USA > Kansas > A history of Methodism in northwest Kansas > Part 3
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The course of study had been strengthened by the addition of a year to the requirements for admission to the college course. The commercial school had also prospered and compared favorably with other schools of the kind. Salaries and all other expenses were paid, and that without the trustees having gotten behind a dollar for current expenses. In addition to this, a new and commodious building was on the ground, half of the funds for which had been secured through the efforts of the faculty. All this in the face of the fact that when we undertook the work, the buildings were inadequate either for the accommodation of the school or for the housing of the students ; the equipment was very inferior and no funds in the treasury either for improvements of the buildings, purchase of equipment or payment of salaries; and there was no pledge that any definite salary would be paid. It would be inter- esting to know if another institution in Methodism has risen from the dust in like manner and by similar agencies. Whether there has been or not, I have never felt in any sense ashamed of what was accomplished at Baker. But in the face of all that had been accom- plished, there were persons clamoring for my removal and plotting to effect it. The following year they suc- ceeded in their purpose. The trustees showed their appreciation of the work by again increasing the sal- aries; that is, they increased the amount we might re- ceive in case we could get it. They did this, however, against my judgment and over my protest. The out- come proved my judgment to have been correct. An additional member was added to the faculty, and the enrollment the following year was thirty-three short of the previous year, so that the income was several hundred dollars less than the expense. My own re- ceipts were one hundred and forty dollars less than they were the previous year. If we had exercised
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worldly wisdom and held the surplus of previous years in our treasury, we might have had funds to meet this deficiency. But we were trying to build the school, and not to provide for a rainy day.
The year 1885-86 did not differ in anything essen- tial from the previous year. The enrollment was not quite so large, but the graduating class was the largest in the history of the school. A sad event cast a gloom over the school early in the year. Miss Cora Emick, one of the brightest members of the Senior class, took typhoid fever and, after a few weeks of painful illness, went to join those who have angel teachers. I accom- panied the body to her home in Clay Center and found the town in mourning over her death. Allen J. Addell, a preparatory student, also died in Baldwin this year. So far as I can now recall these were the only deaths of students during my administration.
The school year closed pleasantly. The annual exercises by the literary societies and the graduation exercises were in a high degree creditable. The bac- calaureate sermon was preached by the president from the text:
"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in His Throne."
The reader will recall that I stated in the fore part of this paper that the train of events previous to my coming to Baker led me to conclude that I had a work to do in the institution. I have never changed my opinion in that matter, or ever once regretted that I followed the voice that guided me to this work. One of greater ability might have done more, but I have the satisfaction of knowing that, up to the measure of my ability, I did the best I could, and continued at the task as long as I was permitted. If others might have done more, nevertheless what was accomplished will
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not suffer by comparison with what others had pre- viously done.
I was the twelfth president. June, 1879, closed the twenty-first year of Baker's history. In those years they graduated twenty-seven persons. There was no senior class in '79, hence there were no graduates in '80.
In the next six years we graduated forty persons, and in addition to those, a number completed the nor- mal course.
The quality of the work done may be judged from the products sent out.
Of the forty graduates, one is a bishop, one an ex-United States senator, one speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives, one general secretary of the Epworth League for two quadreniums, one a college professor, who for twenty-five years maintained her- self at the head of a department in her alma mater; one an authoress, whose contributions are welcomed by the church press and other publishers. Many young people, after completing the college course, seek fur- ther training in professional or graduate schools, but these entered upon their life work with only the train- ing received at Baker.
Of the remaining thirty-four, fourteen were preachers, five lawyers, two teachers. All the others, as far as I know, acquitted themselves well in some useful calling.
In addition to these, there were forty or fifty others who were helped toward graduation which they after- wards reached, some of whom attained distinction, one being an influential member of Congress for successive terms. Several reached distinction in the ministry.
Besides these, there were some hundreds who were never graduated, but were helped in their preparation for their life task by attendance at Baker for one or more years, from '79 to '86.
