^H(^;2 >7^ HIRAM COLLEGE AND HER PUPILS. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED TO THE GEADUATING CLASS, JUNE 31, 1877, By B^4-1ilNSDALE, Presidei^t. WITH A COLLEGE ANNOUNCEMENT. HIRAM COLLEGE AND HER PUPILS. Young Gentlemen: A preacher becomes so dependent upon his text that he scarcely knows how, on any occasion, to get on without one. To-day I shall take for mine the most conspicuous word on our programme, "Commence- ment. " The word is used at the University of Cambridge to designate the time when the Masters of Arts and Doctors receive degrees ; but I have failed to find that it is used outside of the United States as the time when Bachelors make their graduating speeches, receive their degrees, and say good-bye to Alma Mater. A Commencement such as we hold to-day appears to be both an American idea and an American thing. Where the word took on this special meaning, when and at whose suggestion, I am quite unable to say. Such inquiries as I have made, not carried far I confess, have failed to throw any light on these questions. On a related question, however, I seem to have been more successful ; that is, in dis- covering the point of view from which such an occasion was named " Commencement." A student's graduation is the close of one life and the beginning of another. Whether it received its name from the teacher or the student, we cannot tell; though the known habit of the former's mind would, per- haps, have led him to name the day from its relation to the life that it ends rather than from its relation to the life that it begins. However that may be, this much is certain — the time when a Bachelor receives his de- gree was named "Commencement" by some one who saw its relation to life as a whole. It is, indeed,* fixet close of schooling, in the narrow sense, the end of the period of geftci-al preparation ; but it is the proper beginning of the great active life, and, thcFefore, properly a commence- ment. Hence the name was born of a genuine spirit — it is the child of a happy inspiration. Young Gentlemen, to-day closes one period in your lives and begins another; you are probably looking, at times, both backward and forward; but you are false to the spirit of this American occasion, false to your own age, false to the happy genius that gave the day its name, unless you regard it as the beginning, the introduction, the gateway to your larger lives. But even if your faces are set as though you would go forward and not backward, there is still room for you. Bachelors, to make a serious, if not ''■'' ^ehaace. 3 fatal, mistake. You must not think of these two periods as separated by a deep, wide chasm; of the future as separated from tlie past; of active life in the world as out of relation to tlie preparation that is made for it in the school. Both tlie past and the future are infinite; the present is the line where tlie two infinites nieet. Nor are they separated even by a seam. One is an outgrowth of the other; the future has its roots in tlie past. A nation or a society cannot renounce its past development, even in a political sense. The people that abandons its old habits and tradi- tions (if the thing be possible), and throws away its old forms, to set up, in the name of "reform "or " progress," a brand-new set of ideas and institutions in place of the old— has yet to take its first lesson in political wisdom. It is not by pulling up their anchors and sailing away from old moorings that a nation makes progress. Progress is a blending of the innovating and the conservative forces. " Save all you get and get all you can," is the motto of civilization. Thus the great questions concerning a people are: "What is their nature and what their nurture?" "Into what soil of culture do they .strike their roots?" So it is with the individual man. "What was he in the beginning?" "What has training done for him?" are the essential questions. The school has to do only with the second. The queen-bee is Queen simply because she is more bountifully fed than the other bees, and lives in a different cell. The silkworm cannot spin silk if fed on the leaf of the mullen. So every great soul is suckled on a great creed. The Gods must have their ambrosia and nectar; they cannot live on a cheaper diet. Concerning every great man we may ask, as Cassius did concerning Caesar, though in a different .sense, "On what meat doth this our Ciesar feed that he hath grown so great?" I need not argue the matter at more length. We catch the meaning of Cicero when he saj^s History is "the mistress of times, the light of truth, and the teacher of life;" and of Diodorus, a much profounder man, wlien he calls her, "a handmaid of providence, a priestess of truth, and a motlier of wisdom." Wliilc to-day. Young Gentlemen, is the commencement of a life in some sense new, nevertheless its springs, for the most part, are behind