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THE STORY
LIFE AND WORK
OF
OREN B. CHENEY
Founder and First President o F
Bates College
EMELINE BURLINGAME-CHENEY
Published for Bates College by the Morning Star Publishing House Boston, Massachusetts, '.' '.' 1907
I AM GLAD YOU ARE WRITING THE LIFE OF THIS ONE OF THE BEST MEN I EVER KNEW.
SI NCERELY
WM. P. FRYE.
To All Who have Been Blessed By His
UIFE AND WORKS.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I Ancestry ; Boyhood . . . i
II Conditions in Country and Church n
III School; Relation of Early Free-Will
Baptists to Education ; Parsons- field Seminary; First School Temperance Society ; Religious Experience . . . .19
IV The Young Teacher ; College Life ;
Baptism ; Opposition to Religious Service in School House ; Work for the Indians ; Sunday Serv- ices ; "Male and Female Created He them " . . .29 V Teacher ; Marriage ; Parsonsfield — Teacher — Preacher ; First Ser- mon ; Whitestown ; Theological Student — Teacher ; Death of Mrs. Cheney ..... 43 VI Christian Politician ; Pastor — Leb- anon ; Lebanon Academy ; Au- gusta ; Legislature; A New Home Life • • • • 53
VII Augusta Pastorate ; Political Activ- ity ; Official Position ; Editorial Contributor to the Morning Star 67
CHAPTER PAGE
VIII The Vision ; Maine State Semi- nary ; Difficulty in Securing a Charter ; Location in Lewiston ; Charles Sumner Furnishes a School Motto; Letters from Charles Sumner . . . 83
IX General Conference in Maineville, Ohio ; Political Excitement ; Stirring Incidents ; Plans for Raising Money for the Seminary ; Children's Offering . . . 101 X Opening of Maine State Seminary ; First Year's Success ; Financial Panic; Brighter Days . .111 XI Contemporary Events; College Needed ; Opposition Defined ; Benjamin E. Bates Promises Fifty Thousand Dollars ; Trust- ees vote in Favor of a College Class ; Professor J. Y. Stanton Elected Teacher . . .121
XII Early College Days ; Co-Educa- tion ; Interwoven Incidents . 141
XIII President Cheney visits John Storer ; Mr. Storer gives Ten Thousand Dollars for a Freed- men's School ; Harper's Ferry Selected as the Location ; G. H. Ball, D.D., a Valuable Helper ; Rev. N. C. Brackett Secures a
CHAPTER
XIV
XV
XVI
XVII
XVIII
XIX
XX
XXI
Charter ; First Bates Commence- ment i57
Important Beginnings ; Effect of Civil War on Status of Women : The Baptist Union . . .167
Success ; Disaster ; Difficulties Sur- mounted ; After Ten Years ; A Character Sketch . . 1 7 7
Vacation Experience ; Presiding
Officer ; Letter by L. W. Anthony 187
Death of Benjamin E. Bates ; Sec- ond European Trip ; Delegate to English Baptists ; Wine-Drinking Incidents 193
Free Baptist Centennial ; Ocean
Park ; College Extension Plan . 205
Efforts for Christian Union ; Plans for More Effective Missionary Work ; Bereavement . . .211
Faculty for Miscellaneous Work ; College Development ; Student Testimonials ; Catholicity and Cosmopolitan Character of Bates ; The Student Body . . .219
New England Free Baptist Associa- tion ; General Conference Incor- porated ; General Conference at Harper's Ferry ; President Cheney Moderator ; His Politi- cal Sagacity .... 235
CHAPTER
XXII Ex-President Cheney ; Important Plans Uncompleted ; Home Com- panionship ; Testimonial Ban- quet ...... 241
XXIII The Sunset Slope ; A Surprise Party ;
California Trip ; At Home in Lewiston . . . . .255
XXIV Reflected Sunshine ; Bates Round
Table Celebrates Dr. Cheney's Eighty-Seventh Birthday; At Rest . . . . . .271
After-word 279
Fore-word
When, at the request of the Trustees of Bates College, I entered upon the work of telling the life-story of Oren B. Cheney, it was with loving appreciation of the twelve years of congenial com- panionship that had given me such an insight in- to his character, and with deep gratitude for the blessings that had come to my life, through influ- ences exerted by the organizations originated, or made more effective through his efforts.
If " truth is stranger than fiction " real lives must embody more of interest than imaginary ones, and biographies should have a keener interest than works of the imagination. Lives are made up far more of small and apparently unim- portant events than of great ones ; and yet most biographies move with stately tread along beaten highways, or ascend heights for wide views, ignor- ing the forest retreats where flowers grow, taking no note of the pebbles and mosses in the by-paths.
In this life-story, I have so interwoven little, daily occurrences with important events that what may seem trivial to the reader is sometimes pre- sented with more minuteness than is used in tell- ing of plans or events generally denominated great ; but it is with the purpose of giving better insight into the character portrayed, and of bring- ing the reader into more sympathetic touch with his personality.
FORE-WORD
I am conscious of the impossibility of truly re- producing a life-history, but, as from treasured rose-leaves there continues to be diffused an aroma that suggests the fragrance of the rose, so these pages may at least give to the reader the essence of the life lived.
This is by no means an attempted history of Bates College, although much is told concerning its foundation and development. It is left for other pens to do justice to the faithful, self-sacri- ficing co-workers, who helped bring the College to its present degree of usefulness.
In what is said about Free Baptists, the reader must realize that this is the story of one man's relation to the denomination, without any attempt to do adequate justice to other workers who were his associates.
I wish to express appreciation for the help received from the many friends who have given me facts, and especially for invaluable assistance from the Associate Committee, President G. C. Chase, LL.D., and Prof. A. W. Anthony, D.D.
E. B. C.
LETTER FROM EDWARD EVERETT HALE
In an address, delivered at Ocean Park, Maine, in August, 1907, Mrs. L. M. N. Stevens, President of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, referred to Bates College, with hearty com- mendation of its healthy moral tone ; and also told about hearing Edward Everett Hale speak publicly with high appreciation of its work.
Wishing to obtain Mr. Hale's direct statement, the author of this book wrote him and received in reply the following letter:
Boston, Mass. Dear Mrs. Cheney:
I have often found occasion to refer to the noble and self-sacrificing work of your husband in founding Bates College and also to the large and valuable place which the College is filling in the educational world.
Wherever one goes in the east or west he comes in contact with the good work being done by Bates graduates.
More than once in traveling in the West, have I lighted upon a high school or academy where I have been interested in the moral tone of the school, and on inquiry have found that one of your boys was at the head of it.
Thanking you for writing me,
Yours sincerely,
Edw. E. Hale. Sept. 9, 1907.
Abigail Cheney Mother of Oren B. Cheney
Moses Cheney Father of Oren B. Cheney
ANCESTRY BOYHOOD
On the tenth of December, 1816, while a snow- storm was raging without, in a modest, but com- fortable home, in a quiet New Hampshire village, a blue-eyed baby boy opened his eyes and caught his first glimpse of life.
On December twenty-second, 1903, those eyes closed on earthly scenes and a few days later a stately form was laid at rest. The life lived and the influence exerted in the years that bridge these dates will be the theme of this book.
Heredity is of uncertain value. Men that have honored themselves and their country have changed their names, because of the stigma des- cending from unworthy ancestors. Others, whose lives are insipidly weak, show an overweening pride in tracing their line of descent back to noble or heroic characters. Yet the man is not living who would not rejoice in an honorable ancestry.
Oren Burbank Cheney was born of sturdy New England stock, in which the religious element had been strongly developed through several genera- tions. A high type of character distinguished his forebears on both his father's and mother's side.
His father, Moses Cheney, was stately and dig- nified in form, conscientious in every act and thought, and seemed the embodiment of true man- hood. He served God and never forgot that man
LIFE AND WORK OF
was his brother. He held important offices in church and state and was several times a member of the state legislature. He also held the unpop- ular position of conductor on the Underground Railroad and helped flying fugitives on their way to liberty. About the time of Oren's birth, Dea- con Cheney, in company with his cousin, went into the paper manufacturing business, at Holder- ness, now Ashland, New Hampshire. For this his experiences as apprentice and workman had afforded a thorough preparation. The paper-mill of " Cheney and Morse " — the name by which the firm was best known — was one of the first built in New Hampshire. Their paper was sold not only near home, but in Portland, Boston and New York.
Oren's mother, Abigail (Morrison) Cheney, from Sanbornton, New Hampshire, was a woman of great energy and strength of character. She became the mother of eleven children, of whom ten reached maturity. All of these have honored her by their characters and lives. Her impress upon Oren was such that everything connected with her memory ever had a sacred association for him. Many a Bates student remembers that President Cheney, in the midst of receptions at his home, would cause a hush in the jollity and, lifting a worn leather-covered bible, would say, perhaps with tears in eyes and voice : " This was my mother's bible."
OREN B. CHENEY
Visitors at President Cheney's summer home at Ocean Park, will remember how, in his later years, he fondly called attention to an old chair, saying, " That was mother's chair. She used it as long as she lived."
In the control of her children, Mrs. Cheney was not only kind, but firm. Of the home life the youngest daughter says : " Our family attachments were very strong. There was harmony in our home, and to do right was the lesson taught us."
It was a very hospitable home into which the blue-eyed baby came. Frederick Douglass made it his resting place when in the vicinity. Among welcome guests was Harriet Livermore, a preacher, a woman of marked and unusual characteristics, referred to by Whittier in the evening scene in " Snow-Bound."
Deacon Cheney and his wife were Free-Will Baptists, and ministers and others of that faith always knew that they would be made welcome in their home. Affairs of state, religion and reform were freely discussed and Oren absorbed an interest in them from babyhood. In this typical home the boy developed.
BOYHOOD PICTURES
In order to understand character, we must observe its traits in their earliest development. One of our first glimpses of the boy, Oren, is of a little tot, running as fast as his feet would carry
6 LIFE AND WORK OF
him to the mill-pond, not far away. Mother's remonstrances proving unavailing, she followed him one day, unobserved, and ducking him suddenly into the water, gave an effectual check to his love of travel.
A little older, we see him tenderly caring for his sisters, or wiping his mother's dishes.
Next, a sturdy little youngster is picking up chips for his uncle, at a penny a basket, sometimes going home with twelve cents in his jacket pocket.
When Oren was eight years old, one of the first Sunday schools in that part of New Hampshire was started at Holderness, by William Green, cashier of the Plymouth bank. Oren's parents were severely criticised for allowing him to attend but they were not afraid of institutions because they were new, but sought rather to know if they were good. In seeking the influences that were developing Oren, one should note that his Sunday school teacher was Nathaniel Peabody Rogers, so well known in connection with the anti-slavery movement. He was an able lawyer and editor of the " Herald of Freedom," the brightest of the anti-slavery papers. That Sunday school still sur- vives as a flourishing part of the present Free Baptist church at Ashland.
One day, when Oren was ten years old, while all alone in a retired place, stung by the taunts of playmates that he dare not swear, he said aloud, with much emphasis, "I will swear! Devil!"
OREN B. CHENEY
Frightened and conscience-stricken by his daring sin, he was never tempted to profanity again. "I never swore but once," he would often say with a peculiar twinkle in his eyes.
At another time, rankling under the sneers of playmates because he had to take care of his younger sisters, he said to his mother, " When I am twenty-one I will do as I please." With flash- ing eyes the mother replied : " You will mind me, if you are as tall as a meeting-house." "And I did," was his familiar comment.
Two years later Oren had an interesting boyish experience in going to a General Training of the State Militia. Before light he tallowed his shoes and with high anticipations and nine-pence in his pocket he saw the day dawn. But, alas, some pretty girls wore bright calico dresses, such as he had never seen before, and his homespun garments abashed him !* He spent his nine-pence for honey and gingerbread, the greatest available luxuries, and ate enough of the former to last him a life- time.
That he was not yet ready to yield himself to the requirements of a Christian life is shown by a home incident. David Marks, a prominent Free- will Baptist Evangelist, was visiting in the Cheney home and was sitting one evening in the chimney corner, reciting to his wife a lesson, for
*Cotton mills were just beginning to produce calicoes and other goods, which superseded the homespun materials.
LIFE AND WORK OF
her education was much better than his. When the lesson was finished, while a comfortable glow from the crackling fire pervaded the room and the candles sputtered sympathetically, " Elder " Marks talked to Oren about being a Christian. In order to make a show of indifference, the boy cut a notch in the window-sill with his jack-knife, but the words cut a deeper notch in his conscience, and made an impression which was never erased, although not then heeded.
Oren early began to work in his father's paper mill. The method of manufacturing paper has so changed, that, in order to understand this part of the boy's experience, we insert Dr. Cheney's reminiscence, written when he was over eighty years old.
" In those days paper was made of rags, not of straw and wood as now. It was made by hand, sheet by sheet. The wonderful machines which now roll paper off by hun- dreds of yards and cut it into sheets of any size needed were yet to be. In the old time, after the rags were ground into pulp, the pulp was dipped into a vat of water, pailful by pailful, as needed to make the mixture of right condition for use. The size of the sheet to be made was indicated by the mold. This was a kind of sieve to let the water go through and leave the pulp in the compact form of the sheet. The vat-man, after giving the right drainage and shake, sent it to the couchman for being couched. This consisted
OREN B. CHENEY 9
in turning the mold over upon the felt or cloth, which was a little larger than the sheet. Thus the pile grew, first a felt, then a sheet and so on until all the felts were used, over a hundred in number ; next the press (moved by hand or water power) was applied, by which as much water as possible was pressed out, and then came the work of the lay-boy, which was carefully to separate the sheets from the felts and pass the latter back to the couch- man. The felts often needed washing. This was clone in well-soaped hot water by the couchman ; but they were not fit for use until rinsed in cold water, which was done by the lay-boy, stooping on a plank on his knees over the running water that came from the wheel-pit. As lay-boy I have rinsed felts when icicles formed on my sleeves.
I was very young when put into the mill as lay-boy and filled the position for several years. Father furnished the paper on which the Morning Star and other early Free-Will Baptist publications were printed. It is a pleasant remembrance to me that I handled sheet by sheet, for several years, the paper on which all our denominational life expressed itself.
I was not only lay-boy by day, but often by night I tended the engine, as the machine was called, in which the rags were ground. How life would stretch out before me with its castles, its dreams and its plans, as I spent those long nights of boyhood in the old mill alone. The fifty cents a night received for my labor seemed a large sum on which to build something for the future. My services
10 LIFE AND WORK OF
in the daytime were, according to custom, claimed as my father's right."
That Oren was a trustworthy boy is shown by his being often sent by his father on important business — always walking — to the Plymouth bank, five miles away. He sometimes carried on these errands several hundred dollars in his jacket pocket.
CONDITIONS
IN
COUNTRY
AND CHURCH
II
When Oren was born, James Madison was near- ing the close of his second term as President. But one year had passed since the close of the war of 1812-1815. The interpretation of the pro- visions of the National Constitution was still uncertain and under discussion. Business was in an unsettled condition. Slaveships were surrep- titiously, although illegally, unloading their car- goes at southern ports. Rum was sold by grocers as freely as molasses. Steam was just beginning to be applied to navigation and land travel. Any point beyond the New England and the Atlantic states was "out west." But little wheat was raised. In Oren's boyhood, the family occasion- ally enjoyed the luxury of flour bread and dough- nuts. Generally the food was of corn meal or rye and very simple.
CHURCH
Oren B. Cheney was never a sectarian in its narrow sense, yet he was always so true to the people of his choice, the Free-Will — afterward Free — Baptists, that a brief history of their origin and extension seems necessary as a setting to the events of his life.
In 1770, as a result of the preaching of White- field, a resident of New Castle, a small island in Portsmouth Harbor, New Hampshire, Benjamin
14 LIFE AND WORK OF
Randall, at the age of twenty-one, became an active Christian. After a careful study of the Bible, during several years, he found that he could not agree fully with the teaching of any of the leading denominations. Believing it to be his duty to preach, he presented the truth as he under- stood the bible to teach it, making prominent free salvation for all who believe, free Communion for all who love our Lord Jesus Christ, and large freedom for the individual conscience.
The doctrines of John Calvin were the almost constant theme of a majority of the pulpits of New England in those days ; and the creeds had so much of the "straight-jacket" character that expression of independent opinions was rare. When, therefore, Randall began to present the truth as he discerned it, it was in such contrast to the general belief of his time, that he was at once denounced as a fanatic and heretic. Persecution followed. Mobs gathered around his meeting places ; tar and feathers were prepared for him, and he narrowly escaped being killed by brick- bats. There followed much searching of the Scriptures, to know if he were right or wrong, with the result that many accepted his teachings. They were nicknamed " Freewillers."
In 1779, Randall was called before a Baptist meeting, to answer for his errors, especially for not preaching the generally accepted doctrine of election. As the result of this and subsequent
OREN B. CHENEY 15
trials, fellowship was withdrawn from him and from all who accepted his beliefs. Then first these disfellowshipped Christians organized a church of their order at New Durham, New Hampshire, with Benjamin Randall as pastor ; and although Ran- dall never favored the name, they finally permitted themselves to be called Free-Will Baptists. A simple covenant was adopted embodying their belief and based on the Sermon on the Mount. This was in marked distinction from the intricate, elaborate creeds of the day. Thus the Free-Will Baptist denomination had its birth.
For a time, the preaching was mainly by men of the evangelistic type and in country places, where independence of thought was greater than in the cities. The preachers were men of conse- crated lives, good native ability and especially gifted as leaders of the common people. The establishment of many country churches followed, and from that day to the present, the principles of this people, through the removal of its repre- sentatives from their country homes, have been carried to city churches of different denomina- tions. How much Free-Will Baptists have con- tributed towards a simpler faith and broader Christian charity will never be fully known until the final summing up of all earthly events.
From the beginning, their great respect for per- sonal convictions in regard to belief and duty has prevented distinctions in race or sex. Their early
16 LIFE AND WORK OF
preachers were accustomed, at the close of their sermons to request any who felt " moved " to do so, to "add a few words." Women, as well as men spoke on such occasions, often very impres- sively. There were a number of women preachers and evangelists in the denomination during its first quarter century. That these were not of an erratic type is shown by the descriptions given of them.
Of Clarissa H. Danforth, who founded many churches in New England, it is said :
"She was of a good family and well edu- cated. She had extraordinary talent and undoubted piety. Tall in person, dignified in appearance, easy in manners, she had all the elements of a noble woman. As a speaker, her language was ready and simple, her gestures appropriate. Her voice pene- trated to the corners of the largest house. She held hundreds with fixed attention, listen- ing by the hour to the claims of her heavenly Master."
David Marks, one of the most successful evange- lists of his day, gives much credit to Mrs. Humes, who assisted him, but says she had much to con- tend with because of the popular prejudice against women as preachers.
When we remember the belief, at this time, in some of the leading denominations, that it was wrong for women to speak even in small social meetings of the church, and that half a century
OREN B. CHENEY 17
later, Rev. Theodore Cuyler, D.D., was arraigned before his presbytery for allowing Hannah Smiley to give bible readings in his pulpit, the mission of Free Baptists in giving to women the utmost freedom of their convictions will be more highly appreciated.
Without tracing further at present the develop- ment of this young denomination, we may note that in 1828, when Oren was twelve years old, it had been organized into seven Yearly Meetings in six different states, with about four hundred churches, most of them in country places ; and that it was admirably adapted, both in its oppor- tunities and needs, to aid in the development of Oren's life of usefulness.
In 1826, we see him, as lay-boy, carefully separating the sheets of paper, that are to contain the first imprint of The Morning Star, in that year founded and thenceforward to be the organ of the Free-Will Baptists. As the printed copy comes back, week after week, we see the boy eagerly listening, while one of the " hands " reads from its pages to the assembled group. In 1827, the date of the First Free-Will Baptist General Conference, it is significant to note the interest with which Oren listens to the reading of the report of the doings of the religious body, over which, many years later, he was repeatedly to preside.
SCHOOL
RELATION OF EARLY FREE-WILL BAPTISTS TO EDUCATION
PARSONSFIELD SEMINARY
FIRST SCHOOL TEMPERANCE SOCIETY
NEW HAMPTON LITERARY INSTITUTION
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
Ill
Oren's early school life consisted of a few terms at a little school kept by his aunt ; a few at the public school ; and a short time in Dr. Dana's private school.
When he was thirteen years old, in using a corn- sheller, he cut off the end of his thumb. Then, farewell future paper manufacturer ! In the thrifty Cheney family, there was no time wasted, so while the injured thumb was healing, the boy was sent to New Hampton Institute, five miles away. Of that time Dr. Cheney says, in his reminiscences, " The night before leaving for school, mother came to my room and, kneeling beside my bed, prayed for me. I well remember her advice, in view of the dangers of dawning manhood. No talisman could have guarded me so securely."
In going temporarily to New Hampton, Oren little realized that he had reached a turning point in his life, for as soon as his thumb healed, he returned to the mill. But, while at New Hamp- ton, he was under the influence of Hosea Quinby, a Free-Will Baptist, preparing for college, and also acting as assistant teacher. Quinby was in- terested in the promising lad and exerted a power- ful influence over him not only in school, but later in his home.
22 LIFE AND WORK OF
RELATION OF EARLY FREE-WILL BAPTISTS TO EDUCATION
It is sometimes said that, at first, Free-Will Baptists were opposed to education. In order to throw light upon their position, let us note that in those days a college education was almost entirely limited to young men who were to be ministers, lawyers or physicians. Free-Will Baptists in their first third century may be denom- inated " a voice," protesting against narrowness in creed, and formality and lack of spiritual power in the pulpit. It seemed to them that the theo- logical teaching in the leading denominational schools was producing a class of " man-made " ministers, lacking in real spiritual force. The fear of having such a ministry led to fear of the causes which they regarded as producing it.
At the same time, Randall, Buzzell and other denominational leaders were men of sound judg- ment and good common sense, and hence ready to be inspired and led by an educated man of tact, like Quinby. In fact this earnest pioneer found many supporters among both clergy and laity in his work of establishing a Free-Will Baptist school. During his course at Waterville, now Colby College, Quinby judiciously prepared the way. John Buzzell gave his hearty support and he and others raised the money for a seminary building ; so that after Quinby's graduation, in the fall of
OREN B. CHENEY 23
1832, he opened a Free-Will Baptist school at Parsonsfield, Maine, known as Parsonsfield Semi- nary.
Through Quinby's influence, Oren's father was induced to send the boy there, and in September, 1832, we see him riding on a load of Morning Star paper, on its way to Limerick, where the Star was published. The distance to Parsonsfield was forty miles, and the journey required three days.
Of his experience at that time, Dr. Cheney says in his reminiscences : " To my boyish vision the Morning Star was a bright luminary. Now, I was going to see John Buzzell, the editor. The village of North Parsonsfield consisted of a single street, a half-mile in length, lined with neat farmhouses, the seminary building at one end, Elder Buzzell's meeting-house at the other, and about half way between, a store, where dry goods, groceries and books were sold.
" The meeting-house was of typical New Eng- land construction, with high pulpit and sounding- board, square, high-backed pews, gallery all around and ' singing seats ' in the gallery facing the pulpit. Dear old house ! Many good men preached a free gospel in it. A mob once surrounded it, be- cause there were in it men and women consult- ing about giving freedom to the slaves. John Buzzell was an off-hand, earnest, ready speaker. His theme was generally free salvation as opposed to Calvinism. He was a good singer. There were
24 LIFE AND WORK OF
sermons in his songs. His hymn-book was among the earliest Free-Will Baptist publications."
The Parsonsfield school opened with a good attendance in a neighboring school-house, as the Seminary building was not quite completed.
Three or four incidents, connected with the year spent here, throw light upon Oren's develop- ing character. One day his cousin Elizabeth expressed to him chagrin because other students had good meeting-houses in which to worship, while at their home in Holderness, they wor- shiped in an old school house. Oren replied with much emphasis, " When we go home we will have as good a one as anybody." He kept his word and soon after their return, there was built on his father's farm, over a boulder on which he had often played, the church that has been in use ever since.
Oren began his temperance record even when a boy in school, and to explain this, we must go back a little. In 1830, the first temperance lecturer visited Holderness and gave an address to a large audience. When, at its close he asked for signers to the pledge, Oren's mother and a foolish lad were the only ones who arose. This made Mrs. Cheney a butt for ridicule through the village, but little she cared. She saw a truth. That was enough. Her home was at once cleared of all that could intoxicate. No ministers were
OREN B. CHENEY 25
afterwards treated to liquors at Deacon Cheney's sideboard.
One day, when Oren was at the grocery, a prominent church member ostentatiously went to a barrel, drew a glass of rum, sweetened and stirred it vigorously, then, as he drank it, told the
boy to go home and tell his mother that
drank a glass of rum.
Oren protested to his mother against going to meeting with such a man, but she replied gently, " Oh, my boy, he is a good man, but he looks at things in a different light from what we do."
Mrs. Cheney was a crusader thirty or more years before the Woman's Temperance Crusade started. Knowing that a temperance measure was to be acted upon at a town meeting, Mrs. Cheney and some other women went with their knitting work to the town hall and, uninvited, sat there knitting, knitting while the measure was dis- cussed.
The men voted by ranging themselves on opposite sides of the room. One man started to go to the side representing the liquor interest, but seeing the eyes of the women upon him, he hastily retreated to the other side. The side of temper- ance prevailed and the women went home happy.
These early influences help us to see why, at Parsonsfield, Oren was a leader in starting a school temperance society. He was chairman of the committee on constitution. Another member
26 LIFE AND WORK OF
said to him, " We must have some big words in it." "What would you suggest?" was Oren's query. " Well, ' tantamount ' would be good," was the wise reply. Although the big word did not get into the constitution, the society flourished and is believed to be the first school temperance society in the country that prohibited in its pledge fermented as well as distilled liquors.
Oren belonged to a family of good singers and from a child had an excellent voice. At Parsons- field he felt himself suddenly some inches taller when invited to the "singing seats."
He always remembered with amusement one Sunday's experience. In the gallery, at his right sat a boy with uncommonly red hair. Just behind him a sober looking lad attracted much attention, at an important stage of the sermon, by holding his outstretched palms near the fiery hair, then rubbing them together as in process of warming them. The preacher must have wondered what there was in his sermon that could excite so many smiles in the "choir loft." As fires were not used in meeting-houses in those days, except in foot- stoves for women, there was a quaint appropriate- ness in the boy's act.
About this time, the young Free- Will Baptist denomination began to awaken to the duty of foreign missionary work. In 1832, Buzzell, Quinby and others interested held a meeting in the Buzzell meeting-house to inaugurate the work.
OREN B. CHENEY 27
Oren heard of it and went, an interested listener to the plans which resulted in the formation of the society of which later he was for many years Recording Secretary and afterward President.
The year spent at Parsonsfield was in many ways a fruitful one in Oren's development. He had in Hosea Quinby not only an excellent teacher, but an inspiration to the best manhood. In being under the ministry of John Buzzell, Benjamin Randall's successor, he came in close relation to the beginnings of the denomination to whose development he afterward contributed so much. But it was inconvenient to be so far from home, and the next year he entered New Hampton Literary Institution, at New Hampton, New Hampshire, which at that time was a Baptist school, and there finished his preparation for college.
Previous impressions as to duty had been maturing and while at New Hampton, fully decid- ing to give himself to the service of God and his fellow-men, Oren kneeled in a retired pasture, and with sincere prayer and pledge, consecrated his life to Christian service. To the vows then made he was ever true.
THE YOUNG TEACHER
COLLEGE LIFE
BAPTISM
OPPOSITION TO RELIGIOUS SERVICE IN SCHOOL HOUSE
WORK FOR THE INDIANS
SUNDAY SERVICES
"MALE AND FEMALE CREATED HE THEM"
IV
During his New Hampton course, in 1834, he taught one term of the Holderness village school. An incident which occurred here showed that Oren already possessed the elements of a firm, brave teacher. One day a drunken father entered the school-room, flourishing an ox goad, and accusing the youthful teacher of punishing his boy, thus throwing the school into a panic. Nothing daunted, Oren took a ruler over his shoulder and marching up to the man, eyed him keenly and soon quieted him. The frightened children then returned to their seats.
At New Hampton, Oren did good work and when he graduated was well fitted for college. Through influences exerted while there, Oren was led in the fall of 1835, to enter Brown University, President Wayland's reputation being an especial inducement.
In going to Brown he took his first car rides, from Lowell to Boston, then from Boston to Providence, thus traveling over two of the three railroads in the country. To the eager hearted lad it seemed the greatest event in his life.
The term spent at Brown was full of oppor- tunities for development, not only in college life, but in city and state. With his love of seeing noted places it did not take Oren long to find the
32 LIFE AND WORK OF
various points of historic interest, prominent among them being the landing place of Roger Williams and his associates.
This was the year when Garrison was mobbed in Boston and the mob-spirit entered Rhode Island. Hearing that a meeting of anti-slavery women was to be broken up, Oren was on hand to observe the exciting scenes. But the spirit of Roger Williams was there also. The mayor dis- persed the crowd. Rhode Island's reputation for religious liberty was maintained. But the indig- nation that thrilled young Cheney as he noted the spirit of the mob made him an out-and-out abolitionist, and from that time he lost no oppor- tunity to do all he could by voice and pen for the emancipation of the slaves.
Hearing that at Dartmouth College anti- slavery sentiments were allowed more freedom of expression than at Brown, influenced also by family and financial considerations, with a letter of recommendation from President Wayland, our young student after one term at Brown, returned to his parents' new home at Peterboro, New Hamp- shire, and, in the following spring enrolled him- self as a student at Dartmouth College.
He soon after accepted an invitation to teach the winter school at Canaan. At just that time this village was the center of anti-slavery interest, for near the district school house there had stood, a few weeks before, a fine Academy ; but news
O. B. Cheney
About 1845
OREN B. CHENEY 33
having spread that " niggers " were attending this Academy, some of the townspeople, at night, with their oxen drew the building a mile away and left it in a swamp.
As a curiosity in literature and an illustration of the spirit of the times, we append the following extract from a speech delivered to a crowd that gathered in a Canaan church at the conclusion of this notorious act : '
"The work is done, the object obtained. The contest has been severe but the victory glorious. No sable son of Africa remains to darken our horizen. The abolition monster who ascended out of the bottomless pit is sent headlong to perdition, and the mourners go about the streets. You, gentlemen, who have assisted us in obtaining this glorious victory, in behalf of the inhabitants of this town, I present to you my sincere and hearty thanks for your prompt attention and unex- ampled exertions in repelling an enemy far more to be dreaded than the pestilence that walketh in darkness and the destruction that wasteth at noonday. May the sun of liberty continue to shine on you with increased splendor and never be obstructed by the sable clouds of Africa ; and should it be your misfortune to be again invaded by a similar foe, we pledge ourselves to unite our exertions with yours in putting down by all lawful means every plot that threatens the subver- sions of our liberties, or disturbs the public tranquility.
34 LIFE AND WORK OF
" May that Being that presides over the destinies of Nations reward you a hundred fold in this life, and in the life to come life everlasting."
Dr. Cheney tells this story of his experience in going there :
" A young Baptist minister took me by horse and sleigh to Canaan on Saturday. We arrived at the house of the agent of the school early in the evening. As we sat at the tea- table, and afterwards before the fire, the whole story was told by the agent of the bringing of ' niggers ' into town and of the driving them out, with the words added in strong emphasis, ' We will not have an abolitionist teach our school.'
" As my friend left me that evening, I fol- lowed him to the door and said, ' What shall I do ? I am an abolitionist. I cannot teach the school here.' 'O,' said he, 'say nothing about it. It will never be known what you are.'
" Taking his advice I began the school. Everything went on in silence and pleasantly for about three weeks. But the silence was on my part. The town was discussing the question, ' On which side is the master ? ' I saw the mistake I had made in listening to the advice given me. I could not endure such a non-committal life, and in a quiet way I let my anti-slavery principles be known. The whole town was thrown into excitement as the news spread. The joy of the abo- litionists, few in number, can hardly be told.
OREN B. CHENEY 35
The opposition let me alone, and I finished the school term.
" It may be well to add that among the colored students driven out of town by the removal of the academy, was one who became a lecturer in the anti-slavery field, and a pastor in a colored church in Washington, D.C."
In the spring of 1836 Oren entered Dartmouth College. There was much in the spirit of this school, founded as a missionary enterprise for the education of the Indians, that strongly appealed to the youth. In a little enclosure on the campus is the grave of Eleazer Wheelock, the founder of Dartmouth College. The place had a strange fascination for the new student, and as he often meditated by it, undefined possibilities in his own future took intangible form.
But his life was far from gloomy. Professor John Fullonton, who entered college the next autumn, told his daughter, Ida, in later years, that when he crossed the campus for the first time, he heard voices ringing out harmoniously across the yard. Looking up, he saw several young men sitting in the window and singing the church hymns then in vogue, and one of them, as he learned later was O. B. Cheney. "That window," said Dr. Fullonton impressively, " faced the east and Oren Cheney has faced the rising sun ever since." On entering college, he was at once invited to sit in the "singing seats."
36 LIFE AND WORK OF
The habits of economy, with which he had been reared, governed Cheney's life while in college. He and his classmate, G. G. Fogg, experimented at boarding themselves. Evidently, neither was an adept at cooking. They lived on a concoction of Indian meal, cold water, salt and saleratus — calling it a johnnycake — with the result that Oren fell sick and never afterward could bear the taste or even the smell of saleratus.
The young reformer was now in a sympathetic anti-slavery atmosphere. At one time he went with a company of students to a town near by, to hold an anti-slavery meeting in a beautiful grove, where a large audience had gathered. Dr. Cheney's reminiscences describe the events thus :
" Early in the meeting the place was sur- rounded by a crowd of men and boys with drums and horns for the purpose of making a disturbance. But we made the grove ring with anti-slavery songs, the speakers kept right on and the meeting proved a great success. We returned to college with flying colors, feeling quite as happy as any of the baseball or elocutionary victors of today.
" Boys of twenty-one years of age living in Hanover were then allowed to vote, and when it was found that our votes were cast in the interest of anti-slavery, the legislature de- cided that if we voted we must perform mili- tary duty. 'All right,' was our reply, and forthwith a company was organized with a senior for captain and other officers from the
OREN B. CHENEY 37
other classes. We secured a competent drill master and prepared for the next general training at Lebanon, which occurred on a beautiful day.
"With officers in fine uniforms, the rank and file in black coats and white pants, armed with bright new muskets, we marched beneath the folds of a beautiful new flag that had been presented to us, to the music of a first- class band, secured from a distance at much trouble and expense. Some of the other com- panies were not in uniform and had only drum and fife accompaniment, and we com- pletely captivated the admiring crowds that thronged our line of march. The waving of handkerchiefs by women, young and old, and the cheers of the crowd showed how great was the victory we had won over the pro- slavery spirit that had thought to crush us. I was told that the accident to my left hand would exempt me from military duty, but I wanted to enjoy the fun and so I was in it with the other boys."
BAPTISM
Oren's religious life had been steadily devel- oping after entering Dartmouth ; and feeling impressed that he ought to be baptized, in May, 1836, he walked to his old home in Ashland, forty miles away — to ride would cost too much — was baptized by Rev. Simeon Dana, and united with the Free-Will Baptist church then worshiping in the house that he had helped to build. During
LIFE AND WORK OF
the return tramp, his thoughts were occupied with high purposes and noble resolves.
The following winter he again augmented his finances by teaching school at Peterboro. Hav- ing an earnest desire to benefit his students in every way possible, he held a series of prayer- meetings at the close of the school exercises, inviting all who would to remain. This did not please a prominent business man in the place, who requested the teacher to desist. It would not have been Oren Cheney, had he yielded.
