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LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  Of 

CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SAN  DIEGO 

LA  JOLLA,  CALIFORNIA 

153 


HISTORY 


Amlierst   College 


DUKING  ITS 


FIRST  HALF  CENTURY. 


1821-1871. 


BY    W.    S.    TYLER, 

OF  THE  CLASS  OF  1830, 
Williston   Professor  of  the  Greek   Language  and   Literature. 


SPRINGFIELD,  MASS.: 
CLARK    W.    BRYAN    AND    COMPANY. 

1873. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1873,  by 

CLARK  W.  BRYAN   &   COMPANY, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


CLARK    W.  BRYAN  AND   COMPANY, 

PRINTERS    AND    ELECTROTTPEBS, 

SPBINGFIELD,    MASS. 


TO   THE 


Jtlumm  af  J-mberst 


AT  WHOSE   INSTANCE   THIS   WORK   WAS 

UNDERTAKEN,   AND   WHO   MUST   ALWAYS   CHIEFLY  MAKE   THE 
HISTORY  OF   THE   COLLEGE, 

THIS  HISTORY  OF  ITS  FIRST  HALF  CENTURY 

IS    AFFECTIONATELY 


BY  THEIR  FRIEND   AND   BROTHER, 

THE  AUTHOR. 


PREFACE. 


THIS  History  was  a  part  of  the  plan  for  the  Semi-Centennial 
Celebration,  and  was  at  first  intended  to  be  in  readiness  for 
that  occasion.  The  action  of  the  Alumni  and  of  the  Trustees 
on  the  subject  is  narrated  at  the  opening  of  the  chapter  touch- 
ing the  Jubilee,  and  may  be  found  at  page  595.  The  failure 
of  the  author's  health  rendered  it  necessary  for  him  to  defer 
the  work  for  some  time,  and  seek  recuperation ;  and  although 
by  rest,  with  change  of  scene,  this  object  was  at  length  suc- 
cessfully accomplished,  yet  between  the  necessity  of  carefully 
guarding  what  was  thus  gained,  and  the  daily  occupation  of 
College  duties,  he  has  been  able  to  devote  only  a  short  time, 
two  or  three  hours  a  day  at  most,  to  this  extra  labor.  After 
the  work  of  preparation  was  substantially  done,  unexpected 
delays,  which  need  not  be  detailed,  arose  in  regard  to  the  pub- 
lication. 

Prepared  at  the  request  of  the  Alumni  and  dedicated  to  them, 
the  History  has  been  written  with  constant  reference  to  them 
as  its  most  sympathizing  and  probably  most  numerous  readers. 
Some  of  the  best  parts  of  it  have  been  contributed  by  the 
Alumni  themselves.  A  circular  was  sent  to  each  Alumnus, 
at  the  outset,  requesting  him  to  "  photograph  for  the  author's 
use  the  College  as  it  was  in  his  day,  his  own  class,  any  indi- 
vidual whether  officer  or  student,  any  scene  or  event  as  it  ap- 
peared to  his  eye."  In  response  to  this  invitation,  numerous 


PREFACE. 


letters  were  received,  especially  from  the  Alumni  of  the  earlier 
classes,  and  the  contents  have  been  freely  used,  in  whole  or  in 
part,  in  form  or  in  substance,  as  seemed  best.  The  unity  and 
perchance  the  dignity  of  history  may  thus  have  been  somewhat 
sacrificed.  But  more  than  was  thus  lost,  has  been  gained  in 
variety  and  life-like  reality,  in  anecdote  and  dramatic  interest, 
in  the  twofold  and  so  more  impartial  and  complete  view  of 
College  life  thus  presented  from  the  standing  point  of  the  stu- 
dent as  well  as  the  professor.  All  who  sent  such  responses  will 
please  accept  my  thanks,  and  if  any  of  them  wonder  why  I  have 
not  made  more  direct  or  more  extended  use  of  their  contribu- 
tions, the  dimensions  to  which  the  History  has  already  grown, 
may  suggest  a  sufficient  explanation. 

It  is  doubtless  generally  understood,  although  a  few  of  my 
correspondents  seem  to  have  been  mistaken  on  this  point,  that 
this  is  a  History  of  the  College  and  not  of  its  graduates.     At  my 
instance  and  the  request  of  the  Faculty,  Prof.  Crowell  and  Prof. 
Montague  have  just  commenced  the  collection  of  materials  for 
the  latter,  which  will  be  published  as  soon  as  the  work  can  be 
prepared  and  a  sufficient  number  of  subscribers  has  been  ob- 
tained.    In  writing  the  History  of  the  College,  I  have  thought 
it  proper  to  relate  the  early  periods  with  especial  fullness,  and 
also  to  dwell  upon  the  lives  of  the  founders,  the  fathers  and  the 
benefactors  of  the  Institution,  for  the  obvious  reason  that  the 
actors  and  witnesses  of  these  events  are  fast  passing  away  and 
the  sources  of  information  will  soon  be  dried  up.     The  death, 
since  I  began  to  write,  of  two  or  three  persons  to  whom  I  have 
been  indebted  for  facts  of  great  interest  and  importance,  of  which 
they  were  the  sole  repositories,  has  demonstrated  the  wisdom  of 
this  course.     I  set  out  with  the  purpose  of  writing  biographical 
sketches  only  of  the  deceased.     But  as  I  advanced,  I  found  it 
impossible  to  adhere  to  this  purpose  without  doing  injustice, 
relatively  at  least,  both  to  the  living  and  the  dead.    This  change 


PREFACE.  Vll 

of  plan  will  doubtless  be  observed  by  my  readers,  and  the  rea- 
son, not  to  say  necessity  for  it,  will  justify,  I  hope,  the  liberty 
which  I  have  taken  in  writing  so  fully  and  so  freely  of  living 
Trustees,  living  officers  and  living  benefactors. 

The  illustrations  are  more  numerous  than  were  originally 
contemplated,  and  are  a  clear  addition  to  what  was  promised  in 
the  prospectus.  They  have  been  prepared  with  great  care  and 
expense,  and  will,  we  are  sure,  add 'much  to  the  value  and  in- 
terest of  the  volume.  We  only  regret  that  likenesses  of  many 
other  officers  and  benefactors  could  not  be  included.  The  en- 
graving of  President  Moore  is  taken  from  a  portrait  in  the  Col- 
lege Library;  that  of  President  Humphrey  from  a  portrait  in 
the  possession  of  Mrs.  James  Humphrey  of  Brooklyn.  The 
others  are  all  taken  from  photographs  of  the  originals. 

For  the  biographical  sketch  beginning  on  page  575  and  the 
accompanying  portrait,  I  disclaim  all  responsibility.  I  found 
in  the  letters  of  loving  and  grateful  pupils  not  a  few  intima- 
tions that  the  author  would  hold  no  unimportant  place  in  the 
History,  if  it  were  impartially  written.  But  I  gave  no  heed  nor 
credence  to  these  suggestions.  At  length,  however,  as  I  was 
drawing  near  to  the  close  of  the  work,  the  Alumni  Committee 
having  previously  spied  out  the  land,  a  surprise  party  took  pos- 
session of  my  house  and  filled  those  pages  with  such  matter  as 
they  saw  fit. 

While  the  book  is  a  History  of  Amherst  College,  written  at 
the  request  of  the  Alumni  and  particularly  for  their  reading, 
it  is,  at  the  same  time,  naturally  and  almost  necessarily,  more  or 
less,  a  history  also  of  Amherst  and  the  neighboring  towns,  of 
Hampshire  County  and  the  Valley  of  the  Connecticut,  espe- 
cially as  they  were  in  those  early  times  when  Amherst  College 
was  the  spontaneous  outgrowth  of  such  a  soil  and  such  a  people, 
and  it  is  hoped  that  such  a  history  will  be  read  with  interest  and 
profit  by  many  who  are  not  the  graduates  of  this  Institution. 


PREFACE. 


In  conclusion  my  thanks  are  due,  and  are  most  cordially  given, 
to  the  Alumni  who  first  opened  to  me  this  grateful  opportunity 
of  identifying  myself  with  the  history  of  Alma  Mater,  to  their 
Committee  who  have  rendered  me  every  assistance  in  their 
power,  to  the  Trustees  and  Faculty  who  have  aided  and  encour- 
aged me  at  every  stage  of  the  work,  to  the  publishers  who  have 
spared  neither  pains  nor  expense  to  bring  out  the  book  and  the 
illustrations  in  a  style  worthy  of  the  College  and  creditable  to 
Western  Massachusetts,  and  above  all  to  the  kind  Providence 
that  has  preserved  my  life  and  enabled  me  to  complete  a  work 
which  others  who  might  have  done  it  better,  began  but  did  not 
live  to  finish. 

AMHEEST  COLLEGE,  December  26,  1872. 


P.  S.  Just  as  the  work  of  electrotyping  this  History  was 
almost  finished  and  that  of  printing  was  about  to  begin,  the  plates 
were  destroyed  in  the  great  Springfield  fire.  They  have  been 
re-cast  with  all  possible  despatch,  and  now  the  book  goes  forth 
to  its  readers  unchanged  yet  renewed,  to  be  prized  none  the 
less,  I  trust,  because  risen  like  the  fabled  Phrenix  from  its  own 
ashes.  If  the  faith  and  patience  of  subscribers  have  been  sorely 
taxed,  those  of  the  author  have  been  more  severely  tried  by  this 
delay.  But  the  publishers  have  been  the  chief  sufferers.  And 
they  deserve,  what  I  hope  they  will  receive,  not  only  the  sym- 
pathy but  the  substantial  support  and  remuneration  of  the 
alumni  and  friends  of  the  College  for  the  indomitable  energy 
and  perseverance  with  which  they  have  done  over  again  their 
entire  work  and  reproduced  the  History  in  all  its  original  beauty 
of  form. 

AMHEBST  COLLEGE,  May  1,  1873. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

P«ge. 

QUEEN'S    COLLEGE  —  CHARACTERISTICS    AND    HISTORICAL    ASSOCIA- 
TIONS  OF   THE    CONNECTICUT  VALLEY, 13 


CHAPTER  II. 

AMHERST  FIRST  NAMED  AS   THE  BEST  SITE   FOR  A  COLLEGE — AM- 
HERST  AS  IT  THEN  WAS, 24 

CHAPTER  HI. 
AMHERST    ACADEMY, 34 

CHAPTER   IV. 

CONSTITUTION  OF  THE   CHARITY  FUND — THE  CONVENTION  AT  AM- 
HERST  IN  1818, 40 

CHAPTER  V. 

EFFORTS  TO  UNITE  WILLIAMS   COLLEGE  AND   THE  INSTITUTION  AT 
AMHERST, 51 

CHAPTER  VI. 

ERECTION  OF  THE  FIRST  COLLEGE  EDIFICE — INAUGURATION  OF  THE 
PRESIDENT  AND  PROFESSORS,  AND  OPENING  OF  THE  COLLEGE,      .  62 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Page. 

THE  FIRST  PRESIDENCY  AND   OTHER  FIRST  THINGS  DURING  THE 
FIRST  Two  YEARS, 73 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES    OF    PRESIDENT    MOORE   AND   His    COL- 
LEAGUES  IN  THE   FACULTY, 91 

CHAPTER  IX. 
LIVES   OF   SOME  OF   THE   FOUNDERS, 104 

CHAPTER  X. 

PRESIDENT    HUMPHREY'S    ADMINISTRATION   FROM    1823   TO   1825 — 
STRUGGLE   FOR   THE   CHARTER, 127 

CHAPTER  XL 
THE   PERIOD   OF   RAPID   GROWTH,  1825-36, 160 

f 

CHAPTER  XII. 
RELIGIOUS   HISTORY   OF   THE  PERIOD,    1825-36, 192 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

TRUSTEES  AND    OTHER   OFFICERS  WHOSE   CONNECTION   WITH  THE 
COLLEGE   CEASED  DURING  THIS  PERIOD,  1825-36, 215 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

PERIOD  OF  REACTION  AND  DECLINE — RESIGNATION  OF  PRESIDENT 
HUMPHREY, 242 

CHAPTER  XV. 
THE  RELIGIOUS  HISTORY  OF  THIS  PERIOD,  1836-45,     .....  272 


CONTENTS.  Xi 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

R«e. 

BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES    OF    PRESIDENT    HUMPHREY   AND  SOME 
OF  His  ASSOCIATES,      ................  280 


CHAPTER 
PRESIDENCY  OF  DR.  HITCHCOCK,  .............  313 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
RELIGIOUS  HISTORY  OF  THIS  PERIOD,  1845-54,     .......  344 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  OF  DR.  HITCHCOCK  AND    SOME  OF   His 
ASSOCIATES,    ....................  355 

CHAPTER   XX. 
THE  PRESIDENCY  OF  DR.  STEARNS,  ............  388 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
RELIGIOUS  HISTORY  OF  THE   COLLEGE  DURING  THIS  PERIOD,    .    .  442 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

TRUSTEES  AND  OTHER   OFFICERS  DECEASED  OR  RESIGNED  UNDER 
THE  PRESIDENCY  OF   DR.  STEARNS,   ...........  473 

CHAPTER  XXIH. 
THE  PRESENT   TRUSTEES,  ................  501 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

OVERSEERS   OF   THE  CHARITY  FUND,  COMMISSIONERS  AND  TREAS- 
URERS,    ......................  518 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
BENEFACTORS    OF   THE   COLLEGE,   .............  541 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

rage. 

THE  WAR,  ......................  579 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 
THE   SEMI-CENTENNIAL   CELEBKATION,    ...........  595 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

THEN  AND    Now—  PANORAMIC    REVIEW    OF    CHANGE   AND    PROG- 
RESS, .......................  603 

APPENDIX. 

SUBSCRIBERS  TO  THE  CHARITY  FUND  —  THIRTY  THOUSAND  DOLLAR 
SUBSCRIPTION—  CHARTER,  ETC.,    .............  649 


CHAPTER  I. 

QUEEN'S    COLLEGE— CHAEACTERISTICS    AND    HISTORICAL  ASSO- 
CIATIONS OF  THE   CONNECTICUT  VALLEY. 

THE  want  of  a  College  in  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut  was 
felt  previous  to  the  Revolution,  and  sixty  years  before  the 
establishment  of  the  Collegiate  Institution  at  Amherst,  thirty 
years  before  the  incorporation  of  Williams  College,  measures 
were  taken  for  the  founding  of  such  an  Institution  in  Hamp- 
shire County.  Some  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  County  pre- 
sented to  the  General  Court,  January  20,  1762,  a  memorial 
showing  that  "  there  are  a  great  number  of  people  in  this  County 
of  Hampshire,  and  places  adjacent,  disposed  to  promote  learn- 
ing, and  by  reason  of  their  great  distance  from  the  Colleges  and 
the  great  expense  of  their  education  there,  many  of  good 
natural  genius  are  prevented  a  liberal  education,  and  a  large 
country  filling  up  at  the  north-west  of  them  which  will  send  a 
great  number  of  men  of  letters."  "  They  therefore  pray  for  an 
act  of  the  government  constituting  a  Corporation  with  power 
to  receive  moneys  and  improve  them  for  setting  up  a  Seminary 
for  learning,  and  that  a  charter  may  be  granted  to  the  Corpora- 
tion for  the  said  Seminary  endowing  it  with  power  to  manage 
all  the  affairs  relative  to  the  same,  and  confer  the  honors  of  learn- 
ing upon  the  students  of  the  same  when  qualified  therefor." 

A  bill  was  accordingly  brought  in  for  establishing  "an  Acad- 
emy in  the  western  parts  of  this  Province,"  which  passed 
to  be  engrossed  but  was  finally  lost.  But  Francis  Bernard, 
"Governor  of  the  Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,"  made 
out  a  charter  incorporating  Israel  Williams  and  eleven  others 
"  a  body  politic  by  the  name  of  the  President  and  Fellows  of 
Queen's  College."  This  charter  bears  the  date  of  February 


14  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

27,  1762.  The  proposed  College  was  to  be  in  Northampton, 
Hatfield  or  Hadley.  It  was  to  be  on  a  footing  with  Harvard 
College  in  regard  to  means  of  instruction,  though  some  of  its 
officers  were  to  have  different  names,  and  it  was  proposed  to 
withhold  from  it  the  power  of  conferring  degrees.  It  met  with 
opposition  from  the  eastern  part  of  the  Province,  scarcely  less 
strenuous  than  that  which  Amherst  College  encountered  half  a 
century  later.  The  Board  of  Overseers  of  Harvard  College, 
as  soon  as  they  heard  of  it,  appointed  a  committee  to  wait  imme- 
diately on  the  Governor  and  request  him  not  to  grant  the  said 
charter,  another  committee  to  draw  up  and  present  a  "  fuller 
statement  of  reasons  against  founding  a  College  or  Collegiate 
School  in  Hampshire  County," l  and  a  third  "  to  guard  against 
the  influence  of  any  application  at  home  [that  is,  in  England,] 
by  the  Hampshire  petitioners,  for  a  charter  from  home  or  else- 
where." Such  a  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  upon  the  Gov- 
ernor that  he  promised  not  to  give  out  the  charter  until  the 
next  session  of  the  Legislature.  He  desired  the  corporators, 
however,  to  take  a  copy  of  the  charter,  and  organize  the  body 
so  far  as  to  be  in  readiness  to  act  as  soon  as  the  charter 
should  receive  the  necessary  confirmation.  Accordingly  the 
Corporation  met  March  17,  1762,  at  the  house  of  Rev.  John 
Hooker,  in  Northampton,  and  adjourned  to  meet  again  on  the 
18th  of  May,  in  Hadley,  at  the  house  of  Rev.  Samuel  Hopkins. 2 
But  two  causes  seem  to  have  operated  effectually  to  prevent 
further  action.  Sympathy  for  Harvard  College,  much  increased 
by  a  fire  which  consumed  its  library  and  philosophical  apparatus, 
withstood  the  establishment  of  another  College  in  the  Province. 
And  the  excitement  which  preceded  the  American  Revolution 

1  This  remonstrance  and  statement  of  reasons  occupies  eleven  pages  in  the  Ap- 
pendix of  Pierce's  History  of  Harvard  College.     Many  of  the  reasons  are  the  same 
which  were  urged  against  the  establishment  of  Amherst  College.     Religious  preju- 
dices were  also  enlisted,  for  Governor  Bernard  was  suspected  of  a  design  to  favor 
Episcopacy  in  the  proposed  Institution.     See  Pierce's  History  of  Harvard  College. 
p.  281. 

2  The  project  seems  to  have  proceeded  so  far  that  in  Hatfield  a  building  was 
erected  or  designated  as  "  Queen's  College,"  and  students  were  in  preparation  for 
entering  the   College.     This  old  gambrel-roofed  school-house  has  been   seen  by 
persons  now  living  who  have  heard  it  called  "  Queen's  College  "  by  Dr.  Lyman 
himself. 


QUEEN'S  COLLEGE.  15 

soon  absorbed  the  public  attention.  Thus  it  is  that  "coming 
events  cast  their  shadows  before,"  and  history  repeats  itself  in 
the  origin  of  institutions  as  well  as  in  the  rise  of  states  and 
the  progress  of  nations.  For  who  can  fail  to  see  in  the  incor- 
poration of  this  Institution  so  early  in  the  centre  of  Hampshire 
County  and  in  the  arguments  and  influences  that  were  brought 
to  bear  against  it,  a  foreshadowing  of  the  origin  and  early 
history  of  Amherst  College. 

In  their  strong  desire  thus  early  to  have  a  College  of  their 
own,  the  good  people  of  old  Hampshire,  or  which  was  then 
the  same  thing,  of  Western  Massachusetts,  showed  themselves 
to  be  the  genuine  offspring  of  the  first  settlers  on  the  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  who  founded  Harvard  College  in  the  wilderness  less 
than  twenty  years  after  the  first  landing  on  these  shores.  Edu- 
cated for  the  most  part  in  old  Cambridge,  and  deeply  impressed 
with  the  inseparable  connection  between  sound  learning  and 
pure  religion,  the  early  colonists  of  New  England  could  not  rest 
till  they  could  see  the  walls  and  breathe  the  atmosphere  of  a 
Cambridge  here.  Animated  by  strong  Christian  faith  and  hope, 
and  excited  by  the  experience  of  persecution  in  the  Old  World, 
they  were  further  quickened  by  the  invigorating  and  stimulating 
atmosphere  of  New  England.  "  For  here,"  so  Rev.  John  Hig- 
ginson,  the  first  minister  of  Salem,  wrote  home  to  his  friends 
after  he  had  been  a  few  months  in  this  country,  "  here  is  an 
extraordinary  cleer  and  dry  aire  that  is  of  a  most  healing  nature 
to  all  such  as  are  of  a  cold,  melancholy,  flegmatick,  rheumatick 
temper  of  body.  .  .  .  And  therefore  I  think  it  a  wise  course 
for  all  cold  complections  to  come  to  take  physick  in  New  Eng- 
land, for  a  sup  of  New  England  aire  is  better  than  a  whole 
draught  of  Old  England's  ale." 

The  air  of  Western  Massachusetts  is  even  more  dry  and  stim- 
ulating than  that  of  the  sea-shore,  and  the  people  have  always 
been  even  more  remarkable  for  their  mental  activity,  and  their 
universal  thirst  for  education,  than  their  fellow-citizens  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  Commonwealth.  "  Old  Hampshire  County, 
extending  originally  from  the  uncertain  eastern  line  of  New 
York,  on  the  west,  into  the  present  territory  of  Worcester 
County,  on  the  east,  and  occupying  throughout  that  distance 


IS  HISTORY  OF  AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

the  entire  width  of  the  Massachusetts  patent,  was,  at  first,  in 
almost  everything  but  the  name,  a  colony  of  itself.  The  settle- 
ments were  planted  in  the  wilderness,  and  the  waste  of  woods 
that  lay  between  them  and  the  seat  of  authority  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Bay  was  hardly  less  to  be  dreaded  or  easier  of  passage, 
than  the  waste  of  waters  that  interposed  between  the  Bay  and 
the  Mother  Country.  Its  interests  have  been  developed  by 
themselves.  Its  institutions,  habits,  and  customs,  have  sprung 
out  of  its  own  peculiar  wants,  circumstances  and  spirit,  and  the 
history  of  Western  Massachusetts  is  but  the  history  of  the  old 
Mother  Country  and  her  children."  l 

"  No  county  in  the  State,"  says  Dr.  Dwight,  "  has  uniformly 
discovered  so  firm  an  adherence  to  good  order  and  good  govern- 
ment, or  a  higher  regard  to  learning,  morals,  and  religion.  As  a 
body,  the  inhabitants  possess  that  middle  state  of  property,  which 
so  long  and  so  often  has  been  termed  golden  ;  few  are  poor,  and 
few  are  rich.  They  are  almost  independent  in  this  high  sense, 
that  they  live  in  houses  and  on  lands  which  are  their  own,  and 
which  they  hold  in  fee  simple.  The  number  of  persons  in  a 
family  in  the  County  of  Hampshire,  exceeds  that  in  the  eastern 
counties,  and  marriages  are  more  universal.  Since  these  jour- 
neys were  made,  this  noble  county,  after  having  existed  as  a  fine 
doric  column  of  industry,  good  order,  morals,  learning,  and  re- 
ligion, in  Massachusetts,  for  more  than  a  century,  was  by  an 
unwise  Legislature,  broken  into  three  parts."  2 

The  valley  of  the  Connecticut,  from  the  time  of  its  first  settle- 
ment by  the  whites,  has  had  a  population  and  a  history  as  pe- 
culiar as  its  soil,  climate,  surface,  and  natural  scenery.  Dear  to 
the  natives  as  the  "  Quonecticut,"  or  "  Long  River,"  in  whose 
waters  they  delighted  to  ply  their  light  bark  canoes,  and  to  fish 
for  the  bass,  salmon,  and- shad,  and  on  whose  banks  they  built 
their  most  beautiful  villages,  and  raised  their  richest  fields  of 
corn,  this  "famous  river,"  or  "little  Nilus,"  as  Cotton  Mather 
quaintly  calls  it,  began  to  attract  settlers  almost  immediately 
after  the  first  towns  were  planted  about  Massachusetts  Bay. 

1  Holland's  History  of  Western  Massachusetts. 

2  Dr.  Dwight's  Travels  in  New  England  and  New  York,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  269-273. 
I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  abridge  somewhat,  the  language  of  Dr.  Dwight. 


THE   QUONECTICUT.  17 

And  this  beautiful  river  is  interwoven  with  the  whole  character, 
history,  and  associations  of  the  people  whom  it  has  attracted, 
and  whose  character  it  has  formed,  even  as  it  wanders  to  and 
fro  through  the  broad  valley,  shaping  the  picturesque  outlines, 
forming  the  intervales,  and  enriching  the  meadows  by  its  annual 
overflow.  President  Dwight  in  those  travels  to  which  we  have 
already  alluded,  lingers  in  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut,  devot- 
ing several  letters  to  a  description  of  its  physical  features,  and 
the  characteristics  of  its  inhabitants,  and  dwells  with  peculiar 
fondness  on  the  variety  and  richness  of  the  landscape,  the  rare 
beauty  of  the  villages,  and  the  remarkable  industry,  intelligence, 
virtue,  and  piety  of  the  people.  The  breadth  of  the  "  inter- 
vales," the  meandering  of  the  stream,  the  graceful  curving  of 
the  banks  fringed  with  shrubs  and  trees,  the  terraced  outlines 
and  gentle  undulations  of  the  meadows,  "  interspersed  in  par- 
allelograms," and  "  not  divided  by  enclosures,"  making  them  to 
appear  not  as  artificially  fruitful,  but  as  a  field  of  nature,  origi- 
nally furnished  by  the  hand  of  the  Creator,  with  all  its  beauties, 
with  large  and  thrifty  orchards  in  many  places,  and  everywhere 
forest  trees  standing  singly,  of  great  height  and  graceful  figure ; 
all  these  characteristic  features  which  have  been  so  enthusiastic- 
ally admired  by  residents  and  visitors  from  foreign  lands  at  the 
present  day,  are  noted  and  appreciated  by  this  distinguished 
traveler,  scholar,  and  divine  of  a  former  generation.  Perhaps, 
then,  the  writer  will  not  be  charged  with  partiality  or  extrava- 
gance when  he  says,  that  although  he  has  seen  the  Old  World 
pretty  thoroughly,  from  Windsor  Park  and  Richmond  Hill  to 
the  plain  of  Damascus,  he  has  nowhere  found  such  wide  and 
varied  fields  of  vegetable  mosaic  as  stretch  out,  for  instance,  from 
the  base  of  Mount  Holyoke,  nor  anywhere  shade  trees  of  any 
kind  that  can  be  compared  for  mingled  gracefulness  and  magnifi- 
cence with  the  elms  that  adorn  the  streets  in  either  of  the  towns 
that  were  contemplated  as  the  possible  site  of  "  Queen's  College." 
The  beauty  of  New  England  villages  is  universally  recognized, 
whether  by  visitors  from  other  sections,  or  travelers  from  foreign 
lands.  Dr.  Dwight  finds  this  beauty  in  its  highest  perfection  in 
the  towns  on  or  near  the  Connecticut  River,  and  expatiates  with 
much  satisfaction  on  the  plan  of  the  villages,  as  it  is  there  car- 
2 


18  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST  COLLEGE. 

ried  out,  and  the  excellence  of  the  social,  intellectual,  and  moral 
results  as  they  are  there  realized.  The  selection  of  the  site,  not 
like  a  village  or  large  town  in  the  Middle  States,  where  trade, 
commerce  or  manufactures  demand,  but  wherever  beauty  or  con- 
venience, pleasure  or  moral  uses  may  invite  the  bringing  of  the 
whole  farming  population  into  the  village,  to  live  side  by  side 
with  the  merchants,  mechanics,  and  professional  men,  clustering 
around  the  church  or  churches,  and  the  school-houses,  as  a  nu- 
cleus and  common  centre,  the  distribution  of  the  town  plat  into 
lots  containing  from  two  to  ten  acres,  and  the  erection  of  the 
house,  usually  of  wood  painted  white,  and  of  ample  dimensions, 
"  at  the  bottom  of  the  court-yard,"  with  the  singularly  broad 
street  in  front,  and  the  out  buildings,  the  garden,  orchard,  and 
home-lot  succeeding  each  other  at  convenient  distances  in  the 
rear ;  these  are  the  characteristic  features  which  have  made  the 
rural  villages  of  the  Connecticut  famous  the  world  over,  for 
beauty  and  convenience.  And  these  are  partly  the  cause  and 
partly  the  effect  of  the  industry,  thrift,  intelligence,  good  order, 
good  morals  and  religion,  which  are  remarked  by  Dr.  D  wight  and 
observed  by  so  many  other  travelers,  as  characteristic  of  the  peo- 
ple in  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut.  Such  villages  with  such 
schools  and  churches,  and  such  society,  would  naturally  and 
inevitably  blossom  out  into  a  College  in  due  season,  and  isolated 
as  they  were  in  their  early  history,  would  surely  seek  a  College 
in  their  neighborhood,  that  their  schools  and  churches  might 
find  a  sure  supply  of  well  educated  teachers  and  preachers,  and 
their  children  might  grow  up  under  its  elevating  and  inspiring 
influence. 

The  historical  associations  of  this  portion  of  the  Connecticut 
Valley,  here  deserve  a  passing  notice.  There  is  scarcely  a 
town  in  the  valley  whose  soil  was  not  sprinkled  with  blood  in 
the  early  wars  with  the  Indians.  In  King  Philip's  War,  Hadley 
was  the  head-quarters  of  the  English  troops  in  the  river  cam- 
paign. Detachments  were  also  stationed  in  garrisons  at  North- 
ampton, Hatfield,  Deerfield,  and  Northfield.  A  hot  engagement 
took  place  near  the  base  of  Sugar-loaf  Mountain,  in  which  the 
Indians  lost  twenty-six  killed,  and  the  English  ten.  A  company 
sent  to  convoy  provisions  from  Hadley  to  the  garrison  at  North- 


HISTORICAL    ASSOCIATIONS.  19 

field,  fell  into  an  ambuscade  within  two  miles  of  their  destination, 
and  of  thirty-seven  men  who  engaged  in  the  expedition,  only 
sixteen  returned  to  tell  of  the  disaster.  Hatfield  \vas  attacked 
by  seven  or  eight  hundred  savages  and  bravely  and  successfully 
defended.  Springfield  was  invaded  by  Philip's  warriors  when 
its  garrison  had  been  chiefly  drawn  off  to  the  defence  of  other 
towns,  and  burned  to  the  ground ;  and  its  inhabitants,  left  house- 
less and  penniless,  were  so  disheartened  that  they  came  near 
abandoning  the  settlement.  And  South  Deerfield  is  memorable 
as  the  scene  of  the  most  terrible  massacre  of  the  whites  by  the 
Indians,  recorded  in  the  annals  of  New  England.  Capt.  La- 
throp  was  detached  from  Hadley  with  eighty  young  men,  "  the 
very  flower  of  the  County  of  Essex,"  and  a  large  number  of 
teams,  to  bring  off  the  grain  which  was  stacked  in  large  quanti- 
ties on  the  Deerfield  meadows.  They  had  threshed  and  loaded 
the  grain,  and  had  advanced  on  their  return,  as  they  thought, 
beyond  the  reach  of  danger,  when,  as  they  were  crossing  a 
sluggish  stream  which  flowed  through  a  swamp,  and  the  team- 
sters, if  not  some  of  the  soldiers,  also,  were  eagerly  plucking 
the  grapes  which  hung  in  ripe  and  tempting  clusters  from  the 
overhanging  trees,  the  savage  foe  discharged  a  murderous  fire 
upon  them  from  behind  every  bush  and  tree,  and  then  bursting 
from  their  hiding  places,  pursued  the  work  of  destruction, 
slaughtering  the  fleeing,  and  butchering  the  wounded,  until 
ninety  men,  soldiers  arid  teamsters,  lay  weltering  in  their  own 
blood.  But  while  they  were  still  engaged  in  massacring  the 
living .  and  stripping  the  dead,  they,  in  turn,  were  suddenly 
attacked  by  Capt.  Moseley  with  his  little  band  of  heroes  from 
the  garrison  at  Deerfield,  and  ninety-six  of  them  were  slain  in 
swift  retaliation  for  the  dreadful  massacre  which  has  conferred 
on  its  scene  the  befitting  name  of  "  Bloody  Brook."  A  suita- 
ble monument,  erected  in  1835,  marks  the  spot,  and  the  oration 
then  and  there  pronounced  by  the  prince  of  our  American  pane- 
gyrical orators  and  listened  to  with  so  much  interest  by  so  many 
of  the  officers  and  students  of  Amherst  College,  will  probably 
live  as  long  as  the  monument  itself  will  last,  to  commemorate 
the  sufferings  and  sacrifices  by  which  our  fathers  won  this  valley 
to  civilization,  learning  and  religion. 


20  HISTORY  OF  AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

The  next  campaign  of  King  Philip's  War,  that  of  1766,  was 
remarkable  for  the  great  slaughter  of  the  Indians  by  Capt. 
Turner,  near  the  Falls  in  the  Connecticut,  which  have  ever  since 
borne  his  name,  and  the  subsequent  disastrous  retreat  of  his 
men,  and  the  fall  of  their  commander.  In  the  same  year  occur- 
red also  that  attack  upon  Hadley,  in  which  seven  hundred  Indians 
came  upon  the  town  early  in  the  morning,  and  had  already  broken 
through  the  palisades  and  were  spreading  alarm  and  terror  among 
the  whole  population,  when  suddenly  a  mysterious  stranger,  of 
remarkable  form,  and  long  flowing  hair  and  beard,  appeared 
among  the  affrighted  villagers,  rallied  the  soldiers,  routed  the 
enemy  and  put  them  to  flight,  and  then  disappeared  as  mysteri- 
ously as  he  had  manifested  himself  unto  them.  The  people  then 
regarded  him  as  an  angel  of  God  sent  for  their  deliverance.  They 
afterwards  learned  that  their  guardian  angel  was  Goffe,  "  the 
regicide,"  and  that  Whalley,  his  father-in-law  and  fellow  exile, 
resided  at  the  same  time  in  the  family  of  the  minister,  Mr.  Russell, 
and,  with  Goffe,  had  been  there  for  nearly  twelve  years. 

In  the  wars  which  bear  the  names  of  King  William  and  Queen 
Anne,  Old  Deerfield  became  famous  for  those  sieges  and  cap- 
tivities which  have  ever  since  been  as  familiar  to  New  England 
children  as  nursery  tales  ;  almost  as  familiar  as  the  catechism, 
and  the  New  England  Primer.  The  story  of  the  captive,  Eunice 
Williams,  who  became  a  savage  and  refused  to  return  to  civilized 
life,  is  quite  a  romance,  and  the  question,  "  Have  we  a  Bourbon 
among  us,"  which  has  excited  such  a  romantic  interest  in  our 
own  day,  and  which  seemed  likely  enough  at  one  time  to  grow 
into  historical  importance,  is  connected  with  a  descendant  of  this 
"  Deerfield  Captive." 

There  are  comparatively  few  monuments  of  the  "  Revolution- 
ary War  "  in  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut.  The  scene  of  that 
conflict  lay  chiefly  on  the  sea-coast.  Yet  the  people  of  .Western 
Massachusetts  were  not  a  whit  behind  their  fellow-citizens  in 
Boston  and  vicinity  in  offering  first  unarmed  and  then  armed 
resistance  to  the  encroachments  of  the  Mother  Country.  There 
is  scarcely  a  town  in  old  Hampshire  County  whose  records  do 
not  contain  strong  resolutions  of  sympathy  and  succor  for  their 
suffering  brethren  who  had  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  struggle, 


REVOLUTIONARY    AVAR.  21 

or  record  the  appointment  of  Committees  of  Vigilance  and 
Public  Safety,  and  the  choice  of  delegates  to  act  in  concert  with 
those  of  other  towns  in  a  Congress  of  the  County,  the  Province, 
or  the  United  Colonies.  And  when  the  war  opened  and  as  it 
progressed,  we  find  them  sending  out  men,  arms  and  supplies 
year  after  year,  with  a  liberality  altogether  beyond  their  wealth 
and  population,  till  their  resources  were  exhausted,  and  pouring 
out  their  treasure  and  their  blood  like  water,  for  the  common 
cause.  A  Congress  of  Committees  from  the  several  towns  in 
the  old  County  of  Hampshire  met  in  Northampton  on  the  22d 
and  23d  of  September,  1774,  and  passed  with  great  unanimity 
resolutions  that  had  in  them  the  ring  of  resistance  to  the  Stamp 
Act  and  to  Taxation  without  Representation,  and  helped '  to 
prepare  the  way  for  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  When 
the  news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington  reached  Greenfield,  the 
people  of  the  town  assembled  "  instanter,"  and  the  next  morn- 
ing a  volunteer  company  was  on  the  march  for  the  scene  of 
action.  Springfield,  at  first  a' recruiting  post  and  rendezvous  for 
soldiers,  was  afterwards  fixed  upon  as  a  depot  for  military  stores 
and  a  place  for  repairing  arms,  manufacturing  cartridges,  and  at 
length  casting  a  few  cannon,  and  in  the  "  barn  "  which  was  used 
for  these  purposes  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  we  see  the 
germ  of  the  National  Armory  which  during  our  late  war  fur- 
nished arms  on  so  magnificent  a  scale  for  an  army  of  a  million 
of  men  and  thereby  saved  "  the  Great  Republic."  "  The  late 
Gen.  Mattoon  of  Amherst,  one  of  Hampshire's  bravest  and  most 
energetic  spirits  in  the  Revolution,  used  to  tell  of  an  order 
that  he  received  from  Gen.  Gates  to  proceed  to  Springfield,  and 
convey  a  number  of  cannon  from  that  point  to  the  field  of 
operations  in  New  York.  The  General  rode  from  Amherst  to 
Springfield  on  Sunday,  and  with  a  small  body  of  men  accom- 
plished the  task,  and  '  these  cannon  told  at  Saratoga.'  " 1  In 
the  lectures  which  Prof.  Fiske  used  to  deliver  on  American  his- 
tory, when  he  came  to  the  lecture  on  the  battle  of  Saratoga,  he 
sometimes  sent  for  the  then  aged  and  blind  General  to  illustrate 
the  lecture,  which  he  did,  both  by  lively  anecdotes  and  by  his 
living  presence. 

1  Holland's  History  of  Western  Massachusetts,  Vol.  I,  p.  227. 


22  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Accident  has  attached  to  this  section  more  than  its  due  share 
of  credit  in  another  and  less  honorable  history,  viz.,  that  of  "  the 
Shays  Rebellion."  Shays  who  happened  to  give  his  name  to  a 
movement  which  he  did  not  originate  and  was  incapable  of  lead- 
ing, chanced  to  be  a  resident  of  Pelham  when  the  discontent 
arising  from  a  depreciated  currency  and  the  partly  real  and  partly 
fancied  sufferings  of  the  people,  together  with  the  demoralization 
consequent  upon  the  Revolutionary  War,  broke  out  into  insur- 
rection against  the  government.  To  prevent  the  collection  of 
debts  and  then  to  screen  themselves  from  deserved  punishment, 
the  rebels  who  were  only  the  offscouring  of  the  army  and  never 
represented  the  real  sentiments  of  the  people,  interrupted  the 
sessions  of  the  Courts  repeatedly  in  Worcester  and  Berkshire, 
as  well  as  Hampshire  County.  But  gathering  courage  at  length 
to  attack  the  arsenal  at  Springfield,  they  were  routed,  and  the 
division  under  Shays  fled  through  Hadley  and  Amherst  to 
Pelham  where  they  soon  scattered,  the  followers  seeking  their 
homes,  and  the  leaders  taking  refuge  in  the  neighboring  States 
till,  through  the  clemency  of  the  government,  they  were  all 
allowed  to  return  under  a  general  amnesty.  Overruled  for  good, 
the  Shays  Rebellion  strengthened  the  State  government  which 
it  threatened  to  subvert,  and  was  one  of  the  causes  or  occasions 
that  led  to  our  present  federal  constitution. 

Among  the  great  and  good  men  who  have  shed  lustre  on 
the  old  County  of  Hampshire,  one  name  towers  above  all  others 
not  only  in  influence  and  reputation  at  home,  but  ranks  among 
the  brightest  ornaments  of  mankind.  Jonathan  Edwards  wrote 
most  of  those  great  works  which  have  perpetuated  his  fame  and 
influence  at  Stockbridge,  and  his  body  rests  at  Princeton,  N.  J., 
where  he  died  in  the  prime  of  life  as  he  was  just  entering  upon 
the  presidency  of  Nassau  Hall  College.  But  before  he  left 
Northampton  h3  had  already  stamped  his  impress  upon  that 
'and  the  neighboring  towns,  changed  the  religious  character  and 
history  of  New  England,  and  originated  influences  without  which 
Amherst  College  would  have  been  quite  another  institution  from 
what  it  now  is.  His  name,  once  cast  out  as  evil,  is  now  honored 
above  all  others  at  Northampton,  and  strangers  who  visit  the 
place,  are  pointed  to  the  church  which  bears  his  name,  admire 


DISTINGUISHED    MEN.  23 

the  magnificent  elms  which  he  is  said  to  have  planted,  and  even 
seek  out  the  spot  in  the  cemetery  where  a  slab,  inscribed  to  his 
memory,  stands  by  the  side  of  those  which  mark  the  graves  of 
his  daughter  Jerusha,  and  David  Brainerd  to  whom  she  was 
betrothed. 

Among  many  other  illustrious  names  which  have  adorned  the 
history  of  this  section,  it  will  not  be  deemed  invidious  to  men- 
tion those  of  Col.  John  Stoddard,  Maj.  Joseph  Hawley,  and 
Gov.  Caleb  Strong,  of  Northampton,  Dr.  Joseph  Lyman,  of 
Hatfield,  and  Judge  Simeon  Strong,  and  Gen.  Ebenezer  Mat- 
toon,  of  Amherst. 

But  there  were  foundations  for  a  College  in  the  Connecticut 
Valley  laid  earlier  than  its  earliest  wars,  and  deeper  than  any 
events  that  were  transacted  on  its  surface.  Long  before  the 
valley  had  any  human  inhabitants,  there  were  "  foot-prints  on 
the  sands  of  time,"  not  so  easily  effaced  as  those  of  heroes, 
statesmen  or  divines,  which  hardened  into  stone,  were  to  consti- 
tute the  ichnological  cabinets  at  Amherst ;  there  were  antiqui- 
ties, histories,  literatures,  sciences,  in  comparison  with  which 
those  of  Greece  and  Rome  are  recent,  written  in  the  solid  rocks 
in  characters  which  a  Hitchcock  would  begin  to  decipher,  and 
other  geologists  would  continue  to  read,  which  would  make  the 
Connecticut  Valley  beyond  any  portion  of  the  Old  World,  a 
classic,  almost  a  holy  land  to  savans  of  every  country  through 
succeeding  generations.  For  these  foot-prints  exist  at  Turner's 
Falls,  at  the  base  of  Mount  Tom  and  Mount  Holyoke,  in  the 
Portland  quarries  and  in  the  sandstone  all  through  this  valley,  in 
unrivaled  perfection  and  in  such  inexhaustible  supplies  as  are 
found  nowhere  else. 

Such  are  some  of  the  characteristics  of  the  soil  out  of  which 
Amherst  College  sprung,  and  into  which  it  has  struck  its  roots ; 
such  some  of  the  surroundings  that  impress  themselves  on  the 
mind  and  character  of  its  students ;  and  such  the  associations 
clustering  about  it,  which,  even  to  casual  visitors  and  strangers, 
constitute  some  of  its  incidental  attractions. 


CHAPTER  II. 

AMHERST  FIRST  NAMED  AS  THE  BEST   SITE  FOR  A  COLLEGE— 
AMHERST  AS  IT  THEN  WAS. 

THE  first  associated  action  on  record,  looking  towards  the 
establishment  of  a  College  at  Amherst,  was  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Franklin  County  Association  of  ministers,  held  in  Shelburne,  in 
1815.  This  was  six  years  before  the  College  came  into  exist- 
ence, and  was  prior  even  to  the  incorporation  of  Amherst 
Academy,  out  of  which  the  College  grew.  The  record  reads  as 
follows:  "Shelburne,  May  10,  1815.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
Franklin  Association,  holden  at  the  house  of  Rev.  Theophilus 
Packard,  were  present  Revs.  Messrs.  Samuel  Taggart,  Josiah 
Spaulding,  Jonathan  Grout,  Joseph  Field,  Theophilus  Packard, 
Thomas  A.  Wood,  Moses  Miller,  Alvan  Sanderson,  Josiah  W. 
Cannon.  The  following  questions  were  proposed  by  Brother 
Packard  for  the  opinion  of  this  body,  viz. :  1.  Whether  a  Col- 
lege would  be  likely  to  flourish  in  some  central  town  of  Old 
Hampshire  County,  and  be  promotive  of  knowledge  and  virtue  in 
the  State.  2.  What  town  thus  centrally  situated,  all  circum- 
stances considered,  appeared  to  them  most  eligible  for  such  an 
institution?  The  body,  on  mature  deliberation,  were  of  the 
opinion  that  knowledge  and  virtue  might  be  greatly  subserved 
by  a  literary  institution  .situated  in  that  important  section  of  the 
Commonwealth.  They  were  also  unanimously  agreed  that,  all 
things  considered,  the  town  of  Amherst  appeared  to  them  the 
most  eligible  place  for  locating  it."  1 

Several  things  are  particularly  worthy  of  notice  in  this  trans- 
action. In  the  first  place,  the  first  associated  action,  and,  so  far 

1  See  Historical  Discourse  of  Rev.  Theophilus  Packard,  at  the  Centennial  of 
Shelburne. 


FRA]S7KLIN  ASSOCIATION.  25 

as  appears,  the  first  impulse  and  movement  towards  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  College  in  Amherst,  was  not  in  Amherst  nor  even 
in  Hampshire  County,  but  in  Franklin,  and  that  not  at  a  meeting 
in  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut,  but  among  the  mountains  west 
of  the  valley,  where  so  many  great  and  good  men  and  measures 
have  had  their  origin.  This  fact  effectually  disposes  of  the 
charges  so  often  reiterated  by  the  enemies  of  the  College  in 
former  years,  that  it  had  its  origin  in  sectional  prejudices  and 
local  interests. 

In  the  second  place  we  see  clearly  and  positively  what  were 
the  considerations  which  influenced  the  first  movers  in  the  enter- 
prise. Overlooking  all  local  preferences  and  all  personal  inter- 
ests they  inquire  only  whether  a  College  in  some  central  part  of 
old  Hampshire  County  would  be  likely  to  flourish  and  to  promote 
knowledge  and  virtue,  and  then  what  town,  all  things  considered, 
would  be  the  most  eligible  situation.  And  in  answer  to  these 
questions,  they  fix  unanimously  upon  a  town  which  was  in  another 
county  and  in  no  way  represented  in  the  Franklin  Association. 

In  the  third  place,  the  "Brother"  who  proposed  the  questions 
was  a  Trustee  of  Williams  College.  The  brethren  who  were  so 
*'  unanimously  agreed  "  in  the  result  of  their  deliberations,  were 
its  friends,  and  the  place  in  which  they  held  their  meeting,  and 
the  towns  and  churches  which  they  represented,  were  all,  so  far 
as  mere  local  and  personal  considerations  were  concerned,  in 
sympathy  with  it,  so  that  there  is  no  room  for  a  suspicion  even 
that  they  were  influenced  by  hostility  to  that  Institution.  Indeed 
the  most  remarkable  aspect  of  the  whole  transaction  is  that  they 
were  able  to  rise  so  far  above  all  local  and  personal  considera- 
tions, and  consider  the  question  solely  in  its  bearing  on  the 
advancement  of  learning  and  religion  in  the  community. 

Besides  Rev.  Theophilus  Packard  who  was  the  prime  mover 
in  this  first  associated  action,  several  other  of  the  earliest  and 
most  efficient  friends  of  Amherst  College  were  residents  of 
Franklin  County.  Rev.  James  Taylor  of  Sunderland  was  a 
member  of  the  Corporation  as  it  was  first  chosen  and  organized, 
a  constant  attendant  of  all  its  meetings  so  long  as  he  lived,  a 
wise  counsellor  and  a  firm  supporter  of  the  College  in  all  the 
trials  of  the  first  eleven  years  of  its  existence.  Col.  Rufus 


26  HISTORY  OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

Graves,  its  indefatigable  agent,  and  Nathaniel  Smith,  its  most 
liberal' donor  in  those  early  days,  were  both  members  of  Mr. 
Taylor's  church,  born  in  Sunderlaiid  and  residing  there  when 
the  establishment  of  such  an  Institution  first  began  to  be 
agitated.  Dea.  Elisha  Billings  of  Conway,  an  educated  man 
of  great  zeal,  wisdom  and  influence,  threw  them  all  into  this 
enterprise,  and  contributed  largely  to  its  success.  These  three 
laymen  who  were  all  connected  by  blood  or  marriage,  as  well  as 
kindred  spirits  in  religious  faith  and  zeal,  often  visited  at  each 
other's  houses,  particularly  at  the  house  of  Dea.  Billings  in 
Conway,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Taylor  and  Rev.  Mr.  Packard  not  un- 
frequently  visited  with  them.  And  "  The  College,"  at  first 
strongly  desired  and  then  more  distinctly  contemplated  and 
planned  for,  was  the  principal  topic  of  their  conversations  and 
the  object  of  their  most  fervent  prayers  for  years  before  it 
came  into  actual  existence.  As  foreign  missions  in  America  had 
their  origin  in  the  prayers  of  a  few  students  at  "  the  hay- 
stack "  near  Williams  College,  so  Amherst  College  perhaps  origi- 
nated in  the  prayers  of  this  little  circle  of  intelligent  and  de- 
voted Christians  in  Franklin  County;  and  if  the  whole  secret 
were  known,  cultivated,  earnest,  praying  women  would  perhaps 
be  found  to  have  had  quite  as  much  to  do  with  cherishing  it  in  its 
germ  as  praying  men.  Mrs.  Smith,  who  was  a  sister  of  Col. 
Graves,  was  like  him  in  religious  zeal,  and  faith,  and  prayer ; 
and  Mrs.  Billings,  who  was  a  daughter  of  Rev.  John  Storrs,  of 
Mansfield,  Conn.,  was  so  captivated  with  the  history  of  the 
Francke  Institution,  at  Halle,  which  was  founded  wholly  in 
faith  and  prayer,1  that  she  circulated  among  her  friends,  a 
little  book  containing  that  history,  until  it  was  entirely  worn 
out. 

1  Like  George  Miiller's  Orphan  School,  at  Bristol,  England,  which  was  suggested 
by  that  at  Halle;  for  George  Miiller  came  from  that  part  of  Germany,  and  was 
early  familiar  with  Francke's  Institution.  More's  Charity  School,  at  Mansfield, 
Conn.,  which  afterwards  grew  into  Dartmouth  College,  may  also  have  exerted  some 
influence  on  the  origin  of  Amherst  College,  for  Mrs.  Billings  was  from  Mansfield  ; 
her  mother  was  a  More,  and  she  is  remembered  to  have  spoken  often  with  great 
interest  of  the  More  Charity  School,  together  with  Francke's  Institution.  I  have 
these  facts  from  Mrs.  Russell,  wife  of  Rev.  E.  Russell,  D.  D.,  of  Randolph,  and 
daughter  of  Dea.  Billings.  See  also  Dr.  Hitchcock's  Reminiscences  of  Araherst 
College,  p.  7. 


HAMPSHIRE   COUNTY.  27 

Here  the  question  naturally  arises,  why  these  friends  of  learn- 
ing and  religion  in  Franklin  County,  should  have  preferred 
Hampshire  County  to  their  own,  and  why  they  should  have 
selected  Amherst  rather  than  other  towns  in  Hampshire  County, 
as  the  site  of  such  an  Institution.  In  answer  to  these  questions 
it  should  be  observed  in  the  first  place,  that  Hampshire  is  the 
central  county  in  Western  Massachusetts,  and  in  that  part  of 
the  valley  of  the  Connecticut  which  belongs  to  Massachusetts, 
and  Ainherst  is  one  of  the  most  central  towns  in  Hampshire 
County.  Northampton  was  the  shire  town  of  the  old  county 
of  Hampshire,  when  it  comprehended  the  whole  of  Western 
Massachusetts,  and,  together  with  the  neighboring  towns,  took  a 
leading  part  in  the  early  civil,  political,  and  religious  history  of 
this  part  of  the  Commonwealth.  The  distinguished  men  who 
have  given  character  and  reputation  to  Western  Massachusetts, 
and  some  of  whose  names  have  been  recorded  in  the  last  chap- 
ter, were  in  large  proportion  residents  of  the  central  towns  in 
Hampshire  County.  Hampshire  County  has  long  been  the  ban- 
ner county  of  the  State  in  its  educational  and  religious  history  ; 
statistics  show  that  it  exceeds  any  other  county  in  the  propor- 
tion, both  of  its  College  students  and  church  members ; l  and 
whether  as  cause  or  effect,  or  more  likely  both  cause  and  effect 
of  this,  it  is  now  equally  distinguished  for  the  number  and  char- 
acter of  its  higher  educational  Institutions. 

Amherst  Academy,  although  it  was  not  incorporated  until 
1816,  commenced  operations  in  1814,  and  was  formally  dedi- 
cated in  1815,  the  same  year  in  which  the  Franklin  Association 
so  unanimously  recommended  Amherst  as  the  most  favorable 
situation  for  a  College ;  and  the  enterprise  of  the  citizens  of 
Amherst  in  raising  the  funds,  the  enthusiastic  interest  in  its  in- 
auguration manifested  in  bonfires,  ringing  of  bells  and  a  general 
illumination,  and  the  eclat  and  success  with  which  it  went  into 
operation,  doubtless  excited  the  attention  if  not  the  admiration 

1  In  1832,  old  Hampshire  County  with  a  population  of  sixty  thousand  had  one 
hundred  and  twenty  students  in  College,  which  was  twice  as  many  in  proportion  as 
the  average  of  the  State.  It  was  then  computed  that  if  the  whole  State  sent  young 
men  to  College  in  the  same  proportion,  she  would  have  twelve  hundred  students 
instead  of  six  hundred,  and  the  United  States  one  hundred  thousand  instead  of 
six  thousand. 


28  HISTORY   OF  AMHERST  COLLEGE. 

of  neighboring  towns.  Previous  to  the  existence  of  the  Acad- 
emy, also,  Amherst  had  been  distinguished  by  the  superiority  of 
its  public  and  private  schools.  Such  men  as  Judge  Strong,  Gen. 
Mattoon,  Dr.  Parsons,  Dr.  Coleman,  Dr.  Cutler,  Noah  Webster 
and  Samuel  Fowler  Dickinson  formed  society  and  elevated  the 
tone  of  public  sentiment.  In  1798,  there  were  eleven  students 
from  Amherst  at  one  time  in  College — eight  in  Williams  and 
three  in  other  Colleges.  In  eleven  years  from  1792,  Amherst 
furnished  twelve  graduates  of  Williams  and  Dartmouth,  six  from 
each ;  and  in  the  twelve  years  preceding  the  charter  of  the 
College,  eighteen  young  men  from  this  town  were  graduated  at 
Williams,  Dartmouth,  Yale  and  Midcllebury.  Even  before  the 
establishment  of  the  College,  Amherst,  considering  its  compar- 
ative newness  and  small  population,  might  well  claim  to  be  the 
banner  town  of  the  banner  county  in  education. 

Dr.  Dwight  visited  Amherst  in  1803,  ascended  the  tower  of 
the  church  then  standing  on  the  site  of  the  Woods  Cabinet  and 
Observatory,  and  was  greatly  struck  with  the  beauty  and  pic- 
turesqueness  of  the  scenery  which  have  been  admired  and  loved 
by  so  many  generations  of  College  students.  "  The  position," 
he  says,  "  is  a  very  eligible  one,  commanding  a  great  multitude 
of  the  fine  objects  which  are  visible  from  the  summit  of  Mount 
Holyoke.  This  amphitheatre  is  about  twenty-four  miles  in  length 
and  about  fifteen  in  breadth.  The  mountains  by  which  it  is  en- 
circled and  the  varieties  of  scenery  with  which  its  area  is  filled 
up,  form  one  of  the  most  impressive  and  delightful  objects  which 

can  be  seen  in  this  country A  handsomer  piece  of  ground 

"[than  the  township  of  Amherst,]  composed  of  hills  and  valleys, 
is  rarely  seen,  more  elegant  slopes  never.  The  lines  by  which 
they  are  limited,  are  formed  by  an  exquisite  hand,  and  with  an 
ease  and  grace  which  art  can  not  surpass."  l 

Yet  Amherst  was  undervalued  and  neglected  by  the  earlier 
settlers,  who  settled  all  around  it,  and  even  took  possession  of 
the  surrounding  hills  in  preference  to  its  rich  alluvial  bottoms. 
Ihose  lands  which  are  now  among  our  choicest  meadows  and 
best  farms,  were  then  considered  as  marsh,  unreclaimed  and  irre- 
claimable^The  east  part  of  the  town  was  for  many  years 

1  D  wight's  Travels,  Vol.  II.,  p.  360. 


AMHEEST  IN   1800.  29 

kno\vn  as  "Foote-Folly-Swamp,"  and  Hadley  Swamp  was  a  not 
imfrequent  designation  for  the  whole  territory.  All  the  neigh- 
boring towns — Hadley,  Sunderland,  South  Hadley,  Granby,  Pel- 
ham  and  Shutesbury — had  been  incorporated  while  Amherst  still 
remained  a  precinct,  or  at  most  a  district.  Amherst  was  origi- 
nally a  part  of  Hadley.  It  was  called  "  the  third  precinct  "  of 
Hadley  till  1754,  the  "  second  precinct "  till  1759,  and  was  not 
incorporated  as  a  town  till  1775.  In  1810,  the  population  waa 
1,469;  in  1820,  it  was  1,917. 

At  the  center,  the  two  principal  streets,  running  the  one  north 
and  south l  and  the  other  east  and  west,  were  both  originally  laid 
out,  as  in  Hadley,  forty  rods  wide,  that  is,  more  than  twice  the 
width  of  the  present  West  street  in  Hadley,  and  afterwards  re- 
duced to  less  than  twenty  rods  at  the  widest.  Thus  the  houses 
at  the  center  were  all  originally  built  fronting  on  a  wide  common 
which  \vas  subsequently  enclosed  and  became  a  part  of  the  front 
yards  of  some  of  the  ancient  houses,  though  as  new  houses 
were  built,  they  were  usually  built  nearer  the  narrowed  street. 
The  lawn  in  front  of  the  old  Strong  house  in  Amity  street,  for 
example,  was  once  a  part  of  the  broad  street  or  common,  and 
shows  the  width  of  the  original  street.  The  old  Dr.  Cowles 
house  represents  in  like  manner  the  change  in  Pleasant  street. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  present  century,  Judge  Strong 
owned  all  the  land  at  and  near  the  north-west  and  north-east 
corners  of  the  two  main  streets,  as  far  north  as  the  Dr.  Cowles 
house  and  the  Dr.  Coleman  house  2  which  then  stood  near  the 
cemetery,  and  as  far  east  as  the  Dr.  Cutler  house  which  then, 
stood  on  the  brow  of  Sunset  Hill,  now  Mrs.  Jones'.  Gen.  Ze- 
bina  Montague  owned  the  south-east  corner,  and  Dr.  Parsons 
the  whole  south-west  angle  except  the  corner  which  was  occu- 
pied then  as  it  has  been  ever  since  by  the  hotel.  In  1815,  when 

1  As  far  south  as  Mill  Valley. 

2  So  called  from  Dr.  Seth  Coleman,  a  distinguished  physician,  who  died  Septem- 
ber 9,  1815,  aged  seventy-six.     See  funeral  sermon  preached  by  Rev.  Nathan  Per- 
kins of  East  Amherst,  and  published  by  request.     Dr.  Seth  Coleman  was  the  father 
of  Rev.  Lyman  Coleman,  D.  D.,  some  time  principal  of  Amherst  Academy  and  In- 
structor in  Amherst  College,  the  author  of  the  well-known  works  on  the  Constitu- 
tion and  History  of  the  Early  Christian  Church,  and  now  Professor  in  Lafayette 
College. 


30 

the  College  began  to  be  talked  of  there  were  still  not  more  than 
twenty-five  houses  in  the  entire  village.  Three  of  these  were 
gambrel-roofed  houses — the  then  aristocratic  style — viz.,  those 
of  Judge  Strong  and  Dr.  Parsons,  and  the  hotel,  the  last,  how- 
ever, only  one  story,  and  then  kept  by  Elijah  Boltwood.  Of 
these  the  Judge  Strong  house,  now  Mrs.  Emerson's,  is  the 
only  remaining  specimen.  Between  the  hotel  and  the  Parsons 
house,1  there  was  no  building  except  a  school-house  near  the 
site  of  the  present  tin-shop,  which  was  used  sometimes  for  a  dis- 
trict school,  and  sometimes  for  a  select  school.  There  was  no 
sidewalk,  and  the  road  (for  a  street  it  could  hardly  be  called, 
although  it  was  the  main  road  leading  to  "  the  meeting-house,") 
was  often  so  muddy  as  to  be  impassable.  Prof.  Snell  remem- 
bers being  obliged  more  than  once,  by  reason  of  the  mud,  to 
betake  himself  to  the  Virginia  fence  that  run  its  zigzags  along- 
side this  road,  which  was  then  nearly  as  crooked  as  the  fence 
itself.  The  common  was  partly  swamp  and  partly  pasture 
ground,  grown  up  to  white  birch,  on  which  each  family  was 
allowed  by  annual  vote  of  the  town  to  pasture  a  cow  so  many 
weeks  every  season.  On  the  east  side  there  was  a  goose-pond, 
skirted  with  alders,  and  alive  and  vocal  with  large  flocks  of 
geese. 

The  corner  diagonal  to  the  hotel,  now  the  site  of  Phenix  Row, 
was  then  occupied  by  the  house  and  store  of  H.  Wright  Strong. 
Till  about  this  time  this  was  the  only  store  in  town,  and  there 
was  no  such  thing  as  a  drug  store,  or  carpenter's  or  blacksmith's 
shop  in  existence.  At  the  east  end  of  what  is  now  Phenix  Row 
was  the  house  which  was  owned  and  occupied  by  Noah  Webster 
for  ten  years  from  1812  till  1822.  This  house  was  destroyed  by 
fire  in  1838.  The  orchard  which  Mr.  Webster  planted  and 
cherished  (now  Foster  Cook's,)  is  still  perhaps  the  best  orchard 
in  town.  Samuel  Fowler  Dickinson  had  recently  erected  the 
house  now  owned  by  his  son,  the  first  brick  house  in  the  vil- 
lage. The  road  between  Mr.  Webster's  and  Mr.  Dickinson's 
then  took  a  zigzag  course  towards  the  present  residence  of  Mr. 
Sweetser,  to  avoid  a  marsh  in  which  in  old  times  cattle  were 
not  unfrequently  mired.  The  causeway  of  Main  street  now 

1  Then  situated  where  the  Library  now  is. 


HATED    MONEY.  31 

crosses  the  center  of  that  swamp,  and  the  village  church  is  built 
on  its  margin. 

A  boy  was  sent  one  morning  on  an  errand  from  Dr.  Parsons' 
to  Esq.  Dickinson's.  As  soon  as  he  came  upon  the  road  lead- 
ing from  Pelham  to  Northampton,  he  began  to  pick  up  silver 
dollars.  On  his  return  he  went  on  down  the  same  road,  as  far,  as 
Dr.  Cutler's,  still  picking  up  silver  dollars.  When  he  reached 
home,  he  counted  out  sixty  silver  dollars.  At  evening,  Dea. 
Rankin  of  Pelham  came  in  and  claimed  the  money.  He  had 
set  out  in  the  morning,  with  the  hard  money  in  his  saddle-bags, 
to  pay  for  a  yoke  of  oxen  in  Northampton.  The  saddle-bags, 
worn  through,  began  to  leak  at  Esq.  Dickinson's,  and  by  the 
time  he  reached  Dr.  Cutler's  they  were  emptied  of  their  con- 
tents, so  that  the  deacon  arrived  at  Northampton  without  any 
means  of  paying  for  his  oxen.  The  boy  passed  over  the  road 
some  hours  later  and  picked  up  almost  every  dollar  of  the 
money.  He  is  still  living,  and  bears  the  name  of  David  Par- 
sons. The  story  illustrates  two  characteristics  of  the  good  old 
times  in  Amherst  —  first,  how  little  passing  there  was  in  the 
streets,  and  secondly,  the  possession  and  common  use  of  silver 
money.  It  was  an  intermediate  period  between  the  age  of  mod- 
ern "  greenbacks  "  and  the  old  "  Continental  currency."  There 
was  at  this  time  only  a  weekly  stage  to  Boston.  It  was  not  till 
some  time  after  the  College  was  established,  that  this  was  ex- 
changed for  a  tri-weekly,  which  was  then  counted  a  great 
advance.1 

When  Esq.  Dickinson  erected  his  brick  house,  he  removed 
the  wood  house  which  he  had  previously  occupied  on  the  same 
site,  to  Pleasant  street  where  it  still  stands,  a  small  old-fashioned 
two-story  house,  a  little  north  of  the  blacksmith  shop.  The 
old  Whiting  house,  between  Pleasant  street  and  North  street, 
now  owned  by  Mr.  Ayers,  is  also  one  of  the  antiquities  of  Am- 
herst. And  the  grand  old  elm  which  overshadows  it  like  a 
protecting  forest,  if  it  were  only  gifted  with  speech  like  some 

1 A  lady  to  whom  I  am  much  indebted  for  this  sketch  of  Amherst  as  it  was,  remem- 
bers that  the  first  ice-house,  and  also  the  first  bathing  apartment  in  Amherst,  was 
built  in  1816 ;  the  first  Congress  water  was  brought  here  in  1817,  and  the  first  cook- 
ing stove  in  1819.  As  late  as  1824,  there  was  not  an  organ  or  piano  in  Amherst. 


32  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

trees  of  the  mythical  ages,  could  tell  tales  older  and  more  im- 
pressive than  all  the  history  that  has  been  gathered  from  the 
oldest  inhabitants.  There  is  no  finer  specimen  of  "  the  Amer- 
ican tree" — "the  tree  of  liberty" — in  the  valley  of  the  Con- 
necticut, and  of  course  none  anywhere  else  in  the  country  or  the 
world. 

There  are  two  houses  on  the  east  side  of  the  common  which 
existed  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  speaking,  and  still  remain 
quite  unchanged — the  Warner  house  and  the  Merrill  house. 
And  we  must  not  forget  to  mention  an  institution,  quite  charac- 
teristic of  the  good  old  times,  which  once  stood  on  the  back  side 
of  the  Merrill  lot,  but  which  has  passed  from  the  knowledge  of 
the  present  generation  though  some  traces  of  it  have  been 
brought  to  light  in  recent  excavations.  We  refer  to  a  distillery 
— the  first,  though  by  no  means  the  last,  in  this  region — which 
used  up  some  three  thousand  barrels  of  cider  every  year,  turning 
it  into  cider-brandy,  and  used  up  as  effectually  some  of  the  old 
settlers.  Their  children,  who  are  still  on  the  stage,  recount  some 
first  lessons  learned  there,  which,  with  the  help  of  later  lessons 
of  a  counter  tendency,  have  made  them  ever  since  the  sturdy 
friends  of  temperance.  In  the  construction  of  Prof.  Seelye's 
fish-pond  lately,  the  aqueduct  of  logs  which  brought  water  into 
the  distillery  was  discovered,  and  found  to  be  still,  after  three- 
quarters  of  a  century,  in  a  state  of  perfect  preservation.  College 
street  now  runs  along  near  the  brow  of  this  distillery  ravine, 
and  several  of  the  Professors'  houses  occupy  the  very  ground 
which  used  to  be  covered  with  barrels  of  cider  and  cider-brandy. 
Fact  significant  not  only  of  change  but  of  improvement !  The 
world  does  move ;  and  it  moves  in  the  right  direction — towards 
temperance,  intelligence,  virtue  and  piety. 

A  majority  of  the  people  of  Amherst  were  in  favor  of  the 
Revolution,  chose  a  Committee  of  Correspondence  in  1774  who 
wrote  a  spirited  and  outspoken  letter  of  encouragement  to  the 
people  of  Boston,  and  a  few  days  before  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, voted  to  support  Congress  in  such  a  declaration, 
pledging  to  that  support  their  lives  and  fortunes.  In  1777  they 
censured  Rev.  Mr.  Parsons  for  lukewarmness  in  the  cause.  In 
common  with  the  majority  of  the  neighboring  towns,  Amherst 


NATIVES   OF   AMHERST.  33 

was  strongly  opposed  to  the  war  of  1812,  and  made  a  public 
declaration  of  its  opposition. 

Araherst  was  the  birthplace  of  Silas  Wright,  Governor  of 
New  York  and  a  prominent  candidate  for  the  Presidency  at 
the  time  of  his  death.  Gideon  Lee,  the  wealthy  and  noble 
Mayor  of  New  York  city,  and  Chester  Ashley,  United  States 
Senator  from  Arkansas,  were  also  born  here.  Besides  Simeon 
Strong,  usually  known  as  "  Judge  Strong,"  Judge  of  the  Su- 
preme Judicial  Court  of  Massachusetts,  who  died  in  office  in 
1805,  Amherst  has  given  to  the  bench  his  son  Solomon  Strong, 
State  Senator  in  Massachusetts  four  years,  Member  of  Congress 
two  terms,  and  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and 
Daniel  Kellogg,  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Vermont. 
Among  its  lawyers  Osrnyn  Baker,  Edward  Dickinson  and 
Charles  Delano  have  been  members  of  Congress.  Of  the  min- 
isters born  here,  we  may  mention  Dr.  David  Parsons,  thirty- 
seven  years  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Amherst,  Dr.  Daniel 
Kellogg,  almost  fifty  years  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in 
Framingham,  Austin  Dickinson,  editor  of  The  National  Preacher  ^ 
and  originator  of  several  philanthropic  and  Christian  enterprises, 
and  Rev.  Dr.  Nelson,  lately  of  St.  Louis,  now  of  Lane  Theolog- 
ical Seminary.  The  father  of  Henry  Lyman,  "  the  Martyr  of 
Sumatra,"  removed  here  for  the  education  of  his  son,  and  con- 
tinued to  live  here  until  his  death,  and  the  family  made  this 
their  home  till  the  children  were  educated  and  settled  else- 
where. The  house  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Pleasant,  now  Mr. 
Fearing's,  was  long  known  as  "  the  Lyman  house."  It  may  also 
be  associated  with  Gov.  Wright,  for  it  was  built  by  his  maternal 
grandfather.  Mount  Pleasant  itself,  where,  in  1830,  were  gath- 
ered more  than  a  hundred  boys  in  that  "  Classical  Institution," 
which,  founded  by  a  graduate  of  the  Class  of  '26,  fitted  for  Col- 
lege Mr.  Beecher,  and  some  other  distinguished  pupils,  and 
which  Mr.  Choate,  in  arguing  here  a  famous  reference  in  regard 
to  it,  so  fitly  styled  "  the  jewel  on  the  brow  of  Amherst,"  was 
then  an  unbroken  forest  famous  only  for  the  chestnuts  which 
attracted  the  boys  and  the  squirrels  in  flocks  to  the  harvest. 
3  ;.~ 


CHAPTER  III. 

AMHERST   ACADEMY. 

AMHERST  ACADEMY  was  the  mother  of  Amherst  College. 
The  Trustees  of  the  Academy  were  also  Trustees  of  the  Col- 
lege, and  the  records  of  the  Academy  were  the  records  of  the 
College  during  the  first  four  years  of  its  existence.  Some  ac- 
count of  the  Academy  must,  therefore,  precede  the  history  of 
the  College.  The  founding  and  erecting  of  Amherst  Academy, 
kept  pace  with  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  last  war  with 
Great  Britain.  The  subscription  was  started  in  1812,  when 
that  war  was  declared ;  the  Academy  went  into  operation  in 
December,  1814,  the  same  year  and  the  same  month  in  which 
the  peace  was  signed ;  and  it  was  fully  dedicated  with  illumina- 
tions and  public  rejoicings  in  1815,  when  the  return  of  peace 
was  known  and  hailed  with  joy  in  this  country,  especially  in 
New  England.  This  synchronism  is  worthy  of  note,  not  as  a 
mere  accidental  coincidence,  but  as  illustrating  the  energy,  reso- 
lution, and  self-sacrificing  spirit  of  the  men  who  could  raise 
such  a  sum  of  money  and  found  such  an  Institution  at  the  very 
time  when  the  industry  and  enterprise  of  New  England  were 
oppressed  as  never  before  nor  since,  by  a  war  which  was  pecu- 
liarly hostile  to  their  industrial  interests.  The  charter  was  not 
obtained,  however,  till  1816,  having  been  delayed  by  opposition 
in  Amherst,  and  in  the  neighboring  towns,  of  the  same  kind 
and  partly  from  the  very  same  sources  as  that  which  the  College 
encountered  in  later  years. 

The  subscription  was  started  by  Samuel  Fowler  Dickinson, 
and  Hezekiah  Wright  Strong,  Esquires,  the  same  men  to  whom, 
beyond  any  other  citizens  of  Amherst,  the  College  afterwards 
owed  its  origin.  Calvin  Merrill  of  the  village,  and  Justus  Wil- 


TRUSTEES   AND   TEACHERS.  35 

liams  of  South  Amherst,  were  also  quite  active  in  raising  funds 
and  rearing  the  building.  Dr.  Parsons  gave  the  land  on  which 
the  building  was  erected,  lent  all  his  influence  to  the  raising  of 
the  money,  and  was  the  first,  and,  until  the  establishment  of  the 
College,  the  only  President  of  its  Board  of  Trustees,  and,  to  say 
the  least,  one  of  its  principal  fathers  and  founders.  The  Trustees 
named  in  the  act  of  incorporation  were  David  Parsons,  Na- 
than Perkins,  Samuel  F.  Dickinson,  Hezekiah  W.  Strong, 
Noah  Webster,  John  Woodbridge,  James  Taylor,  Nathaniel 
Smith,  Josiah  Dwight,  Rufus  Graves,  Winthrop  Bailey,  Expe- 
rience Porter,  and  Elijah  Gridley.  In  common  with  other 
incorporated  institutions  of  the  kind,  the  Academy  received 
from  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  the  grant  of  half  a  town- 
ship of  land  in  the  district  of  Maine,  on  condition  that  the  in- 
habitants of  the  town  should  raise  a  sum  of  money  which  was 
deemed  its  equivalent,  viz :  three  thousand  dollars. 

During  the  first  ten  or  twelve  years  or  more  of  its  existence 
the  Academy  was  open  to  both  sexes.  The  principal  male 
teachers  during  this  period,  in  their  chronological  order,  were 
Francis  Bascom,  Joseph  Estabrook,  John  L.  Parkhurst,  Gerard 
Hallock,  Zenas  Clapp,  David  Green,  and  Ebenezer  S.  Snell. 
Three  of  these  were  afterwards  connected  with  the  College  as 
tutors  or  professors,  one  became  the  well-known  editor  and  pro- 
prietor of  The  Journal  of  Commerce,  and  another  an  honored 
secretary  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions.  The  lady  teachers  were  Lucy  Douglas,  afterwards 
Mrs.  James  Fowler  of  Westfield,  Orra  White,  afterwards  Mrs. 
Dr.  Hitchcock,  Mary  Ann  Field,  afterwards  Mrs.  Henry  Mer- 
rill, Sarah  S.  Strong,1  daughter  of  H.  W.  Strong,  now  Mrs. 
McConihe  of  Troy,  and  Hannah  Shepard,  sister  of  Prof.  Shep- 
ard,  afterwards  Mrs.  Judge  Terry  of  Hartford. 

"  Under  the  government  and  instruction  of  such  superior 
teachers,"  I  quote  the  language  of  a  competent  eye-witness, 
"  the  Academy  obtained  a  reputation  second  to  none  in  the 

1  To  this  lady  who  became  a  teacher  in  the  Academy  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  and  a 
teacher  of  remarkable  brilliancy,  I  am  indebted  for  many  facts  in  the  early  his> 
tory  of  Amherst  Academy,  which  but  for  her  extraordinary  memory  must  have 
perished  with  the  fire  that  consumed  the  Records  in  1838. 


36  HISTORY    OF    AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

State,  and  indeed  the  ladies'  department  was  in  advance  of  the 
same  department  in  other  institutions,  as  might  be  shown  by  a 
simple  comparison  of  the  studies  pursued  and  text-books  in 
use  by  the  young  ladies.  Among  these  may  be  specified  Chem- 
istry, which  was  then  just  beginning  to  be  studied  in  schools 
outside  of  Colleges,  but  was  taught  in  Amherst  Academy  with 
lectures  and  experiments  by  Prof.  Graves  who  had  been  lec- 
turer on  Chemistry  in  Dartmouth  College,  Rhetoric,  Logic, 
History,  Paley's  Moral  Philosophy,  Play  fair's  Euclid,  Stewart's 
Philosophy,  Enfield's  Natural  Philosophy,  Herschell's  Astron- 
omy with  the  calculation  and  projection  of  eclipses,  Latin, 
French,  etc.  On  Wednesday  afternoons  all  the  scholars  were 
assembled  in  the  upper  hall  for  reviews,  declamations,  composi- 
tions and  exercises  in  reading  in  which  both  gentlemen  and 
ladies  participated.  Spectators  were  admitted  and  were  often 
present  in  large  numbers,  among  whom  Dr.  Parsons  and  Mr. 
Webster,  President  and  Vice-Presideiit  of  the  Board  of  Trust- 
ees, might  usually  be  seen,  and  often  the  lawyers,  physicians, 
and  other  educated  men  of  the  place.  Not  unfrequently  gen- 
tlemen from  out  of  town  were  present,  as  for  instance,  Dr.  Pack- 
ard, who  early  became  a  Trustee,  and  was  much  interested  in 
the  prosperity  of  the  Institution.  Once  a  year,  at  the  close  of 
the  fall  term  in  October,  the  old  meeting-house  was  fitted  up 
with  a  stage  and  strange  to  tell  in  the  staid  town  of  Amherst 
where  dancing  was  tabooed  and  cards  never  dared  show  them- 
selves, reverend  divines  went  with  lawyers  and  doctors,  and  all 
classes  of  their  people  to  the  house  of  God  to  witness  a  theatri- 
cal exhibition ! " 

The  following  sketch  by  one  who  was  an  Alumnus  both  of 
the  Academy  and  the  College,  (Rev.  Nahum  Gould  of  the  Class 
of  '25)  while  affording  a  glimpse  of  the  former,  reveals  one 
secret,  perhaps  more  than  one,  of  the  origin  and  prosperity  of 
the  latter : 

"  I  came  to  Amherst  in  the  spring  of  1819  and  studied  in 
preparation  for  College  under  the  direction  of  Joseph  Esta- 
brook  and  Gerard  Hallock.  The  principal's  salary  was  $800 
per  annum,  and  Miss  Sarah  Strong's  $20  a  month.  I  found  the 
piety  of  the  students  far  in  advance  of  my  own.  Perhaps 


AMHERST   ACADEMY  IN   1819.  37 

there  never  was  a  people  that  took  such  deep  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  students.  None  need  leave  on  account  of  pecuniary 
embarrassments.  Tuition  was  free  to  any  pious  student  who 
was  preparing  for  the  gospel  ministry.  Board  was  one  dollar  a 
week,  and  if  this  could  not  be  afforded,  there  were  families 
ready  to  take  students  for  little  services  which  they  might  ren- 
der in  their  leisure  hours.  Their  liberality  was  spoken  of 
through  the  land,  and  it  was  an  inducement  to  persons  of  lim- 
ited means,  preparing  for  the  ministry,  to  come  to  Amherst. 
To  such  the  church  prayer  meeting  in  the  village  was  a  school 
as  well  as  a  place  for  devotion.  Daniel  A.  Clark,  the  pastor, 
was  greatly  beloved  by  the  students.  Noah  Webster  resided 
here  preparing  his  dictionary.  He  took  an  interest  in  the 
Academy  and  opened  his  doors  for  an  occasional  reception, 
which  we  prized  very  highly.  Col.  Graves  was  a  successful 
agent  for  the  Academy  and  a  help  to  the  students.  Mr.  Esta- 
brook  was  well  qualified  for  his  station.  Mr.  Hallock  was  a 
scholar  and  a  gentleman.  It  was  a  pleasant  task  to  manage  a 
school  where  there  were  so  many  pious  students  seeking  qualifi- 
cations for  usefulness,  who  felt  that  they  were  in  the  right  place 
and  were  establishing  a  Christian  character  of  high  standing." 
It  is  not  surprising  that  such  a  school,  under  such  auspices 
and  influences,  with  such  a  standard  of  scholarship  and  Christian 
culture,  flourished.  It  opened  with  more  students  than  any 
other  Academy  in  Western  Massachusetts.  It  soon  attracted 
pupils  from  every  part  of  New  England.  It  had  at  one  time 
ninety  pupils  in  the  ladies'  department,  and  quite  as  many,  usually 
more,  in  the  gentlemen's.  It  was  the  Williston  Seminary  and 
the  Mount  Holyoke  of  that  day  united.  The  founder  of  Mount 
Holyoke  Seminary  was  a  member  of  Amherst  Academy  in  1821. 
Her  teacher,  the  lady  principal,  thus  describes  her :  "  The 
number  of  young  ladies  that  term  was  ninety-two.  Some  had 
been  teachers.  They  were  of  all  ages,  from  nine  to  thirty-two, 
and  from  all  parts  of  Massachusetts  and  the  adjoining  States. 
Among  these  pupils  was  one  whose  name  is  now  famous  in 
history.  Then  uncultivated  in  mind  and  manners,  of  large 
physique,  twenty-three  or  twenty-four  years  of  age,  and  receiv- 
ing her  first  impulse  in  education.  She  commenced  with  gram- 


38  HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

mar  and  geography,  and  soon  advanced  to  rhetoric  and  logic. 
Having  a  comprehensive  mind  and  being  very  assiduous  in  her 
studies,  she  improved  rapidly.  Her  name  was  Mary  Lyon." 

The  number  of  useful  men  whose  names  are  "  written  in 
heaven,"  and  not  unknown  on  earth,  who  fitted  for  College  and 
for  business  during  this  period  in  the  history  of  Arnherst,  was 
very  great.  And  the  reputation  and  success  of  the  classical 
department  became  so  remarkable,  that  partly  to  give  fuller 
scope  and  perfection  to  this  department,  and  partly  to  avoid 
some  difficulties  and  some  scandals  which  at  length  arose  from 
educating  the  two  sexes  together,  the  female  department  was 
abolished,  and  the  Academy,  thus  entered  on  the  second  period, 
and  in  some  respects  a  new  one  in  its  history,  in  which  it  was 
mainly  distinguished  as  a  school,  preparatory  for  College. 

During  this  second  period,  Elijah  Paine,  Solomon  Maxwell, 
Story  Hebard,  Robert  E.  Pattisou,  William  P.  Paine,  William 
Thompson,  Simeon  Colton,  William  S.  Tyler,  Evangelinus  Soph- 
ocles, Ebenezer  Burgess,  George  C.  Partridge,  Nahum  Gale, 
and  Lyman  Coleman,  were  among  the  principal  or  assistant 
teachers.  At  this  time,  there  were  usually  from  seventy-five 
to  one  hundred  students  in  the  classical  department,  and  in 
the  first  year  of  Mr.  Colton's  administration,  the  writer,  who 
was  his  assistant,  well  remembers  that  we  sent  about  thirty  to 
College,  the  larger  part  of  whom  entered  at  Amherst.  Prior  to 
the  existence  of  Williston  Seminary,  and  during  the  depression 
of  Phillips  Academy  at  Andover,  in  the  declining  years  of 
Principal  Adams,  if  not  still  earlier,  Amherst  Academy,  without 
dispute,  held  the  first  position  among  the  Academies  of  Massa- 
chusetts. 

But  the  subsequent  prosperity  of  Phillips  Academy,  the  es- 
tablishment of  Williston  Seminary  and  the  rise  of  Normal 
schools  and  High  schools  in  all  the  large  towns  gradually  drew 
off  their  students  and  thus  their  support  from  Amherst,  and 
other  comparatively  unendowed  Academies,  till  one  after  an- 
other of  them  became  extinct.  And  although  the  Academy 
at  Amherst  sustained  itself  longer  and  better  than  many  others, 
although  it  returned  to  the  admission  of  both  sexes  in  order  to 
increase  the  number  of  students,  and  although  it  was  under  the 


THE  ACADEMY  BUILDING.  39 

government  and  instruction  of  some  quite  superior  teachers  who 
have  since  become  distinguished  educators,  yet  it  became  more 
and  more  a  merely  local  institution  for  the  children  of  the  town, 
and  was  at  length  superseded  by  our  excellent  High  school.  The 
building  which  was  a  large  three  story  edifice  of  brick  occupying 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  sites  in  the  centre  of  the  village,  and 
which  was  hallowed  in  the  memory  of  so  many  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands, as  not  only  the  place  where  they  received  their  education, 
but  also  as  the  place  where  the  first  meetings  for  prayer  and 
conference  in  the  village,  and  all  the  social  religious  meetings  of 
the  village  church,  were  held  for  many  years, — this  venerable 
and  sacred  edifice  was  taken  down  in  the  summer  of  1868, 
to  make  way  for  the  Grammar  school,  west  of  the  hotel,  which 
now  occupies  the  site.  Amherst  Academy  did  a  great  and 
good  work  in  and  of  itself  for  which  many  who  were  educated 
there  and  not  a  few  who  were  spiritually  "born  there,"  will 
bless  God  forever.  But  the  best  work  which  it  did  and  which, 
it  is  believed,  will  perpetuate  its  memory  and  its  influence,  was 
the  founding  of  Amherst  College. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  CHAEITY  FUND— THE  CONVENTION  AT 
AMHERST  IN   1818. 

IN  view  of  the  elevated  literary  and  Christian  character  of 
Amherst  Academy,  and  its  extraordinary  success  as  described  in 
the  foregoing  chapter,  it  is  not  surprising  that  its  founders  soon 
felt  themselves  called  upon  to  make  higher  and  larger  provision 
for  educational  purposes.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  on  the  18th  of  November,  1817,  a  project  formed 
by  Rufus  Graves,  Esq.,  was  adopted  for  increasing  the  useful- 
ness of  the  Academy,  by  raising  a  fund  for  the  gratuitous  in- 
struction of  "indigent  young  men  of  promising  talents  and 
hopeful  piety,  who  shall  manifest  a  desire  to  obtain  a  liberal 
education  with  a  sole  view  to  the  Christian  ministry." 

"  Taking  into  consideration  the  local  situation  of  this  Acad- 
emy, its  growing  success  and  flattering  prospects,  the  following 
resolution  with  preamble,  was  unanimously  adopted." 

The  preamble  recites  at  considerable  length,  the  high  moral 
and  Christian,  as  well  as  literary  and  scientific  purposes,  for 
which  the  Academy  was  founded,  and  the  success,  beyond  the 
most  sanguine  expectation,  which,  in  pursuance  of  these  objects, 
and  under  the  guidance  of  a  propitious  Providence,  it  had 
already  achieved.  It  insists  also,  in  detail,  upon  the  advan- 
tages of  the  location,  "in  an  elevated  and  healthy  situation,  in 
the  centre  of  an  extensive  and  wealthy  population  of  good 
moral  habits,  where  the  means  of  living  are  as  cheap  and  as 
easily  obtained  as  in  any  part  of  this  Commonwealth,  and  com- 
pletely insulated  from  any  institution  embracing  similar  prin- 

1  95 

ciples. 
Influenced  by  such  considerations,  "  encouraged  by  the  past 


THE  CHARITY  FUND.  41 

and  animated  by  the  prospects  of  the  future,  humbly  and  devot- 
edly "relying  on  the  Divine  assistance  in  all  their 'endeavors  to 
promote  the  cause  of  truth,  and  train  up  the  rising  generation 
in  science  and  virtue,"  the  Trustees  "  do  humbly  resolve  as  an 
important  object  of  this  Board,  to  establish  in  this  Institution 
for  the  principles  aforesaid,  a  professorship  of  languages  with  a 
permanent  salary  equal  to  the  importance  and  dignity  of  such 
an  office,  and  that  Rufus  Graves,  Joshua  Crosby,  John  Fiske, 
Nathaniel  Smith  and  Samuel  F.  Dickinson,  be  a  committee  to 
solicit  donations,  contributions,  grants  and  bequests,  to  establish 
a  fund  for  that  and  other  benevolent  objects  of  the  Institution." 

The  committee  entered  with  zeal  and  alacrity  upon  the  effort 
to  raise  money  for  the  endowment  of  such  a  professorship,  and 
prosecuted  it  for  several  months.  Their  ardent  and  indefatiga- 
ble chairman,  Col.  Graves,  went  to  Boston  and  other  large 
towns,  and  labored  day  and  night  to  accomplish  the  object. 
But  "  they  found,"  in  the  language  of  Mr.  Webster's  narrative 
of  the  proceedings,  "that  the  establishment  of  a  single  profess- 
orship was  too  limited  an  object  to  induce  men  to  subscribe. 
To  engage  public  patronage,  it  was  found  necessary  to  form  a 
plan  for  the  education  of  young  men  for  the  ministry  on  a  more 
extensive  scale." 

These  considerations  determined  the  committee  to  enlarge 
their  plan,  and  to  aim  not  merely  at  the  endowment  of  a  pro- 
fessorship in  the  Academy,  but  at  the  raising  of  a  fund  which 
should  be  the  basis  of  a  separate  Institution  of  a  higher  grade. 
They  accordingly  framed  and  reported  a  "  constitution  and  sys- 
tem of  by-laws  for  raising  and  managing  a  permanent  Charity 
Fund  as  the  basis  of  an  Institution  in  Amherst,  in  the  county 
of  Hampshire,  for  the  classical  education  of  indigent  young 
men  of  piety  and  talents,  for  the  Christian  ministry."  The 
Board  of  Trustees  at  their  meeting  on  the  18th  of  August,  1818, 
unanimously  accepted  this  report,  approved  the  doings  of  the 
committee,  and  authorized  them  to  take  such  measures  and  com- 
municate with  such  persons  and  corporations  as  they  might 
judge  expedient. 

The  fund  which  was  thus  inaugurated,  became  the  corner- 
stone of  the  Charity  Institution  and  "  the  sheet-anchor "  of 


42  HISTORY   OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

the  College— so  it  was  often  called  by  the  Professors  and  friends 
of  the  College  amid  the  storms  which  it  afterwards  encountered. 
And  no  document  sheds  so  much  light  on  the  motives  of  the 
founders  of  the  Institution  as  this  constitution  of  the  Charity 
Fund.  It  therefore  merits  careful  consideration. 

The  instrument  was  drawn  by  "  Rufus  Graves,  Esq.,"  as  Mr. 
Webster  habitually  styles  him  —  better  known  to  the  pub- 
lic as  "  Col.  Graves."  The  preamble  is  as  follows :  "  Taking 
into  consideration  the  deplorable  condition  of  a  large  portion 
of  our  race  who  are  enveloped  in  the  most  profound  ignorance, 
and  superstition  and  gross  idolatry ;  and  many  of  them  in  a 
savage  state  without  a  written  language ;  together  with  vast 
multitudes  in  Christian  countries  of  which  our  own  affords  a 
lamentable  specimen,  who  are  dispersed  over  extensive  territo- 
ries, as  sheep  without  a  shepherd ;  impressed  with  a  most  fer- 
vent commiseration  for  our  destitute  brethren,  and  urged  by  the 
command  of  our  Divine  Saviour  to  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature ;  we  have  resolved  to  consecrate  to  the  Author  of  all 
good,  for  the  honor  of  his  name  and  the  benefit  of  our  race,  a 
portion  of  the  treasure  or  inheritance  which  he  has  been  pleased 
to  entrust  to  our  stewardship,  in  the  firm  belief  that  '  it  is  more 
blessed  to  give  than  to  receive.' " 

"  Under  the  conviction  that  the  education  of  pious  young 
men  of  the  finest  talents  in  the  community  is  the  most  sure 
method  of  relieving  our  brethren  by  civilizing  and  evangelizing 
the  world,  and  that  a  classical  institution  judiciously  located  and 
richly  endowed  with  a  large  and  increasing  charitable  fund,  in 
co-operation  with  theological  seminaries  and  education  societies, 
will  be  the  most  eligible  way  of  effecting  it — Therefore  "  etc. 

Then  follows  the  making  and  ratifying  of  the  constitution 
and  system  of  by-laws  for  the  raising  and  managing  of  the  fund. 
The  constitution  is  drawn  up  in  due  form  as  a  legal  document,1 
with  much  minuteness  of  detail,  and  with  every  possible  safe- 
guard  against  the  loss  or  perversion  of  the  fund,  or  the  neglect' 

1  Col.  Graves  consulted  Jeremiah  Mason  and  Daniel  Webster  as  to  the  legal  char- 
acter of  the  constitution,  and  they  both  said  it  was  a  legal  instrument,  binding  in 
law  on  the  subscribers;  and  so  it  was  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court,  when,  for  the 
sake  of  testing  it,  one  of  the  subscribers  refused  to  pay. 


CONSTITUTION   AND   BY-LAWS.  43 

of  duty  on  the  part  of  those  who  are  charged  with  the  care  and 
management  of  it.  The  first  article  fixes  the  location  of  the  In- 
stitution at  Amherst,  and  provides  for  the  incorporation  of  Wil- 
liams College  with  it,  should  it  continue  to  be  thought  expe- 
dient, to  remove  that  Institution  to  the  county  of  Hampshire, 
and  to  locate  it  in  the  town  of  Amherst.  The  second  article 
contains  a  promise  of  the  subscribers  to  pay  the  sums  annexed 
to  their  names  for  the  purpose  of  raising  a  permanent  fund,  to 
the  amount  of  at  least  fifty  thousand  dollars,  as  the  basis  of  a 
fund  for  the  proposed  Institution,  provided  that,  in  case  the  sums 
subscribed  in  the  course  of  one  year  shall  not  amount  to  the  full 
sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  then  the  whole,  or  any  part,  shall 
be  void  according  to  the  will  of  any  subscriber  on  giving  three 
months'  notice.  The  third  provides  that  five-sixths  of  the  inter- 
est of  the  fund  shall  be  forever  appropriated  to  the  classical  ed- 
ucation in  the  Institution  of  indigent  pious  young  men  for  the 
ministry,  and  the  other  sixth  shall  be  added  to  the  principal  for 
its  perpetual  increase,  while  the  principal  itself  shall  be  secured 
intangible  and  perpetually  augmenting.  Article  fourth  directs 
that  the  property  of  the  fund  shall  be  secured  by  real  estate  or 
invested  in  funds  of  Massachusetts,  or  the  United  States,  or  some 
other  safe  public  stocks.  Article  fifth  vests  the  management 
and  appropriation  of  the  fund,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the 
constitution  and  by-laws,  in  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy, 
until  the  contemplated  classical  Institution  is  established  and 
incorporated,  and  then  in  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  said  Institu- 
tion and  their  successors  forever.  Article  sixth  provides  for  the 
appointment  of  a  Board  of  Overseers  of  the  fund,  a  skillful 
Financier  and  an  Auditor.  Article  seventh  requires  the  Trustees 
to  appoint  a  Financier  who  shall  be  sworn  to  the  faithful  discharge 
of  his  duty,  under  sufficient  bonds,  and  subject  to  be  removed 
at  their  discretion.  This  Financier,  however,  shall  not  be  their 
own  Treasurer,  that  is,  the  Treasurer  of  the  Institution,  who 
shall  be  ineligible  to  that  office.  This  article  also  prescribes  the 
duties  of  the  Trustees  in  regard  to  the  fund,  such  as  examining 
candidates  for  its  charities,  keeping  a  correct  record  of  the 
amount  of  the  fund,  the  manner  in  which  it  is  invested  and  se- 
cured, their  receipts  and  disbursements  from  it,  and  all  their 


44  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

proceedings  in  reference  to  it.  Article  eighth  prescribes  mi- 
nutely the  duties  of  the  Financier  in  receiving  and  investing 
moneys,  managing  and  guarding  the  fund,  paying  over  the  inter- 
est, as  provided  in  article  third,  into  the  treasury  of  the  Institu- 
tion, taking  triplicate  receipts,  one  to  keep  for  his  own  security, 
one  to  deposit  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and 
the  third  with  the  Auditor ;  keeping  an  accurate  account  of  the 
whole  fund  and  every  part  of  it,  and  reporting  the  same  annu- 
ally to  the  Board  of  Trustees.  The  ninth  article  provides  that 
the  Financier  shall  be  paid  from  the  avails  of  the  fund  a  rea- 
sonable sum  for  his  services  and  responsibility.  The  tenth  pre- 
scribes the  manner  in  which  the  Overseers  of  the  Fund  shall  be 
appointed  and  perpetuated,  viz.:  the  four  highest  subscribers 
to  the  fund  shall  appoint  each  of  them  one,  and  the  other  three 
shall  be  elected  by  a  majority  of  the  votes  of  the  other  sub- 
scribers who  may  assemble  for  that  purpose.  Then  the  Board 
shall  perpetuate  their  existence  as  such  by  filling  their  own  va- 
cancies. In  case  the  Board  shall  at  any  future  time  become 
extinct,  the  Governor  and  Council  of  this  Commonwealth  are 
expressly  authorized  to  appoint  a  new  Board.  Article  eleventh 
provides  for  the  appointment  of  an  Auditor  by  the  Board  of 
Overseers,  and  prescribes  at  great  length  the  duties  of  that 
Board.  They  are  required  to  visit  the  Institution  at  its  annual 
Commencement,  to  receive  and  examine  the  reports  of  the  Trust- 
ees and  the  Auditor,  and  to  inspect  the  records,  files  and  vouch- 
ers of  the  Trustees  and  the  Financier,  and  in  view  of  all  the 
facts,  to  decide  whether  the  fund  has  been  skillfully  managed, 
and  its  avails  faithfully  applied  according  to  the  will  of  the  do- 
nors. "The  sacred  nature  of  the  trust  reposed  in  the  said 
Board  of  Overseers,  as  the  representatives  of  the  rights  of  the 
dead  as  well  as  the  living,  urges  upon  them  the  imperious  duty 
of  investigating  every  subject  relative  to  their  important  trust." 
In  case  of  any  alleged  breach  of  trust  or  questions  of  rights  and 
powers  that  may  arise  between  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  the 
Board  of  Overseers,  it  is  provided  that  the  question  shall  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  Honorable  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court 
of  Massachusetts,  whose  decision  shall  be  final,  and  shall  be 
entered  on  the  records  of  both  Boards.  The  Board  of  Over- 


CHARACTER    OF   THE   FOUNDERS.  45 

seers  are  required  to  keep  a  record  of  all  their  proceedings,  and 
also  to  receive  and  preserve  manuscript  copies  of  the  records 
and  copies  of  the  files  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  that  the  whole 
of  the  records  of  the  Institution  may  be  safely  preserved  in  the 
archives  of  both  Boards.  Article  twelfth  prescribes  the  duties 
of  the  Auditor.  Article  thirteenth  provides  for  the  amendment 
of  the  constitution  and  system  of  b}*-laws  by  the  concurrent 
action  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  the  Board  of  Overseers, 
"  so,  however,  as  not  to  deviate  from  the  original  object  of  civil- 
izing and  evangelizing  the  world  by  the  classical  education  of 
indigent  young  men  of  piety  and  talents,"  "nor  without  the 
majority  of  two-thirds  of  the  members  of  the  said  Board  of 
Trustees,  and  five-sevenths  of  the  said  Board  of  Overseers." 

Article  fourteenth  reads  as  follows :  "  In  order  to  prevent  the 
loss  or  destruction  of  this  constitution  by  any  wicked  design,  by1 
fire,  or  by  the  ravages  of  time,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Trust- 
ees of  said  Institution,  as  soon  as  the  aforesaid  sum  of  fifty 
thousand  dollars  shall  be  hereunto  subscribed,  to  cause  triplicate 
copies  of  the  same,  together  with  the  names  of  the  subscribers 
and  the  sum  subscribed  annexed  to  each  name,  to  be  taken  fairly 
written  on  vellum,  one  of  which  to  be  preserved  in  the  archives 
of  said  Institution,  one  in  the  archives  of  said  Board  of  Over- 
seers, and  the  other  in  the  archives  of  this  Commonwealth. 
And  in  case  of  the  loss  or  destruction  of  either  of  said  copies, 
its  deficiency  shall  be  immediately  supplied  by  an  attested  copy 
from  one  of  the  others." 

In  reviewing  this  important  document,  we  can  not  but  be  im- 
pressed with  the  conviction  that  its  authors  were  men  not  only 
of  warm  hearts  and  high  religious  aims,  but  of  large  views,  en- 
lightened minds,  far-seeing  intellects  and  conscientious  purposes, 
capable  of  adapting  means  to  ends,  and  expecting  to  accomplish 
the  grandest  results  only  by  wise  plans  and  corresponding  exer- 
tions— men  who  felt  that  they  were  laying  foundations  for  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  mankind  in  future  ages,  and  re- 
solved to  prevent,  so  far  as  human  foresight  could,  the  removal 
of  a  single  stone  from  those  foundations,  intent  especially  on 
guarding  the  corner-stone  against  the  possibility  of  disturbance. 
That  they  were  also  men  of  fervid  zeal,  strong  faith,  moral 


46  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

courage  and  holy  boldness,  no  one  has  ever  denied.  If  any 
proof  were  necessary,  it  would  be  found  even  to  demonstration 
in  the  very  fact  that  they  dared  to  undertake  such  an  enterprise 
in  that  age,  and  not  only  undertook,  but  achieved  it.  It  was 
another  thing  to  raise  a  permanent  fund  of  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars for  a  literary  institution  in  that  day  from  what  it  is  in  our 
day.  It  would  be  easier  to  raise  half  a  million  or  a  million  now. 
It  is  a  common  affair  now.  Then,  nothing  of  the  kind  had  ever 
been  attempted.  It  was  an  original  idea,  and  a  grand  one,  and 
a  bold  one.  It  seemed  like  audacity  and  presumption.  But  its 
grandeur  and  boldness  were  among  the  chief  secrets  of  success. 
The  professorship  in  an  Academy  failed  because  it  was  too  small 
to  attract  and  inspire.  The  Charity  Fund  and  the  College  were 
born  of  the  boldness  which,  in  brave  and  believing  souls,  sprung 
from  that  failure,  and  which  knew  no  such  word  as  fail. 

In  order  to  secure  the  approval  and  co-operation  of  the 
Christian  community  to  an  extent  commensurate  with  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  undertaking,  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy, 
at  a  meeting  held  on  the  10th  of  September,  1818,  resolved  to 
call  a  Convention  of  "  the  Congregational  and  Presbyterian 
clergy  of  the  several  parishes  in  the  counties  of  Hampshire, 
Franklin  and  Hampden  and  the  western  section  of  the  county 
of  Worcester,  with  their  delegates,  together  with  one  delegate 
from  each  vacant  parish,  and  the  subscribers  to  the  fund."  In 
the  circular  calling  the  Convention,  the  committee,  consisting  of 
Noah  Webster,  John  Fiske  and  Rufus  Graves,  speak  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  object,  viz. :  the  establishment  of  a  charitable 
institution  for  the  purpose  of  educating  pious,  indigent  young 
men  for  the  gospel  ministry  in  all  the  branches  of  literature  and 
science  usually  taught  in  Colleges,  and  the  importance  of  the 
union  of  all  good  men  in  combined  and  vigorous  exertions  to  mul- 
tiply the  number  of  well-educated  ministers,  to  supply  mission- 
aries, and  to  furnish  with  pastors  destitute  churches  and  people 
in  our  own  extended  republic.  With  this  end  in  view,  they  say, 
the  Trustees  have  formed  a  constitution  for  a  Charitable  Fund 
to  be  the  basis  of  such  an  Institution  in  the  town  of  Amherst, 
and  have  already  made  such  progress  in  procuring  donations  as 
to  afford  most  animating  encouragement  of  success. 


THE  CONVENTION   OF   1818.  47 

On  the  29th  of  September,  1818,  in  accordance  with  this 
invitation,  the  Convention  met  in  the  church  in  the  west  parish 
of  Amherst.  Thirty-seven  towns1  were  represented,  sixteen 
in  Hampshire  County,  thirteen  in  Franklin,  four  in  Hampden 
and  four  in  Worcester.  Most  of  the  parishes  were  repre- 
sented by  both  a  pastor  and  a  lay  delegate.  Thirty-six  clergy- 
men and  thirty-two  laymen  composed  the  Convention.  Among 
them  were  Rev.  David  Parsons,  D.  D.,  Rev.  Payson  Williston, 
Rev.  Joshua  Crosby,  Rev.  John  Woodbridge,  Rev.  Joseph  Ly- 
man,  D.  D.,  Rev.  Vinson  Gould,  Rev.  Dan  Huntington,  Rev. 
James  Taylor,  Rev.  Theophilus  Packard,  Rev.  John  Keep,2 
Rev.  T.  M.  Cooley,  Rev.  Simeon  Colton,  Rev.  John  Fiske, 
Rev.  Thomas  Snell,  H.  Wright  Strong,  Esq.,  Col.  Henry 
Dwight,  Col.  Joseph  Billings,  Dr.  William  Hooker,  Hon. 
Joseph  Lyman,  George  Grennell,  Jr.,  Esq.,  and  Roger  Leavitt, 
Esq.  Rev.  Joseph  Lyman,  D.  D.,  of  Hatfield,  was  chosen  Pres- 
ident, and  Col.  Joseph  Billings,  of  Hatfield,  and  George  Gren- 
nell, Jr.,  Esq.,  of  Greenfield,  Secretaries.  The  constitution  and 
by-laws  of  the  proposed  Institution  were  read,  and,  after  some 
discussion,  the  whole  subject  was  referred  to  a  committee  of 
twelve.  In  the  afternoon,  a  sermon  was  delivered  before  the 
Convention  by  Dr.  Lyman.  The  next  morning,  September  30th, 
the  committee  presented  their  report.  They  express  in  strong 
language  their  approval  of  the  constitution,  as  the  fruit  of  much 
judicious  reflection,  and  guarding  as  a  legal  instrument  in  the 
most  satisfactory  and  effectual  manner,  the  faithful  and  appro- 
priate application  of  the  property  consecrated  by  the  donors. 
They  have  no  hesitation  in  recommending  Hampshire  County  as 
one  of  the  most  eligible  situations  for  such  an  Institution,  being 
in  the  central  part  of  Massachusetts,  in  the  heart  of  New  Eng- 
land, and  almost  equally  distant  from  six  other  Colleges,  in  an 
extensive  section  of  country,  salubrious,  fertile  and  populous, 
where  industry  and  moral  order,  together  with  a  disposition  to 
cultivate  science  and  literature,  habitually  prevail ;  where  mim's- 

1  Forty  parishes,  two  parishes  being  represented  in  each  of  the  following  towns  : 
Amherst    in  Hampshire,   Greenfield    in    Franklin,  and    Granville    in   Hampden 
County. 
;    2  Afterwards  one  of  the  founders  and  fathers  of  Oberlin  College. 


48  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ters  and  churches  are  generally  united  and  harmonious,  and 
where  the  numerous  streams  of  charity  and  benevolence  afford 
ample  assurance  that  an  Institution  of  this  description  would  be 
cordially  embraced,  extensively  patronized  and  liberally  sup- 
ported. In  regard  to  the  particular  town  in  Hampshire  County, 
while  they  thought  favorably  of  Amherst,  the  committee  were 
of  the  opinion  that  it  would  be  expedient  to  leave  that  question 
to  the  decision  of  a  disinterested  committee  appointed  by  the 
Convention.  Accordingly  they  reported  a  series  of  resolutions, 
cordially  approving  the  object  of  a  religious  and  classical  Insti- 
tution on  a  charitable  foundation ;  recommending  also  in  con- 
nection with  it,  the  establishment  of  a  College  possessing  all 
the  advantages  of  other  Colleges  in  the  Commonwealth,  and  that 
such  preparations  and  arrangements  be  made  as  will  accommo- 
date students  at  the  Institution  as  soon  as  possible ;  but  leaving 
the  location  to  be  determined  by  a  committee,  only  adding,  that 
in  whatever  place  it  may  be  established,  it  is  expected  that  the 
people  of  that  place  will  show  themselves  worthy  of  such  a 
privilege  by  affording  liberal  aid  towards  the  erection  of  College 
buildings. 

The  preamble  of  the  report,  expressing  the  general  views  of 
the  committee,  was  promptly  accepted  by  the  Convention.  But 
on  those  points  in  the  resolutions  which  touched  the  location 
of  the  Institution,  an  animated  debate  arose  and  continued 
through  the  morning  and  afternoon  sessions.  Able  arguments 
and  eloquent  appeals  were  made  for  and  against  fixing  the  site 
definitely  at  Amherst.  Local  feelings  and  interests  doubtless 
influenced  the  speakers  more  or  less  on  both  sides  of  the  ques- 
tion. The  most  violent  opposition  came  from  some  of  the 
churches  and  parishes  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Amherst. 
Several  delegates  from  the  west  side  of  the  river,  including 
those  from  Northampton,  contended  ably  and  earnestly  in  favor 
of  locating  the  Institution  at  Northampton.  The  discussion  was 
carried  from  the  Convention  to  the  families  where  the  members 
were  entertained,  and  there  are  still  living  those  who  well  re- 
member that  the  excitement  ran  so  high  as  to  disturb  their  sleep 
long  after  the  hour  of  midnight.  The  people  of  Amherst  were 
deeply  moved.  The  house  was  filled  with  anxious  spectators. 


DEBATE   ON  THE   LOCATION.  49 

Business  was  almost  suspended.  The  Academy 'took  a  recess, 
and  teachers  and  pupils  hung  with  breathless  interest  on  the  de- 
bate. "  Until  noon  of  the  second  day  of  the  Convention," — I 
use  the  language  of  one  who  was  then  a  student  in  the  Academy 
and  an  eye-witness,1 — "  the  weight  of  argument  was  in  favor  of 
Northampton,  and  things  looked  blue  for  a  location  in  Amherst. 
The  Trustees  watched  the  progress  of  the  debate  with  great 
anxiety,  and  were  doubtful  of  the  result  of  the  vote,  which  was 
to  be  taken  in  the  afternoon.  Capt.  Calvin  Merrill,  one  of  the 
Trustees,  a  man  of  clear  and  discerning  mind  and  good  judg- 
ment, but  of  few  words,  said  to  me  at  noon  of  that  day,  that  he 
feared  the  result  of  the  vote  about  to  be  taken,  but,  says  he,  '  I 
have  just  seen  Esq.  Dickinson,'  (who  had  up  to  this  time  re- 
mained silent,)  '  and  he  has  promised  to  come  in  this  afternoon, 
and  make  one  of  his  best  arguments  in  favor  of  locating  in  Am- 
herst.' Esq.  Dickinson  fulfilled  his  promise,  taking  his  position 
in  the  aisle  of  the  old  church,  and  truly  and  faithfully  laid  him- 
self out,  in  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  telling  speeches  which 
were  made  on  this  occasion,  gaining  the  full  attention  of  the 
whole  Convention,  and  no  doubt  greatly  influencing  many  in 
their  vote.  After  which,  George  Grennell,  Esq.,  who  was  Secre- 
tary of  the  Convention,  left  his  seat,  taking  his  place  in  the  aisle, 
and  also  delivered  a  very  powerful  and  effective  speech,  still 
keeping  the  full  attention  of  the  Convention.  These  two 
speeches  produced  a  new  and  different  feeling  throughout  the 
house  :  and  the  result,  when  the  vote  was  taken,  was  in  favor 
of  Amherst  as  a  location  for  the  College."  The  argument  of  Mr. 
Grennell,  delegate  from  the  "  Poll  Parish  in  Greenfield,"  was 
particularly  convincing,  and  is  said  not  only  to  have  carried  the 
suffrages  of  the  Convention,  but  to  have  brought  him  before  the 
public  in  so  favorable  a  light  as  to  have  had  not  a  little  influence 
in  preparing  the  way  for  his  election  to  Congress.  Rev.  Timothy 
M.  Cooley  of  Granville,  in  Hampden  County,  afterwards  so  famous 
as  a  teacher  of  rusticated  students,  is  said  to  have  spoken  ably 
and  earnestly  in  favor  of  a  Collegiate  Institution  at  Amherst. 
The  delegations  from  a  distance,  and  those  who  were  least  in- 
fluenced by  local  considerations,  generally  adopted  this  view.  It 

i  D.  W.  Norton,  Esq.,  of  Suffield,  Conn. 


50  HISTORY  OF  AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

received  the  sanction  of  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  Conven- 
tion. The  resolutions  were  so  amended  as  to  fix  the  location  at 
Amherst,  and  then  were  passed  by  a  large  majority  of  votes. 

The  enterprise  was  now  fairly  launched,  and  the  raising  of 
money  was  prosecuted  with  such  zeal  and  success,  that  at  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy,  November 
17, 1818,  the  Secretary,  Col.  Graves,  reported  that  the  subscrip- 
tion to  the  Charitable  Fund,  together  with  the  value  of  the  six 
acres  of  land  given  by  Col.  Elijah  Dickinson  for  the  site  of  the 
buildings,  amounted  to  twenty-five  thousand  and  five  hundred 
dollars.  And  at  a  special  meeting  in  July,  1818,  a  committee 
appointed  to  examine  the  subscription,  reported  that  the  money 
and  other  property  amounted,  at  a  fair  estimate,  to  fifty-one 
thousand  four  hundred  and  four  dollars,  thus  making  more  than 
the  sum  proposed  in  less  than  the  time  allowed  by  the  consti- 
tution. 


CHAPTER  V. 

EFFORTS  TO  UNITE  WILLIAMS  COLLEGE  AND  THE  INSTITUTION 

AT  AMHERST. 

As  early  as  1815,  six  years  before  the  opening  of  Amherst 
College,  the  question  of  removing  Williams  College  to  some 
more  central  part  of  Massachusetts  was  agitated  among  its 
friends  and  in  its  Board  of  Trustees.  At  that  time  Williams 
College  had  two  buildings  and  fifty-eight  students,  with  two 
professors  and  two  tutors.  The  library  contained  fourteen 
hundred  volumes.  The  funds  were  reduced  and  the  income  fell 
short  of  the  expenditures.  Many  of  the  friends  and  supporters 
of  the  College  were  fully  persuaded  that  it  could  not  be  sus- 
tained in  its  present  location.  The  chief  ground  of  this  per- 
suasion was  the  extreme  difficulty  of  access  to  it. 

"  It  is  difficult  at  this  day,"  says  the  late  Governor  Emory 
Washburn,  who  entered  in  1815,  "  to  make  one  understand  the 
perfect  isolation  of  the  spot  during  my  residence  in  College. 
Nothing  in  the  form  of  a  stage-coach  or  vehicle  for  public 
communication  ever  entered  the  town.  Once  a  week  a  soli- 
tary messenger,  generally  on  horseback,  came  over  the  Florida 
Mountain,  bringing  our  newspapers  and  letters  from  Boston  and 
the  eastern  part  of  the  State.  Once  a  week  a  Mr.  Green  came 
up  from  the  south,  generally  in  a  one-horse  wagon,  bringing 
the  county  newspapers  printed  at  Stockbridge  and  Pittsfield. 
And  by  similar  modes,  and  at  like  intervals,  we  heard  from  Troy 
and  Albany."  ....  "It  was  scarcely  less  difficult  to  reach  the 
place  by  private  than  by  public  conveyance,  except  by  one's  own 
means  of  transit.  My  home  was  near  the  center  of  the  State,1 

1  Leicester. 


52 

and,  as  iny  resources  were  too  limited  to  make  use  of  a  private 
conveyance,  I  was  compelled  to  rely -upon  stage  and  chance. 
My  route  was  by  stage  to  Pittsfield,  and  thence  by  a  providen- 
tial team  or  carriage  the  remainder  of  my  journey.  I  have  often 
smiled  as  I  have  recalled  with  what  persevering  assiduity  I  way- 
laid every  man  who  passed  by  the  hotel,  in  order  to  find  some 
one  who  would  consent  to  take  as  a  passenger  a  luckless  wight 
in  pursuit  of  an  education  under  such  difficulties.  I  think  I  am 
warranted  in  saying  that  I  made  that  passage  in  every  form  and 
shape  of  team  and  vehicle,  generally  a  loaded  one,  which  the 
ingenuity  of  man  had,  up  to  that  time,  ever  constructed.  My 
bones  ache  at  the  mere  recollection. 

"  Those  who  came  from  '  Parson  Hallock's '  and  other  localities 
upon  and  over  the  mountain,  between  there  and  the  Connecticut 
River,  were  generally  fortunate  enough  to  find  their  way  singly 
by  means  of  one-horse  wagons,  or  in  larger  groups  in  some  capa- 
cious farm- wagon  fitted  and  furnished  for  the  occasion." l 

After  reading  this  graphic  description  by  a  distinguished 
alumnus,  given  for  the  express  purpose  of  enabling  the  readers 
of  the  History  of  the  College  "  to  understand  the  question  of  its 
removal  in  its  true  light,"  no  one  will  be  surprised  that  the  ques- 
tion of  removal  to  some  more  accessible  part  of  the  State  was 
agitated  among  its  Trustees,  Faculty  and  students,  as  well  as 
among  its  patrons  and  friends. 

At  the  same  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  at  which  Prof. 
Moore  was  elected  President  of  Williams'  College,  May  2,  1815, 
Dr.  Packard  of  Shelburne  introduced  the  following  motion : 
"  That  a  committee  of  six  persons  be  appointed  to  take  into 
consideration  the  removal  of  the  College  to  some  other  part  of 
the  Commonwealth,  to  make  all  necessary  inquiries  which  have 
a  bearing  on  the  subject,  and  report  at  the  next  meeting."  The 
motion  was  adopted,  and  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Board  in 

1  See  GOT.  Emory  Washburn's  Introduction  to  the  History  of  Williams  College. 
Prof.  Snell  gave  a  similar  account  of  his  experience  in  going  to  and  from  Wil- 
liamstown.  Ordinarily  his  father,  who  was  one  of  the  Trustees,  carried  him  over 
in  his  chaise.  But  he  never  thought  of  going  home  to  North  Brookfield  oftener 
than  once  a  year.  And  then  the  way  in  which  the  students  piled  their  baggage,  into 
some  huge  lumber-wagon  and  then  "  footed  it "  themselves  over  the  mountains  to 
Cummington,  Pittsfield,  or  some  other  place  on  a  stage-route,  was  vastly  amusing. 


THE  TRUSTEES   OF   WILLIAMS.  53 

September,  the  committee  reported,  that  "  a  removal  of  Williams 
College  from  Williamstown  is  inexpedient  at  the  present  time, 
and  under  existing  circumstances." 

But  the  question  of  removal  thus  raised  in  the  Board  of 
Trustees  and  thus  negatived  only  "at  the  present  time  and  under 
existing  circumstances,"  continued  to  be  agitated.  The  Frank- 
lin County  Association  of  Congregational  ministers  had  already 
become  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  "  a  College  in  some 
central  town  in  old  Hampshire  County  would  be  likely  to  flour- 
ish and  would  be  promotive  of  knowledge  and  virtue  in  the 
State,"  and  at  their  meeting  in  Shelburne,  May  10,  1815,  they 
voted  unanimously  that  the  town  of  Amherst  appeared  to  them 
to  be  the  most  eligible  place  for  locating  such  an  Institution.1 
President  Moore  was  from  the  first  decidedly  and  avowedly  in 
favor  of  the  removal.  When  he  was  invited  to  the  presidency, 
"  it  was  represented  to  him  by  one  who  spoke  in  behalf  of  the 
Trustees,  that  it  would  without  doubt  be  removed  ;  and  that  the 
only  question  was  in  which  of  several  towns  named  the  Institu- 
tion should  be  located."  2  The  College  did  indeed  prosper  under 
his  personal  popularity  and  his  wise  administration,  notwithstand- 
ing all  its  external  disadvantages.  Students  accompanied  him 
from  Dartmouth  and  from  Worcester  County  where  he  had  been 
settled  in  the  ministry ;  in  three  years  from  1815  to  1818,  the 
number  increased  from  fifty-eight  to  ninety-one ;  and  this  in- 
crease, which  was  chiefly  if  not  wholly,  due  to  his  personal  influ- 
ence, has  been  unjustly  and  ungenerously  used  as  an  argument 
against  him.  But  it  only  suggested  to  him  how  much  greater 
and  better  a  work  he  might  hope  to  do  for  education  and  relig- 
ion, under  more  advantageous  circumstances. 

In  September,  1818,  the  Convention  of  delegates  from  the 
central  counties  of  Massachusetts  of  which  we  have  narrated 
the  history  in  the  previous  chapter,  met  in  Amherst,  and  recom- 
mended "  the  establishment  of  a  College  in  connection  with  the 
Charitable  Institution  there,"  and  "  that  such  preparations  and 
arrangements  be  made  as  will  accommodate  students  at  the  In- 
stitution as  soon  as  possible."  At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Board 

'     l  See  Chapter  II. 

2  See  Gov.  Washburn's  Introduction  to  the  History  of  Williams  College. 


54  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

of  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy,  October  26,  1818,  the  Rev. 
John  Fiske,  Noah  Webster,  Esq.,  and  Nathaniel  Smith,  Esq., 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  confer  with  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  Williams  College  at  their  session  to  be  held  in 
Williamstown  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  November,  to  com- 
municate to  them  the  result  of  that  Convention,  and  to  make 
suitable  statements  and  explanations  respecting  it.  In  pursu- 
ance of  this  appointment  the  committee  repaired  to  Williams- 
town  and  presented  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Williams  Col- 
lege, at  their  meeting  on  the  10th  of  November,  a  copy  of  the 
proceedings  and  resolutions  of  the  Convention,  and  also  made 
such  verbal  communications  as  they  supposed  to  be  useful  and 
proper.  To  these  communications  no  answer  was  given.  But 
at  this  meeting,  the  Board  of  Trustees  resolved  that  it  was  ex- 
pedient to  remove  the  College  on  certain  conditions.  President 
Moore  advocated  the  removal,  and  even  expressed  his  purpose 
to  resign  the  office  of  President  unless  it  could  be  effected,  inas- 
much as  when  he  accepted  the  presidency,  he  had  no  idea  that 
the  College  was  to  remain  at  Williamstown,  but  was  authorized 
to  expect  that  it  would  be  removed  to  Hampshire  County.  Nine 
out  of  twelve  of  the  Trustees  voted  for  the  resolutions,  which 
were  as  follows : 

"  Resolved,  that  it  is  expedient  to  remove  Williams  College 
to  some  more  central  part  of  the  State  whenever  sufficient  funds 
can  be  obtained  to  defray  the  necessary  expenses  incurred  and 
the  losses  sustained  by  removal,  and  to  secure  the  prosperity  of 
the  College,  and  when  a  fair  prospect  shall  be  presented  of  ob- 
taining for  the  Institution  the  united  support  and  patronage  of 
the  friends  of  literature  and  religion  in  the  western  part  of  the 
Commonwealth,  and  when  the  General  Court  shall  give  their 
assent  to  the  measure, 

"  Resolved,  that  in  order  to  guide  the  Trustees  in  determining 
to  which  place  the  College  shall  be  removed  and  to  produce 
harmony  and  union,  the  following  gentlemen,  viz. :  Hon.  James 
Kent,  Chancellor  of  the  State  of  New  York,  Hon.  Nathaniel 
Smith,  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Connecticut,  and  the 
Rev.  Seth  Payson,  D.  D.,  of  Rindge,  N.  H.,  be  a  committee  to 
visit  the  towns  in  Hampshire  County  and  determine  the  place 


ARGUMENTS   FOR   AMHERST.  55 

to  which  the .  College  shall  be  removed ;  the  Trustees  pledging 
themselves  to  abide  by  their  decision,  provided  the  requisite 
sum  be  raised." 

In  view  of  these  resolutions,  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  Acad- 
emy, at  their  annual  meeting,  November  17,  1818,  appointed 
Noah  Webster,  Esq.,  the  Rev.  John  Fiske,  the  Rev.  Edwards 
Whipple,  the  Rev.  Joshua  Crosby,  and  Nathaniel  Smith,  Esq.,  to 
be  a  committee,  to  wait  upon  the  committee  appointed  to  locate 
Williams  College,  to  represent  to  them  the  claims  of  the  town 
of  Amherst  to  be  the  seat  of  the  College.  In  May,  1819,  the 
locating  committee  visited  several  towns  in  Franklin  and  Hamp- 
shire Counties,  and  among  others  the  town  of  Amherst.  And 
the  committee  of  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy  waited 
upon  them  at  their  meeting  in  Northampton,  and  laid  before 
them  a  carefully  prepared  written  statement  of  the  claims  and 
advantages  of  Amherst.  In  regard  to  the  point  to  which  para- 
mount importance  had  all  along  been  attached,  viz.,  a  central 
and  accessible  situation  for  the  College,  the  committee  say: 
"  The  territory  to  be  particularly  accommodated  by  this  College 
comprehends  the  counties  of  Berkshire,  Hampshire,  Hampden, 
Franklin  and  Worcester.  Many  persons  in  Middlesex  and  Nor- 
folk Counties  also  take  a  particular  interest  in  this  Institution. 
The  hill  in  the  center  of  the  west  road  in  Amherst  on  which  the 
church  stands,  is  within  about  two  miles  of  the  geographical  cen- 
ter of  this  territory,  taking  Pittsfield  on  the  west  and  Worcester 
on  the  east  as  the  two  extremes.  It  is  equally  central  between 
the  limits  of  the  Commonwealth  on  the  north  and  south.  In 
addition  to  this  fact,  it  may  be  observed  that  it  is  almost  equally 
distant  from  the  University  of  Cambridge,  the  College  in  Provi- 
dence and  the  College  in  New  Haven,  the  distance  from  each 
being  about  eighty-five  miles.  It  is  a  hundred  miles  from  Union 
College  in  Schenectady,  and  from  Dartmouth  College  in  Han- 
over, and  a  greater  distance  from  Middlebury  College."  They 
also  add  that  "  the  roads  leading  to  and  from  this  town  are  as 
good  as  any  roads  in  the  country."  They  further  insist  on  the 
elevation,  salubrity  and  beauty  of  the  site,  comprehending 
"  thirty  towns  in  three  counties  within  a  single  view,  from 
twenty-seven  of  which  it  is  said  that  the  church  in  the  first  par- 


66  HISTORY  OF  AMHEKST  COLLEGE. 

ish  in  Amherst  may  be  seen."  Much  stress  is  laid  on  the  fact 
that  Amherst  is  likely  always  to  remain  chiefly  an  agricultural 
town  of  limited  population,  where  students  will  be  remote  from 
the  corrupting  influences  of  great  manufacturing  and  commer- 
cial cities,  where  habits  of  economy  and  simplicity  will  prevail, 
and  where  the  expenses  of  education  will  be  comparatively 
small ;  and  it  is  instructive  to  observe  the  standard  of  expense 
implied  in  the  following  argument :  "  Great  numbers  of  men  can 
afford  two  hundred  or  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a  year,  who 
can  not  afford  four  or  five  hundred." 

The  committee  conclude  their  argument  by  a  resume  of  the 
advantages  which  would  result  from  uniting  the  Charitable  Fund 
of  fifty  thousand  dollars  with  Williams  College. 

"  The  foregoing,"  says  Mr.  Webster,  "  were  the  most  material 
arguments  and  statements  presented  to  the  locating  committee 
in  favor  of  removing  the  College  to  Amherst.  The  commit- 
tee, however,"  he  candidly  and  calmly  adds,  "  were  unanimous 
in  naming  Northampton  as  the  most  suitable  place  for  the  In- 
stitution." 

At  their  annual  meeting  in  November,  1818,  the  Trustees  of 
Arnherst  Academy  had  appointed  a  committee  to  solicit  sub- 
scriptions to  the  Charity  Fund,  and  also  for  the,  foundation  and 
support  of  a  College,  to  be  connected  with  the  same  as  recom- 
mended by  the  Convention.  But  in  consequence  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  corporation  of  Williams  College  in  resolving  to  re- 
move that  Institution,  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy  sus- 
pended further  measures  in  relation  to  the  foundation  of  the 
College  till  the  result  of  those  proceedings  should  be  known. 

In  June,  1819,  the  Trustees  of  Williams  College  published  a 
printed  address  to  the  public,  assigning  their  reasons  for  propo- 
sing to  remove  that  Institution,  and  soliciting  donations  to  increase 
the  funds  and  promote  its  prosperity  in  the  proposed  location  at 
Northampton.  In  this  address  they  say,  that  since  its  establish- 
ment in  1793  other  Colleges  have  sprung  up  about  it  and  almost 
wholly  withdrawn  the  patronage  it  formerly  received  from  the 
North  and  the  West,  and  that  owing  to  the  want  of  support, 
the  funds  have  become  so  reduced  that  the  income  falls  short  of 
the  expenditures.  They  also  express  their  high  approval  of  the 


PETITION   TO   THE  LEGISLATURE.  57 

object  of  the  Charitable  Institution  at  Amherst  and  their  partic- 
ular desire  that  it  should  be  united  with  the  College  at  North- 
ampton. A  copy  of  this  address  was  sent  to  the  Trustees  of 
Amherst  Academy  enclosed  in  a  letter  from  President  Moore, 
dated  July  6,  1819.  Under  date  of  August  18,  1819,  the  Trus- 
tees of  Amherst  Academy  returned  an  answer  in  which  they  say, 
that  "  in  their  opinion  a  union  between  the  College  and  the  Char- 
itable Institution  would  be  conducive  to  the  interests  of  litera- 
ture, science  and  religion  in  the  western  section  of  Massachu- 
setts," that "  the  constitution  of  the  Charity  Fund  opened  the  door 
for  that  union,"  and  "  if  a  plan  of  union  could  be  devised  not 
incompatible  with  that  constitution,  it  would  meet  their  most 
cordial  approbation." 

In  November,  1819,  the  Trustees  of  Williams  College  voted 
to  petition  the  Legislature  for  permission  to  remove  the  College 
to  Northampton.  To  this  application,  Mr.  Webster  says,  "  the 
Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy  made  no  opposition  and  took  no 
measures  to  defeat  it."  In  February,  1820,  the  petition  was  laid 
before  the  Legislature.  The  committee  from  both  Houses,  to 
whom  it  was  referred,  after  a  careful  examination  of  the  whole 
subject,  reported  that  it  was  neither  lawful  nor  expedient  to  re- 
move the  College,  and  the  Legislature,  taking  the  same  view,  re- 
jected the  petition.  The  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy,  who 
had  been  quietly  awaiting  the  issue  of  the  application,  judged 
that  the  way  was  now  open  for  them  to  proceed  with  their  orig- 
inal design  according  to  the  advice  of  the  Convention,  and  at 
their  meeting  in  March,  1820,  they  took  measures  for  collecting 
the  subscriptions  to  the  Charity  Fund,  raising  additional  subscrip- 
tions, erecting  a  suitable  building,  and  opening  the  Institution  as 
soon  as  possible  for  the  reception  of  students.  Thus  the  long 
and  exciting  discussion  touching  the  removal  of  Williams  College 
and  the  location  of  a  College  in  some  more  central  town  of  old 
Hampshire  County,  at  length  came  to  an  end,  and  the  contend- 
ing parties  now  directed  all  their  energies  to  building  up  the  In- 
stitutions of  their  choice. 

Few  questions  have  agitated  the  good  people  of  Western 
Massachusetts  more  generally  or  more  deeply  than  this ;  and  it 
sheds  light  and  lustre  on  the  character  of  the  people  that  for 


'58  HISTORY  OF  AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

many  generations  it  was  such  questions — the  locating  and  build- 
ing of  colleges,  school-houses,  and  churches— questions  pertain- 
ing to  education  and  religion,  that  always  stirred  them  to  the 
lowest  depths.  It  is  amusing  and  instructive  to  look  over  the 
files  of  newspapers  of  that  day.  They  are  full  of  this  contro- 
versy. During  the  five  years  through  which  the  war  lasted,  the 
local  newspapers  at  Pittsfield,  Northampton  and  Greenfield,  kept 
up  a  running  fire  continually,  communication  answering  commu- 
nication, and  editorial  meeting  editorial,  and  scarcely  a  number 
appearing  without  something  on  this  engrossing  subject.  The 
city  press,  particularly  the  religious  papers  in  Boston  and  New 
York,  entered  warmly  into  the  discussion,  and  as  if  there  was 
not  room  in  the  periodical  press,  pamphlet  after  pamphlet  was 
circulated  through  the  community.  In  the  characteristic  man- 
ner and  spirit  of  New  England,  the  warfare  was  carried  into  the 
pulpit,  churches  took  sides  in  the  controversy,  associations  of 
ministers  recorded  their  sentiments,  and  conventions1  gave  forth 
utterances  for  or  against  the  removal,  for  or  against  each  partic- 
ular location.  At  length  the  question  entered  the  arena  of  poli- 
tics, and  candidates  for  the  Legislature  were  asked  how  they 
would  vote  in  regard  to  the  site  of  the  College.2 

At  Williamstown,  of  course,  the  excitement  ran  high.  The 
people  of  the  town  sent  in  a  spirited  remonstrance  against  the  re- 
moval of  the  College,  and  certain  lewd  fellows  of  the  baser  sort, 
holding  President  Moore  largely  responsible,  vented  their  resent- 
ment against  him  by  shaving  and  cutting  off  the  tail  of  his  horse. 
And  the  good  President  drove  his  horse  down  to  Amherst  in 
that  condition,  saying  he  did  not  see  why  the  folly  of  a  few 
rowdies  should  deprive  him  of  the  use  of  the  animal,  and  it  did 
not  hurt  his  feelings  any  more  than  it  hurt  the  feelings  of  the 

1  At  a  Convention  held  in  Northampton,  July  28,  1819,  to  further  the  removal  of 
Williams  College  to  that  place,  Dr.  Moore  presided,  and  Dr.  Nelson  was  the  Secre- 
tary; and  Dr.  Snell,  Dr.  Humphrey,  Dr.   Woodbridge,  Mr.  Gould,  Mr.  Thomas 
Shepard   and  Mr.  John   Keep  were  appointed  members  of  a  committee  to  raise 
funds  for  this  purpose — all  afterwards  among  the  Trustees,  Faculty  or  zealous 
friends  of  Amherst  College. 

2  In  their  candidacy  for  the  Senate,  Gen.  Knox  was  understood  to  be  in  favor  of 
the  removal  of  Williams  College,  and  Mr.  D  wight  opposed  to  it.     See  Hampshire 
Gazette,  January  5,  1819. 


DR.  PACKARD   AND   PRESIDENT  MOORE.  59 

horse.  An  alumnus  of  Williams  who  was  a  member  of  the  Col- 
lege at  the  time,  remembers  seeing  on  a  wall  devoted  to  carica- 
tures in  one  of  the  College  halls,  a  picture  of  the  College  on 
wheels,  with  a  large  number  of  students  harnessed  to  it,  and  Dr. 
Packard's  well-known  form  and  features,  mounted  on  his  old 
horse,  inspiring  and  leading  them  as  they  set  off  shouting  and 
hurrahing  with  their  face  towards  the  mountains.1 

These  little  incidents  show  that  Dr.  Packard  and  President 
Moore  were  regarded  as  especially  active  and  influential  in  the 
effort  for  the  union  of  Williams  College  with  the  Institution  at 
Amherst.  Doubtless  they  were  so.  They  never  sought  to  con- 
ceal the  fact,  nor  to  shift  the  responsibility.  Fully  persuaded  in 
their  own  minds,  that  the  interests  of  education  and  true  religion 
demanded  the  establishment  of  a  College  in  some  central  town 
of  old  Hampshire  County,  they  labored  openly  and  earnestly  to 
persuade  others.  They  were  equally  sincere  and  undisguised  in 
their  conviction  that  there  could  not  be  two  colleges  in  Western 
Massachusetts,  and  that  Williams  College  could  not  prosper  in 
its  present  location.  Facts  have  since  shown  that  they  were 
mistaken  in  this  conviction.  But  no  one  who  looks  at  the  facts 
as  they  then  were,  will  wonder  that  they  cherished  it,  and  cher- 
ishing it  they  could  not  be  true  to  themselves  or  to  the  cause 
which  lay  nearest  their  hearts,  without  acting  as  they  did.  At 
the  most  they  can  only  be  charged  with  an  error  in  judgment. 

The  warmest  friends  and  supporters  of  Williams  College  who 
knew  the  man,  acquit  Dr.  Moore  so  far  at  least  as  his  motives 
were  concerned.  Gov.  Washburn,  an  alumnus  and  a  Trustee, 
says :  "  Conflicting  opinions  have  been  entertained  respecting  his 
efforts  to  have  the  College  removed ;  and  though  it  was  an  un- 
fortunate measure  both  for  the  College  and  himself,  I  am  unwill- 
ing to  ascribe  his  conduct  to  any  improper  motives."2  Rev.  Dr. 
Brigham,  Secretary  of  the  American  Bible  Society,  in  whose 
Senior  year  the  removal  of  Williams  College  was  the  absorbing 
theme,  says :  "  The  President  and  the  students  who  resided  east 

1  Mr.  Durfee  in  his  History  of  Williams  College  says  :  "  Only  a  few  of  the  stu- 
dents were  in  favor  of  retaining  it  in  Williamstown."     The  facts  narrated  in  the 
text  indicate  at  least  strong  party  feeling  against  removal. 

2  History  of  Williams  College,  p.  19. 


60  HISTORY  OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

of  the  mountains,  were  for  removal.  I,  as  a  Berkshire  man,  was 
of  course,  averse  to  the  measure.  But  while  many  censured  the 
President  for  the  leading  part  which  he  took,  I  was  never  in- 
clined to  question  the  goodness  of  his  intentions." ] 

Neither  Dr.  Moore  nor  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy  can 
be  charged  with  the  responsibility  of  originating  the  movement 
for  the  removal  of  Williams  College.  Thus  much  is  demon- 
strated by  the  simple  fact  that  the  movement  originated  among 
the  Trustees  of  Williams  College  themselves  before  Dr.  Moore 
was  appointed  President  of  that  College,  and  before  the  Trust- 
ees of  Amherst  Academy  had  made  them  any  proposition  or  com- 
munication on  the  subject.  "  No  proposal  of  the  kind  ever  went 
from  Amherst  or  was  even  thought  of,  till  after  the  Trustees  of 
that  College  were  so  effectually  convinced  of  the  importance  of 
having  it  removed  to  a  more  favorable  situation  as  to  appoint  a 
respectable  committee  out  of  their  own  number  to  make  the 
necessary  inquiries  on  the  subject.  The  subject  of  removal,  as 
was  proper,  originated  with  them,  and  their  committee  was  ap- 
pointed, before  the  person  (Dr.  Moore)  who  has  since  thought 
it  his  duty  to  accept  the  presidency  of  this  Institution  (Amherst), 
was  made  President  of  that  College"  (Williams).  Sucji  is 
President  Moore's  own  vindication  of  himself  and  the  Trustees 
of  Amherst,  in  an  "  Appeal  to  the  Public  "  written  in  March, 
1823,  only  about  three  months  before  his  death.  And  so  far  as 
he  is  concerned,  certainly  the  vindication  is  complete. 

The  Joint  Committee  of  the  Legislature  say  in  their  report : 
"  In  conclusion,  the  committee  pray  leave  to  state  that  they  do 
most  highly  appreciate  and  most  profoundly  respect  the  motives 
of  the  petitioners ;  these  are  unquestionably  founded  in  a  truly 
honorable  and  elevated  desire  to  extend  the  usefulness  of  this 
respectable  College  in  promoting  learning,  virtue,  piety  and  re- 
ligion." "Father  Hallock"of  Plainfield,  an  Israelite  indeed, 
in  whom  there  was  no  guile,  whose  family  school  was  the  chief 
feeder  of  Williams  College,  who  sent  twelve  out  of  thirteen 
students  admitted  at  one  Commencement  and  had  forty  of  his 
pupils  there  at  one  time,  one  in  almost  every  room,  and  about 
half  of  the  entire  number  of  students,  never  withdrew  his  con- 

1  History  of  Williams  College,  p.  143. 


FATHER   HALLOCK.  61 

fidence,  intimacy  and  affection  from  President  Moore  or  Dr. 
Packard,  but,  though  residing  on  the  mountains,  co-operated  with 
them  in  their  efforts  to  establish  a  College  in  the  Connecticut 
Valley,  and  in  his  poverty  subscribed  to  the  Charity  Fund  and 
other  contributions  in  aid  of  Amherst  College. 

Whether  one  College  would  have  been  better  than  two  for 
Western  Massachusetts,  and  if  there  was  to  be  but  one,  whether 
that  one  should  have  been  at  Williamstown,  Northampton  or 
Amherst,'  are  questions  which  we  are  not  now  called  to  answer. 
But  that  these  good  men  had  the  best  interests  of  learning  and 
religion  at  heart  and  were  foreseeing  and  far-seeing  beyond  most 
men  in  their  generation  w,e  have  no  doubt.  They  certainly 
did  not  overestimate  the  importance  of  a  College  in  Hampshire 
County,  and  their  wise  plans  and  persevering  efforts  have  re- 
sulted, under  the  overruling  providence  of  God,  in  the  upbuild- 
ing of  two  Colleges,  each  of  which  has  far  exceeded  not  only  the 
one  which  then  existed,  but  the  most  sanguine  hopes  of  the 
founders  of  either,  in  its  prosperity  and  usefulness. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ERECTION  OF  THE  FIRST  COLLEGE  EDIFICE— INAUGURATION 

OF  THE  PRESIDENT  AND  PROFESSORS  AND 

OPENING  OF  THE  COLLEGE. 

No  sooner  was  it  settled  by  the  action  of  the  Legislature,  that 
Williams  College  would  not  be  removed  to  Northampton,  than  the 
Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy  entered  in  earnest  upon  the  work 
which  had  now  clearly  devolved  upon  them.  Accordingly  on 
the  15th  of  March,  1820,  they  resolved,  "  That  this  Board  con- 
sider it  their  duty  to  proceed  directly  to  carry  into  effect  the 
provisions  of  the  constitution  for  the  classical  education  of  indi- 
gent and  pious  young  men,  and  the  Financier  is  hereby  directed 
to  proceed  with  as  little  delay  as  possible  to  effect  a  settlement 
with  subscribers,  to  procure  notes  and  obligations  for  the  whole 
amount  of  the  subscriptions,  and  also  to  solicit  further  subscrip- 
tions from  benevolent  persons  in  aid  of  this  great  charity,  and 
for  erecting  the  necessary  buildings." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  May  10,  1820,  it  was 
voted,  "  that  Samuel  F.  Dickinson,  H.  W.  Strong,  and  Nathaniel 
Smith,  Esquires,  Dr.  Rufus  Cowles  and  Lieut.  Enos  Baker  be  a 
committee  to  secure  a  good  and  sufficient  title  to  the  ten  acres 
of  land  conditionally  conveyed  to  the  Trustees  of  this  Academy 
as  the  site  of  said  Institution  by  the  late  Col.  Elijah  Dickinson, 
and  for  the  special  benefit  of  the  Charity  Fund  ;  to  digest  a  plan 
of  a  suitable  building  for  said  Institution ;  to  procure  subscrip- 
tions, donations  or  contributions  for  defraying  the  expense 
thereof ;  to  prepare  the  ground  and  erect  the  same,  as  soon  as 
the  necessary  means  can  be  furnished,— the  location  to  be  made 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Prudential  Committee."  At 
this  meeting  it  was  further  resolved,  "  that  great  and  combined 


AMHERST  COLLEGE  IN  1821. 


THE  FIRST   BUILDING.  63 

exertions  of  the  Christian  public  are  necessary  to  give  due  effect 
to  the  Charitable  Institution ; "  and  Rev.  Joshua  Crosby,  Jona- 
than Grout,  James  Taj^lor,  Edwards  Whipple,  John  Fiske  and 
Joseph  Vaill  were  appointed  agents  to  make  application  for 
additional  funds,  and  for  contributions  to  aid  in  erecting  suita- 
ble buildings  for  the  accommodation  of  students. 

The  committee  proceeded  at  once  to  execute  the  trust  com- 
mitted to  them,  secured  a  title  to  the  land,  marked  out  the 
ground  for  the  site  of  a  building  one  hundred  feet  long,  thirty 
feet  wide  and  four  stories  high,  and  invited  the  inhabitants  of 
Amherst  friendly  to  the  object  to  contribute  labor  and  materials 
with  provisions  for  the  workmen.  With  this  request,  the  inhab- 
itants of  Amherst  friendly  to  the  Institution,  together  with  some 
from  Pelham  and  Leverett  and  a  few  from  Belchertown  and 
Hadley,  cheerfully  complied.  Occasional  contributions  were 
also  received  from  more  distant  towns,  even  on  the  mountains. 
The  stone  for  the  foundation  was  brought  chiefly  from  Pelham 
by  gratuitous  labor,  and  provisions  for  the  workmen  were  fur- 
nished by  voluntary  contributions.  Donations  of  lime,  sand, 
lumber,  materials  of  all  kinds,  flowed  in  from  every  quarter. 
Teams  for  hauling  and  men  for  handling,  and  tending,  and 
unskilled  labor  of  every  sort,  were  provided  in  abundance. 
Whatever  could  be  contributed  gratuitously,  was  furnished  with- 
out money  and  without  price.  The  people  not  only  contributed 
in  kind  but  turned  out  in  person  and  sometimes  camped  on  the 
ground  and  labored  day  and  night,  for  they  had  a  mind  to  work 
like  the  Jews  in  building  their  temple,  and  they  felt  that  they  too 
were  building  the  Lord's  house.  The  horse-sheds  which  run 
along  the  whole  line,  east  of  the  church,  and  west  of  the  land 
devoted  to  the  College,  were  removed.  The  old  Virginia  fence 
disappeared.  Plow  and  scraper,  pick-axe,  hoe  and  shovel, 
were  all  put  in  requisition  together  to  level  the  ground  for  the 
building,  and  dig  the  trenches  for  the  walls.  It  was  a  busy 

1  The  same  gentleman,  a  native  of  Pelham,  who  has  recently  endowed  the 
scholarship  of  the  first  class— the  Class  of  1822,  more  than  fifty  years  ago  brought 
the  first  load  of  stone  upon  the  ground,  as  a  free-will  offering.  "  That  gentleman 
wasxWells  Southworth.  Esq.,  of  New  Haven,  Conn.  Those  granite  blocks  are  now 
in  the  foundations  of  the  old  South  College."  Prof.  SnelFs  address  at  the  semi- 
centennial. 


64  HISTOKY   OF  AMHEEST  COLLEGE. 

and  stirring  scene  such  as  the  quiet  town  of  Amherst  had 
never  before  witnessed,  and  which  the  old  men  and  aged 
women  of  the  town  who  participated  in  it  when  they  were 
boys  and  girls,  were  never  weary  of  relating.  The  foundations 
were  speedily  laid.  On  the  9th  of  August  they  were  nearly 
completed  and  ready  for  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone.  The 
walls  went  up,  if  possible,  still  more  rapidly.  We  doubt  if  there 
has  been  anything  like  it  in  modern  times.  Certainly  we  have 
never  seen  nor  read  of  a  parallel.  The  story,  as  told  by  eye- 
witnesses and  actors,  is  almost  incredible.  "  Notwithstanding," 
says  Mr.  Webster,  a  man  who  was  not  given  to  exaggeration, 
"notwithstanding  the  building  committee  had  no  funds  for 
erecting  the  building,  not  even  a  cent,  except  what  were  to  be 
derived  from  gratuities  in  labor,  materials  and  provisions,  yet 
they  prosecuted  the  work  with  untiring  diligence.  Repeatedly 
during  the  progress  of  the  work,  their  means  were  exhausted, 
and  they  were  obliged  to  notify  the  President  of  the  Board1  that 
they  could  proceed  no  further.  On  these  occasions  the  Presi- 
dent called  together  the  Trustees,  or  a  number  of  them,  who, 
by  subscriptions  of  their  own,  and  by  renewed  solicitation  for 
voluntary  contributions,  enabled  the  committee  to  prosecute 
the  work.  And  such  were  the  exertions  of  the  Board,  the 
committee  and  the  friends  of  the  Institution  that  on  the  nine- 
tieth day  from  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone,  the  roof  timbers 
were  erected  on  the  building."  "  I  heard  it  stated  by  several 
individuals,"  says  Rev.  E.  A.  Beach  of  the  Class  of  '24,  "  that 
there  was  seldom  a  greater  amount  of  material  on  hand  than 
would  last  the  workmen  a  week,  sometimes  not  even  so  much 
as  that.  On  one  occasion,  in  the  afternoon  the  last  hod  of 
mortar  was  deposited  on  the  scaffold,  and  there  was  not  a  peck 
of  lime  with  which  to  make  more.  The  workmen  were  about 
to  pack  up  their  tools  to  go  to  another  job,  when  Col.  Graves 
came  upon  the  ground,  and  entreated  and  finally  persuaded 
them  to  wait  till  morning.  As  they  were  returning  to  their 
quarters  for  the  night,  a  strange  team  was  seen  coming  through 
the  village  from  the  north.  It  proved  to  be  a  wagon  loaded 

1  Immediately  after  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone,  Rev.  Dr.  Parsons  resigned  the 
presidency,  and  Noah  Webster,  Esq.,  was  elected  in  his  place. 


PROVIDENTIAL  INTERPOSITIONS.  65 

with  lime  sent  some  twenty-five  miles  by  a  man  not  a  sub- 
scriber, but  a  friend  to  the  cause,  who  having  lime  to  spare, 
and  believing  that  it  would  be  acceptable  to  those  who  had 
charge  of  the  building,  had,  unsolicited  and  uninformed  of 
their  necessities,  despatched  a  load  from  such  a  distance  to 
meet  such  an  emergency !  This  is  only  one  among  many  in- 
stances in  which  Providence  seemed  to  interpose  to  remove 
obstacles  to  the  progress  of  the  work." 

"  It  seemed,"  exclaims  President  Humphrey,  "it  seemed  more 
like  magic  than  the  work  of  the  craftsmen  !  Only  a  few  weeks 
ago,  the  timber  was  in  the  forest,  the  brick  in  the  clay,  and  the 
stone  in  the  quarry ! " 

The  College  well  was  dug  at  the  same  time  and  in  very  much 
the  same  way — that  well  from  which  so  many  generations  of 
students  have  since  drank  health  and  refreshment,  and  which  is 
usually  one  of  the  first  things  that  an  Amherst  alumnus  seeks 
when  he  revisits  his  Alma  Mater.  And  "  when  the  roof  and 
chimneys  were  completed,  the  bills  unpaid  and  unprovided  for 
were  less  than  thirteen  hundred  dollars." 

Here  the  work  was  suspended  for  the  winter.  But  it  was  re- 
sumed in  the  spring,  and  then  the  interior  of  the  building  was 
finished  by  similar  means,  and  with  almost  equal  dispatch.  In 
order  to  procure  additional  means  for  this  and  other  purposes, 
at  a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  in  February,  1821,  a  committee 
of  four  persons,  Rev.  Messrs.  Porter,  Clark,  Whipple  and  Vaill 
were  appointed  as  agents  "  to  make  application  to  evangelical 
associations  to  combine  their  efforts  to  carry  into  effect  the 
designs  of  this  Institution,  to  form  societies  and  to  invite 
the  aid  of  societies  already  formed  for  charitable  purposes, 
and  in  short  to  procure  donations  for  enlarging  the  funds  and 
maintaining  the  professorships."  By  the  middle  of  June  the 
building  was  so  nearly  completed  that  the  Trustees  made  ar- 
rangements for  its  dedication  in  connection  with  the  inaugu- 
ration of  the  President  and  Professors,  and  the  opening  of 
the  College  in  September.  And  before  the  end  of  Septem- 
ber, not  only  was  the  edifice  finished,  but  about  half  of  the 
room's  were  furnished  for  the  reception  of  students,  through 
the  agency  of  churches  and  benevolent  individuals,  especially 
5 


66  HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

of  the  ladies  in  different  towns  in  Hampshire  and  the  adjoining 
counties. 

We  must  now  go  back  to  give  some  account  of  the  exercises 
at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone,  the  appointment  of  officers  of 
the  College,  and  other  measures  preliminary  to  the  dedication 
and  the  opening. 

The  "following  is  the  order  of  exercises  at  the  laying  of  the 
corner-stone  substantially  as  it  was  given  to  the  public  shortly 
after  the  occasion :  "  On  the  9th  of  August,  1820,  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy,  together  with  the  subscribers 
to  the  fund  then  present,  a  number  of  the  neighboring  clergy 
and  the  preceptors  and  students  of  the  Academy,  preceded  by 
the  building  committee  and  the  workmen,  moved  in  procession 
from  the  Academy  to  the  ground  of  the  Charity  Institution. 
The  Throne  of  Grace  was  then  addressed  by  Rev.  Mr.  Crosby 
of  Enfield,  and  the  ceremony  of  laying  the  corner-stone  was 
performed  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Parsons,  President  of  the  Board,  in 
presence  of  a  numerous  concourse  of  spectators ;  after  which  an 
address  was  delivered  by  Noah  Webster,  Esq.,  Vice-President 
of  the  Board.  The  assembly  then  proceeded  to  the  church  where 
an  appropriate  introductory  prayer  was  made  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Porter  of  Belchertown,  a  sermon  delivered  by  the  Rev.  Daniel 
A.  Clark  of  Amherst,  and  the  exercises  concluded  with  prayer 
by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Grout  of  Hawley.  The  performances  of  the 
day  were  interesting,  and  graced  with  excellent  music. 

On  the  same  day,  at  a  meeting  of  the  subscribers  to  the  fund, 
having  been  duly  notified,  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Howe  of  Hopkin- 
ton  being  chosen  Moderator,  and  the  Rev.  Moses  Miller  of  Heath, 
Secretary,  the  meeting  was  opened  with  prayer  by  the  Modera- 
tor, and  the  following  gentlemen  were  then  elected  Overseers  of 
the  Fund,  namely :  Henry  Gray,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  Gen.  Salem 
Towne,  Jr.,  of  Charlton,  Rev.  Theophilus  Packard  of  Shelburne, 
Rev.  Thomas  Snell  of  North  Brookfield,  Rev.  Luther  Sheldon 
of  Easton,  Rev.  Heman  Humphrey  of  Pittsfield,  and  H.  Wright 
Strong,  Esq.  of  Amherst. 

The  Board  of  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy  at  this  time, 
who  acted  as  Trustees  of  the  Charity  Fund,  was  composed  of 
the  following  members :  Rev.  David  Parsons,  President ;  Noah 


MISSIONARY   SPIRIT  OF   THE   FOUNDERS.  67 

Webster,  Esq  ,  Vice-President ;  Rev.  James  Taylor,  Rev.  Joshua 
Crosby,  Rev.  Daniel  A.  Clark,  Nathaniel  Smith,  Esq.,  Samuel 
F.  Dickinson,  Esq.,  and  Rufus  Graves,  Esq.  After  the  public 
exercises  of  this  occasion,  Dr.  Parsons  resigned  his  seat  in  the 
Board,  and  Noah  Webster,  Esq.,  was  elected  President  of  the 
Board. 

By  request  of  the  Trustees  the  address  of  Mr.  Webster  and 
the  sermon  of  Mr.  Clark  were  both  printed  and  published.  In 
reading  them,  no  thought  strikes  us  so  forcibly  as  the  philan- 
thropic, Christian  and  missionary  spirit  of  the  founders.  "Too 
long,"  says  Mr.  Webster,  "  have  men  been  engaged  in  the  bar- 
barous work  of  multiplying  the  miseries  of  human  life.  Too 
long  have  their  exertions  and  resources  been  devoted  to  war  and 
plunder,  to  the  destruction  of  lives  and  property,  to  the  ravage 
of  cities,  to  the  unnatural,  the  monstrous  employment  of  en- 
slaving and  degrading  their  own  species.  Blessed  be  our  lot ! 
We  live  to  see  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  man — an  era  when 
reason  and  religion  begin  to  resume  their  sway,  and  to  impress 
the  heavenly  truth  that  the  appropriate  business  of  men  is  to 
imitate  the  Saviour,  to  serve  their  God  and  bless  their  fellow- 
men With  what  satisfaction  will  the  sons  of  its  bene- 
factors hereafter  hear  it  related,  that  a  missionary  educated  by 
their  father's  charity,  has  planted  a  church  on  the  burning  sands 
of  Africa  or  in  the  cheerless  wilds  of  Siberia — that  he  has  been 
the  instrument  of  converting  a  family,  a  province,  perhaps  a 
kingdom  of  Pagans  and  bringing  them  within  the  pale  of  the 
Christian  church ! " 

"  It  is  an  Institution,"  says  Mr.  Clark,  "  in  some  respects  like 
no  other  that  ever  rose ;  designed  to  bestow  gratis  a  liberal  edu- 
cation upon  those  who  will  enter  the  gospel  ministry,  but  who 
are  too  indigent  to  defray  the  expense  of  their  own  induction. 
It  has  been  founded  and  must  rise  by  charity.  And  any  man 
who  shall  bring  a  beam  or  a  rock,  who  shall  lay  a  stone  or  drive 
a  nail,  from  love  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  shall  not  fail  of  his 
reward.  I  believe  this  Institution  will  collect  about  it  the  friends 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  will  be  fed  by  their  philanthropy  and  watered 
by  their  prayers,  and  will  yet  become  a  fountain  pouring  forth 
its  streams  to  fertilize  the  boundless  wastes  of  a  miserable  world. 


68  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

In  vision  I  see  it  among  the  first  Institutions  of  our  land,  the 
younger  sister  and  the  best  friend  of  our  theological  seminaries, 
the  center  of  our  education  societies,  the  solace  of  poverty,  the 
joy  of  the  destitute,  and  the  hope  and  the  salvation  of  perishing 
millions." 

.  The  very  title  of  this  sermon,  viz :  "A  Plea  for  a  Miserable 
World,"  strikes  the  key-note  of  this  charitable  enterprise,  and 
history  herself,  looking  back  after  the  lapse  of  half  a  century, 
can  hardly  describe  the  actual  result  more  exactly  than  in  those 
very  words  of  faith  and  hope  and  almost  prophetic  vision  which 
Rev.  Daniel  A.  Clark  uttered  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone. 

The  connection  between  the  Charitable  Institution  at  Amherst, 
and  those  education  societies  which  had  sprung  up  a  little  earlier 
and  were  born  of  the  same  missionary  spirit,  could  not  but  be 
very  intimate  and  productive  of  most  important  results.  As 
early  as  September,  1820,  a  committee  of  the  Trustees  were 
directed  to  correspond  with  the  American  Education  Society  on 
the  subject  of  the  terms  on  which  the  Board  might  co-operate 
with  that  society  in  the  education  of  their  beneficiaries.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  Board  in  November,  1820,  the  Trustees  passed 
a  vote  authorizing  the  Prudential  Committee  to  receive  into 
the  Academy  as  beneficiaries  from  education  societies  or  else- 
where, charity  students,  not  exceeding  twenty.  In  June,  1821, 
they  voted  that  persons  wishing  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
Charity  Fund  as  beneficiaries,  should  be  under  the  patronage  of 
some  education  society  or  other  respectable  association  which 
should  furnish  to  each  beneficiary  a  part  of  his  support,  amount- 
ing at  least,  to  one  dollar  a  week,  for  which  he  was  to  be  furnished 
with  board  and  tuition.  They  required  also,  that  every  applicant 
should  produce  to  the  examining  committee,  satisfactory  evi- 
dence of  his  indigence,  piety  and  promising  talents. 

As  the  constitution  required  that  the  Charity  Fund  should 
forever  be  kept  separate  from  the  other  funds  of  the  Institution, 
and  under  another  financier,  at  a  meeting  November  8,  1820, 
the  Trustees  appointed  Jonn  Leland,  Esq.,  as  their  agent  to 
receive  all  donations  made  for  the  benefit  of  the  Charity  Institu- 
tion, other  than  those  made  to  the  permanent  fund.  For  this 
office  which  he  held  fourteen  years,  Mr.  Leland  never  received 


TEMPERANCE.  69 

a  salary  of  more  than  three  hundred  dollars.  At  the  same  time 
the  commissioner  of  the  Charity  Fund  received  only  two  hun- 
dred dollars  per  annum,  for  his  services.  It  will  be  seen  that 
the  Institution  commenced  on  a  basis  of  economy,  in  reference 
both  to  its  officers  and  its  students,  which  corresponded  with  its 
charitable  object. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy  on  the 
8th  of  May,  1821,  it  was  "  Voted  unanimously  that  the  Rev. 
Zephaniah  Swift  Moore  be,  and  he  is  hereby  elected  President 
of  the  Charity  Institution  in  this  town. 

"  Voted  that  the  permanent  salary  of  the  President  of  this 
Institution  for  his  services  as  President  and  Professor  of  Theol- 
ogy and  Moral  Philosophy  be*  twelve  hundred  dollars,  and  that 
he  is  entitled  to  the  usual  perquisites." 

At  the  same  time  the  Trustees  resolved  to  build  a  house  for 
the  President,  provided  they  could  procure  sufficient  donations 
of  money,  materials  and  labor.  They  also  decided  that  the  first 
term  of  study  in  the  Institution  should  commence  on  the  third 
Wednesday  of  September.  It  is  worthy  of  record  that  at  this 
meeting  they  passed  a  vote  prohibiting  the  students  from  drink- 
ing ardent  spirits  or  wine,  or  any  liquor  of  which  ardent  spirits 
or  wine  should  be  the  principal  ingredient,  at  any  inn,  tavern  or 
shop,  or  keeping  ardent  spirits  or  wine  in  their  rooms,  or  at  any 
time  indulging  in  the  use  of  them.  Thus  early  was  temperance 
as  well  as  economy  established  as  one  of  the  characteristic  and 
fundamental  principles  of  the  Institution.  It  is  an  interesting 
coincidence,  that  at  this  meeting  in  May  when  President  Moore 
was  elected  to  the  presidency,  the  Rev.  Heman  Humphrey  of 
Pittsfield,  who  was  destined  to  succeed  him  in  the  office, 
preached  in  accordance  with  a  previous  appointment,  "  a  very 
appropriate  and  useful  sermon,"  for  which  he  received  "an  ad- 
dress of  thanks  "  by  vote  of  the  Trustees. 

In  his  letter  of  acceptance,  dated  Williamstown,  June  12, 1821, 
President  Moore  says  :  "  Previous  to  receiving  any  notice  of 
your  appointment  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  resign  my  office  in 
this  College  next  Commencement.  Providence  had  clearly  made 
it  consistent  with  my  duty  to  leave  then,  if  not  sooner.  I  have 
ascertained,  so  far  as  I  have  had  opportunity,  the  opinion  of 


70  HISTORY  OP  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

those  who  are  the  friends  of  evangelical  truth  with  respect  to 
the  necessity,  prospects  and  usefulness  of  such  an  Institution 
as  that  contemplated  at  Amherst.  I  have  much  reason  to  be- 
lieve there  is  extensively  an  agreement  on  this  subject.  In  my 
own  opinion,  no  subject  has  higher  claims  on  the  charity  and  be- 
nevolent efforts  of  the  Christian  community  than  the  education 
of  pious  young  men  for  the  gospel  ministry.  Their  classical  ed- 
ucation should  be  thorough,  and  I  should  be  wholly  averse  to 
becoming  united  with  any  institution  which  proposes  to  give  a 
classical  education  inferior  to  that  given  in  any  of  the  Colleges 
in  New  England.  On  this  subject  I  am  assured  your  opinion l 
is  the  same  as  my  own,  and  that  you  are  determined  that  the 
course  of  study  in  the  Institution  to  which  you  have  invited  me 
shall  not  be  inferior  to  that  in  the  Colleges  in  New  England.  I 
am  also  assured  that  you  will  make  provision  for  the  admission 
of  those  who  are  not  indigent,  and  who  may  wish  to  obtain  a 
classical  education  in  the  Institution." 

That  the  Trustees  were  in  perfect  unison  with  the  President 
in  regard  to  these  vital  points  to  which  he  attached  so  much  im- 
portance, they  showed  by  voting  in  their  meeting  on  the  thir- 
teenth day  of  June  that  the  preparatory  studies  or  qualifica- 
tions of  candidates  for  admission  to  the  Collegiate  Institution  and 
the  course  of  studies  to  be  pursued  during  the  four  years  of 
membership,  should  be  the  same  as  those  established  in  Yale 
College.  And  that  the  public  might  not  be  left  in  doubt  on 
these  points,  the  President  of  the  Board  soon  after  gave  public 
notice  in  the  newspapers,  that  "  Young  men  who  expect  to  de- 
fray the  expenses  of  their  education,  will  be  admitted  into  the 
Collegiate  Institution  on  terms  essentially  the  same  as  those  pre- 
scribed for  admission  into  other  Colleges  in  New  England."  2 

At  the  same  session,  the  Trustees  elected  the  Rev.  Gamaliel 
S.  Olds  to  be  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy 
in  the  Collegiate  Charity  Institution,  and  Joseph  Estabrook  to 
be  Professor  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  Languages,  and  voted  that 
the  President  and  Professors  elect  should  be  inaugurated  and  the 
College  edifice  dedicated  with  suitable  religious  services  on  the 

1  The  letter  is  addressed  to  the  President  and  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy. 

2  In  Boston  Recorder,  July  21,  1821. 


DEDICATION  AND   INAUGUEATION.  71 

Tuesday  next  preceding  the  third  Wednesday  of  September, 
and  that  Prof.  Stuart  of  Audover  be  invited  to  preach  the  dedi- 
cation sermon. 

On  the  6th  of  August,  1821,  the  Rev.  Jonas  King  was  elected 
to  be  Professor  of  Oriental  Languages  in  the  Collegiate  Institu- 
tion. Mr.  King  soon  after  went  to  Greece,  and  never  accepted 
the  appointment.  His  name,  however,  appeared  on  the  cata- 
logue through  the  greater  part  of  the  first  decade  in  the  history 
of  the  College. 

At  the  time  appointed,  viz.,  on  the  18th  of  September,  1821, 
the  exercises  of  dedication  and  of  inauguration  were  held  in 
the  parish  church.  After  introductory  remarks  by  Noah  Web- 
ster, Esq.,  President  of  the  Board,  in  which  he  recognized  the 
peculiar  propriety  "  that  an  undertaking  having  for  its  special 
object  the  promotion  of  the  religion  of  Christ,  should  be  com- 
mended to  the  favor  and  protection  of  the  great  Head  of  the 
Church,"  and  its  buildings  and  funds  solemnly  dedicated  to  his 
service,  a  dedicatory  prayer  was  offered  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Crosby 
of  Enfield,  and  a  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Leland 
of  Charleston,  S.  C.,1  from  the  text:  "On  this  rock  will  I  build 
my  church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it." 
President  Moore  and  Prof.  Estabrook,2  having  publicly  sig- 
nified their  acceptance  and  their  assent  to  the  Confession  of 
Faith3  which  had  been  prepared  for  the  occasion,  were  then 
solemnly  inducted  into  their  respective  offices  by  the  President 
of  the  Board,  with  promises  of  hearty  co-operation  and  support 
by  the  Trustees,  and  earnest  prayers  for  ';  the  guidance  and  pro- 
tection of  the  great  Head  of  the  Church,  to  whose  service  this 
Institution  is  consecrated."  A  brief  address  was  then  delivered 
by  each  of  them,  and  the  concluding  prayer  was  offered  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Snell  of  North  Brookfield.  At  the  close  of  the  exer- 

1  "  For  special  reasons,  Prof.  Stuart  declined  to  preach  on  the  occasion."    Dr. 
Leland  "  was  on  a  visit  to  his  father,  then  resident  in  Amherst." — Dr.   Webster's 
Manuscript. 

2  Prof.Olds  had  signified  his  acceptance,  but  was  not  present  at  the  inauguration. 
8  Of  this  Confession  of  Faith  I  find  no  record,  except  that  it  was  reported  to  the 

Trustees  by  a  committee  appointed  for  the  purpose  immediately  previous  to  the 
exercises  of  inauguration.  The  committee  consisted  of  the  Rev.  Zephaniah  S. 
Moore,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Snell,  and  the  Rev.  Daniel  A.  Clark. 


72  HISTORY   OF  AMHEEST  COLLEGE. 

cises  a  collection  was  made  for  the  benefit  of  the  Institution ; 
and  the  corner-stone  of  the  President's  house  was  laid  with  the 
usual  ceremonies. 

The  next  day,  September  19,  the  College  was  opened  and 
organized,  by  the  examination  and  admission  of  forty-seven 
students,  some  into  each  of  the  four  regular  classes  l — "  a  larger 
number,  I  believe,"  says  Dr.  Humphrey,  "  than  ever  had  been 
matriculated  on  the  first  day  of  opening  any  new  College.  It 
was  a  day  of  great  rejoicings.  What  had  God  wrought !  " 

•  1  Of  this  number  fifteen  followed  Dr.  Moore  from  Williams  College,  a  little  less  than 
one-third  of  the  whole  number  at  Amherst,  and  a  little  less  than  one-fifth  of  the 
whole  number  in  the  three  classes  to  which  they  belonged  in  Williams  College. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  FIRST  PRESIDENCY  AND  OTHER  FIRST  THINGS  DURING  THE 
FIRST  TWO   YEARS. 

FIRST  things,  whether  they  are  the  first  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  or  only  the  first  in  a  country,  or  a  town,  or  an  institution, 
besides  their  intrinsic  value,  have  a  relative  interest  and  impor- 
tance, which  justify,  and  perhaps  require  the  historian  to  dwell 
upon  them  at  greater  length. 

The  first  College  edifice,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  foregoing 
chapter,  was  the  present  South  College.  Although  it  was  erected 
so  rapidly  and  finished  and  furnished  to  so  great  an  extent  by 
voluntary  contributions  of  labor  and  material,  it  was  one  of  the 
best  built,  and  is  to  this  day  one  of  the  best  preserved  and  most 
substantial  of  all  the  buildings  on  the  grounds.  The  rooms 
were  originally  large,  square,  single  rooms,  without  any  bed- 
rooms, and  served  the  double  purpose  of  a  dormitory  and  a 
study.  A  full  quarter  of  a  century  elapsed  before  bed-rooms 
were  placed  in  the  South  College.  Some  of  these  rooms,  be- 
sides serving  as  sleeping-rooms  and  studies  for  their,  occupants, 
were  also  of  necessity,  used  for  a  time  as  recitation-rooms  for 
the  classes.  Thus  the  room  of  Field  and  Snell,  the  two  Seniors 
who  for  some  time  constituted  the  Senior  class — it  was  the  room 
in  the  south-west  corner  of  the  fourth  story — was  the  Senior 
recitation-room,  and  there  President  Moore  daily  met  and  in- 
structed his  first  Senior  class.  Four  chairs  constituted  the  whole 
furniture  and  apparatus  of  this  first  recitation-room.  The  Col- 
lege library,  which  at  this  time  was  all  contained  in  a  single  case 
scarcely  six  feet  wide,  was  at  first  placed  in  the  north  entry  of 
the  same  building — the  old  South  College. 

Morning  and  evening  prayers  were  at  first  attended  in  the 


74  HISTOKY   OF   AMHEKST  COLLEGE. 

old  village  "  ineeting-house  "  which  then  occupied  the  site  of  the 
Observatory  and  Octagonal  Cabinet,  and  was  considered  one  of 
the  best  church  edifices  in  Hampshire  County.  In  the  same 
venerable  sanctuary,  sitting  for  the  most  part  in  the  broad  gal- 
leries, the  Faculty  and  students  worshipped  on  the  Sabbath  with 
the  people  of  the  parish,  and  often  admired  and  rejoiced,  but 
oftener  feared  and  trembled  under  the  powerful  preaching  of  the 
pastor,  Rev.  Daniel  A.  Clark.  Pindar  Field,  a  member  of  the 
first  College  class,  was  the  founder  and  first  superintendent  of 
the  first  Sabbath-school  in  Amherst.  And  it  may  not  be  amiss  to 
add  here,  although  it  is  in  anticipation  of  its  proper  place  in  pur 
history,  that  during  the  first  ten  or  fifteen  years,  tutors  in  Col- 
lege were  most  frequently  superintendents  of  the  village  Sab- 
bath-schools, and  many  of  the  teachers  were  College  students. 
Tutors  Burt,  Worcester,  Clark  (Joseph  S  ,)  Perkins,  Tyler 
(W.  S.,)  and  Burgess  were  all  superintendents  before  1835. 
Edwards  A.  Beach,  of  the  Class  of  '24,  was  for  a  year  or  two, 
leader  of  the  choir  and  teacher  of  music  in  the  village  church, 
and  he  tells  us,  that  he  "  boarded  round  "  among  the  good  peo- 
ple for  a  part  of  his  pay.  The  relations  between  the  students 
and  the  families  in  the  village  were  in  the  highest  degree  confi- 
dential and  affectionate,  and  the  letters  which  the  author  has 
received  from  the  alumni  of  those  halcyon  days,  although  the 
writers  have  already  reached  their  threescore  years  and  ten,  still 
read  very  much  like  love-letters. 

The  bell  of  the  old  parish  meeting-house  continued  to  sum- 
mon the  students  to  all  their  exercises  till  ere  long  one  was  pre- 
sented to  the  College.  A  coarse,  clumsy,  wooden  tower  or  frame 
was  erected  between  the  College  and  the  meeting-house  to  re- 
ceive this  first  College  bell.  This  tower,  then  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  objects  on  College  hill,  became  the  butt  of  ridicule 
and  was  at  length  capsized  by  the  students,  and  the  bell  was 
finally  transferred  to  the  new  chapel. 

The  growing  popularity  and  prosperity  of  the  Institution  soon 
made  it  manifest  that  it  would  require  more  ample  accommoda- 
tions. In  the  summer  of  1822,  the  President's  house l  was  com- 
pleted. About  the  same  time  a  second  College  edifice  was  com- 

1  The  house  now  owned  by  Mr.  M.  B.  Allen. 


THE  FIRST   CHAPEL  AND   LECTURE-ROOM.  75 

menced,  and  a  subscription  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  was  opened 
to  pay  debts  already  contracted,  to  finish  the  new  building  and 
to  defray  other  necessary  expenses.  At  the  opening  of  the 
second  term  of  the  second  collegiate  year  hi  the  winter  of 
1822-3,  this  edifice,  the  present  North  College,  was  already 
completed  and  occupied  for  the  first  time.  The  rooms  were  not 
all  filled,  however,  and,  for  some  time,  unoccupied  rooms  were 
rented  to  students  of  the  Academy.  Still  "  no  room  was  fur- 
nished with  a  carpet,  only  one  with  blinds,  and  not  half  a 
dozen  were  painted."  Such  is  the  testimony  of  an  eye-witness, l 
who  joined  the  College  at  this  time. 

The  two  corner  rooms  in  the  south  entry  and  fourth  story  of 
this  new  building,  being  left  without  any  partition  between 
themselves  or  between  them  and  the  adjoining  entry,  were  now 
converted  into  a  hall  which  served  at  once  for  a  chapel  and 
a  lecture-room,  where  lectures  on  the  physical  sciences  fol- 
lowed the  morning  and  evening  devotions,  thus  uniting  learning 
and  religion  according  to  the  original  design  of  the  Institution, 
but  where  the  worship  was  sometimes  disturbed  by  too  free  a 
mixture  of  acids  and  gases.  The  two  middle  rooms  adjoin- 
ing this  hall  were  also  appropriated  to  public  uses,  one  of 
them  becoming  the  place  where  the  library  was  now  deposited, 
and  the  other  the  first  cabinet  for  chemical  and  philosophical 
apparatus. 

A  semi-official  notice  in  The  Boston  Recorder,  dated  October 
1,  1821,  announces  that  "a  College  Library  is  begun,  and  now 
contains  nearly  seven  hundred  volumes.  A  philosophical  appa- 
ratus is  provided  for,  and  it  is  expected  will  be  procured  the 
coming  winter." 

The  first  lectures  in  chemistry  were  given  by  Col.  Graves 
(who  had  been  a  lecturer  in  the  same  department  previously,  at 
Dartmouth  College).  These  lectures  were  delivered  in  a  pri- 
vate room  used  as  a  lecture-room  in  the  old  South  College.  It 
was  quite  an  enlargement  and  sign  of  progress  when  Prof.  Eaton 
began  to  lecture  to  all  the  classes  together  in  the  new  hall  in  the 
new  North  College. 

An  incident,  related  by  Rev.  Nahum  Gould  of  the  Class  of 

1  Dr.  A.  Chapin,  now  of  Winchester,  Mass. 


76  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

1825,  occurred  at  this  time,  and  well  illustrates  the  character 
of  the  officers  and  students,  and  their  relations  to  one  another. 

"Never  could  there  be  greater  confidence  between  teacher 
and  student.  At  the  close  of  Prof.  Eaton's  first  lecture,  he 
said  to  President  Moore,  '  I  must  gather  up  my  apparatus  and 
tests,  as  you  have  no  lock  on  the  door  to  secure  them.'  '  Oh, 
no,'  replied  the  President,  '  no  one  will  meddle  with  anything, 
I  will  be  responsible.'  The  next  morning  the  Doctor  called  on 
the  President,  exclaiming  almost  with  an  air  of  triumph,  '  Well, 
Mr.  President,  your  honest  boys  turn  out  as  I  expected.'  '  Why, 
Prof.  Eaton,  have  you  lost  anything  from  the  table  ? '  '  Yes, 
my  phosphorus  is  gone.  You  put  too  much  confidence  in  your 
boys.  I  never  before  left  my  apparatus  so  exposed.'  At  even- 
ing prayers,  the  President  said,  '  Young  gentlemen,  you.  may  be 
seated.'  He  then  related  what  had  passed  between  Prof.  Eaton 
and  himself,  and  declared  his  great  disappointment  at  the  result. 
'  And  now,'  he  said,  '  we  must  put  a  lock  upon  that  door,  and 
every  time  you  see  that  lock,  you  will  be  reminded  of  your  poor 
depraved  human  nature.' 

"  When  we  were  dismissed,  one  of  the  students,  drawing  a  bow 
at  a  venture,  said  to ,  '  Why  did  you  take  that  phos- 
phorus ? '  '  Well,  I  wanted  to  experiment,'  was  the  reluctant 
reply.  '  But  how  do  you  know  I  took  it  ?  it  was  but  a  little 
piece.  But  what  would  you  do?'  'Do!  I  would  go  to  the 
President's  room  and  confess,  immediately.'  The  young  man 
was  at  the  President's  door  almost  as  soon  as  he  arrived  there 
himself,  suitable  reparation  was  made,  and  the  circumstance  in 
the  end  only  strengthened  the  bond  of  mutual  confidence  which 
united  the  Faculty  and  the  students  to  one  another."  ' 

The  first  "  Catalogue  of  the  Faculty  and  Students  of  the  Col- 
legiate Institution,  Amherst,  Mass.,"  was  issued  in  March,  1822, 
that  is,  about  six  months  after  the  opening.  It  was  a  single 
sheet,  about  twelve  by  fourteen  inches  in  size,  and  printed  only 
on  one  side,  like  a  hand-bill.  In  this,  as  in  many  other  things, 
Amherst  followed  the  example  of  Williams  College,  whose  cata- 
logue, issued  in  1795,  according  to  Dr.  Robbins,  the  antiquarian, 
was  the  first  catalogue  of  the  members  of  a  College  published 
in  this  country.  The  Faculty,  as  their  names  and  titles  were 


THE    FIRST    CATALOGUE.  77 

printed  on  this  catalogue,  consisted  of  Rev.  Zephaniah  Swift 
Moore,  D.  D.,  President  and  Professor  of  Divinity;  Rev.  Gama- 
liel S.  Olds,  A.  M.,  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Phi- 
losophy ;  Joseph  Estabrook,  A.  M.,  Professor  of  Languages  and 
Librarian  ;  Rev.  Jonas  King,  A.  M.,  Professor  of  Oriental  Liter- 
ature ;  and  Lucius  Field,  A.  B.,  Tutor.  But  the  Professor  of 
Oriental  Languages  was  never  installed,  and  the  instruction  was 
all  given  by  the  President  with  two  Professors  and  one  Tutor. 
The  President  was  not  only  the  sole  teacher  of  the  Senior  class, 
but  gave  instruction  also  to  the  Sophomores.  The  number  of 
students  had  now  increased  from  forty -seven  to  fifty-nine,  viz. : 
three  Seniors,  six  Juniors,  nineteen  Sophomores  and  thirty-one 
Freshmen.  But  dissatisfied  with  this  hand-bill,  they  issued  in 
the  same  month  of  the  same  year  (March,  1822,)  the  same  cat- 
alogue of  names,  in  the  form  of  a  pamphlet  of  eight  pages,  which 
contained,  besides  the  names  of  the  Faculty  and  students,  the  re- 
quirements for  admission  to  the  Freshman  class,  an  outline  of  the 
course  of  study,  and  a  statement  of  the  number  of  volumes  in 
the  libraries  of  the  Institution  and  of  the  literary  societies. 
This  form  was  adopted  by  Williams  College  in  October,  1822, 
for  their  catalogue  of  1822-3,  and  has  since  been  the  standard 
form  in  both  Institutions. 

The  requisites  for  admission  into  the  Freshman  class  are  ability 
to  construe  and  parse  Virgil,  Cicero's  Select  Orations,  Sallust,  the 
Greek  Testament,  Dalzel's  Collectanea  Graeca  Minora,  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  Latin  and  Greek  Grammars,  and  Vulgar  Arithmetic. 

COUKSE  OF  STUDY. — First  Year. — Livy,  five  books,  Adams' 
Roman  Antiquities,  Arithmetic,  Webster's  Philosophical  and 
Practical  Grammar,  Graeca  Majora,  the  historical  parts,  Day's 
Algebra,  Morse's  Geography,  large  abridgment,  and  Erving  on 
Composition. 

Second  Year. — Playfair's  Euclid,  Horace,  expurgated  edition, 
Day's  Mathematics,  Parts  II.,  III.  and  IV.,  Conic  Sections  and 
Spheric  Geometry,  Cicero  de  Officiis,  de  Senectute  and  de 
Amicitia,  Graeca  Majora,  Jamieson's  Rhetoric,  and  Hedge's 
Logic. 

Third  Year. — Spheric  Trigonometry,  Graeca  Majora  finished, 


78  HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Enfield's  Philosophy,  Cicero  de  Oratore,  Tacitus,  five  books, 
Tytler's  History,  Paley's  Evidences,  Fluxions  and  Chemistry. 

Fourth  Year. — Stewart's  Philosophy  of  Mind,  Blair's  Rhet- 
oric, Locke  Abridged,  Paley's  Natural  Theology,  Anatomy,  But- 
ler's Analogy,  Paley's  Moral  Philosophy,  Edwards  on  the  Will, 
Vattel's  Law  of  Nations,  and  Vincent  on  the  Catechism. 

Each  of  the  classes  has  once  a  week,  for  a  part  of  the  year,  a 
critical  recitation  in  the  Greek  Testament.  All  the  classes  have 
weekly  exercises  in  speaking  and  composition.  Library  belong- 
ing to  the  Institution,  nine  hundred  volumes.  Society  libraries, 
about  four  hundred  volumes.  This  catalogue  was  printed  by 
Thomas  W.  Shepard  &  Co.,  Northampton. 

The  annual  catalogue  for  the  second  year,  printed  by  Denio  & 
Phelps,  at  Greenfield,  in  October,  1822,  was  a  pamphlet  of 
twelve  pages,  and  in  addition  to  the  matter  contained  in  that  of 
the  previous  year,  comprised  the  names  of  the  Overseers  of  the 
Fund,  a  brief  calendar  and  a  statement  of  the  term  bills  and 
other  necessary  expenses.  The  Overseers  of  the  Fund,  whose 
names  appear  on  the  catalogue,  are  Henry  Gray,  Esq.,  of  Boston, 
Hon.  Salem  Towne,  Jr.,  of  Charleton,  H.  Wright  Strong,  Esq., 
of  Amherst,  Rev.  Samuel  Osgood  of  Springfield,  Rev.  Theophi- 
lus  Packard  of  Shelburne,  Rev.  Thomas  Snell  of  Brookfield, 
and  Rev.  Luther  Sheldon  of  Easton.  The  Faculty  is  the  same 
as  in  the  previous  catalogue,  except  that  the  names  of  William 
S.  Burt,  A.  B.,  and  Elijah  L.  Coe,  A.  B.,  appear  as  Tutors. 
They  were  both  graduates  of  Union  College.  The  number  of 
students  had  now  increased  to  ninety-eight,  viz  :  "  Senior  Soph- 
isters,"  five  ;  "  Junior  Sophisters,"  twenty-one  ;  Sophomores, 
thirty-two  ;  and  Freshmen,  forty.  The  students'  rooms  are  also 
registered,  N.  standing  for  North  College,  and  S.-for  South  Col- 
lege on  the  catalogue. 

The  term  bills,  comprising  tuition,  room-rent,  etc.,  are  from 
ten  to  eleven  dollars  a  term.  Beneficiaries  do  not  pay  any  term 
bills.  Board  is  from  one  dollar  to  one  dollar  twenty-five  cents 
a  week.  Wood  is  from  one  dollar  fifty  cents  to  two  dollars  a 
cord.  Washing,  from  twrelve  to  twenty  cents  a  week.  "Mo- 
tives of  economy  and  of  convenience,"  writes  Dr.  Chapin  of  the 
Class  of  '25,  "  influenced  the  first  classes  of  students,  very  largely, 


THE   COLLEGE   GROUNDS.  79 

in  coming  to  Amherst.  We  all  made  our  own  fires  and  took  the 
entire  care  of  our  rooms  ;  most  of  us  sawed  our  own  wood.  My 
College  course  cost  me  eight  hundred  dollars,  which  was  a  me- 
dium average,  I  should  think.  The  College  grounds  were  rough 
and  unadorned,  and  during  all  of  my  course  had  little  done  to  im- 
prove them.  Each  spring  we  had  our  "  chip  day,"  when  the 
students  in  mass  turned  out  to  scrape  and  clear  up  the  grounds 
near  the  buildings." 

"  The  grounds,"  says  another  alumnus  who  entered  the  first 
Freshman  class,1  "  were  then  in  their  natural  state,  without 
walks,  or  trees,  or  shrubbery.  Of  libraries,  cabinets,  etc.,  we 
had  little  but  the  name,  and,  in  fact,  hardly  that.  There  were 
a  few  articles  of  philosophical  and  chemical  apparatus,  and  only 
a  few.2  We  had  a  regular  course  of  lectures  on  Botany,  and 
one  on  Chemistry.  There  were,  I  think,  some  lectures  on  Nat- 
ural Philosophy,  and  a  few  occasional  lectures  on  other  sub- 
jects." 

The  two  literary  societies,  the  Alexandrian  and  the  Athenian, 
were  organized  soon  after  the  opening  of  the  Institution.  The 
members  of  College  were  all  allotted  to  the  two  societies  in 
alphabetical  order,  the  two  Seniors,  Pindar  Field  and  Ebenezer 
S.  Snell,  placing  themselves  or  being  placed  at  the  head,  the 
former  of  the  Athenian  and  the  latter  of  the  Alexandrian  So- 
ciety, and  then  reading  off  the  names  of  the  members  of  the 
lower  classes  alternately  to  the  one  or  the  other  in  the  order  of 
the  catalogue.  Mr.  Field  was  chosen  the  first  President  of  the 
Athenian  Society,  and  Mr.  Snell  the  first  President  of  the  Alex- 
andrian. The  first  meetings  of  the  societies  were  held  in  No.  3 
and  No.  6  in  the  north  entry  of  South  College.  In  April,  1822, 
the  students  in  their  poverty  raised  a  small  contribution,  and 
sent  Mr.  Field  to  Hartford  to  purchase  a  few  books  which  were 
the  beginning  of  a  library  for  the  two  societies,  for  they  were 
then  not  rival  but  affiliated  societies  and  had  their  library  in 

*R.  A.  Coffin,  Class  of  25. 

2  "  A  thermometer  and  a  barometer,  donated  by  the  manufacturer,  Mr.  Thomas 
Kendall  of  New  Lebanon,  N.  Y.,  were  nil  that  I  saw  for  several  weeks.  I  was  my- 
self the  bearer  of  those  articles,  and  delivered  them  to  Dr.  Moore."  Rev.  E.  A. 
Beach,  Class  of  '24. 


80  HISTOKY  OF   AMHEBST   COLLEGE. 

common.  "We  felt  proud  of  our  library,"  writes  Mr.  Field, 
"  when  its  books  were  duly  arranged  for  the  first  time  on  the 
new  shelves ;  and  it  had  cost  less  than  a  hundred  dollars." 

"  As  my  only  classmate  at  this  time  was  not  a  professor  of 
religion,"  says  Mr.  Field,  "  the  responsibility  of  forming  a  Theo- 
logical Society1  was  thrown  upon  me.  In  all  our  infant  meas- 
ures, we  mainly  followed  the  example  we  had  in  Williams  Col- 
lege, as  a  great  portion  of  the  then  upper  classes  were  from  that 
College." 

Prof.  Charles  U.  Shepard  of  the  Class  of  '25  has  contributed 
the  following  graphic  sketch  of  men  and  things  at  Amherst  in 
those  early  days :  "  I  remember  that  I  was  the  youngest  of  my 
class.  Most  of  my  fellows  were  mature  youths  who  did  not 
appear  to  me  youths  at  all,  seniors  in  character  and  manlike  in 
purpose,  with  an  air  which  seemed  to  tell  of  years  of  yearning 
for  the  ministry,  and  of  a  brave  struggle  with  the  poverty  which 
had  kept  them  from  their  goal.  They  seized  their  late  oppor- 
tunity with  eagerness,  they  were  in  general  patient,  painstaking 
and  earnest  students. 

"  The  Institution  was  formed  for  just  such  pupils.  Its  primary 
object  was  to  fit  young  men  for  a  clerical  career ;  and  one  of  its 
foremost  recommendations  was  the  cheapness  of  education  and 
of  living.  For  a  dollar  and  a  half  a  week  we  obtained  fare, 
which,  if  I  remember  right,  was  substantial  and  wholesome. 
The  farmers  were  glad  of  a  home  market  for  their  productions, 
and  their  families  made  small  charge  for  the  preparation  of  our 
food,  the  Collegian  then  being  a  novelty  in  the  village,  and  his 
society  considered  a  pleasure.  The  orchards  were  far  better 
than  now ;  the  finest  of  peaches  grew  in  abundance.  The  Col- 
lege grounds  gave  us  all  the  chestnuts  we  wanted,  and  the 
hickory  groves  furnished  boundless  supplies  of  walnuts.  If  we 
craved  other  drink  than  that  afforded  by  the  unrivaled  College 
well,  we  could  go  to  the  cider  mills  and  fill  our  buckets.  In  the 
winter,  too,  there  was  shooting  or  other  hunting,  witness  the 
hound  of  one  of  our  early  students,  a  grandson  of  Gen.  Greene 
of  Rhode  Island.  This  animal,  when  game  was  scarce,  ran 
wild  himself,  and  was  chased  by  his  master,  who  on  one  such 

1  Afterwards  called  the  Society  of  Inquiry. 


THE  FOKESTS   AROUND   THE   COLLEGE.  81 

occasion,  in  pursuing  him  from  house  to  house  through  the  East 
street,  bolted  unceremoniously  into  the  presence  of  the  ven- 
erable Gen.  Mattoon,  with  a  breathless,  '  Have  you  seen  my 
dog  ? '  In  reply  to  which  the  stone-blind  veteran  thundered  a 
military,  '  No ! ' 

"Amherst  as  it  was  then,  would  be  a  strange  place  to  the 
residents  in  Amherst  of  nowadays.  The  good  clergymen  who 
petitioned  for  its  prosperity  in  '  College  prayers,'  delighted  to 
call  it  '  a  city  set  upon  a  hill ; '  but  they  would  have  described 
its  fashion  with  -quite  as  much  exactness,  had  they  put  forward 
its  claims  to  celestial  notice  as  '  a  village  in  the  woods.'  Some- 
thing more  than  a  score  of  houses,  widely  separated  from  each 
other  by  prosperous  farms,  constituted  Amherst  centre.  Along 
two  roads  running  north  and  south,  were  scattered  small  farm- 
houses with  here  and  there  a  cross-road,  blacksmith's  shop  or 
school-house  by  way  of  suburb.  The  East  street,  however, 
formed  even  then  a  pretty  cluster  of  houses,  and  had  its  meeting- 
house with  a  far  comelier  tower  than  it  boasts  at  the  present  day. 

"  But  the  fine  dwellings,  public  or  private,  of  that  early  time 
had  their  features,  whether  tasteful  or  the  reverse,  greatly  con- 
cealed by  the  wide  prevalence  of  trees.  Primal  forests  touched 
the  rear  of  the  College  buildings ;  they  filled  up  with  a  sea  of 
waving  branches,  the  great  interval  between  the  village  and 
Hadley ;  towards  the  south,  they  prevailed  gloriously,  send- 
ing their  green  Avaves  around  the  base  and  up  the  sides  of 
Mt.  Holyoke ;  to  the  east,  they  overspread  the  Pelham  slope  ; 
and  they  fairly  inundated  vast  tracts  northward  clear  away  to 
the  lofty  hills  of  Sunderland  and  Deerfield.  It  was  a  sublime 
deluge,  which,  alas !  has  only  too  much  subsided  in  our  day. 

"  With  such  surroundings,  what  now  were  our  interior  ad- 
vantages? Whatever  we  may  have  represented  them  to  out- 
siders, whatever  we  may  have  persuaded  ourselves  concerning 
them,  they  were,  in  my  day,  extremely  meagre.  The  teachers 
were  few,  and,  in  general,  were  not  distinguished  in  their  de- 
partments. Our  library  did  not  surpass  the  scholarly  range  of 
a  country  clergyman  in  fair  circumstances.  Apparatus  and  col- 
lections were  unknown  in  our  first  year,  and  they  had  made  but 
feeble  beginnings  before  our  graduation.  The  only  lectures 
6 


82  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

which  I  remember  were  the  two  annual  courses  of  Prof.  Amos 
Eaton,  in  his  day  a  distinguished  botanist  and  geologist. 

"  In  Dr.  Moore,  a  gentleman  of  suave  manners,  of  true  Chris- 
tian dignity  and  of  singular  judgment  in  managing  youth,  we 
had  an  admirable  President.  I  venture  to  suspect  that  he  was 
the  only  College  President  in  the  United  States,  who,  from  the 
beginning,  personally  subscribed  for  the  somewhat  expensive 
numbers  of  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Institution,  of  London. 
From  this  source  and  others  similar,  he  appears  to  have  gained 
a  prevision  of  the  importance  of  the  modern  sciences  in  educa- 
tion ;  and  to  him  mainly,  are  we  indebted  for  the  early  foothold 
which  they  gained  in  the  Institution  ;  to  him,  at  all  events,  we 
owed  the  presence  of  Prof.  Eaton.  Rarely  has  College  lecturer 
been  more  faithfully  and  enthusiastically  listened  to  than  Prof. 
Eaton,  in  his  courses  on  Chemistry  and  Botany,  together  with 
his  abridged  course  on  Zoology.  To  supply  the  place  of  a  text- 
book on  the  last  mentioned  branch,  he  furnished  us  a  highly 
useful  printed  syllabus,  drawn  mainly  from  the  great  work  of 
Cuvier,  then  wholly  inaccessible  to  us.  Prof.  Eaton  was  such 
an  educator  as  even  now  can  seldom  be  found  in  Colleges.  Full 
of  information,  acquainted  with  the  broader  generalizations  of 
science,  distinguished  by  a  commanding  and  a  fluent,  clear,  vig- 
orous diction,  devoid  of  the  impertinences  of  egotism  and  van- 
ity, his  utterances  were  like  the  voice  of  nature." 

After  some  appreciative  notice  of  the  instructions,  character 
and  influence  of  President  Humphrey  towards  the  close  of  his 
College  course,  Prof.  Shepard  concludes :  "  Such  were  our  chief 
advantages  as  I  now  recollect  them.  At  the  time  we  rated  them 
highly  ;  few  left  Amherst  for  other  Colleges.  Nor  do  I  know 
that  any  have  since  regretted  connecting  themselves  with  the 
infant  Institution.  There  were  doubtless  deficiencies  to  be 
regretted.  In  the  larger  and  older  universities,  we  might  have 
found  better  teachers  and  richer  stores  of  libraries  and  collec- 
tions, but  in  some  unknown  way,  perhaps  in  the  enthusiasm 
of  comparatively  solitary  effort,  compensation  was  made ;  and 
on  the  whole,  we  may  doubt  whether  higher  life  success  would 
have  attended  us,  had  we  launched  from  other  ports." 

The  students  of  Amherst  in  those  early  days,  were  compara- 


THE  FIRST   COMMENCEMENT.  83 

tively  free  from  exciting  and  distracting  circumstances.  There 
were  then  here  no  cattle-shows  or  horse-races,  no  menageries, 
circuses,  or  even  concerts  of  music.  They  had  no  "  Greek  Let- 
ter "  societies,  no  class  day,  and  no  class  elections,  and  class  pol- 
itics to  divide  and  distract  them.  They  came  here  to  study, 
and  they  had  nothing  else  to  do.  They  felt  that  their  advan- 
tages were  inferior  to  those  of  older  and  richer  Institutions,  but 
for  that  very  reason,  they  felt  that  they  must  make  themselves. 

The  "  Exercises  at  the  first  Anniversary  of  the  Collegiate 
Charity  Institution  at  Amherst,"  were  held  in  the  old  "  Meet- 
ing-house "  on  the  28th  of  August,  1822.  After  sacred  music 
and  prayer  by  the  President,  a  salutatory  in  Latin  was  pro- 
nounced by  Ebenezer  S.  Snell.  His  classmate,  Pindar  Field, 
delivered  the  concluding  oration  in  English.  There  was  no 
valedictory.  The  members  of  the  Junior  class,  then  six  in 
number,  helped  them  to  fill  up  the  program  with  a  colloquy, 
two  dialogues,  and  several  orations.  A  poem  was  also  deliv- 
ered by  Mr.  Gerard  H.  Hallock  who  was  then  Principal  of  Am- 
herst Academy.  As  the  Institution  had  no  charter,  and  no  au- 
thority to  confer  degrees,  testimonials  in  Latin  that  they  had 
honorably  completed  the  usual  College  course,  were  given  to  two 
members  of  the  Senior  class.1  The  exercises  were  then  closed 
with  sacred  music  and  prayer.  The  subjects  of  the  two  dia- 
logues were  "  Turkish  Oppression,"  and  "  The  Gospel  carried 
to  India."  The  last  which  was  written  by  Pindar  Field  and 
acted  by  the  two  Seniors  with  the  help  of  one  of  the  Juniors, 
was  an  intentional  argument  and  appeal  in  favor  of  Foreign  and 
Domestic  Missions. 

The  first  revival  of  religion  occurred  in  the  spring  term  of 
1823,  about  a  year  and  a  half  after  the  opening  of  the  Institu- 
tion. The  number  of  students  was  now  over  a  hundred.  The 
President's  house  was  completed.  Two  College  edifices  crowned 
the  "Consecrated  Eminence."  And  a  subscription  of  thirty 
thousand  dollars  was  being  successfully  and  rapidly  raised  to  de- 
fray the  expenses.  The  external  prosperity  of  the  Institution 
exceeded  the  most  sanguine  hopes  of  its  founders.  But  this  was 

1  The  third  Senior,  Ezra  Fairchild,  left  before  the  close  of  the  year  in  conse- 
quence of  sickness  in  his  family,  and  did  not  receive  his  Bachelor's  degree  till  1852. 


84  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

not  enough.  It  was  not  for  this  purpose  that  they  founded  it. 
Material  and  even  literary  prosperity  was  in  their  estimation  of 
little  worth  in  comparison  with  religious  growth  and  spiritual  prog- 
ress. It  was  not  enough  that  the  students  of  the  new  Institution 
should  be  scholars.  They  desired  also  and  above  all  things  that 
they  should  be  true  Christians.  In  order  to  this  they  must,  in 
the  view  of  the  founders,  experience  the  regenerating  and  sanc- 
tifying influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  And  these  they  expected 
to  see  manifested  ordinarily  and  chiefly  in  seasons  of  unusual  re- 
ligious interest,  which  their  fathers  had  called  awakenings,  and 
which  they  usually  denominated  revivals.  Thus  believing  in 
revivals  of  religion  as  the  gift  of  God  and  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  though  not  without  the  co-operation  of  human  agency, 
the  Faculty  and  Christian  students  of  the  Amherst  Collegiate 
Institution,  in  common  with  the  Trustees  and  other  holy  men 
who  founded  it,  longed  and  labored  and  prayed  from  the  begin- 
ning above  all  things  else  for  the  special  presence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  with  convincing,  converting  and  sanctifying  power.  And 
when  in  the  spring  of  the  second  collegiate  year  personal  relig- 
ion became  the  all-engrossing  interest  of  nearly  all  the  students, 
and  before  the  close  of  the  term  the  greater  part  of  those  who 
had  hitherto  lived  without  prayer  and  without  God,  began  a  new 
life,  they  rejoiced  in  it  as  the  consummation  of  their  hopes  and 
the  crowning  benediction  of  Heaven  on  their  plans  and  labors. 

The  whole  year  and  a  half  preceding  had  been  a  gradual 
preparation  for  this  revival.  "  In  our  first  year  of  College  life," 
says  Mr.  Field,  "  the  pious  members  of  the  different  classes  en- 
joyed great  familiarity  with  each  other,  and  shared  largely  each 
other's  confidence.  We  spent  whole  days  in  fasting  and  prayer 
frequently."  Some  of  the  students  passed  the  winter  vacation 
in  towns  in  the  vicinity  where  there  was  unusual  religious  inter- 
est and  returned  to  College  to  breathe  their  own  spirit  of  zeal 
and  earnestness  into  their  classmates  and  fellow -students.  The 
annual  concert  of  prayer  for  Colleges  was  held  for  the  first 
time  in  February,  1823.  This  was  observed  in  the  Institution 
and  was  a  day  of  deep  and  solemn  interest.  "  President  Moore's 
address  to  the  students  on  this  occasion  was  peculiarly  appro- 
priate and  useful.  His  affectionate  appeal  to  those  who  thought 


THE  FIRST  REVIVAL.  85 

religion  unmanly  and  prayer  degrading,  was  like  a  nail  driven 
by  the  Master  of  assemblies.  '  Was  Daniel  ever  more  noble 
than  when  he  prayed  in  defiance  of  King  Darius'  threats  ? ' 
The  pious  students  were  among  the  most  important  instruments 
in  carrying  forward  the  work.  During  a  part  of  the  time  the 
President  was  in  feeble  health,  and  one  of  the  few  other  in- 
structors was  laid  aside  by  sickness.  In  these  circumstances 
one  of  the  students  with  the  permission  of  the  Faculty,  went 
to  Connecticut  to  obtain  the  assistance  of  Rev.  Dr.  Beecher  in 
promoting  the  revival.  But  being  absent  for  similar  service  in 
Boston,  his  inability  to  come  was  turned  to  account  by  leading 
the  pious  students  to  a  more  full  and  prayerful  reliance  upon 
God.  Abundant  prayer  was  offered  in  College  in  various  cir- 
cles, and  also  by  many  earnest  friends  of  the  College,  and  par- 
ents of  unconverted  students  in  many  places.  Several  minis- 
ters from  abroad  came  and  held  meetings  in  College,  among 
whom  were  Rev.  Experience  Porter,  Rev.  Alexander  Phenix, 
Rev.  Joshua  N.  Danforth  and  Rev.  Theophilus  Packard.  So 
extensive  was  the  religious  influence  at  the  time  that  on  one 
occasion  all  the  impenitent  students  attended  a  meeting  of  in- 
quiry." * 

"  They  held  early  morning  prayer-meetings,  and  would  some- 
times even  in  study  hours,  go  into  each  others'  rooms  and  spend 
a  few  moments  in  prayer,  often  for  an  unconverted  room-mate. 
At  no  time  in  the  day  perhaps  could  a  person  go  into  an  entry 
and  pass  up  to  the  fourth  story  without  hearing  the  voice  of 
prayer  from  some  room.  The  work  of  God's  grace  seemed  to 
go  right  through  the  College.  Every  mind  seemed  solemnized; 
none  were  careless.  The  results  have  appeared  in  the  churches 
and  the  missionary  field,  foreign  and  domestic,  ever  since."2 

"  The  seriousness  was  somewhat  sudden  in  its  commencement, 
and  it  extended  rapidly.  It  soon  became  so  pervading  that  all 
the  irreligious,  except  one,  were  said  to  be  under  conviction. 
Prayer-meetings  were  held  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening  in  each 
entry,  also  at  other  times  and  in  other  places.  Inquiry  meetings 
were  held  by  the  officers  of  the  College,  in  which  Tutors  Burt 

1  Manuscript  Letter  of  Rev.  Theophilus  Packard,  Class  of  '23. 

2  Rev.  Justin  Marsh,  Class  of  '24.     Manuscript  letter. 


86  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

and  Coe  were  especially  interested.  Prof.  Olds  was  sick,  and 
Prof.  King  was  in  Greece.  As  a  result  of  the  revival  twenty- 
three  conversions  were  counted,  leaving  only  thirteen  without  a 
personal  faith  and  hope  in  Christ.  During  the  revival  we  found 
the  sympathy,  kindness,  advice  and  active  service  of  President 
Moore  of  inestimable  value,  and,  I  think,  he  must  have  had  his 
faith  in  the  wisdom  of  his  removal  to  Amherst  strengthened  by 
this  early  manifested  blessing.  I  have  a  catalogue  in  which  the 
names  of  the  converts  are  marked  as  follows  :  Seniors,  David  O. 
Allen,  Theophilus  Packard ;  Juniors,  Bela  B.  Edwards,  Austin 
Richards;  Sophomores,  J.  M.  C.  Bartley,  George  Burt,  John 
Kelley,  A.  J.  Leavenworth,  William  Parsons,  D.  H.  Stark- 
weather, Elijah  D.  Strong,  Horatio  Waldo,  Joel  Wyman  ;  Fresh- 
men, Fred.  Bridgman,  A.  Chapin,  Enoch  Colby,  Joseph  Goff, 
C.  P.  Grosvenor,  Levi  Pomeroy,  Levi  Pratt,  Charles  L.  Strong, 
and  H.  C.  Towner. 

"  Rev.  Edward  Hitchcock,  then  pastor  in  Conway,  preached 
a  sermon  at  the  close  of  the  term  and  of  the  revival.  Oh,  how 
we  wept  as  we  listened !  " l  This  sermon,  founded  on  Prov.  5 : 
12,  13,  and  entitled  "  Retrospection,"  was  published  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  students,  with  the  following  prefatory  note :  "  The 
existence  of  a  powerful  and  interesting  revival  of  religion  in 
Amherst  Collegiate  Institution  gave  occasion  for  the  following 
sermon.  It  is  yielded  to  the  request  of  the  members  of  that 
Institution  for  its  publication,  not  on  account  of  its  literature  or 
its  theology,  but  in  the  humble  hope  that,  by  the  blessing  of  God, 
it  may  subserve  the  cause  of  experimental  piety,  by  promoting 
the  important  work  of  Retrospection." 

The  results  of  this  revival  will  be  fully  revealed  only  in  the 
light  of  another  world.  But  some  of  them  are  sufficiently  mani- 
fest. Besides  the  conversion  of  the  larger  part  of  the  uncon- 
verted and  nearly  one-quarter  of  all  the  members  of  the  Insti- 
tution, and  the  increased  sanctification,  Christian  activity  and 
usefulness  of  those  who  were  before  church  members,  it  con- 
firmed the  faith,  hope  and  courage  of  the  founders,  and  gave  the 
Institution  a  direction  and  a  character,  which  it  has  never  lost. 
Frequent  revivals  of  religion  have  ever  since  been  a  character- 
1  Manuscript  letter  of  Dr.  A.  Chapin,  Class  of  '26. 


DEATH  OF   PRESIDENT   MOOKE.  87 

istic  of  Amherst  College.  Such  young  men  of  superior  talents 
and  elevated  scholarship  as  David  O.  Allen1  and  Bela  B.  Ed- 
wards were  brought  not  only  into  the  church  and  the  ministry, 
but  into  the  missionary  work  and  the  chair  of  theological  instruc- 
tion, to  both  of  which  Amherst  has  ever  since  contributed  an 
unusually  large  proportion  of  her  sons.  The  influence  extended 
to  those  who  were  not  reckoned  as  converts.  Thus  Edward 
Jones,  the  colored  student  of  the  Class  of  '26,  who  was  counted 
among  the  unconverted  at  the  close  of  the  revival,  soon  after 
his  graduation  went  out  as  a  missionary  to  Sierra  Leone,  and 
became  one  of  the  leading  educators  of  that  African  State.  A 
powerful  revival  existed  in  the  Academy  and  the  village  church 
simultaneously  with  that  in  the  College,  whether  as  effect  or 
cause,  I  do  not  know;  probably  it  was  in  part  both  effect  and 
cause  of  the  religious  interest  in  the  Collegiate  Institution. 
Finally  this  revival  encouraged  the  hearts  and  strengthened  the 
hands  of  the  teachers  and  pupils  and  friends  of  the  Institution, 
and  thus  prepared  them  to  endure  with  more  Christian  fortitude, 
patience  and  faith  the  severe  trial  which  was  soon  to  come  upon 
them,  like  an  eclipse,  nay,  it  seemed  like  a  setting,  of  the  sun  at 
noonday. 

We  have  seen  that  President  Moore  was  suffering  from  ill- 
health  more  or  less  of  the  time  during  the  revival  in  the  spring 
term.  The  amount  of  labor  which  he  had  been  performing  for 
nearly  two  years,  together  with  the  responsibility  and  anxiety 
that  pressed  upon  him,  was  enough  to  break  down  the  most  vig- 
orous constitution.  In  addition  to  his  appropriate  duties  as 
President  and  as  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  he  heard  all 
the  recitations  of  the  Senior,  and  in  part  those  of  the  Sophomore 
class,  performed  several  journeys  to  Boston  to  promote  the  in- 
terests of  the  Institution,  and  solicited  in  a  number  of  places 
pecuniary  aid  in  its  behalf.  The  revival,  while  it  gladdened  his 
heart  beyond  measure,  greatly  added  to  his  labors  and  responsi- 
bilities. His  constitution,  naturally  strong,  was  overtaxed  by 
such  accumulated  labors  and  anxieties,  and  had  begun  to  give 

1  Author  of  "India,  Ancient  and  Modern."  He  was  the  first  missionary  among 
the  graduates  of  Amherst  College,  and  it  is  a  suggestive  fact,  that  he  was  a  convert 
in  the  first  revival. 


88  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

way  perceptibly,  before  the  attack  of  disease  which  terminated 
his  life. 

On  Wednesday,  the  25th  of  June,  he  was  seized  with  a  bilious 
colic.  From  the  first,  the  attack  was  violent,  and  excited  fears 
of  a  fatal  termination.  "During  his  short  sickness,"  we  quote 
the  language  of  a  loving  and  beloved  pupil,  one  of  the  converts 
in  the  recent  revival,1  "the  College  was  literally  a  place  of 
tears.  Prayer  was  offered  unto  God  unceasingly  for  him.  We 
have  never  seen  more  heartfelt  sorrow,  than  was  depicted  in  the 
countenances  of  nearly  a  hundred  young  men,  all  of  whom  loved 
him  as  their  own  father.  But  while  they  were  filled  with  anx- 
iety and  grief,  Dr.  Moore  was  looking  with  calmness  and  joy 
upon  the  prospects  which  were  opening  before  him.  While 
flesh  and  heart  were  failing  him,  Christ  was  the  strength  of  his 
heart  arid  the  anchor  of  his  soul.  And  when  his  voice  failed 
and  his  eyes  were  closing  in  death,  he  could  still  whisper,  'GoD 
is  my  hope,  my  shield,  and  my  exceeding  great  reward.'  " 

He  died  on  Monday,  the  29th  of  June,  1823,  in  the  fifty- 
third  year  of  his  age.  The  funeral  solemnities  were  attended  on 
the  Wednesday  following,  in  the  presence  of  a  great  concourse 
of  people  from  Amherst  and  the  surrounding  region.  An  appro- 
priate sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  Dr.  Snell,  of  North  Brook- 
field.  As  they  returned  from  committing  his  remains  to  the 
ground,  in  the  cemetery  where  they  now  rest  beneath  a  monu- 
ment erected  by  the  Trustees,  the  guardians  and  teachers,  the 
students  and  friends  of  the  Institution  all  felt  for  the  moment 
that  its  hopes  were  buried  in  the  grave  of  its  first  President ; 
for  who  could  take  his  place  arid  carry  on  the  work  which  he 
had  so  well  begun,  but  which  had  proved  too  heavy  a  burden 
even  for  him  to  bear.  So  profound  was  the  sympathy  of  the 
Senior  class  with  their  beloved  President,  that  they  were  reluc- 
tant to  take  any  part  in  Commencement  Exercises  at  which  he 
could  not  preside.  And  so  dark,  in  their  view,  was  the  cloud 
which  rested  on  the  infant  seminary,  that,  reduced  almost  to 
despair,  they  were  on  the  point  of  closing  their  connection  with 
it  and  graduating  at  some  other  Institution.  Accordingly  at  the 
close  of  the  funeral  services,  the  class  appeared  before  the  Board 

1  Prof.  Bela  B.  Edwards  in  the  Quarterly  Register,  Vol.  V.,  p.  183. 


THE   SECOND    COMMENCEMENT.  89 

of  Trustees,  and  asked  to  be  released  from  all  participation  in 
any  Commencement  Exercises,  and  from  all  further  connection 
with  the  College.1  But  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  the  Board, 
they  consented  to  stand  in  their  lot.  Theophilus  Packard  deliv- 
ered the  Salutatory  Oration,  David  O.  Allen  the  Philosophical, 
Hiram  Smith  a  Greek  Oration,  and  Elijah  Paine  the  Valedictory.2 
The  Junior  class  supplemented  their  performances  with  a  Dis- 
putation, a  Poem,  three  Dialogues,  and  twelve  Orations,  as  they 
when  Juniors,  had  supplemented  the  Commencement  Exercises 
of  their  predecessors  the  previous  year.  The  exercises  occupied 
the  whole  day,  with  a  morning  and  an  evening  session.  They 
received  the  usual  Latin  "Testimonial"  from  the  Vice-President 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  Rev.  Joshua  Crosby,  who  presided,  no 
President  having  yet  been  appointed,  and  whom  they  honored 
for  his  services  as  Chaplain  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  though 
they  complained  that  "  he  had  never  studied  Latin."  They 
have  never  since  regretted  their  perseverance  in  spite  of  all  un- 
toward circumstances,  even  to  the  end,  in  consequence  of  which 
they  have  not  only  been  reckoned  as  Alumni  of  Amherst  Col- 
lege, but  counted  among  its  heroes  who  stood  by  it  in  the  day 
of  adversity,  and  constituted  its  second  class.  David  O.  Allen 
of  this  class,  claimed  to  be  the  oldest  graduate  of  Amherst,  hav- 
ing received  the  degree  of  A.  B.  the  first  of  any  one,  on  this 
wise.  While  teaching  school  in  Leominster,  in  the  winter  vaca- 
tion of  his  Senior  year,  he  applied  for  the  situation  of  Principal 
of  Groton  Academy,  then  a  flourishing  Institution  and  got  the 
appointment.  But  after  obtaining  it,  he  found  that  a  by-law  of 
the  Academy  required  the  Principal  to  be  a  graduate  of  a  College. 
Amherst,  having  no  charter,  could,  at  this  time,  confer  no  degrees. 
What  was  to  be  done !  He  went  to  President  Moore  with  his 
trouble.  After  much  consultation,  President  Moore  gave  him 
testimonials  to  the  President  of  Union  College.  Mr.  Allen 
went  there  privately,  joined  the  Senior  class,  passed  the  Senior 
examination,  and  returned  with  a  diploma  in  his  pocket,  while 

1  Manuscript  letter  of  Rev.  Theophilus  Packard. 

2  David  Howard  whose  name  appears  on  the  Triennial,  spent  his  Senior  year 
chiefly  at  Yale  College,  and  was  not  present  to  be  graduated  with  his  class.     He 
received  his  degree  of  A.  B.  in  1854. 


.90  HISTORY  OP  AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

as  yet,  his  classmates  were  scarcely  aware  of  his  absence.  After 
completing  his  course  at  Amherst,  he  taught  the  Academy  at 
Groton,  paid  up  his  debts,  earned  money  in  advance  for  his 
theological  education  at  Andover,  and  afterwards  became  one 
of  the  most  honored  of  our  American  missionaries,  and  the 
author  of  the  well-known  work  on  "  Ancient  and  Modern 
India." 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  OF   PRESIDENT  MOORE  AND  HIS 
COLLEAGUES   IN  THE  FACULTY. 

ZEPHANIAH  SWIFT  MOORE  was  born  November  20,  1770,  at 
Palmer,  then  a  comparatively  small  and  obscure  town  in  old 
Hampshire  County.  His  parents,  Judah  and  Mary  Moore,  were 
in  the  middle  walks  of  life,  and  much  esteemed  for  their  integ- 
rity and  piety.  When  he  was  seven  or  eight  years  of  age,  he 
removed  with  his  father  to  Wilmington,  Vt.,  where  he  worked 
on  a  farm  till  he  was  about  eighteen.  His  early  advantages, 
even  for  a  common  school  education,  were  quite  limited.  But 
he  early  manifested  an  inquisitive  mind  and  a  great  thirst  for 
knowledge ;  and  his  parents,  humble  as  their  circumstances 
were,  were  induced  to  help  him  in  obtaining  a  College  educa- 
tion. Having  pursued  his  preparatory  studies  at  Bennington, 
Vt.,  he  entered  Dartmouth  College  in  his  nineteenth  year,  and 
graduated  in  1793,  delivering  for  his  part  at  the  Commencement 
a  philosophical  oration  on  "  The  Causes  and  General  Phenomena 
of  Earthquakes,"  which  was  received  with  great  approbation, 
and  thus  showing  in  his  choice  of  a  subject  that  taste  for  the 
natural  sciences  which,  as  we  have  seen,  he  cherished  in  the 
early  students  of  Amherst  College. 

The  late  Col.  Thompson  of  Amherst,  who  then  resided  in 
Wilmington,  Vt,  claimed  some  credit  for  Dr.  Moore's  being  "lib- 
erally educated,"  and  used  to  tell  how  "  Leftenant  Moore"  con- 
sulted him  what  he  should  do  with  his  son.  The  son  was  very 
earnest  to  go  to  College,  but  the  father  thought  it  scarcely  pos- 
sible to  send  him.  "  Let  him  go  if  he  wants  to,"  said  Col. 
Thompson,  "you'll  get  along  with  it  and  find  no  trouble." 
Four  years  later,  meeting  the  father  as  he  was  going  to  Hanover 


92  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

to  see  his  son  graduate,  the  Colonel  said  to  him :  "  Well,  how 
do  you  come  out?- as  well  as  I  said  you  would?"  "Oh,"  he 
replied,  "  when  I've  sold  my  old  oxen,  I  guess  I  shall  be  able  to 
pay  all  the  bills."  The  self-denial  and  sacrifices  with  which  his 
own  education  was  secured  were  preparing  the  young  man  to 
sympathize  with  other  young  men  in  similar  struggles,  and  thus 
qualifying  him  to  become  the  President  of  an  Institution  where 
so  many  of  that  class  were  to  be  educated. 

On  leaving  College,  he  took  charge  of  an  Academy  at  Lon- 
donderry, N.  H.,  and  discharged  the  duties  of  the  office  for  one 
year  with  universal  acceptance.  He  then  repaired  to  Somers, 
Conn.,  and  commenced  the  study  of  theology  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Backus,  and  having  gone  through  the  usual 
course  of  preparation  for  the  ministry,  was  licensed  to  preach 
by  a  committee  of  the  Association  of  Tolland  County,  February 
3, 1796.  After  preaching  to  rare  acceptance  in  various  places, 
and  having  received  several  invitations  to  a  permanent  settle- 
ment, he  accepted  a  call  from  the  church  and  congregation  in 
Leicester,  Mass.  Here  his  labors  were  highly  acceptable  and 
useful.  Very  considerable  additions  were  made  to  the  church, 
about  thirty  at  one  time  near  the  close  of  his  ministry,  and  the 
spirit  and  power  of  religion  became  increasingly  visible.  His 
influence  upon  the  schools,  and  upon  the  people  generally,  was 
salutary.  He  was  an  active  Trustee,  and  for  some  time  Princi- 
pal of  Leicester  Academy.  At  the  same  time  he  was  greatly 
esteemed  as  a  man  and  a  preacher  by  all  the  -neighboring 
churches. 

Having  been  pastor  of  the  church  in  Leicester  eleven  years, 
in  October,  1811,  he  accepted  the  appointment  of  Professor  of 
Languages  in  Dartmouth  College,  where  he  remained  four  years, 
sustaining  the  administration  of  the  government  at  a  period  of 
difficulty  'and  embarrassment  in  the  history  of  the  College,  en- 
joying the  reputation  of  a  philologist  and  philosopher,  perhaps, 
rather  than  an  exact  and  elegant  scholar  in  his  department,  and 
making  his  influence  felt  in  favor  of  order,  good  morals,  and 
religion  in  the  Institution  and  in  the  community.  The  Trustees 
showed  the  estimation  in  which  he  was  held,  by  conferring  on 
him,  soon  after  he  left,  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity. 


PRESIDENT   MOOKE.  93 

In  1815  he  was  elected  to  the  Presidency  of  Williams  Col- 
lege, then  vacant  by  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Fitch.  He  accepted 
the  appointment  and  was  inducted  into  office  at  the  Commence- 
ment in  September  of  that  year.  He  had  now  found  a  congenial 
element  and  his  appropriate  sphere.  His  bland  manners  set  the 
trembling  candidate  for  admission  to  the  Freshman  class  in- 
stantly at  ease  in  his  presence.1  His  kind  and  sympathizing 
heart  made  every  student  feel  that  he  had  in  the  President  a 
personal  friend.  At  the  same  time,  his  firmness  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  government  convinced  even  the  Sophomores  that 
they  had  found  their  master  and  must  obey  the  laws.2  The 
effect  was  soon  seen  in  the  good  order,  the  gentlemanly  deport- 
ment and  the  studious  habits  of  the  young  men,  a  gradual 
though  not  rapid  increase  of  numbers,  and  the  growing  pros- 
perity of  the  College.  u  His  connection  with  the  College  was 
attended  by  some  circumstances  of  peculiar  embarrassment  in 
consequence  of  an  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Trustees  to  remove 
the  College  to  Northampton  or  some  other  town  in  Hampshire 
County.  The  measure  failed  in  consequence  of  the  refusal  of 
the  Legislature  to  notice  it.  Dr.  Moore,  however,  decidedly 
favored  it  from  the  beginning,  but  in  a  manner  that  reflected 
not  in  the  least  upon  his  Christian  integrity  and  honor."3 

His  too  brief  connection  with  the  Collegiate  Institution  at 
Amherst  and  his  too  early  death  are  already  familiar  to  our 
readers.  Of  his  importance  to  this  Institution  and  the  invalu- 
able services  which  he  rendered  to  it  in  its  early  struggles  for 
existence,  none  was  more  competent  to  testify,  and  no  one  has 
done  it  with  more  truth  and  eloquence  than  Ins  successor  in  the 
Presidency.  "  If  we  estimate  the  length  of  life  by  what  a  man 
actually  accomplishes  for  the  best  good  of  his  kind,"  says  Dr. 
Humphrey  in  his  Inaugural  Address,  "  we  shall  see  that  Dr. 
Moore,  though  taken  away  in  the  high  meridian  of  his  useful- 
ness, was  'old  and  full  of  days.'  To  say  nothing  here  of  the 

1  See  the  letter  of  Dr.  Emerson  Davis,  in  Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American 
Pulpit,  Vol.  IL  p.  393. 

2  See  in  Sprague's  Annals  Dr.  Emmons'  graphic  account  of  the  interviews  be- 
tween the  President  and  his  first  Sophomore  class,  who  attempted  to  break  down 
the  new  regulations,  Vol.  II.,  p.  394. 

8  Sprague's  Annals,  Vol.  IL,  p.  393. 


94  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

ability  with  which  he  filled  other  important  stations,  and  of  the 
good  which  he  did  in  them  all,  the  services  rendered  by  him  to 
this  Institution,  within  less  than  the  short  space  of  two  years, 
were  sufficient  to  entitle  him  to  the  gratitude  of  thousands  now 
living,  and  of  far  greater  numbers  who  are  yet  to  be  born. 
Broad  and  deep  are  the  foundations  which  he  assisted  in  laying 
upon  this  consecrated  hill.  Strong  was  his  own  arm,  freely  was 
it  offered  for  the  great  work,  and  powerful  was  the  impulse 
which  his  presence  and  ever-cheering  voice  gave  to  the  waken- 
ing energies  of  benevolence  around  him.  But  highly  as  his 
various  plans  and  counsels  and  labors  are  now  appreciated,  fu- 
ture generations  in  walking  over  this  ground,  with  the  early 
history  of  the  College  before  them,  will,  there  is  little  reason  to 
doubt,  place  him  still  higher  among  its  distinguished  benefactors. 
It  will  then  appear,  what  and  how  much  he  did  to  give  shape 
and  character  to  an  Institution  which,  we  believe,  is  destined  to 
live  and  bless  the  church  in  all  coming  ages." 

"  By  nature  a  great  man,  by  grace  a  good  man,  and  in  the 
providence  of  God  a  useful  man,  a  correct  thinker  and  a  lucid 
writer,  a  sound  theologian,  instructive  preacher  and  greatly 
beloved  pastor,  a  wise  counselor  and  sympathizing  friend,  a 
friend  and  father  especially  to  all  the  young  men  of  the  infant 
College  in  which  he  was  at  the  same  time  a  winning  teacher 
and  a  firm  presiding  officer,  Dr.  Moore  filled  every  station  he 
occupied  with  propriety  and  raised  the  reputation  of  every  lit- 
erary institution  with  which  he  became  connected."  Such,  in 
brief,  is  the  character  sketched  of  him  by  one  who  knew  him 
intimately  both  in  the  pastorate  and  in  the  presidency,  and  who 
was  incapable  of  exaggeration.1 

Dr.  Moore  was  a  man  of  medium  stature,  but  commanding 
presence,  weighing  some  two  hundred  and  forty  pounds,  yet 
without  any  appearance  of  obesity,  neat  in  his  dress,  retaining 
the  use  of  short  breeches  and  long  hose  which  were  particu- 
larly becoming  to  his  person ;  and  in  his  manners  there  was  a 
union  of  suavity  with  dignity,  rare  anywhere,  especially  in  per- 
sons bred  in  the  country,  which  marked  him  as  a  gentleman 
of  the  old  school,  one  of  nature's  noblemen,  and  which,  while 

1  Dr.  Thomas  Snell  of  North  Brookfield  in  his  funeral  sermon. 


HIS   SUAVITY.  95 

it  attracted  the  love  of  his  pupils,  invariably  commanded  also 
their  respect. 

