Before The Convention

Harris Hall carne in for considerable recognition at the last General Conventioon of the Episcopal Chnrch, Rev. Henry Tatlock being one of the members of the committee on education. In tho report of the coruinittee is the f ollowing páragrapn : Our coimnitteë cordially and heartily endorses the plan adopted by the late Bishop Harris in the establishment of Harris Hall at the University of This experiment has beeu tried for ten yeais, and proved in every way, a complete snccess. The Bishops of Milwaukee and of West Virginia have undertaken to have similar foundations at the University of Wisconsin and the University of West Virginia. Young men attending the universities may live in tho halls as practically members of the family of the clergyman-in-charge. In both instances the religious interest of the students is qnickeued and sustained under the healthiest and finest influence. The Church life in the uiiiversity is concentrated, and, at the University of Michigan itsjinflnence is reinforced by the two courses of lectnres upon the Baldwin and Slocnm foundation, delivered annually to all the students by eminent clergymen of the Church. The ereetion and endowment of such halls as these in counection with every largo secular university in the country would be a vast gain to our educational work. Two of the members of the committee were given ten minutes each to speak on the report. Mr. Tatlock was selected as one of the two, and bis speech which was listened to with interest was as f ollows : "I was not aware, nntil jusfc before coming into the session this morning, that I was to be asked to say anything to you on this great topic of Church halls. I shall speak to you on three subjects: (1) The occasion of . Chnrch halls in connection with greot universities under the care of the State; (2) the method of their operation and (3) the results which they secure. "The United States census of 1890 shows that there are in universities and colleges of the United States, under the direction of the various states, 46,000 students and over. In the universities and the colleges of the older sort.whioh exist as' private Corporation s, like the colleges of New England and the Middie States, there were, at the same time, 103,000 students. So that in 1890 there were nearly one-tbird of the total number of students in universities and colleges gathered in these State toins, which are in no way whatsoever connected with any roligious body ; and I have no doubt tbat today the nurnber of students in the institutions is fnlly one-third of the total number of students in the colleges and nniversities Here is our opportunity - one-third of theyoung people who are receiviug higher education in institutions which are in no way connected with any religious body, by the side of which we naay plant our Church and set uponrbanner. We are, or ought to be, fishers of men ; and I represent to you, gentlemen, tb at these institutions where these young people are .gatliered for higher education are good places for ut to go aud flsh. Now, as to the method. The Rev. Bishop of New Hampshire has represen ted to us the importance of establishing the parish church in connection with schools and colleges. That, I believe, is the very first step to be taken. The college hall will accorumodate nothing except as it is the adjunct of the Church. The Church is first- the Church, with her services, the Church in all her fullness and her power - and then let the Church hall come in asan arm, as an instrumentality of that Church there establislied, by means of which that Church, that parish. with its clergy, may seek out and gather together aud influence the young people who are enrolled in universities. That is the method. It is, of course, after all, the method of personal influenne. The hall is nothing, excepting as it is the rneans of enabling men to meet other men and to bring the influence of the Church to bear upon young men gathered into universities, to bring the influence of the Church upon those young men through the instrnmentality of men who are themselves imbued with the spirit of the Church. Now, as to the results. I supp.ose I have been asked to speak to you upon j this topic simply beoause I chance to be connected witb that Church hall to which reference has been made this morning ; the Church hall which Bishop Harris founded.of which so many of you have heard. Undoubtedly many of you have listened to Bishop Harris hi'msolf when he pleaded with you for your assistance and your aid that he might establish this institution. There are men connected with this convention who cooperated with him in that oiïort and who helped him not only by counsel, but by giving him money thathe might establish this institution in connection with the great University of Michigan where there are gathered some 3000 students. I say I suppose I have been asked to speak upon this subject because of my personal connection at the present time with that institntion and therefore I suppose what you wish me to say is what the result has been. That hall is now called Harris 'Hall but was not called Harris Hall when first erected. Bishop Harris named it Hobart Hall and it was after his death that the name was changed to Harris Hall and I think that fact should be stated. it is tberefore now the monument of Bishop Harris in the diocese of Michigan of his great work there in connection with edncation and of the influence of the Church upon it. I will simply say though I presume my time is alieady exhausted that though the influence of this instrumentality and of the Church with which it is connected there are now in attendance upon the services of the Chnrch there of the students of the Univesity some 400. There are about 250 stndents who aro communicants of the Church and fully 150 naore who are to a grrater or lessextent regular attendants npon these services of the Ohurcli ; a largenumber of stndents are confirmed every year and not a few of those stndents have becorne earnest, faithful, loyal workers in the service of the Church in that neighborhood and have gone all over the country. That institutiou hafi stndents from 44 states and territories and 1 7 f oreign countries. Those young men who come here are brought under the influence of the Church, and go forth iuto the world and carry into every part of the world whatevpr influence the Church may niak upon thern as they live there during tfieir years of college life.