The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-12-15
THE STATE UNIVERSITY ROW.
PROFESSOR GAY AND THEODORE
TILTON.

A FAIR ATTEMPT TO CRACK THAT
MUTT.
THE STORY OF A TEACHERS T~RoUBLEs-THE
INSIDE HISTORY OF A GREAT INSTITUTION
PRAISE y CENsURE SCATTERED WITH A
LAVISH HAND-A FACULTY.
To the Editor of the Sentinel:
SIR: Ca Sunday, the 10Th inst, as appears
by the date at the head of his article, Cyrus
Nutt,D. D., LII, d. president of the Indiana
State University at Bloomington, and who
lives only a few doors distant on the same
street sat down to write an attack upon me
which ne seems to have thought would
quite dem.lish me. We know not at what
hour this unfraternal work was begun, but
we know that it was on the blessed Sabbath
day. IL might have been Just as a little
company of Christian people in Trinity
Chapel were sending up this petition: "We
beseech Thee to forgive our enemies, per-
secutOrs and slanderers, and to turn their
hearts" With thoughts like these we begin
the unwslc)me task Of reviewing the
doctors
REPORT CONCERNING HIS BRoTHER
A prominent citizen of the state, who has
for many years lived beside the doctor, said
to me on one occasion. 81 have long known
that DIR. u has little or no regard for
ITlLE.F Il bDOuHub bnO CAPAOoohOh % hesAV
hard at the time, but the longer l
have known him the more given to misrep-
resentatiOn does he seem to be. Before /
have done with him 1 think / will be able
to show that in some matters it seems very
hard for him to tell the truth.
When be now saws 'there was no con-
nec.ion between my resignation and the
Tilton affair." he ought to recollect what he
told Prot. Parrot aboutit, i. g., il be is to
be believed in a letter 1 had from him in
August, 1872. In that he says, "Dr. Mutt
and Prof. Wylie both spoke OF you In the
kindest terms. and implied that the great
trouble was the Tilton affair which turned
so many Of the students against you" The
doctors memory seems to Detailing. Again,
how does he know hat / Unanswered and
t~raversed the state to obtain
tiOns, and secured some from several of the
Judges of $h Supreme Court? Who were
the several? i had but one. Again, L
never came near Bloomington or the
recitation rooms until the second day of
the term" This is not correct, for If his
memory were not at fault again he would
remember that 1 was in Bloomington and
in the recitation rooms soon after my cleo
ton in November, 1871. l arrived
in b. to go to work on the morning OF
the first day, and not in the evening. The
recitatiOns did not begin until the next day,
January 3. He speaks of my traversing the
state again. This whole traversing amounted
W 1hOlk NOAA ~ AAANH 4OAAO
Haute and Indianapolis. / went nowhere
else; and as to what L said in Terre Haute, it
amounted to something like this: That 81
had been informed that there were 400 stu
dents in Bloomington, and it was g reproach
to us (~Episcopalians) that during all these
AZ years of the existence of the
State University there, we had pro-
vided no church for our youth and our
people living there" 1t was the farthest
thing possible from my thoughts to say that
there were no churches there. This is so
plain that il is scarcely worth while to
dwell longer on it. The authority for this
statement is a gentleman who held such re-
latiOns to me and to the university that he
ought to hsve spoken to me long ago, and
had his mind disabused in relation to it.
AGAIN, 1T Is UTTERLY UNTRUE
that my mode of teaching was to direct some
N Of tine class to read from the text
book the lesson for the day, and then ques-
ton the class on it. If so disposed, this was
utterly impracticable in rhetoric and logic.
In these, instruction was given IN the
usual way. But in Cleveland's Compen-
dunn of English Literature, our text book,
there was large provision made for reading,
and the class read for the sake of reading,
after all the dates, places, works of the au-
thor, ETC., were first recited as a lesson with
closed books. Had we had Hart, in whom
there were no extracts for reading, there
would have been none. But in Cleveland
where so large and so many extracts were
placed for class-reading, it was unavoidable,
and desirable, too. Be this IS it may, several
of that class told me only last year that tLey
had derived more pleasure and profit from
that study with me than from any other in
their sophomore year. At the end of the
year Prot. Houghton, who was the exam.
liner, gave me a testimonial, from which ]
take a single extract: II beg this opportu.
nifty to say that the Examination papers
which 1 Investigated exhibited thorough
ness on the part of the student, and care and
attention on the part of the professor; and
that the latter has, with much diligence on
his part. given to the class a good knowl-
edge of that interesting and difficult study
entitled English Literature" In a number
of the Student" our college paper, for
June, 1872, there appears a resolution passed
by the sophomore class, in these words,
''Tha it would be nothing more than proper
and just that we pay u good and esteemed
professor a tribute of respect by rendering
him a vote of thanks for his fOrbearanct
and his unceasing efforts in teaching us this
most important branch OF our college course
with so much efficiency and satisfaction tC
us ALL" This resolution was passed unani
mously. Now. in view of this resolution
and Prof. Houghton's testimonial, and she
oft repeated remark of several of that class
afterward, as to how much they enjoyed
and were benefited by my instruction in
Enghsn LiteIaIuIe, IL must De eViuenI INA
''they bore with me and worried along
right pleasantly to the end of the year. In
relation to the logic class, i did ask to bs
relieved from it because i was sick at tn,
time, and during nearly the whole of tn,
winter term. L came here sick. Had haC
chills at Vincennes, and / brought then
with me. They troubled me till the month
of May following. Besides, during the very
night before my arrival here-while wait
ing in a cold and comfortless warehouse a
sGosport-I took a terrible cold, which
fastened itselfupon my throat ndlungs, anC
which added to the nervous depression re
sulting from a functional arrangement o
the heart. All these maladies rendered M
incapable of satisfactorily performing tn
work and study r~eouired of ma Is iE won