Taylor University - Ilium / Gem Yearbook (Upland, IN)

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znz iiiiiimimiiiiii iS § Then began his struggle for an education. Being one of the young- er members of a family of fourteen children, he could secure an educa- tion only by working his way through college. He entered Ohio Wesleyan University and, by industry and the most rigid economy, supported him- self, graduating with highest honors in 1869. He earned most of his sup- port by felling trees and sawing wood. His usual meal, prepared and eat- en in his own room was a dish of corn meal mush with molasses. At college he met Miss Ella Dodge — yes, met and loved (a thing that seems to have been a perfectly natural thing to do then as now) and wooed and won her for his wife. She was an earnest Christian, and became a great church worker, giving her husband the heartiest sup- port in his work. She was a poetess, a woman of marked literary tastes and ability, and aided and inspired her husband in his literary efforts. Many of her poems were published in the Western Christian Advocate and other papers. Mr. and Mrs. Reade, in 1870, took charge of The Fairfield Union Acadamy, he as Principal, and she as teacher. They continued in this work two years. In 1872 he became a member of the Central Ohio Conference of the M. E. Church and was stationed at Defiance, 0. While there Mrs. Reade engaged in the Woman ' s Crusade work, praying and singing in the streets before the saloons. From exposure she contracted a heavy cold from which she never recovered. In an attempt to restore her health, she was sent to Lookout Mountain, Tenn., but the effort was futile, and she passed to her reward from this historic spot. The death of his wife was a great blow, and his heart was buried when he buried her. It is said that after her death a certain sad, far- away look which he never wore before came over his face when in repose- But he took up the burden of raising his two motherless children, and did his best to be both father and mother to them. These children were Clara Edith Reade and Bertha Reade. Clara Edith, a remarkably bright child, and a Christian at a very early age, died at the age of seven. Bertha Reade is still living. She married a man by the name of Lackey. Her daughter Nancy M. Lackey, now twenty-three years old is Dr. Reade ' s only grandchild. Mrs. Lackey has a second husband and lives in San Antonio, Texas. To her I am indebted for much of the mate- rial for this brief biography of her father. She inherits the poetic instinct of her parents and has written many songs, both words and music. Soon after his wife ' s death, he was called as pastor to Sidney, 0- Conference was held there that year. It was the custom to give the church that entertained the Conference the choice of ministers from the entire Conference for the following year. The Sidney church chose Dr. Reade. This incident shows his high standing in the estimation of the people. It was at Sidney he met Mrs. Laura F. Kirkley, a widow with four children, who became his second wife, and who outlived Dr. Reade by a number of years. After two years at Sidney he was compelled, by failing health, to give up the regular ministry. For the succeeding five years he travelled extensively, as salesman mostly through the Southwest. On regaining his strength he resumed work in his Conference. One charge he served mpn inmuHHii nm iiiiiiiiii iii iuks) mi

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IIIIIIIIIIIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII THE LATE PRESIDENT THADDEUS CONSTANTINE READE, D. D., L. L. D. B. W. Ayres, Ph. D. How difficult is the appraisal of personality! This can be realized only when one begins thoughtfully to consider the diversity of human in- terests and to evaluate these in their relation to what is conceived to be the supreme end of life. The greatness and dignity of human personality, as well as its uniqueness, its contrast with mere animal consciousness — are revealed in the fact that a destiny may be chosen, a great overmaster- ing purpose may be adopted which will hold the activities of life true to that great purpose like a needle to the magnetic pole. When a man God- led and God-inspired sees a great human need, and commits himself to the task of relieving that need, making yiis concrete expression of a life pur- pose which is grounded in the Will of God; and when a man with such a vision keeps the eye of decision on the goal, ever pursuing through appar- ent failure, ever seeing the star of hope through the clouds, ever holding steady in the face of the calumnies of enemies and the cold indifference or misunderstanding of friends, then personality reveals its real spirit- ual essence. But men are to be appraised in the market of human worth, not only by this godlike determination and fidelity to a chosen task, but al- so by the relation this task, if accomplished, holds to the fundamental spiritual needs of man. It is not always easy to discover the full signi- ficance of a task, hence not always easy to give a comparative value to the work of different men. Some men are over-appraised by their own generation and some men ' s greatness and goodness are not seen until the perspective of history reveals them in their grandeur. Some who achieve fame in this life will find in the fires of the judgment that they have built of wood, hay and stubble; and some who have done the more obscure and sacrificial work will in that day find they have built of gold, silver and precious stones. Christ gave one sure standard of human greatness: Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will V chief among you let him be your servant. in portraying the life of the subject of this sketch no comparisons, implicit or explicit are made. It is an honest attempt to appraise by Christ ' s standard a life, grandly lived, nobly spent. Thaddeus r ' onstantine Reade was born in Steuben County, New York, March 29, 1846. His father ' s name was David Reade, descended from a family of some prominence living near Bath, N. Y. ' A large number of the descendants of this family were ministers. David Reade, the father, moved from New York to Ohio, and Thad- deus, whose mother died when he was a child, went to live at Marion, Ohio, with an old lady by the name of Russell. He was accustomed to call her Grandma Russell. He lived with her till he was about thirteen years of age. In his thirteenth year he was converted and united with the church. At fifteen he was licensed to preach and began as a circuit rider in north- western Ohio. At this age he became a country pedagogue.

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Minimum mm™ m was Fostoria. He was serving this charge when he was given leave of absence for three months travel in Europe. It was on this trip he gathered material which he afterward used in his lecture on The Dutch. Another important charge was Zanesville. It was from this city he was called into educational work. He was requested to accept the Presidency of the Willamette College, Oregon, at a salary of $4,500.00 a year- He re- fused this, but did accept the call to the Presidency of Taylor University, at Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1891, and began the work to which he believed God had called him — the education of young men for the ministry. The school had been known as The Methodist College of Fort Wayne, but its corporate name was Fort Wayne College. Under Conference and church control it had failed financially or was on the point of failure, when in 1890 it was turned over to the National Association of Local Preachers of the M. E. Church, and took its present name. The name Taylor Uni- versity, in honor of Bishop William Taylor, was given to the school, not only because, under the new management, the Spirit-filled life, the mis- sionary zeal, the unflagging energy, the dauntless courage, and the world vision, of Bishop Taylor were to be capitalized as an ideal which would prove a perennial inspiration to students, but also because Bishop Taylor was the only man who had been elevated from the Laity — the ranks of the Local Preachers — to the high office of Bishop. Under the new name and management C. B. Stemen, M. D., was the first President. He took the position only till another suitable man could be found who could give iiis entire time to the task. It was at this time, 1891, that Dr. Reade threw his life so fully and sacrincially into the work, and by his life, his teaching, and preaching really established the doctrinal and spiritual standards of the school which have made it so vital a force in Christian education. About this time there came to Taylor another character, not a cul- tured, educated gentleman as was Dr. Reade. but one who was destined to be quite as potent a factor in the school as was its consecrated, scholarly new President. This was a simple-minded, black-skinned Kru boy from Africa, Sammy Morris. These two lives, so opposite in physical and mental characteristics, — the one so white, the other so black ; the one trained in the schools, the other an untutored child of nature ; the one with generations of Christian culture and civilization behind him, the other with generations of superstition and heathenism behind him ; the one the mature Christian educator and preacher directing the young into paths of eternal life and the knowledge of the Holy Ghost, the other eagerly inquir- ing his way into the fullness of life and the knowledge of the Holy Ghost — here in the Spirit merge into one great life-giving stream pouring its refreshing waters down through the years, and throughout the thirsty earth, making the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose. One faith, one baptism, united them forever. Sammy Morris did not live many months after Stephen Merritt sent him to Fort Wayne from New York, whither he had come from Africa in search of the Holy Ghost. But that brief life was full of meaning for the small group of teachers and students who constituted Taylor University. Sammy demonstrated to these the wonderful possibilities and power of a life wholly given up to God. He furnished a few months of holy, faith-inspired life, and President Reade iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirr m