A Brief History Of Riverside

A Christian school located at Lost Creek just south of Jackson in Breathitt County. Founded over ninety years ago, the school is still serving the area.

By Mrs. George E. Drushal - 1928-29

The following is a series of articles published in the Riverside Beacon in 1928-'29 and reprinted by request.

PART ONE

I am glad it was in October. There is not another month in the year when one feels so keenly that the things of this world are quickly passing. Everywhere the scene is changing. Corn fields are being laid waste; leaves are putting forth every effort to show their beauty before the old tree pushes them off, their beauty soon to be forgotten.

And just a few Octobers ago, the "scenery" of our own life planning was far different from what It was this October in 1905. The old plans for work in the foreign field had changed and dropped off, so to speak, and here we were wending our way up the picturesque winding road from Jackson to Lost Creek.

Yes, I am glad it was in the month of October. No other could make us feel so deeply the absolute dependence up on a never-changing God.

Why were we bound for Lost Creek? God had called. How did we know God had called? That is too long a story to tell here, but we will tell it some other time if you want to know. For whom were we to ask when we arrived? We did not know who he was, but we did know his name, W. Ch. Strong. Had he or any one else asked us to come? No, yet Dr. Guerrant of the Soul Winners Society had told us that Uncle Walter and Aunt Maggie would have a welcome waiting for us even though they did not know that we were coming.

So why worry about a changing world? The mule driver was an expert. The jolt wagon had a spring seat and when to the inexperienced it seemed as though the wagon was getting perilously near the edge of the cliff we could but look away and above to the glorious hills and feel the thrill that comes to one, who for the first time sees these manifestations of the handiwork of One who is God of both the hills and plains.

But perhaps I should tell you that ever and anon there came flitting thru our minds a few questions: would Uncle Walter and Aunt Maggie really welcome two strangers with no Mission Board backing them; no letters of recommendation in their pockets? Would the people of Lost Creek be willing for us to stay? Was there, after all any need which we might be able to fill?

PART TWO

At last here we are at the little village of Lost Creek, just where the stream called Lost Creek empties into the bigger stream called Troublesome.

Just before we reached the village post-office, we passed an interesting looking house, with one good sized room and a lean-to. We noticed the boxed-up well, the big garden space and an outside chimney which indicated a fireplace; but the house was empty.

Twenty three years have passed and that little house today stands empty again. But here I am trying to tell in a few words the story of a work twenty-three years old which began in what we soon found out was called "the little white house."

Were we welcomed, and could we stay? These questions were unnecessary after hearing Aunt Maggie Strong tell how she had been praying for a preacher and had kept the little white house for him to live in. I guess that was why God had it empty that day. It Is hardly fit to live in now, but I've always hoped that it wouldn't tumble down while I live, but this isn't supposed to be the story of a house.

I'd like to tell you all about the hospitality of the Strongs and Smiths during those two weeks we were waiting for a cook stove and two chairs from Montgomery Ward and Co. ; bed and table from Ohio. How busy we were getting the little house ready. Mr. Drushal busy, not preaching the Gospel, but making book-cases, dresser, cupboards and so forth out of the lumber found up in the loft of the old barn and freely donated by the owner.

I'd like to tell you, but the English language is totally inadequate to describe just how good were those fried potatoes we had for supper, the first meal we ate alone in our new home.

The skillet was one Alice Ditch and I used on the old gas heater in our room at the Ashland College dormitory. Potatoes and lard donated by Mrs. Strong; the fireplace for a stove; school desk for a table and trunk for chairs.

But I must hasten on to "Riverside". We really had no extensive plans for the future. The free school was out in a few months. It closed in December, I believe, and we asked to conduct a school for the rest of the winter. As we taught the Word of God those three months, together with the regular work, we had a vision, and to this day we believe it was from God- a vision of a school nestled among the hills where the Bible could be taught daily. We were here on business for the King, and the question would not stay down, could as much fruit be borne in soul-saving by the regular Sunday services, and house to house visiting alone as could if we had a school of our own where evangelistic work could be pushed as it could not be in the public school?

We decided if this was just a passing idea of our own, if it were not God's plan it should not for a moment be considered, for it would mean an extra school building and other expense. As we prayed, talked, wrote letters to other mission points in the mountains, but one conclusion could be reached, A BRETHREN SCHOOL MUST BE ESTABLISHED AT LOST CREEK.

But some folks up North began to wonder. "What is all this about? Why a school when the state of Kentucky was taking care of the education of its children? Let us send a man down to investigate." So that is why Rev. J. L. Kimmel was a guest at the little white house in May 1906, and why, in a few months, there were three acres of land purchased from uncle Dan Cornett and soon Harry Oberholtzer from Ohio was here with hammer and saw helping to build a chapel with two school rooms beneath it and a four-roomed parsonage. The months passed quickly and one day in April, a splendid group of men and women, boys and girls gathered in the chapel of the new building to dedicate it to God who gave the plans and supplied the means to carry them thru. A dream had come true ! J. Allen Miller was here from Ashland College to preach the dedicatory sermon, but wait! What shall we call the place? Here in the most beautiful spot in the world, with old Troublesome River coming down past it from the south, then flowing around a bend of the campus to the west, the name "Riverside" suggested itself to us. Riverside, dedicated to One who promised to supply every need. Riverside, founded upon a rock!

Yes, a dream came true, but immediately a larger vision and new plans burst in upon us. Why not make Riverside a point of contact with the adjoining counties? Why not bring in boys and girls, men and women, keep them several years, then send them out, too, with visions and dreams of making Christ known to their "Jerusalem, Judea, and the uttermost parts of the earth?"

But that would take money, more teachers, more equipment. Could it be done? Yes, if it was all to be for the glory of God, nothing on earth could stop it.

PART THREE (Clouds and their Silver Linings)

Sometimes we ask the question, would we have started this work, had we known the dark days through which we must pass? Yes, had we known ALL, that all including God's miracle-working power to take blunders and barriers and make them work together for good.

As I recall it now, not one advance step has ever been taken that was an easy step to take. It has been just this--things going fine--Satan throws a cloud over things--end of our own resources reached--helpless--God turns cloud inside out--forward march-- "Victory".

We smile now as we look back to one of the first small clouds. One day we sat down and talked the thing over. We couldn't make things go; folks up north sending out the cry not to waste money on the "school work". Folks here didn't know us well enough to understand how much we needed help, so why should we stay at Lost Creek when there were lots of other places in the world where things could be done? Mr. Drushal sat down to his desk. A letter must go to the Mission Board which had then recently taken over the work, saying we had resigned. "Dear Members of the Home Board, Mrs. Drushal and I feel that we should resign. We feel that way because-". Because ! because what? Try as we would, we couldn't find any reason that didn't sound childish and as we sifted things down, we both saw that the only honest-to-goodness reason was that the enemy was after us and we were ready to run. He flung the letter in the fireplace and scarcely had the ashes been carried out, until the sun shone bright again, and for years we refused to let the secret out how nearly we came to joining the ranks of the deserters.

Again the work was going nicely. Practically all the children in school were our Lost Creek children and few who came from near-by districts and boarded with relatives, for as yet we had no dormitory.

The extra teacher boarded with us, and here one day came Henry B. Noble saying he had five children he wanted to send to Riverside, and was willing to pay their board, but who could board them? We finally agreed to give them a room in our house, and let them board themselves. Then came the question from others, "If you let Henry Noble's children come, why not let ours too?" Cloud number two--no dormitory, no money with which to build. Was there a silver lining to this? Yes, God's promises. The result was a neat little dormitory, where the boys could live on the lower floor and the girls on the upper, then in just a few years, a little one-story building was built for the boys alone, on the other side of the campus.

After a few years we are again crowded out. I wish we knew what became of all the boys and girls we turned away while we were in our crowded quarters. I recall especially a young man with a fine countenance, whose father rode with him on horseback about twenty miles one cold winter day, and how hard he begged us to let him stay, but even the "tuck-in" spaces were all occupied. We never heard of him again. Did he find another school not so crowded? We do not know. We turned Hattie Cope away, but she, not to be daunted, came back and I imagine today hundreds of folks in Africa are glad a place was found for her.

Then there were the days of no water. I believe it was the year Ida Shank, E. A. Meyer and Vern Stoffers were here when the water situation was becoming really serious. A cloud indeed! Mr. Drushal called us all together one evening to pray for water. The next day uncle Dan Cornett showed us where an old spring could be cleaned out and water piped down to the school with but little expense.

It has been here as I suppose it is every where, after times of testing, there comes an awakening of things spiritual. It is just as true the other way. With each spiritual awakening, the enemy attacks with a more deadly, subtle weapon. Just so, in January of 1921 things were going fine, souls were being saved, improvements being made on every hand, a splendid full-time Bible teacher had been secured. (How the devil does hate a good Bible teacher here.) Every phase of the work was in a healthy condition, when like a clap of thunder out of a clear sky, a storm broke out. I can't tell you how it happened or why. Our beloved Riverside was to be closed down. An axe was being laid to a tree that was bearing precious fruit. But don't ask me to tell the story. Ask any man, woman or child who lived here then and who to the last child stood true. Ask Henry Davidson, Margaret Boling, the Strongs, the Roberts, the Smiths, Aunt Parrit Boling or some of the loyal students, Mitchel Noble for instance. Or ask Mr. and Mrs. Akens who quit their school work at Ashland College to lend a helping hand here and save the day. From all over Breathitt county came the cry, "Woodman, spare that tree, touch not a single bough." The next thing we knew a new day was dawning for Riverside. A silver lining? Nay, a lining of pure gold.

I wish we didn't have battles to fight. I wish we could just bring the boys and girls to Riverside from near and far, teach and get them rooted and grounded in the Word and every one understand that it is not a question as to how much it costs to do this, but see the real question, could we afford not to do it at any cost? I wish clouds wouldn't come. It must have been some such thoughts we were thinking this last summer of 1928, else why were we so shocked, when we were faced by another decree that our school work was to be stopped. This tree (the school), planted 23 years ago, pruned, cultivated, purged, just coming into bearing age, loaded down with the fruit of the Spirit, was to be hewn down by the woodmen. This olive tree, rooted in Christ, sending out all over the state rich oil of the joy of salvation, was to be cut down because there was so much fruit to be picked that it cost money to hire the laborers. Here was a cloud, drab all the way through, so we felt. But as is always the case, "When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall raise up a standard against him."

Dear readers, Riverside is saved. Who will pay the workmen, the harvesters? We do not know, but God does. Shall we again this next year send out a call to the brain and strength of the young blood of the mountains to come back to the old school? Will the old bell send out its call tomorrow as it did yesterday? Will young men and women continue to march down the aisle of the Riverside chapel and up to the altar and lay their all at the foot of the cross? Will they?

PART FOUR - History Pre-written.

"Behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadows, Keeping watch above his own."

My first thought was to write about the FUTURE of Riverside, thus giving some history written before the events have happened. My second thought made the first seem foolish, for who knows what God has in store for Riverside?

We might plan, but who knows if the plan could be carried out? We might see the coming need, might note changing conditions, discern what those conditions would naturally demand, and yet a hundred things perhaps mere trifles, could bob up overnight, unannounced, and upset every thing. But, in spite of all this, here I am back to my first intention, daring to tell you something of the future of Riverside. Presumptious? Very much so indeed, were it not for three words "God is faithful."

How often has there been placed a wall as high as the heavens across the path of Riverside? And all we could say when the din of battle was over 2nd Samuel 22:30, "For by thee I have run thru a troop, by my God I have leaped over a wall." So because of God's faithfulness, we would like to have you see a few things.

First--God doesn't want us to hang our heads apologetically over anything that has been dedicated to him. Therefore, if today our buildings are inadequate, in the future this shall not be.

We see also ('Tis true we now see thru a glass darkly) over there on the eastern slope of the hill just beyond the gymnasium and the power-house, two pretty little cottages, one for small boys and one for small girls, these to be known as the John Wheeler Hall and the Sarah Wheeler Hall in honor of the faithful man and his wife who left Riverside a legacy of several thousand dollars so that we might not have to turn away so many children as we have always done in the past. (This money has come into the possession of the Board, and is being held in trust for this work, since writing the above two years ago.)

Then we see in the future on the same pretty hillside slope, out of the reach of the high waters a teachers' cottage. We believe God wants married folks here in this work too, married men with families. But just recall, if you will, how many times we have had to turn away splendid men who felt called of God to this work, but who could not come or coming had to leave, because there was no place in the dormitories for their children.

And can't you see by faith that new church standing there in the bottom just beyond the girl's dormitory? You say you see nothing of the kind? With a prayer in your heart, close your eyes and look again. All of these things yet in the future can best be seen by closing the physical eye and the turning of the inner eye toward the Light. So there it stands. I see Lost Creek folks giving pledges first, then from all over Breathitt and Perry counties, old R. I. students sending in their offerings. School teachers who were trained here, business and professional men and women whom Mr. Drushal years ago used to take up in the old bell room and spank, are sending in their gifts. From the Blue Grass, Purchase and Pennyrile, from California, Ohio, Illinois, and other states, old Breathitt boys whose hearts have never left the mountains are sending in their share. 'Tis a memorial of faithful hearts

As to the enlarged library, thoroughly equipped science department, new school desks, new walks, a "galloping" bridge that doesn't gallop, a truck for the school, etc., you'll have to see all of these things for yourself for my space is limited.

But, Oh, my friends, all of these improvements, these buildings would be as an empty shell, did we not see something else. Shut your eyes and look again, please. Look far away to Africa, to South America, to China, look into the pulpits all over the United States, look at the preachers here in the mountains, the Christian school teachers scattered over five counties, the Christian mothers and fathers on their little farms. Ask them, if you please, how it is they are finding joy in Christian service. Clear and unmistakable comes the answer--we went to Riverside only for an education, but found Christ.

Then we see our secretary receiving calls from city churches for deaconesses, and that too, is an interesting story. Years ago, Dr. May Laughlin of Hagerstown, Md., dropped a tiny seed-thought, "Why not have a Deaconess Training School?" She thought the seed had died. No one seemed to nourish it or water it except with tears. But by faith we see some of God's faithful children financing the project, a year or two of extra work added to the curriculum of Riverside and girls who would otherwise be lost to the church, trained for this special service.

Yes, the future ! The shadows of Apostasy are overhanging the church. Perilous times are near at hand, and we verily believe the time will never come when Riverside shall be free from the attack of fierce foes without and perhaps within. With trembling hearts and tear-dimmed eyes would we look at the future, were it not for the fact that God IS faithful. Because of this there is a bright, a glorious future ahead, should the Lord delay his coming. Until then, let Riverside continue to:

"Open the door for the children; tenderly gather them in. In from the highways and hedges; in from the places of sin."