The
meeting of the Congregationalists in annual conference in this city calls back
in the memory of this Old Muser events of forty-five years ago, when we published
the Oberlin (Ohio) News. Oberlin was then, as it is now, the head and font of
Congregationalism in the west, while Andover, Massachusetts, represents the
east. Oberlin college represented the culture of the Congregational
denomination, and a student graduating from it was fitted, intellectually, for
the ministry or other chosen calling. In the early seventies, Oberlin college
had a roll of from 1,200 to 1,500 students, men and women, and a large majority
of them worked their way through college. There was no royal road in learning
for them, and as a consequence when graduation day came and they went out into
the battle of life, they were fully equipped by reason of the self-denial
practiced during school days. Oberlin was founded on the principle of
self-sacrifice. Its history dates back to the early days of the last century
when a colony of devoted men and women from the eastern states funded a school
that would be open to both sexes, and where no distinction in color was
recognized. Though as no time was there more than twenty-five colored students
in attendance during any one year, yet the fact that a boy or girl with a black
face should be allowed the privilege of an education gave the school the
opprobrious term of ‘Nigger College.’ Before the days of the war, it was
considered unpardonable, even in the Northern states, to educate a Negro. However,
Oberlin fought it out on the dark line and it shows a proud record of a number
of educated colored men and women among its list of graduates. Today no town in
the United States stands higher as an educational center than does Oberlin. The
whole population is interested in it. No one was tolerated as a citizen of the
town who was not a dyed-in-the-wool Congregationalist, and it was more than
fifty years after the college was started before a church of any other
denomination was allowed to be built in the town. The first man who attempted
to beard the lion of Congregationalists was an Anglican minister who had been a
printer in his earlier days. He not only built the first church, but in the
vestry at the rear of the building, he had a printing office from which he
issued a weekly religious paper in the interest of his own denomination, doing
the editing, typesetting and the presswork himself, with the help of a tourist
printer who now and then dropped in. And then on Sunday this printer-preacher
held regular service, and he was so eloquent and learned that he drew to his
church quite a congregation. He had a small allowance from the general church
fund, and he pieced out a living for himself and family from the circulation of
the paper. He was the first man to break into Congregationalism in Oberlin and
being a genial gentleman got into the good graces of President Finney, the head
and front of the town, and this finally smoothed his way so that in time his
church was recognized by the faculty of the college, and students were allowed
to attend public worship there. We found him in Oberlin when we first arrived,
and about the last one we bade adieu to was our printer-preacher friend.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Rev. Charles G. Finney was one of
the first presidents of Oberlin college. In his younger days, he was one of the
greatest revival preachers in America. Fifty and seventy-five years ago, he
made frequent visits to England in the interests of the college, and was able
to secure large bequests to carry on its work. While nominally president of the
college, he did but little teaching, his time being devoted to conducting
revival meetings and raising money for the college. He ruled Oberlin with his
iron will, and yet he was one of the most gentle of men. When at home on
Sunday, he always preached the morning sermon, and his congregations filled the
large old-fashioned church that hedld at least three thousand people. His
sermons were usually an hour in length, but he made them so interesting that
the hearers would gladly have the time extended. His audiences were often moved
to tears and then laughter, and at times would greet some burst of eloquence
with handclapping. The venerable president appreciated and encouraged the moods
of his audience. President Finney, in his younger days, before entering the
ministry, was an enthusiastic member of the Masonic fraternity. The
Congregationalists in those days were very bitter in their denunciation of
secret societies, and after Mr. Finney was converted and entered the ministry,
he withdrew from the Masonic order. In an hour of weakness, he wrote an
exposition of Masonry, but in his later years he expressed regret that he had
done so. Oberlin was noted for its hostility to secret societies, yet at the
time we lived there, a flourishing lodge existed in the town.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There was no sacrifice too great for
the Oberlin people to make for the cause of education and religion. That was
the foundation on which the town was built. They were frugal in their manner of
living that they might be able to give more to the college and to missions.
They were educated along those two points and they did their part religiously. They
lived on the plainest food, and their raiment was in keeping. They had
well-built houses, comfortably furnished, but in everything the utmost economy
was practiced. They went to bed at the tap of the college bell and arose in the
morning at the same signal. Such a thing as a loafer was not tolerated, nor was
a liquor saloon allowed inside the corporate limits. The drug stores sold what
liquor was necessary for medicinal purposes – and quite a number were always
calling on their doctor for prescriptions – and the druggists had to keep a
record which was examined by a committee at stated times. Every business man in
the town was expected to be a member of the Congregational church and
contribute to its support. The old Muser did not join the church, therefore it
was intimated to him that he had better sell his printing office and try some
more ungodly field. At the suggestion of the head of the theological
department, we sold our office to a student, taking a chattel mortgage as
security on part of the price, and when the last two notes were due, the
student had gone out as a missionary, making no provision to pay his notes, and
we were out $1,000. The theological department of Oberlin college was one of
the best in connection with any college in the United States. Here they trained
men and women for the church and for missionaries. As a general thing the
students were poor and they had to work their way through college. They were
furnished with lodging free, but they had to earn their daily bread. In a
number of residences in the town that were used as boarding houses, a
theological student would get his board free, he had to conduct family worship
and ask blessing at the table. The training at Oberlin for young people was
excellent, and to the credit of the college, its students were free from many
of the vices of other colleges. The use of tobacco was prohibited, though
sometimes indulged in by a few of the students on the sly. It was considered unbecoming for a man to
appear in the streets smoking pipe or cigar, and those who loved the weed
enjoyed the pleasure in the solitude of their homes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last evening, Rev. Henry Churchill
King, president of Oberlin college, was the speaker for the hour at the
Congregational church. We had not the pleasure of meeting him when this copy
was being prepared for the Saturday Musings, but at a venture we would say that
it was an able organization, for Oberlin professors have kept up the reputation
of its first illustrious president, Rev. Charles G. Finney. Prof. Henry Churchill,
after whom President King was named, was in his days one of the great orators
of the college, and during the time we were editor of the Oberlin News, he was
an editorial contributor at a certain stipend for each article.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The board of education of this city is
planning to build two new schoolhouses. Now that every member of the royal
family has had a city school named in his or her honor, and even Strathcona and
Rev. Mr. Ryerson have not been forgotten, would it not be a good idea to
reserve one of the new buidings as a memorial to the first principal of the
public school system, Dr. J. H. Sangster? Sixty-one years ago, Dr. Sangster was
elected principal of the Central school, and he planned its course of study
along such lines that it was adopted throughout the province of Upper Canada.
Prior to1853, when the Central school was opened, Hamilton had no regularly
defined public school system, for about that time, the private school was just
passing out. Several men were recommended by educators in Toronto for the
principalship of the Central, but none of them felt equal to the work. J. H.
Sangster, then a recent graduate from the university was offered the position,
and notwithstanding older and more experienced men had declined the task of
organization, he accepted a laid the foundation of a system that needed but
little change. All of the Hamilton old boys were educated under him, and even
to this day, the children of later generations hear from father and mother the
beloved name of Dr. Sangster. At the reunion of the old Central school
graduates and scholars held a few years ago, Dr. Sangster was the guest of honor.
Since the he has passed on to his reward. Lieutenant-Governor Gibson was one of
his pupils, and Hamilton has honored the the governor by christening a school
building with his name. Now let the school board think kindly over the
suggestion, and when next a new school building is to be christened, call it in
honor and memory of Dr. J. H. Sangster, the first principal and organizer of
Hamilton public schools.
