Omaha daily bee., 1908-06-28
ONE PLACE NATURE OWNS
Hiram, o.. Defes the Nagging Whip
Of Progress.
SAME AS IT WAS BEFORE WAR
Dexter L. Thomas, Who Attends Re.
union of His College Friends,
Finds No Change In the
Old Place.

Dexter L. Thomas has returned from at
tending the home coming of Students at
Hiram college, Hiram. o.. where he was a
student IN 1851, in 1859 and in 1866.
Time seems to have stood there for sixty
years. Located near great cities and close
to the center Of population of the country,
Hiram still blossoms in it's primeval beauty
and still wears its rustic homespun in the
midst Of a state where its sister towns and
cities are wearing the latest styles.
I'm going down from Cleveland on the
interurban, thirty-five miles to Hiram, one
drops back at least half a century" said
Mr.. Thomas. The village where the col
lege is located has only a few hundred
people and the nearest railroad is two
miles away. The town is just about as It
was when I went there, a boy Of 10 years,
in 1851. or course. there is no saloon. Most
Of the men don't smoke, while they look
upon a drinking man with EXTREMIST
aversion.
Hiram college was originally the West
ern Reserve Eclectic institute. James A..
Garfield attended IL while l was there. He
was at that time a Campbelllte preacher
and gave little promise of the great honor
which was to be his later when he was to
become president OF the United States.
A1io WihNN was dillOlB tlOSt PAISSht oN
the home coming. The brother of Mrs.
Garfield, Joseph Rudolph, and her sister,
Mrs. Nellie Rockwell, were also there. l
used to go to school with Joe and we had
a fine time 'reminiscing.'
Recalled A. sutton Hayden.
"of course, there was much talking over
the old days. We recalled such figures
as A. Sutton Hayden, who was the first
principal of the school. He was the au-
thor of the Sacred Melodeon.' a book Of
songs written with notes which were dis
tinsuished one from the other. Instead
of being all-round DO was square 'ra,
was triangular, etc. They were known as
patent notes though the vulgar under
took to nickname them 'buckwhes notes.
Another Incident l recalled, particularly
as I'm a N~ebraskan, was the affair be
tween Miss Laura A. Clark and Prof.
Wilbur. Miss Clark was the primary teacher
under whom l received my first instruc-
ton. She was a very handsome woman
and Prof. Wilbur fell desperately in love
with her. She refused him and he was
so respondent over his u~nhappiness that
his life hung in the balance. Later he came
to Nebraska in pioneer days and the town
Of Wilbur was named after him"
Tillie Newcomb, who was a music teacher
in the school forty-three years ago, is
now Mrs. Tillie Newcomb Ellis and lives
in a pretty house in the village, where a
fountain spouts in the front yard and is
said to have spouted thus for nearly forty
years, with no more change than the town
itself.
Hiram Chamberlain, who used to be a
teacher in the college, attended the home
coming. He is now high in the iron in
dustry in CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.
John c.. Gown of Omaha was a student
at the college in 1851 and it was only
press Of legal business which kept him
from attending the home coming. Judge
w. w. Slabaugh is a graduate of the
school. George NJ. southmayd is another
omahan who is an aiumnus. He attended
the reunion.