Erodelphian Hall and voted for a rank
126
WHEN GREEK MEETS GREEK
outsider to do their poetizing. From this
the conflict started. Charges and coun-
tercharges were flung about recklessly,
that night after the election, and when
the chapter adjourned, somewhere in the
morning hours, it seemed hopelessly di-
vided.
Two or three later meetings failed to
patch up the rent, although alumni mem-
bers were constantly insisting on a recon-
ciliation. One night in the heat of the
contention a commanding presence strode
into the room. With it came an equally
commanding voice that said: ''Gentle-
men, some of the younger of you do not
know me. I am Minor Millikin of Ham-
ilton, and I demand, in behalf of the
alumni of the chapter, that you abide by
the rulings of the society." In a second
the doughty Runkle was on his feet. ' ' I, "
he declared, ''am the Sultan of Turkey
and the Grand Llama of Beloochistan. I
127
WHEN GREEK MEETS GREEK
didn't join this society to be anybody's
tool. There's my answer!" He flung his
badge jingling on the table, and with his
fellow liberals stalked from the room.
Soon this refractory half-dozen raised
as their new standard the white cross of
Sigma Phi, and stood ready to defend it
against all comers. One fellow jeered at
their badges the first morning at chapel,
or at least Runkle thought he did.
Promptly after prayers the future gener-
alissimo mixed things up with him in a
masterly manner and fellow Greeks had no
little trouble in pulling them apart. Then
somebody made away with the ritual and
sacred stage-properties of the new Sigs.
They looked large black holes of suspi-
cion through Delta Kappa Epsilon, and
immediately went to work training a new
goat. This time they called themselves
Sigma Chi and busily took up the prob-
lem of chapter extension. Fortunately
128
WHEN GREEK MEETS GREEK
this was highly successful, for by some
local mismanagement the Alpha chapter
became inactive in a short while. The
only other fraternity ever represented in
Miami was Delta Upsilon, from the year
1868.
Heigho, for the quarrels and conflicts
of college days! It seems a shame,
almost, to draw them out from the cur-
tained recesses of memory and expose
them to the daylight. The lads who
thrust and parried in them were soon to
have their differences levelled and their
wounds healed in the fiery ordeal of a
real conflict. When Runkle's pain-racked
body lay upon the field of Shiloh, with
wounds pronounced as mortal, Whitelaw
Reid took no thought of school-boy dif-
ferences, but the busy war-correspondent
found time to pay glowing tribute to
the gallantry and worth of this old college
comrade. You who are college men will
129
WHEN GREEK MEETS GREEK
read between the lines of this extended
tale of woes and see the real richness of
the life that was there. The rest of you
must remember that chronicles are too
often built only out of disturbance and
strife.
130
l^^
lLB^tttiti;@B#.(
1 tv V7-;v::rx?X>^^"?^
THE other day someone mentioned
it as an amusing coincidence that
so soon after the young manhood of the
Miami Valley began assembling at Ox-
ford, the attractive young ladies of the
vicinity should have been possessed with
a marked yearning for higher education
in the same environment. Amusing, per-
haps ; but as old and natural as the proces-
sion of the equinoxes. About that spa-
cious old campus, when its greensward
teems with Johnny- jump-ups and its foli-
age glistens in the sunlight of June, there
surely lingers the primeval loveliness of
the first paradise. Who would expect
that the splendid specimen of man, lithe-
131
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
limbed and stainless, that came in the
early days to eat of the tree of knowl-
edge there, should munch his little apple
contentedly alone'? Faithfully, as we
shall see, were the scriptures fulfilled.
From next the great red, throbbing heart
of man the rib was quietly extracted, and
when he awoke and did behold, there
stood beside him, demurely curtseying,
one like unto himself but fairer. And
the only tempter that has ever entered
the garden flew on gossamer wings, car-
ried a bent bow in his infant hands, and
wore no attire to speak of. He has come
often, too.
Indeed, from the very opening of the
University, there were facilities about
the village for the education of girls. At
first these were apparently private ven-
tures, the refined and eminently harmless
'* dames' schools" of our forefathers.
