence. Besides these Oneida students, there 
 were others at Lane, prominent actors in the move- 
 ment, some of them, as James A. Thome and Wil- 
 liam T. Allan, sons of slaveholders, and linked to 
 slavery in all their worldly interests. The whole 
 number of students there at the time was above one 
 hundred. Many of these were not theological stu- 
 dents, but were connected with a literary department 
 
52 OBERLIN. 
 
 in preparation for theology, under the charge of 
 Professor Morgan. The theological Professors were 
 Dr. Lyman Beecher, Professor Stowe, and another 
 gentleman unknown to fame. 
 
 About this time (as early at least as 1833) the 
 quiet of Boston and New York, and some other 
 Eastern cities, had been disturbed by the startling 
 utterances of Wm. Lloyd Garrison and his Liberator. 
 He had taken issue with the Colonization Society, 
 and called on all honest men to stand aloof from it, 
 as false in principle and pernicious in its influence. 
 He enforced the duty of immediate and uncondi- 
 tional emancipation, as the only right and safe course. 
 " Slavery is a sin, and ought to be immediately aban- 
 doned," was in those days the burden of his proph- 
 ecy. Men of strong anti-slavery feeling were at 
 once brought over by his facts and his logic. Weld, 
 too, in the quiet of Lane Seminary, was moved, and 
 others with him. The students requested of the 
 Faculty the use of the public room occupied as a 
 chapel for the discussion of slavery. The Faculty 
 recommended quiet — rather discountenanced the 
 discussion, but did not prohibit it. The students 
 gathered in the chapel, and for eighteen successive 
 evenings continued their debate. At the outset 
 there was great diversity of sentiment, but in the 
 end the antislavery view prevailed almost unani- 
 mously. We may well suppose that the discussion 
 would be earnest and thorough, for there were men 
 there whose course for life was to turn upon the re- 
 sult. It was not like an ordinary discussion in a lit- 
 erary society, where the main interest lies in the 
 
THE ACCESSION FROM LANE SEMINARY. 53 
 
 debate itself. Some of the young men well knew 
 that the position they took might alienate friends, 
 and prevent for many years, perhaps forever, a re- 
 turn to the homes of their youth. Yet even these 
 were convinced, and took their stand against slavery 
 at the sacrifice of friends and home. 
 
 As a result of the anti-slavery movement in the 
 Seminary, the young men were stirred up to do 
 something for the colored people in the city. They 
 gathered them in Sabbath-schools, and established 
 day-schools among them, and made use of all the 
 means at hand to elevate and advance them. Some 
 of the ladies of the city aided in the establishment 
 and superintendence of the schools. The efforts were 
 not limited to the colored people. Communications 
 were sent to the religious journals, which elicited 
 spirited discussions that attracted the attention of 
 the city generally. Movements like these disturbed 
 the quiet of the trustees of the Seminary, some of 
 whom were wholly men of commerce, and under- 
 stood better the pork market than the management 
 of a literary institution. Others sympathized in the 
 general apprehension of evil from the anti-slavery 
 excitement. 
 
 The summer vacation of twelve weeks came on, 
 and Professors Beecher and Stowe and Morgan had 
 left for the East. The students, too, were mainly 
 scattered. The trustees held a meeting at this 
 juncture, and passed a law, without any consultation 
 with the Faculty, except the single member who re- 
 mained, prohibiting the discussion of slavery among 
 the students, both in public and in private. They 
 
54 OBERLIN. 
 
 were not to be allowed to communicate with each 
 other on the subject, even at the table in the Semi- 
 nary commons. At the same time the trustees 
 dispatched a message to Professor Morgan, in New 
 York, that his services were no longer required. 
 No reason was assigned him for so abrupt a termina- 
 tion of his relations. Perhaps they already appre- 
 hended, what they soon realized, that his occupation 
 was gone. But in the Seminary it was well under- 
 stood that he was sacrificed on account of his sym- 
 pathy with the anti-slavery movement. The other 
 professors returned to swallow, as best they could, 
 the bitter pill which had been prescribed for them. 
 The students returned to enter their protest against 
 the oppressive gag law of the trustees, and to ask 
 dismissions from the institution. Four fifths of them 
 left in a body, and Lane Seminary for many years 
 did not recover from the blow. 
 
 The protesting students, upon the invitation of 
 James Ludlow, a gentleman of property who resided 
 a few miles from the city, took possession of a 
 building which he provided for them ; and for five 
 months they continued their studies together, with 
 such instruction as they could afford each other, and 
 a course of lectures on physiology given them 
 by Dr. Bailey, afterwards editor of the National 
 Era. Arthur Tappan, of New York, sent them an 
 offer of S5000 for a building, and the promise of a 
 professorship, if they would establish a school under 
 anti-slavery principles and influences. Mr. Mahan, 
 one of the trustees of Lane Seminary, had protested 
 earnestly against the action which had been taken, 
 
The accession from lane seminary. 55 
 
 and had resigned his place when he saw that the 
 majority would pass and sustain the odious law pro- 
 hibiting the discussion of slavery. He was in sym- 
 pathy with the protesting students, and between 
 him and Mr. Shipherd the plan was devised of add- 
 ing at once a Theological Department to Oberlin, 
 and bringing on the seceding students from Lane to 
 constitute the first theological classes. Mr. Ship- 
 herd's anti-slavery zeal was quickened by contact 
 with the exciting influences there; and under date 
 of December 15, 1834, he writes to the trustees at 
 Oberlin, urging the appointment of Rev. Asa Mahan 
 as President, and Rev. John Morgan, Professor of 
 Mathematics. He also writes : " I desire you, at the 
 first meeting of the trustees, to secure the passage 
 of the following resolution, to wit : ' Resolved, That 
 students shall be received into this Institution irre- 
 spective of color.' This should be passed because it 
 is a right principle, and God will bless us in doing 
 right. Also because thus doing right we gain the 
 confidence of benevolent and able men, who prob- 
 ably will furnish us some thousands. Moreover, 
 Bros. Mahan and Morgan will not accept our invita- 
 tion unless this principle rule. Indeed, if our Board 
 would violate right so as to reject youth of talent 
 and piety because they were black, I should have no 
 heart to labor for the upbuilding of our Seminary, 
 believing that the curse of God would come upon us, 
 as it has upon Lane Seminary, for its unchristian 
 abuse of the poor slave." 
 
 This letter was in care of the acting Secretary at 
 Oberlin, and of course was communicated to the 
 
56 BERLIN. 
 
 officers and teachers on the ground. The idea of 
 receiving colored students was a new one, and the 
 people of Oberlin were not prepared to embrace it 
 at once. They knew no precedents in its favor. No 
 such thing, so far as they knew, had been heard of 
 in the land, or in any other land. There was earnest 
 discussion and intense excitement. It was believed 
 by many that the place would be at once over- 
 whelmed with colored students, and the mischiefs 
 that would follow were frightful in the extreme. 
 Men who afterwards stood manfully in the anti- 
 slavery ranks, when the battle was hottest, and 
 whose lives had shown that they could face duty in 
 its most forbidding aspects, were alarmed in view of 
 the unknown and undefined evil which threatened. 
 Young ladies who had come from New England to 
 the school in the wilderness — young ladies of un- 
 questioned refinement and goodness — declared that 
 if colored students were admitted to equal privileges 
 in the Institution they would return to their homes, 
 if they had to " wade Lake Erie" to accomplish it. 
 These same young ladies afterward showed their New 
 England spirit, not in wading Lake Erie, but in stem- 
 ming a torrent of abuse and reproach, which they en- 
 countered in their fearless advocacy of the cause of 
 the oppressed. The excitement here was intense, 
 and was not at all allayed by an arrangement on the 
 part of the trustees to hold their session in Elyria, 
 in the hope of finding a calmer atmosphere, more 
 congenial to deliberation. This session was held at 
 the Temperance House in Elyria, on the 1st of 
 January, 1835. A petition was presented to the 
 
THE ACCESSION FROM LANE SEMINARY. 57 
 
 Board, signed by the principal colonists, and by 
 several students who remained during the vacation. 
 It reads as follows : 
 
 To the Honorable Board of Trustees of the Oberlin Collegiate Insti- 
 tute assembled at Elyria: 
 Whereas, there has been, and is now, among the colonists and 
 students of the Oberlin Collegiate Institute a great excitement in 
 their minds in consequence of a resolution of Brother J. J. Ship- 
 herd, to be laid before the Board, respecting the admission of 
 people of color into the Institution, and also of the Board's meet- 
 ing at Elyria: now, your petitioners, feeling a deep interest in the 
 Oberlin Collegiate Institute, and feeling that every measure pos- 
 sible should be taken to quell the alarm, that there shall not be a 
 root of bitterness springing up to cause a division of interest and 
 feeling (for a house divided against itself cannot stand); therefore, 
 your petitioners respectfully request that your honorable body will 
 meet at Oberlin, that your deliberations may be heard and known 
 on the great and important questions in contemplation. We feel 
 for our black brethren — we feel to want your counsels and instruc- 
 tions; we want to know what is duty, and, God assisting us, we 
 will lay aside every prejudice, and do as we shall be led to 
 believe that God would have us to do. 
 
 The trustees were in a state of doubt and per- 
 plexity, corresponding with the condition of the 
 petitioners as here presented. Their action was 
 conservative and non-committal. The record reads 
 as follows : 
 
 Whereas, information has been received from Rev. J. J. Ship- 
 herd, expressing a wish that students may be received into this 
 Institution irrespective of color; therefore, resolved, that this 
 Board do not feel prepared, till they have more definite informa- 
 tion on the subject, to give a pledge respecting the course they 
 will pursue in regard to the education of the people of color, wish- 
 ing that this Institution should be on the same ground, in respect 
 to the admission of students, with other similar institutions of our 
 land. 
 
58 o Berlin: 
 
 At the same session of the trustees President 
 Mahan and Professor Morgan were appointed, ac- 
 cording to the request of Mr. Shipherd, although the 
 platform on which they had placed themselves was 
 not adopted. 
 
 The report of the failure of the trustees to take 
 the action he desired, reached Mr. Shipherd at New 
 York, whither he had gone, in company with Mr. 
 Mahan, to confer with Arthur and Lewis Tappan, 
 and other antislavery men of the city, in reference to 
 the proposal to bring to Oberlin the students who 
 had left Lane Seminary, establish a theological de- 
 partment, and place the institution upon a distinc- 
 tively antislavery basis. He was grieved, but not 
 cast down. He wrote again to the Trustees, and 
 especially sent a pastoral epistle to the people of 
 Oberlin overflowing with faithful love to all, review- 
 ing the way in which the Lord had led them, exhort- 
 ing them to patient continuance in well-doing, and 
 warning them against yielding to a worldly spirit 
 and worldly principles. At length he reaches the 
 matter which chiefly burdens his heart, and con- 
 tinues as follows : 
 
 "My fears are excited by your recent expressions 
 of unwillingness to have youth of color educated in 
 our Institute. Those expressions were a grief to 
 me, such as I have rarely suffered. Although I 
 knew that with some of you the doctrine of expedi- 
 ency was against the immediate abolition of slavery, 
 because the slaves are. not qualified for freedom, I 
 supposed you thought it expedient and duty to 
 elevate and educate them as fast as possible ; that, 
 
THE ACCESSION FROM LANE SEMINARY. $9 
 
 therefore, you would concur in receiving those of 
 promising talent and piety into our institution. So 
 confident was I that this would be the prevailing 
 sentiment of Oberlin, in the colony and institution, 
 that about a year ago I informed eastern inquirers 
 that we received students according to character, 
 irrespective of color. And, beloved, whatever the 
 expediency or prejudice of some may say, does not 
 duty require this? Most certainly; for, I. They are 
 needed as ministers, missionaries, and teachers for 
 the land of their fathers, and for their untaught, 
 injured, perishing brethren of our country. 2. Their 
 education seems highly essential, if not indispensa- 
 ble, to the emancipation and salvation of their col- 
 ored brethren. 3. They will be elevated far more 
 rapidly if taught with whites, hitherto far more 
 favored, than if educated separately. 4. The ex- 
 tremity of their wrongs at the white man's hand 
 requires that the best possible means be employed, 
 and without delay, for their elevation. 5. They can 
 nowhere enjoy needed education unless admitted to 
 our institution, or others established for whites. 
 6. God made them of one blood with us ; they are 
 our fellows. 7. They are our neighbors, and whatso- 
 ever we would they should do unto us, we must do 
 unto them, or become guilty before God. Suppose, 
 beloved, your color were to become black, what 
 would you claim, in this respect, to be your due as 
 neighbors? 8. Those we propose to receive are the 
 ' little ones' of Christ. We must take heed how we 
 offend one of these little ones. 9. The objection to 
 associating with them for the purpose of doing them 
 
60 OBERLW. 
 
 good, is like the objection of the Pharisees against 
 our Saviour's eating and drinking with publicans 
 and sinners. 10. Intermarriage with the whites is 
 not asked, and need not be feared. II. None of 
 you will be compelled to receive them into your 
 families, unless, like Christ, the love of your neigh- 
 bor compels you to. 12. Those who desire to re- 
 ceive and educate them have the same right to do it 
 that Christ had to eat with publicans and sinners. 
 13. Colored youth have been educated at other in- 
 stitutions for whites. 14. They will doubtless be 
 received to all such institutions by and by ; and why 
 should beloved Oberlin wait to do justice and show 
 mercy till all others have done it? Why hesitate 
 to lead in the cause of humanity and of God? 15. 
 Colored youth cannot be rejected through fear that 
 God will be dishonored if they are received. 16. How- 
 ever it may be with you, brethren, I know that it 
 was only the pride of my wicked heart that caused 
 me to reject them while I did. 17. If we refuse to 
 deliver our brother, now drawn unto death, I cannot 
 hope that God will smile upon us. 18. The men 
 and money which would make our institution most 
 useful cannot be obtained if we reject our colored 
 brother. Eight professorships and ten thousand 
 dollars are subscribed, upon condition that Rev. 
 C. G. Finney become Professor of Theology in our 
 Institute; and he will not, unless the youth of color 
 are received. Nor will President Mahan nor Pro- 
 fessor Morgan serve unless this condition is complied 
 with ; and they all are the men we need, irrespective 
 of their antislavery sentiments. 19. If you suffer 
 
THE ACCESSION FROM LANE SEMINARY. 6 1 
 
 expediency and prejudice to pervert justice in this 
 case you will in another. 20. Such is my conviction 
 of duty in the case, that I cannot labor for the en- 
 largement of the Oberlin Collegiate Institute if our 
 brethren in Jesus Christ must be rejected because 
 they differ from us in color. You know, dear breth- 
 ren and sisters, that it would be hard for me to leave 
 that institution, which I planted in much fasting and 
 prayer and tribulation, sustained for a time by only 
 one brother, and then for months by only two breth- 
 ren, and for which I have prayed without ceasing, 
 laboring night and day, and watering it with my 
 sweat and my tears. You know it would be hard 
 to part with my dear associates in these labors. 
 And as I have you as a people in my heart to live 
 and die with you, you know, beloved, that it would 
 be heart-breaking to leave you for another field of 
 labor ; but I have pondered the subject well, with 
 prayer, and believe that if the injured brother of 
 color, and consequently brothers Finney, Mahan, 
 and Morgan, with eight professorships and ten thou- 
 sand dollars, must be rejected, I must join them; 
 because by so doing I can labor more effectually for 
 a lost world and the glory of God — and believe me, 
 dear brethren and sisters, for this reason only. 
 
 " The agitation produced by my request, forwarded 
 to the trustees some weeks since, was unexpected. 
 I was sorry that it occurred, but happy that you 
 fasted and prayed it down. I trust that season has 
 prepared the minds of all who devoutly observed it 
 for this communication, which I would have sup- 
 pressed till my return had I not been under the 
 
62 OBERLIN. 
 
 necessity of communicating the same to the trustees 
 for immediate decision ; because our professors and 
 funds are all suspended upon that decision, and 
 myself also. May God of His infinite mercy grant 
 that in this and all things right we may be ' perfectly 
 joined together in one mind.' " 
 
 The trustees and the colonists to whom these 
 appeals of Mr. Shipherd were addressed, were earnest 
 Christian men and women. All their instincts and 
 convictions were opposed to slavery, but they had 
 given little consideration to their own practical re- 
 lations to the subject. Slavery they regarded as a 
 great evil — a curse ; but the idea that they had any- 
 thing to do about it, had not entered their minds. 
 The question of slavery had been discussed the sum- 
 mer previous in the " Oberlin Lyceum," which em- 
 braced both students and colonists, when it appeared 
 that the entire community, except Mr. Shipherd and 
 two or three students, were " Colonizationists." The 
 prevailing sentiment was that it would never do to 
 "let the slaves loose among us" — that the free col- 
 ored people should be " returned to Africa" as soon 
 as possible, and the slaves gradually made free, and 
 sent after them. The Oberlin covenant contained 
 no allusion to slavery. These good people would 
 not have hesitated a moment to go as missionaries 
 to Africa, if such a duty had been made clear to 
 them ; but all their social prepossessions, not to say 
 prejudices, were against the idea of a mingling of 
 the two races in society here. It required time and 
 consideration to make the thought acceptable. Even 
 Mr. Stewart, stern reformer that he was, trained in 
 
THE ACCESSION FROM LANE SEMINARY. 63 
 
 missionary service among the Choctaws, ready for 
 anything that came as duty, however great the sac- 
 rifice required, was not prepared to take the step 
 proposed by Mr. Shipherd, and, as a member of the 
 Board of Trustees, cast his vote against it to the last. 
 It was, however, simply a question of time with him. 
 His mind naturally moved slowly, but at length he 
 took his position with the foremost of the Abo- 
 litionists. 
 
 According to Mr. Shipherd's request, another 
 meeting of the trustees was held at Oberlin, Feb. 9, 
 at the house of Mr. Shipherd, which had been 
 erected, the previous summer, on the north side of 
 the College Square. Many of the good people had 
 by this time become deeply interested in favor of 
 the movement, and the results of this meeting were 
 looked for with intense interest. Rev. John Keep, 
 then of Ohio City [Cleveland, west side], was at 
 the time president of the Board, having been elected 
 the previous autumn, upon the resignation of Judge 
 Brown. 
 
 The trustees convened in the morning, nine mem- 
 bers being present, and the discussion was warm and 
 long. Mrs. Shipherd was occupied with her house- 
 hold duties, but in her anxiety she often passed the 
 door, which was ajar, and at length stood before it. 
 Father Keep comprehended the case, and stepped 
 out to inform her that the result of the deliberation 
 was very doubtful. He greatly feared that the op- 
 position would prevail. Mrs. Shipherd dropped her 
 work at once, gathered her praying sisters in the 
 neighborhood, and spent the time with them in 
 
64 OBERLIN. 
 
 prayer until the decision was announced. When the 
 question was finally taken, the division of the Board 
 was equal, and Father Keep, as the presiding officer, 
 gave the casting vote in favor of the admission of 
 colored students. The resolution which at length 
 passed was not simple and direct, like the one pro- 
 posed originally by Mr. Shipherd, but it seems the 
 expression of timid men who were afraid to say pre- 
 cisely what they meant. It is as follows : 
 
 Whereas, there does exist in our country an excitement in 
 respect to our colored population, and fears are entertained that 
 on the one hand they will be left unprovided for as to the means 
 of a proper education, and on the other that they will in unsuit- 
 able numbers be introduced into our schools, and thus in effect 
 forced into the society of the whites, and the state of public senti- 
 ment is such as to require from the Board some definite expression 
 on the subject; therefore, resolved, that the education of the peo- 
 ple of color is a matter of great interest, and should be encouraged 
 and sustained in this institution. 
 
 The logic of the resolution is not very luminous, 
 nor is the conclusion entirely unambiguous, but the 
 effect was decisive. It determined the policy of the 
 institution on the question of slavery, and no other 
 action has been needed on the subject from that day 
 to this. It was a word of invitation and welcome to 
 the colored man, as opposed to the spirit of exclu- 
 sion which was then dominant in the land. That 
 this decision was regarded as involving grave conse- 
 quences, is manifest from the intense excitement 
 which existed here at the time. There were no col- 
 ored students at the door seeking admittance. In- 
 deed there was but one colored person at the time 
 resident in the county; but they were very generally 
 
THE ACCESSION FROM LANE SEMINARY. 65 
 
 expected as the result of this decision ; and when 
 at length a solitary colored man was seen entering 
 the settlement, a little boy, the son of one of the 
 trustees, ran to the house, calling out, " They're 
 coming, father — they're coming !" 
 
 At the same meeting of the trustees Rev. Charles 
 G. Finney, of New York City, was appointed Pro- 
 fessor of Theology. He was then pastor of the Con- 
 gregational Church worshipping in the Chatham 
 Street Chapel, formerly a theatre, and about to enter 
 the Broadway Tabernacle, which was building for its 
 reception. The Tappans and other prominent anti- 
 slavery men were members of this church. They 
 had already become interested in the antislavery 
 movement in Lane Seminary, and were ready to 
 respond to the proposal of Messrs. Shipherd and 
 Mahan that Mr. Finney should become Professor of 
 Theology at Oberlin, and thus a refuge should be 
 afforded for the fugitives from Lane. 
 
 Arthur Tappan himself pledged a contribution of 
 ten thousand dollars to erect a building intended 
 primarily for the Theological Department, and en- 
 gaged to secure a loan of ten thousand more for 
 other necessary buildings and improvements. Sev- 
 eral other gentlemen united with the Tappans in 
 what was called " The Oberlin Professorship Associ- 
 ation," engaging to pay quarterly the interest on 
 eighty thousand dollars, sufficient for the salaries of 
 eight professors, at six hundred dollars each. It was 
 intended finally to pay the principal, and thus se- 
 cure the permanent endowment of the institution. 
 This was in the beginning of 1835, when all business 
 
66 OBERLIN. 
 
 operations seemed prosperous, and the gentlemen 
 forming the association were abundantly able to do 
 what they proposed. On this foundation, and on 
 the ground of the antislavery attitude of the college 
 as determined by the final action of the trustees, 
 Messrs. Mahan, Finney, and Morgan accepted their 
 appointments, and arranged to come to Oberlin. 
 Professor Morgan, however, was invited to the 
 Chair of New Testament Literature and Exegesis, 
 instead of that of Mathematics and Natural Philoso- 
 phy, as at first proposed. These men were then in 
 the prime of their manhood — Professor Finney 
 forty-two years of age, President Mahan thirty-five, 
 and Professor Morgan thirty-two. Professor Finney 
 was born in Connecticut, removed early to Central 
 New York, was trained for the profession of law, 
 and entered the ministry after brief study with his 
 pastor, Rev. George W. Gale. President Mahan was 
 born in Western New York, pursued study at Ham- 
 ilton College to the end of the junior year, and 
 took his theological course at Andover. Professor 
 Morgan was brought to this country from Ireland, at 
 the age of eleven, was brought up in Philadelphia and 
 New York, prepared for college at Stockbridge, Mass., 
 and graduated at Williams. His theological studies 
 were pursued privately in New York. Thus Oberlin 
 experienced a sudden enlargement and took a new 
 departure. 
 
 President Mahan came to Oberlin about the first 
 of May, followed a month later by his family and a 
 large number of the students from Lane. For the 
 president's family, the first log house erected here 
 
/", §'-H 
 
THE ACCESSION FROM LANE SEMINARY. 6? 
 
 was vacated and made ready, and this house they oc- 
 cupied several months, until the " President's House," 
 at the south-west corner of the square, could be built. 
 For the students who came from Lane, special pro- 
 vision was made. A building was extemporized, 
 called " Cincinnati Hall." It was one story high, 
 one hundred and forty-four feet long, and twenty- 
 four feet wide. Its sides and partitions and ceilings 
 and floors were of beech boards fresh from the mill. 
 On the outside it was battened with " slabs" retain- 
 ing the bark of the original tree, which gave the 
 building a decidedly rustic aspect. One end of the 
 " Hall " was fitted up as kitchen and dining-room, 
 and the remainder was divided into rooms twelve 
 feet square, with a single window to each, and a door 
 opening out upon the forest. This structure was 
 situated a little west of the site of the " Old Labora- 
 tory," its west side corresponding with what is now 
 the east side of Professor Street. This was then the 
 border of the forest toward the west. Two students 
 were assigned to each room. Oberlin strained a 
 point to give the new-comers a reception and ac- 
 commodations worthy of their fame. The enthusi- 
 asm of the new enterprise lightened hardships and 
 made the rough places smooth. All were satisfied. 
 The number of students that came was about 
 thirty — not all theological students. Several were 
 from the literary course at Lane, in preparation for 
 theology, and entered a similar course here. A few 
 of those who had been most prominent in the move- 
 ment at Lane, as Theodore D. Weld and Henry B. 
 Stanton, did not come to Oberlin to remain, but 
 
68 OBERLIN'. 
 
 were drawn at once into public antislavery labors in 
 the country, and only dropped in at Oberlin from 
 time to time as their work permitted. Among those 
 who came and helped to make up a senior theologi- 
 cal class were such men as Wm. T. Allan, of Hunts- 
 ville, Ala.; John W. Alvord, more recently connected 
 with the Freedman's Bureau ; George Clark, known 
 in the country for many years as an evangelist; Se- 
 reno W. Streeter, a well-known pastor in Ohio and 
 Michigan ; James A. Thome, of Augusta, Ky., pro- 
 fessor at Oberlin, and afterwards pastor in Cleveland ; 
 George Whipple, twelve years professor at Oberlin, 
 and for many years afterwards Secretary of the 
 American Missionary Association ; and others, four- 
 teen in all — such a class as any seminary might be 
 proud of. 
 
 The effect of this accession upon the institution 
 and the place was, of course, decided and manifest. 
 The school was at once transformed from a Collegi- 
 ate Institute — as it had been modestly called — to a 
 University, embracing the same departments as at 
 present, with students in every stage of advance- 
 ment. Hence the mistake has often been made 
 abroad, of attributing the origin of Oberlin to the 
 explosion at Lane Seminary. The Collegiate De- 
 partment received considerable accessions, about the 
 same time, from Western Reserve College, the trus- 
 tees of which had been exercised, somewhat after the 
 manner of the trustees of Lane, by the antislavery 
 zeal of professors and students. Thus Oberlin in- 
 curred odium, not only by its antislavery position, 
 but by becoming an asylum for discontented stu- 
 
THE ACCESSION FROM LANE SEMINARY. 69 
 
 dents. If these students had been such as could 
 well be spared by the schools from which they came, 
 the case would have been far different ; but the 
 " glorious good fellows"of Lane, as Dr. Beecher called 
 them, were well matched in the earnest and thorough- 
 going young men from Hudson. 
 
 In June Professors Finney and Morgan came, and 
 soon entered upon their work. The buildings pro- 
 vided for by the gift and loan of Arthur Tappan, 
 were commenced and pushed rapidly forward. 
 These were two dwelling-houses of brick, each two 
 stories in height, one for President Mahan and the 
 other for Professor Finney ; and Tappan Hall, a col- 
 lege building of brick, four stories high, with four 
 lecture rooms on the first floor, and dormitories 
 above, intended first for the Theological Depart- 
 ment, as far as required, and then for the general 
 uses of the college. The colonists, though greatly 
 pressed with the expense of building their own 
 homes, and bringing their farms into cultivation, sub- 
 scribed twenty-five hundred dollars to be applied in 
 the erection of another college building, the lower 
 story of which should be used jointly, by the college 
 as a chapel, and by the church for its services. This 
 subscription covered about half the cost of the build- 
 ing, and was made with the provision that the use 
 by the church should be temporary, and that the 
 claim should finally be transferred to the college. 
 This building was three stories in height, the second 
 and third stories furnishing dormitories for young 
 men. In consideration of the subscription by the 
 people, the building was called Colonial Hall. The 
 
yo OBERLW. 
 
 frame was erected and the building inclosed before 
 winter. 
 
 Meanwhile the congregation had outgrown the 
 little chapel used the preceding year, and the dining- 
 room of the new boarding-house, not yet occupied, 
 was put in order every Saturday for the Sabbath 
 services. In this room Mr. Finney did his first preach, 
 ing in Oberlin, President Mahan usually taking the 
 morning service, and Mr. Finney the afternoon. Both 
 sermons were long — never less than an hour, often an 
 hour and a half ; but the congregation never seemed 
 weary, and probably no one in the entire community, 
 at that time, ever willingly stayed away. It was 
 such preaching as the young people who heard it 
 could never forget. 
 
 When Colonial Hall was erected and had received 
 its roof and siding, loose boards were laid on the 
 timbers and the service was held there, the whole 
 interior being open to the roof, and the timbers of 
 the successive stories being supported by studs, 
 held in position simply by the pressure from above. 
 At the first gathering in this building the service had 
 just begun when the brick supports under the floor 
 were crushed, and the props above, loosened by the 
 sinking of the floor, fell one after another into the 
 midst of the people. No one was injured, but there 
 was considerable consternation, which Mr. Finney 
 quieted by assuring the people that they could not 
 possibly fall farther than the ground ; and that if 
 sinners were not in danger of falling farther than 
 the ground, he would never preach another sermon. 
 He then went on with a pungent and powerful dis- 
 
THE ACCESSION FROM LANE SEMINARY. ?I 
 
 course from the text, " He that turneth away his ear 
 from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abom- 
 ination." 
 
 This rapid enlargement, involving the coming in 
 of new men of commanding influence and new ideas, 
 was not effected without some perturbations. With- 
 in a week of the arrival of President Mahan, the in- 
 formation was spread abroad, by some student who 
 had " interviewed " him, that he was opposed to the 
 study of the " heathen classics." He was at once 
 invited by some committee to give a lecture upon 
 the subject before the Oberlin Lyceum. Without 
 due consideration, as he afterward used to admit, he 
 consented, and stated freely and strongly, as was his 
 wont, his views, not in opposition to the study of 
 Latin and Greek, but of the classic authors com- 
 monly used in the college course, and indeed in op- 
 position to so large an expenditure of time upon 
 these studies. He was one of the earliest advocates 
 of "the new education." Mr. Waldo, who was Pro- 
 fessor of Languages, and who until this time had been 
 principal of the school, felt called upon to defend 
 the regular course, and gave notice that the next 
 day, at four o'clock in the afternoon, he would reply 
 to the views of President Mahan. The discussion 
 thus opened continued several days, engaging the 
 attention of the entire community. One evening, 
 after an argument by the president, a student, who 
 had never taken kindly to linguistic studies, entered 
 the room of a fellow-student with his Virgil in his 
 hand, and challenged him to join him in burning 
 the obnoxious books. The student thus challenged 
 
72 OBERLIN. 
 
 took up an old volume of Virgil, careful to keep a 
 better one safe, and together they went out in front 
 of the building and lighted the leaves. A score or 
 more of students dropped into the company, some 
 of them bringing books to add to the illumination ; 
 and for half an hour they tossed them through the 
 air like fire-balls. Some of the young men perhaps 
 regarded it as a serious business, but to the majority 
 it was mere sport. The young men who burnt the 
 books prepared their lessons in Virgil for the next 
 day, as usual. The boyish freak was widely published 
 through the country as " The burning of the Classics 
 at Oberlin," and was accepted very generally, not 
 unnaturally, as a declaration that such studies were 
 to be repudiated. No such impression prevailed at 
 Oberlin, and no such result followed. The course of 
 study remained unchanged, essentially the accepted 
 American college course. But the discussion and 
 the result disturbed Mr. Waldo's mind. He appre- 
 hended that he should not be able to realize at Ober- 
 lin his views of education, and at the next meeting 
 of the trustees he tendered his resignation. Rev. 
 Henry Cowlcs, a native of Connecticut, and an hon- 
 ored graduate of Yale, then pastor at Austinburg, 
 was appointed to the vacancy, and entered upon the 
 work in the autumn of this year. 
 
 One result of the discussion upon classical study 
 was to awaken a temporary interest in the study of 
 the Hebrew language, which it was proposed to sub- 
 stitute for a portion of the Latin of the course. To 
 meet this demand, Prof. J. Seixas, a Jew, a teacher 
 of Hebrew, from New York City, was employed the 
 
THE ACCESSION FROM LANE SEMINARY. 73 
 
 latter half of the year, to give the students an intro- 
 duction to this language. He was an enthusiastic 
 and successful teacher, and stirred up such an inter- 
 est that his classes numbered, at one time, a hundred 
 and twenty-seven pupils. This interest soon sub- 
 sided, and the study of Hebrew was begun, at first 
 in the last term of the junior year, then in the first 
 term of the senior year, and finally was limited to the 
 theological course. 
 
 The commencement this year was held in July, 
 under the " Big Tent" which had been sent on from 
 New York by Professor Finney's friends, to furnish 
 him the means of holding protracted meetings 
 through the region, in places where no suitable house 
 for such meetings could be found. This tent was 
 for some years a conspicuous feature of the Oberlin 
 Commencement, and of other large gatherings. It 
 was a circular tent, a hundred feet in diameter — suf- 
 ficient when closely seated to shelter three thousand 
 persons. Its first spreading on the college grounds 
 was an occasion of much interest. It was on Satur- 
 day afternoon, and the young men of the college all 
 entered into the work. The work, after some mis- 
 adjustments, was successfully accomplished, and the 
 long blue streamer floated out on the breeze, bearing 
 the millennial motto, in large white letters, " Holi- 
 ness to the Lord." On Sabbath afternoon, at five 
 o'clock, the people gathered in the tent for a dedica- 
 tion service. Professor Finney was offering the ded- 
 icatory prayer, and asking that the tent might serve 
 the purposes intended, and might be protected from 
 the winds of heaven, when a sudden gale struck the 
 
74 OBERLIN. 
 
 canvas on the west side ; stakes yielded and chains 
 broke, and the whole collapsed. The people were 
 not seriously disturbed by the unpropitious omen. 
 They strengthened the stakes and doubled the 
 chains, and the Commencement was held in the 
 tent. 
 
 There was no class to graduate, as those from 
 Lane who composed the senior theological class had 
 determined, on account of interruption of their stu- 
 dies, in changing from Lane to Oberlin, to take an 
 additional year. The principal exercises were in- 
 augural addresses from President Mahan and Profes- 
 sors Fin'ney and Morgan. 
 
 The Annual Catalogue for this year, 1835, pub- 
 lished after Commencement, presents the institution 
 as fully organized in all its departments, with a total 
 attendance of two hundred and seventy-seven stu- 
 dents, thirty-five in the theological classes, thirty-eight 
 in the college classes, and two hundred and four pre- 
 paratory students. These were from all parts of the 
 Northern States, with a few from the South — young 
 men and women of mature age and earnest charac- 
 ter, a large majority professed Christians, prepar- 
 ing for service in the different spheres of Christian 
 labor. 
 
 A single colored student, James Bradley, once a 
 slave, had come from Cincinnati, following the stu- 
 dents from Lane, with whom he had become ac- 
 quainted. All the resistance to the reception of col- 
 ored students, which had been exhibited less than a 
 year before, had disappeared. All seemed to have 
 forgotten that they could have cherished such feel- 
 
TENT. 
 
THE ACCESSION FROM LANE SEMINARY. ?$ 
 
 ings, and the colored brother was made perfectly at 
 home. 
 
 A few weeks before the close of the fall term 
 Theodore D. Weld came to the place, and gave a 
 series of more than twenty lectures on slavery, its 
 nature and relations and bearings, personal, social, 
 political, and moral: lectures of marvellous power, all 
 charged with facts, with logic, and with fervid elo- 
 quence. To listen to such an exhibition of the sys- 
 tem of slavery, was an experience to be remembered 
 for a lifetime. It is doubtful whether any community 
 was ever more profoundly moved by the eloquence 
 of a single man. From first to last, through the even- 
 ings of three full weeks, the whole body of citizens 
 and students hung upon his lips. Studies naturally 
 suffered some interruption, but the opportunity was 
 itself an education. Oberlin was abolitionized in 
 every thought and feeling and purpose, and has been 
 working out those convictions during the fifty years 
 that have since elapsed. 
 
 During the following winter vacation a score or 
 more of the students, equipped for the conflict by 
 this course of training, went out as lecturers through 
 Ohio and portions of Pennsylvania, under the aus- 
 pices of the American Antislavery Society. Their 
 experiences were sufficiently startling to meet all the 
 requirements of an interesting campaign. They 
 found bitter enemies and devoted friends, and en- 
 countered mobs which were sometimes amusing and 
 sometimes terrific; and thus the abolitionism was 
 diffused. The Western Reserve became, under these 
 and other influences, a stronghold of antislavery 
 
76 OBERLIN. 
 
 sentiment and action ; and when at length the ques- 
 tion of the relations of the government to slavery 
 became the absorbing one in politics, the Western 
 Reserve determined the position of the State of 
 Ohio. 
 
 There were, during this year, hundreds of appli- 
 cants for admission to the school who could not be 
 received. The difficulty was to provide rooms and 
 facilities for manual labor to the many who came. 
 The prospect seemed to be that the only limit to the 
 influx of students would be the necessity of provid- 
 ing for them room and work ; but it was found that 
 the labor could not be made immediately produc- 
 tive on the land not yet subdued, the roots of the 
 original forest still alive in the ground. Hence dur- 
 ing the winter the plan was matured of organizing 
 subsidiary schools at convenient points, to provide 
 for the overflow from Oberlin ; and with the open- 
 ing of the spring, in 1836, such schools were opened : 
 one at Sheffield, about fifteen miles from Oberlin, 
 and another at Abbeyville, in Medina County. The 
 Grand River Institute at Austinburg was estab- 
 lished about this time, and received a colony from 
 Oberlin, and another colony was sent to the Elyria 
 High School, already in existence. The school at 
 Sheffield was provided for by Mr. Robbins Burrell, 
 who devoted his fine farm and house to the enter- 
 prise, and took personal charge of its material and 
 financial interests. The colonies sent to these 
 schools were made up of volunteers. A popular 
 teacher was selected, and his influence drew some, 
 and these drew others. Lorenzo D. Butts, a Lane 
 
THE ACCESSION FROM LANE SEMINARY. 77 
 
 Seminary student, was placed in charge at Sheffield, 
 and Amos Dresser, another student from Lane, took 
 charge at Abbeyville. The Grand River Institute 
 became a permanency, because it had a field and 
 constituency of its own. The schools at Sheffield 
 and Abbeyville had scarcely more than a year of life ; 
 the impulse that originated them was soon ex- 
 hausted, and the pupils drifted back to the centre. 
 
 A single church in Walton, N. Y., to provide for 
 its young men who wished to come to Oberlin, built 
 a hall of its own, called Walton Hall, on ground fur- 
 nished by the college — a frame building of two sto- 
 ries, with twelve rooms for two students each. 
 Individual students put up houses of their own on 
 grounds leased from the college, which they occu- 
 pied in company with some of their fellow-students — 
 a privilege limited to young men. From the begin- 
 ning the principle was adopted that young women, 
 not provided for in the Ladies' Hall, must find 
 homes in responsible families. Now and then a stu- 
 dent, of somewhat monastic tastes and simple habits, 
 would construct for himself a cabin in the woods ; 
 but this manner of life was never encouraged : the 
 idea was inculcated that the culture arising from con- 
 tact with fellow-students, in pleasant social relations, 
 was an essential part of education. 
 
 Thus Oberlin was first established and then en- 
 larged, and the enlargement was so conspicuous a 
 fact that it has sometimes been mistaken for its ori- 
 gin. Professor Finney and the men from Lane 
 joined a school already in existence, and numbering 
 more than a hundred pupils. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE EARLY SPIRIT AND THOUGHT AND LIFE. 
 
 The Oberlin enterprise, in its very conception, was 
 active and aggressive ; it was the outgrowth of the 
 great revival movement of 1830-31-32. It was no 
 part of the plan of the founders to establish a com- 
 munity which should live within itself and for itself; 
 to separate a group of Christian families and a col- 
 lection of young people from the rest of the world 
 for the sake of realizing certain ideas of the Chris- 
 tian life, with no thought beyond. The purpose was 
 to concentrate Christian forces, and train Christian 
 character, for effective operation upon the world with- 
 out. To extend the influences of the Gospel through- 
 out the " Mississippi Valley" was the constant idea 
 in the minds of those who laid the foundations. 
 
 The revivals of those early years were connected 
 with the presentation of the New School theology. 
 Personal responsibility and immediate duty, on the 
 part of saints and sinners, was the watchword. The 
 world was in darkness, and those who had the Gos- 
 pel were under solemn and pressing obligation to 
 send abroad the light. These were the original 
 ideas in the minds of Messrs. Shipherd and Stewart, 
 and the early families which gathered in the wilder- 
 ness. These ideas were strengthened and intensified 
 
EARLY SPIRIT AND THOUGHT AND LIFE. 7Q 
 
 by the accession of Mr. Finney and the men who 
 came in connection with him in 1835. Mr. Finney 
 had for years stood in the forefront of the great re- 
 vival movement, and had but recently settled down 
 in New York City as pastor of an aggressive, active 
 church ; from this point as a centre he hoped to 
 move upon the country at large. The New York 
 Evangelist had published his revival lectures deliv- 
 ered in this pulpit, and continued to publish his ser- 
 mons ; the country at large had, in a sense, become 
 his field of labor. When he came to Oberlin, it was 
 not simply with the thought of settling down in 
 quiet, to give a class of theological students his New 
 School views and the benefits of his experience as 
 an evangelist : this he intended to do ; but he hoped 
 to find at Oberlin a new centre, from which he might 
 operate more effectively upon the country and the 
 world. The record of the action of the trustees in 
 his appointment, discloses his purpose in this respect. 
 It includes the following proviso : " Resolved, that 
 with the view of the increased influence of Mr. Fin- 
 ney in the church at large, he have liberty to be ab- 
 sent four or five months of each year, when, on con- 
 sulting with the Faculty, and with them making the 
 arrangement so as to secure the best interests of the 
 institution, he shall deem it to be his duty." 
 
 The " Big Tent" was another indication of his 
 thought and purpose. It was not possible that a 
 man of such restless energy, with an apostle's bap- 
 tism upon him, should have his influence circum- 
 scribed by the woods that environed Oberlin ; and 
 he was not alone. His associates were men of simi- 
 
80 OBERLINi 
 
 lar purpose and power, acting under the same in- 
 spiration. The colonists had joined the enterprise 
 under a kind of missionary impulse, and the stu- 
 dents were largely of the same spirit — young men 
 and women of mature age and earnest character, 
 expecting to find in the world some work to do. 
 
 Such a concentration of power and purpose is 
 rarely secured in any community ; and this power 
 was not quiet and dormant : it was vitalized and 
 energized by contact with the great questions and 
 movements of the day. It was not primarily or 
 chiefly an antislavery excitement that animated the 
 community: it was a " zeal for the Lord," ready to 
 move in any direction where a way should open, to 
 benefit mankind and honor God. 
 
 Such restless activity must find a field of action — 
 objects upon which to expend itself; and upon the 
 wise direction of this activity the question of a 
 wholesome result must turn. A calm observer, con- 
 templating the scene, would have been in doubt 
 whether to expect a conflict of forces, divisive and 
 self-destructive .; a union of force in some eccentric 
 or extravagant form of action, involving a blind 
 enthusiasm, or more likely a malignant fanaticism ; 
 or a well-considered and well-regulated work, opera- 
 ting beneficently at home and abroad. The first and 
 the second were often predicted, often affirmed to 
 exist ; the last was to a great extent realized. The 
 zeal and impulse of some was happily balanced by 
 the considerate conservatism of others, and all blen- 
 ded in a movement essentially harmonious. No one 
 ever attained to such authority in the community 
 
EARLY SPIRIT AND THOUGHT AND LIFE. 8 1 
 
 that his opinion was accepted as conclusive ; all 
 opinions were freely discussed, and accepted or dis- 
 carded acccording to the apparent reason of the 
 case. The range of investigation was very broad, 
 embracing questions practical and abstract. Dietetics 
 and the foundation of moral obligation were discussed 
 with equal interest ; and every conclusion capable of 
 application in practical form was brought to the test 
 of experiment. 
 
 For a time many of these discussions gathered 
 about the Oberlin Covenant. That document was 
 supposed to contain principles by which the Christian 
 life should be ordered ; but when it was brought to 
 bear in a practical case, it was found quite as diffi- 
 cult to determine what the covenant prescribed, as to 
 settle the question on independent grounds. This 
 was no valid objection to the covenant ; nothing 
 more could properly be asked of it ; but it proved 
 less useful in the adjustment of practical questions 
 than some had hoped. Such general terms as " econo- 
 my and Christian self-denial," " necessary personal 
 and family expenses," " plain and wholesome food," 
 "expensive and unwholesome fashions of dress," 
 "plainness and durability in the construction of 
 houses, furniture, carriages, and all that appertains 
 to us," were found to be just as broad as the Scripture 
 injunction, " Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or 
 whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." The 
 whole ground of Christian life and duty was trav- 
 ersed, and all questions were vigorously discussed ; 
 but the community settled down upon the catholic 
 basis, of leaving to each one's personal judgment 
 
82 BERLIN, 
 
 and conscience the determination of his own con- 
 duct. The Oberlin Covenant thus became a general 
 confession of the obligations of the Christian life. 
 More than this would have proved a hindrance in- 
 stead of a help. But such an interpretation of the 
 covenant did not set aside investigation and discuss- 
 ion. The Oberlin enterprise was undertaken as a 
 new departure, and all the questions of life and god- 
 liness invited to a reconsideration. One of the first 
 questions before the community pertained to eating 
 and drinking. The covenant was measurably specific 
 as to the use of strong drink and tobacco, and these 
 indulgences were generally discarded. The use of 
 tea and coffee was regarded as questionable, under 
 the covenant ; but how far it was " practicable" to 
 dispense with them, was never perfectly ascertained. 
 Simplicity of diet was at the beginning maintained 
 on the ground of economy. The aim of the school 
 was to bring; a liberal education within the reach of 
 all; and Mr. Stewart, the first manager of the college 
 boarding hall, had very positive ideas on the subject 
 of table economy. To diminish the cost of living 
 without detriment to health or vigor was his constant 
 aim. Mr. Finney brought with him from New York 
 ideas on diet which had been set forth by Dr. Mussey 
 of Dartmouth, Dr. Hitchcock of Amherst, and such 
 popular writers as Graham and Alcott. These 
 views were based on the question of health, and in 
 general involved the disuse of animal food. The 
 dietetic reform at Oberlin was thus placed on the 
 double foundation of economy and health, and was 
 sustained by impulses from without as well as with- 
 
EARLY SPIRIT AND THOUGHT AND LIFE. 83 
 
 in. Students at Amherst, under the lead of Dr. 
 Hitchcock, were weighing out their fourteen ounces 
 of food a day, while students at Oberlin were ex- 
 perimenting on Graham bread and crust coffee. 
 Both experiments were short-lived, but that at Am. 
 herst soon passed out of thought, while that at 
 Oberlin was accepted as characteristic, and became 
 historical. The facts were that after two years Mr # 
 Stewart left the boarding hall, and a steward was 
 called from Boston, who held radical views on the 
 subject of a vegetarian diet ; and for two or three 
 years longer the students were furnished at the 
 Hall with " Graham" fare. They were not restricted 
 to this. A table was still set for those who preferred 
 a different diet ; and there was never any constraint 
 or compulsion in the case. Tea and coffee were not 
 introduced into the college boarding hall until 1842 
 — possibly a little later. 
 
 The dietetic experiment in the community, or 
 colony, as it was called, was similar to that in the 
 college. Many of the families discarded tea and 
 coffee, and a few adopted the vegetarian diet ; but 
 as the years passed on, these peculiarities disappeared, 
 and the present generation know of them only as 
 traditions of the early days. The dietetic experi- 
 ment was attended with vigorous discussion, and the 
 dogmas of vegetarianism were often publicly contro- 
 verted as well as supported ; and a final blow was 
 given to the extreme vegetarian views, as presented 
 by Sylvester Graham, by two young men, T. B. 
 Hudson and S. D. Cochran, in a public discussion 
 before the " Society of Inquiry." 
 
84 oberlin: 
 
 Abstract and philosophical questions were inves- 
 tigated with no less interest. In the year 1839 tne 
 foundation of moral obligation was discussed in the 
 college chapel, by President Mahan and Prof. J. P. 
 Cowles of the Theological Department, now of Ips- 
 wich, Mass. Professor Finney presided, and a large 
 audience of students and citizens was in attendance. 
 President Mahan maintained the popular view, of an 
 intuitive principle of right as ultimate in thought, out 
 of which all obligation springs, and to which all ques- 
 tions of duty must be finally referred — the rational 
 faculty determining, more or less distinctly and di- 
 rectly, the Tightness or wrongness of every action. 
 Professor Cowles had been educated at New Haven, 
 and held the modified Paleyan view as presented by 
 Dr. Taylor. The discussion was earnest and vigor- 
 ous, occupying two or three hours each day, and ad- 
 journed from day to day through the week. As is 
 usual in such discussions, neither of the disputants 
 was able to convince the other of his error ; but Pro- 
 fessor Finney, who occupied the chair, and who had 
 not distinctly formulated his theory of obligation, was 
 able to combine the strong points of both theories, 
 and at the close of the discussion set forth his view, 
 afterwards elaborated in his work on Systematic 
 Theology as the " Benevolence theory." From Pro- 
 fessor Cowles he accepted the idea of happiness, 
 well-being, as the ultimate good, and from President 
 Mahan the fact that obligation is intuitively or 
 rationally seen and affirmed ; but this obligation is 
 only seen or affirmed in the presence of the good, 
 and rests on the perceived value of happiness, or uU 
 
EARLY SPIRIT AND THOUGHT AND LIFE. 85 
 
 timate good, as its ground. This was the genesis of 
 the Oberlin philosophy of obligation, the resultant 
 of the utilitarian scheme, and the theory of ulti- 
 mate, abstract right. It may not differ in any 
 essential feature from the view of Edwards and 
 Samuel Hopkins ; but so far as Mr. Finney was con- 
 cerned, it was undoubtedly an original and inde- 
 pendent investigation. 
 
 The pronounced antislavery position of Oberlin 
 naturally brought here, from time to time, the 
 prominent apostles of Abolitionism, both such as 
 were in full harmony with the conservative politi- 
 cal and ecclesiastical attitude of the people here, and 
 such as seemed to themselves to have reached a bet- 
 ter and more advanced position. Wm. Lloyd Gar- 
 rison and Frederick Douglass came, at one time, to 
 convince us that the proper antislavery position in- 
 volved a withdrawal from all political action ; that 
 the Constitution of the United States was pro-slav- 
 ery and corrupt, and all who voted under it shared 
 in its wickedness, and that those only were bearing 
 a proper testimony against slavery who came out 
 from all political organizations, and refused to take 
 any part in the affairs of government. President 
 Mahan, as usual, led the discussion on the Oberlin 
 side, sustained by Professor T. B. Hudson, and per- 
 haps some others. The result was that Oberlin 
 people continued to vote, Mr. Garrison went on his 
 way, and Mr. Douglass, then or soon after, joined 
 the voting abolitionists. 
 
 Stephen Foster and his wife, Abby Kelly Foster, 
 came to Oberlin on a similar errand of " come-outer- 
 
86 OBERLIN. 
 
 ism," to persuade the people that they were com- 
 promising their antislavery position, weakening 
 their testimony, and sharing in the guilt of slavery, 
 by maintaining any correspondence or fellowship 
 with the churches of the land. The continuous 
 chain of fellowship united the church at Oberlin 
 with the slaveholding churches of the South, and, 
 no matter by how many links, ten or ten thousand, 
 bound all together in one " covenant of hell." The 
 doctrine was not an abstract one in its bearings. It 
 was dividing the churches of the land and alienating 
 Christian men from each other. They were invited 
 to present their views before the people in the col- 
 lege chapel, but, as usual, with the provision that 
 half the time should be given to a presentation of 
 the other side. The evenings of a full week were 
 given to the discussion, with President Mahan in 
 the forefront of the battle. The atmosphere waxed 
 hot and lurid with the fire and smoke of the conflict, 
 but the sky soon cleared, and the church arrange- 
 ments continued undisturbed. 
 
 Rev. Charles Fitch, of Newark, N. J., came to 
 preach the doctrine of the immediate second coming 
 of Christ. He was a man of much personal mag- 
 netism, intensely in earnest, profoundly convinced 
 of the truth of his message, and called, as he felt, to 
 bring the better light to the good people of Oberlin. 
 He was welcomed to the chapel, with the inevitable 
 condition of an open and free discussion. He had 
 half the time, and President Mahan and Professors 
 Morgan and Henry Cowles reviewed his Scripture 
 interpretations, his logic, and his rhetoric. The work 
 
EARLY SPIRIT AND THOUGHT AND LIFE. 87 
 
 was done so thoroughly that it sufficed for a genera- 
 tion. The people lived quietly through 1843, an d 
 all the other periods subsequently designated by the 
 Adventists. 
 
 Every such question was hospitably entertained, 
 but was required to give a reason for its claim to at- 
 tention. The people had broken away from many 
 old ideas, and there was no such presumption 
 against a new doctrine that they could set it aside 
 without examination. This temper of mind exposed 
 them to the approach of every would-be reformer 
 who had some new theory or scheme of life to prop- 
 agate. He expected sympathy at Oberlin, if no- 
 where else ; and constant vigilance was the price of 
 security from imposition. 
 
 But the Oberlin idea was first Christian and evan- 
 gelical, and afterwards reformatory. It was not to 
 realize some special fancy, or to accomplish some 
 particular outward change, that the people came and 
 planted their institutions in the wilderness. Their 
 aims were as broad as the Gospel itself, and all pro- 
 posed reforms were at once tested by their bearing 
 upon the general Christian life and work. The pre- 
 dominance of this idea saved them from any wild 
 fanaticism. An intelligent Christian earnestness 
 is the best security against the extravagances of 
 social reform. 
 
 The situation at Oberlin was remarkably favor- 
 able to earnestness and unity of action, in every line 
 of duty and of thought. There was but a single 
 congregation, composed of citizens and students, 
 during the first twenty years and more ; and. of this 
 
S5 OBERLIN. 
 
 congregation Mr. Finney was the pastor, preaching 
 once every Sabbath and often twice. In the early 
 days, Mr. Mahan was accustomed to preach in the 
 morning and Mr. Finney in the afternoon. Mr. Ma- 
 han was a preacher of no ordinary power. 
 
 It was natural that with such a concentration of re- 
 ligious forces here, with a predisposition on the part 
 of the people to religious activity and inquiry, the 
 religious life should have been always earnest and 
 often intense. With a powerful sermon from Presi- 
 dent Mahan or Professor Morgan in the morning, not 
 less than an hour, and an hour and a half of Mr. Fin- 
 ney's fervid eloquence in the afternoon, the Sabbath 
 was an occasion of strong impressions and "great 
 searchings of heart." Mr. Finney never preached but 
 with a definite aim and a purpose of immediate re- 
 sults. There were times when his object was to pre- 
 sent some doctrine or truth as a part of the gospel 
 system ; but in the presentation he addressed himself 
 to the audience before him with the intention of 
 securing their acceptance of the doctrine. Oftener 
 his aim was to stir up Christians to greater effort and 
 fidelity, or to move the thoughtless and the- worldly 
 to undertake a life of duty and religion. If there 
 was evidence of a solemn and profound impression 
 upon the audience, he was accustomed to call for an 
 open decision, on the part of those whom he particu- 
 larly addressed, at times asking them to rise in their 
 places in testimony of their purpose, or at other 
 times to come forward to seats that were vacated for 
 their occupancy. Sometimes a hundred, and even 
 hundreds, responded to his appeal, coming forward 
 
EARLY SPIRIT AND THOUGHT AND LIFE. 89 
 
 and kneeling while he in prayer besought for them 
 light and strength. 
 
 Such Sabbaths extended their influence to the 
 daily thought and life, and induced a general relig- 
 ious activity rarely found. All the duties and pos- 
 sibilities of the Christian life were thoroughly con- 
 sidered, and outward and inward activity greatly 
 stimulated. It was under such a pressure that the 
 inquiry arose, as to the possibility of a life of full 
 obedience or entire consecration to the will of God. 
 The duty of such a life was granted by all, and the 
 absolute possibility of it was involved in the New 
 School theology, which maintained that ability was 
 the condition of obligation. 
 
 The first attempt at a practical application of this 
 principle to the Christian life was made by a few 
 young men in the summer of 1836. They had formed 
 a missionary circle, and held a weekly prayer-meet- 
 ing to secure a better preparation for their chosen 
 work. In conference upon the consecration needed 
 and required, they were led, one after another, to 
 promise the Lord, in prayer, not to grieve Him any 
 more by sin; and they left the meeting with the feel- 
 ing that they were pledged to a life of entire obedi- 
 ence to God, assuming that the Lord would afford 
 deliverance in every time of need. It was a contem- 
 plation of a life of entire obedience, chiefly from the 
 side of duty — the obligation and the possibility of it. 
 The step which these young men supposed they had 
 taken, attracted some attention in the community, 
 and was met with disapprobation. Mr. Finney him- 
 self announced in a sermon that he would creep a 
 
go OBERLIN. 
 
 hundred miles upon his hands and knees, to see a man 
 who was living without sin. The young men went 
 quietly on their way, making no profession, in public 
 or private, as to their success in the life they had 
 undertaken. 
 
 The same season a few numbers of The Perfection- 
 ist, published in New Haven, were circulated in the 
 community, and while the doctrine they inculcated 
 was in general disapproved, they seemed to stimu- 
 late inquiry. In the autumn of the same year, the 
 entire community of citizens and students was pro- 
 foundly moved in a religious quickening, and the 
 chief burden of thought and of prayer was, a higher 
 spiritual life, a more full consecration on the part of 
 Christians. At one of the daily meetings a student 
 arose and asked what Divine help he might expect, in 
 his effort to live the Christian life. Did the Gospel 
 contain provisions and promises, of which he might 
 avail himself, sufficient to secure him from sin and 
 enable him to stand under all temptations? Presi- 
 dent Mahan at once answered yes, and his answer 
 served to fasten his own thought upon the subject, 
 until he seemed to enter upon a new experience and 
 a higher life. According to his own expression of 
 it, it was coming out of darkness into light. Others 
 were similarly wrought upon, and new experiences 
 were received, until the idea became prevalent that 
 there was a somewhat definite experience, open to 
 all Christians, by which they could rise to a higher 
 plane of living, and maintain unbroken communion 
 with the Saviour. This experience was variously 
 named " the blessing," " sanctifkation," " perfect 
 
EARLY SPIRIT AND THOUGHT AND LIFE, gi 
 
 love," " Christian perfection." The theory of the 
 experience, so far as a theory was presented, was 
 that it was a passing from a state of imperfect obe- 
 dience to perfect obedience — perfect, not in the 
 sense of freedom from mistakes and involuntary im- 
 perfections, but in freedom from voluntary failures, 
 positive and present sin — a passing from partial to 
 entire consecration. 
 
 The view was essentially that of the Wesleyan ex- 
 perience of perfect love, and biographies of Wesley- 
 ans were eagerly sought for, in which these experi- 
 ences were portrayed, as of the Wesleys, Fletcher, 
 Carvosso, Hester Ann Rogers, as well as the experi- 
 ences of President and Mrs. Edwards and J. B. Tay- 
 lor. Mr. Finney was about leaving for his winter in 
 New York, but these new ideas went with him, and 
 gave tone to his experience and his preaching there. 
 Mr. Mahan's preaching was in the direction of this 
 experience, and many were greatly moved by it. 
 
