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The timorous creatures sought to flee from an unequal strife
To keep, by constant watchful hiding, that good treasure, life.
But now there came a Spirit being that, with practiced skill,
Went, Godlike, roaming thro' the wilderness at will;

Man, king of all the earth; she kissed his brow so undefiled,
And knelt beside this stately, prescient, self-trained, forest child,
The ages came and went away, yet leaving little trace

Of all the deeds of this strong man to mark his dwelling place.
Unless, perchance, the portaled pictured rocks, (one dare suggest,)
Were piled by this stone-carver to prepare his place of rest.
Go like the flinty arrow-head and polished skinning stone;
The simple implements with which our continent was strown.
And thus there came, thro' fire and flood, our own race at the last;
Thus had they braved the wars, the wilderness, had safely passed
Thro' all the Indian tribes who roved the far historic East,
To reach this far-famed hunting ground for savage man and beast.
The beech and maple standing guard beside the singing pine;
The oak and waving walnut that must life and growth resign
That man might have his dwelling place, the city and the farm,
To crown his home with happiness and keep his babes from harm.
The wiley Indian baffled, fought, to yield without a groan.
Distraught by rival friends and foes, his heart was turned to stone.
The rocks along the northern cliffs, were his. The skillful oar
Was hidden with his birch canoe beside the rocky shore;

Or oft he floated on the wave, or bent his twanging bow

To fill his need, or try his skill, or slay a wily foe.

He loved the lands about the lakes, the wild deer's fountain home;
For there his sons had played and swam amid the water's foam.
The undeveloped northern lands, the wealth of unknown mine
Was naught to him, and yet he loved the woods, so near divine.

Thus did our own race find at last these simple forest folk,
Thus did they dwindle from our vales. No servile, grinding yoke
Could bend the haughty spirit of these kingly, savage braves,
Who, silent, crept along the path of fate, to forest graves.
A few were haply saved by love, and dwelling with us yet,
As peaceful Christian citizens thro' our good St. Marquette.
And still a few, the broader faith that lights the soul of man
To push from darkness on to reach the great Creator's plan;
To mingle with the faith unseen, its superstitious awe,

The tenderness that love has wrought to crown her golden law,
Shall yet imbue the kingly race to rise and mock defeat,

The lessons of the pale face tuned to Nature's fine conceit.

Alas! the horrid bane of rum by which full many fell,

Who that has strength shall keep and guard his own good goings, well. The stale old scientific law, "The fittest shall survive,"

Will sometime change, and stronger men shall help the weaker thrive, (Be this a passing tribute to this nation of the free

That Cuba creeps in swaddling robes, the child of liberty.)
Amid these waving classic groves, beneath propitious sky
The merry little Cedar river purling sweetly by

As in the olden warlike days when lofty forest trees

Made silent waving shadows at each wanton, listless breeze,

We meet to gather up some relics of the past, and read

Along the good State's backward track some lofty earnest deed
Of those long gone who wrought to bless our grandly growing State
With wisdom and foreknowledge, thus to turn blind, reckless fate
Into a freer, broader channel as it onward flows

With added strength, a strong, true current, whither, as it goes,
The student children of a bookish race may eager trend,
And with the learning of the dowered schools may wisely fend,
For all the grandly rich achievements modern mortals teach
And careful sift the good from false, as erring mortals preach.
"We look about us," and behold where lofty forests stood,
Where waved the moaning wilderness, the orchards promise good,
The dainty bloom and fruitage sweet by wise old Nature blent
With tender, careful pruning, trained to follow her intent.
The stately ships that come and go on wide, sweet water seas,
From Erie to Superior, to catch the wildering breeze,

To crown the State with commerce, as the merchant ships go by,
Where brave old Briton's Lion and the Stars and Stripes let fly.
The war-drum's rolling beat no more calls brother men to fight,
The billows on Lake Michigan that roll like mountain high,
Portend the rocks which line her bed o'er which her proud ships ply.
The flocks and herds on spreading farms graze fearlessly at ease,
While temples in the distance tell man's prescient power to please.
For every child of Michigan, the rich, the poor, the weak,
Shall feel the gift of kindly care, her kiss upon his cheek.
This State, our twin peninsula, with orchards, corn and mine
And all things needful for man's good and pleasure intertwine.
One of a Union grand and true, what wonder if her sons
Shall of her boast, the good she holds, as boastful language runs.

