the work which remained for him to do. He made many and great efforts to obtain the neccessary (sic) funds for the purpose. He was unsuccessful, and his failure was a great grief. After his death, quite unexpectedly, the difficulties in the way disappeared. In 1887 a new and substantial brick structure was built. It is admirably adapted for the purpose and provides for 100 boarders, and a large number of day scholars. The Hall suffered severely from the depression of 1892 and the following year, and was closed for a year, when it was reopened under a new management. It is now very prosperous -- under a very efficient principal and corps of teachers, its rooms are full, its curriculum extended, and its future progress assured. Could the good bishop's eyes look upon the institution now he would rejoice that what was denied to him was given to another to accomplish.
   Hardly was Bishop Clarkson settled in his new home at Omaha before he began to feel that sense of isolation of which many bishops have complained who have not had a church of their own nor an altar at which they had the right to serve. He was peculiarly sensitive in this way, for he loved more than all else close relations with his people. Trinity Church was, in proportion to the resources and population of the city, large and prosperous; it had an eligible site, a simple but sufficient wooden church, and an interested congregation. The circumstances seemed to favor a connection between it and the bishop. At his instance, and with ready assent of the authorities of the parish, on the 4th of March, 1868, an agreement was concluded to the effect that the bishop should have his seat in the chancel, direct the ritual, preach when in the city, use the church for all episcopal offices and functions, and have a certain part in the selection of a rector in case of vacancy. This was the beginning of the framing of the cathedral system in Nebraska. It was simple and tentative, but it was for the time satisfactory to all concerned.
   The church was afterward burned, and a temporary building put in its place. In 1872 the bishop and vestry began to look forward to a new and permanent church, and it seemed opportune to establish their relations more certainly. He then brought forward a plan of cathedral organization, the general idea of which was his; in some detalis (sic) as he worked them out he took the advice of others. He submitted it to the vestry, which gladly approved it, and then presented it to, the diocesan council, which unanimously adopted a canon embodying it.
   The organization is diocesan rather than local. This appears from its name, which is the Cathedral Chapter of the Diocese of Nebraska. Its members are almost all diocesan officers. Its functions are almost entirely diocesan. It is the board of missions, the trustee of the funds and property of the church, the visitor of the schools, the administrator of the institutions of charity, and is competent to receive the care of other activities. The diocesan character of the system further appears from the fact that the church and the chapter could at any time be dissevered and the latter remain almost as complete as before in its personnel and objects. While the system is maintained the parish enjoys the advantages of the bishop's interest and services, and displays in its church the episcopal office in, various and impressive functions. There are in our country cathedrals formed on other plans. Some are bishop's churches, in which he is sole and active authority. There are others with organizations not unlike those of England, and a local chapter composed of a dean, canons, and other officers. In certain conditions Bishop Clarkson's scheme is satisfactory; at least under his mild rule it was both satisfactory and efficient. It has received the approval of many other bishops, and has been adopted by several dioceses and jurisdictions. There are defects in it which will be mentioned hereafter.
   On the evening of May 25, 1880, the cornerstone of the cathedral was laid. It was a great event for the church. Bishop Whipple of Minnesota, Bishop Vail of Kansas, Bishop Hare of Niobrara, Bishop Garrett of Northern Texas, and Bishop Spaulding of Colorado

responded to Bishop Clarkson's invitation to assist in the ceremonies. There was a large attendance of the clergy of this and other dioceses. Crowds thronged the grounds and the streets about. A procession which formed on Seventeenth street, led by a band from Fort Omaha and two military companies, and long drawn out by members of the vestries, the clergy, and the bishops, marched through the multitude to the site. Bishop Clarkson laid the stone with the usual ceremonies. The procession reformed and proceeded to the chapel where Bishop Whipple preached. The impressive feature was the general interest of the people in the event. The whole city, the clergy and people of all Christian denominations, and citizens without regard to religious relation, entered into the occasion with enthusiasm.
   On November 5, 1883, the cathedral was consecrated. It. was the consummation of the work which had sorely taxed the patience, zeal, and ability of all concerned. It was a very happy day. Bishops Sweatman of Toronto, Canada, Garrett of Northern Texas, Hare of Niobrara, and Burgess of Quincy came to rejoice with Bishop Clarkson. There were large numbers of clergy from this and other dioceses and of other denominations. Bishop Clarkson was the celebrant, Bishop Burgess, epistoler, Bishop Sweatman, gospeler, and Bishop Garrett, preacher. In the evening Bishop Sweatman preached.
