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Lake Erie College
Jubilee Commencement
Fiftieth Anniversary
June twentieth to twenty-fourth ##
nineteen hundred and nine t
Cleveland, Ohio
Published by the Alumnae Association
I9 Io

“Let the beauty of the Lord
our God be upon us.”
Introduction
Ağiº versary of Lake Erie College, June twentieth to
j|º twenty-fourth, 1909, has been a labor of love.
* The privilege of compiling the record of the
Twenty-fifth and also of the Fiftieth Anniversary of a col-
lege is rarely given to the same person. It includes a wonder-
ful perspective of life and growth and hope for the future.
The publication of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary was delayed
till 1885, and the last pages of proof were read only a day
or two before sailing for a summer vacation in England.
The last pages of the Fiftieth record were written barely
two days before sailing for a winter in Italy. In this case
the completion of the work of publication has dropped into
the willing and capable hands of one who has been fellow-
laborer and friend these forty years, friend of all who know
and love Lake Erie. It is a pleasure to associate our names
in this work and to join in dedicating it to the Faculty and
students of Lake Erie College all of whom have been known
to one or both of us. The success of the Jubilee Anniver-
sary was due to their loyal support and the enthusiasm of
their presence, and to them we confidently commit the
future, the hopeful outlook for the new administration, the
wider plans for continued progress, and in everything may
“the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.”
MARY Evans

Program
Sunday, June 20 . ©
3.oo p. m. Baccalaureate Service, Rev. James D. Williamson, D.D.,
presiding, Pastors of churches in Painesville participating in the
exercises. Sermon by the Rev. James M. Thoburn, D.D.,
Bishop of India and Malaysia, of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Memorial Hall.
6.30 p.m. Sunset Hymn Meeting on the College steps.
7.30 p.m. Missionary Service, Mrs. Julia Clapp Gerould, of the class
of 1864, presiding. Addresses, the Rev. John P. Jones, D.D.,
of the Madura Mission, India; Miss Ellen C. Parsons, Editor of
Woman’s Work for Woman; Greetings from Lake Erie Alumnae
in Missionary Service at home and abroad. Memorial Hall.
Monday, June 21
1.oop. m. Opening of the Art Exhibition of Works by Mr. W. L.
Lathrop, Mr. C. C. Curran, Miss Grace McKinstry, Miss
Malin, the Art Collection of the College and the Work of the
Classes in Household Art. Science Hall.
1.30 p.m. Half-hour of Music. Memorial Hall.
2.oop. m. Conference on Health and Physical Training, Mary
Elizabethºſewcomb, M.D., of the class of 1875, presiding.
Address, Luther Halsey Gulick, M.D. Open discussion.
Memorial Hall.
3.30 p.m. The Department of Physical Training presents a program
of Drills and Folk-dances. Athletic Field.
8.15 p.m. Open-air Play, “The Canterbury Pilgrims,” by Percy
Mackaye, presented by the Coburn Players, of New York City.
Tuesday, June 22
9.30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and 5 to 6 p.m., Art Exhibition.
9.oo a. m. Chapel Service, Miss Bentley. Memorial Hall.
39
55
6 Program
9.30 a. m. Meeting of the Alumnae Association and all former stu-
dents, Mrs. Ella Ford Brunner,’71, President of the Association,
presiding. Addresses of Welcome, Miss Evans, Mrs. Brunner.
Welcome to the class of 1909. Report of the Alumnae Com-
mittee on the Jubilee Fund, Mrs. Sophia Ballard Bushnell, '84,
Chairman. Tributes to Founders and Teachers, Mrs. Frances
Beckwith Bostwick, of the class of 1853, Willoughby Seminary;
Mrs. Jeannette Fisher Moore of the first Faculty of Lake Erie;
Mrs. Mary Burton Shurtleff, of the class of 1860, and other
Alumnae. Memorial Hall.
I 1.30 a.m. Class Reunions, Reunions of former students.
1.30 p.m. Half-hour of Music. Memorial Hall.
2. oo p. m. Conference on the College and the Home. Addresses,
Mrs. Ellen H. Richards, Instructor in Sanitary Chemistry, Insti-
tute of Technology, Boston; Miss Isabel Bevier, Professor of
Home Economics, University of Illinois; Mrs. Louise Porter
Smith, of the class of 1869; Mrs. Leila McKee Welsh, former
president of the Western College. Open discussion. Memorial
Hall.
3.30 p.m. Senior Class Day Exercises, “Sacra Silva.” The Grove.
8.oo p. m. Commencement Concert, Mr. , Harry Clyde Brooks,
Director. The Musical Societies, and the Conservatory Students.
Memorial Hall.
Wednesday, June 23 e O tº ©
9.30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and 5 to 6 p.m., Art Exhibition.
9.oo a. m. Chapel Service. Memorial Hall.
9.30 a. m. Conference on College Education, Miss Frances J. Hos-
ford, M.A., '72, Associate Professor Academy of Oberlin Col-
lege, presiding. Addresses: Miss Anna C. Edwards, M.A.,
former principal of Lake Erie Seminary; Professºr Robert S.
Woodworth, Department of Psychology, Columbia University.
Tributes to former teachers. Memorial Hall.
1.30 p.m. Half-hour of Music. Memorial Hall.
2.oo p. m. Conference on the College and Social Service, Addresses:
Miss Georgia L. White, Ph.D., '94, Associate Professor of
Economics, Smith College, “The Study of Sociology for Wom-
en;” Miss Anna M. Edwards, '68, of Cleveland, Miss Emily
S. Holmes, '74, of Buffalo, Miss Anne T. Viall,’os, Associated
Charities of Cleveland. Memorial Hall.
3.30 p.m. Open-air Pageantin honor of Alma Mater. The Campus.
8.oo p. m. Reception by the Trustees and Faculty. Social Hall.
. Io9
Program 7
Thursday, June 24 º © tº tº º tº . 163
9.45 a.m. Commencement Procession.
1o.oo a. m. Commencement Exercises. Address, “The Next Step
in Education,” the Reverend Frank W. Gunsaulus, D.D., of
Chicago. Conferring of Degrees. Address of Congratulation,
President Mary E. Woolley, M.A., Litt.D.
I.oo p. m. Commencement Dinner and After-dinner Speaking.
Committees, 1909
General Arrangements—Trustees, Hon. A. G. Reynolds, Mr. Frank J.
Jerome; Faculty, Miss Evans, Miss Bentley, Miss Hitchcock, Miss
French; Conservatory, Mr. Brooks; Alumnae, Mrs. Brunner (Presi-
dent), Mrs. Lyman (Secretary); Superintendent of Buildings and
Grounds, Mr. Malin.
Music—Mr. Harry Clyde Brooks.
Entertainment, Registration, Tickets and Badges—Mrs. Lyman, Chairman;
Miss Burton, Miss Hitchcock, Miss Graham, Miss Gates, Miss M.
French, Miss Henderson, Miss Colwell, Miss F. French, Miss Mabel
Hubbard.
Reunions of Alumnae—Miss Kendrick, Chairman; Miss Hitchcock, Miss
Lawrence, Miss Hazeltine, Miss McCully, Miss Tuttle.
Processions, Seating, Decorations—Miss McKinstry, Chairman; Miss Keffer,
Miss Kendrick, Miss Potwine, Miss Stevens, Miss Hewitt, Miss
Allyn, Miss Fernald.
Press—Miss Anne D. Shearer, Chairman (Secretary for Trustees); Mrs.
Louise Patteson (Stenographer), Miss McCully.
Sunday, June Twentieth
ſºft UNDAY of Jubilee week was one of the days
§§§ of “holy Herbert,”
“Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,
The bridal of the earth and sky.”
The first service of the day was the farewell meeting of the
Young Women's Christian Association of the college. The
Faculty meeting of Sunday morning was merged in the As-
sociation meeting, which was intended especially for the college
household, without excluding, however, former members of
the Association. At the same hour, in the president's parlor,
teachers and graduates of the earlier years who were guests
in the house, met to ask a blessing on the exercises of the
day and week. *
The Association meeting was held as usual, on the Sunday
of Commencement week, at nine o'clock, in the grove. It was
an appropriate place for the first service of Jubilee week, as-
sociated as it is with the anniversary and graduating exercises
of former years in this very spot, with its setting of noble trees,
green spaces and the tender blossoms of the partridge-berry
at one's feet. Miss Evans had been asked by the Association
to lead the meeting and announced as the opening hymn that
favorite of later Lake Erie days,
“Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature.”
Miss Lawrence offered the opening prayer. No member of
the Faculty has been more ready with support and sympa-

IO Sunday, june Twentieth
thy in the development of the Christian Association in the
College. The Scriptures, repeated in concert, were the twenty-
third and portions of the one-hundred-and-third psalms. The
hymns and prayers, the few words spoken, the quiet moments
broken only by the tuneful voices of the grove, gave a sense
of what such “still hours” have been in the history of the
College. It was a blessed preparation for the public occasions
to follow.
BACCALAUREATE SERVICE
The service was held at three o’clock in Memorial Hall.
The invitation to the churches of Painesville met with
a cordial response. All other services for afternoon and
evening were suspended, and the congregations were well
represented. Gentlemen of Painesville assisted in seating the
audience. The Alumnae who had already arrived and those
from the nearer towns were present in large numbers. The
musical societies and other students occupied the raised seats
in front of the organ and once more made up that lovely
picture of youthful, thoughtful, responsive faces. In front
were grouped those who were to take part in the service, the
Rev. Dr. James D.Williamson, president of the trustees, who
presided; the baccalaureate preacher, the Rev. Dr. James M.
Thoburn, former Bishop of India and Malaysia; the pastors
of the churches of Painesville, with Miss Evans and Miss
Bentley, and Mr. Brooks, director of the Conservatory. The
class of 1909, eight in number, in academic caps and gowns,
entered last, and were seated in front of the platform, the
members of their families in the next seats of the central divi-
sion. It was not to be forgotten that this service, while the
opening of a great college occasion, was peculiarly that of the
graduating class; and all the more, because the class have been
most generous and loyal in sinking their own personality in
the great Jubilee. ,
Baccalaureate Service I I
The opening number upon the organ was the Adagio from
the Fifth Sonata of Guilmant, played by Mr. E. Harold Geer,
instructor in organ. Dr. Williamson led in the Invocation,
which was followed by the strong, inspiring music of the an-
them by J. C. Hopkins:
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting
doors; and the King of glory shall come in.”
The Rev. Robert J. Freeborn, rector of St. James, led the
responsive reading of the twenty-seventh Psalm, the Scrip-
ture read at the first gathering for worship of Lake Erie, fifty
years ago. The Scripture lesson, the seventeenth chapter of
John, was read by the Rev. Dr. T. F. Phillips of the Meth-
odist Episcopal church; the beautiful anthem, “Benedic
Anima,” by Dudley Buck, was sung, and the Rev. Dr. Bart-
lett of the Church of Christ (Disciple) offered prayer.
The baccalaureate preacher is closely related to Lake Erie.
Bishop Thoburn's wife was a member of the class of 1876;
and through the years of her life and ministry in India, and
also in later years when in America, the Bishop had often
been called to the platform of Lake Erie to minister to the
spiritual life of the college. His own anniversary of fifty years
in missionary service had been celebrated a few weeks before
in Meadville, Pa., his college town, where a residence was
presented to him, and here his scattered family are gathered,
his son Theodore and his daughter Helen, with Mrs. Craw-
ford Thoburn and her children.
I 2 Sunday, june Twentieth
BAccALAUREATE SERMON
BY REv. JAMES M. THOBURN, D.D., FoRMER BISHop
OF INDIA AND MALAYSIA.
Text: John xvii: 18. “As thou didst send me into the
world, even so sent I them into the world.”
You will all recognize these words as being found in the
prayer which is recorded in this chapter of the Gospel, offered
by our Savior just before His betrayal. It has sometimes been
called His high-priestly prayer: it was offered as He was
about to leave His disciples and close His ministry-on earth.
His great infinite soul was filled with concern for those He
was leaving behind, and for the world He was about to leave.
The prayer is remarkable in many ways, but perhaps chiefly
for the exalted privilege which it bestows upon His disciples.
His prayer is so extraordinary that we must pause a moment to
ask this question. Was He thinking of the disciples alone?
did He intend that the eleven who were with Him were to be
the only ones that could represent Him? Or, was He think-
ing of the wider circle that was to embrace not only all His
disciples wherever found, but all His disciples in future gen-
erations? We are obliged to give it, and we rejoice to give it,
this wider acceptation. In the further prayer which He of
fered He puts this extraordinary clause, “Neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also who shall believe on me through
their word.” This included the disciples of this same blessed
Master who are gathered here this afternoon. These favored
graduates to-day are sent out as heirs of this great commission.
Now this would seem to imply that God lays upon us a
great responsibility while giving us this acceptable privilege.
If we are to receive that same gift which it is desired we
should have, the gift that was given to Him, where does it
place us this afternoon 2 Jesus saith, “As the father has sent
me into the world, even so send I you.”
Baccalaureate Service I 3
The world at large has never conceived of the height and
depth and length and breadth of its responsibility as repre-
senting Jesus Christ in the world. We very naturally shrink
from the thought of occupying so exalted a position as is
here implied, but there is no possible misunderstanding of
the commission which is given to all believers in Christ. All
believers are His representatives. There are no exemptions
from responsibility, and no exceptions from privilege. If
the thought occurs that very many, indeed, the great majority
of Christians, are so feeble and so lacking in all spiritual gifts
that their service would be almost worthless, we are to remem-
ber that the defects may possibly be in our own vision.
Spiritual vision is a divine gift, and God can see possibilities
in feeble disciples which escape our notice, and we may be
assured that no possible power of service will be overlooked
in any one. I would not put too high an estimate upon any
one, but I do say that the grace of God can do more for
the average Christian than we are accustomed to think. I
have known, as many of you have known, instances in which
a man who has scarcely anything in his life to remind you
that he had ever heard the name of Jesus Christ, seemed, in
the space of a few hours, to pass through a transformation,
and to reappear meek, trustful and pure, and in his right
mind; and if you are not reminded of the Master at the first
glance, still as you study the man's character you will find
the Master's image there in outline. It is only an outline,
but it is an outline that can receive an immense amount of
filling in. When a man becomes a disciple of Jesus Christ,
he may make a wonderful advance on the basis of character.
We must not forget that when our Master came into the
world, He came down to our level. He became man, not
merely in an ideal sense, but in a very real sense. He sat,
weary, by the roadside; He became hungry and thirsty. He
trudged along the highway on foot like any other passer-by,
and was not only numbered among the poor, but among the

I4. Sunday, june Twentieth
very poor. The birds had their nests, and the jackals their
holes, but Jesus of Nazareth, the Savior of men, had not
where to lay His head. He was simply a man of the peasant
class, but no doubt one who represented more of the elements
of our common humanity than the ordinary men among
whom he moved. We are to remember, too, that Jesus as-
sumed the form of a servant, and there could have been
nothing in His outward appearance to remind a spectator of
the pomp and vanity of this poor world of ours. So far as
mere personal appearance is concerned, any modern Chris-
tian, without any shadow of irreverence, might assume that he
can represent the Man of Nazareth among men.
But Jesus said, “He that believeth on me, the works that
I do he shall do also.” How can we interpret that? You
say that we cannot heal the blind or the leper. I think there
are many things that are greater than opening a blind man’s
eyes. We do not know what advances medical science may
yet make. It has already made such advances that modern
treatment would have seemed a miracle years ago. In what
way, then, are we to explain the petition, and how are we to
understand the assurance given to the disciples, “Greater
works than these shall ye do”? Simply by facts which can
be tested anywhere in the world. The healing of a leprous
soul is a greater miracle than the restoring of a wasted body.
The changes which take place in character, the entire change
in life, sometimes in an individual, sometimes in a family, and
sometimes in a community, all illustrate what the Savior had
in mind when He uttered this wonderful prayer. He gave
an assurance which remains unbroken to this present day,
that those who should bear His name should also wield His
power, and this power has never been more within human
reach than at the present hour.
People often say to me, “You must have witnessed in
India some wonderful conversions.” Then I know they want
me to tell some wonderful stories of very wicked people that
Baccalaureate Service I 5
have been changed. Sometimes I make reply by saying that
great changes do take place there, but that India is not the
place for the greatest miracles; that the wickedest men in the
world do not live in India; that, in fact, they are not in the
heathen world. The worst man is the man who sins against
the clearest light. If you want to find the worst man that the
world can furnish, you will probably find him in New York
or London or Hamburg or Paris, or some other of the lead-
ing cities of Christendom.
These mighty works of which we read are, as I have said,
the works that involve a change of character. Take three
men, one a Hindu, one a Mohammedan, and one a Chris-
tian, and put them on a platform and let them plunge into
the water in front of you. One would go deeper than another
according to the height from which he leaps; the man who
stands highest will sink deepest. The Christian stands high-
est; of the other two, it is a chance between them which is
higher, the Mohammedan or the Hindu. The Mohammed-
an should be higher, but generally he is not. When these
three make their plunge, the one who is morally the worst
will go the deepest, and the man who is morally the worst
will be the one who has leaped from the greater height be-
cause he has sinned against the greater light. Hence, I say I
would look for the worst man in New York, rather than in
Calcutta, in Paris rather than in Singapore or Central Africa.
Then, if you ask where the greater works are to be done, I
would say in Christian lands. When I refer to the wicked
people of the United States, I am not referring to the for-
eigners who come into this country, although many of them
are practically heathen, and some even more inaccessible
than the Hindus. The heathen American is a worse man
than the heathen foreigner. You need not go abroad to find
wickedness, you are in the midst of it. Since I came to the
United States I have felt that there are some great trials
ahead of this nation, because we are sinning in the face of
I6 Sunday, june Twentieth
such great light. We lift up our hands before God and pro-
test that we are a Christian nation, and I do not believe we
are making real disciples of Jesus Christ half as fast as the
devil is sending over here people without any religion.
Are the greater works accomplished? They certainly are.
I have never been able to look an audience in the face and
say to myself, “There is no one here who needs a change.”
I have never looked an audience in the face that I did not
believe that some of the men and women present might be
reached and saved. Consequently, I must expect to see some
result if I have an honest confidence in the gospel which I
preach. Among those who are saved will be the very bad,
and very often among the very bad will be those who have
sinned against marvelous light. We have reached the period
in the world’s history when we must realize what God is
doing for His people and what He expects His people to
accomplish. He expects to have a church in this world that
will be recognized among all nations, and which will have
all the power, all the influence the church had when the first
disciples were still on earth. This work must be done. In
fact, we are more favored now than were the first Christians.
We have the experience of centuries to guide us; we have
access to great nations and vast empires; we have open doors
innumerable, and in a hundred regions we can see darkness
fleeing away and the Sun of righteousness arising with heal-
ing in his beams upon nations which never saw the light
before. But very few realize how great the work is which
God is carrying on in many lands. Our ideals are often false,
or at least very defective. It is very hard for the children of
this world to become reconciled to a religion which flourishes
best among the lowly, which not only cares for, but respects,
the poor, which seeks opportunities to serve rather than to
be served.
But again the thought will come to your minds that even
Christians, at the present time, do not seem to resemble the
Baccalaureate Service 17
Master. We seldom hear the remark that this man or that
woman has learned the secret of living as Jesus did when
He was in the world. You will not often hear that remark
made in society, because society never talks on such subjects.
But there is evidence of the divine power in the fact of the
work accomplished. This power, when brought to bear upon
a community, is made dependent on certain things with which
believing Christians are connected. Christians must have a
faith that is harmonious. It must be a common faith, a united
faith. It must be the interest in the work that is being accom-
plished, so that our prayer may go up before God as the
prayer of one man. r
Much depends upon the spiritual vision of the observer.
Are you sure you can enter with sympathy into the young
man's heart who is known to be very wicked 2 Are you sure
you understand the case well enough to deal with it? The
Lord of Glory had infinite compassion. He had an infinite
affection, an infinite tenderness. Have we sent out into the
world men and women to represent Jesus Christ, speaking
His words, breathing His spirit, cherishing His affections,
ambitious to do His will We are still in the morning of
the missionary enterprise. - -
I was sitting in my room in India when a poor woman
came who was in trouble. A man, previous to this, who had
been rejected as a Sunday-school teacher because he had not
sufficient culture, had come to me asking for something to
do for the mission. I said, “See if you can induce any of
your neighbors to come to church.” He brought in this
woman who was a neighbor of his. One visit to the church
broke her heart, and she was converted. Then she told me
she was troubled about her husband from whom she was
separated; she had not heard of him in years. I said, “There
is one thing you can do, you can pray for him.” It was not
a week till the woman came in great joy. She had received
a letter from her husband. He was to come home the fol-
18 Sunday, june Twentieth
lowing Sunday evening. I told her to come to church Sun-
day evening as usual and take her seat and I would send
someone to look after him when he arrived. I said, “Do
you know any one who knows him?” “Yes, I know a rail-
road man.” “Get him to bring your husband to you, and
you come to church. Let him find you in church.” Before
I finished my sermon I saw a man sitting beside her. I knew
it was her husband from the joy in her face. Before nine
o'clock that night, he was converted to God. The last I
heard of them, the man was recognized as a railroad preach-
er, and everybody remarked on the great usefulness of those
two persons in the railway community of India.
This is the meaning of the text, “The works I do shall
they do also.” To whom was that promise given? To every
drunken man along the railway. Christianity can reach such
men and transform them; and the men who represent Christ
in this world the best, are ordinary sinners, men who have
been taken out of the bitterness of sin. What we need is to
have men and women know that Jesus Christ who rose from
the dead centuries ago, is alive and that He walks these
streets, crosses your own threshold, whispers to your soul
precious messages and to your children. Jesus Christ should
be seen walking the streets of your town in the person of
His disciples. They would have a very wonderful degree
of power. It is for us, as Christian citizens, to ponder these
things, and in the name of God to consecrate ourselves and
to live a simple life, accepting the example Christ has given
us and rendering all our service in His hallowed name. The
present-day servant is better off than the Master was when
He came to earth to inaugurate the mighty enterprise of
revolutionizing mankind. Our great work has been inaugu-
rated on a basis which is practical and practicable, and our
Divine Leader shall never fail nor be discouraged till He
shall have set righteousness in the earth.
Young Ladies of the Graduating Class: You will soon
Sunset Hymn Meeting I 9
leave the scenes and associations which, during your long
residence here, have no doubt become very dear to your
hearts. It would be strange if serious thoughts did not arise
in your minds as you turn to face the unknown world of
thought and action upon which you are about to enter. You
are just starting out in life, leaving behind you these hal-
lowed associations. I doubt not you have thought seriously
upon the future. I have just one word of counsel to offer
you. Grasp the loving hand of your Master, tell Him you
wish to walk by his side, and He will never leave you and
never forsake you. Morning, noon and night you will real-
ize that the Lord of Glory is by your side; your changes
He will choose, your footsteps He will guide, and in the end
He will abundantly crown your lives with usefulness in this
world, and in the world to come with eternal glory. May
God’s blessing go with you.
At the close of these words to the class of 1909, their
chosen hymn was sung, associated also with the first chapel
service of Lake Erie in 1859, “How firm a foundation, ye
saints of the Lord.” The audience joined heartily in the
hymn, and, as the Amen died away, the benediction by
Bishop Thoburn fell upon bowed heads. The Postlude was
the Chorale No. 3, by Franck, played by Mr. Geer upon
the organ. - Y
SUNSET HYMN MEETING
}
This meeting was an outgrowth of the pleasant custom, in
recent years, of singing hymns after tea on Sunday evening
on the steps of the main entrance. It was also intended as
an opportunity for reviving memories of precious hymns as-
sociated with the old-time recess meetings and “devotions.”
The older guests occupied the commodious space of the en-
larged porch, looking down through the overarching trees
to the entrance of the front walk, or to the west, where once
2O . Sunday, june Twentieth
were the limiting houses and barns, and where now one can
watch the electric cars from Cleveland, as they fly down
Mentor Avenue.
The meeting led itself. A group of students with leading
voices sat in the center of the company, others overflowed
the steps to the seats beyond, and others, drawn by the
singing as they entered the grounds, found seats under the
trees. The hymns were literally “hymns ancient and mod-
ern” from such favorites as “Awake, my soul, to joyful lays,”
and “How gentle God's commands,” dear to Miss Prescott,
to the sunset hymn of Chautauqua, “Day is dying in the
West.” As the refrain was sung, “Heaven and earth are
praising Thee,” the vespers of the birds made up the har-
mony of praise.
C
MISSIONARY SERVICE
The service was held in the evening in Memorial Hall;
Mr. Geer played, as the opening number on the organ, the
Andante Contabile, opus II, by Tschaikowski; the anthem
for even-song, “The radiant morn has passed away,” has long
been a favorite with Lake Erie students. Mrs. Julia Clapp
Gerould, of the class of '64, who presided, has long proved
the sincerity of her interest in missions. Like others of Lake
Erie graduates, Mrs. Boalt, '62, in the Woman's Auxiliary
of the Episcopal Board of Missions, Mrs. Brunner, '71, in
the Congregational church, Mrs. Thorpe, '74, in the Pres-
byterian Church, and others, Mrs. Gerould has been one of
the elect women of the Christian Church (Disciple), a Sec-
retary of Foreign Missions and a speaker in request every-
where. In a home suddenly made empty by the loss of
children, Dr. and Mrs. Gerould filled their lives with
service for the whole world. Since Dr. Gerould's lamented
death, Mrs. Gerould has twice visited India, once to confer
as to the place of a Memorial Mission building. The Ger-
Missionary Service 21
ould Memorial Home of Hiram College for missionaries is
another tribute to these lives that are still united in Chris-
tian service.
Scripture reading was followed by the hymn, “The morn-
ing light is breaking,” and prayer by Bishop Thoburn. Mrs.
Gerould then introduced the Rev. Dr. John P. Jones, of the
Madura Mission of the Congregational church in South
India. Through his marriage to Sarah Hosford, '72, of
Hudson, Ohio, Dr. Jones is well known to Lake Erie
circles, but he is also known throughout this and other lands
as the head of the theological seminary of the mission, as a
preacher of power and a writer of books that challenge at-
tention everywhere for their spiritual insight, their sympathy
and their statesman-like grasp of the present situation in
India. The latest volume, India, Its Life and Thought, was
published in the spring by the Macmillan Company of
New York. -
ADDRESS
BY REv. John PETER JONES, D.D.
I would be very glad to continue the sentiment of this
beautiful song:
“The morning light is breaking,
The darkness disappears.”
In many lands in the East the morning light is breaking,
and the darkness is slowly disappearing. But do not forget
that there is darkness there still.
I have been impressed, in traveling over this land during
the last six months, with the fact that the idea prevails here
that after all the missionary business is not a very urgent busi-
ness. A minister of my own denomination preached a sermon
not far from New York, recently, on the subject of the dimin-
s
º
}
.}
22 Sunday, june Twentieth
ishing need of missions to-day. Among other questions he
asks—why do you go to India? Why spend our money and
strength for the conversion of a people who send us to-day
their beautiful philosophy and the beautiful ideals of the
East? Other people, indifferent to missions, say, “What is
the use of all this work for the heathen? Why not work for
the conversion of our own people?” The trouble is, many
people fail to realize that those far-off people are in deep
need of us to-day. I wish especially to impress upon your
minds this evening the one fact of the great need of India.
Of the thousands of young people going out of our schools
this month, and looking for some light work, very few will
go to India or China, or any of those lands of darkness in
the East. Perhaps their own country is too urgent in its calls
and claims upon them. But if you would listen to the calls
that come from those far-off countries, if you could realize
the condition of that people which has the strongest claim
upon us for sympathy and help and light, I am sure thou-
sands who are looking about for some inspiring, some worthy
occupation, would look toward those far-off countries and
say, “Lord, I am ready, send me unto those people in the
East.”
India is a land of many thinkers. For thirty centuries it
has been building up its philosophy which to-day is the won-
der of the West. Yes, India, to-day, has its thinkers. You
have no idea how many bright men of intelligence and cul-
ture there are to be found there. But when you ask me why
send our people to such a land as that, I would say, “India's
thinking has never been sane thinking. Its thinkers have not
thought on the level of the life of the common people. They
have been building castles in the air, impractical, applying in
no way to the common people.” How can they thus lift them
up to a higher level? Notwithstanding all their so-called
beautiful philosophy, the masses of people in India are living
down on the lowest plane, while the rest are weaving their
Missionary Service 23
thoughts and building their castles in the air. Their philos-
ophy is that God is the unknowable, man the unreal, and
salvation impossible. How can that help mankind? You will
find these thinkers scattered here and there while the millions
are the common people who live on the lowest plane of relig-
ious light and religious thinking. We are trying to bring to
these people new foundations of thinking so that they can
build their philosophy in a way which will apply to ordinary
life, help them to a better, nobler existence and give them
higher ideals of living.
Great Britain is trying to build up a system of schools.
There are two hundred colleges connected with the five
universities. But these colleges are godless schools. The
government dares not teach any religion, because it has
promised always to be neutral in religion. Hindu schools
have no religion within them, and so the Hindu youth are
being raised in that godless system. Our schools are estab-
lishing for these people a new basis of religious thought and
belief. - -
Come with me to Madura, where you will find one of the
largest temples in the world. It covers an area of fifteen acres
of land. You might place two hundred of our ordinary
American churches within this area, and they wouldn't fill it.
The entrance hall of that temple is one of the finest specimens
of Hindu architecture. Its doorway is forty-five feet high.
It is called the hall of a thousand pillars. There are only
nine hundred and ninety-nine, but they call it the hall of a
thousand pillars, and every pillar is a beautifully carved work
of art. There are also fifty or more human figures wonder-
fully carved, skilful and artistic. This temple has an annual
revenue of thirty-three thousand dollars from its lands and
villages, and forty priests minister within its precincts. There
is a tank there called the golden lily. It is golden, because
its water is yellow with slime and dirt. People wash their
bodies in that tank and pour the water down their throats
24 Sunday, june Twentieth
saying, “This is efficacious; this is sacred water.” There is
nothing more within that precinct than that trough. Near by
is the inner shrine, and people passing into it fill it with water,
salt water, milk, buttermilk, curd—twenty-one different
ingredients are poured in the daily ablutions, and the refuse
pass into that trough. You can recognize the odor fifty yards
away at any time. I have seen women go into that trough
and pour the liquid into their mouths saying, “This is the
most cleansing of all; no sin that a man can commit will
withstand the cleansing power of this.”
In this temple is also the representation of a woman, the
wife of Siven, the incarnation of cruelty and power. Her
tongue protrudes from her mouth, and she wears a necklace
of human skulls. Her body is covered with ochre to repre-
sent blood, and she stands on the neck of a prostrate man.
I remember, during the cholera scourge, a poor woman
walking around that idol, a very meritorious thing for a
Hindu. She had placed there her little offering of rice,
cocoanut and banana, in her endeavor to appease this idol.
She said, “I have one little boy. I am afraid Carly (Hindu
for cholera) will take my darling from me, so I came to
appease her with this offering.”
Fifty years ago when the government of India enacted a
law against obscenity, the religious leaders rose up and said,
“You can't apply that to our religious temples.” And the
government did not dare to apply it to those religious em-
blems. So to-day the religion of India is exempt from the
law against obscenity. Thousands of women are connected
with these temples, dedicated in infancy, so they say, to the
gods. But they are dedicated to lives of shame. I have seen
the first movement of India against this use of these women
in the temples; and in all the temples, now, the dancing-girls
have been abolished. But a people crushed down by igno-
rance, superstition, and idolatry, worse than the Hindus, is
not to be found anywhere.
Missionary Service 25
There are fifty millions of people in India who are not
allowed to enter into a Hindu temple. Their very presence
in this great temple in Madura would defile it. Their offer-
ings cannot be received by any Hindu deity. It would be
considered a curse to the temple. These are the outcasts
of India. There is not a blessing under the law that these
people have the right to enjoy. Why do they cling to that
faith? I have asked them, and they say, “I don’t know.”
All these outcasts can do is to go to their own devil shrine
§º-º ºr
ºg
...tº *
and worship demons. They are in the lowest depths of ºf
degradation, darkness and superstition. I know of no people * *
on earth to-day whose position cries more loudly to our
people in America for helpfulness and love to bring them
out of that condition.
But up in the mountains of India you will find tribes who
are still lower than the outcasts, in their religious faith. Up
on a mountain peak, once, I met six men walking along the
road. I joined them and began to talk with them. They
were of a small tribe in the mountains. One said, “Me
know English, me Barnum man.” He had been exploited
by our great showman, Barnum. I wondered how many of
our Christian people in America had seen this man, and
been pleased with what he did, without knowing that he and
his companions represented a great and crying need, and
that there was an opportunity for them to bring his people
to their faith. Twenty-five years ago a lady ascended this
mountain and translated the New Testament into the tongue
of that tribe, and has been working for them ever since.
Not only the spiritual condition, but the spiritual qual-
ities, of the Hindus demand our consideration. There is no
people on earth so religious in their sentiment, no people
who have the instincts, and, by divine gift, the yearnings,
after faith in the divine, as the people of India. We think,
if we bring our religion into one day in seven, that we are
doing well; and God knows how little we do in that one
*

26 Sunday, june Twentieth
day. But these people bring their religion into every act of
life. In my journeys to and from Madura I have come
across the idol Genesh, the god of wisdom, chief of all the
devils of India. That idol had lain there on the roadside
neglected for years, until one day a poor woman began to
bestow her attention upon it. She cleaned the roadway
around that idol and chalked it beautifully. Then she poured
a little oil upon the idol and brought sacred ashes and
marked it, and put a cloth upon it. After a while she
brought another cloth, and as her affection grew for that
idol, she brought to it a third cloth, this time a silk one.
But she never left these gifts over night. Genesh was not
able to take care of himself in that particular. She went
through this routine daily and bestowed her devoted atten-
tion to her idol. I have often wished that we could take
this woman with her tender religious sensibilities, and lift
her eyes up from that dirty, disgraceful object, to Him who
is the Light of the world, to Him who is our Joy and Life;
that she might feed her faith upon Him, going forth to
Him and fixing her thought on Him. Multiply that ex-
ample by three hundred million, and you have the situation
in India of the opportunity there is for us.
We have these millions open to us as they are open to
no other people. I know of no place where the gospel can
be preached with such freedom as in India. You need not
ask any one's permission there. You can go to any city or
village and preach the gospel and sing your hymns with
absolute freedom. You will immediately have a crowd about
you, and they are always attentive. Thus we carry the gospel
to those millions of people as well as to the few who boast
of their worthless intelligence and culture. We are bringing
the best we have in thought and life to the low and the high
alike; and you would be surprised to know how the Lord
is blessing our labors. Twenty-one thousand people in our
district have come out of heathenism into life in Christ
Missionary Service 27
Jesus. More than half of these have come from the out-
casts; the other half from higher classes; but you will find
no difference between them to-day. Our Christian com-
munity stands, to-day, the best educated body of people in
India, and is developing rapidly in its own consciousness
and power, becoming possessed of character as well as faith.
Four months ago in Madura you might have met three
thousand people gathered from all parts of the district to
celebrate the fifty-seventh anniversary of our mission. They ºf
gathered to show their gratitude to our Board. Take a look
at them as they are gathered. Here you will find five hun- .
dred young men from our schools and colleges, Christian
men of culture who are looking forward to a life of useful-
ness and power among their people. You might have found
two hundred and fifty young women connected with our
high school in Madura, bright, beautiful, a power in their
community for righteousness and faith. Look at the boys
and girls, a thousand in our schools to-day. Look at the
older men and women, seven hundred of them engaged in
Christian work in our missions, giving themselves unto the
Lord for the good of their people. This is the body of
people that has been raised out of this depth of heathenism;
many are university graduates. India with all its needs is a
splendid field for the Christian worker who goes there. I
have spent thirty years of my life there and I know where-
of..I speak. And I repeat, there is no land on earth to-day
which brings larger opportunities to the Christian worker,
and which will bring permanently larger results to the serv-
ices which he may render unto the Lord India. May the
Lord bless that people, and bring them out of their dark-
ness into the light and joy of His own salvation.