you. Do not become so absorbed in the duties of the future as to forget the labors that have prepared you to meet them. What you have done may be small measured by what you will do ; but you can never afford to look upon it with contempt. I have known some people who always dis- paraged their youth ; some students who have gone from college thinking very meanly of it and of what they have done. To be sure, a man sliould think meanly of what is mean; but this is not the key to the matter now in hand. They were full of that miserable spirit which sometimes makes a boy a.sliamed he was a baby, and a man that he was a boy. Immaturity comes before maturity, veal conditions beef. The divine law is, " out of weakness we are made strong;" and weakness in its time is just as respect- abh- as strength in its time. These students, of course, cultivate no inter- est in the .school where they received their training, and rarely or never return to it. Apparently, they are ashamed that they ever studied there; and when they have occasion to speak of it, do so in a shame-faced and apologetic fashion. The Prophet Zachariah does not answer his own question — "Who hath despised the day of small things?" but whoever has or does, gives no proof of superiority. Few of the Proverbs are more wholesome than this one: "Hearken unto thy father that begot thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old." For one, I shall never, of my own choice, remain four or five years in any place to speak meanly of it after I have gone away : I should only be disparaging myself. Your future. Bachelors, will be determined in great degree by what you have done and what you are. Your knowledge will grow, your expe- rience enlarge, your views and your feelings change ; but your lives will be a continuous evolution. We sometimes speak of "revolutions" in the lives of men. Perhaps this is not an abuse of language; but a human being never loses his identity, either in this world or in that which is to come. However feeble the past may be, as measured by the future, you can never afford to despise it. Let me, then, ask you in coming years to cultivate an interest in Hiram and in your Hiram lives. That Hiram is not a foremost name in educa- tional annals, no one knows better than I do, or is more ready to acknowl- edge. What she attempts to do for her children, 1 shall state further on. Here I say only this : Her history and her work for you are worthy of your appreciation. I do not think an over-valuation of what their teachers do for them is a common fault of students. Not unfrequently have I seen students use the very tools that their teachers had sharpened to tear those teachers to pieces. I do not speak of these matters. Gentlemen, because I have noticed them in you, but because they are such common tendencies of human nature, and especially of American human nature. Our life is an ed- dying whirpool. How small, relatively, is the number of Americans who die where they were born! A is buried in New England; B, his son, in Ohio or Illinois; C, his grandson, on the Pacific Slope. In no other country in the world would it be so foolish for a man to provide a family burying-place, as Abraham did when he purchased "as a posses- sion for a burying,place," the Cave of Machpelah, of Ephron the Hittite, in the audience of the sons of Heth. How strange to us the sentiment of Jacob, when he said: "Bury me with my fathers in the Cave. * * * There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife ; and there I buried Leah" ! In no such sense as this, is an American "gathered to his fathers." How great is the num- ber of families that never strike root into the soil, and have a home! It has always seemed to me a misfortune to be born and bred in the city — never to become attached to a brook, or a field, or a wood, or even an old barn in which children find stranger things than men find in the tombs of the Pharaohs; but never to have a settled home at all is a much greater misfortune. As a consequence af our unstable habits and intense life, we Ameri- cans take small interest in the past and its lessons. Sometimes we half believe that human life began anew on these Western shores, and that the experience of the Old "World has no significance for us. We have lec- tures on "American Education," just as though tlie essentials of education were not the same in all lands and in all ages. Sometimes one of our scholars writes on "American Political Economy." though I have not lieard of a treatise on American Algebra or Geometrj'. Some of our politicians of the baser sort thought the}' had discovered or invented an "American money," but thej' are now finding out that it is a part of the really "effete" civilization of the Old World. It has been recently remarked that no magazine devoted to History has succeeded in America, though there have been repeated