Monmouth College - Ravelings Yearbook (Monmouth, IL)

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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.

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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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Oor First President. BY MRS JENNIE LOGUE CAMPBELL. AVID A. WALLACE was born near Fairview, Guernsey County, Ohio, in 1826. He was graduated at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, with the lionors of his class, in 1S46. Entering the University, he was settled, first at Fall River, Mass., then at East boston. From the latter charge he was called to the Presidency of Monmouth College, and accepting the position, entered upon his work, October, 1S56, two months after the College was opened. Here he remained until January, 1S78, when he resigned on account of broken health, accepting a pastorate at Wooster, Ohio. In the Autumn of 1883, he was elected to a professorship in the Theological Seminary at Xenia, Ohio; but before he could enter upon this work, he died at Wooster, October 21, 18S3. These are the outlines of the life and work of Dr. Wallace. To the students of the present, his is only a venerable name associated with the kindly face which looks down from the portrait on the chapel walls. But to those who were with him in the Faculty, and to those who were his pupils, his is the hallowed memory of a noble life. To give anything more than the slightest sketch of his life and work is impossible in these brief lines Dr. Wallace had that characteristic of all great men — intense earnestness in his work. All the resources of his great heart and head, and of his scanty purse, were poured forth in bshilf of ths struggling College To build up on these western prairies, a distinctively Christian College — this was his great life-.iim. The financial system, the dis iplin;, the course of study, of the institution were the subjects of the most careful thought and investigatio.i. But it was in the moral and religious work of the College that nis mflaence was most felt. A very practical man of aff,iirs, he was also a deeply spiritual Christian, and many a young life was kindled to deeper devotion by contact with his earnest nature. Hrs method of government was largely by individual influence. Every student who came to College became the object of his personal solicitude. Was one beginning to stray into the path of evil — Dr. Wallace ' s eye was on him, and by direct approac-h, and by enlisting fellow- students in the wanderer ' s behalf, he strove to win him back to the right way. Even the dull and unattractive were the objects of his care, and he would permit no slighting reference to the intellect of a student in his presence. He was born to bear the burdens of others; and, both within and without the College, many were those who came to him for sympathy and advice, and none ever failed of patient hearing and helpful counsel.