   Again the civic character of the cathedral was emphasized. The presence of officers of the nation, state, and city, and of the army testified to it. The clergy of other denominations showed their sympathy by a large attendance.
   It may seem that this sketch has fallen from the general history which concerns us here to local topics. This cathedral belongs to the diocese as well as to those who worship at its altar. The parochial authorities have again and again, by grants and solemn muniments, confirmed the diocesan character of the church. As such they have been called upon to bear a larger share of the diocesan burdens, and with more than generous spirit have answered the call. Besides, in the works of construction and embellishment of this sacred edifice, large aid was given by the bishop and his friends because it is a cthedral (sic) rather than a parish church. It is therefore, a diocesan institution and has a place of its own on this account.
   In 1881 the bishop bought the lot near the cathedral for a child's hospital. There was a little one-story wooden dwelling there which he opened for children, having secured the services of a sister from the Bishop Potter Memorial House in Philadelphia. Nothing could be more humble. Two years afterward the present building was erected. The institution from the first was aided by generous benefactions of several members of a family devotedly attached to the bishop, and by gifts from other good people. This charity which undertakes the pitiful care of little ones was most like himself -- it was the efflorescence of his heart. Its name will carry his memory to other generations.
   Mindful of the fact that the church sent him here to be a missionary, Bishop Clarkson realized that his task was to go about everywhere, into every town, village, arid hamlet, and even to the solitary settler on the public domain, carrying with him the Gospel, dispensing the blessings of the sacraments, teaching the doctrines of the church, giving Christian nurture to children, comfort to the sick, and help to the wayward. This duty rested on him always; he never cast it off. The Church, the Master bound it on his shoulders, and he bowed down under the load. There were journeys from his home to farthest points in his jurisdiction, hundreds of miles sometimes, traveled by wagon. When he came here no railroads had been built, nor until a few years before he died could most of his stations be reached by rail. Often he went the long weary way to help a single one of his clergy living almost in solitude, and almost as often to look after the people who had lost their missionary. He did not stay in a town where was a parish and work that might go on of itself without him, of which, indeed, there were not many. He went to the little mis-

sions and to places where a mission might be started. He held services and preached in dwelling-houses, and schoolhouses and courthouses, and houses of worship of Christians of other names. Always, everywhere, to a handful as to a multitude, he preached with the same mellifluous eloquence, the same persuasive tones, the same high thought, and with what effect upon the sensibilities, convictions and life, some can never forget.
   But he had one very discouraging experience. When Bishop Clarkson came here the Missouri river was the sole avenue of trade and communication, and all the towns were planted along its borders. Accordingly, the work of the bishop was to build churches in this region, and to gather the people into them. Hardly was this well begun before railroads penetrated the west -- the Union Pacific first, the Burlington next, and the others soon afterward. This destroyed commerce on the river, and the towns along it soon began to fall into decay, and with them the churches. New towns sprang up in the interior, to which the faith had to be carried. The work of planting had to be begun again as if never done before.
   In 1868, when the diocese was organized, the churches at Brownville, Peru, Bellevue, Fort Calhoun, and Decatur each had a measure of strength. In 1885, when the bishop died they had become almost extinct. Even Nebraska City and Plattsmouth at that date were not able to go alone. Between the two dates, towns on the Union Pacific had sprung up, and in the South Platte were Lincoln, Beatrice, and Hastings. Beginnings had to be made again, missions planted, people gathered, and churches built. None had strength to help the general work and most called on the bishop for aid.
   And thus it happened that the diocese had two beginnings, two periods of pioneer work, the work in the last aided not at all by what had been done in the first. The loss of what was done in the early part of his episcopate gave Bishop Clarkson's work an appearance of results below his expectations, and in his last days he had a sense of failure. But few knew that a cloud rested on his spirit; his words were cheery and he called his people and clergy on to new endeavors.
   The bishop did not count the cost of what he did, or measure the gains he made. It was no matter to him that his means were very small, that he reached very few souls, and gained very uncertain results. He did not complain of any of his clergy who lacked persistence and shifted from place to place, and from this diocese to another. He was always saying that no bishop ever had so devoted a body of clergy. He was not discouraged by the inertness and want of sympathy of the people among whom he went in and out. To him the diocese was a splendid domain, full of great possibilities. So far was he from making little of his field he magnified it greatly. His buoyant spirit carried him always beyond the means and gains which commonplace men count trivial. He rejoiced in what he had to do as if it were the largest and most conspicuous work any bishop ever undertook.
