The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-22

| labor and thus defray his meager expenses.
! To that end Mr.. Grove and Mr.. Dunn each
donated fifty acres for farm; cooper, cab
! met and carpenter shops were fitted out;
| bricks were made and wood chopped by the
| cord. One reminiscent Of the class of '35
| tells how after rotations, he used to
| shoulder his and trudge off to Judge
! Dunn's woods to thew down the gnarly
| beech trees and manufacture them into
! cord-wood,' the required amount being two
cords per week. There was also printing
| office, which at one time employed not less
than thirty students. Some of the old cata.-
| logues bear the imprint of this plant and
| show all the evidences of skilled work.
These sturdy pioneer youths, indeed,
brought capable and willing hands to their
various tasks. They were, as a rule, older
than the present-day students; many of
them were skilled workmen, and among
other proofs brick houses built by them
are still standing in the town of Hanover.
Two or three stories that survive illustrate
the spirit that animated them. When the
theological department was added and DR..
Matthews called from Virginia to fill the
new chair affairs were consummated so
quickly that the doctor arrived on the scene
before there was a place for him to live in.
The students met the emergency by setting
vigorously to work, and in a few days a
commodious and comfortable log house was
at his disposal. Another time, when the
temperance sentiment was being agitated,
an old Scotch farmer named Anderson re-
fused to give liquor to his harvest hands,
and the latter, Directing to the overthrow
of a time-honored custom, Struck" for
rum. The typical Scotchman, it is said
does not yield his points very readily, and
the fate of Andersons ripened grain looked
uncertain, when the students, hearing of
the difficulty, sent word for him to have
plenty of cradles and rakes by the next
afternoon. At that time they came, dozen
or fifteen strong, and the cause of temper
ance scored victory
A NEW BUILDING.
In 1928, when it was found necessary to
have a new academy building there We're
no funds for such a purpose and the
friends generally of the college were APP
pealed to for donations of service, the fol-
lowing paper being prepared for sigma
lures:
For the purpose of erecting a suitable
building for Hanover Academy we, whose
names are hereunto subscribed, do promise
to have performed the jobs of work taken
by us severally against the times specified:
l-IO THROW up the edIlIl lOG DIlChS.
2-To furnish attendance for making the
bricks
3-To mold and burn 10000 bricks.
ITO board the men.
$40 furnish logs for lumber
6-To deliver lumber at the building.
ITO furnish rocks for foundation.
$40 build foundation.
9-To furnish shingles.
In fall w ne
students; g. by Samuel Hanna; 4, by DR..
Grove; 5, by Colonel Smock; 6, by John
| Seburn; Z, by George Logan; s, by James
| Park and James Cory. One man gave a
horse, which thereafter went by the name
of Donum, and others made contributions
according to their abilities. Williamson
Dunn donated the campus for the building,
together with six town lots for future reve-
nue.. The bricks and shingles (Nos. and
81 were probably purchased. The commun-
ity seemed to be devoted to the college, SO
general was the sympathy with the efforts
of the students to get an education that
in many instances the charge for board,
lodging and washing was only rs cents per
week. and many stories are told of friend
ly services to them. That they, in turn,
appreciated and made the most of these
offices there is ample evidence. Those who
under such adverse conditions would under
take to get an education at all were doubt
less the flower of the land, and in after
years William Mckee Dunn said of them:
These young men were, as body, the
most diligent and faithful students 1 ever
knew. l have seen men who afterwards
became distinguished doctors of divinity,
physicians, lawyers, professors in colleges
and followers of other useful vocations,
in the cooper shop, in the printing office,
showing the plane, working as farm hands,
or otherwise engaged in manual labor to
defray the expense of their education"
Under this system the attendance in
creased till the houses in the village and
on the neighboring farms could no longer
accommodate them all. The upper part
of the college building was divided off into
lodging rooms, and a number of cheap
structures were erected, some by the col
lege, some by the students themselves.
Hanover was busy hive and the ada
cent glens rang with the stentori2n voices
of aspiring orators who repaired tnlther to
practice their flights of eloquences using
the followed chambers below the cataracts
for sounding boards. They were not always
alive to the ludcrous side of the perform
ance, and William Mckee Dunn tells of
being alarmed once when working in the
bayfield, by what seemed to be the cries
OF distressed woman in a lonely place
some distance off. Flying to the rescue.
pitchfork in hand, the ''damsel" turned out
to be a stalwart young Hercules strug-
Cling with Ewes lamentation upon being
expelled from paradise"
MANUAL LABOR FAILED.
Notwithstanding the eager response OF
students to the manual labor system. if
proved financial failure to its hackers bv
reason of the cheapness of labor and insult
ticiency of the markets. Its final discon
tinuance in 1878 necessitated the dispersion
of many of the Students and the plan was
relinquished with reluctance and regret.
but the college corporation in trying to keep
it up fairly bankrupted itself and there
was no alternative. 1t failed, but the his
tory of it with its determined will and
ready spirit remains, though almost for
gotten now, and in the history of education
in our State few chapters are so inspiring
Meanwhile the institution had changed its
character. After five years as a grammar
school and an academy. having by that
time enlarged its building to a commodous
three-story structure, an attempt was made
10 secure from the Legislature a college
charter. This was sharply opposed by GER
tain friends of the State University at
Bloomington, and by some who opposed
sectarian schools; but Williamson Dunn
and his conpeers were not the men to be