USA > Ohio > Delaware County > Delaware > Fifty years of history of the Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio : 1844-1894 > Part 16
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When complimentary diplomas were bestowed on several gentlemen to-day, I felt that, as my schooling had taken place in the academy that was the predecessor of Delaware, that my service ante-dated theirs, and that, like them, I did not graduate, I was being neglected. Perhaps the faculty will be more considerate in the future.
I remember well how those old-fashioned preachers mnade the woods resound with their fervid eloquence. Among them was Father Gray, whose picture adorns the walls of this chapel-the gift of his son, our honored President.
With all due deference to the eloquence of Dr. Payne and other preachers of the present day, I cannot resist the feeling that, in the matter of eloquently portraying the horrible con- dition of the sinner, and in describing the beauties and glories of Heaven, these old preachers excelled.
To show the tact of the managers of the M. E. Church, I
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beg your indulgence to relate an incident in which a present resident of Delaware and myself took part. I refer to Chaplain Collier. There were two villages in Northwestern Ohio, in one of which I resided. These villages were very small, and only a mile apart. In each of them was a Method- ist Church, and both weak. If combined, they would make one good, strong station. But the brethren in these churches partook of the rivalries of the two towns, and when meetings were held to effect a consolidation, it was found that both were willing, on condition that one would unconditionally surrender. Methodists as they were, and shouting ones at that, they would invariably quarrel when they mnet, and it finally reached the point that neither church would have anything to do with the other-a most deplorable state of affairs,-and a solution must be had, for neither church was doing any good. Their inission seemed to be to quarrel.
In this state of affairs, Rev. Disbro, who was Presiding Elder, selected a young preacher of good address and pleasant manners, whose principal mission was to get these two churches together. He came on to his charge. Among the first he met after his arrival was myself. He frankly told me his mission, and asked my help. I gave him a fair estimate of the general character of the principal combatants. They were all good men, but were of the moss-back type.
He called the principal inen of each church together, and suggested his desire to unite the two churches, and to build a new church half way between the two old ones. The brethren would commence the discussion, but soon were in a quarrel, but before many hard words, Collier would say: "Let us pray." Down on their knees they went; then he would call on the most belligerent to pray. He kept this up for about three weeks, when they came together, built the new church, and since that date the church at Fostoria has
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been one of the most prosperous, with one of the best church edifices in the conference. Here was one of the best illustra- tions of the power of prayer I ever knew.
I assume that many of the graduates of to-day, like those in the past, are looking to the political field to gratify their ambitions. I do not suppose you can go into any legis- lative body, west or south of Ohio, but what you will find among its members students of this University. They seem to have invaded the National House; I am not certain as to the Senate, but if not represented there now, they soon will be by the presence of our friend Fairbanks, who sits behind me. They are Governors of States, and, in short, there is no place in the political world that they are not aspirants for.
It is thought by many that the highest rewards for human effort lie in the political field. I am inclined to think this is true ; the scientific and literary fields next, and the financial last. Who would exchange the name of Garfield for Gould, or Sam Randall for Vanderbilt ?
I have this, however, to suggest : that the first duty in any man's career is to secure a competency for himself and family-to lay broad and deep the foundations of good character and of success in the line you have chosen. Do not be in a hurry to enter upon official life. It is, however, the bounden duty of every man, no matter how exalted or exclusive his position may be, to be a politician, notwith- standing the hard knocks they have just received from Brother Payne.
No man is a good citizen that is not a politician. It is every man's duty not only to vote, but under our system of government, where parties are necessary, to also attend the caucuses and conventions. It is the duty of President Payne, President Bashford and Bishop Walden to attend the caucus. They have no right to complain of the character of candi-
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dates when they have neglected their duty as a citizen. Bad nominations come when the bad element of a party is per- mitted, by the non-action of the better element, to control its caucus and convention.
Notwithstanding what has been said by Brother Payne as to the bad character of public men in Congress and in other high places, I challenge him to get together 400 inen who can excel in character, in integrity, real piety and intelli- gence, the 400 men who compose the Congress of the United States. They are the picked men of the country, and fully equal to the people who sent them to Congress.
