xt70rx937v71 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70rx937v71/data/mets.xml Rogers, John A. R., (John Almanza Rowley), 1828-1906. 19031902 books b92-270-32003764 English H.T. Coates, : Philadelphia : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Berea College. Birth of Berea College : a story of providence / by John A.R. Rogers ; with an introduction by Hamilton Wright Mabie. text Birth of Berea College : a story of providence / by John A.R. Rogers ; with an introduction by Hamilton Wright Mabie. 1903 2002 true xt70rx937v71 section xt70rx937v71
B I RT H
BEREA
of
COLLEGE
A STORY OF PROVIDENCE
By
J O HN
A.
R. RO GE RS
With an Introduction bv
HAMILTON WRIGHT
MABIE
HENRY T. COATES & COMPANY
PHILADELPHIA
MCMIII
COPYRIGHT, 1902,
By J. A. R. ROGERS.
Publishcd December, 1902.
Co p)er
TO WHOM BEREA COLLEGE IS MORE INDEBTED
FOR ITS PROSPERITY
IN ITS EARLIEST YEARS THAN IS KNOWN TO ANY
ONE EXCEPT THE AUTHOR,
THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED.
This page in the original text is blank.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
1. A VINE OF GOD'S PLANTING .. . . .
11. EASTERN KENTUCKY-THE LAND AND
THE PEOPLE . ......... .
!II. MOVEMENTS FOR EDUCATION AND FREE-
DOM .6
IV. A SOUTHERN ABOLITIONIST-JOHN G.
FEE ..
V. A GROUP OF PIONEERS. 3z
VI. DARK DAYS.39 ......... . 9
VI]. MR. ROGERS OBEYS AN INWARD CALL . 47
VIII. THE COLLEGE CONSTITUTION . . . 66
IX. MR. HANSON AND HIS SAW MILL . . . 76
X. JOHN BROWN'S RAID AFFECTS KEN-
TUCKY .Si
Xi. DEPARTURE AND RETURN OF THE
EXILES . . .. 9.... . . .. 95
XII. REOPENING AFTER THE WAR . . . . 'c6
XIII. THE DONORS.. . 123
XIV. THE LIFE OF THE SCHOOL . . . . IS
XV. EXTENSION WORK .'... .. . . . 149
XVI. THE COLLEGE AND THE CHURCH ..
XVII. ORGANIZATION AND DISCIPLINE 159
XVIII. SUMMARY ............. 167
This page in the original text is blank.
INTRODUCTION.
The story of the founding of Berea Col-
lege, told in these pages, is one of the
spiritual romances of American life; a chap-
ter in that unwritten history of the Ameri-
can people of which only hints and sugges-
tions are to be found in the formal records
of what has been done on this continent;
for America stands in the last analysis, not
for incalculable wealth or for a richer pros-
perity for men and women of all classes,
but for the recognition of the spiritual value
of a man as a man without regard to condi-
tion, station, education or race; and for the
largest opportunity for individual activity,
force, talent and character of every kind,
America is still the ol)en door to a better
future for the whole race.
Berea College was founded in faith, in
sacrifice, and with toil of spirit, of mind and
of hand. It had no great founder. no of-
ficial patrons. no great organiz7ation behind
it. There "-as nothing belhind it save faith
in God and man, and a passionate devotion
to the cause of the betterment of human
life. In the light of this record it Is easy
ii BEREA' COLLEGE
to understand the later success that has
come to the college, the unique opportunity
which is now before it. For men always
build better than they know, and there lay
in the spirit which brought Berea College
into being the prophecy and ultimately the
reality of a great service to humanity. Such
a service Berea College is now rendering,
at the critical moment, to a population of
nearly two millions of English-speaking peo-
ples, who live in the recesses and defiles of
the chain of mountains which President
Frost has called "Appalachian America."