The anthem for women's voices from Gound’s “Redemp-
tion” was sung:
“Lovely appear over the mountains the feet of them that
preach and bring good news of peace.”
:
:
.
28 Sunday, june Twentieth
The next speaker was Miss Ellen C. Parsons, M.A., a
teacher at Lake Erie from 1868 to 1875, when she went to
Constantinople as associate principal of the Home School
for Girls, now the American College, also a teacher here
after her return from Turkey, and for the last twenty-three
years in New York, editor of Women's Work, a foreign
missionary magazine of the Presbyterian church. Miss
Parsons had been asked to speak of Turkey in this time of
great tribulation through the massacre of Adana.
Miss Parsons said: When I was traveling around the
world, a few years ago, I went to the home of Dr. and Mrs.
John Peter Jones of the Madura Mission in South India.
I knew the family was in Ameria, but I wished to see where
my dear pupil had lived, and I was shown over the home.
It is a pretty serious thing, when you are thousands of miles
away from home and not one of your kindred near, to go
into an atmosphere which is saturated with the memory of
your friends. I was told, “This was their sitting-room, this
their dining-room,” and I fancied the children seated around
the table. Then and there, I was seized with my first attack
of homesickness on that journey. I had known that I should
not see Bishop or Mrs. Thoburn at Calcutta, because they,
too, were in America. But I went to their home, and all
the Methodist friends greeted me tenderly for their sakes.
I saw the place where their memory was fragrant; saw the
evidences of how their feet had carried healing, and the
church had been filled with the voice of the preacher; and
I thought that when our Lake Erie sent Sarah Hosford
Jones and Anna Jones Thoburn to India, she had given
some of her best. I had always known it; I knew it a great
deal better, there, in the cities where they lived and their
light shone.
Shall I speak of what has almost broken my heart these
last weeks? It is the tidings from Cilicia, the province where
St. Paul's own city is, where he left the impress of his char-
Missionary Service 29
acter as a boy before he went to school in Jerusalem. Just
imagine that it were Lake County, here in Ohio, where
thirty thousand people, almost all of them men, had been
murdered in the course of two or three days. Imagine what
it would be to have the pastors and preachers of twenty-
two churches in the county suddenly silenced by death.
Most of these churches were self-supporting. Now, the
men who sustained them, whose character was the bulwark
of evangelical Christianity, are slain. What a gash in the
s*
sº
tº
side of Protestantism is that! Think of the girls, carried
away into Moslem houses; the women, put on short rations :
by their Moslem captors so as, by hunger, to compel their
consent to be the captors' slaves. Think of mothers bury-
ing their dead children with their own hands, alone! Every-
thing that the heathen Amalekites and Canaanites did in the
old wars in that same country has been done now. And
American blood was spilled, as you know. Those brave
young missionaries, Rogers and Maurer, risked and lost
their lives, not for a mere matter of American property, but
to save eighty Armenian schoolgirls from the mob. Above
all other emotions, to one who knows Turkey, is the sense
of awful loss to the country by the murder of those educated
pastors and teachers, the very men fit to help the land in
this woful time. In a population, few of whom know the
meaning of liberty, these were men capable of interpreting
the Constitution to their countrymen. -
Shall I confess to my old pupils whom I see before me,
how for days after the tragedy I walked in darkness? And
would they like to know whence light came 2 I said, “How
can we bear this prostration of the results of long, laborious
years? Missionaries buried the seed of evangelical Christ-
ianity; blossom and fruitage were on the tree, and now it is
cut down! How can we bear such costly loss P’’ Then, first,
I remembered the story of Joseph, when he made himself
known to his brethren. “Do not be angry with yourselves,”
3o Sunday, june Twentieth
he said, “because ye sold me into Egypt; I was sent by
God to preserve life. So it was not you which did it, but it
was God.” This was the religion of the old Hebrew, and it
helped me, but did not satisfy. Turning to the New Test-
ament, I heard the triumphant voice of our Redeemer:
“Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” This is
the answer to all our darkness. Jesus Christ is going to draw
Mohammedans to the music of the Gospel and so will
He “overcome” this Islam, which has looked to us like an
impregnable fortress. He will overcome whatever opposes
the progress of His truth, and the world shall be at His feet.
There may be many a black storm first, but at the end—
and we must believe that now, before it comes to pass—the
voice of our Lord will ring out again: “Be of good cheer,
I have overcome the world.” -
Mrs. Gerould: Our next topic, “Greetings from Alumnae
of Lake Erie,” calls for a few words by way of introduction.
I have met Lake Erie alumnae in India and China. They
have been found among the most faithful and efficient mis-
sionaries. When I was in Shanghai I was told that one of
our Lake Erie women there, was one of the greatest mis-
sionaries in China, so patient, so painstaking, so persistent.
I remember a picture in lndia of a faithful woman leading
a prayer-meeting of English soldiers. They were cheering
themselves far away from home, by singing some of the old
hymns. As they sang one, their leader said to me, “I always
see Lake Erie when we sing that hymn.” She had not for-
gotten the old associations even amid the exciting demands
of mission work near a “Cantonment” of English soldiers.
When I was in Calcutta I visited the Deaconess' Home and
saw another Lake Erie graduate, Miss Kate A. Blair, of the
class of '76. Miss Blair is with us, and will now speak of her
classmate and former fellow-laborer in India, Mrs. Anna
Jones Thoburn, M.D.
Missionary Service 3 I
Miss Blair: My earliest recollection of Anna Jones Tho-
burn was in a scene in the old chapel yonder. Why the
memory of her face should remain with me so vividly, while
many and many another has faded into oblivion, I do not
know, unless it was from some premonition of the years we
should spend together in a far city later on. My latest pic-
tures of her are here again at old Lake Erie where we had
both come to attend the anniversary exercises. It was the
same calm and beautiful face, older by more than twenty
years, maturer, but, withal, wonderfully unchanged. A Bible
woman of mine used to exclaim, “What a beautiful face
Mrs. Thoburn has 1” And then she would tell how the chief
lady used to come to minister to her sick mother, and how
the sight of her smiling face used to do her good like medicine.
In many a poor home, native and European, that loved
face and form were familiar sights. No house was too poor,
too squalid, for her to venture in, if within it there was some
one she could help; if it was the abode of want which she
could relieve, if there were sin-sick souls there needing the
healing touch of her Saviour more even than their bodies
needed her ministrations as a physician. No man or woman
was so bad as to repel her so long as any hope of reforma-
tion remained. By the side of the erring one she would kneel
and plead for that help from on high which such mighty faith
as hers could not but bring, and which she had never known
to fail. Her home duties were carefully performed, and the
place where her loved ones gathered kept with daintiest care,
but she was ever ready to go forth at the call of want or dis-
tress. To her all the calls of the church she loved with such
great affection, the church where she had labored with her
husband and which now bears her name—all such calls were
as the voice of God summoning her to a service which was
to her a sacred joy to perform. In the social meetings her
voice was always heard in prayer and testimony, and those
who listened have not forgotten those wonderful prayers of
32 Sunday, june Twentieth
hers when it seemed that heaven drew nearer as petitions
eloquent with heartfelt earnestness came warm from her lips.
It was her rich, clear, contralto voice which oftenest led in
the hymns and songs, some of which will forever be associated
by one, at least, with Anna Thoburn and with that dear place
where we gathered week after week for our meeting.
“Wherever He may guide me, -
No want shall turn me back;
My Shepherd is beside me,
And nothing can I lack.”
This hymn I never hear without a sweet picture of her, sing-
ing that same hymn there in the old familiar place.
She went burdened to the church every Sabbath day, espe-
cially at the evening meetings, which were the deciding time
of so many souls. She used to tell me that she came away
wearied just from feeling the awful responsibility. --
Mrs. Thoburn founded the Deaconess’ Home in Calcutta
more than twenty years ago, and to this Home 1 was welcomed
on my arrival there. It was a work dear to her heart, and she
and her husband who first conceived the plan of it, gave time
and substance to make it a living fact. Here she lived for a
time, and was our head and our loving friend and sister.
To-day that Home hears her name, and daily and hourly
influences go out from it to bless and cheer, to raise the
fallen and downcast and discouraged. -
The rich welcomed her coming as heartily as the poor,
and in many a home of wealth and culture she was one
who was ever sure of being wanted. Not because of any
desire for social position did she make these friends; not
for any show of place or power did she attract them. It
was just her own sweet, gentle, lovely personality that drew
and held them, and because in their times of stress she had
gone to them with heavenly comfort. To the sorrowing she
brought comfort; to the sinful, release from the old life to
a new and happy way; to a burdened pastor and other
Missionary Service 33
workers, she was a tower of strength; to the missionaries of
all denominations, she was a sympathetic friend.
After all, it was not so much what she did, though in
labors abundant, as what she was, that counted; and one in
speaking of her work must needs protray her lovely char-
acter. Perhaps no one in our class of nine more truly lived
the class motto, “Not words, but deeds.” But when we
think of her it is not of any great thing that she began and
carried through to a finish, but of a multitude of little lov-
ing deeds, and a life of holy living. When she went home,
scattered all over the world in many lands were hearts that
felt the world emptier because she was no longer in it.
The program would not have been complete without a
word from Mrs. John P. Jones (Sarah A. Hosford,”2).
Mrs. John P. Jones: I haven’t been told what to say,
but perhaps I can give you just a word of what we have to
offer to the people of India. India and Hinduism are full
of contradictions. Although the Suami in one of his elo-
quent addresses insists that there is no such thing as sin,
that the greatest sin is to say that man is a sinner, yet the
Hindu people have felt deeply and heartily that there was
such a thing as sin. They have been going upon pilgrim-
ages and performing penance, and suffering many things to
rid themselves of sin. And since they have come to the con-
clusion that it is impossible to rid themselves of sin they
have adopted the doctrine of Karma, which is that every
sin must wear itself out, must be worked out; that every
soul must reap the fruit of its own doings. And since they
have seen that every sin does not bring its punishment in
this life, they have said that the soul must go on and on
through countless births and re-births, until all is satisfied.
So I think the greatest thing we can bring to the Hindu is
the knowledge of a God who forgives sin. I never under-
stood, until I lived in India, how great a thing it is to
believe in a God who forgives sin.
..
*;
34 Sunday, june Twentieth
The next thing we have to bring to the Hindu is a God
who is a friend. Their gods are all so distant that they have
no connection with them, or if they are near, they are evil
spirits and evil wishers. Much of their worship consists in
offerings to appease offended deity, or the urging of a god
to stay away. They have a goddess of smallpox, and the
worshiper brings an offering and implores her to stay away.
But the God who is a friend, whom we may petition to be
near us and near those whom we love, this is the God we
bring to them.
But the Hindu says, “Your religion is at fault. If you
have a God who forgives sin and who is a friend and a God
of Love, then why should not men go on in sin forever
and ever, since God so loves them?” So we have to bring
to them the God of Righteousness. Righteousness is under-
stood by the Hindu, but it has no connection with religion.
A man may be a good man or a holy man, or both; a
woman may be a bad woman or a good woman or both, but
they are not supposed to have connection one with the other.
So what we bring to them is a God who loves righteousness,
who because He forgives sin and because He loves and
because He is a friend, insists upon righteousness and up-
rightness. These are the things we can bring to these people,
and this God is far different from any that they have known
or that they think they need.
Mrs. Ella Ford Brunner, '71, president of the Alumnae
Association, had written personally to our representatives in
China, Japan, Turkey, India, Siam and other countries and
now read portions of letters received in answer, saying of
these daughters of Lake Erie: “It could almost be said that
there is no speech nor language where their voice is not
heard.” She also prefaced the letters by reading this tribute
from the Rev. Charles C. Creegan, Secretary of the Amer-
ican Board of Foreign Missions: “I have had the privilege
of meeting a large number of graduates and former students
Missionary Service 35
of Lake Erie College in the foreign mission stations of the
American Board, as well as those of other denominations.
Without exception, they have all proven themselves to be
not only thoroughly trained for the work which they have
felt called upon to do in foreign lands, but also thoroughly
devoted to the people among whom they have labored so
efficiently.” After the reading of the greetings from the
Alumnae the hymn, “All hail the power of Jesus' name,” was
sung. Dr. Jones closed the service with a fervent prayer for
the workers from Lake Erie College in every land, and
Bishop Thoburn pronounced the benediction.
Moh-kow-shau, China, May 8, 1909.
Dear Mrs. Brunner:
Your note of March 31st has just found me here where
Mr. Fitch and I have come for a two weeks’ rest among
these hills. Altho I am sixty-one, I still feel like one of
Lake Erie's girls—a long way from the Alma Mater, espe-
cially now as the great Jubilee week draws near.
I do not want to be anywhere else than in China, though.
This is a wonderful people with a wonderful near future.
We cannot be thankful enough that we were permitted to
come here, tho we more and more feel our unworthiness and
inability. My husband for many years has been the
Superintendent of our Mission Press in Shanghai. I believe
it is the largest Mission Press in the world.
Perhaps it is one of the largest evangelizing agencies in
this land, for it prints nothing but religious and educational
matter, and has been the fountain from which many other
similar presses have sprung, all of them together seeming
inadequate to the large demands of China at this time. As
you know, this is a time of great importance in China's
history. She is progressing by leaps and bounds, and has
passed the great crisis of the deaths of her emperor and
empress-dowager in such a quiet, safe way that it does seem
36 Sunday, june Twentieth
as if God’s special care is over her. For this and the mighty
work of His Holy Spirit among her people may you all
pray with us. . -
Our eldest son, Robert, is connected with our Hangchow
College. He has a wife and three children. Our eldest
daughter, Dr. Mary, is married to Dr. F. J. Tooker; they
are now on furlough in the U. S.; have one little daughter.
They are in medical work, their station being Siangtow,
Huran. Our next daughter, Jeannette, is married to Rev.
A. R. Kepler; their station is Ningpo, and they have three
children. George is the next child, just graduating from
Union Seminary this month and hoping to come to China
soon. Alice, our youngest, has come to Shanghai as a Sec-
retary of the Y. W. C. A. She arrived last fall, is just taking
her second year's examinations in Chinese and hopes to get
into regular work this fall. I do so little that I feel that I
have nothing to tell—little work among the women, some
connections with the Chinese Rescue Work, and sometimes
a little translation. But Shanghai is a busy center and
numerous calls on one's time and interest fill the days. For
many years I have been connected with the work of our
woman's missionary magazine, “Woman's Work in the
Far East.” I will try to see that a copy is sent to the
Seminary — no, the College. May it go on preparing women
for the Master's service the wide world over—no other
life, no other service, is in the least worth while. As the
years of our lives grow many, how we thank God for every
bit of spiritual help we got at Lake Erie, and how com-
paratively little does all else seem.
With love; one of the old girls of ’67.
Mary McLellan Fitch.
Monday, June Twenty-first
Monday, June Twenty-first
HEALTH, PHYSICAL TRAINING, MUSIC, ART,
DRAMATICS
|Gºl of the first day which followed the exercises of
| Sunday. The first of the series of educational con-
*] ferences, held at two o'clock in Memorial Hall,
was appropriately devoted to a subject which is the basis of
all educational development.
2 : OO P. M.
CONFERENCE ON HEALTH AND PHYSICAL TRAINING
MARY ELIZABETH Newcomb,”5, M.D., PRESIDING.
In introducing the chairman of the conference, Miss
Evans said: “A special impulse was given to the study of
Physiology at Lake Erie in 1872, by the purchase in Paris
of a set of the famous Auzoux models of the human body
and the various organs. It was a collection probably unpar-
alleled in any of the colleges of that day, including even
medical colleges. The funds for this purchase were a
bequest of seven hundred dollars by Mrs. Woolley, a sister
of Mrs. Albert Morley of Painesville, to which the ever-
ready hand of Judge Hitchcock added a considerable sum.
We may trace from this point the impulse to medical study
on the part of a number of our students. In proportion to
our numbers, as compared with the greater colleges, the
number of those who have gone through the regular med-
ical course or have become graduate nurses, is remarkable.
**
& ºv.
****
jºilleALTH and the arts of expression were the theme #.
*ºw ºilº 3.
*
**-
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*.
*
* {


4o Monday, june Twenty-first
Some of us at Lake Erie can also look back to the devel-
opment of physical training in the gymnasium. Stimulated
by the example of Dr. Edward Hitchcock in the gymna-
sium of Amherst College, and by the classes in light gym-
nastics of Dr. Dio Lewis in Boston, a Plea for a Gymna-
sium was read at the graduating exercises at Mount Hol-
yoke in 1863, by Miss Ellen C. Parsons, one of the
graduating class. The famous war governor of Massachu-
setts, John A. Andrew, was on the platform, and was so
moved that he immediately headed a subscription for a
gymnasium for Mount Holyoke. The same impulse was
felt later at Lake Erie; physical training has never been
neglected here, although always hampered by the lack of a
suitable gymnasium. This Jubilee Commencement is a
special opportunity to bring ourselves before our friends and
to pass the word along of Lake Erie's need of a gymnasium.
We have unusual outdoor opportunities for physical train-
ing, but these do not supply the whole need. We may not
have felt the need so urgently because the health of this
college household has been cared for and the study of
health has been pursued under the inspiring leadership of a
remarkable woman, the Dean of this College. We might
fitly dwell on that rare combination in her of teacher and
mother, caretaker in the smallest details of the home and
wise woman of affairs in the larger business of the College.
Miss Bentley should have been the leader of this conference,
but her great reluctance to appear in public or to have any-
thing said about her, has led to our appointing as chairman
one whose name is known to us all, who represents our
graduate physicians and nurses, and who was also for a time
a member of the Lake Erie Faculty, Dr. Mary Elizabeth
Newcomb, of the class of ’75. I give the greetings of the
College to Dr. Newcomb and through her to all the physi-
cians and nurses who represent Lake Erie so worthily.”
Dr. Newcomb: I suppose many of you were here yester-
Physical Training 4 I
day afternoon and heard Bishop Thoburn. I have never
seen him, but I knew his wife. She was one to whom that
set of models from Paris was an inspiration. She was in the
class in Physiology, and was given special charge of these
wonderful things, to keep them in perfect order and to see
that no harm came to them. We all remember Mrs. Tho-
burn as Anna Jones of '76, who afterward graduated in
medicine; we all think of her as a beautiful character. I also
heard of her as the Assistant Bishop of India, and she was the
head of the movement to introduce the study of medicine
and of nursing among the women of India. She was one to
whom Miss Bentley and her teaching were an inspiriation,
and there were others; Dr. Sophia Ballard Bushnell, as
chairman of the Jubilee Committee, has done so much for
this College that she is well known to you; she is another
who got her inspiration at Lake Erie. I, also, learned here
that it was a good thing to study along such lines, that it
was interesting, and that having studied, one could do a
great deal of good work for humanity.
It does not seem to me that we were put into this world
to work along energetically and faithfully, and then to break
down suddenly with the weight of cares. It is not right, and
I am glad of the new health movement for men and women
who have become discouraged simply because they have not
physical strength to endure. I have not known very much
of physical training, but I believe in it thoroughly. A friend
of mine who is director of the women's physical training
department at Oberlin College wrote an article some time
ago on poise; poise of the body, perfect action of the muscles
and control of them, so that an individual might have him-
self in charge. When we speak of a woman as being well
balanced, we generally mean mental balance; but it seems
to me that the beginning of it is in physical training. I wish
I had known years ago what I know to-day about standing
and walking and playing. I would have been stronger and
42 Monday, june Twenty-first
would have done better work in every way. It is important
that you supervise these things in young people. They can-
not learn to walk right by simply being turned out of doors.
They must be taught to walk properly just as they are
taught to read properly. I remember one of the students
here who was bent over. She had a pretty face but was
hampered by those bent shoulders. She had a hard life; she
worked to pay her way through the course of study. To-day
she is one of our prominent educators in this state. She has
overcome to some extent the stoop in her shoulders; she is
really straight; but she never can be what she might have
been if she had had instruction in her early days in physical
training.
But I am glad to stop my desultory talk and present to
you Dr. Gulick. He knows more about health and physical
training than any other man in the United States. His
name I first heard in connection with the International
Institute in Springfield, Massachusetts, then as head
of Physical Training in the public schools of New York
City; he is now national chairman of the Playground
Movement, established by the Russell Sage Foundation;
and is joint author with his sister, Mrs. Frances Gulick
Jewett, a former Lake Erie student, of a series of text books
on Health. He will speak to us on this subject on which
we are so anxious to be informed—Dr. Luther Halsey.
Gulick of New York.
ADDRESS
BY DR. LUTHER HALSEY GULICK
During the past twenty years there has grown up, with-
out self-consciousness, without any blowing of trumpets,
and without comparison of notes between the different per-
sons concerned, a change in human affairs which in impor-
tance transcends all the development of commerce that has
Physical Training 43
taken place during those years—a change that is altogether
more important than all of the developments of humankind
within this period. It is the change that confronts human-
kind with reference to disease.
We have all contemplated ultimate death as a tragedy
inevitable, but we have not been aware that within a few hun-
dred years the length of human life has been increased from
an average of twenty-three to an average of forty-four years
here in America, and to an average of fifty years in Sweden;
and that it has remained at twenty-three in India. I make
the period of changed conditions twenty years because it
follows after the time when I graduated in medicine, and I
have been able to watch the progress and see the steps.
The great enemies of humankind before which the great
majority have succumbed during past ages, have, during
the past twenty years, been put under control. We, and not
they, are the masters; and these foes that have decimated
our kind are no longer in control. I do not mean you to
infer by this that the task is completed, or that we shall all
die of old age. Diseases of the heart and diseases of the
arteries are increasing, also certain kinds of nervous diseases;
but they are small and few compared to these victories.
I will first mention the victory over malaria. No place in
the world need have malaria. While it has not been a fatal
disease in any place, yet it has lowered public vitality. Take
a place where there are great marshes; there the efficiency
of the whole people is low, due to the prevalence of malaria.
Human life is rendered relatively ineffective, relatively with-
out ambition, without the desire or the ability to do fine
things, either with the body or with the soul, because of
this physical destructive agent. That period in the world's
history has gone, and we have seen it go.
Diphtheria—dread word in any family—is no longer a
dreaded word. It was expected a generation ago that every
one would have smallpox, and we have records of plagues
* >it
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•
:
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44 Monday, june Twenty-first
of smallpox, which in a single season would take a large
fraction of a community of people. But none of the younger
persons in this audience remember any such time. It has
gone forever. In Brooklyn, some time ago, there was a
plague of smallpox, and in looking over the records it
seemed to me as if the people were helpless before it. Now
we know what to do, or the Board of Health knows what
to do, and does it in case of smallpox.
You have heard of the black death which, even yet, in
uncivilized countries, sweeps with death and destruction.
It is a disease carried by insects, by rats and mice, and some-
times by squirrels, and then infecting human beings; a dis-
ease so virulent that sometimes sixty per cent. of all the
persons exposed die, and in a single decade all the popula-
tions of Europe have been scourged by it. It is a dreadful
disease, and yet wholly escapable, and few cases break out
in a civilized city. San Francisco holds her head in shame
because this disease broke out there in recent years, and
the whole civilized world wants to keep out of San Francisco
until she has cleansed herself.
Yellow fever, hydrophobia, tetanus— I doubt if there is
a person in this room that has ever seen typhus fever. We
studied it in our medical school, but even then it was
practically gone.
Now we behold the brilliant world-fight against that
dread disease which takes away one out of every nine to
twelve of all the persons in the United States. Every tenth
person, approximately, dies of tuberculosis. Those of us
who are studying this disease, believe that there are persons
now living who will live to see the time when tuberculosis
will be as rare as smallpox is to-day; and when a person who
otherwise would have perished will remain to live out a
normal life so far as this disease is concerned. Whether that
be true or not, the disease is squelched. Infant mortality
between 1880 and 190o decreased in the United States from
Physical Training 4.5
246 to 165 per thousand, and in Sweden from 303 to 18o
per thousand. This change has occurred within twenty years.
The reason I have been giving these straight, crass, mate-
rial facts is not to call attention to the lengthening of the
duration of human life, but to the increase of power of human
life. The possibility is presented to humankind of living
on higher levels of efficiency than humankind has ever
lived on before. I do not mean the higher levels that favored
individuals have lived on. I mean all the great mass of us
—all the people — can live lives more full, more free; more
vivid and strong and joyous and happy, having the power
to do it, and not feeling constantly, “I don’t know whether
I have the strength” to undertake this or that—but to know
that you have strength.
We look back at the most brilliant period of human his–
tory, that of the Greek civilization, and remember that
even in the age of Pericles four out of five of all the people
were slaves. When we talk about the benefits of that civ-
ilization, and the great appreciation of art and literature
which the people had, we do not mean the people. We do
not refer to the slaves. We refer to the freemen, and the
freemen of Attica particularly. .
In the last few years great engines driven by steam and
electricity have come to do for us the hard muscular work
which during the ages of man's history have been done by
the muscles of man in his arms and thigh and back. The
great canals of the world, the great roads and the houses
that we have built, all have been done by human or animal
muscles—mostly by human muscles. During the long hours
of heavy muscular work, the power to think and to feel was
lessened, and man was brutalized. But there is now a great
uplifting possibility presented to us. The crass muscular
work in city and country is being done by machinery, and
we are starting to work out a new kind of relation to our
environment. That means the enjoyment of fresh air, of
~3.
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46 Monday, june Twenty-first
º,
cold water, of the blue sky; the enjoyment of work, the
wholesome enjoyment of friendship, the ability to take in a
wholesome way the sorrows of life which are inevitable. All
this is related to health. To stand squarely and firmly on
one's own feet, taking the experiences of life simply and
directly with one's eyes wide open—and it is difficult for
an invalid to do that—with a measure of health, these things
become more vivid and more real.
These are not the end of life. I do not mean that to
walk abroad in this beautiful country, and to appreciate the
straightness of the trees in that splendid grove yonder, or
to understand the meaning of the rolling land—I do not
mean that this alone is balance for the strengthening of life;
but without this kind of things life loses its balance. The
person who is so driven by the daily lash of duty that he
fails to see the sky is blue, fails to react wholesomely and
happily to cold water, the man who does not see the sun
go down and lave the world in radiance and joy, who does
not respond to these stimuli, that person is not living. He
may be doing his duty, but he has not that which animates
the common things of this life. We may have splendid
buildings and a magnificent navy; but what does it all mean
unless, coincident with these, we have splendid human life
going on? Of what use are all these things unless it means
that the common people of the next generation are going
to be able to live better moral lives and to have a better
chance than we have had:
Everything can be measured, I believe, in terms as to
whether it contributes to life or takes away from life. Is it
worth while to study, to work? That question.can only be
answered as it was once answered by Him who came that
we might have life and have it more abundantly. It is not
something remote. It is related to these simple, funda-
mental things with which this institution has been connected
aggressively and vigorously for over forty years—the
Physical Training 47
simple matters of daily living, of sleeping, of taking care
of this body, using but not abusing it, working, but working
wholesomely, with balance and clear-headedness, standing
on one's own feet. All this has gone out into the world, and
this institution has been one of the factors in making it go
out, until there is now spreading, not only in this country,
but in England, France and Germany, and all the civilized
world, this consciousness — men and women looking up
from the different professions, and saying, “More life, more .
life!” This movement is forming itself into international :
congresses—one is to be held in Paris next April. The
World's Congress of Hygiene is to be held in Washington
next September. This thing that has unconsciously been
gripping us and giving us the opportunity for a higher,
richer, fuller and more simple life is assimilating all things
to itself in every possible way. -
PROGRAM OF THE
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL TRAINING
The Field Day exercises of a few weeks before, the play-
ing of the finals in the tennis tournament on Monday morn-
ing and the exercises at the close of the Conference were an
exposition of the principles set forth in the address of Dr.
Gulick. The march from the gymnasium to the athletic
field was first on the program. Already a large company
were seated in the field facing the south end of the grove,
carriages and automobiles in the rear, and in the foreground
the piano and musical leaders, with the physical director
supervising the whole. The drills in club-swinging, dumb-
bells and wands, by different divisions of the classes, were a
demonstration of physical endurance and of mental develop-
ment, including memory, attention, rhythm, and control.
The second part of the exhibition consisted of folk-dances,
Swedish, Scotch, Hungarian and German. As one looked
48 Monday, june Twenty-first
at the dancers in their gay costumes, one could almost fancy
a village green in the “Old Country.” The apparatus work
on the parallel bars and the balance swing, demonstrated the
suppleness gained in the gymnasium. A beautiful close was
the drill and dance of the garlands by a special class of stu-
dents. The poses as they changed with slow and stately
rhythm in the lovely surroundings with green trees in the
background and dark clouds overhead, made a picture that
will long be remembered. The audience carried away a vivid
impression of what physical training really means, and a
better understanding and appreciation of the Greek ideal of
physical perfection—the flower of Greek civilization.
MUSIC
On each day of the Jubilee Week, beginning on Monday,
a half-hour of organ music preceded the afternoon ex-
ercises. Those who remained at the college for luncheon
in the gymnasium restaurant, found this quiet time in
Memorial Hall, with its beautiful windows, especially pleas-
ant. Mr. Crocker of the musical faculty, conservatory
graduate of 1901 and student in Europe for the four years
following, gave to these half-hours a peculiar quality of rest-
fulness and inspiration. The music throughout the week
was of the highest order. The stately anthems and organ
numbers of the great public occasions, the commencement
concert, and these informal daily periods, were all in har-
mony with the spirit of the Fiftieth Anniversary, its memories
and hopes. Mr. Brooks, the Director of the Conservatory,
was the guiding spirit and inspiring leader.
ART EXHIBITION
The art exhibition was arranged in the upper story of
Science Hall, which serves as both studio and museum with
a somewhat close mingling of art and science. The exhibi-
Art Exhibition 49
tion was open daily, beginning on Monday afternoon. The
work of private pupils and of the classes in Household Art
included excellent studies in crayon, oil and water-colors,
original house plans, both elevations and interiors, with
studies in house decoration, much beautiful craft work in
stencilling, and in brass, copper and leather, and studies in
clay modeling. But the chief attraction was the loan exhibi-
tion of paintings by artist friends and a collection of decorated
china in original designs and exquisite workmanship by the
Misses Malin of Painesville and Cleveland, former students
of Lake Erie.
Of the artists who generously contributed to the exhibi—
tion, Mr. William L. Lathrop of New Hope, Pennsylvania,
was born in Painesville, and spent his boyhood on the farm
on the well-known river road to the lake. He might also be
claimed as a Lake Erie student, for a little study of shells,
painted when he took lessons from Miss Delia Rich in the
college studio, was hung beside the five landscapes from his
recent paintings. Two of these were “By the River” and
“On the Way to the Farm.” All had that subtle charm
which draws the student to look, and look again, and to enjoy
those color harmonies that suggest the spirit of the landscape.
Mr. Lathrop has won prizes and recognition both at home
and abroad. His recent portrait of General Casement hangs
in Social Hall. Mr. Charles C. Curran of New York is also
represented in Social Hall by the portraits of Mrs. Lydia
Sessions Woodworth and Miss Evans. Mrs. Curran is a
loyal graduate of the class of ’85. Two paintings, “Die
Jungfrau in the Light of the Setting Sun,” and “Childhood.”
represented Mr. Curran's strong characteristics, his sense of
color and his charming idealization of childhood and youth.
Miss Grace E. McKinstry of Faribault, Minnesota, a cousin
of Miss McKinstry of the Faculty, sent a large oil painting
which was exhibited in the Paris Salon, “A Spanish Boy,”
and also a “Child’s Head,” “An Old Woman,” and two
5o Monday, june Twenty-first
Dutch interiors. Miss McKinstry’s strong work is shown in
the college portraits of Mr. Charles A. Avery, Mr. Carlos
O. Child, and Miss Bentley. A large painting full of sun-
shine, “Washing Swiss Cheese,” and a sketch of a tulip farm
in Holland, by Miss Alice Ring, now living in Europe, were
loaned by a former Lake Erie student and constant friend,
Miss M. A. O. Clark, of East Cleveland.
THE CAN TER BU R Y PILG RIMS PRESENTED BY
THE CO BURN PLAYERS
The performance, on Monday evening, of this poetic
comedy by Mr. Percy Mackaye, was under the auspices of
the class of 1909. It was their desire to present to the Jubilee
audience an open-air play in harmony with those presented
in more recent years by the Senior Classes or, as in 1905,
by the Ben Greet company of Woodland Players. On this
Jubilee occasion, the class chose a company of American
players and a play by an American author, although the in-
spiration for the comedy goes back even beyond Shakespeare
to Chaucer and his “immortal pilgrims.” It was a play for
the open air, a picturesque scene, when the friar, the pardoner,
the miller, the plowman, and other pilgrims, together with the
gentle prioress, the sprightly wife of Bath, and the poet, “arch
wayfarer of them all,” strange figures in grave, gay or fantastic
garb, came naturally from the shadowy grove, and acted their
parts in the changing lights thrown by modern invention
upon the stage. The central figures were Mr. and Mrs.
Charles Douville Coburn as Chaucer and the prioress Madam
Eglantine. Their artistic conception of the situations and the
refinement of their acting gave a special charm to the play.
The friar, the wife of Bath, and all the motley company carried
out with zest the merry plot in the spirit of the times, when a
pilgrimage was probably more religious in name than action.
Canterbury Pilgrims 5 I
Thesetting for the play was ideal, the audience largeandrespon-
sive, and the returns justified the class in their financial venture.
The record of Monday of Jubilee Week would be incom-
plete without reference to the work of the committees, with-
out which no part of the program of the week could have
been successfully carried out. For weeks before the event,
and behind the scenes during these eventful days, the Faculty,
especially the heads of the committees, mostly Lake Erie
women, exemplified again the ideals of efficient and unselfish
service for which their Alma Mater has stood, nor were others
lacking in these qualities. Often, the work involved much
self-effacement and the sacrifice of missing important parts
of the program. The committee on entertainment, registra-
tion and badges had their headquarters in the Conservatory
rooms opposite the Director's office. A room for informa-
tion and with facilities for rest, was also open on Main street,
superintended by Painesville Alumnae.
The superintendent of buildings and grounds, Mr. Walter
E. Malin, of Painesville, the faithful employees of the college,
one with thirty-four years of service to his credit, and one
with twenty-four years, and other helpers, were constant in
oversight and care. Mr. Malin's skill and taste aided in the
lighting and decorating of the grounds. At the entrance to
the front walk, seen at once on alighting from the electric
cars, was an arch with Welcome, and the dates 1859 - 1909.
The colors of Lake Erie, green and white, and the stars and
stripes fluttered from the trees along the front and west walks
and from the towers and entrances of the buildings.
The tower room on the second floor of the Main Build-
ing and the familiar Room A of old times, attracted many
visitors, especially the students of early years. Here, Miss
Lawrence had gathered souvenirs of Lake Erie history from
the beginning, photographs of teachers and students, lists of
those who have been missionaries at home and abroad, and the
map of the world with their places marked, and the words
52 Monday, june Twenty-first
above, “Their line is gone out through all the earth.” Room
A, now the class-room for Bible study and recitation, was a
most attractive place with freshly tinted walls, maps, pictures
and attractive tables for private study. Miss Lawrence has
been enthusiastic in gathering material for illustrating the
work of her department. -
Tuesday, June Twenty-second
Tuesday, June Twenty-second
ALUMNAE DAY
CHAPEL SERVICE
§HAPEL service preceded the meeting of the
#| Alumnae Association, and was conducted by Miss
|&#| Bentley. After singing the hymn, “O God, our
Kºsºl Help in Ages Past,” Miss Bentley read pas-
sages from the first chapter of Joshua, “Be strong and of a
good courage "—“As I was with Moses, so I will be with
thee”; inspiring words for the present and the future; also
a part of the fourteenth chapter of Hosea, “I will be as the
dew unto Israel; he shall blossom as the lily; he shall strike
forth his roots as Lebanon.” “They that dwell under his
shadow shall return, they shall revive as the corn, they shall
blossom as the vine,” that picture of strength and beauty
symbolic of the land or the college which the Lord hath
blessed. A responsive Scripture reading followed, including
the one-hundred-and-twenty-first, the twenty-seventh, and
the twenty-third Psalms, and Miss Bentley alluded to the
use of the twenty-seventh Psalm at the first chapel service
of Lake Erie. The hymn, “How Firm a Foundation,” also
used at that time, was then sung. In her brief address, Miss
Bentley read the following selection: “I need oil,” said an
ancient monk. So he planted him an olive sapling. “Lord,”
he prayed, “it needs rain that its tender roots may drink and
swell. Send gentle showers.” And the Lord sent a gentle
shower. “Lord,” prayed the monk, “my tree needs sun.
Send sun, I pray Thee.” And the sun shone, gilding the
dripping clouds. “Now frost, my Lord, to brace its tissues,”

56 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
cried the monk. And behold, the little tree stood sparkling
with frost. But at evensong it died. Then the monk sought
the cell of a brother monk and told him his strange experience.
“I, too, have planted a little tree,” he said; “and see, it
thrives well! But I entrusted my little tree to its God. He
who made it knows better what it needs than a man like me.
I laid no condition; I fixed not ways or means. ‘Lord, send
it what it needs,' I prayed—‘storm or sunshine, wind, rain,
or frost. Thou hast made it, and Thou dost know just what
it needs and hast a full supply, and the great love wherewith
to meet all the needs of my little tree.”
The closing Scripture selection was from the third chapter
of Ephesians. “For this cause I bow my knees unto the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named.” The chapel service closed
with prayer in which Miss Bentley with strong, simple, fer-
vent words commended “the whole family” of Lake Erie,
past, present and future to a covenant-keeping God. In clos-
ing, all joined in the Lord's Prayer. The service, like all
highest and best things, cannot be reported. It calmed and
cheered the spirits of all who were present, it was the fitting
preparation for the meeting of the Alumnae and for the more
public services to follow, and while the tide of interest rose
higher each day till the close, nothing exceeded this chapel
service in depth of feeling and in spiritual power.
THE TWENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING OF
THE ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION
This meeting was memorable by reason of the fact that on
the platform with Miss Evans and Miss Bentley and the
officers of the Association, sat Mrs. Lydia Sessions Wood-
worth and Miss Anna C. Edwards, the former principals of
this institution, making the chain of leadership complete from
its beginning fifty years ago to the present time.
Alumnae Day 57
Mrs. Ella Ford Brunner, '71, president of the Alumnae
Association, opened the meeting by saying: It is my priv-
ilege to call to order the twenty-fifth annual meeting of our
Lake Erie Alumnae Association. At the silver anniversary
of our Alma Mater, the old Memorandum Society was dis-
solved and plans were perfected to form the present alumnae
organization. The first president, Mrs. Sarah Wilcox Hitch-
cock, '61, has rendered valuable help and inspiration not only
during the years when she was the honored head, but during
the administration of succeeding presidents. The history of
the Association has been one of mutual helpfulness and
progress.
The report of the treasurer, Mrs. Elizabeth Aldrich Lyman,
’72, was read and approved, and after other business the pres–
ident announced “a word of welcome from Miss Evans, for
four decades the honored head of our college.”
WELCOME TO THE ALUMNAE BY MISS EVANS
My dear President of the Alumnae Association, members
of the Association, and all former students: I give you a
hearty welcome to this fiftieth anniversary of the opening of
Lake Erie College. As I welcome you, the unforgetable
faces of the past come to my thoughts, and doubtless to yours,
and I welcome you in the names of the founders of this in-
stitution: surely I need not repeat their names; they are pre-
cious in our memories to-day. I welcome you in the name
of the trustees, and in the name of the two principals of Lake
Erie Seminary—as well say the two presidents of Lake Erie
College, for so it was in the beginning, the fruit in the seed.
It is remarkable in the history of any institution that at the
celebration of its fiftieth anniversary, all of those who from
the beginning have held the headship there, should be to-
gether upon the platform. Praise the Lord for the faithful
work in the laying of foundations and for the establishment
of the high intellectual standards of the past!
58 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
I welcome you also in the name of many teachers whom
you will remember. We are thinking of them, praising God
for them in our thoughts to-day. I welcome you in the name
of the present faculty of Lake Erie, many of them your own
classmates and friends in the fellowship and work of this
Association; others, whose names you do not know, have
caught the spirit of this place and have been inspiried t
loyal service. -
I welcome you to an anniversary and a commencement.
In the beginning of our history, when colleges were keeping
commencements, Mount Holyoke kept anniversaries. There
was a feeling that women should not take on names that be-
long to colleges for men, although the occasion might be the
same. So we called it our anniversary. We have been given
to anniversaries. We had passed only ten years of our his–
tory when we celebrated our tenth anniversary, and we cel-
ebrated joyously. Then we celebrated our twentieth with a
commemorative address which was really a baccalaureate ser-
mon from the Rev. Dr. Haydn. Those of you who had the
privilege of being here on the twenty-fifth anniversary will
never forget that occasion. Now we have come to our fiftieth
anniversary, seeming then so far away. We realize how
swiftly the years go by, in that so many of us who partici-
pated in the twenty-fifth have lived to see this Jubilee.
May we not look forward to the seventy-fifth, our next
milestone. Whether we are present or absent in the flesh we
shall be here in spirit. An anniversary is for remembrance;
it is the anniversary of the way in which God has led us so
wonderfully, the time for remembering the precious friend-
ships of the past and those influences that have entered into
our lives and have helped to make us what we are.
But I welcome you also to a commencement. We some-
times say to our young graduates that commencement is only
a beginning. Let us say this to each other, not in disloyalty
to the past, but in the strongest feeling of loyalty to all the
Alumnae Day 59
blessed years that are behind us. Remember that chapter
which we have often read together in this place and in the
old chapel, the roll-call of the faithful in the Epistle to
the Hebrews; remember that after the heroes and heroines
and the great deeds of the past, it is also said that without
us they are not made perfect. It is our privilege to remem-
ber that there is something for us to do, not only to-day,
but in the future. Let us strengthen our faith in the future
of Lake Erie even as we strengthen the ties which bind us
to the past. -
For Lake Erie is not one of the superfluous colleges.
How can it be—one of the very few colleges for women in
the Middle West with the breadth of the State between our-
selves and the Western, our sister institution at Oxford. No,
Lake Erie has its work, its future, and it has more reasons for
being and growing than ever before, not the least of them this
Jubilee anniversary, this commencement opportunity for
greater and better things. -
I want you to think of Miss Bentley and me as helpers
with you, as members of this Association in a larger sense
than ever before. It is my privilege to have my name upon
your list of members, but always with a feeling that I am an
honorary member only. Miss Bentley is a birthright mem-
ber, as the “Society of Friends” used to say—for she is a
graduate of Lake Erie. I am sure you will let me also wear
a badge of green ribbon, and count me hereafter not only an
honorary member of this Association of Lake Erie Alumnae,
but as a real member (great applause)—because we have so
much blessed work to do together. When we have caught
breath after this fiftieth anniversary, we expect to rise up in
the spirit of the inspiring words that Miss Bentley read to us
this morning: “Be strong and of a good courage.” We ex-
pect to work with you, to go on with you together! I wish
to emphasize this, as I think of one who is coming to us to
take up this work, to put her young strong shoulders under
6o Tuesday, june Twenty-second
—I will not say the burden, because burdens are light and
burdens are beautiful. What would the world be if there
were no burdens of responsibility?
The recent visit of Miss Small has deepened our feeling
of thankfulness for the unanimity of her call, for the historic
continuity of the Mount Holyoke succession and for her
thoughtful acceptance of these responsibilities. Miss Small
has been with us here; we have talked things over, and we
know whereof we speak when we commend her to you. It
is a part of her modest thought about herself that she is not
with us on this Jubilee occasion. She preferred to come and
see the College in its usual order and to come now seemed
unwise. But she is here; she thinks of us. I ask you all
to do for her what so many of you did for me when I came
here a stranger. Do this for her, and she will surely carry
this work forward with even greater courage and success, and
so you see how full, how hearty, how loving for the future
as for the present, is our welcome to you to-day. (Applause.)
RESPONSE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE
ALUMINAE ASSOCIATION
Your sympathies are with me, I am sure, as I attempt in
behalf of our Alumnae Association to respond fittingly to
these gracious words of hearty welcome as we celebrate our
Alma Mater's Golden Jubilee. The embarrassmeet of the
situation reminds me somewhat of the little four-year-old
girl who, for the first time, visited the country. Her mother,
spying a tiny toad in the kitchen, called to her little girl to
chase it out. Very soon the small child exclaimed, “Never
mind, mother, he's chasing hisself out!” Thus we are
tempted to say, “Never mind our formal expressions of grati-
tude, our hearts have been chasing them out ever since we
came,” and indeed before our arrival, as we have read your
invitations during months past and noted in the lines and
Alumnae Day 6 I
between the lines the promised welcome awaiting all Lake
Erie girls at this Jubilee Anniversary. We felt the welcome
long before we saw the hospitable word in large letters at
the entrance of the unsurpassed walk with the picturesque
tower at its end. No Lake Erie girl ever views that wide,
ample walk with its magnificent trees on either side, without
a sense of overwhelming gratitude to the early founders who
were sufficiently broad-minded and far-sighted to plan an
entrance that would fittingly symbolize the broad culture of
the institution to which it leads.
Our hearts have been warmed and softened, too, as we
first caught sight of Miss Prescott's roses at the east door.
They must have delayed their perfect bloom a full week in
anticipation of this unusual event. No one of us who knew
and loved dear Miss Prescott has failed in imagination to
catch her own cheery smile of welcome in the sweetness and
fragrance of these damask roses that she nourished and loved
and would never allow to be picked until anniversary time.
It is well worth being one of the old girls just to have en-
joyed the privilege of studying Gray's Botany with nature-
loving Miss Prescott. To have walked and talked with this
inspiring guide in cultivated places and in mysterious woods
and sheltered nooks, where God alone was tending the
flowers, was in itself a liberal education in plant and tree life.
Can we ever forget those works of art, our wonderful herba-
riums, with their required two hundred specimens, more or
less aesthetically arranged? But we cannot allow these tender
and unforgetable reminiscences to crowd out the loving
tributes that are clamoring for expression as we gratefully re-
call the faithful ministry of Miss Evans and Miss Bentley,
whose wonderful love for us all has kept them hopeful and
brave in the midst of all college perplexities during a period
of forty devoted years. As I never coveted their disapproval,
while paying them the following tribute I will not look into
their faces, but into yours, where I shall meet only approval.
62 . Tuesday, june Twenty-second
When I was a young schoolgirl here we used to have
frequent and serious conversations. Among other things we
discussed earnestly what we should like to be if we could
choose. We tried to decide whether we should rather be
“divinely beautiful” or dazzlingly clever or angelically good.
I remember that “noble” was a word we used a great deal.
One day the most dressy one startled us by saying she would
rather be stylish than anything else in the world. Later on
we began to think of what we should like to do. Some of
us thought we should prefer to become authors, and used to
choose poems we should like to have written if we had the
ability. I remember in my senior year I chose and learned
a poem of Lowell's containing the best tribute to a spiritual,
helpful, unselfish woman I have ever known. This was
then dedicated to Miss Evans and to Miss Bentley. My
choice hasn’t changed with succeeding years, and as you
hear the words you will all recognize the picture as we think
of our Miss Evans and Miss Bentley and Miss Lawrence
and others. You will be saying over and over again, “This
is a true description of their characters.”
“Not as all other women are
Is she that to our hearts is dear;
Her glorious fancies come from far,
Beneath the silver evening-star,
And yet her heart is ever near.
“Great feelings hath she of her own,
Which lesser souls may never know;
God giveth them to her alone,
And sweet they are as any tone
Wherewith the wind may choose to blow.
“She is most fair, and thereunto
Her life doth rightly harmonize;
Feeling or thought that was not true
Ne'er made less beautiful the blue
Unclouded heaven of her eyes.
Alumnae Day 63
“Yet in herself she dwelleth not,
Although no home were half so fair;
No simplest duty is forgot,
Life hath no dim and lowly spot
That doth not in her sunshine share.
“She doeth little kindnesses,
Which most leave undone, or despise;
For naught that sets one heart at ease,
And giveth happiness or peace,
Is low-esteemèd in her eyes.
“She hath no scorn of common things,
And, though she seems of other birth,
Round us her heart entwines and clings,
And patiently she folds her wings
To tread the humble paths of earth.
“Blessing she is: God made her so,
And deeds of week-day holiness
Fall from her noiseless as the snow,
Nor hath she ever chanced to know
That aught were easier than to bless.”
Such is the character of those whom we prize and love.
If we seek what they have done, I am sure we have only
to trace to these sources many of the very best impulses
in our hearts and lives. We have only to look around us
here to see what they have done for our Alma Mater. Mount
Holyoke has its “Mary of increasingly precious memory.”
We have ours; both are ideals of womankind. As we think
of what has been accomplished through the unselfish devo-
tion and wisdom of those whom we honor to-day, our hearts
are overflowing; and we feel such a weight of gratitude we
hardly know what to do with it. But it is a weight full of joy
and sweetness, as our hearts go out in gratitude to all who
have contributed to our homecoming. This includes not
only the Faculty whose hands have been sountiring and whose
64 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
brains so wise in planning the program and all the details of
this gathering, but all the student body who have contributed
so much to our joy and pleasure; and especially the senior
class whom we at this time warmly welcome into our Associa-
tion. (Here the seniors arose.) We know we are indebted
to you also for the pleasures of this anniversary.
welcome TO CLASS OF 1909
Dear girls of our Alma Mater's Golden Jubilee Year, 1909:
Our welcome to you, though of necessity brief, is no less
sincere and hearty. All the assembled Alumnae, including
representatives from most of the fifty classes already gradu-
ated, reach out cordial hands of welcome to you. You are
ours to-day, and no thought or worthy ambition of yours is
lacking in interest to us. We are each a part of our blessed
Alma Mater's life and joined to it with a three-fold cord of
love, loyalty and fidelity. You have come into your Alumnae
Kingdom at such an auspicious time of memories and hopes
that our imagination is wielding a magic brush to-day as it
paints for each one of you some special life mission worthy
of this marked privilege, a mission for which your exceptional
training has fitted you.
Although well-equipped college women have now been
abroad in our land about half a century, do not think for this
reason that all the tasks of our time are completed. Many
still await the devoted energy of earnest, helpful Christian
women, who, in another's words, are convinced that “Educa-
tion, if it be worthy of the name, should only be the bellows
that makes the divine spark within each soul glow into a torch
to light others.” With your college training and the inspir-
ing examples of unselfish living fresh in your memories, we
have no fears that your lives will be negative, but rather
positive, forceful and helpful. The ambition of no one of
you will be satisfied with so-called society life that now in-
Alumnae Day 65
cludes an unceasing round of “bridge” engagements and the
acceptance and giving of hospitality that, well nigh robbed
of its true significance, has been changed into a meaningless
clearing-house for the discharge of social obligations. We
have every reason to anticipate better things of you.
But whatever your life tasks, we are confident of their
worthy, successful fulfilment if you keep constantly in view
the noble Christian principles and ends in whose interest a
half-century ago our Alma Mater was founded. May your
hearts ever be loving and loyal, your heads wise, and your
hands active in your Alma Mater's service as your efforts now
join ours in one common aim to make our college as good as
the best. May a kind Providence preserve you an unbroken
band—for your twenty-fifth reunion and our Alma Mater's
Diamond Jubilee.
Miss Nellie Lewis Cratty made the following response:
The class of 1909 thanks you for your cordial word of
greeting. We acknowledge the double honor which this
year brings to the graduating class. To belong to such an
institution with such a history means much, and to be the
Senior Class of the Golden Jubilee really implies that golden
things may be expected of us. And we shall endeavor
humbly to do our part and to prove our loyalty to this
splendid Alma Mater.
The report of the committee of the Alumnae for raising
a Jubilee Fund of fifty thousand dollars was given by Mrs.
Sophia Ballard Bushnell, '84, whom the president fitly called
“our indefatigable chairman.” The report is printed in detail
in the Report of the Alumnae Association for 1909. There
are, however, certain points that deserve mention in this
history of Jubilee week. The four college classes, including
1912, are represented in the list of gifts by graduates, that
of 1909 being two hundred and fifty dollars. The graduates
of Lake Erie more than met their apportionment, averaging
*º!
..s'. .:g s+

66 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
more than three hundred dollars to each class. It is touch-
ing to see the list headed by the sole surviving member of
the class of 1860, with three hundred dollars. A few large
gifts helped to swell the total amount of the classes, notably
in the class of ’83, that of Miss Margaret E. Culbertson,
who, with her sisters, have founded the Culbertson Scholar-
ship Fund of six thousand dollars. The class of ’74 were
credited with a gift of one thousand dollars, from Mrs.
Charles P. Turner of Philadelphia, in the name of Mrs.
Mary Warren Thorpe of that class; the classmates of Alice
Lockwood Gray, '95, with several gifts in memory of her.
The special Memorial Funds were among the most precious
of the Jubilee gifts. The roll of names includes such teachers
of the early years as Miss Harriet B. Smith, Miss Prescott,
a memorial by her nieces, some of the graduates and students
whose names have long been starred in the annual catalogue;
it reaches back to Willoughby graduates, Mrs. Fanny Wol-
cott Cutler, and even beyond to the mothers, as Mrs. Caroline
Blair Greer, mother of Mrs. Sarah Greer Treadwell, '62. A
gift of five hundred dollars from Mrs. Dan T. Casement of
Painesville is in the name of her son, young Dan Casement,
who lost his life in the building of a Costa Rican railroad.
The Branch Associations had the difficult task of raising
funds by sales, and by personal solicitation among compar-
ative strangers; many of the members of the local associa-
tions had the perplexing problem of dividing one's own gift
between class and association. The Cleveland Branch had the
joint responsibility with the Trustees, of oversight and assist-
ance in the Central office, 918 Citizen's Building. Included
in the sum raised by this Branch, is a legacy of five thousand
dollars, a gift fragrant with the memory of one of the noblest
givers in this or any city of the land, Mrs. Flora Stone
Mather. As she had remembered Lake Erie before, so in
the closing days of her beautiful life, she remembered once
more its work and its need of endowment.
Alumnae Day 67
With all their splendid effort it was a disappointment to the
Alumnae to report the sum of nearly forty thousand instead
of fifty thousand dollars, but there was no lack of courage
in Mrs. Bushnell's closing words: “Although the full sum
of fifty thousand dollars for which we aimed has not yet
been raised we must not give up the effort; the financial
stress of the past year accounts largely for the shortage.
There has been no lack of loyalty and devotion on the part
of the Alumnae; on the contrary, the letters coming into the
Lake Erie office in Cleveland accompanying gifts or other-
wise, were aglow with love and affection for our Alma Mater,
most of them expressing regret that the gift could not have
been multipled many fold. Now that the Cleveland office
has been discontinued, the work will be carried on at the
College, and it must go on. The ultimate goal for the College
is an endowment of not less than two hundred thousand
dollars, not only to place Lake Erie upon the Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, making the
members of the Faculty eligible to this fund, but, also, to
secure to the college the place it deserves among the colleges
in Ohio–that of highest rank; and most of all, to secure
that sense of permanency that is necessary for the growth and
advancement of any college. Let us never cease in our efforts
until an adequate endowment has been secured.”
A resolution of thanks to the committee for their “hard and
faithful work” was warmly seconded and carried, and with some
additions to the membership, the committee was continued.
Mrs. Mary Flanders Feitshans, '65, offered the following
resolution:
Resolved, That the Alumnae of Lake Erie College request
the Honorable Board of Trustees to set apart from the con-
tributions of the Alumnae to the Jubilee Endowment Fund,
an amount sufficient to endow, permanently, a Chair in the
College to be called the Mary Evans Chair of English Lan-
guage and Literature.
68 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
The resolution was received with hearty applause, which
the president remarked was an excellent second. It was
adopted by a rising vote. The resolution was a complete
surprise to Miss Evans, but after a little she recovered her-
self and expressed her appreciation of the honor and affection
thus shown by the Alumnae.
The business of the Association having thus ended, the
president, Mrs. Brunner, said “We come now to that part
of the program which includes our tributes to the founders,
friends and teachers of this college. It is most fitting that we
should echo with accumulated emphasis the tributes that
were lovingly and loyally paid twenty-five years ago. The
strong and unfading threads which we wove then into our
college history were silver; they are golden now.”
No gathering of this kind would be complete that did not
recognize Miss L. T. Guilford, of Cleveland, who has always
been one of the honored links binding Lake Erie to Mount
Holyoke. A graduate from Mount Holyoke, sixty-five years
ago, Miss Guilford was privileged to study under Mary
Lyon. She is also the biographer of Mrs. Zilpah Grant
Bannister, with whom Miss Lyon was associated at Byfield,
Derry, and Ipswich. Miss Guilford's own educational work
in Cleveland, for a third of a century from 1847, is rec-
ognized in the noble lives of men and women who were her
pupils. Guilford House of the College for Women com-
memorates the lifelong devotion of one of those pupils to
her teacher. Miss Guilford was one of the speakers at our
Twenty-fifth Anniversary. She has rarely been absent from
our autumn festival of Founders’ Day since it was estab-
lished in 1894. To-day she sends to us her warm greetings.
We come to the founding of Lake Erie by way of
Willoughby Seminary. Founded in 1847, in the beautiful
village of Willoughby, ten miles west of Painesville, the
ideals of Mount Holyoke were magnified in the principals
and teachers, the number of pupils increased from fourteen
Alumnae Day - 69
to more than two hundred, and nothing hindered the per-
manent establishment of what should become one of the
leading colleges for the separate education for women, ex-
cept the difficulty of raising funds. When, in 1856, the build-
ing was burned and other towns offered larger subscription
lists, there seemed nothing left for the graduates but to sit
down by the banks of the Chagrin river, rightly named, and
mingle their tears with its waters—thus spoke one of that
notable company of graduates, when, in 1897, the semi-
centennial of Willoughby was celebrated on Founders' Day
at Lake Erie. But the history of Willoughby Seminary
was not to be lost. At Lake Erie's Twenty-fifth Anniver-
sary, its graduates and students were invited to join this
Association. The response came in the gift of a beauti-
ful memorial window, and there has never been a Lake
Erie Alumnae gathering without some representation of
Willoughby.
The first principal of Willoughby, Mrs. Roxana Tenny
Newhall, has been closely associated with Lake Erie through
her visits in 1891 at the dedication of the Willoughby win-
dow and even down to 1903, when, at the age of eighty-
four, she was able to speak from the Commencement plat-
form. Her portrait, presented by a devoted Willoughby
pupil, Mrs. Cornelia Huntington Greer, hangs in Social
Hall. Letters of congratulation have never failed to come
from Mrs. Newhall until the last, which occurred only a few
days before her death, November 5, 1908. A tribute to her
will be found in the Lake Erie Record and the Report of
the Alumnae Association. In the same Report is a tribute
to Mrs. Marian Pierce Hatch, graduate of Willoughby in
I 855.
Mrs. Brunner expressed the gratification of Lake Erie
Alumnae that Willoughby was represented in Lake Erie's
Jubilee, “recognizing in Lake Erie its own Alma Mater,
the same root, branch and fruit, only transplanted, in whose
7o Tuesday, june Twenty-second
growth and development Willoughby's interest is joined
with ours.”
Letter from Mrs. F. Martha Beckwith Bostwick, Class
of 1855, Willoughby Seminary:
Dear Miss Evans—It is one of the painful experiences
of advanced years to discover suddenly that one has outlived
her generation, that there is no one left to share the pleas-
ant reminiscences we so fondly cherish. It was my delight-
ful privilege in 1897 to be the guest of Lake Erie on
Founders’ Day as a participant in its exercises. Possibly
someone present will recall Miss Hastings' impromptu, as,
with a move of the hand, she exclaimed, “The Willoughby
girls may rise!” to which a goodly number responded with
old-time alacrity, and the audience clapped hands vigorously.
I have the list of those who were present in person and who
sent written greetings. So far as I have any positive informa-
tion, I am the sole survivor. When requested by the Pres-
ident to contribute something for this occasion, my health
seemed to forbid any labored preparation, but I might make
brief mention of the departed ones.
It was my pleasure to meet Mrs. Roxana Tenny New-
hall in her Chicago home several times within the last ten
years of her life. Her memory of the details of her life in
connection with her idolized institution was her ruling pas-
sion. During her years of infirmity every memento had been
treasured, and she delighted in recalling the giver and the
circumstances connected with each gift. She was tenderly
ministered to by her children, grandchildren and great-grand-
children. Her daughter, Mrs. Helmer, wrote me that she
passed peacefully away, November 5, 1908.
Miss Ruth M. Hastings was both a fellow pupil and
teacher during my school years. She was a strong character
and an able teacher. She taught several years in Kentucky,
and Mrs. Fanny Pierce Cutler was associated with her. Of
Alumnae Day 71
Mrs. Cutler, I can speak as a familiar, trusted friend. In her
own home she was a cheerful, loving wife, a devoted mother,
and her hospitality was unstinted. Mrs. Cutler lived in the
house where she was born, until her decease. Almost every-
one in the township of Tallmadge was a relative, near or
remote, and she was “Aunt Fanny” to all. Her death is an
irreparable loss. .
Mrs. Marian Pierce Hatch was my lifelong friend. We
began and finished school with the same surroundings. For
thirty years, and up to the time of her death, in October,
1908, she was the efficient matron of Talcott Hall, Oberlin,
and will long be gratefully remembered by many of the
young women she mothered.
Mrs. Ellen Carpenter Hughes was my classmate, room-
mate and intimate friend. She taught in Medina for several
years, and there met Mr. Hughes, who was for five years in
my parents' home, and an intimate friend of my husband, so
that we had much in common. Mrs. Hughes died at Los
Angeles, California, in 1906.
Willoughby Seminary stands commended by a goodly
number of able women, whose names and lives are associated
with educational and benevolent enterprises, but a larger
number served well their age and generation in the homely
lines of domestic duties, as wives and mothers. Nearly the
entire Alumnae of the institution have gone to their reward.
The main building of Willoughby Seminary was burned
in 1856, and on June 21, 1856, Lake Erie Seminary was in-
corporated, although not opened until 1859. The incorpo-
rators were residents of Painesville, men of strong character
and religious principles. Their names follow:
Reuben Hitchcock Timothy Rockwell
Aaron Wilcox William L. Perkins
Charles A. Avery Silas T. Ladd
A letter from the son of one of the incorporators is intro-
duced at this point: Rev. George Trumbull Ladd, D.D.,
72 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
professor for many years at Yale University, and widely
known in the Orient, as well as in his own and other lands, as
an authority in the deep things of philosophy. Dr. Ladd says:
As one whose memory spans the entire life of Lake Erie
College, and who easily recalls the presence and work of
“Father Hawkes” and most of its founders, I am glad to
send my hearty congratulations over its so successful career.
Above all, in my judgment, you are to be congratulated on
the character and the spirit of those Founders. Although a
few of them were men of “substance” in those days of rela-
tively small things, none of them were millionaires. The
aggregate of all their properties, if devoted entire to the cause,
º would not have been sufficient to provide for the expansion
of the College for all future time. But while they gave
liberally of their money, they also gave freely of what had a
value which money cannot buy. They gave of their own moral
and religious character; they stamped the institution which
they founded with high and pure, moral and religious ideals.
I congratulate you on the recent great advances which you
have made in equipment, in the raising of your standard and
in the increase of your library and your teaching force. I
hope and expect that in all these matters the institution will
prove to be now on the threshold of a half-century yet
more prosperous than the half-century just finished has
been. But above all I hope and expect that the institution
will, not for one half-century merely, but for many centuries,
remain entirely and staunchly faithful to the moral and re-
ligious principles and ideals of its Founders.
“Father Hawkes,” to whom Dr. Ladd refers, was the
Reverend Roswell Hawkes, of Cummington, Massachusetts.
He aided Mary Lyon in raising funds for Mount Holyoke.
He was called to counsel with the trustees of Willoughby
Seminary, and when the building was burned, entered into
the labor of raising funds for Lake Erie with unbounded
faith in the Mount Holyoke idea.
The Founders of Lake Erie 73
A tribute to the founders and friends of Lake Erie, pre-
pared by Mrs. Jeanette Fisher Moore, Mount Holyoke,
1859, teacher at Lake Erie, 1859 to 1866, and for twelve
years principal of the Michigan Seminary at Kalamazoo,
Michigan, was read by Mrs. Ellen Fisher Vincent, class of
'64, former member of the Faculty of Lake Erie, and for
several years president of the Alumnae Association.
THE FOUNDERS OF LAKE ERIE
BY MRs. JEANETTE FISHER MooRE
To clasp hands across a chasm of fifty years! To reach
back from old age to youth, with its courage, its hope and
its sense of joy! To find so few hands to clasp, because so
many are folded in sleep! Does it sound like a wail of sor-
row? It is rather a pean of praise for what has been done,
for what is. How has God wrought through all the years!
Was the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night,
more manifest in the wilderness than it has been here? To-
day we stand upon the mount and “view the landscape o'er,”
and how clearly do we see where and how lovingly sin has
been rebuked, how kindly crude and humble effort has been
rewarded, and that all through God has been bringing His
own to their own. Praise Him, praise Him.
How those early friends stand out before the writer in
clearest outlines! Was there ever such another trio as that
trio—Judge Hitchcock, Judge Wilcox, and Mr. Avery?
The wisdom, the simplicity, the benevolence of the first—
how these qualities showed themselves in the eye and man-
ifested themselves in the acts which stretched over the years
till death came! Recall the great-heartedness, the kindness,
the devotion of time and business ability of the second to
this school for girls conducted by women. How patiently he
would sit through the “public recitations” in chapel, and for
the encouragement of the novice of a teacher, say in passing
f
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t
74 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
out, “You went beyond yourself to-day.” Then there was
the indefatigable, the always courteous man of business,
Chas. A. Avery, of fine sensibility and unwavering faith. Of
him we had hoped it might be said, “The others have fallen
asleep, he yet remains.” So near came he to this boundary,
we are sure he looked over and saw the future further glories
of the promised land. §
In reckoning the early moulding influences of this school
there must not be overlooked the wives of these good men
and true, with certain elect ladies of Painesville, such as Mrs.
Rockwell, Mrs. Perkins and Mrs. Barris—their courtesy,
their hospitality, their motherliness. What evenings those
were in their ideal homes, when Seminary teachers had the
opportunity to meet townspeople, and to feel the thrill and
touch of home life. There were the pleasant social inter-
course, the dainty supper, and, sometimes, afterward, the sing-
ing of a sweet old hymn like “Nearer, My God, to Thee,”
and a prayer by the minister, if he was present. Let the chil-
dren and grandchildren of these dear women know that to
the young teachers far from their New England homes, their
mothers and grandmothers were example, inspiration and
comfort. Should they not be numbered among the founders?
And some of those earlier teachers with whom it was a
privilege and blessing to be associated, gave of their very
best without stint and with no thought of compensation or
reward. Mary Bronson, one of those rarely endowed souls
in a frail body, not long in school after it opened, but com-
ing some months before, and directing many things about
the opening of the school; she set the seal of her strong per-
sonality upon it. Hers was the first voice lifted in prayer in
the old chapel—the deep, rich voice so full of expression.
How fine and strong an element she was in that first Faculty!
Only those who have stood in a similar position can realize
what the loss of her as Associate Principal meant to Lydia
Sessions.
The Founders of Lake Erie 75
Of this first principal, who shall speak in fitting terms?
Not in words of panegyric—such would jar upon the ears
and pain the heart beating so strongly and truly to-day—
but in words of true appreciation. Was ever such sinking of
self in furtherance of work, ever such readiness to render
the need of praise to co-workers? Yet hers was the calm
judgment, the high intellectual ability, and true estimate of
the material with which she worked—active minds and living
souls. That she won and held the esteem and affection of
students and teachers, of trustees and patrons, is now more
certain and more clearly understood, than when the trying
days were passing. And trying days were those early days.
There were stubborn obstacles to be overcome, and inad-
equate powers with which to combat them. Then the Civil
War, with its horrors, not only shed its gloom over this
bright household, but its paralyzing effect was felt in depleted
numbers and stringent finances. And yet this brave soul
sang her litany:
“From foes which would the land devour,
From guilty pride and lust of power,
From wild sedition, lawless hour,
Good Lord preserve us free,”
and kept on the even tenor of her way.
The next most prominent figure of that “teacher band,”
who worked and prayed, who hoped and waited, is that of
her who lingered so long amid these scenes, that the fra-
grance of her memory and the lineaments of her face are yet
in the minds of almost the latest classes. For staunchness of
principle, for soundness of judgment, for efficiency of action,
to which was added a certain fineness of taste and perception,
Lucinda Prescott soon became known and valued.
One more of that first Holyoke colony must be men-
tioned. The earlier Alumnae here to-day will glady bear
testimony to the splendid teaching of Harriet Smith, and,
76 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
as intimate associate, the writer brings most loving tribute
to her rare ability, and strength and beauty of character.
When she went out from us to her Connecticut home we
knew—and she knew—it was to lay her spent body, in which
the candle of life had burned too fiercely, in the churchyard
of her ancestors. How we missed her, but how the memory
of her inspired us to nobler work!
Of others who came and went during that first decade,
adding the weight of noble character and excellent work to
the Faculty of Lake Erie Seminary, there is no time to speak.
But there are hearts here to-day more tender, minds more
vigorous, lives more fruitful, for what these wrought. Gladly
would such grateful souls pay grateful tribute for good long
ago received, but more treasured as the years go by.
And now may not speak of these girls—“young ladies”
we called them—who filled those rooms—sometimes smoky
rooms, and roamed these grounds, then almost treeless and
shrubless? Did they not have a part with the “Founders”?
Some were tall and stately, some petite and gay; how many
brave and true, studious and scholarly, of whom no modern
institution need be ashamed! Witness that rapid-review class
in algebra—Davies Bourdon'—in six weeks. They led their
teacher, a tyro with ink scarcely dry on her Mount Holyoke
diploma, a mad race. It is to be hoped they did not guess
how little she knew
There were intellectual wits, too, among those bright
Western Reserve girls. Who does not recall the drollery,
as well as the scholarship, of that mother of sons and daugh-
ters, of judges and missionaries, Edna Lyman Wilbur?
The bright particular star of that first galaxy was none
other than our Mary Burton. We might have guessed, but
did not know, of what senatorial stuff the family brains were
composed. Had we known, we should have better under-
stood the scholarly discussion of Bishop Butler's famous
Analogy, when the “two Marys” stood in the center of the
Early Teachers 77
old chapel and faced the formidable array of talent and learn-
ing—ministers and college professors—on the big rostrum.
These acknowledged themselves convinced that here was no
boarding-school farce.
The backward glance does not include the prophet's vision.
But if they who toiled at the foundations have any message
for those who build toward the top-stone, it is this: Do not
wholly overlook the traditions of the past. Let the increas-
ing strength with which the work has developed be con-
served, and take heed that the exceeding beauty which has
ornamented it in recent years, be not marred. Let the “banner
with the strange device” ever be borne aloft, and then, as
in the past, as all through the decades, “the beauty of the
Lord our God” will continue upon us and the “work of all
our hands will be established.”
Mrs. Brunner: It is fitting that this tribute be followed
by a paper prepared by Mrs. Mary Burton Shurtleff of the
first graduating class and afterwards a teacher at Lake Erie.
Mrs. Shurtleff is present but requests Miss Lawrence, '64,
and of the present Faculty, to read her paper.