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Taken all in all, the writer feels that he has had some part in a work that was worth while, and that some record of it may claim a place in the annals of the school.
For that reason, he presents this booklet to the library, as his last contribution to an institution to which he devoted eleven of the best years of his life.
Every lover of progress and achievement must re- joice in the success that has attended the labors of those who, in recent years, have so greatly enlarged the borders and strengthened the stakes of Baker Uni- versity.
May her prosperity continue, and increase more and more.
W. H. SWEET.
Father resigned the presidency of Baker Univer- sity in the spring of 1886, and in the summer of that year we moved to Salina, Kansas, where the Northwest Kansas Conference were just establishing a college, Kansas Wesleyan University. Father became a mem- ber of the first faculty of that institution. He re- mained at this post but one year. There were now six children in the family, and the income had to be increased, and although the college work was richly enjoyed, the pastorate of the First Methodist Church at Salina was accepted. Though no longer a member of the faculty, father kept in touch with the college and served as a trustee during most of the remainder of his life, and for a number of years he was the pres- ident of the Board of Trustees.
After serving two years at the First Church of Salina, he was assigned to the church at Minneapolis. Two years he was pastor here, when we again moved to Salina, father having been made Presiding Elder of the Salina District. The six years on the Salina Dis-
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trict were among the hardest years Kansas has ever experienced. One of the recollections of my boyhood was of the barrels and boxes filled with clothing which came into our house, shipped from the East, to be dis- tributed by father among the needy people of his dis- trict. After serving the district for six years, during which time he was twice a delegate to the General Conference, in 1892 and 1896, father was sent to Beloit as pastor. Downs, Lincoln, Marquette and University Church, Salina, completes the list of his pastorates in the Northwest Kansas Conference.
Toward the end of his active ministry, mother's health was slowly giving way. Finally it was decided to go to a milder climate, and a home was purchased in Centralia, Washington. Here it was that the last days were spent. Father, still active in many ways, about the garden and working on the history of his conference; mother confined most of the time to the house with declining health.
Finally the end came for both, father on the 5th of January, 1919, and mother nineteen days later, January 24th. These three simple verses of faith found on father's desk by my sister, Ruth, after his death, well serve to close this sketch, for they typify both father's and mother's attitude toward life and death :
My work on earth is well nigh done, I wait the setting of the sun. I hear the surging of the sea That beats upon eternity; I see the far-off shadow realm And thither turn the trembling helm.
The winds that blow so cold and drear Grow softer as the end draws near. The distant gleams of silver light Relieve the darkness of the night.
There stands upon the misty shore
Faint forms of loved ones gone before.
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The voice that once said "Peace be still" Now whispers softly, "fear no ill." I sail alone, yet not alone, The Saviour takes me for his own, I wait his greeting when I land,
I wait the grasp of his dear hand.
CHAPTER I.
KANSAS.
It has been said that Kansas is only another word for opportunity. If the time be restricted to recent years, the saying is true; but whoever will under- take to trace any chain of events, in this territory, to their beginning, shall find historic rootlets running back to a time when Kansas meant anything but op- portunity. Of no state in the Union, has this been more true; for the reason that no part of the country had sc unpropitious an outlook at the first and no other state has been trameled by so many handicaps.
In the geographies in use in the schools of the country, down to the middle of the nineteenth cen- tury, the entire country lying between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains, was denominated the Great American Desert.
In 1819-20 Major H. S. Long's party traversed a part of Kansas.
