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 QUARTEE CENTURY CELEBRATION 
 
 Illinois Collep.
 
 LIBRARY OF THE 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
 
 C 
 
 Il6cEs 
 cop. 2 
 
 fflll. Hist. Survey
 
 QUARTER CENTURY CELEBRATION 
 
 AT 
 
 ILLINOIS COLLEGE. 
 
 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE 
 
 g% frmtont, . % ; 
 
 REV. J. M. STURTEVANT, D. D., 
 
 SOCIAL RE-UNION OF THE FOUNDERS, PATRONS, 
 ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF THE COLLEGE, 
 
 AT JACKSONVILLE, ILLINOIS. 
 JULY 11, 1855. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 JOHN F. TROW, PRINTER, 377 & 379 BROADWAY, 
 
 CORNER OF WHITE STREET.
 
 p. 
 
 ORDER OF EXERCISES 
 
 AT THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN JACKSONVILLE, 
 WEDNESDAY MORNING, JULY 11, 1855. 
 
 Prayer was offered by Rev. THERON BALDWIN. 
 
 The following Hymn, prepared for the occasion, was 
 then sung by the choir and congregation, to the tune " Scots 
 wha ha." 
 
 Welcome, welcome, happy day ! 
 Bidding hopes and memories play, 
 Brightly o'er our pilgrim way, 
 
 Like the bow of Heaven. 
 Not as strangers now we meet, 
 Friends and brothers here we greet, 
 Binding links at Learning's seat 
 
 Ruthless Time hath riven. 
 
 'Neath a goodly tree we stand, 
 Branching o'er a grateful land, 
 Trained by many an honored hand 
 
 M Towards the bending sky ; 
 
 Toil and prayer its roots have bound, 
 Faith and hope have twined it round, 
 Heaven's own smile its head hath crowned, 
 Through the years gone by. 
 
 HigTi and broad its limbs have grown, 
 Far and wide its fruits are strown, 
 Through the world its seeds are sown, 
 For the Harvest Day. 

 
 Thanks and honors then we bring, 
 Making all the welkin ring, 
 While with voice and soul we sing 
 Live, oh live for aye 1 
 
 Heavenly Father, hear our prayer ! 
 Make this Tree of Truth Thy care, 
 Bid it flourish strong and fair, 
 
 While the earth shall be : 
 All its honors shall be Thine, 
 And around the throne divine 
 Trophies of Thy goodness shine, 
 
 To Eternity. 
 
 This Hymn was followed by the delivery of the Historical 
 Discourse by President STURTEVANT. 
 
 After the delivery of the Discourse, prayer was offered by 
 Eev. THOMAS LIPPINCOTT. 
 
 The closing Song, prepared for the occasion, was then sung 
 to the tune of " Auld Lang Syne : " 
 
 What thrilling memories crowd and press 
 
 Upon this festal hour ! 
 What thoughts and feelings, numberless, 
 
 Come with unwonted power I 
 
 Past hopes and toils, and prayers and tears 
 
 The struggle stern and long 
 Rise from the graves of vanished years, 
 
 A rushing, shadowy throng. 
 
 And gratitude to Him who crowned 
 
 Our toil with hope and cheer, 
 Inspires the song and swells the sound 
 
 We utter in His ear. 
 
 Exultant hope, of memory born, 
 
 Inspires our closing lay ; 
 And Faith e'en now can see the morn 
 
 Fast brightening into day. 
 
 I Benediction.
 
 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 
 
 MOST keenly do I feel that in appointing me to give a voice 
 to this occasion, the Trustees of Illinois College have imposed 
 a very difficult and delicate task. At the end of a quarter 
 of a century since these foundations were laid, we are assem- 
 bled to review the origin and the growth of this institution. 
 To it I have sustained from the very first responsible official 
 relations. I see those around me who were not only eye- 
 witnesses of our first beginnings, and of the successive steps 
 of our progress, but in whose minds originated those first 
 conceptions, from which this enterprise sprung. From that 
 day to this, they have been the watchful and patient guar- 
 dians of this sacred cause ; while year after year has been 
 marking new wrinkles on their brows, and replacing the bur- 
 nished locks of youth with the gray hairs of age. I cannot but 
 feel, that it were fitter for them to speak to-day, and for me 
 to listen in silence. So intimate has been my connection with 
 this seminary of learning from its origin, and from my youth, 
 that I can hardly hope to give its history with impartiality. 
 
 But a little reflection reassures me. It is not so much the 
 work of an impartial historian that is requisite to this occa- 
 sion, as to refresh our minds and invigorate our purposes, by 
 recalling the spirit and the experiences of the past. We who 
 served together in our youth, are met, as 'eterans of twenty- 
 five campaigns, to revive the enthusiasm which animated our 
 first deliberations, and the fervor of our first prayers for the 
 success of this cherished enterprise of our youth. In that 
 enthusiasm, that fervor, I have shared. It has in no small 
 degree controlled the labors of my life to the present hour. I 
 have looked forward with strong desire to this occasion, when
 
 we should again meet on this spot, which we united a quarter 
 of a century ago in consecrating to Christian learning. 
 
 Brethren beloved, I rejoice that you have come. Be 
 assured that there is one heart here that greets you with a 
 cordial welcome. Inspired hy your presence, I feel that I can 
 forget for a few moments the present, and go back in memory 
 to those stirring scenes of former years, and retrace the path, 
 along which divine Providence has conducted us, if not with 
 the impartiality of the historian, at least with the intense fel- 
 low-feeling of a comrade. And I am sure that you, at least, 
 will regard this latter as essentially the spirit of the occasion. 
 Let us, then, address ourselves to that review of our past his- 
 tory to which this occasion is consecrated. 
 
 Let us, then, first trace out the causes which led to the 
 founding of Illinois College, and note the progress of their 
 development. 
 
 All the separate systems of causation which resulted in 
 the founding of Illinois College, originated in one and the 
 same source ; that unfailing, unflagging purpose which has 
 ever been cherished by the religious people of this nation, to 
 disseminate, by means of Institutions, the influence of the 
 Gospel, coextensively with our -ever- expanding population. 
 Let us devoutly thank God, that in our whole national his- 
 tory there is no one force which has acted with more steadiness 
 and uniformity than this. And there is no feature of Ameri- 
 can society which is more gloriously unique and characteristic. 
 There is nothing like it in the history of colonization in any 
 other nation or age of the world. 
 
 Through our entire national history, it is preeminently to 
 this cause that we owe the inception and the growth of our 
 whole system of higher or liberal education. No one needs to 
 be told that this cause was the parent of Cambridge, Yale, 
 and the other colleges of New England, and not less of 
 Nassau Hall ; and that these are the parents of the college 
 system of the whole country. 
 
 It is a source of great encouragement in our work to dis- 
 cover the same cause at work through all the States of the 
 North- West, and to be able to trace to its influence the
 
 founding of most of the colleges now existing in those States, 
 and of this college in particular. In what we have done in 
 this cause in these new States, we have been impelled by the 
 same motives, and actuated by the same principles with our 
 fathers of the New England and Middle States ; and this fact 
 gives great encouragement to hope that our efforts will result 
 in a like signal success. 
 
 Illinois College resulted from the confluence of two sepa- 
 rate streams of causation, though both originating in the same 
 fountain, high up among the mountains. Both were products 
 of that one permanent force, already alluded to, which has 
 been the parent of American Colleges. It is now necessary 
 to trace each of those streams, from its origin to their conflu- 
 ence, in the organization of the institution. 
 
 In the year 1826, Kev. John M. Ellis (who, by the bless- 
 ing of God, still lives, and unites with us to-day in cele- 
 brating this anniversary),* was sent by the then newly formed 
 American Home Missionary Society, as a missionary to the 
 infant settlements of this State. I cannot avoid feeling at 
 this point, that if I would consult for the highest gratification 
 of the audience, I should give way while he should describe 
 to us the condition of this $tate of our adoption as he then 
 found it. Madison and Montgomery Counties were then on 
 
 * Mr. Ellis was providentially detained, and did not arrive in season for 
 the " Historical Discourse," but took part in the social reunion in the evening. 
 He left this place on the twelfth of July, in high health and hope, and reached 
 his residence at Nashua, N. H., on the nineteenth of the same month. During 
 his Western tour, he had visited Nebraska, and entered into arrangements for 
 emigrating to that new territory with a colony. He had, also, projected a 
 seminary of learning, to be founded on a beautiful site which he selected. He 
 entered immediately on the work of preparation for his removal to a new 
 home in the West But God had a better home provided for him. After a 
 few days of incessant labor in this work of preparation, he was prostrated by 
 an acute disease, which terminated his earthly career, August 6th, 1855, aged 
 62 years. 
 
 His death was like his life, full of unwavering confidence in his Redeemer. 
 A kind Providence permitted him to go and visit the scenes of his early mis- 
 sionary labors to stand again by the graves of a wife and two lovely children, 
 who had been almost simultaneously taken from him by cholera in the year 
 1833 to rejoice in beholding the increasing fruits of his early labors and 
 self-denials, and then called him home. Who can doubt that one so ready to 
 serve and suffer for Christ here, was equally prepared to praise him on high f
 
 8 
 
 the northern frontier of settlements. " The Sangamon Coun- 
 try," as the region now emhraced in the counties of Morgan, 
 Sangamon, and several adjacent counties, was called, was then 
 the new-found-land. It was still almost an unbroken wilder- 
 ness, if, indeed, it be not a violation of the proprieties of the 
 English language to call that a wilderness which combined, 
 on a scale of magnificent proportions, the beauties of the 
 alluvial meadow, the aristocratic park, and the most gorgeous 
 flower-garden. 
 
 Mr. Ellis found only three Presbyterian ministers then re- 
 siding in the State : Kev. John Brich, living on a farm near 
 this place, connected with the Presbytery of Missouri, an 
 Englishman by birth and education, and at that time far ad- 
 vanced in life ; Rev. Stephen Bliss, in Wabash County, con- 
 nected with the Presbytery of Indiana ; and Eev. B. F. Spil- 
 man, in Gallatin County, connected with a Presbytery in 
 Kentucky. Congregational ministers or churches there were 
 none nearer than the north-eastern portion of Ohio. All 
 Christian churches were few, feeble, and scattered, and the 
 bread of life was precious because of its scarcity. 
 
 Mr. Ellis's first field of ministerial labors was at Kaskaskia, 
 in Eandolph County, where a feeble Presbyterian church then 
 existed. But his mind was too deeply imbued with that idea 
 of providing for the permanent growth and power of Chris- 
 tianity, by incorporating it with institutions, which has charac- 
 terized all the migrations and colonial settlements of English 
 Puritanism, to confine his thoughts or his labors entirely 
 within the circle of a single pastoral charge. He was early 
 impressed with the necessity of taking some decisive step in 
 the very infancy of the State, in behalf of the cause of educa- 
 tion. He early conceived the idea of founding a seminary 
 devoted to the purposes of education, on a somewhat peculiar 
 plan, suggested in part by the utter destitution of the means 
 of education, in almost every department which he witnessed 
 around him, and in part by those notions of combining a sys- 
 tem of manual labor with the daily routine of a literary insti- 
 tution, which had been at that time newly broached, and were 
 received by nearly all classes with great enthusiasm. He was
 
 9 
 
 not, however, strenuous for any of the peculiar features of his 
 plan. What he was zealous for was a Christian seminary of 
 learning, on some plan which would conciliate popular favor, 
 and acquire the means of extended influence and efficiency. 
 
 He first sought divine aid. He then began to present his 
 views to individuals in conversation, as he had opportunity, 
 and endeavored in this way to find those able and willing to 
 cooperate with him. Among the friends with whom he early 
 became acquainted, and who gave him their generous counte- 
 nance and cooporation, we recognize with pleasure the names 
 of Joseph Duncan, John Tilson, and Thomas Mather ; all 
 well known in the subsequent history of this State, and at 
 the time of their respective deaths trustees of the college, 
 under its present organization. We find, also, the names of 
 Samuel D. Lockwood and Thomas Lippincott, members of 
 the Board of Trustees up to the present time : also, the name 
 of William Collins, the father of Frederick Collins, who is an 
 acting trustee. To the hearty sympathy and generous co- 
 operation of these, among other friends of the cause in those 
 times of its infancy and weakness, was its early success in no 
 small degree attributable. 
 
 The first attempt at organization was in Bond County. 
 In the summer of 1827, Mr. Ellis visited a settlement on 
 Shoal Creek in that county, in company with one, whose name 
 can never perish from the records of early missionary labor in 
 the city of St. Louis and in the surrounding region, Kev. 
 Salmon Griddings. The object of the visit was purely religous. 
 There existed along the stream above named, a considerable 
 settlement of Presbyterians, composing the three churches of 
 Bethel, Shoal Creek, and Greenville. In this settlement Mr. 
 Ellis found a warm sympathy with his plans in respect to 
 education, and was himself stimulated by meeting several 
 young men, desirous of qualifying themselves for the Christian 
 ministry. The names of some of these young men may be 
 found among the early graduates of the college, and some of 
 them have occupied, and are still occupying, stations of great 
 usefulness in the Christian ministry. It will not, perhaps, be 
 reckoned invidious to mention the names of Robert Stewart, 
 Robert W. Patterson, and Alvin M. Dixon.
 
