History of Linn County Iowa Part 43

Near the close of the war it was seen that many of the soldier students of the college would be unable to complete their education because of the sacrifices they had made in the service of their country. A fund of fourteen thousand dollars was therefore contributed by patriot friends at home and in part by Iowa regiments in the field for the education of disabled soldiers and soldiers' orphans. No gift to the school has ever been more useful than this foundation, which aided in the support of hundreds of the most worthy students of the college.

Two of the students of Cornell were enrolled in the armies of the Confederacy. Of these one became a lieutenant in a Texas regiment. At one time learning that one of his prisoners was a Cornell boy and a member of his own literary society, the Texas lieutenant found Cornell loyalty a stronger motive than official duty. He took his prisoner several miles from camp, gave him a horse and started him for the Union lines.

THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

From the beginning Cornell college has been coeducational. In the earliest years of her history some concessions were made in the courses of study to the supposed weakness of woman's intellect, and "ornamental branches," such as "Grecian painting," which seems to have been a sort of transfer work, "ornamental hair work and wax flowers" were grafted on the curriculum for her special benefit--branches which soon were pruned away.

Woman's presence seems to have been regarded in these early years as a menace to the social order, safely permitted only under the most rigorous restrictions. So late as 1869 Rule Number Twelve appeared in the catalog--"_The escorting of young ladies by young gentlemen is not allowed_." This was a weak and degenerate offspring of the stern edict of President Keeler's administration:

"_Young ladies and gentlemen will not a.s.sociate together in walking or riding nor stand conversing together in the halls or public rooms of the buildings, but when necessary they can see the persons they desire by permission._"

For many years these blue laws have been abrogated, and the only restrictions found needful are those ordinarily imposed by good society. The a.s.sociation and compet.i.tion of young men and women in all college activities--an a.s.sociation necessarily devoid of all romance and glamour--has been found sane and helpful to both s.e.xes, and no policy of segregation in any form has ever been as much as suggested.

The social life of the college has always been under the leadership of the literary societies. They are now eight in number: The Amphictyon, Adelphian, Miltonian and Star for men and the Philomathean, Aesthesian, Alethean and Aonian for women. The students of the Academy also sustain four flourishing societies, the Irving and Gladstone, Clionian and King.

These societies meet in large and rather luxuriously furnished halls in which they entertain their friends each week with literary and musical programs, followed by short socials. Business meetings offer thorough drill in parliamentary practice and often give place to impromptu debates which give facility in extemporaneous speaking. The societies also give banquets and less formal receptions from time to time and in general have charge of the social life of the school. Members are chosen by election and the rushing of the incoming freshman cla.s.s is a fast and furious campaign, occupying a week or so of the first half-year. However it may affect studies, it certainly develops friendships and promotes the rapid a.s.similation of the large number of new students in the body social of the school.

The societies have always been in effect fraternities and sororities so far as social advantages are concerned, and they have performed the function of the best fraternities in the intellectual and moral supervision which they have given their members. But the literary societies have been more than fraternities, and under their supervision the social life of the college has been lived on a distinctly higher plane than had its organization been purely social and for recreation only. They have also been markedly distinguished from fraternities in their democratic character. Instead of excluding fifty or even seventy or eighty per cent of the students from their privileges, they have given their inestimable social advantages to practically all who cared to join them. They have thus prevented the growth of a leisured cla.s.s of students whose sole interest in college is found in its recreations and who have been allowed the control of the college social life.

Indeed, so valuable in the history of the college has this social organization proved that students have suggested that it be extended to other colleges by means of affiliated chapters.

ENDOWMENTS

During the earlier years of its history the college received few notable gifts. It was largely sustained by innumerable small contributions to its current expenses and endowment funds made by devoted friends whose generosity and self sacrifice deserve the praise bestowed upon the widow who cast her mite into the treasury of the temple. The larger gifts which have been made in endowing chairs, with the amounts and dates of the foundation and names of the donors, are as follows:

1859 Hamline Professorship of Greek Language and Literature, $25,000, by Bishop L. L. Hamline.

1873 D. N. Cooley Professorship of Civil and Sanitary Engineering, $10,000, by Hon. D. N. Cooley, Dubuque, and Oliver Hoyt.

1873 Alumni Professorship of Mathematics, $50,000, by The Alumni.

1885 W. F. Johnston Professorship of Physics, $50,000, by Hon. W. F. Johnston, Toledo.

1902 Edgar Truman Brackett, Jr., Professorship of History and Politics, $30,000, by Hon. Edgar T. Brackett, Saratoga, N. Y.