That didn't prevent their taking impres-
132
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
sive names; as is indicated by a casual
statement, in the Literary Focus for
October, 1827, that ''a female academy
has also been opened in the village of Ox-
ford during the last session." Now "fe-
male academy" sounds wholesomely in-
tellectual. Whatever may be the facts of
the case, that name lifts j^ou straight out
from the sensitive region where chill
households of simpering damsels are pre-
sided over by indigent maiden-ladies in
lavender, who have undertaken, for a
reasonable stipend, to impart to their
charges the proprieties of social converse,
a slight knowledge of the spinnet and the
harpsichord and a marvelous dexterity
with samplers, hair-wreaths and waxen
posies. It brings j^ou face-to-face with
real learning, adorned with blue spec-
tacles and bluer stockings, and no frills
to fuss over.
133
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
By 1830, at any rate, there was an
academy which measured up to the name.
That is, it did if the traditions regarding
its preceptress may be trusted. She was
Miss Bethania Crocker, marvelously
mature child of sixteen, who came over
from Indiana and set up her little school.
Her own training had come from her
father, a pioneer preacher who never
quite knew whether he was Congrega-
tionalist or Presbyterian. But the daugh-
ter — ^mercy me! As a baby she swal-
lowed Greek and Latin with her corn-
meal porridge, and pounded on the table
with her spoon for more. She read all
the Hebrew she could find and did higher
mathematics for pastime. No cup-and-
saucer courses in accomplishment for
her. Her fame spread and her pro-
ject flourished, drawing girls from at
least three states. Then the strangest
thing happened. The erudite Bethania
134
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
smoothed the vertical wrinkles from her
brow, blushed and giggled and consented
like an ordinary creature, and became the
wife of the Reverend George Bishop, a
son of the Miami president.
A whole string of private schools fol-
lowed, most of them probably of the
sampler and harpsichord variety. Of
preceptresses there were Miss Smith and
Miss Clark, the North sisters, Miss May-
hew and another Miss Clark; and good-
ness knows how many more. But no one
of them lasted very long. How could she?
Hardly did she collect her little flock and
parade with them once or twice to village
worship, when some young preacher or
professor, smitten to the core of his poor
lonely heart, would urge her so pathet-
ically to bless his life and help spend his
$200 salary, that she simply could not
refuse him. Finally, in the early 40 's,
the supply of marriageable Oxford
135
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
schoolmistresses was for once exhausted,
and the citizens realized that something
desperate must be done.
At length they contributed of their
humble means and put up an academy
building on a small scale. By this time
Doctor Scott, who had once been an im-
portant factor in Miami affairs, but had
retired with President Bishop to College
Hill, was having notable success there
with the Female Institute he was con-
ducting in connection with the new
Farmer's College. Being a man and
married, he would run no particular risk
of falling a prey to ministerial suitors.
Having served his apprenticeship in the
University faculty, he could be counted
on to give to the girls a college training
that came in men's sizes and involved
some good hard work. So the citizens
of Oxford invited the Scotts to return to
the classic village, occupy the new build-
136
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
ing, and create therein the Oxford Fe-
male Institute. The doctor promptly
complied, bringing his previous charge
along with him in an omnibus, and in
1849 the new institution opened its doors.
One hundred and thirty-nine students
were enrolled during the first year, and
the numbers continued to grow for some
time thereafter.
You may be sure that none of this
was lost on the keen-eyed young fellows
at the other end of town. They were
glad to have Doctor Scott back home
again. Tradition said he was the right
sort, and they welcomed him. But the
welcoming process, when applied to
seven score demure and rosy lassies, was
a matter for careful, if not prayerful,
consideration. On one point Adam was
certain. He was immensely pleased with
Eve on first inspection, and found no
fault with the alliance. Then every fel-
137
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
low proceeded to supply himself with
giddier waistcoats and tighter boots, to
toss the long locks back from his fore-
head in a Byronic fashion, and to prac-
tice fetching postures and languishing
glances before the broken mirror when
his room-mate was not in. Courage grew
with familiarity, as acquaintance ripened
into friendship. Soon the shrewd and
wiry doctor was kept busy directing his
charges where their little feet should
travel; and many a time his ready walk-
ing-stick did service tapping some over-
gallant swain back to a crushed and
sheepish state of self-consciousness.
