USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, 1900-1901 > Part 21
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Let me now draw a picture as it comes to my vision today. It is of four lonely women, though with their husbands and surrounded by bearded mountaineers. On a June morning in 1838 they mount their horses and with their eyes full of tears set their faces towards the land of the setting sun. Day by day they travel- ed on, homesick and weary, but at last
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reached their journey's end and gladly took up the work for the Master. The years sped by and one by one they, with others of the missionary band, dropped by the way until none were left-my mother being the last to go. They rest from their labors and their works do fol- low them. All have gone to the land of endless love, and light, and song, where "the Lord God will wipe away all tears from off all faces."
They builded better than they knew, as have many other noble pioneers. Out
of the untamed wilderness have grown mighty states that shall yet mightier grow. We stand at the gateway of the nations and it needs no prophetic vision to see that within fifty years more peo- ple by millions will crowd our shores. Our sails will whiten the mighty Pacific; and, say what you will, expansion shall have accomplished its true mission of giving to distant climes the glories of American Christian civilization, and jus- tice, truth and right shall have world- wide dominion.
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
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UNIVERSITY OF OREGON.
The University of Oregon is the State University. It stands in Oregon for the highest culture of young men and wo- men, and is intensely loyal to the state. Its present rapid growth and importance are in part due to the powerful tendency toward that higher education which in the last twenty years has placed in near- ly every state west of the Ohio, a state university at the head of the public school system of the state. The educa- tional development of Oregon is certain to follow this general plan and the Uni- versity of Oregon, under its present re- organization, is taking the lead in the development of high schools and all - other proper educational influences.
The legislative act establishing the university and locating it at Eugene was passed October 19, 1876. Regular instruction was begun in 1876. The school of law was organized in 1884, and the school of music in 1886. The school of medicine was incorporated into the university in the year 1887-8. Regular work in mining, assaying and metallurgy was begun in 1879, but the school of mines and mining was not or- ganized until the year 1895-6. At the same time the courses in engineering were organized, which have (1899-1900)
developed into the college of science and engineering. The graduate school was begun in 1897, and the school of commerce in 1900.
The affairs of the university are ad- ministered by a board of regents, ap- pointed for a term of 12 years by the governor of the state, and confirmed by the senate. The first faculty was John W. Johnson, president and professor of ancient classics; Mark Bailey, professor of mathematics; and Thomas Condon, professor of geology and natural his- tory. The Preparatory School was in charge of Mrs. Mary P. Spiller, assisted by Mrs. Mary E. Stone. From these small beginnings, it has grown to be the leading and best-equipped school in the Pacific Northwest, both in the matter of the ability of its faculty and facilities for demonstration of the various branches of study needing such helps. Under the presidency of Dr. Frank Strong, the present president of the university, very rapid and satisfactory progress 13 being made.
The University has seven buildings for university purposes. The buildings. grounds. books, equipment, etc., repre- sent a value of nearly half a million dol- lars. The annual income is entirely in-
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adequate for the needs of the rapid growth of the university. The build- ings are: Villard Hall, named in honor of Henry Villard, the chief benefactor of the institution; Deady Hall, in mem- ory of Judge M. P. Deady; the hall of mining and chemical engineering, the dormitory and library, thie gymnasium, the hall of civil engineering and astron- omy, the president's house and the pump station.
Free tuition, very small cost of living, opportunities for earning a part or the the whole of one's expenses, good li- braries, excellent laboratories and in- struction, place higher education within the reach of every ambitious student. The cost of room, board, books and fees varies from $100 upward. The tuition and fees alone, in many of the large eastern universities, cost twice as inuch as the total expense at the University of Oregon. All departments are open to men and women alike.
It is one of the foremost purposes of this university to place higher education within the reach of all who are intellect- ually and morally qualified to receive it. Therefore, except in the schools of law, medicine and music, tuition is free in all departments of the university-grad- uate school, college of literature, science and the arts, college of science and en- gineering, school of mines and mining, university academy.
The university has valuable collec- tions of archaeology, zoology, geology, botany and mineralogy. There are at Eugene twenty-two laboratories and lec- ture rooms of science and technology, four rooms for drawing and designing, and one large shop containing the wood shop and machine shop, the forge sliop and printing office. There is a general library for the use of the university, de- partment libraries, and libraries of the literary societies. The library of the State Historical Society, consisting of several hundred volumes, is entrusted to the care of the secretary of the society, Prof. F. G. Young, of the university, and forms the niost valuable collection for original work in history in the state.
These libraries have an aggregate of ten thousand volumes and several thousand pamphlets. Important additions are made each year.
Almost all religious denominations are represented at Eugene. Few cities of its size in the West surpass it in the excel- lence of its churches, the refinement and culture of its home life, and the advan- tages it offers students for a highly cul- tured university society life.