His  corpulence  gave  additional  pertinence  and  force  to  a  story 
which  the  early  students  were  fond  of  telling,  illustrative  of 
the  quiet  dignity  and  felicity  with  which  he  administered  re- 
proof. T.,  a  wild,  frolicsome  and  noisy  student  one  day  came 
jumping  and  hallooing  through  the  halls  and  down  the  stair- 
ways just  as  Dr.  Moore  was  entering  the  outer  door,  and  was 
very  near  running  over  the  Doctor.  "  T.,"  said  the  President 
with  perfect  self-possession  and  serenity,  "  you  should  remem- 
ber that  two  bodies  can  not  occupy  the  same  space  at  one  and 
the  same  time." 

He  reposed  great  confidence  in  the  honesty  and  good  inten- 
tions of  the  students  and  was  especially  slow  to  impeach  their 
veracity.  The  same  student  of  whom  the  above  anecdote  is 
related,  tried  the  President's  patience  in  a  great  many  ways, 
among  others  by  going  out  of  town  without  leave.  Once,  when 
the  President  charged  him  with  this  offence,  he  denied  it.  There 
was  scarcely  room  for  a  doubt  that  he  was  guilty  of  falsehood. 
But  taking  him  at  his  word,  the  President  said :  "  I  am  glad  to 
find  that  you  did  not  go  ;  I  could  not  believe  that  you  would  do 
such  a  thing."  The  student  went  away  ashamed  of  his  false- 
hood, and  declared  to  his  fellows  that  he  would  never  lie  again 
to  Dr.  Moore. 

A  vein  of  pleasantry  ran  through  Dr.  Moore's  dignity,  and 
his  habitual  serenity  was  often  suffused  with  smiles.  When  he 
arrived  at  Amherst  with  his  shaved  and  shorn  horse,  and  some 
of  the  good  people  expressed  their  indignation  at  the  outrage, 
he  said:  "  I  have  nothing  to^say  about  the  treatment  I  have  re- 
ceived at  Williamstown,  but  my  horse  can  tell  his  own  tale.'''' 

Habitually  courteous  himself,  he  expected  and  received  cour- 
tesy from  every  student.  "  No  student  could  pass  him  without 
lifting  his  hat  with  a  smile.  The  Doctor  would  always  set  the 
example,  and  if  the  first  lifting  of  his  own  hat  did  not  lead  the 
student  to  raise  his  hat,  the  President  would  raise  his  the  second 
time.  I  never  saw  the  man  who  so  commanded  my  love  and, 
veneration.  If  I  wanted  a  school  for  the  vacation,  I  had  only 
to  notify  him  of  my  need,  and  the  application  was  answered. 


96  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

He  was  sure  always  to  know  how  we  succeeded  in  teaching  and 
what  reputation  we  earned."  l 

Letters  from  those  who  graduated  under  him  abound  in  illus- 
trations of  his  personal  kindness  to  them,  sympathizing  with 
them,  counseling  them,  loaning  them  money  and  otherwise  re- 
lieving their  wants ;  and  he  always  did  these  acts  of  kindness 
in  so  kind  and  winning  a  way  as  to  double  their  value.  The 
writers  all  seem  to  feel  that  no  other  President  ever  was  so 
courteous  and  kind — none  so  highly  honored  and  beloved.  And 
"  when  it  was  told  in  College  that  Dr.  Moore  could  not  live  " 
—  we  borrow  the  language  of  one  of  these  letters — "a  deep 
electrical  throb  of  anguish  ran  through  all  the  classes.  How  can 
he  be  spared  was  the  agonizing  cry  of  every  one  we  met. 
Who  can  fill  his  place  ?  Who  can  do  as  he  has  done  ?  Who 
can  have  the  confidence  of  the  community  and  the  love  of  the 
students  as  he  had  ?  " 

Dr.  Moore  was  'too  constantly  occupied  with  the  immediate 
duties  of  active  life  to  write  very  much  for  the  public.  A  few 
discourses  delivered  on  special  occasions,  and  published  by  re- 
quest, remain  to  attest  his  style  of  thinking  and  writing.  Among 
these  are  an  oration  at  Worcester  on  the  5th  of  July,  1802 ;  a 
sermon  at  the  ordination  of  Rev.  Simeon  Colton  in  1811 ;  the 
Massachusetts  Election  Sermon  in  1818;  an  address  to  the  pub- 
lic in  regard  to  Ainherst  College  in  1823 ;  and  a  sermon  deliv- 
ered at  several  ordinations,  and  printed  after  the  ordination  of 
Rev.  Dorus  Clark,  in  1823.  These  discourses  show  a  logical  and 
reflective  cast  of  mind,  methodical  arrangement,  clearness  of  style 
and  illustration  free  from  any  attempt  at  artificial  embellishment. 
The  sermons  indicate  a  marked  fondness  for  exegetical  inquiries 
and  philosophical  investigations  combined  with  profound  rever- 
ence for  the  Scriptures  and  a  hearty  reception  of  the  character- 
istic doctrines  of  evangelical  religion.  In  a  long  note  attached  to 
his  latest  ordination  sermon,  he  discusses  Dr.  Thomas  Brown's 
doctrine  of  Cause  and  Effect,  with  an  independence,  clearness 
and  justness  which  prove  him  to  have  been  no  mean  metaphysi- 
cian. "  In  preaching  he  had  very  little  action ;  and  yet  there 
was  an  impressiveness  in  his  manner  that  fixed  the  attention  of 

1  Manuscript  letter  of  Rev.  Nahum  Gould,  Class  of  '26. 


MOOEE   SCHOLARSHIPS.  97 

his  hearers.  In  the  more  animated  parts  of  his  discourse,  his 
utterance  became  more  rapid,  and  the  sound  of  his  voice  shrill 
and  tremulous,  showing  that  he  felt  deeply  the  force  of  the 
sentiments  he  uttered." 

Shortly  after  his  settlement  at  Leicester,  he  was  married  to  a 
daughter  of  Thomas  Drury  of  Auburn,  (then  Ward,)  Mass. 
A  detention  by  the  accidental  lameness  of  his  horse,  while  on  a 
visit  to  his  sister  at  Sutton,  led  to  his  acquaintance  with  his  wife 
and  his  settlement  in  Leicester.  His  friendship  with  Mr.  Adams, 
Principal  of  Leicester  Academy,  and  afterwards  Professor  in 
Dartmouth  College,  prepared  the  way  for  his  professorship  in 
Dartmouth.  His  success  in  that  office  elevated  him  to  the  presi- 
dency of  Williams  College.  And  from  the  presidency  at  Wil- 
liamstown  he  passed  naturally,  almost  in  spite  of  himself,  to  be 
the  first  President  and  so  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Institution 
at  Amherst.  "  All  this,  as  he  used  playfully  to  contend,  was  to 
be  traced  to  what  he  regarded  at  the  time  as  anything  but  a 
fortunate  accident." ! 

Dr.  Moore  left  no  children.  He  bequeathed  his  property,  val- 
ued at  some  six  thousand  dollars,  to  his  wife  for  her  use  while 
she  lived,  and  after  her  death  three-fifths  of  it  to  the  Institution 
for  the  foundation  of  scholarships,  three  of  which,  bearing  his 
name  and  worth  about  one  hundred  and  forty  dollars  a  year  each, 
now  help  to  support  three  students  nominated  by  the  Brookfield 
Association  of  Congregational  Ministers.  According  to  the  pro- 
visions of  his  will,  two-sixths  of  the  annual  interest  of  his  legacy 
are  to  be  added  to  the  principal,  so  as  to  make  it,  like  the  Charity 
Fund,  an  increasing  fund  forever.  As  the  fund  accumulates,  the 
number  of  beneficiaries  is  to  be /increased  from  time  to  time. 2 

Mrs.  Moore  long  survived  him,  living  to  advanced  years,  and 

1  Gov.  Washburn  in  Sprague's  Annals,  Vol.  V.,  p.  897. 

2  If  the  Institution  should  not  be  incorporated,  the  principal  of  Dr.  Moore's  leg- 
acy was  to  be  held  by  the  Brookfield  Association,  and  the  interest  to  be  applied  as 
above.    If  the  Institution  should  ever  become  extinct,  or  should  not  give  a  thorough 
course  of  classical  education  like  the  other  colleges  of  New  England,  the  fund  was  to 
be  given  to  the  Brookfield  Association  for  a  library  for  the  use  of  that  Association 
forever.     These  provisions  phow  two  things :  the  value  which  Pr    Moore  set  upon 
classical  education,  and  his  uncertainty  whether  the  Institution  would  be  incorpo- 
rated or  even  perpetuated. 

7 


98  HISTORY   OF   AMHKRST   COLLEGE. 

through  all  those  years  nursing  his  estate  with  the  most  scrupu- 
lous assiduity  for  the  benefit  of  the  College,  which  she  loved  for 
its  own  sake  as  well  as  for  the  memory  of  her  husband.  She 
died  November  5,  1857,  aged  eighty-six  years.  Her  remains 
lie  beside  those  of  her  husband  beneath  an  appropriate  marble 
monument  erected  to  his  memory  by  the  Trustees.  The  Latin 
inscription  on  this  monument  is  a  just  and  discriminating  tribute 
to  the  character  of  .the  first  President  of  Amherst  College. 

HIC  JACET  CORPUS  SKPULTUM 

REVERENDI  ZEPHANLE  SWIFT  MOORE,  S.  T.  D., 

COLLEGII  AMHERSTIAE  PR^ESIDIS. 

Ille  homo 

Ingenioque  scientia  atque  pietate  sincera  praeclarus  ac  merito ; 

Gravitate  quoque  insigni  quura  se  demittens; 

Ammo  et  consilio  certus  sed  tamen  mitissiinus 

Semperque  facilitate  permagna ; 

Modestus,  placabilis, 

Misericordia  et  fructibus  bonis  plenus, 

Non  dijudicans,  non  siniulatus ; 

Discipulis  suis 

Veneratus  quasi  illis  pater  dilectusque  ; 
Maximo  omnium  desiderio 

MORTEM  OBIIT 

DIE   XXX.  JUN.  ANNO   DOMINI 

MDCCCXX  III. 

Aetatis  Suae 

LIII. 

As  the  two  Professors,  Olds  and  Estabrook,  came  into  the 
Faculty  with  Dr.  Moore,  and  left  it  as  soon  as  the  College  was 
fully  organized  under  the  charter  in  the  administration  of  his  suc- 
cessor, this  is  the  place  for  some  brief  biographical  notice  of  them. 

Gamaliel  Smith  Olds  was  born  February  11,  1777,  in  that 
part  of  Granville,  Mass.,  which  is  now  Tolland.  He  was  grad- 
uated at  Williams  College  in  1801,  Tutor  there  for  several  years, 
and  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy  from  1806 
to  1808.  Having  studied  theology,  partly  with  Dr.  West  at 
Stockbridge,  and  partly  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover, 
he  was  ordained  colleague  pastor  with  Dr.  Newton  at  Green- 
field, where  he  remained  three  years.  From  1819  to  1821,  he 


PROFESSOR   OLDS.  99 

was  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy  in 'the 
University  of  Vermont.  From  1821  to  1825  he  was  Professor 
of  the  same  branches  in  Amherst  College,  and  during  several 
years  subsequently  he  held  the  same  office  in  the  University  of 
Georgia.  Returning  to  the  North,  he  resided  for  some  time  at 
Saratoga  Springs,  at  Onondaga,  and  other  places  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1841,  removed  to  Circleville, 
Ohio,  where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days.  His  death 
was  the  result  of  a  distressing  casualty.  He  had  just  started 
on  his  return  from  Bloomfield,  a  town  about  twelve  miles  from 
Circleville,  whither  he  went  to  supply  two  vacant  churches, 
when  his  horse  took  fright  and  threw  him  down  a  precipitous 
bank ;  and  he  was  so  injured  by  the  fall,  that,  after  lingering 
eleven  days  in  great  pain,  he  died  June  13,  1848,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-one. 

He  was  a  man  of  strong  mind,  a  good  classical  scholar,  and 
master  of  the  whole  field  of  Mathematics,  rapid  in  his  reason- 
ings, concise  in  his  expressions,  and  expecting  his  pupil  to  see 
clearly  what  he  comprehended  at  a  glance,  he  had  the  habit  of 
saying,  perhaps  when  the  pupil  had  scarcely  caught  a  glimpse  of 
the  idea,  "see  it?"  "see  it?"  It  is  not  strange,  it  was  almost 
a  matter  of  course,  that  these  words  should  be  caught  up  by 
the  students  as  a  kind  of  by-word  and  applied  as  a  character- 
istic name  to  their  popular  Professor.  He  was  an  able  teacher 
and  an  impressive  preacher.  But  during  his  connection  with 
Amherst  College,  his  health  was  often  such  that  he  was  laid 
aside  from  his  duties.  He  was  also  sensitive  to  the  extreme, 
and  in  the  opinion  of  some  naturally  ambitious.  These  traits 
of  character  brought  his  connection  with  one  College  after 
another  to  a  sudden  close,  and  embittered  the  latter  years  of 
his  life.  He  was  once  appointed  to  a  Professorship  in  Mid- 
dlebury  College,  but  in  consequence  of  some  disagreement 
between  himself  and  some  of  the  officers  of  the  College,  he 
never  entered  upon  the  duties  of  the  office.  He  wrote,  and  by 
advice  of  the  Franklin  Association,  published  a  "  Statement  of 
Facts  "  in  the  case.  This  was  in  1818.  During  the  absence  of 
President  Moore  in  Boston  and  also  in  his  last  sickness,  Prof. 
Olds  had  instructed  the  Senior  class  and  performed  some  other 


100  HISTORY  OF  AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

duties  usually  discharged  by  the  President,  and  on  the  death  of 
the  latter,  being  the  oldest  Professor  and  in  the  actual  perform- 
ance of  his  duties,  very  naturally  took  his  place,  and  perhaps  as- 
pired and  expected  to  succeed  to  his  office.  This  awakened  jeal- 
ousy and  excited  opposition  which  led  to  a  decision  of  the  Trust- 
ees that  the  Vice-President  of  the  Corporation,  Rev.  Mr.  Crosb}^, 
should  be  the  acting  President  of  the  College,  till  the  vacancy 
should  be  filled  by  the  election  of  a  successor.  This  in  turn 
made  sport  among  the  students,  particularly  as  the  Vice-Presi- 
dent "  had  never  received  a  public  education,  nor  spent  an  hour 
as  a  student  in  any  College.  Thus  things  jumbled  along  till 
Commencement,  the  Vice-President  attending  chapel  exercises 
and  sitting  in  Dr.  Moore's  study,  and  part  of  the  time  having 
one  of  the  members  of  the  Faculty  present  to  tell  him  what  to 
do  when  a  student  called  on  him  with  a  question  or  request. 
He  also  presided  at  Commencement  and  made  many  blunders, 
miscalling  the  names  of  the  performers,  etc.  He  miscalled  my 
name,  and  I  waited  to  have  it  corrected  before  I  took  the  plat- 
form. Prof.  Olds  bore  all  this  with  a  Christian  spirit,  doing  what 
he  could  to  make  the  occasion  go  off  respectably  for  the  sake  of 
the  students  and  the  Institution.  This  done  he  demanded  an 
investigation  before  the  Board  of  Trustees.  This  was  granted, 
and  the  meeting  was  held  in  the  hall  of  Boltwood's  Hotel.  .  The 
result  was  a  triumphant  vindication  of  the  Professor  from  the 
accusations  brought  against  him." l 

But  things  did  not  go  smoothly  under  the  administration  of 
Dr.  Humphrey,  and  at  the  reorganization  of  the  Faculty  under 
the  charter,  Professors  Fiske  and  Peck  took  the  place  of  Prof. 
Olds  in  the  Faculty. 

Besides  his  Inaugural  Oration  at  Williams  College,  1806, 
Prof.  Olds  published  the  substance  of  eight  sermons  on  Episco- 
pacy and  Presbyterian  Parity,  1815.  "  His  last  years  were  years 
of  active  and  earnest  service  in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  and 
when  he  died,  the  public  papers  in  the  region  in  which  he  had 
resided,  bore  honorable  testimony  to  his  character,  his  usefulness 
and  fidelity."2 

JRev.  Edwards  A.  Beach,  Class  of  '24. 

3  Prof.  Chester  Dewey,  in  Sprague's  Annals,  Vol.  II.,  p.  688. 


PROFESSOR    ESTABROOK.  101 

Joseph  Estabrook  was  born  in  Lebanon,  N.  H.,  December  8, 
1792.  He  was  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College,  in  1815,  and 
took  his  second  degree  both  at  Dartmouth  and  Williams  in  1818. 
He  first  intended  to  be  a  minister,  and  commenced  the  study  of 
Theology  at  Princeton.  But  owing  to  a  bronchial  affection,  he 
soon  left  the  Seminary,  and  turned  his  attention  to  teaching. 
From  1817  to  1820,  he  was  Principal  of  Amherst  Acadera}-, 
and  from  1821  to  1824  Professor  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  Lan- 
guages and  Librarian  in  Amherst  College.  He  is  said  to  have 
been  one  of  the  most  popular  and  successful  of  all  the  Princi- 
pals of  Amherst  Academy.  In  the  College  he  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  so  acceptable.  Judging  from  the  letters  of  alumni 
who  were  under  his  instructions,  we  should  infer,  that  he  made 
no  very  deep  or  strong  impression  on  his  pupils  either  as  a  man, 
a  scholar  or  a  teacher,  for. they  make  little  or  no  allusion  to 
him.  He  is  remembered  in  town  for  his  elegant  ruffle  shirt,  his 
fine  suwarrow  boots,  and  the  great  quantities  of  snuff  which, 
tradition  says,  he  carried  in  his  coat  pocket.  He  was  a  good 
shot  as  was  demonstrated  by  the  fact  preserved  by  the  memory 
of  some  of  the  older  inhabitants  that  on  his  way  to  "meeting" 
one  Fast  day,  seeing  a  flock  of  pigeons  flying  high  overhead,  he 
snatched  a  gun  from  the  hand  of  a  fowler,  and  brought  down  a 
bird  from  his  flight.  A  far  more  marvelous  yet  well  authenti- 
cated story  is  told  of  him,  which  not  only  illustrates  his  own 
life  and  times,  but  bears  on  the  great  principles  of  Psychology 
and  Theology.  There  was  a  lottery  to  aid  in  the  building  of 
the  Northampton  bridge.  The  young  men  of  Amherst  were 
eagerly  rushing  in  for  a  chance  at  the  prizes.  But  Mr.  Estabrook 
had  little  money  to  spare  and'  none  to  waste  on  uncertainties. 
As  his  mind  dwelt  on  the  subject  by  day,  however,  he  dreamed 
one  night  that  he  had  bought  a  ticket  of  a  certain  number  and 
drawn  a  prize  of  five  thousand  dollars.  He  went  over  to  North- 
ampton, found  that  ticket  unsold,  bought  it,  and  actually  drew  a 
prize  of  five  thousand  dollars,  one  thousand  of  which  he  gave 
to  Amherst  College. 

Compelled  to  seek  a  southern  climate  on  account  of  his  throat, 
he  left  Amherst  in  1824,  and  became  the  successful  proprietor 
and  the  popular  principal  of  a  school  for  young  ladies,  first  in 


102  HISTORY  OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

Staunton,  Va.,  and  then  in  Knoxville,  -Tenn.  His  success  in 
the  latter,  led  to  his  appointment  to  the  presidency  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  East  Tennessee,  which  he  organized  anew  and  con- 
ducted for  several  years  with  several  Professors,  educated  at 
Amherst,  and  which  under  his  administration  enjoyed  a  degree 
of  prosperity,  such  as  it  never  before  nor  since  experienced. 
He  resigned  this  position  at  the  close  of  the  summer  term  in 
1847,  having  been  thirteen  years  at  the  head  of  the  University, 
and  for  about  thirty  years  engaged  in  teaching. 

On  his  retirement  from  the  University,  he  removed  to  Ander- 
son County,  Tenn.,  about  twenty-five  miles  from  Knoxville,  and 
engaged  in  the  difficult  and  hazardous  enterprise  of  boring  for 
salt  water  and  manufacturing  salt.  After  a  large  outlay  of 
capital,  the  conquest  of  many  obstacles  and  the  devotion  of 
some  seven  years'  time,  when  his  plans  were  apparently  just  on 
the  eve  of  a  successful  realization,  he  was  prostrated  by  an 
attack  of  disease  and  in  a  few  days  removed  from  among  the 
living.  He  died  on  Friday,  May  18,  1855,  having  completed 
the  sixty-second  year  of  his  age. 

Prof.  Amos  Eaton,  who  lectured  on  Chemistry  and  some 
branches  of  Natural  History,  and  helped  to  give  a  scientific  bent 
to  some  of  the  early  graduates  and  to  the  College  itself,  was  a 
remarkable  character,  and  led  an  eventful  life.  Born  in  1776, 
an  apprenticed  blacksmith  in  1791;  in  1799  a  graduate  of  Wil- 
liams College,  afterwards  a  student  of  law,  and  admitted  to  the 
bar  under  Alexander  Hamilton ;  imprisoned  a  little  while  for  an 
act  which,  it  is  generally  conceded,  involved  no  moral  obliquity, 
and  soon  released  by  act  of  the  Governor;  a  student  of  the 
Natural  Sciences  at  Yale  College,  and  a  lecturer  on  the  same  in 
Williams  College,  and  in  Albany  by  invitation  of  De  Witt  Clin- 
ton; Geological  Surveyor  of  the  country  adjacent  to  the  Erie 
Canal,  from  1820  to  1826  ;  Professor  of  Botany,  Chemistry  and 
Natural  Philosophy  in  the  medical  school  at  Castleton,  Vt.,  and 
subsequently,  for  many  years,  Principal  of  the  Rensselaer  Insti- 
tute at  Troy,  N.  Y., — thus  emerging  from  obscurity  and  reproach 
and  passing  through  a  singular  variety  of  occupations  and  vicissi- 
tudes of  life,  he  rose  to  a  distinguished  rank  and  reputation, 
scarcely  second  to  any  at  that  early  period,  as  an  educator,  a 


EARLY  TUTORS.  103 

lecturer  and  a  pioneer  in  the  natural  sciences.  His  geological 
survey  was  far  in  advance  of  anything  of  the  kind  which  pre- 
ceded it.  His  manual  of  botany  passed  through  many  editions, 
taking  the  title  of  American  Botany  in  the  eighth,  and  was  for 
years  the  standard  work  in  that  science.  He  also  published  an 
Index  to  the  Geology  of  the  Northern  States,  and  contributed 
numerous  papers  for  Silliman's  Journal.  He  died  at  Troy,  N.  Y., 
May  10,  1842,  at  the  age  of  sixty-five. 

The  Tutors  under  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Moore,  Lucius  Field, 
William  S.  Burt,  Elijah  L.  Coe  and  Zenas  Clapp,  are  mentioned 
with  respect  in  letters  of  the  early  alumni,  particularly  for  their 
Christian  character  and  influence. 

Lucius  Field  was  born  in  Northfield,  August  21,  1796 ;  grad- 
uated at  Williams  in  1821,  and  at  Andover  in  1825 ;  settled 
pastor  at  Tyringham,  Mass.,  in  1833,  and  after  supplying  several 
other  churches  at  different  times,  died  at  Northfield,  June  1, 
1839,  aged  forty-two.  He  came  to  Amherst  with  President 
Moore  directly  after  his  graduation,  and  was  Tutor  only  the  first 
year. 

William  Skinner  Burt  was  a  native  of  South  Wilbraham ;  grad- 
uated at  Union  College  in  1818,  and  spent  the  remainder  of  his 
life  in  teaching  at  Belchertown,  Amherst,  Monson,  Newburg, 
N.  Y.,  and  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  where  he  died  in  1855.  He  was  an 
able  and  popular  teacher,  and  fitted  many  for  College,  among 
whom  were  Dr.  Bridgman  of  the  Class  of  '26,  and  Dr.  Russell  of 
the  Class  of  '29.  He  was  a  teacher  and  a  superintendent  of  the 
Sabbath-school  in  Amherst,  and  some  of  the  good  people  of  the 
village  remember  him  as  the,  instrument  of  the  conversion  of 
every  member  of  his  class. 

Elijah  Lansing  Coe  graduated  at  Union  College  in  1822,  and 
came  immediately  to  Amherst ;  was  Tutor  here  from  1822  till 
1823.  His  active  usefulness  in  the  first  revival  is  gratefully  re- 
corded by  some  of  the  early  alumni. 

Zenas  Clapp  was  born  at  Deerfield,  January  30,  1796;  grad- 
uated at  Dartmouth  in  1821  ;  was  Tutor  in  Amherst,  1823-4 ; 
studied  theology  at  Auburn;  taught  in  several  Academies  in 
Massachusetts  and  New  York,  and  died  in  Florida,  January  29, 
1837,  aged  forty-one. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

LIVES  OF   SOME  OF  THE  FOUNDERS. 

AT  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  first  College  edifice, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Parsons  presided  as  President  of  the  Trustees  of 
Amherst  Academy.  At  the  close  of  the  exercises  he  resigned, 
and  Noah  Webster,  Esq.,  was  chosen  President  in  his  place. 
He  was  already  more  than  seventy-one,  and  had  resigned  his 
pastorate  about  a  year  previous.  He  gave  the  land  on  which 
Amherst  Academy  was  built,  procured  also  a  bell  for  its  use  at 
his  own  expense,  was  President  of  its  Board  of  Trustees  from 
its  foundation  till  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  South  Col- 
lege, and  contributed  to  its  prosperity  by  his  property,  his  time 
and  presence,  and  his  personal  service  in  all  ways  that  lay  within 
his  power.  He  was  a  liberal  subscriber  to  the  Charity  Fund,1  and 
when  extraordinary  exertions  were  necessary  to  complete  the 
sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  within  the  time,  he  and  a  few  other 
citizens  of  Amherst  signed  an  obligation  making  themselves  lia- 
ble to  the  amount  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  In  the  same 
spirit,  even  after  he  had  resigned  both  the  pastorate  and  the 
presidency  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  so  long  as  he  lived  he 
lived  for  the  College,  and  was  ready  to  put  his  shoulders  to  the 
wheel  in  every  emergency.  The  counsels  and  contributions  of 
Dr.  Parsons  worked  in  beautiful  harmony  with  the  prayers  and 
active  agency  of  Col.  Graves ;  and  the  study  of  the  former,  hot 
less  than  the  closet  of  the  latter,  was  one  of  the  deep  and  hid- 
den sources  from  which  the  College  sprung.  The  prime  movers 
of  the  enterprise — Graves,  Dickinson,  Strong,  Smith — came 
often  to  that  study,  especially  when  days  were  dark  and  friends 
seemed  few,  and  they  always  went  away  enlightened,  encouraged, 

1  His  subscription  was  six  hundred  dollars. 


EEV.  DR.  PARSONS.  105 

strengthened  in  the  work  of  building  a  College,  a  whole  College, 
and  nothing  less  than  a  College — A  COLLEGE  FOB  CHRIST. 

David  Parsons  was  born  at  Amherst,  January  28, 1749 ;  gradu- 
ated at  Harvard  College  in  1771 ;  was  licensed  to  preach  about 
the  year  1775,  and  after  having  preached  with  much  acceptance 
in  several  places,  but  in  consequence  of  feeble  health  having 
concluded  to  relinquish  the  ministry  and  engage  in  mercantile 
business,  in  1782  he  was  induced,  by  much  urgency  of  the  peo- 
ple, to  accept  the  pastoral  office  in  his  native  place  as  his  fa- 
ther's successor.1  In  1788  he  preached  the  annual  election  ser- 
mon before  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts.  In  1795  he  was 
elected  Professor  of  Divinity  in  Yale  College,  but  declined  the 
appointment.  In  1800  he  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Di- 
vinity from  Brown  University.  During  the  latter  part  of  his 
ministry  there  were  several  revivals  of  religion  in  his  parish — 
especially  one  in  1816,  which  resulted  in  an  addition  to  his  church 
of  more  than  a  hundred  members,  and  probably  had  no  unim- 
portant bearing  on  the  founding  and  the  character  of  Amherst 
College.  After  a  ministry  of  nearly  thirty-seven  years,  he  was 
dismissed,  at  his  own  request,  on  the  let  of  September,  1819. 
He  died  suddenly  while  on  a  visit  to  his  friends  at  Wethersfield, 
Conn.,  May  18, 1823,  a  little  more  than  a  mouth  previous  to  the 
death  of  President  Moore.  Both  of  these  able  and  excellent 
men  longed  to  see  the  College  chartered,  and  then  they  would 
have  been  ready  to  say,  "  Now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart 
in  peace  ;  "  but  they  died  almost  two  years  before  the  consum- 
mation which  they  so  devoutly  wished.  Both  of  them,  shortly 
before  their  death,  visited  Gol.  Graves  on  what  they  supposed 
to  be  his  dying  bed,  but  in  the  mj'sterious  providence  of  God 
they  were  appointed  to  a  speedy  death,  while  he  recovered  and 
lived  to  see  his  beloved  College  in  the  spring-tide  of  its  early 
prosperity. 

The  widow  of  Dr.  Parsons,  Mrs.  Harriet  Parsons,  a  daughter 
of  Ezekiel  Williams,  of  Wethersfield,  lived  known  and  highly 
esteemed  by  many  students  of  Amherst  College,  for  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  died  June  5,  1850,  aged  eighty-six. 

1  Rev.  David  Parsons,  the  father  of  Dr.  Parsons,  was  the  first  pastor  of  the  church. 
He  preached  five  years  as  a  candidate,  and  was  pastor  forty  years. 


106  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

Two  of  Dr.  Parsons'  sermons  were  published,  the  election  ser- 
mon in  1788,  and  a  sermon  at  the  ordination  of  J.  L.  Pomeroy 
in  1795. 

Being  a  good  scholar,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  receiving  into 
his  family,  students  who  were  suspended  from  Harvard  College, 
and  his  instruction  and  discipline  proved  highly  satisfactory  to 
the  College  authorities.  When  Amherst  College  came  into  ex- 
istence, he  still  continued  to  receive  into  his  family,  students  as 
boarders  for  a  small  compensation,  or  none  at  all  if  they  were 
too  poor  to  pay  for  their  board ;  and  they  were  charmed  by  his 
instructive  and  entertaining  conversation  and  the  cultivation  of 
his  wife  and  children.  "Most  .of  the  time,"  says  an  alumnus  of 
the  first  class,  "  I  boarded  in  the  family  of  Dr.  Parsons.  The 
father  and  mother  were  both  then  alive  and  the  children  all  at 
home.  It  was  a  good,  intelligent,  cultivated  family.  The  Doc- 
tor had  many  peculiarities  and  was  unique  in  his  expressions. 
Not  unfrequently  he  would  keep  the  whole  table,  family  and 
boarders  in  a  roar  of  laughter." 

Dr.  Parsons'  facetious  turn  and  social  attractions  were  famous 
in  his  dajr,  and  not  a  few  of  his  witticisms  still  linger  in  the 
memory  of  those  who  knew  him.  Wit  and  drollery  seem  to 
have  been  spontaneous  and  quite  beyond  his  control,  never  dis- 
turbing, it  is  said,  the  due  solemnity  of  the  pulpit,  but  often 
flashing  out  irresistibly  in  such  close  connection  with  serious 
things  that  the  wit  was  enhanced  by  the  incongruity.  As  he 
was  returning  once  in  a  mood  of  unusual  tenderness  from  the 
funeral  of  a  near  and  dear  friend,  a  brother  in  the  ministry 
seized  the  occasion  to  remonstrate  with  him  on  his  .want  of  the 
seriousness  becoming  his  sacred  profession.  "I  know  it  all, 
brother,"  was  the  immediate  response,  "  and  it  has  been  my  bur- 
den through  life ;  but  I  suppose  after  all,  that  grace  does  not 
cure  squint  eyes." 

It  was  customary  in  the  good  old  times  at  the  meetings  of  the 
Hampshire  Association,  as  at  other  ministerial  meetings,  to  fur- 
nish spirituous  liquors  for  the  entertainment  of  the  ministers. 
Soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  temperance  reformation, 
this  practice  was  discontinued.  The  Association  met  at  the 
house  of  Dr.  Parsons  in  Amherst  when  the  change  was  intro- 


DR.  NOAH   WEBSTER.  107 

duced.  The  motion  was  made  by  the  Doctor  himself.  He  was 
as  ready  for  the  reform  as  any  of  them.  But  he  loved  a  joke  as 
well  as  he  loved  the  cause  of  temperance,  so  he  moved  that  they 
have  one  more  good  drink,  and  then  banish  the  article  forever 
from  their  meetings.  The  resolution  was  adopted,  they  had  a 
merry  time  over  the  last  drink — such  at  least  is  the  tradition — 
and  thus  they  inaugurated  the  reign  of  total  abstinence.  Some 
of  our  readers  may  be  surprised  to  find  such  a  specimen  of  min- 
isterial character  among  the  founders  of  Amherst  College.  But 
this  genial  man  and  genuine  humorist  was  the  first  President  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  was  among  the  most  zealous  and 
earnest  advocates  of  the  union  of  a  high  standard  of  scholarship 
with  the  highest  type  of  evangelical  religion. 

Dr.  Noah  Webster  was  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
after  the  laying  of  the  first  corner-stone  till  after  the  inaugura- 
tion of  Dr.  Moore,  when  he  resigned  and  Dr.  Moore  was  chosen 
President  of  the  Board  in  his  stead.  Mr.  Webster's  wisdom 
and  prudence  were  of  great  service  in  guiding  the  early  steps 
of  the  infant  Institution,  while,  at  the  same  time,  his  reputation 
for  learning  and  integrity  contributed  not  a  little  to  give  it  char- 
acter before  the  public. 

The  name  of  Noah  Webster  is  known  wherever  the  English 
language  is  spoken,  and  we  need  not  dwell  upon  the  events  of 
his  life.  A  native  of  West  Hartford ;  an  alumnus  of  Yale  Col- 
lege of  the  Class  of  '78;  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1781;  engaged 
in  teaching,  compiling  school-books,  writing  essays  on  political 
and  literary  subjects,  and  delivering  lectures  and  publishing  dis- 
sertations on  the  English  language  till  1789 ;  then  a  lawyer  in 
Hartford  till  1793 ;  editor  of  a  daily  and  semi-weekly  paper, 
afterwards  the  Commercial  Advertiser  and  the  New  York  Specta- 
tor, till  1798,  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  he  be- 
gan to  devote  himself  entirely  to  literary  and  philological  pursuits 
in  New  Haven,  Conn.  In  1812,  finding  his  resources  inadequate 
to  the  support  of  his  family,  he  removed  to  Amherst,  where  he 
spent  ten  of  the  most  laborious  and  fruitful  years  of  his  life*  on 
his  great  life-work,  the  American  Dictionary.  His  spelling- 
book  had  been  published  long  before,  having  first  appeared  in 
1783,  and  so  great  was  the  success  of  this,  the  first  book  of  the 


108  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

kind  published  in  the  United  States,  that  during  the  twenty 
years  in  which  he  was  employed  on  the  Dictionary,  the  entire 
support  of  his  family  was  derived  from  the  profits  of  this  work 
at  a  premium  for  copyright  of  less  than  one  cent  per  copy. 

Student  and  scholar  as  he  was,  Mr.  Webster  was  still,  as  he 
always  had  been,  deeply  interested  in  popular  education  and 
public  affairs,  and  was  highly  esteemed  by  the  people  of  Am- 
herst.  He  was  often  moderator  at  town  meetings.  In  1814  he 
was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  receiving  ninety-nine 
out  of  a  hundred  votes,  and  he  was  the  Representative  of  Am- 
herst  in  the  General  Court  three  years  out  of  six  between  1814 
and  1819.  In  1816  he  received  a  large  majority  of  the  votes  of 
Amherst  as  candidate  for  Representative  to  Congress.  In  1818, 
he  delivered  in  Northampton  the  first  address  before  the  Hamp- 
shire, Hampden  and  Franklin  Agricultural  Society  of  which  he 
was  at  the  same  time  the  Vice-President.  In  1819,  ''Samuel  F. 
Dickinson,  Esq.,  Noah  Webster,  Esq.,  and  Lieut,  Enos  Dickin- 
son were  chosen  a  committee  to  confer  with  the  Rev.  Daniel  A. 
Clark,  on  settling  in  the  ministry."  l 

Mr.  Webster  was  a  favorite  with  the  intelligent  farmers  of 
Amherst  and  the  vicinity,  with  whom  he  conversed  familiarly 
on  subjects  pertaining  to  their  occupation  ;  and  in  haying  time, 
he  might  be  seen  himself  spreading  and  raking  the  hay,  while 
not  unfrequently  his  daughters,  who  afterwards  married  kings 
and  became  queens  in  cultivated  society,  shared  with  him  this 
rural  exercise  and  recreation.  His  wife  and  daughters  also  often 
joined  him  in  his  walks,  which  were  his  usual  exercise.  History 
or  poetry  presents  few  more  beautiful  scenes  than  this  scholar 
and  sage  in  the  domestic  circle.  He  opened  his  house  often  — 
every  term,  it  is  said— to  students  as  well  as  residents  of  the 
town.  The  influence  of  so  genial  and  so  accomplished  a  family 
was  as  great  as  it  was  happy  in  the  Academy,  in  the  College, 
and  in  the  community.  As,  in  his  writings,  Mr.  Webster  in- 
structed all  and  corrupted  none,  so  his  personal  influence  per- 
vaded all  classes  of  society  only  to  purify  and  exalt.  He  gave 
much  of  his  time,  which  was  more  valuable  than  money,  to  the 

1  Church  Eecords.    Most  of  the  foregoing  facts  are  taken  from  the  records  of  the 
town. 


CHARACTER   OF   MR.    WEBSTER.  109 

Academy  and  the  College.  He  wrote  many  of  the  early  docu- 
ments pertaining  to  both  these  Institutions ;  and  while  they  show 
the  pure  taste,  good  sense  and  well-balanced  mind  of  Mr.  Web- 
ster, it  is  interesting  to  observe  how  fully  this  distinguished 
philologist  sympathized  with  the  most  puritanical  of  the  found- 
ers in  their  religious  faith  and  the  fervor  of  their  Christian 
spirit.  Webster's  Spelling  Book  is  probably  the  most  powerful 
educator  of  the  masses  that  America  has  ever  produced.  His 
Dictionar3r  is,  perhaps,  beyond  any  other  uninspired  book,  the 
constant  companion,  friend  and  counselor  of  the  educated  and 
educating  classes.  Add  to  these  the.  College  of  which  he  was 
one  of  the  founders,  and  which  is  likely  to  outlive  both  the  oth- 
ers, and  he  may  well  be  envied  who  was  able  to  open  so  many 
and  such  fountains  of  good  influence.  A  conservative  in  poli- 
tics, a  progressive  in  education,  a  radical  reformer  in  language, 
and  a  Puritan  in  religion,  he  was  a  power  in  his  age  and  country, 
making  himself  felt  as  an  original  and  independent  thinker,  in 
almost  every  sphere  of  human  thought,  and  adorning  what- 
ever he  touched  by  the  purity  of  his  taste,  the  grace  of  his  man- 
ners and  the  elevation  of  his  character.  The  evening  of  his 
days  was  serene  and  tranquil,  and  his  death  befitting  the  close 
of  such  a  life.  He  died  at  New  Haven  on  the  28th  of  May, 
1843,  in  the  eighty-fifth  year  of  his  age,  leaving  as  his  dying 
testimony,  "  I  know  in  whom  I  have  believed,  and  that  He  is 
able  to  keep  what  I  have  committed  to  Him  till  that  day." 

Among  those  early  friends  of  Amherst  College  whose  connec- 
tion with  the  Board  of  Trustees  ceased  not  long  after  the  death 
of  President  Moore,  and  whose  biography  should,  therefore,  be 
sketched  with  that  of  the  first  President,  we  may  name  Rev. 
Daniel  A.  Clark,  Dr.  Rufus  Cowles,  and  Dea.  Elisha  Billings. 

Daniel  A.  Clark  was  born  in  Rahway,  N.  J.,  March  1,  1779. 
Wild  and  wayard  in  his  youth,  a  sermon  of  Rev.  David  Austin 
was  the  means  of  his  conversion  and  the  commencement  of  a 
radical  change  in  his  life.  In  1808  he  graduated  at  Princeton, 
with  a  high  reputation  for  scholarship.  He  studied  theology  at 
Andover  whither  he  went  from  Newark  with  Rev.  Dr.  Griffin, 
and  joined  the  third  class  formed  in  the  Institution.  He  was 
settled  in  the  ministry  several  times  —  at  Weymouth,  Mass., 


110  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

Southbury,  Conn.,  Amherst,  Mass  ,  Bennington,  Vt.,  and  Adams, 
N.  Y.,  and  preached  with  great  effect  in  several  cities,  as  at 
Portland,  Me.,  Utica  and  Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  Charleston,  S.  C. 
His  pastorates  were  all  of  short  duration.  That  at  Amherst 
lasted  about  six  years,  and  this  was  two  years  longer  than  any 
of  his  other  settlements.  In  the  fourth  year  of  his  settlement 
in  Amherst,  charges  of  various  kinds  were  made  against  him, 
some  of  them  seriously  affecting  not  only  his  ministerial  but  his 
Christian  character,  and  in  February,  1824,  a  council  was  con- 
vened to  consider  and  decide  upon  them.  The  church  stood  by 
the  pastor  and  remonstrated  against  his  dismission.  "  The  coun- 
cil was  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  imposing  we  have  ever  wit- 
nessed. There  were  thronged  assemblies  and  eloquent  advo- 
cates and  venerable  judges."1  The  result  was  that  the  pastor 
was  acquitted  of  the  several  charges,  and  cordially  recommended 
to  the  churches  as  an  able  and  faithful  minister.  Mr.  Clark  re- 
mained at  Amherst  some  two  years  after  the  council,  still  sus- 
taining the  relation  of  pastor  and  continuing  in  the  discharge  of 
his  ministerial  duties.  But  his  situation  was  in  many  respects 
an  undesirable  one,  and  he  was  quite  willing  to  avail  himself  of 
the  first  opportunity  which  occurred  for  leaving  it.  Accordingly, 
in  the  spring  of  1826,  he  asked  a  dismission  from  the  church  in 
Amherst,  and  accepted  a  call  from  the  Congregational  Church 
in  Bennington,  Vt. 

The  brief  continuance  of  all  his  pastorates  seems  to  prove 
some  want  of  fitness  for  the  pastoral  relation.  Wicked  men 
were  doubtless  offended  by  the  boldness,  pungency  and  power 
with  which  he  preached  the  doctrines  of  the  cross.  But  he  gave 
offence  also  by  his  rough  and  careless  manners,  and  his  unmin- 
isterial  deportment  out  of  the  pulpit.  One  of  his  good  deacons 
who  loved  and  admired  his  preaching,  used  long  after  to  say  in 
his  homespun  style  of  illustration,  that  Mr.  Clark  reminded  him 
of  one  of  his  cows,  the  best  cow  in  many  respects  that  he  ever 
had,  which  gave  a  large  pailful  of  excellent  milk,  but  not  un- 
frequently  kicked  it  all  over  before  she  had  done. 

Shortly  before  his  departure  from  Amherst,  Mr.  Clark  prepared 
and  published  his  first  volume  of  sermons — "  Conference  Ser- 

1  Rev.  George  Shepard,  D.  D.,  of  the  Class  of  '26. 


REV.   DANIEL   A.   CLARK.  Ill 

mons,"  "  to  be  used  in  religious  meetings,  where  there  is  not 
present  a  gospel  minister."  This  was  in  1826.  It  was  the  first 
volume  that  ever  issued  from  the  Amherst  press.  It  had  a  wride 
circulation,  and  exerted  a  prodigious  power.  The  writer  well 
remembers,  how  it  was  welcomed  by  the  deacons  of  the  church  in 
his  native  place  in  north-eastern  Pennsylvania,  how  the  sermons 
were  read  in  "  deacons'  meetings,"  and  how  even  under  such  dis- 
advantages they  stirred  the  people  like  the  voice  of  a  trumpet. 

While  residing  with  his  children  in  the  city  of  New  York,  he 
prepared  for  the  press  three  volumes  of  sermons  which  were 
published  in  1835  and  1836.  In  1846,  the  "  complete  works  " 
of  Mr.  Clark  were  published  in  two  volumes,  together  with  a 
biographical  sketch  and  an  estimate  of  his  powers  as  a  preacher, 
by  Rev.  George  Shepard,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Sacred  Rhetoric 
in  Bangor  Theological  Seminary.  Prof.  Shepard  estimates  his 
power  as  a  preacher  very  high.  "  Mr.  Clark's  person,  voice  and 
entire  manner  were  in  perfect  keeping  with  his  style  ;  a  large 
masculine  frame,  a  voice  harsh,  strong,  capable  of  great  volume, 
though  not  very  flexible,  an  action  for  the  most  part  ungraceful 
but  significant  and  natural,  a  countenance  bearing  bold,  strongly- 
marked  features  at  every  opening  of  which  the  waked  and  work- 
ing passions  looked  intensely  out ;  then  thoughts  and  sentences 
such  as  we  find  in  these  volumes  coming  forth,  all  together  gave 
the  idea  of  huge,  gigantic  power.  We  were  reminded  often 
of  some  great  ordnance,  throwing  terribly  its  heavy  shots." 
Prof.  Shepard  had  the  advantage  of  hearing  the  sermons  from 
the  lips  of  the  preacher  himself.  But  no  one  can  read  his 
"Church  Safe,"1  preached  before  the  Consociation  at  Water- 
town,  or  his  "  Plea  for  a  Miserable  World,"  delivered  at  the  lay- 
ing of  the  corner-stone  at  Amherst,  or  any  of  several  sermons 
printed  in  the  National  Preacher,  or  indeed  any  one  of  the  ser- 
mons in  his  complete  works,  without  admitting  the  essential 
justice  of  this  estimate,  without  feeling  not  only  that  Mr.  Clark 
was  one  of  the  most  powerful  preachers,  but  that  his  sermons 
are  among  the  most  remarkable  sermons  that  our  country  has 
produced. 

1  It  was  the  reading  of  this  sermon  at  an  evening  meeting,  that  led  to  his  call  by 
the  church  in  Amherst. 


112  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Mr.  Clark  entered  with  characteristic  zeal  and  earnestness 
into  the  work  of  laying  the  foundations  of  Amherst  College, 
pleaded  its  cause  in  the  pulpit  and  with  his  pen,  and  spent  some 
time  in  traveling  and  collecting  funds  for  its  permanent  estab- 
lishment. He  died  in  great  tranquillity  March  3,  1840,  of  an 
ossification  of  the  arteries  of  the  brain. 

Rufus  Cowles  was  born  in  Amherst,  December  16,  1767 ; 
graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1792  ;  practiced  medicine  in 
New  Salem  and  Amherst  for  several  years,  and  then  was  en- 
gaged in  mercantile  business  in  the  latter  place  till  the  time  of 
his  death  which  occurred  November  22, 1837,  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enty. He  had  a  large  landed  property  in  Amherst,  and  sub- 
scribed to  the  Charity  Fund  a  tract  of  land  in  Maine  which  was 
.estimated  at  three  thousand  dollars.  Some  of  the  early  alumni 
remember  him  as  among  the  first  to  meet  students  on  their  ar- 
rival in  town  and  give  them  a  cordial  welcome,  assuring  them 
that  Amherst  was  a  remarkably  healthy  place,  as  was  demon- 
strated by  the  fact  that  he  had  not  lost  a  patient  for  so  many 
years !  His  connection  with  the  Board  of  Trustees  ceased  with 
the  obtaining  of  the  charter  in  1825. 

Elisha  Billings  was  born  in  Sunderland,  October  1,  1749.  He 
held  a  high  rank  as  a  scholar  in  Yale  College  where  he  was 
graduated  in  1772,  and  delivered  the  valedictory  oration  at  Com- 
mencement. After  suitable  preparatory  studies  he  was  licensed 
to  preach  the  gospel  in  1775.  But  soon  after  he  commenced 
preaching,  his  health  failed,  and  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his 
life  as  a  highly  respected  farmer  in  Conway,  at  the  same  time 
taking  a  leading  part  in  the  church  of  which  he  was  a  member 
and  an  officer,  and  making  his  influence  felt  in  the  educational 
and  religious  institutions  of  the  county.  He  was  a  Director 
of  the  Hampshire  Education  and  Missionary  Societies,  and  a 
Trustee  of  Sanderson  Academy  and  Amherst  College.  Dr. 
Hitchcock  who  was  for  some  years  his  pastor,  says :  "  His  clear 
views  of  religious  doctrines  and  inflexible  adherence  to  the  faith 
of  the  Puritans  made  him  the  steadfast  friend  of  every  effort  to 
defend  and  propagate  the  gospel  of  Christ.  His  support  of  the 
new  Institution  was  no  halting,  lukewarm  advocacy.  Rarely 
was  his  seat  vacant  at  the  meetings  of  the  Board  and  his  fervent 


DEACON   BILLINGS.  113 

prayers  and  wise  and  encouraging  counsels  were  most  efficient 
elements  of  final  success.  He  had  not  abundant  means,  but 
did  what  he  could  as  to  pecuniary  aid.  Indeed  so  liberal  were 
his  benefactions  as  exceedingly  to  embarrass  his  widow  and 
children.  But  they,  too,  endowed  with  the  same  spirit,  strug- 
gled through  their  pecuniary  embarrassments.  When  the  effort 
was  being  made  to  raise  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  start  the  Col- 
lege, Mrs.  Billings  circulated  the  life  of  Franke  so  widely  that 
the  copy  was  worn  out.  She  believed  and  so  did  all  the  men 
and  women  who  founded  Amherst  College,  that  the  principles 
adopted  and  acted  upon  by  Franke  as  to  trust  in  God  and  the 
power  of  prayer,  were  scriptural ;  and  such  essentially,  let  it 
always  be  remembered,  were  the  principles  on  which  Amherst 
College  was  founded.  The  type  of  the  piety  of  its  originators 
was  that  of  Spener  and  Franke  in  early  times  and  of  Muller 
in  our  own  times."  l 

Deacon  Billings  died  at  Conway,  August  9,  1825,  about  two 
weeks  before  the  first  annual  meeting  of  the  Trustees  under 
the  charter.  He  lived  to  see  the  College  in  which  he  felt  so 
much  interest  incorporated,  but  never  attended  a  meeting  after 
the  incorporation.  His  excellent  wife,  Mary  (Storrs)  Billings, 
daughter  of  Rev.  John  Storrs  of  Southold,  Long  Island,  sister 
of  Rev.  Richard  Storrs,  of  Longmeadow,  and  aunt  of  Rev. 
Richard  Salter  Storrs  of  Braintree,  survived  him  many  years 
and  died  in  Conway,  July  4,  1856,  aged  eighty-six  years. 

The  three  working  men  above  all  others  among  the  founders 
of  Amherst  College,  were  Col.  Rufus  Graves,  Hon.  Samuel 
Fowler  Dickinson  and  Hezekiah  Wright  Strong,  Esq.  And  of 
these,  Col.  Graves  was  emphatically  the  agent  of  the  Institution 
in  its  early  years. 

Rufus  Graves  was  born  in  Sunderland,  September  27,  1758. 
He  was  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  College  of  the  Class  of  '91. 
Under  the  administration  of  John  Adams  (1797-1801)  he  re- 
ceived a  commission  as  Colonel  of  a  regiment  which  was  raised 
in  this  section  when  fears  were  entertained  of  a  French  war, 
and  thus  obtained  the  military  title  by  which  he  has  ever  since 
been  usually  known.  In  1812  he  was  lecturer  on  chemistry  in 

1  Reminiscences  of  Amherst  College,  p.  7. 
8 


114  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

the  College  where  he  was  graduated.  But  experiments  in  chem- 
istry were  not  his  only  nor  his  most  brilliant  experiments.  For 
several  years  of  his  life,  during  which  he  lived  for  the  most 
part  in  Leverett,  he  was  chiefly  remarkable  for  bold  and  grand 
schemes  of  business,  which  were  too  large  for  his  resources,  and 
so  turned  out  failures.  He  tried  his  hand  at  sheep-farming,  at 
fruit-growing,  at  a  tannery  in  Leverett,  and  a  tide-mill  in  Bos- 
ton, with  the  same  result.  He  planted  the  best  orchard  in  Frank- 
lin County,  but  it  did  not  pay  the  expense.  He  had  the  best 
flock  of  fine-wool  Merino  sheep,  the  best  herd  of  cows,  and  the 
best  stock  of  the  best  breed  of  pigs  in  this  part  of  the  Connec- 
ticut Valley.  But  his  experiments  all  cost  more  than  they  came 
to,  and  pecuniarily  the  result  was  a  failure. 

The  writer  has  been  unable  to  ascertain  just  when  he  came 
to  Amherst.  The  church  records  under  date  of  November  14, 
1817,  contain  this  entry :  "  Received  Rufus  Graves  and  wife  to 
communion  by  letter."  He  was  for  some  years  a  deacon  in  the 
village  church.  His  first  residence  in  Amherst  was  in  the  second 
story  of  the  Academy  building,  where  he  boarded  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  students,  while  at  the  same  time  he  lectured  to  them 
on  chemistry  in  an  extemporized  laboratory  in  the  basement. 
Subsequently  he  built  the  house  near  by,  now  owned  by  Mr.  J. 
S.  Adams.  Col.  Graves  was  the  first  lecturer  on  chemistry  in 
the  Amherst  Collegiate  Institution.  This  was  in  the  first  year 
of  its  existence.  His  lectures  were  delivered  in  a  private  room 
in  the  old  South  College,  which  was  not  only  an  earlier  but  a 
humbler  and  ruder  laboratory  than  even  the  upper  room  or  hall 
in  the  North  College  that  was  afterwards  used  in  rotation  for 
morning  and  evening  prayers  and  for  lectures  on  the  physical 
sciences.  And  from  anecdotes  which  have  been  transmitted,  we 
infer  that  the  lectures  were  as  homely  and  primitive  as  the  ap- 
paratus and  the  laboratory.  He  was  deeply  interested  in  the 
religious  welfare  of  the  students,  and  took  an  active  and  leading 
part  in  the  prayer-meetings  of  the  Academy  and  the  village 
church,  which  were  all  then  held  in  the  lower  room  of  the  Acad- 
emy building.  He  often  opened  his  own  house  for  private  and 
special  meetings  for  prayer.  The  writer  attended  one  or  two 
meetings  of  this  sort  when  he  was  a  member  of  College,  and  he 


COLONEL  GRAVES.  115 

well  remembers  the  faith  and  fervor  with  which  he  prayed.  He 
always  prayed — many  who  knew  him  have  remarked  it — as  if  he 
were  talking  with  God  face  to  face.  None  doubted  that  he  daily 
walked  with  God.  Faith  and  works,  prayer  to  God  and  impor- 
tunity with  men,  went  hand  in  hand  in  his  labors  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  College. 

He  entered  into  this  work  with  all  his  heart  and  labored  in  it 
for  years  with  all  his  might ;  for  now  he  had  found  an  object 
great  enough  for  his  enterprise,  and  at  the  same  time  good 
enough  for  his  benevolence,  and  the  fervor  of  his  piety  now  con- 
spired with  the  ardor  of  his  temperament  and  the  hopefulness 
of  his  natural  disposition  to  set  him  all  on  fire  in  the  under- 
taking. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  first  project  was  merely  an  en- 
largement of  Amherst  Academy  by  the  endowment  of  a  profess- 
orship of  languages.  This  plan  was  projected  by  Col.  Graves. 
The  resolutions  were  drawn  up  by  him,  and,  at  his  motion,  unan- 
imously adopted  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Academy,  and  he  was  ap- 
pointed their  agent  to  carry  them  into  execution.  He  spent  many 
months,  chiefly  in  Boston  and  vicinity,  in  soliciting  donations  for 
this  object,  but  with  little  success.  Returning  home  at  length, 
discouraged  though  not  in  despair,  he  was  convinced  by  Esq. 
Dickinson  that  his  object  was  too  small  to  awaken  public  inter- 
est, and  that  if  he  would  succeed,  he  must  found  a  College. 
Col.  Graves  was  not  slow  to  entertain  an  idea  so  suited  to  his 
own  cast  of  mind.  He  embraced  it  eagerly.  He  drew  up  the 
constitution  and  by-laws  as  the  basis  not  only  of  a  Charity  Fund, 
but  of  a  charitable  Collegiate  Institution.  This  plan  was  adop- 
ted by  the  Trustees  with  equal  unanimity  and  still  greater  en- 
thusiasm. Committees  were  appointed  to  guide  and  aid  in  so- 
liciting donations.  Indeed  it  was  understood  that  they  were  to 
be  a  committee  of  the  whole  for  the  purpose  of  raising  money. 
But  Col.  Graves  was  still  the  principal  agent.  He  devoted  his 
whole  time  and  strength  to  the  work.  He  went  to  every  part 
of  the  State,  buttonholing  wealthy  and  benevolent  individuals, 
and  not  a  few  who  were  not  wealthy  nor  benevolent,  inviting, 
entreating,  and  if  necessary  almost  commanding  and  constraining 
them  to  subscribe  sums  varying  from  ten  to  a  thousand  dollars  ; 


116  HISTORY   OF    AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

arid  in  about  a  year  from  the  commencement  the  subscription 
of  fifty  thousand  dollars  was  completed.  The  subscription  of 
thirty  thousand  dollars,  which  soon  followed,  was.a  work  of  still 
greater  difficulty,  because  the  ground  had  already  been  pretty 
thoroughly  burnt  over,  and  it  was  necessary  to  raise  it  in  smaller 
sums.  Subscriptions  were  taken  from  mite  societies  and  chil- 
dren's societies,  and  many  of  these  did  not  exceed  five  cents, 
while  very  few  of  them  exceeded  five  dollars.  In  this  subscrip- 
tion, too,  Col.  Graves  was  still  an  everywhere-present  and  uni- 
formly successful  agent.  When  the  subscriptions  were  filled, 
there  still  remained  the  scarcely  less  laborious  task  of  collecting 
them.  This  also  devolved  more  or  less  on  the  same  indefatiga- 
ble agent.  Col.  Graves  was  also  eminently  active  and  success- 
ful in  soliciting  donations  in  money  and  in  kind  for  erecting 
all  the  early  buildings.  Regarding  the  silver  and  the  gold, 
the  stone  and  the  brick,  the  corn  and  the  provisions  as  the 
Lord's,  and  Amherst  College  as  unquestionably  the  Lord's  Insti- 
tution, he  was  often  in  the  habit  of  going  to  good  people  every- 
where and  saying,  the  Lord  hath  need  of  this  or  that,  and 
usually  it  was  forthcoming  immediately.  Thus  he  traversed 
the  State  from  year  to  year,  visiting  many  portions  of  it  repeat- 
edly, till  he  became  as  well  known  to  ministers  and  Christians 
generally  as  any  veteran  agent  or  district  secretary  of  our  own 
day ;  *  and  twenty-five  years  ago  there  was  scarcely  a  town  in 
which  racy  anecdotes  were  not  told  of  his  sayings  and  doings, 
seasoned  with  lively  descriptions  of  his  peculiar  person  and  man- 
ners. Sometimes  he  would  return  from  these  excursions  with 
very  little  money  for  the  College  and  none  for  himself,  with 
worn-out  shoes  and  coat  out  at  the  elbows,  to  find  his  family 
suffering  for  the  conveniences  if  not  the  necessaries  of  life,  but 
with  inexhaustible  faith  and  hope  and  patience,  after  patching 
up  himself  and  the  homestead,  and  having  refreshed  his  own 
spirit  and  all  around  him  by  prayer,  he  would  start  out  again  on 
another  expedition.  In  short,  he  had  Amherst  College  on  the 

1  Col.  Graves'  horse  was  almost  as  well  known  in  this  vicinity  as  the  Colonel 
himself,  and  even  after  he  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  another  owner,  he  was  as 
persistent  in  calling  at  every  door  as  his  old  master  was  in  levying  a  contribution 
on  every  individual. 


PICTURE  OF    COLONEL   GRAVES.  117 

brain,  and  some  of  his  cooler  neighbors  really  believed  he  was 
beside  himself.  Calling  one  day  on  Simeon  Strong,  Esq.,  son 
of  Judge  Strong,  who  was  thought  to  be  going  down  to  the 
grave  with  an  incurable  disease,  he  found  him  in  what  appeared 
to  him  a  state  of  morbid,  almost  preternatural  cheerfulness ;  and 
meeting  Dr.  Cutler  shortly  after,  he  asked  him  if  Esq.  Strong 
was  not  deranged,  or  at  least  losing  the  balance  of  his  faculties. 
The  Doctor  went  almost  immediately  to  call  on  his  patient ;  and 
scarcely  had  he  passed  the  ordinary  compliments  of  the  sick 
room,  when  Esq.  Strong  said :  "  I  have  just  received  a  visit 
from  Col.  Graves ;  and  Doctor,  don't  you  think  he  is  losing  his 
balance  ?  It  seems  to  me  he  is  deranged  —  he  talks  and  thinks 
of  nothing  but  Amherst  College."  Though  near  neighbors, 
their  temperaments  were  so  diametrically  opposite,  that  each 
pronounced  the  other  crazy. 

There  is  much  more  than  a  picture  of  the  imagination  in  the 
following  lively  sketch  by  an  early  graduate.1  "I  see  an  old 
man,  poor  and  humble,  but  yet  a  kind  of  ironsides  who  consid- 
ered that  in  the  midst  of  wide-spread  defection  from  the  faith 
of  the  fathers,  there  should  be  a  College  erected  to  the  Lord — a 
kind  of  Puritan,  Calvanistic  College  for  the  education  of  the 
Lord's  anointed  and  the  upholding  of  His  kingdom,  and  that  this 
should  be  done  in  the  heart  of  Massachusetts ; — I  see  him  on  a 
sort  of  crusade  among  the  faithful,  homely  clergy  and  laymen  of 
the  Connecticut  Valley,  urging  upon  them  to  build  a  College  to 
the  Lord,  and  that  Amherst  must  be  the  place  for  its  erection. 
I  see  the  foundations  of  the  College  laid  amid  the  prayers  and 
tears  and  praises  and  contributions  of  the  poor  and  humble  who 
felt  that  it  was  the  Lord's  work.  >  I  see  the  relays  of  men  coming 
in  from  the  towns  about  to  work  up  by  their  daily  labor  the  con- 
tributions of  materials  which  other  towns  had  made  to  the  com- 
mon cause.  I  see  the  loads  of  provisions  sent  in  by  the  pious 
farmers  and  inhabitants,  far  and  near,  for  the  support  of  the 
bands  of  workmen,  who,  in  giving  the  labor  of  their  hands, 
gave  their  all.  I  see  old  Dea.  Graves — Prof.  Graves — traveling 
about  in  Hadley  and  Hatfield  and  Sunderland  and  Whately, 
and  Belchertown  and  Enfield  and  other  towns,  and  telling  the 

i  Hon.  A.  B.  Ely,  Class  of  '36. 


118  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

people  that  the  Lord  is  in  want  of  supplies,  and  asking  if  they 
could  not  spare  a  barrel  of  beef  or  a  barrel  of  pork  for  those 
who  were  building  a  College  for  the  Lord.  And  then,  when 
money  was  wanted,  Dea.  Graves  was  the  man  tq  scour  the  coun- 
try and  replenish  the  treasury  of  the  Lord.  Then  comes  that 
most  characteristic  and  most  remarkable  scene,  when  upon  a  re- 
turn of  the  good  Deacon  from  an  unsuccessful  begging  excur- 
sion, a  meeting  is  called  to  hear  his  report.  A  chairman  is 
chosen  and  the  question  is  put,  "  Well,  Dea.  Graves,  what  suc- 
cess ?  How  much  money  have  you  raised  ?  the  Deacon  rising 
solemnly  says,  'Not  one  cent.  Brethren,  let  us  pray.'  This  last 
exclamation  should  be  the  motto  of  the  College  forever.  It  is, 
in  itself,  an  epitome  of  the  whole  early  history  and  mission  of 
Amherst  College.  Poverty  and  prayer !  Labor  and  faith !  The 
mission  of  the  College  is  to  educate  for  the  Lord  the  poor  and 
the  pious,  and  to  vindicate  and  champion  the  honest  old  New 
England  Primer  faith  of  our  fathers." 

Mrs.  Graves,  a  daughter  of  Dea.  Graves  of  Leverett,  was  a 
woman  of  rare  excellence,  who  heartily  sympathized  with  her 
husband  in  his  religious  faith  and  co-operated  with  him  in  his 
self-denying  work,  while  she  did  what  she  could  to  check  his 
tendency  to  extremes.  His  children  too,  labored  with  their  own 
hands  to  meet  the  necessities  of  the  family  while  at  the  same 
time  they  availed  themselves  of  the  opportunities  which  Amherst 
afforded  for  education.  His  oldest  son  is  a  Christian  physician 
in  Northern  New  York.  Another  son,  Rev.  F.  W.  Graves  of 
the  Class  of  '25,  was  an  able  and  eloquent  preacher,  especially 
in  revivals,  and  died  in  1864,  after  having  turned  many  to  right- 
eousness. His  daughters  married  ministers,  home  missionaries, 
pioneers,  like  their  father,  in  the  work  of  education  and  religion. 
Following  his  children  in  their  westward  course,  Col.  Graves 
left  Amherst  in  1834,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  Portsmouth, 
Ohio,  where  he  died  February  12, 1845,  after  an  illness  of  a  few 
da,ys  at  the  age  of  eighty-six.  He  had  been  married  fifty  years. 
Next  to  the  Bible,  the  favorite  reading  of  his  old  age  was  the 
Missionary  Herald  which  he  read  through  every  month  as  long 
as  he  was  able  to  read  at  all. 

Samuel  Fowler  Dickinson  was  born  in  Amherst,  October  9, 


SAMUEL  FOWLER   DICKINSON.  119 

1775.  His  father  Nathan  Dickinson,  was  a  farmer  in  East 
Amherst.  His  mother,  Esther  Fowler,  was  from  Westchester, 
Conn.  Samuel  Fowler  was  the  youngest  son.  He  fitted  for 
College  with  Judge  Strong  of  Amherst,  entered  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege at  sixteen,  and  graduated  in  1795  at  the  age  o'f  twenty. 
Though  the  youngest  of  his  class  he  received  the  second  ap- 
pointment — the  Salutatory  Oration  in  Latin. 

After  leaving  College  he  taught  one  year  in  the  Academy  at 
New  Salem.  About  this  time  he  had  a  severe  sickness,  which 
was  the  means  of  his  conversion.  He  soon  united  with  the 
West  Parish  Church  and  at  twenty-one  he  was  chosen  one  of 
its  deacons — an  office  which  he  held  nearly  forty  years.  Think- 
ing to  enter  the  ministry  he  began  the  study  of  theology  with 
an  older  brother,  Rev.  Timothy  Dickinson  of  Holliston,  Mass. 
But  finding  that  he  needed  a  more  active  life,  he  turned  his 
attention  to  the  legal  profession.  Returning  to  Araherst,  he 
completed  the  usual  term  of  study  in  the  office  of  Judge  Strong, 
and  afterwards  established  a  law  office  of  his  own  in  his  native 
place. 

For  fifteen  years,  from  1804  to  1818  inclusive,  he  was  town 
clerk  of  Amherst.  He  was  frequently  employed  as  the  agent 
and  advocate  of  the  town  in  litigated  questions.  In  1827,  he 
was  chosen  Representative  of  the  town  in  the  General  Court. 
He  was  subsequently  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate. 

Being  an  educated  man  and  an  officer  in  the  church,  he  was 
of  course  a  leader  in  religious  movements  and  ecclesiastical 
affairs. 

He  was  ranked  among  the  best  lawyers — perhaps  he  was  the 
very  best  lawyer  in  Hampshire"  County,  and  might  doubtless 
have  had  a  seat  on  the  bench,  if  he  had  continued  in  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession.  But  he  was  gradually  drawn  off  into 
business  for  which  he  had  a  natural  fondness  ;  and  he  was  still 
more  deeply  enlisted  in  the  educational  enterprises,  to  which  he 
was  strongly  impelled  at  once  by  his  cultivated  mind,  his  rare 
public  spirit,  and  his  high  moral  and  religious  earnestness. 
Having  a  large  family  of  his  own  to  educate  and  at  the  same 
time  having  at  heart  the  general  welfare,  he,  with  a  few  others, 
established  the  Academy  at  Amherst,  erected  the  building,  fur- 


120  HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

nished  it  with  apparatus  and  other  endowments,  liberal  for  those 
times,  sought  far  and  near  the  ablest  teachers  that  could  be 
found,  and  spared  neither  time  nor  money  to  make  it  the  best 
institution  of  the  kind  in  the  Commonwealth.  Young  men 
also  who  were  in  straitened  circumstances  and  making  earnest 
effort  to  get  an  education,  were  sure  to  receive  from  him  en- 
couragement and  assistance.  When  the  removal  of  Williams 
College  began  to  be  talked  of,  he  at  once  entered  into  the  plan 
with  all  the  energy  of  his  nature.  Among  the  Trustees  of  that 
Institution  who  felt  the  necessity  of  its  removal  were  his  class- 
mate, Dr.  Snell,  and  his  college  friend,  Dr.  Packard.  He  agreed 
with  them  and  many  others  that  an  Institution  more  central 
than  Harvard  or  Williams  was  needed,  where  the  sons  of  evan- 
gelical Christians  could  be  educated  in  good  learning  and  at 
the  same  time  in  the  faith  of  their  fathers,  and  where  those 
whose  means  were  limited,  might  be  educated  at  less  expense, 
and,  if  necessary,  be  aided  in  their  preparation  for  the  gospel 
ministry.  The  conversion  of  the  world  often  pressed  heavily 
on  his  mind.  He  saw  in  the  Institution  contemplated  at  Am- 
herst,  one  of  the  agencies  that  would  surely  hasten  that  prom- 
ised event,  and  he  felt  that  in  rearing  and  sustaining  it,  he 
was  as  certainly  fulfilling  the  command  to  "preach  the  gospel 
to  every  creature,"  as  if  he  had  himself  gone  in  person  to  the 
heathen. 

The  enlargement  of  the  plan  from  a  mere  Professorship  in 
Amherst  Academy  into  a  separate  Collegiate  Institution  was 
expressly  owing  to  Mr.  Dickinson's  suggestion  and  influence. 
Nor  was  the  successful  execution  of  the  plan  less  dependent  on 
his  steadfastness  and  perseverance,  on  the  self-sacrificing  devo- 
tion of  his  time,  property  and  personal  service.  If  Col.  Graves 
was  the  locomotive,  Esq.  Dickinson  was  the  engineer  of  the 
train.  If  Col.  Graves  was  the  hand,  Esq.  Dickinson  was  the 
head  in  the  founding  and  rearing  of  Amherst  College.  It  is 
doubtful  if  the  College  would  ever  have  been  built  without 
them  both.  It  is  -quite  certain  that  Esq.  Dickinson  could  LO 
more  have  been  spared  than  Col.  Graves. 

"  A   few  will   still   remember   how  a   few   ministers l  came 

1  The  passage  in  the  text  is  quoted  from  one  of  these  ministers. 


SACRIFICES  FOR  THE  COLLEGE.  121 

together  often  for  prayer  and  consultation  as  to  how  the  object 
could  be  accomplished.  Nearly  a  whole  week  sometimes,  would 
be  thus  spent.  When  it  was  decided  to  go  forward  and  there 
were  funds  enough  collected  to  begin  the  foundations  of  the 
first  building,  and  the  corner-stone  was  laid,  the  effort  was  only 
begun  As  the  work  proceeded  and  they  had  used  up  all  their 
available  means,  then  he  (Mr.  Dickinson,)  would  pledge  his  pri- 
vate property  to  the  bank  to  obtain  money  that  the  work  might 
go  on.  And  when  there  was  no  money  to  pay  for  the  teams  to 
draw  the  brick  or  men  to  drive  them,  his  own  horses  were  sent 
for  days  and  weeks  till  in  one  season  two  or  three  of  them  fell 
by  the  wayside.  Sometimes  his  own  laborers  were  sent  to  drive 
his  horses,  and  in  an  emergency  he  went  himself,  rather  than 
that  the  work  should  cease."  At  the  same  time,  he  boarded 
more  or  less  of  the  workmen,  and  sometimes  paid  their  wages 
out  of  his  own  pocket,  while  his  wife  and  daughters  toiled  to 
board  them  With  all  the  zeal  and  efforts  of  numerous  friends 
and  benefactors,  the  work  would  often  have  stopped,  had  he 
not  pledged  his  property  till  the  money  could  be  raised.  His 
own  means  at  last  began  to  fail.  His  business  which  was  so 
large  as  to  require  all  his  time  and  care,  suffered  from  his  devo- 
tion to  the  public.  He  became  embarrassed  and  at  length  actu- 
ally poor.  And  in  his  poverty  he  had  the  additional  grief  of 
feeling  that  his  services  were  forgotten,  like  the  poor  wise  man 
in  the  proverb  who  "  by  his  wisdom  delivered  the  city,  yet  no 
man  remembered  that  same  poor  man." 

When  Lane  Seminary  went  into  operation  he  was  offered  a 
situation  as  Steward,  with  the  oversight  and  general  manage- 
ment of  the  grounds.  He  accepted  it,  and  remained  at  Cincin- 
nati endeavoring  to  bring  order  out  of  confusion  and  impart 
something  of  New  England  comfort  and  thrift  to  what  was  then 
western  life.  Having  received  the  offer  of  a  similar  situation  in 
connection  with  the  Western  Reserve  College  with  the  promise 
of  a  better  support,  he  removed  to  Hudson,  Ohio.  After  a  year 
of  great  labor  and  many  discouragements,  he  died  at  Hudson, 
April  22, 1838,  at  the  age  of  sixty-two,  in  the  full  possession  of 
his  faculties  and  in  the  precious  hope  of  rest  and  reward  in 
heaven.  His  body  was  removed  by  the  filial  piety  of  one  of  his 


122  HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

sons  and  buried  in  the  cemetery  at  Amherst,  where  he  now  lies 
by  the  side  of  the  wife  of  his  youth,  amid  the  graves  of  his 
relatives  and  friends,  and  within  sight  of  the  College  which  he 
so  loved  and  cherished  and  to  which  he  devoted  so  many  years 
of  his  life. 

Hezekiah  Wright  Strong  continued  to  hold  the  office  of  Over- 
seer of  the  Charity  Fund  until  1846,  and  according  to  the  usual 
plan  of  this  work,  the  sketch  of  his  life  belongs  properly  to  a 
later  period  in  the  history.  But  he  was  so  intimately  associated 
with  Col.  Graves  and  Esq.  Dickinson,  and  so  manifestly  de- 
serves to  rank  with  them  among  "  the  first  three "  working 
founders  of  Amherst  College,  that  I  shall  anticipate  and  briefly 
sketch  his  life  here.  He  was  the  son  of  Hon.  Simeon  Strong, 
Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  was  born  in  Amherst,  December  24,  1768.  He 
studied  law  in  his  father's  office,  and  commenced  the  practice 
of  his  profession  in  Deerfield.  But  he  returned  to  Amherst  in 
season  to  be  one  of  the  founders  of  Amherst  Academy,  of  which 
he  sometimes  playfully  remarks  that  he  was  the  father,  and 
thus  the  grandfather  if  he  was  not  also  the  father  of  Amherst 
College.  When  the  removal  of  Williams  College  began  to  be 
agitated,  he  made  up  his  mind,  in  common  with  others  here  and 
elsewhere,  that  it  must  come  to  Amherst.  And  with  an  ardor 
and  promptness  in  carrying  his  thoughts  into  execution  which 
was  characteristic  of  the  man,  he  went  up  to  "  the  meeting- 
house hill,"  examined  the  ground  and  selected  that  place  for 
the  site  of  the  College.  He  then  called  on  Col.  Graves  and  re- 
quested him  to  look  it  over  with  him,  and  there,  one  moonlight 
night,  those  two  men  measured  the  ground  and  marked  the  spot 
for  the  first  building.  Thus  Amherst  College  had  "  a  local  hab- 
itation," for  the  first  time,  perhaps,  in  the  mind  of  Mr.  Strong, 
and  he  and  Col.  Graves  set  the  first  stake  for  "  the  School  of  the 
Prophets."  And  then  those  three  zealous,  earnest,  enthusiastic, 
not  to  say  visionary  Christian  men,  Mr.  Strong,  Col.  Graves  arid 
Esq.  Dickinson,  went  to  their  pastor  and  other  ministers,  to 
their  brethren  in  the  church  and  their  neighbors  generally, 
saying  in  the  language  of  the  sons  of  the  prophets  to  Elisha, 
let  us  go  unto  that  sacred  hill,  and  let  us  take  every  man  a 


HEZEKIAH   WRIGHT   STRONG.  123 

beam  and  let  us  make  there  a  place  for  the  sons  of  the  prophets 
where  they  may  dwell.  And  they  did  so.  And  thus  that  sub- 
stantial building  of  brick  and  mortar  went  up  very  much  in  the 
same  way  and  almost  as  rapidly  as  that  rude  and  primitive  dwell- 
ing for  Elisha  and  his  pupils  went  up  on  the  banks  of  the  Jor- 
dan.1 Which  of  these  three  men  originated  the  idea  of  vol- 
untary contributions  of  labor  and  material  for  the  erection  of 
this  building,  or  whether  it  sprung  up  simultaneously  in  the 
minds  of  many,  and  which  of  the  three  labored  the  most  assid- 
uously in  raising  the  Charity  Fund  and  made  the  greatest  sacri- 
fices in  the  early  establishment  of  the  College,  is  a  question 
which  has  been  much  discussed  but  need  not  be  answered. 
They  all  did  what  they  could.  They  all  devoted  their  time, 
sacrificed  their  property,  and  impoverished  their  families,  not 
perhaps  directly,  but  indirectly  in  their  zeal  and  enthusiasm 
for  the  College. 

Mr.  Strong  had  a  natural  fondness  for  new  schemes.  The 
first  ice-house  and  the  first  bathing-house  in  Amherst  were  built 
by  him.  The  first  Congress  water  that  was  brought  to  Amherst 
was  introduced  by  him.  A  two-horse  team,  with  empty  barrels, 
was  sent  to  Ballston  and  Saratoga,  the  barrels  were  filled  from 
the  springs  and  the  water  brought  to  Amherst  where  it  was  bot- 
tled for  sale.  But  the  demand  was  far  from  being  equal  to  the 
supply.  He  was  in  advance  of  his  age.  This  may  be  said  of  not 
a  few  of  the  founders  of  Amherst  College.  Mr.  Webster  ad- 
vocated many  a  political  and  social  reform  or  new  measures  in 
anticipation  of  his  contemporaries.  And  Rev.  Daniel  A.  Clark, 
Hon.  S.  F.  Dickinson,  Col.  Rufus  Graves  and  H.  Wright  Strong, 
Esq.,  were  all  similarly  constituted — were  all  full  of  new  ideas 
and  enterprises — were  all  men  of  ardent  temperament  and  strong 
faith,  and  thus  fitted  to  be  pioneers  of  reform  and  progress. 
Otherwise  they  never  would  have  founded  Amherst  College. 

Mr.  Strong  cultivated  the  primitive  grace  of  hospitality,  and 
opened  his  house  most  freely  for  the  entertainment  of  strangers 
as  well  as  for  the  reception  of  neighbors  and  friends.  Two  of 
his  sons  were  educated  in  Amherst  College  in  the  Class  of  '25. 

HI.  Kings  6  :  1-8.  This  passage  was  the  text  of  Rev.  Daniel  A.  Clark's  ser- 
mon at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone. 


124  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

One  of  these,  Henry  Wright  Strong,  entered  when  he  was  only 
ten  years  and  eight  months  old,  and  graduated  when  he  was 
fourteen.  He  was  afterwards  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments 
of  the  bar  at  Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  a  member  of  the  New  York  Sen- 
ate. Through  the  influence  of  Hon.  Samuel  C.  Allen,  Mr. 
Strong  obtained  the  appointment  of  Postmaster  in  Amherst, 
and  with  the  support  of  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  McConihe  of  Troy, 
held  it  through  several  successive  administrations.  We  can 
scarcely  refrain  from  noticing  how  many  of  the  founders  of  the 
College  received  their  reward  for  their  services  to  the  cause  of 
education  in  the  prosperity  and  filial  piety  of  their  well-educated 
children.  Mr.  Strong  died  at  Troy,  N.  Y.,  October  7,  1848,  at 
the  age  of  eighty. 

There  is  a  rugged  romance  in  the  lives  of  some  of  these  early 
founders  of  Amherst  College,  which,  if  drawn  out  into  particu- 
lars, would  form  an  instructive  and  moving  tale.  Or  rather  here 
is  an  unwritten  history  of  toils  and  sufferings,  self-denials  and 
sacrifices  for  the  public  good  which  is  worthy  of  a  place  in  the 
Book  of  Heroes  and  Martyrs.  Nay,  their  lives,  if  written,  would 
read  not  a  little  like  the  lives  of  those  Old  Testament  saints 
whom  the  apostle  enrolls  as  examples  of  faith  in  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  his  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  —  not  perfect  any  more 
than  they  were,  unsymmetrical  perhaps  and  unfinished  as  they 
were,  rugged  and  rough,  it  may  be,  like  some  of  the  old  prophets 
and  judges,  but,  like  them,  strong  in  faith  and  therefore  valiant 
in  fight,  mighty  in  endurance,  heroic  in  good  deeds,  almost 
prophetic  in  their  confident  anticipation  of  a  triumphant  issue 
to  their  apparently  hopeless  undertaking.  Nor  was  this  spirit 
confined  to  the  leaders.  It  pervaded  the  rank  and  file.  It  in- 
spired the  men,  women  and  children  of  Amherst.  Not  that  we 
suppose  they  were  all  influenced  solely  by  Christian  motives; 
perhaps  none  of  them  were  free  from  the  influence  of  local  con- 
siderations and  personal  interests.  But  they  were  all  ready  to 
deny  themselves  and  sacrifice  the  present  for  the  future,  the 
lower  for  the  higher  good.  And  very  many  of  all  ages  and  both 
sexes,  we  doubt  not,  devoted  their  time  and  toil  and  property 
and  reputation  to  the  work  in  the  very  spirit  of  missionaries, 
for  the  defence  of  the  truth,  for  the  propagation  of  a  pure  faith, 


OTHER   FOUNDERS.  125 

for  the  conversion  of  the  world,  and  for  the  honor  of  their  Divine 
Redeemer.  Time  would  fail  me  to  enumerate  those  who  were 
never  Trustees  or  Overseers  of  the  Fund,  and  who  never  re- 
ceived any  public  recognition  of  their  services.  There  was  Col. 
Elijah  Dickinson,  who  gave  the  land  on  which  the  earliest  Col- 
lege buildings  were  all  erected,  but  who  died  before  the  corner- 
stone of  one  was  laid.  There  was  John  Eastman,1  who  gave  a 
thousand  dollars  to  the  Charity  Fund,  and  five  hundred  to  the 
thirty  thousand  dollars  subscription,  when  his  whole  estate  did 
not  exceed  ten  or  twelve  thousand  dollars.  There  were  John 
Leland,  Calvin  Merrill,  Jarib  White,2  and  Joseph  Church,  Jr., 
who  joined  with  Dr.  Parsons,  H.  Wright  Strong  and  Samuel  F. 
Dickinson  in  signing  the  subsidiary  bond  and  thus  made  them- 
selves responsible  jointly  and  severally  for  the  sum  of  fifteen 
thousand  dollars.  We  give  these  only  as  specimens.  From 
these  learn  the  rest.  Their  names  are  all  written  in  heaven. 

"  Before  a  stroke  was  struck  which  led  to  the  founding  and 
establishment  of  Amherst  College,"  says  President  Humphrey3 
"  God  had  been  raising  up  and  qualifying  agents  altogether 
unconsciously  to  themselves,  to  take  the  lead  in  the  enterprise. 
And  in  looking  over  the  whole  ground  I  have  no  hesitation  in 
putting  the  name  of  Rufus  Graves  first.  He  was  an  educated 
man  of  a  remarkably  sanguine  temperament.  He  poured  his 
whole  soul  into  whatever  he  undertook,  and  made  light  of  ob- 
stacles which  in  the  very  beginning  would  have  discouraged  any 
other  man.  As  he  proceeded  in  circulating  the  subscription,  it 
absorbed  his  whole  mind.  It  became  a  perfect  passion  with  him. 
It  may  almost  be  said  that  he  thought  and  talked  of  nothing 
else.  So  entirely  was  he  devoted  to  this  one  object,  that  for 
weeks,  when  he  was  abroad,  he  forgot  that  he  had  a  family  at 
home  to  care  for.  In  this  arduous  service,  he  spent ,4  and 

1  Father  of  Rev.  O.  Eastman,  Secretary  of  American  Tract  Society,  of  Rev.  John 
Eastman,  and  of  Rev.  David  Eastman  of  the  Class  of  '35. 

2  Father  of  Mrs.  President  Hitchcock. 

8  In  a  manuscript  which  he  prepared  at  the  request  of  the  Trustees  to  aid  in 
furnishing  materials  for  a  history. 

4  The  amount  of  time  is  left  blank  in  the  manuscript.  It  was  a  little  less  than  a 
year  after  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  that  this  subscription  was  completed. 
It  was  a  year  and  eight  months,  however,  which  Col.  Graves  had  devoted  to  the 
effort  of  raising  funds,  from  the  first. 


126  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

succeeded  at  last  in  raising  the  subscription  with  a  responsible 
guarantee  to  fifty  thousand  dollars.  This,  it  was  believed,  no 
other  man  could  have  done.  And  without  this  fund  Amherst 
College  never  could  have  been  built  or  got  a  charter. 

"  But  he  never  could  have  originated  and  successfully  prose- 
cuted the  enterprise  without  the  checks  and  balances  of  cooler 
heads.  Such  men  also  God  had  raised  up  to  carry  forward  the 
undertaking.  They  were  men  of  faith  and  prayer.  They  were 
such  men  as  Noah  Webster,  Samuel  F.  Dickinson,  Nathaniel 
Smith,  Rev  John  Fiske,  Rev.  Thomas  Snell,  Rev.  Joshua  Crosby, 
Rev.  Theophilus  Packard,  John  Leland — all  good  men  and  true 
— with  others  of  like  precious  faith.1  I  have  (with  common 
consent  I  believe)  placed  Col.  Graves  at  the  head  of  the  list. 
And  from  all  the  information  I  can  get,  Mr.  Dickinson  is  enti- 
tled to  stand  next  as  his  intimate  adviser  and  helper.  Although 
ardent,  enterprising  and  hopeful  himself  in  an  eminent  degree, 
he  was  such  a  cool  and  reliable  adviser  as  Col.  Graves  needed, 
and  he  was  untiring  in  his  personal  services  as  well  as  liberal  in 
his  contributions." 

1  We  shall  pay  our  tribute  to  these  men  each  in  due  season. 


CHAPTER  X. 

PRESIDENT  HUMPHREY'S  ADMINISTRATION  FROM  1823  TO  1825— 
STRUGGLE  FOR  THE   CHARTER. 

PRESIDENT  MOORE  died  in  June,  1823.  In  July  of  the  same 
year,  Rev.  Heraan  Humphrey  was  chosen  to  the  presidency. 
His  ministry  of  ten  years  in  Fairfield,  Conn.,  had  been  eminently 
useful  and  successful.  He  had  now  been  nearly  six  years  pas- 
tor of  the  church  in  Pittsfield,  Mass.  His  labors  in  both  these 
places  had  been  blessed  with  revivals  of  religion  of  great  power. 
He  was  already  recognized  as  a  pioneer  and  leader  in  the  cause 
of  temperance.  He  was  a  zealous  champion  of  orthodoxy,  evan- 
gelical religion,  Christian  missions,  and  of  all  the  distinctive 
principles  of  the  founders  of  Amherst  College.  In  recognition 
of  his  high  standing  as  an  able  divine  and  an  efficient  pastor, 
he  had  just  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity 
from  Middlebury  College.  Although  a  Berkshire  pastor,  and 
a  Trustee  of  Williams  College,  he  felt  the  force  of  the  rea- 
sons for  its  removal,1  and  when  that  plan  was  defeated  by  the 
action  of  the  Legislature,  he  could  not  but  sympathize  with  the 
high  purpose  and  auspicious  beginning  of  the  Institution  at  Am- 
herst. There  were  ample  reasons  for  his  appointment.  What 
were  the  arguments  for  or  against  his  acceptance  ?  He  speaks 
of  this  as  "  the  most  trying  crisis  of  his  pastoral  life." 

He  was  ardently  attached  to  his  people.  They  were  equally 
attached  to  him.  To  go,  was  to  leave  the  pastoral  office  in  one 
of  the  largest  and  most  desirable  congregations  in  the  State. 

1  In  the  convention  at  Northampton,  of  which  Dr.  Moore  was  President,  and  Dr. 
Nelson,  Secretary,  Dr.  Humphrey  was  appointed  the  member  for  Berkshire,  of  a 
committee  to  raise  funds  for  the  removal  of  Williams  College  and  its  establishment 
at  Northampton. 


128  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

As  pastor,  he  was  eminently  successful ;  could  he  hope  to  be 
equally  successful  as  President  ?  The  Institution  to  which  he 
was  united,  had  no  permanent  foundation,  except  in  the  hearts 
and  the  prayers  of  its  friends.  Yet  he  could  not  look  with  in- 
difference on  their  efforts  and  sacrifices  to  promote  a  cause  which 
lay  so  near  his  own  heart.  His  parishioners  smiled  when  they 
first  heard  of  his  invitation  to  Amherst ;  when  they  learned  that 
he  was  considering  it,  they  remonstrated ;  when  he  proposed  a 
council  of  his  brethren  to  aid  him  in  deciding  the  question  of 
duty,  they  declined  to  unite  with  him  in  calling  it.  He  was 
obliged  to  call  it  without  their  co-operation  or  consent.  The 
council  advised  him  to  accept  the  presidency.  The  congregation 
reluctantly  consented,  and  the  pastoral  bond  was  dissolved. 
"  Nothing  now  remained  but  to  make  arrangements  for  my  re- 
moval, and  to  take  those  sad  farewells  which  cost  me  more 
anguish  of  soul  than  anything  in  my  long  life,  except  the  loss 
of  children."1 

On  the  15th  of  October,  1823,  Dr.  Humphrey  was  inducted 
into  the  presidency.  It  marks  a  characteristic  of  the  Institution, 
perhaps  also  of  the  age,  that  a  sermon  was  preached  on  the  oc- 
casion. The  preacher  was  Rev.  Richard  Salter  Storrs,  of  Brain- 
tree,  Mass.  "  It  was  a  discourse  of  scope,  adaptation,  eloquence 
and  power ;  in  all  respects  of  such  engrossing  interest,  as  to  make 
it  no  easy  task  for  the  speaker  who  should  come  after  him.  The 
wise  Sophomores  entertained  serious  doubts  whether  the  Presi- 
dent could  sustain  himself  in  his  inaugural.  But  this  feeling  soon 
subsided,  and  we  were  relieved  of  all  our  sophomoric  fears  and 
anxieties,  as  the  President  elect  with  a  master's  hand,  opened 
the  great  subject  of  education  —  education  physical,  mental, 
and  moral,  holding  his  audience  in  unbroken  stillness  for  per- 
haps an  hour  and  a  half.  If  we  were  captivated  by  the  eloquent 
preacher,  we  were  not  less  impressed  with  the  teachings  and 
philosophy  of  the  man  who  was  to  guide  our  feet  in  the  paths 
of  literature,  science,  and  heavenly  wisdom.  That  discourse 
established  in  our  minds,  his  fitness  for  the  position  ;  at  once  he 
seized  upon  our  confidence  and  esteem." 2 

1  See  Memorial  Sketches  of  Heman  Humphrey  and  Sophia  Porter  Humphrey. 

2  Manuscript  letter  of  Hon.  Lincoln  Clark,  of  the  Class  of  '25. 


PRESIDENT  HUMPHREY'S  INAUGURAL.  129 

Cool  and  impartial  criticism,  after  the  lapse  of  almost  half  a 
century,  can  not  but  justify  the  admiration  which  President 
Humphrey's  inaugural  inspired  in  the  minds  of  those  who  heard 
it.  Perhaps  nothing  has  ever  proceeded  from  his  pen  which 
illustrates  more  perfectly,  the  strong  common  sense,  the  prac- 
tical wisdom,  the  sharp  and  clear  Saxon  style,  the  vigor  of 
thought,  fervor  of  passion  and  boldness,  coupled  sometimes  with 
marvelous  felicity  of  expression,  and  the  healthy,  hearty,  robust 
tone  of  body,  soul  and  spirit,  which  the  Christian  public  for  so 
many  years  admired  and  loved  in  Dr.  Humphrey.1 

The  self-distrust  and  anxiety  with  which  he  entered  this  un- 
tried and  difficult  field  of  labor  are  well  drawn  in  the  opening 
sentences.  "  It  is  a  deeply  afflictive  and  mysterious  dispensa- 
tion of  Providence  which  has  so  lately  bereaved  this  infant 
Seminary  of  its  head,  and  by  which  I  am  now  brought  with 
inexperienced  and  trembling  steps  to  its  threshold.  If  prayer 
offered  to  God  without  ceasing  for  Dr.  Moore  on  his  sick  bed 
could  have  prolonged  his  invaluable  life ;  if  professional  assiduity 
could  have  warded  off  the  fatal  stroke  ;  or  if  agonized  affection 
could  have  shielded  him  in  her  embrace,  he  had  not  died  and 
left  this  favorite  child  of  his  adoption,  to  an  early  and  perilous 
orphanage." 

The  following  lively  paragraph  will  show  the  drift  of  his 
ideas  on  physical  education.  "  If  you  would  see  the  son  of 
your  prayers  and  hopes  blooming  with  health  and  rejoicing  daily 
in  the  full  and  sparkling  tide  of  youthful  buoyancy,  if  you  wish 
him  to  be  strong  and  athletic,  careless  of  fatigue ;  if  you  would 
fit  him  for  hard  labor  and  safe  exposure  to  winter  and  summer  ; 
or  if  you  would  prepare  him  to  sit  down  twelve  hours  in  a  day 
with  Euclid,  Enfield  and  Newton,  and  still  preserve  his  health, 
you  must  lay  the  foundation  accordingly,  you  must  begin  with 
him  early,  must  teach  him  self-denial  and  gradually  subject  him 
to  such  hardships  as  will  help  to  consolidate  his  frame  and  give 
increasing  energ}*-  to  all  his  physical  powers.  His  diet  must  be 
simple,  his  apparel  must  not  be  too  warm,  nor  his  bed  too  soft. 

1The  writer  will  be  pardoned  for  adding,  that  he  has  a  special  and  personal  rea- 
son for  an  affectionate  remembrance  of  this  inaugural,  since  it  was  the  reading  of  it 
in  a  distant  State,  that  brought  him  to  Amherst  College. 
9 


130  HISTOEY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

As  good  soil  is  commonly  so  much  cheaper  and  better  for  chil- 
dren than  medicine,  beware  of  too  much  restriction  in  the  man- 
agement of  your  darling  boy.  Let  him  in  choosing  his  play, 
follow  the  suggestions  of  nature.  Be  not  discomposed  at  the 
sight  of  his  sand  hills  in  the  road,  his  snow  forts  in  February 
and  his  mud  dams  in  April,  nor  when  you  chance  to  look  out  in 
the  midst  of  an  August  shower  and  see  him  wading  and  sailing 
arid  sporting  along  with  the  water-fowl.  If  you  would  make 
him  hardy  and  fearless,  let  him  go  abroad  as  often  as  he  pleases 
in  his  early  boyhood  and  amuse  himself  by  the  hour  together  in 
smoothing  and  twirling  the  hoary  locks  of  winter.  Instead  of 
keeping  him  shut  up  all  day  with  a  stove  and  graduating  his 
sleeping  room  by  Fahrenheit,  let  him  face  the  keen  edge  of  the 
nortli  wind  when  the  mercury  is  below  cypher,  and  instead  of 
minding  a  little  shivering  and  complaining  when  he  returns, 
cheer  up  his  spirits  and  send  him  out  again." 

There  is  nothing  more  robust  and  racy  than  that  in  Mr.  Beecher 
or  any  of  the  apostles  of  muscular  Christianity  in  our  day. 

On  the  second  division  of  his  discourse,  Mental  Education,  he 
says :  "  That  then  must  obviously  be  the  best  system  of  mental 
education  which  does  most  to  develop  and  strengthen  the  intel- 
lectual powers,  and  which  pours  into  the  mind  the  richest  streams 
of  science  and  literature.  The  object  of  teaching  should  never 
be  to  excuse  the  student  from  thinking  and  reasoning,  but  to 
learn  him  how  to  think  and  reason.  You  can  never  make  your 
son  or  your  pupil  a  scholar  by  drawing  his  diagrams,  measuring 
his  angles,  finding  out  his  equations  and  translating  his  Majora. 
No,  he  must  do  all  these  things  for  himself.  It  is  his  own  appli- 
cation that  is  to  give  him  distinction.  It  is  climbing  the  hill  of 
science  by  dint  of  effort  and  perseverance,  and  not  being  carried 
up  on  other  men's  shoulders." 

In  this  view,  he  proceeds  to  make  some  very  judicious  re- 
marks upon  the  possibility  of  excessive  simplification  of  text- 
books, abridgment  of  processes,  teaching  by  lectures,  itinerant 
lecturing  and  other  labor-saving  expedients,  while  at  the  same 
time  he  justly  appreciates  and  describes  with  glowing  eloquence 
the  rapid  and  splendid  conquests  of  general  science,  which  shed 
such  a  glory  upon  the  age. 


MORAL  EDUCATION.  131 

We  can  not  withhold  a  sentence  or  two  on  the  last  division, 
Moral  Education.  "  I  do  not  merely  say  that  this  branch  is  in- 
dispensable, for  in  a  sense  it  is  everything.  .  .  .  Without  the  fear 
of  God  nothing  can  be  secure  for  one  moment.  Without  the 
control  of  moral  and  religious  principles,  education  is  a  drawn 
and  polished  sword  in  the  hands  of  a  gigantic  maniac.  In  his 
madness  he  may  fall  upon  its  point  or  bathe  it  in  the  blood  of  the 
innocent.  .  .  .  Every  system  of  education  should  have  reference 
to  two  worlds,  but  chiefly  to  the  future,  because  the  present  is 
only  the  infancy  of  being,  and  the  longest  life  bears  no  propor- 
tion to  endless  duration.  .  .  .  May  a  worm  like  one  of  us  then 
aspire  to  the  honor  and  happiness  of  guiding  immortals  to 
heaven?  Who  would  exchange  such  a  privilege  for  the  dia- 
dems of  all  the  Csesars?" 

The  number  of  students  at  the  time  of  Dr.  Humphrey's  ac- 
cession to  the  presidency  was  nineteen  Seniors,  twenty-nine 
Juniors,  forty-one  Sophomores,  and  thirty-seven  Freshmen — 
total,  one  hundred  and  twenty-six,  of  whom,  we  learn  from 
the  cover  of  the  inaugural  address,  ninety-eight  were  hopefully 
pious.  The  Faculty,  at  the  commencement  of  the  new  admin- 
istration, consisted  of  the  same  persons  who  were  thus  associated 
with  President  Moore,  with  the  addition  of  Samuel  M.  Worces- 
ter as  Tutor.  On  the  catalogue  of  the  next  year,  published  in 
November,  1824,  we  find  the  name  of  Rev.  Nathan  W.  Fiske  in 
place  of  Joseph  Estabrook,  as  Professor  of  the  Latin  and  Greek 
Languages ;  Samuel  M.  Worcester,  Teacher  of  Languages  and 
Librarian;  and  Jacob  Abbott,  Tutor — all  names  familiar  after- 
wards as  Professors  under  the  charter.  The  new  President 
seems  to  have  made  no  change  in  the  studies  of  the  Senior 
class,  except  that  Locke  disappears  from  the  list  and  Vincent's 
Catechism  is  definitely  announced  for  every  Saturday — a  place 
which  it  continued  to  occupy  through  Dr.  Humphrey's  entire 
presidency.  Instruction  is  also  offered  in  the  Hebrew,  French 
and  German  Languages,  to  such  as  wish  it,  for  a  reasonable  com- 
pensation. The  President  is  still  the  sole  teacher  of  the  Senior 
class.  He  instructed  them  in  Rhetoric,  Logic,  Natural  Theology, 
the  Evidences  of  Christianity,  Intellectual  and  Moral  Philoso- 
phy and  Political  Economy.  He  also  presided  at  the  weekly 


132  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

declamations  in  the  chapel,  and  criticised  the  compositions  of 
one  or  more  of  the  classes.  He  preached  on  the  Sabbath,  occa- 
sionally, in  the  village  church,  so  long  as  the  students  worshiped 
there ;  and  when  a  separate  organization  was  deemed  advisable, 
he  became  the  pastor  of  the  College  church  and  preached  every 
Sabbath  to  the  congregation.  He  also  sustained  (from  the  first, 
I  believe,)  a  weekly  religious  lecture,  on  Thursday  evening. 
He  early  drew  up  the  first  code  of  written  and  printed  "Laws 
of  the  Collegiate  Charity  Institution,"  the  original  of  which  is 
still  preserved  in  his  own  handwriting,  and  labored  to  introduce 
more  perfect  order  and  system  into  the  still  imperfectly  organ- 
ized seminary.  At  the  same  time,  he  was  compelled  to  take  the 
lead  in  a  perpetual  struggle  for  raising  funds  and  obtaining  a 
charter. 

Under  such  circumstances,  it  is  not  surprising  that  Dr.  Hum- 
phrey did  not  at  once  command  the  highest  respect  and  venera- 
tion of  the  students  in  the  chair  of  instruction.  Accustomed 
to  love  and  almost  worship  his  predecessor,  they  very  naturally 
drew  comparisons  to  his  disadvantage.  Dr.  Moore  had  been  a 
teacher  for  the  larger  part  of  his  life.  Dr.  Humphrey  had  no 
experience  in  the  government  or  the  instruction  of  a  College. 
His  strength  at  this  time  was  in  the  pulpit  and  the  pastoral  office. 
The  students  also  contrasted  his  plain  manners,  his  distance  and 
reserve,  with  the  courtly  air  and  winning  address  of  his  prede- 
cessor. Hence,  while  he  enjoyed  their  respect  as  a  man,  their 
confidence  as  a  Christian,  and  their  admiration  as  an  eloquent 
preacher ;  as  a  teacher  and  a  president  he  was  not  popular  with 
his  earlier  classes.  "  We  received  some  remarkable  instruction," 
writes  a  member  of  the  first  class  that  was  taught  by  him  and 
graduated  under  him  ;  "  mainly  concerning  ethics  and  the  eveiy- 
day  aff.iirs  of  life,  from  President  Humphrey.  We  were,  how- 
ever, much  less  benefitted  by  his  teachings  than  succeeding 
classes,  for  the  reasons  that  he  was  not  yet  .experienced  as  a 
College  lecturer,  and  that  he  was  obliged  to  be  often  absent  in 
soliciting  aid  for  the  Institution,  and  in  struggling  to  extort  a 
charter  from  a  recusant  Legislature.  As  a  preacher  and  pastor 
we  were  well  pleased  with  him.  His  character  and  deportment 
harmonized  with  the  doctrines  he  inculcated.  His  fairness, 


THE  GOOSE   STORY.  133 

charity  and  sincerity  were  beautiful.  His  pulpit  ministrations 
were,  of  course,  specially  valuable  for  those  who  subsequently 
became  clergymen.  Upon  these  young  men  he  impressed  the 
stamp  of  his  own  ministerial  style  so  distinctly,  that  it  was 
rarely  obliterated  by  any  succeeding  influence  of  theological 
seminaries.  Thus  Dr.  Humphrey  has  shone  with  a  reflected 
light  through  an  entire  generation  of  zealous  pastors  and  able 
preachers." l 

Influenced  by  the  religious  character  and  reputation  of  the 
College,  pious  parents  who  had  wild  and  wayward  sons,  were 
already  beginning  to  send  them  in  considerable  numbers  to  Am- 
herst,  in  the  hope  of  their  reformation.  These  young  men,  like 
the  youthful  Saul  of  Tarsus,  very  naturally  felt  themselves  in 
duty  bound,  to  recalcitrate  against  these  very  moral  and  Chris- 
tian influences,  and  were,  perhaps,  peculiarly  ready  to  practice 
on  the  Faculty  such  pranks  and  jokes  as  are  the  especial  delight 
of  Sophomores  in  College.  A  joke  of  this  kind  perpetrated 
about  this  time  upon  Dr.  Humphrey,  has  already  taken  its  place 
as  a  classic  among  the  most  famous  of  College  stories,  and  de- 
serves to  be  narrated  here,  not  only  as  illustrative  of  his  character 
and  administration,  but  because  it  proved  a  turning-point  in  his 
reputation.  Perhaps  it  should  be  told  for  another  reason,  also, 
viz :  that  it  may  be  told  correctly  ;  for  I  have  before  me,  at  least, 
half  a  dozen  versions  of  the  story,  all  from  eye-witnesses,  yet, 
like  the  testimony  of  the  eye-witnesses  to  the  event  seen  by  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh,  from  the  window  of  his  prison,  no  two  of  them 
alike  in  their  details.  The  Doctor's  recollection  is  more  likely 
to  be  correct,  than  that  of  the  students,  and  the  story  can  not 
be  better  told  than  in  his  own  words : 

"  Two  rooms  in  the  old  College  had  been  thrown  together 
for  a  temporary  chapel,  with  a  small,  rough  desk  at  one  end,  in 
which  it  was  thought  a  good  joke,  I  suppose,  only  to  try  ones 
metal,  and  see  whether  it  would  ring  or  not.  Accordingly  one 
morning  as  I  came  into  prayers,  I  found  the  chair  preoccupied 
by  a  goose.  She  looked  rather  shabby  to  be  sure,  nevertheless 
it  was  a  veritable  goose.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  she  did  not 
salute  me  with  so  much  as  a  hiss  for  my  unceremonious  intru- 

i  Prof.  C.  U.  Shepard,  Class  of  '24. 


134  HISTORY    OF    AMHEEST    COLLEGE. 

sion.  It  might  be  because  I  did  not  offer  to  take  the  chair. 
As  anybody  might  venture  to  stand  a  few  moments,  even  in 
such  a  presence,  I  carefully  drew  the  chair  up  behind  me  as 
close  as  I  safely  could,  went  through  the  exercises,  and  the  stu- 
dents retired  in  the  usual  orderly  manner ;  not  more  than  two 
or  three,  I  believe,  having  noticed  anything  uncommon.  In  the 
course  of  the  day  it  was  reported  that  as  soon  as  they  found  out 
what  had  happened,  they  were  highly  excited  and  proposed 
calling  a  College  meeting,  to  express  their  indignation  that  such 
an  insult  had  been  offered  by  one  of  their  number.  The  hour 
of  evening  prayers  came,  and  at  the  close  of  the  usual  exer- 
cises, I  asked  the  young  gentlemen  to  be  seated  a  moment.  I 
then  stated  what  I  had  heard,  and  thanked  them  for  the  kind 
interest  they  had  taken  in  the  matter,  told  them  it  was  just 
what  I  should  expect  from  gentlemen  of  such  high  and  honor- 
able feelings,  but  begged  them  not  to  give  themselves  the  least 
trouble  in  the  premises.  '  You  know,'  I  said,  '  that  the  Trus- 
tees have  just  been  here  to  organize  a  College  Faculty.  Their 
intention  was  to  provide  competent  instructors  in  all  the  depart- 
ments, so  as  to  meet  the  capacity  of  every  student.  But  it 
seems  that  one  student  was  overlooked,  and  I  am  sure  they  will 
be  glad  to  learn  that  he  has  promptly  supplied  the  deficiency, 
by  choosing  a  goose  for  his  tutor.  Par  noUle  fratrum.'  ' 

The  effect  may  well  be  imagined.  It  is  thus  told  by  one  of 
the  students  :  "  As  the  boys  went  down  the  stairs  after  morning 
prayers,  there  was  first  the  whisper,  then  the  mirthful  interro- 
gation, and  then  the  loud  shout.  *  Did  you  see  the  gander,  the 
gander  in  the  Old  Prex's  chair  ? '  '  Hurrah  for  the  gander ! ' 
4  A  gander  for  President ! '  Presidential  stock  which  was  not 
above  par  before,  went  down  that  morning  to  a  very  low 
figure. 

"  But  at  evening  prayers  the  tables  were  turned.  The  Presi- 
dent's '•Par  nobile  fratrum,'  with  its  accompanying  bow  of 
dismissal,  was  instantly  followed  by  a  -round  of  applause.  And 
such  shouts  of  derision  as  the  boys  raised  while  they  went  down 
those  three  flights  of  stairs,  crying,  '  Who  is  brother  to  the 
goose  ?  '  '  Who  is  brother  to  the  goose  ?  '  The  question  was 
never  answered.  But  from  that  hour  presidential  stock  went 


PETITION   FOR   A  CHARTER.  135 

up  to  a  high  figure,  and  never  descended  while  I  had  any  per- 
sonal acquaintance  with  Amherst  College." l 

"  As  the  students  passed  out  of  the  chapel,"  writes  another 
student,  "there  was  a  general  inspection  of  outer  garments, 
especially  among  a  certain  class  of  the  students  who  were  pre- 
disposed to  fun  and  mischief,  to  see  if  feathers  or  at  least  down, 
might  not  betray  the  unlucky  wight  who  had  inducted  the  new 
tutor  into  office  and  who  had  now  found  his  proper  place  as 
brother  to  the  goose." 2 

But  while  the  President  was  thus  working  his  way  into  the 
respect  and  affections  of  the  students,  the  necessity  for  a  charter 
was  growing  more  and  more  imperative,  for  one  class  after  an- 
other was  advancing  towards  the  close  of  their  curriculum,  and 
finding  that  there  was  no  prospect  of  their  receiving  a  diploma, 
they  grew  dissatisfied,  and  it  was  with  increasing  difficulty  that 
they  were  persuaded  to  continue  and  complete  their  course  when 
there  was  so  little  chance  that  they  would  ever  be  able  to  receive 
a  diploma.  "We  must  now  go  back  a  little,  and  trace  the  efforts 
to  obtain  a  charter  from  their  beginning. 

The  first  application  to  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  for 
a  charter  was  made  in  the  winter  session  of  1823.  The  peti- 
tion of  President  Moore  that  the  "  Institution  in  Amherst  for 
giving  a  classical  education  to  pious  young  men,  may  be  incor- 
porated," 3  was  referred  to  a  Joint  Committee  of  the  two  Houses 
on  the  17th  and  18th  of  January.  The  friends  of  the  College, 
including  President  Moore,  appeared  before  the  committee,  and 
after  presenting  their  claims  for  a  charter,  modestly  asked  or 
proposed  that  the  question  be  referred  to  the  next  General 
Court,  and  the  committee  having 'agreed  to  report  according 
to  this  request,  they  returned  to  Amherst  not  doubting  that 
such  a  reference,  almost  always  granted  as  a  matter  of  cour- 
tesy, would  as  usual  be  granted  to  them.  On  the  25th  of  Jan- 
uary, the  committee  reported  according  to  expectation,  that  the 
petition  be  referred  to  the  next  General  Court.  But  so  far 
from  being  treated  with  the  usual  courtesy,  the  report  was  not 

1  Rev.  T.  R.  Cressey,  Class  of  '28.  2  Rev.  Asa  Billiard,  Class  of  '28. 

8  Such  is  the  language  of  the  journal  of  the  Legislature.     I  have  been  unable  to 
find  a  copy  of  the  petition  either  printed  or  writteu. 


136  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

accepted,  and  the  petition  was  unceremoniously  rejected  by  both 
Houses,  nearly  all  the  members  voting  against  it,  including  the 
representative  from  Amherst.1 

Such  uncourteous  and  unreasonable  opposition  only  increased 
the  number  and  zeal  of  the  friends  of  the  College.  Nothing 
daunted,  they  resolved  to  renew  their  application  for  a  charter 
at  the  very  next  session.  Accordingly  in  June,  1823,  a  petition 
was  presented  by  Rev.  Dr.  Moore,  Hon.  John  Hooker  and  others 
of  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy,  representing  that  the  said 
Trustees  had  been  intrusted  with  the  funds  of  the  Collegiate  In- 
stitution at  Amherst,  stating  the  character  and  progress  of  the  In- 
stitution, and  requesting  that  they  might  be  invested  with  such 
corporate  powers  as  are  usually  given  to  the  Trustees  of  Colleges. 

At  the  same  session  of  the  Legislature  a  memorial  was  pre- 
sented from  the  subscribers  of  the  Charity  Fund,  representing 
that  they  had  associated  together  for  the  purpose  of  founding 
an  Institution  on  principles  of  charity  and  benevolence  for  the 
instruction  of  youth  in  all  the  branches  of  literature  and  science 
usually  taught  in  Colleges,  stating  that  they  had  committed  the 
management  of  their  fund  to  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  Acad- 
emy under  whose  direction  the  Institution  had  prospered  beyond 
their  most  sanguine  expectations,  and  praying  that  the  request 
of  said  Trustees  to  be  invested  with  corporate  powers,  might  be 
granted.  The  petition  and  memorial  were  referred  to  a  Joint 
Committee  from  both  Houses  of  the  Legislature.  Of  this  com- 
mittee consisting  of  seven  members,  six  agreed  in  a  report  in 
favor  of  the  petitioners  having  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill. 

In  the  remarks  of  Hon.  Sherman  Leland,  chairman  of  this 
committee,  in  presenting  this  report  to  the  Senate,  it  is  stated, 
that  the  allegations  of  the  petitioners  have  been  substantially 
supported,  that  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  College  have  indeed 
received  in  trust,  a  subscription  of  a  permanent  fund  of  fifty 

1  An  old  feud  between  the  East  and  West  Parishes,  originating  in  party  politics 
and  personal  animosities,  extended  its  influence  to  the  College.  The  Amlierst 
representative  in  the  winter  session  of  1823  was  a  member  of  the  East  Parish, 
and  a  "Democrat."  The  next  two  years  the  town  was  represented  by  a  member 
of  the  West  Parish,  who  voted  for  the  charter.  In  this  quarrel  which  has  long 
since  ceased,  the  East  street  was  familiarly  called  Sodom,  and  the  West,  Mount 
Zion. 


REMARKS   OF   HON.   MR.   LELAND.  137 

thousand  dollars  of  which  forty-four  thousand  dollars  has  al- 
ready been  secured  by  actual  payment  or  by  notes  or  bonds  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  Overseers ;  that  a  new  subscription  has 
been  commenced,  payable  on  condition  that  thirty  thousand  dol- 
lars shall  be  subscribed,  by  the  28th  of  June,  which,  judging 
from  the  advanced  state  of  the  subscription,  will  unquestionably 
be  done ;  that  after  deducting  a  debt  of  about  fifteen  thousand 
dollars  incurred  for  buildings,  library  and  apparatus,  the  monied 
funds  may  be  estimated  at  about  sixty-five  thousand  dollars,  and 
the  buildings  and  other  property  at  thirty  thousand  dollars, 
making  the  whole  amount  of  property  belonging  to  the  Institu- 
tion ninety-five  thousand  dollars ;  and  that  the  income  of  these 
monied  funds  will  pay  the  bills  of  a  large  number  of  pious  and 
indigent  young  men,  which  income,  together  with  the  College' 
bills  of  others  who  are  not  charity  students,  and  whose  whole 
expense  at  Amherst  need  not  exceed  one  hundred  dollars  a  year, 
will  be  sufficient  to  support  a  competent  number  of  able  in- 
structors. On  such  a  showing,  the  Trustees  and  donors  and  the 
friends  of  the  Institution  demand  an  act  of  incorporation  not 
merely  as  a  favor  but  as  their  right.  In  answer  to  the  objection 
that  if  this  College  is  chartered,  its  prosperity  may  injure  the 
other  Colleges  of  the  State,  Mr.  Leland  argues  that  there  will 
always  be  a  sufficient  number  of  gentlemen  of  opulence  who 
will  choose  to  send  their  sons  to  Cambridge,  while  if  students 
from  the  middling  walks  of  life  can  be  educated  at  Amherst  at 
one-third  the  expense  of  an  education  at  Cambridge,  it  will  be 
so  much  clear  gain  to  the  Commonwealth  ;  and  in  regard  to 
Williams  College,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  its  numbers  are  not 
yet  diminished,  while  the  two  Institutions  now  contain  more 
than  double  the  number  that  were  in  the  habit  of  going  to  Wil- 
liamstown  before  the  Institution  at  Amherst  was  established. 

After  listening  to  these  remarks  of  the  chairman  of  the  Joint 
Committee,  without  further  discussion,  the  Senate  voted  on 
Monday,  June  9th,  to  refer  the  consideration  of  the  report  to 
the  next  session  of  the  same  General  Court,1  and  on  Tuesday 
the  10th,  the  House  of  Representatives  concurred  with  the 

1  At  this  time,  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  held  two  annual  sessions,  the  sura- 
mer  session  commencing  in  Maj,  and  the  winter  session  commencing  in  January. 


138  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Senate  in  so  referring  it.  Just  fifteen  days  after,  President 
Moore  sickened,  and,  after  an  illness  of  only  four  days,  died, 
his  death  being  hastened,  no  doubt,  if  not  caused  by  repeated 
disappointments  and  delays  in  the  incorporation  of  the  College, 
and  his  toils  and  cares  now  devolved  on  his  successor. 

Both  parties  now  made  good  use  of  the  intervening  time  to 
prepare  for  the  approaching  conflict.  The  Trustees  of  Williams 
College  prepared  and  presented  a  remonstrance  against  the  in- 
corporation of  Amherst  as  an  encroachment  on  the  territory,  an 
invasion  of  the  rights  and  injurious  to  the  prosperity  of  the  In- 
stitution under  their  care.  No  remonstrance  came  from  Harvard, 
and  the  newspapers  of  that  day  remark  upon  the  contrast  to  the 
disadvantage  of  Williams  ;  but  the  friends  and  supporters  of. 
Harvard  were  for  the  most  part  unfriendly  to  the  chartering  of 
another  College  in  the  State,  and  used  their  influence  against  it 
as  zealously,  and  for  a  time  as  effectually,  as  they  had  opposed 
the  chartering  of  Queen's  College  in  the  same  section  in  1760. 
Brown  University  at  this  time  had  nearly  a  hundred  students 
from  Massachusetts ;  and  its  patrons  very  naturally  looked  with 
a  jealous  eye  upon  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  Amherst  as 
prejudicial  to  their  favorite  Institution. l  Local  feeling  carried 
not  a  few  of  the  neighboring  towns,  and  no  small  portion  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Amherst  itself,  in  opposition  to  the  College  in  the 
days  of  its  early  weakness. 2  And  to  complete  the  catalogue  of 
opposing  powers,  last  not  least,  the  same  theological  prejudice  and 
passion  which  opposed  and  for  some  time  defeated  the  incorpora- 
tion of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover  and  of  the  Amer- 
ican Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  were  now 
arrayed  against  Amherst  College,  and  with  the  same  result. 

To  counteract  so  far  as  possible  all  these  opposing  influences, 
a  committee  of  the  Trustees  prepared  a  statement  which  was 

1  "  One  of  the  most  severe  and  satirical  speeches  against  Amherst  in  the  Legisla- 
ture, was  spoken  as  a  declamation  at  Brown,  and  heard  with  shouts  of  laughter  by 
the  students,  to  the  no  small  amusement  and  gratification  of  the  President  and 
Professors."     One  of  these  Professors  afterwards  sent  his  son  to  Amherst,  who,  in 
the  language  of  that  son,  "  would  as  soon  have  cut  off  his  right  hand  as  to  have 
sent  a  son  to  Amherst  a  few  years  previous." 

2  "During  the  year  in  which  the  first  building  was  erected,  I  was  fitting  for  Col- 
lege at  the  Academy  in  Hadley,  and  there  I  heard  good  people  speak  of  it  as  a 
'  Monument  of  Amherst  Folly.' " — Hon.  Lincoln  Clark,  Class  of  '25. 


PETITION   RENEWED.  189 

widely  circulated,  both  in  the  form  of  a  pamphlet  and  through  the 
newspaper  press.  It  contains,  among  other  documents,  a  cer- 
tificate of  the  Treasurer,  John  Leland,  Jr.,  that  (in  addition  to 
the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  previously  subscribed  for  a 
permanent  fund,  and  in  addition  to  many  generous  donations  in 
materials,  work  and  money  towards  the  erection  of  College 
buildings  and  a  President's  house)  the  proposed  subscription  of 
thirty  thousand  dollars,  which  was  commenced  the  28th  of  June, 
1822,  was  actually  completed,  according  to  the  conditions,  in  one 
year  from  that  date.  It  announces  also,  that  since  the  last 
session  of  the  Legislature,  the  venerable  Dr.  Moore  has  left  to 
the  Institution  a  residuary  legacy  which  is  valued  at  about 
•five  thousand  dollars,  and  Mr.  Adam  Johnson  has  also  bequeathed 
to  it  about  five  thousand  dollars.  It  gives  a  table  showing  the 
distance  of  Amherst  from  other  Colleges,  and  its  central  situa- 
tion in  regard  to  Western  Massachusetts,  and  especially  in  the 
old  County  of  Hampshire,  "  which,  according  to  the  catalogues 
of  1823,  furnishes  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  College  stu- 
dents, only  eight  of  whom  are  at  Harvard,  and  nineteen  at  Wil- 
liams/' It  also  states  that  a  mail-stage,  running  between  Hart- 
ford, and  Hanover,  N.  H.,  passes  by  the  College  every  day  of  the 
week  except  Sunday,  and  another  running  between  Boston  and 
Albany,  passes  by  the  College  four  times  a  week,  which  regula- 
tion commenced  the  first  of  January  instant,  (1824.)  From  an 
examination  of  the  catalogues  for  1823  of  Colleges  in  which 
New  England  students  are  educated,  it  is  shown  that  out  of  five 
hundred  and  sixty-nine  students  furnished  by  Massachusetts, 
three  hundred  and  six  (a  considerable  majority)  choose  to  go  to 
other  Institutions  rather  than  Harvard  or  Williams,  and  that 
fifty-eight  more  go  out  of  the  State  than  come  into  it  for  an 
education,  whereas  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  more  go  into 
the  State  of  Connecticut  than  go  out  of  it,  and  while  Rhode 
Island  furnishes  only  forty-two  students  to  other  Colleges, 
Brown  University  in  that  State  contains  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
four  students,  ninety-four  of  whom  are  from  Massachusetts  — 
all  of  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  committee,  is  a  plain  demon- 
stration that  the  honor,  the  interest  and  the  public  opinion  of  the 
State  call  for  another  incorporated  College. 


140  HISTORY   OF   AMHEBST   COLLEGE. 

On  Wednesday,  the  21st  of  January,  1824,  according  to  the 
vote  of  reference  passed  at  the  summer  session,  the  report  of 
the  Joint  Committee  in  favor  of  granting  a  charter,  came  up  in 
the  Senate,  and  it  was  debated  during  the  greater  part  of  three 
days  by  twelve  of  the  ablest  members.  The  first  day  the  char- 
ter was  earnestly  advocated  by  five  senators,  and  as  earnestly 
opposed  by  three.  The  second  day,  the  friends  of  the  charter 
had  the  field  all  to  themselves,  and  three  senators  occupied  with 
their  arguments  nearly  the  whole  time  usually  given  to  debate. 
On  the  third  day,  the  oppcsers  rallied,  and  two  senators  spoke 
in  opposition,  and  Hon.  Mr.  Leland,  the  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee, who  had  spoken  also  on  each  of  the  two  preceding  days, 
now  concluded  the  argument  in  favor  of  an  act  of  incorporation. 
The  longest  and  one  of  the  ablest  speeches  in  behalf  of  the 
College,  was  made  by  Hon.  Samuel  Hubbard,1  of  Boston.  He 
says  that  the  objections  against  the  charter,  so  far  as  he  has 
learned,  are  four,  all  founded  on  local  or  petty  considerations. 
1,  That  another  College  is  not  needed.  2,  That  Williams  Col- 
lege will  be  injured.  3,  That  it  is  inexpedient  to  multiply  Col- 
leges. 4,  That  the  petitioners  will  ask  for  money.  In  answer 
to  the  first  objection,  he  argues  that  there  is  a  great  want  of 
men  of  education  and  piety  and  morals ;  and  that  this  want  is 
felt  by  the  good  people  of  the  Commonwealth,  is  proved  by 
their  voluntary  contributions  to  the  Institution  at  Amherst. 
"  There  is  seldom  an  instance  of  a  College  being  founded  like 
this,  by  the  voluntary  contributions  of  thousands.  Out  of  the 
fifty  Colleges  in  England,  there  is  not  one  but  what  was  founded 
by  an  individual,  except  Christ  College,  in  Oxford."  In  answer 
to  the  second  objection,  he  points  to  the  fact  that  the  number  of 
students  at  Williams  College  has  increased  from  an  average  of 
sixty  or  seventy,  to  one  hundred  and  eighteen,  and  that  of  Am- 
herst being  one  hundred  and  twenty-six,  the  two  Institutions 
contain  more  than  three  times  the  previous  average  at  Williams. 
In  reply  to  the  third  objection,  he  insists,  as  many  other  sena- 
tors did,  that  small  Colleges  are  better  than  large  ones,  and  two 
hundred  students  can  be  governed  and  instructed  much  better 
than  four  hundred.  In  answer  to  the  fourth  objection,  several 

1  Afterwards  Judge  Hubbard  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


SPEECH   OF   HON.   SAMUEL   HUBBARD.  141 

preceding  speakers  had  argued  that  granting  the  charter  did  not 
involve  the  necessity  or  the  duty  of  giving  money ;  but  Mr. 
Hubbard  said,  "  What  if  it  does  ?  Such  grants  do  not  impov- 
erish the  State.  The  liberal  grants  which  have  been  made  to 
Harvard  and  Williams,  are  the  highest  honor  of  the  State,  and 
have  redounded  to  the  good  of  the  people." 

Meeting  boldly  and  on  high  ground  the  prejudice  against  Am- 
herst  as  an  Orthodox  Institution,  Mr.  Hubbard  declares,  that 
"  all  that  is  great  and  good  in  our  land,  sprung  from  Orthodoxy. 
The  spirit  of  Orthodoxy  animated  the  Pilgrims  whom  we  de- 
light to  honor  as  our  forefathers.  It  has  founded  all  our  Col- 
leges and  is  founded  on  a  Rock." 

More  than  one  of  the  speakers  reminded  the  Senate  that  Am- 
herst  represented  not  only  the  Orthodoxy,  but  the  yeomanry  of 
Massachusetts,  and  they  must  be  prepared  to  give  an  account 
of  their  votes  to  the  mass  of  the  people.  "  If  we  refuse  a  char- 
ter," said  Hon.  Mr.  Fiske,  "  how  are  we  when  we  leave  this  hall, 
how  are  we  to  face  the  mass  of  population  who  are  interested 
in  this  College  ?  They  will  say,  '  you  incorporate  theatres,  you 
incorporate  hotels,  you  have  incorporated  a  riding  school.  Are 
you  more  accommodating  to  such  institutions  than  to  those 
which  are  designed  to  promote  the  great  interests  of  literature, 
science,  and  religion  ? ' ' 

"  By  refusing  a  charter,"  says  Hon.  Mr.  Leland,  "  the  great 
body  of  country  citizens  are  wantonly  deprived  of  the  privilege 
of  a  College.  Something  more  than  the  feelings  of  Orthodoxy 
will  be  awakened.  The  people  will  feel  that  there  is  a  disposi- 
tion on  the  part  of  Government  to  maintain  an  aristocratic  mo- 
nopoly. And  rely  upon  it,  your  next  election  will  bring  persons 
here  who  will  acknowledge  the  rights  of  the  people." 

The  vote  was  at  length  taken,  on  Friday,  January  23d,  and 
the  question  being  on  the  acceptance  of  the  report,  giving  leave 
to  bring  in  a  bill,  twenty -two  out  of  thirty-seven  voted  in  the 
affirmative. 

On  Tuesday,  January  27th,  the  subject  was  taken  up  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  debated  with  much  earnestness 
on  that  and  the  three  following  days,  and  then  postponed  till 
the  next  week.  On  Tuesday,  February  3d,  it  was  resumed,  and 


142  HISTORY  OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

further  discussed,  and  the  question  being  taken,  on  concurring 
with  the  Senate,  it  was  decided  in  the  negative  by  a  majority  of 
nineteen  votes  out  of  one  hundred  and  ninety-nine. 

"  So,"  says  the  editor  of  the  Boston  Telegraph,  (Gerard  Hal- 
lock,)  "the  House  declined  to  incorporate  the  College.  Al- 
though the  result  is  not  such  as  the  numerous  friends  of  the 
College  could  have  wished,  it  is  certainly  no  discouraging  cir- 
cumstance that  so  great  a  change  has  taken  place  in  the  views  of 
the  Legislature  on  the  subject,  and  especially  in  the  views  of  the 
community.  Let  the  same  spirit  go  on  for  a  few  months  longer, 
and  the  Institution  at  Amherst  will  be,  what  it  doubtless  ought 
to  be,  a  chartered  College." 

Grieved,  but  not  disheartened  by  this  result,  the  guardians 
and  friends  of  the  College  resolved  to  renew  the  application  and 
began  at  once  the  preparations  for  a  third  campaign.  The  first 
campaign  document  was  an  announcement  of  their  intention  to 
apply  again  to  the  Legislature  for  a  charter,  together  with  a 
concise  statement  of  the  reasons  why  such  a  petition  ought  to 
be  granted.  This  document,  signed  by  President  Humphrey 
and  bearing  date,  March  12,  1824,  was  published  in  more  than 
thirty  newspapers  in  all  parts  of  the  Commonwealth.  And 
such  was  the  sympathy  manifested  by  the  press,  and  such  also, 
the  increase  in  the  number  of  students,  that  a  conundrum,  started 
by  the  G-reenfield  Gazette,  went  the  rounds  of  the  newspapers : 
"  Why  are  the  friends  of  Amherst  College,  like  the  Hebrews  in 
Egypt  ?  Because  the  more  they  are  oppressed,  the  more  they 
multiply  and  prosper." 

The  petition  of  the  Trustees  was  backed  by  a  petition  of  the 
founders  and  proprietors  which  was  signed  by  about  four-fifths 
of  the  subscribers  to  the  Chanty  Fund.  And  these  were  further 
supported  by  more  than  thirty  petitions  from  as  many  different 
towns,  and  signed  by  more  than  five  hundred  subscribers  to  other 
funds.  In  the  Senate,  the  petition  was  promptly  referred  to  a 
committee  of  three,  to  be  joined  by  the  House.  In  the  House 
an  attempt  was  made  to  prevent  even  a  reference.  But  after 
considerable  discussion,  this  was  almost  unanimously  voted  down, 
and  a  committee  of  four  members  was  joined  to  that  already  ap- 
pointed by  the  Senate,  and  all  the  petitions,  together  with  a  re- 


PRESIDENT    HUMPHREY   BEFORE   THE    COMMITTEE.        143 

monstrance  from  Williams  College,  were  referred  to  this  Joint 
Committee. 

On  Monday,  May  31st,  President  Humphrey  appeared  before 
the  Joint  Committee,  and,  in  the  presence  of  a  crowd  of  specta- 
tors, pleaded  the  cause  of  the  petitioners  in  a  speech  which  was 
as  entertaining  as  it  was  unanswerable,  and  which  Hon.  Lewis 
Strong  of  Northampton,  a  competent  and  impartial  judge,  pro- 
nounced to  be  probably  the  ablest  speech  which  was  made  in 
the  State  House  during  that  session  of  that  Legislature.  On 
the  following  day,  after  an  examination  of  witnesses,  Homer 
Bartlett,  Esq.,  of  Williamstown,  appeared  on  the  part  of  the 
opposition  and  spoke  against  the  incorporation,  and  was  followed 
by  Hon.  Mr.  Davis,  Solicitor-General  of  the  State,  in  an  able 
and  eloquent  plea  in  favor  of  granting  the  charter.  On  Thurs- 
day, the  committee  reported  that  the  petitioners  have  leave  to 
bring  in  a  bill.  This  report  was  brought  before  the  Senate  the 
same  day,  and  accepted  without  any  opposition.  On  Friday, 
the  subject  was  taken  up  in  the  House,  and  after  considerable 
debate,  assigned  to  eleven  o'clock  on  Tuesday  of  the  ensuing 
week.  Thus  the  consideration  of  the  matter  was  put  off  to 
within  five  days  of  the  close  of  the  session.  When  it  came  up 
again  on  Tuesday,  a  desperate  effort  was  made  to  secure  first 
an  indefinite  postponement,  and  then  a  reference  to  the  next 
session.  Both  these  motions  having  been  negatived  by  a  large 
majority,  the  House  adjourned  to  four  o'clock  P.  M.,  when  an 
animated  and  earnest  discussion  ensued,  which  continued  till 
a  late  hour  in  the  evening,  and  was  resumed  at  nine  o'clock 
the  next  morning.1  "  It  was  strenuously  argued  in  opposi- 
tion, chiefly  by  members  from  Berkshire  and  our  own  neigh- 
borhood, that  a  third  College  was  not  wanted  in  Massachusetts; 
that  according  to  our  own  showing,  we  had  not  funds  to  sustain 
a  College ;  that  nothing  like  the  amount  presented  on  paper 
would  ever  be  realized ;  and  that  there  was  reason  to  believe 

1  One  of  the  ablest  advocates  of  the  claims  of  the  College,  in  this  debate,  was 
Bradford  Sumner,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  who  was,  I  believe,  a  partner  of  Judge  Hub- 
bard,  in  the  law.  On  the  other  side,  Rev.  Mr.  Mason,  of  Northfield,  a  rum-selling 
and  pugnacious  Unitarian  minister,  read  a  speech  an  hour  long,  which  was  full  of 
scorn  about  "Orthodoxy,"  "hopeful  piety,"  "evangelizing  the  world,"  etc.,  etc. 


144  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

that  many  of  the  subscriptions  had  been  obtained  by  false  rep- 
resentations."1 

Under  the  influence  of  such  suggestions  a  resolution  was 
brought  forward  to  refer  the  report  of  the  Joint  Committee,  and 
all  the  papers  relating  to  the  subject,  to  a  committee  of  five 
members  with  power  to  send  for  persons  and  papers,  to  sit  at 
such  time  and  place  as  they  should  deem  expedient,  and  to  in- 
quire in  substance,  1st,  what  reliable  funds  the  Institution  had  ; 
2d,  what  means  had  been  resorted  to  by  the  petitioners,  or  by 
persons  acting  in  their  behalf,  to  procure  subscriptions,  and  3d, 
what  methods  had  been  adopted  to  obtain  students ;  this  com- 
mittee to  report  to  the  House  at  its  next  session.  After  a  warm 
discussion  which  lasted  for  three  days,  and  when  nearly  sixty 
of  the  members  had  already  gone  to  their  homes,  on  the  10th 
of  June,  1824,  this  resolution  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  109  to 
89,  and  the  Committee  of  Investigation  was  appointed. 

The  committee,  nominated  by  the  chair,  "  were  all  intelligent, 
fair-minded  men,  but  not  one  of  them  sympathized  with  us  in 
our  well-known  Orthodox  religious  opinions.  This,  we  thought, 
might  unintentionally  on  their  part,  operate  against  us.  But  in 
the  end  it  proved  for  our  advantage." 2 

It  was  confidently  predicted  by  many  that  "  this  search-war- 
rant would  settle  the  question  against  the  College  by  showing 
that  the  pecuniary  basis  on  which  it  rested  was  fictitious."  But 
its  friends  kept  up  good  courage.  "  The  tide  of  public  opinion," 
they  said3  "has  already  begun  to  set  strongly  in  our  favor,  and 
ere  long,  we  venture  to  say,  it  will  not  be  in  power  of  mounds 
and  dikes  to  withstand  it. 

Per  varies  casus,  per  tot  discrimina  rerum 

Tendiinus  in  Latium  : — 

Durate,  et  vosmet  rebus  servate  secundis." 

The  Investigating  Committee  having  given  notice  that  they 
would  meet  at  Boltwood's  Hotel  in  Amherst  on  Monday  the 
4th  of  October,  that  was  to  be  the  scene  of  the  next  act  in  the 
drama,  and  this  part  of  the  story  can  not  be  better  told  than  in 
the  language  of  Dr.  Humphrey,  who  was  the  chief  actor  in  it. 

1  Dr.  Humphrey's  Historical  Sketches.    2  Ibid.    8  Boston  Telegraph,  June  17, 1824. 


THE   INVESTIGATING   COMMITTEE.  145 

"Our  next  business  was  to  prepare  for  the  investigation.  We 
never  claimed  to  have  any  endowment,  except  a  subscription  of 
fifty  thousand  dollars  as  a  permanent  fund  to  help  educate  pious 
young  men  for  the  ministry ;  and  although  this  was  a  bona  fide 
subscription,  a  large  part  of  which  had  been  paid,  it  was  not  in 
the  best  condition  to  abide  the  searching  inquisition  of  the  Leg- 
islative Committee.  As  none  of  the  subscribers  were  holden 
unless  the  sum  was  made  up  to  fifty  thousand  dollars,  several 
individuals  were  obliged,  after  all  the  papers  were  returned,  to 
guarantee  the  deficiency,  which  amounted  to  about  fifteen  thou- 
sand dollars.  This  guarantee  they  made  in  good  faith,  but  as 
they  had  already  subscribed  very  liberally  it  was  understood 
that  they  must  be  relieved  as  soon  as  other  subscriptions  could 
be  obtained.  Besides  this  it  was  known  that  some  of  the  sub- 
scribers to  the  fund  refused  to  pay,  alleging  that  they  were  de- 
ceived by  the  agents  who  circulated  the  papers.  It  was  deemed 
essential  by  the  Trustees  that  the  fifteen  thousand  dollars  should 
be  lifted  from  the  shoulders  of  the  warrantors  before  the  com- 
mittee came  upon  the  ground,  and  this  was  no  easy  task.  The 
question  was,  where,  after  having  turned  every  stone,  we  could 
look  for  so  much  money  and  in  so  short  a  time.  At  the  request 
of  the  Trustees  I  went  to  Boston,  laid  the  case  before  a  select 
meeting  of  our  friends,  and  in  a  few  days  obtained  about  half 
the  sum  which  was  needed.  The  rest  was  made  up  by  the 
Trustees,  Faculty  and  other  friends  in  Amherst  and  vicinity.1 

"  The  Investigating  Committee  notified  us  of  the  time  when 
we  might  expect  them.  Two  or  three  weeks  before  the  time, 
an  agent  from  Williams  College  called  upon  our  Treasurer  with 
an  order  from  the  chairman  of  the  Investigating  Committee 
to  submit  our  subscription  list  to  his  inspection,  and  thus  vir- 
tually to  aid  him  in  preparing  for  the  prosecution !  The  de- 
mand was  referred  by  the  Treasurer  to  our  Prudential  Commit- 
tee. Upon  consultation  they  could  not  see  by  what  right  or 
authority  our  papers  were  thus  prematurely  demanded.  They 
accordingly  directed  me  to  return  substantially  this  answer : 
that  we  had  been  notified  of  the  appointment  of  the  Legislative 

1  Some  of  the  old  subscribers  took  pretty  large  shares  in  this  new  stock  :  Dr. 
Humphrey  himself  subscribed  five  hundred  dollars. 
10 


146  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Committee  and  their  intention  to  come  to  Amherst  and  look 
into  our  condition,  that  we  believed  the  committee  had  not  au- 
thorized their  chairman  to  demand  any  of  our  papers  in  advance 
of  their  meeting  for  any  purpose,  least  of  all  for  the  purpose  of 
inspection  by  one  who  was  not  a  member  of  the  committee,  and 
that  at  the  proper  time  and  place  all  should  be  put  into  the 
committee's  hands.  Baffled  in  this  application  for  the  means  of 
looking  up  our  subscribers  to  testify  against  us,  the  agent  was 
left  to  find  them  as  best  he  could,  and  to  do  him  justice,  he  was 
very  successful,  as  appeared  when  he  brought  them  personally, 
and  by  their  affidavits,  before  the  committee.  The  investiga- 
tion commenced  on  the  4th  of  October,  1824,  and  continued  till 
the  19th.  In  their  report  the  committee  say  that  the  Trustees 
appeared  before  them  with  counsel,  and  afforded  every  facility 
in  investigating  the  affairs  of  the  Institution,  and  discovered 
the  utmost  readiness  to  lay  before  them  all  the  transactions  of 
the  Board  and  its  agents ;  and  that  three  distinguished  gentle- 
men appeared  as  counsel  for  the  remonstrants  against  the  peti- 
tion for  a  charter,  and  gave  great  aid  to  the  committee  in  con- 
ducting the  investigation.1 

"  Rarely  has  there  been  a  more  thorough  and  searching  in- 
vestigation. All  our  books  and  papers  were  brought  out  and 
laid  upon  the  table.  Nothing  was  withheld.  Every  subscrip- 
tion, note  and  obligation  was  carefully  examined,  and  hardly 
anything  passed  without  being  protested  by  the  able  counsel 
against  us.  Our  principal  agent  in  obtaining  the  subscriptions 
(Col.  Graves)  was  present  and  closely  questioned.  A  lawyer 
who  had  been  employed  to  look  up  testimony  against  us,  was 
there  with  the  affidavits  which  he  had  industriously  collected, 
and,  at  his  request,  a  large  number  of  subpoenas  were  sent  out 
to  bring  in  dissatisfied  subscribers.  The  trial  lasted  a  fortnight. 
The  room  was  crowded  from  day  to  day  with  anxious  listeners. 

1  Hon.  W.  W.  Ellsworth,  son-in-law  of  Noah  Webster,  afterwards  Governor  and 
then  Chief  Justice  of  Connecticut,  aided  by  Messrs.  Billings  of  Hatfield  and  Bolt- 
wood  of  Amherst,  was  the  counsel  for  the  Trustees.  On  the  part  of  the  remon- 
strants appeared  Messrs.  Dewey  (afterwards  Judge  Dewey  of  Northampton,)  Bartlett 
of  Williamstown,  Willard  of  Springfield,  and  Conkey  of  Amherst.  The  Investi- 
gating Committee  consisted  of  Messrs.  Phelps  of  Hadley,  Sprague  of  Salem,  Lin- 
coln of  "Worcester,  Webster  of  Boston  and  Smith  of  Milton. 


AMUSING   INCIDENTS.  147 

Were  we  to  live  or  die  ?  Were  we  to  have  a  charter,  or  to  be 
forever  shut  out  from  the  sisterhood  of  Colleges?  That  was 
the  question,  and  it  caused  many  sleepless  nights  in  Amherst. 
Whatever  might  be  the  result,  we  cheerfully  acknowledged  that 
the  committee  had  conducted  the  investigation  with  exemplary 
patience  and  perfect  fairness.  When  the  papers  were  all  dis- 
posed of,  the  case  was  ably  summed  up  by  the  counsel,  and  the 
committee  adjourned. 

"  Many  incidents  occurred  in  the  progress  of  the  investigation 
which  kept  up  the  interest,  and  some  of  which  were  very  amus- 
ing, but  I  have  room  for  only  two.  Among  our  subscriptions 
there  was  a  very  long  list,  amounting  to  several  hundred  dollars, 
of  sums  under  one  dollar,  and  not  a  few  of  these  by  females  and 
children  under  age.  On  these,  it  was  obvious  at  a  glance,  there 
might  be  very  considerable  loss.  This  advantage  against  us  could 
not  escape  gentlemen  so  astute  as  our  learned  opponents.  It 
was  reported,  and  I  believe  it  was  true,  that  they  sat  up  nearly 
all  night  drawing  off  names  and  figuring,  so  as  to  be  ready  for 
the  morning.  Getting  an  inkling  of  what  they  were  about,  three 
of  our  Trustees  drew  up  an  obligation,  assuming  the  whole 
amount,  whatever  it  might  be,  and  had  it  in  readiness  to  meet 
the  expected  report.1  The  morning  came ;  the  session  was 
opened ;  the  parties  were  present ;  the  gentlemen  who  had 
taken  so  much  pains  to  astound  the  committee  by  their  discov- 
ery were  just  about  laying  it  on  the  table,  when  the  obligation 
assuming  the  whole  amount  was  laid  on  the  table  by  one  of  the 
subscribers.  I  leave  the  reader  to  imagine  the  scene  of  disap- 
pointment on  the  one  side  and  of  suppressed  cheering  on  the 
other.  It  turned  out  to  be  a  fair  money  operation  in  our  favor. 

"  The  other  incident  was  still  more  amusing.  When  the  notes 
came  up  to  pass  the  ordeal  of  inquiry  and  protest,  one  of  a 
hundred  dollars  was  produced  from  a  gentleman  in  Danvers. 
'  Who  is  this  Mr.  P.  ? '  demanded  one  of  the  lawyers.  *  Who 
knows  anything  about  his  responsibility.'  '  Will  you  let  me  look 
at  that  note,  sir?'  said  Mr.  S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  one  of  our  Trust- 
tees.  After  looking  at  it  for  a  moment,  taking  a  package  of 

1 A  copy  of  this  obligation  is  still  preserved.  The  names  of  the  Trustees  affixed 
are  J.  E.  Trask,  Nathaniel  Smith  and  John  Fiske. 


148  HISTORY    OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

bank-bills  from  his  pocket  he  said:  'Mr.  Chairman,  I  will  cash 
that  note,'  and  laid  down  the  money.  It  was  not  long  before 
another  note  was  protested  in  the  same  way.  '  Let  me  look  at 
it,'  said  Mr.  Wilder.  '  I  will  cash  it  sir,'  and  he  laid  another 
bank-bill  upon  the  table.  By-and-by  a  third  note  was  objected 
to.  '  I  will  cash  it,  sir,'  said  Mr.  Wilder,  and  was  handing  over 
the  money  when  the  chairman  interposed :  '  Sir,  we  did  not 
come  here  to  raise  money  for  Amherst  College,'  and  declined 
receiving  it.  How  long  Mr.  Wilder's  package  would  have  held 
out  I  do  not  know,  but  the  scene  produced  a  lively  sensation  all 
around  the  board,  and  very  few  protests  were  offered  after- 
wards. 

"  The  appointment  of  this  commission  proved  a  real  windfall 
to  the  Institution.  It  gave  the  Trustees  opportunity  publicly  to 
vindicate  themselves  against  the  aspersions  which  had  been  in- 
dustriously cast  upon  them,  and  it  constrained  them  to  place  the 
Charity  Fund  on  a  sure  foundation.  The  investigation  to  be  sure, 
cost  us  some  time  and  trouble  ;  but  it  was  worth  more  to  us  than 
a  new  subscription  of  ten  thousand  dollars."  l 

In  the  progress  of  the  investigation,  the  committee,  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  opposing  counsel,  summoned  a  number  of  sub- 
scribers who  refused  to  pay,  to  appear  and  give  their  reasons. 
Their  excuse  was  that  when  they  subscribed,  they  were  assured 
by  the  agents  that  there  was  no  doubt  Williams  College  would 
be  removed  to  Amherst,  and  as  it  was  not  removed,  they  did 
not  consider  themselves  bound  to  pay.  Affidavits  to  the  same 
effect  were  also  presented.  The  object  of  all  this  was  to  prove 
that  subscriptions  were  obtained  by  false  pretenses.  To  make 
the  most  of  this  argument,  a  pamphlet  was  immediately  pre- 
pared and  brought  out  for  circulation,  containing  the  testimony 
and  affidavits  before  the  committee,  together  with  a  number  of 
letters  from  other  subscribers  who  declined  payment  for  the 
same  or  similar  reasons.  When  the  General  Court  met  in  Jan- 
uary, the  Representatives  found  this  pamphlet  in  all  their  seats, 
forestalling,  as  it  were,  the  report  of  the  Investigating  Commit- 

1  In  these  quotations  from  Dr.  Humphrey,  I  have  followed  indiscriminately  his 
Historical  Sketches  and  his  address  in  1853,  according  as  the  one  or  the  other  was 
the  more  full  and  graphic. 


BEPOBT.  149 

tee.  How  it  came  there,  every  man  was  left  to  judge  for  him- 
self, in  view  of  all  the  circumstances.  It  was  never  denied  that 
it  proceeded  from  the  same  source  as  the  opposition  before  the 
committee. l 

On  the  8th  of  January,  1825,  the  question  was  called  up  in 
the  House,  and  the  report  of  the  Investigating  Committee  was 
presented  and  read.  On  the  first  subject  referred  to  them,  viz., 
the  amount  of  funds  and  the  security  on  which  they  rest,  the 
committee  state  that  the  funds  of  the  Institution  consist  of  vol- 
untary subscriptions  and  donations,  principally  for  the  fifty  thou- 
sand dollar  Charity  Fund,  and  the  thirty  thousand  dollar  fund. 
Of  the  fifty  thousand  dollar  subscription,  they  found  about  forty 
thousand  dollars  cash  in  hand,  loans  and  notes  well  secured,  some 
six  or  seven  thousand  dollars  in  College  grounds  or  lands  unsold, 
and  nearly  six  thousand  dollars  still  resting  on  the  original  sub- 
scriptions, most  of  which  the  subscribers  are  unable  or  refuse  to 
pay.  Of  the  thirty  thousand  dollar  subscription  they  report  over 
sixteen  thousand  dollars  unpaid.  But  "  this  fund  was  payable  in 
five  equal  annual  installments,  only  two  of  which  have  yet  fallen 
due.  The  amount  of  the  liquidated  debt  of  the  Institution  is 
seventeen  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-five  dollars.  The 
unliquidated  debt  is  estimated  at  one  thousand  dollars." 

On  the  second  point,  viz.,  the  means  resorted  to  for  obtaining 
subscriptions,  the  committee  exonerate  the  Trustees  and  their 
agents  of  the  charge  of  misrepresentation  in  regard  to  the  re- 
moval of  Williams  College,  and  say:  "There  appears  to  have 
been  nothing  to  show  that  the  Trustees  or  persons  employed  in 
the  government  of  the  Institution  have  resorted  to  any  improper 
or  unusual  means  in  obtaining  subscriptions." 

On  the  third  point,  the  committee  are  equally  explicit  in  say- 
ing that  they  do  not  find  that  any  unusual  or  improper  measures 
have  been  adopted  for  obtaining  students. 2 

1  This  pamphlet  is  still  in  existence.     It  is  lively  and  piquant  reading,  especially 
that  part  of  it  which  relates  to  the  subscriptions  of  women  and  children  :     "  Two 
hundred  and  six  females  !     Mostly  married  women  and  infants.     Many  infants  not 
females.    Many  of  twelve  and  a-half  cents, — some  ten  cents !  one  of  two  cents, 
all  payable  annually  for  five  years  !  " 

2  The  enemies  of  President  Moore  charged  him  with  exerting  an  undue  and  even 
an  underhanded  influence  in  drawing  students  from  Williams  to  Amherst.    In  a 


150  HISTOBY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

In  conclusion,  the  committee  say :  "  The  refusal  of  the  Leg- 
islature to  grant  a  College  charter  to  Amherst  will  not,  it  is 
believed,  prevent  its  progress.  Whenever  there  is  an  opinion 
in  the  community  that  any  portion  of  citizens  are  persecuted 
(whether  this  opinion  is  well  or  ill-grounded)  the  public  sym- 
pathies are  directed  to  them ;  and  instead  of  sinking  under  op- 
position they  almost  invariably  flourish  and  gain  new  strength 
from  opposition.  Your  committee  are  therefore  of  opinion  that 
any  further  delay  to  the  incorporation  of  Amherst  Institution 
would  very  much  increase  the  excitement  which  exists  in  the 
community  on  this  subject,  and  have  a  tendency  to  interrupt 
those  harmonious  feelings  which  now  prevail  and  prevent  that 
union  of  action  so  essential  to  the  just  influence  of  the  State." 

Precisely  what  the  committee  meant  by  these  last  words  may 
perhaps  admit  of  some  doubt.  Probably,  however,  it  is  a  euphe- 
mistic way  of  saying  that  they  feared  the  effect  of  further  delay 
on  party  politics — it  might,  perhaps,  turn  the  scale  against  the 
party  now  with  difficulty  maintaining  the  ascendency — therefore 
they  recommended  the  incorporation  of  the  Institution  at  Am- 
herst !  Not  a  very  elevated  reason  for  a  simple  act  of  justice  to 
the  College  and  the  increasing  number  of  intelligent  and  worthy 
citizens  who  were  its  friends !  But  it  was  better  to  do  it  for  a 
poor  reason  than  not  to  do  it  at  all,  just  as  it  was  better  to  do  it 
late  than  never.  And  it  was  high  time  for  them  to  do  it  on 
political  grounds  if  they  would  not  for  better  reasons ;  for  it  was 
fast  becoming  a  political  question  and  threatened  to  revolution- 
ize the  politics  of  the  State.  Some  of  the  friends  of  Amherst, 
after  the  refusal  of  their  charter  in  the  winter  session  of  1823, 
ignoring  party  distinctions,  had  voted  for  candidates  known  to 
be  friendly  to  the  College,  and  the  balance  being  nearly  even  be- 
tween the  Federal  and  the  Republican  parties,  they  turned  the 

testimony  which  was  laid  before  the  Committee  of  Investigation,  signed  by  all  the 
members  of  the  Senior  class  who  came  from  Williams,  they  resent  this  charge 
against  their  lamented  President  with  great  indignation,  and  declare  that  "  if  he 
ever  expressed  apparently  sincere  regret  for  anything,  it  was  when  we  asked  dis- 
missions from  that  College.  He  remonstrated  on  the  ground  of  injury  to  that  Insti- 
tution, till  we  were  half  dissuaded  from  our  purpose."  The  original  of  this  petition 
is  preserved  and  deserves  to  be  framed  and  perpetuated,  not  so  much  in  vindication 
of  Amherst  College  as  for  the  lustre  it  reflects  on  the  character  of  the  first  President. 


CHARTER   GRANTED.  151 

scale  against  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  the  candidate  of  the  former, 
and  in  favor  of  William  T.  Eustis,  the  candidate  of  the  lat- 
ter for  Governor.1  On  the  same  principle  they  secured  the  re- 
election of  Gov.  Eustis  in  1824.  The  same  process  might  ere 
long  have  changed  the  political  complexion  of  the  Legislature. 

After  repeated  consideration  and  adjournment,  with  protracted 
and  earnest  debate  day  after  day  in  the  House,  the  question  of 
accepting  the  report  of  the  committee  and  giving  leave  to  bring 
in  a  bill  was  at  length  brought  to  a  vote  on  the  28th  of  January, 
and  the  yeas  and  nays  being  ordered,  it  was  decided  in  the  affirm- 
ative by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  fourteen  to  ninety-five. 
The  next  day,  January  29th,  the  Senate  concurred  with  the 
House.  And  on  the  21st  of  February,  1825,  the  bill,  having 
been  variously  amended,  passed  to  be  enacted  in  both  branches 
of  the  Legislature,  and  having  received  the  signature  of  the 
Lieutenant  Governor,  Marcus  Morton,2  on  the  same  day,  became 
a  law.  Thus,  after  a  delay  of  three  years  and  a  half  from  the 
opening,  and  a  struggle  of  more  than  two  years  from  the  time 
of  the  first  petition,  the  Institution  at  Amherst  received  a  charter 
and  was  admitted  to  a  name  as  well  as  a  place  among  the  Col- 
leges of  Massachusetts. 

The  charter  confers  upon  the  corporation,  the  rights  and  priv- 
ileges usually  granted  to  the  Trustees  of  such  Institutions.  Two 
or  three  provisions  only  are  peculiar,  and  as  such  worthy  of  no- 
tice. The  charter  provides  that  the  number  of  Trustees  shall 
never  be  greater  than  seventeen,  and  that  the  five  vacancies 
which  shall  first  happen  in  the  Board,  shall  be  filled  as  they 
occur  by  the  joint  ballots  of  the  Legislature  in  convention  of 
both  Houses ;  and  whenever  any  person  so  chosen  by  the  Leg- 
islature shall  cease  to  be  a  member  of  the  corporation,  his  place 
shall  be  filled  in  like  manner  and  so  on  forever.  This  provision, 

1  In  1822,  Mr.  Eustis,  the  candidate  of  the  Republican  party  was.  defeated  by  a 
majority  of  7,125  votes  ;  in  1823  he  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  4,232  votes.     Mr. 
Otii  is  said  to  have  met  Mr.  Eustis  soon  after  the  election  and  remarked  to  him : 
"  They  say,  Mr.  Eustis,  that  you  are  becoming  Orthodox  lately."     "  I  do  not  know 
how  that  is,  your  Excellency,"  replied  Mr.  Eustis,  "  at  any  rate,  I  believe  in  the 
doctrine  of  Election." 

2  Gov.  Eustis  died  in  office  about  two  weeks  previous.    Lieutenant   Governor 
Morton  was  one  of  the  Trustees  named  in  the  charter  which  it  thus  devolved  on 
him  to  sign. 


152  HISTORY   OF  AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

quite  unprecedented  in  the  history  of  Massachusetts  charters, 
was  not  in  the  bill,  as  first  reported,  but  was  introduced  as  an 
amendment  in  the  course  of  the  discussion.  It  was  as  illiberal 
as  it  was  unprecedented.  It  should  be  remembered,  however,  to 
the  credit  of  subsequent  Legislatures,  that  they  have  usually 
appointed  to  such  vacancies  according  to  the  nomination  or  the 
known  wishes  of  the  corporation,  and  in  no  instance  filled  them 
with  persons  obnoxious  to  the  Faculty  and  friends  of  the  Insti- 
tution. 

It  is  expressly  provided  in  the  last  section  of  the  charter,  that 
the  granting  of  it  shall  never  be  considered  as  any  pledge  on  the 
part  of  government,  that  pecuniary  aid  shall  hereafter  be  granted 
to  the  College.  This  provision  was  accepted  by  the  friends 
of  the  College,  perhaps  suggested  by  them,  in  the  hope  of  dis- 
arming or  diminishing  the  opposition,  knowing  as  they  did,  that 
whatever  might  be  the  provisions  of  the  charter,  each  subse- 
quent Legislature  would  be  governed  by  its  own  judgment  on 
the  question  of  granting  pecuniary  aid. 

The  same  section  provides  also,  especially,  that  the  Legislature 
of  the  Commonwealth  may  appoint  and  establish  Overseers  or 
Visitors  of  the  College  with  all  necessary  powers  for  the  better 
aid,  preservation  and  government  of  it.  This  reserved  right 
the  Legislature  has  never  yet  seen  fit  to  exercise. 

The  seventh  section  reserves  to  the  Legislature  full  power  to 
unite  Williams  and  Amherst  Colleges  into  one  University  at 
Amherst,  in  case  it  should  hereafter  appear  to  the  Legislature 
needful  and  expedient,  provided  also,  that  the  President  and 
Trustees  of  Williams  College  should  agree  so  to  do.  This  sec- 
tion of  the  charter  was  passed  with  considerable  amendments 
and  additions,  as  compared  with  the  original  bill.1 

The  petition  for  a  charter  was  signed  by  the  President  and 
Secretary  as  directed  at  a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  Amherst 
Academy,  and  asked  that  they,  the  said  Trustees,  without  nam- 
ing them,  might  be  incorporated  as  Trustees  of  Amherst  Col- 
lege. And  the  original  bill,  as  reported  in  1823  and  summarily 
rejected  by  both  Houses,  granted  incorporation  to  the  Trustees 

1  The  amendments  and  additions  may  be  seen  by  comparing  the  two  forms  re- 
printed in  the  Appendix. 


NEW  TRUSTEES.  153 

of  the  Academy  according  to  the  petition.  A  printed  copy  of 
a  bill  reported  at  some  later  stage  of  the  proceedings  (which 
has  come  into  my  hands,)  omits  three  of  these  original  Trustees, 
viz :  Rufus  Graves,  Esq.,  Rufus  Cowles,  M.  D.,  and  Rev.  Daniel 
A.  Clark.  The  act  of  incorporation,  as  passed  in  1825,  strikes 
out  the  names  of  three  more  of  the  old  Trustees,  viz :  Nathaniel 
Smith,  Esq.,  Rev.  Experience  Porter,  and  Rev.  John  Fiske,  and 
includes  the  names  of  eight  new  men,  viz :  Hon.  William  Gray, 
Hon.  Marcus  Morton,  Rev.  Joseph  Lyman,  D.  D.,  Hon.  Jonathan 
Leavitt,  Rev.  Alfred  Ely,  Hon.  Lewis  Strong,  Rev.  Francis  Way- 
land,  and  Hon.  Elihu  Lyman.  The  reasons  for  all  these  changes 
are  not  definitely  known  to  the  writer,  nor  has  he  been  able  to 
ascertain  from  documents  or  from  the  Journals  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, the  precise  time  or  manner  in  which  it  was  effected.  It 
will  not  be  difficult,  however,  for  the  reader  to  divine  the  motive 
for  the  exclusion  of  the  old  Trustees  when  he  observes  that  the 
persons  excluded  were  among  the  active  agents  in  the  founding 
of  the  College,  and  as  such,  particularly  obnoxious  to  its  ene- 
mies. Those  sections  of  the  bill  above  mentioned,  which  differ 
from  the  charter,  may  be  seen  and  compared  with  the  charter 
itself,  in  the  Appendix. 

The  Trustees  named  in  the  charter,  although  they  were  not 
all  of  them  the  men  who  would  have  been  chosen  by  the  friends 
of  the  College  as  most  deserving  of  the  honor,  were  doubtless 
the  best  they  could  get  from  the  Legislature,  and  were,  on  the 
whole,  quite  satisfactory  to  the  Institution.  Nine  of  the  seven- 
teen had  been  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy,  and  so  had  had 
the  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  Charity  Institution  pre- 
vious to  the  act  of  incorporation.  The  majority  of  the  new 
Trustees  continued  to  be  members  of  the  Board  only  a  short 
time,  and  by  their  resignation  gradually  opened  the  way  for  the 
re-instating  of  some  of  the  original  members.  One  of  them,  and 
only  one,  Rev.  Alfred  Ely,  stood  by  the  College  through  its  sub- 
sequent trials  and  struggles,  and  became  indissolubly  associated 
with-  its  history. 

It  was  a  glad  day  for  Amherst  when  the  charter  was  secured. 
President  Humphrey  and  his  associates,  who  had  remained  in 
Boston  watching  with  intense  anxiety  the  progress  of  the  bill, 


154  HISTORY  OP   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

returned  home  with  light  hearts.  The  messenger  who  first 
brought  the  news,  was  taken  from  the  stage  and  carried  to  the 
hotel  by  the  citizens.  The  hotel,  the  College  buildings  and  the 
houses  of  the  citizens  were  illuminated ;  and  the  village  and  the 
College  alike  were  a  scene  of  universal  rejoicing. 

On  the  13th  of  April,  the  Trustees  under  the  charter  held 
their  first  meeting  in  Amherst,  organized  the  Board  and  ap- 
pointed the  Faculty.  The  first  annual  meeting  of  the  Board 
under  the  charter  was  held  on  the  22d  of  August,  1825,  which 
was  the  Monday  preceding  Commencement.  At  this  meeting 
a  code  of  laws  was  established  for  the  government  of  the  Col- 
lege,1 a  system  of  by-laws  adopted  to  regulate  the  proceedings 
of  the  Trustees  and  their  officers,  and  the  organization  of  the 
Faculty  was  changed  by  the  establishment  of  new  professor- 
ships and  completed  by  the  choice  of  additional  Professors. 
The  salary  of  the  President  was  fixed  at  twelve  hundred  dol- 
lars with  the  usual  perquisites.  The  salaries  of  the  Professors  as 
they  were  voted  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  Board,  varied  from 
eight  hundred  dollars  to  six  hundred  dollars.  At  the  annual 
meeting,  those  which  had  been  voted  at  six  hundred  dollars 
were  raised  to  seven  hundred  dollars.2  Rev.  Edward  Hitchcock 
was  chosen  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Natural  History,  with  a 
salary  of  seven  hundred  dollars  and  the  privilege  of  being  ex- 
cused for  one  year  from  performing  such  duties  of  a  Professor 
as  he  might  be  unable  to  perform  "  on  account  of  his  want  of 
full  health."  Mr.  Jacob  Abbott  was  appointed  Professor  of 
Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy,  with  a  salary  of  eight 
hundred  dollars,  "  one  hundred  of  which,  however,  are  to  be  ap- 
propriated by  him  annually,  with  the  advice  of  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Faculty,  towards  making  repairs  and  additions  to  the 
philosophical  apparatus."  Mr.  Ebenezer  S.  Snell  was  chosen 
Tutor  in  Mathematics  with  a  salary  of  four  hundred  dollars. 

It  was  now  voted  to  confer  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts 

1  These  laws  w-ere  essentially  the  same  which  had  been  previously  established  for 
the  government  of  the  Charity  Institution.     They  seem  to  have  been  drawn  up  by 
Dr.  Humphrey,  in  whose  handwriting  the  original  copy  still  exists. 

2  At  the  annual  meeting  in  1827,  it  was  voted  that  the  Professors  receive  each  a 
salary  of  eight  hundred  dollars  :  and  the  Professors  have  ever  since  all  received  the 
same  salary. 


THE   COLLEGE   SEAL.  155 

on  "  any  young  gentlemen  who  have  previously  received  testi- 
monials of  their  College  course  in  this  College."  The  same 
degree  was  then  voted  to  be  conferred  on  twenty-two1  young 
gentlemen  of  the  Senior  class  who  had  been  recommended  by 
the  Faculty.  This  class — the  Class  of  '25 — was  the  first  class 
that  entered  Freshmen  and  completed  the  course,  and  being  the 
first  to  receive  the  degree  of  A.  B.,  under  the  charter,  were  con- 
gratulated by  the  President  on  being  "  the  first  legitimate  sons 
of  the  College."  This  raised  in  their  minds  the  natural  but 
rather  funny  question,  "  What  was  the  legal  status  of  preced- 
ing classes."  They  were,  however,  generous  enough  to  allow 
that  no  stain  rested  on  their  predecessors.2  But  they  were  well 
come  up  with  in  this  bantering.  Some  members  of  the  previous 
classes,  being  present,  said,  "At  the  conclusion  of  our  curric- 
ulum we  all  received  testimonials  that  we  were  worthy  of  a  di- 
ploma, which  is  more  than  ever  was  or  ever  can  be  said  of  some 
of  you." 

The  seal  which  was  affixed  to  these  diplomas,  was  procured 
by  the  President  and  Professors  to  whom  that  duty  was  assigned 
by  the  Trustees  at  their  first  meeting,  and  being  approved  and 
adopted  by  them  at  their  first  annual  meeting,  it  has  remained 
ever  since  the  corporate  seal  of  the  College.  The  device  is  a 
sun  and  a  Bible  illuminating  a  globe  by  their  united  radiance, 
with  the  motto  underneath :  Terras  Irradient.  Around  the 
whole  run  the  words:  SIGILL.  COLL.  AMHEEST.  MASS.  Nov. 
ANG.  MDCCCXXV. 

This  chapter  containing  the  public  history  of  the  struggle  for 
the  charter,  long  as  it  is,  would  still  be  incomplete  without  an 
additional  section,  bringing  to  light  some  hidden  and  secret 
springs  of  action  and  influence.  I  have  endeavored  to  do  jus- 
tice in  the  foregoing  pages  to  the  Presidents  who  so  nobly  rep- 
resented the  Institution  in  this  trying  emergency,  to  the  Trust- 
ees and  other  friends,  who,  with  their  money,  influence  or  per- 
sonal service,  bravely  defended  it  whenever  and  wherever  it 

1  In  1850,  the  Trustees  conferred  the  degree  of  A.  B.,  on  three  others  who  had 
been  members  of  this  class  through  the  greater  part  of  the  course  without  com- 
pleting it,  thus  making  twenty -five  as  the  sum  total  on  the  Triennial  Catalogue. 

2  Letter  of  Hon.  Lincoln  Clark. 


156  HISTORY   OP   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

was  assailed,  and  to  the  wise  and  good  men,  friends  of  justice, 
learning  and  religion,  who  in  the  face  of  opposition  and  obloquy 
eloquently  advocated  its  cause  before  the  committee  and  the 
two  Houses  of  the  Legislature.  But  honor  to  whom  honor  is 
due  requires  me  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  one  whose  name 
does  not  appear  either  on  the  journals  of  the  Legislature,  or  in 
the  records  of  the  College,  of  whom  I  find  no  mention  in  any 
printed  or  written  document  pertaining  to  the  history  of  Am- 
herst  during  this  period,  who  yet  bore  a  part  in  these  proceed- 
ings scarcely  second  to  any  other,  who  sat  behind  the  scenes 
touching  the  springs  of  action  and  guiding  the  affairs  to  a  suc- 
cessful issue  during  these  three  eventful  years,  and  then  went 
away  to  inaugurate  other  enterprises  of  a  similar  kind  without 
waiting  for  any  reward  or  any  public  appreciation  of  his  ser- 
vices. I  refer  to  Rev.  Austin  Dickinson. 

Born  in  Amherst,  February  15, 1791,  graduated  with  honor  at 
Dartmouth  in  1813,  studying  law  for  a  time  in  the  office  of 
Samuel  Fowler  Dickinson,  Esq.,  and  then  studying  Theology  at 
Princeton,  and  with  Dr.  Perkins  of  West  Hartford,  Conn.,  li- 
censed to  preach  by  the  North  Association  of  Hartford  County 
in  1819,  traveling  two  or  three  years  for  his  health  in  the  south- 
western States,  and,  while  thus  traveling  and  recruiting,  found- 
ing a  Theological  Seminary  in  Tennessee  and  a  religious  news- 
paper in  Richmond,  Va.,  Mr.  Dickinson  returned  to  his  native 
place  in  June,  1822,  just  in  season  to  start  the  subscription  for 
thirty  thousand  dollars.  He  had  been  a  boarder  in  the  fam- 
ily of  Prof.  Moore,  when  he  was  a  student  of  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege. Now  in  the  library  of  President  Moore,  he  drew  up  the 
subscription  paper  which  was  to  relieve  the  embarrassments  of 
Amherst.  With  the  help  of  his  brother,  Rev.  Baxter  Dickinson, 
and  others,  he  soon  raised  three  tnousand  dollars  in  the  town 
which  had  already  contributed  apparently  to  the  full  extent  of 
its  ability,  and  then  took  a  leading  part  in  obtaining  subscriptions 
abroad,  till,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  in  June,  1823,  the  subscrip- 
tion was  completed.  When  it  became  necessary  to  raise  another 
subscription  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars  in  order  to  relieve  the 
guarantors  and  put  the  Charity  Fund  in  such  a  condition  that  it 
would  bear  the  scrutiny  of  the  Committee  of  Investigation,  next 


EEV.    AUSTIN  DICKINSON.  157 

to  President  Humphrey,  Mr.  Dickinson  was  still  the  principal 
agent.  In  short,  for  two  or  three  years  he  was  a  beggar  for 
the  College,  scarcely  less  persistent  and  indefatigable  than  Col. 
Graves  had  been  before  him.  "  When  it  became  clear,"  I  here 
use  the  words  of  Rev.  Oman  Eastman,  secretary  of  the  Ameri- 
can Tract  Society,  who  was  his  townsman,  kinsman  and  intimate 
friend, — "  When  it  became  clear  that  the  Federal  party  to  which 
most  of  the  best  friends  of  Amherst  College  were  allied,  would 
never  give  the  College  a  charter,  he  agitated  the  plan  of  chang- 
ing their  votes  to  the  Repiiblican  party,  and  was  the  master  spirit 
in  the  campaign  which  defeated  the  election  of  Harrison  Gray 
Otis  and  secured  the  election  of  William  T.  Eustis  for  Governor, 
and  Levi  Lincoln  for  Lieutenant  Governor  in  1823.  After  their 
nomination,  he  visited  Mr.  Eustis  and  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  was  as- 
sured by  them  that  if  elected,  they  would  give  their  influence 
in  favor  of  the  charter.  He  visited  the  Professors  at  Andover, 
and  prominent  ministers  and  influential  laymen  in  different  parts 
of  the  State  to  secure  their  co-operation.  He  wrote  many  let- 
ters to  individuals  and  many  stirring  articles  for  the  press ;  in 
short,  he  was  the  efficient  agent  in  touching  the  chords  that  vi- 
brated through  the  State  and  secured  the  desired  result. 

"After  the  death  of  Dr.  Moore,  the  most  important  thing  for 
the  College  was  to  secure  the  right  man  for  his  successor.  Mr. 
Dickinson's  mind  was  fixed  upon  Dr.  Humphrey.  But  there 
were  great  obstacles  in  the  way  of  obtaining  him.  He  was  at 
Pittsfield,  in  the  center  of  Berkshire  County  from  which  the 
strongest  opposition  to  the  College  came.  He  was  the  pastor 
of  a  large  and  united  church  who  were  much  attached  to 
him.  The  prejudice  against  Amherst  College  was  intense  in 
many  quarters.  As  an  indication  of  public  feeling,  when  the 
announcement  of  President  Moore's  death  came  to  Andover,  the 
late  Rev.  Prof.  Gibbs  said  in  the  hearing  of  the  writer,  '  The 
question  is  whether  they  can  get  a  successor  ? '  Dr.  Bacon  re- 
sponded, '  The  question  is  whether  they  ought  to  have  a  suc- 
cessor ? '  The  writer  replied  with  some  warmth :  '  Neither  of 
these  is  any  question  at  all — there  is  no  doubt  that  they  can  get  a 
good  man,  and  they  ought  to  have  the  best  man  that  can  be 
found.' 


158  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

"  Mr.  Dickinson  went  to  Pittsfield  and  laid  the  matter  before 
Dr.  Humphrey,  and  probably  had  more  influence  than  all  other 
men  in  securing  his  acceptance  of  the  presidency.  Mr.  Dickin- 
son was  also  instrumental  in  securing  for  the  College,  the  ser- 
vices of  Professors  Fiske,  Worcester  and  Abbott. 

"  In  the  final  appeal  for  the  charter,  Mr.  Dickinson  was  ex- 
ceedingly useful  in  obtaining  the  right  men  for  the  committee, 
in  securing  the  efficient  advocacy  of  Judge  Hubbard  in  the 
Senate  and  John  Davis  before  the  committee  of  the  House,  and 
in  bringing  a  strong  expression  of  public  sentiment  through  the 
press  to  bear  upon  the  final  vote  in  the  Legislature.  He  was, 
in  the  best  sense  of  that  now  well-understood  term,  a  '  lobby 
member '  of  the  Legislature,  at  the  same  time  that  he  was  the 
anonymous  correspondent  of  not  a  few  especially  of  the  country 
newspapers." 

No  sooner  was  the  charter  secured,  than  Mr.  Dickinson  disap- 
peared or  rather  withdrew  from  behind  the  scenes,  and  devoted 
himself  first  to  the  founding  and  publishing  of  the  National 
Preacher,  which  for  forty  years  placed  the  printed  sermons  of 
the  ablest  preachers  in  the  United  States  within  the  reach  of 
destitute  churches  and  brought  their  influence  to  bear  upon  the 
Christian  public,  and  subsequently  inducing  the  secular  news- 
papers, which  were  then  closed  against  religious  matter,  to  open 
their  columns  to  religious  intelligence,  thus  inaugurating  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  and  one  of  the  most  beneficent  revolutions 
in  the  history  of  our  newspaper  press. 

Mr.  Dickinson  died  in  New  York,  on  the  14th  of  August, 
1849,  in  the  fifty-ninth  year  of  his  age.  His  body  was  brought 
to  Amherst  for  interment ;  and  a  monument  erected  to  his  mem- 
ory by  his  friends  and  the  friends  of  the  College,  stands  not  far 
from  that  of  President  Moore  in  the  cemetery.  He  was  one  of 
those  rare  men  who  love  to  do  their  work  out  of  sight,  but  who 
there,  far  from  the  public  gaze,  lay  broad  and  deep  "  the  foun- 
dations of  many  generations." 

In  further  illustration  and  confirmation  of  what  we  have  said 
of  Mr.  Dickinson,  we  subjoin  the  following  letter  of  Prof.  Ab- 
bott, who  was  a  member  of  the  Faculty  when  the  charter  was 
obtained.  It  was  written  November  2,  1871,  and  addressed  to 


TESTIMONY   OF   PROF.  ABBOTT.  159 

Rev.  O.  Eastman :  "  I  remember  Mr.  Dickinson  as  in  personal 
appearance  the  most  grave  and  austere  man  I  ever  knew,  with 
no  thought  and  no  word  of  interest  for  anything  light  or  trifling, 
but  wholly  engrossed  at  all  times  in  his  deep-laid  plans  and 
schemes  for  the  advancement  of  the  College  and  to  bring  public 
opinion  in  Massachusetts  up  to  the  point  of  authorizing  the  Leg- 
islature to  grant  a  charter.  I  think  it  was  generally  understood 
at  Amherst,  during  the  time  that  I  was  connected  with  the  Col- 
lege and  while  the  question  of  its  legal  establishment  was  pend- 
ing, that  he  was  the  main  and  indeed  almost  the  sole  reliance  of 
its  friends  for  all  the  plans  formed  and  measures  adopted  to  pro- 
mote the  success  of  this  undertaking.  It  was  supposed,  and  I 
have  no  doubt,  with  truth,  that  the  Trustees,  who  were  generally 
men  engaged  in  the  active  pursuits  of  life  and  consequently 
much  occupied  with  their  own  affairs,  were  accustomed  to  look 
to  him  and  to  be  guided  by  his  judgment  in  respect  to  all  the 
measures  that  were  adopted,  whether  for  raising  funds,  procur- 
ing officers  of  instruction,  or  for  enlightening  the  public  senti- 
ments of  the  State  with  reference  to  obtaining  a  charter. 

"  He  had,  however,  so  far  as  I  know,  no  formal  or  official  con- 
nection of  any  kind  with  the  College,  and  so  quiet  and  unosten- 
tatious was  his  action  in  all  these  proceedings,  and  so  entirely 
was  his  interest  in  the  work  confined  to  a  desire  to  have  it  ac- 
complish, without  any  wish  to  secure  to  himself  the  honor  or 
the  consideration  due  to  him  who  was  the  means  of  accomplish- 
ing it,  that  I  am  not  at  all  surprised  to  learn  that  his  name  does 
not  appear  upon  the  College  records  of  those  days.  And  yet,  I 
believe  that  every  one  who  was  conversant  with  the  proceedings 
through  which  the  College  was  established,  would  agree  with 
me  in  saying,  if  some  future  generation  should  ever  conceive 
the  idea  of  erecting  a  statue  to  commemorate  the  founder  of  the 
College,  the  man  most  deserving  the  honor  would  be  Austin 
Dickinson." l 

1  Since  the  text  was  written,  Mr.  Eastman  has  contributed  a  very  interesting  ar- 
ticle on  the  "  Services  of  Rev.  Austin  Dickinson  to  Amherst  College,"  to  the  col- 
umns of  the  Congregational  Quarterly,  April,  1872. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  PERIOD  OF  RAPID  GROWTH,  1825-36. 

THE  year  which  began  in  September,  1825,  was  the  first  en- 
tire collegiate  year  of  Amherst  College.  With  this  year  our 
History  enters  on  a  new  epoch.  The  new  organization  of  the 
Faculty  dates  from  this  time,  since  not  only  the  new  officers 
now  commenced  the  duties  of  their  office,  but  those  who  had 
been  members  of  the  Faculty  before  had  hitherto  served  the 
College  for  their  old  salaries  and  in  their  old  departments.  The 
Faculty  at  this  time  was  constituted  as  follows:  Rev.  Heman 
Humphrey,  D.  D.,  President,  Professor  of  Mental  and  Moral 
Philosophy  and  Professor  of  Divinity;  Rev.  Edward  Hitchcock, 
A.  M.,  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Natural  History ;  Rev.  Jonas 
King,  A.  M.,  Professor  of  Oriental  Literature ;  Rev.  Nathan  W. 
Fiske,  A.  M.,  Professor  of  the  Greek  Language  and  Literature, 
and  Professor  of  Belles-Lettres ;  Rev.  Solomon  Peck,  A.  M., 
Professor  of  the  Hebrew  and  Latin  Languages  and  Literature ; 
Samuel  M.  Worcester,  A.  M.,  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory ; 
Jacob  Abbott,  A.  M.,  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural 
Philosophy ;  Ebenezer  S.  Snell,  A.  M.,  Tutor  of  Mathematics.1 
The  first  catalogue  which  bears  the  names  of  this  Faculty,  was 
printed  in  October,  1825,  by  Carter  &  Adams  —  names  now  as 
familiar  to  almost  all  the  graduates  of  Amherst  College  as  any 

1  This  is  the  Faculty  as  constituted  at  the  first  annual  meeting  of  the  Trustees. 
It  appears  from  the  records  that  at  the  meeting  for  organization  in  April  previous, 
Rev.  Jasper  Adams  was  appointed  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy, 
and  Mr.  Jacob  Abbott,  Associate  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Professor  of  Chem- 
istry. Mr.  Adams  seems  not  to  have  accepted,  and  at  the  annual  meeting  Mr.  Ab- 
bott was  appointed  in  his  place.  At  the  same  time  a  Professorship  of  Chemistry 
and  Natural  History  and  a  Tutorship  of  Mathematics  were  established  and  filled  by 
the  choice  of  Mr.  Hitchcock  and  Mr.  Snell. 


FLOURISHING  UNDER  PERSECUTION.  161 

of  the  Presidents  or  Professors.  They  established  the  first  press 
in  the  town  in  1825,  and  the  catalogues  which  had  hitherto  been 
printed  abroad  were  henceforth  printed  in  Amherst. 

On  the  catalogue  for  1825,  John  Leland,  Esq.,  appears  as 
Treasurer,  and  Rufus  Graves  as  Financier.  In  1826  the  consti- 
tution of  the  Charity  Fund  was  so  altered  by  the  concurrent 
action  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  the  Board  of  Overseers  in 
the  manner  provided  for  in  Article  13,  that  the  office  of  Finan- 
cier of  that  fund  and  that  of  Treasurer  of  the  College,  could 
be  united  in  one  person ;  and  from  1826  John  Leland  was  both 
Treasurer  and  Financier  till  1833,  when  Lucius  Boltwood  was 
appointed  Financier  and  John  Leland  retained  the  office  of 
Treasurer. 

Rev.  Joshua  Crosby  was  chosen  Vice-President  of  the  Corpo- 
ration at  the  same  time  that  Dr.  Humphrey  was  chosen  Presi- 
dent, viz.,  at  the  first  organization  of  the  Board,  and  he  contin- 
ued to  hold  that  office  till  his  decease  in  1838.  The  office  seems 
gradually  to  have  gone  into  disuse,  and  Mr.  Crosby  was  the  last 
incumbent.  He  had  held  the  same  office  in  the  Board  of  Trust- 
ees of  Amherst  Academy. 

From  one  hundred  and  twenty-six,  in  1823,  the  number  of 
students  increased,  the  next  year,  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-six ; 
in  1825  it  rose  to  one  hundred  and  fifty-two,  and  from  that  time 
it  went  on  increasing  pretty  regularly,  with  a  slight  ebb  in  1830 
and  1831,  for  a  period  of  eleven  years,  till  rising  to  its  spring- 
tide in  1836,  it  reached  an  aggregate  of  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
nine.  For  two  years  Amherst  ranked  above  Harvard  in  the 
number  of  students,  and  was  second  only  to  Yale.  Thus  was 
the  sentiment  of  the  Committee  of  Investigation  confirmed,  that 
Institutions  almost  always  flourish  under  persecution  whether 
apparent  or  real,  and  gain  new  strength  from  opposition. 

If  we  inquire  into  the  causes  of  this  rapid  and  extraordinary 
growth  of  the  College,  the  most  obvious,  and,  for  a  time,  the 
most  powerful,  was  unquestionably  the  violent  opposition  which 
it  encountered.  This  brought  it  into  immediate  notice  in  Massa- 
chusetts. This  soon  made  it  known  and  conspicuous  through 
the  whole  country.  This  enlisted  the  sympathy  and  support 
not  only  of  those  who  held  the  same  religious  faith,  but  of  all 
11 


162  HISTOKY  OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

who  love  fair  play  and  hate  even  the  appearance  of  persecu- 
tion. Local  feeling,  sectional  jealousy,  the  envy  of  neighboring 
towns  and  of  parishes  in  the  same  town,  the  interest  of  rival 
Institutions,  sectarian  zeal  and  party  spirit,  hostility  to  Ortho- 
doxy and  hatred  of  evangelical  religion,  all  united  to  oppose  the 
founding,  the  incorporation  and  the  endowment  of  the  College ; 
and  the  result  was  only  to  multiply  its  friends,  increase  the  num- 
ber of  students,  and  swell  the  tide  which  bore  it  on  to  victory 
and  prosperity. 

This  period  of  rapid  growth  to  the  College  was  also  the  period 
when  the  reaction  against  Unitarianism  was  at  its  height,  when 
zeal  for  Orthodoxy  and  evangelical  piety  was  fresh  and  strong, 
when  revivals  of  religion  were  bringing  }7oung  men  in  great 
numbers  into  the  churches,  Colleges  and  theological  seminaries, 
when  home  and  foreign  missions  were  calling  for  an  extraordi- 
nary increase  in  the  number  of  ministers,  and  education  societies 
were  furnishing  new  facilities  for  the  education  of  poor  and  pious 
young  men  for  the  ministry,  and  the  recently  established  concert 
of  prayer  for  Colleges  was  directing  the  attention  of  the  churches 
in  an  unprecedented  degree  to  these  Institutions — when,  in  short, 
evangelical  Christians  of  all  denominations,  were  awakened  as 
they  never  had  been  before  to  prayer  and  effort  for  the  salvation 
of  lost  men  and  the  conversion  of  a  perishing  world.  As  the 
latest  and  fullest  representative  of  this  movement,  Amherst  Col- 
lege was  borne  on  the  hearts  of  ministers  and  Christians  with 
extraordinary  zeal  and  earnestness,  and  that  more  in  proportion 
as  they  were  more  zealous  and  active  in  their  sympathy  with  the 
cause  which  it  represented. 

The  College  was  still  more  deeply  rooted  in  the  sympathies 
and  the  confidence  of  the  Christian  community  by  reason  of  its 
marked  religious  character  and  positive  religious  influence.  The 
President,  Professors  and  Tutors,  were  all  men  of  strong  reli- 
gious faith,  hope  and  zeal,  experimental  and  real  Christians,  who 
felt,  as  Dr.  Humphrey  insisted  in  his  inaugural,  that  education 
should  have  reference  to  two  worlds,  but  chiefly  to  the  future, 
and  that  moral  education,  spiritual  training,  Christian  character 
and  influence  in  such  an  Institution,  is  not  only  indispensable — 
it  is  everything.  A  large  majority  of  the  students  from  the  first 


EARLY   LITERARY  ADVANTAGES.  163 

were  in  full  sympathy  with  their  teachers  in  this  view,  and  ready 
to  co-operate  heartily  with  them  in  securing  this  end.  And  the 
greater  part  of  those  students  who  entered  without  a  personal 
hope  in  Christ,  were  converted  in  the  frequent  and  powerful  re- 
vivals of  religion  with  which  the  College  was  blessed  from  the 
beginning,  and  which  reached  every  class,  sometimes  almost 
every  member  of  the  class,  with  their  salutary  influence.  Before 
the  close  of  the  period  now  under  our  riotice,  missionaries  edu- 
cated in  Amherst,  were  laboring  in  most  of  the  new  States  and 
Territories,  and  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  and  one  of  these 
had  fallen  a  martyr  on  the  Island  of  Sumatra.  Very  many  par- 
ents who  were  not  themselves  church  members,  chose  to  send 
their  sons  to  such  an  Institution. 

At  the  same  time  it  must  be  confessed,  or  rather  gratefully 
acknowledged,  that  the  Charity  Fund,  by  the  ample  pecuniary 
aid  which  it  afforded  to  indigent  and  pious  young  men,  drew  a 
large  number  of  students,  and  those  of  the  very  best  sort,  many 
of  whom  were  alike  distinguished  for  character  and  scholarship. 

The  literary  advantages,  though  of  course  inferior  in  many 
respects  to  those  of  the  older  and  richer  colleges,  were  not  with- 
out their  attractive  features.  In  1825,  the  library  was  small 
and  far  from  select,  and  the  apparatus  for  the  illustration  of 
the  Sciences  was  still  more  rudimentary  and  imperfect.  But 
through  the  zeal  and  enterprise  of  the  Professors,  they  were 
constantly  increasing,  and  thus  becoming  relatively  large.  And 
in  1831,  Prof.  Hovey  purchased  in  London  and  Paris  philo- 
sophical and  chemical  apparatus  and  books  to  the  amount  of 
eight  thousand  dollars,  the  books  consisting  mostly  of  standard 
works  in  the  various  departments  of  literature,  those  works 
which  are  most  valuable  and  indispensable  in  a  college  library, 
and  the  apparatus  for  the  illustration  of  the  Physical  Sciences 
and  for  accurate  observations  in  Astronomy,  being  so  superior 
to  any  that  could  then  be  found  in  other  American  colleges  as 
to  attract  the  visits  of  their  Professors  and  the  admiration  of 
scientific  men. 

The  Professors  were  young,  inexperienced  and  comparatively 
unknown  in  the  world  of  letters.  But  they  were  growing  older, 
gaining  wisdom  and  experience,  and  acquiring  a  reputation  as 


164  HISTORY  OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

savans  and  scholars.  And  their  very  youth,  with  the  enterprise 
and  progressive  spirit  for  which  they  were  remarkable,  was  at- 
tractive to  young  men.  It  was  among  the  arguments  which 
drew  the  writer,  who  was  then  a  young  man,  and  several  of  his 
classmates  and  fellow-students  from  Hamilton  College  to  Am- 
herst.  In  short,  it  must  be  admitted  that  "  Young  America," 
so  far  as  there  was  any  in  those  comparatively  staid  and  stable 
times,  was  drawn  to  Amherst,  somewhat  as  it  is  now  to  Cornell 
University,  although  there  was  no  lowering  of  the  standard  of 
admission  and  scholarship,  still  less  any  relaxation  of  moral  re- 
straints and  religious  influences.  It  was  regarded  as  pre-emi- 
nently the  live  College  and  the  progressive  Institution  of  New 
England.  President  Humphrey  had  now  risen  above  the  acci- 
dental unpopularity  of  his  first  years  and  reigned  in  the  confi- 
dence and  affections  of  all  the  students.  Prof.  Hitchcock  was 
already  known  through  the  State  which  he  had  explored  geo- 
logically to  a  great  extent  while  a  pastor  in  Conway,  and 
whether  in  or  out  of  College,  he  was  known  only  to  be  loved. 
Prof.  Fiske  was  not  long  in  developing  those  characteristics  and 
habits  of  mind  which  made  him  later  so  accurate  a  scholar,  so 
acute  a  metaphysician  and  so  distinguished  a  teacher.  Prof. 
Peck  was  admired  for  his  polished  translation  of  the  Latin  clas- 
sics, and  esteemed  as  a  gentleman  and  a  Christian.  Prof.  Wor- 
cester was  a  fluent  speaker,  a  faithful  critic  and  an  interesting 
lecturer,  especially  on  the  history  of  English  and  American  or- 
ators. Prof.  Abbott  made  science  easy,  clear  and  attractive  in 
the  lecture  room,  as  he  afterwards  did  morals  and  religion  in  his 
books,  and  was  quite  popular  till  his  thoughts  and  studies  be- 
gan to  be  divided  between  teaching  and  writing  for  the  people. 
Prof.  Hovey,  who  succeeded  -Prof.  Abbott,  was  the  best  scholar 
in  his  class  at  Yale,  and  a  man  of  broad  and  high  culture.  But 
ill-health  prevented  him  from  making  his  mark  upon  the  Col- 
lege, and  led  to  an  early  resignation.  Tutor  Snell  was  esteemed 
a  good  mathematician  and  an  excellent  teacher,  although  his  ex- 
cessive modesty  hindered  a  just  appreciation  of  his  worth,  and 
too  long  delayed  his  appointment  to  the  Professorship  of  Natu- 
ral Philosophy. 

These  general  views,  derived  from  the  author's  own  recollec- 


RECOLLECTIONS   OF   REV.  DR.  RIGGS.  165 

tions  of  the  College  in  the  period  under  review,  he  is  happy  to 
corroborate  by  the  following  just  and  genial  sketch  furnished  by 
a  contemporary  whose  praise  for  learning  and  missionary  service 
is  in  all  the  churches : l  "  Ours  was  the  first  class  which  en- 
tered after  the  College  charter  was  granted.  The  Institution 
was  pervaded  by  the  principles  and  aims  of  its  pious  founders. 
I  think  a  considerable  majority  of  my  class  were  hopefully  pious 
when  we  entered,  and  others  were  led  to  Christ  during  our  Col- 
lege course,  so  that  at  the  close  there  were  only  four  out  of  forty 
who  were  not  hopefulty  pious.  I  have  never  ceased  to  regard 
it  as  one  of  the  kind  and  gracious  dispensations  of  Providence 
towards  me  that  at  the  early  age  of  fifteen  I  was  thrown  among 
classmates  and  fellow-students  who  were  so  generally  serious 
and  earnest  men. 

"One  result  of  such  men  being  gathered  to  pursue  their 
studies  there,  was  the  entire  absence  of  that  abuse  of  new 
comers  which  has  so  often  disgraced  our  Colleges.  I  do  not 
remember  that  a  single  member  of  my  class  was  insulted  or 
maltreated  during  our  first  year. 

"  I  have  not  at  hand  a  Triennial  Catalogue,  but  a  glance  at 
one  would  show  that  a  large  proportion  of  my  fellow-students 
were  preparing  for  the  gospel  ministry.  Bridgman,  one  of  the 
first  missionaries  to  China,  was  still  a  member  of  College  when 
I  entered.  So  were  Boggs,  Tucker  and  Hebard,  and  perhaps 
others.  Also  of  those  who  have  been  highly  useful  laborers  in 
the  ministry  in  our  own  land,  R.  E.  Pattison,  Artemas  and  Asa 
Bullard,  Edward  P.  Humphrey,  and  others.  Of  my  own  class, 
Bliss,  Lyman,  Parker,  Perkins  and  myself,  have  been  permitted 
to  engage  in  the  foreign  missionary  service,  and  all  but  Lyman, 
(whose  untimely  death,  perhaps,  did  as  much  for  the  cause  as 
would  a  long  and  active  life,)  are  still,  I  believe,  in  active  ser- 
vice. Of  the  class  which  next  succeeded  us,  five  engaged  in 
missionary  service,  two  of  whom  are  still  among  our  esteemed 
fellow-laborers  in  Turkey,  B.  Schneider  and  P.  O.  Powers. 

"  Dr.  Humphrey,  our  President,  was  a  plain  man,  very  practi- 
cal, with  good  common  sense,  and  exemplary  piety.  He  had  the 
unvarying  respect  and  confidence  of  my  class,  and  I  think  of  all 

1  Rev.  Elias  Riggs,  D.  D.,  of  the  Class  of  '29. 


166  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

my  contemporaries.  So  bad  all  our  teachers,  Hitchcock,  Fiske, 
Peck,  Worcester,  Abbott,  Edwards  and  Snell. 

"  We  had  several  Greeks  pursuing  their  studies  there  in  our 
time.  One  of  them,  my  classmate,  Petrokokino,  was  for  several 
years  a  translator  for  our  mission.  Karavelles  taught  for  a 
time  in  one  of  our  schools,  and  was  subsequently  a  judge  in 
Athens.  Paspati  is  one  of  the  best  physicians  now  practicing 
in  this  city  (Constantinople.)  The  two  Rallis  are  merchants, 
one,  I  believe,  in  Odessa,  the  other  in  England.1 

"My  own  missionary  life  has  been  largely  devoted  to  the 
translation  of  the  Scriptures.  While  in  Greece,  I  had  the  priv- 
ilege of  aiding  for  a  short  season  in  the  Modern-Greek  transla- 
tion. While  at  Smyrna,  I  prepared  and  edited,  with  aid  from 
competent  Armenians,  the  entire  Bible  in  their  language,  and  I 
am  now  permitted  to  do  the  same  for  the  Bulgarians  in  their 
language,  which  is  a  dialect  of  the  Slavic." 

The  Tutors  of  this  period  doubtless  contributed  their  full 
share  towards  the  popularity  and  growth  of  the  Institution  for 
many  of  them  were  men  of  rare  talents  and  attainments,  and 
not  a 'few  of  them  have  risen  to  eminence  in  subsequent  life. 
After  Ebenezer  S.  Snell  and  Bela  B.  Edwards,  whose  names 
have  already  been  mentioned,  came  in  order  Joseph  S.  Clark, 
William  P.  Paine,  Story  Hebard,  Ezekiel  Russell,  H.  B.  Hack- 
ett,  Justin  Perkins,  W.  S.  Tyler,  Timothy  Dwight,  Edward  P. 
Humphrey,  Ebenezer  Burgess,  Elbridge  Bradbury,  Thatcher 
Thayer,  W.  H.  Tyler,  Charles  Clapp,  S.  B.  Ingram,  Calvin  E. 
Park,  Amos  Bullard,  George  C.  Partridge  and  Charles  B.  Ad- 
ams. Of  these  twenty-one  tutors,  seventeen  became  ordained 
ministers,  nine  doctors  of  divinity,  three  doctors  of  law,  three 
professors  in  college,  three  professors  in  theological  seminaries, 

1  Paspati  has  contributed  to  philology  some  valuable  papers  on  the  language  of 
the  Gypsies.  Karavelles  and  another  Greek,  educated  at  Mount  Pleasant,  were  the 
first  to  greet  the  writer  of  this  History  on  his  landing  at  the  Island  of  Syra,  where 
the  former  now  has  charge  of  the  telegraphic  office.  Some  of  these  Greeks  were 
aided  in  obtaining  their  education  by  Arthur  Tappan,  under  the  influence  of  Dr. 
King.  "  On  one  of  our  visits  to  Northampton,"  says  his  daughter,  "  father  took 
grandfather,  mother  and  myself  in  his  carriage  to  Amherst  College,  to  call  on  Pres- 
ident Humphrey.  During  the  call,  Dr.  Humphrey  sent  for  a  number  of  Greek  stu- 
dents to  come  to  the  parlor  to  speak  with  father  who  had  helped  them  in  getting  an 
education." — Memoir  of  Arthur  Tappan. 


TUTORS    OF   THIS   PERIOD.  167 

four  foreign  missionaries,  one  secretary  of  the  Massachusetts 
Home  Missionary  Society,  and  one  the  founder  of  one  of  the 
leading  female  seminaries  of  New  England.  Several  of  them 
are  well-known  as  editors  and  authors  of  books  in  literature, 
science  or  theology.  Three  of  them  have  been  honored,  faith- 
ful and  useful  Trustees  of  Amherst  College. 

Eleven  of  the  twenty-one  are  still  living.  They  are  all  either 
teachers  or  preachers,  and  as  equally  divided  as  an  odd  number 
can  be,  between  the  two  professions — all  respected  and  beloved 
by  pupils  and  people  now  as  when  they  were  Tutors,  and  some 
occupying  high  places  of  honor  and  influence. 

Of  the  ten  who  have  finished  their  course,  Bela  B.  Edwards 
had  left  the  tutorship  before  I  entered  College.  But  the  savor 
of  his  learning  and  piety  still  lingered  in  the  Institution ;  offi- 
cers and  students  still  spoke  of  him  with  affection,  almost  with 
veneration.  Joseph  S.  Clark  was  Tutor  when  I  was  a  Junior  in 
College.  Of  course  I  never  met  him  in  the  recitation  room,  but 
I  have  a  fresh  and  pleasant  recollection  of  his  constant  attend- 
ance at  the  Sabbath  morning  prayer-meetings  of  the  students, 
of  the  uniform  fervor  of  his  piety,  and  the  attractiveness  of  his 
consistent,  steadfast  Christian  life. 

Story  Hebard  was  teaching  French  and  Latin  in  College 
while  I  was  teaching  Mathematics  and  English  branches  in  Am- 
herst Academy.  Then  we  went  to  Andover  together,  riding 
in  the  same  stage-coach,  and  roomed  together  on  the  lower  floor 
of  Bartlett  Hall,  till  I  returned  to  a  tutorship  in  Amherst,  and 
he  went  on  with  his  theological  studies.  Respected  as  a  Tutor, 
beloved  by  classmates  and  friends,  he  was  dear  to  me  as  a  brother. 
Never  was  there  a  more  unselfish  person,  rarely  a  more  faultless 
character  or  a  more  blameless  life.  Almost  literally  he  never 
said  that  aught  of  the  things  which  he  possessed  was  his  own ; 
if  ever  man  did,  he  loved  his  neighbor  as  himself.  His  spirit 
was  too  gentle  and  good  for  earth ;  his  body  was  too  frail  and 
delicate  for  the  hardships  of  missionary  life.  He  died  in  1841, 
at  the  age  of  thirty-nine,  in  the  Turkish  Mission. 

Justin  Perkins,  Ebenezer  Burgess  and  Timothy  Dwight'Were 
my  fellow-tutors  and  fellow-boarders  at  Prof.  Hitchcock's,  whose 
family  for  several  years  furnished  a  delightful  home  for  almost 


168  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

all  the  Tutors.  There  we  discussed  literature,  science  and  re- 
ligion with  each  other  and  the  Professor.  There,  at  one  time, 
we  canvassed  principles,  plans  and  methods  of  education  with 
Miss  Lyon  when  she  was  laying  the  foundations  of  Mount 
Holyoke  Seminary.  There,  at  another,  we  sat  at  the  feet  of 
Dr.  Eli  Smith  as  he  discoursed  of  the  Holy  Land  and  the  Turk- 
ish Mission.  Perkins  taught  Rhetoric,  Logic  and  Languages 
with  indefatigable  industry,  exemplary  faithfulness  and  perfect 
propriety ;  already  we  could  see  in  him  (such  was  the  gravity 
of  his  deportment,  such  the  maturity  and  balance  of  his  judg- 
ment,) the  founder  and  father  of  the  mission  among  the  Nesto- 
rians,  and  (such  was  his  linguistic  lore)  the  future  translator  of 
the  Scriptures  into  modern  Syriac.  Burgess  came  after  him,  but 
was  almost  totally  unlike  him.  An  inquirer  into  all  that  was 
new  and  a  worshiper  of  all  that  was  true,  eagerly  seeking  for 
discoveries  in  the  material  and  the  spiritual  universe,  and  fully 
believing  that  there  were  more  things  in  heaven  and  earth  than 
any  existing  science  or  philosophy  ever  dreamed  of,  he  knew 
well  how  to  awaken  thought  and  inquiry  in  the  minds  of  his  pu- 
pils, but  he  was  not  master  of  the  art  of  expression  or  commu- 
nication. We  could  hardly  expect  that  such  a  man  would  spend 
all  his  days  in  the  missionary  field  —  the  seeds  of  the  "  Lowell 
Lectures  "  and  the  "  Antiquity  of  Man  "  were  already  planted 
in  him,  and  they  could  not  fail  to  germinate.  D wight,  with  a 
marvelous  gift  of  expression,  had  also  a  genius  for  Mathematics, 
and  laid  the  students  and  teachers  of  that  day  under  everlasting 
obligations  by  his  simplification  and  abbreviation  of  those  end- 
less algebraic  formulas  in  Button's  Conic  Sections.  He  too  had 
devoted  himself  to  the  work  of  missions;  but  he  died  within 
two  or  three  years  after  the  expiration  of  his  tutorship,  with- 
out setting  foot  on  missionary  ground.  Perkins  and  Burgess 
both  died  in  1869.  I  had  fondly  hoped  to  enjoy  much  more  of 
their  society.  It  would  have  been  a  melancholy  satisfaction  at 
least  to  have  seen  them  in  their  last  hours  and  followed  them  to 
their  graves.  But  I  was  then  a  traveler  in  foreign  lands ;  "  auget 
maestitiam  quod  satiari  vultu,  complexu  non  contigit ;  pauciori- 
bus  lacrimis  compositus  es,  et  novissima  in  luce  desideravere 
aliquid  oculi  tui." 


DECEASED   TUTORS.  169 

"W.  H.  Tyler,  Charles  Clapp  and  S.  B.  Ingram  filled  up  the 
interval  between  my  tutorship  and  my  professorship.  Of  the 
first,  a  brother  may  be  pardoned  for  recording  the  verdict  of  all 
who  ever  enjoyed  his  instructions,  that  he  was  for  two  years  in 
Amherst  College  what  he  was  for  eleven  years  in  the  Institution 
founded  by  him  in  Pittsfield,  "  a  model  teacher."  The  second 
left  behind  him  in  College  the  reputation  of  a  fine  scholar  (he 
was  the  valedictorian  of  the  Class  of  '32,)  and  the  third,  of  a 
thoughtful,  truthful  man,  and  an  earnest  Christian. 

On  my  return  as  a  permanent  oflBcer  in  1836,  Prof.  Snell's 
house  succeeded  to  Prof.  Hitchcock's  as  the  home  of  the  Tutors 
and  the  bachelor  Professor.  A  rare  group  of  choice  and  con- 
genial spirits  it  was  that  gathered  around  that  table,  and,  having 
satisfied  their  bodily  wants,  remained  almost  daily  after  dinner 
or  supper  for  "  the  feast  of  reason  and  the  flow  of  soul."  Two 
Professors  and  three  Tutors,  as  unlike  in  our  tastes  as  we  were 
in  the  branches  which  we  taught,  we  ate  and  drank,  we  talked 
and  read,  we  disputed  and  bantered  and  laughed  and  sung ;  and 
thin  and  sober  as  some  of  us  naturally  were,  we  all  grew  hale 
and  hearty  in  the  process.  Of  that  charming  "symposium," 
whether  reason  or  humor,  science  or  song  ruled  the  hour,  were 
we  asked  to  name  him  who  was  the  center  and  the  soul,  before 
all  others,  scarcely  excepting  our 'genial  host  himself,  with  one 
consent  we  should  speak  the  name  of  Amos  Bullard.  The  ripest 
scholar,  the  rarest  thinker,  the  keenest  wit  and  the  sincerest 
Christian  of  the  whole  circle  !  And  is  it  for  this  reason  that  he 
is  the  only  one  of  the  five  whom  the  Heavenly  Father  has  taken 
to  himself?  "  The  good  die  first."  He  died  in  1850,  at  the  age 
of  forty-four,  heaven  having  begun  in  his  soul  before  he  closed 
his  eyes  on  earthly  scenes. 

In  1835,  two  years  before  the  close  of  our  period,  Jonathan 
B.  Condit  and  Edwards  A.  Park  became  Professors,  both  of 
whom  are  now  widely  known  and  highly  honored  Professors  in 
theological  seminaries.  The  former  was  connected  with  the 
College  only  three  years,  and  the  latter  rendered  the  service  of 
only  one  year  and  one  term.  At  the  resignation  of  Prof.  Park, 
in  1836,  Prof.  Fiske  was  transferred  from  the  Latin  and  Greek 
chair  to  that  of  Intellectual  and  Moral  Philosophy,  and  W.  S. 


170  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

Tyler  was  chosen  Professor  of  the  Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew 
Languages  and  Literature. 

The  number  of  students  was  increased  for  a  year  or  two  by 
the  introduction  of  a  new  course  of  study  running  parallel  to 
the  old.  "At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
August  21,  1826,  the  Faculty  presented  a  detailed  report  of  the 
state  of  the  Seminary  and  the  course  of  instruction,  together 
with  some  general  remarks  upon  the  inadequacy  of  the  prevail- 
ing systems  of  classical  education  in  this  country  to  meet  the 
wants  and  demands  of  an  enlightened  public.  The  Trustees 
were  so  much  interested  in  this  report,  particularly  that  part 
which  touches  upon  the  subject  of  modifications  and  improve- 
ments, that  they  appointed  a  committee  consisting  of  the  Presi- 
dent, the  Hon.  Lewis  Strong  and  the  Hon.  Samuel  Howe,  to 
publish  extracts  from  it  at  such  time  and  in  such  a  way  as  they 
might  think  best  calculated  to  elicit  inquiry,  to  subserve  the 
great  interests  of  the  College,  and  to  promote  the  general  cause 
of  education.  At  the  same  meeting  the  Trustees  passed  a  re- 
solve, requesting  the  Faculty  to  draw  up  a  specific  plan  of  im- 
provement upon  the  basis  of  their  report,  and  present  it  for  con- 
sideration at  a  future  meeting  of  the  Board." 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Board,  December  6,  1826,  called 
for  this  express  purpose,  the*  Faculty  reported  their  "  specific 
plan "  and  after  much  discussion  and  some  amendment  the  re- 
port was  ordered  to  be  printed,  and  was  unanimously  adopted 
by  the  Board  so  far  forth  as  "  to  express  their  cordial  approba- 
tion of  the  general  plan,  and  their  design  of  incorporating  the 
new  course  substantially,  as  drawn  out  by  the  Faculty  with  the 
existing  four  years'  system." 

This  "  parallel  or  equivalent  course  "  as  recommended  by  the 
Faculty  in  their  second  report  was  to  differ  from  the  old — 1,  In 
the  prominence  which  will  be  given  to  English  literature.  2,  In 
the  substitution  of  the  modern  for  the  ancient  languages,  par- 
ticularly the  French  and  Spanish,  and  should  room  be  found 
hereafter,  German  or  Italian,  or  both,  with  particular  attention 
to  the  literature  in  these  rich  and  popular  languages.  3,  In  Me- 
chanical Philosophy,  by  multiplying  and  varjdng  the  experiments 
so  as  to  render  the  science  more  familiar  and  attractive.  4,  In 


THE    "PARALLEL    COURSE."  171 

Chemistry  and  other  kindred  branches  of  Physical  Science,  by 
showing  their  application'  to  the  more  useful  arts  and  trades,  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  and  to  domestic  economy.  5,  In  a 
course  of  familiar  lectures  upon  curious  and  labor-saving  ma- 
chines, upon  bridges,  locks  and  aqueducts,  and  upon  the  differ- 
ent orders  of  Architecture  with  models  for  illustration.  6,  In 
Natural  History,  by  devoting  more  time  to  those  branches  which 
are  now  taught,  and  introducing  others  into  the  course.  7,  In 
Modern  History,  especially  the  history  of  the  Puritans,  in  con- 
nection with  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  history  of  our  own  coun- 
try. 8,  In  the  elements  of  Civil  and  Political  Law,  embracing 
the  careful  study  of  the  American  Constitutions,  to  which  may 
be  added  Drawing  and  Civil  Engineering. 

Ancient  History,  Geography,  Grammar,  Rhetoric  and  Oratory, 
Mathematics,  Natural,  Intellectual  and  Moral  Philosophy,  Anat- 
omy, Political  Economy  and  Theology,  according  to  the  plan, 
were  to  be  common  to  both  courses.  The  requirements  for  ad- 
mission were  also  to  be  the  same  for  both  courses,  not  excepting 
the  present  amount  of  Latin  and  Greek.  And  the  Faculty  stren- 
uously insisted  that  the  new  course  should  be  fully  "  equivalent " 
to  the  old,  that  it  should  fill  up  as  many  years,  should  be  carried 
on  by  as  able  instructors,  should  take  as  wide  and  elevated  a 
range,  should  require  as  great  an  amount  of  hard  study  or  mental 
discipline,  and  should  be  rewarded  by  the  same  academic  honors. 

Besides  the  new  parallel  or  equivalent  course,  the  Faculty 
earnestly  recommend  a  new  department  for  systematic  instruc- 
tion in  the  science  of  education,  and  they  further  suggest  a  de- 
partment of  theoretical  and  practical  mechanics. 

While  the  Trustees  unanimously  approve  of  the  general  plan, 
and  declare  their  purpose  to  incorporate  the  new  course  with 
the  old  system,  they  also  express  their  intention  "to  add  the 
department  of  education  as  soon  as  they  can  obtain  the  neces- 
sary means.  The  mechanic  department  they  deem  of  less  imme- 
diate consequence,  but  as  worthy  of  a  fair  trial  whenever  the 
funds  of  the  College  will  permit."1 

1  See  a  pamphlet  issued  by  the  Committee  of  the  Trustees,  entitled  "  The  sub- 
stance of  two  reports  of  the  Faculty  of  Amherst  College  to  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
with  the  doings  of  the  Board  thereon.  Carter  and  Adams,  1827." 


172  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

Not  long  after  the  meeting  of  the  Board  in  December,  1826, 
the  Faculty  drew  up  a  plan  of  the  studies,  arranged  in  parallel 
columns  wherever  the  two  courses  differed,  and  published  it,  to- 
gether with  other  matter  usually  contained  in  the  annual  cata- 
logue, under  the  title,  "  Outline'  of  the  System  of  Instruction 
recently  adopted  in  the  College  at  Amherst,  Mass.,  1827."  In 
this  paper,  they  say :  "  In  consequence  of  the  demand  which 
is  at  the  present  time  made  by  a  large  portion  of  the  public 
for  the  means  of  an  elevated  and  liberal  education  without  the 
necessity  of  devoting  so  much  time  to  the  study  of  the  Ancient 
Languages,  the  Trustees  have  authorized  the  establishment  of 
two  parallel  courses  of  study,  in  one  of  which  Ancient,  and  in 
the  other,  Modern  Languages  and  Literature  receive  particular 
attention.  In  other  respects,  the  courses  coincide,  correspond- 
ing with  the  system  generally  adopted  in  the  colleges  of  New 
England.  In  studies  in  which  they  coincide,  both  divisions  will 
receive  instruction  in  company,  and  they  will  graduate  together 
at  the  termination  of  the  four  years'  course.  This  system  is  ex- 
pected to  go  into  operation  at  the  commencement  of  the  ensu- 
ing collegiate  year." 1 

At  the  commencement  of  the  ensuing  year,  (1827-8)  the 
whole  number  of  students  rose  from  one  hundred  and  seveniy2 
to  two  hundred  and  nine,  and  the  Freshman  class,  which  the 
previous  year  contained  fifty-one,  now  numbered  sixty-seven,  of 
whom  eighteen  are  set  down  on  the  catalogue  as  students  "  in 
Modern  Languages."  So  far  forth  the  experiment  promised  well. 
In  regard  to  the  number  of  students,  it  was  at  least  a  fair  begin- 
ning. But  now  commenced  the  difficulties  in  the  execution  of 
the  plan.  These  were  found  to  be  far  greater  than  the  Trustees 
or  the  Faculty  had  anticipated.  The  teacher  of  Modern  Lan- 
guages, a  native  of  France,  was  not  very  successful  in  teaching, 
and  was  quite  incapable  of  maintaining  order  in  his  class,  so 
that  the  Faculty  were  compelled  to  appoint  one  of  the  Profess- 
ors to  preside  at  his  recitations.  The  Professors  and  Tutors  on 

1 1  find  in  the  records  of  the  Faculty  at  this  time,  [1827-8]  a  plan  for  a  fifth  year 
of  study  to  be  added  to  the  curriculum.  It  never  appears  to  have  gone  beyond  the 
records,  and  is  mentioned  here  only  to  illustrate  the  large  plans  and  enterprising 
spirit  of  the  Faculty  at  this  period. 

2  On  the  catalogue  of  the  preceding  year. 


ITS  FAILURE.  173 

whom  it  devolved  to  give  the  additional  instruction,  although 
willing,  as  they  declared  in  their  report,  "  to  take  upon  them- 
selves additional  burdens,"  had  their  hands  full  already  with 
other  duties,  and  found  unexpected  difficulties  in  organizing  and 
conducting  the  new  course  of  studios.  The  College  was  not 
sufficiently  manned  for  the  work  it  had  undertaken,  and  was  too 
poor  to  furnish  an  adequate  Faculty.  Truth  also  probably  re- 
quires the  statement  that  the  new  course,  which  was  the  favorite 
scheme  of  one  of  the  Professors,  was  never  very  heartily  adopted 
by  the  rest  of  the  Faculty  who,  therefore,  worked  in  and  for  it 
with  far  less  courage  and  enthusiasm  than  they  did  in  the  studies 
of  the  old  curriculum.  Moreover  they  discovered  as  the  year 
advanced,  that  the  new  plan  was  not  received  by  the  public 
with  so  much  favor  as  had  been  expected,  that  they  had  proba- 
bly overestimated  the  popular  demand  for  the  Modern  Lan- 
guages and  the  Physical  Sciences  in  collegiate  education.  The 
students  of  the  new  course  were  not  slow  to  perceive  all  these 
facts.  They  soon  discovered  the  fact,  whatever  might  be  the 
cause,  that  they  were  not  obtaining  an  education  which  was  in 
reality  equivalent  to  that  obtained  by  other  students. 

The  next  year,  1828,  the  Freshman  class  fell  back  to  fifty- 
two,  just  about  the  number  of  two  years  before ;  and  of  these 
so  few  wished,  or  particularly  cared  to  join  the  new  course, 
that  there  was  no  division  organized  in  the  Modern  Languages. 
Those  who  had  entered  the  previous  year,  gradually  fell  back 
into  the  regular  course.  The  catalogue  for  the  3rear  1828-9, 
retains  no  trace  of  the  new  plan,  except  the  parallel  columns, 
of  the  old  and  new  courses  of  studies.  At  their  annual  meet- 
ing in  1829,  the  Trustees  voted  to  dispense  with  the  parallel 
course  in  admitting  students  hereafter,  and  made  French  one  of 
the  regular  studies.  At  the  same  meeting,  the  Professor  who 
was  the  father  of  the  scheme,  resigned  his  professorship.  Thus 
not  a  vestige  of  the  experiment  remained,  except  that  the  class 
with  which  it  was  introduced,  graduated  in  1831  the  largest 
class  (with  one  exception)  that  has  ever  left  the  Institution. 
Thus  ended  the  first  attempt  to  introduce  the  Modern  Languages 
and  the  Physical  Sciences  as  an  equivalent  for  the  time-honored 
system  of  classical  culture  in  our  American  colleges.  The  plan 


174  HISTORY    OF    AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

as  it  was  presented  in  the  reports  of  the  Faculty,  was  exceed- 
ingly attractive  and  promising,  quite  as  much  so  as  any  of  the 
numerous  similar  schemes  by  which  it  has  been  succeeded,  and 
it  was  recommended  by  quite  as  convincing  and  indeed,  to  a  great 
extent,  the  very  same  arguments.  It  is  no  discredit  to  the  men 
who  devised  it,  and,  under  such  unfavorable  circumstances,  ex- 
ecuted it  to  the  best  of  their  ability.  Essentially  the  same  ex- 
periment, intensified  by  the  omission  of  the  Mathematics  as  well 
as  the  Ancient  Classics,  is  now  being  tried  in  older  and  younger, 
and  far  richer  institutions,  with  men  and  means  in  abundance, 
with  what  result,  time  must  determine. 

With  so  large  a  number  of  students,  and  that  number  con- 
stantly and  rapidly  increasing,  the  officers  of  the  College  soon 
found  the  place  too  strait  for  them,  and  began  very  naturally  to 
look  about  for  more  ample  accommodations.  The  most  imme- 
diate and  pressing  want  was  felt  to  be  that  of  a  more  convenient 
and  suitable  place  of  worship.  "  When  I  entered  upon  my  office, 
in  1823,"  says  President  Humphrey,  "  the  students  worshiped  on 
the  Sabbath  in  the  old  parish  meeting-house  on  the  hill.  I  soon 
found  that  the  young  men  of  the  society  felt  themselves  crowded 
by  the  students,  and  there  were  increasing  symptoms  from  Sab- 
bath to  Sabbath  qf  collision  and  disturbance.  I  accordingly  told 
the  Trustees  that  I  thought  it  would  be  safest  and  best  for  us  to 
withdraw  and  worship  by  ourselves  in  one  of  the  College  build- 
ings till  a  chapel  could  be  built  for  permanent  occupancy.  They 
authorized  us  to  do  so,  and  I  have  never  doubted  the  expediency 
of  the  change  oh  this  and  even  more  important  grounds." l 

The  chief  reason  which  the  venerable  ex-President  in  his  His- 
torical Sketches  proceeds  to  urge  in  favor  of  a  separate  congre- 
gation and  place  of  worship  for  students,  is  the  greater  appro- 
priateness, directness  and  impressiveness  of  the  preaching  which 
can  thus  be  addressed  to  them.  On  this  subject  there  has  been 
and  is,  so  far  as  I  know,  but  one  opinion  in  the  Faculty  of  Am- 
herst  College.  The  experience  of  half  a  century  has  only  con- 
firmed and  established  the  views  expressed  by  Dr.  Humphrey, 
that  it  is  a  great  loss  of  moral  power  to  preach  to  students  scat- 
tered among  a  large  mixed  congregation. 

1  Historical  Sketches  in  Manuscript. 


THE  CHAPEL   BUILDING.  175 

But  the  old  chapel,  laboratory  and  lecture  room,  and  room 
for  every  other1  use,  in  the  upper  story  of  North  College,  could 
not  long  accommodate  the  growing  number  of  students,  even 
for  morning  and  evening  prayers,  still  less  the  congregation  for 
Sabbath  worship.  The  subject  of  a  new  chapel  came  before  the 
Board  of  Trustees  at  their  first  meeting  under  the  charter. 
They  were  encouraged  to  consider  the  subject  and  form  some 
plans  in  respect  to  it,  by  a  legacy  of  some  four  thousand  dollars 
or  more  which  Adam  Johnson  of  Pelham  had  left  to  the  College 
for  the  express  purpose  of  erecting  such  a  building.  But  his 
will  had  been  disallowed  -by  the  Judge  of  Probate,  and  an  ap- 
peal from  his  decision  was  now  pending  in  the  Supreme  Court. 
At  this  time,  therefore,  they  only  voted,  that  in  case  the  will 
should  be  established,  the  Prudential  Committee  be  instructed  to 
proceed  with  all  convenient  despatch  in  the  erection  of  a  chapel 
building.  They  furthermore  authorized  that  committee  to  bor- 
row any  further  sum  of  money  which  they  might  deem  requisite 
for  that  purpose,  not  exceeding  six  thousand  dollars.  "  At  the 
annual  meeting  in  August,  1825,  the  call  for  a  chapel  and  other 
public  accommodations  had  become  too  urgent  to  be  postponed 
without  sacrificing  the  interests  of  the  College.  In  this  emer- 
gency, the  Trustees  could  not  hesitate.  They  saw  but  one 
course,  and  they  promptly  empowered  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee to  contract  for  the  erection  of  a  chapel  building,"1  and 
also  a  third  College  edifice,  if  they  deemed  it  expedient ;  at  the 
same  time  authorizing  them  to  borrow  such  sums  of  money,  as 
might  be  necessary  therefor,  of  the  Charity  Fund,  of  banks,  or 
of  individuals. 

The  work  on  the  chapel  was  commenced  early  in  the  spring 
of  1826,  and  so  far  completed  in  the  course  of  the  season  that 
on  the  28th  of  February,  1827,  it  was  dedicated.  Dr.  Humphrey 
preached  the  dedication  sermon.  His  text  was :  "  Hitherto  hath 
the  Lord  helped  us."  "  Five  years  ago,"  he  says,  "  there  was 
one  building  for  the  accommodation  of  between  fifty  and  sixty 
students ;  four  years  ago  there  were  between  ninety  and  a  hun- 
dred young  men  here ;  one  year  ago,  there  were  a  hundred  and 
fifty ;  and  now  there  are  a  hundred  and  seventy.  It  is  scarcely 

1  Dr.  Humphrey's  dedication  sermon. 


176  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

two  years  since  the  Seminary  was  chartered,  and  yet  I  believe 
that  in  the  number  of  under-graduates  it  now  holds  the  third  or 
fourth  rank  in  the  long  list  of  American  Colleges !  God  forbid 
that  this  statement  should  excite  any  but  grateful  emotions.  It 
is  meet  that  we  should  carefully  look  over  this  ground  to-da}r, 
that  the  inscription  may  be  indelibly  engraved  on  our  hearts  — 
'  Hitherto  hath  the  Lord  helped  us.' '  Meanwhile  the  decision 
of  the  Judge  of  Probate  had  been  reversed,  and  the  will  of 
Adam  Johnson  l  established  by  the  Supreme  Court. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  in  August,  1828,  it  was 
voted  that  in  testimony  of  their  grateful  remembrance  of  his  mu- 
nificent donation,  the  apartment  occupied  as  a  chapel  should  for- 
ever be  called  Johnson  Chapel,  and  that  the  President  be  re- 
quested to  have  the  words,  "  Johnson  Chapel,"  inserted  in  large 
arid  distinct  characters  over  the  middle  door  or  principal  en- 
trance of  the  apartment.  This  inscription  placed  over  the  door 
of  the  chapel  proper,  in  1829,  disappeared  after  a  time,  being  car- 
ried off  by  students  in  some  of  their  pranks,  and  was  replaced  at 
the  instance  of  the  writer  shortly  before  the  semi-centennial.  It 
now  stands  over  the  arch  near  the  foot  of  the  stairs  in  the  lower 
hall.  In  1846  a  suitable  monument  was  erected  over  the  grave 
of  Mr.  Johnson  by  direction  of  the  Trustees  and  at  the  expense 
of  the  College. 

Besides  the  chapel  proper,  which  has  ever  since  been  used  for 
morning  and  evening  prayers,  as  well  as  for  the  worship  of  the 
Sabbath,  the  chapel  building  contained  originally  four  recitation 
rooms,  a  room  for  philosophical  apparatus,  and  a  cabinet  for 
minerals  on  the  lower  floor,  two  recitation  rooms  on  the  second 
floor,  a  library  room  on  the  third  floor,  and  a  laboratory  in  the 

1  Much  handle  was  made  of  this  will  in  the  speeches  of  the  opposition  in  the  Leg- 
islature. And  I  have  before  me  a  pamphlet  written  in  the  same  spirit  by  a  brother 
of  the  testator,  entitled,  "  The  Last  Will  and  Testament  of  Thomas  Johnson,  of 
Greenfield,  County  of  Franklin,  in  favor  of  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  College,"  in 
which  he  (the  brother)  bequeathes  to  the  said  Trustees  nothing  but  woes  and  male- 
dictions. It  must  be  admitted  that  Adam  Johnson  was  not  such  a  man  as  would 
have  been  likely  to  be  among  the  founders  of  Amherst  College.  The  desire  of  a 
childless  old  man  to  perpetuate  his  name  seems  to  have  been  his  chief  inducement 
to  make  the  bequest,  and  his  motive  was  doubtless  skillfully  pressed  by  Col.  Graves 
and  Esq.  Dickinson.  But  the  verdict  of  the  Supreme  Court  exculpates  them  from 
the  charge  of  any  improper  or  undue  influence. 