His opponent then called a district meeting. He had a large number of men in his employ and the school-house was crowded. The whole town was stirred. After a long discussion, a resolution was passed by one majority, in opposition to the teacher's course. Amid a deathlike silence, the stripling of twenty years calmly arose and quietly informed the audience that he held his position by vote of the school committee and should leave only at their request — that he had conscientious convictions about the matter and could not dis- continue the service.
The school committee voted unanimously to sustain him, one of them, not a church member, saying that such a service was what every district needed. Young Cheney was called back to the same district the next winter, and to another school in the same town the year following. Seven years later this opponent of the student
OREN B. CHENEY 39
teacher came near being defeated as candidate for governor of New Hampshire, by the use against him of these circumstances of which others had learned and had published in a campaign docu- ment.
WORK FOR THE INDIANS SUNDAY SERVICES
Although, in the seventy-five years that had passed since the founding of Dartmouth College, the Indians had been pressed back by the advance of civilization, a company of them, men, women and children, used annually to encamp for several months in the Vale of Tempe, a short dis- tance away. They were treated with the greatest kindness by the college authorities and students, no pains being spared to educate them. During a part of his college course, Oren went daily with a classmate to the camp-ground and taught the Indian boys and girls, neither expecting nor receiving any remuneration for the service. The fact that this classmate, a Southern young man, was paying his college expenses from the proceeds of the sale of a slave girl, furnishes an interesting comment on human consistency.
Later in his college course Oren found a small Free-Will Baptist interest at Grantham, ten miles away. Here he rendered services for many months, generally walking the twenty miles; going Saturday and leading a prayer meeting in the evening, on Sunday giving talks to a people
40 LIFE AND WORK OF
not able to employ a regular pastor ; conducting a Sunday school and teaching a singing school — all this without any remuneration. His oppor- tunity to render needed service was his ample reward, while to his last hours he was cheered by the loving regard of those whom he then served.
Among the pleasant homes where he was welcomed during his college life was that of the Bridgman family and he became deeply interested in the eight-year-old Laura, the blind, deaf and dumb child afterward so noted.
Throughout his college course Oren Cheney did good, faithful work in his classes. He always had a kindly remembrance of President Lord's interest in him. His class, which numbered about seventy on entering, graduated with sixty-one members. Oren outlived all but four.
Our readers will probably agree that few young men graduate from college with a better all- around equipment for service than Oren B. Cheney possessed, when, at the age of twenty- three, with diploma in hand, he turned his back on college halls and faced life.
" MALE AND FEMALE CREATED HE THEM "
Mr. Cheney's affections had already been en- listed in an evident case of love at first sight. In his reminiscences he tells the story thus :
"While in college, Burbank and I made a
OREN B. CHENEY 41
visit to Parsonsfield Seminary as alumni, having the honor of being students the first term of the institution. Receiving an invi- tation from Miss Woodman, the lady princi- pal, to visit her classes, we accepted. As we entered the classroom, a young woman, whom I had never seen and of whom I had never heard, was at the blackboard to demonstrate the forty-seventh proposition in " Playfair's Euclid," that in any right-angled triangle the square which is described upon the sides sub- tending the right angle is equal to the squares described upon the sides which contain the right angle.
" I heard her through, asking her a few questions, as visitors to schools are accus- tomed to do.
" ' Quod erat demonstrandum ,' she said, on taking her seat. 'Yes,' to myself I said, 'but something else remains to be demonstrated !' Her name was Caroline Adelia Rundlett, daughter of Capt. James Rundlett of Strat- ham, New Hampshire."
Acquaintance showed him that he was right in his first impression that Miss Rundlett was a very interesting and intellectually superior young woman. Mutual and abiding affection resulted.
TEACHER
MARRIAGE
PARSONSFIELD — TEACHER — PREACHER
FIRST SERMON
WHITESTOWN
THEOLOGICAL STUDENT— TEACHER
DEATH OF MRS. CHENEY
In the fall of 1839, Mr. Cheney became Princi- pal of the Farmington (Maine) Academy, with Miss Rundlett as Preceptress. They were married January first, 1840, at the bride's home in Strat- ham, New Hampshire.
There were five terms of successful teaching at Farmington, during which time the couple boarded at the home of Rev. John Chaney, pastor of the church. While here Mrs. Cheney started a school paper, containing so much of general interest that after a while it was printed and sub- sequently became The Farmington Chronicle.
Soon after going to Farmington, Mr. Cheney learned that a short time before, in the very room used by his wife and himself, a private meeting had been held to prepare the way for a Free-Will Baptist Education Society. Thenceforward the place was sacred to him, for he clearly foresaw the far-reaching effects of that meeting. The first result was the call for a convention, to be held in Acton, Maine, January 15, 1840. Forty-six influential names were signed to this call. Seventy-six men attended. Dr. Cheney wrote of it in 1896 :
" How well I remember the journey to Acton. There was not then a railroad in Maine. Elder Chaney and I went by horse
46 LIFE AND WORK OF
and sleigh. We started on a cold Monday morning. The first day's journey was to Gray, the second to Springvale. Wednesday morning we reached Acton in time for the Convention, having stopped for entertain- ment at houses of the brethren by the way, as was the custom of those days.
" The convention discussed and adopted seventeen resolutions. The discussion was lively and the opposition to some of them strong, but the support was earnest. They show plainly the struggle in the minds of men in holding to the old, while reaching forward to the new. Laymen as well as clergymen were well represented in the convention, the President being Hon. J. M. Harper, member of Congress."
The first result of the organization of the Edu- cation Society was a library and course of theo- logical study in connection with Parsonsfield Seminary. In 1841, Mr. Cheney became Princi- pal of the Academy at Strafford, New Hampshire. Failing to receive promised remuneration, he accepted a position in Greenland, New Hamp- shire. Here for the first time the young couple kept house. Here, too, a little son died soon after birth.
HIS FIRST SERMON
While in Greenland, Mr. Cheney walked several miles on the Sabbath to Northampton, where Free- will Baptists had started a small interest. On one Sunday, the minister failing to appear, Mr.
OREN B. CHENEY 47
Cheney was prevailed upon to preach. He spoke from the text : "All things are now ready." By invitation, he preached again the next Sunday. Then, feeling quite dissatisfied with his efforts, he resolved never to preach again. But one of the brethren prophesied such dire future punishment for him if he did not, that he was led to recon- sider, and soon after, accepting the counsel of ministers in that vicinity, he was licensed to preach.
The same year, Mr. Cheney began to contribute to the Morning Star the articles 'which continued to appear with more or less regularity for sixty years.*
In 1843, Mr. Cheney was called to be Principal of Parsonsfield Seminary, where eleven years before he had entered as a pupil.
The Morning Star of June 7, 1843, speaks of him in the highest terms as instructor and licen- tiate, for he was not only expected to teach, but also to preach at Parsonsfield. He also supplied the pulpit twice a month at Effingham Hill, near by.
In this locality his anti-slavery sentiments found many opposers, it being denied that his
*At a session of the Free-Will Baptist General Confer- ence, held at Topsham, Maine, in 1841, a union was effected with the Free or Free Communion Baptists in New York, with the understanding that their denominational names might be used interchangeably, and the "Will" having been used less and less since then, we shall drop it in this biography.
48 LIFE AND WORK OF
statements of cruelty to the slaves were founded in fact. A branch of the underground railroad ran through Parsonsfield and thence to the Canadian border. One day the station keeper in Effingham brought to Mr. Cheney's home in Par- sonsfield a woman and two children, fugitives from slavery. He sheltered and fed them, then arranged for them to meet parents as well as children at his school. Here the mother showed the branded marks on her children's shoulders and other indi- cations of cruelty. They were sweet singers and as they sang their weird songs with much pathos in word and tone, all were moved to tears and the sentiment of the community was so changed that Mr. Cheney afterward found few objectors to his anti-slavery utterances.
Mr. Cheney had now begun to feel that the ministry was to be his life-work. This led to his ordination in 1844, the sermon being preached by Elder John Buzzell, with Benjamin J. Manson and others participating in the exercises. For his preaching at Effingham, he received two dollars a Sunday. After a time one of the members asked him not to mention the subjects of temperance and slavery in the pulpit. With all his manhood flashing from his eyes, Mr. Cheney replied, " A pile of gold as high as a mountain would not tempt me to stop speaking upon those questions." He was at this time much in demand as a lecturer upon these themes.
OREN B. CHENEY 49
For some time the conviction had been growing that, if he were to be a minister, he should further fit himself for the sacred office. The theological course and library, previously referred to, had, after various vicissitudes, been removed to Whites- town Seminary, in New York. To this place Mr. Cheney removed in 1845 — with his wife and one- year old son, Horace Rundlett — with the purpose of taking a theological course, and meanwhile supporting his family by teaching Latin in the Seminary. Though his course of study was cut short, the influence for good which he exerted while there remained, as attested by the following reminiscence by a life-long friend, Rev. G. H. Ball, D.D. :
" I was not connected with the Seminary department, but recollect that Prof. Cheney was spoken of as an excellent teacher. We were in the same class in the Divinity School with Dr. John Fullonton and Dr. George T. Day. It was a large class, and of course, the fact that Day, Fullonton and Cheney were in it signifies that it was interesting, vigorous and aggressive. Brother Cheney was admired and loved by every member of the class as a scholarly, bright and courteous gentleman. Personally he was handsome, neat in his attire and habits, gentle in his manners and generous, as well as courteous.
" He always took a bright and cheerful view of every subject discussed in class, in the literary society and in general intercourse.
50 LIFE AND WORK OF
His social influence among the students was refining, and, without the least obtrusiveness, improved the habits of the young men who had grown up with rude surroundings, and, on coming to the school, were really in need of the helpful influence he so quietly exerted. He was popular with all the students and looked up to as a model for imitation. He appeared to me at that period in his life as nearly perfect in gentility of manner, in purity and dignity of thought, in courtesy and kindness in intercourse, in unselfish devotion to his chosen purpose in life, in sincerity and strength of interest in the most advanced undertakings of the denomination, in generous appreciation of his associates and in reverent respect for older men, who were then active among our ministers."
But life plans "gang aft agley." After a few months, his wife's health failed so rapidly that he was obliged to carry her back to her father's home in Stratham, New Hampshire. His sister Sarah, who was then preceptress at Whitestown Semi- nary, accompanied him, caring for little Horace. After some anxious weeks, on January 13, 1846, Mrs. Caroline R. Cheney peacefully passed on to the other life. The parting from this capable, talented companion was a severe blow to her devoted husband.
Writing in his diary at this time he says :
" How bitter has been the cup I have been
OREN B. CHENEY 51
called to drink! Thirty years of my life gone ! Where shall I be thirty years to come. I hope to be in heaven."
But life's work called loudly and he could but listen and heed.
CHRISTIAN POLITICIAN
PASTOR— LEBANON
LEBANON ACADEMY
AUGUSTA
LEGISLATURE
A NEW HOME LIFE
VI
The Cheney family may be said to possess political genius. Oren's father and two of his brothers were members of the New Hampshire legislature. His brother Person was Governor of New Hampshire, United States Senator, for a short time Minister to Switzerland, and for many years an influential member of the National Republican Committee. Elias, the youngest brother, has been Consul to Matanzas, then later to Curacao. Many other near relatives have occupied prominent public positions. But no one of them had a more level head or better political foresight than Oren.
In 1846 there was an interesting condition in the country, owing to the agitation caused by the Wilmot Proviso, a measure before Congress, to limit the extension of slavery. John P. Hale, a democratic candidate in New Hampshire for the United States House of Representatives, was defeated because he would not consent to have the clause favoring the Wilmot Proviso taken from the New Hampshire Democratic platform.
Then came a party split, John P. Hale, Amos Tuck and George G. Fogg being leaders of the Independent Democrats. The two latter were intimate friends of O. B. Cheney. Amos Tuck had been a Parsonsfield man and had given Mr.
56 LIFE AND WORK OF
Cheney one hundred dollars towards the first ten thousand raised for the Free Baptist Education Society. Fogg was Cheney's room-mate both at New Hampton and Dartmouth. Both of these men were broad-minded and opposed to slavery. To advance the interests of the new party Fogg started the Independent Democrat. When the legis- lature met there were four parties represented in it, no one strong enough to control the situation. Mr. Cheney saw a great opportunity. He laid a plan and with his usual persistence set about its development. If he could induce the Liberty party men, the Independent Democrats and the Whigs to vote together he saw the possibility of such a victory as anti-slavery men had not known. With the men of his own, the Liberty Party he had powerful influence, also with his friends among the Independent Democrats, and he succeeded in influencing leaders among the Whigs. It was no easy task he undertook. In the reminiscence he says :
" It was as hard for those Liberty party men to join hands with those whom they had considered their bitter opponents as it was for the Christians at Jerusalem to give kindly greeting to the persecutor Saul."
But tactful personal influence conquered and every one yielded. As the result of this union of forces against the Democrats, John P. Hale was sent to the United States Senate, Amos Tuck to
OREN B. CHENEY 57
the House of Representatives, and George G. Fogg was made Secretary of State for New Hamp- shire. Up to this time, the New Hampshire Legislature had refused to incorporate the Free Baptist Printing Establishment, because The Morning Star, its organ, was so outspoken against slavery. At this session of 1846, its charter was readily granted. The country was electrified by the news from New Hampshire. The South could hardly believe it possible that an anti-slavery Senator had been elected. Cool men, like John G. Whittier, almost went wild over it. Whittier wrote some verses, quite out of his usual style, which were published anonymously in the Boston Chronotype. In these he gives free rein to his joy by representing one Northern slavery sym- pathizer as dolefully describing the situation to a friend. His reference to Free Baptists is as follows :
" ' Tis over, Moses, all is lost !
I hear the bells a-ringing ; Of Pharaoh and his red-sea host I hear the Free Wills singing. We're routed, Moses, horse and foot
If there be truth in figures ;
With Federal Whigs in hot pursuit
And Hale and all the niggers."
Mr. Cheney continued his good offices in the political anti-slavery line until after the Free Soil Party was formed in 1848. There was perhaps
58 LIFE AND WORK OF
no one person, beginning with the circumstances just referred to, who did more than O. B. Cheney in bringing about this consummation. But it was all done with the high purpose of securing the overthrow of slavery, and caused no swerving from his life plan ; for we find him seeking no office, but, true to his convictions of duty, accepting a call to a country pastorate at West Lebanon, Maine, at a salary of $175 a year.
PASTOR AT LEBANON
In entering on his first pastorate, Mr. Cheney's most prominent feeling, as expressed in his notes, seems to have been one of self-depreciation and fear that he was not good enough for the high calling of a Christian minister. As a preacher, his characteristics were dignity of manner and deep earnestness, rather than a magnetic style, or power in arousing the emotions. Prof. J. Y. Stan- ton of Bates College was a boy when Mr. Cheney went to West Lebanon. He describes the con- ditions as follows :
" The church and society was composed of the families of Legro's Corner, a small and beautiful village, and those on the farms near by. Nearly all were Free Baptists. It was an intelligent, moral and religious com- munity, with few of the faults of country villages at the present time. The church was largely the fruit of the labor of one man, who had preached there forty years. He had had
OREN B. CHENEY 59
few opportunities for culture, but the unsel- fishness and purity of his life were remark- able. He was paid no salary, his family deriving their support mainly from his farm. " It is not strange that a man who put so much heart into his work should not want a successor ; and it is not strange that intelli- gent church members should desire a change. All were reluctant to grieve their dear friend and some would not consent to a change. Mr. Cheney was strongly urged to become pastor and at last consented. At this critical time in church and community, a man less wise, less forbearing and less firm than Mr. Cheney would have ruined everything. He was non-partizan and cordial to all, and was soon much beloved as a pastor and greatly admired as a man."
In August, 1847, a new home life was started by Mr. Cheney's marriage with Nancy S. Perkins, daughter of Rev. Thomas Perkins, an able Free Baptist minister. She was a woman of strong characteristics. She had a superior education and had been for years a successful teacher. She was thereby not only fitted to be a pastor's wife, but also a helper and sympathizer in her husband's educational work. Little " Holly," who had been cared for in his grandmother's home, now came to be his father's companion and to develop in the loving atmosphere of home.
It will help us as we further study Mr. Cheney's character to note, in passing, his high regard for
60 LIFE AND WORK OF
true womanhood. A noble woman seemed to him to embody, in a degree unattainable by any man, the finer qualities in human nature. He told the writer that, early in life, he felt defrauded in not having the opportunity to possess that especial refinement which seemed to him innate to woman. He admired women of large intellectual capacity to be and to do, those who stand firmly and bravely beside their brothers in the battle of life. The ivy type did not so much attract him ; and yet his chivalrous nature was on the alert to help women who were suffering from unequal condi- tions.
Many a wbman has sent him thanks for fatherly help in severe trial or timely advice amid legal disabilities. Marriage was to him a companion- ship of equality, a union, in which there was something strong in each to complement the other's need. He never needed conversion to equal suffrage. He believed in it as naturally as he breathed. He thought that woman's sphere included all that she was able to do well and he rejoiced in all new openings for her development.
LEBANON ACADEMY
With the educational impulse strong within them, Mr. and Mrs. Cheney sympathized with the young people in their parish who were longing for better educational opportunities and they started an Academy course in the village school-house.
OREN B. CHENEY 61
Professor J. Y. Stanton, then twelve years old, gives us an interesting reminiscence of it :
" It was a great success from the begin- ning. We were an enthusiastic band of scholars. I began the study of Latin under Mr. Cheney, a thorough and lovable teacher. Mrs. Cheney was my teacher in algebra and she was very interesting and competent. She introduced into the school some new features, which greatly increased the interest. Those were happy days for us, young people. The success of this school demonstrated to Mr. Cheney the need of making it permanent and Lebanon Academy was founded. Money was easily raised and a substantial two-s t o r y building was erected, from which there was a fine prospect of mountain, river, and sur- rounding country.
" Lebanon Academy has been an inesti- mable blessing, not only to Lebanon, but to all the neighboring towns. A substantial edu- cation has been obtained here by more than a thousand persons, who, without the Acad- emy, would have received only the education of the town school. Several young men re- ceived there their first impulse towards a college education. In the few years, during which Mr. Cheney resided in Lebanon, he did the work of a lifetime."
Mr. Cheney's influence as a character builder
is shown by the testimony of another of his
students, Benjamin F. Corson, editor of the Register, Glencoe, Minnesota :
62 LIFE AND WORK OF
" I attended Mr. Cheney's school in the little red school-house in Lebanon, — cut the wood, built the fires and swept the room for my tuition. I was also afterward janitor in the Academy. My personal feeling for my old Professor has always been that he was one of God's angels, sent to show his pupils that the highest aim of their education was to serve God and their fellow-men. His language and habits of life were the purest and best. ***** The ninth of April, 1850, was a memorable time. In the previous February, a serious spirit began to pervade the school. Prayer meetings and Sunday services were better attended. The deep undertone of religious feeling increased, until by the first of April nearly all the students, number- ing seventy-five or eighty, felt its influence.
" April sixth, with two others, I made a move for a holier life. The school and the whole community were stirred more and more, until by April 9th, the power of the Holy one so rested upon the pupils, that they began to ask to be excused and went to the long recitation room above. At last, the number left was so small that Professor Cheney said : 'You may all go.' All went except two. Such a scene I never saw, or experienced elsewhere,— some singing, some praying, some agonizing, some shouting, and heaven's great unseen cloud of rejoicing angels hovering over repenting young men and women. All over the school-room and environs was after- ward written, 'Remember April 9, 1850.' That revival was the result, under God, of O.
OREN B. CHENEY 63
B. Cheney's life and Christian influence. He was a holy man from the ground up."
During Mr. Cheney's residence in Lebanon, two daughters, Caroline and Emeline, came to brighten his home. They were two tricksy little sprites, who brought more and more joy and sunshine as they developed. The father heart in Mr. Cheney was strong and true. A very busy man, he yet had time to know and enjoy his children and to give to their best interests due consideration. His sympathy with them was so hearty that ruling them was an easy matter. He found love and a steady eye an improvement upon Solomon's method. He loved to tell how, when a poor woman called, who said she had no shoes for her children, the younger tot began at once to take off her own.
CITIZEN
As already seen, Mr. Cheney's influence as citizen and patriot was given to such political movements as advanced needed reforms. His first vote for President was given in 1844 for James G. Birney, candidate of the Liberty Party. Now that the Free Soil Party had taken its place, he was active in its interests and soon after going to Lebanon was made its candidate for the United States House of Representatives ; but finding that the Whig candidate was opposed to slavery, he declined the nomination. Later, by a combination
64 LIFE AND WORK OF
of the Free Soil, Independent and Whig parties of the towns of Lebanon and Sandford, he was elected Representative to the Maine Legislature.
Rev. Mr. Cheney's real manhood could hardly have been paid a higher compliment, for the nomination was made without his knowledge. He was greatly surprised, when, the morning after election, a neighbor called and informed him of his success. But never was divine guidance more plainly seen in the fitting of any man for his life work. Nothing could have been more opportune than his spending several months during the next two years as legislator at the capital city of Maine.
Legislative business was to him like his native air. He was at home in it. He readily learned its tactics. His honesty of purpose commanded respect and he rapidly gained influence. In any- thing he attempted his persistency was balanced by his gentlemanly manner and quietness of spirit. The fact that he secured from the legislature two thousand dollars toward an endowment for Leb- anon Academy shows that he had already learned the art of getting money for good purposes.
One other notable thing connected with his service in the Legislature is worthy of notice. It was in 185 1 that Neal Dow first went to Augusta to urge the prohibitory method of dealing with the liquor traffic. Some professed temperance men were uncertain about such a drastic measure, but O. B. Cheney recognized its value at once.
OREN B. CHENEY 65
It was a satisfaction to him to vote for it and always a pleasant memory that he had the privi- lege. To the end of his life he never wavered in his belief in and devotion to the principle of prohibition as the true one to be applied to the liquor business, and no sophistry ever blinded him to its great value to the State of Maine. Accord- ing to his best judgment, he always voted con- sistently with his belief.
AUGUSTA PASTORATE
POLITICAL ACTIVITY
OFFICIAL POSITION
EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTOR TO THE MORNING STAR
VII
In the middle of the nineteenth century the line between denominations was so sharply drawn that bitter discussions of doctrines were common among ministers and laymen of different faiths, and too great charity for differences in creeds was believed to verge on heresy. To one so true to his own convictions as was O. B. Cheney there was no temptation to attend any church because of its popularity, or because of its wealth or influence.
It is, therefore, just what would be expected that, during his months in the Legislature in Augusta, he should attend the little Free Baptist church, worshiping in a small hall, and it was a natural result that his helpfulness in speaking and singing should lead to his receiving a call to the pastorate of the church. Of the circumstances attending Mr. Cheney's acceptance of the call Rev. C. F. Penney, D.D., — so long the loved and honored pastor of this same church — wrote, many years later, the following reminiscence :
" Walking down State street a few years since, with President Cheney, he suddenly paused on the sidewalk, about half way between the residence of Hon. James G. Blaine and the State House. I looked inquir- ingly and he said, ' On this spot I made what
70 LIFE AND WORK OF
was perhaps the most important decision of my life. I decided to come to Augusta to take charge of our church interest here, at the invitation of the church and the Free Baptist Home Mission Society. The session of the legislature was drawing to a close and I was about to go home. I had a call to another place at a fair salary. The call here had little money in it, hardly enough to keep soul and body together, and the hardest of work. Thinking as to what was duty, I sud- denly paused, at this very place, and asked myself in so many words, ' to which place shall I go ? ' And a voice seemed to say, ' to Augusta.' I audibly replied, ' I will choose this field.' "
Mr. Cheney had spent six years of hard work at Lebanon, ministering to the church and found- ing the Academy. He left the former united and prosperous and the latter so well established that years of usefulness were before it. In his written articles he always referred with touching tender- ness to the associations and friendships of his first pastorate.
His life-purpose at this time is well illustrated by the following incident. While he was planting an orchard of apple trees at his Lebanon home, a passing friend asked : " Why do you do this ? You will never eat apples from those trees." "No," was the reply, "but somebody will."
On taking the Augusta pastorate Mr. Cheney saw that in order to establish the church on a firm
OREN B. CHENEY 71
basis, the first requisite was a house of worship. With him to see a need was to act, and we find him during the next year busily engaged in raising the money for building the edifice, which for over fifty years was to be the church home. In raising this money Mr. Cheney not only canvassed Maine churches, but also many in other New England States, thus obtaining an experience that proved very valuable in his later life-work. With the purpose of securing aid in his work he wrote numerous articles for The Morning Star. The printed reports of his receipts show not only that most of the money was raised in small amounts, but also how careful he was to acknowledge every cent received. His purpose is expressed in an article, in which he says :
" It should be remembered that we will never raise a finger in helping to dedicate the house until it shall be paid for."
The result is stated in Rev. C. F. Penney's reminiscence :
" The beautiful church in Augusta, dedi- cated without debt in a little more than a year after President Cheney's pastorate com- menced, stands a monument of his indomi- table faith and persistent zeal."
Although the church was dedicated and practi- cally completed in November, 1853, many finish- ing touches remained to be given. One of these
72 LIFE AND WORK OF
was the furnishing of the pastor's study. In September, 1854, Mr. Cheney writes in his diary:
" This morning I enter my study in our new church. It is a neat, pretty minister's home. How kind are my dear brethren and sisters, in fitting up for me this inner court in the Lord's temple ! Well, I have just dedi- cated it to God."
Here he gives a complete order of exercises, adding to each, " By the poor pastor." "I know God will accept the consecration, because all has been done with an honest heart. He has helped us in erecting this house. Now, oh, Lord, fill it and me with thy glory. Oh that God would ever dwell in this study to teach me by His spirit and His word and make me useful to His people."
Everything seemed now to promise for Mr. Cheney a successful pastorate in a growing, con- genial church. His pulpit ministrations were thoughtful and dignified and attended with spirit- ual power, as shown by frequent baptisms and accessions to the church. Because of his sym- pathetic nature, he was much in demand at funerals. He was held in general respect and had influence with many prominent citizens.
During this pastorate his voice was at its best. His singing was of the gospel evangelist style and made deep impressions. Some people said they went to church to hear him sing.
That his ideas of a Christian church were broad
OREN B. CHENEY 73
and comprehensive is shown by Rev. Dr. C. F. Penney's testimony thirty years later.
" A new church interest, such as President Cheney formed at Augusta, is easily molded. A trusted leader shapes it almost at will. Fortunate, indeed, are the people whose early history is under such guidance as that of the Augusta church in the first four years of its existence. Our church became thoroughly imbued with the spirit of its leader and from that day to the present has stood, not only strong and pronounced on all questions of moral and social reform, but equally intelli- gent and liberal in the various departments of Christian benevolence."
POLITICAL ACTIVITY
In order to understand Mr. Cheney's all-around development, we must take note of his other ac- tivities during the early years of his Augusta pas- torate. His interest in the Free Soil Party had not in the least abated. This party was the polit- ical expression of anti-slavery sentiment, and, as a Christian man, he felt that he must do all in his power to advance its interests. That he was a valued helper is shown by his election, in 1852, by the Maine Free Soil convention as its delegate to the National Free Soil Convention at Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, which nominated John P. Hale for the presidency. Some incidents con- nected with the journey to Pittsburgh are worthy
74 LIFE AND WORK OF
of note. One evening on the steamer on Lake Erie many passengers, — including Charles Francis Adams and other delegates of note — were gathered on deck, watching a glorious sunset. Suddenly an inspiration came to Mr. Cheney and he sang verse after verse of an old hymn, the closing of which was:
"A trust in God I hold it fast In peril and in pain,
Until that glorious Sun shall rise, That ne'er shall set again,"
closing just as the sun sank in the water. That it created a profound impression is shown by the testimony of Rev. G. H. Ball, D.D., who was one of the delegates present and who says :
" The steamer was crowded with passengers of every stripe of politics. Dr. Cheney sang as if inspired. All were charmed by the clear, rich tenor voice and many eyes were wet."
At each stopping-place delegates joined the party and among them was Frederick Douglass. Dinner for the delegates was ready at Alliance, Ohio. As they entered the dining hall the two long tables looked very inviting to the hungry men ; but the proprietor blocked the way. The " nigger " must not come in. " I tell you that raised a storm," said Dr. Cheney, in telling of the inci- dent. " The delegates said with one accord, ' If Fred Douglass cannot eat, we will not ;' then the proprietor backed right down."
OREN B. CHENEY 75
The convention was a very enthusiastic one. Dr. Cheney always remembered with pride the very able speech made by his friend, Dr. Ball. A few weeks later Mr. Cheney attended a banquet given in Boston in honor of John P. Hale, at which Charles Sumner was one of the speakers. In his report of it for The Morning Star he refers to the absence of wine as a noticeable and very gratifying feature. Mr. Cheney retained through life a very pleasant remembrance of his acquaint- ance with John P. Hale, and he often repeated some of Hale's apt stories. One of these, which he used to illustrate a weak character, is as fol- lows :
" A domineering wife one day made her husband crawl under the bed when they saw a visitor coming. After a while the poor fellow began to look slyly out between the valances. The threatening look of his wife intimidated him for a time, but soon his patience gave way and he burst out with, ' As long as I have the spirit of a man, I will peep.' "
SECRETARY AND EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTOR
In October, 1853, Mr. Cheney was a delegate to the Free Baptist General Conference, held in Fairport, New York. He had been for four years Corresponding Secretary of the Free Baptist Edu- cation Society and for five years Recording Secre- tary of the Free Baptist Foreign Missionary
76 LIFE AND WORK OF
Society. The duties involved in these responsible positions gave him an influence in the denomina- tion and kept him in touch with people in differ- ent parts of the country.
This meeting of the General Conference was of much importance, as the immediate future of the Biblical School was settled by the decision to remove it to New Hampton, New Hampshire, and to raise $20,000 towards its endowment. On his return to Augusta, Mr. Cheney entered heartily into the work of helping to raise this money and soon began to report receipts for it.
He was a regular attendant at and an influential factor in the Quarterly and Yearly Meetings, of which his church was a constituent member. It is a good example of his foresight and good judg- ment, that at the session of the Kennebec Yearly Meeting, held in 1853, he proposed a union of the three Maine Yearly Meetings into a State Associ- ation, as conducive to better system and greater efficiency in work. This was so earnestly opposed that the matter rested for many years, but the union was effected in 1888, much to the advantage of the denominational work.
During one Yearly Meeting session a terrific thunder storm rolled and crashed around the church. Some of the people were terrified and a panic seemed imminent, when Mr. Cheney went to the platform and sang the old hymn, one verse of which is :
OREN B. CHENEY 77
" God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform ; He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm."
The clear voice, rising above the noise of the elements, produced an electrical effect more potent than that without, for before he had finished, the audience sat as if spell-bound, then looking out found the storm was abating.
From the time when, in 1843, Mr. Cheney began to write brief articles for The Morning Star, the amount contributed continued to increase with the passing years. It will help us to an insight into his interest in current events to note the different subjects on which he wrote during the time when many people would have been so ab- sorbed in church building and the other activities referred to as to have no thought for anything else. During the three months preceding the dedication of the Augusta church each issue of the paper had two or more articles from his pen, including the following subjects :
1. Several on Temperance, with discussion of conditions in Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Minnesota ; and with appeals to the people of Maine to so vote as to retain the Prohibitory Law.
2. Duties of a Faithful Sunday School Teacher.
78 LIFE AND WORK OF
3. A general article on The Free Baptists in New Brunswick.
4. Value of Woman's Work in the Temper- ance and Anti-slavery Reforms.
5. Duty of Ministers to the Sick.
6. Articles on Political Conditions.
7. Several columns on Anti-Slavery, with an extended discussion of criticisms of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe.
8. Respect for Law.
9. A thrilling story of a man, robbed in a " grog-shop " while on the way to make purchases for a sick wife.
10. Frequent stories of travel in the interest of the Augusta church, with tables of receipts.
11. Reports as Corresponding and Recording Secretary of the Societies previously referred to.
At the annual meeting of the Corporators of the Free Baptist Printing Establishment, held in 1853, Mr. Cheney was elected assistant editor of The Morning- Star. In his Salutatory, in the issue of October, 1853, after referring to his receipt of the news of his appointment, he says :
" In the autumn of 1839, just fourteen years ago, we received a similar announce- ment, but fearing that our youthful pen would fail to do what might be expected of it, we did not dare assume such a responsibility and declined it. * * * * We accept the appoint- ment this time, not because we now feel
OREN B. CHENEY 79
adequate to the work assigned us — for more and more we see our ignorance — but because we believe that, if a man cannot do every- thing, he can do something. If he cannot be faithful in much, he can be faithful in little.
' And he that does the best he can, does well, Acts nobly, an angel can do no more.' "
He follows with burning words expressive of his feeling about the evils of slavery and intemper- ance and his purpose to write and work for their overthrow. During the next ten years with few exceptions he contributed weekly to The Morning Star articles on themes as varied as is the life of humanity. One of these, published in the Star of June 2, 1854, was a description as an eye-witness of the return to slavery of Anthony Burns.*
We give a few extracts :
" I was in Boston. Awaking early, I took a walk. I wanted the atmosphere of 1776, none of the oxygen taken out. So I stood upon Dorchester Heights, one of the spots consecrated to liberty and the equal rights of
That morning the news spread like wild-fire that Anthony Burns had been seized by U.S.
* The Fugitive Slave Law, requiring the return of run- away slaves to their owners, although passed in 1851, had aroused so much opposition in the North as to be but partially operative. The South clamored for enforcement and United States officials came to their aid.
80 LIFE AND WORK OF
officers. Hearing of this, Mr. Cheney repaired quickly to the city proper and thus reported what ensued :
" Through the politeness of a college class- mate I was seated at a window in full view of what was passing, and this is the scene : The door of the court-house is strongly guarded. A six pound cannon faces it. An immense crowd of a thousand soldiers surround it. Men, women and children fill the streets, look out of windows, lean against chimneys and are on roofs of the highest buildings. An approaching guard of United States Marines
is greeted with a storm of hisses
It is now twenty-five minutes past nine. There is motion and stir in the court-room. The decision is made. Liberty or slavery has triumphed. 'Goes back. Goes back. Goes back,' runs along the tens of thousands as lightning on the wires. Then follow hisses, groans and cries of 'shame.' Women hang out from windows black shawls, mantillas, and strips of cloth "
Mr. Cheney follows with the crowd and sees Burns put upon the United States cutter that is to return him to slavery. He hears the master offered twelve hundred dollars for him and hears that the word from Washington is " Must go back." Then the intensity of his feelings expresses itself in the following language :
" Go back ! Oh thou great and mighty God ! Thou ruler of the land and sea ! Why dost
O. B. Cheney
About 1855
OREN B. CHENEY 81
thou not in anger stretch out thine hand and let thy winds blow, thy tempests rise, thy ocean rock in fury, thy thunder-bolts crash and all on board — one only excepted — go to the lowest bottom ! Why ? Because thou art slow to anger and waitest to be gracious. Thou canst bear it. Help me to bear it in the spirit of an unworthy child of thine. My prayer then only shall be ' Father forgive them. They know not what they do.' To my brother in bonds :
'Live and take comfort. Thou hast left
behind Powers that will work for thee, air, earth and
skies. There's not a breathing of the common mind That will forget thee. Thou hast great
allies.' "
Such is an illustration of the work which, as assistant editor, found its place in Mr. Cheney's busy life for years to come.
THE VISION
MAINE STATE SEMINARY
DIFFICULTY IN SECURING A CHARTER
LOCATION IN LEWISTON
CHARLES SUMNER FURNISHES A SCHOOL MOTTO
LETTERS FROM CHARLES SUMNER
VIII
On the evening of September twenty-second, 1854, Mr. Cheney was resting in his Augusta home, planning for the development of his church work, when a letter was handed to him. It proved to be from Rev. J. A. Lowell, Principal of Par- sonsfield Seminary, and contained the startling announcement that the Seminary building had been burned to the ground.
As Mr. Cheney pondered over this great dis- aster, a flood of tender recollections rushed over him. He recalled his early experience at Parsons- field, first as scholar, then later as teacher and preacher, and lived over his early married life there. But soon his thought turned from himself to the boys and girls so suddenly deprived of a school, and, as he thought on and on, he became impressed with the need of a more centrally located and higher institution of learning than any previously furnished Free Baptist young people in Maine.* He also remembered that there were many bright boys and girls, without denominational con- nection, scattered throughout the villages and farming districts, who longed for an education, but were without the means of obtaining it.
* It must be remembered that at this time nearly all insti- tutions, except common grade schools, were under denomi- national auspices.
86 LIFE AND WORK OF
As he weighed the needs and conditions, an ideal school began to take form in his mind, adapted to students who, in order to pay their way, must depend on their own efforts. As he studied the matter, the possibility of founding such a school seemed more and more practicable. Then a voice, as if from heaven, seemed to say to his inmost being, " Do this work for me."
Startled by the suddenness of the thought, he urged, in opposition, his consecration to the ministry and his opportunity for usefulness in Augusta — that he had worked hard to secure a house of worship and was now just ready to reap the benefits in building up a strong church. But the divine vision of duty would not be dismissed. Hour after hour passed and as he sat and pon- dered, oblivious of the passing time, the needs and possibilities developed more and more in his thought. The future of numbers of young people seemed suddenly entrusted to him.
But he saw also the difficulties to be encount- ered. He knew that few, even of his friends, would understand or sympathize with his ideals, — that, instead of enthusiastic helpers, he should have to contend with faint-heartedness and even opposition. He saw that it meant years of unap- preciated hard work ; he saw days and days of solicitation for money, involving frequent and prolonged absences from home.
But, as the night waned, the vision of duty
OREN B. CHENEY 87
became more and more insistent, until, finally, with prayer for guidance, he yielded to what he believed to be a divine call, — made the great sacrifice of giving up the ministry (how great it was, few but himself ever knew), and said, " Here am I, Lord, to do thy will."
When, in the early morning hours, Mr. Cheney retired to rest, his purpose and plans in life were as completely changed as if he had become another man. His future life proved that " he was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision." September twenty-second, 1854, was always to him the birth-night, not only of Maine State Seminary, but of Bates College also, for the latter is but a natural outgrowth of the former.
MAINE STATE SEMINARY
O. B. Cheney was altogether too shrewd a man to forestall either success or defeat by many con- fidences in regard to his new plans. He under- stood human nature well enough to know that the divine voice which speaks to one man is not heard by the multitude. He made his moves with cau- tion. As Corresponding Secretary of the Free Baptist Education Society it was suitable for him to be a leader in some action to be taken in con- sequence of the burning of Parsonsfield Seminary.
The anniversaries of the Free Baptist Benevo- lent Societies were to be held in Saco, Maine, in the following month — October, 1854. There, at
88 LIFE AND WORK OF
Mr. Cheney's invitation, " the friends of a higher institution of learning " met in the church gallery, and voted to call a convention to act upon the matter. During the next month Mr. Cheney was busy, enlisting the interest of those who would be likely to be in sympathy with starting a school, prominent among these being Rev. E. Knowlton, member of Congress from Maine. The conven- tion was held in Topsham, Maine, in the follow- ing month — November. In presenting the need for a school Mr. Cheney said in part :
"We do not propose an Academy, but a school of high order, between a college and an Academy. We shall petition the Legis- lature of Maine to suitably endow, as well as to incorporate, such an Institution. We know our claim is good and we intend openly and manfully and we trust in a Christian spirit to press it. If we fail next winter, we shall try another legislature. If we fail on a second trial, we hope to try a third and a fourth."
Such faith and determination could but be con- tagious. The convention enthusiastically voted to establish a school. Trustees were elected and a committee consisting of O. B. Cheney, E. Knowlton and Francis Lyford was appointed to have the matter in charge. A prominent minister from New Hampshire came to the convention to oppose the movement, on the ground that the Free Baptist school in that state was sufficient ;
OREN B. CHENEY 89
thus, at its birth, the school was baptized in the element of opposition. But as well might the effort have been made to stay an incoming tide.
At the time appointed for the first committee meeting, Rev. Mr. Knowlton was sick, but Messrs. Cheney and Lyford went in a sleigh through a snow-storm from Augusta to South Montville and the meeting was held in Mr. Knowlton's sick room. Since September twenty-second, plans had been taking form in Mr. Cheney's mind, and these were the ones that, in the main, were adopted as the working method in founding the school. At his suggestion the proposed institution was named Maine State Seminary.
The securing of a charter from the legislature was the first thing to be attempted. As a result of the committee's activity, in order to pave the way for legislative action, petitions to the legis- lature for charter and endowment for the proposed school were at once placed in circulation among Free Baptists and other friends of the Seminary, and, on the assembling of the Maine legislature in January in its session of i854-'55, two of these petitions with a large number of signatures were ready for presentation. Others continued to come in, until, by February 28th, twenty-four different petitions were presented. These were referred to the Joint Committee on Education, the Chairman of which was President of a Seminary in the state.
90 LIFE AND WORK OF
After some delay, during which time much per- sonal work was done among the members of the legislature, the Committee reported a bill giving to Maine State Seminary a charter and an appro- priation of $15,000; but this was immediately followed by requests for aid from other schools in the state, with the result that the Committee soon after reported an Omnibus bill, giving to different schools $60,000. This was with the apparent purpose of killing the whole thing. After long discussion the Omnibus bill was defeated, for the members well knew that they would not be sus- tained by their constituents in voting for edu- cation so large a sum of money.
There seemed now to be little prospect that anything could be done at that session. Mr. Knowlton was obliged to return to his home early in February, but Messrs. Cheney and Lyford lived in Augusta, and, although publicly the matter rested, quietly but steadily the interests of the school were pushed. Mr. Cheney visited member after member of the legislature with this appeal:
" Other denominations have their schools and they have been helped by the state. There are many Free Baptists in Maine whose children need education, in order to become valuable citizens. Now that Parsons- field Seminary is burned, they have no school. There is no good reason why they should not have such help as others have had."
OREN B. CHENEY 91
As a result of this personal work the bill ap- propriating $15,000 and that giving a charter to Maine State Seminary were again reported to the House and passed that body. (The remainder of the story is mainly in Mr. Cheney's own words:)
" The excitement was then so great, that I let the matter rest until about three weeks before the close of the session. In the mean- time the presidents of other schools went home. As the session was nearing its close, I called upon the Chairman of the Joint Com- mittee, and asked him if, at a suitable time, he would call up the bill for action in the Senate. He said it would be of no use. As the bill was in his hands, it was not easy to know what to do next, but I found a friend of the measure who agreed that, if the Chair- man continued to refuse to report the bill, he would call upon him to do so from the floor of the Senate, and, if he then declined, he would himself call it up on the last day of the session.
" For various reasons no action had been taken and the last day had arrived. Besides the Chairman of the Committee, there was one other Senator, a friend of his, who had earnestly opposed the bill. At noon I ob- tained an audience with him. I told him that, when I was a member of the Legislature, I voted to help all the schools, including the one in which he was interested. I reminded him that but a few hours remained before the close of the session and begged of him, as a personal favor, that, if the bill was brought
92 LIFE AND WORK OF
up, he would not offer an amendment. He finally promised and then I felt pretty sure of success.
" When the Senate was called to order in the afternoon, I went right to the Chairman and asked him to call up the bill. He said, ' It will be of no use, Mr. Cheney. It will not pass.' I said 'call it up and let us see.' He said he would, if I would allow him to make an amendment, giving to the school which he represented $7,000 and to Maine State Seminary $8,000. I replied that that would send it back to the House and defeat everything for that session. When he found that, if he did not report the bill, some one else would call for it, he yielded and it was soon before the Senate. The question was on the engrossment. The motion to have the bill engrossed was passed by a good majority and the victory seemed to be won.
" Through the courtesy of the President of the Senate, I was myself allowed to take the document to the Secretary of State's office to be engrossed. This work was then done by hand and it was late in the afternoon before it was finished. Imagine my feelings, when, on hearing it read, I discovered a mistake which seriously affected the whole bill. By permission I took it to the clerk of the House of Representatives and he certified as to how the bill passed, but he said it was too late to do anything more about it at that session. I had a different opinion.
" The second engrossment took until late in the evening. I then carried it to the Com- mittee on Engrossed Bills and they certified
OREN B. CHENEY 93
that it was correct. I hastened with it to the Speaker of the House, Hon. Sidney Per- ham. he immediately put it to vote, and the bill passed. The Speaker then allowed me to take it to the Senate. The presiding officer, Hon. Frankbin Muzzey, at once called for the vote of that body, the bill passed and he signed it. I asked if, instead of sending by a committee, as usual, I might, in person, take it to the Governor. He gave the per- mission. It was then ten o'clock. The ses- sion closed at twelve. As I entered the room of the Governor, Hon. Anson P. Morrill, he looked up from the bills he was signing and smilingly said,
" ' Well, Mr. Cheney, have you a bill there you want me to veto ? ' I replied,
" ' Yes, Governor, if you want to ! ' He promptly affixed his signature and I went home and went to sleep with the happiest heart I had had in years."
Mr. Cheney inaugurated the campaign for raising money for the school by the following announcement in The Morning Star of March 28,
1855:
" The little barque, Maine State Seminary, came safely into port, the 16th instant. Probably many of her friends, who have been so anxious as to her fate, were locked in slumber at the hour of her arrival, for it was ten o'clock. The voyage was long, — the weather stormy, — the freight heavy, — but she came safely in."
94 LIFE AND WORK OF
To advance the interests of the school Mr. Cheney at once began the publication in Augusta of a monthly paper — The Seminary Advocate. Through its pages many young people became interested in the school and it became a helpful medium for raising money. Messrs. Cheney and Knowlton now used all the time they could spare from other duties in soliciting funds.
LOCATION IN LEWISTON
The committee on locating the school consisted of Reverends Cheney, Knowlton and N. Brooks. Different sites presented claims and inducements and it was after much careful thought and investi- gation, attended by honest differences in opinion, that the committee finally located the school at Lewiston, on the Androscoggin river, and in the county of that name. Lewiston was then a small, but rapidly growing town. It was not only a business centre for a fine farming district, but its water facilities for mill purposes had attracted Boston capital and the prospects were good for rapid development in manufacturing.
The site of the school was donated by the citizens of Lewiston and the Water Power Com- pany. Five acres were at first offered, but Mr. Cheney would not consider locating until twenty acres were promised. In form the land constitutes an oblong square. It is situated on a somewhat elevated ridge, sloping gently in front and rear
OREN B. CHENEY 95
and with a grove of five or six acres. It is about a mile from the business centre of the city, the intervening land being then mostly devoted to farming. This location has proved to be, in many respects, one of the finest among New England schools.
As soon as this site was secured, it became important that Mr. Cheney should remove to Lewiston. During the two and a half years since his " vision " of duty had changed his life-purpose, he had continued his work as pastor of the Augusta church, reporting for The Morning Star, baptisms, interesting prayer-meetings, "good times " in receiving new members, and other signs of healthy church work. But he now felt that his best energies must be devoted to the school, and accordingly sent in his resignation. The church voted not to accept it, and only, when he repeated and sadly insisted, did they release him. We find him soon after, early in 1856, located in Lewiston near the Seminary grounds.
The money thus far donated for the school had been in comparatively small sums. As the success of such an enterprise must be dependent on some large gifts, Mr. Cheney was overjoyed, when in the spring of 1856, he was invited to call on Seth Hathorn of Woolwich, Maine, and was informed by him and his wife, Mary, that they proposed to make a liberal donation to the school.
Mrs. Hathorn said, " I have been hoping and
96 LIFE AND WORK OF
praying that God would open the way for a portion of our property to be disposed of where it would do good after our death. I believe the Lord sent you here."
Encouraged by their promise of at least five thousand dollars, Mr. Cheney soon made arrange- ments for erecting a building, to be named Hathorn Hall, in honor of these generous donors ; and on June 26th, 1856, the corner-stone of Maine State Seminary was laid with appropriate cere- monies. This was a gala day for Lewiston. We quote from an address by President Cheney :
" The people assembled by thousands, and a very large procession composed of the trustees, clergymen, in and out of town, directors of the Franklin Company, fire com- panies of the village, teachers and children of the public schools and many citizens, marched to the seminary grounds under the marshalship of Capt. A. H. Kelsey of Lewis- ton, and led by the music of two brass bands of the village. Rev. Benjamin Thorne, a venerable father of the Free Baptist ministry, offered the prayer of invocation, and Rev. George Knox, standing upon the stone, offered the consecrating prayer. Rev. Mar- tin J. Steere delivered the oration, and Hon. C. W. Goddard and Rev. John Stevens made addresses. It was made my duty to lay the stone. A beautiful metallic box, presented by Mr. John Goss, and containing the charter and various other papers, was deposited in
OREN B. CHENEY 97
the stone. The following ode, composed by Mrs. V. G. Ramsey, was sung :
We come with joy, we come with prayer, And lay this consecrated stone ; O thou, who with a Father's care Hast watched the work our hands have done, Bless us, and let thy richest grace Descend henceforth upon this place.
We come not here to rear a pile
With columns fair and turrets high,
To win the world's approving smile, With Eastern art and wealth to vie ; Far other thoughts our hearts control, Far other wishes fill our soul.
The massive walls of brick and stone,
Which here may rise are not our care; When busy hands their work have done, And there shall stand a structure fair, Then shall our care and toil begin, A greater triumph yet to win.
Here will we mold, refine and carve
Those living stones, which, borne on high, The mighty Architect shall use To build a temple in the sky,
Whose matchless glory fitteth well The place where Jesus deigns to dwell.
Those living stones — not diamonds bright
Compare with them, nor pearls, nor gold. If we but do the work aright,
These precious stones to carve and mold, Angels will watch o'er us with joy And almost envy our employ.
President Cheney's political relations with Hon. Charles Sumner, member of Congress, from Massachusetts, made him feel free to request a motto for the new Institute. The following is the reply received :
98 LIFE AND WORK OF
Washington, Dec. n, 180. My Dear Sir:
Amove ac Studio* I cannot send anything better than these words for the seal of your Institution. I once thought to have them cut on a seal of my own, but did not.
But I doubt not you will be able to devise something better than anything I can suggest. Accept my thanks for the kindness of your com- munication, and believe me, dear sir,
Faithfully yours,
Charles Sumner.
He evidently kept the motto in mind as evi- denced by the reference to it in the following letter, written four years later :
Boston, 17th Nov., '61. My Dear Sir :
I have indulged the hope of mak- ing a visit to Bangor this season, with a stop at Lewiston, but it is now too late. All my time until I leave for Washington is now mortgaged.
Accept my best wishes for your good and use- ful Institute.
If it should continue to be inspired by its motto — as I doubt not — it will be a fountain to the state.
Faithfully yours,
Charles Sumner. O. B. Cheney.
* Amore ac Studio maybe translated "with ardent zeal for study."
4^2ce C^J^ fr~fa.
tr^
fr^-cfc*,
GENERAL CONFERENCE IN MAINE- VILLE, OHIO
POLITICAL EXCITEMENT
STIRRING INCIDENTS
PLANS FOR RAISING MONEY FOR THE SEMINARY
CHILDREN'S OFFERING
IX
In October, 1856, Mr. Cheney was a member of the Free Baptist General Conference, held in Maineville, Ohio. He had resigned his position as Recording Secretary of the Foreign Missionary Society, but retained that of Corresponding Secre- tary of the Education Society. In connection with the duties of this position some perplexities arose in connection with the dual work of raising money for the Biblical School and Maine State Seminary, the adjustment of which was helped by his attendance at this General Conference.
In the fall of 1856 the country was in a fever heat of excitement because of the approaching presidential election in November, and especially on account of the nomination for the presidency of John C. Fremont, as candidate of the newly formed Republican party. To this party Mr. Cheney had transferred the warm allegiance that he had previously given to the Free Soil party. This was also true of a majority of the members of the General Conference, and the session thrilled with the spirit of the time. At its close an open- air meeting was held in the interest of Fremont and Dayton, ably addressed by Rev. E. Knowlton and others.
Mr. Cheney had a notable liking for visiting spots associated with the birth, death, or noted
104 LIFE AND WORK OF
action of prominent individuals ; and at the close of the meetings, with four other delegates, he made a trip to some places of note in Kentucky. While they were in Lexington, a brother of a Maine Con- gressman, then residing there, came to their hotel and uttered words of warning. He said :
" Do you know that you are objects of sus- picion ? Your presence is making much talk. If it becomes known that you are abolition- ists, your lives will be in danger. You must move with great caution."
It is hardly necessary to say that the warning was heeded. Rev. Silas Curtis — one of the com- pany— was noted for the fervor of his prayers for the slaves ; but it was noticeable that, when they gathered for an evening service before separating for the night, he failed to mention his " brothers in black." This was for years after a source of merriment among these friends.
After they had boarded the cars to return, a Kentuckian came through the train, canvassing for votes for President. When he came to the five delegates, Mr. Cheney said, speaking for them, " We are clergymen, who have just attended a religious meeting in Ohio and have taken this opportunity to visit the grave of Henry Clay, to call on his widow and have also been to the home of Breckenridge.* We are strangers and do not
* John C. Breckenridge was the democratic candidate for Vice-President.
OREN B. CHENEY 105
care to vote." "Oh, yes, vote ! " was the man's earnest rejoinder. Then Mr. Cheney looked him steadily in the eye, and asked,
" Do you want us to tell you honestly how we are going to vote ?"
" Certainly," was the reply.
" Well, then, my vote will be cast for Fremont and Dayton." The others said the same. Al- though their five votes were the only ones cast for the Republican candidates, their quiet, gentle- manly manner was respected and the man passed on without comment. But it is easy to under- stand that our travelers felt more comfortable after they had safely crossed the Ohio river. At any rate they tossed up their hats and otherwise showed that the most dignified men have a good deal of the spirit of a boy left in them.
PLANS FOR RAISING MONEY
These episodes in Mr. Cheney's life formed a valuable safety-valve to an intense nature. He returned home to enter upon the work of a very busy year and now turned his energies towards advancing the interests of the Seminary with the hope of opening the school the next fall. This included raising money by personal solicitation and correspondence, keeping the Seminary in- terests before the public through articles in the papers and presentation at Quarterly and Yearly Meetings, arranging for securing suitable teachers
106 LIFE AND WORK OF
and planning the necessary equipment for the branches to be taught, and finally in having a general oversight of the erection of Hathorn Hall and another building then called the Boarding Hall, but which was eventually named Parker Hall in honor of Judge Thomas Parker of Farm- ington, Maine, who gave five thousand dollars towards its erection.
One of his shrewdest moves for raising money for the Seminary, during this year, was through a call for an offering of one dollar each from the children in Sunday schools and elsewhere. Fol- lowing Mr. Cheney's appeal, through the Seminary Advocate and Morning Star, a wide-spread interest was created, which proved to be of three-fold value : — boys and girls became interested in the Seminary through giving money for it, parents had their attention called to it through their children, and the financial aid was considerable. The following letters illustrate the far-reaching influence of the movement :
Mr. Cheney
Dear Sir
please except my donation for the Semenary.
M. E. C.
7 years old
Mr. Cheney Dear Sir,
I am five years old today ; and I am going to send you one dollar to help build the
OREN B. CHENEY 107
Maine State Seminary, and I hope I shall some- time come there to school.
Yours, O. W. D.
Written with father's hand.
Mr. Cheney
I have just been reading your piece in the Star and thought I would send you my dollar It seems very small but my sister says that the great Ocean is made of little drops I intend to go to Lewiston to school I am eleven years old My little cousin D B C wishes me to enclose a dollar for him.
S. A. C.
Mr. Cheney
Dear Sir
I am a little girl of eight years old, and sister Em Six — We send you one dollar each which we have earned drying apples as the Child offaring for Maine State Seminary — and hope that when we are older we may go there to school father sends one dollar each for little Sister M E and H P
A. M. H. E. S. H.
Mr. Cheney,
Dear Sir,
Enclosed, please find two dollars for the benefit of the Maine State Semi- nary, one of which I earned myself, and the other is from my sister, A. M. T., who is four years old. I an eleven years old and hope to be a student in your school at some future time
I am your young And humble servant, H. M. T.
108 LIFE AND WORK OF
Many of the children, who thus early became interested in the school, were afterward among its best scholars and later its staunch supporters.
When we remember that in giving up his Augusta pastorate Mr. Cheney cut himself off from any means of support, we can appreciate something of his circumstances during his first year in Lewiston, as referred to in a letter from Rev. E. Knowlton, who says in objecting to Mr. Cheney's taking boarders : " Remember you can- not do everything and your wife cannot bear everything.
"As to your expenses while you have been build- ing, you shall be made whole, if my feeble influence can effect it. You have had a good deal to do, a good deal to bear and a good deal to sacrifice, and I appreciate, my dear brother, what you have done. Men generally will not thank you, but your reward is sure. When you are in heaven, your labors will live, live, live and work for God and humanity. Yes, they will. And I almost think that, after all, your labors and sacri- fices taken in connection with your gifts and your smiling face are enviable."
We obtain a view of conditions attending the embryo school in the summer of 1857 through extracts from an article published by Mr. Cheney in the Star of June 22 nd :
" The Trustees desire, as best they can, to meet the public demand for the opening of
OREN B. CHENEY 109
the school in the fall. They are aware that the circumstances are not all that could be desired ; but think proper to commence the school and to push forward the work of finish- ing the buildings as fast as the necessary means can be secured. The outside of the centre building — Hathorn Hall — was com- pleted last year. The inside, or such portion of it as it is proposed to occupy for the present, is being plastered and will be painted and dried in season for the opening term. The outside of the Boarding Hall is nearly completed and it is hoped that at least the ladies' section will be in readiness for the winter term. Students who come may or may not be disappointed.
" No special promises or pledges are made. Our first students must make up their minds beforehand to find things in an unfinished state. But, generally, it is with institutions of all kinds as with children — first creep, then walk. All we can say to our young friends is that we promise to do what is in our power to make easy, what is hard — smooth, what is
rough Though God has most
signally owned and favored the enterprise, yet it has been attended by trials and sacri- fices all the way. If then, young men and women shall be ready to come and share in sacrificing with the scores and hundreds who have the institution dearly at heart, in behalf of these friends, we bid them a most hearty welcome. They can certainly have one thing to remember, and that is that they were with the institution in its early struggles and sacrifices."
110 LIFE AND WORK OF
And there have seldom gathered anywhere a better, truer, braver company of young people than responded to these conditional appeals dur- ing the opening year.
OPENING OF MAINE STATE SEMINARY
FIRST YEAR'S SUCCESS
FINANCIAL PANIC
BRIGHTER DAYS
X
On September ist, 1857, the school opened with one hundred and thirty-seven students and a corps of six teachers, O. B. Cheney, Principal. In addition to being a good instructor Mr. Cheney possessed other elements of a successful teacher, dignity of manner, a commanding presence and a kindly, sympathetic expression of countenance. He was a natural leader and his years of experi- ence in teaching had fitted him so to manage young people, as to win their confidence and inspire them to do their best. His own ideals were high and they made their impress.
The other teachers were Prof. G. H. Ricker, Rev. J. A. Lowell, Miss R. J. Symonds, Precep- tress, and Misses J. W. Hoyt and M. R. Cushman, assistants, with Dr. Alonzo Garcelon as lect- urer upon physiology and hygiene. They had been wisely selected and their ministrations gave the school character and influence from the beginning.
Three hundred and fifty-one students were in attendance during the first school year, a large majority of whom were there with the sincere purpose of fitting themselves for the best possible manhood and womanhood. Of the work done it was said at the close of the year :
114 LIFE AND WORK OF
" Thus has passed the first anniversary of Maine State Seminary, much to the satis- faction of the Board of Instruction, the Trustees, the donors to the Institution and the public at large."
Another writer says :
" The Principal, O. B. Cheney, presided "with admirable grace and dignity."
The Trustees' report was very commendatory of the work of the teachers. Among the speakers at the anniversary dinner were Nelson Dingley, editor of the Lewiston Journal — later so well known for his work in the United States House of Representatives, and Prof. Cilley of Bowdoin College. The latter complimented the anniversary exercises by saying :
" Maine State Seminary, although in its infancy, has this day shown the strength and manhood of maturity."
Thus, during its first year, the school took a position of honor among institutions of its kind in the country and this position it has ever since retained, for the elements of success which then attended and placed their stamp upon it have continued to characterize its life as a college.
FINANCIAL PANIC
While there was so much sunshine on one side of Mr. Cheney's life during this school year, over
OREN B. CHENEY 115
another side the clouds hung heavily. During the years 1857 and 1858 our country suffered from a serious and wide-spread financial panic. Well established businesses were severely strained. Well founded institutions suffered. How much more severe then was the trial to a corporation like that of Maine State Seminary, that had not had time to establish itself on secure foundations ! At the time of extreme tension, Mr. Cheney wrote of the perplexing conditions resulting :
" A nation, like a Christian, lives by faith ; and by faith I mean, in this instance, con- fidence of man in man. If fire had attacked us, we could have stood it, but the smiting of a panic who can bear ? . . . . Money worth from two to five per cent a month ; little for less than twelve per cent per year. I have some four thousand dollars of bank paper coming due very soon. I have not a dollar with which to meet this. I have just returned home from a two weeks' tour and could neither beg nor borrow a dollar to meet this.
"Last Tuesday evening I came to the deliberate conclusion to advertise my house for sale and if I could find a purchaser, to pay first my own debts, and all notes I have signed, and then pay the remainder to those friends from whom I have borrowed money for the Seminary, but who have not my sig- nature, to the last dollar I am worth
I have said that I would go down with Maine State Seminary, and I will make good that pledge, if the institution fails. My own
116 LIFE AND WORK OF
brothers and other relatives and friends pro- test, but I am resolved — no earthly power can change my purpose. I can be poor, but no man shall have occasion to reproach the cause of Christ on my account, if I can help it. I can have a conscience void of offence towards God and man and that is wealth enough for this poor, short life."
A suggestive side-light is thrown upon Mr. Cheney's life at this time by the following child's letter :
Mr. Cheney
We are little children now and have but little money, but when you was at our house and we saw how sick you was and how hard you had to work to get money to build the Seminary, we were afraid it would kill you, and we have taken a dollar each out of our banks to send to you. We want to go to the school when we are old enough.
Yours with much love
A. L. B.
O. V. B.
M. F. B.
The financial prospect was indeed dark, but kind words of encouragement and promises of help cheered the workers. Confidence in Mr. Cheney was shown in many ways, one of which was his appointment as Treasurer of the Seminary Corporation. "Nothing succeeds like success," and through the students and their parents and friends the Seminary was continually adding to
OREN B. CHENEY 117
its staunch supporters. Burning appeals were printed from influential ministers and other persons of prominence, stating the situation and pleading for help. At the session of each of the three Maine Yearly Meetings it was voted to render aid by assessing members certain amounts. When the question was asked on one occasion,
" Shall the Seminary fail ?" the replies were :
" No, no, no. Never, never, never."
" Is it worth saving ?"
"Yes, yes, yes," was the response.
The help received through these and other influences proved sufficient to tide over the crisis ; and during the years 1858 and 1859 the debt of $24,000 was paid.
BRIGHTER DAYS
The school year, 1859-1860, was the third from the opening of the Seminary. Let us try to obtain a bird's-eye view of it at that stage of develop- ment. Hathorn and Parker Halls were completed and furnished with needful apparatus and appli- ances. The courses of study were well defined and suited to scholars of different grades and purposes in life. Classical, scientific, and nor- mal diplomas were given for the respective courses. Three literary societies were in active operation, — the Literary Fraternity, Philomathean and Ladies' Athenaeum. In September, 1858, a Christian Union had been organized, with the
118 LIFE AND WORK OF
double purpose of developing Christian lives and turning attention of students to the Christian ministry.
In March of the same year a Temperance Association had been formed. This introduced no new principle into the school, for, from its opening, all entering students had been obliged to promise that, during their school course, they would abstain from the use of intoxicating liquors ; and the use of tobacco was not allowed on the school premises.
In March, i860, the Phillips Missionary Associ- ation was organized and named in honor of the Phillips family, so many members of which have been highly-valued Free Baptist missionaries in India, and the most brilliant of whom was the well known and much lamented James L. Phillips, D.D., Sunday School Missionary for India.
The religious influence in the school was strong and constant. Among the entries in Mr. Cheney's diary in i860 are these :
"We had an excellent prayer-meeting this morn- ing. One young man prayed for the first time."
" Good prayer-meeting. Ten rose for prayers."
" Visited several students and conversed with them on religion."
Of the method of management of the school, Mr. Cheney wrote at this time : " The discipline of the Seminary is on the model of some of the best Institutions in the country, — the school being
OREN B. CHENEY 119
regarded as a family and the great law of love recognized as the governing rule. Private as well as public appeals are made to the consciences of the students and severe measures will only be resorted to when such appeals fail."
Arrangements had been made by which it was possible for persevering students to teach winter schools and continue with their classes. Those needing to live economically found every pro- vision to aid them in boarding-hall and homes. More than one thousand different students had already availed themselves of these educational opportunities and many are the testimonies as to the bright, happy life in the school.
Rev. G. T. Day, D.D., a prominent Free Baptist pastor in Rhode Island, and for several years an influential member of the Providence School Com- mittee, was at this time Chairman of the Examin- ing Committee for the Seminary. After a visit to the school he writes for the Morning Star a glow- ing description of its situation, buildings and activities, speaks enthusiastically of its future prospects and in closing, says :
" Of the Principal, who was not at home, it were superfluous to say anything, for his plans and purposes, his patience and perseverance, his zeal and self-devotion, his trials and successes — are they not written on the hearts of ten thousand of his brethren and laid up safely in' the archives of a grateful memory !"
120 LIFE AND WORK OF
This epitome of the Institution's life may be understood to cover all the 5'ears of the Seminary's existence and to characterize in no small degree the future Bates College.
What reason was there now why Mr. Cheney might not comfortably occupy the position of Principal of the Institution, so largely created by his efforts, go on developing it to its highest efficiency and cease his earnest struggle for some- thing hard to attain ?
His position in the ministry still brought to him many opportunities for public service, not only in presenting the interests of the Seminary, but in preaching dedication, installation, and other occasional sermons. During vacations and when traveling to secure funds for the school, he occupied some pulpit nearly every Sunday. He officiated at many weddings. His home was a centre of hospitality ; and individuals and repre- sentatives of churches found welcome as they came to him for consultation in times of perplexity or trouble, or for help in advancing the interests of humanity, for he was generous, not only with his sympathy but with his money.
He had been elected presiding officer in both Quarterly and Yearly Meeting sessions. He was also member of a committee for the publication of the Free Baptist Quarterly, a theological magazine. But was he satisfied? The answer is a long one. He aimed higher.
CONTEMPORARY EVENTS
COLLEGE NEEDED
OPPOSITION DEFINED
BENJAMIN E. BATES PROMISES FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS
TRUSTEES VOTE IN FAVOR OF A COLLEGE CLASS
PROFESSOR J. Y. STANTON ELECTED TEACHER
XI
Conditions of life change so rapidly that, in order rightly to view the succeeding events, we must have our thought in harmony with the ideas of the time of which we are writing. The intense denominational feeling then existing led people of all religious beliefs to seek to keep their children within their own religious fold by sending them to their own schools. Sharing in the sentiment of the time, Mr. Cheney was trying to provide for Free Baptists such a school as other denomi- nations were maintaining, one that would not only develop the highest character in individual students and thus make valuable workers for God and humanity, but also one that through them would broaden and strengthen the denomination in whose faith he had been reared and which he longed to help.
When, therefore, in i860 he gave the graduating address to a class of fifteen young men who were to enter college and realized that he was sending them away where the influences would not promote their helpfulness to his own denomination, he felt a deep concern respecting the result and asked himself whether he was not thwarting his own purpose.
In founding the school Mr. Cheney probably did not have a fully defined purpose to make it a
124 LIFE AND WORK OF
college, but rather the desire to have a school of higher grade than the ordinary Seminaries. In the working out of the plan he found that he had no facilities for giving the advanced work, which would in any sense take the place of a college edu- cation. Students were advised by influential ministers to go directly from the Seminary to the Biblical School, but Mr. Cheney could not con- scientiously give such advice. He knew too well the value of the years of training in a college course. Therefore perplexed, but seeking light and guidance, he pondered over the matter as the months went by.
A bill was before the United States Congress, appropriating money to Agricultural Colleges. In 1859, after the debt on Maine State Seminary was paid, Mr. Cheney carefully considered the advisability of so changing the curriculum as to meet the requirements for securing such an ap- propriation and thus to attain his end in raising the grade of the school. Through Mr. Cheney's influence Benjamin E. Bates, a Boston capitalist, with large manufacturing interests in Lewiston, had become deeply interested in the school. At first Mr. Bates warmly seconded the Agricultural College movement ; but after due consideration the idea was abandoned, as being likely to thwart the purpose for which the school was founded. But the need of a college became continually more evident.
OREN B. CHENEY 125
In the fall of 1861 a number of students pleaded with Mr. Cheney to arrange for a Freshman class. They could see their way to take a college course only by continuing the economical arrangement under which they were living. Their pleas stirred him deeply. He longed to help them, but how ? Where would he find sympathy in raising money for the additional teaching force required.
In the following October he gave an address before the Education Society, at the Free Baptist Anniversaries, held in Sutton, Vermont. While returning, he became so profoundly impressed that he ought to respond favorably to those young men that he was oblivious of time and distance during the whole journey. But great events were absorbing the thought of the nation and Mr. Cheney held his peace and waited for a more opportune time to impart his convictions to others.
CONTEMPORARY EVENTS
In the meantime the country was quivering with excitement. On April twelfth, 1861, a shot was fired upon Fort Sumter, that echoed through- out the land. Young men from the Seminary began to respond to the call for troops. That Mr. Cheney himself was intensely stirred is shown by these entries in his diary :
" The freemen of the north are ready. Slavery must die. I am ready to die for freedom."
126 LIFE AND WORK OF
" Young men requested permission to raise the Stars and Stripes at sunrise tomorrow morning from the top of the Seminary. Of course I granted permission. I wish they would cover the build- ings all over with the flag of my country."
" Talked with young men and urged them to be true to their country and to give their hearts to Christ."
" Lewiston Light Guards called. Made a speech to them from the steps of Parker Hall ; also offered prayer. Brought out lemonade."
Several entries refer to the performance of his duties as a member of a Safety Committee.*
As the weeks passed, the excitement attending the Civil War became more and more intense and Mr. Cheney could not keep away from " the front." We find him, during a part of the summer vacation of 1861, serving in the vicinity of Washington, as a member of the Christian Commission, distrib- uting tracts and supplies and visiting and com- forting the soldiers. A few extracts from notes of this brief service will suffice :
" Visited Camp Jackson. The Maine boys were glad to see me."
"Saw Lincoln today. Called with the Chaplains."
* The excited state of the country and the unsettled con- ditions attending the absence from home of the enlisted men gave courage to the lawless elements in Society and their depredations led to the organizing of Safety Com- mittees in nearly all cities, for the purpose of aiding the officials in maintaining order by day and especially at night.
OREN B. CHENEY 127
" Attended meeting at Dr. P's, where General Scott worships. Shook hands with him."
" Heard of our defeat (Bull Run). Rained all day. Thousands of soldiers came into Washing- ton, many straggling in ; — a sad day, but God will overrule it."
