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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Deceived 
 
 Accessions Ko.(pOJ0 ( Oats No. 
 
 
6 tw!L*-~i. 
 
f0e (presentation of 
 
 CoKecrton 
 
 of 
 
 Occasion of 
 
 3ncepfion of Q0efoif Coffege. 
 
 of 
 
 3une 20t$, 1894. 
 
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UFIVEE3ITT 
 
 portions of tbe addresses, and tbe paper of /tor. 
 Crane, prepared for tbe occasion, wbicb were omitted 
 for want of time, are included in tbis publication. 
 

 a si v BE 
 
 Belott College. 
 
 In June, 1844, the first definite step toward the 
 establishment of Beloit College was taken by repre- 
 sentative men of the region, who called a convention 
 to meet at Beloit in August to consider the need. 
 August and October saw the project formulated, and 
 the responsive movement of the citizens of Beloit. 
 In 1845 the plan was ratified and Trustees elected by 
 conventions fully representing Wisconsin and north- 
 ern Illinois. In 1846 the charter was secured and 
 foundation work commenced. 
 
 In 1847 came the formal laying of the corner-stone, 
 the building of the walls, and the admission of the first 
 freshman class. In 1848 the permanent Faculty was 
 organized and the Middle College made ready for occu- 
 pation. Thence sprang Beloit College, and it has been 
 thought fit to unite the remembrance of the fiftieth 
 anniversary of that beginning of the College, with the 
 presentation of the memorial of Lucius G. Fisher, one 
 of the chief founders of the College, given by his son, 
 who is also a son of the College. 
 
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 presentation Eyercises. 
 
 The exercises were held, President Eatoii presiding, 
 in the new College chapel, opening with music, after 
 which Professor Porter led in an appropriate prayer. 
 
 President Eaton then introduced the first speaker, 
 as follows : 
 
 "We revere the memory of the Fathers of the Col- 
 lege, but it is our privilege to-day to have as our first 
 speaker one who may fitly be styled a Grandfather of 
 the College, S. T. Merrill, Esq., the accomplished and 
 successful Principal of the Beloit Seminary, which 
 was the predecessor and forerunner of Beloit College, 
 as well as the first instructor of the first Freshman 
 Class of the College." 
 
of S. G. flDerrilL 
 
 A distinguished philosopher, whose name is borne 
 by the founders of the Art Department of the College 
 and whose bust crowns one of the pedestals of our art 
 gallery, once said: " Men ivalk as prophecies of the 
 next age."" 
 
 Let us turn back the pages of the past and read of 
 the men who first settled in Beloit, and judge if this 
 wise saying is not verified in their lives. 
 
 Tradition and the statements of early settlers, still 
 living, furnish good reasons for the assumption that 
 the germ of Beloit College was conceived in and 
 brought from Colebrook, New Hampshire. 
 
 The memory of some of us, and of many of our 
 contemporaries, reaches back to the time when the 
 site of the college was included in hunting grounds of 
 the Winnebagoes a race whose ancestors lived here, 
 and here left the monumental mounds of their buried 
 dead, which adorn pur campus and the neighboring 
 bluffs. 
 
 While the Indians were roaming over the broad 
 prairies and through the oak openings of the beautiful 
 valley of Rock river in search of game, the red school- 
 houses and white churches of New England were 
 molding and training a generation, which in the 
 
 9 
 
providence of God was to take possession of this good 
 land. 
 
 A spirit of unrest a desire for broader fields and 
 sunnier skies than New England with its rocky hills 
 afforded had long been growing among the sturdy 
 sons of that region. This was intensified on hearing 
 the glowing descriptions given by soldiers returning 
 from the Black Hawk war, and by explorers of this 
 hitherto unknown land, to whom it seemed a Paradise. 
 Says one, " I felt it fitting I should stand with bowed 
 and uncovered head in the presence of such surpass- 
 ing beauty, apparently fresh from the hands of its 
 Maker." 
 
 This unrest became epidemic, and extended to 
 northern Vermont and New Hampshire, where it 
 reached the homes of L. G. Fisher, Stephen Peet, Dr. 
 D. K. Pearsons, Dr. Horace White, Deacon Horace 
 Hobart and many others, whose after history is closely 
 identified with Beloit and the College. A resolve on 
 the part of one and another in Colebrook and vicinity 
 to emigrate to this new world, resulted in the forma- 
 tion of an association under State law, called the 
 "New England Emigrating Company," for the pur- 
 pose of establishing a colony of congenial spirits 
 somewhere in the Territory of Wisconsin, which then 
 embraced the present State of Iowa. 
 
 This company, as events have shown, had a direct 
 and traceable influence in locating the College at 
 Beloit. " This association," says a contemporary, 
 
 10 
 
u resolved, before leaving their native hills, that they 
 would unite in sustaining institutions of science and 
 religion, and all those adjuncts which contribute to th& 
 happiness, thrift and elevation of society" a good 
 formula for the ground work of a college. 
 
 Early in 1836 Caleb Blodgett, a pioneer from Ver- 
 mont, first in western New York, then in Ohio, found 
 his way to this prairie country, and purchased the 
 claim to the site of Beloit and surrounding country 
 from Joseph Theibeau, a Canadian Frenchman the 
 first white man known to have made this the place of 
 his abode. His log cabin stood between State Street 
 and the freight station of the North- Western Railway. 
 Theibeau was an Indian trader, and as interpreter 
 claimed all the land within "three looks," by virtue 
 of services rendered Gen. Scott in negotiating a treaty 
 in 1833, by which the Wiunebagoes ceded to the United 
 States all their right and title to the territory between 
 the lakes and the Mississippi River. 
 
 In the winter of '36 and '37 Dr. Horace White, the 
 duly appointed agent of the Emigrating Company ta 
 select a location for the colony, left his home in north- 
 ern New Hampshire, and, muffled in his one-horse 
 cutter, journeyed through Canada and Michigan on 
 his way to the land of promise. Reaching Rockford 
 he paused, made a tour of exploration, visiting many 
 localities, but found no such beautiful site for a town 
 as that of Turtle (now Beloit). A second visit here 
 increased his favorable impressions, .and he waited 
 
 11 
 
only for the arrival of Messrs. R. P. Crane and Otis 
 Bicknell, two other members of the same company, 
 to close negotiations well under way. The purchase 
 of one-third of the Theibeau-Blodgett claim was soon 
 made. 
 
 This was the beginning the setting of stakes for 
 homes where institutions of science and religion were 
 to be cherished and sustained. 
 
 Early in April Dr. White returned to New Hamp- 
 shire, the wheels of migration were set in motion, and 
 by midsummer the colonists were here, and, though 
 they were busily engaged in preparing shelters for the 
 coming winter, they were not forgetful of the purposes 
 formed before leaving their old homes. Their love for 
 institutions of religion and their veneration for the 
 Sabbath led them to build a house for a school and for 
 religious and secular meetings before their own dwell- 
 ings were completed. And after the arrival of him, 
 whom we were wont to call "good Deacon Hobart," 
 and his party, no Sabbath passed without public relig- 
 ious services, though they had no pastor. In a letter 
 to his wife, giving account of these services, he says: 
 " There is a number of good men here, and I think if 
 we live consistently with our profession, our prospect 
 for a religious community is very flattering." 
 
 It soon became known that an organized colony from 
 New England had settled, and had in operation a saw- 
 mill at the junction of Turtle Creek and the Sinni- 
 sippi, now Rock River. Home seekers of the better 
 
 12 
 
class, those who prized the loved institutions of the 
 East, were attracted to Blodgett's Place or New Al- 
 bany, and soon a flourishing settlement of kindred 
 spirits was established. 
 
 True to their early resolutions, matters pertaining 
 to the growth and prosperity of this new settlement 
 engaged their earnest attention, and meetings for con- 
 sultation were often called. Atone of these Maj. Chas. 
 Johnson and Cyrus Eames were chosen delegates ta 
 the Territorial legislature of Wisconsin, then in session 
 at Burlington (now in Iowa) to obtain a charter for a 
 Seminary in Beloit. They were successful. An act 
 was passed by the legislature, and approved by the 
 Governor of the Territory, December 27, 1837. The 
 first Section of the Charter reads as follows: "Be it 
 enacted by the Council and House of Representatives 
 of the Territory of Wisconsin: 
 
 " That there shall be established at Beloit, in Rock 
 County, a Seminary of learning for the instruction of 
 young persons of either sex in science and literature, 
 to be called The Beloit Seminary, and that Charles 
 Johnson, W. H. H. Bailey, Henry F. Jones, S. H. 
 Moore, Geo. Goodhue, Caleb Blodgett, A. L. Field 
 and their associates be, and they are hereby created, a 
 body corporate and politic by the name and style of 
 Beloit Seminary/' Here then was planted, before 
 the company had secured titles to the land, the germ 
 brought from Colebrook, N. H. 
 
 Another fact still more clearly accentuates the as- 
 
 13 
 
pirations, hopes and purposes of this New England 
 company. In 1838 they platted the village of Beloit, 
 and gave to the avenue along the east side of the pres- 
 ent campus the name College Street. Were these steps 
 prophecies ? 
 
 The years 1840 and 1841 were notable for religious 
 revivals. During the first two years of Mr. Clary's 
 pastorate, nearly fifty were added to the church on con- 
 fession of faith, thirty of whom were heads of families. 
 
 In 1842 the temperance question largely occupied 
 the public mind. 
 
 " Continuous meetings," says Mr. Clary, " were held 
 several weeks. The total abstinence pledge which had 
 been adopted by the church was adopted almost uni- 
 versally by the people, old and young. There had been 
 but one place where liquor was sold, and that was 
 cleansed by the owner throwing the liquor into the 
 street. * * * The whole community became distin- 
 guished for intelligence and for its moral and religious 
 character." 
 
 Here was a people that had diligently prepared the 
 way for a college, and were ready and waiting for the 
 realization of their hopes and aspirations. The repu- 
 tation of Beloit as a moral and religious center drew 
 the attention of the Christian people of the vicinity 
 who were laying plans for educating and christianizing 
 the youth of this region, and led them to ask if Beloit 
 were not the place where a Christian college would be 
 most carefully sustained. Agitation of this question 
 
 14 
 
produced legitimate results. President Chapin in his 
 quarter centennial address gives sketches " of some of 
 the initiatory steps taken for founding our College." 
 " The scene of the first sketch," he says, "is in the old 
 stone church of Beloit in the fall of 1843. This house 
 was not quite finished, but when completed it stood the 
 most stately and grand house of worship then in Wis- 
 consin. It was at that time made comfortable for the 
 meeting of the General Presbyterian and Congrega- 
 tional Convention of Wisconsin, whose members at 
 that fall session numbered just twenty-eight, repre- 
 senting all parts of the territory into which Christian 
 civilization had made its way. * * * I found these 
 men, then and there, thinking on a college. They had 
 been thinking on it for more than a year." 
 
 This thinking, followed by discussion, resulted in a 
 olear and settled decision that a college must be built up 
 in this region. This was the first concerted action 
 the first step taken for the establishment of our 
 College. 
 
 The second step was taken in a convention at Cleve- 
 land, Ohio, June, 1844 just half a century ago. 
 There more thinking, more deliberation and discussion 
 resulted in "an invitation publicly given to the friends 
 of Christian education in northern Illinois and south- 
 ern Wisconsin to meet at Beloit on the 6th day of 
 August of the same year, at 7 o'clock p. M." 
 