   At the general convention of 1883 Bishop Clarkson resigned the jurisdiction of Dakota. From that time he was to devote himself wholly to his duties as the diocesan of Nebraska. We may take this as the dividing point in our history. Before that time we were altogether a missionary diocese, receiving Episcopal service from the general church, doing little for our own missions, and depending largely on the church in the East. But now churchmen took upon themselves their own burdens. They were made to understand that most of what should be done must be done by themselves.
   Bishop Clarkson died on March 10, 1884. The homage of the people to his memory was profound. During the funeral, at the request of the mayor, business in the city was suspended. Crowds lined the way as he was borne to the cathedral, and reverently uncovered as the cortege passed by. The officers of the city and the state and the people gathered to this sacred place.
   Bishop Worthington was consecrated in his parish church of St. John, in Detroit, on St.

Matthias's Day, 1885. During the interregnum the church here had hardly held its own. A rigid trial of her strength at that time disclosed weakness almost everywhere and there came to many a sense of impotency. But the dawn of a new day had begun to break, even before the first bishop's death. His eye caught the rays, but it was not to see the full light. If he could only have lived to see the bright morning! The population of the state was about 400,000. It soon became 1,250,000. Omaha has added 100,000 to her people, and many towns have increased in equal proportion. The growth of the church followed with equal steps. In the western part new towns sprang up, and the call for the church was imperative. The new bishop was almost as much a pioneer as the old one. The work was pressed with great vigor; every place was occupied; wherever a new town appeared in the vast domain, the church came at once with her offices and benedictions; and so it was that both by the growth of the population and the energy in ministering to it the development of work outran all ability to do it. It soon appeared that all Bishop Worthington could do did not answer the demand upon him.
   At the council in 1890 a resolution was passed memorializing the General Convention, which was to meet in the following October, to set off the western part of the state as a missionary jurisdiction. The memorial at first met in the general convention a disinclination to do it. But as the interesting facts of the case were made known by statements and appeals to individual members, to committees, and the two houses, an enthusiasm was aroused, opposition was swept away, and in the house of deputies and the house of bishops, successively, the action prayed for was granted by almost unanimous votes. The Rev. Anson R. Graves of Minneapolis was elected missionary bishop of the Platte. He was consecrated in his own church, and at once entered upon his mission. The event has justified the action of the diocese and the general convention.
   In every item of statistics, except the value of church property, the missionary jurisdiction makes a better showing today than did the diocese at its organization. The growth has been remarkable, and this, too, while the whole territory has severely suffered from exceptional depression. The humble, quiet, patient, day-by-day labors of Bishop Graves and his clergy have told upon the people, who have been unable to resist the persuasions of such devotion, persistence, and urgency.
   During Bishop Worthington's episcopate a step has been taken in the development of the cathedral system. Bishop Clarkson recognized defect in it, and at times contemplated remedies, but delayed action which he feared would cause friction. That system superimposed the cathedral upon the parish, and rested in voluntary agreement of the bishop and the vestry, and was without legal sanction. It was by the grace and consent of the parish that the place, office, and functions of the bishop and chapter were recognized. This insecurity, not practically felt in the days of Bishop Clarkson, was likely to appear during another's administration.
   In 1885 the legislature of the state passed an act permitting action on the part of the vestry by which the corporate name was changed from that of the Wardens and Vestrymen of Trinity Church to that of the Bishop and Vestry of Trinity Cathedral. It was further provided that the bishop should be a member and president of the vestry; that he should have his seat in the choir; should direct the ritual and at his pleasure preach; use it for all episcopal acts and functions and have large part in the selection of the dean and resident canons. Some further changes in the development of the system were made not material to our present purposes.
   The abandonment of Nebraska College by Bishop Worthington and the trustees was deeply regretted. Another school for boys was the subject of constant discussion and in 1889 several gentlemen of Lincoln undertook to provide grounds and buildings for it. They secured an eligible site on which they erected a building admirably fitted for the purpose, with plans for other halls when they

should become necessary. The entire expenditure was over $60,000. At first the purpose was to commit the care and administration of the institution directly to the authorities of the diocese, but this was found impracticable, and so it was placed in the charge of a board of trustees with the bishop as visitor. It was, however, devoted to education of youth under the influences of the church by a fundamental declaration to that effect in the documents of its organization. Under the name of the Worthington Military Academy it was opened September 15, 1892, with an attendance of thirty-eight pupils. The buildings were burned June 1, 1898, and the school abandoned.
