Oberlin City (part 1 of 2)

Oberlin City

the college, he had not been careful to reserve a place for himself, and thus, after ten years, while still a young man, he found himself, with improved health, free from responsibility in the college except as a trustee. Having occasion, in the autumn of 1843, to Pass through the State of Michigan, his mind occupied with the thought of another Oberlin, he chanced upon a place in Eaton County that impressed him as possibly the appointed field. After spending the night at a cabin in the neighborhood, he went on his way. On his return, intending to take a different road, by mistake he came back to the same locality, and spent another night. Returning to Oberlin, he gathered a few of the men who had joined the Oberlin colony upon his invitation, and proposed to them the new enterprise. After some weeks of deliberation and prayer, in the spring of 1844, Mr. Shipherd took his wife and six boys into a wagon, with such household goods as could be readily transported, with a young man or two to drive his cows and sheep, and made his way overland to the new wilderness home. A half-dozen families from Oberlin followed, and two young men, graduates of the preceding year, Reuben Hatch and Oramel Hosford, joined them as teachers; and thus the foundations of the town and the college of Olivet, in Michigan, were laid.

The new settlement had its experiences of hardship and trial. The breaking up of new lands, and the flooding of other lands for a mill site, brought sickness to many, especially to Mr. Shipherd and his family, and in September Mr. Shiphcrd died. It was a sad blow to the enterprise, but there was no looking back. The work went on, and after many days, and through many trials, prosperity came.

One of the young men especially, who left his studies at Oberlin to help Mr. Shiphcrd and his family on their journey, Albertus Green, from Lan- N.Y., proved himself a most enterprising and efficient business manager ; and the little community again and again assessed upon themselves the cost of some new extension or addition to the advantages of the college, thus proved their vitality, and secured the confidence of the people of the State. For many years they drew their teachers almost wholly from Oberlin, but at length they could call men from -crn colleges, and have now reached the stage where they find satisfactory professors among their own alumni.

A few families went out from Oberlin to Southa, in 1848, with the purpose of establishing a Christian settlement and Christian institutions in advance of the tide of emigration which turning in that direction. They first settled upon the Missouri bottom, a few miles north of the State line. Th< y had no minister, and only at rare intertching of any kind ; but they maintained re- 1 ings and a Sabbath-school, organized a ' the co-operation of

These families drew others from Oberlin and the neighborhood, and among them Rev. John Todd, who had graduated at Oberlin, and was then pastor of the church at Clarksfield, Huron Co. These joined the colony in 1851. Meanwhile it had been discovered that the Missouri River bottom was too uncertain and unstable a foundation for a town, and the colony of Civil Bend found a new site fifteen miles away, on the bluff, and called it Tabor. Here the germ of Tabor College was planted, and has proved its vitality by a slow but steady growth during thirty years, under a heavy pressure of difficulties and embarrassments. The faith and courage and self-sacrifice of the surrounding community have saved it in one crisis after another, until now the day of its prosperity seems to have come. All these years it has been a fountain of educational and spiritual forces to a wide district of country. The families that have sustained it, by their faith and their contributions, were mainly of the original colony from Oberlin, and the instructors that have labored in hope, and given their lives to the work, have been Oberlin graduates.

Oberlin students have aided in the establishment of many other Western schools and colleges, among them Hillsdale College, Michigan ; Ripon College, Wisconsin; Iowa College, Grinncll, Iowa; Drury College, Springfield, Missouri; and Carlcton College, Northfield, Minnesota ; not to mention again the schools at the South already referred to. The impulse of a new college, growing from small beginnings, has seemed to impress many Oberlin students, and they have gone forth with the thought of undertaking a similar enterprise. Such an impulse would scarcely be felt among the students of an old and fully equipped college. It comes where collegebuilding is a part of the education.

Chapter Vii Oberlin In The War

THE conflict which Oberlin had waged with slavery was essentially a moral one - a conflict of ideas and principles. The purpose was to diffuse abroad correct ideas as to the wrongfulness and unprofitableness of slavery, in the full expectation that in the end the truth would prevail, and slavery would give way before it. The example of emancipation in the West Indies was naturally accepted as an illustration of what it was reasonable to expect. Thus, from time to time, instances appeared in our own country of individual slave-owners who had become dissatisfied with their position, and under great difficulties and at great expense had set free their slaves. It was thought that all that was necessary was to continue this moral pressure, and slavery would at length yield to the power of truth. There was more or less apprehension of violence and bloodshed, but it was supposed that this would arise between the slaves and their masters, in the form of insurrections and repressions. No emancipation was thought to be desirable which did not involve the consent and cooperation of the holders of the slaves - not that the rights of slaveholders were of any special force, but because there could be no satisfactory result without such co-operation.

Oberlin In The War. 1 55

In the early days of the antislavery movement there was a very sanguine expectation of rapid progress in this moral revolution, and the people of Oberlin shared in the hope. Occasionally one would make a journey through the Southern States, and return with his views greatly changed as to the hopefulness of the prospect. The entire civilization of the South rested on slavery, and all investigation or inquiry or discussion upon the wrongfulness of the system was effectually precluded. Such was the impression from the inside view. But to the average antislavery man it seemed impossible that slavery should survive the growing agitation which would at length bring to bear upon it the protest of the civilized world. A conversation is recalled which took place at an Oberlin tea-table, about the year 1840. A young man asked of Father Keep, who was present, how long a time he thought would pass before slavery would come to an end. " About twenty his deliberate answer; and no one pi cut seemed to think the expectation unreasonable. It is true that after twenty years the end was just at hand ; but to human apprehension it was no nearer than twenty years before.

:imony or action against slavery, social or political or religious. All that was required th.it the action should be in harmony with Chri -: priii id should h 1C probable of prayer for the termination of slavery was mairttained for many years. The fugitive from slavery was sheltered, and helped on his way ; not only as a service to him personally, but because such an escape was believed to have a wholesome reaction upon public sentiment at the North and at the South. The idea of maintaining a testimony by abstaining from the use of the products of slave-labor, such as sugar and cotton, obtained only a slender and very brief following. The more practical view was that the money expended for the maintenance of the principle could be used more wisely in direct action upon public sentiment.

The extreme doctrine of " non-resistance," which pervaded antislavery circles quite extensively, was never prevalent at Oberlin. The right to repel by force injustice and outrage, under proper conditions, was vindicated in the Oberlin philosophy, and maintained as a practical principle; but there was no expectation that the antislavery struggle would afford occasion for any general application of the principle. The most that was apprehended was that the violent measures of slave-catchers, who invaded the community, might some time call for the defence of property, or liberty, or life ; and a patrol was sometimes organized to guard the community from such invasions. A proposal to operate, in either an open or clandestine way, upon slave territory, for the release of slaves, was never regarded with favor. The effort would bring danger and violence, without useful result.

Oberlix Av The M'Ar

Compromise act ''inoperative and void," in relation to Kansas and Nebraska, the people of Oberlin, in common with many communities at the North, were profoundly moved. They organized an emigrant-aid society, and sent forward several companies of emigrants from Oberlin and the surrounding country, to pre-empt Kansas as a free State. These emigrants went prepared for the rough times of the " borderruffian" war that followed, and helped to organize Kansas as a free State. Several Oberlin ministers were on the ground through all the conflict, and were sometimes driven from their homes and hunted like wild beasts over the prairie. But the day was won at length, and Kansas came forth one of the most prosperous and progressive of the free States. John Brown, of Harper's Ferry, was not a stranger at Oberlin. His father was a trustee of the college as early as 1835. His younger brothers and a sister were students here, and he himself had rendered serin the survey of lands belonging to the college in Western Virginia. He was more or less associated with Oberlin men in Kansas ; but his raid at Harper's to the people of Oberlin generally as to any other community in the land. . young colored men from Oberlin were with company, one of whom. Leaiy. was killed in the fight, and the other. Jnh ind, died on the average Democratic impression of that day: " Oberlin is located in the very heart of what may be called 1 John Brown's tract/ where people are born abolitionists, and where abolitionism is taught as the 'chief end of man,' and often put in practice. . . . Oberlin is the nursery of just such men as John Brown and his followers. With arithmetic is taught the computation of the number of slaves and their value per head ; with geography, territorial lines, and those localities of slave territory supposed to be favorable to emancipation ; with history, the chronicles of the peculiar institution ; and with ethics and philosophy, the * higher law ' and resistance to Federal enactments. Here is where the younger Browns obtain their conscientiousness in ultraisms, taught from their cradle up, so that while they rob slaveholders of their property, or commit murder for the cause of freedom, they imagine that they are doing God service."

The actual, responsible sentiment of Oberlin men is expressed in the following extract from an editorial in the Oberlin Evangelist upon the Harper's Ferry tragedy: " We object to such intervention, not because the slave-power has any rights which mankind, white or black, are bound to respect, and not therefore because it is properly a moral wrong to deliver the oppressed from the grasp of the oppressor ; but entirely for other reasons. We long to see slavery abolished by peaceful means, and as a demand of conscience, under the law of rightousness, which is the law of God. Such a result would be at once glorious to Christianity, and blessed to both slave- holders and slaves. It is especially because an armed intervention frustrates this form of pacific, reformatory agency, that we disapprove and deplore it. Perhaps the day of hope in moral influence for the abolition of ;- past already; we cannot tell.

having unwisely precipitated its setting sun. If a mad infatuation has fallen upon Southern mind, and they will not hear the demands of justice, nor the admonitions of kindness, let the responsibility : where it belongs. We would not have it so. ' We have not desired the woful day, O Lord, thou knov.

P>ut the woful day was hastening on, and Obcrlin to have its full share of responsibility and sacrifice. Fort Sumter was surrendered April 13, i The call of the President for seventy-five thousand volunteers followed, and the question of responding to the call came before the students of Oberlin. Friday ril 19, they held a meeting in the college chapel, where members of the different classes appealed to their fellows to rally to the defence of the Union, and committees were appointed to receive the names of volunteers. The next evening a meetcalled in the church, which was addressed by Professor Monroe, who was at the time a mcmb- sand dollars were pledged to furnish and sustain the volunteers, and the people retired to ponder the question of duty during the hours of the Sabbath. It was a time of solemn and absorbing interest. In many rooms there were gatherings for prayer during the day, and there were many consecrations to the service of God and the country. The term of enlistment was for three months, but those who closed their books, and turned from the recitation-room to the tented field, in general regarded themselves as enrolled for the war.

Numbers sent in their names before the close of the Sabbath, lest there should be no room for them if they waited until Monday. These were not mere boys who acted from the impulse of the hour; they were serious, mature young men, from all departments of the college, who had their cherished plans of life, and had pursued them through years of toil and study. They could not drop these plans, distinctly apprehending that they might never resume them, without earnest self-inquiry, and solemn thought. Oberlin has witnessed during its history many memorable Sabbaths, probably few that left a deeper impression upon character than this.

Monday morning found one hundred and thirty names enrolled, while it was supposed that only eighty-one could be accepted. The faculty of the college did not feel at liberty to encourage enlistments. They maintained a conservative position, restraining the ardor of the impulsive, and requiring all under twenty-one years of age to wait the approval of parents or guardians. It was soon as- certaincd that a single company of one hundred members would be accepted from Oberlin, and this was organized, and furnished with such an outfit as could be provided in two days, in a country town, For these two days the college exercises were suspended, and the lecture-rooms were occupied with groups of women, from the college and the town, in the preparation of such articles as soldiers were supposed to need, not omitting the sadly suggestive work of scraping lint. Teachers of literature and science were at a discount, and every old man who had seen a squad of soldiers on the march or in bivouac was brought to the front. Thus, with very meagre resources, was commenced that education in the ideas and facts of warfare, which was to continue through a period of four years, until every detail of military life and movement became familiar, even to children. There was a vigorous and rapid growth in the virtue of patriotism. Less than two years had elapsed since Oberlin, with its antislavery ideas and practices, had been in conflict with the general government, and numbers of citizens and students had gone to prison under its authority. There had been no enthusiasm for the flag: it was the symbol of op-

. An antislavery man had found it difficult, for many years, to maintain his loyalty. lie could n-joicc in his country, but his chief interest in the government was in the hope and purpose that it should one day be : <1 from its degradation.

stop to ascertain what was to be the outcome of the war, in regard to slavery. They saw that, standing with the government, they would be on the side of liberty against slavery, and they could not hesitate. Whatever the result, freedom must gain, and slavery must lose, in the conflict. There was a very general conviction that slavery must go down in the struggle, whatever might be the ostensible policy of the government. Thus the loyalty of the people, which had been suppressed or overborne for years, at once found free scope, and the national flag was thrown aloft. Oberlin fairly blossomed out with the stars and stripes, and it was a great relief to know that these were the symbols of righteousness and liberty, and not of oppression.

Two days of preparation sufficed to provide the young men their uniforms and general outfit, and on Thursday, April 25th, the company were attended to the railroad station by almost the entire population of the town. Amid various demonstrations, and sad farewells, they took the train for Cleveland, where they went into Camp Taylor, and became Company C, of the Seventh Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Its captain, G. W. Shurtleff, was a member of the theological school and tutor in Latin, and a large majority of the members were students. A few were young men from the town. The company remained at Camp Taylor about ten days, waiting for orders, and during this time received many visits from friends at Oberlin. On the 5th of May, their regiment was ordered to Camp Dennison, near Cincinnati. Here they built their first barracks, and continued in drill and general discipline until the 26th of June. Here, too, they came to be known as " the praying company." Each mess had its chaplain, who was responsible for a service of daily family hip. A daily prayer-meeting was established by the company, usually held in the open spaces between the barracks, to which members of other companies were frequently attracted. The daily family service was maintained in most of the messes during their entire connection with the army, a period of more than three years. Such peculiarities exposed them at first to sneering remark, implying an expectation that they would fail in the sterner work of the soldier's life ; but after the first few marches and the first battle, these remarks lost their point, and were no longer heard.

It was natural that this first company sent out should be followed with special interest by the people of Oberlin. Other companies went out, and many others, students and citizens, volunteered; but Company C was the first contribution of Oberlin to the war, and had the first experience of its hardships.

The Seventh Ohio was ordered from Camp Dennison to Western Virginia on the 26th of June, and then began, for Company C, the marches and the battles, which continued until they were mustered out of service, at Cleveland, just three years later.

The company first came under fire at Cross Lanes, in Western Virginia, where the Seventh Regiment was surprised by a large force of the enemy ; and for a time Company C stood alone, unsupported, and without any field officer, until they were at last compelled to retreat, leaving five of their number severely wounded on the field, two mortally wounded, and two uninjured to look after them. In their retreat through the woods they fell in with a regiment of the enemy, and the captain and those near the head of the company, twenty-nine in all, were taken prisoners. The rear of the company was saved from this misfortune by the rather unmilitary order of the lieutenant, E. H. Baker, " Skedaddle, boys." Thus in the first encounter with the enemy the company was sadly broken, and was never entirely reunited. The prisoners were first marched one hundred miles with their elbows tied together behind their backs, and were then taken by rail to Richmond, Ya., where they \\erc confined in the somewhat famous tobacco factory. The captain was hen- : ed from his company, and spent a ; in various Southern prisons, at Richmond, Salisbury, Charleston, and Columbia. After exchange in September, 1862, he was placed on the staff of General Wilcox, and passed through the battle of Fredericksburg ; was soon after commissioned as Colonel of the 5th U. S. Colored Troops, and fought with them through the remainder of the war in the trenches before Petersburg, in June, July, and August, 1864, and at New Market, Va., where he lost nearly half his regiment, and was himself severely wounded; and was honorably discharged at the close of the war as brevet brigadier-general. Many of the officers of his regiment were young men who had been his friends and fellow-students at Oberlin.

The rest of the prisoners from Company C were soon taken in open cars, through the whole length of the Confederacy, to New Orleans, where they were placed in the parish prison, without any care for their clothing, and a very inadequate supply of food ; and at night they were thrust together into a cell, without blankets or any bedding, where only half could lie n at once-, while the other half sat upon the >: floor, leaning against the wall, a small opening in the door and a smaller opening in a Hue in the wall, which came, in ample proportion, with their allowance of meat. By the sale of these they supplied their more pressing wants. The more studious among them pursued their French, German, Greek, or Theology. A " Union Lyceum" was organized, a semi-monthly paper, " The Stars and Stripes," issued, and prayer-meetings and Bible-classes were maintained. Two of their number died in this prison, of typhoid fever. They remained there from October, 1861, to February, 1862, about five months, when they were removed to the prison at Salisbury, N. C., where they were kept until near the end of May; when, after taking the oath not to bear arms against the Confederacy until regularly exchanged, they were sent down the Tar River under a flag of truce, and were placed on board a Union steamer, over which floated the Stars and Stripes. As they stepped upon the deck it is reported that " they danced and wept, and even kissed the mute folds of those loved colors." Some of them were discharged as not fit for further duty, and the rest, after exchange, reported themselves to their company, and served out the three years of their enlistment. Little was heard at Oberlin of these men during their captivity. A few scraps of intelligence came by roundabout methods, and occasionally a letter on tissue paper came through, packed under the covering of a brass button on the uniform of a soldier who, for some reason, was sent through the lines.

