teachers are examined with more care and on more subjects than are required of the County Board.

In the central building, though ill suited to academic uses, the schools of the town were held for a period of about ten years from 1847. The records of the Board during the first part of this time have been lost, and the names and dates of service of the teachers cannot all be now recalled. Of those who taught during the later years, we give the names of Mr. John W. Hyatt, who was appointed Principal, in 1856, at a salary of $60 per month. He served one year, and then went into business in Toledo, where he now lives. After him, William F. Whitlock served one year, while carrying on his studies at the university. He is now Latin Professor in the university, and Dean of the Faculty at Monnett Hall. As the town grew, and the enrollment of pupils gradually increased, one or two other houses were occupied as schools. At length, the limited accommodations at the Central School compelled the Board to seek new quarters. In 1859, they bought a large lot of the Little estate, at the west end of William street, on which they erected a building of six rooms, larger and better adapted to school uses. A better organization, and a uniform course of study, was now deemed desirable. To this end, uniform and efficient supervision seemed essential; and William Carter, in 1862, was appointed Superintendent, at a salary of $700, which was soon raised to $1,000. He brought the schools into a very good degree of efficiency. To provide for the increased attendance, the Board bought, for $2,000, the old academy building in South Delaware, and opened there two new rooms, which soon grew into four. After three years' service, Mr. Carter resigned for a more lucrative calling.

His successor was Rev. James S. Campbell, who entered upon duty in 1865, and still holds the same appointment. His salary was fixed at $1,000 per annum, but the next year it was raised to $1,200, and has, for a number of years, been $1,600. Ten other teachers were appointed at the same time, all ladies, with pay from $35 to $45 per month. The assessment for the support of the schools was four mills on the dollar.

The growth of the town, during the prosperous years after the war, was such that the Board of Education was compelled, in rapid succession, to double the accommodations of the schools. In 1869, a new schoolhouse of four rooms was built in North Delaware; in 1870, a house with the same number of rooms, but larger, was built in East

Delaware; in 1875, a yet larger building of six rooms was erected in South Delaware, and a year or two later two rooms were added to the Central Schoolhouse, and two more to the school in East Delaware. By a judicious economy, these improvements were all effected without the creation of a debt, and with but small increase in the rate of taxation. In the last ten years, the annual levy has but once reached the limit of seven mills on the dollar, authorized by law; two years it was six mills, four years it was five mills, and, for the last three years it has ranged from three to four mills. The enumeration of youth of a legal school age is now 2,300; the number of teachers appointed in 1879-80 was 25; and the aggregate salaries paid to them are $10,500; and the incidental expenses of the schools are about $3,000 more.

The course of study is so arranged that pupils leaving the schools at the age of twelve, are able to read and write well, have an understanding of the fundamental principles of arithmetic, and a general knowledge of geography, especially that of their own country. Those who stay to complete the entire course, extending through eight years, get a very good general preparation for business, or for entrance upon college studies. Graduates of the high school are prepared for the freshman class in colleges, with the exception of Greek.

The public schools of Delaware are popular and successful. They are patronized by citizens of all classes and of all denominations. Sectarian and political biases have been sedulously avoided in their management, and it is the single aim of those in charge of the schools, and of the citizens alike, to give the youth of the city the best possible training both in intellect and in morals.

Among a free people, the thirst for knowledge and culture is unquenchable; if not satisfied in one direction, it will seek to be slaked in another. In the earlier years of this town the educational and literary cravings of the community were just as marked as they have shown themselves since, but the opportunities for indulging them were not the same as now. In the absence of public reading-rooms, schools, libraries, and newspapers, a tribune for public discussion was a pleasant and profitable form of entertainment and means of cultivation. Such was found in the "Delaware Lyceum," an organization formed by the young men, but largely attended by all classes of citizens. Of the date of its organization, and the length of its career, the writer has no information, but, as showing the character of its meetings, the grave

and practical matters discussed, the following illustrations may be given. The notices are from the Olentangy Gazette; and the meetings were held in the Thespian Hall, an upper chamber in the range of public buildings on the court-house plaza. This name indicates that the hall was originally designed for entertainments of a musical and dramatic character.

