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

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of College men in Ohio who are not graduates at Oberlin. And it may be supposed that our judgment of its character and work would be a little less partial than that of its own sons. If that is the sup- position, then I have to say that the testimony of these representa- tives of other Colleges, so far as I have heard it expressed, is sin- gularly cordial as regards Oberlin. I believe that Oberlin enjoys in a very high degree the good opinion of the educators, and the educated men of Ohio. All institutions, except the Deacon's One Hoss Shay have their weakest spots, and doubtless Oberlin, like every other College, is subject to criticism, but I am sure that there is no institution in the State for which one hears more hearty words spoken than for Oberlin College. The undergraduate constituency of Oberlin is of high quality. Most -of the students, of course, come from families of the middle class. Many of them are farmers' sons and daughters, and these are apt to, be earnest and hard-working students. But boys and girls who are brought up in homes where there are no books are at a great disadvantage when they are pursuing their studies g people who are reared in homes where there is some intellectual background are able to make a great deal more -of a College course. And a pretty large proportion of the Oberlin students are the children of minis- ters and other professional men, who have been accustomed, all their lives, to some degree of culture, and who are ready to make a large use of their opportunities. Educators from Eastern Colleges who have visited Oberlin have remarked to me upon the excellent material, from an intellectual point of view, which the University finds to work upon. I The morale of the College has always been high. The pater- nalism of former days, has, no doubt, been gradually and almost ,unconsciously relaxed, and some things are now allowed which would have scandalized the community iifty years ago. And it is altogether probable that in the large number of students now gath- ered about the Campus, cases of misconduct must frequently occur. Nevertheless I doubt if it would be .possible to find grouped any- where on this planet eighteen hundred young men and women living 15 Qbherlin tram the QBut5iiJe

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HE young men who have this publication in hand X N ' M have asked meito speak a word or two for Oberlin from the standpoint of an outsider. I don't know whether I can very easily put myself ff 1 into that attitude. I ,am reminded of an exper- I M ience at the old Exeter- I-Iall, in the Strand, on washington Qlahhen the occasion of my first visit to London. It was the Wor1d's Mis- sionary Convention, and delegates were there from all the world,- Parthians and Medes and Elamitesu and so forth,-and they were trying to: take care of us in the room of the entertainment committee, when one of the young men of that committee plumply asked me the question, Are you a foreigner ? I thought he ought to know bet- ter, and I said, rather hotly, No g I am an American. I confess' I didn't want anybody who used the English language to call me a foreigner. I have a little of the same kind of feeling when anybody rep- resenting Oberlin wishes me to appear anywhere on her premises as an outsider. I don't know whether I can very well masquerade under that role. I haven't been accustomed to take that line when I have been in Oberlin 5 I have never felt like a proselyte of the gate, and they have never kept me cooling my heels in the Court of the Gentiles. How an Ohio Congregationalist is going to hang about Oberlin in the character of an 'outsider I don't quite understand. For it belongs to us, and we to it, and if we should attempt to deny it our speech would bewray us. And if anybody undertakes to palm off what I have to say here as the testimony of a wholly unbiased and disinterested witness, it will be a case of false pretensesg for I am not at all unbiased, and I a1n very much interested. Of course it is true that I am not a graduate of Oberlin, and that I have never had any official connection with the University. But I am not to blame for that, at least for not being an alumnus, for I think that in the far-off antiquity of 1855, when I was pre- Pafing f0F College, I had never heard of Oberlin. And I suppose I o c u . . .. Q , t it is this misfortune of mine which is alluded to when I am re- ues - . q ted to regard myself as an outsider. There are quite a number l-L

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Gherlin from the QButsiiJe Clymer ,md Sweeter manlier and womanlier lives than those who C C 5 wear the Oberlin colors. A A The Chzmo-Q in the physical conditions, even Within my memory, D has been vast, My first visit must have been in the early Spring of 18733 it was during the lifetime of President Einn6Y, and if WHS the only time I ever hadthe good fortune of meeting him. Even then the town was excessively plain, and the College buildings were as unattractive as brick and mortar can be made.- There was not a touch of the aesthetic about the premises, and as for the mud-I can best describe that by saying that I started with two horses and a buggy from Oberlin for Elyria at ten o'clock in the evening and reached my destination, eight miles away, at a quarter before one the next morning. The theology of Oberlin, which in those days was supposed to be Orthodox, could have given cogent reasons for believing in depths that are bottomless. . No remark of old Oberlinites now revisiting their Alma Mater is so hackneyed as the expression of their wonder as to what the men and women of sixty' or seventy years ago would say if they could return and behold the beauty and the glory of the town and College. The Oberlin Calendargwhich has been hanging in my office for the last four or five -years, gives evidence of the existence of a community in which the beautiful is neither depressed nor forced, and in which the finer arts are cultivated with intelligent enthusiasm. Inmusic, especially,-Oberlin has come to be known as one of the chief centers west of the Alleghanies. There are not many institutions in the land 'where so much serious attention is given to the higher forms of music. The festivals of the Oberlin Choral Union are events of importance in the musical world. The leadership of Oberlin in religion and philanthropy has long been recognized. It is interesting to note the phases through Wh' ' ' - . . . . wh fC11s10uS fhOugl1t has been passing in Oberlin since 1834. Three re - - - Q at leaders have stood forth as its representatives, Finney. Fairchild an ' - . . . 1 d Kmg- Each of them has made his own contribution to theological prggressg 16