In all this searching of young souls,
Doctor Scott's attractive daughter Caro-
line was by no means left in the back-
gromid. Plump and petite, with a jolly
twinkle in her sharp eyes, and a bitter
little tongue in her head, Carrie more
than divided honors with her father's
138
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
charming pupils. There were boys
a-plenty angling for her smiles ; and, being
wise beyond her seventeen years, she
distributed those smiles impartially.
But the suitors grudgingly confessed
that her real preference was the chap
who was reported to have followed her
all the way from College Hill, a quiet,
studious young fellow named Ben Harri-
son. Word had passed about the town,
almost before his credentials were in
from Farmer's College, that this was a
grandson of the late president, William
Henry Harrison, and now to find such
a celebrity in love added greatly to his
interest.
Ben wasn't much to look at in those
days; neither was he a dashing leader
in boyish pranks or an adept in the social
graces. He was short and flat-chested,
vv'ith colorless hair and a complexion
very much like tallow. There were good
139
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
e^^es beneath his high forehead, and they
lighted up with interest and sympathy
in literary meeting or Greek conclave.
Bnt generally he was silent and reserved
and meditative. David Swing, some-
time before his death, graphically re-
called his campus impression of this
solemn-visaged youth, his classmate and
fraternity-brother. "He was an earnest,
grave fellow," said Swing, *'and had no
time or taste for any form of mischief
or for joining in a moonlight serenade.
I was out with a dozen or so many a
night, singing Nellie Bly or Annie Laurie
under the window of sour professor or
sweet school-girl, without distinction of
person. But Ben was never along. He
was reading the speeches of Edmund
Burke or the essays of Macaula}^ or was
making the weekly call on Carrie Scott."
The new Institute building was en-
tirely taken up with class rooms, society
140
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
halls, and the like, so that accommoda-
tions and abundant provender for this
horde of rosy cheeked damsels offered
no small problem to the Scotts. They
themselves attempted to live in a moder-
ate-sized frame cottage across the street,
packing the place full of girls and mak-
ing a frenzied effort to satisfy those deli-
cate 3^oung appetites. Beau-time was
limited and private sparking-spots were
at a premium in such close quarters,
even for a daughter of the household.
But luckily for Miss Caroline, the Scott
cottage was adorned with a queer little
old-fashioned front stoop, forbidden to
the boarders. At each side of this stoop,
flanking the front door like the high-
backed settles beside an ancient fire-
place, were simple wooden benches bare-
ly large enough for two. This arrange-
ment must have had a fascination for
Ben, especially in those long, balmy,
141
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
drowsy nights of early summer, when
young hearts yearn and the lazy moon
smiles slyly down through the dense and
silent foliage of the maples. It was a
regular thing, at least, to find the couple
there side by side — one bench was
enough, forsooth — braving the dread
night-air that mothers talk about, and
planning the airy structure of shimmer-
ing castles in the land of make-believe.
Blood of heroes flowed beneath the boy's
pale skin, and ambition gleamed in his
eye. But it is doubtful if anywhere in
those brain-creations a place was made
for presidential dignity and the honors
of "the first lady."
Two years sped by before the lovers
knew it. Young Harrison had found op-
portunity for many things besides doing
time on the Scott doorstep. His was one
of the strongest classes in Miami history,
but he kept well at the top of it. Soon
142
"Braving thk drkad night-aih that motiikks talk ahoit."
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
after he arrived he signed the bond of
the Phi Delts, and they had some troub-
lous times about then for a fellow of his
principles. The literary hall almost di-
vided his heart with his lady, and he
never failed in his performance there.
On the commencement program for 1852,
in a rather obscure position, appear
these words:
"Poor of England," ...Benjamin Harris, North Bend.
Alas, for the irony of fate, and
of printer's proof! The only presi-
dent and grandson of a president
ever turned out from Miami's halls,
and his name bungled as if he were
an obscure freshman! Anyhow those
who know assure us that this was really
Ben, and the oration he delivered was
sincere and eloquent. A burst of ap-
plause swept through the grove as he
finished, and all the little maidens cooed
145
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
to their neighbors: "Isn't he just splen-
did? Such serious eyes!" Tradition is
silent as to ^yhethe^ Miss Scott said any-
thing, but we can guess what she
thought. Her graduation essay, some
weeks before, was on ''Ideality," but
she would much have preferred the real
when Ben departed to try his 'prentice
hand at life. He was not long away,
however. Very soon a few selected
guests were summoned to a sweet and
quiet ceremony one morning just inside
the old Scott doorway. A bridal pair was
whisked away some dozen miles by stage
to the nearest railway station, accom-
panied by a visiting minister who wished
there were any other way on earth to
reach that train. Since then how many
generations of college girls have gazed
lingeringly upon that quaint front stoop,
and wondered — and wondered!
146
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
Maybe the example of Ben and Caro-
line was contagious. Maybe the trouble
came from a germ in the air, like every-
thing else we catch. At any rate there
has scarcely been a year from 1852 to
date, while both the schools were run-
ning with a full head of youthful steam,
that there has not been a college girl who
placed her little pink fingers in a big
Miami fist and promised to be his for
life. Wh}^, in that very class of '52 there
were four of them; and there is more
than one instance on record where a son
of Miami turned from mourning for his
first college bride to seek solace in the
affection of a second from the same
place. Run your eye down the alumnae
list of this female institution some time,
just for the fun of it. Smother your
curiosity about the apparent ages of
your lady friends, and concentrate on
the column headed '' Husband's Name."
147
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
Check off the Miami people there re-
corded, and then figure on the girls who
didn't graduate, but found their fate in
Oxford just the same. Then you will
appreciate the importance of this chap-
ter.
Some people and some institutions
cannot stand success. The remarkable
growth of the Institute fairly turned the
heads of certain Oxford citizens of the
Old School Presbyterian faith. They
clamored to co-operate with Doctor
Scott in the erection of a fine new build-
ing and the institution of a real high-
grade college for young women, with all
its opportunities and privileges equal to
those enjoyed by the boys at Miami. The
pioneer quality and deep significance of
this project will be realized when we
consider that twelve years were then to
elapse before Matthew Vassar should
even conceive of the college that bears
148
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
his name. A company was formed, and
very soon subscriptions amounted to
$60,000, an enormous sum for that time.
But the outlay was more enormous still,
— ruinously enormous, as events proved.
A beautiful plot of ground was secured
north-east of the village, and a structure
reared which was a marvel of its kind,
and involved a debt almost equal to the
original stock.
Not all the friends of the old Institute
were favorable to all this, and many
were the annoying difficulties thrown in
the Doctor's none too practical way. One
party detemimed that the Institute was
to continue in an unbroken career; and
before he could anticipate it, he found
himself ousted from his old quarters
while the new ones were still at the
mercy of the carpenters, and right in
the middle of winter, at that. For over
a year Doctor Scott's girls continued to
149
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
live about the village as before, and ap-
propriated the old Girard Hotel for col-
lege purposes. Perhaps that accounts
for the cold, academic air it still retains.
Feeling was high in the village, with the
interesting paradox that everybody of
the Old School faith was pulling for the
new school, ^vhile adherents of New
School doctrines, with representatives of
various other denominations, were for
once unshaken in their allegiance to the
old school.
Such conditions nearly always pro-
duce a few farce-comedy features. This
time it was the episode of a case of
books. The Female Institute, in emula-
tion of its masculine neighbor, had es-
tablished two literary societies, with
long, pretty Greek names: Calliopean
and Philalethian. It was Doctor Scott's
idea that these should be transferred
bodily — charters, charming members,
150
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
and furniture — to his new temple of
learning. But a few of these members,
possibly encouraged in secret by the op-
position, declared that these societies
with their equipment belonged to the In-
stitute and there they should remain.
Perhaps by accident, perhaps because
his own ginger was a little up, the Doctor
in his hurried moving from the Institute
took with him the book-cases and dust-
covered library belonging to the Philale-
thians. It was some time before the In-
stitute party in the sisterhood dis-
covered their loss, and then how they did
sputter! Their former beloved presi-
dent suddenly became "a nasty mean old
thing," '^a low-down stealer" and a hun-
dred other lady-like terms that really
don't sound half -bad from a dozen pairs
of winsome lips. Certain aggrieved
townspeople got hold of the affair, and
then they proceeded to talk about it. So
151
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
much was hinted regardmg criminal
prosecution that Doctor Scott secured the
best legal talent in Hamilton to defend
him.
