OLIVET COLLEGE, 
 
 ATsTD ITS HISTORY. 
 
A MEMORIAL ADDRESS: 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE 
 
 LAYING OF THE CORNER STONE OF THE SOUTH HALL 
 
 O P 
 
 OLIVET COLLEGE, 
 
 Thursday, June 28th, 1866, 
 
 BY Rev. N . J. MORRISON, 
 
 President of the College. 
 
 Pro C iiristo e t Humanttate. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY OEDEE OP THE TEUSTEES. 
 
 LANSING, MICH. 
 
 JOHN A. KERR & CO., STEAM BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS. 
 1866. 
 
u~ 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 General intellectual revival and accelerated social progress are wont 
 to accompany religious revolution, or successful reform in religion. Thus 
 the introduction of the Christian religion gave a mighty impulse to the 
 intellectual energies of the Roman world. Humble fishermen and tax- 
 gatherers, and servants and women, were now for the first time inspired 
 to think, to discuss, to instruct and to preach. 
 
 Among the masses, aspiration for knowledge, a desire to hold opinions 
 and advocate them, to disciple other men to their own views, took the place 
 of intellectual stagnation and death. Everywhere along the triumphant 
 march of Christianity, schools for general education, and for the discussion 
 of doctrines in philosophy and theology sprang up and multiplied. So the 
 cry of Reform ! shouted by Luther, awakened the dormant mind of Europe 
 to intellectual life. Never before had there been such intense intellectual 
 ardor as the bold theses of this Reformer against the corrupt pretensions 
 and practices of the papacy enkindled. Disputation, the writing and 
 printing of books, invention and discovery, the founding of schools and 
 universities, became so common as to give character to the age,— all under 
 the powerful impulse of this great revolution in religion. 
 
 Results somewhat similar followed the reforms enacted by the Puritans 
 in England, and still later, the preaching of the Wesleys aud Whitfield. 
 Analogous effects have always followed extended revivals of evangelical 
 religion in this country. The great revivals extending through the first 
 third of the present century, and in which Beecher, Nettleton, Taylor and 
 Finney preached with apostolic ardor and ellect, are illustrations in point. 
 
 The times were characterized as much by au intellectual as by a religious 
 and moral awakening. The young sought knowledge and culture in school 
 and college, while all classes aspired to the discussion of the most impor- 
 tant principles of government and morals, as well as the most abstruse 
 questions in Theology. Out of this intellectual and moral ferment came 
 the great national organizations for missionary purposes, societies for the 
 more general distribution of the Bible and other good books, and for the 
 promotion of education and moral reform, and the establishment of that 
 long galaxy of Protestant Colleges, which, like points of brilliant light 
 across the darkened firmament, illuminate the path of civilization as 
 she advances westward across the broad expanse of the Continent. 
 
 :=== - Li 
 
MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 
 
 Amherst College, in Massachusetts, born of the reaction from the Unita- 
 rian apostacy ; Marietta, Western Reserve, and Oberlin, in Ohio ; Wabash 
 in Indiana; Illinois and Knox, in Illinois, and Beloit, in Wisconsin, are 
 illustrations of the intellectual stimulus given to a generation by religious 
 revival, and illustrious examples of the forethought and self-denial ot the 
 good men of that age in providing for the intellectual necessities of the 
 next. * 
 
 The founding of Oberlin College is attributed to the wise prescience and 
 apostolic zeal of Rev. John J. Shipherd; certainly if the honor be not 
 wholly his, that good man will share it with but one other. Give him all 
 praise for originating a prominent school of Christian learning and Chris- 
 tian beneficence; and yet the philosophic historian must declare that 
 Oberlin was only the natural outgrowth of the spirit of revival, of religious 
 propagandise and social reform which characterized the times, and that 
 Father Shipherd was only the agent of this spirit of religious reform, pushed 
 prominently forward to execute its behests. 
 
 A few years later, of this same series of religious revivals, of this flam- 
 ing zeal in the service of Christ and the poor, were begotten the concep- 
 tion and the actual founding of the still young school of Christain learning, 
 whose anniversary we to-day have met to celebrate. The lire of religious 
 enthusiasm and zeal for reform which urged John J. Shipherd from the 
 gentle and loving ministrations of the flock of Christ, in a charming chris- 
 tian community, to pioneer the humble beginning of a College in the wild 
 swamps of Northern Ohio, at length drove him out from the peaceful con- 
 templation of the growth of the noble enterprise which he had inaugurated, 
 into the still wilder regions of Central Michigan, here, on this beautiful sum- 
 mit of God, to lay the corner stone of a second school of learning and 
 religion. 
 
 Olivet, then, claims kinship with the most excellent ot our American 
 Colleges, not more in her aims than in her origin. She is of religious 
 parentage; the child of revivals and the aggressive spirit of reform. 
 
 From this point it is my purpose to sketch the history of Olivet, refer- 
 ring briefly to special epochs in its career and to noble laborers in its 
 cause, touching in conclusion ou the present aims and wants of the 
 College. 
 
 * The founding of Oberlin was the joint work of Mr. Shipherd, and Mr. P. P. Stewart. Ou 
 the wall of the new u Ladies' Hall," at Oberlin, I am told, is this inscription — " John J. 
 Shipherd and P. P. Stewart and their wives, the Founders of Oberlin." Mr. Stewart still 
 survives, residing in Troy, New York, and no less remarkable for skill in mechanical inven- 
 tion than for the maintenance of that highest Christian virtue, self-sacrifice for the good of 
 others. 
 
OLIVET COLLEGE. 
 
 THE FOUNDING. 
 
 Incidents apparently trivial unci casual often radically change the pur- 
 poses oi' men and fix the destiny of important interests. Olivet, both in 
 its original conception in the brain of the founder and in the linal deter- 
 mination of the site of the future College, will illustrate this fact. Mr. Ship- 
 herd had seen his original enterprise meet with great and unlooked lor 
 success. In ten years from the morning when the little colony of College 
 Pilgrims filed out from the shade of the gigantic Ohio forest into the sun- 
 shine of the little opening made in the woods by the pioneer's axe for the 
 incipient school, and knelt in consecrating prayer at the foot of the now 
 historic elm-tree of Oberlin, the child College had grown apace into vig- 
 orous manhood, with the patronage of at least half a thousand eager 
 students, bearing a reputation for practical benevolence and ardent, 1 
 might almost say fanatical piety, known everywhere, and wielding amoral 
 power for virtue, for christian liberty and the universal brotherhood of 
 man, acknowledged, though often unwillingly, throughout the country, — 
 even to the south of the now obliterated line of Mason and Dixon. 
 
 Naturally, this remarkable success in a most praiseworthy undertaking 
 suggested to Mr. Shipherd, still comparatively young* and in the prime of 
 vigor, though already dignified with the paternal title by the whole com- 
 munity, the possibility of other similar achievements. Hence, we learu, — 
 for some time he had had visions of other Oberlins established by himself 
 in the several North-western States. 
 
 At length an incident transpired which caused the immediate maturing 
 of his long meditated plans and their speedy execution. 
 
 At this time it chanced that the Oberlin Church needed a pastor. Some 
 of Mr. Shipherd's friends urged the election of himself to thatollice; but in 
 the canvass for the suffrages of the brotherhood it was found that another 
 good man was their choice. 
 
 Over this result, with none of that bitterness which otten follows disap- 
 pointment in the case of sellish men, but with the sincere desire correctly 
 to read the design of Providence in it and work his will, Mr. Shipherd 
 pondered long and deeply. 
 
 His work for Oberlin seemed to himself already finished, lie had planted, 
 and, in the Frovidenco of God, other men were called to water his plant- 
 ing. He had now his discharge by the master from that particular part of 
 the vineyard, lie would ask for employment elsewhere. 
 
 Suddenly, while sitting through the Sabbath evening alone with his wife, 
 
 * Ho died at the early ago of 42. 
 
MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 
 
 gazing abstractedly iuto the open fire upon the hearth, lie seemed to hear 
 the voice of God calling to him to arise and go forth into a land which 
 He should show him, and again lay the foundations of christian society 
 and rear an institution of christian learning. With him to hear was to 
 obey. 
 
 Turning to his excellent wife, he told her the message which had come 
 to him, and asked her if she would again leave her pleasant home and the 
 society of friends, and with him plant the seeds ol civilization and religion 
 in anotber wilderness. "If the Lord will," was her characteristic reply. 
 
 Early the next morning, Mr. Shipherd hastened to the house of a chris- 
 tian brother and told him the revelation of duty which he had received the 
 previous night, and asked this friend if he would be a partner in the new 
 enterprise. The answer came, promptly as before, " If it is the will of 
 the Lord.'' 
 
 The interior of Michigan, then sparsely settled and little known, having 
 but few schools and a single College and that in a state of feeble and pre- 
 carious infancy, appeared to Mr. Shipherd to offer the most inviting field 
 for his proposed colony and College. 
 
 In the execution of a commission from the Authorities of Oberlin Col- 
 lege, to look after certain property of tbat College lying near Graud River, 
 in this countj r , Mr. Shipherd chanced to visit the tract of land which is the 
 site of the present village of Olivet. A little south of this eminence he 
 lost his way in the brushwood, and, wandering around, at last found himself 
 on the hill not far from the present residence of Prof. Hosford. Looking 
 off south-eastwardly the distance of a mile, his eye rested on the roof of 
 the cabin of a pioneer settler. He sought the dwelling for direction in his 
 journey. He was kindly received by the inmates and entertained for the 
 night. In the morning, receiving from his host instructions as to his 
 route, he again set forward. After riding some distance through the low 
 growth of oak which thickly covered the region, what was his surprise to 
 find himsell! again upon the same eminence from which he had the day 
 before first descried the settler's house. Starting afresh on his journey, 
 musing as he rode on his plan for the future College and the singularity of his 
 losing his way twice in the same place and while riding through a thicket 
 of young trees whose tops scarcely reached above his head, by and by he 
 was startled at finding himself a third time at the top of the same geutle 
 aclivity and in sight of the cabin he had left that morning. Naturally, 
 with his habit of studying the providential design ol events incident to his 
 life, and with his perfect faith in the superintending guidance of God in 
 the minutest as well as the most striking events of the christian's pilgrim- 
 
OLIVET COLLEGE. 
 
 age, lie said to himself, " The hand of the Lord is in this ! Is not this 
 green hill-top the chosen mount of consecration ? the very spot whereon 
 He would have me rear an holy altar to Learning and Religion? Surely 
 God hath directed my stumbling steps!" And leaping from his horse he 
 trustfully sought in prayer enlightenment and guidance from Him who 
 heard Jacob's petition at Bethel and appeared to Moses in the vocal hush 
 of flame at Hcreb's base. 
 
