Oberlin College - Hi-O-Hi Yearbook (Oberlin, OH)

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In keeping with the character of the occasion upon which the book is intro- duced, it has been the effort to paint the brighter side of Oberlin life. A very brief outline of the early career of both town and college is given in the first chapter, to serve as a faint background to the picture-in order that it may not seem to be entirely devoid of historical setting. Only warm, bright colorshave been used. Occasionally pathos, sentiment and fancy may have been employed to fill in With, but the presiding genius of the Whole is comedy. The surprising and amusing sides of Oberlin life have been portrayed, with due effort to avoid the dangerous extreme of coarseness and buffoonry so common in college pub- lications. It may be well to state in this introduction that, Qunless otherwise specified D, the incidents as given are without exception vouchedfor as strictly true by those Personally acquainted with the facts. Perhaps the gathering up of these tradi- tions could have been done more eiiectively by some of those still living who have Watched the growth of Oberlin from the early timesg but as these persons have either not been able or not inspired to take the matter in hand, it has been reserved for the students of modern times to do it as best they could. The result is, we hope, tolerably complete, considering the fact that nearly all the zicidents related had to be gathered by the interviewing process. And now it only remains, in sending forth this modest candidate for local favor, to add that, While we regret that the haste with which it was necessary to get out Oberliniana has not been compatible with a more exhaustive treat- ment of the subject and a more perfect typographical make-up, We nevertheless count none of the time and labor which the book represents lost, whatever may be its reception at the hands of the public. THE AUTHORS.

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I SALUTAMUS I The luckless mortal whose unhappy lot it may be to turn the pages of this book will delve in vain therein for statistics and ordinary chronological tables. He will find very little theology, speculation or moralizing here. The more serious aspects of Oberlin history have been portrayed in literature more than once, and there is no disposition to undervalue the work thus done by wiser heads and more experienced Writers. The publication of this little volume is no invasion of the sphere of any of these n1ore pretentious works. On the contrary, it there is any relation sustained by this bool: toward others already published, or'to be published, that relation is a purely supplemental one. This volume is the after-course of tilberts and almonds and oranges and bananas, which should properly follow the more substantial elements in the .Iubilee repast, In other Words, it is the anecdotal, and hitherto unwritten his- tory ot Oberlin College which is contained within these covers. Doubtless there is no other town in Northern Ohio which has had so remark- able a history as Oberlin, a history into which the element of romancehas enter- ed so largely. This history has been so strange, often so thrilling, thatit cannot fail to interest the general public, Certainly more than local interest must attach to the history of a town which has been called the nursery of an ti-slavery feeling in the Westg which has proved the practicability of co-education of the sexes 5 which has been the home a-nd final resting-place of Charles Cf. Finneyg which claims Mrs. Stowe's hero, George I-Iarrisf' which has been one of the principal stations on the under-ground railwayg and the name of which has been for a by-Word and a hissing in the country. It follows that the romantic stories interwoven with this history ought to be preserved. The stories Within have been compiled withno little outlay of strength, time, and personal inconvenience. If this Work is not rewarded in any material Way, it will still be a substantial satisfaction to the publishers to know that they have rendered some service to the cause of Oberlin. by preserving these reminiscences of the early times. In a few years there will be no one left from Whom, an authentic recital of these stories could be had. It is eminently litting that the present and all future generations of students should know at what a cost have been purchased the educational privileges which they enjoy hereg that they fully appreciate the heritage which has been left them by the early Oberlin fathers. Ideas as to the Way in which this work should be done may legitimately differ. We have endeavored to handle the history of the school reverently, and yet have not gone to the other extreme of prudery, which is quite as offensive. No one person's ideas as to what the book should be will be fully realized, of courseg but we trust that all may lind something of value contained in it.

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OBERLINIANA. x CHAPTER I. PIONEER Rmnniscnncns. I V , D - N 1832, Rev. John L. Shipherd, pastor oi the Presbyterian Wm Church at Elyria, and Mr. P. P. Stewart, an ex-missionary, 5,15 conceived the plan of organizing a community in the wilds of . any Lorain county, which should become the secluded home of a 'li collegiate school. During that year they prayed and talked over the plan with their wives, and in the next year came to this Jlace. 1 The purpose of the colony was set forth in the 'L Oberlin Covenant W as that of it glorifying God in doing good to men to the extent of our abilityf' This was the animus of the community. To be sure, there were found also in this Hflovenantll the inculoation of self-denial, economy and industry, together with the germ of the present anti- tobacco sentiment, yet love to man was the vital principle in the new colony. . 95 it ,How far the reputation of Oberlin has been warped from this standard! The self-denial, the intensity of belief, and the earnest- ness.of life characteristic of the early residents were made the subject of unsparing ridicule. The word Oberlin became synony- mous with bigotry and asceticismg yet the faith of the early settlers was not one of austerity and gloom. The most trifling circumstances were outrageously distorted and heralded abroad over the land by the press: More often stories were fabricated out of whole cloth and circulated in the newspapers. The New York Observer used the expression, The latest Ober- linism, in reference to any instance of bigotry and intolerance. In short, the idea prevailed throughout the length and breadth of the land, that extreme fanaticism characterized the place. Later in the history of the place this calumny asserted itself in open forms. A guide-board fire miles -north of town represented a