NORTH    COLLEGE.  177 

basement.  These  recitation  rooms  were  named  after  the  depart- 
ments to  which  they  were  appropriated,  for  example,  the  Greek, 
Latin,  Mathematical  and  Tablet  rooms l  on  the  first  floor,  and 
the  Rhetorical  and  Theological  rooms  on  the  second,  and  they 
were  far  in  advance  of  the  recitation  rooms  of  the  older  col- 
leges in  size,  beauty,  and  convenience.  The  College  library 
was  soon  removed  from  the  fourth  story  of  North  College  to 
the  room  intended  for  it  in  the  third  story  of  the  chapel,  and 
the  room  not  being  half  filled  by  it,  the  remaining  half,  viz., 
the  shelves  on  either  side  of  the  door,  were  for  some  time  set 
apart  respectively  for  the  libraries  of  the  Alexandrian  and 
Athenian  societies.  When  better  accommodations  were  fur- 
nished many  years  later  for  the  Mineral  Cabinet,  the  recitation 
rooms  of  Prof.  Mather  and  Prof.  Seelye  took  the  place  of  the 
Tablet  room,  the  old  Cabinet,  and  a  part  of  the  adjoining  entry, 
and  the  Rhetorical  and  Theological  rooms  gave  place  to  the 
small  chapel.  And  when  Williston  Hall  provided  ample  apart- 
ments for  the  Chemical  department,  the  old  Laboratory,  so  long 
the  scene  of  Prof.  Hitchcock's  brilliant  experiments  and  corus- 
cations of  genius,  was  given  up  to  storage  and  other  necessary 
but  comparatively  ignoble  uses. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Trustees  in  August,  1827,  it  was 
voted  that  the  Prudential  Committee  be  directed  to  take  imme- 
diate measures  for  erecting  another  College  building  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  the  students,  similar  to  those  already  erected, 
and  cause  the  same  to  be  completed  as  soon  as  may  be,  provided 
that  in  their  judgment  a  suitable  site  for  such  building  can  be 
obtained. 

The  site  was  soon  selected,  and  before  the  commencement  of 
another  collegiate  year,  the  building  was  completed  so  as  to  be 
occupied  by  students  for  the  year  1828-9.  This  new  dormitory 
was  better  adapted  to  promote  the  health,  comfort  and  conven- 
ience of  students,  especially  in  its  well-lighted  and  ventilated 
bed-rooms,  and  its  ample  closets,  than  either  of  the  older  build- 
ings, and  was  perhaps  a  better  dormitory,  as  being  built  on  a 
better  plan,  than  any  that  then  existed  in  any  other  college.  It 
had,  however,  the  disadvantage  of  running  east  and  west,  in- 

1  So  called  because  the  walls  were  covered  with  blackboards. 
12 


178  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

stead  of  north  and  south,  so  that  the  rooms  on  the  north  side 
were  never  visited  by  the  sun,  and  no  such  rooms  are  fit  to  be 
inhabited.  Still  it  was  for  many  years  the  favorite  dormitory, 
and  its  rooms  were  the  first  choice  of  members  of  the  upper 
classes,  not  a  few  of  whom,  on  their  return  to  Amherst,  will 
look  in  vain  for  the  North  College  of  their  day1  as  the  center  of 
some  of  their  most  sacred  associations.  In  the  winter  of  1857, 
it  was  destroyed  by  fire,  and  its  site  is  now  occupied  by  Willis- 
ton  Hall. 

It  was  in  connection  with  the  site  of  North  College,  that  the 
process  of  grading  the  College  grounds  began,  which,  during  so 
many  years  in  the  poverty  of  the  College,  was  carried  forward 
by  the  hands  of  the  students,  sometimes  by  individuals  work- 
ing out  of  study  hours,  and  sometimes  by  a  whole  class  volun- 
teering to  devote  a  half-day  or  a  whole  day  to  the  work. .  Or 
if  the  process  began  earlier,  we  now  find  it  receiving  a  special 
and  grateful  recognition  on  the  records  of  the  Trustees,  who, 
at  their  annual  meeting  in  August,  1827,  "having  noticed  with 
much  satisfaction  the  improvements  made  in  the  College  grounds* 
and  hearing  that  these  were  effected  principally  by  the  volun- 
tary labors  of  the  students,"  passed  a  vote  expressing  the 
"pleasure  they  felt  in  view  of  these  self-denying  and  benev- 
olent exertions  to  add  to  the  beauty  and  convenience  of  the 
Institution."  The  same  enterprise  and  public  spirit  also  gave 
birth  soon  after  to  the  gymnasium  in  the  grove,  the  bathing  es- 
tablishment at  the  well,  and  the  College  band,  which,  for  many 
years,  furnished  music  at  exhibitions,  Commencements  and  other 
public  occasions. 

During  the  summer  term  of  1828,  the  students  with  the  ap- 
probation of  the  Faculty,  organized  a  sort  of  interior  govern- 
ment, supplementary  to  that  of  the  Faculty,  and  designed  to  se- 
cure more  perfect  order  and  quietness  in  the  Institution.  A 
legislative  body,  called  the  House  of  Students,  enacted  laws  for 
the  protection  of  the  buildings,  for  the  security  of  the  grounds, 
for  the  better  observance  of  study  hours,  etc.,  etc.  Then  a 
court,  with  a  regularly  organized  bench,  bar,  and  constabulary, 

iFrom  1828  to  1857,  this  was  called  North  College,  and  the  present  North  was 
called  Middle  College  during  the  same  period. 


THE  HOUSE  OF   STUDENTS.  179 

enforced  the  execution  of  the  laws,  tried  offenders  in  due  form 
and  process,  and  inflicted  the  penalties  affixed  to  their  violation. 
The  plan  worked  smoothly  and  usefully  for  about  two  years,  but 
at  length  a  certain  class  of  students  grew  restive  under  the  re- 
straints and  penalties  which  were  imposed ;  for 

None  e'er  felt  the  halter  draw, 
With  good  opinion  of  the  law. 

And  in  1830,  after  a  most  animated,  and  on  one  side  quite  im- 
passioned discussion  in  the  whole  body  of  the  students,  a  small 
majority  of  votes  was  obtained  against  it,  and  the  system  was 
abolished. 

When  the  Chapel  and  North  College  were  finished,  the  Trust- 
ees found  themselves  deeply  in  debt.  Indeed  the  College  came 
into  existence  as  a  chartered  Institution  with  a  debt  of  eight- 
een thousand  dollars,  the  greater  part  of  which,  however,  was 
"  liquidated  "  by  the  thirty  thousand  dollar  subscription.  The 
erection  of  the  Chapel  added  some  eleven  thousand  dollars  to 
the  burden.1  North  College  cost  ten  thousand  dollars  more. 
The  purchase  of  the  lot  of  land  belonging  to  the  estate  of  Dr. 
Parsons,  on  which  the  President's  house,  and  the  library  now 
stand,  and  the  share  taken  in  the  new  village  church  that  the 
College  might  have  a  place  to  hold  its  Commencements,  swelled 
the  sum  still  higher. 

An  effort  was  made  to  meet  this  indebtedness  at  the  time  by 
private  subscriptions  and  donations.2  But  the  amount  raised  in 
this  way,  was  not  even  sufficient  to  pay  the  bills  for  North 
College.  For  the  remaining  and  now  constantly  increasing  in- 
debtedness, no  resource  seemed  to  be  left  but  an  appeal  to  the 
Legislature.  The  first  application  to  the  Legislature  for  pecun- 
iary aid  was  made  in  the  winter  session  of  1827.  The  peti- 
tion signed  by  President  Humphrey,  in  behalf  of  the  Trustees, 
sets  forth  the  pressing  necessities  of  the  Institution,  and  how 
they  have  arisen,  asks  nothing  more  than  the  means  of  defray- 

1  The  building  cost  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  four  thousand  of  which  was  contrib- 
uted by  the  Johnson  legacy. 

2  It  was  in  this  effort  that  Eev.  Mr.  Vaill  was  first  appointed  agent  of  the  Col- 
lege with  a  salary  of  eight  hundred  dollars,  viz.,  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Trustees  in  August,  1829. 


180  HISTORY  OF  AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

ing  the  expenses  already  incurred  for  the  accommodation  of  its 
increasing  number  of  pupils,  and  such  further  aids  and  facilities 
for  the  communication  of  knowledge  as  are  indispensable  to  its 
continued  prosperity,  and  urges  no  claim  except  the  unparal- 
leled private  munificence  and  individual  efforts  by  which  it  has 
been  sustained,  and  the  duty  devolved  upon  the  Legislature  by 
the  constitution,  and  cheerfully  discharged  by  them  in  reference 
to  the  other  Colleges  of  the  State,  to  foster  institutions  of  learn- 
ing established  by  their  authority,  and  governed  in  no  small 
measure  by  Trustees  of  their  own  choice.  This  petition  was 
referred  to  a  Committee  of  both  Houses,  who  gave  the  petition- 
ers a  patient  hearing,  and  manifested  a  willingness  on  their  part 
to  aid  the  College,  but  "  they  found  the  state  of  the  public 
finances  incompatible  with  such  aid,"  and  hence  felt  constrained 
to  make  an  unfavorable  report.  This  report  was  accepted  by 
both  Houses,  and  there  the  matter  rested  for  four  years. 

In  the  winter  session  of  1831,  the  Trustees  came  before  the 
General  Court  again  with  substantially  the  same  petition,  made 
more  urgent  by  increasing  necessities,  but  only  to  meet  with 
substantially  the  same  result.  The  committee,  consisting  of 
Messrs.  Gray  and  Lincoln  of  Worcester,  from'  the  Senate,  and 
Messrs.  Baylie  of  Taunton,  Marston  of  Newburyport,  and  Wil- 
liams of  Northampton,  from  the  House,  recognize  the  necessities 
of  the  Institution,  as  also  its  merits  and  success.  Indeed  they 
make  an  admirable  argument  in  favor  of  a  grant,  but  with  a  non 
sequitur,  which  surprises  the  reader,  they  concluded  with  a  rec- 
ommendation that  for  the  present,  at  least,  the  grant  shall  be 
withheld.  The  last  two  sentences  of  their  report,  read  as  fol- 
lows :  "  The  degree  of  public  estimation  which  the  College  en- 
joys is  evidenced  by  the  unexampled  success  which  has  attended 
the  exertions  of  its  officers,  and  which  has  placed  it,  as  regards 
the  number  of  its  pupils,  in  the  third  rank  among  the  Colleges 
of  the  United  States.  Your  committee  are  not  unmindful  of  the 
obligation  which  the  constitution  imposes  on  the  Legislature  to 
cherish  and  foster  seminaries  of  learning,  and  if  the  present  state 
of  the  treasury  would  justify  it,  they  would  not  hesitate  to  rec- 
ommend that  a  liberal  endowment  should  be  granted  to  Am- 
herst ;  but  under  existing  circumstances  it  is  their  opinion  that 


PETITIONS   FOR   STATE  AID.  181 

the  further  consideration  of  the  petition  of  Amherst  College  for 
pecuniary  aid,  be  referred  to  the  first  session  of  the  next  Gen- 
eral Court."  This  report  met  the  prompt  acceptance  of  the 
Senate,  and,  on  the  same  day,  the  concurrence  of  the  House. 

At  the  first  session  of  the  next  General  Court,  which  com- 
menced in  May,  1841,  the  petition  of  the  Trustees,  and  the  re- 
port of  the  committee  of  the  last  Legislature  were  referred  to  a 
Joint  Committee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Lincoln  and  Brooks  of 
the  Senate,  and  Messrs.  Huntington  of  Salem,  Bowman  of  New 
Braintree  and  Hayes  of  South  Hadley  of  the  House,  who  were 
unanimously  of  the  opinion  that  the  public  interest  requires  that 
pecuniary  aid  be  afforded  to  Amherst  College,  and  submitted  a 
resolve  for  that  purpose.  The  resolve  gives  the  College  fifty 
thousand  dollars  in  semi-annual  installments  of  two  thousand 
five  hundred  dollars  each.  But  owing  to  the  shortness  of  the 
summer  session,  the  subject  was  again  postponed. 

The  State  being  now  in  funds,  it  was  not  doubted  that  a  grant 
would  be  obtained  as  soon  as  the  General  Court  could  have  time 
to  act  deliberately  upon  the  subject.  Accordingly  a  new  peti- 
tion was  drawn  up  by  authority  of  the  Trustees  and  presented 
in  January,  1832.  It  was  referred  to  a  highly  respectable  com- 
mittee, who  adopted  substantially  the  favorable  report  of  pre- 
vious committees,  and  unanimously  submitted  the  same  resolve. 

When  their  report  came  before  the  House  for  discussion  in 
Committee  of  the  Whole,  the  College  was  attacked  with  great 
acrimony  on  the  one  hand,  and  defended  with  distinguished  mag- 
nanimity and  ability  on  the  other.  Mr.  Brooks  of  Bernards- 
ton  and  Mr.  Fuller  of  Boston,  were  particularly  violent  and 
bitter  in  their  opposition.  Mr.  Foster  of  Brimfield,  Mr.  Buck- 
ingham of  Boston,  Mr.  Bliss  of  Springfield,  and  Mr.  Calhoun  of 
Springfield,  who  was  a  Trustee  and  who  was  then  Speaker  of  the 
House,  spoke  ably  and  eloquently  in  the  defence.  Mr.  Fuller  re- 
newed his  assault,  and  continued  his  slander  and  vituperation  till 
after  the  usual  hour  of  adjournment.  Mr.  Calhoun  rose  again 
and  in  a  brief  reply  repeUed  the  charges,  and  re-asserted  the 
strong  claims  of  the  College  to  public  patronage.  Mr.  Bliss 
moved  that  the  committee  rise,  as  he  wished  to  answer  the 
member  from  Boston.  Mr.  Phillips  of  Salem  hoped  the  indul- 


182  HISTORY   OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

gence  would  be  granted,  and  intimated  that  he  also  should  be 
glad  to  address  the  committee.  But  the  majority  were  deter- 
mined to  take  the  question  on  the  spot.  They  did  take  it.  It 
went  against  the  College  with  "  fearful  odds,"  and  on  motion  of 
Mr.  Sturgis  of  Boston  the  whole  subject  was  indefinitely  post- 
poned. Thus,  after  a  suspense  of  five  years,  during  which  they 
had  obtained  the  favorable  reports  of  four  successive  commit- 
tees of  the  Legislature,  were  the  hopes  of  the  Trustees  blasted 
in  a  moment,  and  the  debts  of  the  College  returned  upon  them 
with  a  weight  which  it  was  impossible  any  longer  to  sustain. 

After  this  result  no  time  was  lost  in  calling  a  special  meeting 
of  the  Trustees,  to  consider  what  was  to  be  done  in  this  critical 
emergency.  The  Board  met  on  the  6th  of  March.  It  was  an 
anxious  day,  and  direction  was  sought  of  Him  who  had  hitherto 
succored  the  College  in  all  its  perils.  Letters  full  of  hope  and 
encouragement  were  read  from  influential  friends  in  different 
parts  of  the  State,  urging  them  without  delay  to  appeal  to  the 
public  for  the  aid  which  the  Legislature  had  so  ungraciously  re- 
fused. They  accordingly  resolved  to  make  an  immediate  appeal 
to  the  friends  of  the  College,  asking  for  fifty  thousand  dollars  as 
the  least  sum  which  would  relieve  it  from  debt  and  future  em- 
barrassment. A  committee  of  their  own  body,  consisting  of  the 
President,  Hon.  Samuel  Lathrop  and  Hon.  William  B.  Banister, 
was  appointed  to  publish  the  appeal,  and  President  Humphrey, 
Prof.  Fiske,  Rev.  Mr.  Vaill,  Rev.  Sylvester  Holmes  of  New 
Bedford,  Rev.  Mr.  Hitchcock  of  Randolph,  and  Rev.  Richard 
S.  Storrs  of  Braintree,  were  appointed  agents  to  solicit  sub- 
scriptions. 

In  their  appeal  to  the  public,  the  committee  say  to  the  friends 
and  patrons  of  the  College :  "  It  rests  with  you  to  decide  whether 
it  shall  live  or  die.  With  an  empty  treasury,  exhausted  credit, 
a  debt  of  more  than  thirty-five  thousand  dollars,  and  no  means 
of  paying  a  dollar  of  the  interest  as  it  accrues  at  the  rate  of  more 
than  forty  dollars  a  month,  it  can  not  long  survive."  The  whole 
history  of  the  efforts  to  obtain  pecuniary  aid  from  the  Legislature 
with  their  results  was  also  related  in  this  pamphlet,  and  it  was 
calculated  to  make  a  strong  impression.  But  the  most  effective 
part  of  the  whole  appeal  was  the  extracts  which  were  quoted 


OPPOSITION   SPEECHES.  183 

from  the  speeches  of  Mr.  Brooks  and  Mr.  Fuller  in  opposition 
to  the  bill.  The  following  gems  ought  to  be  preserved  as  speci- 
mens :  "  Mr.  Brooks  of  Bernardston  said  he  did  not  think  Col- 
leges were  needed.  There  were  more  lawyers  than  could  get 
a  living  honestly ;  and  they  had  to  get  a  living  somehow  or  other. 
There  were  doctors  to  be  found  in  every  street  of  every  village, 
with  their  little  saddle-bags ;  and  they  must  have  a  living  out 
of  the  public.  There  were  too  many  clergymen  who,  finding 
no  places  where  they  could  be  settled,  went  about  the  country 
begging  for  funds  and  getting  up  rag-bag  and  tag-rag  societies. 
He  did.  not  wish  to  see  any  more  sent  about  the  country,  like  a 
roaring  lion,  seeking  whom  they  may  devour."  l 

"  Mr.  Fuller  of  Boston  said  :  I  hope,  sir,  these  pious  pillars 
of  Amherst  College  have  not  been  guilty  of  what  is  technically 
called  suppressio  veri — a  suppression  of  the  truth.  I  hope  they 
have  not  reached  that  degree  of  piety  which  leads  its  possessors 
to  practice  pious  fraud  to  accomplish  a  good  end. 

"  Mr.  Speaker,  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  sermon  purporting  to  have 
been  preached  by  Heman  Humphrey,  President  of  Amherst 
College.  It  was  published  soon  after  the  incorporation  of  the 
College,  and  contains  at  the  close,  a  list  of  the  students  in  the 
classes.  The  whole  number  is  one  hundred  and  twenty-six ; 
and  at  the  bottom  are  written  these  significant  words, '  hopefully 
pious,  ninety-eight.'  Of  the  balance,  twenty-eight,  nothing  is 
said — no  designation  is  given  to  them.  It  needs  no  inspiration 
in  these  days  of  sectarian  watchfulness,  to  understand  that  those 
unfortunate  twenty-eight  are  among  the  '  hopelessly  damnable.' 
Sir,  has  it  come  to  this  ?  Shall  the  government  of  a  College, 
professing  to  rest  upon  the  broad  basis  of  the  public  good,  intro- 
duce such  distinctions  within  their  walls,  and  divide  their  stu- 
dents into  two  classes,  the  one 'hopeful'  and  the  other  ' hopeless ' 
as  to  their  spiritual  concerns  ?  How  must  they  feel  who  are  not 
among  the  elect?  Such  a  College  must  be  a  school  of  rank 
hypocrisy  rather  than  a  place  of  liberal  science  and  good  learn- 
ing.^  

1  "  Mr.  Brooks  is  a  doctor,  a  Universalist  preacher  and  so  forth."— Note  in  the 
Pamphlet. 

2  This  Mr.  Fuller  seems  to  have  been  an  active  opposer  of  the  charter  in  the  Leg- 


184  HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

The  appeal  met  with  a  prompt  and  hearty  response.  The 
people  of  Amherst  put  their  shoulders  again  to  the  wheel  and 
raised  three  thousand  dollars  —  they  had  given  little  short  of 
twenty  thousand  dollars  in  money  before.  President  Humphrey 
visited  Boston  the  first  week  in  April,  and  in  a  few  days  had 
raised  a  subscription  of  seven  thousand  dollars  there.  A  sub- 
scription was  started  spontaneously  among  the  Amherst  Alumni 
at  Andover — fifty-seven  out  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  stu- 
dents at  Andover  at  this  time  were  alumni  of  Amherst  —  and 
they  in  their  poverty  subscribed  from  ten  to  twenty-five  dollars 
apiece.  No  agent  was  necessary.  Mr.  Fuller,  as  the  writer 
well  remembers,  was  agent  enough,  and  his  speech  was  better 
than  any  that  President  Humphrey  himself  could  have  made 
in  behalf  of  the  College. 

The  Boston  Recorder,  in  whose  columns  we  find  no  mention 
of  Amherst  College  during  the  three  years  previous,  has  an  edi- 
torial or  a  communication  in  behalf  of  the  College  in  almost  every 
issue  for  several  months  in  1832,  publishing  it  as  a  settled  point 
that  Amherst  will  receive  no  aid  from  the  State  for  one  genera- 
tion, declaring  the  chief  reason  for  the  refusal  of  aid  by  the 
Legislature  to  be  the  avowedly  orthodox  and  religious  character 
of  the  Institution,  and  calling  upon  the  friends  of  evangelical 
religion  to  come  to  its  relief  and  support  it  as  a  strictly  religious 
object,  and  urging  in  proof  that  it  is  so,  the  facts  that  all  the 
permanent  officers  but  one  had  from  the  first  been  licensed 
preachers,  that  of  two  hundred  and  seventy  graduates  two  hun- 
dred and  seven  were  pious,  and  that  more  than  one-third  of  the 
theological  students  at  Andover  Seminary  were  from  Amherst 
College.  Under  the  influence  of  such  arguments  and  appeals, 
evangelical  Christians  through  the  State  rallied  to  its  support 
with  such  cordial  good  will  that  we  find  them  congratulating 
each  other  and  the  College  on  the  rejection  of  its  petition  by  the 
Legislature.  At  the  Commencement  in  August  it  was  announced 
that  thirty  thousand  dollars  had  been  subscribed.  It  was  feared 

islature  of  that  day.  In  replying  to  his  speech  at  this  time,  Mr.  Thayer  of  Brain- 
tree  says,  that  under  the  influence  of  Mr.  Fuller,  years  ago,  he  had  voted  against 
the  charter ;  but  he  had  visited  Amherst  since,  and  had  been  led  to  change  his 
mind  by  what  he  had  seeft  with  his  own  eyes. 


THE   SUBSCRIPTION  COMPLETED.  185 

that  the  remaining  twenty  thousand  dollars  would  come  with 
great  difficulty.  But  the  work  went  bravely  on  to  its  comple- 
tion. And  on  the  last  day  of  the  year,  December  31,  1832,  the 
news  being  received  that  the  whole  sum  was  made  up  and  the 
subscription  was  complete,  the  students  expressed  their  joy  in 
the  evening  by  ringing  the  bells  and  an  illumination  of  the  Col- 
lege buildings,  thus  celebrating  with  the  beginning  of  a  new 
year,  what  they  believed  to  be  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the 
College. 

u  The  labor  of  procuring  funds  was  greater  than  that  of  pro- 
curing a  charter.  It  was  especially  an  irksome  work,  and  one 
for  which  Dr.  Humphrey  thought  himself  poorly  fitted.  One 
of  the  family  traditions,  however,  shows  that  he  had  some  of 
the  requisites  of  a  solicitor.  On  one  of  his  journeys  to  Boston 
in  the  stage-coach  of  the  day,  the  vehicle  stopped  at  a  village 
to  take  up  a  lady.  The  rain  was  falling,  the  coach  was  filled. 
The  driver,  opening  the  door,  asked  if  any  passenger  would  re- 
sign his  seat  for  one  '  on  the  deck,'  in  favor  of  the  lady.  No 
one  moved  for  a  moment.  The  next  instant,  Dr.  Humphrey 
was  on  the  ground,  and  the  lady  in  his  place.  Some  time  after- 
wards when  this  village  was  canvassed  for  subscriptions  to  the 
College,  the  husband  of  the  lady  was  called  upon.  He  looked 
at  the  subscription  list,  subscribed  a  handsome  sum,  and  re- 
turned it  saying,  '  I  do  not  know  much  about  Amherst  College, 
but  I  know  its  President  is  a  gentleman.'  " 

"  The  incessant  toil  which  marked  these  years,  told  severely 
even  upon  his  robust  constitution.  His  health  was  nearly 
broken,  when,  in  the  winter  of  1834-5,  some  friends  of  the  Col- 
lege proposed  to  defray  the  expenses  of  a  few  months'  travel  in 
Europe  for  the  restoration  of  his  flagging  energies." 1  The 
Trustees  cheerfully  voted  him  leave  of  absence.  He  sailed  for 
Liverpool  in  the  spring  of  1835,  and  was  absent  over  Commence- 
ment. Rev.  Dr.  Packard  instructed  the  Senior  Class  in  Moral 
Philosophy,  and  aided  the  Faculty  in  the  preaching  and  the  re- 
ligious services  of  the  Chapel  during  the  summer  term.  Prof. 
Hitchcock  acted  as  Vice-President  and  Chairman  of  the  Faculty, 
preached  the  Baccalaureate  sermon,  and  presided  at  the  Com- 

1  Memorial  Sketches  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Humphrey,  by  his  son. 


186  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

mencement  exercises.  A  series  of  letters,  written  by  Dr.  Hum- 
phrey during  this  journey,  and  running  over  with  his  character- 
istic humor  and  good  sense,  was  printed  in  the  New  York  Ob- 
server, and  had  a  wide  circulation.  He  returned  late  in  the 
autumn  with  recuperated  health  and  enlarged  resources  to  re- 
sume his  College  duties,  and  to  make  his  influence  felt  more 
widely  than  ever  in  the  community.  But  he  ceased  from  this 
time  to  instruct  the  Senior  class  in  Intellectual  and  Moral  Philos- 
ophy. A  Professorship  in  this  department  had  been  instituted 
for  the  purpose  of  relieving  the  President  from  those  excessive 
labors,  which,  together  with  the  unavoidable  responsibilities  of 
his  office,  and  the  peculiar  anxieties  growing  out  of  the  pecu- 
niary condition  of  the  College,  were  manifestly  undermining 
his  health.  The  Professor  entered  on  his  duties  during  the  ab- 
sence of  Dr.  Humphrey  in  Europe.  And  since  his  inaugura- 
tion, the  Professorship  of  Intellectual  and  Moral  Philosophy 
has  ceased  to  be  connected  with  the  Presidency.  It  was  an 
important,  it  may  almost  be  called  a  radical  change.  So  far  as 
that  most  important  department  is  concerned,  it  was  undoubt- 
edly an  advance.  Intellectual  and  Moral  Philosophy,  not  less 
than  Mathematics,  or  Physics,  is  quite  enough  to  task  the  en- 
ergies and  occupy  the  time  of  any  Professor.  Perhaps  the 
change  was  indispensable,  being  at  once  the  unavoidable  effect 
of  the  growth  of  the  College,  and  the  necessary  condition  of  its 
continued  progress.  But  it  contained  the  seeds  of  a  revolution 
quite  unforeseen  by  the  actors  in  it.  And  like  other  revolu- 
tions, it  involved  incidental  dangers,  evils  and  sacrifices.  The 
President,  who  would  be  all  that  Dr.  D wight  was  in  Yale  Col- 
lege, or  all  that  Dr.  Humphrey  was  in  the  first  twelve  years  of 
his  connection  with  Amherst  College,  must  be  the  principal 
teacher  of  the  Senior  class.  The  President,  who  would  com- 
mand the  highest  veneration  and  affection  of  the  students,  must 
be  more  than  a  police  officer,  or  administrator  of  the  govern- 
ment and  discipline  of  the  College  —  he  must  be  the  acknowl- 
edged intellectual,  moral  and  spiritual,  as  well  as  official  head  of 
the  Institution. 

During  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Moore,  and  the  first  ten  years 
of  Dr.   Humphrey's   administration,  the  old-fashioned   system 


STUDY    HOURS.  187 

continued  unchanged,  according  to  which  morning  prayers  and 
the  morning  recitation  were  not  only  held  before  breakfast,  but 
were  held  at  hours  varying  from  month  to  month,  sometimes 
changing  almost  from  week  to  week,  according  to  the  season  of 
the  year,  so  as  to  bring  the  recitation  at  the  earliest  hour  at 
which  it  could  well  be  heard  by  daylight.  The  breakfast  hour 
was  thus  very  late  in  midwinter,  and  yet  the  light  in  cloudy 
weather  was  often  very  imperfect  for  the  morning  recitation.  In 
1833,  by  vote  of  the  Faculty,  the  bell  for  morning  prayers  was 
fixed  at  a  quarter  before  five  in  summer  and  a  quarter  before  six 
in  winter.  And  this  was  done  at  the  request  of  the  students,  a 
large  majority  of  whom  petitioned  for  the  change.  This  fact  is 
worthy  of  note,  as  illustrating  the  character  and  spirit  of  the 
students  at  the  time.  And  the  arrangement  of  recitations  and 
study  hours,  which  was  thus  introduced,  and  which  continued  for 
many  years,  was,  in  some  respects,  preferable  to  either  that  which 
preceded,  or  any  which  has  followed  it.  The  student's  working 
day  was  thus  divided  into  three  nearly  equal  parts,  in  each  of 
which  two  or  three  hours  were  set  apart  for  study,  and  each 
period  of  study-hours  was  followed  immediately  by  a  recitation. 
Recitations  at  intervening  and  irregular  hours  were  carefully 
avoided,  and  in  order  to  avoid  them,  the  Tutors,  and  to  some 
extent  the  Professors  did  not  confine  themselves  to  one  depart- 
ment, but  heard  different  divisions  of  the  same  class  at  the  same 
hour, — in  the  morning,  perhaps  in  Greek,  at  noon  in  Latin,  and 
in  the  afternoon  in  Mathematics.  The  standard  of  instruction 
and  of  scholarship  has  doubtless  been  elevated  by  the  present 
system,  which  assigns  to  every  instructor  his  special  department. 
But  it  is  attended  with  the  incidental  disadvantage  of  necessitat- 
ing recitations  at  almost  every  hour  of  the  day,  and  thus  break- 
ing up  the  regular  succession  of  study-hours  and  recitations,  des- 
troying, in  fact,  the  very  existence  of  uniform  study-hours  for 
all  Colleges.  One  who  has  seen  and  experienced  the  advantages 
of  both,  while  on  the  whole  he  prefers  the  new,  may  be  par- 
doned for  casting  back  a  look  of  regret  on  some  of  the  conven- 
iences and  felicities  of  the  old  arrangement. 

The  observance  of  study-hours  was  enforced  with  much  strict- 
ness by  College  pains  and  penalties,  among  which  fines  were 


188  HISTOEY   OF   AMHEEST  COLLEGE. 

perhaps  the  most  frequent.  This  was  the  day  when  fines  were 
in  vogue  in  all  the  Colleges,  and  when  in  Amherst  College  the 
system  rose  to  its  highest,  (or  sunk  to  its  lowest,)  pitch  of  per- 
fection. Fines  were  imposed  for  exercise  or  bathing  in  study- 
hours,  for  playing  on  a  musical  instrument,  for  firing  a  gun  near 
the  College  buildings,  for  attending  the  village  church  without 
permission.  In  short,  fines  seem  to  have  been  the  sovereign 
remedy  for  all  the  ills  that  College  was  heir  to.  The  records 
of  the  Faculty  in  these  days  preserve  the  memory  of  fines  im- 
posed on  students  who  now  adorn  some  of  the  highest  places  at 
the  bar,  on  the  bench,  and  in  the  pulpit,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
medical  profession.  This  much  at  least  may  be  said  to  the  credit 
of  the  Faculty,  that  they  were  impartial  in  their  administration  ; 
for  we  find  a  vote  recorded  imposing  a  fine  of  fifty  cents  a  week 
on  any  member  of  the  Faculty  who  should  fail  to  visit  every 
week  the  rooms  of  the  students  assigned  him  for  such  parochial 
visitation !  But  Prof.  Fiske  entered  his  protest,  and  the  vote 
was  soon  rescinded.1 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Trustees  in  1832,  a  change  in 
the  vacations,  which  had  been  discussed  at  the  two  preceding 
annual  meetings,  was  adopted,  and  went  into  effect  the  next 
collegiate  year.  The  vacations  had  hitherto  been  four  weeks 
from  the  fourth  Wednesday  of  August,  (Commencement,)  six 
weeks  from  the  fourth  Wednesday  of  December,  and  three 
weeks  from  the  second  Wednesday  of  May.  They  were  now 
changed  to  six  weeks  from  the  fourth  Wednesday  of  August, 
two  weeks  from  the  second  Wednesday  of  January,  and  four 
weeks  from  the  first  Wednesday  of  May.  .  The  most  important 
feature  of  the  change  was  that  the  long  vacation  which  had 
hitherto  been  in  the  winter,  was  henceforth  to  be  in  the  autumn. 
The  new  arrangement  was  ideally  better,  perhaps,  both  for  offi- 
cers and  students,  inasmuch  as  the  autumn  is  the  pleasanter 
season  for  recreation,  and  the  winter  more  suitable  and  conven- 
ient for  study.  But  it  was  quite  unsuitable  and  inconvenient 
for  that  large  class  of  students  who  had  been  accustomed  to 
help  themselves  by  teaching  in  the  winter.  The  Trustees  pro- 
vided that  they  might  still  be  allowed  to  teach  twelve  weeks  of 

i  Faculty  record,  third  term,  1829-30. 


CHANGE   OF   VACATIONS.  189 

each  College  year,  including  either  of  the  three  vacations,  and 
it  was  hoped  that  they  might  find  select  schools  in  the  fall  as  re- 
munerative as  common  schools  in  the  winter.  But  the  experi- 
ment proved  unsuccessful,  and  after  a  trial  of  eight  years,  in  1840 
the  College  returned  to  a  modified  and  improved  plan,  of  which, 
however,  the  essential  principle  was  a  long  winter  vacation. 

At  their  annual  meeting  in  1833,  the  Trustees  voted  to  relin- 
quish the  old  practice  of  having  a  forenoon  and  afternoon  ses- 
sion at  Commencement,  separated  by  the  corporation  dinner; 
and  at  the  Commencement  in  1834  the  new  system  of  one  ses- 
sion was  introduced,  which  has  ever  since  continued,  to  the  en- 
tire satisfaction  of  all  concerned. 

In  consequence  of  some  sickness  in  the  President's  family, 
the  impression  prevailed  that  the  President's  house,  which  was 
built  for  Dr.  Moore  in  1821,  was  damp  and  unhealthy.  At  a 
special  meeting  of  the  Board  in  October,  1833,  the  Trustees  re- 
quested the  Prudential  Committee  to  ascertain  how  much  of 
the  recent  fifty  thousand  dollar  subscription  would  remain  after 
the  payment  of  the  College  debts,  and  in  case  there  should 
prove  to  be  a  sufficient  balance,  they  authorized  the  committee 
to  make  immediate  arrangements  for  the  erection  of  a  new  house, 
at  an  expense  not  exceeding  five  thousand  dollars.  On  investi- 
gation, the  Prudential  Committee  estimated  that  after  discharg- 
ing all  debts  there  would  be  a  balance  in  the  treasury  of  about 
four  thousand  dollars,  which,  with  the  sum  realized  by  the  sale 
of  the  old  house,  would  be  sufficient  to  cover  the  expense  of 
the  new.  They  accordingly  sold  the  old  house  for  two  thousand 
five  hundred  dollars,  and  commenced  the  erection  of  a  new  one 
on  land  recently  purchased  of  the  Parsons'  estate  directly  oppo- 
site the  College  edifices  ;  and  "during  1834  and  1835  the  house 
was  built,  not  by  contract,  but  by  days'  works,  and  the  conse- 
quence was  that  when  the  bills  were  all  in,  they  amounted  to 
about  nine  thousand  dollars."  l 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Trustees  in  1834,  they  voted  to 

1  Reminiscences  of  Amherst  College,  pp.  68-9.  Dr.  Hitchcock  not  only  com- 
plains of  the  amount  of  the  bills  for  which,  during  Dr.  Humphrey's  absence  in 
Europe,  no  one  was  willing  to  be  responsible ;  but  he  declares  his  preference  for 
the  old  house,  especially  in  regard  to  its  location. 


190  HISTORY   OP    AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

appoint  a  special  agent  for  the  immediate  collection  of  the  bal- 
ance of  the  fifty  thousand  dollar  subscription,  and  directed  the 
Prudential  Committee  "  to  proceed  with  all  convenient  dispatch 
to  erect  an  additional  College  hall,  provided  they  can  procure 
funds  for  the  purpose  by  donation,  or  by  loan  upon  the  security 
of  a  pledge  of  the  building  to  be  erected  and  its  income,  for  the 
repayment."  During  the  years  1835  and  1836,  the  process  of 
grading  the  grounds  in  front  of  the  existing  edifices  and  prepar- 
ing a  site  for  a  new  hall  at  the  south  end  of  the  row,  was  com- 
menced and  carried  forward  at  an  expense  of  two  or  three  thou- 
sand dollars.  But  the  hall  was  not  erected,  doubtless  for  the 
very  good  reason  that  the  funds  could  not  be  obtained ;  and  the 
site  was  reserved  for  the  erection  of  the  Appleton  Cabinet  under 
more  auspicious  circumstances. 

At  the  same  meeting  of  the  Board  (1834),  the  tuition  was 
raised  one  dollar  a  term.  At  the  annual  meeting  in  1836,  there 
was  a  further  addition  of  one  dollar  a  term,  thus  making  the 
tuition  at  this  time  eleven  dollars  a  term  and  thirty-three  dol- 
lars a  year.  At  the  same  time  the  salaries  of  the  Professors 
were  increased  from  eight  hundred  dollars  to  one  thousand  and 
a  corresponding  increase  was  made  in  the  salary  of  the  Presi- 
dent. The  Tutors'  salaries  remained  as  they  had  been  for  a  few 
years  previous,  viz.,  four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  The  last 
votes  at  this  meeting,  one  or  two  of  mere  form  excepted,  were 
as  follows :  "  Voted  that  the  Prudential  Committee  be  directed, 
in  view  of  the  urgent  necessities  of  the  College,  to  apply  to  the 
Legislature  of  this  Commonwealth  at  their  next  session  for  pe- 
cuniary aid. 

"  Voted  that  should  the  application  to  the  Legislature  fail  of 
success,  or  should  it  be  deemed  by  the  committee  inexpedient  to 
make  such  application,  the  Prudential  Committee  be  further  au- 
thorized to  adopt  any  such  measures  as  may  by  them  be  deemed 
expedient  for  procuring  aid  from  such  other  sources  as  may  seem 
to  promise  the  desired  relief." 

The  number  of  students  at  the  close  of  the  period  now  under 
review,  that  is,  in  1836,  was  large — nearly  as  large  as  it  has  been 
at  any  time  since,  and  the  College  was  in  a  highly  prosperous 
state.  Yet  the  discerning  reader  can  hardly  fail  to  have  discov- 


PROF.   FISKE   AS   AN   AGENT.  191 

ered  in  our  narrative  of  this  very  period  seeds  of  trouble  which 
will  be  seen  springing  up  and  bearing  fruit  in  our  subsequent 
history. 

The  following  picture  of  Prof.  Fiske  in  the  character  of  a  so- 
liciting agent  belongs  to  this  period,  and  will  be  read  with  inter- 
est :  "  My  father  was  in  the  field  '  over  the  hill,'  '  the  six  acre 
lot,'  plowing  with  one  yoke  of  oxen  and  'old  Sorrel.'  Two  gen- 
tlemen in  dark  broadcloth  come  in  sight  on  the  brow  of  the  field. 
They  meet  the  very  reverent  farmer.  It  was  his  pastor,  '  Mr. 
Snell,'  and  an  extremely  gentle  man  in  air  and  manner.  That 
trim,  blue  surtout  and  spectacles,  and  that  polished  accent,  were 
Prof.  N.  W.  Fiske's.  Amherst  College  was  in  distress.  This 
gentleman  had  come  to  solicit  aid  for  it ;  and  the  minister  left 
his  study  to  guide  and  help  him.  Well  do  I  remember  the  mes- 
sage to  my  mother  in  the  house, '  Tell  her  it  is  in  the  big  pocket- 
book,  and  she'll  know  the  bill,  for  it's  the  largest  one  in  the 
pocket-book.'  The  boy  that  was  driving  the  oxen  then  first  be- 
gan to  think  about  '  going  to  College,'  if  such  men  came  from 
College,  and  father  cares  so  much  as  that  for  it.  The  next  Sab- 
bath Prof.  Fiske  preached  from  '  O  Israel,  thou  hast  destroyed 
thyself.'  He  had  one  watchful  hearer.  Such  nicety  of  word 
and  manner  held  fast  the  plow-boy  who  had  seen  him  from  hat 
to  boots  in  our  field  two  days  before." 

That  North  Brookfield  plow-boy  entered  College  in  1835,  and 
is  now  a  Doctor  of  Divinity  and  a  stirring  preacher  in  the  great 
West. 

Among  the  many  distinguished  visitors,  who  were  at  this  time 
attracted  to  Amherst  by  the  rare  beauty  of  the  situation  and  the 
singular  prosperity  of  the  College,  Daniel  Webster  visited  the 
Institution.  I  was  then  a  student ;  and  I  shall  never  forget,  nor 
will  any  one  who  was  then  a  member  of  College  ever  forget  the 
brief  address  which  he  made  to  the  officers  and  students  who 
gathered  in  the  Library  to  see  him  and  do  him  honor.  His  felici- 
tous allusion  to  the  bow  of  Ulysses,  especially,  sent  an  arrow 
into  more  than  one  youthful  bosom,  and  gave  a  new  charm  to 
the  study  of  the  classics. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

RELIGIOUS  HISTORY  OF  THE  PERIOD.   1825-36. 

IT  was  in  1825,  shortly  after  the  grant  of  the  charter,  that 
the  first  measures  were  taken  for  the  establishment  of  a  separate 
College  church.  The  origin  of  this  movement  and  the  motives 
of  the  original  members  are  thus  stated  in  the  church  records : 

"  It  having  appeared  to  many  of  the  pious  friends  of  Amherst 
College,  that  the  existence  of  a  church  in  that  Seminary  would 
tend  in  a  high  degree  to  promote  the  great  object  which  its 
founders  and  benefactors  had  chiefly  in  view,  viz.,  to  advance 
the  kingdom  of  Christ  the  Redeemer,  by  training  many  pious 
youth  for  the  gospel  ministry,  several  of  the  students  also  hav- 
ing expressed  their  desire  to  be  formed  into  a  church  specially 
connected  with  the  College,  and  the  officers  of  the  Faculty  hav- 
ing signified  their  approbation  of  such  a  measure,  the  subject  of 
founding  a  church  was  laid  before  the  Trustees  at  their  special 
meeting  in  April,  1825,  by  the  President.  The  Trustees,  there- 
fore, passed  the  following  resolution,  viz.,  that  Rev.  Heman 
Humphrey,  D.  D.,  Rev.  Joshua  Crosby,  and  Rev.  James  Taylor, 
be  a  committee  to  consider  the  expediency  of  establishing  a 
College  Church  in  this  Institution,  and  to  proceed  to  form  one 
should  they  deem  it  expedient. 

"  The  above  named  committee  assembled  at  Amherst  on  the 
7th  of  March,  1826,  and  after  deliberation  on  the  subject  re- 
ferred to  their  wisdom  and  discretion,  they  resolved  themselves 
into  an  Ecclesiastical  Council. 

"  The  council  then  voted  to  proceed  to  form  a  church  in  Am- 
herst College  on  the  principles  of  the  Congregational  platform, 
of  such  persons  desiring  it  as  should  upon  examination  be 
judged  by  them  to  be  entitled  to  the  privileges  of  church  mem- 


THE    CONFESSION    AND    COVENANT.  193 

bership  and  should  be  able  heartily  to  assent  to  the  following 
articles  of  faith  and  covenant: 

"  We  believe  — 

"  That  there  is  but  one  living  and  true  God,  and  that  the 
Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  were  written  under 
his  infallible  guidance,  and  constitute  the  only  perfect  rule  of 
faith  and  practice. 

"  That  the  one  God  exists  in  three  persons,  Father,  Son  and 
Holy  Ghost,  the  same  in  substance,  equal  in  power  and  glory. 

"  That  God  created  all  things  for  his  own  holy  pleasure  and 
honor,  and  directs  all  events  according  to  Jhis  own  benevolent, 
eternal  and  immutable  purposes. 

"  That  the  first  man  was  formed  upright  and  holy,  but  by  dis- 
obedience involved  both  himself  and  his  whole  posterity  in  the 
entire  loss  of  the  Divine  image  and  the  Divine  favor. 

"  That  the  atonement  by  Jesus  Christ,  who  was  the  Son  man- 
ifest in  the  flesh,  has  opened  a  way  for  the  restoration  and  sal- 
vation of  all  men  on  the  condition  of  repentance  towards  God, 
and  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

"  That  genuine  repentance  and  sincere  faith  and  all  right  af- 
fections proceed  from  the  Holy  Ghost,  who,  through  the  re- 
vealed word,  and  according  to  the  gracious  pleasure  of  God, 
renews  the  heart  in  righteousness  and  true  holiness. 

"That  all  who  thus  repent  and  believe,  being  justified  by 
faith,  will  be  saved  only  on  account  of  Christ  the  Mediator  and 
Redeemer,  and  will  continue  in  holiness  and  enjoy  the  blessed- 
ness of  heaven  forever. 

"While  all  who  die  without  repentance,  will  at  the  day  of 
judgment  be  condemned  for  their  own  sins,  and  will  remain  in 
impenitence  and  justly  suffer  everlasting  punishment. 

"  We  enter  into  solemn  covenant  with  Jehovah  and  with  this 
church. 

"  To  God  our  Creator,  Redeemer  and  Sacrificer,  we  sacredly 
devote  ourselves  and  ours  without  reserve  and  forever. 

"  And  we  solemnly  engage  as  partakers  of  the  same  hope  and 

joy,  to  maintain  the  discipline  and  observe  the  ordinances  of 

Christ,  promising  to  seek  always  the  peace  and  purity  of  this 

church,  that  all  its  members  in  holy  love  and  harmony  may 

13 


194  HISTOKY    OF    AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

enjoy  the  fellowship  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  watching,  reproving, 
exhorting  and  comforting  each  other  for  mutual  edification,  and 
looking  for  that  blessed  hope,  the  glorious  appearing  of  the  great 
God,  even  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  who  gave  himself  for  us 
that  he  might  redeem  us  from  all  iniquity,  and  purify  unto  him- 
self, a  peculiar  people,  zealous  of  good  works."  l 

Thirty-one  persons,  all  students,  and  members  of  each  of  the 
four  classes,  were  then  "  examined  by  the  council,  and  having 
publicly  assented  to  the  preceding  articles  and  covenant,  after 
an  appropriate  address  by  Dr.  Humphrey,  were  solemnly  consti- 
tuted the  '  Church  of  Christ  in  Amherst  College.'  The  church 
was  then  commended  in  prayer  to  the  covenanted  blessings  of 
the  one  God,  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost." 

The  style  of  the  church  is  worthy  of  notice.  Although  formed 
on  the  principles  of  the  Congregational  platform,  it  has  never 
assumed  any  denominational  name,  but  has  always  been  styled 
"  the  Church  of  Christ  in  Amherst  College." 

A  sentence  or  two  from  the  address  of  Dr.  Humphrey  will 
show  the  high  hopes  and  the  deep  interest  with  which  he  con- 
templated the  establishment  of  the  College  church. 

"  You  will  permit  me  to  congratulate  the  friends  of  the  Re- 
deemer and  of  the  College  upon  the  transactions  of  this  solemn 
and  interesting  occasion.  The  Institution  is  now  at  length  fully 
organized.  The  church  is  established,  which,  we  trust,  will  never 
be  moved,  on  whose  ample  records  the  names  of  unborn  thou- 
sands will  be  enrolled,  in  answer  to  whose  prayers,  tens  of  thou- 
sands will  be  brought  into  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  by  the 
instrumentality  of  whose  sons  the  gospel  will  be  carried  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  church,  May  7, 1826,  Rev.  Heman  Hum- 
phrey, D.  D.,  was  chosen  Moderator,  and  Reuben  Tinker,  Scribe, 
and  at  a  meeting,  July  7,  regulations  were  adopted  for  the  ad- 
mission of  members,  according  to  which  all  candidates,  includ- 
ing such  as  shall  bring  letters  from  other  churches,  shall  be  ex- 
amined by  a  committee  consisting  of  the  Moderator  and  such 

1  It  has  always  been  understood  that  the  confession  and  covenant  were  drawn  up 
by  Prof.  Fiske.  The  clearness,  conciseness,  comprehensiveness,  and  consistency 
of  the  articles,  certainly  correspond  with  this  traditional  authorship. 


INSTALLATION  AND   DEDICATION.  195 

number  of  the  brethren  as  the  church  may  determine,  and  all 
such  examinations  of  candidates  shall  be  in  a  meeting  of  the 
church,  so  that  any  member  of  the  church  may  also  have  the  op- 
portunity to  propose  any  inquiry,  and  that  the  candidate  may 
then  and  there  give  his  assent  to  the  confession  of  faith  and 
covenant.  It  was  not  till  the  26th  of  October,  that  any  mem- 
bers other  than  students  were  admitted  to  the  College  church, 
when  Mrs.  Humphrey  was  received  by  letter  from  the  church  at 
Pittsfield,  Professor  and  Mrs.  Hitchcock  from  the  church  in  Con- 
way,  Prof.  Fiske  from  Dartmouth  College,  and  Professors  Wor- 
cester and  Abbott  from  the  church  in  the  Theological  Seminary 
at  Andover.  At  a  meeting  in  November,  the  church  resolved  to 
meet  for  religious  exercises  once  in  two  weeks,  on  Saturday  even- 
ing, and  that  at  each  meeting  some  subject  or  question,  selected 
by  the  Moderator,  and  announced  at  the  previous  meeting,  should 
be  discussed.  How  long  this  arrangement  continued,  does  not 
appear  from  the  records.  As  early  as  1829,  such  meetings  had 
ceased  to  be  held  regularly,  although  Saturday  evening  long 
continued  to  be  the  evening  for  special  meetings  of  the  College 
church,  and  of  professors  of  religion  in  seasons  of  religious  in- 
terest. And  no  member  of  the  church,  or  professor  of  religion 
who  ever  attended  one  of  these  meetings,  will  ever  forget  the 
wise  fatherly  counsels  and  the  tender  brotherly  expostulations 
and  entreaties  of  Dr.  Humphrey  on  such  occasions. 

The  church  remained  almost  a  year  without  a  pastor,  Dr. 
Humphrey  acting  meanwhile  as  permanent  Moderator.  In  Feb- 
ruary, 1827,  after  careful  consideration  and  conference  with  the 
Trustees  by  committees,  the  church,  with  the  full  approval  of 
the  Trustees  and  the  Faculty,  resolved  that  it  was  expedient  to 
complete  its  organization  by  the  election  and  installation  of  a 
pastor,  and  by  a  unanimous  vote  they  chose  Dr.  Humphrey  for 
their  first  pastor.  The  installation  took  place  on  the  28th  of 
February,  1827,  in  connection  with  the  dedication  of  the  new- 
College  chapel.  The  churches  represented  in  the  Council  were 
the  First,  Second  and  Third  churches  in  Amherst,  and  the 
churches  in  Hadley,  Northampton,  Sunderland,  Enfield,  New 
Braintree,  Shelburne,  North  Brookfield  and  Springfield.  In  the 
order  of  exercises,  portions  of  the  Scripture  were  read  by  Mr. 


196  HISTORY   OP  AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

Washburn  of  Ainherst ;  the  introductory  prayer  was  offered  by 
Dr.  Woodbridge  of  Hadley ;  the  sermon,  having  particular  refer- 
ence to  the  dedication  of  the  chapel,  was  preached  by  Dr. 
Humphrey;  the  installing  prayer  was  offered  by  Mr.  Crosby  of 
Enfield ;  the  charge  to  the  pastor  was  given  by  Mr.  Fiske  of 
New  Braintree;  the  fellowship  of  the  churches  was  expressed 
by  Mr.  Snell  of  North  Brookfield ;  and  the  concluding  prayer 
was  offered  by  Mr.  Chapin  of  South  Amherst. 

The  pulpit  of  the  new  chapel  was  occupied  by  the  pastor 
every  other  Sabbath,  and  by  the  other  clerical  members  of  the 
Faculty  in  rotation  on  each  alternate  Sabbath  ;  and  at  their  first 
meeting  after  the  opening  of  the  chapel,  the  Trustees  appropri- 
ated two  hundred  dollars,  that  is,  five  dollars  a  Sabbath,  as  the 
compensation  for  this  service.  This  appropriation  was  renewed 
at  each  annual  meeting  for  fifteen  or  twenty  years.  The  sum 
was  at  length  doubled,  and  since  that  time  ten  dollars  a  Sabbath 
has  been  the  remuneration  for  the  supply  of  the  College  pulpit, 
or,  as  the  Trustees  would  perhaps  prefer  to  put  it,  their  recog- 
nition of  the  service. 

The  usual  religious  meetings  of  the  week  at  this  time,  besides 
the  public  services  of  the  Sabbath,  were  the  religious  lecture  on 
Thursday  evening,  conducted  by  the  President  and  the  preach- 
ing Professors  in  rotation,  the  meetings  of  the  several  classes 
by  themselves  on  Friday  evening,  the  meetings  of  the  church, 
and  sometimes  of  all  the  professors  of  religion  on  Saturday 
evening,  and  the  prayer -meeting  for  all  the  students,  during  the 
hour  immediately  preceding  public  worship  Sabbath  morning. 

It  should  also  be  noticed  that  it  was  in  1827  that  the  plan  was 
introduced  of  a  weekly  Bible  exercise  in  each  of  the  classes. 
The  historical  parts  of  the  Bible  were  assigned  to  the  Fresh- 
man class,  the  prophetical  parts  to  the  Sophomores,  the  doc- 
trinal parts  to  the  Juniors,  and  the  Seniors  studied  the  As- 
sembly's Catechism  with  the  President.  The  instruction  of 
the  lower  classes  was  so  apportioned  among  the  Professors  and 
Tutors  that  the  whole  Faculty,  with  rare  exceptions,  took  more 
or  less  part  in  these  biblical  exercises.  And  the  Bible  lesson, 
instead  of  being  put  on  Monday  morning  as  it  often  is  in  schools, 
was  assigned  to  Thursday  afternoon,  for  the  express  purpose  of 


THE   REVIVAL  OP   1827.  197 

bringing  it  alongside  of  the  Thursday  evening  lecture,  and 
thus  breaking  up,  if  possible,  the  current  of  secular  labors  and 
worldly  thoughts  by  the  introduction  of  sacred  studies  and  re- 
ligious influences  into  the  very  middle  of  the  week. 

In  his  letter  accepting  the  invitation  of  the  church  to  become 
their  pastor,  Dr  Humphrey  said :  "  Let  it  be  our  united  and 
fervent  prayer  to  God,  brethren,  that  he  will  prepare  us  all  for 
the  contemplated  solemnities,  that  he  will  enable  me  to  be  faith- 
ful as  a  spiritual  guide  and  overseer,  that  he  will  pour  out  his 
Spirit  upon  the  church  so  recently  established  in  this  Seminary, 
and  make  it  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth  here,  that  its 
light  may  be  seen  and  its  example  be  felt  by  every  member  of 
College,  that  great  additions  may  be  made  to  it  from  every  suc- 
cessive class  of  such  as  shall  be  saved,  and  that  it  may  shine 
brighter  and  brighter  upon  this  consecrated  eminence  from  gen- 
eration to  generation." 

Scarcely  had  all  these  arrangements  for  a  thoroughly  Christian 
teaching  and  influence  been  consummated,  when,  doubtless  in 
answer  to  prayer  asked  by  the  pastor  and  offered  not  only  in 
the  church  and  the  College  but  by  pious  parents  and  the  friends 
of  sanctified  learning  in  every  part  of  the  country,  the  Spirit 
was  poured  out  in  copious  effusions,  and  the  new  pastor,  the  new 
church  and  the  new  chapel  all  received  a  fresh  consecration ; — 
scarcely  were  these  various,  ample  and  appropriate  channels  for 
the  truth  and  the  Spirit  of  God  opened,  when  they  were  filled 
with  Divine  influences ; — scarcely  had  they  brought  all  their 
tithes  into  the  storehouse  when  the  windows  of  heaven  were 
opened,  and  a  blessing  was  poured  down  that  there  was  scarcely 
room  enough  to  receive  it. 

The  following  narrative  of  this  first  revival  under  the  pastor- 
ate and  presidency  of  Dr.  Humphrey,  was  communicated  by  him 
to  the  Christian  public  under  date  of  May  15,  1827 : 

"  As  our  spring  term  has  just  closed  under  circumstances  of 
peculiar  interest,  we  feel  constrained  by  a  sense  of  gratitude  to 
declare  what  God  has  done  for  us  and  to  acquaint  the  friends  of 
Zion  with  the  present  religious  state  of  this  College.  Four  years 
ago,  and  less  than  two  years  after  its  first  organization,  the  In- 
stitution was  favored  with  a  remarkable  season  of  '  refreshing 


198  HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

from  the  presence  of  the  Lord.'  Since  that  time,  although  a 
majority  of  the  students  have  always  been  professedly  pious, 
there  have  been  but  few  conversions  till  within  the  last  few 
weeks. 

"  A  year  ago  the  church  was  partially  revived  and  a  little  cloud 
seemed  for  a  few  days  to  be  hovering  over  the  Seminary ;  but 
it  soon  disappeared.  This  year  the  last  Thursday  of  February 
was  observed  in  the  usual  manner  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer 
for  the  outpouring  of  God's  Spirit  upon  Colleges.  The  follow- 
ing week  our  new  chapel  was  dedicated,  and  a  pastor  was  set 
over  our  infant  church.  Both  these  occasions  were  marked  with 
uncommon  interest  and  solemnity,  and  our  hopes  were  a  little 
revived,  but  they  were  not  sustained  by  any  apparent  increase 
of  right  feeling.  As  the  term  advanced,  some  few,  I  believe, 
went  up  more  than  '  seven  times'  to  look  for  the  harbinger  of  a 
spiritual  shower,  before  they  could  discover  anything.  At  length, 
when  many  thought  it  too  late  for  a  revival,  as  vacation  was  so 
near,  by  the  blessing  of  God  upon  some  special  efforts  to  rouse 
professors  from  their  slumbers,  they  began  to  open  their  eyes 
and  to  tremble.  This  was  not  far  from  the  middle  of  April. 
Searchings  of  heart  soon  became  deep  and  distressing.  Mairy 
were  ready  to  give  up  hopes  which  they  had  cherished  for  years, 
and  it  was  impossible  for  us  long  to  doubt  that  a  revival  was  be- 
gun in  the  church. 

"  In  the  meantime,  there  was  a  noise  and  shaking  among  the 
dry  bones.  The  impenitent  began  to  be  serious,  to  be  alarmed, 
to  ask,  '  What  shall  we  do  to  be  saved  ? '  and  then  to  rejoice  in 
hope.  By  the  20th  of  April,  five  or  six  in  the  Freshman  class 
appeared  to  have  a  new  song  put  into  their  mouths,  and  from 
that  time  the  work  advanced  with  surprising  rapidity  and  power. 
Convictions  were  in  general  short,  and,  in  many  cases,  extremely 
pungent.  Of  the  thirty  in  College  who  perhaps  gave  some  evi- 
dence of  faith  and  repentance,  and  who  are  beginning  to  cherish 
hope,  twenty  at  least  are  supposed  to  have  experienced  relief  in 
the  space  of  a  single  week.  '  It  is  the  Lord's  doings,  and  mar- 
velous in  our  eyes.' 

"As  this  gracious  visitation  seemed  to  demand  a  public  ac- 
knowledgment to  the  great  Head  of  the  Church,  before  we  sep- 


RECOLLECTIONS   OF   ALUMNI.  199 

arated  at  the  close  of  the  term,  a  religious  service  was  appointed 
as  the  last  exercise,  and  a  very  appropriate  and  impressive  dis- 
course was  delivered  in  the  chapel  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Woodbridge 
of  Hadley." 

To  this  narrative  written  at  the  time  by  the  pastor,  we  sub- 
join recollections  by  several  who  were  students  at  the  time  that 
it  may  be  seen  also  from  their  point  of  view. 

"  The  most  remarkable  and  important  event  of  our  College 
course,  was  the  revival  of  1827.  I  was  away  from  College  on 
account  of  ill-health  at  the  time  it  commenced.  In  my  absence 
of  three  weeks,  not  out  of  town,  I  was  visited  by  two  of  my 
classmates  who  came  to  talk  with  me  in  relation  to  my  duty  to  be- 
come a  Christian.  And  when  I  returned  to  College,  the  still- 
ness and  seriousness  pervading  the  whole  Institution  made  every 
day  seem  like  the  Sabbath  in  its  most  strict  observance.  The 
meetings  for  prayer  among  the  students,  held  by  classes,  or  the 
occupants  of  entries,  or  other  divisions,  and  the  more  general 
meetings  conducted  by  the  Faculty,  were  so  frequent,  solemn, 
earnest,  and  pervaded  by  the  evident  presence  of  God,  that  I  could 
not  but  be  strongly  impressed.  Two  or  three,  or  it  may  be  four, 
of  the  forty  in  the  class,  (1828)  did  not  seem  to  be  much  moved, 
all  the  rest  were  manifestly.  I  think  it  was  not  more  than  three 
weeks  after  my  return  to  the  class,  before  the  close  of  the  term. 
But  the  whole  College  was  so  influenced  in  that  time  that 
through  the  rest  of  the  year  it  had  an  entirely  different  aspect 
from  any  time  before.  Our  class,  then  Juniors,  was  very  essen- 
tially changed  in  character.  Two  who  had  been  decidedly  skep- 
tical, Kidder  and  Winn,  became  decided  and  earnest  Christians. 
Humphrey,  the  President's  oldest  son,  had  been  altogether  irre- 
ligious, wild  and  negligent  of  all  study  except  in  the  rhetorical 
department  and  general  literature.  He  became,  for  the  rest  of 
his  College  course,  correct  in  his  conduct,  serious  and  earnest  as 
a  Christian,  diligent  and  faithful  as  a  student.  The  change  as 
to  interest  in  religious  things,  was  also  marked  in  other  cases, 
such  as  Fuller,  Hunt,1  Lothrop 2  and  Spotswood.3  I  think  eleven 

1  Rev.  Daniel  Hunt  of  Pomfret,  Conn. 

2  Hon.  E.  H.  Lothrop  of  Michigan. 

3  Rev.  J.  B.  Spotswood,  D.  D.  of  Virginia. 


200  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

of  the  class  united  with  the  College  church  or  other  churches 
as  the  result  of  this  revival.  Among  them  were  some  of  the 
foremost  men  of  the  class. 

"  Of  the  class  before  us,  (1827)  I  suppose  McClure *  was  the 
most  remarkable  instance  of  conversion, — I  mean  publicly  the 
most  remarkable.  Perhaps  the  conversion  of  Timothy  D wight,2 
really  the  first  scholar  of  the  class,  may  have  been  as  interest- 
ing to  those  who  knew  him  well.  In  the  class  after  us,  (1829) 
the  most  marked  and  externally  wonderful  change  was  in  Henry 
Lyman  who  was  afterwards  the  martyr  missionary  with  Muuson 
killed  by  the  Battas  of  Sumatra.  Lyman  had  been  one  of  the 
worst,  of  the  boldest  in  wickedness,  apparently  defying  the 
authority  of  God ;  but  when  he  came  under  the  power  of  God's 
truth  and  Spirit,  he  became  as  ardent  and  bold  for  Christ  as 
before  he  had  been  in  opposition  to  all  good." 3 

"  An  incident  illustrative  of  strong  faith  in  prayer,  was  this : 
In  the  south  entry  of  South  College  there  were  a  number  of 
our  most  godly  young  men,  while  the  majority  were  impeni- 
tent. After  mature  deliberation,  the  former  resolved  to  hold  a 
daily  prayer-meeting  of  one  hour  for  the  conversion  of  the  un- 
converted in  that  entry.  The  meetings  were  sustained  with 
vigor  and  strong  faith,  the  Holy  Spirit  wrought  powerfully  in 
their  midst,  and  only  a  few  weeks  passed  away  before  every 
student  in  the  south  entry  of  the  old  South  College  was  con- 
verted to  Christ."  4 

"  The  students  made  frequent  calls  on  each  other  to  converse 
upon  the  greatest  of  all  subjects,  the  welfare  of  souls,  and  usu- 
ally joined  in  prayer  before  they  separated.  The  meetings  of 
literary  societies  were  turned  to  prayer-meetings,  and  frequently 
the  instructors  united  with  their  classes  in  prayer  in  their  reci- 
tation rooms.  Meetings  were  well  attended  and  very  solemn, 
particularly  those  which  were  held  Sabbath  mornings  at  half 

1  Rev.  A.  W.  McClure,  D.  D.,  late  Secretary  of  American  and  Foreign  Christian 
Union. 

2  Tutor  and  Missionary. 

8  Letter  of  Rev.  A.  Tobey,  D.  D.,  Class  of  '28.  For  Mr.  Lyman's  account  of 
his  own  conversion  and  other  incidents  of  this  revival,  see  his  journal  and  letters 
in  the  memoir  by  his  sister,  Miss  Hannah  Lyman,  Principal  of  Vassar  College. 

4  Rev.  T.  R.  Cressey,  Class  of  '28. 


INCIDENTS   OF   THE  KEVIVAL.  201 

past  nine  o'clock.  At  these  meetings,  as  well  as  others,  the  im- 
penitent were  warned  and  urged  to  accept  the  Savior  by  those 
who  had  formerly  been  their  companions  in  sin.  It  was  a  deeply 
affecting  scene  to  witness  the  love  of  Christ  proclaimed  from 
lips  so  lately  addicted  to  profanity.  Anxious  meetings  were 
held  two  evenings  in  a  week,  and  there  are  few  of  the  impeni- 
tent that  have  not  attended  them.  Many  of  the  subjects  of 
this  work  have  been  those  who  were  farthest  from  God  and  all 
good,  not  only  unbelieving,  but  wild  and  reckless. 

"  About  nine-tenths  of  the  Senior  and  Sophomore  classes  are 
now  the  hopeful  subjects  of  renewing  grace.  The  probable 
number  of  those  who  have  indulged  hopes,  is  about  forty,  in- 
cluding six  or  eight  who  had  formerly  professed  religion  but 
who  now  felt  that  they  had  been  deceived.  The  most  promi- 
nent characteristics  of  this  revival  have  been  great  heart-search- 
ings  among  professing  Christians,  deep  and  frequent  convictions 
of  sin,  and  trembling  hopes."  * 

A  very  full  and  interesting  narrative  of  this  revival  forms  the 
principal  part  of  one  of  the  chapters  in  Prof.  Abbott's  "  Corner- 
Stone."2  From  this  and  indeed  from  the  recollections  of  other 
eye-witnesses,  it  appears  that  before  the  revival,  irreligion,  skep- 
ticism, open  infidelity,  blasphemy  even,  and  ridicule  of  sacred 
things  had  become  exceedingly  bold.  The  year  previous,  some 
six  or  eight  of  the  most  bold,  hardened  and  notorious  enemies 
of  religion,  after  trying  in  vain  to  break  up  meetings  of  the 
pious  students  by  banded  and  brow-beating  intrusions,  resolved 
to  have  a  meeting  of  their  own  from  which  every  friend  of  reli- 
gion should  be  excluded.  One  of  the  officers  was  invited  to 
conduct  the  meeting. 

"  The  officer  addressed  them  faithfully  and  plainly,  urging 
their  duty  and  their  sins  upon  their  consideration,  while  they 
sat  still,  in  respectful  but  heartless  silence  ;  looking  intently 
upon  him  with  an  expression  of  countenance  which  seemed  to 
say,  '  Here  we  all  are,  move  us  if  you  can.'  And  they  con- 

1  Rev.  William  A.  Hyde,  Class  of  '29,  from  a  narrative  contributed  by  him  at  the 
time  to  the  Religious  Intelligencer  at  New  Haven. 

2  Corner-Stone,  p.  364.     The  letters  of  Mr.  McClure,  printed  by  Prof.  Abbott,  and 
indeed  the  whole  narrative,  should  be  read  by  those  who  would  gain  an  adequate 
conception  of  the  miracles  of  grace  in  this  revival. 


202  HISTORY  OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

quered.  They  went  home  unmoved.  They  continued  to  as- 
semble for  several  weeks,  inviting  the  officers  in  succession  to 
be  present,  and  at  last  the  few  who  remained  conducted  the 
meetings  themselves,  with  burlesque  sermons  and  mock  prayers, 
and  closed  the  series  at  last,  as  I  have  been  informed,  by  bring- 
ing in  an  ignorant  black  man  whose  presence  and  assistance 
completed  the  victory  they  had  gained  over  influences  from 
above. 

"  This  year,  (1827,)  an  attempt  was  made  to  repeat  those 
transactions,  but  with  a  very  different  result.  A  Tutor l  was 
invited  to  hold  the  meeting.  A  Hebrew  Bible  was  waggishly 
placed  on  the  stand.  After  opening  the  meeting  with  prayer, 
he  entered  into  a  defence  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  from  external 
and  internal  evidence  which  he  maintained  in  the  most  convin- 
cing manner,  and  then  on  the  strength  of  this  authority,  he 
urged  its  promises  and  denunciations  upon  them  as  sinners. 
The  effect  was  very  powerful.  Several  retired  deeply  impressed, 
and  all  were  made  more  serious  and  better  prepared  to  be  influ- 
enced by  the  truth."  After  several  days  of  anxious  inquiry, 
under  the  wise  guidance  of  the  pastor  the  young  man  at  whose 
room  and  by  whose  invitation  the  meeting  was  held,  was  led  to 
the  Savior  and  sat  clothed  and  in  his  right  mind  at  his  feet. 
That  young  man  was  afterwards  Rev.  A.  W.  McClure,  D.  D., 
the  eloquent  and  able  preacher,  author,  editor  and  secretary. 
The  leader  of  the  banded  opposition  the  previous  year  also  now 
became  as  bold  and  zealous  in  the  advocacy  of  truth  and  piety 
as  he  had  been  of  irreligion.  This  was  Henry  Lyman,  the  mis- 
sionary and  martyr  of  Sumatra.  "  There  were  many  other  cases 
as  marked  and  striking  as  these.  Out  of  the  whole  number 
of  those  who  had  been  irreligious  at  its  commencement,  about 
one-half  professed  to  have  given  themselves  up  to  God,  but  as  to 
the  talent  and  power  of  opposition,  and  open  enmity — the  vice, 
the  profaneness,  the  dissipation — the  revival  took  the  whole, 
with  one  or  tyvo  exceptions,  it  took  the  whole.  And  when,  a 
few  weeks  afterwards,  the  time  arrived  for  those  thus  changed 
to  make  a  public  profession  of  religion,  it  was  a  striking  specta- 
cle to  see  them  standing  in  a  crowd  in  the  broad  aisle  of  the 

1  Tutor  B.  B.  Edwards. 


ADMISSION   TO   THE   CHURCH.  203 

College  chapel,  purified,  sanctified,  and  in  the  presence  of  all 
their  fellow-students  renouncing  sin  and  solemnly  consecrating 
themselves  to  God.  Some  years  have  since  elapsed,  and  they 
are  in  his  service  now.  I  have  their  names  before  me,  and  I  do 
not  know  of  one  who  does  not  continue  faithful  to  his  Master 
still." 

With  the  caution  and  prudence  which  Dr.  Humphrey  always 
carefully  observed  in  such  matters,  the  converts  of  this  revival 
were  not  received  immediately  into  the  church,  but  were  in- 
structed by  the  pastor  somewhat  like  the  catechumens  in  the 
early  Christian  church,  and  edified  in  the  faith,  hope  and  love  of 
the  gospel  for  several  months  before  they  made  a  public  profes- 
sion of  their  attachment  to  the  Lord  Jesus.  Hitherto  the  Fac- 
ulty and  pious  students  of  the  College  had  united  with  the  vil- 
lage church  in  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  On  the 
19th  of  August,  1827,  this  sacrament  was  administered  for  the 
first  time  in  the  College  chapel,  and  it  was  a  eucharist  indeed,  a 
festival  of  thanksgiving  and  praise,  made  doubly  joyful  by  the 
number  and  character  of  those  who  now  for  the  first  time  par- 
ticipated in  the  feast.  Twenty  students,  converts  of  the  revival, 
from  all  the  different  classes,  joined  themselves  to  the  church  at 
this  communion.  One  or  two  had  joined  earlier  and  others 
united  with  the  church  in  College  or  elsewhere  at  subsequent 
communions.  We  have  not  space  for  the  names,  and  some  of 
them  would  be  unknown  to  most  of  our  readers.  But  to  one 
who  knows  their  subsequent  history,  it  is  delightful  to  look 
over  the  list  and  see,  how  all  without  exception  have  adorned 
their  profession,  how  nearly  all  have  been  able  and  faithful  min- 
isters of  the  gospel,  while  not  a  few  have  been  distinguished  as 
preachers,  teachers  and  missionaries  at  home  or  in  foreign  lands. 
If  the  tree  is  known  by  its  fruit,  certainly  this  revival  (and  the 
same  is  true  of  many  others  that  have  succeeded  it),  was  a  good 
tree  whose  fruit  enriched  the  College,  refreshed  the  churches 
and  was  for  the  healing  of  the  nations. 

The  following  extract  illustrates  how  the  converts  began  at 
once  to  co-operate  with  those  who  had  prayed  and  labored  for 
their  conversion,  in  missionary  efforts  for  the  instruction  of  the 
ignorant,  the  care  of  the  neglected  and  the  salvation  of  the  lost. 


204  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

"  Soon  after  I  entered  College,  in  1825,  I  was  walking  on  the 
road  to  Pelham,  and  on  the  plain  east  of  East  street,  I  saw  a 
number  of  families  of  colored  people.  I  inquired  if  they  would 
like  a  meeting  at  one  of  their  houses  Sabbath  afternoon.  The 
proposal  was  welcomed,  the  meeting  was  holden,  and  from  that 
time  a  meeting,  with  a  Sabbath-school,  was  sustained  during  my 
College  course.  Henry  Lyman,  after  his  conversion,  assisted  me 
in  these  meetings.  Sometimes  there  were  as  many  as  seventy 
or  more  colored  people  at  those  meetings.  How  much  good  was 
accomplished  or  what  has  become  of  the  meetings  or  the  colored 
people,  I  do  not  know." J  That  was  the  beginning  of  a  mission- 
ary enterprise  which,  with  occasional  interruptions,  has  been 
ever  since  sustained  by  the  students  of  Amherst  College,  and 
which  under  the  fostering  care  chiefly  of  the  ladies  of  the  Col- 
lege church,  has  grown  into  the  church  and  congregation  that 
now  worship  in  Zion  chapel  on  the  west  side  of  the  College 
grounds. 

The  next  year,  viz.,  during  the  latter  part  of  the  spring  term 
of  1828,  another  season  of  revival  was  enjoyed,  "  highly  inter- 
esting," (in  the  language  of  the  church  record,  which  is  in  the 
handwriting  of  Prof.  Fiske,)  "  although  not  so  rapid  or  power- 
ful as  that  of  1827.  There  seemed  to  be  less  of  self-scrutiny 
in  the  members  of  the  church  and  professors  of  religion,  and 
less  of  importunity  in  prayer.  But  the  Holy  Spirit  manifestly 
descended,  and  it  was  supposed  that  about  fourteen  members  of 
College  experienced  his  regenerating  influences." 

"  There  were  two  revivals  during  my  College  course  " — writes 
Rev.  Asa  Bullard— "  in  1827  and  1828.  I  think  it  was  the  lat- 
ter, and  only  a  few  weeks  before  the  close  of  the  term,  that  Dr. 
Humphrey  was  all  ready  one  Saturday  to  start  for  his  former 
home  in  Pittsfield,  when  some  students  called  on  him  and  told 
him  there  were  signs  of  seriousness  in  the  College.  Dr.  Hum- 
phrey turned  out  his  horse  and  gave  up  his  visit.  At  evening 
prayers  he  stopped  the  pious  students  and  gave  them  a  most 
solemn  exhortation  to  earnest  prayer  and  faithful  labor  for  a  re- 
vival. The  Holy  Spirit  was  evidently  present.  Sabbath  day 
several  were  hopefully  converted,  and  for  a  day  or  two  conver- 

1  Rev.  E.  D.  Eldredge,  Class  of  '29. 


REVIVAL  OF    1828.  205 

sions  were  constantly  occurring;  when  all  at  once  the  work 
seemed  to  stop.  Monday  morning  the  President  again  stopped 
the  pious  students  at  prayers,  and  in  the  most  solemn  and  deeply 
anxious  manner,  said :  '  Something  is  wrong.'  Never  shall  I 
forget  that  day,  and  many  will  probably  remember  while  they 
live  that '  Judgment-like  Monday.'  The  students  were  gathered 
everywhere  in  little  clusters,  as  solemn  as  if  some  great  calamity 
had  just  fallen  upon  us.  Soon  the  College  was  one  great  house 
of  prayer.  In  every  entry  and  from  many  a  room  could  be  heard 
the  voice  of  the  most  earnest,  agonizing  supplication.  From 
that  hour  the  work  went  on.  Those  who  were  bowed  down 
under  conviction  of  sin  found  relief,  and  there  were  conversions 
almost  every  day  till  the  close  of  the  term." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  church  on  Saturday  evening,  July  5, 
1828,  "  in  preparation  for  the  Lord's  Supper  to  be  .kept  on  the 
approaching  Sabbath,  July  6,"  "  the  pastor  stated  to  the  church 
that  the  furniture  for  the  ordinance  of  the  supper  was  a  joint 
present  from  the  pastor  and  Professors  Hitchcock,  Fiske,  Wor- 
cester and  Abbott." 

The  next  Saturday  evening,  July  12,  the  first  case  of  disci- 
pline was  brought  before  the  church  by  the  pastor  at  the  in- 
stance of  members  of  the  church  who  "declared  themselves 
much  grieved  by  the  deportment  of  brother  ,  particu- 
larly his  indulgence  of  anger  and  use  of  profane  language." 
The  discipline  was  conducted  according  to  the  method  and 
spirit  of  the  gospel,  with  faithful  admonitions  and  much  for- 
bearance on  the  part  of  the  pastor  and  the  church,  to  a  success- 
ful issue.  The  offending  brother  made  a  written  acknowledg- 
ment, expressing  his  sorrow  and  asking  forgiveness,  and  "it 
being  read  in  his  presence,  the  church  voted  their  acceptance 
of  the  same  and  their  continuance  of  Christian  charity  and 
fellowship." 

On  Sunday,  July  13,  "  the  first  baptism  in  the  church  occur- 
red (in  the  case  of  the  children  of  members)  in  the  baptism  of 
the  infant  son  of  Prof.  Hitchcock,  named  Edward." 

At  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  November  2,  1828, 
Mrs.  Harriet  V.  Abbott  and  Horatio  B.  Hackett,  with  others, 
made  a  public  profession  of  their  faith  in  Christ;  and  March  1, 


206  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

1829,  "  Mr.  Ebenezer  Strong  Snell  and  Mrs.  Sabra  C.  Snell  were 
admitted  by  profession." 

In  the  course  of  the  same  year,  we  find  records  of  the  earli- 
est appointments  of  delegates  to  attend  ecclesiastical  councils 
with  the  pastor,  viz.,  April  14,  of  Prof.  Worcester  for  the  dis- 
mission of  Rev.  Mr.  Chapin  at  South  Amherst ;  in  June,  of  Prof. 
Hitchcock,  for  his  installation  at  Westhampton  ;  and  October  4, 
of  Prof.  Hitchcock,  for  the  ordaining  of  Mr.  Elijah  C.  Bridg- 
man,  missionary  to  China,  at  Belchertown.  The  ordination  of 
Mr.  Bridgman  took  place  on  the  6th  of  October,  and  President 
Humphrey  preached  the  sermon. 

In  the  spring  term  of  1830,  a  friend  of  temperance,  (after- 
wards ascertained  to  be  Mr.  John  Tappan  of  Boston,)  offered  a 
premium  of  four  hundred  dollars  for  the  best  essays  on  the  sub- 
ject of  temperance  to  be  delivered  at  the  four  ensuing  Commence- 
ments, and  to  be  awarded  one  hundred  dollars  each  year  by  the 
then  Senior,  Junior,  Sophomore  and  Freshman  classes,  on  the 
condition  of  there  being  a  universal  agreement  of  the  students  to 
abstain  from  the  use  of  wine,  spirits  and  tobacco  for  the  whole 
College  course.  The  condition  was  not  fully  accepted  by  the 
students, — that  was  more  than  could  be  expected  of  any  Col- 
lege ;  but  the  proposal  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Antivenenian 
Society  in  August,  1830,  on  the  basis  of  a  pledge  of  total  absti- 
nence from  ardent  spirits,  wine,  opium  and  tobacco,  as  articles 
of  luxury  or  diet,  which  pledge  was  signed  by  all  the  officers 
and  a  large  majority  of  the  students.  Essays  were  written  and 
read,  and  liberal  premiums  were  given,  the  first  of  which  was 
awarded  to  Lewis  Sabin  of  the  Class  of  '31.  So  far  from  with- 
holding or  reducing  the  sum  originally  offered,  Mr.  Tappan  gave 
five  hundred  dollars  to  the  College,  which  was  made  the  occasion 
of  collecting  the  three  or  four  thousand  dollars  expended  by  Prof. 
Hovey  in  the  purchase  of  books,  the  most  important  early  addition 
to  the  College  library.  Thus  originated  the  College  Temperance 
Society,  which  still  lives  and  embraces  the  larger  part  of  the  offi- 
cers and  students  in  its  membership,  of  which  the  President  of 
the  College  has  always  been  the  President,  and  Professors  Hitch- 
cock the  elder,  Tyler  and  Hitchcock  the  younger,  the  succes- 
sive Secretaries,  and  whose  roll  of  heroes  and  martyrs,  now  long 


ANTIVENENIAN   SOCIETY.  207 

enough  to  reach  across  a  good-sized  lecture  room,  and  growing 
larger  every  year,  has  been  exhibited  by  the  President,  or  the 
Secretary,  or  both  together,  to  each  successive  class  of  Fresh- 
men soon  after  their  entrance,  and  has  received  the  signature  of 
a  majority,  usually  a  large  majority,  of  every  class  for  more  than 
forty  years.  We  are  not  so  credulous  as  to  believe  that  this 
pledge  has  been  faithfully  kept  by  all  the  signers.  But  the 
greater  part  have  kept  it,  and  it  has  been  a  safeguard  to  many 
students,  and  a  blessing  to  the  College.1 

This  temperance  movement,  thus  early  originated,  was  a  con- 
necting link  chronologically,  doubtless  also  in  the  chain  of  cause 
and  effect,  between  the  revivals  of  1827  and  1828,  and  that  of 
1831.  Without  the  revivals  of  1827  and  1828,  the  students 
certainly  could  not  have  been  brought  up  to  a  stand  in  the  cause 
of  temperance  so  far  in  advance  of  the  age.2  And  without  the 
temperance  reform  in  1830,  the  revival  in  1831  would  probably 
have  been  less  powerful  than  it  was,  perhaps  would  not  have 
existed. 

The  revival  of  1831  occurred  in  the  spring  term,  like  all  those 
which  had  preceded  it,  but  it  began  earlier  in  the  term  than 
those  of  1827  and  1828.  The  concert  of  prayer  for  Colleges, 
the  last  Thursday  of  February  prepared  the  way  for  it.  The 
sickness  and  sudden  death  of  a  member  of  the  Senior  class 
produced  a  deep  and  solemn  impression.  The  seriousness  be- 
gan in  that  class,  and  among  its  leading  scholars,  not  a  few 
of  whom  were  then  without  hope  in  Christ.  Deeply  convinced 
of  the  vanity  of  the  highest  worldly  good,  and  of  the  folly 
and  criminality  of  an  irreligious  life,  these  leading  men,  one 
after  another,  renounced  the  world  and  consecrated  themselves 
to  the  service  of  their  Redeemer.  Thus  the  influence  spread 
silently  and  gradually  through  the  class,  and  from  the  Senior 
class,  by  a  law  as  natural  as  that  by  which  water  runs  down 
hill,  it  flowed  through  the  College.  At  the  communion  in 

1  The  pledge  to  total  abstinence  from  intoxicating  drinks  is  now  separate  from 
the  others,  and  is  taken  by  many  who  do  not  pledge  themselves  to  abstain  from 
tobacco. 

2  Total  abstinence  from  ardent  spirits  was  then  the  advanced  position  assumed  by 
the  friends  of  temperance.     The  inclusion  of  wine,  opium  and  tobacco  in  the  pledge 
was  a  radical  innovation. 


208  HISTORY  OF  AMHERST  COLLEGE. 

May,  seven,  l  and  at  that  in  August,  nineteen  members  of  Col- 
lege, twenty  five  in  all,  were  gathered  into  the  College  church 
as  the  fruits  of  this  rich  harvest  season.  How  many  joined 
other  churches,  I  do  not  know ;  but  according  to  the  best  of 
my  recollection,  between  thirty  and  forty  were  reckoned  as  con- 
verts. Among  those  who  joined  the  College  church  and  began 
a  new  life  at  this  time  from  the  two  upper  classes,  it  may  be 
proper  to  name,  as  known  to  the  public,  Jonathan  Brace,  Eben- 
ezer  Burgess,  Orlow  M.  Dorman,  James  Garvin,  Chester  Lord, 
Thatcher  Thayer,  Wellington  H.  Tyler  and  George  Waters  of 
the  Class  of  '31,  and  Samuel  Hopkins  and  Henry  Morris  of  the 
Class  of  '32.  The  reader  will  pardon  a  personal  allusion  to  the 
beloved  brother  whose  name  occurs  in  the  above  list.  His 
work  as  an  educator  of  young  ladies  was  done,  and  well  done, 
in  less  than  a  dozen  years,  and  he  is  now,  I  trust,  in  heaven. 
He  owed  to  Araherst  College  not  only  his  education  and  his 
power  to  teach,  but  his  new  birth  and  Christian  life.  Early  one 
morning  he  came  to  my  room  in  the  Academy  where  I  was  then 
teaching,  full  of  sorrow  for  sin  and  anxiety  for  his  soul.  I  con- 
versed and  prayed  with  him,  giving  him  the  best  counsel  I  could 
from  my  limited  experience,  and  at  the  same  time  advising  him  to 
call  on  Dr.  Humphrey  and  take  counsel  with  him.  But  without 
waiting  for  him  to  do  so,  I  went  immediately  to  Dr.  Humphrey  and 
acquainted  him  with  the  facts.  It  was  the  first  case  of  anxious 
inquiry,  and  the  President  was  taken  a  little  by  surprise.  It  was, 
however,  a  glad  surprise.  He  started  up  as  if  he  had  received  some 
good  news,  which  at  the  same  time  called  for  immediate  action : 
he  said,  we  must  be  up  and  doing.  He  sought  an  interview 
with  the  first  inquirer,  and  my  brother  was  soon  rejoicing  in 
hope,  cheerful  and  joyful  as  a  little  child.  The  President,  whose 
ear  was  always  open  to  the  first  sound  of  "  a  going  in  the  tops 
of  the  mulberry  trees,"  now  girded  himself  instantly  for  the 
battle,  and  summoned  his  colleagues  also,  and  his  younger 
brethren  to  buckle  on  their  armor.  Among  the  special  means 
which  were  used  for  the  furtherance  of  this  good  work,  my  mind 
dwells  with  chief  interest  on  the  services  which  were  held  on 
Sunday,  Tuesday  and  Thursday  evenings  for  the  preaching  of 

1  Including  Story  Hebard,  Tutor,  afterwards  missionary. 


REVIVAL  OF   1831.  209 

the  word  of  God  and  the  way  of  salvation.  Dr.  Humphrey 
preached  more  frequently  than  any  one  else.  The  sinfulness  of 
man  and  the  sovereignty  of  God,  the  deceitfulness  of  the  human 
heart,  and  the  subtle  devices  of  Satan,  were  among  his  favorite 
topics.  And  the  word  of  God  in  his  hands  was  quick  and  pow- 
erful, sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword,  piercing  even  to  the 
dividing  asunder  of  soul  and  spirit.  Prof.  Hitchcock  came  next 
with  his  awakening,  alarming  and  convincing  "  revival  sermons  " 
which  he  began  to  preach  in  revivals  in  Conway,  and  which  he 
preached  with  increasing  power  to  so  many  successive  genera- 
tions of  College  students.  Prof.  Fiske  preached  less  frequently, 
but  with  a  clearness  of  statement,  a  discrimination  of  character 
and  doctrine,  and  a  cogency  of  argument  which  left  no  ground 
for  the  unbeliever  or  disbeliever  to  stand  upon,  for  the  impeni- 
tent sinner  no  place  to  hide  his  head.  Never  before,  perhaps 
never  since,  have  I  heard  preaching  which  made  God  appear  so 
great  and  good,  man  so  insignificant,  so  criminal,  so  inexcusable 
in  his  disobedience  and  neglect  of  so  great  salvation.  Night 
after  night  the  old  "  Rhetorical  Room  "  was  crowded  with  young 
men  of  all  classes  and  characters,  in  every  stage  of  religious 
and  irreligious  thought  and  feeling,  listening  with  all  the  acute- 
ness  of  their  cultivated  minds,  and  all  the  warmth  of  their 
quickened  emotions,  listening,  not  a  few  of  them,  as  for  their 
lives  to  the  preaching  of  the  law  of  God,  and  the  gospel  of 
Christ.  And  morning  after  morning  the  hearts  of  the  preach- 
ers and  pious  hearers  were  rejoiced  by  the  good  tidings  of  class- 
mates and  friends  that  were  singing  the  new  song,  that  were 
entering  upon  the  new  life. 

"  I  presume  I  utter  a  sentiment  very  generally  entertained  " — 
so  writes  a  member  of  the  Class  of  '31,  who  has  been  greatly 
useful  both  as  a  pastor  and  as  a  teacher, — "  when  I  say  that 
during  my  ministry  I  have  esteemed  the  revivals  in  which  I 
have  been  allowed  to  take  part,  as  pure  and  truly  beneficial  very 
much  in  proportion  to  their  likeness  to  those  which  I  witnessed 
in  College,  and  if  I  have  ever  succeeded  in  conducting  a  revival 
so  as  to  have  any  good  results,  I  trace  the  fact  to  what  I  learned 
in  College." 

With  good  reason  did  Prof.  Fiske,  after  recording  the  names 
14 


210  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

of  those  who  joined  the  church  by  profession  in  the  summer 
term  of  1831,  close  the  record  by  speaking  of  them  as  "  the 
fruits  of  the  revival  by  which  the  church  and  College  was 
blessed  the  last  term,  and  for  which  it  is  hoped,  that  many 
churches  will  have  occasion  to  be  thankful." 

The  village  church  was  blessed  with  a  revival  of  great  power 
and  interest  the  same  year.  Four  members  of  the  church,1 — 
most  of  them  officers — had  been  praying  for  it  many  months 
previous,  holding  meetings  for  this  express  purpose  at  their 
houses  in  rotation  attended  by  themselves  alone  till  at  length  at 
their  instance  the  pastor,  Rev.  Mr.  Washburn,  appointed  an 
inquiry  meeting,  and  to  his  surprise  found  it  full  of  anxious 
inquirers.  The  pastor  entered  into  the  work  with  all  his  might, 
and  there  was  a  great  ingathering.  It  was  the  last  work  the 
good  man  did ;  when  it  was  done,  he  was  ripe  for  heaven  and 
ready  to  depart.  College  students  who  were  teachers  in  the 
village  Sabbath-school,  were  greatly  useful  in  promoting  it,  if 
not  the  means  of  its  commencement,  and  among  them  Moody 
Harrington  of  the  Class  of  '31  did  a  work  which  if  he  had  never 
done  anything  else,  would  entitle  him  to  a  place  among  those 
who  are  wise  and  turn  many  to  righteousness.  None  who  heard 
him  can  forget  the  power  and  pathos  with  which  he  spoke  once 
at  the  Sabbath-school  concert,  and  how  the  whole  crowded  as- 
sembly were  stirred  to  feeling  and  action  as  he  pressed  home 
upon  them  the  question,  "  Why  do  we  sit  still  ?"  And  he  spoke 
often  with  scarcely  less  power  in  the  religious  meetings  of  the 
students. 2 

The  year  1831  was  a  year  of  revivals  in  the  churches.  And 
wherever  the  students  of  Amherst  College  went — wherever  the 
alumni  of  Amherst  were  settled  in  the  ministry,  they  labored  to 
promote  those  revivals  in  the  spirit  which  they  had  imbibed  in 
similar  scenes  in  their  Alma  and  with  the  wisdom  which  they 
had  learned  from  the  instructions  and  example  of  their  beloved 
teachers.  "  I  have  enjoyed  nine  or  ten  precious  revivals  in  my 

1  Dea.  Leland,  Dea.  Mack,  Dea.  Flagg  and  Mr.  Lyman  (father  of  Henry).     Miss 
Hannah  Lyman,  of  Vassar  College,  was  one  of  the  converts. 

2  Mr.  Beecher  is  accustomed  to  speak  of  Mr.  Harrington  as  almost  his  spiritual 
father  to  whom  he  owed  more  religiously,  than  to  any  other  man  in  College.    Mr. 
Harrington  afterwards  married  the  daughter  of  Gen.  Mack. 


REVIVAL   OF   1835.  211 

ministry,  and  they  are  the  very  brightest  spots  in  my  life." 
Thus  writes  an  alumnus  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  some  of  the 
most  valuable  materials  of  the  foregoing  history.  Scores,  prob- 
ably hundreds  of  the  alumni,  could  bear  similar  testimony. 
They  learned  to  believe  in  revivals,  to  love  them  and  to  labor 
successfully  in  them,  while  they  were  members  of  College. 

In  the  five  years  beginning  with  1827  and  ending  with  1831, 
there  were  three  revivals.  Three  years  now  succeeded  without 
what  is  technically  called  a  revival,  although  more  than  once 
during  the  interval  the  church  was  revived,  and  during  each  of 
these  years  there  were  occasional  conversions,  and  additions  to 
the  church  by  profession  at  almost  every  communion.  At 
length  in  1835  when  no  class  remaining  in  College  had  wit- 
nessed one  of  these  favored  seasons,  the  Institution  was  again 
blessed  by  a  special  outpouring  of  the  Spirit.  An  account  of 
it  was  given  to  the  public  through  the  Boston  Recorder  by  Prof. 
Hitchcock,  the  pastor,  Dr.  Humphrey,  being  absent  in  Europe 
for  the  benefit  of  his  health.  From  this  account  we  give  some 
extracts. 

"  At  the  commencement  of  the  spring  teem,  it  was  evident 
that  some  Christians  had  begun  to  set  their  faces  unto  the  Lord 
God  to  seek  by  prayer  and  supplication,  with  fasting  and  sack- 
cloth and  ashes  for  a  revival  of  religion.  God  had  been  rebuk- 
ing us  repeatedly  by  removing  on  account  of  ill  health  and  for 
other  causes,  one  and  another  of  the  permanent  officers  of  the 
Institution,  and  it  became  necessary  for  the  President  also  to 
leave  for  a  season  on  a  voyage  to  Europe  for  the  recovery  of 
his  exhausted  energies.  And  Satan  too  seized  upon  this  time 
of  trial  and  violently  attempted  to  revive  his  work.  But 
although  he  adopted  measures  which,  in  this  community,  were 
emphatically  new,  such  as  disturbing  religious  meetings  by  fire- 
works,1 he  succeeded  in  enlisting  but  very  few  on  his  side ;  and 
when  the  faithfnl  execution  of  the  laws  had  removed  these  from 
the  Institution,  the  power  of  God's  Spirit  became  decidedly  man- 

1  Sometimes  called  the  Gunpowder  Plot.  A  train  of  powder  laid  under  the  back 
seat  from  door  to  door  of  the  old  Mathematical  Room  was  exploded  during  a  re- 
ligious meeting.  The  author  of  the  plot  was  immediately  detected  and  expelled. 
The  meeting  adjourned  to  another  room,  and  was  finished  with  increased  solemnity. 


212  HISTOEY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ifest,  and  the  work  went  steadily  forward  to  the  very  last  day 
of  the  term,  a  period  of  six  or  eight  weeks.  The  number  of 
those  who  were  destitute  of  a  hope  at  the  commencement,  did 
not  exceed  fifty.  Not  less  than  one  third  of  these  professed  to 
have  yielded  their  hearts  to  God.  But  it  was  clear  that  the 
work  was  the  most  thorough  among  professed  Christians,  several 
of  whom  were  brought  under  deep  convictions,  and  yielded  at 
length  their  hearts  anew  (some  of  them  probably  for  the  first 
time)  to  the  Savior. 

"  We  have  made  it  a  rule  not  to  interfere  at  such  a  season 
with  the  regular  College  exercises,  except  in  an  extreme  case. 
We  adhered  to  this  rule  in  this  instance,  except  some  seasons 
devoted  to  fasting  and  prayer."  Among  other  special  means  of 
which  Prof.  Hitchcock  speaks  as  having  proved  useful,  were 
"  meetings  of  ten  or  twelve  professing  Christians,  in  which  every 
individual  was  urged  to  express  his  feelings ;"  "  a  number  of 
individuals  on  a  certain  day  visiting  all  the  professors  of  religion, 
with  the  resolution  not  to  leave  them  till  they  had  solemnly 
promised  to  renew  their  consecration  ;"  or  "  for  an  officer  during 
the  day  to  visit  all  the  members  of  a  class,  converse  with  them 
on  the  subject  of  personal  religion,  and  affectionately  invite  them 
to  a  meeting  which  he  would  conduct  in  the  evening." 

In  conformity  with  their  former  practice,  the  Faculty,  at 
the  close  of  the  term,  entered  the  following  resolve  upon  their 
records :  "  Whereas  it  has  pleased  God  to  visit  us  during  the 
past  term  with  a  precious  revival  of  religion,  whereby  many 
have  been  quickened  and  some  hopefully  converted,  therefore 
resolved,  that  we  desire  to  leave  this  record  of  the  fact  as  a 
testimony  of  their  deep  indebtedness  to  that  sovereign  mercy 
of  a  covenant-keeping  God,  and  of  their  obligation  to  labor  with 
new  courage  and  zeal  in  his  service." 

A  few  extracts  from  the  recollections  of  those  who  were 
students  at  the  time,  contain  some  additional  details  of  much 
interest : 

"  I  have  ever  loved  to  recall  the  incidents  of  the  revival  of 
1835.  It  was  a  precious  season.  To  a  certain  little  band  of 
students,  whose  names  I  could  perhaps  give,  it  was  especially 
welcome.  Day  after  day  and  night  after  night,  they  had  been 


RECOLLECTIONS   OF  GRADUATES.  213 

praying,  both  together  and  apart,  in  secret  places,  for  just  such 
a  blessing.  In  some  instances  they  spent,  perhaps  unwisely,  but 
with  the  best  intentions,  a  large  part  of  the  night  together  in 
wrestling  with  God,  and  sometimes  even  weeping  together,  lest 
something  should  be  in  the  way  of  the  descent  of  the  Spirit 
during  that  season.  On  one  occasion,  when  the  result  seemed 
to  human  view  in  considerable  doubt,  they  joined  hands,  and, 
upon  their  knees,  at  dead  of  night,  in  a  room  in  the  old  North 
College,  entered  into  a  solemn  covenant  with  God  and  with  one 
another,  each  praying  in  his  turn,  that  they  would  not,  God 
helping  them,  give  it  up,  but  would  plead  and  labor  till  the 
blessing  came.  And  when  the  blessing  came,  and  they  found 
such  men  as  Clark,1  Peabody,  Humphrey  and  Smith  of  my  own 
class,  and  others  in  other  classes,  anxious  and  inquiring  or  re- 
joicing in  new  found  hope,  they  felt  like  mounting  on  wings  and 
praising  God  DAY  AND  NIGHT  forever." 2 

The  record  of  the  church  reads  thus:  "Clinton  Clark,  J.  B. 
Greenough,  John  Humphrey,  William  A.  Peabody,  G.  P.  Smith, 
Lycortas  L.  Brewer,  Alexander  H.  Bullock,  Thomas  P.  Green, 
L.  A.  Hayward,  David  S.  Oliphant,  Isaac  Titcomb,  Frederic 
Dickinson,  and  Daniel  W.  Poor,  were  received  by  profession. 
These  are  among  the  fruits  of  a  most  interesting  revival  of 
religion  during  the  closing  six  weeks  of  the  term." 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  Rev.  W.  H.  Beaman 
of  the  Class  of  '37,  will  illustrate  the  feeling  with  which  this 
and  other  similar  seasons  of  religious  interest  are  remembered 
to  this  day  by  great  numbers  of  the  alumni :  "  The  mention 
of  these  seasons  calls  up  many  precious  memories.  That  of 
1835,  was  deep  and  pervading.  The  truth  fell  from  the  lips  of 
Humphrey,  Hitchcock  and  Fiske,  with  great  power,  searching  the 

1  Rev.  Clinton  Clark,  Valedictorian  of  the  Class  of  '35  of  which  Peabody  was 
the  Salutatorian,  and  Tutor  from  '37  to  '41.     I  have  before  me  very  interesting 
and  instructing  narratives  of  the  conversion  of  Peabody  and  Humphrey,  the  former 
by  Rev.  Leander  Thompson  of  the  Class  of  '35,  the  latter  by  Rev.  William  Hunt- 
ting  of  the  same  class.     The  former  was  printed  in  the  Boston  Recorder  soon  after 
the  death  of  Prof.  Puabody  in  1850.     But  I  have  not  room  for  the  narratives.     In 
the  Humphrey  here  mentioned,  the  reader  will  recognize  Rev.  John  Humphrey,  son 
of  President  Humphrey,  pastor  of  the  churches  in  Charlestown  and  Binghamton, 
and  Professor  elect  of  Moral  Philosophy  and  Theology  in  Hamilton  College. 

2  Rev.  Leander  Thompson. 


214  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

hearts  of  Christians  as  well  as  others.  Some  who  had  been  ex- 
emplary professors  of  religion  gave  up  their  hopes,  and  for  days 
were  in  despair — then  the  light  entered,  and  they  were  advanced 
to  a  higher  standard  of  living.  How  vividly  I  recall  as  if  it  were 
yesterday,  the  sound  of  prayer  in  the  dormitories,  recitation 
rooms  and  groves,  the  walks  and  talks  of  fellow-Christians,  of 
Christians  with  their  unconverted  classmates  and  other  fellow- 
students  !  With  what  fresh  interest  were  the  Bible,  Bunyan, 
Baxter  and  J.  B.  Taylor  perused !  How  sacred  was  the  very  air 
of  College,  and  all  its  surroundings !  How  we  inhaled  the  very 
atmosphere  of  heaven  and  had  foretastes  of  its  blessedness ! " 

The  reader  can  not  but  have  remarked  the  difference  between 
the  converts  in  the  different  revivals  of  this  period.  Many  of 
the  converts  in  each  and  all  of  them  were  the  most  gifted  and 
influential  men  in  College.  But  in  1827,  these  gifted  and  influ- 
ential men,  previous  to  their  conversion,  were,  most  of  them, 
wild,  wayward,  negligent  of  study, — some  of  them  dissipated 
and  violently  opposed  to  religion.  In  1835,  on  the  contrary, 
and  to  a  great  extent  in  1831,  the  prominent  converts  had  pre- 
viously been  studious,  amiable,  faithful,  leading  scholars  and 
exemplary  in  their  whole  deportment.  Yet  all  alike  felt  their 
need  of  a  new  heart  and  a  new  spirit.  All  alike  believed  that 
when  they  were  converted,  they  began  a  higher  and  better  life. 
They  not  only  believed  this  at  the  time  in  the  flush  of  excite- 
ment, but  they  continued  to  cherish  the  conviction  ever  after,, 
And  they  proved  not  only  the  sincerity  of  their  conviction,  but 
the  reality  of  the  change  by  their  pure,  holy,  godly  lives.  Now 
is  not  the  united  testimony  of  such  witnesses — so  various,  so 
intelligent,  so  honest  and  capable — is  it  not  sufficient  of  itself 
to  vindicate  revivals  and  conversions  from  the  contempt  which 
many  cast  upon  them  who  know  nothing  of  them  by  their  own 
observation  and  experience  ?  Does  it  not  go  far  to  demonstrate 
the  doctrine  which  has  always  been  held  by  the  Faculty  and  the 
great  majority  of  the  students  of  Amherst  College,  that  such 
revivals  are  the  work  of  God  and  are  among  the  richest  blessings 
which  the  Institution  has  ever  experienced  ? 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

TRUSTEES    AND    OTHER    OFFICERS    WHOSE    CONNECTION   WITH 
THE   COLLEGE   CEASED  DURING  THIS  PERIOD,  1825-36. 

BEFORE  we  proceed  to  complete  the  history  of  President 
Humphrey's  administration,  we  must  pause  a  little  to  notice 
some  of  the  Trustees  and  friends  of  the  College  whose  connec- 
tion with  it  ceased  during  the  period  which  we  have  been  pass- 
ing in  review.  Six  of  these,  Rev.  Joshua  Crosby,  Rev.  James 
Taylor,  Nathaniel  Smith,  Esq.,  Rev.  Experience  Porter,  Israel 
E.  Trask,  Esq.,  and  Hon.  John  Hooker,  were  Trustees  of  Am- 
herst  Academy,  and  so  Trustees  of  the  Collegiate  Institution 
from  its  beginning  in  1821. 

Rev.  Joshua  Crosby  was  born  in  Harwich,  Mass.,  in  April, 
1761.  Left  in  straitened  circumstances  by  the  loss  of  his  father 
at  sea  when  he  was  quite  young,  Joshua  lived  with  different 
relatives,  till,  at  length,  to  escape  the  tyranny  of  an  uncle,  at 
the  age  of  fifteen  he  enlisted  in  the  Revolutionary  army  in  June, 
1776,  and  continued  in  active  service  about  five  and  a  half 
years,  till  near  the  close  of  1781.  For  a  few  months  he  was  on 
board  of  a  privateer.  Some  time  after  leaving  the  army,  while 
learning  the  blacksmith's  trade  in  Hardwick,  he  became  a  sub- 
ject of  a  powerful  revival  of  religion,  and  manifested  so  much 
zeal,  and  excelled  so  much  in  speaking  that  he  was  soon  called 
upon  to  take  a  leading  part  in  the  meetings.  A  strong  desire 
to  preach  the  gospel  now  took  possession  of  him,  and  notwith- 
standing obstacles  that  seemed  almost  insurmountable,  in  1785 
he  commenced  fitting  for  College.  After  two  or  three  years  of 
preparatory  study,  partly  in  school  and*  partly  under  private 
tuition,  he  entered  Brown  University  and  remained  there  two 


216  HISTORY  OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

years,1  when  under  the  pressure  of  pecuniary  embarrassment, 
at  the  recommendation  of  the  President,  he  left,  and  after  a 
brief  period  of  theological  study,  commenced  preaching.  On 
the  2d  of  December,  1789,  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  church 
in  South  Greenwich,  (now  Enfield,)  which  office  he  continued 
to  hold,  (the  latter  part  of  the  time  with  a  colleague,)  for  al- 
most fifty  years.  He  died,  still  senior  pastor  at  Enfield,  Sep- 
tember 24,  1838,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven.  He  was  consid- 
ered remarkable  for  his  gifts  in  prayer,  and  in  extemporaneous 
speaking  he  probably  had  no  equal  in  the  Association.  He  was 
an  active  and  faithful  pastor,  and  was  always  much  interested 
in  the  schools  of  Enfield  and  Greenwich. 

His  zeal  for  maintaining  and  defending  the  faith  of  the  Pil- 
grim Fathers  moved  him  to  take  a  deep  and  active  interest  in 
the  establishment  of  Amherst  College.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees  from  the  opening  in  1821  till  his  death 
in  1838.  For  many  years,  perhaps  until  his  death,  he  held  the 
office  of  Vice-President  of  the  Corporation,  and  subsequent  to 
the  death  of  President  Moore,  he  was,  for  a  while,  acting  Presi- 
dent of  the  Institution.  The  records  of  the  Trustees  show 
that  he  was  often  placed  on  committees  of  great  responsibility 
and  importance.  His  wisdom  and  firmness  were  relied  on  in 
difficult  emergencies,  and  he  expended  much  time  and  toil  in 
raising  money  to  supply  the  necessities  of  the  College. 

Mr.  Crosby's  political  convictions  were  very  decided,  and 
during  the  administrations  of  Jefferson  and  Madison,  his  ser- 
mons on  the  state  of  the  country  were  sometimes  so  severe  on 
the  national  government  as  to  drive  some  of  his  Democratic 
parishioners  from  the  meeting-house.  He  had  a  marked  predi- 
lection for  military  affairs,  and  held  a  chaplaincy  in  the  militia 
during  a  large  part  of  his  ministerial  life.  When  the  militia 
were  called  out  in  1814  for  the  defence  of  Boston,  he  accom- 
panied the  Hampshire  County  troops,  and  such  was  the  impres- 
sion made  on  officers  and  soldiers  by  his  person  and  military 
knowledge,  that  on  the  resignation  of  Gen.  Mattoon,  (in  conse- 

1  It  will  be  seen  from  this  that  the  students  in  1823  were  mistaken  when  they 
objected  to  Mr.  Crosby  that  he  was  ignorant  of  Latin,  and  had  never  been  to  Col- 
lege. 


REV.    JAMES    TAYLOR.  217 

quence  of  the  loss  of  his  eye-sight)  there  was  considerable  talk 
of  raising  the  chaplain  to  the  rank  of  adjutant-general  of  the 
Massachusetts  militia.  In  person,  he  was  remarkably  well- 
formed,  having  great  muscular  power,  with  a  fine  countenance 
and  commanding  presence ;  and  in  his  gait  and  bearing,  he  car- 
ried through  life  unmistakable  evidence  of  his  early  military 
training.  Tradition  says  that  in  the  army,  and  for  some  time 
subsequent,  he  was  a  champion  wrestler.  After  the  settlement 
of  a  colleague,  he  represented  the  town  one  year  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts Legislature.  He  was  well  fitted  by  his  character  and 
antecedents  to  fight  the  battles  in  the  early  history  of  Amherst 
College,  of  which  he  deserves  to  be  ranked  as  one  of  the 
founders. l 

Rev.  James  Taylor,  son  of  Col.  James  Taylor,  was  born  in 
Westfield  in  1783.  He  graduated  at  Williams  College  in  1804 ; 
studied  theology  with  Rev.  John  Taylor  of  Deerfield,  whose 
eldest  daughter  he  married,  and  was  settled  in  Sunderland,  July 
22,  1807,  where  after  a  ministry  of  nearly  twenty-five  years  he 
died,  still  pastor  of  the  church,  October  11,  1831,  aged  48. 
The  church  prospered  greatly  under  his  ministry,  and  enjoyed 
several  powerful  revivals  of  religion.  That  of  1816  is  particu- 
larly memorable,  and  it  was  in  the  midst  of  the  great  revival  of 
1831  in  which  large  numbers  were  added  to  the  church,  that  he 
ceased  from  his  earthly  labors. 

He  was  a  zealous  advocate  of  the  temperance  reformation 
from  its  commencement,  and  carried  the  principle  and  practice 
of  total  abstinence  from  intoxicating  drinks  so  far  that  he  re- 
fused to  take  them  as  a  medicine  in  his  last  sickness.  A  warm 
friend  of  missions,  he  preached  a  sermon  before  the  Hampshire 
Missionary  Society  in  1818,  which  was  published. 

As  a  member  of  the  Franklin  Association,  and  from  his  ac- 
quaintance and  intimacy  with  Col.  Graves,  he  became  early  and 
deeply  interested  in  the  founding  of  Amherst  College.  He  and 
Col.  Graves,  and  Esq.  Smith  had  doubtless  often  prayed  and  ta- 
ken counsel  together  ori  the  subject,  before  a  stone  was  laid. 
And  his  prayers  and  labor  for  it,  ceased  only  with  his  life.  He 
was  a  Trustee  during  a  little  more  than  the  first  decade,  and 

1 1  am  indebted  to  Hon.  J.  B.  Woods  of  Enfield  for  the  materials  of  this  sketch. 


218  HISTORY   OP   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

lived  to  see  the  Seminary  grow  from  a  feeble  Institution  of 
charity  into  one  of  the  largest  Colleges  in  the  land.  The  last 
year  of  his  life  was  a  year  of  the  right  hand  of  the  Most  High 
in  the  College,  as  well  as  in  his  own  church,  and  he  rejoiced  in 
the  spiritual  prosperity  of  the  former  scarcely  less  than  of  the 
latter.  Mrs.  Taylor  died  on  the  day  of  her  husband's1  burial, 
leaving  a  large  family  of  children. 

With  great  decision  of  character  and  firmness  of  purpose, 
Mr.  Taylor  united  a  remarkably  genial  and  joyful  spirit.  Hu- 
morous himself,  "  he  laughed  all  over,"  (so  an  aged  parishioner 
described  it)  at  the  pleasantries  of  others.  "  His  preaching  was 
clear,  forcible  and  instructive.  In  person  he  was  of  middling 
hight  and  rather  corpulent,  with  a  full  countenance,  indicative 
both  of  kindness  and  a  prompt,  active  and  decided  spirit."2 

Nathaniel  Smith,  Esq.,  was  born  in  Sunderland,  August  4, 
1759.  His  early  education  was  only  such  as  could  be  obtained 
in  the  public  schools  of  a  country  town  in  those  days.  An 
enterprising  but  prudent  and  successful  business  man,  he  was 
the  founder  of  the  Sunderland  Bank,  and  its  President  for  some 
time  after  it  was  removed  to  Amherst.  He  was  for  forty-six 
years  an  active  and  exemplary  member  of  the  church  in  his 
native  place,  and  "  soon  after  the  death  of  Rev.  Mr.  Taylor,  and 
in  view  of  the  feeble  and  desponding  state  of  his  bereaved  peo- 
ple, Mr.  Smith  gave  the  society  three  thousand  dollars  to  help 
constitute  a  permanent  fund  for  the  support  of  the  gospel  in 
Sunderland." 3  He  made  himself  and  wife  life-members  of  most 
of  the  charitable  societies  which  sprung  up  so  rapidly  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  his  life,  contributed  largely  to  their  support  as  long 
as  he  lived,  and  left  liberal  bequests  to  the  National  Bible,  Tract, 
Foreign  and  Home  Missionary  Societies.  He  was,  by  far,  the 
largest  pecuniary  benefactor  of  Amherst  College  during  the 
first  decennary  of  its  existence.  And  as  Dr.  Humphrey  re- 
marks, considering  that  he  belonged  to  a  former  age  and  was 
not  himself  a  liberally  educated  man,  this  was  very  remarkable. 
"  As  nearly  as  can  be  ascertained,  Mr.  Smith  whose  property, 

1  A  malignant  typhoid  fever  was  widely  prevalent  and  very  fatal  in  Sunderland 
in  the  fall  of  1831. 

2  Packard's  History  of  Churches  and  Ministers  in  Franklin  County. 
8  Dr.  Humphrey's  sermon  at  Mr.  Smith's  funeral. 


NATHANIEL    SMITH.  219 

it  is  presumed,  never  exceeded  thirty  thousand  dollars,  had  con- 
tributed about  eight  thousand  dollars  to  the  College  before  his 
death,  and  his  will  contained  a  legacy  of  four  thousand  dollars 
more.  But  it  is  not  these  princely  donations  (and  more  than 
princely  they  were,  considering  his  circumstances,)  it  is  not  these 
merely,  or  chiefly,  which  will  endear  his  memory  to  the  wise  and 
good.  It  is  the  evidence  that  his  whole  soul  was  embarked  in 
the  enterprise  of  building  up  a  new  College  as  a  Christian  enter- 
prise, and  that  he  was  actuated  by  a  supreme  regard  to  the  glory 
of  God  in  the  salvation  of  a  dying  world.  Never  shall  I  for- 
get how,  from  time  to  time,  when  all  hearts  were  faint  I  was 
prompted  almost  instinctively  to  look  to  him  as  under  Provi- 
dence the  father  of  the  Institution — how  affectionately  he 
always  received  me — how  patiently  he  listened  to  my  state- 
ments— how  unshaken  was  his  confidence  that  'the  Lord  would 
provide,'  and  how  much  encouraged  and  refreshed  I  returned 
to  my  work,  after  uniting  with  him  and  his  eminently  pious 
wife  in  commending  all  the  great  interests  of  education  and  re- 
ligion to  Him  who  is  able  to  do  exceeding  abundantly  above  all 
that  we  ask  or  think." l 

Mr.  Smith's  wife,  it  will  be  remembered  was  a  sister  of  Col. 
Graves,  and  his  mother  was  a  Billings  of  Conway,  and  natives 
of  Conway  are  still  living  who  well  remember  how  Col.  Graves 
and  Esq.  Smith  used  to  bring  up  sometimes  their  wives  and 
sometimes  their  minister,  Rev.  Mr.  Taylor,  to  talk  over  and  pray 
over  the  interests  of  the  College  with  Deacon  and  Mrs.  Billings 
of  Conway,  and  perhaps  Dr.  Packard  of  Shelburne. 

"  Who,"  says  Dr.  Humphrey,  "  was  the  largest  contributor  to 
that  Charity  Fund  which  was  the  soul  of  the  infant  Institution  ? 
Who  gave  his  most  anxious  thoughts,  his  time,  his  prayers  to 
the  Seminary  when  it  was  weak  and  ready  to  die  ?  Whose 
name  stands  first  on  that  subscription,  which  when  this  child 
was  scourged  and  driven  away  by  its  mother  for  daring  to  ask 
for  bread — whose  name,  I  say,  stands  on  that  subscription  which 
was  to  settle  the  question  of  life  or  death  in  a  few  months  ?  To 
whom,  in  one  word,  is  Amherst  College  so  much  indebted  for 
pecuniary  aid  as  to  Nathaniel  Smith  ?  " 

!Note  to  Dr.  Humphrey's  sermon. 


220  HISTORY   OP    AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Nor  did  lie  rob  or  wrong  other  objects  in  order  to  give  to  the 
church  in  Sunderland,  to  benevolent  societies,  and  to  Amherst 
College.  He  is  still  remembered  in  Sunderland  as  "  the  poor 
man's  treasurer,  the  widow's  friend  and  a  father  to  the  father- 
less." And  some  of  the  good  old  people  there  can  still  see  him 
in  memory  and  imagination,  tall,  portly,  (for  he  was  over  six 
feet  high  and  weighed  more  than  two  hundred  pounds,)  tower- 
ing above  all  the  people,  the  most  conspicuous  person,  as  he  was 
also  the  most  constant  attendant,  in  the  church  and  the  prayer- 
meeting,  and  "  that  noble  and  venerable  form  all  radiant  with  a 
warm  heart  and  a  great  soul." 

Esq.  Smith  held  many  public  trusts,  in  the  gift  of  the  town, 
in  the  magistracy  of  the  county,  and  in  the  General  Court  of  the 
Commonwealth,  and  discharged  them  with  enlightened  practi- 
cal wisdom  and  unbending  integrity.  Yet  this  amiable  and  ex- 
cellent man,  so  loved  and  honored  at  home  and  abroad,  so 
trusted  in  the  church  and  the  State,  the  largest  pecuniary 
benefactor  of  the  College  and  one  of  its  wisest  counselors,  was 
abused  by  the  tongues  and  the  pens  of  its  enemies  in  the  Leg- 
islature, and  with  two  others,  (Rev.  Messrs.  Fiske  of  New 
Braintree,  and  Porter  of  Belchertown)  excluded  by  the  ac- 
tion of  the  Legislature  itself  from  a  place  in  the  corporation ! 
After  an  exclusion  of  three  years,  however,  the  Legislature 
of  1828  did  what  they  could  to  make  reparation  for  this  egre- 
gious wrong  by  re-electing  him  to  fill  a  vacancy.1  Thus  it 
happened,  that  in  the  annual  and  triennial  catalogues  of  the 
College,  the  name  of  Nathaniel  Smith  disappears  in  1825  and 
re-appears  in  1828.  Mr.  Smith  and  his  pastor,  Mr.  Taylor,  were 
both  among  the  original  corporators  named  in  the  charter  of 
Amherst  Academy.  And  the  name  of  the  former  is  entered 
on  the  records  as  present  at  the  opening  of  every  meeting  of 
the  Board  until  his  death.  During  all  this  time  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  and  acted  a  prominent 
part,  especially  in  all  the  financial  and  business  affairs  of  the 
College. 

Mr.  Smith  died  February  25,  1833  in  the  seventy-fourth  year 
of  his  age.  On  the  28th,  President  Humphrey  preached  his 

1  In  place  of  Dr.  Lyman,  of  Hatfield. 


REV.  EXPERIENCE   POUTER.  221 

funeral  sermon  entitled  "  the  Good  Arirnathean,"  from  Luke 
23:50.  On  the  19th  of  March,  Mrs.  Smith,  "not  less  vener- 
ated and  beloved  by  all  who  knew  her,  as  a  mother  in  Israel," 
followed  him  to  the  grave.  Their  tombstones  are  among  the 
plainest  and  most  unpretending  in  the  cemetery  at  Sunderland. 
Their  memorial  is  on  high.  And  they  will  not  soon  be  forgotten 
by  the  friends  of  learning  and  religion  and  the  friends  of  Am- 
herst  College.  Self-distrustful,  "he  was  found  oftener  in  the 
valley  of  humiliation  than  on  the  mount."  Her  Christian  life 
was  all  sunshine  and  her  death  triumphant.  They  had  no 
children.  But  they  have  left  a  name  better  than  of  sons  and 
daughters. 

Rev.  Experience  Porter  was  a  native  of  Lebanon,  N.  H.,  and 
the  son  of  Dea.  Nathaniel  Porter  of  that  place.  He  graduated 
at  Dartmouth  College  in  1803,  and  on  leaving  Colleg'e  was  ap- 
pointed Tutor  in  Middlebury  College,  where  he  remained  one 
year.  Having  studied  "  Divinity  "  with  Rev.  Asahel  Hooker  of 
Goshen,  Conn.,  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  church  in  Win- 
chester, N.  H.,  November  12,  1807.  On  the  llth  of  March, 
1812,  he  was  installed  pastor  of  the  church  in  Belchertown. 
On  account  of  ill-health  he  was  dismissed  by  a  mutual  council 
March  9,  1825,  and  died  at  Lebanon,  N.  H.,  August  25,  1828, 
at  the  age  of  forty-six.  "  During  Mr.  Porter's  connection  with 
this  people,  there  were  two  revivals  of  religion.  The  first  com- 
menced in  1812  and  continued  about  one  year.  During  the 
year  1813,  there  were  one  hundred  and  seven  persons  united 
with  the  church  upon  a  public  profession  of  their  faith.  The 
next  commenced  in  the  fall  of  1818  and  continued  about  the 
same  length  of  time.  Before  the  close  of  1819,  there  were  two 
hundred  and  eight  persons  added  to  the  church  as  the  fruit  of 
this  revival  " l  The  additions  to  the  church  by  this  one  revival 
amounted  to  more  than  one-twelfth  of  the  entire  population  of 
the  town.  "  The  church  was  greatly  increased,  strengthened 
and  refreshed,"  says  the  judicious  historian  of  the  town,  "  the 
friends  of  Zion  will  ever  rejoice  in  the  blessed  fruits  of  that 
religious  revival."  Such  revivals  were  among  the  causes  to 
which  Amherst  College  owes  its  origin  and  inspiration — to  such 

1  Hon.  Mark  Doolittle,  History  of  Belchertown,  p.  57. 


222  HISTORY   OF    AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

revivals  it  was  largely  indebted  for  its  early  Trustees,  Faculty 
and  students. 

Mr.  Porter  was  one  of  the  original  Trustees  named  in  the 
charter  of  Amherst  Acadenry.  He  was  among  the  most  active, 
zealous  and  faithful  members  of  the  Board  in  all  those  trying 
times  which  preceded  the  obtaining  of  the  College  charter.  He 
was  not  among  the  members  named  in  that  charter,  and  it  is 
generally  understood  that  in  common  with  Col.  Graves,  Esq. 
Smith  and  Dr.  Fiske  he  had,  by  his  energy  and  boldness  in  the 
service  of  the  College,  rendered  himself  obnoxious  to  some  of 
the  leading  members  of  the  Legislature.  And  he  did  not  live 
long  enough  to  be  elected  as  Esq.  Smith  and  Dr.  Fiske  were, 
to  fill  the  earliest  vacancies  in  the  gift  of  the  corporation. 

Mr.  Porter  possessed  strong  powers  of  mind,  wrote  with  great 
rapidity,  spoke  with  ease,  boldness  and  strength,  and  forcibly 
impressed  upon  the  hearts  of  others  the  great  truths  of  the 
gospel  which  were  deeply  impressed  on  his  own.  He  died  in 
faith,  with  an  unshaken  trust  of  a  blessed  immortality.1 

Israel  Elliot  Trask  was  the  eldest  son  of  Dr.  Israel  and  Sarah 
(Lawrence)  Trask,  and  was  born  at  Brimfield,  Mass.,  March  18, 
1773.  While  engaged  in  the  study  of  law  at  Richmond,  Va., 
during  the  spring  of  1794,  the  insurrection  in  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania took  place ;  occasioned  by  the  unpopularity  of  the  excise 
laws  passed  by  Congress.  When  the  militia  of  Virginia  and  the 
neighboring  States  were  ordered  out  by  the  President,  and  under 
Gen.  Lee  marched  to  the  insurgent  district,  Mr.  Trask  volun- 
teered, and  when  at  the  close  of  the  expedition  the  troops  were 
disbanded,  he  returned  to  New  England  and  finished  his  law 
studies  in  the  office  of  Judge  Jacobs  of  Windsor,  Vt.  He  then 
entered  the  United  States  Army  with  the  rank  of  Captain.  He 
resigned  his  commission  in  1801,  and  was  about  sailing  for  France 
in  company  with  some  College  friends,  to  enlist  in  the  French 
army;  but  while  in  New  York,  Gen.  Alexander  Hamilton,  to 
whom  he  had  letters,  strongly  advised  him  to  give  up  his  project 
and  go  to  Natchez,  in  the  then  Territory  of  Mississippi,  and  com- 
mence the  practice  of  law.  In  pursuance  of  this  advice  he  went 
to  Natchez  in  the  year  1801,  and  entered  into  partnership  with 

1  History  of  Belchertowii. 


COL.    ISRAEL   E.    TRASK.  223 

Harding,  the  Attorney-General.  About  two  years  after  his  arrival 
at  Natchez  he  was  married  to  Elizabeth  Carter,  daughter  of  Jesse 
Carter,  a  planter  at  Second  Creek,  near  Natchez,  and  settled  on 
a  plantation  in  that  neighborhood.  At  the  time  that  Louisiana 
was  purchased  from  France,  in  1803,  by  the  United  States,  he 
.was  sent  by  the  Governor  of  the  Territory  (Claiborne)  to  attend 
to  the  negotiations  with  the  French  authorities,  for  the  trans- 
fer of  the  new  Territory.  And  when  Gov.  Claiborne  went  on 
with  the  United  States  troops  to  take  possession,  Col.  Trask  ac- 
companied him  as  his  Aid.  He  opened  a  law  office  in  New  Or- 
leans (the  first  by  an  American),  but  after  a  short  residence  his 
health  failed  and  he  returned  to  plantation  life.  About  1812  he 
disposed  of  his  plantations  in  Mississippi  and  Louisiana  and  re- 
turned to  Brimfield,  Mass.  During  his  residence  in  Brimfield 
he  interested  himself  in  the  manufacture  of  cotton  cloth,  and 
built  one  of  the  first  factories  for  that  purpose  in  "Western  Massa- 
chusetts. He  was  elected  for  several  successive  years  to  the 
State  Legislature,  and  was  a  member  of  the  convention  for 
revising  the  State  Constitution  in  1820;  serving  on  the  Judi- 
ciary Committee.  In  the  spring  of  1821  he  removed  to  Spring- 
field, Mass.  After  his  removal  to  Springfield,  the  state  of  his 
health  and  his  business  affairs  requiring  him  to  pass  his  winters 
at  the  South,  prevented  him  from  taking  any  part  in  public 
affairs.  His  death  took  place  at  the  plantation  of  his  brother, 
near  Woodville,  Miss.,  November  25,  1835,  in  the  sixty-third 
year  of  his  age. 

He  became  a  member  of  the  Congregational  church  in  Brim- 
field,  of  which  Rev.  Mr.  Vaill  was  pastor.  At  the  time  of  his 
death  he  was  a  member  of  the  First  Church  in  Springfield,  then 
under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Dr.  Osgood.  He  took  an  active  in- 
terest in  the  benevolent  and  religious  enterprises  of  the  day  to 
which  he  was  a  liberal  contributor. 

The  records  show  his  presence  and  active  participation  in  busi- 
ness, as  a  member  of  important  committees,  especially  on  finan- 
cial matters,  at  all  the  meetings  of  the  Corporation  from  the 
organization  in  1825  till  his  death  in  1835,  with  a  single  excep- 
tion. In  1831  he  wrote  a  letter  tendering  his  resignation.  But 
instead  of  accepting  the  resignation,  the  Trustees  requested 


224  HISTORY  OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

President  Humphrey  to  confer  with  him  on  the  subject  and  urge 
his  continuance  in  office ;  and  at  the  next  annual  meeting  in 
1832,  we  find  him  present,  and  elected  a  member  of  the  Pru- 
dential Committee  in  the  place  of  Nathaniel  Smith,  deceased. 
The  amount  of  Mr.  Trask's  donations  to  the  College  is  un- 
known. We  find  his  name  on  the  first  subscription  paper,  that 
to  the  Charity  Fund,  for  five  hundred  dollars,  and  "  it  is  known 
that  there  was  an  outstanding  subscription  of  three  hundred 
dollars  to  the  College,  which  matured  after  his  death  in  Novem- 
ber and  was  paid  by  his  executors."  Doubtless  he  was  a  liberal 
donor  to  the  College  in  all  its  great  emergencies  during  the  first 
fifteen  years  of  its  history. 

Hon.  John  Hooker  was  the  son  of  Rev.  John  Hooker  of  North- 
ampton, the  immediate  successor  of  Jonathan  Edwards  in  the 
pastorate  of  the  church  in  that  town.  He  was  born  in  1761, 
graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1782,  and  studied  law  in  the  office 
of  Col.  John  Worthington  of  Springfield,  who  was  his  uncle, 
and  one  of  the  most  eminent  lawyers  in  this  part  of  the  State. 
After  his  admission  to  the  bar,  he  settled  in  the  practice  of  his 
profession  in  Springfield.  He  was  for  a  time  Chief  Justice  of 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  then  a  court  whose  jurisdiction 
was  limited  to  the  county  or  judicial  district.  Upon  the  di- 
vision of  the  old  County  of  Hampshire  in  1812,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Judge  of  Probate  in  the  new  County  of  Hampden,  and 
held  that  office  tiU  his  death  in  1829. 

He  was  for  many  years  one  of  the  deacons  of  the  First  Church 
in  Springfield,  and  bore  a  very  prominent  and  influential  part  in 
all  religious  and  benevolent  movements  of  the  town,  the  county 
and  the  commonwealth. l 

He  was  one  of  the  founders,  or  original  corporators  of  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions.  "  He 

O 

was  a  man  of  excellent  sense  and  great  practical  wisdom.  His 
judgment  was  greatly  confided  in  by  men  of  different  creeds 
and  different  political  parties.  He  possessed  the  most  unyield- 
ing integrity,  and  no  one  ever  thought  to  move  him  a  hair's 
breadth  from  the  line  of  his  honest  convictions."  2 

Such  members  of  the  corporation  as  Mr.  Hooker,  illustrate 

1  Hon.  Henry  Morris.  2  Memorial  Volume  of  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  p.  124. 


NEW   TRUSTEES   APPOINTED   BY   THE   LEGISLATURE.      225 

one  of  the  many  ways  in  which  Amherst  College  was  linked  in 
its  origin  to  the  cause  of  foreign  missions. 

He  was  a  constant  attendant  of  the  meetings  of  the  Board, 
and  his  wisdom,  integrity  and  weight  of  character  contributed 
an  element  of  great  value  to  the  infant  College. 

Rev.  Jonathan  Going,  D.  D.,  of  Worcester,  appears  on  the 
catalogue  of  the  College  as  Trustee  from  1823  to  1831.  But  I 
find  no  trace  of  his  presence  at  the  meetings  of  the  corporation, 
except  at  the  annual  meeting  in  1826.  And  at  the  annual  meet- 
ing in  1832,  he  resigned  his  seat  in  the*  Board.  His  biography 
is  given  in  the  sixth  volume  of  Dr.  Sprague's  Annals  of  the 
American  Pulpit. 

Rev.  Francis  Wayland,  D.  D.,  of  Providence  is  named  among 
the  corporators  in  the  charter,  being  one  of  the  new  members 
introduced  by  the  Legislature.  He  was  present  at  the'  organi- 
zation and  first  meeting  of  the  Board  under  the  charter  in  April, 
1825,  but  does  not  appear  to  have  attended  any  subsequent 
meeting  of  the  corporation,  and  at  the  annual  meeting  in  1829 
he  resigned  his  trust.  His  life  and  labors  hold  a  conspicuous 
place  in  the  history  of  education  and  religion  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  last  half  century. 

The  appointment  of  Dr.  Going  a.nd  Dr.  Wayland  seems  to 
have  been  accorded  to  the  Baptists,  in  return  for  their  sympathy 
and  support  in  obtaining  the  charter,  and  together  with  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  Baptist  Professor  about  the  same  time,  was 
doubtless  expected  to  draw  students  from  that  denomination. 
The  plan,  however,  was  not  very  successful,  and  it  was  soon  re- 
linquished. 

The  new  Trustees  introduced  in  the  Board  by  the  Legisla- 
ture in  the  act  of  incorporation,  were  Hon.  William  Gray,  Hon. 
Marcus  Morton,  Rev.  Joseph  Lyman,  D.  D.,  Hon.  Jonathan 
Leavitt,  Rev.  Alfred  Ely,  Hon.  Lewis  Strong,  Rev.  Francis  Way- 
land,  Jr.,  and  Elihu  Lyman,  Esq.1  Rev.  Alfred  Ely  continued 
a  member  of  the  corporation  till  1854,  and  his  life  will  be 
sketched  at  a  later  period  in  this  History.  We  have  already  re- 
ferred to  Rev.  Francis  Wayland  in  connection  with  Dr.  Going. 

1  The  order  of  the  names  and  titles  are  here  given  as  they  are  recorded  in  the 
charter. 

15 


226  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Hon.  William  Gray  of  Boston,  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the 
Commonwealth  in  1810  and  1811,  whose  name  appears  next 
after  that  of  President  Humphrey  in  the  act  of  incorporation, 
died  November  3,  1825,  and  never  took  his  seat  in  the  Board. 
He  was  the  only  Unitarian  among  the  new  members  of  the 
Board.  Although  he  had  never  manifested  much  interest  in  the 
College,  his  appointment,  probably,  was  not  obnoxious  to  its 
friends,  for  it  is  a  well-known  tradition  among  the  elderly  peo- 
ple of  Amherst  that  Col.  Graves  early  cherished  the  hope  not 
only  of  liberal  donation's  from  him,  but  also  of  his  conversion, 
and  employed  for  some  weeks,  if  not  months,  the  means  which 
he  deemed  suitable  to  both  these  ends  with  characteristic  zeal 
and  perseverance,  but  without  any  success.  Six  or  eight  years 
later,  S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  Esq.,  whose  connection  with  him  as  his 
business  agent  in  Europe  gave  him  access  to  Gov.  Gray,  made 
another  attempt  to  enlist  his  wealth  in  behalf  of  the  College 
with  the  same  result.  There  were  some  rather  striking  inci- 
dental circumstances  connected  with  this  last  effort,  and  the 
story  as  told  in  Mr.  Wilder's  slightly  grandiloquent  language 
is  .too  good  to  be  lost.1 

"  Being  appointed  one  of  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  College, 
President  Humphrey  and  the  Trustees  knowing  my  intimacy 

with  the  rich  merchant,  Mr. ,  and  a  new  College  being 

wanted  with  a  chapel,  the  expense  of  erecting  which  would 
amount  to  some  thirty  thousand  dollars,  and  after  in  vain  en- 
deavoring to  obtain  a  grant  from  the  State  Legislature  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, I  was  deputied  by  the  Faculty  and  Trustees  to  wait 

on  Mr. ,  and  inform  him  that  on  condition  that  he  would 

make  a  grant  to  the  College  of  thirty  thousand  dollars,  I  was 
authorized  to  assure  him  that  Amherst  College  should  assume 
his  name,  and  that  in  the  contemplated  new  College,  two  rooms 
should  be  appropriated  in  one  of  the  best  halls  of  said  building, 
and  being  completely  furnished,  would  be  set  apart  for  the  ex- 
clusive accommodation  of  one  of  his  descendants,  who  was  to 
be  furnished  with  board,  fuel,  lights,  tuition  and  clothing  from 
year  to  year  gratuitously  to  the  end  of  time.  Thus  authorized, 

1  See  Records  from  the  Life  of  S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  published  by  the  American  Tract 
Society. 


A   STKIKIXG   INCIDENT.  227 

I  went  to  Boston,  and,  as  it  happened  in  the  providence  of  God, 

I  met  Mr. on  the  Exchange,  and  was  invited  by  him, 

with  Peter  C.  Brooks,  to  dinner  the  same  day.  After  dinner, 

when  Mr.  Brooks  had  left,  finding  myself  alone  with  Mr. , 

I  unfolded  to  him  the  object  of  my  mission,  and  expatiated  on 
*the  advantages  which,  in  this  changing  world,  his  descendants 
might  derive  from  this  precautionary  investment,  whether  they 
should  ever  become  beneficiaries  or  not. 

" '  Your  descendants,  sir,'  said  I, '  hundreds  of  years  after  you 
shall  be  sleeping  in  the  dust,  will  have  the  proud  satisfaction  of 
casting  their  eyes  from  time  to  time  on  an  Institution  bearing 
the  endeared  name  of  their  munificent  ancestor ;  and  it  may 
perhaps  exert  a  salutary  influence  on  their  character  and  con- 
duct through  each  succeeding  generation.' 

" '  Ah,'  said  Mr. ,  *  a  little  vanity  in  all  this,  Mr.  Wilder  ; 

and  I  believe  my  property  must  take  its  legitimate  course,  con- 
scious that  I  shall  leave  property  sufficient  to  save  my  descend- 
ants, for  at  least  two  or  three  succeeding  generations,  from  be- 
ing under  the  necessity  of  having  recourse  to  beneficiary  aid  to 
obtain  an  education.' 

"  I  replied,  '  I  hoped  his  calculations  and  predictions  might 
prove  correct ;  but  that  such  had  been,  so  far  as  my  experience 
extended,  the  unforeseen  mutations  of  this  sublunary  world, 
that,  without  distrusting  the  goodness  of  a  benign  Providence,  I 
considered  a  prudent  foresight  in  providing  against  future  con- 
tingencies as  regards  the  welfare  of  those  whom  he  had  been 
instrumental  of  introducing  into  this  wilderness  world,  as  not 
only  commendable,  but  highly  judicious ;  and  I  hoped  that  he 
might  find  grace  to  take  this  important  matter  under  wise  con- 
sideration— that  in  pleading  this  cause  of  Amherst  College,  I 
felt  that  I  was  pleading  to  a  more  powerful  degree,  the  present, 
future  and  eternal  interests  of  his  yet  unborn  posterity.' 

"'Mr.  Wilder,'  said  he,  'my  mind  is  made  up.  It  needs  no 
further  consideration.  My  property  must  take  its  legitimate 
course.' 

"  'This,  sir,'  I  replied,  '  being  your  final  decision,  I  bid  you  a 
final  farewell.' 

"  Thus  ended  my  last  interview  with  Mr. ,  to  whose 


228  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

property  I  had  been  instrumental,  during  my  commercial  rela- 
tionship with  him,  of  adding  upwards  of  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  Years  rolled  on.  Only  seven  years  had  elapsed  after 
the  tomb  had  closed  on  the  mortal  remains  of  that  man,  whose 
mountain,  in  his  own  estimation,  seemed  to  stand  so  strong  at 
my  last  interview,  when  two  gentlemen  entered  my  office  in 
Wall  street,  and  addressing  me  said :  '  Sir,  we  believe  you  are  a 
Trustee  of  Amherst  College,  and  we  have  called  to  solicit  your 
aid  and  to  enlist  your  influence  in  admitting  as  a  beneficiary  to 

that  Institution  a  grandson  of  j^our  late  friend,  Mr. of 

Boston.'  Judge  of  my  amazement  and  of  the  conflicting  emo- 
tions which  agitated  me  on  hearing  this  announcement.  I  re- 
quested the  gentlemen  to  repeat  their  declaration,  in  order  that 
I  might  give  credence  to  the  hearing  of  my  ears.  They  then 

stated  that  the  young  man  in  question  was  the  son  of , 

who,  by  his  extravagance  and  irregularities,  spent  all  the  patri- 
mony left  him  by  his  wealthy  father ;  that  his  mother  had  died 
of  a  broken  heart,  leaving  eleven  or  twelve  children,  among 
whom  was  the  young  man  in  whose  behalf  they  now  sought  my 
patronage,  and  whose  miserable  father  was  a  mere  wreck. 

"  I  was  reluctantly  compelled  to  say  to  said  gentlemen,  that 
none  were  admitted  to  Amherst  College  as  beneficiaries  on  the 
income  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  except  pious  young  men  pre- 
paring for  the  gospel  ministry ;  and  as  this  young  man  had  not 
this  in  view,  my  intervention  arid  influence  in  his  behalf  could 
be  of  no  avail. 

"  On  these  gentlemen  retiring  from  my  office,  I  was  left  with 
a  sorrowful  heart,  reflecting  on  the  mutability  of  all  earthly  cal- 
culations, yet  consoled  with  the  cheering  thought  that  the  wise 
designs  of  God  will,  through  all,  be  accomplished. 

"  Little  did  my  venerable  friend  or  myself,  at  the  time  of  our 
last  interview,  foresee  that  ere  ten  short  years  should  have 
elapsed  my  own  personal  influence  would  be  solicited  to  obtain 
the  admission  of  one  of  his  grandsons  into  that  very  Institution 
whose  interests  I  was  then  advocating  by  endeavoring,  though 
in  vain,  to  induce  this  man  of  wealth  to  aid  in  its  endowment, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  secure  to  one  of  his  descendants  a  colle- 
giate education  down  to  the  end  of  time." 


GOVERNOR   MORTON.  229 

Hon.  Marcus  Morton  of  Tauntou,  whose  name  immediately 
follows  that  of  Hon.  William  Gray  in  the  charter,  and  whose 
signature  is  attached  to  the  charter  as  acting  Governor,  is 
continued  on  the  catalogue  till  1837,  when  his  name  is  dropped, 
and  the  following  note  is  found  on  the  records  of  the  corpo- 
*  ration :  "  Voted,  that  Hon.  Marcus  Morton,  having  never  at- 
tended a  meeting  of  this  Board  and  having  never  rendered 
any  excuse  therefor,  has  by  such  absence  vacated  his  seat  at 
this  Board,  and  the  same  is  hereby  declared  to  be  vacated." 
Mr.  Morton  had  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  best  Judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court ;  and  the  fact  that  he  was  for  many  years 
the  only  Orthodox  judge  on  that  bench,  together  with  the  fact 
that  he  was  the  only  Democratic  Governor  that  the  old  Bay 
State  has  had  for  almost  half  a  century,  and  that  he  was  elected 
to  this  office  by  a  majority  of  one  vote,  these  facts  have  given 
him  a  rare  notoriety  in  the  civil  and  religious  history  of  Massa- 
chusetts. 

Rev.  Joseph  Lyman,  D.  D.,  of  Hatfield,  was  made  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  by  the  Legislature  in  the  act  of  in- 
corporation, and  his  name  appears  on  the  catalogue  from  that 
time  till  the  date  of  his  death,  that  is,  from  1825  to  1828.  But 
he  seems  never  to  have  attended  the  meetings  of  the  Board,  nor 
to  have  taken  an  active  part  in  promoting  the  prosperity  of  the 
College.  This  is  sufficiently  explained,  however,  by  the  fact, 
that  he  was  laid  aside  from  all  active  effort  for  the  last  two 
years  of  his  life  by  the  cancerous  humor  which  caused  his  death. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  Dr.  Lyman  was  the  President  of  the 
Convention  in  1818,  which  ratified  the  establishment  of  the 
Collegiate  Institution  at  Amherst,  although  he  was  himself  in 
favor  of  its  location  at  Northampton.  Born  in  Lebanon,  Conn., 
in  1749,  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1767,  Tutor  there  in 
1770-71,  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  church  in  Hat- 
field  in  1772,  and  continuing  in  that  relation,  (with  a  colleague 
during  his  last  two  years)  until  his  death  in  1828,  Dr.  Lyman 
was  a  leader  in  the  ecclesiastical,  and  scarcely  less  in  the  politi- 
cal affairs  of  Massachusetts.  He  was  an  original  member  of  the 
American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  and  in 
1823,  and  several  subsequent  years,  he  was  its  President.  "  He 


230  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

had  qualities  that  would  have  graced  the  head  of  a  nation,  and 
especially  the  head  of  an  army."  1 

Hon.  Jonathan  Leavitt  was  a  native  of  "Walpole,  N.  H.  He 
was  born  February  27,  1764.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  Col- 
lege in  the  Class  of  1785.  Having  studied  law  with  Judge 
Chauncy  of  New  Haven,  and  then  with  Judge  -Ellsworth  of 
Windsor,  Conn.,  to  whom  he  was  related,  he  commenced  the 
practice  of  his  profession  in  Greenfield,  where  he  spent  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life.  He  was  an  active  member  of  the  Congrega- 
tional church  in  Greenfield,  and  a  zealous  defender  of  the  evan- 
gelical faith  with  his  pen  as  well  as  by  his  tongue  and  his  per- 
sonal influence.  His  "  Letter  from  a  Trinitarian  to  a  Unitarian," 
and  his  "  Gospel  Message,"  were  circulated  as  tracts  through 
the  community.  Prevented  by  feeble  health  from  attending 
many  meetings  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  he  resigned  his  trust 
in  1829,  and  died  on  the  1st  of  May,  1830. 

Hon.  Lewis  Strong  was  the  son  of  Caleb  Strong  of  North- 
ampton, who  was  Governor  of  Massachusetts  from  1800  to  1807, 
and  again  from  1812  to  1815.  His  mother  was  the  daughter  of 
Rev.  John  Hooker  of  Northampton,  and  sister  of  Hon.  John 
Hooker  of  Springfield.  He  was  born  in  Northampton  June  9, 
1785,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1803,  in  the  same 
class  with  Prof.  Farrar,  Dr.  Payson  of  Portland,  and  Dr.  "Wil- 
lard  of  Deerfield.  He  studied  law  with  his  uncle,  Judge 
Hooker  of  Springfield,  and  continued  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession in  Northampton  for  some  thirty  years,  but  relinquished 
it  about  twenty-five  years  before  his  death  on  account  of  severe 
suffering  from  asthma.  Chief  Justice  Parsons  said  of  him,"  he 
is  the  strongest  lawyer  in  all  the  western  counties,"  and  Hon. 
Isaac  C.  Bates  remarked  that  he  "  wished  he  had  Mr.  Strong's 
head  on  his  shoulders." 

In  1812,  Mr.  Strong  became  a  member  of  the  church  in 
Northampton,  of  which,  in  1661,  his  ancestor,  Elder  John 
Strong,  was  one  of  the  seven  founders.  He  was  elected  deacon 
of  the  First  Church  in  1831,  and  resigned  the  office  in  1858, 
when  he  removed  his  connection  to  the  Edwards  Church.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  church  for  more  than  half  a  century. 

1  Memorial  Volume  of  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.     See  also  Sprague's  Annals. 


HON.    LEWIS   STRONG.  231 

Though  one  of  the  most  able  and  influential  men  of  the 
county  in  all  public  affairs,  he  shrunk  from  official  position. 
Once  only  did  he  represent  his  county  in  the  Senate  of  Massa- 
chusetts ;  once  he  delivered  an  oration  in  Northampton  on  the 
anniversary  of  the  nation's  independence. 

Present  at  the  organization  of  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  Col- 
lege in  1825,  he  attended  every  meeting  of  the  Board,  annual 
or  special,  till  his  resignation  in  1833.  During  all  this  period 
he  was  also  a  member  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  whose 
duties  must  have  occupied  much  of  his  time,  and  he  was  con- 
tinually placed  on  the  most  responsible  committees  that  were 
raised  from  year  to  year,  such  as  those  on  by-laws  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  College,  rules  for  the  action  of  the  Board,  re- 
vising the  College  laws,  providing  additional  edifices,  petition- 
ing the  Legislature  for  pecuniary  aid,  etc.  After  eight  years  of 
arduous  and  faithful  service  he  resigned  his  trust,  and  the  fol- 
lowing vote  of  thanks  was  entered  on  the  records:  "  Resolved 
that  the  thanks  of  this  Board  be  presented  to  the  Hon.  Lewis 
Strong  for  his  long  and  faithful  services  in  behalf  of  the  Col- 
lege, and  for  the  efficient  aid  he  has  rendered  it  in  times  of  its 
embarrassment  and  distress." 

Few  have  realized  more  fully  the  ideal  of  an  upright,  accom- 
plished, Christian  gentleman,  lawyer,  trustee,  citizen,  neighbor, 
and  friend,  than  Hon.  Lewis  Strong  of  Northampton.  He  died 
on  Saturday,  October  25,  1863,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight, 
universally  honored  and  lamented. 

Hon.  Elihu  Lyman  of  Enfield,  was  born  at  Northfield,  Sep- 
tember 25, 1782,  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1803,  com- 
menced the  practice  of  law  in  Greenfield  in  1807,  was  High 
Sheriff  of  Franklin  County  from  1811  to  1815,  and  in  1826  a 
member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate.  He  died  in  Boston  while 
the  Legislature  was  in  session,  February  11, 1826,  aged  forty- 
three. 

He  was  present  at  the  organization  of  the  Board,  and  at  its 
first  annual  meeting,  at  both  which  sessions  he  was  placed  on 
important  committees.  He  died  before  the  second  annual  meet- 
ing. A  gentleman  of  high  standing,  fine  person,  courtly  man- 
ner, and  varied  experience  in  public  affairs,  he  was  much  la- 


232  HISTORY    OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

mented  by  the  friends  of  the  College  and  by  the  community. 
He  was  a  member  of  Rev.  Mr.  Crosby's  church  in  Enfield  at 
the  time  of  his  death. 

According  to  the  charter  the  first  five  vacancies  that  should 
occur  in  the  Board  of  Trustees,  were  to  be  filled  by  the  Legis- 
lature. The  first  five  appointments  under  the  charter  were 
Hon.  Samuel  C.  Allen,  Hon.  James  Fowler,  Hon.  Samuel  Howe, 
Hon.  Levi  Lincoln,  and  Nathaniel  Smith,  Esq.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  Esq.  Smith,  they  were  all  Unitarians. 

The  name  of  Mr.  Lincoln  appears  on  the  catalogue  only  one 
year,  1828—9,  and  the  only  reference  to  him  on  the  records  of 
the  corporation  is  a  letter  of  apology  for  not  attending  the  an- 
nual meeting  of  the  Board  at  the  Commencement  in  1828.  He 
was,  however,  a  friend  of  the  College,  and  when  he  was  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Commonwealth  in  1830,  he  gave  Prof.  Hitchcock 
the  appointment  of  State  Geologist  of  Massachusetts. 

Hon.  Samuel  Howe  was  present  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Board  at  the  Commencement  of  1826,  and  also  at  the  special 
meeting  in  December  of  the  same  year,  and  at  the  former  he 
was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Prudential  Committee  for  the  year, 
and  also  placed  on  several  special  committees,  to  whom  some 
of  the  most  important  matters  were  referred ;  among  the  rest, 
that  of  the  Parallel  Course  of  Study  recommended  by  the  Fac- 
ulty. After  1826,  his  name  disappears  from  the  records.  Judge 
Howe  was  born  in  Belchertown,  June  20,  1785,  and  gradu- 
ated at  Williams  College  in  1804.  In  1822  he  was  appointed 
Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  which  office  he  held  till 
his  death.  He  died  in  Boston  in  1828,  at  the  age  of  forty-two. 
During  his  trusteeship  and  the  greater  part  of  his  judgeship, 
he  was  also  Professor  or  teacher  in  the  Law  School  at  North- 
ampton. 

Hon.  James  Fowler  was  a  member  of  the  corporation  twelve 
years,  being  chosen  by  the  Legislature  in  1826,  and  resigning 
his  trust  in  1838.  He  was  born  January  4,  1789  ;  was  a  grad- 
uate of  Yale  College  in  the  Class  of  1807 ;  studied  law  under 
Judge  Reeves  at  Litchfield  one  year,  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1810,  but  never  practiced  the  profession,  having  devoted 
himself  from  choice  rather  to  agricultural  pursuits.  Mr.  Fowler 


HON.    SAMUEL   C.   ALLEN.  233 

served  the  Commonwealth  for  many  years  in  both  branches  of 
the  Legislature  and  in  the  Governor's  Council,  being  a  member 
of  one  or  the  other  of  these  bodies  eveiy  year  from  1820  to 
1830.  At  the  age  of  more  than  fourscore  years,  he  is  still  liv- 
ing at  Westfield,  and  enjoying  in  a  high  degree  the  respect  of 
the  community  as  a  man  of  honor,  integrity,  public  spirit  and 
"•philanthropy.  His  relations  to  the  Trustees  were  always  mutu- 
ally pleasant,  and  he  doubtless  contributed  by  his  practical  wis- 
dom and  weight  of  character  to  the  strength  and  efficiency  of 
the  Board. 

Hon.  Samuel  C.  Allen  of  Northfield,  was  born  in  1772,  and  a 
graduate  of  Dartmouth  College  in  the  Class  of  1794.  He  com  - 
menced  his  public  life  as  a  minister  in  Northfield  in  1795,  but 
soon  withdrew  from  that  profession  and  engaged  in  the  study 
and  then  in  the  pratice  of  law.  He  was  a  member  of  Con- 
gress twelve  years,  from  1817  to  1829.  On  the  7th  of  February, 
1826,  he  was  chosen  a  Trustee  of  Amherst  College  by  the  Leg- 
islature to  fill  one  of  the  first  vacancies  that  occurred  in  the 
corporation  and  continued  a  member  until  his  death.  He  died 
at  Northfield,  February  8,  1842,  at  the  age  of  seventy. 

In  1833  he  delivered  a  course  of  lectures  on  Political  Econ- 
omy to  the  Senior  class  for  which  he  received  the  thanks  of  the 
Board.  He  manifested  a  good  degree  of  interest  in  the  College 
and  rendered  faithful  and  valuable  service  to  it  for  sixteen  years. 
The  contrast  between  his  feelings  and  relation  to  the  Institution 
and  those  of  the  representative  of  Northfield  in  the  General 
Court  who  was  one  of  the  most  violent  opponents  of  the  charter 
in  1825,1  marks  the  change  in  public  sentiment,  especially  in  the 
denomination  to  which  both  of  them  belonged. 

Hon.  Samuel  Lathrop  of  West  Springfield  was  a  member  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees  eleven  years,  having  been  chosen  by  the 
Legislature  in  1829,  and  resigned  his  trust  in  1840.  He  was 
born  in  West  Springfield  on  the  1st  of  May,  1772,  and  was  a 
graduate  of  Yale  College  in  the  Class  of  1792.  For  eight  years 
following  December,  1819,  he  was  a  member  of  Congress.  He 
was  subsequently  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate.  Dur- 
ing several  of  his  last  years,  he  was  afflicted  with  bodily  infirm- 

1  Rev.  Mr.  Mason,  see  p.  143. 


234  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ity  which  obliged  him  to  withdraw  altogether  from  public  life 
and  from  professional  service.  He  had  a  large  frame,  command- 
ing appearance  and  dignified  manners,  and  was  highly  esteemed 
in  all  his  public  and  private  relations.  He  was  for  many  years  a 
member  of  the  church  in  West  Springfield  of  which  his  highly- 
honored  father,  the  venerable  Dr.  Joseph  Lathrop,  and  his  son- 
in-law,  Rev.  Dr.  Sprague  now  of  Albany,  were  pastors,  and 
exerted  a  controlling  influence  in  the  parish.  He  died  on  the 
llth  of  July,  1846,  in  the  seventy-fifth  year  of  his  age.1 

During  the  period  now  under  review,  (the  first  half  of  Presi- 
dent Humphrey's  administration,)  four  Professors,  viz.,  Messrs. 
Worcester,  Hovey,  Peck  and  Park,  terminated  their  connection 
with  the  College,  and  all  by  resignation,  for  the  purpose  of  en- 
tering other  spheres  of  usefulness. 

Samuel  Melancthon  Worcester  was  the  son  of  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel 
Worcester,  the  first  Secretary  of  the  American  Board.  He  was 
born  in  Fitchburg,  September  4,  1801,  but  while  yet  an  infant 
removed  to  Salem  with  his  father  who  was  settled  there  as  pas- 
tor of  the  Tabernacle  Church,  April  20,  1803.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  in  1818,  and  a  graduate  of 
Harvard  College  in  the  Class  of  '22,  delivering  an  English 
oration  at  Commencement.  In  the  autumn  of  1822  he  became 
a  member  of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover  and  there 
first  made  a  public  profession  of  religion.  In  September,  1823, 
he  entered  upon  the  duties  of  an  assistant  teacher  in  Phillips 
Academy,  but  after  two  weeks'  service  received  and  accepted 
the  appointment  to  a  tutorship  in  the  Collegiate  Institution  at 
Amherst.  In  August,  1824,  he  was  appointed  teacher  of  Lan- 
guages and  Librarian,  and  in  the  spring  of  1825,  at  the  organiza- 
tion under  the  charter,  he  was  chosen  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and 
Oratory  in  Amherst  College.  In  August  of  the  same  year,  he 
was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Hampshire  Association.  In  De- 
cember, 1827,  in  company  with  Tutor  Bela  B.  Edwards,  he 
undertook  the  editorial  charge  of  the  New  England  Enquirer  — 
a  newspaper  enterprise  in  Amherst  which  sprung  up  about  the 

1  Mr.  Lathrop  is  put  down  on  the  Triennial  as  retiring  from  his  trust  in  1834. 
He  seems  never  to  have  been  present  after  that  date.  But  he  did  not  resign  his 
trust  till  1840. 


PROFESSOR    WORCESTER.  235 

same  time  with  "  the  Parallel  Course,"  and  even  more  short-lived 
than  that  experiment.  "  In  May  following,"  says  Mr.  Worces- 
ter, "  the  whole  burden  came  upon  me,  and  was  sustained 
until  December,  1828,  when  the  paper  expired,  much  to  my  sat- 
isfaction. During  most  of  my  editorship  I  preached  regularly 
every  Sabbath,  at  Granby." 

A  law  having  passed  the  Legislature  subjecting  students  to 
taxation,  in  the  spring  of  1829  the  members  of  College  saw  fit 
to  use  the  co-ordinate  right  of  suffrage,  and  with  the  help  of 
the  better  part  of  the  citizens,  elected  Prof.  Worcester  a  mem- 
ber of  the  House  of  Representatives.  Those  who  were  stu- 
dents at  that  time  can  not  but  remember  Avith  lively  interest, 
the  exciting  scenes  of  this  and  a  few  subsequent  elections, 
especially  those  held  in  East  street,  in  which  they  marched  to 
the  polls  in  battle  array,  and  holding  the  balance  of  power,  chose 
whom  they  would  for  town  officers.  But  the  excitement  and 
strife  of  such  elections,  together  with  the  difficulty  of  collect- 
ing taxes  of  the  students  who  came  off  victorious  in  many  a 
ludicrous  skirmish  with  the  tax-gatherer,  soon  led  to  a  repeal  of 
the  law.  While  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  our  Professor  of 
Rhetoric  found  a  congenial  and  worthy  theme  for  his  eloquence 
in  defending  with  his  tongue  and  his  pen  the  cause  of  the  Chero- 
kees  against  the  Georgians. 

In  the  spring  of  1831,  the  officers  and  students  were  called 
to  s}rmpathize  with  the  Professor  in  the  loss  of  his  only  son,  a 
child  of  rare  promise,  bearing  his  own  name  and  then  almost 
five  years  of  age,  whose  remains  they  followed  as  sincere 
mourners  to  the  grave. 

On  the  4th  of  January,  1832,  Prof.  Worcester  was  ordained  as 
an  Evangelist,  with  particular  reference  to  the  wants  of  the 
people  at  Hadley  Mills,  (now  North  Hadley,)  where  he  preached 
regularly  from  April,  1830,  to  March,  1833,  and  where  his  labors 
were  blessed  with  a  revival  of  religion  and  considerable  addi- 
tions to  that  then  infant  church. 

Mr.  Worcester  was  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory  in  Am- 
herst  College  nine  years  from  1825  to  1834,  and  pastor  of  the 
Tabernacle  Church  in  Salem  from  1834  to  1860,  thus  occupying 
the  pulpit  of  his  honored  father  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 


236  HISTORY   OF    AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

century.  Dismissed  from  his  pastoral  charge  in  January,  1860,  in 
consequence  of  ill  health,  but  recovering  his  health  by  rest,  he 
continued  to  preach  most  of  the  time  in  different  places,  and 
the  last  two  years  of  his  life  he  was  a  member  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, first  a  member  of  the  Senate  from  Essex  County,  and  then 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  from  the  cit}^  of  Salem.  He 
died  in  Salem,  August  16,  1866,  aged  sixty-five. 

Prof.  Worcester  was  a  man  of  indefatigable  industry,  un- 
wearied patience  and  conscientious  devotion  to  his  calling.  He 
spared  no  pains  in  the  improvement  of  his  own  mind  and  resour- 
ces, none  in  guiding  and  assisting  the  students,  whether  in  gen- 
eral culture  or  in  the  studies  of  his  department.  A  remarkably 
retentive  memory,  and  pretty  extensive  reading,  made  him  a 
full  man.  Nature  and  art  conspired  to  make  him  a  ready  and 
fluent  man.  By  precept  and  by  example,  in  the  lecture-room 
and  in  the  pulpit,  and,  as  occasion  offered,  on  the  platform,  he 
magnified  his  office  as  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory.  He 
criticised  wisely,  patiently  and  faithfully  the  compositions  and 
declamations  of  us  students,  and  we  students,  in  turn,  criticised 
his  public  performances  and  laughed  at,  perhaps- mimicked  his 
personal  peculiarities.  He  had  a  habit  of  twisting  his  whiskers 
between  his  fingers  and  at  the  same  time  exhaling  his  breath  in 
a  kind  of  explosive  puff  which  none  of  his  pupils  will  ever  for- 
get. But  deeper  far  in  the  memory  of  their  hearts  they  can  not 
but  cherish  the  remembrance  of  his  kindness  and  faithfulness  as 
an  instructor,  the  wisdom  and  eloquence  of  his  lectures,  espe- 
cially those  on  English  and  American  Orators,  and  the  sin- 
cerity and  earnestness  of  his  discourses  from  the  pulpit  and  of 
his  exhortations  as  one  of  their  religious  teachers. 

Mr.  Worcester  was  a  learned  and  able  Professor,  but  he  was 
still  better  adapted  and  qualified  for  the  work  to  which  his  heart 
also  inclined,  that  of  the  ministry.  And  in  that  work  while  he 
was  always  an  acceptable  and  edifying,  and  sometimes  an  inspir- 
ing preacher,  yet  his  great  strength  lay,  perhaps,  in  his  charac- 
ter and  influence,  his  life  and  labors  as  a  pastor,  by  which  he 
left  his  impress  broad  and  deep  and  luminous  on  every  family 
and  every  individual  in  his  great  congregation.  At  the  time  of 
his  death,  he  was  in  the  public  service  as  a  member  of  the  Mas- 


PROFESSOR   HOVEY.  237 

sachusetts  Legislature,  of  which  he  was  the  oldest  member; 
and  the  freshest  recollection,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  sacred 
which  he  left  upon  the  hearts  of  his  acquaintances  and  friends, 
was  that  of  his  wise,  firm,  patriotic  and  Christian  devotion  to 
the  country  during  those  last  five  or  six  years  of  his  life,  in 
which  Tier  life  was  in  imminent  peril. 

Sylvester  Hovey  was  the  son  of  Sylvester  Hovey,  Esq.,  of 
Mansfield,  Conn.  His  mother  was  the  daughter  of  Rev.  John 
Storrs  of  Southold,  L.  I.,  and  after  the  death  of  her  first  hus- 
band, became  the  wife  of  Dea.  Elisha  Billings  of  Conway.  Mr. 
Hovey  was  born  at  Mansfield,  June  17,  1797.  He  was  a  grad- 
uate of  Yale  College  of  the  Class  of  '19,  and  a  Tutor  there  for 
four  years.  On  the  expiration  of  his  tutorship,  he  took  charge 
of  the  department  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory  another  year  dur- 
ing the  absence  of  Prof.  Goodrich  in  Europe.  From-  1827  to 
1829,  he  was  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy 
in  Williams  College,  and  held  the  same  office  in  Amherst  Col- 
lege from  1829  to  1833.  In  1831,  he  left  his  department  in  the 
hands  of  Prof.  Snell,  and  for  the  purpose  of  health  and  general 
improvement  made  the  tour  of  Europe.  He  spent  a  year  and 
a  half  abroad,  passing  portions  of  the  time  in  Italy,  Germany, 
England,  and  the  last  half  year  in  Paris,  where  he  listened  to 
the  courses  of  lectures  on  Natural  Philosophy  and  Astronomy 
by  M.  Arago,  in  the  Royal  Observatory  of  France.  Con- 
strained by  feeble  health  to  relinquish  his  professorship,  he  re- 
tired to  Hartford,  Conn.,  where  he  died,  May  6,  1840.  "  Prof. 
Hovey  was  marked  for  the  symmetry  and  beauty  of  his  mental 
development  and  culture.  As  a  scholar  he  was  accurate  and 
profound.  He  received  the  first  appointment  on  his  graduation  at 
Yale,  and  never  ceased  to  cultivate  and  enrich  his  own  mind  while 
in  subsequent  years  he  devoted  himself  to  the  education  of  others. 
His  attainments  were  varied,  but  peculiarly  extensive  in  the 
departments  of  Natural  Philosophy  and  Mathematical  Science. 
At  the  same  time,  his  mind  was  highly  enriched  and  polished 
by  the  pursuits  of  elegant  literature.  In  his  rambles  for  health 
he  became  also  a  student  of  nature.  The  number  and  beauty 
of  the  specimens  in  his  private  cabinet  of  shells  which  he  col- 
lected during  a  two  winters'  residence  in  the  West  India  Islands, 


238  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

in  search  of  health,  and  which  he  bequeathed  to  the  College,  bear 
ample  testimony  to  the  industry,  zeal  and  success  with  which 
he  devoted  himself  to  such  pursuits."  l  With  more  physical 
stamina,  Prof.  Hovey  would  have  adorned  almost  any  professor- 
ship. Before  leaving  Williams,  he  was  invited  to  the  presi- 
dency of  Western  Reserve  College ;  as  he  tendered  his  resigna- 
tion, President  Griffin  and  some  of  the  Trustees,  with  tears, 
assured  him  that  if  he  had  remained,  it  was  their  intention  that 
he  should  be  President  of  Williams  College.  But  feeble  health 
compelled  him  to  be  absent  much  of  the  time  while  he  was  nom- 
inally connected  with  Amherst;  and  the  most  vivid  remembrance 
which  his  pupils  associate  with  him,  is  his  suffering  and  theirs, 
while,  with  trembling  hands  and  throbbing  nerves,  he  attempted 
an  unsuccessful  experiment  with  some  delicate  piece  of  appa- 
ratus. Curiously  enough  during  all  this  time,  and  for  a  year  or 
two  after  Prof.  Hovey's  resignation,  the  Trustees  were  afraid  to 
commit  the  department  to  one  who  has  proved  on  trial  the  most 
successful  experimenter  and  the  most  lucid  and  methodical 
teacher  in  that  department  that  Amherst  or  perhaps  any  other 
College  ever  had.  While  traveling  and  resting  in  Europe  for 
his  health,  in  1832,  Prof.  Hovey  rendered  a  valuable  incidental 
service  to  the  College  by  his  judicious  purchase  of  some  eight 
thousand  dollars'  worth  of  books  and  philosophical  and  chemical 
apparatus,  which  quite  dazzled  the  eyes  of  officers  and  students, 
and  almost  constituted  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the  Institu- 
tion. The  collections  of  shells  and  minerals  which  he  made  in 
the  West  Indies,  and  which  he 'bequeathed  to  the  College,  con- 
stituted a  scarcely  less  important  addition  to  the  Cabinets  of 
Mineralogy  and  Conchology. 

Professors  Peck  and  Park  are  still  living,  and  others  must 
write  their  history. 

Rev.  Solomon  Peck  was  Professor  of  Latin  and  Hebrew  from 
the  reorganization  of  the  Faculty  in  1825  till  1832.  The  writer 
well  remembers  his  tall  and  erect  form,  his  dignified  and  cour- 
teous manner,  his  half-hour  recitations  and  elegant  translations  of 
passages  in  the  Latin  Classics,  and  the  chaste,  classical  style  of 
his  sermons  as  he  took  his  turn  with  the  President  and  the  other 

i  Rev.  E.  Russell,  D.  D. 


PEOFESSOR   PARK.  239 

Professors  in  the  College  pulpit.  Others  will  remember,  per- 
haps, still  more  vividly  the  nice  balance  of  duty  to  his  Congre- 
gational wife  and  his  Baptist  conscience  with  which  he  waited 
without  to  accompany  her  home  after  the  communion,  and  the 
zeal  and  success  with  which  he  labored  to  build  up  the  Baptist 
%church  in  Amherst,  of  which  he  was  the  founder.  After  leav- 
ing Amherst,  he  was,  for  a  short  time,  Professor  in  Brown  Uni- 
versity, and  then  for  many  years  the  able  and  faithful  Secretary 
of  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union. 

Rev.  Edwards  A.  Park,  then  colleague  pastor  with  Rev.  Dr. 
Storrs  in  Braintree,  was  elected  "  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy 
and  Hebrew  Literature,  with  a  salary  of  eight  hundred  dollars," 
at  an  adjourned  meeting  of  the  corporation,  "  convened  at  the 
house  of  Elijah  Boltwood  in  Amherst,  on  Tuesday,  the  loth  of 
October,  A.  D.  1833."  The  state  of  his  eyes,  however,  forbade 
his  entering  upon  the  duties  of  the  office  for  nearly  two  years. 
In  the  summer  of  1835,  in  the  absence  of  President  Humphrey 
on  a  foreign  tour,  he  commenced^  his  labor,  as  Professor  of  In- 
tellectual and  Moral  Philosophy,  the  title  and  the  work  of  his 
professorship  having  been  changed  to  suit  the  Professor  and  at 
the  same  time  to  meet  the  existing  wants  of  the  College.  In 
the  summer  of  1836  he  accepted  a  professorship  in  the  Theolog- 
ical Seminary  at  Andover,  and  at  the  commencement  of  that 
year  he  terminated  his  connection  with  the  College,  after  a 
service  of  one  year  and  one  term.  During  this  period  he  in- 
structed the  Senior  class  in  Intellectual  and  Moral  Philosophy, 
Butler's  Analogy  and  Political  Economy,  and  the  Junior  class 
once  a  week  in  the  Biblical  Exercise.  He  also  taught  the 
Seniors  Rhetoric  until  Prof.  Condit  entered  upon  the  duties 
of  his  office  in  the  fall  of  1835.  Readers  of  this  History  need 
not  be  told  that  during  this  brief  period  the  students  of 
Amherst  were  charmed  by  the  same  genius  and  eloquence 
which  have  since  made  Prof.  Park  the  most  inspiring  and 
fascinating  of  teachers  to  so  many  classes  at  Andover,  and 
"the  Judas  sermon"  and  "the  Peter  sermon"  were  then 
heard  in  the  College  chapel  and  the  neighboring  churches 
with  perhaps  even  greater  wonder  and  delight  than  have  been 
excited  by  the  ordination,  convention,  and  other  occasional  ser- 


240  HISTORY   OF    AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

mons  which  have  since  been  delivered  from  so  many  of  the 
pulpits  of  New  England. 

The  year  1835  was  marked  by  the  resignation  and  retirement 
from  the  active  service  of  the  College  of  one  who  had  been  its 
Treasurer  and  to  a  great  extent  its  Collector  from  the  beginning, 
and  whom  all  the  students  of  this  first  decade  and  a  half  will 
associate  with  the  thrice-yearly  payment  of  their  College  bills, l 
Hon.  John  Leland,  who  was  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  most 
faithful  friends  and  benefactors  of  the  Institution.  He  was  born 
in  Peru,  Mass.,  in  1807,  and  was  the  son  of  Rev.  John  Leland 
of  that  place,  one  of  those  wise,  devoted  and  useful  ministers 
so  common  then  in  country  parishes,  and  especially  in  our  hill 
towns,  who  were  passing  rich  on  two  hundred  dollars  a  year, 
and  who  enriched  their  parishes  and  their  families  temporally 
and  spiritually  by  their  wisdom,  virtue  and  piety.  In  1820  Mr. 
Leland  removed  from  Peru  to  Amherst,  and  at  their  meeting  in 
November  of  that  year  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy  ap- 
pointed him  "  their  agent  to  receive  all  donations  made  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Charity  Institution  other  than  those  made  to  the 
permanent  fund."  From  that  time  till  1826  he  was  the  Treas- 
urer of  the  Institution,  while  Col.  Graves  was  the  Financier,  as 
he  was  then  called,  who  had  the  charge  of  the  Charity  Fund. 
From  1826  till  1833  he  was  both  Treasurer  and  Financier.  In 
1833  the  Trustees  separated  the  two  offices,  and  chose  Lucius 
Boltwood  Financier,  while  they  re-elected  John  Leland  Treas- 
urer. This  place  he  continued  to  hold  till  the  Commencement 
of  1835,  when  he  resigned  his  office.  On  accepting  the  resigna- 
tion the  Trustees  voted  "that  the  thanks  of  the  Board  be  pre- 
sented to  the  Hon.  John  Leland  for  his  long  and  faithful  service 
as  Treasurer,  and  for  the  lively  interest  which  he  has  ever  taken 
in  the  prosperity  of  this  Institution." 

Soon  after  his  resignation  Mr.  Leland  removed  to  Roxbury. 
He  remained  there,  however,  only  a  few  years,  and  then  returned 
to  spend  the  remainder  of  his  days  under  the  shadow  of  the 
College,  to  the  planting  and  nourishing  of  which  he  had  devoted 
the  better  portion  of  his  active  life.  He  early  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  church,  and  was  a  deacon  of  the  village  church  in 

1  Hence  familiarly  known  among  the  students  as  "  Deacon  Term-bill." 


HON.   JOHN  LELAND.  241 

Amherst  fifteen  years  before  his  removal  to  Roxbury,  'and  fifteen 
3rears  after  his  return.1  He  was  a  Senator  from  the  county  of 
Hampshire  in  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  for  the  years 
1833  and  1834,  and  a  Representative  from  the  town  of  Amherst 
in  1847. 

:  Chosen  Treasurer  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  Trustees  for  or- 
ganization under  the  charter,  he  was  at  the  same  time  chosen 
agent  to  collect  the  thirty  thousand  dollar  subscription.  How 
much  labor  and  vexation  this  must  have  cost  him",  the  reader  can 
form  some  conception  by  inspecting  any  page  of  his  books,  a 
specimen  of  which  may  be  seen  in  the  Appendix.  The  small 
sums  of  which  much  of  it  was  made  up  by  contributions  from 
cent  and  mite  societies  of  women  and  children,  was  a  fruitful 
theme  of  ridicule  in  the  Legislature.  Till  1829  he  was  not  only 
Treasurer  and  Financier  but  also  a  member  of  the  Prudential 
Committee,  inspector  of  buildings,  grounds  and  repairs,  the 
working  member  of  building  committees,  and  in  fact,  general 
agent  in  all  the  fiscal  and  out-door  concerns  of  the  College. 
His  salary  as  Treasurer  was  never  more  than  three  hundred  dol- 
lars. As  Financier  he  received  an  addition  of  only  two  hundred 
dollars.  At  the  same  time  he  was  continually  making  himself 
personally  responsible  for  borrowed  money  to  large  amounts. 
"I  am  assured,"  says  Dr.  Hitchcock,  "that  during  most  of  his 
term  of  office  he  was  holden  to  creditors  for  College  debts  to  an 
amount  sometimes  nearly  equal  to  his  whole  property."2  Be- 
sides thus  almost  giving  his  time,  toil  and  credit  to  the  College 
for  fifteen  years,  he  gave  it  more  money  than  has  been  given  by 
any  other  person  resident  in  Amherst.3  Dea.  Leland  deserves  a 
high  place  among  the  faithful  servants  and  generous  benefactors 
of  Amherst  College.  He  died  in  Amherst,  February  18,  1864, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-one. 

1  Chosen  May  5,  1820 ;  re-elected  June  29,  1838,  and  resigned  on  account  of  old 
age,  May  24,  1853. 

2  Reminiscences  of  Amherst  College,  p.  8. 

8  He  was  one  of  the  seven  signers  of  the  bond  for  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  to 
make  up  the  deficit  of  the  charity  fund,  and  he  subscribed  one  thousand  dollars  on 
the  paper  which  completed  the  fund  and  released  the  bond-holders. 
16 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

PERIOD  OF  'REACTION  AND  DECLINE — RESIGNATION  OF 
PRESIDENT  HUMPHREY. 

THE  largest  aggregate  number  of  students  that  Amherst  Col- 
lege enrolled  on  its  catalogue  at  any  time  previous  to  1870-71, 
was  in  the  collegiate  year  1836-7,  when  the  number  was  two 
hundred  and  fifty-nine.  The  next  year,  1837-8,  it  had  fallen  to 
two  hundred  and  six,  and  it  continued  to  decrease  regularly  till 
in  1845-6,  it  was  reduced  to  one  hundred  and  eighteen,  less  than 
half  the  number  nine  years  before. 

The  number  entering  College  began  to  diminish  some  three 
years  earlier.  The  largest  number  of  students  ever  admitted  to 
the  College  was  in  1833-4,  when  there  were  eighty-five  Fresh- 
men, and  the  whole  number  of  admissions  was  one  hundred  and 
six.  The  next  year,  1834-5,  there  were  seventy  Freshmen,  and 
the  whole  number  of  admissions  was  ninety-nine.  From  this 
time,  the  number  entering  College  continued  to  decrease,  till  in 
1843-4,  the  Freshmen  numbered  only  thirty-two,  and  the  whole 
number  of  new  members  was  only  forty-two. 

Some  of  the  causes  which  produced  this  remarkable  decline, 
are  sufficiently  obvious.  In  the  first  place  it  was  doubtless  to 
some  extent  a  natural  reaction  from  the  equally  remarkable  and 
almost  equally  rapid  increase  of  numbers  in  the  previous  his- 
tory of  the  College.  As  the  tide  of  prosperity  had  risen  very 
fast  and  high,  so  it  sank  with  corresponding  rapidity  to  a  pro- 
portionally low  ebb.  The  growth  had  been  unprecedented, 
abnormal  and  not  altogether  healthy.  The  causes  which  pro- 
duced it,  were  in  part  temporary,  and  so  far  forth  the  effect 
could  not  be  enduring.  These  causes  had  not  indeed  ceased  to 
operate,  but  they  had  lost  in  a  measure  their  pristine  power. 


CAUSES   OF   DECLINE.  243 

The  first  alarm,  excited  by  the  defection  of  Harvard  College, 
and  the  churches  in  that  section,  had  in  a  measure  subsided. 
Zeal  for  Orthodoxy  and  evangelical  piety  was  no  longer  at  a 
white  heat.  The  passion  for  missions  and  the  education  of  min- 
isters had  somewhat  cooled.  Revivals  were  less  frequent  in  the 
churches.  The  revivals  which  marked  the  twenty  years  be- 
tween 1815  and  1835,  had  given  birth  to  the  College,  and  nour- 
ished it  with  a  copious  supply  of  young  men  recently  converted 
and  full  of  zeal  for  the  work  of  the  ministry  and  of  missions. 
As  revivals  grew  less  frequent  and  powerful,  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal sources  of  the  prosperity  of  Amherst  College  began  to 
fail. 

The  growth  of  the  Institution  had  unavoidably  changed  some- 
what its  relations  to  the  community  around  it.  The  people  of 
the  village  were  still  friendly  to  the  College,  but  they  had  ceased 
to  regard  it  as  their  own  offspring  or  foster-child  —  they  could 
no  longer  welcome  and  cherish  its  two  hundred  and  fifty  stu- 
dents as  pets  or  wards  in  their  own  families ;  the  halcyon  days 
of  primitive  and  almost  pastoral  simplicity  when  their  apple- 
orchards  and  walnut-groves,  their  parlors  and  firesides,  their 
homes  and  hearts  were  open  to  the  members  of  the  College  gen- 
erally, almost  as  if  they  were  their  own  sons,  had  gone  never  to 
return.  Board  was  perhaps  fifty  per  cent,  higher  than  it  was 
at  the  opening  of  the  College.  The  influx  of  wealthy  students 
by  changing  the  tastes  and  habits  of  the  community,  had  in- 
creased in  a  still  greater  percentage  the  incidental  and  unneces- 
sary expenses.  The  term-bills,  including  tuition  and  room-rent, 
which,  at  the  first,  were  only  ten  or  eleven  dollars  per  term, 
had  now  risen  to  seventeen  dollars,  and  the  maximum  of  neces- 
sary College  expenses,  including  board,  fuel  and  lights,  which  in 
1834  was  stated  in  the ,  catalogue  at  ninety-six  dollars  a  year, 
was  estimated  in  1837  at  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  This 
was  still  considerably  less  than  at  Harvard  or  Yale,  but  the  dif- 
ference was  less  than  it  formerly  was,  and  the  expenses  at  Am- 
herst were  now  greater  than  they  were  at  some  of  the  other 
New  England  Colleges.  Relatively  the  economy  of  an  educa- 
tion at  Amherst  was  considerably  less  than  it  had  been,  and 
economy  is  no  small  argument,  especially  with  the  class  of  stu- 


244  HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

dents  who  flocked  to  Amherst  in  crowds  in  the  earlier  years  of 
its  history. 

A  still  more  important  change  had  gradually  come  over  the 
relations  between  the  students  and  the  Faculty.  The  circum- 
stances under  which  the  College  originated,  made  its  officers 
and  students  more  like  one  great  family,  than  they  were  in  the 
older  and  larger  Institutions,  more  so  probably  than  they  were 
in  any  other  College.  The  government  was  truly  a  paternal 
government,  and  the  students  cherished  a  remarkably  filial  spirit 
towards  the  President  and  Professors.  But  when  Amherst  came 
soon  to  be  the  largest  College  in  New  England,  with  a  single 
exception,  when  it  contained  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty 
students  of  all  characters  and  habits,  from  all  ranks  and  classes 
of  the  community,  and  from  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  it 
was  no  longer  practicable  to  maintain  so  familiar  and  confiden- 
tial a  relation, —  it  was  no  longer  possible  to  administer  the 
government  in  the  same  paternal  way, — it  was  no  longer  pos- 
sible that  the  students  should  cherish  just  the  same  filial  feel- 
ing and  spirit  towards  the  Faculty.  The  men  who  composed 
the  Faculty  might  be  the  same, — it  was  the  same  President  and 
the  same  leading  older  Professors,  under  whose  auspices  the 
College  had  attained  so  soon  to  so  large  a  growth,  that  were 
now  administering  the  government  and  giving  the  instruction ; 
yet  they  could  not  but  draw  the  reins  a  little  tighter,  they 
could  not  exercise  the  same  personal  supervision,  the  same 
fatherly  watch  and  care  over  two  hundred  students  which  they 
had  extended  to  one  hundred.  It  was  not  the  same  students, 
they  were  not  of  the  same  age,  class  and  condition  in  life  ;  upon 
an  average  they  were  younger  and  richer  and  less.religious  when 
they  entered  now  than  they  were  ten  or  fifteen  years  earlier  in 
the  history  of  the  College  ;  but  even  if  they  had  been  the  very 
same  individual  students,  they  could  not  come  so  near  to  their 
officers,  or  stand  in  the  same. near  and  confidential  relations,  or 
cherish  quite  the  same  feelings  of  personal  regard  and  aifec- 
tion,  as  when  they  were  fewer  in  number  and  were  in  some 
sense  joint-founders  of  the  Institution.  There  are  evils,  diffi- 
culties and  dangers  inevitably  connected  with  a  large  College 
as  there  are  with  a  large  boarding  school,  which  almost  pre- 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY  EXCITEMENT.  245 

elude  the  possibility  of  its  realizing  the  idea  of  a  College,  or 
doing  in  the  best  way  its  whole  and  proper  work ;  and  among 
these  the  wall  of  separation  which  rises  up  between  the  Faculty 
and  the  students  is  not  the  least. 

Accidental  circumstances  about  this  time  contributed  to  widen 
the  breach.  One  of  these  was  the  anti-slavery  excitement.  This 
affected  Amherst  more  than  it  did  most  of  the  Eastern  Colleges ; 
for  while  it  had  an  unusual  number  of  Southern  students  be- 
tween 1830  and  1840,1  it  had  also  a  larger  proportion  than  most 
of  the  colleges,  of  that  class  of  students  who  were  strongly, 
and  some  of  them  violently  opposed  to  slavery.  It  was  during 
this  decennary,  as  our  readers  will  remember  that  the  anti- 
slavery  excitement,  which  temporarily  subsided  after  the  Mis- 
souri compromise,  broke  out  with  fresh  violence  and  agitated 
the  whole  country.  The  Liberator,  started  in  Boston  by  Wil- 
liam Lloyd  Garrison  for  the  express  purpose  of  agitating  this 
question,  was  established  in  1831,  the  New  England  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  (afterwards  the  Massachusetts)  in  1832,  the 
American  Anti-Slavery  Society  in  1833.  In  1834,  George 
Thompson  came  over  from  England  and  his  clarion-like  voice 
rung  through  the  land,  and  in  1835  Mr.  Garrison  was  dragged 
through  the  streets  of  Boston  by  an  infuriated  mob  and  saved 
from  a  violent  death  only  by  incarceration  in  the  city  jail.  Such 
exciting  scenes  could  not  but  deeply  move  the  feelings  of  young 
men  in  our  Colleges  and  professional  schools.  When  news- 
papers, tracts  and  books,  lectures,  public  meetings,  and  organ- 
ized societies  were  doing  their  utmost  to  agitate  the  public  mind, 
it  would  be  strange  if  young  men  in  college  did  not  discuss  the 
subject,  debate  it  in  their  classes  and  literary  societies,  take 
sides  on  it,  and,  if  permitted,  form  societies  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  influencing  public  sentiment.  The  Theological  Semi- 
nary at  Andover  was  much  agitated  at  this  time,  and  the  excite- 
ment was  greatly  increased  by  the  vehement  denunciations  and 
impassioned  eloquence  of  George  Thompson.  It  was  in  1834, 

1  Among  these  were  Benjamin  M.  Palmer  of  South  Carolina  and  Stewart  Robin- 
son of  Virginia,  who  became  so  conspicuous  in  the  history  of  the  late  war.  Mr. 
Palmer  was  a  member  of  the  Class  of  '35,  but  graduated  prematurely  in  his  Junior 
year.  Mr.  Robinson  graduated  with  honor  in  the  Class  of  '36. 


246  HISTOEY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

that  Lane  Seminary  was  convulsed  by  "  the  Anti-Slavery  Im- 
broglio," as  Dr.  Beecher  called  it,  to  such  a  degree  that  the 
students  went  off  almost  in  a  body  and  built  up  a  Theological 
Department  at  Oberlin.  It  was  under  such  circumstances  that 
a  Colonization  Society  and  an  Anti  Slavery  Society  were  formed 
among  the  students  at  Amherst,  the  latter  in  the  summer  of 
1833,  and  the  former  a  short  time  previous,  perhaps  not  more 
than  two  or  three  weeks.  Thus  the  College  was  divided  as  it 
were  into  two  hostile  camps,  and  the  war  raged  as  fiercely  be- 
tween these  opposing  forces  in  their  classic  halls  as  that  between 
the  Greeks  and  Trojans  of  which  the  young  men  read  in  the 
Iliad,  and  it  lasted  quite  as  long  before  it  fully  came  to  an  end. 
The  Faculty  seeing  that  fellow-students,  and  even  Christian 
brethren  were  thus  set  in  hostile  array  against  each  other,  feel- 
ing that  the  College  was  not  founded  to  be  a  school  of  moral 
or  political  reform,  and  fearing  that  its  reputation,  as  well  as 
its  peace  and  prosperity  might  thus  be  endangered,  at  length 
interposed,  and  endeavored  to  persuade  the  members  of  both 
societies  to  dissolve  their  organizations.  The  members  of  the 
Colonization  Society  complied  with  this  request.  The  members 
of  the  Anti-Slavery  Society  returned  answer  that  they  could 
not  conscientiously  dissolve  the  Society  by  their  own  act,  begged 
the  privilege  of  at  least  holding  the  monthly  concert  of  prayer 
for  the  slave,  and  if  they  must  needs  disband,  prayed  the  Fac- 
ulty to  do  the  work  themselves. 

This  Society  had  now  grown  in  a  little  more  than  a  year  from 
the  original  eight  members  to  a  membership  of  seventy-eight, 
nearly  one-third  of  the  whole  number  of  students  in  College. 
"  Of  this  number,"  I  quote  from  a  history  of  these  transactions 
in  manuscript  prepared  at  my  request  by  a  leading  member,1  "  all 
but  six  were  professors  of  religion.  Thirty  of  the  number  had 
consecrated  themselves  to  the  missionary  work  in  foreign  lands, 
and  twenty  to  the  work  of  home  missions  in  the  West.  The 
first  recognized  agency  that  led  several  of  these  young  men  to 
decide  upon  the  missionary  service,  were  these  investigations 
and  discussions  in  reference  to  the  condition  of  the  two  mil- 
lions or  more  of  slaves  in  the  United  States.  Their  discussions 

1  Kev.  Leander  Thompson. 


THE  ANTI-SLAVERY   SOCIETY.  247 

and  other  exercises  of  their  regular  meetings  were  in  the  main 
dignified  and  eminently  Christian,  though  always  earnest 'and 
animated.  Their  concerts  of  prayer  were  among  the  tenderest 
and  most  useful  seasons  of  religious  devotion  they  had  during 
their  connection  with  College. 

"  In  October,  1834,  the  Society  were  summoned  to  meet  Dr. 
Humphrey  in  a  body  in  the  Theological  room.  Very  fully  and 
kindly  the  President  then  stated  his  feelings,  assuring  the '  young 
gentlemen'  to  their  amazement,  that  the  Society  was  alienating 
Christian  brethren,  retarding  and  otherwise  injuring  the  cause 
of  religion  in  College,  and  threatening  in  many  ways  the  pros- 
perity of  the  Institution.  In  view  of  these  considerations  pre- 
sented with  evident  honesty,  he  called  upon  the  Society  at  once 
and  entirely  to  disband,  hold  no  more  meetings,  have  no  more 
discussions  and,  if  possible,  keep  peace  with  all  on  this  exciting 
subject. 

"As  soon  as  possible  the  Society  was  called  together  for 
prayer  and  deliberation.  Again  and  again  and  with  a  calmness 
.which  astonished  themselves,  they  discussed  the  propriety  of 
acceding  to  the  President's  demand;  but  the  more  they  dis- 
cussed and  prayed  and  thought,  the  more  fixed  were  they  all  in 
the  conviction  that  they  could  not,  as  Christians  and  as  men,  take 
upon  themselves  the  responsibility  of  disbanding  their  Society 
and  ignoring  the  great  question  of  the  times,  touching  a  subject 
of  such  vital  importance  both  to  the  slave  and  to  the  country,  to 
the  progress  and  the  triumphs  of  the  gospel  of  love  in  our  land. 

"  Accordingly  a  committee  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  memo- 
rial on  the  subject  as  a  reply  to  Dr.  Humphrey's  appeal.  The 
memorial  was  prepared,  read  in  a  very  full  meeting,  and,  with- 
out a  dissenting  voice,  adopted  and  sent  to  the  Faculty." 

This  memorial,  of  which  the  original  draft  is  preserved,  speaks 
with  the  greatest  respect  and  even  tenderness  of  the  Faculty, 
acknowledging  the  purity  of  their  motives  and  the  love  of  their 
hearts,  and  saying,  "  we  would  gladly  comply  with  your  request 
if  we  could  do  it  consistently  with  the  dictates  of  our  con- 
sciences and  the  wants  and  woes  of  perishing  millions,"  but  at 
the  same  time  adding  the  unanimous  resolution  of  the  Society, 
"that  we  can  not  conscientiously  disband  and  relinauish  the 


248  HISTORY   OF  AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

right  of  inquiring  into,  discussing  and  praying  over  the  suffer- 
ings and  woes  of  more  than  two  millions  of  our  population." 

They  conclude  with  begging  the  privilege  at  least  of  being 
permitted  to  hold  as  a  Society  their  usual  monthly  concert  of 
prayer,  and  praying  that  if  they  must  be  disbanded,  the  Faculty 
would  do  the  work  themselves  by  a  direct  and  positive  com- 
mand, which  they  pledge  themselves  not  to  resist. 

Feeling  that  this  "  very  respectful  memorial "  was  "  entitled 
to  serious  and  deliberate  consideration,"  and  reluctant  to  resort 
to  extreme  measures  if  they  could  possibly  avoid  it,  the  Faculty, 
after  some  weeks'  delay,  made  another  communication  to  the 
Society,  in  which  they  consent  to  "  let  the  Association  remain 
for  the  present  under  the  following  regulations :  1.  To  meet  as 
a  Society,  if  you  see  fit,  once  a  month  as  you  have  been  accus- 
tomed to,  chiefly  for  prayer,  and  to  hold  no  other  meetings. 

"  2.  To  receive  such  new  members  at  your  option  as  may  wish 
to  join  you  without  solicitation. 

"  3.  It  is  understood  that  discussions  and  formal  addresses 
before  the  Society  will  hereafter  be  entirely  discontinued. 

"  4.  It  is  understood  that  neither  the  Society  nor  individual 
members  of  it  will  correspond  with  editors  of  newspapers  or 
other  persons,  so  as  to  bring  it  in  any  way  before  the  public." 

At  the  same  time  the  Faculty  disclaim  any  intention  to  inter- 
fere in  any  degree  with  the  private  opinions  of  the  members  of 
the  Society  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  or  with  the  avowal  of 
them  as  individuals  as  freely  as  on  any  other  subject,  nor  with 
the  bringing  of  the  great  question  of  slavery  forward  for  de- 
bate in  the  regular  order  of  College  exercises  by  either  party, 
provided  it  can  be  discussed  with  that  perfect  good  feeling 
which  is  essential  in  such  a  community. 

This  communication  seems  to  have  been  received  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Society  with  mingled  emotions  of  surprise  and  dis- 
pleasure "  too  deep  for  appropriate  outward  expression.  A  few 
of  the  more  ardent  and  impulsive  spirits  soon  gave  vent  to  their 
indignation  and  declared  themselves  ready  to  leave  the  College. 
But  they  were  held  in  check  by  the  large  and  more  prudent 
majority,  who  strongly  advised  the  Society  to  yield  a  passive  sub- 
mission and  leave  the  result  to  the  developments  of  the  future." 


THE   SOCIETY   SUPPRESSED.  249 

The  excitement  extended  also  beyond  the  ranks  of  the  So- 
ciety, and  so  strongly  roused  the  minds  of  many  without  that 
they  besieged  the  door  of  the  Secretary's  room  in  his  absence 
and  bursting  it  open  found  the  constitution  and  subscribed  their 
names  to  the  list  of  members.  In  the  same  spirit  of  resistance 
to  what  they  deemed  an  exercise  of  undue  and  arbitrary  author- 
ity, "  some  person  or  persons  unknown  to  the  Society  and  its 
officers,"  purloined  from  the  Secretary's  room  a  copy  of  the  me- 
morial to  the  Faculty,  and  sent  it  for  publication  to  the  editors 
of  one  or  more  anti-slavery  papers,  thus  extending  the  arena  of 
discussion,  criticism  and  excitement  from  the  College  through 
the  community. 

After  discussing  the  subject  at  two  meetings,  the  Society  re- 
turned a  written  response  to  the  communication  of  the  Faculty, 
in  which,  while  they  gratefully  acknowledge  the  high  tone  of 
Christian  feeling  and  affectionate  interest  in  their  welfare  evinced 
throughout  that  document,  they  yet  declare  their  unanimous 
conviction  that  their  duty  as  men  and  as  Christians  forbids  their 
compliance  with  the  conditions  of  existence  submitted  in  it. 

This  communication  was  laid  before  the  Faculty  at  their  meet- 
ing, February  16,  1835.  They  voted  that  they  could  not  con- 
sistently alter  or  annul  the  conditions,  and  the  next  day  Presi- 
dent Humphrey  communicated  the  result  in  writing  to  the  So- 
ciety. "We  fully  accord,"  he  says,  "with  the  opinion  recently 
expressed  by  the  whole  body  of  students  in  the  Andover  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  that  in  the  present  agitated  state  of  the  public 
mind,  it  is  inexpedient  to  keep  up  any  organization  under  the 
name  of  anti-slavery,  colonization  or  the  like,  in  our  literary  and 
theological  institutions.  This,  we  believe,  is  coming  to  be  more 
and  more  the  settled  judgment  of  the  enlightened  and  pious 
friends  of  these  Institutions  throughout  the  country.  Indeed, 
we  are  not  aware  that  any  such  Society  as  yours  now  exists  in 
any  respectable  College  but  our  own  in  the  land. 

"  You  inform  us  that  '  on  due  and  careful  deliberation,'  you 
can  not  comply  with  'the  conditions  of  existence'  specified  in 
our  last  communication.  Now,  as  we,  on  our  part,  can  not  con- 
sistently with  our  sense  of  duty,  modify  or  annul  those  condi- 
tions, the  case  is  perfectly  plain.  You  would  not  ask  us  to  vio- 


-250  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST    COLLEGE. 

late  our  trust  or  our  consciences.  As  you  can  not  comply,  your 
Society  must  cease  to  exist,  just  as  the  Colonization  Society  has 
done  already." 

After  receiving  this  communication,  the  Society  held  one  long, 
spirited  and  somewhat  excited  meeting,  and  then  bowing  in 
silence  and  sorrow  to  the  authority  of  the  government,  the  So- 
ciety ceased  to  exist.  During  that  same  term,  the  spring  term 
of  1835,  the  Faculty  and  students  labored  together  and  rejoiced 
together  in  the  religious  revival  whose  history  we  have  narrated 
in  a  previous  chapter ;  and  none  labored  more  faithfully  to  pro- 
mote it,  none  rejoiced  more  heartily  in  its  blessed  fruits  (so  all 
will  agree,  even  those  who  differed  most  from  them  in  this  ex- 
citing controversy,)  than  many  of  the  young  men  who  had  been 
members  of  this  Anti-Slavery  Society. 

After  such  stringent  and  decisive  action  in  suppressing  the 
Society,  we  should  hardly  expect  to  see  it  revived  and  reorgan- 
ized with  substantially  the  same  constitution  and  with  the  ex- 
press permission  of  the  Faculty.  Yet  such  was  the  fact.  In 
less  than  two  years  from  the  suppression,  viz.,  November  23, 
1836,  we  find  them  granting  permission  to  the  anti-slavery  men 
to  hold  a  monthly  concert.  And  in  less  than  three  years,  that 
is,  in  December,  1837,  we  read  on  the  records  votes  granting4 
"  the  request  of  the  petitioners  for  an  Anti-Slavery  Society  in 
College,"  and  approving  the  constitution  as  presented  by  the 
petitioners.  This  change  of  policy  was  doubtless  the  result 
partly  of  a  change  of  circumstances  and  partly  of  a  change  of 
feelings  in  the  minds  of  the  Faculty.  The  first  outburst  of  pas- 
sion and  excitement  in  the  community  had  in  a  measure  sub- 
sided, and  the  subject  might  now  be  discussed,  it  was  thought, 
with  less  danger  to  the  peace  and  the  prosperity  of  the  Institu- 
tion. Moreover,  an  event  had  occurred  meanwhile  in  College, 
which  turned  the  tide  of  sympathy  and  feeling  strongly  in  favor 
of  the  anti-slavery  cause.  Ever  since  the  Society  had  been  in 
existence,  students  from  the  South,  "  the  chivalry,"  as  they  were 
quite  willing  to  be  called,  had  from  time  to  time  shaken  their 
fists  and  canes  in  the  faces  of  the  members  and  threatened  them 
with  personal  violence.  At  length,  on  the  morning  of  Com- 
mencement, the  fourth  Wednesday  of  August,  1835,  as  the  stu- 


EXPULSION   OF   McNAIRY.  251 

dents  were  going  out  from  prayers  in  the  chapel,  a  scene  took 
place  which  was  the  antecedent  and  anticipation  of  that  which 
was  afterwards  enacted  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington  in  the 
person  of  Senator  Sumner,  and  with  similar  results  on  a  smaller 
scale.  Robert  C.  McNairy  of  Nashville,  Tenn.,  who  had  just  at- 
tained to  the  dignity  of  a  Sophomore,  celebrated  his  elevation 
to  that  exalted  dignity  by  severely  beating  a  member  of  the 
class  above  him,  John  L.  Ashley,  of  Bradford,  N.  H.,  with  a 
heavy  cane.  The  offender  was  speedily  arraigned  before  a  mag- 
istrate in  the  village.  His  fellow-students  from  the  same  sec- 
tion, and  others  who  sympathized  with  them,  thronged  the  room 
and  overawed  the  Justice,  and  the  offender  was  let  off  with  a 
fine  of  five  dollars.  The  next  term  the  Faculty  investigated 
the  case  and  expelled  him  from  the  College.  The  following 
record  will  show  the  light  in  which  they  viewed  the  affair : 

"  Whereas  Robert  McNairy,  then  a  member  of  the  Sophomore 
class,  in  this  College,  did  on  the  morning  of  last  Commence- 
ment and  immediately  after  prayers  in  the  chapel,  violently  at- 
tack and  cruelly  beat  a  fellow-student,  with  a  heavy  cane,  thus 
maiming  his  person,  if  not  putting  his  life  in  jeopardy,  and 
whereas  this  gross  violation  of  the  laws  was  aggravated  by  the 
time  when  and  the  place  where  the  assault  was  made,  therefore, 

"  Voted — 1,  That  our  duty  to  the  College  as  a  public  Insti- 
tution and  to  the  members  of  it  entitled  to  our  protection,  as  far 
as  it  is  in  our  power  to  give  it,  require  in  this  case  the  highest 
College  penalty. 

"  Voted — 2,  That  the  aforesaid  Robert  McNairy  be,  and  he  is 
hereby  expelled" 

It  can  not  be  doubted  that  the  anti-slavery  excitement  im- 
paired somewhat  the  confidence  and' affection  of  a  large  portion 
of  the  students,  (and  those  the  most  ardent  and  earnest  students 
of  the  College)  for  the  Faculty,  and  especially  alienated  some 
of  the  most  zealous  of  them  from  the  President,  who  was  the 
organ  of  communication,  and  was  regarded  as  the  author  of  the 
policy  that  was  pursued.1 

1  The  anti-slavery  men  of  this  period  were  under  the  impression,  right  or  wrong, 
that  the  sympathies,  of  Prof.  Hitchcock  were  with  them,  although  the  act  of  sup- 
pression was  communicated  expressly  as  "  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  Faculty." 


252  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

But  the  opposition  to  the  system  of  distinctive  and  honorary 
appointments  in  College,  which  sprung  up  about  the  same  time, 
lasted  longer  and  was  still  more  unfortunate  in  its  influence. 
As  early  as  1834,  the  Junior  class,  under  the  influence  of  the 
dissatisfaction  attendant  as  usual  on  the  appointments  for  the 
Junior  Exhibition,  petitioned  the  Trustees  at  their  annual  meet- 
ing to  abolish  the  system.  Upon  this  petition,  the  Trustees  voted, 
"  That  we  think  it  inexpedient  to  make  any  alteration  at  present 
on  the  subject  of  said  communication,  but  we  recommend  that 
the  Faculty  correspond  with  the  other  Colleges  on  this  subject 
and  obtain  such  information  as  may  be  communicated  for  such 
improvement  hereafter  as  occasion  may  require."  At  their  an- 
nual meeting  in  1836,  a  petition  was  again  presented,  signed  by 
nearly,  if  not  quite,  all  the  members  of  the  three  upper  classes, 
asking  for  the  abolition  "  of  the  present  system  of  appoint- 
ments in  this  Institution,"  and  suggesting  instead,  that  "such  a 
division  and  arrangement  be  made  that  all  may  have  parts  as- 
signed them,  and  alike  enjoy  the  benefits  arising  from  such  per- 
formances," or  that  "  each  of  the  three  Literary  Societies  in 
College  should  be  permitted  to  have  an  annual  exhibition." ! 
The  action  of  the  Trustees  upon  this  petition  is  thus  entered  on 
their  records :  "  A  petition  having  been  presented  to  this  Board 
signed  by  numerous  members  of  Amherst  College,  praying  for 
the  abolition  of  the  system  of  appointments  adopted  in  this 
College,  Voted,  that  this  Board  deem  it  inexpedient  to  make 
any  change  at  present  in  the  system  provided  for  by  the  College 
laws  on  this  subject." 

Meanwhile  the  Faculty  began  to  be  besieged  by  petitions 
from  individual  students  asking  to  be  excused  from  performing 
the  parts  assigned  them  on  the  ground  of  conscientious  opposi- 
tion to  the  system  of  honorary  distinctions.  And  for  a  time 
the  Faculty  granted  these  requests.  At  length  it  became  ap- 
parent that  there  was,  if  not  a  conspiracy,  a  set  purpose  on  the 
part  of  many  students,  some  of  them  perhaps  really  conscien- 

1  This  petition  is  preserved  in  the  College  Library.  It  is  an  immense  document 
some  five  feet  long  and  a  foot  and  a  half  wide,  bearing  in  bold  and  large  hand  the 
autograph  signatures  of  men  now  distinguished  in  every  walk  of  life,  and  remind- 
ii;g  the  reader  in  more  ways  than  one  of  the  original  Declaration  of  Independence. 


THE   GORHAM   EXCITEMENT.  253 

tious,  but  others  manifestly  only  disappointed  in  their  own  ap- 
pointments, or  otherwise  disaffected,  to  break  down  the  system, 
and  that  if  they  would  have  any  exhibitions  or  Commence- 
ments, they  must  insist  upon  the  performance  of  the  parts  as- 
signed for  public  occasions  with  the  same  firmness  and  on  the 
same  principles  as  they  required  the  recitation  of  lessons  or  the 
performance  of  any  other  assigned  duty.  They  therefore  de- 
clined to  excuse  appointees  simply  on  the  ground  of  conscien- 
tious scruples  without  the  assignment  of  some  other  reasons. 
Among  those  who  were  excused  in  the  summer  of  1835  was 
William  O.  Gorham  of  Enfield,  who  had  been  appointed  one  of 
the  Prize  Speakers1  from  the  Freshmen,  and  having  requested  to 
be  excused  "  on  grounds  of  conscience,"  his  request  was  granted. 
Two  years  later,  the  same  student  received  an  appointment  for 
the  Junior  Exhibition.  Instead  of  performing  the  part  assigned 
him,  he  sent  in  the  following  paper  to  the  Faculty : 

"  To  the  Faculty  of  Amherst  College, — Sirs :  I  entered  College 
with  feelings  and  views  utterly  opposed  to  the  present  system 
of  appointments  in  this  Institution.  I  have  ever  heartily  des- 
pised and  contemned  the  principle,  and  a  more  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  it  since  I  have  been  here,  has  rendered  its  ef- 
fects more  odious  to  my  sense  of  justice.  With  either  I  can  and 
do  have  no  sympathy.  As  I  can  not  give  countenance  to  this 
system  in  heart  nor  in  tongue,  I  certainly  will  not  in  deed.  I 
beg,  therefore,  to  be  freed  from  my  appointment  at  the  coming 
Exhibition  and  all  further  annoyance  from  this  source. 

W.    O.    GOKHAM." 

This  paper  came  before  the  Faculty  at  their  meeting  June  16, 
1837,  and  it  was  "  Voted,  that  Gorham's  case  be  referred  to  the 
President."  The  President  had  an  interview  with  him  and 
dealt  very  faithfully,  perhaps  somewhat  severely  with  him,2 

1  There  had  been  considerable  trouble  and  excitement  for  some  time  in  regard  to 
the  manner  of  appointing  Prize  Speakers,  as  well  as  in  regard  to  the  persons  ap- 
pointed. 

2  If  the  President's  language  was   severe,  ("and   he   said  he  excoriated  him,)  the 
language  of  the  young  man,  as  he  reported  it  to  his  classmates  and  friends,  was 
"  abusive." 


254  HISTORY   OF   AMHEBST   COLLEGE. 

setting  before  him  the  sentiments,  the  spirit  and  the  language 
of  the  paper,  in  the  clear  light  of  that  strong  common  sense  and 
in  the  strenuous  use  of  that  plain  Saxon  English  of  which  he 
was  the  perfect  master.  But  the  only  result  was  to  widen  the 
breach,  to  exasperate  the  feelings  of  the  young  man,  and  to 
rouse  and  perhaps  ruffle  a  little  the  spirit  of  the  President. 
This  result  was  reported  to  the  Faculty  at  their  weekly  meeting 
June  23d,  and  they  voted  to  require  of  him  a  written  acknowl- 
edgment under  penalty,  if  he  refused,  of  being  removed  from 
College.  The  acknowledgment  which  he  was  required  to  sign, 
was  in  the  following  language : 

"  In  presenting  this  paper  (his  previous  communication)  to 
the  Faculty,  I  did  not  intend  any  disrespect  to  them  or  resist- 
ance to  the  laws  of  College,  but  on  serious  reflection  I  am  con- 
vinced that  the  language  was  highly  improper  and  not  only  so, 
but  expressed  my  determination  to  disobey  the  laws  of  College. 
This  I  believe  was  wrong,  and  I  do  hereby  declare  my  deep 
regret  for  so  doing." 

Gorham  refusing  to  sign  this  acknowledgment,  some  of  his 
classmates  attempted  to  mediate  between  him  and  the  Faculty 
and  obtain  some  modification  of  the  language  of  the  confession. 
The  Faculty  voted  that  he  "  have  liberty  to  present  an  acknowl- 
edgment in  different  language,  provided  it  should  be  essentially 
equivalent  to  that  written  by  the  Faculty." 

Accordingly  he  presented  a  paper,  prepared  by  his  classmates 
and  signed  by  himself,  as  follows : 

"  In  presenting  the  above  paper  to  the  Faculty  I  did  not 
intend  any  disrespect  or  resistance  to  the  laws  of  College.  I 
supposed  I  had  a  perfect  right  to  accept  or  decline  the  honor 
conferred  on  me.  I  have  since  learned  that  they  regard  the 
appointments  as  obligatory  upon  those  who  receive  them,  and  a 
refusal  as  an  infringement  upon  the  laws.  So  construed  the 
language  was  disrespectful  to  the  Faculty  and  expressed  a  de- 
termination to  disobey  one  of  the  laws  of  College.  Had  such 
been  my  intention,  I  confess,  it  would  have  been  utterly  wrong, 
and  it  is  with  deep  regret  I  find  my  language  capable  of  so 
odious  a  construction." 

This  paper  was  not  satisfactory  to  the  Faculty,  chiefly  because 


DISCIPLINE   OF   THE  CLASS.  255 

in  view  of  their  action  in  repeated  instances  during  the  previous 
year  it  must  have  been  generally  known  in  College  that  they 
regarded  the  appointments  as  obligatory  and  not  to  be  accepted 
or  declined  at  the  option  of  the  student,  and,  therefore,  they 
could  not  regard  the  confession  offered  by  Gorham  as  in  his 
case  either  truthful  or  ingenuous,  and  he  was  accordingly  re- 
moved from  College.  The  entire  class,  with  a  single  excep- 
tion,1 now  rallied  to  the  support  of  their  classmate  and  joined 
issue  with  the  Faculty  by  passing  the  following  resolution  and 
sending  to  Gorham's  friends  a  letter  to  the  same  effect. 

"  Resolved  by  the  Junior  class,  June  24,  1837,  that  in  our 
opinion  William  O.  Gorham  has  made  every  concession  which 
duty  and  justice  require,  and  in  refusing  to  concede  more,  we 
heartily  approve  of  his  principles." 

The  next  morning  this  resolution  was  found  written  or  'painted 
on  the  wall  in  front  of  the  chapel,  where  it  was  read  by  all  the 
students  as  they  went  in  to  morning  prayers.  The  Faculty 
were  soon  called  together  to  consult  in  this  emergency.  They 
felt  deeply  that  it  was  a  solemn  crisis  for  themselves  and  for 
the  College.  They  began  their  consultation  by  asking  counsel 
of  God  in  prayer.  After  much  anxious  deliberation  they  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  such  action  by  a  class  in  College  was  sub- 
versive of  all  government,  and  that  the}'  must  meet  the  issue 
with  firmness  or  resign  the  helm  into  the  hands  of  students. 
They  therefore  "  voted  to  require  a  confession  of  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Junior  class  who  have  taken  measures  inconsistent 
with  their  obligations  to  obey  the  laws  of  College,  in  the  case 
of  William  O.  Gorham."  The  confession  is  in  the  following 
words  : 

"  It  being  an  acknowledged  principle  that  no  student  who  is 
permitted  to  enjoy  the  privileges  of  a  public  literary  Institu- 
tion, and  who  has  promised  obedience  to  its  laws,  has  a  right  to 
do  any  thing  to  weaken  the  hands  of  its  Faculty  or  in  any 
way  to  nullify  any  of  their  disciplinary  acts,  I  deeply  regret 

1  David  N.  Coburn  of  Thompson,  Ct.,  now  Rev.  Mr.  Coburn  of  Monson,  Mass. 
At  least  one  other  member  of  the  Class,  I  believe,  was  not  at  College  at  the  time 
and  took  no  part  in  these  transactions,  viz.,  Edward  Blodgett  of  Amherst,  now  Rev. 
Mr.  Blodgett  of  Greenwich. 


256  HISTORY   OF   AMHEBST   COLLEGE. 

that  in  reference  to  the  late  case  of  William  O.  Gorham,  I  did 
without  due  consideration,  vote  for  a  resolution  and  sign  a 
paper  which  tended  to  both  these  results ;  and  I  hereby  prom- 
ise to  abstain  from  all  similar  interference  in  the  government  of 
Amherst  College." 

The  class  hesitated  and  delayed,  and  it  seemed  for  a  time,  as 
if  the  whole  class  would  refuse  to  sign  the  paper  and  be  sent 
away.  But  by  the  interposition  of  friends  of  Gorham  who  were 
also  friends  of  the  College,1  he  was  induced  to  sign  the  confes- 
sion required  of  him  with  a  trifling  verbal  alteration,  and  then 
his  classmates  promptly  followed  suit  and  signed  the  acknowl- 
edgment and  promise  required  of  them. 

Thus  have  I  endeavored  to  give  a  full,  fair  and  unvarnished 
statement  of  the  facts  in  this  unhappy  affair.  I  have  made  it 
almost  without  note  or  comment,  believing  that  my  readers  will 
prefer  to  make  their  own  comments  and  draw  their  own  conclu- 
sions. It  would  be  easy,  perhaps,  for  any  of  us  to  say  what  we 
would  do  now  in  such  a  case  as  this,  or  that  of  the  Anti-Slavery 
excitement.  Doubtless  we  should  open  the  doors  wide  to  the 
discussion  of  slavery  or  any  similar  question,  and  let  the  wind 
How  through.  Probably  we  should  let  a  class  not  only  have 
their  own  opinions  in  regard  to  a  case  of  discipline,  but  express 
them,  if  they  choose,  to  the  friends  of  the  person  disciplined. 
But  it  is  not  so  easy  to  say  what  we  would  have  done,  or  what 
the  Faculty  would  or  should  have  done  under  all  the  circum- 
stances as  they  existed  then.  In  the  state  of  the  public  mind 
as  it  then  was,  and  with  the  views  of  College  government  which 
then  prevailed,  probably  almost  any  Faculty  would  have  taken 
the  course  that  was  taken  at  Amherst.2  On  the  other  hand 
justice  requires  the  additional  remark,  that  under  the  same  cir- 

1  Dr.  Timothy  J.  Gridley  of  Amherst,  and  Mr.  Leonard  Woods  of  Enfield.     The 
latter  had  aided  Gorham  previously  in  his  education.     Gorham  received  aid  also 
from  the  charity  fund  of  the  College. 

2  The  writer  can  speak  the  more  frankly  and  impartially  on  the  subject,  because 
he  was  not  here  at  the  time  of  the  Anti-Slavery  excitement,  and  at  the  time  of  the 
Gorham  excitement,  having  just  entered  upon  his  professorship,  he  did  not  feel 
competent  or  called  to  take  a  leading  part.     He  was  only  able,  as  lie  remembers 
with  satisfaction,  to  render  some  service  in  the  way  of  removing  Rome  mutual  mis- 
understandings, and  thus  prevent  the  whole  class  from  going  off  in  a  body. 


EFFECT  ON  THE  CLASS.  257 

cumstauces,  almost  any  class  would  probably  have  acted  in  es- 
sentially the  same  way  as  the  Class  of  '38.  Certainly  no  class 
ever  had  a  better  reputation  for  good  order,  obedience  to  law, 
and  faithfulness  in  study,  than  they  had  prior  to  this  excite- 
ment. Indeed  they  suspected  the  Faculty,  unjustly  of  course, 
of  presuming  upon  this  very  characteristic  to  treat  them  with 
more  severity  and  trample  them  under  foot.  Doubtless  there 
were  errors  and  mistakes  on  both  sides,  and  it  was  an  unfor- 
tunate affair  for  all  concerned.  The  young  man  has  gone  wan- 
dering and  flaming  like  a  comet  through  the  world,  pretty  much 
as  he  did  through  College.  The  members  of  the  class  felt  the 
sting  through  the  remainder  of  their  course,  and  wear  the  scar 
to  this  day.  They  are  loyal  sons  of  their  mother,  but  many  of 
them  have  never  ceased  to  feel  that  they  were  treated  unjustly 
and  unwisely  by  the  government.  The  class  above  them  sym- 
pathized and  suffered  more  or  less  with  them,  and  the  most  bril- 
liant man  and  scholar  in  it,  who  fanned  the  flame  of  prejudice 
and  passion,  not  to  say  of  insubordination  and  rebellion  by  his 
eloquence  in  the  debates  of  the  class-room,  and  was  censured 
for  it,  never  recovered  from  the  twist  which  he  then  received,1 
and  even  in  the  pulpit  ran  a  career  as  melancholy  in  its  issue  as 
it  was  brilliant  in  its  beginning. 

A  member  of  that  class  thus  graphically  describes  the  excite- 
ment and  lays  bare  some  of  its  secret  springs :  "  The  vexed 
question  of  College  appointments,  a  complaint  which  seems  to 
have  become  periodically  chronic,  took  an  epidemic  form  in  the 
years  1835-6-7.  A  society  was  organized  in  College,  pledged 
not  to  perform  parts  assigned  them  at  Junior  Exhibitions  and 
Commencements,  on  the  ground  that  the  system  being  morally 
wrong,  they  could  not  conscientiously  do  so As  the  prov- 
ince of  conscience  has  different  limits  in  different  minds,  the 
circumstances  attending  the  urging  of  this  plea,  became  some- 
times somewhat  amusing.  I  once  asked  a  classmate  whether  he 
should  accept  an  appointment  at  the  coming  Commencement. 
He  said  he  was  undecided.  If  he  had  an  oration,  he  thought 

1  How  far  the  twist  may  have  been  in  the  grain,  and  how  far  owing  to  circum- 
stances in  both  these  cases,  the  writer  can  not  say.    Probably  there  was  something 

of  both. 

17 


258  H1STOKY  OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

he  should ;  otherwise  not.  I  do  not  suppose  that  all  consciences 
were  equally  elastic,  but  the  cause  of  conscientious  scruples 
was  losing  ground,  and  the  leaders  of  the  movement  seemed  to 
feel  that  unless  Sumter  were  bombarded,  the  ardor  of  coadjutors 
would  cool.  Accordingly  an  appointment  for  Junior  Exhibition 
was  declined  by  one,  who  if  he  has  not  by  his  act  rendered  his 
name  immortal,  has  at  least  given  it  '  a  bad  pre-eminence,'  who, 
in  a  note  couched  in  terms  at  least  unnecessarily  offensive,  and 
in  an  interview  with  the  President,  used  language  which  I  have 
elsewhere  characterized  as  abusive.1  I  so  characterize  it,  having 
heard  him  relate  to  classmates  what  he  had  just  said  to  the 
President,  and  witnessed  the  animus  with  which  the  'Good! 
good ! '  was  uttered  as  the  most  offensive  expressions  were  re- 
peated, his  auditors,  with  the  exception  of  myself,  being  in 

sympathy  with  the  before-mentioned  organization I  have 

never  witnessed  so  intense  excitement.  It  seemed  as  though 
Alecto  and  her  imps  were  almost  visibly  present.  Many  of  the 
class  above  them  were  infected,  and  received  the  same  prescrip- 
tion, (an  apology.)  Some  of  them  yielded  as  soon  as  they  had 
time  for  cool  reflection.  One  classmate,  after  signing  the  re- 
quired apology,  said  to  me, '  I  do  not  see  how  I  could  ever  have 
regarded  the  requirement  as  unreasonable.  Not  half  enough  has 
been  required.  I  have  done  wrong  and  shall  never  feel  at  ease 
until  I  have  made  a  fuller  confession.'  He  accordingly  sought 
an  interview  with  the  President  to  make  such  a  confession  as 
would  relieve  him  of  his  burden.  .  .  .  Returning  to  their  friends, 
they  (the  disaffected  students,)  infused  into  the  whole  commu- 
nity something  of  their  own  bitterness  of  feeling  towards  a 
College,  which  up  to  that  time,  had  been  steadily  strengthening 
its  hold  upon  the  public  confidence  and  steadily  gaining  in  num- 
bers. It  was  the  severest  blow  the  College  has  ever  received,  a 
blow  from  whose  effects  she  can  not  be  said  even  now  to  have 
fully  recovered."2 

1  In  another  part  of  his  letter,  the  writer  mentions  this  incident  to  illustrate  the 
magnanimity  of  President  Humphrey  who  insisted  that  the  language  addressed  to 
him  should  not  be  taken  into  consideration  in  the  discipline,  because  it  was  ad- 
dressed to  him  not  officially,  but  as  an  individual. 

2  Prof.  C.  C.  Bayley,  Class  of  '37. 


EFFECT  ON  THE  COLLEGE.  259 

The  effect  on  the  College  was  immediately  disastrous.  From 
this  time  class  after  class  went  out  with  more  or  less  of  the 
spirit  of  disaffection,  and  spread  it  through  the  community. 
Year  after  year  too  many  of  the  graduates  went  forth  not  to  in- 
vite and  attract  students,  but  to  turn  them  away  by  reporting 
that  the  government  was  arbitrary,  the  President  stern,  severe, 
unsympathizing,  unprogressive,  and  even  in  his  dotage,  (though 
as  Dr.  Hitchcock  remarks,1  his  subsequent  history  shows  that  he 
was  as  well  qualified,  physically,  intellectually  and  spiritually  as 
he  had  ever  been  for  the  place,)  and  the  Professors,  some  of  them 
at  least,  incapable,  unpopular  and  unfit  for  the  office,  (although 
the  work  of  instruction  was  never  more  ably  or  faithfully,  never 
80  assiduously  and  laboriously  performed  as  at  this  very  time.) 

The  President  was  the  self-same  man  under  whose  wise  and 
able  administration  the  College  had  risen  to  such  unexampled 
prosperity.  The  Professors  were,  for  the  most  part,  the  same  men 
under  whose  government  and  instruction  the  Institution  had  pre- 
viously prospered,  who,  when  the  tide  turned  afterwards,  were  as 
popular  as  it  often  falls  to  the  lot  of  faithful  Professors  to  be,  and 
whose  lives  have  become  identified  with  the  history  of  the  Col- 
lege. It  is  not  necessary  to  mention  their  names.  The  Tutors 
of  this  period  were  some  of  the  best  scholars  that  have  ever 
been  graduated  here.  Not  a  few  of  them  have  since  become 
distinguished  as  educators,  authors,  men  of  science,  eloquent 
preachers  and  able  jurists.  Six  of  them  have  been  Professors 
in  this  and  other  Institutions,  viz.,  Charles  B.  Adams,  Thomas 
P.  Field,  John  Humphrey,  William  A.  Peabody,  Roswell  D. 
Hitchcock  and  George  B.  Jewett.  It  was  during  this  period 
that  the  Graeca  Majora  was  dropped  from  the  curriculum,  and 
Homer,  Demosthenes,  and  the  Tragic  poets  began  to  be  read 
continuously  as  entire  books  instead  of  extracts,  and  the  Greek 
and  Latin  languages  were  for  the  first  time  taught  analytically 
in  their  relation  to  each  other  and  their  cognate  tongues  and 
in  the  light  of  comparative  philology.  At  this  time,  to  wit,  in 
1837-8,  the  whole  system  of  monitorial  duties,  excuses  for  ab- 
sence, marks  for  merit  and  demerit,  the  merit  roll,  reports  to 
parents,  punishment  of  delinquents  and  honorary  appointments, 

1  Reminiscences  of  Amherst  College,  p.  124. 


260  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST.  COLLEGE. 

was  revised,  reformed,  methodized,  made  at  once  more  just  and 
more  efficient,  and  those  principles  and  rules  established  which, 
not  without  amendment  of  course,  but  substantially,  have  regu- 
lated the  practice  of  the  College  in  this  important  matter  ever 
since.  A  circular  letter  was  also  prepared  and  sent  to  the 
parents  of  Freshmen  and  other  new  students,  which  explained 
the  temptations  and  dangers  of  College  life,  invited  the  co-oper- 
ation of  parents  and  friends,  and  thus  contributed  much  towards 
a  better  understanding  among  all  the  parties  concerned  in  the 
education  and  training  of  the  College.  Such  a  letter  continued 
to  be  sent  with  good  effect  for  many  years  after  the  emergency 
out  of  which  it  sprung  had  passed  away.  About  the  same 
time,  a  course  of  general  lectures  in  the  chapel  on  study,  read- 
ing, literature  and  College  life,  was  inaugurated,  in  which  all 
the  Faculty  in  rotation  bore  a  part,  and  which  proved  highly  ac- 
ceptable as  well  as  useful  to  the  students.  In  short,  necessity 
proved  the  mother  of  invention  and  sharpened  the  wits  of  the 
Faculty  to  discover  and  apply  many  new  ways  and  means  of 
promoting  the  welfare  of  the  students,  and,  if  possible,  the 
prosperity  of  the  College.  These  efforts,  it  is  believed,  were 
appreciated  by  the  under-graduates,  and  they  were  quite  con- 
tented and  satisfied  with  the  government  and  instruction  of  the 
College.  But  the  spirit  of  disaffection  was  still  spreading  among 
the  alumni,  infecting  some  of  the  older  as  well  as  the  younger 
graduates,  and  extending  through  the  community;  and  the 
number  of  students  still  continued  to  decrease. 

A  more  thorough  system  of  term  and  annual  examinations  was 
introduced,  which  were  attended  by  distinguished  scholars,  friends 
and  patrons  from  abroad,  at  the  invitation  of  the  Faculty ;  and 
these  examining  committees  often  published  most  flattering  re- 
ports of  the  internal  condition  of  the  College.  But  they  were 
sometimes  overdone,  and  it  may  be  doubted  whether  they  did 
not  do  more  harm  than  good.  The  number  of  students  still 
continued  to  diminish. 