THE EARLY TEACHERS AT LAKE ERIE SEMINARY
MRS. MARY BURTON SHURTLEFF
There were nine during the first year, but as Miss Dorr
did not come till Miss Bronson left, there were only eight
here at one time. All were graduates of Mount Holyoke
except Miss Beardslee and Miss Wright, who were grad-
uates of Willoughby. We propose to make brief mention
of each, just as their names appear in the catalogue. Miss
Lydia Sessions was a young person for the responsible place
of Principal, but in the successful management of the Domestic
Department at Mount Holyoke had shown rare executive
ability. Her scholarship was of a high order, and she took,
78 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
as her share of the teaching, nearly all the senior studies.
Whatever perplexities of administration may have agitated
her mind, she gave no sign in the class-room. She quickly
recognized the difference between the bright and the dull,
those who had enjoyed advantages and those who had not,
and having gauged the ability of each pupil, was satisfied
with nothing short of the best that she could do. While
successful in all the branches she taught, perhaps she most
excelled in making plain and interesting the truths of the
Bible.
She piloted the Seminary through the dark years of the Civil
War, and then, when peace had come, and there was prom-
ise of brighter days, she left the work, to become the wife of
Reverend W. W. Woodworth, pastor of the Congregational
church. She was married at her father's house in Hampden,
Massachusetts, April 11, 1866. It is needless to say that
she was a success as a pastor's wife, faithful to the sick and
poor, extending the hand of sympathy wherever needed,
helpful in organizations for benevolent work. After leaving
Painesville she was first at Belchertown, Massachusetts, then
Grinnell, Iowa, last, Berlin, Connecticut, where Mr. Wood-
worth died in 1890. She has three sons: Robert Sessions,
professor of Psychology, at the head of the department of
Experimental Psychology in Columbia University; Arthur,
principal of Grandview Normal Institute, Tennessee, and
pastor of the church in that place, and James, who lives in
Clinton, a pleasant town on Long Island Sound. He travels
back and forth to New Haven, where he is head book-
keeper in a bank. Mrs. Woodworth's home is close by this
youngest son. She rejoices in seven grandchildren.
Miss Mary Bronson rendered a very great service to the
infant seminary by coming to Painesville, before the com-
pletion of the building, especially to prepare those girls who
wished to enter in the fall. Incidentally she won many friends
for the new enterprise, and was able to advise and assist in
Early Teachers 79
such furnishings of the building, as ladies of the town gen-
erously provided. She took the place of Associate Principal
and had charge of the morning devotions in the Chapel.
No more perfect embodiment of the ideal woman ever graced
that platform. But her stay with us was destined to be short.
She was soon compelled by ill health to leave the Seminary.
In 1860 she was happily married to T. S. Bridgman, a busi-
ness man of Springfield, Massachusetts, where her death
occurred in 1865.
Lucinda T. Prescott was a strong force during the early
years. If we had had the office then, she would have been
Dean. Nothing was more important to the new enterprise
than the success of the Domestic Department. It lay at the
foundation of the system. With her remarkable gift of dis-
patch, wise forethought, and grasp of details, she was just
the one to take this work in charge. The wonder of it was
that it seemed so little of a burden, and that she did a good
share of teaching beside. From the opening in '59 till her
resignation in ’95, thirty-six years, she was never absent, ex-
cept during her stay in Germany in ’71 and an illness in ’83.
She taught Astronomy, Chemistry and, in the later years,
German. But her favorite study was Botany. She was ever
ready for a botanical excursion, delighted to find the first
flowers of spring and knew the haunts of rare specimens.
Many of the blossoming plants in the grove were trans-
planted there by her own hands. She was an ornithologist
too, and knew the birds both by their notes and their
plumage.
After leaving the College she made her home with her
brother, Nathan Prescott and his wife, who was, before mar-
riage, her very dear friend, Maria H. Beardslee. It was a
terrible blow when both were taken from her within two
weeks of each other. She then went to the home of a sister
in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and in the care of a niece, Miss
Ella Bachelder of the class of '68, passed the short remain-
8o Tuesday, june Twenty-second
der of her life, which closed in December, 1904. By the terms
of her will, $1,000 of her estate was given to the college
endowment fund.
Maria H. Beardslee was the daughter of Dr. H. C. Beards-
lee, a fine scholar, and influential citizen of Painesville. She
was of great assistance to her associates in making them
acquainted with the places and people of the town, a person
of versatile gifts, and taught several branches with equal ease
and success. It was in 1864 that she married Miss Prescott's
brother, and went to live in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts,
for many years her home. Her death occurred in 1904, at
Derry, New Hampshire, whither the family had moved.
Sara E. Dorr will be remembered, more especially, for her
care of the sick, although she was a successful teacher, in-
teresting her classes in Physiology, and leading to a thought-
ful appreciation of the subject those she taught in Christian
Evidences. Among so large a number of girls some were
always ailing. Miss Dorr knew just what should be done for
each one, and herself prescribed simple remedies for those
not seriously ill, and saved expense to the patients. Her very
presence inspired confidence, and her quiet ministrations
soothed excited nerves and dispelled alarming symptoms.
It was her greatest joy, in the midst of these cares, to min-
ister to the spiritual needs of the girls. She gave her strength
to these labors of love without stint, and the blessing of all
who were sick here, in those early years, follow her. She
assisted in establishing the Michigan Seminary after the Hol-
yoke pattern, and later, devoted herself to the care of her
mother, living in the home of a brother. Her present address
is Winchendon, Massachusetts.
Jeanette Fisher taught Mathematics in a very thorough
and inspiring manner. There was no such thing as slipping
through her classes without a knowledge of the subject. It
was noted that her pupils acquired a fondness for the exact
sciences, and always made a fine appearance on examination
Early Teachers 8 I
day. We had public oral examinations then. It could easily
be guessed that, on occasion, she would develop excellent
powers of administration, and I think I may tell the secret
after so many years—her friends were sure that she would
make a worthy successor to Miss Sessions. When the call
came for a teacher to establish a new Mount Holyoke at
Kalamazoo, Michigan, she was chosen, and held the posi-
tion of Principal for twelve years, until, in 1879, she married
one of the Trustees, Hon. E. S. Moore, of Three Rivers,
Michigan, where she now resides, though her husband died
soon after our twenty-fifth anniversary.
Ellen M. Wright graduated from Willoughby Seminary
three years before she came here. All who knew her remem-
ber her attractive face, and the curls of dark hair about her
head. She taught vocal music and drilled the choral classes.
This brought her into acquaintance with all who could sing
— practically the entire school. She was universally beloved.
After two years at the Seminary, she married F. C. Nesbit,
a lawyer, of Canfield, Ohio. She lived much at Washington,
D. C., and is buried there. She left two sons.
Julia Esty taught the classes in General History. One of
her pupils says: “Her teaching of History was not mere
text-book work. She sent us to books of reference to forage
for ourselves, that we might learn the relation of the facts
that were gathered to the people who were contemporary,
and the philosophical bearings and wide influence of the great
events in each nation's experiences. To have taught in this
way, at that early time, is no small tribute to the capable,
strong woman she was.” She assisted Miss Fisher at Kal-
amazoo, remaining there three years. In 1874 she married
Mr. Henry Schreiner, and lived in Chicago. Mr. Schreiner
died in 1892.
Harriet B. Smith had charge of the Latin classes. She was
not only an enthusiastic teacher, but was interested and help-
ful in everything that pertained to the young life about her;
82 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
a keen and suggestive critic of English, finding time now
and then to read and discuss some masterpiece with her classes.
A thoroughly conscientious woman, she was ever thoughtful
of spiritual things, and doubtless some of the girls recall the
first awakening of Christian faith and love in their hearts, as
due to her influence. Not until consumption had made sad
inroads upon her vitality did she give up her loved work.
We knew when she left the Seminary in the spring of '64,
for her home in Southport, Connecticut, that we should not
see her face again.
Miss A. Amelia Smead belongs with this group of teachers.
though she came later. She was a classmate of Miss Sessions
at Mount Holyoke, a woman of rare dignity and winsome-
ness. She taught the classes in drawing and was ready to give
lessons in French to those who wished it. She was with Miss
Fisher in Michigan Seminary three years, but finding the
climate there unfavorable, returned to the family home in
Newtonville, Massachusetts. Here she had the honor of
being the first woman elected to a school board in that cul-
tured region. For a good many years she has lived in Cal-
ifornia, sharing with near relatives the same pleasant home
in Los Angeles. Here again she has been active in outside
affairs, secretary and treasurer of the Woman's Club House
Association, “having care of repairs, taxes, insurance and
dividends,” also secretary of the Board of Managers of the
Children's Hospital and president of the Kindergarten Asso-
ciation.
Of these ten teachers, five are now living, and we rejoice
that Mrs. Woodworth is with us to-day.
Let us take a glance backward over fifty years, that we
may realize the difficulties the early teachers had to meet, and
may fairly estimate their work. According to the articles of
incorporation, the system of instruction and management of
Lake Erie Seminary was to be substantially that of Mount
Holyoke. Its peculiar feature, the intertwining of family and
Early Teachers 83
school life, work and study, was new, at that time, in this
part of the state. The building, elegant for the times, was
without those modern improvements which have made many
hard things easy to the later students. Not infrequently it
happened that girls had to be taught how to keep their fires.
Others, after careful instruction, did not take kindly to their
domestic work.
Another burden was the lack of equipment for the various
departments of study. There was no apparatus, no cabinet,
a very small library. This deficiency was not due to the want
of generous friends, but to the hardness of the times, owing
to the Civil War which commenced in less than two years
after the opening.
Much might be said of the effect of the war upon the
Seminary life in those days, of the interest with which the
great struggle was watched, the patriotic sentiment awakened,
the dread lest the next news should be of some loved one
who had fallen. Emulating our brothers in the field, teachers
and pupils alike were ready to make sacrifices “at our coun-
try's call.” This spirit sweetened whatever came to us in the
way of hardship or privation. It was not thought best, during
these troublous times, to raise the price of board and tuition,
which were fixed at the beginning at ninety dollars a year.
It was like the miracle of the loaves and fishes, that so much
could be done with so little money. Of course the teachers'
salaries were very small. The principal, because of more
arduous duties, received three hundred dollars a year, beside a
home in the Seminary. The teachers next in rank two hundred
and fifty dollars, those of less experience two hundred dol-
lars, and those beginning one hundred and sixty dollars.
Surely not for money, but for love, did those brave and con-
secrated women do this work, with no thought of their own
sacrifices. Nor were they occupied, merely, with the work
inside these walls. They looked out upon the world, saw its
needs, and had a great yearning for the uplifting of humanity.
84 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
It would do these teachers great injustice not to speak of
the warm and inspiring religious atmosphere of the school.
By prayer and effort they sought to win each girl to the love
of Christ, and lead her to see that a life of service for others
is the only life worth living. So the daughters of Lake Erie
came to be known as women who could be relied upon to
work for the betterment of the world, in high and low places,
wherever their lot might be cast. -
With great satisfaction we have watched the development
of our Alma Mater from a seminary to a college, and under
the wise leadership of President and Dean, the adding of
building to building, with up-to-date equipment, and the
slow gathering of an adequate endowment. But we must not
forget the pioneer days, the faith and consecration with which
the foundations were laid, and all that we owe to that first
band of teachers. -
Mrs. Brunner: I remember many of the teachers referred
to in this stirring paper, and if Mrs. Woodworth will pardon
a reminiscence, I will relate it. When a preparatory student
here in '65, it was my domestic work to open the door for
the Seminary guests. Every week I regularly performed this
pleasant service for the Rev. Mr. Woodworth. When he
asked for Miss Sessions, our Principal, who knew everything
there was to know, as we thought, I always felt like congrat-
ulating him that he had some one so wise to whom to read
his sermons, and to help him in his parish work. I think
no one was more surprised when the announcement came
that he was going to take Miss Sessions away from us, than
the young student who opened the door for him. Had I
known he was all this time perfecting his plans, I don't know
whether that door would have opened for him.
The College and the Home 85
TUESDAY, 2 P. M.
CONFERENCE ON THE COLLEGE AND THE HOME
MRS. BRUNNER, PRESIDENT ALUMNAE Association, PRESIDING
Mrs. Brunner: The subject this afternoon is the College
and the Home. There is a constructive education about
which we are hearing in these days; identical training for
women and men is one of its aims. A prominent educator,
a woman, recently said that “a college woman needs no more
training in domestic science or other specialization of wom-
an’s sphere to equip her for her life-work, than a college
man needs special training in how to shake a furnace or how
to mow a lawn or repair a broken door-knob-native com-
mon sense should be all that is needed. This is a very in-
teresting subject, and I think we shall receive, this afternoon,
a great deal of light upon the question whether a woman
needs special training for her position as a homemaker. I am
happy to introduce Miss Bevier, Professor of Home
Economics in the University of Illinois, and formerly a
member of the Faculty of Lake Erie College. Miss Bevier
will address us upon Home Economics, and will also read
a greeting from Mrs. Ellen H. Richards of Boston.
Miss Bevier: I find my presence among you, this after-
noon, symbolized by the story of the country pastor who
had been assigned to a new church. He called upon his
parishioners and asked them to attend the services on the
following Sabbath, and was met by the prompt response of
one farmer, “All right, I’ll be there or I'll send a hand.” I
am Mrs. Richards’ “hand.” I am sure it is a matter of much
regret to us all that Mrs. Richards is not here; and I feel
quite unequal to my opportunity, but such as I have I give
gladly, trusting that in intention, at least, I shall not dis-
appoint your expectations. Let me give you first, Mrs.
Richards' words of congratulation, in which I heartily concur:
86 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
To Lake Erie College on its Jubilee: -
Fifty years of good-will to mankind and peace to man's
hearthstonel -
Lake Erie has ever instilled into her pupils that spirit of
devotion which makes for a united household. Side by side
with this spirit of the home has been developed a course of
scientific knowledge—for the college realized full well its
power to strengthen the pupil by giving the best in science,
not by withholding it. Lake Erie's teachers were among the
first to seek the highest scientific training. For thirty years
these teachers have given me courage and inspiration in what
has often been an uphill task of convincing women that
they had everything to gain from the study of science. Your
sainted Ellen Smith came to me as a student in the Women's
Laboratory almost in its beginning in 1877, and her knowl-
edge of your need, and her clear insight as to the ways of
meeting it, did more to develop the plan of scientific instruc-
tion for women at that early stage than that accomplished,
perhaps, by any other single person. She was followed by
other devoted workers in other lines after the Institute was
open to women in 1884, Ellen Fisher in Physics, and Mary
Mathews in Biology. So that while the outside world may
have passed by, unseeing, because of your unpretentious
equipment, the students of the early days now realize that
they had the impress of the true scientific spirit among the
first of the women students of the country. And with all
this eagerness for the newest, the fundamentally old—the
basis of substantial family life—has never been neglected.
You younger women have often rebelled in thought, never
openly—how could you with the example of your leaders—
at the inexorable rule which demanded that each day's duties
should remind you not only that you were mortal, but that
your place in life was that of the keeper of the house, the
guardian of the health and the well-being of the family circle.
This has been lost sight of in some schools, has been kept
The College and the Home 87
out of sight in many, but by another fifty years it will be
counted to Lake Erie's glory that she kept steadfast to her
principles, even though it cut down her numbers and threat-
ened her prestige for a time.
Lake Erie's aim for her pupils has been true womanliness,
gained, not by keeping them in ignorance, but by the broadest
education. How well she has succeeded, thousands of happy
homes attest. May better equipment and heartier encourage-
ment be given her on the start for the next fifty years. But
these cannot do the work without that single-minded devo-
tion to the ideals which these leaders, now to place the
guidance in other hands, have shown. A new era in all
education, but particularly in woman's education, is at hand.
The next decade will see it well defined. What will be the
final form no one may predict, but whatever it may be, his-
tory will show that Lake Erie had a part in its fashioning.
All praise to Lake Erie, with gratitude for its past fifty
years, and confidence for its coming century of wholesome
influence! -
ELLEN H. RICHARDs.
I hesitate somewhat, but I rather want to contribute my
mite. In addition to what Mrs. Richards has said, I wish to
add what seems to me to be the contribution of Lake Erie
College to Home Economics.
First, a right attitude of mind toward the whole subject
of home economics. Boston, you know, is said to be an
attitude of mind, rather than a place. Nothing has more
hindered the progress of home economics than the opposi-
tion of many recognized educators, and the indifference of
the general public. Through all these years Lake Erie
College has been a living witness to Mrs. Richards' defini-
tion. Man does not live by bread alone, but it is necessary
to have bread. One of Lake Erie's glories is this attitude
of mind which dignifies labor, and dignifies social service.
88 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
Home Economics stands for the ideal home life of to-day,
unhampered by the traditions of the past, the utilization of
all the resources of modern science to improve home life,
the freedom of the home from the dominance of things, and
their due subordination to ideals, simplicity in material sur-
roundings which will free the spirit for the more important
and permanent interests of the home and of society. -
No girl who has walked in these halls or sat in these class-
rooms but has breathed in the very atmosphere of these
statements and has seen hourly and daily illustrations of the
power of ideals—the freedom from the tyranny of things.
So she has gone from these halls with a clearer vision of the
essentials of life, with an appreciation of the dignity of labor,
with a willingness to give herself in the service of others,
and so has been a maker of public sentiment for home econ-
omics. It is not the number of pupils that have been gradu-
ated from an institution which makes it worthy. It is the
sentiment with which these students return to their homes.
I think the second contribution that comes to me as to
what Lake Erie has done, is in its adaptation to changed
ideas and conditions. Some one has said that the problem of
the Twentieth Century woman is adjustment. She will have
done a great thing in life when she has learned the problem
of adjustment. It seems to me that this has been done here.
As the newer ideals of education have come forward, how
much adjustment has been necessary in forty years? Some
schools have failed utterly because of their inability to adjust
themselves. In others, it has been accomplished by revolu-
tions. In Lake Erie College it has been accomplished quiet-
ly and persistently because of the far-sighted leadership of
these two women. They have adjusted themselves and so
have been able to help hundreds of others to make the ad-
justment.
I count as the third contribution of Lake Erie to Home
Economics the interpretation of changed ideals of education.
The College and the Home 89
Some may work out a philosophy of life for themselves, but
fail to put it into brick or stone, or into lives, as these lead-
ers have done, and as Lake Erie has done. Not that the
school and the life shall be kept apart, but that the after
life shall interpret the school.
Mrs. Brunner: To introduce our next speaker to any
meeting of the Alumnae Association of Lake Erie College
is about as needless a thing as one could do. Mrs. Louise
Porter Smith was, for a decade, president of this Alumnae
Association, and many of the valued methods and success-
ful accomplishments of this Association are due to her wise
planning. I take great pleasure in announcing that we are to
have a paper by Mrs. Smith. We always hear something
well worth while, when Mrs. Smith gives it to us.
THE COLLEGE AND THE HOME
MRS. LOUISE PORTER SMITH
“Lake Erie and the Home” is a combination very famil-
iar to the ears of a graduate of this college. Were I to ask
those present, what Lake Erie has, especially, emphasized
in the past, I presume the unanimous answer would be,
“The home, and all that through the home ministers to
humanity.” Many of the requirements of the early days,
which we “old girls” recall, were directed to the cultivation
of housewifely habits; the weekly balancing of personal ac-
counts, the wardrobe to be kept in order and reported semi-
monthly, besides the regular system of domestic work, which
still prevails. The minute rules, forbidding us to speak
above a whisper in the halls, requiring silence in the rooms
during study hours, limiting the time when we were at lib-
erty to enter each other's rooms, requiring promptness at
meals and recitations—how burdensome they sound to
modern ears! And yet they all had an ethical value. They
taught us the art of living together, without infringing upon
90 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
each other's time and privacy. Order, neatness, system, con-
sideration for others, all vital to the ideal home, were at the
root of all these seemingly petty restrictions. Without doubt,
the home has held the place of honor in the education given
at Lake Erie during the past half-century, the home as it
was in the century just ended. Shall we continue to make it
the center of our educational system, and if so, what shall
be our relation to the Twentieth Century home? Granting
that the home is the crucial point of our civilization, and that,
as a nation, we stand or fall with it, what do we see, in its
present conditions, which may indicate to us the trend of
our times, and guide us in shaping our future policy as a
college?
The daily press, and thoughtful writers in both secular
and religious magazines, unite in declaring that the American
home is threatened with decadence—not the exceptional,
but the average American home. The most ominous sign is
the alarming growth of the divorce evil in every rank of
society. Marriage is becoming a farce in the popular eye,
in view of the ease and rapidity with which it is followed by
divorce and re-marriage, and it is not surprising to hear
serious prophecies of its downfall as an institution. That it
is less and less regarded as a sacrament is sadly apparent. It
is too often entered upon with foolish lightness, preceded by
a round of distracting social gaieties, which enervate both
body and mind.
Beginning thus thoughtlessly, as many do, with little train-
ing for a life filled with the most delicate possibilities for
happiness or woe, it is little wonder that multitudes are flock-
ing to the divorce courts, with pleas shallow and trivial as
well as heavy with wretchedness, but beyond all personal
unhappiness and disappointment is the tragedy of child-life
in these discordant homes. The loss of respect for the par-
ents, the shock to tendersensibilities, caused by bickerings and
quarrels in his presence, and the inevitable lowering of moral
The College and the Home 9 I
tone prepares for a life of unhappiness, desperation and crime.
Statistics show that a large number of the children and youth
found in reformatory institutions and jails, come from homes
which have been broken up by divorce.
Nor is the thoughtful observer re-assured, when he turns
from these shattered homes to those of friends and neigh-
bors, where love and happiness reign. Ease, luxury, freedom
from daily household tasks, with little demand for self-denial
and self-sacrifice, and an ever increasing demand for novelty
and excitment, are not a good preparation for a serious and
well balanced life.
Obedience is a rare virtue in most homes: unrestrained
wills and an independence of control, which is the sure pre-
cursor of lawlessness, account for the revolts against authority,
in schools and colleges, which the daily press frequently re-
cords; while the workers, in church and Sabbath school, sadly
agree that less and less are the children of even Christian par-
ents controlled by them in the matter of attendance or lessons.
Young America, to-day, has the reins in his own hands; and
like his mythological prototype, he is likely to bring ruin
upon both himself and the established order of things, unless
he is taught how to drive. Old America not only lets him
hold the reins, but choose the road. And that is the true
secret of the weakness of the modern home. God meant the
parents to represent Him in the formative years. The child
was intended to be subordinate, to look up to and trust his
parents, to be directed and guided, to serve and to obey.
But modern parents reverse this, and it is they who serve,
submit, and follow. The result is disastrous, and no less dis-
astrous because it is caused by deep, though unwise, tender-
ness and love. The absorbing devotion of parents to their
children, so conspicuous in American homes, is at first sight
most beautiful; but see how it injures the child, destroying
initiative, developing selfishness, self-will, irreverence, sordid
ideals, indifference to the rights and happiness of others—
92 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
in short, weak characters and utter unpreparedness for life.
Obedience to a higher will, self-mastery, the ability to over-
come obstacles, all fundamental to right living, are denied
the modern child. By overmuch care and unwise indulgence,
we rob them of the opportunity to choose, to struggle, and,
hence, to grow. When the stress of real life comes they go
down, beaten, or stagger on, handicapped for life here, and
for life hereafter. The colleges must train the youth who come
to them, to see and choose the best, to deny the lower self,
to recognize law in all departments of learning and life, and
to harmonize their wills with the Divine Will. All scholas-
ticism must minister to the ideal, teach youth to keep their
bodies under, see their true relations to God and their fellow
men, obey the highest, and so be fitted to build up pure,
strong homes, which shall be centers of power for church,
society and state. Whatever, then, tends to purify, uplift
and strengthen the home, and prepare its occupants for its
duties and responsibilities, has a direct bearing upon the wel-
fare of the state, and is a proper object of consideration for
those who are shaping its educational policy.
Now, what part has the college in general, in the needed
forming and reforming of the future leaders of church and
state, through the home? The college, it may be said, cannot
become a technical school for the household, nor a training
school in the domain of morals and manners. Given a trained
mind, the college graduate should be able to ascertain for
herself the ecomonic relations of home to society and state,
and so order her personal tastes and habits, and her home,
that the evils we have considered shall be avoided, and the
good desired attained. Possibly this is theoretically true, but
there are many who maintain that, in the main, modern
college training is not making good, when it comes to the
test of actual experience. The murmurs of dissatisfaction,
which have been heard ever since women entered college
halls, are becoming clearer, and are taking definite expression.
The College and the Home 93
Some of us dare to say that there are serious flaws in the
system of modern education—that it does not concentrate
enough; that it is not definite enough, or practical enough;
in short, that it does not educate. Even the educators them-
selves are joining the ranks of the critics. The latest utter-
ance is from President Woodrow Wilson, of Princeton.
Doubtless many of you have seen it. He says: “The stu-
dents of our colleges of the last few decades have not been
educated; they have been experimented upon and instructed,
but they have not been educated. Universities like Prince-
ton must pass out of existence, unless they adapt themselves
to modern life.” He closes by saying: “When once we have
the gracious assistance of fathers and mothers, we shall ed-
ucate their sons. Given that assistance, in a generation, we
shall change the entire character of American education.
And it must be changed.”
President Wilson voices a growing demand—an education
which educates, which sends into business, professional, civic
and social life young men and women who are able to relate
their education to practical life. And he puts his finger upon
the weak spot in the whole business. The homes are not doing
their part; they are not sending to the colleges young men
and women who are prepared by previous training to ap-
preciate and assimilate what the college has to offer. You
cannot turn out a satisfactory product in manufacturing estab-
lishments without good material to work upon. A woolen
manufacturer must have first-class wool, well carded, well
cleaned and well dyed, if he is to furnish good goods. The
homes of America have good stuff to work upon—no nation
has better. Crowds of intense, eager, interesting students are
pouring into college halls every year, but they are poorly
carded, poorly cleaned, poorly dyed. They are not ready for
the looms. Their preparatory work has not been well done,
in their homes. Some come with very decided ideas of what
they want to do; but more indifferent, and only half willing.
94 Tuesday, Žune Twenty-second
They have come, because a friend came and they came too;
some because it is the next thing to do, and have it over; some
because their parents desired them to come, and they yielded,
with no clear purpose or ambition of their own. Most of
them are unused to self-control, or any control; they have
not learned to put aside present pleasure for future good;
they have little reverence for authority, and have not acquired
habits of steady application; they want fun, and plenty of it;
and the professors who persist in exacting attention to ac-
ademic requirements are not really popular. Above all, their
religious natures have been either poorly trained or not
trained at all. Bright, eager, energetic, goodstuff, but so much
of it poorly prepared
The time has come to say to American fathers and mothers,
“Begin to educate your children, as soon as they are born,
along the lines indicated by God in history and revelation,
as the foundation lines of true character. Teach them, first
of all, to obey. Obedience is the law of life, and a child who
has not been taught to obey rightful authority, is at odds
with God’s universe, and is handicapped from the start in
the race of life.
“Teach them self-control—how to deny themselves the
present pleasure for a future good; teach them to regard the
rights of others, to respect their bodies, obey the laws of
health in eating, exercise, sleep. Above all, teach them to
reverence and obey God. Then send them to college, and
the college can really educate them.”
In view of the conditions we have been considering, is it
not clear that Lake Erie should continue to make the home
the center of her educational effort? In urging this, we are
not undervaluing scholarship, nor are we lowering educa-
tional standards. I fancy I see some collegiate eyebrows
lifted here in dissent; but I insist that scholarship is a much
larger matter than our colleges are willing to admit; that the
curriculum of life offers more electives than they have rec-
The College and the Home 95
ognized. A college that claims the right to offer some not
ticketed as “academic,” is not necessarily unscholarly. There
is a bigotry which says, “You cannot teach unless you teach
as I do,” and it is as really bigotry as that which says, “You
cannot preach, unless you preach as I do.” Colleges have the
right to be individual. They should agree upon the funda-
mental requirements for sound general culture; then they
should be allowed freedom in emphasizing what seems to
them a legitimate, popular demand. A revolt against the
rigid scholasticism of the college world is apparent. Clouds,
much larger than a man's hand, are to be seen by the observ-
ant eye. I repeat, in urging college individualism we are
not undervaluing scholarship, nor are we lowering educa-
tional standards. We are simply urging this college to keep
to its distinctive ideals, developing and adapting their ex-
pression in accordance with the best academic methods of
modern times. The twentieth-century home will demand a
broad and thorough scholarship. To it come the ends of
the earth, through the medium of the daily press, the cur-
rent periodicals, the teacher, the missionary, the altruistic
workers, in every field of humanitarian endeavor. Its win-
dows must face the world four-square. Nothing that concerns
hmmanity in the remotest corner of the earth is alien to its
interest. The problems of church, of school, of society, of
State, are all its problem. They demand the keen brain,
the trained mind, the large heart, and I would have Lake
Erie minister to them all. While keeping to the broad lines
of accepted academic methods, I would have her free to work
within them in her own individual ways, adapting her teach-
ings to women's special needs. I would not train the daugh-
ter as I would her brother. The co-educational schools are
doing that, and they have their place and their following.
But at Lake Erie I would shape all the departments to life
as women will find it when they leave college halls. I would
continue to emphasize and develop the departments of
96 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
Household Art and Science. I am proud of what has already
been done along these lines. I am also intensely proud of
our record in the department of. Physiology and Hygiene.
All honor to the noble woman who, for so many years, has
taught Lake Erie girls to understand and respect their bodies
and the laws which govern them. May her voice be heard
from the lecture platform here for years yet to come! His-
tory and literature should be taught with distinct reference
to their human relations, so that, in home and school, those
who are to be the future leaders of our nation may be able to
trace the halting, yet steady progress of the race, marking
well its points of retrogression, and learning wisdom for the
present from the experience of the past. Music and Art have
a large place in the present curriculum; they are essential
to a well-balanced training, and their educational value should
have an increasing recognition in the work for a degree. I
touch upon the department of Psychology and Ethics with
awe and considerable hesitation. But if there is any way by
which students may be led to see the practical bearing of their
thinking, their amusements, their habits upon character, dear
head of this important department, won't you strive to find it?
And lastly, I should like to have some simple legal courses
given at Lake Erie, which may familiarize the students with
legal terminology and the ordinary processes of law, and
enable them to intelligently manage their own business affairs.
This may seem irrelevant to our topic, but homes must be
housed, and many a woman would have been better off had
she understood the legal formalities which safeguard property.
Any outline education for women, as related to the home,
would be deficient that ignored the religious training. Above
scholasticism, even of the best type, I would exalt the cul-
tivation of the spiritual. The homes of America, society,
every department of life, are suffering from a materialism
which is stifling the higher nature. Mrs. Browning says:
The College and the Home 97
“Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush, afire with God,
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes.
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”
Ah, for the eyes to see God in everything! the ability to
show the student not only the facts and laws of nature, but
their spiritual content! “Blessed are your eyes, for they
see,” said Christ to his disciples. I would that the Faculty
of Lake Erie might always be chosen with reference to their
possession of spiritual vision and strong personal faith in a
personal God. To know all the schoolmen can teach, and
not to know God, makes a failure of the most brilliant life.
Whatever Lake Erie lacks in equipment, or endowment, she
will be a power as long as she keeps her inheritance of faith
in God and His holy word. Founded by men and women
who believed in God and a Christian education, led for fifty
years by women strong in faith and devoted to His service,
I believe in view of the conditions we have been consider-
ing that she “has come to the kingdom for such a time as
this.” I believe it, because I have absolute faith in God’s
leading, and I have seen that leading over and over in the
affairs of this college. Why we have been so sorely tested
in the matter of growth and endowment, is not for me to
say. Only it is in line with God's methods with those whom
He chooses for special service to test their faith and their
patience, so that He may lead them to higher levels of faith,
and so to higher service.
The college needs more endowment; she must have it;
she needs more students; they will come. She needs well
directed and practical devotion on the part of Alumnae and
trustees. Shall she have it? No college ever had a more
loyal body of Alumnae. Their loyalty must continue when
the personnel of administration changes. This is a time which
will severely test the quality of our loyalty. We must not fail,
even though our hearts ache and our eyes are dim with tears.
98 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
In a very ancient book, written by a very wise man, I find
a gem of a description of a rare woman, the ideal woman of
the writer. I present it to you as a picture of the ideal women
we are seeking to develop here at Lake Erie. She is a woman
of remarkable strength of character; the first thing that is
said of her is: “The heart of her husband, trusted in her.”
The attentions of other men than her husband, the flirtations
sanctioned and promoted by a too free association in what
is called good society, nowadays, the daring social escapades,
had no part in the life of this real lady of an olden time. I
cannot imagine her name ever being dragged through the
divorce courts. She was so evidently a lover of her home,
and a careful house- and home-keeper, that I almost suspect
she was not a social leader. She sought the distaff and laid
her hands to the spindle, and she worked willingly with her
hands; and yet she was a woman of affairs, with keen busi-
ness judgment. “She considereth a field and buyeth it, and
perceiveth that her merchandise was profitable,” says the
old record. She was the mistress of a large and luxuriously
appointed house, with carpets and couches of tapestry,
musical instruments, costly woods, and decorations of gold
and silver. She and her household dressed richly, her cloth-
ing was of fine linen and purple, and her husband was a
man of influence and high position. But of this gentlewoman
of an old and luxurious civilization it is said: “She openeth
her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness was
on her tongue.” Whether or no she had been the mistress
of a home, this ideal woman of an early time would have
made the world more homelike by her presence, for she was
one of God's gentlewomen. May this be a picture and a
prophecy of the type of womanhood this college will delight
to train and honor in the new half-century which opens
before us!
Mrs. Brunner: We are greatly honored upon this occa-
sion to have with us two representatives from a sister college
The College and the Home 99
which shares our pride and gratitude in our common lineage
from Mount Holyoke. We shall have the privilege of hear-
ing later, Miss Sawyer, the present dean. This afternoon
we are to be congratulated upon the opportunity of listening
to Mrs. Leila McKee Welsh, for sixteen years president of
the Western College, at Oxford, Ohio. Mrs. Welsh will
speak upon the topic of the afternoon, The College and the
Home.
ADDRESS BY MIRS, LEILA McKEE WELSH
We are still experimenting. Our colleges are still on the
threshold of these great problems. At Wellesley we wanted
to prove to the world that we could study Greek, and stand
just as high in mathematics as the boys at Harvard. After
we had proved that to the world we were not so zealous
about the kind of education. Now there is a persistent and
uniform note, and that is that colleges are absolutely useless
unless they train for life. We have even gone one step far-
ther, and we say that a woman's college must train for a
woman's life. We do not agree with those wise people who
, think colleges for men and women should be exactly alike.
The Western College has always realized the fact that a
woman's college education must be differentiated from a
man's. It should be no less thorough, but different, just as
a woman is different from a man.
Now the two dominant ideas which, from the very begin-
ning, have run through the history of our colleges—Lake
Erie and the Western—are the ideas of service in the home,
and service in the church or in the world. We have been
fifty years ahead of our time, and we are only four years
older than you are. The essential that demands a woman's
attention is the science of home-making. Bacteria in the
kitchen are just as bad as bacteria in the sick-room. The
science of making and keeping an ideal home is the supreme
science of woman. You, who have been struggling with this
I OO Tuesday, june Twenty-second
problem of the ideal home, the home beautiful, reposeful,
the home that is the place of rest after the busy hours of the
day, haven't you struggled with the deficiencies in archi-
tecture in the houses you have been compelled to live in,
houses that were built by “mere men”? So many of them
have no closets, nothing in the place where it should be,
improper ventilation and sanitation. I do hope many young
women will study architecture, that we may have better houses
to live in. We certainly should have a knowledge of what
good architecture is, so that we can supplement the knowl-
edge of these poor men who try to build houses for us. It
seems to me the ideal home would have an atmosphere sug-
gestive of that which is hopeful, an atmosphere which would
suggest the higher life, such as we have in books and in
friendships; a life that is rich in sympathies. No home is a
true home that is shut in with a Chinese wall from its
neighbor.