 He then proceeded prosperously on his journey, accomplished the 
 business which called him to the valley of Grand River, and returned to 
 the scene of his singular wanderings, fully determined iu his mind to 
 make the little eminence encircled by *Indian Creek the seat of his future 
 College. 
 
 Having made arrangements for the purchase of a considerable tract of 
 land, and from the hill-top sketched the plan of the village which he saw 
 in faith already arising around the College on this beautiful green slope, 
 and having devoutly christened the mount " Olivet," and the stream that 
 bathed its foot, "Kedron," Father Shipherd — now twice a College father — 
 returned to Ohio to arrange and lead back the Olivet Colony. 
 
 Thus we see two circumstances, seemingly trivial — the election of an- 
 other than himself to be pastor of the Oberlin Church, by which he was 
 set free for labor elsewhere, and his involuntary wanderings in the wood 
 that crowned this summit, together with a third coincidence, the fact that 
 the tract of land finally purchased by Mr. Shipherd had remained up to 
 that time unappropriated, several attempts at settling on it and improving 
 the "water privilege" on the creek having ended disastrously — deter- 
 mined the existence of Olivet with its past history of trial and painful 
 progress and its present hopes of future growth and power. 
 
 Men of slow faith, with little reverence for the supernatural, who rule 
 out Divine interference in the daily experience of men, or resolve God's 
 interest in human affairs into an indifferent supervision of the great 
 forces which his creative fiat has brought into operation under the 
 denomination of fixed and uniform natural laws, — such men may jeer at the 
 conduct of Father Shipherd, his deciding on an important enterprise by 
 
 *This stream is the outlet of " Pine Lake," one of the many beautiful lakelets which form 
 so charming a feature of the Michigan landscape, and after a tortuous course of four or 
 five miles unites with Battle Greet, which in turn becomes an affluent of Kalamazoo River. 
 Its bauks wore the favorite fishing grounds of the Pottawattomie Indians, who formerly 
 occupied this region, and near its margin great numbers of their dead still lie. Traces of 
 the mounds thrown up over tlieir remains, and relics of their utensils buried with them 
 may still be found. The earliest whlto settlers gave the name " Indian Creek" to the 
 stream from the circumstances mentioned. 
 
MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 
 
 the falling out of temporary disappointment and reading duty in unex- 
 pected coincidences, as the exploits of fanatical superstition. But the 
 devout heart will rather recognize in the life of Mr. Shipherd a revival of 
 the primitive piety of Moses, of Gideon, of Samuel, of Elijah, of Paul 
 and of Luther; faith which takes God at his word without the tremor of a 
 doubt, and acts on his promise with perfect assurance; a faith which is 
 childlike in its simplicity but divine in its power of achievement; such 
 piety as has made the heroic reformers and saintly martyrs of our holy 
 religion. 
 
 Eeturned to his Ohio home, Father Shipherd vigorously set about get- 
 ting his colony ready for its North-Western migration. One man, with his 
 excellent wife and family, had been already secured to the enterprise. 
 This was the friend to whom Mr. Shipherd first disclosed his plans— the 
 still surviving Patriarch of that colony, whom we are glad to recognize in 
 the throng of friends who have assembled to honor this anniversary, and 
 whom we delight to call "Father Hosford." 
 
 Through Mr. Hosford, Mr. Shipherd had already secured the co-operation 
 of *Carlo Reed and his family— "Father Reed," — long an erect, strong 
 pillar of the enterprise; sturdy and true as the noble oak which stands 
 before the door of his home; a good man, who in his clay endured much 
 
 * " Father Reed " died at Olivet, October 26th, 1865, at the good old age of 73 years, uni- 
 versally lamonted. In every respect he had been one of the strong pillars of the enter- 
 prise. In times of the sternest trial and deepest despondency, ho had never faltered. His 
 influence, united with that of Father Hosford, saved the enterprise from abandonment at 
 the time their leader died, and his timely and liberal contributions, niado at particular 
 crises in the progress of the work, did much to redeem it from pecuniary embarrassment 
 and danger. A large section of his farm, a village lot, the family gold watch, were sever- 
 ally given to assist in sustaining tho good cause, or in supporting the Pastor of the Church, 
 when advancing age had cut him off from the means of securing money to give. In the 
 original colony he furnished the greater amount of ready money for tho necessities of tho 
 enterprise, from the fact that he possessed more than his companions, and, throughout the 
 remainder of his life, gave into its treasury as bountifully, in proportion to bis means, and 
 as prayerfully as any other man. 
 
 Messrs. Pease abandoned the enterprise at the end of nine months on account of the death 
 of the Founder. Mr. George Andrus has continuod to reside in Olivet until tho present time, 
 a useful citizen and a hearty co-laborar in the common work. 
 
 Mr. W. C. Edsell, who at the time of becoming a partner in the Olivet colony, was a 
 student at Oberlin, remained connected with the enterprise about eight years, and proved 
 himself very efficient In promoting its most important interests. Since his retirement from 
 Olivet he has resided at Otsego, Allegan county, where, as well as in the State Senate, ho 
 has exhibited the same appreciation of the cause of christian education and fidelity to true 
 reform, which originally allied him with Olivet. 
 
 Messrs. Bancroft, Cady and Green, with Franklin E. Fellows, constituted the first Fresh- 
 man Class in " Olivet College,"— the school being so-styled at its opening, though no college 
 charter was obtained until 1859. 
 
OLIVET COLLEGE. 
 
 hardship and self-denial for the cause of religion and education, and 
 who has lately gone home to his rest and his reward. 
 
 To these three families were added those of Willson C. Edsell, Hiram 
 Pease, George Andrus and Phineas Pease, together with four young men, 
 Albertus L. Green, Phineas Hagar, Joseph Bancroft and Chauncey M. 
 Cady, all of whom come as students of the embryo College. Three young 
 women, Jennie Edsell, Alice Green, and Abby Carter, who were living in 
 the families of Mr. Edsell and Mr. Shipherd respectively, and two hired 
 laborers- accompanied the colony. The entire company who originally 
 undertook the founding of a College here, including fourteen children and 
 youth, consisted of thirty-nine persons. 
 
 The colonists made the tedious journey from Oberlin, through the 
 Black Swamp region on the Maumee river, in their own conveyances, 
 farm-wagons and ox-teams, such as may often be seen wending their slow 
 way over the western prairies, and bearing the emigrant's family to a 
 home still farther towards the setting sun. Like the caravans of the 
 ancient patriarchs, they took all their possessions with them, their house- 
 hold stuff in wagons and their flocks and herds driven before them. 
 
 The train left Oberlin "Wednesday morning, February 14, 1844, and 
 reached its destination in the evening of Saturday, the 21th of the same 
 month. 
 
 Theso three young men wcro all ardent, cnorgetic, and heartily in sympathy with the 
 spirit of tho enterprise. They came on with the colony to help. They toiled with the rest 
 in cutting away tho thickets which covered the ground, in building mills at the Creek, in 
 erecting dwolliugs and school buildings, and making streets and roads for tho new town. 
 They were diligent students, of much more than average capacity and scholarship, and not 
 less at homo with axe, tho spade and tho carpentor's saw than with Livy aud Homer. 
 
 They built two cottages on what is now called " East Cottago Street," which they occu- 
 pied as " studies " and " dormitories." The fine row of maples and tamaracks which so 
 beautifully shades the south side of tho same street, was planted by their hands. 
 
 Neither, however, completeed his studies here. Messrs. Bancroft and Cady loft boforo 
 the completion of tho Sophomore year, and completed their course at the State University. 
 Tho former has since been a very successful teacher at Hastings, Barry county, and is now 
 (1866) Hector of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the same town. Tho latter has siuco 
 becomo widely hnown as composer of music, and as membor of the noted firm of Root & 
 Cady, Authors and Publishers of Music in Chicago. 
 
 Unusual aptitude for all practical affairs, soon drew Mr. Green away from the culture of 
 the Muses and the quiet routine of Studont-lifo, to an energetic and very successful prose- 
 cution of active business. Continuing always a citizen of Olivet, and most of tho time an 
 officer of the College, he has had more to do with the municipal interests of the place and 
 the business affairs of the Institution than any other individual, and deserves, both by his 
 early connection with it, and the excellent service he has rendered tho Institution by wiso 
 counsel and liberal pecuniary support, although still a young man, to bo reckonod among 
 the " Fathers of Olivet." 
 
 2 
 
10 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 
 
 The colony found the township section, which is now the territory of the 
 village of Olivet, an almost unbroken wilderness. Upon its outskirts were 
 four or five houses: these belonged to Mr. Parley Shumway and Capt. 
 J. W. Hickok on the south-west side, Mr. Isaac Hogle and Mr. N. L. Curtis 
 on the north-east, and Mr. Hiram Burroughs on the south-east side. The 
 same families, with a single exception, still live where the colony found 
 them. These earlier settlers gave the new comers a most cordial and 
 generous welcome. The weary company spent their first Sabbath, and a 
 considerable time afterwards, at the House of Mr. Shumway, the generous 
 proprietor vacating his own dwelling for their accommodation and giving 
 them free access to the stores of his cellar and barns. 
 
