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 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS A^^^^^*^ 
 ACADEMY.! 
 
 By rev. WILLIAM £. PARK, 
 
 Class of 1856. 
 
 No colonists have ever surpassed our Puritan fathers in 
 the promptness with which they established institutions of 
 learning. As soon as they had built log huts for them- 
 selves at Plymouth they erected a meeting-house. When 
 the church edifice was completed, they built a school-house. 
 It is astonishing to note that one result of civilization which 
 emigrants are usually centuries in attaining, our ancestors 
 reached in eighteen years. The Pilgrims landed in 1620, 
 Harvard College was incorporated in 1638. But the plan 
 of having an academy to prepare youth for these institu- 
 tions is of a later date. The English foundation school, 
 such as Eton or Harrow, was before the minds of our fore- 
 fathers. Their slender means prevented them from endow- 
 ing similar institutions, but they early established what 
 were then called middle or grammar schools. A school 
 apparently preparatory to a university is referred to in the 
 
 1 The compiler of these annals takes occasion to acknowledge valuable in- 
 rormation furnished to him by Rev. J. P. Gulliver, D. D., of Binghamton, 
 N. Y. ; Rev. Jonathan Stearns, D. D., and Rev. Ray Palmer, D. D., of New- 
 ark, N. J. ; William H. Wells, LL. D., of Chicago; Abner Phipps, Ph. D., 
 of Lewiston, Me. ; also by Wendell Phillips, Esq., Hon. Alpheus Hardy, 
 Rev. I. P. Langworthy, D. D., and Mrs. William B. Wright, of Boston ; by 
 Miss Eliza S. Quincy, of Quincy ; by Miss Mary H. Cornelius, of Newton 
 Centre, and Mrs. S. Peck, of Cincinnati, O. ; by Prof. Lyman Coleman, D. D., 
 of Easton, Pa. ; Rev. William Adams, D. D., of New York ; Rev. S. H. 
 Emery, of Taunton, Mass. ; Prof. Cyrus Baldwin, of Meriden, N. H. ; the late 
 C. Hammond, LL. D., of Monson, Mass. ; Gen. H. K. Oliver, of Salem, Mass. ; 
 M. Shedd, Esq., of Willsborough, N. Y. ; Rev. Leonard Withington, D. D., of 
 Newburyport ; by Rev C. F. P. Bancroft, Ph. D., of Andover, and by David 
 Thayer, M. D., of Boston. 
 
 He also gratefully recognizes the courtesy of Prof. John L. Taylor, D. D., 
 of Andover, for his interesting and very accurate Memoir of Judge Phillips ; 
 of Prof. E. A. Park, D. D., for the free use of the manuscripts left by the late 
 Eliphalet Pearson, LL. D. ; and of the late William G. Brooks, Esq., of Bos- 
 ton, for the loan of the invaluable manuscripts of the Phillips family. 
 
 100559 
 
2 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 
 
 ** Magnalia ** of Cotton Mather, who defines it as " some- 
 thing to begin a college." The first master was Nathaniel 
 Eaton, whom Mather pronounced to be " a blade that mar 
 vellously deceived the expectations of good men concerning 
 him. Yet he was a rare scholar himself, and made many- 
 more such ; but their education truly was in the school of 
 Jyrannus." 
 
 The first approach to an academy in New England was 
 found in the Dummer School, now Dummer Academy, of 
 South Byfield, Mass., opened in 1763, though not incorpo- 
 rated until nineteen years after TKat date. Its first mas- 
 ter was Samuel Moody, one of the most successful and em- 
 inent instructors of his time, though he maintained some 
 most singular usages in the institution. There is a tradi- 
 tion that every pupil in the school-room was encouraged to 
 study aloud ; but the master could detect a false note in 
 the music, and woe to the boy who gave utterance to any 
 thought not connected with his lesson. As the school- 
 house was located near the sea-shore, the pupils were com- 
 manded at the hour of high tide to close their books and go 
 in bathing, Moody presiding in person over the swimming 
 exercise. Still the standard of scholarship maintained was 
 high for that day, and the influence of the institution very 
 great. Dummer Academy can number among its graduates 
 Chief Justice Parsons, President Webber of Cambridge, and 
 several of the early professors of Harvard and Dartmouth 
 colleges. The history of this school is especially important 
 for our purpose, because here the two fathers of Phillips 
 Academy prepared for college together, and formed their 
 life-long friendship, and from Dummer they undoubtedly 
 carried away the rudimentary idea of an academy which, 
 with many alterations and improvements, they developed 
 years afterwards in a larger, better endowed, and better 
 regulated institution. 
 
 In order to understand our subject it now becomes nec- 
 essary for us to make the acquaintance and study the char- 
 acters of the individual members of that remarkable fa: \ 
 from which the Phillips Academies of Andover, and Exeter, 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 3 
 
 New Hampshire, and indeed the entire academic system of 
 New England, sprang as really as ever did Methodism from 
 the household of Susanna Wesley. The history of the 
 family is important for illustrating the character of the 
 academy. It was a family of strict Puritans, and this ac- 
 counts for the strict government which has ever since been 
 maintained in the school. Rev. George Phillips, the founder 
 of the American branch of this illustrious house, was in 
 early life a graduate of Caius College, Cambridge, Eng- 
 land, and a clergyman of the Established Church. He be- 
 came, however, a rigid Nonconformist, and left England 
 with his frail wife and little children, in the same vessel 
 with Governor Winthrop. During the voyage he instructed 
 and catechised the children on board of the vessel. The 
 same ship brought to our shore two germs ; the one of good 
 government, the other of sound education. The party dis- 
 embarked at Salem, Massachusetts, on June 12, 1630. Soon 
 after this event Mrs. Phillips died, and the bereaved hus- 
 band, compelled to try a new world alone, was soon settled as 
 pastor of the church at Watertown. He became in church 
 polity a strict Congregationalist, in civil polity an ardent re- 
 publican, and the same qualities which he transmitted to his 
 children made him a leading man in the infant colony. Rev. 
 Samuel Phillips, his very able son, whose wife also was un- 
 usually devout and intellectual, was for forty-five years the 
 esteemed pastor of the church in Rowley, Massachusetts, 
 and once suffered imprisonment for his boldness in calling 
 Governor Randolph a "wicked man.'' The son of the pastor 
 of Rowley, also named Samuel, became a goldsmith in Salem, 
 Massachusetts, and left behind him two sons, the younger of 
 whom became the ancestor of Hon. John Phillips, the first 
 mayor of Boston, and of Wendell Phillips, Esq., now (1878) 
 surviving, while his eldest son was the immediate progenitor 
 of that branch of the family whose fortunes we are to follow. 
 This good and wise man, the Rev. Samuel Phillips, for sixty 
 years pastor of the South Church in Andover, is almost 
 within the recollection of living men. A few years ago 
 there dwelt in the town several octogenarians who could 
 
4 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 
 
 recall him distinctly. All the traits of his ancestors and 
 descendants, rectitude, decision, courtesy, benevolence, and 
 economy, seemed to be combined and balanced in himself. 
 A remarkable letter of his is extant addressed to his son 
 Samuel and his new daughter-in-law on occasion of their 
 marriage ; the comprehensiveness of the advice given is un- 
 usual, and it seems to come from one who was a master of 
 all departments of life. His advice to his children with re- 
 gard to their spiritual concerns is wise and affectionate. 
 Among other duties he urges them to be charitable to the 
 poor, but in order that they may have something to give, 
 he adds, with the thrift of his family, " Keep to your shop, 
 if you expect that to keep you, and do not be away when 
 customers come in." The venerable minister left behind 
 him three sons, Samuel, William, and John Phillips, who de- 
 voted themselves to commercial pursuits, and became influ- 
 ential and wealthy citizens. John , the last named, besides 
 being a large donor to our own academy, was also the sole 
 founder of the one established at Exeter, New Hampshire. 
 Samuel, often called Esquire Phillips, the eldest of the three 
 sons, engaged in business at North Andover, where he be- 
 came a leading citizen, prosperous merchant, and such an 
 exemplary magistrate, that we heartily wish he could be in 
 office now. Against Phineas Parker of Andover, husband- 
 man, who appears to have been a forerunner of the modern 
 tramp, he issued a warrant : *' for having been a loiterer, mis- 
 spending his time, not using any ordinary and daily lawful 
 trade or business to get a living as the law directs, more- 
 over by unlawfully travelling on the Lord's Day, he hath 
 conducted himself contrary to the peace of our sovereign 
 lord the king." The man has no lawful trade or business 
 — to jail with him ! The hand of Esquire Phillips, justice, 
 was felt also by Philemon Dean, *' who* in time of divine 
 worship," says the indictment, " sported and played and by 
 indecent gestures and wry faces caused laughter and misbe- 
 havior in the beholders, and disturbed the congregation, 
 an evil example to others and against the laws of this prov- 
 ince in that case made and provided. Therefore we com- 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 5 
 
 mand you, in His Majesty^s name, to bring the said Phile- 
 mon Dean before me." There is no hope for Philemon 
 whatever ; his face will be still wryer before he is through 
 with us, — have we not Jacob Foster, Mr. Joseph Ballard, 
 Mrs. Joseph Ballard, and Hannah Stevens as witnesses of 
 his guilt, and the sheriff's bill of costs is six shillings ! Let 
 it not be supposed, however, that this staunch magistrate 
 wasted his judicial powers in correcting a few petty delin- 
 quents, he was a tower of strength in evil days and repre- 
 sented his town in the General Court during the most try- 
 ing scenes of the opening Revolution. A series of resolves 
 against the importation of British manufactures, drawn up 
 by him in behalf of the town in 1770, attests the statesman- 
 like qualities of his mind. He was a great man. The 
 soundness of his judgment is shown by the advice given to 
 his son, when the latter was a student of Harvard College. 
 " Don't enlarge your acquaintance, be intimate with few, 
 maintain your good character, do not feel dissatisfied with 
 your instructor even if he be now unequal to his situation ; 
 he will improve; can a plant become a tree at once t " Fi- 
 nally he adds the advice which thousands have neglected, 
 to their ruin : *' Don*t go to Boston, and beware of all who 
 come from Boston." We infer, however, that Esquire 
 Phillips was rather severe and ascetic ; perhaps he had the 
 temperament which, by hating vice too much, loves men too 
 little ; he might have been equal in force of character, but 
 certainly was inferior in popularity, to his more celebrated 
 son, to whom we now proceed. 
 