 10 
 
 From the interest here excited, immediate action resulted. 
 Mr. Ellis furnished the people of Shoal Creek with a copy of 
 his plan of a seminary of learning. This was immediately 
 embodied in the form of a subscription paper, and a progress 
 was made in obtaining subscriptions for the founding of the 
 projected seminary in that settlement, which was deemed 
 very encouraging. This fact is worthy of honorable record, 
 for it was the liberality of a people living in their new log 
 cabins, on new farms, yet to be reclaimed from the prairie. 
 This step had great influence in giving a definite and practical 
 character to the project. 
 
 In the following autumn (1827), the friends of the enter- 
 prise felt the need of obtaining for it the countenance and 
 recommendation of some body of men, whose reputation for 
 wisdom, piety, and learning would secure for it a greater de- 
 gree of respect and confidence both at home and abroad. It 
 was therefore laid before the Presbytery of Missouri (with 
 which the Presbyterian churches of this State were then con- 
 nected), at its fall meeting, and a committee was appointed 
 to consider the subject, and report at a subsequent meeting, 
 to be held the next spring. The committee consisted of John 
 M. Ellis, Salmon Giddings, and Hiram Chamberlain, minis- 
 ters, and Thomas Lippincott, then an elder of the church at 
 Edwardsville. They were directed to confer with the trustees 
 of the seminary projected at Shoal Creek, " with a view to an 
 arrangement which it was hoped would be advantageous both 
 to learning and religion." 
 
 Of this committee, Kev. Hiram Chamberlain never acted, 
 and before the meeting of the Presbyteiy in the spring, the 
 committee, in common with the whole West, was called to 
 mourn the early death of Kev. Salmon Giddings, of whom one 
 who knew him well, and a co-member of the committee, says 
 " the pure-minded, far-sighted Giddings, in whom what- 
 ever things are lovely and of good report, whatsoever tended 
 to promote the welfare of man and the glory of God, found an 
 advocate and friend." 
 
 The remaining two members of the committee discharged 
 their duty with a zeal and self-denying efficiency worthy of 
 the noble cause in which they were engaged. They first
 
 - 11 
 
 visited Shoal Creek, where they found that the zeal of the 
 people had only increased with time. They were more than 
 willing to go forward immediately to erect a building, and 
 commence instruction. 
 
 But before entering into any definite commitments at 
 Shoal Creek, the committee were advised, previous to fixing 
 on any location, to make a tour of exploration through the 
 new counties of Sangamon, Morgan, and Greene. Such a 
 tour was accordingly undertaken by Messrs. Ellis and Lippin- 
 cott, in the month of January, 1828. It will readily be be- 
 lieved that the journey was not made by railroad. Up to this 
 time, the scene of their explorations and deliberations had 
 been for the most part limited to the counties of Randolph, 
 Bond, and Madison, Mr. Ellis still residing at Kaskaskia, and 
 Mr. Lippincott at Edvvardsville. 
 
 The shortness of the time allotted to this occasion will for- 
 bid our entering much into the particulars of this tour. They 
 visited Carrollton, Apple Creek Prairie, near the spot where 
 Whitehall now is, Jacksonville, and Springfield, and laid their 
 plans before the people. At each of these places they were 
 well received, and much disposition was manifested by the 
 people to assist in erecting the proposed seminary, provided it 
 was established among them. With their visit to Jackson- 
 ville I shall be more particular. : Saturday night overtook 
 them on the south side of Sandy Creek, some four or five miles 
 south of Jacksonville. On Sabbath morning they were early 
 on their way, that Mr. Ellis might fulfil an appointment to 
 preach, which he had sent before him. In the words of one 
 of the committee "It was a bright, a splendid mor/iing. 
 The winter rain had covered every twig and blade of prairie 
 grass with ice, and as the rising sun threw his clear rays 
 athwart the plain, myriads of gems sparkled with living light, 
 and Diamond Grove might almost have been fancied a vast 
 crystal chandelier." The name of Diamond Grove is, by the 
 way, considerably more ancient than the name or the existence 
 of Jacksonville, and was used as a designation of the region 
 around it. 
 
 The most convenient place for the people to assemble for
 
 12' 
 
 worship on that Sabbath, was at the house of Judge Leeper, 
 which was about a mile south-east from the public square, in 
 the immediate vicinity of the woodland, which borders on 
 the Mauvaisterre Creek, and nearly east of the spot where 
 the Insane Hospital now stands. John Leeper, then the pro- 
 prietor of that farm, was a man whose strict integrity, en- 
 larged public spirit, unaffected piety, and comprehensive 
 charity, are worthy to be held in remembrance. His removal, 
 more than twenty years ago, to another portion of the State, 
 was a great loss to this community. He was one of the origi- 
 nal members of the first Presbyterian church in Jacksonville, 
 and an elder in the same till he removed from the neighbor- 
 hood. He was several years ago released from his earthly 
 labors. 
 
 Many of our present population would think it rather in- 
 convenient to attend public worship in a commodious edifice 
 on that site, much more to go to that spot to worship in a 
 private dwelling. And yet, if I am rightly informed, it was 
 in pleasant weather sometimes thought a privilege, in those 
 days, to worship in Judge Leeper's barn. How much our 
 estimates of things are changed by change of circumstances ! 
 Inconvenient, according to our ideas, as the place was, a con- 
 gregation assembled on the Sabbath referred to, and listened 
 to the word with eagerness. 
 
 Several days were spent here by the committee in visiting 
 the few people who then resided here, in laying before them at 
 a public meeting their views in respect to establishing a semi- 
 nary of learning, and in viewing the various sites which were 
 pointed out for the location of the seminary. Most, if not all, 
 the citizens then residing here, entered warmly into the pro- 
 position, and manifested a disposition to sustain the enterprise 
 to the extent of their ability. One instance I may freely 
 speak of, because God long ago removed the person alluded to 
 (Dr. H. G. Taylor) to his heavenly rest. He declared to one 
 of the committee, that after several years residence in this wild 
 region, he had at length entirely despaired of ever enjoying 
 any advantages here for educating his children ; that he had 
 sold his furniture, and was about to return to Vermont. As
 
 13 
 
 soon as he was made acquainted with the views of the commit- 
 tee, and informed that Jacksonville was to be the seat of the 
 proposed seminary, he abandoned his purpose, and entered 
 again into business. But his earthly arrangements were soon to 
 terminate. On my arrival in this place, less than two years 
 afterwards, I found a home in his house. But I only became 
 acquainted with him, that I might mourn the early departure 
 of a good man. A few weeks after my arrival, in common 
 with a mourning community, I followed him to his grave. 
 
 The names of the living I must for the most part pass over 
 in silence. Of those who have departed this life, besides Dr. 
 H. Gr. Taylor, the cause of education is much indebted, for their 
 efforts in that early day, to John Leeper and Win. C. Posey. 
 
 To every man and every woman indeed, who, at that point 
 in our history, manifested a warm interest in the founding of 
 a seminary of learning here, this place owes a debt of gratitude, 
 which can never be fully discharged. It was to that visit of 
 our committee to this place, that we trace those causes which 
 have made Jacksonville what it is as a seat of learning and a 
 centre of educational institutions. What men did then, they 
 did not in the abundance of their wealth, but in the depth of 
 their poverty. 
 
 The principal sites which attracted the notice of the com- 
 mittee were the spot now known as the mound, and the site 
 on which the college stands. 
 
 After obtaining all the light they could, in reference to 
 the whole region explored, the committee came to the conclu- 
 sion, that the institution ought to be located on the spot now 
 occupied by the college, and made immediate arrangements 
 for procuring the ground, which they were enabled to do on 
 very advantageous terms. Their reasons for coming to such a 
 conclusion were, the amount subscribed for this place, in- 
 cluding a donation in its favor from William Collins, senior, 
 of Collinsville, of $400, exceeding that given for any other 
 location ; the fertility of the soil in the region around, afford- 
 ing the prospect of rapid settlement ; and most of all, the un- 
 equalled beauty of the site, on which they proposed to locate 
 the institution. In thus fixing the location and procuring the
 
 14 
 
 site, the committee had exceeded their instructions ; but they 
 thought they saw reasons which justified and required it. 
 
 It is a pleasing fact to record, that the late John Tilson of 
 Quincy, then of Hillsboro, well known as a fast friend and lib- 
 eral benefactor of the college, and for many years previous to 
 his death a trustee, paid the expenses of the committee on 
 this tour of exploration. Such contributions to the cause at 
 that time were seeds, which have since borne fruit. 
 
 In the spring following the committee made a faithful and 
 thorough report on the whole subject, to the Presbytery of Mis- 
 souri, by whom they had been appointed. They advised the 
 Presbytery to recommend the enterprise to the confidence of 
 the Christian public, and to receive its theological department 
 (for such a department was a part of the plan) under their 
 care and direction. Greatly to their surprise and grief, their 
 report was unceremoniously voted down by that body. This re- 
 sult was probably occasioned by local jealousies, the proposed 
 location being supposed by the Presbytery of Missouri to be on 
 the wrong side of the Mississippi river. This was not, however, 
 the ostensible, reason. Whatever the reason was, it was felt 
 by the friends of the enterprise, as little short of a crushing 
 blow ; so greatly did they feel the need of the countenance of 
 some respectable ecclesiastical body. This was not, however, 
 the method by which Divine Providence chose to bring the 
 enterprise into notice. 
 
 A site had now been agreed on, and the wisdom of that 
 decision has, from that day to this, rarely been called in ques- 
 tion. A plan for the institution had been adopted, which, 
 however, has since been greatly modified, and something short 
 of $3000 had been procured in subscriptions. This was en- 
 tirely inadequate even for a commencement, much more for 
 filling out so vast and complicated a plan as the one proposed, 
 embracing primary, collegiate, and theological departments, to- 
 gether with arrangements for manual labor. Of this the friends 
 of the institution were well aware : and yet, in the infancy of 
 the State, they saw little present prospect of increasing their 
 resources much from the region around. They were forced to 
 look abroad for aid. Things remained nearly in this posture
 
 15 
 
 for several months, during which very little was accomplished 
 in furtherance of the object. Mr. Ellis was a missionary of the 
 A. H. M. S., at this time located at Jacksonville, having re- 
 moved his residence to this place, in the year 1828. In his 
 report to the Society in September of that year, Mr. Ellis made 
 a brief statement respecting the projected seminary, and ap- 
 pealed to the Christian public for aid. The part of his report 
 which related to this subject, was published in the December 
 number of the Home Missionary. 
 
 In the mean time Divine Providence was preparing another 
 train of causes, in quite another quarter, which have exerted 
 the most important influence in organizing and founding the 
 institution, and commending it to public favor. At no period 
 in our religious history has the attention of candidates for the 
 Christian ministry in our theological seminaries been so strongly 
 turned towards the West, or the claims of the home missionary 
 enterprise so adequately appreciated by them, as about the 
 time of which we are speaking. The almost simultaneous dis- 
 covery of the vast resources of the four great States of Indiana, 
 Illinois, Missouri, and Michigan, and the rapidity of their set- 
 tlement, had opened the eyes of enlightened Christians, and 
 especially of candidates for the ministry, to a view of the vast- 
 ness of our national destiny, and the urgency of our Home 
 Missionary work, never taken before. It was then that the 
 truth, now so familiar, first broke upon our vision, that these 
 States, and others adjacent, were to be filled with a multitu- 
 dinous and influential population during the present genera- 
 tion ; and that on us God was placing the responsibility of 
 planting the institutions of the Gospel over all these vast re- 
 gions. The conception was then as new as it was vast and 
 stimulating. And to the honor of the students of theology it 
 should be said, that the hearts of many among them responded, 
 " here are we, send us." I have no disposition to claim any thing 
 for the Christian ministry which it does not merit ; but those 
 who assert that theological students are entirely mercenary in 
 their views, or consult invariably their own ease and temporal 
 advantage in their choice of a field of labor, know little of what 
 was going on at that time in our theological seminaries.
 
 16 
 
 There existed at that time, in the theological department of 
 Yale College, a society of inquiry concerning missions, holding 
 monthly meetings, for the purpose of procuring and circulating 
 among the students accurate information relative to the va- 
 rious fields of missionary labor, both domestic and foreign ; espe- 
 cially such information as might enable each one to act wisely, 
 in the choice of his own field of labor. At the meeting of this 
 society, held Nov. 25th, 1828, an essay was read by Theron 
 Baldwin, in which he exhorted his brethren with much fervor 
 and power, to consecrate their lives in the true spirit of apos- 
 tolic self-denial, to the great Christian enterprise of universal 
 evangelization. He held up to our view such illustrious exam- 
 ples of Christian consecration as Martin Luther, David Brain- 
 erd, Henry Martin, John Howard, and Samuel J. Mills, and 
 exhorted us to gaze no longer " at our own little star-like in- 
 terests," but to bring up the sun, that they may fade into 
 their comparative insignificance. He spoke to youthful hearts, 
 buoyant with hope, and in full sympathy with the speaker 
 and his theme. As Mason Grosvenor, a member of that so- 
 ciety, who had participated for some time in the awakened 
 interest in Home Missions, was returning from that meeting to 
 his room, under the solemn majesty of a starlight evening, the 
 thought occurred to him, that he and his comrades must at 
 once act, as well as feel and talk and pray ; that an Associa- 
 tion ought to be formed among them, in which they should en- 
 ter into mutual pledges to one another and to God, that they 
 would devote their lives to the work of Home Missions ; that 
 some portion of the newly-opened Home Missionary field should, 
 after proper inquiry, be selected, where the members of the As- 
 sociation could find locations as home missionaries in each 
 other's vicinity, and thus aid, encourage, and stimulate each 
 other in their work. It was a part of the original concep- 
 tion that they should unite their efforts in founding an insti- 
 tution of learning, to grow up with the community, and be to 
 the surrounding region what a New England college is to the 
 population around it. The thought seemed to him feasible, 
 and interested his mind very deeply ; he soon began to confer 
 on the subject with such of his brethren as he thought fittest
 
 17 
 
 to cooperate in such an undertaking, and most likely to sym- 
 pathize with him in his views. 
 
 The suggestion had awakened much interest, and was fast 
 ripening into definite action, when Mr. Ellis's report in the 
 Home Missionary already mentioned, met the eye of the bro- 
 ther in whose mind the idea had originated. The thought at 
 once occurred to him, that perhaps that was the field to which 
 God was in his providence pointing him and his brethren. 
 Without delay, he wrote to Mr. Ellis, stating to him what he 
 had been thinking of, and calling for specific information 
 respecting this field of missionary labor and the projected 
 seminary ; and also called the attention of his brethren to this 
 interesting item of intelligence ; several were intensely inter- 
 ested in the general plan, and in the statements of Mr. Ellis's 
 report in particular. As, however, Mr. Ellis had been written 
 to, it was deemed best to delay definite action till his answer 
 should be received. 
 
 In due time the expected reply came to hand, laying be- 
 fore those young brethren the promise of vast usefulness 
 which this open field then presented, and warmly urging them 
 to come and participate in its labors. It would be difficult 
 for any one now to appreciate the effect on those youthful 
 minds of the view of this land of promise, as it was spread out 
 before their imaginations by the fervid words of the pioneer 
 Missionary. It must be borne in mind, that at that time far 
 less was known in New England of Illinois, than we now know 
 of Oregon. Its soil, its climate, its resources, and its pros- 
 pects of a rapid growth in wealth and population, had scarcely 
 at all arrested public and general attention. It was known 
 that it was a State of the Union, but its few and scattered peo- 
 ple had attracted little attention, and excited little interest. 
 It was supposed to be a region of vast prairies, which could not 
 be settled for centuries for want of timber. Here was a por- 
 trait drawn by an eye-witness, who was surveying the whole 
 region from the point of vision of one, himself engaged with 
 his whole heart in founding among these infant settlements 
 and gigantic resources, the institutions of Christian society. 
 The enthusiasm excited by a truthful picture drawn from such 
 2
 
 18 
 
 a stand-point, was not less fervid, and infinitely more deep and 
 enduring than that awakened by the appeal of Peter the Her- 
 mit in his crusades. There were no prospects of wealth or 
 worldly fame, there was no promise of exemption from stern 
 self-denials and hardships, no prospect of a life of literary lei- 
 sure and scholarly renown ; but there was a nation to be 
 founded in a single generation, institutions to be planted 
 which should become the vital organs of a mighty people, 
 and exert a saving influence on millions yet unborn. These 
 were the lofty and soul-inspiring considerations in view of 
 which these young men were required to choose the path- 
 way of their future life. Early in the year 1829 seven mem- 
 bers of the Theological department of Yale College were found 
 prepared to subscribe their names to a solemn pledge to one 
 another and to God, to devote their lives to the cause of Christ 
 in the distant and then wild State of Illinois. It is probably 
 due to this occasion to give their names. They are as follows : 
 Mason Grosvenor, in whose mind the plan originated ; Theron 
 Baldwin, John F. Brooks, Elisha Jenney, William Kirby, Asa 
 Turner, and the name of the individual who is now addressing 
 you. Mr. Grosvenor was prevented from entering on the work 
 for many years, through the failure of his health. All the 
 rest emigrated to this State, immediately after completing 
 their course of study at the Theological Seminary. More than 
 a quarter of a century has passed since we entered into this 
 covenant, and yet, with one exception, by the wonderful 
 kindness of God, all are here ; though in the body brother 
 Kirby is not. He has ceased from his labors and gone home. 
 He redeemed that pledge to the letter till the hour when God 
 took him. He died with his armor on. He was cut down 
 suddenly by an attack of fever in Dec. 1851. 
 
 The communication from Mr. Ellis above alluded to, con- 
 tained an outline of the plan of the proposed seminary. This 
 plan, it has already been stated, was the product, in a great 
 measure, of the infantile condition of the community, the 
 scantiness of its resources, and the destitution of nearly every 
 means of education, and therefore better fitted for a tempo- 
 rary purpose, than for the permanent foundation of a system
 
 of liberal education. So thought Mr. Ellis and other friends 
 on the ground. The young men at New Haven therefore set 
 themselves immediately at the work of preparing and suggest- 
 ing such modifications of the plan as were necessary to adapt 
 it to become the substantial basis of a university. In making 
 these suggestions, they scarcely relied at all on their own 
 judgment, but consulted the venerable men by whom they 
 were surrounded, who had won a national reputation as the 
 guardians of that venerable university, of which they were 
 still pupils. To President Day, Prof. C. A. Goodrich, and 
 Prof. N. W. Taylor, were they especially indebted, for their 
 patient attention to their inquiries, and the lessons of practi- 
 cal wisdom imparted. When their investigations were finished, 
 and their plan completed, they forwarded it to the trustees 
 of the seminary at Jacksonville in the form of conditions, on 
 which they would unite in building up a seminary of learning 
 in this place. Those conditions were immediately laid before 
 the trustees and subscribers, and received their sanction. 
 They are the basis of the institution up to the present time. 
 The fundamental principles are thus expressed. 
 
 That there be a Board of Trustees, composed of fifteen 
 members besides the President of the Institution, who shall 
 have the entire direction of the seminary, independent of any 
 extraneous influence, except that they shall be sacredly pledged 
 to appropriate all donations, which they may choose to receive, 
 according to the expressed wish of the donors. 
 
 2. That the majority of the Board of Trustees ever after 
 its organization, have power to fill all vacancies occurring in 
 the same. 
 
 The true spirit of these two short sentences is to be in- 
 ferred from the fact that the venerable advisers whom we had 
 consulted, had explicitly warned us against subjecting the in- 
 stitution either to political or denominational control. Such 
 were the views at that time held and expressed by the vener- 
 able men who presided over Yale College. And there were 
 no dissenting voices. It is believed, also, that the lapse of a 
 quarter of a century has in this respect wrought no change. 
 
 If there is either wisdom or folly in these principles, the
 
 20 
 
 gentlemen who proposed them as the foundation principles of 
 this institution are neither entitled to praise, nor exposed to 
 censure. They embody the judgment of New England, in re- 
 lation to the constitution of colleges as it then was, and as it 
 still is. And surely if any portion of the United States has 
 been successful in founding colleges, it is new England. 
 
 Consistently with these principles, as they have ever been 
 understood by those by whom they were originally propound- 
 ed, the institution cannot be rendered subservient to the 
 promotion of mere denominational interests. Such a use of 
 its funds and its influence would be a perversion, the authors 
 of which would deserve the severest censure. To the cause 
 of evangelical religion the resources of the institution are, and 
 from the first have been, sacredly pledged : for the promotion 
 and advancement of denominational interests they were never 
 intended, and cannot be used without guilt. 
 
 The plan having new been settled, action immediately 
 followed. One of the proposed conditions was, that the young 
 men at Yale College should raise the sum of $10,000 for the 
 purposes of the institution. For fulfilling this pledge, they 
 relied entirely on the encouragement they had already received 
 from numerous individuals, whom they were entitled to regard 
 as representing the Christian public. To the liberality of that 
 public they must now appeal. In the spring of 1829, Mr. 
 Ellis visited New England and the Middle States as an agent 
 of the proposed seminary, and repaired immediately to New 
 Haven, to meet, face to face, the friends with whom he had 
 already contracted so intimate an alliance. It was, to all con- 
 cerned, an interview of surpassing interest. Plans were at 
 once laid for presenting the appeal to the public by the agency 
 of Mr. Ellis, with the cooperation of the association at New 
 Haven. All the members engaged, to a greater or less extent, 
 in the work of solicitation. The conception was a novel one, 
 and excited great interest at many points in the New England 
 and Middle States, and in a few months the New Haven asso- 
 ciation was able to redeem its pledge. 
 
 Great assistance was derived in the prosecution of this 
 work from the cooperation of the Home Missionary Society,
 
 21 
 
 especially from its then able and efficient secretary, Rev. 
 Absalom Peters, and the lamented Rev. Chas. Hall. These 
 gentlemen, together with many other active and influential 
 friends of the A. H. M. Society in New York, were consulted 
 in the very outset by the young men at New Haven, and the 
 enterprise received from that quarter warm sympathy and 
 cordial support. Among the names of gentlemen in New 
 York who commended it to the confidence of the public, are 
 found those of Rev. Gardiner Spring, D.D., Rev. John 
 Matthews, D.D., and Rev. Matthias Bruen. 
 
 It is worthy of remark at this point, that this agency in 
 behalf of a seminary ef learning at Jacksonville exerted an 
 influence on the population of this place, and of the whole 
 State, of the importance of which no one has any conception, 
 whose mind has not been turned especially to the subject. 
 As has been said, up to that time almost nothing was known 
 in the Eastern and Middle States of the soil, climate, resources 
 and prospects of the State. The agents who presented this 
 cause to the liberality of the Christian public, lifted the veil, 
 and made tens of thousands acquainted with the facts. A 
 very lively interest was awakened. As a consequence, a stream 
 of emigration began to flow in this direction, which has not 
 yet ceased. Thousands of excellent families may be found 
 living among us, whose attention was first called to this State 
 by the statements of these agents. These emigrants were a 
 far more valuable acquisition to our wealth, to our intelligence, 
 and to the strength and durability of our institutions of educa- 
 tion and religion, than the funds directly contributed. 
 
 Several new members were also added to the association in 
 the Theological department of Yale College, who, on the com- 
 pletion of their theological curriculum, engaged in the work of 
 Home Missions in this State ; among them William Carter 
 and Albert Hale, now members of the Board of Trustees, 
 Flavel Bascom, Romulus Barnes, and Lucien Farnham, the 
 latter from the Theological Seminary at Andover. 
 
 In the fall of 1829, two members of the association at New 
 Haven, Theron Baldwin and your speaker, emigrated to this 
 State, charged with the duty of uniting with contributors to
 
 22 
 
 { 
 
 the institution here, in constituting a Board of Trust accord- 
 ing to the plan already agreed on, and making arrangements 
 to commence instruction. 
 
 On our arrival at St. Louis, then a village not much more 
 populous, nor half as beautiful as Jacksonville is to-day, we 
 found no public conveyance to Jacksonville of any sort. The 
 rivers were open and in good stage, but there was no regular 
 navigation on the Illinois, and no boat was likely to go up. 
 There was no stage to this place, and no mail, except one 
 carried on horseback once a week from Springfield. I pro- 
 cured a carriage and driver for myself and wife and two ladies 
 accompanying us, and left my friend, Mr. Baldwin, to devise 
 the best plan he could for reaching our common destination. 
 The route from St. Louis to this place was nearly the same 
 then as the one now generally travelled. But it was a journey 
 through a wilderness. Delhi, Jerseyville, Kane, Whitehall, 
 and Manchester were not even in name. Alton could hardly 
 be said to be. Carrollton was for the most part a cluster of 
 log-houses. It was a dreary journey, in mud and melting 
 snow, through a region, much of which seemed incapable of 
 settlement for a generation to come, on account of the scarcity 
 of wood. The unfortunate detention of our vehicle in one of 
 those mud-holes, which are one of the first marks of commen- 
 cing civilization, compelled us>like Mr. Ellis, to pass Saturday 
 night on the other side of Sandy Creek. The inconvenience 
 to which we were subjecting the family, in the small cabin 
 where we stopped, compelled us to resume our journey with 
 the dawning day. It was on a bright Sabbath morning, the 
 fifteenth day of November, a little after sunrise, that we cams 
 in sight of Jacksonville. It was already called, in the ordi- 
 nary speech of the people, a beautiful place. I had often 
 beard it called so myself; and beautiful it was, when the 
 bright face of spring was again spread over it, though its beauty 
 was God's work, and not man's. It was at that time little 
 better than a group of log cabins. The prairie was in the 
 sombre brown of autumn, with scarce a tree or shrub to relieve 
 the monotony. To the north-west, however, the view was 
 shut in by an elevation, which a New England er might almost
 
 23 
 
 recognize as a hill. It was crowned with a natural grove. 
 Against the front of the grove was already projected an edifice 
 of brick, which at that distance, and on such an elevation, 
 made an appearance of considerable dignity and magnificence. 
 The site on which it stood charmed every beholder. It was 
 the south half of what is now our college buildings then in 
 the process of erection. 
 
