OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.

and in 1856 the building known as Sturges Library was completed and dedicated.

In 1869 a large stone building to contain a new chapel and recitation rooms was planned, funds were subscribed, and the erection undertaken. A portion of the funds failed and the building costing $40,000 was not completed until 1873. A part of the cost was finally defrayed from the endowment fund. This building, which is the finest on the original university site, was named, in honor of President Merrick,-Merrick Hall. After it was completed the original plan of using a portion of it for a chapel was abandoned, and the cabinet of natural history was transferred to it, thus restoring the old chapel room in Thomson Chapel to its original use. Within the last year or two a small but convenient gymnasium has been erected and equipped through funds provided by the alumni and undergraduates.

By the union of the female college with the university in 1877 the latter came into possession of a handsome building and site at some distance from the other buildings. The building, known as Monnett Hall had been erected for the female college to serve both for recitation purposes and for a dormitory and boarding hall. It is a handsome building, and with the other property transferred to the university was Monnett Hall still serves as a home for estimated at $100,000 in value. the women in attendance at the college, and, though it is located at a considerable distance from the other university buildings, many recitations are conducted there. The general arrangement is that classes composed wholly or mainly of women recite at Monnett Hall; all others, in the main university buildings.

A large donation has been made towards the erection of a new chapel building, and the building will be erected in the immediate future.

ENDOWMENT.

At the outset the only resources of the university were the contributious of friends, and for some time these were wholly absorbed by the current expenses and the indebtedness on the original purchase. In 1843, the sale of scholarships was begun, entitling the purchaser or his assign to tuition at the university at the rate of $100 for five years. By 1850, from this source a fund of about $50,000 had been raised, but as cash tuition fees paid at the university fell off on account of the scholarships that had been sold and were being redeemed in tuition, the income of the fund constituted the sole resource of the institution. This income was too small to sustain the undertaking and a new plan was devised by which cheaper scholarships for various periods were sold according to the following schedule: For three years' tuition, $15; for four years, $20; for six years, $25; for eight years, $30. Many bought these scholarships simply to help the institution, and many others were attracted by their cheapness to purchase for the benefit of

HIGHER EDUCATION IN OHIO.

sons and friends. By 1854 the endowment had been raised through the sale of these scholarships to about $100,000.1

Since 1860 donations to the university have been more numerous and of larger amounts, so that the new buildings have been erected and paid for, and the endowment fund largely increased by the gift of money and productive property. A considerable portion of the endowment fund is in the form of endowments for specific chairs, though more than half constitutes a general fund. The increase in the endowment fund is shown by the following figures: In 1850, it was $54,000; in 1860, $116,000; in 1870, $230,000; in 1880, $260,000; in 1887, $422,144. Of this last sum, $121,663 was held subject to the payment of annuities during the lives of the givers or beneficiaries, upon their death to become the absolute property of the university. As the university has the united support of five conferences of a strong religious denomination and of a large body of alumni, it is certain to receive larger and larger additions to its endowment as the years pass.

In 1887 the value of the grounds, buildings, library, cabinets, and apparatus was estimated at $240,000.

MUSEUM AND LIBRARY.

The nucleus for the university museum was laid in 1859 by the purchase of a large general collection in the departments of zoology and mineralogy. It contained several hundred mounted mammals and birds; over 100 specimens of reptiles, and a large collection of fishes. The section of conchology was especially rich and valuable, and embraces a large proportion of the described genera of marine, fresh water, and land shells. A few years later Dr. R. P. Mann, of Milford Centre, Ohio, added a most desirable collection of fossils. In 1870, William Wood, esq., provided the funds for the purchase of a complete suite of the celebrated casts of fossils prepared by Prof. H. A. Ward, of Rochester, N. Y. In 1885, a varied collection of minerals, crystals, and ores was added. In its entirety the museum is one of the largest in the West. The collections in natural history and geology are estimated to contain about 100,000 specimens. Permanent catalogues have been prepared in which to record the history of every specimen of value, which has in any way come into the possession of the university. The museum has been for several years under the care of Prof. E. T. Nelson, PH. D., of the chair of Natural History, to whose efforts the systematic classification and cataloguing are due, as well as many of the recent valuable donations.

'The books of the university show that nearly 4,000 of these scholarships were sold, calling for about 25,000 years of tuition. Practically the system is simply an advance payment of tuition fees.

OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY.

The library of the university at present contains the following volumes:

The Sturges Library, about

The Ohio Methodist Historical Society
The Monnett Hall Library

Vols.

12,000

136

1,650

Valuable additions are annually made to the university library, especially through the liberal donations of Rev. Joseph M. Trimble, D. D., of Columbus, and William A. Ingham, esq., of Cleveland, to their respective alcoves.

The class of 1882 left a generous contribution as an incipient foundation for an alumni alcove. With this sum a very serviceable addition has been made, especially in the line of the later English authors.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

The religious atmosphere of the university has been especially clear. This would be natural in a denominational college, but in few has there been so marked a religious element. On this point Dr. Williams says:

The university is under the auspices of the Methodist Church, but it is not sectarian or denominational in its teachings. It aims to be evangelical yet liberal, and has always had a fair patronage from other protestant churches and even from the Catholic church. The religious influence of the college has always been constant and controlling. Devotional exercises, conducted by the members of the faculty, are held each day, with a sermon or lecture at appointed times on the sabbath. Attendance upon these college services and upon some church service is obligatory. The proportion of religious students in the college classes increases with the advancement of the class. More than once the university has graduated large classes in which every member was religious; and in every class graduated the majority have been members of some church, a large proportion of whom became so through their connection with the university.

