The college has been among the foremost in the west in adapting and enlarging its courses to meet changing ideals. As early as 1873 the department of Civil and Sanitary Engineering was organized, in which hundreds of young men have received a valuable equipment for the work of life. One of the earliest recognitions of education as a collegiate subject was when courses in this science were offered at Cornell in 1872—the beginning of the present strong school of education. In 1900 and 1901 special directors of Physical Training for both men and women were first employed.
SPIRIT AND INFLUENCE
During all these changing years since 1853 the spirit of Cornell has remained essentially the same. It has made for scholarship—a scholarship honest, tireless, and fearless in the search for truth; it has cherished culture; it has fitted for service and has sent forth its students to perform, in the words of Milton, "justly, skilfully, and magnanimously all the duties both public and private of peace and war." It has ever been a religious spirit, too, this spirit of Cornell, and kindling in thousands of young hearts has inspired them to purer, stronger, and more helpful living.
The influence of Cornell may be summarized by a quotation from an editorial in the Cedar Rapids Republican in 1904, reviewing the history of the college:
"Fifty years of college work and college building; what does it mean? What is it these men, about whom we have been writing, have done? The half can not be told. No research, however painstaking, could discover it all, for only a portion of such work is ever seen of men. For fifty years a constant stream of beneficent influences has been flowing out from this institution. The pure water which gushes from a spring on the hillsides, who can trace? A certain portion will refresh those who dwell near its source. The remainder flows away to form a brooklet that 'joins brimming river' which carries ships, waters cities, and finally augments an ocean current that washes illimitable shores. But for these springs the everlasting ocean would dry up. The stream of beneficent influences which has been flowing from this institution on the hillside down yonder, has been carried around the world—into countless fields of human activity and high endeavor—into homes where mothers teach their children to avoid those things that are of the earth earthy—into business establishments where the golden rule is not always turned toward the wall—into legislative halls where statesmen and patriots are needed—into the judiciary of state and nation—into the cabinet of the president of the United States—into all callings and all professions—into all countries and all climes. May it flow on forever and forever!"
[CHAPTER XXIV]
History of Coe College
BY REV. E. R. BURKHALTER, D. D.
There is an interest, and a charm peculiarly its own in tracing a stream that has grown to be a river back to its head waters in some lake or mountain spring. And when instead of a river we trace backward a college to its source and fountain head, this interest and charm come to possess a sacred value and are full of hallowed associations. And the charm and interest become complete when this matter is pursued by one who is not only a historian but also a participant in the transactions which cover years of time and call up many holy and tender memories of scenes and places, and yet more, of persons who were fellow-workers in the good cause and the most of whom have passed from earth.