The letters which Mr. Cheney afterwards received from the soldier-boys were cherished during his lifetime.
Before the opening of the fall term the Princi- pal was back at his post. In passing through Boston he called on Mr. Bates and secured his promise of five thousand dollars to aid in build- ing another Hall, as soon as the times would warrant.
The following school year was to him one of mingled interests. His country's cause, especially that of the freedom of the slaves, lay so close to his heart that his newspaper articles and diary are full of the passing events. He felt so fully assured that the freedom of the slaves was to be the ultimate result of the war, that he grew im- patient at what seemed to him President Lincoln's tardiness in proclaiming their emancipation, and went to confer with the editor of The Morning Star, as to the desirability of sending to the President a Free Baptist memorial, officially signed, asking for immediate emancipation.
But Mr. Burr replied to him, " Be patient, Brother Cheney. President Lincoln knows what
128 LIFE AND WORK OF
he is about. He understands all the circumstances better than we do. He will act at the right time. Trust him and wait."
President Cheney saw that the editor was probably right and went back to his school duties. He was teaching six classes, attending to the usual detail of school-work, improving the campus by grading and setting out trees, and all the while he was pondering over and seeking to solve the college problem. When the Trustees met in 1862, a committee of students came before them and pleaded, some with tears in their eyes, that a college course be provided, and Mr. Cheney moved that their request be granted, but it was voted down. Of the result Mr. Cheney writes :
" At this time I awoke, as from a long sleep ; I felt that I had been asleep, that the Trustees were asleep — that the denomination was asleep and that it was losing many of its ablest young men. I decided that the time had come for me to take a firm position and publicly agitate the matter. Including the class then on my hands, I had fitted seventy-seven young men for college in five years. 'We must have a college,' I said, 'or in fifty years we shall cease to exist as a denomination.' As if a trumpet called me, I started up. I believe it was the call of God. I did not desire to enter upon this work, — God is my witness ; I knew well the prej- udices and the cold looks and the hard thrusts I must receive, but I did enter upon
OREN B. CHENEY 129
it for Jesus' sake and for the sake of the denomination I love."
OPPOSITION DEFINED
In order correctly to apprehend the circum- stances that attended Mr. Cheney's efforts during a few succeeding years, we must understand some denominational conditions at that time. Free Baptists were still prominent actors in the great reforms. Because of their outspoken position against slavery, they were often taunted as " Radi- cals " and "Fanatics." In 1839, they had refused an accession of twenty thousand Free Communion Baptists from the south, because there were slave holders among the latter ; and from that time on through the years they had hesitated at no sacri- fice required by a position consistent with their belief. They preferred to be small in numbers and true to their convictions. They continued to occupy a unique position both in regard to woman's work in the church and in favor of tem- perance. They had also made good progress in educational matters. They now had twelve incor- porated Seminaries or Academies in different states and a college in Hillsdale, Michigan. The latter was in a flourishing condition and was an educational centre for the denomination in the western and middle states.
It can now easily be seen that a college in New England was just what was then needed to supply
130 LIFE AND WORK OF
the educational advantages for denominational balance and development. One man saw it then ; but at first only a few others. Mr. Cheney's first experiences in advocating the college interests are illustrated by a trip into New Hampshire.
"Ten years too soon," said one.
" First complete the endowment of the Biblical School," said others.
"A college would be well enough, Brother Cheney, but where is the money coming from ?" said a Father in Israel in a tone that showed that the question was settled in the speaker's mind.
At the office of The Morning Star only oppo- sition was met. The resident editor and publisher was a shrewd business man and the large expense of founding a College was quite beyond his finan- cial vision. Seeing Mr. Cheney's keen disap- pointment, he said,
" I don't want to hurt your feelings, Brother Cheney. If you want to write some articles, I will print them." But when told what was needed was for The Morning Star to favor the movement editorially, he said positively that could not be. (Mr. Cheney's contributions to the paper then ceased and for several years his name appeared only in connection with official announcements.)
In the meantime a few leaders in Maine were stirring up active opposition, and for a time Mr. Cheney felt as though he were all alone in the world, his only companion a great purpose. That
OREN B. CHENEY 131
the opposition was local did not make it any the less serious, for Maine and New Hampshire were really the key to the situation. The denomi- nation having originated in southern New Hamp- shire, it was stronger in those states than else- where, both numerically and in influence. Again, as these states would be the ones most largely benefited by having the college near home, in- difference or opposition there was a serious obstacle to interest elsewhere.
It is a common experience in life that people live in the valley of their special interests and fail to obtain broad, mountain-top views. This was true of those who were so absorbed in the interests of the Biblical School that they failed to see the need of the College link between that and the preparatory schools. It was not opposition to education, so much as lack of foresight and con- sciousness of present need. This would have been steadily and rapidly overcome, however, if it had not been for the course pursued by a very few individuals.
Goethe says : " There is nothing more oclious than the majority. It consists of a few powerful men to lead the way ; and of a mass of men who trot after them without in the least knowing their own mind." This is a strong utterance as applied to this case, but it is without doubt true that if a few leaders in thought who opposed had sought to bring to the people the needs of the
132 LIFE AND WORK OF
hour and inspire them with the purpose to meet them, the immediate result would have been that much misunderstanding would have been pre- vented, a great deal of help would have been given that was withheld, President Cheney would have been spared keen suffering and the reproach of op- position would have been saved. But Mr. Cheney had his eyes too steadily fixed on the goal to be swerved from his purpose ; and when his friends asked, " What can you do in the face of so much opposition ?" his reply in effect was : " Sail on, sail on, and on and on."
And he kept steadily at work, with the result that with better knowledge of the movement, its purpose and the need, friends began to rally to his support.
It was especially encouraging that at this time Benjamin E. Bates became the staunch friend of the College movement. With fine foresight and hearty appreciation of Mr. Cheney's plans he promised to give fifty thousand dollars towards a college on condition that fifty thousand more could be raised. Thus encouraged and knowing of the rapidly changing feeling on the part of several of the Trustees, Mr. Cheney promised the students that a Freshman class should be formed in the fall.
OREN B. CHENEY 133
PROF. J. Y. STANTON BECOMES TEACHER
It now seemed a matter of great importance to him that the right kind of teacher be secured to aid in starting the college work. Down through the years Mr. Cheney had retained a pleasant memory of the bright little boy to whom he taught Latin in his Lebanon school, and, knowing of his later success, his purpose was formed, if possible, to secure " Johnnie " as his assistant. Of the circumstances Prof. J. Y. Stanton says :
" In the spring of 1863, President Cheney visited me at Drury, New Hampshire, when I was Principal of Pinkerton Academy. He proposed that I should be the Professor of Latin in the new college. The salary was to be $800. Without any hesitation I told him if I were elected I would accept. I was con- fident that President Cheney could found a college and I wished to have a part in it. I was elected by the Trustees in 1863, but did not enter upon the duties of my professorship until 1864, when General Grant was pressing on towards Richmond and when the country was in the midst of the political campaign that ended in the second election of Presi- dent Lincoln."
There were other candidates for the position, whose interests were urged by influential friends, but President Cheney was so sure that Professor Stanton was the right man that he worked
134 LIFE AND WORK OF
earnestly to have the Trustees elect him. The life-work of usefulness that has followed has shown the wisdom of the choice.
When the Trustees met in 1863, some influence had so wrought upon them that they accepted Mr. Bates's offer, voted to establish a course of collegi- ate study, petitioned the Legislature for an enlarged charter, — changing the name to Bates College, in honor of its generous patron, and elected Jonathan Y. Stanton professor of Latin and Greek. An anonymous letter purporting to come from the wife of a clergyman, attacking Mr. Cheney because he wished to change the Seminary to a College, was voted unworthy of notice. This forward movement of the Trustees laid a solid foundation on which to build. At a meeting of the Free Baptist General Conference, held in Hillsdale in the fall of 1862, the College move- ment had been denominationally endorsed.
But opposition to any movement once started is like the rolling snow-ball, that gathers size and momentum in its progress. The increasing num- ber of the friends of the College seemed to make the opposers more determined. Mr. Cheney was accused of dishonesty in diverting money that had been raised for a Seminary to a College. A circular was printed and widely distributed, mak- ing this formal accusation. As a result of this, one Maine Yearly Meeting passed resolutions of
OREN B. CHENEY 135
censure.* A report was circulated that Mr. Bates had never promised to give fifty thousand dollars. Going to his office one day, Mr. Cheney found him feeling very indignant at the reported accusa- tion and determined to withdraw from the whole enterprise. But Mr. Cheney quietly said to him :
" This is not aimed at you, Mr. Bates. It is all opposition to me. There are but few leaders in this movement. Our people as a whole do not realize the need which I see ; neither do they understand enough of the plans to intelligently judge of them. What we need to do is to go right ahead, paying no attention to criticism, and in due time they will see that we are right and your name will be highly honored for your foresight and help."
When Mr. Cheney had finished, Mr. Bates grasped his hand and said : " I will stand by you, Mr. Cheney ;" and he most nobly honored his pledge.
Now came the task of raising fifty thousand dollars with which to meet Mr. Bates's pledge, and Mr. Cheney went bravely about it. Kind and sympathetic letters came to encourage him of which the following is a specimen extract :
" I would do anything I could to encourage you
* Twenty years later, when a large majority of New Eng- land Free Baptist pulpits were occupied by graduates of Bates College, these resolutions were expunged from the minutes and President Cheney was informed of the fact.
136 LIFE AND WORK OF
and aid the noble enterprise now lying on your hands and heart. Somehow that thing must go. It seems like a providential summons to a higher plane of denominational life. It is not humility but cowardice to abide in the valley when He bids us to go higher. Help will attend our dutiful response to this call. If it seems presumption to risk such an undertaking, I believe it is worse than presumption to refuse it. A failure even amid a noble, energetic struggle is far better than an indolent consent to do nothing. God be with you in the work.
Yours truly,
Geo. T. Day."
Other letters written with the acid of censure burned into his soul. One day, when one was received that was especially unkind, Mrs. Cheney said, with flashing eyes,
" Oren Cheney, if you don't answer that I shall."
" But," he replied, " of what use would it be ? I am still in a minority. The majority do not see the results to be. If I get into a conflict, the papers will take it up and bitter discussions will follow. No, the only course for me is to keep steadily at work, taking no notice of attacks upon me and in due time I shall be exonerated and Bates College will need no excuse for existing."
Not one letter of that stamp was ever answered. Most of them were at once destroyed. In one stray one, that escaped the fire, the writer refuses
OREN B. CHENEY 137
in curt language to accede to Mr. Cheney's request that he attend a meeting and use his influence for the college, and adds :
" Any scheme or talk about a college, or raising money in these times, is all nonsense and moon- shine. You will hardly expect me to go sixty miles for nothing."
Of these writers President Cheney said :
" They were good men. They had been among my best friends. I loved them, but we could not see alike."
Probably this made the suffering from opposi- tion all the keener. At midnight he walked the Chapel aisles and struggled with his feelings. In a sheltered nook in a grove back of the college buildings he often sought light and strength from above. Then he worked "on and on and on."
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EARLY COLLEGE DAYS
CO-EDUCATION
INTERWOVEN INCIDENTS
XII
In 1863 President Cheney was honored by the conferring upon him by Wesleyan University of the degree of Doctor of Divinity. This was a timely expression of appreciation. Whatever of dignity a title can bestow came to his aid in his early work as College President.
There are reasons why the times were favorable to founding a college. Beginnings are necessarily small. Under any circumstances there would be few students in the first classes. The continual enlistment of young men and the distraction of thought connected with the Civil War had diminished the numbers in all schools ; therefore the nucleus of a college at Bates attracted less attention than it would have received under other circumstances.
The year 1863 was the darkest time of the war. Then came the Emancipation Proclamation, with its prophecy of success. In the same month when this went into effect, — January, 1864, the changed charter was received from the Maine Legislature, conferring college privileges and rechristening the institution as Bates College. This was accom- panied by a conditional gift from the state to the College of fifty-one thousand acres of land. The foundation work for the College was thus laid, when the thought of the people was mainly
144 LIFE AND WORK OF
directed elsewhere, and, during the following few years of national disturbance, there was a steady- development in college plans, preparatory to the time when life should again flow in ordinary channels.
The action of the Legislature, above referred to, had been the result of a hard struggle on Presi- dent Cheney's part. A few determined opposers were still trying to thwart his plans. Members of the Legislature were told : " Brother Cheney is honest and sincere, but he will fail and do dis- credit to himself and his denomination." When told of this, President Cheney replied, " I am determined not to fail."
GENERAL ITEMS
Prof. Stanton thus pictures for us the College life in its early days :
" On my arrival I found in the College proper a Sophomore class, which consisted of eight members at its graduation, and a Freshman class of five members. In many western Institutions the College and prepara- tory school were combined. President Cheney thought at first that this could be done at Bates. But within a year he saw that, in order for a College in New England to be a success, it must be an Institution by itself. In this view all his associates in the Faculty sympathized with him, but the Trustees were at first divided in opinion.
OREN B. CHENEY 145
However, in a short time all was harmoni- ously settled. I do not think that a College President ever had a more difficult task to perform, all requiring great courage, firmness and forbearance, all of which qualities Dr. Cheney possessed in a marked degree."
In settling this problem President Cheney went on the principle that for every need there must be a supply. Pittsfield had been one of the places originally considered for the location of the Semi- nary. Mr. Cheney at first thought that the best thing to do was to remove the Seminary depart- ment there, and in order to test the feeling of the people he visited the place and found the senti- ment so favorable to his purpose that he raised in the vicinity twenty thousand dollars for carrying out the plan.
But, when he tested further the feelings of friends of the College, he saw that another course would be wiser. The result was that the money raised at Pittsfield was used in founding there the Maine Central Institute, which opened for students in January, 1866, having as Principal, the first graduate of Bates College, Arthur Given, and Dr. Cheney as one of its Trustees. It has continued to be a good feeder to Bates College and is a school whose beneficent life has been a blessing to hundreds of young people.
At Lewiston arrangements were soon made to
146 LIFE AND WORK OF
change the Seminary department to a preparatory- school for the College, and the plan culminated in the Latin School.
On his graduation from Bowdoin College in 1863 Dr. Cheney's son, Horace, began the work of founding the Bates College Library, using, to start with, a gift from his father of one hundred dollars. A year later the work passed into Prof. Stanton's hands.
From an " Appeal to the Benevolent," published in November 1864, we obtain a peep at other existing conditions. President Cheney says :
" The number of students in attendance during the past year were three hundred and twenty-five, twenty-six in the college depart- ment. The school has sent one hundred and seventy-five of its young men to the war, many of them never to return. Bates College is not standing in the way of any other insti- tution, but is occupying and cultivating ground, which before had lain waste. The College is in a prosperous condition so far as its means will allow and only lacks funds for further development."
Among the honored names that composed the first Bates Board of Fellows, we find those of Hon. Nelson Dingley and Hon. James G. Blaine ; on each of whom Bates College subsequently con- ferred the degree of LL.D.
OREN B. CHENEY 147
CO-EDUCATION
The perplexity of starting a College within a Seminary had one phase not yet referred to. In the class ready for the College Freshman vear there were girls as well as boys — fine scholars, ready and ambitious to go on, and at first the boys made no objection ; but the ridicule which they had to endure from every direction made them feel that, not only for their own comfort would it be best for the girls to leave, but it seemed to their boyish minds an absolute impossi- bility for the College to be successfully founded if the girls remained.
The situation was gradually disclosed to the young women, and after some animated discussions and dignified protests all of them withdrew, leav- ing the young men, as was supposed, in undis- turbed possession of the field.
However, in 1865, there had entered Bates, one young woman who could not so readily relinquish the hope that had been awakened by the liberal charter under which Bates College had been founded. In spite of the uncongenial atmosphere in which she found herself, in spite of occasional slights and constant ill-concealed dissatisfaction with her presence, she persisted in claiming and maintaining her right to the opportunities which broad-minded men had gained for her.
Her unconquerable determination brought to
148 LIFE AND WORK OF
the new and struggling Institution a serious prob- lem. Its solution was not without many difficul- ties.
The College had a name to make, a reputation to establish. There were in the three classes more than twenty young men. How would they like to have a woman graduate as their equal ? Public sentiment would have to be braved. "Woman's Sphere " had very positive limitations in most minds. " Higher education for woman " was an unfamiliar phrase. Could the college afford to brave the criticisms from other Institutions because of what would be called an erratic course ? There were enough slurring remarks already in circulation among friends of other Colleges about " Bates Academy." Ordinary judgment would decide that, in order for the College to be a success, it must conform to the customs of other long established Institutions.
On the other hand Dr. Cheney was entirely ahead of his time in his ideas as to woman's God- given freedom to do anything for which she has the ability, and freely expressed in his written articles his sympathy with her work in reforms of the day. The school was permeated with the spirit of a denomination, which had never refused a worthy woman any service in the church, whether it was a part in the prayer-meeting, or ordination to the Christian ministry.
OREN B. CHENEY 149
There was nothing in the charter that inter- fered, for in changing from Maine State Semi- nary to Bates College the clause was retained making the Institution open to young men and young women.
But beyond and above all was the fact that, if a woman wanted a college education, there was no good reason for refusing her the opportunity to secure it. There could be no personal objection to Mary W. Mitchell. She was well qualified to enter and, if character were to be considered, a young woman, who by working in the mill had earned money to pay off the mortgage on her father's farm and then to fit herself for college, surely showed energy and ability worthy of any development she desired.
After considering all the arguments on both sides of this important question, instead of the negative reply that was given to Mary A. Liver- more by a New England College President, Mary W. Mitchell was assured that she was in Bates College to stay. The crisis thus forced upon the College by the determination of this young woman was squarely met, and the doors thus set wide open for women have never since been closed.
Because of State gifts to the College, the Governor could confer scholarships on worthy students. Desiring to help so brave a girl and in order to be sure of success, President Cheney went to Augusta and made a personal request to
150 LIFE AND WORK OF
the Governor for a scholarship for his protege. Being successful, he returned highly elated and calling Miss Mitchell to him gave her the roll saying :
" Mary, I have something for you."
She took it, deliberately untied the ribbon, unrolled it, saw what it was, quietly rolled and tied it, then giving it back, said :
"I cannot take that, Mr. Cheney. Give it to the brethren. I can take care of myself." And she did.
That this action by the College faculty was promptly taken advantage of by opposers is illus- trated by this little dialogue between friends of another college :
" How many College students have they down at Bates Seminary ?"
" Five and a nigger and a woman."*
INTERWOVEN INCIDENTS
It was a strategic movement to have the General Conference meet in Lewiston in October, 1865. The gathering of representative Free Baptists from
* The after life of the first woman graduate from a New England college is worthy of note. She taught in the Worcester High School, later in Vassar College, afterwards opened a private school for young ladies, West Chester Park, Boston. In 1877 she was the poet of the Bates Alumni Association. Later she married a man of culture and they lived a very retired life. But her pastor says that she told him of her twelve years old daughter as equally at home in reciting Latin Grammar or in making a loaf of bread.
OREN B. CHENEY 151
all parts of the denomination gave an opportunity for an understanding of the school, its status, plans and purposes, which proved very valuable. Dr. Cheney preached the Conference sermon, of which a reporter says : " It was listened to with marked interest and attention." Using for a text, "A little one shall become a thousand," out of a full heart the speaker reviewed the history of the denomination, gave high praise to the noble, self- sacrificing fathers, detailed the needs for which the College was founded, and earnestly pleaded for help and sympathy in its development, with the result that thereafter Bates College had a recognized position of influence in the denomi- nation.
The year 1865 is historically interesting as marking the close of the war. In the April vaca- tion of this year, while Dr. Cheney was on a busi- ness tour, he heard that conditions were reaching a crisis at the front and hastened on to Washing- ton. Learning of Lee's surrender, he went the next day to Richmond and there rejoiced with the victorious, but with pity for the vanquished brave he visited and talked hopefully with the Con- federate prisoners. But the future of another class of people especially interested him. He asked himself, " What is to be done with, and for, the Freedmen, hundreds of whom are flocking northward ?" His interest in the race had grown, when at different times in Washington and its
152 LIFE AND WORK OF
vicinity he had attended the churches of the colored people, had studied their characteristics and thought about their possibilities ; and his sympathy for them was such that he would gladly at this time have given his energies to their uplifting, but brain and hands were already full. The College interests would not brook delay, so he returned to his work.
The country now entered upon a new life with changed conditions, and for schools a more favor- able time was at hand. Business and money would soon move in ordinary channels ; but the financial work to be done for Bates College was a heavy one.
Dr. Cheney had now given eleven years of strenuous work to the Institution, and his physi- cal forces were beginning to rebel against the continuous strain. In a " Private Circular " issued to the Trustees and immediate friends of the College in January, 1866, Dr. Cheney expresses thanks for a vote, giving him six months vacation, but says he has failed to find any one to take the agency, and he feels that the exigencies are such that he must forego any rest-time and keep on with his work at any cost to himself. He says :
" A fourth class of sixteen students will soon be formed and then full College work will be going on. There is no time to lose. Fifty thousand dollars more can be depended on from Boston parties on condition that
OREN B. CHENEY 153
within three years, one hundred thousand can be secured. We shall then have in buildings and site fifty thousand dollars, in cash fund, including state lands, two hundred thousand dollars. Under the circumstances I decide to continue my work without vacation. I am willing to cut off years from my life, if I can see the Institution established on a firm foun- dation."
So he took up again the arduous task of raising money ; money to complete the thirty thousand, in order to secure the state appropriation of land ; money to meet the conditions of the fifty thousand dollars, pledged in Boston ; money for new build- ings ; money for additional teachers. Within three years there were three new professors added to the teaching force, Rev. Benjamin F. Hayes, Richard C. Stanley and Thomas L. Angell.
Another branch of President Cheney's work, to which no reference has been made, was that of securing students. This had been going on dur- ing all the years of the Seminary's existence, but was renewed with increased zeal in the develop- ment of the College. Many a bright boy, with longing for an education apparently unattainable, was encouraged by the President's genial hope- fulness and inspiring words to undertake a college course ; and many others, who had not aspired to a higher education, had their attention turned to it by the sympathetic touch of a kind hand,
154 LIFE AND WORK OF
the earnest look in smiling eyes, accompanied by, "You are a bright boy. You ought to go to college. Come to Bates."
Before starting on his new money-raising tour, in order to be true to all obligations to the Bibli- cal School, President Cheney invited the agent of that school to visit and solicit money in Lewis- ton, personally giving three hundred dollars towards the amount raised there. He then him- self for a short time took the field for that school, visiting and collecting money in five cities to help complete the endowment. He then felt that he could without objection on the part of any consistently go on with the work of soliciting money for the college.
It was fortunate for Dr. Cheney at this critical time that he had such faithful coadjutors in the College Faculty. Prof. Stanton helps us to obtain some views from the inside of college life :
" In the early years of the College Presi- dent Cheney was compelled to be away from home much of the time. Whatever the Faculty did in his absence had his hearty endorsement. He left each instructor free to do his own work in his own way. If any of us encountered difficulties in dealing with students, he was sure to have the sympathy and support of the President. He made us feel that he and we were co-operating in establishing an Institution ; that we were building as well as he and that he could not
OREN B. CHENEY 155
do without us. He was agreeable, honorable, and free from self-assertion in his relation with his associates in the Faculty. It was characteristic of him not to speak approv- ingly of one in his presence, but he bore him- self with us in such a way that we always felt that we had his approval and confidence. As a college President, Dr. Cheney was most lovable.
" He was a man of great faith. He believed that nothing could absolutely fail that was good. His faith that God had a work for Bates College to do was magnificent. He trusted in God, as few men can, but ' kept his powder dry.' His confidence was contagious."
PRESIDENT CHENEY VISITS JOHN STORER
MR. STORER GIVES TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR A FREEDMEN'S SCHOOL
HARPER'S FERRY SELECTED AS THE LOCATION
G. H. BALL, D.D., A VALUABLE HELPER
REV. N. C. BRACKETT SECURES A CHARTER
FIRST BATES COMMENCEMENT
XIII
At the beginning of the year 1867 we find the country still in the midst of reconstruction. By an amendment to the constitution slavery had been abolished throughout the South and three and a half millions of Freedmen were now self- dependent. Ignorant, with brain and hand un- trained, with false ideas of the use of freedom, their future was causing serious thought, especially among those who had been anxious for their emancipation. Reference has already been made to Dr. Cheney's interest in them. This was now deepened by the fact that three Maine State Seminary students had been for more than a year in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry trying to plant schools in that historic locality.
About this time, unexpectedly to himself, he became a factor in the solution of the problem of negro education. In February, 1867, he went to see John Storer, at his home in Sanford, Maine. Mr. Storer had been an interested donor to Bates College and Dr. Cheney now hoped to secure another thousand dollars from him, but he found him so deeply absorbed in a different plan, that he saw at once that it was an inopportune time to press the interests of the College.
Mr. Storer was about to make a gift of ten thousand dollars to some organized body that he
160 LIFE AND WORK OF
could trust to add it to and so manage it that it would be a permanent blessing to the colored race. He had the papers spread out before him, pre- paratory to the execution of the plan. Then, with sudden foresight, Dr. Cheney saw a great opportunity, and asked :
" Why not give the money to Free Baptists ? They have always been true to the interests of the colored race. Some of their representatives are already at work establishing schools in the south." Mr. Storer pondered ; then said :
" I should like to give it to your people, for I honor them for the position they have taken, but I fear they are not financially strong enough to carry on and develop such an enterprise, as it should be managed." Then followed hours of talk and careful consideration of ways and means. The result was reached about midnight and is concisely stated in Dr. Cheney's diary.
February 6th. " Come to John Storer's. Write out a plan for a Freedmen's College."
February yth. " Mr. Storer signs the papers, giving to Free Baptists $10,000 for a Freedmen's College."
Thus, without any previous purpose, Dr. Cheney was instrumental in giving to Free Baptists one of their most important and fruitful fields of labor and he became a helper in inaugurating a move- ment which has proved to be an inestimable
OREN B. CHENEY 161
blessing to large numbers of the negro race, and through them to our country.
In his April vacation we find President Cheney in West Virginia, consulting with Rev. N. C. Brackett and wife and Annie Dudley, the pioneer representatives of Maine State Seminary, already at work there. After visiting and considering many different localities, all agreed that the vicinity of Harper's Ferry was the most desirable location for the proposed school. Much property in the vicinity was owned by the government. When it was proposed to ask for the gift of the Lockwood House, — a large structure somewhat riddled with shells, — President Cheney said :
" Ask Congress for all Camp Hill and take what you can get."
Then came one of the results of Dr. Cheney's close touch with political life in Augusta. His friends in Congress, including the Maine Senators, Fessenden and Morrill, knew that his efforts in the past had been crowned with success. His diary for April gives us these items :
April 14. " Speak to the colored people."
April 16. " Call on Senators Fessenden and Morrill and General Howard with great success."
April 20. "Met Secretary Stanton. He is favorable."
Rev. N. C. Brackett, Ph.D., states the result thus:
162 LIFE AND WORK OF
" A bill had been introduced in the Senate, providing for the sale of the two great water powers and all that was left of the United States Armory and Rifle Works at Harper's Ferry, including many valuable houses and much land. One section of the bill donated to certain churches, schools and benevolent orders lots of land previously leased to them.
" The bill had been referred to the Military Committee, of which General Henry Wilson was chairman. He allowed Senator Fessen- den to take the bill to examine and amend, and in his room Dr. Cheney remodeled the section providing for gifts so as to include Storer College, giving to her four lots. Con- servative brethren had told me to ask for one. We violated instructions and asked for four. The section written out by Dr. Cheney became a law without the change of a letter. Strangely enough, Dr. Cheney's name figures in hundreds of deeds in the records of Jeffer- son county, as the first deed was to Oren B. Cheney and others."
The gift included four government buildings and seven acres of land on Camp Hill, the latter being then consecrated by the graves of three hundred Union soldiers. The location is a beauti- ful one, between the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. It overlooks the scene of John Brown's raid and commands a view of the heights where Union and Confederate soldiers battled so bravely. Upon Rev. N. C. Brackett, who seemed divinely called to, and was eminently fitted for the work,
OREN B. CHENEY 163
the responsibility then rested of devising plans for and developing the school.
April 26th, President Cheney reached home, having on the way awakened an interest in the project in parties in Harrisburg, New York, Provi- dence and Boston, and having done a month's work of far-reaching value.
The New Hampshire Yearly Meeting was at that time one of the most important of Free Baptist gatherings ; owing to its position as a numerical centre, persons having important denominational business attended it, if possible. There President Cheney went early in June to announce the conditional gift of Mr. Storer and the result of his trip to Washington and to plan for raising the money required to secure Mr. Storer's pledge. Dr. G. H. Ball was at once enthused with the project and became an earnest worker in carrying it out. Many others gladly endorsed the movement, but, — it is strange that a " but " must lie across the path of all onward movements — but a few failed to see the possi- bilities promised. One of these doubters asked another :
" What does Cheney want now ? "
" Oh, he is trying to build another railroad to the moon," was the reply.
Through a sleepless night Doctors Ball and Cheney considered plans for raising the $10,000 required to meet Mr. Storer's pledge. But they
164 LIFE AND WORK OF
were not allowed to present these plans to the Yearly Meeting. They were not disheartened, however. Dr. Ball soon after presented the matter before a New York Yearly Meeting, where such enthusiasm was aroused that he entered the field as a financial agent for the school.
Dr. Cheney's next move was towards securing a charter which must be obtained in West Vir- ginia, and wrote one and sent it to Prof. Brackett. So great was the opposition, however, on the part of the residents of Harper's Ferry and vicinity to having a school located there that should be eli- gible to colored people, that it was uncertain when the charter could be obtained. In order to hold the property in the meantime, Dr. Cheney secured for the purpose the appointment by the New Hampshire Legislature of a Commission, with which he was officially connected.
When, in due time, Rev. N. C. Brackett, by the exercise of rare tact succeeded in obtaining favor- able action upon the charter from the West Vir- ginia Legislature, Dr. Cheney signed the deed passing the property over to the new corporation. Although he continued to be a helper in develop- ing Storer and was a member of the Board of Trustees during his lifetime, his main work for it was in its beginning.
OREN B. CHENEY 165
FIRST BATES COMMENCEMENT
It must have been a happy day for President Cheney, when in July 1867 he presided at the first Bates College Commencement. It is true there were but eight graduates from the College department, but they were men of whom any college might be proud, and, judged from a high standard of value, have paid in Christian service far more than all the college has cost the Free Baptist denomination.
The class certainly made up in courageous spirit what it lacked in numbers. The members arranged for a concert on Tuesday evening of Commencement week which attracted wide notice, for they sent to New York for Dodworth's band, at an expense of $1,200.
As this was then the most noted band in the country and the event was such an unusual one for Lewiston at that time, the boys were able to place the tickets at two dollars each. As one of the class declared in a speech at a late Commence- ment dinner, " by the interest of the citizens and a special interposition of divine Providence the expenses were nearly covered."
The class thus established a memorial to itself, for a high class Tuesday evening concert has been a feature of Commencement week ever since.
The report of this Commencement in The
166 LIFE AND WORK OF
Morning Star was the first article of importance sent by Dr. Cheney since the college movement began. Success was now too well assured for opposers to make reply.
IMPORTANT BEGINNINGS
EFFECT OF CIVIL WAR ON STATUS OF WOMEN
THE BAPTIST UNION
XIV
The Free Baptist General Conference, held in Buffalo in 1868, was notable for two movements which have an intimate connection with this narrative. One was the consideration of a plan to remove the Biblical School from New Hampton to a more central locality and one better suited to its needs. President Cheney and some of his friends had felt for some time that it would be far better for that school to be closely related to a College, because of the many additional facilities thereby secured.
The result of the discussion at the 1868 General Conference was the decision by the Education Society to divide the endowment money of the Biblical School between Bates and Hillsdale Col- leges, with due regard to the proportion raised in their respective localities. Bates, on its part, was to provide a suitable building and three additional professors. This action culminated in 1870, and thereafter Bates College has had a theological department, from which have graduated at least one hundred and fifty ministers.
The other matter before the Buffalo Conference was a plan to organize the denominational work on a more business-like and systematic basis, by having the body incorporated and thus made
170 LIFE AND WORK OF
legally able to hold and administer the property then held by the different Benevolent Societies.
At the previous General Conference in Lewis- ton, Doctors Ball and Cheney had mutally agreed that such an organization would make all denomi- national plans more effective. Dr. Ball there presented a resolution favoring it. Dr. Cheney spoke in its interest and it was referred to a Com- mittee. At the Buffalo Conference Dr. Ball re- ported for the Committee an act by the New York legislature, incorporating the Free Baptist General Conference. Dr. Cheney led in its sup- port. It failed of adoption by three or four votes, but its friends knew its ultimate victory was only a question of time.
Six years later at the General Conference of 1874, sympathy with the movement led to the appointment of a Conference Board of seven mem- bers. This Board was to act " in the interim between sessions in conducting correspondence and promoting fellowship and union with other Christian denominations and also to receive reso lutions and other business to lay before Con- ference, with such suggestions as shall be deemed expedient." Of this Board Dr. Cheney was elected Chairman. It entirely failed, however, to embody the thought of the leaders, and they continued their efforts to secure the incorporation of the body.
OREN B. CHENEY 171
EFFECT OF CIVIL WAR ON STATUS OF WOMEN
Two other movements, with the initiation of which Dr. Cheney was connected, were interwoven with conditions following the Civil War.
One was the organizing of work among women. For some years before the war, conditions had been gradually changing, so as to increase the opportunities of women for development.
Among Free Baptists, as early as 1847, there had been organized " The Freewill Baptist Female Missionary Society," which continued a useful life for more than twenty years.
Although no objection would have been made, had the officers seen fit to conduct their public meetings, they yielded to the custom of the times and called upon " the brethren " to assist them.
Mrs. O. B. (Nancy P.) Cheney was the first Recording Secretary and her husband was repeat- edly called upon to read her reports. After her resignation he continued to " help those women " in various public capacities. At the General Con- ference, in Lewiston, in 1865, he presided over one of the largest public meetings held by them. But the Society lacked the vigor which attends an independent, responsible life and its work was gradually discontinued.
The Civil War wrought a wonderful change in the status of women. During its continuance they organized everywhere to minister to the needs of
172 LIFE AND WORK OF
the soldiers. Week after week they met to scrape lint, make bandages and garments and talk of something outside of their own lives. Some went to " the front," to serve in various capacities. At home thousands were obliged to step out of the ruts of their lines and on farms, in stores and in business of almost every kind, they learned their power. It was an epoch-making time. Never again could life for women flow in its old channels. Beginning in the late sixties and continuing through the seventies, women organized for Mis- sion work in almost every Christian denomination. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union and a large number of other philanthropic enterprises came into being at the same time. This decade will be full of rich nuggets for future historians.
In 1873 the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society superseded the former organization, pat- terned on a much broader plan. Dr. Cheney was one of the most interested and sympathetic ob- servers of this new movement. He was often an attentive listener at the exercises, conducted entirely by the women ; he made his wife a life member of the Society, and later obtained for it a charter from the Maine Legislature. Ten years after we shall find an important movement result- ing from his continued study of their work.
Another result of the Civil War was the lower- ing of denominational walls. Chaplains for the army had been appointed with small regards to
OREN B. CHENEY 173
creeds, and " the boys " in camp or hospital cared little about the sectarian name of the man who comforted and helped them. During the recon- struction period that followed the war, new homes were often established in places where it was impossible to continue the old denominational relations. Added to this, there was a natural growth in breadth of thought; all of which resulted in movements to establish more sym- pathetic relations between Christians of different names.
