Category Archives: Student Life, 1833-1846

p. 93 – Student life, 1833-1846

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and a scroll bearing the motto “Deo ac Veritati,” which also became permanent, though various renderings of it have subsequently been made.

From 1833 to 1846 the collegiate department graduated 251, and the theological department, 192 students. Of the latter, all but 20, represented men who had completed their undergraduate work at the Institution. Like the alumni of the pre-1833 period, most of them entered the ministry, where many achieved positions of eminence and distinction both in the churches of the United States and in the missionary field. Outstanding were William W. Everts, Class of 1837, prominent pastor in New York City and Chicago, and James N. Granger, Class of 1835 who filled the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island. Miles Bronson, Class of 1836, was a well-known missionary and teacher in Assam, and Edmund B. Cross, Class of 1839, worked among the Sgau Karens of Burma. Those who had noteworthy careers in non-preaching fields included William Carey Crane, Class of 1836, who became President of Baylor University; Orrin B. Judd, Class of 1841, editor of religious periodicals; and Andrew Ten Brook, Class of 1839, professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan and United States Counsul at Munich. Many others, also, brought credit to their Alma Mater who took pride in the accomplishments of her sons, and after 1846, often awarded them honorary degrees.

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The Institution becomes Madison University (p. 92)

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rangements for male voices, which included original tunes bearing such local names as, “Kendrick,” “Chenango,” “Maginnis Chant,” “Conant,” and “Taylor.” William Roney, a senior in the collegiate department, succeeded Raymond and Wright in 1843. Under his direction the Sacred Music Society gave an ambitious concert on Christmas Night 1843 which featured selections from Handel, Mozart, Rossini, and Beethoven. Isaac N. Loomis, Class of 1845, took over the baton and tuning fork when he began graduate work in the fall of that year. The editor of the local Democratic Reflector commented in 1846 that perhaps no division of the University had improved more rapidly in the past decade than the music department.

Commencement, the high point of each year, changed little in character from that of the first in 1822. The date was moved in 1835 from June to August to accommodate businessmen who had to settle their mid-year accounts and for those who wished to attend the annual meetings of the various benevolent societies which usually came in the late spring or early summer. Preparations for the festivities involved town and gown. Village homes were thrown open to the visitors and the Baptist Church was used for some of their meetings. The Students Association took charge of music, ushering, printing of programs, flowers and evergreens for the chapel, building the speakers’ platform, and supervising campus peddlers who sold provisions.

Visitors’ comments abound with praise for the tasteful decorations, fine choral music, and well-delivered orations. On two occasions, at least, they complained that the program was much too long. The theological commencement of 1843 was notable for the great mission­ary convention Baptists from the Northern states held at the same time. When the chapel proved too small, an overflow crowd gathered in one of the nearby ravines to listen to Eugenio Kincaid, Class of 1822, who had recently returned from Burma, give the principal address which one hearer remembered over fifty years later for its marvelous magnetic power.

The Commencement of 1846 is memorable as the first held after the Institution had become Madison University and empowered to confer its own degrees. Professors A. C. Kendrick and Richardson prepared the Latin formula for the diplomas and it has remained in use ever since. They, with Professor Raymond, and three University Trustees, also devised the University seal, consisting of a hand grasping a torch

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p. 91 – Student life, 1833-1846

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had a feeble beginning in 1843, when a group of students petitioned the faculty for permission to establish a secret society, the constitution of which they submitted. After due and sympathetic consideration, the faculty informed them that, though they found nothing to disapprove in the avowed objects and deemed the character of the petitioners sufficient assurance that they would hold to those objects, they considered such an organization “inexpedient.” They believed that the existing literary societies gave sufficient opportunities for literary exercise and feared that the proposed fraternity would take many able students from those groups. The argument that it would provide a special bond of friendship for its members, the faculty met by stating that “the best kind of intimacy is that which grows out of a natural intercourse unrestricted by express pledges and artificial relations.” The fundamental objection, however, seems to have been the feature of secrecy which the professors felt might be abused in the future and which “would constitute an undesirable distinction among the members of the Institution, and give pain to many of its patrons and friends.” The last point is especially significant in’ view of active support Baptists in New York State had given to the Anti-Masonic movement.

Student interest in music easily won encouragement from the faculty and Executive Committee, especially since a knowledge of sacred music bore a close relationship to ministerial education. Student choirs, directed by Eli Buel, the local music teacher, regularly performed at commencement exercises. By 1835 there was the Philomelpian Society, presumably a successor to the Musical Society, which, in cooperation with the Students Association, fostered an interest in singing. The Sacred Music Society seems to have superseded the Philomelpian in 1837. The Executive Committee appropriated funds and the faculty granted time from class schedule, for singing instruction. After 1838 the curriculum regularly included sacred music for which there was an annual charge of $1.00.