 For seven generations the family has gone on increas- 
 ing in influence and power ; it culminates in the natural 
 ruler, the chosen, the unconsciously appointed, " the ex- 
 pectancy and rose of the fair state," who combines and 
 compacts in himself the better qualities of all his progeni- 
 tors. Lieutenant-Governor Samuel, familiarly called Judge,^ 
 sixth child of Samuel and Elizabeth Barnard Phillips, was 
 born in Andover on the Sth of February, 1752. This ex- 
 
 1 This title was given him on account of his having been Justice of the Court 
 of Common Pleas. 
 
6 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 
 
 traordinary man came into the world during the brief calm 
 which preceded the French and Indian war, and the first 
 public event in which he took an interest was probably 
 that of the fall of Louisburg, or the capture of Quebec. 
 The solemn and solitary influences of his home, for all his 
 brothers and sisters with one exception had died in in- 
 fancy, made him grave beyond his years ; once he asked 
 his father for permission to learn to dance, the only touch 
 of boyishness recorded in his history. He was fitted for 
 college at the Dummer School in Byfield, and in 1767 en- 
 tered Harvard University, then under the administration of 
 President Holyoke. In accordance with a peculiar usage 
 of the time, young Phillips, on account of the superior social 
 standing of his father, was advanced by the Faculty one 
 seat in the recitation room, thus consigning a classmate 
 named Murray to a lower place, upon which his parent 
 wrote to him : " The eyes of all above and below will be 
 upon you, and I wish it might be that you could be at home 
 till the talk about the change was a little over. Every word, 
 action, and even your countenance, will be watched, par- 
 ticularly by those who envy you. Keep as much retired 
 as possible, waive all conversation about it. If you need 
 counsel consult Mr. Eliot privately and keep his advice to 
 yourself. Treat Murray with kindness, but by no means give 
 the most distant hint of yieldiiig your place!' The diary has 
 been preserved in which young Phillips noted his religious 
 experiences ; he laments his own sins continually in that 
 brooding, introverted manner so prevalent among the best 
 men of that day ; he deplores also the loss of his time, of 
 which, however, he does iK)t seem to have wasted a sin- 
 gle moment. But other thoughts, far more exciting, are 
 now acting upon the mind of the youth, unconsciously they 
 determine his future career. The Stamp Act had been 
 passed two years previously, and the whole region blazed 
 with revolutionary fire. British troops were landing in Bos- 
 ton. For greater security the General Court was moved 
 from Boston to Cambridge, holding its session, according to 
 tradition, in one of the buildings of the college. The spirit 
 
EARLIER ANNALS \0F PHILLIPS ACADEMY. / 
 
 of Liberty is now brought to Phillips's door. His journal con- 
 tains less of religious experience and nothing at all about 
 dancing, but it sparkles with observations upon debates and 
 revolutionary proceedings. " To-day," writes the youth with 
 suppressed glee, " they voted to pay no salary to his Excel- 
 lency, the British governor Last week the Fresh- 
 men and Sophomores held a meeting and resolved to use 
 
 no tea of foreign production Yesterday a thousand 
 
 men [British troops] went ashore in Boston prepared in the 
 best manner for a fight ; the ships of the fleet were ar- 
 ranged in a semicircle, the guns were loaded with chain- 
 shot." These proceedings, a most important part of his 
 real education, greatly interrupted his studies, yet he was 
 graduated in 1771, first in his class, with his heart already 
 given, not without some opposition from his father, to one 
 Phebe Foxcroft, whose beautiful and gentle figure softens 
 the view as we look back upon the stern pictures of the 
 founders. I refer to the lady afterwards so illustrious in 
 academic and seminary history as Madam Phillips. 
 
 This extraordinary youth passes at once from boyhood 
 to the most mature manhood ; at the age of twenty-one 
 he is the acknowledged leader of his kindred. From this 
 time Esquire Phillips, the father, though treated with the 
 utmost reverence, is always really controlled by the son ; 
 John Phillips, the uncle at Exeter, himself a very com- 
 manding man, is found at every critical juncture writing 
 to his nephew, to know what course to take. The motto 
 of the youth, which he afterwards gave to the academy, 
 was, "Finis origine pendet;" it might have been that of 
 the House of Bourbon, '' Nee pluribus impar." We must 
 pause a moment to contemplate his character, for to a 
 great degree the academy has taken the dimensions of his 
 mind. Nature had endowed him with an unerring judg- 
 ment, rapidly working toward the correct solution of every 
 problem presented, an energy which neither flashed nor 
 sounded, but, like the current of a great river, always 
 moved forward in silence. These qualities were apparently 
 softened but really strengthened by an elegant natural 
 
8 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 
 
 courtesy which never failed to please, and enabled its pos- 
 sessor to win upon the heart, while he convinced the un- 
 derstanding. The strong and varied powers of the man 
 were controlled by an inflexible integrity, which adapted 
 him not only to interest and guide, but to command the 
 confidence of all and become the natural centre of every 
 group of men with whom he acted. Of humor he pos- 
 sessed very little, and his innumerable letters, perfect in 
 their composition, become almost wearisome from their 
 uniform sedateness. There was in him a certain largeness, 
 he had a feeling for what was great, yet he astonished his 
 contemporaries by his power of elaborating the most mi- 
 nute details of the many plans which his capacious mind 
 was able to carry at the same moment. Judge Phillips was 1 
 most thoroughly a man of facts ; we search his writings in' 
 vain for a single gleam of the poetic, but the eloquence, ex- 
 pressed more in his life than his speech, has passed on to 
 his posterity. There was not given him the silvery voice 
 of his renowned kinsman, who unites his name with that 
 ■ of Wendell, nor the more rapid, impetuous eloquence of his 
 great-grandson, now heard in Trinity Church, Boston ; ^ 
 like Banquo he may not wear the crown, but there shall bq 
 kings among his descendants. \ 
 
 Not, however, upon the fortunes of himself nor of his house 
 is his mind now dwelling. Great trusts, financial, civil, and 
 political, are to be committed to him, a department of Amer- 
 ican education is to be placed in his hands, but he prepares 
 himself for the future only by attending to the duties of the 
 present. He had entered college with the desire of be- 
 coming a man of thought ; the emergencies of the Revolu- 
 tion make him a thorough man of action; in 1773 he is 
 elected town-clerk and treasurer of Andover ; two years later, 
 at the age of twenty-three, he is made a member of the Pro- 
 vincial Congress, then meeting at Watertown ; he is imme- 
 diately appointed chairman of the most important commit- 
 tees. He will sit in the Provincial Congress from 1775 
 until 1780, in 1779 he will be a leading spirit in the conven- 
 1 The Rev. Phillips Brooks, D. D. 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 9 
 
 tion which forms the Constitution of Massachusetts, from 
 178 1 until 1798 he will be Justice of the Court of Common 
 Pleas, from 1780 until 1801 he will be found in the State 
 Senate, with the exception of one year, to be devoted to 
 the suppression of Shays' Rebellion. In 1785 he is to be- 
 come the presiding officer of the State Senate, an office 
 which he will hold for fifteen years and leave it only to 
 become Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts. In addi- 
 tion to these weighty political cares, he will be during the 
 greater part of his life a manufacturer of paper, he will 
 have very large transactions in real estate, he will for years 
 have the controlling voice in the corporation of Harvard 
 College, he will labor and correspond incessantly for the 
 benefit of Phillips Academy, and keep three flourishing 
 stores.^ 
 
 This extraordinary future is not now revealed to him ; 
 for the immediate present he is overwhelmed with revolu- 
 
 1 Besides filling the offices above named, Judge Phillips was frequently made 
 a referee in cases of disputed questions, especially those occurring in his native 
 town. Curious instances of this appear in his correspondence. At a town- 
 meeting of the citizens of Andover, held about 1780, there was evidently a vio- 
 lent debate upon the subject of inoculation for the small-pox, the conservative 
 party opposing the innovation. One strong advocate of the measure writes 
 to Mr. Phillips concerning its opponents, "At the time of speaking some of 
 them used scandalous expressions ; one man whom I take to be champion 
 against the measure [of inoculation] asserted that it was a measure of the 
 young people \.o get rid of and bury all the old ones." 
 
 During the many years in which he presided over the Senate of Massachu- 
 setts, Judge Phillips was in constant correspondence with prominent federal 
 politicians. Benjamin Goodhue, Member of Congress for Salem, Mass., writes 
 in 1785 from New York city, where Congress was then in session, and thus 
 bewails the public extravagance : " Members having their coaches and families 
 here is a great hinderance to the practice of economy among us. The revenues 
 of the public are squandered in enabling hungry mendicants to live in riot and 
 profusion. Eldbridge Gerry has moved to have a public library. No measure 
 could be better than to hold up to the world the meanness of those who advo- 
 cate such grants." 
 
 The same writer adds, — 
 
 " Otis has hinted that we wish to starve him.'* "Morris (Robert Morris 
 of Philadelphia) said : * VV^e have our thumb upon the latch of revenue.' " 
 
 Caleb Strong, for several years Governor of Massachusetts, wrote to Judge 
 Phillips a long series of letters which are of great value as explaining the policy 
 of the old federal party. These letters are preserved among the Phillips MSS. 
 
10 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 
 
 tionary business : twice he is summoned to Cambridge to 
 confer with Washington upon the state of the army, he 
 countersigns all the continental bills, the mustering and 
 paying of the militia companies is superintended by him, 
 he examines and reports upon the condition of the defences 
 of Boston harbor. Washington and his troops were at this 
 time besieging Boston, but for some strange reason their 
 movements seemed paralyzed ; the more ardent and excit- 
 able patriots loudly accuse their commander of delay, and 
 even whisper of treason. To Phillips the real difficulty is 
 made known : there is scarcely any gunpowder in the camp, 
 and one day of battle would exhaust the entire stock of the 
 army. Upon obtaining an almost immediate supply of gun- 
 powder the fate of America depends. Without a moment's 
 delay Phillips leaves all legislative offices and duties, hur- 
 ries to Andover, buys a mill site, probably within the limits 
 of the present Marland village, calls his neighbors around 
 him, and announces his purpose to manufacture gunpow- 
 der. 
 
 "I want your help," said he, "and will pay you if the 
 business pays; if not, we will all lose together." The plan 
 was received with enthusiasm, and though the season was 
 the middle of January, Phillips and his party seized their 
 pickaxes, dug out the mill race, and made the waves of the 
 Shawshin assist in bearing forward the cause of American 
 freedom. A friend to be mentioned hereafter, who appears 
 to have been a silent partner in all the undertakings of 
 Phillips, made the necessary experiments ; barn-yards were 
 dug over, and floors of cellars torn up to secure the nitrous 
 earth beneath. The enterprise prospered beyond all expec- 
 tation. In four months* time an ample supply of gunpow- 
 der was forwarded from the Marland village, Andover, to 
 the camp of the continental army ; and Phillips, after deliv- 
 ering our country from a fearful peril, returned to his legis- 
 lative duties, though he continued to manufacture powder 
 during the remainder of the war. 
 
 / Conjecture would incline us to believe that an institution 
 jlike Phillips Academy was founded during a period of pro- 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. II 
 
 found peace, when benevolent men, vexed by no other cares, 
 could weigh and compare the different methods of raising 
 the educational standard. Upon the contrary, fact assures 
 us that the institution was incorporated at a period when j 
 
 'our nation was struggling for existence; and it affords me 
 pleasure, my fellow alumni, to declare that our beloved 
 institution was born with the birth throes of the infant 
 republic, and the fire of the Revolution lighted the beacon ' 
 which has shone for a century upon Andover hill. We 
 have every evidence for believing that no sooner had Sam- 
 uel Phillips seen the sterns of Lord Howe's ships sailing 
 out of Boston harbor, and heard the salute of victory fired 
 perhaps with his own powder, than, relieved of a terrible, 
 immediate pressure, yet without relinquishing any of his 
 legislative duties, he began to take the steps for accom- 
 plishing the purpose which had been for some time matur- 
 ing in his mind. For how long a period he had been re- 
 volving the project we are not aware ; perhaps ever since 
 he had felt with his friend the deficiencies of the Dummer 
 
 , School. The first project for an academy is set forth in d 
 very long and remarkable paper, bearing neither signature 
 nor address, but unquestionably drawn up in the handwrit- 
 ing of Judge Phillips and addressed to his father. From the 
 only date given, " Monday morning at five o'clock," we infer 
 that the plan unfolded in the document was connected with 
 the previous Sabbath's meditation. The original draft, 
 which covers seven pages of foolscap, may be briefly con- 
 densed as follows : — 
 
 " Observations have been made upon the various irregu- 
 larities which are daily appearing, the very frequent in- 
 stances of the decay of virtue, public and private, the 
 prevalence of public and private vice [probably in the 
 autumn of 1776, the supposed acme of national heroism], 
 the amazing change in the tempers, dispositions, and con- 
 duct of people in this country within these thirty years. 
 This trouble is owing to the neglect of good instruction. 
 Upon the sound education of children depends the comfort 
 or grief of parents, the welfare or disorder of the commu 
 
12 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 
 
 nity, the glory or ruin of the state. The present public ig- 
 norance gives rise to a fear of events the most dreadful ; 
 what method then can be taken ? " [The writer now re- 
 counts the evils of the district school system of his time.] 
 " It is hard to get a master who is not worse than none. 
 Even if we could find the best man on earth, only those 
 who live near the centres of the two parishes " [North and 
 South Andover], "could get any benefit from him. By 
 reason of the frequent changes of teacher, progress in 
 learning is interrupted, and scholars, parents, and master 
 are disheartened. I see no alternative but to go on in the 
 old track and abide the consequences, or to adopt in part 
 the method of the ancients^ ^ [He is ready now to present 
 his new plan.] " Let, then, a public building be erected for 
 the purpose, and the children sent, be supported and con- 
 tinued there for a certain term, say from the age of seven to 
 fourteen. One of the best of men can be found to take 
 command, who shall proportion his attention to the various 
 branches of education according to their importance, who 
 shall make it his chief concern to see to the regulation of 
 the morals of the pupils, and attentively and vigorously to 
 guard against the first dawnings of depraved nature. He 
 shall instruct them in the several relations they sustain to 
 God, their parents, the public, and their neighbors, and 
 make their whole course of education one continued lecture 
 071 all that is great and good. Further, as most of the 
 youths, we must suppose, are to be husbandmen^ it will by 
 no means answer that they should be excused for so long a 
 term from labor ; there may, therefore, be a plot of ground 
 procured to be improved as a garden, where the scholars 
 might be taught the best method of procedure through 
 every stage from the first preparing the ground to the in- 
 gathering ; thus the pupils might have a more clear knowl- 
 edge of that art which is to be their dependence and haven. \ 
 Pains must be taken to convince them of the importance of ' 
 that art upon which, not only their own interest, but the , 
 glory of the people depends." [The above is probably the i 
 
 1 In the use of italics the original MS. has been followed. 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 1 3 
 
 first plan ever suggested for an agricultural school in the 
 United States.] 
 
