Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-04-24
CONTINUE JUBILEE
"reminiscences of Rock Island Y
M. c. A. Told by Early
Members.
MEN WHO FOsTERED WORK
Tribute to Generosity of the Late J. F.
Robinson - Talk of First
President.

The afternoon meeting at the Y. NJ.
| c. A yesterday was a combination of
the boys and mems meetings, and a
continuation of the celebration of the
anniversary of the association. Frank
Nader. of Davenport. the first presi-
dent of the association, led the meet
ing. He made the opening address,
| speaking particularly 10 the boys and
gave a chemical demonstration TO il
| lustrate the resurrection. He told an
anecdote of Farady. who. while at work
in his laboratory. accidentally Knocked
a silver vase. the property of friend,
into jar of strong acid. Before ii
could be recovered il was dissolved in
the acid. His friend was greatly
grieved over the loss of the vase. See
| ing this. Farady, by the use of chemi-
Gals, compounded a precipitant, and
securing the silver in this way. had the
metal remoulded into a duplicate of the
original vase. Mr. Nader gave this il
! lustration of resurrection, and gave a
demonstration of the action of certain
salts in acid, changing the clear, trans
parent liquid into a thick, milky fluid.
/ He drew a parallel with Christ's resur-
rectiOn.
Give Credit tn Two Men.
The main address of the afternoon
was made by A. NJ. Bruner, who gave
one of his characteristic enthusiastic
talks. Dwelling on the inception of the
association, and of its development, he
said TWO men John S. Freeman,
now secretary of the Moline associa-
ton. and the late J. Frank Robinson,
were largely instrumental in bringing
the Rock Island Y. NJ. c. a. 10 the
point where it is today. Mr.. Robinson,
Mr. Bruner said, was of all men i'll
Rock Island. the ideal christian man.
His works received little attention from
the general public. and few knew of
the great good which he did. He ad-
vanced the association $4,000 to settle
up its Indebtedness, and offered TO be
one of four men TO give $4,000 TO clear
the debt on the building. He was so
interested in the association that this
offer of 81. 500 was included in the pro-
visions of his will, and the money was
paid by the estate.
At another time he offered to give
one-half of the Indebtedness if another
Rock Island man would furnish the
/ ed in association work. and gave freely
of his money and time.
Original Local Association.
J. D. Warnock told of the original
y. NJ. c. A in Rock Island. Few peo-
pie in the city knew that it ever exist
ed. 1t was organized in 1868, and con
tinued in existence for about two years.
1t accomplished considerable good. but
the conditions were not such as to in
sure its continuation. Mr.. Warnock
was the secretary of the association.
His talk was of a pleasing, reminiscent
strain.
DR.. J. w. Stewart. who was a mem
Der of the original building committee
spoke of the men who have gone from
the Rock Island Y. NJ. c. A. into chris
tian work in the ministry, in mission
airy fields and in association secretary
ships A. ID. Sperry, a member of the
original building committee told of the
district conferences that were formerly
held in this city, then the headquarters
of the district committee. These con-
ferences resulted in the organization of
associations at a large number of the
smaller cities in this section, includ-
ing Sterling, Morrison. Streator. La
Sale, Dixon, Kewanee, GeneseO, Otta-
wa. and others.
G. c. BIakeslee told of the early
problems of the association. particular
ly during his term as secretary, from
1891 to 1895. J. II. Keyser. the pres
ent secretary. told of the possibilities
of the future of the work.
Close of Meetings.
This will be the last mems meeting
of the season. The committee which
has had charge of the meetings is ar
ranging to devote the summer TO out
side work. and meetings are being
planned for Reynolds. Taylor Ridge.
Andalusia, Milan, Sears, and other
places in the southern part of the
county The plan is to have a COM
pany of local men go to these villages
and conduct the Sunday meetings. The
work of the association will be ex
planned, and an effort made to interest
the country young men in this line of
work. The shop meetings each Thurs
day will be continued, and each Sunday
afternoon at o'clock a bible class
meeting will be held at the association.
The Y NJ. c. A. social and reception
which was 10 have been held Thurs
day evening has been postponed until
Monday evening, May l, owing to con-
f1icts with other entertainments by the
young peoples societies in the city
Close of Gymnasium Senson.
Tomorrow evening at the Y NJ c. A
a gymnasium exhibition by the mem
bers of all the gymnasium classes will
mark the close Of the gymnasium sea
son of the association The program OF
the exhibition is TO begin promptly at