It is of great value to have a short experience in teaching
before one enters upon household duties, because a teacher
learns those fine lessons of self-control and the management
of others with sympathetic tact. I have been thankful for
the long years of service in Oxford, whenever I deal with
my perplexing maid. It enables me to sympathize with her.
It is often true that the mistress needs more training than
the maid. Lake Erie has been a leader in training her pupils
in this line. She has gone along this way with the changing
conditions, and has shown her power of adaptation which is
so necessary to meet the transitions in the academic world.
In this respect she has been the most successful of all the
colleges, while at the same time clinging tenaciously to the
old fundamental idea that a woman must be trained for serv-
ice in the church and in the home. As Mrs. Richards says,
Lake Erie will, one day, have the satisfaction and joy of
knowing that she was the pioneer along these lines in col-
leges for women.
The College and the Home I O I
Lake Erie has had forty years of uninterrupted leader-
ship and a unifying influence which runs like a chain of gold
through all these years, linked together in the love and
service of our Miss Evans, whose work, seconded in every
way by Dean Bentley, has stood out through this unprece-
dented term of years and made this college unique. I won-
der if they know what a living fountain of inspiration they
have been to the generations of college girls that have come
and gone throughout these years. This much I know, that
every day of the life that awaits them outside college walls
will be full of sweet surprises as they see the fruitage of all
these past golden years, in the lives of their own dear pupils.
I may be allowed a word of personal tribute just here.
When, in 1888, I was called to the presidency of the Western
College at Oxford, with small experience, self-distrustful—
and with good reason—full of terror, yet full of high pur-
pose, with a most difficult problem awaiting solution, Pres-
ident Evans was the first one who reached across the miles
with a warm hand clasp of sisterly love and sympathy,
reassuring, encouraging, helping me to stand on my feet.
From that day on she was leader and guide, comforter, friend
and source of all inspiration.
What she has been to me, she has been to scores and hun-
dreds of Lake Erie girls, a wise leader and faithful friend.
To the world she has been that most unusual combination
of sympathetic, tender woman and forceful, tactful college
president. We are confident that under the new administra-
tion the noble history of Lake Erie College will be perpet-
uated, and that President Evans and Dean Bentley will, for
long years to come, see the blessed fruitage of their work
not only in the world outside, but within the walls of this
college they have so dearly loved and so ably served.
At the close of Mrs. Welsh's address, to which the audience
listened with intense interest, Mrs. Boalt offered the follow-
ing resolution. It was a fitting climax to Alumnae Day.
...”
I O2 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
Resolved, That we, the Alumnae Association of Lake Erie
College, loyal to the past and to all its ideals, extend to Miss
Vivian B. Small, the incoming president, our greetings and
our promises of loyalty in all the ways that loyalty can serve.
The resolution, promptly seconded, was unanimously
adpoted by rising vote, and the president requested that this
greeting and pledge of loyalty be extended to Miss Small
through the secretary of our Alumnae Association.
CLASS DAY EXERCISES
The class of 1909 varied the usual class exercises of Com-
mencement week in harmony with the Jubilee occasion.
The more convenient location in the rear of Science Hall at .
the edge of the grove, gave opportunity for a larger audience.
The classes formed in procession at Murray Library, and
on reaching the stage an archway of daisies was formed
through which the Juniors passed, carrying the great chain
of oak leaves, followed by the Seniors in caps and gowns.
As the garlands of green were wound about one of the oak
trees beside the stage, the classes joined in the Grove Song
and Alma Mater; Miss Cratty, of the class of 1909, gave
the welcome to the sacred rites of the grove, observed as
Sacra Silva since 1893, and Miss Spence read a history of
the observance of class days at Lake Erie. Then followed
words of greeting to the class by representatives of classes,
whose class numerals ended in nine, and by others. Mrs.
Shurtleff, of the first class 1859–60, recalled the first anniver-
sary in the beautiful grove and the words of President Hitch-
cock, of Western Reserve College, upon the presentation of
diplomas to the first “on the long roll of graduates this
institution is sure to have.” She congratulated the class of
1909 upon the fact that their Alma Mater is now a college
with a history, a “goodly heritage” into which they have
entered. -
Class Day Exercises Iog
Mrs. Clara Ford Gould, of ’69, thanked the class of ’og
for the privilege of a word and said, “Though we are assured
of only two minutes' time, it was brave as well as courteous
and generous to allow us even this much of an hour that
was your very own. I said brave, because women in general,
and gray-haired ones in particular are warranted to go twenty-
four hours when properly wound up, and such a wordy event
would be most embarrassing to your program. The class
of ’69 was Miss Evans' first class, the class that closed the
first decade, and now rejoicing in the memories of forty years
and all they represent in life and service.”
Mrs. Helen Farwell Chapman, '79, claimed equal rank
for the number nine with the magic number seven, and found
a special lesson for the class of 1909 in possessing two of the
significant numbers. A slight change in the figure makes a
fairly good d, the initial letter of the word dependableness.
Her little “preachment” on the elements of dependable-
ness, wisdom, tact, perseverance, persistence ended thus:
“May it be said of each and every one of you; she could be
depended upon to do her part at all times and in all plans.”
Mrs. Bertha Burton Lyman, '89, suggested that she might
begin “Girls of 'og, ‘forty centuries look down upon you.’
While it is not quite as bad as that, it does seem a fairy tale
that twenty years have spun around since '89 left Lake Erie.
We welcome you to the highway along which we have plod-
ded these twenty years. It would be trite to tell you that it
will not be all flowery. But it will be your own and not the
fault of dear Lake Erie if you do not endeavor to make the
waste places to rejoice and blossom as the rose.”
Miss Whittlesey, '99, was not able to be present to bring
a welcome from her class. Mrs. Ilda Cory Wilson, of the
twenty-fifth class, began her greeting with a story of the
Freshman class at the latest of Harvard's great Jubilees.
Their banner was inscribed, “You could not do this till we
came”; so I say to you, dear Seniors, Lake Erie could not
I O4 Tuesday, june Twenty-second
do this till you came. The class of ’84 brings a greeting
from near and far, the Buckeye State, the Keystone State,
the Lone Star State and the Hawaiian Islands, and '84, the
class that stands half way between you, extends her hand in
greeting back to '59 and in loving fellowship with the class
of 1909.
The Senior president's cap and gown in token of farewell
and welcome, were then presented to the Junior president
and the last words of the afternoon were the response of
Miss Ryan, president of 1910, the class who are to begin
the graduate record for the new half-century. The address
was full of appreciation of the past and loyalty for the future
of Lake Erie.
Class Day Exercises Io 5
Organ
Piano
Vocal
Chorus
Piano
Vocal
Vocal
Vocal
Organ
Vocal
Chorus
Vocal
Piano
8.oo P. M.
COMMENCEMENT CONCERT
Given by the Conservatory Faculty, Students and the
Saint Cecilia Society
PROGRAMME
PART I
Allegro Appassionato from Fifth Sonata Guilmant
Mr. E. Harold Geer
Waltz in E major Moszkowski
Miss Josephine Knowlton
Aria, “Tacea la notte,” from “Il Trovatore” Verdi
Mrs. Edward F. Sullivan
“Snowdrops” Dorn-Platte
The Saint Cecilia Society
a Etude, op. Io, No. 3 Chopin
b Valse, op. 34, No. I Chopin
Miss Katheryn King
Elsa's Dream, from “Lohengrin.” Wagner
Miss Mary Mossman
PART II
Duet from “Der Freischütz” Weber
Miss Gorda Metcalfe and Miss Cecile Crittenden
a Aria della Cieca, from “La Gioconda” Ponchielli
b “Knowest Thou that Fair Land,” from “Mignon.”
Mrs. K. D. Park Ambroise Thomas
Nocturne in A Faulkes
Mr. E. Harold Geer
“Were I a Sunbeam” Paul Vidal
Miss Garda Metcalfe
“The Miller's Wooing” Fanning-Spicker
The Saint Cecilia Society
Waltz, “The Nightingale” Robert Batten
Miss Cecile Crittenden
a Liebestraum No. I Liszt
b Rondo in E flat Chopin
Miss Marguerite Reid
I oé Tuesday, june Twenty-second
The annual Commencement concert under the direction
of Mr. Harry Clyde Brooks, director of the Conservatory,
was one of the best ever heard at the college. The organ
numbers by Mr. E. Harold Geer, instructor in organ, were
played with dignity and faultless execution. The pianists of
the evening were the most advanced students in that de-
partment, young women of talent and unusual promise of a
musical future if they choose to adopt music as a profession.
The choruses by the Saint Cecilia Society of the Conserva-
tory were most enjoyable. The accompanist was Miss Helen
Lynch. The vocal solos were of varied style and admirable
quality, the pleasing contralto of Mrs. Park, Mrs. Sullivan's
high, clear soprano, and the soprano solos by three of the
best known of the resident students in music, the waltz song
by Miss Crittenden, which called forth a storm of applause,
Miss Mossman's strong, dramatic yet feeling rendition of
Elsa's Dream from Lohengrin, the solo by Miss Metcalfe
of the college class of 1908—and the duet by Miss Metcalfe
and Miss Crittenden received enthusiastic applause. Miss
Metcalfe throughout her course, was an inspiration in all
musical affairs, a leader in the choruses and a loyal supporter
of all good work. Her assistance was freely given during the
whole of Jubilee week and her friends joined in a hearty
Godspeed to her in the prospect of a winter of study abroad
with Miss Caryl Porter Smith, also of the class of 1908.
Wednesday, June Twenty-third
Wednesday, June Twenty-third
f
CHAPEL SERVICE
HE service opened with the singing of the hymn,
“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,” and
fºllºſ Miss Evans led in the familiar responses:
- N. 2
a ſ? w º
A. T. Z. . . .
N \ w, . > -º a zº
º º º
; § -º
before Him.
O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: fear before Him,
all the earth.
Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart,be ac-
ceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.
O send out Thy light and Thy truth, that they may lead me, and
bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy dwelling.
Prayer was offered by Miss Anna C. Edwards, M.A.,
principal of Lake Erie 1866-1868, and the hymn “Glorious
things of thee are spoken,” was sung. Mrs. Lydia Sessions
Woodworth, principal 1859-1866, was presented to the
audience, receiving hearty applause and a salute of fluttering
handkerchiefs.
In beginning the closing chapel address of her period of
service, Miss Evans referred to the difficulty of quiet prep-
aration in the midst of Jubilee week and alluded to a
thought of the poet Whittier that the world needs the hand
and heart
“Of Martha’s helpful carefulness,
No less than Mary's better part.”
“Would that we might all be able to combine helpful care-
fulness—if only without worry, with quietness and repose.

I IO Wednesday, june Twenty-third
Last year at the seventy-fifth anniversary of Oberlin College
there was one meeting with former students which Mrs. John-
ston, so long Dean of the Women, conducted, and to which
Miss Bentley and I had the privilege of an invitation. It
was to me the most precious of all the meetings of that re-
markable week, and I wondered then if there would be an
opportunity in our coming Jubilee — grace being given for
it—when it would be possible to have such a heart-to-heart
talk with the girls, older and younger. Mrs. Johnston had
the advantage of detachment from the details of that great
Oberlin anniversary, and she could command the situation
in a way that has seemed impossible for us. This morning
as I tried to think of the message I should bring out of the
forty-one years past, what I could say to the Class of 1909
that was not said to the Class of ’69, I could think of no
new lesson. But I have a message for the Senior Class from
Bishop Thoburn, who sends a copy of the words spoken to
you at the close of the baccalaureate sermon, and I also pre-
sent to the class as a graduation gift, copies of a little book,
“An Ideal for College Girls,” a sketch of Martha F. Fisher,
by Frances J. Dyer. These are sent to you by the Rev. Dr.
Haydn, of Cleveland, one of the first trustees to greet me
when I came here in 1868, now laid aside by infirmity of the
body, but with a mind as active as ever.
So we blend to-day the lessons of the present with the
past, the great, uplifting lesson for oldest and youngest that
life and truth are everlasting—as we have sung in the Gloria
—“world without end, Amen.” In thinking of this occasion,
the chapters of the Bible most closely associated with our
common college life have come back to me with new mean-
ing: the call of the fifty-fifth of Isaiah, at Sunday morning
prayers, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the
waters,” with the closing words of the snow and rain and
immortal seed of truth. How often, also, on Monday morn-
ings we have looked out into the week of work through the
Chapel Service I I I
twelfth of Romans, the “living sacrifice of the body, holy,
acceptable unto God,” and the exhortation to be “diligent
in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord”; or at chapel
service the twelfth of Hebrews or the eighth of Romans and
always the precious Psalms.
Bible verses as well as chapters illumine the past forty-
one years. Forty years the children of Israel fed upon the
manna which, as we sang in our morning hymn, the Lord
gave them when they prayed. It was conspicuously absent
when they did not pray. If there has been any word of
comfort to you from Miss Bentley and myself it has come
just as the manna came to the children of Israel. If there
were time it would be a blessed thing to review with you
some of the splendid words which have come in the early
morning as if a voice said, “Read this passage, sing that
hymn.” There is also a verse which is most closely asso-
ciated with my earliest days at Lake Erie, and with the
sweet spirit known to some of you, Elizabeth Darling
Ballantine, afterwards Mrs. Harding of India: “Commit thy
way unto the Lord, trust also in Him and He shall bring
it to pass.” And another and most personal verse, “I thank
Thee, Father, that Thou has hid these things from the wise
and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” I can
think of no better words for you. If with the childlike spirit,
there is also “the luminous mind” that sees things not in the
selfish isolation of me and mine, but in largeness and sympa-
thy and in faith in God’s word, that manna shall never fail.
I am not going to leave you with any “last word.” Yester-
day in our heart-to-heart talk together, you heard what the
present college household had heard before. There is to be
no great interruption here; it is all one continuous college
life. These words of the early days in ’69 are good for to-day
and will be just as good for the Seventy-fifth Anniversary
and so on forever. Let us for the days to come feed upon
this manna “which he gives us when we pray.”
I I 2 Wednesday, june Twenty-third
The service closed with the hymn “My faith looks up to
Thee” and the Lord's Prayer.
- 9-30 A. M.,
CONFERENCE ON COLLEGE EDUCATION
Miss Frances J. Hosford, M. A. '72, Associate professor
of Latin, Academy of Oberlin College, presiding.
Miss Hosford: As our honored President told us yester-
day, this is a week both of anniversaries and of commence-
ments. Those of us who count our graduation by the dec-
ades backward, think of the springs from which our own
youth sprang, and think how good they were, how wholesome
and how full of inspiration and of life-giving strength for
the years that we have seen. At the same time we are very
glad that we did not get it all; that the last word was not
uttered to us; that there were better things for those who
came after. So we look before and after. In a conference on
college education it must be that we think both of the past
and of the future, of the studies and the methods and the
personalities that made the past so good, and the studies and
the methods and the personalities that are to make the future
glorious.
It would certainly be too much of a tax on the endurance
of this, or of any other audience, if we were to take the college
curriculum in its entirety and go over the past and the future.
But the department of philosophy is a representative depart-
ment, and we are favored in having for it representative
speakers who can tell of the old and of the new.
I entered this institution in the early days of Miss Evans'
principalship. I used to hear of Miss Evans' predecessor,
Miss Edwards. Among other things, I was told, and in such
a way that it made a deep impression upon me, of her masterly
grasp of the subjects that we used to think of particularly as
senior subjects, Christian evidences, natural theology, mental
Conference on College Education II 3
philosophy and Butler's Analogy. I can testify to her repu-
tation on Butler's Analogy. On these subjects, new and old,
Miss Anna C. Edwards, former principal of Lake Erie Semi-
nary and later associate principal of Mt. Holyoke, will now
address us.
ADDRESS
BY MISS ANNA C. EDWARDS, M.A.
I propose to speak, to-day, about three books that were
brought into the world during the last hundred years, and
which have had some influence on the history even of this
institution. They are “Butler's Analogy,” “Paley's Natural
Theology,” and “Alexander's Evidences of Christianity.”
These books were not written for young, immature minds,
although young and immature minds have gained a great
deal of good from them, and have developed very rapidly
under their teaching. They were written at a time that was
critical in English and American thought—critical with
regard to religion.
The most recent of these, “Alexander's Evidences of
Christianity,” begins in this wise: “Have we the right to
use our reason in inquiries concerning religion?” That, to
some minds, might be rather a startling question. It was not
a startling question in the religious world at that time. He
went on to say, yes, we must do so; we are obliged to do so.
In order to form an opinion of any matter we must use our
reason. He went on with his argument, and even though
possibly in some cases he did not quite hold to his original
dictum, yet no one has reason to despise “Alexander's
Evidences of Christianity,” certainly none who have thumbed
that book through and through, time after time, and pon-
dered over the sense and force of those arguments.
“Paley's Natural Theology” had one special quality spe-
cially adapted to us in these days when we think so much
of making everything we do and read about so interesting.
II.4. Wednesday, june Twenty-third
Paley was interesting in a picturesquc sort of way. He
begins: “As I was going across the heath I pitched my foot
against a stone.” That word “pitched” had a great deal to
do with the interest that people have always felt in Paley's
argument. If he had said he hit his foot against a stone, or
stumbled against a stone, or observed it as he was walking
along with his head high in the air, or that someone picked-
it up and threw it at him, it would not have been apt to gain
our attention as “pitched” did. Paley went on pitching
against various objects and subjects, and making observa-
tions upon them.
Modern science, since it became modern, took issue with
Paley about that stone. He said that if any one had asked
him how that stone came there, he might have said, for all
he knew it had lain there forever. Yet modern science knows
it had not. Modern science very soon pointed out the con-
stituent elements of that stone, the original particles of which
it was composed, how, in some fortuitous way, in ages past,
the particles came together in some sort of conglomerate in
that particular heath. But that stone detached itself from the
rest, perhaps during the glacial epoch, and traveled until it
settled just there where Paley happened to pitch his foot
against it. Science knew a great deal about that stone. It
knew, to begin with, that it happened just as Paley said it did,
perhaps it was composed of those particles that happened
to get together and go on in this way. “No intelligence
about that,” Paley said; and modern science says, also, “No
intelligence about that.”
But Paley said, “If that had been a watch there with all
the wonderful mechanism of a watch, I couldn’t have said
that there is no intelligence about that; that that lay there
forever. It could not have lain there forever. I know it
could not. At least I am sure it could not, I must make a
little difference between ‘sure’ and ‘know.’ I am very sure
that watch could not have been there forever, and could not
Conference on College Education II 5
be as it is unless some intelligence designed it, planned,
formed, meant it—for what? For some human use.”
That was a great thing in Paley's mind, and it has been
a great thing in the mind of reasoning men ever since.
How could a watch ever make itself? But even if a watch
could, what about some of the wonderful mechanism of the
human eye? How did that come to pass? Much more is
reason, intelligence, goodness, divine goodness, something
far above our comprehension, concerned in the human eye.
Well, perhaps not? Perhaps in some fortuitous way all the
particles that compose the eye got together as did the whole
body. Perhaps as we go back we shall reach a period when
there were no eyes in any being. But there was a sort of
sensitiveness to light which kept on increasing, and by and
by some animal had something corresponding to the eye,
and at last we had the human eye. All that came about in
accordance with natural laws—the stone, the watch, the eye,
everything in this material world. And taking a leap, every-
thing in the mental and moral world likewise comes to-
gether in this not necessarily haphazard manner, but accord-
ing to some unconscious, unmeaning law.
Paley says, “What is a law? A law implies a lawgiver,
and the consensus of men always meets with that assent.”
A law implies a lawgiver of intelligence. Wherever we
see what looks like a work of intelligence we are seeing the
evidence of design, so we say. But perhaps not. Perhaps
not. Perhaps all this natural law, if we go into the intricacies
of the matter, works in a way that does not imply a con-
scious and knowing intelligence. Perhaps not. We must
not go into that argument at this time further than to say
that the deeper we go into that matter the more our minds
refuse to say there is no design in all this. For the stone
might be, or is, Paley went on to say, as a wen or wart on
the human body might be; for the eye might be, after all, in
great measure as we see it— might be the result of natural
I 16 Wednesday, june Twenty-third
law working blindly and not worthy to be called an intel-
ligence; and refuse to say that this whole vast universe
could be the result of other than a Supreme and All-willing,
All-just, All-loving God. That is the result of Paley's
argument in some slight degree, as I can put it, upon the
human mind, with a multiplicity of forms of detail.
We stand somewhat as Paley did at that time, with a
larger and broader outlook upon what we call the plan of
the Absolute, the Holy, the Infinite One. Paley had one
great objection which has been dwelt upon, his observation
seemed to imply more of mechanism, more of machine work,
more of carpenter-like work in human affairs, than the
premises warranted. There is something broader than a God
sitting outside of the universe and in some mechanical way
bringing things to pass. We prefer to think of Him as an
immanent existence moving through all things, as the word
of God before Paley's time said, “in Whom all things con-
sist, from Whom no one can escape, the farthest point of the
universe is not away from that Being. The lowest and deep-
est point of human consciousness is not separate from God.”
Yet God is not human consciousness. Where shall I find
Him, O my soul! Present to faith yet veiled from sight,
there doth my spirit rest. There we find Him, in ourselves,
around ourselves, and we see in this view of Him more than
Paley saw. What an infinite God is ours! How wonderful!
How eternal is this spirit of ours struck off as a spark from
the Infinite, but one day to return unto Him.
Now, was it good? Did it do us, or will it do any one
who takes up such a line of thought as this, any great good,
if it leads us to think, to turn our thoughts away from the
little and the small, from that which is of small consequence
to that which is of eternal interest and value ;
“Butler's Analogy of Natural and Revealed Religion”
came at an even more critical time than Paley's Theology.
Each of those times was a critical time, for men of thought
Conference on College Education 117
were deeply discussing all these things in Paley's time. But
in Butler's time things seemed to have reached a point in
which it needed two great forces to arouse men to some real
life, some life above the frivolous of the animal world around
them. The world needed just such a force as John Wesley
brought to it, a man full of fire and fervor and power, who
went through all the land preaching righteousness and repent-
ance of sin, and holding up the love of God; yet himself
not a man to be despised by any means for his reasoning
power. John Wesley came to Bishop Butler one day. Prof.
Winchester says he would like to have witnessed that meet-
ing when two such souls, so unlike and yet so alike, com-
pared their ideas. Bishop Butler grieved with all the depth
of his nature over the state of religion. It seemed almost as
though religion in England had ceased to be. The Bible
and all things connected with it had become a matter of
ridicule. It was fashionable even, though men allowed some
sort of existence to God, to cast reproach upon His word.
That fashion has not altogether ceased at the present time;
but we have a little idea how deep a hold it had taken upon
the higher classes in England, and how deeply Bishop But-
ler's soul mourned over that fact. He would meet it, could
meet it, only in his own way. He sat down and thought,
and thought, over and over again, everything that everybody
had said in a flippant, careless, superficial way against the
word of God, and he gave to each objection its due import-
ance and value—more than its value. He meant to be
thoroughly honest with himself and with all his readers, and
see if they were right in saying that there is no truth in all
the doctrines of Christianity; that the thought of the ages
had formulated no truth at all, just a matter of ridicule and
fun-making. Is it so? Why do they think so? How much
is what they say, worth So Butler's Analogy—we put the
two names together as though the analogy were part of his
name—came to pass. He tried to, and did think it out, and
II 8 Wednesday, june Twenty-third
he caused the men of that time—probably not all the care-
less ones, but many others—to stop and think. And they
strangely found that somehow they could not answer what
he said, not in their flippant, careless way. There seemed
to be some force in those strange sentences of his. I say,
“strange sentences,” because they seemed so to us, and I
think they must have seemed so in those days. He was told
that his meaning was not plain. He said, “Those who are
at liberty to say that my meaning is not plain, are only those
who cannot decide whether or not it can be made any plain-
er.” He certainly tried his best to make all he had to say
plain to every mind, and in that very effort his sentences
were somewhat involved, and his words of those days sound
rather strange. We found it our best plan to commit to
memory all that Butler had to say, and to recite it in class.
That sounded very well and went off very well in recitation,
but it did not get into the understanding of the hearers and
readers and thinkers; for there were some thinkers then. In
many cases we did not take them all in that same earnest
spirit that Butler himself did.
What did Butler mean by what he said? One way to find
out was to take those very words just as they were, and try
to look at them in the same spirit of mind if we could, as
Butler himself did; try to think how he was situated, how
he was wrought up to the utmost to try and make us, here
in the other part of the world, of whom he was not think-
ing, but who were included in the plan of God—make us
right. When you put yourself in the place of a writer, you
will understand what he means. You will be interested in it
as a human production, weigh it for what it is worth, and
put it into your own words, and then you get the good of
it. That is the only way any good was ever obtained from
Butler's Analogy, and that way has produced great good in
the minds of many who have studied it. It led them to think.
It took them out of themselves. As one young lady said,
\
Conference on College Education II 9
“Butler is not so very hard, only I can't sleep over it.”
Every thought had to be intently riveted on the page one
was reading, and the deeper you looked into it, the more
you saw, not only getting his meaning, but somehow moved
by it and convinced that this was a matter of great importance.
Butler takes it for granted that there is a God. He does
not stop to prove it. He does stop to prove the future life,
and he goes a little too far trying to demonstrate it, when
he should have been content with moral certainty. But we
are interested in that. Everywhere there come out new
arguments in favor of the future life. Then he goes on to
show the effect of this mortal life, under these circumstances
just as they are, upon the human being, in the far future
awaiting us. We think it is strange if there is a God of justice
and goodness, that in this world justice is so often put aside;
that goodness does not triumph for long ages, sometimes.
We think as those flippant thinkers did, that it is all very
uncertain, and we will not trouble ourselves about it.
“Stop!” says Butler, “and consider! You say this world
is not as just as it might and ought to have been as the result
of infinite intelligence. What would have been a better world
than this?” We are met by this question in the introduc-
tion. Let us make up our minds if we could do it, as to what
would be a better plan for the universal God to pursue, and
we soon find our minds are very weak, and that the very
plan we might make, not for the government of the whole
world, but for our own personal movements—any plan, for
instance, a mother might make for the guidance of her child,
is very likely to involve some elements of error. Very likely,
as our experience goes, all the efforts of parents, teachers,
rulers of the State, to plan in such a way as to prevent evil
coming into the family, the school and the State would fail.
Perhaps it works better after all if we do not plan it. It is
not, perhaps, a perfect plan, but we are in a more humble
state of mind.
I 2G) Mednesday, fune Twenty-third
We take up the third chapter, which is worthy of preserva-
tion for all time. We go on and on, and we get interested
in what our conscience tells us to be true; that this is a world
of temptation, trials, difficulties, danger, to everybody who
tries to do right. We know that. We found that out in our
teens. All of us who have lived these fifty years and more
have found that true. But it is peculiarly fit to bring about
in every human soul that will use it rightly, a higher state
of virtue, a more secure state of happiness, a higher state of
being than any other plan could. And if we have used this
argument right and taken it home to our hearts, and retrans-
lated it into our own language and made it the guide of our
lives, we have found it of great value to us. One great and
important point in all this has been that it has led us to sus-
pend judgment even on unimportant matters, and certainly
on important ones. It leads us to await the result of things.
Our lives are very short, and things that seem thus and thus
to us now may not seem so in the future. That being the
case, “prove all things and hold fast that which is good.”
Be careful that you rush not heedlessly on through this mortal
life. Is not that a lesson worth learning in our youth: Is it
not well to have some kind of a text-book or some kind of
teaching or lecture that will cause us to stop and think, and
will direct us to set our feet in the path toward righteousness
and peace and joy in the far future?
At one time, toward the close of my teaching of Butler's
Analogy, which occupied many years, I found I could add
a great deal of the modern form of teaching, and I was glad
to do it. Also I could leave out a great deal, especially, in
Paley. We did not need to multiply instances. One instance
of design, as he put it, was enough. In Butler I liked to pass
over those great facts of life, and toward the close of my last
teaching, one day two or three of my scholars said, “We
have enjoyed Butler's Analogy.” I had come not to be satis-
fied unless they did enjoy it. I said, “I am very glad, and
Methods of Teaching Philosophy I 2. I
I hope you have really improved by it.” “Oh, yes,” they
said, “The other day in our senior class meeting we were
just ready to decide something of doubtful wisdom when
Mary spoke up and said, ‘Girls, we'd better not do that.
Bishop Butler wouldn't approve of it.’” I felt like smiling;
I was sure they were thoroughly in earnest, and I was com-
forted; I was rejoiced. I felt that whether that particular
decision was made or not, the spirit and the habit of mind
gained by it was of the utmost importance.
So then, as though it were the last word that I may ever
address to those of you who might have been my own pupils,
I leave this with you: Seek in your studies that which is true
and deep and earnest, and thus shall you find the truth and
be made one at last with the Infinite Truth Himself.
Miss Hosford: Perhaps the philosophical tendency is
hereditary, and may be it lingers in localities. We have, this
morning, the pleasure of listening to something about the
new philosophy from Prof. Robert Sessions Woodworth, of
the department of Psychology, Columbia University.
ADIDRESS
PROFESSOR ROBERT S. WOODWORTH
PRESENT-DAY METHOD8 OF TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
When those of us who are now engaged in teaching philos-
ophy and related subjects look back on our own teachers of
twenty, thirty or fifty years ago, doubt often creeps into our
minds whether we are worthy successors, whether we hold
the standard as high as they, whether we are of as much real
service to our students as the teachers whose memories we
revere, were to us. Certain it is that the times have changed,
and that we have changed with them. The change has brought
some gain, no doubt, but also some loss, and it is a question
whether the gain balances the loss.
I 2.2 Wednesday, june Twenty-third
The teachers of the older day were men and women of
deep convictions, and labored to produce convictions in the
young people who came to them for guidance and for whose
views of life they felt themselves responsible. They strove
to ground us well, to establish us in right views. Some of
them depended more on authoritative statement, backed up
by their personal force; others depended more on our own
reasoning powers, which, however, they took care to guide
towards what seemed to them the right conclusions. It was
their aim to send us forth into life not only with our powers
of reflection developed by exercise on philosophical prob-
lems, but with our minds made up on some of the great ques-
tions; with convictions, which should not, indeed, be blind,
convictions for which we stood ready to give a reason, but
above all convictions which should stay by us and be guiding
principles in our lives.
I will not say that the teachers of philosophy of this day
are less earnest in their desire to benefit their students than
were those teachers of many years ago. Yet there is a differ-
ence. The philosophy taught in America fifty years ago was
somewhat limited in scope. It was essentially the English
and Scotch philosophy of the eighteenth century. German
thought began to make itself felt with the transcendentalist
movement in American literature, of which Emerson is the
best example. Soon afterwards, philosophy began to feel the
influence of the vast increase in scientific knowledge. The
natural sciences were growing rapidly; history was greatly
developed and studied more critically; economics and the
other social sciences became important. Philosophy thus lost
some of its predominance. It had been the study of those
who loved wisdom. It now had to share this high title. It
became one of the broadening studies, one of the deepening
studies, one of the studies which furnished principles for the
guidance of life. It lost its position as the great culminating
study of a college course, looked forward to with awe by
Methods of Teaching Philosophy I 23
the under-classes, and approached by the seniors with all
seriousness as that for which their previous studies had been
but a preparation. It became one among several subjects of
about equal weight. In many colleges, it has ceased to be a
required study, and become an elective; though, even so, it
has retained its hold and is elected by a very large propor-
tion of the students.
Not only was the relation of philosophy to other subjects
greatly changed by the developments of the nineteenth cen-
tury, but philosophy itself was changed. The history of
philosophy began to be studied with more attention. It was
found that the older philosophers were still worth reading.
The teacher of philosophy made the acquaintance of the old
Greek philosophers, even of the Hindus, of the early mod-
ern philosophers, of the Germans, as well as of those writers
who lay nearer to our own time and country. He found great
diversity of views held by the various schools, and yet each
thinker was clearly animated by a genuine love for the truth,
and supported his views with great force, and by arguments
that were convincing or well-nigh convincing. It became
impossible for the teacher who had made the acquaintance
of these various thinkers to present the doctrines of one par-
ticular school with as much conviction as formerly. He came
to teach with less authority, and more as the scribes. Or, at
least, though he might be settled in his own philosophy, it
did not seem quite fair to present this as the only philoso-
phy. It seemed only fair to make the student acquainted
with the great philosophers of various times, and to treat
these philosophers with decent respect; not simply to present
their views as false doctrines to be knocked down as soon as
set up; rather to lead the students to think with the differ-
ent thinkers, to appreciate their point of view, and while
noticing their errors and limitations, to glean from them what
was of lasting value. For example, nothing is more remote
from our manner of thinking than the Hindu philosophy,
I 24 Mednesday, june Twenty-thira
and yet it is not unworthy of our attention. It teaches above
all the unity of things. “That which thou seest, all the
variegated appearance of the world, is but a veil of illusion.
Behind the veil lies the reality, and the reality of all things
is one. Think thyself well into the inner being of each plant,
each natural phenomenon, for that art thou! The inner being
of all things is the inner being of thyself.” Certainly there
is poetry in this, certainly there is truth in it; and to sink
oneself in this poetry for a time and pass through a stage in
which this truth is very living, is a valuable experience for
the student of philosophy, though it is an experience which
does not last but gives way to the more critical attitude of
Western philosophy. Thus the college course in philosophy
has become less an exposition of a fixed system of doctrine,
and more a study of the history of thought and opinion; it
aims less to ground the student in right convictions, and
more to make him know and appreciate the great thoughts
of the best thinkers. This change from the authoritative to
the historical method of teaching philosophy occurred at
different times in different colleges, but by now the change
has occurred quite generally throughout the country.
When we ask whether this change has been good or bad
for the student, I think we should answer, as far as regards
the training of the reasoning powers, that it has made little
difference. Certainly it was good training to wrestle with
Paley and Butler; and it is the same kind of training to
wrestle with Hume and Kant, with Descartes and Spinoza,
with Plato and Aristotle. Whether the present method takes
hold of the student as much as the older method is open to
grave doubt. For the student who is really of a philosophic
mind, the present method is excellent; he will appreciate the
varied lines of thought and gradually build up a view of the
world which will be more his own than any which he could
receive, ready-made, at the hands of a single teacher or book.
But most students, it must be admitted, are not born phil-
Methods of Teaching Philosophy I 25
osophers. They find it difficult to take in more than one
point of view. They become confused in the long argu-
ments and prefer to skip over to the conclusions. They
want to know the results rather than the process of reaching
the results. If you start telling them that Hume held thus
and thus, and for these reasons, they interrupt with: “But
that isn't so, is it?” If you call attention to the opposing
views held by different philosophers, they wish to cut short
the preliminaries by asking: “Well, which was right?” And
usually, the briefer and more dogmatic your answer, the
better they are pleased. It is not quite fair to say that they
do not want any evidence, but they do not want too much.
Such being the attitude of a majority of people, an attitude
more suited for practical activity than for philosophizing, it
is probable that a course in the history of philosophy leaves
a rather vague and confused impression on them; that they
are unable to take it very seriously; and that they may even
go out with the feeling that philosophy is all in the air,
having missed that valuable experience which used to come
to the college senior when he definitely set out to review and
revise his views of the meaning of life and of the world. Not
every senior of the present day misses this experience. Some
get it in philosophy, and some outside of philosophy, but
probably more miss it now than formerly. The same criti-
cism can be passed on the present methods of teaching phil-
osophy as on modern methods of teaching other college sub-
jects: namely, that in the effort to get a very high grade of
work from the student, the standard has been set too high
for the generality of students, who would be better served
by simpler and more dogmatic methods.
