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

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The full responsibility borne by Dr. Reade throughout nearly his en- tire administration gave him a free hand in shaping the policies, stand- ards and ideals of the school. In giving the school the name University it is seen that he looked to a future development which would fill the University concept. As a first development toward the University idea he conceived and organized the School of Theology, which, in the litera- ture of that day bore the name Reade Theological Seminary ; and it is the hope of the writer of this sketch that this name may be restored thus ever associating his honored name with the department which was to be the fullest expression of his purpose. The Academy, Normal School and School of Music, found in the organization their proper place. Dr. Reade was compelled by the very limitation of his resources to find teachers who made salary a secondary consideration ; so he gathered about him a group of men and women who were willing to practice self- denial. The same spirit was inculcated in the students. To keep ex- penses down, rooms were small and meagerly furnished, food was plain and course, but the students seemed well nourished. To Dr. C. W. Win- chester, who became President later, this spirit was so evident in the school life that he gave as the motto of the school, Plain Living and High Thinking. In those days we had no gymnasium and baths, but as has been indica- ed, Dr. Reade was ever reminding the students of the proper care of the body. Deep breathing in the open air, bathing, invigorating, but not ex- hausting exercise, and regular habits of eating and sleeping were contin- ually urged- I can not now remember of many cases, if any, of nervous collapse. Believing that foot-ball is brutal, that the exercise is too vio- lent for student life, and that, as a natural result, its place in school ath- letics over-exercises the large and physically strong, and by its violence leads to many casualties for which the school did not wish to assume the responsibility, he set himself immovably against foot-ball for this school. He ruled out intercollegiate athletics on three main counts : First, it tends to the concentration of training on a picked few to the exclusion of the many who need the exercise more than the special few, thus defeating the very aim of physical education for the health of all the students as related to intellectual work; Second, it consumes much valuable time in going away and taking a number of boosters thus affecting class work ; Third, it increases cost to the student, often to the student who is not really able to bear it; and, if he were able to bear it, thus pushing up the expense, and operating against one great purpose of the administration, namely, to keep cost so low that the poor may have an education. The democratic spirit of Dr. Reade fostered the principle of social equality. Labor, even what is called the most menial, was dignified, Moral purpose, genuineness of Christian living, and faithful effort, count- ed for more than wealth or keenness of intellect. The boarding together and finding a common life all through the school fostered the family feel- ing and a Chrisian sympathy made each interested in each other. Teach- ers, too, were brought into close and sympathetic touch with the students. Dr. Reade was an ardent supporter of the Literary Societies. He believed that public speaking should have a place in the education of every student. Literary enthusiasm, not merely society spirit as measured in i We M™ gj(«CT MESH

