Life Sketches

13 BATTLE CREEK COLLEGE

THE subject of education, and the necessity of founding a denominational school, were brought before our people by Mrs. W. and the writer, in the early part of the year 1872, and several meetings were held at Battle Creek to consider these important matters. A committee was then chosen to take steps for the immediate establishment of a school, and to act in reference to the organization of an Educational Society at as early a date as it could be brought about. At a meeting held May 11, 1872, the matter was placed in the hands of the General Conference Committee. LIFSK 366.2

April 16, 1873, a committee was appointed to solicit means, and by its vigorous action a sum of over $54,000 was pledged, and a sufficient amount was paid to render the organization of a legal society possible. March, 1874, the society was organized under the statutes of the State of Michigan, with full charter to grant such literary honors as are usually granted by colleges, and to give suitable diplomas in testimony thereof. LIFSK 367.1

In 1874 grounds were purchased in the city of Battle Creek at a cost of $16,278. The grounds originally consisted of twelve acres. Since the purchase, tiers of building lots have been separated by West College Street and South College Street. It is the most beautiful site for a school-building in this vicinity. The grounds are tastefully adorned with a large number of evergreen and other ornamental trees. LIFSK 367.2

The College building, represented on page 368, was erected in the autumn of 1874, at a cost of $27,858.20. It is situated on the west side of Washington Street, which runs nearly north and south. The building is 175 feet from this street on the east, and the same distance from West College Street on the west. It is 300 feet from Manchester Street on the north, and 200 feet from South College Street on the south. LIFSK 367.3

The building is 72 feet from east to west, and the same distance from north to south. But there are at each of the four corners indentures of 17 feet. The building is of brick, and has three stories besides the basement. The ceiling of the basement is 9 feet from the floor. The ceilings of the first and second stories are 14 feet each. The third story is 17 feet from ceiling to LIFSK 367.4

TEXT AND PICTURE.
floor.. The College bell is the finest we have heard. It is of size and pitch to send forth a full and pleasant tone, delightful to the student’s

PICTURE
ear.. The building is heated by steam. A considerable portion of the basement is occupied by the philosophical and chemical laboratory and lecture-room. Here daily lectures are delivered on the subjects of philosophy, chemistry, and geology, during the terms when these sciences are taught. The first and second stories are each divided into two spacious rooms, in which students are seated during school hours. The third story constitutes a fine, large lecture hall capable of seating 350 persons.

From the observatory there is a most delightful view of the surrounding country for several miles. Wooded hillsides, winding rivers, and fertile fields, together with the shaded streets and pleasant cottages of the city, in the suburbs of which the College is located, combine to make a varied and inviting prospect. Besides this central building, nine dwellings have been erected on the west and south. LIFSK 369.1

Like most religious denominations, Seventh-day Adventists early felt the need of a school in which to educate young men and women to labor in the various departments of missionary work. They also felt a rapidly increasing demand for an institution where our youth might receive a thorough mental training, united with a high order of moral discipline, to secure the best preparation possible for the duties of manhood and womanhood. LIFSK 369.2

This need was manifest in the demand for the special preparation of young men for ministerial and missionary work, and in the reluctance on the part of many parents to send their children to schools where a constant contact with corrupt youth cannot be avoided. In these schools there is a growing laxity of morals and a corresponding increase of crime. There was a deep conviction upon the minds of the friends of education among our people that at such a school much better mental and moral discipline could be attained in a given time than in most of the schools and colleges in the land, and that a wise and effective discipline could be better maintained and the interests of the youth be more assiduously cared for than would be done elsewhere. LIFSK 369.3

In the spring of 1874, when the College was established, two departments of instruction were opened; one in the Arts and Sciences, the other in Theology. In the fall of 1876, a department was opened for the preparation of teachers. In the fall of 1877, a department of Hygiene was established for those who desire to become familiar with the facts and principles upon which health and temperance reforms are based. In the fall of 1879, a Commercial department was instituted, and a primary school opened. LIFSK 370.1

The range of study in Battle Creek College through its different departments, includes those usually pursued in the very lowest grades and upward through all the branches of a full collegiate course. There are two courses of study, the Classical and the English, which, when completed, will entitle the graduate to a degree. The former consists of four years, the latter of three, each with a preparatory course of two years. There is also a Teachers’ course of four years, including professional instruction in school methods, designed to prepare teachers for their work. LIFSK 370.2

Besides these there is a course of three years for students in Theology. This includes Biblical lectures, Ancient and Church History, Natural Sciences, English Language, and two years in Greek. There are minor courses in the other departments, for which diplomas are granted. There are Commercial courses of various lengths, a course of one year in the Hygienic department, and a course of three years preparatory to the Teachers’ course. LIFSK 370.3

The College receives its students from almost every State and Territory in the Union. From the fall of 1873, to June 15, 1880, 1375 persons have been enrolled as students of this institution. LIFSK 370.4

In the spring of 1875, one hundred students were in attendance. So rapid has been the increase of attendance up to date, that the present enrollment for the College year ending June 15 is four hundred and eighty-nine. LIFSK 371.1

The important considerations which parents usually take into account in sending their children to school, are the character of the instruction, the influence under which their children will be placed, and the expense incurred while pursuing their studies. LIFSK 371.2

It has become a kind of mania among young people in our public and preparatory schools throughout the country to attach very great importance to the higher branches, while the common branches are looked upon as something to be passed over in a superficial manner. The teachers of Battle Creek College are endeavoring to correct this false view among its students. Great importance is attached to the common branches, which are regarded as constituting a foundation for a liberal education. Indeed, the thoroughness with which the youth are taught to perform their tasks, will in a great measure determine their success in after-life. The habit of doing work well may become as firmly established in the character as the habit of doing it in a careless and superficial manner. This is eminently true of the student. With this fact before them, the teachers at our College make the principle of thoroughness a leading feature in their labors, and endeavor to inculcate like principles in the characters and minds of the students. LIFSK 371.3