 The question of sanctification in the present life 
 became very prominent, and the possibility of it was 
 generally accepted. Those who entered into the 
 special experience involved were comparatively few. 
 Many others sought the experience, with more or less 
 earnestness and anxiety. But the prevailing opinion 
 probably was, that while the experience was genuine 
 and valuable, it was not to be attained at will ; and 
 that true Christian wisdom dictated a life of fidelity 
 and duty, and the acceptance of whatever experience 
 should fall to one's lot. This certainly was true, 
 that those who in the earlier part of the movement 
 came into this special experience were often greatly 
 
£2 OBERLIN. 
 
 and permanently quickened in their spiritual life, and 
 acquired an energy and efficiency as Christian work- 
 ers which had never before characterized them. To 
 numbers of them it proved a life-long elevation of 
 soul, a vision of spiritual realities that sustained 
 them many a year. There was, on the part of these 
 persons in general, no profession of sinlessness ; but 
 a humble acknowledgment of God's faithfulness to 
 His promises, a constant joy in the Saviour as a pres- 
 ent help in every time of need. It was inevitable 
 that in such a movement there would be superficial 
 imitations of the genuine experience — mere excite- 
 ment of feeling, with no permanent result in charac- 
 ter or life. Such cases must occur in all earnest and 
 effective movements. There is the substance and 
 the shadow, and the shadow is often the more showy. 
 As months and years passed on, the first impulse 
 of the movement seemed in a measure to exhaust 
 itself, and experiences became less intense. There 
 was time, too, to examine more carefully the doctrinal 
 force and relations of the experience itself ; espec- 
 ially the idea that the ordinary Christian experience 
 involved only a partial consecration, which in the 
 higher experience, became entire consecration. This 
 view was soon found to be unscriptural and unphilo- 
 sophical. No partial consecration could be in any 
 sense acceptable to God ; nor indeed could such a 
 partial consecration exist. The idea of the neces- 
 sary simplicity of moral action became developed 
 in the Oberlin theology, and the doctrine of sancti- 
 fication was brought into harmony with this princi- 
 ple. It was found that the very beginning of the 
 
EARLY SPIRIT AND THOUGHT AND LIFE. 93 
 
 Christian life involved entire consecration, and that 
 the difference, in moral attitude, between the mature 
 and the immature Christian, is in the continuity or per- 
 manency of obedience, and not in the heartiness or 
 genuineness of obedience while it exists. This view of 
 the case made no provision for the Christian passing 
 from an unsanctified to a sanctified state, by a single 
 act of faith, or by any special experience. All ex- 
 perience in the Christian life must tend to greater 
 stability, but there is no clear dividing line between 
 sanctified and unsanctified Christians ; and there can 
 be no experience which should be called sanctifica- 
 tion, as distinguished from other experiences which 
 precede or follow. Conversion is .a turning from sin 
 to holiness, and the subsequent work of the Chris- 
 tian is, to resist temptation, to return to obedience 
 when he has fallen, and to become established in 
 righteousness. 
 
 This view of Christian character was generally ac- 
 cepted by the leaders of thought at Oberlin, practi- 
 cally if not theoretically ; and the doctrine of sancti- 
 fication by special experience, gradually gave place 
 to a presentation of the baptism of the Spirit as a 
 condition of a more efficient and permanent Chris- 
 tian life. 
 
 At the height of the interest in these questions of 
 Christian duty and the Christian life, near the close 
 of 1838, The Oberlin Evangelist was established as an 
 organ of communication with the Christian world, 
 and soon attained a circulation of five thousand 
 copies. It was a semi-monthly paper of eight quarto 
 pages. The principal contributors to it were Profes- 
 
94 OBERLIN. 
 
 sors Finney and Cowles, President Mahan and Pro- 
 fessors Morgan and Thome. An office editor was 
 employed, who received compensation. The labor 
 of the other writers was entirely gratuitous, and 
 whatever income there might be, was devoted to the 
 educational work at Oberlin, chiefly in aid of young 
 men preparing for the ministry. The publication of 
 The Evangelist was continued twenty -four years, 
 until, during the war, it failed for want of support. 
 Almost every number contained a sermon of Mr. 
 Finney, reported for the paper, often a letter from 
 him, and various other communications upon doc- 
 trine and duty. The whole series of twenty-four 
 volumes embodies a large amount of valuable Chris- 
 tian literature, and in its day the paper commanded 
 a wide influence. 
 
 In 1845 tne Oberlin Quarterly Review was estab- 
 lished, with President Mahan and Professor Wm. 
 Cochran, and afterward Professor Finney, as editors. 
 The leading aim of the Quarterly was the more ex- 
 tended and thorough discussion of these questions 
 of doctrine and duty, and of others which occupied 
 public attention. It was issued only four years, and 
 never secured an adequate support. 
 
 In such activities of thought and life, the commu- 
 nity and the college were constantly exercised and 
 trained. The regular work of the college was car- 
 ried forward without material interruption, and the 
 colonists pushed forward the improvement of their 
 lands and the various enterprises of the community. 
 There were periods, oftener near the close of the 
 year before the winter vacation, when the religious 
 
EARLY SPIRIT AND THOUGHT AND LIFE. 95 
 
 interest became deepened and intensified in connec- 
 tion with the Sabbath services, and almost sponta- 
 neously the people would gather upon the following 
 day ; and thus the meetings would be continued from 
 day to day, for a week or two, or even three, with a 
 suspension of the ordinary work of the college, and 
 of the community. On one such occasion there was 
 a beginning of some complaint on the part of a few 
 students not in sympathy with the general feeling, 
 that they were here to study, and not to attend 
 meetings — that they were here on expense, and it was 
 not reasonable that their work should be interrupted. 
 The complaint would seem to have some foundation ; 
 but Mr. Finney met it in a discourse in which he 
 told them that the first thing they needed was to be- 
 come reconciled to God ; that neither study nor any- 
 thing else was of any account to them until this 
 great question of life and duty was settled ; that 
 Oberlin was founded by the servants of God for the 
 promotion of His cause in the world, to prepare 
 teachers and preachers for His service ; that the funds 
 by which the college was sustained were given by 
 Christian men for this purpose, and they had no right 
 to avail themselves of these opportunities to prepare 
 themselves for their own selfish and worldly schemes. 
 He besought them to give their hearts to God, and 
 no longer abuse His forbearance or the privileges 
 afforded them by His people. The appeal was over- 
 whelming, and silenced if it did not satisfy. 
 
 With all this intensity of the religious life, the 
 prevalent piety of the place was never ascetic, never 
 noisy or demonstrative. A general cheerfulness per- 
 
96 OBERLIN. 
 
 vaded the community ; and the broad culture which 
 was encouraged and maintained, and the varied in- 
 terests and occupations which engaged the attention 
 of citizens and students, were incompatible with any 
 narrow or extreme type of religious manifestation. 
 There were, of course, instances of a self-centred and 
 introspective pietism, but in general the spirit of the 
 place was active, aggressive, practical, bringing every- 
 thing to the test of reason, and experience and the 
 Scriptures. Mr. Shipherd's idea of an isolated 
 Christian community, by its very position sheltered 
 from the influences of the world, was scarcely real- 
 ized. Hundreds of young people from every part 
 of the land were continually drawn in, and were 
 again sent forth to find their place and their work 
 in the world. The connections were too vital and 
 wide-spread to permit the development of any very 
 peculiar life. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 RELATIONS AND EXPERIENCES, ECCLESIASTICAL AND 
 POLITICAL. 
 
 The families first gathered at Oberlin were of the 
 New England training and culture, and were thus 
 inclined to the Congregational order in church ar- 
 rangements. This was true also of Messrs. Ship- 
 herd and Stewart, the original founders. But all 
 New England ministers, coming to the West in those 
 days, connected themselves with the Presbytery 
 under the " Plan of Union;" and all the churches or- 
 ganized among the New England emigrants of the 
 Western Reserve, while Congregational in their inter- 
 nal constitution, maintained their outward fellowship 
 through connection with Presbytery. Messrs. Ma- 
 han, Finney, and Morgan were Presbyterian in their 
 church connections before coming to Oberlin, and 
 had no special leaning to the Congregational order. 
 The two brothers, Henry and John P. Cowles, were 
 original Congregationalists, but Henry had been some 
 years a pastor in Ohio, and was connected, as usual, 
 with Presbytery. Nothing was farther from the 
 thoughts of the founders than the idea of a new de- 
 parture in ecclesiastical matters, or any action not 
 in harmony with the established order and arrange- 
 ments of the churches of the region. 
 
 The organization of the Oberlin church was begun 
 
98 OBERLIN. 
 
 on the 3d of September, 1834, nearly a year and a half 
 after the first colonists came upon the ground. The 
 ministers present at the organization were John J. 
 Shipherd ; Seth H. Waldo, principal of the school ; 
 John Keyes, pastor of the church at Dover; J. H. 
 Eells, pastor at Elyria ; and Oliver Eastman, of Ober- 
 lin. The people assembled in the little school chapel, 
 the only gathering place, at half-past ten in the 
 morning, and listened to a sermon from the young 
 Elyria pastor. In the afternoon sixty-one persons 
 came forward with letters and credentials, and were 
 approved as members. The completion of the or- 
 ganization was accomplished on the 13th of Septem- 
 ber, when those who had been approved " Resolved 
 that those who are examined and accepted do now 
 consider themselves as members, and that the church 
 is legally and completely organized." At a prelimi- 
 nary meeting it had been voted that the name of 
 the church should be " The Congregational Church 
 of Christ at Oberlin." 
 
 The first act of the church after the vote of or- 
 ganization was to pass the following resolution : 
 " Resolved, that this church apply to the Presbytery 
 of Cleveland for admittance and membership, and 
 that Bro. J. J. Shipherd represent this church in 
 Presbytery, and that Bro. P. P. Pease accompany him 
 as a delegate." A confession of faith had been 
 adopted at the preliminary meeting, orthodox in the 
 New England Calvinistic sense, setting forth the doc- 
 trines of God's existence and attributes, the Divine 
 authority of the Scriptures, the Trinity, Divine Sov- 
 ereignty, the Fall, Total Depravity, Atonement, Re- 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 99 
 
 generation by the Holy Spirit, Election, Perseverance, 
 and Free Agency. A missing leaf of the record has 
 taken away the articles on the Ordinances of the 
 Church, the Resurrection, and the Future Life, which 
 undoubtedly belonged to the confession. 
 
 The church at once gave a unanimous call to Mr. 
 Shipherd to become their pastor. After some delay, 
 on account of pressing duties connected with the 
 establishment of the college and the oversight of its 
 interests, he accepted the charge, and, with some 
 interruption from ill-health and his other duties, he 
 held the position until June, 1836. He then tendered 
 his resignation, giving as his reasons his poor health, 
 which disqualified him for the work, and the fact 
 that the Lord was calling him to the establishment 
 of other schools which, like Oberlin, should aid in 
 supplying laborers for the great field. This resigna- 
 tion was accepted, and Mr. Finney was called to take 
 " temporary charge" of the church. The relation- 
 ship was at length made permanent, and Mr. Finney 
 continued pastor of the church, in connection with 
 his professorship in the seminary, until 1872. Much 
 of this time Professor Morgan was associated with 
 him as his assistant. 
 
 In August of this year, 1836, the church appointed 
 a delegation to meet with the representatives of 
 other churches at Hudson, for the purpose of organ- 
 izing a Congregational Association for the Western 
 Reserve. The organization was consummated at 
 an adjourned meeting held at Oberlin the following 
 month, when there were present nine ministers 
 and thirty-four lay delegates representing twenty 
 
ICO OBERLIN. 
 
 churches. The Oberlin church at this time with- 
 drew from the Presbytery, and became connected 
 with the W. R. Association. Only two Oberlin 
 ministers took part in forming the Asssociation — 
 President Mahan and Professor Jno. P. Cowles. 
 Others preferred to hold back with the purpose of 
 still maintaining fraternal relations with their Pres- 
 byterian brethren. Professor Henry Cowles joined 
 the Association six years later, and Professors Finney 
 and Morgan eight years. 
 
 There is no record of the motive of the church in 
 this movement of separation from the Presbytery. 
 Those who united in forming the Association put 
 on record their purpose in the organization as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 i. "That this Association has originated in an 
 honest attachment to the principles of Congregation- 
 alism ; in a wish to carry out our Saviour's laws of 
 Christian union ; and in a regard for the welfare of 
 many churches, both on the Reserve and in the 
 region south of us, that have not been connected 
 with any ecclesiastical body, and have been waiting 
 for and desiring an organization of this sort." 
 
 2. "This Association entertain a high regard for 
 the Presbyterian ministers and churches on the Re- 
 serve, and would most cordially cherish their Chris- 
 tian fellowship ; and our movement in forming our- 
 selves into a distinct organization has not originated 
 in any lack of confidence in those brethren, nor in 
 any wish to be dissociated from their communion." 
 
 Some months before this change of ecclesiastical 
 relations the church had appointed a committee to 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 101 
 
 revise the " articles of faith:" apparently not be- 
 cause of any change of theological opinion, or any 
 serious dissent from the confession as it stood ; but 
 there was in the church a growing sense of the im- 
 portance of such an organization of the church that 
 no Christian should be necessarily excluded from it. 
 For a long time, apparently, no other church would 
 be required on account of numbers, and it did not 
 seem desirable that any subordinate difference of 
 views should make another church necessary. The 
 aim in the revision, therefore, was to secure a creed 
 which should commend itself to all evangelical Chris- 
 tians. As the result of the deliberation the following 
 articles were adopted, and have ever since stood as 
 the confession of the church : 
 
 1. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old 
 and New Testaments are given by inspiration of 
 God, and are the only infallible rule of faith and 
 practice. 
 
 2. We believe in one God, the Creator and Ruler 
 of the Universe, existing in a Divine and incompre- 
 hensible Trinity, the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, 
 and the Holy Ghost, each possessing all Divine per- 
 fections. 
 
 3. We believe in the fall of our first parents, and 
 the consequent entire apostasy, depravity, and lost 
 condition of the human race. 
 
 4. We believe in the incarnation, death, and atone- 
 ment of the Son of God ; and that salvation is at- 
 tained only through repentance and faith in His 
 blood. 
 
 5. We believe in the necessity of a radical change 
 
102 BERLIN. 
 
 of heart, and that this is effected through the truth 
 by the agency of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 6. We believe that the moral law is binding on all 
 mankind as the rule of life, and that obedience to it 
 is the proper evidence of a saving change. 
 
 7. We believe that credible evidence of a change 
 of heart is an indispensable ground of admission to 
 the privileges of the visible Church. 
 
 8. We believe that the ordinances of Baptism and 
 the Lord's Supper, together with the Christian Sab- 
 bath, are of perpetual obligation in the church. 
 
 9. We believe in a future judgment, the endless 
 happiness of the righteous, and the endless misery of 
 the wicked. 
 
 There is testimony that the words " the resur- 
 rection of the dead" were omitted from the last 
 article by a clerical error in entering it upon the 
 record ; but the article stands as it was recorded. 
 For many years care was taken by the pastors, at 
 every public reading of the Confession, to announce 
 that it did not contain all that the church believed, 
 but what was regarded as necessary to membership. 
 
 For twenty years and more this was the only 
 church in Oberlin. At one time a Methodist class 
 existed here, but there seemed to be no call from 
 within the community itself for another church, un- 
 til the members had so increased as to make the 
 church unwieldy. Doubtless Mr. Finney's powerful 
 ministry had much to do with this persistent unity. 
 The church increased in numbers with the growth 
 of the town and the college until it numbered prob- 
 ably twelve hundred resident members. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. IC>3 
 
 The first place of worship was the small upper 
 room in Oberlin Hall, the first college building. In 
 1835 it became impossible to crowd the people into 
 it, and Sabbath services were held in the new col- 
 lege boarding-hall, still in an unfinished state ; and 
 after it was completed the dining-hall was occupied 
 as a place of meeting. The same year the " colony" 
 united with the college in the building of Colonial 
 Hall, with the arrangement that the first story 
 should be finished as an audience -room, and be 
 used as a college chapel, and audience-room for the 
 church. This was completed in the spring of 1836, 
 and furnished, closely packed, eight hundred sit- 
 tings. For several years this provision was ade- 
 quate to the demand ; but at length the place be- 
 came too strait, and in 1840-41, during the pleas- 
 ant part of the year, a subsidiary service was held 
 on Sunday in one of the lecture-rooms of the col- 
 lege — generally the laboratory or the music-hall. In 
 the summers, of 1841 and 1842 the " Big Tent" was 
 spread, on the north-east corner of the square, every 
 Saturday afternoon, for the Sunday service. The 
 labor involved was considerable, and the comfort of 
 the place depended upon the weather. After much 
 deliberation the church resolved to build a house, 
 larger than the usual congregation required, suffi- 
 cient to meet the necessities of commencement oc- 
 casions. The walls were erected, and the building 
 was inclosed in 1842, and the commencement was 
 held in it, still unfinished, in 1843. The building 
 was a great undertaking for the community at that 
 time. The expense of building their homes and 
 
104 OBERLlrf. 
 
 bringing their farms under cultivation still bore upon 
 them, and no returns had as yet been received be- 
 yond the absolutely necessary cost of living. The 
 professors were all in straitened circumstances, de- 
 pending on precarious salaries. The students, with 
 rare exceptions, were self-supporting. But the peo- 
 ple had a mind to the work, and with a little aid 
 from friends abroad, who were interested to help the 
 college to a suitable place for the gatherings at 
 commencement, the required amount, $12,000, was 
 raised. At the time it was built it was as desirable 
 an audience-room as any in the West, and it is diffi- 
 cult now to find a better. It furnishes permanent 
 sittings for sixteen hundred persons, and can be 
 made to accommodate five hundred more. It was 
 thought to be larger than the ordinary uses of the 
 church required, but this impression was soon done 
 away. It was never too large. The house failed to 
 receive a definite and formal dedication. It was 
 occupied by the church at various times during the 
 progress of the work, and as one part after another 
 was completed, it was recognized with thanksgiving 
 on the following Sabbath. Thus the work and the 
 dedication went on together; and when the house 
 was completed the people found themselves already 
 domesticated there. 
 
 This was the church home for the Oberlin people 
 as a whole for many years. No college church has 
 ever been organized at Oberlin. It has been thought 
 that it was better for all concerned that students 
 and citizens should be associated in church rela- 
 tions; that with this arrangement they would better 
 
FIRST CHURCH. 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. IO^ 
 
 Understand and appreciate each other, and the dan- 
 ger of hostile feeling between the college and the 
 town would be avoided ; that a more wholesome 
 religious culture would thus be secured to the stu- 
 dents, and a general interest in the progress of re- 
 ligion in the world be better maintained among 
 them. The result has seemed to justify the plan. 
 
 There was naturally among the people at Oberlin 
 a somewhat settled repugnance to the establishment 
 of other churches here. This repugnance did not 
 have its seat in denominationalism, for this was com- 
 paratively weak among the people ; but rather in the 
 feeling or conviction that church unity was impor- 
 tant to the prosperity of the enterprise. There was 
 more or less anxiety among the different denomina- 
 tions round about that this vacant territory should 
 be occupied. A town of two or three thousand peo- 
 ple, with only a single church, was in some quarters 
 regarded as proof of a destitution of religious priv- 
 ileges. Our friends of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church seemed to be the first to awake to the 
 necessities of the situation ; and the voice of a mis- 
 sionary was soon heard in the Eastern churches set- 
 ting forth the call for the establishment of gospel 
 institutions in Oberlin. The Episcopal Church was 
 organized in the year 1855, and was received with a 
 degree of hospitality, in spite of the repugnance to 
 the division of the church interest. When Bishop 
 Mcllvaine first came to look after his little flock, 
 the Oberlin First Church was opened to him, and he 
 held the service there with his people. 
 
 When once the line was broken, other church or- 
 
106 OBERLIN. 
 
 ganizations soon followed : the Methodist Episcopal, 
 the Baptist, and a Methodist Church for the colored 
 people — all organized between 1866 and 1869. 
 
 The congregation of the old church was still very 
 large, and it was difficult for new families to find 
 comfortable seats in the house, or to make them- 
 selves fully at home among so many. After full 
 deliberation it was voted by the church, with only 
 one dissenting voice, to encourage a part of the 
 church to withdraw and organize a Second Con- 
 gregational Church. This was done in the spring of 
 i860; and the new church, taking about one hun- 
 dred members the first year from the old church, 
 set up for itself, holding its services in the college 
 chapel. Those who volunteered for the new enter- 
 prise were dismissed with a benediction, and only 
 fraternal feelings have ever existed between the two 
 churches. 
 
 Up to this time there had been no pastor in the 
 old church exclusively devoted to the work of the 
 church. Mr. Finney and his assistants held pro- 
 fessorships in the college. 
 
 The Second Church after a few months called a 
 pastor, Rev. M. W. Fairfield, to give himself exclu- 
 sively to the work. He remained four years, when 
 the church returned to the old habit of employing 
 the professors, which continued until February, 1876, 
 when Rev. Wm. Kincaid was called, and filled the 
 position until 1882, when failing health compelled 
 him to retire. 
 
 Mr. Finney resigned the pastorate of the First 
 Church in 1872, and Rev. James Brand was called 
 
ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 10? 
 
 iii 1873, and still continues in the work. The First 
 and Second churches have been about equally pros- 
 pered as to numbers, reporting 870 and 624 respec- 
 tively in the Year-book for 1883. 
 
 The war coming on soon after the organization of 
 the Second Church, absorbed all the means and en- 
 ergy of the people, so that, for six or seven years, 
 nothing was done toward building a house. In the 
 autumn of 1870 the Second Church was dedicated. 
 The audience- room furnishes eleven hundred sit- 
 tings, and in the basement are the Sunday-school 
 room, prayer-room, and parlors. 
 
 The other churches of the place all have comforta- 
 ble houses, so that the church destitution of the 
 early days has passed away. There is work and 
 room for all ; and it would be difficult to find a com- 
 munity in which the different denominations have a 
 better understanding with each other, or are more 
 ready for all reasonable co-operation. The colored 
 church came into existence, not because the colored 
 people were not welcomed to all the churches, nor 
 because a separate organization was desired by those 
 who had been most favored with education and cul- 
 ture, but because considerable numbers of them felt 
 more at home with a style of service and instruction 
 more like that with which they had been familiar 
 from their childhood. 
 
 The college is not organically denominational. It 
 has no connection with any ecclesiastical organiza- 
 tion. The trustees invite the State Congregational 
 Associations of Ohio and Michigan to send visitors 
 annually to the theological seminary. The board 
 
108 OB E RUN. 
 
 of trustees is a self-perpetuating body, and there is 
 nothing in the charter, nor even in the by-laws, limit- 
 ing the choice of trustees in any respect whatsoever. 
 The nine corporators named in the charter, as granted 
 by the Legislature, were pastors and members of 
 churches under the Plan of Union, a considerable 
 portion of them decidedly Presbyterian in their lean- 
 ings. Of their successors the majority have been 
 Congregationalists ; but there have always been mem- 
 bers of the Board who were connected with other 
 denominations. There is no regulation requiring 
 that professors and instructors shall have any church 
 connections whatever. There is no creed to which 
 theological professors even are required to assent in 
 their inauguration. All these things regulate them- 
 selves under the organic forces that have controlled 
 the movement ; and no embarrassment, no question 
 even, has ever arisen upon the subject. The college 
 is Congregational, not because of the definite pur- 
 pose of the founders, or of any of the earlier framers 
 of its polity, but because the seed that was planted 
 thus grew. For the first two years it seemed an 
 even question under what influences it would at 
 length develop. If the surrounding Presbyterianism 
 had been able to welcome the new enterprise, Ober- 
 lin might have been Presbyterian. 
 
 The students of the college determine for them- 
 selves with what church they will worship ; but they 
 are required to make a selection, and to attend that 
 church continuously for a term. 
 
POLITICAL ACTION. IOO, 
 
 POLITICAL ACTION. 
 
 The early inhabitants of Oberlin, those who 
 came as colonists, were New Englanders, immedi- 
 ately or remotely, and hence were members of the 
 Whig party. There was probably no exception to 
 this rule. The Whig party, as they knew it, was 
 the party of order and progress and intelligence, 
 and they felt it almost as necessary to be Whigs 
 as to be Christians. People of other views in 
 politics soon appeared, but they were not of the 
 original stock. Until 1837 nothing occurred to in- 
 dicate that the people of Oberlin would ever do any- 
 thing else than vote the respectable Whig ticket. 
 They had become abolitionized, but they were just 
 as good Whigs as ever. In the autumn of that year 
 there was an election in the county for representa- 
 tive to the State Legislature. The day before the 
 election a report was circulated in Oberlin that the 
 Whig candidate was not careful in his observance 
 of the Sabbath. A spontaneous gathering of the 
 voters was held, and Mr. Finney and others were 
 invited to give their suggestions as to the duty of 
 the hour. The result was that a large proportion of 
 the Oberlin voters " threw away their votes." The 
 two parties were closely balanced in the county, and 
 the Oberlin vote turned the scale. The next even- 
 ing, as the returns came in at Elyria, the county 
 seat, the shouters of the two parties were drawn up 
 on opposite sides of the square, and the returns were 
 cried out from the court-house steps. The balance 
 
110 O BERLIN. 
 
 inclined now in one direction, and now in the other ; 
 but the Whigs were full of hope until the returns 
 came in from Russia township, which contained the 
 village of Oberlin. These returns threw their whole 
 calculation out of balance, and the Whigs retired in 
 disgust. It was currently reported on the streets 
 that a dozen men volunteered, and teams were 
 offered, to go to Oberlin and " tar and feather Mr. 
 Finney." Probably a sober second thought sug- 
 gested that the proceeding would scarcely be in 
 keeping with the claims of the party of law and 
 order. They never appeared at Oberlin. From this 
 time Oberlin was reckoned an uncertain quantity in 
 the matter of political action. The antislavery 
 question began to have a practical bearing both in 
 state and general politics; and the Oberlin vote 
 could always be depended on where it would tell 
 against the pro-slavery attitude of the government. 
 If " black laws" for the state of Ohio were in ques- 
 tion, the representative from Lorain County had be- 
 fore his eyes the Oberlin vote, which still turned the 
 scale in the county. The time came at length when 
 three men in the Legislature — of whom the represen- 
 tative from Lorain, Dr. N. S. Townshend, a trustee 
 of Oberlin College, was one — held the balance of 
 power between the two parties, and sent Salmon P. 
 Chase to the Senate of the United States. Thus 
 the antislavery sentiment of the Oberlin people be- 
 came an active force in politics. At the Presidential 
 election in 1840, a Liberty candidate for the Presi- 
 dency was put forward, and the majority of the 
 people of Oberlin voted for him. There was some 
 
POLITICAL ACTION. Ill 
 
 division of sentiment at this time — a portion of the 
 people still hoping for antislavery action from the 
 Whig party. In 1844 almost the entire Oberlin vote 
 was cast for the candidate of the Liberty party, 
 James G. Birney. In 1848 there was still some dis- 
 traction, but a large majority voted for Van Buren, 
 the Free Soil candidate, and afterward the Oberlin 
 vote was with the Republican party. It will thus 
 appear that the aim at Oberlin in the matter of po- 
 litical action has always been practical. The men 
 voted for were not always satisfactory representa- 
 tives of the Oberlin sentiment, but they occupied 
 such a position that a vote for them would bear 
 most directly upon the great end. Those who 
 claimed to be, during these years, the true, radical, 
 abolitionists, were either not voting at all, like the 
 followers of Mr. Garrison, or were voting for Gerrit 
 Smith, because he was right on all questions pertain- 
 ing to slavery. The people at Oberlin voted for Van 
 Buren, for Fremont, for Lincoln, because these men 
 represented a movement which bore directly upon 
 the power and extension of slavery in the land. 
 
 There were other things to be done at Oberlin, in 
 an antislavery way, besides the use of the ballot. 
 The decision to receive colored students, made when 
 there was no such student probably within a hun- 
 dred miles, soon brought forth results. The first 
 colored student was James Bradley, from Cincinnati, 
 who followed the Lane Seminary students to Ober- 
 lin. Others soon came, but not in large numbers. 
 From 1840 to i860 the proportion of colored stu- 
 dents was four or five per cent. Soon after the war 
 
1 1 2 OBERLltf. 
 
 the ratio rose to seven or eight per cent, but has" 
 fallen again to five or six in a hundred. No adap- 
 tation of the course of study to the special needs of 
 colored pupils was ever made. It was not a colored 
 school that was proposed, but a school where colored 
 students should have equal privileges with others. 
 No record of colored students has been kept distinct 
 from the general record. No distinctive mark ap- 
 pears in the catalogues. The only reliance for the 
 past is the knowledge and memory of instructors 
 and others. 
 
 Among the 20,000 different pupils that have been 
 in attendance from the beginning probably 1000 
 have been colored. Sixty have completed a course 
 — thirty-two young men and twenty-eight young 
 women. Some of these were brilliant scholars, some 
 have attained to distinction, and most are occupy- 
 ing positions of usefulness in the land. 
 
 The chief benefit of the open door for the colored 
 people at Oberlin, however, has probably not been in 
 this direct result, nor even in the indirect effect in 
 opening other schools in a similar way. These results 
 are important, but above all there is the reaction of 
 the arrangement upon the large number of young 
 people who have received their education, more or 
 less, at Oberlin. These came from all parts of the 
 land, and scattered as widely when they left. It mat- 
 tered little what were their views on slavery, or their 
 feelings toward the colored people, when they came. 
 They might at first look scornfully on the colored 
 fellow-student, but soon a kindly feeling grew upon 
 them, and they became friends of the colored people, 
 
POLITICAL ACTION. 113 
 
 and champions of their rights ; and thus the anti- 
 slavery influence was diffused. It is probable that 
 the arrangement was more important to the white 
 students than to the colored. The great question of 
 the times arrested their attention, and they became 
 settled in their attitude and action in regard to it. 
 A single colored student in each class, unconsciously 
 to himself, accomplished the work. He stood there 
 in his own right, " a man and a brother," more effec- 
 tive than all the antislavery sermons that Oberlin 
 could have brought to bear. No such sermons were 
 called for. Every student was left to determine for 
 himself whether he would recognize his colored fel- 
 low-pupil. Nothing in this respect was required of 
 him. He was not permitted to abuse him, and that 
 was the limit of the obligation imposed. Classes 
 were never seated alphabetically in the recitation- 
 room or in the chapel ; hence no one was required 
 to sit next a colored student. He must consent to 
 be in the same class with him, or forego the oppor- 
 tunities of the school ; but to this he had made up 
 his mind when he came. No difficulties in discipline, 
 so far as is remembered, ever arose from the arrange- 
 ment. In a few rare instances a colored and a white 
 boy have had a quarrel, and occasionally a colored 
 student has imagined that some disrespect was shown 
 him by a fellow-student ; but in general each one 
 has found the place that belonged to him, in the re- 
 gard of his fellows, irrespective of color. 
 
 The same action which brought colored students 
 to the school, brought colored families to the town 
 to find their homes. At first, some of the more 
 
1 14 OBERLIN. 
 
 properous of the free colored people of the Slave 
 States came in to secure privileges for themselves 
 and their children. Some of the more enterprising 
 of the slaves at length heard of Oberlin, and crept 
 in stealthily to see whether what they had heard 
 was true. Some of these found courage to remain, 
 and thus the colored element gradually increased 
 until it has become a fifth part of the population. 
 There are among the colored people several pros- 
 perous business men and successful mechanics. A 
 larger portion are day laborers. They are a quiet 
 and peaceable people in general, anxious for educa- 
 tion for their children, and on the whole gradually 
 improving. 
 
 Oberlin was, of course, an important station on 
 the Underground Railroad ; and a volume might 
 be written of incidents and experiences, pathetic, 
 amusing, and exciting, which befell the people in 
 meeting their responsibilities in regard to this busi- 
 ness. The fugitives who came through Oberlin 
 were generally shipped for Canada, at some neigh- 
 boring port on the Lake, between Cleveland and 
 Sandusky. There were captains of sailing vessels 
 and steamers, many of them, who, it was well under- 
 stood, would never observe when a group of timid 
 fugitives crept aboard their ships, and hid them- 
 selves away in some dark corner ; and there were men 
 at all these ports ready to despatch a trusty messenger 
 to Oberlin when such a ship came in. It was a con- 
 venience in the transaction of the business that it 
 mattered little to what port in Canada the vessel 
 was bound. The emigrants could be dropped at 
 
POLITICAL ACTION. 115 
 
 any point between Windsor and the Welland Canal, 
 to their entire satisfaction. It was free soil they 
 were in pursuit of, and it was of no account what 
 other qualities the soil possessed. If it yielded no 
 fetters nor masters, it was the soil for them. Some 
 of these fugitives found themselves so comfortable 
 at Oberlin, that they lingered here, and made a per- 
 manent home. There was risk in this, and it was 
 not generally encouraged. But there were always 
 numbers of this class among the colored people, and 
 the appearance of a suspected slave-catcher in the 
 community produced consternation. Every device 
 for concealing fugitives was resorted to ; every move- 
 ment for transporting them to the point of embarka- 
 was carefully planned. Sometimes the ruse was 
 adopted of starting off a load of pretended fugitives 
 toward the Lake, with great show of carefulness, 
 while the real fugitives were quietly taken away in 
 another direction. In one instance a student es- 
 corted a colored man, attired and veiled as a woman, 
 on horseback, across the country to Huron. 
 
 It was not regarded as legitimate to go into the 
 Slave States and entice the slaves from their mas- 
 ters ; not because of scruples in regard to the mas- 
 ter's real ownership, but because it would be a reck- 
 less undertaking, involving too much risk, and proba- 
 bly doing more harm than good. One person, Cal- 
 vin Fairbanks, went from Oberlin to Kentucky for 
 this purpose, in 1845, against the remonstrance of 
 several who knew his intention. He soon found 
 himself in the penitentiary, and served out a term 
 of eleven years. There was abundant sympathy for 
 
Il6 OBERLM. 
 
 him, but no approval of his undertaking. An- 
 other, George Thompson, who had been a student 
 at Oberlin, but was at the time a member of Mission 
 Institute at Quincy, 111., for an effort to aid a slave 
 to escape from Missouri, served a term of five years, 
 with two companions, in the Missouri Penitentiary. 
 Not to deliver to his master the servant that had 
 escaped from his master, seemed to the people of 
 Oberlin a solemn and pressing duty. This attitude 
 exposed the college and the community to much 
 reproach, and sometimes apparently to serious dan- 
 ger. Threats came from abroad that the college 
 buildings should be burned. A Democratic Legis- 
 lature, at different times, agitated the question of 
 repealing the college charter. The fourth and last 
 attempt was made in 1843, when the bill for repeal 
 was indefinitely postponed in the House, by a vote 
 of thirty-six to twenty-nine. 
 
 The people in neighboring towns were, at the 
 outset, not in sympathy with Oberlin in its anti- 
 slavery position. They agreed with the rest of the 
 world in regarding it as unmitigated fanaticism. 
 The feeling was often bitter and intense, and an 
 Oberlin man going out from home in any direction 
 was liable to be assailed with bitter words ; and if 
 he ventured to lecture upon the unpopular theme, 
 he was fortunate if he encountered words only. Of 
 course the self-respectful part of the community 
 would take no part in such abuse, but fellows of the 
 baser sort felt themselves sustained by the common 
 feeling. On the Middle Ridge road, six miles north 
 of Oberlin, a guide-board put up by the authorities, 
 
POLITICAL ACTION. 117 
 
 stood for years, pointing the way to Oberlin, not by 
 the ordinary index finger, but by the full length fig- 
 ure of a fugitive running with all his might to reach 
 the place. The tavern sign, four miles east, was 
 ornamented, on its Oberlin face, with the representa- 
 tion of a fugitive slave pursued by a tiger. Where 
 the general feeling yielded such results, not much 
 could be expected in the way of sympathy for the 
 fugitives. But even among these people the slave- 
 catcher had little favor. They would thwart his 
 pursuit in every way, and shelter the fugitive if 
 they could. Only the meanest and most mercenary 
 could be hired to betray the victim. Now and then 
 an official felt called upon to extend aid and comfort 
 to the slave-hunter who claimed his service, but 
 he could expect no toleration from his neighbors in 
 such a course. A whole neighborhood would sud- 
 denly find themselves abolitionists upon the appear- 
 ance of a slave-hunter among them ; and by repeated 
 occurrences of this kind, as much as by any other 
 means, Lorain County, and all Northern Ohio, be- 
 came at length intensely antislavery in feeling and 
 action. 
 
 It was not often that a slave was seized in Oberlin, 
 and no one, during all the dark years, was ever carried 
 back to bondage. Violent resistance, in the form of 
 personal assault upon the kidnapper, was not encour- 
 aged, and no instance of bloodshed or personal harm 
 ever occurred ; but the people would rally in a mass 
 and hinder the captor from proceeding with his vic- 
 tim, and oblige him to exhibit his authority, and 
 repair at once to the nearest court to establish the 
 
Il8 BERLIN. 
 
 legality of his proceedings. Often the illegality of 
 the process was so marked that the slaves would be 
 at once discharged ; and once discharged, they were 
 soon beyond danger. 
 
 In the spring of 1841 an arrest took place, one 
 Friday evening, at a house then standing in the 
 forest one mile east of the centre. Some public 
 meeting was in progress in the college chapel when 
 the alarm reached town. A committee of citizens 
 and students was appointed to follow the kidnap- 
 pers, and do whatever could be legally done to res- 
 cue the two victims, a man and his wife, from their 
 clutches. The people turned out in committee of 
 the whole, entirely unarmed, and without definite 
 thought as to what could be done. They overtook 
 the company on the State road, two or three miles 
 south-east of the village, and effectually interrupted 
 their progress for the night. In the morning the 
 slave-claimants were induced to go to Elyria and 
 have their process reviewed in court. Their papers 
 were found to be irregular, and the two fugitives 
 were placed in jail until the claimants could return 
 to Kentucky and obtain the required evidence. At 
 the same time a warrant was served upon the claim- 
 ants for assault and battery with deadly weapons, 
 and threats of violence toward members of the fam- 
 ily that had sheltered the fugitives, and they were 
 bound over to appear in the same court in their own 
 defence. Before the day of trial came, one of the 
 two received a summons to appear before the Judge 
 of all the earth. The other returned sad and de- 
 jected to the twofold trial, to find that the slaves 
 
POLITICAL ACTION. II9 
 
 had broken jail and escaped. The Kentuckian, too, 
 was released without trial. It did not appear that 
 any force from without had been used in behalf of 
 the slaves. A basket-maker in the jail had been fur- 
 nished by the jailer with the implements of his trade 
 with which he opened a way for himself, and the 
 others followed. 
 
 Under the notorious fugitive-slave law of 1850, a 
 case of attempted recovery of a fugitive occurred in 
 September, 1858. The case appeared in the U. S. 
 Circuit Court at Cleveland the following spring, and 
 excited much interest in the country as the " Ober- 
 lin-Wellington Rescue Case," It was nearly the 
 last instance of an attempt to execute the fugitive 
 slave law in Northern Ohio, as well as in the coun- 
 try. John Brown came a few months later, then 
 Lincoln and Sumter and emancipation. A young 
 black man, John Price, supposed to be a fugitive 
 from Kentucky, had been some months at Oberlin, 
 when a group of four strangers came into town and 
 took up their quarters at an obscure tavern where 
 they would attract little attention, and where, if at 
 all, they would find some sympathy with their un- 
 dertaking. About four miles from town they found 
 a man ready to afford them advice, and with a young 
 son of this man, about thirteen years of age, they 
 laid a plot for the seizure of John. The scheme 
 was arranged on Sunday, and Monday morning the 
 boy came into town with a horse and buggy, looked 
 up John, and offered him large wages to go with him 
 into the country a mile or two to dig potatoes. A 
 mile or more out of town, as they were driving very 
 
120 OBERLIN. 
 
 leisurely, they were overtaken by a carriage contain- 
 ing one of the parties from Kentucky and two oth- 
 ers, a deputy U. S. marshal and a deputy sheriff 
 from Columbus, O. Two of these men stepped out, 
 seized John, hurried him, with threats and a show of 
 weapons, into their carriage, and took the diagonal 
 road, two miles east of Oberlin, which leads to Wel- 
 lington, nine miles south. At Wellington they would 
 soon find a train for Columbus and Cincinnati. For 
 this treachery the boy, as he afterward testified in 
 court, was paid twenty dollars. 
 
 Two men coming from Pittsfield met the car- 
 riage which was bearing John away, and reported 
 the fact in town. Some of the colored people had 
 had suspicions and alarms the previous week, on ac- 
 count of inquiries made, and were ready at once to 
 accept the idea that John had been carried off. The 
 news spread through the town, and under a com- 
 mon impulse, without concerted action, large num- 
 bers of the people, white and colored, citizens and 
 students, were soon on the road to Wellington. 
 Every form of conveyance was pressed into service, 
 and probably two or three hundred people in all 
 went from Oberlin to Wellington that afternoon. 
 Others fell in along the way, and Wellington fur- 
 nished its share of the crowd. John and his captors, 
 the two officers from Columbus and the two men 
 from Kentucky, were waiting at the hotel for the 
 first train going south. The crowd soon swarmed 
 about the house, and John was taken to a room in 
 the garret for safe-keeping. Quite a number of 
 guns appeared in the crowd — some of the witnesses 
 
POLITICAL ACTION. 12 1 
 
 in court put the number as high as fifty ; one of the 
 Kentuckians estimated it at five hundred. No gun 
 was fired, and it is not certain that one was loaded. 
 The crowd acted without concert and had no leader, 
 but persistently kept their place around the house, 
 and filled the rooms below and above. They were 
 not harmonious in their views of what ought to be 
 done ; the more conservative were disposed to as- 
 certain that the proceedings had been regular under 
 the fugitive-slave law, and on that condition to al- 
 low the party to go on its way. The larger portion 
 probably had no respect for the infamous law, and 
 held it their duty to rescue John, whatever the au- 
 thority by which he was held. No one seemed to 
 take responsibility on one side or on the other. 
 Different persons, among them a magistrate and a 
 lawyer of Wellington, were shown the warrant in 
 the hands of the marshal for the arrest of John, and 
 this warrant was read to the crowd ; but it brought 
 no relief. The train for the south passed, but did 
 not take John and his captors. Finally, near sun- 
 set, a little group that had gathered about John in 
 the upper room started him down the stairs, and 
 the crowd passed him on to a buggy standing near, 
 lifted him in, and the buggy was driven rapidly 
 toward Oberlin. John found refuge in Oberlin two 
 or three days, and was then sent on to Canada. It 
 was a flagrant case of resistance to the execution of 
 the fugitive law ; and if it were allowed to pass 
 without serious animadversion, the law, which was 
 supposed to be vital to the maintenance of the 
 Union, would fall. The machinery of the govern- 
 
122 OBERLIN. 
 
 ment was set in motion, and a trial in the United 
 States Court at Cleveland was determined on. Judge 
 Willson brought the case before the grand jury in an 
 elaborate charge, from which the following is an ex- 
 tract : 
 
 " There are some who oppose the execution of 
 this law from a declared sense of conscientious duty. 
 There is, in fact, a sentiment prevalent in the com- 
 munity which arrogates to human conduct a stand- 
 ard of right above, and independent of, human laws ; 
 and it makes the conscience of each individual in so- 
 ciety the test of his own accountability to the laws 
 of the land. 
 
 " While those who cherish this dogma claim and 
 enjoy the protection of the law for their own life 
 and property, they are unwilling that the law should 
 be operative for the protection of the constitutional 
 rights of others. It is a sentiment semi-religious in 
 its development, and is almost invariably character^ 
 ized by intolerance and bigotry. The leaders of 
 those who acknowledge its obligations and advocate 
 its sanctity are like the subtle prelates of the dark 
 ages. They are versed in all they consider useful 
 and sanctified learning. Trained in certain schools in 
 New England to manage words, they are equally 
 successful in the social circle to manage hearts ; sek 
 dom superstitious themselves, yet skilled in practis- 
 ing upon the superstition and credulity of others — 
 false, as it is natural a man should be whose dogmas 
 impose upon all who are not saints according to his 
 creed the necessity of being hypocrites ; selfish, as it 
 is natural a man should be who claims for himself 
 
POLITICAL ACTION. 1 23 
 
 the benefits of the law and the right to violate it, 
 thereby denying its protection to others. . . . 
 
 " Gentlemen, this sentiment should find no place 
 or favor in the grand-jury room. 
 The fugitive-slave law may, and unquestionably 
 does, contain provisions repugnant to the moral 
 sense of many good and conscientious people ; nev- 
 ertheless, it is the law of the United States, and as 
 such should be recognized and executed by our 
 courts and juries, until abrogated or otherwise 
 changed by the legislative department of the gov- 
 ernment." 
 
 This is a favorable specimen of the manner in 
 which the doctrine of " the higher law" was dealt 
 with in those days. A ruder statement of the same 
 idea was made by Judge Leavitt, of Cincinnati, the 
 same year. In a charge to the jury he said : ''Chris- 
 tian charity was not within the meaning or intent of 
 the fugitive-slave law, and it would not, therefore, 
 answer as a defence for violating the law." 
 
 The grand jury, moved by this charge, made out 
 thirty-seven indictments against twenty-four citizens 
 of Oberlin and thirteen of Wellington. Among the 
 Oberlin men were Prof. H. E. Peck, of the College 
 Faculty; J. M. Fitch, superintendent of the large 
 Oberlin Sunday-school; Ralph Plumb, a lawyer; 
 and other prominent citizens and students, good 
 men and true. Among the men from Wellington 
 were several of their leading citizens, pioneers of the 
 town, and pillars in society. 
 
 The same day, Marshal Johnson appeared in 
 Oberlin to arrest these violators of law. He called 
 
124 OBERLIN. 
 
 first on Professor Peck and made known his errand, 
 and asked of him the favor of an introduction to 
 the other parties. He accepted from each one the 
 promise to appear at Cleveland in court the next day. 
 According to promise, these men appeared in court 
 Dec. /th, and asked for immediate trial, but at the in- 
 stance of the prosecuting attorney the case was ad- 
 journed first to March 8th, and again to April 5th. 
 The defendants declined to give bail, and were sent 
 away upon their own recognizance of $1000 each. 
 On the 5th of April the trial commenced, and con- 
 tinued with slight interruptions until the middle of 
 May, when the cases were put over until the July 
 term. At this time two of the alleged rescuers, 
 Simeon Bushnell, a white man, and Charles H. 
 Langston, a colored man, had been convicted and 
 sentenced. Messrs. Spalding, Riddle and Griswold, 
 prominent lawyers of Cleveland, had volunteered to 
 conduct the case for the defence without charge. 
 They had done their work with great ability, but 
 the conviction seemed a foregone conclusion. Bush- 
 nell was sentenced to sixty days' imprisonment, a 
 fine of six hundred dollars and costs of prosecu- 
 tion — understood to be about two thousand more. 
 Langston, when asked if he had anything to say for 
 himself, made a manly and eloquent address, which 
 thrilled the court and indeed the country. The clos- 
 ing paragraph was as follows : 
 
 " But I stand up here to say, that if, for doing 
 what I did that day at Wellington, I am to go in jail 
 six months, and pay a fine of a thousand dollars, ac- 
 cording to the fugitive-slave law, and such is the pro- 
 
POLITICAL ACTION. 125 
 
 tection the laws of this country afford me, I must take 
 upon myself the responsibility of self-protection ; 
 and when I come to be claimed by some perjured 
 wretch as his slave, I shall never be taken into 
 slavery. And as in that trying hour I would have 
 others do to me ; as I would call upon others to help 
 me ; as I would call upon you, your Honor, to help 
 me ; as I would call upon you, [to the district attor- 
 ney], and upon you [to the counsel for prosecution] 
 and upon you [to his own counsel], so help me GOD ! 
 I stand here to say that I will do all I can for any 
 man thus seized and held, though the inevitable pen- 
 alty of six months' imprisonment and one thousand 
 dollars' fine for each offence hangs over me. We 
 have a common humanity. You would do so ;- your 
 manhood would require it : and, no matter what the 
 laws might be, you would honor yourself for doing 
 it ; your friends would honor you for doing it ; your 
 children to all generations would honor you for do- 
 ing it ; and every good and honest man would say 
 you had done right." 
 
 The court seemed impressed by this appeal, and 
 sentenced Langston to a fine of only one hundred 
 dollars and twenty days' imprisonment, with costs of 
 prosecution. 
 
 In pronouncing the sentence upon Bushnell the 
 judge indulged in various arguments in support of 
 the action of the court, of which the following is a 
 specimen : 
 
 " A man of your intelligence must know that if 
 the standard of right is placed above and against the 
 laws of the land, those who act up to it are anything 
 
1 26 OBERLIJST. 
 
 else than good citizens and good Christians. You 
 must know that when a man acts upon any system 
 of morals or theology which teaches him to disregard 
 and violate the laws of the government that protects 
 him in life and property, his conduct is as criminal as 
 his example is dangerous." 
 
 This is an illustration of the logic and the spirit in 
 which the fugitive-slave law was defended in those 
 days. It would be admitted that there might be a 
 conflict between this law and the law of God, and 
 then the principle was boldly announced that man's 
 law was to be obeyed rather than God's. 
 
 The political aspect of the trial was very distinct. 
 The judge, the prosecuting attorney and assisting 
 counsel, and every member of the jury in Bushnell's 
 case belonged to the party of the administration, 
 while every one of the defendants and their counsel 
 were of the opposition. 
 
 At the close of Langston's trial, when the cases 
 were to be deferred from the middle of May to the 
 July term, several of the indicted from Wellington 
 entered a plea of nolle contendere, and were sen- 
 tenced to pay a fine of twenty dollars each and costs 
 of prosecution, and to remain in jail twenty-four 
 hours. One old man from Wellington was almost 
 entreated to leave the jail and go home. He at 
 length consented. Thus all that remained, including 
 the two convicted parties, were fourteen Oberlin 
 men. These had been in jail since April 15th, and 
 were to continue in jail through the recess of court. 
 ■ — two long summer months, and how much longer 
 no one could foresee. They continued in jail upon a 
 
CLEVELAND JAIL 
 
POLITICAL ACTION. 12? 
 
 point of honor. At the beginning of the trial they 
 had been allowed to come and go upon their recogni- 
 zance, giving their personal pledge for appearance 
 when called for. At the conclusion of Bushnell's 
 trial there was a ruling of the court so unjust, that 
 they gave notice that they would dismiss their coun- 
 sel, call no witnesses, and make no defence ; and their 
 counsel approved their decision. Thereupon the 
 prosecuting attorney demanded that they should be 
 taken into custody, and they were taken in charge 
 by the marshal, and declining to give bail they were 
 committed to jail. The unjust ruling was afterwards 
 recalled in fact, and they were notified that their 
 own recognizance would be accepted as before ; but 
 a false record had been made — a record which put 
 the defendants in the wrong, and the court refused 
 to correct it. They therefore declined to renew 
 their recognizance or to give bail, and therefore they 
 lay in jail from the 15th of April on. The sheriff 
 to whom they were committed, and the jailer, and 
 indeed a large portion of the people of Cleveland, 
 were their warm friends, and in hearty sympathy 
 with their course. 
 
 During the recess of court an attempt was made 
 to obtain relief by an appeal to the State courts. A 
 writ of habeas corpus was granted by one of the 
 judges of the Supreme Court, commanding the 
 sheriff to bring Bushnell and Langston before the 
 court, that the reason of their imprisonment might 
 be considered. The case was ably argued before 
 the full bench, at Columbus, for a week; but the 
 court, three to two, declined to grant a release. 
 
128 OBERLIN. 
 
 This was a severe blow to the men in jail. They 
 had counted with much confidence upon relief from 
 that quarter. It is idle to speculate upon possible 
 results, if a single judge had held a different opinion. 
 Salmon P. Chase was governor at that time, and it 
 was well understood that he would sustain a decision 
 releasing the prisoners, by all the power at his com- 
 mand ; and the United States Government was as 
 fully committed to the execution of the fugitive-slave 
 law. This would have placed Ohio in conflict with 
 the general government in defence of State rights, 
 and if the party of freedom throughout the North 
 had rallied, as seemed probable, the war might have 
 come in 1859 instead of 1861, with a secession of the 
 Northern instead of the Southern States. A single 
 vote apparently turned the scale ; and after a little de- 
 lay the party of freedom took possession of the govern- 
 ment, and the party of slavery became the seceders. 
 Of course those who urged Ohio to the conflict did 
 not anticipate war with the general government. 
 They expected the general government to retire 
 from the execution of the fugitive-slave law, and thus 
 remove the occasion of the conflict. 
 
 During this recess of court, on the 24th of May, 
 a mass meeting was convened in Cleveland, gather- 
 ing the people of Northern Ohio by thousands, to 
 express their sympathy with the rescuers, and their 
 intense condemnation of the fugitive-slave law. 
 There was great enthusiasm — an immense proces- 
 sion with banners passing through the streets, and 
 around the square, and in front of the jail. The 
 crowds were addressed by Joshua R. Giddings and 
 
POLITICAL ACTION. 1 29 
 
 Salmon P. Chase, with other distinguished men. 
 Mr. Giddings was bold and defiant : 
 
 " I have no hesitation as to the means for acting- 
 upon this great matter which is now before us. I 
 would have a committee appointed to-day to apply 
 to the first and nearest officer who has the power, that 
 he shall issue a writ for the release of those prisoners, 
 and I want to be appointed on that committee, and 
 if so I will promise you that no sleep shall come to 
 my eyelids this night until I have used my utmost 
 endeavors to have these men released. I will, if such 
 a committee be appointed, apply to Judge Tilden 
 [at his side], and if he flinched in the exercise of his 
 duty, and refused to issue this writ, I would never 
 speak to him again, or give him my hand. If he 
 failed I would go to another and another, until death 
 came to close my eyelids. I know that the Demo- 
 cratic press throughout the country has represented 
 me as counselling forcible resistance to this law, and 
 God knows it is the first truth they have ever told 
 about me." 
 
 Governor Chase was more wary and circumspect, 
 with a sense of immediate responsibility : 
 
 " If the process for the release of any prisoner 
 should issue from the courts of the State, he was free' 
 to say that so long as Ohio was a sovereign State 
 that process should be executed. He did not coun- 
 sel revolutionary measures, but when his time came 
 and his duty was plain, he, as the Governor of Ohio, 
 would meet it as a man." 
 
 The resolutions adopted by the meeting were de- 
 cided and radical, and, read at this day, sound as if 
 
1 30 OBERLIN. 
 
 they had emanated from some State-rights conven- 
 tion. The last scene was a gathering of the crowds 
 around the jail yard, to listen to brief addresses from 
 Messrs. Langston, Peck, Fitch, and Plumb in behalf 
 of the prisoners. Their words were earnest and de- 
 termined, without railing or bitterness. The meet- 
 ing yielded no immediate result in behalf of the 
 prisoners, and no such result was anticipated. It 
 amounted to a notice that the fugitive-slave law was 
 to be no farther executed in Northern Ohio. 
 
 The rescuers, after this, settled down to prison 
 life, without any distinct anticipation when or how 
 the end was to come. Some of them were mechan- 
 ics, of various crafts, and their friends furnished 
 them the tools and materials for prosecuting their 
 business. Two of them were printers, and a print- 
 ing-office was soon established in the jail, and a paper 
 named the " The Rescuer" was issued. Five thou- 
 sand copies of the first number were sent out, and it 
 was promised every alternate Monday. The two 
 students in the group were furnished with books, 
 and set themselves to the work of their classes. 
 Visitors from all parts of the land came to the jail, 
 and letters of sympathy and funds to meet expenses 
 poured in upon them. 
 
 One of the most interesting occasions at the jail 
 was a visit of four hundred Sabbath-school chil- 
 dren from Oberlin — the school of which Mr. Fitch 
 had been superintendent sixteen years. They were 
 invited and entertained by the Sabbath-school of 
 the Plymouth Church, Cleveland ; then they filed 
 into the jail, filling all its corridors and open spaces, 
 
f^sJ^?^, 
 
POLITICAL ACTION. I3I 
 
 and an hour was given to brief addresses from their 
 superintendent and others, with music interspersed. 
 This was on the 2d of July. Four days later, the 
 jail doors opened and the rescuers came forth, and 
 were escorted with jubilations to their homes. 
 
 The occasion of the release was this : The four 
 men who were engaged in the seizure of John at 
 Oberlin had been indicted in Lorain County for 
 kidnapping, and their trial was set for the 6th of 
 July, six days before the resumption of the trials in 
 the U. S. court at Cleveland. The indictment was 
 not without apparent foundation. The description 
 given of John, in the power of attorney under which 
 the seizure was made, was grossly deficient and in- 
 accurate, and there was no sufficient proof of title to 
 John in the claimant who issued the power of attor- 
 ney. These indicted men were abroad on bail until 
 near the time of trial at Elyria. Then a writ of habeas 
 corpus was obtained from a judge of the U. S. court, 
 and an attempt was made to deliver up the four men 
 to the sheriff of Lorain County, that the writ might 
 be served upon him, and his prisoners be released 
 by order of the U. S. judge. An accumulation of 
 hindrances prevented this delivery, and the hour 
 of trial was just at hand when the writ would be 
 useless. The men were alarmed. They interceded 
 with the U. S. attorney to propose to the counsel 
 for the rescuers that the suits on both sides should 
 be dropped. To this the rescuers consented. The 
 marshal went to the jail and announced that they 
 were free. They were escorted from the prison to 
 the train by several hundred of the citizens of 
 
132 BERLIN. 
 
 Cleveland, to the music of Hecker's band, while 
 a hundred guns were fired on the square. The last 
 tune from the band as the train started was " Home, 
 Sweet Home." The Plain Dealer of that evening 
 announced the result with great disgust : " So the 
 government has been beaten at last, with law, jus- 
 tice, and facts all on its side, and Oberlin, with its 
 rebellious, higher law creed, is triumphant." 
 
 At Oberlin the rescuers were met at the station 
 by the whole mass of the people, and escorted to 
 the great church, where for hours, until midnight, 
 the pent-up feeling of the people found expression 
 in song and prayer, and familiar talk over the ex- 
 periences of the preceding weeks. It was a costly 
 price to pay, but it secured to Oberlin, from that 
 time on, freedom from the incursions of the slave- 
 catcher, and Northern Ohio largely shared in the 
 immunity. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EARLY MISSIONARY ACTIVITY. 
 
 OBERLIN was itself a missionary enterprise. It was 
 the purpose to carry the Gospel to the regions beyond 
 that had brought Mr. and Mrs. Shipherd, under ap- 
 pointment from the American Home Missionary So- 
 ciety, to the regions of Northern Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Stewart had been engaged for years as missionaries 
 among the Choctaws in the State of Mississippi, and, 
 while resting from those labors for the recovery of 
 health, they pledged themselves for five years to the 
 work of laying the foundations at Oberlin, without 
 any compensation but food and clothing. The families 
 that came to find their homes in the wilderness had 
 no visions of improved outward circumstances and 
 growing wealth. They came to aid in establishing 
 a community and an institution which should con- 
 tribute to the evangelization of the Mississippi valley 
 — then the " New West." The students, for the most 
 part, came with the same purpose, their hearts full 
 of the earnest impulses which had been begotten in 
 the great revival movement of those years. One of 
 the earliest associations organized among the stu- 
 dents was a Missionary Society, embracing such as 
 contemplated a life-work in the foreign field. 
 