Aside from occasional assistance from Eli Buel, the students seem to have provided their own musical instruction. In 1835 they hired as their teacher Hiram C. Paddock, then enrolled in the academic department, who had probably attended Buel’s singing school in the village. Thomas C. Wright and Robert R. Raymond, both theologues, who followed Paddock in 1840, began a new era in musical development with the publication of The Chapel Choir, a collection of ar-

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p. 90 – Student life, 1833-1846

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should keep their pledges “to labor for God among the heathen.” In 1834 four had gone to the Orient, and in 1835 five went, but thereafter the number declined, and in some years none responded to the “call.” The failure of so many to keep their pledges and a waning interest on the campus in foreign missions led to a sharp decline in membership. Early in 1842 the pledge requirement was removed. A few months later the Eastern Association and the Western Association, the analogous organization for students intending to do missionary work in “the Mississippi Valley, joined the Society for Inquiry in an auxiliary status.

The first literary society, Gamma Phi, seems to have been founded prior to 1833, while the second, Pi Delta, probably originated in 1834. Little trace of their activities remains except the names of their orators on commencement programs. Competition between them for members led to faculty intervention, with the result that both seem to have been dissolved in 1840 when the Adelphian and Aeonian Societies came into existence. For two or three years, amicable relations seem to have prevailed but in 1844 difficulties arose relative to their joint public exercises. The faculty had scarcely restored harmony when rivalry over the selection of members again brought official action. Some Adelphians, refusing to abide by arrangements which had been agreed upon, attempted to form their own society in the village so that they might be free to admit freshmen of their own choosing. Within a week, however, they gave up the plan.

Both societies had rooms in the “attic story” of the present East Hall. The Aeonians devoted their weekly meetings to orations and the reading of original essays, plays and poems. A critic, appointed from their own number, passed judgment on these efforts. The essays and other contributions were collected by three editors who bound them together as the “Aeonian Casket.” The Adelphians occupied themselves in much the same way as the Aeonians. The faculty considered that both groups stimulated the development of oral and written expression, which were phases of the curriculum badly in need of expansion. The Institution, however, was probably no further behind current standards of instruction in speech and rhetoric than other colleges of the day. The Aeonian and Adelphian Societies and their predecessors were following, consciously or not, patterns of earlier and contemporary literary societies on other campuses.

The fraternity movement, a natural outgrowth of literary societies,

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p. 89 – Student life, 1833-1846

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Students Association, formed in 1835, was said to have “wielded a power next to that of the Faculty.” Its leaders repressed many customs observed at colleges as contrary to good order and fostered a sense of personal discipline and “esprit de corps” which stressed “close study, and religious culture.” The organization provided for lighting, heating, and sweeping the classrooms, carrying mail, and the maintenance of the grounds. The faculty permitted the Association to require labor from its members for these activities and to tax them for necessary funds. Students also published the Institution’s annual Catalogue, though not without friction with Dr. Kendrick on at least one occasion over the type to be used.

Next in importance to the Students Association was the Society for Inquiry which prospered. An active exchange of letters was conducted with foreign missionaries and with similar groups at other colleges and seminaries. One corresponding secretary in 1837 informed his counterpart at Rutgers College: “Our Society is founded on strictly Catholic principles, and it holds correspondence with Institutions of every Evangelical denomination. We are engaged in the same glorious enterprise, though belonging to different wings of the great army.”

The members found letters from the Far East particularly interesting. A student wrote in 1838 to William Dean, Class of 1833, then at Bangkok, Siam, “Cloistered here we scarcely look out upon the changing scenes of the world, and our views of it must be partial and are, perhaps, erroneous… But you stand upon the vantage ground. …” Several missionaries sent the Association articles for the museum which the organization maintained to illustrate the life and customs of foreign lands. Regular meetings were usually devoted to reports by the members. The subjects included a wide range of interests, but attention was given also to such topics as “The Origin, Progress, & Influence of Harvard University,” “The Present State of the Church of England,” and “The Present Conditions of Popery.” The Society’s public meeting at commencement time were often notable for outstanding speakers. President Eliphalet Nott of Union College, a friend of Professor Eaton, addressed then in 1844.