 Again, members of that convention on board the 
 steamer Chesapeake, homeward bound, thought more 
 
 15 
 
deeply and with prayerful deliberations planned for a 
 college in this region. 
 
 Pursuant to this call, the meeting convened, and after 
 two days' deliberation a committee of ten was appointed 
 to procure information with reference to the location 
 of the college, and to report to a subsequent conven- 
 tion. 
 
 The committee, in search of data for their report, 
 found the Beloit Seminary a classical school regu- 
 larly organized with a Board of Trustees,* and in 
 operation; and that the citizens of Beloit were ready 
 to give liberal aid for the establishment of a college 
 in their midst. 
 
 Accordingly, at the adjourned meeting of the con- 
 vention, October 24, 1844, the committee recommended 
 Beloit as the location for the college, and submitted a 
 proposition made by the people of the village " pledg- 
 ing an eligible site and seven thousand dollars for 
 the erection of a building, together with their sympa- 
 thies, prayers and future efforts." 
 
 In order to secure further deliberation and gain 
 unanimity, it was thought advisable to postpone the 
 decision of this important question till the next meet- 
 ing of the convention. Accordingly, sixty-four dele- 
 gates assembled in the old church, May 27, 1845, to 
 determine the location of the college. After a long 
 discussion the question was finally and satisfactorily 
 
 * Trustees of Beloit Seminary, 1844-49: Horatio Burchard, Pres't; Lucius 
 G. Fisher, Alfred L. Field, David J. Bundy, Jesse Moore, Horace Hobart: 
 Samuel B. Cooper, Sec'y. 
 
 16 
 
settled ; sixty-three votes were cast for Beloit. The 
 only dissenter was a delegate, himself preferring Be- 
 loit, but, instructed by his constituents, he cast his vote 
 for another place. 
 
 When we consider the advantages and surroundings 
 of Beloit, we are not surprised that the sixty-four men 
 " representing all parts of the territory of Wisconsin 
 into which Christian civilization had made its way," 
 were of one mind in fixing upon Beloit for the college. 
 And when we take into account that Mr. L. G. Fisher, 
 with his business tact and ability ; Rev. Stephen Peet, 
 with his far-reaching plans and his gift to win men to 
 his opinions; and Rev. Dexter Clary, with his earnest 
 piety, were all residents of Beloit and influential mem- 
 bers of the four historic conventions, we can not escape 
 the conviction that the action of that convention was 
 from the beginning a foregone conclusion that the col- 
 lege would be located in Beloit. 
 
 While this last convention was devising ways and 
 means for the accomplishment of their plans in the 
 audience room of the old church, a class of young men 
 in the room below, under the instruction of Rev. Lewis 
 H. Loss, were preparing to enter the college as soon as 
 its doors should be opened. 
 
 An old manuscript circular, dated August, 1846, 
 notifies the public that the Beloit Seminary had been 
 in successful operation two years, that Rev. L. H. Loss 
 had resigned the principalship, that the trustees (whose 
 names are appended, together with those of Reverends 
 
 17 
 
Peet, Loss and Clary) had made satisfactory arrange- 
 ments for a new administration, and that the Seminary 
 hereafter would be a co-educational institution, occu- 
 pying both rooms in the basement of the church. 
 
 The first public gathering on the College grounds 
 was on July 4, 1846, for a patriotic celebration, which, 
 as we look back upon it, seems prophetic. All good 
 people men and women in those days were raising 
 their voices against the two great curses of the land 
 slavery and the saloon. On this occasion notice of the 
 proposed celebration, duly given, brought crowds to the 
 campus from all the region round about. The citizens 
 most cordially welcomed them. Tables here and there, 
 on the grounds just cleared of underbrush for the pur- 
 pose, were bountifully supplied with good things, 
 which the ladies had prepared. And here, after the 
 merry feast, speeches were made and songs were sung, 
 before the grand procession with music and flying ban- 
 ners bearing significant mottoes and devices, took its 
 line of march. Great was the cheering when passing 
 a handful of men, also in procession, who were on the 
 other side ; for even then there were men here who de- 
 fended those crying evils. 
 
 After marching through some of the principal 
 streets, the large procession came to a halt in front of 
 the Baptist Church, and, with shouts, cheers and a 
 grand hurrah for our country, temperance and emanci- 
 pation, disbanded, thus closing a memorable day for 
 
 Beloit. Was this celebration a prophecy of the grand 
 
 18 
 
position the new College was to take on all the great 
 problems of this age ? Let the four hundred of her 
 sons forty-six of whose names are on the marble slab 
 in yonder hall who stood shoulder to shoulder in the 
 great conflict that made this a free nation, answer. 
 
 This ebullition of patriotism over, the people of Be- 
 loit found themselves confronted with the problem for 
 meeting the pledges they had so generously made to 
 secure the location of the College here. They had 
 promised to give the site and erect thereon the first 
 building. 
 
 The beautiful site had been donated, but they failed 
 to furnish the means for erecting the building. Until 
 this pledge should be fulfilled, donations from the East 
 could not be obtained, nor even hoped for. Such was 
 the situation in the early part of October, 1846. 
 
 The executive committee for more than a year had 
 been trying to find a way to secure means for the 
 building, but without success. 
 
 The time had now fully come when something must 
 be done to show that the executive committee and the 
 citizens of Beloit were in earnest, and acting in good 
 faith. 
 
 Mr. Fisher had a few loads of stone hauled upon the 
 campus, and about the middle of October (1846), 
 notice was given naming the time when ground would 
 be actually broken where the new building would be 
 erected. Let us follow the crowd and stand beside 
 those men of faith. A few shovelfuls of earth were 
 
 19 
 
removed from the spot which now marks the northwest 
 corner of Middle College, a few stones laid, and with 
 uncovered heads that little company, led by their 
 revered pastor (Rev. D. Clary) brought the subject so 
 dear to their hearts to Him who has promised wisdom 
 to those who ask it, and help in time of need. The 
 solemnity and impressiveness of the scene will never 
 be forgotten by those who witnessed it. The corner- 
 stone proper was laid with much parade and ceremony, 
 June 24, 1847. The Seminary successfully closed its first 
 year under the new administration a few days after- 
 ward, and the fall term opened September 1st with an 
 increased number of students, of whom twenty-nine 
 were pursuing classical studies. Of these all, or 
 nearly all, were preparing for college. 
 
 The great event of this term was the examination 
 and admission of five young men to the first Freshman 
 class of the College. This occurred Thursday evening, 
 November 4, 1847, two of the executive committee of 
 the college, Rev. Dexter Clary and Rev. Stephen Peet, 
 being present. Friday, the recitations of these young 
 men terminated their connection with the Seminary. 
 Monday, November 8, they pursued their studies as col- 
 legians, without change of course or of text-books. 
 
 The class continued under the instruction of the 
 Principal of the Seminary, in the basement of the 
 church, till the arrival of Professor Bushnell about 
 the 1st of May, 1848, when it was given into his 
 charge; thus relieving the former teacher, not only 
 
 20 
 
of great responsibility and care, but of three daily 
 recitations. 
 
 It is due to the five young gentlemen of that class, 
 that it be said, the onerous burdens of the Principal 
 while they were under his care, were greatly lightened 
 by their voluntary assistance, and had it not been for 
 their help in hearing recitations, the hours of the day 
 would have been too few, in which to hear all the 
 classes, so numerous were they in this combination of 
 Seminary and College. The instructor of that first 
 Freshman class has in his library two volumes which 
 he prizes highly as mementoes of the associations of 
 that period, and especially for the touching inscrip- 
 tions on their opening pages with the signatures of all 
 the members of that class. The presentation of these 
 volumes touched tender chords which have not ceased 
 to vibrate through all these years. 
 
 At the close of the winter term, March 24, 1848, the 
 students of the College and Seminary united in giving 
 an exhibition in the old stone church, which was on 
 that occasion crowded to its utmost capacity. Of the 
 eighteen speakers, eleven delivered original orations. 
 
 During the winter of '47 and '48 a lyceum con- 
 nected with the Seminary was well sustained; lectures 
 were given by business and professional men of the 
 village, among whom was one whose scholarly mantle 
 has fallen upon his only son, one of our most popular, 
 our most honored, and most beloved professors Mr. 
 Theodore L. Wright. 
 
 21 
 
The Seminary, at the beginning of the winter term 
 of 1849, found a more commodious and comfortable 
 home in the new college building, where it remained till 
 the close of the school year 1849, July, which terminated 
 its existence as a corporate body. Then it was merged 
 into the College as its preparatory department, under 
 the control of the trustees of the College. 
 
 The Seminary register shows that the attendance for 
 the year ending July, 1847, was 106; for 1848, 125; 
 and for 1849, 196, a large percentage of whom were 
 not residents of Beloit, not a bad record for an in- 
 stitution that had done its work without financial re- 
 sources other than the tuition of its pupils. 
 
 "First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn 
 in the ear." 
 
 Does not this brief recital of facts show that the 
 germ of the College was brought here and planted by 
 the New England Emigrating Company ; that the blade 
 appeared in the Beloit Seminary ; the ear in the admis- 
 sion of the Freshman class; and is not the world now 
 enjoying the rich harvest of the full corn in the ear? 
 And is it not apparent that the steps of the early set- 
 tlers in Beloit were "prophecies of the next age?" 
 
 It is fitting that we here call to mind some of the 
 characteristics and some of the most notable services 
 of him, in whose memory we to-day are to receive a 
 munificent gift the rare collection of Greek casts, 
 which a loving son places in the Art Hall of the Col- 
 lege a magnificent memorial whose educating rnflu- 
 
 22 
 
ence on this and coming generations can not be meas- 
 ured. 
 
 Hon. Lucius G. Fisher was a man of stately appear- 
 ance, with modest and agreeable manners. His early 
 home was in northern Vermont. 
 
 In one of the school-houses of that hilly country he 
 received his early training, and there, too, he had some 
 experience in teaching. He, with the enthusiasm of 
 many another, left the Green Mountain State to find a 
 home in this prairie country. Overcoming all the 
 obstacles known to the pioneer, he pushed his way west- 
 ward till he reached Watertown, Avhen for the first time 
 he heard of the New England settlement. If it should 
 be found worthy of the good name given in glowing 
 terms, it surely would be the place for him; and so 
 thinking, he secured the only means of transportation 
 then available, a dug-out, in which he with his friend, 
 Charles F. H. Goodhue, paddled his way down the 
 river to this place, reaching here in the fall of 1837. 
 Enamored with the situation, and surrounded by peo- 
 ple from his own and adjacent states, he at once bought 
 one-sixteenth of the Thiebeau-Blodgett claim and de- 
 cided to make this his home. Though only twenty- 
 nine years of age, we find him from this time on 
 closely identified with all the interests of the new 
 community. 
 