"To those early American explorers, Kansas hard- ly presented an attractive or promising appearance. The beautiful prairies of the eastern border showed billowy bays of grass ever rolling in shadowy sun- shine; which kindled their enthusiasm, but in the in- terior and to the westward, they found a hopeless reach of desert, well enough for Indians-for white men untenable." Lieutenant Pike considered "the borders of the Arkansas river a paradise for the wan- dering savage, but the region could not support white men in large numbers, even along the Kansas, the LaPlatte and Arkansas rivers, and their tributaries. The wood now in the country would not
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be sufficient for a moderate population, for more than fifteen years, and then it would be out of the ques- tion to think of using any of it in manufactories ; con- sequently their houses would be built entirely of mud brick, like those of New Spain, or of the brick manu- factured with fire."1
"When the Kansas-Nebraska bill passed Congress, Kansas contained not a town or settlement of whites. The only inhabitants in it, except Indians, were a few traders, Missionaries and Indian Agents. The western limits of Missouri were, a few years previ- ous, regarded as the outer verge of civilization; and the domain of Kansas, as a part of the Great Ameri- can Desert, over which farms, towns and cities could never spread; fit only for the nomadic wandering of the savage, the prowling of the wolf, and the range of the buffalo. It was marked on the map-'Great American Desert,' a desolate and sterile waste.""
Such was the view entertained sixty years ago, of the country we are now pleased to call "Sunny Kansas." Nor was this opinion readily abandoned. Even after the state was admitted into the Union, many persisted in the prediction, that even the central portion of the state would never be settled. As late as 1866, intelligent people who visited the state, thought that Manhattan was as far west as cultivation would ever extend. This is the reason that the state capitol, and all the state institutions are located so far east of the middle of the state. Some thought even Topeka was too far west for the capitol, and voted for Bald- win instead.
This is quite in contrast with the description which Jason Lee sent to Congress of the Oregon country. He said : "The products of our fields have amply justi-
1 Spring's Hist. of Kansas.
2 Hallowell Hist. of Kansas.
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fied the most flattering description of the fertility of the soil, while the facilities which it affords for rais- ing cattle, are perhaps exceeded by those of no coun- try in North America.
The people of the United States, we believe, are not generally apprised of the extent of valuable coun- try west of the Rocky Mountains. A large portion of the territory from the Columbia River south, to the boundary line of the United States and the Mexican Republic, and extending from the coast of the Pacific for about 250 or 300 miles, into the interior, is either well supplied with timber, or adapted to pasturage or agriculture. The fertile valley of Williamette, and the Umpqua are varied with prairies and woodlands, and intersected by abundant lateral streams present- ing facilities for machinery."
In another memorial to Congress the following lan- guage is found :
"Your petitioners would further represent that the country south of the Columbia River and north of the Mexican line, is one of unequaled beauty. The moun- tains covered with perpetual snow, pouring into the prairies below around their bases, transparent streams of the purest water. The white and black oak, pine, cedar and fir forests that divide the prairies into sec- tions convenient for farming purposes ; the rich mines of coal; the quarries of limestone, chalk and marble; the salmon in the rivers, and the various blessings of the delightful and healthful climate, are known to us; and impress your petitioners with the belief that this is one of the most favored portions of the globe."
People impressed by the representations of Mr. Lee and his compatriots, flocked to the western coast, until there was carved out of the Oregon country, three noble states, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. They did well and why should they not? It was theirs to gather rich harvests from their sowings year by year,
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and to garner wealth from forests and mines and rivers.
But what shall be said of those who by diligent and patient, persistent endeavor, have made the Kansas desert "to rejoice and blossom as the rose."
But drowth was not the only thing that hindered development in Kansas. Two other things conspired to hinder settlement. These were Indian raids, and the efforts of the slave power to foist a proslavery government upon the state. A single act of Congress served to intensify the evil effects of both.
The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill by Con- gress, repealed the treaties which had been made with the Indians, giving them allotments in Kansas, and repealed the Missouri Compromise, thus making it possible for slavery to be established in the state. This last measure prohibited slavery north of 36 30".
The American Indian was a factor that had to be reckoned with,
Thus innocent men, women and children were made to pay the penalty of faith violated by the legislators of the nation. If the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill provoked Indians to deeds of violence and sav- agery, it cut the nerve of resolution of many who were looking with expectancy to the Kansas prairies.