 " From such an institution as this what a surprising change 
 might be reasonably expected. Instead of the present '* 
 [1776 ! ] " degeneracy which has increased upon us with such 
 rapidity, what blessings may we not look for. We have 
 more reason to hope for success from such labors than 
 from those of priest and magistrate united. How great an 
 advantage has the teacher in exerting his influence upon 
 his pupils so early in life and keeping them away from bad 
 example, as was done in Mr. Moody's school, although it 
 was attended with more difficulty there on account of col- 
 lections fro77t every qjiarter than it would be here." [Evi- 
 dently he contemplates a school for North and South An- 
 dover alone.] '' When we consider that this plan had such 
 success among the ancients, what may we not expect from 
 it when joined to the advantages of the Christian religion } 
 Among the thirty to whom I have mentioned the plan, I 
 have not heard one dissentient voice, but have received 
 vastly higher approbation than I had reason to expect." 
 [Mr. Phillips evidently wishes to present to his father a 
 plan thoroughly elaborated in itself and well recommended 
 by others.] 
 
 "An objection naturally arises as to the charge of sup- 
 porting the scholars. Very little, or no money will be re- 
 quired; let parents send that provision which their children 
 would eat at home. The scholars can raise their vegeta- 
 bles in their own garden. As to their diet at noon, less 
 meat by one third than is eaten at present would greatly 
 conduce to their health ; they would continue this diet, be- 
 ing once established, when they returned to their parents, 
 and would influence their families if they ever had any. 
 But how can the scholars be spared by their parents } " 
 [Economy is joined with humanity in Mr. Phillips's mind.] 
 "By allowing the child his time in which to study at 
 school, the parent gives the youth a far greater blessing 
 than the small services of the latter would be worth at 
 home ; nay more, the parent will be paid pecuniarily, for 
 5 
 
14 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 
 
 when the son returns to his home well educated, his labor 
 will be more profitable. The support of such a man as the 
 place would demand (and such a man we know of who is 
 admirably formed for the sphere, and would exert himself 
 in the cause) must be honorable ; he might expect more 
 than a minister's salary, because his duty would be more 
 arduous and his opportunity for service much greater. 
 Must so glorious a plan fail for want of money, when there 
 are so many to whom it would be a relief to part with some 
 of it ? " [Phillips modestly hints to his father that an en- 
 dowment would be acceptable.] "Who would not gain 
 inconceivably by sparing some of that wealth for which 
 he has no occasion, in order to establish such a design } " 
 
 Upon the first reading one is inclined to smile at this 
 scheme as being the crude, shapeless project of a mind usu- 
 ally sagacious. A longer study discovers in it, however, a 
 profound originality. The projector of an academy at the 
 present day has before him a score of elaborate institutions 
 from which he can model, and upon which he will try to 
 improve. But for the plan of an academy an hundred years 
 ago, Phillips had no resources except his own invention, 
 aided by his recollection of the Dummer School. Hence 
 his reference to the "ancients;" he had probably read Plu- 
 tarch's account of the Spartan gymnasia. The scheme of 
 the young enthusiast was immeasurably abler than any 
 American had ever projected in 1776. It is owing to such 
 a plan as this that we now have a better one. Practically 
 an arrangement is proposed for the consolidation and better 
 management of the district schools in the neighborhood. 
 Yet this rude plan displays the greatness of its author's 
 mind. The course of education must be a ^^ continued lecture 
 on all that is great and good'' The mind of the remarkable 
 youth was reaching forward towards the very grandest and 
 highest attainable developments of the human soul. In the 
 method proposed for boarding the scholars is first shadowed 
 forth that marvellous economy which has enabled Phillips 
 Academy to accomplish so much with limited means, and 
 give to the world ten thousand educated men from an in- 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, IS 
 
 come which, certainly before 1862, never exceeded three 
 thousand dollars a year. In view of the vast festrits-^hich 
 have come from it, this paper, dated Monday morning at 
 five o'clock, is as interesting as the first clumsy statue of a 
 Phidias, or the first calculation of a Newton. 
 
 There is extant another deeply interesting manuscript 
 which shows that the founder of the academy was not de- 
 cided from the outset in favor of a classical school. Like 
 the former document quoted, this paper is very long and 
 bears neither address, date, nor signature, but it is also in 
 Judge Phillips's handwriting, produced undoubtedly at a 
 later date than the first document, and addressed in the 
 form of a letter to the intimate friend before referred to, 
 who was then engaged in teaching. This long memorial 
 may be abridged as follows : " My dear friend, you desire 
 me to write you my thoughts upon the rules and regula- 
 tions of the public school about which you have been so 
 thoroughly engaged. You express fears that the object as 
 it now exists is not so perfect and beautiful as you anx- 
 iously desire it should be. I find myself in a wilderness 
 of thought, through which I scarcely perceive a ray to 
 guide me safely to any particular determination. I must 
 honestly confess that my expectations are not and have not 
 been raised of late as to any great and singular benefit 
 the public may receive from the institution." [Phillips is 
 evidently dissatisfied with the moral tone of the school.] 
 " Knowledge is a very great blessing, but sure I am that 
 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of that knowledge. 
 Is this the first rudiment taught in your school 1 " [Judge 
 Phillips now frees his mind upon the subject of classical 
 study.] " I think our general plan of educating youth fs 
 injudicious, unnatural, and absurd. As soon as an infant 
 is capable of muttering English he is put to his accidence. 
 In the Latin, youths fall back upon something that has 
 been dead these hundred years and never will exist again, 
 but if there were not a fragment of the language remain- 
 ing it would not exclude us from heaven. In it they study 
 months without one new idea, and yet it has a great ten- 
 
l6 EARLIER ANNALS OP PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 
 
 dency to make the little ignorant scholar a pedant, if he 
 can throw out one Latin word, though he knows no more 
 of its signification than a parrot. Are Ovid, Horace, Vir- 
 gil, and Tully of such infinite consequence that they should 
 consume our best moments ? The two first were infa- 
 mous debauchees, and for the last, if he lived in these 
 days he must be called an adept at blackguarding. The 
 Latin authors were pagans, and their works all contain 
 > n more or less of the foolish and stupid religion of their times. 
 
 V ji I think they ought not to be read until a person is estab- 
 
 V I lished in our pure and holy religion. It is a pity that the 
 I best six years of youth should be spent in studying heathen 
 
 J writers." [The consequences of classical study now follow.] 
 \ " Is it not a stii^bbont fact ^ as well as a melancholy truth, 
 that the greater part of the youth that enter our colleges 
 are unprincipled and immoral, and remain so until their 
 very subsistence obliges them to be otherwise, at least in 
 appearance } The little acquaintance our youth have, after 
 a school education, with men or manners is surprising ; 
 j their studies do not fit them for practical life. The con- 
 sequence is, that they attempt navigation for themselves 
 when they are, as St. Paul was, without sun, moon, and 
 stars, without compass and pole star, and this world is not 
 less dangerous than the Adriatic gulf where Paul was ship- 
 wrecked. Is it not the case that the harvest is great, and 
 that faithful, zealous, pious ministers are few.? The object 
 in educating youth ought to be to qualify young persons as 
 ornaments, as blessings, and as comforts in the A^neyard 
 of the Lord. Too much industry, too much personal ease 
 and comfort, cannot be sacrificed in this matter." [Mr. 
 Phillips now hints to the teacher what he ought to be.] 
 " The whole success of your seminary will depend upon an 
 instructor who is willing to do this. The industry of such 
 a man will keep pace with the sun, and his wishes will 
 always be reasonable. Give him a generous latitude, he 
 will not abuse it. All his views will be to inspire his 
 pupils with that knowledge which will influence them to 
 1 See note at the bottom of page 64. 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 1/ 
 
 remember their Creator in the days of their youth. My 
 sentiments upon this subject are new, perhaps no one may 
 fall in with them, yet I shall be unwilling to alter them 
 without fair experiment. And I shall be so partial to myself 
 as not to think a fair experiment has been made until an 
 instructor is found that enters into the spirit of my feeling 
 on this subject. The blessing such a man might be to 
 posterity is unspeakable. 
 
 " A number of other matters occur to my mind in execut- 
 ing such a plan; buildings and convenient accommodations 
 are absolutely necessary." [The founder now gives his 
 opinion of charity students.] " With regard to charity 
 scholars these arguments following may have some weight 
 against planning for them in general. There are, no doubt, 
 a great number of respectable wealthy persons who would 
 be glad to have their children educated, and cheerfully be 
 at the expense, bui they find so great danger of their mor- 
 als being totally corrupted that they are utterly deterred 
 therefrom. This great difficulty being removed, there is 
 reason to believe that the school would always be as full as 
 conveniency would admit of, and certainly the happiness of 
 such a child '* [a rich one] *' is of as great consequence as 
 that of a poor child, his opportunity of doing good greater. 
 His disintei^estediiess is a great argument in favor of his 
 honest intentions in following the profession of a minister, 
 that he does it from principle and fiot from a lucrative 
 view; but charity scholars must pursue this; they speak 
 because they are hired to ; it is their living, say the scoffers. 
 *Ye have taken your ministers and teachers from among 
 the lowest of the people.' It is probable that the annual 
 income will not be more than sufficient to keep the semi- 
 nary in regular and beautiful order. A well-chosen, not a 
 cumbersome library must belong to the seminary." 
 
 In connection with the views expressed in this letter it 
 is curious to note that no ins titution in our land has ever 
 niimjDQred upon its roll a larger proportion of charity schol- ' 
 ars, or possessed a more thoroughly classical spirit, than 
 Phillips Academy. The first view of the founder seems to 
 
1 8 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 
 
 . have been entirely reversed, for Judge Phillips soon became, 
 and remained through life, the enthusiastic patron of clas^ 
 sical studies. We will suggest that the friend to whom the 
 memorial was addressed persuaded Mr. Phillips to adopt the 
 method which was subsequently used ; if this be the case, 
 that individual has, through his influence with the founder, 
 changed the nature and history of the academy. 
 