Among Free Baptists one of the outgrowths of this was the publication in New York of the Baptist Union, an eight page weekly, which from 187 1 through six volumes spoke strong, true words as to the duty of all Baptists to unite their forces. Although this was a private enterprise, founded and developed by Rev. G. H. Ball, D.D., aided by a local Board of Publication, hearty sympathy and financial aid were received from many Free Bap- tists, especially in New York and the Central States. Although President Cheney was too deeply absorbed in his own life work to become active in this movement, Dr. Ball says :
" While I was publishing the Baptist Union and advocating the union of all Baptists on the basis of church independence and entire freedom for each church to practice restricted, or unlimited communion with Christians at the Lord's table, Dr. Cheney heartily
174 LIFE AND WORK OF
approved, and, when the matter came up in General Conference, he always defended the position advocated by the paper."
But some devoted friends of The Morning Star became more and more opposed to the Baptist Union, feeling that an effort for denominational union was premature and that Free Baptists were not strong enough to support two papers. Dr. Cheney saw with clear vision both sides of the question ; that the principles being advocated were right and must ultimately prevail, but that under existing conditions, it would be impossible for Free Baptists to see alike about the matter.
Because of his attitude he was appealed to by parties on both sides of the question for leader- ship of their respective views. In response, he tried his best to secure some action that would result in harmony. He met in consultation with New York friends and with those representing The Morning Star. He himself called a meeting of eight or ten men of differing views, but failing to secure desired action he says, at its close, " I stood alone."
Then by letters, he sounded notes of warning, in order to avert the clash, which he saw was imminent at the coming General Conference at Providence, R. I.
As a result of his position, although he received " some hard thrusts " from extremists, earnest
OREN B. CHENEY 175
opposers to each other retained their respect for his judgment, and he was the constant adviser of parties representing both sides, until the final settlement by the union of the papers in 1877.
SUCCESS
DISASTER
DIFFICULTIES SURMOUNTED
AFTER TEN YEARS
A CHARACTER SKETCH
XV
President Cheney was now putting forth his best efforts to advance the financial interests of the College. The sympathy felt for him by persons with whom he had been allied in reforma- tion movements is shown by the letter of intro- duction, on the pages following, from Henry Ward Beecher.
In connection with a trip to Florida in 1869 to inspect property that had come into possession of the College, there were many interesting experi- ences. In Washington he received gratifying assurances of aid from James G. Blaine and other prominent persons.
A woman, prominent in philanthropy, once said to Dr. Cheney : " I never saw any one like you, Oren Cheney ; if anything happens, you are sure to be there." This saying had many confirma- tions ; among them the fact that while on his trip in Washington, he heard the discussion in the U. S. Senate on the fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution. On his return trip, he heard Presi- dent Grant's inaugural address.
Note — Something of what Bates College was passing through at this time is indicated by the following item published in a Maine paper : " The attention of that one- horse Institution, Bates, is called to the erratic conduct of ' James G. Blaine ' who was here on Tuesday as busy as the devil in a gale of wind. A LL.D. ought to be more dignified."
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182 LIFE AND WORK OF
He visited friends in prominent cities of the
coast states. At Raleigh he says : " Col. said
to me : ' We will make up fifteen or twenty thous- and dollars for you if we prosper.' "
In Boston much financial encouragement was re- ceived. President Cheney's notes say : " Mr. Bates is ready at any time, if we will get $25,000 more." On the whole the trip was a very gratifying one, and is a type of many others which followed.
DIFFICULTIES SURMOUNTED
In the early seventies, College matters required much tactfulness for their adjustment. We have already explained the removal to Lewiston of the Biblical School. This was attended with the usual amount of friction caused by change in a school location. Local interests in New Hamp- shire protested. Individuals opposed, as in the instance of the man who demanded if the school go to Lewiston, the $3,000, which he had given be returned to him. Legal questions were also raised, which required time and tact for their settlement.
Maine State Seminary had been virtually re- moved to Pittsfield, but it took time and energy to aid in adjusting the affairs of the new school, and we find President Cheney often there in con- sultation with the Trustees.
The Nichols Latin School, which was to take
OREN B. CHENEY 183
the local place of Maine State Seminary as a pre- paratory school for the College, had now a build- ing of its own on a lot adjoining Bates College campus, and between the lines must be read what it had meant to secure land, building and other accessories.
In 1870 we find President Cheney negotiating for more teachers and soon after, Professor G. C. Chase and J. H. Rand were added to the faculty, both having been successful teachers since their graduation from Bates, the former in its second and the latter in its first class. President Cheney soon saw in Prof. Chase the qualifications which made him his choice as his successor.
AFTER TEN YEARS
The Commencement of 1873 was tne tenth from the forming of the first College Class. President Cheney's text for his Baccalaureate sermon was, "First the blade," with the purpose that ten years later in 1883, he would use the next phrase "then the ear," and in 1893 the concluding one " after that the full corn in the ear." This plan was carried out. During these first ten formative years there had been seventy-seven college gradu- ates. As but two of these were women, it shows that " the sisters " were not yet ready to crowd their brothers in academic halls.
The foundations of the College may now be
184 LIFE AND WORK OF
said to be well laid and it started on a broader life with constantly improving facilities, a hopeful financial outlook and with an entering class which graduated eighteen young men. President Cheney's diary now had many items of re- joicing.
In 1874 enough money had been raised to meet Mr. Bates's conditions and he not only paid in the $75,000 which completed his first $100,000, but he pledged $100,000 more on the same conditions as before. What a pity that Free Baptists and others to whom the College was to be such a blessing could not have seized the opportunity and secured this gift at once, by helping the tired President whose twenty years of service were beginning to wear upon him severely !
To his diary he often confided his feelings :
" Oh, I am tired, tired."
" Sick all night."
" Leave home sick. Go to write the will of Miss who makes a gift to the College."
We see him, however, still finding a safety-valve in his interest in other matters. One day's entry in his diary shows us this :
" Waiting for Mr. Bates's return. Attended the celebration of the Anniversary of Emancipation and heard Sojourner Truth."
" How sad that Gov. A. took the course he did on prohibition ! "
OREN B. CHENEY 185
A CHARACTER SKETCH
Another side light is thrown on President Cheney's character by the following little incident of travel : " The sleeper was full of weary people, trying in vain to find repose, for the wails of an infant that would not be appeased, rose above the noise of the train. Finally an exasperated man thrust his head between the curtains and blurted out :
" ' Keep that young one still, won't you ? '
" ' I am doing the best I can, gentlemen,' came in the subdued tones of a man's voice. ' The baby's mother is in her coffin in the baggage car, and I am taking the little fellow to his grand- mother. I am doing the best I can, gentlemen.'
" The pathos of the situation at once appealed to Dr. Cheney's heart and he was soon beside the man's berth. ' Let me try,' he said. Cuddling the baby in his arms, for a long time he walked the car aisle back and forth, back and forth, softly singing ' Bonnie Doon,' and other sooth- ing melodies. The little one's sobs became less and less frequent. Fixing on Dr. Cheney's face wide-open, wondering eyes, he listened and became quiet. Finally the lids slowly closed and peace reigned in the car the remainder of the night."
VACATION EXPERIENCES
PRESIDING OFFICER
LETTER BY L. W. ANTHONY
XVI
In 1875, Mr. Bates assured President Cheney that he had secured to the College by will his new pledge of $100,000; and the diary comment is : "I could not sleep for joy." It now seemed that conditions were such that the President might take the long-postponed and much needed vaca- tion ; and in 1876 he went to Europe for a season of travel and study.
After some weeks spent in visiting places of interest he had just settled down to study in Paris, when news came of the serious illness of his son. That evening he started on his return trip and reached the homeland in time to spend a few precious hours with the loved one, to hear him say :
" I am not afraid to leave myself in God's hands, father," then — separation, loneliness.
Horace had been Assistant District Attorney for Suffolk County, Massachusetts ; and at the time of his death was in legal practice for himself. He was a member of the Board of Fellows of Bates College. His father was depending on him for advice in matters of law and looked to him as a prop in his declining years. Father and son had always been closest companions and Dr. Cheney's heart-ache for his boy ceased only with
190 LIFE AND WORK OF
his own life. The little granddaughter, Bessie, was ever held in tenderest affection.
We draw the veil over the days of sacred retire- ment, which followed, but out of the shadows he came with form slightly bowed, with hair per- ceptibly whitened, but with the old purpose in life strong and true, and the many interests already referred to soon crowded his time full.
PRESIDING OFFICES
When, at the Maine Yearly Meeting in 1877, Dr. Cheney was again elected as delegate to General Conference, he made this note : " I have never in my life used any influence to go, never said to any one, ' I would like to go,' never solicited a vote."
At this General Conference, held in Fairport, N.Y., he was chosen Moderator. Considering the sharp differences of opinion, as to denomi- national policy which had existed since the pre- ceding General Conference, Dr. Cheney's election at this time was highly complimentary. The trust in him was fully honored. His native ability and ease in presiding, his familiarity with parliamen- tary methods and rules, his kindly effort to afford all parties fair play, gave general satisfaction, and the session proved successful and harmonious. The wide-spread feeling of concern which pre- ceded this General Conference and the feeling of relief which followed cannot be better expressed
OREN B. CHENEY 191
than by a quotation from a letter sent to Dr. Cheney by a prominent layman :
Providence, Oct. 20, '77. Bro. Cheney,
Dear Sir :
Although not able to be present at General Conference, I felt a deep interest in it, and in conversation with some of the delegates, expressed the desire that you might be chosen Moderator. Was much pleased in reading of the doings of the Conference and particularly with the wisdom shown in the make-up of the com- mittees, but most of all in your remarks at the close of the Conference, I want to thank you for them. They would have been worth to me a trip to Fairport. All I have seen that were in attend- ance, speak of it as being the most harmonious session they ever attended. Let us take courage and press on.
Yours
L. W. Anthony.
O. B. Cheney
About 1880
DEATH OF BENJAMIN E. BATES
SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP
DELEGATE TO ENGLISH BAPTISTS
WINE-DRINKING INCIDENTS
XVII
The following entry in President Cheney's diary for January 15, 1878, tells a thrilling story: "Mr. Bates died last night of heart disease. Oh, what a blow to the College ! My best friend gone ! God save the College ! Called on Mrs. Bates."
The diary entries for a time are too sacred to quote. Day after day found President Cheney meditating and praying by Mr. Bates's grave in Mt. Auburn. There was something unique, some- thing beautiful in the friendship between these two men.
If under God's guidance O. B. Cheney was a leader in a much needed educational work, Benja- min E. Bates was equally led in his purpose to stand by him financially.
For ten years President Cheney had known that when nobody else understood his plans, he had but to lay them before Mr. Bates to find a sympathizer. When shortness of vision led any to criticise, he knew where to find a friend whose foresight matched his own. When money failed from expected sources, Mr. Bates was always resourceful in helping.
Dr. Cheney's diaries probably record but in part the many times when he went to Mr. Bates, sorely burdened and came away relieved and hopeful.
196 LIFE AND WORK OF
But O. B. Cheney knew that his work was not done. He fully believed that the Helper under whose guidance he had worked thus far, never leaves his own. By provision of Mr. Bates's will $100,000 were assured to the College. The $100,000 required to meet this legacy was soon raised or pledged. Mr. Bates's life-purpose had been so generally understood that it seemed im- possible that there could be any failure in the payment of this legacy.
SECOND EUROPEAN TRIP
By action of the Fairport General Conference, Dr. Cheney had been elected a delegate to the General Baptist Anniversaries held in Halifax, England; and in October, 1878, he again went to Europe, with the double purpose of filling his position as delegate and of completing the tour, so suddenly cut short two years before. During the President's absence on this and the preceding foreign trip, Professor B. F. Hayes acted as Presi- dent of Bates College. Hon. Nelson Dingley, LL.D., and Mrs. Dingley were Dr. Cheney's travel- ing companions. As Mr. Dingley was a pro- nounced total abstainer, they had many sym- pathetic experiences. The belief, then extant, that it was not safe to travel on the continent without the use of wine, often obliged these friends to assert their principles. One day a lady, who had been especially persistent in urg-
OREN B. CHENEY 197
ing President Cheney to drink wine with her, said to him, " Now, Dr. Cheney, do you really think it would hurt you to sip a little wine ?" Sitting back in his chair and looking at her steadily with a kindly but firm expression, he said : " Madam, I have never used wine, or any other intoxicant, and I could not respect myself if I began now. Besides, I am President of a College which requires a pledge of total absti- nence from each entering student. If I were ever to raise a glass of wine to my lips, in some way the word would go back and not only would I have lost my self-respect, but my influence would be destroyed. You must excuse me, madam." She asked his pardon and left him in peace.
EXPERIENCES AS DELEGATE
In his address as delegate to the General Bap- tists of England, Dr. Cheney awakened enthusiasm by referring to the influence of their representa- tive, Dr. Sutton, in inspiring Free Baptists to enter upon Foreign Missionary work ; but when he stated that his denomination did not ordain to the Christian ministry any man who used intoxi- cating liquors, it created quite a sensation. When a member made a motion of thanks for his address, another member arose and said he could not vote for the motion, lest it be interpreted as approving the course of the United States brethren in regard to licensing candidates, for
198 LIFE AND WORK OF
there was but one door to the church and that Christ. A spirited discussion followed, lasting nearly all day, resulting finally in an almost unani- mous vote of thanks, and being generally under- stood as a decided victory for temperance. The temperance reform had then made but little prog- ress in England, and the reports occupying several columns in the daily papers attracted wide- spread attention.
The weeks of travel which followed were full of interest and profit to President Cheney. He had no more unique experience than when he stood on Mars Hill on the spot reputed to have been occupied by Saint Paul and preached a sermon to an invisible audience.
DARK DAYS
On Dr. Cheney's return to the homeland he found that there was cause for much anxiety as to the outcome of the contested will of Mr. Bates. Then followed a time of sleepless nights, efforts to secure money and constant alertness in conferring with legal advisers. It seemed as if the very life of the College were at stake. How severe was the blow when the report of the commissioners was finally received ! It allowed the payment of a sum due on previous pledges, but disallowed the $100,000 pledge. As many people had given money with the provision that it was to help secure Mr. Bates's pledge, serious additional losses
OREN B. CHENEY 199
were threatened and it was thought best to carry the matter to the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. Some who had been afraid President Cheney was going ahead too fast showed the " I-told-you- so " spirit. But the large majority rallied to his support and sustained him by their sympathy and hopefulness. This was especially true of the noble men who composed the Bates College Faculty. They were hard workers, on small salaries, but not a man flinched. With one accord, they encouraged him with sympathy and offers of help. Dr. Cheney said in a letter :
" When members of the Faculty said to me, ' the College shall not fail in any event,' it lifted from me a great burden ; and so I say, 'the God of heaven, he will prosper us.' "
The same courageous spirit was voiced by the Alumni. One writes :
" My faith in the ultimate triumph does not waver. None of your labor will be lost. In the Providence of God you have been the means of starting a great work, which will surely live. If the younger friends of the College can be half as single and devoted as you have been, I shall be satisfied."
During the two following years, the will case was in the courts, with the result that the Judge of the Supreme Court gave a final decision in favor of the contestants. President Cheney's diary note for September 6, 1883, is:
" Chosen delegate to General Conference at
200 LIFE AND WORK OF
Minneapolis. Hear of the decision of the Massa- chusetts Court, losing the $100,000. Well, God will take care of the College."
The blow was so severe as at first to be almost stunning, but with sublime faith the President rallied and worked " on and on and on." With the Supreme Court decision the strain and stress of years were over. Nothing remained but to make more heroic efforts.
Like a ray of sunshine thwart the darkness was the following letter of appreciation of Bates Col- lege, written by the scholar and philanthropist, Wendell Phillips :
I am familiar with the history of Bates College and acquainted with its officers. In the old times of bitter pro-slavery feeling the College gave earnest and effective support to the anti-slavery movement and was among the very first to open its doors to the colored man. Since then it has shown the same liberal spirit touching the equal education of women, being, I believe, the very first to graduate a woman from its classes.
The Institution deserves well of New England and ought to have all the aid it needs to make still more thorough and complete the opportuni- ties it has always offered to those seeking, at a moderate cost, a thorough preparation for private usefulness, public service and the duties of Chris- tian citizenship.
Wendell Phillips, Boston. 3 Dec, 1881.
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FREE BAPTIST CENTENNIAL
OCEAN PARK COLLEGE EXTENSION PLAN
XVIII
When President Cheney returned from his trip abroad, another matter of importance was claim- ing his attention. His denomination was about to celebrate its Centennial. As Moderator of the last General Conference and as Chairman of the Conference Board, he was one of the responsible parties in deciding upon location, program and other matters needful to its success.
The Centennial was held at The Weirs, on Lake Winnipiseogee, no church being able to accom- modate so large a gathering. It was connected with the session of General Conference of 1880 and was the most important and largely attended assembly that had ever been held by Free Baptists. Dr. Cheney was elected Moderator. Dawson Burns, D.D., Metropolitan Superintendent of the United Kingdom Alliance, a great British Temperance Organization, was one of the English delegates present. In an appreciative article in The Morning Star, Dr. Burns says :
"Both my colleague and myself were struck with the tact and urbanity he displayed, in discharging, day by day, the difficult duties of his office. It was impossible to know Dr. Cheney, however slightly, without perceiving him to be a man of rare ability and of the finest character."
The whole session was an inspiring and success-
208 LIFE AND WORK OF
fill one and was fruitful of new enterprises, that have since been of much denominational value.
OCEAN PARK
One of the most important of these was the inauguration of a movement, through the initia- tion of Rev. E. W. Porter, then of Lowell, Mass., to establish a Free Baptist summer resort, which should provide for physical, intellectual and spirit- ual improvement. Dr. Cheney was a member of the Committee to carry out the plan. After ex- amining many localities, a strip of land was secured near Old Orchard, Maine. Dr. Cheney always remembered with interest the day when the Committee walked across sand and marsh, up to the beautiful pine grove, at the entrance to which the temple was to be located, and all kneeled with bared heads while Rev. Silas Curtis offered a prayer, dedicating the grounds to holiest service.
An association was organized with Dr. Cheney as President. This office he held for four years. As Chairman of the Board of Directors, he gave much time and thought to the development of this unique and delightful summer home, which em- bodies so many helpful features, as to be sur- passed by few such resorts in the country.
COLLEGE EXTENSION PLAN
With Bates College interests always uppermost in his thought, President Cheney had a plan from
OREN B. CHENEY 209
the beginning of the Ocean Park movement, by which he hoped to extend the College influence. He purchased a block of centrally-located lots, opposite a park reservation. College Extension in the form of summer meetings, lectures and schools, was then in its infancy. The President saw that the proximity of Bates College to Ocean Park afforded a favorable opportunity for the College to be early in the field in such work. But the financial disasters which came to Bates in the early eighties hindered the development of the new enterprise.
Later, the interests of the Boston and Maine Railroad, in building up Ocean Park, seemed likely to become a factor in the realization of his plan ; but on the day Dr. Cheney was to have a decisive meeting with the President of the road, word came of the serious illness of the latter and death once more thwarted large plans. Soon after, the Chautauqua movement became a part of the Ocean Park educational system and the College plan was superseded.
The house which Dr. Cheney had built as a part of the College Extension system, and painted garnet, the College color, became his summer home during his life, and his interest in the development of Ocean Park continued to the end. As late as 1900, he went to Augusta for an effort to secure what seemed to him desirable legislation in its behalf.
EFFORTS FOR CHRISTIAN UNION
PLANS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE MISSION- ARY WORK
BEREAVEMENT
XIX
In chapter XIII reference was made to Dr. Cheney's interest in two movements which followed the Civil War. Ten years had passed with ripening plans. As already noted it was the duty of the Conference Board, of which he was Chairman, to " promote fellowship and union with other Christian denominations." As Moderator of the General Conferences in 1877 and 1880, Dr. Cheney was led to think much about denomi- national development. He had seen that the time had not come for the union of Free Baptists and the Baptist body, but he was very hopeful that some union might be effected between differ- ent open-communion bodies, which agreed in the essentials of Christianity. In advocacy of this idea Dr. Cheney sent articles to different papers, which elicited cordial responses from many sources. A wide correspondence followed, not only among Free Baptists, but with broad-minded persons in several denominations, including the Disciples of Christ, the Christian, the Church of God and the Free Baptists of New Brunswick.
There was so much expressed sympathy with the movement that it almost seemed as if success were assured. A convention resulted, which was held at Minneapolis, in 1883, on the day preced- ing the Free Baptist General Conference. It was
214 LIFE AND WORK OF
not a delegated body, but there were representa- tives present from the different denominations concerned. Dr. Cheney was elected President.
Ways and means were discussed relating to immediate union in Missionary and some other lines of work, with the hope of promoting ultimate organic union. Those present were empowered to report the Convention to their respective bodies and the session closed with large hope of important results.
At the ensuing Free Baptist General Conference the spirit of the Convention was plainly felt.
Dr. Cheney was serving a second term as Re- cording Secretary of the Free Baptist Foreign Missionary Society and was one of the most active members of its Executive Board.
As the result of the Convention just held he was very hopeful of almost immediate union in Missionary work among the open-communion bodies.
Plans had also been forming in his mind relat- ing to the Woman's Missionary Society- — the other movement referred to in chapter XIII. This had had ten years of eminently successful life, not only financially but also in the executive ability shown in its management.
Because of the needs of the larger work, a feel- ing had grown in some quarters that the women ought to unite their forces with the parent society, the argument being that the work in India would
OREN B. CHENEY 215
be made more effective thereby. Dr. Cheney was reticent about his plans to help this condition, but he was busy. When the Nominating Committee made its report at the Foreign Missionary Anni- versary, at Minneapolis, Rev. Joseph McLeod, D.D., of the New Brunswick Free Baptists, was nominated as President of the Society, Mrs. E. S. Burlingame, President of the Woman's Missionary Society, as Vice-President, while the nominees for the Executive Committee included one member each from the Christian, New Brunswick Free Baptists and Church of God denominations and three official members of the Woman's Missionary Society. They were elected without opposition.
In the absence of the newly elected President, Dr. McLeod, Dr. Cheney informed the Vice-Presi- dent of her election and escorted her to the plat- form to preside. This was probably the first time a woman had presided at the public meeting of any denominational Missionary Society.
Results of these movements were (a) the ap- pointment of a Joint Committee by the Foreign Missionary and Woman's Societies, which con- tinued as a permanent factor in simplifying and harmonizing the work ; (b) the appointment by General Conference of a Committee to confer with Committees to be appointed by other denomi- nations to make plans for permanent union.
The Union Committee held an important meet- ing at Philadelphia and much progress was
216 LIFE AND WORK OF
reported at the General Conference of 1886, held at Marion, Ohio, at which there was much enthu- siasm for union, there being present many dele- gates from the other bodies concerned.
A vote was there passed that pastors might go from Christian to Free Baptist churches and vice versa without loss of denominational standing ; and a pastor was soon after called from a Chris- tian church to the Free Baptist church, known as the College church in Lewiston, Me. A successful pastorate of ten years followed.
At Marion, a new Committee on Union was appointed with J. L. Phillips, D.D., as Chairman, — Dr. Cheney being a member — which later, at a meeting at Worcester, Mass., agreed upon a basis of union between Free Baptists and Christians. Union in Missionary work with the New Bruns- wick Free Baptists was soon effected and con- tinued until 1906, when another union movement led them to become affiliated with the larger Baptist body in New Brunswick. But in an army defeat in battle often results from the difficulty of " bringing up the rear ; " and in denominations which have no authoritative head, it is a more perplexing matter to lead forward the " rank and file." Conservatives in the different denomina- tions exerted a gradually strengthening influence against the movement, with the result that finally the advance guard "rested on their arms."
The regret at this outcome felt by President
OREN B. CHENEY 217
Cheney and many sympathizers is well expressed in a letter received by him from one who had been elected a member of the Executive Committee of the Free Baptist Foreign Missionary Society from the Church of God :
" I am sorry and grieved at my heart that a project, so wisely conceived and auspi- ciously begun, should be strangled so early in its life. But we can still be brethren and cherish the hope that those coming after us will be broader and grander than men of this generation ; and that they will do what we ought to have done.
Dear Doctor, I remain
Your brother in Christ."
A year later, Dr. Cheney was elected President of the Foreign Missionary Society, which position he held for eight years, until the Society was merged in the incorporated General Conference in 1892. Women continued until that time to be members of the Executive Board, and were always shown most courteous consideration by President Cheney and his associates.
BEREAVEMENT
For many months, during the years 1885 and 1886, President Cheney's home had been saddened by the failing health of his wife and his diaries show how, amid his many duties, anxiety about the result was ever present with him.
In February, 1886, Mrs. Nancy Perkins Cheney
218 LIFE AND WORK OF
peacefully passed to the life above, and her husband was bereft of a faithful companion and wise counsellor ; one who, for forty years, had stood by and sympathized with him in his various activities. We quote diary notes :
"Mrs. C. went to Heaven at 4.20 a. m. She died without a struggle, falling asleep like a little child in its mother's arms. Her first Sabbath in Heaven ! She is singing ' Welcome, delightful Morn.'"
" Where do all the dear good friends come from ? There are so many ! Faculty called this morning. Mrs. C. looks as if asleep."
Many are the testimonials to her useful life !
FACULTY FOR MISCELLANEOUS WORK
COLLEGE DEVELOPMENT
STUDENT TESTIMONIALS
CATHOLICITY AND COSMOPOLITAN CHARACTER OF BATES
THE STUDENT BODY
XX
In 1886, President Cheney was seventy years old and may be said to have been at the maturity of his powers. The few years previous to this, furnish a fit illustration of his capacity for carry- ing on different kinds of work at the same time.
The story has been already told how, while going through the bitter experience attending the adverse will-decision, he helped, as President of the Association to found Ocean Park ; how as Moderator of General Conference he had been led to devise large things in promoting Christian union ; how, as Recording Secretary and then President of the Foreign Missionary Society, he was shaping its policy and guiding its affairs ; and how as President of the New England Asso- ciation, he was working to concentrate and pre- serve New England Free Baptist interests ; ail in addition to his strenuous financial work for Bates College.
We obtain an interesting view of this kaleido- scopic life through excerpts from his diary, taken at random from a period covering several months.
" Did not sleep at all last night. Heard the clock strike every hour. Felt so anxious for the College."
" Went to Augusta to get charter for Ocean
222 LIFE AND WORK OF
Park Association — also to get legislation relating to Maine Central Institute."
" College exercises suspended. Funeral of Presi- dent Garfield. Exercises at College Chapel."
" Go to Springfield. G. will give $300 a year for 5 years. Praise the Lord. Did not sleep for joy Monday night and last night. Leave for N.Y."
" At home. Meeting at my home to consider question of Lewiston and Auburn supporting a missionary. 25 present. O. B. C. Chairman."
" Received a lettter from editor Boston Post asking my opinion on Maine Law and Con. Amendment. At home."
" Meeting of Foreign Missionary Board. Mr. and Mrs. George examined and accepted as mis- sionaries to India."
"Attend Eldership of Church of God as dele- gate from Free Baptist General Conference."
"At home — sick — Sophomores attacked the Freshmen last night in the Chapel. Although they were provoked by the Freshmen, still they cannot be justified in doing what the)' did do."
" Trouble settled by the yielding of the students. I would rather have let every student leave than yield the good order of the college."
" Received check of $200 from Mr. C. and one from P. of $150 for college. Went to Augusta to get a charter for Woman's Missionary Society, also to get an amendment of charter of Parent Foreign Missionary Society."
OREN B. CHENEY 223
" At the State House all day. Go before Judici- ary Committee. Bills reported."
" Attended convention at F. B. church, St. John, N. B."
"Yearly meeting — chosen Moderator."
" Boston, see transit of Venus. Meeting of Foreign Missionary Board."
" Go to Lyndonville, Vt, to advise with Trustees of the Lyndon Institute."
" Go to Old Orchard. Meeting of Directors of O. Park Asso."
" Close of General Conference at Minneapolis. Went to Minnehaha Falls and Fort Snelling. Called on D. M. Asked him to help college. Made up the record of the Foreign Missionary Society."
"Go to Pittsfield to help save Institute. Pitts- field is to raise $10,000."
"Secured sub. $7,343-79 — sign note for balance. Thank the Lord the Institute is saved."
"Boston at meeting of Foreign Missionary Board."
"Election day. The right prevailed."
"Go to Old Orchard— Meeting of O. P. A. directors."
"Go home. Freshman Declamation."
"Write an article for Star on. Commencement."
" At home — Preside at a public meeting of Pine Street Free Baptist church, to free the house from debt."
224 LIFE AND WORK OF
" In doors — Not at all well — I am so tired, but, if I had a thousand lives, I would give them all for the dear College. Baby died. (A grandchild.) The house is dark and empty."
" Writing an article for the Independent about the General Conference. Heard of the fire at Farmington late in the afternoon. The College must suffer a loss. But it can stand fire and the decision of Mass. Judges, for it is the Lord's College and he will take care of it." ,
"Called on Mr. . He is about ready to
give money for an observatory. God be praised !"
" See Messrs. L. I think they will endow a scholarship."
"In New York. Committee of 18 on union meet at St. Paul's church."
" Committee in session. Adjourn at 4 p.m. Agree on union in Christian work."
" P. pledges $1,500 on my salary on certain con- ditions. The Lord bless him. This will make his gifts to the College about $4,000."
"May 8, '86. Attend the meeting for the union of the Christians and Free Baptists at our ^church. Am appointed on a committee to report a plan of union."
"Write an article for the Independent."
"Meeting of Foreign Missionary Board at Shawmut Ave. church, Boston."
" Went to Chelsea to see Mr. E. He is think-
— J
OREN B. CHENEY 225
ing of putting something in his will for the College."
A large correspondence covered a range of more than all the subjects referred to in these notes. One letter contains an appeal from a man of national fame to come to Augusta in an important political crisis saying :
" Your presence and participation will be of much value."
Another from a prominent man says :
"Enclosed please find a check for $100 as a contribution for Bates College. It affords me great pleasure to be able to contribute in a small degree to this splendid institution, which is the work of your creation."
COLLEGE DEVELOPMENT
During the late eighties, for several years, two important will cases added their perplexities to the President's duties. Both of these were settled in favor of the College.
In 1890, the Hedge Laboratory, a substantial brick building, was added to the College facilities. The amount given by Dr. Hedge towards its erection had been pledged with the proviso that a certain amount be raised within a definite time in order to redeem the pledge.
Owing to the financial work to be done in order to meet this and other conditional gifts, Prof G. C. Chase was obliged to be often in the field to assist the President.
226 LIFE AND WORK OF
Donors do not realize the agony often endured by self-sacrificing people, as the time limit draws near for raising money to meet their conditional gifts, else they would relieve the strain by less exacting methods.
Although Bates had an original campus of twenty acres President Cheney realized the future importance of adding to these from the surround- ing land before the neighborhood became thickly populated, consequently in the late seventies he had purchased for the College about thirty acres more. In this movement he had met with sharp opposition from many who were the firm friends of the College, but who felt that the campus was already large enough. President Cheney's perti- nacity prevailed, however, and as a result of his foresight the College now has a highly prized campus of fifty acres, on which has been laid out one of the finest athletic fields in the country, with ample room left for future needs in the growth of the Institution.
President Cheney was a lover of trees. He enjoyed planting and caring for them. The cam- pus was at first a rough, uneven piece of land. The President was never more in his element than in gradually making this a sightly, attractive spot. Stumps had to be removed and section after section graded, this requiring much money and time. An annual tree-planting was always to him an occasion of joy. A large majority of the trees
OREN B. CHENEY 227
that now make the campus so attractive and rest- ful were planted under President Cheney's own supervision, many of them by his own hands.
Too much credit cannot be given to the corps of Professors that during those strenuous years gave such devoted service to the local interests of the College.
President Cheney's confidence in the efficiency and faithfulness of these instructors led him to depend very largely upon them for carrying on the local work. The financial interests of the College at this time so dominated his thought as to somewhat diminish his power as a personal factor in the school.
But if any special circumstances called for his attention, he was at once alert and the power of his personality and his natural forte as teacher and leader asserted themselves. The following testimonial from Mrs. Emma J. Clark Rand, class of 1881, helps us to see President Cheney from the student standpoint :
" As Dr. Cheney had given up class room work long before I entered college in order to devote his whole time to the financial and general interests of the Institution, I never had the privilege of knowing him as a teacher. But his regard for the students was so keen and personal that I soon came to feel well acquainted with him and to have in a measure at least, a sympathetic knowledge of his life-work and its burdens.
228 LIFE AND WORK OF
" In the eighties the endowment fund of the College was much smaller than it is today and the struggle to meet the annual expenses and plan for growing needs was a serious one. The student body generally appreciated the situation and followed the President in his efforts to win friends and money with intelli- gent interest that never flagged. Yet through it all, I think we had rather the feeling that Dr. Cheney would be equal to things and there was always a general rejoicing over every success gained.
" As is natural, however, I recall with great- est pleasure Dr. Cheney's attitude toward the higher education of women, for in this he was far in advance of his times. Indeed, he was one of the few men of his own generation who not only believed in, but rejoiced in every- thing that tended to give women equal oppor- tunities with men and I was often impressed with the pleasure he showed in their public work.
"To Dr. Cheney's broad views and innate fairness on this subject is largely due the suc- cess of co-education at Bates and her daugh- ters owe him more than they can ever realize. I remember how intensely he felt, later on, when the College world discussed the advis- ability of changing the basis of co-educational Colleges and placing the women in annexes.
" It seemed to him an injustice and he promptly made public his own position in regard to the policy of Bates. He urged me, as one of the earlier alumnae to write an article for our denominational paper The Morning Star and left no stones unturned to
OREN B. CHENEY 229
prevent any possible agitation of the subject in our own College.
" So fully was he in sympathy with the
ideas which prevail in the educational world
today in regard to women that were he with
us now he would in no way have to readjust
his views or do away with prejudices in order
to be again a leader."
Letters sent him by erring, repentant students
show how tenderly as well as firmly he dealt with
them and prove how fully he was trusted as the
student's friend.
It is also true that the Professors and the Presi- dent were in such harmony of thought in building up the Institution that Dr. Cheney was all the while expressing his life and purpose through their service. Among the people at large, who knew little of the inner life of the school, Presi- dent Cheney stood as the embodiment of Bates College, and it was well that a person of so strong and pleasing a personality should thus represent it during the first forty years of its life.
DIVINITY SCHOOL TEACHERS
Prof. John Fullonton, D.D., was now nearing the close of his most valuable service as Dean of the Divinity School and the Institution honored him by raising a fund to found the Fullonton Professorship. Rev. J. A. Howe, D.D., who had already given to the school some valuable years of service, succeeded Professor Fullonton as
230 LIFE AND WORK OF
Dean ; Professor Thomas H. Rich, the eminent Hebrew scholar, held the position of Professor of Hebrew ; and later in 1894, Professor B. F. Hayes, D.D., gave the whole of his scholarly service to this department.
J. L. H. Cobb Esq., had given to the College a generous sum of money and in recognition of this the theological department was named Cobb Divinity School.
CATHOLICITY AND COSMOPOLITAN CHARACTER OF BATES
During the whole history of the school there have been among the students representatives of different races, including the negro race. Presi- dent Cheney's sympathy for all mankind was shown in his deep gratification at their successes, and their warm appreciation of his kindly interest expressed itself through letters and personal thanks. To illustrate we give extracts from a personal letter received from Professor N. C. Bruce, class of 1893.