All this was royal sport for the Miami
contingent. Somehow the word was
spread concerning the counsellor-at-law,
and the boys, spoiling for the fun, in-
sisted that the Institute girls begin their
suit without delay. The more they
talked, the more urgent it seemed, until
at last a crowd of excited fellows got a
rig and drove madly to Hamilton by night
to employ an attorney for the prosecu-
tion. No one was found to satisfy them,
and the case finally went to an Oxford
lawyer, who really did just as well.
After all the boys had talked themselves
hoarse, and all the girls had run the
gamut of acute hysteria, and they had all
enjoyed about seven times as many hours
of each other's company as would have
152
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
been permitted in a time of slothful
peace, the two attorneys got together one
fine afternoon, winked knowingly three
long, mutual and impressive winks, and
agreed that their clients would do well to
compromise, the attorney's fees on either
side being appropriate to so momentous
a case. Amid such difficulties arose the
massive structure of the Female College,
which was finally dedicated in Septem-
ber, 1856. The Female Institute passed
into the control of the United Presbyter-
ians and was continued under the direc-
tion of the Reverend J. H. Buchanan. In
1867 it was absorbed by the College.
It has been noted that from the first
these "female institutions" purposed
real education, scorning the tinsel of
mere social accomplishments. Their
model was found in Miami University,
which was just then turning out preach-
ers, soldiers and statesmen by the score.
153
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
Erodelphian, Eceritean and Miami Union
Halls were putting finishing touches on
this product: accordingly both Institute
and College argued and declaimed in
Calliopean and Philalethian. Like their
big brothers, these latter gave literary
exhibitions during the winter, and at
commencement held public exercises in
which appeared some noted orator from
abroad, and some recent graduate who
presented the diplomas. The Miami
missionary spirit found vent in a Societ}^
of Religious Inquiry; the College also
supported its Society of Inquiry. Like
the University too, these schools had a
rigidly prescribed curriculum, packed full
of Greek and mathematics and philoso-
phy. Worst of all, they borrowed the
custom of public oral examinations in all
these subjects at the end of the year, with
the one feminine concession that they had
instrumental music between sessions of
154
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
torture. The extremity of this unsexing
process may be appreciated by this cau-
tion, which ran for years in the cata-
logues of the Female College :
"Every judicious parent will see the
importance of discouraging extravagance
and fondness for display. Plain, neat,
modest apparel only should be furnished.
Jewelry, except in a very limited extent,
will not be allowed, and ought not to be
brought."
Such consideration as is given to the
eternal feminine seems stingy enough, as
we glance through the accurately se-
lected catalogue phrases:
' ' The social manners and habits of the
students, as well as their moral and re-
ligious feelings, are carefully and zeal-
ously guarded and cultivated."
"No respectable male college now
pretends to graduate a class under four
years. Young ladies need more time;
155
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
for, in addition to the regular college
r-onrse, tliey are expected to devote con-
siderable time to those branches termed
ornamental."
Boarding students are promised: —
'*the watchful care and counsel of the
lady teachers in all the details of general
deportment and social etiquette."
Special courses and advantages are
offered in the various ornamental sub-
jects, but with this reservation: — ''Music
is taught for the mental and moral ad-
vancement of the student, and not merel}^
as an outward acomplishment."
Now you need not proceed, on the
strength of this, to picture to yourself a
serious and bespectacled conclave of an-
gular spinsters in Puritanic garb, cruci-
fying the flesh and absorbing cambric
tea and abstruse "ologies." Those were
real girls, full of energy and mischief,
and not particularly concerned whether
156
THE FEMALE INSTITUTIONS
woman had a sphere or not. Just remem-
ber, please, that all those intercollegiate
marriages grew out of intercollegiate ro-
mance, with all the usual accessories of
tender missives and clandestine trysts
and midnight serenades. Of course
sometimes the boys varied the serenade
program by appropriating the local
stage-coach in the dark of the moon, and
leaving it amid Doctor Scott's choice
flower-beds as a votive offering to some
lady fair. What the Doctor said next
morning to his posies, or the remarks
made by the distinguished visitor delayed