 We were most cordially welcomed at the humble but none 
 the less hospitable dwelling of Mr. Ellis. He was still absent 
 at the East, but his house was in charge of one, whose heart 
 was the abode of every noble and generous sentiment. God 
 only knows what the cause of education and of religion in -this 
 State owes, to her wisdom, energy, and cheerful self-denial. 
 May her spirit always dwell in the wives and mothers of this 
 place. There was one too in that group of newly arrived, 
 whose loveliness has long been shining in a higher sphere, whose 
 services to Illinois College are recorded only in the hearts of 
 those who knew her well, and in heaven. They were lovely 
 and noble spirits both.* Earth seemed darker than before, 
 when they were removed. It is not unbefitting this occasion 
 to drop a tear at the remembrance of their early to our short 
 vision, too early removal from us. ? 
 
 Our arrival was expected, and preaching was appointed. 
 At the proper hour we repaired to the place of worship. 
 What would our people say now, if we were to invite them to 
 assemble in such a place for public worship ? It was a log 
 school-house, some twenty feet square, with a floor of split 
 logs, and seats, so far as there were any of the same, with 
 holes bored in them, and sticks driven in for legs. The 
 chimney was of the style and structure most approved for log- 
 cabins, built out of doors, of logs and sticks, and occupying near 
 half of one side of the room. Such was its condition the first 
 time I met the congregation in that place. Before the next 
 Sabbath the chimney had either fallen down or been removed, 
 in preparation for an arrangement for warming the house by 
 a stove. For two or three Sabbaths we met there before 
 this vast opening in one side was again closed up. Desk or 
 
 * Mrs. Frances Ellis and Mrs. Elizabeth M. Sturtevant.
 
 24 
 
 pulpit there was none, an awkward circumstance to one just 
 from the school of theology, with no faith in the possiblity of 
 preaching without a manuscript before him. Yet on that 
 day this was the unlucky predicament of your speaker. On the 
 first Sabbath the audience was small, and a chair was set for 
 the preacher in one corner of the room. On the second Sab- 
 bath the house was crowded. The chair was missing. The 
 deficiency of seats had been supplied by bringing in rails from 
 a neighboring fence, and laying them across from one seat to 
 another, and thus covering over the whole area with " sit- 
 tings." Those who could not be thus accommodated, crowded 
 around the ample opening where the chimney had been, and 
 heard standing in the open air. There was a state of democra- 
 tic equality in the congregation, which would have done good 
 to the heart of a thorough-going leveller. The preacher found 
 a seat where he could among the congregation, laid his Bible 
 and hymn book on the rail by his side, and rose in his place 
 and addressed the congregation as best he might. You may 
 be sure that he soon found it a poor place for reading 
 manuscript sermons. 1 thought my own prospects by no 
 means flattering. I have no doubt my hearers were of the 
 same opinion. I hope I shall be excused for saying, that I 
 desire never to cease being grateful to this people for their 
 forbearance to me, in those first efforts. They were hungry 
 for the word of God, and were willing to let an inexperienced 
 youth, who was trying to preach the Gospel, live and learn. 
 
 Now that I am on the matter of the old log school-house 
 I may as well finish. In a few weeks a good warm stove was 
 provided, the opening where the chimney had been was filled 
 up with logs, and a window, and a rude pulpit was erected. 
 In this condition, it served for many months as a house of 
 worship, and in it there was, I verily believe, a spiritual sin- 
 cerity of worship, and a heartfelt communion of saints, which 
 are often wanting in more stately edifices. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin and myself were cordially received by the 
 Trustees and subscribers to the proposed institution, who 
 had been engaged with considerable energy in erecting the 
 edifice already referred to. A meeting of the subscribers was 
 called to assemble at the seminary edifice, on the 18th Dec.
 
 25 
 
 1829, for the purpose of organizing a Board of Trustees, ac- 
 cording to the terms of agreement already stated. 
 
 On the day appointed, a goodly number assembled amid 
 the shavings and carpenters' benches of the building in process 
 of erection. The deliberations of the meeting were entirely 
 harmonious. Messrs. Baldwin and Sturtevant presented the 
 evidence of the willingness of the Association to fulfil their 
 part of the conditions, and a Board of Trustees was organized, 
 consisting of Hon- S. D. Lockwood, John P. Wilkinson, Wm. 
 0. Posey, Theron Baldwin, John F. Brooks, Mason Grosvenor, 
 Elisha Jenney, Wm. Kirby, J. M. Sturtevant and Asa Turner, 
 ten in number. The remaining places were left to be filled at 
 a future time. 
 
 On motion of Hon. James Hall of Vandalia, well known 
 both before and since that time in the literary world, it was 
 resolved unanimously, that the institution be called " ILLINOIS 
 COLLEGE." Whether Judge Hall had consulted with any 
 other persons on the subject I am not informed, but I had no 
 knowledge of his motion, till he offered it to the meeting. I 
 think it was offered without any consultation or consent. 
 
 Pledges had already been made to the public by the trus- 
 tees previously acting, that instruction should be commenced 
 on the first Monday in January following. I was myself ap- 
 pointed a teacher, and for the time being sole teacher, and 
 arrangements were made for opening the institution in accord- 
 ance with these pledges. 
 
 When the day appointed arrived, we repaired to the still 
 unfinished edifice, then a full mile distant from Jacksonville, 
 where we found the room which has ever since been used as a 
 chapel, finished, lacking the desk, the lathing and plastering, 
 and for the most part the seating. The rest of the building 
 was in a still more unfinished condition. Of course its im- 
 pression was far enough from inviting. Nine pupils presented 
 themselves on that day. They were Alvin M. Dixon, James 
 P. Stewart, from Bond County, Merril Rattan and Hampton 
 Rattan from Greene County, Samuel R. Simms, Chatham H. 
 Simms, Rollin Mears, Charles B. Barton, and a youth by the 
 name of Miller, of Morgan County. They were all to begin
 
 26 
 
 their studies in the first rudiments, for it is not known that 
 there was at that time, in the State, a single youth fitted for 
 the freshman class in an American college. The pupils were 
 called together, a portion of Scripture was read, a few remarks 
 were made on the magnitude of the errand which had brought 
 us there. It was said that we were that day to open a foun- 
 tain, for coming generations to drink at. Prayer was ofTered 
 to Almighty God. After this, instruction was commenced, 
 and by the blessing of God has to this day never been inter- 
 mitted, except for customary vacations. Illinois College was 
 during that year a day school, with one teacher, and from 
 twenty-five to thirty pupils. 
 
 During the year, however, Kev. Edward Beecher, D. D., 
 of Boston, was elected President of the institution. He 
 entered on the duties of his office in the month of December, 
 and delivered his -inaugural address at the third public anni- 
 versary. 
 
 Two enterprises entered on the next year, to both of which 
 the Trustees were almost irresistibly impelled by the public 
 opinion of the time, have proved unprofitable to all concerned, 
 and among the chief sources of the embarrassments of the in- 
 stitution. They were the erection of the large building, de- 
 stroyed by fire in 1852, and the establishment of a system of 
 manual labor, as conducive to the health, and with the hope 
 of reducing expenses. , 
 
 The erection of a large building, affording lodgings for 
 students, was in accordance with a long established and then 
 unquestioned opinion of the necessity of such an outlay. It 
 was an error, for which not the Trustees but the public opinion 
 of the time was responsible. We perhaps ought to give 
 thanks, that long before the building was destroyed, we had 
 become entirely convinced of the badness of the system, and 
 prepared to adopt a better. 
 
 The scheme of manual labor schools was one of the then 
 newborn favorites of the more ardent school of progressives, 
 but had been very generally received by the public mind, and 
 must needs be subjected to the test of experience. This col- 
 lege came into being just at the unlucky moment, when it
 
 27 
 
 must needs bear a part in the experiment. Some of us, how- 
 ever, were unbelieving from the first, and entered on the ex- 
 periment with reluctance. Perhaps I sliould not be claiming 
 more than is due by stating, that we were among the first to 
 discover and expose the fallacy, and abandon the scheme as 
 impracticable, not however without sustaining serious pecuniary 
 loss. Had the money invested in our students' lodgings, and our 
 manual labor arrangements, been placed at interest, the college 
 would have known much less of pecuniary embarrassment. 
 
 From the name this college bears, it is often supposed to 
 be, or to have been, a beneficiary of the State. This is cer- 
 tainly a great mistake. During the first five years after the 
 organization of the institution, all efforts to procure for it a 
 charter even, were unavailing. During those years many 
 aspirants to office warned the people of the evil consequences 
 to be apprehended from such an institution, and assured them 
 of the necessity of protecting the public safety against so 
 dangerous an enemy, by committing it to their care. At one 
 time it was confidently alleged, that it was a conspiracy to 
 unite church and State. At another that it was a combina- 
 tion of land speculators, to buy up the wild lands of the 
 State, rent them to a dependent tenantry, and thus control 
 our elections. To such an extent did this last consideration 
 prevail, that when in the year 1835, the charter was granted, 
 it limited the quantity of land which the corporation could 
 hold to a single section. The legislators of that time also 
 considered Theology a very dangerous science. The charter 
 contained a clause forbidding the Trustees to establish a theo- 
 logical department. Both these restrictions were long since 
 removed. They are worthy of mention only as way-marks of 
 the progress of our legislation in intelligence and liberality. 
 
 The first class was graduated in 1835, consisting of two 
 members, one of them Hon. Kichard Yates, the honored re- 
 presentative of this district in the last Congress, now a Trustee 
 of the institution. 
 
 Time would fail me to trace the history of the institution 
 with any detail, through the subsequent periods. A few 
 points, however, must claim our attention for a little time.
 
 28 
 
 One fact in our history has for many years been apparent 
 to the public, and often been interpreted to the disadvantage 
 of the institution. The number of names on our annual 
 catalogue has always been small compared with many, indeed 
 most other colleges around us. There is, however, another 
 fact pervading almost our whole history, which is often lost 
 sight of, and which is indispensable to be considered, in order 
 rightly to estimate our numbers. It is that the institution 
 has always been more select in its character, that is, confined 
 more nearly within the proper sphere of collegiate education, 
 than other institutions with which it is compared. 
 
 At one time we had no Preparatory or Scientific depart- 
 ment at all. During the greater part of our history, our Pre- 
 paratory department has been confined to those acquiring the 
 first rudiments of the Latin and Greek languages, and of 
 Arithmetic and Algebra, preparatory to entering the Fresh- 
 man class. It has seldom contained more than twenty or 
 thirty pupils. No pupils under fourteen years of age have 
 been admitted to any department for the last twenty years. 
 
 There are two reasons why the institution has been sub- 
 jected to these limitations. One of them is the distance of 
 the site from the village. This cause can of course scarcely 
 be said now to exist. The extension of the village has re- 
 moved it. But during all the early years of our history, it 
 was out of the question to make our Preparatory department, 
 located at such a distance from the population, answer the 
 purpose of a high school for the village. 
 
 The other and much the more weighty reason is, that the 
 Trustees never wished to monopolize all the departments of 
 education. They have wished that female seminaries should 
 grow up independently of the college, and perform their own 
 appropriate work. With female education, therefore, the 
 college has never interfered. They have also wished that good 
 preparatory schools should be multiplied in all the region 
 around, and form as far as possible a part of our public school 
 system. They have, therefore, always desired to have this 
 work as far as they could, provided for by the people, in this 
 and other localities. The result could not but be, that the
 
 29 
 
 number of names on our catalogue should be small. But this 
 instead of being regarded as a disparagement to the college, 
 should have been considered highly creditable to it. As a 
 consequence of the college having been steadily conducted on 
 this principle, while the number on its own catalogue this 
 year is a little short of one hundred, there are different insti- 
 tutions in this place, which according to the policy of some 
 of our colleges would be all embraced in the college, whose 
 combined numbers will fall but little short of those of Oberlin 
 itself. Good preparatory schools are also springing up in the 
 region around us. The time has gone by, when even a majority 
 of our candidates for the Freshman class are fitted in our own 
 Preparatory department, and it may soon be found safe to 
 resign the studies of the Preparatory course entirely to other 
 hands. The result would certainly have been a very different 
 one, had the college sought from the beginning to absorb all 
 the departments of education, instead of confining itself to its 
 own sphere. In that case, for example, the noble public school 
 near us would have been at this time a thing yet in the 
 future. 
 
 It is a great mistake to attempt to estimate the influence 
 of such an institution as this, merely, or even chiefly, by the 
 number of its graduates, or by counting the names on its 
 catalogue. To do it justice, it should be considered in its re- 
 lations to the community at large, and to an extended system 
 of education, of which it is only a single department. The 
 trustees of this college have never directed their attention ex- 
 clusively to College Hill or to Jacksonville. They have from 
 the first sought to cooperate with their fellow-citizens, in 
 organizing and constructing a system of education for a great 
 State. They have not conceived of Illinois College as absorb- 
 ing and comprehending all the departments of education, 
 male and female ; but as standing at the head of a gradation 
 of seminaries, covering a wide extent of territory, beginning 
 with the common school within reach of every cabin door, and 
 ending in the university. The success of this institution can 
 only be wisely judged of by considering it in its relations to 
 such a system.
 
 30 , 
 
 It cannot, however, be denied, that the steady adhesion of 
 the Trustees to this policy has sometimes brought on the in- 
 stitution a very severe pressure. Many true friends have 
 failed to discern the cause of the smallness of our numbers. 
 Nor, amid the unprecedented religious and political conflicts* 
 through which we have been passing, can it be supposed that 
 those who have been intrusted with the offices of instruction 
 and government, can have failed to excite more or less of 
 hostile and embittered feeling. This very smallness of our 
 numbers has always furnished such persons a convenient point 
 of attack. Again and again, perhaps not even yet for the 
 last time, has the effort been made to make on the public 
 mind the impression, that the affairs of the college were des- 
 perate, and that the small number of names on its catalogue 
 indicated its speedy extinction. And in not a few instances 
 this impression has been by these means widely disseminated, 
 and greatly increased the difficulties under which the guar- 
 dians of the institution labored. Enemies have exulted, and 
 friends a little removed from us have despaired. But let us 
 thank God that thus far these predictions have proved false. 
 The institution has steadily held on its way, doing its ap- 
 propriate work, and gaining vigor by the struggles of its in- 
 fancy to bear the burdens of its manhood. 
 
 The institution has passed through one great financial 
 crisis, which brought it very near the point of extinction, but 
 from which it has been steadily recovering since 1849. I 
 have already remarked that it was brought into some embar- 
 rassment by erecting a large building, and by the failure of 
 its manual labor operations, in the early years of its existence. 
 Under these embarrassments it struggled on till the year 
 1835, when a subscription was commenced for endowing the 
 institution. In the years of 1835 and 1836 that subscription 
 was carried up to $80,000 in this State, and some $30,000 
 from individuals at the East. The interest of these subscrip- 
 tions was for the most part payable annually at six per cent., 
 and the principal at some future day agreed on. The income 
 of the college was now ample, and arrangements were made to 
 sustain a system of instruction corresponding with its increased
 
 31 
 
 income. Scarcely had these arrangements been completed, 
 while nothing had yet been done in paying the old debt, 
 when in common with all the rest of the nation, we felt the 
 shock of the earthquake which followed. Oar subscribers 
 'mostly failed, and were entirely unable to pay. Our debt 
 was unpaid. Our income was less than before, and we had a 
 much more expensive system to sustain. A great accumula- 
 tion of debt was the consequence. The college had a large 
 amount of lands, but it impoverished our treasury to pay the 
 taxes. In this condition of affairs we struggled on from 1838 
 to 1848. In that year an arrangement was made, by which 
 the college was released from its debts, by parting with all its 
 property, except its site with the land now held in its vicin- 
 ity, its buildings, library, and instruments of instruction. 
 To this point was the institution brought in the year 1848, 
 and here it must have terminated its existence, but for the 
 annual appropriation which it was then, and is still receiving 
 from the Society for promoting Collegiate and Theological 
 Education at the West, located in the city of New York. The 
 sum received from that source with its income from tuition 
 kept it from sinking. 
 
 One year afterwards an effort was commenced to secure a 
 permanent endowment. A brighter day now dawned. The 
 call was responded to with unexpected liberality. In the next 
 year and a half considerably over $30,000 had been subscribed 
 in this State, and the city of St. Louis. The subscriptions 
 bore interest at six per cent, from date, and one tenth of the 
 principal was payable annually. The amount has since been 
 increased to about $35,000 ; and arrangements exist by which 
 it is hoped it will soon be raised to $50,000. These pledges 
 are for the most part redeemed with great punctuality and 
 cheerfulness. 
 
 The destruction of our main edifice by fire, on the night 
 of the 30th December, 1852, seemed at the time a severe 
 blow to the college. But as we now see the event, there is no 
 reason to suppose that it has in any degree retarded its 
 growth, or diminished its prosperity. There is in my mind 
 no doubt that the practice of lodging students in college edi-
 
 flees, remote from domestic influences, is evil in its results 
 both to the morals and manners of students. To this purpose 
 the edifice which was destroyed was almost wholly appropriated. 
 Students immediately sought and obtained without difficulty 
 private accommodations. Although the recent scarcity and high 
 prices of provisions has rendered board expensive to students 
 as well as others, it has for the most part been true that 
 board, lodgings, and rooms ready furnished, have not cost the 
 students more than they used to pay when they occupied 
 rooms in the building. The advantage on the score of social 
 and moral habits has been greatly in favor of the present sys- 
 tem. Under our present arrangements the occurrence of any 
 case requiring serious college discipline or censure is very rare. 
 The faculty are not liable to be suspected of acting as spies 
 upon the private life of the students, and are, therefore, in a 
 position more favorable to exerting a strong and salutary in- 
 fluence over them. 
 
 Meantime the Trustees have begun, and are proceeding 
 as rapidly as they can, in the erection of a building designed 
 for public purposes only, which will be, when completed, in 
 some degree worthy of the noble site on which it is to be 
 erected, and of the dignified purposes to which it is con- 
 secrated. A building fund constituted out of the insurance 
 on the building destroyed, and donations to that specific 
 object, amounts to about $12,000. This sum is not by any 
 means sufficient to complete the edifice. But it is confi- 
 dently believed that a further appeal to the public liberality 
 for such an object, cannot be in vain. . ; 
 
 It has ever been the intention of the founders and guar- 
 dians of the college, that its character should be strongly 
 religious, and decidedly 'evangelical, but that it should rather 
 represent the great essentials of the Gospel than the denomi- 
 national peculiarities of any sect. It has been intended, that, 
 with sufficient unity of religious opinion in its Boards of Trust 
 and Instruction to render cooperation easy, it should be an in- 
 stitution in which all the friends of evangelical truth and 
 Protestant freedom can repose confidence. It may be true 
 that such an institution cannot rely on the esprit du corps of
 
 83 
 
 any sect for its support and endowment. It is true that this 
 college has never appealed to any such motive. But is it not 
 also true, that the influence of such an institution is, on the 
 whole, more sound, more healthful, and likely to be more per- 
 manent, than one which is made the great central rallying 
 point of some one religious sect ? It should also be borne in 
 mind, that up to this time this college has obtained larger do- 
 nations from the free-will offerings of the people of this State, 
 than any strictly denominational institution. At all events, 
 amid all the ravages of the sectarian principle among us, is 
 not such an experiment worth trying ? 
 
 The blessing of God on the religious interests of this col- 
 lege should be devoutly and gratefully acknowledged. With- 
 out this may the instructors of a college well feel, that they 
 have labored in vain and spent their .strength for naught. 
 Nothing is more disheartening to a pious teacher, than to, 
 pass through long seasons in which ho tokens of the presence 
 of God's Spirit are witnessed. I cannot remember with, cer-> 
 tainty the number of seasons of special religious interest 
 which have occurred in the institution. It is certainly not 
 less than six or seven. In these precious seasons and through 
 the gracious influences of God's Spirit on individuals, when no 
 general religious interest existed, many of the youth of this 
 State have been born into the kingdom of Christ, and a goodly 
 number of them, not a few indeed of whom have never gra- 
 duated, are, or have been, preaching the Gospel. Of these, 
 some are filling important stations in the churches of our own 
 land East and West, four are known to be Missionaries to 
 the heathen, and some are fallen asleep. 
 
 Our whole number of graduates is one hundred and thirty, 
 of whom one hundred and eighteen still survive. We have 
 had under our instruction more than one thousand pupils, 
 and through a large number of these pupils still surviving, is 
 the college now exerting no small share of influence on the 
 social, moral and religious destinies of this State and of the 
 world. These are the results of this enterprise in its minority, 
 its infancy. Its manhood is yet future. What may we not 
 reasonably hope ?
 
 There is yet one other class of results of which it would 
 be unjust not to speak. The first of the group of public 
 institutions located at Jacksonville was Illinois College. The 
 second, resulting directly from the first, and for the most part 
 fostered and sustained at the outset by the same individuals, 
 was the Jacksonville Female Academy. The organization of 
 its first Board of Trustees took place only a few months after 
 that of Illinois College. Under that organization it was con- 
 ducted iintil the year 1853, when it was transferred to the 
 present Trustees. 
 
 Next came the founding of the Institution for the Educa- 
 tion of the Deaf and Dumb, planned and carried through the 
 State Legislature by men who were influenced only by motives 
 of philanthropy. The originators of the Institution were not 
 residents of Jacksonville, and in selecting this as the location 
 for it, its friends were, probably, not a little influenced by 
 the fact, that this had already become celebrated as the home 
 of educational institutions, and as having a population well 
 fitted to cherish an institution for the education of the un- 
 fortunate. 
 
 A prestige was now established in favor of Jacksonville, 
 which in process of timej led to the erection among us of a 
 Hospital for the Insane, an Institution for the Education of the 
 Blind, the Methodist Conference Female College, and Be- 
 rean College ; the two former by the State, and the two latter 
 by the religious denominations with which they are respect- 
 ively connected. 
 
 Nor must I forget to mention a public school, founded on a 
 noble plan, and having already earned an enviable reputation, 
 and numbering more than five hundred pupils. I know not 
 that any place on this continent can, in proportion to its po- 
 pulation, surpass Jacksonville in the number and variety of its 
 institutions for education and philanthropy. It is even doubt- 
 ful if there is another which can equal it. These institutions 
 are all in their infancy. But properly managed, they have 
 the means of indefinite growth and expansion, to meet the 
 ever-increasing wants of a State, unequalled in natural re-
 
 85 
 
 sources, and in the prospective wealth and density of its popu- 
 lation. 
 
 I think no reasonable man will deny, that the gathering of 
 this noble group here, is to be traced to the early establish- 
 ment of Illinois College, on the eminence which crowns the 
 western limit of our beautiful village. If this is so, then does 
 this village and the region around it owe a debt to Illinois 
 College. Though always poor, it has been at least in one 
 respect like the great Apostle of the Gentiles " Poor, yet 
 making many rich." As the parent institution, it has claims 
 upon every citizen who enjoys the social, the religious, the 
 educational advantages of this town. It asks to be sustained 
 by a liberal public, as well in consideration of what it has 
 done in the past, as of what it promises in the future. 
 
 I have now completed the sketch which I contemplated 
 of the history of this institution. The nature of the case 
 must be my apology for its length, and I will hasten to re- 
 lease you as soon as possible. Brethren and friends, I cannot 
 express to you the pleasure I feel in meeting you here to-day. 
 It is cheering to see around me so many of the fellow-laborers 
 with whom I stood shoulder to shoulder in this enterprise in 
 the days of my youth. A quarter of a century is gone, and 
 we too see the ravages of time around us. All are not here. 
 We cherish here to-day in affectionate remembrance the 
 names of the departed. Of the Trustees of the institution, 
 and several of them among its earliest friends and benefactors, 
 William C. Posey, John P. Wilkinson, William Kirby, 
 John Tillson, Joseph Duncan, Thomas Mather, David B. 
 Ayres, Gideon Blackburn, are gone to their reward. Of those 
 originally associated at New Haven, with a view to the Home 
 Missionary work in this State, two only, so far as known to me, 
 are departed, William Kirby, already mentioned, and Kom- 
 ulus Barnes. Of the rest all survive, and most are here to- 
 day. Others too are gone. We name them not. Could 
 they speak to us now, they would forbid us to call them forth 
 from those scenes of retired and unseen self-denial for the 
 Master, in which they lived. Their beauty and their loveli- 
 ness cheered us and all around us, in those days of our youth-
 
 36 
 
 ful toil, and the very substance of our souls must be dissolved ' 
 ere their names and their image can perish from our me- 
 mory. 
 