On the 20th of May, 1854, W. H. Seward said: "The sun has set for the last time upon the guaran- teed and certain liberties of all unsettled and unorgan- ized portions of the American continent, that is, within the jurisdiction of the United States. Tomorrow's sun will rise in dim eclipse over them."
The New York Tribune of May 24 said: "The revolution is accomplished and slavery is King. How long shall this Monarch reign?" In June it said: "Not even by an accident, is any advantage left for liberty in this bill. It is all blackness, without a single
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gleam of light-a desert without one spot of verdure -a crime that can show no redeeming point."
Thus it is seen that the most astute leaders of that day regarded the contest for Freedom as already lost.
*"Kansas has a history which is common with that of no other state in the Union. The history of slavery in our country is the history of successive triumphs and continued advances, over the will of the majority of our people, until it entered into a hand-to-hand grapple with Free Labor in Kansas. Here was the battlefield of the combined forces of the irrepressible conflict, and here the question of supremacy between its opposing elements was finally settled. Slavery tri- umphed in every territory where she sought to estab- lish her dominion, until she provoked, by tearing down the bulwarks of plighted faith, a single-handed con- flict, with Free Labor in the settlement of Kansas, upon the principle of Popular Sovereignty.
To the people of this territory, aided by friends in free states, therefore, belongs the honor of first repell- ing the forces of slavery, and of forever destroying its power. Slave propagandists felt this, and hence when defeated in Kansas, they turned, in their wrath, upon the general government, which had been to slavery an indulgent and fostering guardian, to take its life, that they might rid themselves of its control.
Thus in the heart of this nation there was staked off a great territory, for experiments in popular sov- ereignty, as a Union saving expedient.
Thitherward hurried partisans of North and South -representatives of incompatible civilizations-hire- lings, adventurers, blatherskites, fanatics, reformers, philanthropists, patriots. That such a medley of hu- manity, recruited from Moosehead Lake to the Rio Grande, responsive to all the sectional animosities
*Holloway's preface to History of Kansas.
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which distracted and imperiled the country, conscious after some vague sort that great destinies might hinge on their mission, would transform the wilderness of Kansas into an immediate Utopia, was hardly to be anticipated. So foul a sky clears not without a storm."
Few fully comprehend the awful character and ex- tent of the desperate conflict in Kansas. Both parties upheld by the pecuniary means and moral support of their respective estates, engaged in it with the most in- tense and inflamed spirit of partisans. Plans deep, dark and far reaching were laid by the great minds. of the nation, and found their execution in Kansas. Worse than civil war reigned, worse than its con- comitant evil prevailed. A few extracts from the press of that period will serve to show what some of those evils were.
The slave power had determined that Kansas should come into the Union as a slave state. This was to be accomplished at all hazards, and no act of vio- lence that promised success was too horrible to be undertaken, and no squeamish notions of right or propriety were to be tolerated, if they, in any wise, interfered with the carrying out of proposed plans.
*In June, 1854, ten days after the opening of the territory, a number of Missourians met within three miles of Fort Leavenworth and organized the Squat- ters' Claim Association, and adopted rules to govern the settlement of the territory. Here are three of them: "(8) We recognize the system of slavery as already existing in this territory and recommend slave holders to introduce their property as soon as possible. (9) That we will afford no protection to abolitionists as settlers of Kansas territory. (10) That a vigilance committee of thirteen be appointed to decide all dis- putes."
B. F. Stringfellow, a prominent proslavery advo- cate, defined an abolitionist as follows: "Every Na-
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tional Democrat is an abolitionist in disguise. He might not steal a nigger, but would pat on the back those who did." Therefore, the idea of a national Democratic party is absurd. The "Democratic Plat- form,"-a Missouri newspaper,-said in 1854: "We are in favor of making Kansas a slave state, if it should require half the citizens of Missouri, musket in hand, to emigrate there, and even sacrifice their lives, in accomplishing so desirable an end." "The Western Champion" responded : "Them's our sentiments."