 As agent sent to the land sale in Milwaukee in 1839 
 to adjust claims and secure titles for the "squatters," 
 as " pathmaster" elected the same year to lay out and 
 
 23 
 
supervise all roads in the southern half of Rock County, 
 as sheriff for four consecutive years (1839 to 1844), 
 as member of the legislature in 1857, and as alderman 
 and postmaster of the city, he was popular, faithfully 
 performing the duties pertaining to these offices of 
 responsibility and trust to the approval of his constitu- 
 ents. He was at one time engaged in the manufacture 
 of reapers and other farming implements, a stock- 
 holder and director in one of the paper mills, the pres- 
 ident of the old Bock River Bank, and the principal 
 of the mercantile firm of Fisher, Bundy &' Cheney, 
 whose store stood on the northwest corner of State and 
 Broad Streets. The ''Stone Pile,'' 1 as that business 
 block was for a long time called, became a synonym 
 for the Puritan element in the growing village the 
 "cranks who," the stage driver sneeringly informed 
 Dr. Pearsons, "were building a college," the party that 
 favored the abolition of slavery and the suppression of 
 the saloons. 
 
 The origin of any movement looking to the welfare 
 and real prosperity of the growing town was attributed 
 by the saloon party to the "Stone Pile," of which in a 
 sense, Mr. Fisher was the corner-stone. 
 
 While looking over the old papers in the archives of 
 the College, I discovered an old deed bearing the signa- 
 tures of the original nineteen grantors of the College 
 site. I also found one of later date conveying to the 
 trustees the same property, but described as lots 
 112 and 114 (Rice's Survey), signed by Paul Dilling- 
 
 24: 
 
ham (ex-governor of Vermont). This last paper 
 brought to my mind a scene of thrilling interest: 
 Matt. Carpenter, formerly a protege and afterwards 
 son-in-law of the ex-governor, was standing upon 
 the porch of the historic old church addressing an 
 excited crowd of citizens in the street. The pur- 
 port of that speech was, that he had found the 
 original deeds of the early settlers to be void; that 
 the legal title was vested in Paul Dillingham, whose 
 agent he was, with power of attorney; that he was 
 duly authorized to give quit-claim deeds for a moder- 
 ate consideration. This claim caused much indigna- 
 tion and resulted in a famous lawsuit involving ques- 
 tions of momentous import to the citizens of Beloit. 
 Mr. Fisher, being a prominent man and a leader in 
 opposing it, was first attacked in an attempt to dispos- 
 sess him of his homestead in a suit entitled " Paul 
 Dillingham vs. Lucius G. Fisher.'' (Vol. V, p. 475, 
 Wisconsin Reports). The array of legal talent in this 
 <mse was 'commensurate with the importance of the 
 interests involved. 
 
 Hon. Matthew H. Carpenter, then a resident of Be- 
 loit, Judge EdAvard Ryan of Milwaukee, and Rufus 
 Choate, of Boston, were the attorneys for the plaintiff. 
 
 Judge Daniel Cady (father of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady 
 Stan ton), of New York, Senator James R. Doolittle, of 
 Racine, and Abraham Lincoln for the defendant. 
 
 The brief of the last named attorney, even at that 
 time (1854) reputed to be the best real estate lawyer 
 
 25 
 
in the West, greatly allayed the fears of the citizens 
 during the trial and had much weight in deciding the 
 suit in favor of Mr. Fisher, first in our Circuit Court, 
 then in the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, from which 
 an appeal was taken to the United States Supreme 
 Court, where finding a recent adverse decision involv- 
 ing the same points of law, the plaintiff dropped the 
 prosecution, thus acknowledging the falsity of his 
 claim. 
 
 In this great contest, involving the validity of titles 
 to so many homesteads, Mr. Fisher brought real estate 
 owners under great obligations to him for the persist- 
 ency with which he defended their rights. 
 
 While busied in the various activities in which he 
 was engaged, Mr. Fisher found time to study and ad- 
 vance the cause of education. The common school and 
 the College found in him a friend and able adviser. 
 Through his influence, more than by that of any other 
 layman, was the College located in Beloit and the 
 beautiful site secured. 
 
 His was the first name on the first subscription list, 
 and for the largest amount pledged to secure the Col- 
 lege here. The fifty-acre tract (then valued at $500), 
 proposed to be given for a college site, in addition to the 
 $7,000, was situated at the terminus of College Street, 
 two blocks north of the present campus, on ground 
 now occupied by the Eclipse Engine Works. The 
 committee of ten appointed to recommend a site thought 
 this selection too far from the village, that land and 
 
 26 
 
buildings nearer would be more convenient and accept- 
 able to the convention. Hence, that there might be 
 no failure of securing the College here, Mr. Fisher, 
 then the largest owner of the present site, consented to 
 give up the large, beautiful Bluff lot extending to the 
 river, now occupied by the gymnasium, which he had 
 set apart for his future homestead, and five other well 
 located lots. This sacrifice, together with six lots do- 
 nated through his influence by Major Philip Kearney, 
 of military fame, settled the location of the College. 
 
 Mr. Fisher was an honored trustee of the College 
 from its foundation to the close of his life. The 
 church in all its activities found him ever ready to 
 bear more than his share of the financial burdens for 
 its support, and a warm sympathizer in all its efforts. 
 On his removal to Chicago in 1866, he united with the 
 South Congregational Church of that city, and was 
 elected one of the deacons, which office, with that of 
 Trustee of the Theological Seminary, he held till sum- 
 moned by the Master in 1886. So we find him from 
 the age of twenty-nine, and especially after his con- 
 version in 1840, a man noted for wide range of ability, 
 for energy and zeal in every good cause, a conscien- 
 tious Christian gentleman. 
 
 While we congratulate the college on being the cus- 
 todian of the splendid memorial which the trustees are 
 about to receive, we also congratulate the giver, in that 
 he has unwittingly proved that the graces and gifts of 
 the father have been transmitted to the son. And here 
 
 27 
 
we now unitedly thank Mr. Lucius G. Fisher, Junior, 
 for giving to Beloit College such rare facilities for the 
 study of Art and Archaeology. 
 
 * 
 * 
 
 PKESIDENT EATON : 
 
 It is my singular good fortune, this afternoon, to 
 stand between two Lucius G. Fishers. On this side 
 the life-like features of the father, represented in this 
 excellent portrait ; on that side the still more life-like 
 features of the son, in propria persona. 
 
 In the name of the College and its friends, we greet 
 them both to-day with peculiar pleasure ; the one with 
 the reverence felt for a father, the other with the 
 affection inspired by a friend and brother. 
 
 For your father's sake, for your own sake, and for 
 the College's sake, Mr. Fisher, we bid you thrice 
 welcome. 
 
 28 
 
fiDr, jfisber's Hfcfcrese of presentation. 
 
 Mr. President and OenHemeu of the Board of Trustees 
 
 of Beloit College: 
 
 For reasons, for which I myself was more or less 
 directly responsible, my early education here was not 
 " sadly neglected," but rather, shall I say, temporarily 
 suspended. 
 
 This had not entered into my father's calculations, 
 and was a sad blow to him, but about this time the 
 war broke out, and so changed all relationships, that 
 my own erratic ideas met with less vigorous opposi- 
 tion from him than would have been possible in other 
 times. 
 
 He had hoped to see me partake of the benefits of 
 this Institution, in the founding and growth of which 
 he himself had taken so direct an interest, and I recall, 
 with no slight compunction of conscience, his earnest, 
 urgent endeavors to influence me in the proper direc- 
 tion, without avail. 
 
 Since his death I have thought that I could in no 
 way so well show my tardy appreciation of his unselfish 
 efforts, on behalf not only of myself, but of this Col- 
 lege, as, in some appropriate manner, permanently to 
 link his name with it, so that coming generations of 
 students (to whom the son might be an unknown 
 entity, even had the father's early wishes been fully 
 
 '29 
 
carried out) should be continually reminded of the 
 man himself, who had so long ago done so much for 
 them. 
 
 But this inchoate thought would probably have re- 
 mained in a nebulous condition, had not Prof. Emerson, 
 his old friend (and may I also claim my own), by what 
 looks now much like inspiration, not only found the 
 link but how to make the connection. I am sure no 
 other man could have done this. 
 
 He it was who suggested to me the purchase, and, in 
 connection with your indefatigable President, entered 
 into and completed the negotiations. I have been but 
 a passive agent, and yet I see accomplished the dearest 
 wish of my heart, and I bear away with me the firm 
 conviction, that, could my father be with us to-day, he 
 would consider it ample recompense for all his early 
 anxieties and self-denials in your behalf. 
 
 In his name, I take great satisfaction in presenting 
 to the Trustees of Beloit College this unique collection 
 of casts, with the assurance that in this case the pleas- 
 ure of giving outruns the pleasure of receiving. 
 
 30 
 
ipreeibent Eaton's IResponse. 
 
 It is with profound emotions of gratitude and joy 
 that we accept this gift of filial affection. 
 
 In my own student days, and later, when I became a 
 Trustee of the College, Mr. Lucius G. Fisher, Senior, 
 was one of the noblest figures to be seen at the recur- 
 ring Commencements. Stately and massive in form, 
 courtly in manner, benignant in expression, most 
 deeply interested in the deepest interests of the Col- 
 lege, he was well fitted to impress the imagination of 
 a younger generation with the grandeur of the found- 
 ers of Beloit College. 
 
 But, as we have listened to Mr. Merrill's paper to- 
 day, there has come to many of us a juster appreciation 
 of the contribution of such a man to the foundations 
 of civil and religious and literary institutions in a 
 nascent commonwealth, and a deeper gratitude for the 
 fruits we now enjoy of his breadth of view, sagacity, 
 tenacity of purpose, and self-dedication to the highest 
 ends. It is the grandest thing about a college that 
 such men become incorporate in its life, giving step to 
 its movement, and rhythm to its pulse-beats, as the 
 generations pass. 
 
 Some of us have heard to-day for the first time of 
 Mr. Fisher's voyage down the Bock Eiver in a dug-out, 
 nearly fifty-seven years ago, in search of the right 
 
 31 
 
place in which to establish his home. How striking 
 are the beckonings and biddings of Providence! What 
 issues hung upon that journey down the full-flowing 
 stream ! It is hardly too much to say that if Mr. 
 Fisher had not landed here, there might have been no 
 college in Beloit to-day. That he decided to make his 
 home here, becoming the foremost Christian business 
 man of the community, was largely due to the char- 
 acter of the pioneers who had preceded him, and 
 made this already noteworthy as a New England colony. 
 It must have seemed a great loss to the New Eng- 
 land town whence he came, that such a young man as 
 Mr. Fisher was. should leave it for the undeveloped 
 West; but God had far greater work for him here than 
 he could have done in his early home. So, again, it 
 seemed a serious loss for Beloit that his only son, born 
 and reared in Beloit, should not remain a citizen of 
 this good town, but should "paddle his canoe'' down- 
 stream toward yonder city, whose ceaseless activities 
 and boundless expansion are among the wonders of the 
 Avorld. Yet, if he had remained among us, he could 
 not have returned to us, the honored guest of this oc- 
 casion; and he might not have had the ability, how- 
 ever great his good will, to present to us this wonderful 
 collection, which from henceforth becomes so unique a 
 portion of the College's historical and artistic endow- 
 ment. So true is it that when God puts men forth 
 upon the stream of life, he has nobler ends in view 
 than we are apt to dream of. 
 
 32 
 
Reverently and gladly we receive this collection and 
 place it among the College's treasures. About it will 
 ever gather grateful thoughts of the father and son, 
 whose joint gift we hold it to be. 
 