 A quarter of a century is gone ; but what occasion hath 
 it left for cheerful gratitude to the Author of all good. Many 
 indeed are gone, but they are gone, we trust, to our Father's 
 house, and are for ever happy in his love. Many too remain. 
 And they not only remain in life, but in almost unimpaired 
 health and vigor, to labor for the Master. Brethren, our 
 heads are whitened, our brows are wrinkled ; time has set his 
 mark on us. But I rejoice, I thank God, that I behold in 
 you so much remaining of the elasticity, the vigor, the fire of 
 youth. Ye are still laborious, trustful, hopeful men, looking 
 forward to a future of labor for Christ. Brethren, this is oc- 
 casion for devout gratitude. Our work is not done. The 
 foundations are laid ; they have been tested by time, by pres- 
 sure, by storm. They are strong and sound : they will sus- 
 tain an edifice every way adequate to the exigencies of the 
 cause we would promote. By the help of God such an insti- 
 tution must be reared up, sound and unfaltering in its reli- 
 gious faith, liberal in all its provisions for mental culture, 
 comprehending in its cooperation all who can appreciate and 
 love it for its work's sake. Who can calculate the necessity 
 which is now apparent for the higher culture, to meet the 
 wants of this great State ? Where we have tens we should 
 have hundreds of minds subjected to the very highest disci- 
 pline which the present art of education can supply. They 
 are needed for teachers. We are just inaugurating a system of 
 free schools, which ought to be one of the best in our country. 
 It will require thousands of enlightened and learned minds, 
 to make it so. We need a vast multiplication of trained and 
 disciplined intellects in the other secular professions, and, 
 above all, in the Christian ministry. 
 
 God has surrounded us too with wealth already accumu- 
 lated, and increasing with unprecedented rapidity. Our pro- 
 blem is a plain one we must appeal to men's love ef learning 
 love of their children love of their country and of the church 
 of God, to persuade them to appropriate enough of their
 
 37 
 
 wealth to this nohle object, to rear on these foundations the 
 noble structure of a literary institution, adequate to all these 
 great exigencies of the State, and of the church of God. 
 Brethren, this is a great work ; we still need your prayers, your 
 cooperation, your wisdom in council. It is yet a question 
 whether on these foundations such an institution shall stand 
 through corning ages, as you conceived of when you espoused 
 this cause with the fervor of youthful zeal. Shall those con- 
 ceptions be realized ? It were truly a shame not to answer, 
 yes ! We began in the midst of poverty we are now called 
 to carry forward the work in the midst of wealth. We began 
 almost single-handed we have now more than a hundred 
 living alumni to sustain us in our work. We began in youth- 
 ful inexperience we have now the benefit of a quarter of a 
 century of experience. Let us then be strong and quit us like 
 men ! Stand boldly, firmly, confidently on our first principles, 
 and never for one moment doubt their sufficiency to sustain us. 
 They will stand as the tried and lasting basis of our noblest 
 literary institutions, when the ephemera of the present hour 
 shall have been for ages forgotten. 
 
 There may, my brethren, be another gathering like this when 
 our first half-century shall have elapsed. Some of us some 
 of those who united in this enterprise a quarter of a century 
 ago may be here but how few and how solitary will those 
 few be how bowed with age how near the grave ! If any 
 of us should on that day be among the living, let us not fail 
 to be here. It will be sorrowful to be here a solitary remnant 
 of a perished generation but if in the mean time we are 
 faithful to our work, we may then behold results which will 
 rekindle the enthusiasm of youth in the bosom of age. 
 Who of us will be here on that day ? The curtain falls 
 darkness covers the landscape. Brethren, there is another 
 meeting where we shall all be present ! 0, may we all hear 
 the sentence, " Well done, good and faithful servant !"
 
 THE SOCIAL RE-UNION 
 
 OF THE FOUNDERS, PATRONS, ALUMNI, AND FRIENDS OF 
 ILLINOIS COLLEGE. 
 
 THIS occasion in celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Illinois 
 College, was one of surpassing interest. At an early hour on Wednesday 
 evening, the guests assembled in the parlors of the Mansion House, in 
 Jacksonville, and promptly, at half-past eight o'clock, supper was an- 
 nounced. The company then proceeded to the dining hall, where a most 
 bountiful supply of refreshments had been prepared. A blessing having 
 been pronounced by Rev. Asa Turner of Iowa, the company proceeded 
 to " discuss " the viands before them. The committee award to Mr. 
 Fox, proprietor of the Mansion House, in whose charge were all the 
 arrangements, the highest credit for the bountifulness, liberality, and 
 good taste with which he discharged his duty, and the efficiency with 
 which both host aud hostess contributed to the enjoyment of the 
 evening. 
 
 After supper was concluded, sentiments were announced as follows : 
 
 1. THE HIGHER INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING : It is the appropriate work of 
 American Christian scholars and men of enterprise, especially young men, to 
 found them at the earliest possible period of every new country. 
 
 This was responded to by Rev. J. M. Ellis, now of Nashua, N. H., 
 but one of the first ministers who ever preached in Jacksonville, and an 
 efficient laborer in founding Illinois College. We regret that we have 
 not been able to obtain any report of Mr. Ellis's interesting remarks. 
 
 2. THE FIRST FACULTY : Some have retired, but their memory and their 
 works abide to bless the Institution for which they toiled and endured. 
 
 Prof. T. M. Post, of St. Louis, but formerly of Illinois College, re- 
 sponded in one of his happiest efforts as follows: 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT : Grave difficulties embarrass me in responding 
 to this sentiment. I am called upon to speak of the living and the
 
 39 
 
 present. The first Faculty of Illinois College, I am happy to say, all 
 still live ; and, to add to the joy of this festivity, but at the same time 
 to enhance the difficulty and delicacy of my task, they are most of 
 them here present. Moreover, I am required to crowd the contents 
 of the theme thus offered me into eight or ten minutes. Four such 
 names as those I am to speak to (leaving out my own), crushed into 
 such a narrow compass it passes my power of condensation. Sure, 
 they never suffered such violent reduction before, nor shall they now 
 suffer it at the hand of a friend. Such compression I leave, if need be, 
 to the harsh rigor of distant and general history. It belongs not to 
 personal friendship, and the living presence. Why, sir, I should as 
 soon think to measure the breadth of a moral principle by a geometric 
 formula, or take altitude of the college they founded while standing be- 
 side it with a scale of seconds, as attempt to take the gauge and di- 
 mensions of such men in ten minutes. I shall essay no such absurdity, 
 sir. I can merely allude to the table of contents which the theme pre- 
 sented opens, and tell you what I would like to speak of. 
 
 The first Faculty of Illinois College ! The words, Mr. President, 
 start up a morning scene ; a morning scene in the history of this land, 
 and in the history of my life, when you and I were young, and in a 
 young world ; the beautiful mystery of hope resting on our, personal 
 history, as on that of the magnificent region we adopted as our home. 
 Those glorious Faculty re-unions, of free speech and open brow, of 
 brotherly trust and truth, and thought and argument that wandered 
 enthusiastic, bold, untrammelled and resolute through all fields, open- 
 ing in the new worlds, spiritual, natural, and social around us those 
 re-unions, how would I like to recall them ! I would love to linger, sir, 
 on the morning scene ; but it has faded like our youth. I would love 
 to speak of its dramatis personce ; of him of the massive brain and 
 massive intellect of mind comprehensive, vast, devout; blending a 
 Platonic love of the mystical and ideal with a faith of Apocalyptic mag- 
 nificence of vision one whose phalanx tread in realms theologic, lite- 
 rary, and prophetical, once echoed for and wide over these broad plains ; 
 but who now in the roar of the Atlantic wave, amid many labors for 
 truth and right, has embarked his powers in what truly is " the con- 
 flict of ages." 
 
 I would speak of another, whose enthusiasm and energy have been 
 the nerve and the heart-beat of this enterprise for a quarter of a cen- 
 tury ; whose clear and rapid logic, undazzled by illusion and defiant of 
 sophisms, trammelled by no gew gaw nor flummery, solved, as with 
 ready intuition, difficulties scientific, dialectic, or practical, keen and 
 penetrant, piercing directly to the core of questions, and grasping the
 
 40 
 
 great common sense of things. Oft did that logical and practical in- 
 stinct much avail our enterprise in difficult times, as did the enthusiasm 
 of that mind tend ever to keep alive hope and courage. And now, 
 though those features have grown sharper and more rigid under the 
 whitening locks, yet their very sharpness, set off by that new nether 
 integument of the face, seems only to add keenness and intensity to the 
 aspect of energy and eagerness with which he still rallies all the forces 
 of the enterprise, rebukes the faltering, cheers yn the timid, rouses the 
 inert and desponding, and challenges difficulties and antagonisms, ever 
 bearing aloft the flag of the noble vessel, and crying out in the thick 
 of the fight, " Ho, comrades, stand fast ! Never give up the ship ! " 
 But I need not speak of one whose praises, as whose knowledge, have 
 been long among you. 
 
 Of another, my theme would call me to speak, of one of Anakim ; 
 Anakim both in body and mind. He brought a large part of New 
 England with him much of the Old Rock ; and southern suns have 
 not yet melted it out of him. The Ajax Telamon was he of our enter- 
 prise; Demosthenic in function, and Demosthenic especially in the 
 " to deinon " of eloquence, he was long the terror of all flunkeys in these 
 parts. With stalwart arm, and massive shield, and ponderous spear, 
 what ruinous routs he wrought mid cants and shams and isms, from 
 Joe Smith to the dreaming Swede. And now that he has betaken 
 himself to hedging yon broad acres, as also hierarchic encroachments 
 and social corruptions with thorns, may his shadow never be less. 
 
 Nor would I less delight to name that other one of our band, with 
 the heart of the child, the brow of a philosopher, and imagination of the 
 poet of mind profound, delicate, pure, true-hearted friend ! the man 
 without guile and without fear, whose kind face memory pictures, 
 cheering with its sympathy our hours of pain and chambers of sickness. 
 Of him, too, would I delight to speak, were he not present and my 
 eulogy likely to offend. 
 
 Of another circle, too the sisterhood clustering around this band 
 of brothers, no unimportant nor ineffective part of the first Faculty in 
 days of early trial, my theme reminds me ; some of them far distant 
 now some gladdening this scene with their presence ; others, their 
 mortal forms dear to memory, repose in yonder beautiful sleeping-place 
 of the dead. Fain would I picture the beautiful intercourse of our do- 
 mestic circles in those days one family almost in heart, in interest, in 
 joy, and in suffering an Arcadian dream, destined to fade away be- 
 fore the advancing stages of more artificial society. As a common gift, 
 a gladness to us all, I well remember the little girl whose blonde and 
 laughing tresses and winsome face and pattering feet seemed like a con-
 
 41 
 
 secration of our college halls new risen in the wilds. But the face of the 
 little maiden faded like a star into heaven. Nor did she go alone : other 
 little forms went from our circle after her. And memory oft recalls how 
 with sorrowing steps and slow we followed members of that little band 
 of sisterhood to our sequestered college burying-ground on the prairie, 
 and how our tears glittered in the soft, silent, lone light of the. setting 
 sun, toward which our fallen ones went to their rest, far from the homes 
 of childhood. But over these scenes we may not linger. 
 
 Nor should this hour forget that noble band of trustees of the col- 
 lege, to whose courage, and faith, and sacrifice, and to whose wisdom 
 and generous kindness it has been in no small measure due that the 
 first Faculty lived and labored on with such success as it did, and that 
 the college still abides. True-hearted, great-hearted men were they. 
 I shall ever cherish to them, as should also this region and community, 
 sentiments of honor and gratitude. Their places of rest will ever be to 
 me as brothers' graves. 
 
 Gladly, too, would I commemorate the first students whom this 
 first Faculty taught. But they need not my commemoration. Their 
 present living selves, I am proud to regard this day as their most hon- 
 orable record. Some that began with translating " tonuere poll" "he 
 thundered with a pole? have since made the true heavens thunder. 
 Others who watched for wild swine around my garden by night, have 
 since pursued other game over the hunting grounds of the ancient Cy- 
 rus, or have gone to their rest on the shores of Western Africa. Some 
 that wept with mortification at their first recitation, have since made 
 crowded audiences weep. Others whose youthful genius effloresced in 
 Fourth of July platitudes, have since wooed the muses of oratory and 
 poesy not in vain. One such I was glad to recognize, as, on a visit to 
 Washington last year, I looked down from the gallery of the Represen- 
 tatives' Hall on one man from Illinois not bereft of manhood by the 
 process of getting there, and that one man from Illinois College. 
 
 Nor would I forget the first friends of the college in this place, with 
 whose cheering and generous interest and sympathy, the memories of 
 the first Faculty, shaded, whether with joy or sorrow, are so much in- 
 tertwined. Many of those faces I am glad to meet here to-night. 
 Some are not : God hath changed and taken them away. 
 