Not only were such sentiments freely expressed by individuals and the public press, but vigilance com- mittees were appointed in many places, with a view to carrying out the threats. April 30, '55, a meeting at Leavenworth adopted among other resolutions the following: "Resolved, that a vigilance committee con- sisting of thirty members shall now be appointed, who shall observe and report all such persons who shall openly act in violation of law and order, and by the expression of abolition sentiments produce disturbance to the quiet of the citizens, or danger to their domestic relations, and all such persons so offending shall be notified and made to leave the territory." On April 30th this vigilance committee gave notice to William Phillips, a free state lawyer living in that city, to leave the territory. He refused, and was seized, taken to Weston, one side of his head shaved, stripped of his clothes, tarred and feathered, ridden for a mile and a half on a rail, and a negro auctioneer went through the mockery of selling him for one dollar. On May 20 the Leavenworth Herald said of the tarring and feathering: "Our action in the whole affair is em- phatically endorsed by the pro-slavery party in this district. The joy, exultation and glorification produced by it in our community are unparalleled." A public meeting in Leavenworth May 25 resolved: "That we heartily endorse the actions of the citizens who shaved,
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tarred and feathered, rode on a rail, and sold by a negro, William Phillips, the moral perjurer." Phillips had protested against a fraudulent election. He was killed in his home, September 1, 1856, by squatter sovereigns.
On August 16, 1855, Rev. Pardee Butler was placed on a raft at Atchison, and sent down the Missouri River. Citizens followed, stoning him. Butler had avowed himself a freesoiler, on the streets of Atchi- son. All of this outlawry was approved and much of it incited by David R. Atchison, a U. S. Senator from Missouri. A Dr. Smith of Boston, a traveler through the country, describes the Missouri bandits as follows : "Those I saw at Westport, whose camp was in the woods, only a few rods out of the territory, were young men, rough, coarse, sneering, swaggering, daredevil looking rascals as ever swung upon a gallows. The marauders were mounted upon horses and mules, armed to the teeth with pistols, long knives and car- bines. They rob travelers, surprise the humble res- idents of prairie cabins, whom they strip of their valuables, and in repeated instances murder the owner." Henry Ward Beecher said of them: "Sharp's rifle is truly a moral agency, and there is more moral power in one of those instruments, so far as slave holders of Kansas are concerned, than in a hundred Bibles. You might just as well read the Bible to buffalos as to those fellows who follow Atchison and Stringfellow; but they have supreme respect for the logic that is embodied in Sharp's rifles." Such was the character of many of those who came to Kansas in 1854-'56.
Much more might be added of the same character, but enough has been said to show the handicap placed on Kansas by the border war. Nebraska was not so afflicted. The pro-slavery people were willing that it should be a free state. Justice demands that another
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quotation from Martin be added. He says: "Let me emphasize again, they (the Border Ruffians) were but a fraction of the people of Western Missouri. No greater, more useful or patriotic people ever lived than the generation of Missourians who followed Doniphan, and who cut the trackless waste west of them by the trails of commerce."
Indeed it may be questioned whether the cause in which the Border Ruffians were enlisted was not re- sponsible for the depredations and atrocities com- mitted, rather than their inherent badness. After slavery was abolished many pro-slavery men showed themselves to be actuated by very different principles from those they had espoused while the contest was on. Mr. Martin says: "I once asked a man who was notorious on the border during the war, and prom- inent afterward as a business man, and a good citizen, to write a story of his experiences for the Kansas State Historical Society. His response was: "I have two as good boys as a man ever had in this world, and I do not want them to know any more about their father than is necessary."
Even Stringfellow, who was a great fomenter of strife, and encouraged the most extreme measures, and was ready to excuse and condone the very worst that could be done, so far changed his sentiments and conduct as to even become a Republican in politics.
The marvel is that after the scenes that were acted out from 1854 to 1861, the population of the state should be so renovated and purged as to present so worthy a citizenship.
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