Raleigh, N. C, Feb'y. 11, 1898. My Dear President, Dr. Cheney:
Tomorrow is the birthday of our great emancipator and the fact has set me to thinking over others like your honored self, who also suffered and bore insults and shame back in those dark days when it cost so much to speak or sing or pray for the American Slaves. We of this generation, will never know how much you and
OREN B. CHENEY 231
others of your venerable age have done towards opening up the highways along which we now walk so freely. But some of us will dedicate our- selves to truth and the work of helping others as you and other pioneers worked so nobly for me and mine. How often have I remembered with a grateful heart the kind words you have spoken to me and the substantial favor you bestowed in the hour of my sorest need ! God will bless you. Perhaps it is enough to say about myself to tell you that God is using me in ways apparently help- ful, both in class room, in religious work and among the masses. Our oldest boy's name is Bates Shaw Bruce and he is no dull " chap." God bless you forever and forever. Yours most faithfully,
N. C. Bruce.
Although the College had been founded with the purpose of making it a blessing to the Free Baptist denomination and it had continued to be such, Catholicity of spirit had so permeated its life as to make students of all religious beliefs feel unhampered in their convictions and in honest development of thought during their courses of study. Students of several Protestant denomi- nations, Catholics and Hebrews were members of the same class in 1902.
When the Young Men's and the Young Women's Christian Associations began their organized work in Colleges, Bates gave a ready response and branch Associations among the young men and young women have been strong religious factors in College growth.
232 LIFE AND WORK OF
Throughout the history of the College, debat- ing had been made prominent. As early as 1865, Prof. J. Y. Stanton encouraged the students in debating among themselves and his interest and encouragement helped debates to become a dis- tinctive feature of the College.
Among those who received this training during the earlier College years, are men occupying high positions as College Presidents, in the ministry, in the legal profession, and in honorable service to their country. Thus, long before the Inter- collegiate Debates began, Bates College students were having practical training in that line.*
THE STUDENT BODY
The fact that many of the Bates students had been teachers previous to entering upon their College course brought to the student body an especially self-dependent, reliable class of young people.
It will be remembered that in founding the Seminary and afterwards the College, President Cheney had in mind helpfulness to just such young people, such as wanted to help themselves ; and the terms were arranged, so as to give a long vacation, extending from before Thanksgiving until after New Years. This enabled energetic,
*At this date, June, 1907, Bates has had the honorable record of having been victor in fifteen out of the seventeen Intercollegiate Debates in which the College has taken part.
OREN B. CHENEY 233
ambitious students to teach winter schools with so little loss of time from the following term that they could make up their studies and keep on with their classes, at the same time that they were helping solve the financial problem of their edu- cation.
The success of these teachers soon made the College the source to which School Committees turned for supplies not only in Maine but in neighboring states. The experience thus gained and the opportunities offered for high-class work led many students to choose teaching as a pro- fession ; and the fact is accounted for that Bates graduates occupy so many important positions not only in schools in Maine but throughout the country.*
Hazing in its rougher forms had been so firmly and wisely dealt with by the College faculty as to be practically eliminated ; but College sports were encouraged and entered into with such zest that the Bates teams have ever proved worthy com- petitors in games with other Colleges.
*'When the National Educational Association was held in Boston in 1903, Bates College had more graduates among the teachers attending than any other Institution except Harvard.
NEW ENGLAND FREE BAPTIST ASSOCIATION
GENERAL CONFERENCE INCORPORATED
GENERAL CONFERENCE AT HARPER'S FERRY
PRESIDENT CHENEY MODERATOR HIS POLITICAL SAGACITY
XXI
Reference was made in chapter thirteen to the effort to incorporate General Conference in the sessions of 1865 and 1868. At each succeeding session, the measure had been brought up for con- sideration only to be voted down, though by a steadily lessening majority. When it failed to pass in the General Conference of 1880, it seemed to Dr. Cheney that the best good of the denomi- nation, especially in the eastern part, required the organization of a New England Association.
There already existed Central and Western Associations, which were aiming to advance and concentrate denominational interests in their res- pective localities, but the New England churches were without any centralized power.
After some agitation of the matter, Dr. Cheney called a meeting at Ocean Park, Maine, of those interested in the movement and the New England Association of Free Baptist Churches was organ- ized with Dr. Cheney as President. This position he occupied during the life of the body.
Although the charter was not obtained until 1 89 1, annual meetings were held and the Asso- ciation increased in strength and effectiveness and would have proved of much value, had it not been that the incorporation of General Conference in
238 LIFE AND WORK OF
1892 caused all the Associations to transfer to it their divided responsibilities.
GENERAL CONFERENCE INCORPORATED
At the time of the General Conference at Marion, Ohio, in 1886, sympathy with securing a more effective denominational organization had increased to such an extent, that the provisional Conference Board of seven, of which Dr. Cheney had continued Chairman, was instructed to take immediate steps to secure the incorporation of the body. Dr. Cheney proceeded to secure a charter from the Maine Legislature and at the next General Conference at Harper's Ferry, in 1889, it was adopted, subject to the endorsement of the Yearly Meetings.
WOMEN ADMITTED TO GENERAL CONFERENCE
This General Conference was notable for an- other thing. Although, among Free Baptists, women had previously occupied every other posi- tion in the gift of the church, they had never been elected as delegates to General Conference. Such representation had been under discussion in other denominations. So eminent a person, in every way so well qualified, as Frances Willard had been refused a seat to which she had been elected in the highest body of her denomination. All at once the sense of fair play among Free Baptists seemed to awaken, resulting in the sending
OREN B. CHENEY 239
of a number of women as delegates to the General Conference of 1889.
Dr. Cheney was once more elected Moderator. Rev. N. C. Brackett, Ph.D., says of his service:
" Though seventy-three years of age, there was not the slightest sign of failing power, but he showed himself still a master of parlia- mentary law and a model presiding officer."*
His gentlemanly tactfulness was never better shown than in the at-homeness which the women delegates felt, as they received from the presiding officer full recognition, without being given any undue prominence.
Dr. Cheney was elected Chairman of the new Conference Board and at the meeting of the
* Dr. Brackett says further : " A conversation I had with him after the adjournment of the Conference seems to me worth publishing. We were discussing the political situa- tion. Harrison was President, but Congress, in which the Republicans had but a slender majority, had not met. I expressed doubt whether Congress would be able to pass any political measures on account of the filibustering of the powerful minority. Dr. Cheney said : ' I think it will. Tom Reed will probably be speaker of the House. If he is, I believe, from what I know of the man, he will establish new rules for the House. He will count a quorum when a quorum is present whether they vote or not. It is the right thing to do ; the majority should rule and I believe Tom Reed has the courage to do it, though I haven't had one word of conversation with him about it.' It was a new idea to me, but when Congress met, I found that Dr. Cheney was still a prophet of political events.
"There was more truth than compliment in the words of Mr. Blaine when he said : ' If Dr. Cheney was in politics, there is no man in Maine whom I should more fear as a rival for a seat in the United States Senate.' "
240 LIFE AND WORK OF
Board at Ocean Park in 1892, he reported a con- stitution for its government and guidance which was adopted, with modification. He then saw the culmination of a movement which he had been advocating and for which he had been work- ing during nearly a quarter of a century.
This incorporated body gives to Free Baptists an admirable system of church co-operation, bring- ing as it does, all the church benevolences under the direction of General Conference, acting through a Conference Board. As the delegates to General Conference are elected by the churches through the Yearly Meetings, it preserves to the individual members a voice in all denominational transactions.
EX-PRESIDENT CHENEY
IMPORTANT PLANS UNCOMPLETED
HOME COMPANIONSHIP
TESTIMONIAL BANQUET
XXII
It had long been Dr. Cheney's purpose to resign as College President, at the end of forty years of service. As the time approached, there came to him a deep realization of his inability to do for the Institution a tithe of what he saw was needed. But he hoped to accomplish three things : One was to add to the College resources by the endow- ment of the President's chair. This seemed likely to be realized by promised gifts from personal friends and members of the Cheney family.
Another hope was to secure to the College an Observatory on Mt. David, a height near the campus and well adapted for the purpose. He had secured the provisional gift of the site. The promise of the money with which to build seemed so sure that several meetings were held to arrange definite plans.
But the need which then seemed greatest to the President was a Hall for the use of the young women. Bates College had had the remarkable record of having graduated sixty young women, without having had a woman in the Faculty, or a building devoted to their use.
It is a high compliment to those girls that they had maintained such a high grade of character and scholarship without anything being done for their special needs. Perhaps the College may be
244 LIFE AND WORK OF
said to have occupied an attitude toward them something like this :
" When this College was founded, there was no thought of your wanting higher education. We are having all we can do to provide for the general needs, without making especial provision for you. At the same time, there is no reason why you should not have the same advantages as the boys, if you want to take your chances."
But, with increasing numbers of young women applying for admission, the President saw that a woman Dean and a building for their use were becoming a necessity.
Some thousands of dollars were secured towards the former need and something had been pledged for the latter and it was the President's hope to see the building erected before his term expired.
But time waits neither for human needs and hopes nor changing conditions. Owing to unfore- seen circumstances, serious business reverses, and especially to the sudden death of the man who was to give one hundred and fifty thousand dollars towards the endowment of the President's Chair, these movements were delayed, and the year 1894 came while they were still in embryo.
For the man who had lived so intensely, who had seen future possibilities so plainly and who had so seldom been obliged to relinguish a pur- pose without seeing its fulfillment, it was not easy
OREN B. CHENEY 245
to lay down his work with these and other great needs unsupplied, but he was strong in patience and he met the experience bravely. He carried out his purpose of twenty years before, and took for his Baccalaureate text " then the full corn in the ear."
On September 22nd, just forty years from the day when the " vision of duty " came to him in his Augusta home, he yielded to a son of the College, Prof. George C. Chase, the work of con- tinuing what he had begun. Prof. Chase had already carried much of the President's burden in his absence and had had marked success in rais- ing money for the Institution.
The inauguration exercises, when President Cheney laid down the work and President Chase took it up, reminded one of a summer night in the far north when the waning light of one day mingles with the deepening glow of the coming one.
In closing his retiring address, President Cheney
said :
" This is to me such an experience as few can fully understand. My life and my all have been identified with this College. But in the battle of life the time comes to all men to put off the armor. For some years, I have purposed to do so at the end of the forty years' service which closes today. If there remains a longing to bring back my young manhood, I cannot help it. I have walked this hall at midnight and wept when times
246 LIFE AND WORK OF
were dark. On a retired spot in the adjoin- ing grove I have prayed when no earthly help seemed available. There is not a tree or building or spot on this campus but seems a part of myself. Reverently I commit all the precious trusts which I now resign to the care of our Father in heaven, whose love never faileth.
"Sir (addressing Governor Dingley), you have had many honors. I trust you will feel that one more is added in being called upon in behalf of the Trustees of the College to seat Prof. George C. Chase in the chair I now vacate. These keys, the emblem of my authority for so many years, I now surrender to you, for you to place in his hands as the emblem of his authority.
"The new President has my best wishes and prayers. For years he has been in my thought as my successor. I bespeak for him the united support of the trustees, the faculty, the students, the alumni, and all the friends of the Institution. May God bless and pros- per him and the dear College."
Hon. Nelson Dingley, Jr., then arose and re- ceived the keys from Dr. Cheney, whom he addressed in terms of highest appreciation for his long and successful years of toil for the Col- lege, of the noble character of the Institution he had founded, and of the enduring place he holds in the hearts of her sons and daughters. He said :
" Dr. Cheney : In receiving in behalf of the corporation the keys which you have
OREN B. CHENEY 247
surrendered as a token of your retirement from the position of the Presidency of Bates Col- lege, I should do injustice to my own feelings as well as to the feelings of my associates, if I did not express to you not only our regret at the sundering of the ties which have so long united you with this Institution, but also our deep appreciation of the inestimable value of your services to Bates College and the cause of the higher education.
" The forty years during which you have been laboring to promote the interests of this Institution of learning — the first nine during its chrysalis seminary condition, and the last thirty-one in its more mature collegiate state — cover not only the working years of a long and exceptionally busy life, but also the most eventful period in the history of the republic, and mark most wonderful strides in the prog- ress of the higher education in this country.
" It is only a coincidence that this period happens to be the same length of time in which the Israelites were prepared in the wilderness for grand and heroic service under the leadership of the great Hebrew lawgiver and statesman. Yet to my mind God's hand no more surely set apart Moses for leadership in the great work of educating the Israelites up to the standard which he designed for the Hebrew nation, than his hand set apart Oren B. Cheney in 1854 to do a great work for education in that denomination with which he was connected, and in whose life he has borne so distinguished a share.
" This is not the time nor the place to tell from the standpoint of the historian and
248 LIFE AND WORK OF
biographer the story of your great work for the Maine State Seminary and Bates College, Dr. Cheney. Suffice it to say that when this story shall be told as fully as it deserves (for you have only modestly touched its edges), it will present a record of patient toil, un- wearied devotion, persistent endeavor, remark- able utilization of every opportunity, and wonderful success under the most discourag- ing conditions, such as has rarely been recorded even in this land of small beginnings and wonderful growths.
" It is not too much to say that every brick of this building in which we are assembled today, every brick of yonder buildings, was laid with means secured through your efforts. These grounds, selected under' your eye, tell the story of your unwearied labors. With the eye of a faith in the future of this College which saw the bright lining beneath the dark cloud, you have seen the morning light break- ing while others have discerned only dark- ness. We, your associates in the corporation, wish that your years and strength were equal to the work which remains to be done. But, as it is, we have reluctantly accepted your resignation of the office of President of the College, whose duties you have so long and successfully discharged, with the knowledge that in your retirement, in which you will have our best wishes for your continued health and prosperity, you will still have in your heart the welfare of this Institution."
During Congressman Dingley's address to President Chase, he said ;*******■*
OREN B. CHENEY 249
" Who is able to estimate the beneficent influence of the nearly 700 graduates who have gone forth from Bates College alone in the thirty-one years in which President Cheney has been at its head — gone forth as educators either in the school, the pulpit, or the press ; or participants in the activities of our modern life as engineers, electricians, chemists, or business men ; or as leaders in public life ! And, above everything else, all imbued with a Christian idea of life and government.
" Bates College was the first of our higher institutions of learning to open her doors on equal terms to women — a distinction which entitles her to a proud position in the col- leges of our land. Whatever doubt the edu- cational world may have had — as it did have thirty years ago — of the wisdom of this step has been dissipated by this result. Imitating the noble Roman matron, Bates points to the seventy-seven women who have so succesfully pursued the regular curriculum of study, in part under your instruction, Mr. Chase, and made their mark in the world."
HOME COMPANIONSHIP
It was probably well for Dr. Cheney now that he had a companion, to sympathize with and help him. Two years before, on July 5, 1892, he had been united in marriage with Emeline S. (Aid- rich) Burlingame.
For many years their interests had been identi- cal in Christian and reformatory work. Both had
250 LIFE AND WORK OF
lived very strenuous lives in devotion to such work. Both were " weary in the march of life " and the clasping of hands steadied and strength- ened both.
BANQUET AND RECEPTION
Expression was given of the appreciation of what President Cheney had done for the twin cities of Lewiston and Auburn in founding Bates College by a banquet and reception, tendered him by prominent citizens of those cities.
The large banquet hall was filled with represent- ative people. Senator Wm. P. Frye presided. He read letters of regret and appreciation from Congressman Dingley, who was attending the fortieth reunion of his own class at Dartmouth, and from President Hyde, who was detained by the duties of Bowdoin Commencement.
Speaking in his usual felicitous style, Senator Frye then referred beautifully to President Cheney's consecrated life, saying he did not know what the world would have done had it not been for the men and women who have conceived great purposes for humanity and then have given their lives to their execution.
In illustration, he told the touching story of Father Duncan, who was the sage, the prophet and the saviour of a community on one of the Alaskan Islands. He then referred tenderly to Father Damien, the priest who gave his life to
OREN B. CHENEY 251
ameliorate the condition of the Hawaiian lepers, and who died at last, himself a leper, as he knew he must. His example inspired many volunteers to follow him and each gave his life willingly to the cause.
" Our guest tonight was a young man of fine family and good education. He could have made a success in business and become rich, for he had the ability ; he could have obtained political honors, for they were with- in his grasp ; he could have been a social leader, for he had the elements of success in that line, but instead he devoted himself to the interests of his church — one of the small- est of the denominations and which by reason of its radical position in reform movements and its conservative attitude towards edu- cation held a unique position of its own.
" He settled in a small pastorate in Maine, but his talents and peculiar gifts for his work were early recognized and he was called to a church in Maine's capital city. He was soon at home here, loved and respected, doing what he liked best to do, preaching the gospel of love. In this congenial work he might have continued as long as he pleased.
" But with fine foresight he saw the great future need of an institution for higher edu- cation, such as was not then existing among Free Baptists in New England; and our guest of the evening decided to leave his pastorate and the delightful associations that he loved better than anything else in the temporal world, and seek to embody his ideals
252 LIFE AND WORK OF
in an institution of learning which should not only be a greatly needed blessing to Free Baptists, but should invite all youth to its benefits, male and female, black and white.
" He left his parish and to this noble work he has devoted his entire life. He was no bigot, no sectarian, only a lover of man and a believer in education. Thank God, that he has been permitted to live to see such success crown his efforts !
" Our guest brought to this work unusual ability, high ideals, foresight, great perse- verance, shrewdness, patience. He was a handsome man. He is seventy-nine years old and is the best looking man in the room tonight. I'll leave it to Mrs. Cheney if he isn't."
Senator Frye then spoke of President Cheney's success in raising money and very cleverly told a story about introducing him to Senator Leland Stanford ; and how, when invited to Governor Stanford's home in Washington, President Cheney did not beg for money but just made himself agreeable, and how, by his personality he so charmed the Senator and his wife that unsolicited Govenor Stanford gave President Cheney a check for $1,000, saying that he knew that all colleges needed money.
Senator Frye then told how, later, Governor Stanford came to him and said :
" That Dr. Cheney ! He was a most charm- ing man! I have sold a colt for $7,500. I
OREN B. CHENEY 253
want five hundred dollars for pocket money. Give the seven thousand to Dr. Cheney."
The Senator closed this introductory address with an eloquent testimonial to President Cheney's consecrated life and work.
Many other appreciative addresses were made and the whole affair was very successful.
THE SUNSET SLOPE
A SURPRISE PARTY
CALIFORNIA TRIP
AT HOME IN LEWISTON
XXIII
For those who are only interested in the large affairs of life, this story is closed. But for the friends of Dr. Cheney and for all who wish to follow the life-study through the tender incidents associated with old age, there is more to follow.
Several years before this, in a time of great financial stress President Cheney had deeded to the College his house and land.*
This was with a proviso that he have the use of it during his lifetime, but it now seemed best to him and his wife to relinquish its use to the College and they waived their claim to it.
While Dr. Cheney retained his citizenship in Lewiston and seldom lost his vote there, during the next few years, he spent much time at his wife's homestead in Pawtuxet, R. I., in quiet study and home companionship. During this time he took the Chautauqua course of readings and was one of the graduates in the class of 1900.
This life frequently alternated with travel and attendance at large meetings. While at Washing- ton, D. C, in 1895, he heard of the sudden death of Frederick Douglass. He easily obtained tickets for the church and the attendance at the funeral
* Following an eloquent appeal to the Trustees made later by Hon. James G. Blaine, they gave back to the President a house lot from this land.
258 LIFE AND WORK OF
was a never-to-be-forgotten privilege. The elo- quent addresses by President J. E. Rankin, mem- bers of Congress and others, the fine appearance of the representatives of the colored race who packed the church, the sea of dusky faces in street, windows and on house tops — all these spoke elo- quently for the departed and there was no one who rendered a more heartfelt tribute than Dr. Cheney, for he had all his life recognized the truth that God " hath made of one blood all nations of men."
A SURPRISE PARTY
In 1899 on Dr. Cheney's eighty-third birthday, Mrs. Cheney planned for him a surprise party at their Pawtuxet home. Entirely unsuspicious as to what was to happen, he went down to meet the first arrivals in dressing-gown and slippers, say- ing : " It is only some of the boys " — his favorite term for the Bates graduates. When he saw another group coming up the walk, the situation dawned upon him and giving his wife an arch look, he retreated and soon reappeared in his usual careful attire.
About fifty persons were present including most' of the Bates graduates in Rhode Island and other College and family friends. The exercises were very appropriately presided over by Arthur Given, D.D., one of the first Bates graduates.
Because the letters sent for that occasion
OREN B. CHENEY 259
contain the best obtainable estimate of the man whose life-study we are telling, we append full extracts.
The first represents his Alma Mater. After referring appreciatively to one of Dr. Cheney's brothers as his teacher and to another as his intimate personal friend, Rev. W. J. Tucker, D.D., President of Dartmouth College, says :
" I cannot allow such an occasion to pass by without extending to you personally and from the Trustees and graduates of Dart- mouth College, our heartiest greetings. We look with honor and pride upon the work which you have accomplished in behalf of education and religion. Few men among our graduates have laid such wide foundations, or built so securely as yourself. I doubt if you can see your work in the same proportion that those can who have a different per- spective. May I assure you that the College of your early training joins with the College of your later service in most sincere con- gratulations."
The Free Baptist denomination was represented by Rev. G. H. Ball, D.D., who says:
" I am thanking God that you were ever born and have made so much of life. Few men in centuries have done so well. Your courage, tact, persistency and success in planting Bates College are simply sublime. Had you been surrounded by men who saw the need, forecast the benefits and possessed
260 LIFE AND WORK OF
the means and courage to give the effort strong support, you would have deserved great credit, but to have engineered the work and forced success in spite of the very oppo- site of these conditions was more than heroic. * # * Your strong efforts for Storer College still thrill me. The ' railroad to the moon ' has proved a through route to glory to thousands of benighted souls."
President G. C. Chase, LL.D., wrote both as President of Bates College and as an alumnus :
" It hardly seems possible that it has been thirty-nine years since, as a boy of sixteen, I first saw you, then in the prime of manhood, and subsequently recited to you in the Latin reader and grammar. Among all my recol- lections of teachers, none are more pleasant than those of you. I recall the light in your kindly eyes when a correct answer was given to a difficult question. You were an enthu- siastic teacher and much of my subsequent liking for language study was the taste for it that I developed under your instruction.
" I remember too, the kind letter that you wrote to my parents urging that I had given evidence of scholarly ambition and ability. Our College was then unborn unless it were already in your brain, but the Seminary was reaching the culmination of its fame and use- fulness. You had the wisdom and the courage not to be the enemy of the better. You relin- quished a shining success to enter upon a work so laborious, perplexing, and unremit- ting that never for one moment afterwards could you enjoy freedom from care.
OREN B. CHENEY 261
" I have been impressed of late even more than ever before by the dauntless courage that conceived and carried to success an enterprise in which good men, your associates and counsellors, saw only folly, illusion and failure. Our generation will never know how almost alone Dr. Cheney kept on with his great life work, undisturbed by opposition and rebuke. Many generations will have passed away before the vast and far reaching results of that work will be fully appreciated. But all over our land there are even now rising up hundreds and thousands to bless the name and cherish the memory of the founder of Bates College."
Dec. 10, 1899.
The College Faculty were represented by Prof. J. Y. Stanton :
" I learn that it is your eighty-third birth- day. On account of your temperate and wisely regulated life you are so well preserved and look so much as you did when you were a young man that one can scarcely think of old age in connection with you. I know of no man in regard to whom the remark of Cicero can be better applied, ' The weight of a re- spected and honored old age is easily borne.'
" I know of no man that has been more successful and fortunate in life than yourself. You began and have lived to accomplish a noble work which perhaps never would have been undertaken by any other person. You were the founder of an Institution whose benign influence will be almost infinite in
262 LIFE AND WORK OF
extent. This influence will be exerted to your honor as long as time lasts."
Mrs. Kate Prescott Cox, class of '91, represented the alumnae :
" I wish it were possible for all your friends to meet you and take your hand on this occasion. What an assembly there would be ! I am sure no house could hold all who would gladly come. But many of the absent ones will think of you with loving and grate- ful remembrances.
" There are few men who can look back on such a life's work as you have accomplished. You have placed within the reach of a great many young people, both young men and young women, an opportunity of securing a liberal education, which they never could have had but for your efforts and self-sacri- fices.
" This in itself would be enough to call forth our grateful homage today, but when we reflect that it was from your hand that the first woman graduate from a New England College received her diploma, we feel that what you have done for woman's education should receive particular mention.
"As one of the Alumnae of Bates College let me say that we appreciate this honor bestowed upon our Alma Mater by her founder and former president."
The Treasurer of Bates College, Addison Small, sent this greeting :
" I wish I could find words adequate to express my feelings and good wishes for you
OREN B. CHENEY 263
on this occasion. In the first place, I would like, if possible, to give expression to my sincere gratitude for what you have done for me. You founded the Maine State Semi- nary. The establishment of that Institution incited in me a desire to acquire an educa- tion and rendered it possible for me to do so. " You have had many trials during your life and you have borne heavy burdens for others. I gained some knowledge of what these burdens were when, for a few years, we endured together the trials of raising the money for the College and suffered the vexa- tions of the Belcher and Hedge will trials. I experienced just enough of them to realize in some small degree, what you must have borne in the early days of the College."
Maine State Seminary students were rep- resented by Mrs. Addison Small :
" The many expressions of your abiding interest in, and friendship for me and mine, have made your life, my dear friend, mean much to us. I thank you.
" Your larger interest in all mankind — your unselfish efforts to benefit others, the patience and perseverance you have practised through your long life, make me say ' Thou art a King among men.' "
Rev. E. B. Stiles and wife speak for the Foreign Missionaries :
" We wish to express our love for one who has been so intimately related to our lives, as President of our College when we were
264 LIFE AND WORK OF
students, as President of the Foreign Mission- ary Society when we were appointed to India, as a kind friend and sympathetic adviser at all times."
Dr. A. T. Salley, pastor of the Main Street Church, Lewiston, sends this greeting :
" When the educational idea dawned upon my boyish mind, you, Dr. Cheney, were the one man in New England to whom, because of your commanding position in educational circles, my mind turned for advice about a collegiate course. This advice was cheerfully given and most fortunately followed. The result was seven very happy and profitable years in Bates College and Theological School. And this collegiate work has had much to do in determining my life's career and in giving me whatever small measure of success has fallen to my lot.
" During these seven years you were an inspiration to me and your words of advice and encouragement helped urge me on to the consummation of my hopes. For all this I thank you.
" For all you have been in the church of Christ, as an earnest -preacher, pastor and leader during so many years ; for your emi- nent service in the educational world, to which Bates College is a splendid, enduring monument ; and for all the helpful influences which have gone out from your life to bless our world, the Main Street Free Baptist church of Lewiston joins with me in express- ing their profound appreciation."
OREN B. CHENEY 265
The following brief extract from the testimonial from Mrs. M. M. H. Hills embodies the thought in many other letters :
" Words can give you but a very faint idea of the high esteem and veneration your noble life and unselfish labors have begotten in my heart, so I will attempt no such effort. No sincerer friend will greet you today. ' The Lord bless thee and keep thee.' "
Mrs. V. G. Ramsey, a life-long friend, wrote thus, tenderly :
Brother beloved, what honors shall we bring
Before thy feet to lay ? What gifts bestow, what lofty peansing
That's worthy of the day ?
Thy natal day ! — We thank our God who made
This day with blessings rife, And through the fourscore years, in sun and shade,
Has glorified thy life.
We come with reverent love, to offer thee — Not costly gems, nor gold, —
They are too poor — our inmost hearts must be Thine own to have and hold !
We know thy toils and cares — a leader thou On many a hard fought field !
A victor's wreath may justly crown his brow, Who never learned to yield.
A generous friend, a wise and faithful guide
To young, unwary feet ! Thousands today, with grateful joy and pride,
Thy honored name repeat.
And now, when past the noontide toil and heat,
And shadows gather round, The holy hush of twilight is most sweet,
The evening peace profound.
266 LIFE AND WORK OF
And nearer draw the city's shining wall
And crystal gates ajar ; From blissful bowers long silent voices call,
And beckon thee afar.
Tho' bright the immortal shore, yet still we pray
That God will bid thee wait, And, making evening fairer than the day,
Accord thee entrance late.
The pleasant social intercourse about the festive board was a fitting close to a delightful affair which shed its brightness over many wintry days.
CALIFORNIA TRIP
Two years later circumstances favored Dr. Cheney's taking a long desired trip to the Pacific Coast. On the way, a few weeks were spent at Nogales, a border town in Arizona. The party arrived there late Saturday night. Early Sunday morning Dr. Cheney was astir, apparently un- f atigued, and said, " I will go to some little church service today where I shall be unobserved." What was his surprise, on entering a little adobe church, to have the pastor approach him with outstretched hands, saying :
" Isn't this President Cheney ? I am Mr. Reud a Bates man."
This happy experience was one of many that attended the whole trip.
One evening the family amused themselves by making phonographic records. When Dr. Cheney's turn came, he began his with : " A million dollars for Bates College."
OREN B. CHENEY 267
This border mining town of Nogales had great interest for him, in collecting facts at the Custom House, and in going over the Mexican border and observing the old-time customs and dress, made familiar by his childhood pictures. On his eighty-fifth birthday he climbed a nearby moun- tain and standing by a boundary stone obtained an extended view in both countries.
He continued his trip to the coast with high anticipations of obtaining funds for the College. As he crossed the beautiful bay from San Fran- cisco to Oakland, he stood like a victor with form erect and head thrown back, realizing a life-long wish in looking out upon an arm of the Pacific.
The trip had been an ovation. At different points on the way " Bates boys " had met and entertained him and now at Professor Meade's hospitable home, he received calls from teachers, ministers and missionaries who expressed grate- ful appreciation for what Bates had done for them. Beyond his greatest expectation he had found fruitage from his seed sowing.
Possibly the excitement was too much. One morning, the tired body warned him that his service was nearly over. His plans for further travel and raising money were abandoned. As soon as able he returned as far as Phenix, Ari- zona, where he was under the tender care of a Christian physician, who had known of his life and work and who showed the deepest interest
268 LIFE AND WORK OF
in him. While here his faculty for being con- nected with first things had another illustration. He was much excited when informed that the flag which led the troops to victory up San Juan hill in the Spanish-American war was made in the room he was occupying in the Mills House ; and that, in honor of this, President and Mrs. McKin- ley, when on their trip across the country, in pass- ing in a procession through Phenix, rose in their carriage and saluted the house.
AT HOME IN LEWISTON
A few weeks later he was located in Lewiston, where quietly and restfully he spent his remaining months, under the shadow of the College that he loved. As he reviewed his life during these de- clining months he saw so plainly the possibilities and needs for future development of a strong Institution that he often said, " I have laid only a few foundation stones." But his vision was clear as to these needs. At the last Commencement which he attended, in 1903, his brother, Hon. E. H. Cheney well said in a post-prandial address : " There will never be a building or department added to Bates College that this man has not had a vision of."
Resting one day on the Chapel steps he pointed out to one of the Professors, different locations where building after building ought to be located.
His consciousness of his own limitations was
OREN B. CHENEY 269
revealed in many ways during these months. As one illustration : He had always regretted that he was not a more magnetic public speaker and it throws a side-light on his character that he seemed to derive solid satisfaction from his wife's efforts in that line, appearing to feel that she was in a measure supplying a lack in himself. When Mrs. Cheney returned from any public service, with almost childlike eagerness and beaming face, he asked to hear all about it, what had been said, the impression it made and what had been said about it, and would often clap his hands with pleasure.
Foibles ? Yes, he had them for he was human. His friends knew and condoned them. But con- sidering that, during twelve years of closest rela- tions, the writer never once heard him refer to a fault in any member of his family, brothers, sisters, children or grandchildren, and seldom in anyone, we accord him the same gracious silence.
REFLECTED SUNSHINE
BATES ROUND TABLE CELEBRATES
DR. CHENEY'S EIGHTY-SEVENTH
BIRTHDAY
AT REST
XXIV
During his many years of travel, President Cheney had been a guest in a great many homes. During the last months, when the stress of life was over, he loved to refer to the friendships thus formed and the kindness shown, and often re- peated stories with which he had been wont to brighten the homes entertaining him.
If an accident happened in the home and there was danger that some one would be reproved, he would divert attention by asking, " Did you ever hear about the man who started to go for water to a spring in the cellar ? Well, he stumbled and fell down the stairs. His wife rushed to the door and asked eagerly, ' John ! John ! did you break the pitcher?' 'No, but I will,' John answered, dashing it against the stone wall." When the story was ended the recent mishap was forgotten.
Or, if he heard anyone lamenting about some- thing forgotten or neglected he would remind him of the woman, whose first exclamation after break- ing her leg was, " Oh, what a massy it is that I made soap yesterday !"
Reclining on his couch, in a sunny bay window, through papers, magazines and books he kept in close touch with the life of the world.
Prof. Bachelder, of Hillsdale College, once said:
274 LIFE AND WORK OF
" President Cheney is one of the most discriminat- ing newspaper readers that I ever knew. His knowledge of conditions throughout the world is broad and accurate."
During the long winter evenings, sitting by the cheerful blaze and genial warmth of a wood fire, he related to his wife many incidents, which to- gether they embodied in a series of Reminiscences which were published in The Morning Star and many of which appear in this volume.
Dr. Cheney's eighty-sixth birthday was pleas- antly remembered by a reception arranged by his daughters, Mrs. C. H. Swan and Mrs. J. F. Boothby, and held at the pleasant home of the latter. Many friends from the twin cities called with congratulations.
During the summer of 1903, the last of the many he so pleasantly spent at Ocean Park, Dr. Cheney attended his last Sabbath service in the Temple, where he listened to Rev. Anna Howard Shaw. This was significant in view of what he himself had done for the advancement of women and it was notable that her text was : " He was not disobedient to the heavenly vision." His beaming face as he listened to the eloquent ser- mon was an interesting study.
CLOSING HOURS
On his eighty-seventh birthday, the Bates Round Table met at his home. Though it was
OREN B. CHENEY 27 '5
in December, College and other friends sent a profusion of beautiful flowers. As a surprise to him, the literary exercises consisted of an appreci- ative and kindly review of his life-work, by his associates in the College Faculty. Half reclining on his couch, he watched the speakers with a wondering, almost timid expression. The delight- ful evening closed with an impromptu gathering about his couch of Maine State Seminary students, who sang some of the old hymns of pleasant memory. The next morning, Dr. Cheney said to his wife, " I did not deserve all those things they said about me."
"Isn't it pleasant that they think you do ?" was her reply, which called out a hearty laugh.
Two days later, the earthly tenement began to loosen its hold and a few days after, the spirit was free. Times of consciousness showed a continued lively interest in friends, in Christian work and in national life. " What shall we do without Burk- holder ? " * was eagerly asked of a minister who spent a few moments by his bedside.
He had been deeply interested in the Cuban Reciprocity Treaty, then before Congress. Find- ing that it had passed the Senate by an aye-and- nay vote, his wife informed him of the fact. " Will you read the result as they voted ? " he
* News had come the day previous of the death, in India, of Rev. T. W. Burkholder, a successful Free Baptist Missionary.
276 LIFE AND WORK OF
asked. As the names were announced one after another, he stated accurately the political party to which each belonged.
When the cloud had apparently settled finally over his consciousness and members of the family were resting, they were hastily called to his bed- side, by hearing him exclaim, " What is that ? " " Only a little brandy and water," replied the nurse. " I will not take it," he said with startling intensity. He did not. It almost seemed as if he came back from the other world to give a final protest against that which all his life he had opposed as a beverage and had never tasted.
An hour later an ineffable smile, then rest eternal! The simple funeral service was the tribute of friends and associates in College and church. The beautiful floral offerings were ar- ranged by the loving hands of former students, and the most touching tribute of all was a beauti- ful piece, sent by a colored woman, formerly employed in his home. When remonstrated with for wishing to pay so large a sum of money for the offering, she said earnestly:
"I want to. He did so much for my race."
