St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-02-18
PIETY AND LEARNING.
A Dakota College Modelled After
the Highest Standards-What It
Is Accomplishing.

the Highest Standards-What 1t
Is Accomplishing.
| Special Letter to the Globe
HURON, OAK, Feb. 15.-One of the
most promising of the new schools
which is pushing to the front this i'm
pOrtant subject is the Redfield college.
1t was chartered in May, 1887, by the
Midland Association of Churches; the
citizens of Redfield having subscribed
| $4,000 to erect building.
Situated III the center of South Da-
| kOta, $50 miles from YanktOn, without
infringing upon territory tributary to
| YanktOn in the south, Oh extending to
| the line of North Dakota, 1T draws upon
fertile region as large as Maine, four
| times that of Massachusetts and with a
present population of 100000. The peo-
| pie prize education and will support an
institution modelled after the best New
England standards, provided it is within
| a reasonable distance of their homes
and accessible. Redfield answers these
requirements, has six spokes to
its railway hub, and for health
surpassed ill Dakota. 1t is the county
seat of a county that has ever set its
| face against the saloon; and its people,
| intelligent and progressive, are deeply
interested in the religious but nOn-sec-
| tartan character of the college. The
college will grow rapidly if properly
| equipped, and great work lies ready
! at its door in mOlding the civil and re-
| ligiOus life of the commonwealth. 1t
has in the best sense missionary work
| to do, and its students will be encOur-
aged to consider the claims of the mis-
| sion Heidi --7---.---- ~ $780,
The importance of such an institution
| cannot be estimated from the present
| needs, great though they are, nor from
| the ability of a new and unendOwed col
| lege to supply those needs; but from
| the inevitable demands which will come
upon educators and Christians in the
| next few years in Dakota. We must
grow with the growth of the country il
we are so
SHAPE THE DESTINIES
of this people. And at the present day,
when it is being recognized that the
moral element plays such large part
in a complete education, it will be
readily allowed that the Christian col
| leges now being planted here have a
| great work before them. 1t is asserted
by some that a lot of weak, poor col
| leges can never do the work that one
| strong, large university can do; but
| candid observers will allow that both in
| Europe and America some of the most
| learned and nObleSt men came out of
weak, poor colleges, and in the period
of their hardest struggle, too. The ex-
ample of self-denying men in the
| teachers chair, animated by the unset
| fish hope of building for the future a
| great educational institution, the fruits
| of which they themselves could never
hope to enjoy, has inspired the students
to noble efforts and been productive of
| great moral and intellectual re-
suits. The wise will not see in this
a reason for keeping colleges poor; but
reason for acknowledging the Serv-
ices rendered by them when passing
| through this stage of their life in Il new
and poor country. Besides the local
| question plays very important part in
such an immense territory as Dakota;
! for large numbers will never be able to
obtain the advantages of the higher ed
| ucatiOn if they have to go hundreds of
miles to the east to find them. OF the
| fifty-tive students now on our register
in Redfield only two would have been
sent to college if the school had not
| been here. But perhaps the most valu-
able service such schools are likely TO
render in the immediate present is to
| the teachers of the territory. Hundreds
of the young men and women of the
most
| HEROIC AND INTELLECTUAL STAMP
are utterly precluded from all higher
| professional culture, except it be
| brought within the realm of such oppor-
| tunitieS of study as our normal depart
ment offers to them. At present the
territorial board of education pays the
| tuition fees of twenty-five normal
students in six Dakota colleges upon
| condition of their maintaining a quail
| fed principal who will give them pro-
| feSSional training in all that pertains to
teaching. The results of this measure
are widespread and Immediately felt in
every school house into which these
| teachers go. AS centers of intellectual
and art culture, also, these colleges will
have vast influence upon the future of
| Dakota; for, guarded as they are by
men and women of Christian faith and
| life, this union of religion with intellect
| is just what the free, strong, progressive
| West will accept and follow in its
| spiritual and social leaders. With such
schools and such students we may well
hope to see a noble, Christian manhood
and womanhoOd, fitted for every duty
as citizens i'll this great West.