 The inhabitants were rejoiced that the colony had come. The wild 
 region of this hill which had been kept in its aboriginal roughness by gain- 
 seeking speculators, as was supposed, but, as we now see, by the gracious 
 interposition of God for the accomplishment of nobler ends than pecuniary 
 agraudizement, these pioneer families saw would now be subdued by the 
 hand of industry to the service of civilization, and that schools and re- 
 ligious institutions would take the place ol stark barbarism. Coming, 
 also, as the colonists did, on an errand of the highest Christian benevo- 
 lence, the settlers looked upon them with some of the reverence which we 
 render to the Pilgrims of the immortal Mayflower and thought them men 
 and women of virtue scarce less than angelic. It is probable they soon 
 found the thirty-nine men, women and children, not altogether angelic or 
 perfect, but men of like passions with themselves. The colonists proceeded 
 to take immediate possession of their inheritance, not as discoverers of 
 new realms, with the raising of standards, the firing of cannon and the 
 roll of drums, but rather as the Puritans entered upon the possession of 
 the rocky soil of Plymouth harbor. Beside a fallen tree, a few yards 
 distant from this audience room, they knelt in gratitude and consecrating 
 prayer. They had abandoned home and kindred to sojourn in an unknown 
 land, as did Abraham, at the call of God. 
 
 Like the Puritans, they had brought with them the seeds of liberty and 
 enlightened piety, and here, in virgin soil, they would plant them and, with 
 much solicitude and prayer, watch the springing of the germ and the slow 
 maturing of the fruit. They were assured their enterprise was all the 
 Lord's. The very ground where they bowed in tearful prayer, the humble 
 homes and places of industry which their hands should rear, the smiling 
 fields of grain which were destined to cover hills and valleys horrid with 
 scrubby trees, and poisonous morasses, and the College, whose imposing 
 walls the eye of faith saw already crowning this aclivity, with its sue- 
 
OLIVET COLLEGE. 
 
 11 
 
 cessivc generations of students, they now consecrated to the service of 
 Christ and his religion. 
 
 The colonists doubtless found their land of promise sufficiently unat- 
 tractive. Perhaps some were saddened with a feeling of secret disap- 
 pointment, when they first looked out from this summit over the tree-tops 
 and (bund the primeval forest shutting in the view in every direction, and 
 with but a single mark of the presence of civilized man visible in all this 
 region. The lew people in the neighborhood had recently come in; the 
 clearings around their houses were few, and scarcely wide enough feebly 
 to let in the rays of the sun; there was no road nearer than live miles, 
 only a trail leading from this point to the Junction, then even more difli" 
 cult of passage and disagreeable than now; while the original proprietors 
 of all this region, had but just retreated from their favorite fishing grounds 
 in the creek near by, along side of which their ancestors still repose. 
 
 It is related of Mrs. Shipherd that, when she had mounted the highest 
 log on the hill and taken a survey of the region, she turned to her husband 
 and said — "Your village, Mr. Shipherd, looks better on paper than in 
 reality." Probably many of her companions sympathized with this 
 sentiment. 
 
 However, all had stout hearts as well as ready hands, and at once set 
 themselves about their task. Homes for some of the families were found 
 in the two or three abandoned log cabins which the former owners of the 
 land had built. Others continued inmates of the hospitable settler's 
 houses until dwellings could be erected. The forests were cleared away, 
 and in the spring crops were put in. The Indian Creek was tamed in its 
 wild course, and taught under its christian name, to do civilized work in 
 sawing lumber and grinding grain. So passed the first eight months — the 
 colonists battling as only earnest men can battle, when the combat is with 
 the wild forces of primitive nature, exposed to the intense heat aud deadly 
 malaria that steamed up from the saturated earth — when alas ! sickness, 
 tantalizing, melancholy agues and fevers, broke out and prevailed among 
 them till not enough well ones remained to take care of the ill ; till the leader 
 himself was suddenly stricken down and died, and was borne by his sor- 
 rowing and disheartened companions to the little burial ground behind the 
 church. 
 
 Along with this calamity came others. The heavy rains which had caused 
 the prevalent sickness, swelled the creek, not yet taught to submit to the 
 bonds which civilization had imposed upon its waters, and tore away the 
 embankment which obstructed its course and fed the mills. A part of the 
 community had already sought in flight release from their disappointments 
 
12 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 
 
 and trials, and refuge from the periodic attacks of the Michigan swamp 
 fiend, and were hiding among their friends in New York and Ohio. Now 
 came the question of abandonment of the whole enterprise. Disappointed, 
 faint and sick, their leader dead ! some said, "Let us away ! We are not 
 sufficent to cope with all these difficulties ! "We have mistaken the sum- 
 mons of duty." Others said, particularly Father Reed, "Not so! Did 
 we not come here on the Lord's business ? Did we not seek his guidance 
 in this matter ? Then we have made no mistake. By these disappoint- 
 ments and sufferings the Lord is trying the firmness of our manhood and 
 the strength of our faith. We will remain, and the Lord, whom we serve, 
 and whose we are, will surely bless us." However, about half the colonists 
 retired, expecting their companions whom they left behind speedily to fol- 
 low. The latter remained and continued the arduous and disheartening 
 work. 
 
 As the Autumn wore on sufficient preparation had been made to allow 
 the public advertisement of the opening of the first term in Olivet College. 
 This event occured early in December, with nine students in attendance, a 
 little cottage erected for a study and private dormitory by one of the 
 students, Mr. A. L. Green, near the present residence of Mr. Ingersoll, 
 and which now in another position serves the useful purpose of post-office 
 for the village, constituting chapel and recitation room. Two students, 
 who had about completed their theological studies at Oberlin, made up 
 the corps of instructors. These were *Rev. Reuben Hatcb, and Mr. 
 Oramel Hosford, now tolerably well known to some of you as Professor 
 Hosford. 
 
 The place and school gradually grew. More acres were cleared of trees 
 and brush. More dwellings were erected here and there. Mills, saw and 
 
 * Mr. Hatch was a scholar of very creditable attainments and a superior teacher. He did 
 not, however, long remain connected with the school, returning again to the appropriate 
 duties of the christian ministry. He has since been successful and beloved as pastor of 
 churches in Union City and other places, and has recently become associated with Rev. Dr. 
 J. B. WaIkor,in founding an institution of learning at Benzonia, in the Grand Traverse 
 region. 
 
 Mr. Hosford has continued steadily laboring in the service of Olivot from the opening of 
 the first term of the infant school down to the present day. Among all the students ho bas 
 been the popular teacher and beloved friend. And of all the faithful and self-denying friends 
 and officers with whom Olivet has been blessed, she can boast of none more steadfast, more 
 cheerful in trial, more hopeful in temporary defeat and more jubilant in hard-earned 
 victory, than Oramol Hosford. 
 
 He is now, (1866,) though retaining bis position in and affection for the College, the efficient 
 and popular Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State 
 
OLIVET COLLEGE. 13 
 
 grist, prospered at the creek. Roads were opened in various directions 
 tli rough the forest to the outer world. The number of the colonists slowly 
 increased, and the prospects of the enterprise improved. Much attention 
 was given, from the first, to the religious wants of the community. The 
 colonists were nearly all professors of religion, and soon a church was 
 formed. Conversions took place among the students, and many of them 
 united with the church. Having no church edifice the people met for 
 public worship on the Lord's day in the front room of the present dwelling 
 house of Mr. George Audrus, the first frame building erected in the place, 
 in this room were also held the anniversary exercises of the school 
 until ampler occommodations could be provided. 
 
 FLAN OP THE ENTERPRISE. 
 
 As has already appeared, the 'plan of Mr. Shipherd included a christian 
 colony and a college;— the former to constitute the supporting basis of the 
 latter, founding and cherishing it. He intended there should exist such 
 mutual dependence of school and surrounding community, that separation 
 of interest and alienation of sympathy could never arise. He thought the 
 colony should be composed of " picked " men, who were not only truly 
 pious, but at once in sympathy with the peculiar work to which they were 
 called. He wanted to surround the future seminary with a moral and re- 
 ligious atmosphere so genial and healthful as to effectually restrain the 
 wayward tendencies of young students, and, with nearly a certainty, se- 
 cure in them obedionce of heart to the claims of religion. Hence, not, 
 more because the requisite lands could be obtained more economically, 
 than because he would remove his school from immoral influences which 
 are supposed to gather at centers of population and business, Mr. Shipherd 
 led his colony away from contact with the heterogeneous society thronging 
 our thoroughfares, and planted the germ of the future college in the 
 aboriginal wilderness. 
 
 And in choosing the site of his College he was undoubtedly wise. Per- 
 haps the progress of the Institution has been, in some respects, less 
 rapid than if it had been placed near some large town upon a thorough- 
 fare. The school would theu have become more quickly and generally 
 known, its friends from abroad could have more readily visited it on 
 important occasions, probably its patronage M'ould have been greater, and 
 possibly luuds for its support could have beeu secured with less difficulty. 
 Put accessibility, extended patronage, "popularity," a well-sup] died 
 treasury even, are not the only nor the most essential elements of the 
 truest success in the establishing of a Christian College. Williams and 
 Dartmouth won their renown when their students traveled on horseback, 
 
or by lumbering stage-coach, fifty miles over mountains to reach their 
 Alma Mater. Christian principle reigning, that strength of character 
 which, in institutions as well as in individuals, becomes compacted only 
 in the school of trial, the moral power of an example of habitual self- 
 sacrifice for Society, and the practical installation of Christ's command, 
 to seek first of all the Kingdom of Heaven, constitute the highest elements 
 and best pledge of ultimate success in the founding of a Christian College. 
 Olivet has experienced the trial which strengthens while it purifies; has 
 furnished in her officers and friends the example of sacrifice; has en- 
 deavored always to fulfill the command of Christ — and all this in large 
 measure because of her comparative isolation. Now, with these char- 
 acteristics established, with a community almost entirely homogeneous, 
 both in moral sentiments and practical sympathy with this great and 
 noble work, Olivet is prepared for the enlarged scope, the increased 
 facilities, and the more easy contact with society at large, which 
 Providence is providing for her. 
 
 Mr. Shipherd's enterprise was designed to illustrate the importance of 
 manual labor, as a prominent part of the proper education of the young. 
 This feature a3 an organized system, long since ceased to have existence 
 in the Institution. However, labor is still held in honor and the hardy 
 student who works his way to knowledge at the carpenter's bench or in 
 wood sawing, is more likely to enjoy the favor of his instructors and com- 
 panions, than the foppish dilettante, who bases his claims to respect upon 
 the plethora of his lather's purse and the fashionable fit of his clothes; — 
 and in this, Olivet is not unlike other American Colleges. 
 