Monday evening. February 1, 1841, a public discussion is appointed on the following resolution: "Resolved, That the right of suffrage should be extended to females." Advocates, S. Dunham, P. Bunker, J. A. Barnes; Respondents, R. Hills, T. C. Jones, R E. Rice. I. RANNEY, Secretary. From the names here and following, it seems, as might be expected, that the legal profession was most largely represented. All these gentlemen were lawyers or law-students, except Bunker, Sheriff; Hills, physician; and Rice, teacher.

est.

March 25.-" Resolved, That the right of suffrage ought to be extended to females." Advocates, P. Bunker, T. C. Jones; Respondents, I. Ranney, R. Hills. Evidently this was a question of unusual interThe discussion six weeks before had apparently not settled the matter in debate; but it had at least wrought conviction and conversion in the mind of one of the champions; and he now appears in arms in the opposite camp. How the great debate at last terminated, the muse of history has not recorded, but the renewed struggle on this question in the Ohio Legislature, in this year of grace 1880, too plainly declares that the vote upon the occasion should have been made of record for the information and guidance of succeeding gen

citizens' lecture association existed, and was the means of introducing many distinguished men and women to Delaware audiences. These lectures have generally paid well, but the large number of excellent addresses and lectures delivered annually at the university, and free to all listeners, has had a tendency, in recent years, to make a Delaware audience content to pay for nothing inferior to the best. So what has been made matter of complaint against Delaware, is, in reality, when rightly understood, complimentary to the intelligence and taste of her people. This is a lecture-going community, but it goes to hear only first-class lectures.

The Ohio Wesleyan University, which is now! the largest and most successful in the Methodist Church, owes its location, if not its establishment, to the famous White Sulphur Springs in Delaware. These springs had early attracted the attention of tourists and seekers after health. In order to accommodate these, and to encourage further patronage, two enterprising citizens, Thomas W. Powell, Esq., and Columbus W. Kent, erected, in the year 1833, on a spacious lot, embracing the springs, a fine hotel, which soon became known to the citizens as the Mansion House. The waters were salubrious, and the locality as healthful as those of the more famous Saratoga Springs; but the town of Delaware was not very widely known, and was not easily accessible; and it was, perhaps, too early in the history of the State to hope for large returns from a business enterprise of this kind. For some years the Mansion House was kept in operation; but, at last, in the summer of 1841, Mr. Powell, who had become the sole proprietor, concluded to abandon the attempt to establish a Western watering place.

About this time, the Methodist College at Augusta, in Kentucky, to which the Ohio Conference was contributory, had been suspended. Augusta was on the wrong side of the river to suit the growing anti-slavery sentiment of the Methodists in Ohio; and it was already manifest that the school could never secure their patronage or contributions. Practically, this largest Protestant de-i nomination in the State was without a home institution for the education of her sons. The thoughtful men of the church were naturally solicitous in regard to the educational future of Ohio Methodism, but as yet no forward steps had been taken toward providing for these wants.

In this juncture, it was suggested by the Rev. Adam Poe, the Methodist Pastor in Delaware, that

the citizens of the place should purchase the Spring property, and offer it to the Ohio and the North Ohio Conferences of the Methodist Church, jointly, as a site for a college. This suggestion met with a cordial approval.

The property thus proposed for a college site comprised about ten acres of ground. Of this a part, on which the Mansion House stood, was held in fee simple; and the remainder, including the spring, by a perpetual lease without rent, from the corporation of Delaware. The investment in the grounds and buildings was about $25,000; but the owner offered to convey his interests in the entire property for $10,000. This sum, it was thought, could be raised by a subscription among the citizens of the town and county; and, accordingly, a delegation was appointed to wait on the conferences, and ascertain whether they would accept the property if conveyed to them as proposed.