 All preliminary difficulties being sooner or later over- 
 come, Phillips devoted himself, with the utmost zeal, to the 
 success of his project. Being the prospective heir of his 
 father and uncle John Phillips of Exeter, he generously per- 
 suaded them to give to the school a large portion of the 
 wealth which would otherwise have fallen to himself, se- 
 cured bonds for the payment of the money, and anxiously 
 consulted his relatives as to the location of the school. The 
 first choice of the three founders was the ground in North 
 Andover upon which now stands the house of Dr. Kit- 
 tredge, but failing in his effort to obtain this site, Judge 
 Phillips purchased of Solomon Wardwell the ground upon 
 which the buildings of the institution at present stand. 
 The celebrated constitution was drawn up at this time, con- 
 taining one clause which is the germ of a theological sem- 
 inary, like the rib of the man from which the woman was 
 made. On April 21, 1778, the first meeting of trustees 
 was held, the first principal appointed, and the institution 
 finally incorporated under the modest title of *' Phillips 
 School.** An old joiner's shop was removed to the corner 
 of Main and Phillips streets, near the residence of the late 
 Samuel Farrar, Esq., and fitted up for the use of the infant 
 academy. In size it was about thirty-five feet by twenty, 
 and able to accommodate about thirty scholars. Phillips 
 School fell into the world of that day as gently as a leaf 
 falls from a tree in the fore^, as a seed drops from the 
 hand of the sower. No sound of trumpet nor roar of can- 
 non heralded her birth. She was looked upon as a very 
 little thing by the world of that day. What was that 
 world } In India Warren Hastings was tfien consolidat- 
 ing the British power, under the protection of which many 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 1 9 
 
 graduates of '^ Phillips " have since assisted in establishing 
 the greater power of the kingdom of God. The master 
 spirits of Europe are rapidly passing away. A man is ap- 
 pointed to die in Paris, thirty-nine days after the academy 
 is founded ; he is eighty-four years old, but his hand, now 
 feeble, has shaken the papal power and all priestcraft to its 
 foundations, he meant to attack superstition, but he has 
 shattered faith ; the name of the man is Francis Arouet, 
 his title is the Marquis de Voltaire. In two months more 
 the great writer who preceded him in letters will follow him 
 to the tomb, his name is Jean Jacques Rousseau, terrible 
 has been his attack upon the social order, he has opened the 
 way for great events to come after him. Louis Sixteenth, 
 of France, assists our fathers in their revolutionary strug- 
 gle, and kindles the revolution in which he is himself to 
 perish, every effort of his to get near us places him more 
 certainly under the axe of the guillotine. For Maria The- 
 resa, old, weary, and anxious for the end, six months of life 
 in the palaces and gardens of Schonbrunn are appointed, 
 then for her the pale kingdom shall open. Frederick the 
 Great has founded the German empire and begins to rest. 
 He walks with tottering step the avenues of Sans Souci, 
 and thinks of Rosbach and Hohenfrieden ; great drill ser- 
 geant of Europe, thou shalt next think of the grave ! Far 
 away amid the snows of Russia, Catherine Second, the Se- 
 miramis of the North, has, like the modern Czar, humbled 
 the Turk through her lieutenant, the invincible SuvarroSf ; 
 soon she will pass away amid the glitter of her ice palaces 
 in Moscow. Nature is making a race of new kings, they 
 will appear at the time appointed. A strange restless man 
 is seen now at Metz, now at Strasbourg, again at Berlin, he 
 writes revolutionary pamphlets, his name is Mirabeau, mark 
 him, he is obscene and low-lived, but he will shake thrones. 
 In Arras, a young lawyer defends Dr. Franklin's light- 
 ning rods against the charge of impiety, his name is Ro- 
 bespierre ; sloes, acid, and copperas are in him, he will 
 become Dictator of France, send twenty-two thousand per- 
 sons to death, and think that he is performing his duty. 
 
20 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 
 
 Danton, scarcely out of childhood, plays in the vineyards 
 of Arcis-sur-Aube ; he will go far, he will dare and dare, 
 and again he will dare. A little boy of nine years sports 
 on one of the Mediterranean islands ; his name is Bona- 
 parte ; there is in him an empire not yet unfolded. In the 
 streets of Dublin plays another child, three months older ; 
 his name is Arthur Wellesley, fated to have some busi- 
 ness with the former ; the one child shall be a thunderbolt 
 shooting through the heavens, the other the gravitation to 
 bring it down. Boston has been freed from the foe for two 
 years, partly by the invention and energy of Phillips and 
 his friend, as yet nameless. The medal is struck to com- 
 memorate the deliverance of the city ; the motto is, " Hosti- 
 bus Fugatis." Thirteen months before, the shout of victory 
 had come down from the hills of Saratoga. Washington 
 and his heroes are at Valley Forge, their dreary sufferings 
 are almost over, in eleven days they will celebrate the news 
 of the treaty with France. Monmouth is very near them, 
 Yorktown is still in the distance. Lafayette is in the canip 
 of the patriots, glory and sorrow are before him. 
 
 ELIPHALET PEARSON, LL. D., 1778-1786. 
 
 With the appointment of the first principal of Phillips 
 Academy there comes to the surface a person whose agency 
 in developing the institution has, hitherto, been powerful 
 but concealed. This individual, in some respects the most 
 remarkable man ever connected with the institutions of 
 Andover, springs into notice like a cloud which is suddenly 
 condensed from a vapor long imperceptible. In announc- 
 ing the name of Eliphalet Pearson, we try to bring into 
 prominence one who has had a more decisive agency in 
 shaping our academy, and the seminary which sprang from 
 it, than any historian has ever ascribed to him. In order 
 to understand his work for his contemporaries and his un- 
 acknowledged influence upon ourselves, let us spend a few 
 moments in examining his remarkable life and character. 
 He was born in Byfield, Mass., in June, 1752, being four 
 months younger than Judge Phillips; his father was a 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 21 
 
 farmer and mill owner, rather imperious in temper and 
 very conservative in his opinions. The earliest years of 
 Pearson were spent upon a farm, but the influence of the 
 Dummer School, only four miles distant, stimulated him to 
 desire an education, of the means for obtaining which, how- 
 ever, he was entirely destitute. With that self-reliance 
 which characterized him to the last, he gave, when a mere 
 boy, a promissory note to his father solemnly binding him- 
 self to refund the money advanced for his education, an en- 
 gagement which he afterwards punctuctlly performed. The 
 enthusiastic scholar walked daily four miles to and from the 
 school, carrying his dinner in a basket, and studying his 
 lesson on the way. During the intervals between the liter- 
 ary and swimming exercises of this noted institution, he 
 associated with Judge Phillips, and our academy may have 
 been the result of their boyish friendship. The intimacy 
 of the two extraordinary youths was continued at Harvard 
 College, where, however, Pearson was two years behind 
 Phillips in the course; he was graduated in 1773 with 
 marked distinction, and deUvered at commencement a fo- 
 rensic upon the African slave-trade, fourteen years before 
 Wilberforce had begun to agitate the subject. The pro- 
 duction was deemed so remarkable that it was published, 
 then a most unheard-of proceeding. The original manu- 
 script and a few printed copies still exist. On the morn- 
 ing of the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775, Pearson was 
 at Cambridge, and while every citizen was pale and trem- 
 bling, and the timid shrieked in the streets, the young 
 man promptly procured a horse and chaise, resolved to es- 
 cape to Andover with the lady to whom he was betrothed, 
 and her mother, the widow of President Holyoke. The di- 
 rect road was unsafe, but he succeeded in reaching Dan- 
 vers, whence he went to Andover, and was received into 
 the house of the young Judge Phillips. A born teacher, 
 he immediately gathered together scholars for a grammar 
 school in Andover, residing during a portion of this time in 
 Mr. Phillips's family, and at intervals amid the din of war 
 connected with the siege of Boston, the two discussed the 
 
22 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 
 
 plan of forming an academy. .^The project was first sug- 
 gested by Phillips, but developed and modified by Pear- 1 
 son.; No acknowledged correspondence between them upon 
 the subject is extant, for the two met so often that the 
 plan was elaborated mainly by personal conversation. But 
 the educational project was interrupted by the sudden call 
 for gunpowder ; and in full sympathy with Phillips, Pear- 
 son, with his usual impetuous energy, devoted himself to 
 the manufacture of the article. He had the spirit of Napo- 
 leon I., who said, " I am master of the art of war ; I can cast 
 cannon ; if powder is needed, I can make it." Sulphur and 
 charcoal could be found in abundance; the whole difficulty 
 lay in procuring saltpetre, an article of which, perhaps, the 
 student manufacturer had scarcely before heard. He ran- 
 sacked libraries for treatises on chemistry, corresponded 
 with the few persons in our country who were then ac- 
 quainted with the subject, compared the different theories 
 of the day, constructed his own formula, and a manuscript 
 still existing records the minute details of the thirteen suc- 
 cessive experiments which he made. The last trial was 
 successful, and Pearson declared in his old age, that he 
 never felt such a moment of enthusiastic joy as when, after 
 twenty-four hours of unintermitted labor and watching, the 
 crystals appeared at last. Those crystals meant that he 
 could get gunpowder, if that could be procured the British 
 could be beaten, if they could be beaten, America would be 
 free. For several days the problem of American liberty 
 was working out, not only on the floor of the Continental 
 Congress, but in the pans and kettles of the indefatigable 
 Pearson. There is still extant a letter from an aged lady 
 pupil of Dr. Pearson, stating that she well remembered going 
 to school as usual one morning almost ninety years before, 
 seeing the desks covered with pans of the bleaching salt- 
 petre, and hearing to her childish joy, from the preoccupied 
 teacher, that there would be no school that day. The cel- 
 lars and barn-yards of the neighbors were dug up for the 
 sake of the nitrous earth, by the shovels of the energetic 
 Pearson and his patriotic chemists, the experiment was com- 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 23 
 
 pletely successful, nor did our army ever afterwards suffer 
 from the lack of ammunition. The immediate danger be- 
 ing passed, Phillips and Pearson resumed their more peace- 
 ful project of forming an academy. The exact agency of 
 the latter must be supposed rather than determined, but 
 the features of the grand plan bear some traces of his ex- 
 traordinary mind. The constitution of the academy, sur- 
 passed by few of the state papers of history, affording to the 
 thorough student, not only ** decent," but rather "extrava- 
 gant entertainment," was written by Phillips, but it bears 
 the evidence of many a conference with Pearson. To the 
 Iditttr, probably y the memorial of Phillips in reference to the 
 course of study to be pursued ^ is addressed. After many 
 an argument between the two it is at length made a classi- 
 cal school, and the man marked out from the first by the 
 sagacious Phillips as the future principal is, by unanimous 
 vote of the corporation, elected to the post.^ • After perform- 
 ing the greatest services for a long time in obscurity, Pear- 
 son is at last lifted to an acknowledged prominence, and the 
 helm of the infant academy is placed in his hands. 
 
 It is well for us to pause and consider the character of 
 this extraordinary man, for I am inclined to believe that a 
 long investigation will show him to have done as much, if 
 not more, to shape the policy of the institutions of Andover 
 than any other one individual ever connected with them. He 
 was a person of indomitable self-reliance, and possessed of 
 an energy of mind which almost surpasses belief. His life 
 was devoted to teaching in three of the leading institutions 
 of the country. In two of these, besides fiUing ably his 
 own peculiar department, he assumed a leading part in the 
 practical and financial management, performed the duties 
 of other professors, and did for the institution with which 
 he was connected the work of two or three teachers. It is 
 generally admitted that he was a consummate rhetoricianj 
 one of the keenest critics of his day, a finished and widely 
 read classical scholar, noted for the accuracy and elegance 
 of his Latin prose composition, a master of the Hebrew, 
 1 See page 67. 2 See page 65. 
 