 The first among the students to enter upon mis- 
 
134 OBERLIN. 
 
 sionary service was Miss Angeline Tenney, who 
 married Mr. S. N. Castle, a missionary of the Ameri- 
 can Board, and went to the Sandwich Islands, in 
 1836. But from this time on, for many years, the 
 earnest antislavery feeling on the part of Oberlin 
 students, and the somewhat dubious attitude of the 
 American Board on the subject of slavery, combined 
 to prevent men and women from Oberlin receiving 
 appointments from the Board. The distrust seemed 
 to be mutual. The conservative fathers at the East 
 looked with apprehension upon what seemed to 
 them, in the distance, the religious and reformatory 
 fanaticism of Oberlin, and wisely, as they thought, 
 concluded not to open the way for its extension to 
 their field. An Oberlin young woman was now and 
 then sent out, without objection, as the wife of a mis- 
 sionary, whose only connection with Oberlin was by 
 marriage. There were two or three instances of 
 young men, with sufficient conservative endorsement, 
 receiving appointments from the Board. But in gen- 
 eral Oberlin students were disinclined to seek such 
 appointments, although there was at that time no 
 other missionary organization to which they could 
 look for support. The church at Oberlin, with rare 
 individual exceptions, did not contribute to the 
 funds of the American Board, but found other chan- 
 nels for their missionary gifts, until the Board at- 
 tained a more satisfactory attitude on the subject of 
 slavery. 
 
 Under these conditions the idea of self-sustaining 
 missions was very generally favored, and a large 
 amount of independent missionary work was accom- 
 
EARLY MISSIONARY ACTIVITY. 1 35 
 
 plished. Much of this, very naturally, was expended 
 among the colored people, at home and abroad. 
 Teachers of colored schools went to Cincinnati, and 
 to other towns of Ohio, where the colored people 
 were found in sufficient numbers to call for such ser- 
 vices — sometimes encouraged by the promise of aid 
 from some philanthropic person in the neighbor- 
 hood, often without compensation except the little 
 that the colored people themselves could afford. 
 Missionaries and teachers in considerable numbers 
 went to the colored fugitives in Canada, led by Hi- 
 ram Wilson, of the Theological Class of 1836, one 
 of the Lane Seminary men. Funds were raised among 
 the antislavery people of Ohio, and at the East, to 
 sustain this Canada mission. 
 
 In the winter of 1836-7, David S. Ingraham, an- 
 other of the Lane students, finding it necessary for 
 his health to seek a warmer climate, went to Ha- 
 vana, Cuba. He was a skilful mechanic, and finding 
 that he could sustain himself there without difficulty, 
 he conceived the idea of establishing a self-support- 
 ing mission among the colored people of Jamaica, 
 recently emancipated. He returned to Oberlin, was 
 ordained as a missionary, and in the autumn of 1837, 
 with his wife and several other recruits to the mis- 
 sion, he left for Jamaica. Thus the American mis- 
 sion to the freed people of Jamaica was established. 
 Other Oberlin students followed, during the next fif- 
 teen years, until nearly forty in all, young men and 
 young women, had shared in the work of the mis- 
 sion. Several of these died in the field. Mr. Ingra- 
 ham, after four years of very exhausting labor, lived 
 
1 36 BERLIN. 
 
 to reach this country, but died three days after land^ 
 ing at New York. His young daughter was edu^ 
 cated at Oberlin, and gave her life to the work which 
 her father had left, dying, as he did, soon after her re^ 
 turn to this country. During the first few years of 
 the mission, the missionaries relied almost wholly 
 upon their own field for their support, and to a 
 considerable extent upon the work of their own 
 hands. They built their own mission houses and 
 school-houses and chapels. Some aid came to them 
 from the London Missionary Society, and from 
 school funds provided for the education of the freed- 
 men. After a time a "West India Committee" was 
 established at New York, to receive and forward 
 contributions to the work. One of this band, Rev. 
 James A. Preston, in 1841, having recently com- 
 pleted his theological course, wrote to the officers of 
 the " Union Missionary Society," then just organ- 
 ized at Hartford, Conn., asking an appointment for 
 himself and his wife to the mission in Jamaica, and 
 thus presented his case and expectations: " Money 
 we have not ; our friends who love Zion are poor; 
 the American and other education societies have 
 assisted in defraying the expenses of my education; 
 should I make application for aid in behalf of myself 
 and assistant — a female teacher, each of us having 
 the requisite recommendations and testimonials, 
 would the directors of your society — thanks to the 
 God of the oppressed that it has been formed — feel 
 disposed to grant us the money necessary for our 
 outfit and passage ? After that we will trust, under 
 God, to the generous gratitude which glows in the 
 
EARLY MISSIONARY ACTIVITY. 1 37 
 
 breast of the disenthralled. I should expect to 
 raise funds in this vicinity sufficient to defray our 
 expenses to New York." Preston was sent out 
 upon the conditions proposed, and after six years of 
 labor returned to this country to die. As the years 
 passed on it became evident that the work in Ja- 
 maica might properly be left to English Christians, 
 and no more reinforcements were sent to the Amer- 
 ican mission, and most of the missionaries that sur- 
 vived returned to this country. Two still cling to 
 the work to which they gave their lives more than 
 forty years ago : Rev. Julius O. Beardslee, of the 
 first college class that graduated at Oberlin ; and 
 Mrs. Seth B. Wolcott, whose husband was a gradu- 
 ate of 1 841. She buried her husband there in 1874, 
 and their son, Henry B. Wolcott, of the class of 
 1870, is carrying on the work which his father left. 
 The field upon which this hearty and exhausting la- 
 bor was expended, though in some aspects inviting, 
 was on the whole a hard one, exhibiting in a strange 
 combination the superstitions of African heathenism, 
 and the vices engendered by West Indian slavery. 
 
 In the year 1839, a Spanish ship, the Amistad, 
 came into port at New London, Conn., having on 
 board nearly fifty native Africans who had been 
 brought to Havana, in Cuba, and sold to two slave- 
 traders, to be transported to Principe, three hundred 
 miles distant. On the passage they were told by 
 the ship's cook that they were to be killed and eaten 
 on reaching Principe. This so excited them that 
 they rose upon the crew, killed the cook, put their 
 owners in irons, and dealt out to them bread and 
 
I38 BERLIN. 
 
 water in such rations as they had received from 
 them, and ordered the pilot to take them to Africa. 
 He brought them to the American coast. Their 
 owners, backed by the Spanish Government, claimed 
 the Africans as slaves, and the government at Wash- 
 ington, with decided pro-slavery tendencies, was 
 ready and rather eager to favor the claim. But the 
 antislavery sentiment throughout the country was 
 intensely moved ; prominent men in New York and 
 Boston, and elsewhere, took up the case, and after a 
 series of trials in the United States courts, the last 
 at Washington, where the case of the captives was 
 powerfully supported by John Quincy Adams, they 
 were declared free. They were kidnapped Africans, 
 and not slaves. 
 
 This decision was awaited with intense interest, 
 and the news would naturally spread over the coun- 
 try with great rapidity. It came from Washington 
 to Oberlin in nine days. These Africans had been 
 in the country somewhat more than two years, while 
 their case was before the courts. They were kept in 
 jail, but Christian people were permitted to see them 
 and give them daily instruction. It was ascertained 
 that they were all from a limited region of West 
 Africa, called Mendi, about one hundred miles south 
 of Sierra Leone, and forty to sixty miles from the 
 coast, and six or seven degrees north of the equator. 
 They used different dialects of the same language, 
 and could understand one another. They seemed 
 a bright and amiable people, and the plan was 
 formed of making them the nucleus of a mission to 
 West Africa. As it was to be an antislavery mis- 
 
EARLY MISSIONARY ACTIVITY. 1 39 
 
 sion, Oberlin was naturally called on to furnish the 
 pioneer missionaries. James Steele, of the Theolog- 
 ical Class of 1840, was chosen as the leader of the 
 enterprise ; and Wm. Raymond, who had been drawn 
 from Amherst College to Oberlin by his antislavery 
 sympathies, and afterward to the fugitives in Can- 
 ada, was called as his associate. The company of 
 Africans, which numbered fifty-three when they were 
 shipped from Havana, had been reduced by death 
 to thirty-nine. With this company, Mr. Steele, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Raymond, and Mr. and Mrs. Wilson — col- 
 ored — sailed from New York for Sierra Leone, Nov. 
 27, 1 841 ; and thus the Mendi Mission was begun. 
 A " Mendi Committee" was established at New 
 York, of which Lewis Tappan was treasurer, to so- 
 licit and appropriate funds for the mission. 
 
 The Mendians, when they left this country, 
 seemed interested in the establishment of the mis- 
 sion in their country ; but they lacked stability and 
 character, and their connection with the mission 
 was a doubtful advantage. Three or four of them 
 were steadfast and faithful to the missionaries, but 
 the rest fell back to their old heathen life upon 
 reaching the country. Mr. Steele was taken with 
 the fever at Sierra Leone, and was obliged to return 
 to this country; but Mr. Raymond went on to the 
 Mendi country, established the mission, and after 
 six years of exhausting but effective work, died at 
 Sierra Leone in the spring of 1848. 
 
 George Thompson, of Oberlin, who had learned to 
 endure hardness as a good soldier, in a mission of 
 five years in the Missouri State Prison, succeeded 
 
140 BERLIN. 
 
 to Mr. Raymond's work, going out in April, 1848. 
 There followed him Dr. and Mrs. Tefft, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Arnold, and others, until fifteen in all had gone 
 from Oberlin to the Mendi Mission. Of these, eight 
 died at the mission, and the rest were compelled, 
 sooner or later, to return to this country for their 
 health. The site of the mission was unfortunate, 
 not being far enough interior to escape the fatal ma- 
 laria of the lowlands of the coast. The mission has 
 been carried on with more or less success until the 
 present time, but during the last twenty-five years 
 none have joined it from Oberlin. The precious 
 lives which were sacrificed there might seem too 
 great a price to pay for the work accomplished ; but 
 no word of regret was ever heard from those who 
 died, or from those who lived to labor. " Except a 
 corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abid- 
 eth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much 
 fruit." 
 
 The Indians of the great West early attracted the 
 attention of Oberlin students. As early as 1837 or 
 1838 several families left Oberlin with the thought 
 of missionary work among the Indians — some to 
 stop on this side of the Rocky Mountains and some 
 to pass beyond into Oregon. The whole United 
 States territory beyond was then Oregon, and the 
 Rocky Mountains themselves were more difficult to 
 reach than the heart of Africa to-day. Yet these 
 persons went out little knowing whither they went, 
 with limited means of their own, and with no ex- 
 pectation of aid from home. They were practical 
 men, capable of making homes for themselves in any 
 
EARLY MISSIONARY ACTIVITY. I4I 
 
 land that could sustain human life, and no special 
 apprehension was felt for them here. Mr. Finney 
 announced, about that time, that a man was not fit 
 for a missionary who could not " take an ear of corn 
 in his pocket and start for the Rocky Mountains." 
 
 The only ordained minister who struck out from 
 Oberlin on this distant mission was John S. Griffin, 
 of the Theological Class of 1838. He still survives, a 
 citizen and minister of Oregon. 
 
 These missionary families were able to do very 
 little for the Indians, because they could not follow 
 them in their wanderings ; but they were pioneers 
 in carrying Christian civilization to those remote 
 lands, and made at length comfortable homes for 
 themselves and their children. 
 
 In 1 841 two young men, students of Oberlin, took 
 appointments from the American Board, and went 
 with their wives as missionaries to the Cherokee 
 Nation, in the Indian Territory, where they spent 
 some years as teachers. 
 
 Early in 1843 several students had become inter- 
 ested in the Indians of the remote north-west — the 
 Ojibwas, about the head-waters of the Mississippi. 
 The American Board had a few missionaries in that 
 region, and these young men made application for 
 appointments to that mission. But the Board was 
 not then prepared to extend the work in that direc- 
 tion. Accordingly, on the 15th of June of that year, 
 at a meeting of the Western Reserve Association of 
 Congregational Churches, held at Akron, upon the 
 representation of these young men the "Western 
 Evangelical Missionary Society" was organized, and 
 
142 OB E KLIN. ' 
 
 within two weeks ten missionaries, men and women, 
 were on their way to their distant field. There is 
 probably no missionary field to-day, on the face of 
 the earth, more difficult to reach than this was at 
 the time. There were two different routes, present- 
 ing about equal difficulties. One was by the lakes 
 to the most western point of Lake Superior, known 
 as Fond du Lac, and then by an overland journey 
 of several weeks on a trail made by fur-traders, 
 through swamps and along streams and lakes, by 
 canoe and by portage, exposed to insatiate swarms 
 of mosquitos, not to speak of beasts of prey which 
 were abundant but far less formidable, to a group of 
 lakes in the northern part of what is now Minnesota, 
 — Leech Lake, Cass Lake, and Red Lake, — around 
 which the Ojibwas were gathered. The other route 
 was by the Mississippi, which was reached either by 
 Cincinnati and the Ohio River, or by the lakes to 
 Chicago, and an overland journey to Galena. The 
 Mississippi was navigable, in some form, to Crow 
 Wing, a little below where the Northern Pacific Rail- 
 road now crosses. Then followed the tedious succes- 
 sion of swamps and lakes and streams and portages, 
 to the group of lakes already named. More than 
 twenty in all went out to this mission. The names 
 most naturally recalled, as connected with the mis- 
 sion, are Bardwell, Barnard, Wright, Spencer/ Lewis, 
 Adams, Coe, Fisher, and Johnson. 
 
 The work was carried forward through a period 
 of sixteen years, until 1859, when it was discon- 
 tinued in consequence of the breaking in of the ad- 
 vancing tide of emigration upon the region. The 
 
EARLY MISSIONARY ACTIVITY. 143 
 
 United States Government still provides for schools 
 and other work of civilization on the Indian reserva- 
 tions in the same region, and Rev. S. G. Wright, 
 one of the missionaries in the first company sent 
 out in 1843, i s stn1 l at work among the Indians at 
 his old station, Leech Lake. 
 
 The hardships of the work were more than usually 
 fall to the lot of missionaries. In that high latitude 
 the productive part of the season was brief, and the 
 winter was long and terrible. The Indians had no 
 permanent dwelling-place, but cultivated a little 
 land in one place, made sugar in another, and hunted 
 and fished in another; and their teachers were com- 
 pelled sometimes to make a journey of five hundred 
 miles in the winter, that they might not be separated 
 from their flock. Then the Western Evangelical 
 Missionary Society was often short of funds, and it 
 was very difficult and expensive to forward supplies 
 to the mission. Thus the missionaries were thrown 
 greatly upon their own resources. They must raise 
 their own provisions, saw their own lumber by hand, 
 build their own houses, and help the Indians do all 
 these things for themselves. Sometimes, to avert 
 starvation, they were obliged, in the dead of winter, 
 to make an expedition with oxen and sledges to the 
 Selkirk settlement, four hundred miles to the north. 
 They were obliged to see their provisions stolen and 
 their cattle killed by starving Indians, and some- 
 times to divide their last potatoes with them. Yet 
 there w r ere compensations in the wonderful trans- 
 formations of character witnessed in individual cases, 
 numbers dying in hope in the new light which had 
 
144 BERLIN. 
 
 come to their darkened souls, and in the general ad- 
 vancement toward a settled and civilized life. 
 
 Amid all their hardships the missionaries generally 
 came through without breaking down in health. 
 Mrs. Barnard died at her post, and Mrs. Spencer 
 was shot through the window of her cabin at night, 
 by a roving band of Indians on the war-path ; but 
 the work of her life is continued by her daughter, 
 Miss Charlotte D. Spencer, a missionary of the 
 American Board in Turkey, and her son, David B. 
 Spencer, a preacher of the Gospel in Ohio. Forty 
 years have passed since these missionaries went out 
 into the wilderness. Slavery has been blotted out 
 within that period, but the problem of civilizing the 
 Indians is still before us. 
 
 In 1846 a convention of the " Friends of Bible 
 Missions" met at Albany, N. Y., and organized the 
 " American Missionary Association," to take the 
 place and work of three organizations then existing 
 — the West Indian Committee of New York, the 
 Union Missionary Society of Hartford, and the 
 Western Evangelical Missionary Society of Ober- 
 lin. Mr. Lewis Tappan was elected treasurer of 
 the new society, and the office of corresponding sec- 
 retary was filled the next year by the appointment 
 of Prof. George Whipple, of Oberlin College, a mem- 
 ber of the first theological class from Lane. He 
 held the place until his death in 1876 — almost thirty 
 years. 
 
 In 1864, on account of the great extension of the 
 work of the society by reason of emancipation, Rev. 
 M. E. Strieby, of the college and theological classes 
 
EARLY MISSIONARY ACTIVITY. I45 
 
 of 1838 and 1 841 at Oberlin, pastor at the time at 
 Syracuse, N. Y., was elected as the associate of Mr. 
 Whipple, and under their joint administration the 
 great work in the Southern field has been carried 
 forward. Oberlin students have been connected 
 with this work in large numbers, as preachers, and 
 as teachers both in elementary schools in city and 
 country, and in the institutions for higher education, 
 such as Berea College, Ky. ; Fisk University, Nash- 
 ville, Tenn. ; Talladega College, Ala. ; Atlanta Uni- 
 versity, Ga. ; Straight University, New Orleans, La. ; 
 Emerson Institute, Mobile, Al. ; Howard University, 
 Washington, D. C. ; and other similar schools for the 
 colored people. 
 
 Such enterprises as these absorbed for many years 
 the missionary activity of Oberlin men and women , 
 and it is only within the last few years that the work 
 of the American Board has come distinctly before 
 them in such a way as to enlist their interest and 
 command their service. During all the years there 
 have been individual cases of young men and young 
 women entering the service of the Board in different 
 foreign fields, as Turkey in Europe and in Asia, 
 India, Siam, China, Japan, South Africa, the Sand- 
 wich Islands, and Micronesia. Some, too, have en- 
 gaged in foreign missionary work in connection with 
 other societies in different parts of South America, 
 in Hayti, in India, and in Burmah. 
 
 Within the last two years there has been a re- 
 vival of interest among our students in the foreign 
 work, and six have gone to South Africa, four to 
 West Africa, two to India, and seven to China. 
 
146 BERLIN. 
 
 These seven that have gone to China are the pio- 
 neers of what is called the " Oberlin China Band," 
 to whom the province of Shansi has been assigned 
 by the Board as a special field. 
 
 The great body of the young men that went out 
 from Oberlin to preach in the early days went as 
 home missionaries — with this exception, that they 
 looked to no society to aid the churches in paying 
 their salaries. It was not difficult for them to find 
 needy churches to welcome them. Such churches 
 were numerous in Western New York, in Northern 
 Ohio, in Michigan, in Northern Illinois, and to some 
 extent in New England. A few of the stronger 
 churches were open to Oberlin ministers ; but for 
 the most part they were the weaker churches — such 
 as at that time, and at the present, would look for 
 home-missionary aid. But such aid came only 
 through the advice and recommendation of com- 
 mittees of associations and presbyteries — under the 
 Plan of Union, chiefly presbyteries ; and such was 
 the prevalent ignorance and apprehension in regard 
 to Oberlin men, that the most they could look for 
 was the privilege of working in some needy field 
 without molestation. Thus each man was obliged 
 to find a place for himself, and slowly secure recog- 
 nition. To give an illustration of the general sus- 
 picion : in 1842 the Presbytery of Richland, fifty 
 miles from Oberlin, sent up as an overture to the 
 Synod of Ohio the inquiry, " Is baptism, adminis- 
 tered by the preachers of the Oberlin Association, 
 to be regarded as valid ?" This inquiry was referred 
 to an able committee, who reported in substance 
 
EARLY MISSIONARY ACTIVITY, 1 47 
 
 that " as the efficacy of Christian ordinances does 
 not depend on the character of those who adminis- 
 ter them, but on the grace of Christ," so their valid- 
 ity does not depend on the character of the admin- 
 istrator. The report went on to speak of the errors 
 of the Oberlin Association as exceedingly danger- 
 ous and corrupting, and urged that "these preach- 
 ers should not be received by the churches as ortho- 
 dox ministers, nor their members be admitted to 
 communion." An animated discussion upon this 
 report followed, but finally the opinion prevailed 
 " that Oberlinism was not yet sufficiently developed 
 to justify the synod in coming to a decision on this 
 important question," and the report was laid on the 
 table. At this time the Oberlin Evangelist had been 
 published four years, and Oberlin preachers and 
 teachers were well scattered over the State. 
 
 Under these conditions Oberlin men found their 
 work and waited for a brighter day. Some would 
 make their way with little difficulty, and soon found 
 a warm welcome — and this was the more frequent 
 result. Others were less favored, and had some- 
 what trying experiences before presbyteries and 
 councils. A year or two of self-denying and effi- 
 cient labor with some needy church, without aid, was 
 the usual probation to a recognized ministerial 
 standing. Thus the work of the early Oberlin 
 preachers was mainly missionary work in the weak 
 churches and in the newer regions, where there was 
 abundant room. Theological students going out to 
 preach during the long vacation, found no home- 
 missionary society to guide them to open doors and 
 
148 OBERLIN. 
 
 to secure them compensation for the service. They 
 went where the preaching seemed to be needed, 
 and often returned to the seminary as empty-handed 
 as they went, except for the friendship and gratitude 
 of those to whom they had carried the word of the 
 Gospel. They were manual-labor students, and 
 could make their way through another year of study. 
 The situation had its advantages. The Oberlin man 
 secured a theological standing of his own — a birth- 
 right of liberty. No one was responsible for his or- 
 thodoxy. If he talked like the Westminster Confes- 
 sion, it was a surprise and a satisfaction. If he did 
 not, it was only what was to be expected, and at all 
 events he must have the privilege of talking in his 
 own way. This freedom may have come at a heavy 
 price, but it was worth the having. 
 
 In educational work there was a similar mission- 
 ary enterprise. The common schools of Ohio at 
 that time generally afforded two terms of instruc- 
 tion in the year, called the summer and the winter 
 school. In the more favored communities, these 
 continued four months each ; in others, but three. 
 The manual-labor arrangement at Oberlin made it 
 necessary that the college should continue in session 
 during the summer, and have its long vacation in 
 the winter. The winter schools through the coun- 
 try called for young men as teachers. Thus the 
 way opened for large numbers of the students to 
 find employment in teaching. The intense prejudice 
 against Oberlin, so widely diffused, was an obstacle 
 in the way ; but before this prejudice was fully estab- 
 lished, Oberlin teachers had made a reputation for 
 
EARLY MISSIONARY ACTIVITY. 1 49 
 
 themselves and their successors, and a place from 
 which the growing prejudice could not exclude them. 
 There were dark places to which they found no ac- 
 cess. In only rare instances did they pass " Mason 
 and Dixon's Line ;" and students from other parts, 
 going over into Kentucky to find schools, were 
 sometimes confronted with an Oberlin catalogue, 
 which the people kept for their own protection. 
 The majority of Oberlin students, young men and 
 young women, during the first forty years, taught 
 in these schools more or less during their course. 
 At one time, when statistics were taken, it was 
 found that five hundred and thirty students went 
 out to teach in a single year. These teachers not 
 only earned the means to sustain themselves in 
 their study, and supplied the great want of compe- 
 tent teachers; they were also bearers of a whole- 
 some and elevating influence wherever they went, 
 inculcating the principles of temperance, morality, 
 and religion, and leaving a leaven of antislavery 
 sentiment in the communities which they visited. 
 They were also a recruiting force for the school from 
 which they went out ; and thus, through all the years 
 of obloquy and reproach, the number of students 
 was constantly sustained. 
 
 There were special educational enterprises of a 
 missionary character, in which the colony shared 
 with the college. The first of these was led by Mr. 
 Shipherd himself, who had laid the foundations 
 here, and had a longing to continue work of the 
 kind. In providing men for Oberlin, the church and 
 
ISO OBERLIN. 
 
 the college, he had not been careful to reserve a 
 place for himself, and thus, after ten years, while 
 still a young man, he found himself, with improved 
 health, free from responsibility in the college ex- 
 cept as a trustee. Having occasion, in the au- 
 tumn of 1843, to P ass through the State of Michi- 
 gan, his mind occupied with the thought of another 
 Oberlin, he chanced upon a place in Eaton County 
 that impressed him as possibly the appointed field. 
 After spending the night at a cabin in the neighbor- 
 hood, he went on his way. On his return, intend- 
 ing to take a different road, by mistake he came 
 back to the same locality, and spent another night. 
 Returning to Oberlin, he gathered a few of the men 
 who had joined the Oberlin colony upon his invi- 
 tation, and proposed to them the new enterprise. 
 After some weeks of deliberation and prayer, in the 
 spring of 1844, Mr. Shipherd took his wife and six 
 boys into a wagon, with such household goods as 
 could be readily transported, with a young man or 
 two to drive his cows and sheep, and made his way 
 overland to the new wilderness home. A half-dozen 
 families from Oberlin followed, and two young men, 
 graduates of the preceding year, Reuben Hatch 
 and Oramel Hosford, joined them as teachers; and 
 thus the foundations of the town and the college of 
 Olivet, in Michigan, were laid. 
 
 The new settlement had its experiences of hard- 
 ship and trial. The breaking up of new lands, and 
 the flooding of other lands for a mill site, brought 
 sickness to many, especially to Mr. Shipherd and his 
 
EARL Y MISSION A R V A CTIVIT Y. 1 5 I 
 
 family, and in September Mr. Shipherd died. It 
 was a sad blow to the enterprise, but there was 
 no looking back. The work went on, and after 
 many days, and through many trials, prosperity 
 came. 
 
 One of the young men especially, who left his 
 studies at Oberlin to help Mr. Shipherd and his 
 family on their journey, Albertus Green, from Lan- 
 caster, N.Y., proved himself a most enterprising and 
 efficient business manager ; and the little commun- 
 ity again and again assessed upon themselves the cost 
 of some new extension' or addition to the advantages 
 of the college, thus proved their vitality, and secured 
 the confidence of the people of the State. For 
 many years they drew their teachers almost wholly 
 from Oberlin, but at length they could call men from 
 Eastern colleges, and have now reached the stage 
 where they find satisfactory professors among their 
 own alumni. 
 
 A few families went out from Oberlin to South- 
 western Iowa, in 1848, with the purpose of estab- 
 lishing a Christian settlement and Christian institu- 
 tions in advance of the tide of emigration which was 
 turning in that direction. They first settled upon 
 the Missouri bottom, a few miles north of the State 
 line. They had no minister, and only at rare inter- 
 vals preaching of any kind ; but they maintained re- 
 ligious meetings and a Sabbath-school, organized a 
 temperance society, and sought the co-operation of 
 their neighbors. These neighbors were interested in 
 the new style of immigrants, and to express their 
 
152 OBERLIK. 
 
 appreciation, called the little settlement by the river 
 side " Civil Bend." 
 
 These families drew others from Oberlin and the 
 neighborhood, and among them Rev. John Todd, 
 who had graduated at Oberlin, and was then pastor 
 of the church at Clarksfield, Huron Co. These 
 joined the colony in 185 1. Meanwhile it had been 
 discovered that the Missouri River bottom was too 
 uncertain and unstable a foundation for a town, and 
 the colony of Civil Bend found a new site fifteen 
 miles away, on the bluff, and called it Tabor. Here 
 the germ of Tabor College was planted, and has 
 proved its vitality by a slow but steady growth dur- 
 ing thirty years, under a heavy pressure of difficul- 
 ties and embarrassments. The faith and courage 
 and self-sacrifice of the surrounding community have 
 saved it in one crisis after another, until now the day 
 of its prosperity seems to have come. All these years 
 it has been a fountain of educational and spiritual 
 forces to a wide district of country. The families 
 that have sustained it, by their faith and their con- 
 tributions, were mainly of the original colony from 
 Oberlin, and the instructors that have labored in 
 hope, and given their lives to the work, have been 
 Oberlin graduates. 
 
 Oberlin students have aided in the establishment 
 of many other Western schools and colleges, among 
 them Hillsdale College, Michigan ; Ripon College, 
 Wisconsin; Iowa College, Grinnell, Iowa; Drury 
 College, Springfield, Missouri; and Carleton College, 
 Northfield, Minnesota ; not to mention again the 
 
EARL Y MISSION A R Y A CTI FIT Y. I 5 3 
 
 schools at the South already referred to. The im- 
 pulse of a new college, growing from small begin- 
 nings, has seemed to impress many Oberlin students, 
 and they have gone forth with the thought of under- 
 taking a similar enterprise. Such an impulse would 
 scarcely be felt among the students of an old and 
 fully equipped college. It comes where college- 
 building is a part of the education. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OBERLIN IN THE WAR. 
 
 THE conflict which Oberlin had waged with slav- 
 ery was essentially a moral one — a conflict of ideas 
 and principles. The purpose was to diffuse abroad 
 correct ideas as to the wrongfulness and unprofitable- 
 ness of slavery, in the full expectation that in the 
 end the truth would prevail, and slavery would give 
 way before it. The example of emancipation in the 
 West Indies was naturally accepted as an illustration 
 of what it was reasonable to expect. Thus, from 
 time to time, instances appeared in our own country 
 of individual slave-owners who had become dissatis- 
 fied with their position, and under great difficulties 
 and at great expense had set free their slaves. It 
 was thought that all that was necessary was to con- 
 tinue this moral pressure, and slavery would at length 
 yield to the power of truth. There was more or less 
 apprehension of violence and bloodshed, but it was 
 supposed that this would arise between the slaves 
 and their masters, in the form of insurrections and 
 repressions. No emancipation was thought to be 
 desirable which did not involve the consent and co- 
 operation of the holders of the slaves— not that the 
 rights of slaveholders were of any special force, but 
 because there could be no satisfactory result without 
 such co-operation. 
 
OBERLIN IN THE WAR. 1 55 
 
 In the early days of the antislavery movement 
 there was a very sanguine expectation of rapid prog- 
 ress in this moral revolution, and the people of 
 Oberlin shared in the hope. Occasionally one would 
 make a journey through the Southern States, and 
 return with his views greatly changed as to the hope- 
 fulness of the prospect. The entire civilization of 
 the South rested on slavery, and all investigation or 
 inquiry or discussion upon the wrongfulness of the 
 system was effectually precluded. Such was the 
 impression from the inside view. But to the average 
 antislavery man it seemed impossible that slavery 
 should survive the growing agitation which would 
 at length bring to bear upon it the protest of the 
 civilized world. A conversation is recalled which 
 took place at an Oberlin tea-table, about the year 
 1840. A young man asked of Father Keep, who was 
 present, how long a time he thought would pass be- 
 fore slavery would come to an end. " About twenty 
 years," was his deliberate answer ; and no one pres- 
 ent seemed to think the expectation unreasonable. 
 It is true that after twenty years the end was just at 
 hand ; but to human apprehension it was no nearer 
 than twenty years before. 
 
 But while " the irrepressible conflict" was thus re- 
 garded as a moral one, it was not the teaching nor 
 the practice at Oberlin to omit any opportunity of 
 effective testimony or action against slavery, social 
 or political or religious. All that was required was 
 that the action should be in harmony with Christian 
 principle, and should have some probable bearing 
 upon the end to be attained. The monthly concert 
 
156 OBERLIJV. 
 
 of prayer for the termination of slavery was main- 
 tained for many years. The fugitive from slavery 
 was sheltered, and helped on his way ; not only as a 
 service to him personally, but because such an escape 
 was believed to have a wholesome reaction upon 
 public sentiment at the North and at the South. 
 The idea of maintaining a testimony by abstaining 
 from the use of the products of slave-labor, such as 
 sugar and cotton, obtained only a slender and very 
 brief following. The more practical view was that 
 the money expended for the maintenance of the 
 principle could be used more wisely in direct action 
 upon public sentiment. 
 
 The extreme doctrine of " non-resistance," which 
 pervaded antislavery circles quite extensively, was 
 never prevalent at Oberlin. The right to repel by 
 force injustice and outrage, under proper conditions, 
 was vindicated in the Oberlin philosophy, and main- 
 tained as a practical principle ; but there was no ex- 
 pectation that the antislavery struggle would afford 
 occasion for any general application of the principle. 
 The most that was apprehended was that the violent 
 measures of slave-catchers, who invaded the com- 
 munity, might some time call for the defence of 
 property, or liberty, or life ; and a patrol was some- 
 times organized to guard the community from such 
 invasions^ A proposal to operate, in either an open 
 or clandestine way, upon slave territory, for the re- 
 lease of slaves, was never regarded with favor. The 
 effort would bring danger and violence, without use- 
 ful result. 
 
 When, in 1854, Congress declared the Missouri 
 
OBERLIN IN THE WAR. !$7 
 
 Compromise act " inoperative and void," in relation 
 to Kansas and Nebraska, the people of Oberlin, in 
 common with many communities at the North, were 
 profoundly moved. They organized an emigrant-aid 
 society, and sent forward several companies of emi- 
 grants from Oberlin and the surrounding country, to 
 pre-empt Kansas as a free State. These emigrants 
 went prepared for the rough times of the " border- 
 ruffian" war that followed, and helped to organize 
 Kansas as a free State. Several Oberlin ministers 
 were on the ground through all the conflict, and 
 were sometimes driven from their homes and hunted 
 like wild beasts over the prairie. But the day was 
 won at length, and Kansas came forth one of the 
 most prosperous and progressive of the free States. 
 
 John Brown, of Harper's Ferry, was not a stranger 
 at Oberlin. His father was a trustee of the college 
 as early as 1835. His younger brothers and a sister 
 were students here, and he himself had rendered ser- 
 vice in the survey of lands belonging to the college 
 in Western Virginia. He was more or less associated 
 with Oberlin men in Kansas ; but his raid at Harper's 
 Ferry was as great a surprise to the people of Ober- 
 lin generally as to any other community in the land. 
 Two young colored men from Oberlin were with 
 Brown's company, one of whom, Leary, was killed in 
 the fight, and the other, John Copeland, died on the 
 gallows a few days after his leader. 
 
 It was not unnatural that, in pro-slavery circles, 
 Oberlin men should be suspected of complicity in 
 the affair at Harper's Ferry. The following extract 
 from The Pennsylvania)!, of Philadelphia, gives the 
 
158 BERLIN. 
 
 average Democratic impression of that day: " Ober- 
 lin is located in the very heart of what may be called 
 ' John Brown's tract,' where people are born aboli- 
 tionists, and where abolitionism is taught as the 
 'chief end of man,' and often put in practice. . . . 
 Oberlin is the nursery of just such men as John 
 Brown and his followers. With arithmetic is taught 
 the computation of the number of slaves and their 
 value per head ; with geography, territorial lines, 
 and those localities of slave territory supposed to be 
 favorable to emancipation ; with history, the chroni- 
 cles of the peculiar institution ; and with ethics and 
 philosophy, the ' higher law ' and resistance to Fed- 
 eral enactments. Here is where the younger Browns 
 obtain their conscientiousness in ultraisms, taught 
 from their cradle up, so that while they rob slave- 
 holders of their property, or commit murder for the 
 cause of freedom, they imagine that they are doing 
 God service." 
 
 The actual, responsible sentiment of Oberlin men 
 is expressed in the following extract from an editorial 
 in the Oberlin Evangelist upon the Harper's Ferry 
 tragedy: "We object to such intervention, not be- 
 cause the slave-power has any rights which man- 
 kind, white or black, are bound to respect, and not 
 therefore because it is properly a moral wrong to 
 deliver the oppressed from the grasp of the oppressor ; 
 but entirely for other reasons. We long to see 
 slavery abolished by peaceful means, and as a demand 
 of conscience, under the law of rightousness, which 
 is the law of God. Such a result would be at once 
 glorious to Christianity, and blessed to both slave- 
 
OBERLIN IN THE WAR. 1 59 
 
 holders and slaves. It is especially because an armed 
 intervention frustrates this form of pacific, reforma- 
 tory agency, that we disapprove and deplore it. 
 Perhaps the day of hope in moral influence for the 
 abolition of slavery is past already ; we cannot tell. 
 If so, it is a satisfaction to us to be conscious of not 
 having unwisely precipitated its setting sun. If a 
 mad infatuation has fallen upon Southern mind, and 
 they will not hear the demands of justice, nor the 
 admonitions of kindness, let the responsibility rest 
 where it belongs. We would not have it so. ' We 
 have not desired the woful day, O Lord, thou 
 knowest.' " 
 
 But the woful day was hastening on, and Oberlin 
 was to have its full share of responsibility and sacri- 
 fice. Fort Sumter was surrendered April 13, 1861. 
 The call of the President for seventy-five thousand vol- 
 unteers followed, and the question of responding to 
 the call came before the students of Oberlin. Friday 
 evening, April 19, they held a meeting in the college 
 chapel, where members of the different classes ap- 
 pealed to their fellows to rally to the defence of the 
 Union, and committees were appointed to receive 
 the names of volunteers. The next evening a meet- 
 ing was called in the church, which was addressed by 
 Professor Monroe, who was at the time a member of 
 the Ohio Senate, and had returned from Columbus 
 to stir up the students and people of Oberlin to the 
 duty of the hour. The roll was laid upon the desk, 
 open to enlistments, and a large number rushed at 
 once upon the platform, and entered their names. 
 The company was half filled that evening, ten thou- 
 
OBERLW. 
 
 sand dollars were pledged to furnish and sustain the 
 volunteers, and the people retired to ponder the ques- 
 tion of duty during the hours of the Sabbath. It 
 was a time of solemn and absorbing interest. In 
 many rooms there were gatherings for prayer during 
 the day, and there were many consecrations to the 
 service of God and the country. The term of en- 
 listment was for three months, but those who closed 
 their books, and turned from the recitation-room to 
 the tented field, in general regarded themselves as 
 enrolled for the war. 
 
 Numbers sent in their names before the close of 
 the Sabbath, lest there should be no room for them 
 if they waited until Monday. These were not mere 
 boys who acted from the impulse of the hour; they 
 were serious, mature young men, from all depart- 
 ments of the college, who had their cherished plans 
 of life, and had pursued them through years of 
 toil and study. They could not drop these plans, 
 distinctly apprehending that they might never re- 
 sume them, without earnest self-inquiry, and solemn 
 thought. Oberlin has witnessed during its history 
 many memorable Sabbaths, probably few that left a 
 deeper impression upon character than this. 
 
 Monday morning found one hundred and thirty 
 names enrolled, while it was supposed that only 
 eighty-one could be accepted. The faculty of the 
 college did not feel at liberty to encourage enlist- 
 ments. They maintained a conservative position, 
 restraining the ardor of the impulsive, and requir- 
 ing all under twenty-one years of age to wait the 
 approval of parents or guardians. It was soon as- 
 
BERLIN IN THE WAR. l6l 
 
 certained that a single company of one hundred 
 members would be accepted from Oberlin, and this 
 was organized, and furnished with such an outfit as 
 could be provided in two days, in a country town. 
 For these two days the college exercises were sus- 
 pended, and the lecture-rooms were occupied with 
 groups of women, from the college and the town, in 
 the preparation of such articles as soldiers were sup- 
 posed to need, not omitting the sadly suggestive work 
 of scraping lint. Teachers of literature and science 
 were at a discount, and every old man who had seen 
 a squad of soldiers on the march or in bivouac was 
 brought to the front. Thus, with very meagre re- 
 sources, was commenced that education in the ideas 
 and facts of warfare, which was to continue through 
 a period of four years, until every detail of military 
 life and movement became familiar, even to children. 
 There was a vigorous and rapid growth in the 
 virtue of patriotism. Less than two years had 
 elapsed since Oberlin, with its antislavery ideas and 
 practices, had been in conflict with the general gov- 
 ernment, and numbers of citizens and students had 
 gone to prison under its authority. There had been 
 no enthusiasm for the flag: it was the symbol of op- 
 pression. An antislavery man had found it difficult, 
 for many years, to maintain his loyalty. He could 
 rejoice in his country, but his chief interest in the 
 government was in the hope and purpose that it 
 should one day be redeemed from its degradation. 
 Now all was changed. Lincoln, the representative of 
 freedom, was at the head, and slavery was in rebel- 
 lion against the government. Oberlin men did not 
 
1 62 BERLIN. 
 
 stop to ascertain what was to be the outcome of the 
 war, in regard to slavery. They saw that, standing 
 with the government, they would be on the side of 
 liberty against slavery, and they could not hesitate. 
 Whatever the result, freedom must gain, and slavery 
 must lose, in the conflict. There was a very general 
 conviction that slavery must go down in the struggle, 
 whatever might be the ostensible policy of the gov- 
 ernment. Thus the loyalty of the people, which 
 had been suppressed or overborne for years, at once 
 found free scope, and the national flag was thrown 
 aloft. Oberlin fairly blossomed out with the stars 
 and stripes, and it was a great relief to know that 
 these were the symbols of righteousness and liberty, 
 and not of oppression. 
 
 Two days of preparation sufficed to provide the 
 young men their uniforms and general outfit, and on 
 Thursday, April 25th, the company were attended to 
 the railroad station by almost the entire population 
 of the town. Amid various demonstrations, and sad 
 farewells, they took the train for Cleveland, where 
 they went into Camp Taylor, and became Company 
 C, of the Seventh Regiment of Ohio Volunteer In- 
 fantry. Its captain, G. W. Shurtleff, was a member 
 of the theological school and tutor in Latin, and a 
 large majority of the members were students. A 
 few were young men from the town. The company 
 remained at Camp Taylor about ten days, waiting 
 for orders, and during this time received many visits 
 from friends at Oberlin. On the 5th of May, their 
 regiment was ordered to Camp Dennison, near Cin- 
 cinnati. Here they built their first barracks, and 
 
OBERLIN IN THE WAR. 1 63 
 
 continued in drill and general discipline until the 
 26th of June. Here, too, they came to be known as 
 " the praying company." Each mess had its chaplain, 
 who was responsible for a service of daily family 
 worship. A daily prayer-meeting was established 
 by the company, usually held in the open spaces be- 
 tween the barracks, to which members of other com- 
 panies were frequently attracted. The daily family 
 service was maintained in most of the messes during 
 their entire connection with the army, a period of 
 more than three years. Such peculiarities exposed 
 them at first to sneering remark, implying an ex- 
 pectation that they would fail in the sterner work 
 of the soldier's life ; but after the first few marches 
 and the first battle, these remarks lost their point, 
 and were no longer heard. 
 
 The enlistment thus far was for three months — a 
 time scarcely sufficient, at the beginning of the war, 
 to bring untrained men into the field. At Camp 
 Dennison the question of enlistment for three years 
 was brought before the company, on the 23d of 
 May. If any of them had acted from impulse or 
 the spirit of adventure, the two months had given 
 them time to cool. The rough experience of the 
 camp had given them a better understanding of a 
 soldier's life, even without the sight of the battle- 
 field. A portion of the company decided that duty 
 did not call them to this further sacrifice ; but the 
 large majority accepted the call, and turned away 
 from their classes and their books, with little pros- 
 pect of ever returning to them. The company was 
 soon filled, by other volunteers, to a maximum, and 
 
164 BERLIN. 
 
 retained the officers with which it was first organ- 
 ized. 
 
 It was natural that this first company sent out 
 should be followed with special interest by the peo- 
 ple of Oberlin. Other companies went out, and 
 many others, students and citizens, volunteered; but 
 Company C was the first contribution of Oberlin to 
 the war, and had the first experience of its hard- 
 ships. 
 
 The Seventh Ohio was ordered from Camp Den- 
 nison to Western Virginia on the 26th of June, and 
 then began, for Company C, the marches and the 
 battles, which continued until they were mustered 
 out of service, at Cleveland, just three years later. 
 
 The company first came under fire at Cross Lanes, 
 in Western Virginia, where the Seventh Regiment 
 was surprised by a large force of the enemy ; and for 
 a time Company C stood alone, unsupported, and 
 without any field officer, until they were at last com- 
 pelled to retreat, leaving five of their number se- 
 verely wounded on the field, two mortally wounded, 
 and two uninjured to look after them. In their re- 
 treat through the woods they fell in with a regiment 
 of the enemy, and the captain and those near the 
 head of the company, twenty-nine in all, were taken 
 prisoners. The rear of the company was saved 
 from this misfortune by the rather unmilitary order 
 of the lieutenant, E. H. Baker, " Skedaddle, boys." 
 Thus in the first encounter with the enemy the com- 
 pany was sadly broken, and was never entirely re- 
 united. The prisoners were first marched one hun- 
 dred miles with their elbows tied together behind 
 

 O BERLIN IN THE WAR. 1 65 
 
 their backs, and were then taken by rail to Rich- 
 mond, Va., where they were confined in the some- 
 what famous tobacco factory. The captain was 
 here separated from his company, and spent a year 
 in various Southern prisons, at Richmond, Salisbury, 
 Charleston, and Columbia. After exchange in 
 September, 1862, he was placed on the staff of Gen- 
 eral Wilcox, and passed through the battle of Fred- 
 ericksburg ; was soon after commissioned as Colonel 
 of the 5th U. S. Colored Troops, and fought with 
 them through the remainder of the war in the 
 trenches before Petersburg, in June, July, and Au- 
 gust, 1864, and at New Market, Va., where he lost 
 nearly half his regiment, and was himself severely 
 wounded ; and was honorably discharged at the close 
 of the war as brevet brigadier-general. Many of the 
 officers of his regiment were young men who had 
 been his friends and fellow-students at Oberlin. 
 
 The rest of the prisoners from Company C were 
 soon taken in open cars, through the whole length of 
 the Confederacy, to New Orleans, where they were 
 placed in the parish prison, without any care for their 
 clothing, and a very inadequate supply of food ; and 
 at night they were thrust together into a cell, without 
 blankets or any bedding, where only half could lie 
 down at once, while the other half sat upon the stone 
 floor, leaning against the wall, a small opening in the 
 door and a smaller opening in a flue in the wall, 
 being the only arrangements for ventilation. Their 
 Yankee ingenuity enabled them to add to their re- 
 sources by the manufacture of various trinkets, rings, 
 watch-chains, crosses, and pen-holders, from the bones 
 
1 66 O BERLIN. 
 
 which came, in ample proportion, with their allow- 
 ance of meat. By the sale of these they supplied 
 their more pressing wants. The more studious 
 among them pursued their French, German, Greek, 
 or Theology. A " Union Lyceum" was organized, 
 a semi-monthly paper, " The Stars and Stripes," 
 issued, and prayer-meetings and Bible-classes were 
 maintained. Two of their number died in this 
 prison, of typhoid fever. They remained there from 
 October, 1861, to February, 1862, about five months, 
 when they were removed to the prison at Salisbury, 
 N. C., where they were kept until near the end of 
 May ; when, after taking the oath not to bear arms 
 against the Confederacy until regularly exchanged, 
 they were sent down the Tar River under a flag of 
 truce, and were placed on board a Union steamer, 
 over which floated the Stars and Stripes. As they 
 stepped upon the deck it is reported that " they 
 danced and wept, and even kissed the mute folds 
 of those loved colors." Some of them were dis- 
 charged as not fit for further duty, and the rest, 
 after exchange, reported themselves to their com- 
 pany, and served out the three years of their enlist- 
 ment. Little was heard at Oberlin of these men 
 during their captivity. A few scraps of intelligence 
 came by roundabout methods, and occasionally a 
 letter on tissue paper came through, packed under the 
 covering of a brass button on the uniform of a soldier 
 who, for some reason, was sent through the lines. 
 
 The news of the battle and disaster at Cross 
 Lanes reached Oberlin in the midst of the com- 
 mencement exercises, and gave a sad interest to the 
 
BERLIN IN THE WAR. \6j 
 
 occasion. The programme that day bore the names 
 of twenty-nine members of the Senior Class, nine of 
 them marked with a star referring to a marginal 
 note, " In the Federal Army." These nine received 
 their degree with the rest ; but Burford Jeakins was 
 lying, mortally wounded, on the field, and Wm. W. 
 Parmenter died soon after in the prison at New Or- 
 leans. 
 
 The portion of the company remaining from the 
 Cross Lanes disaster, more than two thirds of the 
 whole, soon rallied, reorganized by the appointment 
 of officers in the place of those lost, and had their 
 numbers at length replenished by the enlistment of 
 recruits, in part from Oberlin, and in part from other 
 sources. 
 
 During the remaining years of the war, they held on 
 their way, leaving their dead on many a hard-fought 
 field, marching twenty-four hundred miles, and car- 
 ried by rail and by steamer forty-eight hundred more. 
 Among their battle-fields are Winchester, Port Re- 
 public, Cedar Mountain, Chancellorsville, Antietam, 
 Gettysburg, Lookout Mountain, Mission Ridge, 
 Ringgold, and Resaca. During these three years 
 one hundred and fifty students were at various 
 times members of Company C. Of these, only three 
 died from disease, two of the three from typhoid in 
 the prison at New Orleans. Twenty-eight fell in 
 battle, and fifteen were discharged on account of 
 serious wounds. That their sound principles and 
 temperate habits had much to do in securing their 
 freedom from disease, and their power of endurance, 
 there can be no reasonable question. Of their 
 
1 68 OB E KLIN. 
 
 fidelity to the principles with which they enlisted, 
 Prof. J. M. Ellis, of the college, after a visit to the 
 camp, thus testified : " When their ranks had been 
 thinned by capture and death, and they had passed 
 through all the corrupting tendencies and tempta- 
 tions of their new life for a year, surrounded with 
 godless men and officers on every side, I saw them 
 in their tents in the heart of Virginia ; and nightly 
 from the six tents of Company C went up the voice 
 of song and of prayer, as they bowed themselves 
 around their family altars. It was a strange sound 
 in a camp of thirty thousand men. They were 
 known as the ' praying company,' and the fame of 
 their meetings was spread through all that army." 
 
 But Company C was not the only contribution 
 of Oberlin to the war. A company from Oberlin 
 joined the 41st O. V. I. ; and about the same time, 
 a considerable number of students and citizens 
 joined the Second Ohio Cavalry, and followed the 
 line of war from the Mississippi to the Indian Terri- 
 tory, and back through the whole length of the Con- 
 federacy to Danville, Va., and still back again to 
 the western border of Missouri. One of these, A. 
 B. Nettleton, rose from the rank of a private to the 
 command of his regiment, fought under Sheridan 
 the campaigns of the Shenandoah, and helped win 
 the final victory at Five Forks. 
 
 In 1862, another company went from Oberlin to 
 join the 103d O. V. I. Its captain, P. C. Hayes, 
 was a graduate of the college, and a member of the 
 Theological School. He soon rose to the command 
 of his regiment, and at length became Provost-Gen- 
 
OB E KLIN IN THE WAR. 1 69 
 
 eral of Schofield's army, with his regiment as guard. 
 The same year, when Cincinnati was threatened by 
 Kirby Smith's army, and the " Squirrel Hunters" 
 were called out, our recitation-rooms were given up 
 almost wholly to the young women, while the young 
 men, upon a few hours' notice, rushed with such 
 arms and ammunition and provisions as they could 
 gather up, to the point of danger. When the dan- 
 ger was past they returned to resume their work. 
 For this service there was no compensation — only 
 the approval of the authorities of the State, and the 
 Squirrel Hunter's diploma. The same year, when 
 Washington was in danger, a company of "three- 
 months men" went from Oberlin directly to the 
 " front," held several posts to relieve veterans, 
 shared in various skirmishes, and at last were in- 
 volved in the surrender by Gen. Miles at Harper's 
 Ferry. In 1864, when Gen. Grant was concentrat- 
 ing all his forces upon Richmond, and Ohio sent, 
 within the space of two weeks, forty regiments of 
 " hundred-days men" into the field, Oberlin sent a 
 second " Company C " to the 150th Regiment ; and 
 though in general these short-time soldiers were 
 sent to garrison forts, that veterans might be sent 
 forward to the front, this company, occupying the 
 fortifications near Washington, had a taste of actual 
 warfare, in repelling Gen. Early's movement upon 
 the city. 
 
 Numbers of young men in the college went to 
 their homes in this and other States, and enlisted 
 there, to help make out the quotas for their own 
 towns. Thus it was difficult to determine how 
 
I/O OB E RUN. 
 
 many of our students were in the army, or to follow 
 their fortunes. The alumni of the college, scattered 
 through the land, responded to the call of .the coun- 
 try in the same spirit as the undergraduates. They 
 went in command of companies and of regiments, 
 many of them as chaplains, and some as privates. 
 One, J. Dolson Cox, attained the rank of major- 
 general. He went into the army from the Ohio 
 Senate, at the first call, commissioned as brigadier- 
 general ; took charge of the Department of Western 
 Virginia, and held it to the Union ; led the Ninth 
 Army Corps and the Twenty-third with McClellan 
 and Burnside ; and fought through the Georgia and 
 Tennessee campaigns with Sherman and Thomas. 
 
 Taking graduates and undergraduates together, it 
 was estimated that not less than eight hundred and 
 fifty were in the army, at some time during the four 
 years. The annual attendance of students was re- 
 duced from thirteen hundred and thirteen in i860, 
 to eight hundred and fifty-nine in 1862 — a loss of 
 nearly thirty-five per cent. This loss, after the first 
 year of the war, was wholly on the part of the young 
 men. The number of young women was greater in 
 1864 than in i860, and for the first time in the his- 
 tory of the college they became the majority, while 
 before they had been less than two fifths of the 
 whole. The system of co-education thus helped to 
 keep the college in good working order during these 
 years, while so many young men were taking their 
 discipline in the army. Still several classes were 
 greatly demoralized, in the military sense of the 
 word, by the loss of nearly half their numbers. 
 
OBERLIN IN THE WAR. I/I 
 
 In the first excitements and anxieties of the war, 
 the work of the class-room was maintained with 
 some difficulty. The telegraph or the morning 
 paper often brought news so distracting that neither 
 teachers nor pupils could give their full strength to 
 the work of the hour ; but at length all learned to 
 possess their souls in patience. Still there were 
 often sad interruptions, as when one who had fallen 
 was brought back to be buried from among us — 
 Danforth and Worcester from Winchester, Kenaston 
 from Gettysburg, Ells from Washington, and others 
 from other fields. There were also pleasant inter- 
 ruptions when paroled prisoners came back after a 
 year's captivity, almost as from the dead. 
 
 The recreations of the students took on an unusual 
 form. In the spring of 1861 they had built a gym- 
 nasium on the campus, by voluntary contributions, 
 and had called a teacher of gymnastics from the 
 East, to inaugurate the new dispensation. Great en- 
 thusiasm was shown in the exercises, but from the 
 day of the fall of Fort Sumter, the gymnasium was 
 deserted. The teacher returned to his own State to 
 enlist in the army, and the students organized com- 
 panies and practised the military drill instead of 
 gymnastics. The gymnasium was sometimes utilized 
 as an armory, but at length it became utterly deso- 
 late, and before the close of the war was removed 
 from the campus as a useless incumbrance. Two or 
 three entire generations of students passed away be- 
 fore any demand arose for a new gymnasium. 
 
 Of those who went forth from Oberlin to the war, 
 about one in ever)- ten never returned, and the 
 
172 OBERLIN. 
 
 soldiers' monument, erected in 1870, bears the names 
 of one hundred citizens and students who fell on the 
 field, or died in prison or in hospital. A special sad- 
 ness attaches to the memory of those who fell at the 
 last hour, when all the dangers seemed to be past — 
 of Tenney, of the Second Ohio Cavalry, who was 
 killed by almost the last shell that exploded in the 
 neighborhood of Richmond ; and of Trembley, mem- 
 ber of Company C, who had fought in every battle, 
 except one, in which his regiment had been engaged, 
 and had suffered no harm. The time of his dis- 
 charge had come ; he had written to his mother to 
 dismiss her anxiety for him— that his fighting was 
 over and he would soon be with her. On the deck 
 of the steamer a few miles below Cincinnati his foot 
 slipped and he was drowned. His comrades re- 
 covered the body and bore it to his mother. 
 
 When the war was finished, all show of military 
 life at Oberlin disappeared. The experience of war 
 had been too real and serious to leave any taste for 
 its pastime or its pageantry. No military companies 
 survived among the students, and no military drill 
 was adopted as a college arrangement. The classes 
 gradually filled up, the advanced classes more slowly 
 than the others, and in 1873 the numbers in attend- 
 ance were greater than when the war began. 
 
soldiers' monument, and old laboratory. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SPECIAL FEATURES: CO-EDUCATION— MANUAL 
 LABOR — MUSIC. 
 
 There are several features in which Oberlin has 
 been distinguished from most of the older colleges, 
 peculiarities which, to some extent, were in the 
 original idea and plan, and which have given it a 
 degree of notoriety, and sometimes of reputation. 
 The most prominent of these is doubtless the princi- 
 ple and practice of 
 
 CO-EDUCATION. 
 
 This word seems to have come into use within the 
 last twenty years — an Americanism, made necessary 
 by the existence of a special feature in the later 
 American education, in which Oberlin was called to 
 lead the way. Co-education, as far as schools for 
 primary and secondary education are concerned, is 
 not a modern arrangement. The common-school of 
 New England has always brought boys and girls to- 
 gether, except to a limited extent in cities and larger 
 towns. The ordinary New England academy has 
 involved the same arrangement ; and it was almost 
 inevitable that the two original founders of Oberlin, 
 who had received their education in such an academy, 
 should embrace this arrangement in their ideal school. 
 
174 BERLIN. 
 
 It does not appear that they regarded themselves 
 as introducing any innovation, or any questionable 
 principle. They did not realize that they were lay- 
 ing the foundations of a college. Mr. Stewart dis- 
 tinctly discarded the idea, and Mr. Shipherd seems 
 to have accepted it as an afterthought. Their 
 11 Collegiate Institute" grew into a college on their 
 hands, after the announcement had been made that 
 the doors should be open to young men and young 
 women. There seems to have been no discussion 
 of the question of introducing co-education into a 
 higher institution of learning. The founders and 
 colonists had many principles to discuss and settle, 
 but this was not one of them. The concentration 
 of spiritual and intellectual forces to move upon the 
 1 Mississippi Valley" necessarily carried with it the 
 education of men and women. To what extent 
 they should be brought together in this preparatory 
 education, was probably not clearly determined, 
 even in idea. The earliest circular thus sets forth 
 the plan : " The several departments of instruction 
 in the Institute are thus arranged : Preparatory or 
 Academic School ; Female Department ; Teachers' 
 Seminary ; Collegiate Department ; and Theological 
 Department." Then follows a brief description of 
 each department or school, giving the idea of the 
 female department thus : " The Female Department, 
 under the supervision of a lady, will furnish instruc 
 tion in the useful branches taught in the best female 
 seminaries; and its higher classes will be permitted 
 to enjoy the privileges of such professorships in the 
 Teachers', Collegiate, and Theological Departments, 
 
CO- ED UCA 7 'ION. 1 7 5 
 
 as shall best suit their sex, and prospective employ- 
 ment." In a subsequent paragraph of the same cir- 
 cular, we read : " Pupils may enter the Female Semi- 
 nary for one term only, but none can enter the 
 higher departments without expressing the determi- 
 nation to pursue such a course as the Faculty shall 
 
 direct The Preparatory School, and the 
 
 Female Seminary, may be entered at any age above 
 eight. The Teachers' and Collegiate Departments 
 cannot be entered under fourteen." Such state- 
 ments manifestly contemplate a separate school for 
 girls, with the privilege of attending upon instruc- 
 tion in the other schools or departments. This con- 
 dition of things was never realized at Oberlin. What- 
 ever the intention in the planting, the growth never 
 brought out this form. There has been no female 
 department, except in relation to general manage- 
 ment and discipline, not as related to scholastic in- 
 struction. In a letter written in May, 1834, by Mrs. 
 M. P. Dascomb, the first principal of this depart- 
 ment, giving to her friends a view of things as she 
 found them at Oberlin, this sentence occurs: "I 
 spend three err four hours daily in hearing classes 
 recite. Mrs. Waldo also assists in school. The fe- 
 males are very interesting — most of them from other 
 States, and many from a distance. That depart- 
 ment is not yet distinct from the other." The same 
 state of things would be found by a visitor to-day. 
 The fact seems to be that women came in because 
 they belonged to the enterprise, as they come into 
 the household, with no special theoretical views on 
 the subject, but with a prevalent conviction that 
 
176 O BERLIN. 
 
 every necessary adjustment could be made. The 
 founders certainly held no new or special views of 
 the rights or the sphere of woman : they only 
 sought for her such an education as should fit her 
 for highest usefulness in her own appropriate work. 
 
 Thus young women were invited to the school, 
 and came; and the required adjustments and ar- 
 rangements were made as the years went on. The 
 first year, out of one hundred and one pupils in 
 attendance, thirty-eight were young women ; and 
 these were of mature years and character. No 
 children, boys or girls, were received. Provision 
 was soon made by the community, in connection 
 with the common-school system of the State, for the 
 elementary education of their children. The pro- 
 portion of young women in attendance slowly ad- 
 vanced, being at the end of the first decade thirty- 
 seven per cent of the whole ; at the end of the 
 second, forty-three per cent; of the third — in the 
 midst of the war — fifty-one per cent ; of the fourth, 
 forty-seven per cent ; and of the fifth, fifty-three per 
 cent. No special educational arrangement was made, 
 the first year, for these young women, except the 
 appointment of a lady principal. Their instruction 
 was provided for in the general classes. 
 
 The announcement for this department in 1835 
 was as follows : 
 
 "Young ladies of good minds, unblemished mor- 
 als, and respectable attainments are received into 
 this department, and placed under the superintend- 
 ence of a judicious lady, whose duty it is to correct 
 their habits and mould the female character. They 
 
CO-EDUCATION. 1 77 
 
 board at the public table and perform the labor of 
 the steward's department, together with the wash- 
 ing, ironing, and much of the sewing for the stu- 
 dents. They attend recitations with young gentle- 
 men in all the departments. Their rooms are en- 
 tirely separate from those of the other sex, and no 
 calls or visits in their respective apartments are at 
 all permitted. 
 
 " This department is now full, and many applicants 
 have been necessarily rejected. Such, therefore, as 
 may wish to enter hereafter, would do well to send 
 us their application, accompanied with the requisite 
 testimonials, and hear from us before they make the 
 journey in person." 
 
 For the years 1836-7, no change in the organiza- 
 tion of this department appears ; but in 1838 the 
 catalogue presents a " Ladies' Course, introduced 
 with a single sentence : " The following is the course 
 of study for young ladies." This course was based 
 upon a common-school education of that day, as a 
 preparation, and was extended through four years. 
 The course in the best female seminaries of the 
 period was for three years. This course was, for 
 the time, thorough in mathematics, natural science, 
 English literature, history, and philosophy, but 
 afforded no language, ancient or modern, except the 
 " Greek of the New Testament." The only strictly 
 " ornamental" branch was linear drawing. A sig- 
 nificant remark concludes the presentation: " When- 
 ever the course of study admits of it, the young 
 ladies attend the regular recitations of the College 
 Department." There were several studies not 
 
I7 8 O BERLIN. 
 
 found in the College Course, which required separate 
 classes, but the tendency was, as a matter of econ- 
 omy, and of general wisdom, to diminish the num- 
 ber of separate classes, and bring the two courses 
 into harmony. " The Ladies' Course " stood thus 
 side by side with the College Course for many 
 years, modified and strengthened from year to year 
 as experience suggested, or the general advancement 
 of education in the country required. Greek was 
 made optional in 1839, but was frequently studied 
 by young women, and Latin and Hebrew as well. 
 Latin was introduced as a required study in 1849, 
 and French in 1852. 
 
 The principal of this department was reinforced 
 by a " Ladies' Board of Managers" in 1836, an insti- 
 tution which has continued from that time. This 
 Board has been made up of the lady principal and 
 several ladies of mature experience, wives of mem- 
 bers of the Faculty, or of others connected with the 
 management of the college. To them was com- 
 mitted the general ordering and discipline of the de- 
 partment, and the provision of such special instruc- 
 tion as might be necessary. This arrangement was 
 intended to secure to the young women the watch- 
 ful guardianship of ladies of experience and culture, 
 and save them, in any case of inquiry or personal 
 discipline, from the publicity of appearing before the 
 general Faculty of the college. The service of this 
 Board has been without compensation, and has un- 
 questionably contributed much to the success of the 
 " experiment " of co-education at Oberlin. 
 
 In 1837 four young women came forward with a 
 
CO-ED UCA TION. I fc, 
 
 full preparation for college, having pursued Latin 
 and Greek in the various classes of the preparatory 
 department, and asked admission to the Freshman 
 Class, as candidates for graduation. Young women 
 had already been reciting with all the college classes, 
 and more or less in all the studies ; still, the idea of 
 their taking the full College Course, instead of the 
 course designed for them, raised a new question. 
 There was a little hesitation, but the application was 
 granted, and three of the four graduated in 1841 — 
 the first young women in this country to receive a 
 V degree in the arts. No announcement of this new 
 departure appears in the Catalogue. For the years 
 1838-9 the names of these young women appear 
 after the names of all others under a separate head- 
 ing, " College Course, Freshman Class." In 1839 
 their names and classification lead the names in the 
 Female Department, and in 1840 they are placed, 
 with the college classes to which they belong, after 
 •the names of the young men ; and this arrangement 
 has been retained until the present time. But to 
 guard against misapprehension as to the relations of 
 these young women the following remark was intro- 
 duced and kept standing in the Annual Catalogue 
 until 1855: " Young ladies in college are required 
 to conform to the general regulations of the Female 
 Department." 
 
 In 1847 two young women who had completed 
 their literary course applied for admission to the 
 Theological Course. They were received and regis- 
 tered as " resident graduates, pursuing the Theologi- 
 cal Course ;" and thus their names appear for three 
 
180 BERLIN. 
 
 years. The next lady applicant for the Theological 
 Course appeared in 1873. She was received and 
 catalogued with her class. 
 
 When the first class of young women had com- 
 pleted the Ladies' Course, they were not brought be- 
 fore the great congregation at Commencement to 
 read their essays. They called together their friends, 
 by tickets of invitation, the evening before Com- 
 mencement, and read their essays in their own as- 
 sembly-room, receiving no diplomas. The two fol- 
 lowing years this anniversary was held in the college 
 chapel the evening before Commencement, and the 
 young ladies read before as large an assembly as the 
 chapel could contain. Theoretically this was the 
 Ladies' Anniversary and not a part of the Com- 
 mencement proper, which was held the next day in 
 the large tent. The next year, 1843, tne Commence- 
 ment was held in the large new church not yet 
 completed, and the young women of the Ladies' 
 Course read in the same church the preceding af- 
 ternoon, and received their diplomas. From this 
 time onward the anniversary of the Ladies' Depart- 
 ment was reckoned as a part of the Commencement, 
 but the arrangements were designed to indicate that 
 it was the day for the ladies specially. The plat- 
 form was occupied by the Ladies' Board of Manag- 
 ers, and the announcements were made by the lady 
 principal, the president of the college being at hand 
 to open with prayer and to present the diplomas. 
 
 When the first young women came to graduate, 
 having completed the full College Course, they natu- 
 rally felt some anxiety as to the place that should be 
 
CO-ED UCA TION. 1 8 1 
 
 given them at Commencement. It was proposed to 
 them that they should read their essays on the pre- 
 ceding day, with the young women of the Ladies' 
 Course, it being announced that they had taken 
 the full College Course, and should come forward the 
 following day with the class to receive the degree. 
 This was not thought to provide a suitable discrimi- 
 nation, and to avoid the impropriety of having the 
 young ladies read from a platform arranged for the 
 speaking of young men, and filled with trustees and 
 professors and distinguished gentlemen visitors, the 
 essays of the lady college graduates were read by the 
 \j professor of rhetoric, the young women coming upon 
 the platform with their class at the close to receive 
 their diplomas. This arrangement was continued 
 eighteen years, but became less and less satisfactory, 
 and in 1859, f° r the ^ rst time, the young women 
 were permitted to read their own essays with the 
 graduating class, and in 1874 a young lady graduate 
 who desired it, was permitted to speak instead of 
 reading an essay, and this liberty is still accorded. 
 
 In 1875 the " Ladies' Course," which had appeared 
 in the catalogue for forty years, was transformed 
 into the " Literary Course," and opened to young 
 men ; and the two courses thus presented became 
 parallel courses in the School of Philosophy and the 
 Arts — the Literary Course requiring one year of 
 preparation, and the Classical three years. Thus a 
 distinctive Ladies' Course disappears. For the Lit- 
 erary Course no degree has yet been granted. It 
 has been suggested that a year be added to the 
 preparation required, and that a degree be conferred. 
 
1 82 O BERLIN. 
 
 Thus it appears that co-education at Oberlin was 
 not undertaken as a radical reform, but as a practi- 
 cal movement in harmony with the prevalent idea of 
 woman's work and sphere, and thus it has been car- 
 ried forward, carefully adjusting itself to the new 
 conditions, as they have arisen. There was no at- 
 tempt to put young men and young women upon 
 the same footing, regardless of their diverse natures 
 and relations/ While they were members of the 
 same class, and received, in general, the same in- . 
 struction, their duties were not identical. There 
 has been no effort to train young women as public 
 speakers. Declamations, orations, and extempora- >J 
 neous discussions have been required of young 
 men — not of young women. Their elocutionary 
 training has been in the direction of reading rather 
 than of speaking. Nor has there been an aim to 
 place young men and women upon the same footing 
 in regard to the general regulation of conduct. The 
 general judgment of the world has been accepted in 
 regard to the proprieties of womanly conduct, and 
 the college regulations have conformed to these 
 principles. That young women should be less con- 
 spicuous on the street, and in public generally, than 
 young men, is a requirement of general society, and r 
 the college regulations have recognized this fact. 
 
 The Ladies' Hall is the headquarters of the 
 Ladies' Department, furnishing private rooms for a 
 hundred young women who choose to occupy them, 
 also principal's office, reception rooms and parlors. 
 The dining-room of this hall furnishes seats at table 
 for nearly as many young men who choose to 
 
CO-ED UCA T/ON. 1 8 3 
 
 take their meals there ; and thus they meet at meals 
 and recitations. Social calls upon these young 
 women arc in order during the early evening hour. 
 A large number of young women board in families 
 in the village, under the general supervision of the 
 lady principal, and young men are received to the 
 same families as boarders, with suitable arrangements 
 in regard to rooms. This has been the order from 
 the beginning. 
 
 In the organization of Literary Societies, the prin- 
 ciple of separation has always been maintained. 
 The young men have their own societies, and the 
 young women theirs ; and there has never appeared 
 any desire for a different arrangement. At least 
 this established order has been cheerfully accepted, 
 
 The aim has been to have the restrictions few and 
 simple, such as commend themselves to the good 
 sense of the reasonable and well-disposed, and to 
 depend greatly upon this good sense and reasonable- 
 ness ; but the point has never been reached where it 
 seemed wise or safe to dispense with all restrictions, 
 and leave the young people to their own free judg- 
 ment. The young need and expect such guidance. 
 Older people often need it, but there is no one to 
 afford it. 
 
 There is no place in these pages for an argument 
 upon the system. A historical statement of the ar- 
 rangements, and the results, is all that can be given. 
 The plan has been in operation fifty years, and the 
 work is as satisfactory and hopeful to-day as it has 
 ever been. It cannot be claimed that there have 
 been no anxieties connected .with the system, or 
 
1 84 O BERLIN. 
 
 that there have not been occurrences, at rare inter- 
 vals, that were painful or even shocking. Such things 
 belong to human society in every form, and no ar- 
 rangement or vigilance can afford complete security. 
 Those who have been intrusted with this work, dur- 
 ing the years that are past, have been trained in the 
 best schools of the land, and are familar with the 
 results in these schools. They have sometimes 
 come to the work with some apprehension ; but with- 
 out exception, so far as is known, they have grown 
 into a hearty approval of the system. 
 
 It is not necessary to say that in scholarship the 
 young women have held an honorable place. When- 
 ever a comparison has been made, it has been found 
 that the young women are a little above the average 
 in regularity of attendance and in general scholar- 
 ship ; and that the best scholar, in any branch of 
 study, is just as likely to be a young woman as a 
 young man. There is a probability that intense com- 
 petition tells more upon the nervous endurance of 
 the young woman than of the young man, and that 
 anxieties and apprehensions in general take a stronger 
 hold. Some care is called for in these respects ; yet 
 it is not observable that a larger proportion of young 
 women, who enter upon a full course, are turned 
 aside, from failing health, than of young men. 
 
 During the history of the college, one hundred 
 and thirty-three young women have taken the full 
 College Course, of whom nineteen have died since 
 graduation — exactly one in seven. Seven hundred 
 and two have taken the Literary Course, of whom 
 ninety-five have died, or one in seven and four tenths. 
 
CO- ED UCA TIOiV. 1 8 5 
 
 Eight hundred and fifty young men have graduated, 
 of whom one hundred and eight have died, or one 
 in seven and nine tenths. These proportions are 
 not sufficiently divergent to afford an argument un- 
 favorable to co-education, nor are the numbers suf- 
 ficiently large to establish a favorable conclusion. 
 The general impression of those who have watched 
 the experiment is a safer reliance. 
 
 That the system of co-education, as here pursued, 
 tends to bewilder young women with false ambi- 
 tions, or to draw them away from their proper work, 
 no indication whatever has appeared. Those edu- 
 cated here, like other educated women of the land, 
 are found filling the places which belong to such 
 women. For a large proportion, probably four fifths 
 of the whole, their work centres in the home life. 
 Others are filling responsible positions in this land 
 and abroad, doing a work which the world needs. 
 Amid all the changes in the outward form of the 
 work, which the fifty years have brought, the spirit 
 and aim of the young women gathered here remain 
 the same as in the early days. 
 
 In reviewing the early announcements and cata- 
 logues, among other changes which time has wrought, 
 a change of nomenclature is observable, to which 
 the adjustment is not yet complete. The English 
 use of the terms "lady" and " gentleman" is prevail- 
 ing over the American, in our land, and Oberlin is 
 in the transition state. Young ladies have become 
 young women ; but we still retain, as relics of the 
 early day, Ladies' Department, Ladies' Hall, Ladies' 
 Literary Society, and Ladies' Board of Managers. 
 
1 86 O BERLIN. 
 
 Fifty years more may help us through this formal 
 inconsistency. 
 
 MANUAL LABOR. 
 
 The idea of Manual Labor as a feature in the life 
 of the student was not original with the founders of 
 Oberlin, nor peculiar to the Oberlin plan. Several 
 schools at the West founded fifty years ago, more 
 or less, undertook a provision for manual labor. In 
 Ohio, Western Reserve College, Marietta College, 
 Lane Theological Seminary, and other schools later 
 than these, adopted the arrangement. Oneida In- 
 stitute, of Central New York, from which quite a 
 number of students came to Oberlin, through Lane 
 Seminary and otherwise, was a manual-labor school ; 
 and doubtless schools still farther east had tried the 
 experiment. Probably in no case, except perhaps 
 a few of the distinctively agricultural or mechanical 
 schools of a later date, has there been so earnest 
 and thorough and persistent an effort to maintain 
 the system. The founders of Oberlin believed in 
 the arrangement as fully as they believed in any form 
 of education, and all their plans were formed in view 
 of it. The five hundred acres of land secured as a 
 gift from Messrs. Street & Hughes, of New Haven, 
 were not secured mainly for the sake of providing 
 ample grounds for the college site, nor for the pur- 
 pose of selling at a profit for the advantage of the 
 college. They were designed as a college farm, and 
 were given by the proprietors, as the deed states, 
 because of their " interest in a literary, manual-labor 
 
MANUAL LABOR. 1 87 
 
 institution," to be held inalienably by the college. 
 Three hundred acres in addition were bought to en- 
 large the farm. The Circular issued in 1834, near 
 the close of the first year of the college work, con- 
 tains the following statement : 
 
 " Manual Labor Department. — This depart- 
 ment is considered indispensable to a complete edu- 
 cation. It is designed first to preserve the student's 
 health. For this purpose, all of both sexes, rich 
 and poor, are required to labor four hours daily. 
 There being an intimate sympathy between soul and 
 body, their labor promotes, as a second object, clear 
 and strong thought, with a happy moral tempera- 
 ment. A third object of this system is its pecuniary 
 advantage ; for while taking that exercise necessary 
 to health, a considerable portion of the student's ex- 
 penses may be defrayed. This system, as a fourth 
 object, aids essentially in forming habits of industry 
 and economy, and secures, as a fifth desideratum, 
 an acquaintance with common things. In a word, it 
 meets the wants of man as a compound being, and 
 prevents the common and amazing waste of money, 
 time, health, and life. 
 
 " To accomplish the grand objects of this depart- 
 ment, a farm of eight hundred acres has been secured, 
 some fifty of which are cleared and seeded ; other 
 clearing is in progress, and teams, cows, sheep, and 
 swine, with agricultural implements, have been pro- 
 cured according to present wants, to be increased as 
 necessity requires. 
 
 "This department is also furnished with a steam- 
 
1 88 OBERLIN. 
 
 engine of twenty-five horse-power, which now pro- 
 pels a saw-mill, grist-mill, shingle and lath saw, and 
 turning-lathe, to which will be added other machinery 
 as experience shall prove expedient. One work- 
 shop is now erected and supplied with tools. Others 
 are to be added as necessity requires, and funds al- 
 low. The agricultural system is much more exten- 
 sive than the mechanical, because it is more condu- 
 cive to the student's health and support. A few 
 apprenticed and a few natural mechanics may be well 
 employed, but a large majority can work in mechan- 
 ism to but little pecuniary profit ; while on the farm 
 they can secure more health and earn much of their 
 support." 
 
 The first year four hours' daily labor was required 
 of every student. The manual-labor bell was rung 
 at one o'clock in the afternoon, and each young man 
 repaired to the field or the forest, the shop or the 
 mill, for his work, for which he received from four 
 to seven cents an hour, according to his efficiency or 
 his skill. The young women performed the domes- 
 tic labor in the boarding-hall, for which they received 
 three to four cents an hour. To equalize matters 
 somewhat, the price of board was seventy-five cents 
 a week for young women, and a dollar for young 
 men. Tuition was twelve dollars a year for young 
 women, and fifteen dollars for young men. Inciden- 
 tals were one dollar for young women, and two dol- 
 lars for young men. 
 
 The Circular of the first year adds, in a closing 
 paragraph: " The testimony of one year's trial is, 
 
MANUAL LABOR. 1 89 
 
 that students, by four hours' daily labor, may pre- 
 serve their health, clear and invigorate their minds, 
 guard against morbid influences, earn their board, 
 and yet facilitate instead of retarding their progress 
 in scientific attainments. The most delinquent in 
 manual, have been the most deficient in mental 
 labor." 
 
 The second year the number of students was in- 
 creased nearly threefold, although " more than half 
 the applications for admission were refused." The 
 Circular for the year states that " students, both 
 male and female, and in all the departments, are ex- 
 pected to labor three hours daily." The abatement 
 in the hours of labor seems to have arisen from the 
 difficulty of providing remunerative labor for the in- 
 creasing numbers. There was no end of work to be 
 done — forests to clear away, stumps to eradicate, 
 fields to subdue, and buildings to erect, besides all 
 the work involved in feeding and caring for the hun- 
 dreds of students. But all this was expenditure 
 instead of income. There could be no profitable 
 agriculture until the roots of the original forest which 
 filled the soil had time to decay. Most of the labor 
 on the fields for some years must be in the shape of 
 permanent investment for remote returns ; and it 
 was labor not well adapted to young men and boys 
 who must work a few hours a day to pay for their 
 board. It was easy for the superintendent of man- 
 ual labor to measure off a half acre of forest for a 
 youth to fell the trees upon it, and cut them into 
 cord-wood. The work would be sufficient for the 
 season ; and if he were paid by the acre and the 
 
I90 BERLIN. 
 
 cord, the college would be safe, but the student 
 would find the balance sadly against him ; while if he 
 were paid by the hour, even at the lowest price, the 
 college had little or nothing to show for its invest- 
 ment. Only inexhaustible resources on the part of 
 the college could solve the problem, and no such re 
 sources existed. 
 
 The founders were sanguine men, fruitful in de- 
 visings, and various schemes for furnishing remun- 
 erative labor to young men and women were tried. 
 Mr. Shipherd, in one of his letters, suggested spin- 
 ning and weaving for the girls ; but the factory era 
 was just at hand, and the spinning-wheel and the 
 family loom were giving way before the march of 
 civilization. A dream of the production and manu- 
 facture of silk in the country was producing some 
 excitement, and was taken up by the managers here. 
 Large quantities of mulberry trees were brought on 
 from the East, and the young men were excused 
 from study for a week to change the college farm 
 into a mulberry plantation. The unsubdued soil 
 and the unskilled labor combined, gave a discourag- 
 ing result. A few scattering trees survived, and 
 were visible for twenty years perhaps, but the col- 
 lege never produced a cocoon, even for the Cabinet. 
 A single family in the colony fed a few silk-worms 
 for a year or two. Other experiments were tried, 
 less expensive than this, but they brought no relief. 
 The college employed, at times, a general business 
 manager to bring things into shape, and again a 
 college farmer was appointed to organize and direct 
 the agricultural labor, but with the wisest arrange- 
 
MANUAL LABOR. I9I 
 
 ment every bushel of corn produced cost twice the 
 market price. These experiments were repeated 
 through a series of years, in hope of a better result ; 
 but long before the effort was relinquished, the col- 
 lege ceased to require labor of the students, or even 
 to promise it to those who desired it. The Cata- 
 logue of 1838 says: " At present no pledge can be 
 given that the Institute will furnish labor to all the 
 students ; but hitherto nearly all have been able to 
 obtain employment from either the Institute or the 
 colonists. It is thought that the same facilities for 
 available labor will be continued." From that day 
 to this the college has held out no pledge to furnish 
 labor, and of course the requirement has never been 
 revived. In 1840 the announcement was as follows : 
 " The number of students is now so great that the 
 Institution cannot engage to furnish labor to all ; yet 
 it does employ many. In the village the demand 
 for labor both agricultural and mechanical is contin- 
 ually increasing, as improvements and wealth ad- 
 vance, and may be expected to keep pace with the 
 growing number of the students. The demand for 
 school-teachers during the winter vacation is con- 
 stantly beyond the means of supply, many applica- 
 tions being made to the Faculty which cannot be 
 met. Students in the advanced classes receive from 
 eighteen to twenty-six dollars per month and board." 
 The following was the announcement for 1850: 
 " The Institution cannot pledge itself to furnish labor 
 to all the students. However, diligent and faithful 
 young men can usually obtain sufficient employ- 
 ment fiom the Institution or from the inhabitants 
 
192 BERLIN. 
 
 of the village. Many, by daily labor, have been 
 able to pay their board ; others have not been able 
 to do this ; while others still have paid their board, 
 washing, and room-rent. The long vacation gives 
 an opportunity to those who are qualified to engage 
 in teaching, by the avails of which many pay a large 
 part of their expenses." 
 
 In 185 1 a successful effort to raise an endowment, 
 by the sale of scholarships through Northern Ohio 
 and the adjacent regions, brought the college into 
 general notice, so that the number of students was 
 doubled in a single year. The attempt to maintain 
 a superintendent for the organization of the manual- 
 labor department had been abandoned some years 
 before, and students were left to find employment 
 for themselves as they were able. The college 
 farm had been temporarily leased in parcels, and 
 thus afforded some employment to diligent and 
 faithful young men. It was found by experience 
 that the best opportunity for students' labor was 
 afforded by families, in the care of yards and gar- 
 dens, in the preparation of fuel, and in other chores 
 which pertain to every household. It was ascer- 
 tained that a single family, as a rule, afforded as 
 much employment to students as several acres of 
 farm land, managed as the college had been able to 
 do it, and this without any expense or supervision 
 on the part of the college. After mature considera- 
 tion, and the best legal advice attainable, it was de- 
 cided to lease permanently the inalienable lands of 
 the college, with the provision that the leaseholders 
 should furnish a certain amount of labor to students, 
 
MANUAL LABOR. 1 93 
 
 proportioned to the quantity of land held. Thus 
 the college farm was opened to occupation for resi- 
 dence, and is now covered by that part of the village 
 lying between Lorain and Morgan streets, and west 
 of Main Street. The care of the gardens and lawns 
 affords more and better employment for students 
 than the original farm could do ; and this employ- 
 ment is available to those who seek it, without any 
 attention on the part of the college. 
 
 This certainly is a wide departure from the origi- 
 nal idea of a manual-labor school. The college seal 
 still bears the motto, " Learning and Labor," with a 
 college building in the foreground, and in the dis- 
 tance a field of grain ; and it is the aim and purpose 
 of the managers to encourage all efforts at self-sup- 
 port among the students, and to maintain a public 
 sentiment in sympathy with the working life. The 
 school, in some of its arrangements, still bears the 
 impress of the original manual-labor plan. In the 
 higher departments all recitations and lectures are 
 in the forenoon ; so arranged originally to have the 
 afternoon open to manual labor. Monday, instead 
 of Saturday, is the open day of the week, because 
 Monday was the washing day in the early college 
 life, as in all well-ordered families. Until very re- 
 cently the long vacation was in the winter instead of 
 the summer, because summer rather than winter is 
 the time for manual labor. Another and stronger 
 reason finally operated to hold the long vacation to 
 the winter, namely, the opportunity it afforded for 
 school-teaching. These somewhat unusual arrange- 
 ments are relics of the manual-labor system. 
 
194 OBERLIN. 
 
 There are obvious and inevitable difficulties con- 
 nected with the systematic provision of labor for 
 students. It is proposed as a means of self-support, 
 and probably could not be sustained without afford- 
 ing compensation to the student. But the necessary 
 expensiveness of the system more than absorbs the 
 profits. The investment of capital is essentially the 
 same for a student working three hours a day as for 
 an ordinary laborer. The expenditure for superin- 
 tendence is probably even greater, because the aver- 
 age student acquires no stability or momentum in 
 his work. Then, again, the work is far less effective 
 even for the time it continues, because the student 
 does not get fairly adjusted to his work before he 
 drops it for the day. He never gets fairly into the 
 harness; and finally, his heart is not in it: study is 
 his occupation, and the work is incidental. He can- 
 not throw himself into it, so as to become an effec- 
 tive laborer. It is not his life. There are exceptions 
 to this general fact, but not enough to affect the re- 
 sult. Hence student labor can never enter the mar- 
 ket in competition with ordinary labor. The reac- 
 tion of the labor upon the student would be most 
 wholesome, if a motive could be found to hold him 
 to it, without compensation in the form of wages. 
 This would involve the idea of making the labor a part 
 of the education, like practice in the gymnasium or 
 in the laboratory, a privilege for which the student 
 pays, instead of receiving pay ; and this is the prin- 
 ciple maintained in most industrial schools, but this 
 was not the thought of the founders of Oberlin. 
 The expectation which they cherished could not 
 
MUSIC. I95 
 
 possibly be realized, but it was a part of the impulse 
 which sustained them in laying their foundations. 
 The building is, in this respect, different from their 
 planning, but in regard to its great purpose it proba- 
 bly transcends their expectations. 
 
 MUSIC. 
 
 The musical interest at Oberlin appeared early in 
 its history. The announcement of 1834, the first 
 exhibition of the plan and purpose, contains no 
 reference to the subject, and during the first year of 
 the college work there was no indication of special 
 interest in that direction. Deacon Turner, one of 
 the colonists, organized whatever musical talent the 
 community afforded, and led the singing in the Sab- 
 bath services. 
 
 The Catalogue of 1835 gives the name of Rev. 
 Elihu P. Ingersoll as " Professor of Sacred Music." 
 To the special work of his professorship, the over- 
 sight of the Preparatory Department was added. 
 The musical instruction, given at this time, was 
 limited to the training of classes in singing ; and this 
 instruction was free to students in all departments. 
 The new interest came in with the advent of Pro- 
 fessors Finney, Morgan, and Cowles. These men 
 were all passionately fond of music, and had strong 
 convictions of its value as a force in Christian educa- 
 tion, as well as of its importance as an element of 
 worship. Their views doubtless had much to do 
 with the growth of the interest at Oberlin. 
 
 Mr. Ingersoll was enthusiastic in his work, but he 
 
ig6 O BERLIN. 
 
 occupied the position only a single year. The nar- 
 rowness of the resources of the college was doubtless 
 the reason for his retirement. Instruction in music 
 formed no definite part of the course, and when re- 
 trenchment must be made it naturally took effect 
 here. The Catalogue of 1836 gives a blank in place 
 of the name of the Professor of Sacred Music ; but 
 the same Catalogue states that " particular attention 
 will be paid to the cultivation of sacred music," and 
 this item is repeated from year to year. Some stu- 
 dent who had gifts in that direction was employed 
 to train classes in singing. In 1837 this work was 
 committed to George N. Allen, a student who had 
 recently entered the Junior Class from Western Re- 
 serve College. He was a young man from Boston, 
 a pupil of Lowell Mason, and had enjoyed the best 
 musical advantages of the time. His interest in 
 music was intense, and his Christian character was 
 as earnest and intense as his love of music. Indeed, 
 his Christian earnestness seemed to require music 
 for its best expression. The violin was his special 
 instrument, and he claimed no skill in the use of any 
 other; but his soul seemed to animate almost any 
 instrument that he touched. He continued teacher 
 of music in the college until 1841, when he was 
 elected Professor of Sacred Music, a position which 
 he held until 1864. In the Catalogue in which he 
 first appears as professor of music the following 
 statement is found : " During the past year increased 
 attention has been paid to the study of sacred music. 
 Systematic instruction has been given to upwards of 
 four hundred pupils, including a large class composed 
 
MUSIC. 197 
 
 of young children of the citizens of the village." 
 There was a very general revival of interest in music, 
 and Professor Allen was the soul of it all. Yet the 
 work was not regarded as giving full employment to 
 a professor, or at least the compensation afforded 
 was only half a salary, even according to the Oberlin 
 standard. For the first two or three years the 
 superintendence of the Preparatory Department was 
 added to his duties, and after 1849, instruction in 
 Geology and Natural History. In the interval was 
 developed the germ of what has become, in these 
 latter days, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. 
 
 Among the hundreds of students gathered here, 
 nearly half of them young women, there would in- 
 evitably be a demand for instruction in instrumental 
 music, especially upon the piano. For this demand 
 the college made no provision. Indeed the trustees 
 had put on record a resolution, that it was " inex- 
 pedient for the college to afford instruction in piano 
 music." This demand Professor Allen provided for, 
 upon his own responsibility. He saw that instru- 
 ments were secured, either by purchasing them him- 
 self, or by encouraging others to purchase. He gave 
 lessons as far as his engagements would permit, and 
 provided competent teachers to meet the growing 
 demand. Thus the musical interest at Oberlin was 
 first organized. 
 
 Meantime the interests of sacred music were not 
 permitted to flag. For many years there was but a 
 single church organization, and the church choir was 
 enlarged to include almost all the vocal talent of the 
 college and the town. There was no organ, and the 
 
I98 O BERLIN. 
 
 satisfactory substitutes for the organ, afforded in 
 these days, had not been invented. Professor Allen 
 trained and organized an orchestra of six or eight 
 performers, furnished with wind and stringed instru- 
 ments ; and when a double bass-viol was wanted, he 
 persuaded a young Scotchman of the Theological 
 Department, Alexander McKellar, to undertake its 
 manufacture — a feat which he accomplished with 
 entire success. When it seemed impossible to pro- 
 cure a sufficient number of copies of a piece of music 
 to supply the large choir, Professor Allen procured 
 dies, and stamped the music on blocks of cherry 
 wood, from which he printed the required number of 
 copies, and had the stereotype plates in reserve for 
 future use. 
 
 With such a choir and orchestra and other appli- 
 ances, Oberlin became distinguished for its music. 
 The church services, the Commencement exercises, 
 and the concert following, were all attractive by 
 reason of the music. It would not be easy to find 
 at any time a community in which music was more 
 effective and potent. The great sermons of the 
 Sabbath were a power, but they were powerfully 
 sustained and enforced by the music ; and Mr. 
 Finney often paused in his impassioned appeals to 
 give place to the winning, pleading strains of a 
 choir, in full sympathy with the solemn truth he was 
 urging. 
 
 In these days the little Oberlin hymn-book first 
 saw the light, under the title " Hymns for Social 
 Worship," compiled by Professor Allen. It em- 
 bodied about three hundred of the choicest hymns, 
 
MUSIC. I99 
 
 in a compact little volume, which every student could 
 carry in his pocket without being burdened. It was 
 first issued in 1844, before the era of hymn and tune 
 books, and many editions followed through a period 
 of twenty-five years, until it took the form of the 
 little hymn and tune book which preceded our pres- 
 ent " Manual of Praise." A slight comparison will 
 show that the last is a growth from the first. The 
 original book of Professor Allen was not used for 
 Sabbath worship ; and the first Oberlin hymn and 
 tune book was not intended for such use. It was 
 employed temporarily, while committees of the Con- 
 gregational churches here were looking for a book 
 to recommend for adoption. The little book was 
 found so convenient that a proposal was made to en- 
 large it until it should contain a sufficient supply of 
 hymns and tunes for Sabbath use, and still be man- 
 ageable as a pocket hymn-book. Hence the " Manual 
 of Praise," compiled by Professors Mead and Rice — 
 a most satisfactory development. 
 
 Professor Allen was a composer, of some merit, 
 both of hymns and of music. The hymn beginning 
 " Must Jesus bear the cross alone?" which is attrib- 
 uted to him in many collections, was not so much 
 his by composition as discovery. He found it in 
 an old book, reading "Must Simon bear the cross 
 alone? " and made the change which greatly elevates 
 the hymn. As first published in his little books 
 it contained three stanzas; but in later editions a 
 stanza is introduced as the second, which begins 
 " Disowned on earth, 'mid griefs and cares." This 
 was his own composition, but the three slightly 
 
200 OBEKLIN. 
 
 grandiloquent stanzas appended to the hymn in 
 " Songs for the Sanctuary" and some other collec- 
 tions, still attributed to G. N. Allen, are not in his 
 style, and must have some other origin. The tune 
 " Maitland," which accompanies the hymn in various 
 collections, and which in " Songs for the Sanctuary" 
 is given as anonymous, is Professor Allen's composi- 
 tion. This tune he claimed, and not the hymn. 
 
 Out of this early church choir, built up by Professor 
 Allen, grew the " Musical Union," which furnishes 
 yearly the grand concert. This concert is older than 
 the Musical Union, dating back probably to 1840. 
 The profits of these concerts were formerly devoted 
 to some public object. A large part of the cost of 
 the organ, secured by the efforts of Professor Allen, 
 for the First Church, was met in this way. The pres- 
 ent college chapel bell was thus paid for, and several 
 portraits of the older professors, hanging in the rooms 
 of the societies, and in the Library of Council Hall, 
 came by the same means. They were painted by 
 Alonzo Pease, the earliest Oberlin artist. In later 
 years the profits have been expended in giving some 
 special interest to the concert, and in advancing the 
 general interests of the Union. 
 
 Under Professor Allen's training there grew up at 
 Oberlin musicians of various merit, four of whom at 
 least call for special mention, as being sons of early 
 residents, and having obtained for themselves a re- 
 cognition in the Avorld. These are Smith N. Penfield, 
 Frederick H. Pease, John P. Morgan, and George 
 \V. Steele. Two of these, Messrs. Morgan and 
 Steele, after Professor Allen had been obliged to 
 
MUSIC. 20 1 
 
 relinquish musical work, on account of his health, 
 organized in 1865 the " Oberlin Conservatory of 
 Music," to meet the demand for musical culture. 
 This school was in its organization independent of 
 the college, but was operated in full harmony with 
 it, and furnished the instruction of the choral classes 
 made free by the college to all its students. In 
 1867, Mr. Morgan having withdrawn from the Con- 
 servatory to engage in musical work in New York, 
 Mr. Steele was elected Professor of Music in the col- 
 lege, and the Conservatory was brought into connec- 
 tion with the college as one of its departments. In 
 1 87 1 Mr. Steele retired, and Fenelon B. Rice was 
 elected to the Professorship of Music, and made 
 Director of the Conservatory. These positions he 
 still holds. 
 
 The Conservatory has attained a high degree of 
 prosperity, having employed the past year thirteen 
 instructors, and having in attendance four hundred 
 and sixty-one pupils, of whom three hundred and ten 
 took music only. It still relies upon its own income, 
 having no endowments, and drawing nothing from 
 the funds of the college. So far it is a private insti- 
 tution. But its teachers are all appointed by the 
 trustees of the college, and its pupils are members 
 of the college, and under its regulations. In return 
 for its position and opportunity, the Conservatory 
 gives instruction to four choral classes weekly, which 
 are open without charge to all the students, directs 
 the singing at college prayers, and furnishes the 
 music for Commencement and other public occasions. 
 
 It thus appears that musical culture belongs his- 
 
202 OBERLIN. 
 
 torically to the educational work of Oberlin, and 
 there is obvious and abundant reason for its continued 
 prosecution. Music is one of the great forces of 
 society, especially of Christian civilization. It must 
 not be left wholly in the hands of the irresponsible 
 and the worldly, to give it such direction as may 
 suit their tastes or interests. There must be Christian 
 schools of music, as well as of other forms of educa- 
 tion and culture ; and such schools must exist in our 
 own land, because the work is here, in large measure, 
 that needs to be done, and because it is necessary 
 that our musical culture should have a natural and 
 spontaneous growth, in harmony with American 
 character and life. It must be naturalized and 
 acclimated — not a mere exotic. 
 
 The spontaneous growth of this interest at Ober- 
 lin, is an indication of favorable conditions here. 
 These conditions belong to a large school of young 
 men and young women, among whom the natural 
 taste and gift for music may be found, and who 
 furnish an appreciative audience, as an inspiration. 
 The reaction, too, of the general educational spirit 
 upon the quality of the musical work will be most 
 helpful. It is a mistake to suppose that music alone 
 can yield substantial culture or character, cr that it 
 is sufficient to itself. Those who propose to work 
 effectively in this line need breadth and substance 
 of personal character — something more than mere 
 effervescence of sentiment. The neighborhood of 
 a university of general education, and especially of 
 Christian education, and of co-education, is the natural 
 place for a school of music. It is the desirable place 
 
MUSIC. 203 
 
 to train those who shall go out as leaders of choirs 
 and organists in the churches, and teachers of music 
 in its various forms. The attention given to musical 
 culture at Oberlin is in the line of its original pur- 
 pose and plan ; and present indications point to this 
 as a part of its future work. 
 
 The trustees of the college have therefore taken 
 action, encouraging the endowment of the Conser- 
 vatory, and looking toward its permanent establish- 
 ment as a department of the college. The corner 
 lot, formerly occupied by President Mahan, and later 
 by Professor Morgan, has been secured for the Con- 
 servatory, and the original president's house now 
 echoes to the sound of instruments of music. There 
 is hope that another year may witness the erection 
 of a building adapted to the necessities of this grow- 
 ing college of music. 
 
 The school of music has already shown its value 
 as an educating force, operating upon the whole 
 body of students. It elevates their ideals, and fur- 
 nishes an atmosphere of culture, of which they par- 
 take almost unconsciously. Our music is also a 
 spiritual power which we could not spare. In the 
 churches, and in the college chapel, at daily prayers, 
 it lifts and inspires many souls. The service of 
 prayers in the chapel can never become wearisome 
 or monotonous while so many hundred voices, under 
 a skilful director, unite in the hymn of thanksgiving 
 or of supplication. There are few among teachers 
 or pupils who feel that they can afford to miss the 
 opportunity. It is a constant benediction on our 
 college life. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE FINANCIAL HISTORY AND MATERIAL DEVEL- 
 OPMENT OF THE COLLEGE AND THE COLONY. 
 
 The two founders of Oberlin, a home missionary 
 and a returned foreign missionary, were entirely des- 
 titute of means when they undertook the work. 
 Mr. Shipherd owned a small one-story house in 
 Elyria, and nothing more. Mr. Stewart had noth- 
 ing. No man of any means was associated with 
 them, and they knew of no one to whom they could 
 look. Their estimate of the funds required in such 
 an enterprise was very moderate, and this was their 
 encouragement. Mr. Shipherd, in a letter to his 
 parents, in which he lays the plan before them, says 
 that two thousand dollars would be required as an 
 outfit for his school. The light on this subject came 
 to them as they were able to bear it. There is a 
 tradition that Mr. Shipherd left Elyria, on his first 
 Eastern campaign, with three dollars in his pocket. 
 
 The first material contribution to the project was 
 the gift of five hundred acres of land by Messrs. 
 Street & Hughes, of New Haven, as a school farm. 
 At the same time, Mr. Shipherd contracted with 
 them for five thousand acres in addition, for his 
 colony, at a dollar and a half an acre, with the privi- 
 lege of selling it to colonists at an advance of a dol- 
 lar, thus securing five thousand dollars in addition, 
 
THE FINANCIAL HISTORY. 205 
 
 pledged to the school. But this was balanced by a 
 pledge given by Mr. Shiphcrd to the colonists whom 
 he invited, that, early in the first summer, a steam 
 saw-mill should be in operation on the ground, and, 
 as soon as necessary, a grist-mill. Both were in 
 place, nearly at the time appointed, and both were 
 a source of expense to the college for years, until 
 they were at length sold to private parties. The in- 
 vestment would seem unwise, but it was doubtless 
 necessary. No one among the colonists had any 
 surplus capital for such an investment. In general 
 they had only means to pay for their land, to make 
 the journey, and build small houses for their families. 
 Beyond this they had to depend upon their own 
 labor to clear their lands and support their families, 
 until they could secure some returns from the soil. 
 There was no capitalist among them. The first col- 
 lections for the college came in the form of scholar- 
 ships. A contribution of one hundred and fifty dol- 
 lars secured the privilege of sending one student 
 perpetually to the school, to enjoy its manual labor 
 opportunities, and all other advantages ; but he must 
 pay for board and tuition their full cost. The schol- 
 arship payment was simply in the way of outfit, that 
 the facilities might be furnished by which the stu- 
 dent could work his way. 
 
 But the expenditures of the first year exhausted 
 all these funds. The erection of the college build- 
 ings, and the clearing of the farm, and the feeding 
 and teaching of the hundred students in return for 
 their work, called for increased supplies, and this 
 was the burden upon Mr. Shipherd's heart as he 
 
206 OBERLIN. 
 
 made his way to Cincinnati in the autumn of 1834. 
 The financial result of that winter's campaign, which 
 terminated in New York, was the enlistment of the 
 interest of several leading merchants and business 
 men of the city in the Oberlin enterprise, especially 
 the two Tappans, Arthur and Lewis. Several of 
 these men united in a " Professorship Association,'' 
 pledging the interest of eighty thousand dollars 
 yearly, to pay the salaries of eight professors at six 
 hundred dollars each. There was no definite pledge 
 to pay the principal at any particular time, but the 
 expectation was that this would finally be paid as a 
 permanent endowment. Besides this definite and 
 open pledge, Arthur Tappan privately assured Mr. 
 Finney that he should regard the entire surplus of 
 his income as devoted to the work ; and his income 
 at the time was about a hundred thousand dollars a 
 year. These financial arrangements seemed all that 
 could be desired. The professors elect came on, and 
 as their salaries were provided for, the charge for 
 tuition in the college classes was remitted. It was 
 retained in the other literary departments, because 
 there was no endowment for these. The great fire 
 in New York, in the autumn of 1835, crippled the 
 men of the Professorship Association, so that they 
 were not able to meet their pledges ; and the finan- 
 cial crash a year later completed the work. The 
 Professorship Association never came to the surface 
 again, and all the expectations based upon It fell to 
 the ground. But the announcement of free tuition 
 had been published, and students had come upon 
 the strength of the promise. The trustees did not 
 
THE FINANCIAL HISTORY. ZOJ 
 
 see their way to restore the charge for tuition until 
 1843. 
 
 Vigorous efforts were made by the trustees to 
 meet the emergency arising from the failure in New 
 York, and during 1835-36 a subscription of nearly 
 a hundred thousand dollars was raised, to be paid in 
 five annual payments ; but the financial overturning 
 of 1837 swept it all away, so that only six thousand 
 dollars of the subscription could be collected. Dur- 
 ing the several years of financial depression that fol- 
 lowed, a very limited and precarious support was 
 secured to the professors, by constant collections 
 among the friends of the college scattered over the 
 country. There were many such friends, generally 
 of limited means, who stood by the work in these 
 years of trial. It was not a rare thing that the fam- 
 ilies of the professors were in doubt as to the neces- 
 saries of life, from day to day. The colonists were 
 in similar straits. The returns from their new farms 
 came in very slowly, and the supplies brought on 
 from the East were well exhausted. Thus in the 
 college and in the colony there was a significance, 
 not often realized, in the prayer " Give us day by 
 day our daily bread." 
 
 But with all this straitness there was no real de- 
 pression. The work grew in interest and hopeful- 
 ness from year to year, and the men who had it in 
 hand could not withdraw from the field. There 
 were places open to them where they could have 
 lived in comfort, but their work was here. Mr. 
 Josiah Chapin, of Providence, sent remittances to 
 Mr. Finney for some years, as regularly as if he 
 
203 OBERLIN. 
 
 were under contract to pay his salary. Mr. Willard 
 Sears, of Boston, did the same thing; and afterward, 
 as prosperity in the stove business came to Mr. P. P. 
 Stewart, he provided similarly for Professor Mor- 
 gan. President Mahan was wont to spend his win- 
 ter vacations at the East, in preaching, and the gen- 
 erous gifts which he received in the work, and in 
 view of his position here, made up his salary. Other 
 professors were often obliged to sell their claims 
 upon the college in the form of " Institution Orders," 
 to provide for pressing needs. Indeed, these orders 
 became a sort of colonial currency, passing at a dis- 
 count, like much other paper, but never so much de- 
 pressed as the " Greenbacks" in the war. 
 
 Thus, in spite of every effort, in 1839 tne college 
 was more than thirty thousand dollars in debt, and 
 bankruptcy threatened. There were no able friends 
 in this country to come to the rescue. In this crisis 
 two of the trustees, Father Keep, and Mr. William 
 Dawes, undertook a financial mission to England. 
 Prominent antislavery men in this country, like Mr. 
 Gerrit Smith, furnished them letters, and helped 
 them to an outfit. The application was not for en- 
 dowments, or money for current expenses, but for 
 help to pay the indebtedness. They prosecuted 
 their mission among the antislavery people of Eng- 
 land, especially those of the Society of Friends, to 
 whom the Oberlin enterprise commended itself on 
 account of its antislavery character, and its forward- 
 ness in the education of women. The fact that 
 Oberlin students were engaged in missionary work 
 among the frcedmen of Jamaica was a matter of in- 
 
THE FIXANCIAL HISTORY. 2CO, 
 
 terest to many Christians of England. There was a 
 natural repugnance to give to an object so remote, 
 and in a foreign country; and the work was laborious 
 and slow. The gifts received ranged from a hun- 
 dred pounds, the largest, down to a few shillings. 
 The two men sent forth to this work held on their 
 way, without rest or diversion, walking by St. Paul's 
 from day to day, never taking time to enter, and 
 scarcely to look up at the majestic dome. They let 
 no opportunity or prospect pass. Having learned 
 that the Common Council of the City of London 
 held some funds in trust for charitable purposes, 
 they went before that large body of honorable citi- 
 zens and presented their cause; and what is even 
 more surprising, they came within a vote or two of 
 securing an appropriation. 
 
 Messrs. Keep and Dawes went out in the mid- 
 summer of 1839, ar) d returned near the close of 
 1840, after an absence of about eighteen months, 
 bringing with them, above all expenses, thirty thou- 
 sand dollars in money, sufficient "to meet the most 
 pressing liabilities of the institution, a large acces- 
 sion of books to the library, with good provisions for 
 philosophical and chemical apparatus." The old 
 compound microscope, until recently the only 
 microscope owned by the college, costing in its day 
 fifty guineas, and the smaller telescope, costing forty 
 guineas, were a part of this apparatus. Mr. Hamil- 
 ton Hill of London, a very genial Christian gentle- 
 men, with his family came with Messrs. Keep and 
 Dawes, having been invited to become secretary and 
 
2IO OBERLIN. 
 
 treasurer of the college, a position which he held for 
 twenty-five years. 
 
 Relieved of the pressing debt, the college held on 
 its way the next ten years, dependent upon the 
 yearly gifts of its friends and making no progress 
 towards endowment. The gift of twenty thousand 
 acres of land in Western Virginia by Gerrit Smith 
 was a special encouragement, and this was its chief 
 immediate value. Ten thousand acres were at once 
 transferred to Arthur Tappan in payment of a loan 
 of five thousand dollars, and this was a substantial 
 benefit. The remaining ten thousand were twice 
 sold for twenty-five cents an acre, and in each 
 case came back upon the college. Counter claims 
 and hostile legislation embarrassed the title, and led 
 to years of litigation ; and now, after more than 
 forty years, there is a prospect that the college will 
 come through with a small balance on the right side. 
 This is but a single instance of hope deferred, of 
 which so many have occurred in the financial ex- 
 perience of fifty years. 
 
 Near the close of 1850 a movement was made to 
 secure an endowment of one hundred thousand dol- 
 lars by the sale of scholarships. The scholarships 
 were of three varieties, securing free tuition for one 
 student at a time, for six years, eighteen years, and 
 perpetually ; and costing severally twenty-five dol- 
 lars, fifty dollars, and one hundred dollars. The 
 money was not payable and the scholarship had no 
 force until the hundred thousand dollars were sub- 
 scribed. The plan was a popular one, and in a little 
 more than a year the amount was pledged ; twenty- 
 
THE FINANCIAL HISTORY. 211 
 
 two thousand dollars being pledged in Oberlin, and 
 thirty-seven thousand in the county. By this move- 
 ment a fund of nearly ninety-five thousand dollars 
 -was raised and invested, of which the annual interest 
 received was about six thousand and seven hundred 
 dollars. This was the sole reliance for the payment 
 of the salaries of instructors. A professor's salary 
 was six hundred dollars. 
 
 An immediate effect of this endowment was that 
 the number of students was doubled, advancing in 
 a single year from five hundred and seventy to ten 
 hundred and twenty, and the next year to thirteen 
 hundred and five. This was encouraging generally, 
 and would have been helpful financially but for the 
 fact that the scholarships sold absorbed all the fees 
 for tuition. This, of course, was not unforeseen. 
 About fourteen hundred scholarships had been sold, 
 and these were transferable, so that no student ap- 
 peared at the office without a scholarship. The ex- 
 pense of instruction in the lower departments was 
 increased by this large increase of numbers ; but 
 most of the elementary teaching was done by stu- 
 dents from the higher classes at a small compensa- 
 tion. Thus the college was enabled to make ends 
 meet for several years with this very limited income. 
 It would be difficult to find an instance in the whole 
 history of education in the country, where so much 
 work has been done for so little pay. 
 
 Until after i860 nothing occurred in the results 
 of the scholarship system which had not been antici- 
 pated. It had been planned and administered with 
 the greatest care, to guard against any possible mis- 
 
2 1 2 O BERLIN. 
 
 understanding on the part of purchasers of scholar- 
 ships, and the entire movement was a success. But 
 the war with its disturbance of values had not been 
 foreseen. A salary of six hundred dollars was 
 utterly insufficient, when the prices of all the neces- 
 saries of life had more than doubled. There was no 
 alternative : the old friends of the college must a^ain 
 be asked to come to the rescue. One of these, Mr. 
 J. P. Williston, of Northampton, Mass., added two 
 hundred dollars a year, for three years, to the salary 
 of every professor. Wm. C. Chapin, then of Law- 
 rence, Mass., pledged thirty thousand dollars to the 
 endowment of the college, and paid the interest on 
 it at seven and a half per cent during the whole 
 period of extravagant prices. Many others respond- 
 ed generously, and thus the crisis was met. 
 
 The scholarships, after the first six years of their 
 existence, began to be cancelled according to the 
 regularity with which they had been used, and after 
 eighteen years the next class began to disappear, and 
 before 1880 almost all the terminable scholarships 
 had been exhausted. There were nearly four hun- 
 dred perpetuals, and no lapse of time could annul 
 these. In many cases the holders of these have sur- 
 rendered them to the college as a free gift ; in other 
 cases they have reserved the right to send their own 
 children without a fee for tuition ; in still others 
 they have exchanged the perpetual for terminable 
 scholarships, and others have transferred them to 
 the college at a price. Thus, after more than thirty 
 years, the scholarship liabilities have been es- 
 sentially worked off, and only a few relics survive. 
 
THE FINANCIAL HISTORY. 21 3 
 
 The undertaking was a formidable one, and any 
 school may well hesitate before venturing a repeti- 
 tion of the experiment. There have been disas- 
 trous failures in similar undertakings. 
 
 During all these years the endowment of the col- 
 lege has been slowly advancing. In 1867 the trus- 
 tees of the estate of Dr. Charles Avery, of Pittsburg, 
 Pa., transferred to the college twenty-five thousand 
 dollars on condition that free tuition should be fur- 
 nished perpetually to fifty needy and worthy colored 
 students who should apply for it. In 1870 Mr. 
 Charles H. Dickinson, of Fairport, N. Y., as almost 
 the last act of his life, gave ten thousand dollars 
 toward the endowment of the Theological Seminary. 
 In 1878-81 Miss Mary Holbrook, of Holbrook, Mass. 
 gave twenty-five thousand dollars for the endow- 
 ment of the Professorship of Sacred Rhetoric and 
 Pastoral Theology. In 1880 the college received 
 from Mrs. Valeria G. Stone, of Maiden, Mass., fifty 
 thousand dollars towards endowment — the largest 
 single gift ever received. At the reunion of the 
 alumni of the college in 1875 a subscription was start- 
 ed for the endowment of the " Finney Professorship," 
 and nearly twenty-five thousand dollars have come 
 into the treasury in connection with the movement. 
 Upon the retirement of Professors Morgan and Das- 
 comb in 1880, a second subscription among the 
 alumni was undertaken to provide a fund for their 
 retirement, which should ultimately constitute an 
 endowment of the Dascomb Professorship. About 
 fourteen thousand dollars have come in on this sub- 
 scription, and a balance of fourteen thousand re- 
 
214 BERLIN. 
 
 mains to be collected. The " Graves Professorship" 
 of thirty thousand dollars was endowed in part by 
 the late R. R. Graves, of Morristown, New Jersey, 
 and has been completed by his brother and members 
 of his family. The present invested fund of the col- 
 lege above all liabilities, April, 1883, amounts to two 
 hundred and eighty thousand dollars. Outstand- 
 ing pledges which should soon come in will bring the 
 amount up to four hundred and twenty-five thou- 
 sand; and if seventy-five thousand could be added the 
 present jubilee year it would complete a half million 
 of endowment. Compared with former straitness 
 this would seem an ample provision ; but it will be ob- 
 served that the income of this sum at six per cent., 
 which is all that can be safely assumed, would be 
 but thirty thousand dollars — a very small reliance for 
 an institution carrying forward such a wide range of 
 educational w r ork. The expenses of the college for 
 the last financial year were forty-eight thousand 
 seven hundred and nine dollars, and the receipts 
 from all sources, including donations, aside from 
 gifts for endowment, were fifteen dollars more than 
 the expenses. The salaries paid to regular profes- 
 sors are sixteen hundred and eighteen hundred dol- 
 lars. They were increased about two years ago by 
 the addition of two hundred dollars to each. A 
 serious financial depression during the current year 
 would decidedly darken the prospect of enlargement 
 of the endowment which is looked for in the pay- 
 ment of outstanding subscriptions, and in additional 
 subscriptions — an experience often encountered in 
 the history of the college. 
 
THE FINANCIAL HISTORY. 21 5 
 
 The present year a movement has been inaugu- 
 rated by friends of the college and of Hon. James 
 Monroe, late Member of Congress, to raise thirty 
 thousand dollars for the endowment of a professor- 
 ship of political science and international law. The 
 movement has nearly reached its consummation. 
 Mr. Monroe was a professor in the college from 
 1848 to 1865, and his return will be occasion of great 
 satisfaction. 
 
 Various friends of the college have given notice 
 of help, to come when their estates shall be settled. 
 Others still have transferred to the college life-insur- 
 ance policies, either paid up or on which they pay 
 the premiums as they fall due — notably Mr. Wm. C. 
 Chapin, of Providence, R. I., for more than twenty- 
 seven thousand dollars, and Mr. Charles J. Hull of 
 Chicago, for nearly fifty thousand, to endow the 
 " Frederika Bremer Hull Professorship," in memory 
 of a daughter who graduated here. Still other 
 friends who wish finally to benefit the college, but 
 who need the avails of their property while they live, 
 and are willing to be free from the care of it, have 
 placed it in the college treasury as a gift, receiving 
 back a bond for an annuity equal to the interest of 
 the money given. The college holds at present an- 
 nuity funds invested as trust funds to the amount 
 of forty-five thousand dollars. The method is very 
 simple, and has proved very satisfactory, especially 
 to those to whom the care of their property is a 
 burden. 
 
 Little has been done in the accumulation of bene- 
 ficiary funds. The aggregate of these, in the form 
 
2l6 OBERLIX. 
 
 of scholarships and other funds, amounts to some- 
 what more than seventeen thousand dollars. No 
 prize funds have ever been offered to the college. 
 
 The people of Oberlin, according to their means, 
 have shared generously in every movement to sus- 
 tain the college, sometimes contributing to endow- 
 ment, at other times to buildings, and again to cur- 
 rent expenses, to forestall the contraction of a debt. 
 In a crisis of the Theological Department, in 1868, 
 they came to the rescue with a subscription of 
 twenty thousand dollars for a new professorship, 
 and Rev. Hiram Mead was called. The tenth article 
 of the old Colonial Covenant provided for such co- 
 operation : " We will feel that the interests of the 
 Oberlin Institute are identified with ours, and do 
 what we can to extend its influence to our fallen 
 race." 
 
 COLLEGE BUILDINGS. 
 