trials. The most probable explanation of this fact that I have seen is this: History is not congenial to the American spirit. It is characteristic of our genius not to be specially, interested in places or times, and to undervalue cere- mony. The man who should give one himdred dollars more for the farm on which he was born than the one of equal commercial value lying be side it could be bought for, would be called sentimental and unpractical by two-thirds of his ueiglibors. Confucius said to a matter-of-fact coun- tryman who objected that the three sheep sacrificed in a religious rite were good for food: "You like the mutton; I like the ceremony." Let me then exhort you to cultivate an interest in Hiram, both as a geographical locality and a place of education. It will be for the health of your minds. Some of the tenderest and most beautiful spiritual ex- pressions are inconsistent with a cosmopolitan tone of mind. A man must be adscn'ptus glebcp, though not in the sense that tlie serf was such. You may remember the fable that Livy tells of the Elder Brutus. When the Oracle had said that the Roman crown should fall to whomsoever of tlie three, Aruns, Titus, or himself, should first kiss his mother, he, the moment iie touched the shore of Italj' on the homeward voyage, purposely stumbling, kissed the the ground. Brutus understood that, in a sense, the Earth is the cherishing mother of us all. Not many months ago I hugged a tree. Pardon the egotism that recites how it was. It was night, and I was approaching the old home. I was hurrying to one whose bedside I shall never approach again until I lie beside her in the churchyard Turning into the woods on tlie left, and eagerly push- ing onward by an old patli, I found myself in a large open field. A flock of quails rising out of the rank clover flew away into the darkness. Pass- ing by a tree over whose roots I had often tossed the plow in my boyhood, 1 went up to it, put mj'- arms around it, and hugged it with genuine friend- ship. I looked down upon the ground; I looked up to the stars; I turned my ear to the silent farm-house to catch, perhaps, the sound of human voice, or even of baying dog or lowing herd; and, as there rushed across my mind the flood of tlironging memories, the fountains of feeling were broken up and welled forth in tears. Let me now state your relations to Hiram. That is, state what Hiram has done for you — perhaps it would be more modest for me to say, pro- fesses to have done. Nearly all that she can do she has already accomplished, in the lessons that she has taught and the training she has given. Her name on the parchments soon to be handed to you, will be, I hope, of some service to you, but it cannot be very great. There never was a time when names and parchments counted for less than they do now. The world will soon ask: "What can you do that I want done?" and on your answer, far more than on diplomas and signatures, will turn your future fortunes. When a College President hands the young Bachelor his sheep-skin, what he really gives him is a certificate of character or letter of introduc- tion, which, translated from the dialect of the circumlocution office into the language of business, runs thus: "College Halls, " To whom it may concern : " This note will introduce to your favorable attention my young friend Bachelor of Arts. He has lived and studied with us four years, and we certify that he has taken the stud- ies found in our catalogues under the head ' Classical Course.' We have striven with some success to give a right direction to his thoughts and his morals. Be good enough to deal fairly with him, for we have come to take a lively interest in the fellow. In our times, a Bachelor's degree amounts to little more than this; sometimes it amounts to far less. You must n»t regard it as a " sesame" that will open all doors " great and effectual." I am far from meaning that it does not matter wiiere a student studies, or that one school is as good as another. The value of a letter of introduction depends on whose name is affixed to it. But in our time a College diploma, however quaint may be its appearance, is little more than a letter of introduction or cer- tificate of character, whether it comes from Hiram, or Yale, or Harvard, or Leipsic. I can sum up what Hiram has attempted to do for you under two heads. In the first place, Hiram has given you a certain quantum of in- formation — has communicated a certain amount of scientific, historical, philosophical, and other doctrine. So much of this as you have retained,, has become incorporated into the sum total of your acquisitions. In the second place, Hiram has given you certain tones of thought, certain habits of study ; she has sought to give honorable direction to your ambition, and to fill you with a certain spirit. In a word, Hiram has sought to teach you dogmatically, and