History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 38

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott
Number of Pages: 761

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" He never separated morals from anything we had to do in our school course; they belonged to everything we did in life. He was unwearied in creating 'moral thoughtful- ness' in every student, ever endeavoring to direct our steps aright, to shape our course, and inspire us to go on im- proving by pointing to noble objects ahead,-noble exam-

ples of scholarship as well as of exalted virtue. He would say, ' Morals and mathematics, excellence of character and scholarship go together, for be assured the Christian is the highest style of the man and the scholar.' Again, he would say, 'Shoot an arrow at the sun every morning.' ' But we can't hit it,' was the answer. 'You will hit higher than if you aimed lower,' he would reply. To the idle, he would say, ' Do something; if nothing more, whittle a stick, and thus learn to bring things to a point.' He urged the students to start right ; the first step led to the last. Let each lesson be a perfect one, then every one fol- lowing will be attained so much the easier. We would thus become proficient in every branch we studied. There were too many smatterers and dabblers in learning. 'These general scholars,' he said, ' will get a little here and a little there, but not enough of any one thing to do them any good. Lessons first ; if friends bother you, lock the door of your room ; lounging and Latin do not go well together.' He strove to develop the whole character, moral and intel- lectual, and his influence as an educator was so effectually exerted over his students in the school-room that it went with them wherever they went.

" The management of Mrs. Stone's department, in the upper room, was of the same character. And none of the surviving students who attended either department of the old branch but can to-day attest to this fact,-that their instruction did not cease with the school ; that we were taught in it that education was a life-work ; that we would ever be in school wherever we went; that a schoolmaster would ever be with us until we graduated into a higher school, above.

" Highly gifted by nature as educators, and richly quali- fied by their profound and varied scholastic attainments for their professions, both Dr. and Mrs. Stone, by their long and eminently successful labors in the cause of education in Kalamazoo, have written their names on the brightest pages of its school history,-she as the Madame Campan in her department, and he as the Arnold at the head of this Rugby school of ours.

" A list of some of the first students : From Climax were George, Enos T., and Lafayette W. Lovell, Louisa, Catha- rine, and Nelson Eldred ; from Grand Prairie were Eliza- beth and Jane Drake; from Kalamazoo, those who first went to the university were Paul W. H. Rawls, Fletcher Marsh, and Edwin Dunham ; from Battle Creek were James Mason, Morgan Beach, James and Sovier Dolson, Sidney Dunning, A. D. P. Van Buren, Durfee Mason, and Hoyt Seymour ; from Centreville were Joe and Frank Brown and Miss Benedict ; from Union City were Wil- liam G. and Mary Goodwin, Amelia Kellogg, Winslow D. Howe, and Darius Davidson ; from Gull Prairie were Dwight, Elizabeth, and Charles S. May, J. Powers, Rev. Leonard Slater's children, Rachel Browne, Miss Harkness, Andrew J. Eldred, and Alfred Otis; Harvey Bush from Charleston. From Kalamazoo were Wells R., Jane, Charles, Elia, and George Marsh, Abby, Minerva, and Joseph B. Cornell, Zilpha Foote, Mary and Delia Rood, Charles and Henry Beckwith, Willis and Antoinette Ransom, Eliza and Lydia Hayes, Caroline and Marguerette Walter, Emily and Caroline Swayze ; from Judge Mitchell Hinsdell's

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family, remarkable for scholarship and love of literature, were Edwin C., Norman, Myron, George A., Genevieve, Joseph, and John ; Mary, Cornelia, and George Clark, Henry and Elizabeth Hoyt, Isaiah J. Babcock, James S. Duncan, Mary, Sarah, and George A. Fitch, George and Hannah Trask, Laura Barrows, Sarah Weaver, Minerva and Mary Heydenburk, Helen Rice, William Eames, Je- rome Barrett, Richard, Henry, and Lewis Starkey and sister, Edward and Clarence Eddy, Amelia Arnold, Harriet Gibbs, Ellen, Jasper S., and Justus Rice, Dennis and Emily Gray, Mary Gregg, Elias Cooley, Lyman C. Barker, Charles Watson, John Goodrich, Elisha Eames, J. Ely Kellogg, James Knight, Orrin Mills, George Bates, Wil- liam Acker, Horace Sheldon, Charles H. and Edward E. Carter, Horace Clapp, Francis W. and Herbert Cornell, William T. Eastland, Thomas C. Langley, John F. Mc- Nair, Frederick B. Porter, Oscar Seeley, Norman Robin- son, Jefferson Smith, and many others whose names we cannot recall.