The good influences which surround the students at Battle Creek College, and the vigilance exercised by those in charge, warrant parents in intrusting their sons and daughters to the watchcare of the institution. Teachers and officers feel that the hearts and lives of those they seek to educate are in a peculiar sense consigned to their care. They recognize the responsibility thus devolving upon them. Students are not left to themselves without care or sympathy. A personal interest is taken in each one, and a strong moral and religious influence is thrown around each member of the school. The necessity of constant vigilance over the character and general deportment of the youth is fully realized, and a discipline is maintained which is firm, yet parental and effective. In our times, when serious and solid studies are becoming distasteful, when all kinds of inducements to waste and worse than idle away their time are forced upon our youth, and when morals are so lax, it is necessary that the character and general deportment of the student should be assiduously watched. LIFSK 371.4

The necessary expenses of students attending Battle Creek College are probably less than at any similar institution in the land. The whole expense of board, room-rent, tuition, books, and incidentals, need not exceed one hundred and twenty dollars a year. The annual expense incurred by the majority is less than one hundred dollars for each. Club boarding is very popular among the students of this institution. This system enables them to economize, in this the greatest of college expenditures. As these students fully adopt the two-meal system, they assemble at the eating-house only twice each day, where order and sobriety are observed, becoming Christian gentlemen and ladies. LIFSK 372.1

But the victories gained in adopting the restricted diet are of far more importance to young men and women who are preparing by study to bless others with their influence, than simply the sum of money saved. However important this may be to the poor student, dollars and cents can hardly compare with the moral value of practical lessons of self-control, and physical and mental culture. All scientific physicians in the land, who have not lost proper regard for truth and honesty, agree in testifying that a nutritious hygienic diet is the safest and best for the young student. Most of our students are conforming to hygienic rules of living, and, as a consequence, sickness is almost unknown among them, and they are able to make greater progress in their studies. LIFSK 373.1

The true friends of the health reformation will be gratified to know that the experiment of the Hygienic Boarding Club system of our good school is proving a perfect success. Some may be ready to cry “starvation” when we state that restricted diet is adopted by these students. But the writer with pleasure looks back thirty-nine years, when, thirsting for education and grappling with poverty, he and his room-mate, now Judge Smith, lived three months on corn-meal pudding and raw apples. By way of variety we had flour-cakes for each Sunday morning. But these young gentlemen and ladies of the Hygienic Boarding Clubs of Battle Creek College feast twice each day on the best grains, fruits, and vegetables, at a cost of about one dollar a week. With them the keen relish of healthful appetite, secured by their restricted diet, far exceeds the gustatory enjoyment of the sweetened, spiced, salted, and buttered dishes of fashionable living. Thank God for health reform. It is a mighty lever to lift up the student to physical, mental, and moral improvement. LIFSK 373.2

The nervous dyspeptic, who is forever anxious about what he shall eat, deserves but little credit for restricting his diet to simple and healthful food. With him it is a necessity. He must restrict his appetite in point of quantity as well as quality, or suffer next to death. But when our youth, who know nothing of enfeebled digestion and its consequences, adopt unfashionable and restricted diet from principle and choice, it is then that the friends of health reform may shout victory. LIFSK 374.1

It is true that this school was brought into existence by S. D. Adventists, and that it is under the direction of the S. D. A. Educational Society; yet its doors are open to all worthy persons who choose to observe the rules deemed indispensable to good order and proper discipline. We welcome all such to the privileges which this institution offers. There is nothing in the regular course of study, or in the rules and practice of discipline, that is in the least sectarian. The Biblical lectures are before a class of only those who attend them from choice. LIFSK 374.2

One of the principal objects of the College is the preparation of ministers and missionary workers. The results from the efforts already put forth are very encouraging. There are one hundred young men and almost as many young women laboring in the missionary field who received the impetus and preparation for their work at Battle Creek College. And of the many that have been students at our College, who made no profession of religion, not less than three-fourths have gone away hopefully converted. Hundreds of youth who have received their education at this institution, have been preserved from the ruin into which they would have been led, had they attended school under circumstances less favorable to morality. These results are noticed particularly because they are largely peculiar to our school. The mental training of students at Battle Creek College, and their preparation for active life, are not mentioned, notwithstanding they are of a superior character. LIFSK 374.3

The rapid increase of students in attendance during the past five years will doubtless continue. This will create a demand for more buildings and enlarged plans. LIFSK 375.1

The means necessary to remove the debt now on the College, and to meet the demand for more room, should be raised as cheerfully and promptly by the many of our people who have taken no stock, as the sum of $54,000 has been raised by the few who have already taken stock. LIFSK 375.2

There should be equality in our sacrifices and efforts to build up the College. Appeals should be made at all our camp-meetings in behalf of our beloved school. Those who have not taken stock, should be urgently invited to bear their part of this happy burden. And those who are able and willing to increase their stock, should have the privilege of so doing. LIFSK 375.3

And there are hundreds of aged and feeble brethren and sisters, in the possession of considerable wealth, who are liable to drop into the grave at any time. These should remember the wants of our College in a liberal manner in their wills. And while they live they should appropriate their means with their own hands, as they can do it better than others can when they are dead. We recommend the judicious maxim of Dr. Franklin, that “if you wish to have a thing half done, employ a hand; but if you would have it done, then do it yourself.” LIFSK 375.4