Berea College is working for all classes; it
has students from many States; but, alone
among colleges, it holds the door open, by
reason of its spirit, its accessibility, its
knowledge of the people, to the young men
and women whose homes are in the moun-
tains-that magnificent country, so long iso-
lated, is now being penetrated and opened
up by roads, by lumbermen, by manufactur-
ers, by trade of every kind, and its popula-
tion is being heavily drawn upon by the in-
dustries of the New South, for it is very
largely furnishing the operatives for the
factories which stretch in a long row from
Charlotte to Spartanburg. The mountain
people are in that defenseless period which
INTRODUCTION iii
comes between long isolation and the
closest contact with the world. They
need comprehension, sympathy, guidance;
and it seems as if Berea College had been
created in order that it might be the guide,
the educator and the friend of this great
population in the most critical period of their
history. It was founded in faith and sacri-
fice; it is sustained to-day with equal faith
and sacrifice. No institution in America is
doing better or more necessary work on
more slender revenues. In fact, it may be
said that it pays for the work which its
President and instructors render, not in
money, but in opportunities of sacrifice.
These men ought not, however, to stand
alone. They ought to have supporters in all
parts of the country--men and women glad
to share with them the privilege of helping
a host of young men and women to enter
into modern life equipped, trained and edu-
cated. HAMILTON W. MABIE.
FIRST SCHOOL BUILDING ERECTED IN BEREA.
The College was started in that half to the left,
the extension being made later. Torn down
years ago.
This page in the original text is blank.
BIRTH OF BEREA COLLEGE.
A STORY OF PROVIDENCE.
CHAPTER I.
A VINE OF GOD'S PLANTING.
BEREA COLLEGE is a school so unique
D and of such national importance that
many are inquiring about its origin
and history. The writer is aware of his in-
ability to answer the inquiry in the way
which its importance demands; for to pre-
sent in due proportions and with exact col-
oring this story requires almost inspiration
itself, for as the late Professor Tyler said:
"It is like that of the Acts of the Apostles."
Berea College is the result of God's provi-
dence. The men from whose labors it was
an outgrowth were seeking primarily to give
a fuller knowledge of Christ's love, and God's
providence brought into existence the Berea
School to help in this work. They sowved
such seed as necessarily produces semina-
2 BEREA' COLLEGE
ries of learning. The seed which they scat-
tered tremblingly, amid fiery persecution,
was watered and protected by God's own
hand, and speedily brought forth much fruit,
of which not the least important was a
Christian college. The institution Itself has
been a growth from a small beginning. From
the first, He to Whom it was consecrated
took it under His own care, and its managers
have ever had occasion to feel that they
must not lay unsanctified hands upon it, and
that their work is to seek God's guidance
and follow the course His finger points. Its
history has been one of struggle with dif-
ficulties on the part of those conducting it,
and of care on God's part that the vine of
His planting should not be destroyed.
His providences have caused that the very
efforts of its enemies for its destruction
should be the means of laying its foundations
deeper and stronger. He it is who has made
it a greater power for Christian education
than some colleges starting with all the re-
sources of human wisdom and wealth.
EAST'ERN KENllUCKr 3
CHAPTER II.
EASTERN KENTUCKY; THE LAND AND
THE PEOPLE.
In order to understand the history, work
and mission of Berea College, it will be need-
ful to consider briefly the geography and
people of Eastern Kentucky.
The State as a whole is a great tableland,
extending from the Cumberland Mountains
on the east, to the Mississippi River on the
west. Its entire central portion is known as
"The Blue Grass," and is not surpassed for
beauty and fertility by any portion of our
country. East of this lies the hill country,
often, though erroneously, called "the moun-
tains;" for, with a single exception, there
are not properly any mountains in the State
except those of the Cumberland, which sep-
arate it from the Virginias. This hill coun-
try, originally a part of the level tableland,
has in the geologic ages been so cut by wa-
ter courses that it is almost entirely a succes-
sion of sharp hills and deep valleys. These
hills usually vary from three to eight hund-
red feet in height above the valley. This
4 BEREA' COLLEGE
region in the eastern and southeastern part
of the State embraces more than thirty coun-
ties, and has an area greater than that of
Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.
And the mountain portion of Kentucky is a
part of the great mountain region of the
South which embraces portions of seven
States.
Kentucky was settled mainly by people
of Scotch-Irish and English descent from
Virginia, Western Pennsylvania and North
Carolina. The fertile "Blue Grass" country
attracted the first settlers, who came for the
most part either along the Ohio River or
through Cumberland Gap, in the extreme
southeast of the State. When the fertile
central portion was occupied, settlers took
up the valleys of the hill region, coming by
the same routes or through difficult passes
in the Cumberland Mountains, but they were
of the same stock as those who had settled
in the central region.
This hill country, owing to its exceedingly
irregular surface, was destitute of any but
neighborhood roads. and the people were
satisfied with the simplest mode of living,
and had few wants, so that they became
largely "a people apart," with almost no In-
tercourse with the rest of the world. They
EASTERN KENTUCKY 5
lived a contented life, free and independ-
ent, with few aspirations for wealth or
learning. Their hospitality knew no limit.
Every man counted himself as good as his
neighbor, from whom he would never brook
an insult. They lived to some extent by
hunting, and firearms, often made by local
smiths, were ever in their hands, which they
did not hesitate to use upon man as well as
beast, if they thought needful. They were
bold and courageous, and not irreligious, but
had crude conceptions of Christianity. 'Many
of their preachers were excellent men, and
not a fewv persons led true Christian lives.
Tlie schoolmaster was not abroad, or, If he
was, equipped only with a knowledge of a
spelling hook and the elements of arithmetic.
Of geographical knowledge there was almost
none. The earth to their conceptions was
very limited, and it was regarded by many
as unscriptural to say that it turned on Its
axis.
While there were many men and women
of noble lives, the moral and social tendency
was downward. Though there were churches
in name, there was little organization and
discipline. and still less of instruction in
Biblical and Christian truth. The churches
were mainly Baptist In general belief, with
6 BEREA COLLEGE
the various divisions of that sect, and with
little sense of unity among themselves or
with any part of the church general, of which
they had scarcely any knowledge.
Their possessions were few. Most heads
of families owned small farms with arable
land in the valley, or on the hill sides. For
cultivating these farms they used a bull-
tongue plow. Their live stock consisted of a
cow or two and one or more horses-perhaps
a few sheep, and dogs a plenty. The house-
hold goods were meagre in the extreme. Two
or more beds in the main room, with others
in the loft: an iron skillet, bakeoven and
very few dishes for cooking and table use,
sufficed for the domestic department. Well-
to-do families possessed a larger quantity of
these necessities, and also a spinning wheel
and loom. The weomen of the family carded,
spun and wove the wool direct from the
sheep's backs into clothing for the family,
as well as blankets and coverlids for the beds.
Flax was grown, which under the same in-
dustrious hands was woven into sheets, table
linen and those things for which the most
obscure housekeeper finds plenty of use. The
woolens and linens, though coarse, were the
pride of the mountain woman's heart, and
their lasting qualities gave her a great dis-
EASTERN KENTUCKY 7
gust for the finer but less enduring "store
truck."
Though with so few comforts, the people
were far enough from being degraded. They
were not only brave, but self-respecting. As
President Frost (the present head of the col-
lege) has shown abundantly, their condition
was not one of degeneration so much as, in
his own language, "a case of belated devel-
opinent; those who must be regarded as our
contemporary ancestors of two or three cen-
turies since."
Living apart, with almost no intercourse
with others, they attracted little attention
from those outside their borders. Churches
in the Blue Grass let them go their ownii way
without much thought of giving them fuller
Christian iknowledge or educational help.
There were among the ministers some like
Francis Hawley. father of Senator Hawley,
of Connecticut; faithful men, with deep
Christian convictions on all moral subjects
and the courage to express them.
Rev. Francis Hawley was a native of
North Carolina, who at the invitation of Rev.
John G. Fee left his State and came to Ken-
tucky and preached for some months in the
vicinity of Berea. His hearers remembered
his distinct prediction, that if slavery was
8 BEREA COLLEGE
not abolished voluntarily it would lead to
war, and when the Civil conflict came they
referred to him as a prophet.