The news of the battle and disaster at Cross Lanes reached Oberlin in the midst of the commencement exercises, and gave a sad interest to the occasion. The programme that day bore the names of twenty-nine members of the Senior Class, nine of them marked with a star referring to a marginal note, "In the Federal Army." These nine received their degree with the rest; but Burford Jeakins was lying, mortally wounded, on the field, and \Ym. \Y. Parmenter died soon after in the prison at New Or-

The portion of the company remaining from the Cross Lanes disaster, more than two thirds of the whole, soon rallied, reorganized by the appointment of officers in the place of those lost, and had their numbers at length replenished by the enlistment of recruits, in part from Obcrlin, and in part from other sources.

During the remaining years of the war, they held on their way, leaving their dead on many a hard-fought field, marching twenty-four hundred miles, and carried by rail and by steamer forty-eight hundred more. Among their battle-fields are Winchester, Port Republic, Cedar Mountain, Chancellorsville, Antietam, fidelity to the principles with which they enlisted, Prof. J. M. Ellis, of the college, after a visit to the camp, thus testified : " When their ranks had been thinned by capture and death, and they had passed through all the corrupting tendencies and temptations of their new life for a year, surrounded with godless men and officers on every side, I saw them in their tents in the heart of Virginia ; and nightly from the six tents of Company C went up the voice of song and of prayer, as they bowed themselves around their family altars. It was a strange sound in a camp of thirty thousand men. They were known as the * praying company,' and the fame of their meetings was spread through all that army."

But Company C was not the only contribution of Oberlin to the war. A company from Oberlin joined the 4ist O. V. I. ; and about the same time, a considerable number of students and citizens joined the Second Ohio Cavalry, and followed the line of war from the Mississippi to the Indian Territory, and back through the whole length of the Confederacy to Danville, Va., and still back again to the western border of Missouri. One of these, A. B. Nettleton, rose from the rank of a private to the command of his regiment, fought under Sheridan the campaigns of the Shenandoah, and helped win the final victory at Five Forks.

In 1862, another company went from Oberlin to join the iO3d O. V. I. Its captain, P. C. Hayes, was a graduate of the college, and a member of the Theological School. He soon rose to the command of his regiment, and at length became Provost-Gen- eral of Schoficld's army, with his regiment as guard. The same year, when Cincinnati was threatened by Kirby Smith's army, and the " Squirrel Ilunu were called out, our recitation-rooms were given up almost wholly to the young women, while the young men, upon a few hours' notice, rushed with such arms and ammunition and provisions as they could gather up, to the point of danger. When the danger was past they returned to resume their work.

this service there was no compensation - only the approval of the authorities of the State, and the Squirrel Hunter's diploma. The same year, when Washington was in danger, a company of "threemonths men" went from Oberlin directly to the " front," held several posts to relieve veterans, in various skirmishes, and at last were in-

. d in the surrender by Gen. Miles at Harper's Ferry. In 1864, when Gen. Grant was concentrating all his forces upon Richmond, and Ohio sent, within the space of two weeks, forty regiments of " hundr men" into the field, Oberlin sent a many of our students were in the army, or to follow their fortunes. The alumni of the college, scattered through the land, responded to the call of the country in the same spirit as the undergraduates. They went in command of companies and of regiments, many of them as chaplains, and some as privates. One, J. Dolson Cox, attained the rank of majorgeneral. He went into the army from the Ohio Senate, at the first call, commissioned as brigadiergeneral ; took charge of the Department of Western Virginia, and held it to the Union; led the Ninth Army Corps and the Twenty-third with McClellan and Burnside ; and fought through the Georgia and Tennessee campaigns with Sherman and Thomas.

Taking graduates and undergraduates together, it was estimated that not less than eight hundred and fifty were in the army, at some time during the four years. The annual attendance of students was reduced from thirteen hundred and thirteen in 1860, to eight hundred and fifty-nine in 1862 - a loss of nearly thirty-five per cent. This loss, after the first year of the war, was wholly on the part of the young men. The number of young women was greater in 1864 than in 1860, and for the first time in the history of the college they became the majority, while before they had been less than two fifths of the whole. The system of co-education thus helped to keep the college in good working order during these years, while so many young men were taking their discipline in the army. Still several classes were greatly demoralized, in the military sense of the word, by the loss of nearly half their nurnbcrs.

In the first excitements and anxieties of the v the work of the class-room was maintained with some difficulty. The telegraph or the morning paper often brought news so distracting that neither

.iers nor pupils could give their full strength to the work of the hour ; but at length all learned to possess their souls in patience. Still there were often sad interruptions, as when one who had fallen brought back to be buried from among us - h and Worcester from Winchester, Kenaston from Gettysburg, Ells from Washington, and others from other fields. There were also pleasant interruptions when paroled prisoners came back after a year's captivity, almost as from the dead.

The recreations of the students took on an unusual form. In the spring of 1861 they had built a gymnasium on the campus, by voluntary contributions, and had called a teacher of gymnastics from the

:. to inaugurate the new dispensation. Great enthusiasm was shown in the exercises, but from the day of the fall of Fort Sumter, the gymnasium was rtcd. The teacher returned to his own State to enlist in the army, and the students organized companies and practised the military drill instead of gyn mnusium was sometimes utilized soldiers' monument, erected in 1870, bears the names of one hundred citizens and students who fell on the field, or died in prison or in hospital. A special sadness attaches to the memory of those who fell at the last hour, when all the dangers seemed to be past - of Tenney, of the Second Ohio Cavalry, who was killed by almost the last shell that exploded in the neighborhood of Richmond ; and of Trembley, member of Company C, who had fought in every battle, except one, in which his regiment had been engaged, and had suffered no harm. The time of his discharge had come ; he had written to his mother to dismiss her anxiety for him - that his fighting was over and he would soon be with her. On the deck of the steamer a few miles below Cincinnati his foot slipped and he was drowned. His comrades recovered the body and bore it to his mother.

When the war was finished, all show of military life at Oberlin disappeared. The experience of war had been too real and serious to leave any taste for its pastime or its pageantry. No military companies survived among the students, and no military drill was adopted as a college arrangement. The classes gradually filled up, the advanced classes more slowly than the others, and in 1873 the numbers in attendance were greater than when the war began.

REV. JOHN KEEP was born in Long Meadow, Mass., in 1781, graduated at Yale in 1802, was pastor in Blandford, Mass., and in Homer, N. Y., from 1805 till 1833, when he came to Cleveland and became pastor of a new church on the West Side. While he was at Homer he had been a trustee of Hamilton College and of Auburn Theological Seminary, and was naturally interested in any educational enterprise in the neighborhood. In 1834 he was elected a trustee at Oberlin, and held the position until his death in 1870. By reason of his years and experience he was made president of the Board, and had the responsibility of the casting vote on the question of receiving colored students, in 1835. From that day he took Oberlin on his heart, and never laid it off unless when he laid off the earthly life. His last words pertained to a letter he had planned to write in the interest of the college. He traversed the land to gather means to sustain it, and crossed the ocean to save it in a crisis. In 1850, then seventy years of age, he removed to Oberlin, and from that time his home was here. At every meeting of the trustees he was present, and encouraged all by his hope and his faith. When others were depressed he sustained and bore them on by his cheerful courage, and thus he held on to the end of his days. When more than fourscore years old he would often come out at evening, with his lantern, to find some one burdened with responsibility and care, and cheer him up with a word of encouragement. His sleep was sweeter after such a service, lie died in his eighty-ninth year, not from disease, but because life was completed.

MR. \YM. DAWKS became a trustee of the college in 1838, and at the same time made his home in Oberlin. He had been a successful business man, and upon visiting Oberlin he was greatly pleased with the spirit of enterprise and work, on the part of students and professors, which he witnessed on every hand. He at once cast in his lot with them, and through a period of twelve years he greatly aided in sustaining the work by his financial ability and personal influence. The mission to England a success, to a great extent through his strength of purpose and personal force, his power to impress others with his own convictions. His courage at times seemed to amount almost to presumption, but he rarely failed to estimate properly his opportunity. Others were not always able to work up to his standard of faith. To keep the college from debt he proposed that the sal :" the prufeshould not constitute a legal claim, but that whatever '-.ould be divided, and if there- were anything lacking it should not be a debt on the part of the college. This \\ .lions which Chri hould sustain to any benevolent commend itself generally to the parties concerned, and the plan was not adopted. Mr. Dawes had set his heart upon this idea as the true Christian conception, and he at length retired from further responsibility. He is passing a quiet old age, in full possession of his faculties, at Fox Lake, Wis.

In this circle of devoted and consecrated men, one was found who proved false, the only one during the fifty years who has betrayed his trust or brought scandal upon the cause. It is not necessary to name him. He came in 1836, a graduate of Western Reserve College, and took his theological course at Oberlin, a young man of ability and promise and marked influence. When the Evangelist was established he was made office editor, and was appointed to other posts of responsibility. It was a dark day in the winter of 1843 when his hypocrisy and villainy and vileness were disclosed. Imprisonment and other penalties which followed did not change his character. He became an exile, and lived for many years and died in the remote south-western part of the country, with no sign of essential reformation.