 The first building erected for the college was 
 known as Oberlin Hall. It was built the first 
 summer, in 1833, by the colonists then on the 
 ground, and was completed, ready for the school, 
 Dec. 8. It was planned as a two-story building, 
 thirty-five by forty feet ; but before the roof-timbers 
 were prepared, it was decided to carry up about 
 two thirds of the width of the building into a third 
 story called " the attic," after the fashion of a mod- 
 ern grain elevator. This building contained all that 
 was known as Oberlin College, until the summer of 
 1S35. It embraced boarding-hall, chapel, meeting- 
 house, school-rooms, college office, professors' quar- 
 
COLLEGE BULLDLNGS. 21 7 
 
 ters, and private rooms for about forty students. 
 The attic received twenty young men, with a room 
 for every two, affording space still for a corridor 
 four feet wide, and for a flight of stairs. The attic 
 gave way for a full story in 1838, and the building 
 still stands as private property on the south side of 
 College Street, nearly opposite the historical elm. 
 It is still useful, the lower stories being occupied for 
 business purposes, and the upper story recently as a 
 photograph gallery. It has endured well the rav- 
 ages of time, considering the difficulties under which 
 it was erected. The cellar walls and underpinning 
 were originally of heavy oak timbers, squared and 
 laid up like a block-house ; but stone walls took their 
 place when the road to the quarries in Amherst be- 
 came passable. It was in the little chapel of this 
 building that the students gathered to welcome Mr. 
 Finney, upon his first arrival in Oberlin, in 1835. 
 
 The second building was the carpenter's shop, a 
 two-story frame building, intended as a shop where 
 the students who had some mechanical skill should 
 perform their four hours of daily labor. It was 
 erected the first autumn or early winter, and stood 
 west of Oberlin Hall, nearly where the post-office 
 now is. It was one of the few buildings which were 
 painted red, according to the early vote of the colo- 
 nists. Upon the great accession in 1835, when room 
 was in such demand, the carpenters' benches were 
 turned out and the two stories were divided up, by 
 rough board partitions, into rooms for students, and 
 two lecture-rooms. One of these was occupied by 
 Dr. Dascomb as his first laboratory, and in the other 
 
2 1 8 OBERLIN. 
 
 Mr. Finney began his theological lectures. It was 
 in front of this building, toward the south, that the 
 so-called burning of the classics took place. In 1836 
 the red shop was removed to the south end of the 
 west wing of the new boarding hall, and used as a 
 wood-house. It still exists as a dwelling-house in 
 Carpenter's Court, South Main Street. 
 
 The new boarding-hall, known afterward as the 
 Ladies' Hall, was begun in 1834, but not completed 
 until the autumn of 1835. It stood still west of the 
 red shop, on the north-east corner of the lot occu- 
 pied by the Second Church. The building was a 
 frame thirty-eight feet by eighty, and three stories 
 high, with a wing of two stories on each end extend- 
 ing toward the south. The whole force of young 
 men was turned out for three days to the raising of 
 the building, and a great part of the work, without 
 and within, was done by students. Stone for the 
 foundations was still too costly, and this large build- 
 ing was erected upon oak pillars, six or seven feet in 
 length, cut from the bodies of large trees, and sunk 
 into the ground to the depth of the cellar that was 
 to be. Afterward the earth was gradually excavated 
 from under the building, and the walls were put in 
 their place. The dining-room of this building ac- 
 commodated, according to the early ideas of room, 
 two hundred boarders, and there were rooms besides 
 for about sixty students. When first completed, the 
 upper story, and the west flights of stairs were given 
 up to young men, and the remainder of the build- 
 ing, excepting certain rights in the dining-room and 
 parlor, to the steward's family, and to young women. 
 
FIRST LADIES HALL. 
 
ladies' hall (new). 
 
COLLEGE BUILDINGS. 219 
 
 In the simplicity of the first years, there was con- 
 structed, between the dining-room and the sitting- 
 room, a set of boxes, like large post-office boxes, a 
 hundred or more, shut in with doors on each side. 
 Each young man had his box assigned him, and in 
 it he deposited his bundle of linen for the laundry 
 every Monday morning, and found it there the next 
 Saturday evening. In the unfinished first story of 
 this building, Mr. Finney preached, more or less, dur- 
 ing his first summer in Oberlin. The building stood 
 until the completion of a second new Ladies' Hall. 
 It was then divided into parts and removed, and 
 now exists in the form of five dwelling-houses in 
 various parts of the town. 
 
 In May, 1835, Cincinnati Hall, already described, 
 was erected, to receive the students from Lane. It 
 was what might be called, in the dialect of the early 
 immigration, a college " shanty." It was occupied 
 two or three years, was afterward used as a carpen- 
 ter's shop, and wholly disappeared about 1840. 
 
 Another three days' raising occurred in the au- 
 tumn of 1835, when Colonial Hall was built. It 
 stood still west of the Ladies' Hall, on the corner oc- 
 cupied by the Soldiers' Monument — eighty feet from 
 east to west and forty feet wide, three stories in 
 height. It was named from the fact that the colo- 
 nists subscribed nearly half the cost of the building, 
 with the privilege of using the lower story, which 
 was to be the college chapel, for Sabbath services. 
 The upper stones were dormitories for young men, 
 twenty-two rooms, for two students each, with a sin- 
 gle recitation-room on the second floor. The chapel, 
 
220 OBERLIN. 
 
 well packed, seated eight hundred. At first it was 
 sufficient for the Sabbath congregation, but before 
 the great church was built it was necessary at times 
 in the morning to hold a subsidiary service in the 
 Laboratory or the Music Hall. Colonial Hall stood 
 about thirty years, but after the building of the new 
 college chapel, in 1855, the old chapel was divided 
 into four recitation-rooms. Colonial Hall still exists 
 in the form of two unsightly dwelling-houses on 
 West Lorain Street. 
 
 Tappan Hall was begun in 1835, and with its walls 
 at about half height it stood through the winter, 
 and was completed in 1836 — a brick building, a hun- 
 dred and twelve feet by forty-two, and four stories 
 in height, containing a recitation-room in each cor- 
 ner of the first story, and about ninety single rooms 
 for students in the different stories. These rooms 
 were strikingly simple and uniform in their arrange- 
 ments, being each sixteen feet by eight, with a door 
 at one end and a window at the other. In one cor- 
 ner, near the door, was an open wardrobe, and in the 
 other a narrow bedstead. In a corner by the win- 
 dow was the stove and, the other side of the window, 
 the table. This was the ultimate idea, for the time, 
 of comfort and convenience in a college dormitory, 
 not only at Oberlin, but in the country generally. 
 Those were the favored ones who could establish a 
 claim upon Tappan Hall. The building was in- 
 tended primarily for the students of theology, and 
 after them for college students. The central tower 
 was originally in two sections, giving more than 
 twice the present height ; but in the judgment of 
 
COLLEGE CHAPEL. 
 
COLLEGE BUILDINGS. 221 
 
 some of the trustees it presented too much leverage 
 to the strong west wind, and in Mr. Shipherd's eyes 
 it was not according to the simplicity of " the pat- 
 tern shown in the Mount." The upper section was 
 therefore removed. The money for the building, 
 ten thousand dollars, was given by Arthur Tappan. 
 The building was placed in the centre of the college 
 square, with the intention of having all other college 
 buildings stand around the square, on different sides. 
 The plan would not have been a bad one if the cen- 
 tral building had been devoted wholly to public uses 
 and not a dormitory building. Tappan Hall is now 
 nearly fifty years old, and but for grave imperfec- 
 tions of constitution it might serve successive gener- 
 ations of students another fifty years. Many consul- 
 tations have been held over it, all ending in one con- 
 clusion — that it must soon be removed. 
 
 The year 1835 marked a building era for the col- 
 lege. Two dwelling-houses were erected this season 
 by the college — one for President Mahan, the other 
 for Professor Finney, two-story brick buildings, spa- 
 cious and comely, and well adapted to their uses, 
 standing one at the south-west and the other at the 
 north-west corner of the square, overlooking the 
 square, but not on it. The street which separated 
 them from the square was named Professor Street, 
 because it was the purpose to fill up the space be- 
 tween these two buildings with houses for other pro- 
 fessors. This policy was not carried out. It was 
 soon found desirable that, in a new and growing 
 place, the professors should build and own their own 
 dwellings, and thus at least have homes in their 
 
222 OBERLW. 
 
 later years, if nothing more. Such a home is more 
 satisfactory and enjoyable than one owned by the 
 college, even if inferior in its appointments. 
 
 The style and expense of these college dwellings 
 gave rise to some discussion. A letter from Arthur 
 Tappan, received at this time, encouraged attention 
 to taste and comeliness in all the buildings and 
 grounds. A prominent and zealous colonist ad- 
 dressed a communication to the trustees, criticising 
 the lavish and unchristian expenditure, and giving it 
 as his opinion that three hundred dollars had been 
 wasted upon the buildings, out of regard to worldly 
 fashion. President Mahan occupied his house until 
 his retirement in 1850; President Finney his until 
 his death in 1875. Mr. Finney bought his house of 
 the college in 185 1, and Professor Morgan the 
 president's house a little later. 
 
 The last building to which the impulse of 1835 
 gave origin was Walton Hall, erected by the Pres- 
 byterian Church of Walton, N. Y. They sent sev- 
 eral of their young men to Oberlin, and to furnish 
 them quarters, they erected a two-story frame build- 
 ing, with twelve rooms, and placed it in charge of 
 one of their young men. To students from Walton 
 there was no rent. The building stood on South 
 Main Street, nearly opposite the site of the present 
 Union school-house. After fifteen years it became 
 the property of the college, and ten years later it 
 was sold to private parties, was changed into a furni- 
 ture shop, and finally was destroyed by fire. 
 
 In 1838 the building known in later times as the 
 " Old Laboratory" appeared — a brick building of one 
 
COLLEGE BUILDINGS. 22$ 
 
 story, about thirty feet by fifty in dimensions, and 
 containing a large lecture-room with rising seats and 
 arched ceiling, and skylight over the lecturer's table, 
 and all other appliances for the illustration of lec- 
 tures in chemistry. It was built according to Dr. 
 Dascomb's plans, embodying ideas which he ob- 
 tained as a student under Dr. Musseyat Dartmouth 
 and Professor Silliman at Yale. Adjoining the lec- 
 ture-room was a working room for the professor, and 
 a study. This gave to the professor of chemistry 
 independent quarters, in which he greatly rejoiced ; 
 and these rooms he occupied until the close of his 
 work — more than forty years. About fifteen years 
 ago the lecture-room was remodelled. The tiers of 
 elevated benches were removed, the elevation was 
 reduced, and the room was seated with chairs. The 
 building afforded no facilities for laboratory work 
 for students, and such work was not provided for, 
 at that time, in any American college. Upon the 
 appointment of Dr. Dascomb's successor, trained in 
 the modern methods of instruction, it became nec- 
 essary to remove the work in chemistry to another 
 building. Since that time the Old Laboratory has 
 been used as a general recitation-room. 
 
 When this laboratory was erected it occupied a 
 very retired position, in the rear of Colonial Hall; 
 but upon the removal of the old buildings, and the 
 laying out of " College Place," it became quite con- 
 spicuous. It must therefore yield to the demands 
 of progress, and in spite of all old associations, give 
 place to a more sightly structure. As these lines are 
 being penned it stands dismantled and ready to falL 
 
224 OBERLM. 
 
 Those who shall gather at the jubilee, looking for 
 the old landmarks, will scarcely recognize the place 
 it occupied. 
 
 About this time the trustees voted to build a 
 dwelling-house for the college farmer, and commit- 
 ted the responsibility of the work to the farmer him- 
 self. He proceeded to erect a somewhat spacious 
 two-story frame house, of unpretending appearance, 
 but larger than the trustees had intended. The 
 farmer proposed to take the building as his own, 
 and complete it without charge to the college. The 
 proposition was accepted ; but the original farmer's 
 house, at the corner of Professor and Elm streets, 
 having undergone some changes, is now the home 
 of the college president. 
 
 The Music Hall was one of the subsidiary build- 
 ings of the early days, erected in 1842 — a frame build- 
 ing of one story, as large as the laboratory, giving 
 a pleasant audience-room for about two hundred 
 persons, with two entries at the front, and between 
 them a piano-room with elevated floor, shut off from 
 the audience-room by sliding doors. It stood on the 
 west side of Professor Street, in the open space 
 south of the present Ladies' Hall. 
 
 Professor Allen secured the erection of the build- 
 ing, by enlisting and uniting the interests of the 
 choir and of the college literary societies ; and it was 
 used by these different associations in common. 
 After eight or ten years, these bodies found more 
 desirable quarters, and the Music Hall came into 
 the entire possession of the college. It was then 
 divided by a partition across the building, and one 
 
COLLEGE BULLDLXGS. 22$ 
 
 part became the room for the recitations in Mathe- 
 matics and Natural Philosophy, and the other a room 
 for the young Cabinet of Natural History, of which 
 Professor Allen had laid the foundations. After fif- 
 teen or twenty years more, better rooms were pro- 
 vided for the Cabinet and the Philosophical Appa- 
 ratus, and the Music Hall was moved near to the 
 Ladies' Hall, and converted into a gymnasium for 
 the young women. Four years ago the fire went 
 through it, and the skeleton remaining was taken 
 down. 
 
 Twelve years elapsed after the building of the 
 Music Hall before any further building was under 
 taken. Then the college chapel was erected ; not 
 because the college had money to build, but because 
 it had become an absolute necessity. Nine hundred 
 students were present, and the old chapel could seat 
 only six hundred comfortably. At certain seasons 
 of the year, an overflow gathering for prayers had 
 been held in the Music Hall. 
 
 In 1854 the walls of the chapel were put up, and 
 the building was completed in 1855, at an entire cost 
 of eleven thousand dollars. The dimensions of the 
 building are fifty-six feet by ninety. It is built in 
 two stones of twelve feet and twenty-five, the upper 
 story being the audience-room. The first floor pro- 
 vided two offices, a library room, three lecture-rooms 
 for the Theological Department, and one Literary So- 
 ciety room. Two broad flights of stairs in the front 
 end led to the chapel. There was a gallery across 
 the end, over these stairs, and the stand was next to 
 the gallery between the doors leading from the entry 
 
226 OBERLIN. 
 
 to the audience-room. Students coming in must 
 face the audience and pass the stand. There was 
 little temptation to tardiness, or to a disorderly exit. 
 The room was finished neatly with plain board 
 seats, of varnished whitewood, trimmed with black 
 walnut, arranged on a level, without any rise in the 
 floor. This made the seats in the remote part of the 
 room seventy-five feet from the stand undesirable 
 for those who were interested in the services. The 
 bell of the old chapel was at first placed in the cu- 
 pola, but soon a new bell was purchased from the 
 profits of a Commencement Concert, by the Musical 
 Union, and the old bell went to the Union school- 
 house. 
 
 Externally the chapel stands as it was first built ; 
 but the audience-room has been reconstructed, by 
 removing the gallery, placing the stand at the side, 
 and arranging the seats in elevated circular ranges, 
 so that every student has a good view of the stand. 
 Thus we have an admirable audience-room, of nine 
 hundred sittings. In these changes the stairs ap- 
 propriated to the young women were transferred 
 from the front to the rear. The cost of these 
 changes, amounting to twenty-three hundred dol- 
 lars, was met by a subscription by students and 
 Faculty. Still another change is thought of, involv- 
 ing about the same expense. It is desirable to have 
 more means of exit than the two broad flights of 
 stairs afford. A projection built upon the south 
 side, broad enough and deep enough for an organ 
 recess, and a flight of stairs on each side, would 
 bring a needed relief and improvement. The organ 
 
COLLEGE BUILDINGS. 22J 
 
 has been purchased by the Director of the Conser- 
 vatory, but the recess for it is not provided for. 
 
 For many years a site had been reserved for a new 
 Ladies' Hall — the south-west corner at the intersec- 
 tion of College and Professor streets, but no practical 
 movement had been made until the Commence- 
 ment Reunion of i860. Then, just at the close of 
 the exercises, without previous consultation or ar- 
 rangement, after a stirring address from Governor 
 Dennison, who was present, in which he alluded to 
 the pressing necessity, the subscription began, and 
 at the close amounted to more than three thousand 
 dollars. This was enough to lay the foundations. 
 The contract for this part of the work was made as 
 soon as plans could be formed and approved, and 
 the material soon began to be collected. In the 
 spring of 1 861 the corner-stone was laid by Father 
 Keep, and the building of the foundation went on. 
 Before the work was half finished the war came, and 
 the contractor had difficulty in holding enough of 
 his men to complete the work. It was finished by 
 midsummer, and stood through two winters, before 
 any superstructure was reared upon it. The con- 
 tracts for materials were made, and mostly filled be- 
 fore the great rise in prices came. The walls were 
 built, and the roof added, in 1863 ; and the interior 
 was so far completed at the time of Commencement, 
 1865, that the alumni gathered in it for their re- 
 union dinner. The first cost of the building, includ- 
 ing the furniture for the private rooms, was about 
 forty thousand dollars — a small sum for a building of 
 such extent and value, but more than all the build- 
 
228 OBERLIN. 
 
 ings previously erected by the college had cost. In 
 form, it is adjusted to the corner lot on which it 
 stands, with two similar fronts, of one hundred and 
 twenty-one feet each, at right angles to each 
 other, with a depth of fifty feet, and three stories in 
 height. It is a building of pleasing aspect and satis- 
 factory in its arrangements ; and, unless some catas- 
 trophe befalls it, it should serve its purpose for 
 generations to come. In 1880, after the burning of 
 the gymnasium, an addition was built, projecting 
 from the western extremity of the hall toward the 
 south, and carried up two stories. It provides a 
 fine gymnasium, several rooms needed for the 
 steward's department, and several additional rooms 
 for young women. The hall, as thus enlarged, pro- 
 vides, in its second and third stories, rooms for 
 about a hundred young women ; and on the first 
 floor, parlors, offices, society room, assembly room, 
 and reading-room, besides the rooms connected with 
 the boarding department, including a dining-room 
 for about two hundred boarders, with bake-room, 
 laundry, etc., in the basement. 
 
 In 1874 the college purchased of the Oberlin 
 School Board the old Union School-house, for five 
 thousand five hundred dollars. It was built on 
 ground rented to the district by the college, in close 
 proximity to the college grounds. The building 
 had become inadequate to the needs, and must 
 either be enlarged or given up. This building af- 
 forded six comfortable recitation-rooms, and a large 
 room in the third story for the Cabinet ; hence the 
 name Cabinet Hall. Upon the acquisition of this 
 
COLLEGE BULLDLNGS. 229 
 
 building, the old recitation-rooms in Tappan Hall 
 were deserted, a large writing-room was constructed 
 by joining two of them, and the others were con- 
 verted into music-rooms. When a new Professor 
 of Chemistry was appointed in 1878, the lower floor 
 of Cabinet Hall was devoted to his uses, giving a 
 lecture-room, a working laboratory for students, with 
 all needed appliances, a special laboratory for the 
 professor, with balance-room and study adjoining. 
 The Professor of Geology and Natural History has 
 gradually extended his domain over the entire 
 second story of the building, securing lecture-room, 
 microscopical laboratory, general working room and 
 study, with his cabinets above. While the scientific 
 departments have been thus comfortably provided 
 for, other classes have been excluded, and the old 
 rooms in Tappan Hall, with some changes and re- 
 pairs, have been resorted to. 
 
 Before the purchase of the school -house, two 
 buildings for recitations and similar purposes had 
 already been erected on the college square. These 
 are called " French Hall " and " Society Hall." They 
 are brick, of two stories, alike in outward form, and 
 giving six comfortable rooms in each. They were 
 built in 1867-8. French Hall was named for the 
 late Mr. Charles French, of Cleveland, who gave five 
 thousand dollars toward the building, and Society 
 Hall took its name from the literary society and li- 
 brary-rooms which it contains. These buildings are 
 to-day the chief dependence of the college for gen- 
 eral recitation-rooms. French Hall contains four 
 lecture-rooms, a room for drawing, and rooms for 
 
230 OBERLM. 
 
 the apparatus in the department of physics. Society 
 Hall gives three lecture-rooms, a college society 
 room, and library-rooms. The libraries have out- 
 grown the space devoted to them, and new books 
 can be placed on the shelves only by retiring old 
 ones. These two buildings are measurably con- 
 venient and satisfactory. They were planned for a 
 summer term instead of a winter term, and have 
 required some changes to adjust them to the new 
 order. They were built in costly times, and to- 
 gether involved an expenditure of nineteen thou- 
 sand dollars. 
 
 The idea of Council Hall, the elegant and com- 
 modious building of the Department of Theology, 
 was first practically indulged in 1869. Plans and a 
 location were agreed upon, and, during 187 1, about 
 five thousand dollars were secured for the object — 
 sufficient to lay the foundations. At the meeting of 
 the National Council of Congregational Churches, 
 held at Oberlin in November of that year, the corner- 
 stone was laid, and by vote of the Council the name 
 Council Hall was given for the building that was to 
 be. The foundation was completed in the summer 
 of 1872, and the walls and roof were completed 
 in 1873. The work went on as money could be 
 obtained. The generous friends at the East gave 
 liberally, and, to complete the interior, the larger 
 Congregational churches of Ohio came forward with 
 subscriptions varying from two hundred to two 
 thousand dollars each, the name of such church 
 being placed over the room for which its subscrip- 
 tion provided. The building, not fully completed, 
 
COUNCIL HALL. 
 
COLLEGE BUILDINGS. 23 1 
 
 was dedicated at Commencement, 1874, and was 
 opened for use the following autumn. Its front is 
 one hundred and one feet, and its depth seventy 
 feet. The height is four stories, including the Man- 
 sard. Its cost, including the furniture of public and 
 private rooms, was about sixty-eight thousand dol- 
 lars. It provides two lecture-rooms, a chapel seat- 
 ing three hundred, and divisible by a lifting partition 
 into two lecture-rooms, a reading-room and reference 
 library, and private rooms for sixty students. It is 
 devoted exclusively to the Theological School, ex- 
 cept an occasional, use of the chapel for social 
 meetings. 
 
 To provide board at the least possible cost for 
 those who need such provision, the building on 
 Main Street, opposite the north-east corner of the 
 college square, was purchased in 1880, and fitted up 
 for a boarding-hall. It has cost, including an addi- 
 tional lot, five thousand dollars, and has been named 
 "Stewart Hall," in memory of the early founder, and 
 for the maintenance of his principles of economy. 
 The house is furnished without rent to the matron, 
 and she receives young women for board and room 
 at two dollars a week, and young men, at table only, 
 for two dollars. This goes beyond the early times 
 in cheapness, when, with flour at two dollars and a 
 half a barrel, beef two and a half cents a pound, 
 and butter seven cents, students paid one dollar a 
 week for their seat at table. The house receives 
 sixty boarders, and is always full. 
 
 This completes the list of the buildings erected 
 for the college. The aggregate first cost of them 
 
232 OB E RUN. 
 
 all, not including the dwelling-houses, is about one 
 hundred and eighty thousand dollars. The cost of 
 the buildings still in use was one hundred and sixty- 
 three thousand. 
 
 The only additional building, in immediate pros- 
 pect, is that for which the old laboratory yields its 
 place. It is to furnish, in its first story, a young 
 ladies' assembly room of three hundred and fifty 
 sittings ; and in the second, two rooms for the lit- 
 erary societies of the young women. It is planned 
 to cost eleven thousand dollars, of which the so- 
 cieties have raised three thousand, and Miss Susan 
 M. Sturges, of Mansfield, gives five thousand. 
 
 The pressing needs to be provided for in future 
 buildings, are ten more recitation and lecture rooms, 
 rooms for instruction in drawing and art, libraries 
 and cabinets, a building for the Conservatory of 
 Music, the beginning of an art-gallery, and probably 
 a dormitory building for young men, which shall 
 provide for the more advanced college students, as 
 Council Hall for the theological. 
 
 LIBRARY, CABINET, AND APPARATUS. 
 
 The library of the college has had a slow growth. 
 It was begun the first year by the collection of such 
 books as could be spared from the libraries of New 
 England ministers, and from time to time received 
 accessions of this kind, with an occasional gift of 
 fresher books from some publisher. The deputa- 
 tion to England brought back books of some value, 
 and an occasional gift for the purpose has helped in 
 
LIBRA R V, CA BINE T, A ND A PPA RATUS. 233 
 
 the growth. Originally a small fee was charged for 
 the use of the library, and a majority of students 
 saved the fee. For the last fifteen years every stu- 
 dent has paid about a dollar a year for the library, 
 charged in his bill of incidentals. This arrangement 
 has promoted both the use of the library and its 
 growth. A fee for special or extra examinations 
 has also been charged, and this is added to the li- 
 brary fund. From these funds the librarian's salary 
 is paid, the library is kept in working order, and a 
 few hundred dollars yearly are appropriated for new 
 books. 
 
 The literary societies of the different departments 
 are united in a Union Library Association, to build 
 up a common library. Their funds come from in- 
 itiation fees, from an annual tax, and from the 
 proceeds of a course of lectures and literary enter- 
 tainments. Thus they add to their library several 
 hundred volumes a year. The college library con- 
 tains eleven or twelve thousand volumes, and the 
 societies' library five thousand, and the two are so 
 arranged as to present the appearance of a single 
 library. 
 
 The theological reference library in Council Hall 
 is still small, containing about sixteen hundred vol- 
 umes. No permanent fund is connected with any 
 of the libraries, and the largest gift ever received 
 was five hundred dollars. The present need is more 
 books and more room for them. 
 
 The Cabinet first took form under the hands of 
 Professor Allen. He was himself a diligent col- 
 lector, and he increased his personal collections by 
 
234 OBERLffi. 
 
 exchanges. He imparted something of his own 
 enthusiasm to numbers of his pupils, and as they 
 scattered abroad they remembered the Cabinet. 
 Missionaries in the Micronesian and Hawaiian 
 Islands, in Western and South-eastern Africa, in 
 India, China, and Japan, have sent collections illus- 
 trating the natural and the social history of these 
 diverse regions. Professor Allen himself spent six 
 months in Jamaica as a collector, and the Cabinet 
 shows the results in almost every department. At 
 rare intervals a special appropriation has been made 
 from the college funds to secure some rare speci- 
 men, and at still rarer intervals gifts in money have 
 been received. Thus the cabinet has been constant- 
 ly improving until it serves very satisfactorily in the 
 illustration of the different departments of Natural 
 Science. More space is required for the display of 
 the collection, and a fire-proof building for its pro- 
 tection. 
 
 The chemical laboratory is reasonably well pro- 
 vided with apparatus. Facilities are afforded for 
 whatever work the professor or the student needs to 
 do. The rooms themselves are by no means ideal, 
 but they serve all essential purposes. The micro- 
 scopical laboratory is a recent institution, the instru- 
 ments having been furnished by a gift of a thousand 
 dollars for the purpose, from Mr. David Whitcomb, 
 of Worcester, Mass. The arrangements are sufficient 
 for a class of about twenty students at a time. This 
 laboratory work is elective in the course, and the 
 provision is at present adequate to the demand. 
 In the department of Natural Philosophy, especially 
 
GROWTH OF THE COLONY. 235 
 
 in the direction of dynamic electrictity, valuable ad- 
 ditions to the apparatus have been made by Profes- 
 sor Elisha Gray, in connection with his course of 
 lectures. The latest results of experiment and dis- 
 covery are very fully illustrated. An observatory 
 moderately furnished has long been a need in the 
 line of astronomical study. A refractor with seven- 
 inch aperture was presented to the college, some 
 years since, by Mr. Kenyon Cox, of New York; but 
 for want of a place where it can be permanently 
 mounted and safely kept, its use has been very 
 limited. The time for these various improvements 
 ought not to be far away. For several years past 
 the manifest duty has been to seek for enlarged en- 
 dowment, and these subordinate necessities have 
 been studiously kept out of sight. 
 
 GROWTH OF THE COLONY. 
 
 The fifty years have yielded some results in the 
 growth of the town as well as of the college. The 
 first streets built up in the settlement were those 
 which surround the college park ; and for many 
 years almost all the houses were on these four streets, 
 Main and Professor Streets running north and 
 south, and College and Lorain Streets east and 
 west. The centre of the Oberlin tract is at the 
 north-east corner of the college park; but the first 
 dwelling and the first college building were placed 
 at the south-east corner, and this naturally deter- 
 mined the centre of the settlement. Again the first 
 mills were placed still farther south, where Main 
 
236 
 
 OBERLIN. 
 
 Street crosses Plum Creek, and thus the settlement 
 was directed toward the south, a tendency which 
 was never overcome. The position of the railroad 
 station, in later times, has increased and confirmed 
 the tendency. Other streets which were opened and 
 occupied in the early times were Pleasant, Morgan 
 and Mill Streets. All these were laid out and more 
 or less occupied the first year or two, but were after- 
 ward much extended. 
 
 The only road which at first Mas vital to the con- 
 vemence of the colony was the road to Elyria and 
 upon this efforts were first expended. Citizens and 
 students and professors subscribed labor, and per- 
 formed the work in person. This road took the 
 direction of College Street, intersecting Lorain 
 Street, a mile and a half east. The plan first adopted 
 in road-building was to cover the road-bed with a 
 cross layer of rails split from the oak and ash trees 
 along the way, and cover these rails with a top- 
 dressing of clay and soil, obtained by digging a 
 ditch on each side. While the rails continued 
 sound, the road was quite a success, but as they 
 decayed, the fragments must be taken out, and the 
 original clay be made the foundation. Another 
 ntty years may possibly disclose the art of con- 
 structing, on such a foundation, roads which shall 
 be comfortable for every season of the year 
 
 The streets and sidewalks of the village have 
 formed a formidable part of this road problem. 
 I he first sidewalks were constructed of white-wood 
 plank, three inches in thickness, laid end to end 
 lengthwise of the walk, indicating the superabun- 
 
GROWTH OF THE COLONY. 237 
 
 dance of timber. After a few years it was ascertained 
 that the excessive thickness of the plank, and the 
 contact of the ends, both tended to hasten decay. 
 Thereafter the plank was made an inch and a half 
 in thickness, and laid crosswise ; and most of our 
 walks are still thus constructed — pine lumber hav- 
 ing taken the place of the white-wood and the oak. 
 Sandstone flagging from Berea and Amherst, since 
 the construction of the railroad, has been extensively 
 introduced. The first attempt at a more satisfactory 
 roadway for the streets was a heavy oak plank cov- 
 ering on Main Street, from College Street to the 
 railroad station. Like all plank roads it was a com- 
 fort at the outset, and a nuisance at the end. The 
 next experiment was a layer of broken sandstone. 
 It was soon ground into sand, and sunk out of sight 
 in the clay. The latest method is a pavement of 
 blocks of sandstone eight inches in thickness, with 
 eight or ten square feet of surface. These blocks 
 keep their place, and promise durability. Stone 
 suitable for a macadamized road-bed is too distant 
 and costly to be available. Such mention of the 
 work of road-building will not seem out of place 
 to those who bore the burdens of the early days. 
 
 The great solution of the road problem for Ober- 
 lin was found at length in the construction of the 
 Toledo, Norwalk and Cleveland Railroad, in 1852. 
 The number of students in the college had been 
 doubled by the scholarship endowment, and it was 
 a formidable undertaking for them to get into 
 town at the beginning of the Spring term, and out 
 of town at the close of the Fall term. The Cleve- 
 
238 BERLIN. 
 
 land and Columbus road had been built a year or 
 two before, with a station at Wellington, nine miles 
 from Oberlin. This was a great relief, but the road 
 to Wellington was often intolerable. When the 
 proposal was made of a railroad from Cleveland to 
 Toledo, the people of Oberlin were awake to the 
 opportunity. They sent out surveying parties east 
 and west, to show that the road from Grafton to 
 Norwalk could easily be made to pass through Ober- 
 lin. The township subscribed twenty thousand 
 dollars to the stock, and the citizens of Oberlin in- 
 dividually as much more. Many who subscribed 
 did it simply to promote a necessary public enter- 
 prise, never expecting to see their money again. 
 The road was deflected from a straight line suffi- 
 ciently to touch Oberlin, and even proved a success 
 financially, so that the original stockholders received 
 their own with usury. It is now the Southern Di- 
 vision of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern. 
 After some years the people of Elyria, on the North- 
 ern Division, secured the transfer of the section be- 
 tween Oberlin and Grafton, so that the intersection 
 should be at Elyria, and thus the journey to Elyria 
 is different from that of fifty years ago. 
 
 The Oberlin colony had no municipal or corporate 
 existence. It was simply a settlement in the town- 
 ship of Russia, and could have no privileges or regu- 
 lations apart from the township. In 1846, the vil- 
 lage of Oberlin was incorporated by act of the legis- 
 lature, and the Oberlin colony was no longer spoken 
 of. The " Town Hall" was erected in 1870, at a 
 cost of nearly twenty thousand dollars. In 1858, a 
 
GROWTH OF THE COLONY. 239 
 
 stranger came into town to establish gas works, and 
 the citizens subscribed the required stock. The en- 
 terprise failed financially before it had afforded any 
 light to the town, and Mr. Samuel Plumb, one of the 
 citizens, took it up and carried it forward, the sub- 
 scribers having surrendered their stock to aid in the 
 enterprise. Thus Oberlin was provided with gas- 
 works some years in advance of other and older 
 towns in the neighborhood. The discovery of kero- 
 sene a year later made the gas less necessary. 
 
 The Oberlin Fire Department was organized, or 
 rather equipped, in 1852, by the purchase of two 
 hand-engines from Rochester, N. Y. These served 
 the necessities of the town until 1865, when a Silsby 
 steamer was bought for four thousand dollars. 
 
 No very disastrous or sweeping fires have occurred 
 in Oberlin. One of the business corners has been 
 twice burned out, involving considerable loss to in- 
 dividuals. The first burning was in 1848, when the 
 printing office of Jas. M. Fitch, the publisher of The 
 Oberlin Evangelist, was destroyed, and several less 
 important business places. The buildings which 
 took the place of those burned were somewhat bet- 
 ter, but they were of wood, designed to be tempo- 
 rary. In 1882 this corner was again burned, with 
 much greater loss to various parties, but the result 
 has been a great improvement to the town. A very 
 fine business block now occupies the corner, and a 
 similar fire on that corner is not likely to recur. 
 
 The two-story frame hotel on the corner opposite 
 was burned in 1865, and thus place was made for the 
 better hotel and business block now occupying the 
 
240 OBERLIN. 
 
 , 
 
 corner. The third corner, which was the first occu- 
 pied, embracing Oberlin Hall, the first college build- 
 ing, has thus far escaped the catastrophe of fire, 
 an immunity which cannot be expected another 
 fifty years. Other fires have been limited to single 
 buildings of more or less value. The most serious, 
 perhaps, of them all was the burning of the original 
 mills, at the corner of Main and Mill Streets, in 1846. 
 They had been sold by the college some years be- 
 fore. No serious fire has ever occurred in the col- 
 lege buildings, but there have been many narrow 
 escapes. 
 
 The first school for children in the colony was 
 taught by Miss Eliza Branch, now Mrs. George 
 Clark, of Oberlin. Her school-room was the log 
 house built by Mr. Pease. This was the primary 
 department of the college. The first school-house 
 was built in 1838 — a small frame house, of one story, 
 placed on a corner of the lot occupied by the First 
 Church. This old school-house still survives in a 
 dwelling house on South Main Street, owned by E. 
 M. Leonard. It was the only school-house until 
 185 1, when a two-story brick house was built on the 
 west side of Professor Street, over against Tappan 
 Hall, sufficient for three departments ; and the 
 school was graded accordingly. After a few years 
 this was found inadequate, and the building was en- 
 larged by adding two wings and carrying up the 
 central part to three stories. Thus seven school- 
 rooms were provided, and the school was more fully 
 graded. In 1874 this building was sold to the col- 
 lege, and a new Union school-house was built on 
 
SCHOOL HOUSE. 
 
GROWTH OF THE COLONY. 24 1 
 
 the east side of Main Street, a little south of the 
 principal business corners — a fine building containing 
 eleven school-rooms and costing about forty thou- 
 sand dollars. The school has again outgrown its 
 quarters, and other rooms in the vicinity are occu- 
 pied. The number of pupils enrolled in these 
 schools is about seven hundred and fifty, and a su- 
 perintendent and seventeen teachers are employed. 
 
 The following superintendents have been em- 
 ployed: Joseph H. Barnum, from 1854 to i860; 
 Samuel Sedgwick, from i860 to 1869; Edward F. 
 Moulton, from 1869 to 1876; Henry R. Chittenden, 
 from 1876 to 1878; H. J. Clark, from 1878 to 1882; 
 and George W. Waite, the present superintendent. 
 The first four were graduates of Oberlin College, 
 Mr. Clark, of Western Reserve, and Mr. Waite of 
 Amherst. 
 
 The churches and church buildings were briefly 
 described in a preceding chapter. 
 
 The earliest cemetery was on the south bank of 
 Plum Creek, and west of Main Street, and the first 
 burials were near the street, a little north of the lot 
 occupied by the Episcopal church. After a few 
 years the graves were removed from the lots on the 
 street, and only the land in the rear was occupied. 
 In 1863 grounds about three fourths of a mile south- 
 west of the village were purchased by a Cemetery As- 
 sociation, and carefully laid out and adorned. Since 
 that time the old ground, which was leased to the 
 Oberlin Society by the college for cemetery purposes, 
 has been surrendered to the college, and most of the 
 graves have been removed to the new cemetery. 
 
242 BERLIN. 
 
 The first two years the mail for Oberlin came and 
 went by South Amherst, six miles north, and was 
 carried in a small hand-bag, by Harvey Gibbs, the 
 first post-master. He built the first post-office, 
 which was on North Main Street, over against Tap- 
 pan Hall. The walk from Tappan Hall eastward 
 across the park was constructed by the students, 
 for the purpose, chiefly, of going to the post-office. 
 
 Mr. Brewster Pelton built and kept the first hotel, 
 a log building, on the east side of the lot occupied 
 by the present hotel. No strong drink or tobacco 
 was furnished at his house, but after some anxiety 
 and discussion it was decided to be " impracticable" 
 to keep a hotel without furnishing tea and coffee. 
 In the spring of 1834 he built a large two-story 
 frame house on the corner, and this was the princi- 
 pal hotel until it was burned in 1865. For the pur- 
 pose of securing a suitable hotel, in the absence of 
 business sufficient to sustain it, the citizens, in 1867, 
 subscribed the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars, 
 and the college a like sum, to encourage the enter- 
 prise. Mr. Henry Viets accepted the proposal, 
 received the money, giving to Oberlin College a 
 mortgage of five thousand dollars on the property, 
 the condition of which is that a suitable building 
 shall be provided, and a hotel kept in a satisfactory 
 manner, and that all intoxicating drinks and danc- 
 ing parties shall be excluded. Thus the hotel, called 
 until recently the " Park House," was built, and on 
 these conditions it is carried on. 
 
 The private dwellings of the town began in a 
 humble way. After the first year few, if any, log 
 
GROWTH OF THE COLONY. 243 
 
 houses were built, but the frame houses were small, 
 and most of them were so constructed as to suggest 
 future enlargement. They were of one story, or a 
 story and a half, and the cornice was often lack- 
 ing on one gable, suggesting a front or main part. 
 One house, near the corner of Main and Lorain 
 Streets, a story and a half in height, exhibited, for 
 some years, a solitary plate of a two-story building, 
 high in the air, a symbol of the owner's confidence 
 in the future. In the majority of cases, the hope 
 of enlargement was not realized. The lacking cor- 
 nice was at length added, and a pleasant porch was 
 constructed over the door. But the enlargement 
 came with a new generation, and the work of ad- 
 ding a front or main part to the humble dwellings 
 of the early day is still going on. At present the 
 town is conspicuous for the large number of unpre- 
 tentious but pleasant and homelike dwellings, with 
 spacious yards attractive with trees and grass. 
 
 The Soldiers' Monument was built in 1870, by a 
 contribution of four thousand dollars, in which citi- 
 zens and students and alumni and friends all united. 
 The generous contractor did not limit the expendi- 
 ture to the amount placed at his disposal. The cost 
 was about a thousand dollars more than the sub- 
 scription. 
 
 The college square in 1834 was a field of stumps 
 surrounded by a Virginia " worm" fence. In 1836, 
 as Tappan Hall came into use, the students occu- 
 pying it waged war upon the stumps, and under 
 axe and fire they rapidly disappeared. Soon after- 
 ward, students from the East, whose life had not 
 
244 OBERLIN. 
 
 been a constant warfare with trees, led in the en- 
 terprise of replanting the square with young trees 
 from the forest, and the largest trees upon the 
 square, excepting the historical elm, are the result 
 of that first planting. An annual tree-planting was 
 established, and the good work was continued, 
 Evergreens were added fifteen or twenty years later, 
 by a special movement set on foot by Professor 
 Peck. 
 
 The crooked rail fence had given place some } r ears 
 before to a stately post and rail fence, of oak tim- 
 ber, painted white. The expense was provided for 
 jointly by the college and the people of the town. 
 When this fence began to fail, a hedge of the Osage 
 orange took its place, and when, in the advance of 
 civilization, hedges and fences became unnecessary, 
 the hedge which had been trained with so much 
 care was exterminated. The grading and general 
 improvement of 1881 cost two thousand dollars, the 
 citizens subscribing one thousand, and the college 
 furnishing an equal amount. 
 
 There was no early necessity for a bank in Ober- 
 lin, or rather there was no capital to provide such a 
 convenience. The " First National Bank" was es- 
 tablished in 1863, with Mr. Samuel Plumb as princi- 
 pal stockholder and president. Upon the recent 
 expiration of its charter, it was reorganized as the 
 " Citizens' National Bank." The other business op- 
 erations of the village are such as belong to a col- 
 lege town, with very little in the way of manufac- 
 turing interest. A flourin^-mill, saw-mill, and two 
 planing-mills, two carriage factories and a furniture 
 
GROWTH OT THE COLONY. 245 
 
 factory, give the extent of business in this form. 
 The chief support of business is the presence of 
 hundreds of students who must be fed and clothed, 
 and the families that naturally gather at such a 
 centre of education. 
 
 Book stores are among the most conspicuous of 
 our business establishments. Besides the college 
 some special schools have been carried on here for 
 many years — a telegraphic school and commercial 
 and writing schools. The outside public often con- 
 nect these special schools, in their thought, with the 
 college. The college has no connection with any of 
 these, except a single writing school. 
 
 The town has supported no saloons, and there is 
 a very earnest purpose among the people that no 
 saloon shall ever flourish here. A dubious drug 
 store has caused them some anxiety, and a single 
 tobacco store has had a patronage beyond the bene- 
 fits it has conferred. 
 
 A printing establishment was among the early 
 business institutions of the place. The Catalogue of 
 1834 was printed at Elyria, of '35 and '36 at Cleve- 
 land, and of '38 at Cuyahoga Falls. The college 
 was too busy, or too poor, to publish a Catalogue in 
 '37. The Catalogue of 1839 was printed at Oberlin 
 by James Steele, and the work was well done. Mr. 
 Steele was also printing the Evangelist at the time, 
 the first volume of which was issued that year. He 
 established the office while he was a student in the 
 Theological Seminary. The Evangelist was an eight 
 page quarto, issued every two weeks for twenty-four 
 years, at one dollar a year. In 1844 James M. Fitch, 
 
246 OBERLIN. 
 
 having returned from the Jamaica Mission, be- 
 came publisher of the Evangelist, and carried on the 
 printing and book business until his death, in 1867. 
 Besides the Evangelist, and from time to time a vil- 
 lage paper, he printed on his hand-press and pub- 
 lished several volumes, among them, in 1846-47, two 
 volumes of Theology, by Professor Finney, of six 
 hundred octavo pages each. 
 
 Since Mr. Fitch's day, two and sometimes three 
 printing establishments have been maintained here. 
 The earliest village paper that attained permanence 
 was the Lorain County News, now the Oberlin 
 News, first issued in i860. The first editor was A. 
 B. Nettleton, then a student, afterward a soldier, and 
 now proprietor of the Minnesota Tribune. J. B. T. 
 Marsh took up the pen laid down by Mr. Nettleton, 
 afterwards entering the army, and returning again 
 to his editorial work. Later he was eight years edi- 
 tor of The Advance at Chicago, and is now treas- 
 urer of Oberlin College. The Oberlin News, through 
 many changes, has held on its way, and has attained 
 a permanent character and success under its present 
 proprietor, Mr. W. H. Pearce. 
 
 In 1868 Rev. W. C. French, rector of the Episco- 
 pal church, began the publication of The Standard 
 of the Cross, at Oberlin, and continued it five years, 
 when he removed his office to Cleveland. Other 
 papers and other volumes, of more or less impor- 
 tance, among them the papers published by the stu- 
 dents, have been printed at the Oberlin offices. 
 Thus printing and publishing, though less conspicu- 
 ous here than in some other university towns, has 
 
GROWTH OF THE COLONY. 247 
 
 been among the prominent industries of the place. 
 The later volumes published at Oberlin by Mr. E. J. 
 Goodrich have in general been printed in Eastern 
 cities. 
 
 The first physician in Oberlin, after Dr. Dascomb's 
 early service in that capacity, was Dr. Alexander 
 Steele, who came in 1836, and continued his profes- 
 sional work until his death in 1872. Dr. Isaac Jen- 
 nings came in 1839; tnen followed Dr. Otis Boise, 
 Dr. Homer Johnson, Dr. William Bunce, Dr. Dudley 
 Allen, and others later. Dr. Jennings was a thor- 
 oughly educated physician, holding the honorary 
 degree of M.D. from Yale, and had had a successful 
 practice of some years ; but becoming convinced 
 that medicine was harmful instead of helpful, he had 
 entirely discarded it. He called his system " Ortho- 
 pathy," upon the theory that nature, even in disease, 
 was doing the best possible, and could not be as- 
 sisted, except by judicious nursing. He would visit 
 any one that called for him, and give suggestions, 
 but no medicine, and made no charges. He pub- 
 lished several volumes setting forth his views. He 
 died in 1875, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 COLLEGE WORK AND STUDENT LIFE — THE 
 EARLIER AND THE LATER. 
 
 The general view of the college work set forth in 
 the preceding pages would perhaps suggest the in- 
 quiry whether it had not involved so much of out- 
 side interests, and so many diverting influences, as 
 seriously to interfere with its value and effectiveness 
 in the definite work of education. Has the college 
 been able to maintain regular and systematic and 
 thorough scholastic work in the midst of these vari- 
 ous movements and interests? If such an impres- 
 sion or doubt has been produced, let it be remem- 
 bered that a record of fifty years, crowded into a 
 few pages, necessarily involves a concentration of 
 events which does not belong to the actual expe- 
 rience ; events separated by years in the actual life, 
 stand side by side in the record. Thus what appear 
 as multiplied perturbations have in fact occurred at 
 rare intervals — one or two perhaps in a single gener- 
 ation of student life. 
 
 Still another suggestion occurs. With the most 
 careful arrangements to concentrate the thought and 
 attention of a body of students upon their studies, 
 diversions of some sort will occur. If they do not 
 come from without, they will spring up from among 
 themselves. Interest in the affairs of the commu- 
 
COLLEGE AND STUDENT LLFEl. 249 
 
 nity, the country and the world is often absorbing-, 
 but not more so than interest in college politics, in 
 such profound and weighty questions as which class 
 shall win the field in the rush, or which " nine" or 
 which club shall bear off the honors in the matched 
 game or regatta. There will be agitations of some 
 kind in such a mass of active, fervid human nature. 
 It is quite possible that the more grave and weighty 
 the concerns which press upon such a body, the less 
 the effervescence may be. Efforts are sometimes 
 made to exclude national politics from college life. 
 But the question, who shall be president of the Re- 
 public? is no more distracting than who shall be 
 president of a college society ? and it is far more 
 worthy of interest and attention. The gravity of 
 any matter of concern tends to give seriousness and 
 steadiness to those who cherish it. There are con- 
 cerns pertaining to the country and the world from 
 which no one, young or old, in student life or in ac- 
 tive life, can afford to be excluded. An important 
 factor in all education consists in giving to such 
 interests their proper place and thought, and strong 
 and well-balanced character can no more be secured 
 apart from such influences, than vigorous plant life 
 without light and air. Those who planted Oberlin, 
 and those who have since had responsibility in its 
 direction, have not felt at liberty to provide for 
 sheltering the young people from the interests 
 and excitements of the country and the world. 
 
 There was very early a suspicion abroad that the 
 educational work at Oberlin was to be narrow and 
 superficial. The name " Collegiate Institute" per- 
 
250 OBERLIN. 
 
 haps suggested an ambitious academy instead of 
 a modest college. Co-education was regarded as 
 indicating the same drift, the " burning of the class- 
 ics" fixed the impression, and the supposed ultraisms 
 and heresies that followed rendered the investiga- 
 tion of the facts unnecessary. Newspaper writers 
 assumed the impression as fact, and the general 
 public trusted the newspapers. It would perhaps 
 be regarded as a bold statement, that there was 
 never any foundation for the assumed fact. The 
 first Freshman class was admitted in 1834, and the 
 preparation of the candidates was such that they 
 would unquestionably have been admitted at any 
 eastern college. So persistent was the misrepresen- 
 tation, that in 1839 an appendix to the Catalogue 
 was published, giving a comparison of the courses 
 at Yale and at Oberlin. In science and literature 
 and philosophy, the two courses were almost identi- 
 cal. In languages the Yale course gave considerably 
 more Latin, and the Oberlin course an excess of 
 Greek and Hebrew which more than balanced the 
 deficiency. The facts were that a student in good 
 standing at Oberlin found no difficulty in entering 
 ad enndem any New England college. Nothing less 
 than this was to be expected, in view of the fact 
 that the leading professors at Oberlin were men who 
 had graduated with honors — in two cases, the high- 
 est honors — at Williams and Amherst and Yale. It 
 is true the course in languages at Oberlin was modi- 
 fied by excluding the most objectionable classic 
 authors, especially Latin poets, and substituting 
 New Testament Greek, and Hebrew in part. In- 
 
COLLEGE AND STUDENT LLFE. 25 I 
 
 stead of Horace, George Buchanan's Latin version 
 of the Psalms was announced, but when the time 
 came for its use only a few copies could be gath- 
 ered up in this country and abroad. At length 
 such editions of the poets were published that they 
 could be introduced with propriety into classes of 
 which young women were members, and the differ- 
 ences of the Oberlin course disappeared. The re- 
 quirements for admission have been increased, dur- 
 ing the progress of the college, by a full year's study, 
 and a similar change has taken place in the colleges 
 throughout the land. 
 
 The establishment and maintenance of a large 
 preparatory department or academic school at Ober- 
 lin has been essential to its work. Such schools have 
 existed in connection with all Western colleges. In 
 the absence of academies adequate to the work, and 
 from the fact that the high schools of later days 
 have rarely undertaken it, the college has been com- 
 pelled to prepare its own students. The work at 
 Oberlin began in this way, and has continued until 
 the present time. Five sixths of the present Fresh- 
 man class have received the whole or a part of their 
 preparation here. Besides being a preparatory 
 school, this department provides for a large number 
 of students who do not contemplate a full course, 
 but desire preparation for business or teaching. One 
 incidental result of gathering these persons in the 
 school is that large numbers of them fall under the 
 attractions of study, and within a year take up the 
 preparation for a college course. A large proportion 
 
2 $2 OBERLIN. 
 
 of those who enter the course here are drawn from 
 this class of students. 
 
 To Oberlin this large preparatory school has prob- 
 ably been more essential than to any other college. 
 By no other arrangement could large numbers of 
 students have been gathered ; and the large num- 
 bers were necessary to furnish an inviting field of 
 labor to Mr. Finney, and others who came at the 
 same time. The influence of the school could not 
 have been what it has been without these numbers. 
 
 From the beginning, care has been taken not to 
 exhaust the strength of the college professors upon 
 the preparatory department. Only in very rare in- 
 stances has a preparatory class been instructed by 
 a college professor. The policy has been to confine 
 each professor to his own general department, and 
 as far as possible to his own specific work. Theo- 
 logical professors have very rarely been called to 
 college classes, nor have college professors taught in 
 the preparatory department. Thus students do not 
 in the beginning of their course feel that they have 
 received all that the college can do for them. Pass- 
 ing from one department to another they come 
 tinder new instructors, almost as really as in going 
 to a different school. 
 
 To avoid this difficulty, which besets young col- 
 leges with preparatory departments, the preparatory 
 school, from the beginning, was carried on by plac- 
 ing a principal in charge, and giving him one or 
 perhaps two permanent teachers, who should take 
 the advanced classes in laii£uaores ; while other 
 classes were provided for by drawing their teachers 
 
COLLEGE AND STUDENT LLFE. 253 
 
 from the large body of advanced students in the 
 college and theological departments. Rarely was 
 more than one class given to a student. It is quite 
 probable that there were disadvantages in this ar- 
 rangement. The teachers would often lack experi- 
 ence, and could not often acquire the force and 
 authority of one familiar with the ground, and who 
 carried with him the weight and momentum which 
 years confer. This was in part counterbalanced by 
 the presence and general influence of professors in 
 the other departments, which was diffused through- 
 out the institution. The whole school has been 
 managed as one establishment, and the wisdom and 
 influence of the Faculty as a whole has permeated 
 the entire body, securing advantages not to be found 
 in a moderately equipped academy or high school. 
 
 To the students employed as teachers the arrange- 
 ment is specially profitable. The compensation is 
 small, originally twelve and a half to eighteen and 
 three fourths cents an hour, later thirty-five to sixty- 
 five cents, but the discipline and experience are more 
 than the compensation. It gives the student-teach- 
 er an opportunity to test his own knowledge, and 
 is often a training for his life-work. The college has 
 thus, to a considerable extent, brought up its own 
 professors, and has furnished professors for many 
 other colleges. By this means, and by teaching in 
 vacations, the teaching impulse and faculty have 
 been quite widely developed among Oberlin stu- 
 dents, and to this influence, in part, their tendency to 
 establish colleges and schools may, doubtless, be 
 traced. 
 
254 BERLIN. 
 
 In later years the number of permanent teachers 
 in the Preparatory Department has been much in- 
 creased, but more than twenty students, young men 
 and women, are still employed. These furnish a 
 natural link between the Faculty and the body of 
 students, to preclude the painful separation which 
 sometimes occurs ; and this result comes spontane- 
 ously, without any intentional effort. The pupils 
 in the preparatory department are under the same 
 general regulations as in the other departments. 
 They have never been gathered in a school-room to 
 pursue their studies under the eye of a teacher. 
 They prepare their lessons in their private rooms, 
 and come together for recitations only. None can 
 be received who have not sufficient maturity and 
 self-control to prosper under this arrangement. 
 
 The college work has been essentially like that in 
 other American colleges, with a similar apportion- 
 ment of studies. Latin and Greek and Mathematics 
 have characterized the first part of the course, and 
 Science and Literature and Philosophy the latter 
 part. From the first, special prominence was given 
 to philosophical studies and inquiries. The presence 
 and preaching and teaching of such men as Presi- 
 dent Mahan and Professors Finney, Morgan and 
 others, awoke an interest in this direction. Besides, 
 it was a time of great quickening of speculative 
 thought in the country. The New School Theology 
 was claiming attention, and arousing the country to 
 earnest inquiry. 
 
 The antislavery movement, too, was not simply a 
 movement in practical action, but it was laying its 
 
COLLEGE AND STUDENT LLEE. 2$$ 
 
 foundations in great principles of ethical philosophy; 
 and Oberlin became inevitably one of the centres 
 of this speculative activity. President Mahan was 
 a strong thinker in this direction, and impressed 
 himself very decidedly upon the whole school. At 
 his coming there was no class in college in advance 
 of the Freshman, and he began a course of philos- 
 ophy with them, and carried them through the three 
 remaining years with such authors as Abercrombie, 
 Cousin, Dugald Stewart and others, followed by a 
 year's course of lectures. The whole school shared 
 more or less in the enthusiasm, and received an im- 
 pulse which it has never quite lost. In the Cata- 
 logue of 1835, no definite place in the course is 
 given to these studies, but the statement of studies 
 closes with the remark, " Intellectual and Moral 
 Philosophy extensively." In the following Cata- 
 logues it is confined to the Junior and Senior 
 years. 
 
 Mr. Finney's work in the Theological Department 
 was equally effective ; and the difference between 
 these two prominent teachers, which was soon devel- 
 oped, as to the " nature and foundation of moral 
 obligation," increased the interest. No parties were 
 ever formed around these diverse views ; but what- 
 ever may be said at this day about the feebleness of 
 the original Graham diet, Oberlin students, in the 
 line of intellectual nourishment, were fed on strong 
 meat. To discuss first principles became their pas- 
 time. They rested on their hoes in the cornfield to 
 look into the inner consciousness, and the manual 
 labor cause suffered in the interests of philosophy. 
 
2 56 BERLIN. 
 
 The demand for books was quite limited. Kant, 
 Coleridge, Cousin, Locke and similar authors were 
 called for, but the want of libraries of history, gem 
 eral literature and science was not greatly felt. 
 Possibly it was, in part, the absence of the books 
 that prevented the existence of the want. It is true 
 there were at that day great readers among the stu- 
 dents, in the various lines of literature, but the ten- 
 dency was not general. A student of that period, 
 burdened with the duty of an essay, rarely went to 
 the library for relief. His first impulse was to draw 
 upon the resources of his own consciousness. 
 
 In these respects there is a change. Science and 
 literature and history have come to occupy the 
 places which belong to them, and the students are 
 drawn toward the libraries ; but we may hope the 
 day is far distant when they shall cease to have a 
 lively interest in the study of philosophy. The 
 study of the ancient languages, Latin, Greek and 
 Hebrew, has always held a prominent place, and 
 linguistic study is quite as prominent to-day as at 
 any time in the past. Natural Science has come 
 into great prominence in the world during the fifty 
 years, and it has made a much wider place for itself 
 in our course than was originally assigned it. The 
 modern languages, French and German, have claimed 
 their share of attention. 
 
 It was the purpose of the founders, and of the 
 men who joined the enterprise in 1835, that Biblical 
 study should be a prominent feature of the course ; 
 and the early deviation from the general college 
 course was in this direction. The Greek and He- 
 
COLLEGE AND STUDENT LITE. 2$? 
 
 brew Scriptures were to take the place of some of 
 the classic authors. This arrangement was earnestly 
 adopted, and there was no division of feeling on the 
 subject. It was a very common thing for the trus- 
 tees at their meetings, in the earlier years, to pro- 
 pose to the Faculty the inquiry whether this idea 
 had been fully and thoroughly maintained. The 
 first difficulty encountered was, that it placed the 
 college in misadjustment with other colleges. Ober- 
 lin graduates entering the Theological Department 
 would have had more than a year of Hebrew, while 
 those from other colleges had none. In going to 
 other theological seminaries a similar difficulty was 
 encountered. Then it was not clear that those who 
 were not to enter the ministry could wisely devote 
 a year or more to the study of Hebrew. Similar 
 difficulties were felt in regard to the New Testament 
 Greek, but they were not so pressing. The result 
 at length was that the Hebrew was committed wholly 
 to the Theological Department, and the New Testa- 
 ment Greek was limited to a term or two, and more 
 recently has been mostly discontinued. 
 
 Through all the fifty years there has been persist- 
 ent and careful attention to the study of the Scrip- 
 tures. Every class, in all the literary departments, 
 has its hour a week for this study; and it is not in- 
 troduced as an extra, but takes the place, for the day, 
 of one of the regular studies. The Bible course is 
 so arranged as to secure on the part of the pupils 
 some intelligent apprehension of the contents of the 
 Scriptures, the last year being devoted to a consid- 
 eration of the leading facts and doctrines of the 
 
258 OB E KLIN. 
 
 
 Christian faith, with a free and open discussion of 
 doubts and difficulties. The study of Christian evi- 
 dences has held its usual place in the course. 
 