   Bishop Worthington's administration covers about ten years.
   In the see city, including South Omaha, nine churches and chapels, three rectories, and one guild house have been built of the value of $180,000. Elsewhere in the present diocese twenty-nine churches and eight rectories have been built, increasing the value of church property about $140,000, in Brownell Hall, $140,000, in the Bishop Clarkson Memorial Hospital over $25,000, in the Worthington School over $60,000 have been acquired. Bishop Worthington consecrated twenty-six churches in the territory under his jurisdiction. The funds of the diocese have been increased as follows: The Episcopal fund, $5,000; the aged and infirm clergy fund, $2,000; the John S. Minor fund, $10,000. A hospital endowment fund has been commenced and amounts to about $33,000. The total increase of all church property is $578,000, being over $70,000 per annum.
   The bishop ordained twelve deacons and sixteen priests, being nineteen individuals, of whom the majority have received their training as students of the diocese. The number of communicants, baptisms, and confirmations, and the aggregate offerings have multiplied many-fold.
   In 1888 Bishop Worthington experienced very serious heart trouble. When prosecuting his visitations of the diocese he suffered severely from attacks which were painful and sometimes disabled him from meeting his appointments. After struggling against the disease for a long time and finding the symptoms progressing rather than abating, he consulted an eminent physician in New York, who strongly advised a protracted cessation of work and a removal from the high altitudes of the diocese to sea levels. Acting on the advice of his physician, the bishop addressed a communication to the diocesan council of 1889 asking for a coadjutor who should relieve him from the arduous labors of his office. In this letter he proposed to surrender, to whomever should be elected as coadjutator bishop, all that belongs to the Episcopal supervision and administration of the diocese, save the admission of clergymen to service in the diocese, the care and direction of candidates for holy orders and their ordination, the consecration of churches that had been built or were at that time proposed, confirmations at the cathedral when he desired to administer that ordinance, and also retaining his relations to the diocesan institutions and funds. He also proposed the surrender all of his salary but $600. He submitted to the council a certificate of his physician respecting his infirmity.
   The council acceded to his request, expressing in most affectionate terms the sympathy of its members and profound regret at the dissolution of the happy relations between the bishop and the diocese.
   Thereupon, the council proceeded to the choice of a coadjutor-bishop and upon the first ballot, by a decided majority of the clergy and lay delegates, the Rev. Arthur L. Williams, rector of Christ Church, Chicago, was elected. This action was duly confirmed by the bishop and standing committee of the several dioceses. The consecration of the bishop-elect took place at the cathedral in Omaha on the 18th day of October, 1899, the bishops participating in the ceremony being Bishop Worthington, consecrator; Bishop Spalding of Colorado, Bishop Graves of Laramie, Bishop Morrison of Iowa, and Bishop Edsall of Minnesota, the presenting

bishops; Bishops Nickolson of Milwaukee, Atwell of West Missouri, and Millspaugh assisting.
   Bishop Williams at once entered upon his work and has prosecuted the same with vigor and success.

   In the year 1839 the pioneers of this synod, having found it impossible to secure freedom to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience without interference of the civil authorities of Saxony, Germany, emigrated from their native country in search of religious liberty, and settled in Perry county, Missouri, where they at once gave evidence of their intention to build up an American Lutheran church independent of any foreign church body by founding, in the course of the first year of their residence in this country, an institution for the training of pastors for Lutheran congregations in the United States. Though isolated and alone at first, they soon came in touch with Lutherans of a strictly confessional type who were scattered though-out (sic) a number of other states. One of the principal means of establishing connections with these was the church paper, Der Lutheran, which their great theologian, Dr. C. F. Walther, began to publish in 1844.
   The community of faith and of interests existing between these various churches suggested the organizing of a common church body. And in 1847, at a meeting held in Chicago, Illinois, the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and other states was organized by twelve pastors and sixteen congregations. Today this synod numbers more than 2800 pastors and 3300 congregations, while the total number of baptized members exceeds one million. The entire body is divided into twenty-two districts, of which the Nebraska district is one.