24 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 
 
 Syriac, and Coptic languages, possessed of a good knowl- 
 edge of metaphysics, a very respectable chemist, and, after 
 his ordination, which took place late in life, an able preacher, 
 while, in some cases of legacies left to Harvard College, but 
 contested by other parties, this learned scholar was found 
 to be a match for the best lawyers of his day. He was 
 also a very skilful mechanic, a most accomplished musician, 
 publishing an important work upon psalmody, he was a 
 good bass singer and played well upon the violoncello, once 
 making one of these instruments with his own hands. He 
 also projected a system of phonetics which he never pub- 
 lished ; speculated upon the origin of ideas ; was a scien- 
 tific agriculturalist and, during his later years, proved him- 
 self to be one of the best farmers of his time. Even those 
 who were the most opposed to him admitted that he was a 
 consummate man of business, delighting in the able con- 
 duct of affairs, and displaying great sagacity in his dealings 
 with men. For statistical work he had a passion, and files 
 of old manuscripts attest his ceaseless industry in tabulat- 
 ing and drawing accurate general averages from the long 
 arrays of facts which he was always collecting. His phil- 
 anthropic work alone was enough to engage and fatigue a \ 
 score of ordinary men. He was a founder and the first j 
 president of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowl- 
 edge. To him the American Education Society of the pres- 
 ent day looks back as its principal founder. He was also 
 Secretary of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; 
 an officer of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel 
 among the Indians ; a member of the Massachusetts Con- 
 gregational Society, and of the Society for the Suppression 
 of Intemperance, and a prominent member of the Essex 
 Agricultural Society. For nearly all of these organizations 
 he drafted the most important papers and superintended in 
 person their principal operations. Had he been able to 
 confine his powerful mind to a single subject, he might 
 have exhausted all the possibilities of any one department 
 of thought. As it was, " he multiplied himself among man- 
 kind, the Proteus of their talents." A joy in each new ex- 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 2$ 
 
 ercise of his power, a pride in seeking and overcoming every 
 obstacle, a restlessness while any difficulty remained to be 
 conquered, hurried him with ceaseless activity from pursuit 
 to pursuit. 
 
 When the opinion of an eminent critic of the last genera- 
 tion was asked in regard to a discourse to which he had 
 listened, his reply was, "The sermon was so good that I 
 wondered why it was not better." We admire Eliphalet 
 Pearson for the gifts of energy and intellect which he had, 
 and lament that certain gifts of disposition were withheld 
 from him. If he could have added to his vast activity and 
 inflexible will a conciliatory temper, if he could have used 
 more sympathy and charity in estimating the position of an 
 opponent, if he had not so often made a difference of opinion 
 a personal issue, if he had not frequently attempted to force 
 and drive men to accept /its view, if his unparalleled capacity 
 had not at times made him contemptuous toward men less 
 able, it would have been better for himself and all with 
 whom he acted. By no means was he destitute of kindness 
 of heart, at the sight of misery his tears always flowed, and 
 rarely would he refuse any favor within his power to the 
 man who did not oppose him. There is not a better test of 
 a parent than the manner in which sons and daughters re- 
 giard him. The children of Dr. Pearson loved their father 
 to the latest moment, and cherished his memory with en- 
 thusiastic affection. Often peremptory with his equals, he 
 was invariably kind to the poor. He made the greatest 
 efforts to send preachers to feeble and destitute societies. 
 On Sundays, he would dispatch his horse and chaise in va- 
 rious directions to carry infirm persons to church. There 
 is an element of pathos in his own record of his services to 
 Harvard College. *' I tried to secure," he says, " the rights 
 of the corporation in the tolls of the West River bridge, I 
 succeeded, and in order to conciliate stockholders, I took 
 shares in the bridge and induced my friends to take them 
 also. But my course made me many enemies among rich 
 
 and influential men All day yesterday I spent in 
 
 correcting compositions ; in the evening I went to Boston 
 
26 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 
 
 and spent the entire night in the Register's Office, looking 
 up the property of the college, no one else would take any 
 
 interest in it We had a Faculty meeting last week ; 
 
 it was voted to punish certain students ; I voted against 
 the measure. Those who advocated the punishment af- 
 terwards circulated a report that it was * Pearson's work.* 
 / said nothing^ When his old pupils met him in later 
 life they would frequently say, " I liked Dr. Pearson when 
 I began to know him," but to know him was the barrier 
 which few passed. This unpopularity acted as a constant 
 limitation of his power, it was like a chain upon his limbs. 
 The great talents of Dr. Pearson had the effect of repelling 
 from him large masses of men who possessed nothing like 
 them. His well-nigh unfathomable knowledge made him 
 impatient with men who knew but little, his tireless energy 
 rendered him inconsiderate of the weary, his electric quick- 
 ness left him no sympathy with the dull. His very virtues 
 were, in some respects, unfavorable to his success. A gen- 
 erous man, he was prodigal of his labors and services, he 
 always pressed forward to gain the victory and did not 
 carefully return to gather reputation. Hence the credit 
 for much that he accomplished was assumed by other men. 
 He was courageous, and often bluntly declared the opinion 
 which was cherished by others who feared to express it. A 
 man largely made, he worked intuitively upon the grand, 
 far-sighted plan, and was often misunderstood by men who 
 lived only for the day and the hour. When the issue de- 
 pended upon himself alone, Dr. Pearson was almost invari- 
 ably successful ; but the cooperation of other men was a 
 factor which he could not always command. The mutual 
 /Jf confidence between himself and Judge Phillips, never dis- 
 turbed by the shadow of jealousy, was of the greatest ad- 
 vantage to both; for the latter, although inferior to his 
 friend in grasp of subjects, and a certain crushing force 
 of will, had exactly the qualities in which Pearson was de- 
 ficient. The patriarch Jacob said of his son : " Dan is an 
 adder in the way, that biteth the horse's heels so that the 
 rider shall fall backward." It was the misfortune of Dr. 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 2/ 
 
 Pearson often to have Dan at the heels of his horse, so that 
 he was several times overthrown in the midst of his most 
 splendid successes. 
 
 It has been said that "the veil which conceals our future 
 is woven by the hand of mercy." The causes of much 
 trouble and future disappointment are now latent in the 
 mind of Pearson, but no shadow is cast upon the happy 
 present. Growth and prosperity for many years await him. 
 He is now twenty-six years old, beginning the world in the 
 little schoolroom thirty-five feet by twenty ; ^ he has thir- 
 teen scholars, soon the number will increase to sixty and 
 fill the whole capacity of the room. In a report which he 
 presents to the trustees on April 17, 1780, five months be- 
 fore the discovery of the treason of Arnold, he describes his 
 method of study and discipline. The document is interest- 
 ing as presenting the first picture of life in the academy ; 
 still more so when we remember that both teacher and 
 scholars are now sleeping beneath the clods of the valley. 
 "On Monday morning," says the report, "the scholars are 
 required to recite all they can remember from the sermons 
 they have heard on the Lord's day previous ; on Saturday 
 the bills are presented and punishments administered!' Be- 
 tween the sermons that begin and the punishments that 
 close, lies the body of the week's work. " School begins at 
 eight o'clock with devotional exercises, a psalm is read and 
 sung. Then a class consisting of four scholars repeats 
 memoriter two pages in Greek grammar, after which a 
 class consisting of thirty persons repeats a page and a half 
 in Latin grammar ; then follows the * accidence tribe ' of four- 
 teen persons who repeat two, three, four, five, or ten pages 
 each." Three scholars have apparently been excluded from 
 the tribe. "They recite accidence singly, very uncertain 
 qua7itities. To this," he continues, "may be added three 
 who are studying Arithmetic, one of whom is in the Rule 
 of Three, another in Fellowship, the third is in Practice. 
 The school is closed at night by reading Doddridge's ' Fam- 
 ily Expositor,' accompanied with rehearsals, questions, re- 
 1 Near the late Esquire Farrar's residence. 
 
28 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 
 
 marks and reflections, by singing a hymn, and prayer." Mr. 
 Pearson has some trials, however. He cannot get books 
 enough for scholars who are between the ages of six and 
 thirty ; his plan for giving instruction in " singing and speak- 
 ing" has been interrupted by the "school garden," beloved 
 by Judge Phillips,^ but evidently considered by Pearson in 
 his secret heart to be an abominable nuisance. He com- 
 plains that the behavior of his scholars is not perfect. " To 
 hear prepared recitations is a delight to me ; but I have to 
 keep my eye at the same time upon the idle and dissipated. 
 I have only one room for sixty boys ; much noise and con- 
 fusion is going on. I have to listen to many requests, and 
 stop and settle many difficulties." Finally, he makes aj 
 heart-moving appeal : " Gentlemen, I beg that you will not \ 
 consider this to be picturesque y but it is a real and actual; 
 fact." We notice that he wants a better building and a 
 better library, the chronic need of every institution since. 
 
 O Spirit of the past, more powerful than the ancient sor- 
 ceress of Endor, canst thou for a brief moment call back to 
 the earth again the forms of those pupils who once sat in 
 that little school and stepped forth from it into that great 
 Babel of a world in which most of them " ran their humble 
 round and passed unremembered away".^ Is the group for- 
 ever broken and the beautiful picture dashed into fragments } 
 As I look with strained eye through the mists of the century, 
 assist me to picture one or two of these forms ere they van- 
 ish forever. Among those who helped to ^^ make much 
 noise and confusion and present many requests " were two 
 boys who, as subsequent presidents of Harvard College, 
 impressed upon another generation both the abilities which 
 they received from nature and the education given by Dr. 
 Pearson. One of them was John Thornton Kirkland, son 
 of the celebrated missionary to the Six Nations. Born at 
 Little Falls, N. Y., then the extreme frontier of the West, 
 he was early sent to Andover, became an inmate of Judge 
 Phillips's family, made great and rapid proficiency in study, 
 was graduated from Harvard College, and returned with 
 
 ^ See page 64. 
 
8 UNIVERSITY ] 
 
 \ OF , / 
 
 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPs'^ ACADEMY, 29 
 
 the highest reputation to assist Dr. Pearson in teaching 
 the school. After many years of separation, the father 
 left the Indians to visit his son at the east, gladly recog- 
 nized the young man's distinguished abilities, but exclaimed, 
 " Oh, the pride, the pride of my son's heart ! " Madam 
 Phillips gently remonstrated, "He has great talents and 
 will always be made much of ; it is no wonder that he 
 should feel his importance." Desiring to remove the young 
 teacher from a community where he was so injuriously 
 flattered, the father attempted to place him in the family 
 of Dr. Emmons, the most prominent theologian of that 
 day, who declined the charge, on account of ill health. 
 Young Kirkland was finally placed under the care of Dr. 
 West, of Stockbridge, who was desired to train him for 
 the ministry, and keep a sharp eye upon him, allowing 
 him to go out of the house only 07ice a week. Upon the 
 rude bench before Pearson sat also a beautiful child of 
 six years, sent to Andover by his doting mother, who was 
 herself the cousin of Judge Phillips and widow of the brill- 
 iant revolutionary orator. Young Josiah Quincy was im- 
 mediately placed in the *' accidence tribe" and seated by 
 the side of a pupil twenty years his senior. "I always," 
 said the great educator in his old age, "hated Cheever's 
 Accidence ; I could not understand it ; year after year I 
 was put back in it. It was my delight to chase the striped 
 squirrel along the road then bounded by wood and wall 
 which ran from the academy to Mr. French's house." ^ 
 X Mr. Quincy describes thus his teacher's method of commu- 
 nicating knowledge : " I was called upon to give the prin- 
 cipal parts of the Latin verb ' noceo.' Unfortunately I gave 
 to the ' c ' a hard sound. I said, * nokeo, nokere, nok-2/ 
 The next thing I knew I was knocked." Pearson, though 
 usually sagacious, failed in the present instance to perceive 
 the magnificent powers which were latent in the child. It 
 is certain that he advised the mother not to send to Har- 
 vard College the youth who afterwards obtained the first 
 
 1 He refers to the old parsonage house of the South Church, now (1878) 
 occupied by Mrs. James Means. 
 6 
 
30 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 
 
 honors of that institution, and ultimately became the illus- 
 trious president of the university. Dr. Pearson lived, how- 
 ever, to have the most important relations with this prince 
 of his pupils, and to smile at the futility of his early predic- 
 tions. In this group of the eldest children of the academy, 
 we find an exemplary youth of nineteen years, afterwards 
 known as Benjamin Abbot, LL. D. ; and in him Andover 
 gave the first, as she has since given the present, principal i 
 to Exeter Academy. A few traditions of Pearson's disci- 
 pUne still linger. Upon one occasion, after a transgression 
 had been committed, the master suddenly appeared before 
 a troop of scholars and called out : " Let the one who has 
 performed that outrage instantly appear before me ; " and 
 at once the culprit appeared and confessed. Once, after a 
 young miscreant had been reproved by the Doctor, he was 
 asked, ''How did you feel.^" "I pinched myself to know 
 whether I was alive," was the reply. The stern educator 
 abhorred juvenile poets. Upon one occasion when he had 
 assigned a theme for composition, the scholar returned to 
 him a poetical effusion upon the prescribed subject. " What 
 do you mean," said the indignant critic, " by these capitals 
 at the beginning of every line t " " Why, why, that is 
 poetryl' said the boy, who expressed his thoughts in prose 
 forever after. Once and only once he was met. A student, 
 who had been summoned, rapped several times at the Doc- 
 tor's door, and upon entering was brusquely asked, *' Why 
 do you rap so often } You never should rap but once at the 
 door of a gentleman." " I never do," was the answer. 
 
