BEXLEY HALI..

a novel form of statement and appeal, "earnestly entreating of every friend of every name and class one dollar in aid of the present struggles of Kenyon College." The dollars, it is said, came to Gambier as the leaves fall in autumn. Larger subscriptions were also added. John Quincy Adams, then President of the United States, gave a hundred dollars. In all some twenty-five In all some twenty-five thousand dollars was received through this appeal.

Meanwhile a goodly number of students had assembled at Gambier, and the work of the college went bravely on. Bishop Chase nominally occupied the office of president. He really filled most efficiently the post of general manager and superintendent. Every morning the "head men" had to be directed by him as to their daily work; every evening they were gathered to give ac

counts of labor. There was the tilling of the thousands of broad acres to be looked after, the quarrying of stone, the erection of buildings, the industries of the village, and

all this in addition to the wants, bodily, mental and spiritual, of the student community. Besides, there was the keeping of detailed accounts and the maintenance of a

most extensive correspond-
ence. The burden was
altogether a very heavy one;
but Bishop Chase's broad
shoulders were well fitted to
bear it, particularly as he had
a most efficient helpmate
in his noble wife.
"Mrs.
Chase entered with her
whole soul into her hus-
band's plans. She was a
lady perfectly at home in
all the arts and minutiae of
housewifery, as happy in
darning stockings for the
boys as in entertaining her
visitors in the parlor,

and in keeping the multifarious accounts of her increasing household as in presiding at her dinner-table and dispensing courtesy in her drawingroom."

Through her efficiency and wisdom, and her husband's untiring and marvelous activity, Kenyon's affairs were for a time prosperous. A corps of able professors was gathered; there were more students than could be well accommodated, while the building known as | Old Kenyon, with walls four feet in thickness,

OLD KENYON.

rose solidly as though it were intended to stand forever. Difficulties, however, at length appeared, and grew to great proportions. "Kenyon College," said Bishop Chase at the

time," is like other colleges in some respects, and unlike all in many other respects. The fundamental principle in which it differs from all others is that the whole institution is patriarchal. Like Abraham on the plains

more Occidental than Oriental. Accurately drawn, it would have shown Western workmen ready to cry" independence," a Western faculty to question the limits of authority, and Western Young America to cheer them on. Pecuniary troubles added to the embarrassments of the situation. So on the ninth of September, 1831, Bishop Chase resigned the presidency of the college and the episcopate of Ohio. The next

day he mounted "Cincinnatus," and rode sorrowfully away, and Gambier saw his face no more. He was afterward elected bishop of Illinois, and died at "Robin's Nest," where he founded Jubilee College.

Kenyon's second president was Charles Pettit McIlvaine, D. D., D. C. L. (Oxon.), who came to Gambier at the early age of thirty-three. He was then already widely and most favorably known, particularly in the great centers of Washington and New York, and has since been recognized as one of the great men of his generation. In appearance Bishop McIlvaine was a king among He was great also as a thinker and an orator. He found the institution heavily in debt, but almost at once raised the needed thirty thousand dollars and the debt was paid. Ten years later when burdens had again accumulated, he came to the rescue again.

men.

ROSSE HALL.

of Mamre, it hath pitched its tent under the trees of Gambier hill, it hath its flocks and its herds, and its different families of teachers, scholars, mechanics and laborers, all united under one head, pursuing one common interest and receiving their maintenance and food from one common source, the funds and farms of the College." The picture, it must be confessed, is not without its beauties, though the coloring is certainly

WINDOW IN COLLEGE CHAPEL.

dence in Gambier, and indeed until he died in a foreign land, Bishop McIlvaine was always the same true, sanch, faithful servant of Kenyon College.

mathematics and logic, and was graduated with the honors of his class. His commencement address, "College Life," with the valedictory, is still spoken of in terms

66

Hon. Stanley Matthews says of him: Hayes as a boy was notorious for having on his shoulders not only the levelest but the oldest head in college. He never got caught in any scrapes, he never had any boyish foolishness; he never had any wild oats to sow; he was sensible, not as some men are, at the last, but sensible from the beginning.

The following incident of President Hayes's college life may almost seem prophetic. We give it in the words of his intimate friend, Hon. Guy M. Bryan, of Texas, the facts having been certified to us by the President himself:

The

"There were in those days two rival literary societies in the college-the Philomathesian and the Nu Pi Kappa; the last known as the Southern Society, and the first as the Northern, because the students of the slave states belonged to the one, and those from the free states to the other. college for years had been largely patronized from the Southern states, but this patronage gradually waned until, in the winter of 1841, there were so few Southern students in the college that the members of the Nu Pi Kappa were apprehensive that the society would cease to exist for want of new members. This was a serious question with the members of the society. I determined to open the subject to my intimate friend Hayes to see if we could not devise some mode to prevent the extinction of the society, which was chartered by the state and had valuable property. We talked over the subject with all the feeling and interest with which we would now discuss the best means of bringing about an era of good feeling between the two sections of the country. At last, Hayes said, "Well, I will get Old Trow, Comstock and some others to join with me, and we will send over a delegation from our society to yours, and then we can make new arrangements so that both societies can live in the old college.' He and I then went to work to consummate our plan. Ten members of the Philomathesian joined the Nu Pi Kappa. A joint committee was then appointed from the two societies, that reported a plan by which students could enter either society without reference to north or south. Thus Hayes, by his magnanimity, perpetuated the existence of the Nu Pi Kappa society, and should he be elected president, I earnestly hope that he may be equally successful in his best efforts in behalf of a civil policy which will wipe out forever the distinction between north and south in the government of our common country."