Students, by an organization of the student body, control, under the super- vision of the faculty, their own athletic interests. The athletic association has charge of athletic affairs, and there are teams for football, track athletics, hand- ball, lawn tennis, basket ball and golf. There is a well equipped gymnasium, in which women have special private class- es. The university has a training track on the athletic field. The faculty keeps a firm hand on athletics and all excess is avoided. Professionalism is absolutely prohibited and the records of the uni- versity show, as does those of nearly all other institutions where athletics are properly supervised, that while training is going on the average of class work rises. Men who engage in athletics are among the best students. In the college of literature, science and the arts, two special courses are offered: (1) A course preparatory to law and journal- ism, in which the work is made to bear directly upon those professions. (2) Course for teachers, an advanced course for teachers desiring to fit themselves for the more important and more lucra- tive positions in the profession, as teach- ers in high schools, as principals of coun- try, grammar or high schools, or as su- perintendents of schools. In the college of science and engineering one special course is offered-course preparatory to medicine and dentistry, which anticipates one year of the medical and dental schools.
On account of the important position Oregon is likely to take as the center of manufacturing and trade in connection with Oriental commerce, the university has thought best to establish a school of
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commerce for special work in subjects that bear directly upon the materials of commerce, customs, regulations, meth- . ods of transportation and manufacture, the elements of engineering, history, economics and control of dependencies. The university has the only school of mines and mining in the state. It was established in 1895-6, but definite work in metallurgy, assaying, etc., was begun in 1879. It includes an exhaustive course in asaying, metallurgy, mining engineering, mineralogy, economic geol- ogy, blow-pipe analysis, ore dressing, shaft sinking, boring, ventilation and support of mines, drainage, exhaustive courses in mining chemistry, etc., etc.
Unusually exhaustive and advanced courses are offered in engineering. They include work in civil and sanitary, electrical and chemical engineering. The course in chemical engineering is offered for the first time, and is one very im- portant for the industrial development of the state, as it treats of chemistry and engineering as applied to manufactur- ing.
Until the high school system in Ore- gon is more fully developed, the univer- sity finds it necessary to offer work pre- paratory to the university. This is done in the university academy. which is a part of the university organization. The lowest class in the university corres- ponds with the eleventh grade of the high school, and all students finishing the tenth grade with satisfactory work can enter the university academy. By special arrangement with the Eugene
high school, which is one of the largest public schools in the state, and one of the very few having a complete four years' course, students from schools hav- ing but the ninth grade may enter the university, taking the bulk of their tenth grade work at the high school, and the rest at the university. In such cases students will pay a small fee at the high school. The satisfactory completion of a four years' high school course pro- vides sufficient preparation for full en- trance to the freshman class of the uni- versity. The satisfactory completion of two years of the high school course ad- mits fully to first year of the university academy, or preparatory school. The satisfactory completion of one year of high school admits partially to the uni- versity.
Whatever may be the material equip- ment of an institution of learning, the great question, after all, is what kind of work it does, what kind of influence it exerts, and what kind of characters it turns out. The State University has an enviable record in this respect, and ex- celled by none in a like regard. The best manner in which this can be tested is by considering the walk of students after they leave school. The State Uni- versity has to its credit an unusually large percentage of graduates who have reached position of marked influence, the number being far greater than any other school in the Pacific Northwest, consid- ering the time it has been a seat of learn- ing.
OREGON AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.
The Oregon Agricultural College is the greatest industrial institution of learning on the Pacific slope. During the past year there were enrolled four hun- dred students, and the probability is that there will be five hundred during the coming year. Such has been the progress of the institution that a steady increase in attendance is expected as the years go by. This popularity of the college is due
largely to the fact that it is industrial. It is honorable to labor; and cultured labor is the highest ambition of man. There young men and women pour in from all parts of the state-seventy-five per cent coming from farms. They come from the homes that make presidents: hence the student body is made up of good material.
Most of these young people have al-
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ready learned how to earn a living; and their presence in an institution of this character is an indication that they honor labor and that they desire to prepare tieniselves to labor more intelligently. On the other hand it is the business of the college to furnish every modern fa- cility that will tend to make them more proficient in their chosen pursuits. On this account the regents not unfrequently expend as much as a hundred thousand dollars per annum,-a fact which speaks volumes concerning the magnitude of the institution and the unbounded confi- cience the state and the national govern- ment have in industrial education.
