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

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l 10 , OBERLINIANA. negro running at full speed toward the settlement. Another at the Half-Vifay House between here and Elyria showed a fugitive slave pursued by a grinning tiger. Papers publicly discussed the right of Oberlin to be. Non-intercourse acts Were passed by the Pres- byteries, and Oberlin theology branded as heresy. Candidates for the ministry were met With the question, NDO you believe in the Oberlin ways of doing things? A monstrous pamphlet was pub- lished, entitled Oberlin Unmaskedf' Students seeking schools to teach did not dare to say they hailed from Oberlin, in such false odium was the place held. They could only reply to the question, 'tFrom Northern Ohioj' otherwise their application was hopeless. A large volume might be filled with instances of the slanders against the town. 9? SC- Once a white student, at Mr. Shipherd's request, drove a feeble colored servant girl a few miles for her health, the ride being pre- scribed by a physician, immediately the county paper issued an extra, denouncing the 4' amalgamation V, The next Cleveland paper announced in heavy head lines, if Marriage Extraordinary, and the hideous details in full. It is needless to say that the account was copied by at least forty papers throughout the United States. The vilest and most scurrilous accounts off imaginary events were published. Every mistake appeared as a monstrous crime. At -a great conference of IVestern churches held in Cleveland, Oberlin was bitterly denounced. It would be too much to say that Ober- lin was free from extremists, and doubtless mistakes were made by some, but kindness,charity, cheerfulness and purity were the chief characteristics of the early Oberlin fathers, and not noisy demonstrative piety. W Mr. J. A. V an Wagner of '45 says in reference to this opposition: f'We were shut out of the World, and had 'no sympathy from any- one. When I went away at any distance to lecture or preach, I didn't dare to tell them that I came from Oberlin. They would sooner give a night's lodging to a bear than to a man from Oberlin. Once, when I was out lecturing, I stopped at a good house with a very pleasant family. The lady of the house was bent on Ending out Where I got my education, and asked me several times. I dodged the question as long as I could, but at last she cornered me, and I had to tell her, 4 Oberlin.' ' OBERLIN 1' she exclaimed, with an expression of horror and contempt that I shall never forget. That was the spirit which we encountered everywhere. I had a discus-

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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

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PIONEER REMINISCENCES. , 11 sion with a man at one time, and when he could not beat me in any other Way, he told the crowd I was an 'Oberlin student? I had the privilege of attending the State Congregational Association of Michigan one year, and the President of the University at Ann Arbor, who was a member of the Association, rose and spoke of the L almost damnable theology of Oberlin' That is the way they felt toward us and our theology. -Y: But this digression has been made in order that the contumely heaped upon the place might be considered in connection with this, original compact of Hlove to all men. To return now to the little colony struggling against overwhelming opposition. The chief features ot' the school, which were especially obnoxious to the public, were the manual labor system and the system of co-education of the sexes. Both of these have now vindicated themselves, but they were then looked upon as highly hereticalq Reform was the essence of Oberlin doctrine, and for many of these reforms the World was not rea.dy. The school was many years in advance of its age. Often worthy, well-meaning men sought to crush the young enter- prise, and they were conscientious in this. Newspapers all over the country, particularly the Cleveland Plain Dealer, were illustrated with cartoons burlesquing and misrepresenting the school. Was it just to criticise thus without having investigated the facts? Cer- tainly no town ever became more universally unpopular, and certainly none was ever less understood. But the enterprise grew and prospered notwithstanding all this. The first year there were 100 students present. In 1834 the emi- nent Dr. Dascomb came, and all rejoiced in his versatile learning. The attendance of ladies was about 40 per cent. of the Whole attend- ance, and has since preserved about the same proportion. These ladies came from New England and various parts of the country. From Elyria to Oberlin, a distance of nine miles, they were often obliged to Walk, sometimes when the mud was ankle deep. The manual labor system involved at first, four hours' Work a day from all alike. An institution 'farm of 800 acres, a steam engine, mills, machinery, and - a workshop were established, the prices paid for labor varied from 3 to 7 cents per hour. an ' +2 The following incident was related by a relative of Mr. Pease, and is the reliable account of the events about which so much of interest centres: f