   The Missouri Synod first began work in Nebraska in 1868. The first congregation in this state affiliated with it is Immanuel Lutheran Church, on Rock Creek, near Beemer, Cuming county. Nineteen settlers of that vicinity requested the Rev. J. Buenger, at that time president of the western district of the Missouri Synod, to supply them with a minister. President Buenger acceded to their request and sent them the Rev. A. W. Frese, who had but recently been graduated from the theological seminary. In the meantime, a man residing near Beemer had offered to teach school, and many of the settlers had availed themselves of his services. When Mr. Frese arrived in the early part of February, 1868, only five of the original nineteen were still willing to receive him as their pastor. He was told that these were unable to give him even the most meager necessary salary; however, they were willing to bear the expense of his return trip. While the affairs were in this state, Mr. Frese was asked to officiate at the funeral of a Christian woman, and the funeral sermon so stirred the hearts of the people that a renewed effort resulted in securing pledges of support of the pastor from twenty-four -- instead of the original nineteen -- heads of families. Accordingly Immanuel Church was organized on February 16, 1868. A few weeks later, the congregation bought a tract of forty acres on which they erected a parsonage 20x26. In 1871, a church edifice was built, School was taught in a farm house by the pastor since 1869. Mr. Frese served this church until 1881, when he was succeeded by the Rev. M. Adam. The present pastor, the Rev. M. Leimer, has had charge of the congregation since 1891. The rapid growth of the congregation necessitated the erection of a new church edifice in 1887.
   The Rev. Mr. Frese also preached in Madison, Stanton, Burt, and Dixon counties, and in all these places flourishing congregations soon sprang into existence.
   News of Mr. Frese's activities at Beemer soon reached several Lutherans residing near Hooper and two of their number were sent to him to ask him to preach the Gospel also at Hooper. Their request found ready compliance, and on April 26, 1868, Mr. Frese preached his first sermon near Hooper. The

Lutherans of Hooper, in conjunction with several Lutherans of Arlington, extended a call to the Rev. E. J. Frese, the Rev. A. W. Frese's brother, who accepted the call and was installed as pastor at Hooper on July 11, 1869.
   At West Point and at Norfolk congregations were organized in 1871. In Omaha Lutheran services were conducted occasionally before 1870. A call was extended to the Rev. F. Kuegele, a recent theological graduate, who, after a short pastorate at this place accepted a call from a congregation at Cumberland, Maryland, whereupon the Rev. J. Hilgendorf was chosen pastor and installed as such on September 9, 1871. The first Lutheran church was formed here with thirteen voting members. Five years later, the Rev. Mr. Hilgendorf resigned on account of ill health, the vacancy thus created being filled by the Rev. J. Strasen. Two years later, the Rev. E. J. Frese of Hooper, was called. He served this church about thirty-six years. At the present time, there are four congregations of the Missouri Synod in Omaha. From this place the work was extended to Papillion and Bennington.
   Just a few words concerning the history of the Missouri Synod's work in southern Nebraska. The oldest church in southern Nebraska is the one at Middle Creek, seven miles east of Seward. Here the Rev. Theodore Gruber began to preach to a few Lutherans on November 14, 1870. The first services were conducted in a public school house. In 1873 a stone church was erected; and though this has given place to a large frame church, the building is still generally referred to by the public as the "Stone Church."
   The Rev. Gruber also extended his activities to Marysville, Stevens Creek, Malcolm, Waco, Hampton, and Seward.
   At Marysville, Lutherans had begun to settle as early as the latter part of the sixties. They gathered regularly every Sunday at the home of F. Hartman to have a sermon read to them. In 1870, the Rev. F. Kuecele visited this settlement and organized a church with nineteen voting members, which was served by the Rev. Mr. Gruber of Middle Creek until they had a minister of their own. Here the Rev. Tr. Haessler labored from 1878. Services were held in the homes of the members until 1874, when the first church building was erected, for which the building material had to be hauled fifty miles.
   Through a correspondence in a paper the attention of some Lutherans in Wisconsin was directed to Thayer county, and a number of them settled there in 1874. The Rev. J. Kern began to preach to them, first in their homes. and then in a public schoolhouse. On December 6, 1874, a congregation of seven voting members was organized. The Rev. R. Biederrnan was elected pastor in 1876. The first church was built in 1878, and a new and larger structure was erected in 1899. From this congregation have sprung Bethlehem Lutheran Church of Kiowa (1880), St. Peter's at Deshler, and Immanuel near Deshler.