 Mr. Shipherd also designed that his college should furnish equal oppor- 
 tunities for instruction to both sexes.* Possibly this was with him a 
 favorite idea — if so, his successors have, it is feared, somewhat swerved 
 from the faith once delivered unto them. And yet this feature has thus 
 far produced no evil, but much positive good. The government of the 
 College has been more complete and more easily secured, and the scholar- 
 ship of the students of both sexes not impaired, by this joint education of 
 the sexes. "Whether this shall continue a permanent feature of the Insti- 
 tution, the Trustees are willing that further experience and an enlightened 
 
 * The course of study prescribed for the two sexes aro by no means identical. Young 
 ladies have a special course, the equivalent in extent and generally identical in the several 
 branches pursued with that at the best Ladies' Seminaries in the country. This course, in 
 general, corresponds to the Latin studies of the preparatory course and the English studies 
 of the collegiate course of the Gentlemen's Department. Whore the studies of the two sexes 
 are the same, they recite together. Ladies are allowed to take the full classical course of the 
 College, but this is not recommended and seldom done. 
 
public sentiment should decide. They are now prepared to say only this: 
 thus far the arrangement appears to work thoroughly well, lo the 
 advantage of both sexes (dike. 
 
 Perbaps it is not becoming in mo to attempt lo decide how well Olivet 
 has fulfilled the purpose and hope of the pious and excellent Founder, in 
 respect to its standard of piety and religious influence. I will only say, 
 Father Shipherd's successors, in the direction of the affairs of the College, 
 have never lost sight of the Founder's aim, as the almost annual return 
 of religious revival among the students and the beginning of the religious 
 life here in such numerous instances, abundantly testify. 
 
 But it is no boasting to say that we have been faithful to the wishes of 
 Father Shipherd in respect to the morals of this community and the spirit 
 of harmony and the unity of effort which have generally prevailed. 
 
 MVith comparatively insignificant exceptions, the people ol Olivet, the 
 officers of the College and the students have been of one heart and one mind. 
 The supposed interests of the College have always dominated in all ques- 
 tions affecting the social relations and business interests of the place. 
 The College bell announces the hours of labor, of the regular meals, and 
 of rest to nearly all the citizens. In like manner the welfare of the College 
 excludes from the place— from social recognition, and hence from the place 
 — such accretions to the population of the piace as would bring moral 
 contagion and defilement. Men have come here whose characters were 
 obnoxious to the moral sentiment of the people, or who have engaged 
 in some line of business injurious to the morals ol the youth gathered 
 here, and though the authority of civil law has been seldom, if ever, 
 invoked in such cases, and the might of Judge Lynch never, these char- 
 acters have speedily withdrawn, as Irom an atmosphere uncongenial and 
 destructive to their kind. 
 
 Then the people with remarkable unanimity, have " had a mind to work " 
 for the College. When it has been necessary to raise lunds for the erection 
 of buildings for the College or for the support of the College instructors, all 
 the people, farmers, mechanics, professors, laborers, merchants, and physi- 
 
 * There has never been but one Christian Church in the village. The Methodists for a time 
 had a " Class" and the Swedcnborgians a small society, both of which are now, I believe, 
 extinct. This single church is called "Congregational," "the College" or " the Olivet" 
 Church, indiscriminately. Its polity is democratic, its creed the commonly received doc- 
 trines of all evangelical churches, and its membership is made up of contributions from 
 Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, Free Will Baptist, Episcopalian and Methodist Churches. 
 It is intended that this Church shall be the religious home of all the citizens and pious 
 students, without forcing each one to accept the precise opinions of the majority in the 
 church. 
 
16 MEMOKIAL ADDKESS. 
 
 cians, alike have responded with great liberality. The farmer has brought 
 timber to the erection of each new building and the laborer the willing 
 toil of his stout arms, and their gifts have been as acceptable and valuable 
 as the money consecrated to the same noble purposes by the man of 
 business. 
 
 I have olten been most deeply affected, as in looking over the list of sub- 
 scribers to a gift to some laborious and half-paid teacher in the Institution, 
 or to a fund for a new college edifice, I have found the names of the 
 mechanics and laborers, as well as of the poor widows of the place, side by 
 side with those of citizens of larger means. 
 
 We have constituted a harmonious little Democracy— and here has been 
 our strength. May this union op all Classes of the people, and of 
 people and College, be perfect and perpetual. 
 
 THE FIRST CHARTER. 
 
 Soon after the opening of the school, as early as 1846, the trustees ap- 
 plied to the Legislature Of the State for a college charter. This request 
 was refused. It was then the declared policy of the State authorities to 
 discourage any attempt to found independent colleges. It was thought 
 best for the interests of education in the State to concentrate all the public 
 favors upon the University. Besides certain characteristic features of Oli- 
 vet, the insignificance of its resources at that time, the well known, and to 
 many, both in the church and without, unsavory reputation of the mother 
 college, certain notions of reform and political action prevalent in the 
 young school, then less popular than now, and the manual labor feature of 
 the enterprise, all contributed to this disfavor at the political center of the 
 Commonwealth. 
 
 Unable to obtain a college charter, in 1848 the Trustees applied for and 
 secured a charter for their school under the less pretentious name of " Oli- 
 vet Institute, "—a striking proof of the wisdom of the Trustees of that day, 
 and shared by their successors clean down to the present; failing to obtain 
 the whole loaf of their desires, they, for the time being, cheerfully contented 
 themselves with the half. 
 
 Under this charter, school and village prospered. Students came here 
 from various parts of the State, attracted bj the economy as well as the 
 thoroughness of the course of study here, and by the animating spirit of 
 reform and ardent piety which always prevailed. The houses of the citi- 
 zens and such school-buildings as the people had found means to erect, 
 were generally full of students. Students could have been found in nearly 
 every attic in town, even to the stores and grist mill, eagerly conning 
 their lessons. 
 
OLIVET COLLEGE. 17 
 
 Olivet was generally acknowledged to be an excellent school, a little inac- 
 cessible because of forests and morasses, somewhat Puritanic and severe in 
 its social aspect, but very moral and religious, and withal a favorite resort of 
 boys whose parents had lost hope of proper control over them while under 
 the roof of home. Prof. Hosford aud *Rev. E. N. Bartlett, who had suc- 
 ceeded Rev. Mr. Hatch, driven away by illness, as it was said, (but really, 
 perhaps, from want of sufficient hopefulness in his work, ) with the valuable 
 aid of their wives and others, continued the work of instruction. The 
 standard of scholarship steadily improved and the importance of the In- 
 stitution, as an agency in popular education, increased. Large numbers 
 of youth were prepared for teaching in public schools, others were lilted 
 for college, others still, received here all their intellectual outfit for the 
 business and responsibilities of life, some went from here to professional 
 schools and into honorable positions in the several professions, and many, 
 very many, went forth prepared in heart, by the discipline of the grace of 
 God, for a useful life or the Christian's death. 
 
 During the eleveu years which elapsed between the beginning of the 
 period of the first charter and that of the second, (1848-1859,) probably not 
 less than 2,500 youth had availed themselves, for a longer or shorter 
 time, of the advantages which Olivet afforded. It was not uncommon for 
 fifty teachers of common schools to go forth from " the Institute" in a 
 single year, indicating how extensive its patronage must have been, and 
 how great ils influence upon the popular schools ot the State. 
 
 Had the career of Olivet closed with the period of the " Institute " 
 charter, it were no exaggeration to say that all the labor dune, the suffer- 
 ings endured, the means expended, the prayerful watching kept up, and 
 even the precious life lavished by the colonists in the service of the school, 
 was more than compensated for by the noble results attained. 
 
 Olivet had been faithful to the motto engraved on her Qrst seal, Pro 
 
 * Mr. Bartlett became connected with " the Institute " in the year 1846, and continued 
 in its service until 1S58. During all this time he devoted himself with indefatigable zeal 
 and presistent energy to promoting th«, interests of the colony and the school. He was a 
 good teacher, a strict disciplinarian, and a very prudent manager of the affairs of the Insti- 
 tution. His ever busy hand is still visible in all the belongings of school aud village, from 
 the church and "halls,"' to the cabinet of minerals aud the shade trees which line the 
 streets. Besides acting as one of the Principals of the school, and teaching Uvo or sis hours 
 daily, he was also pastor of the church for a great pail of the time he was connected with 
 Olivet. He is now Principal of the Preparatory Department of Oberlin College. To Mr. 
 Bartlett and his very excellent and efficient wife, Olivet is greatly indebted for the meas- 
 uro of past success and the good promise of enlarged prosperity. They are gratefully 
 remembered. 
 
18 MKMOEIAL ADDKESS. 
 
 Christo et Ecclesia, and the Head ol the Church had blessed her 
 endeavors to " bring ibrth much fruit." 
 But a nobler career awaited her under the 
 
 SECOND CHARTER. 
 
 But previous to 1859 the school had reached its highest possible expansion 
 under the "Institute" charter. The introduction and rapid growth in the State 
 of the Union School system, had already materially affected the patronage 
 of the Institution. The young could obtain in every considerable village, 
 most of the advantages for education afforded by Olivet. Olivet had 
 ceased to grow, many of the original citizens had retired from the enter- 
 prise, additional buildings for the accommodation of students, and addi- 
 tional instructors to relieve the too. heavy burdens of those already here, 
 could not be obtained, for lack of lands. Mr. Bartlett, one of the Associate 
 Principals, after years of severe and ill-requited toil, with the conviction 
 that his work lor Olivet was done, at length withdrew. It began to be 
 whispered in unfriendly or timid quarters, that the school had already 
 passed its meridian of usefulness. Its friends were alarmed and saw that 
 a crisis iu the affairs of the College had come. 
 