" Of all the recollections of my school-days, none are dearer to me than those connected with the old branch ; some of my old schoolmates are here to-day. Some of those young men who, over thirty years ago, were of our school, striving for an education, sit here. And here are those who, when young ladies, entered the lists with us for achievements in our school-day contests in the old branch. Time has dealt lightly with them. Those dark-brown or auburn curls may be slightly touched with gray, but their smile is just as winning, their eyes as bright,-in fact,

"' They look the same looks, speak no other Greek

Than your eyes of school-days begun last week.'

" As I came to Kalamazoo this morning, and looked over the old school-ground, I was reminded of these touching lines of a school-boy poet :

"'I wandered to the village, Tom, and sat beneath the tree, Upon the school-house playing ground, that sheltered you and me. But few were there to greet me, Tom, and few were left to know, Who played with me upon the green o'er thirty years ago.'"

To make a new college successful in a new State, it is desirable not only to secure an able and devoted body of men who are willing to serve as trustees and to give their time and unwearied attention to building up the institution, but there is always a necessity for self-sacrifice on the part of the teachers. The school at Kalamazoo was fortunate in this respect. Both male and female teachers received for many years very meagre compensation for the labor they per- formed ; but they toiled on with just as great enthusiasm, perhaps, as if they had been stimulated by more princely salaries. Among these apostles of self-denial, mention should be made of Rev. William L. Eaton, a graduate of Dartmouth College, who came from New Hampshire to Michigan in 1843. He was called to Kalamazoo some years later, to fill the Latin professorship in the college. He was a man possessed of a lovely spirit, apt and indefatigable as a teacher, and abundantly given to the exercise of a sound discretion. He died in the flower of his years, Dec. 25, 1853, lamented by all who knew him. His loss was felt deeply by the president, who had always held his counsel and advice in high estimation, and it had been noticeable that when the

trustees and some of the other teachers differed in their opinions on matters of educational polity, Professor Eaton, Professor Daniel Putnam (also a graduate of Dartmouth College), and the president were nearly always in accord in their views of the best policy to be pursued in the institu- tion. This may have arisen from the fact that they had all acquired their former experience in college affairs in the New England States.

When the upper college-building had been finished and was well filled with students, the trustees, and, indeed, all parties concerned, began to think it was time for the students to finish their literary course entirely in Kalamazoo, instead of going to other colleges to receive their degrees. The catalogue for 1854-55 shows an aggregate in all depart- ments, male and female, of two hundred and sixty-five stu- dents. Of these, thirty-one young men had already been admitted to the several collegiate classes. The young women in the college course were not accurately classified until the next year.

The members of the Faculty were as follows : Rev. J. A. B. Stone, D.D., President and Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy ; Rev. Samuel Graves, A.M., Professor of Greek Language and Literature ; Edward Olney, A.M., Professor of Mathematics ; Daniel Putnam, A.M., Professor of the Latin Language and Literature ; Morris A. Page, A.M., Professor of Rhetoric and History.

Professor of Natural Sciences, Rev. O. Mather, A.M., Professor in the Scientific Department ; Mrs. L. H. Stone, Principal of Female Department, and Teacher of History and Literature ; Miss Mary E. Sheldon, Associate Princi- pal and Teacher; Miss A. C. Pettingil and Miss E. B. Esty, Teachers in the English Department; Miss Mary B. Graves, Teacher of Drawing and Painting; Miss E. B. Cornelius, Teacher of Music ; Mr. S. E. Chandler, Teacher of Vocal Music.

It was at this time the name of the institution was changed to Kalamazoo College, and the terms upon which degrees should be conferred were particularly defined. When President Stone went to Lansing, in January, 1855, to have these changes made, he found the friends of the university were making strong efforts in the Legislature to confine the power of conferring collegiate degrees exclusively to the State University. The educational representative of Kalamazoo facetiously suggested that this was rather cheeky in a younger institution to claim a monopoly in the matter of degrees ; that if exclusive prerogatives were to be granted to any institution it would be more appropriate to delegate them to the one at Kalamazoo, as it was the oldest chartered classical school in the State. This led to the suggestion on their part that Kalamazoo might be allowed to retain its vested rights ; but since there were no other chartered colleges then in the State, except the one at Kala- mazoo and the university, and the new constitution forbade granting any more special charters, this would be the limit to institutions which could confer literary degrees. . This was not a very democratic sentiment to be uttered by either educators or politicians.