also to train your powers. Now if Hiram be called on to tell which of these services she thinks of greater value, she does not hesitate to answer, the second. Nor in so an- swering does she depreciate the other. Hiram teaches some things with all the authority she can command. She really thinks there is some reason, to fear least we Americans be "led by our averages and our majorities to forget that one life may be more precious than other millions ; that. one heroic character, one splendid genius, may well be worth more to hu- manity than multitudes of common men." She therefore teaches with full ardor of conviction and all the weight of her authority, that one man is not as good as another. She teaches, on the other hand, that there is all the difference in the world in men ; and that a man's worth is his char- acter. If she can help it, therefore, the demagogue and the sentimentalist shall never obliterate the distinction among men that Nature and God both recognize. She will never consent to see men put on the same level ; the industrious and the indolent, the prudent and the reckless, the refined and the rude, the virtuous and the vicious. She enters her protest, too, against any philosophy and anj^ religion that proposes to protect men against the consequences of their own folly; believing, as she does, that the consequences of folly are its most effective corrective. She affirms her dissent from that specious philosophy, so tiattering to the democratic feeling, that man is the result of his environment; and that one man is bet- ter than another only because he has had a better chance. She holds up character — what a man is, whether by nature, endowment, or by training — as the one incalculably precious possession. Upon the doctrine now unfolded, Hiram lays great stress; and yet she says without hesitation, as a preparation for life, method is more than knowledge ; a habit of study more than study ; strength, direction, and tone of mind more than any doctrine didactically conveyed. Aristo- tle may have gone too far in teaching: "The end of philosophy is not knowledge;"' Malebranche in saying: " If I held truth captive in my hand I should open my hand and let it fly, in order that I might again pursue and capture it;" Lessing in declaring that he would choose "Search after Truth in preference to Truth ;" and Sir William Hamilton in affirming: " Science is a chase, and in the chase the pursuit is always of greater value than the game." Indeed, I think all these utterances extreme; but there ought to be no dissent from the proposition that, in a course of prepara- tory studj^ training is more than knowledge, the fioxo more than the what. Thus holding, Hiram lays at the base of her culture this direction to her pupils: " See things as they are." Hiram has some views of the world and of life that she enforces with authority ; but over and above any value that she attaches to these she attempts to say: " Young Men and Women, do not be deluded by the suggestions of vanity, or by the illusions of youth into believing the unreal real. First learn what a fact is, and then what are facts. Do not be misled by that spirit which long ago turned the rather volatile head of France, and that is now disintegrating the hitherto firm buttresses of the German character." Finally, Gentlemen, without stopping to count up the heads of my sermon to see whether I have reached "fifthly," or even to make an " ap- plication," let me saj' that I have stated some things that seem to me well worth your while to hear and to remember. I have skirted the field of what we have sought to do for j'ou, and pointed out where its chief value lies. Other exercises to follow do not allow me to trench more upon the time. Your valedictorian has been pleased to say that you take leave of us with "regretful pleasure." We uuderstand your feeling, and assure you that it is fully reciprocated, Hoping that we have done something that will aid you in coming duties, believing that you will appreciate all that we have done, and that you will remember your sojourn in Hiram with much satisfaction, we, the Board and the Faculty of Hiram College, confer upon you the degrees that crown your several courses of study; and I, the mouth-piece and the agent of the two bodies, hand you these parchments in the confident hope that they will be of some value to you as certificates of character or letters of introduction to the world. FACULTY. BUKKE A. HINSDALE, A. M., Pkesident, And Professor of Philosophy, Rhetoric, and Biblical Literature. GEOVE E. BARBER, A. M., Professor of the Greek and Latin Languages and Literatures. GEORGE H. COLTON, M. S., Kerr Professor of Natural Science, Political Economy, and History. COLMAN BANCROFT, M. S., Baker Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy. MRS. P. B. CLAPP, Principal of Ladies' Department, in charge, and Teacher of Penmanship. MRS. MARY E. HINSDALE, Teacher of German. ARTHUR C. PIERSON, Teacher of English Studies. MRS. J. C. ELLIS, Teacher of Instrumental Music. 