Eureka College - Prism Yearbook (Eureka, IL)

Page 10 text:

THE SPIRIT OF EUREKA IN 1862 At the time that I was a student at Eureka College, our Alma Mater was a decidedly embryonic institution. It was meeting in the old two-story brick building known afterwards as the Academy. Professor A. S. Fisher was at the head of the institution and in passing, let me say that a finer, more consecrated man never lived than he. The rest of the teaching force was supplied by those who were students in the school-Elijah Dickinson and his sister, Miss Elmira, QI. I-I. Rowell, a regular down-eastv Yankee, and others as the occasion demanded. But although it was in this formative state, the germ of life that has made it the great institution that it is, was firmly implanted in the ideals of those who had its management and whose influence, labors and sacrifices made it an institution of real worth. The germ that controlled the minds of every teacher and trustee was the realization of the supremacy of the Christian way of living. Without that purpose there would have been no Eureka College. At the beginning of the session of 1857-58, Professor C. L. Loos of Bethany came as its president. B. W. Johnson was added to its teaching force and it began to assume some of the elements of an institution of higher learning. Both of these men were real teachers. Sometime during that year we moved from the old Academy to the new building standing in the midst of the magnificent grove which is now the center of its various buildings. For such an institution the extent of its curricula was marvelous. Professor John Neville, later of Transylvania University had prepared its curriculum in mathematics. It is said that it included everything that either Yale or Harvard had in their curricula. This gave the student something to do for he knew that he would not receive an A.B. at his graduation unless he had completed it. The same was true of the curricula in both Latin and Greek. Beyond the usual pre- paratory studies, a full four year course in each language was required. Under the present methods of teaching, this seems like foolishness. But the young man who thinks clearly through the problems of analytical geometry and calculus has a mind trained for reasoning. And, while most students probably have done as I have, forgotten the most of their Latin and Greek, there is no doubt but this training furnished them a vocabulary adequate to every occasion. I still think that the colleges of today are too weak on their language requirements. We assembled every morning in the chapel in the new building and after devotional exercises President Loos, while he was there, and during the remainder of the time I was in college, P. W. Johnson, Vice-President, delivered lectures which were of great value to the students. Connected with the college were two societies-the Edmund Burke and the Periclesian. Later, when young preachers began to sprout their wings, the Mathe- sian society furnished them the opportunity of testing their ability. It is here that we learned to think on our feet and express ourselves intelligently. As I look over the list of graduates of Eureka, I see the names of many who have made their mark as pulpit orators. It was their training received in these societies that prepared them to speak extemporaneously. No notes or manu- scripts were used in an oration or debate. It is my opinion there is nothing that so interferes with a speaker's power over an audience as a paper, however well concealed. In the short space I have, I cannot go into details, but I wish to impress upon those of the present that the supreme purpose for which Eureka College was established was to promote the greatest possible spirit of brotherhood among men and to develop men capable of zealous application to the purpose of improving the total worth of human personality. I trust that is its purpose yet. It is difficult in looking back through seventy years to recall the things that might be most impressive, but these I have mentioned stand out most conspicu- ously in my memory and are my most cherished recollections. -SAMUEL K. HALLAM SIX

Page 9 text:

IN RECOGNITION of thirty-five consecutive yeors OI professorship at Eurelco- W E P R E S E N I - S I L A S I O N E S PROFESSOR SILAS JONES: You have gone far and deep in the realms Of ethics, religion, and philosophy. You have for years held spiritual converse with the great souls Of earthg and from this ennobling communion you have by the Working of your own native goodness distilled the fine essence Of the Way Of life. In the words of the Nestor of modern education you have found the durable satisfaction Of life. In some good day the academic terrain may rid itself Of its smothering encum- brance of pedantry, erudition, and acquisitivenessg then our laureates will be the men who have walked humbly and who have been exemplars of the good, the beautiful, and the true. In that day you will be a fully accredited candidate for really great academic distinction. You by your example and precept have been a guiding beacon On this campus for thirty-five years. -W. T. JACKSON ' F E

Page 11 text:

W E H 0 N O R Eurelcofs oldest living alumnus- SAMUEL K. HALLAM Samuel Kincaid Hallam, who celebrated his ninety-first birthday on January 30, has the distinction of being the oldest living graduate of Eureka College. Mr. Hallam graduated from Eureka in 1862 With an A.B. degree. It was 72 years ago April 25 that Mr. Hallam was ordained to the Christian ministry. He has held pastorates in Arkansas, California, Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Texas. In IQIO he organized the Central Christian Church of Brownsville, Texas, Where he now serves as pastor emeritus. He has made his home in Brownsville since 1907. S VEN