Of the 940 male graduates of the university, 369 have entered the ministry, and all but 14 of these in the Methodist Episcopal Church. The discipline exercised at the university has been close, as compared with many colleges, and the university has maintained a scrupulous care over the conduct and morals of the students. The young women in attendance are subject to more careful and paternal direction in their conduct and routine of life than are the young men. While to many

the regulations have seemed unduly rigid, their effect upon the character and development of the institution and its students has been found to be decidedly good by those who have studied the matter in all its bearings.

[AUTHORITIES: The principal parts of this sketch are based on the "History of Ohio Wesleyan University," by Dr. W. G. Williams (1880), which history, but for its length, would have been reproduced here. Other authorities consulted have been the annual and quinquennial catalogues of the university, annual reports of the president, and several miscellaneous documents.]

VI.-KENYON COLLEGE.

(GAMBIER, KNOX COUNTY.)

The traveler in central Ohio, journeying by railroad from Columbus to Cleveland, by way of Mount Vernon, finds himself for several miles. of his course skirting the banks of a sparkling stream, to which the old Indians gave the euphonious name "Kokosing." The valley through which the river flows is a charming one and the ride delightful, for new beauties greet the eye at almost every turn, and rocks and hills and venerable woods utter together their voice of praise. At one of the sudden turns of this winding stream, a few miles beyond Mount Vernon, upon a hill beautiful for situation, rises the village of Gambier, the seat of Kenyon College. The several institutions at Gambier, known as the Grammar School, Kenyon College, and Seminary, are in law and in fact one-all being embraced in the corporation denominated "The Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Ohio." The popular name has always been "Kenyon College." The name Kenyon College was given by the founder, Bishop Chase the legal name was given by Charles Hammond, a lawyer of much ability and political influence, who drew the act of incorporation and secured its passage. Mr. Hammond and Bishop Chase clashed in their views. Mr. Hammond wished for an institution to train clergymen alone. Bishop Chase yielded as to the name, but went himself to the next legislature and secured an act whereby the professors of this "Theological Seminary" should act as the faculty of a college in conferring degrees in the arts and sciences, and the name and style whereby they should be known should be the president and professors of Kenyon College. Confusion resulted. In 1840 a division into two faculties was made, with the bishop of Ohio at the head of the theological faculty, and the elected president at the head of Kenyon College. It is now proposed, and the trustees unanimously favor the proposition, to change the name to "Kenyon College," and to have one faculty under one head, making the divinity school a post-graduate department of Kenyon College.

The government of the institution is vested in a board of trustees consisting of the bishops and assistant bishops of all dioceses within the limits of Ohio, the president of the institution and four clerical and four lay trustees, all of them members of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and chosen in the first instance by the convention of the diocese of Ohio.

1

*Half a century ago there was probably no institution of learning in ur land more talked about than Kenyon College, for it was one of the first literary ventures of the West, and its needs and expectations were eralded far and near. There is a certain charm about infancy which we do not recognize in manhood. This, doubtless, is one of the reasons why Kenyon has recently occupied a less prominent place before the Public than in her early days. Besides, her development has not altogether been in the line anticipated. She has failed where success was dreamed of; she has won honor in ways that were not contemplated. The corner stone of Kenyon College was laid in the month of June, 1827. By a happy coincidence, the fiftieth year marked the elevation of one of Kenyon's sons to the Presidency of the United States. One of the trustees of Kenyon College, Hon. Morrison R. Waite, became the highest judicial officer of the country. Kenyon's sons are also to be found in the halls of Congress, so that she has links binding her to every department of the government-legislative, judicial, executive.

From the beginning her standard has been high, and many of those who have studied in Gambier have left before completing the course; but five hundred have been graduated. A large number of Kenyon's sons have become men of mark in Church and State, and five of them have attained to a wide national reputation. Henry Winter Davis, that "prince of parliamentary orators," in his early days practiced economy and wrought with brain and muscle at Kenyon. Edwin M. Stanton, the great War Secretary, came in the springtime of his life to Gambier. His college experience proved to be a turning point, so that afterward he was accustomed to say: "If I am anything, I owe it to Kenyon College." David Davis, late Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, since Senator from Illinois, was an associate of Stanton in college days. Stanley Matthews, also, an eminent lawyer of Cincinnati, who won great distinction by his arguments before the Electoral Commission, who became Senator of the United States and Justice of the Supreme Court, was at Kenyon a friend and companion of President Hayes, who was graduated in 1842. Not unnaturally Kenyon is proud of her alumni roll.

The founder of Kenyon College was Philander Chase, the first bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Ohio. Bishop Chase came of a sturdy New England stock. He was born in Cornish, N. H., where he spent the days of his youth. When manhood came, however, he could not content himself with such quiet and settled surroundings, for of him, as afterwards of his nephew, the Secretary, ambition was a most. marked characteristic. He was first a missionary in western New York, and then he was stationed in Poughkeepsie, but soon afterwards removed to New Orleans. He was the first Protestant minister in the State of Louisiana. After five years of hard and successful labor he removed again to the North, and for six years was a minister in Hartford, Conn. But Philander Chase was a man too restless, too ambitious,