At  the  call  of  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Amherst  alumni 
at  Andover,  in  1841,  a  large  number  of  graduates  convened  at 
Amherst  at  the  Commencement  in  1842  and  formed  a  Society 
of  the  Alumni,  which  still  exists  and  has  rendered  invaluable 


DISSATISFACTION   OF   THE  ALUMNI.  261 

service  to  the  College.  Measures  were  taken  at  this  first  meet- 
ing for  establishing  and  helping  to  raise  an  endowment  for  an 
alumni  professorship,  and  resolutions  were  passed  expressing 
"  sympathy  with  the  founders  and  friends  of  Amherst  College 
in  the  present  embarrassed  state  of  its  affairs,"  "  confidence  in 
the  wisdom  and  energy  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,"  and  "  pledging 
earnest  co-operation  in  all  appropriate  ways  for  its  relief."  But 
it  was  rather  a  stormy  meeting — a  squally  and  threatening  one, 
at  least — painful  in  many  of  its  aspects  to  the  Trustees  and 
Faculty,  the  general  agent  and  the  best  friends  of  the  Institu- 
tion, and  boding  ill  quite  as  much  as  good  in  its  future  history. 

At  length  the  feeling  of  discontent  and  dissatisfaction  began 
to  find  expression  through  the  press.  The  causes  of  the  decline 
of  the  College  were  discussed  in  newspapers  and  pamphlets, 
and  writers  who  were  confessedly  graduates  and  professedly 
friends  of  the  Institution,  published  to  the  world  that  the 
alumni  were  dissatisfied  with  the  management  of  the  College, 
and  it  never  would  prosper  without  a  thorough  reform,  not  to 
say  a  complete  revolution.  Those  were  dark  days  for  Amherst 
College — days  of  cruel  trial  and  suffering  for  its  officers.  The 
trial  of  living  on  a  half-salary  a  few  years  later  was  nothing  in 
comparison.  Some  of  them  carried  the  sting  of  it  to  their  dying 
day,  and  it  still  lingers  in  the  memory  of  the  survivors. 

If  the  College  had  been  rich  and  independent,  it  might  have 
borne  this  trial.  Indeed  if  the  College  had  been  independent, 
it  would  have  been  saved  the  greater  part  of  the  trial,  for  com- 
plaints would  then  have  been  in  a  great  measure  silenced,  and 
disaffection  nipped  in  the  bud.  But  "  the  destruction  of  the 
poor  is  their  poverty."  Poverty  increased  the  disaffection 
itself  as  well  as  sharpened  the  sting  of  it,  and  the  disaffection, 
by  diminishing  the  number  of  students,  increased  the  poverty 
of  the  College.  For  it  had  not  at  this  time  a  single  dollar  of 
endowment,1  and  no  College,  however  large  or  prosperous,  re- 
ceives for  tuition  one-half  of  what  it  costs.  The  two  subscrip- 
tions which  had  already  been  raised,  the  one  of  thirty  thousand 
and  the  other  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  were  immediately 
exhausted  in  the  payment  of  debts  and  other  unavoidable 

1  The  Charity  Fund  went  wholly  for  the  support  of  beneficiaries. 


262  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST    COLLEGE. 

expenses.  The  College  was,  therefore,  actually  running  in  debt 
at  the  time  of  its  largest  prosperity,  and  the  debt  went  on  in- 
creasing as  the  number  of  students  continued  to  diminish,  till 
the  outgoes  exceeded  the  income  by  fully  four  thousand  dollars 
a  year. 

Application  was  made  to  the  Legislature  for  pecuniary  .aid  in 
three  successive  years,  viz.,  1837,  1838  and  1839.  In  each  in- 
stance, a  Joint  Committee  of  both  Houses  reported  strongly  in 
favor  of  the  College,  and  recommended  in  1837  a  grant  of  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars  in  ten  annual  installments,  in  1838  a  grant 
of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  in  1839  a  reference  to  the  next 
Legislature  on  the  ground  that  there  were  then  no  funds  in  the 
treasury.  The  report  in  1837,  by  Hon.  Myron  Lawrence  of 
Belchertown,  then  a  member  of  the  Senate  and  the  next  year 
President  of  the  same  body,  was  particularly  able  and  cordial. 
The  following  passages  are  worthy  of  notice  and  record :  "Their 
present  buildings  will  accommodate  one  hundred  and  eighty  stu- 
dents, and  they  are  in  want  of  another  building  to  accommodate 
sixty  more.  It  is  indispensable  to  the  best  good  of  the  students 
as  well  as  to  the  reputation  of  the  College  and  the  correct  ad- 
ministration of  its  affairs,  that  all  its  inmates  should  reside  un- 
der the  immediate  care  and  oversight  of  the  Faculty. 

"  Before  the  establishment  of  this  Institution,  great  numbers 
of  young  men  went  out  of  the  Commonwealth  for  education. 
In  1824  there  were  in  the  several  New  England  Colleges,  out 
of  this  State,  two  hundred  and  twenty-seven  scholars  belonging 
to  Massachusetts.  In  1830,  the  number  was  reduced  to  one 
hundred  and  thirty-five.  At  the  former  period  there  were  fifty- 
eight  more  went  out  of  the  State  than  came  into  it,  and  at  the 
latter,  fourteen  more  came  in  than  went  out.  This  Institution 
has  been  the  chief  instrument  in  producing  these  results. 

"  Massachusetts  is  pre-eminent  among  her  sister  States  for  her 
munificent  bequests  to  literary  institutions.  To  Harvard  Uni- 
versity she  has  given  three  hundred  thousand  dollars ;  to  Wil- 
liams College,  fifty-six  thousand  dollars ;  to  Bowdoin  College, 
seventy  thousand  dollars ;  to  Academies  six  hundred  and  thirty 
thousand  dollars  ;  to  other  institutions,  twelve  thousand  dollars ; 
to  common  schools  one  million  dollars,  making  in  all  the  gener- 


REPORT   OF   HON.  MYRON  LAWRENCE.  263 

ous  sum  of  two  million  and  seventy  thousand  dollars.  Amherst 
College,  with  its  high  claims  to  legislative  bounty  and  its  abun- 
dant evidence  of  eminent  usefulness,  stands  alone  in  solitary 
destitution. 

"  This  College  is  of  great  service  to  the  surrounding  country 
inasmuch  as  it  furnished  from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  teachers  of  common  schools  during  the  winter. 

"  In  its  act  of  incorporation,  the  Legislature  reserve  the  right 
to  control  it,  and  also  to  choose  five  out  of  seventeen  Trustees 
and  supply  the  vacancies  of  these  five  as  often  as  they  shall  oc- 
cur forever."  In  the  report  of  1837,  the  debt  of  the  College  is 
estimated  at  ten  thousand  dollars ;  in  that  of  1838  at  fifteen  thou- 
sand dollars ;  and  in  that  of  1839  at  twelve  thousand  dollars ! 

In  1837  and  1838  the  bill  failed,  both  years  in  the  House,  be- 
ing rejected  in  the  latter  year  by  a  vote  of  154  nays  to  132  ayes. 
It  is  worthy  of  note  as  illustrating  the  change  of  public  senti- 
ment in  Hampshire  County  in  comparison  with  former  Legisla- 
tures, that  only  one  negative  vote  was  now  cast  in  the  whole 
county.  In  1839  the  petition  was  referred  to  the  next  Legis- 
lature as  recommended  by  the  committee. 

Despairing  of  aid  from  the  State,  the  Trustees  soon  conceived 
the  project  of  raising  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  by  private 
subscription.  This  was  thought  to  be  the  smallest  sum  that 
would  relieve  the  College  of  existing  embarrassments  and  leave 
a  balance  for  endowments  sufficient  to  make  the  income  equal 
to  expenditures.  Rev.  William  Tyler,  of  South  Hadley  Falls, 
was  first  appointed  an  agent  for  obtaining  subscriptions,  and  by 
his  labors  at  different  times  during  the  years  1839  and  1840, 
some  four  or  five  thousand  dollars  were  raised,  chiefly  in  Am- 
herst. At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Trustees  in  the  latter  year, 
it  being  thought  that  the  shortening  of  the  winter  vacation  had 
operated  unfavorably  by  keeping  away  that  class  of  students 
who  were  necessitated  to  help  themselves  by  teaching,  the  va- 
cations were  changed  back  again  to  six  weeks  in  the  winter, 
two  in  the  spring,  and  four  in  the  summer,  the  Commencement, 
however,  being  placed  on  the  fourth  Thursday  of  July  instead 
of  the  fourth  Wednesday  of  August.  But  the  number  of  stu- 
dents still  continued  to  diminish. 


264  HISTORY    OF    AMHEEST    COLLEGE. 

In  1841  the  eyes  of  all  turned  to  Rev.  Joseph  Vaill,  who  had 
already  proved  himself  a  firm  support  and  a  successful  agent  of 
the  College  in  more  than  one  emergency,  as  the  only  person  who 
could  successfully  perform  the  herculean  labor  of  raising  the 
money  which  was  indispensable  to  its  very  existence.  The  debts 
of  the  College  had  now  reached  an  aggregate  of  fifteen  thousand 
dollars,  and  were  increasing  at  the  rate  of  three  or  four  thousand 
dollars  every  year.  Mr.  Vaill  well  knew,  although  not  so  well 
as  he  did  afterwards,  the  disaffection  that  was  spreading  among 
the  alumni,  the  complaints  that  were  circulating  through  the 
community,  and  the  almost  insurmountable  obstacles  that  stood 
in  the  way  of  the  success  of  the  enterprise.  He  had  just  returned 
from  Portland  to  his  former  people  in  Brimfield  with  the  pur- 
pose of  spending  the  remainder  of  his  da}"s  where  he  was  first 
settled  in  the  ministry.  But  he  could  not  hesitate  when  the 
very  existence  of  the  College  of  which  he  had  been  a  Trustee 
from  the  beginning,  was  trembling  in  the  balance.  He  accepted 
the  ofrbe  of  general  agent  to  which  he  had  been  invited  by  the 
Trustees  at  their  annual  meeting  in  1841,  with  the  same  salary 
as  the  Professors,  was  dismissed  from  his  pastoral  charge,  re- 
moved to  Amherst,  and  for  nearly  four  years  devoted  himself  to 
unwearied  labors  and  plans  for  the  external  affairs  and  especially 
the  pecuniary  interests  of  the  College.  In  August,  1845,  he 
was  able  to  report  subscriptions,  conditional  and  unconditional, 
to  the  amount  of  sixty-seven  thousand  dollars,  of  which  over 
fifty-one  thousand  dollars  had  been  collected  by  himself  and 
paid  into  the  treasury.1  By  reckoning  in  ten  thousand  dollars, 
given  during  this  time  by  David  Sears,  eleven  thousand  dollars 
known  by  him  to  have  been  bequeathed  by  will  to  the  College 
during  the  same  time,  and  fifteen  thousand  dollars  which  he  had 
the  written  assurance  of  an  individual's  "full  intention  "  to  pay 
for  the  founding  of  a  professorship,  the  sum  of  one  hundred 

1  Three  years  after  the  close  of  his  agency,  in  August,  1848,  Dr.  Vaill  reported 
four  thousand  four  hundred  and  thirty-three  dollars  more  as  collected  by  himself, 
(making  an  aggregate  of  nearly  fiftylsix  thousand  dollars  collected  by  himself,) 
three  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-six  dollars  besides  the  principal  of  the 
Sears'  fund  as  having  come  directly  into  the  treasury  meanwhile,  and  two  thousand 
three  hundred  and  forty-nine  dollars  of  the  balance  as  probably  good  and  collectible 
thereafter. 


DK.   VAILL'S  AGENCY.  265 

thousand  dollars  was  made  up,  and  this  statement  was  so  far 
satisfactory  to  the  subscribers  that  the  majority  of  those  whose 
subscriptions  had  been  conditioned  on  the  raising  of  the  entire 
sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  now  made  them  uncon- 
ditional. 

But  deduct  from  the  fifty-one  thousand  dollars  which  had 
been  actually  paid  into  the  treasury  by  Mr.  Vaill  at  the  close 
of  his  agency  in  1845,  the  debt  which  was  reported  to  the  Legisla- 
ture as  fifteen  thousand  dollars  in  1838,1  the  excess  of  the  outgoes 
above  the  income  in  the  interval  of  seven  years  at  the  rate  of 
three  or  four  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  the  salary  and  ex- 
penses of  the  agent,  which  exceeded  four  thousand  dollars,  and 
it  will  be  seen  that  very  little  remained  for  endowments  or  even 
to  counterbalance  a  future  excess  of  expenses.  And  yet  the 
annual  expenses  far  exceeded  the  annual  income,  and  the  num- 
ber of  students  still  continued  to  diminish.  Things  could  not 
long  go  on  in  this  way.  To  raise  money  by  subscription  was 
only  to  throw  it  into  a  bottomless  morass  which  must  after  all 
before  long  swallow  up  the  Institution.  This  was  palpable  to 
all  eyes,  and  was  uttered  from  the  lips  of  many.  The  Trustees 
felt  it.  They  chose  a  Standing  Committee  of  Retrenchment. 
They  reduced  the  number  of  Tutors,  formerly  four,  to  one. 
With  their  consent,  they  deducted  one  hundred  dollars  each 
from  the  salary  of  the  President  and  the  general  agent,  and  two 
hundred  from  that  of  each  of  the  Professors.  But  all  this  was 
quite  inadequate.  The  College  still  continued  to  flounder  and 
sink  deeper  in  the  mire.  The  general  agent  at  length  saw  that 
the  only  adequate  remedy  was  to  bring  the  expenses  within  the 
revenue  ;  and  he  laid  before  the  Faculty  the  suggestion  with  an 
outline  of  the  plan,  which  was  adopted  by  them  and  ere  long 
turned  the  tide  in  the  opposite  direction. 

But  before  this  remedy  was  tried  or,  perhaps,  thought  of,  the 
clamor  had  become  loud  and  distinct  among  the  alumni  and  in 
the  community  for  changes  in  the  Faculty  and  a  change  of  ad- 
ministration. The  first  officer  who  was  sacrificed  was  Prof. 
Fowler,  a  gentleman  of  much  learning  and  many  accomplish- 

1  Twelve  thousand  dollars  in  1839,     No  one  seems  to  have  known  just  what  it 
was. 


266  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

merts,  but  "unpopular"  and,  as  the  students  said  who  certainly 
had  the  means  of  testing  his  capacity  in  this  respect,  unable  to 
maintain  order  in  his  lectures,  recitations  and  rhetorical  exercises. 
Under  the  double  pressure  of  the  clamor  of  graduates  and  the 
complaints  of  under-graduates,  he  resigned  his  professorship  to 
the  Trustees  at  a  special  meeting  in  December,  1842. l 

But  this  did  not  appease  the  clamor  or  meet  the  emergency. 
A  more  shining  mark  was  aimed  at.  A  more  costly  sacrifice 
was  demanded.  And  at  a  special  meeting  of  the  corporation  in 
Worcester,  in  January,  1844,  with  the  Trustees  all  present,  under 
the  pressure  of  the  emergency,  and  doubtless  in  anticipation  of 
the  event,  President  Humphrey  tendered  his  resignation,  to  take 
effect  whenever  his  successor  should  be  ready  to  enter  upon  the 
office. 

The  magnanimity  of  the  spirit  in  which  Dr.  Humphrey  met 
this  trying  emergency  will  be  seen  from  the  letter  in  which  he 
tendered  his  resignation,  which  was  entered  upon  the  records  of 
the  meeting,  and  which  we  here  copy  entire. 

"  To  the  Reverend  and  Honorable  Board  of  Trustees  of  Amherst 
College, — Gentlemen :  I  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity  which 
your  special  meeting  affords,  to  resign  the  office  of  President 
which  I  have  so  long  held,  into  your  hands,  the  resignation  to 
take  effect  as  soon  as  a  successor  can  be  brought  in  to  fill  my 
place. 

"  It  is  now  almost  twenty-one  years  since,  in  compliance  with 
your  call,  I  tore  myself  away  from  a  beloved  pastoral  charge 
and  assumed  the  labors  and  responsibilities  of  the  office,  which, 
though  often  invited  to  relinquish  for  other  fields  of  labor,  I  have 
not  felt  at  liberty  to  resign  till  now. 

"  Permit  me,  gentlemen,  in  closing  this  brief  communieation, 
to  tender  you  my  sincere  thanks  for  the  generous  partiality  with 
which  you  have  looked  upon  my  imperfect  endeavors  to  ad- 
vance the  literary  and  religious  interests  of  the  College,  and 
for  the  unwavering  confidence  with  which  you  have  always  sus- 

1  The  resignation  to  take  effect  at  the  end  of  the  collegiate  year.  The  Trustees 
accepted  the  resignation  on  these  terms,  passed  a  vote  of  "  entire  confidence  in  his 
fidelity,  assiduity  and  urbanity  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,"  and  voted  to  allow 
him  the  half  of  a  year's  salary  in  addition  to  the  stated  annual  salary. 


PRESIDENT  HUMPHREY'S  RESIGNATION.  267 

tained  me  in  the  discharge  of  my  duties.  This  confidence,  let 
me  assure  you,  has,  on  my  part,  been  warmly  reciprocated  and 
will  be  gratefully  remembered. 

"  We  have  consulted,  and  toiled,  and  prayed  together  for  its 
prosperity  under  the  smiles  of  heaven,  though  often  brought  to 
a  stand  by  its  pecuniary  embarrassments ;  and  I  can  not  allow 
myself  to  doubt  that,  under  your  wise  and  energetic  administra- 
tion, it  will  rise  from  its  present  depression,  and,  in  generations 
to  come,  more  than  realize  to  the  church,  to  the  commonwealth, 
and  to  the  perishing  heathen,  the  richest  benedictions  so  fer- 
vently supplicated  by  its  pious  founders.  It  was  a  noble  enter- 
prise. It  has  been  eminently  blessed,  and  it  will  be  blessed, 
provided  the  Divine  favor  is  not  forfeited  by  the  unbelief  and 
abandonment  of  its  friends ;  '  Unto  the  upright  there  ariseth 
light  in  darkness.' 

"  Allow  me  in  conclusion  to  assure  you,  gentlemen,  that 
wherever  my  lot  may  be  cast  during  the  short  remnant  of  my 
life,  you  will  have  my  sympathies  and  best  wishes  in  the  guard- 
ianship of  the  beloved  Institution  with  which  I  have  been  so 
long  connected,  and  whose  prosperity  lies  nearer  my  heart  than 
I  can  find  language  to  express. 

"  With  high  considerations  of  esteem  and  affection,  I  am, 
gentlemen,  your  obedient  servant,  HEMAN  HUMPHREY." 

The  Trustees,  constrained  by  a  felt  necessity  and  doubtless 
with  sorrowing  hearts,  accepted  the  resignation,  and  through  a 
committee  consisting  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  Dr.  Nelson  and  Dr.  Alden, 
returned  the  following  answer: 

"  Resolved,  as  the  unanimous  sense  of  this  Board  that  Dr. 
Humphrey  retires  from  the  Presidency  of  the  College  with  our 
sincere  respect  and  affection  which  have  been  steadily  increas- 
ing from  the  commencement  of  our  mutual  intercourse ;  that  we 
express  to  him  our  gratitude  for  his  invaluable  services  as  the 
head  of  this  Institution,  our  highest  regard  for  his  character  as 
a  successful  teacher,  a  faithful  pastor  and  a  single-hearted  Chris- 
tian ;  that  our  prayers  will  accompany  him,  that  his  rich  intel- 
lectual resources  and  his  humble  piety  may  still  be  devoted  for 
years  to  come,  as  they  have  been  for  years  past,  to  the  welfare 


268  HISTORY   OF    AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

of  his  fellow-men ;  and  that  we  invoke  upon  him  the  continued 
favor  and  blessing  of  heaven. 

"  Resolved,  that  one  thousand  dollars  be  presented  to  Dr. 
Humphrey  on  his  retirement  in  addition  to  -his  regular  salary." 

The  first  gleam  of  sunshine  from  without  which  had  rested 
upon  the  College  for  several  years,  dawned  upon  it  in  the  dark- 
ness and  sorrow  of  this  meeting  at  Worcester  in  the  donation 
of  ten  thousand  dollars  by  Hon.  David  Sears  of  Boston,  which 
was  the  beginning  of  his  munificent  "  Foundation  of  Literature 
and  Benevolence,"  and  not  only  the  largest  donation,  but  the 
first  donation  of  any  considerable  magnitude  that  had  ever  been 
given  at  once  by  a  single  individual. 

But  the  College  was  not  yet  lifted  out  of  the  mire.  That  was 
to  be  the  result  of  many  years-  of  wise  and  patient  self-denial 
and  labor.  Two  vacancies  in  the  Faculty  had  at  length  been 
created.  Now  began  the  more  difficult  task  of  filling  them.  At 
the  same  meeting  in  Worcester  at  which  they  had  accepted  the 
resignation  of  Dr.  Humphrey,  the  Trustees  chose  Prof.  E.  A. 
Park  of  Andover,  President,  and  re-appointed  Rev.  J.  B.  Condit 
of  Portland,  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory,  together  with 
the  pastoral  charge  6f  the  College  church.  But  both  of  these 
gentlemen  declined  their  appointments.  At  the  next  annual 
meeting  in  August,  1844,  the  Trustees  chose  Rev.  Prof.  George 
Shepard  of  Bangor,  President,  and  Rev.  Jonathan  Leavitt  of 
Providence,  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory,  together  with 
the  pastoral  charge  of  the  College  church.  Prof.  Shepard  de- 
clined the  presidency.  Rev.  Mr.  Leavitt  so  far  accepted  the 
Professorship  as  to  call  a  council  to  consider  the  question  of  his 
dismission ;  but  the  council  declined  to  dismiss  him  simply  be- 
cause he  did  not  press  it,  and  it  was  generally  understood  that 
he  did  not  press  it  because  on  visiting  Amherst  his  heart  failed 
him  in  view  of  the  difficulties  which  beset  the  College. 

At  this  meeting,  Hon.  William  B.  Banister  and  Hon.  Alfred 
D.  Foster  resigned  their  places  as  members  of  the  Board.  Henry 
Edwards,  Esq.,  of  Boston  was  elected  in  the  place  of  Mr.  Ban- 
ister. At  the  urgent  request  of  the  Board,  Mr.  Foster  con- 
sented to  withdraw  his  resignation.  But  a  correspondence 
with  Rev.  Mr.  Vaill  about  this  time,  and  his  conversations  at 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT   HITCHCOCK.  269 

a  later  day  with  Prof.  Hitchcock  show  that  he  had  little  hope 
that  the  College  could  be  maintained  as  anything  more  than  an 
Academy. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  corporation  in  Amherst  in  No- 
vember, Rev.  Aaron  Warner  was  elected  Professor  of  Rhetoric 
and  Oratory,  with  a  salary  of  one  thousand  dollars. 

At  another  special  meeting  at  Amherst  in  December,  the  Pro- 
fessors laid  before  the  Trustees  the  proposition,  suggested  prob- 
ably by  Mr.  Vaill,  that  they  would  accept  the  income  of  the  Col- 
lege, be  the  same  more  or  less,  in  place  of  their  salaries,  and  pay 
out  of  it  also  all  the  necessary  running  expenses  of  the  College, 
on  condition  that  they  be  allowed  to  regulate  these  expenses  and 
run  the  College,  and  with  the  understanding  that  the  agency 
for  the  solicitation  of  funds  should  cease,  and  with  the  expecta- 
tion that  Prof.  Hitchcock  would  be  appointed  President.'  The 
Trustees  accepted  the  proposition  of  the  Faculty  as  modified 
and  set  forth  by  themselves,  and  on  this  basis,  they  elected  Rev. 
Edward  Hitchcock,  LL.D.,  President  and  Professor  of  Natural 
Theology  and  Geology.  In  order  to  provide  for  the  partial  va- 
cancy thus  created  in  Prof.  Hitchcock's  department,  they  at  the 
same  time  elected  Prof.  Charles  U.  Shepard  of  New  Haven, 
Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Natural  History,  "  to  take  effect 
provided  Prof.  Hitchcock  accepts  the  Presidency." 

These  appointments  were  all  accepted,  and  on  the  14th  of 
April,  1845,  the  President  elect  was  inducted  into  his  office,  the 
retiring  President,  at  the  request  of  the  Trustees,  performing 
the  ceremony  of  induction  and  in  due  form  handing  over  the 
keys  to  his  successor,  the  former  having  previously  delivered  a 
farewell  address,  and  the  latter  following  with  his  inaugural. 
It  would  have  been  the  personal  preference  of  Dr.  Humphrey 
to  continue  in  office  till  Commencement,  and  thus  at  the  close 
of  the  year  and  amid  the  concourse  of  alumni  and  friends  usu- 
ally convened  on  that  occasion,  to  take  leave  of  his  "  beloved 
College"  and  her  sons,  so  many  of  whom  loved  and  honored 
him  as  a  father.  But  it  was  thought  by  friends  of  the  "new 
departure"  that  the  delay  might  embarrass  the  financial  ar- 
rangement, and  perhaps  affect  unfavorably  the  incoming  class. 
And  with  characteristic  magnanimity  and  self-abnegation,  he 


270  HISTOKY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

hastened  to  put  off  the  robes  of  office  and  with  his  own  hands 
to  put  them  upon  his  successor.  In  his  farewell  address  he 
says :  "  The  period  having  arrived,  when,  by  the  conditions  of 
my  resignation,  I  am  to  retire  from  the  responsible  post  which  I 
have  occupied  for  twenty-two  years,  it  was  my  wish  silently  to 
withdraw  with  many  thanksgivings  to  God  for  his  smiles  upon 
the  Institution,  with  which  I  have  been  so  long  connected,  and 
fervent  supplications  for  its  future  prosperity.  But  having  been 
kindly  and  somewhat  earnestly  requested  by  the  Standing  Com- 
mittee of  the  Board,  to  prepare  an  address  for  the  present  oc- 
casion, I  have  allowed  myself  to  be  overruled,  I  hope  not  for 
the  first  time,  by  a  sense  of  public  duty.  It  has  been  a  maxim 
with  me,  for  more  than  forty  years,  that  every  man  is  bound  to 
avail  himself  of  all  such  opportunities  for  doing  good  as  Provi- 
dence may  afford  him,  with  but  a  subordinate  regard  to  his  own 
personal  feelings  or  convenience."  He  then  proceeds  to  narrate 
concisely  the  history  of  the  College  from  the  beginning,  espe- 
cially its  religious  history,  insisting  with  great  earnestness  and 
eloquence  as  he  did  in  his  inaugural,  on  a  truly  Christian  edu- 
cation in  truly  Christian  Colleges  as  the  hope  of  the  country, 
the  church  and  the  world,  and  closes  with  devout  aspirations, 
with  almost  apostolic  benedictions  on  the  College  and  its  be- 
loved church,  its  honored  Trustees  and  guardians,  his  respected 
and  beloved  associates  in  the  immediate  government  and  in- 
struction, the  beloved  youth  over  whose  morals,  health  and 
education  it  had  been  his  endeavor  to  watch  with  paternal  so- 
licitude, and  the  esteemed  friend  and  brother  to  whom  he  re- 
signed the  chair,  and  with  whom  he  had  been  so  long  and  so 
happily  associated.  There  is  an  almost  tragic  pathos  and  sub- 
limity in  these  valedictory  words  and  last  acts  in  the  public  life 
of  this  great  and  good  man.  Few  scenes  in  history,  or  the  drama 
even,  have  in  them  more  of  the  moral  sublime.  The  sympa- 
thizing spectators  hardly  knew  whether  to  weep  over  the  sad 
necessities  which  environed  the  close  of  his  administration  or 
to  admire  and  rejoice  in  the  moral  grandeur  and  Christian  her- 
oism of  the  man.  And  the  feelings  of  the  writer  in  narrating 
these  events  have  been  somewhat  the  same  as  those  with  which 
the  disciples  of  Socrates  listened  to  his  last  conversations,  as 


DR.  HUMPHREY'S  FAREWELL.  271 

Plato  describes  them,  in  the  Phaedon,  "  feelings  not  of  pity,  for 
they  thought  him  more  to  be  envied  than  pitied,  nor  yet  of 
pleasure,  such  as  they  usually  experienced  when  listening  to  his 
philosophical  discourses,  but  a  wonderful  sort  of  emotion,  a 
strange  mixture  of  pleasure  and  grief,  and  a  singular  union  and 
succession  of  smiles  and  tears." 


CHAPTER   XV. 

THE  RELIGIOUS   HISTORY  OF   THIS   PERIOD,  1836-45. 

IN  his  farewell  address  which  is  largely  taken  up  with  the 
religious  history  of  the  College,  President  Humphrey  says : 
"  About  the  last  of  March,  1827,  the  chapel  was  opened  for 
public  worship  which  has  been  regularly  attended  in  term  time 
on  the  Sabbath  ever  since.  The  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  sup- 
per has  also  been  steadily  administered  once  in  two  months. 
Soon  after  we  became  a  separate  congregation  the  following  ar- 
rangement was  made  for  the  supply  of  the  pulpit.  It  was  agreed 
that  the  pastor  should  preach  half  of  the  time,  and  that  the  al- 
ternate Sabbaths  should  be  taken  by  the  Professors,  all  of  whom 
were  then  preachers,  in  turn.  It  is  now  eighteen  years  since 
this  plan  was  adopted,  and  there  has  been  no  change.  The 
Professors,  during  all  this  time,  have,  with  a  single  exception, 
been  preachers  as  well  as  scientific  and  literary  instructors. 
They  have,  I  am  happy  to  say,  cheerfully  fallen  into  the  ar- 
rangement, which  I  consider  a  very  desirable  one,  both  as  it  re- 
spects themselves  and  their  influence  upon  the  College.  Two 
sermons  on  the  Sabbath  were  all  that  the  Trustees  required ; 
but  as  the  Faculty  Avere  soon  convinced  that  the  religious  inter- 
ests of  the  College  demanded  something  more,  they  established 
a  weekly  lecture,  which  has  been  about  as  regularly  kept  up  on 
Thursday  evening  as  the  public  exercises  on  the  Sabbath.  For 
several  years  I  preached  every  alternate  Thursday  evening.  But 
as  this,  added  to  my  other  labors,  was  too  much  for  my  health, 
my  brethren  of  the  Faculty  very  kindly  came  in  and  relieved  me 
by  taking  their  turns  in  regular  rotation.  The  Faculty  them- 
selves have  always  felt  it  to  be  no  less  their  duty  than  their 
privilege  to  attend  the  stated  evening  lecture,  and  after  its  close 


RELIGIOUS    STATISTICS.  273 

have  made  it  their  practice  to  retire  immediately  to  one  of  their 
rooms  and  spend  an  hour  together  in  prayer  and  consultation 
upon  the  religious  state  and  interests  of  the  College.  The  classes 
have  also  been  assigned  by  agreement  to  different  members  of 
the  Faculty  who  have  been  charged  with  the  duty  of  exercising 
^a  sort  of  pastoral  care  over  their  respective  divisions.  The 
monthly  concert  of  prayer  for  the  conversion  of  the  world  is 
regularly  attended,  and  professors  of  religion  are  often  called 
together  for  exhortation  and  prayer." 

In  answer  to  the  question,  what  has  been  the  success  of  these 
endeavors  ?  the  President  says :  "  The  whole  number  of  gradu- 
ates is  seven  hundred  and  sixty-five,  a  much  larger  number 
than  the  triennial  catalogue  of  any  other  New  England  College 
shows  within  the  first  quarter  of  a  century.  The  whole  num- 
ber of  beneficiaries  who  have  been  aided  from  the  Charity 
Fund  up  to  this  time  including  those  who  from  sickness  and 
other  causes,  have  not  graduated,  is  five  hundred  and  one.  The 
amount  of  interest  paid  into  the  College  treasury  by  the  com- 
missioner of  this  fund  is  thirty-nine  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
ninety-six  dollars  and  sixty-one  cents. 

"  Amherst  College  has  been  blessed  with  seven  special  reviv- 
als of  religion.  The  first  of  these  times  of  refreshing  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord,  began  in  February,  1823,  and  continued 
nearly  up  to  the  time  of  Dr.  Moore's  death.  The  second  re- 
vival took  place  in  the  spring  of  1827.  the  third  about  the  mid- 
dle of  spring  term  in  1828,  the  fourth  in  the  spring  of  1831,  the 
fifth  in  the  months  of  March  and  April,  1835,  the  sixth  in  the 
spring  term  of  1839,  the  seventh  and  last  in  the  summer  of 
1842.  By  comparing  these  dates  it  will  be  seen  that  no  class 
has  ever  yet  graduated  without  passing  through  at  least  one 
season  of  spiritual  refreshing.  All  these  revivals  might  be  called 
general,  as  they  changed  the  whole  face  of  things  throughout 
the  College,  though  some  were  more  powerful  than  others- 
Never  can  any  of  these  be  forgotten  by  those  who  witnessed 
them.  Many  devoted  servants  of  Christ  who  are  now  preach- 
ing the  gospel,  scattered  over  this  broad  land  and  upon  foreign 
shores  will,  I  doubt  not,  look  back  from  a  happy  eternity  to  this 
Institution  as  their  spiritual  birthplace." 
18 


274  HISTORY   OF    AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

In  the  spring  of  1837-8,  one  of  those  revivals  in  the  church 
occurred  which  have  been  even  more  frequent  than  what  Dr. 
Humphrey  calls  "  general  revivals,"  and  which  have  sometimes 
been  quite  as  efficacious  in  renewing  the  joy  and  the  strength  of 
Christians,  and  increasing  their  subsequent  usefulness.  Of  this 
season,  one  who  was  then  a  member  of  the  Senior  class l  writes : 
"  I  remember  it  well,  and  must  say  that  rarely  have  I  known  a 
time  when  I  felt  as  if  heaven  came  so  near  to  my  soul.  God  be 
praised  for  that  season !  I  have  not  the  statistics,  but  I  carry 
the  impressions,  and  hope  never  to  lose  them  until  they  give 
place  to  the  raptures  of  a  brighter  day."  The  following  account 
of  the  revival  in  1839  is  condensed  from  a  narrative  communi- 
cated by  Dr.  Humphrey  to  the  Boston  Recorder : 

"  At  the  opening  of  the  collegiate  year,  one  hundred  and 
eleven  of  the  one  hundred  and  eighty  students  on  the  cata- 
logue were  professors  of  religion.  The  concert  of  prayer  on 
the  last  Thursday  of  February  was  a  solemn  day,  especially 
in  the  church.  We  met  and  spent  an  hour  and  a  half  in 
prayer  and  exhortation  in  the  forenoon,  and  in  the  afternoon 
had  a  very  impressive  sermon  upon  the  worth  of  the  soul, 
from  the  Rev.  J.  Mitchell  of  Northampton.  After  that  the 
interest  seemed  rather  to  decline  than  increase  for  two  or 
three  weeks.  At  length  two  individuals  very  unexpectedly 
came  out  on  the  same  day  and  expressed  their  solemn  deter- 
mination as  well  to  their  careless  companions  as  to  their  Chris- 
tian classmates  not  to  neglect  their  souls  any  longer.  This  pro- 
duced a  general  and  powerful  sensation  throughout  College. 
Our  meetings  began  to  be  crowded,  and  within  one  week  eleven 
or  twelve  were  found  to  be  indulging  some  hope  that  they  had 
'  passed  from  death  unto  life.'  This  was  the  first  week  in  April, 
after  which  the  work  advanced,  though  not  so  rapidly,  till  the 
end  of  the  term.  The  whole  number  of  hopeful  conversions  is 
twenty,  or,  perhaps,  a  little  over — just  about  one-fourth  part  of 
all  who  were  living  '  without  hope  and  without  God '  when  the 
revival  began. 

"  This  is  the  fifth  revival  which  has  been  enjoyed  here  since 
the  winter  of  1829.  Its  blessings  to  the  hundred  young  men 

1  Rev.  J.  A.  McKinstry,  Class  of  '38. 


REVIVAL   OF   1839.  275 

who  are  looking  forward  to  the  ministry  are  incalculable.  Dur- 
ing the  progress  of  the  work,  the  pious  students  have  devoted 
as  much  of  several  days  as  their  studies  would  permit  to  private 
fasting  and  prayer.  Not  a  single  recitation  has  been  omitted. 
Besides  the  regular  ministrations  of  the  Sabbath,  we  have  had 
'preaching  three  evenings  in  a  week." 

The  following  entry  appears  in  the  church  records  for  August 
25, 1839:  "  Received  J.  H.  Bancroft,  Joseph  A.  Rosseel,  James 
D.  Trask,  David  R.  Arnell,  Daniel  T.  Fiske  and  Francis  J. 
Morse  by  profession.  These  were  part  of  the  fruits  of  an  inter- 
esting although  not  very  general  revival  in  College  at  the  close 
of  the  last  spring  term."  The  first  name  in  this  list  is  that  of 
a  young  man  whose  superior  talents  and  scholarship  united  with 
rare  personal  and  social  qualities  and  remarkable  refinement, 
made  him  a  great  favorite  in  the  class  (1839)  and  the  College. 
The  writer  will  never  forget  the  thrill  with  which  he  heard  one 
evening  that  this  young  man  and  another  member  of  the  Senior 
class  were  "  sitting  at  the  feet  of  Jesus."  This  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  revival,  and  the  antecedent  if  not  the  instrumental 
cause  of  a  score  of  other  conversions.  And  when  he  was  cut 
off  by  an  early  death  just  as  he  was  beginning  to  preach  the 
gospel  with  rare  promise  of  great  usefulness,  his  friends  could 
not  but  rejoice  the  more  heartily  that  his  example  in  College 
had  won  so  many  to  Christ.  A  College  friend  l  writes  :  "Of 
the  Senior  class  at  that  time,  Bancroft  especially  seemed  to  me 
to  receive  the  kingdom  of  God  like  a  little  child.  I  shall  never 
forget  how  he  wept  on  the  bosom  of  a  seatmate  at  evening 
prayers,  nor  how  his  countenance  soon  brightened  like  sunshine 
after  rain." 

This  unusual  religious  interest  was  followed,  as  usual,  by  an 
increase  of  interest  in  the  cause  of  missions,  which  was  also 
promoted  by  the  ordination  of  Mr.  H.  J.  Van  Lennep  of  the 
Class  of  '37  as  an  evangelist  and  missionary  at  Amherst  soon 
after.  The  council  was  called  by  the  College  church.  The  or- 
dination took  place  on  the  day  before  Commencement  (August 
27,  1839).  The  sermon  was  delivered  by  Rev.  Dr.  Hawes  of 
Hartford,  and  the  charge  by  Rev.  Thatcher  Thayer  then  of 

1  Rev.  C.  G.  Goddard,  Class  of  '41. 


276  HISTORY  OF  AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

South  Dennis ;  and  "  the  exercises  were  highly  interesting  to  a 
large  assembly."1 

The  following  communication  from  an  alumnus,2  contains 
some  facts  in  the  history  of  missionary  organizations  in  Am- 
herst  College,  which  were  new  to  the  writer  of  these  pages  and 
may  be  curious  and  perhaps  instructive  to  the  reader.  "  I  have 
authentic  information  in  regard  to  a  secret  missionary  society, 
organized  the  14th  of  July,  1828,  and  holding  its  last  meeting, 
without  any  design  as  to  the  coincidence,  the  14th  of  July,  1841, 
just  thirteen  years  from  its  organization.  William  Arms  and 
Elias  Riggs  were  the  committee  who  drafted  the  constitution. 
Justin  Perkins  was  the  first  President,  and  Elias  Riggs  the  first 
Secretary.  It  took  the  name  of  *  Friends.'  Its  object  was  to 
excite  and  perpetuate  a  missionary  spirit  in  the  hearts  of  its 
members  and  their  associates,  and  to  become  acquainted  with 
the  wants  of  the  world  and  their  duty  personally  in  reference 
to  those  wants.  Its  meetings  held  privately,  were  sometimes 
Saturday  night,  sometimes  Sabbath  morning  immediately  after 
prayers,  and  sometimes  Sabbath  evening  one  hour  before  prayers. 
Some  correspondence  was  had  with  similar  societies  in  other  in- 
stitutions and  with  missionaries,  in  the  field.  A  concert  of  prayer 
was  agreed  upon  by  its  members  in  connection  with  other  asso- 
ciations between  the  hours  of  nine  and  ten  o'clock  Sabbath  eve- 
ning. This  was  in  November,  1834. 

"  On  the  roll  of  its  members  appear  the  names  of  Justin  Per- 
kins, Elias  Riggs,  William  Arms,  James  L  Merrick,  Benjamin 
Schneider,  Oliver  P.  Powers,  Henry  Lyman,  Benjamin  W.  Par- 
ker, Ebenezer  Burgess,  Leander  Thompson,  George  B.  Rowell, 
Henry  J.  Van  Lennep,  William  Walker,  Samuel  A.  Taylor,  Ed- 
win E.  Bliss,  Joel  S.  Everett,  James  G.  Bridgeman.  All  of  these 
names  are  now  familiar  in  the  annals  of  missions. 

"After  an  existence  of  thirteen  years  the  organization  of 
4  Friends '  ceased  to  exist,  because  of  doubts  as  to  the  propriety 
of  an  early  decision  and  a  pledge  to  be  a  missionary.  During 
the  thirteen  years  of  its  existence,  the  names  of  twenty-nine 
graduates  are  marked  as  foreign  missionaries  on  the  triennial, 

1  Church  records  in  the  handwriting  of  Prof.  Fiske,  Scribe. 

2  Rev.  R.  P.  Wells,  Class  of  '42. 


MISSIONARY    SOCIETIES.  277 

and  but  seventeen  of  these  were  members  of  the  Society,  and 
these  seventeen  are  the  only  persons  out  of  ninety  members 
who  carried  out  into  action  the  resolution  formed  in  the  ardor 
of  youth  and  under  the  impulse  of  zealous  young  associates. 
One  of  the  pillars  of  the  Society  having  thus  failed,  the  whole 
^superstructure  fell  with  it." 

-  "  The  Missionary  Band,"  so  called,  was  organized  a  few  years 
later,  and  continues  to  the  present  time.  It  has  done  good  in 
the  way  of  exciting  an  intelligent  interest  in  the  cause  of  mis- 
sions, and  has  doubtless  been  the  means  of  making  some  good 
missionaries.  But  facts  similar  to'  those  mentioned  above  have 
raised  in  many  minds  the  same  question  as  to  the  duty  and  expe- 
diency of  a  decision  in  College.  "  There  was  a  society  in  Col- 
lege," writes  Rev.  George  Washburn  of  the  Class  of  '55,  "called 
the  Missionary  Band,  I  think,  made  up  of  those  who  had  de- 
termined to  go  out  as  foreign  missionaries.  I  was  again  and 
again  urged  to  join  it,  but  refused  on  the  ground  that  the  time 
had  not  come  when  I  could  fairly  decide  the  question  of  my  field 
of  labor.  I  think  there  were  five  members  of  my  class  in  this 
Missionary  Band.  Not  one  of  them  became  a  foreign  mission- 
ary. I  am  the  only  representative  of  my  class  abroad.1  So  far 
the  result  certainly  seems  to  prove  the  truth  of  my  conclusion." 

The  general  revivals  in  Amherst  College  have  all  occurred  in 
the  spring  term,  with  the  single  exception  of  that  of  1842,  which 
occurred  in  the  summer  term,  the  season  of  the  year  which,  for 
obvious  reasons,  is  the  most  unfavorable  to  religious  interest  in 
College. 

Under  date  of  November  6,  1842,  the  church  records  contain 
the  following  entry :  "  The  Lord's  Supper  celebrated.  Richard 
S.  S.  Dickinson  was  received  by  letter ;  and  Lucius  M.  Boltwood, 
Zephaniah  M.  Humphrey,  Thaddeus  Wilson,  Edward  W.  Osgood, 
George  H.  Newhall,  Charles  Temple,  Josiah  Tyler,  Ann  Eliza- 
beth Vaill,  Mary  Hitchcock,  Catherine  Hitchcock,  Emily  E. 
Fowler  and  Mary  Humphrey,  by  profession :  most  of  these  be- 
ing the  fruits  of  a  deeply  interesting  revival  with  which  it 
pleased  God  to  visit  the  College  during  the  last  summer." 

1  Mr.  Washburn  went  out  as  a  missionary  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  though  he  is  now 
a  Professor  in  Robert  College,  and  in  the  absence  of  Dr.  Hamlin  acting  President. 


278  HISTORY  OP  AMHERST  COLLEGE. 

The  following  recollections  of  this  event  will  be  read  with  in- 
terest: "It  was  a  season  of  marked  power  in  the  hold  it  gained 
upon  the  whole  body  of  students.  It  resulted  in  the  apparent 
conversion  of  many  hard  subjects.  But  none  of  these  endured, 
and  the  only  fruits  of  the  work  which  proved  abiding,  were 
among  the  children  of  pious  parents." l 

"  It  was  in  the  summer  of  '42,  I  think,  that  a  great  revival 
occurred  in  College,  where  many  of  the  '  hardest  cases '  were 
converted,  some  of  them  relapsing  in  the  vacation  that  immedi- 
ately followed.  I  well  recollect  a  hardened  blasphemer  so 
changed  as  to  read  the  penitential  Psalms  with  tears,  confessing 
that  he  never  before  knew  the  joy  of  sorrow,  of  humility  and 
self-denial." ' 

"  The  interest  in  religion,  always  lively  at  Amherst,  culmi- 
nated every  few  years  in  a  revival.  We  had  one  our  Freshman 
year,  the  great  event  of  that  year,  and  of  life  to  many.  It 
brought  out  new  powers  in  our  preachers  and  in  our  associates. 
Newhall  was  the  most  deeply  affected  of  any  of  us  by  this  mode 
of  religious  fervor.  It  lasted  through  his  life.  He  always  after- 
wards talked  straight  at  every  one  about  his  soul,  and  was  not 
to  be  put  off.  He  could  not  spare  time  to  eat.  He  was  one  of 
our  most  elegant  scholars  in  languages,  no  mathematician,  a  co- 
pious and  graceful  writer  and  pleader.  He  kept  a  journal  and 
wrote  many  letters.  After  he  graduated,  he  made  a  revival 
wherever  he  went,  and  worked  himself  out  at  last.  His  me- 
moirs would  be  an  interesting  religious  biography."  3 

The  change  in  some  of  the  members  of  the  church  was  scarcely 
less  marked  than  in  those  who  were  converted.  And  the  genu- 
ineness and  thoroughness  of  this  change  have  been  attested  in 
not  a  few  instances  by  their  greater  Christian  activity  and  use- 
fulness not  only  in  College  but  in  their  subsequent  lives. 

Dr.  Humphrey  was  as  usual  in  the  liveliest  sympathy  with 
this  revival.  Indeed  he  seemed  to  have  renewed  his  youth,  as 
he  saw  one  after  another  of  his  beloved  pupils  beginning  a  new 
spiritual  life,  and  he  labored  and  prayed,  exhorted  and  preached 

1  Rev.  D.  H.  Temple,  Class  of  '43. 

2  Prof.  H.  W.  Parker,  Class  of  '43. 

8  Prof.  F.  A.  March,  Class  of  '45.     Mr.  Newhall  died  in  1853  at  the  age  of  27. 


REVIVAL   OF   1842.  279 

in  season  and  out  of  season  as  if  he  foresaw  and  felt  that  it 
might  be  his  last  opportunity  of  engaging  in  such  labors  of  love 
and  joy  in  College.  I  shall  never  forget  how  as  we  drew  near 
the  4th  of  July  and  feared  that  it  might  interrupt  and  possibly 
terminate  the  good  work,  he  invited  all  who  wanted  to  meet 
him  in  the  "  Rhetorical  Room,"  (then  our  "small  chapel ")  for  a 
,,  religious"  service  before  morning  prayers,  which  then,  at  that 
season  of  the  year,  were  at  five  o'clock,  and  then  and  there  he 
preached  the  way  of  life  and  salvation  to  us, 

"  — as  never  sure  to  preach  again, 
And  as  a  dying  man  to  dying  men." 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  OF  PRESIDENT  HUMPHREY  AND  SOME 
OF  HIS  ASSOCIATES. 

HEMAN  HUMPHREY  was  born  in  "West  Simsbury,  now  Can- 
ton, Hartford  County,  Conn.,  March  26,  1779.  His  father  was 
a  farmer  in  humble  circumstances,  but  a  man  of  good  sense,  un- 
blemished moral  character  and  more  than  ordinary  taste  for  read- 
ing. His  mother,  Hannah  (Brown)  Humphrey,  was  a  woman 
of  uncommon  mental  capacity  and  exemplary  piety,  and  did 
what  she  could  for  the  education  of  her  children,  fourteen  in 
number,  in  the  spelling-book,  the  Bible  and  the  catechism  —  of 
other  books,  the  worthy  couple  "  had  not  half  a  dozen  on  the 
shelf."  The  first  seminary  into  which  Heman  was  introduced 
was  a  barn,  where  he  had  a  dim  recollection  of  acting  in  an  in- 
fant dialogue  for  the  entertainment  of  visitors.  His  subsequent 
school-houses  were  little  better  than  a  barn,  and  his  teachers 
were  as  rude  and  imperfect  as  the  places  in  which  he  was  taught. 
Thus  going  to  school  in  the  winter,  if  perchance  there  was  any 
school,  and  working  on  his  father's  farm  the  rest  of  the  year,  he 
"  finished  "  his  education  at  the  age  of  seventeen.  The  best 
part  of  his  education,  however,  he  got  for  himself  from  a  small 
parish  library,  many  of  whose  volumes,  chiefly  histories,  he  read 
in  the  long  winter  evenings  by  the  light  of  pine  torches  or  of 
the  kitchen  fire.  From  his  seventeenth  year  he  "  worked  out " 
on  the  farms  of  wealthier  neighbors  every  summer  and  taught 
school  every  winter  till  he  was  twenty-five.  Meanwhile,  how- 
ever, he  was  converted,  and  encouraged  by  his  pastor  to  study 
for  the  ministry.  Of  his  conversion,  he  says :  "  If  I  was  then 
born  again,  I  was  born  a  Calvinist,  not  of  flesh,  nor  of  blood, 
nor  of  the  will  of  men,  but  of  God  who  hath  mercy  on  whom 


/ 


SETTLEMENT  JN   FAIEFIELD.  281 

he  will  have  mercy.  I  then  fully  embraced  the  doctrines  of 
the  Shorter  Catechism,  and  from  this  platform  I  have  never 
swerved."  After  only  six  months  of  uninterrupted  study,  dur- 
ing which  he  made  all  his  preparation  in  Greek  and  much  of  his 
preparation  in  Latin  and  Mathematics,  he  entered  the  Junior 
class  in  Yale  College,  where  he  graduated  in  1805,  receiving  an 
oration  for  his  appointment,  and  having  "  paid  all  the  expenses 
of  his  own  education  except  that  some  of  his  clothes  were  fur- 
nished by  his  mother."  Thus  was  he  fitted  to  preside  over  a 
College  so  many  of  whose  students  were  to  go  through  a  simi- 
lar experience. 

Having  studied  divinity  six  months  with  Rev.  Mr.  Hooker  of 
Goshen,  Conn.,  and  having  been  licensed  in  October,  1806,  by 
the  Litchfield  North  Association,  after  preaching  three  months 
as  a  candidate,  he  received  a  unanimous  call  from  the  church 
and  society  at  Fairfield  to  become  their  pastor.  Before  accept- 
ing the  call,  to  avoid  occasions  of  future  discord,  he  persuaded 
the  church  to  adopt  a  fuller  and  more  orthodox  confession  of 
faith,  and  to  terminate  in  a  satisfactory  manner  the  half-way 
covenant  system  of  membership.  He  was  ordained  March  16, 
1807,  and  his  ministry  in  Fairfield  continued  about  ten  years. 
After  two  or  three  years  of  wise  and  faithful  preparatory  work, 
his  labors  were  blessed  with  a  revival  of  religion  of  great  power, 
which  "  was  a  new  thing  in  Fairfield  and  marvelous  in  their  eyes, 
which  greatly  strengthened  the  church  and  changed  the  face  of 
things  in  many  of  the  leading  families."  Here  also  he  took  the 
lead  in  the  temperance  reformation,  not  only  in  the  town  but  in 
the  county,  preaching  sermons  on  the  principle  of  total  absti- 
nence in  advance  of  other  ministers,  helping  to  banish  the  use  of 
ardent  spirits  from  meetings  of  the  Association,  and,  as  chairman 
of  a  committee,  preparing  an  address  to  the  churches  which  was 
full  of  the  arguments  and  appeals  that  had  been  urged  upon  his 
own  people  from  the  pulpit  in  Fairfield. 

In  September,  1817,  he  received  a  call  from  the  Congrega- 
tional church  in  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  to  become  their  pastor ;  and 
the  society  having  concurred  in  the  invitation  and  agreed  "  to 
grant  him  the  sum  of  nine  hundred  dollars  as  his  stated  salary 
so  long  as  he  should  continue  to  be  their  minister,"  he  accepted 


282  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

the  call  and  was  installed  in  November.  His  first  work  here 
was  the  reuniting  into  one  of  two  Congregational  churches 
which  had  separated  in  a  political  quarrel.  Under  his  wise  and 
winning  influence  the  reunion  was  entirely  successful  and  the 
harmony  complete.  "  Many  anecdotes  of  his  skill  and  prudence 
in  winning  the  disaffected  or  the  indifferent  are  still  related  Jjy 
his  parishioners.  One  of  those  oftenest  repeated  is  that  of  his 
conquering  the  heart  of  a  farmer  who  had  steadily  refused  to 
attend  the  Sabbath  services,  by  visiting  him  in  his  harvest-field, 
and,  without  a  word  of  professional  exhortation,  engaging  him 
in  conversation  upon  farming  and  then  taking  his  '  cradle '  and 
cutting  a  swath  of  grain  as  if  he  had  been  used  only  to  a  farm- 
er's life  all  his  days." l 

The  most  remarkable  event  of  his. ministry  in  Pittsfield  was 
the  great  revival  in  1820  and  1821,  rendered  more  remarkable 
by  the  fact  that  up  to  that  time  no  general  revival  of  religion 
had  ever  been  known  in  the  town.  The  awakening  began  in 
the  spring  of  1820,  continued  through  the  summer,  and  in  the 
autumn  about  forty  were  gathered  into  the  church  as  the  spirit- 
ual harvest.  In  May  of  the  following  year,  (1821,)  Rev.  Asahel 
Nettleton,  the  evangelist,  came  to  visit  Mr.  Humphrey  for  the 
purpose  of  rest  from  his  exhausting  labors.  But  being  persuaded 
to  deliver  an  evening  lecture,  he  saw  such  signs  of  encouragement 
that  his  rest  was  at  an  end.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  renewed 
awakening  which  continued  all  summer,  pervaded  all  classes, 
extended  to  every  part  of  the  town,  and  changed  the  face  of  the 
whole  community.  "  On  the  first  Sabbath  of  November  the 
harvest  was  gathered  in,  and  a  glorious  harvest  it  was.  Be- 
tween eighty  and  ninety,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  high  and  the 
low,  stood  up  together  in  the  long  broad  aisle  and  before  angels 
and  men  avouched  the  Lord  to  be  their  God  and  were  received 
into  the  church."  An  attempt  on  the  part  of  some  young  men 
to  break  up  a  religious  service  on  the  4th  of  July  by  firing 

1 1  am  indebted  for  this  anecdote  and  many  of  the  materials  of  this  biographical 
sketch  to  "  Memorial  Sketches  of  Heman  and  Sophia  Humphrey,"  by  Rev.  Drs. 
Z.  M.  Humphrey  and  Henry  Neill,  for  the  use  of  the  family.  I  have  also  appro- 
priated freely  the  language  of  this  book,  especially  in  its  citations  from  the  letters 
and  journals  of  Dr.  Humphrey. 


DR.    HUMPHREY   AT    1'ITTSFIELD.  283 

crackers  at  the  door  of  the  church,  marching  with  fife  and  drum 
under  the  windows,  and  at  length  a  regular  cannonade  on  the 
common,  was  turned  with  great  skill  by  the  preacher  (Mr. 
Humphrey  himself),  to  the  illustration-  and  enforcement  of  the 
theme  of  his  discourse,  greatly  increased  the  solemnity  of  the 
meeting  and  added  not  a  little  to  the  depth  and  power  of  the 
revival.  These  experiences  together  with  the  example  and 
influence  of  Mr.  Nettleton  were  fast  preparing  Mr.  Humphrey 
for  his  work  as  a  preacher  and  leader  in  revivals  in  Amherst 
College. 

Dr.  Humphrey's  presidency  of  which  we  have  written  the  his- 
tory in  the  foregoing  pages,  beginning  in  the  autumn  of  1823, 
and  ending  in  the  spring  of  1845,  extended  over  almost  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century,  almost  one-half  of  the  entire  existence  of  the 
Institution.  He  found  it  the  Charitable  Collegiate  Institution 
at  Amherst ;  he  made  it  Amherst  College.  He  found  it  the 
youngest  and  smallest  of  the  New  England  Colleges ;  he  made 
it  second  only  to  Yale  in  numbers,  and  foremost  of  all  in  the 
work  for  which  it  was  founded,  that  of  educating  young  men 
to  be  ministers  and  missionaries.  He  lived  to  see  four  hundred 
and  thirty  of  those  who  had  graduated  under  his  eye,  ministers 
of  the  gospel,  more  than  one  hundred,  pastors  in  Massachu- 
setts, and  thirty-nine  missionaries  in  foreign  lands.  It  was  un- 
der his  presidency  that  the  church  was  organized,  separate  wor- 
ship instituted,  the  chapel  built,  the  pulpit  made  a  power,  and 
no  inconsiderable  power,  in  the  work  of  education,  temperance, 
revivals  and  missions  established  as  characteristic  features  of 
the  College  ;  and  the  religion  of  Christ  recognized  as  the  fun- 
damental law  of  its  being  and  the  supreme  rule  of  its  every- 
day life.  Dr.  Humphrey  also  left  the  stamp  of  his  character 
and  influence  scarcely  less  visible,  scarcely  less  permanent  on  the 
intellectual  training  of  the  College,  not  so  much  indeed  in  the 
curriculum  and  College  laws,  the  rules  of  discipline  and  means 
of  study  and  methods  of  teaching  which  have  been  greatly  modi- 
fied, but  in  the  manner  of  thinking  and  reasoning,  the  style  of 
writing  and  speaking,  the  tone  of  morals  and  manners  and  if  I 
may  so  speak  the  domestic,  social  and  civil  life  of  the  Institution, 
which  bear  the  unmistakable  seal  of  Dr.  Humphrey's  healthy, 


284  HISTOKY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

hearty,  robust,  common  sense  and  practical  wisdom,  united  with 
high  moral  and  Christian  principle.  The  administration  of  Pres- 
ident Humphrey,  scarcely  less  than  that  of  his  predecessor,  was 
our  book  of  Genesis  in  which  many  of  our  organizations,  usages 
and  characteristic  traits  had  their  origin,  and  at  the  same  time 
our  Exodus  when  we  went  up  out  of  Egypt  and  obtained  oju* 
charter  and  laws — when  precedents  were  established,  principles 
settled,  habits  formed,  and  that  character  fixed,  which  our  Col- 
lege still  retains  and  doubtless  will  retain  more  or  less  in  all 
coming  time — when  in  the  favorite  language  of  the  President 
whom  we  so  much  honored  and  loved,  our  Zion  not  only  "length- 
ened her  cords  and / strengthened  her  stakes,"  but  laid  the  foun- 
dations, to  some  extent  the  literary  and  still  more  the  moral  and 
religious  "  foundations  of  many  generations." 

The  first  year  after  his  resignation  of  the  presidency,  Dr. 
Humphrey  fixed  his  residence  with  his  son-in-law,  Rev.  Henry 
Neill  at  Hatfield,  and  occupied  his  time  largely  in  revival  labors 
and  in  the  supply  of  vacant  congregations  in  the  neighborhood. 
But  hallowed  memories  and  beloved  friends — not  a  few  of  them 
his  own  spiritual  children — soon  drew  him  to  Pittsfield  where 
he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days,  still  ministering  in  innumer- 
able ways  to  the  people  of  his  former  charge,  still  supplying 
vacant  pulpits  and  assisting  his  brethren  in  extraordinary  labors, 
still  by  sermons  and  lectures  stirring  up  the  churches  to  renewed 
efforts  in  the  cause  of  temperance,  philanthropy  and  Christian 
missions,  still  guiding  by  his  wisdom  and  gracing  by  his  presence 
the  anniversaries  of  the  great  benevolent  societies,  still  instruct- 
ing and  delighting  the  religious  public,  now  and  then  with  a  new 
book,  but  much  more  frequently  with  articles  just  as  fresh  and 
fascinating  as  ever  in  the  newspapers.  He  never  relinquished 
his  regular  habits,  never  forsook  his  study.  There  from  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning  till  the  bell  struck  for  dinner  he  spent 
the  hours  in  writing — sometimes  a  chapter  of  a  book,  sometimes 
a  communication  from  "  The  Old  Man  of  the  Mountains,"  some- 
times a  letter  to  a  friend,  or  a  few  pages  of  a  sermon  or  auto- 
biographical reminiscence.  He  never  ceased  to  love  Amherst 
College.  Again  and  again  he  was  present  at  Commencement ; 
and  the  alumni  will  never  forget  the  addresses,  full  of  wise  pa- 


THE   EVENING  OF   HIS   DAYS.  285 

ternal  counsels  as  well  as  instructive  and  delightful  recollections 
of  College  life  which  he  gave  them  at  their  annual  reunions. 
The  evening  of  his  life  was  as  tranquil  and  sunny  as  its  mid-day 
was  rough  and  stormy.  His  last  public  effort  was  a  sermon 
which,  at  the  request  of  the  clergymen  of  Pittsfield,  he  deliv- 
ered at  a  Union  Meeting  on  the  day  of  National  Fasting  and 
Prayer,  January  4,  1861.  The  occasion — the  outbreak  of  the 
Southern  rebellion — roused  him  like  an  old  war-horse  who  snuffs 
the  battle  from  afar.  He  wrote  with  a  force  of  argument,  with 
a  fervor  of  eloquence,  with  a  religious  and  patriotic  fire  not  in- 
ferior to  that  which  great  occasions  called  forth  from  him  in  his 
best  days.  He  spoke  in  clarion  notes  that  thrilled  and  astonished 
the  whole  assembly.  The  discourse  was  published  by  request 
of  Gov.  Briggs  and  other  leading  citizens  of  Pittsfield,  and  must 
strike  every  one  who  reads  it  as  it  did  all  who  heard  it,  as  a 
most  "  remarkable  discourse  to  have  been  prepared  and  delivered 
by  a  man  standing  on  the  edge  of  his  eighty-third  year."  J 

As  he  drew  consciously  near  to  death,  he  was  at  first,  as  might 
have  been  expected  from  his  temperament  aud  his  religious 
views,  solemn,  then  peaceful,  and  at  length  joyful,  at  times 
even  full  of  triumph  as  if  he  already  heard  the  music  and  saw 
the  glories  of  the  upper  world.  He  died  at  Pittsfield,  April  3, 
1861,  in  the  eighty-third  year  of  his  age.  An  immense  congre- 
gation crowded  the  church  at  his  funeral.  Rev.  Dr.  Todd 
preached  a  highly  appreciative  funeral  sermon.  As  the  people, 
mourners  all,  passed  around  through  the  aisles  to  take  a  last 
look  of  their  friend  and  father,  Gov.  Briggs  came  and  stood  by 
the  representatives  of  the  College,  Prof.  Snell  and  myself,  and 
talked  long,  lovingly  and  reverently  of  "the  great  and  good 
man,"  for  he  insisted  that  Dr.  Humphrey  was  not  only  good 
but  great,  asking  with  an  earnestness  approaching  to  indigna- 
tion, "  Who  is  entitled  to  that  epithet  if  not  a  man  of  so  much 
magnanimity,  and  so  much  wisdom."  His  body  rests  in  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  spots  in  the  Pittsfield  cemetery  beneath  a 
broad,  square  and  massive  monument  of  granite,  than  which 
nothing  more  appropriate  could  have  been  selected  to  express 
his  character. 

1  An  article  in  The  Independent  as  cited  in  "  Memorial  Sketches." 


286  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

Of  medium  height,  well-developed  frame  and  strong  constitu- 
tion, with  black  hair,  dark,  mild  eye  and  a  well-balanced  bilious 
temperament,  he  was  a  healthy,  robust,  well-proportioned  man 
in  body,  mind  and  heart.  There  was  nothing  morbid  about  him, 
in  his  physical,  mental  or  moral  constitution.  His  strength  lay 
very  much  in  the  symmetry  of  his  character  and  the  perfect 
balance  of  all  his  powers  and  faculties.  This  made  him  a  man 
of  practical  wisdom  and  judgment.  Dr.  Todd  says  of  him :  "  A 
rare  thing  it  is  to  find  a  man  who  has  lived  more  than  fourscore 
years — always  in  action — who  has  said  and  done  so  few  unwise 
things  as  President  Humphrey.  It  is  an  original  gift.  Those 
who  have  gone  to  him  for  counsel,  those  who  have  acted  with 
him  on  committees  or  in  ecclesiastical  councils,  those  who  have 
wrestled  with  him  in  deep  discussions  in  ministerial  meetings, 
those  who  have  sat  under  him  as  an  instructor  or  pastor,  have 
all,  without  dissent,  accorded  to  him  the  appellation  of  '  a  wise 
man.'  On  all  moral  questions  his  instincts  were  quick  and 
unerring." 

He  had  a  lively  fancy,  enjoyed  a  joke,  indulged  in  genial  and 
playful  conversation,  and  a  vein  of  humor  and  pleasantry  often 
illumines  his  writings.  But  strong  common  sense  and  deep 
moral  earnestness  are  his  most  marked  and  unfailing  character- 
istics. His  integrity  and  honesty  in  business  transactions  was 
proverbial.  He  once  purchased  a  horse  of  a  man  who,  while 
accepting  the  price  offered,  told  him  that  the  horse  was  worth 
ten  dollars  more.  After  trying  the  animal,  Dr.  Humphrey  was 
satisfied  that  the  dealer  was  right  in  his  estimate,  and  returning, 
insisted  upon  his  accepting  the  extra  sum.  Few  men  have  lived 
so  nearly  up  to  the  standard  of  the  golden  rule.  His  unselfish- 
ness was  conspicuous  in  all  his  private  and  public  relations.  At 
the  same  time  his  humility  and  meekness  were  equaled  only  by 
his  magnanimity.  This  last  word  has  been  used  repeatedly  of 
Dr.  Humphrey.  No  other  word  expresses  so  fully  his  character. 
I  have  never  heard  the  epithet  applied  so  often  or  so  justly  to 
any  other  man.  Always  magnanimous,  in  his  later  years,  es- 
pecially in  his  frequent  visits  to  Amherst,  he  was  pronounced 
by  all  who  saw  him  as  magnanimity  impersonated. 

That  Dr.  Humphrey  was  a  wise  pastor  and  a  powerful  preacher, 


HIS    CHARACTER.  287 

need  not  be  said  to  any  one  who  is  acquainted  either  with  his 
history  or  his  writings.  His  ordinary  sermons  were  plain,  simple, 
direct,  searching,  applying  the  word  of  God,  especially  his  law, 
directly  to  the  hearts  and  consciences  of  his  hearers.  His  occa- 
sional discourses  rose  with  the  occasion,  often  to  the  highest 
pitch  of  argumentative  and  impassioned  eloquence.  His  style, 
robust,  manly  and  bold,  was  chiefly  marked  by  its  fitness  and 
transparent  clearness.  His  well-chosen  words  and  compact  sen- 
tences, cut  like  a  Damascus  blade,  and  not  unfrequently  from 
hilt  to  point,  the  sword  was  flashing  with  diamonds. 

Dr.  Humphrey  wrote  much  for  the  press.  From  the  time 
when  he  went  abroad  and  ceased  to  teach  the  Senior  class  Men- 
tal and  Moral  Philosophy,  he  was  in  almost  constant  communi- 
cation with  the  religious  newspapers,  especially  the  New  York 
Observer.  He  wrote  also  for  the  religious  reviews  and  monthly 
periodicals.  His  earlier  papers  of  this  kind  appeared  in  The 
Panoplist  and  The  Christian  Spectator.  He  gave  to  the  public 
some  twenty-five  or  thirty  sermons  and  addresses  on  various 
special  occasions,  and  left,  besides,  published  works  to  the 
amount  of  eleven  volumes.  Among  the  former,  the  most  cele- 
brated was  his  "  Parallel  Between  Intemperance  and  the  Slave 
Trade,"  which  although  leveled  directly  at  intemperance,  was  a 
scarcely  less  formidable  indictment  of  slavery.  Of  the  latter,  the 
"  Tour  in  France,  Great  Britain  and  Belgium,"  in  two  volumes, 
has  had  the  widest  circulation.  Dr.  Humphrey's  accurate  ob- 
servation, practical  wisdom  and  racy  style  all  appear  to  advan- 
tage in  his  published  travels. 

Dr.  Humphrey  was  not  an  acute  metaphysician  nor  learned 
in  the  History  of  Philosophy.  Hence  he  was  not  distinguished 
as  a  teacher  of  Mental  Science.  But  his  strong  common  sense 
and  his  right  moral  feeling  saw  right  through  the  sophistries  of 
Paley's  Moral  Philosophy,  and  his  classes  enjoyed  a  rare  treat  in 
seeing  him  demolish  the  whole  fabric  and  build  up  a  better  system 
on  the  ruins.  His  talks  on  the  Catechism  every  Saturday  were 
also  interesting  and  instructive.  Nowhere,  however,  did  his  wis- 
dom and  moral  greatness  shine  so  brightly  as  in  his  counsels  to 
young  men  ;  and,  with  the  exception  perhaps  of  some  of  his  ser- 
mons and  addresses,  his  familiar  conversations  with  the  Freshmen 


288  HISTORY   OF   AMHEBST  COLLEGE. 

at  the  beginning  of  their  course  and  his  truly  parental  advice  to 
the  Seniors  just  before  their  graduation,  will  linger  the  longest 
in  the  memories  of  his  admiring  and  loving  pupils.  His  warn- 
ings and  admonitions  to  professors  of  religion  at  the  opening  of 
a  revival,  his  advice  to  anxious  inquirers,  and  his  instruction  to 
young  converts  were  also  marked  by  the  same  excellences.  J£ 
little  less  distance,  reserve  and  apparent  coldness  of  manner,  a 
little  more  of  sympathy  and  personal  magnetism  would  have 
added  greatly  to  Dr.  Humphrey's  popularity  and  enthroned 
him  in  the  affections  of  all  his  pupils.  But  his  wisdom  and 
weight  of  character  greatly  overbalanced  all  defects;  and  the 
earlier  graduates  after  the  first  year  or  two  of  his  presidency, 
and  all  his  later  pupils  who  knew  him  and  saw  him  without 
prejudice,  will  never  cease  to  venerate  him  as  a  father  and  a 
sage  and  to  rank  him  among  the  wisest  and  best  of  men. 

The  portrait  of  Dr.  Humphrey  which  hangs  in  the  College 
Library,  was  placed  there  by  the  alumni  shortly  after  his  resig- 
nation. It  was  voted  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Society  of 
Alumni,  and  the  expense  was  paid  by  the  spontaneous  contri- 
butions of  nearly  two  hundred  graduates,  none  of  whom  was 
allowed  to  give  more  than  one  dollar. 

Numerous  letters  from  alumni  which  lie  before  me  furnish 
ample  proof  of  what  has  just  been  said  of  Dr.  Humphrey. 
They  abound  also  in  anecdotes  illustrative  of  his  wa}^  of  dealing 
with  students.  I  can  not  withhold  an  extract  or  two. 

"  President  Humphrey's  Freshman  Lectures  were  a  great 
treat.  It  had  been  the  fashion  in  the  classes  just  before  us l  to 
abuse  the  Doctor.  That  was  not  our  fashion.  We  liked  him 
and  admired  him.  He  was  ageing  a  little ;  his  fingers  were  un- 
steady in  picking  up  the  lots.  But  for  talks  like  these  Fresh- 
man Lectures,  he  must  have  been  just  perfectly  ripe  and  mellow. 
It  was  delightful  to  hear  him  preach.  The  peculiar  shrewdness 
of  his  remarks  on  character  and  the  wisdom  of  his  maxims  of 
conduct  were  so  set  off  by  perfect  Socratic,  or  Baconian,  or 
Solomonian  illustrations  that  they  produced  the  effect  of  strokes 
of  wit.  I  remember  well  how  his  reproving  eye  one  Sabbath 
morning  brought  me  to  the  consciousness  that  I  had  been 

1  The  writer,  Prof.  F.  A.  March,  was  of  the  Class  of  '45,  his  last  Senior  class. 


HIS    LECTURES.  289 

smiling  out  in  meeting.  I  suppose  they  were  unch archly  smiles, 
but  he  hit  things  so  pat.  In  the  Freshman  Lectures,  he  had 
free  scope  for  his  wit  and  wisdom.  He  described  and  advised 
about  habits  of  eating,  drinking,  sleeping,  bathing,  care  of  rooms, 
dress,  hats,  canes, — he  didn't  like  canes,  nor  wearing  hats  in  his 
study,  nor  dogs,  nor  horses  for  students.  He  advised  us  about 
methods  of  study,  and  methods  of  meeting  Sophomores  and  Pro- 
fessors and  the  like.  We  were  called  up  to  these  lectures  from 
the  games  of  the  campus,  and  the  time  was  taken  from  our 
hours  of  exercise.  We  often  left  with  regret  our  foot-ball  com- 
bat with  the  Sophomores.  But  we  liked  the  lectures  and  the 
Doctor  notwithstanding.  We  had  little  intercourse  with  him 
out  of  the  lecture-room.  He  was  always  busy,  and  looked  on 
his  visitors  as  I  have  since  seen  Wall  street  lawyers  in  full 
practice.  His  look  meant  business ;  kindly  but  a  little  frosty. 
He  grew  on  us,  however,  and  his  lectures  afterwards  on  Moral 
Philosophy  and  the  Bible  completed  the  impression  of  our  ear- 
lier years.  We  were  the  last  class  to  hear  his  course  and  we 
all  felt  when  we  parted  with  him  on  his  retirement,  that  he 
carried  full  sheaves  with  him." 

Apropos  of  Prof.  March's  remark  above  about  canes,  the  fol- 
lowing story  is  told  of  the  Class  of  '42  who  carried  extravagantly 
large  canes  and  bore  them  to  the  recitation-room  sometimes 
creating  much  disturbance  by  their  clatter  and  occasional  fall. 
The  class  finally  adopted  the  method  of  stacking  the  canes  dur- 
ing the  hour  in  one  corner  of  the  room.  It  happened  once  that 
a  single  cane  fell  down.  The  President  eyed  it  sharply  for  a 
time  as  if  it  were  a  war-club  portending  blood,  and  then  and 
there  deputed  one  of  the  gravest  and  most  muscular  men  in  the 
class  to  carry  it  and  put  it  in  position  with  the  rest.  This  done, 
"there  is  one  more,"  said  the  President,  pointing  to  a  huge  poker 
well  blackened  by  the  fire,  which  stood  near  the  stove,  "  put  that 
with  its  fellows."  When  that  also  was  done,  he  said,  "  there — 
now  the  circle  is  complete,"  and  then  commenced  the  recitation. 
The  canes  never  made  their  appearance  again  in  the  President's 
recitation-room.  A  truly  Socratic  homeliness  and  shrewdness 
often  gave  point  to  his  reproofs.  At  the  same  time  there  was  a 
commanding  dignity  and  decision  with  which  no  student  ever 
19 


290  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

dared  to  trifle.  I  well  remember  once  seeing  him  come  suddenly 
upon  a  cluster  of  noisy  and  rowdy  students,  seizing  one  of  the 
stoutest  of  them  by  the  shoulder  and  shaking  him  thoroughly 
with  the  significant  hint,  "  Here !  we  must  have  less  noise,  or 
we  will  have  fewer  students." 

One  day  when  the  excitement  of  "  the  rebellion  "  was  at  its 
highest  pitch,  he  went  into  a  meeting  of  one  of  the  classes,  put 
aside  the  chairman,  (now  a  distinguished  judge  on  the  bench,) 
took  the  chair  himself,  gave  them  some  wholesome  parental  ad- 
vice, and  then  sent  them  to  their  rooms,  very  much  as  Oliver 
Cromwell  dismissed  his  parliament. 

His  wit  and  wisdom  often  took  the  form  of  apophthegms. 
More  wise  and  pithy  sayings  of  Dr.  Humphrey  are  probably 
remembered  by  the  alumni  to-day  than  of  any  other  man  who 
has  ever  been  President  or  Professor  in  Amherst  College. 
And  no  wonder,  for  he  used  to  read  the  Proverbs  of  Solo- 
mon every  year  to  the  students,  and  he  advised  his  pupils  to 
read  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  every  month.  •  "  It  has  some- 
how happened,"  says  an  alumnus,1  "  that  I  have  had  occasion 
to  refer  to  the  opinions  of  Dr.  Humphrey  in  matters  of  Natu- 
ral Science  and  the  sayings  of  Dr.  Humphrey  in  matters  of 
common  sense  oftener  than  to  the  instructions  of  all  my  other 
teachers." 

"When  I  recall  the  image  of  Prof.  Fiske,"  says  the  same 
alumnus,  "  the  cheerful,  kindly  feeling  apparent  in  his  counte- 
nance seems  to  be  especially  associated  with  his  lips ;  that  of 
Prof.  Hitchcock  with  his  eyes ;  but  that  of  Dr.  Humphrey, 
while  it  illumines  the  whole  countenance,  finds  its  chief  expres- 
sion in  that  tooth  which  is  so  eager  to  perform  its  service  that  it 
can  not  stand  back  with  the  rest,  but  leans  forward,  and,  when- 
ever the  lips  move,  peeps  out  and  delivers  its  message.  Could 
I  obtain  a  likeness  of  Dr.  Humphrey  which  did  full  justice  to 
that  tooth,  I  should  esteem  it  a  treasure.  .  .  .  The  general  senti- 
ment in  regard  to  him  found  expression  in  the  words  of  Dr. 
Huntington,  then  a  student :  '  That  good  man  whose  instruc- 
tions are  most  highly  valued  by  the  Seniors  who  share  them 
oftenest  and  are  most  capable  of  appreciating  them.'"2 

i  Prof.  C.  C.  Bayley,  Class  of  '37.  2  Ibid. 


PEN   AND   INK   SKETCHES.  291 

After  somewhat  copious  descriptions  of  the  Professors  named 
above,  some  of  which  may  perhaps  find  place  elsewhere,  the 
same  alumnus  proceeds  to  photograph  some  of  the  other  Col- 
lege officers  of  his  day,  thus :  "  Tutor  Burgess  as  good  in  intel- 
lect and  heart  as  ungainly  in  appearance  ;  Tutor  Perkins  whose 
polished  scholarship  gave  promise  of  what  he  has  since  become ; 
Tutor  Dwight,  abusing  his  fine  mental  acumen  by  trying  to  say 
things  smart  and  witty ;  Tutors  Humphrey,1  '  chips  of  the  old 
block,'  but  hardly  giving  promise  of  ever  equalling  the  block ; 
Tutor  Tyler  inparting  such  an  interest  to  our  recitations  in 
mathematics  that  it  seemed  to  us  that  he  never  could  succeed 
in  anything  else ;  Prof.  Worcester,  kind,  courteous,  faithful, 
Avith  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  illustration  and  of  anecdote,  but 
not  exactly  filling  a  chair  than  which  there  is  not  another  in  Col- 
lege so  hard  to  fill ;  Prof.  Condit,  who  and  Prof.  Worcester  were 
nearly  the  complements  of  each  other ;  Prof.  Snell,  in  his  time 
without  a  rival  —  each  of  these  would  furnish  material  for  a 
chapter." 

Shall  I  add  pen  and  ink  sketches  of  President  Humphrey  and 
his  colleagues  of  the  Faculty,  by  a  graduate  of  a  class  half  a 
dozen  years  later:2  "Of  our  teachers  I  can  say,  that  we  were 
all  impressed  by  the  stealing  good  sense  and  the  courtesy  of 
President  Humphrey, — the  quiet  character  and  exact  knowledge 
of  Prof.  Snell, — the  penetrating  mind  of  Prof.  Fiske,  and  his 
searching  sermons,  at  times  awful  in  power, — the  great  good- 
ness and  simplicity,  and  enthusiasm  of  Professor,  afterwards 
President  Hitchcock,  the  (excuse  me)  geniality  and  learning  of 
Prof.  Tyler  and  his  rich  copiousness  of  discourse,  the  courtly 
manners  and  rotund  utterances  of  Prof.  Fowler,  the  scholar- 
ship of  the  Tutors,  and  especially  the  moral  worth  of  Messrs. 
Stearns  and  Clinton  Clark  and  the  (then)  mysterious  tran- 
scendentalism as  well  as  literary  refinement  of  Tutor  R.  D. 
Hitchcock." 

Prof.  Fiske  was  a  Professor  under  President  Hitchcock,  and 
continued  to  give  instruction  for  a  year  and  one  term  after  Dr. 
Humphrey  retired  from  the  presidency.  But  his  work  was 
done  under  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Humphrey,  and  was  so  im- 

i  Edward  and  John.  2  Prof.  H.  W.  Parker,  Class  of  '43. 


292  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

portant  an  element  in  its  history  that  a  brief  sketch  of  his  life 
must  here  be  given. 

Nathan  W.  Fiske  was  born  in  Weston,  Mass.,  April  17, 1798. 
Up  to  the  age  of  nine,  he  showed  more  of  mechanical  taste  and 
genius  than  fondness  for  books.  In  September,  1813,  at  the 
age  of  fifteen,  he  entered  Dartmouth  College.  In  a  powerful 
revival  in  his  Sophomore  year,  after  a  severe  struggle  which 
ended  in  his  full  submission,  not  only  to  the  law  and  govern- 
ment of  God,  but  also  to  the  Orthodox  faith,  he  began  a  Chris- 
tian life  and  at  the  same  time  entered  upon  a  new  era  of  dili- 
gence and  success  in  study.  In  1817,  he  graduated  with  high 
rank  in  the  same  class  with  President  Marsh,  and  the  mission- 
aries Goodell  and  Temple.  In  1818  he  returned  to  a  tutorship 
in  his  Alma,  in  which  he  was  associated  with  Rufus  Choate.  In 
1820,  he  entered  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover,  where 
he  remained  three  years,  and  "  distinguished  himself  by  his  in- 
dustry, by  his  success  in  the  department  of  sacred  exegesis,  by 
his  thoroughness  in  the  study  of  didactic  theology,  and  by  his 
exemplary  Christian  deportment."1  On  the  25th  of  September, 
1823,  Messrs.  Fiske  and  Warner,  afterwards  associates  in  the 
Faculty  of  Amherst  College,  were  ordained  together  as  evangel- 
ists at  the  Tabernacle  Church  in  Salem,  and  both  of  them  labored 
for  a  season  as  home  missionaries,  at  the  South.  Before  leaving 
Savannah,  Mr.  Fiske  was  appointed  Professor  of  Mathematics 
and  Natural  Philosophy  in  Middlebury.  Soon  after,  he  was  in- 
vited to  supply  the  pulpit  in  Concord,  N.  H.,  during  the  session 
of  the  Legislature,  and  about  the  same  time  asked  by  letter  if 
he  would  not  become  a  missionary  of  the  American  Board  to 
China  or  Palestine.  He  declined  both  these  calls — the  profes- 
sorship because  he  doubted  the  propriety  of  turning  aside  from 
the  ministry,  and  the  missionary  appointment  because  he  seemed 
to  himself  wholly  unsuited  to  the  work  of  a  foreign  missionary. 
In  the  summer  of  1824,  he  was  elected  Professor  of  Languages 
and  Rhetoric  in  Amherst  College.  After  much  hesitation  in 
regard  to  his  duty,  he  accepted  the  Professorship  of  Languages, 
declining  that  of  Rhetoric,  because,  besides  his  "  utter  dislike 
of  the  duties  of  instruction  in  Rhetoric,  it  would  be  utterly  im- 

1  Dr.  Humphrey's  Life  and  Writings  of  Prof.  Fiske. 


PROFESSOR   FISKE.  293 

possible  for  any  man  to  fill  both  departments."  From  1825  to 
1833,  he  was  Professor  of  the  Greek  Language  and  Literature 
and  of  Belles-Lettres ;  from  1833  to  1836  Professor  again  of 
Greek  and  Latin;  and  from  1836  to  1847  Professor  of  Intel- 
lectual and  Moral  Philosophy.  He  taught  History  also  for  some 
years,  in  connection  with  Belles-Lettres.  His  lectures  on  the 
battles  of  the  American  Revolution,  illustrated  by  large  and  ex- 
cellent drawings  on  canvas,  and  exhibiting  an  accurate  knowl- 
edge of  their  minutest  details,  were  heard  with  great  interest 
by  the  students,  and  repeated  with  moderate  success  as  popular 
lectures  in  a  few  of  the  neighboring  towns. 

Prof.  Fiske's  chief  literary  labor  for  the  public  was  his  edition 
of  Eschenburg's  Manual  of  Classical  Literature.  This  book  was 
commenced  in  the  fall  of  1834,  and  first  published  in  April, 
1836,  carefully  revised  and  reprinted  in  a  second  and  third 
edition,  and  in  1843  it  was  stereotyped  with  such  revision  and 
additions  as  to  make  it  substantially  a  new  book,  like  the  golden 
branch  of  Aeneas,  adorning  the  tree  with  treasures  not  its  own : 

"  Fronde  virere  nova  quod  non  sua  seminat  arbor." 

Few  classical  text-books  in  this  country  have  been  so  generally 
adopted  as  this  manual,  or  retained  their  place  so  long  in  the 
College  curriculum. 

Scarcely  had  he  finished  this  work,  when  his  house  which  had 
been  early  visited  with  repeated  afflictions  in  the  loss  of  young 
children,  was  quite  darkened  by  the  death  of  his  beloved  wife. 
Soon  it  was  found  that  his  own  lungs  were  suffering  from  sym- 
pathy with  the  disease  which  had  carried  her  off,  and  this  "dis- 
ease of  the  lungs,  greatly  aggravated  by  the  sorrow  of  his  heart 
and  the  loneliness  of  his  home,  ere  long  necessitated  the  use  of 
decided  measures  to  save  his  life.  In  the  midsummer  of  1846, 
the  physician  advised  a  release  from  all  College  labors,  and  a 
voyage.  Fearing  the  effect  of  his  absence  on  the  College  in  its 
present  critical  state,  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  remain  with  the  hope 
of  being  able  to  carry  on  his  department,  at  least  through  the 
first  term  of  the  next  year. 

"  But  the  very  first  week  of  labor,"  we  quote  from  his  journal, 
"  demonstrated  the  necessity  of  immediate  suspension.  I  yes- 


294  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

terday  (September  26)  held  my  last  exercise  with  ray  class. 
I  have  a  strong  impression  that  it  is  the  last  exercise  I  shall 
ever  hold  in  this  College.  Twenty-two  years  have  elapsed 
since  I  entered  upon  the  duties  of  Professor,  —  twenty-two 
classes  of  young  men  have,  during  this  time,  been  more  or 
less  under  my  instruction,  including  over  seven  hundred  that 
have  actually  graduated  here,  besides  a  large  number  that 
were  here  only  a  part  of  the  course.  Most  gracious  Redeemer, 
may  thy  atoning  blood  be  applied,  and  all  my  sins  of  omis- 
sion and  commission  in  relatipn  to  these  numerous  pupils  be 
pardoned." 

On  the  5th  of  November,  1846,  he  sailed  from  New  York 
with  Rev.  Eli  Smith  for  a  companion  and  Beirut  for  his  destina- 
tion. His  journal  and  letters  to  his  colleagues  and  other  friends 
show  that  he  enjoyed  with  the  keen  relish  of  a  classical  scholar 
and  a  cultivated  taste  every  step  of  his  voyage  up  the  Mediterra- 
nean, stopping  two  or  three  days  at  Gibraltar,  spending  a  week 
at  Malta,  rising  at  the  earliest  dawn  and  driving  furiously  to 
catch  a  glimpse  of  the  ruins  of  Athens  while  the  steamer  lay 
three  hours  at  the  Piraeus ;  touching  at  Rhodes,  landing  at 
Smyrna,  coasting  along  the  shores  of  Troy,  seeing  the  sun  rise 
and  disclose  a  sight  of  unimagined  splendor  as  he  rounded 
Seraglio  Point  and  entered  the  Golden  Horn  at  Constanti- 
nople. On  the  12th  of  January,  1847,  he  arrived  at  Beirut, 
where  he  remained  about  three  months  observing  the  customs 
and  character  of  the  people,  collecting  geological  and  botanical 
specimens  for  the  College  and  greatly  enjoying  the  society  of 
the  missionary  brethren  on  that  interesting  field.  The  journey 
which  he  took  with  Mr.  Whiting  from  Abeih  by  way  of  Sidon 
and  Jaffa  to  Jerusalem,  delighted  Prof.  Fiske  beyond  even  his 
visits  to  classic  scenes,  and  this  sacred  interest  culminated  in 
the  enthusiasm  with  which  he  saw  everything  in  and  around  the 
Holy  City.  But  he  was  now  to  go  up  higher  and  behold  the 
brighter  glories  of  the  New  Jerusalem.  His  disease  never  re- 
laxed its  hold  on  his  vital  organs.  It  was  aggravated  by  an 
attack  of  ague  and  fever  at  Beirut,  and  perhaps  hastened  by 
over-exertion  in  his  travels  through  Palestine,  and  his  sight- 
seeing at  Jerusalem.  He  set  out  at  the  appointed  time  on  his 


HIS    DEATH   AT   JERUSALEM.  295 

return  to  Beirut,  but  at  the  end  of  one  day's  journey  was 
obliged  to  go  back  to  Jerusalem  where,  in  spite  of  the  wise  and 
kind  ministries  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  McGowan  and  other  English 
missionaries,  he  died  on  Thursday,  the  27th  of  May,  1847,  just 
as  the  day  was  dawning  upon  the  sacred  city,  and  uttering  as 
his  last  words,  "  Yes  I  joy  in  the  Lord  of  my  salvation."  His 
body  was  laid  to  rest  on  Mount  Zion  beside  two  lamented  mis~ 
sionaries  and  within  a  few  yards  of  the  sepulchre  of  David.  A 
solitary  olive  tree  grows  within  the  little  walled  enclosure,  and 
the  spot  is  marked  by  a  simple  slab  with  a  Latin  inscription,  fur- 
nished by  the  College,  which  attests  the  merit  of  him  who  sleeps 
beneath  it  and  the  affection  of  those  far  away  who  erected  the 
monument. 

The  death  of  Prof.  Fiske  was  deeply  lamented  by  the  Faculty, 
students  and  alumni  of  the  College,  and  their  sorrow  at  their 
own  loss  was  enhanced  by  the  regret  in  regard  to  him  that  he 
could  not  have  lived  enough  longer  at  least  to  share  in  the  pros- 
perity that  was  now  beginning  to  flow  into  the  Institution  which 
he  so  loved  and  for  which  he  had  so  toiled  and  prayed.  A  let- 
ter was  written  by  one  of  his  colleagues  informing  him  of  the 
grant  by  the  Legislature  and  the  large  donations  of  Mr.  Willis- 
ton — the  latter  was  just  what  he  predicted — but  the  intelligence 
did  not  reach  him  on  earth;  perhaps  it  was  among  the  good 
news  that  greeted  him  on  his  arrival  in  the  better  land. 

A  narrative  of  his  journey  up  to  Jerusalem  and  his  death 
there,  written  by  his  fellow-traveler,  Mr.  Whiting,  was  read  by 
Prof.  Tyler  in  the  College  chapel,  Commencement  morning,  to 
a  large  assembly  of  alumni  and  other  friends,  mourners  all  for 
their  own  loss  and  the  loss  to  the  College  which  it  was  little 
able  to  bear.  The  Society  of  Alumni,  at  their  meeting,  put  on 
record  a  just  and  feeling  testimony  to  his  character,  scholar- 
ship and  devotion  to  Alma  Mater  in  her  seasons  of  depres- 
sion and  trial,  voted  to  procure  a  portrait  for  the  College 
library,  which,  like  President  Humphrey's,  was  paid  for  chiefly 
in  subscriptions  not  exceeding  one  dollar  each,  and  expressed  a 
"  desire  that  in  due  time  some  worthy  tribute  to  his  memory 
might  be  given  to  the  world  with  a  judicious  selection  from 
his  excellent  writings."  The  Trustees  and  the  Faculty  united 


296  HISTORY    OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

in  requesting  Dr.  Humphrey  to  prepare  and  deliver  an  eulogy. 
It  was  delivered  before  the  Faculty  and  the  students  and 
other  friends  in  February,  1848,  on  the  day  previous  to  the 
College  Fast.  And  in  1850  a  volume  was  published  by  J.  S. 
&  C.  Adams,  containing  a  fuller  memoir  by  Dr.  Humphrey, 
thirteen  selected  sermons,  an  address  at  the  Theological  Sem- 
inary in  East  Windsor  and  a  lecture  on  the  "  Unity  of  History 
and  Providence." 

Prof.  Fiske  was  an  accurate  and  refined  scholar,  a  deep  thinker, 
a  clear  reasoner,  a  powerful  preacher,  a  patient  and  thorough 
teacher,  an  acute  metaphysician  and  a  profound  theologian  whom 
God  did  and  man  did  not  make  a  Doctor  of  Divinity.  He  was 
not  a  popular  preacher.  But  no  man  has  ever  preached  to  the 
understanding,  the  conscience  or  the  hearts  of  students  in  Am- 
herst  College  with  such  overwhelming  power  as  Prof.  Fiske, 
especially  in  times  of  unusual  seriousness  and  deep  religious 
interest. 

As  a  teacher,  he  was  generally  liked  by  the  better  sort  of 
students  and  very  much  disliked  by  those  who  cared  more 
for  their  ease  and  pleasure  than  they  did  for  their  lessons. 
Rogues  and  rowdies  counted  him  their  worst  enemy.  As  a 
general  fact,  he  was  liked  by  Juniors  more  than  by  Sopho- 
mores, and  by  Seniors  better  than  either ;  and  individual  stu- 
dents, not  exactly  loved,  perhaps,  but  honored  and  valued  him 
just  about  in  proportion  to  their  love  of  learning,  truth  and 
holiness. 

The  learning  of  Prof.  Fiske  was  exact  rather  than  compre- 
hensive. He  was  too  clear,  discriminating  and  positive  in 
his  opinions  both  in  theology  and  philosophy,  to  be  a  uni- 
versal reader  or  even  a  patient  and  impartial  student  of  either 
of  these  departments.  But  what  he  did  know  he  knew  thor- 
oughly— what  he  believed  he  believed  with  all  his  mind  and 
might — what  he  loved  he  loved  with  all  his  heart,  and  there- 
fore could  teach  with  rare  skill  and  power.  Faith  in  the 
providence  of  God  and  in  the  gospel  of  Christ  was  the  con- 
trolling principle  of  his  life.  To  please  and  honor  God,  his 
Maker,  Redeemer  and  Sanctifier,  was  the  chief  end  of  every 
labor;  and  when  the  work  was  done,  he  ascribed  to  him  all 


HIS   LIFE  AND  WRITINGS.  297 

the  wisdom  of  the  process  and  all  the  success  of  the  result. 
"  I  desire  to  express  my  gratitude  to  God,"  says  this  truly 
Christian  scholar  in  his  reflections  on  completing  the  final 
revision  of  his  Manual  of  Classical  Literature,  "  for  his  kind 
providence  in  preserving  my  life  and  enabling  me  to  get  this 
work  into  a  shape  more  satisfactory  than  it  before  had.  I 
pray  him  to  forgive  every  sinful  thought  and  feeling  he  has 
seen  in  me  in  connection  with  this  work,  as  well  as  my  other 
numerous  offenses.  I  thank  him  for  often,  disposing  me  to 
seek  his  blessing  during  my  labors  upon  it,  and  I  humbly 
implore  his  future  blessing  upon  it  that  it  may  be  made  an 
instrument  and  help  in  promoting  useful  knowledge,  and  that 
it  may  never  in  a  single  instance  be  the  occasion  of  error  or 
sin  to  one  of  my  fellow-creatures."  The  posthumous  volume, 
edited  and  prepared  with  a  memoir  by  Dr.  Humphrey,  and 
entitled  "  The  Life  and  Writings  of  Prof.  Fiske,"  is  a  book  of 
no  ordinary  worth  which  ought  to,  and  in  an  age  less  prolific 
of  ephemeral  productions  would,  perpetuate  not  only  the  mem- 
ory but  the  influence  of  this  truly  extraordinary  man.  The 
memoir  is  appreciative,  instructive,  inspiring.  The  discourses, 
chiefly  sermons,  are  clear,  strong,  analytical,  logical  and  at  the 
same  time  "terribly  earnest"  like  those  of  President  Edwards, 
flashing  conviction  upon  the  conscience  like  the  Mosaic  law, 
threatening  retribution  like  the  old  prophets,  radiant  also  with 
Christian  truth  and  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  but  somewhat 
deficient  in  the  mellow  light  of  the  Christian  graces,  faith,  hope, 
love  and  joy. 

Reminiscences  of  the  wit  and  wisdom  of  Prof.  Fiske  and  of  his 
adventures  with  mischievous  students  abound  in  the  memory  of 
his  colleagues  and  in  the  letters  of  alumni  which  lie  before  me. 

With  all  his  affection  and  reverence  for  his  colleague,  Prof. 
Hitchcock,  he  often  indulged  in  pleasantries  at  the  expense  of 
his  dietetic  notions  and  his  geological  theories.  Some  patches 

O  O 

of  plaster,  put  upon  the  walls  of  his  recitation  room,  having 
frozen  one  night,  exhibited  in  the  morning  a  kind  of  frost-work 
forms  and  figures  which  bore  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  foot- 
marks recently  placed  in  the  geological  cabinet.  "  Behold,"  said 
Prof.  Fiske  to  his  class,  "  Prof.  Hitchcock's  bird-tracks." 


298  HISTORY   OP  AMHERST  COLLEGE. 

"  Prof.  Fiske  once  asked  me,"  writes  an  alumnus  of  the  class 
of  '37,1  "  what  sent  me  from  the  shadow  of  his  Alma  Mater  in 
New  Hampshire  down  to  Amherst.  I  told  him  that  as  potent 
an  influence  as  any  was  Prof.  Hitchcock's  '  Dyspepsy  Fore- 
stalled and  Resisted.'  He  laughed  and  said,  '  I  will  tell  Prof. 
Hitchcock,  for  it  is  the  only  good  I  have  ever  known  result  from 
that  production.' 

"  Prof.  Fiske  heard  our  class  in  Greek  during  the  first  part  of 
Freshman  year.  At  one  of  our  first  recitations  to  him,  a  class- 
mate had  translated  a  passage  as  I  thought  very  creditably. 
Prof.  Fiske  asked  him, '  How  did  you  translate  &/?'  He  replied 
promptly,  '  That  can  not  be  translated.'  '  Ah  !  well,  how  did 
you  translate  ysr? '  '  The  same  is  true  of  that,'  and  so  on,  with,  I 
think,  five  particles  in  the  same  sentence,  which  the  student  at 
length  justified  himself  in  not  translating  by  referring  to  the 
authority  of  his  teacher  in  the  Academy.  '  So  then,'  said  the 
Professor,  '  you  find  the  Greek  language  lumbered  down  with  a 
large  amount  of  useless  matter,  do  you  ? '  Prof.  Fiske  then  re- 
ferred to  a  sentence  in  a  past  lesson  in  which  the  same  particle 
occurred,  and  then  another ;  and  so  on  until  we  were  all  made 
to  feel  the  force  of  the  particle  if  it  was  not  to  be  translated. 
He  was,  I  think,  the  best  teacher  of  Languages,  without  excep- 
tion, from  whom  I  ever  received  instruction." 

It  was  this  nice  analysis  and  discrimination  of  the  Greek  par- 
ticles that  gave  Prof.  Fiske  the  sobriquet  of  Kai-yaQ  by  which  he 
was  familiarly  known  among  the  students.  He  was  also  not 
unfrequently  called  by  the  name  by  which  Aristotle  was  known 
in  the  school  of  Plato,  viz.,  Intellect  or  Nov$,  and  for  the  same 
double  reason,  viz.,  the  smallness  of  his  bodily  frame  and  the 
acuteness  and  vigor  of  his  mind. 

"  I  shall  never  forget  his  preaching,"  continues  Prof.  Bayley, 
"nor  the  distinctness  with  which  that  feeble  voice,  but  just 
above  a  whisper,  was  heard  in  the  remotest  corner  of  the  chapel, 
while  the  most  verdant  Freshman  would  almost  suppress  his 
breath  lest  his  breathing  should  become  audible  in  the  general 
stillness ;  and  I  remember  how  the  clock,  which  ordinarily  kept 
quiet,  occasioning  no  disturbance,  would  take  advantage  of 

i  Prof.  C.  C.  Bayley. 


HIS   PREACHING.  299 

such  times  and  repeat  its  '  Forever,  never,  never,  forever '  with 
an  energy  which  seemed  to  indicate  that  it  never  expected 
another  so  favorable  an  opportunity." 

His  kindness,  as  well  as  faithfulness,  in  administering  reproof 
to  individual  students  is  illustrated  by  the  following  instance : 
"  I  had  been  seen  looking  on  when  a  student  who  had  been  sus- 
pended for  a  season,  was  cheered  as  the  stage  drove  off  with 
him.  Prof.  Fiske  was  appointed  to  ask  me  if  I  cheered  with 
the  rest.  I  said  I  had  not,  and  he  at  once  replied  that  as  a  Col- 
lege officer  he  was  satisfied.  '  But,'  said  he, '  I  was  your  father's 
friend,  and  I  think  I  am  your  friend.  I  owe  your  father  a  debt 
of  gratitude  I  can  never  repay,  for  to  his  kind  and  faithful 
words  while  I  was  in  College,  I  owe  under  God  my  having  been 
brought  to  Christ.  And  now  let  me,  as  your  friend  and  your 
father's  friend  ask,  would  it  not  have  been  better  if  you  had  not 
been  seen  even  as  a  looker-on  ?  Did  not  your  presence  give 
countenance  to  the  unlawful  proceedings  ? '  I  was  won  by  his 
frank  kindness,  and  acknowledged  that  it  would  have  been  bet- 
ter had  I  kept  entirely  away  from  the  scene.  With  deep  grati- 
tude do  I  recall  the  incident  and  thank  God  for  the  lesson  then 
impressed  on  me  to  avoid  the  very  appearance  of  evil."1 

The  History  of  Amherst  College  can  not  be  truly  and  faith- 
fully written  without  some  mention  of  Mrs.  Humphrey,  Mrs. 
Hitchcock,  Mrs.  Fiske,  and  other  noble  women  who  were  not 
only  helpmeets  of  the  officers,  but  mothers  to  the  students, 
especially  students  in  indigent  circumstances,  and  foster-mothers 
of  the  Institution.  Nor  ought  we  to  pass  over  in  silence  Mrs. 
Dickinson,  Mrs.  Montague,  Mrs.  Merrill,  Mrs.  Strong,  and 
others  in  the  very  beginning  of  our  history  who  ministered  to 
the  men  that  laid  the  foundations  and  erected  the  first  building, 
and  then  joined  with  the  forementioned  ladies  in  ministering  to 
the  necessities  of  the  poor  young  men  who  were  preparing  to 
preach  the  gospel.  These,  and  other  ladies  of  Amherst,  early 
organized  a  Sewing  Society  for  the  express  purpose  of  sewing, 
knitting  and  mending  for  this  class  of  students.  In  an  age 

1  Kev.  Daniel  H.  Temple,  Class  of  '43.  There  is  a  biography  of  Prof.  Fiske  in 
Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit,  to  which  President  Hitchcock  and  Rev. 
A.  A.  Wood  of  the  Class  of  '31  have  contributed  their  recollections. 


300  HISTORY  OF   AMH'EEST   COLLEGE. 

when  students  were  not  too  proud  to  wear  mended  and  home- 
made garments,  they  made  not  a  few  articles  of  wearing  ap- 
parel, and  very  often  mended  garments  when  it  would  have 
been  easier  to  make  new  ones.  An  Amherst  lady  now  living 
remembers  hearing  Mrs.  Humphrey  say  of  a  coat  which  she  had 
in  hand  for  repairs :  "I  have  already  given  this  coat  new  lining, 
new  facing  and  new  sleeves',  and  now  it  has  come  back  again  to 
have  all  the  rest  of  it  made  new."  Whether  the  ladies  discussed 
the  question  of  identity  over  this  old  coat,  as  the  Athenians  did 
over  the  sacred  ship  which  for  so  many  ages  went  to  Delos,  we 
have  not  learned.  Not  unfrequently  in  such  cases  the  more 
practical  question,  "  What  is  to  be  done  with  the  old  coat,"  was 
solved  by  giving  the  poor  student  a  coat  that  had  been  some- 
what worn  by  the  President  or  one  of  the  Professors. 

Mrs.  Fiske  was  for  several  years  the  ruling  spirit  of  these  cir- 
cles. With  all  her  delicacy  of  health  and  refinement  of  taste, 
there  was  no  garment  so  poor  or  so  filthy,  that  she  would  not 
put  it  through.  Or  if  perchance  the  clothes  that  came  in,  were 
past  mending  or  cleansing,  she  knew  how  to  give  the  students 
the  hint  without  giving  offense.  When  other  ladies  were  per- 
plexed with  such  cases  and  perchance  quite  reduced  to  despair, 
Mrs.  Humphrey  would  say,  "Mrs.  Fiske  can  manage  it."  The 
latter  had  made  herself  so  much  the  mistress  of  all  the  mys- 
teries of  mending  and  making,  that  she  was  once  asked  if 
she  had  not  learned  the  tailor's  trade  in  her  youth.  In  tell- 
ing this  story  to  one  of  the  ladies  of  the  present  Faculty 
long  after,  Mrs.  Fiske  said,  "  she  was  never  so  proud  in  her 
life."  Yet  she  had  been  brought  up  in  luxury  and  refine- 
ment, was  accustomed  to  the  best  society  in  Boston,  could 
tell  a  story  as  well  as  Miss  Edgeworth  or  Mrs.  Hannah  More, 
and  left  behind  her  volumes  of  notes  and  letters  to  her 
friends  that  would  hnve  done  honor  to  the  pen  of  Lady  Mary 
Wortley  Montague.  Mrs.  Humphrey  was  a  model  housekeeper 
and,  with  a  large  family  to  be  supported  on  a  small  salary,  must 
have  been  often  severely  tasked  to  make  both  ends  meet.  But 
her  ministries  to  the  poor  and  the  sick,  the  dying  and  the  dead, 
were  unceasing.  At  the  same  time,  she  was  every  inch  a  queen 
in  every  sphere,  domestic,  social,  secular  or  religious,  in  which 


MRS.    HUMPHREY   AND    OTHER    LADIES. 

she  mcrved.  The  Martha  and  Mary  of  the  Gospels  were  harmo- 
niously united  in  her.  Mrs.  Humphrey  survived  her  husband 
several  years,  and  died  at  Pittsfield,  December  13,  1868,  in  her 
eighty-fourth  year.  Mrs.  Fiske  died  in  middle  age,  February 
21,  1844,  passing  over  the  river  by  so  quick  and  easy  a  step,  and 
preceding  him  by  so  brief  an  interval,  that  she  seemed  to  be  all 
the  while  standing  on  the  other  bank,  waiting  to  welcome  him 
to  their  heavenly  home.  Scarcely  had  she  left  us  for  the  better 
land,  when  she  was  followed  by  another  lady  of  similar  accom- 
plishments, Mrs.  Fowler,  the  daughter  of  Noah  Webster,  who 
in  her  youth  had  adorned  the  society  of  Amherst  and  who, 
returning  in  middle  life  and  with  delicate  health,  remained  with 
us  only  long  enough  to  win  the  admiration  and  love  of  all 
by  her  rare  virtues  and  graces. 

"  Amherst  was  fortunate,"  writes  an  alumnus  from  whom  we 
have  already  quoted,  "in  its  instructors  and  not  less  in  the  five 
Faculty  matrons  whose  intelligence,  sweet  dignity  and  even 
motherly  influence  were  felt  by  all  who  were  in  College  long 
enough  to  come  under  that  influence.  My  personal  relations 
brought  me  more  into  the  society  of  that  rare  and  saintly 
woman,  Mrs.  Fowler.  The  occasional  tea-drinkings  at  the  Pro- 
fessors' houses  were  always  pleasant,  free,  improving  to  us  and 
evinced,  as  I  now  understand,  a  painstaking  interest  in  the  stu- 
dents even  to  the  degree  of  much  self-denial." 

There  is  still  another  class  of  women  who  are  cherished 
in  affectionate  remembrance  by  the  alumni  and  who  ought  not 
to  be  overlooked  in  this  History.  Lest  there  should  not  be  a 
more  convenient  opportunity  I  advert  to  them  here.  I  refer  to 
those  whose  occupation  and  whose  delight  also  it  has  been  to 
make  a  home  for  successive  generations  of  students.  There  are 
those  who  have  taken  boarders  only  as  a  means  of  making-money 
or  gaining  a  subsistence.  But  there  have  always  been  others, 
most  of  them  widows,  many  of  them  "  widows  indeed,"  who  have 
cared  for  their  boarders  as  if  they  were  their  own  sons,  and 
whom  their  boarders,  in  turn,  will  always  remember  with  not  a 
little  of  the  honor,  affection  and  esteem  which  they  bear  to  their 
own  mothers.  Some  of  these,  like  Mrs.  Montague  and  Mrs. 

1  Prof.  H.  W.  Parker. 


302  HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Merrill,  whom  we  have  already  mentioned,  were  here  when  the 
College  was  founded,  and  having  boarded  successive  classes  of 
the  earlier  students  in  whose  persons  they  ever  after  felt  that 
they  had  "  entertained  angels  unawares,"  have  long  since  de- 
parted to  their  reward.  Others,  like  Mrs.  Ferry l  and  Mrs.  Lin- 
nell — not  to  name  any  who  are  still  engaged  in  this  good  work — 
have  continued  almost  to  the  present  day,  and  the  Christian 
homes  which  they  have  furnished  to  scores  and  hundreds  of 
students  are  still  remembered,  by  them  at  least,  among  the 
institutions  of  Amherst. 

'Owing  to  the  peculiar  difficulty  of  the  place  or  to  the  pecu- 
liar mobility  and  sensitiveness  of  the  incumbents  (for  Professors 
of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory,  like  poets  and  musicians,  have  gener- 
ally been  an  irritabile  genus^),  the  tenure  of  office  has  upon  an 
average  been  shorter  in  this  department  than  in  any  other.  It 
had  four  incumbents  during  the  administration  of  President 
Humphrey.  Prof.  Worcester  held  it  nine  years ;  Prof.  Condit, 
three ;  Prof.  Fowler  five ;  and  Prof.  Warner,  nine.  The  last 
entered  upon  the  office  only  a  short  time  before  Dr.  Humphrey 
left  the  presidency,  and  his  term  of  office  falls  for  the  most 
part  under  the  administration  of  President  Hitchcock.  Of  the 
first,  we  have  given  a  biographical  sketch  in  a  former  chapter. 
The  other  two  still  live  to  fill  and  adorn  other  stations,  and 
their  biography  must  be  written  by  those  who  come  after  us. 
A  few  words  only  can  here  be  said  of  them  in  their  connection 
with  Amherst  College. 

Rev.  Jonathan  B.  Coudit  was  chosen  Professor  of  Rhetoric 
and  Oratory  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  corporation  in  August, 
1835,  and  entered  upon  the  duties  of  the  office  at  the  beginning 
of  the  next  collegiate  year  while  Dr.  Humphrey  was  traveling  in 
Europe.  He  brought  with  him  a  high  reputation  for  scholarship 
in  the  College  of  New  Jersey  at  Princeton,  and  for  pulpit  elo- 
quence from  his  pastorate  at  Longmeadow,  Mass.  Perhaps  the 
remembrance  of  his  preaching  is  more  vivid  than  that  of  his 
teaching,  in  the  minds  of  those  whom  he  taught  in  College. 
Perhaps  he  was  made  for  a  pastor  or  a  professor  in  a  Theologi- 

1  Mrs.  Ferry  kept  College  boarders  thirty-six  years  and  boarded  nearly  two  hun- 
dred of  our  graduates. 


PROFESSOR    CONDIT.  303 

cal  Seminary  rather  than  a  Professor  in  College.  And  it  was, 
in  part  at  least,  his  preference  of  another  sphere  of  labor,  that 
brought  his  connection  with  the  College  to  so  early  a  termina- 
tion. Still  he  was  highly  esteemed  by  the  students  as  a  gentle- 
man of  cultivated  manners  and  refined  taste.  He  left  his  im- 
press pretty  distinctly  on  the  elocution  of  the  classes  that  came 
under  his  training.  He  was  himself  a  good  model  in  public  speak- 
ing, and  as  such  was  always  heard  with  interest  in  the  pulpit, 
and  on  special  occasions.  With  better  health  and  more  physical 
courage  to  encounter  difficulties,  he  might  perhaps  have  remained 
many  years  and  rendered  lasting  service  in  one  of  its  most  im- 
portant departments.  But  the  growing  pecuniary  embarrass- 
ments and  disciplinary  troubles  of  the  College,  conspiring  with 
the  preference  of  a  first  love  for  the  pulpit,  inclined  him  to  listen 
to  an  invitation  from  one  of  the  churches  in  Portland,  Me.,  to 
become  its  pastor.  His  labors  in  College  ceased  with  the  winter 
term  of  1837-8,  and  that  accomplished  gentleman,  writer  and 
speaker,  afterwards  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments  of  the  bar  and 
of  Congress,  James  Humphrey,  son  of  the  President,  supplied 
the  vacancy  temporarily  till  the  appointment  of  Prof.  Fowler. 

Rev.  William  C.  Fowler  was  the  head  of  this  department 
from  1838  till  1843.  He  was  appointed  Professor  of  Rhetoric 
and  Oratory,  like  his  predecessor.  But  in  the  annual  catalogue 
for  1839-40,  his  name  appears,  (without  any  corresponding 
vote  to  authorize  it  on  the  records  of  the  corporation)  as  Pro- 
fessor of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory  and  English  Literature.  At 
Middlebury  College,  from  which  he  came  to  Amherst,  he  was 
Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Natural  History.  A  graduate  of 
Yale,  where  he  was  Tutor  for  four  years,  and  a  man  of  wide 
and  varied  learning,  he  was  perhaps  almost  equally  fitted  for 
any  of  the  departments  of  College  instruction.  It  was  easy  and 
natural  for  him  to  superadd  English  Literature  to  Rhetoric  and 
Oratory ;  and  in  fact  he  magnified  this  new  sphere  of  labor  in 
which  he  has  since  won  reputation  as  an  author.  At  the  same 
time,  he  gave  more  thorough  and  analytic  instruction  than  had 
been  previously  given  in  the  elements  of  Vocal  Utterance,  Or- 
thoepy and  Elocution.  Indeed  he  carried  his  drill  in  the  ex- 
plosive system  so  far  that  it  came  near  exploding  the  College 


304  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

and  the  Professor  himself.  Some  of  the  classes  were  particularly 
fond  of  applauding  his  own  rehearsals,  and  more  than  one  grad- 
uate has  recorded  his  recollections  of  one  occasion  when  finding 
it  difficult  to  repress  this  vociferous  applause,  he  told  them  they 
might  applaud  once  more  to  their  heart's  content,  and  then  it 
must  cease  forever.  The  students  improved  their  last  opportu- 
nity till  it  seemed  as  if  they  would  raise  the  roof  with  their 
cheers,  and  stamp  out  the  floor  beneath  their  heels.  President 
Humphrey,  who  was  hearing  a  recitation  in  the  next  room,  en- 
dured this  as  long  as  he  could,  and  then  set  out  to  stop  it, 
taking  it  for  granted  that  the  students  were  having  a  good  time 
in  one  of  their  own  class-meetings.  On  opening  the  door,  what 
was  his  surprise  to  find  the  Professor  in  his  chair,  calm  and 
smiling  amid  the  commotion,  like  Neptune  amid  the  war  and 
uproar  of  the  elements,  though  not  equally  potent  to  allay  the 
storm.  Fortunately  the  appearance  of  the  President  was  enough 
to  arrest  the  proceeding,  and  he  retired  without  saying  a  word. 
It  was  not  long  after  this  that  a  note  was  sent  in  to  the  President 
at  a  Faculty  meeting  announcing  that  the  students  were  circu- 
lating and  signing  a  petition  for  the  removal  of  Prof.  Fowler. 
The  business  before  the  Faculty  was  perplexing  and  troublesome 
enough,  and  they  were  quite  astounded  as  well  as  surprised 
when  the  President  read  the  note  aloud,  remarking  that  the  ele- 
ments were  all  in  commotion  within  the  College,  as  well  as 
round  about  it.  Prof.  Fowler  fell  on  evil  times,  and  it  certainly 
was  not  all  his  fault  that  he  was  not  equal  to  the  emergency. 
In  many  things  he  rendered  valuable  service  to  the  College.  He 
superintended  some  of  the  most  important  improvements  on  the 
College  grounds.  He  wrote  the  circular  letter  to  parents  which 
was  sent  to  them  for  so  many  years  with  good  results,  and  intro- 
duced some  of  the  best  features  of  a  new  merit  roll  and  system 
of  discipline.  He  inaugurated  a  more  systematic  study  of  Eng- 
lish Literature  and  encouraged  general  reading,  particularly  the 
reading  of  history.  But  he  had  too  exalted  notions  of  the  dignity 
and  authority  of  a  College  officer.  And  he  was  never  quite  in 
sympathy  with  the  rest  of  the  Faculty  in  regard  to  temperance, 
never  quite  up  to  their  standard  in  some  other  things  that  were 
deemed  characteristic  of  the  Institution.  Perhaps,  like  the  phi- 


PROFESSOR    FOWLER.  305 

losophers  of  Athens,  he  leaned  generally  to  the  opposition.  While 
he  was  in  Amherst  he  was  known  as  a  "Whig  in  politics,  and  as 
such  was  sent  as  a  Representative  to  the  General  Court.  Proba- 
bly he  would  say  he  has  remained  a  Whig,  an  old  Whig,  ever 
since.  But  the  Democratic  party  chose  him  a  member  of  the 
Senate  in  Connecticut,  and  during  and  since  the  war  both  his 
votes  and  his  writings  have  shown  decided  Southern  proclivities, 
and  an  ultra-conservative  steadfastness  in  maintaining  "  the  con- 
stitution as  it  is." 

Prof.  Fowler's  book  entitled  "  The  English  language  in  its 
Elements  and  Forms,"  written  in  Amherst,  although  chiefly  af- 
ter his  resignation,  and  published  by  Harper  &  Brothers,  is  a 
work  of  much  research  which  is  well  adapted  for  a  text-book, 
has  been  widely  used  in  Colleges  and  schools,  and  has  contrib- 
uted much  to  the  study  of  the  mother  tongue  in  our  country. 
Common  fame  ascribes  to  him  also  the  authorship  of  a  pamphlet 
entitled  "Causes  of  the  Growth  and  Decline  of  Amherst  Col- 
lege," which  like  Gibbon's  famous  chapter  on  the  growth  of 
Christianity,  while  it  assigns  true  causes  so  far  as  they  go,  yet 
so  exaggerates  those  which  he  assigns,  and  suppresses  others 
that  it  leaves  the  impression  of  falsehood. 

The  Tutors  of  this  period,  as  we  have  said  in  a  previous  chap- 
ter, were  some  of  the  ablest  men  and  best  scholars  that  have 
ever  sustained  this  relation  to  Amherst  College.  The  entire 
list  as  it  appears  on  the  last  triennial,  is  as  follows :  Rev.  Thomas 
Power  Field,  D.  D.,  Professor  Rhetoric,  Oratory  and  English 
Literature ;  Rev.  Clinton  Clark ;  Rev.  John  Humphrey,  Pro- 
fessor Moral  Philosophy  arid  Theology,  Hamilton  College ;  Rev. 
William  Augustus  Peabody,  Professor  Latin  and  Modern  Lan- 
guages and  Literature  ;  Rev.  Jesse  George  Davis  Stearns ;  Rev. 
Roswell  Dwight  Hitchcock,  D.  D.,  Professor  Natural  and  Re- 
vealed Religion,  Bowdoin  College,  and  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical 
History,  Union  Theological  Seminary ;  Charles  Ellery  Wash- 
burn,  M.  D. ;  Thomas  Spencer  Miller  ;  Rev.  George  Baker  Jew- 
ett,  D.  D.,  Professor  Latin  and  Modern  Languages  and  Litera- 
ture ;  Hon.  Henry  Martyn  Spofford,  Judge  Supreme  Court, 
Louisiana ;  Rev.  Rowland  Ayres,  Overseer  of  Charity  Fund. 

One  characteristic  feature  of  this  list  will  strike  every  reader : 
20 


306  HISTORY    OF    AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

they  are  all  ministers  but  three, — the  great  majority  of  our  Tu- 
tors have  become  ministers, — and  of  those  three,  one  would  have 
been  a  minister  had  he  lived  to  accomplish  his  purpose.  Of  the 
remaining  two,  one  became  a  lawyer  and  the  other  a  physician. 

Five  of  the  eleven  have  deceased.  Clinton  Clark,  Tutor 
from  1837  to  1844 — the  longest  tutorship  in  the  history  of  the 
College — was  the  valedictorian  of  his  class,  and  began  his 
Christian  life  the  same  year  in  which  he  closed  his  College 
course,  in  the  revival  of  1835.  Without  any  of  those  qualities 
which  dazzle  the  public  eye,  he  had  those  substantial  excel- 
lences of  mind  and  heart,  together  with  the  accurate  scholar- 
ship and  indefatigable  industry,  which  made  him  a  highly  re- 
spected and  useful  teacher  of  four  successive  classes.  The  re- 
mainder of  his  life  -he  spent  in  preaching  the  gospel.  He  died 
suddenly  of  heart  disease,  at  Middlebury,  Conn.,  September  23, 
1871,  aged  fifty-nine. 

His  classmate  and  fellow-tutor  for  two  years,  John  Humphrey, 
was  well  fitted  to  be  associated  with  him,  for  he  had  the  com- 
pensating qualities  in  which  Clark  did  not  excel.  He  indulged 
in  reverie,  and  saw  by  intuition  rather  than  mastered  by  toil 
and  study,  and  shone  in  the  tutorship  with  the  same  graces  of 
taste  and  imagination — fascinated  students  with  the  same  per- 
sonal attractions  and  the  same  magnetic  influence  by  which  he 
afterwards  won  the  heart  of  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  his 
large  parishes  in  Charlestown  and  Binghamton.  He  died  in 
1854,  in  his  thirty-eighth  year,  in  the  very  prime  of  his  life  and 
usefulness,  just  as  he  was  about  to  enter  upon  a  professorship 
which  he  was  peculiarly  fitted  to  adorn  in  Hamilton  College; 
and  the'  volume  of  his  "  Sermons  with  a  Memoir,"  edited  and 
published  by  his  Brother,  Hon.  James  Humphrey,  of  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.,  is  a  beautiful  memorial  of  those  two  noble  sons — 
both,  alas !  too  short-lived — of  an  illustrious  father. 

William  A.  Peabody  died  in  1850  a  Professor  in  Amherst 
College,  and  a  biographical  sketch  of  him  will  be  given  in 
the  history  of  that  period.  He  was  Tutor  from  1838  to  1840, 
and  brought  to  the  tutorship  more  enthusiasm  for  classical 
studies  and  more  of  that  analytic  method  of  studying  and  teach- 
ing the  languages  which  distinguishes  modern  philology,  than 


TUTORS    OF    THE   PERIOD.  307 

perhaps  any  Tutor  that  had  gone  before  him,  wherein,  how- 
ever, he  was  well  followed  and  sustained  by  those  who  came 
after  him. 

The  three  Tutors  to  whom  we  have  alluded  were  all  from 
one  class — the  Class  of  '35;  In  Charles  E.  Washburn,  the  Class 
of  '37  gave  to  the  College  a  Tutor  as  genial  and  popular  as  he 
was  scholarly  and  faithful,  to  the  medical  and  surgical  pro- 
fession a  distinguished  ornament,  and  to  the  country  a  loyal  and 
patriotic  defender  who  sacrificed  his  life  in  her  service. 

Thomas  Spencer  Miller,  his  colleague  in  the  tutorship,  was 
born  a  mathematician  as  Washburn  was  born  a  linguist;  and 
like  his  younger  brother,  the  late  lamented  Prof.  Miller  of 
the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College,  he  inspired  his  pu- 
pils with  his  own  earnestness  alike,  whether  he  taught  them 
on  the  blackboard,  surveyed  the  fields  and  roads  with  them, 
or  pointed  them  to  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the 
sins  of  the  world.  But  like  that  young  Liverpool  preacher 
whose  name  would  almost  seem  to  have  been  given  him  in 
some  mysterious  anticipation  of  his  brief  career,  and  whose 
footsteps  he  would  fain  have  followed  in  the  ministry,  he 
was  suddenly  removed  in  the  morning  of  life,  when  he  had 
scarcely  yet  begun  his  life-work. 

Three  or  four  Trustees  whose  connection  with  the  College 
terminated  in  the  latter  part  of  Dr.  Humphrey's  presidency, 
must  here  receive  some  notice. 

One  of  these,  Mr.  Wilder,  was  a  remarkable  man  in  his  day, 
and  lived  quite  an  eventful  life.  Born  in  Lancaster,  Mass.,  May 
20,  1780,  and  passing  his  boyhood  and  early  youth  as  a  clerk  in 
a  store  first  in  his  native  town,  then  in  Gardner,  and  finally  in 
Charlestown,  and  at  length  going  into  mercantile  business  for 
himself  in  Boston,  he  gained  such  a  reputation  for  integrity, 
capacity  and  manly  independence  that  William  Gray,  the  mer- 
chant prince  of  Salem,  afterwards  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, made  him  the  principal  agent  for  the  transaction  of 
his  business  in  Europe.  The  story  of  his  introduction  to  Mr. 
Gray  and  the  brilliant  operation  by  which  he  carried  him  cap- 
tive, is  nearly  as  romantic  and  imposing  as  that  which  we  have 
narrated  in  a  former  chapter  of  his  triumph  over  the  Legislative 


308  HISTORY   OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

Committee  at  Amherst.  The  story  which  Mr.  Sidney  E.  Morse 
of  the  New  York  Observer  gave  to  the  public  a  few  years  since 
of  Mr.  Wilder's  being  "  the  first  healthy  patient "  who  ever  re- 
ceived vaccination  for  the  small-pox  in  this  country,  is  also 
equally  characteristic.  When  the  operation  was  generally  re- 
garded as  so  doubtful  and  dangerous  to  health  and  life  that  no 
patients  were  found  willing  to  submit  to  it,  Mr.  Wilder,  then 
a  clerk  at  Charlestown,  about  twenty  years  old,  relying  on  the 
evidence  received  from  Europe,  promptly  stripped  up  his  sleeve 
and  received  vaccination.  In  the  twenty  years  which  intervened 
between  1803  and  1823,  Mr.  Wilder  crossed  the  ocean  sixteen 
times,  residing  most  of  the  time  in  Paris,  making  immense  pur- 
chases of  silks  and  other  French  goods  on  most  advantageous 
terms  for  different  American  and  English  houses,  and  finally 
carrying  on  a  successful  business  for  a  firm  in  which  he  was 
himself  a  partner.  During  this  time  he  was  eye-witness  to  many 
stirring  and  strange  scenes  in  Paris,  in  some  of  which  he  bore 
a  conspicuous  part.  He  represented  the  United  States  at  the 
marriage  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  the  Embassador  being  sick 
and  unable  to  be  present.  He  has  given  a  graphic  sketch  of 
what  he  saw  when  the  Allies  entered  Paris  with  their  victori- 
ous armies.  He  even  formed  a  plan  for  the  escape  of  the  Em- 
peror on  one  of  his  (Mr.  W's)  vessels  to  America,  offering  him 
a  shelter  at  his  own  residence  in  Bolton.  But  Mr.  Wilder  was 
more  deeply  interested  in  other  transactions  which  attracted 
comparatively  little  public  attention.  His  apartments  in  the 
Rue  de  Petit  Carreau  were  the  birthplace  of  the  Paris  Bible, 
Tract  and  Missionary  Societies.  "  There  young  Prof.  Jonas  King 
often  came  while  pursuing  the  study  of  Arabic  with  the  Baron 
de  Sacy,  the  celebrated  linguist.  .  .  .  There  was  often  heard  the 
voice  of  prayer  and  praise  accompanying  this  blessed  gospel 
by  many  a  faithful  servant  of  Christ  from  America,  England, 
Switzerland  or  France  itself."1 

Returning  to  his  native  land  in  1823,  he  became  the  first  Presi- 
dent of  the  American  Tract  Society  at  its  organization  in  1825. 
He  sustained  also  the  most  intimate  and  responsible  relations  to 
the  American  Bible  Society,  the  American  Board  of  Foreign 

1  Memoir  of  S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  published  by  the  American  Tract  Society. 


S.    V.    S.    WILDER,    ESQ.  309 

Missions,  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  the  American 
Education  Society  and  the  American  and  Foreign  Christian 
Union,  to  all  of  whose  funds  he  was  a  liberal  contributor  and 
sometimes  a  speaker  at  their  anniversaries. 

Elected  a  Trustee  of  Amherst  College  in  1823,  Mr.  Wilder 
rendered  most  effective  service  by  his  personal  influence  and 
indirectly  by  his  purse  in  obtaining  the  charter.  A  constant  at- 
tendant of  the  meetings  of  the  Board  for  almost  twenty  years, 
he  spared  neither  time  nor  money  in  serving  the  College.  In 
many  instances  when  the  Institution  was  embarrassed  for  want 
of  funds,  he  became  personally  responsible  for  large  sums  for 
its  relief.  Meeting  at  length  with  reverses  in  business  which 
stripped  him  of  the  larger  part  of  his  property,  he  resigned  his 
place  as  a  member  of  the  corporation,  saying  that  he  could  not 
continue  to  hold  the  position  when  he  was  no  longer  able  to 
contribute  as  he  had  been  wont  to  the  pecuniary  necessities  of 
the  Institution.1  For  the  same  reason  he  resigned  about  the 
same  time  the  presidency  of  the  Tract  Society,  and  more  than 
twenty  other  offices  in  various  kindred  institutions. 

He  died  at  Elizabeth,  N.  J.,  March  3,  1865,  at  the  age  of 
nearly  eighty-five.  Mr.  Wilder  was  imposing  in  person  and 
manners.  He  knew  how  to  do  acts  of  almost  royal  munificence 
in  a  royal  way.  Perhaps  he  sometimes  overacted  so  as  to  border 
on  theatrical  display.  But  few  men  have  made  their  influence 
felt  so  powerfully  in  promoting  temperance,  truth  and  evangeli- 
cal religion  as  Mr.  Wilder  did  in  private,  not  less  than  public 
life,  at  home  as  well  as  abroad,  at  Ware,  at  Bolton,  in  New 
York  and  in  Elizabeth,  and  wherever  his  lot  was  cast.  Several 
tracts  and  books  perpetuate  the  history  of  his  successful  and 
almost  romantic  labors  of  love  in  various  spheres  of  action. 

Hon.  Samuel  C.  Allen  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Corpora- 
tion by  the  Legislature,  February  21,  1826,  and  continued  to 
hold  the  office  till  his  death  in  1842.  He  was  born  in  Bernards- 
ton,  January  5,  1772,  graduated  at  Dartmouth  in  1794,  and 

1  Dr.  Humphrey's  letter  in  response  to  Mr.  Wilder's  letter  of  resignation  is  a 
touching  expression  of  the  extreme  regret  of  the  Trustees  to  part  with  one  who 
had  been  with  them  "  in  six  troubles,  yea  in  seven,"  and  grateful  "  acknowledgments 
for  all  he  had  done  to  build  up  and  sustain  this  struggling  Institution."  See 
Memoir  of  Mr.  Wilder,  p.  286. 


310  HISTORY   OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

was  s'ettled  as  the  third  pastor  of  the  First  Congregational 
Church  in  Northfield,  November  25,  1795.  After  a  ministry  of 
about  two  years,  he  was  dismissed  January  30, 1798,  relinquished 
the  ministry  and  practiced  law  in  Greenfield  and  Northfield. 
He  was  a  representative  in  Congress  twelve  years,  and  held  va- 
rious other  civil  offices.  In  1832-3,  he  volunteered  to  give  a 
short  course  of  lectures  on  Political  Economy  to  the  Senior 
class,  for  which  he  received  the  thanks  of  the  Trustees,  and 
which  were  heard  with  interest  by  some  of  the  Faculty  as  well 
as  by  the  students.  He  was  a  warm  advocate  of  Free  Trade, 
which  was  the  doctrine  of  the  text-book  then  used  in  College, 
as  well  as  of  the  Democratic  party  to  which  Mr.  Allen  belonged. 

"  At  the  time  of  Mr.  Allen's  ministry  in  Northfield,  the  Con- 
gregational denomination  had  not  been  divided  into  Orthodox 
and  Unitarians,  and  he  was  then  considered  Orthodox,  though 
he  afterwards  became  a  Unitarian."1  He  died  in  Northfield, 
February  8,  1842,  aged  seventyr  The  American  Almanac  for 
1843,  says  of  him :  "  Mr.  Allen  was  a  man  of  active  habits  and 
vigorous  intellect,  and  his  opinions  had  great  weight  in  the  part 
of  the  country  to  which  he  belonged." 

Hon.  William  B.  Banister  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Corpo- 
ration, at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  in  1830,  in  place  of 
Hon.  Eliphalet  Williams,  who  declined  the  appointment.  He 
was  born  at  Brookfield,  November  8,  1773,  fitted  for  College  at 
Westfield  Academy,  was  one  term  a  member  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege, but  then  transferred  his  relation  to  Dartmouth,  where  he 
graduated  in  1797.  He  began  the  practice  of  law  in  Newbury, 
Vt.,  in  1800,  removed  to  Newburyport,  Mass.,  in  1807,  and 
shortly  after  relinquished  his  profession  and  went  into  mercan- 
tile business.  In  1810,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Legislature,  and  from  1810  to  1819  was  several  times  a 
member  of  the  House,  and  several  times  a  member  of  the  Sen- 
ate. He  was  for  thirty-three  years  a  member,  and  for  twenty 
years  a  deacon  of  the  church  in  Newburyport,  of  which  Dr. 
Spring  was  formerly  pastor;  and  during  most  of  these  years 
•either  a  teacher  or  superintendent  of  the  Sabbath  School. 

1  History  of  Churches   and   Ministers  in  Franklin  County,  by  Rev.  Theophilus 
Packard. 


HON.    WILLIAM   B.    BANISTER.  311 

A  warm  friend  of  Christian  education,  Mr.  Banister  was  for 
many  years  a  member  of  the  School  Committee  and  a  Trustee 
of  the  Putnam  Free  School  in  Newburyport,  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  and  of  the  Board  of  Visitors  of  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary  at  Andover  from  1827  till  1843,  when  he  went 
out  of  office  by  age,  and  a  Trustee  of  Amherst  College  from 
1830  to  1844.  He  was  a  wise  counselor  and  efficient  helper  of 
the  College  in  the  period  of  its  greatest  pecuniary  embarrass- 
ment. In  1839,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Committee  in  whose 
name  the  circular  was  sent  out  which  proved  so  effective,  in  con- 
nection with  other  agencies,  in  obtaining  funds  from  the  public 
when  repeated  applications  to  the  Legislature  had  proved  ut- 
terly unavailing. 

Like  Mr.  Wilder,  Mr.  Banister  was  a  warm  friend  and  patron 
of  all  the  leading  benevolent  societies,  and  in  his  will  made 
large  bequests  to  such  institutions.  He  died  at  Newburyport, 
July  1,  1853,  aged  seventy-nine.  He  married  for  his  second 
wife  a  daughter  of  Moses  Brown,  one  of  the  principal  founders 
of  Andover  Seminary.  His  third  wife,  Miss  Zilpah  P.  Grant, 
the  distinguished  Principal  of  the  Seminary  at  Ipswich,  still 
lives  at  the  old  family  mansion  in  Newburyport. 

Rev.  John  Brown,  D.  D.,  was  a  Trustee  from  1833  till  his 
death  in  1839,  and  during  most  of  this  period  was  a  member  of 
the  Prudential  Committee  and  one  of  the  most  active  and  use- 
ful members  of  .the  Board.  He  was  born  in  Brooklyn,  Conn., 
on  the  4th  of  July,  1786,  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in 
1809,  studied  theology  the  next  two  years  at  Andover  Semi- 
nary then  in  its  infancy,  and  was  Tutor  the  next  two  years  in 
the  College  where  he  was  educated.  On  the  8th  of  December, 
1813,  he  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Cazenovia,  where  he  labored  with  great  fidelity  and 
success  about  fifteen  years.  The  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity 
was  conferred  on  him  by  Union  College  in  1827.  In  1829, 
he  succeeded  the  Rev.  Dr.  Skinner  in  the  pastorate  of  the  Pine 
Street  Church,  Boston,  but  finding  himself  not  at  home  and  not 
adapted  to  a  city  charge,  he  accepted  a  call  from  the  church  in 
Hadley,  where  he  was  installed  on  the  2d  of  March,  1831,  and 
where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days,  greatly  esteemed  for 


312  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

his  solid  and  enduring  qualities  as  a  minister  and  as  a  man, 
much  beloved  by  those  especially  who  knew  him  at  home  in  the 
bosom  of  his  beautiful  and  lovely  family.  After  a  ministry 
of  eight  years  at  Hadley,  he  died  there  of  consumption,  March 
22,  1839,  aged  fifty-three.  The  disease  which  terminated  his 
own  life  had  carried  off  a  large  number  of  brothers  in  their 
prime,  and  now,  within  a  short  period,  it  swept  away  almost  his 
entire  family  of  accomplished  daughters.  Eight  at  least  of  his 
family,  including  himself  and  wife,  lie  side  by  side  in  the  Had- 
ley cemetery,  and  most  of  them  died  in  the  course  of  two  or 
three  years. 

Dr.  Humphrey,  who  preached  his  funeral  sermon  and  fur- 
nished a  sketch  of  him  for  Sprague's  Annals,  says  of  him:  "  Dr. 
Brown  was  one  of  that  class  of  ministers  who  had  more  talent 
and  merit  than  some  others  of  higher  attractions  and  wider 
celebrity.  He  was  one  of  those  whom  God  has  generally  most 
highly  honored  by  multiplying  the  seals  of  their  ministry,  and 
who  will  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament  and  as  the 
stars  forever." 

We  can  not  review  the  history  of  Amherst  College  at  this 
period  without  a  feeling  of  sympathy  and  sorrow  for  those 
members,  whether  of  the  Corporation  or  of  the  Faculty,  whose 
connection  with  the  Institution  came  to  a  close  while  it  was  in 
a  state  of  so  much  embarrassment  and  depression,  just  as  we 
can  not  but  sympathize  with  Moses  in  sacred  history  in  that  he 
came  to  the  very  borders  of  Canaan,  but  was  not  permitted  to 
enter.  Some  of  them  had  glimpses  and  visions  of  the  land 
of  promise.  Dr.  Humphrey  never  doubted  that  the  College 
would  see  better  days.  Prof.  Fiske  prophesied  not  only  the 
coming  relief,  but  the  source  from  which  it  was  to  come.  His 
last  words  to  his  friend  and  colleague,  President  Hitchcock, 
were :  "  Amherst  College  will  be  relieved ;  Mr.  Williston  will 
give  it  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  you  will  put  his  name  upon 
it."  But  even  he  came  only  to  the  borders,  without  being  per- 
mitted to  enter  the  promised  land. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

PRESIDENCY   OF   DR.  HITCHCOCK. 

THE  presidency  of  Dr.  Hitchcock  opened  with  auspicious 
omens.  The  donation  of  Hon.  David  Sears,  made  the  previous 
year  (1844),  was  now  just  beginning  to  manifest  its  benignant 
influence,  and  being  the  first  large  gift  by  an  individual  donor 
for  the  purpose  of  an  endowment,  gave  promise  of  other  dona- 
tions for  like  purposes.  On  the  very  day  of  the  new  President's 
inauguration,  Hon.  Samuel  Williston  of  Easthampton,  by  a  do- 
nation of  twenty  thousand  dollars,  founded  the  Williston  Pro- 
fessorship of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory.  The  plan  for  preventing 
any  further  increase  of  the  debt  which  was  formed  before  the 
retirement  of  President  Humphrey,  but  was  conditioned  on  the 
election  of  Dr.  Hitchcock  to  the  presidency,  having  received 
the  sanction  of  the  Trustees  and  the  written  assent  and  co-op- 
eration of  all  the  Professors,  went  into  effect  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  new  administration.  According  to  this  plan,  the 
income  of  the  College,  administered  and  appropriated  by  the 
permanent  officers  themselves  with  all  the  wisdom  and  economy 
of  which  they  were  masters,  after  deducting  all  the  necessary 
current  expenses,  was  divided  among  them  as  their  salary  and 
means  of  support.  This,  while  it  ensured  economy  and  inspired 
courage  at  home,  enlisted  sympathy  and  restored  confidence 
abroad ;  and  a  series  of  measures  followed  which,  during  the 
less  than  ten  years  of  Dr.  Hitchcock's  presidency,  extinguished 
the  debt,  added  an  Astronomical  Observatory,  a  Library  and 
two  Cabinets  of  Natural  History  to  the  public  buildings,  secured 
the  permanent  endowment  of  four  professorships,  together  with 
valuable  books  and  immense  scientific  collections,  and  doubled 
the  number  of  under-graduates. 


314  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

These  remarkable  results,  however,  were  not  to  be  reached 
at  once,  nor  without  a  previous  season  of  trial  and  struggle,  of 
disappointment  and  discouragement.  The  immediate  increase 
of  numbers  which  was  anticipated  from  a  change  of  administra- 
tion and  in  the  hope  of  which  Dr.  Humphrey  was  rather  pressed 
to  retire  one  term  earlier  than  was  agreeable  to  himself,  was  not 
realized.  On  the  contrary,  the  year  1845-6,  which  was  the  first 
collegiate  year  of  the  new  presidency,  opened  with  the  same 
number  of  Freshmen  as  the  previous  year,  and  with  an  aggre- 
gate of  one  hundred  and  eighteen  students  instead  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-one.  In  1846-7,  the  aggregate  was  only  one 
hundred  and  twenty,  and  there  was  an  increase  of  only  one  in 
the  Freshman  class.  Meanwhile  there  was  no  further  addition 
to  the  funds,  and  the  President  was  receiving  for  his  salary  at 
the  rate  of  five  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  and  each  Professor  at 
the  rate  of  four  hundred  and  forty  dollars  a  year.  One  at  least 
of  the  Trustees  (one  of  the  wisest  and  most  honored,  though 
not  the  most  hopeful  and  courageous)  was  still  doubtful  whether 
it  would  not  be  wiser  to  turn  the  College  into  an  Academy  (for 
a  good  Academy  was  better  than  a  poor  College);  and  what  was 
still  more  discouraging  and  even  alarming,  some  of  the  most  in- 
fluential students  were  so  doubtful  of  the  perpetuity  of  the  In- 
stitution that  nothing  but  the  personal  solicitation  of  the  Presi- 
dent induced  them  to  stay  and  graduate.  No  wonder,  if  under 
such  circumstances,  the  President  and  Professors  were  some- 
times desponding,  and  the  very  lights  sometimes  seemed  to  burn 
blue  at  our  Faculty  meetings  ! 

It  was  during  this  period  of  discouragement  and  depression 
that  the  three  Literary  Societies  were  dissolved,  and  two  new 
ones  organized  in  their  stead.  While  there  were  from  two 
hundred  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  students  in  College,  and 
while  there  was  a  lively  interest  felt  in  the  Literary  Societies, 
three  Societies  could  be  well  sustained.  But  the  Literary  So- 
cieties had  long  been  altogether  secondary  in  interest  to  the 
"  Greek  Letter  Fraternities,"  which  had  in  fact  drawn  their 
very  life-blood  out  of  them.  And  now  when  the  number  of 
students  had  fallen  off  one-half,  the  alternative  seemed  to  be  a 
less  number  of  Societies,  or  the  extinction  of  them  altogether. 


REORGANIZATION   OF   THE   LITERARY   SOCIETIES.  315 

There  was  also  doubtless,  a  conviction,  of  long  standing  and 
widely  prevalent  among  the  students,  that  two  Societies  in  Col- 
lege, like  two  parties  in  the  State,  were  the  natural  order,  and 
the  current  of  Society  feeling  and  interest  would  flow  smoothly 
in  Amherst,  only  when  as  in  most  other  Colleges,  there  were  but 
two  Literary  Societies.  The  question  of  having  two  Societies 
instead  of  three,  began  to  be  discussed  in  the  Societies  as  early 
as  the  spring  of  1843,  but  the  majority  were  then  decidedly 
against  the  change.  In  April,  1846,  the  sentiment  had  so  far 
changed  with  changing  circumstances,  that  committees  were  ap- 
pointed by  all  the  Societies,  to  consider  the  expediency  of  a  re- 
organization, and  the  best  method  of  consummating  it.  The 
Alexandrian  and  Athenian  Societies  were  in  favor  of  the  plan 
and  took  immediate  measures  for  carrying  it  into  execution.  It 
was  not  till  June  that  the  Social  Union,  and  then  perhaps  under 
the  pressure  of  circumstances  that  seemed  to  render  it  neces- 
sary, voted  to  come  into  the  arrangement.  After  paying  their 
debts  by  a  sale  of  furniture  and  books,  the  Societies  brought 
the  remainder  of  their  property  into  a  common  stock,  "  each 
contributing  an  amount  equal  to  that  of  the  poorest  Society," 
and  early  in  July  they  were  dissolved.  The  common  stock  of 
books  and  other  property,  was  then  divided  into  two  equal 
portions.  The  students  of  the  College  were  also  divided,  by 
an  impartial  allotment,  into  two  equal  bodies  which  were  or- 
ganized into  two  new  Societies.  For  several  years  the  two 
new  organizations  bore  the  names  of  Academic  and  Eclectic. 
But  in  the  spring  of  1853,  for  the  convenience  of  associated 
action  in  the  choice  of  the  annual  orator,  in  occasional  pub- 
lic debates  and  some  other  matters  of  common  interest,  they 
united  in  a  third  organization  comprising  the  members  of 
both,  which  they  called  the  Social  Union;  and  then  the  two 
Societies  resumed  the  names  Alexandrian  and  Athenian,  by 
which  the  two  primitive  Societies  of  the  College  had  been  dis- 
tinguished. 

I  find  on  the  records  no  traces  of  any  action  of  the  Trustees 
or  the  Faculty  for  or  against  these  changes  in  the  Societies.  I 
do  not  think  the  question  was  referred  to  either  of  these  bodies 
for  advice  or  sanction.  Doubtless,  however,  the  members  of 


316  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

the  Faculty  and  more  or  less  of  the  Corporation  also,  were 
consulted  as  individuals,  and  doubtless,  they  general!}'  con- 
curred in  the  same  opinion  with  the  members  of  the  Socie- 
ties, that  under  the  circumstances,  the  organization  was  ex- 
pedient and  necessary.  And,  even  now,  with  the  maximum 
number  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  students  again,  probably 
there  is  not  an  officer  or  student  in  the  College  who  would  vote 
for  a  return  to  the  old  system  of  three  instead  of  two  Literary 
Societies. 

The  breaking  up  of  those  old  associations  which  are  among 
the  most  cherished  and  sacred  memories  of  the  older  Alumni, 
is  a  great  trial  to  them,  and  thus  a  serious  loss  and  misfortune 
to  the  College.  But  they  would  have  been  scarcely  less  mor- 
tified and  afflicted  if  they  had  come  back  here  to  find  the 
old  Alexandrian,  Athenian  or  Social  Union  existing  indeed  in 
name,  and  in  uninterrupted  succession,  but  no  longer  the  same 
Society  which  stirred  their  blood  and  commanded  their  sac- 
rifices. A  radical  change  has  come  over  the  old  Literary  Socie- 
ties in  all  the  Colleges,  leaving  them  little  else  than  a  name. 
Revolution  or  extinction  seemed  to  be  the  alternative  before 
the  Literary  Societies  of  Amherst  at  this  critical  period  in  their 
history. 

We  now  resume  the  general  history  of  the  College. 

Being  in  Cambridge  at  the  inauguration  of  President  Everett 
in  January,  1846,  Dr.  Hitchcock  improved  the  opportunity  to 
call  on  Mr.  Sears,  in  the  hope  of  inducing  him  to  erect  a  build- 
ing for  scientific  purposes,  which  was  greatly  needed.  But  he 
met  with  so  little  encouragement,  that  he  told  Hon.  Josiah  B. 
Woods  of  Enfield,  with  whom  he  fell  in  on  his  return,  that  he 
had  made  up  his  mind  to  two  things :  1,  To  go  back  to  Amherst 
and  labor  on  fqr  the  College,  as  long  as  he  could  keep  soul  and 
body  together ;  and  2,  Never  to  ask  anybody  for  another  dollar ! 
Mr.  Woods  told  him  that  he  was  quite  too  much  disheartened,  arid 
that  he  thought  he  could  raise  the  whole  or  a  part  of  the  money 
needed  for  the  erection  of  such  a  building.  Thus  did  hope  and 
relief  spring  from  the  very  bosom  of  despair ;  for  this  was  the 
beginning  of  the  effort  which  resulted  in  the  rearing  on  "Meet- 
ing-house Hill,"  of  the  Woods  Cabinet  and  Lawrence  Observa- 


LIGHT   OUT  OF  DARKNESS.  317 

tory.  And  the  scientific  reputation  of  Dr.  Hitchcock,  together 
with  his  self-sacrificing  labors,  and  the  self-denial  of  his  col- 
leagues, was  the  very  fulcrum  and  standing-place  (the  nov  ar<a  of 
Archimedes)  by  means  of  which  Mr.  Woods  raised ,  the  money. 
He  went  to  Hon.  Abbott  Lawrence,  and  other  men  of  like  char- 
acter and  standing  in  Boston  and  Lowell,  and  told  them  it  was 
a  shame  for  such  a  man  as  Dr.  Hitchcock  who  stood  at  the  very 
head  of  American  savants,  to  toil  and  starve  in  Amherst.  They 
were  at  first  inclined  to  doubt  whether  Mr.  Woods  had  not  over- 
rated Dr.  Hitchcock's  rank  and  reputation  among  men  of  sci- 
ence. But  he  quoted  the  authority  of  Mr.  Lyell,  whom  he  had 
heard  say  that  the  Doctor  knew  more  of  geology  and  could  tell 
it  better  than  any  other  man  he  had  met  on  this  side  of  the  At- 
lantic. "  If  you  still  doubt  it,  however,"  said  Mr.  Woods,  "  I 
will  bring  him  down  here,  and  you  shall  see  for  yourselves."  It 
was  with  great  difficulty  that  Dr.  Hitchcock  was  induced  to 
show  himself  under  such  circumstances.  But  he  went  down ; 
these  gentlemen  saw  him,  and  were  charmed  alike  by  his 
wisdom  and  his  modesty.  Hon.  Abbott  Lawrence  subscribed 
one  thousand  dollars ;  the  balance  of  the  money  was  soon 
forthcoming;  and  by  the  removal  of  prejudice  and  the  en- 
lightening of  the  public  mind  in  influential  circles  in  and 
around  Boston,  the  way  was  prepared  for  obtaining  a  grant 
from  the  Legislature. 

Meanwhile,  however,  the  President  in  his  despondency  and 
almost  despair  had  discovered  another  and  still  richer  mine.  He 
gives  the  following  account  of  it  himself  in  his  Valedictory  Ad- 
dress :  "  Our  experiment  had  stopped  the  downward  course 
of  the  College  and  turned  to  some  extent  the  prejudices  of  the 
public  into  sympathy  for  us.  Still  we  could  make  no  improve- 
ments; our  debts  pressed  heavily  upon  us ;  we  found  it  difficult 
to  eke  out  our  deficient  salaries ;  and  though  our  numbers  slowly 
increased,  the  College  seemed  to  my  dejected  spirits  to  be  sink- 
ing deeper  and  deeper  into  the  mire,  and  I  became  at  length  en- 
tirely satisfied  that  Providence  did  not  at  least  intend  to  make 
use  of  my  instrumentality  to  bring  it  relief.  Oh,  how  little  did 
I  suspect  how  near  that  relief  was,  and  how  simply  and  easily 
God  would  alter  the  whole  aspect  of  things  !  Indeed  when  the 


318  HISTORY   OF    AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

change  came,  it  seemed  to  me  as  obviously  his  work  as  if  I  had 
seen  the  sun  and  moon  stand  still  or  the  dead  start  out  of  their 
graves;  and  it  appeared  as  absurd  for  me  to  boast  of  my  agency 
in  the  work  as  for  the  wires  of  the  telegraph  to  feel  proud  be- 
cause electricity  was  conveying  great  thoughts  through  them. 
Oh,  no,  let  the  glory  of  this  change  be  now  and  ever  ascribed 
to  special  Divine  Providence. 

"  In  the  discouraging  circumstances  in  which  I  was  then 
placed,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  I  must  resign  my  place. 
Yet  I  felt  apprehension  that  in  the  condition  of  our  funds  no 
one  worthy  the  place  would  feel  justified  in  assuming  it.  I 
therefore  determined  to  make  an  effort  to  get  a  professorship 
endowed.  And  where  was  it  more  natural  for  me  to  look  than 
to  one  who  only  a  short  time  before  had  cheered  us  by  the  en- 
dowment of  a  professorship. 

"  It  had  become  so  common  a  remark  among  the  officers  of 
Amherst  College,  that  if  any  respectable  friend  should  give  us 
fifty  thousand  dollars,  we  should  attach  his  name  to  it,  that  I 
felt  sure  it  would  be  done  ;  and  I  recollected,  too,  the  last  words 
of  Prof.  Fiske,  when  he  left  us :  '  Amherst  College  will  be  re- 
lieved ;  Mr.  Williston,  I  think,  will  give  it  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  you  will  put  his  name  upon  it.'  I  felt  justified,  there- 
fore, in  saying  to  him,  that  if  his  circumstances  would  allow 
him  to  come  to  our  aid  in  this  exigency  by  founding  another 
professorship,  I  did  not  doubt  this  result  was  to  follow.  He 
gave  me  to  understand,  that  in  his  will  a  professorship  was  al- 
ready endowed,  and  that  he  would  make  it  available  at  once,  if 
greatly  needed.  Nay,  he  offered  to  endow  the  half  of  another 
professorship  provided  some  one  else  would  add  the  other  half. 
But  as  to  attaching  his  name  to  the  College,  he  felt  unwilling 
that  I  should  attempt  to  fulfill  that  promise,  certainly  during 
his  life. 

"  The  half  professorship  thus  offered,  was  soon  made  a  whole 
one  by  Samuel  A.  Hitchcock,  Esq.,  of  Brimfield.  And,  oh! 
what  a  load  did  these  benefactions  take  from  my  mind !  For 
several  years,  each  returning  Commencement  had  seemed  to 
me  more  like  a  funeral  than  a  joyful  anniversary,  for  I  saw 
not  how  the  downward  progress  of  the  College  was  to  be 


GRANT   BY    THE    LEGISLATURE.  319 

arrested.  But  now,  with  the  addition  of  thirty  thousand  dol- 
lars to  our  funds,  I  began  to  hope  that  we  might  be  saved. 
But  the  kindness  of  Providence  had  other  developments  in 
store  for  us. 

u  These  events  occurred  in  the  winter  of  1846, *  while  the 
Legislature  of  Massachusetts  was  in  session.  We  had  often  ap- 
pealed to  them  unsuccessfully  for  help ;  and  I  feared,  that  when 
the  generous  benefactions  of  individuals  should  be  made  public, 
we  should  seek  in  vain  in  that  quarter  for  the  aid  which  should 
in  justice  be  given  us.  I  therefore  requested  permission  of  the 
Trustees,  by  letter,  to  make  one  more  application  to  the  Gov- 
ernment. They  allowed  me  to  do  it,  and  the  result  was  a 
donation  from  the  State  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  The 
passage  of  the  resolve  met  with  less  opposition  than  on  former 
occasions.  Perhaps  the  following  incident,  communicated  to 
me  by  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  may  appear  to  the  Chris- 
tian to  be  connected  with  this  fact. 

"  The  bill  for  aiding  Ainherst  College  came  up  on  Saturday, 
and  met  with  strong  and  able  opposition,  so  that  its  friends 
trembled  for  its  fate.  On  Saturday  evening,  a  few  members  of 
the  Legislature  were  in  the  habit  of  meeting  for  prayer.  That 
evening  the  bill  for  aiding  the  College,  formed  the  burden  of 
conversation  and  of  supplication,  and  each  one  agreed  to  make 
it  the  subject  of  private  prayer  on  the  Sabbath.  Monday  came, 
the  bill  was  read ;  but  to  the  amazement  of  these  praj- ing  men, 
opposition  had  almost  disappeared,  and  with  a  few  remarks  it 
was  passed.  How  could  they,  how  can  we,  avoid  the  convic- 
tion that  prayer  was  the  grand  agency  that  smoothed  the 
troubled  waters,  and  gave  the  College  the  victory,  after  so  many 
years  of  bitter  opposition  and  defeat !  "  It  is  hardly  necessary 
to  add,  what  Dr.  Hitchcock  believed  as  fully  and  insisted  on  as 
strenuously  as  any  of  us,  that  prayer,  in  this  case,  was  accom- 
panied by  exertion,  and  faith  by  works ;  and  "  by  works  faith 
was  made  perfect."  In  proof  of  this,  we  have  only  to  notice 
the  rare,  and  not  accidental,  number  of  distinguished  graduates 
and  other  friends  of  the  College,  who  were  at  that  time  mem- 

1  The  writer  must  mean  1846-7.     It  was  in  1847  that  the  grant  was  voted  by 
the  Legislature. 


320  HISTOEY   OF   AMHERST  COLLEGE. 

bers  of  tlie  Legislature.  Hon.  William  B.  Calhoun  was  Presi- 
dent of  the  Senate.  Among  the  Senators,  most  of  whom  were 
friendly,  it  is  not  invidious  to  name  Jonathan  C.  Perkins,  an 
alumnus,  and  Joseph  A  very,  one  of  the  founders  and  Trustees 
of  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary,  as  especial  friends.  In  running 
the  eye  over  a  list  of  the  members  of  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, we  notice  the  names  of  Henry  Edwards  of  Bos- 
ton, Otis  P.  Lord  of  Salem,  Alexander  H.  Bullock  of  Wor- 
cester, John  Leland  of  Amherst,  John  Clary  of  Conway,  Henry 
Morris  of  Springfield,  and  Ensign  H.  Kellogg  of  Pittsfield. 
Mr.  Woods,  who  watched  the  bill  pretty  closely,  says  that 
to  no  one  in  the  Senate  was  the  College  more  indebted  than  to 
Hon.  C.  B.  Rising,  one  of  the  Senators  from  Hampshire  County, 
who,  when  it  was  proposed  unceremoniously  to  reject  the 
petition,  rose  and  spoke  manfully  and  ably  in  defence  of  the 
Institution. 

In  1847,  Hon.  David  Sears  also  made  an  addition,  large,  lib- 
eral and  unique,  to  the  Sears  Foundation  of  Literature  and 
Benevolence.  By  what  considerations  he  was  influenced,  may 
be  seen  from  his  letter,  which  was  read  at  the  dedication  of 
the  Woods  Cabinet  and  the  celebration  which  was  connected 
with  it :  "  While  the  benefactors  of  the  College  are  thus  hon- 
ored," says  he,  "the  Faculty  of  the  College  should  come  in  for 
their  share  of  gratitude.  I  have  been  a  silent,  but  not  inatten- 
tive observer  of  them.  I  have  been  informed  of  their  devotion 
to  their  literary  labors, — of  their  self-denials, — of  their  volun- 
tary surrender  of  a  part  of  their  moderate  salaries, — reserv- 
ing only  enough  for  a  bare  subsistence, — to  relieve  the  College 
in  its  necessity.  Such  disinterested  zeal  stands  out  brightly, 
and  merits  an  honorable  record." 

While  money  was  thus  flowing  in  from  individual  donors  and 
from  the  Treasury  of  the  State,  Prof.  Adams  presented  to 
the  College  his  great  Zoological  collection,  and  Prof.  Shepard 
offered  to  deposit  his  splendid  cabinet  as  soon  as  a  fire-proof 
building  could  be  erected  suitable  to  receive  it. 

"  See  now,"  says  Dr.  Hitchcock  as  he  reviews  this  period  in 
his  Reminiscences,  "see  how  altered  was  the  condition  of  the 
College!  More  than  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  had  flowed 


AMOUNT   OF    DONATIONS.  321 

in  upon  it  in  endowments  and  buildings  in  a  little  more  thaii  two 
years,  as  follows: 

Williston  Professorship  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory,     ....  $20,000 

Graves  Professorship  of  the  Greek  Language  and  Literature,  20,000 

Hitchcock  Professorship  of  Natural  Theology  and  Geology,    .  22,000 

Donation  from  the  State, 25,000 

Sears  Foundation, 12,000 

The  Woods  Cabinet  and  Observatory, 9,000 

$108,000 

"  Along  with  the  pecuniary  aid  there  came  also  a  rich  profu- 
sion of  specimens,  either  presented  or  on  deposit,  whose  value  is 
poorly  expressed  in  money.  If  only  half  their  present  value 
we  must  add  from  thirty-five  to  forty  thousand  dollars  to  the 
above  sum.  Was  it  enthusiasm  in  me  to  speak  of  the  change  as 
follows : 

"  Our  debts  were  canceled  and  available  funds  enough  left  to 
enable  us  to  go  on  with  economy  from  year  to  year  and  with 
increased  means  of  instruction.  The  incubus  that  had  so  long 
rested  upon  us,  was  removed ;  the  cord  that  had  well-nigh 
throttled  us,  was  cut  asunder,  and  the  depletion  of  our  life- 
blood  was  arrested.  Those  only  who  have  passed  through  such 
a  season  of  discouragement  and  weakness,  can  realize  with 
what  gratitude  to  God  and  our  benefactors  we  went  on  with 
our  work. 

"  The  great  additions  to  our  funds,  made  in  the  latter  part  of 
1846  and  the  first  part  of  1847,  were  not  made  public  till  after 
a  special  meeting  of  the  Trustees,  which  took  place  July  6, 
1847.  This  was  the  most  delightful  Trustee  meeting  I  had 
ever  attended.  Those  venerable  men,  Drs.  Fiske,  Packard, 
Vaill,  Ely,  Ide,  William  B.  Calhoun,  and  John  Tappan,  George 
Grennell,  Alfred  Foster,  Samuel  Williston,  Linus  Child,  David 
Mack,  Ebenezer  Alden  and  Henry  Edwards,  whom  Dr.  Hum- 
phrey and  myself  had  so  often  met  with  a  discouraging  story 
of  debt  and  an  empty  treasury,  were  now  for  the  first  time  to 
be  told  of  God's  wonderful  goodness  in  turning  our  captivity 
and  answering  their  long-continued  and  earnest  prayers.  They 
were  to  have  a  little  respite  before  they  died,  from  the  incessant 

demands  upon  their  beneficence  and  labors  with  which  they  had 
21 


322  HISTORY   OF   AMHEBST   COLLEGE. 

ever  been  met.  It  was  a  matter  of  high  gratification  to  see  how 
happy  they  were  in  their  subsequent  visits  to  Amherst,  to  see, 
how  everything  was  altered  for  the  better  as  the  fruit  of  their 
long  toil,  and  sacrifice,  and  prayers." 

The  chief  business  of  this  meeting  of  the  Trustees  was  the 
appropriation  of  the  newly  received  grants  and  donations,  and 
the  naming  of  the  new  buildings  and  professorships.  The  first 
appropriation  was  for  the  payment  of  the  debt,  then  amounting 
to  twelve  thousand  four  hundred  and  sixty -five  dollars,  for  this 
was  the  sore  and  heavy  burden,  and  Mr.  Sears  had  wisely  made 
it  a  condition  of  his  donations  that  the  College  must  pay  its 
debts  before  it  could  receive  the  full  benefit  of  his  foundation. 
The  debt  was  paid  partly  from  the  funds  of  the  College  and 
partly  from  the  grant  of  the  State.  The  remainder  of  the 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  granted  by  the  State,  was  appro- 
priated to  the  endowment  of  the  Massachusetts  Professorship  of 
Chemistry  and  Natural  History.  The  term  bills  were  reduced 
from  forty-eight  to  forty -two  dollars  a  year,  and  it  was  voted  to 
remit  the  full  amount  of  the  regular  term  bills  to  indigent  stu- 
dents preparing  for  the  Christian  ministry.  The  new  Cabinet 
received  the  name  of  Hon.  Josiah  B.  Woods,  and  ths  Observa- 
tory that  of  Hon.  Abbott  Lawrence.  The  Professorship  of  Nat- 
ural Theology  and  Geology,  endowed  by  Hon.  Samuel  Williston 
and  Samuel  A.  Hitchcock,  Esq.,  was  named  from  the  latter ;  the 
Professorship  of  Greek  and  Hebrew,  endowed  by  Mr.  Williston, 
was  named  the  Graves  Professorship,  with  a  double  reference 
to  the  maiden  name  of  Mrs.  Williston  and  to  Col  Graves,  one 
of  the  founders ;  and  a  new  Professorship  of  Latin  and  French, 
temporarily  endowed,  was  called  the  Moore  Professorship,  in 
honor  of  the  first  President.  Arrangements  were  also  made 
for  making  up  in  full  the  deficient  salaries  of  the  President 
and  Professors,  and  the  sum  of  twelve  hundred  dollars  was 
appropriated  for  repairs  and  placing  blinds  upon  the  College 
edifices. 

No  man  ever  knew  better  than  Dr.  Hitchcock  how  to  make 
the  most  of  any  success  in  the  way  of  public  impression.  The 
placing  of  blinds  upon  the  windows  of  the  dormitory  buildings 
was  a  stroke  of  policy  for  impression  on  the  students,  equal  to 


ANNOUNCEMENT  TO   THE   STUDENTS.  323 

Napoleon's  gilding  the  dome  of  the  Invalides  for  dazzling  the 
eyes  of  the  Parisians,  although  under  very  different  circumstan- 
ces. Not  less  suited  to  please  students  was  his  policy  of  making 
to  them  the  first  formal  and  public  announcement  of  all  these 
donations  and  the  action  of  the  Trustees.  The  scene  is  thus 
described  in  the  Reminiscences :  "  The  meeting  closed  in  the 
afternoon,  and  as  the  students  were  yet  ignorant  of  the  whole 
matter  of  which  I  knew  they  felt  a  deep  interest,  I  took  the  op- 
portunity at  evening  prayers  to  read  the  votes,  and  I  shall  never 
forget  the  scene  that  followed.  At  first  they  did  not  seem  to 
comprehend  the  matter,  and  they  gave  no  demonstration  of  their 
feelings  especially  as  two  of  the  Trustees  were  present.  But  as 
the  successive  announcements  came  out,  they  could  not  restrain 
their  feelings  and  began  to  clap,  and  by  the  time  the  last  vote 
was  read,  the  clapping  was  tremendous,  and  when  they  were 
dismissed  and  had  reached  the  outer  door  of  the  Chapel,  they 
stopped  and  the  cheering  was  long  and  loud." 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Trustees  in  August,  1847,  they 
appointed  "  a  committee  to  consider  in  what  manner  we  should 
testify  our  gratitude  to  God  and  our  benefactors,  in  view  of  re- 
cent favors  to  the  College."  They  reported,  that  "  at  such  time 
as  the  President  and  Professors  shall  regard  as  suitable,  a  public 
meeting  be  held  in  Amherst,  with  an  invitation  to  the  friends 
and  benefactors  of  the  College  to  be  present,  and  that  Hon. 
William  B.  Calhoun  be  requested  to  deliver  an  address  on  the 
occasion."  The  meeting  was  deferred  till  June  28,  1848,  in  or- 
der to  connect  with  it  the  dedication  of  the  new  Cabinet  and 
Observatory,  which  would  not  be  finished  and  filled  with  speci- 
mens at  an  earlier  date.  The  occasion  was  one  of  deep  interest. 
The  President's  address  of  welcome  was  in  the  same  strain  of 
wonder  and  gratitude  to  God  and  our  benefactors  which  we 
have  seen  in  the  foregoing  pages.  Mr.  Calhoun  in  his  address 
of  commemoration  and  dedication  said :  "  The  waning  fortunes 
of  this  Institution  have  for  years  brought  to  our  hearts  gloom, 
despondency,  almost  despair.  Heaven  again  beams  upon  us 
with  blessings.  To  heaven  let  us  not  cease  to  offer  the  incense 
of  thanksgiving.  We  render  our  thankfulness  and  gratitude 
to  all  our  benefactors.  We  leave  behind  us  the  night  of,  gloom 


324  HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

through  which  we  have  passed.  We  receive  the  College  into 
the  fellowship  of  new  and  animated  hopes.  The  massive  struct- 
ures upon  which  are  inscribed  the  names  of  the  generous  do- 
nors, rising  up  in  the  midst  of  this  landscape,  these  hills  and 
valleys  of  unsurpassed  grandeur  and  beauty,  are  now  dedicated 
to  the  cause  of  science  and  truth.  Long,  ever  may  they  stand 
thus  dedicated.  Here  may  science  remain  tributary  to  virtue, 
freedom,  religion.  Here  may  there  be  inscribed  on  all  these 
walls  and  in  every  heart,  Christo  et  Ecclesiae" 

In  response  to  the  call  and  remarks  of  President  Hitchcock, 
brief  addresses  were  made  by  Gov.  Armstrong,  Mr.  Woods,  Mr. 
Williston,  Prof.  Silliman,  Prof.  Shepard,  Prof.  Redfield,  and 
President  Wheeler,  and  letters  were  read  from  ex-President 
Humphrey,  Prof.  B.  B.  Edwards,  Mr.  Sears,  Mr.  Lawrence,  Mr. 
Gerard  Hallock  and  others.  It  was  a  day  of  great  rejoicing,  and 
in  the  name  of  all  who  participated  in  this  festival  of  joy  and 
gratitude,  in  the  name  especially  of  the  generous  donors  whose 
benefactions  were  thus  celebrated,  and  whose  names  are  in- 
scribed upon  those  walls  and  tablets,  the  writer  of  this  History 
here  enters  his  public  protest  against  any  hasty  or  needless  re- 
moval of  these  buildings.  Dedicated  to  science  and  religion, 
and  inscribed  with  the  names  of  the  generous  donors,  we  can 
not  but  say  with  the  distinguished  orator  of  the  day,  "Long, 
ever  may  they  stand  thus  dedicated,  and  thus  inscribed." 

At  the  dedication  of  the  Observatory,  President  Hitchcock 
remarked:  "We  should  be  very  faithless  and  ungrateful  to 
doubt  that  the  same  Providence  which  has  done  so  much  for  us 
the  past  year,  will  send  us  a  fitting  telescope  if  it  is  best  for  us  to 
have  one,  and  send  it,  too,  just  at  the  right  time."  In  his  Vale- 
dictory Address,  he  was  able  to  say:  "  This  prediction,  through 
the  liberality  of  Hon.  Rufus  Bullock,  has  been  fulfilled ;  and  a 
noble  telescope  has  just  been  placed  in  yonder  dome  which, 
through  the  great  skill  and  indefatigable  industry  of  Alvan 
Clark,  Esq.,  who  has  constructed  it,  is  one  of  the  finest  instru- 
ments of  its  size  that  ever  graced  an  observatory.  In  the  hands 
of  Mr.  Clark,  it  has  already  introduced  to  the  astronomic  world 
two  new  double  stars  never  before  recognized — one  of  which  is 
probably  binary." 


PRESIDENT   HITCHCOCK   ABROAD.  325 

After  the  first  three  years  of  his  administration,  having  already- 
succeeded  beyond  his  most  sanguine  hopes  in  relieving  the  Col- 
lege from  debt,  and  established  it  on  a  solid  pecuniary  founda- 
tion, while  at  the  same  time  he  saw  it  increasing  in  numbers, 
and  enjoying  a  literary  and  religious  prosperity  corresponding 
with  its  financial  condition,  President  Hitchcock  might  well  have 
said,  "  Now  lettest  Thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace."  He  now 
began  to  press  upon  the  Trustees  a  wish  to  retire  from  the  pres- 
idency. But  instead  of  listening  to  his  suggestion,  they  pressed 
him  to  recuperate  his  health  and  spirits  by  a  tour  in  Europe,  and 
in  the  spring  of  1850,  he  and  Mrs.  Hitchcock  reluctantly  set  out 
on  their  journey.  He  traveled  through  Great  Britain,  France, 
Belgium,  Switzerland,  and  a  portion  of  Germany ;  explored  the 
Geology  of  these  countries,  examined  the  Agricultural  Schools, 
in  the  discharge  of  a  commission  unexpectedly  received  from 
the  government  of  Massachusetts ;  visited  and  studied  the  scien- 
tific collections,  the  galleries  and  museums  ;  observed  with  equal 
interest  the  natural  features,  and  the  moral  and  religious  aspects 
of  the  countries ;  attended  the  meeting  of  the  British  Associa- 
tion for  the  advancement  of  science  at  Edinburg,  and  the  Peace 
Congress  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  and  returned  home  "  hav- 
ing been  absent  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  days,  and  traveled 
ten  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-seven  miles,"  (these  details 
are  characteristic,)  and  having  expended  for  himself  and  wife 
less  than  two  hundred  dollars  over  and  above  what  he  received 
from  the  Government  and  from  individuals  with  whom  he  trav- 
eled or  fell  in,  and  who  insisted  on  defraying  portions  of  his 
expenses.  On  reaching  Amherst,  he  was  received  at  the  en- 
trance of  the  town  by  the  students  who  gave  him  an  enthusi- 
astic welcome,  and  in  the  evening  expressed  their  joy  by  an 
illumination  of  the  College  buildings. 

In  the  postscript  of  a  letter  of  Prof.  B.  B.  Edwards,  which 
was  read  at  the  dedication  of  the  Cabinet,  he  says :  "  When 
your  new  building  for  the  Library  is  completed — fire-proof — a 
fine  specimen  of  architecture,  and  filled  with  twenty  thousand 
new  books,  as  I  presume  it  will  be,  I  will  promise,  without  fail, 
to  be  present.  Please  inform  me  of  the  time  of  its  dedication." 
It  was  more  than  two  years  after  this  was  written,  before  even 


326  HISTORY  OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

the  first  step  was  taken  towards  raising  money  for  a  Library 
building.  Yet  even  then  the  building  already  existed  in  the 
faith  and  hope  of  Prof.  Edwards,  and  his  love  and  zeal  and 
efforts  were  among  the  chief  means  of  its  actual  existence  a  few 
years  later  in  a  material,  form  and  style  of  architecture  corre- 
sponding to  his  sanguine  anticipations. 

Encouraged  by  the  Sears  foundation,  a  portion  of  whose  income 
was  restricted  to  the  purchase  of  books,  by  a  liberal  donation 
from  George  Merriam,  Esq.,  of  Springfield,  and  by  an  informal 
meeting  of  a  few  friends  of  the  College  in  Salem,  (Judges  Per- 
kins and  Huntington,  and  Richard  P.  Waters,  Esq.,)  Prof.  Ed- 
wards brought  the  subject  before  the  Trustees  at  their  annual 
meeting  in  1850,  and  they  authorized  an  immediate  effort  to 
procure  means  for  erecting  a  Library,  and  increasing  the  num- 
ber of  books.  Prof.  Edwards  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
whom  this  duty  was  devolved.  The  work  of  raising  the  money 
was  commenced  by  Prof.  Tyler  who  started  a  subscription 
(where  subscriptions  in  behalf  of  the  College  have  most  fre- 
quently taken  their  start)  in  the  town  of  Amherst.  Three  thou- 
sand dollars  were  raised  on  the  spot  before  any  effort  was  made 
elsewhere.  Another  thousand  was  raised  in  the  vicinity,  chiefly 
in  the  neighboring  churches.  Mr.  Merriam  had  already  given 
his  pledge  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars.  Mr.  Williston,  who  in 
this  as  in  all  the  other  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  College,  was  the 
largest  benefactor,  stood  ready  with  a  donation  of  three  thou- 
sand dollars.  But  the  larger  and  more  difficult  part  of  the  work 
was  done  by  Mr.  George  B.  Jewett  who,  when  he  commenced 
it,  was  a  teacher  of  a  private  school  in  Salem,  but  soon  after 
was  made  Professor  of  Latin  and  Modern  Languages.  Among 
the  largest  subscriptions  out  of  Amherst,  were  those  of  David 
Sears  and  Jonathan  Phillips  of  Boston.  When  the  sum  of  fif- 
teen thousand  dollars  was  procured,  ten  thousand  was  devoted 
to  the  building,  and  the  remainder  to  the  purchase  of  books. 
The  building  was  planned  by  the  same  architect  as  the  Cabinet 
and  Observatory,  (Mr.  Sykes.)  It  was  begun  in  1852,  and  fin- 
ished in  1853.  Prof.  Edwards,  alas,  did  not  live  to  see  it  com- 
pleted. His  friend,  Prof.  Park,  had  the  melancholy  satisfaction 
of  delivering  an  address  at  the  dedication.  The  erection  of  this 


LIBRARY,  WITH  PRESIDENT'S  HOUSE  AND  COLLEGE  HALL. 


THE   SCIENTIFIC   DEPARTMENT.  327 

building  introduced  a  new  era  in  the  architecture  on  the  College 
hill.  Hitherto  brick  had  been  the  sole  material.  The  Library, 
according  to  the  suggestion  of  Prof.  Edwards,  was  of  stone,  thus 
inaugurating  what  might  be  called  the  age  of  granite.  And  it 
was  scarcely  less  a  new  epoch  in  regard  to  the  new  books  that 
were  placed  on  the  shelves,  and  the  new  facilities  which  were 
iiuw  afforded  for  reading  and  study. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Trustees  at  Amherst,  October 
11,  1852,  they  established  a  Scientific  Department,  designed  to 
meet  the  wants  of  graduates  who  wish  to  pursue  particular 
branches  of  science  and  literature  beyond  the  regular  four 
years'  course,  and  of  other  young  men  who  desire  to  study 
some  subjects  without  joining  the  regular  classes.  This  depart- 
ment grew  naturally  out  of  the  rich  and  extensive  Cabinets  and 
the  valuable  Laboratory  which  the  College  possessed,  together 
with  the  rare  cluster  of  Scientific  Professors  gathered  here  under 
the  auspices  and  guidance  of  a  Scientific  President.  As  adopted 
by  the  corporation  and  published  in  the  Catalogue  for  1852-3, 
the  department  comprised  nine  branches  which  were  to  be  taught 
chiefly  by  the  regular  Professors  of  the  ordinary  College  course, 
(although  two  or  three  other  gentlemen  resident  in  the  town 
were  called  in  to  supplement  deficiencies,)  as  follows :  1,  Geol- 
ogy by  the  President ;  2,  Mathematics,  Natural  Philosophy  and 
Engineering  by  Prof.  Snell ;  3,  Chemistry  by  Prof.  Clark;  4, 
Agriculture  by  Rev.  J.  A.  Nash;  5,  Mineralogy  by  Prof.  Shep- 
ard ;  6,  Zoology  by  Prof.  Adams ;  7,  Botany,  without  any 
special  Professor ;  8,  Psychology  and  History  of  Philosophy  by 
Prof.  Haven ;  9,  Philology  by  Professors  Tyler  and  Jewett,  and 
English  Literature  by  Prof.  Warner.  The  Department  was  to 
be  entirely  independent  of  the  regular  College  course,  but  stu- 
dents were  to  be  allowed  to  attend  any  of  the  regular  courses 
of  lectures. 

The  plan  went  into  operation  in  January,  1853.  In  1853-4, 
there  were  twelve  scientific  students  ;  in  1854-5,  there  were 
seventeen ;  in  1855-6,  there  were  none  reported,  and  in  1857-8, 
the  plan  drops  out  of  the  Catalogue.  In  the  triennial  only  seven 
men  are  recorded  as  having  so  completed  the  course  as  to  re- 
ceive the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science. 


328  HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

This  experiment  differed  from  that  of  the  "  Parallel  Course  " 
twenty  "years  previous,  in  that  the  Scientific  Department  was 
entirely  independent  of  the  regular  College  course  instead  of 
being  parallel  and  incorporated  with  it,  and  not  professing  to  be 
an  equivalent  for  it,  did  not  confer  the  same  academic  degree. 
But  it  came  to  nearly  the  same  issue,  and  that  partly,  if  not 
chiefly,  for  the  same  reasons.  The  work  of  instruction  was  de- 
volved almost  entirely  on  the  Professors  in  the  regular  course 
who  already  had  as  many  duties  and  responsibilities  on  their 
hands  as  they  could  faithfully  and  successfully  discharge.  More 
money  and  more  men  were  requisite  to  make  it  a  success,  and 
even  with  these  the  older  Institutions  in  or  near  the  large  cities 
have  the  advantage  over  Amherst  in  regard  to  purely  scientific, 
as  also  in  regard  to  professional  education.  The  practical  lesson 
of  these  experiments  seems  to  be,  let  Amherst  adhere  to  her 
original  and  proper  work,  the  educational  work  of  a  New  Eng- 
land Christian  College. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Trustees  in  August,  1853, 
President  Hitchcock  offered  to  make  a  donation  to  the  College 
of  his  collection  of  fossil  foot-marks,  valued  by  Prof.  Shepard 
at  thirty-five  hundred  dollars,  on  condition  that  the  friends  of 
the  College  would  raise  five  or  six  hundred  dollars  for  the  in- 
crease of  the  collection,  and  the  Trustees  would  make  the  neces- 
sary arrangements  for  the  permanent  exhibition  of  it  in  the  Geo- 
logical Cabinet.  Before  the  offer  was  made,  the  first  condition 
had  already  been  met  through  the  agency  of  Dr.  Hitchcock  him- 
self. Of  course  the  Trustees  were  not  slow  to  comply  with  the 
second  condition,  and  thus  the  Doctor's  private  Ichnological  Cab- 
inet became  the  property  of  the  College,  just  as  his  Mineralogical 
and  Geological  Cabinets  had  been  given  to  the  College,  fifteen 
years  previous  on  very  similar  conditions.  These  Cabinets  are 
now  of  inestimable  value,  especially  the  Ichnological,  which  is, 
perhaps,  the  choicest  and  richest  of  the  kind  in  the  world,  and  so, 
besides  attracting  thousands  of  ordinary  visitors  every  year,  has 
made  Amherst  a  kind  of  Mecca  to  geologists  and  savants  of  all 
nations.  It  would  have  been  easy,  and  perhaps  perfectly  right 
for  Dr.  Hitchcock  to  have  kept  it  in  his  own  hands,  increasing 
it  constantly  by  purchase  and  exchange,  and  leaving  it  as  his 


THE  ICHNOLOGICAL   AND  INDIAN   COLLECTIONS.  329 

P 

private  property.  But  that  was  not  his  way.  It  was  charac- 
teristic of  him  rather  to  give  it  to  the  College  without  imposing 
any  other  conditions,  except  such  as  would  make  it  more  valua- 
ble and  useful. 

At  the  same  time  Mr.  Edward  Hitchcock,  Jr.,  presented  to 
the  College  his  collection  of  Indian  relics,  the  fruit  of  half  a 
dozen  years'  industry,  and  then  consisting  of  seven  hundred  and 
twenty-one  specimens,  stipulating  only  that  the  collection  should 
be  placed  in  suitable  cases,  and  should  never  be  merged  with  any 
other  collection.  Thus  was  the  foundation  laid  for  the  Gilbert 
Museum  of  Indian  Relics. 

At  the  same  meeting  of  the  Trustees,  Dr.  Clark,  Mr.  Child, 
Dr.  Vaill,  Dr.  Alden  and  Mr.  Edwards  were  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  inquire  into  the  state  and  condition  of  the  College  in 
pursuance  of  the  recommendations  of  the  President  at  the  close 
of  his  annual  report.  At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Board  at  Am- 
herst,  November  21,  1853,  that  committee,  after  much  prelimi- 
nary investigation  and  consultation  with  the  Professors,  the 
Treasurer,  and  others  on  the  ground,  made  an  extended  written 
report,  which  was  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Trustees,  and 
entered  on  their  records.  After  expressing  their  conviction  re- 
sulting from  careful  investigation,  that  the  College  is  in  a  pros- 
perous and  progressive  state,  and  that  its  patrons  and  guardians 
have  just  cause  of  congratulation  and  encouragement,  they  pro- 
ceed to  suggest  a  few  particulars  in  which  there  is  room  for  im- 
provement. Among  these  suggestions,  carefully  guarded  and 
kindly  expressed,  but  deemed  very  desirable,  are  a  more  vigilant 
and  effective  supervision  by  the  Faculty  of  the  students  at  their 
rooms,  and  on  the  grounds,  and  without  abating  in  the  least  the 
paternal  element  in  the  government,  a  more  rigid  enforcement 
of  the  College  laws,  and  more  promptness  in  removing  those 
who  can  not  be  governed  by  moral  suasion.  "  If  the  present  ad- 
ministration of  the  College  can  be  improved  in  any  particular," 
says  the  committee,  "  it  is  believed  to  be  in  this."  After  some 
half  a  dozen  other  recommendations,  among  which  are  the  in- 
crease of  the  salaries  of  the  Professors  to  one  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  that  of  the  President  to  twelve  hundred,  and  the 
setting  apart  of  a  recitation  room  to  each  of  the  Profess- 


330  HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ors,  with  a  special  appropriation  for  illustrating  and  adorning 
the  walls  of  the  Greek  room, — the  first  step  in  a  process  which 
has  resulted  in  making  the  classical  recitation-rooms  among  the 
most  attractive  rooms  in  the  College — the  committee  conclude 
their  report  as  follows  :  "  The  rank  which  Amherst  College  now 
holds  among  the  great  educational  agencies  of  our  land,  im- 
poses on  the  Board  of  Trustees,  responsibilities  which  they  can 
neither  relinquish,  nor  slightly  discharge,  without  compromising 
interests  the  most  solemn  and  momentous  ;  and  so  far  as  these 
responsibilities  have  in  time  past  been  transferred  to  the  Faculty 
— as  was  very  properly  done  to  some  extent  during  a  period  of 
depression,  when,  to  save  it  from  sinking,  they  generously  con- 
sented to  remain  at  their  post,  and  to  take  the  College  into  their 
hands  for  the  scanty  compensation  which  its  income  would  af- 
ford— the  committee  think  the  time  has  now  come  for  the  Trus- 
tees to  resume  the  entire  responsibility  of  its  management,  and 
thus  relieve  the  Faculty  of  all  burdens  not  specifically  devolved 
on  them  by  the  laws  of  the  College." 

Whether  this  meeting  of  the  Trustees  hastened  at  all  the  res- 
ignation of  the  President  is  not  known.  Probably  it  did  not, 
although  the  report  of  the  Committee  which  the  Trustees 
adopted  as  their  own,  reflected  somewhat  on  the  administration 
in  a  characteristic  and  vital  point.  But  it  doubtless  led  to  the 
resignation  of  Prof.  Warner  who,  "not  so  much  under  the  pres- 
sure of  experience  as  under  the  experience  of  a  pressure,"  re- 
signed his  office  at  this  time.  In  accepting  his  resignation,  the 
Trustees  "  tendered  him  the  assurance  of  their  sincere  respect 
in  view  of  the  uniform  courtesy  which  has  marked  his  inter- 
course with  them  during  the  whole  period  of  his  connection 
with  the  College  and  the  deep  interest  he  has  uniformly  taken 
in  its  welfare."  At  the  same  meeting,  they  elected  Rev.  Thomas 
P.  Field,  then  of  Troy,  N.  Y.,  to  fill  the  vacancy. 

Three  days  after  this  meeting  of  the  corporation,  President 
Hitchcock  addressed  a  letter  "  to  the  Hon.  Nathan  Appleton 
and  other  executors  of  the  will  of  the  late  Hon.  Samuel  Apple- 
ton,"  rehearsing  the  donation  and  growth  of  the  zoological  col- 
lections of  Prof.  Adams,  describing  the  history  and  value  of  his 
own  collection  of  fossil  foot-marks  which  he  further  enforced 


RESIGNATION   OF  PRESIDENT   HITCHCOCK.  831 

by  the  testimonies  of  Dr.  Gould  and  Prof.  Agassiz,  explaining 
the  inconvenience,  the  utter  inadequacy  and  also  the  insecurity 
of  the  rooms  in  which  these  collections  were  now  deposited, 
and  modestly  inquiring  whether  the  erection  of  a  suitable  build- 
ing to  receive  and  protect  them  all,  would  not  come  within  the 
scope  of  the  liberal  bequest  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars 
which  Mr.  Appleton  left  for  the  purposes  of  literature,  science 
and  benevolence.  For  an  entire  year  Dr.  Hitchcock  received 
no  answer  to  this  letter,  and  he  had  relinquished  all  hope  that  it 
would  meet  with  any  response. 

Meanwhile  his  health  and  spirits,  somewhat  recruited  by  his 
foreign  tour,  had  relapsed  to  such  a  degree  that  he  felt  he  could 
no  longer  endure  the  burden  of  the  presidency,  and  must  insist 
on  being  relieved.  With  this  view,  he  summoned  a  special 
meeting  of  the  Trustees  in  Boston  on  the  llth  of  July,  1854, 
and  there  resigned  his  office,  into  their  hands,  assigning  as  his 
only  reason  "  the  inadequacy  of  his  health  to  sustain  the  labors, 
especially  those  pertaining  to  the  government  of  the  Institution." 
It  was  voted  "  that  the  resignation  of  President  Hitchcock  be 
accepted,  to  take  effect  when  a  successor  can  be  appointed, 
and  that  his  services  be  retained  in  the  Professorship  of  Natu- 
ral Theology  and  Geology."  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Board,  August  7,  1854,  Rev.  William  A.  Stearns  was  cl^osen 
President  and  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  and  Christian 
Theology.  On  Tuesday  evening,  November-  21,  1854,  Dr. 
Stearns  was  installed  Pastor  of  the  College  Church  by  an  Ec- 
clesiastical Council  of  which  Rev.  Dr.  Vaill  was  the  Moderator 
and  Rev.  Dr.  Blagden,  Scribe.  The  sermon  was  preached  by 
Rev.  Dr.  Leavitt  of  Providence.  Dr.  Hitchcock  gave  the  charge 
to  the  Pastor.  The  Right  Hand  of  Fellowship  was  presented 
by  Rev.  Mr.  Paine  of  Holden,  and  an  address  made  to  the  Col- 
lege by  Rev.  Dr.  J.  S.  Clark  of  Boston.  On  Wednesday,  No- 
vember 22,  the  Inaugural  services  were  held  in  the  village 
church.  After  singing  by  the  College  Choir  and  prayer  by  Rev. 
Dr.  Clark,  an  historical  address  was  delivered  by  the  retiring 
President,  including  the  ceremony  of  giving  the  College  seal, 
charter,  etc.,  as  an  act  of  induction  to  his  successor,  and  closing 
with  the  announcement  of  a  donation  of  ten  thousand  dol- 


332  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

lars  to  the  College  from  the  Trustees  of  the  late  Samuel  Apple- 
ton,  for  the  erection  of  a  Cabinet  of  Natural  History.  Dr. 
Hitchcock  had  relinquished  all  hope  of  such  a  donation.  He 
had  written  his  farewell  address  in  this  state  of  mind.  After 
describing  the  rich  zoological  collections  of  Prof.  Adams  with 
the  testimonies  of  Prof.  Agassiz  and  Dr.  Gould  to  their  uneqnaled 
scientific  value,  he  had  written :  "  Yet  this  fine  collection  is 
spread  into  three  apartments  and  is  imminently  exposed  to  fire. 
To  secure  a  new  building  to  receive  it,  with  the  still  more  ex- 
posed collection  of  fossil  foot-marks,  has  long  been  with  me  an 
object  of  strong  desire  and  effort ;  and  it  is  among  the  deepest  of 
my  regrets  on  leaving  the  presidency,  that  it  remains  unaccom- 
plished." 

"  Thus  had  I  written,"  he  continues  in  the  address  as  he 
delivered  it,  "  thus  had  I  written  only  a  few  days  ago,  and 
thus  had  I  expected  to  leave  this  subject,  to-day.  But  a  kind 
Providence  has  ordered  otherwise.  Last  evening  a  letter  was 
received,  announcing  the  gratifying  intelligence  that  the  Trus- 
tees under  the  will  of  the  late  Hon.  Samuel  Appleton  of  Boston, 
had  appropriated,  only  ten  days  ago,  ten  thousand  dollars  of  the 
sum  left  by  him  for  scientific  and  benevolent  purposes  to  the 
erection  of  another  cabinet — the  Appleton  Zoological  Cabinet  by 
the  side  of  the  Woods  Cabinet  on  yonder  hill."  Thus  he,  who 
in  his  experiments  in  the  Chemical  Laboratory,  was  always 
expecting  to  fail,  but  never  did  fail,  was  now  successful  beyond 
his  most  sanguine  expectations,  for  as  usual  he  had  asked  for 
the  smallest  sum  that  could  possibly  answer  the  purpose,  and 
he  received  nearly  twice  as  much  as  he  asked ;  and  the  close  of 
his  administration  was  marked,  like  its  beginning,  by  donations 
that  surprised  himself  scarcely  less  than  they  delighted  the 
friends  of  the  Institution. 

Dr.  Hitchcock's  "  address  was  followed  by  a  few  beautiful  and 
appropriate  remarks  from  Col.  A.  H.  Bullock  of  Worcester,  com- 
municating the  doings  of  the  Trustees  in  reference  to  the  afore- 
said donation.  Mr.  Bullock's  remarks  on  the  reception  of  this 
gift  were  received  with  universal  and  hearty  applause.  Two  or 
three  degrees  were  conferred  by  the  retiring  President,  among 
others  one  on  Alvan  Clark,  Esq.,  of  Cambridge,  maker  of  the 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THIS   ADMINISTRATION.  333 

magnificent  telescope  recently  presented  to  the  College  by  Rufus 
Bullock,  Esq.,  of  Royalston,  Mass.  After  a  few  minutes'  recess, 
a  Latin  Oration  of  a  congratulatory  character  was  delivered, 
according  to  appointment,  by  Hasket  Derby,  a  member  of  the 
Senior  class.  The  closing  exercise  was  the  Inaugural  Address 
by  the  new  President."  l 

If  Dr.  Humphrey  was  our  Moses,  the  giver  of  our  laws  and 
institutions,  Dr.  Hitchcock  was  our  Joshua,  who  led  us  into  the 
promised  land,  conquered  our  enemies  by  making  them  friends, 
and  gave  us  secure  and  permanent  possession  of  houses  that  we 
did  not  build,  vineyards  and  oliveyards  that  we  planted  not.  It 
is  not  difficult  to  discern  the  distinctive  features  of  this  portion 
of  our  history.  It  was  in  many  respects  a  new  era,  and  that  in 
no  small  measure  the  result  of  a  new  policy.  It  was  the  end — 
forever,  let  us  hope — of  living  beyond  our  means  and  running  in 
debt.  Dr.  Hitchcock  had  seen  and  suffered  the  effects  of  that 
process — some  of  the  most  impressive  pages  in  his  "  Reminis- 
cences " 2  are  those  in  which  he  describes  the  Sisyphean  labor 
which  it  imposed,  and  the  fatal  consequences  to  which  it  led  ; 
and  he  adopted  at-  the  outset  the  rule  to  which  he  rigidly  ad- 
hered, and  which  he  earnestly  recommended  to  all  public  insti- 
tutions, to  erect  no  buildings  and  make  no  improvements  until 
the  funds  were  actually  obtained. 

It  was  the  end  of  general  subscriptions  to  meet  current  expen- 
ses. It  was  the  beginning  of  endowments  by  large  donations 
from  individuals.3  It  was  the  beginning  of  grants  by  the  State. 
It  was  the  age  of  growth  and  expansion  in  cabinets,  collections, 
and  materials  for  the  illustration  of  the  physical  sciences.  Our 
Archaeological  Museums  also  owe  their  origin  to  this  adminis- 
tration. At  the  same  time,  and  this  fact  deserves  the  attention 
of  those  who  may  have  supposed  that  Dr.  Hitchcock  was  a  one- 
sided President,  and  gave  the  Institution  growth  and  impulse 
only  in  one  direction — it  was  the  period  in  which  the  Library 

1  See  Discourses  and  Addresses  at  the  Installation  and  Inauguration  of  the  Rev. 
William  A.  Stearns,  D.  D.,  as  President  of  Amherst  College,  and  Pastor  of  the 
College  Church. 

2  See  pp.  122-4;  138-42. 

3  Mr.  Sears'  first  donation  was  made  before  the  close  of  Dr.  Humphrey's  presi- 
dency.    But  it  came  unsought,  and  was  only  such  an  exception  as  proves  the  rule. 


334  HISTOKY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

building  was  erected,  and  new  books  were  placed  on  the  shelves 
of  such  a  kind,  and  to  such  an  extent  as  to  make  it  almost  a  new 
Library. 

Last,  not  least,  it  inaugurated  the  reign  of  comparative  peace. 
From  the  commencement  of  Dr.  Hitchcock's  presidency,  there 
was  less  of  hostility  abroad  than  there  had  ever  been  before, 
and  more  than  for  many  years  previous,  of  peace,  quietness, 
contentment  and  satisfaction  at  home.  .  This  was  partly  the  re- 
sult of  a  change  of  times  and  circumstances,  and  partly  of  a 
more  paternal,  perhaps  we  might  say  fraternal,  administration 
suited  to  the  times.  "While  he  was  true  and  faithful  to  the 
Faculty  and  government  under  his  predecessor,  and  bore  with 
the  spirit  of  a  martyr  the  opprobrium  and  harm  of  measures  and 
methods  of  discipline  which  he  did  not  approve,  it  was  no  secret 
that  he  preferred  a  more  conciliatory  policy.  During  his  own 
presidency,  the  majority  of  the  Faculty  were  often  inclined  to  a 
more  rigid  discipline.  And  the  Trustees,  as  we  have  seen,  were 
unanimously  of  the  opinion,  that  if  the  administration  could  be 
improved  in  any  particular,  it  was  by  greater  firmness  and  strict- 
ness in  the  enforcement  of  the  laws.  Yet  President  Hitchcock 
continued  to  the  last  to  believe  in,  and  rely  on  moral  suasion, 
and  personal,  social  and  Christian  influence,  as  the  sceptre  of 
his  power.  Perhaps  he  had  no  more  faith  than  his  colleagues 
in  the  good  sense,  right  disposition  and  honorable  purpose  of 
the  students,  nor  in  the  goodness  of  human  nature  generally; 
for  he  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  doctrine  of  total  depravity. 
But  he  certainly  had  less  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  the  rod,  either 
in  family  or  College  government.  He  could  give  as  many  rea- 
sons as  Plutarch  for  "  delay  in  the  punishment  of  the  wicked," 
and  not  the  least  among  these  was,  that  therein  he  imitated  the 
patience  and  forbearance  of  the  Deity. 

He  magnified  the  civilizing  and  refining  influence  of  the  fam- 
ily upon  students.  He  did  not  believe  in  the  dormitory  sys- 
tem.1 If  he  had  been  called  to  establish  a  new  Institution,  he 
would  have  had  no  dormitories.  Having  dormitories  in  Amherst 
College,  he  did  all  he  could  to  counterbalance  their  evil  influ- 
ence. To  this  end,  as  well  as  for  the  increase  of  personal  ac- 

1  Cf.  Reminiscences  of  Amherst  College,  p.  143. 


FRESHMAN    LEVEE.  335 

quaintance  and  influence,  he  introduced  the  custom  of  inviting 
the  Freshmen,  soon  after  entering  College,  to  meet  the  families 
of  the  Faculty  and  others  from  the  village,  at  his  own  house  ; 
and  although  the  Sophomores  sometimes  surprised  and  grieved 
the  good  man  by  improving  the  opportunity  to  enter  their  rooms 
and  turn  them  topsy-turvy,  and  perhaps  pile  up  their  beds  in 
his  own  front  yard,  yet  he  never  gave  up  his  faith  in  the  "Fresh- 
man Levee,"  nor  in  the  influence  of  cultivated  Christian  fami- 
lies in  town  over  College  students.  In  accordance  with  this 
same  general  idea,  the  Senior  Levee,  which  under  the  presidency 
of  Dr.  Humphrey,  was  only  a  collation  at  the  President's  house 
at  noon,  immediately  after  the  close  of  the  Senior  examination, 
was  at  once  changed  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  into  a  social  party  in  the 
evening. 

The  Professors  and  Tutors  who  were  associated  with  Dr. 
Hitchcock  in  the  government  and  instruction,  were,  for  the  most 
part,  one  with  him  in  aim  and  spirit — some  added  much  to  the 
lustre  of  his  presidency ;  and  were  he  to  write  the  history  of  his 
own  administration,  he  would  ascribe  a  large  share  of  its  suc- 
cess to  their  hearty  and  able  co-operation.  Aaron  Warner, 
Nathan  W.  Fiske,  Ebenezer  S.  Snell,  Charles  U.  Shepard,  Wil- 
liam S.  Tyler,  Charles  B.  Adams,  Henry  B.  Smith,  Wm.  A.  Pea- 
body,  Joseph  Haven,  George  B.  Jewett,  William  S.  Clark,  and 
Thomas  P.  Field,  make  up  the  entire  list  of  the  Professors,  who 
at  different  times  composed  his  Faculty.  The  list  of  the  Tutors 
comprises  Rowland  Ayres,  David  Torrey,  Lewis  Green,  Marshall 
Henshaw,  Francis  A.  March,  Albert  Tolman,  Leonard  Hum- 
phrey, William  Rowland,  Henry  L.  Edwards,  William  C.  Dick- 
inson, John  M.  Emerson,  Samuel  Fiske,  George  Rowland  and 
John  E.  Sanford — with  Lyman  Coleman,  Jabez  B.  Lyman,  In- 
structors— William  B.  Calhoun,  James  L.  Merrick  and  John  A. 
Nash,  nominally  Lecturers  or  Instructors,  and  Lucius  M.  Bolt- 
wood,  Librarian.  The  larger  part  of  these  are  still  living — three 
of  them  still  connected  with  the  College — the  rest,  for  the  most 
part,  working  and  shining  in  the  departments  of  education,  let- 
ters, theology  and  religion  elsewhere. 

I  find  in  one  of  my  numerous  letters  from  alumni,  a  confes- 
sion of  unconscious  misjudgment  of  some  of  these  Tutors,  and 


336  HISTORY   OF   AMHEBST   COLLEGE. 

consequent  unintentional  injustice  to  them,  which  is  doubtless 
more  or  less  applicable  to  others,  if  not  to  all  Tutors,  especially 
since  the  introduction  of  the  Greek  Letter  Societies,  into  the 
College,  and  is  worthy  of  being  put  on  record,  as  illustrating 
how  differently  students  in  College  look  at  their  instructors  from 
the  views  which  the  same  students  will  take  of  the  same  instruc- 
tors in  after  life.  The  writer  of  the  letter  is  Professor,  and  just 
now  acting  President  of  Robert  College,  near  Constantinople : 

"We  were  very  sure,"  he  says,  "that  the  Tutors, and  , 

marked  up  their  own  Society  men,  and  that  we  outside  suffered 
in  proportion.  I  felt  sure  of  it  myself,  in  regard  to  one  Tutor, 
and  was  probably  the  means  of  preventing  the  class  from  giving 
him  a  parting  present.  But,  when  I  was  in  Amherst  the  other 
day,  I  looked  up  my  marks  (in  the  College  Registr}7-,)  and  I  am 
certain  that  my  suspicions  were  utterly  unfounded.  If  any- 
thing, both  these  Tutors  marked  me  higher  than  I  deserved. 
Nor  could  I  discover  any  signs  of  partiality  in  their  marking 
others." 

The  same  letter  contains  another  illustration  of  the  different 
light  in  which  the  same  person  views  the  same  thing  in  and  out 
of  College :  "  Our  class,  all  through  Sophomore  year,  had  a 
most  unenviable  reputation  for  abusing  Freshmen.  .  .  .  One  of 
the  men  engaged  in  one  of  these  affairs,  went  to  sleep  the  next 
day  in  the  class,  and  when  we  went  out,  Prof.  Jewett  requested 
us  not  to  disturb  him,  so  he  slept  on  until  the  Professor's  next 
class  came  in !  It  was  a  presumptive  proof  against  him,  which 
was  well  followed  up,  and  he  and  others  were  sent  away  from 
College  for  a  time.  These  difficulties  brought  up  many  ques- 
tions of  College  honor  hard  to  solve.  I  never  had  a  hand  in 
any  of  these  affairs,  but  I  accidentally  saw  and  recognized  the 
men  engaged  in  the  last  one  mentioned.  President  Hitchcock 
in  some  way  learned  this  fact,  and  called  on  me  to  reveal  their 
names.  I  refused,  and  I  think  the  class  almost  unanimously  ap- 
proved my  refusal.  It  was  wrong.  I  ought,  when  put  in  this 
position,  to  have  told  what  I  knew,  but  the  Faculty  did  not  put 
it  in  such  a  light  as  to  convince  us.  I  am  strongly  inclined  to 
feel  that  all  such  cases  should  be  handed  over  to  the  law,  to  be 
dealt  with  by  the  courts.  This  would  set  the  students  right  as 


PROFESSOR   WARNER.  337 

to  the  real  bearing  of  the  case.     Witnesses  would  not  hesitate 
to  testify  then,  when  under  oath." 

Rev.  Aaron  Warner  was  appointed  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and 
Oratory  shortly  before  the  close  of  Dr.  Humphrey's  presidency, 
and  resigned  his  professorship  shortly  before  President  Hitch- 
cock's resignation.  His  professorship  was,  therefore,  of  about 
the  same  duration  with  Dr.  Hitchcock's  presidency,  viz. :  nine 
years,  and  for  the  most  part  synchronous  with  it.  He  had  been 
an  honored  and  useful  pastor  at  Medford,  and  highly  esteemed 
for  his  practical  wisdom,  good  sense  and  Christian  spirit,  as 
a  member  of  the  Prudential  Committee  of  the  American  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  in  Boston.  He  had  had 
some  experience  in  a  kindred  department  as  Professor  of  Sacred 
Rhetoric  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Gilmanton,  of  which 
he  was  one  of  the  founders  and  pillars.  Coming  to  Amherst  in 
the  meridian  of  his  life  and  reputation,  he  trained  the  lower 
classes  thoroughly  in  articulation,  orthoepy  and  the  elements  of 
elocution ;  he  criticised  wisely  and  well  the  compositions  of  the 
upper  classes ;  he  taught  the  Seniors  in  Rhetoric  and  English 
Literature  faithfully  and  fairly  but  without  much  of  the  vital 
force  and  enthusiasm  which  students  prize  so  highly  in  a  teacher ; 
he  was  heard  and  understood  rather  than  felt  as  a  power  in  the 
pulpit,  for  his  sermons  were  remarkable  for  brevity,  variety  and 
perspicuity  rather  than  richness  of  thought,  force  of  reasoning 
or  felicity  of  diction  ;  in  the  absence  of  President  Hitchcock  in 
Europe,  he  presided  and  preached  the  Baccalaureate  Sermon  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  College  and  the  community ;  in  short,  as 
a  man,  a  gentleman  and  a  Christian  he  was  admired  and  loved 
by  officers  and  students  as  he  still  is  by  all  who  know  him ;  but 
he  did  not  quite  sustain  and  advance  his  department  so  as  to 
keep  pace  with  the  growth  and  progress  of  the  College  ;  and  he 
became  a  victim  partly  to  a  department  which  has  sacrificed  so 
many  of  its  incumbents,  and  partly  to  a  spasm  of  virtuous  en- 
ergy on  the  part  of  the  Trustees  in  one  of  their  meetings,  in 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  they  endeavored  to  make  amends  for 
past  remissness,  real  or  imagined,  by  screwing  up  all  the  Faculty 
and  blowing  up  one  of  the  Professors.  As  an  Ex-Professor  he 
has  won  universal  admiration  by  his  prudence,  courtesy  and 
22 


338  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

generosity,  and  his  portrait  placed  in  the  Library  by  some  of  his 
pupils  soon  after  his  resignation,  will  perpetuate  the  benignant 
features  and  the  blessed  memory  of  one  of  the  best  men  that 
was  ever  a  Professor  in  Amherst  College. 

Rev.  Prof.  Henry  B.  Smith  was  here  only  three  years  (1847-50,) 
before  he  was  called  to  Union  Theological  Seminary  in  New  York, 
where  he  has  become  so  widely  known  as  a  leader  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  and  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments  of  American 
Theology  and  Ecclesiastical  History.  With  a  simplicity  and  pu- 
rity of  character  equaled  only  by  his  learning  and  power,  he  ex- 
erted an  influence  as  great  as  it  was  good  in  the  Professor's  chair, 
in  the  pulpit,  in  the  government  of  the  College,  in  the  commu- 
nity and  the  vicinity ;  and  he  went  away  leaving  a  friend  in  every 
pupil — in  every  person  with  whom  he  was  intimately  associated. 

The  other  Professors,  named  above,  who  are  still  among  the 
living,  continued  to  hold  office  under  President  Hitchcock's  suc- 
cessor, and  will  find  further  mention  in  the  history  of  his  admin- 
istration. 

Six  of  Dr.  Hitchcock's  colleagues  in  the  Faculty — three  Pro- 
fessors and  three  Tutors — have  gone  to  participate  with  him  in 
the  honors  and  rewards  of  faithful  service.  The  three  Profes- 
sors all  departed  in  advance  of  their  honored  and  beloved  Presi- 
dent. One  of  these  was  the  ripe  scholar  and  veteran  Professor, 
whose  biography  has  been  already  sketched,  who,  almost  at  the 
beginning  of  this  presidency,  went  up  from  the  city  where  our 
Lord  was  crucified  to  walk  the  streets  of  the  New  Jerusalem. 
Another  who  seemed  born  for  a  collector  and  classifier  of  all  facts 
in  Natural  History,  the  youthful  Aristotle  of  our  Lyceum,  went 
to  the  West  Indies  partly  for  his  health,  but  chiefly  to  enlarge 
his  scientific  collections,  and  there  fell  a  sacrifice  to  his  zeal  for 
science  when  he  had  only  just  commenced  his  career  of  discov- 
ery, though  he  had  already  achieved  more  for  his  favorite  stud- 
ies than  many  a  savant  accomplishes  in  a  long  life. l 

Oh,  what  a  noble  heart  was  here  undone, 
When  science's  self  destroyed  her  favorite  son ! 
Yes,  she  too  much  indulged  thy  fond  pursuit, 
She  sowed  the  seeds,  but  death  has  reaped  the  fruit. 

1  Prof.  C.  B.  Adams. 


DECEASED   COLLEAGUES   OF   PRESIDENT   HITCHCOCK.      339 

A  third,  scholarly  and  refined,  full  of  hope  and  promise,  had 
just  entered  his  professorship,  and  just  begun  to  inspire  his  class 
with  his  own  enthusiasm  for  the  language  and  literature  of  the 
old  Romans,  when  he  was  suddenly  stricken  down  by  the 
destroyer. l 

Of  the  three  Tutors,  Leonard  Humphrey  had  made  the  mark 
of  a  fine  scholar  and  a  gentle  Christian  spirit  on  his  pupils  for 
one  year,  and  was  recruiting  himself  in  vacation  with  his  friends 
for  the  labors  of  a  second  year ;  but  suddenly,  in  the  midst  of 
health  and  activity,  he  fell  in  the  street — his  heart  had  ceased 
to  beat — "  he  was  not,  for  God  took  him." 

John  M.  Emerson  lived  to  middle  life,  and  lived  to  good  pur- 
pose ;  for  he  had  demonstrated  to  the  conviction  of  all  who 
knew  him,  that  an  honest,  cultivated  Christian  lawyer  can  live 
and  succeed  in  New  York ;  when  in  the  very  prime  of  his  life 
and  promise,  the  bar  of  that  city  was  robbed  of  so  rare  an  orna- 
ment, and  at  the  same  time  a  widowed  mother  in  Amherst 
bereft  of  her  only  son. 

Samuel  Fisk  had  left  his  tutorship,  had  written  his  letters 
from  foreign  parts,  all  flashing  with  wit  and  genius ;  and  by  a 
few  years  of  able  and  faithful  service  in  the  ministry,  had  already 
rooted  himself  in  the  hearts  of  an  affectionate  people,  when  the 
clarion  of  war  summoned  him  to  the  tented  field,  and  he  fell  in 
the  battle  of  Spottsylvania,  one  of  many  noble  sons  whom  our 
mother  has  given  to  the  service  of  the  country,  of  liberty  and 
of  mankind. 

Of  these,  and  such  as  these,  was  the  Faculty  composed  that 
aided  and  advanced  the  administration  of  Dr.  Hitchcock.  But 
most  of  them,  as  we  have  said,  still  live — live  to  adorn  the  Pul- 
pit, the  Senate,  the  Professor's  and  the  Speaker's  chair — and  it 
remains  for  those  who  come  after  us,  and  outlive  them,  to  give 
their  character  and  write  their  history. 

The  following  letter,  written  by  one  who  graduated  near  the 
close  of  Dr.  Hitchcock's  presidency,  brings  out  some  of  the  char- 
acteristic features  of  the  then  College  times,  and  exhibits  them 
from  a  student's  point  of  view.  We  give  it  almost  entire,  as  a 
sort  of  epilogue  to  this  portion  of  our  history. 

1  Prof.  William  A.  Peabody. 


340  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

HARPOOT,  TURKEY,  March  26,  1869. 

When  I  went  to  Amherst,  in  the  autumn  of  1848,  the  College 
had  passed  its  crisis,  and  had  entered  upon  a  prosperous  career. 
During  the  time  of  my  connection  with  the  College,  there  was 
nothing  of  special  interest  that  I  now  remember — nothing  extra- 
ordinary. It  does  not,  therefore,  seem  to  me  that  our  honored 
historian  can  derive  any  help  from  any  thing  which  I  can  com- 
municate, and  it  is  only  the  urgency  of  the  committee  that  impels 
me  to  write. 

Of  the  college  officers,  no  one  probably  was,  in  our  day,  so 
revered  as  a  father,  so  beloved  as  that  "man  of  God,"  Dr. 
Hitchcock,  at  that  time,  President. 

Our  class — that  of  '52 — had  the  discernment  to  see  that,  not- 
withstanding his  sometimes  blunt,  manner,  the  students  had  no 
warmer  friend  among  the  Faculty  none  more  devoted  to  their 
good,  none  especially  more  interested  in  their  spiritual  improve- 
ment, than  Prof.  Tyler.  No  member  of  the  Faculty  was  more 
popular  with  the  class  as  a  whole  than  he.  There  was  no  family 
in  which  we  felt  so  much  at  home  as  in  his. 

The  Philosophical  lectures  of  Prof.  Snell  were  very  popular. 
His  experiments  were  almost  always  sure  to  succeed  Even  his 
jokes,  which  were  well  understood  to  be  stereotyped,  and  to  be 
handed  down  from  class  to  class,  were  racy  and  enjoyable,  and 
gave  a  relish  to  the  lectures.  During  one  of  his  exercises  with 
the  Class  of  '50  in  reply  to  some  remark  of  the  class,  he  perpe- 
trated some  witticism  not  written  down  in  his  lectures,  and  as  if 
surprised  at  it,  he  involuntarily,  and  in  the  manner  of  soliloquy 
said,  "  That's  new."  This  last  remark,  of  course,  "  brought 
down  the  house." 

This  recalls  some  amusing  scenes  in  the  class-room.  When 
S.  of  our  class  was  under  examination  in  Zoology,  he  was  asked, 
"What  is  the  peculiarity  of  the  opossum?"  D.  whispered  to 
him,  "  It  has  a  pouch."  S.  spoke  up,  very  bravely,  "  It  has  a 
paunch,  Sir." 

I  was  always  much  impressed  by  the  intimacy  of  the  College 
relation.  There  were  rival  interests,  and  clans  ;  yet  it  was  one 
community,  one  family.  Anything  affecting  the  interests  of  the 
College,  or  the  community  as  such,  was  sure  to  rouse  every  man. 


EECOLLECTIONS   OP   A   MISSIONARY.  341 

A  village  rowdy  one  day  insulted  one  of  the  students — I  think  he 
kicked  him — and  although  the  student  was  one  of  the  least  pop- 
ular men  in  College,  the  whole  College  was  in  a  blaze.  Every 
man  felt  that  in  the  person  of  that  student,  he  himself  had  re- 
ceived a  kick. 

This  bond  of  sympathy  was  still  more  apparent  during  the  revi- 
val in  March,  1850.  As  soon  as  the  awakening  began,  and  the 
inquiry,  "  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved,"  was  heard,  there  was 
the  hush  and  stillness  of  death.  For  a  few  days,  the  most  hard- 
ened men  in  College  were  subdued  and  thoughtful.  The  whole 
aspect  of  the  College  was  changed  at  once,  with  almost  the  sud- 
denness of  an  electric  flash.  I  do  not  believe  that  there  was  one 
person  in  the  whole  College  who  for  a  time  was  not  profoundly 
moved.  There  was  no  sound  of  laughing  or  loud  talking.  There 
were  no  heavy  footsteps  in  the  halls,  no  noise,  no  tumult ;  but 
the  awful  stillness  and  solemnity  of  those  who  stood  face  to  face 
with  the  realities  of  eternity.  Interest  so  intense  can  not,  of 
course,  be  long  maintained.  Every  one  decided  the  question 
very  quickly,  and  gradually  College  life  resumed  its  wonted  chan- 
nel. Rarely  is  a  scene  of  more  thrilling  interest  enjoyed  upon 
earth  than  a  revival  in  College. 

The  most  prominent  associations  and  reminiscences  of  every 
alumnus  are  doubtless  with  his  own  class.  We  thought  that 
our  class — that  of  '52 — was  a  remarkably  good  one !  Very 
few  classes,  I  apprehend,  had  a  more  genuine  class  spirit. 
Soon  after  we  entered,  a  committee  was  despatched  to  Spring- 
field to  procure  class  caps,  as  a  sort  of  badge  of  the  class, 
not  of  the  outlandish  kinds  which  are  frequently  seen,  but 
a  neat  and  sensible  head-dress  which  could  be  worn  any- 
where without  attracting  a  crowd  of  small  boys.  The  con- 
trolling influence  in  the  class  was  a  moral  one.  The  class — at 
least  the  influential  majority — took  strong  ground  against  rowdy- 
ism, especially  that  brutal  and  cowardly  sort  which  consists  in 
injuring  the  rooms  or  the  persons  and  property  of  students,  par- 
ticularly the  Freshmen ;  and  this  not  only  while  as  Freshmen, 
we  were  subjected  to  a  good  deal  of  that  sort  of  experience,  but 
especially  on  entering  the  Sophomore  year,  when  a  meeting  of  the 
class  was  held  and  strong  resolutions  adopted  against  it,  and  when 


342  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

the  leading  men  of  the  class  boldly  avowed  their  determination  to 
expose  any  member  of  the  class  whom  they  should  detect  in  do- 
ing anything  of  the  kind,  beyond  the  little  tricks  and  jokes  that 
in  a  college  community  are  considered  harmless.  It  was  decided 
that  a  little  hydropathic  treatment  was  sometimes  not  wholl}r 
objectionable,  especially  when  a  Freshman  had  an  excess  of 
starch.  But  the  breaking  of  windows  and  doors,  and  the  like, 
was  declared  to  be  unmanly,  and  against  the  honor  of  the  class, 
and  not  at  all  to  be  allowed.  According  to  my  remembrance 
the  spirit  of  rowdyism  was  made  unpopular  from  that  time. 

Our  Professors  kindly  gave  us  a  day  occasionally  for  excur- 
sions, which  we  enjoyed  exceedingly.  One  of  the  most  memo- 
rable was  to  the  summit  of  Mount  Holyoke.  One  Monday  morn- 
ing of  our  Senior  year,  a  member  of  our  class  received  word, 
in  a  clandestine  way,  that  the  young  ladies  of  the  Seminary  at 
South  Hadley,  with  their  teachers  were  to  make  an  excursion  to 
the  mountain  that  very  day,  and  would  not  object  to  meeting  some 
of  their  College  "  cousins."  The  young  ladies  were  not  informed 
of  the  excursion  until  after  supper,  Saturday  evening,  so  that  the 
intelligence  might  not  reach  Amherst ;  but  some  "  bird  of  the 
air  "  brought  the  word,  a  class  meeting  was  called,  the  consent 
of  the  Faculty  obtained.  Nothing  was  sard  to  the  Professors,  of 
course,  about  the  expected  visit  of  the  young  ladies  there,  and  in 
about  an  hour  we  were  en  route  to  Mount  Holyoke,  where  the 
day  was  very  pleasantly  spent,  and  where,  I  believe,  there  was 
scarcely  anything  exceptionable  said  or  done.  We  had  the  im- 
pression that  the  ladies  enjoyed  it,  even  better  than  we  did ! 

Early  in  the  first  term  of  our  Junior  year,  we  were,  one  day. 
assembled  for  our  recitation  in  Greek,  and  as  our  Professor  did 
not  come,  we  remained  for  a  little  chat,  when  a  motion  was  made 
and  carried  that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  collect  and  retain, 
till  the  vacation,  all  the  razors  in  the  class.  The  wearing  of 
beards  was  not  so  common  then  as  now.  Another  committee  was 
chosen  to  draw  up  a  constitution,  and  the  class  was  formed  into 
an  anti-shaving  society  called  Philopogonia.  During  the  term, 
the  society  had  a  public  celebration  in  one  of  the  village  halls,  at 
which  an  oration  and  a  poem  were  delivered,  and  the  occasion 
was  a  decided  success.  This  anti-shaving  scheme  caused  a  good 


INSTITUTION   OF   CLASS-DAY.  343 

deal  of  innocent  fun  in  the  College  during  that  term,  and  gave 
the  Juniors  a  good  deal  of  eclat.  All  the  members  of  the  class, 
except  some  of  the  youngest,  were  fully  bewhiskered  ;  but  at  the 
close  of  the  term  the  razors  were  distributed,  and  we  were  our- 
selves again. 

"  Class-day  "  is  now,  I  believe,  a  well-established  arrangement. 
This  was  instituted  by  the  Class  of  '52.  If  the  custom  had 
ever  been  established,  it  had  long  been  unobserved.  Of  this  I 
am  not  informed.  We  had  an  oration  and  a  poem  in  the  even- 
ing, after  which  the  class  in  a  body  greeted  each  Professor  with 
a  serenade  and  an  address,  and  then  we  had  a  class  supper — a 
very  rational  and  enjoyable  occasion  throughout. 

There  were  some  very  noble  souls  in  our  class.  They  are 
making  their  mark  in  the  world.  There  were  none  more  genial, 
and  more  worthy  than  Benjamin  and  Root — the  first  two  schol- 
ars in  the  class,  who  were  called  home  to  their  rest  before  they 
were  permitted  to  enter  upon  their  life  work.  They  were  not 
mere  scholars,  studying  for  an  appointment,  but  men  of  noble  pur- 
pose, large  hearts  and  superior  endowments,  who  seemed  destined 
to  a  career  of  no  ordinary  importance.  Two  men  could  scarcely 
differ  more  widely  than  they,  and  yet  both  were  greatly  beloved 
by  their  fellows.  Benjamin  was  a  poor  boy.  He  was  "  self- 
made."  He  was  exceedingly  sensitive  and  modest,  yet  sparkling 
with  a  quiet  humor  ;  and  more  than  all,  a  Christian  of  deep  expe- 
rience. He  had  a  great  head,  set  upon  a  small,  frail  body,  and  it 
was  the  laboratory  of  many  a  fine  thought,  expressed  often  with 
exquisite  grace  and  beauty.  Root  had  a  fine  form.  He  was 
athletic,  active,  very  impulsive  and  enthusiastic,  yet  restrained 
by  Christian  principle,  ready  to  dare  and  do  great  things,  and  he 
had  the  power  of  imparting  enthusiasm  to  others,  which  fitted 
him  to  be  a  leader.  He  was  looking  forward  to  the  law,  and 
Benjamin  to  the  Christian  ministry.  There  can  be  little  doubt 
that  each  would  have  been  eminent  in  his  profession  if  life  had 
been  spared.  H.  N.  BARNTTM, 

Class  of  '52. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

RELIGIOUS  HISTORY   OF  THIS  PERIOD  (1845-54). 

"  THE  religious  bearings  and  uses  of  education  paramount  to 
all  others,"  was  the  main  theme  of  Dr.  Hitchcock's  Inaugural 
Address.  After  a  rapid  survey  of  the  entire  and  vast  circle  of 
human  learning,  he  thus  expresses  the  result :  "  Is  not  every 
mind  forced  irresistibly  to  the  conclusion  that  every  branch  was 
originally  linked  by  a  golden  chain  to  the  throne  of  God ;  and 
that  the  noblest  use  to  which  they  can  be  consecrated  and  for 
which  they  were  destined,  is  to  illustrate  his  perfections  and 
to  display  his  glory."  With  such  a  view  of  the  chief  end  of 
education,  he  could  not  content  himself  with  making  all  litera- 
ture and  science  tributary  to  religion  in  the  lecture-room — he 
could  not  but  summon  himself  and  his  associates  to  direct  efforts 
for  promoting  Christian  piety  as  the  highest  end  and  aim  of  a 
Christian  College. 

In  common  with  his  predecessors  in  the  presidency  and  his  as- 
sociates in  the  Faculty,  Dr.  Hitchcock  believed  that  revivals  of 
religion  at  special  seasons,  and  those  of  frequent  occurrence, 
were  hi  harmony  with  the  economy  of  nature  and  Providence, 
and  that  periodical  revivals  were  especially  in  harmony  with 
College  life,  in  which  everything  is  periodical.  His  labors  as  a 
pastor  had  been  blessed  with  revivals.  In  all  the  revivals  which 
Amherst  College  had  experienced  except  the  first,  he  had  been 
present,  and  he  participated  in  the  labors  connected  with  the 
first,  and  at  the  request  of  Dr.  Moore  preached  a  sermon  at  its 
close.  One  of  the  revivals  under  the  presidency  of  his  prede- 
cessor took  place  during  the  absence  of  Dr.  Humphrey  in  Eu- 
rope, and  the  responsible  management  of  it  devolved  on  Prof. 


ORDINARY  AND  EXTRAORDINARY   MEANS.  345 

Hitchcock.  And  when  he  came  into  the  presidency,  no  object 
lay  nearer  his  heart  than  a  revival  of  religion  which  should 
quicken  the  Christian  activity  of  the  church  and  bring  those 
that  were  without  into  the  fold  of  Christ. 

