Oberlin Unmasked by Delazon Smith, a Student Written 1837 Condensed 2019 ~ Preface by TBT. Conduct and Character of the Church. Introduction. Conduct and Character, Concluded. Course of Study, and Manual Labor. Abolition. Board and Mode of Living. Intolerance or Suppression of Opinion. Connexion of Male and Female Departments. Concluding Remarks.   Disclaimer, by an Alumnus:  After its rather rocky first decade, Oberlin College has become much more worthy of our support. The year 1826 marked the death of an inspirational pastor, John Frederic Oberlin, in the small town of Waldbach (now Waldersbach) on the borders of Alsace and Lorraine.  Seven years later, a new settlement was founded on what was then the American frontier.  It was named Oberlin in the pastor's honor. “The plan of Oberlin originated with Rev. John J. Shipherd in July of 1832, while he was pastor of the Presbyterian church in Elyria, Ohio.  Associated with him in the development of this plan was Mr. Philo P. Stewart, formerly a missionary among the Cherokees in Mississippi and at that time residing in Mr. Shipherd's family. “The plan involved a school open to both sexes, with various departments — Preparatory, Teachers’, Collegiate and Theological — furnishing a substantial education at the lowest possible rates.  This school was to be surrounded by a Christian community, united in the faith of the gospel and in self-denying efforts to build up the school.  Families were to be gathered from different parts of the land to organize a community devoted to this object. “A place was found, a tract in an unbroken forest entirely unappropriated by the early settlers in consequence of its disadvantages:  an uninviting surface lying on the belt of clay which traverses Northern Ohio, destitute of springs and rocks and hills.  The advantages were the room it afforded, its location on the Western Reserve, and the low price of the land which was still held by Connecticut proprietors.  Nearly 6,000 acres was purchased at $1.50 an acre.  The first ‘colonist,’ Peter P. Pease, already a resident of the county, pitched his tent on what is now the southeast corner of the college square, April 19th, 1833.” Those are the words of John H. Fairchild in 1860.  Some financial support in the early days came from ardent abolitionists such as Arthur Tappan, a wealthy New York City merchant. However, Fairchild admitted, “The site has been matter of frequent criticism, and many are still unreconciled.”  One such critic was a student named Delazon Smith, who also had other, much greater objections.  His words are the basis of this ten-part Internet article. Some of his disagreements were with religious leader Charles Finney, a famed evangelist of the day.  Finney later became president of the college (1851-1866) and was succeeded in that office by Fairchild. ...   Introduction. When a person is wronged, he has the duty of warning others lest they suffer the same impositions.  In these pages, therefore, I shall reveal the conduct and character of a set of wicked men.  It is an exposé which will shame them and shock the sense of every candid and honest man in Christendom.  Lamentable as the truth may be, it must be told. An example of their egotism and arrogance may be seen in the following observations of Mr. Finney, made to me a year or two ago.  In his early labors he had been associated with another prominent revivalist, Jedediah Burchard. Finney said to me, “I don't like Burchard much.  He raises the Devil wherever he goes, and sets the Church all to pulling ears.  I once told Burchard that if he was a good man, then the Devil surely was.” To the contrary, I said, I had understood he thought much of Mr. Burchard, having been converted under Burchard's preaching. “Yes, yes,” he replied, “I have heard that he has boasted a vast deal that he converted me.  But it's a lie!  I was converted before he ever began to preach!”   CHARLES G. FINNEY   Origin and Location of the Institution If a new Institution of learning is to be founded on previously unsettled land — a manual-labor Institution where students earn their keep by felling trees, erecting buildings, and planting crops — it ought to be established at a favorable location in a healthy climate.  There should be productive land, well-drained but supplied with good water.  There should be other advantages to attract a scholar whose soaring mind delights in picturesque and diversified scenery. Yet a quarter of a million dollars has been obtained for the establishment and support of an Institution in a place where there are none of the above inducements.  The soil is low, wet, and clayey, with no streams.  The stagnant marshes breed fever and make it very difficult to labor in the fields during much of the year.  Strangers call it a mud-hole or a swamp. Why here, of all places? The “Colony” of Oberlin, as it is generally known, was founded in the spring of 1833 by Rev. John J. Shipherd.  Until then he had been Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Elyria, a village in Lorain County whose people were considering founding their own college.  But he was induced to leave, for reasons I have not been able to ascertain. Shipherd gathered his few remaining followers, most of whom were bankrupt merchants.  They were able to obtain land by imposing upon the charity of the public and the liberality of land speculators.  The location was eight miles to the southwest of Elyria:  three miles square in Russia Township.  Author John Scalzi of Bradford, Ohio:  “We pronounce ‘Russia’ as ‘Roo-she,’ which, come, now.  The Ohio pronunciation is unlike how it's spelled, or how it's pronounced anywhere else in the world.” The symbol locates the Elyria church in this present-day overview of Lorain County. The Oberlin Colony was established in the square outlined in red, with the college in the center. The next effort was to obtain colonists by holding out false inducements.  Among the misrepresentations was that the land was suitably dry, of an undulating surface, producing good water, and susceptible of easy cultivation.  Also, colonists were promised superior opportunities for the education of their children.  Many, however, have been obliged to send their children to distant places to prepare for college. The third effort was to obtain funds for the erection of buildings.  Mr. Shipherd went forth to gull the people.  He asked for contributions to colonize a “zealous and peculiar people for the Lord,” thus advancing the great cause of  “Christianizing the Western world.”  He described the promising prospects of the area — indeed all the beautiful Valley of the Mississippi, presently inhabited by ignorant, immoral, and depraved savages — and extolled the great benefits to the Church if she could gain dominion over this land.  He also described the plantations of the South and his determination to pursue the object of abolishing slavery.  Another source of funds was the scholarship system.  In the beginning, students were required to pay $150 for a scholarship, entitling them to tuition at the Institution as long as it should exist.  (They also reaped the benefits of manual labor from farming, and they could obtain implements, books, and room and board at cost — from $600 to $1,000 a year.)  These were allurements to support bankrupt knaves out of the pockets of poor young men. But alas!  Coinciding with my arrival as a student in the summer of 1835, at the close of the Institution's second year, the scholarship system was abandoned. Now, if students with or without scholarships have any advantages in the Institution, they must pay for them.  I would say to anyone who may have paid $150 in good faith for a scholarship, if he wishes to know the present value of it, to subtract the same amount.  I think you will be fully prepared to give the agents of Oberlin Collegiate and Theological Seminary due credit for having very ingeniously swindled from you one hundred and fifty dollars.   Continue to “Course of Study, and Manual Labor.”