The state and the national government have taken so kindly to industrial educa- tion that they have made it possible for the student to obtain schooling almost without cost. At the Oregon Agricul- tural College, tuition is free-absolutely free-without any string on incidental fee; and when students graduate they re- ceive their diplomas without charge. Their closing including uniforms, costs about as much as if the student were at home; anud board per week varies from $3 to $2.50 or less. As there is a military department in the college, the boys wear uniforms; hence in this school the rich and the poor dress alike; and the spirit of equality beautifully pervades the in- stitution.
Along with agriculture, household science, mechanical and electrical en- gineering, and the other industrials there are taught Latin, French, German, math- ematics, drawing, history, English, music and other studies, so that when a student completes a four-year course in the col- lege he is granted the degree bachelor of science.
Probably the broadest course given by the institution is that of agriculture, which embraces the study zoology, bot- any, chemistry and bacteriology, the sciences related to agriculture; and the supplementary studies of mathematics, economics, physics, and such branches as elevate the educated farmer to the in- tellectual level of other professions. Also instruction is given in wood and iron;
the student is also taught how to handle and care for steam machinery, and is niade thoroughly familiar with the mech- anism of the farm traction engine. All students in the agricultural department are required to study dairying both as a science and an art.
The boys literally swarm about the hall of mechanic arts; for here is the lat- est and the best machinery in which they are all interested. Here they work in wood and iron, design, and do all the in- tricate things that belong to the knowl- edge of a proficient mechanic.
Students in this department are al- lowed to choose either the course in me- chanical engineering or the course in electrical engineering. Each course leads to the degree of Bachelor of Science, and the two courses are idential until the be- ginning of the junior year.
The course in mechanical engineering is intended especially for young men who expect to choose an industrial vocation and for those who are already, or expect to be, connected with some of the manu- facturing establishments o fthe country.
The course in electrical engineering is designed to meet the needs of those who desire to turn their attention towards electrical science, the designing, the in- stallation and the management of electric light and power plants, etc.
The shops are well equipped with tools and machinery from the best makers in the country; the idea being not only to have the shops well supplied with the necessary tools but also to make each shop a model as regards quality of equip- ment and systematic arrangement.
The uses of the various tools in the shop are taught by a series of exercise pieces which the student is required to make. After completing the exercises, the regular work consists in building and repairing machinery in the machine shop, mending farm implements, and making tools in the blacksmith shop, and other useful articles in wood shop. So far as possible, all work in the shops is executed from drawings and blue prints, which must be followed accurately.
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In the drafting room the student begins with linear drawing and follows a pro- gressive course until he is able to make complete working drawings of whole machines, and finally he is encouraged to produce designs of his own and to make complete drawings and blue prints of them.
The scientific principles involved in machines and mechanical movements are taught in the class-room, as well as the application of mathematics to problems in mechanical engineering. The student is required to solve original problems and to depend upon his own judgment and ingenuity as far as possible.
Living is the art of arts. The course in household science consists of instruc- tion in general hygiene, sewing, dress- making, cookery, etiquette, aesthetics, domestic lectures. It has been arranged for the purpose of making better cooks, better seamstresses, better thinkers and better homes. This has been accom- plished; for the ladies who graduate from this course are so popular that the sup- ply of graduate housekeepers has never equaled the demand for them. And it may be incidentally stated, that as shown by the records, such a thing as a di- vorce case is absolutely unknown to the ladies who have taken this course. About one-third of the students are ladies, who are thus early acquainting themselves with the course that has elevated house- keeping to a science.
The course in pharmacy aims to teach the student facts and principles of imme- diate use in the drug store, adapting the work to the needs of the practical pharm- ocist and manufacturing chiemist. It is recognized that thorough foundation must be laid for this work. By special arrangement with the Oregon Board of Pharmacy, the final examination of the senior class is conducted by the board. Those who pass this examination are thereupon granted certificates as regis- tered pharmacists.
The young men take military instruc- tion. They carry a Springfield rifle. handle a cannon, have signal statues; in fact perform every duty required of the
soldier. So thorough is this course that many of the cadets are capable of drilling regiments.
The library is an important function in a college; for it is a means of self-educa- tion. The O. A. C. library which is lo- cated in a well-lighted and ventilated room as large as an ordinary chapel, is accessible to the students free of charge. There are 2850 volumes of literature, history, arts, sciences, and fiction; 300 volumes of government publications, such as geological survey reports, rec- ords of the Civil War, and records and reports of the different departments of the cabinet; and between 5000 and 6000 pamphlets, chiefly bulletins issued by the experiment stations of the various states. In addition to these there are received 80 regular weekly and monthly publica- tions, magazines, journals and scientific works. The library is conveniently cata- logued so that the student may easily turn to any topic that he may desire to study.