 * * * 
 
 And now it is full time that we listen to the inspired 
 and inspiring friend, whose happy mission it was to 
 weld the links that here bind past and present so 
 beautifully together. But, before we greet Professor 
 Emerson, it will be an added felicity to listen to a Greek 
 melody, which was once wafted on the quiet night-air 
 from the pipe of a shepherd boy in the fields, to 
 the ears of an Athenian boy, in the vicinity of the 
 Acropolis of Athens; by the latter it was dictated to 
 his friend Professor Sleeper, who will now give us 
 his own transcription of it upon the organ. 
 
(Breefc Hir, 
 
 Played on a shepherd's pipe In the fields near the Acropolis of Athens, and 
 heard by an Athenian boy, who dictated it to Professor Sleeper, by whom it 
 was rendered upon the organ, and has now for the first time been put on 
 paper, with an accompaniment adapted, as well as the melody itself, to the 
 pianoforte. 
 
 Slowly. Melody well sustained. J 
 
 Ptd. ad libitum. 
 
 
 $*- - -*- 
 
 
 35 
 
professor 3osepb Emerson's Hfcfcress. 
 
 This occasion is one of historic and prophetic, as 
 well as present significance. 
 
 A man who was an infant fifty years ago, now in the 
 meridian of his life, brings a jubilee gift to a college, 
 which fifty years ago was but a budding prayer. And 
 the gift is such a gift as no other college has or can 
 have a collection of representations of the most im- 
 portant extant remains of ancient Greek plastic art, 
 selected and prepared with loving care by Greece her- 
 self as her choicest contribution to the great array of 
 the best products of all nations in the great World's 
 Exposition. It comes to us as a gift of a son in honor 
 of a father, who was himself also a father of the Col- 
 lege. 
 
 Such an event illustrates how upon us " the ends of 
 the world are come." 
 
 "The ends of the world!" 
 
 How thrilling it is to trace, even in passing events, 
 the golden threads which unite the designs in the 
 grand tapestry of history ! 
 
 When " the Lord God planted that garden eastward 
 in Eden, and there put the man whom he had formed," 
 he planted also, a garden westward in Wisconsin, and 
 in it he is placing the man whom he has been forming 
 by so many ages of education since Eden and Babel. 
 
 37 
 
Now, after so many millenniums of the confusion of 
 tongues, we have seen the peoples, and tongues, and 
 languages flowing together to a new Babel in our 
 Galilee of the Gentiles, and here we stand by a tree 
 of knowledge, planted in the midst of the garden. 
 
 The infant man, in those sultry climes where was 
 the hotbed for the first seeds of civilization, may not 
 have had enough of moral stamina to be trusted to take 
 freely of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and 
 the result was, not a commonwealth of the glory of God 
 and good-will of men, but the phosphorescent splendor 
 of the imperial corruption of the "Gorgeous East." 
 But choice seed germs were developed, and meanwhile 
 races were being formed elsewhere to receive them. 
 
 On the mountains, which bordered those great plains, 
 grew the awe of the Jew, the discipline of Persia, the 
 law of Rome, and the grace of the Greek, and they 
 prepared a world for the coming of the Son of Man. 
 
 But that world dreamed still of a better. Beyond 
 the northern mountains dwelt the blessed Hyper- 
 boreans. Beside the western sea stood Atlas, where 
 heaven and earth came together in the garden of the 
 Hesperides the " daughters of the west;" and hidden 
 by those western waves was the happy Isle of Atlantis. 
 That morning dream was true. Races and lands were 
 forming to receive the fruit of the oriental and classic 
 cultures, and blend them with the thought of Germany 
 and the vigor of England, and when the fullness of time 
 was come, and the veil was lifted which had hidden 
 
 38 
 
the new continent, the worth of the New England 
 grew upon granite mountains till it was time for it to 
 be brought to its inheritance upon the prairies bounded 
 by the great lakes and the great rivers, which guard 
 and water the focus of the continent. 
 
 Those who settled our Beloit were from the extreme 
 north of New England. They were young men, but 
 heirs of the strength, the wisdom and the enthusiasm 
 of the ages. Among them was he, in whose honor we 
 are gathered to-day. 
 
 Those first settlers, when they came to Beloit, selected 
 for their own homes sites upon the noble bluff where 
 the mound builders had been before them. But, be- 
 fore they built those homes, they took in the thought of 
 a larger home, and gave those choice lots for the site of 
 a college, which should be a hearth of home for a large 
 region of kindred minds and souls. So now our gym- 
 nasium and this, our beautiful new chapel, stand on 
 Lucius G. Fisher's laud, our Pearsons Hall on that of 
 his partners, Alfred L. Field and James Lusk, whose 
 wife and sister is with us to-day, while our Art Hall 
 and Studio are on Deacon Hobart's lots, the North 
 College on those of Deacon Peter R. Field, the father 
 of A. L. Field and of Mrs. Fisher and Mrs. Hobart. 
 This chapel is also partly on land of Mr. E. P. Crane, 
 whose son has come from Massachusetts to be with us 
 to-day. 
 
 For those first settlers of Beloit were but a portion 
 of that migration of sons of the New England race, 
 
 39 
 
who were in those days coming to their inheritance, to 
 this garden land between the lakes and the river, where 
 the belt, Avhich King James named New England, 
 crossed the domain which the ordinance of 1787 had 
 consecrated to liberty and education. The birthmark 
 stamped on all that race bears two insignia -the 
 church and the college, and it must have been more by 
 instinct than by plan that the first plot of Beloit shows 
 the parallel College Street and Church Street years 
 before either college or church was located on either. 
 Through the like instinct all this newer " New England 
 thought upon a college," and when their thoughts 
 centered in Beloit, not only as the center of the region, 
 but perhaps even more by reason of the genial com- 
 munity already forming there, those pioneers gladly 
 welcomed the infant college. 
 
 So was our tree of knowledge planted in the midst 
 of the garden, in the assurance that the fruit of knowl- 
 edge rightly taken is not death but life eternal. The 
 critical problem is how to take it rightly. 
 
 Our solution is in our motto the fruit of the thought 
 and sense of right minds and hearts living in our 
 founders and voiced by their voice our President 
 Chapin, Scicntia vera cum fide pura, the love of truth, 
 of God and of man. For fifty years the walls have been 
 in building, walls of truth, scientia vera, of nature and 
 of man, not forgetting the pura fides, the clean heart's 
 vision of God as Father, and of man as brother what 
 are called the Humanities, by which we come into the 
 
 40 
 
fellowship of the Kiugdom of God, and the common- 
 wealth of man. \ 
 
 Fifty years ago to-day this noble site was as the 
 mound builders left it. Their remaining works are a 
 token that they, too. were men, and we cherish their 
 fellowship and succeed to their aspirations. 
 
 The close of the half century sees the Departments 
 of Science of the physical and material environment 
 of man provided with that noble equipment, in which 
 we all so thankfully rejoice, in the name of Science 
 true. Meanwhile the Department of Faith has not 
 been forgotten. It has to do with man in his spiritual 
 environment, conscious of himself as a living soul, in 
 contact and in fellowship with all the heart and all the 
 thought of man and of God. In this department we 
 have walked through the aisles of history. We have 
 heard Homer sing. We have conversed in their own 
 tongues with Socrates and Cicero. Our hearts have 
 throbbed and bled with Leonidas and Demosthenes, 
 with Luther and with Hampden. We have worshiped 
 together in that hallowed chapel, built upon good 
 Deacon Hobart's lot, and planned by the taste and con- 
 secrated by the piety of our well beloved President 
 Chapiu. We have studied mental and moral and polit- 
 ical science, philosophy, philology and anthropology, 
 and our study has not been without mental, moral and 
 spiritual uplift and purification, largely from the studies 
 themselves, and largely, also, from the human sympa- 
 thy which may have accompanied the study, and so 
 
 41 
 
our thinking minds have come to be living souls. That 
 is what we want. Everything human, be it individual 
 or family, or state, or nation, or all humanity, must 
 have soul, or it is lost. The soul of all humanity is 
 the Son of Man, and each individual life becomes a 
 truly living soul by entering into the fellowship of His 
 grace and truth. Education here, and in the American 
 college generally, has not been without most honest 
 and earnest and profitable search for truth. If it has 
 not been too scientific, is it possible that it has been 
 too exclusively scientific? Is there not a cultivation 
 of grace, as well as a study of truth, which may help 
 law to become life? 
 
 We have learned severe truth from Jerusalem, and 
 strict law from Rome. But have we not too much neg- 
 lected that artistic development of body and mind, of 
 taste and spirit, which was the life of the Greek cult- 
 ure which has been the education of the world? It is 
 true that Homer, Sophocles, and Plato, and the orators 
 have taught us; but ought we not to be taught and in- 
 spired, as the Greeks were, by Orpheus and by Phidias ? 
 
 We have read Homer and studied his particles. 
 This ought we to have done, and yet not as we have 
 not altogether to have left the other undone, namely, 
 to study his Athena and his Jove, as Phidias did and 
 reproduced them in gold and ivory or in bronze for an 
 inspiration to Greeks or a terror to barbarians; or to 
 study his Achilles, as Alexander did and conquered 
 the world; or his grandeur of spirit as Milton did and 
 
 42 
 
wrote the Paradise Lost? They said that the lyre of 
 Orpheus tamed tigers, and Amphioii's built the walls 
 of Thebes. Was that all an old fable ? Has the world 
 become deaf to music? Have we not seen the Mar- 
 seillaise overturning a monarchy and conquering a 
 continent? Have we not heard " John Brown's soul 
 marching on," to liberate a nation? Does not David's 
 harp still lead a million choirs to humanize the world? 
 Should not a fine art, which is such a practical power, 
 have a place in liberal education? 
 
 The Greeks accounted music and gymnastics as the 
 factors of liberal education, music including all cult- 
 ure of the mind, and gymnastics that of the body. 
 But their term, music, indicates the style of their edu- 
 cation. The Komans followed them in gymnastics in 
 their own way, as fitted their nerve. Their gladiators 
 illustrated their proficiency, and their Colosseum showed 
 their attainment. Our colleges are taking up athletics. 
 They are in no danger of being neglected. They fit 
 our northern muscle. But we would not have them 
 reproduce the gladiatorial barbarism and blood, or the 
 brutality of the Colosseum. 
 
 They say that the Greek athlete, at the Olympic 
 games, wrestled to the sound of music, and that Pin- 
 dar sung his victory. The visitor at Olympia looked 
 upon the Jove which Phidias had wrought under the 
 inspiration of Homer, and the sight was to him a 
 "Nepenthes," assuaging care and lifting him up to the 
 peace of the blessed gods. We do not now see that 
 
 43 
 
statue of Zeus, but we do see the spirit of Olympia, as 
 well as of Greek Fine Art, illustrated by the finest 
 extant work of ancient art, the Hermes of Praxiteles, 
 which stood at Olympia, and the cast of which now 
 stands in the center of our own Fisher collection. 
 
 Hermes is god of athletes as well as of orators, and 
 if college athletics could be full of that kindly grace 
 with which he regards and holds the infant god who 
 looks up to him so lovingly and longingly, we must be 
 glad to welcome them to a place in that education in 
 Fine Art which we advocate as the next step in the 
 liberalizing of education. 
 
 Eastern colleges have led in athletics. May we not 
 take the acquisition of this collection by the classic 
 college of the Interior, as symbolizing our right, if we 
 will, to lead in making these Liberal Arts a potent 
 factor in a Liberal Education? 
 