Seminaries had already been started at Albion, Olivet, Hillsdale, and Adrian, which it was expected would ulti- mately become colleges. A bill was drawn up and intro-

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duced into the senate, for the organization of colleges under . the general provisions contained in the bill, which, being general and not special, met the provisions of the new con- stitution, and required the curriculum of all institutions which should confer degrees to be the same as, or equiva- lent to, the course adopted in the university. The passage of this bill was stoutly opposed by the friends of the uni- versity. President Tappan, of the university, led the op- position ; behind him stood the good Dr. Duffield, of Detroit, and several able lawyers and skillful politicians, some of whom were well known among the lobbyists of that day. Among outsiders the advocacy of the bill chanced to devolve largely on the president of Kalamazoo College, which was especially irritating to the university, because, personally, he had no interest in its passage, except to give to other institutions of the State the same rights and privi- leges which were now confined to the institutions at Kala- mazoo and Ann Arbor. But during the discussion in the Legislature, and in the meetings held outside, it leaked out that one great cause of opposition to the bill was the fear that under its provisions women were to be educated the same as men. It was several times sarcastically said, " Pass this bill, and the first we shall know they will confer de- grees on women." The issue was accepted, and the right and policy defended. Kalamazoo was already known as the champion of the collegiate education of women; and the president did not hesitate to leave his post at Kalamazoo for several weeks to assist in carrying on the contest at Lansing. By the aid of Senator E. L. Brown, of Kala- mazoo County, Senator Charles Upson, of St. Joseph County, and other legislators of liberal views, the bill finally passed the senate. But the opposition were not yet ready to yield the point, and, as they expressed it, "to break down the great division line between the men and women of the State." The earnestness in the discussion of the lower house was greater than it had been in the senate, but the liberal views of the majority of the representatives of the people gave the bill the victory ; the vote was carried in a scene of excitement not equaled in the passage of any other bill during the session. The Governor and officials of the two branches of the Legislature afterwards caused a beautiful copy of the law to be engrossed, and, having signed it officially, sent it to Dr. Stone, with the suggestion that in after-days, when the State should be full of institu- tions filled with young women as well as young men, this copy of the bill might be a pleasing memento of the con- test that had now been fought in behalf of free colleges.

Kalamazoo was among the earliest colleges in the coun- try to place women on an equality with men, allowing them free access to all classes and an equal right to receive de- grees for all courses completed. The University of Mich- igan is at the present time often spoken of, especially in the Eastern States, as a pioneer in the liberal work of open- ing college doors to women, when really the regents re- ported against its advisability, ridiculed and fought it until every other institution in the State had adopted it, and finally came laggard and sulking along, the latest con- vert, at least in Michigan, to this great educational advance of the age.

Since 1855 the institution has continued to confer de- 19

grees on the test of thorough examinations, maintaining instruction in all the studies embraced in the curriculum which its charter requires, which is the same as, or similar to, that prescribed for all the colleges in the State.

It is proper here to introduce a brief sketch of

THE KALAMAZOO THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.

As this is also an old institution, although not quite as old as the college, it has sometimes been confounded with the college. But there is no organic connection between the two. The Baptist Convention of Michigan was granted a charter giving it power to establish and maintain a school for training theological students. Hence the origin of the theological seminary. Its funds are separate from those of the college, as is also the government of the institution. It has sometimes occurred, however, that some of the pro- fessors in the college have also been professors in the theo- logical seminary. But the college funds were never used to pay them for this theological teaching. Whatever co- operation there has been between these two schools, it has always been for the pecuniary advantage of the college. The trustees of the theological seminary had funds, their expenditures were less, and they were more flush and were willing to do something for collegiate education, because they wished their candidates, so far as possible, to take a college course before entering the theological seminary. Among the professors of the college who were also teachers in the theological seminary were Dr. J. A. B. Stone, Dr. Sam- uel Graves, Rev. Daniel Putnam, Rev. Theodoric R. Pal- mer, Rev. Edward Anderson, Rev. H. L. Wayland, and Dr. Silas Bailey. The students were generally graduates of the college, although some were from other colleges,- some, indeed, graduates of the university.

