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

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' ,PIONEER REMINISOENCES. 17 It is often thought that Oberlin, was from the start an anti-slavery institution. This is erroneous. 'The settlement of that question was edected as follows: The students of Lane Seminary, near Cincinnati, began the dis- cussion of slavery. For eighteen successive evenings the discussion was continued most hotly. One young man, Theodore Welcl, was conspicuous for his burning eloquence. Superbly logical, and with an irresistible charm of person, he succeeded in fastening over- whelming conviction of the evil of slavery upon the rest. The Seminary trustees inet and prohibited this discussion. Four-fifths of the students left at once, and hiring a large building in the vicinity, proceeded to teach each other. It is interesting to note now, in connection with this action, the fact that a colored student carried off the honors at the last commencement at Lane Seminary, fl883j. What a revolution in principles is this! Arthur Tappan offered 555,000 and a professorship to the anti- slavery institution which would receive them, but there was no response. , In the meantime, good Father Shipherd, after prayerful consider- ation of this great question, feltiit a duty to petition the 'trustees of Oberlin topopen the new school to students irrespective of color, and so did. The trustees niet in the morning, and a long and most earnest discussion followed. All day the discussion continued. ' 'But Women's hearts are often truest on such questions, and Mother Shipherd, while discharging her household duties, frequently passed the open door. At length in her anxiety she stood before it. Father Keep stepped out and informed her that the result was very doubtful. Immediately she' dropped everything and gathered together the women of the place to pray' for the result. All day the discussion continued, and all day those holy women prayed that the right might triumph. At length the vote was taken. It was cn tie! Father Keep cast the deciding vote, and made Oberlin forever an anti-slavery school. 9-E In the Spring the thirty protesting students from Lane arrived, traveling by way of the Ohio Canal. But Oberlin was full already. However, they were not discouraged, but proceeded to erect what was afterward known as Cincinnati Hall, or 4' Rebel Shantyfi a building 1441424 feet in dimensions. Soon after fifteen students left WGSt61'11 Reserve college on similar grounds. The unprece- dented action of the trustees drew hither all anti-slavery young men. The place actually swarmed with students. Soon colonies

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16 OBERLINIANA. concluded to let you all know the result of my meditation, and it is this: Can we not substitute parched corn for our graham diet, and thus save something with which to feed G,od's lambs?'l The proposition did not meet with favor, however,-the students believing it necessary to draw the line right between graham and parched corn. ' I The following incident further illustrates the privations incident to the early life: ' One of the Theological Professors went to a brother out of town, who had a team, and told him he wanted some wood drawn, but that he had no money, and asked him how he should pay him. The good brother replied that he would draw wood for him for one day for nothing, and then pointing to his bare feet said: HBut you see I need pay for my work. The Professor imme- diately jumped from his horse and pulled off his shoes and throwing them to him said: H Here, take these: I have another pair and can ride barefootf' The following will illustrate the spirit which actuated the early students. It was related by Rev. E. B. Fairfield, D. D., of '45, at the dedication of Council Hall: t 'L I can but very imperfectly express what I felt on the occasion of my coming to Oberlin. Cincinnati I-Iall was just passing away. I came here a' young man, poor, and with nobody to help me, one hundred and iifty miles from home. After I had been here three months, I started to go back home, with two dollars in my pocket. It was a smallksum to go so far with, but I went, making the dis- tance on foot. After I reached home I said to my father, 'I want to go back to Oberlin, and I want you all to gof So I came back, and not long after the family all camef' One of the iirst colonists coming from Massachusetts, in 1834, built a log cabin that year, near Oberlin, 13x16 feet within its walls, with single roof. In the summer he built aframe barn 30x40 and could not obtain sufiicient help to raise it without calling on the students. A pig-pen that he afterwards built between his house and the street, and larger than his house, was often mistaken for his house, and people coming to see him generally knocked Hrst on the door of the pig-pen. His only vehicle for a number of years, for use on his farm, or for riding for business or pleasure, was a two- wheeled cart, drawn by oxen.

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is OBERLINIANA. A U had to be sent out, and the suburbs of Shefiield and Abbeyville were founded. ' Under the matchless eloquence of Weld and President Mahan fwho came about this timej, the students became most enthusiastic in their hatred of slavery. Every winter temperance and anti- slavery delegations went forth lecturing throughout the country. They were reviled, persecuted, mobbed. The school was intensely unpopular, The action of the trustees furnished excellent material for unscrupulous caricaturists, and amalgamation was generally thought to prevail here! - A brief description of Cincinnati Hall as a representative college building of extreme pioneer days may be of interest. A former student thus describes it: ' ' The Hall was built of green lumber and supported upon oak blocks, scattered at appropriate intervals, and of course after the unsettling of the iirst frost the outline of ridge and eaves and sill became decidedly wavy. This, with the outside battening of slabs with the bark still adhering,-gave the building a picturesque appear- ance ,and made its architecture appropriate to its back-woods sur- roundings. But no more notable building has ever been erected to give shelter to the throbbing purposes of Oberlin. It was popularly known as 'tRebel Shantyf' though its occupants always disclaimed the title. It was eight feet high under the eaves, one hundred and forty-four feet long, and twentylfour feet wide, divided into twenty students' rooms, twelve feet square, the remaining space in the south end being reserved for dining-room and kitchen. Each room had an outside entrance and one window. There was no internal commu- nication between the rooms. It was built in the spring of 1835. After two or three years, more substantial buildings were completed, and it was used a carpenter shopg in 1839 or '40 it was divided up and distributed about the place for various purposes. 44- X 95 About the time of the Lane Seminary accessions came Charles G. Finney, with his glorious eloquence, and Dr. John Morgan, who had been dismissed from Lane because of his hunmnitarian views! The generous offer of Arthur Tappan also secured the erection of the commodious dormitory bearing his name. Still the accommo- dations were insuflicient. The rush to the place by the best of the youth was enormous. A big tent, capable of seating 3,000 people, was purchased, and in this commencement festivities and Sabbath services werenheld.