 The records of trustees at this period shed some hght 
 upon the state of the infant academy. In the account of 
 one of their early meetings, after a detailed statement of 
 their dealings in real estate and financial matters, we find 
 this item : "We then visited the school and examined the 
 writing-books of the scholars, after which the young men 
 spoke several pieces before us and we listened to an excel- 
 lent piece of music. The school was then addressed by 
 Rev. Mr. French " [pastor of the church in South Andover], 
 
 1 Dr. Albert C. Perkins. 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 3 1 
 
 " and Rev. Mr. Symmes " [pastor of the church in North 
 Andover] '' offered prayer. After which we returned to our 
 business." This item of record is interesting as giving the 
 germ of the academy exhibition, which at first consisted of a 
 few simple performances before the trustees alone. Soon 
 afterwards it was voted "that the scholars be allowed to 
 bring their friends into the room to sit with the trustees 
 during the exercises, but that the exhibition be not made 
 public." The pieces declaimed and the ''excellent piece 
 of music " testify that Pearson had at last succeeded in his 
 effort to '' drill the boys in speaking and singing." Per- 
 haps he is now rid of the " school garden." In the course 
 of time the anniversary exercises were varied by short dia- 
 logues, but the present elaborate public exhibition is the 
 result of a long growth. The venerable record-book in the 
 treasurer's office testifies to the constant care of the trusV 
 tees of the period for the health, morals, and amusements 
 of the boys. A right of way was purchased for the scholars 
 to cross the hay-fields and bathe in the Shawshin at the 
 place called the Birch, and it was enacted that every scholar 
 who could not swim should enter the water under the di- 
 rection of two others who could do so. The utmost care 
 was used in licensing the boarding-houses for scholars, and 
 with tender consideration the trustees voted that no single 
 woman should take more than two boys to board. Whether 
 the young patriots celebrated the surrender of Cornwallis, 
 which occurred in October, 1 781, we are not informed. An 
 event of great local importance must have been the build- 
 ing of the present Mansion House, the timbers of which, 
 brought down from the New Hampshire forests, were raised 
 during the spring of 1 782. The tradition is that '' the whole 
 town was present on the occasion," and Professor Taylor 
 adds, in his Memoir of Judge Phillips, that "when all the 
 preparations were made. Rev. Mr. French offered a prayer, 
 and strong arms (of the students among others) grasped the 
 ropes and pikes, and the building which has since sheltered 
 so many academicians was raised without accident." But 
 an event, in some respects lamentable for both parties, is 
 
32 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 
 
 now about to occur. Thoughtful men have observed for 
 some time past that the young teacher has been outgrow- 
 ing the situation. The school, if not picturesque, has greatly 
 educated the educator. During his brief intervals of leis- 
 ure the energetic scholar has pushed his researches in 
 every direction, his reputation has extended, and the light 
 in the golden candlestick is seen afar off. Harvard College, 
 with pride, claims her alumnus ; and in the autumn of 1786, 
 Pearson leaves his quiet country school to become the Pro- 
 fessor of Hebrew and the Oriental Languages in that hon- 
 ored university. It seems as though he stepped forward 
 over concealed abysses. Henceforth his position will be 
 higher, but his success less perfect, for he passes away from 
 the daily and almost hourly association with Phillips, the 
 friend who could insensibly direct, balance, and modify his 
 extraordinary powers even better than their owner could 
 himself. At this point we must take our leave of this re- 
 markable man, for the record of his vast labors for his Alma 
 Mater and his triumphant energy in founding a second in- 
 stitution of learning upon our hill belongs to the histori- 
 ans of Harvard College and of Andover Seminary. To the 
 last, however, he felt the warmest interest in, and performed 
 great labors for, the object of his first love, regularly visited 
 the academy at the corporation meetings, and addressed the 
 students with great power. One speech of his, concluding 
 with the words, " pergite, pergite ad astra," was long re- 
 membered. Dr. Pearson remained a trustee of the acad- 
 emy until his death, and at the decease of Judge Phillips, in 
 1820, became President of the Board of Trustees, filling 
 this office for eighteen years, and that of trustee for forty- 
 eight. In September, 1826, while on a visit to relatives in 
 Greenland, N. H., he felt the approach of dissolution; he 
 gave one last look to the daughter who was bending over 
 him, and closed his eyes with his own hands. What esti- 
 mate shall history place upon this remarkable man } I 
 have read letters from the Rev. James Kendall, of Plym- 
 outh, Mass., from President Allen, of Bowdoin College ; 
 from Judge Story, and Professor Sidney Willard, of Cam- 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 33 
 
 bridge ; from Hon. Horace Binney, of Philadelphia, and 
 Governor Levi Lincoln, of Massachusetts, acknowledging 
 his extraordinary merits, and have met with other testi- 
 mony equally decisive with regaid to his faults. \ 
 
 " No farther seek his merits to disclose, 
 
 Or draw his frailties from their dread abode 
 (There they alike in trembling hope repose], 
 The bosom of his Father and his God." 
 
 EBENEZER PEMBERTON, LL. D., 1786-1794.1 { J ' 
 
 The academy is now securely established and placed in 
 the line of future growth, but our limited time obliges us 
 to move more rapidly along the remainder of its history. 
 Of the next principal, the accomplished Ebenezer Pem- 
 berton, I wish that more could be recalled. He was grad- 
 uated from Nassau Hall, Princeton, N. J. ; became after- 
 wards a tutor in the same institution, where he numbered 
 Aaron Burr and James Madison among his pupils, and aU 
 ways preserved with pride the copy of a Latin valedictory 
 oration delivered to him by the latter, in behalf of his class- 
 mates, on occasion of their parting with their honored in- 
 structor. During the latter part of his residence in Prince- 
 ton, Dr. Pemberton studied law and resided in the family of 
 William Livingston, then governor of New Jersey, from the 
 society of whom he is said to have derived a large share of 
 that elegant courtesy which distinguished him through life. 
 He subsequently studied theology with Dr. Hopkins, of 
 Newport, R. I., but never preached himself, a fact which 
 his friends were inclined to regret. He finally determined 
 to be an educator of youth, but his knowledge of two other 
 professions remained always a great advantage to him. He 
 soon became the successful principal of an academy in 
 Plainfield, Conn., and came to Andover in 1786, to occupy 
 the situation which Dr. Pearson had made important. The 
 new principal began his duties in a new building, the joint 
 gift of the three Phillips brothers, Samuel of North Andover 
 
 1 The account of Dr. Pemberton was for lack of time omitted in the delivery 
 of the address. 
 
34 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 
 
 (Esquire Phillips), John of Exeter, and William of Boston. 
 It was constructed of wood, covered a space about eighty 
 feet by forty, was two stories in height, the upper room 
 being an exhibition hall, had the same arrangement of lower 
 rooms with the old brick academy, which so many before 
 me remember, stood within the present seminary yard, 
 nearly opposite the house now occupied by Professor Mead, 
 and was used by the school until it was destroyed by fire in 
 1818. A new building and a new preceptor, like a new 
 minister in a new church, gave an impulse to the institu- 
 tion, the prosperity of which was not abated by the change 
 of officers. Although a less able man than his predecessor. 
 Dr. Pemberton was one of the first teachers of his day. He 
 gave special attention to forms and school ceremonies, in 
 devising which he was quite an artist, and may be regarded 
 as the father of the etiquette of the institution. At the hour 
 appointed for morning prayers, every scholar was expected 
 to be punctually in his seat. Dr. Pemberton entered, the pu- 
 pils rose and bowed to him, he returned the salutation, as- 
 cended to the desk, and pronounced the invocation, after 
 which the scholars read verses in turn, from a chapter in the 
 Bible, a method of conducting the school devotions which has 
 remained in use until the present time. But at the close of 
 school in the afternoon, each scholar withdrew separately^ 
 bowed first to the principal, then to the assistant upon the 
 other side of the hall, and retired. Dr. Pemberton was a 
 finished speaker, and devoted much attention to the elocu- 
 tion, but still more to the personal manners, of his pupils.^ 
 If reckless scholars ever treated the laborer with disrespect, 
 trampled the mowing-grass, threw down the stone wall, or 
 mocked the manners of the husbandman, the rebuke of the 
 teacher was withering and indignant. I cannot learn of 
 many incidents connected with his administration, but find 
 that on November 4, 1789, General Washington with his 
 
 1 Caleb Strong, Governor of Massachusetts, placed his son in the academy, 
 and, at the end of the term, wrote to Judge Phillips : ** My son's manners are 
 much improved. He is a good deal mended of the trick of moving his feet and 
 fingers." Evidently much attention was paid to etiquette in* the earlier years 
 of the academy. ^ 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 35 
 
 staff rode through the town in the morning, crossed the 
 ground covered by the present academy, entered the Man- 
 sion House, and spent an hour in conversation with Judge 
 Phillips, after which he mounted his horse, rested for a few 
 moments in front of the Mansion House, and returned the 
 salutations of the crowd, including undoubtedly the boys of 
 the academy, not one of whom ever, probably, forgot the 
 event. Before his departure for Salem, which took place 
 within an hour after, the General reviewed the Andover 
 militia upon the very spot where we are now sitting.^ In 
 examining the list of Dr. Pemberton's pupils I do not find 
 many names now known to fame. The father of the cele- 
 brated Charles Sumner was a member of the school in 1789. 
 He boarded at Rev. Mr. French's, now Mrs. Means's house,^ 
 and long afterwards mentioned with pleasure the rock still 
 visible in the yard of the dwelling, which was in his day 
 covered with grape-vines. To the regret of all parties the 
 principal resigned, on account of ill health, in 1794. Dur- 
 ing the ten years ensuing he taught successfully at Billerica, 
 Mass., and for many years after kept an excellent school in 
 Boston. He died in the latter place in 1835, aged eighty- 
 nine years, having been partially supported in his destitute 
 old age by the attached pupils of his youth. The adminis- '1 
 tration of Pearson was noted for severity of study and dis- ! 
 cipline, that of Pemberton for elegance and refinement of 
 manner. 
 
 MARK NEWMAN, A. M., 1794-1810. 
 
 The vacant position was filled by Mark Newman, a per- 
 son whom many inhabitants of our town still living remem- 
 ber as a bookseller and publisher,^ and as an upright Chris- 
 tian gentleman and patriotic citizen. Like his predecessor 
 in office, he had received a theological education, but never 
 became a preacher. Those of us who remember Mr. New- 
 
 1 The reference is to the field north of Professor Smyth's present residence, 
 in which the tent for the Centennial services was pitched. In former days this 
 was the training ground for the Andover militia. 
 
 2 See note at the bottom of page 81. 
 
 8 Among other books Mr. Newman published an edition of Dr. Thomas 
 Brown's Metaphysics. 
 
36 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 
 
 man in his venerable age recall him as a man of mild and 
 gentle character. In early life, however, he applied to a 
 committee for the mastership of a town school from which 
 the two previous teachers had been driven away in triumph 
 by the boys. Objection was made to the candidate on ac- 
 count of the smallness of his stature, but he obtained a trial. 
 The venturous youths began their mutiny. Mr. Newman 
 adroitly winked at minor offenders until the arch-rebel of 
 the school had exposed himself to punishment ; with one 
 hand he grasped the young scoundrel, with the other a stick, 
 and chastised the miscreant until he had driven the spirit 
 of rebelUon from the boy and from the school. His nephew, 
 Wendell Phillips, Esq., thus writes of him : '* My uncle 
 Newman was a man of more than common ability, con- 
 scientious in the discharge of duty, and possessed of rare 
 patience. He belonged to the old school in his demand for 
 unquestioning submission to authority, but this was tem- 
 pered by a loving tenderness which made his rule affection- 
 ate and welcome while it did not cease to be efficient. He 
 had perfect self-control, and remarkable evenness of temper. 
 No caprice or mood marred the serene authority which he 
 exercised." We find it to be a peculiar feature of the acad- 
 emy that the materials for its history become less ample as 
 we approach the more recent period. It is certain, how- 
 ever, that Mr. Newman's administration of the school was 
 uniformly prosperous, and that, during the fourteen years 
 of his continuance in office, the institution steadily increased 
 in numbers and influence. Among the scholars we now, 
 for the first time, find a deputation from the Southern 
 States. The list is headed by the names of Bushrod ^ and 
 John A. Washington, nephews of President Washington, 
 who was glad to place his young kinsmen under the in- 
 fluence of his well-tried friend, Mr. Phillips. The judge, 
 who accommodated the youths in the Mansion House, 
 
 ^ Two young men of the same name (Bushrod Washington), from Virginia, 
 were pupils in the academy at about this time. It is not perfectly clear which 
 one of the two became subsequently the heir of General Washington and Jus- 
 tice of the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 37 
 
 writes confidentially to Virginia, that "John Washington 
 improves, but hardly as much as should be expected from 
 his assiduity." He gives also a reluctant hint that Bush- 
 rod is "volatile." So volatile does the latter become that 
 relatives inform Judge Phillips that they wish " Bushrod to 
 be nearer home/' and ask that he may be "placed on the 
 next vessel which sails from Boston to the Potomac River.'* 
 Have we not an old report of delinquencies, dated 1803, 
 upon which Bushrod has twenty-three demerits in spelling, 
 while John A., with all his "assiduity," has eighteen.? Fin- 
 ley Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, has made only 
 eight mistakes in spelling, although, sad to relate, he has 
 whispered eighteen times. His brother, Sidney Morse, the 
 editor of the " New York Observer," has whispered sixteen 
 times, but has not been once tardy. Francis Stevens alone 
 has a perfect record ; but we must ask who he is, — the mis- 
 chievous boys have since surpassed him. Cassius and Fran- 
 cis Lee, sons of the orator and patriot, Richard Henry Lee, 
 are sent on by their guardian, who writes to Judge Phillips : 
 " It was the wish of their late honored father that his two 
 sons should not be troubled with any foreign language, but 
 be taught American very thoroughly." Francis Lee, after his 
 return to Virginia, writes to Madam Phillips, complaining 
 of the indolent temper and loose morals of those around 
 him, and longing for the more vigorous life of New England. 
 The venerable Dr. Withington, of Newburyport, was a mem- 
 ber of the school during the interregnum between Mark 
 Newman and his successor in office : " I was," he writes, 
 "taught Latin by Adoniram Judson, afterwards the cele- 
 brated missionary, the most searching teacher I ever knew. 
 At the end of the year Dr. Pearson came down to examine 
 us, and now that it is over, I am grateful for it." The frag- 
 ments of a letter lie before us, brown and stained with age, 
 the date is 1798, and in it John Farrar, of Lincoln, Hollis 
 professor at Harvard, 1 807-1 836, writes confidentially to his 
 father : " I have gained upon several of my classmates, but 
 I suppose it is not proper for me to mention it ; do not 
 tell anybody." 
 
38 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 
 JOHN ADAMS, LL. D., 1810-1833. 
 / ^ The administration of John Adams opens that which we 
 / may call the modern period of our academic history, and 
 is associated with some permanent changes in the spirit 
 of the school. This admirable teacher, a remote descend- 
 ant from the same ancestor with the Presidents John and 
 John Quincy Adams, was born at Canterbury, Conn., in 
 1772, was graduated from Yale College in 179S, and be- 
 came successively the preceptor of three academies in his 
 native State. His intellectual attainments were respectable, 
 his religious character was profound, earnest, and sympa- 
 thetic, and he imparted an impulse which will never die to 
 the institution into which he came as a new moral force. 
 Many pupils of Dr. Adams, present on this occasion, can 
 gratefully testify that the love which their teacher bore to 
 his scholars was strong, while his discipline was kind, wise, 
 and efficient.^ From information given by Rev. Jonathan 
 Stearns, D. D., and Rev. Ray Palmer, D. D., distinguished 
 pupils of Dr. Adams, we derive the following account of 
 the daily life of the school. For morning prayers the schol- 
 ars assembled in the academy, where two desks upon 
 separate platforms were built for the principal and his as- 
 sistant ; the floor was an inclined plane ; the desks of the 
 scholars had movable lids; the monitors, all older boys, at 
 the appointed time rapped down the lids, calling " Order ! " 
 Mr. Adams arose and pronounced the invocation, a selec- 
 tion from the Scriptures was read with some of the notes 
 
 ^ From the thirteen maxims for school government left by Mr. Adams we 
 quote the following : — 
 
 (i.) " Never threaten, He^ho puts a child under a menace is himself bound 
 and committed. He parts witR' his own liberty and leaves his own judgment no 
 alternative. 
 
 (2.) "Special cases excepted, never reprove, never punish a child in the 
 presence of others. The direction of our Lord, in Matt, xviii., respecting the 
 treatment of offenders, has a breadth of application not generally thought of. 
 It is based on a profound philosophy. 
 
 (3.) "Never punish a child who criminates himself rather than tell a false- 
 hood. 
 
 (4.) " Never deceive a child. If a bitter medicine must be given, do not tell 
 him that it is sweet." 
 
 Principles like the above account for the success of Dr. Adams's discipline. 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 39 
 
 from Scott's commentary, the hymn was given out, in the 
 singing of which all were expected to unite, the music be- 
 ing led by a violin, a most impressive prayer was offered, 
 and the discipline of the school attended to, after which 
 there was a loud call for the " Class in Daboll's Arithme- 
 tic ! " Mr. Adams and Mr. Clement, his assistant, heard 
 classes upon their respective platforms ; two other teachers, 
 usually students from the seminary, heard recitations in 
 the adjoining rooms ; a writing and a music master each 
 visited the school once a week to give instruction in their 
 respective departments ; every Monday morning a class re- 
 cited in Mason's Self-knowledge, and on Saturdays a pars- 
 ing exercise was held, in which the grammatical antago- 
 nists were matched against each other very much in the 
 style of the old-fashioned spelling school. Rev. S. H. 
 Emery, of Taunton, Mass., adds that on the appointed day 
 the principal solemnly ascended the step-ladder and wound 
 up the school clock in the presence of the scholars, making 
 some comment upon the motto inscribed upon the dial, 
 " Youth is the seed time of life." The standard of schol- 
 arship has greatly improved, and at times an advanced 
 class is held in Herodotus, Thucydides, and other studies 
 now usually pursued in the college course. But the great 
 advance was moral. Never before was such a powerful re- 
 ligious influence exerted upon the school ; the spirituality 
 of the principal was like a strong and penetrating at- 
 mosphere. Mr. Adams held prayer-meetings at his house 
 for the benefit of pupils, and tried to present the claims 
 of religion personally to every scholar ; revivals of religion 
 were frequent and lasting in their effect,^ nor has any 
 
 1 In 1829 and 1830 an interesting prayer-meeting was held in the upper story 
 or garret of the brick academy. Rev. S. H. Emery, of Taunton, Mass., writes 
 thus concerning it : — 
 
 *' My friend, Joshua T. Tucker, a very earnest Christian, was more identified 
 than any other with the * Academy Loft prayer-meeting.' We held for a long 
 time what might be called a boys' prayer-meeting in the third story of the acad- 
 emy building, an unfinished loft and very retired. As I remember them they 
 were excellent meetings. There were members of the seminary in those 
 years who took great interest in us boys and encouraged any appearance of a 
 religious awakening." 
 
40 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 
 
 previous administration been so powerful in stimulating 
 pupils to become ministers of the gospel. I have not time 
 to describe here the academic life of those sainted mis- 
 sionaries, Temple, and Goodell,^ and Champion, or that 
 " singer of Israel," Ray Palmer, author of the hymn, " My 
 Faith looks up to Thee," nor of many other students of this 
 era who have since become eminent ministers, including 
 one whom I would name, if you, Mr. Chairman,^ were ab- 
 
 1 The late Rev. William Goodell, D. D., for forty years missionary of the 
 American Board at Constantinople. It may be interesting here to note Dr. 
 Goodell's estimate of his instructor. After describing a journey of sixty 
 miles from Templeton, Mass., to Andover, undertaken mostly on foot, the 
 writer proceeds : " I presented myself before the great preceptor, John Adams, 
 esq., who was then in the full strength of his manhood and vigor. I came un- 
 der his instruction at the most plastic and critical period of my life, and I gave 
 up my whole being to be moulded by him as clay by the hands of the potter. 
 Everything he said and did, his example, his casual remarks, his prayers, all 
 were to me exceedingly impressive. Andover was at that time blessed with 
 such mighty men as Professors Stuart, Woods, and Porter. I often heard them 
 preach, but their words did not fall upon my ear and heart with such weight as 
 those of Mr. Adams. Almost every sentence he uttered seemed an aphorism 
 containing a world of meaning. I seemed to myself to have just waked up to a 
 new life and to be living in a new world." (Memoirs of Rev. William Goodell, 
 D. D., page 27.) 
 
 Dr. Goodell speaks thus of grammatical exercises in the school ; '* We " 
 [Rev. Asa Cummings, D. D., of Portland, Me., and Rev. Alvah Woods, D. D., 
 of Providence, R. I., with Goodell himself] "would decline any noun in any 
 declension, naming it in every case from the nominative, singular, to the abla- 
 tive, plural, going through the whole at one breath. Then we would go back- 
 ward at another breath from the ablative, plural, to the nominative, -singular. 
 To us this was real fun, and to Mr. Adams it seemed real fun to hear us." 
 (Memoirs of Rev. William Goodell, D. D., page 29.) 
 
 2 Reference is here made to Rev. William Adams, D, D., LL. D., of New 
 York, son of the principal, John Adams, and presiding officer of the meeting 
 The first appearance of Dr. William Adams in the academy is thus described : 
 '* I remember with great vividness how daintily and gracefully he stepped in 
 with young Blanchard (the late Rev. Amos Blanchard, D. D., of Lowell, Mass.) 
 and presented his little self, then six years old, before the desk of the vener- 
 able principal. In those days of his childhood I often carried the lively little 
 fellow on my back to school and other places." (Memoirs of Rev. William 
 Goodell, D. D., page 28.) 
 