GEORGE N. ALLEN, whose work has been already mentioned, was elected Professor of Music in 1841, and of Natural History in 1847. He continued his work until 1870. After retiring, he removed with his family to Cincinnati, and died there in 1877, at the age of sixty-five. He was buried in the Oberlin Cemetery.

WILLIAM COCHRAN came to Oberlin as a student, in 1835, from Fredericktown, Ohio. He graduated in 1839, anc* took the theological course, completing it in 1842. The same year he was appointed Professor of Logic and Associate Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy. He had unusual powers in the direction of philosophical inquiry and thought, and was a very impressive preacher. A series of articles in the Obcrlin Quarterly AYzvrro, of which he was an editor, on the simplicity of moral action, gives an example of his analytical powers, and is still worthy of careful study. Professor Cochran resigned in 1846, with the thought of entering the profession of law. He died at Fredericktown in 1847, at the age of thirty-three, and was buried in the Oberlin Cemetery.

The prosperity of the college through all the fifty years has depended upon the faithful and unpaid services of its trustees, resident and non-resident, some of whom have stood at their posts almost for a lifetime, devising ways and means, and often meeting a necessity from their own personal resources. The only survivor of the nine original corporators is Jabez L. Burrell of Oberlin. The only other survivors of those elected during the first ten years are Wm. Dawes, already mentioned, and F. D. Parish of Sandusky, who was elected in 1839, ane^ attended - y meeting, except one, when he was in Western Virginia looking after the lands of the college, until his resignation in 18/8. IK- i> now. at the age of ty-six, a resident of Oberlin. Amoiuj the nonwho stood by the college through evil report and good, was William Sears of Boston, who before t of Buffalo often

Samuel D. Porter, of Rochester, who was present in every emergency with his wise and considerate counsel. Of the resident trustees, Uriah Thompson and Jabez W. Merrill have rendered the college faithful service for many years, and still live to look after its interests. Brewster Pelton removed to Cleveland in 1851, but retained his life-long interest in Oberlin, and at his death, in 1872, left a bequest to the college of twenty-five thousand dollars. Of the earliest inhabitants - the" Colonists" - few remain. Several of the families, after a few years, moved on to the farther West, some in the way of general emigration, others to new colonies, as to Olivet, Mich., and Tabor, Iowa. Peter P. Pease, the first colonist, remained to the end, and died in 1861. Josiah B. Hall performed a home missionary work, for years, in the neighborhoods between Oberlin and Elyria, established a settlement, a mile and a half north-east, still called " New Oberlin," with the thought of having there a subsidiary preparatory school, and at length led the new colony to Tabor, in 1851. Wm. Hosford went to Olivet, in a similar way, in 1845. Samuel Daniels, Isaac Cummings, Philip James, Daniel Marsh and several others removed early to other places in the vicinity, or to the far West. Of all these, Philip James of Nebraska is the only known survivor. Of the families that came early and remained until the later years, the following names will be recalled : Hamilton, Safford, Stevens, Penfield, Ellis, Pease, Wack, Jones, McWade, Evans and Leonard, on South Main Street; Turner, Steele, Jennings, Taylor, Gaston, Wheat, Ryder, Little, Holts- lander, Keep, Campbell, Campton, Leonard, Page, Platt and Bailey, on North Main Street; Ingersoll, Johnson, Gerrish, Beckwith, Gaston, Cox, Burrell,

^ton and Crosby, on East College Str Parish, Rawson, Smith and llawley, <>n \\'est College Street; lYlton, Hill, Elmore, Watson, Bardwcll and Lambcrton,on East Lorain Street ; Jewell, Cox, Hopkins, Hull, Kinney, Rossiter, Shepard and Matthews, on West Lorain Street; Weed, Hovey, Ells and Bartholomew, on Pleasant Street ; Kinney, Wright, Butler. Button and Fitch, on South Professor Street; Lincoln, Hall, Andrews and Pease, on North Professor Street; Evans, Scott, Munson and Strauss, on Mill Street ; Dodge and Copeland, on Morgan Street ; and Dawes, Thompson, Cole, Bailey and Specs, in New Oberlin. Other families within the limits mentioned will doubtless be recalled ; but these suggest a volume of unwritten history, which it would be interesting to linger upon.

Among other memories of the past, former students will recall those with whom the term bills were settled - the Treasurers of the college - Levi Burnell from 1835 to 1841, Hamilton Hill from 1841 to 1865; and the Book-keeper of that period and of P. Wyctt; and George Kinney. ^urer from 1865 to 1875.

all in the old hall; and in the new, Mr. and Mrs. E. Follett ; Mr. and Mrs. George Kinney ; and Mr. and Mrs. M. Day, down to the present occupants. Thus far no one has held the Stewardship longer than eight years, but the limit is only traditional, not constitutional.

The principals of the Ladies' Department are naturally associated with the Ladies' Hall, having had their office there, and usually their personal apartments. Besides Mrs. Dascomb, already spoken of, Mrs. Alice W. Cowles, wife of Prof. Hemy Cowles, held the position from 1836 to 1840, Miss Mary Ann Adams as assistant and as principal from 1839 to 1849, and Mrs. Mary C. Hopkins from 1850 to 1852. Of these Mrs. Hopkins, now living at Rochester, N. Y., is the only survivor.

The limits of this volume will not permit any personal reference to the twenty thousand students who, for a longer or shorter period, have enjoyed the benefits of the school ; nor can any satisfactory record be made of the alumni proper, those who have completed a course of study here. Of these, three hundred and ninety-three have completed the theological course, ten hundred and eleven the classical course, and seven hundred and twenty-three the literary course. Some of these have become distinguished, and many of them have been useful.

HENRY E. PECK, of Rochester, N. Y., a graduate of Bowdoin College, completed his theological course at Oberlin, in 1845. After pastoral work in Roches- ter until 1852, he was called to Oberlin as Professor of Sacred Rhetoric and Associate in Mental and Moral Philosophy. He held the position until 1865, when, icceiving an appointment from the Government as Minister to Hayti, he accepted and went to Port au Prince. In the second year of his residence there, he died of the yellow fever. His remains were afterwards brought to Oberlin for burial. Professor Peck was not only interested in his college work, which he performed with much acceptance, but all the interests of the community, personal, social, municipal, and political, commanded his attention. Many town improvements received their first impulse from him. Many a struggling student or citizen received from him a timely suggestion or needed help ; and when the young men went to the war, he saw them on their way, and visited them on many a field. He had the rare faculty of doing many things, and doing them well. Restless activity was essential to his life.

ClIARl.KS II. PENFIELD graduated at Oberlin in 1847. He was an Oberlin boy, brought up here from hi- early childhood. In 1848 he was appointed tutor in Latin and Greek in college; in 1855. Professor of Latin, and in 1 866, Professor of ;ning in ology. He entered upon the work with all his heart, and was very helpful in bringing up the seminary from the depression which it had suffered after the war. Council Hall grew up under his energetic and persistent and successful work. His presence here attracted the endowment of the Holbrook professorship. The beautiful hymn and tune book in which we rejoice, derived much of its excellence from his taste and experience and labor. The disease from which he died appeared to result from a fall upon the sidewalk one winter morning. An internal tumor was developed, and he died in May, 1 88 1, at the age of fifty-four.

REV. JOHN B. PERRY was called to the professorship of Natural Science in 1871. He was a graduate of the Vermont University, and had taken a theological course at Andover. After several years in the pastoral work, he was appointed assistant of Professor Agassiz, in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Cambridge. He accepted the appoint, ment at Oberlin, contemplating a five months' course of lectures each year, while still retaining his connection with the Museum, and having his home at Cambridge. He gave his course at Oberlin in the spring and summer of 1872, and died at his home in Cambridge, in October of the same year, at the age of forty-six.

WILLIAM H. RYDER succeeded Professor Penfield in the Chair of Greek, in 1870. He was brought up at Oberlin from a child, and graduated at thecollege> completing his theological course at Andover. He had been preaching some years in Wisconsin, when he called to Obcrlin. lie filled the position with great success for seven years, when he resigned to accept a call from the Congregational Church at Ann Arbor, Mich., where he still remains.

WILLIAM K. KLI>/II: was elected, in 1878, as the successor of Dr. Dascomb in the department of Chemistry. He was the son of Robert C. Kedzie, of the s of 1847, Professor of Chemistry in the Agricultural College of Michigan. Having been his father's pupil and assistant in the laboratory from a child, he graduated at the Agricultural College, and afterward pursued chemistry in the Sheffield Scientific School. He had been several years Professor of Chemistry in the Kansas Agricultural College when he accepted the call to Oberlin. Under his superintendence the new laboratory was fitted up, and the new methods of instruction introduced. He died after two years of enthusiastic and successful work, at the age of twenty-eight.

Ki;v. SAMUEL H. LEE, in 1878, accepted a financial secretaryship in behalf of the college, with the professorship of Political Economy, coming from tinued in the pastoral work until his call to Oberlin in 1853. He held the position of principal until 1869, when he resigned to accept the presidency of Berea College, Ky. Two or three years of this time he was engaged in the financial work of the college.

ROSELLE T. CROSS graduated at Oberlin in 1867, held the principalship from 1869 to 1874, and resigned to take up pastoral work. He is now preaching in Denver, Col. REV. JAMES H. LAIRD, of the college class of 1860 and Theological class of 1864, succeeded Mr. Cross in 1874, and resigned in 1877 to resume the pastoral work. He has been pastor in Andover, Mass., the last five years. Of the many tutors in this department, no student of the years 1842-53 will forgot Nelson W. Hodge, who was the presiding genius of the Latin and Greek recitation rooms during that period. He was a graduate of 1838, and resigned in 1853 to take up farming at the West. He is living at Ripon, Wis.

Those who are now living and actively engaged in the work do not naturally appear in these records. Of the whole number of instructors during the fifty years, only four have died while in active connection with the college.

That such a body of able men, of varied gifts and attainments, preachers, teachers, writers and business men, should have been gathered and held in connection with the enterprise, under such disadvantages, according to the ordinary apprehension of the case, is to be explained in part by a divine overruling which brought them, and by the strong attraction of the work itself, which retained them. It has been

The importance and magnitude of the work have also had much to do in making it possible for men of such diverse education and habits of thought - - gathered from so many different schools, with widely diverging views, engaged in an enterprise involving so many new and untried features, with little experience and few traditions to guide them - to work together in essential harmony during the fifty years. There have been earnest discussions and pronounced differences, but no quarrels, no factions, no alienations. The momentum of the work itself has seemed to overrule minor perturbations. But above all a divine ordering has been conspicuous, from the small beginning in 1833, to this our Jubilee Year. ;cept the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it."

Very Dear Brother

Your letter of the twenty-sixth ult. to Mrs. Shipherd, which came to hand on the second inst., greatly comforted us concerning your continued health and other favorable circumstances. We have been waiting with much solicitude to know how you would succeed in your agency in that part of the country where you now arc. We have supposed that something could be determined as to the final result of your efforts in behalf of the seminary, from a few weeks' labor in that vicinity. From your letter we are led to conclude that since you left Rochester have ine your subscription but one hundred dollars. From your success previously we had jd more from these places you have since vis- Hut in looking at the indicati« >vidence we must regard th« and then inquire what our duty : niing them. \\V have mmy put our hand to the plough, and must not look back, that is if v. and in the fear of God. The objects contemplated in the establishment of the institution appear to me as much in accordance with the genius of the Gospel as heretofore. For these very objects Christians are continually praying. Then the question arises, will God hear and answer our prayers if they be not accompanied with our labors and charities?

Previous to receiving your letter from Rochester, which contained an order for one hundred and sixtysix dollars, I had obtained a renewal of the note at the bank by paying fifty dollars. My own health is better than when I wrote you last. Mrs. Stewart's is not as good. You doubtless feel anxious to know what is likely to result from the machine. You will probably be surprised to know that I have done very little about it since you left. I may have acted injudiciously, but have done what seemed to be duty. The way did no4: seem prepared to apply horse power to the machine during the winter. Under these circumstances it seemed necessary that I should do what I could to curtail the expenses of the family. . . .

The circumstances of my turning my attention from the planing machine to the making of stoves may have the appearance of fickle-mindedness, and I will not pretend that my character stands entirely free from such a blemish. But there is an overlooking Providence, which often guides us very differently from our own intentions, or wishes. I regarded it as a very undesirable circumstance that I was obliged to occupy my time in procuring a stove, and if I had had the funds at command I should have pur- chased one at once ; but as it has turned out I cannot but hope that great benefit will result to the community, especially to that part in moderate circumstaiu

I am still of the opinion that the machine will be valuable if it can be got into operation, but it seems necessary that my time should be occupied about the stove, for a while at least. Several families in this village are wishing to purchase a cooking-stove, and are anxious that this should be perfected and tested before they buy. Among these are the three families of the Iron Company. There is a prospect now of its having the preference at this furnace. The making of patterns is a new business to me. I make but slow progress, but there are no pat-tern makers in the place that I know of, and if there were I have no money to pay them. . . .

I find that the circumstance of our inducing so many Christian families to locate together is made use of by those not very friendly to the object, as an objection to the plan. I would suggest for your consideration the question whether it would not do to dispose of some of the colonial lands to persons of a certain character who are not pious. Tlu bv-l,i\vs might be of such a character as to secure the int. the institution. This might be better than : the colony very small, and suridcd by a corrupt and irreligious population. .lit not to depend to any < able nt upon the col lain the institut region. It might be well for you to ascertain whether Street and Hughes would have any objection to persons paying to the Institution a certain percentage on the land which they shall respectively take up. I have no doubt there will be much prejudice excited against the enterprise by the hasty and injudicious remarks of professed friends of the cause, and this will probably be done to some extent by those who are the real disciples of Christ. A circumstance apparently of a very unfavorable character has recently occurred in this place. Mr. C., the agent of the Western Reserve College, came here to solicit funds for that institution. In three prominent instances he failed of obtaining subscriptions on account of the colony. The persons were Capt. R., Mr. T., and Mr. J. They were pressed very hard, but maintained firmly their ground, saying that they believed the money they had to give, under existing circumstances, could do more in the Oberlin Institute than otherwise. What Mr. C. knew about the plan of the colony I know not, or from what source he obtained his information. He did not, however, hesitate to express his most decided disapprobation of the plan. The circumstance of congregating a large number of Christian families in one neighborhood, he urged as a most objectionable feature. This man travelling from place to place will probably occasion many prepossessions unfavorable to the enterprise. You remarked in one of your letters that Oberlin would rise by the hardest labor. This may be true ; probably is. But if it is the work of the Lord, it matters not how much labor is required. If it is a privilege to labor for the Lord; and we are to depend on him for direction, the question how much labor we shall perform about one thing is of very little importance. The discountenance that some may give to our manner of laboring, or the virulent opposition of others, should never discourage us, or turn us aside from the course which the word of God and the indications of his providence point out. In regard to the manner of raising funds I think it is greatly to be desired that they should come from the Christian community ; that is, for the most part. After obtaining what we can from this source, and the Lord should succeed some of our other plans, we shall still find use for all, or if the Lord bring in something soon from some of our own devices, we should not, of course, reject it; but what I have more particularly in view is the importance of securing a deep interest in the hearts of Christians. If many give, and give as they ought, many prayers will be secured for the institution and the colony. This is impressed on my mind as a point of very great importance. . . . Yours truly and affectionately,

As to Oberlin matters, they are progressing slowly. There are some things I have to say, which will probably meet you with some surprise. The steamengine is not on the ground, as some colonists who have recently arrived supposed it would be. It is not expected to be there before the first of October.

The Board of Trust have concluded to purchase one of Mr. Andrews, of Cleveland. If the Board had concluded to make a contract for an engine immediately after their first meeting, it might probably have been obtained a little sooner. But the requisite funds were not provided, and even now we have not the amount which Mr. Andrews requires at the time he commences the work, viz., three hundred dollars. Your place could not be sold for ready money, and I shall be obliged to borrow something more from the Institute to pay Mr. Guthrie.

Brethren Ayers, Hall, Gibbs, Morgan and Safford have arrived. They are considerably disappointed in regard to the saw-mill. They say you encouraged them to expect to sec the engine on the ground, at the time they should arrive there. You will recollect that to lay a plan is not the same thing as to carry it into execution. Brother Pease has been on the ground about four weeks. He has four hands at work ; has chopped over about five acres. It is thought best to put up a part of the boarding-house, and transport the lumber from Captain Redington's mill. With our best efforts, I am confident the work will not go on as fast as you have calculated, and it is to me that we ought studiously to avoid raising expectations which cannot be realized. A few instances of this kind will do much to destroy the confidence of the community in the men and in the enterprise. Colonists who have come on say that Brother J. J. S. has given the pledge that young men who come on from the East shall receive as good an education for a minister, as if they had been at college. The constitution says that the pupils of the Oberlin Institute shall receive a thorough academic course. This is all I have expected they would receive, and all I think that we ought to promise. After they shall have been at the Institute a suitable length of time to prepare for coll I have supposed the)' would go to Hudson, or to some other institution where they can enjoy the privileges of the manual labor system. Let stu- to a common manual labor school, a female seminary, and a system of labor connected with that also, I think this is all that we ought to attempt at present. By attempting too much, the whole work will be likely to come to nothing. We are still in Elyria. I have hired the red blacksmith shop and the house that belongs to it.