 The Ladies' Hall,* now so convenient and so essential to the interests of 
 Olivet, stood half completed — enclosed, but unfinished and unfurnished, 
 and enemies said never could be completed. To raise money to complete 
 the erection of the building, to secure funds for the support of an adequate 
 corps of instructors, to turn back the ebbing tide of patronage and rein- 
 spire in the minds of the community and the general constituency of the 
 College the confidence of success, it was apparent, demanded new meas- 
 ures and new men. Rev. M. W. Fairfield, of Brimfield, 111., was about this 
 time (fall ol 1858) called to be Pastor of the church and Principal of the 
 school. He brought to his work the enthusiasm of a fresh laborer and 
 the attractive power of a popular speaker. 
 
 The people began again to have hope; the patronage of the school re- 
 vived. Under his direction the Trustees of Olivet Institute determined to 
 reorganize under the title of Olivet College, taking advantage of a general 
 
 *It is said the proposition to erect a building for the exclusive use of Young Ladies, as a 
 boarding house, originated with Mrs. Prof. Bartlett — at least she was very active and effi- 
 cient in securing the requisite funds. She is said to have gone from house to house through- 
 out all this region, soliciting aid in her good work from all she met. The sum of $3,000 was 
 thus raised by her alone. The plan for the edifice was afterwards a good deal enlarged, re- 
 quiring $15,000 at least for its completion. The building was reared in the year 1857, but not 
 completely finished inside until June, 1860. At that time the " Hall " was sat apart to its 
 appropriate uses , by the delivery of a dedicatory address by Bev. Dr. Wolcot. of Chicago. 
 
OLIVET COLLEGE. 19 
 
 law of the State, enacted a few years before, according to which an asso- 
 ciation of gentlemen, having a specified amount of capital invested for the 
 purpose, might organize an institution having College and University- 
 privileges. A charter was secured in 1859, and in September of tbat year 
 the first term of the College opened with a Faculty of five instructors, with 
 Mr. Fairfield as President, and with the organization of a Freshman class 
 in the College proper, and classes in the Scientific, Ladies' and Preparatory 
 Departments. Under the stimulus which this reorganization of the school 
 gave the community and friends of the College, sufficient funds for com- 
 pleting the erection of the Ladies' Hall, and, as was supposed, to meet the 
 current expenses of the College for five years, were secured in a few days 
 within the limits of this village. 
 
 This reorganization and the erection of the Hall, probably saved the en- 
 terprise from ruin. The former committed the friends of the College to a 
 new and more aggressive line of policy, while the latter gave to the enter- 
 prise the appearance and sentiment of fixedness and stability. 
 
 Under this charter the Institution has made steady and increasing pro- 
 gress down to the present time. During this interval it has, indeed, expe- 
 rienced disappointment and severe trial. In little more than twelve 
 months after the reorganization, President Fairfield resigned aud retired 
 from the work. This was a temporary discouragement, but the friends 
 of the College rallied, and the prosperity of the Institution was soon 
 restored. 
 
 Then in 1SG1 came the Great Rebellion. The call lor troops to uphold 
 the National authority in its conflict with armed traitors, quickly thinned 
 the ranks of our students, many of whom went forth to the battle-fields of 
 the Republic, to suffer and die for the principles of freedom and religion 
 here inculcated. Oilvet's patriot dead sleep quietly beneath the turf at 
 Mill Spring aud on Chicamauga's ensanguined field, in the shade of the 
 deadly Wilderness, at Cold Harbor, near Malvern's Height, in the Ion g 
 trenches which stretch across the fields behind the hated prison pens of 
 Slavery's revolt, and in the village cemeteries of Michigan, where loving 
 hands have laid the bodies of our brave young men as they have come 
 home from the field to die. Yet, during all these long years of alarm, 
 uncertainty and sorrow, the patronage of the College has steadily 
 increased, our resources grown, our standard of scholarship aud 
 methods of instruction improved, and the prestige of the Institution 
 greatly heightened. 
 
20 MEMORIAL ADDKESS. 
 
 POVERTY AND STRUGGLES. 
 
 Any memorial of Olivet would be entirely wanting in completeness, which 
 did not give special prominence to* the comparative feebleness of the in- 
 strumentalities employed in its service, the scantiness of its resources, 
 and the severe and prolonged struggles of its devoted friends. 
 
 To the common view of society, the project of four or five men, earnest, 
 zealous Christians, of fair average capacity for business, but without a 
 single eminent fitness for the work undertaken, save a faith so lofty as to 
 be almost visionary, with very humble resources, their combined capital, 
 including the beasts of burden that drew them hither, the household goods 
 which they brought and the flocks and herds which they drove before them, 
 scarcely equaling the money value of $10,000; with no acknowledged con- 
 stituency of friends in the State or helpers any where; in the midst of the 
 wild forest, thirteen miles from any town or thoroughfare, with the land on 
 which their bread was to grow to be cleared of trees, and the very houses, 
 which must shelter their heads and accommodate the expected students, to be 
 hewn from the standing forest — for such men, in the face of such difficulties, 
 to start off to found a college, must have seemed to uninterested spectators 
 as the quixotic undertaking of semi-lunatics. Viewed from this stand- 
 point of earthborn reason, the enterprise appears an undertaking of folly 
 and madness. The resources when compared with the designated ends, 
 were contemptible, and nothing but success, wrung from destiny by per- 
 sistent energy and unflagging hope, could have redeemed this visionary 
 attempt of good men to do good service for their age, from the condem- 
 nation of historical truth, or have given to the names of the fathers and 
 mothers of Olivet the fame of heroism coupled with the virtue of saints. 
 
 I have said the resources of the colonists were contemptible — but only 
 as was the sling of David and the pitcher and lamp of Gideon. This feeble 
 band, like the Pilgrims of Plymouth Bay, brought with them high princi- 
 ple, noble devotion to truth, wonderful self-sacrifice for the good of others, 
 remarkable faith in God. and they were strong because God was with them. 
 
 The Institution and its immediate officers have always known the pinchings 
 of poverty. Poverty, as say the Trustees in their second catalogue, has al- 
 ways been the endowment of Olivet. Want of funds has been the chronic em- 
 barrassment of the College, and of nearly all its officers, from the Principal 
 down to the Janitor, from February 24, 1844, down to this 28th day of 
 June, 1866. The early salaries paid the instructors were not only beggarly 
 in smallness, but positively ridiculous. Think of teaching six hours per 
 diem during nine months, and receiving as recompense the sum of $36 
 in hard cash ! The record of the Board oi Trustees makes mention of the 
 
OLIVET COLLEGE. 21 
 
 important fact that hereafter, i. e., from that period, Prof. Hosford would 
 receive the salary of $400 per annum ! And of these Insignificant sums, 
 the poverty of the College would keep back a fourth part or more for years, 
 until finally the Professor would gladly compromise with the gentleman 
 who guarded the empty treasury of the College, by taking in payment a 
 tract of wild land at thrice its current value. The instructors in the In- 
 stitution have helped, with their own hands, to open and keep in repair all 
 the roads that centre here; have wrought with spade in digging building 
 sand to put in the walls of nearly every College building; and, hammer in 
 hand, have worked on the top of these buildings when the snows of winter 
 were filling the air and fast covering the half-finished roof, so that Mr. 
 Bavtlett, Prof. Hosford, or almost any of the present officers of the College, 
 cau point the visitor to these grounds, these streets, and these College 
 edifices, and say with more than poetic truth, "See what our hands hare 
 xcrought /" Not that these teachers have done this alone; all the friends 
 of the school in the region have wrought by their side. The people have 
 had a mind to work, and "bees," by which cellars have been excavated, 
 roads repaired, sidewalks made, stone for foundation walls dug and hauled, 
 trees planted and grounds graded, have been from the first the "peculiar 
 institution " of the place. And while the men, professors, teachers, noble 
 students, resident trustees, merchants, physicians and the rest, have toiled 
 thus 'pro bono 'publico, their wives, sisters or daughters, have been en- 
 gaged in cleansing rooms in public buildings, papering dingy walls, and 
 nailing carpets to the floors of church and chapel. From the beginning 
 until a recent period, the friends of the College have been called upon to 
 struggle with a succession of reverses and discouragements. They have 
 been engaged in enacting in real experience the old fable of Sisyphus and 
 the rolling stone, except that at last the heavy mass rests, if not on the 
 summit of the acclivity, at least some distance up its steep incline. To 
 outside view they have seemed repeatedly defeated in their darling enter- 
 prise; but, like Grant and his soldiers in the terrible campaign in the Wil- 
 derness, they have themselves been unconscious of defeat, and so have 
 fought on to final victory. 
 
 The leader of the colony dying in the moment of advancing to the charge 
 —many of their companions giving way in the shiver of fear— their first 
 important school edifice burning down ere the carpenter had removed his 
 shavings from its half laid floor, and the phenix edifice that rose upon the 
 ashes of the burned "Hall," in turn falling a prey to the flames kindled by 
 a burniug building in the neighborhood, almost before it was completed for 
 occupancy, are examples of the trials which have beset the way of the en- 
 terprise towards success. At times the sudden retirement of prominent 
 
22 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 
 
 officers and teachers has Drought those that remained to the verge of de- 
 spair. Then, early the friends of the College had to contend with the oppo- 
 sition, or ridicule, or slander of foes, and endure the doubts and fears of 
 lukewarm friends. But in the midst of trial and obloquy there has always 
 been a faithful few whose purpose was as firmly fixed towards the end of 
 all right effort, full success, as the needle in its pointing towards the pole. 
 
 Perhaps nothing better illustrates the difficulties which Olivet has had 
 to surmount, and the real progress already made, than the history of the 
 relations of the Institution to the Congregational and Presbyterian ecclesi- 
 astical organizations in the State. Leading churches and ministers in 
 these two influential communions never opposed the work which humble 
 christian men were trying to do here. They only doubted; hesitated to 
 give them the support of their public acknowledgment; feared to assume 
 responsibility for the rearing and maintenance of the child-College, lest its 
 future should not do credit to its foster parents. Olivet was so remote 
 from the great centers of population and traffic, its beginnings were so 
 humble, its friends so few and feeble, its progress so slow and painful, and 
 its prospects so doubtful, it was prudent to stand aloof— at least for a 
 while ! So, for a long time, officers of the College in vain besought the 
 indorsement of Synods and Associations, and the support of great names. 
 Perhaps this eagerness of the friends of the College to secure such influen- 
 tial recognition was excessive ; — it was certainly unsuccessful. Kind words 
 were spoken by all, " resolutions " were occasionally voted, but they meant 
 little and did as little good. Indeed, it is within my own recollection 
 that a representative of Olivet in the General Association of the Congre- 
 gational churches of Michigan was rather shunned than courted. It was 
 feared he would urge "Olivet" upon the attention of the "Association," 
 and ask for aid. It was difficult to secure Trustees for the Institution 
 among prominent ministers and laymen in the churches, or if such were 
 appointed, they generally found it inconvenient to attend the Sessions of 
 Board. 
 
