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

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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. '

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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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20 OBERLINIANA. It thus appears that extreme views did prevail here in those early times, but it was always the extremeness of conviction, and never that of dogmatism. They were feeling after the truth. This may also be shown by an incident often quoted a.s one of the most extreme. A Southern student had written anonymous letters con- taining outrageous propositions to a certain young lady. These letters were intercepted by some theological students, and a meeting appointed, under the lady's name, at a certain time and place. Said student was considerably surprised on said occasion at being seized, bound, and most severely flogged. Before flogging him, however, the theologues talked to him long and earnestly and prayed for him fervently. Afterwards, however, the leader in the punishment con- fessed, with tears in his eyes: HI was all wrong, all wrongg and yet, before God, Ithoughlf I was right. I thought I was serving Him. , The same man is now presiderft of a prominent Southern college. IVe of to-day would be willing to say that the young libertine did not get half what he deserved, yet the incident is quoted to show the remarkable sincerity among the early colonists and students. They acted, not under impulse, but from conviction, and were al- ways ready afterward, as in the instance above, to acknowl-edge their mistake if they had been in error. 94 ii- ' if Another peculiarity was the character of the Sabbath worship. Three long services per day were held. When the people became sleepy it was customary to rise and remain standing. Thus, often several hundred would be on their feet at once, and no comment was excited. President Finney was very plain-spoken and direct in his sermons. He would pray for the owner of a cow which was in the habit of wandering around promiscuously, and the act was not con- sideredridiculous. He could do what other men could not. I-Ie might pray for the organist with reference to his proneness to vani- ity, or for some professor who was inclined to be lazy, and no one -could take offense. In any other this would have been unpardon- able. Although the community was so positive and settled in its own views, yet the people were never intolerant. Representatives of every creed and faith were permitted to speak in public, but it was customary to provide for a reply the same or the following night. The monopoly of intolerance was in'the hands of Oberlirfs blatant enemies. The simplicity in dress and manners was marked, yet in perfect keeping with the spirit of the work to be done. President Finney