Case Western Reserve University - Lux / Differential Yearbook (Cleveland, OH)

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which they had been educated, and the three students who composed the Class of 1830 re- ceived instruction of the very first rank, a standard which has been retained down to the present day. 1n 1830 Professor Charles B. Storrs, of the department -of Sacred Theology, was called to the presidency. A graduate of l'rinccton, he was an able and unassuming man. the descendant of a long line of scholar- ly leaders, though unfortunately not strong of body. Two problems at once arose for solution--lirst, the use of lzvaflzmi auflwrs in the curriculum: and, secondly, the Manual . l.abor system. The polytheistic references in the works - of the Greek and Roman authors, it was maintained with heated acerbity, could not endure in the same curriculum with the doc- trines of Holy XVrit. And in a college where young men were being trained for the minis- try, qnotha! It would not do. lint their arguments were to no avail. Beyond recommending the collateral study of the Bible in Hebrew, the Yale of the XVest followed her prototype in voting to keep the doors of culture flung wide to him who sought entrance. Educational hobbies are never scarce, in any epoch. They were pestilen- tially thick in this one. One of them cost the young college a sum that it could but ill afford to loseg leaving however, to bind the bargain large quantities of rather valuable experience. It was called the Manual Labor system. Through the yellowed pages of the catalogue of 1837 we trace the regimen: Every student is required to work two hours a day. The usual pecuniary compensation for exercise in the shops, as well as the jobs of gardening and agriculture, is from llzrvc fo Iwvlw' rmzfs an hour, according to the individual skill, industry, and experience. But student nature was no different then than now, many were disinclined to it. Others were excused for various reasons, and invidious distinctions arose. llcnry l.n'zt'rvm'v Ililrhrnrk l'rv.vidvl1l, 1855-1871 term of ye us the scheme be gan to fail in all the colleges men coming for intellectual culture being nnpttient of the manual, and the wmter f disappear from XX estern Re serve. IHIL SLAVFRX QUESTION On that warm April day f' 'X i sr fffwpkf 'L dl , x , A E 1. , -- 5 if A ET N.Kyx 9' if, VM The Jrodncts were for the most mart rude, ill-'ointed, and unsaleable. After a l J . X . l . 2 ' ,N f-gg' 'A . - . I . x IL V' .inn fgffq 'v 1851-52 saw its last vestiges ,-. U: ' Q' J..--. I - ' . . ' 1 -F -t , -E1-,A X ' b - - 9-fp 1, 2- ff Z4 T., f ' lil 1' ,7 A X S 1 1 l 1 X X l X ly V II it , ln f H. . , 4 K L Y ilk i' I l nl l ' ' I,-4 4 gl W l A i yf If 1 V .ll v ti sr f L5 .:' E' e 1 when the corner-stone of Mid- dle College had been laid to the sonorous measures of Mr. X U ' . N - ., 1 - 'A-lfll.il'!.-lXMm .4 S'Iudcul.v zwnl about Ihr cmmlry lecturing ngamxl .vIaf'cry. 14