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a .1 calm and cheerful expression ; but occasionally when suspicion and crit- icism came, especially from those who should have given encouragement as these will come to the best of men in hard and great sacrificial tasks, his countenance wore a serious, though never melancholy aspect; and his eye had the far-away expression of one who looks beyond things for his hope. Whether or not Dr. Reade from the beginning of his administration in Ft. Wayne, assumed personally all financial responsibility for the run- ning of the school the writer is not able to say ; but in the first seven or eight years of the work in Upland he did have the entire responsibility of financing the work, and made his own contracts and paid his teachers and help as a personal matter. He had saved from his previous labors three or four thousand dollars which he put into the work, chiefly into buildings to provide for the housing of students. He raised money and built nine or ten cottages on lots redeemed from dissatisfied guarantors, mentioned earlier in this article. Money received from the sale and influ- ence of the booklet, The Life of Sammy Morris, enabled him to con- vert the building now known as Sammy Morris Hall from a dining hall to a dormitory for boys, and to erect the present Boarding Hall. Some persons who did not live here and who did not know the inten- sity of his financial struggle to keep the school going, expressed a suspi- cion that the school was more than self-sustaining. This hint that he might be making money by having entire control of the school was a se- vere blow to Dr- Reade, who had put all he had into the work, and was getting out of it only his own simple living. His wife was well fixed fi- nancially and lived in Toledo, visiting Dr. Reade here, and he visiting her there only occasionally. His daughter Mabelle, his only child by his second wife, was with him here part of the time as Professor of Greek. As I shall have no further occasion to refer to her it should be stated that she outlived her father by six years, and after his death for a time pub- lished his paper called Soul Food, and sold his small religious books. That there might be no suspicion of self-interest, he gladly turned over the financial responsibility of the school to the Board of Trustees. He would not accept a salary larger than six hundred dollars a year for a full year ' s work. This was two hundred dollars less than he was pay- ing the Dean of that day for nine months ' services, and was the same as the other married men with families were receiving. Soon after the Board assumed control Dr. Reade ' s health began to break, and, as a means of relief and assistance in his work, Dr. John H. Shilling, Professor of Theology, was made Vice President. Dr. Reade ' s health gradually failed ; he kept going as long as he could, but finally had to give up all work. He passed to his great reward July 25, 1902, at the home of his maiden sister, Miss Sue Reade, who lived in a huose formerly standing where the Swallow-Robin Dormitory now stands. He had often said that he wanted no monument but Taylor Univer- sity. It was therefore considered most fitting that his body should rest in the campus. This little enclosure within the iron fence in the campus is his resting place, and the institution to which he gave his best ener- gies stands as his only visible monument. But in the realm of spirit and personality the invisible Taylor University continues a living grow- ing monument throughout the earth wherever his students have carried the spirit of his sacrifice and devotion.

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Mllllillllll Dm[g its Bt m numbers, but real enthusiasm for effective writing and speaking, was part of the Taylor Spirit. But religion — fervent, heartfelt religion, earnest, evangelical, evan- gelistic Christianity, emphasizing the great fundamentals of Christian ex- perience, as conversion and entire sanctification, with the witness of the Spirit — was stimulated. Revivals were frequently held, and evangelists were brought in who would deepen the spiritual life of the school and lead the saved to perfect love. Dr. Reade took the doctrine of Christian Perfection as a matter of course, treated it as that to which a Christian will com if led on to realize his needs and privileges. He was easy and natural in the use of all the Scriptural terms, and was not a stickler for any form of expression- As far as I remember he did not assume either an attitude of apology or controversy in regard to the doctrine of holiness. A Spirit-filled ministry was the ideal. This kept the school largely free from empty dogmatism and from schism. Added was a strong missionary spirit. His attitude on these various subjects, with a faculty and student body largely standing for the same policies, built up during his administra- tion what might well be called the Taylor Spirit, the Taylor Idea. Only a few incidents can be given to show his disposition and char- acter. In his last illness he went to Battle Creek, Michigan, and was there when the Sanitarium building burned. He got out safe in spite of his weakness, and, though he never told it himself, it was learned by his rel- atives, through letters of gratitude written later, that he went back into the burning building and rescued several persons who could not find their way out. The following incidents connected with his last illness show his sense of humor manifesting itself in an effort to create good cheer even to the last. His daughter, Bertha, seeing his failing strength, looked at him with tears in her eyes and said: Papa, are you going to die? He repli- ed, I don ' t know, Bertha, I ' ve never had any experience, and smiled. On one occasion when he had been sitting up in a chair, and had become wea- ry, he said to one who was visiting him: I think I ' d better lie down ; I talk better when I lie. Dr . Reade was a lecturer and author as well as a preacher and edu- cator. Aside from lectures on special occasions, three lectures might be mentioned, which were delivered a number of times : The Hymns We Sing; The Talking Animal; and The Dutch. Three booklets, The Life of Sammy Morris, St. Barnabas the Good and The Elder Broth- er, have had a very wide sale and have done much good. For a number of years before his death Dr. Reade edited and published two papers, the Taylor University Register and Soul Food. The first was devoted largely to the interests of the University and was sent out each month to the friends and prospective patrons of the school. Soul Food was de- voted to the upbuilding of spiritual life. Dr. Reade wrote numerous poems, many being hymns. His first book, published by the Methodist Book Concern, contains poems written