We know what the glorious past of the University has been. We are confident that the coming years will witness a greater prosperity and still more glorious results.
Not the least attractive portion of the programme was the reading of letters-greetings from other colleges and alumni.
LETTERS FROM UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES.
It is not within the range of the space allotted to this chapter to give in full all the many kind words which were received from the official heads of the various institutions to which invitations were sent to attend the Anniversary.
President Seth Low, of Columbia College, N. Y., wrote :
" It gives me great pleasure to express to you the greetings of Columbia College on the occasion of your semi-centen- nial. The recent years have brought to us a number of students from your University. * I am glad to say that all of them have done you credit, one in the Law School taking the third prize. They have shown good preparation and have been excellent students. May you turn out many more such men in the coming years."
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President Schurman, of Cornell, wrote :
"Cornell sends greetings to its older sister, Ohio Wesleyan University, now celebrating its semi-centennial anniversary. In this country and time, when institutions of the higher learning are springing with full-born powers from the wealth of modern civilization, it is a distinction for a university to celebrate its fiftieth birthday. A leading college of Ohio and of American Methodism, the Alma Mater of many useful citizens of the republic, your institution well deserves the congratulations of its sister universities at this time upon its good work in the past, and its excellent prospects for future usefulness."
President Harper, of Chicago University, wrote :
" Allow me to congratulate the Ohio Wesleyan University upon the celebration of its semi-centennial. Surely the founders of the institution, if any of them are alive to-day, must regard with great satisfaction the work which has been accomplished in these fifty years. It seems to ine that those who are engaged in the educational work of our country have much for which to be thankful. We need not fear that our ideal will be too lofty."
President Scott, of Ohio State University, wrote :
" We rejoice in the growth and widening power of your institution, and we wish for it during the next fifty years a growth and power which shall far outmeasure all that it has hitherto achieved. One of the strongest and most inspiring influences in my youthful life came from the addresses of President Thomson as they appeared in the Ladies' Repository after they had been delivered before the students of the University. To have been thie centre from which that shining and quickening influence
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radiated is, in my imagination, the chief glory of the Ohio Wesleyan University, and it is one that cannot die."
President Cone, of Buchtel College, wrote :
" Please accept sincere congratulations of Buchtel College on the completion of the fifty successful years of Ohio Wes- leyan University. * * * We join with many thousands in wishing the University continuous growth, usefulness and honor."
President Thompson, of Miami University, wrote :
" Miami University, completing her seventieth year, joins with the great multitude in congratulating her junior sister upon attaining the honorable age of fifty. * The fifty years have been a splendid prophecy. May the Jubilee year be the beginning of a realization of that prophecy in which the Holy Spirit may descend in large measure, bap- tizing the institution, and consecrating her students to the cause of higher Christian education."
President Jordan, of Leland Stanford University, Cal. :
" The Leland Stanford, Jr., University, three years old, sends greeting to the Ohio Wesleyan University, which is fifty years old-old enough to be the grandmother of the promising infant who now sends its message. May the Leland Stanford, Jr., University grow old enough to be a grandmother and still find the Ohio Wesleyan fifty years ahead of it in age and vigor-in everything that makes a university strong."
President Ort, of Wittenberg University, Springfield, O .:
"I rejoice with you on account of the history your institu- tion has made for herself. I am glad that she is a denomi- national school, that she stands positively for the great principles of evangelical amity and is one of the mighty
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educational powers of our land set forever against irreligion and skepticism in all their various forms."
President Marsh, of Mount Union College :
" Fifty years of age is only youth to an educational insti- tution. During this brief time, Ohio Wesleyan has attained a giant growth, and added a lustre to both the names Ohio and Wesleyan. * We join you in devout thanks- giving to the Master of all Degrees, who has so richly honored Ohio Wesleyan University. May the bright past be but the promise of a more radiant future."
President Dwight, of Yale University :
"I beg leave to send you and the officers of your Univer- sity the congratulations of our institution, as well as my own, on the successful ending of the first half century of your history. * * The good wishes of the older insti- tutions of learning in this eastern region will go with you into the future. The fraternity of educated mnen and of university men is a fraternity united by common pur- poses and common inspirations and common hopes. *
* * May the spirit of our universities ever be a pure and noble spirit. May the great brotherhood of their graduates be always noble men."
President McDowell, of Denver University :
" The University of Denver sends greetings to Ohio Wes- leyan. You are in possession of a history of fifty splendid years. We are in our youth, but we salute you with love and congratulations. May the Ohio Wesleyan have the blessings of men and of God for untold ages. She has the love of her children, one of whom I am."
President Ballantine, of Oberlin College :
" Oberlin College extends to her younger sister, Ohio
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Wesleyan University, her most cordial congratulations and best wishes on this happy occasion. Founded in the same spirit, cherishing the same high ideals, built up in the same way by sacrifices, labors, tears and prayers, Delaware and Oberlin can never be other than firm allies in the great work of Christian education. They represent the belief that in the training of the young, the culture of the mind by learning and the culture of the heart by religion must proceed together."
Chancellor Day, of Syracuse University, N. Y .:
* * " The 'wheel' rolled with such force that it threw you off, and, flying away on a tangent, you struck that eminence in Delaware with force enough to stick. The world owes much to the Methodist wheel. Ohio Wesleyan is debtor to it in the past and in the present. I had thought of you back in those New England days, when you were pastor of my old church in Portland, as one born for many things; but what would be the supreme thing did not then appear. X But you have demonstrated it. Your summit is the college presidency. X You have a great University-next to Syracuse-in the line of Methodist institutions ! Modesty forbids me to say on which side of Syracuse you are in the ascending scale."
President Goucher, of the Woman's College, Baltimore :
"I congratulate you and the many friends of the Ohio Wesleyan University upon the approach of its semni-centen- nial anniversary. * There is no mind sufficiently comprehensive in its thinking or discriminative in its per- ceptions to properly estimate the benefit to humanity coming from the impressions which the Ohio Wesleyan has made upon the fifteen thousand young men and women who, in the most formative period of their development, were under your care."
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Secretary of Amherst College :
" President Gates requests me to acknowledge with thanks the invitation of the trustees and faculty of the Ohio Wes- leyan University to be present at the public exercises and celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the University. He regrets that his professional duties will deprive him of the pleasure of attending, and he sends the hearty congratulations of Amherst College to the University upon the completion of a half century of useful work and mnost honorable history."
President Crawford, of Allegheny College, Pa .:
" The oldest Methodist College west of the Allegheny Mountains sends greetings to-day to one of her fairest sisters. The noble record of Ohio Wesleyan University during the past fifty years is one of which Methodism may be justly proud. You have been foremost in bringing the advantages of highest education within the reach of all. The name and fame of your heroic builders ought never to be forgotten. There has been something in the surroundings of your insti- tution which has stimulated to noble living. You have insisted on big heart as well as big brain. May the mention of your name always suggest high ideals of education and nobility of character."
President Raymond, of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. :
" What a splendid record you have in the fifty years of your history ! You have grown great in wealth, in numbers, and in intellectual and spiritual power during these years. The names of your eminent scholars and teachers rise before me as I think of you-the name of Thomson, a man of international fame; * the name of Merrick, who has just been raised to a place among the immortals, but
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whose spiritual power is still among you, working toward the great consummation, and the names of many liv- ing scholars whom we might mention. Your opportu- nity, both because of your location and of your achieve- ments in the past and equipment in the present, is full of promise."
President Quayle, Baker University, Kansas:
" Baker University, the oldest college of Western Kansas, sends greetings to the Ohio Wesleyan University. The Ohio Wesleyan University is to be congratulated specially for two reasons : First, it has shown what phenomenal results may be achieved by a college adhering strictly to academic work ; second, it has demonstrated in a remarkable way that schol- arship and a profound spiritual life may be contempora- neous."
President Zollars, of Hiram College, O .:
" As a friend of higher education and a citizen of Ohio, I take pride in the work that you have done and in the honor- able position to which you have attained. May each suc- ceeding year of your history be characterized by an ever increasing measure of success."