 Will we? Can we? What have we done? The 
 apple-tree puts forth silently its wealth of blossom, 
 and we wake in the morning, and behold it is May, 
 verging to June. There has always been music in 
 Beloit. There could not but be music, when there was 
 a President Chapin and a Professor Bushnell and Pro- 
 fessor Nason. But where in those days would one 
 learn to sing, and gain that talent which those teachers 
 had? How is it now? We must be most thankful to 
 our President Eaton, and he most thankful for the 
 circumstances which have enabled him to do what his 
 like-spirited predecessor would so gladly have done 
 
 44 
 
if all the spring-time could have been achieved in 
 March. 
 
 He has had, to support him, an instructor of rare 
 qualifications of spirit as well as of accomplishment, 
 young men uniting with enthusiasm in the practice of 
 various instruments and of that supreme instrument 
 the human voice, and we have a chapel Avhich is a fit 
 shrine for so fine an art, an organ which sounds like 
 the native voice of its living architecture, a chastened 
 taste to arrange, and a responsive community to accept, 
 an order of service for every evening and every Sab- 
 bath, which seem to bring us all and always one day 
 or one week nearer to the heavenly harmony, and we 
 know that this is the resultant of true artist work truly 
 done. Eloquence and prose are the liberal education 
 of voice and ear in the sphere of Fact; music and 
 poetry in the sphere of Faith, that is, in that ideal 
 world in which we are no more what we are but what 
 we would be, and, so help us God, what we will be. 
 True, the two spheres blend. Etymologically, oratory 
 is prayer and a poem is a work. Liberal education- 
 should open our ear to heart-beats, and loose our tongue 
 to reach the heart, so that we may be in communion 
 with man and with God. 
 
 Liberal education commenced in Greece and com- 
 menced with the voice and ear. If Egypt and Babylon 
 had not learned to write so early and so clumsily, per- 
 haps they would not have fallen so behind Greece in 
 that education which makes a man free. 
 
 45 
 
It began with the harp of Orpheus and the verse of 
 Homer. They taught the nation to move to measure. 
 So Amphiou's lyre built the city walls. Tyrteeus' war- 
 songs filled the Spartan phalanx with a power of 
 victorious life. The paean of Miltiades swept the 
 Persian into the sea. These are tokens of a power 
 that was in the air, harmonizing the people but filling 
 each man with a life which was a law to him, and he 
 moved with the rest because they all had that same 
 common life. 
 
 In such a haunted air began the artistic develop- 
 ment of the Greek eye and hand, and its art work was 
 the wondrous Greek statuary, wondrous for the new 
 aspiration and inspiration which was in it and which 
 it has given to the world. Their choral music fed and 
 led the fellowship of man with man. Their statuary 
 dealt and dwelt in the fellowship of man with God. 
 The old and oriental awe could only represent God by 
 monstrous forms, and it must have the second com- 
 mandment. The new occidental good-will recognized 
 " God with us" the Word made flesh and dwelling 
 among us, and it sought to present the Divine glory 
 by the best ideals of man, who is the image of God, 
 that so our own thought, purified by reflection from 
 the pure heaven, might purify our own souls. 
 
 Go into the Fisher collection again, and see the 
 growth of that represented image of the Divine as 
 the piety of the young Greece presents it to us. They 
 said that the river Alphseus had its spring in Asia, 
 
 46 
 
that it passed under the sea and came up in the Pelop- 
 onnesus, and flowed by Olympia, and then under the 
 sea again to Sicily. It was their parable of the art, 
 which came to them from the Orient, and passed, as it 
 passes still, toward the west. Stand now in this 
 shaded light (in the Fisher gallery), which so re- 
 produces for us the "saffron dawn," and look at 
 those " Lions of My cense." See how the convention- 
 alism of the northern oriental art of the Assyrians 
 and Hittites is already feeling the Greek life. Mark 
 the bones and the muscles and the pose. There is life 
 in them. They said again that the lake in Delos 
 sprung from the river Nile. See again those statues 
 from Delos and Melos, and observe how the constrained 
 Egyptian forms are already feeling the influence of 
 the Greek liberal education. And see how it grows as 
 you pass around the room, and how it comes to shine, 
 as in the face of a growing child, until you stand awed 
 and charmed by the serene wisdom and grace of the 
 goddesses of Eleusis, as they send forth the boy 
 Triptolemos with the gift of the wheat with which 
 Wisconsin fields are waving to-day. You feel as you 
 view those sepulchral monuments which lined the 
 sacred way from Athens to Eleusis, not the cold, calm 
 philosophy of the Thanatopsis, but a sympathy of 
 warm life in the thought that " such as these have 
 lived and died," and when we reach the Eleusis relief, 
 the serenity of those deities and of those above them 
 from the Athenian Parthenon, puts us into sympathy 
 
 47 
 
again with those Greeks, thus set " in their times 
 before appointed and their bounds of habitation to 
 search after God, if haply they might find Him, who 
 is not far from every one of us," and we are thankful 
 that they so realized that consciousness, Avhich lives in 
 all Greek literature as well as art, of the " Emmanuel, 
 God with us." 
 
 Greek art turned away from the monstrous forms of 
 its teachers, and studied man, made in the image of 
 
 O 
 
 God, as its God-given model for that image which 
 should be in us all the hope of glory, and most helpful 
 to us all are, and shall be, the lineaments which they 
 have traced. 
 
 The history of the Art Department of Beloit College 
 is like that of the College itself a thought, a prayer, a 
 seed hidden in the ground, the blade, the ear, the 
 promise of the full corn in the ear. Fifty years ago 
 those first settlers gave the grounds they had chosen for 
 their own homes for a college, which should be the 
 hearth of a larger home for a community of like 
 minds all over the region. In that same year, 1844, 
 a family came and made their home nearly twenty 
 miles away. But the church, two miles away, and the 
 College, were essential elements of the home. On 
 commencement days the family rose with the sun and 
 came over the prairies and enjoyed all the day and the 
 President's reception, and went back to a home en- 
 larged and enriched, as Greeks went home from 
 Olympia. A daughter of that family found in the 
 
 48 
 
study of art, and the gathering of photographs and 
 other objects of art, the devotion and diversion of 
 years of laborious life, and when, in later years, she 
 found her own home in Beloit, it was a grateful as 
 well as a graceful act to lay upon the hearth of that 
 larger home, the college, the accumulations of those 
 years. They were accepted with generous cordiality, 
 and welcomed as instituting in the College a new de- 
 partment of fine art. She is not able to be with us 
 to-day, but those gifts, with the colossal statue of 
 Athena, and many other objects, are in our gallery to 
 represent her. 
 
 In that same year, 1844, there were three young 
 men, all members of the Yale class of 1841. Two of 
 them were tutors in Yale. The third, Jackson J. Bush- 
 nell, was invited to the like tutorship, but declined 
 in behalf of western collegiate education, to which 
 he was already devoted, and in which he afterward, in 
 Beloit, lived among us that life which illustrated, no 
 less than any other which any of us have seen, the 
 fine art of a true life, and so most justly his portrait, 
 the work of our first teacher of art, and the gift of 
 his own classmates of the Yale class of 1841, occupies 
 its place of honor as the beginning of our art gallery 
 of oil paintings. He and another of the three were 
 the first professors in Beloit College, and wrought 
 together in happy companionship for a quarter of a 
 century. 
 
 The remaining member of the trio of Yale class- 
 
 49 
 
mates, Azariah Eldridge, was also invited to a professor- 
 ship in Beloit. Though the invitation was not accepted, 
 he did not forget Beloit, nor has he been forgotten 
 here, nor will he be; for, in addition to the eminent 
 record of his life, his wife, Mrs. Ellen Battell Eldridge, 
 has perpetuated his memory by the Eldridge endow- 
 ment of $10,000, which has secured the permanence of 
 our Art Department, to which she has also added the 
 two noble casts of the Apollo Belvidere and of the 
 Diana of Versailles, which stand in their memory in 
 our Art Gallery. Mrs. Eldridge was herself of the 
 Battell family of Norfolk, Conn., so eminent for its ben- 
 efactions. Within the past year, she has been called 
 to rejoin her husband; but their works remain to bear 
 true testimony to true lives. 
 
 Meanwhile other choice donations have been made by 
 most valued friends, whose good will has doubled the 
 value of their gifts. They have found a home in the 
 upper halls of our former chapel, fitly continuing its 
 usefulness, and in the Art Library. In the lower hall 
 of the same building, the Art School passed its first 
 successful year under the instruction of Mr. Lawton S. 
 G. Parker. The need of that room for the Fisher Col- 
 lection has required its transference to the former 
 South College, where it has just finished another suc- 
 cessful year, taught by Mr. Charles F. Browne. 
 
 But the old world, also, in these our days is coming to 
 life again. 
 
 Greece, the mother of us all in liberal education, 
 
 50 
 
has, during this present century, risen from a thousand 
 years of torpor, and four hundred of bondage, to a new 
 life which is a marvel among the nations. 
 
 She finds not only that a new Greece has spread 
 over Europe during her slumber, but that during her 
 bondage there had been unveiled, beyond Oceanus, a 
 new continent, surpassing her dream of Atlantis, and 
 from that continent came to her first waking a welcome 
 spoken in voices like that of Daniel Webster, of a 
 young republic, greater than the empire of Alexander, 
 but great through that self-commanding manhood, 
 that rhythmic vitality, whose keynote was struck by 
 Homer. To that republic her own heart has gone 
 forth. 
 
 When word came of the plan of the Columbian Ex- 
 position in the heart of the New World, the heart of the 
 mother was moved. No pains or cost were spared to 
 prepare a choicest presentation of the remains of the 
 antique art, from which all modern plastic art has 
 sprung. They found that heart of the New World in 
 a city, which fifty years before had been little more than 
 a hamlet in the mire of the prairie. Here they were 
 installed in the center of the Anthropological building, 
 that visible history of man from the cave to the palace, 
 while the great Rust collection of works of aboriginal 
 America was at its entrance. These, by the generos- 
 ity of our liberal trustee, are now our Logan collection. 
 They stand fitly in that Pearsons Hall of Science, 
 
 which rises among the aboriginal mounds of our own 
 
 51 
 
campus. It is a noble gift, most worthily dispensed. 
 Equally important, and, if possible, essential, it seemed 
 that the College, which aimed and claimed to stand in 
 the front of classic education in the interior of the New 
 World, should have these priceless relics of that earli- 
 est true culture of the Old World, from which our own 
 has sprung. And when, by a concurrence of circum- 
 stances, and through the generous sympathy of such 
 friends as Mr. C. L. Hutchinsou, the Greek consul and 
 president of the Chicago Art Institute, and of Professor 
 W. M. R. French, the director of the Institute, and oth- 
 ers like them, it became possible to gain the prize, if 
 we could pay the price, it seemed that we must have it. 
 
 It was felt by the lovers of art and of classic cult- 
 ure in the interior, that such a collection, so brought 
 to the heart of our laud, should remain there, and, 
 with a consensus most generous, as well as kind to 
 us, they looked to us to claim, as it were, our birth- 
 right. 
 
 Moved by such an invitation and challenge, as well 
 as by the evident fitness of the thing, and our own long- 
 ing, an appeal was made to sons and friends of the col- 
 lege, which was met by response most cordial and sym- 
 pathetic from various quarters, and gifts which now 
 enrich our art gallery. But there was still another 
 harmony possible. This, so excellent a gift, found 
 a worthy giver and a worthy motive. 
 