To give a fuller knowledge of this region,
some extracts are given from letters pub-
lished in the New York Independent, in 1858,
giving a description of a tour through South-
western Kentucky by Rev. John G. Fee and
Rev. J. A. R. Rogers, for learning more per-
fectly the character and needs of the region,
and also for preaching the Gospel and stir-
ring up the people on the subject of educa-
tion.
Mr. Rogers in his description says:
"Though already somewhat acquainted
with this region, I was impressed more deep-
ly than ever before with the lack of indus-
try and enterprise. Though I traveled over
productive lands which can be bought at
prices varying from one to five dollars an
acre, I did not see any other than a log
house-frequently not for thirty miles. The
use of glass for windows is in some localities
scarcely known. I was recently at the house
of a mountaineer living within eight miles of
the Blue Grass, who owned hundreds of
acres of land, who probably never thought of
having a pane of glass in his cabin. Corn
bread, coffee and bacon are the universal
EASTERN KENTUCKY 9
articles of diet, and many families taste rare-
ly little of anything else, except vegetables
In the summer time. One of the mountain
men I saw was in form and feature and bear-
ing a perfect facsimile of a Spanish cavalier
of the olden time. The degree of admiration
I felt for him was lessened when I visited
his cheerless cabin, occupied by a numerous
family, alike destitute of knowledge and
comforts. e
"The next morning we started onward at
dawn and took breakfast with a widow, rich
in faith and noble children, but destitute of
worldly goods. The news of our approach
had preceded us, and a lovely daughter of
ten summers, sick with fever, could not be
pacified until she was dressed and brought
to tihe door to greet us. Greater heroism was
not manifested in the days of the American
Revolution by mothers or daughters than by
this widow and her children during the anti-
slavery persecution a year since. The hour
we spent there will never be forgotten. The
eldest son, seventeen years old, and the main
stay of the family, was very anxious to at-
tend the Berea School the coming term. The
younger children participated in the same de-
sire. We were all discussing whether it was
practicable for the family to move to Berea
OLD GLADE CHURCH.
Where Mr. Fee, Mr. Rogers, and others, preached
long before the War. Photo taken in 0868.
EASTERN KENTUCKY I I
-but to give the particulars of that hour's
conversation would be to transgress the laws
of domestic privacy. Never did a Chancellor
of the Exchequer devise ways and means to
meet a present call more earnestly than did
that widow to secure to her children the ad-
vantages of education. It was decided that
John must go to school six months at all
events, then he could teach; and then-but
I must forbear. To secure this the older
girls must harvest the corn, which they vol-
unteered to do with all the enthusiasm of
sisterly love. We felt sure that blessings
such as fell to the fair reaper from whom
sprang David and David's greater son would
fall to these reapers not less fair.
"In a school I visited I observed the pu-
pils went out and came in as they pleased.
The teacher sat with his heels on a desk.
Before I left, he commanded his scholars to
study; thereupon the members of the school
set their lungs as well as their eyes to work.
Spelling, which with reading and writing
not unusually comprises the whole course of
study, was the order for the hour. A roar
ensued not unlike that of a park of artil-
lery. The air seemed filled with splinters of
words and syllables. After the first burst
of enthusiasm ceased, sundry diligent ones
1 2 BERE- COLLEGE
kept up a running fire, which continued till
we left. e I
"While playing Bo-peep with the knobs we
suddenly came in sight of a rich oasis, sur-
rounded by an amphitheatre of hills. The
Vale of Tempe was not more beautiful. The
solitary mansion in the centre, surrounded
by huts, almost hidden by the far-stretching
fields of grain, indicates that whatever bright
spirits preside over this scene of beauty, it
is not beyond the reach of "the peculiar
institution." We had occasion to make some
inquiries which introduced us to the lord of
the manor, a widower of sixty, and, as he
told us, the only white person on the place,
which, notwithstanding its natural beauty,
'wore an air of sad desolation.' He seemed a
kind man, who had enjoyed few if any ad-
vaantages of education, and now was very,
very lonely. I remembered to have seen but
one man who inspired in me so much sad-
ness. Of royal mien, he showed in every
sentence and movement how much the un-
tovard circumstances of ignorance and un-
limited power may do to crush the noblest
qualities. e S
"Pressing forward we reached the Cumber-
land River. For miles along this beautiful
stream we find no trace, besides our half-
EASTERN KENTUCKT 13
beaten path, to lead us to suppose that we
are in a world inhabited by man. The bare
cliffs rise in places in imposing grandeur,
hundreds of feet above the river, while anon
the hills recede one after another, forming a
panorama of peculiar beauty. The whole
scene makes one breathe freely. We are no
longer in a world of haste. The mountains
seem to enjoy their perfect leisure, and the
water skips from rock to rock only because
it has nothing else to do.