President Sproull, of University of Cincinnati :
" The successful completion of the semi-centennial of the Ohio Wesleyan University is a cause of rejoicing to me, not so much on account of its past as it is an earnest of its future prosperity. It is the college only that can bridge the chasm between the rich and the poor. I rejoice in the prosperity of any college that makes for right- eousness, but more especially when it is the representative of a religious body that is in a marked degree the friend of the poor and humble."
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President Super, Ohio University, O .:
" That the influence of the Ohio Wesleyan University has always been thrown strongly in the right direction, every one knows who knows anything of its history. * By * prestige, the O. W. U. stands at the head of the Methodist institutions of the State and must always be the leading institution. Would it not be a good thing for Methodism -for all Methodist educational institutions, by whatever name called-and for the cause of higher education in gen- eral, if the current of students could be turned toward Delaware as the highest educational point in the State, for in this age currents flow upward as well as downward ?"
President Rogers, Northwestern University, Ill. :
"This University sends greetings and congratulations to the Ohio Wesleyan University on the occasion of its semi- centennial celebration. We rejoice to know of the continued growth and prosperity of our sister institution. Its progress has been such as to rejoice all its friends. May it continue to prosper in the future as it has done in the past."
President Sterling, of Kenyon College, O .:
"I believe that the salvation of the country depends on the education of the people in Christian faith and morals, and that every Christian church has a duty to perform in the higher education of the people, for in the long run the edu- cation of the masses is based and depends on the higher education of the few. In this great work the Methodist Church is doing her full share, and has set an example which other churches would do well to follow."
Telegram from President Gilman, of Johns Hopkins Uni- versity :
" Congratulations, best wishes, and liearty recognition of good work accomplished."
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President Warren, of Boston University :
"Fifty years ago the Ohio Wesleyan University entered upon its beneficent career. Twenty-five years ago this very summer, Boston University received its charter and initial organization. You have the advantage of us by quarter of a century's experience ; but to us both the beauty and joy of this advantage is that by virtue of it power is given you to take us with you into the field of your illustrious achieve- ments, and to bestow upon us a share in all the fruits of your ampler life. * * * Through all generations may the Ohio Wesleyan retain its power of molding men to higli- est ideals, and through these may it mightily hasten the inbringing of that kingdom for which humanity in all its better moments has ever longed and labored."
President Sanders, of Otterbein University :
"Otterbein University sends to her neighbor, the Ohio Wesleyan University, Christian greeting and hearty congrat- ulations upon the auspicious completion of her first half century. We bid you Godspeed and pray that this may be but the stepping-stone to grander things."
President Fiske, of Albion College, Mich. :
"A half century of admirable work has laid the foundation for many centuries of building of character and inspiration for noble living. Education divorced from Christianity is a power dangerous to the individual and the public, and a spiritual life without the education of the intellect, the proper guidance of thought, fails to develop the whole man. * May a beneficent Providence smile upon this great school of learning, and the coming years crown her with abundant honors."
President Thirkield, of Gammon Theological Seminary, Ga. :
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"I pay my tribute to the Ohio Wesleyan as an institution that is emphatically Christian and evangelical in her spirit and influence. Therefore no State institution can fill her place. She deserves the largest endowment and most gen- erous support from the Church. These should come, must come, will come. On this glad anniversary I join you with grateful heart in rejoicing over the achievements and pros- pects of our University."
President Eliot, of Harvard :
"President Eliot regrets that imperative engagements make it impossible for him to attend the exercises in celebra- tion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Ohio Wesleyan Uni- versity."
Vice-Chancellor Beiler, of Washington University :
"I hope that you may have the greatest time in the history of the University, and may the glory of the next fifty years surpass the glory of the former."
President Scott, of Bareilly Theological School, India :
"And now may I send my jubilee salam ( peace ) far over the sea with the prayer that the past fifty years inay be but the earnest of a brilliant fifty years to come, such years as may make our University famous throughout the world."