 In those days, beginning this half century, when 
 Beloit College sprang from the enthusiasm of those 
 
 52 
 
first settlers, a son was born to a leading spirit in that 
 high peerage. 
 
 Lucius G. Fisher, senior, was a stalwart man in body, 
 mind and spirit, "every inch a man." His heart was 
 in every good interest of Beloit, of the West, of the 
 world, and especially near and dear was the College, 
 which was to him as a first-born daughter sharing his 
 affection with that first-born son. 
 
 In four years more it was the good fortune of the 
 present speaker to meet the first class of that young 
 college reciting in the chamber of the house of that 
 father, while the boy, elsewhere on the premises, was 
 making the important preparations which four-year- 
 olds make, for the day, a few years later, when he too 
 Avas enrolled as a student. Soon after came the great 
 war of liberation, and the boy, with already four hun- 
 dred more of the sons of the college, was in the field 
 taking the opportunity of that great liberal education 
 in the army and navy of his country. 
 
 All this was in the first quarter-century of the young 
 college and of the young man. The closing years of 
 the half -century brought this invaluable presentation 
 of the beginnings of the liberal education of us all, and 
 laid them down at the very door of the young man, 
 who had now come to the meridian of a sagacious and 
 successful business life. There they were admired by 
 the world, and when the question came, who was worthy 
 to receive them, and the consent of judges fit to judge 
 designated the young college, now grown to be a power 
 
 53 
 
and a blessing, the further question arose, Who is 
 worthy to give them ? 
 
 The question could but answer itself. The appeal 
 could not but be made. It could not but be felt, as it 
 was. But impossibilities, apparently inexorable, arose 
 to close the way, as they are wont to close, and so some- 
 times to prepare, the way of true love. Those who had 
 the desire most at heart tried other ways, but a fate, 
 kind in its denying, brought them back on the last 
 day, a bleak November day, to the office of the son, to 
 make no plea, but simply to report their effort and its 
 result. Yet they were strangely cheerful, even in their 
 deep disappointment. And now they found the use 
 shall we say the hidden reason of it all ? For every- 
 thing there is a time and a season. It was his own 
 birthday, his fiftieth birthday. The impossibilities 
 vanished. He said: " We must see this thing through, 
 must we not?" Then he rose and called to his aid 
 that Mercury of the new world, the electricity, which 
 had borne its first telegraphic message, " What hath 
 God wrought? " w T hen our friend was six months old, 
 and now it sprang like a brother to speak for him with 
 the human voice of the telephone, and the "thing'' 
 was through in a few minutes. That first-born son 
 had vindicated his birthright by such a jubilee offer- 
 ing to such a first-born sister, in honor of their com- 
 mon father. 
 
 For himself it was a great opportunity, greatly 
 seized. How those pivotal moments tell upon individ- 
 
 54 
 
ual life as well as upon history! By the very act of 
 his own generous choice he rose on that fiftieth birth- 
 day to that highest grade of liberal education to the 
 character and the standing of a truly liberal man. 
 
 And the College now on her fiftieth birthday 
 bears a priceless garland. Those precious memorials 
 of the beginnings of Greek art and of all our civiliza- 
 tion have a new and great value as the memorial of 
 such a father of Beloit College, from a son who is him- 
 self at once a twin brother, then a son, and now, by 
 that act, a father of the College. Rich beyond account 
 as these relics are as a record of ancient, and an in- 
 structor and inspirer of modern art, they shine also in 
 the good will which gave them, and they will be an 
 inspiration as well as a thanksgiving. 
 
 Fifty roses went to Mr. Fisher that evening. You 
 should have seen that throng of beauty. It was the 
 end of November, but that is Thanksgiving time, and 
 
 * o o 
 
 it has been June ever since. 
 
 Other sons of the fathers and of the College come 
 
 O 
 
 to greet and to emulate. Among them we must name 
 Mr. George C. Walker, a former student and son of a 
 founder of Beloit, whose generous gift provides cabi- 
 nets for the ten thousand art photographs given by 
 Mrs. Emerson, which were the beginning of our Art 
 Collection and Department, but which had hitherto 
 been comparatively useless for the want of such an 
 equipment. 
 
 Most dear to memory, as well as valuable as works 
 
of art, are also the portraits of the Porter and Tank 
 families in our gallery, and the marble bust of our dear 
 Professor Porter, which the love of his pupils has pre- 
 sented to the College. 
 
 Other most desirable objects from the Exposition 
 have been added by other friends. The last has been 
 a cast of Daniel C. French's monument to his brother 
 sculptor, the eminent Martin Milmore, which, by the 
 kind permission and aid of the Director of the Chi- 
 cago Art Institute, the sculptor, and the Milmore fam- 
 ily, we have been enabled to secure. It comes to the 
 College as the gift of the sons or representatives of 
 the fathers of the College, with other sons and long- 
 time friends of the College, on occasion of this jubilee 
 and in view not only of its excellent artistic merit, but, 
 and especially, in view of its classic character, and of 
 its appropriateness as a symbol of all our aspirations 
 and of all our work. 
 
 It represents the sculptor graving the brow of the 
 Sphynx, when his hand is arrested by the Angel Death. 
 The Sphynx riddle of human life comes to us all. We 
 work upon its solution, each as we can, as our fathers 
 did, and then we go as they have gone, each in his 
 time, into that fullness of light where the life shall be 
 made manifest, and we shall be like Him, and shall be 
 satisfied, awaking with His likeness. Meanwhile our 
 work here shall not be lost, but shall have its place in 
 the consummation of all fine art and of all liberal edu- 
 cation. 
 
 56 
 
If anything could add to the good oinen of these 
 gifts, expressing the richest thought and culture of 
 the Old World brought to feed the life of the New, 
 brought by the sons of the founders and the old friends 
 of the College, it Avould be the response already dawn- 
 ing from the morrow, rising as it were from our abo- 
 riginal mounds, in the rich gift of the Logan collection 
 of New World antiques, coming from a representative 
 of the new friends, whom sympathy of aspiration has 
 drawn to our work. Gladly and thankfully will the 
 old builders, and the old teachers of the College, when 
 they have done their utmost for this sacred interest, 
 pass it on to their sons by birth and by affinity, to be 
 borne on from a good past to a better future. 
 
 Between that past and that future these two halls, 
 the Pearsons Hall and the Art Hall, stand as land- 
 marks. Behind them are a throng of edifices full of 
 the devotion and the aspiration of the first half cen- 
 tury, for Beloit College is all builded of living stones. 
 In the center is the original Middle College. Mark 
 her walls to-day, there is not a seam in them; they 
 were men of truth who built them; and the sympathy 
 of the first generation of their sons has put upon them 
 that crown in which that mother structure still sits as 
 queen. In the front rises the chaste Memorial Hall, 
 which enshrines the sorrowing thanks of the College 
 for those first born sons who gave their young lives 
 for their country's life. On the west the Gymnasium 
 records the spontaneous enthusiasm of the younger 
 
 57 
 
sons of the next generation. On the south and the 
 north, recording the confidence of friends who had 
 long watched the College, rise the Scoville Hall, keep- 
 ing a name most honored, and the Chapin Hall, 
 named for our beloved first President by the same gen- 
 erosity which has now builded the Pearsons Hall " in 
 memory of the founders of the college. " While Mr. Wm. 
 Hale, himself a son of Beloit, and others have co- 
 operated so grandly, and the women also have lifted 
 our eyes to heaven by the Observatory as well as by 
 the new Chapel. So nobly has closed the first half 
 century. 
 
 But while the maturing life of the College has com- 
 passed it with this circle of new edifices, the original 
 heart out of which were all those issues of life, has not 
 been left empty and desolate. It is but two years 
 since the Department of Fine Art was inaugurated. 
 It already fills with its stores and its work, not only our 
 former chapel, so hallowed and honored by work, as 
 well as by worship, but the South College also. Of the 
 thousands of objects of various art, there is not one 
 which is not vivid with the living sympathy which 
 gave it. Into such a company comes this grand me- 
 morial gift of Mr. Fisher, and those of the sons of the 
 founders and of the College, who came with him to bring 
 their offerings. Not less than one hundred friends have 
 united in filling these, our halls of memory and of art. 
 The muses are the daughters of memory as well as the 
 mothers of inspiration. As the years go on, this same 
 
 58 
 
sympathy will bear on the Department and the Col- 
 leges. May these riches increase; for the more they 
 increase, the less shall they eclipse the memories 
 blended on this occasion of the fathers of art and the 
 fathers of the College. 
 
 * ** 
 
 After the address of Professor Emerson, Mr. D. A. 
 Knowlton, of the Board of Trustees, rose in the 
 audience and moved that Mr. Fisher be made an 
 Alumnus of the College. The question was put by 
 President Eaton, and the degree of Master of Arts was 
 conferred upon Mr. Fisher by a unanimous rising 
 vote of the Trustees, which was ratified by a like vote 
 of the audience. 
 
 59 
 
a paper on tbe l& Baps, or tbe 
 Beginnings of Beloit 
 
 BY ELLERY B. CRANE. 
 
 Throughout the entire movement that for genera- 
 tions has been pressing westward, reclaiming, develop- 
 ing, and, step by step, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
 spreading civilization and Christianity over this vast 
 territory of ours, there have been at least two sets of 
 pioneers at work one, the dauntless adventurer and 
 reckless speculator who pushes forward to the very 
 yerge or outline of settlements, plants himself in a de- 
 sirable location, and, at the earliest favorable opportu- 
 nity, barters away the claim and moves on another step, 
 to repeat the experiment, thus living continuously on 
 the very frontier, or crest of the tidal wave of civiliza- 
 tion ; the other, the veritable pioneer, who goes out 
 as an actual settler, filled with the noble purpose of es- 
 tablishing a home, with the various institutions that 
 sublime word in its broadest sense is supposed to 
 represent, including churches and schools necessary 
 and indispensable adjuncts to good society. To this 
 rule the settlement of Beloit was no exception. The 
 two classes were here to be found. But the seekers 
 and lovers of adventure soon made their exit, moving 
 on toward further conquests, while the actual settlers 
 
 61 
 
were left free to lay the foundations of a New England 
 town; for the persons composing the company that im- 
 migrated to the spot, were representatives of the true 
 New England family blood. Reared, as they had been, 
 upon the rugged hills and steril-e soil of that section 
 of our country, their early training and experience 
 seemed to completely equip them for their undertaking 
 in this then far West. At the coming of our fathers to 
 this beautiful, yet unreclaimed region, the Territory of 
 Wisconsin extended from the waters of Lake Michigan 
 on the east, northward and westward, and held within 
 its limits what is now the State of Wisconsin, the State 
 of Iowa, Minnesota and portions of the Dakotas. Out 
 of this vast area only six counties had been organized, 
 with a total population of about twenty-two thousand, 
 about one-half of which were residing west of the Mis- 
 sissippi River. The Territorial Government had been 
 organized, and the first meeting of their Legislature, 
 which convened October 25, 1836, at Belmont, a place 
 about seventy miles west of Rock River, had been held, 
 at which session five counties were set off west of the 
 Mississippi, and fifteen east of that river, Rock County 
 being one of the latter number. Owing, possibly, to 
 certain claims held by the Indians, and the hostility 
 displayed by them, the white settlers had been loath 
 to assume the risk of entering upon the territory in 
 question ; but the removal of Black Hawk and his fol- 
 lowers served as a signal for a general westward march. 
 