There was no injustice to any parties concerned in em- ploying the professors in both institutions, unless to the teachers themselves, who did double duty, but did not re- ceive double salaries. In the case of President Stone, the question once sorely puzzled the Circuit Court, in a suit where the college was a party, as to who paid him his sal- ary for services as president and professor in the college. The records of the institution were all read in the court, yet no appropriation could be found for paying his sal- ary. It finally came out, in evidence, that for some twelve years, while he taught in both institutions, that from the theological seminary he received about half a salary, which they were able to pay, but he did not at that time receive any salary as president and professor of intellectual and moral philosophy and political economy, and occasion- ally filling temporary vacancies in other studies, although his recitations and lectures here in so many departments were what was considered as overwork. A small allowance was voted him for traveling expenses, correspondence, and other expenses incurred in behalf of the college. But, as he had then some outside sources of income, he proposed, each year, that provision should first be made to pay the salaries of the other teachers, and whenever there should be an excess above what was necessary for that pur- pose, he would present a bill for his own salary. That happy contingency never occurred. But he has never been heard to recommend his own experience as a precedent for

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HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

others who were in the work of building up colleges. If a teacher does the work of two men, or attempts to do it, it matters not whether he receives half of one salary, a whole salary, or a double salary ; in future years the result is sure to be a shattered system or an impaired constitu- tion, which time may or may not repair.

The college has been sustained from the first by volun- tary contributions, furnished by the liberal friends of a lib- eral education. Dr. Stone has often remarked that during his entire connection with the institution he has frequently been surprised at the interest taken in the educational work in Kalamazoo, and the readiness of friends to make what were really very generous contributions at a time when money was scarce in a new country, and wealth unknown, and the personal necessities of most persons absorbed their income. There were several friends on whom he could always rely when emergencies arose. As he remembers with grateful pleasure, he never asked such tried friends as Leon- ard Slater, S. H. Ransom, J. P. Marsh, Mrs. Delia Bulk- ley, Hon. F. W. Curtenius, Hon. Allen Potter, and Hon. Caleb Van Husen, of Detroit, and many others in different parts of the State,-never even suggested a specific sum as very desirable at this particular time, but it was forth- coming.

The funds to defray the expense of erecting the women's college, or " Kalamazoo Hall," which was dedicated in No- vember, 1859, were contributed almost entirely by the citizens of Kalamazoo village, except one thousand dollars, which was donated for that purpose by Hon. Caleb Van Husen. A partial endowment-fund was raised by the sale of scholarships, which were sold for one hundred dollars each, and entitled the purchaser to the free tuition of one student annually for twenty-five years. These scholarships, having been sold twenty-five years or more ago, have now expired. Considerable sums have also been contributed by the Eldred family for an Eldred professorship ; by Hon. John Burt, Caleb Van Husen, Rev. T. W. Merrill, and others, towards the establishment of other professorships. Efforts are still made for the same purpose, but the insti- tution has not been able hitherto to find a sufficient number of friends to place it in a situation of permanent pecuniary independence. The interruption to the work of endow- ment caused by the war was very unfortunate for the suc- cess of the enterprise. Efforts, however, are still being made and pressed with energy to complete the work.

Among the literary societies connected with the college, the Sherwood Rhetorical Society is the oldest, having been founded some thirty years ago. It has a considerable library, and a permanent fund was given by Dr. Adiel Sherwood, the interest of which is given annually as prizes for the encouragement of rhetorical excellence. The Phi- lolexian Society has also a library; its exercises consist largely in forensic discussions. The Eurodelphian Society, in the female department, is in some respects similar to the other two societies, its membership being confined exclu- sively to the young women of the college.