 But all this is changed. Persistent struggling with difficulties, gradual 
 increase in patronage, the acknowledgment abroad of a *high and con- 
 
 *The Annual commencement, in 1862, witnessed the lowest point of depression in the 
 hearts of the friends of Olivet, reached, at least, during these later years. The continued 
 call for troops had depleted the classes, McClellan was retreating defeated from the front of 
 Richmond, and uncertainty rested on everything National or belonging to the College. It 
 was proposed to omit commencement altogether, hecause it was feared the classes could not 
 do the Institution justice, so much had they been lessened. Others urged following out the 
 usual programme and prevailed. Rev. Dr. Satchel, then of Detroit, but now President of 
 Middlebury College, was present as visitor, under appointment from the Superintendent of 
 
OLIVET COLLEGE. 23 
 
 stantly improving standard of scholarship here, and the growing convic- 
 tion that Olivet would succeed whether aided or not, have produced their 
 natural result. In 1863 many ot the most prominent Presbyterian and 
 Congregational ministers in the State, recommended the College to the 
 sympathy and aid of the Western College Society of New York. This rec- 
 ommendation, seconded by the geuerous efforts of a noble friend of Olivet, 
 then and now pastor of one of the Churches in Brooklyn, N. Y., and by the 
 affirmative "Report'' of a committee appointed by the College Society to 
 visit Olivet and inquire into its affairs, was successful, and for two years 
 Olivet has received pecuniary aid, and, what is of more value, moral sup- 
 port from this venerable and very influential Society. Now few question 
 the full success of this Christian enterprise. No one is ashamed to be 
 thought its friend. Gentlemen of social prominence are willing to accept 
 an appointment as trustees, and are prompt and punctual in attendance 
 at the regular meetings of the Board. 
 
 Olivet has had excellent friends beyond her own limits from her birth- 
 day till now. These, living in various parts of the State and beyond, have 
 contributed to the progress of the work in warm sympathy and substantial 
 aid. 1 cannot now mention them for want of time. *Some of these have 
 
 Public Instruction, for the State. His words of encouragement and commendation greatly 
 cheered students and Faculty, and his published report to the Superintendent, in which he 
 very emphatically commended the modes of instruction and the standard of scholarship in 
 the several classes examined, gave to Olivet a public reputation which has been more 
 valuable to her than gifts of gold and silver. The hour of depression was succeeded by 
 hours of the highest hope and promise. 
 
 *The sight of the toils and struggles of the Olivet pioneers has, in many instances, won 
 the sympathy and, henceforth, the active co-operation of the casual looker on. 
 
 The anniversary exercises were held one year in a half completed building, winch had 
 just been erected in place of one recently destroyed by lire. On this new building the poor 
 colonists had expended all their means; they were unable Incomplete it and were feeling de- 
 spondent. Among the spectators present was Dea. S. F. Drury, of Otsego, Michigan. Ho 
 had been assistiug Rev. Mr. Avery in a scries of religious meetings in a village near by, 
 and was casually present. He listened to the exercises, he saw the intelligent company 
 of students present, he became acquainted with the embarrassments of the school, and 
 the deepest sympathies of his heart were aroused. Before the audience separated ho roso 
 and told the people how much he was iutercsted in all which he had seen and heard. Then 
 he proposed to the visitors present that they should contribute enough on the spot to com- 
 plete the building, himself first pledging a large portion of the whole sum. The work wag 
 done, and, at the same time, Olivet gained far more than a contribution of monoy — the 
 adhesion to her fortunes of one who, from that day to the present, has been the especial 
 friend and advocate of the Institution. It might seem indelicate or invidious to attempt 
 to portray the services done for Olivet by the friend whose heart the sight of her poverty 
 on that April day won. It is enough that his unceasing toils and sacrifices for her, his 
 
24 MEMOKIAL ADDRESS. 
 
 been attracted hither by the sight of hard work to be done, and they 
 have proved to be as noble and valuable friends as any College ever bad. 
 But by far the most which has been done to give this work life and shape 
 and growth and permanence, has been contributed by humble "citizens of 
 the place. 
 
 Two or three years ago an unfriendly writer in a newspaper, published 
 not far away, in a criticism on Olivet, declared that in the futile attempt 
 to found a College here, $100,000 had been "sunk"' on this hill. 
 
 If the alleged fact had been true, the people of Olivet could have replied 
 with little exaggeration, that they had sunk only their own. But nothing 
 has been "sunk" here, neither money, nor toil, nor watching, nor prayer, nor 
 affection, saving as the deep foundations of the future temple are "sunk," 
 or as the seed which drops beneath the furrow and from which springs the 
 golden harvest, is "sunk." This day, with the exercises of the morning, 
 with this large concourse of intelligent people drawn hither from their 
 homes to do honor to this literary festival, the broad and stable foundation 
 walls now rising in yonder grove, and the expected ceremonies of the 
 afternoon, abundantly confutes the ill-natured prognostications of this 
 newspaper writer and all his fellow prophets of ill. 
 
 The cost of erecting the "Ladies' Hall" opposite, amounting to near 
 the sum of $18,000, was all contributed, save a few hundreds, by the 
 farmers, mechanics, business men and teachers of the place. In a single 
 year this community raised $10,000 to meet the present necessities of the 
 College, and at the same time responded to the call of the Chicago Theo- 
 logical Seminary with a gift of $1,000 more. And these gifts, amounting 
 to $11,000, besides the ordinary benevolences, was ecjual to more -than 
 one-tenth of the cash valuation of all the property of the community 
 at that time. Friends of the College here have repeatedly given one- 
 patient watching and prayer, and his steadfast purpose are rewarded in the rapid growth 
 and assured prosperity of the College which he has done so much to found. It were diffi- 
 cult to find in the annals of any American College a higher example of Christian labor and 
 self-sacrifice than is exhibited in the example of this friend of Olivet College. 
 
 Among the many liberal donors to Olivet in past years, might be mentioned the names of 
 Messrs. Lamson & Co., of Boston, who gave the College bell; Messrs. Chickering, also of 
 Boston, the gift of a piano; F. D. Allen, Esq., of Boston, a very fine air-pump and a consid- 
 erable addition to the Library; W. B. Palmer, Esq., of Augusta, Michigan, an excellent 
 telescope, many books, and a farm valued at 13,000 or $4,000. Of more recent donations; 
 C. C. Burr, Esq., of Boston, sent $1,000 during 1835 to assist in removing a temporary debt, 
 J. C. Baldwin, Esq., of New York, has recently given $2,200 to the funds of the College. A 
 great number of valuable gifts to the College might be mentioned. Lately they are 
 becoming more frequeuent than before, as the certainty of final success in the enterprise 
 becomes assured. 
 
OLIVET COLLEGE. 25 
 
 fourth, one-third, and even one-half, of their yearly income, the whole 
 amounting to only a few hundreds, for the relief of the College, incum- 
 bering their meager estates with burdensome debts, the removal of which 
 has cost years of toil and rigid economy, in the service of this school of 
 their affection and their prayers. Last year we expended $5,000 in en- 
 larging and refilling this edifice, aided to some extent by a few r.oble- 
 hearted friends, and added in a single gift $5,000 more to the permanent 
 funds of the College, while we are expecting to do far more liberally 
 towards the erection of the new Hall. And thus also we expect always to do 
 so long as the means are furnished us and the Master continues us in His 
 Stewardship. 
 
 And while contributing so liberally to the support of the College, their 
 chosen appropriate work, the people of Olivet have by no means eiood 
 aloof from the cry for relief which has come up irom other quarters. They 
 have furnished supplies to the Sanitary and Christian Commissions during 
 the late war as bountifully, in proportion to wealth, as any other people. 
 They have given steadily and largely to the associations organized for 
 conducting home and foreign missions, and have always been ready to 
 contribute their proportion to any cause ot benevolence or public interest 
 nearer home. 
 
 And all this they have done gladly, realizing the truth of the Savior's 
 remark, that it is more blessed to give than to receive. 
 
 RESULTS. 
 
 What has resulted from all this toil for twenty-one weary years ? This: 
 A noble example of consecraiion to an excellent work. The persistence 
 of these good men, who have gone before the younger citizens of Olivet, 
 in the face of such odds, is in itself a noble triumph. The College buildings, 
 this beautilul slope toward the bed of the Kedron, and these pleasant 
 groves, the turning of barbaric nature into somewhat of the refinement 
 and embellishment of civilized life are honorable monuments in memorial 
 of the departed, and high incitements to well doing to us who remain. 
 Then this enterprise, prosecuted by its friends in the interest of education 
 and religion under such discouraging circumstances, has been a standing 
 protest against the materializing tendencies of the age and particularly of 
 the west. Youth educated under such influences can but have their 
 characters modified for good and ennobled, unless they are incapable of 
 catching enthusiasm from a heroic example; and to furnish young men 
 such an example ought to be one of the prime motives of instructors and 
 officers iu the service they render the College, and an important part 
 of the basis ot an appeal to the Christian public for aid. 
 4 
 
26 MEMORIAL ADDKESS. 
 
 In the twenty-one years of Olivet's history, three thousand youth have 
 been gathered under her fostering wing. They have been students here 
 from a few weeks to the period of seven years. These have gone out into 
 all the various avocations and situations in life, with the stamp of Olivet 
 influences affixed to their characters. Many of them received here all of the 
 intellectual furnishing for life which they have had. Many of these have 
 not only secured intellectual culture and finishing here, hut have here 
 bad the good seed of the divine truth and the divine life sown in their 
 hearts, to bring forth abundant fruitage elsewhere to the blessing of man 
 and the glory of God. 
 