The North Ohio Conference met August 11, 1841, at Wooster. To this body the delegation first applied. The conference considered the matter favorably, and appointed a committee of five to confer with a like committee to be appointed by the Ohio Conference. August 25, the delegation appeared before the Ohio Conference, at Urbana. On the following day Drs. Charles Elliott and William P. Strickland were deputed by the conference to visit Delaware and examine the premises. They carried back a favorable report, and many yet remember the Irish enthusiasm with which Dr. Elliott advocated the establishment of a college, and the acceptance of this property. The conference was ready for the measure, and voted that it was expedient to establish a Methodist college in Ohio; that the two conferences (embracing about two-thirds of the State) should unite in the enterprise; and that, if the Sulphur-spring property was conveyed to the church, on the terms proposed, Delaware should be selected as the seat of the college. A committee of five were appointed to act with the committee from the Northern Conference.

The joint committee thus constituted met at Delaware, September 1, 1841. The committee

committee voted to accept the property if the citizens should perfect their offer, and the title could be made satisfactory to the conferences.

The way being thus prepared, a subscription was opened, and was signed by 172 persons. No subscription exceeded $500, and the aggregate amounted to but $9,000, That the movement might not fail, certain parties, trusting to future local subscriptions, obligated themselves for the deficit. But no further subscriptions were obtained, and, some years afterward, $500 were raised by voluntary contributions among the ministers in the North Ohio Conference, to relieve Adam Poe from the payment of a note given on this account.* Such was the difficulty, at that time, of raising even this small sum for an enterprise, which, as the citizens said in the preamble to their subscription, "would greatly add to the value of property in the town and county, and be of great public utility and benefit."

But the town was small-at the United States Census the year before (November 6, 1840), the population was but 893-there was not much business, and there was little accumulated wealth in the community. No doubt, if the Methodist Church had invited competition from other places for the location of the college, it could have had much larger offers than the one from this town. But the amount raised in Delaware was, at that time, the just measure of the ability of the place. The university was welcomed to the town; it brought wealth and prosperity with it, and it has often since met with a liberal response from the citizens to its appeals for aid.

The conference committee met November 17, 1841, and received from Mr. Powell a bond for the conveyance of the property donated by the citizens. The title was finally made to the Board of Trustees. In addition to the ten acres thus conveyed, the committee purchased from Mr. Powell an adjacent property on the south, of five

*A striking illustration of the opportunity for advance in newspaper enterprise since that day, is shown in the fact that the Delaware papers of 1841 made not the slightest allusion, editorial or "local," to this movement, the most important that has ever affected the interests of the town. The only reference to the matter

Edward Thomson, James Brewster and William S. Morrow, from the North Ohio Conference, and Revs. Jacob Young, James B. Finley, Charles Elliott, Edmund W. Sehon and Joseph M. Trimble, from the Ohio Conference. Of these distinguished men, Dr. Joseph M. Trimble is now, after forty years, the only survivor. The

ing notice, given in the advertising columns:

"METHODIST EPISCOPAL COLLEGE.

"A general meeting of the subscribers will be held at the Exchange Hotel, this, Saturday, evening, October 23, 1841. It is important that all be there."

+President Thompson, in his inaugural, estimated that the university brought from the first at least $16,000 yearly to the trade of the town. It would surely be in bounds to say that it now, with its 600 students and yearly income of over $32,000 expended here, adds at least $100,000 annually to the business of the city.

acres, at a cost of $5,500, and the furniture of the Mansion House for about $2,000 more. On the added lot was a comfortable cottage, the home of Mr. Powell, which was subsequently occupied for some years by the President of the college, or by one of the professors. Additional purchases have since been made, from time to time, at a total expense of a little over $20,000, until now the college campus contains about twenty-five acres lying in one continuous lot, besides the ten acres to be further described, the property of the Monnett Hall of the university.

Immediate steps were now taken looking to a formal organization. A committee was appointed to apply to the Legislature for an act of incorporation. A special charter, conferring university powers, was granted by the Legislature March 7, 1842. The corporate powers were vested in a board of twenty-one persons, from different parts of the State. These were William Neff, Samuel Williams, ex-Gov. Allen Trimble, Lemuel Reynolds, Thomas Orr, William Bishop, William Armstrong, Rev. James B. Finley, Rev. Jacob Young, Rev. Edmund W. Sehon, Rev. Leonidas L. Hamline, Judge Patrick G. Goode, George B. Arnold, ex-Gov. Mordecai Bartley, Frederick C. Welch, Wilder Joy, Henry Ebbert, John H. Harris, Rev. Adam Poe, Rev. William Burke, Rev. Leonard B. Gurley. Of these, though the charter did not so prescribe, fourteen were laymen and seven were ministers. By the provisions of the charter, the corporators at first held their office for life; and, of the original number, the venerable Dr. Leonard B. Gurley, of Delaware, is now the sole survivor.* The right of perpetuation of the Board was reserved to the two patronizing conferences, each appointing alternately. These conferences have been divided into four, each with the same right of appointment. This arrangement continued until the year 1869, when, by a general law of the State, the President of the university was made ex officio a member of the Board, and the remaining twenty members were divided into four classes of five each, and assigned severally to the four conferences. The tenure of office was reduced to five years, so that each conference now annually elects one Trustee for the period of five years. In 1871, the charter was further so modified as to give the Association of Alumni a representation in the Board, equal to that of each annual conference. The office has

Since this was written, Dr. Gurley died, March 25, 1880, at the ripe age of seventy-six years.

beeu held by eighty-six different persons. The Board, as now constituted, consists of the following, the date indicating the year when each caine into office: Ex officio-1875. Rev. Charles H. Payne, D. D., LL. D., President of University. Ohio Conference-1852, Rev. Joseph M. Trimble, D. D., Columbus; 1868, Rev. Andrew B. See, Zanesville; 1877, Rev. Frederick Merrick, M. A., Delaware; 1876, James Y. Gordon, Portsmouth; 1845, Hon. James H. Godman, Columbus. North Ohio Conference-1869, Rev. Aaron J. Lyon, M. A., Delaware; 1876, George Mitchell, M. A., M. D., Mansfield; 1877, Rev. Gaylord H. Hartupee, D. D., Norwalk; 1878, Hon. Thomas F. Joy, Delaware; 1867, William A. Ingham, Cleveland. Cincinnati Conference-1860, John R. Wright, M. A., Cincinnati; 1864, John Davis, M. D., Čincinnati; 1872, Rev. Lafayette Van Cleve, M. A., Hillsboro; 1873, Rev. Richard S. Rust, D. D., LL. D., Cincinnati; 1870, Phineas P. Mast, M. A., Springfield. Central Ohio Conference-1870, Rev. Alexander Harmount, D. D., Lima; 1876, John W. Hiett, Toledo; 1867, Rev. Bishop William L. Harris, D. D., LL. D., New York City; 1878, Rev. Leroy A. Belt, M. A., Toledo; 1879, Hon. William Lawrence, LL. D., Bellefontaine. Association of Alumni-1872, Rev. Wesley G. Waters, D. D., Toledo; 1872, H. Eugene Parrott, M. A., Dayton; 1872, John W. King, M. A., Zanesville; 1875, Charles W. Cole, M. A., Cincinnati; 1873, Lewis Miller, Akron.

One of the conditions of the donation to the church was that the academic work of the college should be begun within five years; but the committees from the conferences did not wait even until the organization of the Board of Trustees. It was thought best to commence this work immediately; and a sub-committee was appointed to secure teachers, and open a preparatory school. This committee at once engaged Capt. James D. Cobb, a graduate of West Point, and an ex-army officer, as instructor in the new school for the year 1841-42. Capt. Cobb was about fifty years of age, and was assisted by his son. It was arranged that he should have the free use of the Mansion House, but look to the receipts for tuition for his compensation. He had a mixed school of boys and girls. At the end of the school year Capt. Cobb resigned his place and moved to the South for his health.

The Board of Trustees held their first meeting at Hamilton, where the Ohio Conference was in session, October 1, 1842. At this meeting, the Board elected the Rev. Edward Thomson, M. D.,