In  addition  to  the  faithful  preaching  on  the  Sabbath,  the 
Thursday  evening  lecture,  the  class  prayer-meetings  and  all 
the  other  means  which  had  been  previously  used,  he  now  insti- 
tuted a  meeting  for  prayer  and  religious  conference  at  his  own 
house,  which,  besides  uniting  the  hearts  of  Christians  to  each 
other  and  their  pastor,  proved  one  of  the  most  effective  instru- 
mentalities of  reviving  religion  in  the  College.  "  I  had  always 
felt  it  to  be  desirable,"  he  says,  "  that  a  meeting  where  some- 
what more  familiar  relations  could  be  established  between  the 
pastor  and  his  flock  would  be  desirable,-  and  accordingly  when  I 
assumed  the  presidency,  I  privately  informed  one  or  two  mem- 
bers of  the  Senior  class  that  every  Monday  evening,  at  a  certain 
hour,  my  study  would  be  open  to  any  members  of  College  who 
might  like  to  spend  a  half  hour  (to  which  time  I  should  rigidly 
limit  the  meeting)  in  prayer  and  religious  conference.  I  told 
them  that  I  should  generally  call  on  them  for  prayers  and  that  I 
would  then  make  familiar  remarks  upon  some  practical  question, 
proposed  at  the  preceding  meeting,  and  would  be  glad  also  to 
hear  their  remarks.  I  sat  at  my  study  table,  and  the  room  was 
usually  so  closel}"  packed  that  we  could  not  even  kneel  in  prayer. 
It  seemed  like  a  great  family  at  morning  or  evening  prayers, 
conversing  upon  experimental  religion,  and  I  do  not  doubt  that 
the  home  feeling  this  produced,  had  much  to  do  with  the  inter- 
est which  the  meeting  seemed  to  excite.  At  the  season  of  the 
year  when  the  annual  Fast  for  Colleges  occurs,  I  directed  my 
questions  to  subjects  adapted  to  prepare  Christians  for  a  special 
work  of  grace.  In  times  of  revival  the  numbers  increased  so 
much  as  to  drive  us  out  of  my  study,  and  my  family  used  every 
week  to  fill  one  of  the  large  parlors  of  the  President's  house 
with  seats.  But  when  the  meetings  were  so  manifestly  blessed 
of  God,  I  did  not  dare  to  transfer  the  meeting  to  one  of  the 
public  rooms  in  College,  lest  its  peculiar  attractions  should  be 
destroyed.  I  rejoice  that  I  did  not ;  for  in  subsequent  years,  by 
letters  from  graduates,  I  found  that  probably  no  other  religious 


346  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

effort  which  I  ever  made  was  so  blessed  of  God  as  this.  Some- 
times thrilling  incidents  occurred  in  the  meetings ;  and  some- 
times the  prayers  made  by  my  young  brethren  had  an  unction, 
an  eloquence  and  a  power  which  I  have  never  heard  elsewhere, 
and  whose  impression  remains  upon  my  memory  to  this  day."  1 
The  good  President  has  not  exaggerated  the  influence  of  that 
Monday  evening  prayer-meeting.  Its  stirring  and  solemn  scenes 
were  impressed  not  more  vividly  or  indelibly  on  his  mind  than 
they  were  on  the  minds  of  the  students  who  attended  them,  and 
scarcely  a  letter  have  I  received  from  an  alumnus  relating  to  the 
religious  history  of  this  period,  which  does  not  make  more  or 
less  reference  to  that  meeting. 

Less  than  a  year  after  Dr.  Hitchcock's  accession,  during  the 
first  winter  term  of  his  presidency,  the  College  was  blessed  with 
a  very  interesting  revival  of  religion  ;  and  it  was  in  large  meas- 
ure the  fruit  of  those  well-directed  questions  and  wise  measures 
connected  with  the  first  College  Fast,  which  have  just  been  nar- 
rated. By  comparing  dates,  the  reader  will  see  that  this  was  a 
time  of  much  discouragement  and  depression  in  the  financial 
condition  of  the  College;  and  this  season  of  spiritual  refresh- 
ing, while  it  greatly  cheered  the  hearts  of  the  President  and  Pro- 
fessors under  these  discouragements,  was  the  prophet  and  fore- 
runner of  the  outward  prosperity  that  soon  followed. 

The  following  narrative  of  this  revival  of  1846,  is  from  the 
pen  of  one  who,  then  a  member  of  the  Se'nior  class,  was  deeply 
interested  in  it,  and  whose  own  labors  in  the  ministry  have  often 
been  blessed  with  similar  revivals: 2  "  For  several  weeks  of  the 
winter  term,  a  meeting  had  been  held  in  the  President's  study 
on  Monday  evening,  to  offer  special  prayer  for  the  baptism  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  It  was  not  largely  attended  at  first,  only  the 
more  active  and  earnest  Christians  of  the  College  being  present; 
but  as  the  holy  fire  kindled  and  spread,  the  number  increased, 
until  the  room  became  crowded  with  quickened  and  earnest 
souls,  whose  prayers  were  increasingly  fervent  and  believing 
week  by  week.  As  yet  professors  of  religion  only,  had  come 
in.  One  evening  we  noticed  among  us  a  member  of  the  Fresh- 

1  Reminiscences  of  Amherst  College,  pp.  167-8. 

2  Rev.  George  E.  Fisher,  Class  of  '46. 


REVIVAL   OF   1846.  347 

man  class,  who  was  not  a  Christian.  We  looked  upon  his  pres- 
ence as  an  unmistakable  indication  that  God  had  begun  to  an- 
swer our  prayers.  The  meeting  went  on.  Faith  and  hope  were 
greatly  strengthened.  All  hearts  were  poured  out  in  prayer  more 
fervently  than  ever.  The  last  prayer  was  offered,  the  last  word 
spoken,  and  we  were  about  to  turn  away,  when  this  young  man 
arose  and  asked  us  to  stay  for  a  moment.  I  remember  distinctly 
just  where  he  stood  and  how  he  appeared,  when  he  said :  '  My 
friends,  the  Spirit  of  God  has  been  striving  with  me  many  days. 
I  have  resisted  his  strivings.  I  have  resolved  and  sought  to 
banish  my  convictions,  but  I  can  not  succeed.  I  feel  myself  to 
be  a  sinner,  most  guilty  and  unworthy.  I  want  your  prayers 
that  I  may  be  brought  to  Christ.' 

"  In  an  instant  the  place  became  a  Bochim.  '  Let  us  pray,' 
said  the  President.  All  bent  upon  their  knees,  and  all  hearts 
were  as  one  in  the  pleadings  that  went  up  before  the  mercy-seat. 
A  day  or  two  only  passed,  before  this  young  man  came  out  in- 
to the  light  of  a  new  life,  and  began  an  earnest  work  for  Christ, 
which  he  continued  throughout  his  College  course,  and  has  now 
been  prosecuting  for  many  years  as  a  missionary  to  China.  Rev. 
Charles  Hartwell  was  the  first  convert  of  that  revival. 

"  From  that  time  the  work  went  rapidly  forward,  bringing 
into  the  kingdom  many  members  of  each  of  the  two  lower  class- 
es, and  a  few  from  the  Junior  class.  Nearly  all  of  my  class  were 
already  Christians  by  profession  or  in  hope. 

"  I  remember  several  cases  of  great  interest.  Among  them 
was  that  of  '  Dunn  Brown.' l  I  see  him  now,  bowed  under  the 
burden  of  his  guilt,  his  countenance  a  picture  of  utmost  agony, 
and  of  very  despair,  seemingly  about  sinking  into  the  earth,  or 
even  into  the  bottomless  pit.  I  saw  him,  one  evening  in  par- 
ticular, in  the  old  rhetorical  room,  during  a  sermon  of  Prof. 
Fiske's,  from  the  words :  '  And  they  considered  not  in  their  hearts 
that  I  remember  all  their  wickedness.'  I  never  knew  a  case  in 
which  '  law- work '  was  more  thoroughly  done  than  in  his.  It 
went  on  with  him  in  the  same  manner  for  two  or  three  days, 
when  the  storm  passed  over,  the  sunshine  came,  all  was  serene 
and  peaceful,  and  he  became  one  of  the  happiest  and  most  cheer- 

1  The  well-known  nom  de  plume  of  Samuel  Fisk,  Class  of  '48. 


348  HISTORY   OF    AMHEKST    COLLEGE. 

ful  of  Christians,  living  for  Christ  while  he  lived,  and  at  length 
sweetly  falling  asleep  in  him. 

"  I  have  mentioned  a  sermon  of  Prof.  Fiske.  It  did  seem  to 
me  at  that  time,  that  I  had  never  listened  to  a  sermon  of  such 
power,  and  my  memories  of  it  to-day  are  much  the  same  with 
my  impressions  of  it  then.^  All  the  preaching  of  all  the  Pro- 
fessors was  good,  but  I  think  it  no  disparagement  to  that  of 
any  of  the  others,  when  I  say  that  Prof.  Fiske's  preaching  was 
most  pungent  and  powerful  of  all.  In  the  earlier  stages  of  the 
revival,  his  health  was  so  feeble,  that  he  could  do  almost  noth- 
ing publicly,  yet  his  interest  in  the  beginning  and  progress  of 
the  work  was  intense.  I  remember  going  early  into  his  recita- 
tion one  morning,  and  finding  him  there  alone.  He  at  once  in- 
quired into  the  state  of  the  work,  and  on  my  mentioning  many 
hopeful  indications,  and  giving  him  some  incidents  of  interest, 
his  eyes  filled  with  tears,  and  he  went  on  to  tell  in  tremulous 
tones,  what  a  sorrow  it  was  to  him 'to  be  denied  the  privilege 
of  active  participation  in  the  work,  at  the  same  time  expressing 
his  joy  that  the  Lord  could  carry  it  forward  without  his  help. 
But  before  the  work  ceased,  he  was  permitted  to  share  in  it 
actively  and  efficiently." 

In  regard  to  the  preaching,  it  should  be  remarked,  that  Presi- 
dent Hitchcock  did  not  feel  able  to  preach  half  of  the  time,  as 
his  predecessor  had  done,  and  so  he  and  his  clerical  colleagues 
in  the  Faculty,  preached  in  rotation  on  the  Sabbath,  at  the 
Thursday  evening  lecture,  and,  in  times  of  unusual  religious  in- 
terest, on  Sunday,  Tuesday,  and  Friday  evenings.  They  also 
took  turns  with  him  in  presiding  at  the  monthly  Missionary 
Concert,  and  other  occasional  meetings,  and  the  older  Professors 
aided  the  President  in  inquiry  meetings  and  other  special  meet- 
ings in  revivals.  Visits  of  the  officers  to  the  students  at  their 
rooms,  for  the  sake  of  conversation  on  personal  religion,  were 
perhaps  more  frequent  at  this  period  than  they  ever  were  before 
or  after,  and  were  often  attended  with  obvious  good  results. 
The  writer  remembers  seasons  of  conversation  and  prayer  of 
great  interest  in  this  revival,  the  scene  of  which  was  at  the  pri- 
vate rooms  of  individual  students. 

But  while  the  President  and  Professors  were  deeply  inter- 


EESULTS.  349 

ested  in  the  religious  welfare  of  the  students,  and  put  forth 
united  efforts  to  promote  it,  Dr.  Hitchcock  was  strongly  im- 
pressed with  the  conviction  that  other  agencies  and  influences, 
particularly  those  of  pious  parents,  relatives  and  friends,  were 
quite  as  powerful  as  any  exerted  in  College ;  and  towards  the 
close  of  the  revival  in  1846,  he  addressed  a  letter  of  inquiry  to 
several  of  the  parents  and  friends  of  those  hopefully  converted. 
Specimens  of  the  answers  may  be  seen  in  his  "  Reminiscences," 
(pp.  170-7),  and  they  reveal  a  remarkable  correspondence,  not 
to  say  a  mysterious  sympathy  between  the  religious  exercises  of 
the  converts  and  those  of  their  parents  and  friends,  which  make 
an  interesting  chapter  on  the  power  of  prayer,  and  the  philos- 
ophy of  revivals  of  religion. 

The  following  entries  occur  in  the  Church  Record,  the  last 
of  the  kind,  and  indeed  with  a  single  exception  the  last  of 
any  kind,  in  the  hand-writing  of  the  lamented  Prof.  Fiske : 

"  April  12,  1846.  Received  by  letter,  Julius  H.  Seelye,  Ed- 
ward Y.  Garrett,  Horace  Taylor,  John  Laurens  Spencer;  by 
profession,  William  Cowper  Dickinson,  Samuel  Mark  Fletcher, 
Charles  Vinal  Spear,  John  Hawkes,  Jr. 

"  June  14.  Received  by  letter,  Rev.  Jonas  Colburn  and  Mrs. 
Mary  B.  Colburn ;  by  profession,  John  W.  Belcher,  William  S. 
Clark,  Samuel  Fisk,  Francis  Holmes,  Francis  A.  Howe,  Robert 
D.  Miller,  Thomas  Morong,  Henry  J.  Patrick,  Hanson  L.  Read, 
Edwin  Clapp,  John  L.  Emerson,  Charles  Hartwell,  James  B. 
Kimball,  William  B.  Colburn,  Evarts  Cornelius  Tyler,  Felicia 
H.  Emerson  and  Frances  J.  Emerson ;  most  of  these  being  the 
fruits  of  an  interesting  revival  of  religion  during  the  last  spring. 

"  June  16.  By  request  of  the  Pastor,  the  Clerk  prepared  by 
examination,  the  following  statistical  statement  to  the  general 
Association  of  Massachusetts :  '  The  whole  number  of  members 
of  this  Church  is  sixty ;  of  these  forty-four  are  students,  and 
sixteen  are  members  of  the  several  families  of  the  teachers  and 
others  that  attend  public  worship  on  the  Sabbath  at  the  College 
Chapel.  The  removals  since  June  1,  1845,  are  eighteen,  all  by 
letters  of  dismission  to  other  churches ;  the  additions  since  that 
date  are  by  letter  fourteen,  and  by  profession  twenty-seven." 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  that  less  than  half  of  the  en- 


350  HISTORY   OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

tire  number  of  professors  of  religion  in  College  belonged  at  this 
time  to  the  College  Church.  This  has  always  been  true  (with 
a  varying  percentage),  much  to  the  regret  of  the  President  and 
Professors  arid  in  spite  of  all  their  exertions.  The  entire  num- 
ber of  converts  in  a  revival  never  join  the  College  Church,  al- 
though a  majority  have  usually  done  so. 

One  of  the  converts  in  this  revival,  a  good  scholar  then  and 
a  faithful  minister  now,  writes : l  "  For  the  precious,  sacred,  sav- 
ing influences  that  were  thrown  about  me  then,  I  can  never  be 
grateful  enough.  I  knew  but  little  of  the  word  of  God,  before 
my  conversion,  but  I  have  found  that  I  became  well  established 
in  the  Pauline,  Augustinian,  Edwardian  Theology  before  I  left 
the  College,  though  I  never  saw  the  Assembly's  Catechism  till 
after  I  entered  the  Theological  Seminary.  Dr.  Hitchcock  was 
my  lean  ideal  of  a  Christian  man  and  scholar,  before  I  had  a 
Christian  hope  and  when  I  was  half  inclined  to  skepticism.  His 
daily  life  was  enough  to  meet  all  my  arguments  against  Christi- 
anity." 

In  the  winter  and  spring  of  1850,  there  wa^  another  general 
revival.  The  following  narrative  is  condensed  from  minutes 
taken  at  the  time  by  one,'2  then  a  member  of  the  Senior  class, 
whose  share  in  its  labors  and  blessings  will  be  remembered  by  all 
who  participated  in  it. 

"  There  was  unusual  religious  feeling  in  the  fall  term  (1849-50) 
especially  at  the  close  ;  and  Christians  left  with  a  disposition  to 
pray  much  for  a  revival.  A  daily  prayer-meeting  had  been  es- 
tablished that  term,  which  was  soon  recommenced  in  the  winter. 
An  extra  Sabbath  evening  prayer-meeting  of  all  the  classes  was 
also  held,  continued  from  the  fall  term.  The  officers  of  the 
College  commenced  the  term  with  desires  to  secure  a  revival, 
and  their  preaching,  especially  Thursday  evening,  was  intended 
to  bear  on  that  point.  And  many  of  the  prayers  in  the  Presi- 
dent's Monday  evening  social  religious  meeting  indicated  the 
same  desire  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  students. 

"  Feeling  gradually  increased  each  week  up  to  the  middle  of 
the  term.  As  numbers  returned  from  teaching,  the  interest 
deepened.  Some  students  spent  hours  daily  in  prayer  and  re- 

1  Rev.  R.  D.  Miller,  Class  of  '48.  2  Rev.  David  T.  Packard,  Class  of  '50. 


REVIVAL  OF   1850.  351 

ligious  duties  as  a  preparation  to  work  for  God  in  the  revival. 
'"We  expected  much  from  the  College  Fast;  to  it  we  looked  as 
our  only  hope.  The  day  came  with  all  its  solemnity,  and  more 
solemn  than  ever ;  for  Prof.  Peabody,  our  new,  beloved  teacher, 
lay  dead  in  our  midst.  Tidings  of  the  death  of  some  former 
students  tended  further  to  arouse  us.  For  a  few  days  all  seemed 
unavailing,  and  we  feared  there  would  be  no  good  result.  One 
student,  however,  was  deeply  serious  (D.  P.  H.) ;  his  feeling 
was  increased  by  the  death  of  the  Professor  ;  and  the  day  after 
the  funeral  (March  2)  at  meeting,  he  asked  the  prayers  of  his 
class.  Sunday  he  obtained  hope.  Rev.  E.  G.  Swift,  then  of 
Northampton,  preached  that  day,  and  with  much  power,  espe- 
cially his  sermon,  '  Under  the  law.'  Rev.  E.  Bliss,  the  mission- 
ary, preached  the  next  Sabbath,  March  10,  the  feeling  increas- 
ing meanwhile  amid  unceasing  efforts,  most  pointed  appeals  and 
fervent  prayers.  Then  for  a  week,  there  was  an  awful  sus- 
pense, much  holding  back  and  great  discouragement,  till  we 
now  were  on  the  point  of  saying  we  hardly  dared  hope  for  any- 
thing more.  Just  then,  March  16,  one  who  had  been  serious 
(J.  E.  S.)  indulged  hope,  and  others  soon  followed,  one,  two, 
three  and  four  a  day  for  weeks  with  few  interruptions. 

"Sunday,  March  17,  a  sermon  by  Prof.  Smith,  'Almost  per- 
suaded to  be  a  Christian,'  had  a  mighty  effect.  There  was 
preaching  in  the  Rhetorical  Room,  Sunday,  Tuesday,  Thursday 
and  Friday  evenings,  except  that  Tuesday  was  sometimes 
changed  to  a  Conference.  The  Monday  evening  meeting  at 
Dr.  Hitchcock's,  was  changed  to  two — an  Inquiry  meeting,  and 
one  for  other  persons,  conducted  by  Prof.  Tyler  or  Prof.  Smith. 
The  Inquiry  meeting  increased  from  ten  to  forty.  The  whole 
number  of  hopeful  conversions  among  the  students  was  thirty- 
one,  and  several  individuals  in  the  families,  worshiping  in  the 
Chapel.  At  the  opening  of  the  term,  ten  in  th*e  Senior  class 
were  unconverted :  of  these,  six  indulged  hope,  a  much  larger 
proportion  in  the  Freshman  class  ;  in  the  Sophomore  and  Junior 
classes,  a  smaller  number.  Most  of  the  conversions  were  dur- 
ing the  last  half  of  March. 

"  The  whole  work  was  very  still,  with  little  outward  mani- 
festation of  feeling.  Hopes  feeble  at  first,  grew  brighter  and 


352  HISTOKY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

brighter  daily.  Converts  held  out  well.  One  convert,  who 
held  the  first  place  in  scholarship  and  influence  in  the  Junior 
class,1  remarked  that  he  thought  a  man  could  not  have  one 
right  or  noble  feeling  till  he  loved  Christ.  A  member  of  the 
Senior  class,  who  had  not  accepted  the  Orthodox  view  of  a 
change  of  heart,  and  the  need  of  salvation  by  Christ,  was  led 
to  renounce  his  self-righteousness,  to  feel  his  sinfulness,  and 
trust  in  Christ  for  pardon ;  and  the  very  points  in  which  he 
had  been  the  farthest  from  the  truth  before,  were  the  points 
of  which  he  now  thought  and  spoke  with  the  most  love  and 
earnestness. 

"A  member  of  the  Freshman  class  had  once  indulged  hope 
and  gone  back,  and  in  College  was  one  of  the  most  hardened 
opposers.  He  seldom  attended  meeting.  He  and  a  company  of 
associates  like  himself,  tried  a  game  of  cards  to  see  whose  lot  it 
should  be  first  to  become  a  Christian.  The  lot  fell  on  him.  It 
set  him  to  thinking.  After  a  long  conviction  and  many  strug- 
gles, he  embraced  the  truth  and  joined  the  church. 

"  Another  convert  in  the  same  class,  was  the  only  one  in  the 
revival  to  renounce  his  hope  and  fall  back  into  darkness  before 
the  end  of  that  term.  But  he  was  a  chosen  vessel,  and  has 
for  many  years  been  an  able  and  useful  preacher  of  the  gospel, 
within  sight  of  his  boyhood's  home,  and  of  our  Alma  Mater.2 
How  some  Christians  in  that  class,  did  work  for  their  fellows ! 
They  are  working  still.  The  workers  then  are  the  workers 
now.  Some  are  earnest  pastors.  One  of  them  is  a  Professor 
in  the  College.3 

"  Of  the  converts  of  this  revival,  a  portion  are  preachers  of 
the  gospel,  in  different  States ;  several  are  eminent  in  the  law, 
and  are  good  men ;  some  are  Christian  preachers,  and  others  ac- 
tive members  of  the  church  in  other  honorable  spheres.  The 
revival  neve*  will  be  forgotten  by  any  who  were  in  it,  for  the 
still,  calm  and  deep  power  which  made  some  do  what  before 
they  could  not  find  it  in  their  hearts  to  do." 

Including  seven  from  the  families  of  the  Faculty,  there  were 

1  Two  of  those  who  at  this  time  professed  their  faith  in  Christ,  were  Valedicto- 
rians of  their  classes. 

2  Rev.  J.  M.  Green,  Class  of  '53.  8Prof.  CrowelL 


A  DAY   LONG   TO   BE   REMEMBERED.  353 

thirty-three  persons  who,  together,  presented  themselves  at  the 
altar,  almost  filling  the  broad  aisle,  all  in  the  bloom  of  youth, 
and  who  now,  for  the  first  time,  dedicated  themselves,  by  their 
own  voluntary  consecration,  to  the  service  of  their  Maker,  Re- 
deemer and  Sanctifier.  This  was  on  the  23d  day  of  June,  1850 
— a  day  long  to  be  remembered,  not  only  by  the  persons  them- 
selves, and  their  youthful  companions,  not  only  by  the  numerous 
families  whom  they  represented,  and  to  whom  it  caused  great 
joy,  but  doubtless  to  be  remembered  forever,  as  a  day  when 
there  was  joy  in  the  presence  of  the  angels  of  God,  and  of  the 
redeemed  in  heaven. 

Of  the  one  hundred  and  seventy-nine  members  of  College  at 
this  time,  one  hundred  and  six  were  professors  of  religion  at  the 
beginning  of  the  revival,  so  that  about  one-half  of  those  who 
were  not  reckoned  among  the  people  of  God  at  the  beginning, 
were  numbered  with  them  at  its  close. 

The  year  1853  is  reckoned  among  our  seasons  of  spiritual  har- 
vest, although  the  religious  interest  was  not  so  general  or  so 
deep,  nor  the  ingathering  so  abundant  as  in  some  other  revivals. 

And  lest  the  emphasis  which  we  have  given  to  these  seasons 
of  revival  should  be  misinterpreted,  it  should  be  here  remarked, 
that  the  records  of  the  church  show  what  will  also  be  remem- 
bered by  alumni,  and  others  who  have  worshiped  with  us,  that 
at  this  period,  as  at  others  in  our  religious  history,  there  were 
additions  to  the  church  by  profession  every  year,  and  at  almost 
every  communion.  Thus  at  the  communion  in  April,  1849, — 
just  about  a  year  before  the  great  revival  of  1850 — eight  per- 
sons, among  the  leading  scholars  and  men  of  influence  in  their 
respective  classes,  three  of  them  now  distinguished  educators  in 
New  England,  made  a  public  profession  of  their  faith  in  Christ. 
At  the  communion,  next  preceding,  in  February,  1849,  one  per- 
son, then  a  member  of  the  Sophomore  class,  stood  up  alone, 
and  avouched  the  Lord  to  be  his  God  thenceforth  and  forever. 
And  these  sentences  of  a  letter  written  in  September,  1870, 
from  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  show  what  most  im- 
pressed him  on  entering  College,  and  what  kind  of  influences 
brought  him  from  a  wilderness  of  error  and  unbelief,  into  the 
fold  of  Christ :  "  First  impressions  are  lasting.  And  my  first 
23 


354  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

impressions  of  Amherst  College  have  never  left  me.  T  arrived 
at  the  College  about  the  middle  of  the  fall  term,  in  1848.  We, 
(H.  and  myself,)  had  come  from  Ohio  by  the  way  of  Lake  Erie 
and  the  Canal,  and  had  seen  not  a  little  of  rough  and  profane 
society  on  our  journey.  What  we  witnessed  on  entering  the 
College,  was  such  a  contrast  to  all  this,  and  indeed  to  all  that 
we  had  been  accustomed  to  in  our  own  previous  observation  and 
experience,  that  it  seemed  as  if  we  had  passed  into  another 
world !  The  solemn,  cheerful  and  intellectual  air  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  Professors  at  morning  and  evening  prayers,  and  the 
religious  tone,  not  of  voice,  but  of  heart  and  life,  in  the  major- 
ity of  the  students,  led  me  into  a  new  train  of  thought,  gave 
me  new  views,  and  made  me  ere  long  a  new  man."  The  Fresh- 
man, who  was  thus  led  to  be  a  believer  in  Christ,  the  Sopho- 
more who  thus  stood  up  alone  to  declare  himself  on  the  Lord's 
side,  is  now  the  President  of  the  Syrian  College  at  Beirut, 
where  he  is  leading  on  the  combined  assault  of  learning  and 
the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  against  Mohammedanism  in  its 
strongholds.  In  the  same  letter,  he  adds  his  testimony  also  to 
the  power  and  genuineness  of  the  revivals  of  religion  in  Am- 
herst College.  "  These  revivals,"  he  says,  "  stamped  upon  my 
mind  the  conviction  that  Amherst  College  believed  in  the  reality 
of  the  religion  of  Christ.  There  was  no  diminution  of  the  usual 
amount  of  study;  hence  the  excitement — for  there  was  great 
excitement — was  rational,  the  hea*rt  and  the  intellect  moved  on 
together.  Twenty  years  have  proved  that  those  who  then  em- 
braced the  truth,  were  sincere ;  for  they  are  found,  many  of 
them,  to-day,  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  spending  their  ma- 
turer  years  in  preaching  Christ." 

May  such  evermore  be  the  impression  on  the  minds  of  those 
who  enter,  and  such  the  history  of  those  who  leave  Amherst 
College !  And  that  it  may  be  so,  let  frequent  revivals  of  relig- 
ion be  cherished  and  enjoyed  by  officers  and  students,  and  also 
additions  be  made  to  the  church  every  year,  and  at  every  com- 
munion besides;  even  as  thousands  were  sometimes  gathered 
into  the  primitive  church  in  a  single  day,  while  the  Lord  also 
added  to  the  church  daily,  of  such  as  would  be  saved. 


c  O£<*S~GL^I^L/  t 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES  OF   DR.  HITCHCOCK   AND    SOME    OF 
.HIS   ASSOCIATES. 

DR.  HITCHCOCK'S  "  Reminiscences  of  Amherst  College  "  is  at 
the  sazae  time  an  autobiography,  almost  the  last  production  of 
his  pen,  and  so  fresh,  so  graphic,  so  truthful  and  unconscious 
that  no  one  who  can  read  it  will  care  to  read  any  other.  The 
writer  of  this  History  has  also  given  to  the  public  a  delineation 
of  his  life  and  character  in  the  sermon  which  was  delivered  at 
his  funeral.  An  extended  biography  will  not,  therefore,  be  ex- 
pected or  attempted  here.  At  the  same  time,  some  of  the  lead- 
ing facts  of  his  life  and  the  characteristics  of  the  man  should  be 
set  down  to  complete  the  history  of  his  administration. 

The  principal  facts  in  a  synoptical  form  and  in  chronological 
order  are  as  follows:  He  was  born  in  Deerfield,  Franklin  County, 
Mass.,  May  24, 1793 ;  was  principal  of  the  academy  in  his  native 
place  from  1815  to  1818 ;  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  Conway,  June  21, 1821,  and  dismissed  in  Octo- 
ber, 1825;  elected  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Natural  History 
in  Amherst  College,  August  23,  1825 ;  appointed  State  Geolo- 
gist of  Massachusetts,  June  26,  1830,  and  of  the  First  District 
of  New  York,  June  13,  1836  ;  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Laws  from  Harvard  University,  in  1840;  was  chosen  President 
of  Amherst  College  and  Professor  of  Natural  Theology  and 
Geology,  December  16,  1844 ;  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity  from  Middlebury  College,  in  1846 ;  was  appointed 
commissioner  of  the  State  government  to  examine  the  agricul- 
tural schools  of  Europe,  May  23,  1850;  delivered  his  address 
on  retiring  from  the  presidency,  November  22,  1854;  was  ap- 


356  HISTORY  OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

pointed  to  complete  the  Geological  Survey  of  the  State  of  Ver- 
mont, in  April,  1857 ;  and  continued  to  lecture,  in  the  depart- 
ment of  Geology  and  Natural  Theology,  with  some  assistance 
from  his  sons,  till  1864,  when  he  was  called  to  higher  honors 
and  nobler  services  in  heaven. 

His  father,  Justin  Hitchcock,  was  a  man  of  strong  mind, 
sterling  sense  and  steadfast  piety,  a  hatter  by  trade,  a  soldier  in 
the  Revolutionary  War,  and  a  deacon  in  the  Congregational 
Church.  His  mother,  a  Hoyt,  was  a  woman  of  active  mind 
and  marked  character,  but  subject  to  nervous  debility  and  de- 
pression of  spirits.  The  son,  it  need  not.  be  said,  united  in  him- 
self the  characteristics  of  both  his  parents, — the  intellectual 
and  moral  stamina  of  the  one  and  the  acute,  nervous  sensibility 
of  the  other. 

His  boyhood  was  spent  in  working  on  a  farm,  with  a  turn 
occasionally  at  carpentering  and  surveying.  Obliged  to  labor 
through  the  day,  he  studied  books  and  the  stars  by  night.  He 
set  out  to  prepare  himself  for  an  advanced  standing  in  Harvard 
University ;  but  a  fit  of  sickness  so  weakened  his  eyes,  already 
injured  by  night  study  and  over-exertion,  that  he  was  obliged 
to  relinquish  a  college  education. 

He  began  early,  though  not  precociously,  to  write  much,  at 
first  for  his  own  improvement,  then  for  the  press.  A  manu- 
script volume  of  three  hundred  pages  is  preserved  which  he 
began  in  1813,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  and  which,  in  a  single 
year,  he  had  filled  nearly  full  with  essays,  poems,  letters  and 
addresses  on  scientific,  political,  moral  and  religious  subjects. 
His  first  publication  was  a  dramatic  poem,  of  five  hundred  lines, 
which  was  first  acted  before  the  rural  population  of  his  na- 
tive place,  and  then  in  obedience  to  their  call  printed  in  1815. 
His  next  appearance  before  the  public  was  in  quite  another 
capacity,  that  of  a  mathematician  and  astronomer,  wherein  he 
corrected  the  errors  of  the  Nautical  Almanac,  and  received 
at  length  the  reluctant  thanks  and  acknowledgment  of  the 
editor.  This  was  in  1817  and  1818,  while  he  was  Principal  of 
Deerfield  Academy.  It  was  at  this  same  period  that  he  expe- 
rienced (partly  under  the  influence  of  the  young  lady  who 
was  his  assistant  teacher,  and  who  afterwards  became  his  wife) 


HIS   PASTORATE   IN   CONWAY.  357 

that  radical  change  in  his  religious  belief  and  in  his  whole 
character,  which  gave  a  new  and  unexpected  direction  to 
his  subsequent  life.  Following  the  drift  of  the  church  in 
Deerfield,  he  had  embraced  the  Unitarian  creed,  and  regarded 
Orthodoxy  with  mingled  hatred  and  contempt.  But  led  by 
the  mysterious  Providence  and  abounding  grace  of  God,  he 
first  submitted  his  heart  and  will  to  the  practical  claims  of  the 
gospel,  and  was  thus  prepared  at  length  cordially  to  embrace 
not  only  the  Orthodox,  but  the  Calvinistic  creed. 

During  his  brief  pastorate  in  Conway,  of  about  four  years, 
there  were  two  general  revivals  of  religion,  and  many  were 
added  to  the  church.  His  sermons  at  this  time  were  short,  sel- 
dom over  thirty  minutes,  clear,  forcible,  considerably  exegetical 
and  sufficiently  doctrinal,  but  always  eminently  practical  and 
spiritual.  Most  of  them  were  afterwards  heard  with  great 
pleasure  and  profit  by  many  generations  of  College  students, 
for  it  was  not  until  he  became  President  that  he  wrote  many 
new  sermons.  There  was  great  variety  in  his  preaching.  He 
once  preached  a  sermon  from  the  word  "  Selah,"  as  a  text,  of 
which  the  doctrine  was,  "  Stop  and  think."  While  his  theol- 
ogy was  of  the  old  school,  he  was  practically  a  new  measure 
man.  He  had  a  profound  veneration  for  Mr.  Nettleton,  and  in 
efforts  to  promote  revivals  trod  in  his  footsteps,  or  rather 
showed  a  similar  wisdom  in  the  use  of  a  variety  of  suitable 
means. 

During  his  pastorate  in  Conway,  he  found  exercise  and  rec- 
reation in  making  a  scientific  survey  of  the  western  coun- 
ties of  Massachusetts.  This  was  the  beginning  of  that  life 
among  the  rocks  and  mountains,  which  was  ever  after  a  de- 
light and  almost  a  passion.  Like  the  giant  in  classical  my- 
thology, whenever  he  could  plant  his  foot  on  the  bosom  of 
Mother  Earth,  he  was  in  his  element, — it  was  his  strength, 
his  health,  his  life.  This  was  also  the  origin  of  the  geological 
survey  of  the  entire  State,  which  was  afterwards  made  by  the 
government,  at  his  suggestion,  and  which  has  the  honor  of 
originating  that  series  of  scientific  surveys  which  have  since 
done  so  much  to  develop  the  mineral  and  agricultural  resources 
of  our  country. 


358  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

The  way  was  thus  prepared  for  his  appointment  to  be  the 
first  Professor  of  Chemistry  and  Natural  History  in  Amherst 
College.  The  boy  in  Deerfield  was  father  to  the  man  in  Am- 
herst, and  the  Amherst  scientific  collections  had  their  germs  and 
roots  among  the  rocks  and  hills  of  Con  way.  After  some  study 
and  practice  in  the  laboratory  of  Prof.  Silliman,  at  New  Ha- 
ven, he  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office.  For  many  years 
he  was  the  sole  Professor  in  all  the  departments  of  Natural  His- 
tory. He  lectured  and  instructed  in  Chemistry,  Botany,  Mineral- 
ogy, Geology,  Zoology,  Anatomy  and  Physiology,  Natural  Theol- 
ogy ;  and  sometimes — to  fill  a  temporary  vacancy — he  was  the 
most  suitable  person  the  College  could  depute  to  teach  also  Nat- 
ural Philosophy  and  Astronomy.  It  was  when  he  was  teach- 
ing Enfield's  Natural  Philosophy  to  the  Class  of  '30  (I  well  re- 
member, and  the  class  will  probably  remember  it  with  me), 
that  a  member  of  the  class,  the  oldest  and  most  venerable  mem- 
ber, who  had  been  annoyed  by  a  classmate  sitting  behind  him 
till  he  could  no  longer  endure  it,  rose  in  his  seat,  turned  delib- 
erately around,  and  struck  the  offender  on  the  side  of  his  head 
with  that  huge  quarto  volume,  thus  beating  into  him  more  phi- 
losophy than  he  ever  learned  before.  The  blow  rang  through 
the  room  and  provoked  the  suppressed  applause  of  the  class, 
but  never  called  forth  a  word  of  reproof  or  remonstrance 
from  our  wise  and  patient  Professor.  For  a  short  time  there 
was  an  awful  pause,  and  then  the  recitation  went  on  as  if 
nothing  had  happened.  Prof.  Hitchcock  was  too  easy  and 
too  indulgent  to  be  a  prime  teacher.  But  Amherst  College 
never  had  a  more  inspiring  lecturer,  and  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  the  general,  consistent  and  comprehensive  view  of 
all  the  branches  of  Chemistry  and  Natural  History  which  he 
gave  to  his  classes,  did  not  meet  the  wants  of  College  stu- 
dents—  did  not  subserve  the  purposes  of  College  education  — 
better  than  the  fuller  and  more  specific  courses  of  two  or 
three  or  half  a  dozen  savants  or  special  lecturers  would  have 
done  in  his  place. 

For  two  or  three  years — in  and  near  1830  —  his  mind,  his 
heart,  his  tongue  and  his  pen  were  given  to  the  subject  of  tem- 
perance, so  far  as  they  could  be  without  interfering  with  the 


DR.   HITCHCOCK   AS   PROFESSOR.  359 

more  immediate  duties  of  his  professorship ;  and  the  result  was 
the  establishment  of  the  Anti-venenian  Society  in  College,  and 
the  publication  of  several  books,  tracts,  articles  and  essays — 
among  the  rest  a  prize  essay — which  have  identified  his  name 
with  the  history  of  the  temperance  reformation  scarcely  less 
than  with  the  advancement  of  science. 

No  sooner  was  this  work  accomplished  than  he  entered  with 
all  his  soul  upon  the  series  of  geological  explorations  and  sci- 
entific surveys  which  occupied  all  the  time  he  could  spare  from 
the  College  for  the  greater  part  of  ten  years.  He  did  but  one 
great  work  at  a  time.  But  he  was  never  afraid  of  having  too 
many  smaller  irons  in  the  fire. 

The  history  of  his  presidency  has  been  given  in  previous 
chapters.  Its  value  to  the  Institution  can  not  be  overestimated. 
His  weight  of  character  and  his  wise  policy — we  have  said  it 
publicly  before l  and  we  wish  to  repeat  it  and  put  it  on  record — 
his  weight  of  character  and  his  wise  policy  saved  the  College, 
Having  accomplished  the  object  for  which  he  accepted  the  office, 
he  resigned  the  command  with  far  greater  satisfaction  than  he 
took  it,  and  fell  back  again  into  the  ranks — rose  again  let  us 
rather  say,  for  so  he  viewed  it,  to  those  unclouded  heights  of 
science  and  religion  on  which  he  had  before  delighted  to  stand, 
but  which  now  appeared  to  him  more  beautiful  than  ever  as 
he  looked  back  upon  the  region  of  clouds  and  storm  through 
which  he  had  passed.  At  the  request  of  the  Trustees  he  re- 
tained the  professorship  of  Natural  Theology  and  Geology. 
According  to  his,  own  proposal,  he  received  only  half  the  usual 
salary  of  a  Professor.  He  held  this  professorship  almost  the 
same  length  of  time  as  he  had  occupied  the  presidential  chair, 
between  nine  and  ten  years.  For  some  years  he  lectured  on  his 
favorite  themes  with  his  characteristic  ardor  bordering  on  en- 
thusiasm. He  delivered  lectures  before  lyceums  and  addresses 
on  public  occasions.  He  revised  his  principal  works  and  pub- 
lished new  ones.  The  second  edition  of  his  Religion  of  Geol- 
ogy, considerably  enlarged,  was  issued  in  1859,  the  thirty-first 
edition  of  his  Elementary  Geology,  re-written,  appeared  in  1860, 

1  See  Historical  Address  at  the  Semi-centennial. 


360  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

and  the  third  edition  of  the  "  Phenomena  of  the  Seasons,"  with 
additions,  in  1861.  In  1859,  the  Faculty  and  students  presented 
him  with  a  beautiful  service  of  silver  plate  which  gratified  him 
much  as  an  expression  of  the  gratitude  and  affection  of  those 
whom  he  had  so  tenderly  loved  and  so  faithfully  served.  The 
same  year  he  was  brought  to  the  borders  of  the  grave.  Phy- 
sicians and  friends  despaired  of  his  life.  If  he  had  died  then,  the 
world  would  have  said,  it  was  a  completed  life.  But  not  so 
heavenly  wisdom.  Before  heaven  could  say  to  him  "  Servant  of 
God,  well  done,"  he  must  live  on  through  five  more  years  of 
suffering,  years  of  dying  they  almost  seemed  to  him,  still  writing 
and  publishing,  still,  like  the  aged  Athenian  sage,  learning 
many  things,  still  interpreting  nature  and  studying  his  own 
frame  so  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made,  still  lecturing  to  his 
classes  even  after  he  was  too  feeble  to  go  to  them  and  therefore 
invited  them  to  come  to  him,  still  making  large  and  choice  col- 
lections for  his  cabinets,  still  caring  and  planning  for  his  beloved 
College,  still  toiling  to  enlarge  the  boundaries  of  science,  still 
watching  with  jealousy  his  own  heart,  the  spiritual  condition  of 
the  College,  and  the  interests  of  evangelical  religion — all  the 
while  battling  heroically  with  death  and  "  him  that  has  the 
power  of  death,"  and  nobly  illustrating  the  triumph  of  mind 
over  matter,  of  faith  and  philosophy  over  all  the  powers  of 
darkness  even  in  the  last  extremity.  All  his  life-time  he  had 
been  more  or  less  subject  to  bondage  through  constitutional 
depression  and  fear  of  death.  But  he  died  leaning  his  head 
on  the  Cross  of  Christ  almost  visibly  present  by  his  side,  and 
wondering  at  the  riches  of  redeeming  and  sustaining  grace. 
At  the'  time  of  his  death  which  was  on  the  27th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1864,  he  had  not  quite  reached  the  age  of  seventy- 
one.  On  the  2d  of  March,  a  great  congregation,  consisting 
of  the  Faculty  and  students,  Trustees  and  alumni  of  the  Col- 
lege, scientific  men  and  clergymen  from  every  part  of  the 
State,  together  with  great  numbers  of  people  of  all  classes 
from  Amherst  and  the  neighboring  towns,  assembled  in  the 
village  church  to  attend  his  funeral  and  thence  followed  the 
body  to  its  last  resting-place  in  the  cemetery.  The  spot 
is  now  marked  by  a  plain  granite  obelisk  bearing,  together 


HIS   MONUMENTS.  361 

with  the  dates  of  his  birth  and  death,  this  simple  and  truthful 
inscription : 

EDWARD  HITCHCOCK, 

PASTOR    IN    CONWAY, 

PRESIDENT   AND   PROFESSOR   IN   AMHERST   COLLEGE.' 

A     LEADER     IN     SCIENCE, 

A      LOVER      OF      MAN, 

A     FRIEND     OF     GOD, 

EVER  ILLUSTRATING 

"THE    CROSS    IN    NATURE, 

AND 

NATURE  IN  THE   CROSS." 

But  his  best  and  most  enduring  monument  is  in  his  work  in 
the  College  which  he  restored,  and  in  the  influence  which  he  ex- 
erted upon  the  church  and  the  world  by  his  tongue  and  his  pen, 
and  through  the  life  and  character  of  his  three  or  four  thousand 
pupils.  Nor  can  the  history  of  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary,  any 
more  than  that  of  Amherst  College,  be  written  without  large 
reference  to  Dr.  Hitchcock,  of  whose  family  Miss  Lyon  was  a 
member,  when  she  was  laying  broad  and  deep  her  plans  for 
founding  it,  and  whose  tongue  and  pen  were  among  the  chief 
organs  for  communicating  those  plans  to  the  public.  These  two 
Institutions  will  perpetuate  his  name  and  his  influence  so  long 
as  they  faithfully  represent  that  idea — science  and  religion — 
which  was  the  motto  of  his  life. 

Dr.  Hitchcock  was  a  prolific  writer.  He  has  left  in  his 
"Reminiscences"  a  record  of  the  titles  and  dates  of  twenty- 
four  volumes,  thirty-five  pamphlets,  (sermons,  etc.,)  ninety-four 
papers  in  the  journals,  and  eighty  newspaper  articles,  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-three  in  all,  and  making  up  a  sum  total  of  over 
eight  thousand  printed  pages.  Writing  for  the  press  was  a 
luxury  to  him  in  health,  a  solace  under  depression  of  spirits, 
and  a  resource  in  his  declining  years.  "  Realizing  how  few, 
if  any  of  these  productions  will  survive  the  present  genera- 
tion," and  persuaded  that  "  if  any  of  them  do,  it  will  be  owing 
to  their  connection  with  Christianity,"  he  says,  "  the  work 
which  I  did  aim  to  make  of  permanent  value,  Providence 
never  allowed  me  to  write.  I  mean  a  treatise  on  Natural 
Theology.  All  that  I  have  written  was  but  the  scaffolding 


862  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

and  a  few  of  the  braces  and  pins  of  the  edifice  I  had  hoped  to 
build." 

Dr.  Hitchcock  was  a  large  man.  His  frame  was  large,  his 
mind  was  large,  his  heart  was  large.  He  was  largely  endowed 
with  all  the  powers  and  faculties  proper  to  man,  which,  accord- 
ing to  the  best  definition  we  have  ever  seen  of  that  much  abused 
word,  constitutes  real  genius.  It  were  not  easy  to  say,  whether 
observation  or  reflection,  perception  or  memory,  reason  or  imag- 
ination was  his  predominant  faculty.  He  had  more  faith  than 
most  men  in  new  discoveries.  This  believing  disposition  some- 
times welcomed  a  premature  announcement  or  a  fabrication,  like 
the  celebrated  moon-hoax ;  but  it  expected  great  things,  at- 
tempted great  things  and  achieved  great  things  for  science.  It 
wrought  miracles  in  the  scientific  world. 

Wit  and  humor  were  not  wanting  in  him,  as,  according  to 
Coleridge,  genius  never  is  destitute  of  those  qualities.  Now 
and  then  a  publication  of  his  is  overflowing  with  facetiousness 
and  fun,  like  the  Zoological  Temperance  Convention  in  South 
Africa.  Only  a  short  time  before  his  death,  he  called  my  atten- 
tion to  a  huge  boulder  of  pure  copper,  which  lay  in  his  sick- 
room, and  invited  me  to  put  it  in  my  pocket  and  carry  it  home 
with  me. 

There  was  almost  a  ludicrous  side  to  the  extreme  sensitive- 
ness of  his  nature,  and  the  suffering  often  apparently  unneces- 
sary, yet  always  dreadfully  real  to  him,  which  it  caused  him. 
I  shall  never  forget  the  notes  which  he  jotted  down  from  hour 
to  hour,  and  sent  back  from  Halifax,  on  his  voyage  to  England. 
The  colors  in  which  he  paints  his  sufferings  grow  darker  and 
darker  every  hour,  till  at  length  he  calls  on  his  children  to  be 
thankful  that  they  would  never  have  the  means  to  take  a  voy- 
age to  Europe. 

But  it  was  the  crowning  beauty  of  his  character  and  life,  that 
so  much  greatness  was  accompanied  with  such  unaffected  mod- 
esty and  humility  ;  such  simplicity  in  language,  style  and  man- 
ners;  such  a  constant  exemplification  of  the  lowlier  and  so- 
called  lesser  virtues.  He  was  temperate  in  all  things ;  he  prac- 
ticed economy  as  a  Christian  duty  ;  he  was  scrupulously  honest 
in  the  most  trivial  matters ;  he  insisted  on  conducting  business 


RECORD   OF    THE   TRUSTEES.  363 

according  to  the  golden  rule.  Finally,  it  was  the  highest  glory 
and  the  chief  joy  of  this  great  and  good  man,  that  he  was  an 
humble,  penitent,  believing  and  adoring  disciple  of  Christ.  His 
lectures  and  teachings,  wherever  they  might  begin,  were  sure 
to  end  as  the  Bible  ends,  at  the  throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb. 
His  greatest  book,  "  The  Religion  of  Geology,"  is  the  type  of 
his  writings  and  of  his  life.  The  following  commemorative 
minute,  entered  on  the  records  of  the  Trustees,  is  worthy  of 
preservation  in  this  History,  not  only  as  a  just  tribute  to  the 
memory  of  Dr.  Hitchcock,  but  also  as  an  illustration  of  the 
light  in  which  he  was  seen  by  such  men  as  Hon.  William  B. 
Calhoun,  who  prepared  it,  and  others  who  were  most  intimately 
associated  with  him : 

*'  The  memorial  of  the  great  and  good  is  always  found  in  the 
results  of  their  labors  for  the  benefit  of  those  among  whom 
they  lived  and  labored.  Guided  by  this  rule,  the  late  Presi- 
dent Hitchcock  is  seen  everywhere  around  us.  Though  dead, 
truly  he  yet  speaketh.  Nowhere  can  we  look,  without  his  mark 
standing  prominently  out.  And  so  will  it  be,  while  Amherst 
College  shall  continue  to  be  known  among  men.  Often  as  she 
may  change  her  external  dress,  there  will  always  remain  from 
generation  to  generation  the  foot-prints  and  the  head-prints 
of  Edward  Hitchcock.  He  stands  connected  with  the  early 
struggles  of  the  College.  He  is  known  and  seen  in  every  effort 
that  was  made,  from  whatever  quarter,  to  give  it  standing  and 
character  before  the  public  and  amongst  its  fellows,  and  to  get 
rid  of  all  attempts  to  throw  odium  upon  its  origin,  or  to  misrep- 
resent its  true  purposes  and  honorable  aspirations. 

"  In  the  cause  of  Natural  Science,  Dr.  Hitchcock  was  devoted, 
earnest  and  thoroughly  armed.  In  bringing  science  to  a  full 
and  constant  recognition  of  God,  and  of  that  religion  which 
came  from  God,  as  it  was  the  joy  of  his  heart,  so  did  it  success- 
fully and  nobly  concentrate  all  his  great  powers  of  thought,  ob- 
servation, reflection  and  discriminating  analysis. 

"  We,  his  associates,  and  in  our  department  co-laborers,  take 
delight  in  recalling  the  numberless  graces  of  his  character,  and 
gladly  would  we  descant  upon  them  at  large.  But  we  desire 
simply  to  plant  here  upon  the  Records  of  the  Trustees  this 


364  HISTORY   OF   AMHEBST   COLLEGE. 

hearty  and  full-souled  memorial.  '  Primus  inter  pares '  will  find 
no  ungrateful  response  in  any  heart  that  has  ever  been  animated 
with  love  and  reverence  for  Amherst  College." 

This  minute  is  followed  by  a  vote,  that  "  the  Collection  of 
foot-prints  in  possession  of  the  College  be  called  the  Hitchcock 
Ichnological  Cabinet,  in  honor  of  our  late  lamented  President, 
Edward  Hitchcock."  The  portrait  bust  which  fitly  adorns  this 
Cabinet,  the  fruit  of  Prof.  Mather's  exertions  and  of  Milrnore's 
genius,  was  contributed  by  alumni  and  other  friends  of  Dr. 
Hitchcock,  and  is  the  best  remaining  representation  of  his  noble 
form  and  features. 

Few  men  have  owed  so  much  to  their  wives  as  Dr.  Hitch- 
cock owed  to  his.  She  led  him  to  Christ;  she  taught  him  how 
to  live.  Going  down  into  the  dark  valley  just  before  him,  she 
taught  him  how  to  die.  She  alone  made  life  desirable  or  endur- 
able to  him.  If  she  had  gone  down  to  the  grave  a  quarter  of  a 
century  sooner  than  she  did,  it  could  not  have  been  long  before 
he  would  have  followed  her.  The  even  flow  of  her  spirits  al- 
ways balanced  the  unevenness  of  his.  Her  equanimity  was  the 
balance-wheel  and  her  good  sense  the  regulator  of  his  domestic 
and  social  life.  Her  pencil  illustrated  all  his  books,1  and  hung 
the  walls  of  his  lecture-rooms  with  diagrams.  She  opened  her 
parlors  for  Freshman  and  Senior  levees,  and  set  the  example 
which  was  followed  by  other  ladies  of  the  Faculty,  of  a  recep- 
tion, to  which  students  of  all  classes  might  come  once  a  fort- 
night without  invitation,  and  spend  an  evening  in  social  improve- 
ment and  enjoyment  with  the  families  of  the  College  and  the  vil- 
lage. At  the  same  time,  her  cultured  simplicity  and  tasteful 
economy  in  dress  and  style  of  living  and  in  the  entertainment 
of  company  exerted  an  influence  which  has  not  yet  entirely 
ceased  to  be  felt  in  the  College  and  the  community.  The  Col- 
lege was  indebted  to  the  rare  self-denial  and  Christian  sympathy 
of  Mrs.  Hitchcock  scarcely  less  than  to  the  wisdom  and  fervor 
of  her  husband  for  the  Monday  evening  prayer-meetings  to 
which  the  whole  house  was  thrown  open,  and  which  left  such 

1  "For  the  two  hundred  and  thirty -two  plates  and  eleven  hundred  and  thirty-four 
wood-cuts  in  my  works,  I  have  been  mainly  indebted  to  the  pencil  and  patience  of 
my  beloved  wife." — "Reminiscences,"  p.  392. 


PROFESSOR  PEABODY.  365 

a  benediction  behind  them.  To  her,  also,  with  the  hearty  co- 
operation of  the  other  ladies,  the  College  chapel  owed  its  first 
renovation,  early  in  Dr.  Hitchcock's  presidency.  Never  did  a 
husband  pay  a  more  graceful  compliment  to  a  wife  than  Dr. 
Jlitchcock  paid  to  Mrs.  Hitchcock,  in  dedicating  to  her  his 
greatest  work,  and  never  did  a  wife  better  deserve  such  a  com- 
pliment. Well  might  he  say,  in  his  last  work:  "How  provi- 
dential that  such  a  wife  should  be  given  me ; "  and  all  the 
friends  of  Amherst  College  may  well  rejoice  with  him  in  the 
same  kind  Providence. 

That  three  Professors  should  have  died  in  office  during  the 
nine  years  of  Dr.  Hitchcock's  presidency,  is  a  fact  without  a 
parallel  in  the  history  of  the  College.  We  have  already  given 
a  biographical  sketch  of  Prof.  Fiske.  This  is  the  place  for 
som*  notice  of  the  life  and  character  of  Professors  Peabody  and 
Adams. 

Rev.  Prof.  William  Augustus  Peabody  was  born  in  Salem, 
Mass.,  December  6, 1816,  was  graduated  with  the  second  appoint- 
ment in  the  Class  of  '35,  was  an  eminently  popular  and  success- 
ful Tutor  from  1838  to  1840,  was  married  to  a  daughter  of  Rev. 
Dr.  Codman  of  Dorchester  in  1846,  and  settled  in  the  ministry 
over  the  Congregational  Church  in  East  Randolph  for  several 
years,  till  greatly  to  the  regret  of  his  people,  he  was  dismissed 
in  December,  1849,  that  he  might  become  Professor  of  Latin  in 
the  College  where  he  was  educated.  He  entered  upon  his  new 
duties  in  the  winter  term  of  1849-50,  with  characteristic  ardor, 
and  with  promise  of  abundant  usefulness.  He  had  heard  his 
classes  only  about  six  weeks.  He  had  preached  with  great  ac- 
ceptance, two  or  three  times  in  the  College  chapel.  He  was 
just  beginning  to  make  himself  useful,  honored  and  beloved 
as  a  teacher  and  preacher,  as  a  neighbor  and  friend,  when  he 
was  attacked  with  scarlet  fever,  and  after  a  sickness  of  only  a 
few  days,  died  on  the  27th  of  February,  1850,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-nine.  Seldom  has  an  event  occurred  which  so  deeply 
moved  the  College,  and  so  excited  the  sympathies  of  the  entire 
community.  Its  effect  in  deepening  and  extending  the  religious 
interest  among  the  students,  has  been  already  mentioned.  His 
own  religious  life  began  in  the  revival  of  1835,  and  ended,  nay, 


366  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

began  anew,  was  multiplied  and  perpetuated  in  that  of  1850. 
His  fine  person  and  agreeable  manners,  his  generous  impulses 
and  warm  affections,  his  high  attainments  and  higher  aspira- 
tions as  a  scholar,  and  his  sincere,  graceful  and  growing  piety, 
will  long  be  remembered  by  his  colleagues  and  his  pupils,  short 
as  his  connection  was  with  Amherst  College. 

Prof.  Charles  Baker  Adams  was  born  in  Dorchester,  Mass., 
January  11,  1814.  Having  fitted  for  College  at  Phillips  Acad- 
emy, Andover,  he  entered  Yale  College  in  October,  1830,  and  in 
the  second  year  of  his  course  came  to  Amherst,  where  he  grad- 
uated with  the  highest  honors  in  the  Class  of  '34.  In  Octo- 
ber, 1834,  he  became  a  member  o*f  the  Theological  Seminary  at 
Andover.  But  his  heart  was  in  the  physical  sciences.  His 
Bachelor's  and  his  Master's  oration  were  both  on  these  sciences, 
the  one  on  their  use,  and  the  other  on  their  relative  importance. 
In  June,  1836,  he  left  his  theological  studies  to  assist  Prof. 
Hitchcock  in  a  geological  survey  of  the  State  of  New  York.1 
The  year  1836-7,  he  spent  as  a  Tutor  in  Amherst  College.  In 
September,  1838,  he  accepted  an  appointment  as  Professor  of 
Chemistry  and  Natural  History  in  Middlebury  College,  which 
office  he  discharged  with  characteristic  zeal  and  signal  ability 
for  nine  years,  during  which  time  he  also  made  an  able  and  sat- 
isfactory geological  survey  of  the  State  of  Vermont,  publishing 
annual  reports,  collecting  several  complete  series  of  the  rocks, 
shells  and  soils,  and  thus  laying  the  foundations  of  his  cabinets, 
while,  at  the  same  time,  he  developed  the  unknown  economical 
resources  of  the  State. 

In  August,  1847,  he  was  appointed  Professor  of  Astronomy 
and  Geology,  and  Curator  of  the  cabinet  in  Amherst  College, 
which  office  he  held  five  years,  discharging  its  duties  with  inde- 
fatigable zeal,  increasing  acceptance  and  growing  reputation  till 
he  fell  victim  to  his  ruling  passion.  Led,  partly  by  the  state  of 
his  health  and  partly  for  the  sake  of  scientific  explorations  and 
collections,  to  visit  the  tropical  climates,  he  spent  the  winters  of 
1844-5  and  1848-9  in  Jamaica,  and  1850-1  at  Panama.  In 

1  This  survey  was  relinquished  by  Dr.  Hitchcock  on  account  of  his  health.  The 
wind  and  weather  were  adverse  when  he  commenced  it,  and  in  a  fit  of  despondency, 
he  threw  up  his  commission. 


PROFESSOR    ADAMS.  367 

December,  1852,  he  visited  St.  Thomas  for  similar  purposes ;  but 
he  had  scarcely  reached  the  island  and  entered  with  his  usual 
enthusiasm  upon  his  researches,  when  he  was  attacked  by  the 
prevailing  yellow  fever,  and  died  on  the  19th  of  January,  1853. 
In  conjunction  with  Prof.  Alonzo  Gray  of  Brooklyn,  he  had  just 
completed  an  elementary  work  on  Geology.  He  had  studied 
thoroughly  the  mollusks  of  the  seas  and  shores  which  he  visited, 
and  partly  published  the  results  in  monographs  and  scientific 
journals.  A  new  field,  that  of  Zoological  Geography,  was  open- 
ing before  his  original  and  comprehensive  mind,  with  bright 
and  irresistible  attractions.  He  was  with  us  only  five  years. 
He  was  scarcely  forty  at  the  time  of  his  death.  But  those  who 
saw  the  rapidity  with  which  his  plans  widened,  and  the  results 
of  his  labors  increased  during  the  last  few  years  of  his  life,  could 
not  But  feel  that  he  was  arrested  on  the  very  threshold  of  new 
and  vast  discoveries,  which  would  have  greatly  enlarged  the 
boundaries  of  science,  and  shed  a  far  brighter  lustre  on  his  own 
name  and  that  of  the  Institution  with  which  he  was  connected. 

The  Zoological  Cabinet  of  Amherst  College  is  not  his  only, 
but  it  is  his  sufficient  monument.  Prof.  Agassiz  said  of  it,  "  I 
do  not  know  in  the  whole  country  a  Conchological  collection  of 
equal  value  ;"  and  Dr.  Gould  testified  that,  "  as  a  scientific  col- 
lection, it  is  not  equalled  in  some  respects,  by  any  other  collec- 
tion in  the  world."  There  are,  doubtless,  larger  collections,  but 
a  collection  so  perfectly  classified  and  arranged,  labeled  and  ex- 
hibited to  the  eye,  and  all  the  work  of  one  man,  with  no  resources 
but  his  genius  and  his  own  unconquerable  will,  and  that  man  cut 
down  almost  at  the  commencement  of  his  labors — such  a  cabi- 
net, we  venture  to  say,  the  world  does  not  contain. 

The  history  of  science  furnishes  few  more  remarkable  instan- 
ces of  great  intellectual  power,  impelled  by  an  ardor  bordering 
on  enthusiasm,  and  yet  guided  by  a  judgment  approaching  to 
scientific  intuition,  and  of  a  comprehensive  discipline  acquired 
by  the  impartial  study  and  mastery  of  all  the  branches  of  a  lib- 
eral education,  and  then  concentrated,  like  the  rays  that  fall 
upon  a  parabolic  mirror,  in  a  single  focal  point  of  the  in  tensest 
light  and  heat.  He  was  an  intense  thinker.  He  Avas  an  intense 
worker.  At  the  same  time  his  thinking  and  working  were  sub- 


368  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

jected  to  the  most  rigid,  undeviating,  unbending  system  and 
method.  He  seldom  smiled,  and  almost  never  laughed.  From 
his  external  appearance,  you  would  judge  him  incapable  of  wit 
or  humor.  Yet  ever  and  anon  a  flash  of  dry  wit  broke  from 
those  marble  lips  which  moved  the  hearers  to  laughter,  and  the 
more  irresistibly,  because  it  produced  not  the  slightest  change 
in  the  countenance  of  the  speaker.  A  student  was  once  recit- 
ing to  him  with  little  or  no  knowledge  of  his  lesson.  Question 
after  question  was  asked,  and  answered  wrong.  To  each  answer 
the  Professor  responded,  "Not  correct."  "Well,  then,"  said 
the  student,  in  a  tone  of  some  impatience,  "  I  don't  know  any- 
thing about  it."  "  Quite  correct,"  was  the  instant  response  of 
the  Professor. 

A  student  once  undertook  to  put  a  practical  joke  upon  him  in 
the  class,  by  bringing  in  a  bug  gotten  up  for  the  purpose,  and 
asking  him  what  genus  it  belonged  to.  "  The  genus  Humbug," 
was  the  ready  answer. 

His  speech  and  outward  action  were  indicative  of  impertur- 
bable calmness,  nay  of  the  coldness  of  pure  intellect  without  a 
spark  of  passion  or  emotion.  But  beneath  that  cold  exterior 
like  the  perpetual  and  unchanging  snow  and  ice  of  Hecla,  there 
was  a  soul  of  fire — a  volcanic  intensity  of  thought  and  feeling 
and  action  which  nothing  could  chill  and  nothing  withstand — 
which  made  him  a  man  of  irresistible  power.  The  impression 
produced  on  the  College  by  the  news  of  Prof.  Adams'  death,  is 
thus  briefly  and  incidentally  described  in  a  letter  by  a  member 
of  the  Class  of  '55: l  "In  January,  Converse  died,  and  his  death 
cast  a  gloom  over  the  class.  He  was  young  and  rather  a  pet  in 
the  class.  The  same  month  came  the  news  of  the  death  of 
Prof.  Adams  who  was  much  respected  though  little  known  by 
the  students.  The  sermons  preached  in  the  Chapel  the  follow- 
ing Sunday  by  Prof.  Haven  deepened  the  impression  made  by 
the  news.  It  was  a  dark,  rainy,  gloomy  day.  The  Chapel  was 
draped  in  black.  It  seemed  as  though  everything  was  mourning." 

Nine  Trustees  terminated  their  connection  with  the  College 
by  death  or  resignation  during  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Hitchcock. 

Rev.  Theophilus  Packard,  D.  D.,  was,  as  we  have  related  in  a 

1  Rev.  George  Washburn  of  liobert  College,  Constantinople. 


DR.    PACKARD. 

former  chapter,  the  mover  of  the  resolution  iu  the  Franklin 
Association  of  Congregational  Ministers  which  first  publicly  rec- 
ommended Arnherst  as  the  most  eligible  site  for  a  new  College 
in  Hampshire  County.  From  that  day  to  the  day  of  his  death, 
for  more  than  forty  years,  he  was  among  the  most  unwavering 
friends  and  the  wisest  counselors  of  the  Institution,  and  during 
nearly  all  these  years  he  was  a  member  either  of  the  Board  of 
Overseers  of  the  Charity  Fund  or  of  the  Board  of  Trustees. 
He  was  born  in  North  Bridge  water,  Mass.,  March  4,  1769,  but 
removed  with  his  father's  family  to  Cummington  when  he  was 
five  years  old.  He  worked  on  a  farm  till  he  was  twenty-one, 
and  expected  to  be  a  farmer  until,  soon  after  his  conversion  and 
connection  with  the  church,  he  was  moved  to  prepare  for  the 
ministry.  He  entered  Dartmouth  College  in  1792  and  gradua- 
ted iif  1796  with  one  of  the  first  honors  of  his  class.  He  studied 
Theology  under  Rev.  Dr.  Burton  of  Thetford,  Vt.,  then  quite 
famous  as  the  author  of  the  "  Taste  Scheme  "  of  Divinity,  of 
which  Mr.  Packard  became  a  zealous  advocate.  On  the  20th 
of  February,  1799,  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  Church  in 
Shelburne  of  which  he  was  sole  pastor  for  almost  thirty  years, 
colleague  with  his  son,  Theophilus,  nearly  fourteen  years,  and 
nominal  pastor  without  salary  or  service  thirteen  years  longer 
until  his  death.  In  1830  and  again  in  1839 — both  among  the 
years  in  which  his  son  was  his  colleague — he  represented  the 
town  of  Shelburne  in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Williams  Col- 
lege from  1810  to  1825,  and  in  1824,  notwithstanding  all  the 
censure  and  ill-will  which  he  incurred  by  his  efforts  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  College,  that  Board  conferred  on  him  the  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Divinity. 

From  1821  to  1835,  Dr.  Packard  was  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Overseers  of  the  Charity  Fund  of  Amherst  College.  In 
1832  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  in 
1854,  oppressed  by  the  burden  of  fourscore  and  five  years,  he 
resigned  his  trust  at  the  same  time  that  his  friend  Dr.  Hitchcock 
retired  from  the  presidency.  He  died  September  17,  1855,  and 
Dr.  Hitchcock  preached  his  funeral  sermon  on  the  19th  in  the 
presence  of  a  large  assemblage  of  Ministers  and  Christians  con- 
24 


370  HISTOIIY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

vened  at  Shelburne  to  attend  the  Franklin  County  Church  Con- 
ference and  Benevolent  Anniversaries.  In  this  sermon,  which 
was  published,  Dr.  Hitchcock  says :  "  For  forty-five  years  he 
scarcely  ever  failed  of  being  present  at  the  Commencement  of 
one  or  the  other  of  these  Institutions  (Williams  or  Amherst). 
Of  the  latter  he  was  one  of  the  earliest,  most  active  and  most 
efficient  founders  and  promoters.  When  it  was  necessary  to 
incur  odium  and  reproach  to  sustain  and  advance  its  interests, 
he  was  always  among  those  who  stood  in  the  front  rank  to  meet 
the  brunt  of  the  conflict." 

In  the  absence  of  President  Humphrey  in  Europe,  Dr.  Pack- 
ard spent  most  of  the  summer  term  in  Amherst,  occupying 
the  Chapel  pulpit  in  his  place,  and  giving  more  or  less  instruc- 
tion to  the  Senior  class.  He  had  a  metaphysical  cast  of  mind, 
and  loved  to  discuss  the  philosophical  principles  that  underlie 
theology.  Socrates  himself  never  delighted  more  in  familiar 
conversations  with  his  pupils  and  his  friends  on  high  moral  and 
practical  themes,  and  the  Shelburne  sage  scarcely  fell  behind  the 
Athenian  philosopher  in  the  skill  with  which  he  conducted  the 
method  of  question  and  answer,  beginning  with  "  points  nearly 
self-evident,  and  advancing  step  by  step  until  in  the  result  you 
must  yield  the  point,  or  contradict  your  first  admission."  l  At 
a  period  when  there  were  few  academies,  and  no  theological 
seminaries,  his  house  was  at  once  an  academy  and  a  theological 
seminary.  He  fitted  many  for  College,  and  instructed  thirty- 
one  students  in  theology,  all  of  whom  became  preachers  of  the 
gospel.  At  the  same  time,  he  was  a  popular  preacher.  When- 
ever, on  public  occasions,  such  as  "  four  days'  meetings,"  as 
they  were  then  called,  he  preached  without  a  manuscript,  then 
he  illustrated  the  Saviour  and  the  great  salvation  with  wonder- 
ful clearness  and  force,  and  sometimes  rose  to  a  high  pitch  of 
argumentative  yet  fervid  eloquence.  He  preached  on  one  such 
occasion  before  the  students  and  the  people  in  the  village 
church  in  Amherst,  and  the  writer  will  never  forget  the  winning 
and  persuasive  words  with  which  he  recommended  the  Great 
Physician  to  his  hearers,  all  of  whom  he  represented  as  sick 

1  Cf.  letter  of  Rev.  Thomas  Shepard,  D.  D.,  in  Sprague's  Annals,  which  contains 
a  highly  appreciative  biography  of  Dr.  Packard. 


DR.   ELY.  371 

unto  death  with  the  fever,  the  leprosy,  the  plague  of  sin.  Dr. 
Packard  published  five  sermons,  two  of  which  were  on  the  Di- 
vinity of  Christ,  and  one  was  delivered  before  the  Hampshire 
Missionary  Society. 

Rev.  Alfred  Ely,  D.  D.,  was  one  of  the  original  Trustees 
named  in  the  charter,  and  incorporated  by  the  Legislature, 
in  1825.  He  continued  a  member  of  the  Board  twenty-nine 
years  and  resigned  his  place  in  1854,  at  the  last  annual  meeting 
at  which  President  Hitchcock  presided.  .  He  was  born  in  West 
Springfield,  November  8,  1778.  For  several  years  he  was  a 
clerk,  first  in  an  apothecary's  shop,  in  Springfield,  and  then  in  a 
commission  store,  in  Hartford.  Here  he  became  a  member  of 
Dr.  Strong's  church,  and  at  his  suggestion,  when  he  was  twenty- 
one,  with  only  fifteen  dollars  in  his  pocket,  "all  his  earthly 
substance,"  he  commenced  fitting  for  College.  Led  by  the 
pecuniary  assistance  which  he  could  there  receive,  he  entered 
the  Junior  class  at  the  College  of  New  Jersey  (Princeton)  in 
1802,  and  there  graduated  with  honor  in  1804,  with  such  class- 
mates as  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  Samuel  X.  Southard,  and 
Dr.  N.  S.  Prime.  Immediately  after  his  graduation,  he  was 
elected  Tutor  in  the  College,  which  office  he  held  for  one  year, 
at  the  same  time  pursuing  theological  studies  under  the  Pro- 
fessor of  Divinity.  After  studying  four  months  more  with 
Dr.  Lathrop,  of  West  Springfield,  he  was  licensed  to  preach 
February  12,  1806,  by  the  Hampshire  Association,  and  on 
the  17th  day  of  December,  in  the  same  year,  he  was  ordained 
pastor  of  the  church  in  Monson.  His  salary  was  five  hun- 
dred dollars.  He  preached  twenty-one  Sabbaths,  before  receiv- 
ing his  call,  and  he  continued  pastor  sixty  years,  although  for 
twenty-four  of  these  years  he  had  a  colleague,  and  for  several 
years  he  was  too  aged  and  infirm  to  perform  any  ministerial  ser- 
vice. For  more  than  thirty  years  there  was  a  constant  series 
of  revivals  under  his  ministry.  He  was  often  called  to  attend 
councils  and  other  public  meetings,  and  often  invited  to  preach 
at  ordinations,  and  before  benevolent  societies.  Nineteen  of 
these  sermons  were  printed.  In  1834,  he  received  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  the  College  at  which  he  was 
graduated.  In  1840,  he  Avas  elected  a  corporate  member  of  the 


372  HISTORY   OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  and  continued  to  be  a 
member  till  his  death.  "  With  the  exception  of  only  a  few 
years  he  presided  over  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Monson  Acad- 
emy, which  office  he  filled  with  singular  ability;  and  to  his 
counsels  and  faithful  and  untiring  labors  this  most  valuable  seat 
of  learning  was  indebted  under  God  for  most  of  its  usefulness 
and  prosperit}^."  l 

"  He  was  a  steadfast  and  efficient  friend  of  Amherst  College. 
He  was  one  of  those  men  whom  we  always  expected  to  see  at 
our  anniversaries,  and  other  public  occasions,  and  whose  pres- 
ence and  countenance  always  gave  us  new  courage  ;  for  we  felt 
confident  that  God  would  sustain  an  Institution  for  which  such 
men  would  honestly  and  ardently  labor  and  pray."  2 

A  Puritan  gentleman  of  the  old  school  and  of  the  most  be- 
nignant type,  he  long  graced  the  Commencement  stage  at  Am- 
herst ;  he  adorned  society  and  fostered  learning  still  longer  at 
Monson ;  he  lived  to  preach  two  sermons 3  on  the  fiftieth  anni- 
versary of  his  settlement ;  he  lived  ten  years  after  that,  still 
honored  and  belo-ved  among  his  own  people,  a  beautiful  speci- 
men of  a  serene  and  happy  old  age,  but  he  passed  away  sud- 
denly at  length  in  the  eighty-fourth  year  of  his  age,  his  funeral 
sermon  being  preached  by  his  neighbor,  friend  and  colleague  in 
the  Board  of  Trustees,  Rev.  Dr.  Vaill  of  Palmer,  on  the  9th 
day  of  July,  1866.  • 

John  Tappan,  Esq.,  was  a  member  of  the  Corporation  twenty 
years,  having  been  elected  in  1834,  and  resigning  his  trust,  at 
the  same  time  with  Dr.  Ely,  at  the  last  annual  meeting  (in 
1854)  at  which  Dr.  Hitchcock  presided.  He  was  born  in  North- 
ampton, July  26,  1781,  and  w.as  the  sixth  child,  in  a  family  of  ten, 
all  of  whom  lived  honorably,  and  only  one  of  whom  died  under 
seventy-four  years  of  age.  His  father,  Benjamin  Tappan,  was  for 
many  years  a  goldsmith,  and  then  a  merchant  in  Northampton ; 
and  it  was  the  boast  of  his  children,  that  when  all  the  mer- 
chants around  him  sold  ardent  spirits,  he  always  refused  to  do 
so.  Mr.  John  Tappan  went  to  Boston,  in  October,  1799,  and 

1  Funeral  Sermon  by  Rev.  Dr.  Vaill.     2  "  Reminiscences  of  Amherst  College." 
3  These   sermons  were  published  at  the   request  of  his  people.     One  of  them 
was  the  identical  sermon  which  he  had  preached  fifty  years  previous. 


MR.   TAPPAN.  373 

became  a  clerk  in  the  wholesale  importing  house  of  Small  & 
Salisbury.  In  1803  he  became  a  partner  in  the  firm,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-two ;  and  twenty-two  years  later,  having  acquired  a 
competency,  he  retired  from  business. 

On  his  return  from  England,  in  the  spring  of  1805,  the  ves- 
sel struck  an  iceberg,  and  sunk  with  twenty-seven  persons  on 
board.  The  remainder  of  the  passengers  and  crew  succeeded 
in  getting  into  the  boats,  and,  after  three  days'  exposure  on  the 
sea,  met  a  homeward  bound  ship,  which  took  them  up,  and 
brought  them  safely  to  land,  more  or  less  injured,  however,  by 
frost,  exposure  and  fatigue.  This  narrow  escape,  with  its  at- 
tendant circumstances,  made  so  strong  an  impression  upon  him, 
that  it  proved  the  means  of  a  radical  change  in  his  religious  char- 
acter and  life.  Leaving  the  old  Federal  Street  Society,  of  which 
Rev."William  E.  Channing  was  the  pastor,  he  became  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Union  Church  in  Essex  Street,  first  under  the 
care  of  Rev.  Samuel  Green,  and  afterwards  of  Rev.  Nehemiah 
Adams,  and  thenceforth  devoted  his  property,  influence  and  life  to 
the  cause  of  evangelical  religion  and  Christian  benevolence.  He 
was  one  of  the  founders,  and  for  twenty-three  years  Treasurer 
of  the  Massachusetts  Bible  Society.  For  more  than  forty  years 
he  was  either  the  Treasurer  or  the  President  of  the  American 
Tract  Society  of  Boston.  At  the  time  of  his  death,  he  was  the 
oldest  corporate  member  of  the  American  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners for  Foreign  Missions,  in  which  he  was  also,  for  nearly 
thirty  years,  a  member  of  the  Prudential  Committee.  He  was 
one  of  the  original  founders  of  the  American  Temperance  Soci- 
ety. The  shipwreck  which  gave  a  new  direction  to  his  whole 
life,  was  occasioned  by  the  first  mate  being  drunk  on  deck  in 
command  of  the  ship,  and  from  that  time  he  not  only  ab- 
stained from  the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  himself,  but  did 
all  in  his  power  to  promote  temperance.  When  Mr.  Cheever 
was  to  be  tried  for  libel  as  the  author  of  "  Deacon  Giles'  Dis- 
tillery," Mr.  Tappan  contributed  largely  toward  the  cost  of 
the  defense.  Like  his  friend,  Dr.  Hitchcock,  he  adhered  to  the 
principle  and  practice  of  total  abstinence  at  times  and  places 
where  they  were  unpopular,  and  courteously  declined  to  taste 
intoxicating  drinks  when  the  great  and  the  good  almost  uni- 


374  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

versally  used  them  at  public  dinners  during  the  anniversaries  in 
London. 

His  interest  in  the  cause  of  temperance,  was  the  occasion  of 
his  interest  in  Amherst  College,  and  of  his  connection  with  it 
as  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  In  1829,  he  offered  a 
premium  for  the  best  essay  on  alcoholic  and  narcotic  substances. 
The  premium  was  awarded  to  an  essay  by  Prof.  Hitchcock, 
which  was  published  under  the  direction  of  the  American  Tem- 
perance Society,  in  1829,  and  in  1880  incorporated  as  one  of  the 
chapters  of  Prof.  Hitchcock's  book  entitled  "  Dyspepsy  Fore- 
stalled and  Resisted."  His  agency  in  originating  the  Anti- 
veneriian  Society  in  1829-30,  has  been  narrated  in  the  history 
of  that  period. 

His  generous  gifts  to  the  College  at  the  inauguration  of  this 
Society  were  the  beginning  of  a  succession  of  donations  which 
continued  through  all  the  darkest  periods  in  the  history  of  the 
College  and  ended  only  with  the  life  of  the  benefactor.  In 
1845,  he  came  again  to  the  relief  of  the  Library  and  of  the  offi- 
cers and  students,  almost  famishing  for  mental  food,  with  a  dona- 
tion of  a  thousand  dollars.  Again  when  the  subscription  was 
started  for  the  new  Library  building  and  books,  he  was  one  of 
the  most  cheerful  subscribers.  Again  and  again  did  he  contrib- 
ute to  the  zoological  and  other  collections  in  sums  varying  from 
fifty  dollars  to  five  hundred.  In  short,  for  forty  years  he  was 
one  of  the  standing  and  unfailing  resources  of  the  College  in 
every  emergency.  He  rarely  gave  very  large  sums.  But  he 
seldom  if  ever  failed  to  give  something.  And  he  gave  with 
such  readiness  and  cheerfulness,  that  it  has  often  been  remarked 
of  him,  he  seemed  not  only  to  know  and  feel  but  to  act  as  if  he 
knew  and  felt  that  "it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to -receive." 
His  direct  and  indirect  assistance  to  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hitchcock  in 
their  European  tour  enabled  them  to  extend  their  travels  and 
return  without  feeling  the  expense.  In  his  declining  years,  he 
expressed  his  threefold  interest  in  Amherst  College,  in  the  Chris- 
tian education  of  young  men  and  in  the  memory  of  a  beloved  pas- 
tor, by  endowing  in  the  College  the  Samuel  Green  Professorship 
of  the  Pastoral  Charge  and  of  Biblical  Theology,  showing  his 
modesty  not  only  in  giving  it  the  name  of  another  but  even  re- 


HIS   CHARITIES.  375 

fusing  to  allow  the  name  of  the  donor  to  be  mentioned  during 
his  life.  In  his  later  years,  he  was  greatly  interested  in  the  cir- 
culation of  good  books.  Prayer  for  Colleges,  Life  of  Knill,  Life 
of  John  Vine  Hall,  Life  of  Havelock,  Life  of  Frelinghuysen,  His- 
tory of  the  American  Board  and  I  know  not  how  many  other 
books  of  the  kind,  he  distributed  gratuitously  among  the  officers 
and  students  of  Colleges,  and  cast  them  into  all  the  fountains 
of  influence. 

Nor  were  these  public  charities  at  the  expense  of  his  duty  to 
needy  and  worthy  objects  nearer  home.  He  was  ever  distribut- 
ing to  the  necessities  of  the  poor.  For  almost  fifty  years,  almost 
to  the  day  of  his  death,  he  took  pleasure  in  laying  out  money 
for  the  improvement  and  embellishment  of  his  native  place. 
And  in  his  will,  he  remembered  as  he  had  always  done  during  his 
life,*all  who  had  any  reasonable  expectation  or  just  claim  to  such 
remembrance.  In  short,  justice  and  generosity  joined  hands  in 
his  character  and  life,  and  there  have  been  few  men  who  could 
so  truly  adopt  the  language  of  the  ancient  patriarch :  "  When 
the  ear  heard  me,  then  it  blessed  me ;  and  when  the  eye  saw 
me,  it  gave  witness  to  me,  because  I  delivered  the  poor  that 
cried  and  the  fatherless  and  him  that  had  none  to  help  him. 
The  blessing  of  him  that  was  ready  to  perish  came  upon  me, 
and  I  caused  the  widow's  heart  to  sing  for  joy."  Mr.  Tappan 
was  naturally  serious,  reserved,  almost  severe.  But  in  his  last 
years,  he  became  cheerful  and  playful  as  a  child,  while  at  the 
same  time  his  senses  and  faculties  were  not  in  the  least  impaired. 
He  had  to  remind  nearly  all  his  visitors  that  he  was  not  deaf. 
And  bent  and  bowed  as  he  was  by  the  infirmities  of  age  the  last 
time  I  saw  him,  he  rose  from  his  easy  chair  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  showing  me  how  perfectly  he  had  "  the  Grecian  Bend !  " 

Mr.  Tappan  died  in  Boston,  March  25,  1871,  wanting  only  a 
few  weeks  of  ninety  years  of  age.  Rev.  Mr.  Parsons,  pastor  of  the 
Union  Church,  and  Rev.  Drs.  Anderson,  and  Kirk  all  took  part  in 
the  funeral  services,  and  amid  a  large  number  who  came  to  honor 
the  memory  of  this  distinguished  Christian  philanthropist,  Prof. 
Snell  very  fitly  represented  the  College  of  which  he  had  been  so 
frequent  and  so  liberal  a  benefactor.  His  more  celebrated  broth- 
er, Arthur,  although  he  was  only  five  years  younger  than  John, 


376  HISTOEY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

looked  up  to  him  as  a  father,  and  used  to  say,  "  to  him  I  owe, 
under  Providence,  all  I  am  and  have  been  for  this  world." 
Arthur's  income  was  for  many  years  much  larger  than  John's ; 
but  when  the  former  succumbed  to  the  great  financial  pressure 
in  1837,  the  latter  expressed  his  fraternal  love  as  well  as  his 
Christian  benevolence  by  paying  some  of  his  brother's  generous 
subscriptions  to  charitable  and  philanthropic  objects. 

Hon.  Samuel  Turell  Armstrong  was  a  member  of  the  Corpora- 
tion sixteen  years,  from  1834  to  1850.  He  was  born  in  Dorches- 
ter, April  29,  1784.  He  lost  his  father  in  early  life,  and  soon 
after  that  event,  was  placed  as  an  apprentice  in  the  office  of 
Manning  &  Loring,  then  among  the  most  celebrated  book- 
printers  in  Boston.  At  the  expiration  of  his  apprenticeship,  he 
began  business  in  State  street,  in  connection  with  Joshua  Belcher, 
and  published  a  weekly  periodical  called  The  Emerald.  This 
partnership  was  not  of  long  continuance.  Mr.  Armstrong  then 
set  up  a  printing-office  in  Charlestown,  and  printed  The  Pan- 
oplist,  a  monthly  periodical,  devoted  to  foreign  missions  and 
evangelical  religion,  which  was  the  forerunner  of  The  Mission- 
ary Herald  and  The  Spirit  of  the  Pilgrims.  In  1811,  he  removed 
to  Boston,  where  he  continued  the  publication  of  The  Panoplist, 
and  published  large  editions  of  many  popular  religious  works. 
Among  the  larger  works  issued  from  his  press,  was  Scott's  Fam- 
ily Bible.  Thus  was  laid  the  foundation  of  a  career  of  well- 
earned  prosperity  and  usefulness,  which  has  seldom  had  a  paral- 
lel in  the  history  of  Boston  printers  and  booksellers.  He  retired 
from  active  business,  when  comparatively  a  young  man,  with  a 
property  worth  over  one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

Mr.  Armstrong  served  the  city  of  Boston  once  or  twice  as 
a  Representative  in  the  Legislature,  and  was  once  chosen  Sen- 
ator for  the  county  of  Suffolk.  He  was  Lieutenant-Governor  of 
Massachusetts,  a  number  of  years  in  the  administrations  of  Levi 
Lincoln  and  John  Davis,  and  was  acting  Governor  ten  months 
in  the  year  1835,  Gov.  Davis  having  been  chosen  Senator  in 
Congress.  The  next  year,  1836,  he  was  elected  Mayor  of  Bos- 
ton, but  thereafter  declined  a  re-election. 

Gov.  Armstrong  stood  up  firmly  for  Orthodoxy  and  evangel- 
ical piety  in  Boston,  at  a  time  when  nearly  all  the  public  men 


GOVERNOR    ARMSTRONG.  377 

were  Unitarians,  and  was  an  officer  and  leader  of  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  and  other  similar 
Societies  during  all  the  later  period  of  his  life.  He  was  for 
many  years  a  deacon  in  the  Old  South  Church,  and  Superin- 
tendent of  their  Sabbath  School. 

On  the  26th  of  March,  1850,  he  attended  a  business  meeting 
of  the  Prudential  Committee  of  the  American  Board  in  his  usual 
health.  Returning  home  about  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening,  he 
sat  down  in  his  parlor,  and  without  a  premonitory  symptom,  ex- 
pired. He  was  within  one  month  of  sixty-six  years  of  age. 

Gov.  Armstrong  was  a  pretty  faithful  attendant  at  the  meet- 
ings of  the  Trustees,  and  was  placed  on  important  committees 
in  which  his  business  experience  and  his  acquaintance  with  af- 
fairs enabled  him  to  render  valuable  service.  His  name  stands 
nextTto  that  of  President  Humphrey,  and  with  those  of  Messrs. 
Grennell,  Banister  and  Calhoun,  on  the  circular  which,  in  1839, 
was  addressed  to  the  public,  appealing  for  pecuniary  aid  (the 
one  hundred  thousand  dollar  subscription.)  He  left  a  consider- 
able legacy  to  the  College,  subject,  however,  to  the  final  disposal 
of  his  wife.  He  married  the  sister  of  the  late  Dr.  William  J. 
Walker,  from  whose  munificence  Amherst  has  recently  received 
such  large  endowments.  Mrs.  Armstrong  is  still  living  and 
inherits  much  of  her  brother's  eccentricities. 

Hon.  David  Mack  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
from  1836  to  1854.  He  was  born  in  Middlefield,  Mass.,  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1778.  He  fitted  for  College  at  Windsor  Hill,  where 
Roger  Sherman  was  his  fellow-student;  but  his  eyes  failed  him, 
and  he  was  compelled  to  relinquish  a  public  education.  For 
twenty  years  he  was  a  merchant  in  his  native  place.  In  1834 
he  removed  to  Amherst. 

He  was  several  times  Representative  from  Middlefield,  in  the 
General  Court,  and  once  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate 
from  Hampshire  County.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Gov- 
ernor's Council.  In  1812,  he  commanded  for  some  months  the 
militia  in  Boston,  and  thus  acquired  the  title  of  General,  by 
which  he  was  usually  known.  For  many  years  he  was  the 
senior  deacon  of  the  church  in  Amherst. 

Elected  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  shortly  after  his 


378  HISTORY   OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

removal  to  Amherst.,  he  continued  a  member  till,  after  eighteen 
years  of  faithful  service,  his  connection  was  dissolved  by  death. 
During  nearty  all  these  years,  he  was  a  member  also  of  the  Pru- 
dential Committee,  and  of  building  and  other  working  commit- 
tees generally.  Being  a  resident  in  town  he  was  always  present 
at  the  meetings  and  constantly  charged  with  special  duties  and 
responsibilities  in  relation  to  the  College.  At  the  same  time  he 
was  always  ready  to  contribute  liberally  to  its  pecuniary  neces- 
sities according  to  his  means. 

Gen.  Mack  died  September  6,  1854,  aged  seventy  six.  "He 
was  a  man  of  great  decision  of  character  and  a  devoted  Chris- 
tian, liberal  in  his  benefactions,  and  never  shrank  from  any  duty 
he  could  perform  or  pecuniary  sacrifice  he  could  make." 1 

The  father  of  Gen.  Mack — "  a  truly  Christian  patriarch  who 
left  to  his  numerous  descendants  and  to  society  the  fragrant 
memory  of  a  life  of  ninety-four  years  consecrated  to  piety  and 
usefulness" — was  the  subject  of  that  well-known  and  highly  in- 
structive tract,  entitled  "  The  Faithful  Steward."  No  one  could 
see  him  for  once  and  converse  with  him  on  the  most  casual  sub- 
ject without  feeling  that  he  was  a  genuine  descendant  and  rep- 
resentative of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  of  New  England.  And 
those  who  knew  him  most  intimately,  knew  that  he  was  just 
what  he  seemed,  a  living  impersonation  of  their  characteristic 
virtues.  Gen.  Mack  himself  was  the  worthy  son  of  that  worthy 
sire. 

Hon.  Alfred  Dwight  Foster  was  elected  to  a  place  among  the 
Trustees  of  Amherst  College  at  their  annual  meeting  in  1837 
and  resigned  his  seat  at  the  annual  meeting  in  1852,  having  been 
a  member  of  the  Board  fifteen  years.  He  was  born  at  Brook- 
field,  July  26,  1800.  His  ancestors  had  been,  for  at  least  two 
generations,  distinguished  in  the  civil  history  of  Massachusetts. 
His  early  education  he  pursued  partly  under  his  father's  direc- 
tion in  his  native  place,  and  partly  in  Leicester  Academy.  At 
the  age  of  fifteen  he  entered  Harvard  University  and  was  grad- 
uated with  honor  in  1819.  Admitted  to  the  bar  in  1822,  he 
practiced  law  in  Brookfield  one  year,  and  in  Worcester  two 
years,  after  which  he  relinquished  his  profession  for  other 

1  Dr.  Hitchcock's  "Reminiscences,"  p.  15. 


HON.    A.    D.   FOSTER.  379 

pursuits.  From  that  time  till  his  death,  he  was  almost  con- 
stantly employed  in  places  of  public  trust  and  responsibility. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  three  years 
in  succession,  beginning  with  1831,  a  member  of  the  Governor's 
Council  in  1842,  and  again  in  1844  and  1845,  and  a  Senator 
from  Worcester  County  in  1848.  At  the  same  time  he  was  ren- 
dering invaluable  service  to  the  State  in  those  great  charities, 
the  Lunatic  Hospital  at  Worcester  and  the  Reform  School  in 
Westboro,  of  the  former  of  which  he  was  an  original  Trustee, 
and  the  Treasurer  for  fourteen  years,  and  of  the  latter  Chair- 
man of  the  Commissioners  for  erecting  the  buildings  and  organ- 
izing the  Institution.  For  many  years  he  was  on  the  School 
Committee  in  Worcester,  and  he  was  one  of  the  Trustees  of 
Leicester  Academy  from  1833  till  within  a  year  or  two  of  his 
death. 

In  1882,  he  united  with  the  Central  Church  in  Worcester, 
and  when  greater  facilities  for  public  worship  were  necessary, 
he  gave  his  counsel  and  influence — "  his  hand  and  purse  and 
heart " — to  the  enterprise  of  organizing  and  building  up  the 
Union  Church  and  Society  in  that  city.  From  his  election  to 
the  Trusteeship  in  Amherst  College,  in  1837  till  1843,  Mr.  Foster 
was  present  at  all  the  meetings  of  the  Board,  and  the  commit- 
tees on  which  he  was  placed  show  how  much  they  relied  on  his 
wise  counsels  in  perplexing  questions  and  difficult  emergencies. 
In  1844  he  tendered  his  resignation,  because  he  could  not  send 
his  own  sou  to  Amherst,  and  doubted  the  propriety  of  retaining 
his  place  under  such  circumstances.  But  the  Trustees  unani- 
mously requested  him  to  withdraw  his  resignation,  and  he  yielded 
to  their  solicitations.  He  stood  by  the  College  through  its  dark- 
est hours  of  embarrassment  and  depression,  although  his  faith  in 
the  possibility  of  sustaining  it,  at  one  time,  was  so  shaken  that  he 
suggested  the  expediency  of  changing  it  to  an  Academy.  The 
writer  gratefully  remembers  the  delicacy  and  courtesy,  as  well 
as  wisdom  and  prudence  of  Mr.  Foster's  intercourse  with  the 
Faculty,  when  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  the  Trustees  he 
conferred  with  them  touching  their  assumption  of  the  pecuniary 
responsibilities  of  the  College  at  the  commencement  of  Dr. 
Hitchcock's  presidency.  Dr.  Hitchcock,  in  his  "  Reminiscences," 


380  HISTORY   O?   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

alludes  to  his  "  nice  sense  of  propriety,"  testifies  to  his  conscien- 
tious support  of  the  College  during  its  season  of  deepest  depres- 
sion, and  speaks  of  him  as  an  "  active  member  of  the  Board  and 
a  judicious  counselor." 

Mr.  Foster  was,  for  many  years,  a  corporate  member  of  the 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  an  officer  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society, 
and  an  active  and  valuable  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Board 
of  Education.  He  died  August  10,  1872,  in  the  midst  of  life 
and  usefulness,  greatly  lamented,  beloved  and  admired,  as  a  rare 
example  of  an  upright,  philanthropic,  public-spirited,  cultivated, 
refined  and  accomplished  Christian  gentleman. 

Rev.  John  Nelson,  D.  D.,  was  born  in  Hopkinton,  in  1786. 
In  1798  he  removed  with  his  parents  to  Worcester,  where,  at 
the  age  of  fifteen,  he  became  a  member  of  the  First  Church. 
In  1804.  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  entered  the  Sophomore  class 
in  Williams  College,  where  he  graduated  in  1807.  In  1809-10, 
he  was  Tutor  in  the  College  at  which  he  was  educated.  After 
spending  a  few  months  in  theological  study  with  his  pastor,  Dr. 
Austin  of  Worcester,  he  was  licensed  to  preach,  in  March,  1811, 
and  March  4,  1812,  he  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  church  in 
Leicester,  where  he  was  the  immediate  successor  of  Dr  Moore. 
In  1843  he  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity, 
from  his  Alma  Mater. 

Dr.  Nelson  was  Trustee  of  Williams  College  seven  years,  be- 
tween 1826  and  1833,  and  of  Amherst  College  nine  years,  be- 
tween 1839  and  1848.  But  his  tastes  have  led  him  to  withdraw 
from  public  life,  and  devote  himself  to  his  pastoral  charge  where 
his  labors  have  been  greatly  blessed,  and  to  Leicester  Academy, 
of  which,  for  many  years,  he  was  one  of  the  chief  pillars.  He 
has  had  two  colleagues,  but  has  continued  to  write  sermons  and 
preach  a  part  of  the  day  most  of  the  time.  He  has  published 
several  occasional  sermons,  not  a  few  articles  in  the  magazines 
and  papers,  a  little  volume  called  "  Evening,"  a  larger  one  with 
the  title,  "  Gatherings  from  a  Pastor's  Drawer,"  and  a  semi-cen- 
tennial historical  discourse.1  He  celebrated  his  golden  wedding 
May  4,  1862,  of  which  an  interesting  account,  in  a  beautiful 
little  volume,  was  given  to  the  public.  This  worthy  and  vener- 

1  See  Durfee's  Biographical  Annals  of  Williams  College. 


PROFESSOR   EDWARDS.  381 

able  couple  are  still  living,  "  in  their  happy  home  on  Leicester 
Hill,"  (so  he  writes  in  a  letter  just  received,  December,  1871,) 
near  the  close  of  the  sixtieth  year  of  his  ministry  and  of  their 
married  life,  "  not  having  changed,  nor  wished  to  change  his 
place." l 

Rev.  Prof.  Bela  Bates  Edwards  had  the  honor  of  being  the 
first  alumnus  of  Amherst  College,  who  was  chosen  to  be  one  of 
its  Trustees.  His  life  and  character  have  been  delineated  by 
Prof.  Park  with  such  exhaustive  fullness  and  faithfulness,  and 
such  loving  sympathy,  that  our  readers  will  scarcely  desire  any 
other  biography.2  The  principal  facts  of  his  life  may  be  briefly 
set  down  as  follows :  He  was  born  at  Southampton,  Mass., 
on  the  4th  of  July,  1802;  prepared  for  College  at  Hopkins 
Academy,  Hadley,  and  with  Father  Hallock  of  Plainfield,  en- 
tered Williams  College  in  1820,  and  having  remained  there  one 
year  followed  President  Moore  to  Amherst,  where  he  graduated 
in  1824 ;  was  converted  during  his  Junior  year  in  College,  but 
did  not  make  a  public  profession  till  three  years  later;  entered 
the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover,  in  November,  1825 ;  was 
Tutor  in  Amherst  College  from  1822  to  1828;  was  Assistant 
Secretary  of  the  American  Education  Society  at  Andover,  while 
at  the  same  time,  he  completed  his  theological  studies  in  the 
Seminary,  from  1828  to  1830 ;  held  the  same  office  in  Boston, 
in  connection  with  editorial  and  literary  labors,  from  1830  to 
1836  ;  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Suffolk  South  Association, 
in  1831;  was  Professor  first  of  Hebrew,  and  then  of  Biblical 
Literature,  at  Andover,  from  1836  to  1852;  received  the  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Dartmouth  College  in  1844  ;  traveled 
for  his  health  in  the  Southern  States  and  in  Europe  from  Octo- 
ber, 1845,  till  May,  1847  ;  went  to  the  South  again  in  the  au- 
tumn of  1851  ;  and  died  at  Athens,  Ga.,  April  20,  1852,  want- 
ing a  few  months  of  being  fifty  years  of  age. 

1  Dr.  Nelson  died  on  Wednesday,  December  6,  1871,  only  a  day  or  two  after  the 
above  was  written. 

2  The  Life  and  Services  of  Prof.  B.  B.  Edwards.     A  discourse  delivered  in  the 
Chapel  of  Andover  Theological  Seminary,  June  25,  1852,  by  Edwards  A.  Park. 
Published   in    the  Bibliotheca  Sacra  for  October,  1852,  also  in  a  pamphlet  form. 
There  is  also  a  Life  of  Prof.  Edwards  in  Sprague's  Annals,  with  letters  from  Dr. 
Cheever  and  Prof.  Haekett. 


382  HISTORY    OF    AMHEKST    COLLEGE. 

I  shall  not  review  his  early  life  and  education,  his  contribu- 
tions to  American  literature  or  his  services  in  the  cause  of  bib- 
lical learning  and  theological  education.  I  shall  not  dwell  upon 
his  highly  cultivated  mind  or  his  elegant  taste,  his  great  learn- 
ing or  his  greater  modesty,  his  truth-loving  accuracy  or  his  Taci- 
tus-like eloquence,  the  purity  of  his  heart  or  the  beauty  of  his 
life,  or  the  rare  combination  of  excellences,  usually  deemed  in- 
compatible, that  were  reconciled  and  made  real  in  his  character. 
I  shall  only  allude  to  what  he  was  and  what  he  did  for  Amherst 
College. 

He  gave  his  College,  in  the  first  place,  the  example  of  a  diligent, 
faithful  and  successful  student.  Among  the  best  scholars  in  a 
class  which  has  furnished  three  distinguished  Professors  and  its 
full  share  of  excellent  men  in  other  departments  of  useful  labor, 
he  exemplified  his  impartial  devotion  at  once  to  literature,  sci- 
ence and  Christianity  in  the  choice  of  his  subjects  at  Commence- 
ment— discoursing  in  an  Oration  at  the  close  of  his  Junior  year 
(assigned  him  in  consequence  of  the  small  number  in  the  Senior 
Class)  on  "  The  Decline  of  the  Roman  Empire  in  Connection 
with  Christianity,"  and  in  a  Philosophical  Oration  when  he 
graduated,  on  "  Originality  of  Mind  as  affected  by  the  Study  of 
Natural  Philo'sophy."  After  three  years'  absence,  he  returned 
in  1827  to  deliver  a  Master's  Oration,  the  subject  of  which  was 
"  The  Diffusion  of  Knowledge  in  New  England."  At  the  same 
time  he  entered  on  a  tutorship  which  he  h'eld  for  two  years, 
discharging  its  duties  with  such  diversified  capabilities  and  such 
comprehensive  wisdom  as  to  elevate  the  moral  and  religious 
tone x  not  less  than  the  standard  of  scholarship  among  the  stu- 
dents. And  from  that  time  till  his  death,  whoever  else  might 
waver,  he  was  a  fast  friend  of  the  College ;  whoever  else  might 
fail,  he  was  a  firm  pillar. 

His  visits  to  his  Alma  Mater  were  frequent,  now  as  an  exam- 
ining committee,  now  to  deliver  an  address,  now  to  organize  a 
society  of  alumni,  now  to  preside  over  its  meetings.  Still  more 
frequently  was  he  consulted  by  letter  or  by  committee ;  and  his 
advice,  constantly  asked  and  freely  but  modestly  given,  was  a 

1  He  was  the  Tutor  to  whom  Mr.  Abbott  alludes  in  the  tenth  chapter  of  his  Cor- 
ner Stone.  See  page  202  of  this  History. 


WORKS   OF   PROFESSOR  EDWARDS.  383 

guide  and  a  support  to  the  College  in  many  of  its  most  trying 
emergencies.  The  officers  of  the  College  also  found  in  him  a 
faithful  friend  and  wise  counselor,  whether  in  their  private  la- 
bors and  trials  or  in  their  public  literary  undertakings.  Gladly 
would  the  Corporation  and  the  Faculty  have  linked  his  life  still 
more  directly  with  that  of  the  Institution.  They  solicited  his 
services,  at  different  times,  both  as  a  Professor  and  as  President. 
But  his  heart  and  hands  were  too  fully  enlisted  in  another 
sphere  of  duty.  All  that  he  could  give  and  do  consistently  with 
this  paramount  obligation,  was  cheerfully  given,  was  heartily 
done.  He  became  a  Trustee.  He  attended  punctually  the 
Commencements  and  the  meetings  of  the  Board.  He  devoted 
himself  with  especial  zeal  and  earnestness  to  the  increase  of  the 
Library  and  the  erection  of  a  new  Library  building ;  he  subscribed 
freely,  too  freely  for  his  means,  to  the  Library  fund ;  he  issued 
circulars  and  wrote  letters  in  its  behalf,  till  he  could  write  no 
more — his  last,  addressed  to  President  Hitchcock,  was  never  fin- 
ished, and  remains  an  affecting  memorial  of  his  zeal  in  the  en- 
terprise. 

Seven  printed  sermons  and  addresses,  six  books,  two  or  three 
volumes  of  translations,  and  thirty-one  volumes  of  periodical  lit- 
erature attest  his  industry,  enterprise,  learning  and  taste.  "For 
twenty-three  years  he  was  employed  in  superintending  our  peri- 
odical literature,  and  with  the  aid  of  several  associates,  he  has 
left  thirty-one  octavo  volumes  as  the  monuments  of  his  enter- 
prise and  industry  in  this  onerous  department.  What  man,  living 
or  dead,  has  ever  expended  so  much  labor  upon  our  higher  quar- 
terlies ?  A  labor,  how  severe !  and  equally  thankless." ]  Two 
volumes  of  his  smaller  pieces, — essays,  sermons,  addresses,  etc., 
— have  been  edited  by  Prof.  Park,  with  a  memoir,  and  published 
since  the  death  of  Prof.  Edwards.  But  these  literary  treasures, 
as  beautiful  in  form  as  they  are  rich  in  matter,  are  poor  in  com- 
parison with  the  greater  works  in  literature,  in  art,  and  in  exegesis 
which  he  had  projected,  for  which  he  had  collected  ample  mate- 
rials, and  which  he  would  doubtless  have  executed  if  he  had 
been  permitted  to  reach  the  full  period  of  human  life.  Prof. 
Edwards  sprang  from  the  same  old  Welsh  family  which  counts 

JProf.  Park's  Commemoration  Discourse. 


384  HISTORY  OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Jonathan  Edwards  among  its  descendants ;  and  it  is  not  extrav- 
agant to  say  that  he  has  shed  a  new  and  peculiar  lustre  on  a 
name  which  had  before  been  raised  almost  to  the  highest  point 
of  human  distinction. 

Rev.  John  Fiske,  D.  D.,  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trust- 
ees of  Amherst  Academy  who  laid  the  foundations  of  Amherst 
College  and  managed  its  affairs  from  1821  to  1825.  As  such  his 
name  appears  on  the  list  of  those  who  asked  to  be  incorporated 
as  Trustees  of  the  College.  But  because  he  was  too  rigid  a 
Puritan  to  suit  the  taste  of  the  opposition,  or  because  he  had,  by 
his  zeal  and  earnestness  in  behalf  of  the  College,  rendered  him- 
self especially  obnoxious  to  their  displeasure,  he,  together  with 
Nathaniel  Smith,  Esq.,  and  Rev.  Experience  Porter,  was  ex- 
cluded by  the  Legislature  from  the  Corporation,  and  three  other 
names  were  substituted  in  their  place.  On  the  resignation  of 
Rev.  Francis  Wayland,  the  Trustees  turned  the  tables  and 
elected  Rev.  John  Fiske  a  member  of  the  Board  in  his  stead  ; 
and  he  continued  in  the  office  till  the  time  of  his  death,  in  all 
thirty  years. 

He  was  born  at  Warwick,  Mass.,  October  26, 1770,  graduated 
at  Dartmouth  College  in  1791,  studied  Theology  under  the  di- 
rection of  Rev.  Dr.  Lyman'  of  Hatfield,  and  was  licensed  to 
preach  and  at  the  same  time  ordained  as  an  evangelist  at  Had- 
ley,  May  6,  1794.  On  the  26th  of  August,  1796,  he  was  in- 
stalled pastor  of  the  church  in  New  Braintree,  which  relation  he 
continued  to  sustain  during  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

He  found  the  church  at  New  Braintree  in  a  very  depressed 
state,  and  there  were  no  additions  to  it  during  the  first  two  years 
of  his  ministry.  But  from  that  time  there  were  several  added 
each  year  till  1809,  when  there  commenced  an  interesting  revi- 
val which  continued  between  two  and  three  years,  and  increased 
greatly  both  the  moral  and  the  numerical  strength  of  the  church. 
In  1818-19,  another  and  still  more  powerful  revival  occurred, 
the  result  of  which  was  an  addition  to  the  church  of  more  than 
ninety  persons  of  all  ages  and  conditions. l  There  were  several 
other  interesting  revivals  during  his  ministry,  by  which  and  by 
the  blessing  of  heaven  on  his  wise  and  faithful  labors  the  church 

1  Sprague's  Annals,  Vol.  II.,  p.  367. 


KEY.    DR.    FISKE.  385 

was  much  enlarged,  and  the  tone  of  Christian  feeling  and  be- 
nevolent effort  was  greatly  quickened  and  elevated. 

An  earnest  friend  of  education  at  home  and  abroad,  he 
watched  over  the  schools  in  the  town  with  a  sort  of  parental 
interest,  often  visiting  them  and  doing  all  in  his  power  to  elevate 
the  standard  of  qualification  in  the  teachers.  He  was  one  of 
the  earliest  and  warmest  friends  of  Amherst  College,  and  oppo- 
sition and  persecution  only  bound  him  more  closely  to  its  inter- 
ests. When  pecuniary  embarrassments  threatened  its  very  ex- 
istence, he  entered  the  field  more  than  once  as  a  voluntary 
agent  for  soliciting  subscriptions.  "  Some  of  my  earliest  recol- 
lections," writes  his  daughter,  "are  of  conversations  between 
him  arid  other  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy  about  the  feasi- 
bility^of  removing  Williams  College,  which  seemed  to  be  dying, 
away  off  among  the  mountains.  Many  long  talks  lasting  till 
past  midnight  were  held  in  our  little  sitting-room  by  such  men 
as  Mr,  Packard  of  Shelburne,  Mr.  Porter  of  Belchertown,  Mr.  N. 
Smith  of  Sunderland,  Mr.  Dickinson,  Mr.  Webster,  Col.  Graves 
and  others.  What  can  be  done,  was  the  question.  My  mother 
(a  wise  woman)  used  to  sit  by  and  say :  '  Your  plan  is  a  good 
one — it  is  a  pretty  air-castle.  Where  will  you  get  the  fifty 
thousand  dollars  to  start  with  ? '  And  to  my  childish  mind,  the 
sum  seemed  too  enormous  to  hope  for,  although  I  had  become 
intensely  interested  in  the  object.  Several  of  the  ministers 
agreed  to  give  a  hundred  dollars  apiece  for  a  nucleus — a  sum 
that  pinched  the  families  of  those  who  had  but  five  hundred  a 
3'ear,  as  I  ivdl  knoiv.  Then  they  went  to  begging  in  earnest. 
My  father  often  started  on  an  exchange  Friday  morning  and  re- 
turned the  next  Tuesday  night,  making  a  circuit  of  thirty  or 
forty  miles,  visiting  the  good  and  worthy  in  the  churches,  repre- 
senting the  cause  and  getting  subscriptions  of  five,  ten,  fifty  and 
a  hundred  dollars.  My  father  often  said  in  the  latter  part  of  his 
life  that  if  he  ever  did  any  good  in  the  world,  it  was  at  Amherst. 
He  lived  to  see  it  prosper,  and  attended  every  Commencement 
while  he  lived." 

Dr.  Hitchcock  says  of  him  in  his  "  Reminiscences,"  "  Dr.  Fiske 
was  a  man  of  strong  intellect  and  admirable  judgment,  conjoined 
with  piety  of  the  true  Puritan  stamp.  He  was  just  the  man  to 

25 


386  HISTORY  OF   AMHEBST   COLLEGE. 

stand  by  the  Institution  while  passing  through  an  exigency. 
For  having  once  settled  his  course  by  the  chart  of  duty  and  put 
his  hand  to  the  helm,  none  of  the  cross  currents  of  popular  fa- 
vor or  popular  frowns  could  change  it  by  the  smallest  rhumb. 
No  plea  of  conflicting  duties  or  important  business  at  home  or  of 
poor  health,  by  which  not  a  few  men  excuse  themselves  from 
meetings  where  unpleasant  and  trying  responsibilities  must  be 
assumed,  ever  kept  him  away  from  the  meetings  of  the  Board. 
Amherst  College  never  had  a  wiser  counselor  or  a  more  consistent 
and  devoted  friend  than  Dr.  John  Fiske."  It  was,  therefore,  an 
honor  due  alike  to  his  character,  his  attainments  and  his  services 
when,  in  1844,  the  College  conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Divinity. 

Dr.  Fiske  continued  sole  pastor  of  the  church  in  New  Braintree 
until  the  22d  of  June,  1853,  when  Mr.  James  T.  Hyde  was  or- 
dained as  his  colleague.  From  that  time  he  continued  to  preach 
occasionally — but  usually  in  the  neighboring  towns  whose  min- 
isters he  was  fond  of  visiting, — till  about  the  close  of  the  sum- 
mer of  1854  when  he  performed  his  last  service  in  the  pulpit. 
During  the  next  winter,  he  failed  gradually.  In  March,  he  was 
taken  suddenly  ill  with  congestion  of  the  lungs.  A  few  hours 
before  his  death,  he  joined  with  his  children  and  friends  in  sing- 
ing "  Rock  of  Ages."  He  died  on  the  15th  of  March,  1855,  in 
the  eighty-fifth  year  of  his  age  and  the  sixty-first  of  his  ministry. 
His  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  his  friend  and  neighbor,  Dr. 
Snell  of  North  Brookfield. 

His  successor  in  the  pastoral  office  gives  an  attractive  picture 
of  Dr.  Fiske  when  he  was  already  more  than  fourscore  years 
of  age.  "In  person  tall  and  well-proportioned,  with  large  and 
regular  features  and  but  slightly  bended  form ;  with  eyes  still 
bright  and  voice  still  strong  and  clear ;  with  slow  but  solid  foot- 
step ;  generally  reading,  writing,  singing,  or  talking,  when  he  was 
not  riding  or  sleeping,  he  seemed  when  I  first  saw  him,  to  be 
about  as  vigorous  as  he  was  venerable.  With  a  serene  and  intel- 
ligent countenance,  with  mild  and  dignified  manners,  with  an  ac- 
tive and  well-balanced  mind — discriminating  in  judgment,  skill- 
ful in  management ;  cautious  and  yet  determined  in  action — in 
conversation  at  once  inquisitive  and  instructive — deeply  inter- 


AN   ATTRACTIVE    PICTURE.  387 

ested  in  the  practical  affairs  of  men  and  with  as  deep  an  insight 
into  their  character  and  motives,  he  made  his  presence  to  be  felt 
by  all  around  him,  without  even  attempting  to  exert  an  influence 
or  make  an  impression.  .  .  .  After  a  ministry  of  fifty-eight  years 
and  nearly  five  months  among  the  same  people,  in  a  pleasant 
and  retired  home  with  a  large  family, 

'  And  that  which  should  accompany  old  age, 
As  honor,  love,  obedience,  troops  of  friends,' 

enjoying  and  being  enjoyed  by  his  friends  to  the  end,  praising 
God  for  his  goodness,  and  feeling  more  deeply  than  he  could  ex- 
press his  own  unworthiness,  he  fell  asleep  in  confident  hope  of 
the  mercy  of  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  1 

1  Letter  in  Sprague's  Annals,  Vol.  II.,  p.  368. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  PRESIDENCY  OF  DR.  STEARNS. 

WE  have  now  reached  a  period  whose  principal  actors  are  still 
living,  and  whose  history  can  be  impartially  and  intelligently 
written  only  by  those  who  come  after  us.  All  that  we  shall  at- 
tempt will  be  to  sketch  as  briefly  as  possible  some  of  its  leading- 
events  and  some  of  its  marked  characteristics. 

Rev.  President  William  Augustus  Stearns,  the  representative 
of  this  period,  was  born  in  Bedford,  Mass.,  March  17,  1805.  His 
father,  (Rev.  Samuel  Stearns  of  Bedford,)  and  both  his  grand- 
fathers were  ministers  of  the  gospel.  His  brothers  are  well 
known  as  distinguished  teachers  and  preachers.  He  was  pre- 
pared for  College  at  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  and  graduated 
with  honor  at  Cambridge,  in  1827,  with  such  classmates  as 
Prof.  Felton  and  Rev.  Dr.  Sweetser.  He  went  through  the 
full  course  of  theological  study  at  Andover,  in  the  same  class 
with  Dr.  Brainerd  of  Philadelphia,  Dr.  Joseph  S.  Clark,  Presi- 
dent Labaree,  Prof.  Owen,  and  Prof.  Park — the  Class  of  '31. 
After  teaching  a  short  time  at  Duxbury,  he  was  ordained  Decem- 
ber 14,  1831,  pastor  of  the  Church  at  Cambridgeport,  where  he 
remained  almost  twenty-three  years,  honored  and  beloved  by  all 
his  people  as  an  able  preacher  and  wise  pastor,  identified  with 
the  public  schools  of  Cambridge,  and  greatly  interested  in  the 
University,  and  sustaining  influential  relations  to  the  cause 
of  education  and  religion  in  Boston  and  vicinity.  This  brief 
general  statement  will  suffice  to  show  how  different  President 
Stearns'  antecedents  were  from  those  of  either  of  his  predeces- 
sors, and  how  these,  together  with  the  breadth  and  balance  of 
his  character  and  his  culture,  qualified  him  to  supplement  and 
complete  their  work. 


LETTER   OF   ACCEPTANCE.  389 

The  reluctance  with  which  he  tore  himself  away  from  his  peo- 
ple and  the  hesitation  and  anxiety  with  which  he  undertook  the 
presidency  of  Amherst  College,  will  be  seen  in  the  following 
extracts  from  his  letter  to  the  committee  of  the  corporation : l 
"  No  prudent  man  could  think  of  entering  upon  an  office  of  so 
much  importance — especially  in  recollection  of  the  honored  men, 
who  have  heretofore  so  nobly  filled  it,  and  the  expectations  of 
the  community  in  reference  to  its  incumbents,  in  connection 
with  the  labor  and  responsibility  it  involves — without  hesitation 
and  distrust.  But  in  the  present  case,  other  circumstances  led 
me  to  question  long  and  seriously  the  expediency  of  my  accept- 
ing a  position  which,  though  highly  honorable,  and  in  many  re- 
spects inviting,  must  always  be  one  of  anxiety  and  toil.  I  knew 
that,  in  complying  with  the  wishes  of  the  corporation,  I  must 
submit  to  a  great  sacrifice  of  personal  feeling,  to  say  nothing  of 
worldly  advantage,  both  present  and  in  reference  to  future  years. 
I  must  leave  a  people  among  whom  I  have  labored  in  the  gospel 
nearly  three-and  twenty  years,  and  who,  so  far  as  I  have  any 
knowledge,  are,  without  a  dissentient  voice,  well  satisfied  with 
my  ministrations.  I  must  leave  a  Society  now  highly  prosper- 
ous, and  as  a  situation  for  any  pastor  who  understands  it,  hardly 
second  to  any  other  in  the  country.  I  must  leave  a  delightful 
home,  built  under  my  own  directions,  and  whose  ample  shade 
and  fruit-trees  and  shrubbery  were  set  out,  and  have  been  cher- 
ished by  my  own  hand.  I  must  tear  away  my  family  from  their 
most  cherished  friendships,  and  my  children  from  the  schools 
which  I  really  think  are  the  best  in  the  world.  But  I  will  not 
trouble  you  with  the  trial  of  feeling  which  I  have  passed  through. 
Other,  and  I  think,  higher  considerations  have  gained  the  ascend- 
ency. Divine  direction  has  been  earnestly  sought,  and  I  have 
a  pleasing  consciousness  of  acting  in  the  case,  under  the  direct- 
ing influence  of  an  overruling  Power.  I  have  accordingly  come 
to  a  result  which,  a  few  weeks  ago,  I  could  hardly  have  consid- 
ered among  the  possibilities,  viz :  to  accept  the  office  you  have 
conferred  upon  me,  and  to  attempt  the  high  duties  it  involves. 

1  This  letter  is  copied  in  the  Records.  The  Committee  were  Rev.  Joseph  S. 
Clarke,  D.  D.,  (Dr.  Stearns'  classmate,)  Hon.  Linus  Child,  and  Henry  Edwards, 
Esq. 


890  HISTORY    OF    AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

I  do  this  relying  on  that  cordial  sympathy  and  co-operation  on 
the  part  of  the  Trustees  and  honored  Professors  of  the  College 
which,  I  have  been  assured,  will  be  truly  accorded  to  me,  and 
without  which  I  could  indulge  no  hope  of  success.  It  gives  me 
pleasure,  in  this  connection,  to  believe  that  I  shall  be  assisted 
in  my  untried  labor  by  the  experience  of  the  amiable  and  dis- 
tinguished gentleman,  who  has  so  long  and  acceptably  presided 
over  the  College,  and  whom  I  shall  never  cease  to  respect  and 
love." 

The  Inauguration,  of  which  we  have  already  given  an  account, 
took  place  on  Wednesday,  the  22d  of  November,  1854.  After 
some  graceful  allusions  to  the  origin  and  early  history,  the  found- 
ers and  former  Presidents  of  Amherst  College,  of  which,  though 
not  an  alumnus,  he  expresses  the  highest  appreciation,  and  asks 
to  be  accepted  as  a  true  son  though  by  adoption,  the  Inaugural 
Address  proceeds  to  define  the  end  or  aim  of  education,  which  is 
to  produce  in  the  person  educated  the  highest  style  of  man,  and 
then  to  discuss  the  most  essential  ways  and  means,  physical,  in- 
tellectual, moral  and  religious,  by  which  that  end  or  aim  is  to  be 
accomplished.  We  shall  see  further  on,  how  not  a  few  of  the 
ideas  which  the  President  thus  developed  in  his  Inaugural,  have 
been  realized  under  his  administration.  The  key-note  of  the 
address  is  contained  in  the  concluding  sentences :  "  Young  gen- 
tlemen, your  highest  attainment  is  the  attainment  of  right  rela- 
tions towards  God,  and  a  concordance  with  the  other  harmonies 
of  the  universe.  There  is  one  great  CENTRAL  LIFE  whose  pul- 
sations are  beating  through  all  created  worlds.  When  in  addi- 
tion to  a  profound  and  brilliant  scholarship,  attended  with  high 
moral  and  social  excellence,  and  wise  physical  self-control,  you 
come  into  sympathy  with  this  great  LIFE,  so  that  your  spirit 
answers  to  that  Spirit,  as  the  pulsations  of  the  wrist  keep  time 
with  those  that  are  throbbing  in  your  heart,  then  will  you  be 
truly  educated,  then  will  you  have  reached  the  highest  order  of 
man." 

In  the  evening  after  the  inauguration  the  students  expressed 
their  good  will  to  the  new  President  and  their  expectation  of  a 
prosperous  and  happy  presidency  by  an  illumination  of  the  Col- 
lege edifices.  "  Welcome  to  President  Stearns  "  was  blazoned  in 


WELCOME   TO   THE  NEW  PRESIDENT.  391 

letters  of  brilliant  light  across  the  entire  front  of  Middle  (now 
North)  and  South  Colleges,  and  as  he  stood  in  front  of  the 
Octagonal  Cabinet,  admiring  the  brilliant  spectacle,  they  gath- 
ered spontaneously  around  him,  extemporized  an  address  of  wel- 
come through  a  member  of  the  Senior  class,  and  drew  from  him 
a  ready  and  hearty  response. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  an  alumnus  of 
the  Class  of  '61, ]  reflects  the  buoyant,  hopeful  and  kindly  feel- 
ing of  the  students  in  the  opening  years  of  the  new  adminis- 
tration and  exhibits  some  of  the  characteristic  features  of  the 
period:  "The  Class  of  '61  entered  at  a  time  when  the  whole 
College  was  alive  with  the  energy  of  a  new  start  and  growth. 
North  College  had  just  been  burned  down,  find  the  lost  building 
was  to  be  replaced  by  a  beautiful  edifice  to  be  erected  by  the 
munificence  of  the  Hon.  Samuel  Williston.  The  Literary  So- 
cieties were  elated  with  the  thought  of  having  new  and  spa- 
cious rooms  for  their  meetings  and  their  libraries.  The  lovers  of 
Chemistr}'  were  to  have  every  needed  facility  for  practice,  which 
were  to  be  so  improved  that  more  than  half  the  students  of  sev- 
eral classes  of  their  own  free  choice  took  Practical  Chemistry. 
East  College  was  to  be  erected  to  meet  the  growing  wants  of 
the  Institution,  and  better  still,  one  of  the  finest  gymnasiums  of 
the  country  and  a  new  system  of  gymnastic  exercises  adopted 
that  would  save  the  health  of  numbers  who  would  not  exercise 
unless  required  by  the  authority  of  the  Faculty.  The  whole 
atmosphere  of  the  College  indicated  unusual  executive  ability  in 
all  concerned  in  its  management.  There  was  redoubled  effort 
on  the  part  of  the  Professors  to  raise  the  standard  of  schol- 
arship. The  examinations  were  conducted  by  a  new  method 
more  searching  than  ever  before.  Every  precaution  was  used  to 
ascertain  the  exact  merits  of  every  scholar.  The  most  impartial 
methods  and  means  were  resorted  to  in  order  to  determine  the 
improvement  made  in  each  study.  It  was  during  our  course 
that  written  examinations  were  instituted  with  most  marked  and 
beneficial  results.  And  prizes  were  offered  in  almost  all  the  de- 
partments. Instead  of  a  few  competing  for  the  prizes  in  decla- 
mation, nearly  every  member  of  the  class  stood  his  trial 2  for  the 

1  Rev.  J.  A.  Leach,  now  of  Keene,  N.  H.        2  In  a  hearing  before  the  Faculty. 


392  HISTOKY   OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

privilege  of  competing.  I  doubt  if  there  was  ever  before,  in  the 
history  of  the  College,  a  time  when  such  untiring  efforts  were 
made  in  every  respect  for  the  good  of  the  students." 

It  will  be  remembered  that  one  pleasant  incident  of  the  exer- 
cises of  inauguration  day  was  the  announcement  of  a  liberal 
donation  from  the  estate  of  Mr.  Appleton,  for  the  erection  of  a 
Zoological  and  Ichnological  Museum.  Dr.  Hitchcock  had  made 
the  request  a  year  previous,  and  had  given  up  all  expectation 
that  it  would  be  granted.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  con- 
fidence in  the  wisdom  of  the  new  President  conspired  with 
admiration  for  the  genius  and  science  of  his  predecessor  in  se- 
curing the  donation.  However  that  may  be,  the  time  of  the  an- 
nouncement was  not  accidental,  and  the  donation,  while  it  formed 
a  brilliant  and  appropriate  finale  to  the  retiring  administration, 
furnished  also  an  auspicious  omen  for  the  incoming  presidency. 
Nor  did  the  omen  prove  fallacious.  The  Appleton  gift  was  only 
the  beginning  of  a  succession  of  donations  and  bequests,  which 
amount  in  the  aggregate  to  nearly  eight  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  which  mark  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Stearns  beyond  even 
that  of  Dr.  Hitchcock,  as  the  period  of  large  and  liberal  founda- 
tions. The  following  is  a  list  of  the  principal  donations  of  this 
period,  arranged  as  nearly  as  possible  in  chronological  order.  It 
is  given,  not  only  in  justice  to  the  donors,  but  also  as  showing 
the  purpose  of  the  donations  and  thus  illustrating  this  portion 
of  our  history : 

Donation  for  the  Appleton  Cabinet,  1854 $10,000 

Donation  for  the  Sweetser  Lecture  Room,  1855, 1,000 

Donation  for  the  Nineveh  Gallery,1 1857 967 

Subscriptions  for  East  College,  1857,  seq. , 5,000 

Donation  for  Williston  Hall,  1857, 16,000 

Hitchcock  Scholarships,  1858 10,000 

Legacy  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Moore,  1858, 9,175 

Legacy  of  Asahel  Adams,  1858, 4,500 

Subscriptions  for  the  Gymnasium,  1859,     . 3,550 

Donation  of  Messrs.  J.  C.  Baldwin  and  A.  Lilly,  1859, 4,000 

Subscriptions  of  Alumni  for  the  Library,  1859,  seq., 7,000 

Amount  carried  forward, $71,192 

1  Building  and  contents  cost  $1,167,  of  which  only  $200  was  paid  out  of  the 
College  Treasury. 


DONATIONS    AND    BEQUESTS.  393 

Amount  brought  forward, $71,192 

Legacy  of  Jonathan  Phillips,1 1860 6,500 

Grants  by  the  Legislature,  1861-3, 27,500 

Walker  Professorship  of  Mathematics  and  Astronomy,  1861,  .     .     .  25,000 

Walker  Instructorships,  etc.,  1862, 10,000 

Walker  Prizes,  1862-3, 2,000 

Legacy  of  Richard  Bond  for  General  Treasury,  1863, 4,000 

Donation  of  David  Sears  for  Library  Building,  J  1863, 8,000 

Walker  Building  Fund,  (Dr.  Walker  and  others,)  1 1864,     ....  140,000 

Donation  for  College  Church,  (W.  F.  Stearns,)1   1864, 46,000 

Samuel  Green  Professorship,  1864, 25,000 

Walker  Legacy,  1866, 144,976 

Donation  of  George  H.  Gilbert  for  Books,1 1866, 7,000 

Legacy  of  Dr.  Barrett  for  Gymnasium,  1870, 5,000 

Mr.  Williston  for  Instruction  in  English  Literature,  1869-70-71,      .  3,000 

Donation  of  Mr.  Williston  at  Semi-Centennial,  1871, 50,000 

Donation  of  Mr.  Howe,  Chime  of  Bells  and  Scholarship,  1871,     .     .  5,000 

Increase  of  Charity  Fund,2 10,000 

Increase  of  Stimson  Fund, 8,000 

Mr.  Hitchcock  to  increase  his  Professorship  and  Scholarships,  1869,  20,000 

Recent  Scholarships,3 35,000 

Prizes  not  mentioned  above,3 12,000 

Increase  of  Collections  in  Natural  History,4 8.000 

Illustrations  and  Ornaments  in  Classical  Recitation  Rooms,     .     .     .  2,500 

Bust  of  Dr.  Hitchcock  and  other  Ornamental  Statuary,       ....  1,500 

Hallock  Park,  1868 2,000 

Mr.  Hitchcock  for  Scholarships  and  Kindred  Purposes,  1872,       .     .  100,000 

Total $779,168 

The  larger  part  of  these  donations  it  will  be  seen,  were  made 
during  and  after  the  war,  and  thus  they  illustrate  a  general  char- 
acteristic of  this  period  in  the  history  of  our  country.  No  other 
period  can  compare  with  it  in  the  munificence  of  its  public  char- 
ities ;  and  there  is  no  other  form  of  public  charity,  for  which 
wealthy  and  benevolent  men  have  given  more  freely  or  more 
abundantly  than  for  the  endowment  of  institutions  of  learning. 

1  With  income  added.        2  Added  to  the  principal.        3  Principal  not  all  paid  in. 

*  Estimated  at  $12:000  by  the  curator  (Prof.  E.  Hitchcock,)  but  about  $4,000  was 
paid  out  of  State  grants  already  mentioned  out  of  the  College  treasury.  Among 
these  contributions  are  the  megatherium,  by  Joshua  Bates,  Esq.,  of  London,  ($500;) 
the  skeleton  and  skin  of  the  gorilla,  by  Rev.  William  Walker  of  the  Gaboon  mission, 
(then  worth  in  the  market  $2,000;)  and  some  $600  to  Dr.  E.  Hitchcock,  Jr.,  for 
specimens  in  Comparative  Osteology. 


394  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

They  have  given  spontaneously  hundreds  of  thousands  and  mil- 
lions where  in  earlier  periods  they  could  scarcely  have  been  per- 
suaded to  give  hundreds  and  thousands.  The  comparative  ease 
with  which  this  large  amount  was  obtained,  illustrates  that  great 
doctrine  of  Scripture  and  fact  of  universal  observation,  that  to 
him  that  hath  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have  more  abundantly. 
Only  a  small  fraction  of  this  amount  was  raised  by  subscription. 
The  larger  part  of  it  came  unsolicited.  Much  of  it  came  from 
old  friends  and  former  benefactors  of  the  College  The  bequest 
of  President  Moore  was  made  in  the  years  of  its  infancy  and 
poverty,  and  came  in  at  this  time  because  Mrs.  Moore  so  long 
outlived  her  husband — came  in  with  increase,  because  she  nursed 
it  so  assiduously  by  economy  and  good  management.  Jonathan 
Phillips,  Esq.,  had  been  a  subscriber  to  the  Library  fund,  and 
had  contributed  to  the  expenses  of  President  Hitchcock  when 
traveling  in  Europe.  Moses  H.  Baldwin,  Esq.,  one  of  the  con- 
tributors to  the  Walker  Building  Fund,  had  before  been  a  sub- 
scriber for  the  Library,  and  was  a  personal  friend  of  the  Professor 
who  began  the  raising  of  that  subscription.  Mr.  Sears  and  Mr. 
Gilbert  had  both  given  before  to  the  treasury  of  the  College. 
Mr.  Tappan  and  Mr.  Williston  began  to  give  before  the  close  of 
Dr.  Humphrey's  presidency,  and  from  that  time  were  always 
giving  and  always  ready  to  give  in  every  emergency. 

Even  the  Legislature  turned  a  comparatively  willing  ear  to 
our  petition,  and  twice  more  opened  (though  not  very  wide  and 
that  apparently  for  the  last  time),  the  treasury  of  the  Common- 
wealth to  supply  the  wants  of  Amherst  College.  The  aid  from 
the  State  in  1859  was  granted  the  more  readily  doubtless  because 
other  Institutions  shared  in  it,  and  some  of  them  more  largely 
than  Amherst  College.  The  bill  became  a  law  April  2,  1859. 
It  provided,  that  after  a  certain  sum  had  been  received  into  the 
State  treasury  from  the  sale  of  the  Back  Bay  lands,  one-half  of 
the  proceeds  of  subsequent  sales  should  be  added  to  the  Massa- 
chusetts School  Fund,  and  the  other  half  appropriated  in  cer- 
tain proportions,  as  it  accrued,  to  five  Institutions  of  learning  in 
the  Commonwealth,  until  the  Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology 
should  have  received  an  amount  not  exceeding  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars ;  Tufts  College,  fifty  thousand  dollars ;  and 


GRANTS   BY   THE  LEGISLATURE.  895 

Williams  College,  Amherst  College  and  the  Wesleyan  Academy 
at  Wilbraham,  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  each.  No  part  of 
these  appropriations  was  to  be  paid,  however,  until  satisfactory 
evidence  had  been  furnished  by  each  Institution,  that  it  had 
raised  an  equal  sum  by  subscription,  or  otherwise,  from  some 
other  source.  It  was  further  provided  in  the  bill,  that  each  of  the 
three  Colleges  should  establish  three  free  Scholarships.  These 
conditions  were  promptly  complied  with  on  the  part  of  Amherst 
College,  and  the  first  installment  of  six  thousand  dollars  and  a 
little  more  was  paid  over  in  September,  1861,  and  the  remainder 
of  the  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  in  September,  1863.  On 
the  27th  of  April,  1863,  after  repeated  solicitations  by  Dr. 
Hitchcock  in  person,  the  Legislature  made  another  special  grant 
of  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  to  the  Department  of  Nat- 
uraHHistory.  Here  endeth  the  history  of  grants  from  the  State 
in  aid  of  Amherst  College.  Two  appropriations  of  twenty -five 
thousand  dollars  each  and  one  of  two  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars — scarcely  a  third  part  of  what  the  State  has  granted  to 
Williams  and  not  a  tithe  of  the  donations  to  Harvard  ! 

Of  all  the  donations  and  bequests  that  have  ever  come  to 
Amherst  College  those  of  Dr.  Walker  were  the  most  surprising, 
because  they  came  from  so  unforeseen  and  unexpected  a  source. 
A  graduate  of  Harvard,  and  a  resident  of  one  of  those  cities  in 
the  vicinity  of  Cambridge  whose  property  seems  to  be  almost  the 
birthright  and  inheritance  of  that  University,  Dr.  Walker  wished 
and  intended  to  endow  the  medical  department  of  his  Alma  Ma- 
ter. Not  finding  her  sufficiently  facile  and  pliant  to  his  wishes, 
he  turned  his  attention  to  the  other  Colleges,  and  began  to  give 
to  them  with  a  liberality  which  was  fitted  and  doubtless  intended 
to  show  the  authorities  at  Cambridge  how  much  they  had  lost. 
One  of  these  Colleges  was  soon  dropped  from  the  list  of  his  bene- 
ficiaries for  a  similar  reason.  President  Stearns  had  the  discern- 
ment to  see  the  substantial  excellence  of  Dr.  Walker's  ideas,  and 
the  wisdom,  instead  of  opposing  or  questioning,  to  humor  and 
guide  his  plans,  and  thus  to  enlist  him  more  and  more  zealously 
in  the  service  of  the  College.  The  result  was  that  the  Doctor 
gave  Amherst  at  different  times  and  for  different  purposes  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  in  his  life-time,  drew  in  forty  thousand 


396  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

dollars  from  other  sources  by  making  that  the  condition  of  his 
own  donations,  and  left  ii^  his  will  a  legacy  which,  with  the  in- 
come accruing,  has  already  realized  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  The  condition  just  alluded  to  seemed  at  the 
time  not  only  unfortunate,  but  impracticable  and  appalling.  But 
thanks  to  the  wisdom  of  President  Stearns  and  the  benevolence 
of  the  friends — chiefly  old  and  tried  friends  of  the  College,  the 
forty  thousand  dollars  was  raised.  Mr.  Williston,  Mr.  Hitchcock 
and  James  Smith,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  gave  ten  thousand  dollars 
apiece,  and  Messrs.  Hardy,  Edwards,  Alden,  Baldwin  and  others 
made  up  the  remaining  ten  thousand  dollars,  thus  exhibiting 
a  generosity  the  more  praiseworthy  and  thankworthy  because 
their  charities  were  to  be  merged  in  a  "  Walker  Building  Fund," 
and  their  own  preferences  were  sacrificed  for  so  great  an  interest 
of  the  Institution. 

The  presidency  of  Dr.  Stearns  is  emphatically  the  period  of 
scholarships  and  prizes.  Aside  from  the  distribution  of  the  in- 
come of  the  Charity  Fund,  which  really  constituted  so  many 
Ministerial  Scholarships  (and  they  are  now  actually  called  by 
that  name),  there  was  not  a  single  Scholarship  in  existence  at 
the  commencement  of  his  administration.  Eleazar  Porter,  Esq., 
of  Hadley,  has  the  honor  of  establishing  the  first  Scholarship  in 
Amherst  College.  This  was  in  1857.  The  last  catalogue  shows 
more  than  fifty  Scholarships1  in  the  gift  of  the  College  varying 
in  annual  income  from  forty  to  three  hundred  dollars  each,  and 
distributing  each  year  over  four  thousand  dollars  among  the  stu- 
dents ;  several  others  (Class  Scholarships)  are  announced  as 
partly  established  by  the  Alumni,  and  the  income  of  the  last  mu- 
nificent donation  of  a  hundred  thousand  dollars,  is  to  go  for 
Scholarships  so  far  as  it  is  needed  for  that  purpose. 

The  only  prizes  that  existed  prior  to  the  present  administra- 
tion were  those  for  elocution,  and  these  had  usually  been  merely 
nominal,  and  were  paid  out  of  the  College  treasury.  The  first 
regular  prizes  given  by  an  individual  for  successive  years  were 
given  by  Joseph  Sweetser,  Esq.,  a  former  resident  of  Arnherst, 
but  then  residing  in  New  York  City.  These  were  given  under 

1  Over  and  above  the  Ministerial  Scholarships,  by  which  the  income  of  the  Charity 
Fund  is  distributed. 


SCHOLARSHIPS   AND   PEIZES.  397 

the  presidency  of  Dr.  Hitchcock.  In  1857,  Hon.  Alpheus  Hardy 
of  Boston  established  the  Hardy  Prizes  for  improvement  in  Ex- 
temporaneous Speaking ;  and  now  we  have  a  thousand  dollars 
distributed  every  year  as  prizes  for  excellence  in  nearly  all  of 
the  several  departments. 

Of  the  twelve  College  edifices  that  now  stand  on  the  College 
hill,  six  have  been  added  during  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Stearns. 
And  the  style  and  character  of  these,  as  compared  with  the  ear- 
lier buildings,  is  more  remarkable  than  their  number.  There 
has  been  a  constant  progress  in  costliness  and  elegance.  The 
last  three  have  been  built  of  stone,  the  Pelham  or  Monson  gran- 
ite, and  the  last  two,  at  least,  in  a  plan  and  style  of  architecture 
worthy  of  a  material  that  is  at  once  so  rich  and  so  enduring. 
Th^  new  College  Church  alone,  when  it  is  finished,  will  have 
cost  as  much  as  the  whole  five  edifices  that  have  come  down 
from  previous  administrations  ;  and  Walker  Hall  cost  as  much 
as  all  the  other  buildings  on  College  hill  together,  exclusive  of 
the  College  Church.  It  is  scarcely  exaggeration  to  say,  that 
President  Stearns  found  the  College  brick,  and  will  leave  it 
granite. 

The  first  building  erected  after  the  accession  of  President 
Stearns,  was  the  Appleton  Cabinet.  This  was  built  in  1855. 
The  Building  Committee  consisted  of  Prof.  Hitchcock,  Mr.  Wil- 
liston  and  Prof.  Clark,  and  Mr.  Sykes  was  the  architect — the 
same  under  whose  direction  the  Woods  Cabinet  and  the  Library 
had  been  built.  It  was  the  preference  of  Dr.  Hitchcock  that 
this  edifice  should  be  placed  on  the  west  side  of  the  Woods 
Cabinet,  where  the  danger  from  fire  would  have  been  less,  and 
where  it  would  have  been  in  convenient  contiguity  with  the 
geological  specimens.  The  Building  Committee  acceded  to  the 
views  and  wishes  of  Dr.  Hitchcock,  and  at  first  located  it  there. 
But  their  opinion  was  overruled  by  that  of  the  Prudential  Com- 
mittee, on  the  ground  that  the  appearance  would  be  unsightly. 
Mr.  Luke  Sweetser,  who,  for  thirty-one  years  has  been  a  resi- 
dent member  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  remonstrated  with 
special  earnestness  against  that  location,  and  in  order  to  remove 
the  chief  argument  in  its  favor,  volunteered  to  put  up  a  lecture- 
room  as  an  appendage  to  the  Woods  Cabinet,  if  it  could  be  done 


398  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

for  a  thousand  dollars.  This  view  prevailed ;  the  Appleton 
Cabinet  was  placed  on  the  south  wing  of  the  dormitories,  thus 
taking  the  place  of  a  new  South  College,  which  had  long  been 
contemplated  to  balance  the  old  North  College,  and  to  complete 
the  row ;  and  the  geological  lecture-room  was  at  the  same  time 
attached  to  the  Woods  Cabinet.  Mr.  Sweetser  declined  having 
his  name  affixed  to  it. 

In  1857  the  Woods  Cabinet  received  another  appendage  in 
the  Nineveh  Gallery,  which  was  erected  by  Enos  Dickinson, 
Esq.,  of  South  Amherst,  on  "  the  site  of  the  old  church,  where 
for  thirty  years  he  had  attended  meeting,  where  he  was  baptised 
and  made  a  profession  of  religion,"  and  of  which  he  remarked 
to  Dr.  Hitchcock,  "  that  if  he  should  desire  to  leave  his  name 
anywhere  on  earth  that  would  be  the  spot." *  "  The  building 
cost  five  hundred  and  sixty-seven  dollars.  It  is  a  small  room, 
but  it  is  probably  as  large  as  that  in  the  palace  of  Nimroud, 
from  which  the  sculptured  slabs  were  taken."  The  contents 
cost  some  six  hundred  dollars,2 — their  money  value  is  at  least  as 
many  thousands — their  value  to  the  College  as  educators  and 
as  memorials,  is  beyond  calculation.  The  sculptured  slabs,  six  in 
number,  from  the  palace  of  Sardanapalus,  the  seals,  cylinders 
and  bricks  from  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  the  coins  of  gold,  silver 
and  copper,  a  thousand  in  number,  mostly  ancient,  and  com- 
mencing with  those  of  Alexander  the  Great,  were  all  procured 
and  sent  at  great  labor  and  expense  by  Dr.  Henry  Lobdell,  mis- 
sionary to  Assyria,  of  the  Class  of  '49,  who,  in  December,  1854, 
made  his  sixth  visit  to  Nimroud,  in  order  to  dispatch  the  sculp- 
tures, and  who  died  at  Mosul,  the  site  of  ancient  Nineveh,  on 
the  25th  day  of  March,  1855.  For  the  gallery  and  its  contents 
the  College  is  indebted  ultimately  and  entirely  to  the  agency  of 
Dr.  Hitchcock,  who  encouraged  Dr.  Lobdell  to  send  the  speci- 
mens, raised  the  money  to  pay  all  the  expenses,  superintended 
the  whole  business,  and  in  short  manifested  scarcely  less  interest 
in  these  foot-prints  of  former  generations  of  men,  than  in  the 
ichnolites  of  the  pre-Adamic  earth  in  his  own  cabinet. 

1  "Keminiscences"  of  Amherst  College. 

2  Of  which,  however,  only  two  hundred  dollars  was  paid  out  of  the   College 
Treasury. 


COLLEGE   EDIFICES.  S99 

The  next  public  buildings  were  the  result  of  a  calamity  which, 
as  not  unfrequently  happens,  proved  a  blessing  in  disguise.  One 
cold  and  stormy  night  in  the  winter  of  1857,  when  the  north- 
west wind  blew  almost  a  hurricane  and  the  thermometer  was 
many  degrees  below  zero,  the  old  North  College  caught  fire  in  a 
student's  room.  The  occupants  of  the  room  and  nearly  all  the 
occupants  of  the  building  were  in  attendance  on  the  meetings 
of  the  Literary  Societies  in  the  Middle  and  South  Colleges. 
Before  they  could  give  or  get  the  alarm,  the  fire  had  progressed 
so  far  as  to  forbid  even  the  attempt  to  extinguish  it.  All  efforts 
were  directed  towards  saving  the  other  buildings.  Had  the 
wind  been  in  the  north  or  north-east,  this  would  have  been  im- 
possible. Being  in  the  north-west  the  flames  and  burning  frag- 
ments were  for  the  most  part  driven  to  the  eastward ;  otherwise 
in  spite  of  all  exertions,  Middle  College  must  have  taken  fire, 
and  to  all  human  appearance,  the  Chapel,  the  South  College  and 
the  newly  erected  Appleton  Cabinet  would  all  have  been  swept 
away  by  the  conflagration.  By  midnight  or  a  little  later,  North 
College  with  no  small  portion  of  its  contents — the  furniture  and 
books  of  students — had  gone  up  in  a  whirlwind  of  flame  or  had 
been  reduced  to  ashes.  Such  was  the  uproar  of  the  elements 
that  night,  that  the  writer  in  his  own  house  in  the  edge  of  the 
village,  not  half  a  mile  away,  heard  no  alarm  and  knew  nothing 
of  the  calamity  till,  early  the  next  morning,  he  was  summoned 
to  a  Faculty  meeting  called  for  consultation  in  the  emergency. 
When  he  arrived  on  the  ground,  nothing  remained  but  the  black- 
ened brick  walls  enclosing  a  heap  of  smoking  ruins.  "  A  pho- 
tograph of  the  broken,  blackened  walls,  taken  some  days  after, 
now  hangs  in  the  lower  west  room  of  the  Library,  and  is  the 
only  memorial  of  one  of  the  greatest  catastrophes  and  one  of 
the  greatest  blessings  the  College  ever  experienced."  1  No  in- 
considerable part  of  this  blessing,  in  the  estimation  of  our  good 
President,  seems  to  be  the  getting  rid  of  old  North  College — 
"  the  most  unsightly  and  most  uncomfortable  structure  in  the 
range."  I  can  not  quite  sympathize  with  him  in  that  feeling. 
Unsightly  it  certainly  was,  but  I  spent  in  it  two  of  the  most 
comfortable  and  happy  years  of  my  life.  It  was  the  only  Col- 

1  President  Stearns'  Address  of  Welcome  at  the  Semi-centennial. 


400  HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

lege  edifice  in  which  I  ever  occupied  a  room  as  a  student ;  and 
to  me  as  to  many  of  the  earliest  occupants,  its  rooms  and  halls 
and  walls  were  all  sacred  and  beautiful.  But  the  fire  was  an 
undoubted  blessing  in  that  it  enlisted  the  sympathy  of  friends, 
and  ere  long  gave  us  two  better  buildings  in  its  stead.  The  ap- 
peal of  the  Faculty  in  behalf  of  the  students,  some  of  whom 
had  lost  everything  but  what  they  had  on  their  persons,  met 
with  so  prompt  and  hearty  a  response  that  ere  long  we  issued  a 
card  saying  that  no  more  was  needed.  And  scarcely  had  the 
ruins  ceased  to  smoke,  when  with  characteristic  promptness  as 
well  as  generosity  Mr.  Williston,  that  unfailing  friend  of  the 
College,  volunteered  to  erect  on  the  site  a  new  edifice  containing 
a  Chemical  Laboratory,  rooms  for  the  Libraries  and  the  meetings 
of  the  two  Literary  Societies,  and  an  Alumni  Hall,  if  the  Trus- 
tees would  engage,  with  the  insurance  and  additional  subscrip- 
tions to  replace  the  lost  dormitory.  This  condition  which,  like 
Dr.  Walker's  in  regard  to  Walker  Hall,  was,  of  course,  intended 
only  to  double  the  benefaction,  was  accepted  by  the  Trustees, 
and  the  new  buildings  were  both  erected  in  1857,  the  same  year 
in  which  the  old  dormitory  was  burnt.  Both  edifices  were  built 
under  the  general  direction  of  Mr.  Williston,  Mr.  Charles  E. 
Parkes  of  Boston  being  the  architect,  and  Prof.  Clark  and  Mr. 
Luke  Sweetser  being  associated  with  the  former  as  building  com- 
mittee in  the  erection  of  East  College.  Thus,  to  express  in 
Dr.  Stearns'  own  language  the  "  great  blessing  "  which  resulted 
from  the  "  great  catastrophe,"  "  two  new  buildings  sprang  up 
from  the  ashes  of  the  old,  one  of  them  Williston  Hall,  so  comely 
in  appearance,  so  convenient  in  arrangement,  so  generously  be- 
stowed and  so  full  of  invitation  to  the  returning  graduate  as 
he  comes  up  from  the  village  to  the  College  grounds  ;  the  other, 
East  College,  which  the  prophets  represent  as  destined  to  be 
taken  down  and  rebuilt,  or  moved  bodily  to  another  spot."  l 

The  dedication  of  the  two  buildings,  delayed  for  several 
reasons,  took  place  on  the  19th  of  May,  1858.  The  Trustees 
held  a  special  meeting  on  the  occasion.  Mr.  Williston  and 
Mr.  Sweetser  reported  the  results  of  their  labors,  and  formally 
delivered  the  buildings  into  the  hands  of  the  Trustees.  Presi- 

1  Address  of  Welcome. 


WILLISTON  HALL. 


THE   GYMNASIUM.  401 

dent  Stearns,  on  the  part  of  the  Trustees,  made  a  suitable  re- 
sponse. Prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  Dr.  Vaill ;  and  Rev.  Henry 
Ward  Beecher  delivered  an  address,  in  which,  as  fitly  as  elo- 
quently, he  discoursed  on  Institutions  as  a  means  of  perpetuat- 
ing influence. 

The  next  building  was  the  Gymnasium.  This  was  commenced 
in  the  autumn  of  1859,  and  completed  in  the  summer  of  1860. 
Hon.  J.  B.  Woods,  Prof.  W.  S.  Clark,  Hon.  S.  Williston  and  the 
President,  were  appointed  a  committee,  with  full  powers  to  col- 
lect funds,  procure  plans,  select  a  site,  and  erect  the  building. 
"Subscriptions  were  obtained  by  Prof.  W.  S.Clark,  Prof.  W. 
S.  Tyler,  and  some  others,  to  the  amount  of  about  five  thousand 
dollars.  For  the  other  five  thousand  dollars  the  College  resorted 
again  to  borrowing."  l  The  building  was  planned  by  the  same 
architect  as  Williston  Hall  and  East  College — Mr.  Charles  E. 
Parkes  of  Boston.  President  Hitchcock  says :  "  It  is  massive 
in  appearance,  without  much  architectural  beauty,  though  in 
conformity  with  architectural  rules."  To  the  eye  of  the  writer, 
it  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  buildings  on  the  College  campus. 
It  has  the  beauty  of  fitness  and  the  beauty,  rare  in  our  day,  of 
a  severe  simplicity.  The  builders  had  the  good  sense  and  good 
taste  to  return  to  the  use  of  stone,  *  instead  of  brick,  in  which  their 
example  has  been  followed  in  all  subsequent  buildings,  and  will 
be  followed,  we  trust,  in  all  coming  time.  Upon  the  completion 
of  the  building,  the  name  of  "  Barrett  Gymnasium  "  was  given 
to  it,  from  Dr.  Benjamin  Barrett  of  Northampton,  who  had  con- 
tributed liberally  towards  its  erection.  Dr.  Barrett  afterwards 
put  in  at  his  own  expense  a  gallery  at  the  west  end,  for  the  con- 
venience of  spectators,  and  contributed  more  or  less  each  year 
while  he  lived,  for  repairing  the  building,  improving  the  appara- 
tus and  ornamenting  the  grounds.  And  at  his  death,  in  1869, 
he  left  in  his  will  a  legacy  of  five  thousand  dollars,  the  income 
of  which  is  to  be  annually  expended  for  similar  purposes. 

The  principal  of  the  Walker  building  fund  (one  hundred 

1  Dr.  Hitchcock's  "  Reminiscences."     The  Trustees  had  already  borrowed  five 
thousand  dollars  to  supplement  the  subscriptions  for  East  College. 

2  The  same  that  was  used  in  the  Library  building,  viz.,  the  Pelham  gneiss  or 
granite. 

26 


402  HISTOEY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

thousand  dollars)  was  filled  up  in  1864.  At  a  special  meeting 
of  the  Trustees  in  November,  1866,  they  appointed  a  Building 
Committee  of  their  own  number.  This  committee  consisted  of 
President  Stearns,  Hon.  Samuel  Williston,  Hon.  Alpheus  Hardy, 
Hon.  Edward  B.  Gillett,  and  Samuel  Bowles,  Esq.1  The  corner- 
stone of  the  building  was  laid  on  the  10th  of  June,  1868 ;  and 
it  was  not  till  the  20th  of  October,  1870,  that  Walker  Hall  was 
opened  with  appropriate  ceremonies.  Thus,  more  than  six  years 
had  elapsed  since  the  money  was  raised,  and  more  than  seven, 
almost  eight  years  since  Dr.  Walker  made  his  first  offering  of 
twenty  thousand  dollars,  (in  January,  1863,)  before  the  edifice 
was  completed  and  set  apart  for  its  scientific  uses ;  tarn  diu  Roma 
condebatur.  But  it  was  right  and  wise  to  take  a  long  time  in 
building  a  structure  that  was  expected  to  endure  a  long  while. 
There  was  an  intrinsic  difficulty  in  uniting  and  harmonizing  so 
many  diverse  interests.  The  whole  department  of  Mathematics 
and  Astronomy,  the  recitations,  lectures  and  apparatus  of  the 
Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy,  the  Shepard  Cabinet  of  Min- 
eralogy, and  rooms  for  the  Trustees,  the  President  and  the 
Treasurer,  were  all  to  be  brought  beneath  one  roof,  and  what 
seemed  for  a  time  quite  impracticable,  nearly  all  these  rooms 
must  needs  be,  where  all  the  living  rooms  of  a  house  in  this  cli- 
mate ought  to  be,  on  the  south  side.  When  these  conflicting 
interests  were  all  reconciled,  there  still  remained  the  scarcely 
less  difficult  question  of  a  convenient  and  beautiful  location. 
For  the  College  campus,  though  sightly,  is  far  from  being  site-ful; 
and  a  site  satisfactory  to  all  concerned,  and  suitable  for  such  a 
building,  was  found  at  length,  only  by  the  purchase  and  annex- 
ation of  three  or  four  additional  acres  on  the  north  side. 

Several  architects  and  landscape-gardeners  were  consulted  in 
the  settlement  of  these  vexed  questions.  More  than  one  archi- 
tect also  presented  plans  for  the  building.  The  plan  which  best 
satisfied  the  parties  chiefly  concerned,  and  indeed  the  only  plan 

1  A  committee,  consisting  of  the  President,  Prof.  Snell,  Prof.  Seelye,  Hon.  S. 
Williston  and  Hon.  A.  Hardy,  was  appointed  at  a  special  meeting  of  the  Board  in 
Boston,  in  January,  1863,  to  procure  plans  and  estimates.  But  a  building  that 
should  cost  only  forty  thousand  dollars  was  then  contemplated.  The  plan  was 
afterwards  enlarged  to  meet  the  enlarging  views  and  the  increasing  liberality  of 
Dr.  Walker. 


WALKER  HALL. 


WALKER   HALL.  403 

which  solved  the  almost  insoluble  difficulties  of  the  problem  and 
united  beauty  with  convenience,  was  that  of  George  Hathorne, 
of  New  York.  This  plan  was  adopted,  and  he  became  the  archi- 
tect of  the  building.  The  contract  for  the  masonry  was  given 
to  Richard  H.  Ponsonby,  and  that  for  the  carpenter  work  to 
C.  W.  Lessey.  The  immediate  oversight  was  entrusted  to  Wil- 
liam A.  Dickinson,  Esq.,  of  Amherst.  The  laying  of  the  corner- 
stone with  due  form  and  ceremony  was  on  the  forenoon  of  Class 
Day,  June  10,  1868.  Hon.  Edward  Dickinson  presided  and  in- 
troduced the  services.  Prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  Dr.  Vaill. 
The  stone  was  placed  with  appropriate  ceremonies  by  the  Senior 
class  who  had  desired  to  honor  their  Class  Day  by  this  act  and 
had  selected  a  committee  of  their  number  for  the  purpose.  A 
hymn  was  sung  by  the  College  Choir.  A  paper  was  read  by 
President  Stearns,  making  some  statements  respecting  the  char- 
acter and  design  of  the  building,  together  with  notices  of  Dr. 
Walker  and  the  principal  donors.  After  a  few  extemporaneous 
remarks  by  Hon.  Alpheus  Hardy  and  Prof.  Snell,  the  exercises 
were  concluded  by  singing  the  doxology  and  the  pronouncing 
of  the  benediction. 

After  an  interval  of  two  years  and  four  months,  on  the 
20th  of  October,  1870,  the  formal  opening  of  Walker  Hall  took 
place.  The  order  of  exercises  was  as  follows :  In  College  Hall, 
1,  Music  by  the  Orchestra ;  2,  Introductory  Prayer  by  Rev.  Mr. 
Dwight  of  Hadley ;  3,  Address  by  President  Stearns ;  4,  Com- 
mencement Hymn,  "  Let  children  hear  the  mighty  deeds,"  etc. 
In  Walker  Hall,  1,  Music  by  the  Band ;  2,  Statement  by  W.  A. 
Dickinson,  Esq. ;  3,  Prayer  of  the  Opening  by  Rev.  Dr.  Paine 
of  Holden  ;  4,  Statement  by  Prof.  Snell ;  5,  Speeches  by  mem- 
bers of  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  by  gentlemen  from  abroad ; 
6,  "  Old  Hundred,"  by  the  audience. 

The  address  of  President  Stearns,  although  written  under  the 
pressure  of  an  emergency  created  by  the  failure  of  others  on 
whom  he  relied  to  perform  this  service,  was  an  able  and  eloquent 
presentation  of  his  well-considered  views  on  the  education  de- 
manded by  the  times,  which,  notwithstanding  the  floods  of  rain 
that  had  drowned  out  the  procession,  was  heard  with  great  in- 
terest by  a  highly  respectable  audience,  and  which,  with  the 


404  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

endorsement  of  the  Trustees  as  "  sound  and  able,"  has  been  given 
to  the  public.  The  programme  of  exercises  in  Walker  Hall  was 
cut  short  by  "  darkening  clouds  and  premature  evening."  But 
the  interesting  statements  chiefly  historical,  by  Mr.  Dickinson 
and  Prof.  Snell,  and  the  appropriate  and  felicitous  remarks  of 
Prof.  Roswell  D.  Hitchcock  of  the  Union  Theological  Seminary, 
were  sufficient ;  and  further  speech-making  by  "  members  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  and  gentlemen  from  abroad  "  was  unnecessar}r. 

Walker  Hall  is  a  happy  conception  happily  executed.  It  em- 
bodies an  idea  and  gives  a  local  habitation  to  a  department.  It 
is  a  fit  temple  of  science.  With  an  exterior  worthy  of  a  palace, 
it  installs,  not  to  say  enthrones,  mathematics  and  physics  in 
rooms  and  halls  "  fit  for  the  crowned  truth  to  dwell  in  ; "  and  the 
bringing  beneath  the  same  roof  of  rooms  also  for  the  President, 
the  Trustees  and  the  archives  of  the  College,  suggests  the  idea 
which  Dr.  Walker  doubtless  cherished,  that  these  sciences  are 
entitled  to  a  leading  place  and  a  controlling  influence  in  a  system 
of  public  education.  The  opening  of  Walker  Hall  removed  the 
last  vestige  of  scientific  instruction  from  the  old  chapel  building 
where  all  the  departments  dwelt  together  for  so  many  years,  and 
left  literature  and  philosophy  the  sole  occupants.  Two  things 
are  illustrated  by  this  part  of  our  history,  first  the  progress  of 
division  of  labor  in  the  College,  and  secondly  the  growth  of  the 
Institution  in  all  its  departments. 

The  original  donation  of  thirtjr  thousand  dollars  for  the  Col- 
lege Church  was  made  in  1864.  Seven  or  eight  years  have 
elapsed,  and  the  edifice  is  still  unfinished.  The  delay  has  been 
partly  to  give  time  for  the  increase  of  the  building  fund,  and 
partly  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  fixing  the  location,  but  chiefly, 
as  in  the  case  of  Walker  Hall,  with  the  intention  of  building 
well  rather  than  building  quickly. 

The  question  of  location  long  occasioned  much  perplexity. 
Opinions  differed  widely  on  the  subject.  The  lot  west  of  the 
street,  and  south  of  the  President's  house,  had  many  and  warm 
advocates.  Others  recommended  a  site  on  the  north  line  of  the 
College  grounds,  and  fronting  northwards,  about  half  way  be- 
tween the  President's  house  and  Walker  Hall.  Some  suggested 
a  corresponding  position  on  the  south  line  and  fronting  south- 


THE   COLLEGE   CHURCH.  405 

ward,  in  the  rear  of  the  Appleton  Cabinet.  Others  still  con- 
tended strenuously  for  some  central  situation  near  the  College 
grove  as  fitly  symbolizing  the  central  relation  of  Christianity  and 
the  Church  to  literature  and  the  sciences.  Perhaps  all  regretted 
that  East  College  had  preoccupied  the  very  best  site  in  the 
whole  campus,  and  not  a  few  advised  its  immediate  removal, 
and  the  erection  of  the  College  Church  on  the  same  spot.  Thus 
like  a  wavering  needle  drawn  in  opposite  directions  by  various 
magnets,  the  church  seemed  to  change  front  and  position  at  dif- 
ferent times  towards  all  points  of  the  compass.  But  it  settled 
at  length  towards  the  rising  sun.  The  unanimous  verdict  of 
the  most  distinguished  architects  decided  the  question  in  favor 
of  the  present  site,  just  in  the  rear  of  East  College  but  necessi- 
tating^ at  some  time  the  removal  of  that  building.  "  It  might 
seem,"  says  President  Stearns  in  his  address  at  the  laying  of  the 
corner-stone — "  it  might  seem  to  our  old  graduates  and  to  others 
who  have  not  studied  the  case,  an  unexpected  and  singular  move- 
ment, to  pass  over,  as  we  have  done,  into  what  was  regarded  here- 
tofore as  the  back-yard  of  our  College  grounds,  and  crowd  the 
new  edifice  into  the  very  mouth  of  the  dormitory  which  has  for 
some  years  crowned  the  knoll.  But  looking  from  East  College, 
destined  some  time  or  other  to  be  removed,  let  me  say  to  each 
one  who  doubts  the  propriety  of  the  location,  circumspice.  Think 
of  a  pleasant  Sabbath  morning,  as  our  young  men  and  families 
of  many  generations  of  the  future,  throng  to  the  house  of  prayer 
and  see  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  spread  over  the  mountains  and 
the  intervale  before  us  and  the  quiet  homes  nestling  within  it, 
and  tell  me,  will  not  nature  furnish  inspirations  to  praise.  If  we 
need  further  reason,  it  may  be  expressed  in  the  brief  words  of 
Mr.  Williston,  who  has  often  surprised  me  with  the  breadth  and 
wisdom  of  his  views  on  such  subjects.  When  the  advice  of  the 
best  architectural  and  gardening  skill  in  the  country  had  been  ob- 
tained, and  reasons  set  forth,  and  the  final  question  was  put  to 
that  gentleman,  shall  we  plan  the  building  for  present  conven- 
ience or  for  a  hundred  years  to  come,  his  immediate  response 
was  'five  hundred  years  to  come.'"  The  committee  to  whom 
by  vote  of  the  Trustees  in  1869  the  whole  subject  was  referred, 
consisted  of  the  President,  William  F.  Stearns,  Esq.,  Messrs. 


406  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST  COLLEGE. 

Williston,  Hardy  and  Gillett,  and  Mr.  W.  A.  Dickinson.  Wil- 
liam Appleton  Potter,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  was  the  architect. 
The-  Church  was  erected  under  the  personal  oversight  and  direct 
superintendence  of  President  Stearns,  to  whose  watchful  eye 
and  excellent  taste,  scarcely  less  than  to  the  art  and  science  of 
the  architect,  the  building  owes  its  perfection. 

'  The  corner-stone  was  laid  on  the  22d  of  September,  1870, 
with  the  following  order  of  exercises:  Preliminary  Statement 
by  the  President;  Introductory  Prayer  by  Prof.  Tyler;  Address 
by  Rev.  Christopher  Gushing  of  Boston ;  placing  of  the  Stone  by 
the  Senior  class  (Class  of  '71)  ;  Hymn,  "  Christ  is  our  Corner- 
stone ;"  Prayer  by  Rev.  Mr.  Jenkins  of  Ainherst ;  Doxology ; 
Benediction. 

The  following  passages  from  the  President's  Preliminary  State- 
ment should  be  put  on  record  as  showing  his  views  and  those  of 
the  donor,  William  F.  Stearns,  Esq.,  in  regard  to  this  edifice  : 
"  We  have  assembled  to  place  the  corner-stone  of  an  edifice, 
which,  in  accordance  with  the  great  idea  of  the  College,  '  the 
highest  education  and  all  for  Christ,'  is  to  be,  when  completed 
and  dedicated,  the  College  Church.  In  pursuing  this  principle 
which  has  always  actuated  some  of  us,  a  desire  has  long  existed, 
since  we  have  public  worship  together,  to  hold  the  religious  ser- 
vices of  the  Sabbath,  as  other  churches  do,  in  a  retired,  consecra- 
ted Sabbath  home,  from  which  all  the  studies  and  distractions  of 
the  week  should  be  excluded,  and  where  the  suggestions  of  the 
place  should  assist  us  to  gather  in  our  thoughts  and,  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  sacred  silence,  to  confer  with  God. 

"  Some  of  the  views  of  the  donor  in  furnishing  the  means  for 
the  College  Church  were  thus  expressed  to  the  Trustees  at  the 
time  they  were  given,  and  in  the  same  spirit  they  were  grate- 
fully accepted  by  them.  1,  The  Church  is  to  be  used  by  the 
College  for  strictly  religious  observances,  especially  for  Chris- 
tian worship  and  preaching,  and  for  no  other  purpose.  2,  The 
preacher  shall  always  profess  his  full  and  earnest  belief  in  the 
religion  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  as  a  supernatural  revela- 
tion from  God,  and  in  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Divine  and  only  Savior, 
'  who  was  crucified  for  our  sins  and  raised  again  for  our  justifi- 
cation,' and  generally  for  substance  of  doctrine  in  the  evangeli- 


VIEWS   OF   THE   DONOR.  407 

cal  system  or  gospel  of  Christ  as  understood  by  the  projectors 
and  founders  of  the  College.  3,  The  preacher  in  the  pulpit,  and 
in  all  the  exercises  of  this  Church,  shall  exhibit  that  sobriety, 
dignity,  and  reverence  of  manner  and  expression  which  becomes 
the  sacredness  of  the  place,  and  is  in  keeping  with  those  solemn 
emotions  which  true  Christians  are  supposed  to  experience. 

"  We  have  spoken  of  this  new  edifice  as  the  College  Church. 
We  call  it  Church  instead  of  Chapel,  because  we  would  distin- 
guish it  from  the  old  Chapel  opposite  to  us,  and  are  not  willing 
to  do  this  by  the  use  of  any  mere  human  name,  and  because, 
while  the  word  chapel,  from  the  Latin  capella,  has  no  Christian 
significance  in  its  etymology  but  means  only  a  short  cloak,  hood 
or  cowl  and  was  first  used,  it  is  said,  to  designate  the  tent  in 
which  St.  Martin's  hat  or  cowl  was  preserved,  the  word  church 
firicls  its  origin  and  its  meaning  in  the  Christian  epithet  KvQiaxoz, 
belonging  to  the  Lord,  and  which,  while  it  is  a  proper  designa- 
tion alike  for  an  assembly  of  believers  and  for  the  consecrated 
place  in  which  they  worship,  is  just  as  appropriate  for  a  small 
building  as  for  a  large  one." 

Rev.  Mr.  Gushing  in  his  appropriate  and  instructive  address, 
spoke  of  the  American  College,  as  not  merely  an  educational 
institution,  but  having  a  distinctively  religious  character,  founded 
originally  for  Christ  and  the  Church  and  intended  primarily  to 
educate  me'n  for  the  gospel  ministry.  But  this  primary  idea 
and  intention  of  the  College,  he  insisted,  was  endangered  by  the 
secularizing  and  materialistic  spirit  of  the  age  which  would  pa- 
ganize the  public  schools,  and  make  the  College  a  University 
from  which  that  element  only  should  be  excluded,  viz.  religion, 
which  was  originally  its  very  life  and  breath.  The  statistics  of 
the  New  England  Colleges  during  the  last  half  century  show  a 
great  relative  decline  in  the  number  of  graduates  who  enter  the 
ministry.  Indeed  while  the  number  of  graduates  of  the  last 
decade  (1855-65)  is  nearly  double  that  of  the  first  (1815-25,) 
the  number  of  ministers  in  the  last  is  but  a  slight  absolute  in- 
crease over  that  of  the  first,  although  the  demand  for  ministers 
is  greatly  augmented.  "  These  facts,"  he  concludes,  "  demand 
our  serious  and  prayerful  consideration.  They  show  the  impor- 
tance of  maintaining  the  old  American  College  system  and  the 


408  HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

importance  of  the  College  Church  as  a  means  of  grace  to  the  stu- 
dents and  as  the  means  of  furnishing  ministers  of  the  gospel." 

The  College  Church,  not  less  than  Walker  Hall,  embodies  an 
idea  and  a  department.  A  new  department,  as  we  shall  see  fur- 
ther on,  was  founded  the  same  year  in  which  funds  were  set 
apart  for  building  the  church.  The  College  Church  represents 
this  department,  gives  it  as  it  were  a  body  and  a  form,  and  ex- 
presses the  idea,  not  only  of  a  place  set  apart  expressly  for  the 
Sabbath  worship  and  service,  but  also  of  a  professorship  whose 
undivided  energies  should  be  sacredly  devoted  to  the  religious 
welfare  of  the  College.  Combining  in  its  architectural  plan  and 
style  the  beautiful  and  the  useful  of  successive  ages,  it  represents 
the  religion  of  the  College  as  uniting  all  that  is  true  and  good 
in  the  past  history  of  the  Church  with  whatsoever  things  are 
pure  and  lovely  in  our  own  age ;  and  being  unquestionably  the 
brightest  architectural  jewel  on  the  brow  of  College  hill,  it  fitly 
expresses  the  paramount  excellence  and  importance  of  the  relig- 
ion of  Christ  in  College  education. 

After  the  close  of  the  Avar,  several  unsuccessful  efforts  were 
made  to  secure  a  suitable  memorial  for  those  students  who  had 
sacrificed  their  lives  for  their  country.  A  public  hall  adorned 
with  relics  and  trophies  of  the  war,  a  lecture  room  and  Profess- 
orship of  History,  a  monument  on  the  grounds,  a  monumental 
group  of  statues  and  tablets  within  doors — all  these  were  con- 
templated, some  of  them  voted  by  the  alumni  and  attempted, 
but  all,  for  different  reasons,  proved  unsatisfactory,  or  at  least 
unsuccessful.  This  difficult  question  found  at  length  an  un- 
expected and  most  satisfactory  solution  in  connection  with  the 
College  Church.  A  chime  of  bells  of  unsurpassed  excellence, 
placed  in  the  tower  by  George  Howe,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  whose 
own  son,  a  graduate  of  Amherst,  fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  war,  an- 
swers the  double  purpose,  to  use  the  language  of  President 
Stearns,  of  "  throwing  out  upon  the  breezes  the  sweet  invita- 
tions of  Christian  psalmody  to  worship  on  the  Lord's  day,  and 
of  commemorating  in  patriotic  and  soothing  melodies  on  appro- 
priate occasions,  the  nobleness  of  our  sons  and  brothers  who 
honored  the  College,  while  they  shed  their  blood  for  Christ  and 
dear  native  land." 


THE    CHIME  OF  BELLS.  409 

Before  any  provision  was  made  or  expected  for  a  new  church, 
the  rooms  in  the  old  chapel  building  had  become  so  deformed 
and  dilapidated,  that  thorough  repairs  were  absolutely  neces- 
sary. These  repairs  were  made  gradually,  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  W.  A.  Dickinson,  Esq.  They  cost  nearly  as  much 
as  the  original  building.  But  they  gave  us  possession  of  rooms 
far  surpassing  the  original  ones  in  convenience  and  elegance. 
The  form  of  the  rooms  underwent  little  or  no  change.  But 
they  were  entirely  refitted,  frescoed  and  furnished,  and  the  reci- 
tation rooms,  beginning  with  the  Greek  room,  No.  1,  and  extend- 
ing gradually  to  the  others,  being  adorned  with  maps  and  charts, 
photographs  and  engravings,  bronzes  and  marbles  illustrative  of 
Greek  and  Roman  art  and  antiquities,  became  teachers,  no  long- 
er of  rudeness  and  slovenliness,  but  of  order,  truth  and  beauty. 
White  the  Chapel  proper  was  undergoing  repairs,  Alumni  Hall 
served  for  a  time  as  our  place  of  worship. 

When  the  Village  Church  had  completed  their  new  and  costly 
churcli  edifice  in  1867,  the  Trustees  purchased  the  old  edifice 
in  which  they  already  owned  a  share,  in  consideration  of  its  an- 
nual use  for  Commencements,  thoroughly  remodeled  and  repair- 
ed it  externally,  and  internally  thus  divesting  it  in  a  great  meas- 
ure of  its  "  astonishing  "  ugliness,  and  so  acquired  one  of  the 
most  convenient  and  useful  buildings  on  the  College  grounds. 
It  pays  already  one-half  the  annual  interest  of  its  cost  in  rents 
for  foreign  uses ;  the  other  half  the  College  can  well  afford,  if 
necessary,  for  its  own  use  in  Commencements,  exhibitions,  public 
lectures,  written  examinations,  and  the  annual  meetings  of  the 
alumni.  By  superseding  Alumni  Hall  for  these  last  purposes, 
(for  written  examinations,  as  well  as  alumni  reunions,)  it  sets 
that  room  free  for  the  use  to  which  it  is  admirably  adapted,  of  a 
gallery  of  Art  and  Archaeology  which  we  are  now  endeavoring 
to  inaugurate. 

While  the  College  has  thus  been  erecting  or  acquiring  these 
convenient  and  beautiful  buildings,  a  corresponding  improvement 
has  been  going  on  pari  passu  in  the  College  grounds.  Mr.  Wil- 
liston,  Dr.  Barrett,  Mr.  Hayden  and  others  made  donations  for 
this  purpose.  Appropriations  were  voted  from  time  to  time  from 
the  College  treasury.  Early  under  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Stearns, 


410  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

the  ground  was  located  and  carefully  prepared  for  cricket  and 
base  ball.  Soon  after,  the  College  garden  was  instituted,  which, 
planted  and  nourished  under  the  direction  of  the  Professor  of 
Botany,  presided  over  by  "  Sabrina,"  and  guarded  and  cherished 
by  the  good  sense  and  good  taste  of  the  students,  has  become 
one  of  the  civilizing  and  refining  institutions  of  Amherst  College. 
The  annexation  of  a  part  of  the  Boltwood  farm,  and  the  grad- 
ing of  the  site  of  Walker  Hall,  involved  great  changes  in  the 
College  grounds  and  became  the  occasion  of  the  greatest  im- 
provement that  has  been  made  in  them,  by  providing  new  drives 
and  walks,  furnishing  more  convenient  access  and  entrance,  and 
opening  to  visitors  more  inviting  views  of  the  buildings,  with 
charming  vistas  of  the  eastern  hills  in  the  background. 

In  1868,  Leavitt  Hallock,  Esq.,  having  purchased  together 
with  the  farm  of  which  it  was  a  part,  the  grove  formerly  known 
as  Baker's  Grove,  near  which  the  students  for  a  time  had  their 
ball  ground,  and  having  adorned  it  with  drives  and  walks,  gave 
it  in  trust  to  the  College  on  the  single  condition  that  the  Trustees 
should  preserve,  improve  and  keep  it  forever  as  a  public  park. 
The  Trustees  gratefully  accepted  the  donation  and  gave  it  the 
name  of  Hallock  Park.  It  contains  some  seven  acres  of  ancient 
and  venerable  oaks  and  pines  such  as  can  scarcely  be  found  any- 
where else  in  Western  Massachusetts.  A  valuable  property  in 
itself,  it  is  an  invaluable  acquisition  to  the  town  and  the  College, 
and  reflects  equal  honor  on  the  taste  and  the  liberality  of  the 
donor. 

If  now  we  turn  our  attention  to  the  departments  of  instruc- 
tion, we  shall  find  'that  they  have  kept  even  pace  with  these  im- 
provements in  the  buildings  and  grounds.  Since  the  accession 
of  Dr.  Stearns  to  the  presidency,  three  new  departments  have 
been  established,  represented  severally  by  the  three  most  recent 
buildings,  viz. :  the  department  of  Hygiene  and  Physical  Educa- 
tion, by  the  Gymnasium  ;  that  of  Mathematics  and  Astronomy  by 
Walker  Hall ;  and  that  of  Biblical  History  and  Interpretation 
and  the  Pastoral  Care,  by  the  College  Church. 

Physical  education  was  a  prominent  topic  in  the  Inaugural 
Address  of  President  Stearns.  After  insisting  on  the  natural 
connection  between  bodily  disarrangement  on  the  one  hand  and 


PHYSICAL   EDUCATION.  411 

intellectual  inferiority  as  well  as  moral  perversity  on  the  other, 
and  contrasting  the  perfection  of  physical  form,  health  and 
strength  developed  by  the  palestra  and  the  gymnasium  in  ancient 
systems  of  education  with  the  partial  deformity,  the  languid 
step,  stooping  shoulders,  cadaverous  countenances  and  physical 
degeneracy  induced  by  neglect  of  bodily  training  in  modern 
times  he  says  :  "  Physical  education  is  not  the  leading  business 
of  college  life,  though  were  I  able,  like  Alfred  or  Charlemagne, 
to  plan  an  educational  system  anew,  I  would  seriously  consider 
the  expediency  of  introducing  regular  drills  in  gymnastic  and 
calisthenic  exercises."  The  idea,  thus  early  conceived  and  ex- 
pressed, grew  in  the  President's  mind  with  every  year's  experi- 
ence, till  it  became  a  new  department.  In  each  successive  an- 
nual report  to  the  Trustees  he  called  their  attention  with  in- 
creasing earnestness  to  the  failing  health  and  waning  strength 
and  in  some  instances  the  premature  death  of  students,  espe- 
cially in  the  spring  of  the  year,  as  in  his  opinion  wholly  unneces- 
sary. In  his  report  for  1859,  he  says :  "  If  a  moderate  amount 
of  physical  exercise  could  be  secured  as  a  general  thing  to  every 
student  daily,  I  have  a  deep  conviction  founded  on  close  obser- 
vation and  experience,  that  not  only  would  lives  and  health  be 
preserved,  but  animation  and  cheerfulness,  and  a  higher  order 
of  efficient  study  and  intellectual  life  would  be  secured.  It  will 
be  for  the  consideration  of  this  Board,  whether,  for  the  encour- 
agement of  this  sort  of  exercise,  the  time  has  not  come  when 
efficient  measures  should  be  taken  for  the  erection  of  a  gynma- 

o»/ 

sium,  and  the  procuring  of"  its  proper  appointments."  The 
Trustees  accordingly  chose  a  committee  consisting  of  the  Presi- 
dent, Dr.  Nathan  Allen,  Henry  Edwards,  Esq.,  and  Hon.  Alexan- 
der H.  Bullock,  who  reported  at  once  in  favor  of  an  immediate 
effort  for  erecting  a  gymnasium.  The  building  was  completed, 
as  we  have  seen,  in  1860.  At  the  same  time,  the  Trustees,  at 
their  annual  meeting,  in  August,  1 860,  voted  to  establish  a  de- 
partment of  Physical  Culture  in  the  College,  and  elected  John 
W.  Hooker,  M.  D.,  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  the  first  Professor  in 
the  department.  Dr.  Hooker  was  an  excellent  gymnast  and  did 
much  to  inaugurate  the  new  system  and  inspire  the  students  with 
interest  in  it.  But  owing  to  ill-health  and  other  causes,  his  con- 


412  EESTOKY  OF  AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

nection  with  the  College  ceased  after  a  few  months.  During  the 
interregnum  in  the  spring  of  1861,  taking  advantage  of  the  ex- 
citement which  preceded  the  war,  Col.  Luke  Lyman  of  North- 
ampton was  employed  to  give  instruction  and  training  to  students 
in  military  tactics  and  exercises. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Trustees,  in  August,  1861,  Dr. 
Edward  Hitchcock,  Jr.,  a  graduate  of  the  College,  and  of  the 
Medical  School  of  Harvard  University,  was  appointed  Professor 
in  this  department.  And  to  his  science,  skill,  patience,  and  rare 
tact  in  managing  students,  under  the  wise  and  efficient  direction 
and  co-operation  of  President  Stearns,  we  are  indebted  for  the 
remarkable  success  in  Amherst  College  of  a  department  which, 
almost  everywhere  else  has  proved  a  failure.  The  characteris- 
tic and  essential  features  to  which  it  owes  its  success  are  two. 
In  the  first  place,  the  gymnasium  is  only  part  and  parcel,  or 
if  you  please,  the  head  and  front,  of  a  department  of  Anatomy, 
Physiology  and  Physical  Culture,  which  is  committed  to  an  ed- 
ucated physician  and  man  of  science,  who  is  specially  charged 
with  the  health  of  the  students,  as  other  Professors  are  charged 
with  the  several  branches  of  mental  education.  In  the  second 
place,  unless  excused  by  the  Professor  for  special  reasons,  every 
student  is  required  to  exercise  under  the  Professor  in  the  gymna- 
sium half  an  hour  daily  for  four  days  in  the  week,  just  as  much  as 
he  is  required  to  attend  the  recitations  and  lectures  in  any  other 
department.  One  other  characteristic  has  contributed  largely 
to  the  popularity  and  success  of  Dr.  Hitchcock's  management 
of  gymnastic  exercises.  He  knows  how  to  intermingle  recrea- 
tion and  amusement  with  the  severer  drill  of  the  gymnasium, 
maintaining  military  order  and  discipline  during  a  portion  of 
each  half  hour,  and  then  allowing  them  to  break  up  into  sections 
or  squads  and  take  such  exercise  and  recreation  as  they  choose, 
so  that  the  classes  come  to  the  gymnasium  with  much  of  the 
same  relish  and  zest  with  which  they  go  to  the  ball  ground,  and 
go  through  a  part  of  their  exercises,  as  well  as  leave  them,  often 
with  laughter  and  shouts. 

A  Committee  of  the  Class  of  '65,  the  first  class  that  enjoyed 
this  physical  training  through  their  entire  course  say :  "  We 
have  found  the  required  attendance — a  part  of  the  system — not 


TESTIMONY   OF   THE   STUDENTS.  413 

at  all  objectionable,  and  what  at  first  in  the  exercise  was  a  little 
embarrassing  or  unpleasant,  soon  became  a  positive  pleasure. 
The  simultaneous  participation  of  every  person  in  the  same  exer- 
cises has  contributed  a  lively  zest  to  them,  when  otherwise  they 
would  have  proved  dull  and  uninteresting.  These  exercises  have 
been  so  varied  in  character  as  to  be  adapted  both  to  the  strongest 
and  the  weakest  student,  conducing  alike  to  health,  strength  and 
grace  of  action.  The  half  hour  required  for  exercise  has  proved 
the  golden  mean  between  length  and  brevity  of  time  for  this 
purpose,  and  has  never  been  considered  lost  by  us,  as  our  health 
at  the  close  of  our  College  course  testifies  to  the  inestimable 
value  of  this  training.  We  are  confident  if  this  matter  of  ex- 
ercise had  been  left  a  voluntary  thing,  many  of  our  class  who 
are  npw  strong  and  healthy,  would  have  yielded  to  the  dis- 
eases incident  to  student  life,  while  others  who  were  weak  and 
slender  boys  on  entering  College,  are  now  strong  and  vigorous 
men." 

Four  years  later,  the  Class  of  '69,  on  the  eve  of  their  grad- 
uation, adopted  unanimously  the  following  Resolutions : 

"  Resolved,  that  the  daily  required  exercise,  as  at  present  con- 
ducted by  Prof.  Edward  Hitchcock,  by  the  happy  union  of  pleas- 
ure and  exercise,  is  exactly  suited  to  our  needs,  giving  us  strength 
and  vigor  for  our  other  duties  and  developing  a  more  manly 
physique. 

"•  Resolved,  that  we  convey  to  the  friends  of  the  gymnasium 
our  hearty  thanks  for  its  foundation  and  support." 

The  attractiveness  of  the  exercises  in  the  gymnasium  to  the 
public  is  seen  in  the  number  of  visitors.  "  From  September, 
1866,  to  the  close  of  the  College  year  in  July,  1867,  there  were 
present  at  these  exercises  five  thousand  nine  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight  persons  as  visitors,  and  from  September,  1867,  to  July  10, 
1868,  the  number  was  four  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ninety- 
eight,  more  than  one-fourth  of  whom  were  ladies ;  and  the  av- 
erage number  of  visitors  present  attach  exercise  was  over  ten 
for  both  years."  *  In  his  Report  for  1869-70,  the  Professor  reck- 
ons the  yearly  average  of  visitors  as  four  thousand  seven  hundred 

1  See  "  Physical  Culture  in  Amherst  College,"  a  pamphlet  by  Dr.  Nathan  Allen, 
published  at  the  request  of  the  Trustees,  1869. 


414  HISTOEY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

and  eighty-seven.  The  prize  exhibitions  which  occur  once  or 
twice  a  year,  always  draw  crowds  of  spectators. 

In  summing  up  the  results  of  the  experiment  in  1869,  Dr. 
Allen,  to  whose  professional  knowledge  and  constant  supervision 
as  one  of  the  Trustees,  this  department  owes  more  than  to  any 
one  else,  except  President  Stearns  and  Prof.  Hitchcock,  tes- 
tifies to  a  decided  improvement  in  the  countenances  and  general 
physique  of  the  students,  in  the  use  of  their  limbs  and  physical 
movements  generally,  in  their  cheerfulness  and  buoyancy  of 
spirits,  in  their  sanitary  condition  and  in  their  vital  statistics, 
besides  many  incidental  advantages,  such  as  elevating  the  stand- 
ard of  scholarship,  preventing  vicious  and  irregular  habits,  and 
aiding  the  government  and  discipline  of  the  Institution. 

The  following  just  and  noble  sentiments  of  Prof.  Owen  of 
the  British  Museum,  printed  and  hung  upon  the  walls  as  the 
"  Motto  of  the  Barrett  Gymnasium,"  are  worthy  to  be  put  on 
record  as  illustrating  the  principles  and  spirit  of  the  founders : 

"  Such  are  the  dominating  powers  with  which  we,  and  we 
alone,  are  gifted !  I  say  gifted,  for  the  surpassing  organization 
was  no  work  of  ours.  It  is  He  that  hath  made  us ;  not  we  our- 
selves. This  frame  is  a  temporary  trust,  for  the  uses  of  which 
we  are  responsible  to  the  Maker. 

"  Oh !  you  who  possess  it  in  the  supple  vigor  of  lusty  youth, 
think  well  what  it  is  that  He  has  committed  to  your  keeping. 
Waste  not  its  energies ;  dull  them  not  by  sloth  ;  spoil  them  not 
by  pleasures!  The  supreme  work  of  creation  has  been  accom- 
plished that  you  might  possess  a  body — the  soul  erect — of  all 
animal  bodies  the  most  free,  and  for  what  ?  for  the  service  of 
the  soul. 

"  Strive  to  realize  the  conditions  of  the  possession  of  this 
wondrous  structure.  Think  what  it  may  become, — the  Temple 
of  the  Holy  Spirit !  Defile  it  not.  Seek,  rather,  to  adorn  it 
with  all  meek  and  becoming  gifts,  with  that  fair  furniture,  moral 
and  intellectual,  which  it  is  your  inestimable  privilege  to  acquire 
through  the  teachings  and  examples  and  ministrations  of  this 
Seat  of  Sound  Learning  and  Religious  Education." 

The  department  of  Mathematics,  and  Astronomy,  including 
the  professorship,  the  instructorships  and  the  prize  scholarships, 


THE   WALKEK   PKOFESSOKSHIP.  415 

was  not  only  founded  by  Dr.  Walker,  but  shaped  to  meet  his 
views,  and  carefully  defined  in  the  terms  and  conditions  of  the 
several  endowments.  The  documents  in  which  the  founder  de- 
fines his  views  and  wishes,  and  which  constitute  the  statutes  of 
the  foundation,  are  spread  out  at  length  on  the  records  of  the 
Trustees,  where  they  fill  twelve  entire,  closely  written  folio 
pages.  The  first  document  which  accompanied  the  endowment 
of  the  Walker  professorship  of  Mathematics  and  Astronomy  in 
1861,  contains  a  minute  description  of  the  ends  for  which  and 
the  ways  in  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  founder,  Mathematics 
should  be  taught,  under  the  heads  of  Arithmetic,  Geometry, 
Algebra  and  Trigonometry.  It  is  an  interesting  and  highly 
characteristic  document,  showing  positive  opinions,  a  clear  head 
and  jwst  ideas  of  .Mathematical  studies.  With  a  good  sense, 
however,  which  is  as  characteristic  as  his  positive  opinions,  the 
Doctor  provides  for  such  modifications  of  his  methods  as  future 
experience  may  prove  to  be  desirable :  "  It  is  not  desirable,"  he 
says,  "  to  limit  a  plan  of  instruction  to  the  results  of  present  ex- 
perience. That  all  acknowledged  improvements  may  be  adopted, 
but  at  the  same  time,  they  may  be  well  considered,  the  Faculty 
shall  be  at  liberty  to  make  such  changes  in  the  plan  of  instruction 
herein  marked  out,  as  shall  meet  the  approval  in  writing  of  Rev. 
Thomas  Hill,  D.  D.,  the  Presidents  and  Professors  of  Mathematics 
of  Amherst,  Tufts,  Williams1  and  Harvard  Colleges,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  and  the  Professor 
of  Engineering  at  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School,  or  of  a  major- 
ity of  them — it  being  the  wish  of  the  donor,  that  accurate  and 
thorough  instruction  and  drilling  in  the  elementary  branches 
should  be  insisted  upon,  whatever  changes  may  be  made." 

The  following  paragraph  is  also  characteristic  :  "  In  teaching, 
younger  persons  are  to  be  preferred  as  teachers  of  younger 
classes,  but  no  teacher  or  tutor  is  to  be  employed  who  is  not 
chosen  for  his  merits,  and  whose  merits  have  not  been  proved 
by  rigid  examination2  to  consist  in  part  of  precise  and  accurate 

1  Williams  and  Tufts  Colleges  shared  with  Amherst  in  this  donation. 

2  It  is  understood  that  the  unwillingness  of  the  Corporation  to  subject  present 
incumbents  to  examination,  gave  offence  to  Dr.  Walker,  and  turned  him  aside  from 
his  plan  of  endowing  the  Medical  Department  of  Harvard  University. 


416  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

knowledge  of  the  fundamental  truths  of  Geometry,  Arithme- 
tic, Algebra  and  Trigonometry,  and  in  part  of  the  ability  to 
perform  the  elementary  operations  of  Mathematics  with  rapidity 
and  correctness'." 

In  accordance  with  this  provision,  William  C.  Esty,  of  the 
Class  of  '60,  was  chosen  Instructor  in  1862,  and  in  1863  Pro- 
fessor of  Mathematics  and  Astronomy.  His  trial  for  the  pro- 
fessorship, was  the  calculation  of  the  orbits  of  the  satellites  of 
Jupiter — a  work  which  had  never  before  been  done,  and  which 
occupied  him  for  two  years.  The  examination  was  by  Prof. 
Pierce  of  Harvard  College,  by  whom  also  the  subject  had  been 
assigned  or  rather  suggested  for  the  choice  of  Mr.  Esty. 

The  second  Walker  document  accompanied  the  foundation  of 
the  Walker  Instructorship  in  1863.  It  provides  for  the  appoint- 
ment by  the  Trustees  of  some  recent  graduate  of  superior  schol- 
arship and  promise,  as  a  special  Instructor  or  Tutor,  to  give  in- 
struction to  select  divisions  of  the  Sophomore  and  Freshman 
classes.  The  characteristic  features  of  this  foundation  are :  1, 
Small  divisions,  each  consisting  of  not  more  than  ten  or  twelve 
students — it  being  the  desire  of  the  founder  "  to  confine  the 
benefits  of  this  donation  to  those  only  who  contribute  on  their 
part  diligence  and  natural  talent  for  mathematical  studies,"  and 
his  object  being  not  so  much  that  the  students  in  these  divisions 
shall  be  pressed  into  new  and  extended  courses  of  mathemat- 
ical study,  as  that  by  thorough  instruction  and  explanation,  and 
persistent  drilling  and  training  with  frequent  reviews,  repeti- 
tions and  recitations,  they  shall  become  perfect  masters  of  the 
text-books  and  subjects  which  shall  be  studied  by  their  class- 
mates not  connected  with  these  divisions.  2,  "  To  these  divis- 
ions may  be  admitted  such  University  students  as  may  satisfy 
the  College  Faculty  of  their  eminent  qualifications  to  benefit  by 
such  instruction,  who  submit  to  all  the  laws  and  regulations  of 
the  College  for  the  time  being,  and  pay  such  tuition  fees  as  the 
College  may  think  reasonable."  3,  "  As  it  is  a  part  of  my  ob- 
ject to  encourage  meritorious  effort  and  success  among  the  stu- 
dents in  this  study,  no  Instructor  shall  be  employed  longer  than 
three  years,  but  another  shall  be  chosen  to  take  his  place  from 
those  graduates  who  have  availed  themselves  of  the  benefits  of 


THE   WALKEK    SYSTEM.  417 

this  provision  and  are  esteemed  by  the  Trustees  of  the  College 
as  most  deserving." 

In  1864  a  third  document  was  presented  by  the  founder,  enu- 
merating the  several  donations  he  had  made,  modifying  the  de- 
tails of  the  second  document  in  some  respects,  to  meet  the  views 
of  the  President  and  the  Professor  of  Mathematics,  without, 
however,  altering  the  fundamental  principles,  and  settling  defin- 
itively the  terms  and  conditions  of  the  whole  foundation. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  plan  of  instruction  in  Mathematics, 
known  among  us  as  the  Walker  system,  incidentally  involves 
some  peculiar  features  which  are  a  departure  from  the  old  and 
established  college  system.  In  the  first  place,  it  divides  each 
class,  not  numerically  or  alphabetically,  but  according  to  the  math- 
ematical tastes  and  attainments  of  the  members.  In  the  second 
place,  it  assigns  the  select  divisions  containing  all  the  best  mathe- 
maticians, to  the  Instructor,  and  leaves  the  remainder  to  the  care 
and  instruction  of  the  Professor.  This  may  be  a  pleasant  ar- 
rangement for  the  Instructor,  but  it  is  hard  on  the  Professor. 
And  it  would  seem  that  the  select  divisions  also  would  ordi- 
narily get  better  instruction  from  the  Professor  than  from  the 
Instructor.  The  statutes  as  finally  fixed,  however,  allow  of 
some  exceptions  and  relaxations  in  this  part  of  the  system.  The 
effect  of  the  system  on  the  whole  class,  and  its  bearing  on  the 
principles  and  results  of  college  education,  constitute  the  most 
vital  question.  On  the  one  hand  it  is  a  great  loss,  almost  a 
calamity,  to  a  class  to  have  all  the  best  scholars  in  any  depart- 
ment taken  out  of  it.  It  is  like  taking  all  the  salts  out  of  an 
effervescing  fountain.  On  the  other  hand,  the  best  scholars  are 
doubtless  kept  back  more  or  less  by  the  old  system  of  numerical 
divisions.  On  the  whole,  the  Walker  system  is  perhaps  particu- 
larly adapted  to  the  mathematical  department.  It  has  certainly 
worked  well,  in  making  some  better  mathematicians  than  we 
otherwise  should  have  made,  although  I  must  think,  it  has  at 
the  same  time  lowered  somewhat  the  general  standard  of  mathe- 
matical discipline  and  attainment.  The  Professors  in  the  other 
departments,  I  am  sure,  would  be  reluctant  to  be  subjected 
to  all  its  rules  and  regulations.  Messrs.  William  B.  Graves  of 
the  Class  of  '62,  Thomas  D.  Biscoe  of  '63,  and  John  K.  Richard- 
27 


418  HISTORY  OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

son  of  '69,  have  successively  filled  the  office  of  Walker  Instruc- 
tor in  Mathematics,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  meet  fully  the  high 
demands  of  the  founder.  The  first  two  are  now  Professors  in 
western  colleges — the  last  is  the  present  incumbent. 

The  same  year  in  which  the  funds  were  given  for  the  College 
Church  (1864),  another  gentleman,  without  any  knowledge  of 
that  donation,  offered  to  the  Trustees,  in  a  letter  to  the  Presi- 
dent, the  sum  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  as  a  foundation  for  a 
Professorship  of  the  Pastoral  Care.  The  same  gentleman  had 
previously  had  some  correspondence  with  Dr.  Hitchcock  as  well 
as  with  Dr.  Stearns  on  the  same  subject.  At  their  annual  meet- 
ing in  July,  1864,  the  Trustees  gratefulty  accepted  the  founda- 
tion and  appointed  the  President  and  Dr.  Vaill  a  Committee  to 
confer  with  the  donor,  and  prepare  proper  statutes  and  plans  for 
the  Pastorate.  At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Board  in  November, 
1866,  the  statutes,  as  approved  by  the  donor,  were  reported  and 
adopted  by  the  Trustees.  They  provide  that  the  Professor  shall 
be  designated  as  the  "  Samuel  Green  Professor  of  Biblical  His- 
tory and  Interpretation  and  of  the  Pastoral  Care ;  "  and  that  he 
shall  be  the  Pastor  or  Associate  Pastor  of  the  College  Church. 
His  duties  shall  be  to  preach  on  the  Sabbath  such  portion  of  the 
time  as  the  Trustees  may  think  most  conducive  to  the  well  being 
of  the  College ;  to  be  responsible  in  connection  with  and  under 
the  direction  of  the  President  for  the  proper  conducting  of  all 
other  religious  meetings  in  the  College,  provided,  however,  that 
in  the  management  of  this  work  as  well  as  in  the  preaching  on 
the  Sabbath,  such  assistance  may  be  expected  from  other  Pro- 
fessors as  shall  help  to  secure  the  wisest  and  most  powerful 
Christian  influence  upon  the  whole  Institution ;  to  organize  and 
conduct,  or  superintend  the  conducting  of  Bible  classes;  to  seek 
out  young  men  as  they  come  to  College,  and  exert  a  personal 
religious  influence  of  Christian  friendship  upon  them;  and  to 
give  such  instruction  in  Biblical  History  and  Interpretation  as 
the  Trustees  may  direct.  "  Should  time  allow,  he  shall  give  ten 
or  twelve  lectures  to  each  class  successively  once  in  their  College 
course,  on  the  subject  of  great  examples  of  character,  selecting 
the  examples  from  the  Sacred  Scriptures  or  from  the  worthies 
of  the  Christian  church It  shall  be  among  the  leading 


SAMUEL  GREEN  PROFESSORSHIP.  419 

objects  of  these  lectures  to  induce  a  large  portion  of  the  pious 
students  to  devote  themselves  to  the  work  of  the  gospel  min- 
istry  "When  from  time  to  time,  these  lectures  have  been 

delivered  to  eight  successive  classes,  they  shall  either  be  pub- 
lished by  approval  of  the  Trustees  or  a  full  manuscript  copy  of 
them  shall  be  deposited  by  the  Professor  in  the  Library  for  the 
use  of  the  College,  and  new  lectures  shall  be  prepared  by  him. 
Finally,  his  special  work  shall  be  '  the  care  of  souls,'  in  the  per- 
formance of  which,  besides  preaching,  attending  religious  meet- 
ings, etc.,  he  shall  hold  himself  accessible  at  stated  times  to  such 
students  as  may  be  disposed  to  come  to  him  for  instruction,  and 
he  shall  endeavor  to  converse  with  others,  as  time  and  opportu- 
nity may  allow,  in  reference  to  their  plans  for  life,  their  religious 
experiences  and  difficulties,  their  spiritual  condition  and  pros- 
pects, seeking  first  of  all  to  bring  them  into  an  inward  knowl- 
edge of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  and  building  them  up  on  the 
foundations  of  the  gospel  into  the  most  symmetrical,  powerful 
and  earnest  Christian  character.  In  doing  this,  as  in  all  his 
work,  he  shall  endeavor  not  to  exclude,  but  to  encourage  and 
make  effectual  the  religious  influence  arid  cooperation  of  the 
Faculty  towards  the  same  result,  regarding  himself  as  especially 
responsible  for  the  promotion  of  the  religious  life  of  a  College 
pre-eminently  consecrated  from  the  beginning  to  CHRIST." 

For  special  reasons  the  statutes  permit  the  Trustees  to  elect 
Dr.  Stearns  the  first  Professor  on  the  foundation  and  thus  for  the 
present  to  connect  the  professorship  with  the  presidency.  But 
it  is  expressly  provided,  that,  "  after  the  death  or  resignation  of 
the  office  by  President  Stearns,  a  new  Professor,  having  no 
official  connection  with  the  College,  shall  be  appointed,  and  from 
time  to  time,  as  the  office  is  vacant ;  and  if  for  twelve  consecutive 
months  no  one  is  appointed,  or  if  he  denies  the  supreme  divinity 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  the  efficacy  of  his  atonement,  the 
entire  endowment  shall  revert  to  the  lawful  heirs  of  the  donor." 

Professorships  of  the  Pastoral  Charge,  separate  from  the  pres- 
idency or  some  other  department  of  instruction,  have  rarely 
proved  successful.  There  does  not,  however,  seem  to  be  any 
necessary  and  absolute  reason  why  the  right  man,  under  wise 
statutes  and  favorable  circumstances,  might  not  make  such  a 


420  HISTOKY  OF   AMHEBST    COLLEGE. 

professorship  a  success.  Certainly  if  any  department  requires 
the  undivided  and  utmost  energies  of  one  man  wisely  and  zeal- 
ously devoted  to  it,  it  is  that  of  religious  instruction  and  influ- 
ence. And  if  such  a  professorship  can  be  made  a  success  any- 
where,  it  can  be  under  the  wise  and  well-guarded  statutes  above 
described  and  with  the  hearty  co-operation  of  the  President, 
Professors  and  pious  students  of  Amherst  College.  At  any  rate, 
let  the  first  Professor  (separate  from  the  presidency)  be  selected 
with  great  care,  and  let  the  experiment  be  fairly  tried. 

The  fund  was  allowed  to  accumulate  till  the  principal  amount- 
ed to  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  when  President  Stearns  was 
chosen  the  first  Professor.  The  clerical  Professors  still  continue 
to  preach  in  rotation  with  him  ;  and  it  is  the  understanding  that 
whenever  the  professorship  shall  be  separated  from  the  presi- 
dency, the  President  and  Professors  will  still  continue  to  preach 
half  of  the  time  on  the  Sabbath,  and  to  assist  as  heretofore  in 
other  religious  meetings. 

During  his  life,  the  founder  of  this  professorship  was  not  will- 
ing to  have  his  name  mentioned.  But  since  his  decease  there 
is  no  objection  to  the  announcement  that  the  founder  was  that 
life-long  friend  of  Amherst  College  and  of  every  good  cause, 
John  Tappan,  Esq.,  of  Boston.  And  he  named  the  foundation 
the  Samuel  Green  Professorship  in  memory  of  his  beloved 
pastor,  the  first  pastor  of  the  Union  Church,  Essex  street,  Bos- 
ton, and  afterwards  one  of  the  honored  Secretaries  of  the  Amer- 
ican Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions. 

While  new  departments  of  instruction  have  thus  been  spring- 
ing up  in  the  College,  the  old  departments  have  not  remained 
stationary.  All  the  branches  of  the  physical  sciences  are  not 
only  supported  now  on  the  Walker  foundations,  but  have  derived 
fresh  life  and  strength  from  the  new  and  rich  soil  into  which 
they  have  been  transplanted.  From  the  statement  which  Prof. 
Snell  made  at  the  opening  of  Walker  Hall,  and  which  I  hope  to 
give  entire  elsewhere,  it  appears  that  "  the  average  appropriation 
to  the  department  of  Natural  Philosophy  from  1828  to  1869  has 
been  about  sixty-five  dollars  per  year — a  sum  which  could  hardly 
be  expected  to  do  more  than  keep  the  apparatus  in  tolerable 
repair."  "  Now  that  the  collection  is  to  occupy  a  spacious  and 


NEW  APPARATUS.  421 

I 

handsome  apartment,"  he  proceeds  to  say,  "  I  trust  the  Walker 
funds  will  avail  to  replace  many  cheap-looking  instruments  by 
more  comely  and  fitting  ones,  as  well  as  to  add  a  number  of  oth- 
ers which  I  have  for  some  time  wished  to  procure,  but  which 
the  former  room  was  not  large  enough  to  accommodate,  nor  the 
resources  of  the  department  sufficient  to  purchase." 

The  hopes  and  wishes  of  the  veteran  Professor  have  not  been 
disappointed.  In  1869,  the  Trustees  voted  that  Prof.  Snell  have 
liberty  to  draw  on  the  Walker  Legacy  Fund  for  an  amount  not  ex- 
ceeding three  thousand  dollars  to  be  expended  within  twro  years 
for  the  purchase  of  apparatus.  Thus  after  many  long  years  of 
hope  deferred  and  personal  toil  and  skill  to  make  apparatus  out 
of  nothing,  and  with  no  place  to  put  it  in  when  it  was  made,  he 
enjoys  the  satisfaction,  not  only  of  having  a  beautiful  and  conven- 
ient ro'ton  with  suitable  shelves  and  cases  for  the  deposit  of  the 
old  apparatus,  but  .also  of  seeing  new  and  choice  instruments, 
works  of  art  as  well  as  illustrations  of  science,  frequently  arriving 
with  which  he  may  exhibit  new  and  beautiful  experiments.  His 
lectures,  always  admirable,  have  grown  more  and  more  perfect 
with  advancing  years,  expanding  rooms  and  increasing  resources  ; 
and  one  of  the  pleasantest  aspects  of  Walker  Hall  to  his  col- 
leagues and  his  pupils  as  they  revisit  their  Alma  Mater  from  year 
to  year  now,  is  that  there  they  see  Prof.  Snell  at  length  reap- 
ing the  fruit  of  his  labors,  and  his  Cabinet  and  lectures  fur- 
nished with  suitable  accommodations. 

The  department  of  Chemistry,  like  the  department  of  Math- 
ematics and  Physics,  has  migrated  during  the  presidency  of  Dr. 
Stearns,  leaving  the  basement  of  the  old  chapel  which  in  1827 
seemed  so  ample  and  magnificent  and  was  in  fact  in  advance  of 
the  laboratories  in  other  and  older  Colleges,  and  finding  new 
quarters  on  the  first  floor  of  Williston  Hall,  fitted  and  furnished, 
by  the  wealth  and  liberality  of  Mr.  Williston,  to  satisfy  the  de- 
mands of  Prof.  Clark,  young,  ambitious  and  fresh  from  the  labo- 
ratories of  Europe.  Provided  with  an  excellent  working  as  well 
as  lecturing  Laboratory,  conducted  by  scientific  and  enthusiastic 
Professors,  with  the  co-operation  sometimes  of  able  assistants 
and  the  constant  sympathy  of  an  appreciating  and  progressive 
President,  this  department  has  expanded  with  its  accommoda- 


422  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

tions  and  appliances,  has  been  allowed  more  time  and  opportu- 
nity under  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Stearns  than  was  afforded  it 
under  his  scientific  predecessor,  has  given  increasing  attention 
to  Analytic  and  Organic  Chemistry,  and,  in  short,  has  endeav- 
ored not  without  success  to  keep  pace  with  the  rapid  progress 
of  Chemistry  and  the  kindred  sciences.  From  1854  to  1856, 
Prof.  'Clark  was  aided  in  Analytic  and  Applied  Chemistry  by  the 
rare  talents,  taste  and  science  of  Dr.  John  W.  Mallet,  a  gradu- 
ate of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  and  of  the  University  of  Got- 
tingen.  Dr.  Newton  S.  Manross,  another  of  Mr.  Clark's  fellow- 
students  in  Prof.  Wohler's  Laboratory  at  Gottingen  and  a  Doctor 
of  Philosophy  of  that  University,  gave  excellent  instruction  here 
in  this  and  the  related  sciences,  in  1861-2,  the  first  year  in  which 
Prof.  Clark  was  absent  as  an  officer  in  the  war  of  the  Rebellion. 
In  1867  Prof.  Clark  resigned  his  professorship  in  order  to  accept 
the  presidency  of  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College,  and 
after  a  year's  interregnum  in  which  Mr.  J.  H.  Eaton,  of  the 
Class  of  '65,  lectured  with  marked  success,  in  1868  Prof.  E. 
P.  Harris  of  the  Class  of  '55,  then  Professor  at  Beloit  College, 
was  appointed  in  his  place.  In  1869,  this  department  at  the 
same  time  with  that  of  Physics,  struck  its  roots  into  the  Walker 
Legacy  Fund,  and  Prof.  Harris  was  authorized,  with  the  advice 
and  approbation  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  to  expend  a  sum 
not  exceeding  fifteen  hundred  dollars  in  refitting  and  refurnish- 
ing the  Laboratory.  And  now  during  the  two  terms  of  each 
year  which  are  given  to  Chemistry,  not  only  whole  classes  are 
faithfully  instructed  in  the  general  principles  of  the  science,  by 
lectures  which  they  are  required  to  attend,  but  the  Laboratory 
proper  is  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity  with  elective  students  en- 
gaged in  analytic  experiments. 

Botany  has,  for  the  most  part,  been  taught,  as  in  former 
years,  by  the  Professor  of  Chemistry.  Indeed  Prof.  Clark  bore 
the  title  of  Professor  of  Chemistry,  Botany  and  Zoology  from 
1854  till  1858.  In  1858,  Prof.  Tuckerman  was  appointed  Pro- 
fessor of  Botany,  which  title  he  has  borne  ever  since.  Only  a 
few  classes,  however,  enjoyed  his  instructions  in  this  science  in 
consequence  of  an  increasing  difficulty  of  hearing,  which  ren- 
dered it  inconvenient  and  disagreeable  for  him  to  teach  classes. 


CHEMISTRY   AND   BOTANY.  423 

For  the  same  reason,  however,  he  has  only  devoted  himself  with 
less  interruption  and  more  enthusiasm  to  one  branch  of  botani- 
cal science,  viz.,  the  Lichens,  in  which  he  reigns  almost  sole 
monarch  among  American  savants  and  is  now  publishing  to  the 
world  the  results  of  his  long  and  patient  microscopic  studies  of 
specimens  which  he  has  gathered  in  person  or  by  proxy  from  all 
the  mountains  and  glens  of  the  western  continent.  "  Tucker- 
man  Glen  "  in  the  White  Mountains  was  discovered  by  him  in 
these  explorations,  and  will  be  a  lasting  monument  of  his  devotion 
to  this  science.  Besides  his  contributions  to  science,  this  gen- 
tleman has  also  rendered  a  valuable  service  to  the  College  by 
the  course  of  learned  lectures  on  Oriental  History  which  he 
has  given  to  so  many  successive  Senior  classes,  while  his  large 
and  choice  private  library,  more  rich  in  literature  than  it  is  even 
in  science,  has  been  free  for  consultation  and  use  alike  by  officers 
and  students. 

Since  the  retirement  of  Prof.  Tuckerman  from  the  direct  in- 
struction of  the  classes,  the  department  of  Botany,  though  with- 
out the  title,  has  reverted  to  the  Professor  of  Chemistry.  Prof. 
Clark  inspired  his  classes  with  not  a  little  of  his  own  enthusi- 
asm not  only  in  the  lectures  but  in  botanical  collections  and  ex- 
cursions. And  Prof.  Harris,  without  professing  Botany,  teaches 
it  with  the  thoroughness  and  earnestness  with  which  he  pursues 
whatever  he  undertakes. 

On  retiring  from  the  presidency,  Dr.  Hitchcock  expressed  to 
the  Trustees  his  willingness  to  retain  the  Professorship  of  Nat- 
ural Theology  and  Geology,  giving  at  least  twenty  lectures  and 
from  twenty-five  to  thirty  recitations  in  Geology ;  twenty-five 
lectures  and  ten  or  twelve  recitations  in  Anatomy  and  Physi- 
ology ;  twenty-five  recitations  in  Butler's  Analogy,  an,d  from  ten 
to  twenty  lectures  in  Natural  Theology ;  being  released  from 
the  government  and  police  of  the  College  and  from  attending 
Faculty  meetings ;  preaching  and  officiating  at  prayers  in  his 
turn  with  the  other  Professors ;  and  receiving  as  his  salary 
six  hundred  dollars — one-half  the  sum  received  by  the  other 
Professors.  This  proposition  was  thankfully  accepted  by  the 
Trustees ;  and  Prof.  Hitchcock  returned  with  the  freshness  of 
a  first  love  to  his  lectures  and  recitations,  to  geological  excur- 


424  HISTORY   OF   AMHEBST   COLLEGE. 

sions,  explorations,  and  naming  of  mountains,  to  the  collection 
and  classification  of  specimens  and  the  development  and  per- 
fection especially  of  his  favorite  branches,  Ichnology  and  Nat- 
ural Theology.  It  was  with  enthusiastic  delight  that  he  saw 
the  Appleton  Cabinet  completed,  and  the  first  floor  filled  with 
classified  and  labeled  foot-marks  in  which  the  eye  of  his  science 
and  imagination  could  see  the  gigantic  birds,  saurians  and  batra- 
chians  of  the  primeval  world  marching  down  the  geologic  ages, 
and  the  second  floor  filling  with  shells  of  mollusks,  casts  of  the 
megatherium,  skeletons  and  skins  of  the  gorilla  and  other  ani- 
mals, and  stuffed  or  preserved  specimens  of  the  animal  creation 
in  regular  gradation  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest  orders  of  the 
animal  kingdom.  In  1858,  Mr.  Charles  H.  Hitchcock  of  the 
Class  of  '56,  was  appointed  Lecturer  on  Zoology  and  Curator  of 
the  Cabinet.  In  1860,  as  Dr.  Hitchcock's  health  declined,  an 
addition  was  made  to  his  salary  that  he  might  employ  such  as- 
sistance as  he  might  think  needful  and  expedient,  and  from  that 
time,  his  son  relieved  him  by  performing  more  and  more  of  his 
duties  until  his  death  in  1864.  With  him  the  department  died 
also.  It  was  made  for  him,  and  he  for  it,  and  the  Trustees 
have  never  been  able  to  find  any  one  to  fill  his  place,  although 
they  have  sought  anxiously  for  suitable  candidates.  Mean- 
while the  instruction  in  Geology  has  been  given  sometimes 
by  Prof.  Edward  Hitchcock,  Jr.,  sometimes  by  Prof!  Shepard  ; 
the  lectures  on  Natural  Theology  as  related  to  G-eology  no  one 
has  attempted  to  give.  In  1870,  Mr.  Benjamin  K.  Emerson, 
a  graduate  of  the  Class  of  '65  and  a  Doctor  of  Philosophy  of 
the  University  of  Gottingen,  was  appointed  Instructor  in  Geol- 
ogy, and  during  the  year  and  a  half  which  has  since  passed 
away,  he  has  not  only  taught  Geology  and  the  sciences  insepa- 
rable from  it  by  lectures  and  recitations  with  signal  ability,  but 
has  entirely  rearranged  and  relabeled  the  Geological  Cabinet  to 
meet  the  present  demands  of  that  progressive  science.  It  is 
understood  that,  with  the  consent  of  the  founder,  the  Hitchcock 
Professorship  will  henceforth  be  that  of  Geology  and  the  related 
sciences ;  and  Mr.  Emerson  will  be  the  Professor.1  Meanwhile 

1  P.  S.    At  a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  in  Boston,  February  7, 1872,  the  title  of  the 
Hitchcock  Professorship  was  changed  from  that  of  Geology  and  Natural  Theology 


GEOLOGY  AND  ZOOLOGY.  425 

Natural  Theology  is  provided  for  by  ample  instructions  from  the 
President  and  the  Professor  of  Mental  and  Moral  Philosophy,  as 
well  as  by  the  able  and  popular  lectures  of  Dr.  Burr  on  this 
special  subject. 

In  1863,  finding  that  the  expenses  of  the  College  were  ex- 
ceeding the  income,  the  Faculty  volunteered  to  dispense  with 
the  services  of  a  salaried  Librarian  and  Curator  of  the  Cabinet, 
and  by  performing  without  pay  these  and  other  duties,  to  re- 
duce the  annual  expenditures.  Prof.  Seelye  took  charge  of  the 
Library.  Prof.  E.  Hitchcock,  Jr.,  became  Curator  of  the  Cab- 
inet. The  clerical  members  of  the  Faculty  dispensed  with  the 
small  stipend  for  preaching  which  they  had  been  accustomed  to 
receive  almost  from  the  beginning  of  the  service  in  the  chapel, 
some  one  else  performed  the  Registrar's  duties1  without  pay, 
and  each  officer  undertook  some  extra  work  in  this  division 
of  labor.  After  a  year  or  two  when  the  crisis  was  passed,  this 
arrangement  for  the  most  part  ceased.  But  from  that  day  to 
this,  the  curatorship  of  the  Zoological  and  Ichnological  Cab- 
inet has  remained  in  the  hands  of  Prof.  Hitchcock.  Nor  has  he 
made  it  a  sinecure  office,  but  in  a  double  sense  it  has  been  a 
labor  of  love.  With  the  special  assistance  of  Mr.  A.  B.  Kit- 
tredge  of  the  Class  of  '69,  in  1869-70  he  revised  and  relabeled 
the  Ichnological  Collections.  In  the  same  and  succeeding  years, 
he  has  made  a  special  effort  to  increase  our  collections  in  Natural 
History  by  sending  circulars  to  graduates  and  friends  of  the  Col- 
lege and  inviting  them  to  replenish  the  Cabinet.  By  these  and 
similar  means,  the  Zoological  collections  have  been  continually, 
sometimes  rapidly  increasing,  until  there  is  already  some  diffi- 
culty in  finding  room  to  receive  them.  Meanwhile  the  unique 
collection  of  Indian  Relics  has  grown  under  his  fostering  care 
and  the  munificence  of  the  gentleman  whose  name  it  bears,  into 
the  Gilbert  Museum,  one  of  the  richest  and  choicest  museums  of 
Aboriginal  remains  in  the  country. 

The  history  of  our  Scientific  departments  in  this  period  would 
be  incomplete,  if  we  should  not  include  in  it  some  reference  to 

to  that  of  Geology  and  Zoology  ;  and  Benjamin  K.  Emerson  was  elected  to  the  pro- 
fessorship. 
1  Making  out  the  rank  and  keeping  the  record  of  each  student's  standing. 


426  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College,  which  is  the  daughter  of 
Arnherst  College  and  the  natural  outgrowth  of  our  Departments 
of  Physical  Science.  President  Hitchcock  was,  to  say  the  least, 
one  of  the  god-fathers  of  the  Institution.  His  Geological  Sur- 
veys of  the  State,  his  Report  on  the  Agricultural  Schools  of 
Europe,  the  Professorship  of  Agriculture  which  existed  for  a 
short  time  as  a  branch  of  the  Department  of  Science  in  Amherst 
College,  *  were  all  preparatory  steps  towards  its  establishment. 
In  one  of  her  wills  which  was  superseded,  Miss  Sophia  Smith  of 
Hatfield  provided  an  endowment  for  a  Department  or  School 
of  Agriculture  in  Amherst  College.  Prof.  Clark's  agency  in 
the  location  of  the  Agricultural  College  in  Amherst  was  still 
more  immediate  and  effective.  Indeed  to  his  influence  as  a 
member  of  the  Legislature,  his  exertions  in  raising  the  money  on 
which  the  location  was  conditioned,  and  his  wisdom  and  energy 
as  the  first  President,  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College 
owes  its  prosperity  and  success,  if  not  its  very  existence.  The 
people  of  Amherst,  with  their  usual  foresight  and  public  spirit, 
first  by  individual  subscription,  but  finally  by  a  town  tax,  raised 
fifty  thousand  dollars  for  the  purchase  of  a  farm  and  the  erection 
of  buildings.  The  Trustees  of  Amherst  College,  as  individuals, 
led  by  their  President,  and  aided  by  one  or  two  other  friends  of 
the  Institution,  became  responsible  for  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars  more.  By  vote  of  the  Trustees,  the  Library,  the  Cab- 
inets, the  Lectures  and  the  chapel  services  of  the  College  were 
all  made  accessible  to  the  officers  and  students  of  the  new  Institu- 
tion. The  Professors  and  Instructors  of  Amherst  College  have 
from  the  first  lectured  and  taught  more  or  less  in  the  Agricultu- 
ral College.  In  short  although  the  two  Institutions  have  differ- 
ent Corporations  and  Faculties  and  there  is  no  organic  connec- 
tion between  them,  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College  is 
indebted  for  what  it  is  to-day  and  promises  to  be  in  the  future, 
beyond  all  question  and  almost  beyond  calculation,  to  what  it 
has  received  directly  or  indirectly  from  Amherst  and  Amherst 
College.  How  much  benefit  Amherst  College  has  derived  in 
turn  and  will  derive  from  the  Agricultural  College  is  not  so 

1  Rev.  J.  A.   Nash   was  nominally   Professor  of  Agriculture  from  1852  to  1856. 
The  appointment  however  was  little  more  than  nominal. 


MASSACHUSETTS  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE. 


MASSACHUSETTS   AGRICULTURAL   COLLEGE.  427 

clear.  In  many  respects,  doubtless,  the  benefit  will  be  mutual. 
At  least,  the  two  Institutions  unite  to  make  Amherst  one  of  the 
chief  educational  centers  of  the  Old  Bay  State. 

The  Mathematics  and  the  Ancient  Languages  have  both  been 
compelled  to  yield,  these  last  few  years,  to  the  demands  of  the 
age  and  give  up  some  of  the  time  which  they  formerly  occupied 
to  the  Physical  Sciences  and  the  Modern  Languages.  In  this 
respect  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics  have  lost  ground  relatively 
and  absolutely,  for  this  loss  of  time  in  College  is  not  fully  made 
up  by  longer  or  better  preparation  in  the  Academies  and  High 
Schools.  At  the  same  time,  these  studies  have  had  to  stem  the 
tide,  or  resist  the  pressure  of  the  popular  sentiment  in  favor  of 
what  are  called  more  practical  and  useful  studies,  which,  like  the 
materialism  and  skepticism  of  the  age  of  which  indeed  it  is  part 
and  parcel,  fills  the  newspapers,  magazines  and  novels  of  the 
day,  possesses  the  minds  of  the  masses,  and,  like  an  atmosphere, 
surrounds  and,  in  spite  of  ever}Tthing,  more  or  less  rushes  into 
our  institutions  of  learning.  The  ancient  classics,  it  must  be 
acknowledged,  have  thus  lost  caste  and  standing  with  a  minority 
of  the  students  of  Amherst.  Yet  there  are  no  studies  which 
are  more  highly  appreciated  or  more  zealously  prosecuted  by  the 
majority ;  and  there  never  has  been  a  time  when  the  major  part 
of  each  successive  class  have  been  more  enthusiastic  and  suc- 
cessful students  of  the  classics,  nor  when  we  have  been  able  to 
make  a  few  so  good  classical  scholars,  as  in  the  last  decade  of 
our  history.  While  insisting  as  strenuously  as  ever  on  a  thor- 
ough drill  and  mastery  of  the  grammar  and  lexicography  of  the 
Languages  by  the  Freshmen,  we  have  been  able,  with  the  admi- 
rable helps  that  now  exist,  to  study  both  Ancient  and  Modern 
Languages  more  in  the  light  of  Comparative  Philology,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  read  the  classics  more  in  their  relations  to  His- 
tory and  Philosophy  and  as  a  means  of  higher  culture  in  what 
are  justly  called  "  the  Humanities."  There  was  a  time,  perhaps, 
some  twenty  years  ago,  when  we  gave  up  too  much  time  to  the 
analysis  of  words  and,  in  order  to  this,  gave  out  excessively  short 
lessons.  More  recently  we  have  inclined,  at  least  during  a  por- 
tion of  each  term  or  year,  to  go  more  rapidly  over  a  wider  range 
of  classical  reading  with  the  purpose  of  imbuing  our  classes 


428  HISTOEY  OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

more  fully  with  the  taste,  sentiment  and  spirit  of  the  Greek  and 
Roman  authors. 

Two  changes  have  been  introduced  within  the  last  fifteen 
years,  which  affect  especially  this  department,  and  which,  with- 
out question,  have  been  both  marks  and  means  of  progress. 
They  were  introduced  by  the  Greek  Professor.  The  one  is 
the  introduction  into  the  recitation  rooms,  not  only  of  maps 
and  charts,  but  of  photographs,  engravings,  casts,  models  of  an- 
cient edifices,  copies  of  ancient  statuary  in  marble,  bronze  and 
terra  cotta,  busts  of  authors  and  the  great  men  of  antiquity — in 
short,  all  such  sensible  illustrations  as  will  lend  to  classical 
studies  something  of  the  reality  and  vividness  which  specimens 
and  experiments  give  to  the  Physical  Sciences,  and  will  help  stu- 
dents to  reproduce  men  and  things  as  they  were  in  olden  times. 
As  a  means  of  securing  this  end  still  more  perfectly,  we  are  now 
making  an  effort  to  inaugurate  in  Alumni  Hall  a  Gallery  of  Art 
and  Museum  of  Archaeology,  which  will  be  to  the  literary  de- 
partments of  instruction  in  the  College  what  the  collections  in 
the  Cabinets  are  to  the  scientific. 

The  other  sign  and  means  of  progress  is  a  higher  grade  of  in- 
struction in  the  lower  classes  secured  by  more  permanence  and 
more  division  of  labor  in  the  instructors  of  those  classes.  For- 
merly in  this  as  in  other  Colleges,  the  two  lower  classes  were 
taught  almost  entirely  by  Tutors  who  took  the  tutorship  for  a 
year  or  two  only  as  a  pleasant  way  of  earning  a  little  money,  or 
gaining  a  little  additional  culture  and  reputation,  and  only  as  a 
stepping-stone  to  a  profession  or  some  other  pursuit  in  life.  Un- 
der these  circumstances,  young  men  coming  from  our  best  pre- 
paratory schools  where  they  had  enjoyed  the  instructions  of  able 
and  learned  men  who  had  devoted  their  lives  to  the  work,  could 
not  but  feel  that  in  this  respect  they  were  taking  a  downward  in- 
stead of  an  upward  step  when  they  entered  College.  Some  sug- 
gestions on  this  subject  "  made  by  the  President  and  more  fully 
developed  by  Prof.  Tyler  and  the  Examining  Committee  in  their 
several  Reports  "  received  the  special  attention  of  the  Board  at 
their  annual  meeting  in  1857,  and,  approved  by  them,  were  grad- 
ually incorporated  into  the  system  of  instruction.  The  Tutors  l 

1  The  last  Tutor  so  called  was  in  1865. 


PERMANENT  INSTRUCTORS.  429 

gradually  gave  place  to  Instructors  who  remained  several  years 
and  instructed  only  in  one  department;  and  some  of  these 
Instructors  were  at  length  made  Professors.  Mr.  Richard  H. 
Mather,  of  the  Class  of  '57,  was  Instructor  in  Greek  from 
1859  to  1862,  Assistant  or  Associate  Professor  from  1862  to 
1868,  and  now  he  has  the  title  of  Professor  of  Greek  and  Ger- 
man. For  many  years  now  the  instruction  in  Greek  has  all  been 
given  by  Professors,  and  all  by  Prof.  Tyler  and  Prof.  Mather. 
To  the  scholarly  attainments  of  the  latter,  his  personal  and  pro- 
fessional enthusiasm,  his  skill  and  patience  in  drilling  the  Fresh- 
men, and  his  inspiring  lectures  on  the  Greek  Drama,  the  depart- 
ment is  much  indebted  for  its  success.  At  the  same  time  the 
College  owes  not  a  little  to  Prof.  Mather  for  his  teaching  and 
lectures  in  the  German  language  and  literature,  for  his  zeal  and 
success  in  raising  scholarships  and  funds  for  the  Museum  of  Art, 
and  for  his  services  in  his  turn  in  the  pulpit,  not  to  add,  for  de- 
clining the  calls  which  his  popularity  in  other  pulpits  has  so 
often  brought  within  his  reach. 

The  instruction  in  Modern  Languages,  also,  is  now  given  en- 
tirely by  Professors;  the  German,  by  Prof.  Mather,  who  has 
taught  German  more  or  less  in  connection  with  Greek  almost 
from  the  first ;  and  the  Romanic  Languages,  French,  Italian  and 
Spanish,  by  Prof.  Montague,  who  was  Tutor  one  year,  1857-8, 
Instructor  from  1858  to  1864,  and  Professor  from  1864  to  the 
present  time.  This  suggests  another  change  in  the  department 
of  Modern  Languages,  which  is  an  improvement  no  less  impor- 
tant than  the  greater  permanence  of  the  teachers  in  it.  In  all 
the  earlier  history  of  the  College,  French  was  usually  taught  by 
native  Frenchmen  or  at  any  rate  by  foreigners  who  knew  of 
course  their  native  tongue  but  did  not  know  how  to  teach  it  to 
Americans,  nor  how  to  keep  order  and  discipline  in  a  class  of  Col- 
lege students  nor,  as  a  general  fact,  anything  else  which  students 
in  College  need  to  learn.  For  the  last  twenty  years  or  more, 
Modern  Languages  have  been  taught  here  almost  entirely  by 
Americans,  graduates  of  the  College,  who  know  the  Languages 
sufficiently,  who  have  learned  them  in  the  same  way  that  their  pu- 
pils must  learn  them,  and  who  can  teach,  at  least,  the  grammar  and 
the  literature  far  more  perfectly  than  foreigners  can  be  expected 


430  HISTORY   OP   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

to  do.  Meanwhile  this  department  has  grown  and  expanded  so 
as  to  meet  in  part  at  least  the  popular  demand.  For  a  few  years 
at  the  beginning  of  our  history,  no  provision  was  made  for  teach- 
ing Modern  Languages.  Before  the  close  of  the  first  decade, 
French  began  to  be  taught.  German  was  introduced  about  the 
end  of .  the  first  quarter  of  a  century.1  For  some  years  after  this, 
the  student  could  study  only  one  of  these  languages,  making 
his  option  between  them,  and  the  language  of  his  choice  he 
could  study  only  for  a  single  term,  the  last  term  of  Sophomore 
year.  Now  the  students  are  all  required  to  study  French,  making 
a  beginning  the  third  term  of  Freshman  year,  and  having  more 
or  less  instruction  in  it  each  term  of  Sophomore  year,  after 
which  there  are  three  terms  in  which  they  can  take  French, 
German,  Italian  or  Spanish  as  an  elective  study.  Prof.  Mon- 
tague has  rendered  an  important  service  to  the  College  by  plan- 
ning and  organizing  as  well  as  training  and  drilling  this  depart- 
ment, and  by  an  organizing  and  calculating  facult}7"  which  has 
kept  the  Registrar's  books,  so  vitally  concerning  the  rank  of  the 
students  and  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  Institution,  with 
singular  accuracy,  and  introduced  order  and  method,  tempered 
by  convenience  and  courtesy,  into  all  the  arrangements  and  ap- 
pliances of  the  Library. 

Prof.  George  B.  Jewett  resigned  the  Professorship  of  Latin 
and  Modern  Languages  in  1855,  before  the  expiration  of  the  first 
year  of  Dr.  Stearns'  presidency,  having  held  the  office  only  four 
years.  He  taught  the  Latin  with  the  accuracy  of  a  scholar  and 
a  severe  critic,  imparted  new  life  and  interest  to  the  study  of 
Modern  Languages,  and  as  a  member  of  the  Library  Committee 
rendered  valuable  service  in  the  selection  and  purchase  of  books 
and  the  cataloguing  and  orderly  arrangement  of  the  Library. 
A  growing  interest  in  preaching  and  a  desire  for  the  work  of 
the  ministry,  somewhat  quickened,  it  may  be,  by  some  friction  in 
matters  pertaining  to  the  Library,  led  him  in  1855  to  accept  a 
call  to  the  pastoral  office  in  Nashua,  N.  H. 

1  Rev.  Lyman  Colt-man  was  the  first  teacher  of  German  here,  and  the  first  also 
who  bore  the  title  of  Instructor.  He  was  Instructor  here  from  1844  to  1846.  He 
was  afterwards  connected  with  Princeton  College,  and  is  now  Professor  in  Lafayette 
College.  He  was  much  esteemed  here  for  his  learning  and  for  his  genial  spirit. 


LATIN  AND   MODERN   LANGUAGES.  431 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Trustees  in  1856,  Mr.  Lyman 
R.  "Williston,  of  the  Class  of  '50,  was  chosen  Professor  in  this 
department,  with  liberty  to  continue  his  studies  another  year  in 
Germany.  But  before  the  expiration  of  the  year,  a  change  in 
his  religious  views  and  opinions  made  him  feel  that  he  could  not 
honestly  accept ;  and  he  declined  the  appointment. 

At  the  next  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  in  1857,  they  elected 
Rev.  Daniel  W.  Poor,  D.  D.,  of  the  Class  of  '37,  then  of  New- 
ark, N.  J.,  Professor  of  Latin  and  Modern  Languages.  But  he 
yielded  to  the  remonstrances  of  his  people  and  never  accepted 
the  appointment.  The  professorship  thus  remained  vacant  three 
years,  from  1855  to  1858.  But  the  department  suffered  no  se- 
rious detriment,  the  duties  of  the  office  being  ably  performed 
during  the  interval  by  Mr.  George  Rowland *  with  the  title  of 
Instructor. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Trustees  in  1858,  Mr.  Edward 
Payson  Crowell,  who  had  been  Tutor  since  1855,  was  chosen 
Professor  of  the  Latin  Language  and  Literature  and  Instructor 
in  German.  Prof.  Crowell  has  now  filled  the  office  of  Professor 
of  Latin 2  thirteen  years  with  a  reputation  growing  every  year 
for  learning,  humor  and  capacity  to  teach ;  while  he  is  thus 
elevating  the  department,  he  is  at  the  same  time  becoming 
known  to  the  public  as  a  scholar  and  an  editor  of  Latin  authors. 
Besides  Mr.  Rowland  and  Mr.  Montague  already  mentioned,  of 
whom  the  former  wTas  Professor  in  all  but  the  name  in  the  in- 
terval between  Prof.  Jewett  and  Prof.  Crowell,  and  the  latter 
was  Instructor  in  Latin  prior  to  his  appointment  to  the  Pro- 
fessorship of  Modern  Languages,  Charles  M.  Lamson  of  the 
Class  of  '64,  Henry  M.  Tyler  of  '65,  and  Henry  B.  Richard- 
son of  '69  have  rendered  excellent  service  as  instructors  in 
this  department,  some  of  them  assisting  Prof.  Crowell  in  the 
preparation  of  text  books  as  well  as  in  the  instruction  of 
classes. 

Subject  to  change  as  usual,  the  Rhetorical  Department  has  had 
three  different  incumbents  since  Dr.  Stearns  entered  upon  the 
presidency.  Rev.  Thomas  P.  Field,  of  the  Class  of  '34,  was 

1  Now  Principal  of  the  High  School  in  Chicago. 

2  He  ceased  to  be  Instructor  in  German  in  1864. 


432  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

chosen  Professor  in  this  department  at  a  special  meeting  of  the 
Trustees  held  in  Amherst,  November  21,  1853,  just  a  year  pre- 
vious to  the  ordination  and  inauguration  of  President  Stearns, 
and  in  the  spring  of  1856  he  resigned  the  professorship  having 
held  it  only  a  little  over  two  years.  The  want  of  a  suitable  house 
for  his  family  to  live  in  was  the  occasion  of  his  leaving.  The 
Trustees  at  their  special  meeting  in  January,  1856,  voted  to 
rent  or  build  a  house,  and  expressed  a  strong  desire  for  his  con- 
tinuance in  the  office.  But  he  had  already  committed  himself  to 
the  church  at  New  London,  and  it  was  now  too  late.  The  Trus- 
tees and  the  Faculty  had  good  reason  for  wishing  to  retain  Prof. 
Field.  His  rare  good  sense  and  genial  spirit,  his  refinement  of 
taste  and  manners,  his  extensive  and  thorough  acquaintance  with 
English  literature  and  his  high  and  just  appreciation  of  the  old 
English  classics,  qualified  him  well  for  a  professorship  in  Col- 
lege, and  especially  for  the  Professorship  of  Rhetoric  and  Eng- 
lish Literature.  These  accomplishments  had  made  his  general 
influence  felt  when  he  was  a  Tutor,  and  would  have  made  it 
still  more  powerful  and  benignant  if  he  had  remained  and  iden- 
tified himself  with  the  College.  It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  incidental 
mention,  unintentional  of  course  on  the  part  of  the  appointing 
power,  yet  somewhat  remarkable,  that  Prof.  Field  is  the  only 
alumnus  that  has  ever  held  this  professorship. 

Mr.  James  G.  Vose,  a  graduate  of  Yale,  of  the  Class  of  '51, 
was  chosen  Professor  in  this  department  at  the  annual  meeting 
of  the  Trustees  in  August,  1856,  and  his  resignation  was  ac- 
cepted by  the  Board  at  a  special  meeting  in  Boston  in  March, 
1865.  With  many  of  the  same  qualifications  for  the  office  as 
his  predecessor,  and  continuing  to  hold  it  between  eight  and  nine 
years — longer  than  any  who  had  preceded  him  except  Prof. 
Worcester  and  Prof.  Warner, — Prof.  Vose  grew  every  year  in 
the  respect  and  affection  of  the  students,  endeared  himself 
greatly  to  his  colleagues  in  the  Faculty,  and  was  impressing  him- 
self more  and  more  on  the  style  of  thinking  and  writing  in  the 
College.  No  one  can  look  carefully  and  discriminately  over 
the  Schedules  of  Commencements  and  exhibitions  without  see- 
ing his  influence  in  the  choice  of  subjects  and  the  expression 
of  the  titles  of  the  pieces,  while  he  occupied  this  important 


PROFESSORSHIP   OF   RHETORIC.  433 

chair.  Ordained  as  an  Evangelist  not  long  after  he  became 
Professor,  ]  by  a  Council  convened  by  invitation  of  the  College 
church,  he  preached  with  increasing  frequency  and  interest  in 
other  churches,  and  feeling  more  and  more  the  infelicities  of 
college  life  and  the  attractions  of  the  ministry  and  the  pastoral 
office,  he  yielded  at  length  to  this  growing  preference;  and  the 
College  lost  a  good  Professor,  but  Providence  and  Rhode  Island 
gained  perhaps  a  better  Bishop  whose  wisdom  and  spirit  and  in- 
fluence in  the  churches  prove  him  to  be  in  the  true  apostolical 
succession. 

At  the  same  special  meeting  in  Boston,  March  8,  1865,  at 
which  the}7  accepted  the  resignation  of  Prof.  Vose,  the  Trustees 
"  made  unanimous  choice  of  Rev.  L.  Clark  Seelye  as  Williston 
Professor  of  Rhetoric,"  whereby  Springfield  lost  a  Congrega- 
tional -Bishop  greatly  honored  and  beloved,  but  the  College 
gained  a  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory  and  English  Litera- 
ture who,  although  he  came  with  the  avowed  expectation  of 
staying  only  a  few  years  and  then  resuming  the  ministry,  is 
proving  himself  more  and  more  the  right  man  in  the  right  place, 
is  resisting  attractive  calls  to  the  pastoral  office  and  devoting 
himself  most  assiduously  to  the  study  of  English  Literature  in 
its  very  sources  and  to  the  duties  of  his  office,  is  preaching 
powerfully  by  the  life  as  well  as  the  lip,  during  the  week  as  well 
as  on  the  Sabbath  to  two  or  three  hundred  young  men,  and 
seems  to  be  taking  root  in  a  College  where  if  he  only  has  the 
grace  of  perseverance,  he  may  in  due  time  make  thousands  bet- 
ter teachers  and  preachers,  authors,  savants  and  scholars  for  his 
influence  over  them.  In  order  to  relieve  the  burdens  of  the 
Professor  and  at  the  same  time  to  meet  the  growing  demands  of 
the  department,  an  Instructor  in  English  and  in  Elocution  was 
appointed  in  1868,  his  salary  being  paid  for  several  years  by  Mr. 
Williston.  The  instruction  of  the  lower  classes  in  spelling  and 
punctuation  and  in  the  analysis  of  English  authors,  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics,  were  among  the  branches 
thus  provided  for.  The  examination  of  candidates  for  admission 
in  the  rudiments  of  the  English  language  is  a  part  of  the  system, 
and  in  some  classes  nearly  half  of  the  candidates  would  be  con- 

1  He  was  ordained  in  1857.    He  had  previously  preached  only  as  a  licentiate. 
28 


434  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ditioned  on  spelling.  But  I  apprehend  it  proves  somewhat 
like  the  labors  of  Sisyphus — for  there  is  no  labor  more  hope- 
less or  more  thankless  than  the  effort  to  repair  by  subsequent 
instruction  such  defects  in  early  elementary  education.  Yet  ifc 
seems  almost  indispensable  to  do  what  can  be  done  at  this  late 
stage  to  save  young  men  from  the  mortification,  perchance  the 
serious  injury  which  they  must  otherwise  experience.  Many 
years  ago  a  graduate,  in  other  respects  well  qualified  for  the 
place,  lost  a  professorship  in  this  Institution  in  consequence  of 
the  bad  spelling  of  his  letters  in  the  correspondence  on  the  sub- 
ject. Mr.  Charles  M.  Lamson  of  the  Class  of  '64,  Mr.  E.  H.  Bar- 
low of  '66,  Mr.  Elihu  Root  of  '67,  and  Mr.  Robert  M.  Woods  of 
'69,  have  filled  the  Instructorship  in  this  department  for  one  year 
each.  With  the  exception  of  Mr.  Lamson,  they  have  all  ren- 
dered assistance  also  to  Prof.  Hitchcock  in  the  gymnasium,  thus 
relieving  the  Professors  in  two  departments  which  at  certain 
points  are  somewhat  closely  related  to  each  other,  and  both  of 
which  involve  labors  almost  without  end. 

The  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory  has  received  the  as- 
sistance also  of  a  more  experienced  elocutionist  for  a  limited 
portion  of  each  year,  particularly  in  training  the  speakers  for 
the  exercises  of  Commencement  week.  Mr.  J.  P.  Lane,  of 
the  Class  of  '57,  began  to  render  this  service  while  a  student  at 
the  Theological  Seminary  in  Andover,  and  continued  to  render 
it  for  some  years  after  his  settlement  in  the  ministry  in  Whately, 
much  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Faculty  and  the  profit  of  the 
students.  Rev.  J.  W.  Churchill,  of  Andover  Seminary,  now 
spends  some  weeks  here  every  year  as  Lecturer  and  Teacher 
of  Elocution ;  and  it  is  not  the  fault  of  the  Professor  and  his 
aids,  nor  of  the  College,  if  the  students  are  not  accomplished  in 
this  most  important  department. 

Next  to  the  department  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory,  the  Profess- 
orship of  Mental  and  Moral  Philosophy  is  that  in  which  there 
has  been  the  least  permanence.  Yet  on  the  whole,  the  term  of 
office  in  this  department  has  been  increasing.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  Prof.  Fiske  who  held  the  office  eleven  years,  there  has 
been  a  steady  progression  in  this  respect,  Prof.  Park  having  held 
it  only  a  little  more  than  one  year,  Prof.  Smith  three  years,  and 


PKOFESSOKSHIP  OF  PHILOSOPHY.  435 

Prof.  Haven  eight  years,  while  the  present  incumbent  has  nearly 
completed  fourteen  years. 

Prof.  Haven's  term  of  office  was  almost  equally  divided  be- 
tween the  presidency  of  Dr.  Hitchcock  and  that  of  Dr.  Stearns. 
He  taught  the  Scotch  philosophy — the  philosophy  of  Sir  William 
Hamilton — with  a  logical  clearness  and  force  worthy  of  the  sys- 
tem, and  with  a  felicity  of  illustration  and  a  vein  of  humor  that 
were  all  his  own.  The  text-books  in  Mental  and  Moral  Philos- 
ophy which  he  wrote  while  he  was  here,  have  been  widely  used 
in  schools  and  colleges  and  are  well  known  to  the  public.  A  dili- 
gent student,  a  good  scholar,  an  acceptable  teacher,  a  popular 
preacher,  a  lucid  writer  and  a  ready  platform  speaker,1  he  held  a 
position  in  the  College  and  the  community  which  might  well  have 
satisfied  the  ambition  of  anyone.  But  no  sooner  had  he  written 
and  published  on  the  whole  range  of  subjects  which  he  taught, 
than  growing  weary  of  the  routine,  he  sought  a  new  field  of  study 
and  instruction,  and  accepted  the  Professorship  of  Theology  in 
the  new  Theological  Seminary  at  Chicago. 

Rev.  Julius  H.  Seelye  was  chosen  Professor  in  this  department 
at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Trustees  in  August,  1858.  Believ- 
ing the  transcendental  philosophy  as  represented  by  Dr.  Hickok 
to  be  the  truth,  the  whole  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  he 
carries  it  with  him  as  a  personal  presence,  diffuses  it  around  him 
as  an  atmosphere  and  breathes  it  as  an  element  of  life  and  power 
into  all  of  his  classes.  At  the  same  time  accepting  the  religion  of 
Christ  as  a  revelation  from  God  for  men,  and  Christ  himself  as 
Immanuel — God  with  us — God  manifested  in  the  flesh — he  holds 
up  that  religion  as  truth  without  any  mixture  of  error,  that  life 
as  perfection  without  any  mixture  of  frailty,  and  makes  his  pu- 
pils feel  that  to  become  Christian  philosophers,  Christian  schol- 
ars, Christian  ministers,  Christian  men,  is  the  highest  aspiration 
of  which  their  nature  is  capable.  As  unlike  his  predecessor  in 
his  method  of  teaching  as  in  his  philosophy,  Prof.  Seelye  has  pub- 

1  Prof.  Haven's  platform  and  after-dinner  speeches  used  to  abound  in  humor  and 
pleasantry.  Called  on  for  an  after-dinner  speech  as  President  of  the  Alumni  at  the 
first  Commencement  at  which  President  Stearns  presided,  after  many  pleasant  and 
complimentary  allusions,  he  closed  by  saying,  "  After  all  I  do  not  see  how  a  ship  is 
to  get  on  Steam  foremost."  "  There  is  no  danger,"  promptly  replied  Dr.  Stearns 
"  when  we  are  so  near  the  Haven." 


436  HISTORY   OF    AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

lished  nothing  in  mental  or  moral  science.  He  delivers  few  writ- 
ten lectures.  Not  confining  himself  to  any  written  or  printed 
form,  he  is  himself  the  living  lecture,  the  living  text-book. 
Reading  everything,  and  remembering  everything  that  he  reads, 
he  communicates  the  results  in  a  living  form  to  his  pupils.  Em- 
bodying in  himself  all  that  he  would  teach,  he  infuses  himself 
into  those  who  are  under  his  instruction.  To  this  end  beside  the 
recitation  hour,  he  sets  apart  an  hour,  sometimes  hours,  daily  for 
conversation  with  students,  counting  no  amount  of  time  lost 
which  he  can  spend  in  moulding  them  by  his  influence.  In  short 
born  and  trained  to  be  an  educator,  like  Socrates,  teaching  is  his 
business,  teaching  is  his  vocation,  teaching  is  his  mission.  His 
method  of  teaching  is  the  Socratic  method,  and  if  we  have  a  Soc- 
rates living  and  moving  among  us  in  our  day,  it  is  Prof.  Seelye. 
He  has  been  tempted  by  calls  without  number  to  churches,  to  the 
presidency  of  other  Colleges  and  to  professorships  in  Theological 
Seminaries,  but  a  higher  call  made  him  deaf  to  all  these  solicita- 
tions, and  he  still  remains  a  teacher  in  our  Athens.  Long  may 
he  hear  and  heed  the  same  Divine  monition. 

The  following  list  of  Tutors  will  complete  the  catalogue  of 
those  who  have  been  associated  in  the  government  and  instruc- 
tion of  the  College  under  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Stearns:  George 
N.  Webber,  Reuben  M.  Benjamin,  Edward  P.  Crowell,  John  M. 
Greene,  Edwin  Dimock,  Edmund  M.  Pease,  William  L.  Montague, 
Asa  S.  Fisk,  Henry  S.  Kelsey,  Lyman  S.  Rowland,  John  Avery, 
Nathaniel  Mighill,  Elijah  Harmon,  and  Thomas  D.  Biscoe.  In 
1865  the  title  became  extinct,  or  rather  gave  place  to  that  of  In- 
structor. Seven  of  these  gentlemen  have  since  been  Professors 
in  this  or  other  Colleges.  Two  of  them  are  licensed  preachers, 
one  a  lawyer  and  one  a  physician. 

With  the  trifling  exception  of  a  choice  between  French  and 
German  in  the  third  term  of  Sophomore  year,  there  were  no  op- 
tional studies  prior  to  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Stearns.  In  1859-60, 
"  annuals  "  having  now  taken  the  place  of  the  "  Senior  Examin- 
ation "  on  the  whole  course,  "  elective  studies  in  the  several  de- 
partments "  took  the  place  of  reviews  preparatory  to  that  exam- 
ination in  the  third  term  of  Senior  year.  Since  that  time  they 
have  been  introduced  gradually  into  the  studies  of  the  Junior 


OPTIONAL  COUBSES.  437 

year.  They  are  still  confined  to  the  last  two  years  of  the  course, 
and  further  limited  to  certain  terms  of  those  two  years  and  to 
certain  studies  of  those  terms.  Indeed  all  the  Senior  studies, 
distinctively  so  called,  and  all  the  properly  Junior  studies,  to  a 
certain  extent,  are  required,  and  the  optionals  come  in  only  when 
time  can  be  spared  or  saved  from  these  required  studies,  in  order 
to  afford  students  an  opportunity  to  pursue  a  favorite  branch 
further  to  such  an  extent  as  is  compatible  with  the  general  dis- 
cipline and  culture  which  are  deemed  essential  to  the  idea  of 
College  education.  Besides  the  option  between  some  of  the  less 
important  modern  languages,  there  are  in  fact  only  four  terms 
in  the  entire  four  years,  viz. :  two  in  the  Junior  and  two  in  the 
Senior  year,  in  which  optionals  are  allowed,  and  then  only  one 
of  the  three  daily  studies  of  each  class  is  optional  and  that  some- 
times oTily  for  a  part  of  the  term.  So  that  only  a  small  fraction 
of  the  entire  course,  not  more  than  one-twentieth  certainly,  is 
now  given  to  elective  studies — not  enough  surely  to  alarm  the 
most  conservative  alumnus  or  friend  of  education.  The  whole 
system  is  as  yet  only  an  experiment.  The  details  are  not  settled. 
The  principle  only  is  established.  Probably  as  we  can  gain  time 
by  a  higher  standard  of  examination  for  admission,  and  by  better 
methods  of  teaching,  more  scope  will  be  given  to  optional  courses 
of  study  which  will  allow  each  student  to  prosecute  to  some  ex- 
tent special  branches  and  enable  the  College  to  send  out  some 
superior  scholars  in  all  the  departments.  But  there  is  no  dis- 
position in  any  of  the  present  Faculty  to  make  the  College  an 
American  University  (sit  venia  verbo !)  or  to  sacrifice  any  of 
the  humanities  or  the  disciplinary  studies  which  constitute  the 
essential  characteristics  of  the  American  College. 

The  views  of  the  President  on  this  subject,  published  with  the 
sanction  of  the  Trustees  and  representing  in  the  main  doubtless 
the  sentiments  of  the  Faculty,  are  thus  expressed  in  his  Address 
at  the  opening  of  Walker  Hall :  "  In  the  latter  part  of  a  College 
curriculum,  when  the  foundations  of  intellectual  manhood  have 
been  broadly  laid,  optional  courses,  carefully  arranged  and  adapted 
to  the  mental  needs  and  aptitudes  of  students,  and  capable  of  such 
combinations  as  would  allow  of  long-continued  attention  to  spe- 
cial branches,  might  secure  to  many  still  further  scientific  oppor- 


438  HISTORY   OP   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

tunities ;  while  others  would  enjoy  special  advantages  in  the  re- 
maining departments.  I  say,  optional  courses,  instead  of  random 
choices  in  heterogeneous  studies.  In  this  way,  discipline  and 
training  would  go  on,  and  preparation  for  professional  schools  be 
secured;  Avhile  the  joy  of  successful  study  would  be  increased, 
and  the  first  steps  in  the  direction  of  some  life-long  scholarship 
would  be  taken." 

The  address  from  which  the  above  passage  is  extracted  is  a 
plea  for  Science — for  Modern  Science,  for  such  an  address  the 
occasion  required.  But  it  was,  at  the  same  time,  a  generous, 
hearty  and  able  defence  of  Mathematics,  of  Ancient  and  Mod- 
ern Languages,  of  English  Literature,  of  History  and  Mental 
and  Moral  Philosophy,  of  all  the  old  and  time-honored  studies 
Avhich  link  the  scholar  to  the  human  race  and  the  ages,  with  all 
the  additions  and  improvements  suggested  by  modern  wisdom 
and  experience.  To  the  question,  how  shall  we  find  time  for 
the  new  studies,  he  answers :  by  requiring  a  better  preparation 
for  College,  by  admitting  carefully-arranged  optional  courses, 
but  above  all  by  improved  methods  of  teaching  and  study.  He 
concludes  the  discussion  as  follows  : 

"  As  the  subjects  which  we  have  now  considered  are  under- 
going public  discussion,  I  am  anxious  that  the  doctrine  of  this 
discourse  may  not  be  misapprehended.  It  goes  for  the  old  Col- 
lege with  all  possible  improvements  which  are  improvements ; 
especially  for  the  more  thorough,  and  for  a  portion  of  the  stu- 
dents, more  extensive  courses  in  the  modern  sciences  ;  but  it 
would  leave  the  old  College,  the  American  College  still  without 
being  Europeanized  on  the  one  hand  or  degraded  into  an  inor- 
ganic mass-school  of  '  knowledges  '  on  the  other.  It  takes  no 
ground  against  Universities,  historic  or  recent,  but  would  con- 
found none  of  them  with  the  College  as  the  word  has  been  un- 
derstood for  two  hundred  years.  It  approves  of  professional 
schools  when  circumstances  will  allow  of  them,  scientific  and 
other  schools  round  about  the  College,  organic  with  it,  if  you 
please,  giving  life  to  it  and  receiving  life  from  it,  in  the  one- 
ness of  a  many-membered  University.  It  would  leave  Amherst 
College  the  center  of  an  inland  educational  community,  with  an 
Agricultural  College,  a  Williston  Seminary,  a  Holyoke  Seminary, 


THE   AMERICAN   COLLEGE.  439 

and  a  Ladies'  College  soon  to  be  established  (though  at  present 
in  separate  organizations)  round  about  it,  capable  itself  of  being 
developed  in  the  direction  of  as  many  professional  and  other  col- 
lateral schools  as  the  needs  of  the  public  may  demand  and  the 
munificence  of  the  public  will  endow;  but  itself  the  old  Col- 
lege still,  with  its  teaching  Professors,  its  daily  recitations,  its 
square-block,  red-brick,  time-honored  dormitories  (though  im- 
proved) and  its  parental,  careful  supervision  and  moral  influen- 
ces,— the  same  old  College  for  that  broad,  high,  roundabout  cul- 
ture which  has  made  so  many  scholars,  world-teachers  and  Chris- 
tian noblemen,  for  God  and  mankind." 

Thus  conservative  and  at  the  same  time  progressive  in  his 
ideas  of  the  College  curriculum,  he  presides  in  the  Board  of 
Trustees  and  the  Faculty  and  administers  the  government  of 
the  Institution  with  the  same  even  balance,  uniting  dignity  with 
unfailing  courtesy  and  kindness,  tempering  justice  and  firmness 
with  gentleness  and  parental  love,  calm  however  stormy  the 
elements  may  be  around  him,  yet  alive  to  every  breath  of  feel- 
ing, impulse  or  aspiration  in  young  men,  ruling  in  the  hearts  of 
all  connected  with  the  College  and  guiding  its  affairs  with  a  wis- 
dom that  seldom  errs,  and  a  patience  and  faith  that  never  fail. 

As  "  Professor  of  Moral  and  Christian  Science,"  President 
Stearns,  during  the  greater  part  of  his  presidency  has  taught 
the  Senior  class  Butler's  Analogy,  and  lectured  on  the  Hebrew 
Theocracy  and  its  Records,  with  particular  reference  to  the  ar- 
guments and  objections  of  modern  skeptics.  More  recently,  hav- 
ing become  Professor  also  of  Biblical  History  and  Interpretation, 
he  has  adopted  a  more  modern  text-book,  and  by  way  of  supple- 
menting its  defects  and  imperfections,  extended  the  range  of  his 
oral  and  written  lectures.  For  a  few  years,  he  also  instructed 
the  Seniors  in  Constitutional  Law.  With  this  exception,  his 
teaching  has  been  confined  to  a  single  term — the  second  term 
of  the  Senior  year.  This  is  less  instruction  than  was  given  by 
any  of  his  predecessors — very  much  less  than  used  to  be  given 
by  President  Moore  and  President  Humphrey,  or  any  of  the 
earlier  Presidents  of  New  England  Colleges,  and  less,  I  must 
think,  than  is  theoretically  desirable,  not  to  say  indispensable  to 
a  President's  largest,  highest  and  best  influence  over  the  stu- 


440  HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

dents.  But  we  have  only  to  look  at  the  other  work  which  he 
has  done  in  raising  funds  and  erecting  buildings,  in  administer- 
ing the  discipline,  and  looking  after  the  necessities  of  poor  stu- 
dents, in  the  pastoral  care  and  the  representation  of  the  College 
before  the  public — in  all  the  countless  and  endless  details  of 
business  that  now  devolve  on  the  President  of  any  great  and 
growing  College — and  we  see  not  only  a  justification  of  this  un- 
desirable fact,  but  a  necessity  for  it.  And  in  the  success  and 
perfection  with  which  all  this  work  has  been  done ;  in  the  rare 
felicity,  free  from  outbreaks  and  almost  from  friction  with  which 
the  internal  government  and  discipline,  (never  before  so  fully 
conducted  by  the  President  and  never  before  conducted  so 
well),  has  been  administered ;  in  the  steadily  increasing  number 
of  students  (since  the  war)  till  it  had  reached  at  the  Semi-cen- 
tennial a  larger  aggregate  than  at  any  former  period ;  and  in  the 
general  growth,  prosperity  and  reputation  of  the  Institution — 
in  all  these  we  see  a  proof  of  the  wisdom  and  excellence  of  the 
administration.  "  Yes,"  we  repeat  the  language  of  the  Historical 
Address  at  the  Semi-centennial,  "  the  same  wise  and  kind  Prov- 
idence which  has  watched  over  the  College  from  the  beginning, 
and  raised  up  the  men  that  were  needed  for  every  emergency, 
when  President  Hitchcock  resigned,  provided  just  the  leader 
that  was  needed  to  supplement  his  work,  to  preserve,  balance 
and  polish  all  that  was  worth  preserving  in  the  old,  and,  adding 
much  that  was  new,  to  carry  on  the  work  towards  perfection. 
And  the  younger  members  of  the  Faculty  are  in  unison  with 
the  President  and  the  older  Professors  in  regard  to  the  prin- 
ciples and  measures  of  College  government,  the  general  system 
and  method  of  physical  and  mental  education,  and  the  para- 
mount necessity  of  moral  and  spiritual  culture  above  all  the 
highest  attainments  in  literature  and  science,  while  at  the  same 
time  they  bring  to  the  accomplishment  of  these  common  ends  a 
measure  of  enthusiasm,  a  breadth  of  culture  and  a  wealth  of 
learning  which  could  hardly  be  expected  of  their  older  col- 
leagues. I  say  this,  not  because  it  is  necessary,  but  because  it 
is  just.  We  who  have  been  connected  with  the  College  dur- 
ing the  larger  part  of  the  half  century,  so  far  from  feeling  that 
the  old  was  better,  can  truly  and  heartily  say,  that  the  Faculty 


THE   LATEST   THE   BEST.  441 

has  never  been  constituted  so  entirely  to  our  satisfaction  as  now. 
And  while  we  look  with  the  love  and  complacency  of  a  father 
upon  all  our  children  —  of  a  patriarch  upon  all  our  tribes,  and  are 
perhaps  too  ready  to  assert  more  than  our  proper  share  in  the 
reputation  of  the  great  and  good  men  we  have  educated,  sayirg 
to  them  as  the  aged  Phoenix  did  to  the  godlike  Achilles  :  — 

"  All  illustrious  as  thou  art  I  made  thee  such  ;  " 
Kal  GS  roaovrov  tdqxa  faoig  ertieuttX  ' 


yet  we  must  be  allowed  to  cherish  a  little  preference  for  the 
children  of  our  riper  years,  especially  our  youngest  ;  even  as  the 
Germans,  however  large  their  families  become,  always  say  :  "  das 
neueste,  das  beste  "  —  the  last  is  the  best. 

But  this  administration  has  not  yet  come  to  a  close.  Long 
may  it  be  before  its  history  can  be  fully  written.  Long  may 
President  Stearns  live  to  preside  over  the  College  and  to  see 
the  fruits  of  his  wise  and  faithful  labors  !  " 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

RELIGIOUS  HISTORY  OF  THE  COLLEGE  DURING  THIS  PERIOD. 

THE  Inaugural  of  President  Stearns  gives  utterance  to  senti- 
ments of  orthodoxy  and  earnest  piety  with  a  clearness  and  force 
which  show  that  he  does  not  in  this  respect  fall  below  the  stand- 
ard of  his  predecessors.  "  The  highest  style  of  man,"  he  says  in 
the  concluding  paragraph  of  this  address,  "  can  not  be  produced 
without  religion.  In  unrenewed  minds  there  is  a  total  deficiency 
of  that  element  which  constitutes  the  crowning  glory  of  man,  his 
inward,  spiritual  life.  It  is  the  result  of  a  spiritual  birth,  and  its 
consequence  is  a  new  spiritual  existence.  It  is  as  much  superior 
to  mere  reason  as  reason  is  to  mere  animal  life.  It  is  supernat- 
ural and  makes  the  subjects  of  it  sons  of  God.  It  was  lost  by  the 
apostasy  and  can  be  restored  only  through  Christ.  Let  it  first 
be  secured  in  him,  and  then  developed  in  all  the  beautiful  pro- 
portions of  his  fullness.  Without  it  the  Scriptures  speak  truly 
of  man  when  they  say,  he  is  dead.  The  highest  attribute  of 
humanity,  that  which  links  him  to  the  Divine,  is  extinct  within 
him 

"  This  branch  of  our  subject  has  much  to  do  with  education  in  a 
Christian  College.  We  are  to  aim  at  producing  the  highest  possi- 
ble order  of  men.  They  must  therefore  be  men  mighty  in  God, 
actuated  by  the  purest  religious  motives,  laboriously  beneficent 
men,  self-denying  men,  having  something  of  that  grandeur  of 
spirit  which  was  so  overpowering  in  the  old  prophets,  united  with 
that  irresistible  might  of  lowliness  which  shone  in  the  apostle 
John.  It  is  to  be  our  aim  that  they  should  go  forth  anointed  with 
the  Holy  Ghost,  as  it  were,  under  a  new  dispensation  of  devot- 
edness  to  Christ,  that  by  them  his  universal  reign  may  be  hast- 
ened on." 


THE  COLLEGE   A   SCHOOL   OP  AND   FOE   CHRIST.  443 

After  speaking  of  the  purpose  for  which  Amherst  College  was 
founded  to  be  a  school  of  and  for  Christ,  and  of  the  tendency  to 
religious  degeneracy  in  great  literary  institutions,  he  thus  con- 
cludes this  topic :  "  The  future  religious  condition  of  this  Col- 
lege is  a  subject  on  which  I  am  burdened  with  a  sense  of  responsi- 
bility. As  a  Christian  parent  would  esteem  it  the  last  of  mis- 
fortunes to  be  the  occasion  of  giving  existence  to  a  person  who 
should  devote  himself  to  a  life  of  hostility  to  Christ,  however 
elegant  and  classical  and  hidden  the  form  of  hostility  might  be, 
so  if  I  were  to  aid,  however  unintentionally,  in  forming  of  the 
sons  of  Amherst  in  my  day  or  in  any  coming  generation,  an  en- 
ginery against  the  Church,  I  should  not  only  consider  my  life  here 
a  failure  but  would  curse  the  day  of  my  inauguration  to  the  end 
of  tima.  Yes !  verily  I  should  esteem  it  a  calamity  more  dread- 
ful than  death,  if,  through  any  fault  of  mine,  this  College  should 
receive  a  poise,  even  to  the  breadth  of  a  hair  towards  the  tran- 
scendental atheism  of  the  age.  I  would  not  be  the  means  of 
assisting  to  qualify  minds,  by  high  courses  of  learning,  to  exer- 
cise a  more  efficient,  though  perhaps  a  more  covert  agency,  in  un- 
dermining the  faith  of  the  community,  no,  not  for  all  the  honors 
man  ever  heaped  on  a  mortal.  Pardon  me,  then,  if  I  say  ear- 
nestly to  the  alumni  and  all  the  friends  of  the  College,  brethren, 
pray  for  us." 

Sixteen  years  later,  President  Stearns  concludes  his  address 
at  the  opening  of  Walker  Hall  in  a  strain  of  similar  religious 
earnestness :  "  It  (the  doctrine  of  the  discourse)  would  leave  out 
whatever  may  be  obsolete  or  defective  ;  but  one  thing,  in  conclu- 
sion, it  would  not  leave  out.  Whatever  changes  or  revolutions  the 
College  may  accept,  moral  supervision  and  Christian  influence 
should  never  be  left  out  of  it,  or  degraded  to  a  secondary  posi- 
tion in  it Our  old  Colleges  were  founded  for  Christian 

education,  manhood  and  usefulness.  Even  the  mottoes  and  de- 
vices of  the  College  seals  testify  to  this Our  own  College 

exhibits  on  its  seal  an  open  Bible,  with  a  full-orbed  unclouded 
sun  pouring  down  upon  its  pages,  and  the  words  beneath  it, 
Terras  irradient.  Such  was  the  design  of  nearly  all  our  Amer- 
ican Colleges,  and  such  ought  to  be  their  mission As  to 

Amherst  College,  if  the  moral  and  the  Christian  should  ever  de- 


444  HISTORY   OP  AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

sert  it,  and  its  spirit  become  antagonistic  to  its  seal,  may  the  Al- 
mighty send  his  thunderbolts  and  destroy  it !  This  is  my  prayer. 
No,  He  who  founded  it,  will  preserve  it,  and  the  long  procession 
of  its  sous,  for  many  centuries  to  come,  with  the  open  Bible  and 
the  light  shining  full  from  heaven  upon  it,  shall  powerfully  help 
to  irradiate  the  world." 

In  connection  with  the  election  of  Dr.  Stearns  to  the  presi- 
dency, it  was  voted  by  the  Trustees,  that  "  the  President  be  in- 
stalled Pastor  of  the  College  Church,  and  that  he  be  responsible 
for  the  supply  of  the  pulpit  one-half  of  the  time,  and  the  Pro- 
fessors the  other  half."  This  arrangement  continued  a  few  years. 
The  President  preached  in  the  College  Chapel  every  other  Sab- 
bath, and  on  the  alternate  Sabbaths  the  clerical  Professors 
preached  in  rotation.  But  the  President  at  length  found  so  fre- 
quent a  supply  of  the  pulpit  too  heavy  a  burden  to  be  borne, 
with  all  the  other  duties  that  devolved  upon  him,  just  as  Dr. 
Humphrey  had  done  before  him,  and  he  was  relieved  in  the  same 
way,  by  the  Professors  voluntarily  consenting  to  share  the  labors 
of  the  pulpit  equally  with  him.  For  some  time,  as  the  students 
of  that  day  will  well  remember,  President  Stearns  wore  the 
clerical  or  University  gown  in  the  ordinary  services  of  the 
Sabbath.  But  this  was  generally  felt  to  be  more  suitable  to 
Cambridge  and  the  neighborhood  of  Boston,  than  to  Amherst 
and  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut.  The  Doctor  himself  grad- 
ually came  to  the  same  feeling,  and,  without  anything  ever 
being  said  on  the  subject,  dispensed  with  its  use,  except  in  the 
delivery  of  the  Baccalaureate  and  on  Commencement  day,  or 
on  state  occasions. 

Three  or  four  years  after  entering  upon  the  duties  of  his  office, 
Dr.  Stearns  introduced  a  prayer  -  meeting  on  Sunday  evening 
which  soon  superseded  the  old  Sunday  morning  meeting,  and 
which,  being  better  attended  by.  the  students  than  the  morning 
meeting  had  been,  and  being  attended  also  by  the  Faculty,  has 
become  a  power  for  good  in  the  College.  This  was  connected, 
partly  as  effect  and  partly  as  cause,  with  a  change  gradual  but 
at  length  entire  in  the  habits  of  the  students  in  regard  to  study- 
ing on  Saturday  and  Sunday  evenings,  keeping  pace  with  a  cor- 
responding change  in  the  habits  of  the  good  people  of  New  Eng- 


SUNDAY  EVENING  MEETING.  445 

land,  especially  in  the  Connecticut  Valley.  Under  the  first  two 
Presidents,  the  practice  was  almost  or  quite  universal  of  consid- 
ering Saturday  evening  a  part  of  the  Sabbath,  according  to  Jew- 
ish custom,  and  on  Sabbath  evening  preparing  the  lesson  for 
Monday  morning,  reading  secular  books,  or  engaging  in  any  other 
worldly  occupation.  So  if  you  had  gone  into  the  houses  of  any 
of  the  older  members  of  the  Faculty  or  of  the  pastor  or  deacons 
of  the  village  church,  you  would  have  found  their  wives  and 
daughters  knitting,  or  perchance  sewing  just  as  on  any  other 
evening  of  the  week.  Often  have  we  seen  good  Mrs.  Hum- 
phrey and  her  daughters  thus  employed  Sabbath  evening.  Un- 
der the  third  President,  a  change  was  going  on  in  these  respects 
in  the  College  as  in  the  community  around,  which  has  culmina- 
ted under  the  fourth  and  left  Sabbath  evening  free  from  secular 
occupations  and  the  most  favorable  evening  in  the  week  for  a 
prayer-meeting.  The  Class  prayer-meetings  which  during  the 
first  quarter  century  used  to  be  held  on  Friday  evening,  have 
also  been  transferred  to  Saturday  evening  with  a  manifest  gain 
in  attendance  and  in  freedom  from  secular  engagements.  In 
order  to  facilitate  the  attendance  at  these  meetings  on  Saturday 
and  Sunday  evenings,  and  at  the  same  time  to  remove  all  tempta- 
tion to  study  on  the  Lord's  day,  so  far  as  possible,  the  Class  exer- 
cise on  Monday  morning  is  a  lecture,  or  some  exercise  which 
does  not  require  preparation. 

One  object  of  the  President  in  introducing  the  Sunday  even- 
ing prayer-meeting  was  to  bring  the  officers  and  students  to- 
gether once  a  week  for  prayer  and  religious  conference,  and  to 
break  down  as  much  as  possible  in  religious  matters  the  sepa- 
rating wall  between  them.  This  was  as  difficult  as  it  was  de- 
sirable ;  for  hitherto  there  had  been  no  stated  weekly  meeting 
where  officers  and  students  were  accustomed  to  come  together; 
and  in  those  occasional  meetings,  where  they  did  meet,  such  as 
the  monthly  missionary  concert  and  special  meetings  for  prayer 
and  exhortation  in  times  of  revival,  the  students  rarely  took 
any  active  part.  President  Hitchcock's  Monday  evening  meet- 
ings at  his  own  house  had  done  much  to  bring  the  Christian 
students  into  a  fraternal  or  filial  relation  and  feeling  towards 
him  as  their  pastor  and  spiritual  father,  and  in  these  the  stu- 


446  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

dents  took  part  with  a  good  degree  of  freedom.  It  was  another 
thing  for  them  to  meet  with  the  whole  Faculty  in  the  small 
chapel,  and  lead  in  prayer,  and  express  their  views  and  feelings 
on  the  same  level  with  their  instructors.  But  the  great  revival 
in  1858  melted  down  the  middle  wall  of  partition  and  brought 
teachers  and  pupils  to  feel  that  they  were  indeed  all  one  family, 
and  to  converse  and  pray  together  as  brethren.  And  although 
of  course  there  is  not  the  same  unity  of  spirit  in  times  of  de- 
clension, there  has  never  since  been  so  wide  a  breach  between 
them. 

The  Thursday  evening  lecture  which  is  almost  as  old  as  the 
College  itself,  was  sustained  as  a  lecture,  by  the  President  and 
the  clerical  Professors  lecturing  or  preaching  in  rotation,  until 
two  or  three  years  ago  (1869  I  think  it  was),  when  the  better 
attendance  and  greater  interest  of  the  Sunday  evening  prayer- 
meeting  suggested  that  it  might  be  well  to  try  the  experiment  of 
changing  that  into  a  meeting  in  which  the  students  might  di- 
rectly participate.  The  experiment  was  tried,  and  although  a 
longing  is  sometimes  felt  by  some,  both  of  the  Faculty  and  the 
students,  for  the  pungent  preaching,  in  times  of  revival,  and  the 
solid  instruction  at  all  times,  of  such  lectures  as  we  used  to  hear 
on  Thursday  evening,  yet  on  the  whole  neither  officers  nor  stu- 
dents would  choose  to  return  to  the  old  way.  In  order  to  make 
a  difference  between  this  and  the  Sunday  evening  meeting,  and 
also  to  secure  at  once  variety  and  method,  instruction  and  im- 
pression from  week  to  week,  a  subject  is  always  given  out  the 
previous  week,  and  the  President  or  some  other  member  of  the 
Faculty  usually  opens  with  a  few  remarks,  perhaps  of  a  more  di- 
dactic kind  and  better  considered  than  could  be  expected  without 
any  such  plan.  Then  the  meeting  is  open  for  entire  freedom 
in  prayer,  remarks,  singing,  or  any  other  voluntary  exercise  to 
which  any  brother  may  feel  himself  moved  by  the  Spirit  or  the 
occasion.  Sometimes  we  have  taken  up  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  or  the  Parables  in  regular  order. 
Often  we  have  discussed  the  plainest  and  most  practical  ques- 
tions concerning  the  Church,  the  religious  life  and  the  relations 
and  duties  of  Christians  in  College,  not  excepting  even  the  ques- 
tion how  we  may  best  conduct  our  religious  meetings.  Some- 


THURSDAY  EVENING   MEETING.  447 

times  we  have  had  what  we  call  a  Promise  Meeting,  in  which 
any  and  every  brother  is  invited  to  repeat  from  the  Scriptures 
any  promise  that  may  be  of  special  interest  in  his  own  experi- 
ence, with  a  brief  word  of  remark,  if  he  choose,  in  addition. 
Sometimes  we  have  set  apart  a  meeting  in  like  manner  for 
Scripture  exhortations.  These  meetings,  thus  conducted,  have 
usually  been  free,  instructive,  edifying  and  interesting  to  a  de- 
gree which,  twenty  years  ago,  I  would  have  thought  quite  im- 
possible in  a  promiscuous  meeting  of  officers  and  students  in  a 
New  England  College.  And  if  we  have  been  able  in  Amherst 
College  to  establish  a  friendly  relation  and  gain  a  personal  in- 
fluence with  students  beyond  what  exists  in  most  of  the  New 
England  colleges  and  beyond  what  used  to  exist  here,  it  is 
owing  njjt  a  little  to  such  religious  meetings,  together  with  other 
corresponding  efforts  to  remove  the  barriers  which  were  once  an 
almost  impassable  gulf  between  the  government  and  the  gov- 
erned in  these  Institutions. 

During  the  first  twelve  years  of  Dr.  Stearns'  presidency  there 
were  seven  seasons  of  special  religious  interest  such  as  we  are 
accustomed  to  call  revivals,  thus  averaging  more  than  one  for 
every  two  years.  At  no  time  during  this  period,  was  there  an 
interval  of  more  than  two  years  without  such  a  season,  and  in 
one  instance  two  successive  years  were  thus  blessed.  Since 
1866,  revivals  have  been  less  frequent  and  less  powerful  in  Am- 
herst as,  we  regret  to  say,  thay  have  been  also  in  other  colleges 
and  in  the  churches  ;  though  they  have  by  no  means  ceased,. and 
no  class  has  graduated,  even  in  this  period,  without  at  least  one 
such  time  of  refreshing  and  of  awakening  and  conversion  to 
more  or  less  out  of  the  church. 

The  years  1855,  1857,  1858, 1860, 1862, 1864,  1866,  and  1870 
have  usually  been  reckoned  as  years  of  revival,  although  there 
is  no  very  broad  line  of  demarcation  between  some  of  these  years 
and  some  of  those  that  are  not  so  reckoned ;  for  there  is  not  one 
of  these  latter  years  in  which  there  was  not  some  quickening  in 
the  winter  term,  and  I  believe  none  in  which  there  were  not  in 
the  course  of  the  year  some  hopeful  conversions. 

The  following  account  of  the  revival  in  the  winter  and  spring 
of  1855  is  furnished  by  one  who  was  a  member  of  the  then  Senior 


448  HISTORY   OF  AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

Class, l  and  is  the  more  reliable  because  it  is  based  on  a  journal 
kept  at  the  time. 

"  If  I  can  judge  from  my  journal,  the  spiritual  state  of  the 
College  in  1853-4  was  pretty  well  typified  by  an  incident  which 
occurred  in  the  Sophomore  prayer-meeting.  It  was  in  charge 
of  a  man  who  is  now  an  editor  of  a  most  influential  New 
York  paper.  Early  in  the  meeting,  he  went  sound  asleep,  and 
only  woke  up  after  the  meeting  had  been  closed  by  some  one 
else.  There  was  less  religious  interest  than  any  year  that  I  was 
in  Amherst. 

"  I  suppose  Senior  year  is  always  the  most  agreeable  of  the 
College  course.  It  was  so  with  me  on  account  of  the  studies 
pursued,  but  especially  on  account  of  the  peculiar  way  in  which 
our  class  was  cemented  together  by  the  revival  of  religion  which 
we  then  enjoyed.  At  the  very  beginning  of  the  year,  there  was 
deep  general  interest  in  the  class — especially  in  the  class  prayer- 
meetings.  Christians  who  had  been  in  doubt  and  darkness, 
saw  light  and  peace  again.  I  know  that  I  was  myself  deeply 
impressed  with  the  feeling  that  I  had  been  thoughtless  in  re- 
gard to  the  great  realities  of  life,  and  I  resolved  to  give  more 
time  to  general  religious  reading  as  well  as  devotion.  The  Col- 
lege-Fast clay  was  one  of  the  solemn  days  of  my  life.  It  was  a 
day  of  bitter  temptation  and  struggle.  My  soul  seemed  beset  by 
the  Evil  One  himself — especially  in  the  morning  prayer-meeting. 
The  afternoon  was  a  time  of  spiritual  joy  and  triumph  in  Christ, 
when  the  Holy  Spirit  seemed  to  have  driven  away  every  thought 
of  evil  and  I  could  hardly  restrain  my  feelings  of  love  and  wor- 
ship. It  was  one  of  those  bright,  warm  winter  days  which  tell 
of  coming  spring,  and  everything  seemed  in  perfect  unison  with 
my  feelings.  Dr.  Stearns'  sermon  that  day  on  '  Whither  I  go 
ye  can  not  come,'  seemed  the  best  I  ever  heard,  and  wakened 
in  my  heart  a  love  for  him  which  I  still  feel.  Mr,  Graves 
preached  in  the  evening,  and  we  had  fully  attended  entry  prayer- 
meetings  in  the  afternoon. 

"It  was  the  commencement  of  a  wonderful  work  of  God. 
"Within  a  week  there  were  many  inquirers  and  several  conver- 
sions among  the  Freshmen  and  Sophomores ;  but  the  uncon- 

1  Rev.  Prof.  George  Washburn,  of  Robert  College. 


REVIVAL   OF   1855.  449 

verted  men  in  our  class  seemed  much  less  approachable  and 
much  less  interested  than  two  years  before. 

"You1  came  into  our  Saturday  evening  class  prayer-meeting 
March  3,  arid  spoke  to  us,  and  I  think,  every  one  there  felt  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  was  present  and  working  in  our  hearts.  Only 
two  or  three  unconverted  men  were  present,  but  one  of  them 
rose  and  asked  our  prayers. 

"  It  was  that  afternoon  that  you  came  into  my  room  and  talked 
with  me  an  hour  in  reference  to  my  classmate  F.  He  had  been 
a  rival  in  influence  both  in  the  class  and  in  the  Literary  Society. 2 
I  disliked  him  and  knew  that  he  disliked  me ;  but  it  was  not  un- 
til you  told  me  of  his  sad  state  of  mind  and  asked  me  to  pray 
for  him,  that  I  became  conscious,  on  my  knees,  that  I  not  only 
disliked  him  but  cherished  unchristian  feelings  towards  him.  I 
know  that  I  repented  bitterly  of  my  sin  that  day,  and  prayed  for 
him  in  all  sincerity.  I  believe  all  our  class  were  praying  for  him. 
I  shall  never  forget  the  hour  when  I  heard  that  he  had  become 
a  Christian,  and  went  to  his  room  to  see  him.  It  is  not  a  thing 
to  be  written,  but  from  that  hour  to  this  I  believe  we  have  never 
had  a  hard  word  or  an  unkind  thought  towards  each  other. 

"  The  first  conversion  in  our  class  was  on  that  same  day.  But 
it  was  F's  conversion  three  or  four  days  later  which  sent  a  thrill 
through  the  College  and  broke  up  the  band  of  men  who  had 
united  to  resist  the  revival. 

"  C.  [another  classmate]  who  had  had  such  a  sad  experience 
Sophomore  year,  was  roused  again  to  reconsider  his  position,  and 
for  a  time  was  in  the  deepest  distress  I  have  ever  witnessed,  'be- 
cause he  could  not  feel  enough  to  become  a  Christian.'  He  went 
to  you  again  for  direction,  and  finally  felt  himself  to  be  a  new 
man  in  Christ. 

"  We  had  some  noon  class  meetings  which  will  never  be  for- 
gotten by  those  who  attended  them,  where  we  wept  and  prayed 
together  until  it  seemed  we  were  bound  together  by  such  cords 
of  love  and  sympathy  as  unite  saints  and  angels  in  heaven.  This 
may  seem  a  strong  expression.  It  was  exactly  what  we  felt,  and 

1  The  letter  is  addressed  to  the  writer  of  this  History. 

2  They  were  members  of  opposing  fraternities,  one  in  a  Secret,  the  other  in  the 
Anti- Secret  Society. 

29 


450  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

no  one  who  has  not  been  in  a  College  revival,  can  realize  the 
truth  of  it.  There  can  be  nothing  like  it  out  of  College.  The 
genuineness  of  this  feeling  was  manifest  when  we  came  to  the 
usually  exciting  class  elections.  Our  meeting  was  free  from  any 
exhibition  of  selfishness  or  party  feeling. 

"  Our  class  day,  if  described,  would  only  be  the  story  of  all 
class  days  to  you,  but  for  us  there  is  but  one  such  day.  Ours 
lasted  from  eight  o'clock  one  day  until  half-past  six  the  next  day. 
It  commenced  with  a  social  prayer-meeting,  and  closed  at  morning 
prayers  when  we  all  came  into  the  Chapel,  and  the  President 
gave  us  his  blessing.  We  were  in  such  thorough  good  humor 
that  I  find  no  trace  in  my  journal  of  any  grumbling  about  the 
appointments  for  Commencement,  which  came  out  that  morning. 

"  When  we  entered  College,  out  of  sixty-three  in  our  class 
only  twenty-two  were  Christians.  When  we  graduated,  out  of 
fifty-four,  forty-eight  were  professors  of  religion.  In  all  there 
were  twenty-four  conversions  in  our  class  during  our  College 
course.  For  those  who  graduated  without  hope  in  Christ,  we 
have  been  praying  ever  since.  One,  at  least,  has  become  a  Chris- 
tian." 

I  have  given  the  above  narrative  without  interruption  and 
with  only  a  few  omissions,  as  an  illustration  of  the  progress  and 
the  results  of  a  revival  in  College  as  seen  in  a  single  class,  espe- 
cially a  Senior  class.  We  must  now  go  back  for  some  explana- 
tions and  additions.  Several  of  the  best  scholars  and  leading 
men  in  the  Senior  class,  at  this  time,  as  our  readers  will  have 
seen  already,  were  not  only  without  hope  in  Christ,  but  opposed 
to  evangelical  and  personal  religion.  This  fact,  together  with 
the  generally  low  state  of  Christian  feeling  and  action  in  Col- 
lege, pressed  as  a  heavy  burden  on  the  hearts  of  the  Faculty 
from  the  beginning  of  the  winter  term,  and  there  was  many  a 
tender  and  touching  scene  at  their  meetings  for  business  and 
for  prayer,  before  the  annual  College  Fast.  As  the  term  ad- 
vanced, this  interest  and  solicitude  deepened  into  intense  anx- 
iety, leading  to  much  prayer  and  effort  in  which  the  Faculty  en- 
joyed in  increasing  measure  the  sympathy  and  co-operation  of 
very  many  of  the  pious  students.  But  as  the  followers  of  Christ 
thus  grew  united,  active  and  earnest,  it  became  more  and  more 


INCIDENTS.  451 

manifest  that  the  adversary  was  rallying  his  forces  in  opposition, 
and  that  some  of  the  most  talented,  scholarly  and  influential 
young  men,  led  by  some  of  the  foremost  men  of  the  Senior  class, 
were  banded  together  to  resist  all  good  spiritual  influences.  Fore- 
most among  them  all  in  the  view  of  all  College  and  by  his  own 
confession,  was  the  Senior  of  whom  so  much  is  said  in  the  forego- 
ing communication.  Of  course,  all  the  Christians  in  College  could 
not  but  be  praying  for  him.  At  the  same  time,  all  wise  and  suit- 
able means  were  used  to  bring  him  to  better  counsels  and  under 
better  influences.  Christian  students  who  enjoyed  his  friendship 
and  confidence,  were  faithful  in  the  use  of  arguments  and  en- 
treaties. I  had  repeated  interviews  with  him,  and  followed  up 
personal  conversation  with  written  appeals.  Never  have  I  seen 
such  bitterness  of  feeling  coupled  with  such  acknowledged  and 
utter  wretchedness.  He  cursed  the  day  of  his  birth,  and  was 
almost  ready  to  curse  his  best  friends,  the  name,  sacred  in  the 
history  of  missions,  which  he  bore,  the  parents  that  gave  him 
birth,  and  the  God  who  made  him  for  a  life  of  sin  and  misery. 
Like  Saul  of  Tarsus,  he  breathed  out  threatenings,  slaughter 
and  death  against  the  church.  But  like  Saul  of  Tarsus,  it  was  at 
length  said  of  him,  "  Behold,  he  prayeth."  Brought  in  by  the 
hand  of  personal  friendship  and  affection,  to  a  religious  meeting, 
near  the  close  of  the  meeting  he  rose  with  difficult}^  and  with 
faltering  tongue  asked  the  prayers  of  those  very  Christians  whom 
he  had  hated  and  would  have  been  ready  to  persecute.  Led  by 
another  Christian  friend  he  came  to  my  study,  and  we  fell  on  our 
knees  together,  and  together  praised  the  God  and  Savior  of  whom 
he  had  thought  and  felt,  and  even  spoken,  such  bitter  things. 
The  next  morning  his  whole  appearance  as  well  as  character  and 
spirit  was  changed.  His  face  shone  like  that  of  Moses  when  he 
came  down  from  the  Mount  where  he  had  been  with  God.  The 
change  was  visible  to  all,  even  to  members  of  other  classes  and 
the  most  casual  observers.  "  I  saw  him,"  says  a  letter  written  by 
one  who  was  then  a  member  of  College,  "  the  next  morning  after 
his  conversion.  Not  a  trace  remained  of  his  former  haughty  and 
sarcastic  look.  Meekness  and  peace  were  written  on  his  features." 
From  that  time  he  labored  to  build  up  what  before  he  sought  to 
destroy.  Three  years  later,  this  Saul  of  Tarsus  was  with  us  an 


452  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

officer  of  College,  a  co-laborer  in  the  revival  of  1858, — a  very 
Paul  the  Apostle  in  the  boldness,  force  of  reasoning  and  fervor 
of  eloquence  with  which  he  prayed  men  to  be  reconciled  to  God. 
And  now  he  is  one  of  the  most  able,  earnest  and  useful  among 
the  pastors  of  Congregational  churches  in  Connecticut. 

The  other  classmate  of  whose  conversion  Prof.  Washburn 
writes,  was  scarcely  less  prominent  as  a  scholar  and  a  man  of 
influence,  scarcely  less  hostile  to  evangelical  and  spiritual  re- 
ligion though  less  declared  and  outspoken  in  his  opposition,  and 
the  change  in  his  spirit  and  attitude  towards  religion  was  scarcely 
less  remarkable.1  Other  strong  men  in  the  same  class  also  bowed 
to  the  easy  yoke  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Jesus.  At  the  Sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper  in  June,  eight  Seniors,  including  the 
two  of  whom  we  have  spoken  so  particularly,  publicly  professed 
their  faith  in  Christ  before  their  fellow-students  and  the  world 
by  joining  the  College  church.  There  were  nineteen  additions 
by  profession  to  the  College  church  in  1855,  chiefly  as  the  fruit 
of  this  revival,  others  joined  the  churches  at  home.  The  num- 
ber of  converts  was  not  as  great  as  in  some  of  our  revivals.  But 
the  effects  of  it  were  most  happy,  especially  in  transforming  the 
character  and  changing  the  influence  of  the  Senior  class.  In 
his  Annual  Report  to  the  Trustees,2  President  Stearns  says: 
"  During  the  second  term,  the  College  enjoyed  a  revival  of  re- 
ligion of  no  common  power Very  many,  and  some  of  the 

very  best  minds  in  College,  who  one  year  ago  were  wholly  des- 
titute of  religion  but  now  seem  well  established  in  the  faith, 
will  bless  God  forever  that  they  were  connected  with  Amherst 
College  in  1855." 

The  truth  of  history  and  justice  to  individuals  require  us  to 
add,  that  in  the  labors  of  this  revival  the  Faculty  received  valu- 
able assistance  from  Rev.  Frederic  W.  Graves,  a  son  of  Col. 
Graves,  and  a  graduate  of  the  College  in  the  Class  of  '25.  A 
man  of  prayer  and  fervid  piety  like  his  father,  and  a  clear,  strong, 
close  and  pungent  preacher,  of  the  type  sometimes  called  revival 

1  This  young  man  was  made  a  Brigadier-General  and  Brevet  Major-General  in  the 
late  war. 

2  Though  unpublished,  the  President  has  kindly  placed  his  Annual  Reports  in  my 
hands,  and  I  am  largely  indebted  to  them  for  the  religious  history  of  this  period. 


KEY.    F.    W.   GRAVES.  453 

preachers,  he  came  to  visit  his  Alma  Mater  and  the  place  of  his 
former  residence  in  the  winter  term  of  1855,  lodged  for  some  six 
weeks  in  the  family  of  one  of  the  Professors,  and  preached  some- 
times on  the  Sabbath,  but  more  on  Sunday,  Tuesday  and  Thurs- 
day evenings,  aided  the  pastor  in  Inquiry  Meetings,  and  his  la- 
bors, while  they  were  acceptable  and  edifying  to  the  officers, 
were  blessed  to  the  quickening  of  the  Christian  students  and 
the  conversion  of  those  who  were  out  of  Christ.  "  The  stu- 
dents relished  his  directness  and  fervor,"  writes  one  who  was 
then  a  student,1  "  as  they  always  loved  to  see  the  exhibition  of 
these  qualities  in  their  teachers.  At  first  they  made  some  sport 
of  his  awkwardness,  and  thought,  if  the  Faculty  wanted  to  in- 
terest them  in  religion,  they  should  have  brought  in  some  noted 
preacher  instead  of  him.  But  no  sooner  did  they  find  out  that 
the  man  took  an  affectionate  interest  in  their  spiritual  welfare, 
than  there  was  a  complete  revolution  in  their  feelings.  After 
that  they  hung  upon  his  lips." 

With  this  exception,  (and  this  is  hardly  an  exception,  for  this 
came  uninvited  and  hardly  answers  to  that  description) — with 
this  exception,  the  Faculty  have  never  invited  or  employed  the 
assistance  of  evangelists,  revival  preachers,  or  to  any  considerable 
extent  preachers  from  abroad  in  revivals  of  religion.  Whatever 
may  be  said  of  the  wisdom  of  employing  such  men  and  measures 
elsewhere,  they  are  not  adapted  to  a  community  so  critical  and 
fastidious  as  College  students  who,  certainly  in  Amherst,  usually 
prefer  their  own  preachers  to  those  from  without,  and  whose  at- 
tention, if  they  liked  the  foreign  preacher,  would  almost  inevi- 
tably be  diverted  from  the  truth  to  the  man  and  his  manner  of 
preaching. 

Of  the  revival  in  1857,  President  Stearns  gave  the  following 
account  in  his  Report  to  the  Trustees  at  their  annual  meeting 
in  August  of  that  year : — 

"  The  religious  interests  of  the  College  have  been  kindly  cared 
for  and  promoted  by  the  Head  of  the  Church.  Early  in  the  year 
an  increased  seriousness  was  apparent  among  the  students  which 
deepened  during  the  second  term  into  a  gentle  revival  of  re- 
ligion. No  extraordinary  measures  or  additional  meetings  were 

1  Kev.  John  Whitehill. 


454  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

resorted  to,  but  by  private  conversation  and  preaching  adapted 
to  the  religiously  impressible  state  of  the  College,  thoughtfulness 
was  cherished  and  inquiring  minds  were  directed.  We  have 
never  exactly  '  numbered  the  people,'  but  thirteen  students 
were  received  to  the  church,  by  profession,  at  our  July  com- 
munion. Other  have  joined  churches  in  which  their  friends 
at  home  are  members.  While  this  revival  was  rich  in  souls  re- 
newed, the  happiest  results  were  experienced  from  its  influence 
on  professors — many  who  had  become  indifferent,  and  some 
quite  irregular,  were  brought  to  repentance,  and  Christian  stu- 
dents generally  were  quickened,  and  put  upon  a  course  of  re- 
vived watchfulness,  spirituality  and  zeal.  Good  order  has  pre- 
vailed during  the  last  two  terms  to  a  pleasing  extent,  and  we 
can  not  but  hope  that  much  has  been  gained  towards  having  a 
more  thorough  and  consistent  piety.  For  all  this,  every  friend 
of  the  College  will  give  thanks  to  God." 

But  the  revival  in  1858  exceeded  in  power  and  interest  any 
other  during  the  period  now  under  review,  if  not  any  other  in  the 
whole  history  of  the  College,  and  that  in  1857  was  a  delightful 
prelude  and  preparation  for  it.1  The  following  account  of  the 
former,  with  an  occasional  reference  to  the  latter,  was  given  to 
the  public  by  the  pastor,  President  Stearns,  not  long  after  the 
event  and  is  justified  in  all  its  essential  features  by  the  perma- 
nent fruits  as  they  have  been  seen  in  subsequent  years. 

"  The  religious  community  will  be  interested  to  know  that  in 
the  'Great  Awakening'  of  the  times,  Amherst  College  has  not 
been  passed  by  unblessed.  A  wonderful  revival  has  just  been 
experienced  here.  It  commenced  with  the  term  which  has 
recently  closed.  From  small  beginnings  it  made  gradual  prog- 
ress, till  our  entire  collegiate  community  was  brought  under 
its  influence.  Week  after  week  *  the  little  cloud  '  might  be  seen 
rising,  spreading,  thickening,  with  here  and  there  a  few  drops, 
and  many  intervening  alternations  of  hope  and  fear  on  the  part 
of  observers,  till,  toward  the  end  of  the  term,  the  shower  began 
to  fall,  and  for  the  last  ten  days  '  the  great  rain  was  not  stayed.' 

"  Nearly  three-quarters  of  our  number  were  previously  profess- 

1  This  part  of  the  History  is  copied  mainly  from  the  Enlarged  Edition  of  the 
author's  Premium  Essay  on  Prayer  for  Colleges  as  issued  in  1860. 


REVIVAL   OF    1858.  455 

ors  of  religion,  about  twenty  of  them  having  taken  their  stand 
publicly  on  the  side  of  Christ  some  months  before.  Of  the  re- 
mainder, between  forty  and  fifty  have  been  hopefully  converted 
during  the  term,  leaving  less  than  twenty  in  the  whole  College 
undecided.  Besides  these,  ten  or  twelve  who  had  once  been 
professors,  some  of  them  giving  little  or  no  evidence  of  piety, 
were  awakened  and  converted  anew,  while  nearly  the  whole 
body  of  Christian  students  seemed  to  receive  a  fresh  baptism  of 
the  Spirit. 

"  Of  the  Senior  class,  but  three  or  four  remain  who  have  not 
commenced  the  Christian  life  ;  of  the  Junior  class,  but  one  and 
he  an  inquirer,  if  not  a  Christian ;  of  the  Sophomore  class,  four 
or  five  ;  of  the  Freshmen,  nine  or  ten.  While  there  was  no  ap- 
pearance of  extravagance,  irregular  zeal  or  enthusiasm,  there 
was  manifested  a  deep  sense  of  sin,  an  entire  giving  up  of  all 
hopes  of  self-salvation,  unconditional  submission  to  a  Sovereign 
God,  and  the  affectionate  and  often  joyful  confidence  of  faith 
in  Christ.  The  reformation  of  character  and  manners  was  no 
less  remarkable  than  the  renewal  of  hearts.  College  discipline, 
in  the  way  of  restraint  and  censure,  seemed  to  lose  its  oifice ; 
order  prevailed,  study  was  attended  to  as  a  religious  duty ; 
sacred  psalms  took  the  place  of  questionable  songs,  and  social 
revelries  gave  way  to  heavenly  friendships — many  young  men 
have  been  hopefully  snatched  from  ruin,  and  inspired  with  new 
feelings  of  self-respect  and  new  and  noble  determinations  for  the 
future.  How  they  will  hold  out,  time  must  show.  Generally  in 
such  cases,  some  fall  back.  But  many  circumstances  inspire  us 
with  unusual  confidence  that  this  unhappy  number  will  be  small. 

The  changes  seem  to  us  like  those  radical  and  permanent  ones, 
of  which,  under  the  power  of  religion,  we  have  seen  so  many." 

To  this  statement  by  the  pastor,  Dr.  Hitchcock  added  the 
following  testimony  as  the  result  of  his  own  long  observation 
and  experience :  "  I  have  been  witness  to  all  the  revivals  here 
since  the  College  was  established,  except  the  first  during  Dr. 
Moore's  presidency  ;  and  I  must  say,  that  I  do  not  remember  in 
any  of  them  such  an  almost  universal  and  thoroughly  subduing 
power  manifested  as  during  the  last  two  weeks  of  the  term  just 
closed.  One  or  two  facts  will  show  this  to  those  who  are  un- 


456  HISTOKY   OP   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

acquainted  with  College  life.  All  such  know  the  intense  and 
almost  irresistible  desire  of  students  to  start  for  home  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment  of  release  at  the  end  of  a  term.  But 
this  year  nearly  all  remained  over  night,  at  the  invitation  of  the 
President,  that  they  might  attend  a  parting  religious  meeting, 
which  proved  one  of  intense  interest.  Another  fact  is  new  in 
the  religious  history  of  the  College.  Those  students  who  re- 
main in  town  during  vacation,  with  the  officers  and  their  families, 
meet  twice  a  week  for  prayer ;  and  there  is  no  abatement  of  re- 
ligious interest.  The  small  number  of  those  left  unconverted, 
much  less  than  in  any  former  revival,  also  shows  the  thorough- 
ness of  the  work." 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  happy  influence  of  the  gener- 
al prayer-meeting,  which  orignated  in  this  revival  and  continues 
to  this  day,  in  breaking  down  the  separating  wall  between  the 
Faculty  and  the  students,  as  well  as  the  distinctions  between  the 
upper  and  lower  classes,  and  merging  them  all  in  the  one  rela- 
tion of  Christian  brethren.  At  the  same  time  it  exerted  a  power- 
ful influence  to  prevent  backsliding  to  such  an  extent  as  too 
often  follows  periods  of  revival.  It  thus  contributed  indirectly, 
with  other  and  more  direct  efforts,  to  check  those  "  sins,  du- 
plicity and  direct  falsehood  being  the  worst,  which  spring  from 
a  fancied  diversity  of  interest  between  the  pupil  and  his  instruct- 
or, which,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  the  good  sense  of  young  men  will 
before  long  banish  from  our  American  colleges."  l 

In  his  Address  at  the  Dedication  of  Williston  Hall  and  East 
College  which  took  place  soon  after  the  commencement  of  the 
summer  term,  (April  19,  1858,)  President  Stearns  was  able  to 
say :  "  It  is  a  source  of  high  gratification  that  the  entire  class 
which  as  Seniors  2  have  just  taken  possession  of  the  building 
(East  College),  have  all  enrolled  their  names  as  the  followers 
of  that  blessed  One,  to  whom  the  College  was  originally  dedi- 
cated. For  one  year  at  least,  arid  the  first  year  of  its  occupancy, 
we  may  believe  that  none  of  its  apartments  will  be  desecrated, 
but  that  every  room  will  be  consecrated  by  prayer  and  psalms 

1  I  here  use  the   language  of  Rev.  Prof.  George  Fisher  in  his  "  History  of  the 
Church  in  Yale  College,"  as  quoted  in  the  Essay  on  Prayer  for  Colleges. 

2  Juniors  at  the  time  of  the  revival  and  also  of  the  Address. 


EFFECTS  OF  THE  REVIVAL.  457 

of  praise.  Of  more  than  two  hundred  young  men  connected 
with  us,  nearly  all  have  enrolled  their  names  for  a  life-long  dis- 
cipleship  in  the  school  of  Christ. 

"The  College  has  enjoyed  three  special  revivals  of  religion 
since  my  connection  with  it.  The  first  in  the  winter  of  1854-5, 
in  consequence  of  which  not  far  from  five  and  twenty  gave  in 
their  names  as  disciples  of  Christ.  The  second  in  the  winter  of 
'56  and  '57  in  connection  with  which  about  twenty,  mostly  Soph- 
omores, made  profession  of  their  faith.  The  third  commenced 
soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  last  term,  and  became  very  re- 
markable towards  its  close.  As  some  account  of  it  has  recently 
been  given  to  the  public,  I  will  only  add  that  this  renewal  of 
what  seems  like  the  primitive  times  of  the  church,  appears  to 
have  suffered  no  abatement  in  consequence  of  vacation,  and  the 
heaventy  influence  which  pervaded  the  College  near  the  close 
of  the  last  term,  though  not  manifest  as  then  in  numerous  con- 
versions, was  never  so  genial,  joyous,  orderly  and  earnest  as  at 
the  present  moment. 

"  Partly  as  the  consequence  of  this  work,  the  understanding 
which  now  exists  between  the  Faculty  and  the  students  of  the 
College,  seems  to  us  of  a  peculiarly  desirable  and  agreeable  char- 
acter. So  far  as  discipline  is  concerned,  we  are  a  fellowship 
rather  than  a  school,  and  our  relations  to  each  other  are  parental 
and  filial  instead  of  being  those  of  authority  and  submission. 

"  Much  still  remains  to  be  done  among  us.  There  are  imper- 
fections to  be  corrected,  and  improvements  to  be  introduced  and 
consummated.  We  can  not  but  feel,  however,  that  through  the 
labors  of  our  predecessors,  the  generosity  of  our  patrons,  together 
with  our  own  humble  efforts,  but  still  more  through  the  multi- 
tude of  prayers  which  are  going  up  to  heaven  in  an  all-surround- 
ing intercession  for  us,  and  which,  through  the  Great  Intercessor, 
have  become  signally  prevalent,  evoking  remarkable  manifesta- 
tions of  divinely  gracious  power  upon  us,  foundations  have  been 
laid  for  an  object  which  the  teachers  and  friends  of  the  College 
are  so  earnestly  laboring  to  accomplish,  viz.,  the  upbuilding  of 
a  high  and  healthful  scholarship,  and  the  development  of  a  sym- 
metrical, powerful,  wise  and  inviting  Christian  manhood  in  all 
our  students." 


458  HISTORY   OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

The  happy  effects  of  this  revival  were  manifest  long  after  its 
close.  At  the  end  of  the  next  collegiate  year  (1858-9)  almost  a 
year  and  a  half  after  the  occurrence  of  the  revival,  the  Presi- 
dent said  in  his  Report  to  the  Trustees :  "  The  year  past  has 
been  characterized,  on  the  part  of  the  students,  by  general  good 
order,  industry,  docility  and  a  manifest  disposition  to  do  well. 
Though  it  may  have  been  a  time  of  gradual  declension  rather 
than  of  revival,  and  there  have  been  instances  of  Christian  in- 
consistency and  backsliding,  I  am  not  aware  that  there  has  been 
a  single  case  of  apostasy.  The  religious  life  of  the  College  seems 
to  me  to  have  been,  and  still  to  be,  of  a  much  higher  character 
since  the  winter  of  1858,  than  it  was  at  any  time  before  since 
my  first  acquaintance  with  it.  The  students  appear  not  only 
more  attentive  to  religious  meetings,  and  more  generally  correct 
in  Christian  deportment,  but  to  have  much  more  confidence  in 
the  Faculty  and  a  greater  desire  to  conform  cheerfully  to  their 
requirements.  The  disposition  to  mischief  has  been  meliorated, 
and  for  a  year  and  a  half  past  the  public  damages  have  been  so 
small  that  no  extra  charge  has  been  made  in  the  regular  College 
bills. 

"  Exceptions  to  the  general  good  conduct  of  the  year  so  far  as 
they  exist,  are  nearly  all  connected  with  the  use  of  intoxicating 
liquors.  It  became  evident  to  the  Faculty  that  alcoholic  stimu- 
lants were  sold  freely,  though  clandestinely,  in  the  village  and 
that  quite  a  number  of  students,  overcome  by  temptation,  were 
in  danger  of  being  ruined  by  them.  When  all  other  methods 
of  correcting  this  evil  had  failed,  by  some  means,  no  one  pretends 
to  know  how,1  the  names  of  six  students  who  were  known  to 
have  yielded  more  or  less  to  the  alcoholic  temptation  and  to  have 
procured  liquor  in  the  place,  were  given  to  the  grand  jury  sit- 
ting in  Northampton  ;  and  those  students  were  constrained  to 
testify  under  oath  against  the  seller,  and  his  establishment  was 
thus  broken  up.  This  movement  made  a  considerable  stir  at  the 
time,  but  the  result  has  been  most  happy  upon  the  records  of 
the  College.  It  has  established  two  facts :  1,  that  students,  pur- 
chasing liquors  of  unlicensed  persons,  are  liable  to  be  summoned 

1  The  Historian  could  tell  if  the  President  could  not ;  and  the  liquor-seller  thought 
he  knew,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  direction  he  gave  to  his  resentment. 


TEMPERANCE  AND  TRUTHFULNESS.          459 

as  witnesses,  and  2,  that  if  summoned  and  put  under  oath,  they 
will  testify,  and  rather  than  perjure  themselves,  testify  truly. 
This  action  has  apparently  put  an  end,  at  least  for  the  time  be- 
ing, to  intemperate  drinking  in  College. 

"  Much  has  been  gained  also  in  the  matter  of  truthfulness 
among  our  young  men  in  their  intercourse  with  the  Faculty.  In 
the  earlier  years  of  my  connection  with  the  College,  students 
who  had  done  wrong  so  as  to  expose  themselves  to  censure, 
would  almost  uniformly,  when  questioned,  deny  it.  I  am  sorry 
that  professors  of  religion  were  not  always,  nor  even  generally, 
exceptions  to  this  rule.  Now  it  is  a  very  rare  thing  for  a  stu- 
dent to  tell  me  a  downright  falsehood.  In  addition  to  what  has 
already  been  said  of  the  consequences  of  our  revival,  I  attribute 
this  improvement  also  to  the  efforts  which  have  been  made  to 
control  by  moral  influences,  instead  of  penalty,  whenever  the 
good  of  the  College  would  allow  of  the  milder  discipline,  and 
to  the  working  of  a  principle  introduced  two  or  three  years  ago 
into  our  College  Laws,  viz.,  that  '  confession  before  proof  should 
be  considered  a  mitigating  circumstance.' 

"  These  favorable  remarks  should  be  taken  with  exceptions. 
Early  in  the  year  there  was  an  outbreak  between  the  Sophomore 
and  Junior  classes  which  had  proceeded  to  a  riot  and  seriously 
imperiled  life.  The  newspapers  circulated  the  fact,  but  the  news- 
papers did  not  know  that  blamable  as  the  commotion  was,  it 
originated  in  praiseworthy  intentions  and  in  a  position  taken  by 
the  Sophomores  that  the  old  practice  of  insulting  and  abusing 
Freshmen  should  with  their  class  be  totally  discontinued.  In 
carrying  out  this  determination  some  reflections  were  thrown 
upon  the  Juniors  (the  Sophomores  of  the  preceding  year)  which, 
in  the  impulsive  heat  of  the  moment,  they  (the  Juniors)  thought 
themselves  justified  in  resenting.  To  the  praise  of  both  classes, 
however,  after  the  President  appeared  on  the  ground,  the  bear- 
ing of  the  young  men  was  at  once  confiding  and  their  conduct 
noble." 

The  moral  and  religious  condition  of  the  College  during  the 
year  1859-60,  is  thus  described  by  the  President  in  his  Annual 
Report :  "  The  question  has  been  more  frequently  discussed  in 
the  Faculty  the  past  year  than  ever  before,  how  the  largest, 


460  HISTORY   OF   AMHEBST   COLLEGE. 

truest  Christian  manhood  can  be  best  developed  in  all  the  young 
men  connected  with  the  College.  Though  we  have  not  always 
succeeded  according  to  our  desires,  and  individuals  have  disap- 
pointed our  hopes  in  regard  to  them,  yet,  on  the  whole,  I  must 
think,  that  considerable  progress  has  been  made  towards  realiz- 
ing the  true  ends  of  education.  The  College  has  been  for  the 
most  part  orderly  during  the  year,  and  we  all  think  that  a  real 
improvement  is  manifest  in  the  behavior  and  moral  tone  of  the 
students  as  well  as  in  their  scholarship. 

"  During  the  winter  term,  there  were  some  interesting  religions 
indications.  Solemnity;  and  thoughtfulness  pervaded  the  Col- 
lege ;  prayer- meetings  were  thronged,  professors  of  religion  were 
quickened,  and  cases  of  anxious  inquiry  appeared.  For  a  week 
or  ten  days  it  almost  seemed  as  if  the  Pentecostal  scenes  of 
1858  were  about  to  be  renewed.  In  this  expectation  we  were 
partially  disappointed.  The  result,  however,  was  not  exactly 
clouds  without  rain.  There  were  a  few  hopeful  conversions, 
and  among  them  two  or  three  of  the  most  prominent  men  in 
the  Senior  class,  attended  with  a  general  lifting  up  of  the  re- 
ligious life  of  the  College,  the  good  effects  of  which  are  felt  to 
this  day." 

Passing  over  the  next  year  (1860-1)  in  which  there  was 
nothing  particularly  noteworthy  in  the  religious  history  of  the 
College,  we  find  the  following  in  the  President's  Report  to  the 
Trustees  at  their  Annual  Meeting  in  1862  :  "  Religious  meetings 
have  been  well  attended  during  the  year,  and  the  part  which  the 
students  have  taken  in  them,  indicates  growth  in  grace.  The 
winter  and  spring  were  characterized  by  one  of  those  seasons  of 
special  religious  interest  which  have  not  been  uncommon  in  the 
College.  There  were  not  only  quite  a  number  of  hopeful  con- 
versions, but  the  religious  life  of  the  College,  especially  in  the 
Junior  class,  has  been  greatly  quickened  and  set  forward.  Many 
of  the  prayers  of  the  students  in  our  prayer-meetings  have  been, 
and  are  still  from  week  to  week,  distinguished  by  a  measure  of 
solemnity,  richness  and  unction,  not  surpassed,  if  equaled,  in  the 
great  revival  of  1858.  The  influence  of  meetings  in  which  stu- 
dents take  part  with  the  Faculty,  like  the  younger  and  older 
brethren  in  other  churches,  and  which  were  first  introduced  into 


PERIODICAL  RELIGION.  461 

the  College  during  that  remarkable  year,  has  been  good  and  only 
good,  and  that  continually." 

In  1863,  the  President  thus  reports :  "  There  has  been  no 
such  special  attention  to  religion  as  is  usually  understood  by  the 
term  revival,  though  there  have  been  some  hopeful  conversions 
and  a  marked  improvement  in  the  religious  character  of  many, 
while  it  must  be  confessed  that  a  sort  of  religious  apathy  too 
generally  prevails.  Nothing  is  more  needed  in  College  than 
such  a  general  awakening  and  renovation  of  character  as  was 
enjoyed  by  it  in  1858.  That  was  a  period  of  reformation  as  well 
as  revival,  the  good  effects  of  which  have  not  yet  wholly  disap- 
peared, though  the  Class  of  '62  was  the  last  which  had  personal 
experience  of  it." 

The  President's  Report  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Corpo- 
ration in  July,  1864,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  religious  condition 
of  the  College  was  as  follows :  "  There  was  during  the  winter 
term  some  special  attention  to  religion  in  all  the  classes.  Many 
professors  of  religion  were  greatly  quickened  in  their  Christian 
life,  and  carried  through  new  and  valuable  experiences,  while 
some  twenty  or  more  publicly  confessed  Christ  for  the  first  time. 
A  special  religious  interest  and  a  considerable  number  of  conver- 
sions has  characterized  many  of  our  winter  terms.  The  unbe- 
lieving might  naturally  subject  this  peculiarity  to  criticism  on 
the  ground  of  periodical  religion.  We  can  only  answer  that  the 
college  mind,  for  some  reason,  is  more  impressible  during  that 
season  of  the  year  than  it  is  ordinarily  in  the  other  terms.  I  think 
it  is  likely  that  the  Concert  of  Prayer  for  Colleges  has  something 
to  do  instrumentally,  as  well  as  efficiently,  in  producing  this  re- 
sult. But  if  Christians  can  be  spiritually  elevated  and  impeni- 
tent hearts  softened  and  renewed  at  one  season  of  the  year  more 
easily  than  at  other  times,  why  should  we  quarrel  with  the  Prov- 
idence or  the  Spirit  of  God?  When  the  fields  are  white  for 
the  harvest,  that  is  the  time  to  reap.  A  state  of  reaction  is  apt 
to  follow  in  the  summer  term.  This  year  the  reaction,  for  -a 
time,  was  more  marked  than  usual,  though  I  can  not  but  think 
that  every  revival,  on  the  whole,  elevates  the  religious  character 
of  the  College." 

As  the  College  Chapel  was  undergoing  repairs,  the  Sabbath 


462  HISTORY   OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

worship  as  well  as  morning  and  evening  prayers  were  held  in 
Alumni  Hall  during  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1864,  and  at 
each  of  the  three  communions  in  May,  July  and  November, 
there  were  considerable  additions  by  profession  to  the  College 
Church,  thus  hallowing  that  Hall  in  the  memory  of  not  a  few 
who  have  since  exerted  a  positive  Christian  influence  in  all  the 
varied  walks  of  public  and  private  life,  as  the  place  where  they 
consecrated  themselves  to  the  service  of  the  Master. 

The  year  1866  was  a  memorable  year  in  the  religious  history 
of  the  College,  exceeding  even  1858  in  the  number  of  those  who 
began  a  new  Christian  life,  and  not  surpassed  by  it  in  the  deep 
interest  of  the  scenes  and  events  of  the  revival,  though  differing 
much  from  that  season  in  the  beginning  and  progress  of  the 
work.  Its  peculiar  characteristics  as  well  as  its  happy  results 
are  sufficiently  noted  in  the  President's  Annual  Report :  "  A  few 
weeks  after  my  return  (from  Europe)  there  sprang  up  among 
us  a  remarkable  interest  in  personal  religion  which  finally  per- 
vaded all  classes,  and  nearly  all  hearts,  resulting  in  deepening 
and  setting  forward  the  entire  religious  life  of  the  College,  pro- 
ducing some  wonderful  changes  of  character  and  introducing 
some  forty  students  to  the  first  beginning  of  Christian  experi- 
ence. Revivals  of  religion  are  not  uncommon  in  Amherst  Col- 
lege, and  there  are  many  men  brought  under  their  influence 
while  under-graduates,  now  scattered  abroad  in  the  world,  who 
constantly  thank  God  for  their  participation  in  them.  But  I 
have  characterized  this  religious  interest  as  remarkable.  It  was 
remarkable  in  its  rise,  coming  without  much  previous  expecta- 
tion of  it,  or  much  use  of  means  to  promote  it.  A  year  ago  last 
winter  there  was  a  deep  feeling  among  many  of  the  Faculty  and 
many  of  the  students  that  a  religious  awakening  was  greatly 
needed,  and  much  effort  was  put  forth  to  secure  it.  But  the 
results  were  small  and  unsatisfactory.  Very  different  was  the 
revival  just  experienced.  It  sprang  up,  to  human  appearance, 
quite  suddenly,  and  almost  spontaneously.  It  was  marked  by  a 
deep  and  calm  thoughtfulness  in  those  who  came  specially  under 
its  influence.  When  decisions  were  reached,  they  were  freely 
and  modestly  expressed.  The  young  men  came  out  one  after 
another  and  said :  "  I  seem  to  myself  to  have  found  Christ.  I 


REVIVAL   OF   1866.  463 

feel  that  my  sins  are  forgiven.  I  know  my  own  weakness,  but 
I  believe  that  the  Spirit  of  God  will  assist  me,  and  I  shall  per- 
severe." The  change  in  some  students  whose  habits  had  not 
been  good  was  surprising.  It  was  apparent  in  orderly  behavior, 
a  more  gentlemanly  bearing,  in  industry  taking  the  place  of  idle- 
ness, and  rapidly  rising  scholarship  instead  of  a  neglect  of  stud- 
ies, in  their  countenances,  and  day  after  day  until  this  time  the 
change  has  attracted  observation.  Where  sourness  and  discon- 
tent used  to  be  expressed,  there  is  now  sunshine  and  joy.  Nor 
has  there  been  any  unpleasant  reaction.  Many  have  united  with 
the  church,  here  or  elsewhere,  and  I  can  not  say,  that  any  have 
gone  back  to  the  old  condition  of  carelessness  or  wrong  doing." 

The  following  brief  memoranda  kept  at  the  time  by  Prof. 
Seelye  will  give  the  reader  a  more  definite  conception  of  the 
progress  of  this  awakening  from  day  to  day  and  week  to  week 
through  the  term.  It  illustrates  one  characteristic  of  revivals 
in  College  to  which  we  have  often  had  occasion  to  allude,  viz., 
their  rapidity  and  the  comparatively  brief  period  within  which 
the  greater  part  of  the  harvest  is  usually  reaped. 

"  January. — The  beginning  of  the  term  not  marked  by  any- 
thing special.  Attendance  upon  the  evening  meetings  thin. 

"February. — Increasing  attendance  upon  the  evening  meet- 
ings. B of  the  Senior  class  indulges  a  hope. 

'•'•March  1. — Day  of  prayer  for  Colleges.1  Meeting  in  the 
morning  impressive,  but  not  unusually  so.  Afternoon  very 
solemn.  Evening  with  unusual  evidence  of  God's  presence. 

"March  2  and  3. — Increasing  interest. 

"  4.  Sunday. — In  the  evening  meeting  Junior  W an- 
nounced his  new  hope. 

"  6.  Tuesday  evening.  —  Special  meeting  of  prayer.  Small 
chapel  full.  Great  solemnity.  Three  Seniors,  two  Juniors,  eight 
Sophomores,  and  three  Freshmen  announced  their  hope  in  Christ. 

"  8.  Thursday  evening. — The  President  lectured  to  a  full  house. 

"  9.  Inquiry  meeting  in  the  Senior  recitation  room.  Thirty 
present. 

"  11.  Sunday. — A  truly  remarkable  day.     I  never  saw  such  a 

1  Washington's  birthday  coming  on  the  last  Thursday  in  February  in  1866,  the 
next  Thursday,  March  1,  was  observed  that  year  as  the  day  of  prayer  for  Colleges. 


464  HISTOKY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

scene  as  the  chapel  presented  this  afternoon.  Every  student  at- 
tentive. Some  weeping.  All  apparently  solemn.  Evening  meet- 
ing full  and  deeply  interesting.  Twentj7  expressed  their  new 
hopes  and  experiences,  only  one  of  whom  had  spoken  before. 

"13.  Tuesday  evening. — Small  chapel  filled.  The  largest  meet- 
ing. 

"15.  Thursday  evening  lecture.  —  Large  attendance,  though 
not  so  many  as  on  Tuesday  evening. 

"  16.  Friday  evening. — Inquiry  meeting  in  Senior  recitation 
room.  Not  so  full  as  before. 

"  18.  Sunday. — A  good  day.  Evening  meeting  solemn.  No 
new  cases  of  conversion. 

"  20.  Tuesday  evening. — A  full  meeting.  One  new  case  of  in- 
terest. Junior  W reported.  He  himself  confined  to  his  room. 

"  22.  Thursday  evening  lecture. — Good  attendance. 

"  25.  Much  interest  in  the  services  of  the  day.  Evening  meet- 
ing peculiarly  solemn.  Closed  with  a  prayer  of  reconsecration. 

"  27.  Tuesday  evening. — Not  so  many  present,  though  a  large 
meeting.  Much  interest  in  the  prayers  of  the  young  converts. 

"  29.  Preparatory  lecture. 

"April  1.  Sunday. — Communion.  Two  Seniors,  two  Juniors, 
and  one  Freshman  made  a  public  profession  of  their  faith.  Even- 
ing meeting  full  and  solemn. 

"  3.  Term  closed.  The  revival  has  been  remarkable  for  its  sud- 
denness and  pervasiveness.  Between  forty  and  fifty  indulge  a 
new  hope. 

"  July. — The  summer  term  has  passed  with  unusual  quiet  and 
decorum.  Two  conversions  noted."  The  same  marked  propri- 
ety of  deportment  continued  through  the  entire  following  year 
(1867)  insomuch  that  in  his  Annual  Report  for  that  year  the  Pres- 
ident spoke  of  it  as  "  unprecedented  during  his  connection  with 
the  College  and  probably  during  its  entire  history  that  there  has 
been  no  instance  of  such  aggravated  wrong  conduct  as  to  re- 
quire removal  from  College  or  severe  censure." 

We  have  had  no  great  revival  since  1866.  But  the  years 
which  have  succeeded  that  great  spiritual  ingathering,  have  by 
no  means  been  years  of  barrenness.  Every  year  there  has  been 
more  or  less  of  quickening  among  Christians  and  of  awakening 


EELIGIOUS   STATISTICS.  465 

among  others— every  year  there  have  been  some  conversions  in 
almost  every  class.  And  every  year,  with  rare  exceptions,  we  hear 
that  some  who  seemed  very  near  the  kingdom  of  heaven  but  did 
not  enter,  soon  after  they  left  ws,  consecrated  themselves  publicly 
to  Christ  and  his  church.  Some  also  who  left  us  still  declared 
unbelievers  in  Christianity,  though  doubtless  not  a  little  shaken 
in  their  unbelief,  have  ere  long  openly  professed  their  faith  in 
evangelical  religion. 

The  following  religious  statistics  of  the  Class  of  '69  illustrate 
some  of  these  statements  and  shed  light  on  the  religious  condi- 
tion of  the  College  during  these  latter  years.  They  lie  before  me 
in  the  handwriting  of  the  lamented  Kittredge  of  that  class,  who 
read  them  to  those  present  at  the  last  Sunday  evening  meeting 
before  Senior  vacation,  and  at  my  request  left  a  copy  in  my 
hands  foT  preservation.  They  are  almost  hallowed  by  his  death 
little  more  than  a  year  later,  stricken  down  in  the  midst  of  his 
devoted  and  useful  service  to  the  College  as  an  Instructor  in  the 
gymnasium  and  assistant  Curator  in  the  Cabinet : 

RELIGIOUS   STATISTICS   OF   THE  CLASS   OF  '69. 

Number  of  the  class  at  the  beginning  of  the  College  course,     ....  55 

Number  of  the  class  entered  since, 25 

Number  of  the  class  died,       3 

Number  of  the  class  graduating, 56 

Number  of  professing  Christians  at  the  beginning  of  the  course,  ...  23 

Number  of  professing  Christians  entered  since, 18 

Number  of  conversions  Freshman  year, 18 

Number  of  conversions  Sophomore  year, 2 

Number  of  conversions  Junior  year, -    2 

Number  of  conversions  Senior  year, 2 

Number  of  conversions  in  College  course, 24 

Number  of  professing  Christians  in  the  whole  membership  (80)',    ...  64 

Number  with  the  ministry  in  view  at  the  beginning, 12 

Number  with  the  ministry  in  view  at  graduation, 25 

Number  thinking  of  Missionary  work  at  the  beginning, 0 

Number  thinking  of  Missionary  work  at  graduation, 6  or  7 

Christian  men  at  graduation, 48 

Per  cent,  of  Christian  men  at  the  beginning, 42 

Per  cent,  of  Christian  men  at  graduation, 86 

Per  cent,  of  Christian  men  in  the  entire  membership  (80), 80 

Per  cent,  of  the  class  having  the  ministry  in  view  at  the  beginning,  .     .  22 

Per  cent,  of  the  class  having  the  ministry  in  view  at  graduation,   ...  45 
30 


466  HISTORY   OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

The  increase  of  Christian  character  and  influence  during  the 
course  indicated  by  these  statistics  can  not  but  strike  the  obser- 
vation of  our  readers.  Were  we  at  liberty  to  narrate  the  per- 
sonal history  of  members  of  the  class  during  their  connection 
with  the  College,  and  for  a  short  period  after  their  graduation, 
the  changes  iii  their  religious  faith,  as  well  as  their  Christian 
character  and  influence,  would  appear  still  more  striking. 

I  have  set  down  the  year  1870  among  the  years  of  revival.  It 
was,  however,  like  1860,  one  of  those  years,  in  which  the  awak- 
ening was  less  general,  and  the  conversions  fewer  than  in  most 
of  our  revivals,  so  as  to  leave  it  a  doubtful  question  whether  or 
not  it  should  be  reckoned  among  them.  There  was  much  prayer 
and  effort  for  a  revival,  particularly  in  the  Senior  class,  and 
the  more  because  four  years  had  now  elapsed  since  the  great  in- 
gathering in  1866,  and  the  Christians  in  that  class  felt  a  strong 
desire,  for  their  own  sake  as  well  as  for  the  sake  of  the  College, 
not  to  graduate  without  witnessing  a  similar  season.  Nor  were 
these  prayers  and  efforts  unavailing.  They  were  much  refreshed 
and  strengthened,  other  Christians  were  more  or  less  quickened, 
and  several,  particularly  of  the  Senior  class,  began  a  new  life  in 
which  they  have  persevered  and  exerted  a  strong  Christian  in- 
fluence. Truth  and  justice,  perhaps,  require  the  historian  to 
add,  that  there  was,  connected  with  this  awakening  and  result- 
ing in  part  from  the  imperfect  success  of  efforts  to  promote  it,  a 
spirit  of  dissatisfaction,  not  to  say  disaffection,  towards  the  pas- 
tor, not  uncommon  under  like  circumstances  in  other  churches 
and  not  unknown  in  the  previous  history  of  our  College  Church, 
yet  never  before  existing  to  such  an  extent,  which  marred  the 
fruits  of  |he  revival,  the  happiness  of  the  pastor,  the  peace  of 
the  church,  and  the  harmony  of  the  College,  and  which  none 
will  regret  in  future  years  so  much  as  they  who  were  the  most 
influenced  by  it. 

In  his  report  at  the  Commencement  in  1871,  the  President 
says :  "  The  Senior  class  will  graduate  with  a  larger  number 
of  students  uncommitted  to  the  Christian  side  than  has  been 
found  in  any  Senior  class  for  more  than  a  decade  of  years.  They 
are  however  able  men  and  true.  Some  of  them  are  said  to  be 
skeptical  but  I  regard  them  rather  as  inquirers  who  must  find 


RELIGIOUS   INTEREST   IN   1870   AND   1872.  467 

their  way  to  right,  perhaps,  through  a  process  of  doubting  and 
searching.  I  have  great  faith  that  most  of  them  will  become  in 
time  devoted  to  Christ  and  strong  in  his  service." 

This  strong  persuasion  of  the  President  which  the  Professors 
generally  shared  with  him,  has  now  (a  few  months  after  their 
graduation)  already  been  fulfilled  in  the  radical  change  of  one 
of  the  strongest  men  of  this  class  who,  up  to  the  time  of  his 
graduation  had  persisted  in  his  skepticism ;  and  they  are  thus 
confirmed  in  the  confident  expectation  that  the  others  will  yet 
be  found  sitting  at  the  feet  of  Jesus. 

As  I  write  these  pages  (February,  1872),  the  College  is  re- 
joicing in  the  manifest  special  presence  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 
Religious  meetings  are  full  and  interesting.  Christians  are  en- 
joying delightful  communion  with  each  other  arid  with  their 
Lord.  A  few  feel  that  they  have  begun  a  new  life  in  Christ, 
and  many  are  inquiring  the  way  of  salvation.  Our  hope  is  that 
the  second  half-century  is  thus  opening  with  a  year  rich  in  spir- 
itual blessings,  and  auspicious  of  a  religious  prosperity  in  coming 
years  exceeding  that  which  it  has  been  our  privilege  to  record  in 
the  past  history  of  the  College.  May  He  to  whom  the  Institu- 
tion is  consecrated,  prosper  the  omen  and  do  for  us  far  beyond 
our  fondest  hopes. 

Two  or  three  changes  in  the  religious  usages  of  the  College  have 
taken  place  during  the  period  now  under  review  which  require 
statement  and  explanation,  and  that  the  more  because  they  are 
liable  to  be  misunderstood,  and  have  perhaps  been  regarded  as 
a  lowering  of  the  religious  standard.  One  of  these  is  the  giv- 
ing up  of  evening  prayers.  These  were  dispensed  with  first,  on 
Wednesday  and  Saturday  evenings,  in  order  to  give  the  students 
scope  for  longer  walks  and  freer  exercise  and  recreation  on  those 
two  afternoons.  Sunday  evening  prayers  were  then  given  up  to 
avoid  too  many  required  religious  exercises  on  the  Sabbath,  and 
to  encourage  and  facilitate  a  voluntary  attendance  at  the  even- 
ing meeting.  Meanwhile  evening  prayers  had  been  abolished 
in  some  of  the  older  Colleges.  They  were  suspended  here  for 
two  successive  years  during  the  winter  term,  partly  by  reason 
of  the  greater  discomfort  and  inconvenience  of  attending  them 
in  the  cold  weather  and  the  short  days  crowded  with  other  ex- 


468  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ercises,  and  partly  by  way  of  experiment.  At  length  in  1869, 
they  were  given  up  entirely,  and  more  time  was  given  to  morn- 
ing prayers,  and  special  pains  were  taken  to  make  them  more 
truly  devotional  services.  The  order  of  service  is  now  fourfold. 
1,  Invocation,  2,  Reading  of  the  Scriptures,  3,  Singing,  4,  Prayer. 
The  President,  when  at  home,  conducts  all  the  services.  Not 
unfrequently  he  accompanies  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  with 
brief  expositions.  He  has  thus  read  in  course  and  expounded 
all  the  more  difficult  books  both  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment, preparing  himself  for  it  as  carefully  as  he  would  for  a 
recitation  and  thus  making  luminous  many  portions  of  the  Holy 
Writ  which  young  men,  and  older  men  too,  usually  read  in  our 
common  version  without  any  conception  of  their  meaning.  Min- 
isters and  other  strangers  who  attend  our  morning  devotions, 
have  been  struck  with  the  felicity  of  these  expositions  and  the 
prayers  that  follow  and  enforce  them.  They  often  remark  also 
the  order  and  decorum,  rare  in  any  worshiping  assembly,  with 
which  the  students  rise  and  take  part  in  the  singing,  listen  to 
the  reading  and  exposition  of  the  Scriptures,  and  then  all  bow 
their  heads  during  the  prayer.  We  would  not  be  understood  to 
say,  that  there  are  no  irregularities  or  improprieties  of  conduct. 
But  there  are  less  than  there  are  in  most  miscellaneous  congre- 
gations of  men,  women  and  children — far  less  than  there  used 
to  be  here,  especially  at  evening  prayers  when  the  students 
would  come  in,  many  of  them  from  their  sports,  full  of  hilarity 
and  excitement,  sometimes  almost  incapable  of  restraining  the 
manifestation  of  their  feelings,  still  more  unable  to  command 
their  thoughts  into  a  frame  for  devotion.  And  though  I  was 
not,  at  the  time,  in  favor  of  the  change,  it  has  worked  so  well 
that  I  am  quite  reconciled  to  the  present  arrangement. 

Another  change  is  that  in  regard  to  biblical  instruction.  It 
will  be  remembered  that  a  weekly  Bible  exercise  on  Thursday 
afternoon  was  early  introduced.  During  the  greater  part  of  Dr. 
Humphrey's  presidency,  the  historical  parts  of  the  Bible  were 
studied  by  the  Freshmen,  the  prophetical  parts  by  the  Sopho- 
mores, and  the  doctrinal  parts  by  the  Juniors,  while  the  Presi- 
dent instructed  the  Seniors  in  the  Catechism.  Under  the  presi- 
dency of  Dr.  Hitchcock,  this  plan  was  so  modified  that  each 


BIBLICAL   INSTRUCTION.  469 

Professor  should  take  part  in  the  biblical  instruction  by  teaching 
something  in  or  about  the  Bible  kindred  to  his  own  department. 
But  both  these  plans  were  subject  to  a  twofold  difficulty — that 
of  finding  Professors  able  and  willing  to  teach  the  Bible  wisely 
and  successfully,  and  that  of  interesting  the  students  in  any 
study,  especially  any  unsecular  study,  in  which  there  was  only 
one  lesson  a  week ;  any  such  exercise,  no  matter  what  it  may  be, 
fails  to  command  interest  and  exertion,  and  proves  sooner  or 
later  to  be  a  weakly  exercise.  Under  the  influence  of  such  con- 
siderations, the  Bible  exercise  has  gradually  changed  and  fallen 
off,  till  now  for  some  years  the  only  proper  Bible  lessons  in  the 
College  have  been  those  of  the  Greek  Professor  in  the  Greek 
Testament  in  which  he  teaches  the  Sophomore  class  one  of  the 
Gospels  or  the  Acts,  and  the  Junior  class  one  of  the  Epistles 
in  consecutive  lessons  for  a  few  weeks  each  year,  going  over 
a  part  of  a  chapter  analytically  and  exegetically  one  day,  and 
the  next  day  requiring  the  student  in  review  to  repeat  in  sub- 
stance the  exposition  given  in  advance  the  previous  day.  The 
interest  which  has  sometimes  been  excited  in  these  lessons  may 
be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  these  are  the  only  recitations  in 
which  the  Professor  has  ever  been  requested  by  his  class  to  ex- 
tend the  exercise  beyond  the  usual  length  and  make  them  an 
hour  and  a  half  instead  of  hour  recitations. '  Whether  this  is  all 
the  direct  instruction  in  the  Bible  that  ought  to  be  given  during 
a  four  years'  course  in  a  Christian  College,  our  readers  will  judge 
for  themselves.  It  is  doubtless  more  than  is  given  in  most  of 
our  Colleges,  much  more  certainly  than  is  given  in  some  of  them. 
It  should  not  be  understood,  however,  that  no  other  religious 
instruction  is  now  given  in  the  College  or  in  the  class-room. 
At  the  request  of  the  Senior  class,  the  Professor  of  Philosophy 
gives  them  a  lesson,  partly  a  recitation  and  partly  a  lecture  or 
conversation,  every  Saturday  morning  in  the  Catechism.  The 
instructions  of  the  President  are  all  religious,  pertaining  to 
Biblical  History  and  Interpretation  and  the  Evidences  of  Chris- 
tianity. His  Bible  readings  and  expositions  at  morning  prayers 
have  been  equivalent  some  years  to  a  full  hour's  lesson  once  a 
week  to  each  class.  Then  there  are  Dr.  Burr's  lectures  to  the 
Senior  class  on  the  Scientific  Evidences  of  Religion.  Moreover 


470  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

the  Professors  and  Instructors,  being  all  Christian  men,  and 
many  of  them  Christian  ministers,  still  continue,  most  of  them 
at  least,  to  teach  all  the  branches  of  literature  and  science  as 
the  earliest  Professors  and  Tutors  did,  in  their  indissoluble  rela- 
tions to  the  great  central  truths  of  natural  and  revealed  relig- 
ion. So  that  whatever  may  have  been  the  impressions  or  ap- 
prehensions of  any  of  the  friends  of  the  College,  the  last  com- 
plaint that  any  student  would  make  in  regard  to  the  present 
regime,  would  be  that  Christianity  is  superseded,  overlooked  or 
undervalued  in  the  teaching  or  the  personal  influence  of  the 
President  and  Professors.  Long  may  it  be  before  that  shall  be 
said  of  Amherst  College  which  I  have  just  read  in  a  newspaper 
article  now  lying  before  me  :  "  Theology,  religion  is  defunct  as 

a  power;  science  already  dominates.  It  has  possession  of 

College." 

In  looking  over  the  Records  of  the  Church,  we  are  struck 
with  the  fact  that  they  record  five  ordinations  in  the  College 
Chapel  by  Councils  convened  by  the  College  Church  during  this 
period.  Four  of  the  persons  ordained  were  graduates  of  the 
College,  and  they  were  ordained,  three  of  them,  to  the  work  of 
foreign  missions,  and  the  fourth  to  a  chaplaincy  in  the  army. 
The  fifth  ordination  was  that  of  Prof.  James  G.  Vose  to  the 
work  of  the  ministry. 

Mr.  Daniel  Bliss,  of  the  Class  of  '52,  having  been  accepted 
by  the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  as  a  missionary  to 
Syria,  was  ordained  Thursday,  October  18,  1855.  Rev.  Presi- 
dent Stearns  preached  the  sermon;  Rev.  Mr.  Stone  of  East- 
hampton  made  the  ordaining  prayer ;  Rev.  Dr.  Hitchcock  gave 
the  charge ;  and  Rev.  Prof.  Warner  the  right  hand  of  fellowship. 

Prof.  Vose  was  ordained  October  20,  1857.  The  Churches 
invited  were  those  in  Andover  Theological  Seminary ;  Yale  Col- 
lege; North  Brookfield;  Fall  River;  Derby,  Conn.;  Granby; 
South  Danvers ;  Old  South,  Boston ;  Edwards  Church,  North- 
ampton ;  and  the  First  Church  in  Amherst.  There  is  no  record 
of  the  parts  as  assigned  or  performed. 

Mr.  George  Constantirie,  a  native  of  Athens,  Greece,  and  an 
alumnus  of  the  Class  of  '59,  was  ordained  "  as  an  Evangelist 
or  Missionary  to  Greece,"  September  11,  1862.  Sermon  and 


CHURCH   RECORDS.  471 

ordaining  prayer1  by  Rev.  Dr.  Kirk  of  Boston ;  right  hand  of 
fellowship  by  Rev.  Dr.  Van  Lennep  of  the  Turkish  Mission ; 
charge  by  Rev.  Prof.  Tyler. 

Mr.  Joseph  A.  Leach,  of  the  Class  of  '61,  was  ordained  Feb- 
ruary 23,  1864,  as  Chaplain  of  the  19th  regiment  of  colored 
troops.  Sermon  by  Prof.  Tyler ;  ordaining  prayer  by  President 
Stearns;  charge  by  Rev.  Mr.  Greene  of  Hatfield;  right  hand 
of  fellowship  by  Rev.  Mr.  Lane  of  Whately. 

Mr.  Charles  A.  Park,  of  the  Class  of  '67,  was  ordained  June 
15, 1870.  Sermon  by  Rev.  Prof.  C.  E.  Smyth  of  Andover  The- 
ological Seminary ;  ordaining  prayer  by  President  Stearns ;  charge 
by  Rev.  C.  E.  Park  of  Boxford,  (father  of  the  candidate) ;  right 
hand  of  fellowship  by  Rev.  W.  E.  Park  of  Lawrence,  (cousin 
of  the  candidate) ;  Rev.  Gordon  Hall  of  Northampton,  was  mod- 
erator, and  Rev.  J.  L.  Jenkins  of  Amherst,  scribe  of  the  coun- 
cil. 

The  following  record  will  call  up  sacred  associations  in  the 
memory  of  some  of  our  readers : 

"  June  15,  1856,  Sabbath  evening,  the  pastor  called  a  meet- 
ing of  the  church  in  the  room  No.  6,  of  the  chapel  building, 
recently  fitted  up  as  the  President's  lecture  room.  As  the  room 
is  designed,  not  only  for  the  President's  literary  exercises,  but 
for  small  religious  meetings,  church  prayer-meetings,  etc.,  it  was 
especially  set  apart  this  evening,  and  consecrated  to  such  uses." 

This  room,  thus  set  apart,  now  known  as  the  Senior  Recita- 
tion Room,  on  the  first  floor  in  the  north-east  corner  of  the 
chapel  building,  was,  for  several  years,  the  place  for  holding  in- 
quiry meetings,  as  well  as  church  meetings  and  the  daily  prayer- 
meetings  ;  and  we  doubt  not,  many  souls  have  been  "  born 
there,"  and  many  more  have  there  been  quickened  and  strength- 
ened in  their  spiritual  life.  More  recently,  the  Society  of  In- 
quiry Room  has  succeeded  it  as  the  place  of  the  daily  prayer- 
meetings  of  the  students.  The  old  "  Rhetorical  Room,"  which 
was  "the  place  where  prayer  was  wont  to  be  made,"  from  the 
first  opening  of  the  chapel  building — the  old  Rhetorical  Room 
repeatedly  changed  in  its  sittings,  and  at  length  enlarged  by 

1  The  ordaining  prayer  was  assigned  to  President  Stearns,  but  he  being  unwell, 
the  part  was  performed  by  Dr.  Kirk. 


472  HISTORY   OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

the  addition  of  what  was  once  the  Senior  Recitation  Room,  and 
made  over  into  "  the  small  chapel,"  has  been  for  more  than  forty 
years  the  chief  place  where  officers  and  students  have  come  to- 
gether for  their  religious  meetings,  whether  lectures  or  prayer- 
meetings,  and  has  witnessed  more  scenes  of  deep  religious  inter- 
est, and  is  more  hallowed  in  the  memory  of  teachers  and  pupils 
than  any  other  place  in  the  College  buildings  or  on  the  College 
grounds.  Next  to  this  in  the  recollections  of  the  pious  students, 
perhaps,  are  the  four  recitation  rooms  on  the  first  floor  where 
the  classes  have  held  their  weekly  religious  meetings  ever  since 
the  rooms  have  been  in  existence,1  and  which  have  thus  been 
consecrated  scarcely  more  to  literature  and  science  than  to  re- 
ligion. 

The  following  record  notes  a  change  of  some  interest  in  the 
history  of  the  College  Church :  "  On  the  evening  previous  [to 
the  communion,]  September  25,  1869,  a  special  meeting  of  the 
church  was  called,  and  elected  E.  S.  Snell  and  Edward  Hitch- 
cock as  permanent  deacons  of  the  church.  The  practice  here- 
tofore had  been  to  select  two  of  the  Senior  class  to  serve  for 
one  year."  There  were  pleasant  things  about  the  old  usage. 
But  the  new  arrangement  which  has  now  existed  two  or  three 
years,  avoids  some  evils  and  dangers  incidental  to  the  old,  and 
has  proved  highly  acceptable  to  all  the  members.  We  may  here 
add,  that  Prof.  Snell  has  been  clerk  of  the  church  since  the 
death  of  Prof.  Fiske ;  and  all  our  records  are  in  the  handwrit- 
ing of  these  two  honored  and  beloved  Professors. 

1  The  three  lower  classes  have  had  their  class  meetings  in  the  Greek,  Latin  and 
Mathematical  Rooms  of  the  old  chapel  ever  since  the  building  was  erected.  The 
Senior  class  held  its  meeting  in  the  old  Senior  Eecitation  Room,  (alias  Theological 
Koom,)  till  that  was  united  with  the  Rhetorical  Room  to  form  the  small  Chapel. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

TRUSTEES    AND    OTHER    OFFICERS  DECEASED    OR  RESIGNED 
UNDER   THE  PRESIDENCY  OF  DR.  STEARNS. 

THROUGH  the  remarkable  providence  of  God,  no  member  of 
the  Faculty  has  died  in  office  during  the  sixteen  years  of  Dr. 
Steajns'  presidency,  and  only  three  have  deceased  who  during 
this  period  have  been  connected  with  the  Faculty. 

Tutor  Edwin  Dimock,  of  the  Class  of  '54,  was  Tutor  here 
only  one  year,  (1856-7).  He  was  an  accurate  scholar  and  a 
good  teacher.  Ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  church  in 
Orange,  Mass.,  in  1858,  he  had  been  in  the  pastoral  office  only 
a  short  time,  when,  by  hard  study  and  faithful  labor,  he  brought 
on  him  an  attack  of  erysipelas  in  the  head  which  necessitated  his 
asking  a  dismission.  Ill  health  followed  him  the  remainder  of 
his  life,  and  he  died  in  Colorado,  November  3,  1865,  at  the  age 
of  thirty-seven. 

Dr.  Newton  S.  Manross,  who  has  been  mentioned  in  a  former 
chapter  as  taking  the  place  of  Prof.  Clark  during  the  first  year 
of  his  absence  in  the  war,  was  a  man  of  great  promise  in  science 
and  rare  nobility  of  character.  A  great  favorite  with  officers 
and  students,  he  stood  up  boldly  for  the  Christian  faith,  and 
used  all  his  influence  for  the  highest  good  of  the  students  and 
the  prosperity  of  the  Institution.  Soon  after  leaving  Amherst, 
he  raised  a  company  of  volunteers  in  his  native  place,  Bristol, 
Conn.,  was  chosen  their  captain,  and  fell  at  Antietam  at  the  very 
commencement  of  the  battle,  animating  and  leading  them  on  to 
the  bloody  conflict. 

Mr.  A.  B.  Kittredge,  of  the  Class  of  '69,  remained  in  Amherst 
the  year  after  his  graduation,  as  an  assistant  of  Prof.  Hitchcock, 
partly  in  the  Gymnasium,  and  partly  in  the  Appleton  Cabinet, 


474  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

training  and  drilling  the  lower  classes  in  the  former,  where  he 
had  been  captain  of  his  own  class  through  the  course,  and  in 
the  latter  labeling  anew  the  collections.  With  a  genuine  love 
of  science  he  united  a  rare  love  of  Christ  and  the  souls  of  men 
which  made  his  influence  in  College,  whether  as  a  student  or  an 
instructor,  a  positive  Christian  influence,  and  which  impelled 
him  strongly  to  the  life  of  a  missionary.  But  just  before  the 
close  of  the  year,  he  was  taken  with  bleeding  at  the  lungs,  and 
going  home  to  his  father's  house,  died  of  quick  consumption  be- 
fore he  had  entered  on  what  he  contemplated  as  his  life's  work, 
but  having  already  accomplished  much,  and  lived  a  long  life, 
according  to  the  standard  of  the  Christian  poet :  "  That  life  is 
long  which  answers  life's  great  end." 

Seven  Trustees  have  terminated  their  connection  with  the 
College,  during  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Stearns,  viz :  Hon.  Linus 
Child,  Hon.  George  Grennell,  Rev.  Jacob  Ide,  and  Rev.  Jonathan 
Leavitt,  by  resignation ;  Rev.  Joseph  S.  Clark,  Hon.  William  B. 
Calhoun,  and  Rev.  Joseph  Vaill,  by  death. 

Hon.  Linus  Child  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Corporation 
by  the  Legislature,  January  31,  1844,  in  place  of  Hon.  Samuel 
C.  Allen,  deceased,  and  resigned  his  trust  at  the  annual  meeting 
in  August,  1856,  having  been  a  member  during  the  entire  presi- 
dency of  Dr.  Hitchcock  and  two  years  of  the  presidency  of  Dr. 
Stearns.  He  was  born  in  Woodstock.  Conn.,  February  27, 1802, 
pursued  his  preparatory  studies  partly  with  Rev.  Samuel  Backus 
of  North  Woodstock,  and  partly  at  Bacon  Academy  in  Col- 
chester, graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1824,  immediately  after 
entered  the  Law  School  at  New  Haven,  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  Connecticut  in  1826,  and  in  1827  commenced  the  practice 
of  law  in  Southbridge,  Mass.,  where  he  was  married  in  1830, 
and  became  a  member  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  1841. 
In  1845,  he  withdrew  from  the  practice  of  the  law  in  order  to 
take  charge  of  the  Boott  Manufacturing  Company's  business  at 
Lowell,  in  which  he  continued  seventeen  years.  In  1862,  he 
resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Boston,  and  continued 
in  it  till  his  death,  August  26,  1870. 

"  As  a  lawyer,  he  tried  many  cases  and  was  very  successful 
before  a  jury,  partly  because  they  believed  him  honest  in  his 


HON.   LINUS    CHILD.  475 

utterances,  and  partly  because  he  tried,  as  a  rule,  only  those 
cases  in  which  he  believed  himself  to  have  espoused  the  right." 

While  he  was  engaged  in  the  practice  of  the  law  at  Stur- 
bridge,  he  was  six  times  elected  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts 
Senate,  and  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  railroads,  he  did 
much  to  shape  the  charters  and  the  laws  of  these  institutions 
which  have  almost  revolutionized  our  habits  of  business  and  of 
life. 

At  Lowell,  he  served  in  the  Board  of  Aldermen  in  1847,  in 
the  Common  Council  in  1851,  as  a  member  of  the  School  Com- 
mittee in  1859  and  1860,  and  was  always  a  prominent  man,  not 
only  in  business  but  in  political  and  religious  affairs.  He  was  a 
teacher  in  the  Sabbath  school,  both  in  Lowell  and  in  Boston, 
andj"elt  such  a  watchful  and  lively  interest  in  the  personal  as 
well  as  the  religious  welfare  of  his  pupils  that  he  was  virtually 
the  pastor  of  his  class.  At  Lowell,  he  had  also  a  Bible  class 
of  young  men,  with  an  average  attendance  of  at  least  fifty ;  and 
his  pastor,  Rev.  Mr.  Jenkins,  says :  "It  was  a  great  pleasure  to 
go  into  it  as  I  often  did,  and  listen  to  his  explanations  of  God's 
word,  his  answers  to  questions,  and  his  faithful  and  affectionate 
persuasions."  For  thirty  years  he  was  a  pillar  in  the  church, 
constant  and  helpful  at  all  the  meetings,  instructive  and  per- 
suasive in  religious  addresses  beyond  most  ministers,  with  the 
advantage  of  not  being  regarded  as  speaking  professionally,  in 
short,  as  one  of  his  pastors  says,  one  of  those  described  by  Paul : 
"  Fellow-workers  unto  the  kingdom  of  God,  which  have  been  a 
comfort  unto  me." 

A  corporate  member  of  the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  eleven  years  a  member  of  the 
Prudential  Committee  and  during  all  that  time  the  unpaid  legal 
adviser  of  the  Board ;  the  Secretaries  looked  to  him  for  wise 
counsel  and  leaned  on  him  as  a  firm  support,  and  none  who  dur- 
ing this  period  were  accustomed  to  attend  the  annual  meetings 
of  the  Board,  will  forget  his  commanding  presence,  or  the  wis- 
dom and  weight  of  his  remarks  when  he  participated  in  the 
discussions. 

Mr.  Child  was  a  Trustee  of  Phillips  Academy  and  the  The- 
ological Seminary  at  Andover  as  well  as  of  Amherst  College. 


476  HISTOKY   OF   AMHERST  COLLEGE. 

Indeed  he  was  one  of  those  wise  counselors  whose  advice  and 
influence  are  sought  by  all  who  know  them,  and  the  only  limit 
to  the  number  of  their  public  trusts  is  their  ability  to  bear  them. 
It  was  on  this  ground,  and  not  for  any  want  of  interest  in  the 
College,  that  he  resigned  his  trust  at  Amherst  fourteen  years 
before  his  death.  His  counsel  and  influence,  invaluable  at  all 
times,  were  especially  useful  in  those  plans  and  efforts,  soon 
after  Dr.  Hitchcock  came  into  the  presidency,  which  turned  the 
tide  of  popular  feeling  in  favor  of  the  College,  and  established 
it  for  the  first  time  on  a  firm  pecuniary  foundation.  The  Trus- 
tees accepted  his  resignation  with  a  vote  of  thanks  "  for  the 
warm  interest  he  had  ever  manifested  in  the  prosperity  of  the 
College  and  for  his  efficient  and  very  acceptable  efforts  in  its  be- 
half." Dr.  Hitchcock,  in  his  "  Reminiscences,"  says  of  him  :  "  He 
was  for  twelve  years  a  wise  and  trusty  counselor  and  advocate 
of  the  College.  He  was  ever  prompt  to  attend  the  meetings  of 
the  Board  and  to  second  efforts  in  intervals  between  the  meet- 
ings for  obtaining  funds  and  for  other  purposes,  and  as  he 
came  into  the  Board  in  its  darkest  day,  he  had  abundant  oppor- 
tunity to  show  his  fidelity  to  a  cause  which  was  then  unpopular." 
Hon.  George  Grennell,  also,  was  one  of  those  excellent  men 
whom  the  Legislature  of  the  State  has  given  to  the  corporation 
of  Amherst  College.  He  was  elected  Trustee  in  place  of  Hon. 
James  Fowler,  February  27,  1839,  and  after  more  than  twenty 
years  of  devoted  service  reluctantly  resigned  his  trust  in  1859, 
because  the  summer  session  of  the  court  of  which  lie  was  clerk, 
being  regularly  held  the  same  week  with  the  Commencement 
exercises,  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  attend  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  Board.  He  was  born  in  Greenfield,  Mass.,  Decem- 
ber 25,  1786.  After  a  course  of  preparatory  study  at  home  and 
in  Deerfield  Academy,  he  entered  Dartmouth  College,  and 
graduated  in  1808  with  the  highest  honors  of  his  class.  He 
studied  law  in  Greenfield  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1811 ; 
was  prosecuting  attorney  for  Franklin  County  from  1820  to 
1828 ;  a  member  of  the  State  Senate  from  1824  to  1827  ;  and 
the  representative  of  his  district  in  Congress  through  five  suc- 
cessive sessions,  from  1829  to  1840.  One  of  those  public  men, 
rare  at  that  time  and  too  few  in  every  age,  who  unite  political 


HON.    GEOEGE   GEENNELL.  477 

integrity  with  unswerving  moral  and  Christian  principle,  he  stood 
up  for  temperance  and  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  attended 
church  and  the  Congressional  prayer-meeting,  and  was  always 
known  at  Washington  as  a  Christian  law-maker  and  statesman. 
Taking  an  active  and  influential  part  in  the  political  campaign 
of  1840,  he  was  one  of  the  presidential  electors  and  cast  the 
vote  of  Massachusetts  for  Gen.  Harrison. 

From  1849  to  1853,  Mr.  Grennell  was  judge  of  probate  for 
the  county,  and  from  that  time  was  for  twelve  years  elected 
clerk  of  the  courts  for  Franklin  County. 

Quite  early  in  his  business  life  he  became  a  member  of  the 
Congregational  Church  in  Greenfield,  and  for  more  than  fifty 
years  was  one  of  its  deacons,  resigning  that  position  only  with 
the*feeling  that  while  the  church  should  have  the  benefit  of  his 
counsels,  the  more  active  duties  of  the  office  should  be  per- 
formed by  younger  members. 

His  services  to  Amherst  College  began  before  the  College  had 
an  existence.  His  speech  before  the  convention  in  1818,  of 
which  he  was  secretary,  was  the  most  brilliant  speech  of  the  oc- 
casion, and  influenced  the  convention  powerfully  in  favor  of 
establishing  the  College,  and  locating  it  in  Amherst.  Though 
not  then  a  Trustee,  he  sustained  it  by  his  vote  and  influence  in 
the  struggle  for  the  charter.  As  a  member  of  the  corporation, 
again,  he  stood  by  it  through  all  the  years  of  financial  embar- 
rassment which  threatened  its  very  existence,  withdrawing  from 
his  official  connection  with  it  only  when  it  was  established  on  a 
firm  foundation,  and  then  resigning  his  trust  only  because  he 
estimated  its  value  and  sacredness  too  highly  to  retain  the  office 
when  circumstances  forbade  his  discharging  its  duties.  During 
the  first  six  years  of  his  Trusteeship,  Mr.  Grennell  was  also  a 
member  of  the  Prudential  Committee  and  attended  its  meetings, 
at  no  small  expense  of  time  and  toil,  as  often  as  other  duties 
would  permit.  The  records  of  the  Trustees  show  that  he  was 
also  very  frequently  placed  upon  those  special  committees,  both 
financial  and  literary,  on  which  the  most  laborious  and  responsi- 
ble duties  were  devolved. 

Mr.  Grennell  is  still  living,  in  the  eighty-sixth  year  of  his 
age,  with  "  his  eye  not  dim  nor  his  natural  force  abated,"  the 


478  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

patriarch  not  only  of  a  numerous  and  happy  family  of  children 
and  grandchildren,  but  of  the  church  of  which,  for  half  a  cent- 
ury he  was  an  officer  and  is  still  an  active  member,  and  of  the 
county  of  whose  civil,  political  and  religious  interests  he  has  so 
long  been  the  leader  and  representative. 

Rev.  Joseph  Sylvester  Clark,  D.  D.,  of  the  Class  of  '27,  was 
elected  a  Trustee  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  corporation  in 
August,  1852,  to  fill  the  vacancy  created  by  the  death  of  his 
friend,  Prof.  B.  B.  Edwards.  As  Prof.  Edwards  was  the  first, 
so  Dr.  Clark  was  the  second,  alumnus  chosen  by  the  Trustees 
themselves  to  this  office.  Judge  Perkins  of  the  Class  of  '32, 
became  a  member  of  the  Board  in  1850,  but  he  was  elected  by 
the  Legislature. 

The  following  is  a  brief  summary  of  the  principal  facts  in  the 
life  of  Dr.  Clark  with  their  dates : 

Born  December  19,  1800,  at  Manomet  Ponds,  Plymouth, 
Mass.,  entered  Amherst  Academy,  July,  1822,  and  Amherst  Col- 
lege, September,  1823 ;  graduated  at  Amherst  in  1827  and  en- 
tered Andover  Theological  Seminary  the  same  year;  Tutor  at 
Amherst,  1828-9;  completed  the  course  at  Andover  in  1831; 
ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in 
Sturbridge,  Mass.,  December  21,  1831,  where  he  remained  seven 
years  ;  secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  Home  Missionary  Society 
eighteen  years,  (1839-1857)  ;  secretary  of  the  Congregational 
Library  Association  eight  years,  (1853-1861)  ;  died  at  Ply- 
mouth, August  17,  1861,  in  the  sixty-first  year  of  his  age. 

Prof.  Park  who  was  his  classmate  at  Andover,  and  who  wrote 
the  biographical  sketch  of  Dr.  Clark  in  The  Congregational  Quar- 
terly, has  preserved  interesting  traits  and  recollections  of  his 
College  and  Seminary  life.  The  following  extract  from  his 
"  day-book  "  of  expenses  in  1823,  when  he  entered  College,  is 
too  characteristic  of  the  man,  the  College  and  the  times  to  be 
omitted : 

Amherst,  September  26,  1823.     This  day  I  began  boarding  myself  in 
College,  and  bought  bowl,  spoon,  knife  and  fork,  with  one-half 

dozen  crackers,  .     .     .    .    , $0  31 

September  27.     Bought  share  in  saw  for  wood, 14 

October  2.     Sold  my  right  in  saw, 14 


DE.   JOSEPH   S.    CLAEK.  479 

He  graduated  with  the  highest  honors  of  his  class.  The  sub- 
ject of  his  Valedictory  Oration  was,  "  The  Responsibilities  of 
Literary  Men."  The  Master's  Oration  at  the  same  Commence- 
ment was  delivered  by  Prof.  Edwards.  His  classmate,  and  af- 
terwards fellow-tutor  and  fellow-trustee,  Dr.  Paine,  says : 

"  He  was  exceedingly  methodical  and  minute  in  all  plans  and 
details,  and  he  then  foreshadowed  what  he  has  since  exhibited, 
a  remarkable  .skill  in  historical  and  statistical  investigations. 
He  was  made  the  Class  Secretary,  and  continued  to  hold  this 
office  until  his  death."  He  was  also  the  Secretary  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Andover  Alumni  from  the  death  of  Prof.  Edwards  until 
his  own  decease. 

His  pastorate  at  Sturbridge  was  marked  by  frequent  revivals 
ancTlarge  additions  to  the  church.  One  hundred  and  thirteen 
were  admitted  to  it  during  the  first  year  of  his  ministry,  twenty- 
two  during  the  second  year,  twelve  in  the  third,  twelve  in  the 
fourth,  forty-nine  in  the  fifth,  and  fourteen  in  the  sixth. 

He  left  his  people  and  the  pastoral  office  with  impaired  health 
to  enter,  after  only  a  few  months'  rest,  the  secretaryship  of  the 
Massachusetts  Home  Missionary  Society,  which  was  the  great 
work  of  his  life.  His  own  early  history,  his  religious  experi- 
ence, his  labors  as  a  lay-missionary  while  in  College  and  the 
Theological  Seminary,  his  pastoral  work — all  his  antecedents, 
not  less  than  his  personal  habits  and  characteristics  fitted  him 
peculiarly  for  this  office.  He  gained  the  confidence  of  the 
feeble  churches,  nay,  their  grateful  and  affectionate  veneration. 
The  home  missionaries  loved  him  as  their  brother,  and  honored 
him  as  their  father.  He  had  the  confidence  also  of  the  wealth- 
ier churches  and  their  pastors,  and  knew  the  way  to  their  purses 
as  well  as  to  their  hearts.  He  left  the  Massachusetts  Home 
Missionary  Society  a  power  in  the  land,  and  performed  a  work 
not  only  for  the  feeble  churches  of  Massachusetts  but  for  home 
missions  which,  as  Prof.  Park  says,  "  could  have  been  performed 
by  very  few  persons." 

From  this  he  passed  naturally  and  gradually  into  the  new  and 
more  difficult  enterprise  of  the  Congregational  Library  Asso- 
ciation. His  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  Congregational 
churches  of  New  England  and  the  West  impressed  strongly  on 


480  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

his  mind  the  conviction  that  they  needed  a  bond  of  union,  a 
centre  of  attraction  and  more  esprit  du  corps.  At  the  same 
time  the  place  of  his  birth  and  his  admiration  for  the  Pilgrims 
led  him  into  full  sympathy  with  any  effort  to  recover  and  pre- 
serve the  records  of  early  New  England  history.  He  became 
the  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Congregational  Library  As- 
sociation in  1853,  and  in  1857  resigned  his  connection  with  the 
Home  Missionary  Society  in  order  to  become  its  financial  agent. 
The  last  four  years  of  his  life  he  devoted  to  cultivating  public 
sentiment  in  favor  of  the  objects  of  this  society  and  soliciting 
funds  for  the  erection  of  a  memorial  building  worthy  to  com- 
memorate the  Congregational  Fathers,  and  suitable  to  hold  the 
records  of  their  faith.  He  was  the  architect,  and,  while  he 
lived,  the  chief  builder  of  that  enterprise.  "  If  any  one  .man 
formed  the  bone  and  sinew  of  the  society,"  says  Prof.  Park, 
"  that  man  was  Dr.  Clark."  Under  the  auspices  of  this  asso- 
ciation, The  Congregational  Quarterly  was  established  in  De- 
cember, 1858,  of  which  he  was  senior  editor  until  his  death. 

Entering  Amherst  College  in  1823,  only  two  years  after  the 
opening,  from  that  time  he  always  cherished  towards  her  a  truly 
filial  affection.  Feeling  it  to  be  his  duty  and  his  privilege  to 
transfer  his  relations,  he  became  one  of  the  earliest  members  of 
the  College  Church — it  was  a  disappointment  and  a  trial  to  him 
that  an  unexpected  delay  in  the  arrival  of  his  letter  of  dismis- 
sion, prevented  his  name  from  being  enrolled  among  those  who 
first  constituted  it. 

Only  one  year  after  his  graduation,  he  was  chosen  Tutor.  He 
succeeded  Mr.  B.  B.  Edwards  in  this  office,  as  he  afterwards  did 
in  that  of  Trustee.  Mr.  Snell  and  Mr.  Edwards  were  the  only 
alumni  who  had  preceded  him  in  the  tutorship.  Looking  at 
him  as  a  Tutor  from  the  position  not  of  a  pupil  but  of  an  upper 
class  man,  and  knowing  him  only  as  he  appeared  out  of  the  rec- 
itation room,  I  always  think  of  him  as  a  Barnabas,  "  a  son  of 
consolation,"  "a  good  man,  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of  faith." 
The  best  lesson  which  he  taught  the  students,  was  his  life. 

In  the  Theological  Seminary,  in  the  pastoral  office,  in  both 
his  secretaryships,  he  never  lost  an  opportunity  to  speak  a  good 
word  for  his  Alma  Mater — nay,  he  sought  every  possible  oppor- 


DR.   CLARK.  481 

(unity  to  do  her  service.  In  1851,  the  Trustees  conferred  on 
him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity.  In  1852,  they  elected 
him  a  member  of  the  Corporation.  During  the  nine  years  of 
his  connection  with  the  Board,  he  was  present  at  every  meeting 
of  the  Trustees  annual  and  special,  two  only  excepted.  "  He 
was  punctual  and  constant,"  says  President  Stearns,  "  in  his  at- 
tendance on  the  meetings  of  the  Board  ;  a  working  man  in  the 
details  of  its  business,  and  ready  at  all  times  to  make  personal 
sacrifices  for  the  College.  But  few,  if  any,  of  its  guardians,  if 
I  may  judge  from  the  records  as  well  as  in  late  years  from  my 
own  observation,  have  originated  more  important  measures,  or 
carried  them  through  with  more  success."  l  Prof.  Park,  with 
no  less  truth  than  point,  says :  "  Dr.  Clark,  like  Prof.  Edwards, 
felt  such  a  personal  attachment  to  the  College,  that  he  loved  to 
deny  himself  in  its  behalf.  He  was  so  whole-souled  and  free- 
hearted in  his  sacrifices  for  it,  as  to  make  the  adage  appear  both 
false  and  strange  that  corporations  have  no  souls.  He  may 
safely  be  called  a  model  Trustee ;  and  his  example  is  a  rebuke 
to  men  who  lend  their  bodies  to  a  corporation,  and  leave  their 
souls  elevated  and  unincorporated."  2 

At  the  last  meeting  of  the  Trustees  which  he  attended,  in 
July,  1861,  they,  by  recorded  vote,  placed  at  his  disposal  the 
manuscript  of  Dr.  Humphrey,  recently  deceased,  and  all  other 
documents  of  the  kind,  and  requested  him  to  prepare  a  history 
of  the  College, "  to  be  given  to  the  public  under  the  supervision 
and  direction  of  the  corporation."  Though  in  imperfect  health, 
he  began  at  once  to  sketch  the  plan  and  write  a  few  notes  of 
his  history,  but  before  the  expiration  of  the  next  month,  his 
work  on  earth  had  ceased.  He  helped  not  a  little  to  make  the 
history  which  he  was  so  well  qualified,  but,  alas !  was  not  per- 
mitted to  write. 

Dr.  Clark  wrote  much  for  the  public  and  planned  to  write 
much  more.  Near  the  close  of  his  pastorate,  he  published  "An 
Historical  Sketch  of  Sturbridge,  Mass.,  from  its  first  settlement 
to  the  present  time."  Shortly  after  retiring  from  the  Home 
Missionary  service,  he  published  a  volume  entitled  "  A  Histori- 
cal Sketch  of  the  Congregational  Churches  of  Massachusetts, 

1  See  Biographical  sketch  in  Congregational  Quarterly,  January,  1862.         2  Ibid. 
31 


482  HISTORY  OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

from  1620  to  1858."  Copies  of  his  unpublished  official  letters 
which  he  left  in  the  archives  of  the  Massachusetts  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society,  fill  seven  quarto  volumes.  His  connection  with 
the  Congregational  Library  Association  was  still  more  fruitful 
in  suggestions  and  materials  for  the  history  of  the  churches. 
Only  sixteen  days  before  his  death,  he  said  to  Prof.  Park :  "  I 
am  now  ready  to  publish  what  I  have  been  accumulating  during 
the  last  twenty  years.  I  desire  to  devote  the  rest  of  my  life  to 
the  preparation  of  several  volumes  for  which  I  have  been  col- 
lecting the  materials."  "  When  he  went  down  to  his  grave," 
adds  the  Professor,  "  he  seems  to  have  carried  with  him  more 
knowledge  of  facts  involved  in  the  history  of  the  Massachusetts 
churches  than  is  possessed  by  any  living  man.  His  death  is  an 
irreparable  loss  to  the  cause  of  our  ecclesiastical  literature." 

Rev.  Jacob  Ide,  D.  D.,  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Corpora- 
tion at  their  annual  meeting  in  August,  1839,  in  the  place  of 
Rev.  Joshua  Crosby  deceased,  and  resigned  his  trust  at  the  an- 
nual meeting  in  July,  1863,  having  held  the  office  almost  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century.  A  native  of  Attleboro,  Mass.,  he  graduated 
with  high  honor  at  Brown  University  in  1809,  and  finished  his 
theological  studies  at  Andover,  in  1812,  being  a  member  of 
the  second  class  that  went  through  the  entire  course  at  that 
Seminary — the  class  of  those  pioneers  of  American  Missions, 
Mills  and  Richards  and  Warren.  On  the  2d  of  November, 
1814,  he  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  Second  Con- 
gregational church  in  Medway,  Mass.,  where  he  still  remains,  a 
rare  and  beautiful  example  of  the  New  England  pastor,  grow- 
ing in  wisdom,  usefulness  and  honor  as  he  advances  in  years, 
and  still  "  dwells  among  his  own  people  "  and  although  he  is 
settled  in  a  small  and  obscure  parish  in  the  country,  making 
his  influence  felt  in  morals,  politics,  education  and  religion 
through  the  land.  Having  put  the  finishing  touch  on  his 
professional  training  by  studying  divinity  under  Dr.  Emmons, 
and  marrying  his  daughter,  he  preached  the  doctrines  of  the 
Christian  system  with  the  method,  clearness  and  argumenta- 
tive force  by  which  that  divine  was  distinguished.  And  the 
fruits  of  such  preaching,  united  with  systematic  instruction 
of  the  children  and  youth  in  the  Catechism,  in  Bible  classes 


EEV.  DR.  JACOB    IDE.  483 

and  Sabbath  schools,  and  the  use  of  other  suitable  means,  were 
seen  in  the  steady  growth  of  the  church  in  numbers,  intelli- 
gence and  piety,  as  well  as  in  frequent  special  seasons  of  revival 
which  brought  in  large  additions  to  the  church.  In  the  summer 
of  1827,  about  one  hundred  were  supposed  to  have  become  the 
subjects  of  Divine  grace  ;  in  1857-8,  there  was  an  enlargement 
of  the  church  by  the  addition  of  seventy  members ;  and  the 
whole  number  received  into  the  church  during  the  first  fifty 
years  of  his  pastorate,  was  five  hundred  and  sixteen,  making  an 
average  of  a  fraction  over  ten  each  year.  During  the  same  time, 
he  solemnized  four  hundred  and  thirty-two  marriages,  adminis- 
tered five  hundred  and  ten  baptisms,  and  attended  seven  hundred 
and  forty-three  funerals  in  his  own  parish,  besides  a  large  num- 
ber hx,neighboring  towns.  In  his  semi-centennial  discourse,  he 
says  in  his  simple  and  naive  style  :  "  I  have  attended  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  ecclesiastical  councils,  and  been  requested 
to  attend  ten  more  which  my  circumstances  at  the  time  would 
not  allow.  I  have  written,  I  can  not  say  how  many  sermons. 
They  are  not  numbered.  Until  very  lately  I  have  had  no  thought 
that  the  public  would  ever  feel  any  interest  in  knowing  the  num- 
ber. And  now,  after  having  burnt  some,  and  given  away  some, 
and  torn  up  some,  and  printed  about  forty  in  pamphlet  and  in 
other  forms,  I  can  not  say  what  their  number  is,  and  I  don't 
know  as  I  should  wish  to  if  I  could.  If  they  were  seen  I  ap- 
prehend their  number  would  be  thought  greater  than  their 
merit."  Behold  what  a  "  work "  is  that  of  a  New  England 
country  pastor,  and  at  the  same  time  what  a  harvest  is  his ! 
Such,  have  been  not  a  few  of  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  College. 
Dr.  Ide  has  been  a  pioneer  in  the  cause  of  Temperance,  Anti- 
Slavery  and  Christian  Missions.  His  daughter  married  Mr. 
Torrey  who  died  in  prison  at  Baltimore,  one  of  the  early  martyrs 
in  the  cause  of  Abolition.  The  simple  narrative  which  he  has 
given  in  his  semi-centennial  discourse  of  his  own  fruitless  efforts 
to  obtain  the  release  of  that  son-in-law  is  full  of  pathos,  and 
reads  strangely  in  our  day :  "  I  spent  nearly  two  months  in  un- 
successful efforts  to  procure  Mr.  Torrey 's  release  from  prison.  I 
procured  and  caused  to  be  sent  to  the  Governor  of  Maryland,  a 
petition  to  this  end,  bearing  a  long  list  of  the  names  of  distin- 


484  HISTORY   OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

guished  merchants  and  civilians,  lawyers  and  judges,  among 
whom  was  the  name  of  the  judge  that  sentenced  him  and  also 
the  names  of  the  directors  of  the  penitentiary  where  he  was  con- 
fined. I  went  myself  in  person  to  the  Governor  with  a  certifi- 
cate from  the  Surgeon  of  the  prison  that  Mr.  Torrey  was  in  the 
last  stages  of  a  consumption,  and  could  survive  but  a  very  short 
time.  My  plea  was  that  as  the  penalty  already  inflicted  was 
greater  than  the  State  originally  intended,  amounting  in  its  ulti- 
mate effects  to  death,  I  might  be  permitted  to  take  him  home 
with  me  that  he  might  die  with  his  friends.  The  reply  of  the 
Governor  was,  '  I  could  with  more  safety  release  two  or  three 
murderers  than  one  person  guilty  of  abducting  slaves.'  I  was 
obliged  to  leave  the  prisoner  in  the  han'ds  of  His  Excellency 
until  death  released  him  from  his  bonds." 

In  the  years  1830  and  1831,  Dr.  Ide  was  repeatedly  solicited 
to  accept  the  Professorship  of  Theology  in  the  Seminary  at  Ban- 
gor.  But  between  his  modesty,  his  imperfect  health  and  the  ir- 
reconcilable opposition  of  his  people,  he  declined  the  appoint- 
ment. For  similar  reasons  he  declined  many  other  flattering 
invitations.  "  I  have  been  invited  to  preach,"  he  says,  "  before 
the  Convention  of  Congregational  Ministers  of  Massachusetts, 
before  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts,  before  the 
American  Missionary  Association,  and  twice  before  the  Alumni 
of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover ;  but  on  neither  of 
these  occasions  have  I  been  able  to  give  a  favorable  response  to 
the  invitation." 

In  1838,  he  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Di- 
vinity from  Brown  University.  In  1842  he  published  the  works 
of  Dr.  Emmons  in  six  octavo  volumes  and  in  1850  added  another 
volume ;  in  1863,  a  new  edition,  enlarged  and  revised  by  Dr. 
Ide,  was  published  by  the  Congregational  Publication  Society  in 
six  octavo  volumes  of  more  than  eight  hundred  pages  each,  with 
a  new  and  more  extended  memoir  by  Prof.  Park. 

Dr.  Ide's  official  connection  with  Amherst  College  began  in 
the  period  of  reaction  and  decline  under  President  Humphrey 
and  continued  through  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Hitchcock  and 
nearly  ten  years  of  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Stearns,  thus  covering 
about  one-half  of  the  entire  existence  of  the  Institution.  A 


DR.  JONATHAN  LEAVITT.  485 

steadfast  friend  and  wise  counselor  in  those  most  critical  and 
eventful  years  in  its  history,  he  resigned  his  place  only  when 
the  failure  of  his  sense  of  hearing  rendered  him  incapable,  as  he 
thought,  of  rendering  further  service  in  the  meetings  of  the 
Board.  In  sending  at  my  request  the  printed  discourse  to  which 
I  have  more  than  once  referred,  he  writes  me :  "  I  have  only 
one  thing  that  I  am  anxious  to  communicate  to  you  that  you 
will  not  be  likely  to  gain  frotn  a  perusal  of  this  document,  and 
that  is,  that  I  resigned  my  place  as  Trustee  of  the  College  only 
because  I  could  not  hear  what  passed  in  the  body  on  account  of 
my  deafness.  I  was  deeply  interested  in  the  affairs  of  the  Insti- 
tution and  highly  pleased  with  the  character  and  society  of  the 
gentlemen  with  whom  I  was  associated.  I  wish  it  understood 
that  I  Tiad  no  other  reason  for  leaving  a  body  of  men  whom  I 
most  highly  respected  and  a  work  which  I  ever  considered  of 
the  highest  importance." 

Rev.  Jonathan  Leavitt,  D.  D.,  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Corporation  at  its  first  annual  meeting  under  the  presidency  of 
Dr.  Stearns  in  1855,  in  place  of  Rev.  Dr.  Packard,  and  resigned 
the  office,  at  the  same  time  with  Dr.  Ide,  in  July,  1863.  Not 
long  after  his  election,  his  health  began  to  decline,  so  as  to 
render  his  attendance  at  the  meetings  of  the  Board  irregular, 
and  the  same  cause,  after  eight  years,  led  to  his  resignation. 
He  entered  the  first  Freshman  class  in  Amherst  College  in 
1821,  graduated  with  the  highest  honors  of  his  class  in  1825, 
was  chosen  Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory  in  place  of  Prof. 
Fowler  in  1844,  but  in  deference  to  the  urgent  wishes  of  his 
people,  declined  the  appointment,  and  received  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  his  Alma  Mater  in  1858. 
He  was  a  highly  acceptable  and  useful  pastor  of  the  Richmond 
Street  Church  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  until  ill-health  incapacitated 
him  for  that  work  as  well  as  for  the  service  of  Amherst  College. 

Hon.  William  B.  Calhoun  was  a  Trustee  thirty-four  years,  a 
longer  time  than  any  other  member  of  the  Board,  with  the  sin- 
gle exception  of  Dr.  Vaill.  He  was  chosen  by  the  Legislature, 
June  10,  1829,  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  death  of 
his  townsman,  Hon.  John  Hooker,  and  his  connection  with  the 
College  ceased  only  with  his  life  in  1863. 


486  HISTORY   OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

William  Barren  Calhoun  was  born  in  Boston,  December  29, 
1795.  His  father  was  a  Scotch  Presbyterian  who  came  to  this 
country  from  the  north  of  Ireland  in  1790 ;  his  mother  was  a 
New  England  Puritan ;  and  his  early  training,  physical,  mental, 
moral  and  religious,  was  such  as  might  have  been  expected  from 
such  a  parentage.  He  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1814,  sus- 
taining a  high  rank  in  the  same  class  with  Joshua  Leavitt, 
Leonard  Withington,  Daniel  Lord  and  Chief  Justice  Storrs. 
Coming  to  Springfield  as  a  young  lawyer,  he  soon  commanded 
the  respect  and  favor  which  he  enjoyed  there  to  so  remarkable 
degree  during  his  whole  life.  He  was  sent  to  the  Legislature 
in  1825  and  continued  a  Representative  for  ten  years ;  the  last 
two  years,  he  was  Speaker  of  the  House.  From  1835  to  1843, 
he  represented  the  district  of  Hampden  and  Hampshire  Coun- 
ties in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  Withdrawing  from 
Congress  in  consequence  of  ill-health,  he  was  elected  to  a  place 
of  high  honor  among  the  presidential  electors  who  cast  the 
vote  of  Massachusetts  for  Henry  Clay  in  1844.  In  1846  and 
1847,  the  people  of  Hampden  County  who  would  not  permit 
him  to  remain  long  in  private  life,  sent  him  to  the  Massachusetts 
Senate,  and  in  both  years  he  was  made  President  of  that  body. 
From  this  position  he  was  transferred  the  next  year  to  the  office 
of  Secretary  of  State,  which  he  held  for  three  years,  till  1851. 
Hence  he  was  driven  by  increasing  ill-health  to  the  retirement 
of  a  farm,  from  which,  however,  he  was  partially  drawn  as 
Commissioner  of  Banks,  from  1853  to  1855,  as  Maj-or  of  Spring- 
field in  1859,  and  as  Representative  in  the  Legislature  in  1861. 
The  too  brief  remainder  of  his  days  was  passed  in  an  unavail- 
ing struggle  with  a  combination  of  diseases,  dyspepsia,  catarrh, 
and  consumption,  of  which  he  died  at  Springfield,  November  8, 
1865,  having  almost  reached  the  age  of  threescore  years  and 
ten,  nearly  half  of  which  he  had  spent  in  various  public  offices, 
without  a  stain  or  a  reproach  upon  his  character,  growing  in  the 
confidence  of  his  constituents,  and  the  affectionate  regards  of 
his  neighbors  and  friends  to  the  last.  Like  not  a  few  of  the 
statesmen  and  sages  of  antiquity,  his  integrity  in  the  public  ser- 
vice was  attested  by  his  poverty,  for  he  lived  a  poor  man  and 
died  leaving  very  little  property.  "  We  never  knew  him  to  seek 


HON.    WILLIAM   B.    CALHOUN.  487 

an  office,"  we  quote  from  an  appreciative  obituary  notice  in  The 
Springfield  Republican,  doubtless  written  by  Mr.  Bowles,  "he 
yielded  to  the  opportunities  for  it  oftener  than  he  would  but 
that  he  was  poor,  and  ill-health  and  disrelish  unfitted  him  for 
the  successful  practice  of  his  profession ;  but  we  never  could 
detect  the  slightest  element  of  the  demagogue  or  the  office- 
seeker  in  his  character  or  his  manners.  The  atmosphere  of  his 
presence  forbade  any  such  ideas.  He  was  consistently,  radi- 
cally democratic  in  his  thought  and  principles,  as  true  a  repub- 
lican as  ever  lived ;  but  his  appearance  and  his  manner  were  al- 
ways dignified,  self-respecting,  unimpassioned.  When  he  spoke, 
particularly  when  he  addressed  a  public  audience,  there  was 
more  of  enthusiasm,  and  he  was  always  earnest  in  conviction 
and  utterance.  In  writing,  too,  his  style  was  far  more  spirited, 
popular  and  enthusiastic  than  would  have  been  imagined  by 
those  not  familiar  with  this  expression  of  his  life.  His  style  was 
pure,  the  purest,  yet  popular  and  enticing.  It  was  both  vigor- 
ous and  effective,  simple  and  elevated. 

"  The  one  superior  element  in  Mr.  Calhoun's  character  and 
life  was  its  high  moral  quality.  It  was  this  and  the  subtle  rec- 
ognition of  it  that  made  him  so  strong  with  the  people,  that 
gave  him  such  influence  with  them  and  such  power  in  public 
places.  We  never  knew  a  man  more  gifted  in  this  respect ;  it 
seemed  an  endowment  of  nature,  indeed,  more  than  a  discipline 
of  life — it  seemed  as  if  he  were  born  into  and  had  always  lived 
in  it.  His  religious  character  grew  out  of  this,  and  became  in 
middle  life,  and  since,  a  conspicuous  and  even  dominating  influ- 
ence with  him.  He  was  very  much  absorbed  in  religious  and 
theological  reading  ;  probably  his  library  was  the  richest  in  these 
respects  in  all  this  region ;  and  the  old  Puritan  habits  and 
thoughts  appeared  to  grow  firm  into  his  nature  and  experience." 

Mr.  Calhoun  was  an  active  member  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  Springfield,  and  a  deacon  of  the  church  at  the 
time  of  his  decease.  Rev.  H.  M.  Parsons,  who  was  then  pastor  of 
the  church,  says  in  a  sermon  preached  shortly  after  his  death : x 
"  The  influence  of  such  an  ancestry  who  combined  the  solid 
strength  of  Scotch  principle  with  the  fervent  devotion  of  Puri- 

1  Printed  in  The  Springfield  Republican. 


488  HISTORY   OF    AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

tan  faith,  is  well  illustrated  in  the  life  of  oar  friend.  The  Bible 
was  early  enshrined  in  his  reverence,  and  destined  to  exert  a 
commanding  influence  on  his  character.  From  earliest  years  he 
was  noted  for  the  serious  cast  of  his  mind.  Before  seven  years 
old  he  had  read  in  course  the  whole  Scriptures  and  during  his 
mature  years  they  were  his  daily  meditation.  From  their  eter- 
nal facts  and  divine  promises  he  drew  strength  and  comfort, 
through  a  long  decline  of  health,  even  to  the  moment  of  death." 
Mr.  Calhoun's  services  to  Amherst  College  were  numerous 
and  various,  and  they  extended  through  the  larger  part  of  its 
entire  history.  Becoming  a  Trustee  in  1829,  he  was  for  several 
years  a  member  also  of  the  Prudential  Committee.  In  1832,  he 
left  the  Speaker's  chair  in  the  House  of  Representatives  to  ad- 
vocate the  petition  for  pecuniary  aid,  and  when  the  College  and 
its  officers  were  assailed  in  the  same  debate,  he  spoke  again  in 
vindication  of  its  character  and  claims.  From  1835  to  1848,  his 
name  appears  on  the  Catalogue  as  Lecturer  on  Political  Econ- 
omy ;  and  although  imperfect  health  and  many  public  engage- 
ments prevented  his  lecturing  often  or  much,  it  was  not  for 
want  of  interest  in  the  College  or  in  political  science,  and  the 
lectures  which  he  did  give,  were  rich  in  thought,  lofty  in  senti- 
ment and  beautiful  in  style.  The  charm  of  his  wisdom  and  elo- 
quence still  lingers  in  my  memory,  and  I  shall  never  forget  his 
graphic  portraiture  of  Jeanie  Deans  and  his  high  and  just  ap- 
preciation of  the  economical  value  of  such  works  of  taste  and 
imagination  as  "  The  Heart  of  Mid-Lothian."  In  his  beautiful 
address  at  the  Dedication  of  the  Cabinet  and  Observatory  in 
1848,  he  insists  on  the  relations  of  Colleges  and  College  Fac- 
ulties to  Public  Economy :  "  What  a  beautiful  illustration  is 
here  [in  Amherst  College]  of  the  true  principles  of  a  just  Pub- 
lic Economy.  The  industry  and  skill  and  sagacity  which  have 
been  faithfully  and  judiciously  applied  to  the  accumulation  of 
private  wrealth,  now  pour  back  their  varied  generous  contribu- 
tions for  the  improvement,  the  refinement  and  the  adornment 
of  that  land  which  has  been  at  once  the  scene  and  the  witness 

of  those  noble  aims  and  efforts In  moulding,  deciphering 

and  drawing  out  these  minds,  are  they  (the  instructors)  not  ad- 
ding, and  to  an  extent  not  to  be  measured,  to  the  wealth,  the  in- 


REV.   DR.  VAILL.  489 

tellectual  not  less  than  the  material  resources,  of  the  commu- 
nity ?  "  This  address  is  an  earnest  and  eloquent  plea  for  a  sym- 
metrical education — for  the  study  of  the  classics  and  the  Bible 
as  well  as  the  physical  sciences,  and  all  under  the  guidance  of 
Christian  principles  and  in  a  missionary  spirit :  "  We  can  not 
dissever  education  and  Christianity."  "  Remember  the  commis- 
sion :  Gro  ye  into  all  the  world.  Improve  the  condition  of  man. 
Wherever  there  may  be  forlornness  and  sorrow,  administer  con- 
solation ;  wherever  depression  and  poverty,  lend  a  helping  hand  ; 
wherever  there  is  a  sin,  invade  it,  probe  it,  gently  but  effectu- 
ally ;  wherever  there  is  ignorance,  enlighten  it."  These  truly 
Christian  utterances  sound  the  key-note  of  the  address.  They 
express  the  sentiments  even  of  the  lay  Trustees  of  Amherst 
Collegg.  They  indicate  the  character  and  spirit,  the  mind  and 
heart  of  William  B.  Calhoun. 

Dr.  Vaill  needs  no  biography  for  any  of  the  alumni  of  Am- 
herst College,  scarcely  for  any  of  its  friends  or  acquaintance  of 
the  present  generation ;  for  they  all  know  him ;  not  to  know 
him  were  to  prove  themselves  unknowing  and  unknown.  Cho- 
sen a  Trustee  in  1821,  four  years  before  the  College  was  incor- 
porated, and  when  that  act  was  granted  in  1825,  appointed  a 
member  of  the  Corporation  by  the  Legislature,  he  was  several 
years  the  youngest  member  of  the  Board.  Continuing  to  hold 
the  office  for  almost  half  a  century,  he  was  known  for  many  years 
as  "•  the  oldest  member  of  the  Board  ;"  so  he  often  called  him- 
self, and  so  he  was  often  called  by  others ;  it  was  a  sort  of  sur- 
name or  sobriquet  as  well  understood  and  almost  as  familiar  as 
his  name  with  the  honorary  title  which  was  inseparably  associa- 
ted with  it.  But  we  must  put  on  record  some  account  of  him 
for  the  benefit  of  future  generations. 

Joseph  Vaill  was  born  at  Hadlyme,  Conn.,  July  28,  1790. 
His  father  and  his  maternal  grandfather  were  both  ministers  in 
Connecticut.  His  father,  Rev.  Joseph  Vaill  of  Hadlyme,  who 
for  more  than  fifty  years  was  pastor  of  the  church  in  that  place, 
was  accustomed  to  take  scholars  into  his  family  and  prepare 
them  for  college.  Rev.  Dr.  Griffin,  Rev.  Dr.  Harvey,  and  Hon. 
William  Hungerford  were  among  his  pupils.  Having  received 
his  preparatory  training  chiefly  at  home  with  his  father,  Joseph 


490  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

entered  Yale  College  in  1807,.  and  graduated  in  1811,  enjoying 
in  a  high  degree  the  respect  of  his  honored  president,  Dr. 
Dwight,  and  the  esteem  of  his  classmates,  among  whom  were 
Roger  Sherman  Baldwin  of  Connecticut,  Francis  Granger  of 
New  York,  Rev.  Prof.  Emerson  of  Andover,  Rev.  Dr.  Spring 
of  New  York  City,  and  Dr.  Joseph  E.  Worcester  the  lexicog- 
rapher. Mr.  Sidney  E.  Morse,  the  founder  of  the  New  York 
Observer  and  the  father  of  the  religious  newspaper  press,  was 
not  only  his  classmate  but  his  roommate,  and  ever  after  his  in- 
timate friend.  The  next  year  after  his  graduation  he  taught 
school  in  Litchfield,  and  in  Salisbury,  Conn.  The  following 
winter  he  studied  theology  with  his  father,  and  the  next  sum- 
mer he  commenced  preaching.  After  preaching  in  different 
places,  in  several  of  which  he  received  invitations  to  settle,  he 
was  ordained  pastor  of  the  church  in  Brimfield,  Mass.,  February 
2,  1814,  his  venerable  father  preaching  the  ordination  sermon, 
and  his  brother,  Rev.  William  F.  Vaill,  also  taking  part  in  the 
services.  Mr.  Vaill  was  then  only  twenty-three  years  of  age. 
The  whole  town,  with  a  population  of  sixteen  hundred  and  only 
one  religious  organization  in  it,  was  his  parish.  There  were 
less  than  seventy  professors  of  religion,  and  scarcely  a  solitary 
young  person  in  the  whole  church.  Hurtful  error  was  widely 
prevalent.  Sound  doctrine  was  offensive  to  many  of  his 
hearers.  The  spiritual  condition  of  the  people  was  as  cold 
and  dreary  as  the  dilapidated,  old-fashioned  church  edifice  in 
which  they  assembled  for  worship  on  the  Sabbath  without  any 
means  of  warming  it  in  mid-winter;  and  many  were  bitterly 
hostile  to  any  change  in  either.  When  the  subject  of  introduc- 
ing stoves  into  the  church  was  under  discussion,  one  gentleman 
rose  and  said :  "  Fellow-citizens,  we  do  not  need  a  stove  in  this 
house  to  warm  it  up,  the  preaching  is  hot  enough  for  that  pur- 
pose." Such  preaching  was  not  long  without  manifest  fruits. 
During  the  first  four  years  of  his  ministry,  years  of  compara- 
tive trial  and  hardship,  as  many  had  been  received  to  the  church 
as  were  members  at  the  time  of  his  settlement.  In  the  autumn 
of  1818,  a  revival  of  great  power — the  first  general  revival  in 
the  whole  history  of  that  church — commenced  which  continued 
for  more  than  a  year  and  brought  into  the  church  at  five  succes- 


MR.    VAILL  AT  BRIMFIELD.  491 

sive  communions  over  a  hundred  souls.  And  from  that  time  "  a 
series  of  revivals  were  experienced,  such  as  were  never  before 
witnessed  on  that  ground,  beginning  in  1818  and  continuing  at 
not  very  distant  intervals  till  1834.  These  revivals  brought  into 
the  church  some  hundreds  of  souls,  produced  a  great  change  in 
the  morals  of  the  town,  and  inspired  the  pastor  with  new  hopes 
in  respect  to  the  religious  future  of  his  people."  ! 

Those  who  knew  Dr.  Vaill  in  his  later  years  will  readily  un- 
derstand that  in  his  prime  he  must  have  been  a  preacher  of  no 
ordinary  power  in  times  of  revival ;  for  his  preaching  was  al- 
ways direct,  pungent,  solemn,  searching,  eminently  practical, 
highly  evangelical,  exhibiting  in  a  clear  and  strong  light  the 
central  truths  of  the  gospel  without  any  admixtures  of  human 
phifesophy,  wielding  "  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word 
of  God,"  naked,  without  anything  to  take  off  its  edge  or  blunt 
its  point.  But  those  who  knew  him  only  in  his  later  years  can 
with  difficulty  realize  the  impression  which  he  seems  to  have 
made  as  the  revival  preacher,  "  the  Boanerges,"  "  the  burning 
and  shining  light  "  in  the  churches  of  the  Brookfield  Association 
in  those  early  revivals.  "  He  was  the  young  America  in  that 
circle  of  pulpits,"  writes  a  native  of  North  Brookfield  who  as- 
cribes his  own  conversion  to  the  power  of  Mr.  Vaill's  preach- 
ing, and  who  is  now  himself  an  able  and  eloquent  preacher  of  the 
Word.2  "He  touched  feelings,  gave  point  and  poignancy  to 
truth,  as  no  contemporary  did.  If  I  am  not  quite  mistaken,  he 
was  the  minister  of  a  new  dispensation  of  pulpit  power  the  hom- 
iletic  versus  the  didactic,  and,  I  fear  I  ought  to  say,  the  dog- 
matic forms.  Fond  as  Dr.  Snell's  parishioners  were  of  hearing 
him  and  sure  as  they  were  to  say,  '  after  all  none  of  the  minis- 
ters quite  come  up  to  ours,'  yet  when  Mr.  Vaill  came  on  ex- 
change, the  town  was  moved.  Everybody  went  that  day  who 
ever  went  at  all.  But  his  noonday  was  in  the  revivals  of  1831. 
He  was  then  about  forty  years  old,  and  a  noble  prime  was  his. 
No  man  so  swayed  assemblies,  and  '  made  fast  the  arrows  of  the 
Almighty'  in  the  hearts  of  men  as  did  he." 

1  Annals  of  the  Church  at  Brimfield,  by  Rev.  Jason  Morse,  an  alumnus  of  the 
Class  of  '45,  who  succeeded  Mr.  Vaill  in  the  pastorate  of  that  church. 

2  Rev.  Lyman  Whiting,  D.  D.,  in  The  Congregationalist,  March  25,  1869. 


492  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST    COLLEGE. 

After  describing  the  sermon  and  the  scene  on  that  Sabbath 
afternoon  when,  Mr.  Vaill  having  exchanged  with  Dr.  Snell,  the 
writer's  own  heart  was  pierced  by  an  arrow  from  the  preacher's 
quiver,  he  proceeds :  "  That  assembly  dispersed  as  few  assem- 
blies ever  do,  so  speechless,  silent,  or  if  a  word  was  spoken, 
flowing  tears  replied.  From  that  hour,  the  town  was  under  con- 
viction. Few  revivals  ever  reach  a  community  as  did  that  fol- 
lowing this  sermon.  Not  a  family  in  town,  I  suppose,  but  was 
moved  to  some  special  seriousness."  A  revival  among  his  own 
people  at  this  time  (1831)  brought  an  addition  of  sixty- one  to  the 
church  in  Brimfield,  of  whom  one-half  were  heads  of  families. 

After  laboring  twenty  years  and  eight  months  in  Brimfield 
with  such  results  as  are  already  sufficiently  indicated,  in  1884, 
Mr.  Vaill  received  a  unanimous  call  from  the  Second  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  Portland,  Me.,  where  he  labored  three  years 
with  a  good  degree  of  acceptance  and  usefulness.  But  the  cli- 
mate did  not  agre.e  with  his  health — he  never  felt  quite  at  home 
there — it  was  not  altogether  a  success.  And  in  the  autumn  of 
1837,  he  was  re-called  to  Brimfield  and  re-installed  over  his  old 
people  who  welcomed  him  to  their  pulpit,  to  their  homes,  and  to 
their  hearts.  He  had  remained  with  them,  however,  only  about 
four  years,  thus  making  his  entire  ministry  to  them  about  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  when  he  yielded  to  the  pressing  call  of  the 
Trustees  and  became  the  General  Agent  of  Amherst  College. 
After  nearly  four  years  of  self-denying  and  indefatigable  service 
to  the  College,  having  accomplished  the  object  of  the  agency  so 
far  as  it  was  possible  for  any  one  to  accomplish  it,  he  accepted  a, 
call  to  Somers,  Conn.,  where,  on  the  6th  of  August,  1845,  he 
was  installed  pastor  of  the  church,  so  long  favored  with  the 
labors  of  Dr.  Charles  Backus  who  kept  there  a  school  of  the 
prophets  in  which  more  than  fifty  young  men  were  fitted  for  the 
ministry.  President  Hitchcock  preached  the  Installation  Ser- 
mon. About  a  year  after  his  settlement,  the  church  enjoyed  a 
revival  of  religion  and  gathered  in  as  the  fruits  of  it  an  addition 
of  fifty  members.  The  last  year  of  his  labors  there  was  also  a 
year  of  revival.  But  he  found  the  field  too  extended  and  the 
work  too  laborious  for  his  advancing  age  ;  and  after  an  accepta- 
ble and  useful  pastorate  of  more  than  nine  years,  having  now 


DR.    VAILL  AT   PALMER.  493 

reached  the  age  of  sixty-four,  he  resigned  his  charge  in  order  to 
accept  a  call  of  the  church  at  Palmer  where  he  would  be  near 
the  scene  of  his  early  ministry,  near  also  to  the  College  in  which 
he  felt  so  deep  an  interest,  and  where,  the  population  being  less 
numerous  and  less  scattered,  the  burden  of  care  and  labor  would 
be  more  easily  borne. 

He  was  installed  over  the  Second  Church  in  Palmer,  Decem- 
ber 6,  1854,  among  whom  he  continued  to  perform  the  duties  of 
pastor  more  than  twelve  years,  still  preaching  with  comfort  to 
himself  and  satisfaction  to  his  hearers,  still  seeing  his  labors 
blessed  with  revivals  of  religion  and  ingatherings  into  the  church. 
At  the  end  of  this  period,  being  now  over  seventy-five  years  of 
age,  he  resigned  his  pastorate  and  relinquished  the  stated  em- 
ployment of  the  ministry,  in  which  he  had  been  engaged  more 
than  "fifty-two  years  since  his  ordination  in  Brimfield.  He  still 
continued  to  preach,  however,  quite  regularly  in  the  neighboring 
pulpits  and  in  destitute  parishes  where  his  services  were  sought, 
and  in  which  they  were  highly  appreciated. 

In  the  Memorial  Sermon,  preached  at  Brimfield,  February  7, 
1864,  commemorative  of  his  settlement  in  that  place  fifty  years 
previous,  which  was  dedicated  to  his  former  charge  and  pub- 
lished at  their  request,  he  gives  the  following  summary  of  his 
labors  in  the  ministry  :  "  I  have  received  six  hundred  and  forty- 
five  persons  to  the  church,  mostly  by  profession,  have  adminis- 
tered seven  hundred  and  sixty-seven  baptisms,  officiated  at 
eight  hundred  and  ninety-six  funerals,  and  joined  in  marriage 
five  hundred  and  thirty-six  couples.  From  the  most  reliable 
data  I  conclude  that  I  must  ha\e  preached  more  than  seven 
thousand  times  and  not  less  than  six  thousand  written  sermons, 
though  my  manuscript  sermons  will  not  greatly  exceed  two 
thousand,  and  of  course  many  of  them  have  been  preached 
again  and  again.  I  may  add  that  I  have  preached  in  all  twenty- 
four  ordination  and  installation  sermons,  besides  a  considerable 
number  on  special  occasions  before  missionary  and  benevolent 
societies." 

Dr.  Vaill  was  once  invited  to  the  Secretaryship  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Home  Missionary  Society,  also  to  the  Western  Agency  of 
the  American  Home  Missionary  Society  in  the  State  of  New 


494  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

York.  He  received  also  several  calls  to  churches,  which  he 
felt  it  his  duty  to  decline.  Besides  his  trusteeship  of  Amherst 
College,  he  was  thirty  years  a  Trustee  of  Monson  Academy, 
almost  fifty  years  a  Trustee  of  Amherst  Academy,  and  a 
Trustee  of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Bangor  while  he  was 
resident  in  Maine. 

In  the  autumn  of  1868,  the  second  Representative  District 
of  Hampden  County  honored  itself  even  more  than  it  honored 
him.  by  electing  Dr.  Vaill  its  representative  in  the  Legislature 
of  Massachusetts.  "  And  it  was  a  delicate  and  not  undeserved 
compliment  paid  him  by  his  colleagues,  when,  out  of  respect  to 
his  years  and  standing,  he  was  allowed  to  select  his  own  loca- 
tion in  the  representative  chamber  before  the  general  drawing 
for  seats  commenced."  l  He  entered  heartily  and  with  a  keen 
relish  into  the  duties  of  this  office.  It  was  hoped  that,  by  his 
knowledge  and  his  personal  influence,  he  might  render  another 
service  to  his  beloved  College  by  furthering  an  application  for 
pecuniary  aid  from  the  Legislature.  His  last  service  as  a  leg- 
islator was  in  connection  with  the  committee  on  the  question 
of  temperance,  then  before  the  Commonwealth.  He  had  just 
prepared  a  clear  and  able  paper,  expressive  of  his  views  and 
the  position  he  wished  to  maintain,  which  he  read  to  his  asso- 
ciates as  he  came  up  with  the  Legislature  on  their  excursion  to 
Amherst.  But  "  he  had  scarcely  set  foot  on  the  platform  at 
Palmer,  when  by  the  rupture  of  some  silver  cord  of  life  within,  he 
was  called  to  recognize  the  mortal  summons.  From  that  hour, 
(on  "Wednesday)  he  steadily  declined,  till  on  the  morning  of 
Monday,  February  22,  1869,  in  the  seventy-ninth  year  of  his 
age  he  peacefully  breathed  out  his  spirit  into  the  bosom  of  his 
God."  "  During  his  closing  hours,  he  requested  his  friends 
present  to  sing  that  beautiful  hymn  so  dear  to  all  Christians, 
'  Jesus,  lover  of  my  soul.'  When  quite  near  the  end,  he  re- 
peated the  words  of  Scripture  :  '  The  sting  of  death  is  sin,  but 
thanks  be  unto  God,  who  giveth  us  the  victory  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.'  "  2 

Mr.  Vaill  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
the  same  year  in  which  the  College  went  into  operation,  (1821,) 

1  Commemorative  Discourse  preached  at  his  funeral  by  President  Stearns.    2  Ibid. 


DR.    VAILL   AS   TRUSTEE   AND   AGENT.  495 

and  continued  a  member  till  his  death  in  1869.  During  this  en- 
tire period  of  almost  half  a  century,  he  was  present  at  every  an- 
nual meeting  of  the  Board,  and  at  nearly  all  the  special  meetings, 
and  in  almost  every  instance  was  present  at  the  opening  of  the 
meeting.  Such  an  example  of  scrupulous  fidelity  to  an  outside 
trust  has  never  come  under  my  observation.  In  1833,  he  was 
made  a  member  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  of  which  he  was 
a  member  nearly  all  the  subsequent  years  of  his  life;  and  he 
was  as  faithful  in  his  attendance  upon  its  meetings  as  upon  those 
of  the  Corporation.  He  entered  almost  from  the  beginning 
upon  the  work  of  collecting  funds  for  the  Institution,  and  as 
early  as  1823  took  various  excursions  for  this  purpose.  In  the 
following  year  he  engaged  again  in  the  work,  and  in  the  course  of 
the  two  years,  he  was  instrumental  of  raising  about  four  thou- 
sand dollars.  His  next  considerable  agency  was  in  1827  and 
1828,  in  the  prosecution  of  which  he  was  absent  from  his  people 
more  than  two  months,  his  pulpit  meanwhile  being  supplied  at 
the  expense  of  the  Corporation.  In  raising  the  fifty  thousand 
dollar  subscription  in  1832,  the  principal  responsibility  devolved 
upon  him.  For  this  purpose  he  visited  New  York  and  Boston 
and  other  cities,  and  on  the  last  day  of  December  he  had  the 
pleasure  of  writing  to  the  President  from  Boston  that  the  sub- 
scription, which,  to  be  binding,  must  be  filled  up  before  the 
close  of  the  year,  was  full — an  announcement  which  was  received 
with  so  much  joy  at  Amherst  that  the  College  buildings  were 
illuminated  in  the  evening.1 

In  the  autumn  of  1841,  Mr.  Vaill  was  finally  dismissed  from  his 
people  at  Brimfield  to  undertake,  at  the  unanimous  and  urgent 
request  of  the  Trustees,  the  herculean  labor  of  raising  by  private 
subscription  a  sum  not  less  than  a  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
The  necessit3r  for  this  effort,  and  its  results,  have  been  narrated 
in  a  former  chapter.  Of  the  struggle  and  toil  and  anxiety  which 
it  cost  him,  let  him  speak  for  himself:  "This  brought  me  into 
positively  the  most  painful  dilemma  of  my  life.  But  there  was 
no  resisting.  There  was  but  one  voice  among  the  friends  of 
the  College  abroad,  and  my  friends  here  (at  Brimfield)  mag- 
nanimously consented  to  give  me  up.  I  was  accordingly  dis- 

1  Cf  p.  185  above. 


496  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

missed,  and  in  due  time  took  leave  of  my  quiet  and  pleasant 
home  in  this  gem  of  a  village,  and  of  a  people  around  whom 
clustered  the  warmest  affections  of  my  heart,  to  be  tossed  from 
pillar  to  post  over  the  land  in  the  thankless  business  of  beg- 
ging, and  especially  thankless  as  it  regarded  Amherst  College, 
which,  as  a  poor  helpless  child,  had  knocked  so  many  times  at 
the  doors  and  hearts  of  the  people  as  well  as  of  the  State,  as  to 
have  created  no  small  degree  of  impatience. 

"  For  four  long  years  I  was  afloat  on  the  wave,  amid  storm 
and  sunshine,  sometimes  indeed  calm  and  pleasant,  and  then 
lashed  up  into  foaming  billows.  But  my  covenant  God  was 
with  me,  and  the  prayers  of  the  friends  of  the  College  were 
with  me,  and  at  length,  after  many  a  struggle,  the  work  was 
in  some  most  gratifying  measure  accomplished,  arid  Amherst 
College  breathed  again,  not  with  feverish  but  quickened  pulse. 
She  breathes  still,  and  for  aught  I  can  discern,  is  like  to  breathe 
till  her  walls  shall  crumble  to  dust  at  the  last  final  catastrophe 
of  the  universe. 

"  My  four  years  at  Amherst"  were  years  of  great  labor,  anxiety 
and  trial,  but  as  to  their  usefulness  to  the  church  and  the  world, 
they  form  the  culminating  point  of  the  half-century  of  my  pub- 
lic life.  I  never  for  one  moment  regretted  engaging  in  this 
work.  Why  should  I  ?  Behold  what  has  been  wrought  through 
the  instrumentality  of  Amherst  College  in  advancing  the  in- 
terests of  sound  learning,  of  natural  and  moral  science  and  of 
evangelical  religion  !  Behold,  what  a  multitude  of  young  men, 
some  of  whom,  as  preachers,  are  among  the  most  gifted  in  the 
land,  has  it  sent  forth  to  bless  the  world.  Nearly  half  of  its 
more  than  fifteen  hundred  graduates  has  it  put  into  the  minis- 
try, numbers  of  whom  are  occupying  some  of  the  most  im- 
portant posts  of  usefulness  in  this  land  and  in  foreign  countries. 
How  many  missionary  stations  all  over  the  heathen  world  are 
now  graced  with  the  sons  of  Amherst,  and  to  how  many  hun- 
dreds of  churches  has  it  given  pious,  faithful  and  efficient  pas- 
tors ?  I  thank  God  that  I  was  thus  early  called  to  labor  for 
this  school  of  the  prophets,  and  it  has  more  emphatically  been 
such  a  school  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  its  graduates,  than 
any  College  in  this,  or,  as  I  believe,  in  any  other  land." 


MASTER    OF   THE  ART   OF   BEGGING.  497 

Mr.  Vaill  was  master  of  the  art  of  "  begging."  He  united  all 
the  earnestness  and  persistency  of  Col.  Graves  with  a  suavity 
and  tact  which  Col.  Graves  did  not  possess.  He  approached 
the  merchants  in  the  great  cities  with  the  courtesy  and  the  con- 
sideration for  their  time  and  their  habits  of  business  which  are 
so  indispensable  to  gain  their  attention  and  favor.  He  hung 
around  the  shops  and  stalls  and  talked  the  mechanics  and  mar- 
ket men  gradually  out  of  their  indifference,  perchance  their 
aversion,  and  into  sympathy  with  his  cause.  He  visited  well- 
to-do  farmers  at  their  houses,  or  on  their  farms,  wherever  he 
could  find  them,  and  was  as  much  a  farmer  as  any  of  them,  and 
the  College  which  he  represented  was  a  genuine  College  for 
farmers  and  the  middle  classes.  In  short,  he  might,  with  almost 
literai  truth,  have  applied  to  himself  the  language  of  Paul : 
"  To  the  Jews  I  became  as  a  Jew  that  I  might  gain  the  Jews. 
To  the  weak  became  I  as  weak  that  I  might  gain  the  weak. 
I  became  all  things  to  all  men  that  by  all  means  I  might  save 
some."  He  made  some  enemies  as  well  as  friends,  but  the  fault 
was  not  his  own,  it  was  the  fault  of  the  times  and  the  situation, 
and  no  wisdom  or  ingenuity  of  man  could  have  prevented  this 
incidental  evil.  He  did  not  make  the,  College  rich,  or  even 
plant  it  on  a  solid  pecuniary  foundation.  But  he  raised  far 
more  money  than  any  other  agent  or  friend  of  the  College  has 
ever  raised  by  general  subscription ;  and  he  reaped  this  harvest  on 
a  field  which  had  been  not  only  gleaned,  but  burnt  over  again 
and  again  by  a  succession  of  agents  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

As  General  Agent  of  the  College  during  this  period  of  four 
years,  Mr.  Vaill  not  only  solicited  subscriptions  and  looked  after 
the  funds,  but  took  an  oversight  of  the  buildings  and  grounds, 
superintended  grading  and  the  planting  of  trees,  preached  fre- 
quently and  acceptably  in  the  chapel  and  at  evening  lectures, 
aided  in  seeking  and  finding  presidents  and  professors,  and 
made  himself  useful  in  many  and  various  ways.  So  far  from 
seeking  to  perpetuate  his  connection  with  the  College  he  ad- 
vocated, if  he  did  not  originate,  the  plan  which  was  adopted  by 
President  Hitchcock  and  the  Professors  to  stop  at  once  further 
running  in  debt  and  further  begging,  which  of  course  involved 
the  termination  of  his  agency. 
32 


498  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE 

On  his  resigning  the  general  agency  in  1845,  the  Trustees 
passed  a  vote  of  thanks  for  his  able  and  faithful  services,  and  re- 
quested him  to  continue  such  services  as  far  as  his  other  engage- 
ments would  permit.  At  their  annual  meeting  in  1851,  they 
conferred  on  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity. 

Dr.  Hitchcock  pays  a  just  and  cordial  tribute  to  the  character 
and  services  of  Dr.  Vaill  in  his  Reminiscences  of  Amherst  Col- 
lege :  "  Gentlemanly  and  bland  as  well  as  Christian  in  his  de- 
meanor and  intercourse,  and  deeply  convinced  of  the  impor- 
tance of  the  object,  he  pleaded  the  cause  of  the  College  with 
much  success,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  funds  which  he  ob- 
tained, I  know  not  how  it  could  have  been  carried  forward." 
_  President  Stearns  considered  his  agency  as  having  "  saved  the 
College,  in  those  early  days,  from  financial  ruin,"  and  highly 
appreciated  his  services  in  after  years.  In  his  Commemorative 
Discourse  preached  at  his  funeral,  he  says  :  "  Among  the  many 
noble  benefactors  of  Amherst  College,  whether  of  the  living  or 
the  dead,  when  its  history  comes  to  be  fully  written,  few  names 
will  stand  higher  than  that  of  Joseph  Vaill.  A  self-sacrificing 
friend  of  it  in  the  early  days  of  its  weakness  and  poverty,  a 
constant  attendant  upon  the  meetings  of  its  Trustees  and  its 
Commencements,  in  labors  more  abundant  for  it  than  any  other 
man's,  cheerfully  giving  his  time  and  his  prayers  to  its  interests, 
he  rejoiced  in  its  prosperity  more  than  in  any  personal  advantage 
and  performed  a  service  for  the  College  which  its  warmest  grati- 
tude never  can  sufficiently  repay." 

To  see  how  "  the  oldest  member  of  the  Board  "  enjoyed  Com- 
mencements, dedications  of  new  buildings  and  other  celebra- 
tions in  the  days  of  the  prosperity  of  the  College,  was  a  marked 
feature  of  such  occasions  which  gave  sincere  satisfaction  to  his 
and  its  friends,  and  became  a  sort  of  proverb  to  indifferent  spec- 
tators. He  was  himself  conscious  of  a  natural  if  not  an  excess- 
ive fondness  for  pomp  and  ceremony.  "  Am  I  not  a  little  less 
sophomorical  than  I  used  to  be,"  he  once  asked  his  good  friend, 
President  Stearns,  to  which  the  President  courteously  replied, 
that  he  had  never  seemed  sophomorical  to  him.  Called  fre- 
quently to  offer  prayer  and  sometimes  to  preside  on  such  pub- 
lic occasions,  he  usually  performed  his  part  with  great  propriety. 


"THE   OLDEST   MEMBER    OF   THE   BOAED."  499 

But  if  there  was  any  slip  in  word  or  deed,  his  prominent  posi- 
tion, with  a  touch  of  grandiloquence  in  his  manner,  gave  addi- 
tional point  to  the  joke.  Hence  the  anecdotes  that  were  current 
while  he  lived,  as  for  instance,  when  at  the  close  of  certain  pub- 
lic exercises,  he  invited  the  audience  to  unite  with  the  choir  in 
singing  the  Doxology  "  in  long  metre,  standing !  "  His  prayer 
at  the  placing  of  the  corner-stone  of  Walker  Hall  was  consid- 
ered rather  long,  especially  by  the  students,  and  some  rumors 
of  this  feeling  probably  reached  his  ears.  "  Was  my  prayer  too 
long  ?  "  asked  the  Doctor  of  the  President  after  the  close  of  the 
services.  "  Not  too  long  for  me  to  join  in  with  pleasure,"  was 
the  President's  polite  response.  "  Was  it  too  long  in  the  estima- 
tion of  others  ?  "  the  Doctor  persistently  inquired.  "  Some  of 
the  students,  I  fear,  thought  it  rather  long,"  answered  the 
President.  "  Have  criticisms  to  that  effect  come  to  your  ears  ?  " 
asked  the  Doctor.  The  President  was  obliged  to  acknowledge 
that  they  had.  "  Well,"  concluded  the  Doctor,  "  I  can  not  con- 
sent to  have  my  prayers  measured  off  by  the  fingers  or  the  face 
of  a  watch."  He  was  somewhat  sensitive  to  criticism.  There 
was  also  in  him  a  spice  of  egotism.  But  in  his  last  years  this 
only  added  to  the  charms  of  his  conversation.  He  had  quite  a 
vein  of  humor  and  anecdote  which  made  him  a  very  entertain- 
ing companion,  and  sometimes  kept  a  large  company  laughing 
at  the  dinner  table  or  a  social  party  through  the  entire  evening. 
In  his  last  trip  from  Boston  to  Palmer,  in  company  with  a  large 
number  of  the  members  of  the  Legislature,  it  is  said  that  he 
was  in  his  element,  and  kept  not  a  few  of  his  fellow-legislators 
much  of  the  time  in  a  roar  of  laughter.  He  would  gladly  have 
made  one  more  effort  to  increase  the  funds  of  Amherst  College. 
If  he  had  lived,  the  Trustees  would  probably  have  petitioned 
the  Legislature  for  a  grant — he  would  have  presented  the  peti- 
tion, and  by  dint  of  earnestness  and  perseverance,  together 
with  the  magnetism  of  his  sympathy  with  the  object,  and  his 
personal  influence,  he  might  perhaps  have  succeeded  in  the 
effort.  It  would  have  been  a  fulness  of  joy  and  triumph,  more 
perhaps  than  he  could  have  contained.  And  how  much  lie 
would  have  enjoyed  the  semi-centennial,  how  much  it  would 
have  added  to  the  enjoyment  of  it  by  the  Trustees,  by  the  Pres- 


500  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ident  aud  Professors,  and  by  many  of  his  friends  and  friends  of 
the  College,  if  he  had  lived  to  see  that  day,  as  he  and  they 
fondly  hoped  that  he  would !  But  that,  perhaps,  would  have 
been  a  cup  of  prosperity  and  happiness  too  large  and  full  to  be 
raised  to  mortal  lips.  The  old  Greeks,  with  their  heathen  my- 
thology, would  have  said,  it  was  prevented  by  "  the  envy  of  the 
gods."  We  could  only  say,  it  was  wisely  ordered,  because  or- 
dered by  Him  who  does  all  things  well. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  PRESENT  TRUSTEES. 

SEVERAL  of  the  Trustees  who  now  compose  the  Corporation, 
have  been  among  the  most  faithful  friends  and  the  most  self- 
sacrificiiig  servants  of  the  College  from  very  early  times,  and 
are  not  less  worthy  of  a  place  in  its  history  than  those  who  have 
deceased  or  resigned  their  charge.  At  the  same  time,  their  ser- 
vices are  better  known  to  the  writer  of  these  pages,  and  the 
chief  events  of  their  lives  can  be  easier  ascertained  by  him  than 
they  can  by  the  historian  of  the  next  half  century.  I  shall, 
therefore,  set  down  the  leading  facts  in  the  lives  of  the  present 
Trustees,  at  the  hazard  it  may  be  of  transcending  somewhat  the 
proper  province  of  history,  but  not,  I  trust,  of  the  expense  of 
its  truth  and  impartiality. 

Dr.  Ebenezer  Alden  is  now  the  oldest  member  of  the  Board, 
having  been  elected  in  the  place  of  S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  Esq.,  in 
1841,  and  therefore  having  now  been  a  Trustee  over  thirty 
years,  thus  ranking  next  to  Dr.  Vaill  and  Mr.  Calhoun  in  the 
length  of  time  during  which  he  has  held  the  trust.  He  was 
born  in  the  South  Precinct  of  Braintree,  now  Randolph,  March 
17,  1788.  Both  on  his  father's  and  his  mother's  side,  he  is  a 
lineal  descendant l  of  John  Alden,  the  Pilgrim,  and  the  last 
.male  survivor  of  the  Mayflower.  His  father  was  a  highly  re- 
spected physician  in  Randolph.  All  his  immediate  ancestors, 
paternal  and  maternal,  were  Congregationalists  and  members 
of  Congregational  Churches,  so  that,  as  he  playfully  remarks, 
if  he,  "  also  a  Congregationalist,  is  a  little  persistent  in  his  at- 
tachment to  old  forms  of  faith  and  worship,  it  need  occasion  no 

1  Of  the  seventh  generation  on  his  father's  side. 


502  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

surprise."  Having  prepared  for  College  under  the  instruction 
of  his  pastor,  Rev.  Jonathan  Strong,  D.  D.,  he  entered  Harvard 
College  in  1804,  and  graduated  with  honor  in  1808.  In  his 
Senior  year,  he  attended  the  medical  lectures  given  at  the  Col- 
lege by  Doctors  Waterhouse,  Dexter  and  John  Warren.  On 
the  Monday  succeeding  his  graduation  in  July,  1808,  he  left  his 
home  for  Hanover,  N.  H  ,  where  he  arrived  after  a  hard  ride  of 
three  days  on  horseback,  and  placed  himself  under  the  instruc- 
tion of  Nathan  Smith,  M.  D.,  then  enjoying  a  high  reputation 
as  a  surgeon  and  a  teacher,  which  he  maintained  through  life. 

At  Hanover,  Dr.  Alden  first  became  acquainted  with  Col.  Ru- 
fus  Graves,  "  who,  perhaps,  as  truly  as  any  other  man,  is  entitled 
to  the  appellation  of  father  of  Amherst  College." 

"  Col.  Graves  was  visionary,  no  doubt,"  continues  Dr.  Alden, 
"  but  he  was  unselfish  in  his  aims,  an  ardent  lover  of  liberty  and 
a  sincere  Christian,  and  who  will  say  that  his  anticipations  in 
regard  to  the  prosperity  and  usefulness  of  Amherst  College 
have  not  been  more  than  realized  ?  If  such  have  been  the  first- 
fruits  in  the  first  half-century,  what,  at  its  close,  will  be  the 
ripened  harvest  ?  " 

Having  spent  three  years  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Smith, 
and  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine,  Dr.  Alden  pro- 
ceeded to  Philadelphia  to  obtain  the  advantages  of  hospital 
practice  and  to  attend  the  lectures  of  the  celebrated  Doctors 
Rush,  Wistar,  Physic,  Barton,  James,  and  others.  Returning  to 
Massachusetts  in  1812,  he  commenced  the  practice  of  medicine 
in  his  native  town,  where,  in  the  eighty-fifth  year  of  his  age,  he 
still  resides  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  fair  share  of  bodily  health 
and  strength,  and  where,  for  threescore  years,  he  has  stood 
among  the  foremost  in  his  profession.  He  is  a  member  of  sev- 
eral of  the  most  important  Medical  Societies,  County,  State  and 
National,  in  some  of  which  he  has  held  the  highest  offices.  He 
has  a  partiality,  not  to  say  a  passion,  for  genealogical  and  his- 
torical inquiries,  and  is  a  member  of  the  New  England  Genea- 
logical Society,  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  and  of 
the  American  Statistical  Association.  He  has  long  been  a  cor- 
porate member  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions. 


DB.   EBENEZER   ALDEN.  503 

He  became  early  interested  in  the  Temperance  Reform,  and 
it  was  by  this  means  that  he  became  interested  in,  and  con- 
nected with  Amherst  College.  He  gives  the  following  account 
of  his  first  visit  to  Amherst  in  a  letter  which  lies  before  me,  and 
from  which  I  have  already  taken  one  or  two  extracts :  "  I  had 
the  honor  of  an  appointment  to  address  the  Antivenenian  Soci- 
ety of  Amherst  College  on  the  24th  of  August,  1831.  The 
meeting  was  held  in  the  College  Chapel  before  the  removal  of  the 
old  '  tub  pulpit,'  so  called,  the  appearance  of  which  will  never 
be  forgotten  by  the  graduates  of  that  day.  Between  Novem- 
ber, 1829,  and  February,  1834,  I  had  occasion  to  deliver  fifty- 
two  lectures  on  temperance  in  all  sorts  of  pulpits,  but  never  in 
any  one  like  this  which,  for  all  the  world,  resembled  the  bowl 
of  a  monster  tobacco  pipe,  rather  than  a  rostrum  for  public  speak- 
ing.* The  Doctor  adds  that  he  "  still  continues  a  teetotaler, 
and  enjoys  perhaps  as  good  health  as  if  he  had  addicted  himself 
to  the  use  of  intoxicating  beverages."  While  on  his  way  to  at- 
tend a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  College  some  twenty- 
five  years  ago,  he  lost  an  eye  by  a  stage  accident  which  occurred 
in  consequence  of  the  too  free  use  of  liquor  obtained  by  the 
driver  of  the  coach  at  a  tavern  on  the  route ;  and  he  has  ever 
since  used  this  fact  of  his  own  experience  as  an  argument  pal- 
pable to  the  senses  against  licensing  public  houses  to  sell  in- 
toxicating drinks. 

Dr.  Alden  has  been  a  Trustee  of  Phillips  Academy  and  the 
Theological  Seminary  at  Andover  even  longer  than  of  Amherst 
College  ;  and  he  has  seldom  been  absent  from  the  regular  sessions 
of  either  Board.  While  his  practical  wisdom  and  his  decision 
of  character  have  given  him  a  wide  and  happy  influence  in  all 
the  deliberations  of  the  Trustees,  his  bibliographical  tastes  and 
his  professional  experience  have  enabled  him  to  render  services 
of  especial  value  to  the  Library  and  the  Gymnasium,  and  his 
steadfast  zeal  for  the  faith  and  practice  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
have  made  him  a  watchful  guardian  of  the  religious  character  of 
the  Institution.  Among  the  many  good  things  which  Dr.  Alden 
has  done  for  Amherst,  not  the  least  is  the  education  of  two  sons 
here,  one  in  the  Class  of  '39,  and  the  other  in  that  of  '44,  both  of 
whom  are  now  able  and  faithful  ministers  of  the  New  Testament. 


504  HISTORY   OE  AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

Next  to  Dr.  Alden,  Hon.  Samuel  Williston  is  the  oldest  living 
member  of  the  Board  and  has  been  for  the  longest  time  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Corporation.  His  biography  will  find  its  most  fitting 
place  among  the  pecuniary  benefactors  of  the  College. 

Henry  Edwards,  Esq.,  elected  in  1844,  comes  next  in  the  or- 
der of  seniority.  He  was  born  in  Northampton,  October  22, 
1798.  His  father,  Col.  William  Edwards,  was  a  grandson  of 
the  first  President  Edwards.  His  mother,  Rebecca  Tappan,  was, 
the  daughter  of  Benjamin  Tappan  of  Northampton,  and  the 
sister  of  Senator  Tappan  of  Ohio,  of  Arthur  and  Lewis  Tap- 
pan,  the  well  known  pioneers  of  emancipation,  and  of  John 
Tappan  the  philanthropist  and  friend  of  Amherst  College. 

Educated  in  the  schools  of  Northampton,  trained  and  em- 
ployed in  the  store  of  his  uncle  Lewis  Tappan  in  Boston  from 
1813  to  1821,  in  1821  and  1822  a  clerk  in  Arthur  Tappan's  store 
in  New  York,  in  1823,  Mr.  Henry  Edwards  commenced  the  im- 
porting business  in  State  street,  Boston,  with  his  cousin,  Charles 
Stoddard,  under  the  firm  of  Edwards  &  Stoddard,  in  which  he 
continued  till  1846.  From  October,  1826  to  July,  1831,  he  was 
a  resident  of  France,  for  the  purchase  of  goods,  and  was  in  Paris 
during  the  Revolution  of  1830  which  placed  Louis  Philippe  on 
the  throne.  He  enjoyed  at  that  time  the  friendship  of  Gen. 
Lafayette  and  his  family,  and  with  his  wife  and  sister  visited 
them  at  the  Chateau  of  La  Grange. 

Returning  to  the  United  States  in  1831,  Mr.  Edwards  was  for 
nine  years  a  member  in  various  ways  of  the  city  government  of 
Boston,  and  ten  years  a  Trustee  of  the  Massachusetts  General 
Hospital.  In  1847  he  was  a  member  from  Boston  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts House  of  Representatives,  and  aided  in  securing  the 
first  grant  made  by  the  State  to  Amherst  College.  During 
the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  appointed  by  President  Lincoln,  at 
the  nomination  of  Gov.  Andrew,  Allotment  Commissioner  for 
Massachusetts,  without  pay,  he  visited  most  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Regiments,  some  before  leaving  the  State,  and  others  in 
the  field,  going  usually  on  foot,  and  receiving  so  much  of  their 
pay  as  they  desired  to  send  home,  conveyed  or  secured  it  to 
their  families.  During  the  service  of  the  Commissioners,  three 
and  a  quarter  millions  of  dollars  were  thus  sent  home  to  .he 


HENRY  EDWARDS,    ESQ.  505 

families  of  Massachusetts  soldiers  without  the  expense  or  loss 
of  a  single  dollar.  By  appointment  of  Gov.  Andrew,  he  was 
Trustee  for  Massachusetts  on  the  Board  of  the  Soldiers'  Na- 
tional Cemetery  at  Gettysburg.  He  was  also  appointed  by  Gov. 
Bullock  to  the  same  office  and  trust  in  reference  to  the  National 
Cemetery  at  Antietam. 

Mr.  Edwards  has  been  a  member  of  the  Central  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  Boston  from  its  formation  in  1835,  and  was 
chairman  of  the  Building  Committee  in  the  erection  of  their 
new  church  edifice  oif  the  Back  Bay  lands,  which  is  one  of  the 
finest  specimens  of  church  architecture  in  New  England. 

By  his  residence  in  Boston,  by  his  wide  acquaintance  with 
men  and  things,  and  by  his  indefatigable  zeal  and  industry,  he 
has  secured  many  a  donation  for  Amherst  College.  During  a 
trusteeship  of  twenty-eight  years  he  has  never  been  absent  from 
a  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  except  under  imperative  necessity 
imposed  by  some  other  public  duty ;  and  he  has  never  spared 
time  or  toil  in  serving  the  College  either  in  Boston  or  Amherst. 

Hon.  Jonathan  Cogswell  Perkins,  LL.D.,  was  born  Novem- 
ber 21,  1809,  in  that  part  of  Ipswich  called  Chebacco  Parish, 
now  Essex,  Mass.,  was  prepared  for  College  at  Phillips  Academy, 
Andover,  and  graduated  at  Amherst,  with  the  second  appoint- 
ment and  the  salutatory  oration,  in  the  same  class  with  Judges 
Gibbon,  Lord  and  Morris,  the  Class  of  '32.  Having  studied  law 
in  the  offices  of  Leverett  Saltonstall  and  Rufus  Choate,  then 
residing  at  Salem,  and  subsequently  in  the  Law  School  at  Cam- 
bridge, he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1835.  He  was  two  years 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  from  Salem,  viz.,  1844-5  and 
1845-6.  The  next  two  years,  viz.,  1846-7  and  1847-8,  he  was 
a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate  from  Essex  County.  In 
June,  1848,  while  a  member  of  the  Senate,  he  was  appointed 
Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  "  proved  himself  to 
be  a  learned  and  able,  as  well  as  just  and  upright  judge,  com- 
manding alike  the  undivided  confidence  of  the  community  and 
the  profession."  1 

But  the  great  life-work  of  Judge  Perkins  with  which  his 
name  will  go  down  to  future  ages,  is  that  of  editing  with  notes 

1  See  Allibone's  Dictionary  of  Authors. 


506  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

and  references  Pickering's  Reports,  Chitty's  Criminal  Laws, 
Chitty  on  Contracts,  and  numerous  other  standard  works  in 
his  profession.  His  successive  editions  of  these  works  have 
received  the  highest  commendation  from  the  best  sources,  and 
are  recognized  as  authority  in  the  courts.  Hon.  Charles  Sum- 
ner  says  in  reference  to  one  of  them  :  "  The  notes  and  references 
by  Mr.  Perkins  place  their  author  among  American  annotators, 
by  the  side  of  Story  and  Metcalf." 

Judge  Perkins  was  chosen  a  Trustee  of  Amherst  College  by 
the  Legislature,  February  19,  1850,  in  the  place  of  Gov.  Arm- 
strong. It  was  not  till  1867  that  the  College  conferred  on  him 
the  merited  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 

Rev.  William  Pomeroy  Paine,  D.  D  ,  was  born  in  Ashfield, 
Mass.,  August  1,  1802,  fitted  for  College  at  Sanderson  Academy 
in  his  native  place,  and  entered  College  in  1823,  "  when  it  was 
no  College  by  charter,  and  when  it  had  no  President,  Dr.  Moore 
being  dead,  and  Dr.  Humphrey  not  yet  appointed."  He  grad- 
uated in  1827,  with  the  Philosophical  Oration,  Joseph  S.  Clark 
having  the  Valedictory  and  Timothy  Dwight  the  Salutatory. 
These  first  three  scholars  of  the  class  were  all  subsequently 
Tutors.  The  first  year  after  his  graduation,  he  taught  in  Am- 
herst Academy.  The  next  two  years  he  spent  in  the  study  of 
Theology,  entering  on  his  tutorship,  however,  in  the  spring  of 
1830,  and  continuing  in  it  till  the  autumn  of  1831,  when  he 
returned  to  Andover  and  completed  his  theological  course  in 
1832.  In  the  spring  of  1832  he  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Suffolk  Association  in  Boston.  On  the  24th  of  October,  1833, 
he  was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church  in  Holden,  where  he  still  remains.  Dr.  Paine  has  been 
longer  pastor  of  one  and  the  same  church  than  any  Congrega- 
tional minister  in  Massachusetts  now  holding  the  office  without 
a  colleague.  The  result  of  this  long  connection  and  mutual  in- 
fluence— the  pastor  acting  on  the  people  and  the  people  re- 
acting on  the  pastor — is,  as  nearly  as  that  ideal  is  often  realized 
in  this  imperfect  world,  a  model  pastor  and  a  model  people.  In 
1856,  Amherst  conferred  on  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Divinity.  Since  1854,  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Corpo- 
ration. But  filial  affection,  even  more  than  official  duty,  has 


EEV.  DR.   PAINE.  507 

brought  him  often  to  the  maternal  homestead  and  our  fraternal 

o 

reunions  —  has  made  him  always  watchful  of  the  health  and 
happiness  of  Alma  Mater  and  the  well-being  of  her  children. 
During  the  half-century  of  her  existence,  there  have  been 
scarcely  half  a  dozen  Commencements  which  he  has  not  at- 
tended. Amherst  has  had  no  more  affectionate  son,  no  more 
faithful  friend,  no  wiser  or  truer  guardian  than  Dr.  Paine. 

Hon.  Henry  Morris,  LL.D.,  was  born  in  Springfield,  June  16, 
1814,  and  Springfield  has  always  been  his  place  of  residence. 
Having  graduated  with  honor  in  the  Class  of  '32,  a  class  which 
has  furnished  four  judges,  two  members  of  Congress,  and  two 
Trustees  of  Alma  Mater,  he  studied  law,  partly  at  the  Cam- 
bridge Law  School,  but  chiefly  in  the  office  of  his  father,  the 
late  Oliver  B.  Morris,  and,  in  October,  1835,  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  and  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  his 
native  place.  In  the  years  1846  and  1847,  he  represented 
Springfield  in  the  lower  branch  of  the  State  Legislature  and 
aided  in  procuring  the  first  grant  from  the  State  to  the  College. 
When  Springfield  was  made  a  city  in  1852,  he  was  the  first 
President  of  the  Council,  which  office  he  held  for  two  years. 

In  the  autumn  of  1854,  Mr.  Morris  was  elected  a  member  of 
Congress.  Before  the  time  arrived  for  taking  his  seat,  he  was 
tendered  by  the  Governor  of  the  State  the  position  of  Judge 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  this  being  more  in  accord- 
ance with  his  tastes  and  habits,  he  resigned  his  seat  in  Congress 
and  accepted  the  judicial  office.  In  1857,  the  Legislature  abol- 
ished the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  his  judicial  services  hav- 
ing thus  terminated,  he  returned  to  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion in  which  he  still  continues. 

Becoming  a  member  of  the  College  Church  by  profession  in 
his  Junior  year,  after  graduating  he  transferred  his  relation  to 
the  First  Church  in  Springfield,  of  which  he  is  still  a  member, 
and  for  a  few  years  past  has  been  an  officer. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  in  1854,  Judge  Morris 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  Corporation  in  place  of  Mr.  John 
Tappan.  In  1869,  he  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Laws  from  his  Alma  Mater  at  the  same  time  with  his  class- 
mate and  co-Trustee,  Judge  Perkins. 


508  HISTOEY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Hon.  Alpheus  Hardy  came  into  official  connection  with  Am- 
herst  College  soon  after  his  intimate  friend,  Dr.  Stearns,  and 
doubtless  at  his  recommendation,  having  been  elected  in  the 
place  of  Gen.  Mack  in  1855,  at  the  first  annual  meeting  under 
the  new  presidency.  He  was  born  in  Chatham,  Mass.,  Novem- 
ber 1,  1815,  and  attended  such  schools  as  there  were  in  his  na- 
tive place,  summer  and  winter,  till  he  was  twelve,  when  he 
entered  his  father's  store,  and  in  the  winter  till  he  was  sixteen, 
when  he  went  into  a  store  in  Boston. 

Compelled  by  a  crushed  foot  to  lie  by,  he  went  to  Andover 
to  spend  a  few  months  at  Phillips  Academy,  and  becoming  in- 
terested, started  on  a  course  of  study  for  College,  but  was  ar- 
rested in  June,  1834,  by  a  severe  sickness  brought  on  by  too 
close  application.  After  spending  three  months  at  sea,  he  re- 
turned to  Boston,  and  at  nineteen  years  of  age  commenced  busi- 
ness on  his  own  account,  which  he  still  continues,  "having  sighted 
many  a  lee  shore  and  shaved  many  rocks,"  to  borrow  his  own 
nautical  phraseology,  "  but  the  keel  of  his  business  ship  has  never 
touched  bottom." 

Besides  his  large  and  prosperous  shipping  and  importing  busi- 
ness, he  has  been  employed  in  the  administration  of  estates, 
no  less  than  ten  large  inheritances  having  thus  been  entrusted 
to  him,  among  others  the  immense  Sears  estate,  together  with 
the  care  of  the  orphan  children.  Between  such  responsibilities 
and  numerous  public  trusts,  such  as  those  of  Amherst  College, 
Phillips  Academy,  and  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover, 
and  the  American  Board,  of  which  he  has  long  been  not  only 
a  corporate  member,  but  a  leading  member  of  the  Prudential 
Committee,  between  these  two  classes  of  cares  and  trusts, 
labors  and  responsibilities,  he  .has  almost  worn  himself  out  in 
the  service  of  others.  His  knowledge  and  experience  of  busi- 
ness have  been  of  incalculable  value  to  Amherst  College,  and 
his  annual  examinations  of  the  state  of  the  treasury  command 
the  entire  confidence  of  the  public  as  well  as  the  Trustees  and 
friends  of  the  Institution.  At  the  same  time,  his  constant  asso- 
ciation with  educated  men,  particularly  clergymen,1  in  which  he 

1  Besides  President  Stearns,  his  pastor,  Rev.  William  M.  Rogers,  was  among  his 
intimate  friends  and  associates. 


HON.    ALPHEUS    HARDY.  509 

sometimes  claims  to  have  enjoyed  "  the  benefit  of  clergy,"  to- 
gether with  the  culture  of  society  and  travel,  has  qualified  him, 
although  himself  without  a  college  education,  to  stand  up  among 
the  foremost  graduates,  whether  in  the  discussions  of  the  Board 
or  on  public  occasions.  He  has  been  three  times  in  Europe, 
twice  in  Egypt  and  the  East,  including  Sinai  and  Palestine.  In 
1861,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate,  and  sat  in 
that  exciting  and  anxious  extra  session  in  May  which  was  caused 
by  the  war. 

Mr.  Hardy  joined  by  profession  the  Old  South  Church  in  An- 
dover,  was  for  several  years  a  member  of  the  "  Central  Church," 
and  is  now  a  member  of  the  "  Old  South  "  in  Boston. 

Rev.  Edward  Strong  Dwight  was  born  in  New  Haven,  Conn., 
April  30,  1820.  His  father,  Timothy  Dwight,  Esq.,  was  the 
son  of  President  Dwight  of  Yale  College.  His  mother,  Clarissa 
Strong,  was  the  daughter  of  Gov.  Strong  of  Northampton.  He 
prepared  for  College  in  the  Hopkins  Grammar  School  in  New 
Haven,  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1838,  and  from  the  Yale 
Theological  Seminary  in  1843.  He  was  licensed  by  the  Wor- 
cester North  Association  in  1842,  and  ordained  pastor  of  the 
First  Church  in  Saco,  Me.,  December  25,  1844.  In  August, 
1853,  he  took  charge  of  the  First  Church  in  Amherst,  over 
which  he  was  installed  July  19,  1854,  and  remained  pastor  till 
1860,  when  the  sickness  of  his  wife  rendered  it  necessary  for 
him  to  ask  a  dismission.  On  the  27th  of  September,  1864,  he 
was  installed  over  the  Russell  Church  in  Haclley,  of  which  he 
is  now  the  pastor,  and  to  which  he  has  just  had  the  pleasure, 
(May,  1872,)  of  receiving  a  large  addition  of  members,  the  fruit 
of  the  powerful  revival  which  has  extended  through  the  whole 
town  the  past  winter. 

Mr.  Dwight  has  been  a  Trustee  since  1855.  Since  1864  he 
has  been  Secretary  of  the  Board,  and  coming  generations  will 
see  in  the  Secretary's  books  of  this  period  an  index  and  image 
of  the  neatness,  propriety  and  faithfulness  with  which  he  per- 
forms all  his  duties. 

Dr.  Nathan  Allen  was  born  in  Princeton,  Mass.,  April  25, 
1813,  fitted  for  College  in  Amherst  Academy,  and  graduated  in 
the  Class  of  '36,  a  class  which  has  now  three  of  its  members 


510  HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

in  the  Corporation.  Having  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Medicine  from  the  Pennsylvania  Medical  College  in  Philadel- 
phia in  1836,  he  established  himself  soon  after  as  a  physician 
in  Lowell,  where  he  still  continues  in  the  successful  practice  of 
his  profession.  By  his  varied  services  as  City  Physician,  School 
Committee,  President  of  the  principal  Savings  Bank,  Member 
of  the  City  Council,  etc.,  besides  his  long  and  extensive  medical 
practice,  he  has  become  almost  incorporated  with  the  social  and 
civil  history  of  Lowell.  By  his  active  connection  with  the  First 
Congregational  Church,  his  superintendence  of  a  large  Sab- 
bath School  for  ten  years,  and  his  frequent  attendance  of  Church 
Conferences  and  Sabbath  School  Conventions,  he  is  equally 
identified  with  the  religious  history  of  the  city  and  the  neigh- 
boring towns.  He  holds  from  the  State  a  Justice's  Commission, 
and  has  been  a  member  of  the  Board  of  State  Charities  from 
the  first,  part  of  the  time  its  Chairman. 

But  Dr.  Allen  is  more  widely  known  as  the  author  of  numer- 
ous pamphlets,  articles  in  Medical  and  Physiological  Journals, 
and  papers  read  at  meetings  of  Medical  Societies  and  organiza- 
tions for  Social  Science,  on  the  Physiological  Laws  of  Human 
Increase,  the  Intermarriage  of  Relations,  Physical  Degeneracy, 
Lessons  on  Population,  the  Effects  of  Alcohol  and  Opium,  and 
kindred  topics,  which  have  had  an  extensive  circulation  in  Eng- 
land, l  as  well  as  in  this  country,  and  have  awakened  a  new  inter- 
est, if  not  taught  new  doctrines  of  great  importance  on  some  of 
the  most  fundamental  questions  of  our  times. 

Chosen  a  member  of  the  Corporation  by  the  Legislature, 
February  20,  1837,  in  the  place  of  Hon.  Linus  Child,  Dr.  Allen 
has  rarely,  if  ever,  been  absent  from  the  meetings  of  the  Board ; 
and  to  his  personal  interest  and  his  professional  watch  and  care 
more  than  to  any  other  Trustee,  more  than  to  any  other  man 
except  Dr.  Hitchcock,  the  Professor  of  the  Department,  the 
College  is  indebted  for  the  success  of  the  Gymnasium  and  the 
Physical  Culture  which  it  represents. 

Hon.  Edward  Bates  Gillett  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Cor- 
poration by  the  Legislature,  March  9,  1861,  in  place  of  Hon. 

1 1  found  the  Captain  of  the  English  steamer   in  which  I  crossed  the  Atlantic  in 
1869,  well  posted  with  statistics  derived  from  Dr.  Allen's  publications. 


HON.    E.   B.    GILLETT.  511 

George  Grennell.  He  was  born  at  South  Hadley  Fulls,  August 
24,  1818,  fitted  for  College  at  Hadley  and  Westfield  Academies, 
and  graduated  at  Amherst  in  1839  in  the  same  class  with  his 
fellow-Trustee,  Dr.  Storrs,  with  Bishop  Huntington,  of  the  Dio- 
cese of  New  York,  and  with  that  lover  of  Athens  and  of  Athenian 
culture  whose  gifts  so  adorn  our  Greek  recitation  room,  Mr.  H. 
G.  De  Forest,  all  of  whom  are  among  his  most  intimate  friends, 
as  they  have  also  all  shown  themselves  to  be  among  the  warm- 
est friends  of  the  College.  Having  studied  law  in  Northampton, 
at  the  Cambridge  Law  School,  and  in  Westfield,  he  opened  a 
law  office  in  the  last  mentioned  place  and  commenced  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession  there  in  1843. 

In  1852,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate. 
In  1856^he  was  chosen  District  Attorney  for  the  Western  Dis- 
trict of  Massachusetts,  which  office  he  continued  to  hold  for 
fifteen  years.  Having  resumed  his  ordinary  law  business  in 
1871,  he  now  has  a  wide  practice  and  stands  among  the  foremost 
in  his  profession,  being  not  only  a  well  read  lawyer  and  much 
consulted  as  a  wise  counselor,  but  having  great  influence  with  a 
jury,  partly  through  the  confidence  inspired  by  his  character, 
and  partly  by  the  artless,  familiar,  friendly  way  in  which,  with- 
out any  apparent  effort  to  convince  or  persuade  them,  he  talks 
them  into  sympathy  with  his  cause.  For  similar  reasons  he  has 
exerted  no  inconsiderable  influence  on  the  Legislature,  not  only 
while  he  was  a  Senator,  but  since  his  retirement  from  public 
office.  More  than  once  has  he  urged  upon  legislative  Commit- 
tees the  claims  of  Amherst  College,  and  the  College  has  gained 
reputation,  if  not  pecuniary  aid,  through  his  advocacy.  He  has 
been  much  employed  as  the  advocate  and  representative  of  rail- 
road corporations,  and  among  others  is  now  Attorney  and  Direc- 
tor of  the  Boston  and  Albany  road.  Numerous  trusts  at  home 
and  abroad — such  as  the  presidency  of  a  Bank  and  an  Insurance 
Company  in  Westfield,  the  trusteeship  of  Smith  College  at 
Northampton,  and  membership  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of 
Education — show  the  estimation  in  which  he  is  held  for  wisdom 
and  integrity.  Yet  with  all  these  demands  on  his  time,  no  Trus- 
tee of  Amherst  has  been  more  constant  in  attendance  at  the 
meetings  of  the  Board — scarcely  any  one  so  ready  to  meet  de- 


512  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

mands  for  extra  time  and  service  wherever,  whenever  and  how- 
ever anything  can  be  done  to  promote  the  welfare  of  his  Alma 
Mater. 

Mr.  Gillett  has  been  for  thirty  years  an  active,  and  much  of 
the  time  a  leading  member  of  the  First  Congregational  Church 
in  Westfield;  and  he  is  a  wise  and  watchful  guardian  of  the 
Christian  character  as  well  as  the  literary  and  financial  interests 
of  Amherst  College. 

Rev.  Lewis  Sabin,  D.  D.,  was  born  in  Wilbraham,  Mass.,  April 
9,  1807,  removed  with  his  father  to  Belchertown  at  the  age  of 
seven,  made  a  public  profession  of  religion  at  the  age  of  eleven ; 
fitted  for  College,  partly  under  the  direction  of  Hon.  Myron 
Lawrence  of  Belchertown,  partly  under  Rev.  John  A.  Nash  in 
Hopkins  Academy,  Hadley,  and  graduated  at  Amherst  College 
in  1831  with  the  highest  honors  of  one  of  our  largest  and  best 
classes.  For  four  years  after  his  graduation  he  was  principal  of 
Hopkins  Academy,  then  a  flourishing  institution  which  annually 
sent  many  young,  men  to  Amherst,  some  of  whom  are  among 
the  most  honored  names  on  our  Triennial.  At  the  same  time  he 
was  pursuing  theological  studies  under  the  direction  of  Rev. 
John  Brown,  D.  D.,  and  during  a  part  of  the  year  1832-3,  at 
the  Theological  Seminary  in  Andover.  Licensed  in  August, 
1835,  and  ordained,  June  6,  1836,  after  laboring  about  a  year  as 
a  missionary  in  Canada,  on  the  21st  of  September,  1837,  he  was 
installed  pastor  of  the  Trinitarian  Church  in  Templeton,  Mass., 
where  he  has  remained  now  almost  thirty-five  years,  blessed  in 
his  work,  beloved  by  his  people,  honored  in  the  neighboring 
churches,  presiding  at  ecclesiastical  councils,  publishing  occa- 
sional sermons,  touching  the  secret  springs  of  influence,  an  ex- 
ample, the  more  remarkable,  because  so  rare  in  these  days,  of 
such  country  pastors  as  once  abounded  in  New  England,  and  of 
whom  so  many  were  found  among  the  early  Trustees  of  Amherst 
College. 

In  1857,  Alma  Mater  conferred  on  him  the  honorary  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Divinity,  and  in  1862  he  was  chosen  a  member  of 
the  Corporation,  whose  meetings  he  always  attends,  being  one  of 
those  men  who  never  accept  a  trust  without  faithfully  discharg- 
ing its  duties.  Besides  all  his  other  services  to  the  College,  he 


DR.    R.    S.    STOERS.  513 

has  laid  a  goodly  number  of  students  under  great  obligations  by 
training  them  a  few  weeks  or  months  at  a  time,  in  re  rustica. 
Unfortunately  for  them,  he  has  not,  like  father  Gould  of  South- 
ampton and  others,  had  daughters  whom  they  could  carry  off 
by  way  of  reprisal. 

