The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1878-11-15

6OlCAluky 0O4hC, anu 0OnC III COA0AtAOho
which the citizens of Emporla have fully i
met, and more than met
Some have expressed fears that other
towns would offer more for the location
of the school than we are able to give /
after suffering such loss. But the state
will not forget that the school has been
located here for years; that Emporia has
already given literally to its support;
donating the site on which the building |
stood; putting $4,000 into the building |
itself; erecting boarding houses at the /
public expense for the accommodation |
of students, and spending time and mon |
ey in various ways for the upbuilding of
the institution. The state will not for
get that in the distribution of public in |
situations, the University was placed at /
Lawrence, the Agricultural College at
Manhattan and the Normal School at
Emporia, and that the people have come |
here and the town has been partly built |
up because the Normal School was here |
People have come here and invested |
their means because they had confidence
in the consistency Of the state in carry
ing out her original plans. All these
things give Emporia a claim which |
am sure the state will not overlook.
4. This fire has destroyed, not essen
TALLY impaired, the possibilities of this
school: The fire is "a great calamity to
state. For the time it is serious check
But the future Normal School of Kan
sas, wherever it may be, will be none
the less grand, and none the less effec-
tive because of this fire.
All is not lost, therefore these facts re-
main: Kansas will have a Normal
School; there remains landed endow-
ment which will ultimately maintain
such a school; the state will almost GER
1r11r aknNrf1 hi A1 ,,4s,
somewhere; the school is now located
at EmpOria; it will cost the state no
more to rebuild here than anywhere
else
But my purpose is not to show what
the state ought to do, but to show what
we ought to do, and what encourage
ment we have to meet the emergency
bravely and hopefully. 1t used to be
said by those of olden times, ''that the
gods help those who help themselves"
In this respect at least, the state is like
the gods If we manfully and generous
ly meet our difficulties, 1 feel sure we
shall receive fitting response from the
state. Our very calamity will awaken
sympathy everywhere, if we bravely
rise to the level of the occasion. If we
are found, like Vergil's hero, "'Tot vol
we're casus"-rolling our calamities before
uS-there will not be a voice of influence
in the state that would not speak in
sympathy with ours There will not be
voice anywhere to ask the removal of
the school at such time. 1t has been
limited that an effort will be made to
unite the Normal School with the State
University. But / am assured that neith-
er Lawrence nor the State University
have any such designs. l know Law
renee and the State University well, and
l know that, whatever may have been
their thought, there is not a man in
either who would not deprecate any at
tempt to remove the school from us on
the heels of such calamity as that under
which we stagger. Further than this,
| am assured that they will aid us, if
there be in us any effective disposition
to care for and build up the school. In
this effort the best thought of the state
will be on our side, and all the educa-
tional influences of the state will CO
operate with us. But if we sit down,
Indifferent or disheartened, and leave the
school to lie in its ashes and to anguish
and die, we need not be surprised if the
state, by and by, should take it from us,
and give to some one who will care for
it. For every one knows that the char
acter and usefulness of a school depend
very largely on the local fostering they
receive. AS was said to Esther, it may
be said to us: eff we altogether hold
our place at this time, then there shall
enlargement and deliverance arise from
another place"
The city of Manhattan has been con-
slant in her care for the Agricultural
College. Lawrence has given $1O0,O 900
and secured for the University one of
the finest educational buildings in the
United States, and she is unremitting in
her interest and cooperation. But l am
told Lawrence is burdened with her
bonds. But those University bonds are
the only bonds she never regretted; the
only bonds she would vote over again if
the occasion required it; the only bonds
that have brought her substantial results
The University Is worth more to her in
a money point of view even than any
railroad she has got, and it is her rail-
road bonds that burden her. Lyon coun-
ty has 100000 ready to give for a rail-
road towards the south, but / am very
sure that the Normal School, we'll devel-
oped, will be worth more than that road
Do you ask, what will it bring US It
| viii bring at once large property in
the form of buildings; when fairly grown
| it will bring several thousand dollars a
year in the form of salaries and ex-
pensesi it will bring two or three hun
dred students who will all spend money
it will bring scores of families here who
desire to educate their children.
But more than all this, schools have
an elevating influence on all the people.
They not only effect the business, but
they effect the character of place A
company of cultured teachers and few
hundred students, giving themselves
wholly to the pursuit of learning, can but
| effect the tone of the town. 1t will
bring books and make them popular
it will bring lectures of a high order; it
| Will bring music of the better kind; it
/ will bring all forms of art; and it will
| thus elevate the tastes of the whole peo-
| pie. A good school touches the whole
people, and draws attention from sordid
thoughts and engrossing cares. While
in financial view, therefore, you cannot
make better investment, it will bring
more refined and lasting benefits that
''are to be more desired than gold" and
more precious than rubies."
1t is not, therefore, q question of to-
day alone, but one which concerns the
entire future of this place, and concerns
not its business prosperity alone, but its
very character and tone You are deal
ing with germs that are to grow and en-,
large. 1t may be bud now, but there
Is blossom In It; it may be but an un-
ripe cluster now, but a blessing is in it.
i You may think only of what it has been
and is; you may look only at its eX-
pense and care, and the smallness of its
past returns; it may seem ony newly
formed cluster green, sour, perhaps;
possibly little bitter sometimes; but
let it not be destroyed, for there is surely
blessing in it.
am not doubtful of the result, for I
am confident that when you come to
look the matter in the face, you will
rise to the demands of the occasion.
am stranger among you, but you are
not strangers to me. have known YOUR
reputation throughout the state for many
years, as enterprising, energetic and far
seeing. The qualities which have borne
you through heretofore, will not fail you
now. 1t is not for me to speak as to
what shall be done, or how it shall de
done. That must rest with your bust
ness men who know the field and the
need and the ability of the people. But
If you are really in earnest in the desire,
there will not be lacking the opportunity.
make no apology for bringing this
subject before you this Sabbath evening,
and here in church. Everything that
helps to elevate and enlarge men is the
ally of the church, and a part of the
work of God. Whatever enlarges men
makes more of them; whatever refines
them makes them better. Religion and
learning are twin sisters, and have al