 In this particular is found the chief honor of Olivet. The act of conse- 
 cration to God performed here when the colonists first arrived, has been 
 kept steadily in view throughout the history of the place. Not that selfish- 
 ness has had no place in the plans and acts of officers and friends, nor 
 that instructors have always met all the requirements of their station in 
 regard to the spiritual interests of their, students. In all these respects 
 they have often come far short of the high aim of the founder and the 
 standard which their own consciences have set up. And yet I believe if 
 the question could be asked of all who have ever been students here, 
 both the living and the absent, whether, while connected with the 
 Institution, Olivet had been faithful to the highest interests of the soul of 
 each, I think a nearly unanimous affirmative answer would be returned. 
 
 From quiet walks of christian usefulness in lite, from the place of the 
 Sabbath School teacher in the churches, and from the study of the minis- 
 ter of Jesus; from the lips of youth dying in christian serenity in the midst 
 of the tender ministerings of mother and sister, as well as from the brave 
 soldier, periling lite lor liberty and country on the battle-fields of the Re- 
 public, has often come back to the former teachers here the grateful 
 message, "You were faithful to my soul. Under God I owe to you a fit- 
 ting preparation to live, and my hope of Heaven. Thank God that I was 
 ever a student at Olivet." To this end have powerfully contributed not 
 only the established and usual institutions of religion, but the regular re- 
 currence of hearty worship in the chapel every morning, the snatch of 
 sacred song or word of solemn prayer uttered at the opening of all our school 
 exercises, the geuial religious atmosphere which has surrounded the student, 
 and the quiet word of christian counsel or reproof spoken by the faithful 
 instructor in the student's room and by the wayside. May the religious 
 element in the influences thrown around the students here, never be less 
 energetic and less persuasive than in the history of the first twenty-one 
 years of its career. 
 
OLIVET COLLEGE. 27 
 
 Olivet has at last attained a position of respectful recognition, at least, 
 throughout the State and beyond. Her good moral and religious charac- 
 ter was always acknowledged, and later she has won a reputation for in- 
 tellectual culture and sound scholarship not inferior to that of any of her 
 neighbors; and the Faculty of the Institution, gratitied that their work 
 meets with public approbation, are intent that this standard of excellence 
 shall every year be advanced, and the reputation of the College improved. 
 To this end they only ask that the Christian community of Michigan should 
 supply the treasury of the College with funds requisite to the support of a 
 full corps of instructors, and to adequately supplying the College with 
 library and apparatus. 
 
 Then the assured promise of final success has raised up for us troops ot 
 friends. It is far easier to obtain funds for Olivet now than six years ago. 
 It is now regarded more honorable to be an officer or student in Olivet 
 College than it was not very long ago. Success in the founding of institu- 
 tions of learning, as well as everywhere else, is regarded the measure of 
 merit. But what of effort and pain it has cost to secure this position, the 
 testimony of the early officers of the College and of our late general agent, 
 would abundantly show. 
 
 NEEDS. 
 
 I have hitherto spoken only of the history of Olivet. I must not close 
 until I have referred to its hopes and aims. 
 
 Only a part of the work proposed to themselves by the founders of the 
 school ha3 yet been accomplished. The College, as a College, is still m 
 its infancy. There remaineth yet muqh land to be possessed. 
 
 The facilities for securing liberal culture here, must be so far increased 
 that the high reputation of the College shall attract here large classes of 
 eager students, in the place of the comparatively small classes which we 
 have at present. In the heart of Michigan, Olivet must compete with the 
 oldest and best endowed colleges of the West, for a liberal patronage from 
 the most intelligent classes in society. Her growth, therefore, should be 
 rapid. We live in a fast period— a time of great achievements and rapid 
 social progress. Our colleges and schools, therefore, must be prepared 
 to advance rapidly to meet the requirements of society. 
 
 * The salaries of the several Professors still remain considerably less 
 than the yearly compensaiion paid to the head teachers of our common 
 schools. Certainly if Olivet will retain her present corps of instructors, or 
 
 *Up to this date the salaries of Professors have ranged betwoen $600 and $900, and the 
 
28 MEMORIAL ADDKE8S. 
 
 secure equally competent successors, she ought to give to them such com- 
 pensation as will furnish to each a comfortable livelihood. The several 
 professorships should be endowed. Already some progress has been 
 made in this direction, the professorships of Moral Philosophy and Mathe- 
 matics being endowed each in the sum of $15,000, and about half the re- 
 quisite sum secured for the like endowment of the Professorship of the 
 Latin language and Literature. 
 
 May not the Trustees hope that very soon some other friend of Olivet 
 will care to identity his name and fame with the noble work which this 
 College proposes to do, by completing the endowment of the Professorship 
 of Latin? 
 
 To render the departments of instruction complete and as efficient as 
 they should be, will require the addition to the lunds of the College of at 
 least $60,000. Then sums, which are rather indefinite in amount, are 
 greatly needed for more adequately furnishing our library, our apparatus 
 rooms and our museums. Besides these wants, are the reasonable de- 
 mands of the Ladies' Department, to have the "Ladies' Hall" refitted, 
 enlarged, to some extent furnished, and made more attractive and com- 
 fortable in a thousand ways. The daughters of Michigan, surely, must 
 not be neglected. If Olivet aims to furnish facilities for the education of 
 the young ladies, she must provide as well for them as for their brothers, 
 or else surrender the charge. 
 
 Then also funds are needed to aid the score of noble christian young- 
 men now here, and the many others ready to come, to prepare themselves 
 by intellectual training, tor the high duties of the gospel ministry. The 
 churches and the world call for an increase in the number of capable and 
 devoted ministers. Where else can the church more economically equip 
 herself with the requisite number of laborers than here ? At present the 
 tuition of all deserving young men, having the christian ministry in view, 
 is remitted, and that irrespective ol denominational affinity. This tax 
 upon the slender resources of the College, should be relieved by the endow- 
 ment of scholarships for these noble young men by the benevolent in the 
 churches. 
 
 But pressing more heavily upon our hearts than all else, are the neces- 
 sities of the college for larger accommodations for its patronage, and 
 which the proposed new Hall, whose corner-stone we propose to lay with 
 
 salary of the President from $800 to $1,200 — sums scarcely equal to the compensation of 
 retail clerks in country stores, and the wages of any good mechanic. 
 
 By vote of the Trustees to-day, (June 28,) the salaries of the officers are somewhat, 
 though inadequately, advanced. Yet to secure this advance for ihe benefit of the instructors, 
 an urgent appeal must be made to the public for an increase of our funds. 
 
OLIVET COLLEGE. 29 
 
 fitting ceremonies this afternoon, in yonder little grove, is intended to 
 supply. The erection of this Hall will mark another crisis and another 
 epoch in the history of the College. For two years the capacity of the 
 village and the Institution has been essentially met by our patronage. 
 True, the village now bears marks of speedy enlargement, but the increase 
 in resident population and Id dwellings, will hardly equal the increase in 
 the patronage of the College. We must arise and build, if we would grow. 
 The projected hall must be completed at the earliest day the work of build- 
 ing can be done. It must be ready for dedication at our next anniversary. 
 This will require the raising of at least $30,000 during the ensuing College 
 year. To do this the Trustees invoke the aid of all the friends of learning 
 and religion in the State. This must be done at home, in our own Michi- 
 gan field. Olivet is to be a Michigan College. The streams of healthful 
 influences that will flow forth from this sacred mount through coming 
 ages, will fertilize Michigan soil. In return then for the good already done 
 by this young school, and still more for the abundant fruits Olivet 
 pledges anew to render, for all time to come, to our beautiful State, her 
 people must see that its pressing wants of the present hour are promptly 
 met. New England, the good christian men of New York, will help us in 
 this great enterprise if Michigan does her duty. 
 
 I have already stated that this school has hitherto been chiefly self-sup- 
 porting. Henceforth this is impossible. The dimensions of the young 
 College already exceed our limited resources. If wanted by the christian 
 and cultivated elements in our Michigan society, Olivet must lift her hands 
 in petition to those elements for relief. 
 
 Will this relief come ? 
 
 It will come. I hear it in the prayers of the Founders. I read it in the 
 progress of the work hitherto, in the spirit of christian consecration char- 
 acteristic of the present friends of the College; in their long tried faith 
 and strong hope of success; in the spirit of prayer which has character- 
 ized the present sessions of the Board of Trustees, and which, in the ten- 
 der utterances of our brother at the opening of the exercises this morning, 
 so softened and yet so strengthened our hearts. 
 
 I would like to speak at length in grateful recognition of the services of 
 the noble dead, of Father Shipherd, Olivet's founder, and therefore chief 
 benefactor, a mau of singular disinterestedness and zeal in a good cause; 
 of comprehensive and far-reaching schemes for promoting the well-being 
 of society ; of such steady hope and faith, almost extravagant, as no trial 
 or discomfiture could overwhelm; of such simple but vigorous piety as 
 characterized the worthies whom Paul enumerates in his letter to the 
 Hebrews. 
 
30 MEMORIAL ADDRESS. 
 
 I would like to speak of the excellent Mrs. Hosford, whose prayers, whose 
 wise counsels, whose loving ministry at the sick bed and the couch of sor- 
 row, so much aided her husband and his co-laborers in their arduous enter- 
 prise; ot Father Keed, spared to honorable old age, but taken away just 
 too soon to see the full fruition of his hopes; and of Prof. *Carrier, the 
 energetic, precise, critical teacher, ceasing from his severe toil ere his sun 
 had mounted to its meridian; of many others who have nobly contributed 
 to found and build this school of christian learning, but who now rest from 
 their labors and enjoy their well earned reward. 
 
 I would like, also, to make grateful mention of the many living, whose 
 sympathy, whose timely aid, whose generous co-operation, has contributed 
 so much to make Olivet what she is now in her history and her promise. 
 Their christian deeds are not forgotten. However humbly they may have 
 wrought for this noble work of Christ, -it is all recorded above: the reward 
 is sure. 
 