   Until this time, Nebraska had belonged to the western district of the Missouri Synod, which comprised Missouri and the western states. But as the churches in this state increased in number, they formed a district of their own, the Nebraska district. The first convention of this district was held near Hooper in 1882. Its total membership at that time was thirty-one pastors and forty-nine churches, embracing 1,249 voting members. The Rev. J. Hilgendorf was elected president and continued to hold this office for eighteen years. He was succeeded by the Rev. C. H. Becker of Seward, who served in this capacity for fifteen years. Since 1915, the Rev. C. F. Brommer of Hampton is president. The first secretary of the district, the Rev. J. Meyer, held office for thirty-three years, and was succeeded in 1915 by the Rev. F. Seesko of Omaha. O. E. Bernecker of Seward acted as treasurer from 1900 to 1913. The present treasurer is Prof. A. Schuelke, of Seward.
   The following statistics for 1917 show the growth of the districts: Pastors, 180; churches, 232; missions, 64; baptized members 48,654; communicant members, 28,800; voting members, 7,817. During this year the

district collected $114,000 for missionary and benevolent purposes.
   From the very beginning, the Lutheran church has insisted upon maintaining parochial schools. Why do we not send all our children only to the public schools? We are all agreed that the public school is a necessary institution, for whose maintenance we gladly pay our taxes and whose healthy development we stand ready to promote to the best of our ability. Moreover, we have always vigorously opposed every effort to divert part of the public school funds to the support of parochial schools, even though in some school districts we have educated more children than the public schools. Why, then, do we go to the expense of maintaining, from our own funds, parochial schools? Because we Lutherans believe we are doing the church, the country, and the children a service -- that we are performing a duty which God has imposed upon us -- in training and developing not only the minds of the children to the best of our ability but in remembering their immortal souls as well. We believe it to be our solemn duty to give our children an opportunity of daily hearing and learning the Word of God, and to train them early in the ways of God. However, such religious training cannot be offered by the public schools. To attempt to introduce religious instruction into the public schools would be to strike at the very foundation of our sweetest American liberties. It would mean the beginning of the end of the present ideal condition of the complete and absolute separation of church and state, and would, therefore be contrary to the best traditions of true Americanism and bound to lead to the same religious tyranny which drove our fathers out of Europe. Neither do we believe that the Sunday School, however valuable as a means for missionary purposes it may be, can supply the religious needs of the child; for, with the best teachers, one hour's instruction per week in the Word of God is just as inadequate as one lesson a week in arithmetic would be. Hence, we maintain parochial schools. Our object is not to oppose the public schools; much less is it to perpetuate a foreign language, or foreignism in any form. Our only purpose is to provide daily religious instruction for our children. In order, however, to do our duty in this respect without harm to our children's secular training, it becomes necessary to add the secular branches to the curriculum, and to impart knowledge of the three "Rs" also. And experience has shown that, as a whole, our schools do not lag behind the public schools in their attainments in secular instruction. Thus, at the World's Columbian Exposition, at Chicago, in 1893, the parochial schools of the Missouri Synod were awarded the blue ribbon.
   In 1917, the Nebraska district of the Missouri Synod had 175 parochial schools, in which 5,510 pupils were being instructed by 106 pastors, 70 male, and 13 female teachers. As to the language used in the schools, investigations made by the state council showed that, even before we entered the war, not a single parochial school of the Missouri Synod in this state was teaching the secular branches by any other medium than that of the American language. And while, up to that time, the German language had been taught as a subject, and had also been used as a medium in religious instruction, in most of our schools, it has since then been entirely eliminated from all our schools.
   For the purpose of training efficient teachers for our parochial schools, the Missouri Synod maintains two teachers' seminaries, one of which is located at Seward, Nebraska.

   The year 1894 was a year of hardship for Nebraska, for there was a crop failure, due to a severe drought. Nevertheless, during this year, a twenty-acre tract of land at Seward was purchased with the intention of founding a teachers' seminary. Members of St. John's Lutheran Church at Seward gave much financial aid for the purchase of the land, a part of which was divided into lots, and sold, the proceeds being added to the building fund. The erection of the first building of the institution was begun that very summer. When the con-