Milton College - Fides Yearbook (Milton, WI)

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XIX E XXI He used his musical talent as an aid to his church and pastoral work and never rested until he had made use of every spark of ability in any young man or woman which could be used to interest them in the life of the church. While at Leon- ardsville he studied further the Hebrew and other Semitic languages and gave lectures on the Bible to his congregation. In recognition of this advanced work Alfred University in 1887 conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. The people at Leonardsville responded to his efforts and the friendships then formed have always endured. Here a second son, Clifton, was born in 1889. It was a wrench to pastor and people when these almost idyllic relations were severed in 1891 by the acceptance of a call to the pastorate at Westerly. R. I., a much larger church, where there was always harmony between pastor and people, but where problems became numerous and where a simple life was no longer possible. During the even flow of the years in Leonardsville, Mr. Daland had employed his leisure hours in writing. I-Ie translated the Song of Songs from Hebrew and began to edit The Peculiar People, a monthly mag- azine in the interests of Christian Judaism. The correspondence entailed by this work resulted in a 'growing acquaintance beyond the bounds of the editor's little parish and even abroad. During the VVesterly pastorate there were often Jews from different parts of Europe staying in the house for short visits. Two children, Stephanie and Alexander, were born in VVesterly. In 1895 Mr. Daland visited England as a representative of the Seventh-Day Baptist Missionary Society, and the next year took his family to London, where he became pastor of the Mill Yard Church. At this time Milton College con- ferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity, partly in conse- quence of the personal admiration which the late President Whitford always felt for him and his work as a minister. Later in 1903, he received a similar honorary title from Alfred University. The London pastorate lasted four years, and during this time Dr. Daland was twice sent on special missions to other countries: once to Berlin in the in- terest of Jewish work, and once to the African Gold Coast, where for some weeks he lived in a native village, the only white man there. When returning from this latter voyage he was seized with a deadly fever common on the coast and narrowly escaped with his life. In' 1900 the Missionary Society decided to dis- continue supplying thc London church with a minister from America, and Dr. Daland and his family returned to their native land, and, having accepted a call to Leonardsville, he went back with his wife and four children to the village where he had begun his ministerial work in his young manhood. Here, two years later, he faced another great decision, probably the one most important in his life. President Whitford had died and Dr. Daland was asked to become his successor. This was a perplexing question, and it was many weeks before the decision was made. This meant giving np the active ministry, for which he had fitted himself and for which he felt himself to be adapted, and entering upon an untried work, of which he knew but little except that it would be beset with difficulties. While the decision hung in the balance, the one weight which inclined it towards Milton was his belief that the college was founded on truth and sin- cerity. that whatever might be its defects or its lacks, there was nothing merc- tricious in its ideals. This conviction he had formed from his acquaintance with President Whitford and with Professor Shaw, the latter of whom had lived one mmmmmen mmmmm

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III XXI Social life, which now occupies so large a place in a college course, was un- avoidably sacrificed to the necessity of the situation, nor was there any room for athleticsg but in New York and Brooklyn there was always the best music to be heard. and during the summer vacation there was an opportunity for a more leisurely family life, although even the summers were spent in musical work, especially organ practice, because churches then did not have to be heated. The June before he was nineteen years of age he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the so-called Liberal Course, a fixed curriculum without elective studies, in which French and German were pursued during all four years five times a week. and in which all the college mathematics including calculus and mathematical astronomy were required studies. In this course he was taught Anglo-Saxon by Professor Brainerd Kellogg. I-lis most intimate college chum was Nathaniel Frothingham, also much interested in music. who through his father had tickets admitting them both to rehearsals of the Brook- lyn Philharmonic Society. During William's junior and senior year, therefore, very frequently on Friday afternoons he had the opportunity of watching Theo- dore Thomas conduct rehearsals of that magnificent orchestra. After his grad- uation he spent his whole time in church work and in the teaching of music. In the autumn of the first year after his graduation he gave a series of organ recitals, of which he has preserved a program which would be very interesting to members of the Milton College Orchestra. His inner life at this time was nourished by constant reading of philosophical history and the newer thought on biology and evolution. The latter tendency much disturbed his intensely religious mother. During the next four years he had a number of pupils in Elizabethport, mostly Germans, the organist of the German Presbyterian church there and his friends. Nearly all of these could speak English, but their young teacher pre- ferred to conduct the lessons in German. and thus he acquired his working pro- ficiency in that tongue. During the winter of 1883. after a period of religious doubt and depression, he began anew to lead a Christian life and that spring definitely offered himself 21S a minister of the gospel. A little group of his friends went with him one Sunday to Summit, N. j., to hear him preach his first sermon in a little country Church. There was one in that company who will never forget the drive through the summer woods and the young preacher's earnest face and eloquent voice as llc dedicated himself to a life of service instead of one of material advancement. A year later she-became his wife. In the autumn of 1883 young Mr. Daland entered the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, from which he was graduated in 1886. During these years he held the position of organist in the First Baptist Church in Pierre- pont Street. Brooklyn. Wfhile pursuing his theological studies he became a Sev- Cljfll-Day Baptist. and during his last year in the seminary he supplied the pul- Dff Ill the church of that faith in New York City. In 1886 he was ordained at lallmelfl. N. J., and immediately after his graduation took his wife and their infant son, now the l7rof. John of Milton College, to the little village of Leon- ardsville, N. Y., to enter on his first regular pastorate. 'lhenncst five years were the most peaceful and, in a personal sense. the most satisfying of his life as a minister. The young pastor loved the place and T110 people and threw into his work all the energy and devotion of his nature. BBHEBISZIEEEBE Page Seven

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Z, 'wa-rs,'t 1 gn ,. dw 'sry A A A flltitiittfiy Q.llZii,J'l5'EfG?tT A A A year in the Leonarclsville parsonage, and also from the testimony of the late Rev. O. U. Whitforcl. whose strict honesty of opinion always carriecl great influence. Thus Presiclent Dalancl came to Milton College in clays which were rather clark. and there is no neecl to write of his life during these last eighteen years, for this life is woven into the history of the college and is as their own lives to all the sons and claughters of Milton. Whatever mistakes and failures Presiclent Da- lancl may have macle, however short of his icleals have been the achievements in the college, there is no cloubt of the nearness of his relation to Milton stuclents. Prexy at Milton is no perfunctory stuclent slang, but a term which on the lips of the boys and girls in Milton College is equivalent to Father in the home. Many perplexing problems are always before him, many times he must seem stern against the wish of his own heart, but his one personal desire is to have his boys anrl girls love him. ancl that clesire has been granterl. CAMPUS ELMS Elms that have stood such faithful sentinels, Guarding your trust through heat and winter snows. When unseen forces storm the citarlels. Crushing the castles of your rlreams like shells,- As memory keeps unwitherecl a clear rose We will remember you. O sentinels. XIBHFIISZ KXXHFE ' Page Nine: