Monmouth College - Ravelings Yearbook (Monmouth, IL)

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history ol the College. He laid the loundatiou, deep and strong, and be also builded thereupon. By his instructions and personal influence he moulded its character and largely gave direction to its future growth, It was well said by Dr. R. C. Matthews, who, for the whole twenty-two years, was his fast friend and able supporter: ' ' Seldom does any enterprise of the kind so completely absorb the whole man as Monmouth College — as a school of Christ, for that was his ideal of it — absorbed him. Body and mind; time, talent and culture; labor and purse — the one abundant and the other lean — and above all, uinl, were all invested in Monmouth College. After a short interim Dk. J. B, McMichael was chosen as the successor of Dr. Wallace. His inauguration to( l place Sept. 5th, 1S7S. For sixteen years he has continued to be the honored head of the College, and is with us unto this day. During these si.xteen years there has been a steady growth in all directions. Debt has been cancelled. The ironclad scholar- ships — whereby a year ' s tuition was given for six dollars — have been gathered in. The Endowment fund has been increased four-fold The curriculum has been enlarged. A new course of study has been added. The College was first organized with a corps of three teachers — one President and two Professors — now the teaching force numbers the President and twelve Pro- fessors. The growth throughout these later years may not have been so apparent, but it has been steady and substantial. We can but touch on these salient points. However brief a history of the College is presented, omission must not be made of its Literary Societies. They con- stitute a marked feature. The friends of the Institution point to them with pride. They are helping to enrich the College history. Four in number — two gentlemen ' s and two ladies ' It is no vain boasting but plain fact to say that there is not hing in the State that will compare with them. They have grown with the College. Their halls are like elegant parlors richly furnished. All have their musical instruments and fine libraries. Their contests — society and inter-society — always attract large audiences. Here we find one reason why a tabulation of the markings in the Oratorical Contests, not only in the State but in the Inter-State also, ranks Monmouth College jV. The first graduating class was in 185S. Its number was four. Since then over goo have been added to the roll of the Alumni. These constitute the finished product. It is laiiJ iitaJd, ' By their fruits ye shall know them. ' ' They have gone out from the College halls into the Church and into the World to bear their part in the work of bettering the world. It is they and the thousands of undergraduates who received frooi it their education, who are making and writing the real history of the College In hundreds of pulpits, in over one hundred class-rooms as teachers, as lawyers, physicians, bankers, merchants, in every honorable calling, and with but few exceptions, a noble, consecrated band of workers, are maki ng the history of Monmouth College, It may be unwritten history here, but in the Great Book of Kemembrance it will be all written and kept. Leaves of this history are being written in many lands and in many languages, for the children of Mon- mouth College have gone out into almost every land upon which the sun shines.

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f i toFij o! nionn outl GolkgE. ONMOUTM COLLEGE is denominational but not sectarian. As a Colle3;e it is United Presbyterian, yet it enforces no .v It is characterized by a spirit oE Loyalty to its own and Liberality to others. Its sphere is, the Church, the Community, and the World. Its answer to the first question in the College catechism What is Education? is, It is a threefold development of body, mind and spirit. ' here mentioned in the order of their importance, physical, mental, r.Toral. Its distinctive feature as an Educational Institution is summed up in the word, ' ' Christian. ' ' It emphasizes the idea of educating the moral sense and conscience. It boldly asserts that .spiritual power is better than that of body and mind combined, but that the education of all three together is the best — the only true education. Such ideas gave birth to Monmouth College In the belief of such principles its foundations were laid, and during all the years of its history the aim of the College has been to accomplish this end. In its early history Jvlonmouth College flourished under various and more unassuming titles. While it was ambitious it did not claim to be a University from the day of its birth. It was Unown by the modest names of Grammar School, High School, or Academy. The first meeting to organize was held iVIonday, May gth, 1S53, in what was then the basement of the old Presbyterian Church — but recently converted into an Opera house. The school first occupied a modest frame building which stood just north of what was then the Baldwin House — now the Richardson. Here, on the first Monday of Novem- ber, 1833, the school opened and the worl; began. Such was Monmouth College in cinhryo. At first the young institution, in one respeut at least, imitated the greatest of Greek philosophers. It was somewhat peripatetic. It moved about. It had no abiding place. The following summer the school was removed to the basement of the Presbyterian church. Then, after two years, it moved to occupy a District School House then standing on the ground now occupied by the Y. M. C. A. build- ing. The next move was into a house of its own, the Old Academy building — still standing in the northwest part of the city, now used as the manufactory of an article which is an aid to that which is ne.xt to godliness. Here it remained for a number of years, and then it finally rem Dved to its present grand horns with its spacious buildings and beautiful surroundings. The real history of Monmouth College began Jan. ist, 1856. At that time there was elected what was called a full faculty. Rev. D. A. Wallace was elected President; Rev. J. R. Brown, Professor of Languages, and Rev. Marion Mor- rison, Professor of Mathematics. In the 38 years following there have been but two administrations of the College Dr. Wallace continued to be president for tweuty-two years. To write his biography during that time would be to write the

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CLhE Svolution o! the DEpaFtmEnt oY ITlonmouth GollEge. HE beginnings of Monmouth College were small, her ambitions large; opportunity for a College education equal to the best, was the objective point. Toward this she h.is moved with constant and earnest effort. The first catalogue (1857) shows a President and two regular Professors — one of Mathematics and Natural Science combined, the other of Ancient Languages including Latin, Greek and Hebrew: two years later the latter was divided, making a chair of Latin and one of Greek and Hebrew. In iS5o Latin and German were combined. In 1S61 Latin was for the first time required in the Scientific course. In 1S63 the chair of Modern Languages was established. The year of 1864 was one of marked progress. The . cademy was organized under a regular principal. The depart- ments of Mathematics and Natural Science were separated and a profes-sor assigned to each. In the same year a professor- ship of English Language and Literature was established and its duties allotted to the President. In 1S66 English was made a separate chair. In 1S75 the Scientific course, heretofore two years, was lengthened to threo. In this year, also, the chair of Philoso- phy was established, and the Latin and Hebrew united in one dspartmsnt. The year 18S6 is another landmark in the history of the College. Philosophy was assigned to the President: a chair of Social Science established; a Professor of Elocution elected, an 1 arrangen ' nts mads f jr field work in Surveying. In 1890 the Musical Department was organized on a permanent basis. In the fall of 1892, another important advance was made. A new course of three years —the Literary — was a-;;-i ' jlishcd. Tj13 Scientific was mad; a full four years course, runi-ing parallel with the Classical. The Natural Science work was divided into two departments — Biology and Chemistry. There are now eleven Departments and thirteen Professors, Such has been the growth, along this line, of Monmouth College in her thirty-eight years of existence. In achievement, there is much that is gratifying: in promise, much that is encouraging. . J. H. W.