Rev.  Richard  Salter  Storrs,  D.  D.,  was  born  at  Braintree,  Mass., 
1821.  His  father,  grandfather  and  great-grandfather  were  all 
Congregational  ministers,  and  the  first  two  bore  the  same  names 
in  which  the  present  representative  of  the  family  rejoices.  His 
father,  the  venerable  pastor  of  Braintree,  who  preached  his  half- 
century  sermon  more  than  ten  years  ago,  and  is  still  able  to 
preach,  has  always  been  a  warm  friend  of  Amherst  College. l 
Entering  College  when  he  was  only  fourteen,  he  was  a  boy  in 
stature  and  a  boy  in  his  love  of  ease  and  pleasure  till  his  Junior 
year,  wnen  for  the  first  time  he  began  to  awake  to  a  genuine 
love  of  those  studies  in  which  his  strength  has  ever  since  lain, 
viz.,  classics,  rhetoric  and  belles-lettres.  He  graduated  with 
highly  respectable  standing  in  the  Class  of  '39,  of  which  Dr. 
Huntington  was  the  Valedictorian,  and  of  which  some  of  the 
brightest  ornaments,  Bancroft,  Miller,  Palmer  and  others,  died 
within  a  few  years  after  their  graduation.  He  then  taught  with 
marked  success,  for  some  years,  in  Monson  Academy  and  Willis- 
ton  Seminary.  He  studied  law  also,  before  the  great  questions 
of  personal  religion  and  his  life-work  were  settled.  At  length 
he  went  to  Andover  where  these  questions  were  made  clear 
to  him,  and  where  he  completed  the  theological  course  in  1845. 
The  same  year  he  took  charge  of  the  Congregational  Church 
at  Brookline,  Mass.  In  November,  1846,  he  accepted  a  call  to 
the  Church  of  the  Pilgrims  in  Brooklyn,  of  which  he  is  still 
pastor.  Our  readers  need  not  be  told  that  that  church  is  the 
center,  and  its  pastor  the  head-center  of  Congregationalism  in 
"  the  City  of  Churches."  Nor  is  his  power  confined  to  the  pulpit 
or  within  the  pale  of  the  church,  still  less  of  any  denomination. 
His  influence  is  felt  everywhere.  The  Brooklyn  Historical  So- 
ciety, with  its  Library  and  Museum,  is  his  foster-child.  Litera- 
ture, art,  politics,  morals,  education  and  religion  all  feel  his 
1  — 

1  Mrs.  Billings  of  Conway,  who  might  well  be  called  one  of  the  founders,  was  of 
the  Storrs  family. 

33 


514  HISTORY    OF    AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

guiding  and  inspiring  touch.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  and 
first  editors  of  The  Independent.  Many  of  his  sermons,  lectures 
and  addresses  have  been  given  to  the  public  through  the  press 
and  are  quoted  as  specimens  of  American  eloquence,  while  his 
volume  of  Graham  Lectures  has  taken  its  place  in  the  standard 
English  Literature  of  the  nineteenth  century.  "  From  this  gen- 
tleman," says  one  of  our  best  authorities,1  "  from  this  gentleman 
— in  our  judgment  one  of  the  first  men  of  his  day — we  look  for 
still  more  fruit."  As  we  write  (May,  1872,)  he  has  just  returned 
home,  after  a  year  of  needful  rest,  recreation  and  travel  in 
Europe,  to  enter  upon  a  new  period  of  usefulness,  we  trust  with 
a  new  lease  of  life  and  new  stores  of  health  and  strength  as 
well  as  enlarged  resources  of  wisdom  and  influence.  With  all 
the  weight  of  care,  labor  and  responsibility  that  presses  upon 
him,  Dr.  Storrs  is  a  faithful  attendant  on  the  meetings  of  the 
Corporation ;  and  by  his  literary  and  aesthetic  taste  and  broad 
culture,  he  has  done  not  a  little  to  infuse  these  elements  into 
the  education  that  is  given  at  Amherst. 

Samuel  Bowles,  Esq.,  was  born  in  Springfield,  Mass.,  February 
9,  1826.  The  public  schools  of  that  city  and  the  printing  office 
of  his  father,  Samuel  Bowles,  the  founder  of  The  Republican, 
were  his  only  opportunities  for  early  education.  At  the  age  of 
sixteen  he  entered  his  father's  office  as  "  boy  of  all  work,"  and  in 
1844,  when  he  was  eighteen,  he  persuaded  his  father  to  establish 
The  Daily  Republican,  so  that  he  was  virtually  the  founder,  as 
he  has  ever  since  been  the  editor  of  that  paper.  The  Springfield 
Daily  Republican  is  unquestionably  the  ablest,  the  most  influen- 
tial, and  the  most  successful  provincial  newspaper  in  America, 
if  not  in  the  world,  and  Mr.  Bowles  has  made  it  such.  And  by 
his  bold  and  independent  conduct  of  this  paper,  free  from  the 
trammels  of  party  or  sect,  he  has  contributed  largely  to  the  in- 
troduction of  a  new  era  in  journalism.  At  the  same  time,  with 
a  tact  for  business  scarcely  inferior  to  his  talent  in  journalism, 
he  has  built  up  one  of  the  largest  and  most  successful  printing 
houses  and  binderies  in  New  England.  He  is  the  author  of 
several  books — "  Across  the  Continent,"  "  Our  New  West," 
"  The  Switzerland  of  America  " — which  have  had  a  wide  circu- 

1  See  Allibone's  Dictionary  of  Authors. 


SAMUEL   BOWLES,    ESQ.  515 

lation  and  are  recognized  as  authority  in  regard  to  that  new  and 
wide  and  strange  world  which  lies  between  the  Mississippi  and 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  first  of  these  volumes  appeared  first  as 
letters  in  The  Republican  which  were  written  while  the  author 
was  traveling  in  company  with  Vice-President  Colfax,  then 
Speaker  Colfax,  and  others,  partly  for  the  benefit  of  his  paper, 
but  chiefly  for  health  and  recreation.  Besides  his  travels  in  the 
West,  he  has  twice  visited  the  Old  World. 

Mr.  Bowles  was  elected  a  Trustee  of  Amherst  College  by  the 
Legislature,  April  26,  1866,  in  place  of  his  friend  and  fellow- 
citizen,  Hon.  William  B.  Calhoun.  If  the  amendment  of  the 
Charter  which  was  enacted  at  the  last  session,  should  be  ac- 
cepted by  the  Corporation  and  by  the  Alumni,  he  will  be  the 
last  Trustee  thus  elected.  The  members  of  the  present  Board, 
chosen  by  the  Legislature,  are  Messrs.  Williston,  Perkins,  Al- 
len, Gillett  and  Bowles.  The  Alnmni  can  hardly  elect  men 
more  acceptable  to  themselves  or  more  serviceable  to  their  Alma 
Mater. 

Henry  Ward  Beecher,  as  he  insists  on  being  called — Rev. 
Henry  Ward  Beecher,  D.  D.,  as  he  would  be  regularly  written 
in  the  academic  and  ecclesiastical  style — was  elected  a  Trustee 
at  the  first  annual  meeting  after  the  election  of  Mr.  Bowles, 
(July  9,  1866,)  in  place  of  Rev.  Dr.  Ide1 — whether  to  offset  the 
heterodoxy  of  the  former  or  to  replace  the  orthodoxy  of  the 
latter,  is  known  only  to  those  who  elected  him.  He  was  born 
at  Litchfield,  Conn.,  June  24,  1813,  where  his  father,  Rev.  Ly~ 
man  Beecher,  D.  D.,  was  then  pastor.  He  fitted  for  College  at 
the  Mount  Pleasant  Classical  Institution  in  Amherst,  entered 
Amherst  College  in  1831,  and  graduated  in  1834.  As  Mr.  Beecher 
sometimes  exaggerates  his  deficiencies  in  College,  and  indolent 
students  often  fatten  on  them,  it  may  be  proper  for  one  who 
knows,  to  say  that  while  he  was  indifferent  to  mathematics  and 
by  no  means  enthusiastic  in  the  study  of  the  classics,  he  was 
both  diligent  and  successful  in  Rhetoric  and  Oratory  and  Belles- 
lettres,  a  zealous  thinker,  reader  and  inquirer  in  Philosophy, 
and  while  he  was  far  from  being  a  hard  student  in  the  ordinary 

1  Dr.  Ide  resigned  at  the  annual  meeting  in  1863.  Why  the  vacancy  was  left  so 
long  unfilled,  does  not  appear. 


516  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

sense,  no  student  was  ever  more  wide  awake,  industrious,  tem- 
perate and  faithful  in  the  improvement  of  his  time  than  Henry 
Ward  Beecher  was  in  College.  His  history,  in  brief,  after  leav- 
ing College,  is  as  follows:  studied  theology  with  his  father  at 
Lane  Seminary,  Cincinnati ;  settled  as  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Lawrenceburg,  Ind.,  in  1837 ;  in  1839,  removed  to 
Indianapolis;  in  1847,  became  pastor  of  the  Plymouth  Church 
in  Brooklyn.  His  life  since  his  settlement  in  the  commercial 
metropolis,  his  pulpit  eloquence  and  power  over  his  own  people, 
the  influence  of  the  Plymouth  Church  and  pulpit  on  crowds  of 
strangers  who  frequent  it,  his  preaching  by  his  printed  sermons 
to  tens  of  thousands  every  week,  his  editorial  work  in  The  Inde- 
pendent and  The  Christian  Union,  his  books  ("Lectures  to  Young 
Men,"  "Star  Papers,"  "Life  Thoughts,"  "Eyes  and  Ears," 
"Norwood,"  "Life  of  Jesus  the  Christ,"  etc.,)  his  platform 
speeches  on  social,  political,  moral  and  philanthropic  themes,  his 
perpetual  warfare  against  intemperance  and  slavery,  his  services 
to  the  country  at  home  and  abroad  during  the  war — all  these 
are  known  to  the  intelligent,  nay,  known  to  the  masses,  through- 
out Christendom.  Mr.  Beecher  loves  Amherst,  and  revisits  the 
place  whenever  he  can.  He  is  a  warm  friend  of  Amherst  Col- 
lege, and  attends  the  meetings  of  the  Corporation — as  well  as 
could  be  expected — as  often  as  his  other  innumerable  and  almost 
immeasurable  duties  will  permit,  and  as  often  as  his  friend,  Dr. 
Storrs,  is  on  hand  to  bring  him. 

The  junior  member  of  the  Board — junior  in  order  of  election, 
being  chosen  at  the  annual  meeting  in  1869 — is  Rev.  Roswell 
Dwight  Hitchcock,  D.  D.  The  brief  epitome  of  his  busy  and 
fruitful  life,  which  alone  can  be  given  here,  is  as  follows:  Born 
in  East  Machias,  Me.,  August  15,  1817 ; l  fitted  for  College  at 
Washington  Academy  in  his  native  town,  entered  the  Sophomore 
class  in  Amherst  College  in  1833,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  and  grad- 
uated with  high  honor  in  the  same  class  with  William  Bradford 
Homer,  Alexander  H.  Bullock,  Nathan  Allen,  Samuel  C.  Da- 
mon, Charles  H.  Doolittle,  Alfred  B.  Ely,  Ensign  H.  Kellogg, 
Loyal  C.  Kellogg,  Stewart  Robinson,  and  others  now  well  known 

1  Prof.  K.  D.  Hitchcock's  father  was  of  the  same  stock  as  President  Hitchcock. 
His  mother  was  a  Longfellow  of  Washington  County,  Maine. 


DR.    R.    D.    HITCHCOCK.  517 

to  the  public.  Moved  by  the  memories  suggested  by  these 
names,  the  writer  can  not  but  pause  to  record  the  satisfaction 
with  which  when  their  Tutor,  he  used  day  after  day  to  listen  to 
the  recitations  of  this  class,  and  to  none  with  more  satisfaction 
than  those  of  Hitchcock  whose  clear  thoughts  and  nicely  chis- 
elled words  then  foreshadowed  the  matchless  perfection  of  his 
language  now,  thus  illustrating  the  truth  so  often  verified  in  the 
history  of  College  graduates:  "the  boy  is  father  to  the  man." 
Our  epitome  now  goes  on  chronologically  thus :  In  1838-9,  a 
member  of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover ;  1839-42, 
teacher  for  one  term  in  Phillips'  Academy,  Andover,  and  then 
Tutor  in  Amherst  College ;  1842-4,  resident  Licentiate  at  An- 
dover; November  29,  1845,  ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  a 
Congregational  Church  in  Exeter,  N.  H. ;  1847-8,  without  being 
dismissed,  spent  a  year  of  study  in  Germany;  1852,  succeeded 
Dr.  Stowe  as  Collins  Professor  of  Natural  and  Revealed  Re- 
ligion in  Bowdoin  College;  and  in  1855,  succeeded  Prof.  Henry 
B.  Smith  as  Washburn  Professor  of  Church  History  in  Union 
Theological  Seminary,  New  York  City,  which  position  he  still 
holds ;  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Bowdoin 
on  leaving  that  Institution ;  visited  Italy  and  Greece  in  1866, 
and  in  1869-70,  Egypt,  Sinai  and  Palestine.  While  Professor 
in  Union  Theological  Seminary,  Dr.  Hitchcock  has  been  in  con- 
stant demand,  in  the  absence  of  pastors,  to  supply  the  principal 
pulpits  in  New  York,  Brooklyn  and  Boston,  among  others  that 
of  Mr.  Beecher  when  he  was  in  Europe.  Nor  has  he  been  less 
popular,  especially  during  and  since  the  war,  as  a  speaker  on  the 
platform,  on  subjects  and  occasions  of  the  deepest  public  interest. 
His  "  Analysis  of  the  Bible  "  is  but  the  first  fruits  of  a  rich 
harvest  of  works — in  Church  History  and  collateral  subjects — 
which  he  is  preparing  for  the  press.  During  the  three  year's  of 
his  official  connection  with  Amherst  College  no  Trustee  has  given 
it  more  time  and  thought  and  loving  service ;  and  being  the  only 
Professor,  the  only  educator  in  the  Board,  his  service  possesses 
a  rare  value  which  is  highly  appreciated  by  officers  and  students. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

OVERSEERS  OF  THE  CHARITY  FUND,  COMMISSIONERS  AND 
TREASURERS. 

THE  constitution  of  the  Charity  Fund  "  for  the  greater  safety 
and  more  prompt  and  easy  management  of  so  important  a  con- 
cern," provides  that  a  Board  of  Overseers,  consisting  of  at  least 
seven  in  number,  shall  be  appointed  by  the  subscribers  to  the 
fund,  and  that  the  said  Board  shall  perpetuate  their  existence 
as  such  by  filling  their  own  vacancies.  The  Board,  as  originally 
appointed  according  to  the  constitution,  consisted  of  the  follow- 
ing persons :  Henry  Gray,  Esq.,  Hon.  Salem  Towne,  Hezekiah 
Wright  Strong,  Esq.,  Rev.  Theophilus  Packard,  Rev.  Thomas 
Snell,  and  Rev.  Luther  Sheldon.  Rev.  Samuel  Osgood  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Board  at  its  first  meeting  in  August, 
1822.  Biographical  sketches  have  already  been  given  of  Mr. 
Strong  and  Dr.  Packard,  the  former  among  the  founders,  and  the 
latter  among  the  early  Trustees  of  the  College.  Brief  sketches 
will  now  be  given  of  their  colleagues,  and  of  their  successors  in 
office  who  have  deceased. 

Henry  Gray,  Esq.,  was  a  member  of  the  Board  from  1821  till 
1833.  He  was  born  in  Salem,  Mass.,  in  1784.  He  was  the  sec- 
ond son  of  Hon.  William  Gray,  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts, who  was  for  a  short  time  a  Trustee  of  the  College,  and 
whose  biography  has  been  given  in  a  former  chapter. ]  Henry 
Gray  entered  Harvard  College  in  1798,  but,  owing  to  impaired 
eye-sight,  he  left  without  graduating  in  1800.  In  1801  he  trav- 
eled in  various  parts  of  Europe.  A  few  years  later,  he  engaged 
in  mercantile  pursuits  in  Boston,  but  was  far  from  inheriting  the 
success  or  the  thrift  of  his  father,  who,  it  will  be  remembered,  was 

1  See  p.  226. 


HON.  SALEM  TOWNE.  519 

one  of  the  wealthiest  merchants  of  his  day  in  that  city.  He  re- 
sided for  some  years  in  Dorchester,  where  he  became  a  member 
of  the  Orthodox  Congregational  Church,  under  the  charge  of 
Rev.  Dr.  Codman.  In  the  year  1830  he  removed  to  New  York 
City  where  he  died  in  1854,  aged  seventy.  His  patrimony  was 
so  reduced  that  some  of  his  children  would  gladly  have  availed 
themselves  of  some  such  provision  for  an  education  at  Amherst 
as  Mr.  Wilder  unsuccessfully  urged  the  merchant  prince  of  Bos- 
ton to  make  for  his  posterity. 

Hon.  Salem  Towne  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Over- 
seers twenty-one  years  (1821-42).  He  was  born  in  Charleton, 
Mass.,  March  26,  1780.  Although  he  was  not  educated  at  Col- 
lege, he  was  well  educated  in  other  ways,  taught  with  much* 
success  in  the  public  schools,  and  set  so  high  a  value  on  collegi- 
ate education  that  he  entered  his  oldest  son  in  the  first  class  that 
entered  as  Freshmen  at  Amherst. l  He  was  at  one  time  employed 
by  the  State  in  surveying  the  public  lands  in  Maine. 

One  incident  in  his  experience  as  a  teacher  was  quite  remark- 
able, and  deserves  to  be  narrated  here.  I  have  it  from  Rev.  B. 
G.  Northrop,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education  in  Connecti- 
cut, who  had  it  from  the  lips  of  Gen.  Towne  himself.  As  he 
was  about  to  assume  the  charge  of  a  school  in  the  north  part  of 
Charleton,  now  Southbridge,  he  was  told  of  one  boy  who  had 
been  the  plague  of  the  school  and  the  terror  of  its  teachers. 
He  resolved,  if  possible,  to  win  and  subdue  that  boy  by  kind- 
ness ;  and  he  succeeded  so  well  the  first  day  that  when  the  school 
was  dismissed  at  night,  he  could  and  did  say  to  him,  "  You  have 
been  a  first-rate  toy  today;  I  hope  you  will  be  the  same  to- 
morrow." But  scarcely  had  the  boy  left  the  school-house,  before 
the  School  Committee  came  in  to  say,  it  was  not  their  intention 
to  allow  that  boy  to  be  a  member  of  the  school.  The  master 
said,  he  had  behaved  as  well  as  any  boy  in  school,  and  he  hoped 
he  would  be  allowed  to  come  the  next  day.  The  next  day,  the 
boy  came,  was  treated  with  the  same  kindness  and  confidence, 
and  with  the  same  result ;  and  was  dismissed  with  a  similar  ex- 
pression of  the  teacher's  approbation.  Again  the  Committee 
called  on  the  teacher,  and  remonstrated  still  more  decidedly 

1  For  an  anecdote  touching  this  son  see  p.  95. 


520  HISTORY   OF  AMHEEST  COLLEGE. 

against  the  retention  of  so  perverse  and  corrupt  a  boy  in  the 
school.  The  teacher  replied,  that  the  Committee,  of  course,  had 
the  power  to  do  as  they  chose.  But  he  could  not  turn  him  away 
until  he  should  do  something  which  merited  dismission.  The 
consequence  was,  that  the  boy  continued  through  the  winter, 
behaved  well,  improved  his  opportunities,  and  became  from  that 
time  another  man.  That  boy  was  afterwards  William  L.  Marcy, 
Governor  of  New  York,  and  Secretary  of  State  for  the  United 
States.  And  he  often  declared  on  public  occasions,  that  Gen. 
Towne  made  him  all  that  he  was.  He  had  been  given  up  by 
parents  and  friends  as  well  as  teachers  and  school  committees, 
and  never  knew  what  it  was  to  be  called  a  good  boy — never 
dreamed  of  the  possibility  of  his  being  one,  till  he  was  called  so 
by  his  teacher  at  the  opening  of  that  winter  school. 

Mr.  Towne's  occupation  was  that  of  a  farmer.  He  was  ap- 
pointed Justice  of  the  Peace  in  1806,  and  held  that  office  in  its 
modified  forms  and  by  renewed  appointments  until  his  death, 
that  is  for  a  period  of  more  than  sixty-five  years.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate  in  1822  and  1823,  while 
the  Amherst  Collegiate  Institution  was  suing  for  a  charter,  and 
was  a  warm  advocate  for  its  incorporation.  In  1856,  he  was 
again  elected  to  the  Senate,  of  which  he  was  the  oldest  mem- 
ber, being  then  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age. 

Being  chosen  Colonel  of  a  regiment,  he  was  in  command  of  it 
at  North  Boston  in  the  last  war  with  Great  Britain,  in  1814 ; 
when  he  left,  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Brigadier-General, 
and  in  1819,  he  received  the  appointment  of  Major-General. 
In  Charleton  and  vicinity,  he  was  generally  known  by  his  mili- 
tary title. 

In  the  eighty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  Gen.  Towne  became  a 
member  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Charleton.  Although 
he  was  so  late  in  coming  into  the  church,  yet,  his  pastor  writes,1 
"  he  has  always  been  one  of  the  most  efficient  supporters  of  the 
institutions  of  religion,  and  very  early  took  an  active  part  in 
the  Temperance  Reform." 

He  was  one  of  the  most  liberal  subscribers  to  the  Charity 

1  Rev.  John  Haven,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  most  of  the  facts  contained  in 
this  sketch. 


KEY.   DR.   OSGOOD.  521 

Fund,1  and  for  that  reason,  as  well  as  his  friendship  for  the 
College,  and  his  general  character,  he  was  chosen  one  of  the 
original  Overseers  of  that  fund,  which,  in  the  language  of  the 
Constitution  was  "to  be  the  basis  or  main  pillar  of  the  College," 
and  of  which  he  was,  for  a  score  of  years,  a  wise  and  faithful 
guardian. 

Gen.  Towne  enjoyed  comfortable  health  till  he  was  more  than 
fourscore  years  and  ten,  and  died,  after  a  short  sickness,  on  the 
15th  of  February,  1872,  in  the  ninety-second  year  of  his  age. 
An  anecdote  went  the  round  of  the  newspapers  soon  after  his 
death,  which,  while  it  plays  upon  his  name,  is  said  to  be  illustra- 
tive of  his  character.  When  Gen.  Towne  was  a  member  of  the 
Senate,  President  Quincy,  wishing  to  secure  his  vote  for  some 
measure,  had  an  interview  with  him  and  supposed  he  had  ac- 
complished his  object.  But  when  the  question  came  up,  the 
General's  vote  was  cast  on  the  other  side.  And  the  President 
declared  publicly,  that  he  ought  thenceforth  to  be  known  no 
longer  as  Salem  Town  but  as  Marblehead  Town.  He  seems  to 
have  had  a  mind  of  his  own,  and  at  the  same  time  to  have  been 
able  to  keep  it  to  himself  as  long  as  he  thought  he  had  good 
reason  for  so  doing. 

Rev.  Samuel  Osgood,  D.  D.,  was  a  member  of  the  Board  nearly 
forty  years  (1821-60)  a  longer  period  than  any  other  Over- 
seer, or  any  Trustee,  except  Dr.  Vaill,  has  ever  been  connected 
with  Amherst  College.  He  was  born  at  Fryeburg,  Me.,  Febru- 
ary 8,  1784,  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1805,  studied 
law  a  short  time  at  Hanover,  N.  H.,  then  taught  school  and 
read  theolog}r  at  Dorchester,  Mass.,  preached  a  few  times,  first 
at  Roxbury  and  then  at  Quincy  where  he  had  the  two  Adamses 
for  hearers,  in  1807  went  to  Princeton,  N.  J.,  where  he  remained 
about  a  year  studying  theology  with  Dr.  Samuel  Smith,  and 
preaching  occasionally  in  the  vicinity,  and  after  preaching  four 
Sabbaths  as  the  thirty-seventh  candidate,  he  was  ordained  and 
installed  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Springfield, 
Mass.,  June  25,  1809,  in  which  relation  he  continued  fifty-three 
years,  until  his  death.  In  1827,  he  received  the  honorary  degree 

1  His  subscription  to  the  Charity  Fund  was  §500.  To  what  extent,  if  any,  he 
afterwards  contributed  to  the  funds  of  the  College,  I  do  not  know. 


522  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  the  College  of  New  Jersey.  In  1854, 
Rev.  Henry  M.  Parsons  was  settled  as  his  colleague,  and  Dr. 
Osgood  retired  from  active  duty  among  his  own  people,  but  still 
continued  to  preach  quite  constantly  in  the  vacant  pulpits  of  the 
vicinity.  On  the  25th  of  June,  1859,  having  completed  fifty 
years  of  his  ministry,  he  preached  a  half-century  sermon.  He 
died  at  Springfield,  December,  1862,  aged  seventy-eight. 

For  several  years,  Dr.  Osgood  was  the  pastor  of  the  only  Con- 
gregational Church  in  Springfield.  Of  course,  his  labors  were 
arduous ;  and  he  was  a  great  power  in  the  community.  In  1815, 
the  boldness  and  plainness  with  which  he  preached  "  the  dis- 
tinguishing doctrines  of  the  gospel,"  led  to  a  secession  of  fifty- 
four  persons  from  the  parish,  and  the  formation  of  a  Unitarian 
society.  The  majority  of  the  parish  remained  with  the  minister  ; 
but  the  division  created  a  great  excitement  in  Springfield,  second 
only  to  that  "  when  nearly  a  century  before,  Rev.  Robert  Breck 
was  arrested  by  a  sheriff  with  a  drawn  sword  for  '  treason  against 
the  King  of  Heaven.'  "  l 

In  the  pulpit,  he  had  few  of  the  graces  of  style  or  elocution. 
His  sermons  drew  their  illustrations  chiefly  from  the  Scriptures, 
and  his  prayers  took  their  form  and  expression  as  well  as  their 
sentiment  and  spirit  largely  from  the  same  source.  The  plain- 
ness of  his  person,  the  simplicity  of  his  manners  and  the  freedom 
and  boldness,  not  to  say  bluntness,  of  his  Anglo-Saxon  speech, 
gave  additional  pungency  to  his  condemnation  of  sin,  and  his 
denunciation  of  sinners.  "  His  blunt  and  honest  reproofs  are 
laid  up  in  many  a  memory  ;  yet  he  was  as  sympathetic  as  a  child 
with  all  who  were  unfortunate.  No  ears  were  ever  more  ac- 
cessible to  the  tale  of  woe  than  his,  and  the  wronged  man  was. 
always  sure  of  a  friend  in  him."  2  We  saw  only  the  friendly  and 
kindly  side  of  him  as  he  came  to  Amherst  from  year  to  year,  for 
forty  years,  in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties  till  his  face  was 
as  welcome,  and  in  those  days  almost  as  familiar  on  the  Com- 
mencement stage,  as  that  of  Dr.  Vaill. 

"  One  of  the  pleasantest  reminiscences  of  the  life  of  Dr.  Os- 
good was  his  connection  with  the  Academy  at  Fryeburg,  when 
it  was  under  the  charge  of  Daniel  Webster,  and  the  association 

1  Obituary  notice  of  Dr.  Osgood  in  The  Springfield  Republican.  2  Ibid. 


EEV.   DR.    SHELDON.  523 

of  that  eminent  man  with  the  duties  of  his  father's  office. 
James  Osgood  of  Fiyeburg,  the  father  of  Dr.  Osgood.  was  the 
Register  of  Deeds  of  whom  Mr.  Webster  speaks  in  his  autobi- 
ography, as  having  given  him  employment  in  the  business  of 
recording.  The  acquaintance  was  thus  early  commenced,  and 
was  kept  up,  we  believe,  during  Mr.  Webster's  life. 

"  The  funeral  of  Dr.  Osgood  was  held  on  Friday  afternoon, 
December  12,  in  the  First  Congregational  Church.  The  church 
was  draped  in  mourning,  and  wreaths  of  flowers  were  strewn 
upon  the  coffin.  The  church  began  to  be  filled  at  an  early  hour, 
and  by  the  time  for  the  services  to  commence,  every  seat  was 
occupied,  and  many  were  crowded  into  the  aisles.  The  city 
government  attended  in  a  body,  and  many  members  of  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity.  His  colleague,  Rev.  Henry  M.  Parsons,  offered 
prayer,  Rev.  Mr.  Buckingham  of  the  South  Church  read  from 
the  Scriptures.  The  sermon  was  preached  by  Rev.  Dr.  Sprague 
of  Albany."  l 

Rev.  Luther  Sheldon,  D.  D.,2  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Overseers  fifteen  years  (1821-36).  He  was  born  in  Rupert,  Vt., 
February  18,  1785.  He  was  the  son  of  Judge  David  Sheldon 
who  originated  in  Suffield,  Conn.;  and  he  worked  on  his  father's 
large  farm  until  he  was  twenty-one.  He  had  entertained  a 
Christian  hope  for  some  years  and  wished  to  study  for  the  min- 
istry, but  out  of  deference  to  his  father's  wish  that  he  should  stay 
with  him  on  the  farm,  he  remained  until  he  was  legally  free.  He 
then  entered  Middlebury  College,  where  he  graduated  in  1808. 
He  studied  theology,  as  was  then  the  custom,  with  a  neighboring 
minister,  and  two  years  after  was  called  to  and  ordained  over 
the  Congregational  Church  in  Easton,  Mass.,  October  24,  1810. 

His  salary  was  five  hundred  dollars,  and  twelve  cords  of  wood. 
Upon  this  he  brought  up  and  educated  a  family  of  five  children. 
He  was  settled  about  the  same  time  with  Dr.  Codman  of  Dor- 
chester, and  Dr.  Storrs  of  Braintree,  and  was  always  quite  inti- 
mate with  them ;  and  some  of  the  pleasantest  early  recollections 
of  his  children  were  the  meetings  of  these  three  men  and  their 

1  Notice  in  The  Republican. 

2  I  am  indebted  for  this  sketch  of  Dr.  Sheldon,  chiefly  to  his  son,  Rev.  L.  H. 
Sheldon,  D.  D.,  who  is  at  the  head  of  a  flourishing  school  in  Jamesburg,  N.  J. 


524  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

wives,  their  theological  discussions  and  their  genial  and  instruct- 
ive table-talk. 

The  great  event  of  his  parochial  life  was  his  famous  lawsuit 
with  the  Unitarians,  when  the}*  prevented  him  from  going  into 
his  pulpit  to  preach.  He  sued  the  parish  for  his  salary,  and  they 
kept  it  in  law  for  seven  years,  when  he  recovered  his  salary  with 
interest  for  the  whole  time.  Then  they  made  him  go  back  and 
preach  in  the  old  house,  although  his  church  and  his  friends  in 
the  parish  had  meanwhile  built  him  a  new  house,  and  he  had 
preached  in  it  for  years.  He  went  back  and  preached  orthodoxy 
to  them  till  they  were  glad  to  divide  the  fund,  compromise  the 
matter  with  him  and  dismiss  him  in  the  regular  way.  This  famous 
suit,  which  is  fully  reported  in  the  Massachusetts  Law  Reports,1 
settled  several  important  questions  touching  the  rights  of  minis- 
ters and  the  manner  in  which  they  can  and  can  not  be  dismissed. 
Such  for  instance  as  these :  That  the  refusal  of  a  minister  to 
make  exchanges  with  certain  other  ministers  in  the  vicinity 
is  not  a  sufficient  ground  for  dismission  ;  nor  his  neglect  to  re- 
ply to  communications  from  the  parish  on  that  subject ;  nor  the 
finding  by  an  ex-parte  Council  that  he  had  "  lost  the  confidence 
of  a  large  portion  of  his  parishioners  in  his  moral  honesty  and 
integrity,"  as  it  did  not  show  whether  such  portion  was  a  minor- 
ity or  majority  of  the  parishioners,  nor  that  the  loss  of  confi- 
dence was  owing  to  any  fault  on  the  part  of  the  minister.  Such 
cases  as  those  of  Dr.  Osgood  and  Dr.  Sheldon  illustrate  the  times 
*.n  which  they  lived,  and  the  character  of  not  a  few  of  the 
founders  of  Arnherst  College. 

In  1851,  Mr.  Sheldon  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Divinity  from  the  College  at  which  fye  graduated.  He  died 
September  17,  1866,  at  which  time  he  was  eighty-one  years  old. 

Rev.  Thomas  Snell,  D.  D.,  the  youngest  son  of  Dea.  Eben- 
ezer  Snell  and  Sarah  Packard,  was  born  in  Cummington,  Xo- 
vember  21,  1774.  Having  pursued  the  preparatory  studies  about 
two  years  under  the  tuition  of  his  pastor,  Rev.  James  Briggs,  he 
entered  Dartmouth  College  in  1791,  and  graduated  in  1795,  two 
years  after  President  Moore,  and  in  the  same  class  with  Dr. 
Worcester,  first  Secretary  of  the  American  Board,  and  several 

1  See  Pickering's  Reports,  Vol.  xxiv.,  p.  281 ;  Sheldon  vs.  Easton. 


EEV.    DR.    SNELL.  525 

men  who  were  afterwards  distinguished  in  civil  and  political 
life.  From  a  letter  written  by  him  in  1848,  it  appears  that 
there  were  only  four  professors  of  religion  in  his  class,  and  he 
did  not  become  experimentally  a  Christian  till  the  year  after  his 
graduation,  when  he  was  teaching  an  academy  in  Haverhill, 
N.  H.  The  next  year  he  studied  theology  with  Dr.  Backus  of 
Somers,  Conn.,  with  Dr.  Woods,  Dr.  Church,  and  Dr.  Porter 
of  Catskill,  N.  Y.,  for  his  fellow-students.  He  was  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  Tolland  Association,  October  3,  1797,  and  after 
preaching  between  five  and  six  months  as  a  candidate,  was  or- 
dained and  installed  pastor  of  the  church  in  North  Brookfield, 
then  the  second  precinct  in  Brookfield.  Mr.  Snell  was  the  sec- 
ond minister  in  the  Commonwealth  (his  friend  Rev.  Zephaniah 
SwiffcoMoore  of  Leicester  being  the  first,)  in  whose  terms  of  set- 
tlement provision  was  made  for  a  dismission.  It  was  customary 
at  that  time  to  settle  a  minister  for  life.  In  this  case,  it  was 
provided,  in  brief,  that  if  two -thirds  of  the  legal  voters  in  the 
society  should  express  a  desire  for  his  dismission  two  years  in 
succession,  the  first  year  in  writing,  and  the  next  year  by  vote 
at  a  legal  meeting  called  for  that  purpose,  he  should  consider 
himself  discharged  from  his  ministerial  relation,  and  from  that 
time  relinquish  any  further  demand  for  services,  provided  how- 
ever, (a  provision  made  by  the  desire  of  the  pastor-elect,)  that 
the  dismission  should  be  by  a  council  called  for  that  purpose. 
"  These  provisions  for  his  dismission,  Dr.  Snell  testified  in  his  old 
age,  were  the  means  of  preventing  such  an  occurrence ;  for,  at 
times,  the  opposition  which  he  encountered  was  such  that,  had  he 
been  settled  for  life,  his  enemies  would  probably  have  succeeded 
in  obtaining  a  majority  against  him  and  in  driving  him  away  at 
some  time  of  excitement." l  In  less  than  two  years  after  his  set- 
tlement, an  article  was  introduced  into  the  parish  warrant  com- 
plaining of  "  his  exorbitant  salary,"  which'  was  then  four  hun- 
dred dollars.  Four  years  later,  complaints  still  continuing  to  be 
made,  particularly  on  account  of  his  salary,  the  pastor  procured 
an  article  to  be  inserted  in  the  warrant,  by  which  a  vote  was 
taken,  and  one  hundred  expressed  a  desire  that  he  should  re- 

1  Discourse  of  Rev.  Christopher  Gushing,  to  which  I  am  indebted  largely  for  the 
materials  for  this  sketch. 


526  HISTORY  OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

main,  and  thirty  voted  against  him.1  At  different  times  after- 
wards, the  lofty  and  bold  stand  which  he  took  on  the  subject  of 
Temperance,  and  still  later  on  the  subject  of  Slavery,  together 
with  the  uncompromising  orthodoxy  of  his  preaching  which 
always  excited  more  or  less  opposition  in  the  parish,  raised  a 
storm  which  threatened  the  permanency  of  the  pastoral  relation. 
But  a  large  majority  of  the  society  always  sustained  him.  He 
was  still  more  strongly  rooted  in  the  confidence  and  affections 
of  the  church.  He  continued  the  sole  pastor  of  the  church 
more  than  fifty-three  years,  and  he  sustained  the  pastoral  rela- 
tion till  his  death,  almost  sixty-four  years.  His  pecuniary  sup- 
port, though  never  very  large,  was  increased  during  the  latter 
part  of  his  ministry,  and  from  time  to  time  augmented  by  special 
grant  or  by  personal  contribution,  and  a  large  sum  was  paid 
after  all  claim  for  service  was  surrendered;  in  short,  although 
like  Dr.  Osgood  and  Dr.  Sheldon,  he  was  sometimes  obliged  to 
stand  up  for  his  rights,  and  often  placed  in  circumstances  which 
reminded  him  that  he  belonged  to  the  church  militant,  yet  his 
people,  to  their  credit  not  less  than  his,  rallied  around  him  and 
manifested  their  confidence  and  affection  more  and  more  with 
every  year,  even  to  the  last,  of  his  long  and  faithful  ministry. 

In  the  early  part  of  Dr.  SnelFs  ministry — the  close  of  the  last 
and  the  beginning  of  the  present  century — revivals  of  religion 
were  comparatively  unfrequent,  and  he  labored  nineteen  j^ears 
without  any  such  season  of  refreshing  among  his  own  people. 
During  the  next  twenty  years,  there  were  five  revivals,  in  the 
last  of  which  fifty  were  added  to  his  small  church.2 

While  Dr.  Snell  was  an  indefatigable  pastor  and  a  wise  leader 
in  education,  temperance,  civil  liberty,  and  every  other  good 
cause  at  home,  he  was  emphatically  a  public  man  whose  influ- 
ence was  widely  felt  in  other  churches  and  through  the  commu- 
nity. "  For  fifty  years  during  which  the  Brookfield  Association 
of  Congregational  ministers  held  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
meetings,  he  was  absent  from  only  twelve,  and  never  during 
that  long  time  did  he  fail  to  fulfill  an  appointment  assigned  him 

1  Fifteen  voted  against  him  at  the  time  of  his  settlement. 

2  North  Brookfield  was  comparatively  poor  and  unpopulous  during  Dr.  Snell's 
active  ministry. 


DE.    SNELL.  527 

by  his  brethren."  For  twenty-five  years  he  was  the  Secretary  of 
the  Massachusetts '  General  Association.  He  was  present  at  the 
meeting  of  the  Association,  in  1810,  when  the  American  Board 
of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  was  organized,  and  was  a 
corporate  member  of  the  Board  from  1838  till  the  close  of  his 
life.  He  gave  to  the  public  twenty-four  sermons,  pamphlets  or 
tracts,  among  which  was  an  oration  on  the  5th  of  Jul}T,  1813 ; 
a  sermon  before  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts  in 
1814;  the  election  sermon  before  the  Governor,  Council  and 
Legislature  in  1817;  extract  from  a  sermon  delivered  at  the 
interment  of  President  Moore  in  1823 ;  sermons  on  the  fortieth 
and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  settlement;  and  two  historical 
discourses,  the  one  in  1850  containing  an  historical  sketch  of 
the  tofcrn  of  North  Brookfield,  and  the  other  in  1852,  a  centen- 
nial history  of  the  First  Congregational  Church  in  that  town. 

Mr.  Snell  became  a  Trustee  of  Williams  College  in  1817, 
probably  at  the  instance  of  his  friend  and  old  neighbor,  Presi- 
dent Moore;  entered  his  son  there  in  1818,  and  continued 
a  member  of  the  Board  until  Amherst  received  a  charter  in 
1825.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Convention  at  Amherst  in  1818, 
and  voted  with  the  majority  in  favor  of  establishing  the  College 
there ;  voted  with  President  Moore  and  the  majority  in  favor  of 
removing  Williams  College  to  Amherst ;  took  a  lively  interest 
and  an  active  part  in  all  the  plans  and  efforts  for  founding  Am- 
herst College ;  did  the  best  thing  he  ever  did  for  it  in  transfer- 
ring his  son,  Ebenezer,  with  President  Moore,  at  the  opening  in 
1821,  and  never  ceased  to  feel  a  deep  interest  in  its  prosperity. 
"  At  the  organization  of  the  Board  of  Overseers  of  the  Charity 
Fund,  he  was  made  a  member  and  chosen  Secretary,  and  al- 
though the  office  of  Secretary  of  that  Board  is  an  annual  one, 
no  other  individual  was  chosen  to  fill  that  office  for  fifteen  years. 
He  remained  a  member  of  the  Board  thirty-three  years.  And 
during  this  long  term  he  was  never  absent  from  his  post  but  once, 
and  then  it  was  because  he  felt  that  the  state  of  religious  inter- 
est among  his  own  people  demanded  his  presence  at  home. 
When  his  declining  years  rendered  it  impossible  for  him  to  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  a  member  of  the  Board,  he  at  once  sent  in 
his  resignation,  for  he  would  not  retain  an  office,  the  responsi- 


528  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

bilities  of  which  he  could  not  meet.  The  College  with  which 
he  was  thus  officially  connected,  showed  their  appreciation  of 
his  merits  by  conferring  upon  him  in  1828  the  honorary  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Divinity."  l 

In  April,  1855,  Dr.  Snell  experienced  a  paralytic  shock  from 
which  he  never  fully  recovered.  Yet  more  than  three  years  af- 
ter this,  he  wrote  and  delivered  a  sermon  on  the  sixtieth  anni- 
versary of  his  settlement.  He  died  May  4,  1862,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-seven.  He  was  then  the  oldest  pastor  in  the  Common- 
wealth. He  lived  to  bury  all  the  Church  and  all  the  Society 
over  which  he  was  installed.  The  Memorial  Discourses  deliv- 
ered at  his  funeral  by  his  successor,  Rev.  Christopher  Gushing, 
and  his  spiritual  "  son,"  Rev.  Lyman  Whiting,  contain  many 
anecdotes  and  illustrations  which  present  him  in  some  aspects  of 
rare  moral  sublimity  as  a  divine  of  the  Puritan  type,  and  scarcely 
less  sententious  in  his  utterances,  or  commanding  in  his  presence, 
than  the  lawgiver  and  prophets  of  the  Old  Dispensation. 

For  twelve  years  (1821-1833)  no  vacancy  occurred  in  the 
Board  of  Overseers,  either  by  death  or  by  resignation.  Of  the 
fifteen  individuals  who  have  come  in  since  1833,  five  have  de- 
ceased, three  of  the  survivors  have  resigned,  and  the  remainder 
constitute  the  present  Board. 

Henry  Penniman,  Esq.,  who  was  elected  in  the  place  of 
Henry  Gray,  Esq.,  (resigned  in  1833,)  was  born  in  Mendon, 
Mass.,  September  3,  1773,  and  died  in  New  Braintree,  March  29, 
1851,  aged  seventy -eight  years.  He  resigned  his  trust  in  1844, 
being  then  over  seventy,  and  having  been  a  member  eleven 
years.  A  man  of  strict  integrity  and  excellent  judgment,  highly 
intelligent  though  without  a  College  education,  he  was  often  Se- 
lectman and  was  much  trusted  and  looked  up  to  in  town  affairs. 
Having  been  chosen  to  the  command  of  a  regiment  of  volun- 
teers, he  was  generally  known  as  Col.  Penniman.  He  was  a 
liberal  supporter  of  the  institutions  of  religion  and  a  leading 
man  in  the  parish,  but  never  became  a  member  of  the  church. 
A  prosperous  farmer,  one  of  the  solid  men  of  New  Braintree, 
and  belonging  to  Dr.  Fiske's  congregation,  he  became  early  in- 
terested in  Amherst  College  (how  could  he  help  it),  sent  his  son 

1  Mr.  Cushing's  Discourse. 


HENRY   PENNIMAN,   ESQ.  529 

there,  although  an  older  son  had  been  educated  at  Cambridge, 
and  early  contributed  to  its  funds.  How  much  or  how  often  he 
gave  is  not  known,  but  a  donation  of  two  hundred  dollars  for 
the  increase  of  the  Library  is  commemorated  in  a  letter  from 
President  Humphrey,  which,  being  also  a  letter  of  condolence 
on  the  death  of  his  son,  has  been  preserved  by  the  family.  The 
following  extracts,  while  they  serve  as  a  memorial  of  Col.  Penni- 
man's  liberality,  also  illustrate  the  character  of  President  Hum- 
phrey and  the  value  which  was  then  set  upon  such  donations. 

AMHERST  COLLEGE,  January  1,  1827. 

My  Dear  Sir : — Having  been  absent  when  your  donation  of 
two  hundred  dollars  for  the  increase  of  our  College  Library  was 
received,  permit  me  now,  in  the  name  of  the  Trustees  and  Fac- 
ulty and  Students,  to  present  you  our  very  grateful  acknowledg- 
ments for  this  more  than  generous  benefaction.  May  the  Lord 
reward  you  a  thousand  fold  into  your  bosom.  No  designation 
of  your  bounty  could  have  been  more  acceptable  than  that  which 
you  have  made,  as  it  will  enable  us  immediately  to  purchase 
several  extremely  valuable  works. which,  for  want  of  funds,  we 
have  not  been  able  to  obtain. 

It  gives  a  new  value  in  our  esteem  to  this  donation,  that  it 
comes  from  a  friend  whose  proud  hopes  have  just  been  en- 
tombed with  a  beloved  son  who  was  a  member  of  the  Institu- 
tion. 1  I  need  not  say,  how  he  endeared  himself  to  all  his  in- 
structors and  fellow-students,  nor  how  deep  a  throb  of  anguish 
it  caused  us  when  he  expired.  Dear  youth,  he  came  forth  as  a 
flower  and  was  cut  down.  May  his  early  death  be  sanctified  to 
his  doting  parents  and  to  all  his  brothers  and  sisters.  Most  ten- 
derly do  we  still  sympathize  with  you  in  this  great  and  sore  be- 
reavement. May  you  find  it  in  your  hearts  to  say,  "  The  Lord 
gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away  ;  blessed  be  the  name  of 
the  Lord  !  " 

With  sympathetic  regards  to  Mrs.  Penniman  and  your  chil- 
dren, I  am,  dear  sir,  your  sincere  and  most  obliged  friend, 

HEMAN  HUMPHREY. 

1  William  Penniman  of  New  Braintree  was  a  member  of  the  Class  of  '29,  and 
died  in  his  Sophomore  year. 
34 


530  HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Rev.  Cyrus  Mann  was  connected  with  the  Board  of  Overseers 
eighteen  years,  having  been  elected  in  1836  and  resigned  in 
1854.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  College  in  the  Class 
of  1806,  and  the  following  epitome  of  the  principal  facts  in  his 
life  is  taken  from  Dr.  Chapman's  Sketches  of  the  Alumni  of 
Dartmouth  College  :  "  Cyrus  Mann,  A.  M.,  the  son  of  John  and 
Lydia  (Porter)  Mann,  was  born  at  Oxford,  N.  H.,  April  3, 1785, 
and  died  at  Stoughton,  Mass.,  February  9,  1859,  aged  seventy- 
three.  He  was  principal  of  Gilmanton  Academy,  two  years ; 
teacher  of  the  High  School  at  Troy,  N.  Y.,  one  year,  studying 
law  the  while  with  Stephen  Ross  ;  was  tutor  at  Dartmouth  from 
1809  to  1814,  studying  divinity  during  the  time  with  Rev.  Prof. 
Shurtleff,  D.  D.,  of  Dartmouth  College ;  ordained  pastor  of  the 
Congregational  Church  at  Westminster,  Mass.,  February  22, 
1855  ;  dismissed  June  9, 1841,  after  an  effective  service  of  rising 
twenty-six  years ;  then  supplied  the  Robinson  Church,  Ply- 
mouth, Mass.,  three  years ;  next  a  teacher  at  Lowell,  Mass.,  for 
several  years  ;  lastly  acting  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church 
at  North  Falmouth,  Mass.,  from  1852  to  1856.  His  publications 
were  a  '  Treatise  on  Trigonometry  ; '  an  '  Epitome  of  the  Evi- 
dences of  Christianity;'  a  'History  of  the  Temperance  Refor- 
mation ; '  a  Memoir  of  Mrs.  Myra  W.  Allen,  wife  of  Rev.  Da- 
vid O.  Allen  of  the  Bombay  Mission,  with  some  sermons." 

Thomas  Bond,  Esq.,  was  born  at  North  Brookfield,  September 
11,  1777,  and  died  in  Springfield,  January  6,  1852,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-four.  Well  taught  in  the  public  schools  and  sitting  in 
his  childhood  and  youth  under  the  preaching  of  such  ministers 
as  Dr.  Snell  and  his  predecessor,  he  did  not  need  a  collegiate 
education  to  appreciate  the  value  of  Colleges  or  to  become  the 
life-long  friend  of  the  Institution  at  Amherst.  He  was  a  mer- 
chant in  West  Brookfield  until  1825,  when  he  retired  with  a 
competent  fortune  and  settled  in  Springfield.  At  different  times 
he  represented  both  West  Brookfield  and  Springfield  in  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Legislature.  During  his  residence  in  Springfield, 
he  was  a  member  of  the  First  Congregational  Church  (Dr.  Os- 
good's)  till  a  few  years  after  the  formation  of  the  South  Church 
(now  Dr.  Buckingham's,)  when  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  connect 
himself  with  that  church,  of  which  he  was  a  member  at  the 


HON.   ITHAMAK   CONKEY.  531 

time  of  his  death.  He  showed  his  faith  in  Amherst  College  by 
educating  two  sons  in  it,  one  of  whom  is  now  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Overseers,  and  his  love  for  it  by  repeated  donations  to 
the  Library  and  the  Cabinet.  Twenty-seven  years  a  resident 
of  Springfield,  and  thirteen  years  an  Overseer  of  the  Fund  at 
Amherst,  he  lived  honored  and  died  lamented  for  his  unblem- 
ished character  and  his  unostentatious  benevolence. 

Hon.  Ithamar  Conkey  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Over- 
seers sixteen  years,  (1846-1862).  He  was  born  in  Pelham, 
May  7,  1788,  and  died  in  Amherst,  October  13, 1862,  aged  sev- 
enty-four. His  father,  John  Conkey,  was  a  strong-minded  and 
intelligent  farmer.  His  mother  was  the  daughter  of  Rev.  Rob- 
ert Abercrombie,  a  native  of  Edinburg,  Scotland ;  and  his  edu- 
cation,Jbeyond  what  he  could  obtain  in  the  common  schools  of 
his  native  town  and  by  a  brief  connection  with  the  Academy  at 
New  Salem,  he  received  from  his  maternal  grandfather,  who 
was  highly  esteemed  as  a  man  of  learning  and  piety.  Com- 
pelled by  his  pecuniary  necessities  to  abandon  the  idea  of  a  lib- 
eral education,  he  studied  law  with  Noah  D.  Mattoon,  Esq.,  in 
Amherst ;  and  in  1814  he  opened  an  office  in  his  native  town 
and  remained  there  until  1817,  when  on  the  removal  of  Mr. 
Mattoon  to  Ohio,  he  succeeded  him  in  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession in  Amherst.  In  1828,  he  accepted  the  office  of  Special 
Commissioner  and  'in  1830  that  of  County  Commissioner.  In 
1834,  by  appointment  of  Gov.  Armstrong,  he  succeeded  Hon. 
Samuel  Hinckley  as  Judge  of  Probate  for  Hampshire  County, 
and  retained  the  office  until  1858,  when  the  Court  was  abolished 
and  the  Courts  of  Probate  and  Insolvency  were  united.  In 
1853,  Judge  Conkey  was  a  member  of  the  Convention  for  revis- 
ing the  Constitution  of  the  State  ;  in  1859,  a  Trustee  of  Oliver 
Smith's  will.  He  was  for  many  years  a  Trustee  of  Amherst 
Academy,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  the  Treasurer  of 
that  Institution.  He  was  a  member  and  a  firm  supporter  of 
the  church  in  East  Amherst.  He  never  ceased  to  feel  an  inter- 
est in  the  place  of  his  nativity,  and  in  1843,  he  delivered  the 
address,  (which  was  published,)  on  the  one  hundredth  anniver- 
sary of  the  settlement  of  the  town  of  Pelham.  Rising  above 
the  local  prejudices  which  for  a  time  existed  in  that  part  of  the 


532  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

town  in  which  he  resided,  he  became  a  true  friend  and  faithful 
Trustee  both  of  the  Academy  and  the  College,  and  joined  with 
other  citizens  of  Amherst  in  contributing  to  its  funds. 

Hon.  Edward  Southworth  was  thirteen  years  a  member  of 
the  Board,  from  his  election  in  1856  till  his  death  in  1869.  He 
also  was  a  native  of  Pelham — a  town  whose  name  is  a  by-word 
with  students,  now,  but  which  ranked  above  Amherst  in  the 
olden  times  and  has  been  the  birthplace  of  many  excellent  men. 
Constant  Southworth,  the  earliest  ancestor  of  Edward  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  was  the  son-in-law  of  Gov.  Bradford, 
brought  up  in  his  family  and  a  person  of  distinction  in  the 
Plymouth  Colony.  Edward  Southworth,  the  son  of  Dr.  Abia 
Southworth  of  Pelham  and  Keziah  Boltwood  of  Amherst,  was 
born  July  3,  1804.  He  was  the  youngest  of  three  sons,  of 
whom  the  eldest,  Rufus,  was  a  successful  teacher  in  Charleston, 
S.  C.,  and  the  second,  Wells,  is  an  extensive  manufacturer  who 
resides  at  New  Haven,  and  is  widely  known  as  a  generous  bene- 
factor of  literary,  charitable  and  religious  institutions.1  Fitted 
for  College  in  part  in  Amherst  Academy  under  the  instruction 
of  Gerard  Hallock,  he  entered  at  Cambridge  in  1822,  and  grad- 
uated with  high  honor  in  the  Class  of  '26,  with  such  class- 
mates as  Nehemiah  Adams,  Richard  Hildreth,  Andrew  P.  Pea- 
body,  Willard  Parker  and  Samuel  H.  Walley.  For  the  first 
seven  years  after  his  graduation  he  was  a  teacher  of  Languages 
in  Charleston,  S.  C. 

Constrained  by  ill-health  to  relinquish  teaching,  he  came  North 
and  devoted  himself  to  manufacturing  and  mercantile  pursuits, 
which  he  prosecuted  with  great  success,  residing  for  a  few  years 
at  South  Hadley  Falls  and  Chicopee,  and  then  removing  to 
West  Springfield  where  he  spent  the  last  thirty  years  of  his  life 
distinguished  alike  for  his  capacity  and  integrity  in  business,  and 
his  Christian  activity,  influence  and  usefulness.  "  He  was  dig- 
nified and  yet  easy  of  approach,  genial  and  generous,  but  above 
all  was  unswerving  in  his  integrity.  So  well  was  this  under- 
stood that  in  financial  circles  his  credit  was  unlimited.  And  it 
was  for  this  reason  that  his  name  and  co-operation  were  so 
eagerly  solicited  by  the  organizers  of  new  enterprises,  anxious 

1  He  is  the  founder  of  the  Southworth  Scholarship  for  the  Class  of  '22. 


HON.    EDWARD   SOUTHWORTH.  533 

to  secure  the  favor  of  a  discriminating  public ;  and  by  this 
means  that  he  came  to  be  an  officer  or  shareholder  in  almost 
numberless  corporations.  At  the  time  of  his  decease,  he  was 
president  of  the  Hampshire  Paper  Company,  Massasoit  Paper 
Company,  Hampden  Paint  and  Chemical  Company ;  treasurer 
of  the  Southworth  Manufacturing  Company ;  director  of  the 
Agawam  National  Bank,  Springfield  Fire  and  Marine  Insurance 
Company,  City  Fire  Insurance  Company  of  New  Haven,  Ct., 
Agawam  Canal  Company,  Springfield  and  Farmington  Valley- 
Railroad  ;  and  trustee  of  Hampden  Savings  Bank,  of  Funds  at 
Amherst  College,  and  of  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary."  1  Chosen 
at  the  same  election  a  member  both  of  the  Senate  and  the 
House  of  Representatives,  (1853,)  he  resigned  his  place  in  the 
former  and  took  a  seat  in  the  latter,  because,  though  the  less 
honorable  position,  it  afforded  him  a  wider  field  of  influence 
and  usefulness. 

At  the  same  time,  he  continued  to  cherish  his  scholarly  tastes. 
In  many  ways  he  manifested  a  life-long  interest  in  sound  learn- 
ing and  Christian  education.  He  made  annual  visits  to  his 
Alma  Mater.  He  rarely  failed  to  attend  the  Commencement 
at  Amherst,  and  the  Anniversary  of  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary. 
When  that  Seminary  was  established,  he  gave  to  its  building 
fund  full  one-tenth  of  all  his  property.  In  connection  with  his 
brother,  Wells  Southworth,  he  founded  the  course  of  lectures  on 
Congregationalism  at  Andover  Theological  Seminary.  To  every 
good  cause,  he  was  a  liberal  and  a  cheerful  giver. 

A  member  and  an  officer  in  the  First  Congregational  Church 
in  West  Springfield,  "  a  man  of  prayer,"  "  a  believer  in  revivals," 
a  superintendent  or  teacher  in  the  Sabbath  School,  it  is  the  tes- 
timony of  his  pastor,  that  "  there  was  no  time,  certainly  in  the 
later  years  of  his  life,  when  he  did  not  seem  all  ready  for  Chris- 
tian work.  Like  a  faithful  shepherd  caring  for  the  spiritual 
flock,  he  went  from  house  to  house,  consecrating  to  such  visita- 
tions the  afternoons  of  successive  days  and  weeks."  It  was  the 
last  work  of  his  life  to  sally  forth,  "  shaking  already  like  a  leaf 
in  chilly  autumn,"  and  make  arrangements  for  a  prayer  meet- 

1  Article  in  The  Congregational  Quarterly  by  Rev.  Henry  M.  Grout,  his  pastor,  who 
preached  his  funeral  sermon. 


534  HISTORY  OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

ing  in  which  he  felt  an  especial  interest ;  and  then,  while  others 
went  to  the  place  of  prayer,  he  sought  the  couch  from  which  he 
was  never  to  rise.  He  died  December  11,  1869,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-five,  a  rare  example  of  scholarly  tastes,  genial  manners 
and  active  piety  in  one  who,  for  almost  forty  years,  was  engaged 
in  so  many  forms  of  important  and  successful  business. 

Few  members,  either  of  the  Corporation  or  of  the  Board  of 
Overseers,  have  been  better  friends,  wiser  counselors  or  more 
faithful  servants  of  the  College  than  Dea.  A.  W.  Porter  of 
Monson,  Hon.  William  Hyde  of  Ware,  and  Hon.  J.  B.  Woods 
of  Enfield,  who,  after  having  held  the  office  of  Overseers  of 
the  Charity  Fund,  the  first  for  twenty-two  years  (1842-64,) 
the  second  for  fifteen  years  (1845-60,)  and  the  third  for  six 
(1850-6,)  resigned  the  trust  not  because  they  wanted  interest 
in  the  College,  but  because,  with  advancing  years  or  numerous 
other  cares  and  responsibilities,  they  could  not  perform  the 
duties  of  the  office. 

Dea.  Porter  (I  give  him  the  title  by  \vhich  he  is  so  uni- 
versally known  in  Western  Massachusetts)  is  and  long  has  been 
the  Treasurer,  the  Steward,  the  guardian  and  father  of  Mount 
Holyoke  Seminary,  which  he  loves,  cherishes  and  provides  for  as 
a  darling  child.  At  the  same  time  he  has  contributed  many 
times  and  in  many  ways  to  the  funds  of  Amherst  College,1  was 
a  member  of  the  Building  Committee,  and  gave  time,  business 
talent  and  experience,  worth  more  than  money,  to  the  erection 
of  the  Woods  Cabinet  and  Lawrence  Observatory,  and  for  almost 
a  quarter  of  a  century  was  a  wise,  watchful  and  faithful  guard- 
ian of  that  Fund  of  which  we  have  so  often  spoken  as  the  chief 
anchor  and  support  of  the  Institution. 

Mr.  Woods  was  a  member  of  the  Building  Committee  both 
for  the  Woods  Cabinet  and  the  Barrett  Gymnasium.  Besides 
raising  the  money  for  the  building  which  bears  his  name,  estab- 
lishing the  Woods  Prize  so  unique  and  characteristic  of  him- 
self, and  standing  by  with  open  hand  and  purse  to  adorn  the 
recitation  rooms  and  meet  the  special  exigencies  of  the  Presi- 

1  Dea.  Porter,  together  with  Mr.  Williston,  came  to  the  relief  and  support  of  the 
Faculty  while  they  were  living  on  half  rations  at  the  beginning  of  Dr.  Hitchcock's 
presidency.  His  donations  have  never  been  large  but  always  timely. 


HON.  JOSIAH  B.  WOODS.  535 

dent  and  Professors,  lie  rendered  a  service  in  turning  the  tide 
of  public  confidence  and  sympathy  in  favor  of  the  College 
(already  spoken  of  in  another  chapter)  which  entitles  him  to  a 
name  and  a  place  among  the  restorers  and  second  founders  of 
Amherst  College. 

Mr.  Hyde,  being  one  of  those  men  who,  for  their  wisdom,  in- 
tegrity, and  public  spirit,  are  sought  and  solicited  to  undertake 
more  public  trusts  than  they  can  discharge,  was  for  some  time 
at  once  a  Trustee  of  Williston  Seminary,  a  Trustee  of  Williams 
College,  and  an  Overseer  of  the  Charity  Fund  at  Amherst.  But 
he  felt  constrained  at  length  to  resign  all  but  the  Trusteeship 
of  Williams  which  is  his  Alma  Mater.  These  gentlemen  have 
all  held  other  important  and  honorable  public  trusts  of  a  social, 
civil  or  religious  nature.  But  they  are  still  living,  and  we  leave 
to  o£bers  the  work  of  writing  their  biographies.1 

The  present  members  of  the  Board  of  Overseers  are  Rev. 
Christopher  Gushing,  D.  D.,  the  accurate,  methodical,  acute 
and  business-like,  though  clerical,  Secretary  of  the  American 
Congregational  Union,  who  succeeded  Rev.  Dr.  Snell  in  this 
trust  as  he  had  previously  succeeded  him  in  the  pastoral  office, 
and  who  keeps  the  records  and  watches  the  accounts  of  the 
Charity  Fund  with  the  same  sleepless  vigilance  with  which  he 
guards  the  interests  of  the  Congregational  churches  ;  Rev.  Row- 
land Ayres,  Philosophical  Orator  of  the  Class  of  '41,  Tutor  from 
1844  to  1846,  and  now  the  veteran  pastor  of  the  First  Church 
in  Old  Hadley,  as  sound  in  the  faith  as  any  of  his  predecessors 
in  that  ancient  pulpit,  and  not  less  sensible  and  judicious  than 
the  wisest  of  them  all;  Hon.  Charles  Adams,  many  years  the 
financier  of  the  largest  boot  and  shoe  manufactory  in  the  world, 
four  times  chosen  to  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representa- 

1  P.  S.  Since  the  text  was  written,  Mr.  Woods  has  deceased.  He  was  born  in 
Enfield,  November  18,  1796,  and  died  in  the  same  place,  May  15,  1872,  in  the 
seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age.  He  fitted  for  college,  with  such  guidance  and  in- 
struction as  he  could  get  from  his  pastor,  Rev.  Mr.  Joshua  Crosby.  But  his  me- 
chanical and  inventive  genius  was  found  so  useful  in  the  manufacturing  business, 
then  starting  in  Enfield,  that  he  could  not  be  spared  to  go  to  college.  It  was  the 
machine  for  manufacturing  cards  which  he  invented,  that  brought  him  into  such 
intimate  relations  to  the  Lawrences  and  other  manufacturers  in  the  vicinity  of 
Boston.  In  1846,  Mr.  Woods  represented  Hampshire  County  in  the  Massachusetts 
Senate. 


536  HISTORY   OF  AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

tives,  two  years  a  member  of  the  Senate,  four  years  a  member 
of  the  Governor's  Council,  and  now  the  Treasurer  of  the  Com- 
monwealth :  Rev.  John  M.  Greene,  of  the  Class  of  '53,  Tutor  in 
1855-7,  Trustee  and  Secretary  of  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary, 
father  of  Smith  College  at  Northampton,  the  earnest  pastor  and 
the  zealous  friend  of  education,  of  whom  Prof.  Park  so  facetiously 
said  in  his  address  at  our  semi-centennial :  "  Long  after  my  name 
shall  have  faded  away  and  dropped  like  a  sere  and  yellow  leaf 
from  the  remembrance  of  men,  the  name  of  that  man  will  still 
be  Greene ;  "  Ephraim  "W.  Bond,  Esq.,  valedictorian  of  the  Class 
of  '41,  who,  with  a  capacity  for  business  equal  to  his  scholar- 
ship, has  proved  his  fitness  to  take  care  of  the  property  of  the 
College  by  the  skill  and  success  with  which  he  has  taken  care 
of  his  own ;  His  Excellency,  William  B.  Washburn,  who,  in  hu 
private  business  and  in  his  numerous  public  trusts  among  which 
the  interests  of  education  1  have  held  a  place  scarcely  less  promi- 
nent or  important  than  those  of  the  State  and  the  nation,  has 
truly  represented  the  practical  wisdom  and  the  unswerving  in- 
tegrity which  characterize  the  people  of  the  old  Bay  State,  and 
which  Massachusetts  delights  to  honor  ;  and  Eleazar  Porter,  Esq., 
the  founder  of  the  Porter  Prize  and  the  Porter  Scholarship, 
whose  prudence  and  thrift,  as  a  man  of  business,  are  so  evenly 
and  so  beautifully  balanced  by  his  intelligent  and  Christian  lib- 
erality. In  the  hands  of  such  men  the  Charity  Fund  will  be 
safely  kept  and  wisely  administered. 

From  the  triennial  catalogue,  as  it  has  been  issued  hitherto, 
it  would  seem  that  there  have  been  only  two  Financiers,  or  Com- 
missioners of  the  Charity  Fund,  during  the  entire  history  of  the 
College.  This,  however,  is  incorrect.  We  have  no  records 
prior  to  the  charter,  and  the  annual  catalogues  do  not  insert  the 
name  of  the  Financier  until  1825.  But  the  fact  appears  to  be 
that  Col.  Graves  had  charge  of  the  collections  and  investments 
of  the  Charity  Fund  during  this  period,  paying  over  the  income 
as  it  was  collected,  to  the  College  Treasurer.  At  the  first  an- 
nual meeting  of  the  Trustees  after  the  charter  in  1825,  they 
chose  Col.  Graves,  Financier  for  one  year.  At  the  annual  meet- 

1  Gov.  Washburn  is  a  Trustee  of  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College  at  Am- 
herst,  and  Smith  College  at  Northampton,  as  well  as  Overseer  of  the  Charity  Fund. 


FINANCIERS.  587 

ing  in  1826,  the  Constitution  of  the  Charity  Fund  was  so 
amended  by  the  joint  action  of  both  Boards,  that  the  same  per- 
son might  hold  both  offices,  and  Dea.  Leland,  being  elected 
Financier  as  well  as  Treasurer,  held  both  offices  till  1833.  Then 
it  being  deemed  expedient  to  separate  the  offices  again,  Dea. 
Leland  retained  the  office  of  Treasurer,  and  Esq.  Boltwood  was 
chosen  Financier.  Since  that  time,  there  have  been  but  two  in- 
cumbents in  charge  of  the  Charity  Fund,  Lucius  Boltwood, 
Esq.,  holding  the  office  of  Financier  from  1833  to  1866,  and  Luke 
Sweetser,  Esq.,  being  Commissioner,  as  the  office  is  now  called, 
from  1866  to  the  present  time.  The  lives  of  Col.  Graves  and 
Dea.  Leland  have  been  sketched  in  former  chapters.  Mr.  Bolt- 
wood  and  Mr.  Sweetser  are  both  still  living.  But  they  have 
sustained  so  many  and  such  important  relations  to  the  College 
that  its  history  cannot  be  written  without  some  mention  of 
them. 

Born  in  Amherst,  March  16,  1792,  a  graduate  of  Williams 
College  of  the  Class  of  1814,  a  student  of  law  in  the  office  of 
Samuel  Fowler  Dickinson  till  1817,  and  a  lawyer  in  his  native 
town  from  that  time  till  1836,  a  Trustee  of  Amherst  Academy 
for  almost  half  a  century  and  much  of  the  time  Secretary  of 
that  Board,  Secretary  of  the  Corporation  of  Amherst  College 
from  1828  to  1864,  Commissioner  of  the  Charity  Fund  with  a 
salary  of  only  two  hundred  dollars  a  year  from  1833  to  1866, 
the  first  candidate  of  the  Liberal  Party  for  Governor  of  the 
Commonwealth  at  a  time  when  such  a  candidacy  was  deemed  a 
reproach,  Lucius  Boltwood  lived  to  celebrate  in  his  eightieth 
year  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  College  of  which  he  helped 
to  lay  the  foundations,  and  still  lives  the  only  resident  of  the 
village  in  which  he  has  always  resided,  who  was  in  business  or 
a  profession  here  when  the  College  was  founded.1 

Luke  Sweetser,  Esq.,  was  a  native  of  Athol.  But  he  came 
to  Amherst  in  1821,  so  that  his  life  here  has  been  parallel  with 
'  that  of  the  College.  For  many  years  he  was  the  leading  mer- 

1  Justice  requires  me  to  say  that  I  have  been  greatly  indebted  for  facts  and  ma- 
terials to  Mr.  Boltwood  who  doubtless  knows  more  of  the  history  of  Amherst  Col- 
lege than  any  man  living.  Since  the  text  and  this  note  were  written,  Mr.  Bolt- 
wood  has  deceased.  He  died  July  10,  1872. 


538  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

chant  of  the  village.  Retiring  at  length  from  mercantile  busi- 
ness, he  gave  himself  for  several  years  to  farming,  with  the  ap- 
plications of  science  and  all  the  modern  improvements,  and  has 
become  well  known  to  the  farmers  of  Massachusetts  as  a  raiser 
of  fancy  stock,  and  by  his  connection  with  Agricultural  Societies 
and  with  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture.  From  1851  he  was  a 
deacon  of  the  village  church  till  in  1871  he  resigned  the  office. 
Although  he  has  had  little  to  do  with  politics,  he  has  always 
held  a  prominent  and  influential  place  in  the  town  and  in  public 
affairs.  He  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Prudential  Committee 
of  the  College  every  year  from  1833  till  1864,  when,  much  to 
the  regret  of  the  Trustees  and  the  Faculty,  he  declined  a  re- 
election. During  the  whole  time  of  his  connection  with  it,  he 
was  the  Secretary  of  the  Prudential  Committee,  kept  the  records 
with  exemplary  care,1  and  was,  more  than  any  other  member, 
the  agent  and  executive  of  the  Committee.  He  was  a  member, 
and  the  most  active  member,  of  the  Building  Committee  in  the 
erection  of  the  Appleton  Cabinet  and  East  College,  and  in  or- 
der to  remove  the  chief  argument  for  locating  the  former  be- 
tween the  Woods  Cabinet  and  the  President's  house,  he  gave 
one  thousand  dollars  to  attach  a  geological  lecture  room  to  the 
Woods  Cabinet.  On  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Boltwood  in  1864, 
Mr.  Sweetser  was  chosen  Commissioner  in  his  place  ;  and  among 
all  the  officials  connected  with  Amherst  College,  there  is  none 
in  the  wisdom  and  fidelity  of  whose  administration  more  general 
confidence  is  reposed  than  in  that  of  Mr.  Sweetser. 

Amherst  College  has  had  only  two  Treasurers  during  the  en- 
tire half-century  of  its  existence.  Hon.  John  Leland  held  the 
office  the  first  fourteen  years  from  1821  to  1835.  Hon.  Edward 
Dickinson  has  been  Treasurer  from  1835  to  the  present  time. 
A  biographical  sketch  of  the  former  has  already  been  given.2 
Some  notice  of  the  latter,  although  still  in  office,  is  due  not  only 
to  the  man  who  has  held  it  for  almost  forty  years,  but  to  the 
history  of  the  College  to  which  he  has  so  long  sustained  so  im- 
portant a  relation. 

Edward  Dickinson,  the  son  of  Hon  Samuel  Fowler  Dickinson, 

1  The  Records  cease  with  Mr.  Sweetser's  resignation,  and  so  far  as  appears,  none 
have  since  been  kept.  2  See  p.  240. 


HON.   EDWARD   DICKINSON.  539 

who  was  one  of  the  principal  founders  of  the  College,1  was  born 
in  Amherst  on  the  1st  of  January,  1803 ;  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  Amherst,  and  in  Amherst  Academy,  till  he 
was  prepared  to  enter  College  ;  was  a  member  of  the  first  Jun- 
ior class  in  the  Collegiate  Institution  at  Amherst  although  the 
other  three  years  of  his  collegiate  course  were  at  Yale  where 
he  graduated  in  1823 ;  studied  law  two  years  in  his  father's 
office  in  Amherst,  and  a  third  year  in  the  Northampton  Law 
School  under  Professors  Elijah  H.  Mills,  Judge  Samuel  Howe 
and  John  H.  Ashmun ;  opened  a  law  office  in  Amherst  in 
1826,  in  which  he  has  continued  the  practice  of  his  profession 
for  almost  fifty  years,  and  during  a  large  part  of  the  half-cent- 
ury has  been  the  leading  lawyer  in  the  place ;  represented  the 
town  of  Amherst  in  the  Legislature  in  1833  and  1839;  has 
taken  the  lead  in  those  efforts  and  struggles  which,  in  spite 
of  natural  obstacles  and  adverse  circumstances,  have  brought 
two  great  lines  of  railway  to  Amherst  and  made  it  quite  a  rail- 
road centre ;  has  acted  an  equally  influential  part  in  regard  to 
schools,  churches  and  public  improvements ;  in  short,  has  been  so 
long  and  so  fully  identified  with  the  town,  the  first  parish  and  the 
College,  that  the  history  of  either  of  them  can  not  be  written 
without  writing  also  the  principal  events  in  his  life.  At  the 
same  time,  his  activity  and  influence  have  not  been  confined 
within  the  limits  of  his  native  town.  In  1842  and  1843,  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate.  In  1845  and  1846, 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Governor's  Council  when  George  N. 
Briggs  was  Governor.  From  1853  to  1855  he  was  a  member 
of  Congress.  Since  1850  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  First 
Congregational  Church. 

Mr.  Dickinson  has  made  enemies  by  his  unbending  firmness 
of  purpose  and  his  great  freedom  and  boldness  of  speech  under 
excitement;  but  no  enemy,  whether  personal  or  political,  has  ever 
questioned  the  integrity  of  his  character,  the  purity  of  his  life,  or 
the  breadth,  depth  and  intensity  of  his  public  spirit.  A  liberal 
giver  for  public  objects  from  his  private  purse,  his  vote  may  always 
be  relied  on  in  the  town,  the  parish  or  the  State  for  the  largest  ap- 

i  See  p.  118. 


540  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

propriations  for  public  improvements.  The  best  financier  in  the 
Corporation  has  publicly  announced,  as  the  result  of  careful  ex- 
amination for  many  successive  years,  that,  as  Treasurer  of  Am- 
herst  College,  he  has  never  lost  a  dollar.  And  one  of  the  sharp- 
est and  shrewdest  of  the  Board  of  Overseers  declares  that  after 
the  most  prolonged  and  patient  scrutiny  of  his  books  and  ac- 
counts, only  a  single  error  of  less  than  a  hundred  dollars  could 
be  detected,  and  that  error  was  against  himself.  At  the  age  of 
threescore  years  and  ten  Mr.  Dickinson  still  stands  erect,  per- 
pendicular, with  his  senses  of  seeing  and  hearing  unimpaired, 
with  his  natural  force  and  fire  chastened  and  subdued  but 
scarcely  abated,  one  of  the  firmest  pillars  of  society,  echication, 
order,  morality  and  every  good  cause  in  our  community. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

BENEFACTORS  OF  THE  COLLEGE. 

THE  earliest  pecuniary  benefactors  of  the  College  were  the 
subscribers  to  the  Charity  Fund.  Their  names  are  preserved 
and  deserve  to  be  perpetuated  in  honored  and  grateful  remem- 
brance. They  may  be  found  in  the  Appendix. 

Next  to  these  come  the  people  of  Amherst,  with  some  from 
the  neighboring  towns,  who  furnished  the  materials,  prepared 
the  grounds,  laid  the  foundations  and  built  up  the  superstruct- 
ure of  the  first  College  edifice.  These  are  too  numerous  to  be 
named,  or  even  remembered.  But  there  is  "  a  book  of  remem- 
brance "  in  which  the  names,  at  least  of  those  who  contributed 
to  this  truly  Christian  object,  from  truly  benevolent  and  Chris- 
tian motives,  are  all  entered,  and  none  of  them  will  be  forgotten. 

Then  follow  the  men,  women  and  children,  not  a  few  of  them 
members  of  sewing  societies  and  cent  associations,  who  furnished 
the  rooms,  and  made  up,  for  the  most  part  in  small  sums,  the 
thirty  thousand  dollar  subscription  in  the  days  of  President 
Moore.  Their  subscriptions  of  a  dollar  a  year,  perhaps,  or  a  few 
cents  a  year  for  five  years,  were  ridiculed  by  the  enemies  of  the 
Institution,  in  the  Legislature,  and  in  the  newspapers.1  But  the 
Master  was  looking  on  as  they  "  cast  their  gifts  into  the  treasury," 
and  as  he  saw  them  casting  in  their  two  mites,  perchance  he  said : 
"  This  poor  widow,  this  little  child  hath  cast  in  more  than  they 
all."  No  College  in  the  land,  perhaps  none  in  the  world,  has  re- 
ceived so  many  gifts  of  this  kind  as  Amherst,  and  according  to 
the  same  arithmetic,  the  arithmetic  taught  by  the  Great  Master, 
Amherst  is  thus  richer  than  any  other  College. 

1  Specimens,  both  of  the  subscriptions,  and  of  the  ridicule,  may  be  seen  in  the 
Appendix. 


542  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

The  first  individual  founder  of  a  permanent  fund  for  the  bene- 
fit of  Amherst  College,  was  the  first  President,  Dr.  Moore.  He 
provided  in  his  will,  that  after  the  decease  of  Mrs.  Moore,  and 
with  her  consent  and  joint  action,  what  remained  of  his  property 
should  constitute  a  fund,  like  the  Charity  Fund,  in  aid  of  indi- 
gent students,  the  incumbents  of  the  charity  to  be  nominated  by 
the  North  Brookfield  Association.  The  fund,  reckoned  at  about 
five  thousand  dollars  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and  rather  in- 
creased than  diminished  during  the  life  of  Mrs.  Moore,  is  now 
worth  nearly  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  inasmuch  as  one-third 
of  the  income  is  to  be  perpetually  added  to  the  principal,  it  is 
destined  to  become  a  foundation  of  immense  value  in  future  ages. 

The  Stimson  Fund  comes  next  in  order  of  time,  and  is  de- 
voted to  the  same  purpose  as  the  Moore  and  the  Charity  Fund. 
The  income,  however,  is  all  expended  as  it  accrues,  instead  of  be- 
ing partly  added  to  the  principal.  The  bequest  was  made  in  the 
latter  half  of  Dr.  Humphrey's  presidency,  in  the  language  of  the 
testator,  "  to  the  College  in  Amherst  of  which  Rev.  Heman 
Humphrey,  D.  D.,  is  President ; "  and  it  is  the  only  considerable 
bequest  that  was  made  during  his  administration.  And  this 
was  given  in  aid  of  poor  students — not  directly  to  relieve  the 
poor  College  from  its  embarrassments.  Yet  his  sympathies 
seem  to  have  been  enlisted  in  behalf  of  the  College  by  the  re- 
peated refusals  of  the  Legislature  to  listen  to  its  repeated  cries 
for  help ;  and  in  1837  he  made  his  will  bequeathing  the  real 
estate  in  Eliot  street,  including  the  house  in  which  his  father 
lived  and  in  which  he  was  born,  to  aid  the  College  in  its  work 
of  "  educating  indigent  students  for  the  Gospel  Ministry."  Ca- 
leb Stimson,  the  author  of  this  bequest,  was  the  son  of  Jeremiah 
and  Sarah  Stimson,  and  was  born  in  Boston,  May  6, 1770.  Little 
can  now  be  ascertained  of  his  personal  history.  His  wife,  Abi- 
gail Morton  of  Milton,  died  many  years  before  him.  They  had 
no  children.  I  have  not  been  able  to  learn  even  the  date  of  his 
death.  But  it  occurred  not  long  after  the  will  was  made.  Dur- 
ing the  life-time  of  a  brother  and  a  nephew,  for  whom  he  made  pro- 
vision, an  annuity,  only,  of  two  hundred  dollars,  was  paid  to  the 
College.  In  1852,  the  property  came  fully  into  the  possession  of 
the  Trustees,  and  was  sold  by  them  for  sixteen  thousand  dollars. 


CALEB    STIMSON.  543 

The  income,  appropriated  in  the  same  general  way  as  that  of  the 
Charity  Fund,  but  administered  by  the  Trustees,  instead  of  the 
Overseers,  and  subject  to  fewer  restrictions,  has  proved  an  aux- 
iliary of  great  value  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  end  for  which 
Amherst  College  was  originally  established.  Mr.  Stimson  was 
an  Episcopalian,  and  a  member  of  Grace  Church  in  Boston. 

The  earliest  donor  of  any  very  large  amount  of  money  was 
that  country  banker,  that  wise  counselor,  that  devoted  friend 
of  education,  religion,  missions  and  every  good  cause,  Nathaniel 
Smith  of  Sunderland  of  whom  a  brief  biography  lias  already  been 
given. l  He  gave  nothing  for  permanent  foundations  —  the  day 
for  these  great  lights,  the  fourth  day,  had  not  yet  come.  He 
never  gave  large  sums  at  a  time,  but  he  was  continually  giving 
to  meet  the  exigences  and  the  current  expenses  of  the  Institu- 
tion, till  his  donations  amounted  to  the  then  munificent  aggre- 
gate of  twelve  thousand  dollars. 

Next  to  him  came  the  city  merchant,  born  in  Northampton, 
but  for  the  greater  part  of  his  business  life  resident  in  Boston, 
the  uncompromising  enemy  of  alcohol  and  tobacco,  the  Chris- 
tian philanthropist  who  loved  every  human  being  and  hated  noth- 
ing but  sin  and  its  incorrigible  authors  and  causes,  John  Tappan, 
who  began  his  donations  to  Amherst  College  in  the  first  decade 
of  its  history  and  continued  them  to  the  last,  and  who  would 
have  given  more  if  his  life  had  been  spared  another  year.  The 
greater  number  of  his  donations  were  given  as  they  were  needed 
for  the  increase  of  the  library  and  the  cabinets.  But  the  Sam- 
uel Green  Professorship  which  he  insisted  on  calling,  not  by  his 
own  name,  but  by  that  of  his  honored  and  beloved  pastor,  attests 
his  appreciation  also  of  permanent  foundations  for  educational 
purposes.  He  must  have  given  Amherst  College  in  all,  not  less 
than  twenty-five  thousand  dollars. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  Corporation,  held  at  Worcester, 
June  19, 1844 — the  same  meeting  at  which  President  Humphrey 
tendered  his  resignation  —  a  letter  dated  Boston,  June  16, 1844, 
was  received  from  Hon.  David  Sears,  in  which  he  proposes,  if 
the  terms  should  meet  the  approval  of  the  Trustees,  to  transfer 
to  them  the  rent  of  certain  real  estate,  and  also  to  give  to  them 

1   See  p.  218. 


544  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

a  certain  sum  of  money,  in  order  to  establish  a  Permanent  Fund, 
to  be  called  the  Sears  Fund  of  Literature  and  Benevolence. 
Whereupon  they  voted  "  to  accept  the  generous  and  munificent 
donation  to  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  College,  presented  by  Hon. 
David  Sears  of  Boston,  through  Hon.  Samuel  T.  Armstrong, 
and  that  Mr.  Armstrong  be  requested  to  express  to  the  liberal 
donor  the  gratitude  and  thanks  of  this  Board."  Thus  was  es- 
tablished the  first  permanent  fund  for  general  purposes — a  fund 
so  unique  in  its  conception  as  to  be  a  curiosity,  so  far-seeing  in 
its  provisions  and  so  vast  in  its  prospective  accumulations  that, 
if  the  plan  is  carried  out,  it  must  always  be  one  of  tJTe  richest 
foundations,  if  not  the  very  richest,  in  all  the  future  history  of 
the  College. 

The  real  estate,  whose  rents  are  transferred  to  the  College,  is 
a  piece  of  land  at  the  corner  of  Leverett  and  Barton  streets  in 
Boston,  valued  at  the  time  of  the  donation  at  five  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  yielding  an  annual  rental  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
dollars  until  the  expiration  of  the  lease  in  1928.  Until  that  time 
this  annual  rent  of  the  leasehold  is  to  be  "  expended  in  the  an- 
nual purchase  of  books  of  general  literature,  to  create  and  in- 
crease a  library  appurtenant  to  the  fund  and  for  the  use  and 
benefit  of  the  students  of  Amherst  College  under  the  regula- 
tions and  guardianship  of  the  officers  of  the  Institution." 

The  fee  of  the  land  is  also  transferred  to  the  College,  and 
after  the  expiration  of  the  lease  in  1928,  one-half  of  the  annual 
income  of  it  may  be  expended  for  "  such  purposes  of  literature 
without  restriction  as  they  (the  Trustees)  deem  most  desirable, 
including  a  right  to  build  at  their  pleasure  for  the  use  of  said 
fund."  The  other  half  of  the  annual  income,  together  with 
any  part  of  the  first  half  not  so  expended,  must  be  invested  and 
added  to  the  principal  annually,  between  the  months  of  July 
and  January,  to  form  a  new  permanent  capital,  provided,  how- 
ever, that  the  donor  or  his  representatives  do  not  exercise  the 
right  which  is  reserved  to  them,  of  demanding  for  his  or  their 
own  use  this  other  half  of  said  income  previous  to  its  being  thus 
invested.1 

, l  Mr.  Sears  never  exercised  this  right  during  his  life,  and  he  did  not  expect  that 
his  representatives  ever  would. 


THE    SEARS   FOUNDATION.  545 

In  order  to  give  immediate  activity  to  this  fund,  Mr.  Sears,  at 
the  same  time,  gave  to  the  Trustees  the  additional  sum  of  five 
thousand  dollars  in  money  which  was  to  be  invested,  and  the 
annual  income  to  be  applied  in  the  manner  above  described,  that 
is,  one-half  to  be  expended  for  purposes  of  literature  at  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  Trustees,  and  the  other,  if  not  called  for  by  the 
donor  or  his  representatives,  to  be  forever  added  to  the  principal. 

In  1847,  Mr.  Sears  deeded  to  the  Corporation  another  piece 
of  land  in  Brattle  street,  Boston,  together  with  the  buildings  on 
it,  "  for  the  purpose  of  placing  upon  a  broader  basis  and  increas- 
ing the  importance  of  the  Sears  Foundation  of  Literature  and 
Benevolence."  The  annual  rent  of  this  estate,  already  leased 
till  1919,  and  the  annual  income  of  the  same  after  the  expiration 
of  the  lease,  are  to  be  collected  by  the  Trustees,  and  expended 
subject  to  the  same  rules  and  limitations  as  the  income  of  the 
previous  donations.  No  estimate  is  given  of  the  value  of  this 
property.  Dr.  Hitchcock,  in  his  "  Reminiscences,"  estimates 
it,  I  know  not  on  what  authority,  at  twelve  thousand  dollars.1 
The  yearly  rent,  under  the  present  lease,  is  "  fourteen  ounces, 
eight  pennyweights  and  eighteen  grains  of  pure  gold ;  or  two 
hundred  and  sixteen  ounces  and  two  grains  of  pure  silver  in 
coins  of  the  United  States  of  America,  on  the  premises  to  be 
delivered,  in  four  equal  and  quarter-yearly  payments."  This 
unique  rent,  specified  in  the  "  Indenture  between  David  Sears 
and  David  Hinckley  "  made  in  1819  to  last  one  hundred  years, 
was  once  resisted,  tested  in  the  courts  and  sustained  as  legal 
and  collectible  by  law. 

The  present  annual  income  of  these  several  donations  is  some 
two  thousand  three  hundred  dollars,  and  the  present  accumu- 
lated principal,  or  cash  capital,  is  a  little  short  of  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars.  What  this  fund  will  become,  if  it  goes  on  ac- 
cumulating according  to  the  founder's  plan  through  all  coming 
time,  it  were  easier  to  imagine  than  to  calculate.  Some  sugges- 
tion of  what  the  founder  intended  and  expected  it  to  become, 
may  be  gathered  from  the  following  paragraph  in  his  Deed  of 
Gift :  "  When  hereafter  it  shall  happen  from  the  investments 

1  See  page  132.     On  page  115,  however,  he  speaks  of  the  bequests  in  1844  and 
1847  as  "  each  of  the  estimated  value  of  five  thousand  dollars." 
35 


546  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

of  the  original  fund,  and  the  investments  of  the  increase  of  the 
Leverett  street  estate,  and  the  investments  of  the  income  of  this 
present  estate  (the  Brattle  street)  that  an  accumulated  fund  or 
capital  shall  be  formed  amounting  to  one  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars ;  then  fifty  thousand  dollars  thereof  shall  be  set  apart  there- 
from to  constitute  a  new  capital  stock,  or  fund,  and  as  often, 
after  the  first  accumulation  and  setting  apart  of  a  new  capital 
stock  or  fund  as  aforesaid,  said  original  fund  and  the  remainder 
of  its  increase  shall  have  formed  an  accumulated  fund  or  capital 
amounting  to  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  then  the  one-half 
part  thereof  shall  again  constitute  another  new  capita?  stock  or 
fund,  and  may  and  shall  be  set  apart  as  aforesaid :  and  so,  toties 
quoties,  through  all  time,  as  often  as  the  accumulations  of  the 
increased  original  fund  shall  amount  to  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  then  the  one-half  part  thereof  shall  be  set  apart  and 
constitute  another  new  capital  stock  or  fund." 

In  1863,  when  an  effort  was  made  to  obtain  the  means  for  erect- 
ing a  new  Library  building  (the  shelves  of  the  present  Library  be- 
ing already  filled),  Mr.  Sears  made  another  donation  of  five  thou- 
sand dollars  to  aid  the  Trustees  in  carrying  out  his  original  design 
of  a  Library  appurtenant  to  the  Sears  Fund,  and  accompanied 
the  donation  with  some  suggestions  touching  the  plan  for  such  a 
building.  As  this  effort  did  not  succeed,  Mr.  Sears'  donation, 
with  the  consent  of  the  donor,  was  invested  that  it  might  accu- 
mulate until  such  time  as  the  Trustees  may  be  able  to  erect  the 
contemplated  Library  building.  This  fund  now  amounts  to  eight 
thousand  dollars.  The  cash  capital  resulting  from  these  several 
donations  of  Mr.  Sears,  aside  from  the  now  greatly  increased 
and  constantly  increasing  value  of  the  real  estate  donated,  al- 
ready amounts  to  about  thirty-three  thousand  dollars. 

David  Sears,  the  founder  of  this  munificent  foundation  of 
literature  and  benevolence,  was  born  in  Boston  on  the  8th 
of  October,  1787.  His  father,  David  Sears,  was  "  an  eminent 
merchant  and  excellent  citizen  "  of  the  literary  and  commercial 
metropolis  of  New  England.  His  mother,  Ann  Winthrop  Sears, 
was  a  lineal  descendant  in  the  fifth  generation,  of  John  Win- 
throp, the  first  Governor  of  Massachusetts.  After  receiving  the 
best  school  education  which  his  native  city  could  afford,  David 


HON.  DAVID   SEARS.  547 

Sears,  Jr.,  entered  the  University  at  Cambridge  at  sixteen  years 
of  age  and  graduated  with  the  Class  of  1807.  The  tenor  of  his 
life  after  graduation,  his  charities  and  public  services  can  not  be 
better  described  than  in  the  language  of  Hon.  Robert  C.  Win- 
throp,  President  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  of 
which  Mr.  Sears  was  a  member  and  patron.1  "  The  only  son 
of  a  rich  father  was  not  likely  to  engage  very  earnestly  either 
in  business  pursuits  or  professional  studies ;  and  after  a  brief 
course  of  legal  reading,  Mr.  Sears  married  a  daughter  of  the 
late  Hon.  Jonathan  Mason,  and  proceeded  to  make  a  tour  in 
Europe.  The  sudden  death  of  his  father  devolved  upon  him, 
in  1816,  the  care  of  as  large  an  estate  as,  probably,  had  passed 
into  the  possession  of  a  single  hand  in  New  England.  And  thus 
before  he  was  quite  thirty  years  of  age,  Mr.  Sears  was  called  to 
assume  that  responsible  position  among  the  very  richest  men  of 
our  city,  which  he  has  continued  to  hold  for  more  than  half  a 
century. 

"  Building  for  himself  a  costly  and  elegant  mansion,  fit  for 
the  exercise  of  those  generous  hospitalities  which  belong  to 
wealth,  he  began  early  also  to  make  plans  for  doing  his  share  in 
those  acts  of  public  and  private  beneficence,  which  are  the  best 
part  of  every  rich  man's  life.  As  early  as  1821,  a  donation  was 
made  by  him  to  St.  Paul's  Church,  in  this  city,  with  whose  con- 
gregation he  was  then  associated,  which  has  resulted  in  their 
possession  of  a  valuable  library,  a  site  for  their  lecture  room  and 
a  considerable  fund  for  charitable  purposes ;  and  this  was  fol- 
lowed, in  succeeding  years,  by  various  provisions  for  other  re- 
ligious, literary  and  charitable  objects,  which,  while  accomplish- 
ing valuable  purposes  at  once,  may  not  exhibit  their  full  fruit 
for  a  long  time  to  come.2 

"  The  Sears  Tower  of  the  Observatory  at  Cambridge,  built  at 
his  cost,  gave  the  first  encouragement  to  an  establishment  which 
has  since  been  munificently  endowed  by  others,  and  to  whose 
permanent  funds  he  was  also  a  handsome  contributor. 

1  Proceedings  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  February,  1871. 

2  Several  of  Mr.  Sears'  charities  have  provisions  similar  to  those  which  we  have 
noted  as  distinguishing  the  Sears  Foundation  of  Literature  and  Benevolence  at 
Amherst. 


548  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

"  A  stately  chapel  on  the  crowning  ridge  of  yonder  village  of 
Longwood  —  after  the  design  of  the  church  of  his  paternal 
ancestors  in  old  England — for  which  he  had  carefully  prepared 
a  form  of  service  in  correspondence  with  the  peculiar  views  of 
his  later  life,  and  beneath  which  he  had  caused  vaults  to  be  con- 
structed for  the  last  resting-places  of  himself  and  those  most 
dear  to  him,  will  stand  as  a  monument  of  his  aspirations  after 
Christian  union. 

"  A  spacious  block  of  houses  not  far  from  it,  destined  ulti- 
mately for  the  dwellings  of  such  as  have  seen  better  days,  and 
an  accumulating  fund  under  the  control  of  the  -"Overseers 
of  the  Poor  of  Boston,  which  has  already  added  not  a  little  to 
the  comfort  and  support  of  a  large  number  of  poor  women, — the 
two  involving  already  an  amount  of  hardly  less  than  ninety  thou- 
sand dollars, — will  bear  testimony  to  his  thoughtful  and  well 
considered  benevolence. 

"  We  may  not  forget  that  our  own  society  owes  to  him  the 
foundation  of  our  little  Historical  Trust  Fund,  which,  it  was  his 
hope,  might  be  built  upon  by  others,  until  it  should  have  put  us 
in  a  condition  of  greater  financial  independence. 

"  Mr.  Sears  had  often  enjoyed  such  public  honors  as  he  was 
willing  to  accept,  and  had  served  his  fellow-citizens  acceptably 
as  a  senator  in  our  State  Legislature ;  as  an  overseer  of  the 
University ;  and  as  a  member  of  the  Electoral  College  at  the 
very  last  Presidential  election.  He  had  occasionally  mingled  in 
the  public  discussions  of  the  day,  and  an  elaborate  letter  which 
he  addressed  to  the  late  John  Quincy  Adams,  on  the  best  mode 
of  abolishing  slavery,  while  that  was  still  a  living  question,  will 
be  particularly  remembered  among  his  contributions  to  the 
press.  Living  to  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-four  it  was  only 
during  the  last  year  that  his  familiar  form  has  been  missing  from 
the  daily  walks  of  our  citizens.  He  will  long  be  remembered  by 
all  who  have  known  him,  as  one  of  those  courteous  and  dignified 
gentlemen  of  the  old  school,  of  whom  so  few  are  now  left  to 
remind  us  of  the  manners  and  bearing  of  other  days." 

Two  portraits  of  Mr.  Sears  adorn  the  Library  of  Amherst 
College,  one  taken  in  the  prime  and  beauty  of  early  manhood, 
and  the  other  representing  him  as  he  was  in  his  more  advanced 


MR.    SEARS.  549 

years.  Invitations  were  often  extended  to  him  to  visit  Amherst, 
but  he  never  was  in  the  place  and  never  saw  the  College  of 
which  he  was  so  liberal  a  benefactor.  This,  together  with  the 
fact  that  his  religious  opinions  and  his  church  connections  dif- 
fered from  those  of  the  founders  and  most  of  the  friends  of  the 
College,  make  his  donations  quite  remarkable.  It  is  understood 
that  his  sympathies  were  enlisted  by  the  self-denials  and  sacri- 
fices of  the  Faculty  at  the  time  when  they  were  struggling  des- 
perately to  sustain  the  heavy  burden  of  pecuniary  embarrass- 
ments. He  often  spoke  of  their  "  devotion  and  self-denials  "  in 
his  conversation  with  the  friends  of  the  College,  and  in  his  letter 
to  President  Hitchcock,  read  at  the  dedication  of  the  New  Cab- 
inet and  Observatory,  he  expresses  fully  and  warmly  his  admi- 
ration of  their  spirit  while  at  the  same  time  he  pays  a  sensible 
and  just  tribute  to  the  Colleges  of  Massachusetts  as  the  sources 
of  very  much  of  the  honest  principle  and  integrity  of  character 
that  exist  among  us.  This  letter  was  introduced  by  the  Presi- 
dent as  follows :  "  In  the  Astronomical  Observatory  at  Cam- 
bridge is  a  massive  tower,  built  solid  of  Quincy  granite,  called 
the  Sears  Tower,  which  sustains  one  of  the  most  splendid  tele- 
scopes in  the  world.  But  in  the  Sears  Foundation  of  Litera- 
ture and  Benevolence  in  Amherst  College,  we  have  a  more 
enduring  structure :  monumentum  aere  perennius :  imo  vero, 
etiam  Saxo  perennius." 

The  names  of  four  men,  of  widely  different  character,  pur- 
suits and  walks  of  life,  are  associated  with  the  cluster  of  build- 
ings that  crown  the  eminence  in  front  of  the  Colleges,  viz.,  the 
Woods  Cabinet,  the  Lawrence  Observatory,  the  Dickinson  Nin- 
eveh Gallery,  and  the  Sweetser  Lecture  Room. l  We  have 
already  spoken  of  Mr.  Woods  and  Mr.  Sweetser — in  their  official 
relation  to  the  College,  the  former  as  Overseer,  and  the  latter 
as  Commissioner  of  the  Charity  Fund. 

Hon.  Abbott  Lawrence  did  not  give  a  large  sum  to  the  "Col- 
lege, and  in  that  respect  would  hardly  be  named  among  the 
principal  donors.  But  the  time  and  circumstances  of  the  dona- 
tion which  have  been  narrated  elsewhere,  and  the  character  and 

1  In  deference  to  Mr.  Sweetser's  wishes,  the  last   is  usually  designated  only  as 
the  Geological  Lecture  Room. 


550  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

influence  of  the  donor,  gave  it  an  inestimable  value.  Born  in 
Groton,  Mass.,  December  16, 1792,  educated  only  in  the  district 
school  and  in  the  Academy  which  now  bears  his  name,  coming 
to  Boston  in  1808,  as  an  apprentice  to  his  elder  brother,  Amos, 
"  bringing  his  bundle  under  his  arm  and  with  less  than  three 
dollars  in  his  pocket,"  he  formed  with  him  in  1814  the  house  of 
A.  &  A.  Lawrence  which  for  so  many  years  took  the  lead  both 
in  the  importation  and  the  manufacture  of  cotton  and  woolen 
goods,  and  whose  name  is  identified  with  Lowell  and  Lawrence. 
A  member  of  Congress  in  1834-5,  and  again  in  1839-40,  one 
of  the  Commissioners  for  the  negotiation  of  the  A shbiff ton- Web- 
ster treaty  which  settled  the  North-eastern  boundary  difficulty 
in  1842,  one  of  the  Electors  at  large  of  the  State  of  Massachu- 
setts in  the  presidential  election  in  1844,  wanting  but  six  votes 
of  being  nominated  for  the  vice-presidency  with  Gen.  Taylor 
in  the  canvass  of  1848,  representative  of  the  United  States  at 
the  court  of  Great  Britain  from  1849  till  1852,  he  died  August 
18,  1855,  in  the  sixty-third  year  of  his  age,  leaving  behind  him 
a  rare  reputation  for  the  wisdom  and  integrity  of  his  public  and 
private  life.  "  His  subscriptions  for  public  objects  of  charity  or 
education  were  always  on  the  most  liberal  scale ;  but  the  crown- 
ing act  of  this  character  was  the  establishment  of  the  Lawrence 
Scientific  School  at  Cambridge,  connected  with  Harvard  College, 
for  which  he  gave  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  1847,  and  left  a  fur- 
ther like  sum  by  his  will.  He  left  a  further  sum  of  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  model  lodging-houses, 
the  income  of  the  rents  to  be  forever  applied  to  certain  public 
charities." l 

Lieut.  Enos  Dickinson,  who  founded  and  gave  name  to  the 
Nineveh  Gallery,  was  born  in  Amherst,  in  the  same  house  in 
which  he  died,  October  23,  1785.  He  had  no  other  early  educa- 
tion than  that  which  he  obtained  in  the  common  schools,  then 
very  imperfect,  of  his  native  town.  Baptized  in  infancy  by 
Rev.  Dr.  Parsons,  the  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Amherst, 
he  became  a  member  of  that  church  in  March,  1816,  when  he 
was  thirty  years  of  age.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 

1  Hon.  Nathan  Appleton  in  a  memoir  prepared  for  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society.     See  proceedings  for  1855-8. 


LIEUT.    ENOS   DICKINSON.  551 

church  in  South  Amherst  in  1824  and  established  a  fund  for  its 
support.  A  model  citizen,  he  attended  every  town  meeting  for 
sixty-two  years  till  his  death.  Although  he  was  slow  of  speech, 
and  spoke  seldom  at  such  meetings,  whenever  he  did  speak,  he 
was  listened  to  with  marked  attention,  and  his  wisdom  and 
weight  of  character  gave  great  weight  to  his  words.  He  served 
the  town  more  than  once  as  selectman,  and  once  at  least  repre- 
sented it  in  the  General  Court.  The  military  title  by  which  he 
was  always  called,  was  given  him  in  the  war  of  1812,  when  he 
received  a  commission  as  Lieutenant  in  the  army,  and  went  with 
a  company,  raised  in  this  part  of  the  State,  to  protect  Boston 
from  an  apprehended  attack. 

Having  no  children  he  devoted,  especially  in  his  later  years, 
the  entire  income  of  the  handsome  property  which  he  had  ac- 
quired by  industry  and  thrift,  to  charitable  and  benevolent 
objects.  The  church,  the  poor,  the  benevolent  societies,  and 
the  literary  institutions  of  the  town  and  the  vicinity,  shared 
freely  in  his  bounty.  Poor  students  were  continually  going  to 
him  for  aid  in  obtaining  an  education,  and  worthy  students  sel- 
dom went  in  vain.  It  was  a  pleasure  to  ask  him  for  charitable 
assistance — it  was  only  necessary  to  state  the  case,  and  if  it  was 
a  good  one,  the  assistance  was  sure  to  come.  Amherst  Acad- 
emy, Amherst  College  and  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary,  all  found 
in  him  a  friend  and  a  helper.  He  was  one  of  the  first  who  drew 
building  materials  for  the  first  College  edifice;  and  his  contri- 
butions were  continued  occasionally  in  larger  or  smaller  sums 
ever  afterwards.  He  gave  to  the  Library  and  to  the  Cabinets, 
as  well  as  to  the  Nineveh  Gallery.  He  provided  by  his  will  for 
a  perpetual  scholarship  which  bears  his  name.  He  died  January 
14,  1807,  in  the  eighty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  The  commemora- 
tive addresses  delivered  at  his  funeral  on  the  18th  of  January 
by  his  pastor,  Rev.  George  Lyman  and  President  Stearns,  were 
printed,  and  none  who  read  them,  still  less  any  who  have  known 
him,  can  doubt  that  his  was  a  rare  and  truly  noble  character 
and  life.  Tall,  erect,  hale,  hearty,  the  living  impersonation  of 
honesty  and  modesty,  combined  with  unbending  firmness  and 
unerring  common  sense,  although  a  plain  farmer,  he  was  one  of 
nature's  noblemen.  At  the  same  time,  he  was,  beyond  most 


552  HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

men,  controlled  by  Christian  principles,  and  in  furnishing  the 
means  for  erecting  the  Nineveh  Gallery,  he  was  actuated  not  a 
little  by  the  consideration  that  the  site  was  that  of  the  old  church 
where  he  was  baptized  and  made  a  profession  of  his  faith  in 
Christ. 

Samuel  Appleton,  Esq.,  the  founder  of  the  Appleton  Ichnologi- 
cal  Cabinet,  was  born  at  New  Ipswich,  N.  H.,  June  26,  1766. 
His  family  was  of  great  respectability  and  influence  both  in  New 
England,  and  in  Suffolk  County,  old  England,  where  his  ances- 
tors had  held  estates  for  many  generations.  His  grandfather, 
Isaac  Appleton,  was  one  of  the  original  proprietors  an$  settlers 
of  New  Ipswich  by  a  grant  from  the  General  Court ;  and  his 
father,  who  also  bore  the  name  of  Isaac,  was  a  man  of  integrity 
and  piety  and  a  deacon  of  the  church  in  that  place.  The  dis- 
trict school  of  his  native  town  was  the  only  seminary  of  learning 
which  he  ever  had  an  opportunity  to  attend,  and  this  only  for  a 
limited  portion  of  the  year,  till  he  was  sixteen.  At  this  early 
age,  intent  on  becoming  a  merchant,  he  left  Ipswich  for  Concord 
on  foot  with  a  small  bundle  of  clothes  and  fifty  cents  in  cash, 
and  finding  a  place  in  a  store,  remained  there  four  months,  giv- 
ing good  satisfaction.  But  at  the  end  of  that  time  the  situation 
was  wanted  for  a  nephew  of  the  merchant's  wife,  and  young 
Appleton  returned  home,  much  to  his  own  disappointment  as 
well  as  that  of  his  father  and  mother.  He  now  remained  at 
home  four  or  five  years  assisting  his  father  on  the  farm  in  the 
summer,  and  teaching  a  district  school  in  his  own  or  some  neigh- 
boring town,  in  the  winter.  The  next  three  summers,  when  he 
was  between  twenty-two  and  twenty-five,  he  spent  partly  as 
agent  and  partly  as  pioneer  in  the  forests  of  Maine  at  a  place 
where  there  was  then  no  public  worship  within  twenty  miles, 
but  where  nearly  sixty  years  afterwards  he  presented  a  bell  for  a 
meeting-house,  and  the  town  now  bears  the  name,  "Appleton." 

After  some  brief  experiments  in  trade  at  Ashburnham  and 
in  New  Ipswich,  in  1794,  he  commenced  business  in  Boston  ;  in 
1799  he  formed  a  partnership  with  his  brother  Nathan,  under 
the  firm  of  S.  &  N.  Appleton,  and  made  his  first  voyage  to  Eu- 
rope, where  he  spent  much  of  the  time  for  the  next  twenty  years 
in  selecting  goods  for  importation  and  transacting  the  foreign 


SAMUEL  APPLETOX,   ESQ.  553 

business  of  the  firm.  The  firm  also  engaged  largely  in  manu- 
facturing, and  contributed  much  to  the  building  up  of  Waltham, 
Lowell,  Manchester,  and  other  such  towns  in  the  vicinity  of 
Boston. 

As  he  approached  sixty,  Mr.  Appleton  retired  from  the  firm, 
and  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  the  enjoyment  and  use 
of  his  large  fortune.  Alike  just  and  generous,  he  was  never 
weary  of  lending  a  helping  hand  to  relations  and  friends,  to  the 
acquaintances  of  his  early  life,  to  the  poor  and  to  all  who  needed 
either  charity  or  aid  and  encouragement  to  business.  He  fos- 
tered with  a  liberal  hand  the  institutions  and  interests  of  his 
native  town ;  and  the  Academy  at  New  Ipswich,  placed  on  a 
permanent  foundation  by  funds  which  were  largely  his  gift,  will 
stand  as  a  lasting  memorial  alike  of  his  benevolence  and  of  his 
love  to  the  spot  where  he  was  born.  He  made  it  a  rule  during 
the  last  years  of  his  life,  to  dispose  of  his  whole  large  income 
for  benevolent  and  public  uses. 

Mr.  Appleton  died  in  Boston,  July  12,  1853,  in  the  eighty- 
eighth  year  of  his  age.  "  Not  only  in  Boston  but  throughout 
New  England,  his  name  as  a  benefactor,  sometimes  munificent, 
always  large,  is  inseparably  connected  with  innumerable  institu- 
tions to  promote  education,  to  advance  learning,  to  uphold  re- 
ligion, to  relieve  the  wants  and  woes  of  suffering  humanity.  By 
his  will,  after  making  the  most  ample  provision  for  Mrs.  Apple- 
ton,  and  for  a  large  circle  of  kindred,  by  special  legacies,  he  be- 
queathed in  trust  to  his  executors  stocks  to  the  amount,  in  par 
value,  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  '  to  be  by  them  applied, 
disposed  of  and  distributed  for  scientific,  literary,  religious  and 
charitable  purposes. ' "  l  These  executors,  one  of  whom  was 
Hon.  Nathan  Appleton,  the  brother  of  the  testator,  on  the  writ- 
ten application  of  President  Hitchcock,  made  a  grant  of  ten 
thousand  dollars  for  the  erection  of  a  building  at  Amherst  for 
scientific  purposes,  which  will  long  stand  as  a  worthy  monument 
of  the  large-hearted  benefactor  whose  name  it  bears. 

1  See  Memoir  of  Samuel  Appleton,  Esq.,  in  proceedings  of  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Society,  1855-8,  by  Rev.  Samuel  K.  Lothrop,  D.  D.,  who  prefaces  the  Me- 
moir by  some  remarks  upon  the  comparative  infrequency,  yet  the  great  richness  of 
"  Commercial  Biography  "  as  a  department  of  literature. 


554  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

Hon.  Jonathan  Phillips  was  born  in  Boston,  April  24,  1778. 
He  belonged  to  that  family  whose  names  have  been  perpetuated 
as  the  founders  and  benefactors  of  the  two  Phillips  Academies, 
being  the  grandson  of  Rev.  Samuel  Phillips  who  was  settled  in 
Andover  sixty  years,  and  the  son  of  Lieut.-Gov.  William  Phil- 
lips, deacon  of  the  Old  South  Church  in  Boston,  whose  charities 
during  the  latter  part  of  his  life  averaged  ten  thousand  dollars  a 
year  and  who,  besides  numerous  legacies  to  the  benevolent  soci- 
eties, left  several  bequests  for  the  Academy  and  the  Theological 
Seminary  at  Andover.  Educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Bos- 
ton, in  early  life  he  engaged  with  his  brother  Edward  in  mer- 
cantile pursuits  in  that  city,  which,  however,  he  soon  relin- 
quished, finding  ample  employment  in  the  care  and  proper  expen- 
diture of  his  ample  fortune.  His  private  charities  were  numer- 
ous and  liberal.  He  was  one  of  the  early  founders  and  donors 
of  the  Boston  Public  Library.  The  chime  of  bells  on  the  church 
of  the  late  Dr.  Gannet  in  Arlington  street,  Boston,  was  his  gift. 
He  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Dr.  William  E.  Channing  with 
whose  religious  views  he  sympathized.  Yet  like  the  Lawrences 
and  the  Appletons  he  extended  his  charities  to  objects  and  in- 
stitutions that  were  under  orthodox  influence.  Although  he 
did  not  receive  a  public  education,  his  only  College  degree  being 
that  of  Master  of  Arts  conferred  on  him  at  Cambridge  in  1818, 
he  appreciated  the  value  of  Colleges  and  College  men,  contrib- 
uted generously  as  we  have  seen  elsewhere,  to  extend  the  trav- 
els of  President  Hitchcock  in  Europe,  was  one  of  the  most  lib- 
eral subscribers  to  the  building  and  furnishing  of  our  new  Li- 
brary, arid  left  a  legacy  of  five  thousand  dollars  to  be  expended 
at  the  discretion  of  the  Trustees  in  the  purchase  of  books  for  its 
increase.  He  died  in  1860  in  the  seventy-third  year  of  his  age. 

Among  the  many  benefactors  —  merchants,  manufacturers, 
farmers  and  men  of  various  occupations  and  professions — who 
have  contributed  to  the  funds  of  Amherst  College,  we  find  an 
architect  who  builded  so  well  in  wood  and  stone,  that  he  had 
ample  means  to  aid  in  the  building  of  more  enduring  structures. 
Richard  Bond,  Esq.,  the  son  of  a  farmer  in  Conway,  where  he 
was  born  March  5, 1798,  was  drawn  to  the  study  of  architecture 
by  his  admiration  of  the  front  of  the  "  Old  Church  "  in  North- 


RICHARD   BOND,   ESQ.  555 

ampton  whose  grand  and  graceful  proportions,  the  design  of  the 
late  Charles  Bulfinch  of  Boston,  he  had  spent  hours  in  gazing  at 
while  he  was  yet  working  on  his  father's  farm  in  his  native  place. 
Soon  after  attaining  to  his  majority,  he  went  to  Boston  where,  af- 
ter two  or  three  years,  he  established  himself,  as  a  carpenter.  In 
1845,  he  visited  Europe  for  improvement  in  architecture.  Many 
churches  in  Boston  and  in  the  interior  of  New  England  were 
planned  by  him  and  built  under  his  superintendence,  among 
others  those  of  the  Central  Church,  then  on  Winter  street,  and 
Mount  Vernon  on  Ashburton  Place.  Under  his  design,  the  first  ar- 
rangement of  pews  in  an  elliptical  form  was  introduced  into  New 
England,  that  of  the  Central  Church  being  the  pioneer  in  1840. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Eliot  Church  in  Roxbury,  and  was 
interested  in  all  the  religious  and  educational  objects  of  the  day. 
At  his  death,  August  6,  1861,  (his  six  children  having  prece- 
ded him  to  the  grave,  three  in  childhood,  and  three  at  adult 
age,)  he  left  the  income  of  half  of  his  estate,  estimated  at  about 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  to  his  wife  during  her  life,  and  at 
her  decease  to  educational  objects  ;  the  other  half  he  gave  to  For- 
eign Missions  and  kindred  institutions,  thus  devoting  his  whole 
property  to  the  purposes  of  education  and  religion.  He  gave 
his  library,  containing  many  valuable  works  in  architecture,  to 
the  Library  at  Amherst,  and  made  the  College  his  residuary  leg- 
atee, anticipating  that  at  least  ten  thousand  dollars  would  thus 
come  into1  the  general  treasury.1 

William  F.  Stearns  to  whose  liberality  we  are  indebted  for  the 
College  Church,  is  the  oldest  son  of  President  Stearns.  He  was 
born  at  Cambridgeport,  November  9,  1834,  and  was,  therefore, 
in  1864  when  he  made  his  donation,  only  thirty  years  of  age. 
His  education  was  entirely  in  the  public  schools  and  the  High 
School  in  his  native  place,  which,  owing  in  no  small  measure  to 
the  wise  supervision  and  fostering  care  of  his  father,  had  at- 
tained to  rare  excellence.  With  a  predilection  for  business  and 
a  spirit  of  enterprise  and  independence  by  which  he  has  always 
been  distinguished,  when  he  was  eighteen,  he  went  into  Boston 
afoot  and  alone  in  search  of  a  situation,  and  after  several  days' 

1  The  depression  of  real  estate  during  the  Rebellion  reduced  the  amount  consid- 
erably below  his  expectations. 


556  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

seeking,  having  found  a  place  in  the  shipping  business  on  one 
of  the  principal  wharves,  he  continued  for  some  time  to  go  back 
and  forth  daily,  on  foot,  lodging,  breakfasting  and  supping  at 
home,  taking  his  dinner  with  him,  and  carrying  in  his  pocket 
the  omnibus  tickets  which  had  been  given  him  by  his  father. 
After  three  or  four  years  of  training  and  experience  in  the  store 
and  the  office,  he  went  as  supercargo  in  a  ship  of  his  employers 
on  a  voyage  to  South  America.  He  was  but  little  more  than 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  when  he  went  out  to  India,  first  to 
Calcutta,  and  thence,  after  a  few  months,  to  Bombay.  He  went 
out  with  assurances  from  several  Boston  merchants,  tlist  they 
would  make  purchases  through  his  agency,  giving  him  a  com- 
mission. Scarcely,  however,  had  he  reached  Bombay,  when  the 
financial  pressure  and  panic  of  1857  made  these  promises  of  no 
avail,  and  left  him,  without  any  support  from  America,  to  find 
or  create  a  business  for  himself.  He  soon  won  the  confidence 
of  a  leading  native  merchant  who  wished  to  take  him  into  part- 
nership. But  Mr.  Stearns  was  unwilling  to  belong  to  a  firm 
that  did  business  on  the  Sabbath,  and  he  relinquished  the  tempt- 
ing opportunity.  Falling  in  ere  long  with  another  young  man 
from  Boston  of  like  spirit  and  circumstances  with  himself,  he 
soon  established  the  firm  of  Stearns  &  Hobart,  which  carried  on 
a  large  and  successful  business  in  cotton  and  East  India  goods, 
chiefly  with  London.  Meanwhile  Mr.  Stearns  became  the  ruling 
spirit  of  a  new  Transportation  Company  for  the  transportation 
of  merchandise  by  steamer  through  the  Red  Sea  and  by  railway 
through  Egypt.  In  order  to  facilitate  this  business,  he  visited 
Cairo,  gained  the  confidence  of  the  Pasha  of  Egypt,  succeeded 
where  the  best  diplomacy  of  English  merchants  and  consuls  had 
failed,  in  negotiating  a  new  and  far  more  favorable  tariff  of 
freights  on  the  railway ;  and  before  the  close  of  the  American 
war  and  the  consequent  sudden  collapse  of  the  cotton  trade  in 
the  East,  he  was  fast  turning  the  commerce  between  Bombay 
and  London  into  this  channel,  and  thus  anticipating  the  effect 
of  the  Suez  canal  in  the  quick  transportation  of  merchandise 
from  India  to  southern  and  western  Europe.  Consecrating  his 
property  and  influence  from  the  first  to  humanity  and  religion, 
in  India  he  was  the  steadfast  friend  of  the  missionaries,  and  the 


WILLIAM  F.    STEAKNS,   ESQ.  557 

strenuous  advocate  of  Christianity  among  the  Parsees  and  the 
Brahmins,  the  wealthy  and  cultivated  classes.  Deeply  interested 
in  the  principles  and  issues  of  the  American  war,  he  encouraged 
enlistments  in  Cambridge  and  Amherst  by  a  liberal  addition  to 
the  bounties  of  the  soldiers.  Shortly  before  the  conclusion  of 
the  war — fortunately  for  himself  and  for  the  College,  for  the 
close  of  the  war  crippled  his  resources — he  set  apart  as  many 
thousand  dollars  as  he  had  then  seen  years,  to  the  building  of 
the  College  Church.  He  declined  to  give  it  his  name.  But 
rarely  has  a  young  man  reared  a  nobler  monument.  Of  unsur- 
passed beauty  both  in  itself  and  in  its  situation,  this  building 
is  destined  to  become — I  will  not  say  a  new  center  for  a  new 
cluster  of  edifices  crowning  and  compassing  the  eastern  brow  of 
College  Hill,  as  the  old  chapel  is  the  arx  of  the  cluster  on  the 
western  citadel — but  I  will  say,  another  focus  of  the  ellipse  or 
quadrangle  of  edifices  that  will  one  day,  doubtless,  enclose,  and 
perhaps  fill,  the  entire  College  campus,  and  that  too,  probably,  en- 
larged beyond  even  its  now  extended  area ;  and  it  is  likely  to  be 
the  center  and  seat  of  a  moral  and  Christian  influence  of  which 
such  a  structure  in  such  a  situation  is  the  appropriate  index. 

Moses  Harrison  Baldwin  was  .born  in  Palmer,  Mass.,  January 
7,  1811,  and  died  in  Pawtucket,  R.  L,  January  23,  1862,  aged 
fifty-one.  His  father,  John  Baldwin,  was  a  graduate  of  Dart- 
mouth College,  and  his  father  was  Rev.  Moses  Baldwin  of  Pal- 
mer, Mass.,  a  graduate  at  Princeton,  N.  J.  His  mother  was  the 
daughter  of  Rev.  Nehemiah  Williams  of  Brimfield,  who  was 
the  son  of  Rev.  Chester  Williams  of  Hadley,  who  was  the  sou 
of  Rev.  Ebenezer  Williams,  the  first  minister  of  Pomfret,  Conn. 
Moses  H.,  was  the  tenth  in  a  family  of  fifteen  children,  who, 
although  none  of  them  became  ministers,  seem  to  have  inher- 
ited in  large  measure  the  temporal  and  spiritual  blessings  which 
have  so  often  descended  to  the  children  and  children's  children 
of  New  England  ministers.1  In  1829,  he  entered  the  Freshman 
Class  (the  Class  of  '33)  in  Amherst  College,  but  in  conse- 
quence of  ill  health,  was  unable  to  complete  the  course.  In  1836, 
he  became  a  partner  with  his  elder  brother,  John  C.,  in  the 

1  His  Excellency,  Henry  P.  Baldwin,  Governor  of  Michigan,  is  a  younger  son  in 
this  family. 


558  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

mercantile  business  in  New  York.  After  seven  or  eight  years, 
continued  ill  health  necessitated  his  retirement  from  active  busi- 
ness. He  now  traveled,  visiting  Europe,  the  West  Indies  and 
the  Southern  States,  and  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  the 
care  of  the  property  which  he  had  already  acquired,  and  in  do- 
ing good  with  the  income  which  accrued  from  year  to  year.  Be- 
sides'a  liberal  subscription  to  the  Library,  he  bequeathed  to  the 
College  about  seven  thousand  dollars  in  his  will.  His  partners, 
John  C.  Baldwin  and  Alonzo  Lilly,  also  gave  the  College  about 
four  thousand  dollars.  The  charities  of  Moses  H.  Baldwin,  by 
will  and  otherwise,  in  the  last  year  of  his  life,  amounted,  to  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  It  is  said  that  his  brother  John  C.,  who  had 
no  children,  gave  away  a  million  of  dollars  in  the  last  three  or 
four  years  of  his  life.  He  gave  large  sums  to  different  Colleges 
in  New  England  and  the  West.  The  former  became  a  member 
of  the  church  in  Brimfield  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Mr.  Vaill , 
and  it  was  probably  more  or  less  under  the  influence  of  that 
life-long  friend  of  Amherst  College  that  he  came  to  Amherst 
from  Brimfield  in  1829,  and  that  he  afterwards  became  one  of 
its  pecuniary  benefactors. 

Hon.  George  Henry  Gilbert,  whose  name  has  been  given  to 
the  Museum  of  Indian  Relics,  and  who  has  also  been  a  liberal 
donor  to  the  Library,  was  born  in  Brooklyn,  Conn.,  February 
15,  1806.  He  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Sir  John  Gilbert  who 
came  to  this  country  in  1638.  With  limited  education  and  no 
capital,  he  worked  as  a  machinist  for  some  years  in  Worcester. 
Gaining  the  confidence  of  employers  and  business  men  by  his  in- 
dustry, skill  and  integrity,  and  by  his  capacity  drawing  the  capi- 
tal which  he  needed,  in  1833  he  established  himself  in  business 
and  opened  a  machine  shop  in  Andover,  which  is  now  the  larg- 
est of  the  kind  in  the  country.  In  1841,  he  removed  to  Ware 
and  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  woolens l  which  he  continued 
there  and  at  Gilbertville  with  growing  success,  and  on  a  contin- 

1  "The  result  of  this  manufacturing  enterprise  was  the  achievement  of  absolute 
success  in  the  fabrication  of  opera  flannels — this  production  completely  excluding 
the  French  goods  which  had  formerly  occupied  our  markets."  See  Bulletin  of  the 
National  Association  of  Wool  Manufacturers  (July,  1869,)  of  which  Mr.  Gilbert 
was  an  officer  from  its  foundation.  "  You  must  preach  to  our  manufacturers,"  he 


HON.   GEOKGE   H.   GILBEKT.  559 

ually  enlarging  scale,  until  his  death.  A  member  of  an  Ortho- 
dox Congregational  Church  during  all  his  public  life,  first  in 
Worcester,  then  at  Andover  and  finally  at  Ware,  he  contributed 
liberally  to  the  maintenance  of  the  gospel,  and  not  only  sus- 
tained public  worship  chiefly  from  his  own  purse,  but  by  his 
will  provided  means  for  erecting  a  church,  in  the  village  which 
bears  his  name.  He  was  a  friend  and  benefactor  of  Mount 
Holyoke  Seminary  as  well  as  of  Amherst  College.  To  the  lat- 
ter he  gave  at  different  times  and  for  different  purposes  some 
seven  or  eight  thousand  dollars.  His  donation  of  five  thousand 
dollars  to  the  Library  is  to  increase  by  the  addition  of  the  in- 
terest to  the  principal  until  a  new  Library  building  is  erected, 
or  the  present  building  is  enlarged,  and  then  is  to  be  expended 
only  in  the  purchase  of  books. 

For  two  years  (1862  and  1863)  Mr.  Gilbert  was  a  member  of 
the  Massachusetts  Senate.  We  have  known  few  finer  looking 
men — few  men  of  more  capacity  for  business,  than  Mr.  Gilbert. 
But  carried  away  with  the  excitement,  not  to  say  the  passion  of 
his  growing  manufacturing  enterprises,  he  overworked  his  brain, 
broke  down  his  health,  and  died  at  Ware,  May  8,  1869,  in  the 
sixty-fourth  year  of  his  age. 

His  pastor,  Rev.  A.  E.  P.  Perkins,  D.  D.,  of  the  Class  of 
1840,  testifies  in  the  warmest  and  strongest  terms  of  Mr.  Gilbert 
as  a  reliable  man,  with  clear  views  of  religious  truth  and  de- 
cided convictions,  whom  nothing  could  move  from  what  he 
thought  to  be  duty,  whose  influence  was  positive  and  powerful 
in  behalf  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  and  who  carried  his  religion 
into  his  business  as  few  men  do,  not  only  in  his  unswerving  in- 
tegrity but  by  making  matters  of  business  specific  subjects  of 
prayer. 

Dr.  Benjamin  Barrett,  who  has  given  name  to  the  Gymnasium 
and  fostered  the  Department  of  Physical  Culture,  was  born  in 
Concord,  Mass.,  February  2, 1796,  graduated  at  Harvard  College 
in  1819,  and  studied  medicine  with  Dr.  Warren  and  Dr.  Jackson 

said  to  a  gentleman  about  to  give  an  address  before  this  Association — "  preach  to 
them  that  the  surest  means  to  attain  ultimate  success  is  to  be  constantly  raising  the 
standard  of  their  goods ;  and  that  every  American  manufacturer  owes  it  to  his 
country  to  fabricate  the  best  goods  that  can  be  made  in  the  world." 


560  HISTORY  OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

in  Boston.  He  came  to  Northampton  in  1823,  and  practiced 
medicine  there  with  reputation  and  success  nearly  a  quarter  of 
a  century.  Dr.  Hunt,  Dr.  Denniston,  and  Dr.  Thompson — the 
most  distinguished  physicians  of  Northampton — were  at  differ- 
ent times  associated  with  him  in  medical  practice.  In  1846,  he 
relinquished  the  profession,  although  he  continued  to  act  as  con- 
sulting physician.  Dr.  Barrett  held  many  offices  of  trust.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  1842,  and 
in  1842  and  1843  he  was  State  Senator.  He  was  also  County 
Commissioner,  President  of  the  County  Temperance  Societ}*, 
the  Hampshire  Medical  Society,  Chairman  of  the  Schrjol  Com- 
mittee, and  first  Treasurer  and  Secretary  and  then  President  of 
the  Northampton  Savings  Bank.  He  was  long  an  exemplary 
and  useful  member  of  the  First  Church  in  Northampton.  Hon- 
est, upright,  frank,  cordial,  genial,  kindly  and  charitable,  and  at 
the  same  time  intelligent,  shrewd,  foreseeing  and  far-seeing,  he 
was  beloved  by  his  friends  and  neighbors,  honored  by  the  pub- 
lic and  trusted  by  all  who  knew  him.  His  donations  to  the 
Gymnasium  have  been  already  enumerated.  In  many  other 
ways,  he  showed  a  lively  and  growing  interest  in  Amherst  Col- 
lege. He  died  of  heart  disease,  sitting  in  his  chair,  June  14, 
1869,  at  the  age  of  seventy-three. 

James  Smith,  Esq.,  who,  with  Mr.  Williston,  Mr.  Hitchcock, 
Mr.  Baldwin,  and  others,  so  generously  matched  Dr.  Walker's 
gift  of  forty  thousand  dollars  with  another  forty  thousand  and 
thus  secured  the  funds  for  Walker  Hall,  was  born  in  Rutland, 
Mass.,  January  9,  1788.  The  son  of  a  farmer  in  moderate  cir- 
cumstances, and  with  no  education  beyond  that  of  the  common 
schools  of  his  native  place,  he  went,  when  a  young  man,  into 
the  employ,  as  a  clerk,  of  Mr.  Denny  of  Leicester  in  the  manu- 
facture of  cards,  helped  him  make  a  large  fortune,  married  his 
daughter,  carried  on  the  business  himself  successfully  until  1838, 
then  removed  to  Philadelphia  and  pursued  the  same  business 
there  until  a  few  years  ago  when  he  retired,  having  accumulated 
a  large  property  which  he  is  now  using  in  doing  good.  He  be- 
gan his  career  of  beneficence  in  Leicester  where  he  early  con- 
nected himself  with  Dr.  Nelson's  church,  and  became  a  liberal 
patron  of  Leicester  Academy  of  which  he  was  a  Trustee,  and 


,-*•  I ' 


dL^i^<~ 


L 


561 


o  which  he  gave  at  one  time  ten  t  On  his  re- 

loval  to  Philadelphia,  he  was  much  interesi  om- 

lenced  by  Dr.  Todd,  of  establishing  the  Fir*'  onal 

Hhurch.     When  that  Church  became  Presb  !  1m- 

elf  to  building  up  other  Congregational  •  '  W- 

hia,  and  is  now  the  pillar,  as  he  \vt*±  of 

•  gationalism  in  that  city.     He  i*- 

egational  Church  for  whom  i 
f  erecting  a  church  edifice  an-; 
tventy  thousand  dollars.     He  has 

,a  and  Hon; 
.••   . 

Mr.  Sm  Allen  the  print- 

he  melans  of  his  education  in  Amherst  ^i-st 

College,  which  the  Doctor  rep;  >'.     And 

)  this  apparently  ac>  ,;e  is  in- 

ebted  for  the  ited 

)wards  Walker  II  >ink 


Three  ot 
•om  all  others  b\ 
Ir.  Hitchcock  of  BIT 
Villiston  of  Easthampton.     Nti 

't^l  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  «*».- 
onations  considerably  exceeds  half  a  m^ 
Samuel  Austin  Hitchcock,  Esq.,  was  horp 
an  nary  9,  1794.     His  grandfather  was  a  v 
icut.     His  father  was  a  hatter  in  Brimfield 
n  active,  energetic  woman,  and  did  what  *h 
:eir  circumstances  were  such  that  hi* 
im  no  school  education  except  what  he  o)-u 
vtivc  town.    Mr.  Hitchc..- 


al  [•-. 

s  »o  fey  •  SB*  ,-i  -.*>,>  &}  .-  >Kcernedf 


<bt'tis  ^ri*h  honor 
cH*r  Bmwn,  who 
!   him  the  princi- 
made  him  what  he 
Mr.  Hitchcock  taught 


562  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

school  himself  one  term — what  smart  and  thrifty  Yankee  did 
not  in  the  good  ol$  times  ? — had  no  trouble  in  a  school  in  which 
two  masters  had  failed  and  been  turned  out,  and  was  solicited 
to  continue  teaching.  But  he  preferred  to  go  into  business.  It 
was  a  great  trial  that  he  could  not  have  more  and  better  educa- 
tion. He  would  have  thought  it  an  inestimable  privilege,  if  he 
could  have  gone  a  single  term  to  Monson  Academy,  like  other 
boys  of  the  town.  This  is  doubtless  one  secret  of  his  munifi- 
cent donations  to  educational  institutions,  and  those  especially 
scholarships  in  aid  of  indigent  and  meritorious  students. 

Having  learned  the  art  and  trade  of  the  manufacturer  from 
the  Slaters  in  Webster,  he  followed  the  business  himself  for 
many  years.  For  six  years  he  had  charge  of  a  factory  in  South- 
bridge.  Several  years  he  resided  in  Boston,  doing  business  there 
as  a  merchant.  Having  thus  laid  the  foundation  of  his  fortune 
by  manufacturing  and  mercantile  pursuits,  he  retired  from  active 
business  and  returned  to  his  native  town,  where  he  has  accumu- 
lated a  large  property  chiefly  by  wise  investments  in  manufac- 
turing, railroad,  State  and  national  stocks. 

He  has  been  Selectman  and  Overseer  of  the  Poor,  in  Brim- 
field,  and  has  represented  the  town  in  the  Legislature  of  Massa- 
chusetts. He  was  for  many  years  Treasurer  of  the  Parish  in 
Brimfield,  and  President  of  the  Bank  in  Southbridge.  But  ill- 
health  and  a  difficulty  of  hearing  have  prevented  his  accepting 
office.  He  is  a  bachelor,  and  in  great  simplicity,  temperance 
and  economy,  has  lived  a  retired  and  quiet  life. 

While  a  resident  in  Boston,  he  joined  the  Old  South  Church, 
then  under  the  pastoral  care  of  Dr.  Wisner.  From  that  he  re- 
moved his  relation  to  the  church  in  Brimfield  of  which  he  is 
now  a  member.  To  this  church  he  has  given  a  fund  of  five 
thousand  dollars  towards  the  support  of  the  minister.  He  has 
established  the  Hitchcock  Free  High  School  in  Brimfield,  en- 
dowing it  with  building  and  funds  at  an  expense  of  eighty  thou- 
sand dollars.  He  has  given  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Ando- 
ver  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  dollars.  His  donations 
to  Amherst  College  began  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  and  form 
an  aggregate  of  at  least  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand 
dollars.  They  have  been  given  mostly  as  permanent  funds,  and 


.A.  HITCHCOCK. 

chiefly  for  scholars!.;.  .fessorship  and  kindred  purposes. 

The  recent  donation  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  for  a  parr 
of  which,  at  least,  we  are  indebted  to  the  refusal  of  the  Lf 
ture  T  Amherst  in  proportion  to  what  it  had  done  for 

other  institutions,  and  which  with  characteristic  promptness,  he 
paid  over  to  the  Treasurer  entire,  just  as  soon  as  he  announced 
his  intention  to  give  it,  was  the  largest  sum  that  ever  carac  at 
once  into  the  treasury  of  Amherst  College. 

Dr.  William  Johnson  Walker  was  born  in  Charlestown,  Mass., 
March  15,  1T90,  and  died  in  Newport,  R.  I.,  April  2,  1865,  be- 
ing a  little  over  sev<  i  >  of  age.  He  fitted  for  Col- 
lege at  i  er ,  and  -  Harvard 
Univ-  :hly  respectable  rank  aa  a  scholar, 
especially  in  Latin  and  :  ry  in  which  he  took  great  pleasure 
through  life,  and  for  which  he  showed  his  liking  in  his  founda- 
tions at  Amherst.  He  studied  medicine  first  in  Charlestown 
and  thon  in  >  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  John  Brooks, 
afterwards  G-  -chusetts ;  and  obtained  the  degree 
r.;  P  Massachusetts  Medical  College  in 

•iedioal  degree,  he  sailed  for  France 

on  a  Boston  to  prey  o»i  the  commerce 

of  Great  aching  Paris  devoted    binweif  assidu- 

ously to  the  further  study  of  his  profusion  Afifr  the  abdica- 
tion of  Napoleon,  he  went  to  London,  «Mad  fer^iim*  *  Vfc?^  *-^ 
Sir  Astley  Cooper,  and  having  *******  w-  «**»*H*>>  »n  &*  14  <**-.•*- 
tion  of  his  studies  in  Grey  s  sutA  >t,  '  •-'•<*>  '^t  14- 

turned  to  the  \.  t  nes,  and  ™.  "i-^^rsf^fl  the 

practice  of  his  profession  in  his  native  tf«*»  tshf-***  t*v  li«  ski; I 
and  kindness,  especially  to  the  poor,  be  KXVD  ^miwa  an  «\t*n- 
sive  practice.  He  became  an  especial  favorite  with  the  younger 
members  of  his  profession  and  was  oftt-n  o^lod  **  **'onsulltng 
physician  an^  surgeon.  He  was  for  manv  ycmrp  the  ph\> 
and  surgeon:of  the  Massachusett*  StAt*4  Pr^mj,  at»d  Consulting 
Surgeon  of  the  Massachusetts  Gem^ml  Hospital.  After  prac- 
ticing his  profession  about  •  MX  he  removed  to  Boston  and 
turned  his  attention  to  v;>  improvements,  especially 
in  manufactures  and  r..  ii  --r-ifi,  "The  mental  qualities  which 
made  him  eminent  in  on,  did  not  fail  him  in  his  n'ew 


564  HISTORY   OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

walk,  and   he  soon    amassed  a  large    fortune.     But  it  was  no 
sooner  acquired,  than  he  set  about  distributing  it."  l 

We  have  already  given  some  account  in  former  chapters  of 
his  principal  donations  to  Amherst  College,  and  the  foundations 
built  upon  them.  President  Stearns  has  furnished,  in  the  ad- 
dress already  referred  to,  a  graphic  narrative  of  his  conferences 
and  correspondences  with  Dr.  Walker,  and  the  successive  steps 
which  led  on  to  such  unforeseen  results.  Beginning  with  the 
foundation  of  the  Walker  Professorship  in  1861,  he  advanced 
rapidly — more  rapidly  sometimes  than  the  College  found  it  con- 
venient to  comply  with  his  conditions,  till,  at  his  death  in  1865, 
he  had  already  given  it  about  one  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
which  was  increased  by  his  legacies  to  about  a  quarter  of  a  mil- 
lion. His  donations  and  legacies  to  Amherst  College  were  only 
a  fraction  of  what  he  gave  for  educational  purposes,  Amherst 
being  one  of  four  institutions  to  which  he  bequeathed  more  than 
a  million.2 

We  must  also  refer  our  readers  to  President  Stearns'  descrip- 
tion of  the  man — peculiar,  powerful,  positive,  persistent,  impe- 
rious, passionate,  impatient,  but  large-hearted,  faithful  in  his 
friendships,  grateful  for  acts  of  kindness,  sympathizing  with 
the  afflicted,  charitable,  philanthropic,  and  in  his  own  way  re- 
ligious. The  statutes  of  his  foundations  show  large  and  en- 
lightened ideas  of  education.  It  was  partly  from  his  own  expe- 
rience of  incompetent  teachers  that  he  wished  to  provide  better 
teachers.  "  You  plead  hard,"  said  he  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Stearns, 
"  for  the  dull  members  of  classes  when  you  say  they  are  some 
of  them  destined  to  fit  boys  to  enter  our  Colleges,  and  therefore 
should  be  thoroughly  drilled.  /  had  just  such  instructors.  I 
want  no  more  of  them  Would  to  God  my  lines  had  fallen  un- 
der skillful  and  accurate  masters  !  Can  the  blind  lead  the  blind  ? 
I  trow  not."  With  such  personal  recollections,  philanthropic 
motives  also  strongly  influenced  him.  "  I  have  made  most  of 
my  property,"  lie  said,  "  since  I  retired  from  the  world ;  and  al- 

1  Manuscript  notice  of  Dr.  Walker  read  before  the  Medical  Society  by  Dr.  Mor- 
rill  Wyman  of  Cambridge,  and  quoted  by  President  Stearns  in  his  address  at  the 
laying  of  the  Corner-Stone  of  Walker  Hall. 

2  These  Institutions  surrendered  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  the  family. 


DR.   WILLIAM  J.   WALKER. 

tnost  niy  on.'y  object  in  doing  it  has  been  that  I  may  contri 
to  ed  "1  consider  myself  a  steward  in  the  distribution 

of  rny  means.  Tell  the  young  men  that  if  they  take  half  the 
pleasure  in  deserving  the  prizes  which  I  do  in  bestowing  them, 
I  shall  be  compensated.  Tell  them  also  that  there  is  nothing 
worth  living  for  but  doing  good  to  liiankir 

But  Hon.  Samuel  Williston  came  to  ' 

the  College  when  it  wan  in  such  imminent    ;  eii  $o* 

sengers   and  c<rew  threatened   to  foi-  -hip  tb&t  .-»*iaatA 

to  sink,  and  even  the  captain  and  other  officer^ 
despaired  of  its  safety — and  not  only  rescued  it  but  so  repaired 
t.cl  it  an-'  ;r  as  it  were  with  new  rigging,  on 

:i  new  existence,  that  he  well  de- 
serves not  only  the  highest  rank  among  its  pecuniary  benefac- 
tors, but  the  title,  by  common  consent,  of  its  preserver  an'! 
ond  founder. 

Samuel  Wi  as  born  in  Easthampton.  June  17,  1795, 

iieth  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Bunker   Hill, 
was  the  son  of  Rev.  Payson  Williston  of  Easthampton 
the  son  of  Rev.  Noah  Williston  of  West  Hn 
mother,  Mrs.  Sarah  Birds  eye 

Connecticut  clergyman,  Rev.  Nathan  Bi 
ford.     His  parents  and  grandparents 

longevity.     His  father  lived  to   > 
mid  his  father  to  the  age  of  eight \ 
•f  eighty-two, *nd  her  father  to  h: 
Mr.  Williston  himself,  ' 

Rev.  Payson  AVilhV 

dred  dollars,  besides  his  settlement.     1  rnve  he. 
say,  that  she  often  hod  soi 

op  for  dinner,  or  to  stay  over  . 
li  in  the  whole  house  to 

'  y,  they  still   • 
uel,  who  WK 
v,  sometimes 
:j.     More    than   once   1 

I 
the  « 


566  HISTORY   OF    AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

thousand.  He  began  to  work  on  a  farm  when  he  was  ten,  and 
continued  so  to  work  till  he  was  sixteen,  when  his  wages  were 
seven  dollars  a  month.  The  greater  part  of  two  winters,  he 
worked  in  a  clothier's  shop  till  he  became  master  of  the  art.  He 
attended  the  district  school  in  his  native  place  summer  and  win- 
ter till  he  was  ten  years  old ;  then  in  the  winter  only  till  he  was 
sixteen,  at  which  age  his  schooling  ceased  altogether  ;  arid  thence- 
forth he  labored  the  year  round,  in  the  summer  on  the  farm,  and 
during  the  winter  in  the  shop.  Meanwhile,  however,  he  lost 
no  time,  spent  his  evenings  in  reading  and  made  the  most  of  all 
the  means  of  self-education  within  his  reach.  In  the  wirrfer  of 
1813—14,  with  great  satisfaction,  he  found  means  to  spend  a 
single  term  at  the  academy  in  Westfield.  This  awakened  in 
him  a  strong  desire  for  a  College  education,  and  he  began  the 
study  of  Latin,  first  with  his  father,  and  then  with  Rev.  Mr. 
Gould  of  Southampton.  In  the  summer  of  1814,  attracted  partly 
by  the  reputation  of  the  school,  but  more  by  the  existence  there 
of  funds  in  aid  of  indigent  students,  he  went  to  Phillips  Acad- 
emy, then  under  the  principal  charge  of  Rev.  John  Adams,  and 
enjoying  also  the  instruction  of  Mr.  Hawes,  afterwards  Dr. 
Hawes  of  the  Centre  Church  in  Hartford,  Conn.  He  walked 
most  of  the  way  from  Eastharnptou  to  Andover,  carrying  all  he 
took  with  him — pretty  much  all  he  had  in  the  world — tied  up 
in  a  bundle.  At  Andover,  for  the  sake  of  economy  and  exer- 
cise, he  boarded  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  Academy.  But 
scarcely  had  he  established  his  character  as  a  deserving  and 
promising  scholar  and  thus  won  a  place  on  the  foundation,  when 
his  eye-sight  failed  him,  and  he  was  obliged  to  leave. 

We  have  not  space  to  follow  him  through  the  severe  and  pro- 
tracted struggle  which  ensued — his  labors  on  the  farm,  his  clerk- 
ships in  West  Springfield  and  New  York  City  rendered  unsuc- 
cessful by  the  state  of  his  eyes  and  his  general  health — till  at 
length  he  gave  up  all  hope  either  of  an  education  or  of  success 
in  business,  and  coming  home  settled  down  upon  his  father's 
farm  to  begin  the  life  of  a  farmer  without  land,  without  capital, 
with  almost  nothing  that  he  could  call  his  own,  and  having  run 
his  father  in  debt  for  the  very  tools  and  implements  with  which 
he  was  to  do  his  work.  Thus  he  continued  for  four  years,  carry- 


HON.    SAMUEL  WILLISTON.  567 

ing  on  the  farm  in  the  summer  and  teaching  school  in  the  winter, 
till  he  became  for  that  place  and  those  times,  quite  a  large 
farmer  and  wool-grower. 

Meanwhile  two  events  had  occurred  which  were  destined  to 
change  and  shape  his  whole  subsequent  life.  Soon  after  leav- 
ing Andover,  and  just  before  going  to  New  York,  after  a  long 
and  severe  inward  struggle,  he  began  a  new  Christian  life,  and 
in  due  time  became  a  member .  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  un- 
der the  pastoral  care  of  Rev.  Dr.  Spring,  in  the  city  of  New 
York. 

In  the  spring  of  1822  (May  27),  at  the  age  of  twenty-seven, 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Emily  Graves,  daughter  of  Elnathan 
Graves,  a  respectable  farmer  in  moderate  circumstances  in  Wil- 
liamsburg,  Mass.  In  illustration  at  once  of  the  simplicity  of  the 
times  and  his  own  limited  means,  I  have  heard  him  say  that 
he  was  married  in  a  coat  that  he  had  already  worn  two  years 
for  Sundays  and  holidays,  and  that  they  took  no  bridal  tour,  no 
journey  whatever  after  their  marriage. 

In  1826,  partly  that  she  might  be  able  to  keep  domestic  help, 
and  partly  that  she  might  have  the  means  of  enlarging  her  char- 
itable contributions,  Mrs.  Williston  commenced  that  business  of 
covering  lasting  buttons,  which,  beginning  as  her  own  handi- 
work, and  gradually  extending  to  her  neighbors,  soon  employed 
thousands  of  busy  and  skillful  .fingers  through  all  that  section, 
and  after  ten  or  a  dozen  years,  at  length,  with  the  help  of  Mr. 
Hayden's  mechanical  ingenuity,  enlisted  the  aid  of  machinery 
and  water  power,  and  thus  laid  the  foundation  of  the  fortunes 
of  both  these  enterprising  and  benevolent  manufacturers. 

Affliction  mingled  with  prosperity  in  preparing  and  disposing 
Mr.  Williston  for  the  career  of  Christian  benevolence  by  which 
his  life  has  been  distinguished.  Bereaved  of  two  children  at 
once  and  written  childless  twice  in  the  space  of  six  years,  and 
thus  led  to  feel  that  he  had  not  done  his  whole  duty  as  a 
steward  of  the  Lord's  property,  he  consecrated  himself  anew  to 
his  service,  set  apart  the  principal  and  interest  of  a  considerable 
investment  for  benevolent  purposes,  and  thus  entered  on  a  new 
epoch  in  his  Christian  life.  In  1837 — the  year  of  his  second 
bereavement — he  bore  a  prominent  part  in  the  erection  of  the 


568  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST  COLLEGE. 

house  of  worship  now  occupied  by  the  First  Church  in  East- 
hampton.  In  1841,  he  established  Williston  Seminary.  Early 
in  1845,  he  founded  the  Williston  Professorship  of  Rhetoric  and 
Oratory  in  Amherst  College.  Later  in  the  same  year,  he  spent 
six  mouths  in  traveling  in  Europe.  In  the  winter  of  1846-7, 
he  founded  the  Graves,  now  the  Williston,  Professorship  of 
Greek,  and  one-half  of  the  Hitchcock  Professorship  of  Natural 
Theology  and  Geology  in  Amherst,  thus  making  the  sum  of 
fifty  thousand  dollars  which  he  had  already  given  for  permanent 
foundations,  besides  other  donations  to  that  Institution.  From 
that  time  he  has  gone  on  adding  factory  to  factory,  house  to 
house,  and  even  one  village  to  another,  till,  from  one  of  the 
smallest,  Easthampton  has  become  one  of  the  largest  and  most 
prosperous  towns  in  Hampshire  County.  He  has  built  churches, 
school-houses  and  town  halls,  enlarged  the  grounds  and  multi- 
plied the  edifices  of  Williston  Seminary,  erected  Williston  Hall 
and  helped  erect  other  buildings  for  Amherst  College,  and  in- 
creased the  funds  of  both  these  institutions,  till  his  donations  to 
the  two  amount  to  nearly  half  a  million,  and  extended  and  dif- 
fused his  gifts  for  public,  charitable,  educational  and  religious 
objects  till  his  name  is  identified  with  all  the  benevolent  enter- 
prises of  the  day,  and  his  influence  is  felt  around  the  world. 

In  1841,  Mr.  Williston  was  a  member  of  the  Lower  House  of 
the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  and  in  1842  and  1843  a  member 
of  the  Senate.  While  a  member  of  the  Legislature  in  1841,  he 
was  chosen  by  that  body  a  Trustee  of  Amherst  College.  He 
was  one  of  the  first  Trustees  of  the  State  Reform  School,  and 
was  of  great  service  in  erecting  buildings,  improving  the  farm, 
and  inaugurating  the  Institution.  He  was  also  one  of  the  early 
Trustees  of  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary,  and  for  many  years  a 
corporate  member  of  the  American  Board.  And  he  has  not 
only  been  scrupulously  faithful  in  these  trusts  and  a  constant 
attendant  at  the  meetings  of  all  these  Boards,  but  in  most  of 
them  he  has  at  the  same  time  been  a  liberal,  often  a  munificent 
contributor  to  their  funds.  For  more  than  thirty  years,  now, 
he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Corporation  of  Amherst  College, 
during  the  larger  part  of  these  years  a  member  of  the  Pruden- 
tial Committee,  and  often  of  special  committees  on  buildings 


HIS   LOVE   FOE   AMHERST   COLLEGE.  569 

and  business  matters  of  the  utmost  importance ;  until  the  recent 
failure  of  his  health  he  has  been  an  unfailing  attendant  of  ordi- 
nary and  extraordinary  meetings  and  unsparing  not  only  of  his 
money  but  also  of  his  time  which,  to  such  a  man,  is  more  than 
money.  And  that  knowledge  of  men  and  things  which  has  been 
among  the  prime  elements  of  his  success  in  business,  has  made 
his  counsels  of  scarcely  less  value  to  the  Institution  than  his 
money  and  time.  He  has  loved  Ainherst  as  a  child  and  loved 
all  its  friends  for  Ainherst's  sake.  So  far  from  being  jealous  of 
other  and  recently  larger  benefactors,  he  has  done  all  he  could 
to  help  and  encourage  them.  He  helped  to  secure  Walker  Hall 
by  giving  ten  thousand  dollars  although  there  were  other  forms 
in  which  he  would  have  preferred  to  give  it,  and  although  he 
knew  his  name  would  be  merged  in  that  of  the  principal  donor. 
When  Mr.  Hitchcock  made  his  recent  donation  of  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  he  said  to  the  President,  "  Tell  him,  I  thank 
him — I  honor  him — nay,  tell  him,  I  love  him."  Amherst  is  his 
foster-child.  He  is  her  foster-father.  She  owes  to  him  her 
preservation,  her  very  life.  And  if  in  token  of  her  gratitude, 
and  in  fulfillment  of  the  pledge  given  by  President  Hitchcock  in 
the  hour  of  her  peril,  she  should  at  his  death,  since  he  will  not 
permit  it  before,  take  his  name,  it  would  be  but  a  small  return 
for  what  he  has  been  to  her  and  done  for  her. 

Usage  has  appropriated  the  title  of  benefactors  almost  exclu- 
sively to  pecuniary  benefactors.  Money  is  essential  for  the 
founding,  building  and  endowing  of  Colleges.  But  no  amount 
of  funds  or  buildings,  collections  or  external  appliances  whatso- 
ever, can  make  a  College.  Men — officers  and  students — consti- 
tute the  College,  and  those  who  have  given  it  their  time  and 
toil,  their  thoughts  and  counsels,  their  prayers  and  their  personal 
services,  may  be  its  richest  benefactors. 

One  of  the  greatest  benefactors  of  Amherst  College  has  given 
it  very  little  money  and  had  very  little  to  give.  But  he  has 
given  it  almost  fifty  years  of  study  and  labor  and  care  and  pains- 
taking, of  the  ablest  instructions,  and  the  best  services  that  have 
ever  been  given  to  this  or  any  other  College.  The  first  student 
that  was  admitted  and  one  of  the  first  that  were  graduated,  the 
first  Tutor  and  the  first  Professor  among  the  alumni,  acquainted 


570  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

with  all  the  officers  and  all  the  students  and  known  by  them  all 
only  to  be  loved  and  honored,  identified  in  one  way  or  another 
with  the  College  through  the  entire  half-century  of  its  existence, 
and  during  all  this  time  saying  to  it,  not  in  words  but  by  deeds 
which  speak  louder  than  words,  like  the  Apostles  to  the  impo- 
tent man  in  the  Acts  :  "  Silver  and  gold  have  I  none,  but  what 
I  have,  give  I  thee,"  if  Amherst  College  has  ever  had  a  greater 
benefactor  than  Professor  Snell,  I  should  like  to  know  who  he 
is.  He  stands  unique  in  his  relations  to  the  College  and  alone 
in  his  glory.  But  if  he  is  to  be  classed  anywhere  in  the  history 
of  Amherst,  I  do  not  know  where  he  can  be  more  fitly  placed 
than  among  its  benefactors. 

Ebenezer  Strong  Snell  was  born  in  North  Brookfield,  October 
7,  1801,  and  was,  therefore,  a  little  short  of  twenty  at  the  open- 
ing of  Amherst  College,  September  18,  1821 ;  a  little  less  than 
twenty-one  at  his  graduation  the  fourth  Wednesday  of  August, 
1822 ;  and  was  seventy  about  three  months  after  the  Semi-cen- 
tennial Jubilee,  July  12,  1871.  His  whole  life  as  a  scholar  and 
an  educator  has  thus  run  parallel  with  the  life  of  the  College  with 
which  he  has  been  identified,  and  of  which  he  "  has  been  so 
great  a  part."  Having  fitted  for  College  partly  with  his  father, 
Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  Suell,  and  partly  under  Principal  Parkhurst 
in  Amherst  Academy,  in  1819  he  entered  the  Sophomore  class  in 
Williams  College,  and  at  the  close  of  his  Junior  year  came  with 
President  Moore  to  Amherst,  where  he  graduated,  as  everybody 
knows,  in  the  first  class  and  the  first  scholar  in  his  class,  although, 
at  the  Commencement,  he  delivered  the  Salutatory,  and  not  the 
Valedictory  Oration. l  He  used  to  go  to  Williamstown  gener- 
ally in  his  father's  chaise,  sometimes  in  a  private  carriage,  or 
wagon,  with  some  fellow-student  in  the  vicinity.  It  took  him 
more  time  to  go  from  North  Brookfield  across  the  hills  and  over 
the  mountains,  than  it  would  now  take  to  come  from  Bangor  or 
Chicago.  Hence  he  went  home  only  once  a  year,  and  spent  his 
other  vacations  with  his  cousins  (one  of  whom  was  William  C. 
Bryant,)  at  Cummington.  The  first  Senior  class  in  Amherst 
College  could  hardly  have  plunged  very  deep  into  the  mysteries 
of  metaphysics,  for  after  the  first  term,  Snell  was  absent  most 

1  There  was  no  Valedictory  at  the  first  Commencement. 


PROFESSOR   SNELL.  571 

of  the  time,  teaching  in  North  Brookfield  and  in  Amherst  Acad- 
emy ;  Fairchild,  also,  owing  to  ill  health  or  affliction  in  the  fam- 
ily, was  away  a  good  deal,  and  not  present  at  Commencement ; 
what  Field  did  in  the  absence  of  both  his  classmates,  they  hardly 
knew,  and  he  does  not  distinctly  remember. 

Thus  beginning  to  teach  in  Amherst  the  very  first  year  of  the 
existence  of  the  College,  he  has  taught  here  ever  since,  now 
more  than  half  a  century.  It  seems  to  have  been  his  father's 
hope  that  he  would  be  a  minister ;  and  his  own  conscience  some- 
times chided  him  for  not  being  one.  But  he  was  too  self-dis- 
trustful, too  diffident  and  timid  to  preach.  It  was  several  years 
before  he  consented  to  take  his  turn  in  officiating  at  morning 
prayers  —  many  years  more  before  he  could  open  his  mouth 
in  exhortation  at  a  religious  meeting.  "  Prof.  Snell  never 
preached,"  writes  an  alumnus,  "  but  we  all  felt  that  his  life  was 
the  best  of  sermons." 

From  1822  to  1825,  he  taught  in  Amherst  Academy,  first  as 
the  assistant  of  Zenas  Clapp,  and  of  David  Green,  and  then  as 
principal.  In  1825,  at  the  organization  of  the  new  Faculty  un- 
der the  charter,  he  was  chosen  Tutor.  In  1827,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Instructor  in  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy. 
From  1829  till  1834  he  was  nominally  Adjunct  Professor  with 
Prof.  Hovey,  but  in  the  absence  of  the  latter  in  Europe  and 
his  continued  ill  health  after  his  return,  the  duties  devolved 
chiefly  on  the  Adjunct  Professor.  In  1834,  the  Trustees  ven- 
tured at  length  to  appoint  to  a  full  Professorship  of  Mathemat- 
ics and  Natural  Philosophy  the  man  who,  for  exactness,  clearness, 
and  method  in  teaching,  has  had  no  equal  in  Amherst  and  no 
superior  anywhere ;  who,  as  an  experimental  lecturer,  to  say  the 
least,  can  not  be  surpassed  ;  and  who,  by  his  own  mechanical  in- 
genuity and  handicraft  and  his  progressive  mastery  of  the  sci- 
ence, with  a  comparatively  trifling  expenditure  of  money  by  the 
College  has  kept  his  cabinet  abreast  of  the  most  costly  appara- 
tus of  the  richest  Colleges  in  the  land  ;  while  at  the  same  time, 
he  has  invented  and  constructed  not  a  few  machines  illustrative  of 
Mechanics  and  Physics  which  are  not  to  be  found  in  any  of  them. 
Simple  and  modest  himself  almost  to  excess,  it  was  long  before 
he  was  fully  appreciated  by  others.  It  was  only  through  occa- 


572  HISTORY  OF   AMFIERST   COLLEGE. 

sional  corrections  and  criticisms  of  Prof.  Olmsted's  works,  kindly 
communicated  and  as  kindly  received,  that  he  was  led  gradually 
to  prepare  those  text  books  in  Natural  Philosophy  and  Astronomy 
which  have  won  for  him  a  national  reputation. 

In  1860,  his  Alma  Mater  honored  him  with  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Laws ;  in  1805  he  received  the  same  degree  from 
Western  Reserve  College.  The  Class  of  '65,  at  their  Com- 
mencement dinner,  presented  him  with  a  fine  portrait  of  himself 
as  an  expression  of  their  grateful  and  affectionate  appreciation 
of  his  services  to  them  and  to  the  College.  On  the  7th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1871,  his  seventieth  birthday,  the  Senior  and  Junior  classes 
who  either  had  enjoyed  or  were  then  enjoying  his  instructions, 
together  with  his  colleagues,  the  officers  of  College,  nearly 
all  of  whom  had  been  his  pupils,  surprised  him  in  his  Lecture 
Room  in  Walker  Hall,  by  the  presentation  of  an  elegant  easy 
chair.  In  presenting  it  in  behalf  of  the  officers  and  students, 
Prof.  Tyler  said :  "  A  few  of  your  friends — all  who  know  you 
are  your  friends  and  everybody  knows  you — hence  I  say  a  few 
of  your  friends — have  taken  the  liberty  to  intrude  into  your 
presence  that  we  may  look  into  the  face  of  one  who  has  this  day 
arrived  at  the  ripe  and  rare  age  of  threescore  years  and  ten. 
We  wish  to  congratulate  you  on  a  life  which  has  been  as  hon- 
ored, useful  and  happy  as  it  has  been  long,  and  to  rejoice  with 
you  in  the  serenity  of  its  evening.  ...  We  are  all  your  pupils. 
The  oldest' of  us  have  sat  at  your  feet  for  instruction,  and  the 
youngest  of  us  still  look  up  to  you  and  delight  to  call  you  mas- 
ter. Your  instructions  are  still  just  as  clear  and  vigorous  as  they 
were  forty  years  ago,  and  a  great  deal  more  wise.  Your  lectures 
grow  more  perfect  as  you  grow  older,  and  your  experiments  are 
more  interesting  and  more  unfailing,  as  you  advance  in  years. 
Your  hand  is  still  steady,  and  your  step  still  elastic.  Still  your 
eye  is  not  dimmed,  nor  your  natural  force  abated.  We  thank  you 
for  your  instructions,  and  still  more  for  your  example  which  is 
the  best  lesson  you  ever  taught  us.  We  ask  your  paternal,  nay, 
your  patriarchal  benediction.  And  we  ask  permission  to  leave 
with  you  a  slight  token  of  our  filial  regard — very  slight  and  al- 
together inadequate  to  measure  your  desert  or  express  our  ap- 
preciation of  it." 


PROFESSOR   SNELL.  573 

In  response,  the  Professor  with  characteristic  modesty  said  to 
his  colleagues  and  older  pupils  that  they  were  always  overrating 
him,  and  to  the  under-graduates  with  an  aptness  and  quaintness 
equally  characteristic,  that  such  presentations  had  been  some- 
what frequent  of  late,  and  he  did  not  know  but  the  donors 
might  be  partially  influenced  by  the  proverb  that  a  gift  blindeth 
the  eyes,  but  if  they  were,  they  would  probably  find  themselves 
mistaken.  The  same  kind  of  quaint  and  pithy  pleasantry  runs 
through  his  address  at  the  Semi-Centennial.  "  This  occasion 
tells  me,"  he  says,  "  as  my  friends  are  often  telling  me,  that 
I  am  an  old  man,  and  I  am  becoming  quite  accustomed  to  the 
appellation.  I  suppose  I  ought  to  feel  some  infirmities  ;  but  here 
is  just  where  I  fail.  I  am  not  conscious  of  any  infirmities,  ex- 
cept the  numerous  ones  which  have  always  attended  me.  It  may 
be  supposed  that  I  am  mature  enough  to  put  on  spectacles  ;  but 
I  do  not  yet  see  clearly  any  good  reason  for  doing  so.  And  as  to 
a  cane,  I  have  had  any  number  of  canes  presented  to  me.  The 
gift  I  always  accept  but  I  never  take  the  hint.  It  is  possible 
however  that  the  Sophomoric  weakness  may  yet  fall  upon  me, 
and  that  I  shall  appear  abroad  with  all  my  canes  at  once.  I 
perform  my  College  work  with  as  much  ease  and  interest  as  I 
ever  did.  And  really  I  feel  some  solicitude  lest  I  shall  not  know 
when  to  resign  unless  some  one  tells  me." 

I  have  ventured  to  call  attention  to  several  expressions  in  this 
passage  by  italicising  them,  for  it  seems  to  me,  there  is  in  them 
a  quiet  humor  and  a  happy  turn  of  expression  which  Charles 
Lamb  himself  could  hardly  surpass.  This  vein  of  humor,  con- 
trasting so  singularly  with  his  serious  air  and  his  mathematical 
exactness  is  continually  cropping  out  in  the  class  room,  in  the 
Faculty  meeting,  in  the  family  and  in  society,  and  helps  to  make 
him  one  of  the  most  genial  of  companions  and  colleagues  as  well 
as  one  of  the  most  admired  and  beloved  of  teachers.  He  is 
even  getting  up  quite  a  reputation  in  his  old  age  for  occasional 
speeches ;  and  if  all  the  puns,  bon  mofs,  pleasantries  and  pun- 
gencies which  have  dropped  from  his  lips  in  all  these  various 
ways,  could  be  gathered  up,  no  other  Professor  or  President 
of  Amherst  College  could  match  them,  and  they  would  make  a 
racy  volume. 


574  HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Prof.  Snell  is  quite  capable  of  enjoying  and  sometimes  per- 
petrating a  practical  joke.  As  long  ago  as  when  he  was  Tu- 
tor, an  old  dilapidated  post  and  rail  fence  ran  across  the  hill  in 
front  of  the  College  from  the  Boltwood  to  the  Dickinson  cor- 
ner. One  night,  about  nine  o'clock,  attracted  by  unusual  noises, 
the  Tutor  looked  out  of  his  College  window,  and  saw  the  ground 
all  alive  with  students  running  to  and  fro  like  ants  over  an  ant- 
hill. He  soon  discovered  that  the  Sophomores  were  pulling  up 
this  old  fence.  Attiring  himself  as  nearly  as  possible  like  one 
of  their  own  number,  he  joined  the  company,  and  placing  him- 
self at  their  head,  said:  "Young  gentlemen,  this  is  a  gO(5d  work, 
if  only  well  done — come,  let's  do  it  up  right — let's  clear  off 
posts  and  rails,  and  leave  not  a  trace  of  the  old  fence  on  the 
ground."  So  following  his  example,  they  pulled  up  every  post, 
carried  off  every  rail,  and  piled  up  the  whole  fence  in  mathe- 
matical order  and  Snell-like  neatness  at  the  north  and  south 
ends;  and  then  dispersed  to  their  rooms.  The  next  morning, 
he  called  one  of  the  oldest  and  best  of  the  class  (for  he  knew 
them  all,  and  some  of  them  were  among  the  best  young  men 
in  all  College)  and  said  to  him :  "  The  fence  was  a  nuisance — 
it  ought  to  have  been  abated ;  and  the  class  did  the  work  well : 
the  only  objection  to  it  is  that  it  might  perhaps  better  have  been 
done  in  the  day-time."  And  there  the  matter  ended. 

Delicate,  refined  and  shrinking  as  a  girl,  I  am  told,  he  went 
by  the  name  of  "  Miss  Snell "  in  Amherst  Academy,  so  fair  was  he 
in  form  and  features,  so  modest  in  demeanor  and  so  loved  and 
admired  by  his  pupils.  I  shall  never  forget  his  round  cheeks,  his 
laughing  eyes  and  his  fair  complexion  any  more  than  his  clear, 
exact  and  methodical  questions,  when  I  appeared  before  him 
more  than  forty  years  ago  in  the  old  Parsons  house  where  he 
then  lived,  to  be  examined  privately  for  admission  to  the  Junior 
class  in  Amherst  College  ;  and  as  I  recall  the  picture,  then 
photographed  on  my  memory,  he  looks  to  me  very  much  like 
one  of  those  cherubs  in  the  Sistine  Madonna.  And  as  I  review 
with  rapid  glance  all  the  scenes  and  associations  through  which 
we  have  passed  together  from  that  day  to  this — as  I  recall  the 
master,  the  colleague,  the  companion,  the  friend,  the  elder 
brother,  and  think  how  kindly  and  wisely,  how  faithfully  and 


TYLER. 

faultless* .  I  sec 

the  simp:  nd  character 

strength  :  of  years  and 

only  .  and  sa  >  ;io  not  trust  my- 

self to  say  what  I  think  and  .cas- 

ant  h?,st  thou  been  ucto  m  ;re  ;.U1  the 

officers  and  all  t: 
ates  that  ha\  i  - 

the  last  li; 
forever! " 


nor  ar»' 
what  it?  . 
less  than  we 

William  / 

Langua-. 

ford,  Sir-  «    <.V>tititA. 

t'athu" 
Chris 

of  higli  ii  -•  «»f  J»er  chil- 

dren.    They 

He  entered 
ate  there;  but  had  >, 

Davis  and  Prof.  Stror  .ctwool 

to  which  young 

to  Amhcv  lineider,  the   r 

other.     In1  ;  was  T  :     . 

and  has  t  of  3 

Greek  only,  H  now. 


576  HISTORY   OF    AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

He  had  no  idea  of  leading  the  life  he  has  led.  He  was  two 
years  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover,  and  spent  one 
winter  with  Dr.  Skinner  in  New  York  City,  in  the  class  out  of 
which  the  Union  Theological  Seminary  was  developed.  He  was 
licensed  to  preach,  February  29,  1836,  by  the  Third  Presbytery 
of  New  York,  and  soon  after  started  for  the  West,  where  he  ex- 
pected to  spend  his  life  as  a  missionary.  But  the  traveling  was 
so  bad,  the  stage  refused  to  take  his  luggage ;  and  while  waiting 
for  the  roads  to  settle,  he  was  invited  to  Amherst  to  fill  out  an 
unexpired  Tutorship  of  one  term,  and  before  the  term  ended 
was  appointed  Professor.  And  so  his  lot  was  ordered  fjpr  him 
by  the  Providence  which  wisely  shapes  our  rough-hewed  ends. 
If  he  has  had  less  of  hardship,  and  more  of  honor,  than  he  ex- 
pected, he  can  honestly  say  that  the  ease  and  honor  have  not 
been  of  his  own  seeking.  He  has  preached  abundantly,  inside 
of  College,  and  outside  of  it.  In  1859  he  was  ordained  without 
charge.  In  1857  Harvard  College  gave  him  the  title  of  D.  D., 
and  his  Alma  Mater  the  title  of  LL.D.,  in  1871. 

His  colleague  Prof.  Snell,  writes  to  me  of  him  as  follows : 

"  I  first  knew  Prof.  Tyler  as  my  pupil  in  Mathematics  and 
Natural  Philosophy,  in  his  Junior  year.  He  came  at  that  time 
from  Hamilton  College,  N.  Y.,  to  join  Amherst.  I  was  at  once 
interested  in  him  as  an  earnest  student  of  every  subject  to  which 
his  attention  was  directed.  He  was  not  only  thorough  in  pre- 
paring his  lessons  and  regular  at  all  the  exercises  of  his  class, 
but  every  question  proposed  for  voluntary  examination,  he  was 
eager  to  study  out,  and  very  successful  in  solving.  So  far  as  I 
could  judge  from  what  I  saw  of  him  in  my  recitation  room,  I 
should  have  thought  that  mathematical  science  was  his  favorite 
study.  Afterwards,  while  Tutor  in  College,  he  took  up  the  dif- 
ferential and  integral  calculus  as  a  side  study  along  with  the 
Greek  language,  which  he  was  teaching.  He  was  never  satis- 
fied with  indistinct  or  partial  views  on  any  subject.  Whatever 
he  studied,  he  wanted  not  only  to  know,  but  to  know  thoroughly 
and  critically.  His  whole  course  as  a  Professor  shows  this  trait 
— and  it  has  made  him  a  constantly  and  steadily  growing  man. 

"  Prof.  Tyler's  course  as  an  officer  of  College  has  been  marked 
by  great  fidelity,  not  only  as  a  teacher  in  the  class-room,  but  to 


PROFESSOR    TYLER.  577 

all  his  pupils  as  a  guide  and  adviser.  I  think  no  officer  in  Am- 
herst  College  has  ever  done  so  much  as  Prof.  Tyler  for  the  indi- 
vidual improvement  of  the  students  morally  and  religiously ; 
and  to  a  great  many  he  has  been  a  spiritual  father. 

"  For  no  trait  have  I  admired  Prof.  Tyler  more  than  for  his 
good  judgment,  and  sound  common  sense.  He  is  an  eminently 
practical  man  ;  and  his  practical  wisdom  has  always  made  him  a 
most  valuable  adviser  in  matters  pertaining  to  College  govern- 
ment. He  stood  by  the  College  in  its  years  of  depression  and 
adversity,  as  a  tried,  faithful,  judicious  friend." 

My  own  acquaintance  with  him  dates  from  the  autumn  of 
1833,  when  my  class,  then  Sophomores,  began  to  recite  to  him 
in  Geometry.  His  curt,  clear  way  of  conducting  the  recitations 
made  a  very  strong  impression  upon  me.  During  my  tutorship 
at  Amherst  from  1839  to  1842  I  knew  him  of  course  more  inti- 
mately ;  but  most  intimately  of  all  during  the  months  of  Janu- 
ary and  February,  1870,  when  we  were  together  upon  the  Nile. 
Our  relations  now  are  such  that  I  can  not  permit  myself  to  say 
all  I  think  of  him  as  a  man,  a  scholar,  and  a  Christian.  He 
knows  what  I  mean,  and  that  is  enough. 

As  a  classical  teacher  his  more  recent  pupils  are  loud  in  his 
praise.  They  speak  of  the  rare  facult}r  he  has  of  calling  up  a 
great  number  of  students  in  a  given  time,  and  of  laying  open 
very  shrewdly  by  rapid  questioning  their  knowledge  or  their 
ignorance,  as  the  case  may  be.  His  "  next "  has  almost  as  many 
inflections  as  a  Chinese  vocable.  Like  all  good  men,  he  has  mel- 
lowed with  age.  He  has  profited  by  the  advice  of  Ex-Speaker 
Grow,  "  not  to  see  quite  so  much  of  what  is  going  on." 

He  has  twice  visited  the  Old  World  ;  once  in  1855—6,  when 
he  traveled  especially  in  Italy,  Greece  and  Palestine  ;  and  again 
in  1869-70,  when  his  time  was  given  chiefly  to  Athens  and 
Egypt. 

He  has  taken  an  active  part  in  educational  matters  outside  of 
Amherst,  being  one  of  the  Trustees  of  Mount  Holyoke  Semi- 
nary at  South  Hadley,  Williston  Seminary  at  Easthampton,  Ma- 
plewood  Institute  at  Pittsfield,  and  the  recently  founded  Smith 
(Female)  College  at  Northampton. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  his  publications :  "  Germania  and 
37 


578  HISTORY    OF    AMHEBST    COLLEGE. 

Agricola  of  Tacitus,  with  Notes  for  Colleges ; "  D.  Appleton 
&  Co.,  New  York,  1847.  "  Histories  of  Tacitus ;  "  D.  Apple- 
ton  &  Co.,  New  York,  1848.  "  Plato's  Apology  and  Crito  ;  " 
D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New  York,  1859.  "  Plutarch  on  the  Delay 
of  the  Deity,"  etc. ;  Hackett  &  Tyler  ;  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  New 
York,  1867.  "  Theology  of  Greek  Poets ;  "  Draper  &  Halli- 
day,  Boston,  1867.  Premium  Essay,  "  Prayer  for  Colleges  ;  " 
New  York,  1854  ;  revised  and  enlarged  repeatedly.  "  Memoir 
of  Lobdell,"  missionary  to  Assyria  ;  Boston,  1859.  "  History  of 
Amherst  College  ;  "  1873.  "  Address  at  Semi-Centennial,  with 
other  Addresses  delivered  on  that  occasion  ; "  1871.  Articles 
in  quarterlies  and  monthlies,  chiefly  on  classical  subjects,  and 
printed  discourses  on  public  occasions,  especially  during  the 
war,  quite  numerous. 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

THE   WAR. 

A  FRENCH  statesman  and  scholar  has  written  of  our  late  war  as 
"  The  Uprising  of  a  Great  Nation."  It  well  deserves  the  name. 
The  people,  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes,  from  every  rank,  class 
and  condition  in  life,  rose  up  as  one  man  to  crush  the  great  re- 
bellion, and  to  preserve  the  national  existence.  The  veterans  of 
former  wars  resumed  their  epaulettes  or  re-enlisted  in  the  ranks. 
Boys  under  age  begged  permission  of  their  parents  to  go  to  the 
war,  and  smuggled  themselves  into  the  army,  or  became  drum- 
mer boys,  messengers,  aids  in  any  way  to  the  patriotic  service. 
Women  presented  regiments  with  their  colors,  prepared  equip- 
ments and  supplies  for  the  soldiers,  nursed  the  sick  in  the  hospi- 
tals, ministered  to  the  wounded  and  the  dying  on  the  field  of 
battle.  Professional  men,  clergymen,  physicians,  teachers,  civil- 
ians, educated  men  generally  who,  by  law  and  usage,  are  exempt 
from  military  service,  girded  on  the  sword,  buckled  on  the  knap- 
sack, bore  the  hardships  of  the  camp,  and  braved  the  dangers  of 
the  battle-field.  But  no  class  of  men,  as  statistics  prove,  con- 
tributed in  so  large  proportion  to  their  numbers,  and  none  con- 
tributed an  element  of  such  military  value  and  moral  power  as 
the  graduates  and  under-graduates  of  our  Colleges.  Several 
of  the  Colleges  in  the  Middle  and  Western  States  were  closed 
for  a  longer  or  shorter  period  of  the  war ;  and  the  Eastern  Col- 
leges felt  scarcely  less  the  depletion  of  their  numbers  and  the 
diminution  of  their  strength.  It  is  sufficient  honor  for  Amherst 
not  to  have  fallen  behind  her  sisters  in  devotion  to  the  cause — 
if  is  her  pride  and  glory  to  have  borne  her  full  share  in  "the  bur- 
dens and  sacrifices,  if  not  in  the  honors  and  rewards  of  this  pa- 
triotic and  heroic  service. 


580  HISTORY   OF    AMHEEST    COLLEGE. 

At  the  first  outbreak  of  hostilities,  before  the  war  had  actu- 
ally commenced,  with  the  ardor  characteristic  of  youth  and 
College  life,  the  under-graduates  of  Amherst  volunteered  their 
services  and  offered  a  company  to  the  Governor.  On  that  dark 
and  portentous  Sunday  in  April,  1861,  which  followed  the 
fall  of  Fort  Sumter,  and  the  attack  of  the  mob  upon  the  Massa- 
chusetts regiments  passing  through  Baltimore  on  their  way  to 
Washington,  when  other  troops  from  Massachusetts  and  New 
York,  forbidden  to  pass  by  that  thoroughfare,  were  making  their 
way  slowly  by  way  of  Annapolis,  and  when  it  was  feared  that 
the  rebels  might  already  have  seized  upon  the  capital,  the,  wri- 
ter of  this  History  preached  in  the  College  chapel  on  tliemes 
suited  to  the  circumstances,  and  in  a  strain  intended  to  in- 
spire courage,  heroism  and  self-sacrificing  devotion.  And  while 
the  Professor  was  preaching,  or  at  least  as  soon  as  he  had 
done,  the  students  were  already  practising  what  he  preached. 
They  drew  up  a  form  of  enlistment  which  some  fifty  or  sixty 
of  them  subscribed,  and  in  which  they  offered  themselves  to 
the  military  service  of  the  country  in  this  emergency,  deem- 
ing it  a  Christian  duty,  not  unbecoming  the  Lord's  clay  to 
enlist  in  such  a  war,  and  adopting  as  their  own  the  sentiment 
which  they  so  much  admired  in  their  ancient  classics :  "  Dulce 
et  decorum  est  pro  patria  mori."  The  President's  son  was  the 
first  to  put  his  name  to  this  paper ;  a  son  of  one  of  the  Profess- 
ors was  the  next  to  enter  the  lists.  The  Governor  declined  to 
accept  the  proffered  service,  at  the  same  time  intimating  that 
the  day  might  come  when  duty  would  call  them  to  the  sacrifice. 
The  immediate  peril  soon  passed  by;  and  a  general  military 
drill  under  a  competent  military  officer 1  took  the  place  of  the 
proposed  company  of  volunteers.  But  both  the  young  men, 
specially  alluded  to  above,  afterwards  enlisted,  and  one  of  them 
was  among  the  earliest  sacrifices  which  our  College  offered  on 
the  altar  of  the  country.  Many  of  the  other  volunteers,  I  know 
rot  just  how  many,  found  their  way  into  the  army,  some  before 
and  some  after  their  graduation.  Seventy-eight  names  are  re- 
corded  on  the  roll  of  under-graduates  who  served  in  the  army 

1  Col.  Luke  Lyraan  of  Northampton,  afterwards  Colonel  of  the  Twenty-seventh 
Eegiment. 


REPRESENTATIVES  OF   THE   FACULTY  IN   THE   WAR.      581 

or  navy  of  the  United  States  in  the  course  of  the  war.  Our 
classes,  which  had  been  steadily  increasing  in  numbers  for  sev- 
eral years,  were  now  so  reduced,  that  some  of  them  seemed 
almost  like  the  thinned  ranks  of  an  army  after  a  battle.  One 
of  the  Professors  set  the  example  of  volunteering  early  in  the 
war,  and  it  was  followed  by  one  other  officer  of  the  College  and 
by  many  of  the  students.  Prof.  William  S.  Clark,  commissioned 
as  Major  of  the  Twenty-first  Regiment  of  Massachusetts  Volun- 
teers, August  21,  1861,  and  promoted  rapidly  to  the  rank  of 
Lieutenant-Colonel  and  Colonel,  fought  in  most  of  the  principal 
battles  of  the  first  two  years  of  the  war  till  his  regiment  was 
reduced  to  the  merest  skeleton.  His  friend,  Dr.  N.  S.  Manross, 
who,  for  one  year,  filled  the  vacancy  in  the  Faculty  occasioned 
by  his  absence  at  the  end  of  the  year,  followed  him  to  the  war, 
and  at  the  very  opening  of  his  first  battle,  the  battle  of  Antie- 
tam,  he  fell  as  he  was  leading  on  his  company  to  the  conflict. 
Thus  two  of  the  officers  of  College  went  directly  from  the  chair 
of  the  Professor  to  the  tent  and  the  field  of  battle.  Two  other 
members  of  the  Faculty  were  represented  in  the  army  by  sons 
who  were  also  sons  of  the  College.  Three  sons  of  the  lamented 
Prof.  Adams  enlisted,  two  of  whom  early  lost  their  lives  in 
the  service.  Add  to  these  connecting  links  the  almost  four- 
score students  who  left  their  classes,  most  of  them,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  entering  the  army,  and  many  more  who  engaged  in  the 
service  immediately  after  their  graduation,  and  it  will  be  read- 
ily seen  how  many  bonds  of  sympathy  and  interest  were  thus 
established  between  the  College  and  the  camps  and  battle- 
fields during  the  war.  Every  mail  was  expected  with  anxious 
interest.  The  newspapers  were  watched,  especially  after  every 
battle,  and  the  lists  of  the  killed  and  wounded  were  examined 
with  trembling  solicitude.  In  some  instances  false  alarms  were 
thus  communicated,  occasioning  much  distress  or  anxiety  at  the 
time,  but  followed  by  speedy  relief,  and  attended  perhaps  with 
not  a  little  amusement.  Col.  Clark  was  reported  first  as  cap- 
tured and  then  as  killed  in  the  battle  of  Chantilly.  A  tele- 
graphic despatch  was  even  sent  to  the  army  giving  directions 
for  sending  on  his  body.  But  the  Colonel  soon  answered  it  him- 
self saying  that  he  still  had  need  of  it  for  his  own  use,  and  a 


582  H1STOBY   OP   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

few  'days  later  he  presented  himself  in  person  at  the  door  of  one 
of  the  Professors  with  whom  Mrs.  Clark  was  passing  a  few  days, 
and  ringing  the  bell,  inquired  if  the  Widow  Clark  was  there  !  l 

Sometimes  the  sad  intelligence,  conveyed  by  newspaper,  letter 
or  telegraph, — conveyed  perhaps  through  the  medium  of  a  friend 
and  broken  as  kindly  and  tenderly  as  possible  to  the  afflicted 
individual  or  the  bereaved  family — was  too  soon  confirmed  by 
the  arrival  of  the  lifeless  body.  Then  followed  the  funeral  ser- 
vice, the  great  congregation  in  the  chapel  or  the  church,  the 
prayers  and  dirges,  the  address  or  commemorative  discourse, 
and  the  long  procession  of  students  and  citizens,  mourners  all, 
to  the  place  of  burial.  Amherst  was  witness  to  not  a  few"  such 
scenes  in  the  course  of  the  war. 

The  absent  soldiers  were  remembered  daily  at  morning  and 
evening  prayers  and  in  the  Sabbath  services  of  the  chapel. 
Days  of  fasting  and  prayer,  and  other  special  occasions,  called 
forth  discourses  and  addresses  fitted  to  commemorate  the  events 
of  the  war  arid  keep  alive  the  patriotic  feeling.  The  war  was 
the  chief  theme  of  discussion  by  the  students  in  the  class-room, 
in  the  societ}7  meeting,  at  exhibitions  and  Commencements.  In 
a  community  where  impressions  are  so  easily  made  and  so  read- 
ily communicated  as  among  young  men  in  College,  such  a  war 
as  that  of  the  Great  Rebellion,  could  not  but  awaken  the  live- 
liest sympathies  of  the  students. 

Two  or  three  students  from  Tennessee,  and  one  or  two  each 
from  Missouri  and  Virginia,  born  and  bred  under  the  influence 
of  the  State-Rights  heresy  and  carried  away  by  Southern  sym- 
pathies, left  College  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  much  to  the 
regret  of  their  classmates  and  companions,  and  more  to  their  own 
regret  after  the  rebellion  came  to  such  a  disastrous  issue.  They 
were  treated  with  the  utmost  courtesy  and  kindness  at  their 
departure.  With  these  exceptions,  the  current  of  feeling  flowed 
without  an  eddy  or  a  ripple,  fresh,  strong  and  warm,  not  to  say 
hot,  all  in  one  direction — there  was  not  a  disloyal  or  an  indiffer- 
ent officer  or  student,  in  the  whole  Institution. 

1  Col.  Clark  denies  having  returned  this  answer,  I  believe.  But  he  would  have 
been  very  likely  to  return  such  an  answer;  if  not  true  to  the  letter,  it  bears  internal 
evidence  of  verisimilitude. 


ROLL   OF    GRADUATES    AND    USDER-GRADTJATES.          583 

The  "Roll  of  the  graduates  and  under-graduates  of  Amherst 
College  who  served  in  the  army  or  navy  of  the  United  States  dur- 
ing the  War  of  the  Rebellion,"  printed  in  1871,  records  the  names 
and  in  brief  the  services  of  two  hundred  and  forty-seven  men,  of 
whom  seventy-eight  were  under-graduates  and  one  hundred  and 
sixty-nine  were  graduates.  When  the  semi-centennial  catalogue 
was  issued  in  1872,  the  number  of  graduates,  now  more  fully  as- 
certained, had  grown  to  one  hundred  and  ninety-five  whose  names 
are  distinguished  by  the  double  dagger.  Among  these  there  were 
six  former  Tutors  of  the  College.  Two  of  these  sacrificed  their 
lives  in  the  service.  Both  of  them  were,  of  course,  superior 
scholars,  both  Salutatorians  at  Commencement.  Both  relin- 
quished the  successful  practice  of  a  profession  in  which  they 
stood  high  and  had  the  promise  of  distinction  and  usefulness. 

Dr.  Charles  Ellery  Washburn,  of  the  Class  of  '38,  Tutor  in 
1841  and  1842,  was  well  established  in  medical  practice  in  Fre- 
donia,  N.  Y.,  but  broke  away  from  a  wide  circle  of  families  in 
which  he  was  trusted,  and  a  community  in  which  he  was  uni- 
versally honored  and  beloved,  and,  after  spending  nearly  three 
years  in  the  service,  sacrificed  his  own  life  to  his  zeal  for  the  life 
and  health  of  the  soldiers  who  were  entrusted  to  his  skill  and 
care.  Though  past  the  military  age,  he  entered  the  service  in 
the  dark  days  after  McClellan's  retreat  from  Richmond,  saying 
it  was  time  for  every  man  that  was  a  man  to  do  something  for 
his  country.  "  Commissioned  1862,  Surgeon  of  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Twelfth  New  York  Volunteers ;  promoted  Brigade 
Surgeon  and  Medical  Director  of  Gen.  Ames'  Division  of  Gen. 
Terry's  command ;  participated  in  some  of  the  bloodiest  battles 
of  the  war,  the  last  of  which  was  the  storming  of  Fort  Fisher ; 
taken  sick  with  typhus  fever  at  Wilmington,  N.  C.,  while  caring 
for  returned  Union  prisoners,  and  died  April  10,  1865.''  Such 
is  his  brief  and  suggestive  war  record. 

Rev.  Samuel  Fisk,  of  the  Class  of  '48,  Tutor  from  1852  to 
1855,  after  a  pastorate  of  seven  years  in  Madison,  Ct.,  in  which 
he  had  struck  his  roots  deep  in  the  confidence  and  affections  of 
his  people,  tore  himself  from  their  embrace,  enlisted  as  a  private 
in  the  Fourteenth  Connecticut  Regiment,  was  chosen  Second 
Lieutenant ;  served  in  the  army  of  the  Potomac  at  Antietam, 


584  HISTOBY   OF  AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

Chancellorsville,  Fredericksburg,  Gettysburg,  and  the  Wilder- 
ness;  was  twice  promoted  for  gallant  conduct  in  these  battles; 
became  First  Lieutenant,  and  Captain  of  his  company;  was  on 
special  service  as  Inspector  of  Brigade,  and  Aid  on  the  staff  of 
Gen.  Carroll ;  was  taken  prisoner  at  Chancellorsville,  carried  to 
Richmond  and  reported  among  the  killed;  and  being  mortally 
wounded  in  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness,  May  6, 1864,  died  May 
22,  at  Fredericksburg,  Va. 

It  will  be  observed  that  Capt.  Fisk  enlisted  as  a  private.  He 
did  so,  not  from  necessity  but  from  choice,  for  the  sake  of  the 
example  to  his  flock  and  to  the  community.  One  other,  qut  of 
the  six  former  Tutors,  also  enlisted  as  a  private.  This  suggests 
a  circumstance  with  which  I  have  been  much  struck  in  looking 
over  our  war  records.  It  is  the  large  number  of  men  who,  at 
their  enlistment,  entered  the  ranks.  Surprised  at  a  general  ob- 
servation of  the  fact,  I  was  led  to  a  careful  examination  of  the 
roll,  and  I  discovered  that  of  the  two  hundred  and  forty-seven 
names  on  the  roll,  ninety-five,  or  nearly  thirty-nine  per  cent,  of 
the  whole,  enlisted  as  privates.  Some  of  them  were  immediately 
elected  to  some  office  and  received  commissions.  The  greater 
part  of  the  others  were  promoted  to  one  grade  or  another,  and 
generally  to  successive  grades,  as  the  reward  of  meritorious  con- 
duct or  faithful  service.  A  few  were  still  serving  in  the  ranks', 
when  they  fell  on  the  field  of  battle,  died  in  the  hospital  or  the 
prison,  or  from  sickness  or  other  sufficient  reasons,  received  their 
discharge.  Such  men  fill  a  smaller  space  and  shine  with  less 
brilliancy  on  the  page  of  history  than  major-generals  and  corps- 
commanders,  but  their  patriotism  is  perhaps  more  unquestionable, 
and  their  mental  and  moral  power  contributed  a  no  less  essential 
element  to  the  strength  of  the  army  and  the  success  of  the  cause. 

Another  characteristic  feature  of  the  Amherst  roll  is  the  num- 
ber of  chaplains  that  appear  on  it.  This  might  be  expected,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  in  a  College  which  was  founded  for  the  edu- 
cation of  ministers,  and  whose  graduates  have  been,  in  such 
large  proportion,  pastors  and  preachers.  Some  of  our  minis- 
ters who  went  to  the  war,  like  Capt.  Fisk  and  Capt.  Bissell,1  pre- 
ferred to  sink,  for  the  time,  the  minister  in  the  man  and  the 

1  Class  of  '55,  and  then  pastor  of  the  church  at  Westhampton. 


CHAPLAINS.  585 

patriot,  and  enlisted,  like  other  men,  directly  in  the  military  ser- 
vice. It  may  be  doubted  whether  they  did  not,  by  this  very 
means,  enhance  their  ministerial  and  Christian  influence.  Cer- 
tainly they  did  not,  for  a  moment,  conceal  or  disguise,  still  less 
lay  aside  the  character  that  becomes  a  minister  of  the  gospel. 
Others  again,  choosing  to  retain  the  ministerial  office,  were  com- 
missioned as  chaplains.  But  not  a  few  of  these,  I  ween,  were 
fighting  chaplains,  and  were 'often  seen  with  the  soldier's  gun 
and  knapsack  on  the  march,  while,  in  the  heat  of  battle,  often 
they  could  hardly  be  distinguished  from  other  combatants.  Am- 
herst  furnished  in  all  thirty-five  chaplains,  some  of  whom  were 
pastors  of  some  of  the  largest  and  best  churches  in  the  city  or 
the  country,  and  not  a  few  sacrificed  their  health  and  periled 
their  lives  in  the  service.  A  specimen  or  two  will  show  the  sort 
of  men  to  whom  we  refer,  and  the  kind  of  service  which  they 
rendered.  We  copy  mainly  from  the  "  Roll." 

Class  of  '36:  Edward  Corrie  Pritchett,  September  10,  1861, 
appointed  Chaplain  Fiftieth  New  York  Regiment  (Engineers ,), 
brigaded  under  Generals  Woodbury,  Butterfield  and  Benham ; 
with  Army  of  Potomac  under  Generals  McClellan,  Burnside, 
Hooker,  and  Meade.  In  active  service  at  siege  of  Yorktown,  the 
march  to  Hampton,  battle  of  Mary's  Heights,  and  below  Freder- 
icksburg ;  during  campaign  in  the  Wilderness  detained  at  Wash- 
ington with  Brigade  Hospital.  Sick  with  Virginia  fever  during 
campaign  on  the  Chickahominy,  but  never  lost  a  day.  Mus- 
tered out  September  20,  1864. 

Class  of  '42:  Lauren  Armsby,1  commissioned  January,  1863, 
Chaplain  Eighth  Minnesota  Volunteers.  In  battle  with  Sioux 
Indians,  valley  of  the  Little  Missouri,  August  8, 1864,  Gen.  Sully ; 
near  Murfreesboro',  December  4th  to  7th,  1864,  Gen.  Milroy. 
For  a  month  cut  off  from  all  supplies  at  Fortress  Rosecrans; 
from  there  marched  to  Clifton,  Tenn.,  then  transported  to  Wash- 
ington; ordered  to  Fort  Fisher,  thence  to  Beaufort  and  New- 
bern  ;  March  21,  1865,  joined  Sherman's  army  at  Goldsboro', 
and  started  in  pursuit  of  Gen.  Johnston ;  on  Gen.  Lee's  surren- 
der, left  Gen.  Sherman  at  Raleigh  and  marched  to  Charlotte, 
N.  C.  Mustered  out  there,  July  11,  1865.  

1  Valedictorian  of  the  class. 


586  HISTORY    OF   AMHEEST    COLLEGE. 

Class  of  '45:  Charles  Louis  Wood  worth,  commissioned1 
March  30,  1862,  Chaplain  Twenty-seventh  Massachusetts  Vol- 
unteers. In  action  at  Trenton,  N.  C.,  July  26,  1862 ;  Ball's 
Ford,  November  2,  1862  ;  siege  of  Washington,  N.  C.,  March  30 
to  April  16 ;  Gum  Swamp  expedition,  April  28,  1863  ;  battle  at 
Walthal's  Junction,  May  15, 1864 ;  Arrowfield  Church,  Va.,  May 
9,  1864 ;  Drury's  Bluff,  May  16, 1864 ;  Cold  Harbor,  June  1st  to 
3d,  1864,  and  Petersburg,  June  18, 1864 ;  under  Generals  Burn- 
side,  Foster,  Wild,  and  Butler.  Mustered  out  June  20,  1864. 

Class  of  '50 :  Jacob  Merrill  Manning,  commissioned  August, 
1862,  at  Boston,  Chaplain  Forty-third  Massachusetts  Volunteers ; 
served  in  battles  of  Kinston,  Whitehall  and  Goldsboro',  N.  G£j  in. 
movements  around  Newbern  and  Little  Washington,  spring  of 
1863  ;  returned  home  July  1,  1863  ;  dangerously  sick  with  ma- 
larious fever  six  months,  from  the  effects  of  which  hardly  yet 
recovered. 

The  College  furnished  thirty  or  more  surgeons  to  the  war, 
some  of  whom,  as,  for  example,  Dr.  Washburn,  Class  of  '38,  and 
Dr.  Hoyt,  Class  of  '55,  sacrificed  their  lives  in  the  service. 

Passing  from  chaplains  and  surgeons  to  other  officers,  we  find 
on  inspecting  the  Roll  and  noting  their  rank  at  the  close  of  their 
service,  three  brigadier-generals  (two  of  them  major-generals  by 
brevet,)  nine  colonels,  twelve  lieutenant-colonels,  nine  majors, 
twenty-five  captains,  seventeen  first  lieutenants,  seventeen  sec- 
ond lieutenants,  nineteen  sergeants,  five  corporals,  besides  a  few 
ensigns,  color-bearers,  and  several  adjutants,  quartermasters  and 
paymasters  of  different  ranks.  Not  a  very  brilliant  show  of  su- 
perior officers  in  comparison  with  some  of  the  less  clerical  Col- 
leges of  the  East,  or  some  of  the  more  belligerent  institutions 
of  the  West ;  but  showing  a  proportionate  number  of  promo- 
tions far  beyond  the  average  among  soldiers  drawn  from  the 
community  generally,  and  thus  illustrating  forcibly  the  value  of 
the  higher  education  in  the  military  service.  Never  before,  nor 
since,  not  even  in  the  Prussian  army  in  the  late  Franco-German 
war,  were  there  so  many  bayonets  that  could  read,  and  so  many 
shoulder  straps  that  could  think,  as  there  were  in  the  army  of 

1  Then  pastor  of  church  in  East  Amherst;  now  Secretary  of  American  Mission- 
ary Association. 


FALLEN   HEROES. 


587 


the  United  States  that  put  down  the  great  rebellion ;  and  to 
this  element  of  intellectual  and  moral  power  no  other  communi- 
ties contributed  so  largely  as  the  Colleges  ;  and  among  the  Col- 
leges none  more  than  Amherst. 

No  general  officer  from  Amherst — no  officer  of  higher  grade 
than  captain — lost  his  life  in  the  service.  But  it  was  not  for 
want  of  personal  bravery  as  every  one  knows  who  is  acquainted 
with  the  men,  nor  for  lack  of  dangers,  hardships  and  hair-breadth 
escapes  as  any  one  will  see  who  reads  even  the  brief  epitome  of 
service  contained  in  the  war  "  records  "  of  such  men  as  Gen. 
Caldwell,  Gen.  Thomas  and  Gen.  Walker,  or  almost  any  of  the 
Colonels  and  other  staff  officers  who  passed  alive,  but  few  of 
them  unhurt,  through  the  perils  of  the  war. 

We  have  no  eulogies  or  obituaries  to  write  of  men  who  have 
fallen  at  the  head  of  a  corps  or  division  or  in  sight  of  a  whole 
army,  and  whose  death  has  caused  mourning  through  the  nation. 
Our  roll  of  military  heroes  wants  the  halo  of  glory  that  invests 
such  names  as  those  of  Winthrop  and  Sedgwick.  But  braver 
men  never  fought  or  fell  than  Capt.  Fisk  ('48,)  and  Lieut. 
Pierce  ('53,)  and  Sergt.  Merrick  ('60,)  and  Lieut.  Pennell  ('63,) 
and  Color-Bearer  Clary  ('64,)  and  Adjt.  Stearns  ('63,)  and  their 
comrades  in  College  and  in  arms,  of  whom  thirty-five  sacrificed 
their  lives  in  the  service.  The  entire  list  of  these  fallen  heroes 
is  as  follows.  Let  their  names  at  least  be  recorded  in  the  His- 
tory of  the  College,  and  their  memory  be  enshrined  in  the  grat- 
itude of  our  hearts : 


JOHN  LAWRENCE  Fox  of  '32. 
DAVID  Louis  JOHNS,  '32. 
JAMES  AVERILL,  '37. 
CHARLES  ELLERY  WASHBURN,  ; 
SAMUEL  FISK,  '48. 
EZRA  F.  BAILEY,  '53. 
HENRY  REUBEN  PIERCE,  '53. 
EDWARD  BURXS  OLCOTT,  '54. 
EDWARD  SMITH  GILBERT,  '55. 
DIXIE  CROSBY  HOYT,  '55. 
EDWIN  COLEMAN  HAND,  '56. 
JOSHUA  BARKER  FLINT  HOBBS, 
HENRY  MARTYN  KELLOGG,  '98. 


JOSHUA  OILMAN  HAWKES,  '59. 

SIDNEY  WALKER  HOWE,  '59. 

JOSEPH  MASON,  '60. 
38.         Lucius  LATHROP  MERRICK,  '60. 

HENRY  A.  HUBBARD,  '61. 

HENRY  GRIDLEY,  '62. 

ELLIOTT  PAYSON,  '62. 

CHRISTOPHER  PENNELL,  '63. 

FRAZAR  AUGUSTUS  STEARNS,  '63. 

JOSEPH  ELLIS  WILDER,  '63. 

JOHN  MARSHALL  WHITNEY,  '63. 
'58.       ALBERT  DEAN  AMSDEN,  '64. 

FRANCIS  AMSDEN  CLARY,  '64. 


588  HISTORY   OP   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

WILLIAM  LEWIS  HOWE,  '64.  EDWARD  DICKINSON  GAYLORD,  '65. 

ANSON  BRAINARD  NORTON,  '64.  HARLAN  PAGE  MOORE,  '65. 

THOMAS  BURNHAM,  '65.  NATHANIEL  BEMIS  SMITH,  '65. 

ALFRED  DWIGHT  CLAPP,  '65.  JOSEPH  KNIGHT  TAYLOR,  '65. 

MELVIN  BLANCHARD  TASKER,  '67. 

The  bravery  and  patriotism  of  some  of  these  youthful  heroes 
have  been  suitably  commemorated  by  memoirs  or  memorial  vol- 
umes which  have  been  given  to  the  public  and  widely  read  in 
the  army  and  by  the  community.1  The  others  will  in  due  time, 
doubtless,  have  their  lives  written  more  at  length  in  a  history 
of  the  graduates  of  Amherst  College.  Meanwhile  we  can  only 
refer  our  readers  to  the  brief  epitome  of  their  services  in  the 
published  "  Roll."  And  yet  I  can  not  refrain  from  giving  a 
single  specimen  by  way  of  illustration.  Christopher  Pennell  left 
College  in  1862  for  the  sake  of  entering  the  army,  was  appointed 
Sergeant  of  the  Thirty-fourth  Massachusetts  Volunteers,  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  Lieutenant,  and  placed  on  the  staff  of 
Gen.  Thomas,  and  fell  in  his  first  engagement,  the  assault  which 
followed  the  springing  of  the  mine  at  Petersburg,  July  30, 1864. 
On  the  morning  of  that  fatal  engagement,  the  General  to  whom 
he  stood  in  the  relation  of  a  personal  Aid,  had  assigned  him  a 
place  in  the  rear  of  the  column,  but  yielded  to  the  young  man's 
entreaties  and  allowed  him  a  position  by  his  side  in  the  van. 
The  brigade  charged,  and  two-thirds  of  the  officers  and  one-third 
of  the  men  who  went  in,  soon  fell  under  the  concentrated  fire 
of  the  enemy.  The  troops  began  to  waver,  Pennell  seized  the 
brigade  colors,  advanced  with  his  sword  in  one  hand  and  the 
flag  in  the  other,  calling  upon  his  men  to  follow  him,  and  fell 
far  in  front  of  the  column  ;  and  of  those  who  rushed  to  his  res- 
cue, all  but  one  shared  his  fate.  All  attempts  to  recover  the  body 
even  were  fruitless,  and  he  found  a  grave  where  he  fell.  His 
name  was  mentioned  with  honor  in  the  report  of  the  commander 
of  the  brigade  :  "  Here  Lieut.  Pennell  was  killed,  riddled  through 
and  through.  He  died  with  the  flag  in  his  hand,  doing  every- 
thing an  officer  could  do  to  lead  on  the  men.  His  appearance 

l"  Dunn  Browne  in  the  Army,"  and  "  Adjutant  Stearns  "  have  doubtless  been 
read  by  most  of  the  readers  of  this  History,  and  require  only  an  allusion  to  bring  up 
the  memory  of  two  noble  lives. 


SUFFERERS   IN   REBEL  PRISONS.  589 

and  actions  were  splendid,  I  might  say,  heroic,  sacrificing  delib- 
erately and  knowingly  his  life  in  the  hope  of  rendering  his 
country  some  service." 

Gladly  would  we  multiply  and  extend  these  illustrations  of 
the  bravery  of  our  brethren.  But  our  limits  forbid;  and  we 
have  already  gone  beyond  the  bounds  of  propriety  perhaps  in 
specifying  any  when  all  are  alike  deserving. 

Thirteen  of  our  soldiers  were  confined  in  rebel  prisons,  some 
of  them  dragged  in  succession  through  two,  three  or  four  of 
those  places  of  more  than  fiendish  torture,  and  two  of  them 
welcomed  death  as  a  blessed  deliverance  from  the  starvation, 
insults  and  cruelties,  worse  than  death,  to  which  such  prisoners 
were  subjected.  Some  of  those  who  survived,  suffered  long  and 
severely  from  diseases  contracted  in  those  prisons,  or  escaped  per- 
haps, through  long  journeys  by  night,  after  hardships  and  suffer- 
ings of  every  kind,  making  such  a  record  as  this  :  "  Taken  prison- 
er at  Drury's  Bluff,  May  12, 1864,  and  confined  in  Libby,  Savan- 
nah, Charleston  and  Columbia  prisons.  Escaped  November  29, 
1864,  and  traveled  two  hundred  miles  by  night  through  swamps 
and  woods  to  Union  lines.  Sick  with  typhoid  fever  and  diph- 
theria. Mustered  out  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  February  7, 1865."  l 

The  classes  that  graduated  soon  after  the  opening  of  the  war, 
as  might  have  been  expected,  furnished  the  largest  number  of 
recruits  for  the  service.  In  this  respect  '62  is  the  banner  class, 
thirty  of  its  members  having  gone  to  the  war ;  '61  and  '63  each 
sent  twenty-three ;  '64  furnished  fifteen ;  and  '65  twenty-one 
for  the  service.  The  Class  of  '65  lost  the  largest  number  ;  six 
of  its  members  died  in  the  service,  four  of  whom  died  of  mortal 
wounds  received  on  the  field  of  battle  :  '63  lost  four  men,  three 
of  whom  were  killed  in  battle ;  '64  lost  the  same  number.  The 
other  classes  above  named  lost  one  or  two  men  each  upon  an 
average. 

The  graduates  of  the  older  classes  were,  of  course,  all  above 
the  military  age,  and  could  not  be  expected  to  furnish  many 
soldiers.  But  not  a  few  of  them,  as  we  learn  from  our  corres- 
pondence, made  up  for  the  deficiency,  by  sending  their  sons  to 
the  service.  The  oldest  graduate,  whose  name  appears  on  our 

1  Parker  Whittlesey  McManus,  Class  of  '63. 


590  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Roll  was  Rev.  Timothy  Robinson  Cressey  of  the  Class  of  '28, 
who  went  himself  as  Chaplain  of  the  Second  Regiment  of  Min- 
nesota Volunteers,  and  took  with  him  five  sons  into  the  ser- 
vice. His  war  record,  as  given  by  himself  in  a  letter  is  so  re- 
markable that  I  can  not  withhold  it  from  my  readers.  It  is  a 
unique  species  of  Home  Missionary  Report  and  illustrates  the 
character  and  spirit,  if  not  also  substantially  the  history,  of  more 
than  one  of  our  Amherst  home  missionaries. 

"  When  the  war  broke  out,  I  had  nine  children,  seven  sons 
and  two  daughters.  When  Fort  Sumter  was  fired  on,  I  gath- 
ered my  boys  around  me  and  told  them  that  their  great-gfand- 
father  was  in  the  French  arid  Indian  war  in  1762  and  belonged 
to  '  Roger's  Rangers ;'  that  their  grandfather  was  in  the  Rev- 
olutionary war  and  fought  under  Gen.  Putnam;  that  my  uncle 
was  killed  in  the  war  of  1812;  that  this'  rebellion  was  an  un- 
righteous cause  and  must  be  put  down ;  the  old  flag  must  not  be 
dishonored ;  the  military  dignity  of  the  Cressey  family  must  be 
sustained  ;  I  was  in  for  the  war  though  more  than  sixty  years 
old,  and  I  should  be  happy  to  have  them  follow  me.  Three 
were  in  College,  and  two  were  at  the  printers'  case  ;  and  the 
five  all  followed  me.  The  others  were  too  young  for  the  service. 

"  I  enlisted  as  Chaplain  of  the  Second  Minnesota  Infantry, 
Col.  Horatio  Van  Cleve  commanding.  In  the  battle  of  *  Mill 
Spring,'  my  regiment  did  the  severest  fighting,  and  providentially 
turned  the  fortunes  of  the  day.  This  was  the  first  decisive  vic- 
tory gained  by  the  North  in  the  war,  and  its  influence  was  im- 
mense upon  the  then  depressed  spirits  of  the  nation.  Immediately 
after  this  the  whole  line  of  the  Rebels  gave  way.  Green  River, 
Bowling  Green,  Fort  Henry,  Fort  Donelson  and  Nashville  were 
taken,  and  our  whole  lines  swept  like  a  mighty  avalanche  south 
to  Pittsburg  Landing. 

"  The  severest  and  the  most  melancholy  duty  of  my  life  was 
performed  on  the  evening  of  the  battle  of  Mill  Spring.  The 
battle  began  early  in  the  morning.  The  '  Long  Roll '  sounded 
just  after  the  *  Reveille.'  The  Fourth  Kentucky  were  on  picket 
and  fought  bravely  until  overwhelmed  by  Gen.  Zollekoffer's 
forces.  Then  the  Tenth  Indiana  went  in  and  acquitted  them- 
selves nobly  until,  overwhelmed  with  numbers,  they  gave  way 


REV.  T.  R.  CRESSET'S  NARRATIVE.  591 

with  great  slaughter.  The  Second  Minnesota  of  which  I  was 
Chaplain,  next  went  in.  I  ought  here  in  justice  to  say,  that  this 
regiment  was  made  up  of  the  very  hardiest  material  of  the  fron- 
tier, lumber-men  fresh  from  the  pineries,  river-rnen  direct  from 
the  rafts  and  steamers,  and  hunters  from  the  forests  and  prai- 
ries, with  many  a  highly  educated  and  refined  but  adventurous 
Yankee.  A  more  resolute,  determined,  yet  noble  set  of  men,  I 
think,  were  not  to  be  found  in  all  our  armies.  As  they  went 
into  battle,  Gen.  Thomas,  '  Old  Pap  Thomas,'  as  we  boys  fa- 
miliarly called  him,  rode  with  Col.  Van  Cleve  directly  in  their 
rear.  As  we  met  that  foe  sweeping  on,  as  they  supposed,  to 
sure  victory,  the  shock  was  terrific.  But  the  Second  Minnesota 
stood  like  a  sea-girt  rock  and  never  for  a  moment  wavered, 
though  some  of  them  crossed  guns  with  the  Rebs  upon  the  same 
rails  in  the  fence,  and  most  of  them  were  in  an  open  field  stand- 
ing face  to  face  within  but  few  yards  of  the  enemy.  The  Sec- 
ond Minnesota  were  supported  by  the  Ninth  Ohio  Germans, 
Robert  McCook  commanding,  familiarly  known  as  '  Bob  Mc- 
Cook's  Bloody  Dutchmen.'  After  twenty-seven  minutes  of 
this  desperate  struggle,  Gen.  Thomas  gave  to  the  Ninth  Ohio 
the  command,  '  Fix  bayonets — to  the  right  oblique — march.' 
But  before  the  Ninth  came  to  the  charge,  the  Rebs  gave  way 
before  the  desperation  of  the  Second  Minnesota;  and  such 
shouts  rent  the  heavens  as  none  but  victors  can  give.  One  fact 
is  an  index  to  the  severity  of  this  battle.  Upon  a  spot  four  rods 
square,  I  counted  twenty-eight  dead  rebels.  This  is  the  more 
significant  when  it  is  remembered  that  nothing  but  small  arms 
were  used,  no  grape,  canister  or  shell. 

"  But  the  most  melancholy  duty  of  my  life  still  remained  to 
be  discharged.  After  the  battle,  our  dead  were  gathered  up 
and  brought  into  camp.  And  there  were  twelve  of  my  noble 
Minnesota  boys  in  blue,  dear  to  me  as  brothers,  who  lay 
cold  in  death  before  me.  They  were  to  be  buried,  how  should 
it  be  done  ?  Not  a  board  or  a  slab  was  to  be  had  in  all  the  re- 
gion— nothing,  of  which  we  could  make  a  coffin.  A  grave  was 
dug,  six  feet  by  sixteen  and  four  feet  deep.  We  then  wrapped 
them  in  all  their  blood  and  gore  in  their  overcoats  and  blankets, 
and  in  that  wild,  lonely  and  desolate  region  of  Kentucky,  we 


592  HISTORY   OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

laid  them  down  to  the  soldier's  long  repose,  and  placed  the 
green  sods  upon  their  bosoms  to  await  the  final  *  roll-call '  of  the 
last  trump.  As  this  work  was  going  on,  there  stood  near  me  a 
noble  boy  in  blue,  of  eighteen  summers,,  a  member  of  my  regi- 
ment. At  length  with  gushing  tears  and  a  bursting  heart,  he 
cried  out,  '  Fellow-soldiers,  all  this  /  can  bear.  But  oh,  what 
will  dear  mother  say,  when  she  hears  that  her  Frank  is  no  more.' 
Such  scenes  must  be  witnessed  to  be  fully  realized. 

"  I  was  also  in  the  battle  of  Pittsburg  Landing  and  Perry- 
ville,  and  closed  with  that  awful  two  days'  battle  of  Chickamau- 
ga,  where  we  won  a  decided  victory,  though  history  may  not 
record  it  thus.  Three  things  are  certain.  1.  The  Rebels  knew 
all  the  field,  and  chose  their  own  ground  to  fight  upon.  Our 
generals  knew  nothing  of  it.  2.  We  fought  them  as  four  to 
seven.  We  had  45,000  men  and  they  75,000.  3.  We  held  the 
stake  for  which  the  awful  game  was  played,  viz.,  Chickamauga. 

"  Two  sons  were  with  me  on  those  two  fearfully  bloody  days, 
but  God  brought  us  all  out  safe.  In  all  we  served  fifteen  years 
in  the  war,  were  in  twenty  different  battles,  and  all  returned  in 
safety  without  the  loss  of  a  life  or  a  limb.  All  still  live,  and 
four  of  us  are  preaching  Christ  crucified  in  four  different  States, 
Minnesota,  Michigan,  Illinois  and  Iowa." 

Rev.  William  A.  Hyde  of  the  next  class  ('29),  writes :  "  I 
had  four  sons  in  the  war — two  of  them  in  nearly  all  the  war. 
One  of  them  suffered  "  deaths  oft"  in  rebel  prisons  for  about  ten 
months.  He  saw  Libby,  Danville,  Andersonville  and  Florence 
in  that  time.  My  eldest  son  is  a  teacher  in  Norwich.  My  sec- 
ond son  is  a  physician  in  Brooklyn.  My  fourth  is  preparing  for 
the  ministry  in  the  Theological  Department  at  New  Haven,  and 
my  other  three  sons  are  printers,  etc.,  in  New  York  City.  My 
family  gave  eight  Republican  votes  this  year,  including  a  son-in- 
law,  a  member  elect  of  our  Legislature." 

Rev.  Benjamin  Schneider,  D.  D.,  of  the  next  class  ('30),  the 
veteran  missionary  at  Aintab  in  Western  Turkey,  and  the  ven- 
erable father  and  bishop  of  all  the  Protestant  churches  in  that 
section,  had  three  sons  and  a  son-in-law  in  different  stages  of  edu- 
cation in  this  country,  one  of  them,  William  Tyler  Schneider,  a 
member  of  Amherst  College,  all  of  whom  went  to  the  war,  three 


SONS    OF    THE    ALUMNI   IN    THE    SERVICE. 

in  the  army  and  one  in  the  navy;  and  his  oldest  son,  James,  a 
young  man  of  rare  promise  who  was  preparing  to  rejoin  his  father 
in  the  missionary  work,  and  who  entered  the  army  in  the  spirit 
of  a  missionary,  lest  his  life  in  the  service.  Soon  after  his  death, 
the  afflicted  father  thus  wrote  to  his  classmate  and  friend,  the 
author  of  this  History :  "  It  is  a  sore  bereavement,  not  only  to 
us  personally,  but  (humanly  speaking)  a  great  loss  to  our  cause 
to  which  he  had  devoted  his  life.  His  mental  qualities,  his  at- 
tainments, his  spirit  of  devotion,  and  his  growth  in  grace,  to- 
gether with  the  ease  with  which  he  would  have  acquired  the 
language — all  seemed  to  fit  him  eminently  for  the  missionary 
work.  We  had  been  fondly  looking  forward  to  the  time  when 
he  would  come  out  here,  and  perhaps  ultimately  take  my  place ; 
and  the  people  of  Aintab  who  remember  him,  were  hoping  to 
hear  him  preach  in  this  church.  In  the  paucity  of  missionaries, 
his  death  seems  to  be  the  more  lamentable.  It  is  a  most  costly 
sacrifice  to  the  terrible  MONSTER,  SLAVERY." 

Thus  we  might  go  on  and  fill  a  volume  with  facts  like  these. 
But  these  must  suffice  as  specimens. 

These  letters  illustrate  the  motives  and  the  spirit  with  which 
these  men,  in  common  with  so  many  others  from  Amherst,  and 
elsewhere,  entered  the  service.  They  went  to  the  war  as  a 
Christian  duty  and  in  the  spirit  of  missionaries.  Patriotism, 
exhibited  in  the  military  service  and  at  the  polls,  was  a  part, 
though  by  no  means  the  whole,  of  their  religion. 

The  names  of  all  wider-graduates  who  lost  their  lives  in  the 
service,  were,  by  vote  of  the  Trustees,  enrolled  among  the  grad- 
uates of  their  respective  classes.  Special  favor  and  indulgence 
have  been  extended  freely,  when  asked,  to  all  under-graduates 
who  have  served  in  the  army,  and  returned  to  College. 

The  Alumni,  at  their  annual  meetings,  have  discussed,  plan- 
ned, passed  resolutions,  appointed  committees,  and  devised  at 
different  times  various  ways  and  means,  for  commemorating  the 
services  of  their  fellow-alumni  who  lost  their  lives  in  the  war; 
but  they  have  carried  nothing  into  full  and  successful  execution. 
A  monument  on  the  grounds,  a  sculptured  group  within  doors, 
a  memorial  hall,  a  lecture-room  and  professorship  of  history — all 

these  have  been  contemplated  and  some  of  them  have  been  at- 
38 


594  HISTOKY   OF  AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

tempted ;  but  the  only  vestige  of  anything  accomplished  is  the 
two  or  three  models  in  clay  which  were  offered  by  as  many 
artists,  and  which  have  been  exhibited  for  several  years  on  the 
centre  table  of  the  College  Library. 

At  length,  however,  through  the  wisdom  of  President  Stearns 
and  the  liberality  of  his  friend,  the  late  George  Howe,  Esq.,  of 
Boston,  the  College  rejoices  in  a  monument  more  pleasing  and  ap- 
propriate, perhaps,  than  any  of  these  would  have  been,  and  such 
as  exists  nowhere  else  to  commemorate  the  fallen  heroes  of  the 
war,  viz.,  a  memorial  chime  of  bells  placed  in  the  tower  of  the  Col- 
lege Church,  which  began  to  give  forth  their  music  at  the  Semi- 
Centennial  Celebration,  and  which,  in  all  coming  time,  while  they 
fitly  introduce  the  services  of  the  Sabbath  and  accompany  the 
exercises  of  our  literary  festivals,  and  grace  all  occasions  of  spe- 
cial interest,  will  always  be  associated  with  the  heroic  lives  and 
martyr-like  deaths  of  our  brave  soldiers  and,  by  perpetuating 
their  memories,  stimulate  future  generations  of  students  to  fol- 
low their  example.  Among  the  fallen  whose  memory  will  thus 
be  perpetuated  is  a  son  of  the  liberal  donor,  SIDNEY  WALKER 
HOWE,  of  the  Class  of  '59,  who  was  killed  in  the  battle  of  Wil- 
liamsburg,  May  5,  1862,  only  a  few  months  after  he  entered  the 
service.  Beneath  the  nine  bells  which  compose  the  memorial 
chime,  there  is  in  the  church  tower  a  beautiful  chamber  set  apart 
as  a  memorial  room ;  a  marble  tablet  in  the  wall  is  to  be  inscribed 
with  the  names  of  the  fallen ;  a  tiled  floor  with  appropriate  mot- 
toes laid  in  it,  and  stained  windows  with  special  designs  will 
commemorate  the  principles  and  the  events  of  the  war ;  the  gun 
captured  in  the  battle  of  Newburn,  and  bearing  the  names  of 
those  who  fell  in  that  battle,  with  other  monuments  and  relics 
of  the  war,  will  be  placed  there.  Thus  through  the  eye  and  the 
ear  coming  generations  will  be  reminded  of  the  virtues  and  sac- 
rifices of  our  brethren  who  lost  their  lives  in  the  War  of  the 
Great  Rebellion.  And  so  long  as  a  single  classmate  or  College 
mate  shall  survive,  we  will  enshrine  them  in  the  memory  of  our 
hearts.  And  often  as  we  meet  at  our  annual  reunions  and  call 
the  rolls  of  our  respective  classes,  when  their  names  are  called, 
their  surviving  classmates  will  respond  for  them ;  "  dead  on  the 
field  of  battle  "— "  died  for  their  father-land." 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE   SEMI-CENTENNIAL   CELEBRATION. 

NATIONS  and  institutions  of  the  Old  World  which  have  ex- 
isted comparatively  unchanged  for  hundreds,  perhaps  thousands 
of  years,  may  look  with  contempt  upon  a  seini-centennial  cele- 
bration. But  Americans  who  have  not  completed  the  first 
century  of  their  national  existence,  and  yet  whose  life,  as  meas- 
ured by  the  change,  growth  and  progress  of  the  people  and  their 
institutions,  has  been  scarcely  shorter  than  that  of  China  herself, 
may  be  pardoned  for  celebrating  the  lapse  of  a  half  or  even  a 
quarter  of  a  century.  And  the  Alumni  and  friends  of  a  College 
whose  foundations  were  laid  in  a  religious  faith  and  consecration 
so  nearly  akin  to  those  of  the  patriarchs  and  prophets  of  olden 
times,  might  well  keep  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  its  opening  as 
a  "Jubilee." 

Some  years  previous,  the  coming  event  began  to  cast  its  shad- 
ows before,  and  thoughtful  and  loyal  sons  began  to  anticipate 
the  time  when  they  might  revisit  the  homestead  and  celebrate 
the  golden  birthday  of  their  mother.  The  first  steps  towards 
associated  action  were  taken  by  Prof.  Roswell  D.  Hitchcock 
of  New  York  city.  He  brought  the  subject  before  the  Alumni 
at  their  annual  meeting,  July  8,  1868,  and  at  his  motion  the  fol- 
lowing resolutions  were  adopted : 

"  Whereas,  our  Alma  Mater,  in  three  years  from  now,  will 
have  completed  her  first  half  century,  therefore, 

"  Resolved,  that  the  Trustees  of  the  College  be  requested  to 
make  provision  for  the  celebration  of  that  event. 

"  Resolved,  that  Prof.  William  S.  Tyler,  D.  D.,  be  requested 
to  prepare  a  history  of  Amherst  College,  which  shall  be  ready 


596  HISTORY  'OF   AMHEKST    COLLEGE. 

for  delivery  at  Commencement,  1871,  and  that  he  be  requested 
also  to  address  the  Alumni  on  that  occasion. 

"  Resolved,  that  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  confer 
with  the  Trustees  and  with  Prof.  Tyler,  and  to  act  as  a  Com- 
mittee of  Arrangements  for  our  approaching  semi-centennial." 

In  accordance  with  this  last  resolution,  Prof.  R.  D.  Hitchcock, 
W.  A.  Dickinson,  Esq.,  and  Prof.  R.  H.  Mather  were  appointed 
such  a  committee,  to  whom,  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Alumni, 
July  13,  1870,  Professors  Edward  Hitchcock  and  J.  H.  Seelye 
were  added. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Board,  July  9, 1868,  the  foregoing 
action  was  approved  by  the  Trustees,  and  the  Prudential  Commit- 
tee was  authorized  to  confer  with  the  Committee  of  the  Alumni. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Trustees,  July  13,  1870,  a  Spe- 
cial Committee,  consisting  of  the  President  and  Doctors  Paine, 
Sabin,  and  Storrs,  was  appointed  to  make  arrangements,  con- 
jointly with  the  Committee  of  the  Alumni,  for  the  celebration 
of  the  Jubilee  of  the  College  in  1871. 

Prior  to  any  meeting  or  action  of  either  of  these  committees, 
there  was  some  discussion  and  some  difference  of  opinion  among 
the  Alumni  and  friends  of  the  College  as  to  the  proper  time  for 
the  celebration.  As  the  first  Commencement  was  held  in  1822, 
the  Commencement  in  1871  would  be,  not  the  fiftieth  but  the 
forty-ninth  anniversary  of  that  day,  and  it  seemed  to  some,  at 
first  thought,  that  the  celebration  should  be  at  the  fiftieth  Com- 
mencement which  would  be  in  1872.  But  it  was  the  opening 
of  the  College  to  receive  students,  and  not  its  first  Commence- 
ment, which  its  friends  desired  to  celebrate,  and  as  it  was  agreed 
that  Commencement  week  would  be  the  most  suitable  and  con- 
venient time  for  the  celebration,  the  conclusion  was  quite  unan- 
imously reached  that  the  Commencement  of- 1871,  although  it 
would  occur  some  two  months  earlier  than  the  exact  anniversary 
of  the  opening,  should  be  the  time. 

After  repeated  meetings  of  the  Commitee  of  the  Alumni  by 
themselves,  and  conjointly  with  the  Committee  of  the  Trustees, 
the  time  and  manner  of  the  celebration  were  fixed,  the  speakers 
were  selected,  and  the  arrangements  were  made  substantially  as 
they  were  carried  into  execution. 


THE   JUBILEE.  597 

Not  a  few  of  the  Alumni  reached  Amherst  the  Saturday- 
previous  to  Commencement,  and  remained  till  Friday  or  Satur- 
day of  the  next  week,  that  they  might  have  time  to  recall  old 
recollections  and  keep  a  week  of  jubilee.  The  exercises  of  the 
week  were  opened  as  usual  on  Sunday  by  the  Sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  in  the  chapel  in  the  morning,  and  the  Baccalaure- 
ate Sermon  in  College  Hall  in  the  afternoon.  President  Stearns, 
very  appropriately,  took  for  the  text  of  his  Baccalaureate,  Levit- 
icus, 25 : 10,  "  Thou  shalt  hallow  the  fiftieth  year,"  and  dis- 
coursed on  the  religious  history  and  characteristics  of  the  Col- 
lege, paying  at  the  same  time  a  feeling  and  generous  tribute  to 
the  men,  especially  the  members  of  the  Faculty,  who,  through 
poverty  and  reproach,  had  stood  by  it  in  its  dark  and  trying 
hour. 

Monday  and  Tuesday  were  devoted  as 'usual  to  the  Prize 
exhibitions  and  declamations,  and  to  the  exercises  of  Class- 
day,  the  out-of-door  performances  of  the  latter,  however,  being 
nearly  drowned  out  by  copious  showers  which  were  to  purify 
the  air  for  the  next  day. 

Wednesday  from  early  morning  to  a  late  hour  in  the  evening 
was  given  up  to  the  Jubilee.  The  day  dawned  auspiciously,  and 
continued  clear  and  bright,  yet  cool  and  comfortable  even  to  its 
close.  It  seemed  made — it  doubtless  was  made — for  the  occa- 
sion. In  the  exercises  of  the  morning,  Hon.  Samuel  Williston, 
the  generous  and  now  venerable  benefactor  of  the  College,  fitly 
presided.  The  exercises  were  opened  with  prayer  by  Rev.  E. 
P.  Humphrey,  D.  D.,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  of  the  Class  of  '28, 
and  the  eldest  son  of  the  second  President.  The  assembly  then 
joined  in  singing  the  Doxology, 

"  Praise  God  from  whom  all  blessings  flow, 

after  which  followed  the  Address  of  Welcome  by  President 
Stearns,  and  the  Historical  Discourse  by  Prof.  Tyler. 

In  the  afternoon,  Hon.  A.  H.  Bullock  of  the  Class  of  '36, 
presided,  and  addresses  were  made  by  the  presiding  oificer,  by 
Prof.  Snell,  '22,  Dr.  Edward  P.  Humphrey,  '28,  Rev.  H.  N.  'Bar- 

1  Of  the  Turkish  Mission. 


598  HISTOKY    OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

num,  '52,  Rev.  H.  W.  Beecher,  '34,  Prof.  E.  A.  Park,  Prof.  R. 
D.  Hitchcock,  '36,  and  Waldo  Hutchins,  Esq.,  '42. 

The  addresses,  both  of  the  forenoon  and  afternoon,  besides 
being  printed  in  full  at  the  time  in  The  Springfield  Republican, 
have  been  published  in  the  form  of  a  pamphlet,  and,  having 
been  sent  to  the  Alumni  generally,  have  doubtless  been  read  by 
most  of  the  readers  of  this  History.  It  is  therefore  quite  unnec- 
essary that  they  should  here  be  made  the  subject  of  analysis  or 
remark.  A  letter  from  Dr.  R.  S.  Storrs,  of  the  Class  of  '89, 
which  was  read  by  Mr.  Beecher,  is  also  contained  in  this  pam- 
phlet, together  with  the  addresses  of  Prof.  H.  B.  HackettJ  '30, 
Bishop  Huntington,  '39,  Hon.  H.  S.  Stockbridge,  '45,  Willard 
Merrill,  Esq,  '54,  and  George  C.  Clarke,  Esq.,  '58,  which  were 
not  delivered  for  lack  of  time. 

The  exercises  were  held  beneath  a  spacious  tent  which  was 
spread  under  the  shadow  of  the  trees  in  the  grove  where  the 
students  of  Amherst,  through  all  their  generations,  have  found 
exercise  and  recreation,  have  walked  and  talked,  have  sat  and 
conversed  or  meditated,  and  where  every  object  that  met  the 
eye,  whether  in  the  grove  or  on  the  grounds,  or  in  the  distance, 
callgd  up  old  memories,  revived  hallowed  associations,  and  spoke 
with  scarcely  less  power  than  the  speakers,  to  their  minds  and 
hearts.  The  audience  was  large  and  the  tent  well  filled  in  the 
morning.  In  the  afternoon,  it  was  full  to  overflowing,  and  it 
was  calculated  that  there  were  at  least  three  thousand  persons 
in  it,  besides  many  who  stood  around  the  open  sides,  or  sat  in 
their  own  carriages  on  the  grounds. 

Nearly  seven  hundred  of  the  Alumni  were  present,  that  is 
almost  one-half  of  the  whole  number  of  living  graduates — a 
number  two  or  three  times  larger  than  had  ever  before  attended 
Commencement,  and  "  a  larger  proportion,  probably,  than  ever 
assembled  at  any  American  College."  Every  Class  was  repre- 
sented. One-third  of  the  first  Class  ('22)  was  present — one- 
half  of  its  living  members.  That  half  was  Prof.  Snell.  He 
lamented  in  his  address  the  absence  of  the  other  half  which  he 
modestly  and  playfully  declared  to  be  "  the  first  half,  the  oldest 
half,  the  greatest  half  and  the  best  half" — the  Rev.  Pindar  Field. 
All  the  surviving  members  of  the  second  Class  ('23)  were  pres- 


KEPKESENTATIVES    OF   THE   CLASSES.  599 

ent,  viz. :  Rev.  Theophilus  Packard  and  Rev.  Hiram  Smith, 
both  from  the  far  West ;  '24,  '26,  and  '27,  were  each  represented 
by  three  persons,  about  one-third  of  the  surviving  members  i 
and  these  came  from  almost  as  many  different  States  and  be- 
longed to  nearly  as  many  different  occupations  as  there  were 
persons.  The  Class  of  '25  was  the  only  class,  except  that  of 
Prof.  Snell,  of  which  there  was  but  a  single  representative  pres- 
ent, and  he  came  from  Conway  in  obedience  to  a  telegraphic 
despatch  sent  by  some  zealous  brother-alumnus  that  every  class 
might  be  represented.  '28  was  represented  by  six  out  of  seven- 
teen survivors,  '29  by  five  out  of  nineteen,  '30  by  ten  out  of 
sixteen,  '31  by  fifteen  out  of  thirty-seven,  and  '32  by  nine  out  of 
twenty-three.  So  much  for  the  first  decade.  In  the  second 
decade  ('32-'42),  the  largest  number  present  was  from  '39,  viz., 
sixteen  out  of  thirty-seven  living  members  ;  and  the  largest  pro- 
portion was  from  '36,  viz.,  thirteen  out  of  twenty-eight.  The 
average  attendance  from  the  classes  of  this  decade  exceeded 
thirty-five  per  cent,  of  the  living  members.  In  the  third  decade 
the  percentage  was  but  little  more  than  twenty-five.  In  the 
fourth  decade  it  run  up  nearly  to  fifty  per  cent.,  and  in  the  last 
period,  as  might  have  been  expected,  it  rose  to  considerably 
more  than  half  the  living  members.  The  largest  number  from 
any  one  class  was  from  '69,  who  by  special  request  granted  by 
special  favor  of  the  Trustees,  received  their  second  degree  in 
1871,  and  who  were  represented  by  thirty-three  members.  '65 
ranked  next  to  '69,  being  represented  by  twenty-nine  members. 
These  facts  which  may  perhaps  be  reckoned  among  the  "  Curi- 
osities of  the  Jubilee,"  have  been  gathered  from  the  cards  which 
were  hung,  one  for  each  class,  in  the  reception  room  in  Walker 
Hall,  and  to  which  the  names  of  the  Alumni  were  transferred 
as  fast  as  they  registered  them,  so  that  each  Alumnus  might 
know  who  of  his  class  were  here,  and  where  they  were  to  be 
found.  These  cards  or  scrolls,  (for  they  are  more  than  a  foot 
square,)  have  been  preserved,  and  will  be  among  the  curiosities 
of  literature  in  coming  ages.  The  original  register  in  which 
the  Alumni  entered  their  names  as  they  arrived,  may  also  be 
seen  in  the  Library,  and  is  an  autograph  book  of  rare  and  unique 
interest. 


600  HISTORY    OF   AMHEEST    COLLEGE. 

The  Alumni  came  from  every  part  of  our  own  country  and 
from  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  Classmates  and  friends  who 
boarded  together,  perhaps  roomed  together,  perhaps  sat  side  by 
side  for  four  years,  but  who  had  not  seen  each  other  for  ten, 
twenty,  thirty,  forty,  almost  fifty  years,  met  as  strangers,  gazed 
in  each  other's  faces,  heard  each  other's  voices,  and  perhaps  did 
not  discover  a  trace  of  the  features  or  even  the  tones  once  so 
familiar,  or  did  perhaps  catch  a  ray,  and  at  length,  with  the  help 
maybe  of  a  hint  or  allusion  from  a  bystander,  began  to  conjec- 
ture the  person  ;  but  when  the  discovery  was  made,  they  rushed 
into  each  other's  embrace.  Many  such  scenes  of  bewilderment 
marked  these  meetings  and  greetings  in  which  the  language  was 
often  little  more  than  a  strange  mixture  of  laughter  and  tears. 
Wednesday  evening  was  given  up  to  a  reunion  in  College  Hall, 
and  much  of  the  night  was  spent  in  class  meetings  of  such  deep 
and  thrilling  interest  as  only  they  who  have  been  present  at 
such  meetings  know,  and  even  they  cannot  fully  tell. 

Besides  his  name,  residence  and  occupation,  each  Alumnus 
registered  the  friends  or  family  connexions  "  by  whom  "  he  was 
"  accompanied."  This  column  is  not  the  least  interesting  and 
curious  of  the  four,  and  shows  that  not  a  few  of  them  came  with 
a  "  wife,"  (sometimes  a  bride,')  with  "  wife  and  child,''  "  wife 
and  son,"  "  wife  and  daughter,"  "  son  and  daughter,"  or  as  it  is 
sometimes  vaguely  but  suggestively  recorded,  "  family."  These 
accompaniments  were  all  heartily  welcomed,  and  their  pleasure 
and  the  pleasure  of  seeing  them  added  not  a  little  to  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  occasion.  The  hospitality  of  the  good  people  of 
Amherst  was  thus  tested,  but  it  was  not  found  wanting.  Almost 
every  family  in  town,  and  not  a  few  out  of  town,  opened  their 
doors,  and  hosts  and  guests  were  alike  pleased  with  their  mutual 
intercourse.  The  only  complaint  that  was  heard  from  any  of 
the  families,  was  that  some  of  them  did  not  have  all  the  guests 
that  were  promised  them  for  entertainment.  From  the  Alumni 
we  have  never  heard,  or  heard  o/,  any  complaints.  They  seem 
to  have  gone  away  pleased  with  themselves  and  each  other, 
proud  of  their  mother,  loving  their  brothers,  feeling  that  they 
had  a  good  time,  and  fully  persuaded  that  whoever  should 
keep  the  Centennial  Jubilee  of  the  College  in  1021,  would  have 


GOVERNOR   BULLOCK.  601 

a  still  better  time  and  find  a  great  deal  more  to  admire  and  re- 
joice in. 

Several  of  the  classes  left  behind  them  class  scholarships  as  an 
expression  of  their  gratitude  and  filial  devotion.  The  plan  as 
originated  by  Prof.  R.  D.  Hitchcock,  contemplated  at  least  one 
by  each  class.  His  own  class  set  the  example  by  establishing 
three.1  Not  every  class  will  be  able  to  found  even  one.  Prob- 
ably there  will  not  be  in  all  as  many  as  fifty  scholarships.  But 
most  of  the  classes  are  doing  something.  The  catalogue,  issued 
in  the  fall  of  1871,  next  after  the  Jubilee,  announces  fifty  schol- 
arships in  all,  of  which  about  half  were  not  on  the  previous  cat- 
alogue,2 and  several  other  class  scholarships  as  established  in 
part.  When  the  harvest  is  all  gathered  in,  perhaps  the  result 
will  be  not  less  than  fifty  scholarships  of  one  thousand  dollars 
each,  which,  with  Mr.  Williston's  donation,  will  make  up  the 
handsome  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  free-will 
offerings  resulting  directly  or  indirectly  from  the  Jubilee. 

The  distinguished  Alumnus  and  Trustee  who  presided  with 
characteristic  dignity  and  grace  at  the  Semi-Centennial  celebra- 
tion, and  whose  address  was  one  of  the  chief  ornaments  of  the 
occasion,  was  in  Europe  when  the  chapter  on  the  "  Present 
Trustees"  was  written,  and  his  biographical  sketch,  being  de- 
ferred at  the  time  for  the  sake  of  reliable  information  on  some 
points,  by  one  of  those  strange  accidents  which  will  sometimes 
happen,  escaped  the  memory  of  the  writer  and  so  slipped  out 
of  the  place  which  it  was  intended  to  occupy,  thus  leaving  a 
space  which  to  the  reader  will  doubtless,  like  the  absence  of  the 
image  of  Brutus  in  the  Roman  processions,  only  render  him  the 
more  conspicuous.  Let  me  make  the  best  amends  in  my  power 
by  giving  here — in  a  place  scarcely  less  appropriate — the  outlines 
only  of  a  life  with  which  the  public  is  already  well  acquainted. 
Alexander  Hamilton  Bullock  was  born  at  Royalston,  March  2, 
1816,  passed  his  boyhood  chiefly  in  his  native  place,  came  from 
there  to  College  in  1832  and  graduated  in  1836,  receiving  the 
second  appointment  in  a  class  in  which  that  elegant  and  accom- 
plished scholar,  the  lamented  William  Bradford  Homer,  re- 

1  Including  that  established  by  Gov.  Bullock. 

2  Several  of  these  are  not  Class  scholarships. 


602  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

ceived  the  first.  Besides  pronouncing  the  Salutatory  Oration 
at  the  Commencement,  he  also  acted  a  leading  part  in  that  fa- 
mous Colloquy  in  which  Ensign  H.  Kellogg,  who  was  its  author, 
rose  from  a  seat  among  the  audience  and  came  walking  over  the 
tops  of  the  pews  to  his  place  on  the  stage  personating  an  Irish- 
man from  the  crowd  so  perfectly  that  the  Sheriff  was  on  the 
point  of  putting  him  under  arrest.  His  Tutor  in  Mathematics 
has  no  recollection  of  particular  accuracy  or  brilliancy  in  that 
department.  But  he  excelled  in  the  classics,  belles-lettres,  and 
rhetoric,  and  classmates  and  fellow-students  saw  the  future  Gov- 
ernor in  his  fine  person,  his  courteous  manners,  his  ambition  and 
influence,  and  his  decided  bent  for  politics  and  public  affairs. 
After  five  years  devoted  to  general  culture  and  the  study  of 
law,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1841.  In  1845,  '47  and  '48, 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  in  the  pop- 
ular branch ;  in  1849,  he  was  State  Senator.  From  1853  to 

1858,  he  was  either  Commissioner  or  Judge  of  Insolvency.     In 

1859,  he  was  Mayor  of  Worcester.     From  1866  till  1869,  he  was 
Governor  of  Massachusetts. 

In  1865  he  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws 
from  his  Alma  Mater,  and  in  1866  the  same  degree  was  conferred 
on  him  by  the  University  at  Cambridge. 

One  of  the  earliest  Trustees  chosen  from  among  the  Alumni, 
Mr.  Bullock  has  now  been  a  member  of  the  Corporation  twenty 
years.  His  address  to  the  Society  of  Alumni,  delivered  on  re- 
tiring from  the  presidency  in  1863,  and  printed  at  their  request, 
inaugurated  the  usage  which  still  prevails,  and,  like  the  address 
at  the  Semi-Centennial,  is  not  more  remarkable  for  its  classic 
elegance  and  grace  than  for  love  and  devotion  to  Alma  Mater. 
"  The  Bullock  Scholarship  of  the  Class  of  1836  "—one  of  the 
most  liberal  of  these  recent  foundations — gives  expression  to 
the  same  sentiments  in  acts  that  speak  louder  than  words. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

THEN  AND  NOW — PANOKAMIC  REVIEW  OF  CHANGE  AND 

PROGRESS. 

WE  have  now  gone  over  the  successive  periods  of  the  history 
of  Amherst  College  during  its  first  half  century,  and  endeavored 
to  assign  to  persons,  things  and  events  their  proper  place  in 
that  history.  A  brief  general  review,  however,  may  give  our 
readers  a  better  understanding  of  the  growth  and  progress  of 
the  Institution  and  the  changes  through  which  it  has  passed, 
and  will  at  the  same  time  afford  an  opportunity  of  bringing  in 
some  things  for  which  we  have  found  no  other  proper  place. 
We  begin  with  the 

COLLEGE   GROUNDS.   . 

At  the  time  when  the  first  efforts  were  made  for  founding  a 
College  in  Amherst,  Col.  Elijah  Dickinson,  a  prominent  citizen 
distinguished  for  his  energy  and  public  spirit,  owned  the  farm, 
since  known  as  Judge  Dickinson's,  which  included  the  hill  back 
of  the  old  meeting-house,  now  College  Hill,  stretched  east  as  far 
as  the  East  Street  and  south  nearly  as  far  as  it  did  east,  and  con- 
tained in  all  two  or  three  hundred  acres.  Col.  Dickinson  sub- 
scribed the  liberal  sum  of  six  hundred  dollars  to  the  Charity 
Fund,  and  was  deeply  interested  in  the  founding  of  the  College, 
but  died,  February  1,  1820,  some  six  months  before  the  laying 
of  the  corner-stone  for  the  first  edifice.  On  the  twentyrsecond 
of  November,  1820,  some  three  months  after  the  laying  of  the 
corner-stone,  and  when  the  exterior  of  the  building  was  already 
finished,  Mrs.  Jerusha  Dickinson,  widow  of  Col.  Elijah  Dickin- 
son, and  Moses  Dickinson,  his  son,  gave  a  deed  of  the  land  on 
which  all  the  earliest  buildings  were  erected  and  which  formed 


604  HISTORY  OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

the  center  and  nucleus  of  the  present  College  grounds.  The 
land,  conveyed  by  this  deed,  comprised  "nine  acres  more  or 
less,"  and  was  sold  for  one  thousand  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
seven  dollars  and  fifty  cents,  a  part  of  which  is  understood  to 
have  gone  to  pay  Col.  Dickinson's  subscription.1  On  the  7th 
of  December,  1827,  the  widow  and  heirs  of  Col.  Dickinson  fur- 
ther deeded  to  the  Trustees  of  the  College  some  two  and  a  half 
acres  more  at  the  east  end  of  the  former  lot,  and  a  triangular 
piece  of  nearly  an  acre  at  the  south-west  corner  of  the  lot  to 
make  the  front,  which  before  was  narrower,  equal  in  width  to 
the  rear,  for  the  consideration  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars, 
thus  making  the  nucleus  some  twelve  acres  more  or  less  at  a 
cost  of  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  thirty-seven  dollars  and 
fifty  cents.  It  should  be  added  that  we  find  the  names  of  the 
heirs  of  Col.  Dickinson  (Moses  Dickinson,  Jonathan  S.  Dickin- 
son and  Artemas  Thompson  who  married  a  daughter  of  Col. 
Dickinson,)  as  joint  subscribers  to  a  bond  for  one  thousand  dol- 
lars of  the  fifteen  thousand  dollars  which  was  subscribed  to 
make  the  fifty  thousand  dollar  Charity  Subscription  pass  un- 
questioned and  unquestionable  through  the  ordeal  of  the  Legis- 
lative Committee  in  1824. 

In  June,  1828,  the  Trustees  purchased  of  Dea.  John  Leland 
eleven  acres  more  or  less  on  the  west  side  of  the  highway  be- 
longing originally  to  the  estate  of  Rev.  Dr.  Parsons,  and  includ- 
ing the  old  "  Parsons'  House  "  with  other  buildings.  This  is 
the  land  on  which  the  President's  House,  the  Library  and  Col- 
lege Hall  now  stand.  The  sum  paid  for  it  was  two  thousand 
dollars.  It  has  been  squared  out  by  some  small  pieces  not  in 
the  original  purchase,  and  reduced  by  the  sale  of  the  lots  west 
of  the  "back  street,"  till  now  it  comprises  a  little  over  five 
acres. 

In  January,  1841,  on  petition  of  the  Trustees,  the  town  con- 
veyed to  them  without  any  pecuniary  consideration  "a  quit- 

1  In  his  report  announcing  the  completion  of  the  fifty  thousand  dollar  subscription, 
Col.  Graves  speaks  of  "  the  -six  acres  of  land  given  by  Col.  Elijah  Dickinson."  See 
p.  50.  This  donation  was  afterwards  modified,  I  suppose,  as  stated  in  the  text 
above.  In  the  vote  of  the  Trustees  appointing  a  Committee  to  secure  the  title  to 
the  land,  it  is  spoken  of  as  ten  acres."  See  page  62. 


COLLEGE   GROUNDS.  605 

claim  deed  "  of  all  that  part  of  the  common  on  Meeting-House 
Hill  which  lies  in  front  of  the  original  College  lot  except  what 
is  needed  for  a  highway,  thus  connecting  the  original  lot  with 
the  purchase  on  the  west  side,  and  enabling  them  for  the  first 
time  to  enclose  and  extend  the  grounds  as  far  west  as  the  high- 
way and  to  build  upon  them.  This,  of  course,  includes  the  site 
of  the  Octagonal  Cabinet  and  the  Observatory. 

In  June,  1861,  the  College  purchased  of  Judge  John  Dickin- 
son for  one  thousand  dollars  five  acres  more  of  the  old  Col. 
Dickinson  farm,  directly  back  of  the  original  purchase,  in  order 
to  make  a  better  site  for  the  College  Church  and  extend  the 
campus  towards  the  east. 

In  December,  1866,  in  order  to  furnish  a  suitable  site  for 
Walker  Hall,  open  an  avenue  along  the  north  side  of  the  cam- 
pus, and  clear  the  way  for  other  improvements,  the  Trustees 
bought  of  Lucius  Boltwood,  Esq.,  two  and  a  half  acres  of  land, 
one-half  acre  of  which  is  absorbed  in  the  above  mentioned  av- 
enue. The  sum  paid  for  this  purchase  was  nine  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  fifty-six  dollars  and  seventeen  cents. 

This  enumeration  of  College  grounds  would  be  incomplete 
without  the  mention  of  seven  acres  more  or  less  given  in  trust 
to  the  Trustees  for  the  use  of  the  College  and  the  community 
by  Leavitt  Hallock,  Esq.,  and  known  as  the  Hallock  Park. 

The  College  grounds,  exclusive  of  Hallock  Park,  now  contain 
not  far  from  twenty-seven  acres,  and  cost,  for  their  purchase 
money,  not  far  from  fifteen  thousand  dollars.  The  reader  can 
not  have  failed  to  observe  the  immense  difference  in  the  price  per 
acre  of  the  first  and  the  last  purchase.  The  first  was  estimated  at 
about  one  hundred  and  thirty  dollars  an  acre;  the  last  cost 
about  four  thousand  dollars  an  acre,  a  price  which  all  the  Trustees 
thought  to  be  exorbitant,  and  which  some  protested  to  the  last, 
ought  not  to  be  paid,  but  which  was  paid  because  it  seemed  in- 
dispensable to  the  perfection  of  Walker  Hall.  This  history  con- 
tains a  lesson  for  the  founders  of  Colleges  and  Seminaries ;  and 
that  is,  that  they  should  provide  ample  grounds  at  the  outset  to 
meet  the  future  wants  of  the  Institution.  Two  things,  however, 
detract  not  a  little  from  the  practical  value  of  this  lesson.  In 
the  first  place,  it  is  impossible  to  foresee  all  the  future  wants  of 


606  HISTORY  OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

a  College  that  really  lives  and  flourishes.  In  the  second  place, 
many  a  College  is  too  poor  at  the  beginning  to  provide  even  for 
the  wants  which  it  does  foresee.  Amherst  College  is  better  able 
to  pay  four  thousand  dollars  an  acre  for  land  now  than  it  was  to 
pay  one  hundred  and  thirty  dollars  at  the  beginning.  Amherst 
was  then  very  much  in  the  same  situation  as  the  man  who  said, 
he  could  once  have  bought  the  site  of  Chicago  for  a  pair  of 
boots.  When  asked,  why  he  did  not  buy  it :  "I  hadn't  the  pair 
of  boots,"  was  the  conclusive  answer. 

Nearly  half  of  the  College  lot  was  covered  with  a  grove  or 
forest  at  the  time  of  the  original  purchase.  Another  portiorh-was 
set  apart,  a  little  while,  for  cultivation,  as  a  means  of  self-sup- 
port by  the  students.  "  They  have  purchased  a  large  field  on 
the  west  side  of  which  they  have  now  built  the  College  " — so 
says  a  communication  in  the  Boston  Recorder  of  September  1, 
1821,  which,  although  anonymous,  seems  to  speak  by  authority, 
"  for  the  express  purpose  of  affording  each  charity  student  an 
opportunity  of  cultivating  a  quarter  or  half  of  an  acre  in  that 
manner  which  his  taste  and  judgment  shall  dictate.  .  .  .  This  is 
an  advantage  which  Amherst  College  will  have  over  all  the 
other  Colleges." 

The  College  campus  is  so  uneven  in  its  surface  that,  with  the 
exception  perhaps  of  East  College,  there  has  never  been  a  build- 
ing erected  on  it  without  considerable  expense  in  grading  and 
terracing.  The  Trustees  have  at  various  times  appropriated  three, 
five,  ten,  and  fifteen  hundred  dollars  for  general  grading  and 
improving  of  the  grounds.  The  grading  about  Walker  Hall 
cost  one  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  and  all  that  was  done  at 
the  time,  including  the  avenue  in  front,  cost  four  thousand  dollars. 

Ten  thousand  dollars  is  probably  not  an  extravagant  estimate 
of  the  money  that  has  been  expended  for  such  purposes.  Add 
to  this  the  labor  that  has  been  given  by  citizens  and  volunteered 
by  students  and  the  expense  is  swelled  to  a  still  larger  aggregate. 

COLLEGE   EDIFICES. 

Some  account  has  already  been  given  of  each  College  edifice, 
in  its  place  in  the  History,  with  more  or  less  of  detail  of  the 
process  of  erection.  The  following  table  exhibits  in  panoramic 


COLLEGE   EDIFICES.  60T 

review  the  date  and  cost  of  the  several  buildings,  and  thus  the 
growth  and  progress  of  the  Institution : 

COST. 

1820-21.     South  College, $10,000 

1822.     Middle  College,  present  North  College, 10,000 

1827      Chapel  Building, 15,000 

1828.     North  College,  (destroyed  by  fire  in  1857,) 10,000 

1834.     President's  House, , 9,000 

1847.     Woods  Cabinet  and  Lawrence  Observatory, 9,000 

1853.     Library  Building, 10,000 

1855.     Appleton  Cabinet, 10,000 

1855.     Geological  Lecture  Room, 1,000 

1857.     Nineveh  Gallery, 567 

1857.    Williston  Hall,  (on  site  of  Old  North  College,) 15,000 

1857.     East  College, 15,000 

1860.     Barrett  Gymnasium  and  Fixtures, 15,000 

1868-9.     Walker  Hall, 1120,000 

1870-2.     College  Church, 70,000 

1863-4.     Renovation  of  Chapel  Building, 16,000 

1867.     Purchase  and  Renovation  of  College  Hall, 12,000 

$347,567 

CARE   OF   BUILDINGS   AND   GROUNDS — JANITORS. 

The  office  of  Janitor,  or  Professor  of  Dust  and  Ashes,  in  Am- 
herst  College  is  a  comparatively  recent  institution  which  grew 
up  naturally  with  the  growth  of  the  College,  and  increased  with 
its  increase  till  it  has  become  one  of  our  most  important  offices. 
For  many  years,  the  buildings  and  grounds  took  care  of  them- 
selves, were  cared  for  by  the  spontaneous  service  of  officers  and 
students  like  a  small  and  primitive  homestead.by  the  parents  and 
children,  or,  more  generally,  were  not  cared  for  at  all,  or  at  least 
neglected  till  they  became  intolerable  and  then  the  nuisance  was 
abated  by  some  special  vote  and  appointment,  or  perhaps  by  the 
spontaneous  action  of  the  students.  Sometimes  an  unsightly 
and  dilapidated  fence  which  could  be  endured  no  longer,  disap- 
peared in  a  moonlight  night  by  the  hands  of  the  students  work- 
ing under  the  guidance  of  a  Tutor ;  and  in  due  time — not  in  a 
hurry,  for  that  would  be  indecorous — not  perhaps  for  some  consid- 
erable time,  for  the  College  was  poor — but  sooner  or  later  a  bet- 
ter fence  took  its  place.  Faculty  and  students  walked  in  the 

1  $130,000,  including  the  land. 


608  HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

mud  ankle  deep  over  the  College  grounds  and  in  front  of  the 
College  buildings  every  spring,  till  a  kind  of  corduroy  pavement 
of  rough  stones  was  gradually  constructed:  when  this  became 
intolerable,  it  was  torn  up,  some  of  the  best  students  in  College 
taking  part  in  the  process  ;  and  at  length  it  was  succeeded  gradu- 
ally by  fine  paving-stones  about  the  buildings,  and  broad,  hard 
and  smooth  walks  all  over  the  campus.  Every  spring,  for  many 
years,  the  students  were  in  the  habit  of  devoting  one  day  to 
raking  off  the  chips  and  clearing  up  the  grounds.  All  the  ear- 
lier terraces,  as  we  have  already  seen,  were  the  work  of  the  offi- 
cers and  students.  The  Treasurer,  Dea.  Leland,  usually ^took 
a  general  oversight — and  it  was  very  general — of  the  grounds 
and  buildings.  Sometimes  a  Professor  was  specially  charged 
with  the  care  and  superintendence.  The  Professors  of  Physical 
.Science  usually  had  the  charge  of  exhibiting  as  well  as  enlarg- 
ing the  Cabinets.  "  Phin  Warner  "  as  we  used  to  call  him,  was 
the  first  Professor  of  Dust  and  Ashes ;  and  he  was  Professor 
only  in  the  germ,  for  he  did  little  more  than  to  take  up  and 
carry  out  the  ashes  from  the  public  and  private  rooms.  Simeon 
Smith  was  the  first  who  might  perhaps  be  dignified  with  the 
title  of  Janitor.  He  began  with  sweeping  the  rooms  and  halls. 
In  1834,  we  find  his  name  on  the  Records  of  the  Trustees  as  ap- 
pointed Inspector  of  the  College  buildings.  He  gave  only  a 
limited  amount  of  time  to  the  work  and  was  paid  by  the  day  or 
the  hour  for  his  services.  Mr.  Smith  died  July  23,  1842,  and  so 
faithfully  and  satisfactorily  had  he  done  his  work,  that  his  loss 
was  felt  to  be  quite  irreparable. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Josiah  Ayers  who  more  than  filled  the 
vacancy,  and  exalted  the  place  to  a  regular  department,  not 
to  say,  a  professorship.  He  was  at  length  known  chiefly  as 
Prof.  Ayers.  He  was  Janitor  and  kept  the  keys  of  public 
rooms.  He  was  repairer  as  well  as  inspector  of  buildings.  He 
had  charge  of  that  delicate  and  difficult  matter,  the  drawing 
and  occupying  of  rooms  by  students.  In  short,  all  out-of-door 
affairs  and  everything  which  no  one  else  could  or  would  do,  was 
devolved  on  him.  Yet  his  salary  was  never  more  than  three 
hundred  dollars.  Mr.  Ayers  was  Selectman,  member  of  the  Leg- 
islature, deacon  of  the  Church,  superintendent  of  the  Sabbath 


JANITORS.  609 

School  and  in  all  respects  a  leading  citizen.  Beloved  by  officers 
and  students,  respected  by  neighbors  and  acquaintances  and  la- 
mented by  relatives  and  friends,  he  died  August  4,  I860,  at  the 
age  of  fifty. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Oliver  Hunt  who  held  the  office  seven 
years,  from  October,  1860,  till  October,  1867,  and  who,  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duties,  became  so  familiar  with  the  scientific 
collections  that  he  was  a  skillful  guide  to  the  Cabinets,  and  so 
well  acquainted  with  the  arrangement  of  the  books  that,  on  the 
retirement  of  Mr.  Boltwood,  he  acted  as  Assistant  Librarian. 

On  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Hunt  in  1867,  George  H.  Prince 
was  appointed  Janitor  and,  if  money  could  have  retained  him, 
would  have  remained  such  to  this  day.  But  much  to  the  regret 
of  Faculty  and  students,  he  resigned  in  1871,  and  insisted  on 
the  acceptance  of  his  resignation.  He  is  now  one  of  the  Select- 
men of  Amherst.  Sanson  Gates  is  the  present  Janitor. 

Not  long  after  Dr.  Stearns  came  into  the  presidency,  a  colored 
man  who  had  been  for  some  years  a  servant  in  his  family,  hav- 
ing married  and  desiring  a  home  of  his  own  and  constant  occu- 
pation, became  Assistant  Janitor,  and  ere  long  a  house  was  built 
for  him  in  the  rear  of  the  President's  house,  which  has  now  be- 
come one  of  the  College  fixtures.  His  name  is  Charles  Thomp- 
son. Known  sometimes  as  "  Tutor  Charlie,"  and  sometimes  as 
'•'•Prof.  Charlie,"  he  is  one  of  the  most  useful  and  without  excep- 
tion probably  the  most  popular  officer  on  the  College  premises. 
His  portrait  may  be  seen,  with  the  insignia  of  his  office,  in  the 
class-books  of  all  the  classes,  for  the  last  twelve  or  fifteen  years. 

Besides  the  janitor  and  his  assistant,  a  third  man  is  now  em- 
ployed much  of  the  time  on  the  College  buildings  and  grounds. 
The  College,  like  other  people  who  live  in  large  houses,  is  under 
the  necessity  of  employing  many  hands  to  keep  up  the  estab- 
lishment. 

There  was  another  man,  who  although  he  never  was  officially 
janitor  or  sub-janitor,  yet,  for  a  third  of  a  century,  sustained  a 
somewhat  similar  and  no  less  important  relation.  He  kept  in 
repair  the  locks  and  keys  of  all  the  public  and  private  rooms 
in  College,  yes,  and  of  all  the  trunks,  drawers  and  lockers 
in  the  village.  He  kept  the  College  clock,  and  all  the  other 
39 


610  HISTORY    OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

clocks  in  town,  in  running  order.  He  repaired  or  manufactured 
apparatus  in  all  the  departments  as  every  Professor  had  need. 
In  short,  he  made  whatever  no  one  else  could  make,  repaired 
everything  that  nobodj7-  else  could  repair,  did  everything  that 
no  other  mechanic  could  do,  and  was  the  general  engineer  and 
mechanical  genius  of  the  town  and  the  College.  It  is  he  of  whom 
Prof.  Snell  says  in  his  address  at  the  opening  of  Walker  Hall ; 
"  the  old  gentleman  is  to  this  day  very  fond  of  calling  me  his 
apprentice."  It  will  be  seen  that  I  refer  to  Mr.  David  Parsons. 
He  was  born  June  10,  1788,  and  died  June  17, 1872,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-four.  He  was  living  at  the  opening  of  Walker^Hall, 
living  when  I  wrote  the  incident  of  his  boyhood  in  the  first 
chapter  of  this  History,  but  died  a  month  or  two  before  it  went 
to  press.  The  son  of  Rev.  Dr.  David  Parsons,  ,the  first  Presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  he  possessed  not  a  little  of  his 
father's  genius,  and  to  stand  by  him  and  hear  him  talk  as  he 
was  repairing  some  hopelessly  dilapidated  clock,  or  pump,  or 
piece  of  apparatus,  was  as  instructive  as  a  lecture,  and  more 
amusing  than  a  comedy. 

FUNDS. 

The  "  Fifty  Thousand  Dollar  Charity  Fund  "  was  the  only 
permanent  fund  of  the  College  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
The  history  of  the  raising  of  that  fund  has  been  given  in  one 
of  our  early  chapters.  I  am  indebted  to  Rev.  Christopher  Gush- 
ing, D.  D.,  the  oldest  member  of  the  Board  of  Overseers,  and  the 
Secretary  of  the  Board,  for  the  following  history  of  its  growth 
and  administration. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Overseers  of  the  Charity 
Fund  was  held  August  28, 1822.  There  were  present  Rev.  The- 
ophilus  Packard,  Gen.  Salem  Towne,  Jr.,  H.  Wright  Strong, 
Esq.,  and  Rev.  Thomas  Snell.  The  record  designates  the  fund 
as  that  "  upon  which  is  founded  the  Charity  Institution  in  Am- 
herst."  Having  chosen  Lucius  Boltwood,  Esq.,  Auditor,  and 
elected  Rev.  Samuel  Osgood  an  Overseer,  the  Board  adjourned 
"  to  the  day  of  examination  at  the  close  of  the  next  quarter  in 
Amherst  Academy."  Thus  the  Board  of  Overseers  antedates 
the  College. 


THE   CHARITY  FUXD.  611 

Previous  to  1824,  the  income  from  the  fund  was  applied  to 
students  in  the  Academy  and  to  those  who  were  in  "  the  Colle- 
giate Institution  "  indiscriminately ;  but  in  that  year  and  ever 
afterward  it  was  appropriated  exclusively  to  students  in  "  the 
Collegiate  Institution."  The  "  Charter  "  is  recognized  in  1825 
and  the  Charity  Institution  is  called  a  "  College  "  in  1826. 

The  Board  of  Trustees  having  proposed  "  so  far  to  alter  the 
Constitution  as  to  unite  at  their  pleasure  the  offices  of  Financier 
and  Treasurer  in  one  and  the  same  person,  the  Board  of  Over- 
seers .  .  .  voted  unanimously  to  alter  said  Constitution  as  pro- 
posed," August  22, 1826.  The  name  of  the  financial  officer  was 
changed  from  Financier  to  Commissioner  in  1842. 

In  accordance  with  a  suggestion  made  by  the  Overseers  in 
1865,  the  avails  of  the  Charity  Funds  have  since  that  date  been 
made  the  basis  of  Ministerial  Scholarships,  yielding  each  bene- 
ficiary sixty  dollars  a  year,  and  to  a  few  beneficiaries  a  larger 
sum.  The  original  amount  of  the  fund  was  fifty-one  thousand 
four  hundred  and  four  dollars.1  By  the  Constitution  and  By- 
laws in  accordance  with  which  the  fund  is  managed,  one-sixth 
of  the  income  is  required  to  be  added  annually  to  the  principal. 

It  is  not  known  that  there  has  ever  been  any  loss  of  any  por- 
tion of  the  fund.  In  tt  few  instances  there  has  been  loss  of 
interest,  while  on  the  other  hand  there  have  been  some  thousands 
of  dollars  of  extra  interest  received  through  the  premium  on 
gold,  and  by  judicious  investments  some  thousands  of  dollars 
have  been  realized  as  "increment"  in  distinction  from  income. 
Thus  the  amount  of  the  fund  now  reaches  the  sum  of  seventy- 
two  thousand  dollars.  The  available  income  of  the  fund  from 
1827  to  1872  inclusive,  has  been  over  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  thousand  dollars.  During  these  forty-six  years  the  entire 
expense  of  taking  care  of  the  fund  has  been  something  over 
ten  thousand  dollars,  and  the  amount  given  to  students  has  been 
over  one  hundred  and  sixteen  thousand  dollars. 

In  1864  the  Overseers  voted  unanimously  "  That  in  our  opin- 
ion any  student  who  shall  be  convicted  of  the  vicious  habit  of 
'  hazing  Freshmen  '  should  be  cut  off  from  all  aid  from  the  Char- 
ity Fund."  In  1871,  the  Overseers  "  Voted,  that  it  is  the  unan- 

*  Cf.  p.  50. 


612  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

imous  opinion  of  this  Board  that  no  student  who  uses  intoxi- 
cating drinks  as  a  beverage,  or  tobacco  in  any  form,  should  be 
regarded  as  a  suitable  person  to  receive  aid  from  the  Charitable 
Funds  of  this  College." 

Rev.  Samuel  Osgood,  D.  D.,  of  Springfield  was  a  member  of 
the  Board  thirty-eight  years,  and  Rev.  Thomas  Snell,  D.  D.. 
of  North  Brookfield,  thirty-three  years.  No  other  person  has 
ever  been  connected  with  the  Board  for  even  twenty-five  years. 
There  have  been  but  two  deaths  of  members  during  their  con- 
nection with  the  Board. 

In  1863  the  Board  adopted  the  following  minute :  'WThe 
Board  of  Overseers  of  the  Charity  Fund  of  Amherst  College, 
recognizing  the  providence  of  God  in  the  removal  of  one  of  their 
number  by  death,  record  with  gratitude  the  remarkable  fact, 
that  during  the  forty-two  years  of  the  existence  of  this  Board 
there  has  never,  until  this  year,  been  any  instance  of  death 
among  its  members. 

"And  whereas  the  late  Hon.  Ithamar  Conkey,  who  held  a  seat 
as  a  member  of  this  Board  sixteen  years,  during  which  time  he 
was  never  absent  from  the  annual  meeting,  except  in  a  single 
instance,  and  who  presided  as  Chairman  of  the  Board  for  four- 
teen years,  has  been  removed  from  us  by  the  hand  of  God,  we 
would  also  express  our  appreciation  of  the  punctuality,  accu- 
racy, courtesy,  integrity  and  Christian  character  of  our  departed 
brother,  and  our  sympathy  with  the  bereaved  family  in  this 
afflictive  providence." 

In  1870  the  Board  adopted  the  following :  "  Whereas  our 
esteemed  associate,  the  Hon.  Edward  South  worth,  since  our  last 
meeting,  in  the  providence  of  God,  has  been  removed  from  us 
by  death,  we  would  record  our  appreciation  of  his  financial  skill, 
his  cultured  manners,  and  his  strict  integrity — remembering  his 
high  standard  as  to  the  responsibilities  of  a  fiduciary  trust,  and 
his  grateful  companionship,  we  mourn  his  loss." 

The  Secretaries  of  the  Board  have  been  as  follows  :  Rev. 
Thomas  Snell,  D.  D.,  1822-36,  fifteen  years  ;  Rev.  Cyrus  Mann, 
1837-38,  two  years  ;  Thomas  Bond,  Esq.,  1839-46,  eight  years; 
Hon.  William  Hyde,  1847-57,  eleven  years ;  Rev.  Christopher 
dishing,  1858-. 


CASH  FUNDS.  613 

The  following  is  the  list  of  Auditors  with  their  terms  of  ser- 
vice :  Lucius  Boltwood,  Esq.,  1822-33,  twelve  years ;  Rev. 
Samuel  Ware,  1833-55,  twenty-two  years  ;  Moses  B.  Green,  A. 
B.,  1855-65,  ten  years  ;  Rodolphus  B.  Hubbard,  A.  M.,  1866-69, 
four  years  ;  George  Montague,  Esq.,  1870-. 

Only  one  Auditor  has  died  in  office. 

In  1866  the  Board  voted,  "  That,  as  in  the  providence  of  God 
the  Auditor  of  this  Board,  Moses  B.  Green,  Esq.,  has  been  re- 
moved by  death,  we  would  record  our  appreciation  of  his  faith- 
fulness in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties,  and  our  affectionate 
remembrance  of  his  many  gentle  and  amiable  virtues." 

The  donors  and  dates  of  the  other  funds  which,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  Sears,  have  all  been  founded  under  the  presi- 
dencies of  Dr.  Hitchcock  and  Dr.  Stearns,  may  be  seen  in  the 
chapters  on  their  administrations.  The  following  statement  of 
the  Treasurer,  Hon.  Edward  Dickinson,  exhibits  the  present 
amount  of  the  cash  funds  of  the  College,  as  estimated  in  round 
numbers,  and  classified  under  several  heads,  together  with  the 
estimated  annual  income  and  expenditure  : 

CASH     FUNDS    OF    AMHERST    COLLEGE,    INDEPENDENT  .  OF    CONTRIBUTIONS 

FOR   BUILDINGS. 

Funds  whose  income  is  available  for  the  payment  of  salaries  and 

other  current  expenses, $250,000 

Scholarships, 50,000 

Hitchcock  donation  for  Scholarships  and  kindred  objects,      .     .     .     100,000 

Library, 43,000 

Bonds  of  State  of  Virginia,  unavailable  at  present, 40,000 

Miscellaneous  specific  appropriations, 40,000 

Charity  Fund, 72,000 

$595,000 

Estimated  income  of  funds  for  general  expenses, $22,000 

Estimated  income  of  Students'  College  bills, 28.000 

$50,000 

Estimated  expenses,  salaries,  etc., $54,000 

Estimated  deficiency  for  current  year, $4.000 

The    entire    property   of   the    College,   including    buildings, 


614  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

grounds,  collections,  etc.,  as  well  as  cash  funds,  is   estimated 
in  round  numbers  at  over  a  million  of  dollars. 


LIBRARY   AND   LIBRARIANS. 

Beginning  with  a  few  theological  and  miscellaneous  books, 
presented  chiefly  by  ministers,  collected  in  a  chamber  at  Mrs. 
Montague's  and  deposited  first  in  a  single  case  in  the  entry  of 
South  College,  then  on  a  few  shelves  in  a  room  in  Middle  Col- 
lege, the  Library  of  Amherst  College  first  had  a  local  habitation, 
called  the  Library,  in  the  third  story  of  the  Chapel  building  in 
1827,  and  it  was  not  till  1853  that  the  present  Library  buflxling 
was  erected  expressly  and  exclusively  for  its  use.  The  archi- 
tect calculated  that  the  shelves  of  the  principal  story,  without 
the  basement,  would  contain  forty  thousand  volumes,  which 
was  thought  to  be  all  the  accommodation  that  would  be  needed 
for  fifty  years.  The  Library  now  numbers  about  twenty-seven 
thousand  volumes,  and  it  not  only  fills  to  overflowing  the  prin- 
cipal story,  but  having  displaced  the  reading-room  1  and  the 
Trustees'  room,  is  now  fast  filling  the  "  lower  hall "  or  base- 
ment, and  in  a  very  few  years  will  require  an  addition,  or  a  new 
building.  Dependent  the  first  twenty  years,  or  more,  on  sub- 
scriptions, or  special  appropriations  from  the  general  treasury, 
it  now  has  permanent  funds  and  an  annual  income  which,  the 
year  past,  has  been  nearly  two  thousand  dollars,  and  which,  by 
the  conditions  of  the  Sears  Fund,  is  continually  increasing. 

Prof.  Estabrook  was  the  first  Librarian — from  1821  to 
1823.  Tutor  Clapp  then  had  charge  of  it  for  one  year.  Prof. 
Worcester  was  Librarian  from  1824  till  1827.  Prof.  Snell  held 
the  office  from  1827  to  1852 — a  quarter  of  a  century !  His 
salary  was  forty  dollars ! !  At  the  close  of  his  term  of  office  the 
Library  contained  only  about  ten  thousand  volumes,  had  no 
printed  or  classified  catalogue,  was  opened  only  once  a  week  for 
drawing  books,  and  furnished  no  facilities  for  reference  or  read- 
ing in  the  room. 

1  The  reading-room,  containing  the  principal  American  and  foreign  quarterlies, 
and  some  of  the  magazines,  is  now  accommodated  on  the  floor  of  the  upper  hall,  or 
Library  proper.  Besides  this  the  students  have  a  reading-room,  containing  the 
newspapers,  in  North  College. 


LIBRARIANS.  615 

With  the  prospect  of  a  new  building  and  a  more  rapid  increase 
of  books,  the  Library  seemed  to  require  the  time  and  services 
of  a  Librarian.  Lucius  Manlius  Bolt  wood  was  appointed  to 
the  office  in  1852,  and  held  it  for  eleven  years,  during  which 
time  the  books  were  arranged  and  shelved  in  the  new  buildings, 
catalogued  anew  and  more  perfectly,  and  nearly  doubled  in  num- 
ber. The  first  printed  catalogue  was  published  in  1855,  and 
contained  about  twelve  thousand  volumes.  The  card  catalogue 
was  also  commenced  by  Mr.  Boltwood. 

The  present  Librarian,  Prof.  William  L.  Montague,  who  was 
appointed  in  1864,  has  prepared  a  complete  card  catalogue  of 
authors  alphabetically  arranged,  a  manuscript  catalogue  of  all 
the  books  classified  according  to  departments  and  subjects,  and 
a  continuation  of  Poole's  Index  to  the  principal  quarterlies  in 
the  Library,  printed  a  new  catalogue  of  additions  containing 
more  than  fourteen  thousand  three  hundred  volumes,  and  de- 
vised and  put  in  execution  a  plan  for  utilizing  the  whole  building 
so  as  to  supersede  for  the  present  the  necessity  of  a  new  edifice. 
All  that  can  be  done  for  the  Library  by  a  Librarian  who  is  at  the 
same  time  a  Professor  charged  with  the  care  of  a  department  in 
the  College,  has  been  done  by  Prof.  Montague.  But  one  of  the 
most  imperative  wants  of  the  College  now  is  a  Librarian  who  with 
all  the  learning,  culture,  Weight  of  character  and  personal  inter- 
est of  a  Professor,  should  give  his  whole  time  to  the  Library, 
especially  in  the  way  of  making  it  in  the  largest  measure  avail- 
able for  the  use  of  the  Faculty  and  students. 

The  following  statistics,  furnished  by  the  Librarian,  will  be 
interesting  to  some  of  our  readers,  and  may  furnish  a  standard 
of  comparison  for  future  times  : 

Number  of  volumes  in  catalogue,  July,  1871, 26,300 

Number  in  foreign  languages,  ancient  and  modern, 4,600 

Ancient  classics,  . 1,700 

Modern  European  languages, 2,800 

Oriental, 100 

Scientific, 4,000 

Annual  increase  of  the  Library, 800 

Annual  increase  of  American  books, 344 

Annual  increase  of  foreign  books, 456 

Annual  increase  by  purchase, 600 


616  HISTORY   OP   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

Annual  increase  by  donation, 200 

Number  of  persons  who  use  the  Library, 300 

Number  of  books  taken  out  each  week, 216 

Average  weekly  number  of  readers  in  the  Library, 80 

Average  weekly  number  of  books  consulted  or  read, 175 

Annual  expense  of  care  of  the  Library, $1,200 

In  estimating  this  last  item,  only  about  five  hundred  dollars 
of  Prof.  Montague's  salary  is  charged  to  the  Library.  The  re- 
mainder is  paid  to  two  students  who  serve  as  his  assistants. 

LABORATORY  AND   CABINETS. 

^ 

The  Chemical  Laboratory  was  born  in  1822,  I  believe,  in  one 
of  the  lower  rooms  in  South  College — was  cradled,  together 
with  Physics,  Philosophy,  Rhetoric,  Religion  and  I  know  not 
how  many  other  nurselings,  in  that  marvelous  phalanstery,  so 
humorously  described  by  President  Humphrey,  and  Dr.  Hitch- 
cock, in  the  fourth  story  south  entry  of  North  College— at- 
tained its  majority  in  the  cellar  or  basement  at  the  west  end 
of  the  Chapel  building,  and  now  in  its  mature  manhood,  it  has 
spread  itself  and  taken  entire  and  exclusive  possession  of  the 
first  floor  in  Williston  Hall.  Alumni  who  return  to  visit  the 
old  homestead  find  more  difficulty  in  recognizing  in  the  full- 
grown  man  a  single  feature  of  the  infa'nt,  the  child  or  the  youth 
with  whom  they  were  acquainted  in  their  College  days,  than 
they  do  in  recognizing  each  other  after  an  absence  of  a  quarter 
or  half  a  century.  The  most  novel  and  characteristic  feature 
of  the  new  Laboratory  in  Williston  Hall  is  the  working-room 
furnished  with  tables,  bowls,  blow-pipes,  etc.,  etc.,  which  are 
kept  in  almost  constant  use,  not  unfrequently  in  vacation  as 
well  as  term-time,  by  students  in  analytic  chemistry. 

The  history  of  the  "  Philosophical  Cabinet,"  as  we  used  to 
call  Prof.  Snell's  apparatus  for  the  illustration  of  physics  and 
the  room  in  which  it  was  contained,  was  given  by  the  Professor 
himself  at  the  opening  of  "Walker  Hall,  better  than  it  can  be 
given  by  anybody  else.  There  is  no  fault  to  be  found  with  it 
except  that  with  characteristic  modesty  "  the  half  has  not  been 
told."  We  copy  it  almost  entire  : 

"  Soon  after  Amherst  College  was  opened   for  the  reception 


APPARATUS.  617 

of  students,  in  September,  1821,  a  few  second-hand  articles  of 
English  apparatus  were  purchased  of  Dr.  Prince  of  Salem. 
These  were,  a  set  of  simple  machines,  a  small  air-pump,  an  elec- 
trical machine,  a  compound  microscope,  a  solar  microscope,  a 
magic-lantern,  and  a  limited  number  of  small  articles  to  accom- 
pany them.  There  was  also  a  pair  of  globes,  and  a  small 
Gregorian  telescope.  The  collection  had  probably  done  long 
service  elsewhere ;  and  some  of  the  articles  were  much  worn. 
The  air-pump  was  especially  infirm,  and  would  generally  fail 
before  a  lecture  was  closed, — unable  to  draw  another  breath. 

"  When  the  North  College  was  erected,  in  1822,  the  southern 
half  of  the  fourth  story  was  devoted  to  public  uses.  The  space 
now  occupied  by  the  entry  and  corner-rooms  was  used  for  a 
Chapel.  The  back  middle-room  contained  the  College  Library ; 
and  the  front  middle,  the  apparatus  both  in  natural  philosophy 
and  chemistry ;  and  lectures  in  both  of  these  departments,  in- 
deed on  all  subjects,  were  given  in  the  Chapel,  the  simple  pulpit 
at  the  west  end  serving  as  a  lecturing-desk. 

"  Prof.  Olds,  the  first  incumbent  of  the  chair  of  natural  phi- 
losophy, and  Prof.  Jacob  Abbott,  his  successor,  had  only  the 
meagre  collection  already  described  with  which  to  illustrate  the 
principles  of  the  science.  In  1831,  Prof.  Hovey,  the  successor 
of  Prof.  Abbott,  visited  Europe  for  his  health ;  and  the  oppor- 
tunity was  seized  upon  by  the  friends  of  the  College  to  solicit 
contributions,  and  to  commission  the  Professor  to  purchase 
books  for  the  Library,  and  apparatus  for  the  scientific  depart- 
ments. I  think,  about  four  thousand  dollars  were  raised  for 
these  purposes.  The  principal  part  of  the  philosophical  cabinet 
was  procured  of  Pixii  of  Paris,  and  cost  somewhat  less  than  two 
thousand  dollars. 

"  The  Chapel  building  which  had  been  erected  in  1826,  be- 
tween the  North  and  South  Colleges,  had  a  room  appropriated 
to  the  uses  of  the  philosophical  apparatus ;  and  the  few  articles 
first  purchased  of  Dr.  Prince  had  been  placed  in  it.  Previous 
to  the  purchases  made  by  Prof.  Hovey,  all  the  instruments  be- 
longing to  the  department  were  accommodated  on  one  wide 
shelf  extending  half  round  that  room.  After  the  new  apparatus 
had  arrived,  and  before  Prof.  Hovey's  return,  the  whole  was 


618  HISTORY   OF  AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

unpacked,  and  the  parts  put  together  at  my  own  house,  where 
it  stood  in  two  unoccupied  rooms  till  cases  could  be  erected  for 
it  in  the  room  of  the  chapel  building.  From  1827  to  1870,  a 
period  of  forty-three  years,  this  collection  of  instruments  has 
been  kept  in  the  same  room,  new  cases  having  been  repeatedly 
added  as  they  were  needed ;  but  for  the  last  eight  or  ten  years 
the  cases  have  become  so  crowded,  that,  when  a  new  article  was 
wanted,  the  first  question  to  be  answered  was,  "  Is  there  any 
room  for  it  ?  "  And  this  want  of  space  for  the  safe  and  con- 
venient accommodation  of  new  instruments  has  of  late  been  a 
serious  difficulty  in  the  way  of  increasing  the  collection.  >.  In 
quantity,  and,  as  I  think,  in  real  utility,  it  is  now  just  about 
double  of  what  it  was  immediately  after  the  purchases  were 
made  in  1831. 

"  It  may  not  be  improper  for  me  to  state  in  what  way  this 
increase  has  been  made.  But  let  me  premise,  that,  for  a  few 
years  after  Prof.  Hovey's  purchases,  the  philosophical  apparatus 
of  Amherst  College  had  a  high  reputation.  It  was  extensive 
for  that  day ;  and  the  articles,  mostly  of  French  construction, 
were  very  neat  and  beautiful  when  compared  with  the  old  and 
heavy  English  instruments  which  were  to  be  found  in  most  of 
the  Colleges.  Professors  from  several  Institutions  came  to  ex- 
amine it;  and  the  establishment  of  Pixii  received  not  a  few 
large  orders  from  the  United  States  in  consequence  of  the  ex- 
ample set  by  this  College. 

"  Every  department  of  knowledge,  however,  is  progressive. 
Whatever  completeness  the  appliances  for  giving  instruction 
may  possess  this  year,  they  will  be  found  deficient  the  next. 
Hence  I  very  soon  found  it  necessary  to  furnish  myself  with  ad- 
ditional pieces,  either  for  the  illustration  of  newly-discovered 
facts  and  principles,  or  for  the  more  perfect  presentation  of  those 
already  known.  But  how  should  this  be  done  ?  The  College 
was  poor,  and  the  money  already  expended  had  been  begged 
from  friends  who  supposed  they  had  set  her  up  for  a  life-time. 
It  would  not  do  to  apply  to  them  again  so  soon.  Of  course,  the 
College  must  appropriate  a  little  to  the  several  departments  in 
order  to  keep  things  in  repair.  The  problem  was,  how  with 
that  little  (which  for  this  department  did  not,  for  a  considera- 


PROF.  SHELL'S  WORKSHOP.  619 

ble  time,  exceed  twenty-five  dollars  a  year),  how  with  that 
small  sum,  to  preserve  the  apparatus  in  a  decent  condition  in 
spite  of  wear  and  accident,  and  also  to  make  occasional  addi- 
tions and  improvements. 

"  With  all  my  want  of  qualifications  for  my  position,  of  which 
none  can  be  so  fully  aware  as  myself,  I  found  one  thing  greatly 
in  my  favor.  I  was  born  a  Yankee,  and  from  childhood  had 
been  fond  of  whittling.  The  Department  of  Natural  Philosophy 
gave  me  the  opportunity  of  indulging  in  this  kind  of  recreation. 
Before  I  could  afford  to  buy  tools,  or  fit  up  a  shop  I  begged  the 
use  of  both  from  my  worthy  friend  Mr.  David  Parsons,  who  is 
a  most  skillful  mechanic  himself,  and  who  gave  me  gratuitously 
a  multitude  of  valuable  hints.  The  old  gentleman  is  to  this  day 
very  fond  of  calling  me  his  apprentice.  The  Department  of  Nat- 
ural Philosophy  in  Amherst  College  owes  not  a  little,  both  di- 
rectly and  indirectly,  to  the  skill  and  kindness  of  Mr.  Parsons. 
By  slow  degrees  I  procured  tools  for  myself,  and  at  length  set 
up  shop  in  the  rear  part  of  my  house,  where,  during  each  of 
the  last  thirty  years,  I  have  done  more  or  less  of  mechanical 
work.  I  have  repaired  instruments  which  needed  repair;  a 
considerable  number  I  improved,  so  that  they  serve  their  pur- 
poses better,  or  else  answer  another  purpose  beside  that  for 
which  they  were  originally  designed ;  and  not  a  few  I  have 
wholly  made,  either  from  published  descriptions,  or  from  designs 
of  my  own. 

44  The  most  valuable  article  which  my  private  workshop 
now  contains  is  not  my  own,  but  belongs  to  the  College.  It 
is  an  engine  lathe,  turned  by  the  foot ;  and  was  given  by 
James  T.  Ames,  Esq.,  of  Chicopee,  for  the  benefit  of  the  de- 
partment. 

"  The  average  appropriation  to  the  Department  of  Natural 
Philosophy  from  1828  to  1869  has  been  about  sixty-five  dollars 
per  year, — a  sum  which  could  hardly  be  expected  to  do  more 
than  keep  the  apparatus  in  tolerable  repair.  And  yet,  as  I  have 
already  said,  this  annual  allowance  has  served  to  double  the 
value  of  the  collection. 

"  Now  that  the  collection  is  to  occupy  a  spacious  and  hand- 
some apartment,  I  trust  the  Walker  funds  will  avail  to  replace 


620  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST    COLLEGE. 

many  cheap-looking  instruments  by  more  comely  and  fitting 
ones,  as  well  as  to  add  a  number  of  others  which  I  have  for 
some  time  wished  to  procure,  but  which  the  former  room  was 
not  large  enough  to  accommodate,  nor  the  resources  of  the  de- 
partment sufficient  to  purchase." 

The  history  of  the  "  Natural  History  Cabinets  "  for  the  first 
'  forty  years  and  more  occupies  thirty  pages  of  Dr.  Hitchcock's 
"  Reminiscences  of  Amherst  College."  It  is  the  most  fascina- 
ting portion  of  the  book,  and  one  of  the  most  charming  specimens 
of  autobiography  blended  with  history  that  can  be  found  in 
modern  literature.  How  the  nucleus  was  formed  by  the  unipn 
of  his  own  private  collection  of  a  few  hundred  specimens  with 
one  already  begun  by  the  Natural  History  Society  which  he 
found  here  in  1826,  the  larger  part  of  both  which  collections, 
he  playfully  remarks,  would  probably  come  under  the  title  of 
jactalites  or  specimens  to  be  thrown  away — how  this  was  in- 
creased by  his  own  collections  when  he  was  making  the  geologi- 
cal survey  of  Massachusetts,  and  by  contributions  from  gradu- 
ates, especially  foreign  missionaries — how  further  accessions  were 
made  by  bequests  of  Prof.  Hovey,  by  donations  from  Prof. 
Shepard  and  Prof.  Adams,  by  exchange  and  purchase  from 
European  collections,  and  by  contributions  from  the  classes, 
such  for  example  as  the  huge  bowlder  weighing  over  eight  tons 
which  the  Class  of  '57  transported  half  a  mile  and  placed,  where 
it  now  lies,  in  front  of  Woods  Cabinet — the  sympathizing  de- 
scription of  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  Shepard  and  the 
Adams  Cabinets  and  his  admiring  notices  of  the  men  who  cre- 
ated them — and  above  all  that  romantic  history  of  the  Ichno- 
logical  Cabinet  begun  in  1835  with  the  Greenfield  "  turkey 
tracks,"  and  the  South  Hadley  "  tracks  of  poultry "  or  of 
"  Noah's  raven  "  and  continued  with  the  ridicule  or  the  pity  of 
the  masses  and  the  opposition  of  men  of  science  generally,  but 
with  the  sympathy  and  support  of  a  few  "  noble  "  and  "  emi- 
nent" savants,  and  the  pecuniary  aid  of  not  a  few  generous  per- 
sonal friends  and  friends  of  the  College,  till  at  length  Ichnology 
was  recognized  as  an  established  science,  and  the  Appleton  Cab- 
inet became  a  geological  or  palseontological  Mecca,  the  resort  of 
scientific  pilgrims  from  all  lands — all  this  forms  a  history  of 


NATURAL   HISTORY   CABINETS.  621 

unique  and  unsurpassed  interest  which,  to  be  appreciated,  must 
be  read,  as  it  is  narrated  by  him  who  was  at  once  the  author 
of  the  book  and  the  founder  of  the  Cabinets,  in  his  inimitable 
autobiography.  Not  the  least  entertaining  passages  in  the  nar- 
ratives are  those  in  which  he  reports  the  comments  of  the  by- 
standers as  they  witnessed  his  enthusiasm  in  making  these  col- 
lections— such  as  these,  for  example  : 

"  After  the  auction  at  Greenfield,  I  employed  a  wagoner  to 
transport  my  specimens  to  the  railroad.  I  happened  to  be  a 
little  out  of  sight  and  heard  him  describing  to  a  citizen,  standing 
by,  the  sums  I  had  paid  for  them.  '  The  man,'  said  the  citi- 
zen, '  who  will  waste  money  like  that,  should  have  a  guardian 
placed  over  him.' 

"  A  large  crowd  had  gathered  when  I  took  the  first  cast,  and 
I  was  told  afterwards  that  all  which  saved  me  from  being  voted 
a  fit  subject  for  a  lunatic  asylum,  was  the  testimony  of  a  young 
lady,  in  one  of  the  adjoining  houses,  who  had  attended  my  lec- 
tures on  geology  at  Amherst,  and  who  testified  that  I  was  no 
more  deranged  than  such  men  usually  are." 

Another  thing  with  which  one  cannot  but  be  struck  in  read- 
ing Dr.  Hitchcock's  Reminiscences  of  his  Cabinets,  and  also  in 
visiting  the  Cabinets  themselves,  is  the  pains  he  has  taken  to 
perpetuate  the  name  of  every  contributor  whether  of  money,  or 
of  specimens,  however  small  the  contribution  may  have  been. 
He  had  a  good  memory,  the  memory  of  a  grateful  heart ;  and  it 
will  not  be  his  fault,  if  the  donors  to  his  Cabinets  are  not  held 
in  everlasting  remembrance. 

The  Conchological  and  the  Ichnological  collections  remain 
to  this  day  very  much  as  they  were  left  by  the  respective  found- 
ers at  the  time  of  their  death,  the  former  reminding  one  of  a 
book  suddenly  interrupted  by  the  death  of  its  author  which 
must  remain  forever  unfinished — the  latter  suggesting  those 
Cyclopean  foundations  at  Baalbec  whose  builders  were  arrested 
by  some  mysterious  cause  and  those  who  came  after  them  never 
even  attempted  to  complete  the  edifice.  The  Hitchcock  Ichno- 
logical Cabinet,  however,  is  much  more  than  a  foundation — it  is 
probably  a  pretty  complete  collection  of  the  principal  genera  and 

1  Of  tracks  on  the  sidewalks  of  Greenwich  street  in  New  York  City. 


622  HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

species  as  they  exist  in  the  sandstone  of  the  Connecticut  Valley, 
and  the  proper  work  of  his  successors  will  be  not  so  much  to 
add  to  the  collections,  as  to  study  and  interpret  them  in  the 
light  of  advancing  science  in  future  ages. 

The  Zoological  Museum  has  received  many  valuable  additions 
within  the  last  ten  years,  especially  in  the  department  of  Com- 
parative Osteology  to  which  Prof.  Edward  Hitchcock,  Jr.,  has 
given  especial  attention.  Indeed  the  Gorilla,  the  Megatherium, 
most  of  the  skeletons  and  stuffed  skins  of  quadrupeds,  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  specimens  which  now  attract  chief  attention 
in  the  upper  story  of  the  Appleton  Cabinet  have  been  added 
during  this  period.  The  following  memorandum  of  Prof.  Hitch- 
cock will  indicate  the  sources  from  which  these  additions  have 
chiefly  come :  "  Friends  have  given  me  within  five  years  five 
hundred  and  ninety-five  dollars  and  fifty-four  cents  to  buy  speci- 
mens in  Comparative  Osteology.  From  1859  to  1865,  the  Trus- 
tees appropriated  three  hundred  dollars  each  year,  most  of  which 
was  expended  in  new  specimens  for  the  Zoological  Cabinet. 
Since  then  they  have  appropriated  about  one  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-five dollars  per  annum  for  the  same  purpose.  In  addition 
we  have  had  contributions  from  various  sources  which,  I  esti- 
mate, will  average  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a  year.  Of 
this  our  graduate  foreign  missionaries  have  furnished  at  least 
one-half."  Some  of  the  rarest  and  finest  specimens  have  been 
given  by  Rev.  William  Walker  and  Rev.  Josiah  Tyler,  mission- 
aries to  Western  and  Southern  Africa.  The  greater  part  of 
these  contributions  were  received  in  response  to  a  circular  ad- 
dressed by  Prof.  Hitchcock  to  the  Alumni,  in  which  such  con- 
tributions were  invited. 

The  following  brief  history  of-  the  origin  and  progress  of  the 
Shepard  Cabinet,  and  the  means  and  processes  of  its  growth,  has 
been  furnished  at  my  request  by  the  Professor  himself: 

"  My  Mineralogical  Cabinet  was  commenced  at  the  age  of  fif- 
teen, while  a  member  of  the  Providence  Grammar  School ;  and 
was  brought  with  me  when  I  left  Brown  University  to  join  the 
Sophomore  Class,  of  Amherst  Institution,  in  1821.  An  early 
visit  after  my  arrival  here  to  the  Tourmaline,  and  other  locali- 
ties of  Chesterfield  and  Goshen  served  to  increase  my  eagerness 


THE   SHEPARD    CABINET.  623 

as  a  collector,  and  at  the  same  time  placed  me  in  possession  of 
abundant  materials  for  exchange.  In  1823,  my  identification  of 
the  previously  supposed  white  augite  of  Goshen,  with  the  spe- 
cies Spodumene  gave  me  confidence  in  the  study  of  minerals, 
while  it  increased  my  stock  of  specimens  desirable  to  mineralo- 
gists. The  exchange  I  then  carried  on  with  the  Austrian  Con- 
sul-General,  Baron  von  Lederer,  in  behalf  of  his  own  collection 
and  that  of  the  Imperial  Cabinet  of  Vienna,  rapidly  enriched 
my  little  museum  in  foreign  minerals.  Indeed,  from  the  first,  it 
was  sufficiently  ample  to  serve  a  useful  purpose  in  the  instruc- 
tion of  beginners ;  and  was  the  sole  resource  of  Prof.  Amos 
Eaton  in  the  lectures  he  gave  during  two  seasons,  before  the 
students  of  the  Institution. 

On  leaving  College,  I  resided  a  year  partly  in  Cambridge 
and  partly  in  Boston,  during  which  period  I  profited  much  in 
extending  my  collections  through  visits  to  new  localities  in 
Eastern  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island,  and  still  more,  by  ex- 
changes with  Prof.  Nuttall  and  other  active  cultivators  of  Min- 
eralogy in  the  region.  I  soon  after  made  a  very  successful  tour 
into  Maine,  where  at  Paris,  I  was  the  fortunate  discoverer  of 
the  most  remarkable  green  and  red  Tourmalines  then  known. 
With  some  of  these  I  made  profitable  exchanges  with  the  Brit- 
ish Museum  and  other  large  collections.  My  association  in  1828 
with  Prof.  Silliman  as  his  assistant,  and  afterwards  with  the 
College  as  a  lecturer  on  Natural  Science  for  many  years,  afforded 
me  unusual  facilities  for  the  extension  of  my  Cabinet.  All  the 
best  localities  of  Connecticut  were  frequently  visited,  specimens 
of  rare  interest  secured,  and  the  means  of  supplying  scientific 
correspondents  abundantly  obtained.  These  objects  were  still 
further  effected  by  journeys  into  adjoining  States  and  the  Cana- 
das,  until  1835,  when  I  became  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the 
Medical  College  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  where  a  new 
and  very  ample  field  was  opened  for  the  extension  of  my  col- 
lections. From  that  time  to  the  present,  with  the  exception  of 
the  period  of  the  civil  war,  I  have  passed  nearly  the  half  of 
each  year  in  the  South,  and  been  engaged  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent in  scientific  and  mining  explorations,  which  have  resulted 
in  varied  and  rich  contributions  to  my  Cabinet.  These  travels 


624  HISTOKY   OF   AMHEEST    COLLEGE. 

have  also  embraced  the  Western,  or  Mississippi  States,  attended 
by  similar  results.  But  most  of  all,  have  I  gained  by  frequent 
excursions  to  the  Old  World,  having  since  1839  twelve  times 
visited  Europe,  where  my  exchanges  and  purchases  of  speci- 
mens have  been  conducted  on  a  scale,  I  am  led  to  believe,  not 
surpassed  by  any  of  my  countrymen.  Numbers,  however,  have 
never  been  my  aim  in  these  acquisitions.  I  have  rather  sought 
what  was  characteristic  and  instructive,  not  however  to  the  neg- 
lect of  the  rare  and  beautiful. 

"  Thus  far  I  have  had  the  mineralogical  collection  in  mind  in 
this  narrative  of  its  origin  and  growth.  It  may  be  added  that  the 
augmentation  of  my  Geological  Cabinet  has  for  the  last  twenty 
years  kept  pace  with  that  of  my  minerals.  That  is  especially 
remarkable  for  fossil  remains,  characteristic  of  the  leading  geo- 
logic formations,  beginning  with  the  Silurian  and  coming  down 
to  the  Post  Pliocene.  While  it  is  well  supplied  with  specimens 
of  foreign  origin,  particularly-  from  Great  Britain,  Germany  and 
France,  it  is  not  too  much  perhaps  to  claim,  that  its  representa- 
tion of  southern  Post  Pliocene  is  one  of  the  most  complete  hith- 
erto made,  including  as  it  does  large  portions  of  two  very  inter- 
esting Mastodons  and  a  profusion  of  fossil  fish  teeth,  the  result 
of  uncommon  opportunities  for  collecting  afforded  through  a 
long  residence  of  myself  and  son  in  South  Carolina. 

"  Of  the  meteoric  collection,  now  the  fourth  in  extent  and  value 
known,  it  may  be  observed  that  its  formation  commenced  in 
1828,  in  my  examination  and  analysis  of  the  Richmond  meteor- 
ite ;  and  it  is  wanting  in  very  few  authentic  localities  belonging 
to  this  continent  that  have  been  described  since  that  date.  To 
obtain  these  acquisitions,  it  has  often  been  necessary  to  employ 
considerable  sums  of  money  for  their  purchase ;  but  portions  of 
the  material  thus  acquired  have  been  advantageously  employed 
in  exchanges  with  foreign  cabinets  for  the  supply  of  distant 
localities  in  no  other  way  obtainable. 

"  The  removal  of  these  collections  from  New  Haven  to  Am- 
herst  in  1847  was  the  result  of  an  understanding  entered  into  be- 
tween President  Hitchcock  and  myself,  that  if  the  College  would 
cause  a  fire-proof  building  to  be  erected  for  their  reception,  I 
would  deposit  them  therein,  at  least  for  a  term  of  years,  and 


FACULTY,  STUDENTS    AND   TERM-BILLS.  625 

with  the  hope,  through  arrangements  afterwards  to  be  made,  of 
leaving  them  with  the  College  as  a  permanent  possession.  Such 
a  building  was  provided  in  the  Woods  Cabinet ;  and  more  re- 
cently, the  conditions  for  the  purchase  of  the  collections  have 
been  agreed  upon,  which  if  faithfully  complied  with,  will  con- 
summate the  original  plan. 

"  On  the  transfer  of  the  mineralogical  collection  to  the  new 
rooms  in  the  Walker  building,  the  whole  of  the  space  formerly 
occupied  by  the  entire  collection  in  the  second  story  of  the 
Woods  Cabinet  is  now  devoted  to  the  Geological  and  Meteoric 
Cabinets;  and  such  has  been  their  recent  growth,  the  room 
thus  afforded  is  found  barely  sufficient  for  their  present  accom- 
modation. 

"The  labor  in  which  I  am  at  present  occupied  is  the  more 
perfect  arrangement  and  cataloguing  of  the  three  collections — 
a  work  of  much  labor,  and  not  likely  to  be  completed  short  of 
one  or  two  years." 

FACULTY,   STUDENTS,    SALARIES,  BILLS   AND   OTHER   EXPENSES. 

In  1821-2,  the  first  year  of  the  existence  of  the  College,  the 
Faculty  consisted  of  four  persons,  the  President,  two  Professors 
and  one  Tutor.  At  the  close  of  the  half  century,  the  Faculty 
numbered  twenty,  viz. :  the  President,  thirteen  Professors,  three 
Lecturers  and  three  Instructors.  The  number  of  students  whose 
names  appear  on  the  first  Catalogue  issued  in  May,  1822,  was 
fifty-nine,  viz. :  three  Seniors,  six  Juniors,  nineteen  Sophomores 
and  thirty-one  Freshmen.  The  number  of  students  at  the  time 
of  the  semi-centennial  was  two  hundred  and  sixty-one,  viz. : 
sixty-five  Seniors,  forty-nine  Juniors,  seventy-six  Sophomores 
and  seventy-one  Freshmen.  The  term-bills  at  the  beginning 
were  about  thirty-one  dollars  and  fifty  cents  a  year ;  at  the  end 
of  the  half  century  they  had  risen  to  about  one  hundred  dollars 
a  year.  Then  board  cost  seventy-five  cents  a  week  in  clubs,  and 
from  one  dollar  to  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  in  families ; 
now  it  averages  about  three  dollars  and  fifty  cents  in  clubs  and 
about  five  dollars  in  families.  Then  wood  was  from  one  dollar 
and  fifty  cents  to  two  dollars  a  cord,  and  washing  "  from  twelve 
to  'twenty  cents  a  week;"  now  wood  is  from  six  dollars  and 
40 


626  HISTORY  OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

fifty  cents  to  nine  dollars  a  cord ;  and  washing  from  fifty  to  sev- 
enty-five cents  a  dozen.  The  expenses  which  students  impose 
upon  themselves  for  Societies,  Class-day  and  Commencement, 
music,  boating,  and  amusements  have  risen  in  far  greater  pro- 
portion. Then  the  President's  salary  was  twelve  hundred  dol- 
lars, that  of  a  Professor  eight  hundred,  and  that  of  a  Tutor 
four  hundred  ;  now  the  President's  salary  is  thirty-two  hundred 
dollars,1  a  Professor's  twenty-five  hundred,  and  an  Instructor's 
twelve  hundred  and  fifty.  Then  the  Treasurer's  salary  was 
three  hundred  dollars,  now  it  is  two  thousand. 

My  esteemed  colleague,  Prof.  Edward  Hitchcock,  has  exam- 
ined with  great  care  the  statistics  of  the  College  for  each  year 
of  the  half  century  and  exhibited  the  result  in  tables  which  he 
has  kindly  furnished  me  for  the  readers  of  this  history.  The 
accompanying  chart,  also  prepared  by  him,  illustrates  the  same 
by  a  diagram  which  presents  to  the  eye  a  comparative  view 
of  the  state  of  the  College  through  the  half  century.  The 
industry  and  ingenuity  which  these  illustrations  exhibit,  can 
hardly  fail  to  suggest  to  our  readers  that  the  author  of  them  is 
a  chip  of  the  old  block  and  deserves  the  name  he  bears.2 


STATISTICS    RELATING    TO    THE    ACTUAL    AND    RELATIVE    NUMBER    OF    STU- 
DENTS, AND    THE    FACULTY,  AND    THE    TERM    BILLS    IN   AMHERST 
COLLEGE    FOR    FIFTY    YEARS. 

ENTERING. 


Tears. 

Seniors. 

Alumni. 

Juniors. 

Sophs. 

Freshmen. 

Sophs. 

Jim. 

•    Sen. 

Faculty. 

College  Bills. 

1822 

3 

3 

6 

19 

31 

19 

6 

3 

4 

1823 

5 

5 

21 

32 

40 

8 

2 

0 

6 

$31    50 

1824 

19 

20 

29 

41 

37 

4 

2 

0 

6 

31  50 

1825 

25 

25 

41 

31 

39 

11 

3 

0 

8 

31  50 

1826 

33 

30 

24 

45 

50 

8 

2 

2 

8 

36  00 

1827 

24 

23 

40 

55 

51 

7 

1 

2 

11 

36  00 

1828 

42 

40 

47 

53 

67 

11 

4 

0 

9 

40  00 

1829 

40 

39 

47 

72 

57 

5 

6 

1 

8 

42  00 

1830 

33 

32 

74 

47 

53 

13 

7 

2 

10 

42  00 

1831 

61 

60 

40 

50 

37 

19 

7 

0 

.10 

42  00 

1832 

39 

38 

40 

50 

60 

12 

6 

0 

8 

42  00 

1833 

41 

38 

50 

64 

72 

7 

5 

3 

10 

42  00 

1  With  the  perquisites. 

2  This  ingenuity  proved  to  be  too  much  for  the  printer,  and  the  diagram,  as 
printed,  is  shorn  of  its  most  striking  features. 


STATISTICS   OF   THE  HALF  CENTURY.  627 


Tears. 

Seniors.  Alumni. 

Juniors. 

Sophs.  Freshmen 

.  Sophs. 

Jun. 

Sen.  Faculty.  College  Bills. 

1834 

44 

39 

50 

60 

85 

12 

5 

4 

10 

$42  00 

1835 

44 

39 

52 

77 

70 

11 

6 

2 

12 

45  00 

1836 

41 

38 

63 

72 

7-6 

7 

2 

2 

12 

45  00 

1837 

60 

53 

50 

73 

76 

9 

3 

1 

13 

52  00 

1838 

40 

42 

59 

57 

50 

8 

2 

5 

12 

52  00 

1839 

57 

57 

48 

47 

37 

12 

5 

3 

14 

52  00 

1840 

'  47 

44 

43 

41 

38 

7 

5 

0 

12 

52  00 

1841 

30 

32 

35 

40 

52 

6 

2 

0 

12 

48  00 

1842 

28 

28 

27 

43 

44 

7 

3 

0 

12 

48  00 

1843 

21 

21 

34 

42 

32 

3 

1 

1 

12 

48  00 

1844 

30 

29 

33 

29 

32 

3 

6 

1 

9 

48  00 

1845 

30 

30 

27 

30 

34 

8 

1 

1 

11 

48  00 

1846 

26 

26 

23 

35 

34 

9 

1 

0 

9 

48  00 

1847 

19 

18 

30 

36 

35 

5 

7 

0 

9 

48  00 

1848 

29 

30 

36 

35 

50 

12 

3 

1 

11 

48  00 

1849 

33 

32 

29 

52 

52 

13 

4 

2 

12 

48  00 

1850 

25 

25 

43 

55 

53 

9 

5 

2 

12 

48  00 

1851 

41 

41 

52 

49 

40 

5 

2 

0 

11 

48  00 

1852 

43 

42 

43 

41 

63 

6 

1 

1 

11 

45  00 

1853 

42 

42 

35 

61 

57 

12 

4 

3 

12 

45  00 

1854 

33 

37 

54 

58 

56 

15 

8 

7 

11 

45  00 

1855 

53 

53 

59 

59 

66 

9 

2 

1 

18 

45  00 

1856 

49 

46 

50 

65 

54 

14 

6 

o 

15 

45  00 

1857 

45 

44 

60 

60 

64 

7 

4 

1 

15 

45  00 

1858 

52 

51 

49 

54 

66 

10 

7 

3 

13 

45  00 

1859 

47 

46 

53 

61 

74 

13 

4 

3 

16 

54  00 

1860 

48 

47 

.56 

71 

67 

10 

1 

1 

16 

54  00 

1861 

51 

49 

56 

60 

53 

5 

3 

5 

17 

54  00 

1862 

58 

55 

49 

50 

78 

8 

3 

2 

17 

54  00 

1863 

42 

42 

42 

76 

60 

14 

5 

2 

18 

54  00 

1864 

30 

33 

58 

54 

50 

10 

4 

0 

16 

81  00 

1865 

57 

62 

56 

64 

45 

10 

9 

1 

14 

81  00 

1866 

54 

51 

51 

44 

54 

13 

8 

5 

17 

81  00 

1867 

49  • 

48 

44 

62 

70 

6  • 

8 

0 

16 

81  00 

1868 

41 

39 

61 

69 

73 

9 

5 

5 

16 

81  00 

1869 

57 

56 

58 

71 

65 

10 

7 

1 

18 

99  00 

1870 

53 

48 

64 

63 

75 

14 

2 

6 

19 

99  00 

1871 

65 

59 

49 

76 

71 

20 

99  00 

9,610  names  in  the  annual  Catalogues. 

3,440  different  students,  including  all  who  received  A.  B.  in  course. 

1,936  Alumni. 

1,504  left  without  graduating. 


628  HISTORY   OF   AMHEKST    COLLEGE. 

2,745  entered  Freshmen,  or, 79.796  per  cent. 

477  entered  Sophomores,  or, 13.863  percent. 

107  entered  Juniors,  or, 3.115  percent. 

93  entered  Seniors,  or, 2.703  per  cent. 

18  entered  Alumni,  in  course,  or, 0.523  per  cent. 

3,440  100.000 

588  left  while  Freshmen,  or, 17.157  per  cent. 

529  left  while  Sophomores,  or, 15.275  per  cent. 

296  left  while  Juniors,  or, 8.634  percent. 

91  left  while  Seniors,  or,  .  .  .  , 2.655  per  cent. 

1,936  left  as  Alumni,  or, 56.279  per  cent. 

3,440  100.000  "• 

AVERAGES. 


Whole  College, 192.320 

Class, 48.085 

Faculty, 12.360 

College  Bills, $50.37 

Senior  Class, 39.580 

Junior  Class, 44.800 

Sophomore  Class,    ....  53.020 

Freshman  Class,      ....  54.800 


Annual  graduations,    .     .     .  39.555 

Freshmen  entering,     .     .     .  54.900 

Sophomores  entering, .     .     .  9.540 

Juniors  entering,     .     .     .     .  2.140 

Seniors  entering,     ....  1.860 

Freshmen  leaving,  ....  11.800 

Sophomores  leaving,    .     .     .  10.600 

Juniors  leaving,       ....  5.940 


Annual  Entrances,  ....     68.800  '  Seniors  leaving,       ....      1.820 

SOCIETIES. 

The  history  of  the  "  Literary  Societies  "  of  Amherst  runs  par- 
allel with  the  history  of  the  College  and  forms  no  unimportant 
part  of  it.  For  the  first  five  or  six  years,  first  by  allotment  and 
then  by  elective  affinity,  all  the  students  of  College,  fell  into  the 
Alexandrian  or  the  Athenian  Society  as  naturally  and  spontane- 
ously as  all  the  citizens  of  a  town  or  of  the  country  fall  into  one 
or  the  other  of  two  great  parties.  And  the  members  of  the 
Societies  no  more  thought  of  being  absent  from  "the  weekly 
meetings  than  a  good  citizen  would  absent  himself  from  the 
polls ;  and  when  at  length  absences  did  sometimes  occur,  the 
Societies  did  not  hesitate  to  impose  fines  on  the  delinquents,  and 
collect  them  too,  just  as,  in  the  good  old  times  of  the  Athenian 
republic,  the  laws  imposed  a  penalty  on  citizens  who  took  neither 
side  in  affairs  of  state.  "  The  rivalry  between  the  Alexandrian 
and  Athenian  Societies  in  the  first  two  years  of  their  history," 
writes  Rev.  Mr.  Packard  of  the  Class  of  '23,  "  was  earnest,  ac- 


PRESIDENT  MOORE. 


THE   LITERARY   SOCIETIES.  629 

tive,  shrewd  but  friendly  and  pleasant.  I  regard  these  Societies 
to  have  been  more  beneficial  to  their  members  in  writing,  decla- 
mation and  debate,  than  all  the  College  exercises  in  these  de- 
partments." In  1823,  the  Societies  transferred  their  meetings 
from  the  South  to  the  then  new  North  College,  and  held  them, 
one  in  the  "  Chapel "  in  the  fourth  story  of  the  South  entry, 
and  the  other  in  the  "  Sophomore  Recitation  Room,"  No.  3  of 
South  entry,  occupying  the  rooms  alternately  each  for  a  term 
as  the  Chapel  was  the  more  desirable  room  of  the  two.  In  1825, 
a  misunderstanding  arose  in  regard  to  the  occupancy  of  the 
Chapel,  both  claimed  it  and  "rushed"  in  to  pre-occupy  it,  both 
Presidents  took  the  chair  side  by  side  in  the  desk,  both  Secre- 
taries read  their  records  at  the  same  time,  appointees  from  both 
Societies  began  and  continued  to  declaim  together — in  short  a 
scene  was  enacted  very  much  like  that  which  attended  the  "rup- 
ture "  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United  States  ten  years 
later,  and  with  a  similar  result.  The  Alexandrian  Society  with- 
drew from  the  "  United  Fraternity  " — a  union  which  had  hith- 
erto made  the  two  Societies  substantially  one  in  regard  to  the 
use  of  their  libraries,  the  holding  of  joint  exhibitions  and  occa- 
sional meetings,  and  some  other  purposes — the  allotment  system 
was  broken  up,  and  the  two  Societies  entered  upon  a  new  era 
of  fierce  and  not  always  friendly  rivalry,  in  which  every  mem- 
ber esteemed  it  his  first  duty  to  labor  and  spend  and  be  spent 
for  his  Society. 

On  the  completion  of  the  new  Chapel  building  in  1827,  the 
Faculty  proposed  to  the  two  Societies  to  bring  their  libraries 
into  the  room  which  had  been  prepared  for  the  College  Libra- 
ries. To  this  proposal,  the  Athenian  Society  and  a  majority  of 
the  Alexandrian  acceded,  and  the  three  libraries  were  brought 
together  in  the  new  room  now  divided  into  numbers  nine  and 
ten  over  the  small  Chapel.  But  about  two-fifths  of  the  Alex- 
andrians and  a  few  of  the  Athenians  opposed,  discussed  and  re- 
monstrated, and  when  all  their  opposition  proved  unavailing, 
they  withdrew  and  formed  a  new  Society,  the  Social  Union. 
This  was  a  secret  Society,  and  so  contagious  was  this  new  prin- 
ciple of  secrecy,  that  it  soon  extended  to  the  old  Societies,  and 
they  were  all  secret  Societies  till,  some  ten  or  a  dozen  years 


630  HISTORY   OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 

later,  one  after  another,  they  all  abolished  the  secrecy.  The 
triangular  fight  which  followed  the  formation  of  a  third  Society, 
now  raged  more  fiercely  than  the  duel  which  preceded  it.  The 
contest  for  the  superiority  in  numbers  ran  so  high  that  the  Fac- 
ulty were  obliged  to  interfere  and  enforce  again  a  system  of 
equal  allotment.  The  rivalry  showed  itself  in  liberal  contribu- 
tions, often  beyond  the  means  of  the  members,  ten,  twenty, 
thirty,  forty,  fifty  dollars  apiece — for  the  increase  of  the  libra- 
ries. Loyalty,  zeal,  devotion  to  the  Society  became  a  passion. 
This  was  emphatically  true,  as  might  have  been  expected,  of  the 
new  Society,  the  Social  Union ;  and  the  others,  in  self-defence, 
if  for  no  other  reason,  could  not  lag  far  behind.  All  the  Socie- 
ties reaped  the  incidental  benefit.  This  was  undoubtedly,  as  we 
have  elsewhere  styled  it,  the  golden  age  of  the  Literary  Socie- 
ties. That  age  lasted  until  the  diminished  number  of  students 
and  the  increasing  and  overmastering  influence  of  another  class 
of  Societies  conspired  to  thin  their  ranks  and  weaken  their  re- 
sources, and  at  length  necessitated  or  seemed  to  necessitate  the 
reduction  of  the  three  Societies  into  two  :  thus  it  passed  gradu- 
ally away  never  again  to  return. 

The  rise  of  the  new  Greek  Letter  Fraternities  has  obscured 
the  light  and  glory  of  the  old  Literary  Societies  in  nearly  all 
the  Colleges.  In  Yale  College,  the  Linonian  and  the  Brothers 
which,  like  rival  queens,  reigned  in  the  hearts  of  so  many  gen- 
erations of  students,  have  thus  been  extinguished.  We  trust  a 
better  destiny  awaits  the  Alexandrian  and  Athenian  Societies. 
We  cannot  but  hope,  that  the  Societies  will  live  as  long  as  the 
College  itself,  and  that  the  names,  so  happily  selected  at  the 
very  beginning,  and  hallowed  already  in  the  memories  and  the 
affections  of  the  larger  part  of  the  Alumni  for  half  a  century, 
may  only  grow  brighter  with  the  lapse  of  time  through  genera- 
tions and  ages  yet  to  come. 

The  Society  of  Inquiry  has  existed,  with  unchanged  organi- 
zation, and  with  only  unimportant  changes  of  name,  longer  than 
any  other  Society  in  Amherst  College.  Beginning  with  the 
opening  term  of  the  College  itself,  it  counts  in  the  roll  of  its 
members  the  leading  ministers  and  missionaries  of  all  the  classes. 
By  its  regular  meetings  and  discussions,  by  its  correspondence 


SOCIETIES.  631 

with  missionaries  in  foreign  lands,  by  its  care  of  the  Missionary 
Concert  and  of  the  religious  state  and  statistics  of  the  College, 
and  more  than  all  perhaps  by  its  almost  uninterrupted  succession 
of  annual  addresses  from  distinguished  orators  and  divines  for 
half  a  century,  it  has  exerted  an  important  Christian  influence 
and  deserves  to  be  reckoned  among  the  most  sacred  and  vener- 
able names  in  our  history. 

Another  "  clarum  et  venerabile  nomen"  in  the  early  history 
of  Amherst  was  the  Lutheran  Society,  an  association  for  the 
cultivation  of  sacred  music,  much  cherished  by  the  students, 
and  not  less  fostered  by  the  Faculty,  which  was  only  revived, 
or  reorganized,  under  another  name,  in  the  Beethoven  Society. 

Next  to  the  anti-slavery  excitement,  perhaps  no  question  so 
agitated  several  successive  generations  of  students  as  that  in 
dispute  between  the  secret  and  anti-secret  Societies.  We  cannot 
go  into  the  history.  It  has  come  up  incidentally  in  former  chap- 
ters. Dr.  Hitchcock  has  well  described  the  causes  of  the  ex- 
citement, its  effects  on  the  College  and  the  action  of  the  Faculty 
in  regard  to  it.1  The  excitement  has  now  nearly,  if  not  quite 
passed  away.  Perhaps  the  greatest  evil  now  connected  with 
these  Societies  is  the  expense  which  they  involve.  They  are 
also  peculiarly  exposed  to  the  temptation  to  conviviality  which 
so  easily  besets  the  young  men  of  these  days,  although  it  is  be- 
lieved that  the  secret  Societies  of  Amherst  are  less  convivial  and 
more  literary  than  they  are  in  most  of  the  Colleges. 

Amherst  has  been  fruitful  in  Societies  of  every  name  and  kind, 
too  various  to  be  described  in  these  pages,  and  almost  too  many 
to  be  numbered.  Those  of  our  readers  who  would  gratify  their 
curiosity  or  refresh  their  memory  in  regard  to  them,  will  find 
much  in  which  they  will  be  interested  in  the  racy  and  spicy  little 
volume,  entitled  "Student  Life  in  Amherst,"  which  Mr.  George 
R.  Cutting  of  '71,  gave  to  the  Alumni  public  at  the  Semi-Centen- 
nial  Jubilee.  Mr.  Cutting  has  searched  records,  newspapers  and 
original  sources  of  every  kind  with  praiseworthy  diligence,  and 
brought  out  a  mass  of  curious  and  entertaining  matter,  at  which 
I  have  sometimes  been  surprised,  and  which  I  have  not  hesi- 
tated to  use  when  it  has  suited  my  purpose,  for  I  helped  him  in 

1  Reminiscences,  pp.  320-6. 


632 


HISTORY   OF  AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 


his  work  with  the  distinct  understanding  that  I  should  be  at 
liberty  thus  to  use  him  in  mine.  In  default  of  space  for  any 
detailed  history  of  Amherst  Societies,  I  subjoin  a  list  of  the  prin- 
cipal names  and  dates,  not  doubting  that  the  bare  names  will  be 
the  key-notes  to  whole  strains  of  various  music  in  the  memories 
of  my  readers.  The  list  marks  the  beginning  and  the  end  of 
each  Society,  as  the  accessus  and  the  exitus  of  College  officers 
are  marked  in  the  triennials.  The  Societies  are  arranged  chro- 
nologically but  in  groups  according  to  their  kinds. 


Musical  Association,    .     .    ^ 

Paean  Band, I&28 

College  Band,     ....  1836 
Chi  Delta  Theta,     .     .     .  1845 
Phi  Beta  Kappa,      .     .     . 
Alpha  Delta  Phi,     .     . 

Psi  Upsilon, 

Delta  Kappa  Epsilon, 

Chi  Psi, 

Delta  Upsilon,6    .... 
Alpha  Sigma  Phi,  (Soph. 

Society), 1860 

Delta  Kappa,  (Fresh.  Soc.)  1870 
Kappa   Sigma  Epsilon, 

(Fresh.  Soc.)  1854 
Sigma  Delta,  (Fresh.  Soc.)  1867 
The  Society  of  the  Alumni, 


There  was  an  Alumni  Association  prior  to  1842.  But  it  con- 
sisted only  of  the  better  scholars  elected  from  the  graduates, 
and  was  of  short  duration.  The  present  Society  of  Alumni  em- 
braces all  graduates  of  Amherst  without  distinction.  Prof.  B. 
B.  Edwards  was  its  father,  its  first  President,  and  its  first  Ora- 
tor elect,  although  the  pressure  of  other  duties  prevented  his 
performing  this  last  office.  Rev.  Theophilus  Packard,  Jr.,  was 
President  of  the  Society  from  1844  to  1851,  and  Prof.  Joseph 
Haven  from  1851  to  1858.  Since  then  "  one  term,"  and  that 

1  Of  Alexandria  and  Athenae  answering  to  the  United  Fraternity  of  1821-5. 

2  Originally  called  "  Theological  Society,"  and  now  "  Hitchcock  Society  of  In- 
quiry."    3  A  Missionary  Society,  see  p.  276.    4  Suppressed  for  a  season  in  1835,  see 
p.  245,  seqq.    5  The  first  Musical  Association.    6  Anti-Secret  under  different  names. 


ACC. 

1821  Alexandrian  Society,  . 

EX. 

.  1846 

ACC. 

1869 

1821  Athenian  Society,    .     . 

.  1846 

1824 

1821  United  Fraternity,  .     . 

.  1825 

1828 

1827  Social  Union,       .     .     . 

.  1846 

1830 

1846  Academia,  

1853 

1853 

1846  Eclectic,      

1853 

1836 

1841 

1853  Athense,      

1846 

1853  Social  Union,1     .     .     . 

. 

1864 

1821  Society  of  Inquiry, 

. 

1847 

1865  Hitchcock  Society,  .     . 

.  1870 

1856 

1828  Friends,      

1841 

1846  Missionary  Band,     .     . 

1851 

1830  Anti-Venenian  Society, 

. 

1851 

1832  Colonization  Society,   . 

.  1835 

1833  An  ti-  Slavery  Society,4 

.  1840 

1855 

1821  Lutheran  Society,5  .     . 

.  1830 

1842 

1830  Beethoven  Society, 

.  1869 

SOCIETY   OF   ALUMNI.  633 

for  one  year,  has  become  the  rule,  and  the  succession  of  Presidents 
has  been  as  follows:  Hon.  Henry  Morris  in  1858;  Hon.  Simeon 
Nash,.  1859 ;  Hon.  Horace  Maynard,  1860  ;  Rev.  Jonathan  Brace, 
D.  D.,  1861;  Hon.  A.  H.  Bullock,  1862;  Hon.  James  Hum- 
phrey, 1863;  Hon.  G.  A.  Grow,  1864;  Hon.  E.  H.  Kellogg, 
1865  ;  H.  G.  DeForest,  Esq.,  1866  ;  Rev.  D.  W.  Poor,  D.  D., 
1867  ;  Hon.  Whiting  Griswold,  1868 ;  Rev.  E.  K.  Alden,  D.  D., 
1869  ;  Hon.  A.  B.  Ely,  1870  ;  Hon.  A.  H.  Bullock,  1871 ;  Rev. 
H.  M.  Storrs,  D.  D.,  1872. 

Prof.  Snell  was  Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  the  Society  from 
1842  till  1851 ;  Prof.  Adams,  the  next  two  years,  that  is,  till  his 
death  in  1852 ;  Prof.  Clark,  from  1853  till  1858  ;  and  Prof. 
Seelye  from  that  date  till  the  present  time.  For  many  years  it 
was  customary  to  elect  each  year  an  Orator  and  substitute  for 
the  ensuing  year.  More  frequently  than  otherwise,  however, 
both  Orator  and  substitute  failed.  The  names  of  those  who  ful- 
filled their  appointments  will  be  found  with  others  in  the  list 
of  Commencement  Orators  on  a  subsequent  page.  Hon.  A.  H. 
Bullock  who  was  President  for  1852,  made  an  address  on  retir- 
ing from  the  chair  in  1863,  which  was  so  much  more  satisfactory 
than  the  customary  oration,  that  it  established  a  precedent  or 
new  custom  which  has  since  been  followed  greatly  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  Alumni.  Obituary  notices  of  deceased  Alumni 
began  to  be  read  before  the  Society  in  1851  by  Prof.  Tyler  who 
then  gave  biographical  sketches  of  all  who  had  deceased  during 
the  three  years  since  the  last  triennial,  and  continued  to  read 
such  sketches  annually  till  1858  when  he  resigned  this  duty 
into  the  hands  of  the  Librarian,  Mr.  L.  M.  Boltwood,  who  dis- 
charged it  till  his  resignation  of  the  office  of  Librarian  in  1863. 
Since  that  time  Prof.  Crowell  has  prepared  the  obituaries ;  and 
instead  of  being  read  to  the  Society,  they  have  been  printed 
and  distributed  among  the  members.  The  Alumni  early  pro- 
vided for  the  preservation  of  the  obituaries  that  were  not  printed, 
also,  by  directing  the  Secretary  to  have  them  carefully  copied 
in  a  book  which  is  now  kept  in  the  Library. 

For  many  years,  the  time  of  the  Alumni  at  their  annual  meet- 
ings was  chiefly  taken  up  with  matters  of  business,  and  those  very 
frequently  efforts  to  raise  money.  Thus  the  records  of  several 


634  HISTOKY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

meetings  are  chiefly  occupied  with  resolutions,  contributions  and 
names  of  contributors  to  the  portraits  successively  of  President 
Humphrey,  Prof.  Fiske,  and  President  Hitchcock.  These  efforts 
were  entirely  successful ;  and  when  Alumni  visit  the  Library  and 
see  there  the  portraits  of  these  officers,  they  have  the  satisfac- 
tion of  feeling  that  they  were  placed  there  by  voluntary  contri- 
butions, generally  of  one  dollar  each,  by  the  Alumni  themselves. 
At  their  first  meeting,  in  compliance  with  a  suggestion  of  Dr. 
Vaill,  the  Society  inaugurated  an  effort  to  endow  an  Alumni 
Professorship.  This  was  followed,  at  intervals,  by  successive 
efforts  to  raise  fifteen  thousand  dollars  for  the  Library  ;  to  e^ct 
a  monument,  a  hall  or  some,  other  memorial  of  our  fallen  sol- 
diers ;  and  to  establish  class-scholarships,  one  at  least  for  each 
class  that  graduated  previous  to  the  semi-centennial.  The  first 
of  these  enterprises  was  an  entire  failure  so  far  as  a  complete 
endowment  of  an  Alumni  Professorship  was  concerned,  although 
it  doubtless  contributed  to  the  success  of  the  General  Agent  in 
his  general  agency.  The  second,  originating  in  a  donation  of  a 
thousand  dollars  by  Rev.  Dr.  George  C.  Shepard  of  the  Class 
of  '24,  failed  to  raise  the  amount  contemplated,  but  brought 
considerable  sums  into  the  treasury  of  the  Society  which  were 
expended  by  a  Committee  of  the  Alumni  and  made  valuable 
additions  to  the  Library.  The  third,  as  already  stated  in  a 
former  chapter,  has  not  yet  reached  its  consummation,  and  it  is 
too  early  to  say  how  far  it  will  prove  successful.  It  is  now  the 
aim  and  endeavor  of  the  officers  of  the  Society  to  keep  its  meet- 
ings free  from  such  appeals  for  money  and  all  mere  matters  of 
business,  and  consecrate  the  hour  to  fraternal  greetings,  College 
memories  and  wise  counsels  for  the  prosperity  of  Alma  Mater ; 
and  the  meetings  ha*ve  been  pleasant  and  profitable  just  in  pro- 
portion as  they  have  been  able  to  adhere  to  this  policy. 

COLLEGE   MAGAZINES   AND    NEWSPAPERS. 

The  first  periodical  ever  printed  in  Amherst  was  The  Chemist 
and  Meteorological  Journal,  "published  every  Saturday  morning, 
John  R.  Cotting,  editor  ;  printed  by  Carter  &  Adams."  As  the 
name  imports,  it  was  wholly  a  scientific  journal,  without  any 
department  for  news.  Its  editor  lectured  meanwhile  on  Chem- 


NEWSPAPEKS  AND  MAGAZINES.  635 

istry  in  Amherst  College,  but  with  so  little  success  that  his 
name  appears  on  no  Catalogue.  The  first  number  of  The  Chem- 
ist appeared  in  July,  1826,  and  the  last  in  December  of  the  same 
year.  Thus  the  paper  lasted  only  six  months,  but  quite  long 
enough  for  the  pecuniary  profit  of  the  printers  who  lost  in  it 
about  all  they  were  then  worth.  At  the  time  of  his  death  in 
1871,  Mr.  Getting  was  the  State  Geologist  of  Georgia. 

In  November,  1826,  the  first  number  of  The  New  England  In- 
quirer was  issued,  by  the  same  printers  and  publishers,  and 
edited  by  Osmyn  Baker,  since  well  known  as  a  member  of  Con- 
gress and  Commissioner  of  the  Smith  Charities.  Mr.  Baker, 
who  was  a  native  of  Amherst  and  then  a  lawyer  in  town,  edited 
only  one  volume.  The  second  volume  was  edited  by  Tutor  B. 
B.  Edwards  and  Prof.  S.  M.  Worcester,  and  printed  and  pub- 
lished by  J.  S.  &  C.  Adams — a  firm  known  to  all  the  graduates 
of  Amherst  from  that  day  to  this.  The  paper  was  conducted 
with  great  ability  by  the  editors  and  much  enterprise  by  the 
publishers,  but  was  not  a  pecuniary  success,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  second  year,  in  November,  1827,  editors  and  publishers 
were  fain  to  relinquish  it.  Sixteen  years  elapsed,  before  any 
one  ventured  to  undertake  another  newspaper  in  Amherst.  In 
1844,  the  Messrs.  Adams  commenced  the  publication  of  The 
Hampshire  and  Franklin  Express  which,  although  now  under 
another  name,  has  been  continued  till  the  present  time. 

The  periodical  literature  of  Amherst  under-graduates  com- 
menced in  1831  with  The  Sprite,  which  was  a  magazine,  pub- 
lished, somewhat  irregularly,  about  once  in  two  months,  and 
filled  with  Sprite-\y  tales,  romances  and  productions  of  the 
fancy  and  the  imagination.  The  present  periodical,  The  Am- 
herst Student,  is  a  neivspaper,  published  fortnightly,  in  term 
time,  and  made  up  in  about  equal  proportions  of  the  facts 
and  events  of  every  day  occurrence  in  this  and  other  Colleges, 
and  criticisms  of  the  government  and  the  course  of  study,  in- 
tended to  show  what  in  the  opinion  of  the  editors,  a  College 
might  be  and  ought  to  be,  but  is  not,  in  this  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. A  difference  sufficiently  indicative  of  change  and  prog- 
ress to  satisfy  the  radical  reformer,  and  truly  indicative,  in  part 
at  least,  of  a  change  that  has  really  come  over  College  minds  in 


636  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

this  democratic  and  matter-of-fact  age.  The  students  of  the 
present  day  would  not  cure  to  read  the  fine-spun  fancies  of  The 
Sprite,  and  the  editors  of  The  Sprite  would  neither  have  conde- 
scended to  print  the  plain  facts,  nor  have  been  permitted  by  the 
Faculty  to  publish  the  bold  criticisms  which  fill  the  pages  of  The 
Student.  The  periodicals  that  fill  up  the  interval  between  these 
two  extremes — The  Shrine,  The  G-uest,  The  Horce  Collegiance, 
The  Indicator,  The  Amherst  Collegiate  Magazine,  and  The  Ichnolite 
were  all  monthlies,  and  as  in  the  frequency  of  their  issue,  so  in 
their  character,  they  were  somewhat  intermediate  between  The 
Sprite  and  The  Student,  each  reflecting  more  or  less  the  spiri^of 
its  age  and  generation,  all  marking  the  changes  through  which  the 
College  was  passing,  and  yet  each  and  all  shaped  quite  as  much  by 
the  idiosyncrasies  of  the  individual  students  who  originated  them 
or  conducted  them  from  year  to  year.  Perhaps  the  chief  interest 
now  in  looking  over  these  old  periodicals  is  in  noting  the  names 
of  the  editors  and  contributors.1  Among  them  are  not  a  few  of 
the  most  honored  names  in  the  Catalogue  of  our  Alumni.  And 
yet  when  the  editors  are  obliged  to  be  almost  the  sole  contribu- 
tors, as  it  is  said  they  now  are,  they  pay  dearly  for  their  honors. 
It  is  too  heavy  a  tax  on  their  time  and  strength.  We  subjoin  in 
chronological  table  the  entire  series  of  College  periodicals  : 

1831  The  Sprite, 1832 

1832  The  Shrine, 1833 

1833  The  Guest, 1834 

1837  Horse  Collegianse, 1840 

1848  The  Indicator 1851 

1850  The  Experiment, 1851 

1853  The  Amherst  Collegiate  Magazine, 1857 

1857  The  Ichnolite, 1S61 

1861  The  Amherst  Collegiate  Magazine, 1862 

1868  The  Amherst  Student. 

1855     The  Olio  (Students'  Catalogue.) 

COMMENCEMENT,    CLASS-DAY,  ETC. 

It  is  well  known  to  our  readers  that  formerly  Commencement 
was  a  holiday,  and  a  high-day,  not  only  for  the  students  and 

1  The  contributors  are  anonymous,  but  the  Librarian  lias  entered  the  names  of 
very  many  in  the  copies  preserved  in  the  College  Library. 


COMMENCEMENT.  637 

their  friends,  and  the  Alumni  of  this  and  other  Colleges,  but  for 

O 

the  uneducated  masses  not  of  Amherst  merely  but  of  Pelham, 
Shutesbury  and  all  the  neighboring  towns,  some  of  whom  filled 
the  village  church  with  a  rush  and  a  jam,  while  the  greater 
multitude  thronged  the  streets,  clustered  about  the  booths  and 
stalls  on  the  common,  saw  the  shows -in  the  tents,  listened  to 
the  auctioneers,  criers  and  street  orators,  or  perchance,  with 
more  aspiring  mind,  visited  the  public  rooms  and  took  in  the 
view  from  the  tower.  Now  the  spectacles  and  the  spectators 
have  disappeared  together  from  the  common,  the  rush  at  the 
doors  has  ceased,  and  the  seats  are  no  longer  crowded  with  cul- 
tivated or  uncultivated  hearers.  This  change  began  with  the 
change  in  the  time  of  Commencement,  which  used  to  be  in  Au- 
gust, or  September,  when  the  rural  population  had  finished  the 
hard  work  of  the  Summer  and  were  now  ready  for  a  holiday. 
Now  Commencement  comes  early  in  July,  and  the  farmers  are  in 
the  midst  of  their  haying  and  harvesting.  But  a  similar,  not  to 
say  a  greater  change  is  seen  in  the  Commencements  at  Cambridge 
and  Yale  and  all  the  other  Colleges,  and  cannot,  therefore,  be 
owing  to  any  mere  local  or  temporary  cause.  Ordinations  also 
and  conventions,  and  public  occasions  generally,  no  longer  draw 
such  crowds  as  they  did  a  few  years  ago.  The  change  is  espe- 
cially manifest  since  the  war.  Possibly  the  fearful  anxiety  and 
agony  of  that  great  conflict  may  have  rendered  the  popular  mind 
less  susceptible  to  minor  excitements.  But  the  revolution  of 
which  we  speak,  is  doubtless  mainly  the  result  of  the  widening 
circulation  and  growing  influence  of  the  newspaper  press.  Peo- 
ple will  not  take  great  pains  to  attend  any  ordinary  public  gather- 
ing when  they  can  read  all  that  was  said  and  done  in  the  daily 
newspaper  the  next  morning.  As,  in  ancient  times,  poetry  gave 
place  to  prose  when  alphabetic  writing  came  into  common  use,  so 
oral  speech  is  now  waning  before  written — hearing  before  read- 
ing— under  the  influence  of  the  magazine  and  the  daily  newspa- 
per. The  next  step  in  the  revolution  that  is  now  sweeping  over 
our  American  system  of  collegiate  education — a  step  which  has 
been  distinctly  announced  by  the  oldest  of  our  New  England 
Colleges,  and  is  seriously  contemplated  in  more  than  one  College 
out  of  New  England — will  perhaps  be  to  abolish  Commencement 


638  HISTORY    OF    AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

itself,  or  at  least  all  that  has  come  down  to  us  from  our  fathers, 
associated  with  that  venerable  name.  Amherst  College,  we  hope 
and  believe,  will  not  be  in  haste  to  follow  such  an  example. 

One  of  the  most  attractive  and  inspiring  exercises  of  Com- 
mencement week  has  been  the  annual  Oration,  or  Address,  be- 
fore one  and  another  of  the  College  Societies.  This  usage  in 
Amherst  began  almost,  or  quite,  with  the  beginning  of  such 
societies,  and  grew  with  their  growth,  until  it  became  a  promi- 
nent feature  of  our  anniversaries.  The  Society  of  Inquiry  has 
rarely  failed  to  be  thus  represented  annually,  and  that  too  by 
some  of  our  most  learned  and  eloquent  divines.  The  Literary 
Societies  have  sometimes,  (in  the  days  of  their  early  rivalry, )"iiad 
two  or  three  rival  orators  at  Commencement,  and  sometimes, 
(especially  of  late,)  had  none  at  all.  Usually,  however,  they 
have  appeared  before  the  public  with  one  orator  each  year, 
either  chosen  by  the  Societies  in  rotation,  or  in  their  united  ca- 
pacity as  a  Social  Union.  Not  a  few  of  the  foremost  orators  and 
statesmen  of  the  country  have  been  proud  to  present  themselves 
at  these  our  Olympic  games  where  educated  men  and  cultured 
and  refined  women  gathered  in  crowds  to  listen  to  their  orations, 
and  where  large  classes  of  noble  and  aspiring  youth  were,  stirred 
to  emulate  their  wisdom  and  eloquence,  as  Thucydides  was  ani- 
mated by  the  rehearsals  of  Herodotus,  as  Demosthenes  was  in- 
spired by  the  eloquence  of  Callistratus,  as  Themistocles  was 
moved  by  the  laurels  of  Miltiades.  For  several  years  the  Society 
of  Alumni,  also,  brought  forward  the  distinguished  sons  of  the 
College  in  set  speeches  to  instruct  and  encourage  their  younger 
brothers  in  the  race  of  life ;  and  at  irregular  intervals  the  Phi 
Beta  Kappa  Society  has  been  fitly  represented  by  some  of  the 
ripest  of  our  American  scholars.  Some  of  these  orations  still 
ring  in  my  ears  like  the  distant  sound  of  a  trumpet.  The  very 
names  of  the  orators  waken  memories  like  Auld  Lang  Syne. 
The  list  which  lies  before  me,  and  which  I  have  taken  some 
pains  to  collect,  though  long,  is  so  suggestive  that  I  cannot  but 
put  it  on  record.  Making  no  distinction  as  to  the  society  before 
which  they  spoke,  the  roll  is  as  follows: 1  William  B.  Calhoun, 

1 1  have  not  been  able  to  make  the  list  complete  for  the  earlier  years.  The  speak- 
ers are  arranged  in  the  order  of  the  years  when  they  spoke,  beginning  with  1828. 


COMMENCEMENT   OKATORS.  639 

John  Todd,  George  Bancroft,  G.  C.  Verplanck,  Caleb  Gushing, 
Albert  Barnes,  D.  D.  Barnard,  George  Shepard,  Gov.  McDow- 
ell, of  Virginia,  Gov.  Seward,  of  New  York,  Gov.  Everett,  of 
Massachusetts,  Alexander  Everett,  B.  B.  Edwards,  Robert  E. 
Pattison,  George  Lunt,  Thatcher  Thayer,  Edward  Beecher, 
Leonard  Bacon,  Charles  Simmer,  William  Adams,  Rufus  Choate, 
Jonathan  Leavitt,  Tayler  Lewis,  James  S.  Thayer,  E.  P.  Whip- 
pie,  J.  B.  Condit,  W.  G.  T.  Shedd,  H.  W.  Beecher,  Alvan  Bond, 
R.  S.  Storrs,  A.  H.  Bullock,  H.  B.  Smith,  E.  A.  Park,  Nehemiah 
Cleaveland,  Henry  Neill,  A.  L.  Stone,  C.  C.  Felton,  A.  W.  Mc- 
Clure,  R.  W.  Emerson,  F.  D.  Huntington,  J.  P.  Thompson, 
Joseph  Haven,  R.  D.  Hitchcock,  Anson  Burlingame,G.  A.  Grow, 
E.  B.  Foster,  Wendell  Phillips,  Nehemiah  Adams,  Austin  Phelps, 
George  W.  Curtis,  Samuel  Seelye,  Barnas  Sears,  Horace  May- 
nard,  F.  A.  March,  Daniel  S. 'Dickinson,  J.  M.  Manning,  O.  P. 
Lord,  J.  E.  Rockwell,  L.  P.  Hickok,  George  Thompson,  G.  S. 
Hillard,  James  McCosh,  George  P.  Loring,  A.  P.  Peabody,  J. 
L.  Diman,  J.  H.  Fairchild,  G.  N.  Webber,  N.  Mighill,  W.  Glad- 
den. Some  of  these  speakers — as,  for  example,  Messrs.  Beecher, 
Hitchcock,  Huntington  and  Storrs — have  spoken  two  or  three 
times,  and  before  different  societies.  To  complete  the  variety, 
John  B.  Gough  addressed  the  Anti-Venenian  Society,  or  the  stu- 
dents as  a  body,  beginning  some  twenty  years  ago,  at  almost 
every  successive  Commencement  for  ten  years.  The  educating 
power  and  stimulating  influence  of  one  or  two,  sometimes  three 
or  four  such  orators  as  these  at  every  Commencement,  can  hardly 
be  overestimated.  To  lose  it  were  a  great  loss  to  the  students,  to 
the  College  and  to  the  community.  Yet  the  same  causes  which 
have  already  so  reduced  the  attendance  at  Commencements, 
must,  of  course,  dimmish  the  inducement  and  the  inclination  to 
address  the  Societies  on  these  occasions.  There  is  an  increasing- 
difficulty  every  year  in  obtaining  such  orators,  as  once  deemed 
it  an  honor  and  a  privilege  to  appear  before  the  audience  that 
was  wont  to  gather  at  these  annual  festivals.  And  what  is  still 
more  discouraging,  it  is  only  an  orator  of  the  very  highest  repu- 
tation, or  more  likely  some  speaker  who  will  amuse  them  and 
make  them  laugh,  that  now  draws  any  considerable  number  of 
the  students  themselves,  even  the  members  of  the  Society  that 


640  HISTORY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

invited  him,  to  listen  to  his  oration.  And  he  goes  away  per- 
chance exclaiming,  with  the  prince  of  Roman  orators,  O  tempo- 
ra !  O  mores !  At  this  rate,  this  truly  American  feature  of  a 
distinctively  American  Commencement  will  soon  die  out,  even 
before  the  Commencement  itself  ceases  to  drag  out  a  miserable 
existence. 

Class-day  has  recently  become  a  prominent  and  highly  attrac- 
tive feature  of  Commencement  week.  It  began  with  the  Class 
of  1852  who,  at  the  close  of  their  Senior  examination,  six  weeks 
before  Commencement,  had  an  Oration  and  a  Poem  in  the  even- 
ing, after  which  they  marched  in  procession,  led  by  a  band  of 
music  and  followed  by  all  College  and  no  small  part  of  the  toVn, 
particularly  the  town  boys,  to  the  houses  of  the  Professors  whom 
they  addressed,  through  some  one  appointed  for  the  purpose, 
and  expected  them,  volentes  nolentes,  to  make  a  speech  in  return. 
Then  they  had  a  class-supper,  which,  however,  was  over,  and 
the  class  at  their  rooms  and  in  their  beds  long  before  morning. 
Class-day  continued  to  be  observed  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Senior  vacation,  (growing,  however,  in  the  number,  variety  and 
interest  of  the  exercises,  occupying  the  afternoon,  instead  of  the 
evening,  with  its  public  performances  and  prolonging  the  class 
supper  to  day-dawn  the  next  morning,)  until  1870,  when  it  was 
transferred  to  the  week  of  Commencement,  thus  suiting  the  con- 
venience of  the  relatives  and  friends  of  the  class  who  can  now 
combine  Class  day  and  Commencement  in  one  festival,  and  at 
the  same  time  contributing  a  charm  to  the  exercises  of  that 
week  which  compensates  in  no  small  measure  for  the  loss  of 
other  attractions. 

A  noteworthy  change  has  passed  over  Amherst,  in  common 
with  other  Colleges  and  the  community  generally,  in  manners 
and  customs,  and  especially  in  regard  to  recreations  and  amuse- 
ments. Time  was,  when  class-suppers  and  "  convivial  enter- 
tainments "  were  "  strictly  forbidden  " — when  slave-holding  was 
deemed  comparatively  innocent,  and  dancing  a  mortal  sin  — 
when  the  ten-pin  alley  was  the  broad  road  to  ruin,  and  the  bil- 
liard saloon  the  very  vestibule  of  perdition — when  the  student 
who  should  have  been  caught  singing  such  songs  as  "  The  way 
we  have  in  Old  Amherst,"  and  others  like  it,  in  the  streets,. 


CHANGE   OF   CUSTOMS.  641 

would  have  been  expelled,  or  perchance  found  himself  in  the 
lock-up.  Now  the  class-supper  is  the  goal  and  garland  of  the 
College  curriculum.  Now  slave-holding  is  abolished,  and  danc- 
ing, like  calisthenics,  is  very  generally  considered  as  in  itself  an 
innocent  recreation,  nay,  at  proper  times  and  places  a  graceful 
and  useful  exercise.  Now  the  bowling-alley  occupies  the  lower 
floor  of  the  College  Gymnasium,  and  but  for  want  of  room  and 
money  it  is  quite  possible  that  a  billiard  table  might  have  been 
introduced  under  the  same  roof,  and  as  a  part  of  the  same  sys- 
tem of  gymnastic  exercises.  Now  those  songs  which  are  such  a 
strange  medley  of  festive  odes  and  negro  melodies,  are  sung  in 
the  parlors  of  citizens  and  Professors.  I  cannot  say  that  I  am 
entirely  converted  either  to  the  ethics  or  the  aesthetics  of  this 
new  regime.  Still  less  would  I  affirm,  that  negro  melodies, 
smoking  songs,  class-suppers,  dancing,  bowling,  billiards  et  id 
genus  omne,  have  been  wholly  converted  and  entirely  sanctified 
to  the  uses  of  learning  and  religion.  Nor  should  it  be  under- 
stood that  all  these  innovations  have  received  the  sanction  of  the 
government,  or  met  the  approval  of  the  Faculty  and  the  Trus- 
tees. But  I  do  say  as  John  Wesley  said  long  ago,  that  it  is  a 
pity  the  devil  should  have  all  the  best  music,  or  the  best  exer- 
cise, recreation  and  amusement.  And  we  have  certainly  gone 
far  in  redeeming  not  a  few  of  these  things  from  their  long 
desecration,  and  making  them  among  the  most  effective  means 
of  bodily  and  spiritual  health,  of  physical  and  mental  education. 
Ten-pins  and  billiards  were  the  way  to  perdition,  when  they 
were  to  be  found  only  with  the  bar  and  the  saloon  in  the  very 
purlieus  of  the  pit,  and  when  the  young  man  rushed  madly  into 
them  in  opposition  to  public  sentiment,  the  commands  and  ex- 
postulations of  parents  and  teachers  and  the  remonstrances  of 
his  own  conscience.  But  students  are  far  less  likely,  as  facts 
abundantly  prove,  to  visit  drinking  and  gambling  saloons  and 
the  like  dens  of  corruption  and  pollution,  when  they  can  find 
the  exercise  and  recreation  which  they  seek,  without  such  sur- 
roundings. And  when  we  compare  all  these  new  modes  which 
distinguish,  but  in  the  view  of  older  graduates  do  not  adorn, 
recent  College  life,  with  those  which  they  have  superseded — 
with  the  hazing,  the  fagging,  the  breaking  of  windows,  the  tar- 
41 


642  HISTORY  OF  AMHERST  COLLEGE. 

ring  or  freezing  up  of  the  bell,  the  turning  of  recitation-rooms 
into  sheep-pens  or  cow-stables,  and  above  all  with  the  mock 
sacraments  and  prayer-meetings,  the  "  Ho  every  one  that  thirst- 
eth  "  societies,  and  the  secret  orgies  which,  thirty  or  forty  years 
ago,  were,  too  often,  the  reaction  and  outbreak  from  old  ideas 
and  ordinances,  but  which  no  student  now-a-days  would  ever 
think  of  perpetrating — certainly  we  cannot  deny  that,  on  the 
whole,  there  has  been  a  gain  to  manners,  morals  and  religion. 
When  I  see  the  follies  and  frivolities  of  students  now,  I  confess 
I  have  sometimes  been  almost  ready  to  say,  that  they  have  de- 
generated since  I  was  in  College.  Yet  on  reflection  I  come  back 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  difference  is  chiefly  in  forms*  and 
modes  of  manifestation,  that  human  nature  and  student  nature 
is  substantially  the  same  in  all  generations,  and  that  the  students 
of  Amherst  College  were  never  more  manly,  more  scholarly  or 
more  Christian,  than  they  are  now.  Certain  I  am  that  the  Presi- 
dent and  Professors  were  never  so  much  in  the  habit  of  relying 
on  their  sense  of  honor  and  right,  and  never  before  was  there 
such  a  prompt  and  unfailing  response  by  the  whole  body  of  the 
students  to  all  our  appeals  in  behalf  of  whatever  things  are  true, 
pure,  beautiful  and  good. 

Boating  is  a  new  custom  in  Amherst,  and  a  strange  one,  which 
former  generations  of  students  would  never  have  imagined 
could  be  introduced,  and  in  which  the  students  of  other  Colleges 
had  no  fear  of  competition  from  this  quarter.  "  A  fresh-wa- 
ter College,"  with  the  river  three  miles  away,  its  students, 
for  the  most  part,  "  landlubbers,"  and  its  Faculty,  partly  for 
these  reasons,  and  partly  on  general  grounds,  averse  to  the  ex- 
periment, it  never  entered  the  lists  till  1869  and  then  at  great 
disadvantage.  Yet  at  the  third  trial — in  the  regatta  of  1872 — 
the  Amherst  boys  came  off  victorious  over  all  competitors,  and 
made  the  shortest  time  on  record.  The  result  was  a  surprise  to 
themselves  and  an  astonishment  to  others.  Whether  it  was 
owing  to  the  greater  average  age  of  Amherst  students  as  The 
Yale  Courant  suggests,  to  the  long  and  constant  practice  of  the 
Gymnasium  as  the  newspapers  very  generally  argue,  to  better 
training,  that  is,  neither  over-training,  on  the  one  hand,  nor,  on 
the  other,  neglect  of  training  as  the  boys  themselves  say,  or,  as 


BOATING.  643 

their  trainer  is  said  to  insist,  to  their  morale  quite  as  much  and 
more  than  to  any  physical  causes — this  question  is  still  sub  ju- 
dice,  and  we  shall  not  attempt  to  decide  it.  One  thing  is  quite 
certain.  If  they  would  maintain  their  superiority,  they  must 
not  overlook  any  of  these  means,  least  of  all  that  which  is  em- 
phasized by  their  trainer.  And  if,  by  the  happy  union  of  phys- 
ical and  moral  discipline,  they  can  maintain  a  well-earned  as- 
cendency— if  they  can,  at  the  same  time,  keep  themselves  free 
from  the  betting  and  drinking  and  gambling  which  are  now  too 
conspicuous  features  of  the  regatta,  and  thus  help  to  purify  and 
elevate  the  regatta  itself,  they  will  have  deserved  well  of  the 
College  and  the  country,  and  will  win  the  unanimous  suffrages 
of  the  friends  of  physical,  intellectual  and  moral  education. 

After  all  the  changes  that  have  come  over  it  during  the  half 
century  of  its  existence,  the  College  still  answers  well  the  pur- 
pose which  was  uppermost  in  the  hearts  of  its  founders.  Of 
the  whole  number  of  Alumni  whose  names  are  registered  in  the 
Semi-Centennial  Catalogue,  viz.,  nineteen  hundred  and  forty- 
six,  seven  hundred  and  ninety-nine,  or  forty-one  per  cent  of 
the  whole,  are  registered  as  ministers.  The  percentage  will,  of 
course  be  greater  when  all  the  candidates  for  the  ministry  in 
the  recently-graduated  classes,  have  entered  the  profession.  At 
the  close  of  Dr.  Humphrey's  presidency,  of  seven  hundred  and 
ninety-eight,  then  the  entire  number  of  Alumni,  three  hundred 
and  forty,  or  forty-two  per  cent,  had  become  ministers ;  and  at 
the  close  of  Dr.  Hitchcock's  presidency  four  hundred  and  seven- 
ty-nine out  of  ten  hundred  and  ninety-four,  or  forty-three  per 
cent,  had  entered  the  ministry.  The  classes  that  graduated  un- 
der President  Humphrey,  taken  by  themselves,  have  furnished 
fifty -five  per  cent  of  ministers  ;  those  that  graduated  under  Presi- 
dent Hitchcock,  forty-three  per  cent;  and  the  first  ten  classes 
that  graduated  under  President  Stearns,  leaving  out  the  later 
ones  as  not  yet  having  brought  in  their  full  quota,  forty  per  cent. 

The  Class  of  '24  has  the  largest  proportion  of  ministers,  viz : 
seventy  per  cent ;  the  Class  of  '37  ranks  next,  having  sixty- 
eight  per  cent,  and  the  Class  of  '43  follows  close  upon  it,  having 
sixty-seven  per  cent.  Amherst  has  fallen  off  in  common  with 
all  the  other  New  England  Colleges,  in  the  proportion  of  minis- 


644  HISTORY    OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

ters  to  the  whole  number  of  graduates.  But  it  has  fallen  off 
less  than  any  other  New  England  College ;  and  is  now  furnish- 
ing not  only  a  larger  percentage,  but  a  greater  number  of  min- 
isters than  any  other  College  in  New  England.  Indeed,  for  the 
half  century,  beginning  with  1815  and  ending  with  1865,  "  Am- 
herst  stands  at  the  head  in  its  percentage  of  ministers ;  and  in 
the  number  of  ministers  which  it  has  furnished  during  this 
period,  it  is  second  only  to  Yale."  1 

The  occupations  of  our  Alumni  as  they  are  registered  in  the 
Semi-Centennial  Catalogue,  prepared  with  great  care  and  labor 
by  Prof.  Crowell,  are  summed  up  as  follows : 

Whole  number  of  Alumni, 1,946 

Ordained  Ministers, 799 

Foreign  Missionaries, 79 

Physicians, 138 

Lawyers, 233 

Professors  in  Colleges  and  professional  Schools,  and  other. Teachers,  208 

Others  engaged  in  Literary  or  Scientific  pursuits,        74 

This  gives  forty-one  per  cent  of  all  our  graduates  as  ministers, 
seven  per  cent,  physicians,  twelve  per  cent,  lawyers,  and  eleven 
per  cent,  teachers.  According  to  recent  statistics  of  the  Bureau 
of  Education,  as  reported  in  the  newspapers  (I  am  not  able  to 
verify  the  report)  amongHhe  graduates  of  "four  New  England 
Colleges,  Harvard,  Yale,  Dartmouth  and  Wesleyan,  a  little  more 
than  twenty-five  per  cent  are  ministers,  thirty-three  per  cent, 
lawyers,  thirteen  per  cent,  physicians,  and  fourteen  per  cent, 
teachers.  Yale  has  one-third  of  her  graduates  in  the  law  and 
less  than  one-quarter  in  the  ministry ;  forty  per  cent  of  Har- 
vard men  choose  law." 

The  above  table  of  Amherst  statistics,  it  should  be  added,  ex- 
hibits the  entire  number  of  ordained  ministers  and  doctors  of 
medicine,  since  they  have  always  been  distinguished  on  the  Tri- 
ennial Catalogue,  while  the  other  occupations  which  are  regis- 
tered for  the  first  time  in  the  Semi-Centennial  Catalogue,  are 
designated  only  in  cases  of  living  Alumni,  so  that  it  does  not 

1  Rev.  C.  Gushing.    See  Exercises  at  the  Placing  of  the  Corner-stone  of  the  Col- 
lege Church. 


PROFESSIONS.  645 

show  the  entire  number  of  lawyers,  teachers  or  other  literary 
men,  nor  their  full  proportion  to  ministers  and  physicians.  At 
the  same  time  the  proportion  of  lawyers  and  of  lay  graduates 
generally,  was  comparatively  small  in  the  earlier  years  of  the 
College.  It  used  to  be  regarded  almost  as  a  matter  of  course 
that  a  pious  student  in  Amherst  College  ought  to  be,  and  would 
be,  a  minister.  Now  pious  students  go  into  all  the  professions, 
and  it  is  considered  desirable — it  certainly  is  desirable  that  they 
should ;  if  they  .only  carry  their  Christian  principles  with  them 
into  the  secular  professions  and  the  high  places  of  influence  in 
the  State  as  well  as  the  Church,  as  we  know  very  many  of  them 
do,  it  is  a  result  which  would  gladden  the  hearts  even  of  those 
good  men  who  founded  the  Institution  in  prayer  and  faith  chiefly 
for  the  education  of  ministers. 

The  Alumni  of  Amherst  adorn  every  profession.  The  reverend 
clergy  outnumber,  and,  on  the  whole,  perhaps  outshine,  the  other 
professions.  But  our  young  lawyers  and  physicians  are  rapidly 
rising  to  the  same  high  rank  in  New  York  and  Boston  and  else- 
where which  our  preachers  have  so  long  and  so  conspicuously 
held  in  Brooklyn  and  more  recently  taken  in  other  cities.  Lit- 
erature, also,  and  science,  and  theology,  count  Amherst  gradu- 
ates among  their  brightest  ornaments.  They  have  carried  their 
knowledge  and  culture  with  them  into  the  high  places  of  agri- 
culture and  manufactures,  engineering  and  machinery,  commerce 
and  business  of  every  kind.  The  periodical  press  owns  their 
sway  from  Andover  to  San  Francisco,  in  the  Valley  of  the  Con- 
necticut, on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  and  on  the  waters  that 
flow  into  the  Mississippi.  Next  to  religion,  education  is  perhaps 
the  sphere  in  which  our  College  has  especially  ruled,  and  her  sons 
are  to  be  found  at  the  head  of  Academies  and  High  Schools 
without  number,  from  the  farthest  East  to  the  far  West,  and  of- 
ficering Colleges  from  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College  in 
Amherst  to  the  Syrian  College  in  Beirut  and  Robert  College  in 
Constantinople ;  from  the  oldest  Theological  Seminaries  in  this 
country  to  the  most  recent  schools  for  the  education  of  native 
preachers  and  teachers  in  Turkey,  India,  China  and  Japan.  They 
have  not  often  sought  distinction  in  political  and  public  life,  but 
promotion  has  sometimes  sought  them,  and  they  have  honored 


646  HISTORY   OF   AMHERST    COLLEGE. 

the  Gubernatorial  office  in  Massachusetts  and  the  Speaker's  chair 
in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States;  they  have  filled  and  illus- 
trated some  of  the  highest  stations  legislative,  executive  and  ju- 
dicial in  the  State  and  the  Nation.  Amherst  can  not  boast  of 
the  long  line  of  Presidents,  Governors  and  Cabinet  Officers  and 
Ambassadors  to  foreign  courts  that  have  marched  down  the  gen- 
erations and  centuries  in  the  history  of  older  Institutions.  But 
as  ambassadors  of  the  King  of  Kings,  as  heralds  of  the  Prince 
of  Peace,  as  leaders  of  the  sacramental  host  and  pioneers  of 
Christian  civilization,  the  sons  of  Amherst  may  be  seen  to-day 
in  every  land  advancing  to  the  conquest  of  the  world  for  Christ 
and  establishing  his  reign  in  the  hearts  of  men.  Wherever  there 
is  any  great  battle  to  be  fought,  any  prolonged  and  desperate 
war  to  be  waged,  any  hard  work  to  be  done  at  home  or  abroad, 
in  civilized  or  savage  lands,  for  truth  and  justice,  for  libert}r  and 
humanity,  for  learning  and  religion — there  they  are  sure  to  be 
found  doing  the  hardest  of  the  work,  leading  in  the  hottest  of 
the  fight,  the  true  working  men  in  the  field  of  the  world,  brave 
soldiers  in  the  service  of  the  Son  of  Man  and  the  Son  of  God. 
Such  hitherto  has  been  the  history  of  Amherst  College — such 
be  her  fame  and  glory  in  all  coming  ages. 

There  was  a  time  when  too  many  Amherst  Alumni  were  dis- 
affected, not  to  say,  disloyal  to  their  College.  That  day  has  gone 
by,  we  trust,  never  to  return.  The  sons  of  Amherst  are  now 
proud  to  call  her  mother.  They  gather  at  the  homestead  in  in- 
creasing numbers  and  with  growing  affection  at  each  return 
of  her  anniversary  festival.  They  have  organized  Societies  of 
Alumni  in  the  principal  cities  of.  the  East  and  the  West — live  So- 
cieties that  meet  every  winter,  and  over  a  good  supper,  talk  of  the 
past,  the  present  and  the  future  of  the  College.  They  advise 
students  to  go  to  Amherst  and  send  their  own  sons  there  un- 
less there  are  good  and  sufficient  reasons  for  sending  them  else- 
where. They  advocate  the  claims  of  their  Alma  in  the  newspa- 
pers and  plead  her  cause  in  the  Legislature.  The  greater  part 
of  the  Trustees — all  the  recently  elected  Trustees,  with  a  single 
exception — are  now  graduates;  and  as  soon  as  the  law  passed  at 
the  last  session  of  the  Legislature,  conditioned  however  on  its 
acceptance  by  the  Corporation  and  the  Alumni  Association,  can 


THE  FUTURE.  647 

receive  certain  amendments  in  which  both  these  bodies  are 
agreed,  five  members  of  the  Corporation  will  hereafter  forever 
be  elected  directly  by  the  Alumni  at  their  annual  meeting.  Al- 
ready the  College  is  substantially  controlled  and  governed  by  its 
graduates ;  in  future  it  will  be  more  and  more  what  they  choose 
to  make  it;  and  with  their  wealth  and  influence  increasing  as 
they  increase  in  number  and  in  devotion  to  its  interests,  and 
with  the  blessing  of  heaven  on  the  wise  counsels  of  its  guardi- 
ans and  the  faithful  labors  of  its  officers,  it  enters  upon  the  sec- 
ond half-century  of  its  existence  with  abundant  promise  of  a 
prosperity  and  usefulness  exceeding  the  most  sanguine  hopes  of 
its  most  hopeful  and  aspiring  founders.  At  the  close  of  the  first 
century  may  those  who  write  its  history,  find  this  promise  and 
prophecy  more  than  fulfilled. 


APPENDIX, 


A. 

NAMES,  RESIDENCE  AND  AMOUNT  OF  THE  ORIGINAL  SUBSCRIP- 
TION TO  THE  CHARITY  FUND  OF  AMHERST  COLLEGE, 

SUBSCRIBED  between  the  23d  day  of  May,  1818,  and  the  12th  day  of  May,  1819,  as 
arranged  by  Rufus  Graves,  Esq.,  Secretary  and  Agent  of  Amherst  Academy,  and 
laid  before  a  Committee  of  the  Legislature,  October  4, 1824.  Copied  and  furnished 
for  this  History,  at  the  request  of  the  author,  by  Lucius  Boltwood,  Esq. : 

NAMES.  RESIDENCE.  AMOUNT. 

Elijah  Arms, Deerfield, $400 

John  Avery, Conway, 100 

Benjamin  Adams,       ....  Hopkinton, 40 

Rev.  Samuel  Austin,          .        .        .  Burlington,  Vt.,      ....  1,000 

Amos  Allen Shelburne, 40 

Calvin  Ammidown,    ....  Southbridge, 150 

Elisha  Billings, Conway,  .        .        .        .        .  300 

Mary  Billings, Conway, 100 

Henry  Billings,  .....  Conway,  .....  50 

Williams  Billings,       ....  Conway, 150 

Charles  Billings,         ....  Conway,  .        .        .        .  200 

Israel  Billings, Hatfield, 150 

Rhodolphus  Bardwell,         .        .        .  Montague, 100 

Moses  Bardwell,         ....  Montague, 50 

Sarah  Bardwell,  his  wife,   .        .        .  Montague, 50 

Sarah  Bardwell,          ....  Northfield, 10 

Phillip  Blake, Franklin 200 

Robert.  Blake, Wrentham, 100 

Samuel  Baker, Foxboro', 50 

Daniel  Babcock,         ....  Attleboro', 25 

Rev.  Winthrop  Bailey,       .        .        .  Pelham, 100 

Thomas  Bucklin,        ....  Hopkinton, 25 

Huldah  Bucklin,         ....  Holliston, 25 

Rufus  Baker, Hawley, 100 

Enos  Baker, Amherst, 100 

Elijah  Boltwood,         ....  Amherst, 200 

William  Boltwood,     ....  Amherst 

Lucius  Boltwood,        ....  Amherst, 100 

Simeon  Ballard,          ....  Sunderland, 50 

Amount  carried  forward, $4,055 


650 


HISTOBY  OF   AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 


NAMKS.  RESIDENCE.                                                    AMOUNT. 

Amount  brought  forward, $4,065 

Theodore  Bridgman, ....        Belchertown, 50 

Dolly  Bancroft,  .        .        .        .        .        Warwick, 8 

Cephas  Blodget,          ....        Araherst, 100 

Moses  Bond,       .  North  Brookfield,    ....  300 

Thomas  Bond,  Jr.,      ....        Brookfield, 150 

Aaron  Bliss, Brimfield, 100 

Caleb  Burband,' Millbury, 100 

Joseph  Bowman,        ....  New  Braintree,        .        .        .        .  200 

Joseph  Blodget,          ....        Greenwich, 100 

David  Burt,                                          i  Longmeadow,          ....  100 

Calvin  Burt,        .        .                 .        .  Longmeadow,          ....  100 

Gad  Bliss, Longmeadow,          ....  100 

Gideon  Burt, Longmeadow,          ....  50 

Gaius  Bliss, Longmeadow,          .        .        .        .20 

William  Ballard,         ....        Charlemont, 50 

Josiah  Bard  well,         ....  South  Hadley,         ....  200 

Benjamin  Brainard,    .                                  Gill, lOO 

David  Barnard, Shelburne, 10 

Abner  Cooley, Deerfield 200 

Oliver  Cooley, Deerfield, 200 

Rev.  Josiah  W.  Cannon,    .        .        .        Gill, 100 

Thomas  Clark,   .....         Sunderland, 50 

Charles  Cooley, Sunderland, 50 

Ariel  Cooley, South  Hadley,         ....  500 

Rev.  John  Crane,       ....  Northbridge,   .        .        .              ,  .  100 

Noah  Claflin,  Jr.,        ....        Attleboro', 25 

Joseph  Cushman,        ....        Attleboro', 20 

Nathaniel  Cutler Medway, 25 

Daniel  Chamberlain,  ....        Brookfield, 1,000 

Seth  Clark,         .        .        .         .        .        Conway, 75 

Jonathan  Cowls,          ....        Amherst, 100 

Joseph  Cowls, Amherst, 100 

Silas  Cowls Hadley, 100 

Rufus  Cowls, Amherst,  land  in  Maine,         .        .  3,000 

Joshua  Clark Granby, 100 

Jotham  Clark,     .....        Granby, 50 

Elisha  Clapp, Deerfield, 100 

Elihu  Clary, Deerfield, 50 

Jedediah  Clark,           ....        Deerfield, 100 

Samuel  W.  Chapin,    ....        Bernardston, 25 

Betsey  Cutter, Medway, 5 

Joseph  Carew, Springfield, 100 

Jesse  Carpenter,         ....        Attleboro', 50 

Samuel  Clark, Shutesbury, 100 

Rev.  Daniel  A.  Clark,        .        .        .        Amherst, 100 

Ebenezer  Clark,          ....        Conway, 50 

Rev.  Joshua  Crosby,  ....        Enfield, 100 

Ebenezer  Childs,         ....        Shelburne, 100 

Obadiah  Dickinson,    ....        Heath, 25 

Margarett  Dickinson,          .        .        .        Holliston, 25 

Irene  Dickinson,         ....        Holliston, 25 

Lucinda  Dickinson,    ....        Amherst, 100 

Thankful  Dickinson,  ....        Amherst, 100 

Eli  Dickinson, Granby, 50 

Job  Dickinson Granby, 50 

Samuel  F.  Dickinson,         .        .        .  Amherst,         ...                 .  1 005 

Elijah  Dwight, Amherst, 200 

Elijah  Dickinson Amherst,  land 600 

Phillip  Davis, Greenwich, 60 

Amount  carried  forward,  .......        $14,808 


SUBSCRIBERS   TO   THE   CHARITY  FUND. 


651 


NVMKS.  RCSIDBNCK.                                                   AMOUKT. 

Amount  brought  forward, $14,808 

Samuel  Druce, Wrentham, 50 

James  Dickinson,       ....        Shelburne, 100 

Joseph  Estabrook,      ....        Amherst, 1,005 

Joseph  Emerson,        ....        Heath, 25 

Kev.  John  Emerson,  ....  Conway,   .        .        .        .        .        .50 

Rev.  Nathaniel  Emmons,  .         .        .        Franklin 50 

Mary  Everett,     ......        Attleboro, 25 

Aaron  Eames, Holliston, 50 

Aaron  Eames,  2d,       .         .        .         .        Hollistou, 50 

John  Eastman,   ....                 Amherst, 400 

Jonathan  Eastman,     ....        Amherst, 100 

Joseph  Eastman Granby, 50 

William  Eastman,      ....        Granby, 100 

Justin  Kly West  Springfield,      .        .        .        .100 

Elijah  Field, Hawley, 500 

Rev.  Joseph  Field Charlemont, 200 

Silas  Field, Leverett, 50 

Isaac  Fiske Holden, 50 

Caleb  Fisher, Franklin, 25 

Asa  Fisher Franklin, 50 « 

Rev.  Elisha  Fiske,     ....        Wrentham, 25 

Joseph  Fairbanks,      ....        Billingham, 50 

Timothy  Fiske,          ....        Holliston, 50 

Abel  Fiske Hopkinton, 100 

Lucius  Field Leverett, 50 

Alpheus  Field, Leverett, 50 

Orlando  Field, Leverett, 50 

John  Fuller, Greenwich, 50 

Nathaniel  Fuller,        ....        Greenwich, 100 

Alexander  Field,         ....        Longmeadow, 75 

4Rev.  John  Fiske,        ....  New  Braintree,          ....  100 

Clarissa  Fales, Wrentham, 10 

Daniel  Fiske Shelburne, 100 

Erastus  Graves,          ....        Sunderland, 500 

Rhoda  Graves,  his  wife,     .         .        .        Sunderland, 500 

Benjamin  Graves,       ....        Sunderland, 200 

James  Gould Gill, 100 

Job  Goodale,      .        .        .        .        .        Bernardston, 200 

Lydia  Goodale,  his  wife,    .        .        .        Bernardston, 50 

Josiah  Gleason New  Braintree,         ....  100 

Rev.  Joseph  Goffe,      ....        Millbury, 100 

Asahel  Gunn, Montague, 50 

Submit  Gunn,  his  wife,      .        .        .        Montague, 60 

Aaron  Gould,      .        .    '    .        .        .        Ware, 100 

Horatio  Graves,          ....         Sunderland, 50 

Rev.  Jonathan  Grout,        .         .        .        Hawley, 100 

Seth  Howland, Gill, 100 

Peter  Hunt Heath, 50 

John  Hastings, Heath, 25 

Elisha  Hubbard,         ....         Sunderland, 50 

Rufus  Hubbard Sunderland 50 

Rufus  Hastings,          ....        Bernardston, 50 

Levi  Hawes, Franklin, 50 

Benjamin  Hawes,       ....        Wrentham, 50 

Rev.  Nathan  Holman,         .         .         .         Attleboro, 50 

Richard  Hunt, Attleboro, 25 

Rev.  Nathaniel  Howe,        .        .        .        Hopkinton, 50 

Sylvester  Hovey,        ....        Conway, 150 

Simeon  Hubbard,        ....  Briinfield,          ....         .  100 

Amount  carried  forward, $21,548 


652 


HISTOEY   OF  AMHERST   COLLEGE. 


NAMES.  RESIDENCE.                                                     AMOUNT. 

Amount  brought  forward, $21,548 

Jared  Hawks,  Jr.,       ....        Goshen, 200 

Kev.  Jacob  Ide, Medway, 50 

Martha  Ide, Seekonk, 20 

Ichabod  Ide, Attleboro, 10 

Nathaniel  Ide,     .        .        .        .        .        Attleboro, 10 

Elias  Ingram, Attleboro, 10 

Rev.  Samuel  Judson,          .        .        .        Uxbridge, 100 

Nathaniel  Johnson,     ....  Holliston,          .        .        ...        .25 

Aaron  Johnson, Greenwich,        .        .        .        .        .  100 

Samuel  Joslin, New  Braintree,          ....  50 

John  Jacobs Millbury, 50 

Joseph  Keith Enfield, 100 

Kemeru  her  Kemp,      ....  Seekonk,  R.  L,          ....  50 

William  Kellogg,        ....        Amherst, 100 

Joseph  Kellogg,          ....        Amherst, 50 

Martin  Kellogg,  .....  Amherst,  ......  Jf*0 

Edmund  Longley,      ....        Hawley, 100 

Roger  Leavitt, Heath, 200 

Edmund  Longley,  Jr.,        .        .        .        Heath, 100 

Joseph  Lyman, Northfield, 25 

Elizabeth  Lyman,  his  wife,        .        .        Northfield, 25 

Shepard  Leach, Easton, 

Howard  Lathrop,        ....        Easton, 100 

Asaph  Leland, Holliston, 60 

Anna  Leland, Holliston, 25 

John  Leland,  Jr.,        ....        Amherst, 150 

Asa  Lincoln, Holliston, 20 

Richard  Lewis, Ware, 100 

Laban  Marcy, Greenwich, 500 

Rev.  Moses  Miller,     .         ...        .        Heath, 75 

Bethia  Miller,  his  wife,       .        .        .        Heath, 10 

Hugh  Maxwell Heath, 100* 

Mary  Montague,         ....        Montague, 100 

Hezekiah  Mattoon,     ....        Northfield, 25 

Penelope  Mattoon,  his  wife,        .        .        Northfield, 25 

Cornelius  Metcalf,       ....        Foxboro, 50 

Jonathan  Metcalf,       ....        Franklin, 50 

Gideon  Moody, Granby, 100 

Calvin  Morse, Ware, 50 

Azor  Moody, Granby, 300 

Jason  Mixter, Hardwick, 200 

Calvin  Merrill  &  Son,         .        .        .        Amherst, 300 

Oliver  Mason,  Jr.,      ....        Southbridge, 50 

Daniel  Morse, Southbridge, 50 

Gerusha  Morse,  his  wife,    .        .        .        Southbridge, 10 

Lason  Morse Southbridge, 25 

David  Mack,  Jr.,        ....        Middlefield,  , 333 

Zebina  Newcomb,       ....        Bernardston, 50 

John  Northam, Greenwich, 100 

John  Osborn,  Jr.,        ....        Ware, 50 

Joel  Parsons, Con  way, 600 

Thomas  Powers,         ....        Greenwich, 100 

Titus  Pomroy, South  Hadley, 200 

Sybel  Parmenter,        ....        Bernardston, 50 

Isaac  Pratt Foxboro, 50 

Elizabeth  Prentis,       ....        Holliston, 50 

Rev.  David  Parsons,  D.  D.,       .        .        Amherst, 600 

John  Payne Granby, 100 

Benjamin  Paige,         ....        Ware, 100 

Amount  carried  forward, $27,771 


SUBSCRIBERS   TO   THE   CHARITY  FUND. 


653 


NAMES.  RESIDENCE. 

Amount  brought  forward, 

Thomas  Parsons,        ....  Amherst, 

Joshua  Pomroy,          ....  Greenwich, 

Rev.  Theophilus  Packard,          .        .  Shelburne 

Rev.  Eliakim  Phelps,         .        .        .  Brookfield, 


AMOUNT. 

$27,771 
100 
100 
100 
100 


Daniel  Rugg,      .....  Heath,       ......  25 

Spencer  Root,     .....  Montague,         .....  100 

Stephen  Rhodes,         ....  Foxboro,  ......  50 

Luther  Root,       .....  Sunderland,       .....  50 

Elihu  Rowe,       .....  Sunderland  ......  100 

Nathaniel  Smith,         ....  Sunderland,      .....  1,000 

Thankful  Smith,  his  wife,  .        .        .  Sunderland,      .....  700 

Thomas  Sanderson,    ....  Whately,  ......  200 

Timothy  Stoughton  .....  Gill,  .......  100 

Moses  Smith,     .....  Hawley,    ......  100 

Consider  Scott,  .....  Charlemont,      .....  25 

Prince  Snow,      .....  Bernardston,     .....  33 

Thomas  Snow,  .....  Bernardston,     .....  50 

Selah  Severance,        ....  Shelburne  ......  25 

Benjamin  Shepard,     ....  Wrentham,       .....  75 

Benjamin  Shepard,  Jr.,      .        .         .  Wrentham,        .....  50 

Rev.  Luther  Sheldon,         .        .        .  Easton,      ......  30 

Sarah  Sheldon,  his  wife,     .         .        .  Easton,      ......  20 

Ebenezer  Stehbins,  Jr.,       .         .        .  Deerfield,          .....  25 

Hezekiah  W.  Strong,          .        .        .  Amherst,  ......  100 

Aaron  Smith,      .....  Granby,     ......  50 

George  Sumner,          ....  Southbridge,     .....  40 

John  Stebbins,    .....  Spencer,    ......  50 

Rev.  Micah  Stone,      ....  Brookfield,        .....  100 

Rev.  Thomas  Snell,   ....  North  Brookfield,      .        .        .        .100 

Joel  Smith,         .....  Amherst,  ......  150 

Oliver  Smith,     .....  Hadley,     ......  1,005 

Solomon  Strong,         ....  Leominster,       .....  200 

Benjamin  Stebbins,     ....  Springfield,       .....  100 

Orra  Sheldon,     .....  Bernardston,     .....  25 

William  Steadman,    ....  Charlton,  ......  100 

Salem  Town,  Jr.,       ....  Charlton  .......  500 

Israel  E.  Trask,          ....  Brimfield,          .....  500 

Rev.  James  Taylor,    ....  Sunderland,      .....  100 

Samuel  Taylor  ......  Buckland  ......  100 

Horace  W.  Taft,         ....  Sunderland,      .        .        .        .        .100 

Peter  Thacher  ......  Attleboro,         .....  50 

Hannah  Tyler,   .....  Attleboro,          .....  20 

Samuel  Tyler,    .....  Attleboro,          .....  25 

Jonathan  Fay,    .....  Sherburn,          .....  60 

Orin  Trow  ......  Hardwick,         .....  100 

Kingsley  Underwood,         .        .        .  Enfield,     ......  60 

David  White,     .....  Heath,       ......  50 

Jarib  White,       .....  Amherst,  ......  150 

Samuel  Ware,     .....  Con  way,  .        ...        •        •        •  300 

Samuel  Warren,         ....  Con  way,  ......  400 

Joseph  Williams,        ....  Greenwich,       .....  100 

John  Warner,     .....  Greenwich,       .....  100 

Warren  Wing,    .....  Greenwich,       .....  100 

William  Walker  .....  Hardwick  ......  100 

Ephraim  Williams,     ....  Ashfield  .......  200 

Eli  Wheelock,    .....  Sturbridge,       .....  100 

Nathan  Woodward  .....  Franklin,  .....  50 

Amount  carried  forward,  .......      $36,794 


654 


HISTORY   OF   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 


NAMES. 

Amount  brought  forward, 
Hannah  Woodward,   .... 
Elizabeth  Woodward, 
Gideon  Warner,          .... 

Peggy  Walker, 

Rev.  Joseph  Wheaton, 
Rev.  William  Wyson, 

James  Wight, 

Rev.  Edward  Whipple, 
Rev.  Thomas  Williams, 
Rev.  David  Parsons, 
Samuel  F.  Dickinson, 
Jarib  White, 
Elijah  Boltwood, 
Hezekiah  W.  Strong, 
Enos  Baker, 
John  Leland,  Jr., 
Calvin  Merrill, 
Joseph  Church,  Jr., 


Franklin,  . 
Franklin,  . 
Sunderland, 
Medway,  . 
Holliston, . 
Hard  wick, 
Holliston,  . 
Charlton,  . 
Foxboro,  . 


Amherst, . 


Total, 


AMOUNT. 

$36,794 
.  40 
.  15 

.  .  25 
.  20 
.  50 
.  100 
.  50 
.  100 
50 


15,000 


$52,244 


GUARANTY  BOND 


Signed  by  the  above  nine  citizens  of  Amherst,  binding  themselves  jointly  and  sever- 
ally to  the  payment  of  the  above  sum  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars  in  order  to  make 
up  the  full  amount  of  fifty  thousand  dollars.  See  page  145  of  the  History  : 


all  $f  Ctt  &g  l\t$t  ifWttte,  that  we,  David  Parsons,  clerk,  Jarib  White, 
gentleman,  Calvin  Merrill,  gentleman,  Enos  Baker,  gentleman,  John  Leland,  jun., 
Esq.,  Samuel  Fowler  Dickinson,  Esq.,  Elijah  Boltwood,  innholder,  Hezekiah  Wright 
Strong,  Esq.,  and  Joseph  Church,  jun.,  husbandman  — 

Are  holden  and  stand  firmly  bound  and  obliged  unto  the  Trustees  of  Amherst 
Academy  in  the  full  sum  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  to  be  paid  to  the  said  Trustees, 
their  successors  and  assigns  ;  to  which  payment  well  and  truly  to  be  made,  we 
jointly  and  severally  bind  ourselves,  our  heirs,  assigns,  executors  and  administra- 
tors, firmly  by  these  presents,  sealed  with  our  seals  and  dated  this  sixth  day  of 
July  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  eighteen  hundred  and  eighteen. 

The  condition  of  this  obligation  is,  that  if  the  obligees  in  this  instrument,  their 
heirs,  executors,  or  administrators,  shall,  within  two  years  from  this  date,  procure 
to  be  subscribed  and  secured  to  the  Charitable  Fund  about  to  be  established  in 
Amherst,  the  Constitution  of  which  was  approved  by  the  Convention  holden  at 
Amherst,  on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  September  last,  the  sum  of  fifteen  thousand 
dollars,  as  part  of  the  permanent  fund  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  of  said  Institution, 
according  to  the  Constitution  thereof  and  in  fulfillment  of  their  subscription  of  the 
same  sum  to  said  Constitution  made  previous  to  the  twenty-third  day  of  May  last  ; 
then  this  instrument  to  be  void  ;  otherwise  to  remain  in  force. 

f  DAVID  PARSONS, 

I  JOHN  LELAND, 
CALVIN  MERRILL, 
Signed,  sealed  and  delivered  in  presence  of  •{  JARIB  WHITE, 

H.  WRIGHT  STRONG, 
SAMUEL  F.  DICKINSON. 
JOSEPH  CHURCH,  JUN. 
A  true  copy—  Attest,        R.  GRAVES,  Financier. 


SUBSIDIARY   SUBSCRIPTION. 


655 


LIST   OF  BONDS,  NOTES  AND   OTHER  SECURITIES 

Given  as  substitutes  for  a  subscription  and  bond  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  exe- 
cuted to  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy  by  David  Parsons  and  others,  as  part 
of  the  fifty  thousand  dollar  Fund  of  the  Collegiate  Institution.  See  p  145,  seq. : 


NAMES. 

RESIDENCE. 

AMOUNT. 

Springfield, 

.    Bond,    . 

.   $25  00 

Timothy  Allyr,    .... 

West  Springfield,    . 

.    Bond,    . 

.  100  00 

Daniel  Abbott,     .... 

Salem,    . 

.     Note,     . 

.     25  00 

Samuel  T.  Armstrong, 

Boston,   . 

.    Note,     . 

.  100  00 

Elijah  W.  Bliss,   .... 

Springfield,     . 

.    Bond,    . 

.     25  00 

Enos  Baker,          .... 

Amherst, 

.    Bond,    . 

.  100  00 

Elijah  Boltwood,  .... 

Amherst, 

.    Bond,    . 

.  500  00 

Elijah  Burbank,  .... 

Worcester, 

.    Note,     . 

.     50  00 

Josiah  Bumsted,  .... 

Boston,   . 

.    Note,     . 

.  100  00 

Abel  Baker,          .... 

Boston,   . 

.     Note,     . 

.     50  00 

Andrew  Bradshaw, 

Boston,   . 

.     Note,     . 

.     25  00 

Joseph  Carew,      .... 

Springfield, 

.     Bond,    . 

.  100  00 

Isaac  G.  Cutler,    .... 

Amherst, 

.     Bond,    . 

.  500  00 

Levi  Cowls,          .... 

Amherst,         , 

.     Bond,    . 

.  500  00 

Oliver  Cowls,       .... 

Amherst, 

.     Bond,    . 

.  500  00 

Elias  Cornelius,    .... 

Salem,     . 

.     Note,     . 

.    25  00 

R.  Chamberlain,  .... 

Boston,   . 

.     Note,     . 

.  300  00 

Thomas  McClure, 

Boston,   . 

.    Note,     . 

.     50  00 

Rev.  John  Codman, 

Dorchester,     . 

.     Note,     . 

.  200  00 

Pliny  Cutler,        .... 

Boston,   . 

.    Note,     . 

.  100  00 

Josiah  Calif,          .... 

Boston,   . 

.    Note,     . 

.     40  00 

Moses  Dickinson,             ) 

Jonathan  S.  Dickinson,   >    . 

Amherst, 

.     Bond,    . 

1,000  00 

Artemas  Thompson,        ) 

Jacob  Edson,        .... 

Amherst, 

.     Bond,    . 

.     50  00 

Nathan  Dickinson, 

Amherst, 

.     Bond,    . 

.     35  00 

Thomas  A.  Davis, 

Boston,   . 

.    Note,     . 

.     75  00 

Theodore  Earns,  .... 

Salem,     . 

.    Note,     . 

.     25  00 

John  Eastman,      .... 

Amherst, 

.     Bond,    . 

1,000  00 

George  Guild,      .... 

Amherst, 

.    Bond,    . 

.  150  00 

P.  &  D.  Goddard, 

Worcester, 

.    Note,     . 

.     50  00 

Henry  Gray,        .... 

Boston,  . 

.    Note,     . 

.  300  00 

John  Gulliver,      .... 

Boston,  . 

.    Note,     . 

.     25  00 

Joseph  Goffe  &  Caleb  Burband,   . 

Millbury, 

.    Note,     . 

.  100  00 

Hon.  John  Hooker, 

Springfield,     . 

.     Bond,    . 

.  250  00 

Joseph  C.  Heath, 

Amherst, 

.     Bond,    . 

.  100  00 

Shove  Howland,  .... 

Amherst, 

.     Bond,    . 

.  150  00 

Rev.  Heman  Humphrey, 

Amherst, 

.     Bond,    . 

.  500  00 

Rev.  Daniel  Huntington, 

North  Bridgewater, 

.     Bond,    . 

.     25  00 

Joseph  Howard,  .... 

Salem,    . 

.     Bond,    . 

.     50  00 

Ebenezer  Hayward, 

Boston,  . 

.     Bond,    . 

.     50  00 

Calvin  Havin,      .... 

Boston,  . 

.     Bond,    . 

.  100  00 

Hon.  Samuel  Hubbard, 

Boston,  . 

.     Bond,    . 

.  500  00 

David  Hale,          .... 

Boston,  . 

.     Bond,    . 

.     25  00 

Homes  &  Homer, 

Boston,  . 

.     Bond,    . 

.  500  00 

J.  Jenkins,    ..... 

Boston,  .        . 

.     Bond,    . 

.  100  00 

Ward  Jackson,     .... 

Boston,  . 

.     Bond,    . 

.  100  00 

John  Kent,  ..... 

Boston,  . 

.     Bond,    . 

.     25  00 

John  Leland,  Jr., 

Amherst, 

.     Bond,    . 

1,000  00 

Leanrler  Merick,  .... 

Amherst, 

.     Bond,    . 

.  200  00 

John  W.  Langdon, 

Boston,  . 

.     Bond,    . 

.     30  00 

Amount  carried  forward,  . 

$9,930  00 

656 


HISTORY  OF  AMHEEST   COLLEGE. 


NAMES. 

RESIDENCE. 

AMOUNT. 

Amount  brought  for 

^  930  00 

William  G.  Lambert,  .        ."       .    Boston,    . 
Heman  Lincoln,          .        .        •     Boston,    . 

.    Bond,    . 
.     Bond,     . 

.     25  00 
.  200  00 

Elijah  Upton,      . 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,     . 

.  100  00 

[N.  B.—  For  this  note—  cash 

advanced  by  S.  V.  S.  Wilder 

at  the  examination  before  the 

Legislative  Committee.] 

James  Means,     . 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,     . 

.  100  00 

James  Millege,    .... 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,     . 

.    50  00 

Edmund  Munroe, 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,     . 

.  100  00 

Elias  Maynard,  .... 

Boston,   . 

.    Note,     . 

.     50  00 

Ethan  Ely,          .... 

Longmeadow, 

.    Note,     . 

.     15  00 

Longmeadow, 

.    Note,     . 

.     12  00 

Gideon  Burt,  Jr., 

Longmeadow, 

.    Note,     . 

.     10  00 

Rev.  Baxter  Dickinson, 

Longmeadow, 

.    Note,     . 

.     10  00 

Daniel  Millet,     .... 

Longmeadow, 

.    Note,     . 

.    35  00 

Elijah  Nash,        .        .        .      .  . 

Hadley,   . 

.    Deed  of  land,  20&  00 

Daniel  Noyes,     .... 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,     . 

.  100  00 

Kev.  Samuel  Osgood, 

Springfield, 

.    Bond,     . 

.     50  00 

David  Oliphant,     ) 

John  Safford,          >    . 

Beverly,  . 

.    Bond,    . 

.  100  00 

Nathaniel  Safford,  ) 

George  Odiorne, 

Boston,    . 

.    Bond,     . 

.  100  00 

Francis  Parsons, 

Hartford,  Conn., 

.    Bond,     . 

.  500  00 

J.  C.  Pray,          .... 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,      . 

.  100  00 

J.  C.  Proctor,      .... 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,     . 

.  100  00 

Ebenezer  Parker, 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,     . 

.  100  00 

Gilman  Prichard, 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,     . 

.     25  00 

John  Rankin,  Jr., 

Pelham,  . 

.    Bond,     . 

.  100  00 

David  Richard,  .... 

Worcester, 

.    Note,      . 

.     50  00 

William  Ropes  

Boston,    . 

.    Note,      . 

.  200  00 

Hardy  Ropes  

Boston,    . 

.    Note,     . 

.     50  00 

John  D.  Smith,  .... 

Hadley,   . 

.    Bond,     . 

.     50  00 

Luke  Sweetser,  .... 

Amherst, 

.    Bond,     . 

.  200  00 

William  F.  Sellon,      . 

Amherst, 

.    Bond,     . 

.  500  00 

John  Emerson  Strong, 

Amherst, 

.    Bond,     . 

.  200  00 

Silas  Sheldon,     .... 

Southampton;  . 

.    Note,     . 

.     50  00 

William  Sewall, 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,     . 

.  100  00 

Josiah  Souther,  .... 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,     . 

.    25  00 

Charles  Stoddard, 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,      . 

.     10  00 

Stephen  Sewall, 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,     . 

.     25  00 

Charles  Hadley, 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,      . 

.     20  00 

Martin  Thayer,  .... 

Amherst, 

.    Bond,     . 

.  200  00 

Jeconiah  Thayer, 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,     . 

.  100  00 

Samuel  Train,    .... 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,      . 

.  2UO  00 

Otis  Tileston  and    ) 
H.  I.  Holbrook,        J  • 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,      . 

.     37  50 

William  Treadwell,    . 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,      . 

.     25  00 

John  Tappan,      .... 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,     . 

.  800  00 

David  Vinal,      .... 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,      . 

.  100  00 

Otis  Vinal  

Boston,    .                 . 

.    Note, 

.  100  00 

Thomas  Vose,    .... 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,     . 

.  100  00 

Enoch  Whiting,  .... 

Amherst, 

.    Bond,     . 

.  300  00 

Jay  White  

Amherst,          . 

.     Bond,     . 

.  500  00 

S.  V.  S.  Wilder, 

Boston,    . 

.     Note,'     . 

.  500  00 

Asa  Waters,        .... 

Millbury, 

Note, 

.  100  00 

Henry  Whipple, 

Salem,     . 

.    Note,     . 

.     50  00 

John  Wilson,      .... 

Boston,    . 

.    Note,     . 

.     25  00 

$16,229  50 


THIRTY  THOUSAND   DOLLAR  SUBSCRIPTION. 


657 


B. 

SUBSCRIPTION  FOR  THE  COLLEGIATE  CHARITY  INSTITUTION  IN 

AMHERST,  MASS. 

[CO*MONLY  CALLED  THE  THIRTY  THOUSAND  DOLLAR  SUBSCRIPTION.] 

JUNE  28, 1822. 

Whereas  a  subscription  to  the  amount  of  fifty  thousand  dollars  has  been  obtained 
for  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  fund  to  be  used  in  the  education  of  pious  and 
indigent  young  men  at  a  Collegiate  Charity  Institution  in  Amherst;  and, 

Whereas  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy  who  are  entrusted  with  the  manage- 
ment of  this  fund,  have  by  the  aid  of  other  subscriptions  and  contributions,  erected 
a  building  for  the  use  of  said  Institution,  one  hundred  feet  long  and  forty  feet  wide, 
containing  thirty-two  rooms  for  the  accommodation  of  students ;  and 

Whereas  the  said  Trustees  have  appointed  a  President,  three  Professors  and  a 
Tutor,  as  instructors  in  the  Institution ;  and 

Whereas  it  has  been  thought  expedient  to  admit  into  this  Institution,  not  only 
Charity  students  but  others  also  who  are  qualified  to  enter  College,  and  are  able  to 
pay  a  reasonable  compensation  for  tuition  and  room-rent ;  and 

Whereas  the  present  building  is  already  filled  with  students  about  half  of  whom 
are  supported  in  part  by  Charity  ;  and 

Whereas  to  accommodate  an  increasing  number  of  students,  and  to  give  the  Insti- 
tution such  permanency  and  respectability  that  it  may  rank  with  the  first  Colleges 
of  New  England,  it  is  necessary  that  additional  buildings  be  erected,  and  a  more 
extensive  library  and  apparatus  be  provided,  and  such  a  fund  raised  that  the  interest 
of  it  may,  in  part,  defray  the  expense  of  instructors ;  and 

Whereas  this  Institution  is  located  in  a  part  of  Massachusetts  where  living  is 
cheap— where  the  climate  is  healthy — where  the  surrounding  country  is  delightful  as 
well  as  fertile — and  where  the  good  moral  character  of  students  is  likely  to  be  secure  : 

Now,  therefore,  we,  the  undersigned,  do  hereby  severally  promise  to  pay  to  the 
said  Trustees,  or  to  any  agent  duly  commissioned  by  them  or  to  their  order,  the 
sum  affixed  to  our  respective  names,  annually  for  five  years  from  the  date,  on  de- 
mand, to  be  held  or  appropriated  by  the  said  Trustees  for  the  use  of  said  Collegiate 
Charity  Institution. 

Provided,  nevertheless,  that  no  person  shall  be  bound  to  pay  any  part  of  this  sub- 
scription, unless  the  amount  hereafter  subscribed  for  the  same  purpose  shall,  within 
one  year  from  the  date,  exceed  thirty  thousand  dollars. 

Desirous  of  increasing  the  respectability  and  usefulness  of  an  Institution  which  was 
founded  in  Charity  and  has  been  manifestly  approved  and  blessed  of  heaven,  and  be- 
lieving it  to  be  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive,  and  hoping  hereby  to  advance 
the  honor  of  our  Redeemer  and  the  best  interests  of  man,  we  cheerfully  subscribe. 


SUBSCRIBERS'  NAMES. 

Residence, 

Sum  to  be  paid 
each  year. 

Paid  for 
1823. 

Paid  for 
1824. 

Paid  for 
1825. 

Paid  for 
1826. 

Paid  for 
l»a. 

42 


658 


HISTORY   OF   AMHERST  COLLEGE. 


SPECIMEN   OF    SUBSCRIPTIONS    IN  A   BOOK    FOUND   AMONG    THE   PAPERS   OF 

DEACON   LELAND. 


NAMES. 

Residence. 

bums  sub- 
scribed. 

Paid 
let 

2d 

Sd 

4th 

5th 

Tears. 

Elisha  Rockwood, 

Westborough, 

$5 

$5 

§5 

$5 

$5 

$5 

Benjamin  Fay, 

Westborough, 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

Moses  Grout, 

Westborough, 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

Joel  Parker, 

Westborough, 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

William  Fay, 

Westborough, 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

Robert  Blake, 

Wrentham, 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

5 

Paid  $25 

David  Metcalf, 

Wrentham, 

1 

1 

1 

Israel  Turner, 

Easton, 

1 

1 

1 

Charles  Hayden, 

Easton, 

5 

5 

5 

David  Holbrook, 

Weymouth, 

1 

1 

% 

Chloe  Holbrook, 

Weymouth, 

1 

N 

John  Norton, 

Weymouth, 

1 

1 

Mary  Norton, 

Weymouth, 

1 

1 

Shearjaslmb  Townsend, 

Sherburne, 

5 

5 

6 

6 

5 

2 

Dis.  $3 

Daniel  Leland,  3d, 

Sherburne, 

10 

10 

10 

10 

10 

4 

Dis.  -;6 

Micah  Leland, 

Sherburne, 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

Paid. 

Daniel  Leland, 

Sherburne, 

1 

1 

1 

1 

James  Bullard, 

Sherburne, 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

1.75 

Dis.  25c. 

The  entire  subscription  is  not  copied  in  all  these  towns.  But  a  fair  specimen  is 
given.  In  Sherburne,  the  subscribers  seem  to  have  paid  in  advance  and  discounted 
their  own  payments.  Where  the  columns  are  left  blank,  payment  was  probably 
never  made. 

COPY    OF    A    LETTER    ADDRESSED    TO    DEACON    LELAND,    AND    PRESERVED 
IN   THE   ABOVE   SUBSCRIPTION   BOOK. 

MARSHFIELD,  January  17, 1826. 

SIE — I  send  you  in  behalf  of  our  Mite  Society  the  sum  of  six  dollars,  being  due 
in  1825.  May  the  Lord  bless  and  prosper  your  Institution  is  the  desire  of 

SALLY  AMES,  Secretary. 

COPY  OF  THE  OBLIGATION  MENTIONED  AND  DESCRIBED  ON  PAGE  147. 
Whereas  there  are  subscriptions  to  the  thirty  thousand  dollar  fund,  so  called,  of 
the  Amherst  Collegiate  Institution,  some  of  which  are  made  by  females,  and  some 
by  minors,  as  is  supposed,  we  do  hereby,  for  value  received  and  for  the  better 
securing  the  payment  of  said  part  of  said  fund,  guarantee  to  the  Trustees  of  the 
Amherst  Academy  for  the  benefit  of  said  Institution,  the  payment  of  all  such  sub- 
scriptions so  made  by  females  and  minors,  and  all  other  subscriptions  to  said  fund 
not  exceeding  one  dollar  a  year. 

J.  E.  TRASK, 

Amherst,  October  8,  1824.  NATHAKIEL  SMITH, 

Attest,  H.  W.  STRONG.  JOHN  FISKE. 

SPECIMENS   OF   THE  RIDICULE   OF  THIS   SUBSCRIPTION  BY  THE  ENEMIES  OF 
THE    COLLEGE.       (SEE    PAGE   541.) 

"  On  the  [subscription]  papers  were  found  thirteen  hundred  and  fifty-three  sub- 
scribers, scattered  over  more  than  one  hundred  towns  in  Massachusetts,  Connecticut 


RIDICULE   OF   THE   SUBSCRIPTION.  659 

and  New  York.  Included  in  this  number  were  two  hundred  and  six  females,  mostly 
married  women  and  infants  !  There  were  many  infants  not  females ;  how  many 
was  not  ascertained.  There  were  five  hundred  and  eighty-four  subscriptions  of  one 
dollar  each.  There  were  two  hundred  and  three  of  twenty-five  cents  each  ;  fifty- 
eight  of  fifty  cents,  many  of  twelve  and  a  half  cents,  and  some  ten  cents.  One  of  two 
cents.  All  payable  annually  for  five  years.  Small  subscriptions  from  three  female 
charitable  societies.  From  two  charity  boxes.  One  female  Mite  Society.  These 
would  seem  to  be  the  last  gleanings  of  charity."  Extract  from  a  statement  of  the  affairs  of 
the  Amherst  Institution  on  the  £th  of  October,  1824,  compiled  from  evidence  exhibited  to  the 
Committee  of  Examination, — the  pamphlet  gotten  up  by  the  opposition  and  placed  in 
the  seats  of  the  Representatives  in  the  final  debate  on  the  charter.  See  pp.  148-9. 

When  the  College  petitioned  the  Legislature  for  pecuniary  aid  in  1881,  this  sub 
scription  again  became  a  fruitful  theme  of  ridicule  and  scorn.  1  subjoin  a  speci- 
men from  the  speech  of  Mr.  Fuller  of  Boston,  with  the  notes  by  which  it  was  ac- 
companied in  the  Appeal  by  the  Trustees  to  the  public.  See  p.  182. 

"  The  thirty  thousand  dollar  fund  stood  next  in  order  of  the  Amherst  Collegiate 
Institution.  That  fund  was  made  up  in  part  by  a  subscription  of  married  women 
and  minors,  which  was  minus.  One-half  of  it  was  utterly  lost.  The  Committee 
could  not  find  it.  Certificates  were  indeed  brought  forward  declaring  that  the  fund 
was  entire  and  clear.  But  when  the  Committee  came  to  the  investigation,  it  was 
thought  best  to  patch  up  these  subscriptions  of  women  and  minors,  and  a  guaran- 
tee was  made  out  that  they  should  be  paid.  This  was  done  while  the  Committee 
were  holding  their  session  in  a  room  of  the  hotel  in  Worcester.1  While  the  Com- 
mittee was  sitting,  some  of  the  Trustees  came  out  into  the  bar-room  and  got  this 
bond  of  guarantee  executed.  It  was  signed  by  J.  E.  Minot2  and  Nathan  Smith. 
This  Nathan  Smith  (though  he  [Mr.  Fuller]  did  not  know  him  and  did  not  wish 
to)  was  found  to  be  so  infamous  that  the  Legislature  struck  his  name  off  from  the 
list  of  Trustees.3 

"  The  whole  subscription  was  basely  got  up.  The  whole  of  this  fifty  thousand 
dollars  was  subscribed  for  the  purpose  of  removing  Williams  College  to  Amherst — 
that  was  the  pretence  and  the  money  was  given  with  that  design.  After  it  is  ob- 
tained for  that  purpose,  what  do  these  Trustees  do?  He  would  not  say,  they  ex- 
actly put  it  in  their  own  pockets — but  they  had  a  kind  of  ambition — they  had  rather 
be  Presidents,  Trustees  and  Professors  than  to  have  others  imported— perhaps  they 
thought  Williams  College  not  hopefully  pious  enough,  and  so  they  made  a  College 

1  "This,  though  a  mistake  of  no  importance  in  itself,  may  be  taken  as  a  specimen  of  Mr. 
Fuller's  accuracy  in  the  greatest  charges  which  he  so  vehemently  reiterates  against  the  Col- 
lege.   The  Committee  did  not  sit  at  Worcester  but  at  Amherst." 

2  "It  is  not  known  that  any  such  man  as  J.  E.  Minot  ever  had  anything  to  do  with  the  In- 
stitution." 

8  " '  This  Nathan  Smith  '—whom  to  have  known  would  have  been  so  contaminating  to  Mr. 
Fuller's  moral  purity— is  Nathaniel  Smith,  Esq.,  of  Sunderland,  who  was  for  many  years  a 
member  of  the  General  Court;  whose  integrity,  during  a  long  life,  will  not  suffer  in  compari- 
son with  that  of  any  other  man  in  the  community ;  who  has  been  the  munificent  patron  not 
only  of  the  College,  but  of  nearly  all  the  beneficent  institutions  of  the  day,  and  who  regardless 
of  privileged  slander  is  passing  the  evening  of  life  in  the  fruition  of  that  benediction,  'It  Is 
more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive.'  Mr.  Fuller  forgot  to  inform  the  House  that  this  man 
who  '  was  found  to  be  so  infamous  that  the  Legislature  struck  his  name  off  from  the  list  of 
Trustees',  is  now  [1832]  one  of  the  five  Trustees,  appointed  by  joint  ballot  of  the  two  Houses, 
to  represent  them  in  the  Board  and  to  assist  in  taking  care  of  the  College." 


660  HISTORY  OP   AMHERST   COLLEGE. 

for  themselves.    As  to  the  original  begetting  of  the  College,  he  would  promise  to 

say  nothing  about  it— such  things  were  generally  done  in  secret If  you  agree 

to  give  buildings,  etc.,  to  all  who  ask  for  them,  there  is  scarcely  a  town  in  the  Com- 
monwealth that  would  not  want  a  College;  for  every  town  has  some  inhabitants  as 
ambitious  as  the  Reverend  Heman  Humphrey  and  his  associates — not  that  all  such 
Colleges  would  be  equal  to  Amherst,  for  it  is  said  that  heaven  has  protected  them 
from  all  evil  reports." 

c. 

THE  CHARTER. 

The  passages  enclosed  in  brackets  in  the  following  reprint  of  the  Charter  were  not 
in  the  original  bill,  but  were  added  by  way  of  amendment.  See  pp.  152  seqq.  of 
the  History. 

AN   ACT   TO   ESTABLISH   A   COLLEGE   IN    THE   TOWN   OF   AMHERST. 

SECTION  1.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  in  General  Court 
assembled,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  That  there  be  and  hereby  is  incorporated  in 
the  town  of  Amherst,  in  the  County  of  Hampshire,  a  College  for  the  education  of 
youth  ;  and  that  the  Rev.  Heman  Humphrey,  D.  D.,  Hon.  William  Gray,  Hon.  Mar- 
cus Morton,  Rev.  Joshua  Crosby,  Hon.  John  Hooker,  [Rev.  Joseph  Lyman,  D.  D.,] 
Israel  E.  Trask,  Esq.,  Rev.  Jonathan  Going,  Elisha  Billings,  Esq.,  Rev.  James  Tay- 
lor, S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  Esq.,  Rev.  Joseph  Vaill,  Hon.  Jonathan  Leavitt,  Rev.  Alfred 
Ely,  Hon.  Lewis  Strong,  [Rev.  Francis  Wayland,  Jr.,  and  Elihu  Lyman,  Esq.,]  l  be 
and  hereby  are  constituted  a  body  corporate,  by  the  name  of  the  Trustees  of 
Amherst  College;  and  that  they  and  their  successors,  and  such  as  shall  be  duly 
elected  members  of  said  Corporation,  shall  be  and  remain  a  body  corporate  by  that 
name  forever.  And  for  the  orderly  conducting  the  business  of  said  Corporation, 
the  said  Trustees  shall  have  power  and  authority,  from  time  to  time,  as  occasion 
may  require,  to  elect  a  President,  Vice-President,  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  and 
such  other  officers  of  said  Corporation  as  may  be  found  necessary,  and  to  declare 
the  duties  and  tenures  of  their  respective  offices,  and  also  to  remove  any  Trustee 
from  the  same  Corporation  when,  in  their  judgment,  he  shall  be  rendered  incapable 
by  age  or  otherwise,  of  discharging  the  duties  of  his  office,  or  shall  neglect  or  re- 
fuse to  perform  the  same,  and  also  from  time  to  time  to  elect  new  members  of  the 
said  Corporation ;  Provided,  nevertheless,  That  the  number  of  members  (includ- 
ing the  President  of  said  College,  for  the  time  being,  who  shall  ex-officio,  be  one 
of  said  Corporation)  shall  never  be  greater  than  seventeen,2  [and  that  the  five 
vacancies  which  shall  first  happen  in  the  Board  of  Trustee?,  shall  be  filled  as  they 
occur,  by  the  joint  ballot  of  the  Legislature  in  convention  of  both  Houses ;  and 
whenever  any  person  so  drawn  by  the  Legislature  to  fill  such  vacancy,  or  his  suc- 
cessor, shall  cease  to  be  a  member  of  the  Corporation,  his  place  shall  be  filled  in 
like  manner,  and  so  on  forever.  And  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Trustees  to  fill  all 
other  vacancies  of  their  Board  as  soon  after  they  occur  as  reasonably  and  conven- 
iently may  be  done:  And  provided  further,  That  as  vacancies  shall  occur  in  said 

1  Instead  of  the  three  names  enclosed  in  brackets,  the  original  bill  or  the  printed  copy  re- 
ferred to,  p.  152,  has  the  names  of  Rev.  John  Fiske,  Nathaniel  Smith,  Esq..  and  Rev.  Expe- 
rience Porter.  2  The  original  bill  adds,  nor  "  remain  less  than  eleven." 


THE   CHAKTEB.  661 

Board,  they  shall  be  so  filled  that  the  said  Board  shall,  as  soon  as  may  be,  and  for- 
ever after,  consist  of  seven  clergymen  and  ten  laymen ;]  and  the  Rev.  Heman 
Humphrey,  D.  D.,  is  authorized  to  fix  the  time  and  place  of  the  first  meeting  of  the 
said  Trustees  and  to  notify  each  of  them  thereof  in  writing. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  said  Corporation  shall  have  power  and 
authority  to  determine  at  what  times  and  places  their  meetings  shall  be  holden,  and 
the  manner  of  notifying  the  Trustees  to  convene  at  such  meetings ;  and  also,  from 
time  to  time,  to  elect  a  President  of  said  College  and  such  Professors,  Tutors,  In- 
structors, and  other  officers  of  the  said  College,  as  they  shall  judge  most  for  the  in- 
terest thereof,  and  to  determine  the  duties,  salaries,  emoluments,  responsibilities 
and  tenures  of  their  several  offices.  And  the  said  Corporation  are  further  empow- 
ered to  purchase  or  erect,  and  keep  in  repair,  such  house^and  other  buildings,  as 
they  shall  judge  necessary  for  the  said  College :  and  also  to  make  and  ordain,  as 
occasion  may  require,  reasonable  rules,  orders  and  by-laws,  not  repugnant  to  the 
Constitution  and  laws  of  this  Commonwealth,  with  reasonable  penalties,  for  the 
good  government  of  the  said  College,  and  for  the  regulation  of  their  own  body,  and 
also  to  determine  and  regulate  the  course  of  instruction  in  said  College,  and  to  con- 
fer such  Degrees  as  are  usually  conferred  by  Colleges  in  New  England,  [except 
medical  degrees :]  Provided,  nevertheless,  that  no  corporate  business  shall  be  transacted, 
unless  nine,  at  least,  of  the  Trustees  are  present. 

SEC.  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  said  Corporation  may  have  a  com- 
mon seal  which  they  may  alter  or  renew  at  their  pleasure,  and  that  all  deeds  sealed 
with  the  seal  of  said  Corporation  and  signed  by  their  order,  shall,  when  made  in 
their  corporate  name,  be  considered  as  the  deeds  of  said  Corporation  ;  and  that  said 
Corporation  may  sue  and  be  sued  in  all  actions,  real,  personal  or  mixed,  and  may 
prosecute  the  same  to  final  judgment  and  execution,  by  the  name  of  the  Trustees 
of  Amherst  College  :  and  that  said  Corporation  shall  be  capable  of  taking  and 
holding  in  fee  simple,  or  any  less  estate,  by  gift,  grant,  bequest,  devise,  or  other- 
wise, any  lands,  tenements,  or  other  estate,  real  or  personal :  Provided,  that  the 
clear  annual  income  of  the  same  shall  not  exceed  thirty  thousand  dollars. 

SEC.  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  clear  rents  and  profits  of  all  the  es- 
tate, real  and  personal,  of  which  the  said  Corporation  shall  be  seized  and  possessed, 
shall  be  appropriated  to  the  endowment  of  said  College,  in  such  manner  as  shall 
most  effectually  promote  virtue  and  piety,  and  the  knowledge  of  such  of  the  lan- 
guages and  the  liberal  and  useful  arts  and  sciences,  as  shall  be  directed  from  time  to 
time  by  the  said  Corporation,  they  conforming  to  the  will  of  any  donor  or  donors 
in  the  application  of  any  estate  received,  which  may  be  given,  devised,  or  be- 
queathed, for  any  particular  object  connected  with  the  College. 

SEC.  5.  And  be  it  farther  enacted,  That  the  said  Trustees  be  and  are  hereby  au- 
thorized to  receive  all  the  real  estate,  goods,  chattels,  choses  in  action,  and  property 
of  any  description  whatever,  which  has  heretofore  been  given,  conveyed,  pur- 
chased, bequeathed,  devised,  or  in  any  other  way  secured  or  engaged  to  be  given, 
paid  or  devised,  to  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy,  with  the  intent  and  for  the 
purpose  of  establishing  and  maintaining  a  Classical  or  Collegiate  Institution  in 
said  town,  and  that  all  the  said  funds  and  estate  as  well  as  all  other  property  which 
may  be  received  by  them,  shall  be  faithfully  and  forever  used  and  appropriated  ac- 
cording to  the  will  of  the  donors.  [Provided,  That  the  several  acts  and  contracts 
of  the  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy,  relative  to  the  property  given  for  the  benefit 
and  debts  incurred  by  them  for  the  use  of  the  said  Collegiate  Institution,  shall  have 


662  HISTOEY  OF   AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

full  force  and  be  equally  binding  upon  the  Trustees  of  Aruherst  College  as  they 
now  are  upon  the  Trustees  of  said  Academy.] 

SEC.  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  no  Instructor  in  said  College  shall  ever  be 
required  by  the  Trustees  to  profess  any  particular  religious  opinions  as  a  test  of 
office,  and  no  student  shall  be  [refused  admission  to  or]  denied  any  of  the  privi- 
leges, [honors  or  degrees]  of  said  College  on  account  of  the  religious  opinions  he 
may  entertain. 

SEC.  7.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  [That  if  it  shall  hereafter  appear  to  the  Legisla- 
ture of  this  Commonwealth  lawful  and  expedient  to  remove  Williams  College  to 
the  town  of  Amhersr,  and  the  Trustees  of  Williams  College  shall  agree  so  to  do,  the 
Legislature  shall  have  full  power  to  unite  Williams  and  Amherst  Colleges  into  one 
University  at  Amherst  on  such  terms  and  conditions,  and  under  such  government, 
as  shall  be  agreed  on  by  a  majority  of  a  Board  of  seven  Commissioners,  of  whom 
two  shall  be  appointed  by  each  of  said  Colleges,  and  three  by  the  joint  ballot  of  the 
Legislature  in  convention  of  both  Houses  ;  and  in  case  the  Commissioners,  or  either 
of  them,  on  the  part  of  the  Amherst  College  shall  not  be  appointed,  then  the  residue 
of  said  Commissioners  shall  have  full  power  to  proceed  in  the  premises:  Provided 
also,  that  if  the  said  Trustees  of  Amherst  Academy  shall  not,  within  eight  months 
from  the  passing  of  this  act,  by  a  good  deed  or  deeds,  assign,  convey  and  make  over, 
to  the  said  Trustees  of  Amherst  College,  their  successors  and  assigns,  all  the  real 
estate,  goods,  chattels,  choses  in  action  and  property  mentioned  in  the  fifth  section  of 
this  act,  to  be  used  and  appropriated  as  is  therein  provided,  this  act  shall  be  void.]1 

SEC.  8.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  Legislature  of  this  Commonwealth 
may  grant  any  further  powers  to,  or  alter,  limit,  annul,  or  restrain,  any  of  the 
powers  vested  by  this  act  in  the  said  Corporation  as  shall  be  judged  necessary  to 
promote  the  best  interests  of  the  said  College,  and  more  especially  appoint  and 
establish  overseers  or  visitors  of  the  said  College,  with  all  necessary  powers  for 
the  better  aid,  preservation  and  government  thereof, 

Provided,  That  the  granting  of  this  Charter  shall  never  be  considered  as  any 
pledge  on  the  part  of  Government,  that  pecuniary  aid  shall  hereafter  be  granted  to 
the  College. 

D. 

In  Chapter  X.,  pages  150  and  157,  we  have  given  some  account  of  the  influence 
exerted  by  the  friends  of  Amherst  College  in  changing  the  balance  of  political  power 
in  1823,  when  it  was  wavering  between  the  Federal  and  the  Republican  parties,  and 
of  the  part  which  Rev.  Austin  Dickinson  acted,  in  person  and  by  his  pen,  in  bring- 
ing about  this  change.  We  give  below  an  article  from  his  pen  which  was  published 
in  the  National  ^Egis  at  Worcester,  April  2,  1823,  and,  in  part  at  least,  published 
also  in  other  papers  in  Eastern  Massachusetts  and  circulated  as  a  handbill  just  be- 
fore the  election.  It  was  communicated  to  me  by  Rev.  Oman  Eastman  and  is  at- 
tested by  the  Librarian  of  the  Antiquarian  Library  at  Worcester  as  a  true  copy 
from  the  National  JEgis.  It  belongs  to  another  age,  not  to  say  another  world,  from 

1  In  the  original  bill  section  seven  reads  as  follows:  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  au- 
thority aforesaid,  That  if  the  Trustees  of  Williams  College  shall,  within  seven  years,  signify 
a  desire  of  union  with  the  College  at  Amherst,  such  union  shall  take  place  on  terms  to  be 
agreed  upon  by  Commissioners  appointed  by  the  two  Corporations:  Provided  that  the  terms 
of  union  agreed  upon  shall  receive  the  sanction  of  the  Legislature. 


FEDERAL  REMONSTRANCE.  663 

that  in  which  we  now  live  and  move,  and  is  perhaps  more  than  a  curiosity,  it  is 
perhaps  due  to  history  that  it  should  be  preserved  as  one  among  many  illustrations 
of  the  times. 

FEDERAL  REMONSTRANCE. 

3fr.  Editor:  We  refuse  to  support  Mr.  Otis'  nomination  at  the  election,  1st,  be- 
cause it  cannot  be  said  to  be  a  nomination  made  by  the  Federal  population  of  the 
State,  but  by  the  Boston  and  Cambridge  junto.  As  an  illustration  of  this  fact  let 
it  only  be  remembered  that  in  the  convention  that  nominated  Mr.  Otis,  if  we  are 
not  mistaken,  Boston  had  a  greater  representation  than  the  four  wealthy  counties 
of  Worcester,  Franklin,  Hampshire  and  Hayden,  with  a  population  about  four 
times  that  of  Boston. 

2d,  We  object  to  Mr.  Otis,  as  Christian  patriots,  on  account  of  his  IMMORAL 
CHARACTER.  We  have  too  much  regard  for  the  honor  of  the  Redeemer,  and  for 
the  honor  of  Massachusetts  to  have  it  said  to  the  world,  that  we  have  elected  a  man 
to  rule  over  us,  who  in  contempt  of  the  laws  of  God  and  man,  places  himself  on  a 
level  with  the  lowest  by  habitual  profane  swearing,  and  by  the  habitual  violation  of 
a  command  which  we  deem  sacred,  "  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  ketp  it  holy."  We 
blush  for  the  cause  of  Truth,  when  we  notice  what  is  said  in  some  of  the  Boston 
papers,  of  pure  moral  character,  and  fear  that  the  standard  of  morality  which  pre- 
vails among  a  certain  class  in  that  city,  is  not  the  standard  of  the  Bible.  We  are 
not  to  be  imposed  upon  by  fair  representations.  Some  of  us  have  been  in  Boston 
and  have  seen  and  heard  Mr.  Otis,  on  the  Sabbath  as  well  as  on  other  days. 

3d,  We  object  to  Mr.  Otis  because  he  is  connected  with  a  Boston  and  Harvard 
College  aristocracy,  who  have  for  several  years  past  manifested  a  disposition  to 
have  the  disposal  of  all  the  important  offices  in  the  State;  and  because  they  are 
acquiring  a  religious,  as  well  as  political  control,  which  we  regard  as  dangerous  to 
the  civil  and  religious  privileges  of  the  great  body  of  the  Congregational,  Baptist, 
Methodist,  and  Episcopalian  friends  of  true  religion  in  the  State.  We  think  that 
equal  privileges  should  be  extended  to  all  denominations. 

We  are  disposed  to  support  the  Republican  candidates  for  the  present  year  be- 
cause we  regard  them  as  gentlemen  of  distinguished  ability,  integrity,  patriotism, 
and  truly  liberal  sentiments. 

Mr.  Eustis,  after  being  elected  to  Congress,  by  the  united  vote  of  the  Federalists 
and  Republicans  of  his  district,  has  fulfilled  the  appointment  to  the  entire  satisfac- 
tion of  all.  Mr..  Lincoln  fulfilled  the  arduous  duties  of  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  for  the  last  year  to  the  unanimous  approbation  of  both  parties,  and 
so  long  as  they  continue  to  serve  with  ability,  faithfulness  and  impartiality  we  are 
willing  they  should  be  our  public  servants.  Our  old  partialities  would  indeed  lead 
us  to  prefer  persons  of  the  Federal  party  who  might  be  named ;  but  we  are  aware 
that  setting  up  new  candidates  at  the  present  time  would  prevent  a  choice  being 
made  by  the  people,  and  we  dare  not  risk  the  consequences  of  having  the  election 

of  Governor  made  by  the  Legislature. 

SERIOUS  FEDERALISTS  IN  THE  COUNTRY. 

A  true  copy  from  The  National  sEgis.  8>  F>  Ht 

Worcester,  April  2,  1823. 

The  second  paragraph  of  the  above  was  circulated  in  Boston  as  a  handbill,  and 
published  in  The  Daily  Advertiser,  and  in  The  Salem  Gazette,  just  before  the  election. 


664  HISTOKY  OF  AMHEKST   COLLEGE. 

E. 
NIMROUD  SLABS  AND   THEIR  TRANSLATION. 

One  of  the  most  curious  and  unique  books  it  the  Library  of  Amherst  College 
bears  the  above  title.  It  is  mainly  in  manuscript.  The  remainder  is  made  up  of 
photographs.  The  title-page  only  is  printed  and  reads  as  follows :  "  Photographs 
of  the  Inscriptions  of  the  Mural  Slabs  now  resting  in  the  Dickinson  Nineveh  Gal- 
lery in  Amherst  College.  •  Also  the  manuscript  translation  of  the  same,  by  Rev.  W. 
H.  Ward  of  the  Class  of  1856.  The  Slabs  were  procured  by  Rev.  Henry  Lobdell  of 
the  Class  of  1849." 

Mr.  Ward  who  has  shed  lustre  on  the  College  and  the  country  by  deciphering 
and  translating  these  inscriptions,  is  now  one  of  the  editors  of  The  Independent,  and 
was  offered  the  appointment  of  archaeologist  in  the  exploring  expedition  just  senfrout 
by  the  American  Palestine  Exploration  Company  to  the  country  east  of  the  Jordan. 

The  first  page  of  the  manuscript  bears  the  following  separate  title  and  introduc- 
tory note :  "  Translation  of  the  Inscription  repeated  on  the  different  Mural  Slabs 
from  the  Palace  of  Assurnazirbal,  King  of  Assyria,  built  in  the  City  of  Calah,  the 
modern  Nimroud.  Assurnazirbal  ascended  the  throne  July  2,  930  years  before 
Christ,  (as  deduced  from  a  solar  eclipse  that  occurred  on  that  day  and  to  which  he 
often  refers  in  his  Annals  as  a  favorable  omen,)  and  reigned  till  905  B.  C.  The 
lines  in  the  Transliteration1  follow  Slab  No  3  in  the  Dickinson  Nineveh  Gallery, 
Amherst  College.  The  same  inscription  is  repeated  on  the  Slabs  from  the  same  Pal- 
ace now  in  the  Cabinets  of  Yale,  Williams,  and  other  Colleges." 

FREE    TRANSLATION. 

This  is  the  Palace  of  Assurnazirbal,  servant  of  the  supreme  god,  Assur,  servant 
of  the  gods,  Bel,  the  shining  Ninib,  Cannes  and  Dagon,  servant  of  the  great  gods, 
great  King,  mighty  King,  King  of  Legions,  King  of  Assyria,  Son  of  Tiglath-Ni- 
nib,  great  King,  mighty  King,  King  of  Legions,  King  of  Assyria;  Son  of  Bel-niza- 
ri,  King  of  Legions,  King  of  Assyria;  strong  Warrior  who  marched  here  and  there 
in  the  service  of  Assur  his  lord ;  who  had  no  equal  among  the  Princes  of  the  four 
regions;  brave  Commander,  fearing  no  opponents  ;  strong,  unrivalled  Leader,  King 
bringing  under  subjection  the  rebels  against  him ;  who  governs  many  legions  of 
men;  mighty  Champion  trampling  on  the  backs  of  his  stout  enemies,  crushing  all 
his  foes,  the  masses  of  the  rebels  ;  a  King  who  marched  here  and  there  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  great  gods  his  lords,  and  whose  hand  subdued  all  the  provinces,  and 
who  gained  the  mastery  over  all  the  forests,  who  subjected  all  their  power,  taking 
hostages,  imposing  laws  over  all  those  provinces. 

When  the  supreme  god,  Assur,  speaking  my  name  and  enlarging  my  Royalty, 
gave  his  unstinted  support  to  the  service  of  my  Royalty,  I  attacked  the  army  of 
the  land  of  Lulla,  a'land  of  extended  waters  In  the  midst  of  battle  I  slew  them 
with  arrows  to  the  delight  ?  of  II,  Ninib  and  Yav,  gods  whom  I  serve.  The  coun- 
tries of  Nam,  Gilhi,  and  Subarie  I  attacked  and  conquered. 

I  am  the  King  who  reduced  under  his  feet  the  territory  from  the  ford  of  the 
Tigris  unto  Lebanon  and  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  a  land  not  previously  acquired 

1  Manuscript  copy  of  the  cuneiform  characters,  accompanied  by  interlinear  translations. 


NTMBODD   SLABS  AND   THEIR   TRANSLATION.  665 

and  also  the  land  of  Zuhi  as  far  as  the  City  of  Kapigi ;  who  annexed  to  his  land  the 
Territory  from  the  source  of  the  river  Zubnat  as  far  as  Armenia,  the  neighborhood 
of  Gilruri  as  far  as  Gozan,  from  the  ford  of  the  Lower  Zab  as  far  as  the  City  Tel 
Bari  which  is  beyond  the  province  of  the  Zab,  from  the  City  Tel  Abtani  as  far  as 
the  City  Tel  Zabtani,  the  cities  of  «Hiritu  and  Harutu,  a  well  watered  ?  country  and 
also  the  land  of  Kardunias.  Incorporated  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighborhood  of 
Bubite  as  far  as  Tarmar  among  the  people,  under  my  immediate  sway.  Over  these 
territories  I  appointed  my  Lieutenants  and  imposed  taxes. 

I  am  Assurnazirbal,  humble  servant  of  the  great  gods,  generous  stout  soldier, 
capturing  all  the  cities  and  open  country,  King  of  lords,  devouring  the  rebellious, 
strengthening  the  peaceful,  not  fearing  opponents,  not  sparing  his  foes,  a  King  the 
glory  of  whose  face  has  covered  the  lands  and  the  seas  which  are  reduced  under 
his  dominion,  not  fearing  mighty  kings  and  extending  his  power  from  the  rising 
of  the  sun  to  its  setting 

The  early  City  of  Calah  which  my  predecessor,  Shalmanezer,  King  of  Assyria, 
had  built,  had  fallen  into  decay.  His  city  I  rebuilt,  captives  which  I  had  taken 
in  the  countries  which  I  conquered,  the  land  of  Zuhi  not  previously  conquered,  the 
City  of  Lutga  and  the  region  of  Euphrates,  from  all  the  land  of  Zamua,  from  the 
lands  of  Bitadini  and  Pate  from  Lubarna  King  of  Patinai,  I  collected  and  trans- 
ported them  to  the  City  of  Calah.  I  threw  down  the  old  mound  and  leveled  it  to 
the  water.  I  laid  in  order  one  hundred  and  twenty  courses  on  the  bottom.  I  placed 
thereon  a  palace  of  cedar-wood,  box- wood,  cypress  wood,  arrow- wood,  rukanni 
wood,  butni  wood  and  halpi  wood,  for  the  seat  of  my  royalty,  for  the  fullness  of  my 
princedom  for  all  future  time.  I  made  in  stone  images  of  animals  of  the  moun- 
tains and  seas,  and  set  them  up  in  its  gates  and  consecrated  them.  I  roofed  it  with 
plates  of  copper.  I  hung  in  its  gates  folding  doors  of  cedar-wood,  box-wood,  fir-wood 
and  rukanni  wood.  I  gathered  in  great  quantities  silver,  gold,  tin  ?,  copper,  iron 
which  I  had  captured  in  the  countries  which  I  conquered,  and  deposited  them  in 
the  midst  of  the  palace. 

WILLIAM  HATES  WARD,  '56. 

The  above  translation  occupies  four  manuscript  pages.  Then  follow  nineteen 
pages  of  Transliteration  and  interlinear  translation,  (a  page  being  devoted  to  each 
line  of  the  inscription,)  in  which  the  inscription  is  first  copied  in  cuneiform  charac- 
ters, secondly  reproduced  word  by  word  and  letter  by  letter  in  the  Roman  alpha- 
bet, and  thirdly  translated  literally,  word  for  word,  into  English,  thus  exhibiting 
to  the  eye  of  the  curious  reader  the  structure  and  arrangement  of  the  language  and 
furnishing  the  philological  student,  so  far  forth,  a  chrestomathy  for  the  study  of  its 
grammar  and  lexicography. 

The  whole  is  dated  "Independent  Office,  July  11,  1871,"  and  inscribed,  "A  Ju- 
bilee Offering. " 


INDEX. 


.A.- 
ABBOTT, PROF.,  154,  164,  201. 
Adams,  Asahel,  392. 
Adams,  Hon.  Charles,  535. 
Adams,  Prof.,  259,  320,  338,  366. 
Alden,  Dr.  E^  396,  501. 
Allen,  Rev.  D.  O.,  87,  89. 
Allen,  Dr.  Nathan,  411,  509. 
Allen,  Hon.  S.  C.,  233,  309. 
Alumni,  Amherst,  643-7. 
Alumni,  Society  of,  260,  632. 
Ames,  J.  T.,  619. 
Amherst,  1800—21,  28. 
Amherst  Academy,  27,  34. 
Amherst  People,  600. 
Anti-Slavery  Society,  247. 
Anti-Venenian  Society,  206,  359. 
Appleton  Cahinet,  397. 
Appleton,  Hon.  Nathan,  330,  550-2. 
Appleton,  Hon.  Samuel,  330,  392,  552. 
Appointments,  College,  252. 
Armsby,  Lauren,  585. 
Armstrong,  Gov.,  324,  376. 
Art  Museum,  428. 
A  very,  Joseph,  320. 
Ayres,  Rev.  K.,  335,  535. 


IB. 

Baldwin,  M.  H..  394,  557. 

Baldwin,  J.  C.,  392,  558. 

Bancroft,  J.  H.,  275. 

Bannister,  Hon.  W.  B.,  182,  268,  310. 

Barnum,  Rev.  H.  N.,  340.  597. 

Barrett,  Dr.  Benjamin,  559. 

Barrett  Gymnasium,  401,  414. 

Bates,  Joshua,  393. 

Bayley,  Prof.  C.  C.,  258,  290-1-8. 

Beach,  Rev.  E.  A.,  64,  74,  79. 

Beaman,  Rev.  W.  H.,  213. 

Beecher,  Rev.  H.  W.,  401,  515,  598. 

Benjamin,  T.  H.,  343. 

Bible  Exercises,  196,  468. 


Billings,  Dea.  E.,  26,  112-3. 
Billings,  Mrs.,  26. 
Bissell,  Capt.  E.  C.,  584. 
Bliss,  Rev.  Daniel,  S5&-4. 
Blodgett,  Edward,  255. 
Boating,  642. 

Boltwood,  Lucius,  537,  613. 
Boltwood,  Lucius  M.,  615. 
Bond,  E.  W.,  536. 
Bond,  Thomas,  630,  612. 
Bowles,  Samuel,  514. 
Brown,  Rev.  John,  311. 
Bullard,  Rev.  A.,  204. 
Bullard,  Tutor,  169. 
Bullock,  Gov.,  320,  332,  601. 
Bullock,  Hon.  Rufus,  324. 
Burgess,  Tutor,  167,  208,  291. 
Burr,  Dr.  E.  F.,  425,  469. 
Burt,  Tutor,  74,  85,  103. 

O. 

Cabinets,  328,  332,  616. 

Calhoun,  Hon.  W.  B.,  181,  320-3,  363, 

485. 

Catalogues,  Early,  76,  78. 
Chapel,  175. 
Chapin,  Dr.  A.,  75. 
Chaplains,  584. 
Charity  Fund,  40,  163,  610. 
Charity  Fund,  Subscribers  to,  649. 
Charter,  136,  660. 
Child,  Hon.  Linus,  474. 
Church.  Joseph,  125. 
Church^  College,  192. 
Church   Edifice,  397,  404. 
Churchill,  Prof,  434. 
Clapp,  Tutor  Z.,  103,  614. 
Clark,  Atvan,  324. 
Clark,  Rev.  Clinton,  213,  306. 
Clark,  Rev.  Dan.  A.,  65-6,  74,  109. 
Clark,  Rev.  Jos.  S.,  74,  167,  331,  478. 
Clark,  Hon.  Lincoln,  128,  138,  155. 
Clark,  Prof.  W.  S.,  400-1-21-26,  581. 


INDEX. 


Clarke,  Geo.  C.,  598. 

Clary,  John,  320. 

Class-Day,  636. 

Coburn,  Rev.  D.  N.,  255. 

Coe,  Tutor,  86,  103. 

Coffin,  Prof.  R.  A.,  79. 

College  Hall,  409. 

College,  North,  75,  177,  399. 

College,  South,  73. 

Coleman,  Rev.  Lyman,  38,  430. 

Coleman,  Dr.  Seth,  29. 

Colored  People,  204. 

Commencement,  636. 

Condit,  Prof,  169,  268,  302. 

Conkey,  Hon.  I.,  531,  612. 

Cooley,  Rev.  T.  M.,  49. 

Cowles,  Dr.  Rufus,  62,  112. 

Cressey,  Rev.  T.  R.,  200,  590. 

Crowell,  Prof.,  352,  431. 

Gushing,  Rev.  C.,  406-7,  535,  610. 

Customs,  College,  640. 

10. 

Dedications,  195,  325,  400. 

Deerfleld,  19,  20. 

Dickinson,  Rev.  Austin,  156,  662. 

Dickinson,  Hon.  E.,  538,  613. 

Dickinson,  Col.  Elijah,  50,  62,  603-4. 

Dickinson,  Lieut.  Enos,  398,  550. 

Dickinson,  Hon.  S.  F.,  34,  49,  62,  118. 

Dickinson,  Mrs.  S.  F.,  121,  299. 

Dickinson,  W.  A.,  403,  406-9,  596. 

Dimock,  Tutor,  E.,  473. 

Donations,  321,  392. 

D  wight,  President,  16,  28. 

D  wight,  Tutor,  167,  200. 

Dwight,  Rev.  E.  S.,  509. 

IE- 

Eastman,  John,  125. 

Eastman,  Rev.  Oman,  J57. 

Eaton,  Prof.  A.  76,  102. 

Eaton,  J.  H.,  422 

Edifices,  College,  397,  606. 

Edwards,  President,  22. 

Edwards,  Prof.  B.  B.,  87-8,  167,  202,  325, 

381. 

Edwards,  Henry,  320,  396,  504. 
Education   Society,  68. 
Ely,  Rev.  Dr.,  37i. 
Emerson,  Tutor  J.  M.,  339,  349. 
Emerson,  Prof.  B.  K.,  424. 
Estabrook,  Prof,  70-1,  101,  614. 
Esty,  Prof.  416. 
Eustis,  Gov.,  150,  157. 


IF. 


Fallen  Heroes,  587. 
Ferry,  Mrs.,  302. 


Field,  Lucius,  103. 

Field,  Rev.  Pindar,  74-9,  83,  598. 

Field,  Prof.  T.  P.,  259,  330,  4aO. 

Fines,  College,  187  8. 

Fisher,  Rev.  Geo.  E.,  346. 

Fisk,  Tutor,  A.  S.,  436,  451. 

Fisk,  Tutor,  Sam.,  339,  347-9,  583. 

Fiske,  Rev.  Dr.  54-5,  63,  384. 

Fiske,  Prof,  160-82-914,  209  92,  348. 

Fiske,  Mrs.  Prof.,  300. 

Foot-prints,  23. 

Foster,  Hon.  A.  D.,  268,  378. 

Fowler,  Hon.  James,  232. 

Fowler,  Prof,  291,  303. 

Fowler,  Mrs.  Prof,  301. 

Franklin  Co.  Assoc.  24. 

Fuller,  of  Boston,  183,  659. 

Funds,  610. 

«• 

«* 

C3-- 

Gilbert,  Hon.  G.  H.,  393,  558. 

Gilbert  Museum,  425. 

Gillett,  Hon.  E.  B.,  406,  510. 

Going,  Rev.  J.,  225. 

Goose  Story,  133. 

Gorhain  Excitement,  253. 

Gould,  Rev.  Nahum,   36,  75. 

Grading,  178,  190,  409,  606. 

Graves,  Col.,  25,  41-2,  75,  113,  322,  536. 

Graves,  Mrs.  Col.,  118. 

Graves,  Rev.  F.  W.,  118,  452. 

Gray,  Lieut.  Gov.,  226. 

Gray,  Henry,  518. 

Greek  and  Latin,  427. 

Greeks  in  Amherst  College,  166. 

Green,  Moses  B.,  613. 

Green,  Samuel,  Professorship,  418. 

Greene,  Rev.  J.  M.,  352,  536. 

Gridley,  Dr.  T.  J.,  256. 

Grounds,  College,  603. 


Hackett,  Prof.  II.  B.,  166. 

Hadley,  20. 

Hallock,  Gerard,  35,  83,  142. 

Hallock,  Leavitt,  410. 

Hallock,  "  Father,"  52,  60. 

Hampshire  County,  15,  27. 

Hardy,  Hon.  A.,  396-7,  508. 

Harrington,  Moody,  210. 

Harris,  Prof,  422. 

Hartwell,  Rev.  Charles,  347-9. 

Hathorne,  George,  403. 

Haven,  Prof.  J.,  435,  632. 

Historical  Associations,  18. 

Hitchcock,  President,  86,  154-60  20f>- 

69,  313-40-50-5,  433,  620. 
Hitchcock,  Mrs.  President,  364. 
Hitchcock,  Prof.  E.,  206,  393,  412-25, 

696,  626. 


INDEX. 


669 


Hitchcock,  Prof.  C.  H.,  424. 
Hitchcock,  Prof.  R.  D.,  259, 404,  616-75- 

96,  601. 

Hitchcock,  Samuel  A.,  318-92-3-6,  561. 
Hooker,  Hon.  John,  224. 
Hooker,  Dr.  J.  W.,  411. 
House  of  Students,  178. 
Hovey,  Prof.,  163,  237. 
Howe,  George,  393,  408,  594. 
Howe,  Sid.  W.,  587,  594. 
Howe,  Hon.  Samuel,  232. 
Rowland,  George,  431. 
Hubbard,  Hon.  Samuel,  140. 
Humphrey,  Pres.,  58,  69,  127,  266,  280. 
Humphrey,  Mrs.  President,  299. 
Humphrey,  Rev.  E.  P.,  166-99,  597. 
Humphrey,  Hon.  James,  306. 
Humphrey,  Rev.  John,  213,  259,  306. 
Humphrey,  Tutor  Leonard,  339. 
Huntington,  Bishop,  598. 
Hutchins,  Hon.  Waldo,  593. 
Huntting,  Rev.  W.,  213. 
Hyde,  Hon.  W.,  534,  612. 
Hyde,  Rev.  W.  A.,  201,  592. 


Ide,  Rev.  Dr..  482. 
Inaugurals,  71,  128,  269,  399. 
Indian  Wars,  18 
Ingram,  Tutor,  169. 
Installations,  195,  206,  331. 
Instructors,  428,  431-4. 

CT. 

Janitors,  607. 

Jewett,  Prof.,  259,  3_26,  430. 
Johnson,  Adam,  175-6. 
Jones,  Edward  J.,  87. 
Jubilee,  597. 


Kellogg,  Hon.  E.  H.,  320. 
King,  Rev.  Dr.,  71. 
Kittredge,  A.  B.,  425,  473. 


Laboratory,  616. 
Lane,  Rev.  J.  P.,  434. 
Lathrop,  Hon.  Samuel.  233. 
Lawrence,  Hon.  Abbott,  317,  549. 
Leach,  Rev.  J.  A.,  391. 
Leavitt,  Hon.  Jonathan,  230. 
Leavitt,  Rev.  Jonathan,  268,  331,  485. 
Leland,  John,  68,  126,  240,  320,  537. 
Library,  326,  614. 
Librarians,  614. 
Lincoln,  Hon.  Levi,  232. 
Linnell,  Mrs.,  302. 


Lobdell,  Henry,  398. 
Lord,  Judge,  320. 
Lymau,  Hon.  Elihu,  231. 
Lyman,  Dr.  Joseph,  47,  229. 
Lyman,  Henry,  33,  200-4. 
Lyon,  Mary,  37,  168. 

IM: 

Mack,  Hon.  David,  210,  377. 

Magazines,  College,  634. 

Mann,  Rev.  Cyrus,  530 

Manning,  Rev.  J.  M.,  586. 

Manross,  Dr.,  422-73,  581. 

March,  Prof.  F.  A.,  278-88,  335. 

Mather,  Prof.,  429,  696. 

Mass.  Agricultural  College,  426. 

Mass.  Professorship,  322. 

Mathematics,  427. 

Mattoon,  Gen.,  21. 

McClure,  Rev.  A.  W.,  200-2. 

McManus,  P.  W.,  589. 

McNairy,  251. 

Merriam,  George,  326. 

Merrill,  Calvin,  34,  49,  126,  654. 

Merrill,  Mrs.,  299,  301. 

Merrill,  Willard.  Esq.,  598. 

Miller,  Tutor,  307. 

Miller,  Rev.  R.  D.,  349-50. 

Missionary  Societies,  277. 

Missionaries,  470. 

Modern  Languages,  429. 

Montague,  Gen.  Z.,  29. 

Montague,  Mrs.,  299,  301,  614. 

Montague,  Prof.,  429,  615. 

Moore,  Pres.,  52-3-9,  69,  82-7,  91, 149. 

Moore,  Mrs.  President,  97-8,  394. 

Moore  Fund,  97,  542. 

Morton,  Gov.,  151,  229. 

Moseley,  Capt.,  19. 

IsT. 

Nelson,  Rev.  Dr.,  380. 
Newhall,  George  H.,  278. 
Nimroud  Slabs,  664. 
Nineveh  Gallery,  398, 
Northampton,  48-9,  58. 


Officers,  Army,  586. 
Olds,  Prof.,  70,  98. 
Optional  Courses,  436. 
Orators,  Commencement,  638. 
Ordinations,  275,  470. 
Osgood,  Rev.  Dr.,  521. 


Packard,  Rev.  Dr.,  24,  62-9,  85,  368. 
Packard,  Rev.  T.  Jr.,  85-9,  599,  632. 


670 


INDEX. 


Packard,  Rev.  D.  T.,  350. 

Paine,  Rev.  Elijah,  38,  89. 

Paine,  Rev.  W.  P.,  38,  331,  506. 

Parallel  Course,  170. 

Palmer,  Benj.  M.,  254. 

Park,  Prof.,  169,  239,  268,  598. 

Parker,  Prof.  H.  W.,  278,  291,  301. 

Parkes,  Charles  E.,  400-1. 

Parsons,  Rev.  Dr.,  35.  66,  104. 

Parsons,  Mrs.  Dr.,  105 

Parsons,  David,  31,  104,  609. 

Party  Politics,  150,  157.  663. 

Peabody,  Prof.,  213,  306-39-51-65. 

Peck,  Prof.,  160-4. 

Pennell,  Adj.,  588. 

Penniman,  Henry,  528. 

Perkins,  Judge,  320-6,  505. 

Perkins,  Rev.  Justin,  74,  167,  276-31. 

Petitions  for  Aid,  179,  262,  319-94. 

Philosophy,  434. 

Phillips, Hon.  Jonathan,  326,  393-4,  554. 

Physical  Culture,  410. 

Pleasant,  Mt.,  33,  166. 

Poor,  Rev.  D.  W.,  213,  259,  431. 

Porter,  Dea.  A.  W.,  534. 

Porter,  Rev.  E.,  65-6,  221. 

Porter,  Eleazar,  396,  536. 

Potter,  W.  A.,  466. 

Prayers,  187,  467. 

President's  House,  69,  72,  189. 

Pritchett,  Rev.  E.  C.,  585. 


Queen's  College,  13. 


Religious  History,  192,  272,  344,  442. 
Religious  Instruction.  468. 
Revivals,  83,  197,  273,  346.  447. 
Revolutionary,  War,  20,  32. 
Rhetoric,  302,  431. 
Riggs,  Rev.  Dr..  165,  276. 
Rising,  Hon.  C.  B  ,  320. 
Robinson,  Rev.  Stewart,  245. 
Root,  H.  D.,  343. 
Russell,  Rev.  Dr.  E.,  166,  238. 

S. 

Sabin,  Rev.  L.,  206,  512. 

Salaries,  625. 

Schneider,  Rev.  Dr.,  592. 

Scholarships  and  Prizes,  396. 

Scientific  Department,  327. 

Seal  of  Amherst  College,  155. 

Sears,  Hon.  David,  268,  320-6-93  543. 

Seelye,  Prof.  J.  H.,  435,  596. 

Seelye,  Prof.  L.  C.,  433. 

Shays  Rebellion,  22. 


Sheldon  Rev.  Dr.,  523. 

Shepard,  Prof.,  80,  132,  269,  '320,  622. 

Shepard,  Dr.  George,  111,  268. 

Shepard,  Dr.  George  C.,  634. 

Smith,  Prof.  H.  B.,  338,  351. 

Smith,  Rev.  Hiram,  599. 

Smith,  James,  Esq.,  396,  560. 

Smith,  Nathaniel,  26,  54-5,  218,  543. 

Smith,  Mrs.  N  ,  26,  219,  532. 

Snell,  Prof,  79,  83,  154,  340,  421,  570- 

98.  616-20. 

Snell,  Rev.  Dr.,  88,  94,  524. 
Societies,  79,  314,  628. 
Southworth,  Hon.  E.,  532,  612. 
Southworth,  Wells,  63. 
Springfield,  19,  21  . 
Statistics,  626,  643.  - 

Stearns,  President,  331-88,  439-42-U8. 
Stearns,  Adj.,  580-7-8. 
Stearns,  W.  F.,  393,  404-5-6,  555. 
Stimson,  Caleb,  542 
Stockbridge,  H.  S.,  598. 
Storrs,  Rev.  R.  S.,  128,  182,  613. 
Storrs,  Rev.  R.  S.  Jr.,  518,  598. 
Strong,  H.  Wright,  34,  62,  122. 
Strong,  Mrs.,  299. 
Strong,  Hon.  H.  W.,  124. 
Strong,  Miss  Sarah  S  ,  35-6. 
Strong,  Judge,  33. 
Strong,  Hon.  Lewis,  230. 
Subscriptions,  50,  75,  1  16-35-82  261-3 

541,  649-57. 
Sunderland,  26. 
Surgeons,  586. 
Sweetser,  J.  A.,  396. 
Sweetser,  Luke,  397-8,  537. 
Sykes,  H.  A.,  326,  397. 

T. 

Tappan,  John,  206,  372,  418,  663. 
Taylor,  Rev.  James,  25,  63,  217. 
Term-bills,  625. 
Thompson,  Col.,  91. 
Thompson,  Rev.  L.,  213,  246. 
Towne,  Hon.  Salem,  519. 
Trask,  Col.  I.  E.,  222. 
Tuckerman,  Prof.,  422-3. 
Turner,  Capt,  20. 
Tutors,  103-66,  291,  305-35,  436. 
Tyler,  Rev.  Josiah.  622. 
Tyler,  Rev.  W.,  263. 
Tyler,  W.  H.,  169,  208. 
Tyler,  Prof.,  74,  206-91,  326-40,  401-28 
575-95. 


Vacations,  189. 

Vaill,  Rev.  Dr.,  63-5,  182,  264,  489. 
Van  Lennep,  Rev.  H.  J.   275. 
Vose,  Prof.,  432. 


INDEX. 


671 


Walker  Foundation,  415. 

Walker  Hall,  397,  402. 

Walker,  Dr.  W.  J.,  393-5,  563. 

Walker,  Kev.  William,  391,  622. 

War,  579. 

Ward,  Rev.  W.  H.,  664. 

Warner,  Prof.,  269,  330-7. 

Washburn,  Rev.  G  ,  277,  337,  448. 

Washburn,  Rev.  R.,  210. 

Washburn,  Gov.,  536. 

Washburn,  Tutor,  307,  537 

Wayland,  Rev.  Dr.,  225. 

Webster,  Daniel,  42,  191. 

Webster,  Noah,  28,  30-6,  54-5,  64-6,  71, 

107. 
Wells.  Rev.  R.  P..  276. 


Whipple,  Rev.  E.,  55,  63,  65. 

White,  Jarib,  125. 

Whiting,  Rev.  L.,  191,  491. 

Wilder,  S.  V.  S.,  147,  226,  307. 

Williams  College,  51. 

Williston  Hall,  400. 

Williston,  L.  R.,  431. 

Williston,  Hon.  Samuel,  313-8-26-96, 

421,  565-97. 
Williston,  Mrs.,  322. 
Women  of  Amherst,  299. 
Woods  Cabinet,  316-21,  398. 
Woods,  Hon.  J.  B.,  316,  534. 
Woods,  Leonard,  256. 
Woodworth,  Rev.  C.  L.,  586. 
Worcester,  Prof.,  74,  234,  614. 
Wright,  Gov.,  33. 


ERRATUM. 
On  page  290,  line  20,  for  Humphrey  read  Hitchcock. 


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