Oh well for us to be acquaint with Nature, and the lore
The Indian drew as innate breath at Nature's open door.
He loved the grand old waving trees and worshiped as he ran-
This proud old student, Nature's own brown forest nobleman.
Gone is his Indian war-whoop, quite forgot his savage skill;
And yet the cultivated college yell is often with us still.
It rolls in wild terrific wails beneath sweet summer skies,
Blent with the winds, an echo of the red man's sacrifice.
He went; the sturdy settler came; the wilderness is gone;
But in its place the son of toil, with honest farmer brawn
That blent with skill of handiwork, the training of the men,
Who turn the wheel of industry o'er field, and hill, and glen;
Who change the woods to cities grand; the valiant chopping done
Which laid the fruitful virgin soil bare to the sweltering sun.
The tulip, linden, tamarack, with health in every limb,
Went down before this conqueror in woodland dank and dim.
The water gateways of the west, Detroit and Mackinaw,
The victors of our battlefields, the deadly strife they saw.
The rich made earthy bed where lies the molten metal ore
Upheaved to light by labor's might. The tapping earth's deep store;
The sawing of the forest trees. The wealth of wood and stone;
The piled up stores of centuries for nations yet unknown.
This, this in peaceful panorama sweeps our glorious State,

The Southern sister clasping hand in hand, her Northern mate.
About the State the railways run, her schools are pushing hard
To fit her sons and daughters well, a valiant Nation's guard,
Trained intellect, trained eye, trained hand, might of unswerving skill,
Blent with the genial brown of sun. The firm, determined will
Shall yet give what they promised who all the future saw.

The mills, the mints, the salt, the sweets that fill a nation's maw:
The cogent storied learning of the simpler, grander sehools
That train the prescient thinking hand to give the potent tools
Tenacious grip upon the forces but half understood.

Yet somewhat bend those latent forces to the people's good.
The forces blent of radiant light and heat endowed to meet,
The needs of man. To eager brush the darkness from the street
Where cities congregate and give the light, the glorious light,
That matchlss gift which man has hung among the mists of night,
In flood effulgent, harnessed as a champing, eager steed,
On rushing as the multitude has met its gracious meed.
The light of factory, of home, of templed grandeur, reared
To bless mankind by surer route than Babel has appeared
Nigh to the heavens lifting up in deeds belike to God
Where mankind follows on upon the path Omiscience trod.

God bless her Michigan, her industries, her schools, her homes,
Protect the Michigander, please, where'er on earth he roams.
She looks to see him, staunch and true, where'er his duty calls.
She fain would bear him home to sleep, as thus he bravely falls.
But whether in his native soil, or far from home he sleeps,
The Wolverine in history, his gracious memory keeps.

HILLSDALE COLLEGE, HILLSDALE, MICHIGAN.

BY S. W. NORTON.

Hillsdale, the site of Hillsdale College, is a city of 4,000 inhabitants, in southern Michigan, 80 miles southeast of Detroit and 180 east of Chicago. It is situated on the main line of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, and is the headquarters for the Ypsilanti, Lansing & Fort Wayne and Jackson division of the same road. The college buildings are located on College Hill and command a view of the city and surrounding country.

The college had its beginnings in the Michigan Free Baptist yearly meeting, held at Franklin, Lenawee county, in June, 1844, and has since been under the auspices of that denomination. The history of its establishment and growth will indicate its educational influences within the denomination, and a review of its courses of study as they have been developed, together with the attitude which the college itself and its alumni have assumed in the world of letters, will show its influence in wider educational circles.

The Free Baptist denomination was founded by Benjamin Randall, who organized the first church therein on the 30th day of June, 1780, at New Durham, N. H. Freedom of the will, immersion as the only form of baptism, and open communion were the essential parts of the creed. Its ministry were composed of earnest, zealous, selfsacrificing, but uneducated men. Indeed, a strong prejudice against an educated ministry seemed to exist throughout the denomination. Owing to this reason no institution of learning was established during those days. However, on the 15th day of January, 1840, about 60 years after the founding of the denomination, an educational society was organized at Acton, Me., to provide means for the intellectual and moral improvement of young ministers." The first Free Baptist church in the Territory of Michigan was organized near Ypsilanti, Washtenaw county, March 14, 1831. During the years immediately succeeding other churches were organized, notably in Oakland, Jackson, and Calhoun counties. In these churches the movement began which led to the founding of Michigan Central College, afterwards Hillsdale College.

As early as 1835 Elders Samuel Whitcomb, Eliah Cook, and Henry S. Limbocker, the founders of the denomination within the Territory, took a stand in favor of an educated ministry, and began to agitate the need of an educational institution. Their efforts were ably seconded by Hon. Daniel Dunakin, Eli T. Chase, of Eckford, Thomas Dunton, and Herman Cowles, of Battle Creek; Joseph Blaisdell, of Assyria; Rosevelt Davis, of Blackman; Jonathan Videto, Joseph Bailey, and William Smith, of Spring Arbor.

At the Michigan yearly meeting mentioned above, a resolution, substantially as follows, was passed:

Resolved, That a denominational school be established within the territorial limits of the yearly meeting; that a committee of three be appointed to draft a constitution and by-laws, and that a convention be called at the village of Jackson to consider and adopt such constitution and by-laws and to take such other measures as shall be necessary to establish the school. Lewis J. Thompson, of Oakland county; Henry S. Limbocker, and Rosevelt Davis, of Jackson county, constituted the committee.

The convention provided for in the resolution convened at the village of Jackson in July or August, 1844. The constitution and by-laws reported by the committee

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