 The requirements upon the student in the way of 
 attendance upon religious services have always been 
 two church services on the Sabbath, and daily even- 
 ing prayers at the chapel. As in New England 
 colleges, six o'clock morning prayers were originally 
 held for the young men, but attendance upon family 
 prayers at their various boarding places was at 
 length substituted. Students select for themselves 
 the church which they will attend, but the attend- 
 ance must continue for a term. No college church 
 exists, nor is any regular Sunday service held for 
 students. A special voluntary gathering is some- 
 times called. 
 
 In 1835 the "Thursday Lecture" was established, 
 which students were required to attend. It was a 
 religious lecture, not specially a college arrangement, 
 but an appointment of the church, held at a late 
 hour of the afternoon. As students were required 
 to attend, and the lecture was given by Professor 
 Finney, or by some other professor, it came at 
 length to be regarded as a college appointment, and 
 as such it has been continued to the present time. 
 Within the last ten years it has ceased to be a dis- 
 tinctively religious lecture. Each professor, in his 
 turn, takes his own topic, literary, scientific, histori- 
 cal or practical ; and the hour is regarded by the 
 students as an occasion of interest and profit. A 
 lecturer is frequently invited from abroad. 
 
 A weekly prayer meeting is appointed for each 
 
COLLEGE AND STUDENT LLFE. 2 59 
 
 class, in all departments, led by a professor or other 
 teacher. Attendance upon this is voluntary. Occa- 
 sionally, in seasons of special interest, a class ar- 
 ranges for itself a daily half hour meeting. No 
 meeting continues beyond an hour. The " Young 
 People's Meeting" is an appointment of long stand- 
 ing — not strictly a college arrangement nor the ap- 
 pointment of any church. It is a meeting held on 
 Monday evening immediately after the supper hour, 
 to which all the young people of the place are in- 
 vited, with a permanent leader, usually one of the 
 younger professors. The meeting generally gathers 
 some hundreds, mostly students. The chapel of 
 Council Hall is the regular place of meeting. When 
 this becomes too strait the college chapel is resort- 
 ed to. 
 
 It is a peculiarity of college arrangements at 
 Oberlin that every recitation or lecture is opened, 
 after the roll call, by a brief prayer, in which the 
 teacher leads, scarcely longer than an ordinary bless- 
 ing at table, or by the singing of a verse or two, in 
 which the class chorister leads. The general culti- 
 vation of music, and the pocket hymn-book, make 
 the singing possible and pleasant. This practice 
 came in with Mr. Finney, in 1835 — not by any ordi- 
 nance, but by spontaneous adoption, and the cus- 
 tom has made the law. 
 
 At Oberlin, as everywhere, many features of the 
 college life are determined by the students them- 
 selves, within certain limitations. They organize 
 and conduct their own literary societies, with the 
 provision that there shall be no secret organization 
 
26o OBERLIN. 
 
 or fraternity, that no society shall embrace both 
 young men and young women, and that the meet- 
 ings shall not be continued after ten o'clock in 
 the evening. Of the permanent societies, of long 
 standing, there are three among the young men 
 of the college classes, and two among the young 
 women. These are devoted exclusively to literary 
 exercises, and are conducted with great vigor and 
 decorum and success. In some of these, failures to 
 meet appointments are so rare that they are said 
 not to occur at all. Offensive rivalries among the 
 societies have been almost unknown. 
 
 The three societies of young men unite in fitting 
 up and occupying a single room, as do the two so- 
 cieties of young women. More rooms are desirable, 
 and will probably soon be attained. The five so- 
 cieties are again united in building up a single 
 library, under the charge of the " Union Library 
 Association." 
 
 The " Oratorical Association" is an organization 
 of the college classes to elect speakers for a yearly 
 " Home Contest." The successful speaker appears 
 again in a " State Contest" in which several colleges 
 of the State are represented, and the fortunate com- 
 petitor finally represents the State in an " Inter-State 
 Contest," where several Western States are repre- 
 sented. This Association has existed for several 
 years past, but whether the benefits equal the out- 
 lay does not seem to be determined in the judg- 
 ment of either students or Faculty. 
 
 The history of college journalism at Oberlin is 
 brief. The Oberlin Student's Monthly, a magazine 
 
COLLEGE AND STUDENT LLFE. 26 1 
 
 of thirty-two pages, was published by the literary 
 societies for two and a half years, beginning with 
 November, 1858. The war made such drafts upon 
 editors and subscribers that it was discontinued in 
 1 86 1. The Obcrlin Review, a quarto of sixteen 
 pages, was begun in 1873. It is published by the 
 " Union" of the literary societies, each of the five 
 societies appointing an editor, and the Union an 
 editor-in-chief. The paper has been conducted, in 
 general, with ability and dignity, and in harmony 
 with the interests and honor of the college, and has 
 been financially successful. 
 
 The social opportunities of Oberlin students are 
 naturally provided for in the organization of the 
 college. It is one of the advantages of the system 
 that it secures a good degree of social culture and en- 
 joyment without any expenditure of time or thought 
 or effort. The student who holds on his way, 
 passing his fellow-students on the sidewalk, meeting 
 them in the recitation room and the chapel, will re- 
 ceive the essential benefit of cultivated society, even 
 if he should attend no social gatherings, nor make 
 any personal calls. Like the sunlight and the atmos- 
 phere it is diffused around him, without his responsi- 
 bility. He will not grow into a recluse, nor find himself 
 disqualified for general society, whenever the time 
 shall come. But every student who becomes identi- 
 fied with a class will find further social opportunities 
 opening to him — an annual or semi-annual class 
 gathering, an invitation with his class to the home of 
 his professor for an evening, or an hour or two at a 
 "social" in the church parlors. One wholesome 
 
262 O BERLIN. 
 
 
 social habit established in the early times has come 
 down to us. Only the early hours are devoted to 
 social entertainment. Even in general gatherings 
 with which college arrangements have nothing to 
 do, the hour of ten seems to be regarded as the 
 natural limit. 
 
 In the matter of recreations and sports, the stu- 
 dents, with reasonable limitations and suggestions, 
 arrange for themselves. There is an Athletic Asso- 
 ciation having in charge a ball ground, and with the 
 large number of students games are arranged be- 
 tween different classes and groups which have suffi- 
 cient interest, so that it is not necessary to visit 
 other colleges in the pursuit of sport. The Associa- 
 tion has sometimes received and entertained another 
 college club, on its travels, but its champion " nine" 
 does not go abroad in term time. There are no 
 boating facilities within reach at Oberlin ; thus all 
 the questions which elsewhere arise, in connection 
 with such privileges, are easily disposed of. 
 
 The gymnasium made its way slowly at Oberlin, 
 because it seemed to be inconsistent with the manual 
 labor idea ; but after various attempts, an unpre^ 
 tending establishment with moderate equipments is 
 open to young men, and a better one for young 
 women. The exercise is at present voluntary, but 
 classes are organized under competent teachers, and 
 all who desire can have the benefit without charge. 
 
 Sedentary games of chance and skill were formerly 
 prohibited at Oberlin, but the restriction has been 
 removed except in the case of cards. To visit a bil- 
 liard saloon is still reckoned a misdemeanor. 
 
COLLEGE AND STUDENT LIFE. 263 
 
 The general discipline of the college was at the 
 beginning conformed to the parental idea, and it 
 has not been materially changed. The idea has 
 been accepted that the college is a place where 
 character and habits are to be formed, as well as 
 instruction imparted. No strict personal surveillance 
 was ever undertaken. The student has been thrown 
 greatly upon his own responsibility, with the under- 
 standing that his continued enjoyment of the privi- 
 leges of the school must depend upon his satisfactory 
 deportment. No study hours have ever been pre- 
 scribed, except as limiting the time of ball-playing 
 and other sports upon the college grounds, and of 
 social calls upon the young women of the college. 
 Each student studies when and where he pleases, 
 provided he reports himself, with due preparation, 
 at the appointed hour. The regulations are few and 
 obvious, such as are necessary to the comfortable 
 association of such a body of students. There is a 
 special requirement, which was once peculiar to 
 Oberlin College, but is not now, to abstain from the 
 use of tobacco. The rule is coeval with the college, 
 and the time has never come when it seemed advis- 
 able to dispense with it. The Faculty are a unit in 
 support of the rule, and have always been. At the 
 beginning, the maintenance of the rule was not diffi- 
 cult ; very few young men came who had formed the 
 habit. The use of tobacco has been greatly extended 
 in the country within the last twenty-five years, and 
 many young men come with the habit fastened upon 
 them. They come with a full understanding of the 
 requirement, and often for the purpose, on their own 
 
264 OBERLIN. 
 
 part or that of parents and guardians, of recovery 
 from the habit. Frankness is encouraged. No 
 disgrace is visited upon the one who fails. If with- 
 out deceit, or attempts at imposition, he avows his 
 failure, he receives an honorable dismission and can 
 go where he will encounter no prohibition of the 
 kind. Every year brings more or less of such failure ; 
 and it is too much to hope that there are no cases 
 which escape observation. But the rule has been 
 maintained with a good degree of success; and since 
 the principle has been adopted in government 
 schools, in this country and abroad, as well as in 
 some others, we may hold on our way with even 
 more courage. It would seem that every school 
 open to young women might insist upon the princi- 
 ple as a matter of essential decency. 
 
 Undoubtedly, the general reputation of Oberlin 
 tended at first to bring to the school those of serious 
 character and aims. But for many years past it is 
 not probable that those who have come have differed 
 essentially from the students gathered from the 
 same regions in other schools. The influence of 
 wholesome traditions has been helpful. The moral 
 atmosphere has been measurably clear and a health- 
 ful condition has been maintained. There have 
 been anxieties and disappointments, but on the 
 whole those upon whom the responsibility of direc- 
 tion has rested have had occasion to rejoice in the 
 results. The exceptions to good order and earnest 
 work have been comparatively few, and the product 
 in genuine character and purpose has been most 
 gratifying. There has never been a time when the 
 
COLLEGE AND STUDENT LIFE. 265 
 
 overwhelming sentiment of the school was not on 
 the side of good order and wholesome discipline, and 
 this has to a great extent made the manifestation of 
 authority unnecessary. Nothing has occurred in 
 the fifty years that could take the name of a college 
 rebellion. There has been no organized resistance 
 to authority. Only twice in the fifty years has any- 
 thing occurred to which the term "hazing" could be 
 applied. The first case took place more than forty 
 years ago, when several prominent young men in 
 college entrapped and punished with stripes a vile 
 youth who had sent anonymously most disgraceful 
 and infamous missives to worthy young women in 
 the school. They were reputable and conscientious 
 young men, but their indignation carried them away. 
 When they had time for consideration, although they 
 were entirely unknown, five of them came before 
 the church of which they were members, and con- 
 fessed their own part in the transaction. As they 
 apprehended, the confession cost them dear. In a 
 criminal prosecution which followed they were fined 
 a hundred dollars each, and costs, and in a civil 
 prosecution, damages were laid upon them to the 
 amount of three hundred dollars each. This case 
 has been quoted within the past few years as having 
 a bearing against co-education. What, exactly, the 
 argument is, does not appear. The second case 
 occurred five years ago, too recently to need to be 
 recalled. It was a painful one, and the treatment of 
 it was decisive and effectual. One such case in fifty 
 years ought to be enough. The earnest life which 
 came in with the founding, and which has in a good 
 
266 OBERLW. 
 
 degree continued to the present hour, has proved 
 a safeguard against many of the follies which tend 
 to spring up in college life, and the aim of the admin- 
 istration, which has been measurably successful, has 
 been to retain the convictions and sympathies of 
 the students on the side of the order of the school. 
 
 No monitorial system has ever been adopted : each 
 young man reports weekly, in writing, to the pro- 
 fessor in charge, his success or failure in attendance 
 upon prescribed duties. The young women report 
 to the lady principal. This method might not be 
 always wisest, but it has served the purpose so well 
 that it has continued until the present time. Each 
 student is marked for his performance in recitations 
 and examinations, and a record is kept, but this record 
 is not made the basis of any grading of the class, or 
 of a distribution of honors. Nor is any announcement 
 of standing made at any time. The record is for 
 the private information of teachers and pupils and 
 guardians. A certain standard must be attained as 
 a condition of advancement ; beyond this the record 
 has no formal bearing. 
 
 The college has no special honors to distribute, 
 and no prizes. The commencement programme is 
 arranged alphabetically, and position has no signifi- 
 cance. With the exception of one or two years, the 
 entire classes have appeared at commencement with 
 their orations or essays. As classes enlarge, this 
 will be impracticable, and some selection must be 
 made. Thus far the number has in no case exceeded 
 forty, and four or five minutes is the time allowed to 
 each. There is no question that to a Commencement 
 
COLLEGE AND STUDENT LIFE. 26? 
 
 audience this arrangement is more interesting than 
 to have a few speakers, and twelve or fifteen min- 
 utes for each. They come to see the young per- 
 formers and hear their voices, not so much to be 
 instructed. Yet there is a certain special interest in 
 seeing how much can be said in five minutes, and 
 the discipline is good. Commencement at Oberlin 
 has always brought an audience — not many visitors 
 from great distances, but the friends of the graduates, 
 and the people from the immediate neighborhood. 
 In the earliest days the great tent, which would 
 shelter three thousand, was filled, and afterward the 
 church, and often there were almost as many without 
 as within. The novelty has passed away but there 
 is still a sufficient audience. 
 
 The college confers the usual degrees, but has 
 done little in the way of honorary degrees. There 
 has been no positive action by trustees or Faculty in 
 opposition to such degrees, only a traditional repug- 
 nance. Even the common degrees, in course, have 
 been sometimes held in disrepute among the students. 
 Half of the class of 1838, which numbered twenty, 
 declined to receive the degree, and the President 
 announced, at the commencement, that those who 
 desired the degree could receive their diplomas at 
 the college office. No other instance of such scru- 
 pulousness has appeared. The degrees have always 
 been conferred in the simplest manner, without any 
 attempt at Latin discourse. The earlier diplomas 
 were in English, and written by hand, but when 
 plates were procured a Latin text appeared. 
 
 The honorary degrees thus far conferred by the 
 
263 OBERLIN. 
 
 college are of two kinds, the honorary A.M., given 
 to such students of the college as make good prog- 
 ress in their course but failed to graduate, and 
 afterward secured a good standing for themselves in 
 literary or professional work ; and the same degree 
 granted to those holding the diploma of the " Liter- 
 ary Course" who have attained a similar standing. 
 The Literary Course at present carries with it no 
 degree. No doctorate, in any line, has ever been 
 conferred by the college. Neighboring institutions 
 have sometimes shown their good-will in this way 
 towards Oberlin men, but thus far without any re- 
 ciprocity. 
 
 The student's expenses have always been moderate 
 at Oberlin. It was a prominent idea with the found- 
 ers to provide a school where young men, at least, 
 without money, but with courage and industry and 
 economy, could make their own way and come out 
 without a load of debt. In the earlier history of the 
 college this was to a great extent realized. Prob- 
 ably a majority of the graduates of the first twenty- 
 five years thus made their own way. The facilities 
 for manual labor and for school teaching gave them 
 the opportunity. During the last twenty-five years 
 many have done the same. The scholarship system 
 has made tuition merely nominal, and the college has 
 arranged to keep other expenses at the lowest point. 
 The boarding halls under the direction of the cok 
 lege have served in a measure to regulate prices in 
 the town. A seat at the table in the most desirable 
 families has rarely been more than three dollars a 
 week. While the winter vacation continued, and win- 
 
COLLEGE AND STUDENT LLFE. 269 
 
 ter schools called for teachers, an enterprising young 
 man could often make ends meet without any, or 
 very little, loss of time from the college term. The 
 general disappearance of winter schools, and the 
 consequent, or subsequent, change of vacation to 
 the summer, has made entire self-support more diffi- 
 cult. The student who undertakes it now may be 
 obliged to lose a year, or to come through with a 
 debt. But the necessity of self-support is not as 
 great as it was fifty, or even thirty, years ago. The 
 families of what was then the "New West," that 
 made the constituency of the college, are able now 
 to aid their sons and their daughters towards an ed- 
 ucation, while then they could only spare them. The 
 daughters were the first to receive aid, and the sons 
 afterward. The present estimate of a student's neces- 
 sary expenses, including term bills, board, room rent, 
 fuel, lights, washing, books and stationery, for the 
 school year of thirty-eight weeks, as published in the 
 annual announcement, is one hundred and twenty to 
 two hundred and twenty-five dollars, according to 
 the arrangements he chooses to make. This, of 
 course, includes no extras, in the way of music or 
 art, nor does it provide for clothing or travelling ex- 
 penses, nor various incidentals which attach to stu- 
 dent life. The statistics of the Class of 1881, the 
 latest at hand, give nine hundred and ninety dol- 
 lars as the average expenses of the class for the en- 
 tire four years, or a little less than two hundred and 
 fifty dollars a year ; and about one fourth of the 
 young men of the class made their own way. 
 
 The uncertain part of the student's expense for 
 
27O BE RUN. 
 
 education, here and elsewhere, is that which he 
 makes for himself, or rather that which the students 
 make for themselves. This, too, is the part most 
 difficult to regulate. Class expenses, society or club 
 expenses often outgrow all the college charges, and 
 they seem to be beyond the reach of college ar- 
 rangement or authority. The most that can be done 
 is to guard the door, with great vigilance, against 
 their intrusion. Thus far, little progress has been 
 made in the way of such extravagances at Oberlin. 
 Some weaknesses have occasionally appeared, in 
 the direction of costly programmes, or unnecessary 
 music, or flowers, and in a few instances a class 
 or society has indulged in an unnecessary entertain- 
 ment, but a wholesome reaction soon appears, and 
 the tendency is counteracted. The aim at Oberlin 
 has been, and it is to be hoped will continue to be, 
 to make it possible for one with limited means, or 
 with determination and industry and tact, without 
 means, to receive all the essential benefits of the 
 course. To the inefficient this must be impossible. 
 For one who has never earned his way at home, to 
 come with the expectation of doing full work as a 
 student and earning two hundred dollars a year be- 
 sides, is absurd. There are successful students, 
 without any practical gift whatever, who can never 
 do anything towards their own support, in a course 
 of study. But a young man of practical gifts, and 
 some experience in self-support, should never be de- 
 terred by want of means from making his way 
 through a course of liberal education. 
 
 The education which students receive in their col- 
 
COLLEGE AND STUDENT LIFE. 2/1 
 
 lege course they obtain in large part from each 
 other. An instructor and books are not sufficient. 
 The student needs contact with those of his own 
 age, who have impulses and ideals somewhat like his 
 own ; and to save him from narrowness he needs to 
 have contact with a reasonable variety of life and 
 character. In this respect the student at Oberlin 
 has had more than ordinary advantages. The col-* 
 lege has always been national rather than local in 
 its character. During the earliest years more than 
 half of the students were from outside the State, 
 mostly from New England and New York, and 
 through all its history students have been gathered 
 here from many different States and from foreign 
 lands. At present sixty per cent of the students are 
 from Ohio, and the remainder from forty-nine differ- 
 ent States and territories and foreign countries. All 
 the States of the Union are represented except Del- 
 aware, Maryland, Florida, Nevada and Oregon. At 
 the same time the Faculty of the college represent, in 
 their places of education, more than a dozen colleges, 
 universities, and professional schools. The arrange- 
 ments are adapted to give the student a Christian 
 education which shall not be narrow or provincial. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 PERSONS WHO HAVE SHARED IN THE WORK. 
 
 The Oberlin enterprise, from its beginning, has 
 filled many hearts and many hands. Many lives 
 have been concentrated in it, and none of these 
 could have been spared. Some have had more to 
 do than others, but human judgment cannot deter- 
 mine who have been most useful. Those who 
 have held conspicuous positions attract our notice, 
 but it is possible that persons out of sight, in the 
 quiet of the household, providing, through many 
 years, a Christian home for the youth who needed 
 it, have contributed as much as any others to the 
 general cause. It seems necessary that some men- 
 tion should be made in these pages of those who 
 have occupied public positions, and have helped to 
 give direction to the movement. But such mention 
 Avill, in general, be limited to those who have passed 
 away, or who have retired from the field. Of the 
 founders themselves little more needs to be said than 
 has already appeared, or will appear in their letters 
 found in the Appendix. 
 
 Mr. Siiipherd, in 1844, removed his family to 
 Olivet, with the purpose burning in his soul to build 
 another Oberlin, and even a better, but in a few 
 months he lay down in his last rest. His grave was 
 
THOSE WHO HAVE SHARED IN THE WORK. 2J$ 
 
 made in the new colony, and his memory is still 
 cherished there. He was only forty-two years of 
 age at his death, and only thirty when he com- 
 menced the work at Oberlin ; yet such was his ap- 
 pearance and bearing and the weight of thought and 
 care that seemed to rest upon him that he was called 
 " Father Shipherd " by all the young people of the 
 colony and the school. No published writings of his 
 remain. Such letters as are found in the Appendix 
 are all that can now be gathered up. The photo- 
 graphic art had not become diffused through the 
 country at the time of his death, and not even any 
 outline of his features was left. 
 
 Mrs. Esther Raymond Shipherd returned to 
 Oberlin with her fatherless boys, and by the help of 
 the people here her former home was secured to her. 
 After some years these sons came forward to their 
 mother's aid and provided her a home in Cleveland, 
 where several of them were settled in business, finally 
 relieving her of all care and making her declining 
 years full of quiet usefulness and peace and rest. 
 She died Dec. 7th, 1879, at tne a S e °f eighty-two. 
 A memorial window in the Plymouth Church at 
 Cleveland symbolizes the self-forgetful usefulness and 
 beauty of her life. A simple tablet in the Ladies' 
 Hall is all that bears the Shipherd name at Oberlin. 
 Oberlin itself is their monument. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Stewart, having no children, had 
 pledged themselves to the service of the Oberlin 
 Institute for five years, with no other compensation 
 than the mere cost of living. When the school was 
 opened, in 1833, Mr. and Mrs. Stewart took charge 
 
274 O BERLIN. 
 
 of the boarding hall, and continued in this capacity 
 of father and mother to the young people until 1836. 
 The first year he was also general manager in the ab- 
 sence of Mr. Shipherd, and treasurer of the college. 
 His views and practice of frugality, and plainness of 
 diet were somewhat too rigid for general acceptance 
 with the students, and in 1836 he resigned the stew- 
 ardship of the " Hall," and with some sense of dis- 
 appointment Mr. and Mrs. Stewart made their way 
 eastward to Vermont, and finally to New York, to 
 work out the stove problem which for two or three 
 years had been held in suspense. In this enterprise 
 Mr. Stewart attained the fullest success; not so 
 much in the acquisition of wealth for himself, which 
 was not his aim, as in bringing economy and con- 
 venience and comfort into thousands of the homes 
 of the land. He was a philanthropist in his stove 
 work, as in his work among the Indians and at 
 Oberlin. He established his home at Troy, N. Y., 
 in the neighborhood of the manufacturers who 
 worked out his inventions. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart 
 maintained through the years of their prosperity the 
 same habits of simplicity and frugality which had 
 characterized them in earlier life, and all their sur- 
 plus means went to some good cause. Oberlin 
 shared in their prosperity, although their ideal of a 
 college and Christian community had not been fully 
 realized. 
 
 Mr. Stewart died December 13th, 1868, worn out 
 with the cares and perplexities of his business, at 
 the age of seventy years. Mrs. Stewart still remains 
 at her home in Troy, and hopes to visit Oberlin on 
 
THOSE WHO HAVE SHARED IN THE WORK. 2?$ 
 
 its jubilee anniversary, the only survivor of the 
 group that in the parsonage at Elyria, in prayer and 
 consecration, devoted themselves to the work of 
 building up in the wilderness a Christian college and 
 Christian community. 
 
 Rev. Seth H. Waldo was the first permanent 
 teacher that reached the place. He had arranged 
 to be present at the opening of the school, Decem- 
 ber 3d, 1833, but was prevented by serious illness. 
 He came about the first of May, 1834, a week before 
 the opening of the summer term. He was a gradu- 
 ate of Amherst and Andover, and was about thirty 
 years of age at his coming. The arrangement with 
 him was that he should have the charge of the 
 school until the appointment of a president, and 
 should then take the professorship of languages. 
 He entered upon the work with enthusiasm and 
 success, but the discussion upon the study of. the 
 classics, which followed the coming of President 
 Mahan, led to the apprehension that his ideal of ed- 
 ucation could never be realized at Oberlin, and he 
 resigned. He was afterward connected for several 
 years with the Grand River Institute at Austinburg, 
 and for many years past has maintained a classical 
 school at Geneseo, 111., still full of energy, though 
 full of years. 
 
 Three days after the opening of the term in 1834, 
 Dr. James DASCOMB, with his wife, reached Oberlin. 
 He had been elected professor of chemistry, botany 
 and physiology, and was also expected to have the 
 responsibilities of physician to the new settlement. 
 He was a native of New Hampshire, and was 
 
276 BERLIN. 
 
 twenty-six years of age at the time of his coming 
 to Oberlin. He had received his professional edu- 
 cation at Dartmouth, under the instruction of Dr. 
 Mussey. In temperament he was naturally cautious 
 and conservative. Novelties had no attraction for 
 him, and no enthusiasm ever took him off his feet. 
 The truth was what he wanted, and nothing else had 
 any value in his eyes. The radicalisms which were 
 soon developed at Oberlin he at first regarded with 
 some apprehension, and there were times in the 
 early years when he felt a little inclined to retire 
 from the position. He did not lift his voice against 
 the new movement, but quietly held on his way, 
 taking time to test the new idea or the new doc- 
 trine. The value of such a conservative force in 
 the midst of the fervid and plastic mass at Oberlin 
 was unquestionable. His influence extended be- 
 yond his own department in this respect, and tended 
 everywhere to thoroughness. 
 
 Through all the changes Dr. Dascomb held the 
 same position, without any change in his prescribed 
 duties, from 1834 till 1878, forty-four years, a con- 
 scientious, thorough, successful instructor. In 1878, 
 at the age of seventy, his strength failed him, and 
 he retired from his work. Two years later, in April, 
 1880, he died, forty-six years after his coming to 
 Oberlin. 
 
 Mrs. Marianne Parker Dascomb was also a 
 native of New Hampshire, trained in the schools and 
 the academy near her home in Dunbarton, and 
 finally in the Young Ladies' Seminary at Ipswich, 
 Mass., under Miss Grant. After a year of teaching 
 
THOSE WHO HAVE SHARED IN THE WORK. 277 
 
 she was married to Dr. Dascomb, April 14th, 1834, 
 and left at once for her new home in the wilderness. 
 The first year she was a teacher in the school, 
 and the second year she was elected principal of 
 the Ladies' Department. The following year, at 
 her own request, she was released from these duties, 
 but was at the same time made a member of the 
 " Ladies' Board," then first organized. In 1852, 
 under earnest pressure, she again consented to take 
 the principalship, which she held until 1870, eighteen 
 years, being then sixty years of age. The remaining 
 years of her life she continued a member of the La- 
 dies' Board, and a most helpful counsellor of her 
 successor. She died on the 4th of April, 1879, J ust 
 a year before her husband. 
 
 Mrs. Dascomb was wonderfully fitted for the 
 work she had to do, strong in the simplicity and 
 transparency and integrity of her character, and in 
 the unconscious influence which constantly attended 
 her. Her power as an instructor and guide did not 
 lie in any special theories of education which she 
 consciously held and applied, but in her rare good 
 sense, in her ready adjustment to every emergency, 
 and in her cheerful and hopeful temper, which no 
 cloud could darken. Such a character was an es- 
 sential factor in the forces which gave form and 
 vitality to early Oberlin. 
 
 Rev. Asa Mahan reached Oberlin in May, 1835, 
 having been elected to the presidency of the college, 
 and entered directly upon his duties. He was then 
 thirty-six years of age, a native of Western New 
 York, educated at Hamilton College and Andover 
 
2f$ QBE RUN 
 
 Seminary. He came from the charge of the Sixth 
 Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati, and his earnest 
 and vigorous preaching made at once a strong im- 
 pression upon the people of Oberlin. He was a bold 
 and aggressive advocate of all the Oberlin ideas and 
 doctrines, and was always ready, at home or abroad, 
 to give a reason for the faith that was in him with 
 earnestness and full conviction. He was an enthu- 
 siastic teacher in his own department, that of philos- 
 ophy, and gave an impulse to the study at Oberlin 
 which it has never lost. His administration of the 
 college was, in general, successful, and he gave his 
 heart and strength to its prosperity without any res- 
 ervation. An infelicity which often attends great 
 strength of purpose and of character was sometimes 
 suspected in him, namely, a greater facility in convic- 
 tion than in conciliation. While he had many ar- 
 dent friends, there would be another class who were 
 as distinctly not his friends. Some of his colleagues 
 felt at times that his strong aggressiveness awakened 
 unnecessary hostility against the college ; and in 
 1850, some of his friends having planned a new 
 University at Cleveland, and invited him to take 
 the direction of it, he resigned at Oberlin, having 
 held the presidency of the college fifteen years. 
 With President Mahan, Oberlin lost somewhat of its 
 positiveness and aggressiveness. 
 
 The enterprise at Cleveland was not a success, 
 and Mr. Mahan was called to a professorship in 
 Adrian College, Mich., and at length to the pres- 
 idency of the college. The last ten years he has 
 spent in England, in abundant labors in the special 
 
PRES. ASA MAHAN. 
 
THOSE WHO HAVE SHARED IN THE WORK. 2J() 
 
 work of promoting the "higher" Christian experi- 
 ence, and now, at the age of eighty-three, he is 
 preaching to large congregations, editing a maga- 
 zine called Divine Life, and issuing one volume after 
 another, such as "The Baptism of the Holy Ghost," 
 " Out of Darkness into Light," and "Autobiography, 
 Intellectual, Moral and Spiritual." While at Oberlin 
 he published works on " The Will," "Intellectual 
 Philosophy," and " Moral Philosophy." Other 
 works, since published, are on Logic, Spiritualism, 
 Natural Theology, and a Criticism of the Conduct 
 of the War. 
 
 Rev. CHAra.ES G. Finney came in June, 1835, 
 about a month after Mr. Mahan. He was then 
 nearly forty-two years of age, with health somewhat 
 broken by the exhausting evangelistic labors of the 
 preceding ten years. He found a theological de- 
 partment of thirty-five students, and entered at 
 once upon his work, as professor of systematic theol- 
 ogy. His habit was to preach once on the Sabbath, 
 not often twice; and the year following he was 
 called to the pastorship of the church. For many 
 years he gave the long winter vacation to preaching 
 as an evangelist, for the most part with some church 
 at the East. In 1849 ne went to England, and spent 
 a year and a half in similar labors in London and 
 other cities of England and Scotland. Ten years 
 later he went again in the same work for about the 
 same length of time. In 1 85 1 he was elected Pres- 
 ident of the college, and held the position until 
 1865, with the arrangement that he was not to give 
 attention to the details of the position, but only to 
 
280 BERLIN. 
 
 the more public duties. His work as an instructor 
 was not changed except that he took the Senior col- 
 lege class for some years in moral philosophy. In 
 1865 he resigned the presidency, being then seventy- 
 three years of age. He had already, in 1858, sur- 
 rendered the work in systematic theology, retaining 
 the pastoral theology and his work as a pastor. In 
 1872 he laid down the pastoral work, but continued 
 his pastoral lectures until the year of his death, 1875, 
 having completed, lacking a few days, his eighty- 
 third year. No brief mention can characterize him 
 or set forth his work ; nor is it necessary. He be- 
 longs to the world, and not to Oberlin alone. His 
 " Sermons on Important Subjects" and " Revival 
 Lectures" were published before his coming to Ober- 
 lin. His " Lectures to Christians" appeared a year 
 or more afterward, and his two volumes on " Sys- 
 tematic Theology" in 1846 and 1847. These were 
 numbered as volumes second and third, his purpose 
 being to prepare a volume on " Natural Theology" 
 to precede them. This volume was never written. 
 While he was in England in 1850, he prepared and 
 published an edition of his Theology in one volume, 
 involving the substance of the two preceding vol- 
 umes. His latest works were a volume on " Ma- 
 sonry," published in 1869, and his " Memoirs," writ- 
 ten by himself, and published after his death. Upon 
 the publication of his Theology very diverse opin- 
 ions were expressed in regard to it, according to the 
 standpoint. 
 
 Rev. Wm. H. Burleigh closed a notice of the 
 
£& "%, 
 
 C^r^ 
 
 *>Z^Z^t^f 
 
 ALT. 80. 
 
THOSE WHO HAVE SHARED IN THE WORK. 28 1 
 
 work in the Charter Oak, Hartford, Conn., 1846, 
 with the following paragraph : 
 
 " We will venture the prediction that fifty years 
 hence this volume will rank among the standard 
 works on theology, and the name of Finney be 
 mentioned with those of Edwards, Dwight and Em- 
 mons. Sooner than that we fear he will not be gen- 
 erally appreciated. The time will come when Fin- 
 ney will have justice done to his exalted talents, 
 and when the host of his revilers — men not possess- 
 ing, in the aggregate, half his mental grasp, will be 
 lost in oblivion unless he should preserve their 
 names from utter extinction by an incidental allu- 
 sion in his works." 
 
 Dr. Charles Hodge, in the Biblical Repository, 
 1847, wrote as follows: 
 
 " The work is therefore in a high degree logical. 
 It is as hard to read as Euclid. Nothing can be 
 omitted ; nothing passed over slightly. The un- 
 happy reader once committed to a perusal, is obliged 
 to go on, sentence by sentence, through the long 
 concatenation. There is not one resting-place, not 
 one lapse into amplification or declamation, from the 
 beginning to the close. It is like one of those spi- 
 ral staircases, which lead to the top of some high 
 tower, without a landing from the base to the sum- 
 mit ; which, if a man has once ascended, he resolves 
 never to do the like again. The author begins with 
 certain postulates, or what he calls first truths of 
 reason, and these he traces out with singular clear- 
 ness and strength to their legitimate conclusions. 
 We do not see that there is a break or a defective link 
 
282 BERLIN. 
 
 in the whole chain. If you grant his principles, you 
 have already granted his conclusions. . . . We pro- 
 pose to rely on the reductio ad absurdum, and make 
 his doctrines the refutation of his principles. . . . 
 We consider this a fair refutation. If the principle 
 that obligation is limited by ability, leads to the con- 
 clusion that moral character is confined to intention, 
 and that again to the conclusion that when the in- 
 tention is right nothing can be morally wrong, then 
 the principle is false. Even if we could not detect 
 its fallacy, we should know it could not be true." 
 
 Dr. George Redford, of Worcester, England, in the 
 preface to the London edition, which he edited, 185 1, 
 writes: "As a contribution to theological science, in 
 an age when vague speculation and philosophical 
 theories are bewildering all denominations of Chris- 
 tians, this work will be considered by all competent 
 judges to be both valuable and seasonable. Upon 
 several important and difficult subjects the author 
 has thrown a clear and valuable light which will 
 guide many a student through perplexities and diffi- 
 culties which he had long sought unsuccessfully to 
 explain. The editor frankly confesses that when 
 a student he would gladly have bartered half the 
 books in his library to have gained a single perusal 
 of these lectures; and he cannot refrain from ex- 
 pressing the belief that no young student of theology 
 will ever regret the purchase or perusal of Mr. Fin. 
 ney's lectures." 
 
 REV. JOHN MORGAN arrived at Oberlin in com- 
 pany with Mr, Finney, in 1835. He was then thirty- 
 two years of age, a native of Ireland, having been 
 
DR. JOHN MORGAN. 
 
THOSE WHO HAVE SHARED IN THE WORK. 283 
 
 brought to this country at the age of ten, trained as 
 a printer in eastern cities, prepared for college at 
 Stockbridge, Mass., and graduated at Williams, as 
 valedictorian, in 1826. He had taken no seminary 
 course, but studied theology some years in New 
 York. He was an instructor in the literary or 
 preparatory department of Lane Seminary, at the 
 time of the antislavery excitement there, and was 
 in entire sympathy with the students in their with- 
 drawal. His first appointment to Oberlin was as 
 professor of mathematics, but the call which he ac- 
 cepted was to the chair of the literature and exegesis 
 of the New Testament. This work he entered upon 
 at once, but his broad and thorough scholarship 
 enabled him to fill many a gap, upon emergency, in 
 the new college. There was not a study in the 
 entire curriculum in which he could not give instruc- 
 tion at an hour's warning, as successfully as if it were 
 his own specialty. But the New Testament was his 
 chosen field, and for this field his linguistic, histori- 
 cal and philosophical gifts and attainments abun- 
 dantly qualified him. He was no mere mechanical 
 or technical interpreter, but reached at once the soul 
 of the matter, where language and philosophy both 
 harmonize. 
 
 The influence of Professor Morgan in the enter- 
 prise was conservative in the best sense, not by 
 reason of any inertia or immobility of nature. His 
 enthusiasm, in any well-considered movement, was 
 always prompt, but his breadth of nature and 
 thought and knowledge gave him a view of all sides 
 of every question, and he could not hold an extreme 
 
284 BERLIN. 
 
 position, or enjoy any extreme action. He could 
 patiently tolerate the extravagances of others, be- 
 cause of his kindliness and his hopefulness. Proba- 
 bly no one among the many instructors who have 
 been at Oberlin has held a larger place in the hearts 
 of all. For many years he was associated with Mr. 
 Finney in the pastorship of the church, preaching 
 once on the Sabbath, and more in Mr. Finney's 
 absence or ill health. Two years ago, at the age of 
 seventy-eight, he retired entirely from his work, and 
 since that time has been residing with a son and a 
 daughter in Cleveland. By all right he belongs to 
 Oberlin, and the benediction of his presence in these 
 latest years ought to rest upon us. He expended 
 his interest and his labor upon his classes, and rarely 
 felt that he was ready to commit his thoughts to 
 writing. Thus far he has given us no books. A 
 few valuable essays are all that we have from him in 
 this form. The " Baptism of the Holy Spirit" and 
 "Acceptable Holiness" were published in the 
 Oberlin Review , and an article on the " Atonement," 
 in two parts, can be found in the Bibliotheca Sacra 
 for 1877-8. 
 
 Rev. Henry Cowles was called to the professor- 
 ship of languages at Oberlin, upon the resignation 
 of Mr. Waldo, and came in September, 1835. He 
 was born in Norfolk, Conn., in 1803, and was thirty- 
 two years of age when he came. He had graduated 
 at Yale, and taken his theological course there. He 
 completed the course in 1828, was ordained at 
 Hartford the same year, and came at once to North- 
 ern Ohio under appointment from the Connecticut 
 
THOSE WHO HAVE SHARED IN THE WORK. 285 
 
 Home Missionary Society. He preached in Ash- 
 tabula and Sandusky, and after two years, having 
 received a call from the church in Austinburg, he 
 returned to his home in Connecticut, was married, 
 and commenced his work in Austinburg. From a 
 most successful pastorate of five years he came to 
 Oberlin, and found himself in full sympathy with all 
 the leading objects and aims of the work ; and from 
 the first day until the day of his death — a period of 
 forty-six years — he gave himself, without reserve, to 
 these objects. There seemed to be no thought of 
 himself or his personal interests ; no anxiety in 
 reference to position. His heart was in the work, 
 and all he asked was a place to lay out his strength. 
 In 1838 he took the chair of Church History in the 
 seminary, and of Hebrew and Old Testament Lit- 
 erature in 1840. In 1848, in consequence of strait- 
 ened means on the part of the college, and the 
 necessity of reducing expenses, he resigned his work 
 in the seminary, and took the editorship of the 
 Oberlin Evangelist, a work which he had shared 
 with others for some years preceding. From this 
 time until the close of 1862 he gave his thought and 
 heart to the Evangelist, and made it greatly what 
 it was, a treasury of religious thought and experi- 
 ence, and of practical life. The twenty-four volumes 
 of the Oberlin Evangelist, with which Professor 
 Cowles had more to do than any other man, give a 
 better exhibition of Oberlin thought and character 
 and work during those years than any definite 
 attempt to set them forth can possibly do. 
 
 When the Evangelist was closed up Professor 
 
286 BERLIN. 
 
 Cowles was about sixty years of age, and might 
 naturally feel that the chief work of his life was 
 done; and it would have been a satisfactory work. 
 But the habit of communicating his thoughts to 
 others by writing was strong upon him, and by what 
 seemed a divine leading he entered upon the work 
 of writing commentaries upon the Scriptures. He 
 commenced with the parts of the Old Testament to 
 which he had given more particular attention as an 
 instructor, and went on, year after year, adding vol- 
 ume to volume, devoting to it all his energies and all 
 his resources, through a period of seventeen years. 
 In 1881 he issued the last volume, and then felt that 
 the Lord permitted him to depart in peace. His 
 work was done ; the result remains with us — a com- 
 mentary on the entire Scriptures, full of practical 
 wisdom and the ripe fruits of scholarship. He died 
 in September of the same year. The interests of 
 the college through all these years filled his heart 
 and hands. He was a member of the ' ; Prudential 
 Committee" and a trustee, in constant attendance 
 upon these duties, and often went out upon financial 
 missions in behalf of the college. His last public 
 duty was to attend the meeting of the trustees in 
 1881. 
 
 It would be much more satisfactory to give the 
 family life of these men, to look into their homes and 
 observe there the results of Christian character and 
 fidelity. By the side of each one of these men there 
 stood a woman of like spirit and faith, whose life in 
 the community was no less valuable ; and children 
 were gathered about them whose work and life it 
 
DR. HENRY COWLES. 
 
THOSE WHO HAVE SHARED IN THE WORK. 2%J 
 
 would be pleasant to follow, but this opens too 
 wide a field. 
 
 Rev. John P. COWLES, brother of Henry, was 
 called to Oberlin, in 1836, as Professor of Hebrew 
 and Old Testament Literature. He was a member 
 of the same class with his brother at Yale, and erad- 
 uated as valedictorian. He took up the work with 
 great heartiness and energy, and was in essential sym- 
 pathy with the Oberlin life and aims. Some of the 
 peculiarities which appeared did not command his 
 respect. The diet, and now and then a doctrine, 
 suffered from his sharp and sometimes sarcastic 
 criticism, and after two or three years he was asked 
 to retire. A little more gentleness on one side, and 
 more patience and tolerance on the other, would 
 have saved to the school an instructor of the ripest 
 scholarship and the highest ability, who was in har- 
 mony with all that was essential at Oberlin. For 
 many years he and his wife have been at the head of 
 the school for young women at Ipswich, Mass. 
 
 Another member of the same class, of 1826, at 
 Yale was ELIJAH P. BARROWS. He was elected 
 professor of Hebrew at Oberlin in 1835, Du t: did 
 not accept the appointment. After filling the same 
 chair at Western Reserve College, and again at An- 
 dover Seminary, in 1871 he took up the work at 
 Oberlin tendered him so long before, and carried it 
 forward with great acceptance nearly ten years, until 
 failing strength demanded rest. Dr. Barrows is still 
 among us, bearing the honors of a useful life and of 
 a cheerful old age. 
 
 Timothy B. Hudson came to Oberlin as a stu- 
 
288 OBERLIN. 
 
 dent, in 1835, and entered the Sophomore class, hav- 
 ing been before in attendance at Western Reserve 
 College. He was at the time about twenty years of 
 age, an earnest and ambitious scholar, and of pro- 
 nounced personal influence and character. The grow- 
 ing school soon enlisted his services as a teacher, and 
 his relations as a pupil were interrupted. In 1838 
 he was elected Professor of the Latin and Greek 
 Languages, and performed the work until 1841 ; then 
 a more active life seemed necessary for his health, 
 and he resigned, and entered the service of the Ohio 
 Antislavery Society as a lecturer. After several 
 years of this service, holding conventions and lec- 
 turing throughout the State, he accepted in 1847 an 
 invitation to his former position at Oberlin, and 
 continued as Professor of Languages until his death 
 in 1858. He was a vigorous and impressive teacher 
 and disciplinarian, and a speaker of unusual power. 
 In the antislavery work he was very effective, and 
 especially he was helpful in the establishment of 
 the National Era at Washington, which was so ably 
 conducted for many years by Dr. Bailey. In the 
 college work every department and every interest 
 felt his influence. His vacations were often devoted 
 to financial work in behalf of the college, contribu- 
 ting materially to its support. Although his regular 
 course as a student was interrupted, he never ceased 
 to be a student, and in 1847 ne took his degree and 
 was formally numbered among the alumni of the 
 college. So far as his attainments were concerned 
 he might have had the degree ten years before, but 
 had not cared to ask it. 
 
THOSE WHO HAVE SHARED IN THE WORK. 289 
 
 His death was tragic, and never fully explained. 
 He left Oberlin by the train, to go to Strongsville, 
 expecting to find conveyance from one of the sta- 
 tions nearest to Strongsville. At Olmstead station, 
 in attempting either to leave the train or to return 
 to it while it was moving, he was drawn along by the 
 side of the track and at length thrown under the 
 wheels. It was late in the evening and no one ob- 
 served him, until the engineer of a train ten minutes 
 later saw him lying on the track, but not in time 
 to arrest his train. It was a sad day at Oberlin 
 when the mangled remains were brought back to be 
 buried here. He was forty-three years of age at his 
 death. 
 
 George Whipple came with others from Lane 
 Seminary, in 1835, already a man of mature character 
 and judgment, and sound scholarship. At the com- 
 pletion of his theological course, in 1836, he was 
 elected principal of the preparatory department, and 
 in 1838 Professor of Mathematics, resigning in 1847, 
 to become Corresponding Secretary of the American 
 Missionary Association, organized the year before. 
 At Oberlin he rendered very valuable service, not 
 only as an instructor, but as a standing member of 
 the " Prudential Committee" having in charge the 
 business affairs of the college. For such responsi- 
 bilities his even, well-balanced judgment admirably 
 fitted him. The same clear judgment became after- 
 ward the strength of the Association to which he 
 devoted his life. The incessant work and care at 
 length broke down his strong constitution, and he 
 died in 1876, at the age of seventy-one, having seen 
 
29O OBERLIN. 
 
 the Association advance from small beginnings to a 
 condition of great usefulness and prosperity. 
 
 James A. Thome was a member of the same 
 class in Lane, and came to Oberlin in 1835. He 
 was born in Augusta, Ky., the son of a slaveholder, 
 of Scotch Presbyterian ancestry. At the completion 
 of his course, in 1836, at the age of twenty-three, he 
 was commissioned with another gentleman, by the 
 American Antislavery Society, to visit the West 
 India Islands, and observe and report the results of 
 emancipation there. This mission he discharged with 
 great acceptance, and wrote a very interesting vol- 
 ume, which was published in 1838, and greatly aided 
 in the antislavery work in this country. The same 
 year, 1838, he was elected Professor of Rhetoric and 
 Belles Lettres at Oberlin, and held the chair with 
 acceptance and success until 1848, when he was 
 called to the pastorate of the First Congregational 
 Church of Cleveland. This position he held, in 
 abundant and successful labors, for twenty-three 
 years, retiring in 1 871, to engage in a new church 
 enterprise at Chattanooga, Tenn. After two years, 
 in the midst of these labors, he was struck down 
 with sudden disease, and died in March, 1873, at the 
 age of sixty years. In 185 1, soon after leaving Ober- 
 lin, he was elected a trustee of the college, and often 
 visited us to give a course of rhetorical instruction 
 to the college classes, or of pastoral lectures to the 
 students of the seminary, or to favor us with some 
 public address or discourse — services always most 
 welcome and profitable. He was a man eloquent in 
 Speech, pleasing and impressive in personal presence, 
 
THOSE WHO HAVE SHARED IN THE WORK, 29 1 
 
 fearless as a soldier in duty, gentle and sensitive as 
 a woman in his respect for the feelings of others — a 
 true Christian man. 
 
 Mr. Amasa Walker, of North Brookfield, Mass., 
 accepted, in 1842, an appointment to the professor- 
 ship of Political Economy ; not as a resident pro- 
 fessor, but to come every year and give a course of 
 lectures continuing through several weeks. The 
 same salary was credited to him as to other pro- 
 fessors, but there was never any less in the treasury 
 for his coming. Mr. Walker was trained as a busi- 
 ness man, in New England, and did not get his 
 theories from the schools; but he was as radical in 
 his advocacy of free trade and solid currency as 
 the most theoretical modern professor; and he 
 drew his illustrations of his principles from his own 
 wide experience and observation as a business 
 man. 
 
 In one respect he went beyond even Oberlin radi- 
 calism in his principles of reform. He was a " peace 
 man;" not an ultra " non-resistant," but he regarded 
 war, under all conditions, as sinful. His coming 
 was the occasion of earnest but friendly discussion 
 of the rightfulness of defensive war. It is interest- 
 ing to know that when the test came, in 1861, his 
 three sons entered the army and did valiant service, 
 with his full approval — not, as he afterward ex- 
 plained in a pamphlet, to engage in war, but to sus- 
 tain the government in the use of its police force to 
 execute the laws of the land. How often words 
 instead of principles separate those who seem to 
 differ. Mr. Walker published various pamphlets 
 
292 OBERLIN. 
 
 and a text-book on Political Economy. He died 
 recently at his home in North Brookfield. 
 
 Two other names that have appeared in these 
 pages belong to this early period of Oberlin history, 
 those of Father Keep and Mr. Dawes. 
 
 Rev. John Keep was born in Long Meadow, 
 Mass., in 1781, graduated at Yale in 1802, was pas- 
 tor in Blandford, Mass., and in Homer, N. Y., from 
 1805 till 1833, when he came to Cleveland and be- 
 came pastor of a new church on the West Side. 
 While he was at Homer he had been a trustee of 
 Hamilton College and of Auburn Theological Semi- 
 nary, and was naturally interested in any educational 
 enterprise in the neighborhood. In 1834 he was 
 elected a trustee at Oberlin, and held the position 
 until his death in 1870. By reason of his years and 
 experience he was made president of the Board, and 
 had the responsibility of the casting vote on the 
 question of receiving colored students, in 1835. 
 From that day he took Oberlin on his heart, and 
 never laid it off unless when he laid off the earthly 
 life. His last words pertained to a letter he had 
 planned to write in the interest of the college. He 
 traversed the land to gather means to sustain it, and 
 crossed the ocean to save it in a crisis. In 1 850, 
 then seventy years of age, he removed to Oberlin, 
 and from that time his home was here. At every 
 meeting of the trustees he was present, and encour- 
 aged all by his hope and his faith. When others were 
 depressed he sustained and bore them on by his 
 cheerful courage, and thus he held on to the end of 
 his days. When more than fourscore years old he 
 
THOSE WHO HAVE SHARED IN THE WORK. 293 
 
 would often come out at evening, with his lantern, 
 to find some one burdened with responsibility and 
 care, and cheer him up with a word of encourage- 
 ment. His sleep was sweeter after such a service. 
 He died in his eighty-ninth year, not from disease, 
 but because life was completed. 
 
 Mr. Wm. DAWES became a trustee of the college 
 in 1838, and at the same time made his home in 
 Oberlin. He had been a successful business man, 
 and upon visiting Oberlin he was greatly pleased 
 with the spirit of enterprise and work, on the part 
 of students and professors, which he witnessed on 
 every hand. He at once cast in his lot with them, 
 and through a period of twelve years he greatly 
 aided in sustaining the work by his financial ability 
 and personal influence. The mission to England 
 was a success, to a great extent through his strength 
 of purpose and personal force, his power to impress 
 others with his own convictions. His courage at 
 times seemed to amount almost to presumption, but 
 he rarely failed to estimate properly his oppor- 
 tunity. Others were not always able to work up to 
 his standard of faith. To keep the college from 
 debt he proposed that the salaries of the professors 
 should not constitute a legal claim, but that what- 
 ever came should be divided, and if there were any- 
 thing lacking it should not be a debt on the part of 
 the college. This was his view of the relations which 
 Christian workers should sustain to any benevolent 
 enterprise which they w r ere carrying forward. It is 
 the principle applied in what is known in these days 
 as the " Faith Mission." The principle did not 
 
294 OBERLW. 
 
 commend itself generally to the parties concerned, 
 and the plan was not adopted. Mr. Dawes had set 
 his heart upon this idea as the true Christian con- 
 ception, and he at length retired from further re- 
 sponsibility. He is passing a quiet old age, in full 
 possession of his faculties, at Fox Lake, Wis. 
 
 In this circle of devoted and consecrated men, one 
 was found who proved false, the only one during 
 the fifty years who has betrayed his trust or brought 
 scandal upon the cause. It is not necessary to name 
 him. He came in 1836, a graduate of Western Re- 
 serve College, and took his theological course at Ober- 
 lin, a young man of ability and promise and marked 
 influence. When the Evangelist was established he 
 was made office editor, and was appointed to other 
 posts of responsibility. It was a dark day in the 
 winter of 1843 when his hypocrisy and villainy and 
 vileness were disclosed. Imprisonment and other 
 penalties which followed did not change his charac- 
 ter. He became an exile, and lived for many years 
 and died in the remote south-western part of the 
 country, with no sign of essential reformation. 
 
 GEORGE N. ALLEN, whose work has been already 
 mentioned, was elected Professor of Music in 1841, 
 and of Natural History in 1847. He continued his 
 work until 1870. After retiring, he removed with 
 his family to Cincinnati, and died there in 1877, at the 
 age of sixty-five. He was buried in the Oberlin 
 Cemetery. 
 
 William Cochran came to Oberlin as a student, 
 in 1835, from Fredericktown, Ohio. He graduated 
 in 1839, an< 3 took the theological course, completing 
 
THOSE WHO HAVE SHARED IN THE WORK. 2Q$ 
 
 it in 1842. The same year he was appointed Profes- 
 sor of Logic and Associate Professor of Intellectual 
 and Moral Philosophy. He had unusual powers 
 in the direction of philosophical inquiry and 
 thought, and was a very impressive preacher. A 
 series of articles in the Obcrlin Quarterly Review, of 
 which he was an editor, on the simplicity of moral 
 action, gives an example of his analytical powers, 
 and is still worthy of careful study. Professor Coch- 
 ran resigned in 1846, with the thought of entering 
 the profession of law. He died at Fredericktown 
 in 1847, at the age of thirty-three, and was buried in 
 the Oberlin Cemetery. 
 
 The prosperity of the college through all the fifty 
 years has depended upon the faithful and unpaid 
 services of its trustees, resident and non-resident, 
 some of whom have stood at their posts almost for a 
 lifetime, devising ways and means, and often meeting 
 a necessity from their own personal resources. The 
 only survivor of the nine original corporators is 
 Jabez L. Burrell of Oberlin. The only other surviv- 
 ors of those elected during the first ten years are 
 Wm. Dawes, already mentioned, and F. D. Parish 
 of Sandusky, who was elected in 1839, an< ^ attended 
 every meeting, except one, when he was in Western 
 Virginia looking after the lands of the college, until 
 his resignation in 1878. He is now, at the age of 
 eighty-six, a resident of Oberlin. Among the non- 
 resident trustees who stood by the college through 
 evil report and good, was William Sears of Boston, 
 who before the railroad came west of Buffalo often 
 made the long journey to attend the meetings, and 
 
296 BERLIN. 
 
 Samuel D. Porter, of Rochester, who was present in 
 every emergency with his wise and considerate 
 counsel. Of the resident trustees, Uriah Thompson 
 and Jabez W. Merrill have rendered the college 
 faithful service for many years, and still live to look 
 after its interests. Brewster Pelton removed to 
 Cleveland in 185 1, but retained his life-long interest 
 in Oberlin, and at his death, in 1872, left a be- 
 quest to the college of twenty-five thousand dollars. 
 Of the earliest inhabitants — the" Colonists" — few 
 remain. Several of the families, after a few years, 
 moved on to the farther West, some in the way of 
 general emigration, others to new colonies, as to 
 Olivet, Mich., and Tabor, Iowa. Peter P. Pease, the 
 first colonist, remained to the end, and died in 1861. 
 Josiah B. Hall performed a home missionary work, 
 for years, in the neighborhoods between Oberlin and 
 Elyria, established a settlement, a mile and a half 
 north-east, still called " New Oberlin," with the 
 thought of having there a subsidiary preparatory 
 school, and at length led the new colony to Tabor, 
 in 185 1. Wm. Hosford went to Olivet, in a similar 
 way, in 1845. Samuel Daniels, Isaac Cummings, 
 Philip James, Daniel Marsh and several others re- 
 moved early to other places in the vicinity, or to the 
 far West. Of all these, Philip James of Nebraska is 
 the only known survivor. Of the families that came 
 early and remained until the later years, the following 
 names will be recalled : Hamilton, Safford, Stevens, 
 Penfield, Ellis, Pease, Wack, Jones, McWade, Evans 
 and Leonard, on South Main Street; Turner, Steele, 
 Jennings, Taylor, Gaston, Wheat, Ryder, Little, Holts- 
 
THOSE WHO HAVE SHARED IN THE WORK. 297 
 
 lander, Keep, Campbell, Campton, Leonard, Page, 
 Piatt and Bailey, on North Main Street; Ingersoll> 
 Johnson, Gerrish, Beckwith, Gaston, Cox, Burrell, 
 Clark, Kenaston and Crosby, on East College Street; 
 Parish, Rawson, Smith and Hawley, on West College 
 Street ; Pelton, Hill, Elmore, Watson, Bardwell and 
 Lamberton, on East Lorain Street ; Jewell, Cox, Hop- 
 kins, Hull, Kinney, Rossiter, Shepard and Matthews, 
 on West Lorain Street ; Weed, Hovey, Ells and Bar- 
 tholomew, on Pleasant Street; Kinney, Wright, But- 
 ler, Dutton and Fitch, on South Professor Street; Lin- 
 coln, Hall, Andrews and Pease, on North Professor 
 Street; Evans, Scott, Munson and Strauss, on Mill 
 Street ; Dodge and Copeland, on Morgan Street ; and 
 Dawes, Thompson, Cole, Bailey and Spees, in New 
 Oberlin. Other families within the limits mentioned 
 will doubtless be recalled ; but these suggest a vol- 
 ume of unwritten history, which it would be interest- 
 ing to linger upon. 
 
 Among other memories of the past, former stu- 
 dents will recall those with whom the term bills were 
 settled — the Treasurers of the college — Levi Burnell 
 from 1835 to 1841, Hamilton Hill from 1841 to 
 1865; and the Book-keeper of that period and of 
 later times, George P. Wyett; and George Kinney, 
 Treasurer from 1865 to 1875. 
 
 Nor will they forget those who spread their table 
 at the Ladies' Hall, the Stewards and Matrons — after 
 Mr. and Mrs. Stewart, Mr. and Mrs. David Campbell, 
 of Boston, in the days of Grahamism; Mr. and Mrs. G. 
 Fairchild of Brownhelm; Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Wright; 
 Mr. and Mrs. Henry Viets ; Mr. and Mrs. L. Herrick: 
 
298 O BERLIN. 
 
 all in the old hall; and in the new, Mr. and Mrs. E. Fol- 
 lett ; Mr. and Mrs. George Kinney; and Mr. and Mrs. 
 M. Day, down to the present occupants. Thus far no 
 one has held the Stewardship longer than eight years, 
 but the limit is only traditional, not constitutional. 
 