1904 David Joyce Professorship of Political Economy and Sociology, $50,000, by David Joyce, Clinton.

[Ill.u.s.tration: COMMERCIAL HOTEL, CENTER POINT]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BRIDGE OVER CEDAR RIVER AT CENTER POINT]

1904 Lucy Hayes King Foundation, now in support of the presidency, by ex-president Wm. F. King, $50,000.

1910 Alumni Professorship of Geology, $50,000, by The Alumni.

Among the other notable gifts to the college must be mentioned that by the Hon. Andrew Carnegie, of $50,000 for the erection of the Carnegie library, dedicated in 1905.

The largest donations to the college have been those of its president emeritus, William Fletcher King. Most valuable of all have been the long years of service, but besides these he has given from time to time many financial gifts to meet current needs and near the end of his term of office, he crowned his benefactions not only with the endowment of the professorship just mentioned, but with the munificent gift of $100,000 to found 100 scholarships in memory of Margaret Fletcher King.

At the unveiling of the bronze tablet in her memory, in 1904, Hon. L.

M. Shaw spoke these fitting words: "It is my privilege to witness the unveiling of a tablet erected in memory of a saintly woman who came in bridal clothes and left in cerements, and who spent the entire thirty-eight years of her married life wedded as completely to Cornell college as to William F. King, and who served both with equal faithfulness and with unfaltering devotion. Words are inadequate to measure the influence of a Christian woman's life spent amid surroundings such as have existed here for a generation. Neither does bronze suffice to prophesy the lift toward righteousness and higher citizenship of what is here done by the bereaved husband in the name of Margaret McKell King.... The tablet so thoughtfully erected to her memory and the endowment of scholarships so generously made by Dr. King guarantee the perpetuation of the sweet influence of a n.o.ble life and extend the benison of Christian education to one hundred students per annum, on and on, far beyond the ken of those who knew her and knowing loved her."

In 1910 the general education board made a conditional gift to the college of $100,000 for endowment, and of the $300,000 to be secured to meet the conditions nearly half has already been promised in sums among the largest ever given to the school.

THE CURRICULUM

In the fifties Cornell college was a very simple organization. In the first year of the college as distinct from the seminary, six teachers taught the entire round of the college course, which then included but forty subjects, each pursued for but three months. Besides Latin, Greek and mathematics, there were offered six terms in science and seven in the following subjects: Natural Theology, Evidences of Christianity, Moral Science, Butler's a.n.a.logy, Mental Philosophy, Rhetoric, and Elements of Criticism. This simple curriculum was stated by the catalog to embrace "the course of study in Mathematics, Languages, Sciences, and Belle Lettres which is prescribed in the best colleges and universities. It is thorough, extensive and systematic." All the same, both Cornell and "the best colleges and universities" have found that college courses could be made more "thorough and extensive" if not "more systematic." Latin, for example, at Cornell now offers eleven half-year courses instead of nine third-year courses as in 1857-1858.

Sciences, which then offered six terms, now offer thirty-seven half-years and form five strong departments with their own professors and a.s.sistants. In 1875 the department of English Literature was organized, and the same year special teachers were employed for the first time in public speaking, although the School of Oratory was not organized until 1891. History and Politics became a distinct department in 1886. Courses in the English Bible were offered in 1894, and in Sociology in 1900. In all, the last catalog lists more than two hundred half-year collegiate courses of study.

The college has been among the foremost in the west in adapting and enlarging its courses to meet changing ideals. As early as 1873 the department of Civil and Sanitary Engineering was organized, in which hundreds of young men have received a valuable equipment for the work of life. One of the earliest recognitions of education as a collegiate subject was when courses in this science were offered at Cornell in 1872--the beginning of the present strong school of education. In 1900 and 1901 special directors of Physical Training for both men and women were first employed.

SPIRIT AND INFLUENCE

During all these changing years since 1853 the spirit of Cornell has remained essentially the same. It has made for scholarship--a scholarship honest, tireless, and fearless in the search for truth; it has cherished culture; it has fitted for service and has sent forth its students to perform, in the words of Milton, "justly, skilfully, and magnanimously all the duties both public and private of peace and war."

It has ever been a religious spirit, too, this spirit of Cornell, and kindling in thousands of young hearts has inspired them to purer, stronger, and more helpful living.