In a beautiful cemetery, overlooking the broad Androscoggin, the form rests ; but O. B. Cheney lives in hundreds of useful lives, in well-organized Christian work and in the nation to which he ever tried to be a blessing.
Each summer, at Ocean Park, a benign face
OREN B. CHENEY 277
looks over the audiences gathered in the Temple ; at Storer College, the same kindly face greets the freedmen students gathering there from year to year — these pictures being gifts expressing the love of daughters. In the beautiful new Coram Library building at Bates, there hangs a large portrait of the revered first President, placed there by the alumni ; and all these seem to say to the beholders : " Influence is immortal. Live not alone for the good, but for the best, even though you stand alone."
After-word
The life-story presented in this book has been mainly from the view-point of the author. It is now proposed to add estimates of work and character, gleaned from many sources and written from the individual points of view occupied by the writers.
There will necessarily be some repetition of facts and opinions already given, and estimates will be made differing but little from each other, but varying in expression according to the in- dividuality of the person giving them.
A large volume might be filled with such testi- monials, but these will suffice.
E. B. C.
From an address given by Prof. A. W. Anthony, D.D., at the Bates Round Table, held at Dr. Cheney's home on the evening of his eighty- seventh birthday :
" To be the file-leader in the march is not always more honorable than to follow steadily and firmly in the line, although the first man not unusually receives the greater attention and commendation. In initiating enterprises, however, there is a certain excellence in vision and in courage, which the follower, be he ever so sagacious and efficient as a fol- lower, does not ordinarily possess. ' First things,' also, have a certain isolation from environment, at least on one side, and are
282 LIFE AND WORK OF
consequently thrown into a greater promi- nence. About them is a charm, if not a halo, which the many in succession do not share. To have had a hand in initiating many enter- prises, even if not a formative influence in every case, gives a distinction to a man.
" It has been the fortune of the man whose birthday we celebrate tonight to initiate an unusual number of movements, some of a for- tuitous character, others indicative of his own foresight, energy and determination.
" If the list of ' first things,' with which O. B. Cheney was connected, was expanded into a full account of the collateral and associated ideas, a considerable history would be written of many important events and movements in the Free Baptist denomination, in the life and enterprise of New England, in the development of educational and ecclesias- tical institutions, and in the larger undertak- ings which reach far and wide in many parts of the world for the uplift and blessing of humanity.
" In 1824, when a mere lad, Oren B. Cheney attended the first Sunday School held in the northern part of New Hampshire. When still a boy, he laid sheet by sheet the pulp from which the paper was made on which the first issue of 7he Morning Star, the denomi- national organ of the Free Baptists, begun in 1826, was printed. This was the paper on which he afterward did no little editorial work.
" The first school founded and maintained by Free Baptists had Oren B. Cheney enrolled upon the opening day as a pupil. This was
OREN B. CHENEY 283
at Parsonsfield, Maine, where subsequently that same pupil became principal of the seminary.
" While at Parsonsfield as a student, he, with others, organized a temperance society, which is believed to be the first school society in the world, the pledge of which prohibited fermented, as well as distilled, liquors.
" Mr. Cheney was present at the organiza- tion of the Free Baptist Foreign Missionary Society ; he was a member of the convention which organized the Free Baptist Education Society; he helped organize the Free Soil Party ; he founded Lebanon Academy ; he voted for the first prohibitory law as intro- duced in the Maine Legislature by Neal Dow ; he founded the Maine State Seminary, which afterwards became Bates College, and in inaugurating and caring for this chief institution of his solicitude, he also inci- dentally, had a formative hand in founding Maine Central Institute at Pittsfield, Maine, and Storer College at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. He gave the first diploma that was ever received by a woman graduate from a New England College.
" In Maine he helped consolidate the three Yearly Meetings of Free Baptists into the one strong Maine Free Baptist Association, which is now so effective in the state ; he also aided in the founding and developing of Ocean Park Association and Assembly, and was the first president of the Ocean Park Association, the organization which maintains in the town of Old Orchard a summer settlement, with lect- ures, conventions and classes of a Chautauqua
284 LIFE AND WORK OF
character. In the denomination at large he, with Rev. G. H. Ball, D.D., of New York, initiated the plans which finally resulted in the formation of a legally incorporated General Conference of Free Baptists, into which as a central body have been merged the functions of the Free Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, the Free Baptist Home Mission Society, the Free Baptist Education Society, the Free Baptist Sunday School Union and the Free Baptist Temperance Society. Through his instrumentality women were admitted to membership on the Foreign Mission Board and later as delegates to the General Conference of Free Baptists. He led his brethren in championing this cause. " In his later years it has seemed to be almost a genius with Dr. Cheney, in a quiet, unobtrusive way, to adjust, simplify and solidify organization. His foresight and vision, his shrewd common sense and practi- cal wisdom, his devotion of time and effort have been wrought into many permanent forms which his followers will continue to employ, even when the file-leader is out of sight."
From an article in The Morning Star of No- vember i, 1894, referring to Dr. Cheney's resig- nation as President of Bates College, signed " Pilgrim : "
" In the excellent address of President Cheney, at the inauguration of the new President of Bates College, occur these words,
OREN B. CHENEY 285
' If there is a longing to bring back my young manhood, I cannot help it.'
" Probably there are very few who, were the choice theirs, would desire to live their lives a second time, for every life, however happy and prosperous, has many sad experi- ences that no one would wish repeated. But at this time, when the very pulse of this old world beats responsively to the march of progress, when even earth and sky are expos- ing their long buried treasures, and new truths are constantly developing, one can hardly fail to desire that the wheel of time might be turned backward, that in the strength and freshness of youth he might enter the arena and participate once more in its stirring scenes.
" It were strange indeed, if in a life devoted for forty long years to one object, as has been that of the subject of this sketch — an object, moreover, in the accomplishment of which he has been so eminently successful — as he steps aside to yield to another the charge so dear to his heart, there should be no regrets for the vanished years, no longing for the vigor and strength of young manhood.
" No one not cognizant of the struggles incident to the founding of Maine State Seminary, and particularly of the discourage- ment and trials consequent on the proposi- tion to change the seminary to a college, can appreciate the quiet persistency (a persist- ency characteristic of some of the world's noblest heroes) of the man, who standing almost alone, amid opposition on every side, never faltered in his purpose. Loving the
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denomination of his choice with a love of which, it is feared, most of us know little, and firmly believing a Free Baptist college a vital necessity to the highest welfare of that de- nomination, he stood firm as a rock, though friends, loved and honored, saw only disaster and disappointment in his plans. Had he been one whit less persistent Bates College had had no existence. When one thinks of the seven hundred young men and women who have left its halls, many of them inspired with a noble ambition to make of life a suc- cess in the highest and best sense, he can realize something of the calamity it would have been had a weaker man been at the helm, who had yielded his judgment to that of his colleagues.
" From its commencement Bates College, notwithstanding its poverty, has been won- derfully successful. Doubtless this is in part owing to the noble band of instructors who from the first have blessed the institution ; but far more to the fertile brain of him who constantly, through anxious days and often sleepless nights, was devising plans for its advancement.
" A noble life work indeed has been that of the founder of Bates College. The beautiful and touching tribute paid to the retiring President by Congressman Dingley (a man of whom every dweller of the Pine Tree State may be justly proud) is as truthful as it is beautiful. Long may his words be remem- bered., Only the arithmetic of heaven can compute the value of a life which has set in motion a train of beneficent influences so
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far-reaching in their results that eternity alone can measure their importance.
" And now, as our beloved president waits by the ' ingleside ' for the summons to other duties and responsibilities, we know it will be no idle waiting. Such as he never doff their armor till the mortal is changed to immortality. Bates College is still his, the child of his heart, around which every fiber of his being twines. Whatever he can do to advance its interests will be gladly, cheer- fully done.
" And as the years go on, and the picture so beautifully painted by Bates's new Presi- dent becomes a reality (as it surely will), looking down from the battlements of heaven at the monument fashioned by his own hands, and beholding it ever increasing in beautiful proportions as tier after tier of polished stones is added, the words that so often fell from the lips of its sainted founder on his earthly journey, as some bright oasis greeted his weary sight, will rise in sweeter, loftier measures, till heaven's arches shall ring with the glad acclaim :
" Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise him, all creatures here below ; Praise him above, ye heavenly host, Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."
As one of a series of articles published in The Morning Star on Free Baptist Pioneers in the issue of July 14, 1898, Rev. Thomas H. Stacy, D.D., devotes the fourteenth to O. B. Cheney. After reviewing the facts of his life, he says :
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"The spirit which made him a pioneer among our people in getting an education for himself made him a pioneer in securing the opportunities for an education for others. It meant faith in the night, patience under criticism, persistency when hope had fled, and all the energies of his remaining public life, but to this he was consecrated ; and inspired by a consciousness of duty he went cheerfully to his task. **********
" Dr. Cheney remained at the head of the institution until he resigned on the twenty- second day of September, 1894 — just forty years work to a day. From its beginning it has. gone steadily forward, increasing in at- tendance and facilities, gaining favor with the public and making its impress upon the world, until it stands among the first colleges of the state. To bring such an institution into existence, to shape a policy for it that would overcome prejudice, disarm criticism, and make for it lasting friends, a policy broad enough to be unsectarian, deep enough to meet the approval of the staunchest Free Baptist, to make it the first college in New England to open its doors to men and women on equal terms, to carry it through dis- couraging years, to rally friends again and again to rescue it from apparently hopeless defeat — all this has required the qualities of a Moses and an Elijah, qualities that Dr. Cheney had, and which he so used for an institution that when he delivered the keys to his successor he said, ' There is not a tree or building or spot on the campus but seems a part of myself.'
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" Although so much of Dr. Cheney's own life has been devoted to the interests of the college, he has found opportunity and love for other service to his denomination and the world. Fifteen times he has been a delegate to our General Conference, fourteen in suc- cession, and over three of the sessions he has presided. He has been our representative to the General Baptists of England, and to other religious bodies in this country and the Provinces. He has been recording secretary of the Foreign and Home Mission societies, president of the Education and Anti-slavery societies, and was president of the Foreign Mission Society from 1886 to the time that its work was turned over to the Conference Board. For many years he was one of the assistant editors of The Morning Star when Wm. Burr was editor. It was through his influence that John Storer was led to give $10,000 for the founding of Storer College. While at West Lebanon he represented the Whigs and Free Soilers in the Legislature of 185 1-2, and voted for the original Maine temperance law.
* * * *****
" What has been the secret of Dr. Cheney's success ? If it would not appear presumptu- ous for me to express an opinion, I should say that this success has been largely due, first, to early Christian training ; second, to an early experience in personal relations with God ; and, third, to a willingness to be led. Observation and experience show that the best teachers are those willing to be taught, and the best leaders are those willing to be
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led. Growing out of these three fundamental conditions we find fidelity to conviction, manifest not only in connection with the great work of establishing the college, but in relation to temperance, the anti-slavery move- ment, and other reforms of the past fifty years. We also find among the leading characteristics of the man, industry first, last, ' and always prominent. And then we see gentleness and determination hand in hand, rather a rare combination, but, when well constituted, a most efficient one. It is worthy of note that Dr. Cheney's most aggressive work has not been accomplished through con- tention, forensic debate, or artifice, but through frank and reasonable persistency. It shows how right endeavor for what is right must eventually succeed. It always appeared to us that he made a study of men, and that he knew how to make good use of what he learned. Reliance upon God was marked in every new departure and every trying event. " It is a matter of just pride when one has passed through an eventful public life with no stain upon the character, no mark of dis- honesty, no act unworthy a Christian. This is true in his case, and the other fact also that he has accomplished much that will benefit the whole world.
The following extracts are taken from an article written by N. C. Brackett, Ph.D., a short time before Dr. Cheney's death and later published in The Lewiston Sun :
" Some men accomplish their purpose ap- parently by force. Other men make way by
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their imperious will power. Dr. Cheney drew men to him and to his cause by love.
"When Wm. Toothaker of Phillips was counting out his rive thousand dollars, he said, ' Bro. Cheney, I have three reasons for giving you this money. I think it will please you, please the brethren and please the Lord.'
" Dr. Cheney was necessarily in some hard fights, but he was not a fighter. He had neither time, strength nor inclination to fight those who opposed his plans. He simply pressed on with his work. He won his victories with tears rather than blows. To abusive letters and criticism, he seldom made any reply.
"There were strong and good men in the denomination in New England who did not see the wisdom of his course in making a college of Maine State Seminary. Probably they were more numerous than those who opposed his course at the beginning, but gradually by his persistence and the logic of events, they were won over to consent if not to active co-operation. One of the secrets of Dr. Cheney's success was his ability to sink himself in his cause. He was never self- assertive, never seemed to be pushing a theory or a plan because it was his. Few men could so forget themselves in a cause as Dr. Cheney.
"Though a man of strong political convic- tions he never aspired to figure in politics, but his native foresight and clearness of convic- tion made him a power in the politics of both State and Nation. More than one position was secured under the State and National
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Government by Dr. Cheney, while the world, and possibly the recipient, credited it mainly to other influences.
" Nature gave Dr. Cheney a pleasant voice, . gentle manners, a comely form as well as a clear intellect. He gave to the church of his choice, and to the cause he espoused a sin- gleness of purpose and such rare consecra- tion as few, very few, have power to give. That Dr. Cheney was the founder of Bates College goes without saying. But few insti- tutions are so fully the work of one heart and brain as Bates College.
" For almost forty years from the time of his inception of the scheme to found a semi- nary to the date of his resignation, more than a generation from the small beginning, he had planned and worked and prayed for the Institution.
" When he left the chair that he had filled so long and honorably, he had the satisfac- tion of seeing it filled by one of his own graduates, and the man of his choice, while the able Faculty had been selected in the same way. The wisdom of his selections is proved by the high position Bates College occupies today.
" Personally, I never met Dr. Cheney till a few months before the opening of Maine State Seminary, though I had for years been familiar with his name and had read with deep interest the articles in The Morning Star signed O. B. C. Since that time I have met him many times from 1857 to 1880 not only as a student at the Seminary, but at our annual and triennial gatherings of different
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organizations. I have seen him in hard places, when he was being opposed and criticised ; sometimes seen him the victim of cruel blows by men who could not understand his motives or did not approve his methods, but never once in these years have I seen him strike back.
"Though Dr. Cheney holds a very high place in the esteem of his church, and of the people of Maine generally, I do not think the greatness of his services to the church and the State are yet appreciated.
" Jacob Riis characterizes President Roose- velt as 'The man who does things.' The same may with special force be said of Dr. Cheney."
Until the last few years of his life Dr. Cheney was called upon to preach many occasional ser- mons, as for instance, that at the Semi-Centennial of the Free Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, and it seems fitting that an extract be given from at least one of them.
Because of its bearing on present day problems, we make selections from a sermon delivered at a Convention, held in Lawrence, Mass., May 2, 1877 ; this with the double purpose of showing President Cheney's spirit and style and of noting his opinions from the view-point of thirty years ago:
" The committee authorized to call this convention, in inviting me to read a twenty minutes paper has assigned me as a subject, ' Denominational Adhesiveness.''
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" ' I dwell among mine own people,' said the woman of Shunem to the prophet of the Lord, when he suggested to her the idea of leaving her own people for a home with another people.
" ' But can I do nothing for you,' I seem to hear him say, ' in return for your kindness to me ? Wouldest thou not be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host ? '
" ' No, I thank you, sir,' I seem to hear her say in reply. ' I am satisfied with my station in life. There may or there may not be honor in it. Suffice it to say that I am simply in the place which God in his providence has assigned me, and I am content to remain in it. Certainly, I am happy where I am — I find work enough to do, and my happiness consists in being at work. I hope I am of some consequence with my own people. I am not certain I should be of any with another people. I trust I am dear to my people, but one thing I know, my people are dear to me.
" ' You are a prophet of the Lord, sir, and you doubtless mean well in the suggestion you make, but great men do not always advise others the most wisely ; so please go your way and continue to perform the work to which your Divine Master has called you, and leave me to worship the same God you worship and perform services for Him where I am. I ask no more. You are welcome to all my kindnesses.'
" This woman is called a ' great ' woman in the Bible, and she is a great woman on the page of history, for what is greatness
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but to be decided in the hour when decision is called for, because some principle or pre- cious interest is at stake.
" I have dwelt among the people repre- sented by this convention for more than forty-two years, that is, I have been a mem- ber of one of their churches for that length of time. I have really dwelt among them from a child. I was born among them and though they are not a perfect people, being like all other Christian people in this respect, yet knowing that they have made great prog- ress in Christian work, and believing that they are on the road to still greater progress, I am content to remain among them ; to re- main to share their joys if they have them, or if they have trials and burdens to bear, to share the trials and help bear the burdens, and a few of my reasons follow :
" i. We are a people respectable in num- bers. It is true we are a small people when compared with some denominations, and yet we are a large people when compared with others.
" In round numbers we have 1400 churches, 1400 ministers, and 75,000 church members. Our membership in Maine is 15,000, and I understand that the Maine Young Men's Christian Association has estimated our con- gregations in Maine at 50,000 persons. On this estimate our entire congregations would number 250,000. Now, I think it is safe to say there are as many more, that if reached at all by religious influences, must be reached by our people — I mean this — that if they are to hear the gospel preached at all, they must
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hear it from the lips of our ministers ; if their children are to attend any Sunday schools, they must attend those under our supervision. In other words there are one-half million of people, or one-eightieth of the whole popu- lation of the country, that are religiously under our special influence, and for whose moral training, we as a denomination are re- sponsible, and this, to say nothing of the millions in heathendom. I care not, then, whether we are called or whether we call our- selves, small or great, certain it is, we have upon us great responsibilities — solemn too they are — and so great and so solemn that we must not allow ourselves to trifle with them.
" But granting that we call ourselves small, it does not follow that we ought not to exist as a distinct people ; that in God's great plan of saving men there is no more need of us, we have no mission to fulfill, no special work to perform. Why did not God select one of the larger denominations to lead the way in the earlier days of Anti-slavery reform ? Why was it that there was but one little Star to shine in the black heavens of those days ? I do not known unless it be that it is not by might or by power but by the spirit of the Lord.
" The civil policv under which we live is presented as a model government for the world ; and yet it recognizes small states as well as large ones ; Delaware, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, as well as Ohio, Penn- sylvania and New York ; and it is known that the government never could have been organized without this recognition.
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" One thing I will say in this connection as a crumb of comfort to the Delawarean, or the Rhode Islander, or the man of the Granite State, that while the man of Ohio, or Penn- sylvania or New York dwells amidst more acres, more numbers, and more wealth, yet he it is, the man of the small state, that is of the more consequence in the body politic — that has the greater political influence ; his vote actually counts more.
" 2. We have great interests on our hands to be cared for, and it is my duty to help care for them. We have academies, semi- naries, colleges and theological schools that the simple moral wants of society, throwing our existence as a separate religious people entirely out of the question, demand should not only be kept alive, but should be brought quickly into a more vigorous life, and yet so far as we can see, and others can see for us, will surely cease to live if we take our hands from under them. Therefore, every minister who leaves us gives a blow to our institution at Harper's Ferry, and to our educational work in this country and in India. He may say he does not mean to do this thing, but he does it notwithstanding.
" God compels no man to vow unto him, but when he has vowed, he will hold him to pay that which he has vowed.
"3. There are new fields to be cultivated and it is my duty to help cultivate them. Our first duty, as it seems to me, is to put all our existing interests that are worthy to live into a good and healthy condition. This being done, we shall have just the preparation
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we need to enter upon the work of lengthen- ing our cords and bringing new lands within our enclosures to be cultivated.
" 4. We have a special work on our hands, the consummation of the union of all liberal Baptists. We are committed to an effort in this direction by the action of our General Conference, held in Strafford, Vt., in 1833 — 44 years ago — and by the action of several Conferences held since that time. The union of The Morning Star and the Baptist Union commits us anew to such an effort. We are the larger liberal Baptist body, and therefore it is proper and to be expected that we take the initiative in bringing about a union which I think all parties interested, acknowledge should be effected. The general interests of religion require that this union should be consummated, and this within a reasonable length of time.
"The statistics of the Liberal Baptists in the United States and British Provinces outside our own body, I have not at hand, but the num- ber consists of many thousands. Then there are 25,000 in England. Now, has not the time fully come for a practical union of all Liberal Baptists ? Should they not go so far as to meet in convention once in five years, or what might be better, in an Association regu- larly organized ? Should not their statistics be annually published in one book ? Our Register is good, but I desire to see some- thing better, something more comprehensive, something that shall do justice to the princi- ples and work which we represent. Had I not been called so suddenly away from
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Europe, it was my purpose to consult with some of our brethren in England on this sub- ject.
" 5. The members of our denomination should remain together and I should remain with them, because that which many desire, our union with the larger Baptist body, will the sooner be effected.
"It will be 100 years on the 30th of June, 1880, since our first church was organized. It was at New Durham, N. H., and the church organized there, and then was simply a Bap- tist church, and Rev. Benjamin Randall, who organized it, was simply a Baptist minister, but Benjamin Randall believed in a general atonement. He was an Arminian, not a Calvinist, and the origin of our denomination lies in the fact that ' he did not preach the doctrine of election as Calvin held it.'
" We are to bear in mind that Randall did. not intend to found a new denomination any more than our republican fathers intended to establish a government independent of Great Britain. Our fathers were led in a way they knew not. So was Randall. The course he took in putting himself at the head of another Christian people was not one of choice. It was his only course and he must be justified today upon the page of history.
" Randall desired simply to be let alone, and allowed to preach the gospel as he be- lieved it, and because this was not conceded him, we are here today in this Convention as a separate people.
" But shall we always remain a separate people? I think not. Shall we ever be
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reunited with the larger Baptist body ? I think we shall be. Is it desirable we should be ? I think so, provided a union could be brought about honorable to both parties. A union certainly would prove an immense saving of men and money, and cause many a village and neighborhood in our country, now a spiritually barren land, to ' bud and blossom as the rose.'
" We all admit that a separation for such a cause could not be now effected. If this case were to be tried again — and this in our day — there would be a different verdict. In other words, there would be no denomination like ours founded on the question, raised in the days of Randall, for, whatever be the creeds of Baptist churches or the doctrines taught in Baptist Theological Schools, Bap- tist ministers, so far as I know, are allowed to preach the atonement as they believe it — what Randall was not allowed to do — and in preaching it, they preach it as fully and as freely as Randall. ' And the spirit and the bride say, come. And let him that heareth say, come. And let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'
" What follows then from what I have said under this head. It is this : We are not re- sponsible for being a separate people, and there- fore all we have to do is to work on as we are — together always — until those who are re- sponsible, our brethren of the larger Baptist body, shall take the initiative for a union.
" Keeping together, then, and building our- selves as a people, we shall be a stronger
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force to help bring about a union of all Bap- tists, and the stronger we are, so much more respect we shall receive; so much more influence we shall have and the sooner that which many of our own number and many in the larger Baptist body desire — namely, the union of all Baptists— will be consummated.
" Of course I am understood in what I say. I do not mean that a man is bound in chains to a religious denomination, for, if there be in his mind an honest change of views, then it is not only his right, but his duty to leave that denomination, and he is to be respected for leaving ; and there is a reason why, other things being equal, a man may leave a larger denomination for a smaller, both being in a good healthy state and with good prospects of a permanent existence, and the reason is, he may be needed more among the smaller people ; but to speak frankly, I have not a very great respect for a man who leaves a denomination only to go from a smaller to a larger body, or to get a larger salary, or to get rid of burdens or trials, or because he is not noticed enough, or cannot have his own way. How can I respect him when he is not re- spected by the people he leaves, nor by people to whom he goes. The truth is, denomina- tions do not make men. Men are, under God, what they make themselves, only let them be humble enough to walk in the path that Providence marks out for them, then they will be contented, happy, useful, successful, the world made better, and new glory will be added to the name of Christ.
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" I say, then, repeating in substance what I have already said, that we are not at liberty to forget our solemn covenant obligations, betray the confidence we have reposed in each other, run away from the folds of which the Great Shepherd has put us in charge and leave the wolves to break in and devour the sheep. This would be unmanly, cowardly, absolutely wicked, but we should go right on with our work, bringing more and more souls into the kingdom of Christ, and giving more and more glory to Christ ; for this is all we are aiming after. This is the sum of the whole matter. We should go on just as if we were to be a distinct people as long as the world stands, and not trouble ourselves unnec- essarily about a union with the larger body. The union will come in God's own good time. I do not expect to live to see it. When the influences now working for its coming are ripe, then it will come and no man or num- ber of men can hinder it, and then our Gen- eral Conference, to whom this whole question belongs, so far as we are concerned, will be prepared and disposed to act wisely.
"I surely should hope the Conference would say : ' Yes, we will return, we will come in on terms that shall seem fair and honorable to all fair and honorable men. ##•.#■#■#■#'*#
And so the whole lump being leavened, in the good time coming, we all, as Baptists, would have one Table, as well as one Lord, 07ie Faith and one Baptism."
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In announcing Dr. Cheney's death, the Lewis- ton Evening Journal of Dec. 22, 1903, says:
" The news of Dr. Cheney's death comes as a severe shock to all his friends and asso- ciates. He was known to be showing many signs of his advancing age, almost 90 years, but he was still able to be out and about the town until so recently that his end was not foreseen. It is difficult to over-estimate or overstate what Dr. Cheney has been to Bates College and to Lewiston. He was a founder in instinct and in impulse.
" His idea was pioneering, to blaze away into new paths. He did all of this and more as a founder and a leader of educational life in this part of the country. Bates College will pay him reverence and Lewiston and Auburn will not forget what is due this remarkable man."
The issue of Dec. 23d, has the following memorial editorial :
" No man, whose death has occurred in Maine in many a day, should leave behind him memorial more secure and lasting than Dr. Oren Burbank Cheney, whose death occurred in Lewiston on Dec. 2 2d, at the age of 87 years.
" Dr. Cheney was one of the rare and un- usual composite types of founder, developer, executive. He not only devised and divined but he executed. He not only laid out but he stood by ; never conceding to disaster any
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foothold in any institution in whose welfare he was interested. The life of such a man should not close without due appreciation. It should certainly not pass into forgetfulness. Bates College and Lewiston will be recreant of duty if in some enduring form there be not some monument to the memory of this remark- able man, who, in the beginnings, saw the end and who long ago, with faith renewed daily in his own indomitable heart, took up the burdens uncomplainingly for the cause of education, humanity and justice.
" Dr. Cheney was not what the world called a brilliant man. By that we mean that he was not a magnetic public speaker, or a dis- tinguished scholar, or an author. He might have been either of the latter, had he found the time for the scholar's study that he de- voted to the executive business of his life- work, but, early in life, he became a disciple of doing things. Born of a family distin- guished for business or diplomatic life, his bent was towards the constructive side of educational work, towards the founding of schools, the management of their widening influences, the shaping of their policy, and the extension of their influences. A teacher of remarkable ability, said to have been a moral influence in every school over which he ever presided, his restless soul was continually asking for enlarged opportunities for the youth of the land and begging of itself the question of its own duty. It is thus that we see that Dr. Cheney became a pioneer. Andrew Carnegie says ' Pioneering does not pay,' but President Cheney's pioneering was
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of a different sort. He found the New Eng- land country life, especially in Maine, a-hun- gering and athirst for education. He saw boys, who like himself, walked fifty miles anon over the hills to the little barren acad- emy struggling for existence amid the snows of a bleak Maine country side.
" A teacher become preacher, a principal become proselytizer, a man of affairs feeling the blood of a line of business ancestry stir- ring within him, Dr. Cheney could not endure these conditions. Many times he has said to the writer : ' I simply could not see these ambitious boys and girls ask for instruction and not receive it.' He planned and he founded. He was in at the beginnings, and thus all over Maine the influence of this man whose death closed his earthly career on Tuesday, has beneficently extended, as a spur to educational and moral reforms. A list of schools that Dr. Cheney either founded by personal effort or assisted to found conjointly with others, is significant of his activity and his faith. Parsonsfield Seminary, Lebanon Academy, Maine State Seminary, Maine Cen- tral Institute, Storer College at Harper's Ferry, Bates College, Cobb Divinity School — all of these owe to Dr. Cheney a personal debt of gratitude if not their very existence, and in all of them was he personally interested as either founder or friend in the very hours of their conception.
" For such a life as this, there need be no apologies. The man who foresees, upbuilds, dominates in this wise is a man beyond com- mon measure. His ideals must essentially
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be lofty, his aspirations true, his head sound, his judgment level, his faith serene, his heart pure, his zeal unbounded. He must work — oh, how he must work. With what self-sacri- fices must he endow his household and with what martyrdom must he hide his personal need or desire. All this has come to Presi- dent Cheney. All this, Bates College knows. No alumnus, no professor, no friend, has seen the feeble figure of the white-haired first President pass or repass the familiar places but has seemed to feel that he was carrying bravely into the closing days the lightened memories of those days of stress and toil, those days of doubt, almost of despair.
" In moral reform, Dr. Cheney was also a pioneer. He was an original abolitionist when an original abolitionist meant some- thing. He was an original prohibitionist. He gave the first diploma ever given to a woman graduate from a New England Co- educational College. He opened the doors of Bates College to the colored man. He was a founder of the Republican party in Maine. He was again and again at the front in de- nominational matters in the Free Baptist churches in Maine and New England, and a founder even there of numerous societies to extend its work.
" In memorial to President Cheney, there- fore, let it be said that few lives have been more productive than his. To found a col- lege such as Bates, is no pastime. He who conceives the idea ; consecrates his life ; en- dows it with his faith and zeal — he is a man, a whole man, a great man. As years pass
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and the college grows, so will the apprecia- tion of its alumni, if that were possible, and so will the appreciation of this city of Lewis- ton on whom no man has conferred a greater blessing socially, educationally, industrially, economically, than has this pioneer of Maine education, Dr. O. B. Cheney."
In an editorial, the Lewiston Sun of Dec. 23, 1903, thus expresses appreciation :
" Lewiston owes a large debt to this active, noble man. He has brought to this com- munity its highest educational institution, with its faculty, its large student body, its ideals and aspirations. His enterprise has helped establish many homes here, has in- creased values in real estate and personal property, has year by year put in circulation among our merchants many thousands of dol- lars ; he has helped give the young new and lofty ideals, to make an education possible to many ; he has by his achievements in edu- cation changed the careers of thousands of young people, and through them has affected their homes and all the work which they have been permitted to do. A life devoted to mak- ing other lives better and nobler and more useful does not end with its own deeds and its own years. There is an earthly immor- tality for such a man, even though the measure of it is beyond common vision.
"Besides the brother, Hon. Elias H. Cheney of Curacoa, three sisters survive, Mrs. J. H. Lord of Wollaston, Mass., Mrs. J. F. P. Smith of Meredith, N. H., and Mrs. Harriet
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C. Bonney of Denver, Col.; Mrs. C. H. Swan of Roxbury, Mass., and Mrs. J. F. Boothby of Lewiston, are the only surviving children. There are eight grandchildren living."
The following tributes of appreciation from the hearts and pens of some of Dr. Cheney's co- workers were published in the Lewiston Journal of Dec. 23, 1903 :
FROM PROF. JORDAN
Prof. L. G. Jordan, acting president at all times in the absence of President Chase, was free to ex- press his personal loss in this death. Said he :
" President Cheney was born at the right time. For a person of his instincts and tem- perament the times and conditions in which he passed his youth and early manhood pre- sented a stirring and inviting field. The political, educational and religious world needed just such a man, and with youthful enthusiasm and characteristic loyalty he re- sponded to that need.
" He was a practical evolutionist ■ yet his mind did not dwell so much upon the origin of present conditions as upon ultimate results. What he saw before him was significant mainly for what it might become. With a profound religious faith he was essentially an optimist, and his strong and definite con- victions were equalled by his courage.
"With such characteristics and living in such times he was naturally connected with
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most of the great movements that developed during the period of his active life. While his work was largely confined to the varied interests of his own religious denomination his mind was constantly reaching out into the world of universal interests, and state and nation alike felt the force of his large views and intelligent thought.
" In the founding of Bates College, the problems with which he had to deal and the difficulties that had to be overcome, were more perplexing and varied than usually arise in establishing an institution of learning. The kindly tact, persistence and intelligent faith which he manifested under those con- ditions was most gratifying to his friends, and finally won the approval and co-operation of those who had previously had different plans and views.
" It was natural that his characteristics should be very forcibly impressed upon many of his students. He was much inclined to take the students into his confidence and while he interested himself in their work he freely made known to them his own plans and often inspired them with something of his own sublime faith and courage. Many of the young men whom he gathered about him in the later years of the Maine State Seminary and in the beginning of Bates College received impressions from him that have had a strong influence on their subsequent lives. Some of these persons certainly will always hold in grateful remembrance the help and encourage- ment thus received.
" It was very pleasant to notice that even
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in the last months of his life his hopes and plans for interests that were dear to his heart did not grow dim or lose their force. Only a few weeks ago sitting upon the steps of the Hedge Laboratory he spoke of the way in which that building should be enlarged, how the new library building would look when its front upon Bardwell street should be erected, and pointed out places on the campus where buildings of various kinds would soon be seen. " He also spoke in very kind and apprecia- tive terms of those who had been associated with him, both in the planning and in the management of the institution which he so much loved."
FROM PROF. J. Y. STANTON
None feel more appreciative of Dr. Cheney's noble work and high ideals than Prof. J. Y. Stan- ton, who worked beside the deceased through all the struggles of the institution. Said he on Wednesday :
" Dr. O. B. Cheney, the founder of Bates College and its first president, devoted more than forty years of his life to one great work which, in its influence, I believe, is never to end. In this respect, his life has been most fortunate and unique.
" When we speak of President Cheney as the founder of Bates College, we do not forget the unsparing generosity of Mr. Bates, the untiring zeal of Dr. Cheney's associates
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among the trustees and in the faculty. Espe- cially we do not forget the noble character of the graduates, without whose support the college could never have become a permanent institution. But the conception that a col- lege could be founded here, the surpassing courage, the indomitable will, and the stead- fast faith that brought it into successful operation was President Cheney's and Presi- dent Cheney's alone. Neither luck nor chance ever founded a college. With the approval of Providence, President Cheney's great characteristics made him a founder of the college. His courage, his will and faith brought his life to a successful issue.
" Dr. Cheney was most abiding in his friendships. I have been acquainted with him since I was ten years old. In these many years, not a word or an act of his has led me to believe that he was not a most sin- cere friend.
"Dr. Cheney's trust in the eternal princi- ples of right and justice was so great that where his conscience approved no misfort- une could deter him.
"One who never turned his back, but
marched breast forward ; Never doubted clouds would break ; Never dreamed, though right were
worsted, wrong would triumph ; Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight
better, sleep to wake."
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FROM PROF. J. H. RAND
Prof. J. H. Rand, a member of the first class to graduate from the college and long at the head of the mathematics department, says :
" My first knowledge of Dr. Cheney was not directly personal. A few years before my earliest recollection, he was, for two years, principal of the seminary at Parsonsfield, my native town. His strong personality and his abiding influence upon the people of the town are shown by the fact that, in after years, children and youth were taught to know and to reverence him.
" This was true in my own case. The name of Mr. Cheney (for he was then known as such) was a household word in my, house. I learned of him mostly through an uncle and an aunt, who were his pupils, and my grand- father, who was associated with him in church work. Often have I listened by the hour, with rapt attention, to accounts of what Mr. Cheney did or said. So carefully was his personal appearance described to me, that I formed in my child-mind a picture of him which remains vivid even now. While there at Parsonsfield he became distinguished for strong and outspoken advocacy of temper- ance, anti-slavery and higher education. In after years the deciding consideration that led me to the Maine State Seminary was the fact that there I should be under the direct influence of Dr. Cheney of whom I had known so much.