After the work of conferring degrees was begun and the Faculty was enlarged, the number of students continued for some time to increase. In the catalogue for 1857 there were, in all departments, four hundred and seven students,

one hundred and twenty-seven being in the college classes. The names of the Faculty were as follows : Rev. J. A. B. Stone, D.D., President and Professor of Intellectual ,and Moral Philosophy ; Rev. Samuel Graves, A.M., Professor of Greek Language and Literature ; Edward Olney, A.M., Professor of Mathematics; Daniel Putnam, A.M., Profes- sor of Latin Language and Literature; Morris A. Page, A.M., Professor of Rhetoric and History ; Nathaniel A. Balch, A.M., Lecturer on Political Economy and Interna- tional Law; J. Adams Allen, M.D., Lecturer on Chemistry and Physiology ; Rev. R. R. Prentice, A.M., Professor in the Scientific Department ; Chandler Richards, B.A., Prin- cipal of the Preparatory Department; Mrs. L. H. Stone, Teacher of History and English Literature; Miss A. H. Wilcox, Teacher of Mathematics and English Language ; Miss Elizabeth Robinson, Teacher of Latin and French ; Miss Anna M. Woodbury, Teacher of Mathematics; Miss Sarah Willboe, Teacher of Penmanship; Miss Sarah A. Fisher, Teacher of Instrumental and Vocal Music; Mrs. Mary B. Graves, Miss Mary Forbes, Teachers of Painting and Drawing.

The next year the requisites of admission were increased, and there were only three hundred and one students, ninety-six being in college classes. In 1859 the college classes contained one hundred and ten, and the preparatory department one hundred and fifty-nine.

During the academic year of 1859-60 we find the largest freshman class which has ever been admitted, embracing fifty-five members, twenty-three of whom were young men and thirty-two young women. As this was the last year before the war, we give again a list of the Faculty, as it had undergone considerable changes since the last one we have recorded : Rev. James A. B. Stone, D.D., President and Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy ; Rev. Ed- ward Anderson, A.M., Professor of Greek Language and Literature; Rev. Theodoric R. Palmer, A.M., Professor of Latin Language and Literature ; Edward Olney, A.M., Pro- fessor of Mathematics; Daniel Putnam, A.M., Professor of Natural Sciences ; Liberty E. Holden, A. B., Professor of Rhetoric and Principal of the Preparatory Department ; Nathaniel A. Balch, A.M., Lecturer on Political Economy and International Law; Foster Pratt, M.D., Lecturer on Physiology ; Mrs. L. H. Stone, Teacher of History and English Literature ; Mrs. Martha Osborn, Teacher of Latin and Mathematics ; Miss Ella Fletcher, Teacher of French, Painting, and Drawing; Miss Jennie S. Finney, Teacher in the Preparatory Department ; Mr. J. Maurice Hubbard, Mrs. Sarah Hubbard, Teachers of Instrumental and Vocal Music.

On the breaking out of the war a considerable number of the young men, both in the collegiate and preparatory de- partments, enlisted in the army, laying aside their books to shoulder the musket, and exchanging their comfortable dor- mitories for the hardships of the tented field. One of the professors also entered the army,-Rev. T. R. Palmer, after- wards Col. Palmer, of the Michigan 13th. Other profess- ors were ready to go, and the president was anxious to be counted in for the defense of his country, but he had just returned from a tour on the Eastern Continent, undertaken on account of failing health, and it was thought better to

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accept, in his stead, two of his sons, then students in the college, who remained in the service, as many of the stu- dents did, until the close of the war. Of nearly or quite one hundred students who, in the course of the four years of the bloody conflict, made haste to fly to the protection of their country, too many, alas ! fell on the battle-field or died of disease while in the army. A tablet placed in the college chapel commemorates the names and the remembrance of the following students who fell in the service of the Union : James Allen, C. S. Burge, Judson W. Carter, George W. Carter, Seymour A. Cornell, Samuel Crooks, Edwin B. Easton, Richard H. Eldred, Lucius F. Handy, Alfred S. Handy, Joseph W. Hinsdale, William H. Lamb, Charles Porter, Walter Prouty, George A. Wilson, W. J. M. Wood- ward.

The derangement of financial affairs incident upon the war was a great obstacle in the way of efforts made for an ample and permanent endowment. The minds of the young men of the State were diverted from educational purposes, and many, instead of going to college, went to the South to fight for their country. Still, the college was not deserted. The catalogue of 1862-63 shows an attendance of one hun- dred and ninety-four, ninety-three being in the college classes, the young women considerably outnumbering the young men. In the graduating class of 1863 there were still eighteen members, the young women being in the ma- jority here also.

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History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan, Part 38

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott Number of Pages: 761

Author: Durant, Samuel W. comp
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia. Everts & Abbott
Number of Pages: 761