The following letter from President Hayes, written after his last election as Governor, VOL. XV.-49.

may be taken as fairly representative of the kindly feelings entertained by the graduates of the college in general.

FREMONT, O., October 13, 1875. MY KENYON FRIENDS: A host of congratulatory dispatches are before me. I cannot acknowledge with even a word of thanks, the most of them. But, yours, first to be replied to, touches me particularly. Accept my thanks for it. I hope you will all have reason to remember old Kenyon with as much satisfaction as I do. I have no more cherished recollections than those which are associated with college life. Except the four years spent in the Union army, no other period of my life is to be compared with it. I hope you may all have equal reason always to think of Kenyon as I do.

In the greatest haste,
I remain, sincerely,
R. B. HAYES.

The expenses of living in Gambier in early days were very small. The annual charges

Those were the days when the boys were required" to sweep their own rooms, make their own beds and fires, bring their own water, black their own boots if they ever were blacked, and take an occasional turn at grubbing in the fields or working on the roads." The discipline was somewhat strict, and the toil perhaps severe, but the few pleasures that were allowed were thoroughly enjoyed.

During the President's school-days there were two great men at Gambier, Bishop McIlvaine and Dr. William Sparrow. There were other eminent men among the instructors: Major Douglass was a man of ability, and the traditions which still linger in the place concerning Professor Ross clearly show that he was possessed of remarkable power; but Bishop McIlvaine and Dr. Sparrow were pre-eminently great men,―men whose greatness has been felt as an educating influence on both sides of the Alleghanies. Bishop McIlvaine's was a divided duty, for in addition to his college labors he had the care of a large and struggling diocese; while Dr. Sparrow gave to Kenyon his full and undivided strength, and so had the stronger hold upon the students.

He led them not only wisely and bravely, but faithfully and with a true heart. President Hayes speaks of him as "one of the giants"; Secretary Stanton

also honored him through life, and sent for him in his later days that he might be baptized at his hands.

Until the year 1840 there was a joint faculty of theology and arts in Gambier. At that time separate faculties were constituted with separate heads, Bishop McIlvaine continuing at the head of the Theological Seminary, while Major D. B. Douglass, LL.D., was elected to the presidency of the College. Major Douglass was an accomplished civil engineer, a soldier, and "every inch a man." He began his work earnestly in Gambier, and improvement was the order of the day. But the time was not ripe for him. He was succeeded within a few years by Rev. Dr. S. A. Bronson.

The chief event accomplished during Dr. Bronson's presidency was the sale of a large portion of the college lands. Though of very considerable value, these lands from the first had brought to the institution only the scantiest returns. One agent after another had been employed to oversee them. The raising of sheep proved disastrous; the culture of wheat could not be made to pay. Many of the tenants turned out to be either shiftless or dishonest. So, in the year 1850, after much discussion, it was determined that the form of the investment should be changed, and the lands were ordered to be sold.

Almost immediately there came increased prosperity. Happily, too, at this juncture, Lorin Andrews, LL.D., was elected presi

The friend and champion of popular eciucation in Ohio, he found helpers in every county of the state. The list of students was quickly swelled, so that in 1855 "room for enlargement" was a thing of necessity. President Andrews resigned in 1861 to enter the Union army. He was the first volunteer from Ohio, entering the service as colonel of the Fourth Ohio Infantry. Very soon, however, he contracted disease, from the effects of which he died. His body rests in a quiet nook of that college park which so often echoed to his step. With President Hayes, he was for a time a member of the class of 1842.

This sketch has been written with special reference to Kenyon in the past. A rapid glance at the buildings of the institution may help to give an idea of her development and growth, and of her capacities for present usefulness.

Bexley Hall stands upon a knoll at the northern extremity of the village. It was erected for the exclusive use of the Theological Seminary, after a design given by the architect of the London Crystal Palace. It contains the library of the Seminary, about seven thousand volumes,—and furnished rooms, each with separate bedrooms, for thirty-four students.

The College Park is about half a mile in the opposite direction; a broad and wellshaded avenue leads the way thereto. Near the southernmost point of this park, just upon the brow of the hill, and overlooking for miles the charming Kokosing valley, stands the more massive and venerable edifice of Kenyon College. This building contains fifty rooms for students, also the libraries of the two societies.

Rosse Hall, a substantial stone building in Ionic architecture, is used for rhetorical exercises, for lectures, and on commencement occasions, and is capable of accom modating nearly a thousand persons.

Close by old Kenyon stands Ascension Hall, an imposing structure, and one of the finest college buildings in the land. It contains two spacious and elaborately furnished halls for the literary societies, the library of Kenyon College with its museum, and twenty-six rooms for students. The tower is used for an observatory.

Directly north of Ascension, and about fifty yards from the village street, stands the beautiful Church of the Holy Spirit. Ivy, transplanted from Melrose Abbey, has already begun to adorn its walls. Within, the coloring and the carving are quite attractive. The funds for the erection of this college church were given by members of the Church of the Ascension, New York, as a tribute of appreciation for their former rector, Bishop Bedell.

In her requisites for admission and in the course of study, Kenyon does not materially differ from the leading colleges of the easter states. She aims to give a thorough liberal education, and believes in the value of hard mental discipline. She believes also in right religious influences, and labors to afford them, pursuing steadfastly "the true, the beautiful, the good." In her view, "Chris tianity is the science of manhood," and all truth, being God's truth, should lead finally to Him. So her faith is liberal, conservative, evangelical, catholic.