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REV.   JOHN    SCULLY,    SJ. 

i4TH  PRESIDENT. 


St  3-obn's 


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THE  REVEREND  JOHN  SCULLY,  S.J. 

PRESIDENT  OF  ST.    JOHN'S  COLLEGE,  POBDHAM,  N.  T. 
THIS  VOLUME  IS  BESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED. 


PREFACE. 


To  my  mind  an  introduction  to  a  book  of  this  nature 
seems  hardly  necessary.  It  should  introduce  itself.  I 
will  say,  however,  that  in  preparing  this  work  I  have 
endeavored  to  place  before  my  readers,  in  an  entertain- 
ing manner,  such  matter  connected  with  St.  John's  as 
appeared  to  me  to  be  of  historic  value  or  interest.  If 
I  have  succeeded  in  holding  their  attention  through  a 
perusal  of  my  book,  I  shall  feel  that  my  labor  has  not 
been  in  vain. 

I  take  this  opportunity  of  expressing  my  gratitude  to 
those  who  have  assisted  me  in  the  prosecution  of  this 
work.  My  thanks  are  due  in  an  especial  manner  to  the 
Reverend  John  Scully,  S.J.,  president  of  St.  John's 
College,  Fordham,  and  the  Reverend  Joseph  Zwinge, 
S.J.,  also  of  St.  John's ;  to  the  Reverend  P.  F.  Dealy, 
S.  J. ;  Mr.  J.  J.  Costello,  of  Cayuga,  1ST.  Y. ;  General 
Martin  T.  McMahon,  General  James  R.  O'Beirne,  Mr. 
Joseph  Kinney,  Mr.  Charles  M.  Walcott,  of  the  Lyceum 
Theatre  Company,  New  York;  Professor  J.  F.  Ed- 
wards, of  Notre  Dame  University,  Notre  Dame,  Ind. ; 
Mr.  Edward  C.  O'Brien,  Secretary  of  the  Alumni  As- 
sociation, and  Dr.  James  N.  Butler. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

FORDHAM  COLLEGE  OF  TO-DAY,  1 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE  OLD  ROSE  HILL  MANOR, 17 

CHAPTER  III. 
ARCHBISHOP  HUGHES, 30 

CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  FOUNDING  OP  THE  COLLEGE  TO  THE  ADVENT  OF  THE  JESUITS,      49 

CHAPTER  V. 
ST.  MARY'S  COLLEGE,  KENTUCKY, 60 

CHAPTER  VI. 
ACCESSION  OF  THE  JESUITS  AND  INTRODUCTION  OF  THEIR  PLAN  OP 

STUDIES,    .        . 69 

CHAPTER  VII. 
PRESIDENCY  OF  FATHER  THEBAUD,     .        .        .       .       •      u.        .    76 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

FATHER  LARKIN  AS  PRESIDENT,  86 


viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

PAGE 

ST.  JOHN'S  UNDER  FATHER   TELLIER.—  RETURN  OF  FATHER  THE- 

BAUD.— FATHERS  DOUCET  AND  TISSOT, 94= 

CHAPTER  X. 

FATHER  MOYLAN.— FATHER  SHEA.— FATHER  GOCKELN,    .        .        .     102 

CHAPTER  XI. 
FATHER  DEALT.— FATHER  CAMPBELL.— FATHER  SCULLY,          .        .    Ill 

CHAPTER  XII. 
THE  CADETS, 123 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  COLLEGE  SOCIETIES. — THE  PARTHENIAN  SODALITY. — THE  HIS- 
TORICAL AND  DEBATING  SOCIETIES.  —  THE  ALUMNI  ASSOCIA- 
TION,   ....  .  -.,  129 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  DRAMATIC  ASSOCIATION. — JOURNALISM  AT  FORDHAM. — ATH- 
LETICS.—CONCLUSION, 138 

APPENDIX,         .        .       •«        •        *       .        ,        .        .        .        .    147 


A   HISTORY 


OP 


ST.    JOHN'S    COLLEGE, 

FOBDHAM. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FORDHAM  COLLEGE  OF  TO-DAY. 

THE  first  half-century  of  the  brilliant  and  successful 
career  of  Fordham  College  is  now  complete.  The  24th 
day  of  June,  1891,  finds  that  institution  fifty  years 
old,  and  the  occasion  has  been  befittingly  commem- 
orated by  the  erection  on  the  college  lawn  of  a  hand- 
some bronze  statue  of  the  illustrious  founder  of  the 
college,  the  late  Archbishop  John  Hughes,  of  New 
York.  The  statue  is  the  gift  of  the  Alumni  Associa- 
tion, and  other  friends  of  the  college.  It  is  the  work 
of  the  well-known  sculptor,  William  Rudolf  O'Don- 
ovaii,  and  is  in  every  respect  worthy  of  that  conscien- 
tious artist.  It  represents  the  Archbishop,  clad  in  his 
episcopal  robes,  book  in  hand,  in  the  act  of  delivering 
an  address.  The  pose  is  easy,  natural,  and  dignified, 
and  the  long  cloak,  falling  in  graceful  folds  from  the 
shoulders,  effectively  sets  off  the  commanding  figure. 


A  HISTOEY  OF  FOBDHAM  COLLEGE. 


The  statue  is  eight  feet  two  inches  high,  and  is  mounted 
on  a  granite  pedestal,  bearing  the  following  inscription : 

IOANNI  •  HVGHES 
NEO  •  EBORACENSIVM  •  ARCHIEPISCOPO 

FOEDHAMENSIS  -  LYCEI  •  AVCTORI 
ALVMNORVM  •  COETVS  -  AMICI  •  BENEMERENTES 

AERE  •  COLLATO 

EXIMIO  •  BONABVM  •  ARTIVM  •  FAVTORI 
PRAECLARE  •  DE  •  RELIGIONE  •  MERITO 

POSVERVNT 

VIII  -  KAL  •  IVL  •  MDCXXXXI 
ANNO  •  L  •  A  •  LYCEO  •  CONDITO 

The  total  height  of  the  monument  is  eighteen  feet 
nine  inches. 

Fordham  College  of  to-day  is  indeed  a  beautiful 
place,  but  to  one  who,  in  addition  to  its  natural  beau- 
ties, finds  every  foot  of  ground,  every  rock  and  tree, 
every  nook  and  corner  of  its  time-stained  walls  remin- 
iscent of  some  little  incident  of  the  happy  days  of  long 
ago,  it  becomes  a  veritable  Arcadia.  What  old  stu- 
dent, returning,  can  gaze  on  the  familiar  scenes  without 
a  pang  of  regret  for  the  days  that  are  no  more,  and  the 
pleasures  and  companions  that,  alike,  are  but  mem- 
ories of  a  dim,  uncertain  past. 

But  apart  from  the  charm  it  possesses  in  the  eyes  of 
its  loving  children,  Fordham  stands  pre-eminent  among 
institutions  of  its  kind  for  the  picturesqueness  of  its 
surroundings,  unrivalled  in  the  beauty  of  its  grounds. 
Less  than  a  dozen  miles  from  the  heart  of  the  great 
metropolis,  it  might  be  leagues  away  from  the  "  busy 


FOKDHAM  COLLEGE   OF  TO-DAY. 


hum  of  men,"  such  is  the  peace  and  quietude  that  per- 
vade the  spot. 

A  half -hour's  ride  from  the  Grand  Central  Depot, 
New  York,  on  the  Harlem  Railroad,  or  forty-five  min- 
utes by  the  Third  Avenue  and  Suburban  Elevated 
Roads,  will  bring  you  to  Fordham  ;  and  less  than  a  hun- 
dred paces  from  either  depot  are  the  high  iron  gates 
and  massive  pillars  that  mark  the  entrance  to  Fordham 
College.  To  the  right  of  the  entrance  stands  the  gate- 
keeper's lodge,  a  pretty  little  cottage  of  granite  and 
marble  set  among  beds  of  bright-colored  flowers  and 
well-kept  plots  of  grass,  and  with  its  pointed  gables 
and  narrow  windows  peeping  out  from  the  foliage  of 
the  overhanging  trees.  Straight  ahead  lies  a  handsome 
driveway  and,  dimly  seen  through  the  trees  on  the  right, 
are  the  college  buildings. 

A  few  yards  from  the  gate  the  broad  drive  separates 
into  two  avenues  which  run  almost  parallel  for  a  short 
distance  and  then  gradually  diverge,  one  sweeping 
around  to  the  left,  on  the  edge  of  a  little  bluff  over- 
looking the  railroad ;  the  other,  the  approach  to  the 
college  proper,  winding  its  sinuous  way  up  a  gentle  in- 
cline on  the  right  to  the  main  entrance  of  the  college, 
and  both  meeting  on  the  brow  of  the  little  hill  to  com- 
plete the  circuit  of  the  lawn. 

Rows  of  magnificent  elms  border  both  avenues,  arch- 
ing overhead  and  mingling  their  branches  to  cast  a  wel- 
come shade  on  the  road  beneath.  What  memories  do 
these  elms  call  up  in  the  mind  of  every  old  Fordham 
student !  The  first  objects  to  greet  him  coming ;  the 
last  to  wave  him  a  stately  farewell.  What  old  stu- 
dent, returning,  does  not  gaze  with  admiration  on  their 
towering  forms,  their  spreading  branches,  and  the  high- 


A  HISTOBY  OF  FOEDHAM  COLLEGE. 


bred  courtesy  with  which  they  seem  to  bow  their  wel- 
come.* 

Following  the  road  to  the  right,  you  pass  for  fifty 
or  a  hundred  yards  in  a  direct  line,  catching  an  occa- 
sional glimpse  of  massive  granite  building  or  gilded 
cross  partly  seen  through  the  swaying  branches,  until 
an  abrupt  turn  in  the  avenue  brings  you  at  once  into 
full  view  of  the  college  buildings.  Directly  across  the 
lawn,  to  the  extreme  left,  stands  a  square,  imposing 
structure,  furrowed  and  grizzled  by  years  of  exposure, 
with  its  latticed  windows,  its  massive  buttresses,  and 
its  unmistakable  air  of  antiquity.  It  is  the  building 
formerly  occupied  by  St.  Joseph's  Theological  Semi- 
nary, but  now  used  as  a  preparatory  school  for  young 
boys,  under  the  name  of  St.  John's  Hall.  Adjoining 
the  Hall  is  the  little  college  church  of  Our  Lady  of 
Mercy,  the  use  of  which  has  been  given  to  the  people 
of  the  vicinity,  and  whose  windows  are  said  to  be  the 
first  stained  windows  ever  imported  to  this  country. 

Further  on  to  the  right  you  catch  the  sheen  of  sun 
on  a  hothouse  roof,  that  peeps  up  from  the  green  of  a 
garden  half-hidden  from  view,  by  that  most  ancient  of 
Fordham  relics,  the  infirmary.  This  is  the  original 
Rose  Hill  manor  house,  a  plain,  old-fashioned  two-story 
wooden  house  that  had  weathered  many  a  storm,  and 
was  drifting  into  a  ripe  old  age  when  our  republic  was 
gasping  and  struggling  for  its  first  breath.  Further  to 
the  right,  and  to  the  rear,  the  out-buildings,  farm-houses, 

*  For  many  years  a  tradition  has  obtained  at  Fordham  that  the  seed  of  these 
elms  was  brought  from  Holyrood  Palace,  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  by  Lord  Stir- 
ling, whose  daughter,  Lady  Mary  Alexander,  the  wife  of  Robert  Watts,  lived 
in  the  old  Rose  Hill  mansion,  now  the  Infirmary,  during  the  Revolutionary 
War.  This,  however,  is  not  probable,  as  the  trees  could  not  have  attained  their 
present  size  in  that  length  of  time. 


FOKDHAM  COLLEGE  OF  TO-DAY. 


and  servants'  quarters  are  dimly  seen,  and  as  your  gaze 
follows  the  bend  in  the  road  it  falls  full  on  the  main 
entrance,  the  central  building,  the  Rose  Hill  manor 
house  of  a  later  date,  with  its  long  brick  wings  and 
white  observatory,  and  over  whose  roof  can  be  seen  the 
towering  granite  walls  of  the  more  modern  buildings. 

In  front  of  this  venerable  pile  the  statue  to  the 
founder  of  the  college  is  erected.  On  the  highest  point 
of  the  grounds  it  stands,  facing  the  gate  and  the  oppo- 
site hills,  with  the  lawn  sloping  gracefully  down  from 
its  pedestal  to  the  railroad  bed  below. 

A  hundred  yards  further  up  the  avenue  another  turn 
discloses  a  group  of  buildings  until  now  hidden  by 
the  trees.  Here  is  the  latest  instance  of  the  rapid 
growth  of  St.  John's  during  recent  years,  for  some  of 
these  buildings  are  almost  fresh  from  the  mason's  hands. 
To  the  right  you  see  the  slated  roof  and  tapering 
chimney  of  Science  Hall ;  to  the  left,  barely  seen  over 
the  roofs  of  intervening  houses,  is  the  new  Juniors' 
Hall ;  and  before  you,  set  back  a  short  distance  from 
the  roadway,  is  a  tall,  imposing  structure  that  has  not 
yet  passed  from  the  builder's  hands.  This  is  the  new 
Faculty  building,  and  is  to  contain,  besides  the  rooms 
of  the  professors,  the  students'  chapel,  and  refectories 
for  both  the  students  and  the  community.  Like  all 
the  buildings  erected  since  the  experiment  on  the  gate- 
keeper's lodge,  it  is  of  granite,  faced  with  marble,  with 
a  graceful  marble  portico  shading  the  entrance.  It 
has  four  stories  and  a  mansard  roof,  surmounted  by  a 
dome  and  a  twelve-foot  cross. 

A  year  ago  ground  had  not  been  broken  for  this 
handsome  edifice,  and  the  old  First  Division  building, 
or  Seniors'  Hall,  with  its  rough,  unfinished  wall,  was  a 


A  HISTOEY  OF  FOEDHAM  COLLEGE. 


familiar  sight  to  every  visitor  at  Fordharn.  The  Se- 
niors' Hall  was  erected  in  1865,  but  the  end  facing  the 
lawn  was  kept  in  a  rough,  unfinished  state,  as  an  ex- 
tension at  that  point  was  contemplated.  Something 
interfered  with  the  plans,  however,  and  for  over  twenty 
years  that  eccentric -looking  wall  stared  in  the  face  of 
the  visitor.  The  Faculty  building  joining  the  Hall  at 
right  angles,  has  at  last  come  to  take  the  place  of  the 
long-promised  extension,  and  now  the  original  building 
is  almost  entirely  hidden  from  the  observer  on  the 
lawn. 

The  interior  of  the  new  building  is  not  yet  complete, 
and  we  can  therefore  give  but  a  rough  description  of 
it.  A  hallway  will  connect  the  entrance  with  the  older 
building,  and  the  chapel  will  be  at  the  left  or  north 
end.  It  will  occupy  the  first  and  second  stories  for 
about  eighty-three  feet.  In  the  southern  end  on  the  first 
and  second  floors,  corresponding  to  the  house  of  wor- 
ship, will  be  the  two  refectories,  and  the  three  stories 
above  will  be  occupied  by  the  professors. 

Passing  from  the  contemplation  of  this  latest  addi- 
tion, beautiful  and  proud  in  its  new-born  strength, 
twenty  paces  will  bring  you  to  the  grizzled  front  of  the 
main  entrance,  the  grand  old  building  about  which  the 
college  has  grown  and  developed  in  the  last  fifty  years. 
Here  is  the  cradle  of  Fordham  College.  Here,  in  its 
struggling  infancy,  it  was  nursed  and  tended  until  it 
grew  beyond  the  limits  of  those  four  massive  walls. 
Built  of  rough-hewn  rock,  but  built  so  stoutly  and  so 
well  as  to  defy  for  centuries  the  onslaughts  of  wind 
and  storm,  this  building  is  a  fitting  type  of  him  to 
whose  zeal  and  energy  the  institution  owes  its  exist- 
ence. A  flight  of  well-worn  marble  steps,  flanked  by 


FOKDHAM  COLLEGE  OF  TO-DAY. 


two  urns  filled  with  flowers  and  creeping  plants,  leads 
up  to  the  broad  entrance,  and  a  portico  upheld  by 
massive  marble  pillars  adds  to  the  air  of  imposing 
grandeur  that  characterizes  the  old  building.* 

Eising  above  the  broad  flat  roof  is  the  observatory, 
surmounted  by  the  old  clock  whose  well-known  face 
has  recorded  the  passing  of  time,  day  after  day,  year 
after  year,  longer  than  the  oldest  Fordhamite  can  tell, 
and  the  familiar  notes  of  whose  mournful  chime  have 
rung  in  the  ears  of  Fordham  students  for  the  last 
forty-five  years.  The  old  clock  came  to  Fordham  in 
1846,  with  the  Jesuits  from  Kentucky.  It  had  come 
originally  from  Fribourg,  Switzerland,  whence  it  was 
brought  to  Amiens,  France.  In  1841  it  was  trans- 
ported to  Mount  Mary,  Kentucky,  and  then  to  Ford- 
ham  in  1846.  Many  a  holy  religious  long  ago  laid  at 
rest  has  responded  to  its  plaintive  call  to  matins  or 
vespers,  and  many  a  wrinkled  visage  smiles  on  its  cold, 
expressionless  face  as  on  the  face  of  an  old,  familiar 
friend. 

From  the  steps  looking  across  the  lawn  a  magnificent 
view  is  obtained.  Directly  opposite,  Fordham  Heights, 
famous  in  Eevolutionary  history,  rise,  dotted  here  and 
there  with  gabled  cottages  or  bits  of  dusty  road  peep- 
ing out  from  the  luxuriant  foliage,  while  away  in  the 
dim,  uncertain  distance  a  thin  blue  haze  marks  the 
course  of  the  far-off  Hudson.  There,  seemingly  with- 
in a  stone's  throw,  is  the  little  knoll  where  brooded  the 
gloomy  genius  of  the  unhappy  Poe.  On  the  edge  of  a 

*  Until  1885  or  1886,  a  venerable  willow-tree  stood  opposite  the  entrance  to 
this  building,  How  long  it  had  stood  there  no  one  could  tell,  but  it  was  old 
and  weather-beaten  when  the  college  was  opened.  It  had  long  stood,  disman- 
tled of  its  branches,  and  was  removed  only  to  avert  the  danger  of  its  falling. 


A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 


bluff  that  commands  a  view  of  the  surrounding  country 
as  far  as  the  sparkling  waters  of  Long  Island  Sound, 
in  a  spot  whose  poetic  surroundings  would  charm  the 
most  obdurate  muse,  stands  the  modest  little  cottage 
where  he  lived  his  sad  and  fateful  life.  A  short  dis- 
tance back  from  the  old  Kingsbridge  road  that  winds 
up  the  toilsome  ascent  of  Fordham  Heights,  it  stands, 
half -hidden  among  the  leaves  of  a  group  of  apple  and 
cherry  trees.  Unchanged  it  stands,  as  it  stood  when 
its  unfortunate  owner  struggled  so  manfully  beneath 
its  roof,  for  many  a  long  year,  with  the  unrelenting  foe 
to  whose  attacks  he  succumbed  at  last. 

But  the  poetic  beauty  of  this  spot  is  a  thing  of  the 
past.  Mammon  now  holds  sway  where  once  Apollo 
reigned;  that  vandal,  Modern  Improvement,  has 
seized  upon  that  charming  bit  of  Arcadia,  and  now  the 
sounds  of  hammer  and  trowel  drown  the  last  sweet 
plaint  of  poor  Poe's  heartbroken  muse.  Unsightly 
buildings,  beautiful  according  to  the  taste  of  an  age  of 
Philistines,  now  disfigure  the  once  picturesque  spot, 
and  unless  some  generous  patron  of  letters  interferes  to 
preserve  this  last  relic,  a  few  years  hence  will  see  not  a 
vestige  even  of  the  little  cottage  itself. 

But  to  return  to  the  college.  Turning  from  the  con- 
templation of  the  magnificent  view,  you  continue  the 
ascent  of  the  marble  steps  and  pass  through  the  wide 
doorway  into  the  lofty  tiled  hall.  To  the  right, 
occupying  the  entire  depth  of  the  building,  is  the 
reception-room,  a  handsome  apartment  richly  furnished 
and  hung  with  some  choice  old  paintings.  On  the  left 
are  the  offices  of  fthe  president  and  treasurer,  and 
a  broad  staircase  leading  to  the  Sodality  chapel,  and 
connecting  with  the  upper  floors  of  the  wings.  A  pas- 


FORDHAM  COLLEGE  OF  TO-DAY. 


sage  here  leads  to  the  students'  refectory,  which  oc- 
cupies the  ground  floor  of  the  north  wing. 

The  refectory  is  a  handsome  room  about  seventy- 
five  feet  long,  the  walls  and  ceiling  frescoed  with  em- 
blematic and  ornamental  designs,  and  lighted  Tby  long 
windows  opening  at  one  side  on  the  lawn,  at  the  other 
on  the  recreation  grounds.  The  corresponding  floor 
in  the  south  wing  is  used  as  a  chapel  for  the  students, 
but  will  be  converted  into  music  rooms  as  soon  as  the 
new  chapel  is  ready  for  occupation.  The  floor  above, 
now  occupied  by  the  Faculty,  will  then  become  the  in- 
firmary. .  . 

Passing  out  through  the  rear  door  of  the  old  build- 
ing, you  step  into  a  long,  narrow  extension  of  three 
stories  containing  the  music-rooms,  the  porter's  lodge, 
the  wardrobe,  and  the  community  library.  This  ex- 
tension formerly  connected  with  the  old  Second  Divis- 
ion building,  which  was  torn  down  last  summer.  Step- 
ping from  the  door  at  the  right  of  this  passage  (for  it 
is  little  better  than  a  passage),  you  find  yourself  on  a 
spot  of  ground  which  has  been  trodden  by  the  feet  of 
Fordham  students  more,  perhaps,  than  any  other  spot 
on  the  college  grounds. 

This  was  once  the  old  quadrangle,  formed  by  the 
building  just  described,  the  chapel,  and  an  extension 
that  ran  at  right  angles  with  the  latter.  Across  this  lit- 
tle square,  generations  of  students  have  walked  to  and 
from  the  chapel,  the  refectory,  the  parlor,  and  the  of- 
fices, and,  departing,  have  given  way  to  others  who 
have  followed  in  their  footsteps  again  and  again,  and 
in  their  turn  resigned  their  places  to  others. 

In  the  centre  of  this  quadrangle  a  handsome  bronze 
statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  erected  in  1887  to 


10  A  HISTORY  OF  FOBDHAM  COLLEGE. 

commemorate  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of*  the  founding 
of  the  Parthenian  Sodality.  The  sodality  is  older  than 
the  college,  having  been  organized  at  Rayville,  Ky., 
and  come  to  Fordham  with  the  Jesuits  in  1846. 

But  the  quadrangle  is  no  more.  Its  sacred  precincts 
have  been  invaded  by  the  new  building,  and  its  statue 
has  been  relegated  to  other  quarters  at  the  end  of  the 
wardrobe  extension,  until  a  suitable  site  can  be  found 
for  it.  The  one-story  building  that  formed  the  south- 
ern boundary  has  disappeared,  and,  with  it,  a  landmark 
that  will  be  missed  by  many  an  old  Fordhamite.  We 
refer  to  the  famous  "  castle,"  the  mere  mention  of  which 
will  call  up  a  host  of  delightful  memories  in  the  minds 
of  the  older  students.  It  was  a  plain  three-story  brick 
building,  joined  to  the  chapel  wing  by  the  extension 
just  described.  It  had  served  successively  as  a  dor- 
mitory, office,  and  class-room  building,  as  a  laboratory, 
and  for  several  years  one  floor  was  utilized  as  the  sanc- 
tum sanctorum  of  the  Fordham  Monthly.  But  the 
"  castle,"  like  the  quadrangle,  is  a  thing  of  the  past ;  it 
has  gone  the  way  of  all  bricks  and  mortar,  and  now 
exists  only  in  the  memory  of  the  old-time  Fordhamite. 

Turning  the  corner  of  the  partly  finished  new  build- 
ing, you  come  in  sight  of  the  Seniors7  Hall.  It  is  a 
handsome  building  of  four  stories  and  a  mansard  roof, 
and  identical  in  style  with  the  adjoining  edifice.  On 
the  ground  floor  are  the  billiard-  and  reading-rooms  of 
the  senior  division,  and  the  gymnasium,  which  is  also 
used  as  a  temporary  armory  and  drill-room  for  the 
cadets,  and  which  is  furnished  with  a  batting-net  for 
the  winter  practice  of  the  baseball  team. 

On  the  second  story  is  the  study  hall.  At  the 
further  end  of  this  room  is  the  stage,  whereon  many  a 


FORDHAM  COLLEGE  OF  TO-DAY.  11 

budding  actor  has  ranted  and  mouthed  and  sawed  the 
air,  for  Fordham  has  a  Dramatic  Association  almost  as 
old  as  the  college  itself. 

On  the  two  floors  above  the  study  hall  are  class- 
rooms and  the  dormitory,  and  on  the  fifth  floor,  locally 
known  as  "  Fifth  Avenue,"  are  the  rooms  of  the  lay 
members  of  the  Faculty. 

Some 'thirty  or  forty  yards  south  of  the  Seniors' 
Hall  is  Science  Hall,  a  two-story  building  with  a  tall 
chimney  at  the  end,  facing  the  lawn.  This  building  is 
devoted  almost  entirely  to  the  scientific  department. 
On  the  first  floor,  to  the  left  of  the  hall,  is  the  labora- 
tory of  the  class  in  Analytical  Chemistry,  and  a  lecture- 
room  for  the  class  of  Logic  and  Metaphysics.  Opposite 
is  a  handsome,  spacious  library  for  the  use  of  the  stu* 
dents,  lined  with  well-filled  shelves  and  furnished  with 
tables,  desks,  and  every  facility  for  study  and  research. 
Over  the  rostrum  at  the  further  end  is  a  bas-relief  of 
His  Holiness,  Leo  XIII.,  and  on  either  side  and  in 
adjoining  corners  are  silken  banners  and  pennants, 
trophies  of  athletic  contests,  while  the  bust  of  many  a 
learned  sage  looks  down  from  shelf  and  pedestal. 
Here,  among  these  congenial  surroundings,  the  Debat- 
ing and  Historical  Societies  hold  their  meetings,  and 
here,  with  Cicero  and  Demosthenes  looking  down  on 
them  from  their  lofty  seats  and  firing  their  souls  with 
enthusiasm^  embryo  orators  pour  forth  their  elo- 
quence. 

On  the  upper  floor  are  the  lecture-rooms  for  chemis- 
try and  physics,  and  the  museum,  and  in  the  basement 
are  the  engine  and  dynamos  that  supply  heat  and  light 
to  this  great  institution  ;  for  it  is  lighted  throughout  by 
electricity  and  heated' by  steam.  A  tunnel  connects 


12  A  HISTOKY  OF  FOKDHAM  COLLEGE. 

the  engine-room  with  all  the  buildings,  and  through  it 
are  made  all  connections  for  pipe  and  wire. 

Climbing  from  the  murky  depths  of  the  engine-room 
into  the  open  air,  you  pass  again  through  the  little 
group  of  trees  that  separates  Science  Hall  from  the 
Seniors'  Hall,  and  a  few  steps  will  bring  you  to  the 
edge  of  the  broad,  level  campus  intersected  by  shady 
walks,  and  with  its  two  baseball  diamonds  on  which 
Fordham7  s  representatives  in  the  athletic  world  have 
won  so  many  glorious  victories.  A  cinder-track  encir- 
cles the  First  Division  field,  on  which  the  larger  dia- 
mond is  laid  out,  and  across  the  field,  in  the  furthest 
corner,  can  be  seen  through  the  trees  the  chute  of  the 
toboggan  slide. 

Repassing  the  Seniors'  Hall  and  turning  from  the 
cinder  track,  you  cross  a  broad,  level,  though  somewhat 
dusty,  court,  sacred  to  the  genius  of  lawn  tennis,  to  the 
Juniors'  Hall.  This  is,  in  general  outline,  a  counter- 
part of  its  older  neighbor,  the  Seniors',  but  as  it  has 
yet  to  complete  its  first  year  of  existence,  it  has  no 
traditions,  no  memories  of  bygone  days  to  enhance  the 
interest  of  the  visitor. 

And  here  you  find  yourself  on  the  confines  of  the 
garden.  Who  that  has  ever  visited  Fordham  can  forget 
that  garden,  with  its  broad  boxwood  hedges,  its  glis- 
tening walks,  and  the  cool,  inviting  shade  of  its  arbors  ? 
What  student  of  Fordham  can  ever  forget  the  noctur- 
nal raids  on  those  selfsame  arbors,  or  the  stolen  ram- 
bles amid  its  hedge-lined  walks  and  shady  corners  ? 

A  turn  in  the  walk  brings  us  to  the  rear  of  the  infir- 
mary, the  most  interesting  building  on  the  college 
property.  The  exact  date  at  which  this  old  house  was 
erected  we  have  no  means  of  ascertaining,  but  that  it 


FORDHAM  COLLEGE  OF  TO-DAY.  13 

was  old  when  our  forefathers  fought  the  good  fight  of 
a  century  ago,  is  an  undeniable  fact.  The  old  building 
has  been  altered  from  time  to  time  since  it  became  the 
property  of  the  college ;  wings  have  been  added  and 
the  interior  arrangements  entirely  remodelled,  but,  in 
spite  of  changes  and  improvements,  it  still  bears  a  de- 
lightful air  of  antiquity.  Tradition  ascribes  to  this 
time-honored  relic  the  distinction  of  having  served 
as  General  Washington's  headquarters  during  some  of 
the  manoeuvres  preceding  the  battle  of  White  Plains. 
Among  the  many  venerable  trees  that  surround  and 
overshadow  the  houses  is  the  identical  tree  (so  says 
again  infallible  tradition)  to  which  the  Father  of  his 
Country  tied  his  horse  on  dismounting.  It  is  believed 
by  a  great  many  that  this  old  manor  house  is  the  build- 
ing in  and  about  which  the  principal  incidents  described 
in  Fenimore  Cooper's  novel,  "  The  Spy,"  took  place. 

Emerging  from  the  front  door  of  this  historic  little 
house  you  find  yourself  once  more  looking  out  over  the 
lawn  toward  Fordham.  To  the  left,  a  short  distance 
away,  is  the  main  entrance,  and  before  you,  a  little  to 
your  right,  is  the  group  of  venerable  trees  beneath  whose 
spreading  branches  generations  of  students  have  de- 
livered their  valedictories  and  received  their  diplomas. 
For  the  commencement  exercises  are  held  in  the  open 
air,  a  tent  being  spread  under  the  trees  and  a  temporary 
platform  erected  for  the  speakers. 

And  now,  turning  your  steps  to  the  right,  after  a 
brief  interval  of  flagged  walk  bordered  by  garden  fence 
and  shrubbery,  you  come  to  the  most  charming  spot 
in  this  collection  of  noble  buildings  and  picturesque 
surroundings.  St.  John's  Hall,  the  preparatory  school 
for  small  boys  attached  to  the  college,  is  situated  at  the 


14:  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

extreme  northwest  of  the  college  grounds,  and  farthest 
of  any  of  the  departments  from  the  central  building. 
Adjoining  it  is  the  parish  church  of  Fordham,  the 
Church  of  Our  Lady  of  Mercy.  Church  and  Hall  were 
built  in  1845  by  Archbishop  Hughes,  the  latter  as  a 
seminary  for  the  education  of  priests  for  the  diocese  of 
New  York,  and  the  former  as  the  seminary  chapel. 
Both  buildings  are  of  stone  quarried  on  the  college 
property,  but  different  from  that  used  in  the  other 
buildings. 

The  church  is  a  handsome  little  edifice  Gothic  in 
architecture,  with  its  walls  and  the  arches  of  its  ceiling 
handsomely  frescoed  and  lighted  by  six  magnificent 
windows.  These  represent  the  four  evangelists  and 
Saints  Peter  and  Paul. 

The  Hall  is  an  imposing  structure,  the  massive 
arched  entrance,  the  old-fashioned  latticed  windows, 
the  vine-covered  walls,  all  combining  to  produce  an  ef- 
fect at  once  grand  and  impressive.  The  seminary  was 
moved  in  1860  to  Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  the  buildings  sold 
to  the  college  authorities,  for  what  wak  a  good  sum  in 
those  days.  For  a  long  time  the  Hall  was  little  used, 
the  classes  of  Chemistry  and  Physics  alone  being  held 
there,  but  in  1885,  under  the  presidency  of  Father 
Dealy,  it  was  thoroughly  overhauled  and  fitted  up  to 
fill  the  requirements  of  the  preparatory  school. 

In  front  of  it  is  a  small  piece  of  ground,  tastefully 
laid  out,  shaded  by  noble  trees  and  cooled  by  the  spray 
from  a  handsome  fountain,  and  with  gravel  walks 
winding  among  plots  of  grass  and  beds  of  flowers. 
From  front  to  rear  of  the  building  runs  a  broad  hall- 
way. On  either  side  and  on  the  floors  above  are  the 
study  hall,  class-rooms,  and  dormitories,  and  in  the 


FOBDHAM  COLLEGE  OF  TO-DAY.  15 

basement  are  the  gymnasium  and  drill-room.  At  the 
rear,  fronting  the  railroad,  is  the  boy's  playground. 
Two  handsome  terraces,  banked  with  well-kept  grass 
and  ornamented  with  rows  of  spreading  trees  shading 
gravel  walks,  extend  for  a  distance  of  fifty  yards,  and 
beyond  stretches  away  the  level  green  of  the  ball- 
field. 

Near  the  Hall,  and  also  facing  the  lawn,  is  a  square, 
one-story  stone  building  which  I  have  hitherto  over- 
looked. It  was  built  in  1840,  and  in  it  were  lodged 
the  few  theological  students  attending  the  seminary 
while  the  latter  was  in  course  of  erection.  It  was  af- 
terward the  residence  of  the  parish  priest,  and  has 
lately  been  thrown  into  one  large  apartment,  and  is 
used  for  the  meetings  of  parish  societies. 

Running  in  an  easterly  direction  from  the  rear  of  the 
Hall,  is  a  narrow  lane  that  leads  down  through  the 
college  property,  to  the  woods  that  border  the  pictur- 
esque Bronx,  a  half-mile  away.  On  one  side  are  the 
farmyard  with  its  outhouses,  the  quarters  of  the  ser- 
vants, and  the  workshops,  and  on  the  other,  separated 
from  the  lane  by  a  high  wall,  is  the  garden,  in  one  cor- 
ner of  which  is  the  little  cemetery  where  so  many  of 
the  fathers  and  scholastics,  and  even  some  of  the  stu- 
dents, sleep  their  last  sleep.  In  1890  the  cemetery  was 
opened  for  the  reception  of  the  bodies  which,  until  then, 
had  lain  in  the  land  sold  by  the  college  to  the  city  for 
the  Bronx  Park.  Passing  along  this  wall  and  between 
the  skating  ponds,  the  lane  crosses  the  Southern  Boule- 
vard and  is  lost  in  the  woods  until  recently  the  prop- 
erty of  the  college,  but  now  forming  a  portion  of  Bronx 
Park,  having  been  purchased  by  the  city  for  that  pur- 
pose. 


16  A  HISTOEY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

Such,  then,  is  the  Fordham  of  to-day.  In  fifty  years 
it  has  risen,  in  the  words  of  Archbishop  Hughes,  "  from 
the  condition  of  an  unfinished  house  in  a  field  to  the 
cluster  of  which  it  is  now  composed."  From  an  ob- 
scure school  in  a  still  more  obscure  village,  it  has 
attained  the  position  of  one  of  the  first  educational 
institutions  in  the  country ;  and  another  half-century, 
it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  find  it  a  flourishing  university  in 
the  heart  of  the  metropolis  of  the  western  hemisphere. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  OLD  KOSE  HILL  MANOR. 

A  MORE  pleasing  site,  or  one  richer  in  historic  inter- 
est, could  not  have  been  chosen  by  Bishop  Hughes  for 
his  college  than  this  handsome  property  of  Rose  Hill, 
in  Westchester  County.  It  is  situated  in  what  is, 
perhaps,  the  most  picturesque  part  of  the  county,  a 
region  abounding  in  woodland  scenery  of  infinite  var- 
iety and  unsurpassed  beauty.  The  river  Bronx,  cele- 
brated in  song  by  that  famous  Westchester  poet,  Joseph 
Rodman  Drake,  winds  its  sinuous  way  through  smiling 
fields  and  echoing  glades,  less  than  half  a  mile  from 
the  college  buildings ;  the  wooded  sides  of  Fordham 
Heights,  dotted  with  cottages,  rise  over  against  the 
college;  and  away  in  the  distance  on  either  side,  as 
far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  is  an  ever-changing  view  of 
level  fields  and  gently  undulating  hills. 

There  is  not  in  all  the  country  a  spot  so  full  of 
historic  recollections,  teeming  as  it  is  with  reminiscences 
of  the  most  thrilling  interest.  Situated  in  the  heart  of 
the  "  neutral  ground "  of  revolutionary  fame,  it  has 
been  the  scene  of  many  an  exciting  encounter  in  those 
stirring  times,  when  the  cannon  of  the  oppressor  and 
the  crack  of  the  minute-man's  rifle  were  heard  through 
its  valleys,  and  when  "  cowboy  "  and  "  skinner  "  roamed 
through  its  unprotected  settlements,  and  robbed  and 
pillaged.  Nor  would  we  find  our  interest  abated  were 
2 


18  A  HISTOKY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

we  to  go  back  to  that  earlier  day,  the  time  of  the  first 
Dutch  settlers,  or,  peering  further  yet  into  the  hidden 
past,  to  that  age  when  its  virgin  forests  clothed  hill 
and  dale,  and  sheltered  the  haunts  of  the  savage  Mo- 
hegan.  Here,  in  awful  solitude  the  son  of  the  forest 
once  sharpened  his  rude  weapons,  and  kindled  his  daily 
fire,  or  under  the  swaying  branches  took  his  morning 
plunge  in  the  limpid  waters  of  the  Bronx.*  Perhaps 
on  the  spot  where  the  college  now  stands,  burned  many 
a  council  fire,  and  tepees  clustered  where  now  the  seat 
of  learning  rears  its  walls. 

Fordham,  with  the  rest  of  old  Westchester  County, 
was  once  a  portion  of  the  domain  ruled  by  the  chiefs 
of  the  savage  tribe  of  Mohegans.  In  1639,  two  hun- 
dred years  before  the  purchase  of  the  Rose  Hill  estate 
by  Bishop  Hughes,  three  Indian  sachems,  Fecquemeck, 
Eechgawac,  and  Packanarieus,  sold  to  the  Dutch  West 
India  Company  the  lands  of  Kekesheik,  which  included 
all  the  land  between  the  Bronx  and  the  Harlem,  and 
as  far  north  as  the  present  city  of  Yonkers.  Seven 
years  later  that  portion  which  is  now  known  as  Ford- 
ham,  together  with  the  "  Yoncker's  land,"  then  known 
as  Colen  Donck,  was  sold  to  a  young  Dutchman  named 
Adrian  Van  der  Donck.  How  long  Mynheer  Van  der 
Donck  enjoyed  his  vast  property  we  have  no  means  of 
ascertaining,  but  the  records  show  that  some  few  years 
later  his  widow,  Mary,  who  had  in  the  meantime  mar- 
ried Hugh  O'Neale,  of  Patuxent,  Md.,  conveyed  the 
property  to  her  brother,  Elias  Doughty,  of  Flushing,  L. 
I.  Mr.  Doughty,  in  turn,  sold  the  land  to  John  Archer 

*  On  the  bank  of  the  Bronx,  near  what  was  lately  the  college  property,  is  a 
large  rock,  hollowed  out  apparently  by  human  handiwork,  which  tradition 
declares  was  the  bathing  place  of  the  early  savage. 