This I have done to perfect the stove, iron stoves, etc. We seem to be needed on the ground ; but it seems also very important that we remain here the present summer at least. Individuals in different places have offered to exert themselves to bring the stove into notice, if we will send them one for inspection. I have had the greater part of four stoves cast, and find that iron patterns must be obtained before much can be done, or those which are made of wood must be ironed in such a manner that they will not warp and spring, when put into warm damp sand. To prepare patterns for a cooking stove is a slow and difficult work. But I think, and others think, that the plan of the stove is superior to any one in this part of the country. The first impression on the part of those who examine it is uniformly favorable.

This is a very encouraging circumstance. If there were not reason to fear that we should fall short in regard to funds, I should think differently about our going immediately on to the colony grounds. But the stoves cannot be made a source of profit to the Institution, without employing considerable time in preparing the patterns. And if the stoves should succeed, that is, if they should be approved by those who first use them, the sale of twenty the present year will probably prepare the way for the sale of double and triple that number the next year. Perhaps I am criminally defective in confidence in regard to the collection of funds. I have very much feared, and do still, that we shall be straitened for the means to cany into execution the work which we have undertaken. If the work is the Lord's, he will doubtless provide the means of carrying it on. But our own skill and sagacity must be employed. . . .

P. P. Stewart From J. J. Shipherd

ience is daily increasing that God designs to do great things for the Mississippi Valley, through our seminary. We ought therefore to feel that a ously is the appointment of teachers. Upon me, as your agent, of course, depends the peculiar responsibility of recommending them. Feeling the weight of this responsibility, I have looked to the Searcher of hearts for direction in my choice, and have advised with the best counsellors among the thousands whom I have met in my journeyings. At length, having travelled some two thousand miles, visited various seminaries, and maturely settled my mind, I recommend the following appointments: I. I recommend that you invite the Rev. Samuel R. Hall, Principal of the Teachers' Seminary, of Andover, Mass., to become the President of the Oberlin Institute. You probably already know something of his reputation, although he has been publicly known but a little time. He was a pastor in Concord, Vt., for about nine years, and during most of the time the principal of an academy, which he there founded and rendered unusually flourishing and useful. He there wrote his lectures on School Keeping, since published at Boston, and widely circulated as the best work on education extant. The Legislature of New York have obtained of him ten thousand copies for gratuitous distribution.

His present station indicates the estimate placed upon him by the trustees of the Teachers' Seminary, Andover, Mass., among whom are men best qualified to judge. Many applied for the superintendence of that seminary, but were all rejected in favor of Mr. Hall, who did not ask the station, but when invited to it, declined ; afterward, however, yielding to repeated solicitations. At the head of that seminar}-, he has been constantly rising for two and a half years, and raising the institution till it now numbers about one hundred and fifty students. nt a few days with him, in his school and out, and confidently recommend him as better qualified to superintend our institution than any man I have met, or heard of who can be obtained ; and indeed I know of no one, could we obtain him, in whom there is more of what we want, than in Mr. Hall, for, i. His piety is more like the Divine Teacher's than usual. He labors with his might to do good ;hool and out. 2. lie is better acquainted with the art of teaching than any one I can find, having studied it diligently for many years. 3. His education, although not collegiate, is sufficiently extensive, much more profound than is usual with gradr, from our best colleges. 4. lie is a manual labor man. 5. He is of suitable age, thirty-eight y 6. He is a practical teacher, makes even-thing a student learns useful to him. 7. He does not t for money, but to do good. S. He is deeply inter- 1 in tin government any rect in laying the corner-stone, and should you elect him, he says he wishes at least six months, after resigning his charge at Andover, to visit the best literary institutions of our land, and otherwise qualify himself for his responsible station. His salary is now about twelve hundred dollars annually, but I advise that you offer him four hundred dollars, with the use of a dwelling house and a few acres of land, his pasturage, hay for his horse and two cows, and his wood, and that we defray the expense of his removal with his family to Ohio, which will probably be about one hundred to one hundred and twentyfive dollars. This will be about as good as one thousand dollars at Andover, and I think he is willing to act upon Oberlin principles. In the second place, I recommend that you elect Mr. James K. Shipherd, Principal of Thetford Academy, Vt., Professor of Languages in the Oberlin Institute, and commit to him the superintendence of the seminary till Mr. Hall arrive and enter upon the duties of his office. I cannot speak as freely of this gentleman as the former, for he is my brother. However, I can say? I do not recommend him because he is my brother, but because I think him better qualified than any other one we can obtain for the place. He was in good standing in college (Mjddlebury, Vt.), unusually successful in common-school teaching, and is now highly esteemed as Principal of Thetford Academy, Vt. He took charge of that academy when it was in a low state, and has caused it, in a scientific and moral sense, to flourish more than for many years before. The trustees of that seminary desire him to engage with them for ten years, and are extremely unwilling to part with him. Several of his scholars expect to enter our Institute the first of December next, and expressed to me the desire that he should be elected, now propose. He is young, txventy-two and one half years of age, decidedly pious, studious, particular!}' in the science of teaching, loves to teach, practical in teaching, very successful in government, a manual labor man, and although well pleased with his present location, would, I think, accept the appointment I propose, should you think it best to make it. I advise that you offer him three hundred dollars salary, with his board, till he shall marry, and then a house, etc., like the President's.

In the third place, I advise that you invite Miss Louisa Gifford, assistant in the Geneva Female Seminary, N. V., to become teacher of the female department. Last winter I requested Mrs. Ricord, the Principal of that seminary, to recommend a her for our manual labor female school. I had previously learned that her school was scarcely, if at all. and fully acquainted her w'th our plans

In the fourth place, I recommend that you elect Dr. James Dascomb, of Boscawen, N. H., lecturer, and professor of chemistry, botany, physical education or anatomy, and natural philosophy. Dr. Dascomb is a young physician of promise, a pupil of Dr. Mussey of Dartmouth College, said by him to be decidedly the best scholar in his class of fifty members. He is highly recommended by Mr. Hall, whom I nominate as President, as a Christian, a physician and lecturer. Brother Hall and I think that the physician of the colony should be a lecturer in the seminary, because we can't afford a full salary to such a lecturer, or full employment to a physician.

I propose that we offer him two hundred and fifty dollars salary. His practice as physician and duties as a lecturer will no more interfere with each other than those of Dr. Mussey and others who not unfrequently practise as physicians, and serve as professors in colleges.

I desire a decision upon Dr. Dascomb's case soon, because I wish to secure a physician to our colony and seminary, and he will need considerable time to prepare for the duties of his professorship. Besides, he will, if not invited, soon be so settled that he will not accept our invitation. He will not, if elected, probably enter upon his professorship till Brother Hall does upon his presidency, say September, 1834. My brother and Miss Gifford should be, if invited at all, requested to enter upon their duties by the first of December next, and they may sustain the school till Brothers Hall and Dascomb join them. This may (and yet I hope it will not) seem premature. I believe it is safe and best, and for the following reasons : We can obtain the requisite funds. For evidence of this see my previous communications, and add to the evidence they afford the fact that should my life be spared till September next, I shall in all probability fill out our colony, and through that means and others increase our subscription to at least ten thousand dollars. I propose also that some efficient agent be appointed to aid me in collecting funds. I have some hope that my brother's church (Troy, N. Y.) will release him for a season. I am also negotiating with a Mr Mills, of Dunbarton, N. H. Whether cither of them can be obtained before Fall, or at all, I know not, but I hope one of them, or some other one well qualified, can be secured. A good agent is rarely found.

That we can raise the fifteen thousand dollars contemplated I am confident, and I believe my confidence is well founded. The wise and good uniformly approve our plans, and have aided, and a determination yet more to aid, in exccutth«-m. To fill out the fifteen thousand dollars will doubtless be much easier than to do what, through th< of God, we h executed. This amount will provide for one hun>'

That we can have one hundred students in September, 1834, cannot be doubted. There are multitudes of them desiring such privileges, and unless we provide them many of them can never enjoy them. You can build what will be necessary for the commencement of the academic department by the first of December next, and during the succeeding year enlarge so as to employ Brothers Hall and Dascomb as proposed. That teachers may be on the ground when needed, they should be elected as soon as consistent, especially those who commence the school, viz., my brother and Miss Gifford, if you should see fit to appoint them, and they to accept. You perceive in my recent communications that I have latterly enlarged our plans of operation, and it may seem to you unadvisedly, but I trust the following reasons will satisfy you all : The manual labor system requires that the student be carried through his whole course. If the institution be a mere preparatory school for college, the students are always mere apprentices in manual labor, and the benefits of the system are realized but in a small degree. Should we fit them for college only, there is no institution to which we could send them where their manual labor facilities would be continued equal to Oberlin.