 The second session of the Legislature was held at 
 
 62 
 
Burlington, Iowa (then in Wisconsin), beginning No- 
 vember 6, 1837, at which the charter for the Beloit 
 Seminary was obtained during the following month. 
 
 In the autumn of the year 1836, while many of the 
 population were struggling for existence under the 
 weight of a heavy financial depression which was then, as 
 now, hanging like a dark cloud over this country, some 
 of the good people of the little town of Colebrook, Coos 
 County, New Hampshire, caught the sound of those 
 words, which subsequently were echoed by that famous 
 journalist, also a native of New Hampshire, Horace 
 Greeley, " Young man, go West." Finally so many 
 persons within that hamlet became interested in the 
 western movement, that a meeting was called, and in 
 October of that year a company was organized, which 
 has been known as the New England Emigrating Com- 
 pany. Dr. Horace White, father of one of the early 
 graduates of this College, was chosen the agent for in- 
 specting certain locations at the West, and to select a 
 spot suitable to accommodate this party of New Eng- 
 land representatives. If, perchance, all could not trace 
 their lineage from the precious freight brought over in 
 the Mayflower, a large majority of them were out of the 
 " Puritan stock of Massachusetts and Connecticut, prin- 
 cipally from the latter state, and had been reared in the 
 good old Puritan fashion, in the fear of God and the 
 love of man, although they wished to be reasonably 
 sure that the man believed as they did. Three mem- 
 bers of this company took up their journey westward 
 
 63 
 
almost immediately; but the cold weather, with the 
 meager conveniences for travel,combined to hinder their 
 progress, so that it was Thursday, the 9th of March, 
 1837, that Otis P. Bicknell and K. P. Crane, first mem- 
 bers of the company to tread the spot, arrived, Dr. 
 White reaching here a few days later. 
 
 The following season others came, and the work of 
 plowing, planting and fencing, was conducted by some, 
 while the task of providing shelter was assumed by 
 others. There were no Pullman trains or floating pal- 
 aces in those days. Each person or family made their 
 way to the new country as best they could. Some went 
 from Colebrook to Burlington, Vermont, by private 
 team, thence by steamboat on Lake Champlain to 
 White Hall, New York, from there to Buffalo by 
 canal boat, then up Lake Erie by steamer to Detroit, 
 Michigan, thence by private team across the country, 
 and around the southern end of Lake Michigan to Chi- 
 cago, and on to Beloit, requiring three to four weeks in 
 which to complete the journey. Several, not stopping 
 at Detroit, continued by boat around the lakes to Mil- 
 waukee or Chicago, thence by team from there. At the 
 junction of Turtle Creek and Rock River was found a log 
 house occupied by Caleb Blodgett and his family, and 
 a small hut containing the personal effects of a French- 
 man, who was conducting something of a trade with the 
 Indians. Mr. Blodgett, with one or two others, had 
 located claims, and a sawmill was in process of erection. 
 As soon as Dr. White arrived, it was decided to plant 
 
 64 
 
the colony here. Negotiations were at once concluded 
 with the first claimants for certain rights in the land, 
 and the village began to grow with a speed measured 
 only by the capacity of the sawmill (which was soon com- 
 pleted) to supply lumber for the construction of shan- 
 ties and the better class of dwellings. The original 
 idea of the company was to establish a village where till- 
 ing of the soil was to be the chief occupation of its in- 
 habitants. But the western fever had been, and was 
 then, sweeping like an epidemic over the eastern 
 country, and arrivals came pouring in, creating an un- 
 expected and surprising demand for building lots. 
 
 True to their early training, and imitating the ex- 
 ample given them by their fathers, both the meeting- 
 house and the school-house received prompt attention. 
 But before a building could be provided for church 
 services, religious meetings were held in private 
 homes; and before the inhabitants were fully able to 
 support a minister, Rev. Wm. M. Adams, then settled 
 at Pecatonica (now Rockton), was employed, December 
 30, 1838, to act as pastor, preaching in Beloit each 
 alternate Sabbath. After a faithful service of two 
 years, he was succeeded by Rev. Dexter Clary, who be- 
 came the settled pastor over the Congregational Church, 
 then already organized. In August, 1839, the village 
 numbered about two hundred inhabitants, and meet- 
 ings were being held in the town school-house, which 
 had been raised and boarded, but was not completed 
 until time for beginning of the winter term, the 
 
 65 
 
public school having been conducted in a private house 
 the previous winter. 
 
 The place could now boast of one tavern, two stores, 
 a few comfortable dwellings, painted white, (although 
 many of the inhabitants were yet living in rude 
 shanties), a tinsmith, a cabinet-maker, two tailors and 
 a blacksmith. Twenty-eight buildings (including one 
 store) were erected during the season of 1840. But 
 the growth of the place was not confined entirely to 
 things material. The village was visited with a re- 
 markable spiritual development. Through the medium 
 of a revival of religion, twenty -five conversions were 
 reported, Dr. Horace White among the number. At 
 this time stages were running regularly from Chicago 
 westward, through Rockford. A public conveyance also 
 left Beloit Friday of each week, returning the following 
 day, the fare being one dollar each way. Early as the 
 winter of 1840 and 1841 there were three regularly 
 located religious societies, Congregational, Episco- 
 palian and Methodist, with preaching alternately half 
 a day; while a minister of the Baptist denomination 
 preached at five o'clock every fourth Sabbath. 
 
 April 5, 1842, the first regular town-meeting was 
 held at the district school-house. One of the donors 
 of land for the College site, Hazen Cheney, Esq., was 
 chairman ; Edwin Bicknell, clerk. The necessary list 
 of town officers was chosen, and out of that number 
 but one is now living, Mr. Alexander Douglas. The 
 village had now grown to contain ninety-three build- 
 
 66 
 
ings, including four dry goods stores, three groceries, 
 three blacksmith shops, one tin and one cooper shop, 
 one carding mill, three school houses, a ladies' sem- 
 inary and a flourishing temperance society, numbering 
 nearly one hundred members. 
 
 Because the good ladies of the village have not been 
 specially mentioned in connection with the progress 
 already cited, they by no means had been inactive, for 
 during the summer of 1838, they organized a sewing 
 society for the purpose of accumulating a library, in 
 which enterprise they were successful. 
 
 The following summer they purchased a pall cloth, 
 and in the fall of 1841 they instituted a fair for the 
 sale of various articles, made for the occasion, the pro- 
 ceeds of which amounted to $140, and were used to 
 purchase a bell for the Female Seminary. The build- 
 ing for that institution not having been erected, the 
 bell was placed on the town school-house, which stood 
 at the northeast corner of School and Prospect Streets, 
 and in April, 1842, they began the accumulation of 
 money with which to purchase a communion set. The 
 ladies of the village were, nearly all of them, attached 
 to the Congregational society, which was much the 
 largest and most prosperous of the four religious socie- 
 ties then existing here, and they had become noted for 
 their thrift and perseverance in assisting to build and 
 strengthen the institutions which the entire inhabitants 
 were so deeply interested in. In addition to their 
 various other undertakings at this time they raised 
 
 67 
 
sixty dollars, one-half of which was presented to the 
 minister who assisted during two revival seasons, the 
 other half being used to make their pastor (Rev. Dexter 
 Clary) a life member of the Home Missionary Society. 
 
 But these good people were not satisfied ev.en with 
 their public and private schools and prosperous church 
 societies. They wanted a college, a place for impart- 
 ing a higher and more complete education, and, above 
 all, they hoped to supply an institution that should be 
 instrumental in some measure in christianizing the 
 world. Possibly the idea originated with Father Clary, 
 who, with Rev. Stephen Peet, was untiring in his 
 efforts to encourage the inhabitants to lend support 
 toward the establishment of such an institution. 
 What an anxious period in the history of this little 
 village was then inaugurated! How the friends of the 
 movement labored with themselves and each other, all 
 realizing the vast importance of the movement! All 
 seemed willing to give ; but what could they contribute ? 
 The meager supply of money brought from the granite 
 hills had been exhausted. Their entire investment was 
 in land, some holding an inconsiderable quantity of 
 that, and beyond the income from their daily toil, that 
 investment was the only hope of supply, should cal- 
 amity befall them. Many were the prayers offered 
 both in public and in private, asking for guidance in 
 the path of duty and proper action. 
 
 Among those whose names appear upon the deed 
 conveying the land for the college none was more 
 
 68 
 
active and earnest than Deacon Hoi-ace Hobart. He 
 was thoroughly interested, and gave considerable time, 
 interviewing the towns people and impressing them 
 with the vast importance of securing a location for the 
 college, and possibly through his efforts more than of 
 any other person (unless it be Father Clary), this spot 
 of land was secured. It may be remembered that six of 
 the eight signers were bound together by family ties, 
 and that the spirit of Rev. Peter Pruden, first pastor 
 of the church at Milford, Conn., may have prompted 
 their action in this matter. Deacon Hobart was an 
 exceedingly active and valuable man in the community. 
 His integrity and ready discernment between right 
 and wrong made him a valuable counselor and a leader. 
 
 The venerable Deacon Peter Field, father-in-law of 
 Deacon Hobart, was too far advanced in years to take 
 any active part in the management of public matters, 
 having attained the age of three score and ten at the 
 time of signing the deed; yet he lived to see the college 
 he had helped to plant, to grow to a prosperous and 
 flourishing condition. He died October 20, 1856. 
 
 Mr. Alfred L. Field, son of the last mentioned, en- 
 tered heartily into the life of the village, and became 
 one of the most successful of its inhabitants. His 
 arrival in July, 1837, in charge of a four-ox team, laden 
 with pork and flour, was a most welcome event. He 
 was diligent, applying his hand to anything that was 
 needed to be done. Such action is always rewarded 
 by success. In 1838 he, in company with his brother - 
 
 69 
 
in-law, James Lusk, built a store on the southwest cor- 
 ner of State and Kace Streets, and supplied it with the 
 most complete stock of merchandise kept in the village. 
 He was the second postmaster, and, with Mr. Lusk, im- 
 proved the upper water-power on Turtle Creek; built 
 and furnished the flouring-mill at the eastern end 
 of School Street; became an extensive land owner and 
 a prosperous merchant, as well as an honored and re- 
 spected citizen. He came to his death, while yet in the 
 prime of life, through an accident in attempting to board 
 a train while the cars were in motion. 
 
 Mr. James Lusk, brother of Mr. Alfred Field's wife, 
 came to Beloit in 1838 as a merchant. After a resi- 
 dence of a few years, the store of Field & Lusk was 
 sold, and Mr. Lusk returned to Connecticut, his former 
 home. 
 
 Mr. Lucius G. Fisher, son-in-law of Deacon Peter 
 Field, came first to Beloit from Milwaukee, in July, 
 1837, and after a brief stay returned to that place. In 
 February, 1838, he again appeared in Beloit, and, March 
 31, purchased a building lot, and assisted his father, 
 Geo. Fisher, in erecting a house on Pleasant Street, near 
 the river. The following year he built a house for his 
 own use, next south of that of his father. Mr. Fisher 
 was a gentleman of genteel but commanding presence. 
 He brought from Milwaukee the first stoves that were 
 placed on sale in the village. For a year or two he was 
 engaged in the manufacture of lumber, and sub- 
 sequently became an operator in real estate, having the 
 
 70 
 
care of several extensive tracts of land owned by non- 
 resident speculators, among them Major Philip Kear- 
 ney. He was an active member of the first Board of 
 Trustees of Beloit College. Mr. Fisher was also en- 
 gaged with David J. Bundy and Israel Cheney, Jr., as 
 dealers in general merchandise, but later became asso- 
 ciated with Mr. Winchester in the hardware trade. In 
 all his business ventures success seemed to follow him. 
 The last years of his life were passed in Chicago. 
 
