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

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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.

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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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, PIONEER REMINISGENCES. 19' In 1842 the first church, still in excellent condition, was begun. It was said, in those early chronicles, to admit 2,700 people and shade half as many more? Doubtless this was extravagant, but certainly it was the largest building in the State for years. The- worshipping body in the church was also the largest, with one- exception, in the whole country. The resident membership rose to 1,200, the choir numbered 150 trained singers, and grand almost be- yond conception was the melody they made. p Incidents might be multiplied almost endlessly, exhibiting the early spirit of the place. It was an ideal. community, a sort of prophecy of half a century later. Somewhat like the early disci- ples, they had all things measurably in common. ' . ' 55 i ' 5? 95 ' The two following incidents illustrate the spirit of honesty which prevailed in the early days. WVe believe that the same spirit of in- tegrity permeates the college to-day, and that the same could re- occur did the occasion arise. ' A professor relates how the farmers about Oberlin used to bring in nuts, apples, potatoes and other such produce, and tie them in bags to the fence in the college yard. The price of the articles was marked on the bags, and' the owners would then go off about other business. On their return at night they would find the proper money in the otherwise empty sacks. 66 ar it -Rev. Geo. Thompson says that at one time during his student days, he made a long trip into the country one afternoon and brought back a quantity of apples. These were placed in a basket in one of the halls of Tappan, with a card marking the price. The students helped themselves and left the required amount of money in place of the apples, X- . Much has been said of the forms of diet observed. Tea, coffee, salt, pepper and meat were banished, even at the hotel, even warm food was at one time deprecated. ' Afterward what was called meat was served at the boarding-hall once a week. President Finney and other ministers preached openly against these indulgences. The boarding-hall at one time afforded two grades of board, the fifty and seventy-five cent tables. The first was called the t'Graham Table, as providing that quality of bread with cold water, for breakfast and supper, with a half bowl of milk added for dinner. The higher priced or Vegetable Tablej, had a little more variety, but furnished no pies or cakes. '