The college has six active literary so- cieties which meet every week. Once a term each society gives a social literary contests and common events, the socie- ties meeting in joint session with promi- nent citizens as judges. The Y. M. C. A. hold their regular sessions at the college every Sunday afternoon. These gather- ings aid materially in developing the so -. cial and spiritual life of the members. Each year a popular course of lectures free to all students is given under the direction of the faculty by distinguished speakers from various parts of the state. At the chapel period the students meet with the faculty in song, prayer, and Scritptural reading. usually followed with orations by the seniors or with musical or rhetorical exercises by other students. Vocal and instrumental music intersperse various features of the college work so that a student in a career of four years may not leave the institution with- out the refining influences of this import- ant art. Physical culture is encouraged in every way and the gymnasium and on the rtaining grounds. Bowling, fecing, Indian club swinging, dumbbell exer-
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cises, football, basket ball, baseball, lawn tennis, occupy the spare moments of the student in a happy commingling of all classes. These social affairs, although under the direction of a committee of the faculty, are managed by the students who thereby acquire a training in social life destined to be of great value to them.
Corvallis, pre-eminently a college
town, noted for social clubs, literary so- cieties, and active churches which vie with each other in friendly interest and hospitality towards the young people. More and more as the college progresses patrons thither that they may be with their children and at the same time enjoy the refining influences and cultured of a college community.
BISHOP SCOTT ACADEMY.
The first effort made toward the found- ing of an educational institution for boys in the Pacific Northwest, by the Episco- palians, was opened in 1856 at Oswego, under the management of Bernard Cor- nelius, a graduate of Dublin University. Seventy acres of land, and a large dwell- ing house, pleasantly situated, were pur- chased for this purpose. The early ven- ture was known as Trinity School. Ow- ing to a lack of patronage of the people of the Pacific Northwest, and the great difficulties of conducting a school of this character so far away from thickly set- tled communities, there not being suffi- cient population here at that time to war- rant such a school, the institution soon closed its doors to pupils.
It was not until after the arrival of the venerable Bishop Morris here that the talk of a school under the survilance of the church was again seriously broached. Shortly after his coming to Oregon he founded the Bishop Scott Grammar School. This was in 1870. Bishop Mor- ris had received large gifts of land and other substantial offerings for the estab- lishment and maintainance of the institu- tion, and under his direct supervision it was conducted successfully until 1877. Since its founding the history of the Academy is so closely connected with the history of the city itself that any ex- tended historical mention of Portland must of necessity include some reference to it. While it has been located at Port- land it has exerted a powerful influence in educational circles of the entire North- west. It is today the representative school of its character in Oregon, Wash-
ington, Idaho, Montana and British Co- lumbia, and it is one of the ablest con- ducted and best-known schools of the Coast. In 1877 the school had attained a marked degree of proficiency, but just as it was firmly established the entire build- ing occupied by the school was destroy- ed by a disastrous fire. In 1878 the main building of the present imposing edifice occupied by the school was erected, and the entire management of the school was placed in the hands of Dr. J. W. Hill, now one of the best known educators of the Coast. Dr. Hill effected an entire re- organization of the school and by wise and vigorous management soon placed it in a position among the leading educa- tional institutions of the West. In 1887 he introduced military discipline in the school and its growth since that time has been rapid and of a most substantial na- ture. At this time the name of the institu- tion was changed to the name it now bears.
The building now occupied by the school is pleasantly located in the best residence portion of Portland proper. The students enjoy all the benefits of city life and at the same time they are re- moved from its vitiating features. The curriculum of the school includes a thor- ough training in all the English branches of study as well as the classics. It has been the constant aim in the conduct of the school to maintain a rigid discipline and at the same time to surround scholars with all the influences of a re- fined, Christian home. Its management being imbued with the idea that the for- mative period of a boy's life lies between
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the ages of 12 and 18 years. If the boy is properly handled between these years, if he receives a proper groundwork in good morals and is put in the right channel of thought his future character and his con- sequent career are fully assured. The school work has been carried on under this plan, and the efforts have resulted in the firm establishment of a preparatory school where character-building is con- sidered of equal importance with thor- ough work in the class room. All needed attention is paid to the physical develop- - ment by means of strict cilitary discipline which is maintained in the school, and by the opportunities afforded pupils for outdoor sports, and for proper exercise
in a well-equipped gymnasium connect- ed with the school.
All the appointments of Bishop Scott Academy are plain and comfortable and fully equal to the demands of the best conducted boarding schools. The build- ing is heated by hot water, it is lighted by gas and is furnished with everything necessary to preserve the health of the pupils and to promote the highest phys- ical development. The credit for the present high degree of proficiency of this school is due to its rector, Bishop Mor- ris, for his wise counsel and oversight in a general way, and to the efficient ser- vices of the executive head of the school, the present principal, Dr. J. W. Hill.
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