" I well recollect the place, the day, the
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hour, almost, of my first meeting with him, and the very hearty, cordial reception he gave me. He made me feel that in me he had a personal interest and that in him I should find a helpful friend. Such he has always been, and such he has been to all the many young men and young women who have come under his influence. I have referred briefly to some things that I know of his early life work. The great, the crowning mark of his life has been the founding and upbuilding of Bates College.
" Comparatively few have done so much to influence for good the lives of so many of their fellow-men as has Dr. Cheney. Truly, his has been a noble life."
FROM PROF. T. L. ANGELL
Said Prof. T. L. Angell, who was for many- years at the head of the department of modern languages at Bates :
" In the death of Pres. O. B. Cheney, whom I have known for more than thirty years and with whom I have been intimately associated, I suffer a keen sense of personal loss.
" Years ago I heard it said of him that he never betrayed nor forsook his friends, a characteristic certainly none too common to- day among men. Two features of his life have long impressed me, namely, his unswerv- ing fidelity to his great life-work, the building up of Bates College, and his unfailing good cheer in the prosecution of his work. After returning from a trip to Europe with Dr.
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Cheney, Gov. Dingley remarked that he never saw a man that lived more exclusively for one object and bent every energy more persist- ently to its attainment than did the doctor. And James G. Blaine once said in my hear- ing that when in the early days of the college, President Cheney came to the Maine Legis- lature seeking aid for the struggling institu- tion, he, Blaine, told his fellow-members that they might just as well give the sum desired soon as late, for the doctor would continue to come until he received it.
" A brief experience in soliciting funds for any object, however worthy, will satisfy any sane man that he has undertaken one of the the most trying, most depressing occupations open to man. Dr. Cheney with his high code of honor and with his keen sensitiveness to indifference even, knew as few men have known, the weight of the burden borne. Yet he faltered not for a moment, but with an un- ceasing love for the work in hand and with an unwavering faith in its ultimate success he kept steadily and cheerfully on, and lived to see the glad fruition of all his toil. The closing months and years of his life were marked by all that serenity of spirit that must and does attend the retrospect of every well-spent life."
FROM HON. H. W. OAKES Said Hon. Henry W. Oakes of Auburn :
"I learned of the death of President Cheney with a feeling of personal sorrow. My acquaintance, begun as a student in Bates
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College about thirty years ago, has continued as I have known him well in the relations of later years, in a growing appreciation of the qualities which made him a leader in great affairs, and the intimate personal friend and adviser of a great number of people.
" He was a broad man, with large views, judging wisely of the future, and while per- haps he 'builded better than he knew,' yet he knew more of the nature of his work and of its necessary results than most men. His faith was absolute, and he did not hesitate to mortgage the future in the development of his life-work.
" Events have justified him. The college which more than all men together, he might have claimed as his own handiwork, witnesses the genius of its first president, and as it develops along the lines which he projected, will, in a constantly increasing degree, speak of his wisdom and courage and foresight."
Said Hon. W. H. Judkins, one of the trustees of the college :
" Dr. Cheney's life illustrates in a noble manner the possible achievements of sublime faith combined with extraordinary work. He was a poet in imagination, a prophet in his outlook for the future, and a builder of great things on broad foundations. I firmly believe that his position in our State will be large and enduring."
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At the funeral, Prof. A. W. Anthony, D.D., said :
" In summing up what has already been said this afternoon, we must remember how far a life reaches when it engages in educational work. Because of Dr. Cheney there has come into this community its highest educa- tional institution, hither have been gathered a corps of trained teachers, bringing to your doors the inspiration of other colleges and universities, of travel and residence abroad, of rare culture and discriminating judgment. All this by the life of the founder of Bates College has been made real. And students by the thousand have in the few years now passed been attracted here, sometimes bring- ing father and mother with them, to found a new home. Even business has been created and stimulated by the college. Then your lives have been drawn out, enlarged, aroused, almost reformed by the training here received. These lives have gone forth into the various professions and callings, living more largely, achieving greater results, because of this one man's vision and persevering work.
" Such a life is not ended. It has its rich reward beyond our sight ; it has its great fruition here also in the lives of others. So long as men think and will and strive, does the work of a teacher continue in those who have been taught, who then give out to others and pass on for eternity the effects of their lives.
" No life richer in its ultimate fruitage has gone out in many a day than that of Dr. O. B. Cheney. His mission was plain ; his call
OREN B. CHENEY 317
was specific ; his life clean and pure; his Christian hope undimmed ; his work so practical as well as so idealistic that his memory is sure to grow with the passing of the years."
The following testimonial of friendship is from Rev. John Malvern :
" Dr. O. B. Cheney, the Christian gentle- man ; an indefatigable worker; a patient plodder and waiter ; a wise planner ; the in- spiration of his colleagues; the students' helper ; the most sympathetic, tender-hearted friend ; the sacrificing, devoted college Presi- dent ; a sweet-spirited preacher and conscien- tious teacher ; a superior presiding officer ; a Free Baptist from principle ; a free-hearted, whole-souled lover of men of all shades of faith ; beloved by all denominations ; a wel- come guest in all our homes ; and a com- panion on whom we could rely. This is how he appears to one who has known him for four decades at least.
" He was sunshine on a cloudy day ; for, when discouragements pressed upon all .about him, his smiling face and cheery words in- spired us with joy and dispelled our gloom.
" To those who lived nearest to him he was a constant benediction, and to those who lived far away his name was a household word and became a synonym of Christian manhood ; and fathers would say, < My son, look at Dr. Cheney.'
" Many a boy will rise up and call him blessed.
" 'The memory of the righteous is blessed.'
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"That every household throughout our broad land may perpetuate his memory in the study of his biography let us devoutly pray."
The following testimonial gives a good insight into President Cheney's relation to students of the negro race. It is from Prof. N. C. Bruce, class of 1893, Bates, who is now Principal of the Bartlett High School, St. Joseph, Missouri :
" No one of us from Bates, white or black, can do justice to its father and founder, Dr. O. B. Cheney. My own heart is full of grati- tude and love for what he was to me, my brother Thomas, and my sister Emma.
" I was the seventh colored graduate from Bates, following close behind Mr. Hatter, class of 1888 of Harper's Ferry, the late Dr. Morton, class of 1886 of New York, and the deceased Mr. Wilson, class of 1884, Tuske- gee, Alabama.
" After receiving several encouraging letters from the revered President, whom I had never seen, I entered Bates in 1889 and found a College in which every environment seemed helpful to the deserving poor youth of any race from anywhere.
" President Cheney soon found me and gave me his greeting and blessing and words of great good cheer. Although his time was all taken in the multitudinous duties of directing and administering affairs at Bates and in securing the necessary finances in those years of stringency — work enough for two or more great men — Dr. Cheney impressed us all as our father, personal friend and guide. When
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he would return from his trips of hard work, he seemed not to rest until he had seen me and learned of my personal health and prog- ress. My work, physical and spiritual, seemed to please him. He often turned aside to get me a job where I could earn something, and more often would employ me himself.
" When he heard the Freshman declamation of my class and I lost to a classmate, but was rated number two with honorable men- tion, his sympathy for me was so great that he induced a friend to also give me a prize ; but although I repeatedly tried to learn the name of the donor he never told me until after my graduation. Oh, he was so gracious and reticent, kind and helpful !
" His whole countenance seemed in a halo of glory when he knew he had said something or done something to alleviate pain, soften grief and ease a Bates student's burden, but never did his fine face send out such quiet radiance of joy and satisfaction as when something was done for a colored student.
" He was to me not only father, but spirit- ual guide. I came to compare him to our blessed Lord, who, when he came in from those Judean journeys could be found among the poorest, comforting, cheering, doing good. He used to take time and tell me of the changes in the public conscience, illustrating from chapters out of his own life as an early abolitionist.
" ' When a young man and preacher,' he would say, ' I used to pray for the bondmen in the South, and it mattered not how faint and slight the reference, some churchmen
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would take offence and leave speedily. I was often taken to task for what was called my folly in expressing any sympathy for the slaves in the forties and fifties. But I per- sisted through it all, though I had to suffer much through the loss of friends and their support.' He would say: 'I tell you these things that you may see the great advance God has brought about.'
" I shall never forget the last talk I had with him about work among my own race in my own dear homeland of the South. Said he among many other good things :
" < Mr. Bruce, do all the good you can and yet remember that God was never in a hurry ; He takes time, works thoroughly, never wastes and has never been known to despise the poor, the needy, the unfortunate. Follow Him and be good.'
" I worship the name and memory of Dr. Oren B. Cheney. They inspire me now and will abide with me with added freshness to to the end. If I have done aught of good, I owe a great debt to his influence over me. But I can never pass on enough help to others to repay his memory for the good cheer, courage, hope and inspiration he gave me."
It is fitting that an expression be given of the wisdom and value of Dr. Cheney's work in con- necting Cobb Divinity School with Bates College.
The following testimonial from J. A. Howe, D.D., for many years Dean of that school, gives to the reader his estimate of Free Baptist Theo- logical indebtedness to Dr. Cheney :
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" Dr. Cheney was a far-seeing man. His mind was ever active in studying methods by which a better future for his denomination could be secured. Out of his brooding came the plan of having a New England Free Bap- tist college, and later, of associating with it a Free Baptist Theological School. What appreciation belongs to his memory for the former, need not here be told. But let not the grateful remembrance due him for the latter be forgotten.
" By the suggestion and efforts of Dr. Cheney the theological school, sustained by the Free Baptist Education Society at New Hampton, was exchanged for Cobb Divinity School. Whatever good the latter, by its nearly forty years of service at Lewiston, has accomplished by reason of its location and support, should in some great measure be credited to the man who had the sagacity to foresee it, the courage to champion the opening of the school in connection with Bates College, and the skill to win from the Education Society an approval of the under- taking. Had his project been voted down as too daring, and the school that was super- seded been continued, no doubt it would have still performed a useful service for our churches. But at the time the change was made a state of prolonged feebleness was be- fore the school. A movement to find a new location had been started, and tentative negotiations for locating it at Haverhill, Mass., that came to nothing, had been tried.
"By promising to begin a theological school at Lewiston, as a department of the
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College, give it a building, keep at least four men in the faculty, free the Education Society from any expense for its support, President Cheney and the Bates trustees gratified the Society with a proposition as liberal as it was opportune. The Society willingly closed its school and with its good will dismissed its faculty, students and library to help inau- gurate the new enterprise, Avhile it retained its funds as a beneficiary endowment in aid of students for the ministry.
" Time has justified its action. The wis- dom of it no one challenges. By reason of it the higher educational interests of Free Bap- tists in New England were verified, their theological school had its distinct individu- ality ; its faculty became more adequate in numbers with a reasonable salary. College men in larger proportions were drawn to the school, and non-college men sooner or later were often drawn to the college ; the school lived in the atmosphere of a stimulating, scholarly environment ; social, literary and religious advantages that only a city life pro- vides, widened the outlook and culture of the students. The beautiful Roger Williams Hall later became a gift to the school, and the school served as a source of a needed home missionary supply for many small churches not too remote from Lewiston. Let these things be viewed as some of the results of Dr. Cheney's action in behalf of our theologi- cal interests.
" On his part it was a bold undertaking. That the college was still but an infant crying in the night, gave to his project a
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somewhat visionary aspect. He confidently thought that the vision could be converted into tangible reality. Before the trustees voted to accept the hazard of supporting a theological school, President Cheney had se- cured pledges from men, more or less asso- ciated in business with Mr. Bates, sufficient to warrant the vote. But scarcely had the edu- cation Society given up its school and the one at Lewiston started on its voyage when financial disasters came on like a flood and swept away the promised gifts.
" Then came distress and grim determina- tion. Dr. Cheney could not allow any thought of retreat. The reproach of failure would long sting him to the soul. He was no Stoic. Actual failure would destroy so great a promise of good to humanity and the church, that any thought of it must not be entertained. He made known the situation to the churches. That alone, he thought, would make its strong appeal. Among Free Baptists of New England and beyond much sympathy was felt. He went up to the General Conference and laid the peril of the conditions at Lewiston before that body whose work he was doing.
" His request was referred to a committee, the chairman of which was himself at the head of a needy college. The report of the committee made Dr. Cheney feel the rigor of the teaching that every man must bear his own burden. Cast down but not destroyed, he went from the Conference to devise and execute plans that ultimately carried college and seminary safely through this period of
324 LIFE AND WORK OF
storm and stress. Mr. Bates gave him a pledge of $100,000, if within five years from the date of it the college would raise an equal amount. Towards meeting that condition the Education Society paid $25,000 accom- panied by what proved to be a fatal reversion- ary clause in case the theological school should, at any time, be given up. By a sin- gular piece of legalism that clause was ruled by the court after Mr. Bates's death, to vitiate the claim of the college to have met the con- ditions of the pledge, since the college could not show that Mr. Bates had consented to count that gift as permanent.
" Notwithstanding the ruling of the court, through the persistent efforts of Dr. Cheney to secure Mr. Bates's pledge, $100,000 were brought into the treasury of the institution.
" Dr. Cheney counted among his most use- ful works what he was enabled to accomplish for the Divinity School. It should not be forgotten that at the beginning of the college one principal aim with him was to secure for his denomination a better educated ministry. It might be safely said that he was probably more governed by this high motive than by any other. Influential with him he made it influential in his appeal to the churches, and when he pleaded with the Education Society for its gift of $25,000, he wanted Bates as a Christian College ever to be a purveyor of the Divinity School.
" A slight, but none the less significant, indication of his sleepless attention to what- ever would enhance the interests of the school is disclosed by its present name.
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'Theological School ' and 'Theological Semi- nary ' were interchangeable names at New Hampton. It suited better the prejudices of the fathers for the Education Society to call its school the Biblical School. President Cheney desiring to honor Mr. J. L. H. Cobb, a deacon of the Congregational church in Lewiston, for his generous gifts to the col- lege treasury, asked the trustees to give the school the name it now bears, The Cobb Divinity School.
" Thus came about the only known instance in our country of a Divinity School of one denomination bearing and commemorating the name of a member of another denomi- nation.
" That feature of the Divinity School com- memorates as well the liberal mind of Dr. Cheney. Before the churches he stood not as a theologian, not as a sectarian partizan, but as an educated minister having at heart the welfare of his church. His labors in be- half of the Free Baptist ministry and Divinity School did not grow out of an intense doctri- nal zeal. To the creed of the church which he served, and of whose record he was proud, and in which he was reared, he was a sincere adherent. But the wideness of his evangeli- cal mind was equal to that of the platform of a united church. His orthodoxy was of the progressive, rather than of the hard and fast school. Brought into contact with the Chris- tianity of men of all creeds and churches, he found that Christian character and Christian deeds were not limited to any one sect. The
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cup of cold water in the name of Christ was often put to his lips because he was a disciple, by noble men and women of other churches than his own.
" To pass equitable judgments of worth according to the usefulness of different leaders in the Free Baptist church is an impossible thing. In answer to the question who of them has best served its theological interests some would mention Ransom Dunn, John J. Butter or John Fullonton. President Cheney's life moved in a different sphere from theirs and its fruits cannot be compared with theirs. But it can be said that among, those who planned broadly for our theological schools and executed skilfully wise projects for their usefulness, he occupies a unique place. With- out him what Cobb Divinity School is and what it has done could not have been."
BATES COLLEGE TODAY
Some enterprises start vigorously only to end in failure. It is suitable therefore to ask the question : " Has all the sacrifice and output of energy recorded in this life-story proved to be worth while." Let us answer by taking a look at Bates College twelve years after President Cheney's resignation and see what is being built on the foundations so carefully laid.
NEW BUILDINGS
In 1901-02, through the generosity of many friends, and especially of Joseph A. Coram, Esq.,
OREN B. CHENEY 327
who contributed $20,000 for the purpose, a fine brick and stone building was erected which bears the name of Coram Library. Already its capacity is being tested and in due time the extension pro- vided for in the plan will need to be added.
The great need for a young Woman's Hall was supplied in 1905 by the erection of a noble brick structure, admirably adapted for the purposes for which it was designed. This buildiug with a resi- dent woman Dean to look after the interests of the young women gives to the College a balance whose need was long foreseen and planned for by President Cheney.
At the Commencement of 1907, it was an- nounced that a resident of Lewiston is about to erect for the College an Auditorium con- taining spacious and suitable rooms for the three Literary Societies and for the Christian Associa- tions, as well as a large audience room for the pub- lic exercises of the institution.
BATES GRADUATES
From an article in The Morning Star, 1906, we extract the following :
" There has been for years no important educational gathering in the United States at which Bates graduates have not been in evidence as officers and speakers. Professor Hanus, head of the distinctively educational department of Harvard University, puts
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Bates first among Eastern colleges in the number and rank of her recent graduate edu- cators. Bates has more sons presiding over reputable secondary schools in New England than has any other college. Even in New Hampshire, where Dartmouth has such wide and well-deserved influence, every leading high school north of Laconia is said to have a Bates principal.
" But it is Massachusetts that beyond any other state is entrusting her educational work to the care of our college. In popular edu- cation Bates alumni are favorably known in every state between the two oceans. ' Send us a Bates man to be principal of our new county high school,' is a recent message from a school board in Montana, not a member of which ever saw Bates College ; and similar requests have been received this year from California, New Mexico, Porto Rico, the Sandwich Islands, and even from India and China.
" To positions in colleges and universities Bates has contributed about one out of every twenty of her graduates. A Bates man was re-elected this year as president of the Ameri- can Institute of Instruction — the oldest edu- cational association in the world. It was a Bates graduate, now president of a leading state university in the far west, who initiated the movement that issued in the famous re- port to the National Educational Association of ' The Committee of Ten ' — perhaps the most important educational paper of the nineteenth century.
" Nor is it in education alone that the sons
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and the daughters of Bates have gained honorable distinction. Her graduates repeat- edly have been awarded first honors in the great professional schools of our country. And in the professions themselves they are taking second place to those of no other col- lege in America. ' Here is a collection of the choicest poems that have been written dur- ing the last decade,' said a London book- seller to the writer a dozen years ago. A swift survey of the contents disclosed the presence of several compositions from the pen of one of his former Bates students.
" For some years Bates has received more students from a distance than has any other Maine college. Naturally she draws a good percentage of her membership from the ' Pine Tree State,' but she has large delegations from Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and smaller ones from each of the New England States, from New York, and from Canada. During the last fifteen years she has nearly trebled her students, and that without adver- tising in any newspaper except the ' Star.'
" She has not a weak teacher in her entire corps of instruction ; and the work in all her departments is modern and progressive. She will begin on September the 12th a new col- lege year with a larger and stronger faculty than ever before. The success of the Car- negie subscription movement by which more than $150,000 will soon be added to her endowment is assured. The Bates Library Memorial Fund of $10,000, just established by Clement S. Houghton, of Boston, in memory of his friend, Benjamin E. Bates, the
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son of the Benjamin E. Bates whose name our institution bears, and himself for twelve years an honored trustee of our college, will annually enrich our library shelves with the latest valuable works of history, political economy, mathematics and sciology.
" The George Colby Chase Lecture Fund of $5,000 just established by some friend still unknown will hereafter bring to Bates an- nually for a series of lectures a recognized authority in some great department of thought and learning. New full courses are to be given in education, in Semitic literature and in the history of philosophy. The de- partment of physical culture is to be re-or- ganized and placed under the direction of two of the most enthusiastic and competent teachers in our country ; and equally im- portant advances are to be made in other directions.
" The best feature of Bates is still the stress that she puts upon character. She is first of all a Christian college, and among the activi- ties of the now approaching new year those of the Christian Associations, the class and the college prayer-meetings, and the Bible and Missionary classes will hold a foremost place. Every young man entering Bates will, as heretofore, give his pledge to abstain from the use of all intoxicants ; and Christian teach- ers and students will lead in the entire social and intellectual life of the college. The enter- ing class promises to be large and scholarly, and there will be important accessions to each of the upper classes. Never before has Bates had so strong a claim upon the
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sympathy, the support, and the patronage of the young people who read The Morning Star, as in this, the forty-fourth year of her existence."
ONE BATES BOY
The human mind dislikes generalities. It likes to deal with life as expressed in individuals. We hope, therefore, that it will not seem invidious if we give the story of one Bates boy's life as de- tailed in the College Bulletin :
AN HONORED BATES ALUMNUS
" Of all Bates graduates that have devoted themselves distinctively to Science, Wendell, of '68, easily holds the first place. He is one of the relatively few men that have not only been ' predestined ' to a specific work but have 'made their calling and election sure.' Wendell was a brilliant scholar through his entire college course. He had, for his day, received at the old academy in Dover, N. H., a remarkably fine preparation, and Bates was his chosen college long before he left school. President Cheney, in his rounds among boys looking towards college, had breathed an inspiring word into Wendell's ears. And, undeterred by the protests of his Principal and of other distinguished college graduates living in Dover (and impressed by the young fellow's promise), in hearty accord with the wishes of his parents, he set his face reso- lutely towards Bates. As on a sultry August day, fresh from his home, full of the spirit of romance and eager for college adventure, he
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first came in sight of the Bates campus, then nearly barren of trees, but partially graded, enclosed on two sides by stump fences, and boasting but two buildings, Hathorn and Parker Halls — Hathorn Hall still unfinished — -his heart leaped up within him, as he ex- claimed, ' This is my College !' It was love at first sight, — love that has never once fal- tered in the nearly forty-three years since in 1864 he joined the second Freshman class that entered Bates College. To his fervid temperament and poetic imagination these humble beginnings of a college were more splendid and inspiring than to the average youth are the ivy-wreathed halls of Yale, Har- vard or Oxford.
" In the young but vigorous life of this new College, Wendell was soon a central figure. Alive to every opportunity, whether for study, research or fun, eager, aspiring, and resource- ful, he was an active factor in moulding the character, shaping the history, and creating the traditions of the Bates-to-be. No Bates man has better impersonated our College motto, 'Con Amore ac Studio.' Genial, ap- preciative and kindly — withal occasionally moody, dreamy, and given to quiet walks — he was soon recognized by all as a man of whom the College must be proud.
" Whatever he attempted he accomplished with credit, whether in debate, composition, or class-work. The whole world, whether of nature, books or men, was of absorbing interest to him. But it was in Mathematics and the Sciences that he found his choicest satisfaction, unless, indeed, it were in poetry.
OREN B. CHENEY 333
For he wonderfully combined the special endowments of the exact and truth-seeking Scientist with those of the meditative and fancy-free Poet. This two-fold devotion found expression at his graduation, when in addi- tion to the Latin Salutatory he gave his oration upon 'The Poetry of Mathematics.' Possessed equally by two passions often thought contradictory, in his choice both of his Commencement theme and of his life work, he gave full expression to each. Eager to enter every realm of nature, he selected as the most attractive of her domains the one in which Poetry and Science appear as har- monious allies.
" Wendell had been thinking about the stars and listening to the ' music of the spheres ' from early childhood, and perhaps not later than the beginning of his Sopho- more year at Bates he had decided to become an Astronomer. Some of his friends to whom he announced his choice regarded it as a passing whim, or ' a young man's fancy.' But henceforth for him it represented an unflag- ging and absorbing pursuit.
" The writer well remembers the impression made by President Cheney's announcement in the Gymnasium, after the Commencement Dinner of 1868, that one of the little class of five about to leave Alma Mater was to be an Astronomer. On the faces of some present was written scorn, of others admiration, and of still others incredulity. But two months later Wendell was at work in Harvard Col- lege Observatory — at work with an ardor too great for his not over firm health. For in
334 LIFE AND WORK OF
. 1869 serious illness, together with the de- pression and care occasioned by his father's death, compelled him to resign his position. It was, however, only when he urged his request that his resignation was accepted. Reluctantly he left the Observatory, purpos- ing to return as soon as he should regain his health.
" This result, however, was not easily at- tained ; and for some ten years he found it necessary to engage in active out-door pur- suits. During this period he did, indeed, listen to the urgent request of President Cheney that he should accept the Professor- ship of Astronomy at Bates. But failing health constrained him to return to work in the open air, and he accepted an appointment as an Engineer under Mr. James B. Francis — then an eminent Civil and Hydraulic En- gineer in Lowell, Mass.
" After holding this position several years, in February, 1879, having regained his health, upon the urgent solicitation of the Director of the Harvard Observatory, he returned to his much loved work. Since that time there has been no interruption in his chosen pur- suit, and since 1898 he has held the position of Assistant Professor of Astronomy.
" His work at the Observatory has included observation, original investigation, calcula- tions, and superintending of calculations. During the earlier years of his service his observations were made with the Great Equatorial Telescope, the Transit Circle, and two Meridian Photometers. During the last twenty years he has had sole charge of the
OREN B. CHENEY 335
Great Telescope, has made all the observa- tions with it, and has superintended the reductions of these. He took a large part in measuring with the first Meridian Photometer the light of 4,260 stars, and in reducing the more than 94,000 observations required. The results, which fill Volume 14 of the Obser- vatory Annals, give the magnitudes of all stars visible to the naked eye, from the North Pole down to 35 degrees below the Equator. With the second and larger Meridian Photo- meter was measured the light of 21,000 fainter stars, comprising more than 267,000 observa- tions. Mr. Wendell himself made nearly one- half these observations and superintended nearly all the reductions. The results fill Volume 24 of the Observatory Annals. The discussion of these observations, contained in Volume 23, was also in part, made by Mr. Wendell. In addition he superintended and prepared for publication Volume 37 of the Observatory Annals, containing observations (partly made by himself) of Variable Stars and Comparison Stars, and extending over ten years.
"Of the observations of more than 700 Eclipses of Jupiter's Satellites made during the twenty-five years from 1878 to 1903 in- clusive, and contained in Volume 52, Part 1, just issued, Mr. Wendell made the entire num- ber for the ten years from 1894 to 1903 in- clusive, and a part of those taken previous to that time. He has also observed all the Eclipses from 1903 to the present time, and has superintended nearly all the reductions of these.
336 LIFE AND WORK OF
" In addition to his current observations he is now doing what he considers his best work — in reducing all his observations with the Great Telescope since 1895. The results will be contained in Volume 49, which he is now preparing. Mr. Wendell has discovered a number of Variable Stars, and also the variability in light of two asteriods, viz. : Iris and Eunomia. One of his specialties has been Comets and Meteors. He has not only made a great many observations on these, but has also calculated the orbits of a large number, both of Comets and of Meteors, and has cal- culated the place in the heavens from which meteors belonging to different Comets should radiate.
" Professor Wendell is a member of the fol- lowing Scientific Societies :
" 1. Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
" 2. Honorary Member of the Astronomi- cal Society of Mexico.
"3. Member of the Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of America.
" 4. Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
" 5. Member of the National Geographic Society of Washington.
"6. Member of the M. P. Club (a society composed of Mathematicians and Physicists in Boston and Cambridge).
"7. Member of the Boston Scientific Society.
" During the thirty-nine years since his graduation, Mr. Wendell's loyalty to Bates has been steady and intense. He loves to
OREN B. CHENEY 337
visit ' the old familiar places ' and to live over his college days with all their cherished hopes. It has been the dream of his Bates friends and of those most deeply interested in the College that he should sometime return to his Alma Mater and preside over the long coveted observatory that shall, we trust, yet crown our beautiful Mount David.
" In school, in college, and in life, Mr. Wendell has been an earnest, consistent, and active Christian. For him there is no con- flict between Science and Religion."
Excerpts from President Chase's report for 1906-1907.
THE FUTURE OF BATES DEPENDENT UPON HER STANDARDS OF CHARACTER AND SCHOLARSHIP
" The reputation of Bates for devotion to high ideals of character and scholarship has been the chief factor in promoting her won- derful growth in numbers and influence. This reputation must be maintained. Bates has a distinct individuality, and the attempts that are sometimes made to introduce fashions, customs and traditions alien to her spirit and aims are harmful to her growth and destructive of her best hopes for the future. It is the unsolicited testimony of hundreds of well-known educators that Bates is a safe College for those who value character as the highest of human attainments. It is the well-earned reputation of our College for 'plain living and high thinking' that is bringing her annually more students than all
338 LIFE AND WORK OF
other causes combined. It has been only by constant vigilance, and the sacred sense of responsibility on the part of her Faculty and friends that this reputation has been gained. Character, other things being equal, always contributes to scholarship. The first care of the Institution should be to maintain and strengthen that good name which, while better than great riches, is in the final result the surest guaranty of Funds, Buildings, — of material prosperity in all its forms.
" Partly because so many of the students at Bates are earning their own way, but still more because of the purpose and spirit of the College itself, maintained steadily from the first, Bates is truly a democratic institution. She knows no social distinctions, no cliques. In the early days of Bates, one of her admir- ers was describing the character and aims of the College to the president of another insti- tution. ' We are aiming to make it a college where poor boys can get an education,' he said. 'But,' rejoined the other, 'we have poor boys in our institution, too.' 'And are they on the same social footing as the rich boys ?' ' Why no, of course not. The rich fellows go together, and the poor boys keep by themselves.' .Bates has always remained true to the purpose with which she began.
HARMONY BETWEEN FACULTY AND STUDENTS
The growing harmony between the Faculty and the students of Bates is due in large measure to the devotion of each teacher to the welfare of every student in the College. It has been the
OREN B. CHENEY 339
mission of Bates to afford opportunities for culture to hundreds of students that without her aid never would have made the acquaintance of a college. These young men and young women freely bring to their teachers their own wants, difficulties, pri- vations and fears. Many of them must have em- ployment in vacations and during term time, in hours which under other conditions they would devote to social life and recreation. The need of a Bates student for remunerative work is the im- mediate concern of every one of his teachers. No worthy student can be permitted to leave college for lack of means till every possible effort has been made to secure him needed employment. " How much money must I have, in order to start upon my college course ?" is a question that the President of Bates answers scores of times every year. For some time past systematic efforts have been made through a committee of the Faculty to obtain work suited to the needs and powers of deserving students, with the result that the long list of services that a student may render in working his way steadily grows and the prospect for earnest young men and young women con- stantly brightens.
Nor is sympathy between students and Faculty exhausted in efforts to meet these practical difficulties. There is a large development of com- mon, social, intellectual, and spiritual interests ; and the experience of friends older and more
340 LIFE AND WORK OF
mature than themselves is freely drawn upon by students struggling with the doubts, perplexities and depressions inevitable to those entering the larger realms of thought and knowledge.
STUDENT ADVISERS
During the second term of the year a system was adopted under which each young man is brought into personal friendly relations with some member of the Faculty. This system has proved very helpful in promoting harmony in spirit and purpose, and, as its merits are further developed, it is believed that it proves of great value in hold- ing the College true to the important work of correcting individual deficiencies in character, of imparting definite aims and high ideals, and of aiding each young man to realize his best possi- bilities.
Bates desires to do the proper work of a small college ; that is, a college in which each teacher may have a personal acquaintance with each stu- dent, and each student with every other student. With four hundred students or more this result is not so easily gained as in the Bates of fifteen years ago, with one-third of the present attendance. But it is believed that our system of student advisers, under which every student may have the benefit of intimate friendship with those of maturer years and may receive unobtrusive and kindly advice in regard to courses of study, reading, recreation,
OREN B. CHENEY 341
College associations, and opportunities and plans for future study and work, will enable our College even more effectively than ever before, to impart her best and most inspiring influences to all who seek her aid. In all her higher efforts Bates has found the College Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. her efficient allies.
ATHLETICS AND PHYSICAL CULTURE
More interest than usual has been taken in general Physical Culture and in Hygiene, and a larger number of students than ever before at Bates have been interested in methodical, health- ful exercise, under the direction of intelligent specialists. Bates has made a successful effort to avoid an error prevalent in colleges— the concen- tration of the interest of the entire student body upon intercollegiate contests in which relatively few can participate.
That, however, there has been due attention to the more exciting sports and games is shown by the results obtained in baseball, football, tennis and track athletics. In football Bates won the championship last fall in the series of contests among the four higher Maine institutions of learn- ing. In baseball she took the second place and it is but fair to say that a result even more satis- factory would, doubtless, have been gained had it not been for the serious and persistent illness of some of our best athletes.
342 LIFE AND WORK OF
It is believed that a good degree of success has been obtained in preventing an inordinate interest in Athletics, and in holding Physical Culture and Training in proper subordination to the develop- ment of culture of heart and mind. Bates will not tolerate poor scholarship for the sake of a good showing in Athletics. She means to be, and be- lieves she is, entirely free from anything approach- ing professionalism in Athletics.
URGENT NEEDS OF BATES INCREASED ENDOWMENT
Bates still needs a largely increased endowment. Our success in completing the Carnegie Fund is but a happy beginning of a work to be continued until our Professors can be adequately remuner- ated, additional instructors employed, and an in- come be assured sufficient to maintain a steady growth in our Library, the annual purchase of apparatus for progressive work in our laboratories and a proper care of our grounds and buildings. I have already called the attention to our need of a Professorship of Education. Our growing stu- dent body requires that as soon as practicable more teachers shall be employed in the great Depart- ments of Mathematics and of the Ancient and the Modern Languages. Additional assistance in Chemistry, Physics and Biology will greatly in- crease the value of our work in these subjects.
OREN B. CHENEY 343
At an early day the duties now assigned to one man as a teacher of History, Economics and Sociology should engage the attention of at least two teachers ; and the work'in these Departments should be at once more specific and more compre- hensive. To effect these purposes, we need fur- ther to increase our Fund by the addition of at least $500,000. Of this amount $50,000 should be devoted to the Chair of Education, and a second $50,000 could be wisely used as a per- manent Fund for the Library.
FURTHER NEEDS
Our last annual Catalogue has summarized our further needs substantially as follows :
1. $100,000 for the erection and equipment of Science Buildings ; — $60,000 for a Building for the Department of Physics, and $40,000 for the De- partment of Natural History and Biology. A Building for the Department of Physics cannot be erected too soon to meet our urgent and growing needs in this direction.
2. $20,000 for doubling the capacity of the present Chemical Laboratory. This improvement should not be delayed a day beyond the time ab- solutely necessary for effecting it.
3. $10,000 for renovating Science Hall and thoroughly equipping it as a Dormitory.
4. $5,000 to pay for the furnishing of Coram Library and to secure additional appliances.
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LIFE AND WORK OF
5. $150,000 for additional scholarships.
6. $60,000 for the erection and maintenance of a Gymnasium for our men students. This need is imperative.
7. $100,000 for the erection and maintenance of an Astronomical Observatory and the support of its Director.
8. $50,000 for the erection of a College Chapel.
9. $10,000 for the grading and improvement of our campus.
10. $20,000 to complete the amount required for the erection of the New Dormitory.
The present financial condition of the Institu- tion is shown by the report of the Treasurer, Hon. F. M. Drew:
During the past fourteen years, the assets of the College from which our income is derived have annually increased, as shown by the following table :
May 31, 1894,
l895> 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902,
I9°3>
1904,
Assets
318,040.58 320,772.08 338,369.69 340,281.10 352>639-33 356>545-32 366,199.47
368,265.82
4°5>525-I5 412,387.97
OREN B. CHENEY 345
May 31, 1905, Assets $421,487.06 " " 1906, " 428,932.77
" " 1907, « 532,352.40
And it will be satisfactory to know that during these fourteen years nothing has been lost by in- vestment, and the losses which have come were from investments made prior to 1894, showing the care and wisdom which your Executive Board have exercised in the management of your funds.
Since the report of the Treasurer was published the assets of Bates have been further increased by the payment of $50,000 subscribed by the late Bartlett Doe of San Francisco, thus carrying the total of the income bearing resources of the Col- lege, $582,352.40.
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