and plans of 1844 had been abandoned, till a Freshman class should be formed, and this was not possible till September, 1850.* The Territory was so far behind Illinois and Wisconsin in settlement, that almost nothing could be spared out of the poverty of the people. In 1846 the home missionary founders, after having paid their own first pledges, raised $100 each" through private friends at the East;" they gave $400 again in 1849, and something more in 1850, and in the five years, 1849-1853, contributed from their pitiful incomes $2,000. Their noble wives shared largely in the needful sacrifices. "The plan actually adopted," says the author of the unique little volume, "The Iowa Band," "involved beginning at the very lowest round of the ladder, whence every step upward was of necessity by the hardest." Meantime they saw the spot once selected by their committee,-where the proceeds of the land were to constitute a college fund, and "colonists favorable to the enterprise" gathered,-occupied by one of the most flourishing towns in the State, on one of the earliest and most important railroads, near one of the finest water-powers between the two great rivers. Twelve or more tedious years were to pass ere the young college was to find its future home in an inland town, beyond the reach of railroads, settled on their original and frustrated plan, which would at once have secured just such a community and a foundation as that of Knox and other colleges. In the years of waiting, a few hundred dollars were obtained for current expenses from the East, and at last, in 1853, the first considerable gift for endowment, $5,080, from Deacon P. W. Carter, of Waterbury, Conn., for the professorship of Greek. A later benefactor of the same town,

* A class of six.

The weakness of infant colleges at the West is illustrated by the scale of salaries. The first professor, Rev. E. Ripley (deceased), had from 1848 to 1853, $500 per annum. In 1853 his salary, and in 1854 those of other professors, were raised to $600, and in 1863 to $800. That of lady principal was also fixed at $300, and that of president at $1,000. The statement Professor Bushnell-just deceasedmade at the Beloit Quarter Centennial Anniversary, could not be made in this "The early instructors in this college were not at any time called to endure those privations-and harrassings of debt,-and heart-soreness of hopes deferred which have entered into the early history of some Western colleges. From the outset, the salaries, though small, have been promptly paid, and were sufficient for their present necessities, and the early work of the college, though laborious, was not trying." Fortunate Faculty! Fortunate Beloit !

case.

Deacon Aaron Benedict-just deceased-has within three years past completed the endowment of the professorship of Latin, $20,000, the first professorship endowed, and this amount is the largest contribution thus far paid by one benefactor. Another professorship has recently been endowed by the people of the State,—the "Memorial Professorship of Mathematics," and Hon. Samuel Williston, of Easthampton, Mass., has, since 1863, pledged the full endowment of the Presidency, $30,000.

But scarcely was the college in operation before doubts of the wisdom of its location as a permanent one began to arise. In June, 1854, the Faculty raised the question of removal. The community was not interested in education; little was given after the first scanty donation. Streets were again and again thrust through the center of the grounds, where the public convenience did not demand thoroughfares-a removal to a new campus proving fruitless to escape the annoyance (1858). In July of the former year, proposals had already been made from gentlemen about to start a new community in Poweshiek County, at the center of the State, for the removal of the college thither, and a committee of the Trustees had reported in favor of it. The "College Society" was proposing in its annual reports to finish up its work in the eastern part of the Great Valley, and "cross the Father of Waters;" but, instead, was undertaking a work in California and Oregon. Only a few hundred dollarspart of the "arrears" or unpaid appropriations of former years, -could be obtained from that source. The Trustees and Faculty struggled heroically against discouragement. A new stone college edifice was erected on the new campus (1855-6), at a cost of $22,000. Funds were raised for this purpose in the State. Meantime the people in Poweshiek County, confident the college would sometime be removed, had, six months after their proposals to the Trustees, organized a literary fund, to which the proceeds of town lots were to be devoted, and a year later (December, 1855), entered upon a college organization. This was first styled "The People's College," but subsequently, in deference to the aspiring notions of the West, the title was changed to a "University." Some eight residents of the little hamlet, now named from its founder, Grinnell, were elected professors,

and in May, 1856, a building was commenced. In 1858 it was found impossible to carry on the college at Davenport: the treasurer proved dishonest and wasted funds, the professors resigned, offers of new sites were made by several towns,—that of Grinnell including twenty acres of land and the partly finished building,-and this was finally, after long deliberation, accepted. The proposed "University" had never opened any of its departments. There was no probability of its being recognized as a second Congregational college if it did, but by absorbing it, a divisive movement would be forestalled, and the original policy of "one college for Iowa" be carried out; a central geographical position would be secured in the midst of a small but homogeneous, intelligent, sympathizing, and exceptionally moral and religious community. These considerations were sufficient to overbalance larger offers in money value elsewhere; yet the little village of less than four hundred gave a total bonus of $25,000. On this basis the College, drawing in steadily a like class of population, and two railroads—running north and south, and east and west,-making it the most central college town in the State,-has made as a home for itself a town of six times that number, of which the late Horace Greeley gave the following characteristic testimony in a letter to the Tribune, after his visit in September, 1871:

"Scholarly parents have migrated hither from the East, in order to secure the best instruction for their children. And I doubt if there is a spot on earth better suited to their purpose. For Grinnell has one advantage, as the site of a college, over any other within my range of observation, in that no glass of alcoholic liquor is, or ever was, sold here. It has no "barroom," no "saloon," lager beer or otherwise, no resort of tipplers, even in the most respectable stage of their downward progress. Need I add that Grinnell has no paupers, no loafers, no ruffians, no brawlers, and that her people are equal in morality, intelligence, and culture to any community on earth."

That the college founders did not plant the institution in 1847-8 in such a community, is simply owing to the fact that none existed. That they did not then look to the geographical center of Iowa was simply because that was then, and for years, Indian country.

The act of Congress of 1845, proposing State boundaries, ran the western line just beyond the Des Moines River, and left out the whole "Missouri Slope," and was therefore rejected by the people. The present State is about as old as the college organization; but when both began, a narrow strip of popula tion along the Mississippi and through the two southern tiers of counties was all; and the "Father of Rivers" continued to be for years the only means of communication between distant sections. Davenport was at that time by far the most central, as well as the most beautiful place for the "college for Iowa;" and it was wisest,-it was the only thing to be done,-to place it there till Providence directed otherwise.

As early as January, 1857, steps were taken for the admission. of young ladies. Parents in sympathy with the college could not afford a seminary education for their daughters at the East, and could not obtain it in their own State. A female seminary could not be founded in Iowa for utter lack of means; the existence of the college, even, being in doubt. The Trustees had not undertaken any rigid, prescriptive style of higher education, though purposing to follow generally the New England college plan,most of them being graduates of the best-known colleges of New England. There was no other way for securing the desired education for young ladies but by opening the college. The principle stated by President Mann, of Antioch, in a letter to one of their number, seemed reasonable," association under supervision,-non-association without it." Yet they were less clear about admitting girls to the Preparatory Department than to the collegiate; and while they opened the latter, they committed their admission to the former to the discretion of the Faculty. On removing to Grinnell all departments were opened for the future, and besides, a three-years' seminary course established. The local project at Grinnell had contemplated, from the first draft of a plan in 1855, "a female department which shall be modeled in its domestic arrangements and in its general course of instruction after the Mount Holyoke institution at South Hadley, Mass.," and its members "shall enjoy all the educational advantages of the male department." It was the building for this department which was commenced and transferred to the college. Experience has 30

VOL. XXXII.

amply ratified the action of the Trustees. Forty-two young men and fifty-three young ladies have pursued college courses;* and of the latter forty-eight have passed through the threeyears' "Ladies Course," and five the classical course. It is probable that more ladies will graduate from the latter hereafter.

In 1867 the Scientific Course was extended from three to four years, and made fully co-ordinate with the Classical. Here, again, the Trustees did not feel tied to any rigid precedent. They were ready to admit that a four-years' course, containing as much of everything save ancient languages, and more of mathematics and science than that which they had themselves pursued, can yield a thorough mental discipline and a "liberal" education. For some minds, experience has shown this is best, while for others the classic curriculum, especially as improved by the progress of philology, is by far the best. In both courses, thorough drill in modern languages and in the latest results of metaphysical philosophy is intended,-as well as in English philology when the funds and appointments of the college allow. But it was not judged wise to separate the Scientific Course from the other,—constituting a distinct undergraduate department or scientific college. Considerable association together, recitation in common in many branches and under the same instructors, it was found, would yield scientific students a liberal influence of classic culture, and lead classical students to do justice to science. Common rhetorical and religious exercises were also deemed of cardinal importance. Even more than classical students, those pursuing by election the sciences are, at the present day, exposed to the temptation of undervaluing and abjuring religion, and nothing can make amends for their being separated from the religious life of the college. A body of thoroughly evangelical scientific men are of incalculable value in any State or nation. The students of the exclusively scientific schools, it is also noticed, neglect rhetoric and literature generally. And they fall into the mere utilitarian view of such languages as French, German, and English, though they be part of their curriculum, unless they are kept in close association with those who study language with

* Including this month's graduates.