 In looking back on those old times, you would pardon me some- 
 thing of the fogyism of old Nestor, were I to take up his lament that 
 the earth no longer bred such men and women as we remember. To 
 the new comers the young America we see every where taking our 
 places we will say, " We like you like you very much ; but one does 
 not straightway exchange the old wine for the new." You would, per-
 
 42 
 
 haps, with your smooth cheek and glossy locks, and eye undimmed, 
 and brow unbent, be astonished should we say, you do not look to us 
 quite as handsome as the elder generation. But those gray locks have 
 to us a consecration. That faded cheek is holy with memories of love 
 and sorrow. On that ridged and wrinkled brow is the tracery of com- 
 mon cares, anxieties and griefs. That line that now seems deepened 
 by the tears of years, we remember when the first drops began to wear 
 it Pardon us, therefore, that we love those faces and feel their beauty 
 grows holier with time. 
 
 Thoughts like these crowd on me with the sentiment I speak to. 
 But of these I may not task your patience further to tell. But amid 
 many things suggested by this hour, my brethren of the first Faculty 
 will remember, as in that morning time we looked forth,, how many 
 lights, meteor or starry, glittered through the "horizontal misty air" 
 of the dawn. We could then hardly tell fire-flies from constellations. 
 But the false, the spurious, the earthly and illusive have long since 
 fallen. The genuine still live. Yea, as the broad vault of the firma- 
 ment has turned, we know they are of the heavens. They have been 
 lifted by them and shine in them. Such is the institution we commem- 
 orate this day. A quarter of a century has passed. It has not fallen 
 to earth. It has been lifted with the heavens, rolling toward the noon. 
 Higher and clearer on it shines. May it so shine on for ever ! 
 
 3. THE NEW HAVEN BAND : Another sacred seven. 
 
 The Rev. Mason Grosvenor responded to this sentiment, but we 
 regret that we have no report of his remarks. He was the real origi- 
 nator of the enterprise and the organizer of the band. One of the three 
 conditions upon which its members pledged themselves to the work 
 was, that eight individuals be found willing to engage in it. There was 
 no design, therefore, in fixing the number at seven. The enterprise 
 looked so promising, that after seven had enrolled their names, they 
 were willing to stand by the pledge without the eighth. 
 
 The band was organized on the principle that education and re- 
 ligion must go hand in hand to the world's conversion. It had been 
 noticed too that individual missionaries often went to the West, and by 
 being compelled to labor single-handed, found themselves at last borne 
 down by adverse influences, and instead of maintaining an elevated 
 standard as ministers, and lifting the community, they were cut off from 
 the means of improvement, and gradually sunk down as intellectual 
 men. The philosophy of this movement was to secure such a combina- 
 tion, and set in motion such agencies as would enable them to create a
 
 43 
 
 literary atmosphere whose vital power all should feel. Hence a college 
 was to be the centre of the system. 
 
 How ardently this enterprise was cherished by the devoted band is 
 manifest from the. following extract from Pres. Sturtevant's Sermon, 
 " commemorative of the Life and Labors of the Rev. William Kirby," 
 the only one of the band as yet removed by death : 
 
 " There is one point in Mr. Kirby's connection with Illinois College 
 as a Trustee, which deserves.-special notice and commendation. I refer 
 to his punctuality in attending the regular annual meetings of the Board. 
 Since 1833, when he ceased to be an instructor in the college, to the 
 time of his death [Dec. 20, 1851], I find but two regular meetings of 
 the Board at which his name is not entered as present. One of these 
 was the meeting of 1833, which was held out of time, on account of 
 prevailing pestilence. At the time when the other absence occurred, he 
 reached the Illinois River on his way, and found it impassable. This 
 punctuality has been maintained, when, for a portion of the time, his 
 residence was more than two hundred miles, and for the greater part of 
 the time little short of one hundred miles from Jacksonville, and when 
 the journey was to be accomplished in his own conveyance and entirely 
 at his own charges, both for his time and expenses, and often over 
 muddy roads and across swollen streams. We hear of the princely libe- 
 rality of the rich to the cause of learning ; and may it be still more 
 honored, that it may be more practised. But here in the silent, unos- 
 tentatious history of a minister of the Gospel, whose nominal salary was 
 but four hundred a year, and that subject to large discounts which Home 
 Missionaries understand very well, is a noble liberality to the cause of 
 learning which deserves to be remembered when the princely donations 
 of the wealthy are forgotten. And yet, in addition to all this, he was 
 a subscriber of $100 to the endowment fund of Illinois College. 
 4. THE COLLEGE SOCIETY : A noble agency for a noble end. 
 
 Rev. Theron Baldwin, of New York, and Secretary of the College 
 Society, responded to this sentiment. 
 
 Mr. B. said, in substance, that he was happy to respond to the senti- 
 ment, for his judgment and his heart went with it ; but then he had two 
 difficulties : His connection with the society was such, that it seemed 
 like testifying in his own case ; and, moreover, he was very much in 
 the condition of the advocate at the bar, who complained that the case 
 of his client was too clear to afford much opportunity for ingenuity in 
 argument. The nobleness of the agency in question would depend upon 
 the character of the ends to be secured. The object of the society was 
 " to afford assistance to Collegiate and Theological Institutions of the
 
 44 
 
 West." That it was a noble end to found and sustain such institutions 
 had been most clearly and abundantly shown in the historical discourse 
 to which we had that day listened. There was, therefore, really no oc- 
 casion for argument. By looking back over a quarter of a century, we 
 could see a great work accomplished here ; but how much more would 
 this be true, if we could take our stand-point at the distance of half a 
 century, and so on. 
 
 He had not changed his views for the last twenty-five years. When 
 the association was formed at New Haven, one of the conditions on 
 which its members pledged themselves to the enterprise was, that it 
 should be deemed practicable by intelligent men. Young men were 
 apt to be enthusiastic, and however feasible the scheme might appear 
 to them, the whole would be pronounced visionary, perhaps, by older 
 and wiser heads. So it was agreed that, as far as possible, they should 
 take counsel of age and experience. He recollected one case a minis- 
 ter of distinction in Connecticut was consulted by himself, and the an- 
 swer was in a tone that seemed so sarcastic, that it fell upon him like a 
 thunderbolt from a clear sky. " 0, yes ; he had heard that a company 
 ,of young men had formed an association at Yale College; that they 
 were going out to the State of Illinois to found a college, &c., and were 
 going to kindle a fire there, and pour on oil till its blaze should illumi- 
 nate the tops of the Rocky Mountains ! " The general voice, however, 
 was in favor of the enterprise, and it was undertaken. 
 
 After laboring a year and a half in this State, Mr. B. met this same 
 clergyman in the streets of New Haven, and there reminded him of the 
 above speech, and added, " Now, by the help of God, we are going to 
 do the very thing which you said we were about to attempt." But the 
 thing had already been accomplished, for an influence had gone West- 
 ward, and the Society which Mr. B. represented was now granting aid 
 to institutions, not only in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and 
 Missouri, but in OREGON. 
 
 He believed, also, that the society was a noble agency, judged not 
 only by its ends, but by its results. It came into being after the pecu- 
 niary revulsions of 1837 had swept every thing prostrate at the West, 
 and despair was settling down upon some of the noblest enterprises of the 
 age. The President of this college had testified to-day to the effect that 
 it had been saved from ruin through the instrumentality of the Society, 
 and similar testimony had been given by the conductors of Wabash 
 and Marietta Colleges and others, and this was of itself a great work. 
 When such an institution went down, it was like the sinking of a noble 
 steamship, with all its precious freight, in mid ocean.
 
 6. Tun FIRST GRADUATE : His honors and those of his Alma Mater are one. 
 
 This sentiment called out the Hon. Richard Yates. 
 
 He said that the call upon him was unexpected, and he labored 
 under the difficulty of not having heard the speeches which had pre- 
 ceded his ; that, in addressing an audience so literary, he could scarcely 
 hope to escape criticism, and therefore would have preferred at least a 
 few moments of premonition of what is now expected from him.- The 
 occasion was one which, in a readier speaker, would inspire eloquence. 
 The bright eyes of the beautiful beam so animatingly upon us, and the 
 sympathies of men, united in a great enterprise, were so heartfelt and 
 encouraging, as to make us feel cheerful, if not eloquent. So far as he 
 was concerned, he must be allowed to talk without aspiring to the dig- 
 nity of a speech. The occasion was one in which the heart rather than 
 the mind was inclined to assert its sway, and when the " feast of reason " 
 was to yield to the " flow of soul." It was an occasion of commingled 
 pleasure and sorrow. Here we meet the friends of " far years," here 
 is the re-union of those who were bound together by the tender and 
 impulsive ties of youth, and we behold again the forms and faces upon 
 which we loved to linger in the days and years of " long ago ; " this is 
 a pleasure indeed. But over the sunshine of our joy flits the shadow 
 of gloom, as we call over the roll of our youthful associates, and no 
 voice answers, and sad memory calls up fond faces upon which we shall 
 never, alas ! never gaze again. \ 
 
 In the sentiment just read, I am referred to as the first graduate of 
 Illinois College. Now, for the honor of being the first graduate, I have 
 always contended ; but candor compels me to say, that it is a question 
 which admits of some controversy. At the time I graduated I was not 
 the only graduate. And most certainly, I did not receive the first hon- 
 ors of the institution. The valedictory was very properly awarded to 
 a generous and noble classmate, now an eminent barrister in the State 
 of Kentucky. But I was not so far behind as you might suppose, for I 
 received next to the highest honors of the institution I was second 
 best. I confess, I was somewhat in the condition of the boy at school, 
 who boasted to his mother that he was " next to head," which was all 
 very well till the hopeful youth was interrogated as to the number of 
 his classmates, and he had to reply, " there was only two of us." In 
 this way I received next to the highest honors of Alma Mater, " for 
 there were only two of us." 
 
 Well, my classmate, being a liberal fellow, in consideration that he 
 had walked off with the valedictory, out of the plenteousness of his 
 compassion and generosity, agreed that I should receive the first di-
 
 46 
 
 ploma. Having received the first diploma, the first commission, the 
 " In cujus rei testimonium" with the " Collegii Sigillum et Prcesidis 
 chirographum" thereunto attached, or, in plain Saxon, a beautiful 
 sheepskin with blue ribbons and big Latin, I made my bow to the 
 President and Faculty, and walked off the stand the " First Graduate." 
 And if I ever entertained any feeling of envy towards my friend Spil- 
 man on account of his valedictory, it has always had ample revenge in 
 the fact that. I was the "first graduate." 
 
 Mr. Yates said he would not have it inferred that he was so very 
 old because he was the first graduate ; he was yet young, and had all 
 the vigor of youth, but he confessed to something like the feeling of a 
 patriarch, when he looked down the long line of his descendants, and 
 counted already over one hundred Alumni who had received the hon- 
 ors of the college. Should he, however, under a propitious Providence, 
 be permitted to be present at the re-union of the semi-centennial anni- 
 versary of the college, then he should begin to feel a patriarch indeed, 
 and would expect to see the number of the Alumni swelled from a 
 hundred to thousands. Perhaps the Alumni of these large classes will 
 not pride themselves on their genealogy, but let them not despise " the 
 day of small things." We would suggest to them that it seems to be 
 the penchant of " Young America" to take a very comfortable and en- 
 larged view of himself, and that especially are Alumni prone to think 
 that all the poetry and good things of life converged into the very 
 point of time of " all the ages," which covered their classical course. 
 But we would have them to know, that the tones of our old college 
 bell were as sweet in those primitive and chivalric days as now, that 
 our academic groves were as Platonic, and quite as shady as now ; that 
 the grape, whose twining branches hung with thick clusters from her 
 native oak, were quite as inviting as the modern exotic upon the trestles 
 of civilization ; that the prairie, in her rich native luxuriance, and in the 
 gorgeousness of her tints and hues, was quite as poetic, though not as 
 useful as fields of oats ^md corn ; that the breeze of the forest, even the 
 howl of the wolf, was quite as musical as the shrill scream and thun- 
 dering tramp of the locomotive ; that professors were as grave, problems 
 as hard, poetry as inspiring, maidens as fair, and the tale of love was 
 sung in the " wood notes wild " of our forests as tenderly and by voices 
 quite as angelic as those of noiv-a-days. 
 