About the same thing has happened to moral philosophy
as to general philosophy. The history of ethical doctrines
takes an important place in the course of instruction. The
student is introduced not only to the happiness-philosophy
of the English school, but to the pure-duty-philosophy of
126 Wednesday, june Twenty-third
Kant, and to the Greek ideal of a perfectly developed man.
More and more, also, the distinctly modern tendency towards
a social ethics is making itself felt in the classroom, as it is
felt in the churches and throughout the community. The ten-
dencies of the last few decades, and of the present time, are
away from the more mystical side of religion and of philoso-
phy. They are away, we must admit, from the more spirit-
ual side, and herein there is loss. But there is something
positive in the change: it is not all loss, for the increasing
emphasis on social good, the good of all men in their mutual
dependence, is a motive of positive value. It is practical,
and it is also a genuine philosophy, but there is no doubt
that its introduction tends to complicate the scheme of moral
philosophy. Thus the ethics which is taught to-day is more
complex than the moral philosophy of years ago, and prob-
ably more difficult to grasp, more likely to be over the heads
of the students and more apt in consequence, to seem an
abstract and theoretical, rather than a vital subject.
Logic, too, has become more complex. The deductive
logic, which has come down to us almost unchanged from the
time of Aristotle, continues to be taught much as before; but
the recent development of science has made it seem necessary
to give the student some idea of the logic of scientific dis-
covery—the inductive logic. Now deductive logic, though
dry, and probably never specially attractive to most students,
has at least the merit of great definiteness and precision;
whereas the logic of discovery and of scientific method is
hard to reduce to a set of rules; it appears to the student to
be very much up in the air; and the attempts to teach it
meet with only moderate success. Yet the attempt seems
worth making, for surely the rules of the syllogism, though
they tell us much about correct thinking, tell us very little
about productive thinking, about thinking that leads to some
real result, in either science or practical affairs.
What was formerly called mental philosophy, or mental
Methods of Teaching Philosophy 127
science, is now usually known under the name of Psychology.
The change of name amounts to little, but there has been a
great change in the subject. The change is not quite of the
same character as that which has occurred in moral philoso-
phy and in general philosophy. It is not that the present
teaching of psychology dwells on the history of the subject
or on the diversity of doctrine taught by different schools;
the fact is rather that psychology has split off from philoso-
phy and become a science on its own account. We remem-
ber that almost all of human knowledge, except the lan-
guages, history, mathematics, and medicine, was once in-
cluded under the head of philosophy; there was natural
philosophy, mental philosophy, moral philosophy; and the
same author often mastered all three and wrote on all. He
went about it not so much by minute examination of details
as by broad general considerations. Later, men became in-
terested in details; they began to experiment with pendulums
and prisms; and they devoted themselves to this sort of
studies with as much energy as had formerly been given to
philosophizing. The fruits of their industry were the dis-
covery of many facts and laws hitherto unknown and unsus-
pected; and as this went on and increased, natural philoso-
phy grew away from general philosophy, and became a study
on its own account, with special methods very different from
those of philosophy, and with a sufficient mass of results and
accumulated knowledge to occupy all the time and attention
of anyone who set out to master them. In this way the
science of physics split off from philosophy; and in much
the same way many other sciences have arisen. It was long
after the sciences of physics and chemistry had taken shape
that the same sort of minute and painstaking study began
to be applied to the mind; for it is more natural for us to
study other things than to examine ourselves. But along in
the middle of the last century a few men, some of them phil-
osophers, and some physiologists, began to see what could
:
I 28 Mednesday, june Twenty-third
be done in the way of applying the methods of natural science
to the study of the mind. They wondered whether it might
not be possible to dissect a mental state as plants and animals
had been dissected, and whether they could not profitably
experiment on the mind as well as on light, heat, and elec-
tricity. They made the attempt and began to get results.
They found, indeed, considerable difficulty; it is easier to
examine and dissect a plant than to analyze a state of mind;
it is easier to control light, so as to make a good experiment
and arrive at a sure result than it is to control the direction
of a person's thought so as to observe with certainty how
it works. To meet these difficulties, special methods of
investigation had to be invented; and thus the study of the
mind became specialized and grew away from philosophy.
It was about 1880 that the separation began to take definite
shape by the establishment of psychological laboratories and
the appointment of professors of psychology. The separation
is still far from complete, for the subjects of philosophy and
psychology are still commonly taught by a single department,
and psychology is as yet an immature and very imperfect
science.
Another influence which tends to separate psychology
from philosophy is the increasing emphasis laid on teaching
as a profession, and on the need of special training for those
who are to be teachers. Since the teacher's concern is so
largely with the pupil’s mind, he is interested in whatever
science has to teach regarding it. At the present day a very
large proportion of those who study psychology approach
it from the side of education; and so it happens that in many
institutions psychology is combined with education rather
than with philosophy. This alliance with education brings
about a change in the methods of teaching psychology, for
the intending teacher is not so much concerned with broad
philosophical views of the mind as with its actual concrete
workings. Educational psychology is coming to be closely
Methods of Teaching Philosophy I 29
dependent on experimental psychology, and this will be
more and more the case, as experiment advances from the
study of the sensations to memory, reasoning, and the pro-
cess of learning. The educational interest is also seen in the
appearance of a new branch of psychology, which treats of
the mind of the child and the laws of its growth. This sort
of study clearly must rest on detailed observations.
Of the students who to-day come to the class in psychology,
many come as young philosophers, for the interest in philo-
sophical problems is very deep-seated in the mind of the
young person; many come as intending teachers; and com-
paratively few come as young psychologists, from the direct
interest in the workings of the mind. To meet these diverse
interests, different methods of instruction are called for.
For the philosophically inclined, something is needed much
like the old course in mental philosophy, though with some
attention to recent discoveries; the student is to be led to
think clearly for himself on matters that lie within his ob-
servation, and not to be loaded down with a large mass of
facts discovered by special methods. On the other hand, the
educational student, having a practical concern with psychol-
ogy, needs to be given information, needs to learn the facts
and to have practice in applying them. For the student who
is really interested in the workings of the mind, nothing
could be better than a laboratory course, which gives him
opportunity to observe the mind at work under various con-
ditions. To handle all sorts of students in one class is a
difficult problem for the teacher of psychology, since the
educational applications seem trivial and sordid to the young
philosopher, while the philosophical discussions distract the
young from really fruitful work. The laboratory experi-
ments, moreover, consume too much time to be introduced
freely into the elementary course. In spite of these perplex-
ities, I believe that psychology is making good its claim to
the attention of college students.
I 30 Wednesday, june Twenty-third
All through the philosophical courses, we find much the
same tendencies to broaden out the treatment, and to lose,
incidentally, some of the directness and force of the subject.
This tendency is not by any means confined to philosophy,
but is seen in modern methods of teaching many other col-
lege subjects. The effort is, on the one hand, to do some
sort of justice to the growth of the sciences and other branches
of knowledge, and on the other hand, to get a high, scholarly
type of work from the student. It certainly appears, in many
cases, that the standard has been set too high for the major-
ity of students, who would be better served by simpler and
more dogmatic methods. The tendencies of the day, how-
ever, are against dogmatism. Dogmatism simplifies things,
but the simplification is more or less artificial. The problems
of life are in reality complex; present methods of instruction
reflect that complexity; modern conditions of life emphasize
it. It takes better brains to master the complex, but we must
try to rise to the occasion and deal with conditions as we find
them. For successful college instruction we need not only
careful study of the curriculum and of its actual effect on the
student; we must depend to-day as much as ever in the past
on the personality of the teacher. An intellectual grasp that
shall reduce the complexity to order, and a high purpose
and sympathetic appreciation of the student's point of view,
are as indispensable now as in the days of the noble teachers
of the past.
Miss Hosford: It is a very dangerous thing for an out-
side barbarian to express an opinion on philosophical sub-
jects, and I hope Professor Woodworth will correct me if I
am wrong. My idea is that in one crucial respect the new
methods are swinging back to the old more than we have
seen for some years, and that is in the recognition of per-
sonality and in its importance, its central place. As we think
backward as well as forward, we cannot fail to know that it
is the personality of individual teachers that we dwell upon
Conference on College Education I 3 I
in thinking what our college work did for us. Now passing
a little from the special domain of philosophy, we want to
take a few minutes to think of some of the great teachers
and master minds who have influenced many of us in the
past years. Miss Kendrick, the present head of the depart-
ment of English in this college, is to speak a word on Pro-
fessor Nathan Perkins Seymour, who for many years was
lecturer in this institution.
Miss Kendrick: When I was asked to speak about Doctor
Seymour this morning, I immediately tried to recall a tribute
paid to him as a grammar-school boy, in Hartford, Connect-
icut. Particularly noted was his untiring perseverance—“he
never ceased effort till he felt himself the master.” It was
said that he never pleaded want of time for preparation, nor
complained that the lesson was too long. “It was easy to
predict for him an honorable future.”
This seems to me the keynote of his character as we knew
it later. I here recall a characteristic remark of his: “We
always find time for the things we really want to do, the
books we really want to read.” He had little sympathy with
people who waste time over the light fiction that fills the
shelves of our libraries. The subjects of his lectures were
Shakespeare and other English writers, Virgil, Homer, and
Hebrew poetry. He showed a sympathetic cordiality with
students and greatly influenced their literary tastes. Although
he appeared to be a man living in the world of books, he
yet was keen in observation and criticism of the affairs of the
day, and his recreation was music; he studied the composi-
tions of the master musicians.
We knew somewhat of this predicted “honorable future”
of Doctor Seymour. Members of our Faculty have been en-
tertained in his home of culture and hospitality in Hudson,
Ohio, in the library that was his pride, said to be at one time
the best philological library west of the Alleghenies. Doctor
Seymour was then professor in Western Reserve College.
I 32 Wednesday, june Twenty-third
For many years after the College was transplanted to Cleve-
land, he gave courses of lectures there yearly and also came
to Lake Erie, giving the same to young women as to the
young men. He was always a generous giver of his best.
He never seemed weary after a long hour of steady talking;
if a bell rang or there was some other interruption, he would
lay down his book or paper, look over his spectacles and say
to Miss Evans, “Shall I go on P’’ His thought was only
of the time and the feeling of his audience.
He came to us sometimes at personal inconvenience, even
at risk to health, and with only his traveling expenses paid.
When remonstrated with for this he said, “Let it be my
gift to the Seminary.” At one time he was under our roof
for three weeks. He disliked going into the dining-room,
so his meals were brought to the reception-room. As he did
not care to be alone while eating, I considered it a great
privilege to talk quietly with him then. A single question
would bring out a flood of talk, rich in allusions and com-
parisons. Many times I have gone to my room to sit late
into the night tracing some thought from one author to
another, finding for myself some new beauty uncovered by
this master of languages and literatures. It was to me like
having the best private instruction for twenty years. I can-
not put into words what I personally owe to Doctor Seymour.
I always think of him with admiration, gratitude, affection,
as an ideal instructor speaking with authority.
The last months of Doctor Seymour's life were spent in
the home of his son, Professor Thomas Day Seymour, of
New Haven. From there he wrote to Miss Evans, “I shall
always recall the pleasant days spent at the Seminary. They
could hardly have been happier. I was especially delighted
to see in your students so much intellectual activity and such
a lively interest in the highest and best in literature. With
no sounding of trumpets you are doing a great work for Ohio
Conference on College Education I 33
and some of the neighboring states, and I shall always esteem
it a privilege to do anything in my power to further it.”
At the time of his death in 1891, while preparing a tribute
for the Lake Erie Record we invited the students to con-
tribute personal impressions of him. One student emphasized
his habit of looking intensely at words, syllable by syllable,
letter by letter. Another said an hour of such reading of
Virgil's AEneid made her feel riches and beauties never before
realized. She said, “Since his coming I found myself think-
ing of its beauty as a poem rather than as illustrating prin-
ciples of Latin Grammar.” Another expressed surprise over
Doctor Seymour's so highly prizing the Bible—“the Book
that we too often fail to appreciate.”
In closing, I quote from a tribute in which you all rec-
ognize the thought and hand of President Evans: “In these
later days, millions must be secured for endowments, and
highest salaries must be assured before this master or that
expert can be called to college or university. The time of
self-sacrificing devotion to the higher education has gone by.
In this fading light, let us pause to pay our grateful tribute
to the memory of this scholar of high degree, learned in all
the literatures and yet so ready to share his treasures with
others, giving as it had been given to him, “good measure
and running over.’”
Miss Hosford: Dr. Seymour was not the only one of the
Western Reserve College professors to give generously to the
intellectual treasures in this institution. We recall the time
of Professor Charles J. Smith and Professor Edward W.
Morley. Mrs. Ellen Fisher Vincent, former teacher in this
institution in the department of Physics, will speak to us of
Professor Morley. *
Mrs. Vincent said: The teachers and students of the mid-
dle period of the fifty years just past will remember with
great appreciation the name of Dr. Edward W. Morley for
so many years our lecturer in chemistry. It was no easy task
I 34 Wednesday, june Twenty-third
to give courses of lectures with no proper lecture-room and
apparatus, but he generously gave of time and strength to
supplement our meagre resources from his own laboratory,
first in Hudson, and afterward in Cleveland, where he was
so long an honored member of the faculty of Western
Reserve University. To-day he stands in the front ranks in
the scientific world, his name well known in scientific circles
the wide world over. He was most generous in lending a
hand in the assistance and in the encouragement of other
scientific departments, as the teacher of physics in those days
can testify. I well remember a course of lectures which he
gave on the Theory of Evolution, making more intelligible
to us Darwin's great contribution to scientific thinking.
All honor to those who thus helped the Seminary on its
upward way. We would remember them all to-day, even if
there be not time to mention all their names.
Miss Hosford: As we think of the master minds that have
left their impress upon the classes as they have gone forth
from Lake Erie College, we must dwell with especial love
and admiration upon the memory of Martha Huntington
Mathews. We are especially happy this morning in having
one to speak to us about her, one prominent in this depart-
ment of English Composition and Literature, and once the
head of that department in this college—Miss Ellen C. Par-
sons, editor of “Woman's Work,” New York.
Miss Parsons: Two years ago I received a letter from the
chairman of our conference this morning in which she said,
“It is good to mingle our loving thoughts of Martha. Even
now I cannot think of her as gone. Such abounding vitality!
She is surely full of life somewhere. I have often thought of
what your sister, Mrs. Doubleday, said long ago when I
made some generalizing remark about the way that certain
things affected people—‘like Martha.’ Harriet said, ‘I
don’t know any people like Martha.” “And I don't,' said
Miss Hosford. For one thing, where is there another wom-
Conference on College Educatiºn I 35
an so active, so bright, so keen-sighted, and yet so sweet-
hearted, so utterly free from critical rancors?”
My name for Lake Erie Seminary, whenever I think of
it, is: the Home of the Leal-hearted. Where have any of
you ever found yourselves in any State in the Union, in any
association, club or circle in which you had a place, where
you found those around you more absolutely sincere and
loyal and true than in those old days at Lake Erie Among
them I have had the privilege of seeing this morning my
inspiring, responsive pupils, my brilliant successor, my dear
friend always.
Our dear friend was one of those examples of being true
and sincere. Martha, you were leal to duty and leal to honor
and leal to truth and to friendship and to your God! As I
think of her and of Dr. Seymour, that old song comes back
to me of Uhland about the boatman, and although I have
not seen it for many years, I think I remember it. It begins:
“Many a year is in its grave
Since I crossed this restless wave,
And the evening, fair as ever,
Shines on ruin, rock and river.
Then in this same boat beside
Sat two comrades old and tried;
One with all a father’s truth,
One with all the fire of youth.
But what binds us friend to friend
But that soul with soul may blend?
Soul-like were those hours of yore,
Let us walk in soul once more.
Take, O boatman, thrice thy fee!
Takel I give it willingly,
For invisible to thee
Spirits twain have crossed with me.”
136 Wednesday, june Twenty-third
Miss Hosford: The old order changeth, giving place to
the new. We want to conclude this morning's conference
with just a word about the future. Mrs. Mary Flanders
Feitshans, class of '65, former teacher in this institution, and
always a dear and honored friend of the college, will speak
this word:
Mrs. Feitshans: To me is given the last word in this
morning's presentation of the high things to which our
beloved college is called, and I am asked to put into this
last word the very dearest wish in the hearts of her devoted
daughters for the cherished mother, to say just what is, and
shall continue to be, our persistent ideal of these highest
things to which she is called.
The mere words “best wishes” come lightly to the lips
at parting, but how seldom is there in mind a clear image of
their import! The feeling of good-will exists, but not a
clear vision of the good willed. And yet we know the
highest realizations of persons and of institutions come only
by clear vision, fixed purpose, the steady pursuit of well-
defined ends. We must in fact see where we are going, to
make sure of getting anywhere worth while. So it is well
indeed for all who have part in determining the further pro-
gress of Lake Erie to think much, and to speak definitely,
about the best things we all so truly covet for her, that we
may have and hold in our minds a truly impelling vision of
the realities we covet—a vision that shall unfold through
achievement.
During the conferences of yesterday and to-day, gifted
tongues have many times uttered in clearest terms the very
best wishes for Alma Mater that any of us have been able
to think or to feel, and in this last minute I can only reflect
the spirit of all the good willed, by recalling the perfect wish
so wonderfully symbolized in the glorious motto of the col-
lege seal. In these golden words we find the “flying ideal”—
a vision that ever expands with attainment, and that compels
The College and Social Service 137
us to inquire evermore, daily, hourly, again and again, what
is this “Beauty of the Lord” that the wise founders of Lake
Erie Seminary wish to be upon her; what the vision of It
they sought to realize in the work of their hands : That,
this beauty may continue more and more to be upon her
and in all her works, and that this Divine Beauty, the Per-
fect Order, may ever unfold to those who wait, is surely the
dearest wish loyal daughters of Lake Erie can now or ever
put in human words.
wednesDAY, 2 P. M.
.*
CONFERENCE ON THE COLLEGE AND SOCIAL SERVICE.
MISS EMMA M. GILLETT, L.L.M., ’70, PRESIDING.
Miss Evans introduced as the chairman of the conference
Miss Emma M. Gillett, of Washington, D.C., of the class
of 1870; one of our graduates who represents Lake Erie in
that profession which is most closely connected with the
social relations of humanity, the profession of law. Miss
Gillett was admitted to the bar of the Washington courts in
1883, and to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United
States in 1890. She was the first woman to be appointed as
notary public in Washington, an appointment made by Pres-
ident Garfield. Miss Gillett holds the degree of Master of
Laws from Howard University, and she is Professor of Com-
mon Law and Law of Real Property in the Washington
College of Law, which she helped to organize, and which,
primarily for women, now has as many men as women stu-
dents.
Miss Gillett: I was very much interested in Professor
Woodworth's paper this morning. All these questions turn
on the question of simple humanity. I want to emphasize
the word simple as well as the word humanity—simplicity
and humanity. For a long time I have objected to any
study being marked as a study specially for women. I see
138 Wednesday, june Twenty-third
no reason why in all its relations the study of sociology is
not fit for any human creature who is capable of under-
standing anything. We take up the study of sociology from
the side of reason, the academic side as it is presented.
Then, perhaps growing out of the academic or reasoning, is
the emotional side. And then we have the practical appli-
cation of sociology which has been carried out in many ways.
I have the pleasure of introducing to you one of your
own graduates. Coming in from Cleveland the other day
I happened to sit with a young lady who wore the Lake
Erie badge. She told me how proud she was of one of her
classmates because of what she had done. We will hear
what she has to say about her work. Miss White was a
graduate of the class of '94, and has pursued her studies in
sociology in Germany, and taken the degree of Ph.D. from
Cornell, and at present is associate professor of economics
at Smith College. I take great pleasure in introducing Dr.
White.
ADDRESS
GEORGIA L. WHITE, PH.D., '94.
Not what may be said, but what may be left unsaid, is
the interesting point. Fifteen and twenty years ago it was
necessary to discuss the higher education of women, whether
they would not ruin their health and their homes, and whether
women should take the higher education at all or not; these
things we now leave out of our program. When President
Eliot of Harvard a few years ago made the statement that
these things had been settled, it marked an epoch in the
higher education of women.
All women do not want the higher education. What edu-
cation can we give to women to make them more efficient
as women; not to take the places of men in the world but to
fill women's places? We need no longer discuss the ques-
tions whether mathematics or Greek shall be kept in the
The College and Social Service I 39
curriculum in order that we may demonstrate that we can
study these branches as well as men. What is needed is the
helpful woman after she is out of college. Does Greek train
her mind so she is better able to grasp the problems she has
to grasp? Does mathematics make a woman more efficient?
We must settle the question of sociology on the same lines.
Is sociology going to fit women for their place in society :
Sociology in colleges is still a matter of speculation. We
have not yet demonstrated what it can do for us. We are
demonstrating. When I was studying sociology I was told
it was only a fad and that I was wasting my time; that it was
going to be absorbed pretty soon, and then I would be left
without a department. But I had a little faith in it, and I
went on. There is a vital element in sociology, something
which has made it hold its own, although it has changed its
form along many lines. There is something in it that helps
a woman to feel woman's place in society to-day. Women
have been placed in new circumstances. I use the word
“placed” advisedly. It seems to me we have overestimated
woman as an aggressor. There are comparatively few who
are pioneers, who have forged ahead to get a higher education
because they wanted something more, because they thought
it was their right. And in sociology it seems to me there
are comparatively few people who have deliberately started
out to study sociology because it was something, and not a
fad. There are comparatively few people who have gone
into social work because the pioneer spirit impelled them.
The majority of women are impelled by inertia or something
from the outside has forced them into positions which have
compelled them to seek higher education, which would
worthily fit them for their place in modern society.
In the last hundred years we have had a great social revo-
lution. It has come quietly and slowly, but surely. Most
of us have been so busy in our homes that we have scarcely
noticed it except when irritating things have happened which
I 4o Wednesday, fune Twenty-third
called our attention to it. For instance, we find we can get
no maids for our kitchens and it irritates us, and for the
moment we give our attention to the fact that our maids have
gone into the factories. But why we do not know. Then
we are troubled because our street-cars do not run, that there
is a strike. Then our attention is called to the fact that
something has been growing up to which we have paid little
attention. All these irritating things indicate that we have
something going on among us which is changing our social
conditions. We characterize these changes sometimes, by
saying that the introduction of machinery has revolutionized
society. That is a generality and means very little. At the
meeting of the National Educational Association two years
ago, Professor Vincent, of Chicago University, speaking of
modern methods of education as compared with earlier
methods, said that when he was a boy in a class of American
History, where the teacher knew comparatively little more
than the scholars in regard to many things, and where the
method of studying was to learn by rote and recite, they
recited over and over again, “The cotton-gin fixed slavery
in the South.” He didn't know what a cotton-gin was. His
father had shown him cotton, and he had two associations
with gin, one was that when the family read Dickens in the
evening there were occasional references to bibulous old
ladies who drank gin out of a black bottle. The other was
connected with a story which his Sunday-school teacher had
told him about Satan. So he had in his mind a picture of
bales of cotton and bibulous old ladies with black bottles.
He said he wondered how that fixed slavery in the South.
Now we say that the introduction of machinery has revo-
lutionized modern society, and we have about as queer ideas
in our minds on the subject as Professor Vincent had. The
people who see tall chimneys, and see women and children
go to and from factories with pinched faces, have little idea
of what that has to do with revolutionizing society. But if
The College and Social Service I4. I
the introduction of machinery is going to settle the question
how far sociology shall be in the college curriculum for
women, it will be more hazy than ever in your mind. Per-
haps an illustration will serve my purpose. When physics
as a department was housed on the fourth floor of this college
hall—there was no Science Hall then—there was one experi-
ment which I think must have made a great impression on
all the classes. A little metal disk was clamped firmly, and
fine sand was sprinkled on it. Then a violin-bow was drawn
steadily and regularly on the side of the disk, and the sand
began to move slowly, gradually gathering here and separ-
ating there, until a regular pattern was formed on the disk,
and as the violin-bow was drawn up and down, the pattern
became more and more distinctly marked off. To my mind
that illustrates as well as anything I know, the social process
that has been going on which has led to the study of sociol-
ogy. Our population a hundred years ago was sprinkled
thinly over the country. After a while it was found eco-
nomical to put many people into one building to work, and
that was the introduction of the factory. Then people had
to live near their work, and we had this process of segrega-
tion, and that formed over the whole country a pattern just
as we did with the violin-bow. Now we have our housing
problem, because we have made it desirable for many peo-
ple to be congregated in one place to work. We have put
our children into factories, and we have the child-labor prob-
lem. This process has gone on. We have moved from
the country to the city, and in the city we have moved slowly
down, one class going near the factories while another class
has moved away, so we have our class problem. The pro-
cess of the violin-bow has been going on until the pattern
all over the country is becoming very regular, but we know
little about the pattern that is being made.
What has this to do with higher education for women and
the study of sociology? The woman in her home has been
I42 Wednesday, june Twenty-third
steadily feeling these influences. The woman who keeps her
home to-day on the high plane of fifty and a hundred years
ago can no longer be the woman whose interests center in
home alone. She has been brought in contact with others,
has been made a part of the great pattern of geometrical
design that has been brought together on this disk of our
country. We have always thought it was quite the proper
thing for women to teach in our schools. Women taught in
the district schools, and personality counted for a great deal
in the school. It was the boundary of her work. Now those
teaching in the small schools must prepare for the higher
schools. The smaller schools become high schools, and the
high schools beome colleges, and there is a co-relation
between them. Schools and colleges get together for study
and conference. We have conferences on education in the
South and West, and we have our national and international
educational problems and conferences. The teacher who
taught in her district school, who had a little narrow field
which was sufficient for her, is now part of the great whole,
and finds herself confronted with a complexity of questions.
Things that formerly were done within homes, are now done
in factories. These changed conditions have forced women
to become a part of the great whole. The lack of knowledge
of that whole has tended to make us feel that we are con-
fronted by complexities. It has been urged upon us that we
must return to simplicity. We hear a great deal now about
the simple life. One reason is that we are feeling the irritat-
ing influences of these changes which show themselves to us
when we have not grasped the pattern of the whole. We
speak of the simple life for woman as if she could voluntarily
go right back to the time when we had simplicity in the
home, and to the time of teaching in the little schoolhouse,
when she was not exposed to the brunt of the questions of
the times. Some of us would like to go back and some of us
would not.
The College and Social Service I43
We may get simplicity in our lives in two other ways.
One is very well expressed by the small boy who misquoted
the commandment and said, “Six days shall thy neighbor
do all thy work.” Another way to get simplicity and still be
in woman's sphere is to grasp the whole and see the relation
of the little things in our daily life to this great pattern which
is being drawn. If sociology has any place in the curriculum
of a woman's college to-day, it seems to me it must fill that
place by helping women to see this whole of which they are
a part; to see this great something which has come into ex-
istence, which simplifies the complexity of detail with which
we are surrounded every day. Sociology has not done that
altogether yet. I have taught sociology six years, and during
that time there have been great changes. We used to theorize
more than we do now. There was a time when we thought
sociology was going to be the science of social reform. But
these ideas are breaking away from sociology, and the sociol-
ogy which is going to stay and which has in it that vital some-
thing which will make it dominant and useful, is the sociol-
ogy which is able to give us knowledge of the society in
which we live as a whole, as well as the society in which we
live as a part; the sociology which will give us some idea of
ourselves in relation to that whole so that we may introduce
simplicity where there has been complexity, and into the
lives of women the idea of the simplicity of great thoughts.
Sociology is not the only thing that can give us, this.
Those of us who have been brought up in Lake Erie know
that this simplicity of life comes to some as a birthright, and
to some as an inheritance from the environment with which
they were surrounded in childhood. It comes to others as a
reward which is obtained out of experience, sometimes very
bitter experience. Sociology may bring this simplicity of life
to those who have not got it as a birthright, nor from their
environment, and who have not the experience which higher
education is giving—it may be brought in from the outside.
I 44 Wednesaay, june Twenty-third
We are living in new surroundings and in new conditions,
and we must meet them.
Miss Gillette: We have with us this afternoon one of our
Lake Erie women who has been applying the sociological
principles, the foundations of which she learned at Lake Erie,
even though at that time there was no text-book on sociology.
For fifteen years she has been in social settlement work as
the head of Westminister House, in Buffalo–Miss Emily
S. Holmes.
ADDRESS OF MISS HOLMES, '74.
Why I am on the program is a question. It may be be-
cause I don’t know anything about sociology. Or maybe it
is because I am working in a settlement, and a settlement is
supposed to be an experiment in sociology. I say “experi-
ment” advisedly; because, if settlements have come to stay,
then they have failed of their object. A settlement is not
like a church. We always hope to have a place of worship.
But a settlement is supposed to do away with the errors
which make its existence necessary. If those errors are
not done away with, then the settlement has failed of its
object.
I would like to give you some idea of how Lake Erie has
helped to train me for my work. The domestic department,
when I was here, was a great wonder to me. It still is. I
never could understand how all the work of this great school
could be so divided that each one would have something to
do in a certain time; that each one would do that in a regular
time, and that it was so divided that all these girls would be
suited with the work, that the work would be suited to the
length of each girl's arms and legs, and the strength of her
back and the crankiness of her heart. This impressed me
with the fact that anything under the heavens could be accom-
plished if it was only systematized; so system has been one
of the things of which I have approved.
The College and Social Service I 4.5
This system also showed me that things must be classified.
It was impressed on my mind here that glasses must be on
one table and dishes on another, and the silver on another,
each together and each in its place. They did not exactly
show me which should be washed first, but I was certain
each would be washed in its own place. This impressed upon
me the fact that there must be classification. You who are
housekeepers, know how necessary it is to know what is in
one garret. If you have more than one, it is necessary to
classify garrets. And when you have several garrets and cel-
lars and classrooms and kindergartens, you know how neces-
sary it is to classify.
Then I was impressed with the fact that organization is
necessary in settlement work, and that concentration of forces
is stronger than isolated work. So we have organized classes,
and we have proved that organization accomplishes a great
deal. I remember how hard it used to be for those of us who
washed the dishes if the scrapers had not done their duty,
and this helped me to understand the interdependence of all
classes of labor. It has helped me to understand the feelings
of the laboring man who thinks he is just as important as
the head man, and just as necessary as the man who has the
money. The laborer cannot get along without capital, and
capital cannot get along without labor. In this seminary we
were taught democracy, and that is one of the things we are
trying to emphasize in our settlement work. I remember
when I was waiting on the table here, some colored friends
came to sing for us. It was a little hard to be willing to wait
on them, but I learned that it was the proper thing to do.
That has taught me that there should be the feeling of fellow-
ship between one and another, and one object of settlement
work is to bring together the different classes at a central
point; rich and poor, laborer and capitalist, colored and white,
educated and uneducated.
I have always learned more through my ears than my eyes,
I46 Wednesday, Žune Twenty-third
and the personality of the teachers and what they told us
outside of the text-books and of the schoolroom always im-
pressed me most. Miss Bentley's course in physiology helped
me to understand the difference between false and true mod-
esty. I think we were one of the first classes that had the
benefit of those models from Paris. I am also thankful for
what I was taught in rhetoric. I do not know how I would
make my annual report but for that. And I challenge any
one in this audience to mention any subject that was not
brought up in our general exercises.
If I ever preach to anybody on anything, immediately the
voices of Miss Evans and Miss Bentley are in my ear, and
I know just what they would say. Those religious exercises
we had here did more for me than all the sermons I listened
to for years afterward. They were not as long as some of the
sermons, but in those fifteen minutes how much of real
worth they did get into our understanding! We were cer-
tainly taught true standards of values here, and that has been
a great help to me. Many women are so busy that they can-
not do anything for other people. They are busy playing
bridge, usually. How often I have wished that all the wom-
en in society could have attended the religious exercises here.
And this discrimination between what is our duty and what
is our pleasure, and the discrimination between duties them-
selves—that is a great point. We can, every one of us, teach
some girls in our neighborhood what are the real things to
put into one's life, and what is really worth while. Not only
the people in our neighborhood, but the people of the city
with whom we have to work; we can often repeat to them
the messages that were given us here. When I hear a woman
say that she never goes to a sewing-class when she has any
other social function on hand, I know she did not attend
Lake Erie. I was made to feel here that religion was the
most important thing in life. If I had gone to a fashionable
boarding-school, I know just where I would be to-day, be-
The College and Social Service I47
cause with my natural social tendencies I would have put
religion in the background.
Some people say that settlements have no religion in them.
No one could go into settlement work and not take his
religion with him. I cannot understand how a settlement
would do its work without religion. The trouble is, people
confuse religion with creed, and they conclude that because
there is not the element of worship in the settlement, that
there is no religion there. A settlement is to assist in every
branch of work, and to bring to the notice of the poor all
the organizations in existence for their benefit, to show them
the democracy, the religion, the neighborliness of the settle-
ment. The settlement is an experiment in neighborliness.
We were taught here that the home is the unit of civiliza-
tion, and we were taught that it is not to be exclusive. The
crowding into cities, where a family.does not know its neigh-
bors, and besides this, other new elements in society, tend to
take away the neighborly feeling, and settlements are to try
to bring back into crowded abodes a spirit of neighborliness.
We were told at the National Conference of Charities held
last week in Buffalo, that racial differences impede the pro-
gress of the masses. If we will put away our sectarian
prejudices we can accomplish a great deal. I belong to a
settlement that is carried on by a body of men of a particu-
lar sect, but very few in the neighborhood probably know just
what that sect is, and the residents of our house are of all
sects. We are told here that there should be no sectarian
difference. It would be hard for me to say to what sect the
teachers belonged who taught here in my time. I know they
belonged to a church. They were religious, and they were
thoroughly sincere—more sincere than any other body of
women I have ever known. I am convinced that you could
not find any more sincere body of teachers than we have here.
I was impressed also with the mottoes of the different
classes; not so much with mine, because it was in Latin.
148 Wednesday, june Twenty-third
One of the mottoes was not to be ministers but to be minis-
ters' wives; and if you couldn't be a minister's wife, be a
missionary, and if you couldn’t be a missionary, be a settle-
ment worker.
The next speaker, Miss Annie M. Edwards, of Cleveland,
has devoted nearly all her life to philanthropic work. After
her graduation at Lake Erie, she taught for four years, until
she was induced by Miss Frances Willard to devote her
time to giving lectures under the auspices of the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union. During an interval of en-
forced rest, Miss Edwards became greatly interested in the
needs of street boys in Cleveland. She is now at the head
of the Eleanor B. Rainey Memorial, a large, beautiful build-
ing for the boys, who are here brought under noble and up-
lifting influences.
Miss Edwards will address us on “Applied Sociology in
our Cities.”
ADDRESS OF MISS ANNA M. EDwarDs, '68.
I am very hopeful of the result of this conference in an
increased interest in sociology. I am intensely interested in
the study of sociology for women and for men, and I believe
in the practice of sociology for both. Some one has said that
heredity carries with it possibilities for effectiveness, and
that education and training can make such possibilities
actual. Those of us who have received some of our educa-
tion and training at Lake Erie ought to be most effective
workers. We have all been reminded since coming here,
that if we could follow in the footsteps of those dear ones
who have labored so earnestly and so long to make this insti-
tution what it is to-day, and who have given their lives with
such unselfish devotion to its interests, this world would be
infinitely better for our having lived in it. But we cannot
all fill places of responsibility and prominence. What can
we do? Where are we most needed?
The College and Social Service I+9
As we look about and listen, we hear the plaintive cry of
the poor, neglected children in the slums of our great cities,
crying for bread; and not only are they hungry for bread,
but their little hearts are starved for love and for care and
for all that makes childhood beautiful and blessed. We hear
the groans of the sick and the dying, and the constant wail
of the submerged tenth in our cities. If we keep our eyes
open we shall see them. If we keep our ears open we may
hear the mighty appeal of those who toil to the utmost limit
of their strength from morning until night and into the night,
day after day, and yet are barely able to keep their heads
above water, and are constantly tortured with the thought
that any day some terrible accident may cripple them. This
ruthless machinery day after day sends men home mangled,
and this does not always get into the papers. I don't mean
anything against machinery, but I protest against the preva-
lent ruthlessness in our shops and factories. As the result of
an accident, of a long illness, or exhaustion due to overwork,
many are likely to be compelled to sink into the depths of
poverty and misery and despair, and live only by receiving
alms from those who are ready, perhaps, to give generously
in charity, but who in many cases absolutely refuse to deal
justly with those who have helped them to create their great
wealth.