THE  OLD  KOSE  HILL  MANOE.          19 

in  1667.  The  deed  is  not  a  remarkable  document,  and 
is  not  likely  to  be  of  much  interest  to  the  average 
reader,  but  the  confirmation  of  the  sale  by  the  Indian 
chiefs,  from  the  quaintness  of  its  style  and  its  many 
peculiarities,  is,  we  think,  worthy  of  a  place  here,  and 
we  therefore  insert  it  in  full. 

Indian  Confirmation  to  John  Archer. 

Be  it  known  unto  all  men  by  these  p'sents  that  upon  ye  28th 
day  of  Sept.  in  the  21st  year  of  ye  Eeigne  of  our  Sovereigne  Lord 
Charles  the  Second  by  ye  Grace  of  God  of  England,  Scotland, 
France  and  Ireland,  King  Defend1  of  the  faith,  &c.,  Anno  Domini 
1669,  we  Tacharetht,  Mometaihatim  Wackha,  Pimekekeh,  for  and 
on  ye  behalfe  of  Ahwaroch,  Achipor  Maniquaes,  Sachemacke,  for 
&  in  ye  behalfe  of  Annetic  Pownocke,  for  &  on  ye  behalfe  of  Lys- 
sie,  &  we  on  ye  behalfe  of  ye  rest  of  ye  owners,  for  the  considera- 
tion hereafter  expressed  have  graunted,  bargained  &  sould,  &  by 
these  p'sents  do  hereby  grant,  bargaine  and  sell  unto  John  Archer, 
of  Fordham,  his  heirs  and  assignes,  a  certaine  Tract  of  upland  and 
meadow  ground  upon  ye  maine,  beginning  Westward  from  a  cer- 
taine place  by  ye  Indians  comonly  called  Muscota,  so  it  goes  to  an- 
other place  called  by  them  Gowahasuasing  &  from  thence  round 
about  ye  kill  called  Papiriniman,  &  so  to  rune  into  Harlem  Ryver 
at  ye  Hook  called  Saperewack,  from  thence  it  reacheth  South  East 
to  ye  place  called  Achquechgenom,  and  from  thence  it  reacheth 
alongst  Bronck's  *  Eyver  to  Cowangough,  so  on  to  Sachkerah,  and 
so  to  the  first  place  Muscota,  so  that  from  Muscota  to  Sackerath  it 
runs  upon  a  straight  east  lyne  to  Bronck's  Eyver  &  from  Sapere- 
wack to  Achquechgenom,  South  East  by  ye  said  ryver  all  wch  tract 
of  land,  as  is  before  described  here,  the  aforesaid'  Indians  on  the 
behalfe  of  ourselves,  those  that  have  entrusted  us  and  our  associ- 
ates have  sould  unto  ye  said  John  Archer  his  heirs  &  assignes  for  & 
in  consid.  of  13  coats  of  Duffells,  one  halfe  anchor  of  Eume,  2  cans 
of  Brandy,  wine  wth  several  other  small  matters  to  ye  value  of  60 
guilders  wampum.  All  which  we  acknowledge  to  have  received  of 

*  This    name    is    spelled    variously :    Bronx,  Brunx,   Bronck's,   Bronk's, 
Brunck's  or  Bronkx.     Bronx  is  now  the  accepted  spelling. 


20  A  HISTORY  OF  FOBDHAM  COLLEGE. 

him  the  said  John  Archer  before  the  ensealing  &  delivery  of  these 
pr'sents  in  full  satisfaction  for  ye  land  afore  men.  Corned  the 
woh  we  doe  hereby  resigne  and  make  over  unto  ye  sd  John  Archer, 
his  heirs  and  assignes  wth  all  our  right  title  and  interest  thereunto, 
as  also  those  that  have  entrusted  any  of  us  o'r  &  associates  to  have 
&  to  hould  the  sd  tract  of  land  and  premises  unto  ye  sd  John 
Archer,  his  heirs  &  assignes  unto  ye  proper  use  and  behoofe  of  him 
ye  sd  John  Archer,  his  heirs  &  assignes  forever,  free  quit,  and 
cleare  from  all  and  any  form  of  bargaine  &  sale,  or  any  other  in- 
cumbrances  by  us  or  by  any  from  or  under  us  &  to  ye  utmost  of 
o'r  powers  shall  keep  and  save  him  the  sd  John  Archer  his  heirs  & 
assignes,  harmlesse  in  his  or  their  quiett  possession  &  enjoyment  of 
ye  premises  against  any  other  Indian  pr'tenders  whatsoever.  In 
witness  whereof  we  have  hereunto  put  o'r  hand  &  scales,  ye  day  & 
yeare  first  within  wrytten. 

This  bargain  &  sale  was  made  by  ye  ap- 
probation &  lycense  of  his  Honrs  ye  gov- 
ernors between  ye  partyes  mentioned,  with 
this  Proviso  that  his  Royall  Highness,  his 
Rights  &  Privileges  as  Lord  Proprietor  of 
these  his  territoryes  be  hereby  not  any  in- 
fringed. 

MATTHIAS  NICHOLLS,  Secr, 

Entered  by  JOHN  ARCHER,* 
March  4,  1669. 

Four  years  after  the  transfer  of  this  land  by  Elias 
Doughty,  Governor  Francis  Lovelace  issued  letters 
patent  granting  to  John  Archer  the  manor  of  Fordham. 
The  new  manor  is  described  in  this  document,  as 
"  upon  the  main  continent,  situate,  lying  and  being  to 
the  Eastward  of  Harlem  River,  near  unto  ye  passage 
commonly  called  Spiting  Devil,  upon  which  ye  New 
Dorp  or  Village  is  erected,  known  by  the  name  of 
Fordliami?  f  This  is  signed  by  Francis  Lovelace,  and 

*  Albany  Deed  Book,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  127,  128. 
f  Albany  Record,  vol.  xxiii.,  26-52. 


THE  OLD  KOSE  HILL  MANOR.          21 

bears  also  the  signatures  of  Michael  Bastyensen  and 
Valentyn  Claessen.  This  is  the  first  time  the  name 
of  Fordham  appears  on  the  records  of  Westchester 
County.'55'  The  original  village  did  not  occupy  the 
present  site,  but  was  situated  at  a  point  farther  west, 
on  the  bank  of  the  Harlem.  Farmer's  Bridge  now 
crosses  the  river  at  this  point,  connecting  the  mainland 
with  Manhattan  Island,  and  near  by  is  the  village  of 
Kingsbridge. 

A  few  years  after  the  granting  of  the  manor  of 
Fordham,  the  little  village  was  stirred  up  by  an  inci- 
dent which,  from  certain  peculiar  features,  is  not 
without  significance  to  those  who  have  observed  the 
steady  growth  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  America,  and 
the  increasing  tendency  toward  religious  toleration 
on  the  part  of  our  Protestant  neighbors.  It  is  re- 
corded in  the  annals  of  the  early  colonial  government, 
that  in  October,  1673,  on  the  restoration  of  the  Dutch 
rule,  the  people  of  the  village  of  Fordham,  through 
Mynheer  Cornelius  Steenwyck,  presented  a  petition  to 
the  Governor  asking  that  they  be  released  from  what 
they  termed  the  tyrannous  rule  of  Archer,  and  be  per- 
mitted to  elect  their  own  magistrate.  An  investiga- 
tion followed  and  Archer  freely  consented  to  the 
change,  whereupon  the  following  decree  was  issued  : 

The  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Fordham  are  hereby  authorized 
to  nominate  by  a  plurality  of  the  votes  of  their  town,  six  of  the 
best  qualified  persons,  exclusively  of  the  Reformed  Christian  Eeli- 
gion,  as  magistrates  of  said  town,  and  to  present  said  nomination 
by  the  first  opportunity  to  the  Governor-General,  from  which  his 
Honor  will  then  make  the  selection  ;  it  is  also  recommended  them 

*  The  name  of  Fordham  is  derived  from  two  Saxon  words,  foord  (a  ford) 
and  Mm  (a  mansion). 


22  A  HISTOBY  OF  FOBDHAM  COLLEGE. 

to  pay  attention  when  nominating,  that  the  half,  at  least,  of  those 
nominated,  be  of  the  Dutch  nation. 
Dated,  New  Harlem,  4th  of  Oct.  1673.* 

According  to  this  decree  the  candidates  were  to  be 
of  "  the  Kef ormed  Christian  religion  "  only.  No  other 
would  be  tolerated,  and  a  Catholic  candidate  was  a 
thing  unheard  of.  They  would  as  soon  admit  a  Cath- 
olic to  a  share  in  the  government  as  erect  a  statue  of 
Brahma  or  Isis  in  their  meeting-house.  The  Catholic 
was  ignored,  tabooed,  and  excluded  from  a  share  in  the 
rights  and  privileges  accorded  to  his  fellow-colonists. 
And  yet  two  hundred  years  later  we  find  that  very 
town  the  seat  of  an  institution  for  the  diffusion  of  Cath- 
olic doctrine,  and  the  obscure  little  village,  then  scarcely 
known  or  heard  of  outside  of  its  own  narrow  precincts, 
is  blazoned  throughout  the  land  as  the  home  of  one  of 
the  foremost  Catholic  colleges  of  the  countiy,  reflecting 
some  of  the  glory  and  renown  it  could  never  hope  to 
attain  through  its  own  merits. 

But  to  return  to  the  history  of  the  town.  John  Archer 
had,  under  date  of  September  18,  1669,  mortgaged  his 
lands  for  2,200  guilders  seawant,  to  Cornelius  Steen- 
wyck,  a  merchant  of  New  York,  the  same  whose  name 
appears  in  connection  with  the  petition  for  the  change 
of  government  at  Fordham ;  and  on  November  14, 
1671,  he  gave  a  second  mortgage  for  7,000  guilders. 
In  October,  1685,  John  Archer  was  found  dead  in  his 
coach  while  on  his  way  from  Fordham  to  New  York, 
and  the  same  month  his  son,  John  Archer,  Jr.,  trans- 
ferred the  entire  estate  to  Cornelius  Steenwyck  and 
Margaretta,  his  wife. 

In  due  time  Mynheer  Steenwyck  went  the  way  of  all 

*  New  York  Col.  MSS.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  625. 


THE  OLD  KQSE  HILL  MANOE.  23 

• 
flesh,  and  his  widow  married  Dominie  Henricus  Selyns. 

January  10,  1694,  they  conveyed  to  "  Colonel  Nicholas 
Bayard,  Captain  Isaac  Vermilyea,  Jacob  Bolen  Rock- 
loyzun,  and  John  Harpendinck,  then  elders  and  over- 
seers of  the  Nether  Dutch  Church  within  the  city  of 
New  York,  and  their  lawful  successors  and  heirs  and 
posterity,  the  said  manor  of  Fordham  lying  in  the 
county  of  Westchester." 

About  this  time,  or  several  years  before,  the  Fordham 
manor  was  parcelled  out  into  several  farms,  and  that 
portion  which  is  now  the  college  property  came  into 
the  possession  of  the  Corsa  or  Corser  family.  This  farm 
was  known  as  Rose  Hill,  a  name  which  still  clings  to 
the  old  place,  and  by  which  the  college  was  known  in 
its  earlier  years.  The  old  Rose  Hill  manor-house  is 
still  standing,  and  is  used  as  the  college  infirmary. 
The  exact  date  of  the  erection  of  this  ancient  building 
is  not  known,  but  it  is  certain  that  it  was  standing  as 
early  as  1692,  for  it  is  recorded  that  in  that  year  Ben- 
jamin Fletcher  Corsa  was  born  there.*  The  Corsa 
family  owes  its  chief  celebrity  to  the  achievements, 
during  the  revolutionary  war,  of  Andrew  Corsa,  the 
grandson  of  Benjamin  Fletcher  Corsa,  and  the  last  of 
the  famous  Westchester  Guides. 

This  unique  corps  was  composed  of  a  select  body  of 
men  to  whom  every  foot  of  the  "  neutral  ground  "  was 
familiar,  men  of  tried  and  proven  courage  and  devotion 
to  the  cause  of  liberty.  They  lent  valuable  assistance 
to  the  soldiers  of  the  American  army,  and  on  more  than 
one  occasion  proved  themselves  worthy  of  recognition. 
Andrew  Corsa  was  the  youngest  of  these  sturdy  pa- 
triots, and  was  born  in  the  old  homestead  January  24, 

*  Bolton's  History  of  Westchester  County. 


24  A  HISTOKY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

• 

1762.  His  father,  Captain  Isaac  Corsa,  had  served  in 
the  British  army  against  the  French  and  Indians,  and, 
like  so  many  of  the  people  of  Westchester  County, 
S}^mpathized  with  the  English  government.  Notwith- 
standing his  father's  pronounced  views,  young  Corsa 
decided  to  espouse  the  cause  of  liberty,  and  joined  the 
Westchester  Guides.  He  died  November  21,  1852,  at 
the  ripe  old  age  of  ninety. 

From  about  the  birth  of  Andrew  Corsa,  in  1762, 
until  1787,  the  ownership  of  Rose  Hill  is  enshrouded 
in  mystery.  There  is  no  record  of  its  sale  by  the  Cor- 
sas  until  1787,  when  it  was  bought  at  auction  by  John 
Watts  and  his  wife  Jane,  from  Benjamin  Corsa.  An 
obituary  notice  of  Andrew  Corsa,  which  appeared  in 
the  Westchester  Herald,  says  that,  at  the  close  of  the 
war,  he  was  obliged  to  "  part  with  his  father's  land  by 
compulsory  sale."  But  the  purchase  of  the  property 
was  from  Benjamin  Corsa.  The  grandfather  of  An- 
drew Corsa  was  Benjamin  Fletcher  Corsa,  and  it  is 
possible  that  he  was  alive,  though  at  a  very  advanced 
age  at  the  time,  and  that,  being  a  royalist,  his  property 
was  confiscated  and  sold  at  auction.  There  is  a  tradi- 
tion that  the  estate  was  confiscated  about  this  time. 

The  manor-house,  however,  was  not  occupied  by  the 
Corsa  family  for  many  years  previous  to  the  sale  to 
John  Watts.  They  certainly  lived  in  it  in  1762,  for 
Andrew  Corsa  was  born  there  in  that  year,  but,  be- 
tween that  and  1768,  they,  for  some  unknown  reason, 
vacated  it.  This  is  known  from  the  fact  that  John  De 
Lancey,  of  Rose  Hill,  West  Farms,  was  burgess  of  the 
borough  of  Westchester  in  the  Assembly  from  1768  to 
1772.  He  must  have  relinquished  Rose  Hill  shortly 
after  this,  for  during  the  Revolution  it  was  the  resi- 


THE  OLD  EOSE  HILL  MANOR.  25 

dence  of  Kobert  Watts  and  his  wife,  Lady  Mary  Alex- 
ander, daughter  of  Major-General  Lord  Stirling,  of  the 
American  army.*  What  relationship  Robert  Watts 
bore  to  John  Watts,  the  subsequent  purchaser  of  Rose 
Hill,  does  not  appear,  although  it  is  more  than  prob- 
able that  they  were  of  the  one  family. 

John  De  Lancey,  to  whom  we  have  alluded  as  a 
quondam  occupant  of  Rose  Hill,  was  a  grandson  of  Eti- 
enne  De  Lanci,  a  Huguenot  who  left  France  in  1686 
and  came  to  America. f  Another  grandson,  and  a 
brother  of  John  De  Lancey,  was  the  famous  Colonel 
James  De  Lancey,  who  distinguished  himself  during 
the  revolutionary  war  by  his  activity  in  behalf  of  the 
British  government.  All  of  his  family,  with  one  or 
two  exceptions,  were  staunch  royalists,  but  he  was  pre- 
eminent among  them  for  his  bitter  opposition  to  the 
cause  of  the  colonists.  He  organized  the  Royal  Refu- 
gee Corps,  or  the  "  Cowboys,"  as  they  were  frequently 
called.  He  kept  a  recruiting  officer  constantly  at  Mile 
Square,  between  Fordham  and  West  Farms,  and  the 
outrages  perpetrated  by  his  followers  on  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  "neutral  ground"  earned  for  him  the 
hatred  and  enmity  of  almost  every  resident  of  West- 
chester  County. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  the  commonwealth  of  New 
York,  by  a  formal  act  of  Legislature,  withdrew  from 
him  her  protection,  declared  his  estate,  real  and  per- 
sonal, forfeit  to  the  people,  banished  him  forever,  and, 
in  case  of  his  return  to  the  State  at  any  future  time, 
declared  him  thereby  guilty  of  felony,  and  sentenced 

*  Bolton's  History  of  Westchester  County. 

f  On  arriving  in  England,  on  his  way  to  America,  he  Anglicized  his  name, 
becoming  Stephen  De  Lancey.     Scharf's  History  of  Westchester  County. 


26  A  HISTOKY  OF  FOEDHAM  COLLEGE. 

him  to  death  without  the  benefit  of  clergy.  So  cor- 
dially was  he  hated  by  his  neighbors,  for  his  many  acts 
of  depredation,  that,  as  soon  as  peace  was  declared, 
several  individual  efforts  were  made  to  seize  his  per- 
son and  prevent  him  from  leaving  the  country.*  His 
brother,  John,  was  more  fortunate  than  he,  for  although 
both  were  active  Tory  partisans,  the  property  of  James, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  confiscated,  whereas  that  of  John 
was  not.f  Colonel  James  De  Lancey  emigrated  to 
Nova  Scotia. 

The  Watts  family,  into  whose  possession  Rose  Hill 
passed  after  the  Revolution,  was  closely  connected  by 
intermarriages  with  the  De  Lanceys.  The  Honora- 
ble John  Watts,  probably  the  father  of  Colonel  John 
Watts  who  purchased  Rose  Hill,  and  perhaps  also  of 
Robert  Watts,  was  married  to  a  sister  of  Lieutenant- 
Governor  De  Lancey.  Colonel  John  Watts,  afterward 
of  Rose  Hill,  was  married  to  his  cousin,  Jane  De  Lan- 
cey, sister  of  John  and  the  notorious  Colonel  James  De 
Lancey.  In  1774  he  was  appointed  Royal  Recorder 
of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  was  the  last  to  hold  that 
office.  From  1791  to  1798  he  was  Speaker  in  the  As- 
sembly of  New  York,  and  afterward  became  a  Member 
of  Congress.  He  was  the  first  judge  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  in  Westchester  County,  serving  from 
1802  to  1807.J 

There  is  a  tradition  fondly  cherished  at  Fordham 
that  General  Washington  was,  on  more  than  one  occa- 
sion, an  honored  guest  at  the  Rose  Hill  manor-house. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  General  Washington  frequently 
passed  through  that  district  while  reconnoitring  the 

*  Historical  Magazine,  November,  1862. 

f  Scharf  s  History  of  Westchester  County.  \  Ibid. 


WALK  SKIRTING  COLLEGE  CAMPUS,  FORDHAM. 


THE  OLD  EOSE  HILL  MANOR.  27 

passes  and  defiles  between  Throgg's  Neck,  where  the 
British  had  effected  a  landing  in  the  autumn  of  1776, 
and  Fordham  Heights.  On  one  occasion,  early  in  Oc- 
tober, 1776,  he  rode  over  from  Kingsbridge  to  West- 
chester  Village,  late  in  the  afternoon,*  and  on  the  14th 
of  the  same  month,  "  accompanied  by  the  generals  of 
the  army  who  were  at  headquarters,  he  visited  all  the 
posts  beyond  Kingsbridge  and  the  several  passes  and 
roadways  which  led  from  Throgg's  Neck,  acquainting 
himself,  as  far  as  he  could  by  personal  reconnoissance, 
with  the  character  and  condition  of  the  outlets  from 
Throgg's  Neck."  f 

While  on  some  of  these  frequent  excursions,  it  is  be- 
lieved, he  sojourned  at  the  Rose  Hill  mansion.  And 
the  belief  is  certainly  well  founded,  for,  in  the  first 
place,  General  Stirling,  the  father-in-law  of  the  ten- 
ant of  Rose  Hill,  was  at  that  time  with  the  army  on 
Fordham  Heights,  so  that,  if  the  Commander-in-chief 
stopped  by  the  way,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  he 
accepted  the  hospitality  of  such  avowed  sympathiz- 
ers with  the  cause  over  whose  destinies  he  presided. 
Moreover,  the  only  roads  by  which  he  could  go  from 
the  Heights  to  Throgg's  Neck,  were  the  Kingsbridge 
road,  which  now  passes  close  to  the  college  gate,  and 
the  Kingsbridge  and  Williamsbridge  road,  which  lies 
a  mile  to  the  north  of  the  college,  either  of  which 
was  within  a  short  distance  of  the  Rose  Hill  mansion. 

Another  tradition  of  revolutionary  days,  but  one 
which  lacks  the  color  of  probability,  is  that  concern- 
ing the  skeletons  which  were  discovered  in  a  mound  at 
the  rear  of  the  old  seminary.  They  were  immediately 
pronounced  the  bones  of  soldiers  who  had  fallen  in 

*  Scharfs  History  of  Westchester  County.  f 


28  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

some  of  the  numerous  skirmishes  that  took  place  in 
that  vicinity  during  the  revolutionary  war.  But  there 
is  nothing  to  confirm  that  belief ;  on  the  contrary,  all 
the  evidence  in  the  case  tends  to  contradict  any  such 
opinion.  The  skeletons  were  buried  at  regular  inter- 
vals and  in  regular  order,  which  would  hardly  be  the 
case  with  those  dying  on  a  battlefield ;  there  were  no 
tokens,  in  the  way  of  brass  buttons,  buckles,  sabres 
and  the  like,  such  as  would,  in  all  probability,  be  found 
in  the  graves  of  soldiers ;  and  finally,  at  the  time  the 
bones  were  discovered,  a  Mr.  Corsa,  who  lived  in  the 
neighborhood,  stated,  it  is  said,  that  the  place  had  been 
used  in  former  years  as  a  burying-ground. 

We  have  already  told  how  Rose  Hill  passed  final- 
ly into  the  possession  of  the  Watts  family.  It  was 
bought  at  auction  for  £530,  by  Colonel  John  Watts, 
who  afterward  transferred  it  to  Robert  Watts.  The 
latter,  in  his  will,  dated  January  23,  1814,  bequeathed 
it  to  his  son,  Robert  Watts,  Jr.,  who,  ten  years  later, 
sold  it  to  Henry  Barclay,  a  nephew  of  John  and  James 
De  Lancey.  From  him  the  estate  passed  to  Warren 
De  Lancey,  and  thence  through  the  hands  of  several 
owners  to  Elias  Brevoort,  who  in  1836  sold  it  to 
Horatio  Shephard  Moat,  of  Kings  County.  In  1838 
Mr.  Moat  built  the  stone  house  which  is  now  the 
central  building  of  the  college,  and  in  which  are  the 
principal  offices  and  the  reception-room.  Through  Mr. 
Andrew  Carrigan,  the  new  house,  with  a  farm  of 
ninety-eight  acres,  was  purchased,  in  1839,  by  Bishop 
Hughes,  for  $30,000.  It  cost  $10,000  more  to  fit  the 
place  to  meet  the  requirements  of  an  educational  in- 
stitution, and  on  June  24,  1841,  the  feast  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist,  under  whose  patronage  the  institution  was 


N_  \ 

THE  OLD  KOSE  HILL  MANOR.  29 

placed,  the  college  was  formally  opened.  Reverend 
John  McCloskey,  afterward  Archbishop  of  New  York, 
and  the  first  American  to  wear  the  cardinal's  hat,  was 
installed  as  president.  The  following  September 
studies  were  commenced.  The  names  of  six  students 
were  entered  on  the  rolls,  and  the  nucleus  of  the  pres- 
ent grand  institution  was  firmly  established. 


CHAPTER  III. 

ABCHBISHOP  HUGHES. 

IT  would  seem  but  meagre  recognition  of  the  ser- 
vices of  Archbishop  Hughes  in  the  cause  of  Catholicity, 
but  more  especially  of  Catholic  education,  were  we  to 
dismiss  him,  in  this  work,  with  a  mere  occasional  men- 
tion. In  admiring  the  beauty  of  the  handiwork,  we 
must  not  lose  sight  of  the  hand  that  wrought  it  or  the 
mind  that  guided  that  hand.  Therefore  a  little  space 
devoted  to  a  biographical  sketch  of  the  illustrious  pre- 
late will  not  be  out  of  place. 

John  Hughes  was  born  on  June  24,  the  feast  of 
St.  John  the  Baptist,  1797,  at  Annaloghan,  near 
Augher,  County  Tyrone,  Ireland.  His  father,  Patrick 
Hughes,  was  a  small  farmer,  who,  although  in  comfort- 
able circumstances,  and  able  to  provide  well  for  his 
large  family,  was  by  no  means  affluent  or  wealthy. 
A  staunch  Catholic,  he  faithfully  performed  his  duty 
to  God  and  man,  even  under  circumstances  most  trying 
and  unfavorable,  and  at  a  time  when  his  native  coun. 
try  was  groaning  under  the  weight  of  the  penal  laws. 
Young  John,  who  was  the  third  of  a  family  of  seven, 
received  his  early  education  at  a  little  school  in 
Augher,  and  later  attended  the  high  school  at  Auch- 
nacloss.  From  his  earliest  childhood  he  evinced  a 
strong  desire  for  the  priesthood.  "  Many  a  time,7'  said 
he  in  later  life,  "  have  I  thrown  down  my  rake  in  the 


\ 


ARCHBISHOP    HUGHES, 

FOUNDER  OF  THE  COLLEGE. 


AECHBISHOP  HUGHES.  31 

meadow,  and  kneeling  behind  a  hayrick,  begged  of 
God  and  the  Blessed  Virgin  to  let  me  become  a  priest." 
He  early  displayed  an  aptitude  for  learning  and  a 
fondness  for  his  books  that  gave  promise  of  a  brilliant 
future.  But  the  plans  of  the  young  student  and  his 
fond  parents  were  destined  to  be  thwarted,  and  their 
dreams  of  the  future  rudely  dispelled.  By  a  train  of 
untoward  circumstances,  his  career  at  school  was 
brought  to  an  untimely  end,  and  his  hopes  for  a  time 
completely  shattered. 

The  rude  awakening  from  the  gilded  dreams  of 
youth,  and  the  subsequent  reverses  that  prevented  him 
from  resuming  his  beloved  studies,  must  seem  to  the 
casual  observer  to  be  most  unfortunate  ;  but  when  we 
look  back  now  and  review  his  eventful  life  and  the  va- 
rious influences  that  went  to  shape  his  course,  we  can- 
not but  feel  that  his  very  misfortunes  were  providen- 
tial; we  cannot  but  see  the  hand  of  (rod  guiding  him, 
by  means  of  those  very  misfortunes,  to  the  field  of 
labor  that  was  awaiting  him  in  another  land. 

When  he  had  reached  the  age  of  eighteen,  his  father's 
repeated  losses  and  consequent  reduced  circumstances 
forced  John  to  leave  school.  Sad  indeed  was  the  part- 
ing of  the  studious  boy  from  the  books  which  he  loved 
so  well,  and  bitter  was  the  thought  of  resigning  the 
career  that  his  sanguine  mind  had  already  mapped  out 
for  himself.  But  his  father's  needs  were  pressing  and 
the  call  of  duty  was  imperative,  so  he  laid  aside  the 
book  and  the  pen  to  follow  the  plough  and  wield  the 
pick.  But  he  did  not  give  up  hope.  His  evenings,  his 
holidays  (what  few  he  had),  his  every  spare  moment 
were  devoted  to  his  studies,  and  though  his  progress 
was  slow  his  enthusiasm  was  no  whit  abated. 


32  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

It  was  soon  made  evident  that  he  would  never  be- 
come a  successful  farmer.  He  could  not  adapt  himself 
to  the  calling,  and  he  saw  that  it  was  folly  to  continue 
to  apply  himself  to  such  uncongenial  work.  Therefore 
his  father  placed  him  with  a  friend  of  the  family,  who 
was  gardener  at  Favor  Royal,  the  family  seat  of  the 
Moutrays,  situate  near  the  farm  of  Patrick  Hughes. 
There  the  young  man  was  to  pursue  the  study  of  horti- 
culture. There,  as  when  he  worked  at  home,  his  every 
spare  moment  was  devoted  to  his  books,  and  hours  were 
stolen  from  his  rest  that  he  might  give  them  to  study. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  study  or  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge  was  not  the  end  for  which  he  strove.  His 
was  not  the  nature  of  a  scholar,  a  nature  which  followed 
learning  for  learning's  sake.  "  He  was  a  man  of  action 
rather  than  a  man  of  study,  and  probably  under  no  cir- 
cumstances would  he  have  become  a  profound  scholar. 
But  a  certain  amount  of  scholarship  was  a  necessary 
qualification  for  the  priesthood,  and  having  made  up  his 
mind  to  be  a  priest  in  spite  of  all  obstacles,  he  shrank 
from  no  labor  which  brought  him  nearer  to  his  ob- 
ject." * 

During  all  this  time  the  affairs  of  the  Hughes  fam- 
ily were  becoming  steadily  more  complicated.  One 
misfortune  followed  another,  until  at  last  they  decided 
to  emigrate  to  America,  whither  so  many  of  their 
fellow-countrymen  had  preceded  them.  Accordingly, 
in  1816,  with  his  second  son,  Patrick,  the  father  sailed 
for  Baltimore,  Md.,  and  arriving  there,  proceeded  to 
Chambersburg,  Franklin  County,  Pa.,  where  he  -even- 
tually settled.  A  year  later  the  subject  of  this  brief 
biography  followed,  and  after  spending  a  short  time 

*  Hassard's  Life  of  Archbishop  Hughes. 


ARCHBISHOP  HUGHES.  33 

with  his  father  at  Chambersburg,  returned  to  Balti- 
more, where  his  brother,  in  the  meantime,  had  ob- 
tained work.  There  he,  too,  secured  employment, 
under  a  gardener,  with  whom  he  worked  until  the 
approach  of  winter  rendered  his  further  services  there 
unnecessary,  and  he  was  obliged  to  look  elsewhere  for 
employment.  He  retraced  his  steps  to  Chambersburg, 
and  there  for  a  year  or  more  worked  at  anything  that 
offered — in  the  quarries,  digging  ditches,  making  roads, 
or  anything  else  by  which  he  could  earn  an  honest 
dollar.  In  August,  1818,  the  rest  of  the  family  ar- 
rived from  Ireland  and  settled  in  Chambersburg, 
where,  by  that  time,  the  father  had  acquired  consider- 
able means. 

But  during  all  this  time  young  John  had  not  relin- 
quished for  a  moment  his  desire  to  enter  the  priest- 
hood. He  still  fondly  cherished  the  hope  of  finishing 
his  studies,  and,  as  in  Ireland,  every  spare  moment  was 
devoted  to  his  books.  He  had  applied,  again  and 
again,  for  admission  to  Mount  St.  Mary's  College  at 
Emmettsburg,  Md.,  but  his  efforts  met  with  failure. 
He  had  no  money,  but  was  willing  to  give  his  services 
in  any  capacity  in  return  for  his  education.  But  there 
was  no  vacancy  for  him,  and  all  his  efforts  were  in 
vain. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1818,  or  the  early  months  of  the 
following  year,  he  started  for  Emmettsburg,  determined 
to  obtain  work  in  the  village,  and  be  on  the  spot  to 
seize  the  first  opportunity  that  offered  to  gain  admis- 
sion to  the  college.  He  worked  about  Emmettsburg 
until  November,  1819,  when  the  long  looked-for  op- 
portunity arrived.  At  this  time  there  chanced  to  be 
a  vacancy  in  the  garden,  and  young  Hughes,  relying 


34  A  HISTOKY  OF  FOBDHAM  COLLEGE. 

on  his  experience  at  Favor  Royal,  and  later  at  Balti- 
more, immediately  applied  for  the  position.  He  was 
accepted,  and  an  agreement  was  entered  into  between 
him  and  Father  Dubois,*  by  which,  in  return  for  his 
services,  he  would  receive  private  instruction  until 
such  time  as  he  would  be  sufficiently  proficient  to 
enter  the  regular  classes  and  teach  the  younger  pupils. 
Here,  then,  at  last,  was  the  reward  for  which  he  had 
labored  and  struggled  through  all  these  years ;  the 
goal  was  almost  reached,  the  dreams  and  ambitions  of 
a  lifetime  were  about  to  be  realized. 

It  is  marvellous  to  note  how  the  chain  of  circum- 
stances, beginning  with  the  first  of  his  father's  reverses, 
seems  to  lead  up  to  this  important  event,  and  that  the 
very  work  to  which  necessity  obliged  him  to  turn  on 
leaving  school  should  afterward  prove  the  means  of 
his  entering  on  the  career  which  Almighty  God  had  re- 
served for  him  in  the  New  World.  Commenting  on  this, 
his  biographer,  Mr.  Hassard,  says :  "  In  the  toilsome 
paths  by  which  he  had  been  led  to  this  spot,  how  plain- 
ly do  we  not  see  the  hand  of  God  !  Had  not  pecuniary 
losses  compelled  his  father  to  take  him  away  from 
school,  he  might  have  lived  and  died  a  parish  priest  in 
Ireland.  He  would  have  been  distinguished,  it  is  true, 
but  distinction  supposes  opportunity  as  well  as  talent, 
and  Ireland  afforded  no  field  for  the  full  display  of  his 
peculiar  powers.  And  again,  had  not  necessity  com- 
pelled him,  much  against  his  inclination,  to  dig,  water, 
and  weed  at  Favor  Royal,  though  we  cannot  doubt 
that  he  would  have  found  some  way  of  getting  into  the 
priesthood — for  he  generally  did  whatever  he  determined 
to  do — he  might  not  have  got  admission  to  Mount  St, 

*  Afterward  Bishop  of  New  York. 


AKCHBISHOP  HUGHES.  35 

Mary's  College;  lie  might  never  have  known  either 
Mr.  Dubois,  or  his  associate,  Father  Brute — both  of 
whom  exerted  a  happy  influence  upon  his  early  career ; 
and  so  the  whole  current  of  his  life  might  have  been 
changed." 

He  spent  about  nine  months  working  in  the  garden 
at  Mount  St.  Mary's,  and  having  attracted  the  attention 
of  Father  Dubois  by  his  diligence  and  the  progress  he 
had  made,  he  was  admitted  as  a  regular  student,  at  the 
Fall  term  of  the  following  year.  As  we  have  already  re- 
marked, he  was  not  endowed  with  the  attributes  that 
mark  the  profound  scholar.  In  the  studies  of  rhetoric 
and  polite  literature  he  never  became  distinguished,  and 
it  was  not  until  he  took  up  philosophy  and  theology 
that  all  his  strength  and  power  of  mind  were  displayed 
to  advantage.  He  was  ordained  deacon  in  1825,  and 
about  a  year  later,  October  15,  1826,  he  was  elevated 
to  the  priesthood  by  Bishop  Conwell,  of  Philadelphia, 
at  St.  Joseph's  Church,  in  that  city.  Within  the  same 
month  his  old  friend  and  patron,  Father  Dubois,  was 
consecrated  Bishop  of  New  York  at  the  cathedral  in 
Baltimore. 

The  newly  ordained  priest  was  assigned  to  the  mis- 
sion of  Bedford,  then  a  wild,  rough  district  in  the  west- 
ern part  of  Pennsylvania,  but  two  years  later  he  was 
called  to  Philadelphia.  The  diocese  at  that  time  was 
in  a  state  bordering  almost  on  disruption,  owing  to  dis- 
putes over  the  wretched  trustee  system  of  church  gov- 
ernment, and  the  bishop  was  in  a  constant  state  of  strife 
with  both  clergy  and  laity.  From  the  first  Father 
Hughes  was  a  bitter  opponent  of  the  system,  and  he 
lost  no  opportunity  to  express  his  disapproval,  both  by 
word  and  deed.  Its  final  overthrow  in  Philadelphia 


36  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

was  due  in  no  small  measure  to  his  efforts,  and  when 
he  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  New  York  diocese 
one  of  his  first  acts  was  to  have  it  completely  crushed 
out  of  existence.  During  the  ten  years  he  spent  in 
Philadelphia  he  had  ample  opportunity  to  indulge  his 
propensity  for  controversy,  an  occupation  for  which  he 
was  peculiarly  fitted.  He  engaged  in  many  bitter  dis- 
putes with  prominent  Protestant  divines,  and  soon 
gained  renown  for  the  vigor  and  energy  with  which  he 
entered  into  these  tilts,  and  the  triumph  which  inevita- 
bly crowned  his  efforts. 

In  the  fall  of  1829,  when  the  question  arose  of  ap- 
pointing an  administrator  of  the  diocese  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  a  probable  successor  to  Bishop  Con  well,  who 
was  then  unable  to  perform  the  arduous  duties  of  that 
office,  the  bishop  recommended  Father  Hughes  to  the 
Holy  See,  as  a  man  eminently  fitted  for  the  position. 
The  recommendation,  however,  had  no  effect,  and  the 
Reverend  Francis  P.  Kenrick,  President  of  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary  at  Bardstown,  Ky.,  was  chosen  in- 
stead. In  1833,  while  he  was  deep  in  his  famous  con- 
troversy with  the  Reverend  Mr.  Breckenridge,  he  and 
the  Reverend  John  B.  Purcell  were  nominated  for  the 
bishopric  of  Cincinnati.  Again  he  was  set  aside  and 
the  other  nominee  appointed,  but  through  a  most  ex- 
traordinary circumstance — a  circumstance  which  seems 
only  to  confirm  one  in  the  belief  that  Almighty  God 
was  reserving  him  for  a  greater  work.  Bishop  Eng- 
land, who  was  then  at  Rome,  had  had  several  inter- 
views with  the  Cardinal  Prefect  of  the  Propaganda 
on  the  subject  of  this  appointment,  and  one  day  the 
latter  said :  u  There  are  two  candidates,  bishop,  be- 
tween whom  the  Sacred  Congregation  is  utterly  at  a 


AKCHBISHOP  HUGHES.  37 

loss  how  to  decide ;  these  are  the  Reverend  John 
Hughes  and  the  Reverend  John  B.  Purcell.  If  you 
can  mention  any  particular,  no  matter  how  trifling,  in 
which  one  seems  to  you  better  qualified  than  the  other, 
I  think  a  decision  may  be  reached  at  once." 

The  bishop  hesitated,  for  he  was  really  perplexed. 
At  last  he  answered  : 

"  There  is  one  point,  your  Eminence,  which  may  de- 
serve to  be  considered.  Mr.  Hughes  is  emphatically  a 
self-made  man,  and  perhaps  he  would  be  on  that  ac- 
count more  acceptable  to  the  people  of  a  Western  dio- 
cese than  Mr.  Purcell." 

"  Ah  !  "  said  the  cardinal,  "  I  think  that  will  do." 

The  next  day  he  met  Bishop  England  again,  and 
exclaimed  with  an  air  of  satisfaction : 

"  Well,  bishop,  the  question  is  settled.  As  soon  as 
I  told  the  cardinals  what  you  said  about  Mr.  Pur- 
ceWs  being  a  self -made  man,  they  agreed  upon  him 
unanimously,  and  the  nomination  will  at  once  be  pre- 
sented to  his  Holiness  for  approval." 

"  I  was  about  to  explain  the  mistake,"  said  Bishop 
England,  afterward,  "  but  I  reflected  that  it  was  no 
doubt  the  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  was  silent." 

The  cardinal  never  knew  of  his  blunder.*  To  us, 
looking  back  now  on  the  subsequent  career  of  this 
great  man,  how  full  of  meaning  must  Bishop  England's 
remark  seem.  The  sequel  has  demonstrated,  beyond 
doubt,  that  it  was  indeed  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  God.  Father  Hughes  was  destined  for  other  work. 

In  1835  the  appointment  of  several  new  bishops  be- 
came necessary.  The  growth  of  the  Philadelphia  dio- 
cese called  for  the  erection  of  a  new  see  at  Pittsburgh, 

*  Hassard's  Life  of  Archbishop  Hughes. 


38  A  HISTOEY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

and  the  failing  health  of  Bishop  Dubois,  of  New  York, 
necessitated  the  selection  of  a  coadjutor.  Bishop  Ken- 
rick  was  appointed  to  the  see  of  Pittsburgh,  declining 
an  invitation  from  Bishop  Dubois  to  become  the  lat- 
ter's  coadjutor,  and  Father  Hughes  was  appointed  to 
succeed  him  as  coadjutor  to  Bishop  Conwell,  whose 
mind  had  become  affected  by  old  age.  Complications 
arose,  however,  which  prevented  these  appointments 
from  going  into  effect  until  the  next  council  of  Balti- 
more. 

The  council  met  on  April  16,  1837,  and  it  was  de- 
cided then  that  the  diocese  of  Philadelphia  should  re- 
main intact,  and  Father  Hughes  was  appointed  coad- 
jutor to  Bishop  Dubois.  On  November  3d,  he  received 
formal  notice  that  he  had  been  chosen.  The  scene  in 
his  church,  when  he  announced  his  intention  of  accept- 
ing the  appointment,  is  described  by  the  historian  as 
affecting  in  the  extreme.  On  January  2,  1838,  he  de- 
parted for  the  scene  of  his  future  labors,  and  it  is  re- 
corded of  him  that  he  refused  several  invitations  from 
prominent  and  wealthy  people  to  pass  the  evening 
before  his  departure  with  them,  to  spend  it  with  an 
humble  friend  whom  he  had  met  while  a  day-laborer 
at  Emmittsburg.* 

On  January  8th,  at  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Patrick, 
Mott  Street,  New  York,  he  was  consecrated  bishop  of 
Basileopolis,  in  partibus  infidelium,  and  coadjutor  to 
the  Bishop  of  New  York.  The  ceremony  was  per- 
formed by  Bishop  Dubois,  assisted  by  Bishop  Kenrick 
and  Bishop  Fenwick,  of  Boston,  and  the  sermon  was 
preached  by  Father  Mulledy,  the  distinguished  Jesuit. 
The  cathedral  was  crowded  to  the  doors,  and  masses 

*  Hassard's  Life  of  Archbishop  Hughes. 


AECHBISHOP  HUGHES.  39 

of  people  filled  the  windows,  and  swarmed  over  the 
platforms  which  had  been  erected  in  the  yard. 

Two  weeks  after  the  consecration  of  Bishop  Hughes, 
Bishop  Dubois  was  prostrated  by  an  attack  of  paral- 
ysis. A  second  and  a  third  followed,  and  so  com- 
pletely shattered  the  already  feeble  health  of  the 
venerable  prelate,  that  the  full  burden  of  the  manage- 
ment of  the  diocese  fell  on  the  shoulders  of  the  young 
coadjutor.  But  it  fell  on  broad,  sturdy  shoulders, 
and  he  soon  proved  his  entire  fitness  for  the  arduous 
task  imposed  upon  him. 

And  soon  the  young  bishop  found  that  the  task  that 
had  fallen  to  his  lot  was  no  easy  one,  and  that  the 
road  he  was  to  travel  was  not  a  broad  and  level  one. 
by  any  means.  The  diocese  comprised  a  Catholic 
population  of  about  two  hundred  thousand,  scattered 
over  an  area  of  fifty -five  thousand  square  miles.  To 
minister  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  these  people,  there 
were  but  forty  priests,  and  the  number  of  churches  did 
not  exceed  twenty.  The  churches  were  overwhelmed 
with  debt,  and  completely  under  the  control  of  lay  trus- 
tees. The  act  which  first  drew  all  eyes  on  Bishop 
Hughes,  and  gave  the  first  indication  of  the  vigor- 
ous rule  which  he  intended  to  establish  in  the  diocese, 
was  the  battle  with,  and  final  subjugation  of,  that  cry- 
ing evil  in  church  management,  lay  trusteeism.  He 
had  shown  himself  a  vigorous  opponent  of  the  system 
in  Philadelphia,  and  his  treatment  of  it  in  New  York 
was  in  perfect  keeping  with  his  former  conduct. 

The  abuses  to  which  the  system  gave  rise  became 
almost  intolerable,  and  shortly  after  the  young  coad- 
jutor's arrival  an  incident  occurred,  which  is  a  fitting 
example  of  the  insolence  bred  by  such  a  condition  of 


40  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

affairs.  The  case  was  rendered  the  more  notable  from 
the  fact  that  it  gave  Bishop  Hughes  an  opportunity  to 
strike  the  first  decisive  blow  at  the  whole  system.  A 
priest,  who  had  been  attached  to  the  cathedral,  was 
suspended  by  Bishop  Dubois  for  some  act  of  insubor- 
dination, but  was  reinstated  by  the  trustees,  elected 
rector  of  the  parochial  school,  and  voted  a  salary,  the 
trustees  refusing  to  recognize  the  pastor  appointed  in 
his  stead.  They  employed  a  constable  to  eject  from 
the  school  a  teacher  sent  there  by  the  bishop,  and  even 
threatened  to  cut  off  the  latter' s  salary. 

Bishop  Hughes's  treatment  of  the  matter  was  in 
every  way  characteristic  of  him.  "He  felt  that  the 
battle  must  be  a  decisive  one,"  says  Mr.  Hassard ;  "  it 
was  not  an  affair  of  the  appointment  of  school  teach- 
ers or  the  payment  of  salaries  ;  it  was  practically  the 
question  whether  the  church  should  be  governed  by  the 
bishop  or  the  legislature.  If  the  charter  of  incorpora- 
tion could  give  laymen  the  right  of  interference  when 
the  bishop  deemed  it  necessary  to  inflict  canonical 
censures  upon  one  of  his  clergy ;  if  it  entitled  them  to 
appoint  catechists  and  expel  from  the  premises  any- 
body who  did  not  please  them ;  why  might  it  not  go 
further,  and  commit  to  the  trustees  the  entire  manage- 
ment of  the  spiritual  concerns  of  the  congregation  ?  If 
they  might  demand  the  services  of  a  suspended  priest, 
why  not  of  an  excommunicated  priest  ?  Of  a  Metho- 
dist minister  ?  A  Jew  ?  A  pagan  ?  An  atheist  ?  The 
trustees,  in  fine,  were  acting  on  the  Protestant  prin- 
ciple, which  puts  all  church  matters  into  the  hands  of 
the  people  ;  they  may  call  whom  they  please  to  preach 
to  them,  and  if  they  do  not  like  him,  may  send  him 
away  and  call  another.  The  Catholic  principle  sup- 


AKCHBISHOP  HUGHES.  41 

poses   that   pastors   are   sent   by    God   to   teach,   and 
govern  their  flocks." 

The  Sunday  following  the  ejection  of  the  teacher,  he 
spoke  from  the  pulpit  on  the  subject  in  a  quiet  manner, 
and  in  such  a  way  as  to  invite  an  apology  from  the 
trustees,  and  bring  about  an  amicable  settlement  of  the 
difficulties.  As  they  made  no  advances  he  read,  on  the 
following  Sunday,  a  vigorous  pastoral,  which,  though 
signed  by  Bishop  Dubois,  was  written  by  himself,\  It 
threatened  them  with  the  direst  ecclesiastical  penalties 
if  they  persisted  in  their  conduct.  It  told  them  that, 
although,  according  to  the  civil  law,  they  could  control 
the  building  and  revenues,  they  could  not  control  the 
clergy  or  the  sacraments.  They  might  do  what  they 
pleased  with  the  building,  but  unless  they  acted  in 
perfect  conformity  with  the  canons  and  spirit  of  the 
Catholic  church,  the  priests  would  all  be  withdrawn 
and  the  cathedral  placed  under  an  interdict.  The  peo- 
ple upheld  the  bishop  in  his  determined  action,  and  a 
fatal  blow  was  struck  at  the  system.*  His  manner  of 
dealing  with  cases  in  other  parts  of  the  diocese  is 

^.          tersely  described  in  the  following  note,  made  by  his 

^          secretary  some  years  later  : 

The  Archbishop  went  to to  give  the  trustees  of  St. 's  a 

blowing  up.     The  only  way  will  be  to  blow  them  out  of  the  church 
entirely. N.B. — He  turned  them  out. 

This  evil  rooted  out,  he  turned  his  attention  to  a 
subject  which  had  always  been  uppermost  in  his  mind 
— education.  Bishop  Dubois  had  attempted,  several 

*  An  amendment  to  the  civil  law,  which  has  since  been  passed,  provides 
that  the  trustees  of  a  Catholic  church  shall  be  the  bishop,  the  vicar-general, 
the  pastor,  and  two  laymen. 


42  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

years  before,  to  found  a  college  at  Nyack,  on  the  Hud- 
son, but  just  as  the  buildings  were  almost  completed 
they  were  entirely  destroyed  by  fire.  He  then  thought 
of  transferring  the  institution  to  Brooklyn,  but  this 
idea  was  abandoned,  and  the  scheme  temporarily 
dropped.  After  the  arrival  of  Bishop  Hughes  a  theo- 
logical seminary  and  school  for  secular  education  was 
established  at  Lafargeville,  Jefferson  County,  N.  Y., 
being  opened  on  September  30,  1838,  under  the  pa- 
tronage of  St.  Vincent  de  Paul.  But  the  college  was 
not  a  success.  It  was  three  hundred  miles  from  New 
York  City,  and  the  attendance  was  so  poor  that  it 
proved  anything  but  a  profitable  venture.  After  con- 
siderable search  for  another  site  Bishop  Hughes  came 
upon  the  old  Eose  Hill  farm,  at  Fordham,  then  in 
West  Chester  County.  To  his  mind  it  was  an  ideal 
site.  The  quiet  and  seclusion,  so  conducive  to  study 
and  meditation,  the  beauty  of  the  surrounding  country, 
the  healthy  situation,  all  seemed  to  fit  the  place  in  a 
special  manner  for  the  end  he  had  in  view,  and  his 
decision  was  soon  reached.  Through  Mr.  Andrew 
Carrigan,  he  purchased  the  estate  with  money  raised 
chiefly  by  voluntary  subscriptions  throughout  the 
diocese  and  in  Europe.  As  already  told,  the  col- 
lege was  formally  opened  on  June  24,  1841,  under 
the  patronage  of  St.  John  the  Baptist.  The  same 
year  the  theological  seminary  was  moved  from 
Lafargeville  and  also  established  at  Fordham,  under 
the  patronage  of  St.  Joseph.  On'  October  14,  1841, 
in  a  pastoral  letter  he  commended  the  new  col- 
lege to  the  liberality  of  his  people,  and  at  the  same 
time  announced  that  Bishop  Dubois  had  resigned  the 
administration  of  the  diocese,  owing  to  his  extreme  age 


AKCHBISHOP   HUGHES.  43 

and  ill  health.  Five  years  later,  in  April,  1846,  St. 
John's  was  raised  by  the  Legislature  to  the  dignity 
of  a  university,  'and  placed  by  Bishop  Hughes  in  the 
hands  of  the  Jesuit  fathers,  who  came  from  Kentucky 
to  take  charge  of  it,  and  under  whose  direction  it  has 
remained  ever  since. 

From  1840  to  1842  another  phase  of  the  education- 
al question  claimed  the  attention  of  Bishop  Hughes. 
This  was  the  Public  School  question,  from  the  fight 
over  which  he  came  out  so  gloriously  victorious.  His 
movements  were  directed  against  the  Public  School  So- 
ciety, a  private  corporation  which  had  the  entire  man- 
agement of  the  public  schools  of  New  York.  This  or- 
ganization disbursed  the  funds  provided  by  the  city  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  schools,  chose  the  books  to  be 
used,  and  regulated  the  entire  working  of  the  system. 
The  text-books  used  teemed  with  the  usual  falsehoods 
and  calumnies  against  Catholicity,  the  instructors  were 
thoroughly  imbued  with  the  anti-Catholic  spirit  of  the 
age,  and  the  city  schools  were  practically  turned  into 
proselytizing  institutions  of  the  most  flagrant  kind. 
The  bishop,  however,  entered  the  lists  and  fought  the 
Public  School  Society  for  two  years ;  he  fought  it 
through  the  press,  on  the  platform,  and  in  the  halls  of 
the  Legislature,  and  was  rewarded  in  the  end  by  the 
complete  overthrow  of  the  Society,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  the  present  system,  which,  defective  as  it  is,  is 
infinitely  superior  to  that  followed  under  the  former 
regime. 

It  was  in  1844,  however,  that  the  bishop's  strength 
of  character  was  put  to  its  greatest  test.  The  Know- 
Nothing  movement  had  been  agitating  the  country  for 
nearly  ten  years,  and  had  increased  in  strength  and  bit- 


44  A  HISTOEY  OF  FOKDHAM  COLLEGE. 

terness,  and  finally  culminated  in  the  fearful  scenes 
that  were  enacted  in  Philadelphia,  on  May  8,  1844. 
On  that  day  St.  Michael's  Church,  the  house  of  the  Sis- 
ters of  Charity,  the  church  and  rectory  of  St.  Augus- 
tine, were  all  burned  by  the  infuriated  mob,  and  the 
magnificent  library  of  the  Augustinians  looted,  and 
the  books  committed  to  the  flames. 

A  committee  from  the  leaders  of  the  Philadelphia 
riot  immediately  started  for  New  York,  and  a  grand 
mass  meeting  of  "  Native  Americans  "  was  called  in  the 
City  Hall  Park  to  receive  and  welcome  them.  But 
Bishop  Hughes  was  not  a  man  to  be  dismayed  even  by 
the  prospect  of  a  repetition  of  the  Philadelphia  out- 
rages. He  warned  the  enemies  of  Catholicity,  in  plain 
unmistakable  terms,  against  any  attempt  to  molest  the 
property  of  the  church.  "  If  a  single  Catholic  church 
were  burned  in  New  York,"  said  he,  on  one  occasion, 
"  the  city  would  become  a  second  Moscow."  In  an  ex- 
tra edition  of  the  Freeman's  Journal,  then  under  his 
control,  he  warned  Catholics  not  to  attend  any  public 
meetings,  and  to  avoid  especially  the  meeting  in  City 
Hall  Park.  He  then  called  upon  Mayor  Eobert  H. 
Morris,  and  advised  him  to  prevent  this  demonstration. 

"  Are  you  afraid,"  asked  the  Mayor,  "  that  some  of 
your  churches  will  be  burned  ?  " 

"  No,  sir ;  but  I  am  afraid  that  some  of  yours  will 
be  burned.  We  can  protect  our  own.  I  come  to  warn 
you  for  your  own  good." 

"  Do  you  think,  bishop,  that  your  people  would  at- 
tack the  procession  ? " 

"  I  do  not ;  but  the  Native  Americans  want  to  pro- 
voke a  Catholic  riot,  and  if  they  can  do  it  in  no  other 
way,  I  believe  they  would  not  scruple  to  attack  the 


AECHBISHOP   HUGHES.  45 

procession  themselves,  for  the  sake  of  making  it  appear 
that  the  Catholics  had  assailed  them." 

"  What,  then,  would  you  have  me  do  ?  " 

"  I  did  not  come  to  tell  you  what  to  do.  I  am  a 
churchman,  not  the  mayor  of  New  York ;  but,  if  I  were 
the  mayor,  I  would  examine  the  laws  of  the  State,  and 
see  if  there  were  not  attached  to  the  police  force  a  bat- 
tery of  artillery,  a  company  or  so  of  infantry,  and  a 
squadron  of  horse ;  and  I  think  I  should  find  that  there 
were  ;  and  if  so,  I  should  call  them  out.  Moreover,  I 
should  send  to  Mr.  Harper,  the  mayor-elect,  who  has 
been  chosen  by  the  votes  of  this  party.  I  should  re- 
mind him  that  these  men  are  his  supporters  ;  I  should 
warn  him  that  if  they  carry  out  their  design  there  will 
be  a  riot ;  and  I  should  urge  him  to  use  his  influence  in 
preventing  this  public  reception  of  the  delegates." 

How  far  the  mayor  may  have  been  influenced  by  this 
conversation  we  do  not  pretend  to  say,  but  there  was  no 
demonstration  on  the  arrival  of  the  Philadelphia  Native 
Americans,  and  no  disturbance  in  New  York  either  at 
this  time  or  when  the  riots  broke  out  again  in  Philadel- 
phia in  July.  The  bishop  publicly  claimed  the  merit 
of  having  prevented  an  outbreak.* 

The  continual  strain  on  both  mind  and  body  was  al- 
ready beginning  to  tell  on  Bishop  Hughes.  Only  such 
a  powerful  frame  and  naturally  rugged  constitution  as 
his  could  bear  the  terrible  strain  to  which  he  had  been 
subjected  for  so  many  years.  His  health  began  to  fail, 
and  in  February,  1844,  the  Kev.  Dr.  McCloskey  was 
consecrated  his  coadjutor.  While  attending  the  sixth 
council  of  Baltimore,  held  in  1846,  Bishop  Hughes  was 
summoned  to  Washington  by  Secretary  of  State  Bu- 

*  Hassard's  Life  of  Archbishop  Hughes. 


46  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

chanan,  ostensibly  to  consult  as  to  the  appointment  of 
Catholic  chaplains  for  the  army,  then  engaged  in  the 
Mexican  War,  but,  it  is  said,  in  reality  with  a  view  to 
sending  the  bishop  as  a  special  peace  envoy  to  Mexico. 
This  was  never  known  positively,  as  he  did  not  go,  and 
would  never  speak  of  the  matter  afterward.  In  1847 
he  received  an  invitation  from  John  Quincy  Adams, 
John  C.  Calhoun,  and  other  distinguished  statesmen,  to 
preach  before  Congress  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington. 
He  chose  for  his  text,  "  Christianity  the  Only  Source 
of  Moral,  Social,  and  Political  Regeneration." 

In  the  fall  of  1850  New  York  was  elected  into  an 
archiepiscopal  see,  with  Boston,  Hartford,  Albany,  and 
Buffalo  as  suffragan  sees.  In  1854  he,  with  other 
American  prelates,  accepted  the  invitation  of  Pope  Pius 
IX.  to  attend  the  assembly  of  bishops  from  the  whole 
Catholic  world,  gathered  to  take  part  in  the  ceremo- 
nies attendant  on  the  definition  of  the  dogma  of  the  Im- 
maculate Conception.  On  his  return  to  New  York  he 
commenced  the  erection  of  a  church,  the  ninety-ninth 
built  and  consecrated  under  his  personal  supervision, 
in  honor  of  the  Immaculate  Conception.  This  church 
was  consecrated  May  15,  1858.  Three  months  later 
the  corner-stone  of  the  new  cathedral  of  St.  Patrick,  at 
Fifth  Avenue  and  Fiftieth  Street,  was  laid,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  over  one  hundred  thousand  people.  In  1859 
he  was  very  outspoken  in  his  sympathy  for  Pope  Pius 
IX.  He  issued  a  vigorous  pastoral  on  the  subject  of 
the  pontiff's  troubles,  which  was  so  gratefully  received 
by  his  Holiness  that  he  ordered  it  printed  at  the  Propa- 
ganda in  both  Italian  and  English,  a  distinction  never  be- 
fore conferred  on  a  pastoral  at  Rome.  He  also  collected 
$53,000  in  aid  of  the  Holy  Father's  depleted  treasury. 


AKCHBISHOP   HUGHES.  47 

At  the  beginning  of  the  late  Civil  War  Archbishop 
Hughes  was  often  consulted  by  President  Lincoln  and 
Secretary  Seward,  and  in  1861  he  was  chosen  for  a 
special  mission  to  Europe.  His  mission  is  briefly  out- 
lined in  a  letter  which  he  wrote  about  that  time,  in 
which  he  says  he  wrent  as  the  friend  of  both  North  and 
South  alike.  He  went  away  with  carte-blanche,  to  do 
and  say  anything  that  he  should  think  proper  for  the 
interests  of  the  country. 

The  last  institution  established  by  him  was  Saint 
Joseph's  Theological  Seminary,  at  Troy.  It  was 
moved  from  Fordham,  and  the  buildings  and  ground 
sold  to  the  Jesuit  Fathers.  His  last  sermon  was  de- 
livered in  June,  1863,  at  the  dedication  of  a  church, 
and  his  last  public  address  was  made  from  his  balcony, 
the  following  month,  during  the  draft  riots.  This  ad- 
dress was  delivered  at  the  request  of  Governor  Sey- 
mour, who  asked  him  to  do  so  in  the  hope  that  the 
archbishop's  influence  might  tend  to  quell  the  excite- 
ment then  raging  in  the  city.  He  was  obliged  to  re- 
main seated  on  account  of  his  feeble  health. 

His  work  was  done.  The  task  assigned  to  him  had 
been  faithfully  performed.  There  remained  nothing 
for  him  to  do  but  to  pass  quietly  away  to  the  reward 
he  had  so  well  earned.  His  death  was  peaceful  and 
happy.  On  Wednesday  preceding  he  had  received  the 
last  sacraments  from  his  confessor,  the  Keverend  Will- 
iam Quinn.  From  Friday  (New- Year's  day,  1864) 
until  his  death  he  had  frequent  spasms,  followed  by  in- 
tervals of  unconsciousness.  About  seven  o'clock,  Sun- 
day evening,  he  had  one  of  these  attacks.  "  When  it 
was  over,  he  laid  his  head  back  on  the  pillow,  closed 
his  eyes,  breathed  quickly  and  gently  for  a  few  minutes, 


48  A  EISTOBY  OF  FOKDHAM  COLLEGE. 

and  died  with  a  smile  about  bis  lips,  while  Bishop 
McCloskey  was  reciting  the  prayers  of  the  Church  for 
a  departing  soul."  * 

On  Tuesday  the  body  was  removed  to  the  cathedral, 
where,  clad  in  episcopal  robes,  with  mitre  and  crosier, 
it  lay  for  two  days,  on  the  very  spot  where,  twenty-six 
years  before,  he  had  knelt  for  consecration.  It  was  es- 
timated that  no  fewer  than  two  hundred  thousand  per- 
sons viewed  the  remains. 

On  Thursday,  January  7th,  the  anniversary  of  his 
consecration,  the  funeral  was  held,  and  the  remains  de- 
posited in  one  of  the  vaults  under  the  altar  of  the 
cathedral.  Mr.  Hassard  says  of  this  ceremony :  "  It 
was  perhaps  the  most  imposing  ceremony  of  the  kind 
ever  witnessed  in  New  York.  Eight  bishops  and 
nearly  two  hundred  priests  took  part  in  the  services. 
The  funeral  discourse  was  pronounced  by  Bishop  Me- 
Closkey,  and  mass  was  celebrated  by  Bishop  Timon. 
The  body  was  deposited  in  a  vault  under  the  cathe- 
dral, by  the  side  of  the  previous  bishops  of  New  York. 
The  courts  and  other  public  offices  were  closed  on  the 
day  of  the  funeral,  and  resolutions  of  sorrow  and  con- 
dolence were  passed  by  the  State  Legislature  and  the 
Common  Council." 

*  Hassard' s  Life  of  Archbishop  Hughes. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   FOUNDING   OF  THE  COLLEGE   TO  THE  ADVENT  OF 
THE  JESUITS. 

WE  have  already  noted  in  a  former  chapter  that  the 
one  dominant  thought  of  Archbishop  Hughes's  life,  the 
thought  that  was  ever  uppermost  in  his  mind,  that 
seemed  to  influence  his  every  action,  was  his  solicitude 
in  the  cause  of  Catholic  education.  For  two  years  he 
carried  on  an  unequal  struggle  against  the  proselytiz- 
ing system  of  education  then  followed  in  the  common 
schools,  a  system  as  unconstitutional  and  as  much  op- 
posed to  the  spirit  of  a  republican  government  as  it 
was  dangerous  to  the  preservation  of  the  Catholic 
faith.  But,  though  deeply  interested  in  that  all-im- 
portant fight,  he  found  time  to  turn  his  attention  to 
the  needs  of  higher  education,  and  when  his  efforts 
for  the  improvement  of  the  common  schools  were  fin- 
ally crowned  with  victory,  he  devoted  all  his  energy 
toward  supplying  that  other  scarcely  less  pressing 
need. 

We  have  seen  how  Bishop  Dubois  attempted  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  college  at  Nyack,  and  how  the  build- 
ings were  destroyed  by  fire  almost  on  the  eve  of  their 
completion  ;  and  we*  have  also  alluded  to  that  good  pre- 
late's transfer  of  the  field  of  his  enterprise  to  Brooklyn, 
and  his  subsequent  abandonment  of  the  entire  scheme. 
Such,  then,  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  Bishop  Hughes 

4 


50  A  HISTOEY  OF  FOKDHAM  COLLEGE. 

arrived  in  New  York,  and  as  soon  as  the  disposal  of 
more  urgent  matters  left  Mm  comparatively  free,  lie 
set  about  the  task  of  completing  the  work  begun  by 
Bishop  Dubois.  The  seminary  at  Laf argeville  was  the 
first  fruit  of  his  labors  in  this  direction.  But  a  very 
short  trial  convinced  him  of  the  utter  futility  of  an 
effort  to  maintain  an  institution,  especially  a  school  for 
secular  training,  in  a  place  so  far  removed  from  the 
metropolis,  and  he  looked  around  in  the  neighborhood 
of  New  York  for  a  suitable  site  on  which  to  erect  an- 
other college. 

Fordham,  at  that  time  a  village  of  Westchester 
County,  among  other  places  was  brought  to  the  bish- 
op's notice  in  the  course  of  his  search.  The  Rose 
Hill  estate,  with  its  beautiful  situation,  its  spacious 
grounds,  and  its  historic  interest,  at  once  attracted  him. 
At  that  time  the  village  of  Fordham  was  situated  at 
a  point  farther  west  than  its  present  location,  the  rail- 
road had  not  yet  been  constructed,  and  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Rose  Hill  there  were  but  a  few  isolated 
farm  -  houses,  while  the  rows  of  ill  -  kept,  unsightly 
buildings  which,  until  a  short  time  ago,  disfigured  the 
approach  to  the  college  grounds,  did  not  make  their  ap- 
pearance until  many  years  later.  The  bishop  imme- 
diately entered  into  negotiations  which  resulted  in  the 
purchase  of  the  property  by  him  through  Mr.  Andrew 
Carrigan.  Bishop  Dubois,  who  was  rapidly  failing  in 
both  mind  and  body,  was  unable  to  take  part  in  the 
negotiations.  One  result  of  his  mental  weakness  was 
that  he  was  extremely  tenacious  of  his  dignity,  and 
keenly  sensitive  of  anything  like  a  slight.  One  of  the 
clergymen  of  the  diocese,  to  whom  the  bishop  was  par- 
ticularly attached,  undertook  the  task  of  telling  him  of 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  COLLEGE.        51 

the  intended  purchase  by  his  coadjutor,  and  added  in  a 
conciliatory  tone  :  "  You  see,  bishop,  it  was  better  that 
he  should  appear  in  the  matter,  and  not  you ;  he  has 
just  come  here  and  is  not  known  yet."  "  Ah  !  "  replied 
the  old  bishop,  "  but  they  soon  will  know  him."  * 

But  the  most  difficult  part  of  the  task  yet  remained 
to  be  done.  The  cost  of  the  estate  was  $30,000,  and 
$10,000  was  required  to  fit  the  buildings  then  on  the 
premises  for  the  reception  of  students.  To  meet  this 
expense  the  bishop  had  not  a  dollar,  but  he  was  fertile 
in  expedients,  and  was  not  a  long  time  in  devising  means 
to  raise  the  necessary  funds.  Nothing  daunted  at  the 
task  that  confronted  him,  he  set  to  work  soliciting  sub- 
scriptions from  wealthy  Catholics  throughout  the  dio- 
cese. He  then  went  abroad  and  collected  large  sums 
of  money  in  Europe.  The  fund  was  completed  by 
small  loans,  for  which  interest  was  charged  at  the  rate 
of  five  per  cent. 

June  24,  1841,  fifty  years  ago,  the  new  college  was 
formally  opened  and  started  on  its  career  under  the 
patronage  of  St.  John  the  Baptist.  No  account  of  the 
ceremonies  of  that  opening  day  has  come  down  to  us, 
and  the  papers  at  the  time  are  all  strangely  silent  on 
the  subject.  However,  the  ceremonies  took  place,  and 
the  following  September  the  students  of  the  new  col- 
lege assembled  to  begin  the  first  scholastic  year.  It 
was  a  triumph  for  Bishop  Hughes,  and,  could  he  have 
foreseen  on  that  day  the  future  that  was  in  store  for 
his  modest  school,  what  would  have  been  his  emotions  ? 

The  faculty  of  St.  John's  during  its  first  year  com- 
prised some  notable  men.  The  first  president  was  his 

*  Bishop  Bayley's  Discourse  on  the  Life  and  Character  of  the  Most  Rever- 
end Archbishop  Hughes. 


52  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

Eminence  the  late  Cardinal  McCloskey,  then  simply 
Dr.  McCloskey,  who  had  been  taken  from  his  pastoral 
duties  at  St.  Joseph's  Church,  New  York,  to  fill  the 
presidential  chair  of  the  new  college.  Dr.  McCloskey 
was  a  man  highly  esteemed  for  his  talents  and  ability, 
and  in  every  way  fitted  for  his  new  position.  In  addi- 
tion to  performing  the  duties  of  president,  he  acted  as 
professor  of  rhetoric  and  belles-lettres.  The  Reverend 
Ambrose  Manahan,  a  distinguished  divine,  and  author 
of  a  work  entitled  "Triumphs  of  Catholicity,"  was 
vice-president  and  professor  of  Greek  and  mathematics ; 
the  chair  of  moral  philosophy  and  Hebrew  was  filled 
by  the  Reverend  Felix  Vilanis,  D.D.,  and  the  Reverend 
John  J.  Conroy,  afterward  Bishop  of  Albany,  was  pro- 
fessor of  Latin.  The  Reverend  Edward  O'Neill,  who 
also  acted  in  the  capacity  of  treasurer,  was  professor 
of  physics  and  chemistry.  Mr.  John  Harley,  who 
succeeded  Dr.  McCloskey  in  the  presidency,  and  was 
subsequently  secretary  to  Bishop  Hughes,  was  prefect 
of  discipline  and  instructor  in  book-keeping,  and  the 
Reverend  Bernard  Llaneza,  Mr.  Oertel,  and  Mr.  Mc- 
Donald were  instructors  in  Spanish,  German,  and 
French,  respectively.  In  addition  to  these  there  were 
six  lay  tutors  whose  names  do  not  appear  on  the  records. 
Even  at  that  early  date,  at  that  early  stage  of  de- 
velopment of  Fordham,  she  numbered  among  her  pro- 
fessors and  students  many  men  who  have  since  become 
famous.  Among  the  former,  besides  Cardinal  McClos- 
key, Bishop  Conroy,  and  Father  Manahan,  were  the 
Reverend  J.  Roosevelt  Bayley,  who  was  president  for 
a  year  immediately  preceding  the  advent  of  the  Je- 
suits, and  who  afterward  succeeded  to  the  Archbish- 
opric of  Baltimore ;  the  Reverend  Bernard  McQuaid, 


CARDINAL    McCLOSKEV 

IST   PRESIDENT. 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  COLLEGE.        53 

who  is  now  Bishop  of  Rochester ;  the  Reverend  Mr. 
McFarland,  afterward  Bishop  of  Hartford,  and  the 
Honorable  John  B.  Stallo,  who  was  professor  of  chem- 
istry and  physics  previous  to,  and  during  the  first 
year  of,  the  Jesuit  regime.  Mr.  Stallo  was  afterward 
raised  to  a  place  on  the  bench  in  Ohio,  and  during 
President  Cleveland's  administration  was  appointed 
United  States  Minister  to  Rome. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  devote  a  little 
space  to  a  review  of  the  life  of  Dr.  McCloskey,  the 
first  president  of  St.  John's,  and  destined  to  be  the 
first  American  Cardinal.  He  was  born  in  Brooklyn, 
in  1810.  At  that  time  there  were  but  three  Catholic 
churches  in  New  York  and  none  in  Brooklyn,  and  the 
faithful  in  the  latter,  then  isolated,  locality  were  ob- 
liged to  cross  the  river  in  small  boats  and  bear  in- 
numerable hardships  in  order  to  hear  mass  and  per- 
form the  other  duties  of  their  religion.  It  was  not 
until  1823  that  a  Catholic  church,  the  first  ever  built 
in  Brooklyn,  was  erected  at  the  corner  of  Jay  and 
Chapel  Streets. 

Determining  to  study  for  the  priesthood,  young 
McCloskey,  after  passing  through  one  of  the  parochial 
schools  in  New  York,  was  sent  to  Mount  Sfc.  Mary's, 
Emmettsburg,  the  "  nursery  of  the  Catholic  Church  in 
America,"  and  after  a  brilliant  career  in  the  college 
course,  from  which  he  graduated  with  high  honors,  he 
commenced  his  studies  for  the  priesthood.  On  Janu- 
ary 9,  1834,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  he  was  ordained 
by  Bishop  Dubois  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  Mott 
Street,  New  York,  and  was  granted  the  privilege  of 
continuing  his  studies  for  two  years  at  the  College  of 
the  Propaganda,  Rome. 


54  A  HISTOEY  OF  FOBDHAM  COLLEGE. 

Five  years  after  his  return  lie  was  appointed  to  the 
presidency  of  St.  John's  College  and  St.  Joseph's  Sem- 
inary at  Fordham,  which  positions  he  held  until  1843, 
when,  the  college  being  firmly  established,  he  was  called 
away  to  other  fields  where  there  was  greater  need  for 
his  peculiar  talents.  March  16,  1844,  ten  years  and 
one  month  after  his  elevation  to  the  priesthood,  he  was 
consecrated  Bishop  of  Axiere,  in  partibus  infidelium, 
and  coadjutor  to  Bishop  Hughes.  In  1847  he  was  ap- 
pointed first  bishop  of  the  new  diocese  of  Albany, 
where  he  remained  seventeen  years.  During  that  time 
he  built  St.  Mary's  Cathedral  and  established  branch 
houses  of  many  religious  orders.  He  left  Albany  to 
return  to  New  York  as  coadjutor  again  to  Archbishop 
Hughes,  and  on  the  death  of  the  latter  prelate  became 
Archbishop  of  New  York. 

March  15,  1875,  the  news  was  cabled  from  Rome 
that  Archbishop  McCloskey  had  been  honored  as  no 
American  had  ever  been  honored  before,  by  being  raised 
to  the  dignity  of  the  cardinalate.  Six  weeks  later,  on 
the  altar  at  which  he  was  ordained  priest  and  conse- 
crated bishop,  the  ceremony  of  investing  him  with  the 
insignia  of  his  new  office  was  performed,  the  red  hat 
being  placed  on  his  head  by  Archbishop  Bayley,  of 
Baltimore.  He  continued  in  the  active  management 
of  the  diocese  until  1880,  when  his  failing  health  neces- 
sitated the  appointment  of  a  coadjutor.  The  present 
archbishop,  then  Bishop  Corrigan,  of  Newark,  was 
chosen  for  the  trying  position,  and,  on  the  death  of  the 
cardinal,  succeeded  him.  At  12.50  A.M.  Saturday,  Oc- 
tober 10th,  the  cardinal  passed  quietly  away,  having 
received  all  the  sacraments  of  the  church.  He  was 
buried  under  the  main  altar  of  the  cathedral.  He 


ARCHBISHOP   BAYLEY, 

3D    PRESIDENT. 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  COLLEGE.  55 

showed  to  the  last  the  same  gentle,  loving  spirit  which 
distinguished  him  through  life.  He  was  beloved  and 
revered  by  his  own  flock,  and  honored  and  respected 
by  people  of  every  shade  of  religious  belief.  The  New 
York  Sun,  in  an  editorial  on  the  dead  cardinal,  said  : 
"  His  learning,  his  piety,  his  humility,  his  truly  Christian 
zeal,  earned  for  him  the  universal  respect  which  will  be 
to-day  manifested  as  his  body  is  carried  to  the  tomb. 

"  The  first  American  cardinal  has  died  at  a  time  when 
all  Christians  are  ready  to  honor  his  memory  as  that  of 
a  man  who  has  done  measureless  service  in  the  cause  of 
religion,  good  morals,  and  humanity.  .  .  .  Protestants 
and  Catholics  will  join  in  sincerely  mourning  the  first 
American  cardinal  as  a  Christian  hero  lost.  Requies- 
cat  in  pace"  * 

Returning,  we  will  again  take  up  the  thread  of  the 
narrative.  In  the  fall  of  1841  the  little  bark,  so  hap- 
pily launched  less  than  three  months  before,  began  its 
eventful  voyage.  September  of  that  year  saw  the 
opening  of  the  first  school  term,  the  doors  of  Rose  Hill 
College,  as  it  was  known  at  that -time,  were  thrown  open, 
and  the  work  of  instruction  begun.  There  were  about 
fifty  students  in  the  house  at  the  time,  many  of  whom 
are  now  living.  The  Reverend  P.  F.  Dealy,  S.J.,  who 
was  president  of  the  college  from  1882  to  1885,  and 
for  many  years  previous  a  zealous  worker  at  St.  Francis 
Xavier's  College,  New  York,  and  spiritual  director  of 
the  Xavier  Union  (now  the  Catholic  Club)  was  among 
those  who  saw  the  infant  institution  take  its  first  falter- 
ing steps.  After  the  arrival  of  the  Jesuits  he  entered 
their  novitiate,  and  has  since  become  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  members  of  the  order. 

Mr.  Paul  Thebaud,  of  Mount  Vernon,  now  a  promi- 


56  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

nent  merchant  in  New  York,  and  his  brother  Gustav, 
a  leading  lawyer,  also  of  New  York;  the  Reverend 
James  Hughes,  A.M.,  LL.D.,  and  Vicar-General  of  the 
Diocese  of  Hartford ;  Father  Merrick,  S.  J.,  President 
of  St.  Francis  Xavier  College,  New  York ;  Mr.  Law- 
rence O'Connor,  '48,  a  well-known  architect  of  New 
York ;  the  Reverend  Patrick  McGovern,  A.M.,  '48,  of 
New  York ;  Judge  Dodge,  '49,  of  Perrysburg,  O. ;  Mr. 
Paul  Berger,  '46,  and  Mr.  John  F.  Gray,  '48,  of  New 
York ;  Mr.  William  Burke,  '46,  of  Harrisburg,  Pa., 
and  Mr.  James  Reynolds,  of  Corona,  L.  I.,  are  also 
among  the  few  living  now  who  remember  the  first 
years  of  Fordham  College.  About  this  time  came 
Sylvester  H.  Rosecrans,  afterward  Bishop  of  Colum- 
bus, and  a  brother  of  General  William  H.  Rosecrans 
of  the  United  States  Army ;  and  Vicar- General  William 
Keegan,  of  the  diocese  of  Brooklyn.  But  these  are 
both  dead,  as,  indeed,  are  most  of  those  who  attended 
the  college  at  the  time. 

We  have  elsewhere  described  the  buildings  as  they 
stood  at  the  time  of  their  purchase  by  Bishop  Hughes. 
In  place  of  the  brick  wings  of  the  main  building  as 
they  now  stand,  were  two  one-story  extensions,  also  of 
brick,  the  one  on  the  south  having  been  used  by  Mr. 
Moat  as  a  conservatory.  The  ground  at  the  rear  of 
this  building,  which  is  now  the  campus,  was  rough  and 
hilly,  and  useless  as  a  playground.  In  the  centre  of  the 
present  First  Division  field  was  a  hill,  on  the  farther 
side  of  which  was  the  quarry  from  which  the  stone 
was  taken  in  1845  to  build  the  seminary  and  church.* 

*  The  stone  used  in  building  Senior  Hall  was  quarried  in  the  rock  overlook- 
ing the  Bronx,  and  that  used  in  Science  Hall  in  the  rock  near  the  same  quarry, 
in  what  is  now  part  of  the  Bronx  Park. 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  COLLEGE.        57 

The  students  in  the  theological  seminary  were 
lodged  and  taught  in  the  college  buildings.  The  pres- 
ent sodality  chapel,  on  the  second  floor  of  the  main 
building,  served  as  the  seminarians'  study,  hall,  and 
class-room.  On  this  floor  was  also  the  library.  "  It 
was  here,"  says  Father  Dealy,  "  I  made  my  first  speech 
in  1843,  on  the  occasion  of  a  reception  given  by  Bishop 
Hughes  to  several  bishops  and  other  prelates." 

About  this  time  the  "castle,"  joined  to  the  south 
wing,  the  corresponding  building  on  the  north,  and 
the  old  Second  Division  building,  which  was  torn 
down  in  1890,  were  erected.  A  wooden  shed  con- 
nected the  Second  Division  building  with  the  main 
building. 

In  1843  Dr.  McCloskey  was  taken  from  Fordham, 
and  the  Reverend  John  B.  Harley,  who  had  been  a 
member  of  the  faculty  since  the  college  was  opened, 
was  appointed  to  succeed  him.  The  college  had  made 
wonderful  progress  in  these  two  years.  The  number 
of  students  had  been  doubled,  the  grounds  improved, 
new  buildings  erected,  and  the  standard  of  studies 
considerably  advanced.  Father  Harley 's  ill-health, 
however,  did  not  permit  him  to  enjoy  the  honor  of 
presiding  over  this  growing  institution  for  any  great 
length  of  time,  and  the  following  year  he  resigned  and 
accompanied  Bishop  Hughes  to  Europe  in  the  capac- 
ity of  secretary.  He  was  succeeded  as  president  of 
St.  John's  by  Father  Bayley,  afterward  Archbishop  of 
Baltimore. 

Under  Father  Bayley  Fordham  College  flourished 
and  advanced  as  it  had  done  under  his  predecessors. 
Every  year  saw  some  improvement.  The  seminary 
and  chapel,  to  the  northwest  of  the  college  buildings, 


58  A  HISTOEY  OF  FOKDHAM  COLLEGE. 

were  soon  begun,  and  in  1845  were  ready  for  occupa- 
tion. They  are  both  handsome  buildings  and  add 
considerably  to  the  beauty  of  the  property.  The  in- 
terior of  the  seminary  has  been  much  altered  since 
its  dedication  to  the  instruction  of  the  small  boy,  but 
outwardly  it  is  the  same  to-day  as  when  first  built, 
except  perhaps  for  the  mass  of  creeping  vines  which 
covers  its  entire  front,  and  which,  together  with  its  lat- 
ticed windows  and  peculiar  style  of  architecture,  lends 
to  the  building  a  charming  air  of  antiquity.  The  spire 
that  originally  surmounted  the  bell-tower  on  the  chapel 
was  long  ago  removed,  as  it  had  begun  to  decay,  but 
otherwise  it  has  suffered  no  outward  change. 

About  this  time  (1845),  Bishop  Hughes  was  con- 
templating a  change  in  the  management  of  the  college. 
He  had  during  his  administration  introduced  a  great 
many  religious  orders  into  the  diocese,  and  he  wished 
to  place  Rose  Hill  College  entirely  in  the  hands  of 
some  regular  order,  devoted  to  educational  work. 
With  this  end  in  view,  he  made  overtures  to  the  Jesuits 
who  had  charge  of  St.  Mary's  College,  Ky.,  and 
the  result  of  the  negotiations  was  an  agreement  by 
which  they  were  to  come  to  New  York,  and  take  pos- 
session of  Rose  Hill.  He  did  not  call  upon  the  Jesuits 
of  the  Maryland  province,  because  he  feared  they 
would  make  Fordham  secondary  to  Georgetown,  and 
keep  it  so,  whereas  he  wished  it  to  become  in  time  the 
first  Catholic  college  in  the  country,  a  position  to  which 
its  proximity  to  the  great  commercial  centre  of  the 
country  would  seem  to  entitle  it. 

In  the  meantime  the  course  of  study  at  the  college, 
under  the  successful  management  of  Dr.  McCloskey, 
and  Fathers  Harley  and  Bayley,  had  advanced  at  such 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  COLLEGE.  59 

a  pace,  and  attained  so  high  a  standard,  that  it  was 
decided  to  apply  for  articles  of  incorporation.  This 
was  done,  and  April  10,  1846,  the  act  of  incorporation 
was  passed,  raising  St.  John's  College,  Fordham,  to 
the  rank  of  a  university,  with  the  power  to  grant 
degrees  in  theology,  law,  medicine,  and  arts.  The 
incorporators  were  Jacob  Harvey,  Peter  A.  Hargous, 
John  McKeon,  James  E.  Bayley,  John  Harley,  John 
McCloskey,  William  Starrs,  Hugh  Kelly,  and  David 
Bacon,  afterward  Bishop  of  Portland.  The  same 
month,  Fathers  William  Stack  Murphy  and  Augustus 
Thebaud,  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  arrived  from  St. 
Mary's  and  were  incorporated  into  the  faculty.  The 
following  summer  the  whole  community  arrived,  the 
institution  passed  into  their  hands,  and  the  opening  of 
the  Fall  term  found  the  new  university  under  an  entirely 
new  management ;  for  although  the  seminary  was  not 
included  in  the  purchase  of  Rose  Hill,  it  was  placed 
under  the  care  of  the  Jesuits,  and  its  classes  were 
taught  by  Jesuit  professors. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ST.  MARY'S  COLLEGE,  KENTUCKY. 

HAVING  thus  far  reviewed  the  train  of  events  that 
led  gradually  up  to  the  transfer  of  Fordham  College 
to  the  Jesuit  fathers,  we  will  now  turn  aside  from  the 
direct  course  of  my  narrative  to  give  a  brief  account  of 
the  previous  history  of  those  learned  men.  They  came 
direct  from  St.  Mary's  College,  at  Mount  Mary,  Ky., 
where  they  had  been  for  fifteen  years.  St.  Mary's, 
therefore,  was  the  immediate  ancestor  of  Fordham, 
as  Fordham  is  the  mother-house  of  all  the  Jesuit 
houses  in  the  States  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey. 
They  came  originally  from  France,  by  way  of  New 
Orleans,  at  the  request  of  Bishop  Flaget,  of  Bards- 
town,  Ky.,  and  took  charge  of  St.  Mary's  under  very 
peculiar  circumstances.  In  1829,  the  bishop  had  writ- 
ten to  the  Jesuit  authorities  in  France,  offering  to 
turn  St.  Joseph's  College,  at  Bardstown,  over  to  their 
care.  By  some  accident  their  letter,  accepting  the  offer, 
miscarried,  and  the  bishop  judging  by  their  apparent 
silence  that  his  offer  was  not  favorably  received,  made 
other  and  permanent  arrangements  for  St.  Joseph's. 

The  acceptance  of  the  bishop's  offer  having  been 
despatched,  Fathers  Peter  Chazelle,  Nicholas  Petit, 
and  Peter  Labadiere,  with  Brother  Corne,  all  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  set  sail  on  November  19,  1830, 
from  Pauillac,  near  Bordeaux,  France,  for  New  Or- 


ST.  MAEY'S  COLLEGE,  KENTUCKY.  61 

leans,  La.  They  anchored  at  the  island  of  Gua- 
daloupe,  where  Father  Chazelle  preached,  on  Jan- 
uary 5,  1831,  and  fifteen  days  later  they  arrived  at 
their  destination.  Here,  at  the  invitation  of  Bishop 
De  Neckere,  they  remained  about  two  months,  and  in 
the  meantime  Father  Chazelle,  who  was  superior  of 
the  little  colony,  wrote  to  Bishop  Flaget,  announcing 
their  arrival  in  compliance  with  his  invitation,  and  their 
readiness  to  accept  the  charge  intended  for  them.  This 
threw  the  bishop  into  a  quandary,  as  he  had  already 
disposed  of  St.  Joseph's ;  but,  nevertheless,  he  extended 
a  hearty  welcome  to  the  Jesuits,  and  requested  them  to 
come  on  to  Bardstown.  Accordingly,  Fathers  Chazelle 
and  Petit  started  northward,  leaving  Father  Labadiere 
and  Brother  Corne  to  establish  a  house  in  New  Or- 
leans. 

Arrived  at  Bardstown,  the  two  Jesuits  assisted  in  the 
college  and  seminary  until  the  following  July,  when, 
as  there  was  no  prospect  of  a  solution  of  the  difficulty, 
they  joined  with  the  bishop  in  a  no  vena  to  St.  Ignatius, 
that  they  might  find  through  his  intercession  a  way 
out  of  their  awkward  position.  Their  prayers  were 
not  unheard,  for  before  the  novena  was  finished  the 
bishop  received  a  letter  from  the  Reverend  William 
Byrne,  president  of  St.  Mary's  College,  asking  that  he 
be  allowed  to  turn  his  institution  over  to  the  Jesuits. 

St.  Mary's  College  and  Seminary  was  situated  on  a 
productive  farm,  then  in  Washington  County,  but  now 
in  Marion  County,  Ky.,  which  had  been  purchased 
in  1820  from  Mr.  Joseph  Ray,  by  the  saintly  mis- 
sionary, Father  Charles  Nerinckx.  It  was  his  inten- 
tion to  establish  here  an  industrial  school  for  the  ed- 
ucation of  boys  in  the  useful  trades,  with  a  course  of 


62  A  HISTOEY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

studies  for  higher  education,  should  any  of  his  pupils 
desire  it.  Sailing  for  Belgium  in  1820,  he  left  the 
church  of  St.  Charles  and  Mount  Mary,  as  he  called  the 
newly  purchased  farm,  in  charge  of  Father  Byrne. 
During  his  absence  the  latter  conceived  the  idea  of  es- 
tablishing a  seminary  at  Mount  Mary,  and  fitted  up  an 
abandoned  still-house  which  stood  on  the  property,  for 
that  purpose,  and  when  Father  Nerinckx  returned  from 
Europe  he  found  his  original  plans  completely  upset 
and  the  new  seminary  in  a  flourishing  condition,  having 
all  the  students  its  limited  quarters  could  accommodate. 
In  spite  of  several  unfortunate  accidents  (for  St.  Mary's 
was  three  times  consumed  by  fire  before  the  advent  of 
the  Jesuits)  and  limited  means  the  seminary  pros- 
pered. Father  Byrne  was  unable  to  procure  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  competent  teachers,  and  he  began  to 
employ  the  older  and  more  trustworthy  of  his  pupils 
for  that  purpose,  a  custom  which  was  perpetuated  by 
the  Jesuits. 

But  Father  Byrne  was  not  eminently  fitted  to  direct 
a  large  educational  institution,  and  he  himself  was 
among  the  first  to  realize  that  fact.  So,  when  the  news 
reached  him  of  the  arrival  of  the  Jesuits  and  the  un- 
fortunate misunderstanding  about  St.  Joseph's,  he  re- 
solved to  resign  the  presidency  of  St.  Mary's  and  ten- 
der that  institution  to  the  newly  arrived  fathers.  He, 
therefore,  wrote  to  the  bishop,  as  above  stated,  making 
the  offer  and  asking  simply  to  be  allowed  to  keep  his 
saddle-horse  and  ten  dollars  in  money.  This  offer  set- 
tled the  difficulty  at  once,  and  the  problem  which  had 
for  so  long  disturbed  good  Bishop  Flaget's  mind  was 
solved  at  last. 

In  the  summer  of  1831  Fathers  Chazelle  and  Petit 


ST.  MARY'S  COLLEGE,  KENTUCKY.  63 

entered  on  their  new  charge.  But  here  a  fresh  barrier 
presented  itself,  which  they  had  to  overcome  before 
they  could  take  entire  charge  of  the  college.  This  was 
their  insufficient  knowledge  of  the  English  language, 
and  the  character  and  customs  of  American  boys.  But 
Father  Byrne  disposed  of  this  obstacle  by  offering  to 
remain  and  act  as  president,  until  such  \irne  as  the 
strangers  should  have  overcome  this  difficulty.  This 
he  did  and  retained  the  office  until  June  of  1833,  when 
he  died  from  an  attack  of  Asiatic  cholera  which  was 
prevalent  at  the  time.  A  few  days  later  Father  Ma- 
guire,  S.J.,  who  had  come  from  France  in  the  spring 
of  1832,  with  Fathers  Gilles  and  Legouais,  to  join  the 
little  community,  died  of  the  same  disease.  His  body 
was  afterward  taken  to  Fordham,  and  now  lies  in  the 
little  college  cemetery  at  that  place. 

St.  Mary's  was  now  entirely  under  the  direction  of 
the  Jesuits,  and  Father  Chazelle  was  president.  Both 
he  and  Father  Petit  had  made  such  progress  in  learning 
English  that  they  were  able  to  preach  from  time  to 
time  in  the  parish  church  of  St.  Charles,  and  Father 
Chazelle  was  even  emboldened  to  enter  into  a  wider 
field  of  literary  work.  He  wrote  several  dramas,  one 
of  which  was  produced  by  the  students  every  year  from 
1834  until  1846,  when  the  community  moved  to  Ford- 
ham.  These  plays,  which  accompanied  the  annual  ex- 
hibition, were,  according  to  a  fancy  of  Father  Chazelle, 
enacted  in  the  woods,  and  to  this  we  may  trace  the 
custom,  which  is  still  religiously  observed  at  Fordham, 
of  holding  the  Commencement  exercises  in  the  open  air, 
under  a  tent  spread  on  the  lawn  for  that  purpose.  The 
practice  has  many  advantages,  not  the  least  of  which 
is  the  comfort  of  the  audience,  who,  at  that  season  of 


64  A  HISTOKY  OF  FOEDHAM  COLLEGE. 

the  year  must  feel  much  more  at  ease  in  an  open  tent 
than  in  the  close  confinement  of  a  hall. 

In  1835  Fathers  Evremond  and  Fouche,  who  had  en- 
tered the  novitiate  in  the  fall  of  1831,  were  added  to 
the  community.  Father  Fouche  was  director  of  the 
seminary  at  St.  Mary's  when  the  first  two  Jesuits  ar- 
rived there.  He  died  in  Fordham  in  1870,  and  was 
buried  in  the  college  cemetery.  In  1836  came  from 
France  Father  William  Stack  Murphy,  whom  we 
have  mentioned,  and  Father  Nicholas  Point,  who 
afterward  became  famous  as  a  missionary  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  Father  Point  is  still  living  at  St. 
Mary's  College,  at  Montreal,  over  ninety  years  of  age. 
Father  Murphy  at  once  became  a  great  favorite  among 
the  students.  He  was  famous  as  a  literary  man,  and 
attracted  general  attention  by  his  perfect  elocution,  the 
purity  of  his  English,  and  his  happy  conversational 
powers.  In  1837  he  succeeded  Father  Chazelle  as  su- 
perior of  the  community  and  president  of  the  college, 
for  both  of  which  positions  he  was  eminently  fitted. 

In  1837  the  fathers  made  application  to  the  Ken- 
tucky Legislature  for  a  charter  of  incorporation,  to 
give  them  all  the  powers  of  a  university.  To  bring 
this  about  and  urge  the  matter  in  the  legislative  halls, 
Father  Murphy  and  Father  Robert  Abell,  the  latter 
an  American  Jesuit  and  a  famous  orator,  went  to 
Frankfort.  Father  Abell  was  invited  to  address  the 
Senate  on  the  subject,  and  those  who  listened  to  him 
that  day,  men  who  had  listened  to  the  most  eloquent 
speakers  of  an  era  that  abounded  in  finished  orators, 
declared  that  his  speech  excelled  any  they  had  ever 
heard.  The  application  was  favorably  received,  the 
desired  charter  promptly  granted,  and  on  January  21, 


ST.  MABY'S  COLLEGE,  KENTUCKY.  65 

1837,  St.  Mary's  took  its  place  among  the  universities 
of  the  State.  The  first  meeting  of  trustees  was  held 
February  2, 1837,  and  the  first  annual  Commencement, 
at  which  diplomas  were  awarded,  was  held  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1838. 

The  subsequent  progress  of  St.  Mary's  soon  placed  it 
in  the  front  rank  of  the  colleges  of  the  State.  Many 
men  who  have  since  become  famous,  were  connected 
with  St.  Mary's  during  those  later  years  of  the  Jesuit 
management.  Father  Chazelle  went  to  Canada  in  1839, 
and  was  mainly  instrumental  in  having  the  Jesuits  in- 
troduced into  British  America.  Father  Petit  was  em- 
ployed chiefly  on  missionary  work,  and  Father  Evre- 
mond  established  a  house  in  Louisville,  to  which  was 
afterward  attached  a  successful  day-school  under  the 
direction  of  Father  John  Larkin.  Father  Larkin  was 
in  later  years  president  of  Fordham,  and  his  memory 
is  still  fondly  cherished  in  the  heart  of  every  old  Ford- 
ham  student  who  had  the  good  fortune  to  know  him. 

In  1837  Father  Legouais  established  the  Parthenian 
Sodality,  which  was  afterward  transferred  to  Fordham 
and  is  now  the  oldest  constituted  society  among  the 
students  of  that  institution.  He  introduced  the  custom 
of  daily  mass  for  the  sodalists,  until  then  unheard  of, 
preceded  by  ten  minutes'  meditation.  Father  Legouais 
is  described  as  a  man  of  diminutive  stature,  with  un- 
usually short  legs,  and  in  those  days  of  rough  roads, 
when  everybody  wa^  obliged  to  travel  on  horseback, 
many  amusing  mishaps  befell  him.  If  he  once  dis- 
mounted he  could  not  regain  his  place  in  the  saddle 
again  until  some  chance  passer-by  appeared  to  assist 
him.*  Father  Driscoll,  who  was  afterward  promi- 

*  A  story  is  told  to  the  effect  that  a  Protestant  gentleman,  who  had  entered 
5 


66  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

nently  connected  with  St.  John's,  and  was  rector  of  St.. 
Francis  Xavier's  College  for  several  years,  was  among 
the  first  members  of  the  sodality.  He  had  a  very  in- 
teresting history.  Before  he  entered  the  Jesuit  novi- 
tiate he  was  a  stone-mason,  and  by  his  superior  intelli- 
gence attracted  the  attention  of  Father  De  Luynes, 
pastor  of  the  cathedral  at  Bardstown,  who,  feeling 
that  the  young  man  was  called  to  higher  things,  sent 
him  to  St.  Mary's.  In  1838  he  entered  the  novitiate 
under  Father  Gilles,  who  had  just  been  appointed 
Master  of  Novices,  and  was  joined  a  year  later  by 
Father  Larkin,  from  Montreal,  Canada,  and  in  1841  by 
his  patron,  Father  De  Luynes.  Father  Driscoll  lived 
to  a  ripe  old  age.  He,  with  Father  De  Luynes  and 
Father  Larkin,  sleeps  peacefully  in  the  little  cemetery 
at  Fordham. 

In  1839  the  Reverend  Augustus  Thebaud,  afterward 
the  fourth  president,  and  first  Jesuit  president  of  St. 
John's,  arrived  from  France  with  several  lay-brothers, 
and  about  the  same  time  the  Reverend  F.  William 
Gockeln,  who  also  succeeded  subsequently  to  the  presi- 
dential chair  of  Fordham,  and  who  is  described  as  "  a 
tall,  handsome  young  Prussian  "  arrived  from  Canada, 
attracted  thither  by  Father  Larkin.  Among  the  other 
fathers  who  were  since  well  known  at  St.  John's  were 
Fathers  Lebreton,  Du  Merle,  and  Marechal.  The  first 
two  lie  in  the  Fordham  cemetery. 

his  boy  at  St.  Mary's,  hurried  to  the  president  a  few  minutes  later,  and  stipu- 
lated that  under  no  circumstances  should  his  boy  be  allowed  to  say  mass.  In 
explanation  of  his  extraordinary  condition,  he  said  that  he  had  just  seen  one 
of  the  small  boys  in  the  chapel  in  the  act  of  celebrating  mass.  Father  Cha- 
zelle,  the  president,  immediately  repaired  to  the  chapel,  accompanied  by  the 
anxious  father,  and  there  found  Father  Legouais  officiating  at  the  altar.  The 
stranger  seeing  him  from  the  rear  had  taken  him  for  a  small  boy. 


ST.  MAKY'S  COLLEGE,  KENTUCKY.  67 

The  college  was  then  progressing  rapidly.  In  the 
classics,  physical  sciences,  and  mathematics  it  especially 
excelled.  Father  Legouais  attempted  to  establish  a 
class  of  Philosophy  in  Latin,  with  Bouvier  as  a  text- 
book, but  it  was  a  failure.  Father  Larkin  afterward 
began  instruction  in  logic,  in  English,  and  Father  De 
Luynes  lectured  in  English  on  general  and  special  meta- 
physics, both  of  which  ventures  were  successful. 
Rhetoric,  belles-lettres,  mathematics,  modern  languages, 
and  music  were  not  neglected,  and  the  college  took  an- 
other step  forward.  Father  Thebaud  was  an  enthu- 
siastic Greek  scholar,  and  his  courses  in  higher  mathe- 
matics, chemistry,  and  physics  were  eminently  success- 
ful. He  wrote  a  learned  and  scholarly  paper,  in 
French,  on  the  Mammoth  Cave,  which  was  rendered 
into  elegant  English  by  Father  Murphy. 

About  1845  the  Jesuits  began  to  experience  some 
trouble.  Exactly  what  the  difficulty  was  is  not  gener- 
ally known,  but  it  is  supposed  that  it  was  caused  by 
some  difference  with  Bishop  Chabrat,  coadjutor  to 
Bishop  Flaget.  Old  Bishop  Flaget  was  most  favor- 
able to  the  Jesuits,  and  is  known  to  have  said  on  one 
occasion  since  their  departure  from  his  diocese :  "I 
have  grieved  without  ceasing  ever  since  the  fathers  lef t, 
my  diocese  two  years  ago."  But  the  trouble  had 
arisen,  and  there  was  no  way  to  avoid  it.  The  Louis- 
ville house  was  abandoned  in  March,  1846,  the  fathers 
returning  to  St.  Mary's.  About  this  time  the  arrange- 
ment with  Bishop  Hughes  was  perfected,  by  which  the 
college  at  Fordham  was  sold  to  the  fathers  of  St.  Mary's, 
and  Fathers  Murphy  and  The"  baud  left  on  April  19, 
1846,  arriving  at  Fordham  on  April  28th.  They  were 
kindly  received  by  the  professors  at  that  place,  and  at 


68  A  HISTOKY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

once  incorporated  into  the  faculty.  Father  Larkin  took 
his  departure  on  July  2d,  arriving  at  St.  John's  on  the 
18th. 

When  it  became  definitely  known  that  the  Jesuits 
were  leaving  St.  Mary's  general  sorrow  and  excitement 
prevailed,  and  the  indignation  against  Bishop  Chabrat, 
who  was  considered  responsible  for  their  departure, 
was  openly  expressed.  He  went  to  France  the  follow- 
ing year,  and  resigned.  His  action  was  ascribed  by 
the  people  of  the  diocese  to  the  outcry  against  him. 

The  work  of  packing  up  the  movable  property,  the 
books,  scientific  apparatus,  and  specimens  of  natural 
history,  was  vigorously  prosecuted,  and  by  the  begin- 
ning of  August,  1846,  the  last  of  it  had  been  de- 
spatched on  its  way  to  New  York.  The  fathers,  scho- 
lastics, and  brothers  left  Kentucky  in  four  bands, 
between  July  21st  and  31st,  and  arrived  at  Fordham 
between  August  2d  and  llth.  Among  them  were 
Fathers  Driscoll,  Nash  Cnow  at  Troy,  N.  Y.J),  De 
Luynes,  Henry  Hudon  (now  at  Montreal),  and  Gockeln, 
and  Brothers  Hennen,  Crowe,  and  Ledore.  The  last  to 
leave  the  old  place,  and  perhaps  the  most  pained  at 
the  parting,  were  Fathers  Fouche  and  Legouais,  who 
,did  not  go  until  August  10th.  The  only  survivors  of 
those  who  left  Kentucky  for  Fordham  are  Fathers 
Nash  and  Hudon.  St.  John's,  as  already  stated,  had 
been  incorporated  in  the  spring  of  1846,  and  in  Sep- 
tember the  Jesuits  started  in  anew,  in  a  strange  place 
and  among  a  strange  people. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ACCESSION    OF    THE    JESUITS     AND     INTRODUCTION    OF 
THEIR  PLAN  OF  STUDIES.     1846. 

WE  have  already  outlined,  with  as  much  attention 
to  detail  as  our  space  would  allow,  the  successive 
stages  through  which  St.  John's  had  passed,  from  the 
inception  of  the  idea  to  the  sale  of  the  school  to  the 
Jesuits.  That  under  their  management  it  would  rise 
to  opulence  and  power  was,  to  Archbishop  Hughes's 
mind,  almost  a  foregone  conclusion.  He  had  the  exam- 
ple of  St.  Mary's  to  help  him  in  reaching  this  conclu- 
sion, and  the  sequel  has  proven  the  soundness  of  his 
judgment.  The  work  so  auspiciously  begun  by  Dr. 
McCloskey,  and  followed  up  so  well  by  his  two  suc- 
cessors, was  enthusiastically  taken  up  by  the  new 
management.  That  it  has  been  vigorously  and  judi- 
ciously prosecuted  since  that  time,  there  need  be  no 
doubt.  We  have  only  to  look  at  the  St.  John's  of  to- 
day and  compare  it  with  the  St.  John's  of  that  earlier 
day,  to  find  objective  evidence  to  convince  us.  That 
the  college  had  progressed  during  its  first  few  years  of 
existence  to  such  an  extent  as  to  satisfy  the  expecta- 
tions of  its  illustrious  founder,  is  amply  attested  by 
him  in  a  pastoral  letter  of  1847,  in  which  he  says : 

"  .  .  .  In  five  short  years  St.  John's  College  rose  from  the 
condition  of  an  unfinished  house  in  a  field  to  the  cluster  of  build- 
ings of  which  it  is  now  composed  ;  and  from  an  obscure  Catholic 


70  A  HISTOEY  OF  FOEDHAM  COLLEGE. 

school,  beginning  with  six  students,  to  the  rank  and  privileges  of  a 
university.  .  .  .  We  deem  it  an  evidence  of  Almighty  God's 
approval  that  a  numerous,  learned,  and  pious  community  of  the  il- 
lustrious Society  of  Jesus — a  society  especially  instituted  for  the 
imparting  of  a  high  order  of  Christian  education  to  youth — should 
have  been  found  willing  to  take  charge  of  ;t  permanently." 

Could  Archbishop  Hughes  return  to  earth  on  this  fif- 
tieth anniversary  of  Fordham  College  and  see  the  re- 
sult of  his  zeal  and  energy,  the  proportions  to  which  his 
little  school  had  grown,  he  would  not  recognize  it. 
The  college  of  1846  and  1847,  that  stirred  the  good  old 
bishop's  heart  with  pride,  splendid  as  it  certainly  was, 
was  as  nothing  compared  to  the  magnificent  institution 
that  celebrates  its  golden  jubilee  this  year. 

To  the  reader  familiar  with  the  Fordham  of  to-day 
the  following  description  of  the  entrance  to  the  college 
grounds,  from  the  pen  of  Father  Nash,  S. J.,  which  ap- 
peared in  a  recent  issue  of  the  Fordham  Monthly,  will 
certainly  prove  interesting : 

"  Stepping  out  of  the  car  we  glanced  about  for  the 
city,  town,  or  village  of  Fordham.  On  the  east  side 
there  was  no  sign  of  it.  Splendid  shady  trees  occupied 
the  ground  to  the  edge  of  the  track.  To  the  west  were 
a  few  scattered  houses  climbing  up  the  hill  which  arose 
gradually  from  the  railroad.  Our  eyes  failed  to  see 
anything  which  we  could  call  St.  John's  College.  To 
our  inquiries  came  the  answer  that  in  Fordham  there 
are  two  boarding-schools  for  young  gentlemen,  both  of 
which  are  managed  by  ministers  of  the  Gospel.  This 
information  gave  us  very  little  light  in  our  search.  The 
entrances  to  both  were  pointed  out  to  us.  A  large, 
heavy  gate,  which  opened  on  to  an  avenue  running  di- 
rectly east,  and  shaded  by  magnificent  trees  decked  in 


ACCESSION  OF  THE  JESUITS.  71 

their  August  foliage,  was  the  entrance  to  the  college 
whose  president  was  the  Reverend  Dr.  Powell,  an  Epis- 
copalian minister.  Almost  adjoining  this,  and  at  right 
angles  with  it,  was  a  smaller  gate,  from  which  ran 
northward  a  foot-path  flanked  on  the  east  side  by  a 
massive  wall  of  stones  without  mortar,  along  which 
grew  a  row  of  '  ox-heart '  cherry-trees.  On  the  west 
side  was,  without  any  protecting  barrier,  a  steep  and 
threatening  ravine.  This  we  were  informed  was  the 
entrance  to  the  second  college,  thought  to  belong  to 
Catholic  priests.  Passing  through  the  small  gate 
which  opened  into  the  i  narrow  way,'  we  found  our- 
selves on  the  property  of  St.  John's  College.  A  few 
moments'  walk  brought  us  to  a  point  where  the  massive 
walland  row  of  cherry -trees  turned  eastward  at  right 
angles,  and  gave  us  a  view  of  the  solid  building  called 
Rose  Hill  College  and  the  superb  lawn  sweeping  in 
front  of  the  buildings,  something  in  the  form  of  a  semi- 
circle, and  gracefully  descending  to  the  railroad,  which 
would  be  the  diameter  of  the  circle.  Ascending  the 
avenue  into  which  our  narrow  path  had  suddenly  been 
transformed  at  the  abrupt  term  of  the  stone  wall,  we 
were  amazed  at  the  beauty  of  the  scene  spread  out  be- 
fore us  and  around  us.  The  grand  appearance  of  the 
lawn,  the  site  of  the  scattered  buildings  composing  the 
college,  the  view  of  the  railroad  winding  along  the  foot 
of  the  lawn,  the  hills  rising  west  of  the  railroad  as  if 
straining  to  obtain  one  more  glance  at  the  sun  disappear- 
ing beyond  the  royal  Hudson,  the  picturesque  location 
of  the  future  Fordham,  the  compact  and  solid  expres- 
sion of  old  '  Rose  Hill '  residence  now  and  for  evermore 
'  St.  John's  College,'  were  surely  capable  of  producing 
on  the  least  sensitive  nature  an  indelible  impression." 


72  A  HISTOKY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

And  this  was  Fordham  forty-five  years  ago  !  A 
glance  at  the  Fordham  of  to-day  will  show  the  dis- 
parity. But  let  us  follow  the  changes  step  by  step, 
and  feel  our ,  way  gradually  from  the  "  unfinished 
house  in  a  field  "  to  Fordham  College  fifty  years  old. 

Father  Thebaud  was  the  first  Jesuit  to  assume  the 
reins  of  government  in  the  new  school,  and  he  handled 
them  skilfully  and  well.  He  was,  as  we  have  already 
said,  a  man  of  almost  exhaustive  erudition,  and  the 
author  of  several  well-known  and  widely  read  volumes. 
"  The  Irish  Kace,"  "  Gentilism,"  and  "  The  Church 
and  the  Gentile  World,"  are  among  the  best  known  of 
his  works.  "  A  perfect  child  in  simplicity,"  said  the 
late  Vicar-General  Keegan,  of  Brooklyn,  "  but  a  giant 
in  everything  sublime  and  useful,  Father  Thebaud  was 
a  man  who  would  have  been  an  ornament  to  any  pro- 
fession." 

Father  Thebaud  had  an  able  and  efficient  corps  of 
professors  to  aid  him  in  the  management  of  the  college. 
Father  John  Larkin  was  vice-president,  prefect  of 
studies,  and  professor  of  philosophy ;  Father  Murphy 
was  professor  of  rhetoric ;  Father  Du  Merle,  first  pre- 
fect of  discipline ;  Father  Lebreton  as  minister,  and 
Mr.  Stallo  as  professor  of  chemistry  and  physics. 
Father  Thebaud7  s  first  care  was  to  regulate  the  course 
of  study.  It  was  decided  in  January,  1847,  that  to 
obtain  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts,  it  was  necessary 
that  the  aspirant  be  able  to  read  with  ease  the  works 
of  Cicero  or  Livy,  Virgil  or  Horace,  Demosthenes  or 
Hoiper,  and  to  stand  examination  in  arithmetic,  alge- 
bra, geometry,  and  trigonometry. 

The  system  of  instruction  established  in  the  college 
was  followed  for  the  first  year.  According  to  this 


ACCESSION  OF  THE  JESUITS.  73 

system  there  was  one  professor  for  each  branch  -of 
study,  but  it  was  soon  found  that  too  much  time  was 
lost  by  the  students  in  going  from  one  class  to  an- 
other at  the  adjournment  of  the  lectures.  The  frequent 
changes  of  professors,  with  many  lesser  disadvantages 
accompanying  it,  was  found  equally  unsatisfactory. 
At  the  end  of  the  first  year  the  entire  system  was 
abolished,  and  a  catalogue  of  Georgetown  College  hav- 
ing been  procured  in  the  meantime,  the  plan  laid  down 
in  the  ratio  studiorum  of  the  Jesuits  was  adopted.  It 
was  settled  that  the  course  should  consist  of  three 
grammar  classes,  in  which  the  rudiments  were  taught, 
and  the  classes  of  Humanities,  or  Belles-lettres,  Rhe- 
toric, and  Philosophy.  It  was  not  then  settled  how 
many  years  should  be  devoted  to  philosophy,  nor  was 
anything  definitely  arranged  for  the  classes  of  mathe- 
matics. 

This  plan  has  been  considerably  altered  since  that 
time.  The  Classical  course  now  consists  of  seven  in- 
stead of  six  classes.  The  elements  of  Latin,  Greek, 
English,  and  other  necessary  branches  are  taught  as 
before  in  the  three  grammar  classes.  The  class  of 
Classics,  or  suprema  grammatica,  the  first  of  the  under- 
graduate classes,  is  the  step  by  which  the  student, 
emerging  from  the  rudimentary  studies  of  the  grammar 
department,  reaches  the  higher  branches  taught  in  the 
classes  of  Humanities,  Rhetoric,  and  Philosophy.  The 
first  year  of  philosophy,  at  the  close  of  which  the  de- 
gree of  Bachelor  of  Arts  is  conferred,  comprises  a 
course  in  logic,  general  and  special  metaphysics,  and 
the  general  principles  of  ethics  and  of  civil  society.  A 
post-graduate  course  of  one  year  in  which  the  study  of 
ethics  is  further  prosecuted,  and  at  the  end  of  which 


74  A  HISTOEY  OF  FOEDEAM  COLLEGE. 

the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  is  conferred,  lias  been 
added. 

Another  addition  to  the  original  plan  is  the  Com- 
mercial course,  consisting  of  five  classes.  Into  this 
course  the  study  of  the  classics  does  not  enter  at  all, 
the  time  being  wholly  given  up  to  English  and  the 
study  of  business  forms.  Connected  with  this  course 
is  the  Scientific  Department,  including  the  classes  in 
Surveying,  Electrical  Engineering,  Photography,  and 
Analytical  Chemistry.  The  Surveying  class,  under  the 
direction  of  the  professor,  surveys  the  ground  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  college,  Apart  from  both  these 
courses,  and  in  no  way  affected  by  them,  is  the  mathe- 
matical course.  The  grading  of  a  student  in  the  regu- 
lar course  does  not,  in  the  least,  affect  his  standing  in 
the  class  of  mathematics,  until  he  reaches  his  senior,  or 
philosophy  year,  when  his  rating  in  the  former  branch 
becomes  an  important  factor  in  deciding  his  right  to  a 
diploma.  Music,  drawing,  painting,  and  the  modern 
languages  are  special  studies. 

We  have  already  described  the  buildings  that  stood  on 
the  grounds  at  the  time  of  its  purchase  in  1841,  and 
the  additions  made  prior  to  1846.  The  wing  at  the 
south  of  the  main  building,  on  the  site  of  the  present 
chapel  wing,  was  used  as  a  study  hall ;  the  present  par- 
lor was  the  chapel,  and  the  parlor  was  in  the  present 
rector's  office.  The  north  wing  was  utilized  as  a  re- 
fectory for  the  students,  an  office  which  its  more  sub- 
stantial successor  now  fills.  Some  of  the  classes,  such 
as  Physics,  Chemistry,  and  Higher  Mathematics,  were 
taught  in  the  main  building.  The  other  class-rooms 
were  in  a  one-story  brick  building  which  ran  eastward 
from  the  end  of  the  south  wing  and  connected  with 


ACCESSION  OF  THE  JESUITS.  75 

the  three- story  building  known  to  fame  in  after-years 
as  "  the  castle."  In  the  castle  were  the  music-rooms, 
reading-room,  and  first  prefect's  office. 