"Our journey of twenty miles beyond the
river ran through an almost unbroken wilder-
ness, but afforded much of interest. At 12
M., on Saturday, we reached the house of a
late magistrate, w-here we found an au-
dience waiting to listen to an address on
West India emancipation. The next day we
met at the church for public worship. Our
meeting house, of course of logs, as no other
material is used in this region. was in a nar-
row defile. The gable ends had never been
boarded, but now were shaded by a dense
thicket wvhich had sprung up. grasping tight-
lv the house on three sides. The effect of the
shading was finer than that produced by
richest cathedral windows. Around the
outside of the room, which was twenty by
forty feet, were slab benches. The other
14 BEREA COLLEGE
seats were of rails. The pulpit was about
three feet square, but made up in height all
lack in other dimensions. As to the audi-
ence, the males defiled to the right and the
females to the left, each person shaking
hands with all those passed until a seat was
found. One good woman continued smoking
her pipe as she came in, but relinquished it
a few moments after she was seated. Soon
after we arrived a sturdy mountaineer, with
a sweet voice, notwithstanding its nasal
tone, commenced one of those wild melodies
spoken of by 'Mrs. Stowe in Dred,' in which
he was joined by the whole congregation.
All felt the influence of the words and music,
and this fact must disarm criticism. The
people listened very attentively to the pre-
sentation of the Gospel, both in the morning
and afternoon. At the close of the second
sermon, upon the suggestion of the resident
minister, all the friends of the Lord Jesus
came forward to the stand and gave the
strange preachers the right hand of fellow-
ship. The scene was an affecting one, and
not a few tears were shed."
The conditions described as belonging to
Eastern Kentucky pertain to a large extent
to the whole Appalachian region in neigh-
boring States, which has now (1902) above
EASTERN KENTUCKr i5
3,000,000 inhabitants of English and Scotch-
Irish stock.
It was more especially for the benefit of
this interesting but neglected part of our
country that Berea College was founded,
though in the expectation that it would be a
blessing to all classes, colored and white.
The political importance of this region has
not yet been fully realized, though it played
a great if not a decisive part in the Civil
War.
General Cassius MI. Clay had taken note
that those who owned land, but not slaves,
were the people who would especially favor
freedom, and had devoted himself to this
class.
'6 BEREA4 COLLEGE
CHAPTER III.
MOVEMENTS FOR EDUCATION AND
FREEDOM.
The influences which led to the founding of
the Berea School were both general and spe-
cific. Among the general influences were
those missionary educational and anti-sla iery
movements which per-
vaded the whole land
about the middle of
the last century
which led to the great
activity in home mis-
sions, the founding of
colleges. and the op-
posing of slavery on
Mr. Rogers in 1856. tepr fmn
the part of many
churches, North and South.
From 1840 to 1850 the discussions on the
subject of slavery led many to feel. with
great intensity, that American slavery, how-
ever its evils might be modified in the hands
of good men, was itself an institutior so con-
trary to the light of the nineteenth century
EDUCATION-FREEDOM I 7
and to the law of love that it must be op-
posed in all lawful ways by Christian men.
As many of the missionary bodies seemed
almost indifferent to this evil, which was
rooting itself more firmly In a large part of
the country, a new organization was formed,
which was pledged to promote missions
which should not in any way countenance
slavery.
That society was named the American
Missionary Association, and it had a most
important part in the establishment and
growth of Berea College. Though it did not
found the school, and was never responsible
for it, this association gave its support to
those who did found it, and was a most im-
portant factor in its success. None the less,
from the first the school was a Kentucky
college, on Kentucky soil, with Kentuckians.
native and adopted, for its promoters. Even
its liberty-loving character was by no means
wholly an importation from the North. 'More
than a score of years before the college had
'This society was organized in Albany, N. Y., in 1846,
by delegates from churches in different parts of the
land, and named "The American Missionary Associa-
tlon." Four societies which had for their object home
missions, missions among the Indians, missions for the
negroes in the West Indies and missions in Africa, were
merged intn this.
18 BERER COLLEGE
an existence the Presbyterian Synod of Ken-
tucky adopted a paper on the subject of
slavery, which in the judgment of this
writer was one of the clearest, strongest and
wisest deliverances on slavery ever made.
In Kentucky were many men like James G.
Birney, one of the founders of the univer-
sity at Danville; President Young, of the
same institution; Professor James A. Thome.
Judge Burnam and other worthy compeers
who were In favor of freedom for all.
The courageous work of Cassius M. Clay
is well known, and indirectly had its influ-
ence upon the location of the school at Berea.
At this time Rev. John G. Fee had recently
established in Lewis, one of the hill coun-
ties of Kentucky on the OGrio River, a church
which refused fellowship with slaveholders.
Owing to continued opposition from his
Presbytery for his anti-slavery opinions, Mr.
Fee felt compelled to withdraw from it, and
later was commissioned by this Association
as one of its ministers.
If any question the propriety of organiz-
ing churches which excluded slaveholders
from membership, let it be remembered that
this story is a presentation of facts, not of
arguments for any given course. Let it also
be kept In mind that Christian movements
EDUC4TtION-FREEDOM i 9
are carried on in broad lines, and do not
wait to consider exceptional cases. How-
ever good and wise may have been many
who held the relation of master to slave, 'Mr.
Fee argued that the system of American
slavery which gave to masters the legal pow-
er of separating parents and children, hus-
bands and wives, and of using the unpaid
labor of slaves for their own profit, was an
evil with which the Church must grapple,
and one which the providences of God at
that time showed should be considered and
acted upon according to the law of love. It
was the effort to give Christianity this prae-
tical turn, and not to preach any new doc-
trine, which influenced the American Mis-
sionary Association and its missionaries to
take their course on slavery.
.Mr. Fee's labors, and especially as a pio-
neer missionary of the Association in the
border counties of Kentucky, and later in
other parts of the State amid violent op-
position, constituted so important a part of
the influences which led to the establishing
of the Berea School and to giving it its peeu-
liar character, as to call for a sketch of his
life.
REV. JOHN G. FEE.
JOHN G. FEE 21
CHAPTER IV.
A SOUTHERN ABOLITIONIST-JOHN G. FEE.
John Gregg Fee was a native of Kentucky.
whose ancestors had long lived in the State,
solid, substantial people of eminent respect-
ability. His father, like most planters of
ineans, was a slaveholder. His parents were
God-fearing Presbyterians, and their son,
John, received the religious training of
(children in those days. He took his col-
legiate course at Miaimii U7niversity and Au-
gusta College, Ky., and studied theology in
Ia-ne Senilnary. While there he became
fully convinced not only that slavery was
wrong, lut that the Church should oppose it.
even to refusing fellowship to those holding
slaves. His feelings were so deeply moved
on this subject that lie decided to give up his
plans to go as a foreign missionary, and
labor in his own State as a minister, using
all his influence against slavery. though it
might lead to shame and spitting, and even
death.
After debating this subject with himself
for a long time, the final struggle came in
a grove back of Lane Seminary, where on
22 BEREA COLLEGE
his knees he gave himself anew to his Mas-
ter and said: "Lord, if need be, make me
an abolitionist."
After he left the seminary lie had many
trying experiences, and was cast out of his
father's home for his course with regard to
slavery.
Finally he settled in Lewis county, on the
Ohio River, where he established a church,
which, as has been said, refused fellowship to
slaveholders.
In Bracken, an adjoining county, he es-
tablished a similar church, and ministered
to these two faithfully for some years. Dur-
ing this period he was waylaid, shot at, club-
bed, stoned and subjected to constant per-
secutions of various kinds, but he went on
his way patiently and hopefully, when re-
viled, reviling not again, but calmly trust-
ing in God and seeking such protection as
he could get from the courts, though this
was often very meagre. He preached to such
as would hear him, and his life, known
throughout this region, preached to many who
never saw him. He gathered into his
churches many faithful people, who showed
the same heroism as their pastor. Conspic-
uous among them were the Marshalls and
the Boyds. Among the young people of his
JOHN G. FEE 23
church was Obed Marshall, a single speci-
men of whose heroism is given as a sample
of that of many others. M1r. Waters relates
of him that when one of the members of
the church was arraigned and put on trial
before the County Court, at Maysville, upon
a trumped up charge of inciting slaves to es-
cape, Marshall, rot yet 20 years old, was
summoned as one of the witnesses for the de-
fense.
"The courtroom was crowded and the town
was seething with excitement. 'Marshall was
the first witness called for the defense. When
turned over, after giving his direct testi-
moiny, to the prosecution for cross-examina-
tion, the first question hurled at him by the
State's attorney was: 'Are you an abolition-
ist' The crowded courtroom was still as
death. A moment's pause, and then came
the answer, clear, distinct, without a tremor:
'Yes, I am. aid I am not ashamed to own it
before God and the holy angels.'"
The number of noble men and women in
the Bracken Church was even greater than
in that in Lewis. stan y of them were in
high repute, not only in their own county,
hut in that part of the State. Mr. Hanson's
fine house, with its broad porches, was not
more conspicuous than were its occupants
24 BEREA COLLEGE
for every good word and work. Mr. Hamil-
ton's hospitality was notable even in Ken-
tucky, and accepted as widely as it was ex-
tended. Mr. Gregg's Quaker ancestry showed
itself in his benign countenance, and Mr.
Humlong, with his tall figure and some-
what taciturn ways, might have been taken
for one of the pioneers of the State. The
loving kindness of the matrons in these and
like homes could not be surpassed.
When Mr. Fee was preaching in Lewis
and Bracken counties, Cassius M. Clay was,
by the press and by speeches, opposing slav-
ery in other parts of the State, and especial-
ly in Madison county, in the center of the
State, where he resided. Learning of Mr.
Fee's work he gave him a cordial invitation
to go to Madison and preach a series of ser-
mons, and if thought advisable, organize a
church.
Accordingly he went to the Glades, in the
southern end of the county, and held a se-
ries of meetings. As Berea College was after-
ward founded and located upon the ridge
surrounding the Glades, a full description of
the loeality seems called for.
The Glades are a perfectly level tract, in
elliptical form, containing one or two square
miles, and not many centuries since were the
JOHN G. FEE 25
bottom of a lake. To a person standing in
the middle of this tract and looking north-
ward appear detached groves of small inter-
twined oaks extending to the rolling Blue
Grass region. Looking southward at that
time one could see neither fence nor cultiva-
tion nor tree, except the old Glade Oak, with
wide extending branches, like a lone monarch
without subjects. To the southeast, south
and southwest of the Glades rises with
gradual slope a ridge 100 feet in height and
two niles in length, with a plateau on Its
top varying from an eighth to a half mile In
width. Beyond this ridge to the southward
and across Silver Creek Valley rise "The
Mountains."
The beholder standing beside the Glade
Oak sees to the southeast, three miles dis-
tant, Joe's Lick Knob, a lofty eminence apart
from the rest of the mountains. To the
right of this rises the Blue Lick Range, with
east and west pinnacles, and still farther to
the right Bear Knob, then with a valley be-
tween