The influence of Cornell may be summarized by a quotation from an editorial in the Cedar Rapids _Republican_ in 1904, reviewing the history of the college:

"Fifty years of college work and college building; what does it mean? What is it these men, about whom we have been writing, have done? The half can not be told. No research, however painstaking, could discover it all, for only a portion of such work is ever seen of men. For fifty years a constant stream of beneficent influences has been flowing out from this inst.i.tution. The pure water which gushes from a spring on the hillsides, who can trace? A certain portion will refresh those who dwell near its source. The remainder flows away to form a brooklet that 'joins br.i.m.m.i.n.g river'

which carries ships, waters cities, and finally augments an ocean current that washes illimitable sh.o.r.es. But for these springs the everlasting ocean would dry up. The stream of beneficent influences which has been flowing from this inst.i.tution on the hillside down yonder, has been carried around the world--into countless fields of human activity and high endeavor--into homes where mothers teach their children to avoid those things that are of the earth earthy--into business establishments where the golden rule is not always turned toward the wall--into legislative halls where statesmen and patriots are needed--into the judiciary of state and nation--into the cabinet of the president of the United States--into all callings and all professions--into all countries and all climes. May it flow on forever and forever!"

CHAPTER XXIV

_History of Coe College_

BY REV. E. R. BURKHALTER, D. D.

There is an interest, and a charm peculiarly its own in tracing a stream that has grown to be a river back to its head waters in some lake or mountain spring. And when instead of a river we trace backward a college to its source and fountain head, this interest and charm come to possess a sacred value and are full of hallowed a.s.sociations. And the charm and interest become complete when this matter is pursued by one who is not only a historian but also a partic.i.p.ant in the transactions which cover years of time and call up many holy and tender memories of scenes and places, and yet more, of persons who were fellow-workers in the good cause and the most of whom have pa.s.sed from earth.

The fountain head of Coe College, whose history it is now proposed to record, is to be sought and found in the mind and heart of the Rev.

Williston Jones, the pioneer pastor of Cedar Rapids, who for the years between 1849 and 1856 was the minister of the First Presbyterian church of this city. Mr. Jones was a most zealous servant of his Divine Master, and labored zealously for His cause, not only in the local field, which was then so newly opened for settlement, but in the whole outlying region. His heart felt the needs of this entire middle west, which, as a fertile wilderness, was offering such inducements for the pioneer settler, and he longed to do his part to the utmost in a.s.sisting to provide this region with a gospel ministry. To this end, he opened a School of the Prophets in his own home.

We now avail ourselves at this early point of our history of the valuable contributions furnished by the words of the Rev. George R.

Carroll, in his most interesting little volume ent.i.tled _Pioneer Life in and Around Cedar Rapids, 1839-1849_.

"Mr. Jones had persuaded one young man, the writer of this sketch, to devote his life to the gospel ministry. But there was no school here in which he could begin his studies. At last the zealous pastor decided to undertake himself the task of preparing that young man for college. Meantime, other young men heard of the arrangement, and persuaded Mr.

Jones to admit them also to the same privileges. The result was the formation of a cla.s.s of sixteen or eighteen young men who occupied the unfurnished parlor in the pastor's house, which was temporarily fitted up for the purpose. One of the number was chosen to act as monitor each week, and Mr. and Mrs. Jones came in at different hours of the day to hear the recitations in the various branches of study pursued. The branches studied were reading, writing, geography, arithmetic, Latin and Greek. This school continued its regular sessions for about six months, and was successfully wound up with a public exhibition under the shade trees in front of the pastor's residence on the hill near the Milwaukee depot. The following young men were among the students of that first school: George Weare, John Stony, Cyrus E. Ferguson, Murry S. D. Davis, Amos Ferguson, Isaac W. Carroll, Mortimer A. Higley, William E. Earl, William J.

Wood, Edwin Kennedy, George R. Carroll, James L. Bever, and George W. Bever."

We also avail ourselves of an extract from the _Fortieth Anniversary First Presbyterian Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1887_, on which occasion Mr. Carroll in his biographical sketch of the Rev. Williston Jones, our first pastor, used the following language:

"Mr. Jones was deeply interested in the subject of raising up a native ministry. That is to say, he believed that it was important that we should seek out young men from among the people of the west to labor in the west. It was, therefore, his constant aim wherever he met a Christian young man of any promise, to lay before him the claims of the gospel ministry, and urge him prayerfully to consider the question as to whether or not G.o.d had called him to the sacred office. This fact, of course, led him to take a great interest in the subject of education. There were no schools at that time where a young man could even begin a course of study for the ministry. He felt the embarra.s.sment of the situation. He had at last found one young man who had decided to study for the ministry, but there was no school in Cedar Rapids where he could make a beginning of the study of Latin or Greek or any of the higher branches of study. At last he decided to undertake himself the task of preparing that young man for college. In a short time, a dozen or fifteen more, hearing of this arrangement, begged the privilege of joining that lone student in studying under Mr.