We have great reason to rejoice on the other hand that
the spirit of altruism is growing so rapidly; that there are
rich men and women doing such grand work. But I believe
we have reason to rejoice most of all that a great number of
American capitalists are getting their consciences aroused,
and doing their level best to put their Christianity into
practical business life. We must remember that in their
efforts to do this, they are confronted with difficulties about
which we understand very little. The ranks of our Ameri-
can laborers are being continually augmented by the in-
coming army from across the sea, men who are willing to
I 5o Wednesday, june Twenty-third
work for the smallest wages because they have no high am-
bitions for themselves or their children. They are accus-
tomed to live on the low plane that prevails in the country
from which they come, and hence are able to live much cheaper
than is possible for the native-born American. Many who
came from across the water are industrious, intelligent and
upright, and make valuable citizens, and enrich America by
their presence. But a great host come to us with the old-
world ideas of isolation, and with no sympathy for American
institutions. They believe that this land of the free is a
land of license, and determine that they will have the saloon
and the beer-garden and the continental Sabbath. How
shall we get these alien hordes assimilated with this American
republic and teach them that true liberty consists in obe-
dience to righteous laws?
It has been predicted that in the next fifty years there will
be two hundred million people in these United States. What
is Lake Erie going to do to help solve this tremendous prob-
lem? We can try and get hold of the children of these for-
eigners and get them over these old-world notions. Their
minds are open to conviction, and their hearts are tender
to our appeal. We can organize them into boys' and girls'
clubs, and into classes for the study of English and other
useful branches. We can teach them to see things from our
standpoint. And when we have won their good-will by
throwing a little joy and brightness and sunshine into their
lives, they will look upon us as disinterested friends; and in
that attitude of mind they will listen to us. And then we
will find it an easy matter to indoctrinate those boys with
principles of enthusiastic loyalty for America. And when we
have gained influence over the children, we shall win the
parents also; and they will be ready to listen to us, and to
believe us, and to follow our leadership.
Social settlement has done magnificent work in giving
these foreigners some true conception of the American home,
The College and Social Service I 5 I
its conveniences, its comforts, its spirit of good fellowship,
its uplifting influences, its effort to make itself felt as a part
in the social service in every community where it is placed.
The social settlement with its day-nursery and kindergarten
—a perfect fairyland for the little tots; its playground,
gymnasium and reading-rooms acting as a bait to draw in the
boys and girls from the street; industrial training for the
boys, which helps to prepare them for self-reliance, and in-
struction given to the girls in sewing, cooking and other
housewifely arts, which prepares them for intelligent, happy
home-making, and enables the boys and girls to meet under
the right kind of influences and auspices—this is an unspeak-
able blessing. Oh the terrible results of acquaintances made
on the street! The settlement gives these boys and girls a
chance to meet in the right way. The fathers and mothers
are invited, and they too became interested. The free dis-
pensary for the sick and suffering, and the opportunities
given in these social settlements for public discussion, from
every standpoint, of all the great social questions of the day,
all have to do with the welfare of a great city. So I say the
social settlement with all its facilities properly equipped for
ministering to the physical, mental, moral, and social needs
of the people where it is located, is, when thoroughly per-
meated with the spirit of the Master, the very best means
that has yet been tried for winning people to a right stand-
ard of living. This is the sociology taught by Him who came
not to be ministered unto but to minister, to transform human
lives, to bring us into harmony with the Divine, and to fit
us to dwell with Him forevermore in the beauty and the
glory of the Father's house above.
Miss Gillett: Before closing I want to give one message
which I feel that my dear leader in the world outside, Miss
Susan B. Anthony, would wish me to give to you. It is
this: I believe your work along sociological lines will never
come to its highest fruition until you are able to say, by the
I 52 Wednesday, june Twenty-third
ballot, whom you wish to rule over you, in hamlet, village,
city, state and nation.
Miss Evans: This closes the series of conferences which
we have enjoyed. I want to present my personal thanks to
all who have, like minute-men, come to the front at a mo-
ment's call. We have letters of greeting from two distin-
guished representatives of social service whom we are proud
to claim as friends of Lake Erie— Rev. Dr. Washington
Gladden, and the Rev. Dr. Josiah Strong; a greeting from
the Schauffler Missionary Training School of Cleveland, an
example of the highest form of social service, in its earnest
Christian influence among the foreign populations not only
of Cleveland, but of the whole country. We have also
letters from our alumnae who are exemplifying the principles
of social service, one from Mrs. Henrietta Edwards Caspar,
class of ’67, of Denver. In answer to questions as to her work in
the world, she gives a long list of organizations, literary, genea-
logical, patriotic, and closes with these words: “As to phil-
anthropy: I was treasurer of the Board of the Young Wom-
en's Christian Association for some time, until they were in
a fine, large building of their own, and on a good financial
footing. I am vice-president of the State Society of Asso-
ciated Charities. I have been for many years vice-president
of the State Civil Service Association, and two years ago we
succeeded in having a good law passed that applies to our
state institutions. For four years I have been vice-president
of the State Board of Charities and Corrections. Of course,
as you know, most of these things mean only a willingness
to work, for workers are always all too few, but I am glad
to have been ready for service.” A letter from Miss Elsie
Eaton Newton, '91, of Washington, D.C., recalls the name
of her father, the Honorable John Eaton, founder of the
United States Bureau of Education, and to the end of his
life one of our firm friends. Mrs. Newton is associated with
the Indian Commissioner in what is truly social service for
The College and Social Service I 53
the Indian women on the reservations. Her visits and in-
vestigations give her an acquaintance with problems that are
both social and national.
Miss Anne T. Viall completed the course of study and
received the degree of A.B. at Lake Erie College in 1905.
She was especially interested in the study of the needs of
humanity, to relieve them; but particularly to aid each person
to aid himself to better living. Miss Viall went directly to
Cleveland, to engage in the work of the Associated Charities
of that city, under the competent leadership of Mr. James
T. Jackson. Her success has been remarkable. She is now
General Agent of the Associated Charities of Cleveland.
We will now have the pleasure of listening to Miss Viall.
ADDRESS BY ANNE T. VIALL, °o5
It is the business of the college to train men and women
for leadership; and when, as at Lake Erie, the training covers
mental, moral, and physical, its women should be ready for
balanced leadership in life in all its varied aspects.
There is no person who has a greater task than the social
worker, who touches more sides of life and finds herself in
co-operation with a greater variety of people representing all
classes in the community. The social worker must aim first,
to understand; and second, to affect the problems of the
community by means of direct contact with all sorts and
conditions of men.
Two things the educated woman wishes to be sure of in
deciding her life work. She wishes to fill the place to which
her particular talents are adapted, and to touch and affect
what is vital in the life of her times. *
The field of knowledge required for social work is broad.
The agent must know all sorts of things. She must know
how to provide care for destitute children, what to do with
negligent parents, must understand the resources of the
I 54 Wednesday, june Twenty-third
municipal department and be acquainted with neighborhood
opportunities. Quick judgment is often demanded. Measures
which must affect the future of a family must be decided on
short notice and perhaps with little data. There is need of
the largest possible training. It was the recognition of this
need of trained workers which roused the colleges and univer-
sities to their part in organized charity, until now every pro-
gressive institution gives some attention to the profession of
philanthropy, and a few universities provide full courses on
the subject with practical training in the field. Patience, per-
severance, plan, vision, and judicial quality, are the product
of the sound college. The college lays the foundations and
develops the principles, but it does not make an expert in
the social science any more than it makes an expert teacher.
Charity is coming to be as exact a science as theology, and
as distinct as medicine, having somewhat in common with
both, but different from either. We must have workers with
both brain and heart educated. It is well that college men
and women are having their attention directed to this subject,
not only because of the prospective worker, but because of
the prospective giver, that they may fill either part with dis-
cretion. The successful worker needs to know humanity.
She must know the ignorant and the intelligent, the mean
and the generous, the bad and the good, and have sympathy
for all. She learns that the needy are not a peculiar people.
They are moved by love and hate, joy and sorrow, ambition
and disappointment, like the rest of us. She can utilize every
sort of knowledge she can acquire. She is dealing with free
moral agents, not dead matter; and set rules for treatment
will not apply. Here is a field of usefulness where you may
work out your own ideas for the attainment of the highest
ideals. You are governed not by the dictum, “Thou shalt”
or “Thou shalt not,” but only by fundamental principles.
Together with the unfortunate you work out their salvation,
with them you strive for the attainment of their noblest ideal;
The College and Social Service I 55
and ultimately your ideals and your plans will become merged
in theirs for their betterment. -
Your purpose is to help out of the condition, not simply
out of to-day's miseries. You plan a campaign to land your
friend in independence, and jointly work out the plan. You
are dealing with human souls, and the question of food and
fuel is really incidental. Literally the issues of life and death,
of time and eternity, are with you. There is full play here
for all your tact, all your ingenuity. They come to you for
help, not knowing what they need; but they all need some-
thing, else they would not come. They ask for rent and need
transportation; ask for transportation and need a term in the
reformatory; ask for food and need work; ask for money
and need character. It is yours to discover the need, yours
to remedy the situation.
You need never become cramped or narrow. You have
here the antidote for narrowness. You need to know life and
discover motives. You are interested in literature? Here you
may read in lives of people. Or, in the drama? Here you
see it in real life—yes, act in it yourself! No other profes-
sion—law, medicine, or ministry—so well knows life as it
really is lived, its joys and sorrows, its pains and disappoint-
mentS.
Social work has its own interest and pleasure, provided
you are interested in people, affected by theirjoys and sorrows,
ambitious that they utilize all the opportunities for develop-
ment of mind, soul and body.
The conditions under which many people in our cities
live—the increased density of population, the growing com-
plexity of life—are developing the need of an increased num-
ber of devoted workers to conduct men and women and
little children to a larger, surer knowledge and use of oppor-
tunities for their betterment; else they mire in ignorance and
sin. You find both parents and children at the parting of
the ways. They are bound by trouble and disappointment.
I 56 Wednesday, Yune Twenty-third
The opportunities of the church, school, and work are open.
Shall we not help guide these unfortunates to their haven?
THE open-AIR PAGEANT IN HONOR of
ALMA MATER
The idea of an open-air pageant as one of the features of
Commencement Week was inspired by the historical pageant
at the University of Oxford. An additional impulse was
given by the educational pageant at the opening of the new
buildings of the Boston Normal School in June, 1908, and
it is due to Miss Lotta A. Clark, chairman of the Boston
festival, that many admirable suggestions were carried out
at Lake Erie. A historical pageant of education involved
so many details of costume and setting that at one time in
the Jubilee year it was given up, but the charm of the idea
finally prevailed, although with such modifications as would
better suit the occasion. -
The program consisted of three parts: the Procession,
giving an impression of the whole; the Episodes, in which
the various groups, returning to the platform, emphasized
by symbolic dress and action the development of education
in successive epochs; and last, the Tableau, in which all the
participants were grouped in a harmony of color before the
throne of Alma Mater. Part First of the procession and
episodes represented educational ideals from the Greeks to
the time of Pestalozzi; Part Second, the various types of
modern education. The procession was formed at the west
front of the Murray Library, and came into view between
the library and the grove, filling the space with graceful fig-
ures in purple and crimson and white, in blue and green and
gold, relieved by the groups in black and brown, and with
the dark shadows of the trees as a background. After the
procession had crossed the platform and disappeared in the
grove, leaving an impression of grace and color behind, the
The Open Air Pageant I 57
various groups reappeared at the right and left, passed to the
stage, each heralded by the strains of a cornet. First came
Alma Mater, attended by her handmaidens, Knowledge,
Inspiration, Truth, Poetry, Romance, Music, Art, and
Science. Alma Mater, a stately woman in white and gold
with sceptre and book, the figure adapted from the statue by
Daniel C. French at Columbia University, advanced to the
throne at the rear of the platform and received the homage
of her handmaidens arrayed in symbolic colors and carrying
attributes. These were adapted from the figures in the
panels of the doors of the Public Library of Boston. Alma
Mater was personified by Miss Harriet R. Kirby, M.A.,
a strong, scholarly, yet womanly teacher of many years in
Columbus, Ohio, a worthy choice to represent an ideal
Lake Erie. Her handmaidens were the class of 1909.
And now, before the throne of Alma Mater, Greek maid-
ens in classic costume and graceful poses represented the
ball play and dances of Nausicaa and her train in Homer's
day. A group of Roman maidens kept time to a Latin hymn
to Apollo and Diana, chanting in Latin words, as they crossed
and recrossed the stage. Early Christian Education was
represented by a group of monks with ink-horn and missal,
and with musical instruments, to show how much the world
owes to the monasteries for the preservation of learning and
art. Preceding the monks in brown and gray was a lovely
youthful figure in white, carrying the standard of the cross
and attended by two small boys in white vestments. Saint
Catherine and Saint Cecilia, patron saints of learning and
music, and Saint Ursula, patron of schoolgirls, followed in
costumes adapted in shape and color from pictures by the
Italian painters. The revival of learning in the Renaissance
was represented by the Seven Liberal Arts as portrayed in
the frescoes of the Spanish Chapel in Florence, and described
in Ruskin’s “Mornings in Florence.” Grammar, Rhetoric,
and Logic, the trivium; Music, Astronomy, Arithmetic, and
158 Wednesday, june Twenty-thira
Geometry, the quadrivium—these seven were in robes of
the seven prismatic colors; Grammar carried in her hand a
narrow gate, Rhetoric a scroll, Logic a branch, Arithmetic
an abacus, Geometry a square, Astronomy a sphere and
Music a harp. w
The Elizabethan period was represented by Shakespearean
characters from plays presented at the college, “Much Ado
about Nothing,” “As You Like It,” “A Midsummer
Night's Dream,” “A Winter's Tale.” These were preceded
by Prologue, leading Ophelia, as Tragedy, and the Clown
from “As You Like It,” as Comedy. Fairies, shepherds and
shepherdesses, and the grotesque as well as beautiful creations
of Shakespeare's fancy made up the picturesque group. The
last group of Part First included Pestalozzi in quaint cos-
tume surrounded by a company of German peasant children,
who, after dances and games, gathered about the feet of the
teacher for a lesson.
In Part Second, girls from the grammar-schools of Paines-
ville carried books and various articles suggestive of manual
training, and the class of 1909 of the Painesville High School,
waved their banners and sang their class song. A group of
Painesville teachers and others, all graduates of leading col-
leges, were in academic costume and carried their college
pennants. The Lake Erie class of 191o closed the ranks
and led the singing of Lake Erie's college song, “Dear old
Lake Erie, noble and true.” The tableau was formed upon
the platform and on either side, and when all were massed
in one gathering of glowing color against the green depths
of the grove, the audience rose and all joined in singing the
closing stanza of our national hymn:
“Our father's God, to thee,
Author of liberty,
To thee we sing.”
Reception I 59
Surely Alma Mater may well record here an appreciation
of the time, taste and skill required to carry out such a
eant of education, the first of such a character to be given
in the Middle West. The committees of the Faculty deserve
special mention, none more than the general chairman, the
head of the department of art. The reproduction of cos-
tumes famous in history and art, required a great amount of
thought and oversight. Faculty and students of the College
and friends in Painesville gave loyal support and lent will-
ing hands to make the scene worthy of Alma Mater's
Jubilee.
RECEPTION
The annual reception on Wednesday evening resolved
itself into an informal meeting of friends, old and new. Miss
Evans and Miss Bentley, with representatives of the trustees,
the alumnae and the class of 1909, received the guests who
were largely the returning hosts of Lake Erie, for Paines-
ville was already beginning the celebration of Old Home
Week. A general invitation had been extended to all res-
idents of the town and vicinity; the Painesville band was
stationed on the grounds, which were lighted for the occa-
sion, and preparations had been made for a vast throng.
But the renewing of old ties, the greeting of old friends, a
home-coming rather than a great, formal reception, was the
spirit of the hour. If the younger students missed some-
what of their due they did not show it, but rather helped to
make the fiftieth Annual Reception one unrivalled in love-
liness and charm. The “outward adorning,” the beautiful
best gowns brought in honor of Alma Mater's Jubilee, the
flowers that decorated every place and spoke of the good-
will of Painesville homes, the happy voices, the smiles of
welcome, all spoke of inward cheer. In the midst of this
bright scene a message carried Miss Evans and Miss Bentley
away for a moment to greet at the door a bride of the morn-
16o W.the day, fune Twenty-thira
ing who with her husband had stopped in the beginning of
their wedding-journey, to catch a glimpse of dear old friends.
It was all a part of the whole, most fitting and most beautiful.
Thursday, June Twenty-fourth
Thursday, June Twenty-fourth
COMMENCEMENT DAY
iNºl; EMORIAL HALL was filled to the doors when
j}\%if the students,in white, took their places in the raised
§|| seats of the chorus, and the organist, Mr. Geer,
lº! began the strains of the “Sacred March” from
“Le Prophète” by Meyerbeer. Expectant eyes were turned
towards the southeast entrance where the procession entered
—the Faculty, including the principals and faculty of former
years, followed by the graduating class, the trustees, Presi-
dent Woolley of Mount Holyoke College and Rev. Dr.
Gunsaulus of Chicago, Miss Evans and Miss Bentley. As
these reached the platform, the audience rose and greeted
them with applause and waving handkerchiefs. The scene
was one never to be forgotten; the throng of familiar faces,
smiles of recognition mingling with happy tears of remem-
brance, the sense of what had been wrought in the fifty
years in the building and testing of character, all this filled
the heart with humble praise and solemn joy.
Prayer was offered by the Rev. Dr. Kiehle, pastor of the
Congregational Church of Painesville, and the “Magnificat”
by Wood, lifted up all hearts to echo “My soul doth
magnify the Lord.” The Scripture lesson read by Miss
Evans, was the one hundred and twenty-second Psalm, “I
was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house
of the Lord,” “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” “For my
brethren and companions' sakes I will now say “Peace be
within thee.” Another of the anthems best loved at Lake

164 Thursday, june Twenty-fourth
Erie followed, the Sanctus from the Messe Solennelle to
Saint Cecilia by Gounod.
Miss Evans announced the receipt of a cablegram of greet-
ing from Athens, Greece, from two former teachers of Art
History at Lake Erie: Miss Randolph, now professor at
Mount Holyoke, and Miss Ransom, acting head of the
department of Art and Archaeology at Bryn Mawr. She also
made the welcome announcement that a friend had provided
for the completion by the Tiffany Company of the east
window of Memorial Hall. The gift was made in the name
of the class of 1901. This class had the unusual experience
of losing by death four of their number within the year fol-
lowing their graduation. Another gift to Memorial Hall was
mentioned, that of the class of 1890 for reading-desk and
chairs for the platform.
Miss Evans then announced a return to the old-time cus-
tom of holding the remaining exercises of Commencement
morning in the open air. The students of the early years
were reminded of the public examinations, the reading of
compositions and the music that comprised the program in
the old chapel. Examinations and essays had long since been
given up, but the Commencement address and the presenta-
tion of diplomas occurred in the grove until 1891, when the
completion of Memorial Hall secured for the entire program
more comfortable seats and freedom from the caprices of the
weather. On this Fiftieth Anniversary, Memorial Hall
barely sufficed for the graduates and the students of Lake
Erie, and a waiting throng were already seated near the large
platform at the entrance to the grove, in anticipation of the
Commencement address and the conferring of degrees. The
exercises in Memorial Hall closed with the organ number,
the First Movement of Sonata No. 5, Opus 111, by Rhein-
berger.
The published Report of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary
makes special mention of the procession to the grove. “There
Commencement Day 165
have been beautiful processions on other Anniversaries, but
none like this of the Twenty-fifth.” How shall the same
hand that wrote these words, describe the procession of the
Fiftieth Anniversary 2 The stirring music of the band re-
called the former occasion, the order of the procession was
the same, the first and second divisions, including the stu-
dents of 1909 and the former students and alumnae, in double
line, received between their ranks with hearty applause the
present Faculty and the trustees, the delegates from other
colleges, the former and present heads of Lake Erie, Mrs.
Woodworth and Miss Edwards, Miss Evans and Miss
Bentley, and the Commencement speakers, Dr. Gunsaulus
and Miss Woolley. The long line of the procession ex-
tended from Memorial Hall to the grove, and words cannot
picture the ranks of smiling faces, older, younger but all fair
to see, and representing the memories of fifty years. The
“little one” had become, if not a thousand, well nigh six
hundred strong. Three buildings, Memorial Hall, Science
Hall, and the Murray Library stood where the procession
of 1884 wound its way past the apple-trees to the grove,
skirting on the way the western limit of the grounds in the
rear of houses and barns where now, in 1909, an unobstructed
space stretches to Mentor Avenue and invites a vision of
new halls of learning.
The Rev. Dr. James D. Williamson, president of the
Board of Trustees, presided at the exercises at the grove, and
introduced the Rev. Dr. Frank Wakely Gunsaulus, president
of Armour Institute, as the Commencement speaker.
I66 Thursday, june Twenty-fourth
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS
THE NEXT STEP IN EDUCATION
Rev. FRANK W. GUNSAULUS, D.D.
It is impossible for me, reared as a boy in the atmosphere
of Lake Erie Seminary, my mother expressing to her boy,
day after day, her regret that Lake Erie Seminary had been
born too late that she might have been one of its daugh-
ters—it is impossible, I say, for me to consider with you
the next step in education without reflecting for a moment
upon the illustration at once so convincing and so brilliant
which this seminary—now Lake Erie College—affords me
as to the certainty that this next step must be taken, and as
to the character of the step itself.
My conviction is that the next step in education is to
Christianize education. In order that we may approach the
subject with the brevity and directness that the occasion
demands, I will say that the first thing we have learned and
the last thing we are learning about the growth and devel-
opment of the education of women in the last fifty years is
that we must restore the balance of human nature. The gift
of Christianity is a complete, well-poised humanity. Chris-
tianity in education, its force playing especially upon the
character and destiny of womanhood, has restored the bal-
ance in civilized life. It was a lop-sided humanity to which
Jesus came. Those forces that are peculiar to men, the
energies that abide in the masculine mind and character
untouched by the forces of the other side, when once made
sovereign, had become mannish and rude. They tended to
make the mother wise, and girls assertive, belligerent, indi-
vidualistic. The gift of Christianity was the emphasis laid by
the character and teaching of Jesus upon those qualities of
human nature peculiar to the mind and heart of woman.
It was a merciless age to which He came; He gave it wom-
Commencement Address 167
an’s quality of mercy. It was an impatient age to which He
came; He gave it woman's quality of patience. It was an
unreceptive age to which He came; He gave it woman's
quality of receptiveness. It was a faithless age to which He
came; He gave it woman's quality of faith. It was an
unenduring age to which He came; He gave it woman's
quality of endurance, and He carried to His cross the sub-
lime elements of womanhood. There is neither man nor
woman in Christ Jesus; here is the humanity. If it had
been only in His speech and wise words, there might not
have been wrought such a revolution as has happily blos-
somed in Christian education in the last fifty years. These
powers so modified one another that all the powers that
were merely strong became sweet, and all the powers that
were merely sweet became strong. Hence, in the vision of
civilization, strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. The
beauty of the Lord is upon us. He is the wonderful Coun-
sellor. No more surely does He unite the infinite and the
finite, the divine and the human, the most arrant selfhood
with the most glorious sacrifice, than He unites for all ages
the dissevered forces that belong to you and to me, made
eternally one by Him. This is the first thing that our edu-
cational process needs in the ardor, assertiveness, boldness
and over-masculinity of the twentieth century. Give us a
humanity with balance! Restore to us that wholeness se-
cured in the holiness of Jesus Christ the great teacher.
These are the things for which this institution of learning
has stood.
But this institution of learning has stood in a peculiar
way as an illustration of the soundness of the position I take
with regard to the next step in the method of education.
In what is called the smaller, the less large institution of
learning, we find all the testimony we need to the fact that
the Christian method is above all the personal method. It
is simply impossible to wholesale education, whatever we
I68 Thursday, june Twenty-fourth
may say about the tendency of our time toward gigantic
combinations. There is nothing to-day that we need to
know so surely as that we are in peril of giving up the first
and best thing of all education—I mean the personal ele-
ment—by insisting that every institution shall be large. God
grant that every institution may be great, whether it is large
or small. I remember the contributions of personal charac-
ter and genius that have been given by the small institutions
of this state. You will remember that it was when Harvard
was a small college it gave to the world Charles Sumner,
Ralph Waldo Emersen, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James
Russell Lowell, Henry W. Longfellow, Asa Gray, Louis
Agassiz, William Ellery Channing. Williams was a small
college when it afforded opportunity to the family of dear
Dr. Field to give to the world the eminent jurist David
Dudley Field; the greatest religious editor of his age and
the founder of the new school of religious journalism, Henry
M. Field; and Cyrus W. Field, who put the nerve of in-
telligence beneath the waters of the Atlantic, and thus gave
to that conquest of ours the solution of its darkest problem,
when there flashed from this country to England the intelli-
gence that the demands of justice had changed the word of
controversy to the larger, sweeter word of Abraham Lincoln,
and war between England and America was averted. It was
little Amherst, working with fine material, that gave us
Beecher and Starr. In '59 and in ’60 we heard the demand
for leaders of men. In Gambier, Ohio, in a small college,
there was, at that moment, under the personal influence of
a man whose personal power had streamed and flowed into
his young men, Rutherford B. Hayes; and the greatest
orator of the Second Revolution, a man from the South
who saw the flame and felt its scorch in Maryland, Henry
Winter Davis; Stanley Matthews; Henry Stansbury; and
in earlier days, Salmon P. Chase and Edwin M. Stanton.
When large universities with long lists of graduates can call
Commencement Address 169
a roll,like that, I shall believe that it is time to abolish the
small college, and never until then.
Have you not read the greatest of books written in the
form of fiction in the last fifty years which deals with educa-
tion? It is entitled The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, and I com-
mend it to every teacher and every father and mother who
have still before them the divine opportunity of guiding the
education of a child. If you want the negative proof that
there must be a method of education that shall emphasize
personality from beginning to end, you will read it from
first to last in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. Suppose poor
Dick, the boy in that story had a sister, and suppose that
instead of coming to Lake Erie College she had been placed
in a wholesale manner with the rest of the victims on a series
of principles and theories and systems, and suppose the dis-
covery had been made in her case, with all the leaping pos-
sibilities of a woman's destiny within her, that the bed was
too short; for no principle is as long as the destiny of a
human being; no theory is as large as the possibilities of the
smallest girl. Supposing this had been discovered. You would
find there sufficient testimony to the fact, that the only fact
which is long enough for any human soul to lie down upon
is the nature of God and the only fact that will wrap one up
with completeness, the only reality in all time, is not time
at all, but eternity.
Every girl has an infinity within her. Do not try to find
in your finite brain a principle or a theory or a system long
enough for her to be comfortable upon it. Every girl has
these everlasting possibilities that belong to her divine origin
in the life of God. She is not a manufacture, she is a crea-
tion. She is divine life going forth in human form. Every
girl has a demand that can never be satisfied until, through
the influence of some teacher or some friend, there shall be
the old truth of the Incarnation made real again, and the
character shall alight upon the bosom of God, and that girl's
17o Thursday, june Twenty-fourth
soul shall be wrapped in the promises and in the love of
heaven. Infinity within human nature can never be wrapped
up in finity. Personality must have personality as its perpet-
ual association and source of influence. Here is the grand
principle that we see in the educational forces in the hand
of our Master, Jesus Christ. He never let go of personality.
He never had so large an audience that He could not deal
with them personally. See Him, as with the problem of the
education of one soul He comes face to face with the influ-
ences that abide in that soul.
There are two forms of education which have commended
themselves to two variously minded classes of people. The
first is utterly unchristian. It has been approved for long
years, but it is passing from the stage because of the greater
and finer truths of the Master. I have called this system of
education the cistern system. You know, thirty years ago,
when we wanted to make a cistern we began digging at the
driest corner of the house. We called it making capacity.
Does any old, interesting, parchment-faced human being
come up before you now who was simply a master in dig-
ging cisterns? He was a digger for capacity. You have heard
him say, “This is a child of astonishing capacity.” You can
almost see him as he digs in the driest possible place, and
that is memory, the least important of all the faculties of the
mind except as a servant. It can pile up wood, but it can
never create a fire. Thought must take the wood to memory
and it must burn. To come back to our original figure, our
friend has succeeded in hollowing out quite a capacity, and
perhaps the parents have been invited to see what a great
vacancy for all sorts of things there is in that child. The
thing to do is so to plaster up that capacity that no water
can flow into it except through the regular pipe. If any water
should seep in from some sweet spring below, it would be
a failure as an educational product. Nothing by any pos-
sibility that is original or that does not come through the
Commencement Address 171
spout, can get in. Then they let it dry, and oh, how some
of us remember that drying process. Finally there is a prayer
for rain, and oh, how it rained in those days—names, places,
verbs, nouns, adverbs, adjectives, equations, triangles! I
remember the day when the definition of an adverb came
into a cistern of that kind. Think of the absurdity of teach-
ing metaphysics to children long before they had had the
irrigation and impulse of beautiful literature.
But there came a time when the cistern was full, and the
lid was put on the cistern. The parents were invited, and
we had what we called the examination. If I had my way
there would never be another examination as long as schools
survive. [Applause.] That was the undergraduates who ap-
plauded. We all stood around and looked in, and if the
cistern was full and had been full long enough—you know
there is no such nuisance on earth as the decay of decaying
intelligence. What more hopeless thing is there in the world
than a pragmatic, stocked human being who is supposed to
be educated, but who has simply received a lot of informa-
tion
Now pass to the side of the Master of education. Here
He sits by the side of a soul, one pupil. He sees straight
into the very soul of this woman. He is an educator. Why?
He educes. Education is not the process of putting in. It
is the process of wooing out that which is within, that which
is divine. His disciples had gone off yonder, and He is left
alone with this woman at Samaria. Every real educator must
have this personal relationship with the student. Christ could
not touch this woman's life in any wholesale manner, and no
educational trust can ever deal with the sublime principle
which Jesus employs. What does He do? He is a discoverer.
So have been these teachers here. So may there be in all
the ages discoverers of that which lies beneath the common-
place, the ordinary, the customary. Christ finds away beneath
this woman's history the fountain-like qualities of her being.
*.*
§3.
.
à
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s
º
i
172 Thursday, june Twenty-fourth
She is a woman with a sad domestic history. You cannot
reach such people with a book. You cannot do it with a
board of trustees or with buildings or with money. You must
do it with personality. Beneath all the sorrow of this poor,
hapless woman we find that her poverty lies only in the
overwhelming weight of that which the Master has broken
through, and He has found there a rich possibility, a well
of water—not a cistern—a well springing up into everlast-
ing life. It was a well so deep, so far down beneath the cus-
tomary and the ordinary, that it makes a telescope, and from
it, invisible by day, you can see the stars in the sky away
down there in the well. It cannot pass anything like as big
an examination as the cistern. It has only a little water.
When you let the bucket down you seem to exhaust it, but
as you draw it up from the unseen depths below, there comes
streaming in new water. Now this is education. The other
is merely information. Here is the secret of Jesus which will
abide in the future in this college as it has been its crowning
glory in the past. Think of the women who have been dis-
covered in the depths of their character in this Lake Erie
College in the last fifty years! Think of the finding of these
souls in whom there is the water of life, a living fountain
springing up into everlasting life!
Fifty years ago when Darwin gave to the world his Origin
of Species, Lake Erie Seminary came to this little town.
Upon the same Christian basis that this institution stood
fifty years ago, we leave her to-day, sure of the future. I
shall never forget the last days upon earth of William
Rainey Harper, President of Chicago University. He had
told me of the almost certain approach of his decease, and I
sat with him one night in a little room which will always be
consecrated, not only to scholarship, but to faith. Some of
the towers of the University were half built, others just ris-
ing, and it was a struggle for this man, only in the forties,
to find himself smitten with a disease so painful and so fatal,
Commencement Address 173
and yet so much to be done. I read to him the lines of
George Matheson, the blind scholar on the other side, who
wrote that marvelous hymn, “O Love, that wilt not let me
go!”- You will remember that in the course of this hymn
he says, “O Light, that followest all my way”—this blind
man talking of the light, and you will remember that his
faith rises until at last he sees the cross as Jesus saw it, and
he says in his blindness:
“O cross, that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life's glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.”
As I read these lines to Dr. Harper, the light came im-
measurably and beautifully. Many times after that the
wife of his youth repeated these words. And when the day
came that we put that precious dust from sight, we sang
that song. The towers of the University had vanished; and
the towers of the New Jerusalem were in sight.
To return to that night in the little room: on the mantel-
piece was a little phial of aluminum. It represented the ad-
vance made in science in fifty years. It was the atomic
theory fifty years ago, now here was radium. It radiates.
What is the difference between that radium and the sponge?
What is the difference between fifty years ago and the orig-
inal protoplasm? The difference is that radium being so
much more pure, is so much more powerful. Purity is
power. As you go up in the refinement of radium, you al-
most go toward holiness, toward righteousness. If this world
were burnt up, only one-tenth of an ounce of it would be
left. It is the verge of matter; it is the last post before we
come to spirit. Radium is thought; it radiates; it lives by
self-sacrifice. It is the cross that we see all the way through
nature as we go up, up, up! until at last, science and phil-
I 74 Thursday, june Twenty-fourth
osophy stand in the place of a little bit of radium. Dr.
Harper said that night, “It is no time to give up miracles.
If that radium, because it is so much higher in nature than
the sun, can go through that aluminum, is it impossible that
Jesus, who was as much higher than radium as radium is
higher than the sponge, should enter in where the disciples
were, the door being shut?” I said, “There are no more shut
doors in the universe. The Divine is everywhere.” And this is
the future of scholarship. Everything waits for character to
find it. No man who is untrue can find truth in nature.
No woman who is not as refined and holy and righteous and
pure as the thing she seeks, can ever touch it. I bid you
to-day enter into the lists of character, and be sure, that for
which this institution has stood so long, is the only thing
worth standing for, the only thing true to God and good
for humanity.
At the conclusion of the address by Dr. Gunsaulus, Miss
Evans conferred the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bach-
elor of Science upon the class of 1909, and the degree of
Bachelor of Arts upon three graduates of the Seminary,
Miss Harriet L. Pope, ’85, Miss Anna C. McDonald,
'91, and Mrs. Mary Burton Barnes, '92. The prize in
English Composition established in 1908 by Mrs. Elizabeth
Hayden Haines, ’81, in memory of Martha Huntington
Mathews, '75, was awarded to Lois Jones of the college
class of 1910. The impressive words of Scripture repeated
responsively then followed. All who were connected with
Lake Erie past and present, joined in these responsives:
“Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place. Let the beauty
of the Lord our God be upon us.” “The Lord shall pre-
serve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth
and even forevermore.”
The secretary of the trustees, Mr. Frank J. Jerome, made
the announcement, received with hearty applause, that
Mount Holyoke College at the Commencement exercises
Adaress of Congratulation I75
of the previous week, had conferred the honorary degree of
Master of Arts upon Miss Bentley, as it had previously
honored Miss Evans with the degree of Doctor of Litera-
ture. Dr. Williamson in introducing the next speaker, Presi-
dent Woolley of Mount Holyoke, said: “On this jubilee
occasion as the story of the years is passing before us, con-
gratulations pour in from all sides upon the work wrought
by the two noble women,who, with consummate grace, highest
wisdom and perfect consecration have guided this institution
with which their names will be forever associated. It is
most fitting that among these congratulations a word should
be brought from the mother college to the daughter. We
are greatly honored in having President Woolley with us
to express this word of congratulation. I am glad to an-
nounce that by the election of the Board, President Woolley
is henceforth a trustee of Lake Erie College.”
ADDRESS OF CONGRATULATION
PRESIDENT MARY E. Woolley, LITT.D., L.H.D.
Mine is indeed a privilege: to give the congratulations of
the mother to thc daughter. The mother does not always
enjoy this privilege of having a part in the daughter's fiftieth
anniversary, or of bringing to it undiminished vigor. But
here the mother in full vigor as an institution brings her
congratulations to this dearly loved daughter. There are
many reasons for congratulation, but they may be grouped
under two general heads: the past and the future. You are,
indeed, to be congratulated on what you have done, on what
you have been.
A few years ago, Dr. John Watson, Ian MacLaren, the
author of Bonnie Briar Bush, visited Mount Holyoke.
In going about the campus, I said, “And we are quite old,
seventy years,” only to be reminded the next moment how
very young that must sound to a Scotchman. But the
176 Thursday, june Twenty-fourth
Scotch ideal of age and the American ideal of age, as far as
institutions are concerned, must be widely different. What
changes, educationally, have come within the half-century
since Lake Erie first saw the light. Visiting in Minneapolis
last April, President Northrop, pointing with proud humil-
ity to the group of buildings which constitute the University,
said, “Twenty-five years ago when I came here there was
not one of these buildings in existence.” Not only that
great state university but many others were not founded
until after Lake Erie opened its doors. Of the five large col-
leges for women in the East, only Mount Holyoke, then a
Seminary, was in existence. The last report of the Com-
missioner of Education tells us that reports were received
from six hundred and six universities, colleges and techno-
logical schools for the year ending June, 1907. Of these,
one hundred and fifty are for men, one hundred and twenty-
six for women, and three hundred and thirty open to both
men and women. Yes, the Lake Erie of to-day looks out
upon a very different world from that seen by the Lake
Erie of 1859.
As we look back upon the fifty years, we see causes for
congratulation in truer perspective, and place our emphasis
more and more upon the immaterial, the spiritual forces
which truly make a college. I hesitate to express the thoughts
I had in mind since they have been so amplified for you this
morning. As we look back we see that buildings and equip-
ment and endowment are only a means to an end, and, im-
portant as they are as a means—and the president of a college
is the last person to underestimate that importance—they
fail of their purpose unless they result in individual charac-
ter and power. You may give the statistics of the number
of students who have come and gone, how many have gone
into professions and how many are entered on the roll of
home-makers; but of the currents for good, for higher think-
ing and for nobler living which have been set in motion by
Commencement Address 177
those who have come under the influence of this college—
those statistics we must leave to One whose insight is keener
and whose vision is broader than ours.
If it be true that the development of strong personalities
is a main concern of a college, it is no less true that this
result is very largely dependent upon the personalities that
make up the faculty of that college. Even as I speak there
come before you the faces of many who have been to you
the real forces of Lake Erie College, but there are two dur-
ing this last quarter of a century who stand out pre-em-
inently. One of them, for many years, Mount Holyoke has
been proud to claim as a daughter. If she ever needed to
silence skepticism concerning the possibility of union between
higher education and gracious womanliness, she had only to
point to President Evans. Since last week we have also
Dean Bentley as a daughter, and feel a new pride in the life-
long strength and fidelity which she has given to this col-
lege. You think you appreciate what has been done for you
and yours by these two women, but I doubt whether any
one of us can begin to appreciate the self-sacrifice, the
courage, the loyalty, the heroism which they have put into
this work.
But my congratulations are based on the future as well as
on the past. It has been a significant feature of the program
of this week that it is not limited to what has been, that it
also looks forward to what shall be; and Mount Holyoke
has a very vital interest in that future. You are many times
her daughter by birth, by all these administrations, by this
long and honored one that is just closing, by the new one
that is about to begin. We are giving you again of our best,
confident of the future, as we are secure in the past, and
knowing that there will continue to be a strong and gracious
woman at the helm.
It is a very auspicious time in which to begin a new admin-
istration. The days of rivalry among institutions, for the
178 Thursday, june Twenty-fourth
higher education of women, if they ever existed are past.
There is place and room for all of us, the co-educational
institution, the affiliated college, the separate college, large
and small. It is impossible to declare, ex cathedra, what
form of education is the best, so much must depend upon
the individual and the circumstances of her environment.
Moreover we have learned that there is strength in union,
that none of us is so wise that we cannot learn from others,
—from their mistakes, possibly, as well as from their suc-
CCSSCS.
It is needless to add that we shall watch the development
of this College with the keenest interest, and we can proph-
esy that with its heritage of thorough work, its atmosphere
of culture and of charm, its leadership in the hands of one
who has proved her scholarly and her administrative power,
its advance will be sure. There is one suggestion that I have,
although, being unfortunately absent from the discussions
of the week, I do not know but that all questions as to the
future may have been settled.
Dr. Pritchett in a recent report said, “The American col-
lege stands pre-eminently for the breadth and culture gained
in a life of study and play, of comradeship and discipline, of
freedom and law, which ought to make up the atmosphere
that surrounds a group of teachers and scholars.” The college
for women ought to stand for breadth of culture, whether
its graduates go into the home or into the profession. It is
a dangerous task to attempt to define “culture,” and I am
venturing to borrow a definition from President Hadley's
address this spring before our Phi Beta Kappa Chapter—
“Culture is the opposite of absorption in the obvious.”
Tested by the requirements of the home, is there any place
where it is more needed, where the temptation to absorp-
tion in the obvious is more insistent? Whatever may be
added, the college curriculum needs to retain the studies that
give vision: the vision into the world of nature which we
After-Dinner Speeches I79
call science, the vision into the life of humanity which we
call history, the vision into the meaning of life which we
call literature, the vision into beauty which we call art. And
to vision should be added power, the power of thought, of
concentration, of mastery, that comes not so much from the
extensive as from the intensive studies—the classics, logic,
mathematics—those requiring concentration and mastery.
There was need of Lake Erie Seminary in 1859. There
is greater need of Lake Erie College in 1909. Although not
yet a decade in the new century has gone, we realize that we
are living in a century that presents peculiar problems in
every phase of its life, in social relations, in industry, in ,
government, in religion—problems not to be solved by one
class, but by the concentrated effort of all earnest, thinking
men and women. We need education of the right type;
we need the trained hand and thinking mind, and we need
them everywhere; in the inconspicuous places as well as in
those which are in the public eye. It is a time for congratula-
tion, not only for what you have done, but for the chance
which you will have to work for that culture of body and
mind and spirit that will prepare for more effective service.
AFTER-DINNER SPEECHES
The Commencement luncheon was served aſter the exer-
cises to a multitude of guests nearly eight hundred in num-
ber. The guests of honor were seated in the dining-hall,
including delegates from colleges, trustees and older alumnae
and faculty. Tables were set on the west porch adjoining
the dining hall, in the offices, parlors, halls and wherever
there was space for groups of Öld friends who had long antici-
pated thus sitting together under Alma Mater's roof-tree.
The time seemed all too short before the after-dinner speak-
ing in Memorial Hall. Here the chairman and toastmaster
was the Hon. James Rudolph Garfield, who is warmly wel-
18o Thursday, Žune Twenty-fourth
comed back to the board of trustees of Lake Erie College and
to Ohio from his worthy work well done in Washington. It
was during his office as Secretary of the Interior that Mrs.
Humphrey Ward characterized him among other members
of President Roosevelt's cabinet as “this younger man sparely
built with the sane, handsome face—son of a famous father,
modest, amiable, efficient.”
The Toastmaster: We are supposed to be seated about
the tables in the dining-room, as this is an after-dinner affair
and a very informal one. I regret that I have not been able
to attend all these ceremonies this week. It is a great delight
to me personally to be associated with those who have been
engaged in the work of this institution. But when Miss
Evans asked me to preside at this function I had some fear.
A man with four boys and not a girl in his family is not an
appropriate person to conduct the after-dinner meeting of a
woman's college, but I consented to preside if Miss Evans
would, as it were, hold my hand. I began my acquaintance
with this institution when there were other reasons why Miss
Evans should hold my hand, and when I was even more
frightened than I am now.
These exercises have a peculiar and special interest to all
of us this year. It is a great delight that so many have been
here who in the early years had a part in this institution. A
few of us appreciate the tremendous responsibility that rests
upon the shoulders of those who have immediate charge of
an institution like this. It is responsibility that makes good
things possible. It is the fulfilling of the obligations upon
the shoulders of these two women at the head that has brought
about results worth while. I know of no other two women
in the educational world who have more thoroughly assumed
and fulfilled the responsibilities of the high position that they
have held, than the two women who are honored by all of
us to-day.
The man or woman who makes responsibility and obliga-
After-Dinner Species - I 81
tion the keynote of life will accomplish a vast deal more
than the one who makes the question of rights the keynote
of life. There is no right that we enjoy that is not based
upon the fulfilment by us of some obligation, before we are
entitled to the enjoyment of that right. The child clamors
for rights, but the child has no rights in that sense. The
moment the child begins to understand he has a duty in the
household to perform, his rights are assured. So in life, men
or women who fulfil their obligations to society, to the fam-
ily, the college and the community, will in full measure en-
joy every right that a person can have. And it is that phase
of college life which, as we graduate and go out into our life
work, brings us in touch with the world at large. The ques-
tion of what a college graduate shall do is whether he will
be on the side of those who are clamoring for something or
on the side of those who are willing to do something; those
who believe in service, or those who look for high position.
I am going to ask a gentleman who lives in Painesville
to tell us something about this relationship of the commu-
nity to a college, and of the college to the community. He
is a member of the Board of Trustees and has the interest
of this college at heart, as well as the interest of his pro-
fession, a man who has always recognized his obligation as
a citizen. I call upon Mr. Frank J. Jerome.
Mr. Jerome: I suppose the reason I have been called
upon is because General Casement and Judge Reynolds are
absent. My remembrance of this institution goes back to
the time when my father brought me here one day and we
walked over the building before all the floors were laid.
That was the first time I ever walked a plank. I remember
the time when Miss Sessions—now Mrs. Woodworth—
and Miss Edwards presided here. Nothing has given me
greater pleasure than to know they would be with us to help
us celebrate this Fiftieth Anniversary.
The community of Painesville has all these years recog-
182 Thursday, june Twenty-fourth
nized the advantages that have come to this town from the
presence of this institution. The people of Painesville have
been very liberal, according to their means, in the support
of it. It is not necessary to say that there has been very
earnest recognition of the good which this institution has
done here. So far as I represent the community, I extend
to the college on this occasion of its Fiftieth Anniversary
the good wishes and the congratulations of the community
of the city of Painesville, and express the hope that there
will be not only no abatement of the success which has come
to the college in these years, but an increase in students and
endowment, and in the interest of the people.
The Toastmaster: An institution of this kind has its
relations with all phases of work. Lake Erie has stood con-
sistently, not only for educational work and for those things
that go to make up the necessary part of woman's life and
the activities in which she may be engaged, but it has always
stood distinctly for the things in the religious side of a
woman's life that were highest and best. We have received
numerous letters from people who have come in contact with
this side of college life, notable among which is a letter from
Bishop Williams, who lived here, and knew much about
this institution and its aspirations and its work. I will read
the Bishop's letter.
Episcopal Rooms, 44 Campau Building
Detroit, June 12, 1909.
Miss MARY EVANs, Painesville, Ohio.
My dear Miss Evans: I thank you most cordially for your kind
invitation to be present at the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary
of Lake Erie College from June 20th-24th, and also for the personal
note which followed up the invitation. I sincerely wish I could be
with you to congratulate the community upon the fifty years’ service
of Lake Erie College and still more to congratulate you and Miss
Bentley upon the completion of your forty years of the ministry of
teaching (for so I regard your work). I know of no two people any-
After-Dinner Speecher 183
where, the blessing of whose lives is more widely extended and who
themselves are more deeply and sincerely loved than you and Miss
Bentley. That is a reward of service better than any amount of wealth.
I wish sincerely I could accept your invitation but I have a series
of engagements in the far north of the Diocese which cover the whole
period, June 20th to 24th. I must therefore most regretfully decline.
Yours sincerely,
CHARLEs D. WILLIAMs.
We have also received letters from other gentlemen whose
public duties keep them elsewhere, notably from the Presi-
dent of the United States, who, I understand, is an honorary.
member of one of the classes of Lake Erie. And we have
letters from Senator Burton and Congressman Howland, who
are busy in Washington attending to the difficult duty of
attempting to please everybody in making up the tariff.
And we have letters from numerous other people and organ-
izations who take the same interest in a woman's college as
they do in a man's, and whose attitude toward education is
an effort to do their full share toward providing for the edu-
cational systems of the country, beginning with the common
schools and extending through the more advanced institu-
tionS.
We come now to the more intimate relations of the col-
lege, our next of kin, as Miss Evans calls them. There are
numerous persons included in that phrase. The first one I
shall call upon will represent the fathers of the girls who
have been here and have gone out into the world. I take
great pleasure in asking my old friend and distinguished citi-
zen, Judge Metcalf, to address you.
Judge Metcalf. I esteem it a very great honor to be
considered in any way of kin to Lake Erie College. When
I was told that I was expected to say something in behalf
of the fathers about their daughters, I was in doubt whether
it meant the old college fathers who have been dead years
ago, or the fathers of the young ladies who are graduates
184 Thursday, june Twenty-fourth
this year and of the others who have been graduates in years
past. As the father of one of the daughters of Lake Erie,
it is a great pleasure for me to be here. You have reason
to be proud of the quality of the product that you have
turned out of Lake Erie in the past. I hope, and I firmly
believe, and I think we all believe and know, that the qual-
ity is going to keep up in the future as it has been in the
past. For, although the two ladies who have been at the
head of this institution, and who are so much honored by
us all, will leave this work that they have carried on so
bravely and so well for years and years, their places will be
filled, and we know that the work will be carried on in the
future as well as it has been in the past. So, as one of the
fathers, I may at least speak for all of them in saying that
we wish the greatest prosperity and the highest blessings
to come to this college. * .
The Toastmaster: We have not kept the good things that
are given out by Lake Erie for the girls of Ohio, alone. We
have been willing to go across the border and into other
states. I will ask the father of a girl from an adjoining state
to speak to us on the same subject as Judge Metcalf has. I
call upon Judge Miller, of the Supreme Court of West
Virginia. -
Judge Miller: I have experienced the greatest pleasure in
all these commencement exercises now being brought to such
a successful ending. I have had a deep personal interest in
them because this has been my daughter's commencement,
and your Golden Jubilee—your Fiftieth Anniversary. And
what a record of glorious achievements has been made!
When I was so kindly invited to participate in these post-
prandial exercises, I was told I might speak of or for the
ladies, young or old, but I have found no old ladies at Lake
Erie to speak of, and if there were I would find it quite
difficult to make a choice, for I have always found my heart
about equally divided between these two classes of our dear-
After-Dinner Speeches 185
est creatures. Volumes have been written, and will continue
to be written, speaking of their many graces and virtues,
especially if they are of Lake Erie or have had Lake Erie
for their Alma Mater.
When, a little over four years ago, I was looking for a school
in which to trust the education of my daughter, without
hesitation I chose Lake Erie from among the many schools
offered. Several reasons seemed to control, but the one pre-
dominating was the profound impression received of them
in meeting and being met and greeted by Miss Evans and
Miss Bentley, two of God’s elect, and of His purest
and noblest women. I became satisfied on first impressions,
to entrust to them the care and training of my only child
and daughter, and never for a moment during the interven-
ing years have I had cause to regret having done so, but
instead, the best of reasons for self-congratulations. I recent-
ly heard a distinguished lawyer and judge say, in addressing
an association of lawyers, “Show me the law school where they
teach common sense as a branch of learning—I want to send
my boy there.” He could find a place for his daughter in
Lake Erie on the same principle, and this is another reason
for having sent my daughter here. And now, without men-
tioning other reasons, I am constrained to make this public
but humble acknowledgment, not only to Miss Evans and
Miss Bentley, but to all the other teachers of Lake Erie,
for all that has been done for me and mine.
It was recently said by President Taft, in a public address,
that it is a mistaken notion that women, to be supremely
happy and most useful, must enter into the state of connu-
bial bliss. He called as witnesses to this fact, especially, the
many women in the minds of his hearers who had devoted
their lives to the work of teaching, and thereby, not only
had lived lives of great usefulness, but had themselves been
sweetened and ennobled in their character by the work of
this high calling. As I read the words of the President, my
186 Thursday, fune Twenty-fourth
thoughts turned first and most naturally to Miss Evans and
Miss Bentley, and I have no doubt some of you who may
have read the President's speech and who knew these good
women, had a similar experience.
In my humble judgment it is worth more to a human life
to have worked and wrought as Miss Evans and Miss Bent-
ley have done, than to have occupied the most exalted
station. So long as Lake Erie shall endure, their presence
and influence shall last. Others may come and go, but their
lives and characters have become so imbedded in the very
foundations and walls of this noble institution, that wherever
they are their spirits’ presence must ever be felt; and those
of you who have come in and gone out under their admin-
istrations will never return to these sacred halls in the years
to come, without either meeting and greeting in the flesh
these two great and good women, or feeling the presence of
their noble spirits. And may their lives be spared for many
years, and may they be permitted to share with us the pleas-
ures of many returning commencements. Next to being born
a man, I would have preferred to be born a woman in order
that I, too, might have been permitted to receive my college
education at Lake Erie under the benign and holy influences
of Miss Evans and Miss Bentley, and their faithful co-
workers. -
The Toastmaster: The next of kin under our statutes
would be that useless appendage known as the husband. No,
we are not altogether useless. The husband is made, of
course, by his wife, and whatever he does is the result of his
wife's training. Therefore, so many of you have had very
difficult jobs, or may have such ahead of you in the future.
The gentleman who has consented to respond to this toast
has certainly had most excellent training, and he ought to be
a good husband. I will ask Judge Thomas H. Bushnell, of
Cleveland, to address you. -
Judge Bushnell: I ought not to be on this platform, be-
After-Dinner Speeches 187
cause, as your chairman has said, I am not next of kin, I am
simply connected by marriage. But since I am here I will
speak for that great class of out-laws, or in-laws, the hus-
bands. I may be asked later to respond for the fathers, which
would be more appropriate because I am five times a father
and only once a husband. As to husbands, I will tell you
in confidence that I know one who is no better than he ought
to be, but that is no fault of his wife. I will say from my
experience with Lake Erie wives that there are several de-
partments in this college and several branches of learning
that are particularly fine. One is the department of Domestic
Science. At our house, we have it down so fine that when a
thing is burnt, it is only scorched. And the branch of Phys-
iology is a fine feature. It descends down the line; our five
children can all slide down the banister without getting hurt.
As to the quality of Lake Erie girls, I think I represent quite
a mass of impedimenta when I say I don't think any of these
young ladies ought to escape the duty of bringing up some
good man. I speak in all seriousness when I say of the Lake
Erie girl, “the heart of her husband trusteth in her, and her
children rise up and call her blessed.”
The Toastmaster: We are very fortunate in having with
us representatives of a number of our sister institutions. I
shall ask Dean Sawyer, of the Western College for Women
at Oxford to speak to us.
Dean Sawyer: May I first read the congratulations which
were sent here by the Alumnae Association of the Western
College to Lake Erie College.
I have the privilege of bringing you appreciative greet-
ings from President, Faculty, Alumnae and Students of the
Western College for Women with the earnest wish that the
years coming may be more and more abundantly blest.
The fact that such a greeting as this is sent, indicates
what a close tie has bound Lake Erie and the Western
I 88 Thursday, june Twenty-fourth
College these fifty years. Wherever Lake Erie and West-
ern College graduates meet they feel that they are members
of the same family. We have called each other sister
institution these many years, and daughters of Mount Hol-
yoke. I believe we two are the only separate colleges for
women in our Ohio College Association, because the Wom-
an’s College in Cleveland is hardly a separate college for
WOIn€11. , . .
At the end of my first year with the Western College, I
passed through Painesville on my way home, and I stopped
here for a visit at Lake Erie. I learned a very great deal,
and these lessons were carried back to the Western and were
of great use there. And I might go on speaking of many
things in which Lake Erie has been a great help to her
sister college in southwestern Ohio.
I have lately looked up the history of our college and find
that Mary Lyon came very near establishing her school in
Ohio. No one knows why she did not do it. Probably the
soil was better prepared in New England, and we are glad
it was established there. So we have this triangle, Mount
Holyoke in the East, and here, Lake Erie and the Western.
The coming of the new President from the mother institu-
tion means the strengthening of the tie between the mother
and the two daughters in the Middle West. -
When we think of the class that is graduated to-day, our
hearts are not only with this Jubilee class of 1909, but also
with the other smaller and well-beloved class of two who
graduated fifty years ago. We have not words to express
our emotions and sentiments. I am reminded of a story
of an old lady who wrote to President Harper of the
University of Chicago: “I have brought up my family
and there is nothing more for me to do. My life work is
finished, I am sixty years old, and I have fifty thou-
sand dollars. Is there not time yet for me to do what I
would like to do? I would like better than anything to
After-Dinner Speeches 189
go to school.” So that great-hearted man wrote back and
said, “Pack your trunk and come to the University of Chi-
cago. There is something at the University for you to do.”
So Mrs. Gray went to the University of Chicago, and Presi-
dent Harper told her that while her mind had not been
occupied with scholarly subjects, yet it had not been idle,
and she could study. But she could not compete with the
high school graduate. So he obtained for her a tutor, and
she went on and finally obtained a B.A. degree. She special-
ized in languages, and the last I heard of her, she was doing
original work in some obscure language, perhaps Choctaw,
and is getting out something for publication in that line of
work.
President Evans recently visited our town and spoke in
the neighboring University, and I was told she captured the
hearts of all those young men. Who knows what her career
may now be as a teacher of young men! I am hoping that
we may have her at the Western College as well as Dean
Bentley. So I bring the message from the Western Col-
lege, of congratulation and good cheer for these two
teachers, in whose lives in the future our hearts are all so
bound up.
The Toastmaster: I think Miss Evans began capturing
hearts a good many years ago, and as for Miss Bentley's
lectures, I heard of those, years ago.
I am a little doubtful about introducing the next speaker.
She represents the Woman's College in Cleveland. If she
will keep to her text, I am content. But if Miss Perkins
unwisely wanders off into the realms of biography and tells
what she knows about me, I am sure it will be far away from
the subject. I take great pleasure in asking Miss Perkins
to speak as representing the Woman's College.
Miss Perkins: I count it a great privilege to be here as
the representative of the College for Women, and bringing
the greetings of that institution to Lake Erie on this occasion
I 9o Thursday, june Twenty-fourth
of the celebration of its Fiftieth Anniversary. As Miss
Woolley told us this morning, one of the beautiful things
about the life of a college or an educational institution of any
sort is, that though the years accumulate, youth remains the
same. I have looked about the campus and met with the
gracious hospitality of the day, and have seen the evidences
of strength and hope and courage even during the sad days
of parting, it has seemed to me that Lake Erie has learned
what is the essence of life, and that is to look for experiences,
to look forward to the goal and not to the prize, and to pick
up by the wayside the gems of patience and hopefulness.
I suppose the students of to-day in this college and those
who have joined the ranks of the Alumnae ... forward
with some trepidation to this occasion, not realizing how well
they have learned and are learning here the lessons that will
make such anniversaries golden milestones on the journey
of life.
One comes from our college to this college with a feeling
that we are sisters. We are united by bonds closer than an
outsider can realize. The other day when I attended a class
reunion in my Alma Mater, a little Japanese baroness brought
to us a gift from her Emperor, a great silver bowl, heavily
embossed. As I watched the pretty presentation ceremony
I thought of another picture I had seen the morning before,
of a statue that had been unveiled in the chapel of Wellesley
College in memory of one whom all college women loved—
Mrs. Alice Freeman Palmer. It represented the figure of
Alma Mater sending out into the world a graduate bearing
in her hand a lamp which she had lighted on the altar of
her college. So it has seemed to me that the life of this in-
stitution has come from the gracious leadership of the two
whom we are honoring to-day, who have been doing things
that seemed almost beyond the hope and expectation of
those who had the fullest confidence in them. When we
find these fine veins of purpose running through the lives
After-Dinner Speeches I9 I
of all graduates who have gone out from this institution, we
realize what the instruction has been; and it is a fit answer
to the question that one of our college presidents has asked:
“What is life and education for?” It is for the knowledge
that makes life richer, for the friendships that make life
sweeter, for the training that gives power, for the task that
is difficult and hard, for the wisdom that suffers but triumphs
and is strong, for the vision that lightens the pathway of life
like a pillar of fire, for the truth that makes life free.
So, in bringing greetings and congratulations, we are not
bringing a farewell to those who go from our midst. We
are enrolling them on the roll of honor to go on still serving
in the ranks, still speaking the words of inspiration and hope
and help which they have given so abundantly in this institu-
tion in the years that are past.
The Toastmaster: A little farther west there is another
great Ohio institution. Oberlin has done much for human-
ity as well as for education. It is a great pleasure to ask Mrs.
Johnston, who, for many years as Dean of Women, guided
the affairs of that institution, to speak to us for Oberlin
College.
Mrs. Johnston: Years ago, when teaching in an academy,
1 heard a great deal about the beginning of the new school
at Painesville. The second year after it was opened, I came
here to visit, and as the years went on, I sent several of my
students and young graduates from the academy to this in-
stitution for further study. When Miss Evans came, some-
how we were drawn together, and a friendship has existed
through all these years that has made life sweeter and
stronger. Now, as we both lay down our active duties, I look
forward to the time when I hope we shall stand together at
yonder gate and enter, hand in hand. -
There are three kinds of wealth—material, intellectual and
spiritual. Of these, material wealth is of the least import-
ance, because it is perishable. Intellectual and spiritual wealth
192 Thursday, june Twenty-fourth
have enduring eternities. And still, material wealth is so im-
portant a factor, it has so much to do with the comfort and
the development of the human family, that we cannot ignore
it. For instance, how could this college carry on its noble
work but for its ample grounds, its commodious buildings,
its carefully selected libraries, its well equipped laboratories.
And still, material wealth is limited. When it has done all
it can for the comfort and the development of the human
family, then it has ceased to be of value, and its accumula-
tion is only a burden. But intellectual wealth and spiritual
wealth, these are eternal verities.
My heart is full. We who have come together to honor
the two who here lay down their executive duties, bring
congratulations, it is true. But we bring more than that. We
do not crown with a golden crown, but we lay at the feet of
our dear ones the love that joins hands that reach around
the world, and the confidence and esteem of the public.
I am greatly interested in the education of every woman.
There will not be doors enough open next year, to accom-
modate all the women who want a thorough education, and
we must have more schools. I hope we shall not make the
fatal mistake of enlarging the schools we already have. I
believe thoroughly in what was said this morning, that the
smaller school does a deeper, broader, and better work for
the individual than the large school can. And while I have
been all my life in co-educational schools, still I am glad that
all our schools are not co-educational. Civilization becomes
richer for the variety that is given to it, and there are some
things which a school for girls alone can do, I don't say
better than any other school, but I say easier than any other
school, however favored. -
The women of to-day have an advantage over their moth-
ers; they are better off in many ways, they have stronger
nerves, they have more endurance; and these things are
essential. But there is a danger; there is one respect in which
After-Dinner Speeches I 93
the average school girl to-day does not compare favorably
with her mother; she is not the same lady. This is the work
of the coming years. We want stronger women, but we want
ladies, and we must have them, or our civilization will suffer.
It is culture that tones the voice and modifies the gait, and
enters into the English that is used. Culture is seen in a
thousand gentle ways which the genuine lady has.
It is a blessing: it is a thing to be thankful for, that you,
my dear friends, have been able to work in the higher realms,
in the intellectual and the spiritual; that you have been among
the stars. But you had many difficulties to meet. Sometimes
there seemed to be barriers across the way which you could
not surmount, and you have seen the lions. But the glorious
thing about it is that you have gone on as though there were
not a barrier, and you have found the lions chained. You
leave to your successor a college that has no interrogation
point. It is an established fact.
It is said that one who throws a pebble into the ocean
moves the whole expanse of water. But these waves of
motion finally reach the shore, they have a finite limit. But
he who wakes a new thought and sends it on its mission, or
raises a human desire into the upper realm has lifted the
roof of the universe.
The Toastmaster: I shall call upon Professor Bourne of
Western Reserve University, not because Western Reserve
is entitled to two representatives, but because Professor
Bourne has occupied so large a share in an institution which
has done so much for the education of women, that we are
anxious to hear him. - - - - -- - - - -----
Professor Bourne: I seem to be the fifth wheel. Miss
Perkins has already spoken for the Woman's College, and
I may be said to be speaking for a fraction of it. I am sure
that the other parts of Western Reserve University tender
congratulations to Miss Evans and Miss Bentley upon the
honorable service which they have performed, and con-
I 94 Thursday, june Twenty-fourth
gratulations to this college for its fifty years of work. I am
glad for once in my life, to be able to say without embar-
rassment, I congratulate you, ladies, upon your ages. When
President Woolley this morning, spoke of the guest at
Mount Holyoke to whom she said, “We are seventy years
old,” I thought of the ambiguity. -
There is some suggestion in a medical school sending
greetings. What form do these greetings take 2 Greetings
from the lawyers are sometimes a menace, and the most pain-
ful are those from the dentist. There is another college
near us, but perhaps that does not stand for anything in par-
ticular here. I bring the greetings of Adelbert and all the
other departments. - - -
We all know that education is something more than col-
lege buildings. There is a certain spirit that belongs to an
institution that is not represented by buildings. But no per-
son who serves on a faculty or in the administration is in a
mood to decline a building when it is offered.
Now just a word in behalf of my fellow teachers, whose
work in this institution is nearing completion. There is
nothing, it seems to me, that will satisfy their dearest am-
bition more than to be able, after a few years from now, to
look to the satisfaction which they must feel in the eloquent
testimonies of gratitude which they have received to-day.
The Toastmaster: The last of the sister colleges from
which we shall hear is the Ohio Wesleyan University and
Dr. Mary W. Newberry will speak for that. - -
Dr. Newberry: I dislike to mar the honorable represen-
tation the Ohio Wesleyan has already had in the commence-
ment address of Dr. Gunsaulus, whom she has the honor of
numbering among her alumni. However I am glad to add
my word of greeting and felicitation, especially in behalf of
the women of our University.
When Lake Erie College made her advent into the fam-
ily of Ohio Colleges, the Ohio Wesleyan Female College
After-Dinner Speeches I 95
was a little sister of six. She was not at that time paying
much attention to the study of youth growing to manhood
at the other side of the town. In fact, she had been called
into existenee through a desire on the part of President
Thompson, of the Ohio Wesleyan, to obviate the necessity
of admitting women to the University. So the “Female
College” and the Male College grew apace at opposite sides
of the town of Delaware, until they had reached the age when
young people begin to think about espousals. Then the
story of Tennyson's Princess became the history of the Ohio
Wesleyan University, for the men's college besieged the
women's college and captured it. -
“These twain, upon the skirts of Time,
Sit side by side full-summed in all their powers,
Dispensing harvest, sowing the To-be,
Self-reverent each, and reverencing each
Distinct in individualities.”
And we are distinct in individualities, for when we became
incorporated into a co-educational university, we retained
many of the characteristics peculiar to a woman's college.
We have our own home upon our own beautiful and ample
campus, and we have a score of ceremonies and gala days
which belong exclusively to us as women. So this after-
noon, we claim sisterhood and sympathy with Lake Erie
College.
Last week I had the pleasure of attending a social gather-
ing at which President Harris of the Northwestern Univer-
sity was a guest, and I heard him regret the dearth of wom-
en's colleges in the great Middle West. President Harris
thinks as Dean Johnston and many more of us think, that
there is room and demand for colleges of both sorts, not
only east of the Alleghenies, but west of them as well.
I congratulate this college upon fifty years of splendid
achievement, and better than that, upon the vigorous pros-
196 Thursday, june Twenty-fourth
pect for the future which every one must feel who has been
privileged to be present during the exercises of the past few
days. Yesterday morning I came to Painesville an absolute
stranger. But I have been here long enough to discover that
Lake Erie College has two watchwords: sincerity, and un-
selfish devotion to duty. It seems to me that a college
which, during fifty years of service, has evolved such watch-
words as these, must be, and must continue to be a blessing
not only to the community in which it is situated, but to
the whole country. There is a living power here which can
come to an institution only when those who are at its head
have builded themselves into it. -
The Toastmaster: We had hoped to have Mr. Nolan,
the Mayor of the city, with us this afternoon, but this is
Old Home Week in Painesville, and he has been detained.
He wished me to express the interest he has in the college
and to give his cheer and good-will in the work we have
before us. I now call on Mrs. Brunner, president of the
Alumnae Association, who has a report for the Alumnae to
present this afternoon.
Mrs. Brunner: Two years ago, in view of this Jubilee
Year, the Alumnae Association voted to attempt to secure
$50,000 as a gift to the college—a thousand dollars for each
year of its history. A committee was appointed for that
purpose, and Mrs. Sophia Ballard Bushnell, of the class of
’84, was made its chairman. We call her the not-to-be-
daunted chairman. Mrs. Bushnell made her report on
Tuesday at the meeting of our Alumnae Association, but
there have been several additions since. I have never been
very good in mathematics, but I have been saying, over and
over to myself, if it requires two years to secure about
$39,000, how long will it take to secure the balance of
$11,000? If I am correct, it will take only a little more
than six months. This gift to our Alma Mater is not only
a loving tribute to the past, but a pledge to the future. I
After-Dinner Speeches 197
speak also for the many who have been saying, Are we not
going to have an opportunity to say how glad and how
thankful we are that we have been permitted to come to this
Anniversary? They have wanted an opportunity to express
their thanks and to mention the fact that every wish has
been anticipated. The conferences have been so edifying,
the program so fine, and every one so happy. With equal
loyalty to the past, we turn to the future, and pledge the
loyalty of the Alumnae Association. -
The Toastmaster: One of the classes which has had its
reunion here deserves special mention. They have been
alumnae twenty-five years. I have learned why this lady,
one of their number upon whom I shall call, has been des-
ignated the never-to-be-daunted one. It is because she under-
took the education of Judge Bushnell.
Mrs. Bushnell: The class of ’84 are an especially priv-
ileged class. We stand half way between the beginning and
the end. It was our privilege to graduate at the Twenty-
fifth Anniversary, and to be here at the Fiftieth Jubilee, an
unbroken class. You will appreciate this when you are told
that one of the members comes from Texas and another
from the Hawaiian Islands. Another honor that the class of
'84 enjoys is the honorary membership of President Taft.
The Taft pin that was used during the campaign is identical
in design with our class-pin. We looked twenty-five years
ahead twenty-five years ago. Now we look back fifty years.
We also look forward twenty-five years, and we have con-
fidence that this college will continue to grow. We have
faith in Lake Erie. Long live Lake Erie'ſ
The Toastmaster: A word in behalf of the trustees. I
wish to express our appreciation to Miss Evans and Miss
Bentley on the event of their terminating their active con-
nection with this college. It is not the ending of their work;
it is simply a change of work. The spirit that has actuated
them in their devoted service will continue for the good of
198 Thursday, fune Twenty-fourth
this college. We, who have known you, feel you have done
for us here and for those who have been under you, the
greatest service that one can render to his fellow men. You
have shown here, throughout these years, a splendid cour-
age, a cheerfulness in duty, the highest happiness which you
have given to others, and an unvarying sweetness of char-
acter. This example you have set to those who have been
under you. Coupled with that has been the highest ability
of the perfect teacher. We wish you a happy God-speed in
the years to come.
Done by Horace Carr, at
The Printing Press
Cleveland
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