The Eastern Association, like the Society for Inquiry, also carried on extensive correspondence with foreign missionaries in the Far East and with comparable organizations in other colleges and seminaries. Members continually struggled with themselves over whether or not they

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p. 88 – Student life, 1833-1846

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The low state of the students’ health attracted the attention of one observer in 1840. He noted that many, especially those who had worked on farms or in shops and stores, came to the Institution in good physical condition but that after a short time broke down because of too little exercise. In 1836 and 1841 there were epidemics of mumps and measles; in 1845 smallpox threatened. The Executive Committee permitted two local physicians to deliver at their own expense a course of physiological and anatomical lectures in 1833. The professors them­selves discussed with the students from time to time matters of hygiene and physical education. They also sanctioned a Hygeian Society which in 1845 listened to a long lecture by Dr. J. S. Douglas, a local physician, on homeopathy as the best means of curing disease.

Student interest in the reform movements of the period was most aroused with respect to antislavery. As we have already seen, the faculty feared the adverse public opinion campus antislavery societies might create and therefore suppressed them. The world peace movement, however, did not disturb the local equilibrium. Students’ attention had been directed to it in 1837 by a prize offered by Howard Malcom, prominent Boston Baptist clergyman, for the best essay on the Christian attitude toward war. Three years later, by faculty invitation, Captain William Ladd, President of the American Peace Society, addressed the Institution. Students at the Institution joined those of Auburn, Princeton, and Andover Seminaries in 1833 in sending letters of commendation to John R. McDowall who formed the Christian Benevolent Society “to reform depraved and abandoned females.”

Like Unitarianism in 1830, the doctrine of perfectionism in 1840 briefly menaced Baptist orthodoxy on the campus. Developed at Oberlin College, this philosophy taught that through the help of Christ one might attain a state of “Christian perfection” before death. It was charged that Elder Jacob Knapp, the revivalist, had encouraged students to accept the doctrine. When Professor Maginnis faced this heresy in his theology class he sought first to combat it with spiritual argument. This means failing, he lectured on the results of such theories as shown in ecclesiastical history, whereupon his hearers gave up their erroneous views.

Since most students had already had preaching experience and were young men whose average age was twenty-five, their teachers felt they could be trusted with extensive responsibility and authority. The

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p. 87 – Student life, 1833-1846

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non-Baptists went to the Methodist and Congregational Churches.

The regimen of the Institution suggests that of a medieval ecclesiastical community. Dr. Kendrick asserted in 1837 that “Study, like any other business, unconnected with religious devotion, proves a snare to the soul, and unfits it for the service of God.” “Were young men to become giants in intellect,” he wrote, “but remain dwarfs in piety, they would be totally unfit for the service of the sanctuary.” Most students seem to have accepted the religious emphasis without question, and some seem to have enjoyed it. By the mid-1840’s however, there was a minority, probably non-ministerial, who mildly protested. One gave vent to his feelings in the following doggerel:

Chapel
There goes that chapel bell; its half past four
And so my morning nap must have an end.
Oh, who can take a comfortable snore
When clattering through halls such noises blend
For ere I’m up half the chaps are out
With squeaking slop-pails thumping down the stairs
Laughing or slamming doors with crazy shout.
I wish in truth they’d veto morning prayers.*

Students might well have complained also of the prevailing attitude against sports, although organized athletics had not yet appeared in American colleges. Dr. Kendrick wrote in 1834 that “the vain and sportive recreation of giddy and ungodly youth, for the preservation of health” was not allowed. Three years later the faculty specifically stated that playing ball was “incompatible with the character of the Institution.” Dr. Kendrick recognized, however, that some attention should be given to exercise and physical education. The manual-labor program, so enthusiastically hailed in the 1820’s, he accepted as being “in accordance with profit and piety” for restoring “the physical system, from a languid to a vigorous tone.” By 1840 inability to provide sufficient regular employment to give students daily exercise in the form of suitable manual labor forced the abandoning of the program. Work on the Society’s farm, for example, was seasonal and hence did not lend itself very well to systematizing, especially after the size of the student body increased. To some degree the manual-labor program survived under the auspices of the Students Association which took over most of the work of landscaping the campus.

*Aeonian Casket I, 509.