 The principals of the Ladies' Department are nat- 
 urally associated with the Ladies' Hall, having had 
 their office there, and usually their personal apart- 
 ments. Besides Mrs. Dascomb, already spoken of, 
 Mrs. Alice W. Cowles, wife of Prof. Henry Cowles, 
 held the position from 1836 to 1840, Miss Mary 
 Ann Adams as assistant and as principal from 1839 
 to 1849, an d Mrs. Mary C. Hopkins from 1850 to 
 1852. Of these Mrs. Hopkins, now living at Roches- 
 ter, N. Y., is the only survivor. 
 
 The limits of this volume will not permit any per- 
 sonal reference to the twenty thousand students who, 
 for a longer or shorter period, have enjoyed the bene- 
 fits of the school ; nor can any satisfactory record be 
 made of the alumni proper, those who have com- 
 pleted a course of study here. Of these, three hun- 
 dred and nunety-three have completed the theological 
 course, ten hundred and eleven the classical course, 
 and seven hundred and twenty-three the literary 
 course. Some of these have become distinguished, 
 and many of them have been useful. 
 
 It remains to mention a few that have been in- 
 structors in the college in later times, and have fin- 
 ished their work. 
 
 Henry E. Peck, of Rochester, N. Y., a graduate 
 of Bowdoin College, completed his theological course 
 at Oberlin,in 1845. After pastoral work in Roches* 
 
THOSE WHO HAVE SHARED IN THE WORK. 299 
 
 ter until 1852, he was called to Oberlin as Professor 
 of Sacred Rhetoric and Associate in Mental and 
 Moral Philosophy. He held the position until 1865, 
 when, receiving an appointment from the Govern- 
 ment as Minister to Hayti, he accepted and went to 
 Port au Prince. In the second year of his residence 
 there, he died of the yellow fever. His remains 
 were afterwards brought to Oberlin for burial. Pro- 
 fessor Peck was not only interested in his college 
 work, which he performed with much acceptance, 
 but all the interests of the community, personal, 
 social, municipal, and political, commanded his atten- 
 tion. Many town improvements received their first 
 impulse from him. Many a struggling student or 
 citizen received from him a timely suggestion or 
 needed help ; and when the young men went to the 
 war, he saw them on their way, and visited them on 
 many a field. He had the rare faculty of doing 
 many things, and doing them well. Restless activity 
 was essential to his life. 
 
 Charles H. Penfield graduated at Oberlin in 
 1847. He was an Oberlin boy, brought up here from 
 his early childhood. In 1848 he was appointed tutor 
 in Latin and Greek in college; in 1855, Professor of 
 Latin, and in 1866, Professor of Greek, resigning in 
 1870. For several years past he has been Professor 
 of Greek in the Central High School of Cleveland. 
 
 REV. HlRAM MEAD, a native of Vermont, edu- 
 cated at Middlebury and at Andover, pastor nine 
 years at South Hadley, Mass., and two years at 
 Manchester, N. H., was called to Oberlin, in 1869, 
 as Professor of Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral The- 
 
300 OBERLIN'. 
 
 ology. He entered upon the work with all his 
 heart, and was very helpful in bringing up the 
 seminary from the depression which it had suffered 
 after the war. Council Hall grew up under his ener- 
 getic and persistent and successful work. His pres- 
 ence here attracted the endowment of the Holbrook 
 professorship. The beautiful hymn and tune book 
 in which we rejoice, derived much of its excellence 
 from his taste and experience and labor. The 
 disease from which he died appeared to result from 
 a fall upon the sidewalk one winter morning. An 
 internal tumor was developed, and he died in May, 
 1 88 1, at the age of fifty-four. 
 
 Rev. John B. Perry was called to the professor- 
 ship of Natural Science in 1871. He was a gradu- 
 ate of the Vermont University, and had taken a 
 theological course at Andover. After several years 
 in the pastoral work, he was appointed assistant 
 of Professor Agassiz, in the Museum of Comparative 
 Zoology, at Cambridge. He accepted the appoint, 
 ment at Oberlin, contemplating a five months' course 
 of lectures each year, while still retaining his con- 
 nection with the Museum, and having his home at 
 Cambridge. He gave his course at Oberlin in the 
 spring and summer of 1872, and died at his home in 
 Cambridge, in October of the same year, at the age 
 of forty-six. 
 
 William H. Ryder succeeded Professor Penfield 
 in the Chair of Greek, in 1870. He was brought up 
 at Oberlin from a child, and graduated at the college^ 
 completing his theological course at Andover. He 
 had been preaching some years in Wisconsin, when he 
 
THOSE WHO HAVE SHARED IN THE WORK. 301 
 
 was called to Oberlin. He filled the position with 
 great success for seven years, when he resigned to 
 accept a call from the Congregational Church at 
 Ann Arbor, Mich., where he still remains. 
 
 WILLIAM K. Kedzie was elected, in 1878, as the 
 successor of Dr. Dascomb in the department of Chem- 
 istry. He was the son of Robert C. Kedzie, of the 
 class of 1847, Professor of Chemistry in the Agri- 
 cultural College of Michigan. Having been his 
 father's pupil and assistant in the laboratory from a 
 child, he graduated at the Agricultural College, and 
 afterward pursued chemistry in the Sheffield Scientific 
 School. He had been several years Professor of 
 Chemistry in the Kansas Agricultural College when 
 he accepted the call to Oberlin. Under his super- 
 intendence the new laboratory was fitted up, and 
 the new methods of instruction introduced. He 
 died after two years of enthusiastic and successful 
 work, at the age of twenty-eight. 
 
 Rev. Samuel H. Lee, in 1878, accepted a finan- 
 cial secretaryship in behalf of the college, with the 
 professorship of Political Economy, coming from 
 the pastorate of the First Congregational Church of 
 Cleveland. After three years of faithful and success- 
 ful service he resigned to resume the pastoral work. 
 
 Those who have been principals of the prepara- 
 tory department since 1845 are a ^ still living. 
 Henry E. Whipple, appointed in 1846, was called 
 in 1853 to a professorship at Hillsdale College, Mich., 
 and is now living at Mendocino, Cal. 
 
 Edward H. FAIRCHILD graduated at Oberlin in 
 1838; took the theological course here, and con- 
 
302 0BERL1N. 
 
 tinued in the pastoral work until his call to Qberlin 
 in 1853. He held the position of principal until 
 1869, when he resigned to accept the presidency of 
 Berea College, Ky. Two or three years of this time 
 he was engaged in the financial work of the college. 
 
 ROSELLE T. CROSS graduated at Oberlin in 1867, 
 held the principalship from 1869 to 1874, and re- 
 signed to take up pastoral work. He is now preach- 
 ing in Denver, Col. Rev. James H. LAIRD, of the 
 college class of i860 and Theological class of 1864, 
 succeeded Mr. Cross in 1874, and resigned in 1877 to 
 resume the pastoral work. He has been pastor in 
 Andover, Mass., the last five years. Of the many 
 tutors in this department, no student of the years 
 1842-53 will forgot Nelson W. Hodge, who was 
 the presiding genius of the Latin and Greek recita- 
 tion rooms during that period. He was a graduate 
 of 1838, and resigned in 1853 to ta ^ e U P farming at 
 the West. He is living at Ripon, Wis. 
 
 Those who are now living and actively engaged 
 in the work do not naturally appear in these records. 
 Of the whole number of instructors during the fifty 
 years, only four have died while in active connection 
 with the college. 
 
 That such a body of able men, of varied gifts and 
 attainments, preachers, teachers, writers and business 
 men, should have been gathered and held in connec- 
 tion with the enterprise, under such disadvantages, 
 according to the ordinary apprehension of the case, 
 is to be explained in part by a divine overruling 
 which brought them, and by the strong attraction 
 of the work itself, which retained them. It has been 
 
THOSE IVIIO HAl T E SHARED IN THE WORK. 303 
 
 no unusual thing that men have left larger salaries in 
 coming to Oberlin, and have remained against the 
 offer of larger salaries. 
 
 The importance and magnitude of the work have 
 also had much to do in making it possible for men 
 of such diverse education and habits of thought — 
 
 o 
 
 gathered from so many different schools, with widely 
 diverging views, engaged in an enterprise involving 
 so many new and untried features, with little experi- 
 ence and few traditions to guide them — to work 
 together in essential harmony during the fifty years. 
 There have been earnest discussions and pronounced 
 differences, but no quarrels, no factions, no aliena- 
 tions. The momentum of the work itself has seemed 
 to overrule minor perturbations. But above all a 
 divine ordering has been conspicuous, from the 
 small beginning in 1833, to this our Jubilee Year. 
 " Except the Lord build the house, they labor in 
 vain that build it." 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 EARLY LETTERS. 
 
 P. P. Stewart to J. J. Shipherd. 
 
 Elyria, Feb. 4, 1833. 
 Very dear Brother: 
 
 Your letter of the twenty-sixth ult. to Mrs. Ship- 
 herd, which came to hand on the second inst., greatly 
 comforted us concerning your continued health and 
 other favorable circumstances. We have been wait- 
 ing with much solicitude to know how you would 
 succeed in your agency in that part of the country 
 where you now are. We have supposed that some- 
 thing could be determined as to the final result of 
 your efforts in behalf of the seminary, from a few 
 weeks' labor in that vicinity. From your letter we 
 are led to conclude that since you left Rochester you 
 have increased your subscription but one hundred 
 dollars. From your success previously we had ex- 
 pected more from these places you have since vis- 
 ited. But in looking at the indications of Providence 
 we must regard them as a whole, and then inquire 
 what our duty is concerning them. We have now 
 fairly put our hand to the plough, and must not look 
 back, that is if we have done it understandingly and 
 
3<d6 oberlix. 
 
 in the fear of God. The objects contemplated in the 
 establishment of the institution appear to me as 
 much in accordance with the genius of the Gospel 
 as heretofore. For these very objects Christians are 
 continually praying. Then the question arises, will 
 God hear and answer our prayers if they be not ac- 
 companied with our labors and charities? 
 
 Previous to receiving your letter from Rochester, 
 which contained an order for one hundred and sixty- 
 six dollars, I had obtained a renewal of the note 
 at the bank by paying fifty dollars. My own health 
 is better than when I wrote you last. Mrs. Stewart's 
 is not as good. You doubtless feel anxious to know 
 what is likely to result from the machine. You will 
 probably be surprised to know that I have done very 
 little about it since you left. I may have acted in- 
 judiciously, but have done what seemed to be duty. 
 The way did no': seem prepared to apply horse 
 power to the machine during the winter. Under 
 these circumstances it seemed necessary that I 
 should do what I could to curtail the expenses of 
 the family. . . . 
 
 The circumstances of my turning my attention 
 from the planing machine to the making of stoves 
 may have the appearance of fickle-mindedness, and I 
 will not pretend that my character stands entirely 
 free from such a blemish. But there is an overlook- 
 ing Providence, which often guides us very different- 
 ly from our own intentions, or wishes. I regarded 
 it as a very undesirable circumstance that I was 
 obliged to occupy my time in procuring a stove, and 
 if I had had the funds at command I should have pur- 
 
APPENDIX. 307 
 
 chased one at once ; but as it has turned out I can- 
 not but hope that great benefit will result to the 
 community, especially to that part in moderate cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 I am still of the opinion that the machine will be 
 valuable if it can be got into operation, but it seems 
 necessary that my time should be occupied about the 
 stove, for a while at least. Several families in this 
 village are wishing to purchase a cooking-stove, and 
 are anxious that this should be perfected and tested 
 before they buy. Among these are the three fam- 
 ilies of the Iron Company. There is a prospect now 
 of its having the preference at this furnace. The 
 making of patterns is a new business to me. I 
 make but slow progress, but there are no pat-tern 
 makers in the place that I know of, and if there were 
 I have no money to pay them. . . . 
 
 I find that the circumstance of our inducing so 
 many Christian families to locate together is made 
 use of by those not very friendly to the object, as 
 an objection to the plan. I would suggest for your 
 consideration the question whether it would not do 
 to dispose of some of the colonial lands to per- 
 sons of a certain character who are not pious. 
 The by-laws might be of such a character as to se- 
 cure the interests of the institution. This might be 
 better than to have the colony very small, and sur- 
 rounded by a corrupt and irreligious population. 
 Perhaps we ought not to depend to any considerable 
 extent upon the colonists to sustain the institution, 
 because we should want to secure for it the sympa- 
 thies and fostering care of all the churches in this 
 
308 OBERLIN. 
 
 region. It might be well for you to ascertain 
 whether Street and Hughes would have any objec- 
 tion to persons paying to the Institution a certain 
 percentage on the land which they shall respectively 
 take up. I have no doubt there will be much preju- 
 dice excited against the enterprise by the hasty and 
 injudicious remarks of professed friends of the cause, 
 and this will probably be done to some extent by 
 those who are the real disciples of Christ. A cir- 
 cumstance apparently of a very unfavorable charac- 
 ter has recently occurred in this place. Mr. C, 
 the agent of the Western Reserve College, came 
 here to solicit funds for that institution. In three 
 prominent instances he failed of obtaining sub- 
 scriptions on account of the colony. The persons 
 were Capt. R., Mr. T., and Mr. J. They were 
 pressed very hard, but maintained firmly their 
 ground, saying that they believed the money they 
 had to give, under existing circumstances, could do 
 more in the Oberlin Institute than otherwise. What 
 Mr. C. knew about the plan of the colony I know 
 not, or from what source he obtained his informa- 
 tion. He did not, however, hesitate to express his 
 most decided disapprobation of the plan. The cir- 
 cumstance of congregating a large number of Chris- 
 tian families in one neighborhood, he urged as a 
 most objectionable feature. This man travelling 
 from place to place will probably occasion many pre- 
 possessions unfavorable to the enterprise. You re- 
 marked in one of your letters that Oberlin would rise 
 by the hardest labor. This may be true ; probably is. 
 But if it is the work of the Lord, it matters not how 
 
APPENDIX. 309 
 
 much labor is required. If it is a privilege to labor 
 for the Lord : and we are to depend on him for di- 
 rection, the question how much labor we shall per- 
 form about one thing is of very little importance. 
 The discountenance that some may give to our man- 
 ner of laboring, or the virulent opposition of others, 
 should never discourage us, or turn us aside from the 
 course which the word of God and the indications 
 of his providence point out. In regard to the man- 
 ner of raising funds I think it is greatly to be de- 
 sired that they should come from the Christian com- 
 munity ; that is, for the most part. After obtaining 
 what we can from this source, and the Lord should 
 succeed some of our other plans, we shall still find 
 use for all, or if the Lord bring in something soon 
 from some of our own devices, we should not, of 
 course, reject it; but what I have more particularly 
 in view is the importance of securing a deep interest 
 in the hearts of Christians. If many give, and give 
 as they ought, many prayers will be secured for the 
 institution and the colony. This is impressed on 
 my mind as a point of very great importance. . . . 
 Yours truly and affectionately, 
 P. P. Stewart. 
 
 P. P. Stewart to Fayette Shipherd, 
 Troy, N. Y. 
 
 Elyria, O., May 21, 1833. 
 Very dear Brother : 
 
 . . . Brother John J. will be anxious to hear 
 from us, especially since his children have fallen 
 under our care. 
 
3IO OBERLIN. 
 
 Ere this we conclude sister Shipherd is in Ball- 
 ston. She started the last of April, but was delayed 
 a little in Cleveland. 
 
 The children appear perfectly contented under 
 Mrs. Stewart's care, and on the whole we think 
 they are doing very well. 
 
 As to Oberlin matters, they are progressing slow- 
 ly. There are some things I have to say, which will 
 probably meet you with some surprise. The steam- 
 engine is not on the ground, as some colonists who 
 have recently arrived supposed it would be. It 
 is not expected to be there before the first of Oc- 
 tober. 
 
 The Board of Trust have concluded to purchase 
 one of Mr. Andrews, of Cleveland. If the Board 
 had concluded to make a contract for an engine im- 
 mediately after their first meeting, it might probably 
 have been obtained a little sooner. But the requi- 
 site funds were not provided, and even now we have 
 not the amount which Mr. Andrews requires at the 
 time he commences the work, viz., three hundred 
 dollars. Your place could not be sold for ready 
 money, and I shall be obliged to borrow something 
 more from the Institute to pay Mr. Guthrie. 
 
 Brethren Ayers, Hall, Gibbs, Morgan and Safford 
 have arrived. They are considerably disappointed 
 in regard to the saw-mill. They say you encouraged 
 them to expect to see the engine on the ground, at 
 the time they should arrive there. You will recol- 
 lect that to lay a plan is not the same thing as to 
 carry it into execution. Brother Pease has been on 
 the ground about four weeks. He has four hands 
 
APPENDIX. 3 1 I 
 
 at work ; has chopped over about five acres. It is 
 thought best to put up a part of the boarding-house, 
 and transport the lumber from Captain Redington's 
 mill. With our best efforts, I am confident the work 
 will not go on as fast as you have calculated, and it 
 seems to me that we ought studiously to avoid rais- 
 ing expectations which cannot be realized. A few 
 instances of this kind will do much to destroy the 
 confidence of the community in the men and in 
 the enterprise. Colonists who have come on say that 
 Brother J. J. S. has given the pledge that young 
 men who come on from the East shall receive as 
 good an education for a minister, as if they had 
 been at college. The constitution says that the 
 pupils of the Oberlin Institute shall receive a thor- 
 ough academic course. This is all I have expected 
 they would receive, and all I think that we ought to 
 promise. After they shall have been at the Insti- 
 tute a suitable length of time to prepare for college, 
 I have supposed they would go to Hudson, or to 
 some other institution where they can enjoy the 
 privileges of the manual labor system. Let stu- 
 dents come to this institution with the expectation 
 of obtaining a collegiate education, or what is equiv- 
 alent to it, and find the advantages far inferior to 
 those which are to be enjoyed at other institutions, 
 and the result would be disappointment and prob- 
 ably dissatisfaction. 
 
 Ail who shall have been at this institution will be 
 criticised with great severity, and if their education 
 shall fall short of the pledge that was given, bad 
 consequences must follow. If we have in addition 
 
312 OBERLIN. 
 
 to a common manual labor school, a female semi- 
 nary, and a system of labor connected with that 
 also, I think this is all that we ought to attempt 
 at present. By attempting too much, the whole 
 work will be likely to come to nothing. We are 
 still in Elyria. I have hired the red blacksmith shop 
 and the house that belongs to it. 
 
 This I have done to perfect the stove, iron stoves, 
 etc. We seem to be needed on the ground ; but it 
 seems also very important that we remain here the 
 present summer at least. Individuals in different 
 places have offered to exert themselves to bring the 
 stove into notice, if we will send them one for inspec- 
 tion. I have had the greater part of four stoves 
 cast, and find that iron patterns must be obtained 
 before much can be done, or those which are made 
 of wood must be ironed in such a manner that they 
 will not warp and spring, when put into warm damp 
 sand. To prepare patterns for a cooking stove is a 
 slow and difficult work. But I think, and others 
 think, that the plan, of the stove is superior to any 
 one in this part of the country. The first impres- 
 sion on the part of those who examine it is uni- 
 formly favorable. 
 
 This is a very encouraging circumstance. If there 
 were not reason to fear that we should fall short in 
 regard to funds, I should think differently about 
 our going immediately on to the colony grounds. 
 But the stoves cannot be made a source of profit to 
 the Institution, without employing considerable 
 time in preparing the patterns. And if the stoves 
 should succeed, that is, if they should be approved 
 
APPENDIX. 3 1 3 
 
 by those who first use them, the sale of twenty the 
 present year will probably prepare the way for the 
 sale of double and triple that number the next 
 year. Perhaps I am criminally defective in confi- 
 dence in regard to the collection of funds. I have 
 very much feared, and do still, that we shall be strait- 
 ened for the means to carry into execution the work 
 which we have undertaken. If the work is the 
 Lord's, he will doubtless provide the means of car- 
 rying it on. But our own skill and sagacity must be 
 employed. . . . 
 
 Yours truly and affectionately, 
 
 P. P. Stewart. 
 
 From J. J. Shipherd. 
 
 Ballston, N. Y., May 28, 1833. 
 To the Tritstees of the Oberlin Institute, 
 Beloved Brethren: 
 
 Evidence is daily increasing that God designs to do 
 great things for the Mississippi Valley, through our 
 seminary. We ought therefore to feel that a vast 
 trust is committed to our hands, and exert ourselves 
 to the uttermost, to accomplish the Lord's great 
 work in the speediest and most effectual manner. 
 That we should be of one mind is of first impor- 
 tance, and of the same mind which was also in 
 Christ Jesus. Let us constantly wait at his feet for 
 instruction, and show ourselves one in him, and 
 with him in wisdom, sanctification, and redemption. 
 Of all our weighty responsibilities, the heaviest obvi- 
 
314 OB E KLIN. 
 
 ously is the appointment of teachers. Upon me, as 
 your agent, of course, depends the peculiar respon- 
 sibility of recommending them. Feeling the weight 
 of this responsibility, I have looked to the Searcher 
 of hearts for direction in my choice, and have advised 
 with the best counsellors among the thousands 
 whom I have met in my journeyings. At length, 
 having travelled some two thousand miles, visited 
 various seminaries, and maturely settled my mind, 
 I recommend the following appointments: I. I rec- 
 ommend that you invite the Rev. Samuel R. Hall, 
 Principal of the Teachers' Seminary, of Andover, 
 Mass., to become the President of the Oberlin Insti- 
 tute. You probably already know something of his 
 reputation, although he has been publicly known 
 but a little time. He was a pastor in Concord, Vt., 
 for about nine years, and during most of the time 
 the principal of an academy, which he there founded 
 and rendered unusually flourishing and useful. He 
 there wrote his lectures on School Keeping, since 
 published at Boston, and widely circulated as the 
 best work on education extant. The Legislature of 
 New York have obtained of him ten thousand copies 
 for gratuitous distribution. 
 
 He has recently published another volume of lec- 
 tures on Female Teachers, etc., and several other 
 popular works, mostly school-books. 
 
 His present station indicates the estimate placed 
 upon him by the trustees of the Teachers' Semi- 
 nary, Andover, Mass., among whom are men best 
 qualified to judge. Many applied for the superin- 
 tendence of that seminary, but were all rejected in 
 
APPENDIX. 3 I 5 
 
 favor of Mr. Hall, who did not ask the station, but 
 when invited to it, declined ; afterward, however, 
 yielding to repeated solicitations. At the head of 
 that seminary, he has been constantly rising for two 
 and a half years, and raising the institution till it 
 now numbers about one hundred and fifty students. 
 I spent a few days with him, in his school and out, 
 and confidently recommend him as better qualified 
 to superintend our institution than any man I have 
 met, or heard of who can be obtained ; and indeed I 
 know of no one, could we obtain him, in whom 
 there is more of what we want, than in Mr. Hall, 
 for, I. His piety is more like the Divine Teacher's 
 than usual. He labors with his might to do good 
 in school and out. 2. He is better acquainted with 
 the art of teaching than any one I can find, having 
 studied it diligently for many years. 3. His educa- 
 tion, although not collegiate, is sufficiently extensive, 
 much more profound than is usual with graduates 
 from our best colleges. 4. He is a manual labor 
 man. 5. He is of suitable age, thirty-eight years. 
 6. He is a practical teacher, makes everything a stu- 
 dent learns useful to him. 7. He does not teach 
 for money, but to do good. 8. He is deeply inter- 
 ested in the West. 9. His government excels any 
 I am acquainted with. He teaches his pupils to 
 govern themselves ; and, 10. I think he would, to in- 
 crease his usefulness, accept your invitation. Mr, 
 Hall could not consistently leave Andover for Ohio 
 till the Fall of 1834, but should be elected as soon 
 as consistent, and aid in all our plans for buildings, 
 teachers, apparatus, etc. The architect should di« 
 
3l6 BERLIN. 
 
 rect in laying the corner-stone, and should you elect 
 him, he says he wishes at least six months, after 
 resigning his charge at Andover, to visit the best 
 literary institutions of our land, and otherwise qual- 
 ify himself for his responsible station. His salary 
 is now about twelve hundred dollars annually, but 
 I advise that you offer him four hundred dollars, 
 with the use of a dwelling house and a few acres of 
 land, his pasturage, hay for his horse and two cows, 
 and his wood, and that we defray the expense of his 
 removal with his family to Ohio, which will probably 
 be about one hundred to one hundred and twenty- 
 five dollars. This will be about as good as one thou- 
 sand dollars at Andover, and I think he is willing to 
 act upon Oberlin principles. In the second place, I 
 recommend that you elect Mr. James K. Shipherd, 
 Principal of Thetford Academy, Vt, Professor of 
 Languages in the Oberlin Institute, and commit to 
 him the superintendence of the seminary till Mr. 
 Hall arrive and enter upon the duties of his office. 
 I cannot speak as freely of this gentleman as the 
 former, for he is my brother. However, I can say ? 
 I do not recommend him because he is my brother, 
 but because I think him better qualified than any 
 other one we can obtain for the place. He was in 
 good standing in college (Middlebury, Vt.), unusually 
 successful in common-school teaching, and is now 
 highly esteemed as Principal of Thetford Academy, 
 Vt. He took charge of that academy when it was in a 
 low state, and has caused it, in a scientific and moral 
 sense, to flourish more than for many years before. 
 The trustees of that seminary desire him to engage 
 
APPENDIX. 3 1 7 
 
 with them for ten years, and are extremely unwilling 
 to part with him. Several of his scholars expect to 
 enter our Institute the first of December next, and 
 expressed to me the desire that he should be elected, 
 as I now propose. He is young, twenty-two and 
 one half years of age, decidedly pious, studious, par- 
 ticularly in the science of teaching, loves to teach, 
 practical in teaching, very successful in government, 
 a manual labor man, and although well pleased with 
 his present location, would, I think, accept the ap- 
 pointment I propose, should you think it best to 
 make it. I advise that you offer him three hundred 
 dollars salary, with his board, till he shall marry, and 
 then a house, etc., like the President's. 
 
 In the third place, I advise that you invite Miss 
 Louisa Gifford, assistant in the Geneva Female Sem- 
 inary, N. Y., to become teacher of the female de- 
 partment. Last winter I requested Mrs. Ricord, 
 the Principal of that seminary, to recommend a 
 teacher for our manual labor female school. I had 
 previously learned that her school was scarcely, if at 
 all, excelled, and fully acquainted her with our plans 
 and circumstances. She, evidently feeling her re- 
 sponsibility, and acting understanding^, recom- 
 mended the Miss Gifford whom I now propose. I 
 have not time to describe her definitely, but believe 
 we shall be safe in taking her at Mrs. Ricord's rec- 
 ommendation. Besides I saw her considerably, and 
 think her best qualified for the place of any lady 
 whom we can obtain. So think the best of judges 
 at Geneva. 
 
 As our female school will be small for a season, I 
 
3 1 8 OBERLW. 
 
 propose that we offer her one hundred dollars a year 
 and her board. 
 
 In the fourth place, I recommend that you elect 
 Dr. James Dascomb, of Boscawen, N. H., lecturer, 
 and professor of chemistry, botany, physical educa- 
 tion or anatomy, and natural philosophy. Dr. Das- 
 comb is a young physician of promise, a pupil of 
 Dr. Mussey of Dartmouth College, said by him to 
 be decidedly the best scholar in his class of fifty 
 members. He is highly recommended by Mr. Hall, 
 whom I nominate as President, as a Christian, a phy- 
 sician and lecturer. Brother Hall and I think that 
 the physician of the colony should be a lecturer in 
 the seminary, because we can't afford a full salary to 
 such a lecturer, or full employment to a physician. 
 
 I propose that we offer him two hundred and fifty 
 dollars salary. His practice as physician and duties 
 as a lecturer will no more interfere with each other 
 than those of Dr. Mussey and others who not unfre- 
 quently practise as physicians, and serve as professors 
 in colleges. 
 
 I desire a decision upon Dr. Dascomb's case soon, 
 because I wish to secure a physician to our colony 
 and seminary, and he will need considerable time to 
 prepare for the duties of his professorship. Besides, 
 he will, if not invited, soon be so settled that he 
 will not accept our invitation. He will not, if 
 elected, probably enter upon his professorship till 
 Brother Hall does upon his presidency, say Septem- 
 ber, 1834. My brother and Miss Gifford should be, 
 if invited at all, requested to enter upon their duties 
 by the first of December next, and they may sustain 
 
APPENDIX. 319 
 
 the school till Brothers Hall and Dascomb join 
 them. This may (and yet I hope it will not) seem 
 premature. I believe it is safe and best, and for the 
 following reasons : We can obtain the requisite 
 funds. For evidence of this see my previous commu- 
 nications, and add to the evidence they afford the 
 fact that should my life be spared till September 
 next, I shall in all probability fill out our colony, 
 and through that means and others increase our 
 subscription to at least ten thousand dollars. I pro- 
 pose also that some efficient agent be appointed to 
 aid me in collecting funds. I have some hope that 
 my brother's church (Troy, N. Y.) will release him 
 for a season. I am also negotiating with a Mr 
 Mills, of Dumbarton, N. H. Whether either of them 
 can be obtained before Fall, or at all, I know not, but 
 I hope one of them, or some other one well qualified, 
 can be secured. A good agent is rarely found. 
 
 That we can raise the fifteen thousand dollars 
 contemplated I am confident, and I believe my con- 
 fidence is well founded. The wise and good uni- 
 formly approve our plans, and have aided, and 
 express a determination yet more to aid, in execut- 
 ing- them. To fill out the fifteen thousand dollars 
 will doubtless be much easier than to do what, 
 through the grace of God, we have already ex- 
 ecuted. This amount will provide for one hundred 
 students, whose tuition will pay the salaries recom- 
 mended. Tuition may be fifteen dollars a year, 
 that is, fifteen hundred dollars in all, and the sala- 
 ries I recommend with board amount only to eleven 
 hundred and fifty. 
 
320 OBERLIX. 
 
 That we can have one hundred students in Sep- 
 tember, 1834, cannot be doubted. There are mul- 
 titudes of them desiring such privileges, and unless 
 we provide them many of them can never enjoy 
 them. You can build what will be necessary for 
 the commencement of the academic department by 
 the first of December next, and during the succeed- 
 ing year enlarge so as to employ Brothers Hall and 
 Dascomb as proposed. That teachers may be on 
 the ground when needed, they should be elected as 
 soon as consistent, especially those who commence 
 the school, viz., my brother and Miss Gifford, if you 
 should see fit to appoint them, and they to accept. 
 You perceive in my recent communications that I 
 have latterly enlarged our plans of operation, and it 
 may seem to you unadvisedly, but I trust the follow- 
 ing reasons will satisfy you all : The manual labor 
 system requires that the student be carried through 
 his whole course. If the institution be a mere pre- 
 paratory school for college, the students are always 
 mere apprentices in manual labor, and the benefits 
 of the system are realized but in a small degree. 
 Should we fit them for college only, there is no 
 institution to which we could send them where 
 their manual labor facilities would be continued 
 equal to Oberlin. 
 
 Hudson, for want of land, can never render the 
 manual labor of students extensively productive for 
 their support. The Lane Seminary has and can 
 have but little land, and is full and will be full with- 
 out our students. Moreover, the Principal of the 
 Oneida Institute assured me that a large farm was 
 
APTEXDIX. 32 1 
 
 indispensable to great success in extensive opera- 
 tions, and that the student should be carried 
 through his whole course. Again, the making of 
 our seminary equal to an academy, college, and theo- 
 logical seminary will not at all curtail the useful- 
 ness of Hudson and others ; for if we will furnish 
 such advantages as I propose, students will fill our 
 seminary who would never enter those now in ex- 
 istence. 
 
 The revivals of three years past have brought hun- 
 dreds of youth into our churches who desire to be 
 educated for the ministry and other useful services, 
 who will not incur debt necessary in such a course 
 as they must pursue at any institutions now in being 
 in our country. This I know from actual conference 
 with youth at the East. Hundreds of promising 
 youth will doubtless be educated for God's service, 
 or not educated, as we shall or shall not provide for 
 them the means of complete education by their own 
 industry and economy. Moreover, it is about as 
 easy to obtain requisite funds, etc., for a complete 
 education, as for one merely elementary. For the 
 amount of the subscription usually corresponds with 
 the character of the institution for which it is raised, 
 and students would not go so far westward merely 
 for an academic course. Let us therefore begin with 
 the academic, and, as Providence permit, grow into 
 the collegiate and theological, which, I doubt not, 
 will be as fast as our students shall advance in their 
 studies. Had we to raise the ordinary permanent 
 fund for president's and professors' salaries, we 
 should fail, but the assurance of all the students we 
 
322 OBERLIN. 
 
 can accommodate is as good a pledge for their sala- 
 ries as permanent funds. What enlargement I have 
 made in our plans, the development of facts has 
 made necessary. 
 
 From J. J. Shipherd. 
 
 Boston, Mass., Aug. 9, 1833. 
 To the Trustees of the Oberlin Institute. 
 Dear Brethren : 
 
 I hoped long before this to have received a full an- 
 swer to my last long and important communication. 
 I have only heard that you sustained my nomination 
 of my brother, J. K. Shipherd. He has declined. 
 The trustees of the academy he now instructs will 
 not at all consent to his leaving them. Being about 
 to return to Ohio, and under the necessity of finding 
 some one to fill my brother's place, I have visited 
 Andover Theological Seminary, and engaged, if you 
 approve, Mr. Seth H. Waldo, who I believe will suc- 
 ceed as well as my brother. He will have to leave 
 the seminary in his Senior year, but I can nowhere 
 else find the man we want, and the Faculty of the 
 seminary consent to his leaving. They, the present 
 and collegiate classmates of Mr. Waldo, and S. R. 
 Hall, in whose Teachers' Seminary Mr. W. has 
 taught, all recommend him. I shall not therefore 
 describe him particularly. He has taught occasion- 
 ally. for twelve years, and with success, both in com* 
 mon schools and academies. He is about thirty 
 years of age. Should he go, he is to have four 
 
APPENDIX. $2$ 
 
 hundred dollars salary, and fifty dollars for his ex- 
 penses to the ground. Being, like all others, in debt 
 for his education, he cannot consistently engage for 
 a less sum. The fifty dollars for his expenses may 
 properly be taken from the outfit money which I am 
 collecting. The four hundred dollars must be raised 
 by tuition. Forty scholars, at one half the tuition 
 which the students of the Oneida Institute pay, will 
 pay the four hundred dollars. The forty we can 
 unquestionably have, if room can be made for them. 
 If not, the smaller number must pay higher tuition. 
 This must ever be our rule. Students must pay such 
 tuition as will raise our teachers' salaries. This rule 
 has worked well at the Oneida Institute for years. 
 It is not safe except in manual labor schools. If 
 you approve the nomination and conditions, please 
 forward as soon as may be an official invitation, 
 with a pledge of the four hundred and fifty dollars, 
 which I am willing to be personally responsible for, 
 and direct to Seth H. Waldo, Andover Theological 
 Seminary, Andover, Mass. As he has seen me only 
 of the Board, please express your readiness to re- 
 ceive him as a brother, and sustain him as a teachef. 
 My invitation to him, which I desire you to ratify, 
 is that he take charge of the Oberlin Institute till 
 it assume a collegiate character, and then if experi- 
 ment prove that he is qualified, that he fill the pro- 
 fessorship of languages. If I mistake not, he will 
 prove the man we shall need at first and permanently. 
 I am happy to find that prejudices against our en- 
 terprise are wearing away, and there is increasing 
 evidence that it is the Lord's good work, and will 
 
324 BERLIN*. 
 
 prosper. I have recently developed the plan fully 
 to the Rev. Mr. Woodbridge of this city, and obtained 
 his unqualified approbation of it — from the Infant 
 School to the Theological Seminary. His opinion is 
 probably as valuable at that of any American. 
 
 He has travelled extensively in Europe with refer- 
 ence to education, spent about a year at Fellenberg's 
 celebrated school at Hofwyl in Switzerland, was 
 favorably noticed by literary men and societies in 
 Europe, has published a most valuable geography, 
 now edits the American Annals of Education, the 
 first work on that subject in our land. In short he 
 makes, and has for many years made, education the 
 subject of his study and object of his effort. While 
 the distinctive features of our plan are objected to 
 by some, the ablest men and the most experienced 
 teachers that I have met fully and decidedly approve 
 them. We have only to trust in God, and go for- 
 ward with diligence and zeal, and we may greatly 
 bless the perishing millions of the West. Being so 
 distant from you I have been compelled to do what 
 I should not, without your previous approbation, had 
 I been near, but trust I shall find on my return that 
 we are one in judgment as well as one in heart. If 
 the Lord will I shall see Oberlin between the fifteenth 
 and twentieth of September next. That the Lord 
 may permit us to meet in peace and labor together 
 "with one mind and with one accord," is the prayer 
 of 
 
 Your fellow servant and brother, 
 
 John J. Shipherd. 
 
APPENDIX. 325 
 
 From J. J. Shipherd. 
 
 Utica, Aug. 23, 1833. 
 
 Dearly Beloved Parents : 
 
 I write you under circumstances of interest which 
 cannot be expressed by letter. I left Ballston, with 
 my dear wife and babe, on Monday morning last, 
 and arrived here Tuesday night — thus far prospered 
 of the Lord on our journey. Wednesday morning 
 brother Fayette and sister Collins arrived from the 
 West, and last evening I had the privilege of binding 
 them together with a cord which death only can 
 sunder. I rejoice that my dear brother is well mar- 
 ried. I am happy to call his Elmina sister, and doubt 
 not my loved parents will readily receive her into 
 their hearts as a daughter. Esther and I know her 
 worth, and believe it to be rare, of vastly greater 
 value to brother in his ministry than the wealth and 
 estimables of some city ladies, whom others might 
 have chosen. I hope you will soon enjoy the privi- 
 lege of judging for yourselves. We part to-morrow 
 morning, they for the East, and we for the West. 
 In parting with them, I seem to be leaving my loved 
 parents, and all my dear eastern friends. I have not 
 before seemed to be separated from you. I have 
 hitherto been like a ship in port, frequently visited, 
 but now I seem like one whose deck is well-nigh 
 cleared, but still bound fast by a cable to its native 
 port, and yet its swelling canvas urging it to a far- 
 off ocean. Yes, loved parents, I feel much of that 
 which swells the bosom of him who casts his last 
 
326 BERLIN. 
 
 lingering look upon the home of his childhood, clus- 
 tered around with the endearments of parental, filial, 
 fraternal and other tender associations, and then 
 looks abroad upon a distant land unwelcome and 
 desolate, because the dear ones left behind are not 
 there. Since I began this letter I have had a desper- 
 ate struggle with my Shipherd heart, but thanks be 
 unto God who giveth me the victory. I previously 
 hoped that in a gospel sense I "should henceforth 
 know no one after the flesh," but " the fondness of 
 a creature's love, how strong it strikes the sense," 
 and how malignant that arch foe who, vanquished 
 once, soon renews his attacks. 
 
 But for Him who succors them that are tempted, I 
 might be overcome, and relinquish Oberlin for per- 
 sonal enjoyment among my kindred. But through 
 Christ strengthening me, I can bid you all farewell, 
 and urge on my great and good work till my Master 
 shall bid me rest. . . . 
 
 Take, dear parents, to yourselves, and present to 
 our dear sister and niece, and duly to others, the 
 love of your affectionate children— 
 
 John and Esther. 
 
 From J. J. Shipherd. 
 
 Oberlin, Dec. 13, 1833. 
 Dearest of Parents : 
 
 I have before me two precious letters, written by 
 your dear, dear hands, and received at the hands of 
 Brother Reed, and Middleton. They have been be- 
 
APPENDIX. 327 
 
 fore me these two weeks, glowing with parental love, 
 and waking up in my soul filial affection, but I could 
 not answer them till now, without sacrificing my 
 Master's important interests in Oberlin. I say hon- 
 estly, dear parents, you live in the warmest chamber 
 of my heart, and I feel grieved, but not guilty, that 
 I have, not written you before. I have been and am 
 yet pressed out of measure with Oberlin duties. 
 The great Pilot of Zion has committed to my poor 
 hand the helm of a noble ship, which is in the midst 
 of breakers, and laden with Zion's precious treasures. 
 It has seemed to me that in these circumstances I 
 might not let go the helm even to seize the pen in 
 behalf of my beloved parents, or any friend however 
 dear. 
 
 Do you ask then if Oberlin has possessed my heart 
 instead of those who gave me birth, and blessings 
 numberless? Oberlin is Christ's, and much as I love 
 father and mother, Christ is dearer than both 
 and all on earth beside. . . . We have lived some 
 two months in a basement room of the Oberlin In- 
 stitute fifteen feet square — some weeks of the time 
 with another family, and three or four boarders, and 
 Esther without a girl. Now we have great latitude, 
 for we have that room alone — Eliza Branch excepted 
 — and I have one over it for a study and secretary's 
 office in common with the principal. Esther and I 
 have labored unusually hard since our return, but 
 God has given us strength equal to our day. \\ e 
 are all well, colds excepted. Our little ones are in 
 the Institute's primary department, Eliza Branch 
 teacher. Our whole colony have been remarkably 
 
328 OBERLIN. 
 
 blessed with health and prosperity. Eleven families 
 are on the ground, and others waiting to come as 
 soon as houses can be provided. 
 
 Some who spent the summer here have gone east- 
 ward for their families. Our colonial ground is 
 nearly all disposed of. . . . The Lord is to be praised 
 that we were enabled to open our institute at the 
 appointed time, Dec. 3d, and with thirty scholars. 
 We have now thirty-four boarding scholars, and ex- 
 pect forty for the winter. Applicants are without 
 number, from Lake Erie to the Gulf of Mexico, from 
 Lower Canada to Long Island Sound, from Michigan 
 to the Atlantic. The scholars study and work well. 
 Five minutes after the manual labor bell strikes, the 
 hammer, saws, etc., of the mechanical students wake 
 all around us, and the axe-men in the woods break- 
 ing the " ribs of nature" make all crack. Nearly all 
 our visitors — and they are not few — express surprise 
 that so great a work has been wrought here in so 
 short a time. God be praised ! 
 
 I feel as I said in my sleep the other night, " Ober- 
 lin will rise, and the devil cannot hinder it." This 
 my sweet assurance, I hope, rests on God, without 
 whom we can do nothing. . . . 
 
 May our Heavenly Father bless you in all things. 
 Your affectionate son, 
 
 John J. Shipherd. 
 
APPENDIX. 329 
 
 Mrs. M. P. Dascomb to Home Friends, Dun- 
 barton, N. H. 
 
 Oberlin, May 24, 1834. 
 
 . . . Next morning at five o'clock we took stage 
 for Elyria, which is ten miles from Oberlin — road 
 very bad from ruts and mud. We were in constant 
 danger of overturning. Once when we came to a 
 ditch in the road the gentlemen got out and took 
 down a fence, so that we could turn aside into the 
 adjoining field and ride around the obstacle. At 
 "Elyria we dined, and obtained a two-horse wagon to 
 transport us, and two gentlemen from New England 
 going to the Institute as students, to our journey's 
 end. We found the wagon a very comfortable con- 
 veyance, and I was in no fear of being turned out 
 into the mud, for the driver assured us it could not 
 turn over. You cannot conceive of a more miserable 
 road than we had, the last two miles especially, but 
 still I enjoyed the ride., and our party were all very 
 cheerful. When passing through the woods I was 
 so delighted with the black squirrels, the big trees, 
 and above all the beautiful wild flowers, that at times 
 I quite forgot to look out for the scraggy limbs that 
 every now and then gave us a rude brush, till a 
 warning from Dr. D. that I would get my eyes torn 
 out, seconded perhaps by an unceremonious lash 
 from a neighboring bough, would call me to the duty 
 of self-preservation. Glad were we when an opening 
 in the forest dawned upon us, and Oberlin was seen. 
 That, said our driver, is " the city." We rode 
 
330 OB E RUN. 
 
 through its principal street, now and then coming 
 in contact with a stump, till we were set down, not 
 at the coffee house or tea house, but the boarding 
 house. Mr. and Mrs. Waldo greeted us cordially, 
 and I have been " very happy from that day to this." 
 However, I have not got through my story, as from 
 my last sentence we should have supposed when 
 children. We were soon introduced to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Stewart, superintendents of the boarding and man- 
 ual labor departments. They were formerly mis- 
 sionaries among the Choctaws, and are the very best 
 of persons. The next day we attended meeting, 
 which is held for this season in the school-room, 
 though it is already too small for the congregation. 
 Mr. Waldo is true when he says: "I never have 
 seen so interesting an assembly." He preaches 
 sometimes, also Mr. Shipherd. Till we obtain a 
 minister we have preaching in the afternoon only, 
 and the morning is spent in a Bible exercise. All 
 the congregation are members of the Bible class. 
 This is to me more interesting than preaching even. 
 I assure you we have Bible scholars at Oberlin. Our 
 Sabbath-school is held at half-past eight in the 
 morning ; an excellent superintendent. I shall wish 
 some time to tell you more particulars of this 
 school. We have the lesson recited at the Bible 
 class the previous Sabbath. No question books are 
 used. Our religious privileges are great here. 
 Christians are willing to do their duty, and they help 
 to make meetings interesting. Most of the students 
 are hopefully pious. They are generally interest- 
 ing, and very intelligent. Some of them are ap- 
 
APPENDIX. 331 
 
 parently as cultivated as any I have ever known in 
 New England institutions. I hope before many 
 months to write a long letter to our dear aunt, Mrs. 
 Putnam, giving a more particular account of this 
 colony, institution, etc., but you will wish my first 
 letter to tell of ourselves, and though other things 
 are more important you can learn them from that 
 letter. We have now been here two weeks, health 
 and spirits good, and Oberlin already looks to us 
 like home. Things about us are all going on so 
 briskly, one cannot well feel sleepy. The colonists 
 work with all diligence, and students too, at work- 
 ing hours. You hear great trees falling, see fires 
 blazing, and new houses going up in all directions. 
 There are a few log-houses, which were put up at 
 first, but now they are all building framed houses. 
 A large house for Mr. Shipherd will soon be fin- 
 ished, and this summer another large and very con- 
 venient boarding house will be completed. The 
 seminary buildings will not .be erected until next 
 year, w r hen they design also to build the professors' 
 houses. We need the boarding house very much at 
 present. We have sixty or more boarders, and 
 of course must submit to some inconveniences, but 
 we do it cheerfully, looking forward to better times. 
 My room is as large as your sitting room, is painted, 
 furnished with two chairs and all our trunks, which 
 make good seats when we have callers. Beside this 
 furniture we have a good table and two libraries be- 
 longing to the institution and Mr. Shipherd. These 
 are indeed valuable, and of course pleasant. . . . 
 Do not let me forget the food, or mother will not for- 
 
S3 2 OBERLW. 
 
 give me. It is plain, but palatable. We shall have 
 more variety when the land is cultivated. We shall 
 have good bread, and milk, much of the time this 
 summer. We always have good wheat and brown 
 bread, and generally good butter. Can have meat 
 twice a day if we choose, but it is not very good, and 
 I generally prefer vegetable food. Our potatoes, 
 which we have for a rarity, are not like yours, but 
 rather heavy. Puddings and nut-cakes are made 
 sometimes, but no pies. Cheese we have now and 
 then, and very good. We have hot water with milk 
 and sugar if we choose, but most prefer cold. I like 
 my drink quite as well as tea and coffee, and better, 
 unless the latter have sugar. Our cold water is not 
 so good as the hills of New Hampshire furnish ; can 
 hardly tell what it will be when we are an older 
 country. It is not, however, unpleasant to the taste. 
 To close : we have all that is necessary for us, and 
 so many blessings, we do not stop to trouble our- 
 selves about minor things. In a few months or 
 years we can hope for more of the fruits of the 
 earth. Our wheat fields look finely, though they 
 were a little injured by heavy frosts. Most of the 
 foliage of the woods is dead from the same cause. 
 We are hoping for a new set of leaves. As to our 
 manner of spending time: Dr. D. spends most of 
 his in school duties. And just let me pay him a 
 compliment. I do think him one of the best of 
 teachers. He interests his classes deeply, and enters 
 into the work with all his heart. He has had many 
 calls in this place for medical aid, considering that 
 the colonists have not before been sick ; some diffi- 
 
APPENDIX. 3^3 
 
 cult and dangerous cases among the students, but 
 they are now doing well. I spend three or four 
 hours a day hearing classes recite. Mrs. Waldo also 
 assists in school. The females are very interesting; 
 most of them are from other States, and many from 
 a distance. That department is not yet distinct 
 from the other. I shall write Brother L. soon. He 
 would be happy and very useful here, but I shall 
 not advise him to come till we get a president, and I 
 know not that it will then be best for him to come, 
 if he wishes to study theology, as preparatory and 
 college studies will be pursued at present. 
 
 From J. J. Shipherd to John Keep. 
 
 Cincinnati, Dec. 13, 1834. 
 Dear Brother Keep: 
 
 I have been from home nearly three weeks, but 
 through illness, bad roads, and the unfruitfulness of 
 the field in which I have been, I have obtained but 
 little subscription to our beloved Institute — some 
 two hundred dollars only. I have, however, obtained 
 and communicated information of importance to 
 Oberlin and the cause of Christ. And here God has 
 kindly opened a door to our infant seminary, wide 
 and effectual, through which I sanguinely hope it 
 will send forth a multitude of well qualified laborers 
 into the plenteous harvest of our Lord. I have here 
 found the man for the president of our loved Insti- 
 tute, that is, Rev. Asa Mahan. I desire you to call 
 a meeting of the Board as soon as practicable, and 
 
334 BERLIN. 
 
 present Brother Mahan as the man of my choice for 
 the following reasons : 
 
 I. I was reluctant to come from Columbus to Cin- 
 cinnati, but in prayer for direction, was constrained 
 to come on. Having arrived here, I cannot see why 
 I should have been sent, except to obtain a president 
 and professor, and through them other benefits for 
 Oberlin. 2. All the "glorious good fellows," as 
 Doctor Beecher used to call them while they were 
 in Lane Seminary, who, as he says, have done right 
 in leaving on account of the abominable laws which 
 the trustees have lately passed — all of them say 
 that Brother Mahan is the man, and that if he be- 
 comes president of our institution, they shall apply 
 to it for liberty there to finish their education. 3. 
 Rev. Joel Parker of New York, former classmate of 
 Brother Mahan, advised him to prepare for such a 
 station, on account of that structure and cultivation 
 of mind peculiarly fitted for that office. 4. Rev. 
 Charles G. Finney said that he had the best mind in 
 Western New York while he was there laboring. 5. 
 He has been of studious habits from early life, al- 
 though on account of his father's poverty his advan- 
 tages were limited till his seventeenth year. Then 
 being converted, he entered upon a course of study 
 preparatory to the ministry. From that time, at 
 Hamilton College and at Andover Theological Semi- 
 nary, and since he has been in the ministry, he has 
 been of studious habits. Consequently, 6. He is a 
 critical scholar in the different sciences, but espe- 
 cially in intellectual and moral philosophy, a depart- 
 ment of science commonly assigned to the president. 
 
APPENDIX. 335 
 
 7. He has, it seems, a peculiar faculty for govern- 
 ment, manifest in his family, in presiding over delib- 
 erative bodies, and in his influence over the alert 
 minds, with which he comes in contact. 8. He is of 
 good age, being thirty-five. 9. He is inclined and 
 able to labor abundantly. 10. He is a man of in- 
 flexible Christian principle who follows the straight 
 line of rectitude, while even great and good men 
 vibrate. II. He has a well educated and excellent 
 wife who is indeed a helpmeet, and two well man- 
 aged little daughters. 12. In the midst of a city's 
 temptations, they have maintained a Christian econ- 
 omy and simplicity in their style of living. 13. His 
 interest in our institution is intense, and he would be 
 willing to toil and sacrifice in its behalf to any ex- 
 tent ; so would his estimable wife. 14. He has been 
 most successful as an agent, and would doubtless 
 through his favorable acquaintance in New York 
 City and elsewhere secure to us much funds. 15. 
 Arthur Tappan has pledged to the students who have 
 left Lane Seminary, and who recommend Brother 
 Mahan, five thousand dollars and a professorship, 
 for the establishment of an institute like ours, and 
 these brethren say — about twenty in number — that 
 if Brother Mahan becomes our president and Brother 
 Morgan a professor, they will turn all in with us. 
 Finally Brother Mahan is a revival minister of the 
 millennial stamp. I am therefore sure that God will 
 influence all our beloved associates in the Board to 
 concur in this nomination, for there is much rare 
 qualification for the office, and no essential defect 
 of character manifest. 
 
33 6 BERLIN. 
 
 I farther recommend to our Board the Rev. John 
 Morgan, now of Clinton, Oneida Co., N. Y«, for the 
 professorship of mathematics and natural philosophy. 
 I do it, — I. Because Brother T. D. Weld recom- 
 mends him, and Brother Mahan thinks we cannot 
 find his equal for the place. 2. The students before 
 alluded to were at the Lane Seminary under his 
 tuition, and think he greatly excels as a teacher. 3. 
 Dr. Cox of New York, whose pupil he was, I believe, 
 speaks highly of him. 4. I am assured that his 
 moral excellencies are like those which I have as- 
 cribed to Brother Mahan. 5. The students who 
 propose to go to Oberlin, and turn in all their in- 
 fluence on his account, and Brother Mahan's, have, 
 Dr. Beecher says, the finest class of minds he ever 
 knew. Not having seen him I cannot speak as fully 
 and confidently as I can of Brother Mahan, but have 
 no doubt that we ought to elect him. I trust the 
 Lord will unite the Board in the election. The elec- 
 tion of these men, it strikes me, may, under God, 
 link our dear institution in a chain which may en- 
 compass much of earth, binding multitudes in holy 
 allegiance to God. 
 
 I design to leave this city on the twenty-third for 
 New York City, in company with Brother Mahan, 
 who has consented to attend me as an associate 
 agent, and I have written Brother Morgan to meet 
 us there. I desire therefore that you should forward 
 your call without any delay to New York, to Rev. Asa 
 Mahan as president, and Rev. John Morgan as pro- 
 fessor of mathematics. I desire also that you for- 
 ward a copy of the call of Brother Mahan to this 
 
APPENDIX. 337 
 
 place, and a copy of Brother Morgan's to Clinton, N. 
 Y. I should not hasten this business thus did I not 
 believe that God approves, and that by complying 
 with my request some thousands of dollars may be 
 secured, and an immense amount of good which 
 would otherwise be lost. Do, dear brother, dispatch 
 this business and write to me and them at New York 
 City as soon as may be. Your son will inform you 
 about fallen Lane Seminary, what I have not room 
 to write. 
 
 Your Brother, 
 
 John J. Shipherd. 
 
 From J. J. Shipherd — Pastoral Letter. 
 
 New York, Jan. 27, 1835. 
 To all the Beloved in Christ Jesus, whom 
 I have gathered, not only at Oberlin, but in my 
 heart ; " Grace be unto you and peace from God our 
 Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ." I thank 
 my God upon every remembrance of you, always in 
 every prayer of mine for you all, making request with 
 joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first 
 day until now ; being confident of this very thing, 
 that He which hath begun a good work in you will 
 perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. That you 
 may be thus perfected, " I pray that your love may 
 abound yet more and more in knowledge and all 
 judgment ; that ye may approve things that are ex- 
 cellent ; that ye may be sincere and without offence 
 till the day of Jesus Christ ; being filled with the 
 
338 OBERUN, 
 
 fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto 
 the glory and praise of God." And for this, beloved, 
 I not only pray but now write touching a few of the 
 many things which concern your peace, your useful- 
 ness, and the glory of God our Heavenly Father. 
 Trusting that you reciprocate my Christian love and 
 confidence, I speak freely as unto my children, my 
 brethren and my sisters in the Lord. 
 
 And first I thank God for the revival of his pre- 
 cious work among you, and say with emphasis, 
 "Quench not the Spirit." Oh, "Grieve not the 
 Spirit of God." That you may not," ponder with 
 much prayer the scriptures on brotherly love and 
 Christian union found in Eph. iv. 1-16; Phil. ii. 1 — 17; 
 and other kindred scriptures. Also that you may 
 not faint, " Search the scriptures, feed upon and di- 
 gest them till you feel their nourishment in your 
 hearts and their controlling influence in your lives. 
 By much prayer also, drink in of the Spirit largely. 
 Yet, beloved, " Watch unto prayer," lest in an evil 
 hour the world overcome you. If you will do your 
 duty the revival will never cease ; but the fountains 
 which the Spirit has graciously opened in your souls 
 will rise and overflow till they form a sea of glory. 
 If you will do your duty, Oberlin will be a living 
 fountain whose waters will refresh the far-off, thirsty, 
 dying Gentiles and wretched Jews. " Be vigilant," 
 therefore, dearly beloved, "watch and pray," and 
 never sleep, as do others. 
 
 In the second place, dear brethren and sisters, per- 
 mit me to exhort you to be " the Lord's peculiar 
 people, zealous of good works." I would not have 
 
APPENDIX. 339 
 
 you needlessly singular, but I would have you actu- 
 ally singular, even among the churches if they con- 
 tinue as they now are. Far better to be unlike them 
 and all on earth, than to be unlike Christ. Instead 
 of taking the blessed Son of God as their pattern, 
 the churches have measured themselves by them- 
 selves, and compared themselves with themselves 
 unwisely, till the image of Christ is so lost that God 
 will not instamp their image upon the world. I be- 
 lieve that it is because we are so unlike his Son that 
 he delays to give our likeness to pagan nations. 
 Why should God give a spurious Christianity to the 
 nations yet to receive the gospel ? No, beloved, the 
 Church must put off her earthly attire and put on 
 Christ before she can receive to her millennial em- 
 brace a regenerated world. It must be so. When 
 the people of God do this they will be peculiar in 
 their diet, dress, and all that appertains to them. 
 The simplicity of Christ will characterize them. 
 This, dearly beloved, you have acknowledged in your 
 " colonial covenant." " Now, therefore, perform 
 the doing of it." That you would, there were pleas- 
 ing indications when we parted. Oh, how sweet that 
 last meeting that we held in relation to bur colonial 
 covenant ! And how delightful to see even the aged 
 members of our body crucifying the flesh that Christ 
 might be glorified. My heart's desire and prayer to 
 God has been that they might be steadfast and gain 
 the victory. Let me beseech you all to be thorough 
 in excluding from your diet, dress, and all pertaining 
 to you, everything which in the least hinders your 
 sanctification or the conversion of the world. This 
 
340 OBERLIN. 
 
 subject is magnified in my estimation as one which 
 pertains to salvation, and I pray that it may be in 
 yours. In these respects may you be a " peculiar 
 people." Moreover, brethren, be peculiarly fervent 
 in your charity toward all saints, not merely of your 
 distinctive name, but of Christ's dearer name. Let 
 the door of your church be as wide as the door of 
 heaven, but no wider, and strive to unite the dear 
 people of God under " one fold and one shepherd." 
 To your virtue " add knowledge," for u knowledge is 
 power." And permit me here to request thatyou enter 
 early upon the system of colonial education, which 
 I recommended last spring, and which the brethren 
 then on the ground resolved to adopt. Reflection 
 and conversation with intelligent persons have con- 
 firmed my opinion that the system proposed is one 
 peculiarly worthy of Christ's disciples, not only on 
 account of its intellectual but its moral bearing also. 
 And as property is convertible into moral power, 
 look well to the state of your farms, shops, and all 
 your temporal interests. " Be diligent in business," 
 remembering Pastor Oberlin's plea that good roads 
 be made for Christ's sake. 
 
