Earlham College - Sargasso Yearbook (Richmond, IN)

Page 18 text:

No, the college was tri grow, not to run wild. -Xnd grow it did. The hard years of the war saw a steady increase in numbers and in efficiency. The first of the long line of classes that stretch across the forty years and more was graduated in 1862-two members. '63 showed a class of only one: but this was just the beginning. Year by year the classes have grown in size until today the degrees awarded each .lime number near half-a-hundred. ln 1866 llarnabas C. Hobbs was elected Earlham's first president. XYe find, too, that about that time, The quantity nf rich food sent to some students by their parents i nf' . and friends having produced much inconveni- ence, particularly in a sanitary way, that practice will in future be objected to-.U Another ideal shattered-those young people were considerably like boys and girls nowadays! But alas, we of today have no guardians to keep us from too many sweets. In 1873 we find a long-felt want supplied in the obtaining of a fifty-thousand-dollar and con- stantly increasing endowment fund. Many rea- sons had made such a fund almost imperative and the energetic administration of President lX1'oore,who had succeeded President Hobbs in 1868, found means for this excellent beginning of it.

Page 17 text:

stantly growing library of nearly 1,000 volumesg a good start to- ward a museum or cabinetg the building of the Observatory to serve for the large telescope and other astronomical appa- ratus, a strong and earnest stu- dent body of 112 young peopleg and Ionian and Phoenix were thriving literary societies even at that primitive period. But ah! the customs of those early days !-we modems are apt to indulge in a little superior- ity of tone when we hear of the plain dresses, the stern decorum, the strict segregation of boys and girls, the prohibition of sing- ing and instrumental music. And yet in the Old Days Earlham turned out sterling men and women, whose physical, mental and moral equipment for life most of us will do well to equal. VVe have gained in social freedom and emotional enjoyment, but per- haps in ways we don't like to admit we have lost some- thing as well. Again, we are apt to call men and women who could formulate and uphold those necessary restraints unpro- gressive-or by the more modern term, slow. And yet, in Boarding School days. with debts pressing and amid the rigors of early settlement. these same nien and women voted to set aside two-thirds of a gift uf E500 sterling from English Friends, to purchase seientitie apparatus and start a library!

Page 19 text:

The next year heralded an event of but little less im- portance, the publication under auspices of Ionian of the first number of The Ea1'I1za11z.z'fv. And yet this event must have chary handlingg for in 189-l The Ea1'Ilza1111'fe and the Plz0c1zi.ria1z, a Phoenix product, were united under the name EarIlza11zz'z'c. Now here's the question: Has Ea1'll1cu111'fc number two anything to do with EGl'IlZUIllI'fC number one? How much deep language has been spent upon this prob- lem we are afraid to stateg but it is readily to be seen that the discussion is one of transcendent importance. Is this college paper thirty-three years old? or only a paltry twelve? We tremble and refuse to commit ourselves. Wliat modern improvements may not be expected now that there are an endowment fund and a college paper. VVe cannot be surprised to hear that the next year coal oil for lighting was superseded by artificial gas, whose glare with its smack of civilization must have instilled an ardent desire for progress into young minds. The leaven must have been working, for we find that year the rule promulgated that checkers, chess, and similar games and playing on musical instruments will not be allowed. Pre- sumably there was a reason. The years l878-80 are important ones in the growth of the college. For some time the management by Yearly Meet- ing had been unsatisfactory. Some changes seemed necessary, and in 1880 the college was incorporated as Earlham. under the management of twenty-five Trustees from the lndiana and the VVestern Yearly Meetings. This is practically the be- ginning of a new era for the Quaker College. .Xdequate and conscientious management, growth. influence and prestige were insured in new measure. The change was felt soon. Wlithin two years 3320.000 had been spent in repairs and alter- ations of Earlham llall. These were sadly needed. and with the change came comfort and cheer and sanitary conyenienet long lacking. The prosperity continued. lfach year the build- ing was taxed to its utmost and the student lnrtly' was tilled with energy and enthusiasm. l.iberalization was rapid-tha old days were passing away. New courses, new interests new ideals were becoming everywhere manifest. Even before the resignation of l'resident Xloore. in NSS the need for new buildings was pressing, but the years 'NF '86 left only two alternatives-new acermmodations, or re- stricted growth aiid lost opportunities. Slowly but surely the money came and in l837 the corner stones of two buil liltgs were laid. lt was an impressive occasionkthe sign of lfarl- liam's new birth. The following year, with the completion of Lindley Memorial llall -named in honor til' llr. .Xlfred and Eliza bl. Lindley who made the largest contribution to its erection: and of Parry Science llall -in honor of Xlordeczu Parry who gave the money for its erection-the neu lfarlham was fairly on its way: comnzodious class-rooms, a slrletltlil auditorium, numerous well-equipped laboratories. broad ia- cilities in many new directions. Along with the well-nigh universal movement in the col- lege world Earlham through these years of the early nineties was branching out rapidly into intercollegiate interests. 1 'ra- tory, debate, athletics, rapidly forged forward. ln all ways was our college taking a high place among lndiana colleges a place she has never relinquished, ln lN 2 came the gym- nasium, largely by student etfort and bet'--re many feats through the good will of llaniel tl. lit-id, the spleltrlltl athletit field was added.