Father  The  baud  removed  the  shed  which  connected 
the  mansion  with  the  Second  Division  building,  to  a 
point  northeast  of  the  buildings,  where  it  was  afterward 
on  the  dividing  line  between  Second  and  Third  Divis- 
ions. In  its  place  he  erected  the  three-story  brick 
building  now  standing  there,  in  which  are  the  music- 
rooms,  wardrobe,  and  library.  The  physics  class-room 
was  in  the  cellar  of  this  building.  In  1849  an  exten- 
sion was  built  to  the  Second  Division  building.  This 
entire  structure  was  torn  down  in  the  summer  of  1890 
on  the  completion  of  the  new  Junior  Hall,  while  the 
castle  had  disappeared  a  month  or  more  previous,  to 
make  room  for  the  new  faculty  building.  The  present 
infirmary  was,  at  this  time,  occupied  by  a  few  Sisters 
of  Charity  who  had  charge  of  the  domestic  arrange- 
ments, but  in  1847  it  became  the  Jesuit  novitiate.  The 
scholastic  novices  remained  there  until  1850,  when  they 
were  removed  to  Montreal ;  the  coadjutor  novices  re- 
mained until  1859.  The  new  seminary  was  ready  for 
occupation  this  year,  and  the  little  cottage  near  it 
was  occupied  by  Mr.  Eodrigue,  a  brother-in-law  of 
Archbishop  Hughes. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PRESIDENCY  OF  FATHER  TH&BAUD.    1846-51. 

THE  year  in  which  the  new  system  was  inaugurated 
was  a  remarkable  year  for  Fordham.  It  saw  a  notable 
array  of  learned  men  on  the  faculty  of  the  college. 
Fathers  Daubresse  and  Duranquet,  whose  names  have 
been  familiar  to  generations  of  New  Yorkers,  were 
among  the  professors  then.  Fathers  Murphy,  Ryan, 
Driscoll,  and  Pottgeisser,  Mr.  Doucet  and  Mr.  Hudon, 
and  Brother  Mace,  have  all  since  become  well  known. 
Famous  among  the  singers  on  the  faculty  were  Fathers 
Verheyden  and  Schiansky;  and  Messrs.  Doucet  and 
Glackmeyer.  Father  Schiansky  had  a  remarkable  his- 
tory. He  had  been  in  former  years  a  leading  tenor 
singer  in  an  opera  company  in  Vienna,  but  with  his 
wife  had  experienced  a  change  of  heart,  and,  after  mak- 
ing a  retreat  in  Rome,  they,  with  the  permission  of  the 
authorities  of  the  Church,  separated,  she  to  go  into  a 
convent,  and  he  to  enter  the  Jesuit  novitiate.  Father 
Du  Merle,  of  whom  we  have  already  spoken,  was  pre- 
fect of  discipline ;  Father  Legouais,  and  Mr.  Tissot, 
who  afterward  became  president  of  the  college,  were 
among  the  notable  men  of  that  time. 

Fathers  Nash  and  Ouellet,  who  with  Father  Tissot 
became  famous  during  the  war  as  chaplains  in  the 
army ;  Fathers  Driscoll,  Regnier,  and  Hudon  were 
also  to  be  seen  at  Fordham  in  those  days. 


REV.    AUGUSTUS    THfiBAUD,    SJ. 

4TH   PRESIDENT. 


PRESIDENCY  OF  FATHER  THEBAUD.  77 

But  the  most  prominent  figure  of  that  period,  the 
man  who  stands  pre-eminent  among  his  fellows,  is  Father 
William  Stack  Murphy.  Father  Murphy,  it  is  needless 
to  say,  was  an  Irishman,  and  came  of  a  family  that  had 
already  supplied  some  distinguished  members  of  the 
Irish  hierarchy.  His  uncle,  Bishop  Murphy,  of  Cork, 
was  a  savant,  and  there  was  hardly  a,  book- stall  in  the 
United  Kingdom  that  he  had  not  searched  for  rare 
volumes  to  furnish  the  shelves  of  his  library.  Father 
Murphy,  like  so  many  Catholic  Irishmen  of  that 
time  (he  was  born  in  the  last  decade  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century),  was  educated  in  France,  where  he 
entered  the  Jesuit  novitiate.  Never  again  did  he 
set  foot  on  his  native  land.  When  he  passed  it  on 
his  way  to  America,  he  had  permission  to  land  and 
visit  his  mother,  but,  like  St.  Francis  Xavier,  who  de- 
clined a  similar  privilege  when  passing  through  Spain 
on  his  way  to  the  Indies,  he  denied  himself  and  watched 
the  shores  of  his  native  land  fade  from  his  view,  and 
with  them  his  only  opportunity  of  ever  meeting  her 
again  on  earth.  But  if,  in  a  spirit  of  mortification,  he 
denied  himself  in  a  manner  such  as  few  had  ever 
adopted  before,  still  he  thought  of  his  mother,  and 
thought  of  her  tenderly,  for  Father  Merrick,  president 
of  St.  Francis  Xavier's  College,  and  an  old  Fordham 
student,  tells  us  that  Father  Murphy  often  told  his 
boys  that  "  there  had  been  a  time  when  he  wore  long 
curls,  and  his  mother  thought  him  as  handsome  a  boy 
as  any  of  their  mothers  thought  them." 

When  he  came  to  Fordham,  although  he  was  little 
more  than  fifty  years  of  age,  his  hair  was  perfectly 
white,  his  form  was  thin  and  spare,  and  the  deep, 
thoughtful  expression  of  his  intellectual  face  was  height- 


78  A  HISTOEY  OF  FOEDHAM  COLLEGE. 

ened  by  a  pair  of  glasses.  He  was  not  an  orator,  al- 
though what  he  said  carried  weight  and  conviction  with 
it.  His  forte  was  literature ;  he  was  a  great  purist, 
and  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  the  classics  of  the  last 
century.  Of  his  teaching  it  has  been  said :  "  There 
may  have  been  a  method  in  it,  as  there  is  said  to  be  in 
some  people's  madness,  but  it  would  puzzle  anyone  to 
find  it  out."  Certain  it  is,  however,  that  unique  as  his 
system  may  have  been,  and  odd  the  means  by  which  he 
attained  his  end,  the  fact  remains  that  the  goal  was 
reached,  the  end  attained.  For  though  his  pupils  came 
to  his  hands  the  rawest  of  raw  material,  he  turned  them 
out  so  wonderfully  developed  that  the  most  stupid  and 
indolent  would  be  able  to  accomplish  something  in  the 
way  of  literary  work. 

When  a  debate  or  other  similar  literary  exercise  was 
in  preparation  it  was  his  custom  (for  such  affairs  were 
usually  under  his  direction)  to  call  the  orators  in  turn 
to  his  room,  there  to  read  aloud  their  productions. 
The  student  would  probably  find  him  shaving,  and  then, 
with  his  face  covered  with  lather,  gesticulating  with 
the  razor  in  his  hand,  he  would  correct  mistakes,  point 
out  shortcomings,  and  sometimes,  when  thoroughly 
warmed  up,  would  hold  forth  for  a  half-hour  for  the 
edification  of  his  single  listener.  He  had  an  inex- 
haustible fund  of  stories,  and  had  a  quaint  manner 
of  attaching  great  interest  to  the  most  commonplace 
remarks.  His  class  was  said  to  be  a  source  of  pleas- 
ure and  entertainment  even  to  the  most  indolent 
and  indifferent,  such  was  the  charm  of  his  manner 
and  the  delightful  way  he  had  of  imparting  informa- 
tion. 

Father  Murphy  was  a  constant  sufferer  from  dys- 


PKESIDENCY  OF  FATHEE  THEBAUD.  79 

pepsia,  but,  unlike  many  victims  of  that  irritating 
disease,  he  caused  no  discomfort  to  those  who  sur- 
rounded him.  He  kept  his  sufferings  to  himself,  was 
uniformly  kind  and  genial,  and  lived  to  a  ripe  old  age, 
a  constant  source  of  pleasure  and  enjoyment  to  all  who 
were  associated  with  him.  His  malady  was  eventually 
the  cause  of  his  leaving  New  York,  where  he  had  been 
superior  of  the  mission  for  several  years.  From  New 
York  he  went  directly  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  where  he 
became  superior  of  the  province.  'From  there  he  went 
to  New  Orleans,  where  he  was  at  the  time  of  the  late 
war.  While  there  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Gen- 
eral Banks,  with  whom  he  became  so  intimate  that 
when  the  people  of  the  city  wanted  any  favor  or  con- 
cession, they  knew  no  surer  means  of  having  it  granted 
than  by  securing  the  intercession  of  the  "  Yankee  priest." 
He  ended  his  days  at  New  Orleans,  at  an  advanced 
age. 

.  Among  the  students  who  figured  in  that  first  epoch 
in  the  history  of  Fordham,  as  a  university,  we  find  the 
names  of  many  men  who  have  since  served  church  or 
state  faithfully  and  well.  First  among  them,  for  many 
reasons,  from  the  dignity  of  the  position  which  he 
afterward  attained,  from  the  character  he  sustained  in 
college,  and  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  both 
faculty  and  students,  was  Bishop  Rosecrans.  He  was 
among  the  first  students  to  enter  the  new  college,  and 
immediately  established  a  reputation  for  steadiness,  up- 
rightness, and  studiousness  that  soon  placed  him  in 
the  front  rank  among  his  fellows,  and  enabled  him  to 
exert  a  wonderful  influence  over  them.  He  was  one 
of  the  four  who  received  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of 
Arts  at  the  second  annual  Commencement  of  the 


80  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

college,  July  15,  1847.*  His  address  on  that  occasion 
was  pronounced  a  brilliant  and  scholarly  effort,  and 
was  published  in  full  in  the  report  of  the  exercises 
which  appeared  the  following  day  in  the  New  York 
Herald.  The  three  other  young  men  to  receive  degrees 
on  that  memorable  day  were  Peter  McCarron,  Thomas 
Dolan,  both  of  whom,  like  Bishop  Rosecrans,  entered 
the  priesthood,  and,  like  him  also,  have  gone  over  to 
the  "great  majority ;"  and  Andrew  J.  Smith,  who  is 
still  delving  in  the  "•  dusky  purlieus  of  the  law." 

The  published  account  of  that  commencement  may 
possibly  be  of  interest  to  our  readers,  so  we  reproduce 
it,  in  part,  as  it  appeared  in  the  Herald  of  July  16th  : 

The  first  annual  Commencement  of  this  newly  incorporated  col- 
lege took  place  at  Fordham  yesterday  afternoon.  All  the  regular 
trains  of  cars  on  the  Harlem  Railroad  were  crowded  during  the 
morning,  and  at  1  o'clock  P.M.  an  extra  train  of  six  cars  was  des- 
patched to  take  up  passengers,  whose  business  or  other  engage- 
ments kept  them  in  the  city  until  that  hour. 

The  exercises  were  conducted  in  a  large  tent,  erected  for  the 
occasion  on  the  beautiful  lawn  in  front  of  the  college  buildings, 
where,  after  the  passengers  from  the  last  train  had  taken  their 
places,  there  were  present  about  two  thousand  persons,  among 
whom  we  observed  members  of  the  city  legislature,  officers  of  the 
army,  and  other  public  persons,  besides  hundreds  of  pretty  girls, 
beautiful  young  ladies,  and  good-looking  matrons. 

On  the  stage  were  seated  Bishop  Hughes,  Bishop  McCloskey, 
Joseph  E.  Chandler,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  Rev.  Mr.  Starrs,  Rev. 
Mr.  Bayley,  Rev.  Mr.  C.  Loudon,  Canada,  and  Rev.  Messrs. 
McCarron,  O'Neil,  McLellan,  of  this  city,  and  the  faculty  of  the 

*  In  the  reports  of  this  event  which  appeared  in  the  daily  papers  at  the 
time,  it  is  called  the  first  annual  Commencement.  This  is  wrong.  The  first 
Commencement  was  held  in  1846,  immediately  after  the  charter  was  received. 
At  this  first  Commencement  Bishop  Hughes,  in  the  course  of  his  address,  an- 
nounced that  the  college  was  to  be  given  into  the  charge  of  the  Jesuits. 


PRESIDENCY  OF  FATHER  THEBAUD.  81 

college — Father  Augustus  J.  Thebaud,  President ;  Father  John 
Larkin,  Vice-President ;  Father  William  S.  Murphy,  Father 
Charles  De  Luynes,  Father  Louis  Petit,  Father  H.  Du  Merle. 

There  were  only  four  graduates,  upon  whom  devolved  the  duty 
of  delivering  the  orations,  of  which  one  was  a  discourse  on  Rus- 
sia, by  Mr.  Charles  De  Bull.*  It  was  a  creditable  performance, 
showing  considerable  historical  knowledge  and  a  happy  turn  of 
thought — reflection  based  upon  past  occurrences. 

The  next  oration  was  a  Latin  performance,  De  Laudibus  Linguce 
Lat.  Oratio,  by  P.  McGovern,  who  articulated  clearly,  and  ac- 
quitted himself  in  all  respects  well,  in  a  Latin  speech  of  consider- 
able length. 

The  third  was  a  discourse  on  O'Connell,  by  P.  McCarron,  who, 
with  a  modest  introduction,  prefaced  some  quite  eloquent  remarks 
in  laudation  of  the  lamented  Irish  statesman. 

A  discourse  on  "Chivalry,"  a  good  composition,  was  delivered 
by  Mr.  Andrew  J.  Smith,  who  was  also  the  honored  graduate  who 
delivered  the  Valedictory  Address. 

The  last  discourse  .  .  .  was  of  course  the  best,  and  was  in 
consequence  reserved  till  the  last.  It  was  written  and  delivered 
by  Mr.  S.  H.  Rosecrans,  whose  father  is  now  Professor  of  Civil 
Engineering  at  West  Point.  It  was  entitled  "  Nothing  Original." 

Here  follows  the  address,  which  we  omit. 

Next  came  the  ceremony  of  conferring  degrees.  The  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts  was  conferred  upon  Messrs.  Thomas  Dolan,  Andrew 
Smith,  S.  M.  Rosecrans,  and  P.  McCarron.  Mr.  Smith  was  also 
honored  with  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  The  diplomas  were 
given  to  the  young  gentlemen.  The  vice-president,  Father  Larkin, 
made  a  very  happy  address  to  the  graduates,  reminding  them  of 
their  prospective  duties,  etc.  The  premiums  were  then  distributed 
to  the  students  and  scholars  of  the  preparatory  schools. 

Then  follows  a  long  list  of  prize-winners  in  various 
branches. 

*  This  is  an  error  ;  neither  Mr.  De  Bull  nor  Mr.  McGovern  were  graduated 
that  year. 

6 


82  A  HISTOEY  OF  FOEDHAM  COLLEGE. 

The  valedictory  address  was  next  delivered  by  Andrew  J.  Smith, 
A.B.,  who,  in  an  able  manner,  took  leave  of  his  classmates  and  the 
faculty.  Bishop  Hughes,  being  requested,  then  came  forward  and 
made  some  very  happy  remarks,  appropriate  to  the  occasion,  after 
which  the  assemblage  broke  up. 


An  interesting  relic  of  this  Commencement  day  came 
to  light  within  the  last  few  years  and  was  given  to  the 
public  through  the  columns  of  the  FordJiam  Monthly. 
It  is  an  address,  written  on  paper  once  white,  but  which 
has  become  yellow  and  discolored  at  the  hand  of  time. 
It  reads  as  follows : 


MR   ANDREW  J.  SMITH,  MB.  SYLVESTER  ROSEORANS,  MB.  PETEB  Mc- 

CARRON. 

GENTLEMEN  :  I  am  commissioned  by  the  faculty  of  St.  John's  Col- 
lege to  hand  to  each  of  you  a  diploma  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  This 
diploma  is  the  solemn  and  authentic  proof  of  the  favorable  judg- 
ment which  the  Faculty  of  this  institution,  after  due  examination 
and  mature  consideration,  have  formed  both  of  your  intellectual 
capacity  and  of  your  moral  conduct  and  principles.  By  these  doc- 
uments which  are  public,  by  the  authority  from  which  they  emanate, 
by  the  object  they  have  in  view,  and  by  the  circumstances  under 
which  they  are  handed  to  you,  we  stand  committed  before  the 
world,  unless  by  the  rectitude  of  your  future  conduct  and  steady 
application  to  your  respective  duties  you  justify  our  decision. 

For,  gentlemen,  let  me  impress  upon  your  minds  that,  by  ask- 
ing for  and  receiving  the  academic  honors,  you  enter  into  a  solemn 
and  public  engagement  to  show  yourselves  worthy  of  the  dis- 
tinction which  is  conferred  on  you.  This  distinction  is  conferred 
upon  you,  not  in  our  name,  but  in  the  name  and  by  the  authority 
of  the  Eepublic,  and  to  the  Eepublic  both  we  and  you  are  re- 
sponsible. If  the  Republic  invests  us  with  a  discretionary  power 
to  decorate  with  these  distinctions  those  whom  we  judge  worthy, 
it  expects,  and  it  has  a  right  to  expect,  that  they  should  show 
themselves  on  all  occasions,  in  word  and  in  deed,  friends  of  law 


PRESIDENCY  OF  FATHER  THEBAUD.  83 

and  order,  defenders  of  truth  and  justice,  supporters  of  sound 
morality. 

Receive  your  diploma  of  Bachelor  of  Arts,  and  remember  the 
engagements  which  you  contract. 

A  query  accompanied  the  publication  of  this  docu- 
ment, calling  for  information  as  to  who  delivered  the 
address.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  it  was  Father 
Larkin,  because  according  to  the  newspaper  report  of 
the  occurrence  he  addressed  the  graduates. 

In  the  list  of  prize-winners  to  which  I  have  alluded, 
the  name  that  most  frequently  occurs  is  that  of  Charles 
De  Bull.  There  is  no  record  of  his  graduation,  and  he 
is  not  numbered  among  the  alumni,  yet  he  appears  to 
have  been  among  the  foremost  students  of  his  time. 
Both  his  professors  and  fellow-students  who  have  been 
known  to  express  an  opinion  of  him,  have  spoken  of 
him  in  the  highest  terms.  The  late  Father  Doucet 
said  :  "  De  Bull  was  a  boy  the  like  of  whom  you  will 
meet  once  in  a  lifetime.  He  had  a  wonderful  influence 
for  good  among  the  other  students,"  and  Father  Mer- 
rick  speaks  of  him  as  "  our  St.  Aloysius."  He  died  in 
Rome. 

Among  the  other  students  under  Father  Thebaud's 
presidency  who  have  won  distinction  in  the  world  and 
reflected  credit  on  their  alma  mater,  we  may  name 
Vicar-General  "William  Keegan,  of  the  diocese  of  Brook- 
lyn, and  Judge  Henry  H.  Dodge,  of  Perrysburg,  O., 
both  of  the  class  of  '49.  Vicar-General  Keegan  was  a 
native  of  Ireland,  although  educated  in  this  country, 
and  was  a  warm  personal  friend  in  after-life  of  Father 
Thebaud.  He  died  in  May,  1890,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six 
years.  Judge  Dodge,  as  I  have  said,  was  a  classmate 
of  Father  Keegan,  and  since  his  graduation  has  followed 


84  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

the  practice  of  law.  It  is  said  that  in  his  school-days 
he  was  not  very  prepossessing,  and  was  very  awkward 
when  he  made  his  first  speech.  "  But,"  says  one  who 
knew  him  then,  "  no  one  minded  that ;  all  we  paid  at- 
tention to  was  the  precocious  gravity  and  maturity  of 
the  young  man." 

There  was  Michael  O'Connor,  of  Charleston,  S.  C., 
also  of  the  class  of  '49,  a  fiery  Secessionist  and  brother 
of  Lawrence  O'Connor  who  is  mentioned  in  a  previous 
chapter.  He  became  a  member  of  Congress  after  the 
war,  and  the  degree  of  LL.D.  was  conferred  on  him  by 
the  college  in  1881.  The  catalogue  of  that  year  records 
the  awarding  of  the  degree,  and  adds,  in  a  footnote, 
that  he  "  died  since  the  degree  was  conferred."  And 
we  must  not  omit  Father  Merrick,  to  whom  we  have 
already  referred  more  than  once,  "the  irrepressible 
Merrick,"  as  Judge  Dodge  has  termed  him.  He  was  of 
the  class  of  '50,  entered  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  is  now 
president  of  St.  Francis  Xavier's  College,  New  York. 
Other  well-known  students  of  that  time  were — the  Very 
Reverend  John  A.  Kelly,  '51,  Vicar-General  of  the  dio- 
cese of  Trenton,  who  died  in  February,  1891 ;  Law- 
rence O'Connor  and  the  Very  Reverend  James  Hughes, 
Vicar-General  of  Hartford  diocese,  both  of  whom  we 
mentioned  before;  the  Reverend  William  Plowden 
Morrogh,  '49,  who  became  superior  of  St.  Joseph's  Ec- 
clesiastical Seminary  at  Fordham,  and  afterward  pastor 
of  the  Church  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  in  New 
York ;  the  Reverend  Daniel  Fisher,  '48,  first  rector  of 
Seton  Hall  College,  South  Orange,  K  J. ;  Felix  Ken- 
nedy, and  Daniel  Gray.  The  first  to  receive  the  degree 
of  LL.D.  from  Fordham  was  the  learned  Dr.  Orestes 
A.  Brownson^  on  whom  this  distinguished  honor  was 


PRESIDENCY  OF  FATHEE  THEBAUD.  85 

conferred  in  1850.  Dr.  John  Gilmary  Shea,  the  emi- 
nent Catholic  historian,  was  a  member  of  the  faculty 
in  1848  and  1849. 

Several  changes  worthy  of  note  took  place  during 
the  last  years  of  Father  Thebaud's  presidency.  In 
1850  the  students'  library  was  established,  the  room 
assigned  for  it  being  in  the  building  where  the  music- 
rooms  and  wardrobe  are  now.  The  previous  year  the 
annual  retreat,  which  had  hitherto  been  held  during 
Lent,  was  given  in  October,  which  time  has  been  se- 
lected ever  since. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

FATHER  LAEKIN  AS  PRESIDENT. 

FATHER  TnisAUD's  successor  in  the  presidency  of 
Fordham  was  the  Reverend  John  Larkin,  to  whom  we 
have  referred  on  more  than  one  occasion  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapters  of  this  work.  He  had  entered  the  so- 
ciety in  Kentucky,  had  come  from  that  place  to  Ford- 
ham,  and  had  been  vice-president  during  the  Jesuits' 
first  year  there.  He  is  described  as  one  of  the  hand- 
somest, most  courtly,  and  most  erudite  men  that  Ford- 
ham  had  ever  seen.  He  was  a  man  among  men,  a  man 
once  known  never  forgotten.  "  No  man,"  says  the  late 
Mr.  Hassard,  "  who  was  at  St.  John's  between  1851 
and  1854  can  speak  of  Father  John  Larkin  without 
a  quickening  pulse.  For  me,  ever  since  I  first  saw 
him,  thirty-five  years  ago,  the  college  has  been  filled 
with  his  majestic  presence."  Mr.  Hassard  fairly  idolized 
Father  Larkin,  as  indeed  did  nearly  every  student  who 
was  connected  with  St.  John's  during  those  early  years. 

"  A  great  many  of  the  Jesuits,"  continues  Mr.  Has- 
sard, "  were  fine-looking  men,  but  none  of  us  had  ever 
seen  just  such  a  type  of  masculine  beauty  as  this,  big 
rosy  Englishman.  He  was  immensely  stout.  Soon 
after  he  arrived,  I  remember  taking  a  younger  brother 
of  mine  to  a  place  where  we  could  look  at  him  across 
the  fence  as  he  read  his  office  in  the  garden.  *  Isn't  he 
fat ! '  we  exclaimed ;  and  we  both  added :  *  But  how, 


REV.    JOHN    LARKIN,    SJ. 

5TH    PRESIDENT. 


FATHER  LARKIN  AS  PRESIDENT.  87 

handsome  lie  is ! '  Although  his  face  was  too  full,  the 
exquisite  outlines  of  his  classical  features  were  not  ob- 
scured ;  he  had  the  mouth  of  a  young  Greek  god ;  in 
his  eye  there  was  a  singular  union  of  mildness  and 
penetration ;  his  large  head  was  crowned  with  fine 
silky  brown  hair,  rather  long  and  wavy,  and  brushed 
well  back  from  his  broad  forehead.  His  voice,  like 
that  of  most  short-necked  people  of  apoplectic  habit, 
was  apt  to  be  a  little  husky,  but  it  was  perfectly  modu- 
lated, and  his  enunciation  was  a  marvel  of  distinctness. 
To  hear  him  talk  was  a  lesson  in  elocution.  Neither 
his  preaching  nor  his  conversation  gave  you  the  idea 
of  labored  precision ;  it  was  fluent,  easy,  direct,  natu- 
ral; but  every  word  had  its  just  emphasis  and  exact 
pronunciation,  and  every  sentence  its  sure  balance. 
There  is  a  certain  tone  of  speech  rarely  acquired  ex- 
cept by  persons  of  thorough  education  and  high  breed- 
ing ;  it  indicates  familiarity  with  the  best  usages,  re- 
fined taste,  self-possession,  composure.  Father  Larkin 
had  more  of  that  than  any  man  I  ever  met  except 
James  Russell  Lowell." 

Such  was  Father  Larkin  as  he  appeared  to  an  admir- 
ing pupil — genial,  polished,  scholarly,  a  perfect  type  of 
the  true  Christian  gentleman.  His  influence  over  the 
students  of  Fordham  was  truly  wonderful ;  and  it  was 
an  influence  that  did  not  cease  to  act  when  the  student 
went  forth  into  the  world  free  from  the  check  and 
restraint  of  college  life,  but  it  was  carried  forth  and 
remained  in  its  effects  long  after  many  another  im- 
pression had  worn  away. 

A  little  incident  happened  during  the  first  year  of 
Father  Larkin's  presidency  that  aptly  illustrates  the 
unreasoning  manner  in  which  the  average  boy  will  act, 


88  A  HISTOKY  OF  FOBDHAM  COLLEGE. 

and  the  wrong  motives  which  he  will  ascribe  for  acts 
which  he  does  not  understand.  For  some  unknown 
reason  no  holiday  was  given  on  St.  Patrick's  day  of 
Father  Larkin's  first  year  as  president.  The  boys  de- 
manded a  holiday,  but  their  request  was  denied.  It 
immediately  became  noised  among  the  students  that  in 
thus  refusing  he  was  actuated  by  prejudice,  and  that 
being  an  Englishman,  his  antipathy  to  anything  Irish 
had  caused  him  to  take  his  stand  against  the  holiday. 
It  was  only  required  that  a  rumor  of  this  kind  be 
started  for  belief  to  seize  a  firm  hold  on  the  boys,  and 
a  plot  for  revenge  was  set  on  foot.  On  the  evening  of 
March  16th,  when  the  boys  assembled  for  prayers, 
everyone  was  well  supplied  with  marbles  of  the  small, 
cheap  variety.  At  a  given  time  one  of  the  ringleaders 
sent  a  marble  through  the  nearest  pane  of  glass.  That 
was  the  signal,  and  from  all  sides  came  the  cracking  of 
glass  as  one  after  another  took  up  the  mischievous 
work.  In  vain  the  prefect  watched ;  by  a  deft  move- 
ment of  the  fingers  a  marble  could  be  propelled  with 
sufficient  force  to  break  a  pane  of  glass,  and  the  move- 
ment so  concealed  as  to  make  discovery  almost  impos- 
sible. This  was  kept  up  that  night  in  the  dormitory 
and  next  day  in  the  class-rooms,  study-hall,  and  refec- 
tory, until  there  was  hardly  a  pane  of  glass  in  the  house 
left  unbroken.  But,  as  is  usual  in  such  cases,  the  ring- 
leaders were  discovered  and  summarily  expelled,  and 
the  other  offenders  were  promised  immunity  from  pun- 
ishment, if  each  would  report  to  the  treasurer  how 
many  panes  he  had  broken,  in  order  that  he  might  be 
obliged  to  pay  for  them.  The  quaking  conspirators 
gladly  availed  themselves  of  this  opportunity,  and  es- 
caped further  punishment. 


FATHER  LARKIN  AS  PRESIDENT.  89 

The  Csecilia  Society  at  that  time  gave  frequent  mu- 
sical entertainments,  the  most  important  of  which  was 
generally  given  on  Evacuation  day,  November  25th, 
and  Father  Larkin  introduced  the  custom  of  giving 
musical  and  literary  entertainments  on  Washington's 
birthday,  St.  Patrick's  day,  and  St.  John  the  Baptist's 
day.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  how  unfounded  were 
the  opinions  of  the  boys  on  his  alleged  prejudice. 

During  Father  Larkin's  presidency  the  Know-Noth- 
ing troubles  were  at  their  height.  Two  meetings  were 
held  on  Fordham  Heights  for  the  purpose  of  organizing 
to  burn  the  college.  A  Mr.  Cole,  a  blacksmith  on  the 
Kingsbridge  road,  threatened  to  expose  the  plot  if  they 
did  not  desist,  and  the  attack  on  the  college  was  frus- 
trated. At  this  time  the  government  furnished  the 
college  with  twelve  muskets  for  the  better  defence  of 
the  institution.  These  muskets  lay  around  until  the 
beginning  of  the  civil  war,  when  one  of  a  number  of 
boys  who  were  playing  with  the  arms  was  stabbed  in 
the  groin  by  a  bayonet,  and  the  guns  were  then  put 
away  out  of  reach.  In  later  years  they  became  the 
property  of  the  Dramatic  Association,  and  figured  in 
many  a  performance  on  the  college  boards.  Some  of 
them  are  still  to  be  found  in  the  Property  Room  of  the 
Dramatic  Association.  November  3,  1853,  the  Papal 
Legate,  Monsignore  Bedini,  visited  the  college  with 
Bishop  Hughes  and  the  Bishop  of  Brooklyn,  and  a  re- 
ception was  tendered  them  by  the  students. 

Father  Larkin  was  president  until  1854,  and  through- 
out his  entire  term  was  a  great  favorite  with  the  boys. 
It  is  probable  that  no  member  of  the  faculty  since  the 
founding  of  the  college  ever  acquired  such  an  extra- 
ordinary influence  over  the  students  of  all  ages  as  did 


90  A  HISTORY  OF  FOBDHAM  COLLEGE. 

Father  Larkin,  and  there  was  no  one,  perhaps,  whose 
memory  has  been  so  faithfully  cherished  by  his  old 
pupils  as  that  of  this  handsome,  genial  Englishman. 
And  this  wonderful  attachment  was  not  on  the  part  of 
the  students  alone.  The  prefects  and  teachers  had  just 
as  strong  a  regard  for  him.  "  I  know,"  adds  Mr.  Has- 
sard,  "  that  Father  Gockeln  almost  worshipped  the 
ground  he  trod  upon." 

During  Father  Larkin's  last  year  as  president, 
Father  Gockeln  arrived  from  Canada  and  succeeded 
Father  Ouellet  as  Prefect  of  Discipline.  The  change 
was  a  welcome  one  to  the  boys,  for  Father  Ouellet's 
methods  of  enforcing  discipline  were  severe,  almost 
to  harshness.  He  was  an  excellent  disciplinarian,  but 
one  whose  manner  and  course  of  action  were  likely 
to  render  him  very  unpopular.  Later  he  taught  in 
the  Commercial  course,  or  "  Purgatory,"  as  it  was 
commonly  called,  where  he  had  as  a  pupil  James 
McMahon,  afterward  Colonel  James  McMahon,  who 
served  with  such  distinction  and  was  killed  in  the 
civil  war.  He  was  a  brother  of  General  Martin  T. 
McMahon,  '55,  who,  with  Hassard  and  Arthur  Francis, 
founded  and  managed  the  Goose-  Quill ',  the  first  journal- 
istic effort  that  Fordham  had  ever  known.  The  Goose- 
Quill,  of  which  we  shall  say  more  in  its  proper*  place, 
was  started  during  Father  Larkin's  term  as  president, 
but  not  with  his  entire  approval.  He  was  very  con- 
servative and  abhorred  newspapers ;  he  would  not 
allow  them  to  have  it  printed. 

Many  years  later,  when  the  call  of  duty  summoned 
Father  Ouellet  to  the  bloody  scenes  of  the  civil  war, 
he  acted  well  his  part.  He  was  chaplain  of  the  Sixty- 
ninth  New  York  Regiment,  and  was  always  found 


FATHER  LAEKIN  AS  PRESIDENT.  91 

where  the  dying  lay  closest,  where  the  danger  was 
greatest,  caring  nothing  for  himself  and  endangering 
his  life  at  every  ^movement.  There  were  others,  too, 
of  the  Fordham  fathers  who  went  to  the  front  in  those 
trying  times,  and  won  renown  (and  something  more) 
by  their  bravery  and  self-sacrifice.  "Father  Nash," 
says  General  McMahon,  "  did  more  to  discipline  Billy 
Wilson's  Zouaves  than  all  their  officers."  Father  Tis- 
sot,  who  was  acting  president  of  Fordham  in  1864  and 
'65,  was  another  who  distinguished  himself  in  that  un- 
happy struggle,  and  by  his  bravery  and  devotion  at 
Antietam  attracted  the  attention  of  General  Hancock. 

These  are,  to  a  certain  extent,  digressions,  as  the  in- 
cidents detailed  happened  at  a  much  later  period  than 
that  of  which  we  are  treating,  but  they  are  subjects  in 
which  Fordham  should  glory,  and  therefore  worthy  of 
place  in  these  pages. 

Let  us  return  therefore  to  our  story.  One  afternoon 
before  the  close  of  Father  Larkin's  term,  the  usual 
stillness  of  the  study  hour  was  broken  by  the  entrance 
of  the  president  accompanied  by  a  strange  gentleman. 
Proceeding  to  the  platform  at  the  end  of  the  study- 
hall,  he  introduced  the  stranger  as  the  distinguished 
Irish  patriot,  Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  who  had  just 
escaped  from  penal  servitude  in  Van  Diemen's  Land, 
whither  he  had  been  sentenced  for  his  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  his  country.  He  spoke  to  the  assembled  stu- 
dents, on  the  subject  that  was  nearest  to  his  heart,  with 
that  warmth  and  fervor,  that  fiery  eloquence  that 
made  him  one  of  the  most  fascinating  and  magnetic 
orators  of  his  day.  In  connection  with  this  address  a 
story  is  told  of  the  Reverend  Thomas  J.  Mooney,  then 
a  student  in  the  college,  but  now  many  years  deceased. 


92  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

Father  Mooney  was  a  native  of  Birmingham,  England, 
and  as  the  boys  passed  out  of  the  hall  at  the  close  of 
Meagher's  impassioned  harangue,  he  turned  to  a  friend, 
Mr.  Joseph  Kinney,  of  New  York,  and  remarked  that 
he  never  was  ashamed  of  being  an  Englishman  until 
that  day,  but  such  was  the  effect  of  Meagher's  burn- 
ing words,  his  vivid  picture  of  the  wrongs  of  his  coun- 
try, that  the  Englishman  was  obliged  to  blush  for  the 
land  of  his  nativity.  Mr.  Kinney,  from  whom  we  have 
this  incident,  recalls  another  notable  event  that  hap- 
pened about  the  same  time,  a  visit  and  address  by  that 
other  distinguished  Irishman,  Father  Theobald  Math- 
ew.  Father  Mathew  addressed  the  boys  in  the  same 
study-hall,  and  concluded  his  remarks  by  asking  for  a 
holiday,  which  was  promptly  granted. 

Among  the  students  of  that  period  the  most  notable 
was  undoubtedly  the  late  John  E.  G.  Hassard,  '55,  the 
distinguished  journalist,  who  died  in  the  spring  of 
1888.  His  career  in  college  was  one  of  unqualified 
success.  He  was  revered  by  fellow-students  and  pro- 
fessors alike ;  by  the  latter  he  was  looked  upon  as  a 
young  man  of  more  than  ordinary  uprightness  and 
steadiness,  while  among  the  boys  his  influence  for  good 
was  truly  wonderful.  He  was  an  ardent  lover  of  mu- 
sic and  literature,  and  even  before  his  graduation  had 
become  a  master  of  English  style.  Shortly  after  his 
graduation  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  writers  on  the 
"American  Encyclopaedia,"  and  was  rapidly  advanced 
by  Messrs.  Eipley  and  Dana  until  he  became  managing 
editor.  He  was  later  private  secretary  to  Mr.  Dana 
and  associated  with  him  in  several  journalistic  ven- 
tures. In  his  last  years  he  was  connected  with  the 
New  York  Tribune  as  musical  critic. 


FATHEE  LARKEN  AS  PRESIDENT.  93 

Mr.  Hassard,  General  Martin  T.  McMahon,  and  Ar- 
thur Francis,  all  of  the  class  of  '55,  were  the  editors  of 
the  Goose- Quill,  of  which  mention  has  several  times 
been  made  in  this  work.  Arthur  Francis  died  shortly 
after  graduation,  and  the  only  surviving  member  of 
the  editorial  staff  of  the  Goose- Quill,  and,  indeed,  of 
that  whole  class,  is  General  McMahon.  Mr.  Thomas  B. 
Connery,  who  was  for  many  years  editor-in-chief  of  the 
New  York  Herald,  and  was  afterward  secretary  to  the 
American  Legation  at  Mexico,  was  graduated  in  '53 ; 
and  the  Reverend  Dr.  Richard  Brennan,  A.M.,  '54,  a 
well-known  divine  of  the  archdiocese  of  New  York, 
was  among  those  who  received  their  degrees  at  this 
time. 

In  1852,  the  Reverend  Louis  Jouin,  S. J.,  a  famous 
philosopher,  mathematician,  and  linguist,  and  now  the 
venerable  professor  of  philosophy  in  the  post-graduate 
course,  came  to  Fordham  and  took  charge  of  a  class  in 
mathematics,  in  which  were  Mr.  Hassard,  General  Mc- 
Mahon, and  other  well-known  men.  Father  Jouin  was 
later  appointed  vice-president.  He  is  the  author  of 
several  text-books  which  are  now  in  use  at  Fordham 
and  many  other  colleges.  His  "  Logic  and  Metaphysics," 
"  Moral  Philosophy,"  and  "  Evidences  of  Religion,1'  have 
each  reached  a  fourth  edition.  Monsignor  Bernard 
O'Reilly,  who  has  since  left  the  order,  was  a  member 
of  the  faculty  of  Fordham  for  a  number  of  years,  hav- 
ing been  professor  of  belles-lettres  under  Father  Larkin. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ST.     JOHN'S    UNDER     FATHER     TELLIER.  —  RETURN    OF 
FATHER  THEBAUD.— FATHERS  DOUOET  AND  TISSOT. 

IN  1854  the  presidency  of  Fordham  passed  from 
Father  Larkin  to  the  Reverend  Eemigius  Tellier. 
Few  changes  were  made  in  the  outward  appearance  of 
the  college  during  the  latter's  term  of  office,  which 
lasted  until  1860;  and  such  as  were  made  pertained 
to  the  domestic  department,  and  are  not  therefore  of 
vital  interest.  In  1855  the  Mathematical  course  was 
arranged  as  follows :  in  classics,  algebra  was  taught ; 
in  belles-lettres,  geometry  and  trigonometry ;  in  rhet- 
oric, the  second  part  of  trigonometry  and  analytical 
geometry ;  and  in  philosophy,  the  second  part  of  ana- 
lytical geometry  and  mechanics.  The  following  year 
calculus  was  added  to  the  course.  The  semi-annual  ex- 
aminations were  inaugurated  this  year,  one  in  Febru- 
ary and  one  in  June ;  and  a  third  division  of  the  stu- 
dents was  established.  This  was,  as  now,  for  very 
young  boys,  and  occupied  the  building  corresponding 
to  the  "  castle,"  in  which  are  now  the  shoe  shop  and 
bakery. 

But  the  most  important  event  that  took  place  under 
Father  Tellier's  presidency  was  the  founding  of  the 
St.  John's  Debating  Society.  This  organization  was 
established  in  1854. 

Under  the  constitution  the  president  was  appointed 


REV.    REMTGIUS    TELLIER,    SJ. 


6TH   PRESIDENT. 


ST.  JOHN'S  UNDER  FATHER  TELLIER.       95 

by  the  faculty,  and  was  generally,  although  not  neces- 
sarily so,  the  professor  of  rhetoric.  The  other  officers 
were  selected  by  ballot.  On  the  first  board  of  offi- 
cers we  find  the  Keverend  M.  C.  Smarius,  S.  J.,  presi- 
dent, General  McMahon,  vice-president,  and  Mr.  Has- 
sard,  secretary.  The  Crimean  war  was  uppermost  in 
men's  minds  at  that  time,  and  the  question  debated  at 
the  first  meeting  was,  "  Were  the  Western  powers,  as 
Christian  nations,  justified  in  espousing  the  cause  of  the 
Turks  ?  "  The  spirit  with  which  the  members  entered 
into  the  discussion  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that 
the  debate  lasted  through  three  or  four  sessions,  and 
was  marked  by  earnest  and  enthusiastic  work. 

Eose  Hill  rejoiced  in  those  days  in  a  choir  that  had 
attained  a  high  degree  of  proficiency.  Under  the  lead- 
ership of  Mr.  Hector  Glackmeyer,  S.  J.,  assisted  by  Mr. 
Doucet,  afterward  Father  Doucet,  president  of  the 
college,  and  Brother  Julius  Mace,  it  had  acquired  such 
familiarity  with  music  that  the  most  difficult  composi- 
tions were  not  beyond  its  endeavor.  Mr.  Glackmeyer 
and  Mr.  Doucet  were  accomplished  and  cultivated  sing- 
ers, and  Brother  Mac6  was  an  organist  and  pianist  of 
rare  talent  and  ability.  He  was  a  pupil  of  the  famous 
Bertini,  and  a  fellow-student  and  intimate  friend  of 
Gottschalk 

It  is  said  that  on  one  occasion,  when  the  latter  was 
performing  before  a  large  and  admiring  audience,  he 
was  secretly  informed  that  his  old  friend  Brother 
Mace"  was  present  in  the  hall.  He  immediately  came 
forward  and  announced  that  there  was  one  present 
whose  talents  he  considered  superior  to  his  own ;  he 
begged  his  friend  to  set  aside  his  wonted  modesty 
and  come  forward  to  take  his,  the  speaker's,  place.  At 


96  A  HISTORY  OF  FOEDHAM  COLLEGE. 

this  point  several  of  the  audience  noticed  Brother 
Mace*  nervously  making  his  way  toward  the  street, 
and,  although  they  had  never  seen  him  before,  sus- 
pected that  he  was  the  gentleman  to  whom  the  great 
musician  referred.  They  stopped  him  in  spite  of  his 
protests,  and  the  attention  of  the  entire  audience  was 
attracted.  Remonstrance  was  now  in  vain,  and  amid 
the  plaudits  of  the  multitude  the  humble  lay-brother 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus  was  escorted  to  the  platform, 
where  he  was  soon  playing  to  the  delight  of  a  ravished 
audience. 

A  strong  attachment  existed  between  the  saintly 
brother  and  his  old  master,  and  after  the  death  of  the 
former,  in  1889,  a  valuable  souvenir  of  their  friend- 
ship was  found  among  his  papers.  It  was  an  auto- 
graph copy  of  one  of  Beethoven's  sonatas,  with  annota- 
tions by  Bertini,  which  had  been  presented  by  the 
latter  to  his  favorite  pupil. 

Brother  Mace"  was  a  native  of  Nantes,  the  chief 
town  of  the  Loire-Inferieure.  He  was  born  in  1822, 
and  entered  the  Jesuit  novitiate,  as  a  lay-brother,  in 
1847.  He  came  to  America  the  following  year,  and 
the  subsequent  forty-one  years  of  his  life  were  spent 
at  Fordham. 

Journalism  at  St.  John's  did  not  entirely  die  out 
with  the  demise  of  the  Goose-Quill,  which  occurred  in 
1855  or  1856.  Several  efforts  were  made  to  revive 
the  spirit,  but  they  were  futile.  Sem,  Tke  Collegian, 
and  a  less  pretentious  sheet  published  on  Second  Di- 
vision, called  The  Spy,  in  turn  sprang  into  existence, 
sickened,  and  died,  and  then  the  spirit  of  journalism  lay 
dormant  for  over  twenty  years. 

But  another  event  of  considerable  importance  took 


ST.   JOHN'S  UNDER  FATHER  TELLIER.  97 

place  during  the  presidency  of  Father  Tellier,  an  event 
which  is  of  more  interest  to  the  average  college  stu- 
dent than  the  struggles  of  ambitious  journalists.  We 
refer  to  the  organization  of  the  college  base-ball  team. 
It  was  the  first  step  toward  an  organized  athletic  as- 
sociation, and  for  many  years  tbe  only  field  of  athlet- 
ics in  which  Fordham  was  represented.  Cricket  and 
"rounders"  had  been  favorite  pastimes,  but  as  base- 
ball grew  in  public  favor,  the  other  sports  lost  ground 
and  were  gradually  dropped.  For  years  the  new  game 
was  played  without  any  attempt  at  organization,  but  it 
was  before  a  movement  was  started  in  that  direction. 
The  first  regular  team  was  organized  September  13, 
1859,  under  the  name  of  the  Kose  Hill  Base-ball  Club, 
the  college  at  that  time  being  generally  known  as  Rose 
Hill  College.  The  first  game  was  played  on  Novem- 
ber 3,  1859,  with  a  team  from  St.  Francis  Xavier's 
College,  New  York.  The  score  at  the  end  of  the 
sixth  inning  was  33-11,  in  favor  of  Rose  Hill. 

In  1857  the  first  dramatic  entertainment  of  any 
pretensions  was  given  in  the  study-hall  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Classes  of  Belles-lettres  and  Classics.  A 
programme  of  this  entertainment  is  in  the  possession  of 
the  Dramatic  Association. 

The  attendance  at  the  college  was  slowly  increasing, 
year  by  year,  and  in  1856  there  were  nearly  two  hun- 
dred students  in  the  house.  Among  the  graduates  of 
1860  we  find  the  name  of  Winand  M.  Wigger,  now 
Bishop  of  Newark,  N.  J.  Three  years  before  General 
James  R.  O'Beirne  received  his  diploma ;  and  in  1857, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  A.  Brann,  of  New  York,  was 
added  to  the  ranks  of  the  Fordham  graduates.  Gen- 
eral McMahon,  Mr.  Hassard,  Arthur  Francis,  the 

7 


98  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

Kev.  James  L.  Corn-on,  all  of  the  class  of  '55;  Mr. 
Joseph  J.  Marvin,  '58,  and  Mr.  Peter  A.  Hargous,  '57, 
were  also  among  those  graduated  under  Father  Tellier. 
In  1859,  one  year  before  Father  Tellier's  retirement 
from  the  presidency,  the  first  of  the  prizes  for  the 
graduating  class  was  established.  In  that  year  Arch- 
bishop Hughes  founded  the  medal  for  the  best  biograph- 
ical essay.  It  is  of  gold,  worth  fifty  dollars,  and  is 
donated  every  year  by  some  friend  of  the  college.  The 
following  year,  1860,  Father  Tellier,  after  filling  the 
office  of  president  for  six  years,  retired,  and  Father 
Thebaud  was  reappointed  for  another  term  to  the  office 
he  had  left  vacant  nine  years  before.  .This,  his  second 
term,  was  marked  by  several  events  of  importance.  In 
September,  1860,  the  second  year  of  philosophy,  or 
post-graduate  course,  was  instituted,  and  the  Seminary 
building  and  church  purchased  from  Archbishop 
Hughes  for  $85,000.  The  same  year  a  marble  quarry 
in  Tremont  was  purchased  by  the  college,  and  a  blue- 
stone  quarry  was  opened  in  the  woods  near  the 
Bronx.  These  two  quarries  have  supplied  the  ma- 
terial for  all  the  buildings,  except  the  new  Faculty 
building,  that  have  been  erected  since  that  time. 
About  this  time  an  addition  was  made  to  the  college 
property  by  the  purchase  of  a  portion  of  the  Powell 
farm.  This  farm  was  an  estate  that  adjoined  Rose 
Hill  on  the  south,  and  at  the  time  of  the  accession  of 
the  Jesuits  to  the  college  the  Powell  farm-house  was 
the  only  building  in  sight.  It  had  been  occupied  until 
a  short  time  previous  as  a  school  for  young  men,  con- 
ducted by  the  Reverend  Mr.  Powell,  an  Episcopalian 
minister,  but  had  been  closed.  When  the  Jesuits  took 
possession  of  the  college,  Father  Thebaud  was  anxious 


ST.  JOHN'S  UNDER  FATHER  TELLIER.  99 

to  purchase  a  portion  of  the  Powell  property,  but  his 
superiors  did  not  consider  it  advisable  to  increase  the 
debt,  and  the  project  was  abandoned.  Later,  however, 
when  the  property  was  placed  on  the  market,  it  was 
deemed  advisable  to  negotiate  for  the  purchase,  and 
consequently  the  lower  part  of  the  lawn  was  extended 
to  what  is  now  Pelham  Avenue. 

In  1861  Father  Thebaud  built  a  three-story  wooden 
house,  with  curb  roof  and  odd-looking  dormer  windows, 
at  the  rear  of  the  refectory  wing  and  on  the  edge  of 
the  garden.  This  building  was  devoted  to  the  use  of 
Third  Division,  the  recreation-room  being  on  the  first 
floor,  the  study -hall  on  the  second,  and  the  top  floor 
being  presumably  used  as  a  dormitory.  At  right  an- 
gles with  this  building,  adjoining  the  southern  end  and 
separating  Second  and  Third  Divisions,  was  the  one- 
story  wooden  building  that  formerly  extended  back 
from  the  central  stone  building.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  during  Father  Thebaud's  first  term  this 
building  was  removed  and  a  three-story  brick  extension 
erected  which  is  still  standing. 

In  1862  the  gatekeeper's  lodge  was  built.  It  has 
been  said  that  it  was  built  as  an  experiment  to  test  the 
endurance  of  the  stone  supplied  by  the  newly  opened 
quarry  in  the  woods.  That  the  test  was  satisfactory 
needs  no  further  assurance  than  the  fact  that  the  four 
college  buildings  since  erected  have  been  made  of  the 
same  material. 

Father  Thebaud's  next  care  was  for  the  improvement 
of  the  approach  from  the  gate  to  the  college  buildings. 
We  have  already  seen  that  the  grounds  were  shaded  by 
numbers  of  venerable  elms.  Father  Thebaud  laid  out 
the  avenues  as  they  are  to-day,  and  planted  young  trees 


100  A  HISTOEY  OF  FOEDHAM  COLLEGE. 

in  such  a  way  that  they  lined  both  avenues  from  the 
gate  to  the  entrance  of  the  main  building. 

On  March  26,  1862,  the  St.  John's  Historical  Associ- 
ation was  established.  The  object  of  the  association  is 
to  encourage  historical  research  and  promote  the  inves- 
tigation and  diffusion  of  historical  truth.  The  moder- 
ator is  appointed  by  the  faculty,  and  the  other  officers 
are  elected  semi-annually. 

We  now  reach  a  period  in  the  history  of  St.  John's 
which  is  interesting  in  many  ways,  but  particularly 
from  the  association  with  the  college  and  its  profes- 
sors of  that  most  unfortunate  and  most  maligned  of 
men,  and  most  fascinating  of  poets,  Edgar  Allan  Poe. 

The  period  we  refer  to  is  that  of  the  latter  part  of 
Father  Th^baud's  term  of  office,  and  that  of  his  suc- 
cessor, Father  Doucet.  This  gentleman  was  a  famous 
musician  and  a  preacher  of  no  mean  ability,  to  whom 
we  have  more  than  once  referred  in  these  pages.  He 
succeeded  Father  Thebaud  in  the  latter  part  of  1863. 
He  was  a  close  friend  of  poor  Poe,  who  loved  to  wan- 
der about  the  college  grounds  and  mingle  with  the 
fathers,  with  all  of  whom  he  was  on  terms  of  the 
closest  intimacy. 

"  I  knew  him  well,"  said  Father  Doucet,  on  one  occa- 
sion. "  In  bearing  and  countenance  he  was  extremely 
refined.  His  features  were  somewhat  sharp  and  very 
thoughtful.  He  was  well  informed  on  all  matters.  I 
always  thought  he  was  a  gentleman  by  nature  and  in- 
stinct." 

Father  Doucet  always  indignantly  denied  the  state- 
ment so  freely  made  that  Poe  looked  like  one  worn  out 
by  dissipation  and  excess.  The  unfortunate  poet  had 
one  weakness,  a  weakness  that  amounted  almost  to  a 


V.    EDWARD    D.OUCET,    SJ. 

STH  PRESIDENT. 


ST.   JOHN'S  UNDER  FATHER  TELLIER.  101 

malady,  but  against  which  he  fought  manfully  and  well. 
Poor  Poe  !  His  enemies,  for  he  had  many,  made  cap- 
ital out  of  his  weakness,  and  hounded  him  with  an 
animosity  and  a  persistency  that  would  have  broken 
a  less  sturdy  spirit. 

Father  Doucet  did  not  long  continue  to  exercise  the 
functions  of  president.  At  the  end  of  his  first  year  he 
was  called  away  to  Europe,  and  his  duties  then  de- 
volved on  the  vice-president,  the  Reverend  Peter  Tissot. 
At  the  end  of  another  year  it  became  necessary  to  make 
a  change,  and  Father  Tissot  was  retired  and  the  Rever- 
end William  Moylan,  S.  J.,  appointed  in  his  stead. 


CHAPTER  X. 

FATHEB  MOYLAN.— FATHER  SHEA.— FATHER  GOCKELN. 

FATHER  MOYLAN,  the  new  president,  was  a  native  of 
Ireland,  and  had  come  to  this  country  at  an  early  age. 
Before  his  admission  to  the  Society  he  had  done  a  great 
deal  of  missionary  work  as  a  secular  priest  among  the 
Indians  and  the  fishermen  at  Cape  Gaspe,  on  the  shores 
of  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  On  November  14,  1851, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  he  was  admitted  to  the 
order  and  assigned  to  teach  in  the  under-graduate 
course  at  Fordham,  after  which  he  was  sent  to  St. 
Francis  Xavier's,  in  West  Sixteenth  Street,  New  York, 
and  subsequently  to  San  Francisco.  In  1865  he  was 
appointed  president  at  Fordham. 

Father  Moylan  was  in  many  respects  a  remarkable 
man.  His  ability  as  a  teacher  was  well  known,  and 
he  was  ranked  among  the  foremost  preachers  of  the 
time,  the  vigor  and  eloquence  of  his  sermons  having 
won  for  him  years  before  an  enviable  position  among 
the  pulpit  orators  of  the  day.  His  appointment  was  a 
source  of  great  pleasure  to  Archbishop  Hughes,  who 
esteemed  him  very  highly.  He  was  austere,  stern,  and 
rigorous  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  whatever  they 
might  be  or  wherever  they  might  call  him.  He  had 
an  oddity  of  manner  that  amounted  almost  to  eccentri- 
city, but  he  was  conscientious  to  the  last  degree,  and 
never  once  swerved  a  hair's-breadth  from  the  straight 


REV.    JOSEPH    SHEA,    SJ. 
IOTH   PRESIDENT. 


FATHERS  MOYLAN,    SHEA,    AND   GOCKELN.  103 

and  narrow  way  he  had  laid  out  for  himself.  He  was 
no  time-server,  and  rich  and  poor,  high  and  low  were 
all  the  same  to  him.  His  whole  life  was  a  model  of 
firmness  and  consistency.  The  virtues  that  he  preached 
from  the  altar  and  inculcated  in  the  confessional  he 
devotedly  practised  in  his  private  life.  He  was  sharp 
and  somewhat  irritable  in  manner,  but  beneath  his 
brusque  exterior  there  beat  a  true  and  kindly  heart. 
The  end  came  to  him  on  the  scene  of  his  former  labors. 
He  died  peacefully  and  quietly  at  Fordham,  January 
14,  1891,  nearly  forty  years  after  his  entrance  into  the 
Society.  He  was  buried  in  the  college  cemetery. 

The  chief  monument  that  Father  Moylan  has  left 
after  him  at  Fordham  is  the  Senior  Hall,  or  First  Divi- 
sion building,  which  was  finished  under  his  super- 
vision. This  was  the  first  of  the  college  buildings 
built  of  the  blue  stone  and  marble  from  the  lately 
acquired  quarries,  and  was  for  many  years  the  princi- 
pal college  building. 

The  new  building  was  finished  in  the  summer  of 
1867.  It  is  a  four-story  building  with  mansard  roof, 
containing  the  gymnasium,  reading  and  billiard-rooms, 
study-hall,  and  dormitories  of  the  Senior  Division. 

Father  Moylan  evidently  intended  this  new  building 
simply  as  a  part  of  an  extensive  plan,  for  the  end  wall 
which  faced  the  lawn  was  left  in  an  unfinished  state. 
Something  interfered  with  his  plans,  as  the  structure 
was  not  completed,  and  the  rough  wall  remained  until  the 
new  faculty  building,  erected  in  1890,  hid  it  from  view. 

In  1868  Father  Moylan  having  served  for  the  short 
term  of  three  years,  but  having  accomplished  a  world 
of  good  in  that  time,  was  replaced  by  Reverend  Joseph 
Shea. 


104  A  HISTORY  OF  FOKDHAM  COLLEGE. 


As  we  come  nearer  to  the  present  day  we  become 
more  interested,  owing  to  the  fact  that  we  are  dealing 
with  those  whose  names  are  still  on  our  lips  and  whose 
deeds  are  still  green  in  the  memory  of  living  men.  Like 
the  others,  Father  Shea  took  up  the  work  at  the  point 
at  which  it  was  dropped  by  his  predecessor,  the 
machinery  of  the  institution  moving  evenly  as  be- 
fore and  never  slipping  a  cog.  Father  Shea's  chief 
contribution  toward  the  outer  embellishment  of  the 
college  was  the  removal  of  the  two  one-story  wings 
of  the  central  building,  and  the  erection  in  their  stead 
of  the  wings  that  now  stand.  In  the  south  wing,  where 
the  study-hall  had  been,  the  students'  chapel  is  now  lo- 
cated on  the  first  floor  and  the  rooms  of  the  professors 
in  the  upper  portion.  When  the  new  chapel  in  the  fac- 
ulty building  (finished  this  summer)  is  ready  for  occu- 
pation, the  present  place  of  worship  will  be  used  as 
music-rooms. 

To  the  old  student  who  has  so  often  knelt  in  wor- 
ship in  the  little  old  chapel,  it  will  seem  like  desecra- 
tion to  have  other  and  profane  sounds  heard  within 
those  walls  that  seem  continually  to  vibrate  to  the 
choir's  inspiring  strains  of  the  mass  and  the  solemn 
measures  of  many  a  well-known  hymn  or  canticle.  But 
there  remains  this  grain  of  consolation,  that  the  chapel 
is  devoted  to  a  cause  which,  though  less  sublime,  is  not 
a  degradation  of  the  sacred  place.  It  will  be  sacred 
to  the  genius  of  music. 

The  north  wing  still  serves  the  purpose  originally 
designed  for  its  predecessor.  The  students'  refectory, 
which  occupied  the  old  building,  is  now  found  on  the 
first  floor  of  the  edifice  erected  by  Father  Shea,  while 
the  community  refectory  is  on  the  second  floor.  An 


FATHEBS  MOYLAN,    SHEA,    AND  GOCKELN.  105 

accident  occurred  during  the  erection  of  this  building 
which,  although  it  did  no  injury  to  life  or  limb,  was 
yet  most  unfortunate.  In  the  spring  of  1869,  while 
the  workmen  were  digging  along  the  foundation  of  the 
old  refectory  in  order  to  lay  the  foundation  for  the 
new  building,  the  side  walls  and  roof  caved  in.  Fortu- 
nately the  students  had  just  left  the  room  and  no  one 
was  injured,  though  considerable  damage  was  done 
otherwise.  Provision  has  been  made,  however,  in  the 
new  faculty  building,  for  a  refectory  for  students,  as 
also  one  for  the  community,  and  when  these  are  com. 
pleted  the  present  refectory  will  then  be  given  over  to 
the  military  and  become  a  drill-room  and  armory. 

Father  Shea  ruled  the  old  institution  for  six  years, 
until  1874.  The  position  of  president  at  the  period  at 
which  he  occupied  it  was  a  very  trying  one.  The  au- 
thorities had  determined  to  try  the  effect  of  a  change 
in  the  methods  of  management  of  the  college,  and  for  a 
time  the  discipline  was  relaxed  and  the  loose  manner  of 
secular  institutions  prevailed  at  Fordham.  The  system 
was  given  a  fair  trial  during  Father  Shea's  term,  but  it 
was  found  to  be  a  failure  and  abandoned. 

During  the  later  years  of  Father  Shea's  term,  among 
the  additions  to  the  faculty  was  one  who  has  become  a 
most  prominent  figure  in  the  later  history  of  the 
college,  and  whose  name  will  never  be  forgotten  by 
any  Fordhamite  of  the  '70  to  '80  period.  Reverend 
Thomas  J.  A.  Freeman  in  the  summer  of  1872  stepped 
into  the  charge  of  the  Scientific  department,  and  from 
that  time  until  1889,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  years 
at  intervals  spent  in  other  colleges,  reigned  supreme 
over  the  classes  of  physics  and  chemistry. 

When   Father   Freeman   arrived    at   Fordham   the 


106  A  HISTOKY  OF  FOEDHAM  COLLEGE. 

Scientific  department  was  not  in  a  flourishing  condi- 
tion. The  Classes  of  Physics  and  Chemistry  were  then 
held  in  adjoining  rooms  in  the  old  building  that  con- 
nected the  chapel  wing  with  the  "  castle ; "  the  latter 
building  was,  it  may  be  stated,  torn  down  last  summer. 

Early  in  1872  the  Scientific  department  was  moved 
to  the  old  seminary,  now  St.  John's  Hall,  which  had 
been  sold  to  the  college  in  1860,  as  we  have  already 
stated.  The  entire  first  floor,  now  occupied  by  the 
study-hall,  music  and  reading-rooms,  was  cleared  and 
elaborately  fitted  up.  It  was  a  welcome  change  from 
the  close  quarters  the  classes  had  hitherto  been  obliged 
to  content  themselves  with.  The  rooms  were  large  and 
airy,  and  afforded  ample  facilities  for  the  proper  dis- 
posal of  the  museum,  physical  apparatus,  etc.  The 
upper  floors  were  turned  into  rooms  for  the  seniors,  and 
the  small  room  in  the  basement,  now  used  for  a  billiard- 
room  for  the  small  boys,  was  occupied  by  the  class  of 
philosophy.  When  this  class  moved,  a  short  time  after- 
ward, to  the  First  Division  building,  Father  Freeman 
took  possession  of  the  room  as  a  workshop.  Here  he 
repaired  the  old  instruments — many  of  which  had  come 
from  Kentucky  in  the  early  days  of  the  college — and 
made  many  new  ones.  The  Scientific  department  re- 
mained here  until  18 86,, when  the  new  Science  Hall, 
begun  by  Father  Dealy,  was  completed  by  his  successor, 
Father  Campbell. 

The  younger  generation  of  students  of  this  period 
has  not  yet  had  time  to  rise  to  the  prominence  attained 
by  those  of  an  earlier  day ;  yet  already  all  the  grad- 
uates of  the  '60's  and  '70's  have  risen  to  places  of 
honor  and  distinction  in  the  various  walks  of  life. 
Several  have  been  especially  honored,  as  Reverend 


REV.    F.  W.   GOCKELN,    S.J. 

IITH   PRESIDENT. 


FATHEKS  MOYLAN,   SHEA,   AND  GOCKELN.  107 

Charles  F.  H.  O'Neill,  '74,  who  died  in  1888  at  Peoria, 
111.  He  had  been  appointed  two  years  before  to  the 
position  of  pastor  to  the  cathedral  in  Peoria,  and  a  short 
time  later  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  chancellor  of  the 
diocese.  Morgan  J.  O'Brien,  '72,  of  this  city,  who  gra- 
duated in  1872,  was  chosen  by  the  Democratic  party 
in  1887  as  their  candidate  for  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  elected  by  a  large 
majority,  and  has  worn  the  ermine  of  his  office  without 
reproach.  Among  others  was  Edward  Bermudez,  A.M., 
'74,  of  New  Orleans,  La.,  who  has  also  risen  to  the 
bench ;  Joaquin  Arrita,  '71,  who  was  in  this  country  in 
the  fall  of  1889  as  secretary  to  the  representative  of 
San  Salvador  to  the  Pan- American  Congress  then  in 
session,  and  John  B.  Shea,  '74,  of  Fordham,  who  cred- 
itably served  a  term  in  the  State  Legislature  at  Albany 
and  has  filled  other  public  positions  since. 

In  July,  1874,  Father  Shea  retired  from  the  presi- 
dency and  made  way  for  Reverend  F.  William  Gockeln, 
whose  arrival  at  St.  Mary's,  Ky.,  and  subsequent  ap- 
pointment as  vice-president  at  Fordham  we  have  al- 
ready noticed.  At  the  close  of  the  term  of  vice-presi- 
dent, in  1869,  Father  Gockeln  was  ordered  to  Wood- 
stock, Md.,  where  he  remained  one  year.  From  there 
he  went  to  Guelph,  Ont.,  and  thence  to  St.  Lawrence's 
Rectory,  in  New  York  City,  as  superior,  and  thence,  in 
the  summer  of  1874,  to  Fordham,  to  assume  the  heavy 
responsibility  and  arduous  duties  of  President  of  St. 
John's  College.  And  these  duties  were  rendered  par- 
ticularly arduous  at  that  time  by  a  combination  of  cir- 
cumstances that  requires  some  explanation.  The  lax 
system  of  discipline  introduced  under  the  regime  of 
Father  Shea  had  been  fairly  tried  and  found  wanting, 


108  A  HISTOEY  OF  FOEDHAM  COLLEGE. 

and  although  the  number  of  students  had  increased  the 
college  suffered  in  reputation. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  Father  Gockeln 
arrived  in  Fordham.  He  was  not  long  in  grasping  the 
situation,  and  once  grasped,  in  meeting  and  grappling'^ 
with  the  obstacles  to  progress  which  it  created.  He 
saw  there  was  a  need  for  prompt,  immediate,  and  vig- 
orous action,  and  he  did  not  hesitate  a  moment  in  de- 
ciding what  his  course  should  be.  He  was  not  a  man 
to  employ  half-way  measures,  but,  on  the  contrary,  was 
a  believer  in  heroic  treatment  and  radical  methods  for 
the  rooting  out  of  evil,  and  these  he  immediately 
adopted.  By  his  first  official  act  he  restored  the  former 
strict  discipline,  re-established  the  rules  that  had  been 
in  force  in  former  years,  and  gave  early  notice  and  am- 
ple warning  that  these  rules  would  be  rigidly  enforced. 
The  time  was  ripe  for  action,  and  he  seized  upon  it. 
The  change  was  naturally  a  sudden  one,  but  the  students 
were  soon  brought  to  a  proper  realization  of  the  situa- 
tion and  acquiesced  in  the  new  order  of  things  with 
good  grace.  Within  six  months  all  trace  of  the  for- 
mer laxity  had  passed  away,  and  the  reputation  of  the 
college  rapidly  rose  once  more. 

In  spite  of  his  radical  policy  and  seemingly  severe 
methods  of  government,  the  new  rector  soon  found  his 
way  to  the  hearts  of  the  students.  He  was  a  man  well 
calculated  to  win  the  love,  respect,  and  admiration  of 
all  who  came  in  contact  with  him.  Genial  and  hearty, 
the  soul  of  good-nature,  scholarly,  and  with  refinement 
and  nobility  stamped  on  every  feature  of  his  splendid 
face,  he  was  indeed  a  man  among  men.  Father  Halpin, 
now  vice-president  of  St.  John's,  who  was  associated 
with  him  for  so  many  years,  says  of  him :  "  He  was  a 


FATHERS  MOYLAN,    SHEA,    AND   GOCKELN.  109 

large-souled,  big-hearted  man;  he  was  loyal  and  de- 
. voted.  I  have  seen  tears  in  his  eyes  when  he  spoke  of 
the  Society  of  Jesus.  How  he  resented  any  calumny 
against  it !  How  he  grew  eloquent  as  he  spoke  its 
praises  !  He  sank  himself  in  his  calling.  There  was 
no  sacrifice  he  did  not  court  for  its  sake.  He  was  a 
true  child  of  obedience,  as  all  his  superiors  attest.  His 
was  a  bright  and  a  pure  life,  and  still,  much  as  he  nat- 
urally abhorred  contact  with  men  whose  lives  were 
branded  with  certain  crimes,  his  hand  was  ever  out- 
stretched to  lift  them  up  from  their  degradation.  His 
sympathy  was  boundless.  He  gave  ear  to  every  tale 
of  distress,  and  rendered  every  assistance  at  his  com- 
mand." 

St.  John's  soon  regained  its  former  position,  the  num- 
ber of  students  increased,  and  although  no  outward  im- 
provements in  the  way  of  erection  of  new  buildings 
were  accomplished,  the  studies  advanced  under  Father 
Gockeln  and  the  able  corps  of  professors  who  assisted 
him  in  the  management. 

Among  the  most  prominent  of  those  associated  with 
Father  Gockeln  in  the  work  at  St.  John's  was  Rever- 
end P.  O.  Racicot,  who  was  professor  of  philosophy 
during  the  first  year  of  Father  Gockeln's  presidency, 
and  was  later  vice-president  and  chief  disciplinarian. 
Father  Racicot  was  born  in  Montreal  in  1839.  He  was 
educated  at  the  Sulpician  Seminary  and  entered  the 
Jesuit  Order  in  1855.  Nearly  twenty  years  of  his  life 
as  a  Jesuit  were  spent  at  Fordham.  He  had  a  wonder- 
ful memory,  a  sound,  clear  judgment,  and  was  an  inde- 
fatigable worker.  He  died  in  Boston,  March  27  (Good 
Friday),  1891.  The  Fordham  Monthly  of  April,  1891, 
says  of  him  : 


110  A  HISTOKY  OF  FOKDHAM  COLLEGE. 

"  Father  Kacicot  was  one  of  the  most  self-contained 
and  warmest-hearted  men  that  ever  breathed.  He  was 
strict,  it  is  true,  and  firm  when  serious  faults  had  to 
be  corrected  under  his  guidance  and  direction,  but 
withal  he  was  most  kindly  and  generous.  How  many 
there  are,  boys  and  men,  who  have  experienced  his 
great  kindness  and  even  affection." 

In  1877  the  office  of  vice-president  was  filled  by  the 
Reverend  John  Treanor,  who  accompanied  the  family  of 
ex-Judge  Charles  Donohue  to  the  Pacific  coast,  and  who 
was  killed  by  an  accident  on  the  way.  Reverend  Nich- 
olas Hanrahan,  whose  connection  with  the  college  ex- 
tended over  a  period  of  more  than  thirty  years,  and  who 
died  in  April,  1891,  was  treasurer;  and  in  other  posi- 
tions we  find  Father  Doucet,  once  president,  but  now  a 
subordinate  ;  Reverend  P.  Cassidy,  now  president  of  St. 
Peter's,  Jersey  City ;  the  present  president  of  St.  John's, 
Father  Scully,  and  Father  Halpin,  now  vice-president. 
In  1882,  after  presiding  eight  years  over  the  destinies 
of  the  college,  Father  Gockeln  was  sent  by  his  supe- 
riors to  Holy  Cross  College,  Worcester,  Mass. ;  from 
there  to  Jersey  City,  and  thence  to  Providence,  R.  I, 
where  he  died  early  in  1887. 


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I 

• 


REV.    P.   F.   DEALY,    SJ 

i2TH,  PRESIDENT. 


CHAPTER  XL 

FATHER  DEALY,  FATHER  CAMPBELL,  FATHER  SCULLY. 

THE  accession  of  Reverend  P.  F.  Dealy  to  the  presi- 
dency in  1882,  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the 
history  of  Fordham  College ;  a  transition  from  the 
conservative  opinions  of  the  Jesuits  of  the  old  French 
school  to  the  broader  and  more  liberal  ideas  which 
have  begun  to  spread  as  the  older  generation  of  fathers 
is  passing  away.  We  have  already  alluded  to  the  old 
French  idea  of  removing  seminaries  and  colleges  as 
far  as  possible  from  large  cities,  and,  as  is  urged  in 
favor  of  the  system,  equally  far  from  the  temptations 
of  the  world.  The  fallacy  of  this  idea  is  so  apparent 
now,  and  it  has  been  so  generally  repudiated,  that  it 
is  hardly  necessary  to  dwell  on  it  here.  Looked  at 
from  a  financial  stand-point,  the  lack  of  wisdom  of  the 
scheme  cannot  but  be  readily  perceptible  at  the  first 
glance,  and  if  proof  is  wanted  we  may  find  it  in  the 
fact  that  institutions  so  situated,  whatever  advantages 
they  may  possess,  never  rise  above  the  rank  of  obscure 
academies,  with  little  or  no  prestige,  and  utterly  un- 
known outside  the  narrow  circle  of  their  graduates  and 
students. 

Although  Fordham  was  not  thus  geographically 
isolated  from  the  world,  or  buried  beyond  the  ken  of 
the  general  public,  the  old  spirit  was  still  in  the 
ascendant,  and  reared  such  a  wall  of  conservatism 


112  A  HISTOEY  OF  FORDHAM   COLLEGE. 

around  the  institution  that,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 
it  was  miles  away  from  the  heart  of  the  great  city  of 
which  it  was  a  part.  And  the  first  to  break  down  this 
barrier  and  open  the  way  for  freer  intercourse  with 
the  outer  world  was  Father  Dealy. 

He  was  not  without  a  thorough  acquaintance  with 
Fordham  College,  its  manners  and  customs.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1843,  nearly  fifty  years  ago,  he  was  one  of 
the  students,  and  later  he  entered  the  Jesuit  novitiate 
also  at  Fordham.  He  was  not  slow,  therefore,  in 
showing  his  progressive  spirit,  and  one  of  the  first 
signs  of  advancement  was  the  establishment  of  a  Col- 
lege paper.  For  many  years  there  had  been  a  strong 
need  for  such  a  publication,  but  since  the  days  of  the 
Goose-  Quill  and  Sem  no  effort  had  been  made  in  this 
direction  until  November,  1882,  when  the  first  number 
of  the  Fordham  College  Monthly  made  its  appearance. 

In  the  matter  of  improving  the  college  surroundings 
Father  Dealy  did  much.  He  laid  macadamized  roads, 
each  bordered  by  a  flagged  pathway  from  the  entrance 
gate  to  the  college  and  the  church,  respectively.  He 
also  beautified  the  lawn,  and  materially  improved  the 
outward  appearance  of  the  college,  and  had  the  little 
church  entirely  refitted  and  handsomely  frescoed. 

The  next  step  was  the  repairing  of  the  old  semi- 
nary building,  which  for  years  had  been  going  to  ruin. 
It  was  used  at  the  time  only  for  the  Science  classes, 
and  had  been  allowed  slowly  to  fall  into,  decay.  The 
drainage  had  been  neglected,  the  adjoining  ground  had 
become  overgrown  with  weeds,  and  was  strewn  with 
decaying  vegetation,  and  everything  about  the  hand- 
some old  building  showed  evidence  of  neglect ;  yet,  even 
in  the  midst  of  its  wretched  surroundings,  it  Mood  out 


FATHEES  DEALT,    CAMPBELL,   AND  SCULLY.        113 

the  most  picturesque  piece  of  architecture  on  the  col- 
lege property.     Father  Dealy  had  plans  in  view  for 
utilizing  the  old  building  which  he  put  into  opera- 
tion.    A  donation  of  $5,000  from  the  estate  of  the 
Reverend  F.  X.  McGovern,  S.  J.,  furnished  him  with  the 
means  for   the  needed  improvements.      The  building 
was  remodelled,  the  drainage  improved,  and   the  inte- 
rior rendered  dry,  safe,  and  healthy  as  any  house  on  the 
ground.     The  plot  in  front  of  the  building  was  cleared 
of  its   noxious  vegetation,  gravelled  walks  laid  out, 
fences  and  hedges  repaired,  and  the  whole  restored  in 
such  a  way  as  to  make  it  "  a  thing  of  beauty,"  and  an 
attraction  to  the  college.     Into  the  remodelled  semi- 
nary he  moved  the  dormitories  and  some  of  the  class- 
rooms of  the  boys  of  the  Preparatory  department,  and 
it  then  became  known  as  St.  John's  Hall.     The  study- 
hall,  recreation-rooms,  and  play-ground  of  the  small 
boys  still  remained  at  the  old  place,  the  two  first  in  the 
curb-roofed  building  that  was  built  for  the  purpose 
by  Father  Thebaud.     The  change  was  needed,  as  the 
latter  building  was  fast  becoming  useless  for  school 
purposes.     Father  Dealy  then  began  making  arrange- 
ments for  the  transfer  of  the  Scientific  department  in 
order  to    make  room  in  the  Seminary  for  the  entire 
Preparatory  school.      With  this  end  in  view,  a  site 
for  a  new  building  was  selected  about  eighty  yards 
south  of  the  Senior  Hall,  and  plans  were    prepared 
for  a  building  which  would  furnish  accommodation  for 
the  Classes  of  Physics  and  Chemistry,  for  the  library, 
the  four  highest    classes,  and  the  engine-room.     To 
connect  the   last-named   room   with   the   other  build- 
ings a  tunnel  was  constructed  through  which  the  pipes 
from  the  boilers  would  pass  to  the  various  buildings. 


114  A  HISTOKY  OF  FOKDHAM  COLLEGE. 

In  the  summer  of  1885  ground  was  broken  for  this 
tunnel,  but  the  work  was  but  fairly  under  way  when 
Father  Dealy  was  removed,  and  the  task  of  complet- 
ing Science  Hall  and  its  subterranean  connection 
was  left  to  his  successor,  the  Eeverend  Thomas  J. 
Campbell,  S.J.  Another  achievement,  the  credit  of 
which  belongs  to  Father  Dealy,  but  the  fruit  of  which 
was  not  borne  until  after  he  had  resigned  his  trust, 
was  the  introduction  of  military  instruction  into  the 
curriculum  of  the  college. 

It  was  a  fortunate  circumstance  for  the  institution 
that  when  Father  Dealy  resigned  his  post  his  mantle 
fell  on  the  shoulders  of  a  man  who,  though  much 
younger  and  less  experienced,  had  the  courage,  energy, 
and  progressive  spirit  which  promised  rapid  advance- 
ment for  the  college.  The  Keverend  Thomas  J.  Camp- 
bell, his  successor,  now  Provincial  of  the  New  York- 
Maryland  province,  is  a  man  whose  scholarly  attain- 
ments and  executive  ability  are  conceded  by  all  who 
know  him.  During  his  term  of  three  years  at  Ford- 
ham  the  standard  of  scholarship  rapidly  advanced,  and 
the  tone  and  character  of  the  various  associations,  and 
even  of  the  students  themselves,  seemed  to  have  been 
elevated  under  his  influence. 

The  military  drill,  which,  as  we  have  already  stated, 
had  just  been  introduced,  had  become  a  prominent  feat- 
ure of  the  course  of  instruction ;  and  though  at  first 
most  of  the  students  were  chary  about  entering  the 
company,  that  feeling  subsequently  yielded  to  the  bene- 
ficial influence  of  the  "  new  departure."  For  instruc- 
tor they  had  an  enthusiastic  and  energetic  young  offi- 
cer, Lieutenant  Herbert  G.  Squiers,  of  the  Seventh  U. 
S.  Cavalry,  who  spared  no  pains  to  make  the  company 


REV.   THOMAS    CAMPBELL,    S.J. 


PRESIDENT. 


FATHEBS  DEALT,  CAMPBELL,  AND  SCULLY.    115 

a  credit  to  the  college — a  devotion  which  was  rewarded 
in  the  end  by  a  success  as  complete  and  unqualified  as 
it  was  deserved.  Taking  a  dozen  of  the  most  promis- 
ing students  as  a  nucleus  of  his  corps,  he  organized  be- 
fore the  close  of  the  year  a  well-drilled,  handsome  com- 
pany of  nearly  fifty.  The  organization  rapidly  gained 
favor,  and  through  the  efforts  of  its  energetic  preceptor 
grew  until  it  is  now  one  of  the  most  attractive  features 
of  the  college  course. 

Under  Father  Campbell  a  notable  change  took  place 
in  the  management  of  the  Debating  Society.  Disap- 
proving of  the  old  system  by  which  the  speeches  of 
the  debaters  were  carefully  written  and  committed  to 
memory  in  anticipation  of  the  debate,  he  inaugurated  a 
plan  which,  though  new  to  Fordham,  had  been  tried  in 
other  colleges.  He  had  the  meetings  of  the  society  car- 
ried on  after  the  plan  of  the  British  House  of  Com- 
mons, measures  being  brought  up  and  debated  in  strict 
parliamentary  form.  By  this  means  Father  Campbell 
hoped  to  cultivate  extempore  speaking,  and  to  develop 
the  faculty  of  thinking  on  one's  feet.  This  change 
took  place  in  the  fall  of  1886,  and  in  the  folloVing 
year  a  similar  change  was  made  in  the  operations 
of  St.  John's  Literary  Society,  formed  of  the  higher 
classes  in  the  Commercial  course.  This  was  changed 
to  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  business  was 
carried  on  as  in  the  lower  house  of  the  United  States 
Congress. 

The  Science  Hall,  which  was  begun  by  Father  Dealy 
in  the  spring  of  1885,  was  completed  in  1886,  and  in 
September  of  that  year  was  opened  for  use  by  Father 
Campbell.  It  is  an  ornamental  building  of  two  stories, 
with  slate  roof  and  tall,  graceful  chimney  at  the  west- 


116  A  HISTOEY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

era  end,  and  is  built  of  the  same  description  of  stone  as 
is  used  in  Senior  Hall.  In  the  same  year  the  Third 
Division,  or  Preparatory  school,  was  moved  to  St.  John's 
Hall,  and  in  1887  the  grounds  at  the  rear  thereof  were 
terraced.  The  shed  which  occupied  the  place  of  the 
present  music-room  in  1846,  and  which  was  moved  by 
Father  Thebaud  to  the  line  between  Second  and  Third 
Divisions,  was  torn  down  and  removed  in  the  summer 
of  1886,  and  the  old  Third  Division  building  turned 
into  a  shop  and  storehouse.  The  year  1886-87  was 
marked  by  many  other  incidents  worthy  of  note. 
The  Scientific  course  with  the  surveying  class,  and  the 
classes  of  English,  philosophy,  and  rhetoric  were  estab- 
lished. The  bronze  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  which 
stood  in  the  centre  of  the  quadrangle  until  the  latter 
was  invaded  by  the  new  Faculty  building,  was  unveiled 
with  impressive  ceremonies  on  February  2,  1887,  the 
anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the  Parthenian  Sodality, 
and  was  solemnly  blessed  on  May  1st  of  the  same  year. 
A  specially  distinctive  feature  of  this  year  was,  that  it 
was  one  of  unprecedented  success  for  athletics  of  all 
kinds — the  Base-Ball  Nine  having  made  a  record  that 
has  never  been  rivalled,  except  perhaps  by  the  team  of 
1890.  The  Dramatic  Society  of  that  year  was  unusu- 
ally successful,  and  the  experiment  in  the  Debating 
Society  was  in  every  way  satisfactory. 

The  following  year  (1887-88)  was  the  last  of  Father 
Campbell's  term,  and  during  its  course  he  introduced 
electric  lights  into  the  college.  A  dynamo  was  placed 
in  the  cellar  of  Science  Hall,  and  the  First  and  Second 
Division  study-halls,  and  the  students'  and  community 
refectories  were  lighted  by  incandescent  lamps.  The 
stage  in  the  First  Division  hall  was  also  lighted  by 


LANE  (NEAR  SKATING-POND)  LEADING  TO  BRONX  PARK. 


FATHEES  DEALY,   CAMPBELL,    AND   SCULLY.        117 

electricity,  and  so  arranged  that  the  lights  could  be 
raised  or  lowered  at  will. 

In  May,  1888,  the  news  reached  Fordham  that  Father 
Campbell  had  been  raised  to  the  dignity  of  Provincial 
of  the  New  York-Maryland  province.  The  sorrow 
caused  by  the  announcement  of  his  retirement  from  the 
presidency  was  general  among  the  students,  and  the 
knowledge  that  he  had  been  called  away  to  greater 
honors  and  a  position  of  higher  dignity  was  hardly  suf- 
ficient to  reconcile  them  to  the  loss  of  so  popular  a 
rector. 

The  elevation  of  Father  Campbell  to  the  office  of 
Provincial  left  a  vacancy  at  Fordham  which  was  filled 
the  following  summer  by  the  appointment  of  Reverend 
John  Scully,  the  present  incumbent.  Father  Scully, 
who  is  a  son  of  Edward  Scully,  of  Sandy  Hill,  N.  Y., 
was  born  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  in  1846,  but  was  educated 
at  private  schools  in  Albany.  In  1872  he  entered  the 
Society  of  Jesus,  making  his  novitiate  in  Canada,  his 
rhetoric  studies  at  Roehampton,  England,  and  his  phil- 
osophical studies  at  Stony  hurst.  In  1878  he  was  sent  to 
Fordham  as  a  professor,  and  later  to  Georgetown  Col- 
lege. After  his  ordination  he  became  prefect  of  stud- 
ies at  St.  Peter's  College,  Jersey  City,  and  in  July,  1888, 
he  was  appointed  to  the  vacant  presidency  of  St.  John's, 
Fordham. 

Among  Father  Scully's  first  official  acts  was  the  sale 
of  the  property  on  the  banks  of  the  Bronx  to  the  city 
of  New  York.  This  property  is  a  beautiful  bit  of 
woodland  extending  from  the  Southern  Boulevard  to 
the  Bronx  River,  presenting  at  every  turn  of  its  wind- 
ing paths  some  charming  view  of  the  river  seen  through 
interlocking  boughs  and  tangled  brushwood.  It  is  an 


118  A  HISTOEY  OF  FOBDHAM  COLLEGE. 

ideal  spot,  and  its  advantages  were  soon  discovered  by 
the  city  authorities  when  the  establishment  of  Bronx 
Park  was  first  proposed.  The  purchase  was  completed 
in  April,  1889,  the  city  paying  $93,966.25  for  the  prop- 
erty. It  is  near  this  spot  that  the  Botanical  Gardens 
are  to  be  established. 

About  this  time  the  question  of  a  statue  to  Arch- 
bishop Hughes  was  mooted  and  the  occasion  selected 
as  the  most  appropriate,  the  Commencement-day  of 
1889,  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  archbishop's 
death  having  occurred  during  that  year.  The  matter 
was  held  in  abeyance  for  the  time  being,  however,  and 
the  date  for  the  erection  of  the  statue  was  postponed 
until  the  jubilee  celebration  in  1891. 

Ever  since  he  took  the  reins  of  government  at  Ford- 
ham  in  his  hands,  Father  Scully  had  been  planning 
new  buildings  which  had  been  sorely  needed  for  many 
years.  By  the  fall  of  1889  his  plans  had  matured,  and 
in  the  early  part  of  December  of  that  year,  ground  was 
broken  for  the  new  Junior  Hall,  or  Second  Division 
building.  It  was  a  much  needed  improvement.  The 
old  Second  Division  building,  which  had  been  standing 
nearly  fifty  years,  was  fast  becoming  unfit  for  use,  and 
the  increasing  attendance  caused  a  demand  for  better 
accommodation. 

The  site  of  the  new  building  was  on  the  old  Third 
Division  recreation  ground,  and  the  removal  of  the  old 
frame  building  erected  by  Father  Thebaud  for  Third 
Division  became  necessary.  Since  the  small  boys  had 
vacated  it  for  more  commodious  quarters  in  St.  John's 
Hall,  the  old  house  had  been  put  to  a  variety  of  uses. 
The  ground  floor  had  been  turned  into  a  stationery 
shop,  presided  over  by  one  of  the  lay-brothers;  the 


FATHERS  DEALT,    CAMPBELL,    AND  SCULLY.        119 

second  floor,  the  old  study-hall,  had  become  the  armory, 
and  the  top  floor,  quarters  for  some  of  the  servants. 
But  its  day  was  over,  it  stood  in  the  way  of  progress, 
and  there  was  but  one  course  left,  it  must  be  removed. 
So  the  old  relic  disappeared,  and,  phoenix-like,  out  of 
its  ashes  rose  the  handsome  new  Junior  Hall.  This 
edifice,  which  was  completed  in  1 890,  is  in  general  out- 
line identical  with  the  Senior  Hall  built  by  Father 
Moylan.  It  is  of  the  same  quality  of  stone,  and  is 
finished  in  hard  wood.  The  gymnasium,  reading-room, 
and  billiard-room  are  on  the  first  floor ;  the  study-hall 
and  vice-president's  office  on  the  second ;  the  office 
having  been  moved  from  the  First  Division  building 
on  the  completion  of  the  newer  edifice.  The  third  and 
fourth  stories  are  occupied  as  class-rooms  and  the 
dormitory,  respectively.  On  the  top  floor  are  the 
rooms  occupied  by  the  members  of  the  Class  of  Phil- 
osophy. 

Before  this  building  was  completed  Father  Scully 
had  begun  the  erection  of  another,  in  the  form  of  an 
extension  to.  the  Senior  Hall,  at  the  point  left  un- 
finished for  that  purpose  by  Father  Moylan.  Founda- 
tions were  laid  for  a  building  to  meet  the  old  hall  at 
right  angles,  to  be  one  hundred  and  seventy  feet  in 
length,  by  about  fifty  feet  in  width.  On  Sunday, 
August  16th,  the  same  year,  the  corner-stone  of  the 
new  Faculty  building,  for  it  is  intended  chiefly  for  the 
rooms  of  the  fathers  and  scholastics,  was  laid  by  Bishop 
Conroy.  The  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Reverend 
"William  A.  Dunphy,  '75,  who  has  since  that  time  been 
called  to  his  account,  having  died  in  less  than  six 
months  after.  The  silver  trowel  used  on  this  occasion 
was  the  gift  of  Mr.  Paul  Thebaud,  who  was  a  student 


120  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

at  the  college  early  in  the  forties.  The  first  and  second 
stories  of  the  north  end  will  be  occupied  as  a  beautiful 
new  chapel  for  the  students;  on  the  corresponding 
floors  in  the  southern  end  will  be  the  refectories,  and 
above  will  be  the  rooms  of  the  professors. 

The  same  year  that  saw  the  Junior  Hall  completed 
and  the  new  Faculty  building  well  started  on  its  up- 
ward way,  witnessed  the  total  destruction  of  two  time- 
stained  and  weather-beaten  relics  of  another  era,  the 
"  castle "  and  the  old  Second  Division  building.  The 
former  was  removed  to  make  room  for  the  Faculty 
building,  and  the  other  as  it  had  outlived  its  usefulness. 
The  laboratory  of  the  Class  of  Analytical  Chemistry, 
which  was  in  the  "castle,"  was  moved  to  the  Science 
Hall,  where  more  suitable  quarters  had  been  prepared 
for  it.  The  new  laboratory  contains  desks  and  appli- 
ances for  thirty-six  students.  This  Class  of  Analytical 
Chemistry,  which  previous  to  Father  Scully's  presi- 
dency was  confined  to  the  Scientific  course,  was  intro- 
duced by  him  into  the  Classical  course,  and  is  now  one 
of  the  branches  followed  by  the  Senior  class.  The 
Classes  of  Electrical  Engineering  and  Photography  were 
also  instituted  since  his  accession  to  the  presidential 
chair.  In  his  second  year  he  introduced  the  electric 
light  throughout  the  entire  institution,  Father  Camp- 
bell, it  will  be  remembered,  having  introduced  it  into 
the  refectories  and  study-halls.  In  the  same  year 
the  Eeverend  P.  A.  Halpin,  S.J.,  arrived  from  Bos- 
ton as  vice-president  and  prefect  of  studies.  Father 
Halpin  had  spent  many  years  on  the  faculty  at  Ford- 
ham  College,  and  had  been  vice-president  for  five  years 
under  Fathers  Gockeln  and  Dealy.  He  is  well  known 
throughout  the  country  as  an  eloquent  preacher,  is  the 


en 

w 
o 


FATHEKS  DEALT,  CAMPBELL,  AND  SCULLY.    121 

author  of  a  text-book  used  in  many  of  the  colleges,  called 
"  Precepts  of  Literature,"  and  is  considered  one  of  the 
foremost  literary  men  of  the  order.  His  predecessor  in 
the  office  of  vice-president  was  Reverend  George  E. 
Quinn,  a  graduate  of  the  college  and  an  earnest  worker. 
The  Reverend  Louis  Jouin,  the  Reverend  Edward 
Doucet,  now  deceased,  the  Reverend  James  P.  Fagan, 
the  Reverend  Thomas  J.  A.  Freeman,  the  Reverend 
Joseph  Zwinge,  the  Reverend  Joseph  Ziegler,  the 
Reverend  Timothy  O'Leary,  the  Reverend  D.  J.  Mc- 
Goldrick,  and  the  Reverend  Lawrence  Kavanagh  are 
among  those  who  have  become  identified  with  St. 
John's  under  Father  Scully. 

Among  the  notable  events  that  thus  far  have  taken 
place  during  his  term  of  office  were  the  golden  jubilee 
celebrations  of  Father  Prachensky  and  Brother  Hen- 
nen,  both  of  whom  have  since  been  laid  away  in  the 
little  cemetery.  Father  Hanrahan,  too,  who  had  been 
a  familiar  figure  in  the  treasurer's  office  at  Fordham  for 
many  a  year,  was  taken  off  quite  suddenly  in  April, 
1891.  Among  the  other  notable  men  who  have  died  at 
Fordham  within  the  last  few  years  are  Fathers  Moy- 
lan  and  Perron,  Mr.  Mulry,  and  Brothers  Mace  and  De 
Footer. 

But  the  most  important  event  in  Father  Scully's 
term,  as,  indeed,  it  is  the  most  important  event  in  the 
history  of  the  college,  so  far,  is  the  coming  jubilee  cele- 
bration. Fordham  will  then  celebrate  the  completion 
of  her  fiftieth  year,  and  Father  Scully  has  determined 
that  the  celebration  shall  be  in  every  way  a  credit  to 
the  first  Catholic  college  in  the  country,  as  Fordham 
can  justly  lay  claim  to  be.  It  is  with  a  view  to  mak- 
ing a  creditable  showing  on  that  day  that  the  work  is 


122  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

being  hurried  forward;  that  the  matter  of  the  statue  to 
Archbishop  Hughes  has  been  pushed  until  now  the 
unveiling  on  that  day  has  been  assured  and  the  work  of 
building  the  base  begun.  The  address  of  the  day  will 
be  delivered  by  the  eloquent  Archbishop  Ryan  of  Phi- 
ladelphia; several  of  the  old  graduates  will  assist 
those  of  this  year  in  the  literary  exercises,  and  the  ca- 
dets will  be  marshalled  in  all  their  strength.  It  will 
indeed  be  a  day  of  triumph  for  St.  John's. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  CADETS. 

THERE  is  one  feature  in  the  course  of  training  given 
at  Fordham  which,  from  the  prominence  into  which  it 
has  lately  sprung  and  the  many  benefits  which  accrue 
from  it,  is  worthy  of  something  more  than  mere  pass- 
ing notice.  The  St.  John's  corps  of  cadets  is  a  splen- 
did body  of  young  men,  and  is  a  credit  to  the  institu- 
tion whose  name  it  bears.  Since  its  organization  in 
1885  it  has  rapidly  and  steadily  advanced,  until  to-day 
it  holds  the  enviable  position  of  being  one  of  the  best 
trained  companies  in  the  country  outside  of  the  United 
States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point. 

Were  we  inclined  to  enter  deeply  into  a  discussion 
of  the  benefits  accruing  from  military  instruction  in 
our  colleges,  we  might  say  much,  for  its  advantages 
are  many.  But  we  have  not  at  our  command  either 
the  time  or  space  for  a  learned  disquisition  on  the  sub- 
ject. We  will  content  ourselves,  therefore,  with  a 
brief  history  of  the  military  organization  at  Fordham 
from  the  time  of  its  inception  till  the  present  day. 

Before  the  establishment  of  the  present  company 
there  had  been  several  efforts  to  introduce  military 
training  into  Fordham.  The  last  of  these  attempts 
was  made  during  the  presidency  of  Father  Gockeln 
and  the  first  years  of  Father  Dealy's  rule.  An  ex- 
officer  of  the  German  army,  named  Bruns,  was  employed 


124  A  HISTOEY  OF  FOBDHAM  COLLEGE. 

as  instructor  in  military  tactics,  but  he  had  no  control 
over  the  students,  there  was  no  discipline,  and  the 
effort  resulted  in  failure. 

Father  Dealy  then  set  to  work  to  obtain  better 
facilities  for  carrying  out  his  plan.  He  availed  him- 
self of  an  act  of  Congress  which  provided  that  United 
States  Army  officers  be  detailed  at  certain  schools  and 
colleges  throughout  the  country,  to  instruct  the  students 
in  military  science  and  tactics,  and  after  considerable 
work  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  detail  for  Fordham. 
Although  the  credit  of  this  achievement  belongs  to 
Father  Dealy,  he  did  not  remain  at  Fordham  long 
enough  to  see  the  new  department  in  working  order. 
In  the  catalogue  of  1884-85,  he  announced  that  the 
necessary  arrangements  had  been  made,  and  that  the 
following  year  would  see  a  cadet  corps  at  Fordham, 
the  instructor  detailed,  and  the  arms  and  equipments 
furnished  by  the  Government ;  but  before  the  beginning 
of  the  next  year  he  was  superseded  by  Father  Camp- 
bell. 

On  October  10, 1885,  Lieutenant  Herbert  G.  Squiers, 
of  the  Seventh  United  States  Cavalry,  reported  for 
duty  at  Fordham,  as  professor  of  military  science  and 
tactics.  Lieutenant  Squiers  is  a  pleasant,  genial,  young 
officer,  but  withal  a  strict  disciplinarian  and  a  thorough 
soldier.  He  had  been  appointed  from  civil  life  to  a 
Second  Lieutenancy  in  the  First  Infantry,  and  was 
afterward  transferred  to  the  Seventh  Cavalry.  Later? 
he  was  at  the  United  States  Artillery  School  at  For- 
tress Monroe,  Va.,  and  thence  was  ordered  to  the 
frontier  with  his  regiment,  the  Seventh  Cavalry,  where 
he  remained  until  1882,  when  he  was  sent  to  Division 
headquarters  at  Chicago,  111.  May  16, 1883,  he  rejoined 


THE  CADETS.  125 


his  regiment  in  Dakota,  where  he  remained  until  de- 
tailed to  Fordham  in  1885. 

He  immediately  set  to  work  to  organize  a  company, 
and  as  a  nucleus  about  which  to  gather  his  men,  he 
selected  a  squad  of  twelve.  These  being  thoroughly 
drilled,  and  competent  to  assume  the  duties  of  officers, 
he  began  to  gather  recruits.  Before  the  close  of  the 
first  year  he  had  a  company  of  nearly  fifty,  who  made 
a  handsome  appearance  in  a  full-dress  uniform  of  gray, 
rich  in  brass  buttons  and  gold  lace,  and,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  black  helmet,  similar  to  that  worn  at 
West  Point.  A  fatigue  uniform,  consisting  of  a  blue 
blouse  and  cap  was  worn  by  many,  although  it  was  not 
essential.  In  the  spring  of  1886  the  company  gave 
an  exhibition  drill  that  was  heartily  commended  by  a 
number  of  army  officers  who  were  present.  An  elab- 
orate programme  had  been  arranged  for  the  Com- 
mencement day  of  1886,  but  owing  to  the  inclement 
weather  it  was  dispensed  with.  The  exercises  would 
have  included  all  the  evolutions  of  the  platoon  and 
company,  dress,  guard  mount,  and  a  skirmish  drill  of 
twenty  rounds.  The  postponement  of  this  event  was 
most  unfortunate,  as  the  cadets  would  have  made  an 
excellent  showing,  having  made  wonderful  progress 
under  the  tuition  of  Lieutenant  Squiers. 

There  was  no  perceptible  increase  in  numbers  the 
next  year,  but  the  company  had  acquired  a  greater 
familiarity  with  the  movements  and  evolutions,  and 
the  students  in  general  began  to  look  with  more  favor 
on  the  new  institution,  toward  which  a  feeling  of  dis- 
trust, not  unusual  in  cases  of  similar  innovations,  had 
been  engendered  among  the  non-cadets.  Through  the 
energetic  work  of  Lieutenant  Squiers  the  company 


126  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

rapidly  advanced,  and  on  Commencement-day,  1887, 
an  exhibition  drill,  similar  to  that  planned  for  the  year 
previous,  was  given  before  a  large  concourse  of  people, 
who  heartily  applauded  the  efforts  of  the  embryo 
soldiers. 

The  success  of  the  military  training  was  beginning  to 
take  effect  on  those  who  still  remained  without  the 
pale,  for  a  glance  at  the  catalogue  of  the  following 
year  shows  that  their  numbers  during  that  time  had 
increased  more  than  twofold.  It  was  even  deemed  ad- 
visable to  separate  the  students  of  the  Preparatory  de- 
partment from  the  others  and  form  them  into  a  second 
company,  to  be  drilled  by  the  officers  of  the  first  com- 
pany. The  uniform  of  the  second  company  was  altered, 
the  full-dress  coat,  the  helmet,  and  the  long  trousers 
were  discarded,  and  the  blouse,  fatigue  cap,  and  knee- 
breeches  of  gray  substituted.  A  smaller  rifle  was  pro- 
cured for  them,  and  thenceforth  they  were  entirely 
separated  from  the  cadets  of  the  Senior  division. 

The  year  1888-89  saw  the  most  complete  change 
the  military  organization  had  yet  experienced.  From 
a  handful  of  forty-five  or  fifty,  the  membership  bound- 
ed suddenly  up  to  one  hundred  and  fifty.  The  full- 
dress  coat  and  helmet  were  dropped,  as  they  had  been 
the  year  before  at  St.  John's  Hall,  and  the  blouse  and 
fatigue  cap,  with  the  gray  trousers,  constituted  the  uni- 
form. The  corps  was  divided  into  four  companies,  and 
the  spring  of  1889  saw  an  orderly,  well-drilled  batta- 
lion in  the  field.  Lieutenant  Squiers,  whose  interest  in 
the  corps  had  increased,  if  that  were  possible,  with  the 
increase  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the  boys,  presented  a 
handsome  stand  of  colors  to  be  competed  for  by  the 
four  companies.  Lieutenant  Price,  U.  S.  A.,  acted  as 


THE  CADETS.  127 


judge  on  this  occasion  of  the  competition  drill  for  these 
colors,  and  they  were  awarded  to  Company  B,  Cadet 
Captain  Marrin.  The  drill  this  year,  as  on  former  oc- 
casions, was  one  of  the  features  of  the  Commencement- 
day  exercises. 

The  next  year  was  for  the  battalion  a  repetition  of 
the  success  of  1889.  The  cadet  corps  was  now  firmly 
established,  the  antipathy  of  the  students  had  given 
way  entirely  to  enthusiasm  for  the  now  popular  drill, 
and  a  spirit  of  emulation  had  been  engendered  by  the 
competition  among  the  companies  that  was  working 
wonders.  The  honor  of  being  color  company  was 
earned  this  year  by  Company  D,  Cadet  Captain  Bur- 
row, and  the  laurels  snatched  from  Company  B.  The 
dress  parade  was  held  as  usual  on  Commencement-day. 

The  scholastic  year  of  1890-91  opened  auspiciously 
for  the  cadets,  and  Lieutenant  Squiers  was  once  more 
at  his  post.  He  did  not  remain  long  at  Fordham,  how- 
ever, for  as  the  trouble  with  the  Sioux  Indians,  which 
had  been  brewing  for  several  months,  broke  out  about 
that  time  into  open  warfare,  the  Lieutenant  forwarded 
a  request  to  the  War  Department  to  be  assigned  to 
duty  with  his  regiment,  which  was  then  at  PineKidge. 
The  answer  came  shortly,  granting  the  request,  reliev- 
ing him  from  duty  at  Fordham,  and  directing  him  to 
join  his  regiment  in  the  field.  The  sorrow  at  Fordham 
for  his  departure  was  general  and  loudly  expressed,  but 
he  felt  that  when  his  regiment  was  in  active  service  in 
the  field  of  battle,  his  duty  lay  there,  and  like  a  true 
soldier  he  answered  the  call  of  duty.  His  friends  were 
gratified,  however,  a  short  time  later,  when  the  news  ar- 
rived that  he  had  been  promoted  to  a  first  lieutenancy. 

Lieutenant  Squiers's  successor  to  the  post  of  military 


128  A  HISTOEY  OF  FOEDHAM  COLLEGE. 

instructor  at  St.  John's  appeared  in  January,  1891,  in 
the  person  of  Second  Lieutenant  Clarence  R.  Edwards, 
First  United  States  Infantry.  Lieutenant  Edwards  is 
a  graduate  of  West  Point,  a  thorough  and  efficient  offi- 
cer, and  has  shown  himself,  by  his  management  of  the 
military  department  at  Fordham,  to  be  a  worthy  suc- 
cessor to  Lieutenant  Squiers.  Since  his  arrival  several 
slight  changes  have  been  made  in  the  uniform  of  the  bat- 
talion. For  dress  occasions,  a  white  helmet  has  been  sub- 
stituted for  the  fatigue  cap,  white  leggings  have  been 
introduced,  and  other  slight  alterations  effected  which 
all  go  to  improve  the  general  appearance  of  the  corps. 

The  St.  John's  Cadets  came  prominently  before  the 
public  view  on  two  occasions  during  the  month  of  May, 
1891,  on  each  of  which  they  carried  themselves  in  a 
way  to  reflect  credit  on  the  institution  which  they 
represent.  On  May  17th,  they  formed  the  guard  of 
honor  to  His  Grace  Archbishop  Corrigan,  at  the  laying 
of  the  corner-stone  of  the  new  diocesan  seminary  at 
Valentine  Hill,  South  Yonkers;  and  on  Decoration- 
day,  the  same  month,  under  command  of  Lieutenant 
Edwards,  they  marched,  over  one  hundred  and  fifty 
strong,  in  the  parade  in  New  York.  They  were  in  ex- 
cellent form,  and  won  rounds  of  applause  all  along  the 
line  of  march. 

The  Cadet  corps  has  now  become  a  recognized  branch 
of  the  course  at  Fordham.  By  having  a  battalion  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  cadets,  the  detail  is  secured, 
while  the  excellent  showing  made  on  exhibition  days, 
and  the  favorable  reports  rendered  by  the  Inspector, 
will  serve  to  strengthen  the  assurance  of  a  continuation 
of  the  privilege.  The  battalion  will  take  a  prominent 
part  in  the  Jubilee  exercises. 


HON.    MORGAN  J.   O'BRIEN. 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

THE  COLLEGE  SOCIETIES.— THE  PABTHENIAN  SODALITY. 
—THE  HISTOEICAL  AND  DEBATING  SOCIETIES.  —  THE 
ALUMNI  ASSOCIATION. 

ONE  of  the  most  attractive  features  of  a  college  of 
the  present  day,  and,  to  the  ordinary  observer,  that 
fraught  with  most  interest,  is  its  student  life.  To  the 
general  public  the  routine  of  study,  the  standing  of  the 
various  classes,  the  relative  merits  of  different  systems 
of  education,  have  no  interest ;  its  attention  is  centred 
on  the  students.  To  mostj  people,  there  is  a  glamour 
over  the  life  of  a  college  student  by  which  they  are 
instinctively  attracted,  andj  whether  they  are  college 
men  or  not  themselves,  they  always  take  an  interest  in 
the  college  student,  his  societies,  and  his  sports.  There- 
fore, in  writing  the  history  of  a  college  we  must  not 
lose  sight  of  so  important  an  item. 

Of  the  Fordham  societies,  that  which,  on  account  of 
its  age,  its  character,  and  the  ends  it  has  in  view,  is  cer- 
tainly the  most  notable,  will  occupy  our  attention  first. 
We  have  reference  to  the  Parthenian  Sodality.  This 
sodality  is  affiliated  with  the  Roman  Prima  JPrimaria, 
under  the  invocation  of  the  Purification  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  Mary  and  the  Patronage  of  St.  Aloysius.  It 
was  established  February  2,  1837,  at  St.  Mary's, 
Ky.,  and  is  therefore  four  years  older  than  the  col- 
lege itself.  When  the  Jesuit  fathers  came  to  Fordham 
in  1846,  the  sodality  came  with  them,  and  has  con- 

9 


130  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

tinned  its  work  without  interruption  until  the  present 
day.  The  place  was  changed — nothing  more.  The 
minute-book  notes  the  transfer  from  St.  Mary's  to 
Fordham,  and  goes  on  with  the  record  of  the  next  meet- 
ing as  if  nothing  extraordinary  had  occurred.  Father 
Legouais,  who  was  director  at  St.  Mary's,  continued  in 
the  office  at  Fordham ;  and  several  of  the  students  who 
had  been  members  accompanied  the  Jesuits  to  St. 
John's  and  continued  in  the  sodality  at  the  latter 
place. 

The  sodality  was  founded  by  Father  Chazelle,  the 
first  Jesuit  president  of  St.  Mary's,  and  during  its  first 
year  he  acted  as  director.  At  the  end  of  chat  time  he 
resigned  the  post  to  Father  Legouais,  who  continued  as 
director  until  1848,  two  years  after  their  arrival  at 
Fordham.  He  was  succeeded  by  Father  Duranquet, 
who  in  1850  gave  way  to  Father  Bernard  O'Reilly. 
After  him  came  Father  Smarius,  Father  Murphy, 
Father  Larkin,  Father  Gresselin,  Father  Ronayne,  and 
Father  Meagher.  Father  Ronayne  again  took  charge, 
and  was  in  turn  succeeded  by  Father  Dealy,  in  1864. 
The  following  year  Father  Cunningham  entered  into 
office,  and  was  followed  by  Father  Fleck,  Messrs. 
Jones,  Doherty,  Campbell ;  Fathers  Custin,  Doucet, 
Treanor,  Flynn,  Kenny,  Halpin,  O'Reilly,  Becker,  O'- 
Leary;  Messrs.  Van  Rensselaer  and  O'Rourke,  and 
again  Father  Flynn,  each  holding  office  only  a  year, 
with  one  or  two  exceptions. 

In  September,  1886,  the  Reverend  T.  J.  A.  Freeman 
took  control  and  held  office  for  two  years.  At  the  end 
of  that  time  it  passed  into  the  charge  of  Mr.  George 
A  Mulry,  whose  failing  health  obliged  him  to  resign 
his  charge  in  the  spring  of  the  following  year.  Before 


THE  COLLEGE  SOCIETIES.  131 

the  close  of  the  year  he  had  passed  to  the  reward  of 
his  saintly  life.  His  death  was  a  sad  blow  to  the  stu- 
dents of  Fordham,  for  he  had  won  countless  friends 
by  his  gentle,  winning  ways.  Even  the  most  flippant 
and  frivolous  were  impressed  by  his  holiness,  his  amia- 
bility, and  his  zeal  in  the  cause  of  everything  that  was 
good.  The  records  of  the  sodality  bear  a  set  of  reso- 
lutions, in  which  the  sodality  expresses  its  "  deep  sor- 
row for  the  loss  of  one  who,  on  so  many  titles,  had 
merited  their  esteem  and  love." 

Mr.  Mulry's  term  was  finished  by  the  Reverend 
James  P.  Fagan,  and  the  following  year  the  director- 
ship passed  to  the  Reverend  Lawrence  Kavanagh,  with 
whom  it  has  remained  ever  since. 

The  first  name  that  appears  on  the  list  of  members 
of  the  sodality  is  that  of  Michael  Driscoll,  whose 
remarkable  career  we  have  referred  to  in  another 
chapter.  Further  on  we  meet  the  names  of  John 
Ryan,  Walter  Hill,  Michael  Nash,  and  Fred.  Win. 
Gockeln,  all  of  whom  became  in  after  years  distin- 
guished members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  Sylvester 
H.  Rosecrans,  afterward  Bishop  of  Columbus,  William 
Keegan,  James  Hughes,  now  V.-G.  of  the  Hartford 
Diocese,  Michael  and  Lawrence  O'Connor,  William 
Plowden  Morrogh,  David  A.  Merrick,  Martin  T.  and 
James  McMahon,  James  R.  O'Beirne,  Thomas  B.  Con- 
nery,  John  R.  Hassard,  Richard  Brennan,  and  Joseph 
J.  Marrin,  are  among  the  well-known  names  to  be  found 
on  the  rolls  of  the  sodality.  Father  Driscoll  was  the 
first  prefect,  and  among  his  successors  were  Fathers 
Ryan,  Hill,  Gockeln,  and  Morrogh,  Judge  Dodge,  Dr. 
Brennan,  John  R.  Hassard,  P.  A.  Hargous,  Francis  V. 
Oliver,  Dean  Mooney,  Ignatius  McManus,  Father 


132  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  CpLLEGE. 

Keveney,  S.J.,  Judge  O'Brien,  Father  Quin,  S.J.,  and 
the  late  lamented  Father  William  A.  Dunphy. 

February  2,  1887,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
founding  of  the  sodality  was  commemorated  by  the 
erection  of  a  bronze  statue,  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  in  the 
quadrangle  before  the  entrance  to  the  chapel.  The  ex- 
ercises opened  with  mass  at  6.30  A.M.,  celebrated  by 
Father  Freeman,  director  of  the  Sodality,  at  which  all 
received  Holy  Communion.  The  unveiling  and  bless- 
ing of  the  statue,  which  was  to  take  place  at  9  A.M., 
followed  by  solemn  mass,  was  postponed  until  May  1st, 
on  account  of  the  inclemency  of  the  weather.  A 
literary  circle  was  held  in  the  afternoon,  and  a  sermon, 
followed  by  solemn  benediction,  concluded  the  exercises. 
The  statue  was  solemnly  blessed  on  May  1st  by  the 
Very  Reverend  R.  W.  Brady,  provincial  of  the  New 
York-Maryland  Province. 

On  October  2,  1847,  the  second  sodality  was  formed, 
under  the  name  of  the  Sodality  of  the  Holy  Angels, 
but  merely  as  a  branch  of  the  Parthenian  Sodality,  the 
treasury  and  library  being  common.  In  1852  it  was 
entirely  separated  from  the  parent  organization,  and 
has  remained  so  ever  since.  In  1856  or  1857,  the  Third 
Division  Sodality  was  formed  under  the  patronage  of 
St.  Stanislaus,  but  it  seems  to  have  been  more  widely 
separated  from  the  others,  because  the  sodalist  from 
Third  Division  was  obliged  to  renew  his  act  of  conse- 
cration on  entering  the  other  body.  The  sodality  for 
externs  was  established  in  1889,  and  regularly  aggre- 
gated to  the  Primaria  at  Rome.  Mr.  Francis  J.  Lamb, 
S.J.,  was  its  first  director. 

Next  in  point  of  years  to  the  sodalities  comes  the 
Debating  Society.  Debating  societies  are  among  the 


THE  COLLEGE  SOCIETIES.  133 

oldest  of  organized  societies,  and  seem  to  have  always 
been  considered  necessary  adjuncts  to  institutions  of 
learning.  There  is  not,  perhaps,  a  college  or  high 
school  in  the  country  that  has  not  an  organization 
wherein  questions  of  moment  are  discussed  and  sifted. 

Fordham  was  without  a  society  of  this  kind  until 
1854.  There  was,  it  is  true,  a  tradition  of  a  society 
called  the  "  Crestomathian,"  which  was  said  to  have  ex- 
isted in  Fordham  in  days  gone  by,  but  no  one  in  the 
college  at  the  time  had  any  recollection  of  it.  In  one 
of  the  upper  rooms  of  the  "  castle  "  was  an  old  closet, 
securely  locked,  and  which  no  one  had  ever  seen  open. 
Across  the  door  of  this  mysterious  closet  was  the  caba- 
listic word  "  Crest omathian."  This  was  supposed  to 
contain  the  treasures  of  the  pre-historic  association,  and 
when  the  St.  John's  Debating  Society  was  organized,  in 
1854,  the  latter  deeming  itself  entitled  to  the  property 
of  all  similar  defunct  societies  in  the  house,  decided  to 
seize  on  the  treasure  supposed  to  have  been  hoarded  for 
so  many  years  in  the  dingy  little  closet.  But  the 
search  revealed  nothing.  The  closet  was  empty. 

The  St.  John's  Debating  Society  was  organized,  as 
we  have  stated,  in  the  fall  of  1854.  According  to  the 
constitution,  the  president  was  a  member  of  the  faculty 
appointed  by  that  body.  The  vice-president  was  elect- 
ed for  the  whole  year,  the  other  officers  semi-annually. 
The  Reverend  C.  M.  Smarius,  S.  J.,  was  the  first  presi- 
dent, General  McMahon,  vice-president,  and  John  R. 
Hassard,  recording  secretary.  The  membership  was 
limited  to  the  classes  of  Philosophy  and  Rhetoric.  A 
gold  badge  was  adopted  by  the  society,  in  the  form  of 
a  shield,  and  in  the  centre,  which  was  open,  was  pen- 
dent a  maltese  cross  with  the  Greek  letters  II  <£  K  N 


134:  A  HISTOEY  OF  FOEDHAM  COLLEGE. 

inscribed  thereon.  On  the  reverse  was  the  name  of  the 
wearer  and  the  date  of  his  class.  The  initials  stood  for 
the  motto  Tlofafieo  <J>t/l6)$  xat,  vixdo. 

The  meetings  were  held  weekly,  on  Sunday  evening, 
in  the  reading-room  which  was  then  in  the  basement  of 
the  "  castle."  Two  public  debates  were  given  every 
year,  one  by  the  Philosophy  class  and  the  other  by  the 
members  of  the  class  of  Rhetoric.  These  public  events 
were  held  regularly  until  about  1878,  when  they  were 
reduced  to  one  every  year,  and  a  short  time  after  they 
were  dropped  altogether.  In  1884  they  were  restored, 
but  in  the  fall  of  1886  the  Debating  Society  was 
changed  into  the  House  of  Commons,  and  the  public 
debates  were  discontinued.  By  this  change,  which  was 
effected  by  desire  of  Father  Campbell,  the  society  was 
resolved  into  the  form  of  a  legislative  body  in  every  re- 
spect similar  to  the  British  House  of  Parliament.  This 
change  was  made  to  encourage  extempore  speaking,  and 
give  the  student  the  habit  of  "  thinking  on  his  feet." 
Its  success  was  phenomenal.  The  members  fell  readily 
into  the  new  methods  of  procedure,  and  the  advantages 
over  the  old  form  were  soon  made  apparent.  It  is  to 
be  regretted,  however,  that  in  making  the  change  some 
provision  was  not  made  for  the  perpetuation  of  the 
badge  which  had  been  worn  by  so  many  generations  of 
students.  It  was  dropped  that  year,  and  has  never  been 
restored. 

In  the  fall  of  1888  another  change  was  made,  from 
the  St.  John's  House  of  Commons  to  the  St.  John's 
Senate.  The  same  form  of  debate  was  preserved,  how- 
ever, and  the  change  was  only  in  the  name,  the  officers, 
and  a  few  minor  details.  It  was  made  through  mo- 
tives of  patriotism.  This  state  of  affairs  did  not  last 


THE  COLLEGE  SOCIETIES.  135 

long,  for  two  years  later  we  find  the  Senate  abolished 
altogether,  and  the  old  St.  John's  Debating  Society 
once  more  restored. 

The  Historical  Association  was  formed  in  1862,  the 
first  meeting  being  held  on  March  16th,  on  which  occa- 
sion the  president  of  the  college,  Father  Thebaud,  ad- 
dressed the  members  on  the  object  and  aim  of  the 
society.  This  organization  differed  from  the  Debating 
Society,  inasmuch  as  all  the  members  of  the  Classes  of 
Philosophy  and  Rhetoric,  to  which  it  was  limited,  were 
not  obliged  to  enter.  On  the  contrary,  the  candidate 
for  admission  must  prove  his  title  to  membership  by 
presenting  an  essay  which  was  passed  upon  by  a  com- 
mittee appointed  for  that  purpose.  His  admission 
or  rejection  depended  on  the  report  of  that  committee. 
This  rule  remained  in  force  until  the  year  1887-88, 
when,  for  some  unaccountable  reason,  the  association 
was  suspended.  It  was  reorganized  the  following  year 
through  Father  Scully,  and  the  constitution  amended 
so  as  to  admit  the  classes  of  Philosophy,  Rhetoric, 
and  Special  Science,  in  toto. 

The  first  director  of  this  association,  or,  as  he  is 
styled,  the  Honorary  President,  was  Father  Doucet. 
The  other  officers  for  the  first  year  were  :  A.  T.  Lynch, 
president;  "William  Collins,  vice-president;  John  Gaf- 
ney,  corresponding  secretary;  R.  L.  Spalding,  record- 
ing secretary ;  James  Olwell,  treasurer,  and  William 
Doherty,  librarian. 

A  public  lecture  is  given  every  year  under  the  au- 
spices of  the  association  by  some  distinguished  scholar, 
writer,  or  orator.  A  gold  medal,  valued  at  $50,  for 
the  best  biographical  essay,  which  originated  with 
Archbishop  Hughes,  and  which  is  donated  every  year 


136  A  HISTOEY  OF  FOBDHAM  COLLEGE. 

by  some  friend  of  the  college,  is  competed  for  by  the 
members  who  are  of  the  graduating  class. 

The  Alumni  Association  of  St.  John's  College  is 
among  the  oldest  of  the  societies  connected  with  that 
institution,  but  as  no  record  of  its  meetings  or  trans- 
actions has  ever  been  kept,  it  is  impossible  to  fix  the 
exact  date  of  its  organization.  Memory  is  proverbially 
treacherous,  and  it  is  never  safe  to  base  statements  of 
historical  facts  on  memory  only,  especially  when  it  ex- 
tends over  a  period  of  thirty  or  forty  years ;  but,  as  in 
this  case  we  have  only  the  memory  of  some  of  the 
older  members  to  guide  us,  we  must  make  the  most  of 
it.  As  closely  as  can  be  calculated,  the  association 
was  founded  about  1860.  It  did  little  more  than  hold 
its  annual  meeting  on  Commencement-day,  and  elect 
officers  for  the  ensuing  year,  until  about  1882  it  awoke 
to  greater  activity,  and  established  a  fund  to  provide  a 
purse  of  $50  annually,  as  a  prize  for  the  best  essay  in 
English  literature  in  the  classes  of  Philosophy,  Rheto- 
ric, and  Belles-lettres. 

In  the  spring  of  1888  the  Alumni  Association  again 
came  forward  in  the  movement  for  the  erection  of  the 
Hughes  monument.  The  matter  came  up  in  the  course 
of  a  conversation  between  Reverend  Fathers  Scully,  Loy- 
zance,  and  E.  F.  Slattery,  '72,  and  the  credit  of  the  sug- 
gestion is  due  to  the  Reverend  Joseph  Loyzance,  S.  J., 
and  Reverend  E.  F.  Slattery,  '72,  of  New  York.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  committee  held  shortly  afterward,  Father 
Slattery  offered  a  resolution  that  the  Alumni  Associa- 
tion undertake  the  task  of  collecting  $10,000  for  the 
erection  of  a  bronze  statue  to  the  dead  archbishop. 
The  resolution  was  adopted  and  circulars  issued  noti- 
fying the  members  of  the  action  of  the  committee. 


THE  COLLEGE  SOCIETIES.  137 

The  work  of  preparing  the  model  was  entrusted  to 
Mr.  William  Rudolf  O'Donovan,  an  able  and  enthu- 
siastic sculptor,  and  the  casting  of  the  bronze  figure 
was  given  to  Mr.  Maurice  J.  Power,  of  New  York. 

The  plan  of  erecting  the  statue  in  1889,  as  was  at 
first  intended,  was  soon  abandoned,  as  it  was  impossible 
to  collect  a  sufficient  amount  in  so  short  a  time,  and  it 
was  decided  to  postpone  the  ceremony  until  the  jubi- 
lee celebration  in  1891.  At  this  point  Judge  Morgan 
J.  O'Brien,  '72,  now  president  of  the  Alumni  Associa- 
tion, and  the  Reverend  James  J.  Flood,  '68,  of  New 
York,  interested  themselves  in  the  movement,  and  it 
was  mainly  through  their  efforts  that  a  sufficient  sum 
of  money  was  raised  to  warrant  the  beginning  of  the 
work.  Judge  O'Brien  has  been  indefatigable  in  this 
cause,  and  his  efforts  have  been  crowned  with  success. 
The  statue  will  be  ready  for  the  ceremony  of  unveiling 
by  June  24th. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  DRAMATIC  ASSOCIATION. -JOURNALISM  AT  FORDHAM. 
—ATHLETICS.— CONCLUSION. 

NOT  by  any  means  the  least  important  of  the  stu- 
dents' societies  of  Fordham  College  is  the  Dramatic 
Association.  The  college  is  in  reality  the  natural  home 
of  the  drama.  It  is  to  the  early  universities  and  mon- 
asteries that  we  owe  the  preservation  of  the  drama.  In 
these  institutions  it  was  preserved  in  its  purest  form, 
and  the  miracle  plays  of  the  middle  ages,  which  were 
performed  at  the  colleges  and  monasteries  throughout 
Europe,  were  witnessed  in  a  spirit  which  amounted  al 
most  to  religious  fervor.  We  know  that  in  the  early 
days  of  the  English  drama  it  was  a  feature  of  college 
life,  for  Hamlet  says  to  Polonius : 

"  My  lord,  you  played  once  i'  the  university,  you  say." 
Polonius.  "  That  did  I,  my  lord  ;  and  was  accounted  a  good  ac- 
tor." 

Moreover,  the  Ratio  Studiorum  of  the  Jesuits,  which 
is  centuries  old,  recommends  the  practice  of  giving 
plays  in  the  colleges  under  the  Jesuit  rule. 

The  custom  of  giving  plays  at  Fordham  extends  back, 
as  indeed  many  of  the  customs  do,  to  the  earlier  days 
of  St.  Mary's  College.  Father  Chazelle,  the  first  Jesuit 
president  of  St.  Mary's,  and  one  of  the  first  Jesuits 
of  that  colony  to  arrive  in  this  country,  introduced  dra- 


THE  DKAMATIC  ASSOCIATION.  139 

matic  entertainments  at  that  place.  The  first  play  put 
upon  the  boards  was  an  original  drama  from  the  pen 
of  Father  Chazelle  himself,  entitled  "  Ked  Hawk."  It 
was  produced  before  a  numerous  audience  and  caused 
a  genuine  sensation.  The  theatre  chosen  for  this  per- 
formance indeed  indicated  a  return  to  the  primitive  tra- 
ditions of  the  drama.  "  At  that  time,"  writes  the  Kev- 
erend  Walter  H.  Hill,  S. J.,  "  the  college  was  partly 
surrounded  by  thickly  wooded  primeval  groves,  a  suit- 
able spot  in  the  forest  was  chosen  for  the  stage,  which 
could  be  seen  by  the  spectators  from  a  rising  slope  at 
the  front,  and  a  whole  acre  was  covered  with  seats  for 
the  audience.  The  large  stage  was  adorned  with  drap- 
ery of  high  colors  ;  there  were  suitable  changes  of  scen- 
ery also.  So  well  adapted  to  the  purpose  was  Father 
Chazelle's  ideal,  that  it  was  strictly  adhered  to  ever 
afterward,  until  our  fathers  left  St.  Mary's,  in  1846 ; 
during  all  which  period  the  annual  exhibitions,  with 
the  accompanying  drama,  took  place  at  a  well-chosen 
spot  in  the  wild  woods." 

The  second  play  performed  on  this  woodland  stage 
was  entitled  "  Benedict  Arnold,  the  Traitor,"  the  chief 
sensation  of  which,  Father  Hill  tells  us,  was  the  hang- 
ing of  Major  Andre  on  the  stage,  "  so  that  all  could  see 
the  ignominious  end  of  a  British  spy." 

After  the  removal  to  Fordham,  however,  dramatics 
appear  to  have  been  neglected  for  many  years.  Until 
1855  the  idea  of  a  dramatic  performance  was  treated 
with  ridicule  by  the  older  students  and  relegated  to  the 
small  boys,  as  being  better  suited  to  their  youth  and 
immaturity.  A  few  of  the  younger  boys  banded  to- 
gether and  attempted  to  arrange  entertainments.  But 
they  always  chose  the  most  ambitious  themes  for  their 


140  A  HISTOEY  OF  FOBDHAM  COLLEGE. 

performances,  and  their  efforts  were  so  crude  and 
puerile  as  to  be  hardly  worthy  of  attention.  In  the 
fall  of  1855,  however,  a  change  took  place.  Father 
Tellier,  who  was  then  president,  encouraged  the  classes 
of  Belles-lettres  and  Classics  to  unite  in  giving  dra- 
matic entertainments. 

At  this  time  Mr.  Charles  M.  "Walcott,  who  is  now  a 
prominent  member  of  the  Lyceum  Theatre  Company, 
of  New  York,  was  a  student  in  the  latter  class,  and  he 
was  made  Stage  Manager.  Mr.  Walcott  came  of  a 
theatrical  family,  and  was  therefore,  "to  the  manner 
born."  He  signalized  his  elevation  to  that  important 
post  by  obtaining  a  drop  curtain  from  New  York, 
painted  specially  for  St.  John's  and  representing  a 
scene  on  the  Hudson.  This  and  the  scenery,  which  the 
boys  constructed  themselves,  were  adjusted  to  the  plat- 
form at  the  north  end  of  the  study-hall  for  every  per- 
formance, and  at  the  conclusion  stored  away  until  an- 
other play  called  them  forth  again  from  their  retreat. 
The  first  play  given  under  his  management,  and  the 
first  too  for  which  a  printed  programme  was  used, 
was  given  on  December  3,  1855.  On  this  occasion 
"  Henry  IV  "  and  "  The  Seven  Clerks,"  were  presented, 
with  Mr.  "Walcott  as  Falstaffm  the  one,  and  Mynheer 
Hans  Hoogdfit  in  the  other.  Between  the  pieces,  so 
the  programme  says,  Mr.  C.  Walcott  sang  a  "  Comic 
Song."  The  following  July  a  second  "  Dramatic  Ex- 
hibition "  was  given,  the  programme  of  which  informs 
us  that  the  St.  John's  Dramatic  Society  "  have  spared 
no  pains  to  select  for  the  occasion  plays  calculated  to 
entertain  the  curious  and  the  learned."  The  audiences 
in  those  days  were  evidently  partial  to  long  pro- 
grammes, for  this  one  contains  Byron's  tragedy  "  Wer- 


THE  DRAMATIC  ASSOCIATION.  141 

ner,"  a  farce,  "  To  Paris  and  Back  for  £5,"  and  "The 
Inn  of  Abbeville." 

«  Kichard  II.,"  «  Macbeth,"  and  "  Julius  Caesar"  fol- 
lowed  in  quick  succession,  and  then  there  is  a  blank  in 
the  record  until  1867,  when  we  find  that  a  comedy  was 
substituted  for  the  musical  entertainment  given  on 
St.  Patrick's  Day  by  the  Csecilia  Society.  Gradually 
the  dramatic  entertainments  superseded  the  public  de- 
bates, until  1871,  when  the  present  Dramatic  Associa- 
tion was  organized.  The  stage  was  built  in  the  First 
Division  study-hall,  and  the  curtain  and  proscenium 
painted  by  an  Italian  scholastic  who  was  stopping  at 
the  college.  After  1872  the  regular  number  of  plays 
was  given  as  at  the  present  day,  Thanksgiving  Day, 
Christmas,  Washington's  Birthday,  and  St.  Patrick's 
Day.  Shrovetide  and  the  Rector's  Day  were  fixed  on 
as  occasions  for  dramatic  entertainments  in  after  years, 
the  latter  during  Father  Shea's  presidency. 

Since  the  organization  of  the  Dramatic  Association 
a  complete  record  has  been  kept  of  the  society's  doings, 
so  we  have  no  difficulty  in  tracing  its  very  successful 
career  since  that  time.  During  its  nineteen  years  of 
life  and  activity  it  has  produced  a  large  number  of 
plays,  of  infinite  variety  as  to  class  and  character.  The 
most  notable  successes  of  recent  years  have  been  "  The 
Man  in  the  Iron  Mask,"  in  '80 ;  "  Damon  and  Pythias," 
in  '81;  "  King  John,"  in  '82 ;  "  Henry  IV.,"  Part  I,  in 
'83  ;  "  Henry  IV.,"  Part  II.,  in  '84  ;  "  Merchant  of  Ven- 
ice," in  '85 ;  and  "  Hamlet,"  in  '87.  The  present  pres- 
ident of  the  college,  Father  Scully,  was  for  many  years 
moderator  of  the  Dramatic  Association,  as  were  also 
Father  Halpin,  Father  Finnegan,  Father  Fargis,  and 
Father  Cassidy,  now  president  of  St.  Peter's  College, 


142  A  HISTORY  OF  FOKDHAM  COLLEGE. 

Jersey  City.  Mr.  John  F.  Quirk,  S.J.,  Mr.  L.  Eugene 
French,  S.J.,  Mr.  Joseph  H.  Smith,  S.J.,  and  Mr. 
George  A.  Pettit,  S.  J.,  who  now  rule  the  destinies  of 
the  association,  are  among  those  of  later  years. 

Many  old  members  of  the  Dramatic  Association  are 
now  playing  important  roles  in  the  more  serious  drama 
of  life.  Edward  C.  O'Brien,  who  made  such  a  success 
of  "  The  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask,"  is  now  a  well-known 
lawyer  in  New  York,  and  is  secretary  of  the  Alumni 
Association.  His-  brother,  M.  H.  O'Brien,  and  Peter 
A.  Hendrick,  have  also  found  success  in  the  practice  of 
the  law.  William  McTammany,  since  deceased,  and 
Lawrence  McNamara,  of  New  York,  turned  their  atten- 
tion to  the  healing  art,  and  C.  M.  Walcott,  the  pioneer 
among  Fordham  actors,  Fred  Williams,  George  Hill, 
and  Stephen  Murphy,  of  later  years,  now  tread  the 
boards  in  real  earnest,  and  are,  or  promise  soon  to  be, 
well-known  figures  on  the  professional  stage.  Many 
are  found  in  the  ranks  of  the  clergy,  as  the  Reverend 
T.  F.  McLaughlin,  C.  J.  Clifford,  S.J.,  the  Reverend 
William  J.  McGurk;  and  then  there  was  Austin 
O'Malley,  Andrew  G.  Heyl,  Frank  Casey,  since  de- 
ceased, Dr.  T.  J.  Dunn,  Dr.  J.  N.  Butler,  and  a  host  of 
others. 

Each  in  his  turn  has  made  his  last  exit  from  Ford- 
ham  ;  some  have  passed  forever  from  the  scenes  of  this 
life,  but  the  memory  of  all  is  still  fresh  in  the  scenes 
of  their  triumphs,  and  their  names  and  their  deeds  will 
be  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation. 

The  history  of  journalism  at  Fordham,  previous  to 
the  establishment  of  The  Fordham  Monthly,  presents  a 
series  of  vicissitudes.  The  first  effort  of  which  we  have 
any  record  was  the  Goose- Quill,  which  made  its  first 


THE  DEAMATIC  ASSOCIATION.  143 

appearance  in  1853,  during  the  presidency  of  Father 
Larkin.  The  paper  was  edited  by  "  Ham,"  but  who 
Ham  was  remained  a  profound  secret  for  many  years. 
It  is  now  a  well-known  fact  that  the  editors  of  the 
Goose- Quill  were  John  R.  G.  Hassard,  Arthur  Francis, 
and  Martin  T.  McMahon,  of  the  class  of  '55.  The 
Goose-  Quill  was  a  monthly  publication  of  twenty-eight 
or  thirty  pages  of  foolscap  carefully  written,  for  in 
those  days  they  could  not  get  it  printed.  The  pages 
were  headed  and  ruled  like  a  printed  paper ;  Father 
Garesche  engrossed  the  heading,  and  Mr.  Hassard,  who 
was  a  neat,  careful  penman,  copied  out  the  reading 
matter. 

Father  Larkin,  who  had  very  conservative  ideas  on 
such  subjects,  was  opposed  to  the  enterprise  from  the 
first,  and  merely  tolerated  it.  He  would  not  allow  the 
editors  to  have  it  printed  or  circulated  outside  of  the 
college,  and  for  a  long  time  withheld  permission  to  post 
it  in  the  reading-room.  The  proceedings  in  the  sanc- 
tum of  the  Goose- Quill  were  carried  on  with  the  ut- 
most secrecy.  Besides  the  editors  themselves  and  some 
of  the  fathers,  no  one  knew  who  Ham  was.  In  the  ex- 
tension which  connected  the  study-hall  wing,  now  the 
chapel  wing,  with  the  "  castle,"  was  a  room  which  in 
later  years  served  as  a  sacristy.  Father  Gockeln,  who 
was  vice-president  at  the  time,  furnished  the  editors 
with  a  key  by  which  they  could  open  the  door  leading 
from  the  study-hall  into  this  room.  Here,  in  perfect 
security,  the  Goose-  Quill  was  prepared.  A  box  was 
placed  in  the  reading-room  in  which  contributions  ad- 
dressed to  Ham  could  be  placed,  and  as  Hassard  and 
McMahon  were  officers  and  carried  keys  to  the  reading- 
room,  they  could  procure  the  letters  without  fear  of 


144:  A  HISTORY  OF  FORDHAM  COLLEGE. 

discovery.  In  1855,  on  the  graduation  of  Messrs.  Has- 
sard,  Francis,  and  McMahon,  the  paper  was  turned  over 
by  them  to  P.  A.  Hargous,  Henry  Smith,  and  Thomas 
A.  O'Connor,  but  in  a  very  short  time  ceased  to  ap- 
pear. 

One  or  two  desultory  efforts  were  made  within  the 
next  few  years  to  establish  a  successor  to*  the  Goose- 
Quill,  but  they  all  failed.  Sem,  The  Collegian,  and 
a  paper  called  The  Spy,  published  on  Second  Division 
by  Mr.  3.  J.  Costello,  '62,  of  Cayuga,  N.  Y.,  were  the 
results  of  some  of  these  efforts.  The  last-named  jour- 
nal died  after  the  second  issue.  Since  that  time  there  is 
no  sign  of  a  journal  until  the  appearance  of  the  first 
number  of  The  Fordham  College  Monthly,  in  Novem- 
ber, 1882.  The  public,  in  this  case  represented  by  the 
Fordham  students,  always  chary  about  taking  up  and 
encouraging  any  new  undertaking,  made  no  exception 
to  its  usual  mode  of  procedure  in  the  case  of  The  Ford- 
ham  College  Monthly.  As  a  consequence  the  first 
board  of  editors  had  a  hard  struggle  to  place  the 
journal  on  a  solid  footing  and  win  the  support  of  the 
other  students.*  That  they  succeeded  is  evident  from 
the  present  handsome  appearance  of  The  Fordham 
Monthly.^ 

And  before  we  conclude,  a  word  about  athletics  at 
Fordham.  St.  John's  has  won  renown  in  the  athletic 
world  only  in  one  field,  viz.,  base-ball.  In  every  other 
branch,  except  perhaps  foot-ball,  in  which  she  is  fast 

*  The  first  board  of  editors  consisted  of  Francis  D.  Dowley,  '83,  editor-in- 
chief  ;  James  N.  Butler,  '84,  assistant ;  John  R.  Murphy,  business  manager ; 
and  as  associate  editors,  Charles  Hoban,  '85,  Joseph  W.  Thoron,  '83,  William 
P.  O'Malley,  '84,  and  Bernard  F.  McManus,  '85. 

f  The  name  was  changed  from  The  Fordham  College  Monthly  to  The  Ford- 
ham  Monthly  in  December,  1885. 


THE  DRAMATIC  ASSOCIATION.  145 

coming  to  the  front,  'Fordham  has  yet  to  win  her 
spurs.  An  organized  athletic  association  has  only 
existed  within  the  last  few  years,  and  then  its  success 
has  been  rather  doubtful.  But  there  is  yet  hope. 
With  the  shining  example  of  the  Base-Ball  Association 
and  the  still  flickering  light  of  foot-ball  success  to 
guide  it  and  lend  it  hope,  a  well-organized  athletic 
association  has  everything  to  encourage  it.  The  base- 
ball team,  for  so  many  years  known  as  the  Rose  Hill 
team,  but  of  late  known  by  the  more  significant  title 
of  Fordham,  won  its  way  to  fame  many  years  ago,  and 
by  its  recent  glorious  victories  has  proven  its  ability 
to  hold  against  all -comers  the  proud  position  it  has 
attained.  What  has  been  achieved  in  the  base-ball 
field  can  be  achieved  elsewhere,  and  we  feel  confident 
that  the  day  of  its  attainment  is  not  far  distant. 

We  have  here  reviewed,  briefly  it  may  be,  the  events 
that  go  to  make  up  the  history  of  the  first  half -cen- 
tury of  Fordham  College.  We  found  it  a  solitary 
farm-house  situated  in  a  wide  unsettled  tract  of  land ; 
we  take  leave  of  it  a  group  of  magnificent  buildings 
in  the  centre  of  a  growing  community.  We  found  it  a 
struggling  Catholic  school  in  "  an  unfinished  house  in  a 
field ;  "  we  take  leave  of  a  flourishing  university  in- 
creasing its  classes,  elevating  its  standard,  and  extend- 
ing its  facilities  year  by  year. 

What  better  evidence  could  we  desire  of  the  energy 
and  devotion  of  that  little  community  that,  guided  by 
the  hand  of  God,  came  from  the  wilds  of  a  half-settled 
country  to  take  charge  of  and  direct  what  was  destined 
one  day  to  become  the  foremost  Catholic  college  in  the 
10 


146  A  HISTOBY  OF  FOKDHAM  COLLEGE. 

country  ?  What  more  eloquent  tribute  could  be  offered 
to  the  wisdom  and  foresight  of  its  venerable  founder, 
in  entrusting  its  care  to  such  able  hands,  than  the  suc- 
cess with  which  the  enterprise  has  met  ?  They  need 
no  monument ;  they  need  no  graven  tablet  to  perpet- 
uate the  memory  of  their  work  to  future  generations. 
This,  the  fruit  of  their  labor,  is  their  monument,  found- 
ed on  a  solid  rock,  cere  perennius. 


iJ 


(1)  Old    Manor  containing  President's  and   Treasurer  s  OHice,  Parlor    Students 

and   Faculty   Dining  Rooms,  Students'    Chapel,  Professors    Rooms. 

(2)  Library  and  Wardrobe. 

(3)  Faculty  Building  and  Seniors'  Hall. 

(4)  Science  Hall,  Museum,   Laboratories,  Engine  Room. 

(5)  Juniors'   Hall. 

(6)  Old   Manor  House,  now  used  as  Infirmary. 

(7)  College  Church. 

(8)  St.  John's  Hall  (Preparatory). 

(9)  Rodrigue  Cottage. 

(10)  Conservatory  and  Hot-house. 

(11)  College  Cemetery. 

(12)  Bams. 


APPENDIX. 


BELOW  is  appended  a  list  of  the  principal    donations   received 
by  the  college,  with  the  names  of  the  donors  : 

May  18,  1866,  a  Friend  of  the  college $400  00 

September,  1867,  Catharine  Collery 200  00 

A  second  donation  ;  . .  100  00 

April,  1874,  Mary  McDonough  D'Arcy 503  00 

January,  1876,  Sir  Edward  Kenny 563  75 

January,  1878,  Sir  Edward  Kenny 500  00 

September,  1884,  a  Friend  to  the  Rev.  P.  T.  Dealy,  for 

the  college  walk 1,000  00 

July,  1885,  a  Friend  to  Father  Dealy,  for  frescoing  the 

students'  refectory 600  00 

August,  1888,  the  Estate  of  the  Eev.  F.  H.  McGovern, 

S.J.,  for  fitting  up  St.  John's  Hall 5,102  25 

November,  1889,  Bernard  J.  McGrann,  A.M.,  Lancaster, 

Pa.,  to  the  Eev.  John  Scully,  S.J 2,000  00 

December,  1889,  John  McKeown,  Washington,  Pa 1,000  00 

November,  1890,  John  Whalen,  A.M 1,000  00 

December,  1890,  a  Friend  to  Father  Scully 500  00 

1891,  a  Friend,  for  new  building 15,000  00 

June,  1891,  Ann  Cassidy,  for  altars 2,500  00 

May,  1891,  Patrick  Golden,  Parsons,  Pa.,  through  James 

J.  Walsh,  A.M.,  S.  J.,  for  St.  Joseph's  window  in  the 

new  chapel 300  00 

June,  1891,  Estate  of  the  late  Patrick  Carney,  of  Mott 

Haven,  to  educate  one  student  for  the  priesthood.  5,000  00 
1889-91,  Estate  of  the  late  Bryan  M<jCahill,  through 

Thomas  J.  McCahill,  A.M.,  to  educate  a  student  for 

the  priesthood 340  00 

1890-91,  Lieutenant  Herbert  G.  Squiers,  U.S.A.,  to 

educate  two  boys 660  00 


148  APPENDIX. 


LIST  OF  CONTRIBUTORS  TO  THE  HUGHES  STATUE. 

EugeneKelly $1,00000 

Hon.  Wm.  E.  Grace 25000 

Hon.  W.  C.  Whitney 

Henry  McAleenan 250  00 

Peter  Doelger 25000 

Hon.  Edward  Cooper 250  00 

O.B.  Potter 250  00 

Thos.  F.  Eyan 250  00 

Bishop  John  Loughlin 200  00 

D.  C.  Connell 200  00 

Hon.  Theo.  W.  Meyers 150  00 

Hon.  Hugh  J.  Grant 150  00 

John  F.  Haben,  McKeesport,  Pa 101  50 

Archbishop  Corrigan 100  00 

Eev.  John  J.  Hughes 200  00 

Eev.  J.  J.  Flood 100  00 

Hon.  M.  J.  O'Brien 100  00 

Eobert  McCafferty 100  00 

Thos.  Macmannus,  Chihuahua,  Mex 100  00 

Wm.  H.  Hurst 100  00 

Hon.  Gunning  S.  Bedford 100  00 

C.  C.  Baldwin 100  00 

Jos.  P.  Payten 100  00 

David  McClure 100  00 

Frederick  E.  Coudert 100  00 

John  O'Neill 100  00 

Hon.  Henry  D.  Purroy 100  00 

George  Ehret 100  00 

Francis  O'Neill 100  00 

Daniel  Lavery,  594  Ninth  Av 100  00 

Hon.  Jos.  J.  O'Donohue,  5  East  Sixty-ninth  St 100  00 

M.  P.  Breslin,  114  East  Seventieth  St 100  00 

Thos.  Kelly , 100  00 

Henry  Amy 100  00 

James  J.  Doherty,  West  Forty-sixth  St 225  00 

T.  E.  Crawford 100  00 


APPENDIX.  149 

Hon.  Kichard  O'Gorman $100  00 

Major  John  Byrne 100  00 

Eev.  D.  A.  Merrick,  Rector  St.  Francis  Xavier's 100  00 

Thos.  H.  O'Connor 100  00 

Thomas  J.  McCahill 100  00 

Jacob  Kuppert. 100  00 

Rev.  Patrick  McGovern,  Croton 100  00 

John  O'Donohue 50  00 

Maurice  Ahearn 50  00 

F.  C.  O'Reilly,  New  Jersey 50  00 

Rev.  William  McNulty 50  00 

St.  John's  College  (Alumni  Prize) 50  00 

H.  K.  Doherty 50  00 

Mr.  Walsh,  Parsons,  Pa.,  for  his  son,  Jas.  J.  Walsh,  S.J.. .  50  00 

Rev.  Wm.  Keagan,  V.-G 50  00 

Rev.  J.  J.  Doherty  (additional) 80  00 

ReV.  John  Gleason 50  00 

L.  J.  Callanan 50  00 

Peter  McGinnis 50  00 

John  Reilly,  East  Fourteenth  St 50  00 

Thos.  Dunn,  Fordham 50  00 

Hon.  James  Fitzgerald 50  00 

Hon.  John  D.  Crimmins 50  00 

Edward  Stokes 50  00 

Michael  Fitzsimmons > , . .  .  50  00 

Rev.  John  F.  Kearney 50  00 

John  B.  Manning 75  00 

Patrick  Farrelly 50  00 

Leo  Schlesinger 50  00 

Excelsior    Council,     C.B.L.,    P.   J.    Kennedy,   Park    & 

Tilford,  Fifty-ninth  St.  and  Fifth  Av 50  00 

Hon.  Chauncey  M.  Depew 50  00 

Edw.  C.  Sheehy,  Eleventh  St.  and  Third  Av 50  00 

Henry  Clausen,  Forty-seventh  St.  and  Second  Av 50  00 

Edmond  J.  Curry,  1510  Third  Av 50  00 

Major  Edward  Duffy 50  00 

Patrick  Kiernan 50  00 

John  Mack 50  00 

Cornelius  Callahan  .  50  00 


150  APPENDIX. 

Kev.  Sylvester  Malone '.  $50  00 

John  A.  Sullivan 50  00 

James  McMahon,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y 50  00 

Edward  Schell 50  00 

John  Woods,  Jersey  City,  N.  J 40  00 

James  Meehan 25  00 

Eugene  Durnin 25  00 

P.  A.  Hendrick 25  00 

J.  Mulleen    25  00 

Rev.  James  Fitzjames 25  00 

Hon.  T.  R.  Sheil,  William's  Bridge 25  00 

Rev.  Father  Fitzharris 25  00 

John  J.  Brady 25  00 

Rev.  John  Weir 25  00 

Rev.  M.  A.  Hallahan,  Ticonderoga,  N.  Y 25  00 

Very  Rev.  Jas.  S.  Lynch,  V.-G.,  Syracuse,  N.  Y 25  00 

Rev.  John  A.  McKenna 25  00 

Rev.  M.  J.  McEvoy 25  00 

Hon.  Honore  Mercier 25  00 

Rev.  J.  F.  Flood,  Chicago 25  00 

Rev.  Jas.  J.  Flood 25  00 

Dr.  T.  J.  Dunn 25  00 

Rev.  John  Quinn,  Collinsville,  Conn 25  00 

Rev.  Paul  T.  Carew,  Newark 25  00 

Patrick  Walsh 25  00 

John  Slattery,  Fifty-third  St 25  00 

Rev.  D.  O'Conor,  Dobb's  Ferry 25  00 

Rev.  M.  J.  Lavelle 25  00 

A.  L.  Ashman,  Sinclair  House 25  00 

L.  J.  Callanan,  Jr 25  00 

James  J.  Callanan 25  00 

James  A.  O'Gorman 25  00 

Rev.  Dr.  Wood ; 25  00 

Edward  C.  O'Brien  . 25  00 

Hon.  L.  A.  Giegerich 25  00 

Herman  Ridder 25  00 

Henry  Hughes,  234  East  Thirty-fourth  St 25  00 

Hon.  J.  S.  Coleman 25  00 

Rev.  Patrick  Kelly 25  00 


APPENDIX.  151 

Kev.  Jos.  P.  Eagan $25  00 

Louis  F.  Haffen  50  00 

Louis  M.  Benziger 25  00 

Dr.  Wm.  J.  O'Byrne 25  00 

Bro.  Anthony,  Manhattan  College 25  00 

R  V.  S.  Oliver 25  00 

Chas.  E.  Miller . 25  00 

Wm.  Lummis 25  00 

James  D.  Lynch 25  00 

Hon.  James  J.  Martin „ 25  00 

William  H.  Seward 25  00 

James  Olwell 25  00 

Patrick  Carroll 25  00 

John  Murtha 25  00 

Very  Rev.  John  M.  Farley 25  00 

F.  P.  Carroll 25  00 

Hon.  Henry  E.  Beekman,  111  Broadway 25  00 

Jos.  J.  Gleason,  216  East  Fiftieth  St 25  00 

Dr.  L.  J.  McNamara,  126  Washington  PI 25  00 

Jas.  Olwell  &  Co 25  00 

John  Earley 25  00 

John  Dnun ,  . , 25  00 

John  P.  Dunn 25  00 

Dominick  O'Reilly 25  00 

Thos.  F.  Carr 25  00 

Peter  A.  Lalor 25  00 

Jas.  M.  Quigley,  44  Wall  St 25  00 

Judge  Jos.  F.  Daly 25  00 

Fr.  Pustet  &  Co 25  00 

James  J.  Phelan 25  00 

Walter  G.  Hennessey 25  00 

Jos.  Dillon 25  00 

Dennis  A.  Spellissey 25  00 

J.  Fitzpatrick  &  Co 25  00 

B.  Muldone 25  00 

Hon.  W.  L.  Brown,  Senator 25  00 

James  Read  &  Co 25  00 

Rev.  Nicholas  J.  Hughes 25  00 

Lyceum  of  St.  John's  (Evangelist) 25  00 


152  APPENDIX. 


- 


Michael  J.  N.  McCaffery $25  00 

Alpin  J.  Cameron 25  00 

Thos.  F.  Eagan 25  00 

John  McCann 25  00 

Hon.  J.  Fitzsimmons 25  00 

Kev.  P.  W.  Tandy 25  00 

Kandolph  Guggenheimer 25  00 

James  G.  Johnson 25  00 

Hon.  Thos.  F.  Gilroy 25  00 

Mills  &  Coleman 25  00 

Kev.  F.  P.  Kafferty 20  00 

Otto  Horwitz,  Stewart  Building 20  00 

Rev.  C.  B.  O'Reilly 20  00 

Jos.  Leavey 20  00 

Mrs.  Ann  Dyer,  Fordham 20  00 

Smythe  &  Ryan 20  00 

Dr.  W.  A.  McCreary 20  00 

James  J.  Traynor 20  00 

Mrs.  J.  Combes - 20  00 

Martin  J.  Flemming,  M.D 20  00 

Augustin  Daly 20  00 

Francis  Higgins  (additional) 25  00 

General  M.  F.  McMahon 15  00 

Wm.  Farrell 10  00 

James  J.  Larkin 10  00 

Mrs.  M.  L.  Flynn '. .  .  10  00 

Nicholas  Murphy 10  00 

Rev.  Wm.  A.  Dunphy 10  00 

"    James  E.  Bobier ' 10  00 

"    M.  J.  McAvoy 25  00 

"    Thos.  Lynch 10  00 

T.  F.  Neville 10  00 

Geo.  Edebohls,  M.D 10  00 

Very  Rev.  James  Hughes,  V.-G 10  00 

C.  V.  Fornes 10  00 

Rev.  F.  A.  Smith,  S.J 10  00 

S.  A.  Wall 10  00 

Rev.  Wm.  L.  Penny 10  00 

M.  Donohoe    10  00 


APPENDIX.  153 

Jos.  Tkoron $10  00 

Dalton  Bros 10  00 

Felix  P.  Kremp 10  00 

Bryan  Laurence 10  00 

Geo.  M  Curtis,  269  Broadway 10  00 

M.  Hallinan,  196  West  Fourth  St 10  00 

Mrs.  R.  W.  Montgomery 10  00 

A.  H.  Dundon 10  00 

Rev.  P.  F.  McSweeney,  D.D 10  00 

O.  P.  Buel 10  00 

Eev.  H.  A.  Brann,  D.D 10  00 

Rev.  M.  A.  Taylor 10  00 

G.  Herbermann 10  00 

P.  Donohue 10  00 

John  J.  Rogers 10  00 

B.  1^.  Keenally 10  00 

Rev.  James  Nilan 10  00 

Rev.  Thos.  J.  McMillan,  C.S.P 10  00 

William  F.  Carey 10  00 

John  H.  Hyland 10  00 

Rev.  I.  Meister , 10  00 

Bernholtz  &  Son 10  00 

Rev.  John  J.  Boyle,  West  125th  St 10  00 

Stoltzenberg  &  Co 10  00 

Mr.  P.  Brennan 10  00 

G.  W.  Eggleston 5  00 

Jas.  McDonnell 5  00 

Jas.  M.  Quigley 5  00 

C.  H.  McCusker. 5  00 

Cash,  Oct.  13th  (Father  Scully) 5  00 

Mr.  Baley  (Mexico) , 5  00 

Mr.  Murtaugh 5  00 

P.  I.  Kelly 5  00 

Mrs.  Fisher,  Bedford  Park 5  00 

Mrs.  Mary  Burke,  Fordham 5  00 

Pope  &  Klay 5  00 

Mr.  Biggane 5  00 

Anonymous 5  00 

John  S.  O'Meara. .                     5  00 


154  APPENDIX. 

Reynolds  Bros $5  00 

Jas.  S.  Baron 5  00 

Talbot  &  Farjon 5  00 

A.  L  Beemis 2  00 

J.  V.  Healy 1  00 

The  Daughter  of  a  King 0  10 


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i  histor"  of  ot.  John's  college.  .352