9 COURSES OF STUDY, BIBLICAL COURSE. This Course is open to all students who are interested in Biblical Stud- ies, but is especially intended for young men who wish to fit themselves for the Ministi'y. It is intended to be supplemental to the Classical Course, but previous classical training is not requisite, save in a single study, to enable the student to profit by it. This Course is given onlj' in the Spring Term of each year. It comprises the following features : 1. A critical reading of. a book in the Greek New Testament. 2. A Course of Lectures on some of the more important Biblical topics. 3. A class in the Evidences of Christianity. 4. A class in Moral Philosophy. Besides, there are opportunities during the term for studying Rhetoric and the History of Civilization. Instruction will also be given in Homil- «tics, when called for. Students can enjoy all the advantages of this Course, and at the same time carry forward regular studies. It also furnishes good opportunities for young men already in the Ministry who wish to render themselves more efficient. A different book will be chosen each year for a term of years, for the class in the Greek Testament ; a similar course will be pursued in choosing subjects for lectures, so that the advantages of a much more extended Course are offered to regular students in the College. CLASSICAL COURSE. To enter the Junior Preparatory Class, students must have pursued the ordinary English branches, and have studied Latin two terms. Candidates for admission to the higher classes will be examined in the previous studies or their equivalents. JUNIOR PREPARATORY CLASS. FIRST TERM. Latin Reader, ______ Harkness. Latin Composition, _____ Harkness. First Greek Book, _____ Boise. Science of Government, _ _ _ _ Alden. SECOND TERM, Caesar, _______ Stuart. Latin Composition, _____ Harkness. First Greek Book, --__-_ Boise. History of the United States, _ _ _ _ Venable. Elocution, _ _ _ _ Russell and Murdock. THIRD TERM. Caesar, _______ Stuart. Latin Composition, _____ Harkness. Xenophon's Anabasis, _____ Boise. Greek Composition, - -■ - - _ Jones. Rhetoric, - - - - - _ Hart. 10 SENIOR PREPARATORY CLASS. Cicero's Orations, - Latin Composition, Xenophon's Anabasis, Greek Composition, Algebra, Virgil, Xenophon's Anabasis, Greek Composition, Algebra, Virgil, Plato's Apology, Algebra, FIRST TERM. SECOND TERM. THIRD TERM. Stuart. Harkness. Boise. Jones. Loomis. Chase. Boise. Jones. Loomis. Chase. Wagner. Loomis. FRESHMAN CLASS. FIRST TERM. Livy, Homer's Iliad, Geometry, Horace, Demosthenes De Corona, Geometry, Tacitus, Botany, Trigonometry, SECOND TERM. THIRD TERM. Chase. Boise. Olney Chase. D'Ooge. Olney. Stuart. Gray. Olney SOPHOMORE CLASS FIRST TERM. Surveying, _____ American Political History, _ _ _ Cicero De Senectute, _ _ _ _ German, _ _ _ _ Gillespie Lectures. Crowell. Comfort's German Course. SECOND TERM. General Geometry and Differential Calculus, Outlines of History, _ _ _ German, _ _ _ _ THIRD TERM. Zoology, _ _ _ _ Antigone, - - - - ^ German Reader, _ _ _ Olney. Freeman. Comfort's German Course. Nicholson. - Woolsey. Comfort. 11 JUNIOR CLASS. FIRST TERM. Physics, - _ _ _ Logic, Deductive and Inductive, English Literature, _ _ _ SECOND TERM. Physics, _ _ _ _ Rhetoric, _ _ _ _ Chemistry, _ _ _ _ THIRD TERM. Astronomy, _ _ _ _ Anatomy and Physiology, Constitution of the United States, Genuineness and Authenticity of the Gospels, Atkinson's Ganot. Fowler. Shaw Atkinson's Ganot. Whatelj'. Yoimians. Loomis or White, Draper. Andrews- Hinsdale. SENIOR CLASS. FIRST TERM. Intellectual Science, _ _ _ History of Philosophy, _ _ _ Karnes's Elements of Criticism, French, _ _ _ _ _ SECOND TERM. Butler's Analogy, _ _ _ Political Economy, _ _ _ _ French Reader, _ _ _ _ Geology, _____ THIRD TERM. Moral Philosophy, French Literature, Petite Histoire du Peuple Franoais, History of Civilization, Porter, Schwegler. Boyd. Knapp. Emory. Perry. Knapp. Dana. Hopkins. Pylodet. Lacombe. Guizot. LATIN AND SCIENTIFIC COURSE. PREPARATORY CLASS. FIRST TERM. Latin Reader, Latin Composition, Physical Geogi*aphy, Algebra, Ccesar, - _ - Latin Composition, History of the United States, Algebra, SECOND TERM. Harkness. Harkness. Guyot. Loomis. Stuart, Harkness. Venable. Loomis, 12 Caesar, Latin Composition, Rhetoric, Algebra, THIRD TERM. FRESHMAN CLASS. FIRST TERM. Cicero's Orations, Latin Composition, Science of Government, Geometry, Virgil, Outlines of History, Geometry, Virgil, Botany, Trigonometry, - SECOND TERM. THIRD TERM. Stuart Harkness. Hart. Loomis. Stuart. Harkness. Alden. Olney. Chase . Freeman. Olney. Chase. Gray. Olney. SOPHOMORE CLASS. FIRST TERM, Livy, German, Surveying, Chase. Comfort's German Course. Gillespie. SECOND TERM. Horace, _ _ _ _ German, _ _ _ _ General Geometry and Differential Calculus, - THIRD TERM. Zoology, ----- German Reader, - _ _ Geometry and Integral Calculus, The remainder of this Course is the same as that of the Junior and Senior years, respectively, of the Classical Course . Chase. Comfort's German Course. Olney. - Nicholson. Comfort. Olney. SCIENTIFIC COURSE. This is equivalent to the Classical Course, exclusive of the Latin and Greek. It is intended to meet the growing demand for liberal training in the Sciences, Modern Languages, etc. , on the part of those who do not wish to pursue the Classics. Students entering this Course will be examined in the Common English Branches, and in Algebra as far as equations of the Second Degree. The studies of the first year are Science of Government, Algebra (two terms). Geometry (two terms). Physical Geography, History of U.S., Elocu- tion, Rhetoric (elementary). Botany, and Trigonometry. The remainder of the course is same as the Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years of the Classical Course, with the omission of Be Senectute, and the substitution of Integral Cal- culus for Antigone. 13 LADIES' COURSE. This is substantially equivalent to the Scientific Course, but differs from it in the selection of studies for the first two years. To enter this Course, the stu- dent must have studied Algebra one term and Latin two terms. The studies of the first two years are Algebra (two terms), Latin Reader, Physical Geography, C»sar (two terms), Astronomj'^ (elementary), German (three terms), Geometry (two terms), Virgil, the Gospels, Political History, Elo- cution, and Trigonometry. The last two years are the same as the Junior and Senior years of the Classical Course. TEACHERS' COURSE. It is earnestly desired that all students shall pursue some regular Course of Study. This Course is designed for those who have not the time or means foi' more extended studies, and is especially intended for Teachers in the Common Schools. The Course covers two years, and the studies are English Grammar, Alge- bra (three terms). Physical Geography, Elocution, Arithmetic (one term), Nat- ural Philosophy, Rhetoric, Botany, Political History, Physiology, Geometry (two terms), Chemistry, History U. S. Constitution, Zoology, and the Gospels. ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION, Besides the instruction provided for in the above Courses of Study, there are classes in all the Common Branches and in Algebra, each term. Students who have made a fair beginning in Arithmetic, Grammar, and Geography can always find eflBcient Instruction in these branches, while three separate classes in Algebra are organized every term. There are beginning classes in Latin each Fall and Winter Term, and extra classes in the Sciences will be organized when the call for them is large enough to warrant it. Good instruction in Penmanship is furnished every term. Normal Instruction. In the Fall Term of each College Year, classes in the Common Branches of English study are arranged with reference to the especial wants of Teachers in the Public Schools . These classes continue through the term. Besides, in- struction is given in the Methods of Teaching, the Organization, Management of Schools, etc. Instrumental Music. Good instruction in Instrumental Music is always furnished. After one year's retirement, Mrs. Ellis again has charge of this Department. I 14 Admission. Students desiring admission to the Institution will be required — ] 1. To furnish testimonials of good moral character. In case a student 'Comes from any other institution of learning, these testimonials must come from the authorities of that institution. 2. To give a pledge of faithful adherence to all the Rules and Regulations ■of the College. 3. To present the Treasurer's receipt for the tuition and incidentals of the term. Tuition. Common English Branches," Algebra, Composition, Natural Philosophy, Physical Geography, and History of United States, - - $ G 00 Higher Studies, - - - - -'- 9 00 Penmanship (daily lessons), - - - - - 4 00 Penmanship (complete Course), - - - - 15 00 Instrumental Music, - - - - - 13 00 Use of Instrument, one hour per day, for the terra - - 3 00 Incidentals, - - - - - - -100 No tuition received for less than a full term. No tuition refunded; but, in «ase of protracted sickness of a student, a certificate (not transferable) will be given, entitling him to equivalent tuition in any subsequent term. BOARD, ROOMS, Etc. Board can be had in good families and boarding-houses, at prices ranging from $3.00 to $4.00 per week. A system of Club-boarding has been in success- ful operation for several years. Good table board at the Club costs but $2 00 per week. The system has been very popular. Rooms suitable for self-board- ang, with the requisite furniture, can be had at reasonable rates. Many stu- dents