Hudson, for want of land, can never render the manual labor of students extensively productive for their support. The Lane Seminary has and can have but little land, and is full and will be full without our students. Moreover, the Principal of the Oneida Institute assured me that a large farm was indispensable to great success in extensive operations, and that the student should be carried through his whole course. Again, the making of our seminary equal to an academy, college, and theological seminary will not at all curtail the usefulness of Hudson and others; for if we will furnish such advantages as I propose, students will fill our seminary who would never enter those now in existence.

The revivals of three years past have brought hundreds of youth into our churches who desire to be educated for the ministry and other useful services, who will not incur debt necessary in such a course as they must pursue at any institutions now in being in our country. This I know from actual conference with youth at the East. Hundreds of promising youth will doubtless be educated for God's service, or not educated, as we shall or shall not provide for them the means of complete education by their industry and economy. Moreover, it is about as y to obtain requisite funds, etc., for a complete education, as for one merely elementary. For the amount of the subscription usually corresponds with the character of the institution for which it i and students would not go so far westward m. fora mic com . l.<tusthc: \vith now indulge sanguine hope that through this system of diet and the blessing of God I shall be able to reengage in pastoral labor. And if on my return in April next, God willing, you, beloved flock, should still concur in desiring me to be your pastor, and concur in doing good to our oppressed brethren of color, I shall bless God for the privilege of wearing out as your servant for Christ's sake. As ever your affectionate brother,

Brother Fletcher

Though personally I am unknown to you, I cannot regard myself as a stranger. The residence of your daughter in my family has endeared to us all that are dear to her. Then through Brother Shipherd and others I know you as an endeared brother in Christ. But I have not time nor disposition for compliments now. We are doing a great work, and cannot descend to such objects. My object in writing is to make some statements and suggestions respecting the dear institution to which our energies and prayers are mutually consecrated. To-morrow I expect to start for Cincinnati, after having passed through the middle and western part of this State. Brother Shipherd is expected daily in this city,

From all that has been done and promised, our success is certain but for two occurrences which may the Father of all mercies prevent : I. If we do not x fat and kick," and God for this reason abandon us. 2. If those who have control of the destiny of Oberlin stand firm at this crisis. Will the trustees secede from the stand which they have taken, or will they quit themselves like men? If they will, and give the public manifestation of the fact, funds can be raised, all temporalities can be supplied, and .en will bless us.

Dear Brother, have you confidence in the Board of Trustees associated with you ? If so, write immediately to Brother Shipherd in this city and let him know. Everything, with the favor of God, depends upon this. Through Brother Keep you have no doubt received a notice of his new purposes, and our acceptance of our several appointments. As soon as possible after my arrival in Cincinnati, I inrt for Oberlin. I hope some log house will he prepared for our reception. There we shall rejoice to stay till better accommodations are provkled. Myself, and all associated with me, come upon tli tot to live in s; hut to spirit. Will not the Lord of Hosts be with us, and the God of Jacob be our refuge ? He will. Oberlin shall yet become a great luminary in the kingdom of Christ, whose light shall encircle the whole earth. Write me at Cincinnati, as soon as this is received, without fail. Love to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.

From Dr. And Mrs. Dascomb, To Home Dear Mother

In a former letter you received some description of Oberlin, but it has changed much since. The number of inhabitants has very much increased during the year that we have lived here, and we are expecting a large accession this spring, as soon as the travelling becomes good. More than twenty of the students who left Lane Seminary are daily expected here to complete their education. Mr. Finney is expected here next week in company with Mr. Shipherd. Some twenty or thirty families will doubtless be in during the summer.

The character which the Institution has assumed, viz., a " new divinity" and "abolition" seminary, will render it popular in New York and Ohio, and the eminent men who have recently been appointed as professors will attract students from all quarters.

Funds will not be wanting, and if these principles and their practical application meet the approbation of God, the Institution will prosper. . . . Do you ask how so many students and colonists can be accommodated? We do not live in "hollow trees," but many of the students will live this season in a temporary shed, which is partially prepared, and is to consist of twenty-five or thirty rooms, separated from each other by rough boards. It is to be shingled with slabs.

The increase of population will soon furnish business enough for the undivided attention of a physician. On the other hand the plans of the Institute maturing so rapidly, that the department which is assigned to me will demand the entire energies of one man. Under these circumstances I must either resign my office in the Institute or relinquish the practice of medicine.

I prefer the former for several reasons. I. I am ter qualified for the practice of my profession than for the duties of professor in the Institute. Jd. People have reposed s< >me o mfuleiice in me as a phy- .n, but I think it very doubtful whether I should ever gain much reputation, or be able to do much good as a ; ;<1. I am not cut: ily, and allowed to become a son. In every trial, in sorrows and in joys, Marianne is just the companion I need, and everything I could wish. And while she is regarded with daily increasing affection, her dear mother, and brother, and sisters at home will please accept a full share of my love.

Our folio does not get filled very fast, my dear mother. We intended this should be the letter next mailed by us when we commenced it, but we had a letter from Oakham a few days since, which we thought should be answered immediately, and so, with all our other duties to perform, we have neglected this sheet. I find my school engagements occupy most of my time, yet it is time pleasantly spent. I do not come home at night so fatigued as I used to be when I had a whole school to manage alone. The government of the school, and its general plans, devolve now upon a president, and I have nothing to do but to discharge faithfully my office as teacher of a few classes. I devote most of my time out of school to preparing for recitations.

I must inform you that I am a pupil as well as teacher. I recite daily with Dr. Dascomb's class in botany, being desirous of extending my knowledge of that science. Should Providence give me as much leisure and opportunity as I now have, to cultivate the mind, I intend to improve it.

Last winter I attended the chemical recitations when convenient. You will say I am partial to the professor of chemistry and botany, as I confine my studies to his department. I shall not refuse to have other teachers when I take other studies, though I may express as much regret as some of the other ladies have at changing teachers. . . . Mr. Mahan, our President, has been here a feuweeks. We are very much pleased with him. He has been very successful as a pastor in Cincinnati, and was urgently invited to become pastor of a church in New York City at the time he was called to Oberlin. He is an eloquent preacher, and I think I never heard more instructive and practical sen mons. I trust he will be a blessing to this Institu, tion. ... I wish our dear friends from " Parkei House" could step in and visit us in our little cham» ber. It was built purposely for us, and is just such a neat, quiet little retreat as we love. We removed from the boarding-house last winter to Deacon Pease's, and find our situation far preferable to what Lt was last summer. Mrs. Pease is a pleasant woman, and manages her children well. She thinks much of making her boarders happy. Deacon P< is more like Deacon Wilson than any one I know of. 'ooks like Uncle Tenney - is ardently pious. It seems quite proper that the two deacons should be in the same family, for you must know the good peo] elected your son in Oberlin to that

Mr. Pease's little son inquired the other day what D.D.D. stood for. We saw from his countenance that he was grappling with a brilliant thought, but were unable to guess the enigma. He informed us it was Deacon Doctor Dascomb. Whenever I write a word respecting husband that is complimentary it distresses him as much as it used to A. He has the same low opinion of himself that used to interest me in him in old times. I don't know but the fact of his being no office seeker is the reason that the good people here are fond of electing him. He has been made President of the Lyceum, one of the committee to oversee the Sabbath-school in this place and others connected with it, auditor of accounts for the agent of Oberlin Collegiate Institute, secretary of the Oberlin Temperance Society, and secretary of the County Medical Society, etc. I mention these little things to mother, because I know she will be anxious to know whether we meet with cordial friends in our new home. We have more and better friends than we deserve. You would be delighted with some of our good men and women of the colony, and students of the Institute. . . . As I wrote this I stopped my pen, and raised my eyes to laugh, and as my eyes rested on an object seen from my window, my risibility increased as I thought I would describe it to Hannah. It is the palace of Pres. Mahan. It was not originally erected for him, being the first house erected in Oberlin. It was made of the bodies of the monarchs of our for- est in their native state, no hammer or saw being allowed to mar their pristine beauty. The mansion is on Centre Street, being at the north end of a block of buildings in the same style of architecture. In the front of this dwelling is one door, and a few inches from it one window. This whole pile h.r become somewhat dilapidated by the encroachment of time, or the depredation of village school-boys who have been trained there for a few months past. has been repaired, and a shanty of rough boards added to make more numerous apartments. I have not been in recently to observe modern improvements, but the President says they shall have a fine suite of apartments, a parlor, kitchen, bedroom, etc. His family have not yet arrived, but are daih pected. They have two children. Mrs. Muhan educated a lady, in affluence. She is said to be a superior woman. Their house will be built in a feumonths. It will be large. There are but few log houses here. I-Yw of the framed houses are completely finished, but many of them are neat and comfortable. Indeed the log houses are comfortable, and some of them exhibit as much neatness as Mr. Curtis's of D. I had no idea they could be fit for habitations for man. As for our stumps, I 1 ceased to think of them, except in a dark night, when my unwary steps lead me upon them. We I soon have good roads, as strenuous efforts are to be made f«.r them. . . .