Hon. J. G. Woolley, Chicago, Il1. :
"It grieves me beyond words to find that I must disappoint inyself about being present at tlie exercises of commence- ment week. * * As for Alma Mater, every cheer for her past, every plan for her future, every prayer to her God."
President Scovel, of Wooster University, O. :
"It was in my heart to say all I could pack in a sentence or two. I regard the success of the Ohio Wesleyan Univer-
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sity as showing the way to enlarged usefulness in all our denominational colleges in which, in turn, I think lies largely Ohio's glory and safety. And I know its success to be con- sequent upon faithful adherence to religious. principles. Better inaterial of congratulation does not exist for any institution of learning."
President King, of Cornell College, Iowa :
"She stands forth among her sister colleges as a bright Pharos to warn against all forms of error and to guide to the haven of truth. May she have increasing prosperity and usefulness in saecula saeculorum."
President Peters, of Heidelberg University, O .:
" We congratulate the Ohio Wesleyan University upon the glorious record of her history, and upon the position of influence which she has attained among the literary institu- tions of our country. May the Christ continue to bless her with rich effusions of His Spirit, so that as she moves for- ward in her glorious work of Christian education she may continue to be a fountain of sound knowledge and wisdom from which shall issue streams that "shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High."
President Long, of Antioch College, O .:
"During the checkered half century since your portals were opened for students, you have achieved results which, considering all the difficulties of the situation, form a just occasion for wonder and rejoicing."
STRIKING STATISTICS.
PROFESSOR EDWARD T. NELSON, M. D., PH. D., Class of '66.
ALUMNI DAY.
In 1844, there were thirteen colleges in the State of Ohio, and also just thirteen under the fostering care of our then united Methodism. It has been claimed that the Ohio Wesleyan University was founded to break the spell of that magic number.
From a business standpoint, another college in the State was perhaps uncalled for. The entire population was one and a half millions. Columbus was a straggling town of the Western type, with a population of 6,048, according to a census just completed. Cleveland was her equal with 6,070. Dayton was a town of 4,268 people, while Delaware was com- pelled to count in the entire township in order to reach her first thousand. The thirteen existing colleges averaged only one hundred students each, while not less than two of them did not have at the time a student in the collegiate de- partment. And yet, the founding of the Ohio Wesleyan was demanded alike by the Church and the State. Methodism was represented by two annual conferences-the Ohio and the North Ohio-having a combined membership of 95,322, including Negroes and Indians, and a force of 262 effective preachers. The Baptists had their college at Granville ; the Episcopalians, one at Gambier ; the Congregationalists had their Oberlin, and the Presbyterians had their hands on no less than three-Marietta, the Western Reserve at Hudson, and Oxford, a State institution. It seemed to our fathers
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that Methodism should have one seat of learning distinct- ively her own.
The State demanded this new college, as it has all that have followed it, for the reason that institutions of culture, like concretions in the earth, grow most from the particles nearest at hand.
Fifty years ago, Methodisın had an uneducated ministry and an uneducated membership. It has been estimated that not more than one in twenty of its ministers had even an academic education. How could it be otherwise, when our Church had not a single theological school within all of its boundaries, and when her institutions of learning, of whatever grade, were few in number, feeble in resources and influence, and widely scattered? Wesleyan in Connecticut, the mother of all Wesleyans, had graduated only 110 persons up to the year 1844; Augusta, of Kentucky, 125; Indiana Asbury, now DePauw, 27; in all, 262 for Northern and Western Methodisın. Wesleyan had given to Ohio but one minister- James Gilman Blair, who joined the Ohio Conference ; two teachers-Wilbur, of Cincinnati, and Dwight, of Berea; two lawyers-Lincoln, of Cincinnati, and Converse, of Sandusky ; one business man-Van Valkenburg, of Cincinnati, and facile princeps our own Merrick, a student but not a gradu- ate. Indiana Asbury had not loaned a single one of its graduates, lay or clerical, to the State of Ohio. Augusta, smallest but kindest of the three, had given us a basketful of giants, destined to become leaders among us. No wonder that we have adopted the orphans of Augusta, and given them a place at our tables and in our hearts.
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