 I have said in jest that I have contended for the honor of being the 
 first graduate but, seriously, is it an empty honor ? As a citizen of this 
 beautiful town, surpassing all others in the State and in the Mississippi 
 Valley, not simply in the beauty of its location, but in its educational 
 facilities, I will not be unmindful of the fact that the edifice on yonder
 
 47 
 
 , 
 
 hill was the first beginning, the first impulse the cause of these great 
 advantages. When at home and abroad, in the distant East and South, 
 and in our Federal City, we hear the praises of Jacksonville as the 
 Athens of the West, as the chosen seat of science shall we forget the 
 source whence these great blessings flow ? When we look out upon 
 our magnificent temples of science, upon those monuments of legislative 
 wisdom and beneficence, our State institutions, the pride and glory of 
 the State, our halls of learning already erected and in process of erec- 
 tion in our midst, " as glory wreathed the pillars rise," shall we forget 
 that Illinois College was the nucleus around which they have clustered, 
 and that without this beginning, these institutions might have sought 
 some other locality, or have been dispersed at various other points 
 throughout the West ? Shall we forget the long and self-sacrificing 
 efforts of the indomitable spirits, who, undismayed by difficulties and 
 reverses and opposition, with unflagging energy and unfaltering pur- 
 pose, have carried forward this great enterprise? I am not given to 
 adulations, and if it seems to savor of mere eulogium, I must plead my 
 gratitude and high admiration of the man, as my apology in saying, 
 that the disinterested labors of the honored head of this institution have 
 had and will have an influence on the destiny of our broad valley, as 
 benign and potent as that of any one of her proudest statesmen. For 
 these and many other reasons I desire to see Illinois College sustained, 
 and if the people of the State of Illinois, in a spirit of enlightened policy, 
 would only cherish this institution, and sustain it with one half the liber- 
 ality and patronage lavished in other States on their colleges and uni- 
 versities, Illinois College would soon become to the Mississippi Valley 
 what Yale and Harvard are to New England; "joy would brighten 
 and hope elevate her crest." Her catalogue would be graced with 
 names from every State in the Union, and she would continue to go 
 forth on the great mission, blessing and to bless, shedding abroad 
 throughout this great valley the lights of science, and sending annually 
 from her halls her numerous graduates, who, in their respective spheres, 
 would contribute to elevate the character and advance the prosperity 
 of our common country. 
 
 But from the character of the toast to which I am replying, it will 
 be expected of me to speak OF the Alumni and TO the Alumni. 
 
 I claim nothing for myself ; for any honors which have been con- 
 ferred upon me, I feel indebted far more to the partiality of warm and 
 devoted friends and a generous constituency than to any merij, of my 
 own. But for my fellow-students, for the Alumni, for the young men 
 who have come up from our farm-houses, our groves and prairies, and 
 obtained their education at our Alma Mater, I may be permitted to
 
 -. 48 
 
 speak. And in looking over the list, I see that they, scattered through- 
 out the broad valley, have in their respective spheres reflected honor 
 upon their Alma Mater. They have been heard from as Governors of 
 States, Judges upon the Bench, members of the Legislative Assemblies, 
 as among the most eloquent ministers of the Gospel in our large cities 
 and villages, successful farmers, mechanics, physicians, and lawyers 
 they have been heard from on the plains of Mexico, at Monterey and 
 Cerro Gordo, bearing aloft the flag of the stars and the stripes ; and 
 they have been heard from as the bold pioneers of civilization, pene- 
 trating the remotest frontiers and planting in the wilderness the church 
 and the school-house, those most stable foundation-stones of free repub- 
 lican governments. 
 
 To the Alumni I have only to say, we owe duties not only to our- 
 selves and to our country, but to our Alma Mater. Her interests and 
 her fame and ours, as expressed in the toast, are the same. Each sol- 
 dier in the army of Napoleon was intrusted with a part of that " armor 
 whose dazzling light streamed in radiant lines over the Alps " and the 
 plains of Italy, and to each of us is intrusted a portion of the fame of 
 our Alma Mater. And now, in the crisis of her need, shall we do 
 nothing in enabling her to sustain her advanced position among her 
 sister colleges of the West ? The biographies of great men are useful 
 for instruction and example. What student of college who has not 
 reached his sophomoric year, has not heard of what was said by that 
 most eminent statesman who has impressed his mighty name upon 
 the history of his country and the diplomacy of the world, who, when 
 leaving college, turned to the President and said, " You will yet hear 
 from Daniel Webster." And Dartmouth did hear from Daniel Web- 
 ster ; her very name has become canonized by its association with that 
 of her illustrious son. And Dartmouth heard from him not only as the 
 compeer of Clay ; not only as swaying to and fro that mightiest of fo- 
 rums, the American Senate ; not only as the most renowned diplomatist, 
 the profound statesman, and transcendent orator, but in the darkest hour 
 of her fortunes he washer bulwark, her successful and illustrious advo- 
 cate. And now, Alumni and students, though you may never achieve a 
 fame like that of Webster, yet you may be heard from by your Alma 
 Mater in an humbler sphere, and in a way perhaps which may be as 
 useful to her. You may come, and induce others to come to her aid 
 in tlie hour of her need. 
 
 For one, I am not the least discouraged as to her prospects. Men 
 are in the front of this enterprise who are determined to succeed. What 
 man can do they will attempt. Whatever can be accomplished by 
 human effort, by singleness of purpose, by unfaltering industry and perse-
 
 49 
 
 verance, is already secured to elevate this institution to the first rank 
 among the institutions of our country. Though she has met with 
 reverses, they will be overcome. From the ashes of the old edifice will 
 arise a temple of better adaptation and more elegant architecture. 
 Though struggling against adverse winds for years, and partly dis- 
 mantled, she will yet be completely manned and rigged, and with all 
 her sails spread and her banner floating in the light of an auspicious re- 
 dawning, she will launch forth on a broad sea, and triumph over every 
 opposing billow. And when in the years of the future, her buildings 
 shall become splendid and commodious, her libraries extensive, her 
 suits of apparatus complete, her professorships well endowed, and her 
 funds ample, your timely aid, though small, will not be forgotten. And 
 though not a stone of her present buildings shall remain, though the 
 old ship may be patched and renovated till not an original plank in her 
 hull shall be left, yet she will still be remembered as the good old 
 ' Argo," which in the early and heroic ages of the West bore aloft the 
 golden fleece of science. 
 
 I conclude by saying, that at the former re-unions of the founders, 
 friends, &c., of Illinois College, they lacked the presence of the ladies. 
 How necessary female loveliness is to every enterprise ; how much we 
 missed them then, and how much we enjoy their presen ce now, may be 
 summed up in the old familiar words of the poet : 
 
 " The world was sad, the garden was a wild, 
 And man, the hermit^ sighed till woman smiled." 
 
 6. THE WEST that was and THE WEST that is. 
 
 Hon. Edward Bates replied in a brief speech full of genial humor 
 and unaffected, thrilling eloquence. It was like sunshine, gladdening, 
 brilliant ; but as it flashed from his mind evanescent and fleeting, it re- 
 fused to be caught. Nevertheless, its memory will long remain in the 
 minds of those who listened to the " old man eloquent." 
 
 7. KHODE ISLAND : " A little member, but it boast eth great things." 
 
 Rev. Samuel Wolcott, of Providence, R. I., spoke as follows : 
 The sentiment, my friends, which you have received so kindly, 
 might be, in some connections, an equivocal compliment ; but in this 
 connection it has an historical meaning, which relieves it of any doubt- 
 ful construction. It is true both parts of it are true. Rhoda is a " lit- 
 tle member " of our national confederacy ; like Bethlehem, she is little 
 among the princes of Judah ; but like the Judean village, she is iden- 
 tified with principles which are immortal. You cannot pronounce her 
 name without calling up that of Roger Williams, her founder, and with
 
 50 
 
 both are associated the pure image of civil and religious liberty. And 
 that is a " great thing," the greatest thing in our land ; it is the thing 
 of which this little member constantly boasteth, and no man shall make 
 her glorying void. 
 
 From the day that Roger Williams crossed that unrivalled bay in 
 his solitary bark, bearing this new plant to a virgin soil, the bosom of 
 the Narragansett has reflected the fair image of Liberty, and its glad 
 waters now chime with no other notes. And if the day shall ever 
 come when the unrestricted freedom of conscience, which is the birth- 
 right of her citizens, shall be abridged, in the slightest degree, by the 
 pretensions of any hierarchical despotism ; or when the manhood of a 
 man, innocent of crime, shall not be the ample security of his rights as 
 a freeman ; if ever a panting fugitive from oppression shall appeal in 
 vain to the descendants of Roger Williams, for that protection and that 
 hospitality which were so freely accorded to their ancestor in the hour 
 of his need, by the savages of the wilderness, we feel that the crown of 
 that distinction which our little commonwealth has worn so proudly 
 among her sister States, would fall dishonored from her brow, and the 
 sun of her glory would be eclipsed for ever. It is our purpose, God 
 helping us, that our shores shall remain, as now, the sacred asylum ot 
 civil and religious liberty. 
 
 I have responded to this sentiment the more readily, because it be- 
 longs most appropriately to the occasion, and to the institution whose 
 anniversary we are celebrating. Our colleges are the nurseries of 
 free principles ; they were so in the early days of the Republic, and 
 they still are. Where, if not among our ingenuous and educated 
 youths, shall we look for the champions of those noble principles which 
 are the inestimable legacy of our fathers 2 And to what institutions 
 may we look with more confidence than to those which are located in 
 this broad, and free, and fertile West partaking of the richness of its 
 natural domain, sharing its boundless vision and its breadth of senti- 
 ment and feeling, imbued and inspired with its lofty freedom, and im- 
 pressed and elevated with the greatness and grandeur of its destiny ? 
 
 We listened this morning, my friends, with unwearied and delightful 
 interest to the historical discourse, combining with the stern truth of his- 
 tory all the charm of romance ; I have never heard such a narration com- 
 pressed into such a compass. We talk of " G-od's hand in history ; " the 
 able speaker, this afternoon, referred appropriately and impressively to 
 His hand in America ; and who does not recognize His hand in the his- 
 tory which has been unfolded to-day 2 Within the circle of my own 
 recollections I can recall no project, enterprise, or institution, which 
 appears vaster in its bearings. A quarter of a century ago, when a
 
 51 
 
 mere lad at college, I became familiar with the faces, and interested in 
 the plans, of the Eastern founders of this college, whose presence greets 
 us here to-night, with their brother and mine (Rev. W. Kirby), who 
 has gone to his rest and reward. Meeting them here again under such 
 auspices, I cannot but exclaim, " What hath God wrought ! " I vene- 
 rate these men and their Western compeers in this work. Seldom are a 
 company permitted to accomplish, in one generation, such an under- 
 taking ; and it has been wrought out, like every other good result, by 
 toil, self-denial, and hardships by suffering and sacrifice. Yet, who 
 does not feel that it is worth a thousandfold all which it has cost ? If 
 there be, on the face of this widespread republic, a spot worthier than 
 the^one selected, to be the site of such a university, I know not where 
 it is to be found. And never have I passed within the columns of that 
 temple with which God's own hand has crowned the summit of that 
 hill, whose shaded aisles will invite future generations of students to 
 meditation and scholarly discourse, without feeling that in this new Ata- 
 lantis of the West, the magnificent dream of Plato may be more than 
 realized, and these walks of learning be consecrated to a profounder 
 philosophy, a higher wisdom, than dwelt in the classic groves of the 
 ancient Academy. 
 
 Illinois College is the daughter of Yale College ; the features of the 
 parent are stamped upon the child ; and for one, I honor the fidelity 
 with which, under every pressure, she has adhered to the precepts and 
 principles which were impressed upon her infancy. In the career 
 which she has chosen, she is destined, as I believe, to achieve her per- 
 fected triumph, her final crown of glory. And when, in the coming cen- 
 turies, she shall have contributed her share to the mental affluence of 
 this great Central Valley, and become the Alma Mater of thousands ot 
 its sons, it will be deemed no disparagement to the mother, to address 
 the daughter in the words of the Latin poet : 
 
 " 0, matre pulchra, filia pulchrior ! " 
 
 (0 daughter, fairer than thy fair mother.) 
 
 Acknowledging the complimentary allusion to the little State from 
 which I hail, I beg leave to offer, in return, a sentiment which I am 
 sure will commend itself to the feelings of the whole assembly : 
 
 ILLINOIS COLLEGE The child of Faith may it ever be the nurse 
 of Freedom ! 
 
 President Sturtevant was called upon, and responded briefly and 
 appropriately to this sentiment. 
 
 8. OUR NEIGHBOES ON THE NORTH-WEST: The vine planted here has sent 
 branches and borne fruit over the river. 
 
 Rev. Asa Turner responded, and gave a highly satisfactory and en-
 
 52 
 
 couraging statement of the prospect in reference to collegiate education 
 in Iowa. 
 
 9. THE SISTERHOOD OF COLLEGES : Stars which, however they may differ, 
 derive their light from the same source, and help to illumine the same heavens. 
 
 This was replied to by Rev. Flavel Bascom, of Galesburg, 111., once 
 a teacher in Illinois College. 
 
 It was now about eleven o'clock, and after having sung " Auld Lang 
 Syne," the company separated, all regarding it as one of the most de- 
 lightful social seasons ever witnessed in Jacksonville.
 
 

 
 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
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 QUARTER CENTURY CELEBRATION AT ILLINOIS 
 
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