 Major Philip Kearney was a native of New York City, 
 born June 2, 18 15; graduated at Columbia, and studied 
 law, but. preferring the life of a soldier, became First 
 Lieutenant in the First Dragoons under command of 
 his uncle, Col. S. W. Kearney. 
 
 In 1839 he was sent to Europe by our War Depart- 
 ment to study cavalry tactics, entering the French Cav- 
 alry School. After six months training he enlisted, 
 and took part in several engagements in Algiers. In 
 1840 he returned to the United States and was ap- 
 pointed Aid to Gen. Macomb; afterward was on the 
 staff of Gen. Winfield Scott. He served through the war 
 with Mexico, where he lost his left arm. At the close 
 of this war he was breveted Major. In 1851 he went to 
 California and Oregon, but soon resigned his commis- 
 sion. 
 
 The year 1859 found him serving with the French 
 army in Italy. Soon after the outbreak of our Civil 
 War, he tendered his services to our government, and 
 was made Brigadier-general of volunteers, rendering 
 
 71 
 
important service in many engagements. July 7, 1862, 
 he was promoted Major-general of volunteers. A short 
 time after the second battle of Bull Run, September 1, 
 while reconnoitering at Chantilly, he entered the Con- 
 federate lines and was killed.. 
 
 Hazen Cheney was the son of Israel Cheney, Sr., who 
 came to Beloit from Lunenburgh, Essex County, Vt., 
 July, 1838, having, December 27, 1837, purchased the 
 entire interest of Leonard Hatch, of Stratford, N. H., 
 a member of the New England Emigrating Company. 
 Hazen Cheney was by profession a lawyer, and one of 
 the earliest of that class of citizens to settle here, a con- 
 temporary with David Noggle, John Hackett, Mathew 
 Hale Carpenter, John M. Keep, Judge Mills, S. H. 
 Rockwell, S. J. Todd, and others prominent in their 
 profession. .Mr. Cheney was not of a robust nature, 
 yet exeedingly cheerful, heartily enjoying a good joke. 
 About 1860 he removed to Denver, Colo., where lie 
 died in January, 1877, aged sixty-nine years. 
 
 The name of Robert Prudden Crane completes the 
 list of donors of the site for the College. He was a 
 native of Colebrook, N. H. His mother, daughter of 
 Capt. Fletcher Prudden of Bethlehem, Conn., was a 
 sister to the wife of Deacon Peter Field. At the age of 
 sixteen, Mr. Crane was left with the entire management 
 of the farm on which the family (consisting of four 
 persons) lived, and from which they apparently must 
 derive their support. Out of a few weeks' attendance 
 at the country school during the winter sessions he 
 
 72 
 
obtained what little education he possessed. Thirst- 
 ing for more knowledge, he employed a neighbor to 
 see to the care of his duties at home during two or 
 three winters, while he improved the time at the Lan- 
 caster Academy, some fifty miles distant from Cole- 
 brook. At Lancaster he paid for his board and tuition 
 by sawing wood and doing chores about the town. 
 Passing a successful examination, he received a recom- 
 mendation from the preceptor as a teacher, and for sev- 
 eral years taught school during winter seasons, work- 
 ing on the farm and at carpentry the remaining portion 
 of the time. April, 1836, the farm was sold for $325, 
 and after the family reached their western home, a 
 very small portion of the family capital was left 
 with which to purchase land, even at $1.25 per acre, 
 the government price. The moment the location was 
 selected, Mr. Crane, at the solicitation of Dr. White, the 
 agent of the company, applied himself with all possible 
 zeal in making ready for the coming of their associates, 
 and from that time forward until his death he pursued 
 the occupation of a carpenter and builder. No one 
 was more earnest than he in laboring for the establish- 
 ment of the church and the building up of a com- 
 munity that should walk in the fear of God. 
 
 73 
 
THIS BOOK WAS PRINTED 
 
 AND BOUND BY 
 
 P. F. PETTIBONE & CO., 
 
 CHICAGO. 
 
 MDCCCXCIV. 
 
EXHIBIT OF GREEK CASTS AT WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 
 
1. Relief from the "Lion Gate" at Mycenae. This relief, perhaps the most ancient work of 
 sculpture in Greece, is still in position over the lintel of the principal gate of the citadel of 
 Mycenae. The missing heads were made separately and attached. 
 
 33. Female head, from the sanctuary of Hera (Juno), near Argos. 
 
 35. Torso of a Nike, probably from the same source as No. 33. 
 
 87. Hound, serving as a grave monument, and still in the Dipylon cemetery. 
 
 1O7. Head of Medusa, in the Museum at Argos. 
 
19. Large bas-relier, found at Eleusis and representing the goddesses especially worshiped 
 there, Demeter (Ceres) and Persephone (Proserpina), with the young Triptolemos between 
 them. This work, executed about the middle of the fifth century, is of great artistic merit, and 
 is made especially noteworthy by its profoundly religious character. In this respect it may 
 be compared with the paintings of the great Italian artists before Raphael. 
 
 20. Relief from the Acropolis of Athens, representing Athena (Minerva); the so-called " Mourn- 
 ing Athena." 
 
 22. Slab from the Parthenon frieze, belonging near the middle of the east front. It represents 
 three seated divinities, Poseidon (Neptune) and perhaps Dionysos (Bacchus) and Peitho. 
 
 26. Sculptured block from the Erechtheum. 
 
 27. Statuette of Athena (Minerva), found at Athens in 1859. It owes its celebrity to the fact that 
 it was the first to be recognized as a copy, though an imperfect one. of the gold and ivory 
 statue of Athena by Phidias. Since its discovery other copies have been recognized in sev- 
 eral European Museums. 
 
 28. Statuette of Athena (Minerva), found at Athens in 1880. It is a copy, made in the Roman 
 period, of the gold and ivory statue of Athena by Phidias. This statuette is inferior to the 
 preceding one in omitting the reliefs on the pedestal and the shield, but is in other respects 
 more exact. 
 
 89. Votive relief of the class known as "Funeral Banquets." This one goes under the name of 
 "The Death of Socrates." 
 
 89. Colossal head of Athena (Minerva), found at Athens; an interesting copy, made probably in 
 the third century, of the original represented by the Velletri Pallas. 
 
23-24. Two slabs from the balustrade originally surrounding the temple of Nike Apteros 
 (Wingless Victory) on the Athenian Acropolis. On the first is a Nike standing erect; on the 
 second, another Nike untying her sandal. 
 
 26. Sculptured block from the Erechtheum. 
 
 82. Grave relief, still in the Dipylon cemetery, commemorating Dexileos, who, according to the 
 accompanying inscription, fell in battle in 394 B C., in the twentieth year of his age. He is 
 represented on horseback, in the act of striking down an enemy. 
 
 83. Grave relief, still in the Dipylon cemetery, commemorating Demetria and Pamphile. 
 
 94. Colossal statue of Poseidon (Neptune) found on the island of Melos. This statue is not 
 distinguished for delicacy in the rendering of details. The artist has aimed rather at gen- 
 eral effectiveness, and in that he has succeeded. The work seems to belong to the Hellenistic 
 period. A trident is to be restored in the right hand. 
 
 1O8-1O9. Two reliefs found in the Dionysiac theatre at Athens, representing dancing women; 
 Roman period. 
 
19. End of Eleusis relief. 
 
 21. Statue of a youth, from the Acropolis of Athens. 
 
 22. End of Slab of Parthenon frieze. 
 
 24. End of slab from balustrade of Nike Apteros. 
 
 26. Sculptured block from the Erechtheum. 
 
 49. Nereid from Epidaurus, perhaps an acroterlum of the temple of Asclepius. 
 
 58. Hermes (Mercury) with the infant Dionysus (Bacchus), an original work of Praxiteles, found 
 at Olympia, and now in the museum there. Hermes' right leg from knee to ankle and left 
 lower leg and foot have been, in the original, restored in plaster. In his right hand he held 
 some object, perhaps a bunch of grapes. This is the only authenticated original sculpture by 
 Praxiteles in existence, and is an unrivaled specimen of Greek art in the fourth century B. C. 
 
 69. 
 
 82. 
 83. 
 87. 
 89. 
 
 94. 
 97. 
 
 102 
 108 
 
 110 
 
 Large piece of drapery ornamented with figures and decorative patterns in relief, from the 
 temple of Despoina (Persephone), at Lycosura in Arcadia. The sculptor was Damophon, a 
 Messenian artist, who flourished toward the middle of the fourth century. 
 End of grave relief, commemorating Dexileos. 
 
 Grave relief, still in the Dipylon cemetery, commemorating Demetria and Pamphile. 
 Hound, serving as a grave monument, and still in the Dipylon cemetery. 
 Votive relief of the class known as " Funeral Banquets." This one goes under the name of 
 " The Death of Socrates." 
 
 Colossal statue of Poseidon (Neptune), found on the island of Melos. 
 Hermes, found at Trcezen in Argolis. This is an excellent work of the Roman period, after a 
 model of the fourth century. By the side of the god is a ram, which he grasps by the horns. 
 , Bust of the Emperor Hadrian, second century, A. D. ) from Athens. 
 
 -1O9. Two reliefs found in the Dionysiac theater at Athens, representing dancing women; 
 Roman period. 
 
 , Bust of Hermarchus, disciple and successor of Epicurus. 
 
25. Slab from the balustrade originally surrounding the temple of Nike Apteros. Two Nikes 
 
 leading a cow or bull to sacrifice. 
 
 GO, Youthful male head, above life size, found at Eleusis: an admirable work of the fourth century 
 61. Head closely resembling the foregoing, also from Eleusis. 
 68. Fragment of colossal head from the temple of Desponia at Lycosura, representin the Titan 
 
 Anytos. 
 
 75. Grave relief from the Dipylon cemetery at Athens, representing a seated woman clasping 
 
 the hand of a young man: between the two a bearded man. 
 93. Colossal statue of Themis (Justice), found at Rhammus in Attica. It is the work of one 
 
 Chaerestratus, who lived about the beginning of the tnird century B.C.; one of the most 
 
 important sculptures of the National Museum at Athens. 
 1O1. Youth from Athens In the proportions and form of the body and in the somewhat 
 
 archaistic style, tnis statue resembles the Orestes by Stephanus in the Villa Albani, Rome. 
 
78. Grave relief, found near Athens, representing two women, a bearded man and a young girl. 
 
PROF. JOSEPH EMERSON SITTING AMONG THE PIECES OF GREEK SCULPTURE AS THEY WERE 
 UNPACKED, AND STUDYING UPON THEIR RECONSTRUCTION. JANUARY, 1894. 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 AN INITIAL FINE~OF 25 CENTc; 
 
 OVERDul! N E SEV ENTH DAY 
 
 OCT 18 1933 
 
 LD 21-50m-l,'j 
 
eofof 
 
 A/B 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY