oblems. When these questions were openly
discussed in the schools of the North, students and teachers gradually
became converted to the doctrine of equality in education. This
revolution was instituted by President C.B. Storrs, of Western Reserve
College, then at Hudson, Ohio. His doctrine in regard to the training
of the mind "was that men are able to be made only by putting youth
under the responsibilities of men." He, therefore, encouraged the free
discussion of all important subjects, among which was the appeal of
the Negroes for enlightenment. This policy gave rise to a spirit of
inquiry which permeated the whole school. The victory, however, was
not easy. After a long struggle the mind of the college was carried by
irresistible argument in favor of fair play for colored youth. This
institution had two colored students as early as 1834.[1]

[Footnote 1: _First Annual Report of the American Anti-Slavery
Society_, p. 42.]

Northern institutions of learning were then reaching the third stage
in their participation in the solution of the Negro problem. At first
they had to be converted even to allow a free discussion of the
question; next the students on being convinced that slavery was a sin,
sought to elevate the blacks thus degraded; and finally these workers,
who had been accustomed to instructing the neighboring colored people,
reached the conclusion that they should be admitted to their schools
on equal footing with the whites. Geneva College, then at Northfield,
Ohio, now at Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, was being moved in this
manner.[1]

[Footnote 1: _First Annual Report of the American Anti-slavery
Society_, 1834. p. 43.]

Lane Seminary, however, is the best example of a school which passed
through the three stages of this revolution. This institution was
peculiar in that the idea of establishing it originated with a
southerner, a merchant of New Orleans. It was founded largely by funds
of southern Presbyterians, was located in Cincinnati about a mile from
slave territory, and was attended by students from that section.[1]
When the right of free discussion swept the country many of the
proslavery students were converted to abolition. To southerners it
seemed that the seminary had resolved itself into a society for the
elevation of the free blacks. Students established Sabbath-schools,
organized Bible classes, and provided lectures for Negroes ambitious
to do advanced work. Measures were taken to establish