 Peculiar excellence in these respects will commend 
 your religion, and aid in casting up a highway for the 
 Lord. Let me also exhort you, beloved, to be pecu- 
 liarly zealous and liberal in sustaining the Institute. 
 This is expected of you abroad, and reasonably too. 
 You may through that institution preach by proxy 
 with great power. Let it live then in your prayers, 
 your contributions, your efforts to board its pupils 
 and promote its various interests, and do all this as 
 
APPENDIX. 34I 
 
 unto the Lord. The peculiarity which I desire in 
 this case is, that you do all this, not like most com- 
 munities surrounding literary institutions, for secular 
 gain, but for Christ's sake. Furthermore, lest you 
 become alienated in your minds, keep up an open, 
 frequent intercourse, of a truly Christian character. 
 I have deeply regretted that through the cares of 
 the world we were last season so estranged from 
 each other. Do, beloved, set aside everything which 
 hinders you from knowing each other as members of 
 one body in Christ our Lord. Let religion be your 
 theme, and praise and prayer a portion of your em- 
 ployment in all your social visits. Also strive to 
 keep up a kind of Christian intercourse with your 
 neighbors around Oberlin. Let not those dear 
 brethren who labor in Sabbath-schools and other- 
 wise for the salvation of those about you be weary 
 in well doing, but may others join them till no neigh- 
 borhood is left. Moreover, let me exhort you, as 
 the Lord's peculiar people, to be zealous in finding 
 out and employing those means by which the world 
 is to be converted. Fear not, brethren, to lead in 
 doing right. There must be a mighty overturning 
 before He whose right it is shall rule over all nations, 
 and the servants of God will have to turn much up- 
 side down, as Paul did, before all will be right. 
 There must also be many inventions of moral as well 
 as physical machinery before Satan's throne will be 
 demolished. Who should be forward in these over- 
 turnings and inventions if not my dear people at 
 Oberlin ? You know, beloved, I would not have you 
 rash or inconsiderate in changing a single custom ; 
 
34 2 OB E RUN. 
 
 but I would have you study and pray out the mind 
 of the Spirit and execute it promptly, without asking 
 how the world or even the Church would like it. 
 Nothing is more impolitic as well as wicked than to 
 substitute expediency for duty. This is now a 
 prevalent sin of the church, which nullifies her 
 power. It is so prevalent in all the churches that I 
 fear some of you, beloved, if not all, will yield to its 
 paralyzing influence. My fears are excited by your 
 recent expressions of unwillingness to have youth of 
 color educated in our Institute. Those expressions 
 were a grief to me, such as I have rarely suffered. 
 Although I knew that with some of you the doctrine 
 of expediency was against the immediate abolition 
 of slavery, because slaves are not qualified for free- 
 dom, I supposed you thought it expedient and duty 
 to elevate and educate them as fast as possible, that 
 therefore you would concur in receiving those of 
 promising talent and piety into our institution. So 
 confident was I that this would be the prevailing 
 sentiment of Oberlin in the colony and Institute that 
 about a year ago I informed eastern inquirers that 
 we received students according to character, irre- 
 spective of color; and, beloved, whatever the expe- 
 diency or prejudice of some may say, does not duty 
 require this? Most certainly. 
 
 For, i. They are needed as ministers, missionaries, 
 and teachers for the land of their fathers, and for 
 their untaught, injured, perishing brethren of our 
 country. 2. Their education seems highly essential 
 if not indispensable to the emancipation and salva- 
 tion of their colored brethren. 3. They will be ele- 
 
APPENDIX. 343 
 
 Vated much more rapidly if taught with whites, 
 hitherto far more favored, than if educated sepa- 
 rately. 4. The extremity of their wrongs at the 
 white man's hand requires that the best possible 
 means be employed, and without delay, for their ed- 
 ucation. 5. They can nowhere enjoy needed educa- 
 tion unless admitted to our institution, or others 
 established for whites. 6. God made them of one 
 blood with us ; they are our fellows. 7. They are 
 our neighbors, and whatsoever we would they should 
 do unto us, we must do unto them, or become guilty 
 before God. Suppose, beloved, your color were to 
 become black, what would you claim, in this respect, 
 to be your due as a neighbor? 8. Those we propose 
 to receive are the " little ones" of Christ. We must 
 " take heed how we offend one of these ' little ones.' " 
 9. The objection to associating with them for the 
 purpose of thus doing them good is like the objec- 
 tion of the Pharisees against our Saviour's eating 
 with publicans and sinners. 10. Intermarriage with 
 the whites is not asked, and need not be feared. 1 1. 
 None of you will be compelled to receive them into 
 your families, unless, like Christ, the love of your 
 neighbor compel you to. 12. Those who desire to 
 receive and educate them have the same right to do 
 it that Christ had to eat with publicans and sinners. 
 13. Colored youth have been educated at other in- 
 stitutions for whites. 14. They will doubtless be re- 
 ceived to all such institutions by and by, and why 
 should beloved Oberlin wait to do justice and show 
 mercy till all others have done it ? Why hesitate to 
 lead in the cause of humanity and of God ? 15. Col- 
 
344 OBERLLV. 
 
 ored youth cannot be rejected through fear that God 
 will be dishonored if they are received. 16. How- 
 ever it may be with you, brethren, I know that it 
 was only the pride of my wicked heart that caused 
 me to reject them while I did. 17. If we refuse to 
 deliver our brother now drawn unto death, I cannot 
 hope that God will smile upon us. 18. The men 
 and money which would make our institution most 
 useful cannot be obtained if we reject our colored 
 brother. Eight professorships and ten thousand 
 dollars are subscribed upon condition that Rev. C. 
 G. Finney become Professor of Theology in our In- 
 stitute, and he will not unless the youth of color are 
 received. Nor will President Mahan nor Professor 
 Morgan serve unless this condition is complied with. 
 And they all are the men we need, irrespective of 
 their anti-slavery sentiments. 19. If you suffer ex- 
 pediency or prejudice to pervert justice in this case 
 you will in another. 20. Such is my conviction of 
 duty in this case that I cannot labor for the enlarge- 
 ment of the Oberlin Collegiate Institute, if our 
 brethren in Jesus Christ must be rejected because 
 they differ from us in color. You know, dear breth- 
 ren and sisters, that it would be hard for me to leave 
 that institution which I planted in much fasting and 
 prayer and tribulation, sustained for a time by only 
 one brother, and then for months by only two breth- 
 ren, and for which I have prayed without ceasing, 
 laboring night and day, and watering it with my 
 sweat and my tears. You know it would be hard to 
 part with my dear associates in these labors. And 
 as I have you, as a people, in my heart to live and 
 
APPENDIX. 345 
 
 die with you, you know, beloved, that it would be 
 heart-breaking to leave you for another field of labor ; 
 but I have pondered the subject well, with prayer, 
 and believe that if the injured brother of color, and 
 consequently Brothers Finney, Mahan and Morgan, 
 with eight professorships and ten thousand dollars, 
 must be rejected, I must join them ; because by so 
 doing I can labor more effectually for a lost world 
 and the glory of God — and, believe me, dear breth- 
 ren and sisters, for this reason only. The agitation 
 produced by my request forwarded to the trustees, 
 some weeks since, was unexpected. I was sorry 
 that it occurred, but happy that you fasted and 
 prayed it down. I trust that season has prepared 
 the minds of all who devoutly observed it for 
 this communication, which I would have suppressed 
 till my return had I not been under the necessity 
 of communicating the same to the trustees for im- 
 mediate decision, because our professors and funds 
 are all suspended upon that decision, and myself 
 also. May God of his infinite mercy grant that in 
 this, and all things right, we may be " perfectly joined 
 together in one mind." For two weeks after I left 
 Oberlin I was quite unwell with a cold ; but the Lord 
 has since blessed me greatly with health. I have 
 here been some four weeks upon the Graham system 
 of diet, which is nature's system, and my health is 
 essentially improved. Last Sabbath morning I 
 preached in the old Chatham Theatre, now Chatham 
 Chapel, which is immensely large, and more than an 
 hour, and to the Fourth Free Church as long in the 
 afternoon, and yet felt well on Monday morning. I 
 
34-6 O BERLIN. 
 
 now indulge sanguine hope that through this system 
 of diet and the blessing of God I shall be able to re- 
 engage in pastoral labor. And if on my return in 
 April next, God willing, you, beloved flock, should 
 still concur in desiring me to be your pastor, and 
 concur in doing good to our oppressed brethren of 
 color, I shall bless God for the privilege of wearing 
 out as your servant for Christ's sake. 
 As ever your affectionate brother, 
 
 John J. Shipherd. 
 
 Asa Mahan to N. P. Fletcher, Secretary. 
 
 New York, March 12, 1835. 
 
 Brother Fletcher: 
 
 Though personally I am unknown to you, I can- 
 not regard myself as a stranger. The residence of 
 your daughter in my family has endeared to us all 
 that are dear to her. Then through Brother Ship- 
 herd and others I know you as an endeared brother 
 in Christ. But I have not time nor disposition for 
 compliments now. We are doing a great work, and 
 cannot descend to such objects. My object in writ- 
 ing is to make some statements and suggestions 
 respecting the dear institution to which our energies 
 and prayers are mutually consecrated. To-morrow 
 I expect to start for Cincinnati, after having passed 
 through the middle and western part of this State. 
 Brother Shipherd is expected daily in this city, 
 
APPENDIX. 347 
 
 where he and Brother Finney will commence opera- 
 tions for raising funds, etc. 
 
 From all that has been done and promised, our 
 success is certain but for two occurrences which may 
 the Father of all mercies prevent : i. If we do not 
 "wax fat and kick," and God for this reason aban- 
 don us. 2. If those who have control of the destiny 
 of Oberlin stand firm at this crisis. Will the trus- 
 tees secede from the stand which they have taken, 
 or will they quit themselves like men? If they will, 
 and give the public manifestation of the fact, funds 
 can be raised, all temporalities can be supplied, and 
 Heaven will bless us. 
 
 Dear Brother, have you confidence in the Board 
 of Trustees associated with you ? If so, write im- 
 mediately to Brother Shipherd in this city and let 
 him know. Everything, with the favor of God, de- 
 pends upon this. Through Brother Keep you have 
 no doubt received a notice of his new purposes, and 
 our acceptance of our several appointments. As 
 soon as possible after my arrival in Cincinnati, I in- 
 tend to start for Oberlin. I hope some log house 
 will be prepared for our reception. There we shall 
 rejoice to stay till better accommodations are pro- 
 vided. Myself, and all associated with me, come 
 upon the field not to live in splendor, but to work 
 for God and a dying world. I hope that we shall be 
 able to say to all our pupils, be ye " followers of us 
 as we are of Christ." Brother Finney is a man of 
 God, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. His like 
 cannot be found in any other institution in the 
 country. His coadjutors will be men of kindred 
 
348 OBERUN. 
 
 spirit. Will not the Lord of Hosts be with us, and 
 the God of Jacob be our refuge ? He will. Oberlin 
 shall yet become a great luminary in the kingdom 
 of Christ, whose light shall encircle the whole earth. 
 Write me at Cincinnati, as soon as this is received, 
 without fail. Love to all who love the Lord Jesus 
 Christ in sincerity. 
 
 Your brother, 
 
 A. Mahan. 
 
 From Dr. and Mrs. Dascomb, to Home 
 Friends. 
 
 Oberlin, April 7, 1835. 
 Dear Mother: 
 
 In a former letter you received some description 
 of Oberlin, but it has changed much since. The 
 number of inhabitants has very much increased dur- 
 ing the year that we have lived here, and we are 
 expecting a large accession this spring, as soon as 
 the travelling becomes good. More than twenty of 
 the students who left Lane Seminary are daily ex- 
 pected here to complete their education. Mr. Fin- 
 ney is expected here next week in company with 
 Mr. Shipherd. Some twenty or thirty families will 
 doubtless be in during the summer. 
 
 The character which the Institution has assumed, 
 viz., a " new divinity" and " abolition" seminary, will 
 render it popular in New York and Ohio, and the 
 eminent men who have recently been appointed as 
 professors will attract students from all quarters. 
 
APPEXDIX. 349 
 
 Funds will not be wanting, and if these principles 
 and their practical application meet the approbation 
 of God, the Institution will prosper. . . . Do 
 you ask how so many students and colonists can 
 be accommodated? We do not live in " hollow 
 trees," but many of the students will live this sea- 
 son in a temporary shed, which is partially prepared, 
 and is to consist of twenty-five or thirty rooms, sep- 
 arated from each other by rough boards. It is to be 
 shingled with slabs. 
 
 The new measures in the Institute will make some 
 change in our situation. 
 
 The increase of population will soon furnish busi- 
 ness enough for the undivided attention of a phy- 
 sician. On the other hand the plans of the Institute 
 are maturing so rapidly, that the department which 
 is assigned to me will demand the entire energies of 
 one man. Under these circumstances I must either 
 resign my office in the Institute or relinquish the 
 practice of medicine. 
 
 I prefer the former for several reasons. I. I am 
 better qualified for the practice of my profession 
 than for the duties of professor in the Institute. 2d. 
 People have reposed some confidence in me as a phy- 
 sician, but I think it very doubtful whether I should 
 ever gain much reputation, or be able to do much 
 good as a lecturer. 3d. I am not entirely pleased 
 with all the " new measures" respecting the Institute. 
 I have not consulted with the trustees and my 
 friends upon the subject, but I now think I shall 
 resign my office. . . . I can never be sufficiently 
 grateful that I was so kindly received into your fain- 
 
35° OB E RUN. 
 
 in 
 
 ily, and allowed to become a son. In every trial, 
 sorrows and in joys, Marianne is just the companion 
 I need, and everything I could wish. And while she 
 is regarded with daily increasing affection, her dear 
 mother, and brother, and sisters at home will please 
 accept a full share of my love. 
 
 J. DASCOMB. 
 
 Our folio does not get filled very fast, my dear 
 mother. We intended this should be the letter next 
 mailed by us when we commenced it, but we had a 
 letter from Oakham a few days since, which we 
 thought should be answered immediately, and so, 
 with all our other duties to perform, we have neg- 
 lected this sheet. I find my school engagements 
 occupy most of my time, yet it is time pleasantly 
 spent. I do not come home at night so fatigued as 
 I used to be when I had a whole school to manage 
 alone. The government of the school, and its gen- 
 eral plans, devolve now upon a president, and I have 
 nothing to do but to discharge faithfully my orifice 
 as teacher of a few classes. I devote most of my 
 time out of school to preparing for recitations. 
 
 I must inform you that I am a pupil as well as 
 teacher. I recite daily with Dr. Dascomb's class in 
 botany, being desirous of extending my knowledge 
 of that science. Should Providence give me as much 
 leisure and opportunity as I now have, to cultivate 
 the mind, I intend to improve it. 
 
 Last winter I attended the chemical recitations 
 when convenient. You will say I am partial to the 
 professor of chemistry and botany, as I confine my 
 
APPENDIX, 351 
 
 studies to his department. I shall not refuse to 
 have other teachers when I take other studies, 
 though I may express as much regret as some of 
 the other ladies have at changing teachers. . . . 
 Mr. Mahan, our President, has been here a few- 
 weeks. We are very much pleased with him. He 
 has been very successful as a pastor in Cincinnati, 
 and was urgently invited to become pastor of a 
 church in New York City at the time he was called 
 to Oberlin. He is an eloquent preacher, and I think 
 I never heard more instructive and practical ser, 
 mons. I trust he will be a blessing to this Institu, 
 tion. ... I wish our dear friends from " Parkei 
 House" could step in and visit us in our little cham. 
 ber. It was built purposely for us, and is just such 
 a neat, quiet little retreat as we love. We removed 
 from the boarding-house last winter to Deacon 
 Pease's, and find our situation far preferable to 
 what it was last summer. Mrs. Pease is a pleasant 
 woman, and manages her children well. She thinks 
 much of making her boarders happy. Deacon Pease 
 is more like Deacon Wilson than any one I know of. 
 He looks like Uncle Tenney— is ardently pious. It 
 seems quite proper that the two deacons should be 
 in the same family, for you must know the good 
 people have elected your son in Oberlin to that 
 office. The choice is quite recent. One of the 
 deacons chosen last summer removed from Oberlin, 
 and Dr. D. was chosen in his stead. There were but 
 one or two votes for any other man, which showed 
 the unanimity of feeling. They choose deacons 
 only for one year here, otherwise Dr. D. would 
 
35 2 OBERLIN. 
 
 have declined on account of his profession, the 
 duties of which will often call him from home. 
 
 Mr. Pease's little son inquired the other day what 
 D.D.D. stood for. We saw from his countenance 
 that he was grappling with a brilliant thought, but 
 were unable to guess the enigma. He informed us 
 it was Deacon Doctor Dascomb. Whenever I write 
 a word respecting husband that is complimentary it 
 distresses him as much as it used to A. He has the 
 same low opinion of himself that used to interest 
 me in him in old times. I don't know but the fact 
 of his being no office seeker is the reason that 
 the good people here are fond of electing him. He 
 has been made President of the Lyceum, one of 
 the committee to oversee the Sabbath-school in 
 this place and others connected with it, auditor of 
 accounts for the agent of Oberlin Collegiate Insti- 
 tute, secretary of the Oberlin Temperance Society, 
 and secretary of the County Medical Society, etc. 
 I mention these little things to mother, because I 
 know she will be anxious to know whether we 
 meet with cordial friends in our new home. We 
 have more and better friends than we deserve. You 
 would be delighted with some of our good men and 
 women of the colony, and students of the Institute. 
 . . . As I wrote this I stopped my pen, and raised 
 my eyes to laugh, and as my eyes rested on an object 
 seen from my window, my risibility increased as I 
 thought I would describe it to Hannah. It is the 
 palace of Pres. Mahan. It was not originally erected 
 for him, being the first house erected in Oberlin. It 
 was made of the bodies of the monarchs of our for- 
 
 
APPENDIX. 353 
 
 est in their native state, no hammer or saw being 
 allowed to mar their pristine beauty. The mansion 
 is on Centre Street, being at the north end of a 
 block of buildings in the same style of architecture. 
 In the front of this dwelling is one door, and a few 
 inches from it one window. This whole pile having 
 become somewhat dilapidated by the encroachment 
 of time, or the depredation of village school-boys 
 who have been trained there for a few months past, 
 has been repaired, and a shanty of rough boards ad- 
 ded to make more numerous apartments. I have 
 not been in recently to observe modern improve- 
 ments, but the President says they shall have a fine 
 suite of apartments, a parlor, kitchen, bedroom, etc. 
 His family have not yet arrived, but are daily ex- 
 pected. They have two children. Mrs. Mahan was 
 educated a lady, in affluence. She is said to be a 
 superior woman. Their house will be built in a few 
 months. It will be large. There are but few log 
 houses here. Few of the framed houses are com- 
 pletely finished, but many of them are neat and 
 comfortable. Indeed the log houses are comfortable, 
 and some of them exhibit as much neatness as Mr. 
 Curtis's of D. I had no idea they could be fit for 
 habitations for man. As for our stumps, I have 
 ceased to think of them, except in a dark night, 
 when my unwary steps lead me upon them. We 
 shall soon have good roads, as strenuous efforts are 
 to be made for them. . . . 
 
 May the blessing of God rest upon you all, is the 
 daily prayer of. 
 
 Marianne. 
 
354 OBERLIN. 
 
 From Arthur Tappan. 
 
 New York, May, 1835. 
 
 Rev. J. J. Shipherd : 
 
 Dear Sir : It is unnecessary for me to say to you 
 that I feel a deep interest in your institution. My 
 actions must have convinced you of this ; but very 
 inadequately indeed, for the full extent of my interest 
 in it I should find it difficult to express either in 
 words or actions. I believe with you that it is the 
 work of God and will prosper, though not perhaps 
 quite as rapidly as our desires would have it. But 
 " God's ways are" truly in such undertakings " not 
 as our ways." The storms of opposition, and may 
 be the pecuniary struggles it has to contend with, 
 are perhaps providentially ordered to cause its roots 
 to strike deeper, and to make its ultimate prosperity 
 more certain. 
 
 But my object in writing is to say that should you 
 fail of obtaining the aid you anticipate, and that is 
 necessary to carry forward the enterprise with needed 
 celerity, I propose that you shall enable me, or Mr. 
 Wm. Green, Jr., and myself, to raise money on the 
 property belonging to the institution, by mortgaging 
 it to us in trust for the purpose. If you can place 
 security ample and sufficient in our hands, I am ready 
 to say you may draw on me for ten thousand dol- 
 lars, on the strength of it, in the course of the present 
 year, if it is needed. 
 
 Yours in Christian bonds, 
 
 Arthur Tappan. 
 
APPENDIX. 355 
 
 P. S. — My subscription of five thousand dollars 
 your treasurer may draw for, as it is needed, in drafts 
 at ninety days' sight. This is independent of the 
 above proposition. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 A. T. 
 
 From Lewis Tappan. 
 
 New York, May 5, 1835. 
 
 Dear Brother Shipherd : 
 
 When I paid the first instalment of my subscrip- 
 tion, it was my intention, as I mentioned to you, to 
 accompany it with a letter expressing my view as to 
 future payments. Time did not then allow of it, 
 and I write this short letter, retaining a copy, that it 
 may be clearly understood on what footing my sub- 
 scription stands. The written condition is, that 
 Rev. C. G. Finney should be Professor of Theology 
 in the Oberlin Institution, and the verbal addition 
 was, that antislavery principles should be recognized 
 in the Institution, freely discussed and inculcated ; 
 and that the broad ground of moral reform, in all its 
 departments, should characterize the instructions. 
 The subscriptions were to be paid while in the judg- 
 ment of the subscriber these things were recognized 
 and taught. I wish to be very careful in stating the 
 mutual understanding we had on the subject, be- 
 cause since my subscription was made I have felt 
 and expressed, in your hearing and Brother Finney's, 
 strong doubts whether antislavery principles and 
 
35 6 O BERLIN, 
 
 practices would be satisfactorily inculcated at Ober- 
 lin. Praying God to bless the instructors and stu- 
 dents, and make the Institution a great blessing to 
 this land and the world, 
 
 I am, dear sir, your obedient servant, 
 Lewis Tappan. 
 
 Arthur Tappan to J. J. Shipherd. 
 
 New York, May 6, 1835. 
 
 Rev. and Dear Sir : 
 
 Rev. Mr. Finney left here yesterday for Oberlin. 
 He has the prayers of many here for his safe arrival 
 with you, and we indulge high hopes of his useful- 
 ness in the institution to which he has been called at 
 Oberlin. You will doubtless hear that an effort is 
 making on the Reserve by the friends of the Western 
 Reserve College to get him there. I sincerely hope 
 he will not listen for a moment to any such proposi- 
 tion, for nothing short of a thorough change in the 
 men who govern that institution, as well the trustees 
 as the Faculty — with the exception of a small min- 
 ority — would ensure to the friends of liberal senti- 
 ments the glorious results now confidently anticipated 
 from Oberlin. ... I feel much interested in your 
 institution and shall at all times be obliged to you for 
 any intelligence touching its prosperity. 
 
 With great respect and esteem, 
 I am truly yours, 
 
 Arthur Tappan, 
 
appendix. 357 
 
 From Arthur Tappan. 
 
 New York, June 15, 1835. 
 Rev. J. J. Shipherd : 
 
 Dear Sir: . . . Permit me to suggest that some 
 regard should be had to the style of building, and 
 laying out your college grounds. There is a great 
 defect in this particular in our eastern colleges. With, 
 out much, if any, additional expense, good taste may 
 be consulted in the public and private buildings you 
 erect, and the grounds around them. And it will 
 add not a little to the satisfaction of your friends 
 when they visit you, if I may judge from my own 
 feelings. 
 
 And is it not true that chasteness in architecture 
 and adjoining grounds has a refining influence on 
 the character, and adds immensely to the enjoyment 
 of life? I feel that it is a religious duty to imitate 
 our Heavenly Benefactor in this as in all his other 
 perfections. With much regard, 
 
 Yours, 
 Arthur Tappan. 
 
 From T. S. Ingersoll — A Colonist. 
 
 To the Board of Trust for the Oberlin Collegiate 
 Institute. 
 
 Dear Brethren: 
 
 Will you suffer a word from one who loves the 
 cause in which you are engaged ? The Lord has 
 made you the almoners of bounty, in a work of 
 
35 8 OBERLIN. 
 
 most interesting and fearfully responsible character. 
 He has opened wide the hand of his bounty, and 
 poured into his treasury which he has established 
 here in the wilderness, for an express, definite pur- 
 pose ; and that object is no other than the world's 
 conversion to Jesus Christ, in the soonest possible 
 time. And to accomplish this, many and spacious 
 buildings are requisite for the accommodation of those 
 whom God has called to take the charge of others, 
 whom he in his providence has called to prepare to 
 preach the everlasting Gospel ; also buildings for the 
 students preparatory to this great work. You, my 
 dear brethren, have taught us to regard this as God's 
 work, God's buildings, God's institution and God's 
 property, and this is right ; because you have in a 
 special manner consecrated yourselves to God for 
 this work which he has assigned you. And he has 
 consecrated all the funds, which he has sent here, to 
 a most holy service, and the whole, funds, land, 
 buildings, all, all, have again and again been most 
 solemnly consecrated to God for the above described 
 purpose, by him who w r as the founder of this in- 
 stitution, and who gathered this colony, and by the 
 colonists whom he gathered, and may I not say by 
 your honorable body also. 
 
 Seeing these things are so, what manner of build- 
 ings and what manner of work ought your body to 
 direct to be built? 
 
 " Be ye not conformed to this world," is the injunc- 
 tion of Him who has called you to be his stewards. 
 Again, those things that are highly esteemed among 
 men — men of this world, impenitent men — are an 
 
APPENDIX. 359 
 
 abomination in the sight of God. My dear brethren, 
 will you build houses for the servants of the Most 
 High God, with his own money, in a manner that 
 will be highly esteemed among men, and because 
 they are so, "an abomination in the sight of Him" 
 for whom they are built ? Will you direct or even 
 suffer mechanics to build, even at their own expense, 
 houses here for carrying forward the Lord's work, 
 merely to be esteemed by the men of this world, 
 that you may secure their friendship? Know ye, 
 11 that he that would be a friend to the world, is the 
 enemy of God," for, " the friendship of this world is 
 enmity with God." " Ye cannot serve God and 
 mammon." In the house which is built for Brother 
 Mahan, I have found some forty or more dollars' 
 worth of work in the two north rooms which I can- 
 not for my life find any good reason for, except it be 
 to please the taste of a vitiated world. An impeni- 
 tent master-builder remarked to me the other day, 
 that he thought President Mahan's house might have 
 been built three hundred dollars cheaper, taking size 
 and style, and have it answer the object for which it 
 ought to be built, especially when the public's money 
 was employed for the work. . . . 
 
 There is a plain, neat, simple style of building, 
 which commends itself to every man's enlightened 
 good sense, and still will not be highly esteemed by 
 the world, neither is it an abomination in the sight 
 of God. 
 
 Will my brethren seek for this style of having the 
 work of the Lord done, which is committed to their 
 hands? If so, from whom will they draw their 
 
360 OBERLW.- 
 
 models ? From the word of God, or from the word 
 of Benjamin, or some other human architect? 
 
 Supposing all the buildings which are to be 
 erected here with the Lord's money be built in the 
 style of good architectural taste, so that the men of 
 this world would commend us for our good style, and 
 correct taste, and by this we should secure the influ- 
 ence which this world affords — what would be gained ? 
 What? I will tell you, my dear brethren. We should 
 gain that which Jesus Christ said on another though 
 somewhat similar occasion, " Woe unto you, when 
 all men shall speak well of you." With much love, 
 and anxious solicitude for the cause of God in Ober- 
 lin, I subscribe myself, 
 
 Your brother in Christ, 
 
 T. S. Ingersoll. 
 
 OBERLIN, March 9, 1836. 
 
 From J. J. Shipherd— Pastoral Letter. 
 To the Churcli of CJirist in Oberlin. 
 
 Dearly Beloved: 
 
 Although the endearing relation which I sustain 
 to you as pastor has existed only about one year, 
 duty requires that it should be dissolved. I thank 
 God, dear brothers and sisters, that this dissolution 
 is not called for because we have fallen out by the 
 way, but for the furtherance of the Gospel. You 
 are in my heart to live and die with you, and your 
 Christian regards to me have been so demonstrated, 
 
APPENDIX. 361 
 
 that I doubt not their sincerity, nor their strength. 
 Yet a strong hand binds us to God our Saviour, and 
 his will is paramount to our pleasure. That it is the 
 will of the great Head of the church, that I should 
 now resign my pastoral office, appears to me plain, 
 in the subsequent facts : 1. I have not been profit- 
 able to you in the ministry, I have longed to feed 
 the sheep, and feed the lambs, and reconcile the 
 rebellious to God ; but ill health and the draughts 
 of the Institute upon my health and time have ren- 
 dered it impossible for me to accomplish this work. 
 I can merely pass it off in an ordinary way, which 
 will no more answer for Oberlin than it will do for 
 you to be an ordinary church. 2. The great Head 
 of the Church is opening before me a door of useful- 
 ness, wide and effectual, in the work of Christian 
 education, and distinctly calling me into that great 
 and blessed work. So that while I can do but little 
 in the plenteous harvests by personal ministry, I 
 can do much to supply it with effective laborers, and 
 thus preach Christ still, through the Oberlin Insti- 
 tute, and kindred seminaries, which, under God, I 
 may aid in building. 3. In these views, as far as I 
 know, my brethren and sisters concur, so that I need 
 not specify other reasons, nor amplify these, which 
 are as conclusive as they are brief. Permit me, 
 brethren, however, to add a brief expression of my 
 strong desire that you elect as my successor none 
 but a man after God's own heart, thoroughly fur- 
 nished for the peculiar work of Oberlin. You must 
 not only have a preacher in power, but a pastor in 
 practice, who will be in every home and every heart 
 
362 BERLIN. 
 
 whose soul is imbued with the principle of the Ober- 
 lin covenant. 
 
 Unless you can get such a man, my advice is that 
 you settle no one, but rely, under God, upon your 
 own labors, aided by our dear brethren of the Faculty. 
 Considering the plenteousness of the harvests, the 
 fewness of the laborers, and the number of ministers 
 connected with the Institution, I have sometimes 
 doubted whether you ought to take, from another 
 field, such a man as would fill the pastoral office 
 here. But considering the peculiar and the immense 
 bearings of this church upon others, and the world, 
 for their sakes as well as yours, and for the glory of 
 God abroad as well as here, I advise that you in- 
 vite the best man you can find on Zion's walls, whose 
 peculiar circumstances do not forbid his leaving his 
 present post. I have thought that you and the 
 trustees might elect jointly a pastor and professor 
 of pastoral theology, if a man combining the requisite 
 qualifications could be found. But looking abroad, 
 in the extensive circle of my ministerial acquaint- 
 ances, and considering the amount of parochial labors 
 required in this large and growing church, I do not 
 believe the man lives who could finish the work of 
 both offices. Nevertheless if the Colony and the 
 Institute cannot be bound together thus in one fold 
 under one shepherd, be sure you settle a man who 
 will encircle the Colony in one arm and the Institute 
 in another, holding them as a church in inseparable 
 Christian union. And now, beloved in Jesus, remem- 
 ber your high calling, your infinite responsibility, and 
 press toward the mark. You have witnessed a good 
 
APPENDIX. 363 
 
 profession before the world. Oh, let your practice 
 correspond. You stand on the pinnacle of Zion's 
 hill. Oh, reflect the pure cloudless light of the Sun 
 of righteousness. Remember that, like Thesaloni- 
 ca, Oberlin must be an example to all that believe, 
 or reproach Christ and ruin a multitude of souls. 
 Therefore let the Oberlin covenant, or, in other 
 words, the Gospel, be stereotyped in your hearts, 
 and embodied in you, dear brethren and sisters, as 
 living epistles, known and read of all men. But I 
 must suppress the overflowing of my heart toward 
 you, and close by saying, " only let your conversation 
 be as becometh the Gospel of Christ, that whether 
 I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of 
 your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one 
 mind, striving together for the faith of the Gospel, 
 and in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which 
 is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you 
 of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is 
 given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on 
 him, but also to suffer for his sake." That you, be- 
 loved, might be perfect as your Father in Heaven is 
 perfect, is the prayer of your affectionate pastor, 
 
 John J. Shipherd. 
 Oberlin, June 15, 1836. 
 
 From Joshua Leavitt. 
 
 Buffalo, July 11, 1835. 
 Brother Shipherd : 
 
 If I am not mistaken your professorship of mathe- 
 matics has been vacated. While here attending a 
 
364 ODERLIN. 
 
 temperance convention I have become pleasingly 
 acquainted with Dr. William K. Scott, of Sandy 
 Hill, N. Y., whose character as a teacher of math- 
 ematics stands very high, as certified by the late 
 Governor Pitcher, Hon. Henry C. Martindale and 
 other scientific gentlemen. He is afloat now, and I 
 
 presume could be had for Oberlin I can 
 
 hardly bear to go back to New York without visit- 
 ing that loved spot, but Mr. Benedict's health is 
 poor, and I must hasten home, as I do not see any 
 special reason to go. Go on, brother ; build your 
 houses and select your teachers, and the Lord be 
 with you. I think more and more, from what I hear 
 at the eastward, that John P. Cowles and Brother 
 Barrows ought to be kept before you as candidates 
 for some post, and that they could do you good. 
 Love to Brother Finney and all others. The lectures 
 go well, and we want another series next winter. 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Joshua Leavitt. 
 
 From Lewis Tappan. 
 
 New York, Aug. 10, 1835. 
 
 Dear Brother Shipherd: 
 
 .... I intended to have mentioned to you pre- 
 viously my design to resign the office of president 
 of the association to perpetuate the professorships. 
 I have communicated the same to Mr. I. W. Clark, 
 the secretary. I have so much business of various 
 
APPENDIX. 365 
 
 kinds to attend to that I cannot well act on the 
 above committee. I recommend Brother Wm. 
 Green, Jr., as successor. 
 
 The enemy has come out with great wrath and 
 fury. Unusual excitement prevails in the South 
 and in fact throughout the country. Threats of 
 assassination and abduction are loud and frequent. 
 My brother is the special object of the blood-thirsty 
 vengeance of the slavery men. What measures they 
 may take it is impossible to foresee. I suppose the 
 " prudent" abolitionists will accuse us of some injudi- 
 cious measures that have excited the people through- 
 out the United States, and we shall be told, "The 
 prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself." 
 My house has been named in a hand-bill signed 
 Judge Lynch, as a mark of popular fury. But 
 hitherto the Lord has preserved us, and blessed be 
 his holy name ! 
 
 The executive committee are firm to a man, de- 
 termined to go forward, even at the expense of 
 property and life. We feel a calmness and confi- 
 dence in God that supports us in this trying hour. 
 Out of one hundred and seventy-five thousand pub- 
 lications issued by the American Antislavery Society 
 in July, only one thousand were burnt at Charleston, 
 S. C. — the one hundred and seventy-fifth part ! The 
 rest are working their way all over the land. We 
 did not send one to a slave or even a free man of 
 color at the South, though we claim a right to send 
 to the latter. The Lord we trust will overrule " this 
 madness of the people" to the promotion of the 
 blessed cause, and the glory of his name. 
 
366 OBERLW. 
 
 With Christian regard to the dear brethren, I am 
 your friend and brother, 
 
 Lewis Tappan. 
 
 Thomas Clarkson to Wm. Dawes, in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Playford Hall, Oct. 14, 1839. 
 
 To William Dazves : 
 
 My Respected Friend : 
 
 I am very sorry that in consequence of my having 
 passed several sleepless nights, I was not able to 
 enter so fully as I could have wished, into the object 
 of your mission to this country, when you did me 
 the honor of calling upon me. It is a matter of 
 great pleasure to have had from you an account of 
 the Oberlin establishment. I cannot but take a 
 deep interest in its welfare, seeing how many desir- 
 able objects it combines, and how well calculated it 
 is, but particularly at this moment, to meet preju- 
 dices, and to oppose the efforts of interested men, 
 who set themselves up, in defiance of the laws of 
 God, to trample under foot human liberty, and to 
 reduce man, to whom the powers of intellect were 
 given, to the situation of the brute. I know not to 
 what a degrading state your unhappy country will be 
 brought, unless a stop be put to slavery. Will you 
 continue long, unless you change your measures, to 
 be reckoned among the civilized nations of the 
 earth? To be familiar with the sound of injustice 
 
APPENDIX. 367 
 
 daily in your ears, and to lend no helping hand, 
 must produce in time a taint or corruption which 
 must injure the moral character. Has not this cor- 
 ruption already begun? Has it not proceeded from 
 blacks to whites? 
 
 From a systematic familiarity with oppression 
 have not your rulers begun to oppress you their fel- 
 low subjects? You are forbidden to speak, you are 
 forbidden to write, or even to petition on this sub- 
 ject. Where is this the case but in most despotic 
 countries? Surely it could never have been foreseen 
 that this would ever have been the case in the 
 United States. It becomes you, therefore, to do 
 all you can to wipe away this stain from your coun- 
 try. And I rejoice, therefore, to hear that the Ober- 
 lin Society has risen up, and that it has had the 
 courage to rise up under such circumstances, amidst 
 the growing darkness and immorality spreading 
 over your once happy land, to meet the evil in 
 question. 
 
 I heard with pleasure that the corporation of the 
 City of London received the petition in behalf of the 
 Oberlin establishment with so much courtesy. I 
 cannot doubt of their doing something liberally and 
 handsomely towards promoting the object of it. 
 But after all, it is not so much what they give as the 
 high sanction of their example. This ought to be 
 justly estimated in the United States, and it is to 
 be the more appreciated when it is considered that 
 men of different religious denominations, and of dif- 
 ferent political parties were assembled to receive the 
 petition. It is highly creditable to this corporation 
 
368 O BERLIN. 
 
 that they should have listened to the petition of 
 American Abolitionists, whom we are unfortunately 
 obliged to consider as aliens in point of country, 
 though they sprang from ourselves. Their motive 
 could only have been a real compassion for the dis- 
 tressed. I trust that God in his providence is 
 opening a way through the Oberlin Society, or that 
 he will open a way, for the relief of the oppressed of 
 our fellow creatures who are the subject of this 
 letter. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Thomas Clarkson. 
 
 Note. — The vote of the Corporation was eighty- 
 one yeas and eighty-three nays. — Ed, 
 
 Hon. Josiah Harris, of Amherst, to his 
 Wife. 
 
 Columbus, O., Thanksgiving A. M., 1842. 
 : I must say to you that you can have no 
 
 conception of the opposition and prejudice existing 
 against Oberlin College in the Legislature. This 
 year it arises principally from the numerous peti- 
 tions presented last year for the repeal of its charter 
 and from a book, " Oberlin Unmasked," passing 
 round in the House, and a thousand unfavorable 
 rumors in relation to amalgamation, fanaticism, har- 
 boring fugitive slaves, etc., all founded upon rumor 
 without any evidence of their truth before the Legis- 
 lature. 
 
APPENDIX. 369 
 
 Mr. McNulty, of the House, at the commence- 
 ment of the session, on notice, introduced a bill for 
 the repeal of the Oberlin College charter, which is 
 still pending. It is now in the hands of the Com- 
 mittee on Corporations in that branch of the Legis- 
 lature. They had not reported yesterday. It is 
 now pretty generally thought that it will pass the 
 House. If so, then will come on the war in the 
 Senate. 
 
 I will say to you that I had a little flare-up in the 
 Senate on the subject of a bill to incorporate the 
 Dialectic Association of the Oberlin Collegiate Insti- 
 tute [a college literary society]. The passage of 
 the bill came on when I was the most melancholy in 
 regard to news from home. I said nothing in its 
 favor. The yeas and nays being called for, it was 
 lost. 
 
 The next day I got Mr. Walton from Monroe, one 
 of the majority, to move a reconsideration of that 
 vote. I seconded him and gave the Senate a short 
 speech, thanking the gentleman from Monroe, and 
 demanding my right to a reconsideration as a mem- 
 ber on the floor of the Senate. The motion carried 
 unanimously. Then I moved it be laid on the 
 table, which was agreed to. All the objection to the 
 bill seemed to be because it had the words, " Ober- 
 lin Collegiate Institute." I name the above so that 
 you may know something of the spirit existing in 
 the Senate in relation to Oberlin. 
 
 P. M. — Have just returned from the Methodist 
 church and resume. I have conversed with several 
 members about Oberlin. I say to them that the most 
 
370 OBERLIN. 
 
 or all the rumors about the people there are un- 
 founded. They are willing for an examination even 
 by a committee from those most prejudiced against 
 Oberlin College. I say also that they are a component 
 part of my constituency whose rights are invaded 
 without any just cause, as there is not a petition pre- 
 sented to either branch of the Legislature this session 
 for a repeal of their charter. If the subject comes 
 up in the Senate I shall contend against it inch by 
 inch. 
 
 I also say that I am no Abolitionist, nor a disciple 
 of Oberlin, but I want to see the rights of all pro- 
 tected on the principle of the old Democratic motto, 
 " Equal and exact justice to all men." 
 
 I have opened a correspondence with H. C. Tay- 
 lor, of Oberlin, who is furnishing me with papers, 
 etc., to enable me to make defence against a repeal. 
 I hope the bill will not pass the House. If it does I 
 shall do the best I can on the subject, whether I am 
 condemned or applauded in my own county. 
 
 When I see the rights of people invaded with as 
 much vituperation as they are, right, justice to my- 
 self and my country urge me to rise in their defence, 
 though they may think differently from me on most 
 subjects. 
 
 NOTE. — " Oberlin Unmasked " was a scurrilous 
 pamphlet published by a dismissed student. — Ed. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abkeyville School, 76 
 Accession from Lane Seminary, 
 
 50 
 Accommodations for Students, 
 
 39 
 
 Allen, Prof. George N., 196, 
 294 
 
 Alumni, 298 
 
 American Beard, 134 
 
 American Missionary Associa- 
 tion, 144 
 
 Amistad Captives, 137 
 
 Antislavery Discussion at Lane, 
 
 5i 
 Antislavery Excitement, 365 
 Antislavery Lecturers, 75 
 Antislavery Voting, in 
 Appeal to Corporation of Lon- 
 don, 209 
 Appendix, 305 
 Arnold, Mr. and Mrs., 140 
 Athletic Association, 262 
 Attendance of Young Women, 
 
 176 
 Avery, Dr. Charles, 213 
 
 Bailey, Dr., 54 
 Baker, Lieut. E. H., 164 
 Balance of Power, no 
 Bank, First National, 244 
 
 Baptism of the Spirit, 93 
 Barnard, Mrs., 144 
 Barrows, Rev. E. P., 2S7 
 Beardsley, Julius O., 137 
 Benevolence Theory, S4 
 Bible Classes, 257 
 Biblical Study, 256 
 Boarding Hall, A New, 44 
 Branch, Miss Eliza, 38 
 Branch, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel, 
 
 41 
 Brand, Rev. James, 106 
 Buildings Needed, 232 
 Building of First Church, 103 
 Building of Second Church, 107 
 Buildings, Original Cost of, 231 
 Buildings, Style of, 357 
 Burleigh, William H., 280 
 Burning of Classics, 71 
 Burrell, Mr. J. L., 295 
 Bushnell, Simeon, 124 
 Butts, L, D., 76 
 
 Cabinet, 233 
 Cabinet Hall, 228 
 Carpenter's Shop, 217 
 Catalogue for 1S35, 74 
 Cemetery, 241 
 Chapel, The First, 39 
 Chapel, Changes of, 226 
 
372 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Chapel Bell, 226 
 
 Chapin, Mr. Josiah, 207 
 
 Chapin, Mr. Wm. C, 215, 212 
 
 Charter, 40 
 
 Charter, Attempts to Repeal, 
 
 116, 369 
 Chase, Gov., Speech of, 129 
 China Band, 145 
 Christian Perfection, 91 
 Church, Attendance of Students, 
 
 108 
 Church for the College, 104 
 Church Organized, 47 
 Cincinnati Hall, 219, 67 
 Citizens Indicted, 123 
 Class Prayer Meetings, 258 
 Cleveland University, 278 
 Cochran, Prof. William, 94, 
 
 294 
 Co education, 173, 182 
 College Buildings, 216 
 College Chapel, 225 
 Ccllege Class, The First, 49 
 College Farm, 186 
 College Farm Leased, 192 
 College Park, 243 
 College Discipline, 263 
 College Work, 248 
 College Work in the War, 171 
 College Treasurers, 297 
 College Journalism, 260 
 College, Undenominational, 107 
 Collegiate Institute, The Name, 
 
 40 
 Colonial Hall, 69, 219 
 "Colonial Hall, First Service in, 
 
 70 
 Colonists, 10, 296 
 Colonists, the Earliest, 36 
 Colonists and Slaverv, 62 
 
 Colony, Objection to, 25, 307 
 Colored Population, 113 
 Colored Schools, 135, 145 
 Colored Students, in, 342 
 Colored Students Received, 55 
 Colored Student, The First, 74 
 Commencement, 266 
 Commencement in the War, 
 
 166 
 Commencement, The First, 46 
 Come-outerism, 85 
 Company C, 162, 176, 168 
 Confession of Faith, 98, 101 
 Conflict on Leaving Home, 22 
 Congregational Association, 99 
 Conservatory Organized, 201 
 Conservatory, Origin of, 197 
 Conservatory Endowment, 203 
 Consultation in New York, 58 
 Contributions at Oberlin, 216 
 Convention at Cleveland, 128 
 Copeland, John, 157 
 Covenant, The Oberlin, 25 
 Corporation of London, 367 
 Council Hall, 230 
 Cowles, Rev. John P., 84, 2S7 
 Cowles, Rev. Henry, 284 
 Cox, Gen. J. D., 170 
 Cox, Mr. Kenyon, 235 
 Cross, Rev. R. T., 302 
 Cross Lanes, Battle of, 164 
 
 Dascomb, Dr. and Mrs , 41 
 Dascomb, Dr. James, 275, 318 
 Dascomb, Mrs. M. P., 276 
 Dascomb Professorship, 213 
 Dawes, Mr. William, 293, 208 
 Degrees, 267 
 
 Deliberation, The First, 15 
 Democratic Opinion, 157 
 
IXDEX. 
 
 </ J 
 
 Denominational Affinities, 97 
 Denominational Enterprises, 
 
 105 
 Dickinson, Mr. Charles H , 213 
 Discussion, Habit of, 87 
 Discussion on Study of Classics, 
 
 7i 
 Discussion Prohibited at Lane, 
 
 53 
 Douglass, Frederick, 85 
 Dresser, Amos, 77 
 
 Earlier Families, 296 
 
 Early Home Missionaries, 146 
 
 Early Spirit, 78 
 
 Ecclesiastical Relations, 97 
 
 Eells, J. H., 9S 
 
 Elm, The Historical, 21 
 
 Emancipation, Expectation of, 
 
 154 
 Endowment of College, 214 
 Endowment by Scholarships, 
 
 192 
 Enlargement, 50 
 Enlistment for the War, 163 
 Entire Sanctification, Question 
 
 of, 89 
 Excitement on Color Question, 
 
 56 
 Expenses of Student, 268. 
 
 Fairbanks, Calvin, 115 
 Fairchild, Rev. E. H., 301 
 Fairfield, Rev. M. W., 106 
 Financial Depression, 207 
 Finney, Rev. C. G., 65, 66, 69, 
 
 79. 279 
 Finney Professorship, 213 
 Financial History, 204 
 Fire Department, 239 
 
 First and Second Years, 32 
 Fitch, J. M., 130 
 Fitch, Rev. C, 86 
 Fires in Oberlin, 239 
 Flouring Mill, 43 
 Founding, 9 
 
 Foster, Mr. and Mrs., 85 
 French, Mr. Charles, 22^ 
 French, Rev. W. C, 24'. 
 French Hall, 229 
 Fugitives, Rescue of, u3 
 
 Games, 262 
 
 Garrison, Wm. Lloyd, 52, 85 
 
 Gas Works, 239 
 
 Gerrit Smith's Gift, 210 
 
 Giddings, J. R., Speech of, 129 
 
 Gifford, Miss Louisa, 317 
 
 Graduation of Young Women, 
 
 180 
 Grahamism, 82 
 Gray, Prof. Elisha, 235 
 Grand River Institute, 76 
 Graves, Mr. R. R., 214 
 Griffin, John S., 141 
 Gymnasium, 262 
 
 Habeas Corpus, Applied for, 
 
 127 
 Hall, Mr. J. B., 296 
 Hall, Rev. S. R., 314 
 Hayes, P. C, 16S 
 Hazing, 265 
 
 Health of Young Women, 184 
 Health, The first year's 44 
 Hebrew, Study of, 72, 257 
 Hill, Mr. Hamilton, 209 
 Higher Law, 123 
 Hodge, Dr. Charles, 281 
 Hodge, Lutor N. W., 302 
 
374 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Holbrook Professorship, 213 
 Hotels, 43, 242 
 Honors and Prizes, 266 
 Houses, Color of, 47 
 House of College Farmer, 224 
 Hudson, Prof. T. B., 287 
 Hull, Mr. Charles J., 215 
 Hymn of Prof. Allen, 199 
 
 Inaugural Addresses, 74 
 Ingersoll, Prof. E. P., 195 
 Ingraham, David S., 135 
 Institution Orders, 208 
 Interruption of Study, 95 
 
 Jennings, Dr. Isaac, 247 
 John Brown's Raid, 157 
 Journey to Oberlin, Mr. and 
 
 Mrs. Shipherd's, 36 
 Journey to Cincinnati, J. J. S., 
 
 50 
 Jeakins, Burford, 167 
 
 Kansas, Movement towards, 
 
 157 
 Keep, Rev. John, 63, 208, 292 
 Kedzie, Prof. W. K., 301 
 Kincaid, Rev. William, 106 
 
 Laboratories, 229, 234 
 Laboratory, The first, 222 
 Ladies' Board, 178 
 Ladies' Course, 178 
 Ladies' Hall, 182 
 Ladies' Hall, The first, 218 
 Ladies' Hall, The new, 227 
 Ladies in College Classes, 178 
 Lady Graduates, The first, 179 
 Laird, Rev. J. H., 302 
 Lane Seminary Students, 51 
 
 Langston, Charles H., 124 
 Lectures of f . D. Well, 75 
 Lee, Rev. S. H., 301 
 
 Letters: 
 
 J. J. Shipherd, 18, 40, 55, 337, 
 360, 313, 322, 325, 326, 333 
 
 Oi Colonists, 33 
 
 P. P. Stewart, 14, 305, 309 
 
 Lewis Tappan, 355, 364 
 
 A. Mahan, 346 
 
 Arthur Tappan, 356, 357, 354 
 
 Dr. Dascome, 348 
 
 Mrs. Dascomb, 350, 329 
 
 T. S. Ingersoll, 357 
 
 Joshua Leavitt, 363 
 
 Thomas Clarkson, 366 
 
 Josiah Harris, 368 
 Library, 232 
 
 Library, Theological, 233 
 Library, U. L. A., 233 
 Life Insurance Gifts, 215 
 Literary Course, 181 
 Literary Societies, 259, 183 
 
 Mahan, Rev. Asa, 333, 66, 351, 
 
 277, 50 
 Mahan and Morgan appointed, 
 
 53 
 Manual Labor, 186 
 Manual Labor, Difficulties of, 
 
 189, 194 
 Manual Labor, Prices, 45 
 Manual Labor, Relics of, 193 
 Manufactures, 244 
 Mead, Prof. Hiram, 299 
 Merrill, Mr. J. W., 296 
 Missionaries, Recent, 145 
 Missionary Work, 133 
 Missions, Self-Sustaining, 134 
 Mission to Canada, 135 
 
INDEX. 
 
 375 
 
 Mission to England, 208 
 Mission to the Indians, 140 
 Mission to Jamaica, 135 
 Mission to West Africa, 138 
 Monroe, Hon. James, 215 
 Moral Obligations, Discussion 
 
 of, 84 
 Morgan, Rev. John, 54, 66, 69, 
 
 282, 336 
 Morgan, John P., 200 
 Mulberry Planting, 190 
 Music, 195 
 Music Hall, 224 
 Musical Union, 200 
 
 Name of Oberlin, 17 
 
 National Character, 271 
 
 Nettleton, A. B., 168 
 
 New Building, 232 
 
 New Oberlin, 296 
 
 New School Theology, 78 
 
 Newspapers, 245 
 
 Non-resistance Oberlin Doc- 
 trine, 156 
 
 Number of Students in the War, 
 170 
 
 Number of Students Frst Year, 
 42 
 
 Oberlin Choir, 197 
 
 Oberlin Covenant, Discussion 
 
 of, 81 
 Oberlin Course of Study, 249 
 Oberlin Diet, 331 
 Oberlin Evangelist, 93 
 Oberlin Founders, 9 
 Oberlin Hall, 37- 216 
 Oberlin Hymn-book, 198 
 Oberlin, its Location, 20 
 Oberlin in the War, 154 
 
 Oberlin in 1834, 329 
 Oberlin Lyceum, 42 
 Oberlin Orchestra, 198 
 Oberlin Musicians, 200 
 Oberlin Quarterly Review, 94 
 Oberlin School Teachers, 148 
 Oberlin Stove, 30 
 Oberlin Tract, 9 
 "Oberlin Unmasked," 368 
 Oberlin, Wellington Rescue, 
 
 119 
 Observatory, 235 
 Olivet College, 149 
 Opening Dec. 3d, 37 
 Opposition to the Enterprise, 48 
 Oratorical Association, 260 
 Organization of Church, 98 
 
 Parish, Mr. F. D., 295 
 Parmenter, Wm. W., 167 
 Pastoral Letter, 360, 337 
 Pastors of the Church, 99 
 Patriotism, Growth of, 161 
 Pease, Alonzo, 200 
 Pease, Mr. P. P., 32, 296 
 Pease, Mr. and Mrs., 351 
 Peck, Prof. H. E., 29S 
 Penfield, Prof. C. H., 299 
 Penny, Prof. J. B., 300 
 Personal Mention, 272 
 Petition to Board of Trustees, 
 
 57 
 Philosophy, Interest in, 254 
 Physicians, 247 
 Piety, Prevalent Type of, 95 
 Places of Worship, 103 
 Political Action, 109 
 Porter, Mr. S. D., 396 
 Portraits of Professors, 200 
 Post Office, 242 
 
376 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Prayers, 258 
 
 Prejudice of Neighbors, 116 
 Preparatory Department, 251 
 Prssbvtery, Connection with, 
 
 98 ' 
 Presbytery of Richland, 146 
 Preston, James A., 136 
 President's House, 69 
 Principal's Prep. Dept, 301 
 Printing Establishments, 245 
 Prisoners at New Orleans, 165 
 Professor Street, 221 
 Professors at Lane, 52 
 Professorship Association, 65, 
 
 206 
 Professors' Houses, 221 
 Professorship of Political Sci- 
 ence, 215 
 
 Railroad, 237 
 
 Raymond, William M., 139 
 
 Recitation Opened, 259 
 
 Ruscuers in Jail, 130 
 
 Residents, 242 
 
 Rice, Prof. F. B., 201 
 
 Roads, 236 
 
 Roads, The Early, 43 
 
 Ryder, Prof. W. H., 300 
 
 Sabbath, Influence of, 88 
 Sabbath Services, 70 
 Salaries for Teachers, 316 
 Salaries of Professors, 214 
 Saloons, 245 
 Saw Mill, 37 
 Scovill, J. F., 37 
 Sears, Mr. Willard, 208, 295 
 Second Advent, Discussion of, 
 
 86 
 Second Church Organization, 
 
 106 
 
 Self Reporting, 266 
 Self-support, 269 
 Sheffield School, 76 
 Shipherd, John J., 10, 272 
 Shipherd, Mrs. Esther R., it, 
 
 273 
 Shipherd, James K., 316 
 Shustleff, Capt. G. W., 162, 
 
 165 
 Sidewalks, 236 
 
 Simplicity of Moral Action, 92 
 Slave-Catching, Attempts at, 
 
 117 
 Social Life, 261 
 Society Hall, 229 
 Soldiers' Monument, 172, 243 
 Spencer, Mrs., 144 
 Sports, 262 
 Squirrel Hunters, 169 
 Stanton, H. B., 67 
 Statement of Objects, 40 
 State Rights, 128 
 Steele, James, 139 
 Steele, Prof. George W., 200 
 Stewards and Matrons, 297 
 Stewart Hall, 231 
 Stewart, Mrs. E. C, 13, 273 
 Stewart, P. P., 12, 273 
 Stewart's Stove, 306, 312 
 Stone, Mrs. Valeria G., 213 
 Strieby, Rev. M. E., 144 
 Street and Hughes, Arrange- 
 ment with, 24 
 Street and Hughes, Gift of, 204 
 Street and Hughes the Proprie- 
 tors, 22 
 Streets of Oberlin, 235 
 Students Leaving Lane, 54 
 Students' Expenses, 45 
 Students from Lane, 67 
 
INDEX. 
 
 577 
 
 Students taken Prisoners, l64 
 Students going to the War, 159 
 Sturges, Miss Susa.n M., 232 
 Scholarship Plan, 28 
 Scholarship Endowment, 210 
 School House, 240 
 School Superintendents, 241 
 School, The first Winter, 38 
 Subsidiary Scdools, 76 
 
 Tabor College, 151 
 Tappan Hall, 69, 220 
 Tappan, Arthur, Offer of, 54 
 Tappan, Arthur, Pledge of, 65 
 Tappan, Mr. Lewis, 144 
 Taste in Building, 222 
 Teachers Nominated, 314, 333 
 Tea and Coffee, 43, 45 
 Teft, Dr and Mrs., 140 
 Temperance Raisings, 44 
 Tenney, Miss Angeline. 134 
 Tent and Dedication, 73 
 Terms and Vacations, 46 
 Thompson, George, 139. 116 
 Thompson, Mr. Uriah, 296 
 Thome, Prof. James A., 290 
 Three Months Men, 169 
 Thursday Lecture, 258 
 Tobacco, 263 
 Todd, Rev. John, 152 
 Town Hall, 238 
 Townshead, Dr. U. S , no 
 
 Treachery, 294 
 Trustees, The Original, 32 
 Trustees' Action on t lolor* i 
 Students, 6 j 
 
 Tuition Remitted, 200 
 
 Underground Railroad, n \ 
 
 Union Library Association, 2O0 
 Village of Obcrlin, 233 
 
 WOLCOTT, Mrs. S. B., 137 
 Waldo, Rev. S. 11., 41, 275, 
 
 322 
 Walker, Prof. Amasa, 291 
 Walton Hall, 77, 222 
 Weld, Theodore D. 67 
 Western Colleges, 152 
 Western Reserve, Students 
 
 from, 6S 
 Whipple, Prof. George, 144, 
 
 2S9 
 Whipple, II. E., 301 
 Williston, Mr. 1. P., 212 
 Willson, Judge, Charge of, 122 
 Wilson, Hiram, 135 
 Woodbridge, Rev. Mr., 3-4 
 Wright, Rev. S. G., 142 
 
 Young Peoples' Meeting 
 
 Young Women in Theology, 
 179 
 
s* 9 6 6 
 
 Q 
 

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