 But I must close. If you value the work already done — if you have con- 
 fidence in the capacity and fidelity of the officers who have the more imme- 
 diate charge of its interests — if you, fellow citizens of Michigan, desire the 
 existence of such an agency in the cause of christian learning as Olivet 
 College now is and hopes to be, — will you see that the requisite means are 
 provided, that this work flag not, but, fully equipped, accomplish its noble 
 destiny. 
 
 * Prof. Oscar M. Carrier, was an alumnus of Yale, in the Class of 1860. He graduated 
 with high honors in a class of more than one hundred members. He was appointed Pro- 
 fessor of the Latin language in Olivet College near the close of 1861. He perlormed tho 
 duties of his Professorship with singular devotion and success, aiding largely in giving to 
 the College its present enviable reputation for scholarship. He died at Olivet Oct. SO, 1865, 
 at the age of 34. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 An account of proceedings connected with the ceremony of "Lay- 
 ing the Corner Stone," of the new College Building, is subjoined. This 
 account is taken from the columns of " The Eaton County Republican,' 1 '' 
 whose editor was an interested spectator of the scene: 
 
 " After the conclusion of President Morrison's Memorial Address, when 
 all were expecting the order to come to lorm in a procession for the site of 
 the New Hall, whose corner stone was then about to be laid, Rev. Edward 
 Taylor, of Brooklyn, N. Y., unexpectedly stepped forward upon the plat- 
 form, and in a subdued tone told the audience he felt impressed to speak. 
 The College was somewhat in debt. The Trustees could not pay adequate 
 salaries to their able and devoted professors. More than all, they were 
 about to lay the Corner Store of the new edifice, and as yet but very little had 
 been subscribed to defray the heavy expense. He said he might be wrong 
 in his purpose; if he was, he would alone bear the responsibility, but he 
 felt that the large audience present ought not to adjourn until they had 
 done something to help the Trustees out of their embarrassment. Mr. Tay- 
 lor proceeded to tell the audience how liberally his people, in Brooklyn, 
 had given to rebuild their Church; how one excellent man, whose idol son 
 had been slain by Indian enemies on our Western plains, wished that dead 
 boy to be built into the walls of the temple of God, and gave a large sum 
 of money "to build in" the boy in the solid masonry; how one mother 
 thus " built in " her absent child, another father "built in " his daughter 
 who will soon, by the grace of God, said the speaker, be ready to be built 
 into the walls of God's Spiritual Temple; the interest of the audience in- 
 creasing every moment, until speaker and hearer were alike in tears, 
 when Mr. Taylor told the people he wished " to build in" himself, his 
 wife, his only son and his now sainted mother, into this new edifice, to the 
 amount of $25 for each, and requested all who sympathized with him to 
 do likewise. 
 
 " Then followed a scene of rare interest, such as does the generous heart 
 good to witness; men and women, citizens, visitors and students, rapidly 
 sending subscriptions to the desk to be read; subscriptions ranging from 
 half a dollar up to the large sum of $5,000. 
 
32 APPENDIX. 
 
 "A subscription of $50 was given by a brother to build in a sister who 
 had died in the service of our poor sick soldiers, on Lookout Mountain, a 
 year ago; another gave $100 to build in the founder of the Institution, 
 now sleeping in the cemetery behind the church ; another $200 lor a fattier, 
 one of Olivet's pioneers and noblest men, who died last fall; another sent 
 up a subscription of $25 for a " Treasure in Heaven," — the treasure being 
 a darling and most promising boy, formerly a student in Olivet, but who 
 died last year in Vermontville. A returned soldier was in the audience, 
 and as the excitement grew, he wanted to take some stock in the new 
 Hall. He had no money, but he had a silver medal which he had taken 
 from the pocket of a dead rebel in Texas, and he would give that. Mr. 
 Taylor set it up at auction. It was sold again and again, each time 
 returned to the gallant owner, until the soldier's medal had brought for 
 the Hall $100. An orficer of the army present, sent up a gold headed cane, 
 also taken from the rebels, and this brought $25. A weeping father sent 
 up a subscription to "build in "each of his children, one of whom had 
 died only two or three weeks before in North Carolina, just as his regiment, 
 (the 28th Infantry) was returning home. The whole amount subscribed 
 reached the handsome sum of nearly $15,000, about one-hall the estimated 
 cost of the proposed edifice." 
 
 Tue subscribers of this large sum were farmers and mechanics, who ex- 
 pected to work out their subscriptions, poor ministers of the gospel settled 
 over missionary churches in the State, residents of Olivet who had given 
 to the College during all its past history, until they felt impoverished, (one 
 Olivet pioneer giving $100, which he said was one-third his yearly income,) 
 professors in the Institution who have served it devotedly on half-pay, 
 editors of newspapers, and a few persons of means. Never, perhaps, 
 before was a sum of money raised for a nobler purpose with a higher exhi- 
 bition of self-sacrifice by the givers. 
 
 Immediately after this scene— it was now five in the afternoon— the entire 
 audience marched in order, preceded by the "Citizens Brass Band," of 
 Olivet, to the site of the proposed building, where the "Corner Stone" 
 was laid by Philo Parsons, Esq., of Detroit. The following is Mr. Parsons' 
 brief 
 
 ADD r es s. 
 
 It is a most interesting as well as significant ceremonial, which calls us 
 together this pleasant June afternoon. This beautitully chiseled corner 
 stone, the gift of a gentleman of foreign birth, who highly prizes Ameri- 
 can Institutions, with its handsomely inscribed date, will aitract attention 
 in days to come, and turn back thought to this period ol faith and trust. 
 
APPENDIX. 33 
 
 An event of so deep import may justly point an era in your history. To 
 commemorate it, well may the smith turn from his anvil, the shop keeper 
 from his wares, well may the grinding of the mill cease, the farmer leave 
 his plough in its furrow, and all the usual avocations of agriculture, and 
 with the men of letters, and the men of leisure, meet to give character and 
 significance to this memorable occasion. I feel complimented in being 
 selected as the instrument in adjusting to its proper place, this inde- 
 structible corner stone, which shall, perhaps, unfold its history to coming 
 generations, should they curiously open its sealed casket, in their anti- 
 quarian researches. What are the foundations on which this corner stone 
 is to rest ? Is it simply the labor of the builder, with hammer and trowel ? 
 Does his work rest on the sand ? Did he, in his excavations, go below the 
 reach of the elements? Weil may you ask if the foundation was broad 
 and deep ? But, in this enterprise there are foundations broader, deeper 
 and more enduring than those laid by the hand of man; foundations which 
 the elements cannot shake, which must endure through all time. These 
 foundations were commenced when this beautiful village was untouched 
 by the hand of civilization. 
 
 An earnest, devoted man, imbued with a deep, all pervading Chris- 
 tianity, was seeking a place during the early days of Michigan, to plant an 
 Institution of learning. Strangely, as many might think, but most provi- 
 dentially, as appears to us, he was three times directed to this attractive 
 spot. The last time, kneeling* upon the virgin soil, he consecrated these 
 hill tops to an enlightened Christian Education. The axe and hammer 
 resounded through the forests; strong and willing hands soon reared the 
 first institution of learning, and the place was appropriately named Olivet. 
 But this Institution was to be planted in trial. Fire soon consumed the 
 labor of self denial. Yet nothing daunted, the work went forward. The 
 band of devoted men increased, the sphere of influence widened, until 
 patient perseverance, self denial and trust were in a measure rewarded. 
 
 Building after building was reared, till with an effort, rigid economy and 
 liberality, without a parallel in the North-west, the handsome and endu- 
 ring structure opposite, was reared and consecrated. But from this period, 
 a higher position is accorded, a broader field opens for your Institution. 
 Up to this time it has been comparatively local in its character;— now it 
 comes out and takes its position among the Colleges of our growing Com- 
 monwealth. Its claims are recognized; large numbers have applied un- 
 successfully for admission to these Halls of Learning; fathers and mothers 
 in our cities and villages, have been anxious to send hither their sons, 
 feeling that in this pure religious atmosphere, they were comparatively 
 
34: APPENDIX. 
 
 safe in the character-forming period of life. Under these circumstances, 
 larger facilities were demanded and decided upon; and now, in faitb, 
 prayer and trust, foundations enduring as Eternity, the basis of a new 
 Hall, built in stone and mortar, rests. On it we adjust this corner stone, 
 and, though our Treasury is not full, yet fearlessly we commence to build, 
 not doubting that in beautiful proportions, story after story will arise and 
 be paid for, till there shall stand out in bold relief against the Western 
 sky, crowned with cornice, cap-stone and turret, fittingly ornamented in 
 accordance with the taste and demands of the age, a noble College struct- 
 ure of which we may all feel proud. 
 
 But a work of this kind is not accomplished without labor— success in- 
 volves effort. If you desire appeals abroad to be honored, you must do to 
 the extent of your ability at home. You must arise and build; doing this 
 your spirit will pervade others. Do not be frightened by discourage- 
 ments, for they will surely come. Nehemiah built the wall with armor 
 buckled to his side; the foundations of most of the Eastern Colleges were 
 laid in great trial; long years of embarrassment paralyzed the influence 
 of many of the proudest New England Colleges. Some will oppose, saying 
 the simple facilities of the University are sufficient; but as in the past, so 
 in the future, let not this hinder but encourage you to bring enlightened 
 Christian education to those who will in the future thank God for your 
 labors and self-denial. 
 
 But for "Williams College bringing education to the very doors of young 
 Hopkins, the venerable president of that noble Institution would doubtless 
 have followed the occupation of his father, and been at this day "a well 
 to do " Massachusetts farmer. Farmers and mechanics sons, contiguous 
 to this seat of learning, will receive fine classical educations and occupy 
 prominent positions among their countrymen, who, but for facilities here 
 afforded, would remain unknown. And farther and better still, multitudes 
 who may enjoy the instruction of your able and self-denying faculty, wit- 
 ness the large-hearted Christian Philanthrophy with which they are im- 
 bued, and pervaded by the warm religious atmosphere which surrounds 
 them, will go forth to the world and become benefactors of the race. 
 
 Then, after the usual articles were deposited in the chamber of the 
 stone by different gentlemen, the concourse was dismissed with the 
 benediction, by Rev. S. W. Streeter, one of the Trustees. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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