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American coins and copies of newspapers. Then, in the village church, M-r. Stephen Ql. Bradstreet delivers a scholarly address upon the progress of education, and the momen- tous occasion is history. The Erie Literary Society had been estab- lished in 1803. The l'resbyteries of Portage and Grand River had effected a partial lia- ison of forces in 1822, hoping to build on the foundation of the Burton school, but they speedily became convinced that no such arrangement could ever be consummated amid l3urton's miasmic fevers, and straightway cast about for a location of their own. Hudson had been selected, and an appeal broadcast over the Reserve for support and funds. The answer came in the events of that April ClZ1V. Cf1'n1'g1' 1511111111111 1Jf!'1'l'C ' l'r1'.v1.1ie1zI 7834-1855 Now the trustees settled clown to the tasks before them, difficult in the ex- treme. They knew only too well that it is one thing to found an institution and another to breathe into it the breath of life which will mean its perpetuation. Money was scarce and access to markets difficult. The people WC1'C still mostly engaged in the rough work -of pioneers, contributing chiefly in land, cattle, or some variety of merchandise. The alchemy required to transmute these into buildings and professors' salaries was most extraordinary, and a snrpassingly slow process. l.ess resolute minds would have quailed at the prospects. Assets at the time the charter was obtained were only ten thousand dollars-an appallingly small sum on which to found a college in any day. Hut these men were pioneers, trail-blazers, quelling the wilderness in the ringing of an axe, possessing wills as unswerving as their constant faith in the benignancy of Eternal Providence. Being such, they persevered. And the college began to take form. Professors came from Yale, NVilliams, and Dartmouth. Many of the founders were Yale men, and, with the high tradi- tions of Old Eli ever before themf, they came to speak of the new college as the Yale of the XVest. The buildings were planned along the same lines as those in New Ilaven. The standard of scholarship was established as identical with that of the New line'l'mcl college 6 ' 5 5 V Reserve bemff the onlv institu-- 1 ' A -- - . 6 ' . -- . ' 1' X K l tion in the west from which ,J 1-5 ,.-1 I ,,-X 1 A , 1 M P ff gig' one could go to New hngland Q ,gli--ff . ' 9. L.. Mb' 'Q with full acceptance of cred- ' .ff ,5,f? ? !1 !7 its. The trustees had made ,4 . lf it an institution of the kind in mv? V 5 ,t1v234.6vl' Aix 'lark' ,. . -- N 'E , 'fi K 'X i l ll 'T iggfllg- f 'Note: Mr. lidxvard P. Bradstreet, 4, f Ji. lf -j '53, son of the speaker, still lives - ' W ll 1 - S ' c' -' r o 'r1- n--r I Q I ,Wi X ' lll llllcllllla l, I . . li, 0 CLS 1110111- vgx 1 'tm li ,X T Q , will ber of the Ohio bar and the oldest E29 -f 1 5, L living member of any Reserve ' i. . N111 W- W 1 lf l iivf class, at 95 he is still well and able to write frequent reminiscent N The f.tI.l'liHfl 111' UH' C0'l'll4'l'Sl0IIC, April 26, 1826 letters to the alumni office.

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Pi,tkin's Latin address, the First ominous rum- blings of a storm that was to rend the nation almost asunder were reverberating in the halls of Congress. In 1829 XVillia'm Lloyd Garrison came out for unconditional aboli- tion, and began, in 1821, to pound home his arguments from the editorial chair of the Liberator.', For a time he aroused the whole nation. A student from XN'estern Reserve by the name of Bigelow interviewed Garrison and brought back a package of literature and copies of the Liberator to distribute among his fellows. President Storrs and Professors XV right and Green at once became staunch defenders of the Garrison doctrines, greatly influencing the community. At the next Com- mencement Amos P. Hawley, '34, delivered a colloquy called The Recaptured Slave. The question of lminediate Abolition tar. Col- onization became a very prominent one among the students, and a strong Anti-Slavery soci- ety was fornled which was continued for years. At no time was there any pro-slavery sentiment anywhere in Hudson. The trustees, being of necessity con- servative men, were more in favor of Colonization as offering the remedy that seemed less likely to turn the social order upside down. They were afraid the violent discussions would anfect the college, as indeed, they afterwards did. The students began to go out over the country giving public lectures on slav- ery. During the year 1832-3 discussions at home and lectures on the subject abroad appear to have been the chief occupation of many of them, seriously inter- fering with the regular curriculum. The debates on the subject were the more acrimonious because both Colonizationists and Abolitionists seem to have had the inspiration to exasperate each other to the utmost. All efforts to stem the tide were unavailing. And for good reasons! .Iohn Brown, the man credited by Victor Hugo with precipitating the Civil XYar, was a resident of Hudson, and once when his hay- wagon tipped over on a steep hill near the college a whole family of black people Cflrrol Cullvr Pl'l'.Vl.lfl'lI1-, 1871-.1886 had been revealed to the astounded eyes of the pop 'l y . ju , , , - . 1 , A Q 'Q'-iglll' ' 1. 'JN ,f 1 I ' f' Y N I .1 'V - 1 K I lf I pm, J X N 6 QR W ffl 6 4 f ' 44 j y ' ll I I X if f f Z 7 I 1 ' 71 9 I fc, f if i ll- Q ff ff f -t f ,gl f, ,f' . , 4 f. 2 it fl I f 1 x X X I . ' 0g,'w'- 'N' 1, In, 1862 tin' .rfndvui body vulixfrd I0 0 man. is ' ulace. Scores of them passed through Hudson in the night and were hidden in John Brown's secret cave until they could start again for Canada. The students ab- sorbed l3rown's doctrines from himself, and no doubt se- cured a little practical experi- ence at the same time in the business of the underground railway. Every night the lit societies were audible until the last candle had gut- tered and gone out and faint