board themselves, thus materially reducing their expenses. RHETORICAL EXERCISES AND LITERARY SOCIETIES. Due attention is given to drill in Elocutionary and Rhetorical Exercises. There are in connection with the College three Literary Societies; the Delphic and Hesperian Societies — both for gentlemen, and the Olive Branch — a Ladies' Society. Students of the College are organized into Rhetorical Classes imder the •direction of the Professors, where they get a drill in Composition, Declama- tion, and Debate. The Arion Musical Society affords an opportunity for drill in Vocal Music . LIBRARIES. There are in connection with the College four well-selected Libraries, together containing 3.000 volimies. These Libraries are ample for the present -wants of the College, and they are constantly being enlarged. A small fee opens these Librarips to aU students. One belongs to the College; the other three belong to the Delphic and Hesperian Societies, and Y. M. C. Association, respectively. 15 EXAMINATIONS. At the close of each term there are public examinations of the several classes. Students failing to pass these are either conditioned or set back in their studies. Students in the College classes who cannot attend the public examinations will be examined privately. Students applying for an advanced standing will be examined in the preceding studies of the course or their equiv- alents. DEGREES AND DIPLOMAS. The degree of Bachelor of Arts is conferred upon students who complete the Classical Course and pass the examination in the same. The degree of Bachelor of Philosophy is conferred upon students who com- plete the Latin and Scientific Course and pass the examinations. The degree of Bachelor of Science is conferred upon students who complete the Scientific Course and pass the prescribed examinations. The degrees of Master of Arts, Master of Philosophy, and Master of •Science, will be conferred, respectively, upon Bachelors of Arts, Bachelors of Philosophy, and Bachelors of Science, of three years' standing, who shall have been engaged diu-ing that period in professional or literary and scientific pursuits. Diplomas are presented to all who complete any of the other Courses of Study. DISCIPLINE. The discipline of the College is kind but firm ; it assumes that the student is truthful and honorable until his conduct proves the contrary. Due care is exercised over the habits and morals of students. Gentlemen are under the immediate supervision of the President ; Ladies, of the Lady Principal , ■Students in Music only, coming from abroad, as well as those in the regular Courses, are subject to College rules. The last two years, Mrs. P. B. Clapp, a Ifidy well qualified for the work, has had the oversight of the young ladies, as Principal in charge. RELIGIOUS EXERCISES. All students are required to attend public worship on the Lord's Day, and also the daily religious exercises in the College Chapel. And in addition to these, a weekly Bible Class and a Prayer Meeting conducted by the students themselves are open to all who wish to enjoy their privileges. There is also a Young Men's Christian Association, and, under the auspices of this, a well- managed Reading-Room, well furnished with secular and religious periodicals. i 16 LOCATION AND MEANS OF ACCESS ^'^'^'^"MlWIIlllMlillilSill* 029 892 970 3 The College is located at Hiram, in the northern part of Portage County, Ohio. Situated on the range of hills that divides the waters flowing north to Lake Erie from those flowing south to the Ohio River, the College building commands an extensive view in every direction. The water is pure, the air bracing, and the location is as free from disease as any to be found in the State. The nearest railway station is Garrettsville, four miles distant, on the Atlantic & Great Western Railway. Students from the West and South should come to Garrettsville by way of Cleveland. Students from the East and Sonth-east, by way of Youngstown and Warren. A regular passenger hack will be found each morning and evening at Garrettsville. Hiram is near enough to the railroad for all practical purposes, and is wholly free from the many distractions and temptations peculiar to the. larger towns. CALENDAR. 1878-79. Annual Commencement — Thursday, June 20, 1878. First Term commences — Tuesday, August 30, 1878. First Term closes— Friday, November 8, 1878. VACATION— TWO WEEKS. Second Term commences — Tuesday, November 36, 1878i, Second Term closes — Friday, February 31, 1879. VACATION— TWO WEEKS. Third Term commences — Tuesday, March 11, 1879. Third Term closes with Commencement Day. Annual Commencement — Thursday, June 13, 1879. CORRESPONDENCE. Persons wishing Catalogues, or any information in reference to the College, will address the President. HoUinger Corp, pH8,5 \ LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 029 892 970 3 Hollinger Corp. pH8,5