...On the platform sat the men, who, by their wisdom and courage had guided Kansas through her struggles and brought it, a free state, into the Union. Most of these men had hardly reached their prime, and the audience was young men, most of their life lay before them. And the town itself and all its surroundings were young. The college building stood on a treeless hill covered with prairie grass and the wild flowers that in those early days covered the ground with sheets of color. At the close of the dedication, the enrollment of students took place. Most of them (26 men and 29 ladies) had never seen a college or high school. But because of the danger and alarm in which their childhood had been passed, they were serious and thoughtful beyond their years, and they realized the greatness of the opportunity opened before them, and were earnest in taking advantage of it.
Hannah Oliver - Class of 1874