DEAR SIR : It is unnecessary for me to say to you that I feel a deep interest in your institution. My actions must have convinced you of this ; but very inadequately indeed, for the full extent of my interest in it I should find it difficult to express either in words or actions. I believe with you that it is the work of God and will prosper, though not perhaps quite as rapidly as our desires would have it. But " God's ways are" truly in such undertakings " not as our ways." The storms of opposition, and may be the pecuniary struggles it has to contend with, are perhaps providentially ordered to cause its roots to strike deeper, and to make its ultimate prosperity more certain.

But my object in writing is to say that should you fail of obtaining the aid you anticipate, and that is necessary to carry forward the enterprise with needed celerity, I propose that you shall enable me, or Mr. Wm. Green, Jr., and myself, to raise money on the property belonging to the institution, by mortgaging it to us in trust for the purpose. If you can place security ample and sufficient in our hands, I am ready to say you may draw on me for ten thousand dollars, on the strength of it, in the course of the present year, if it is needed.

Arthur Tappan

P. S. - My subscription of five thousand dollars your treasurer may draw for, as it is needed, in drafts at ninety days' sight. This is independent of the above proposition.

From Lewis Tappan Dear Brother Siiipiiekd

When I paid the first instalment of my subscription, it was my intention, as I mentioned to you, to accompany it with a letter expressing my view as to future payments. Time did not then allow of it. and I write this short letter, retaining a copy, that it may be clearly understood on what footing my subscription stands. The written condition is, that Rev. C. G. Finney should be Professor of Theology in the Obcrlin Institution, and tlu- addition practices would be satisfactorily inculcated at Oberlin. Praying God to bless the instructors and students, and make the Institution a great blessing to this land and the world,

Rev. And Dear Sir

Rev. Mr. Finney left here yesterday for Oberlin. He has the prayers of many here for his safe arrival with you, and we indulge high hopes of his usefulness in the institution to which he has been called at Oberlin. You will doubtless hear that an effort is making on the Reserve by the friends of the Western Reserve College to get him there. I sincerely hope he will not listen for a moment to any such proposition, for nothing short of a thorough change in the men who govern that institution, as well the trustees as the Faculty - with the exception of a small minority - would ensure to the friends of liberal sentiments the glorious results now confidently anticipated from Oberlin. ... I feel much interested in your institution and shall at all times be obliged to you for any intelligence touching its prosperity.

And is it not true that chasteness in architecture and adjoining grounds has a refining influence on the character, and adds immensely to the enjoyment of life? I fed that it is a religious duty to im: our Heavenly Benefactor in this as in all his other perfections. With much rei; most interesting and fearfully responsible character. He has opened wide the hand of his bounty, and poured into his treasury which he has established here in the wilderness, for an express, definite purpose ; and that object is no other than the world's conversion to Jesus Christ, in the soonest possible time. And to accomplish this, many and spacious buildings are requisite for the accommodation of those whom God has called to take the charge of others, whom he in his providence has called to prepare to preach the everlasting Gospel ; also buildings for the students preparatory to this great work. You, my dear brethren, have taught us to regard this as God's work, God's buildings, God's institution and God's property, and this is right ; because you have in a special manner consecrated yourselves to God for this work which he has assigned you. And he has consecrated all the funds, which he has sent here, to a most holy service, and the whole, funds, land, buildings, all, all, have again and again been most solemnly consecrated to God for the above described purpose, by him who was the founder of this institution, and who gathered this colony, and by the colonists whom he gathered, and may I not say by your honorable body also.

" Be ye not conformed to this world," is the injunction of Him who has called you to be his stewards. Again, those things that are highly esteemed among men - men of this world, impenitent men - are an abomination in the sight of God. My dear brethren, will you build houses for the servants of the Most High God, with his own money, in a manner that will be highly esteemed among men, and because they are so, "an abomination in the sight of Him" for whom they are built ? Will you direct or even suffer mechanics to build, even at their own expense, houses here for carrying forward the Lord's work, merely to be esteemed by the men of this world, that you may secure their friendship? Know ye, " that he that would be a friend to the world, is the enemy of God," for, " the friendship of this world is enmity with God." " Ye cannot serve God and mammon." In the house which is built for Brother Mahan, I have found some forty or more dollars' worth of work in the two north rooms which I cannot for my life find any good reason for, except it be to please the taste of a vitiated world. An impenitent master-builder remarked to me the other day, that he thought President Mahan's house might have n built three hundred dollars cheaper, taking size and style, and have it answer the object for which it ought to be built, especially when the public's money mployed for the work. . . .

There is a plain, neat, simple style of building, which commends itself to every nun's enlightened good sense, and still will not be highly esteemed by the world, neither is it an abomination in the sight of God.

Supposing all the buildings which are to be erected here with the Lord's money be built in the style of good architectural taste, so that the men of this world would commend us for our good style, and correct taste, and by this we should secure the influence which this world affords - what would be gained ? What ? I will tell you, my dear brethren. We should gain that which Jesus Christ said on another though somewhat similar occasion, " Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you." With much love, and anxious solicitude for the cause of God in Oberlin, I subscribe myself,

Dearly Beloved

Although the endearing relation which I sustain to you as pastor has existed only about one year, duty requires that it should be dissolved. I thank God, dear brothers and sisters, that this dissolution is not called for because we have fallen out by the way, but for the furtherance of the Gospel. You are in my heart to live and die with you, and your Christian regards to me have been so demonstrated, that I doubt not their sincerity, nor their strength. Yet a strong hand binds us to God our Saviour, and his will is paramount to our pleasure. That it is the will of the great Head of the church, that I should now resign my pastoral office, appears to me plain, in the subsequent facts: i. I have not been profitable to you in the ministry, I have longed to feed the sheep, and feed the lambs, and reconcile the rebellious to God ; but ill health and the draughts of the Institute upon my health and time have rendered it impossible for me to accomplish this work. I can merely pass it off in an ordinary way, which will no more answer for Oberlin than it will do for you to be an ordinary church. 2. The great 1 i of the Church is opening before me a door of usefulness, wide and effectual, in the work of Christian education, and distinctly calling me into that great and blessed work. So that while I can do but little in the plenteous harvests by personal ministry, I can do much to supply it with effective laborers, and thus preach Christ still, through the Oberlin Institute, and kindred seminaries, which, under God. I may aid in building. 3. In these view^. as far 1 know, my brethren and that I ;

Unless you can get such ,'i man, my advice is tlial you settle no one, but rely, under God, upon your own labors, aided by our dear brethren of the Faculty. Considering the plentcousness of the harvests, the fewness of the laborers, and the number of ministers connected with the Institution, I have sometimes doubted whether you ought to take, from another field, such a man as would fill the pastoral office here. But considering the peculiar and the immense bearings of this church upon others, and the world, for their sakes as well as yours, and for the glory of God abroad as well as here, I advise that you invite the best man you can find on Zion's walls, whose peculiar circumstances do not forbid his leaving his present post. I have thought that you and the trustees might elect jointly a pastor and professor of pastoral theology, if a man combining the requisite qualifications could be found. But looking abroad, in the extensive circle of my ministerial acquaintances, and considering the amount of parochial labors required in this large and growing church, I do not believe the man lives who could finish the work of both offices. Nevertheless if the Colony and the Institute cannot be bound together thus in one fold under one shepherd, be sure you settle a man who will encircle the Colony in one arm and the Institute in another, holding them as a church in inseparable Christian union. And now, beloved in Jesus, remember your high calling, your infinite responsibility, and press toward the mark. You have witnessed a good of right . Remember that, like Thesaloniiin must be an example to all that bcli or reproach Christ and ruin a multitude of souls. Therefore let the Oberlin covenant, or, in other words, the Gospel, be stereotyped in your hearts, and embodied in you, dear brethren and sisters, as livir, '.nown and read of all men. But I must suppress the overflowing of my heart toward you, and close by saying, " only let your conversation be as becomcth the Gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the Gospel, and in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is n in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake." That you, beloved, might be perfect as your Father in II perfect, is the prayer of your affectionate pastor, temperance convention I have become pleasingly acquainted with Dr. William K. Scott, of Sandy Hill, N. Y., whose character as a teacher of mathematics stands very high, as certified by the late Governor Pitcher, Hon. Henry C. Martindale and other scientific gentlemen. He is afloat now, and I hardly bear to go back to New York without visiting that loved spot, but Mr. Benedict's health is poor, and I must hasten home, as I do not see any special reason to go. Go on, brother ; build your houses and select your teachers, and the Lord be with you. I think more and more, from what I hear at the eastward, that John P. Cowles and Brother Barrows ought to be kept before you as candidates for some post, and that they could do you good. Love to Brother Finney and all others. The lectures go well, and we want another series next winter. Yours truly,