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p. 86 – Student life, 1833-1846

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ciety’s farm, moving an “outhouse,” and making off with the Institution’s bell. Students also released pent-up energies by cutting classes to attend political meetings in the campaign of 1844 and by singing political songs in the evenings while their fellows tried to study. A unique variety of college prank is suggested by the appointment of Dr. Kendrick and Professors Maginnis and Eaton as a committee “to converse with certain students charged with disturbing the repose of others by loud prayers at unseasonable hours.” Repeated violations of the rule prohibiting smoking indoors came to the faculty’s notice. The son of Deacon Seneca B. Burchard appeared before the discipline committee for reading a newspaper in chapel. One young man was dismissed for ignoring the rule forbidding a student’s getting married, while another was forced to leave because he made and broke “matrimonial engagements.”

Faculty concern for proper conduct even extended to vacations, during which students were directed to “regard themselves as members of the Institution, and as amenable to its authority for their behavior.” This attempt at extracurricular control probably stems from the realization that the Institution’s good name depended largely on the impressions made by everyone connected with it. One student noted in his diary that on the last day of the 1838 spring term the young men had been assembled in chapel and “read the advice and prayers of the faculty” before departing for home.

Students were expected, as the Laws of 1840 stated, to make “the cultivation of personal piety” their primary duty. For this object they were “to spend a portion of each day in private reading of the scriptures, self-examination and prayer” and to meet by classes or in groups for “religious exercises.” They were enjoined also “to refrain from light and trifling· conversation” and “to maintain a deportment becoming to those who profess godliness.” Though these regulations were fashioned primarily for theologues, no exceptions were made.

All students were required to be present at morning and evening prayers. The exercises consisted of Scripture reading, singing, and prayer; members of the theological classes officiated in the morning and the professors in the evening. On Sunday morning all students met for worship in the chapel and attendance was as rigidly enforced as at classes. Afterward they usually went to service at the Baptist meeting house in the village until the Seminary Church was established in 1845;

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p. 85 – Student life, 1833-1846

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detail. The faculty in loco parentis undertook to promote piety, morals and health by personal contact and “seasonable counsel and admonition.” Any student who violated any of the regulations, or showed an indifference to “practical religion,” or exposed himself to censure “by any indiscreet or improper conduct” was to be “tenderly and faithfully admonished.” If this proved insufficient he Was to be suspended for three months, after which, if still recalcitrant, he was to be “separated from the Institution.” In cases of “aggravated offenses,” the faculty was to remove the offender without delay, either privately, or by public expulsion, as their judgment dictated. Whenever a youth was dismissed for misconduct, his church was to be furnished a statement of the case.

The increasing number of students between 1833 and 1846 and the presence of some not preparing for the ministry, naturally caused the faculty to devote greater attention to disciplinary matters than heretofore. The committee on discipline made frequent reports to the whole faculty, and from time to time one of the professors, often Taylor, was chosen to communicate admonitions or reprimands in chapel. In general, the faculty seems to have been enthusiastic about the quality of their charges. Dr. Kendrick in 1836 commended them highly for their moral behavior. By 1845 fears that the lay element would be an unruly and harmful influence had abated. Their presence was said to have contributed to the development of a “watchful, practical, and manly piety” among the theologues who had assumed a responsibility for their Christian behavior.

William C. Richards, one of the ministerial students in 1839, humorously recalled three decades later that when

The College doors more wide began to grow;

And embryo lawyers, doctors, merchant-men,
With preachers mixed in incubation then;

Then college tricks, unknown here in the past,
From single germs grew up and burgeoned fast.*

Such “tricks” included burning a haycock on the Education So-

*William C. Richards, Jubilee Poem-“Retrorsum” in The First Half Century of Madison University (N.Y., 1872), 125-126.

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Boarding Hall erected (p. 84)

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The Campus, a theorem print, c.1840, A1000-25, Theorem Print B, p84

Boarding Hall was erected on the site of the present Huntington Gymnasium, about a quarter of a mile down the Hill. All students ate there except those excused by the faculty. Some, no doubt, objected to the long walk, especially in winter, The chief cause of dissatisfaction, particularly in, the early 1840’s, seems to have been the food. Yet, in only one case of the many complaints reaching the faculty and Executive Committee is poor food specifically mentioned. In this instance, the authorities suspended a student for taking from the table a dish of meat which he considered offensive, instead of speaking to the Steward about it and then haranguing his fellow diners on, the subject when the Steward objected to his behavior. Students repeatedly asked permission, however, to board with private families, alleging as reasons, ill health or parental desire. Dr. Kendrick, who maintained that they had plenty of good food, thought that the real reasons were more often “Female society, and tea parties, and other village influences.” Usually these requests were refused. To have done otherwise would have meant keeping the Boarding Hall open. only for needy students.

Like most other American colleges of the period, the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, had an elaborate set of Laws, which were adopted in 1840 to regulate student behavior in minute

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