 At a later date (1830), when Mr. William Adams became a student in the 
 theological seminary, he gave instruction to some of the academy students. 
 " I also well remember belonging to a class in Milton's Paradise Lost, taught 
 evenings by William Adams, the son of the principal and student in the semi- 
 nary.' (Letter from the Rev. S. H. Emery, of Taunton, Mass.) 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 41 
 
 sent. The school was at the same time fruitful in pupils 
 who have since become eminent in various professions. 
 That prince of biblical scholars, the late Prof. Horatio B. 
 Hackett, D. D., LL. D., of Rochester, N. Y., N. P. Willis, 
 and the brilliant poet who will delight us to-morrow ^ were 
 at this time members of the academy, all of them as influ- 
 ential and popular among boys, as they have since been 
 among men. Upon the roll of scholars' names is found 
 also that of Samuel Williston, who afterwards became the 
 founder of Williston Seminary at Easthampton, Mass. In 
 connection with his name I quote the expressed wish of 
 Judge Phillips, " that the usefulness of the academy may 
 be so manifest as to lead the way to other establishments 
 on the same principles." The new moral state generates 
 a new intellectual state of the school, and this causes a 
 growth in its material apparatus and conveniences ; the ad- 
 ministration of John Adams is the era of projects. As the 
 tree that strikes her roots deeper into the ground puts out 
 more leaves and raises them nearer to heaven, the great 
 moral renovation of the school gives birth to countless im- 
 provements and sends out new forms of life. Annual 
 catalogues make their appearance in 1815, printed undei 
 the direction of the students upon one side of a sheet of 
 paper. The growing enterprise of the scholars breaks forth 
 in debating societies. The Social Fraternity has for some 
 time existed for the seniors, but the Philomathean Society, 
 cradle of greatness for so many of the sons of Phillips, 
 was established at this period. As its history has been 
 published in pamphlet form, however, it need not be re- 
 peated here.2 Annual school exhibitions are continued, 
 
 1 Prof. Oliver Wendell Holmes, M. D., LL. D., of Harvard University, who 
 delivered the poem on the occasion. 
 
 2 The serious influences of the time did not, however, repress the mirthful- 
 ness of the boys. Rev. Ray Palmer, D. D., gives a curious account of the old 
 method of initiation into the Philomathean Society. " The end of the stage 
 behind the entrance (in the brick academy) was connected with a dark closet 
 in which sat a personage so arrayed as to present a tolerable impersonation 
 of Beelzebub. The candidate was solemnly ushered into the presence of this 
 being, who ordered him to kneel and addressed him thus : — 
 
42 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 
 
 containing a larger variety of parts, made free to the public 
 and attended by eager crowds ; evidently the school is ex- 
 citing a more general attention. The academy building is 
 burned down in 1818 ; for several months the exercises of 
 the school are held in the dining hall of the Commons 
 House,^ until the new brick academy ^ can be erected, 
 mainly through the munificence of William Phillips and the 
 indefatigable energy of Dr. Pearson. It is now thought 
 wise and safe to divide the forces of the school, and the 
 Teachers' Seminary was established in 1830, largely through 
 the influence of Samuel Farrar and William Phillips. The 
 stone academy and the set of dormitories known ever since 
 as the " English Commons " were erected at this time. 
 The institution was a marked success, and did a noble 
 work, anticipating the normal schools of the present day. 
 But it involved the expense of two separate academies, and 
 in 1842 the school was organized into a classical academy 
 with an English department which has been well main- 
 tained ever since. ^ Venus now springs from the foam of 
 
 " * If e'er these secrets thou reveal 
 Let thunders on thy forehead peal, 
 On thy vile bones thy flesh shall rot, 
 And witches dire around thee trot.* 
 
 " Great merriment was excited at one of these initiations when a boasting 
 youth, who declared that he would not kneel at all, unwittingly prostrated him- 
 self before his disguised room-mate." 
 
 1 The house south of the late Esquire Farrar's residence, now occupied by 
 Mr. Holbrook Chandler. 
 
 2 The curious will not fail to notice that the brick academy, now used as a 
 gymnasium, is placed exactly in line with the seminary buildings. A former 
 resident once called the writer's attention to a few shrubs and bushes growing 
 on the south side of this structure as being the last remains of the vegetation 
 which formerly covered a large portion of Andover hill. 
 
 ^ We copy the following account of the Teachers' Seminary from an article 
 in Barnard's American Journal of Education, September, 1858, by William 
 H. Wells, LL. D., of Chicago, a former principal of the English department : 
 " The Teachers' Seminary at Andover was established in September, 1830, as 
 a department of Phillips Academy. Its object was to afford the means of a 
 thoroughly scientific and practical education, preparatory to the profession of 
 teaching. Though nominally a department of Phillips Academy, it was from 
 the first a separate institution, having its organization entirely distinct from 
 that of the classical department. The trustees erected for the seminary a 
 commodious and substantial school edifice and expended between two and 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 43 
 
 the academic sea. Nehemiah Abbot, the faithful steward 
 of the seminary, dies ; his widow consults about the dis- 
 position of her property with the treasurer of the institu- 
 tion, Samuel Farrar,^ who is gefierally supposed to have ad- 
 three thousand dollars in the purchase of apparatus for illustrating the different 
 branches of science. The institution was provided with a convenient boarding- 
 house and rooms for the accommodation of nearly three hundred pupils. The 
 seminary embraced a teachers', a general, and a preparatory department. The 
 course of instruction in the teachers' department occupied a period of three 
 years and embraced most of the English branches pursued in our colleges. 
 The study of civil engineering was introduced during the early history of the 
 institution and successfully prosecuted for several years under the direction of 
 the Rev. F. A. Barton. At a later period special attention was given to the 
 study of scientific and practical agriculture, under the instruction of the Rev. 
 Alonzo Gray. The average annual number of the pupils was about fifty, and 
 nearly an hundred students completed the prescribed course. The first prin- 
 cipal of the seminary was the Rev. S. R. Hall, who was succeeded in July, 
 '^^Zly ^y ^he Rev. Lyman Coleman, D. D., who remained at the head of the 
 institution till November, 1842, when the Teachers' Seminary was merged in 
 Phillips Academy. The immediate cause for taking this step was the want of 
 funds to sustain the seminary as a separate institution. The name of Samuel 
 Farrar, esq., of Andover, is identified with the history of this institution. If 
 his generous and untiring efforts in its behalf had been seconded by those who 
 had the means of giving it a liberal endowment, its usefulness would not have 
 been brought to so abrupt a termination." 
 
 The Rev. Lyman Coleman, D*. D., of Easton, Penn., writes : " The Teach- 
 ers' Seminary, according to the best of my knowledge and belief, was the con- 
 ception and creation of Esquire Farrar." (For an account of Mr. Farrar, see 
 the following note.) 
 
 1 We regret that our limits do not allow us to give a more extended sketch 
 of this most faithful servant of the academy and seminary. Samuel Farrar 
 was born at Lincoln, Mass., in 1773, and spent his early years upon a farm, 
 where he acquired a knowledge of agriculture which proved very useful to him 
 in his subsequent management of the seminary lands. He was graduated from 
 Harvard College in 1797, in the same class with Horace Binney, of Phila- 
 delphia, Judge White, of Salem, Mass., and John Warren, M. D., of Boston. 
 After serving as tutor for a year in his Alma Mater^ he went to Andover (ap- 
 parently in 1802) in order to begin the practice of the law. Being at that time 
 an invalid, he was received into the family of, and treated with special kindness 
 by Judge Phillips and his wife, whose confidence he seems to have won from the 
 first. This circumstance led to his appointment as treasurer of Phillips Acad- 
 emy, an office which he filled with exemplary fidelity for forty years. The 
 buildings upon Andover hill can testify of him, for he superintended person- 
 ally the erection of Phillips and Bartlett Halls, the old seminary chapel, 
 Abbot Academy and the brick and stone academies, with the Latin and Eng- 
 lish dormitories. The present residences of Professor Park, Professor Phelps, 
 Professor Mead, Rev. C. F. P. Bancroft, the house formerly occupied by Pro- 
 fessor Stowe, and the one known as the " Samaritan House," were built under 
 
44 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 
 
 vised her to endow a ladies* school. Certain it is that the 
 institution was established in 1829, that Mr. Farrar was 
 very efficient in raising funds in its behalf, and that ever 
 since that day Abbot Academy and Phillips Academy have 
 been the two pillars, the Jachin and Boaz, in the temple of 
 true religion and virtue. A class of men now begins to 
 come into prominent notice, we refer to the indigent stu- 
 dents who fought their way to learning through bitter 
 poverty. May I mention one representative of this numer- 
 ous class, the gifted William Person. Nothing in the his- 
 tory of the academy is more touching than the record of 
 his melancholy life ; it is the sweet note of pathos mingling 
 with the chorus of triumph. He appears to have been 
 cruelly abandoned by his parents in infancy. At the time 
 of his first recollection he was working upon a farm in 
 Andover. A stranger appeared one day and invited him 
 to ride to Boston ; he accepted the offer with childish glee, 
 but the invitation proved a cruel decoy, for he was hur- 
 ried on to Providence, R. I., and there apprenticed to a 
 tanner, with whom he remained for thirteen years. At the 
 age of twenty-one he determined to obtain an education, 
 and, in 18 14, found his way back to Andover, where he 
 
 his direction. Each building which he constructed was of very thorough work- 
 manship, although some think that his architectural plans could have been im- 
 proved. In his own residence, now occupied by Mrs. Sereno T. Abbot, Madam 
 Phillips spent her last years. Mr. Farrar was accustomed to loan the seminary 
 funds upon bond and mortgage, and very little if any of the money was lost 
 during his long administration. For many years he was the librarian of the 
 seminary ; he also set out the greater number of the trees upon the hill, al- 
 though the very oldest trees which adorn it were planted by Judge Phillips 
 himself. Mr. Farrar was, for his means, a liberal donor to the seminary, and 
 contributed several thousand dollars to the erection of Phillips Hall. He was 
 noted for the regularity of his habits. Family prayers were held in his dwell- 
 ing every morning at nine minutes past six o'clock. He allowed his parlor 
 clock to run down three times during forty years. The roads upon which he 
 took his daily exercise were carefully surveyed ; he walked a certain number of 
 rods each day and passed over his route so punctually that persons regulated 
 their time-pieces by his approach. During his walks he carried in his hands a 
 cane, the ferule of which was held nine inches above the ground ; twice, how- 
 ever, he was known to have set it upon the earth. This venerable man died in 
 1864, and with him perished much of the early history of the seminary and 
 academy. 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 45 
 
 was treated with kindness by Mr. Adams, but obliged to 
 support himself mainly by his own manual labor. The 
 entries contained in his journal exhibit a pathetic, yet un- 
 conscious heroism. " I have the care of the fires in the 
 school building ; the weather is very cold. I spent all of 
 the last night in the school-room trying to keep the apart- 
 ment comfortable for the scholars in the morning. The 
 music at morning prayers restored me ; it would move the 
 
 heavens Term closed yesterday; my classmates 
 
 went to their homes. I have no home, and must stay here 
 through the vacation to wield the axe and prepare the 
 wood for the future comfort of the school." All the while 
 he was writing to his friends letters, cheerful and coura- 
 geous in their tone, and characterized by a certain sparkling 
 elegance of style, and also producing poems which remind 
 one of Henry Kirke White. Worn out by poverty, over- 
 work, and over-study, this brilliant genius, who found friends 
 and money, alas ! too late, died prematurely while a mem- 
 ber of the sophomore class in Harvard College. 
 
 OSGOOD JOHNSON, 1833-1837. 
 Time rolled on and bore away John Adams to establish 
 five hundred Sabbath-schools in Illinois, but his spirit re- 
 mains here to move many generations of scholars. A new 
 era in the history of Phillips is now approaching. Rev. 
 Horace Eaton, D. D., of Palmyra, N. Y., writes : " Years ago 
 I travelled to Andover on foot. I crossed the valley of the 
 Shawsheen, hungry and weary. I felt dispirited and home- 
 less, but I reached the institution in season for evening de- 
 votions, and as soon as I heard the prayer of the principal, 
 Osgood Johnson,^ I felt at rest and at home." Mr. John- 
 
 1 This teacher's method of conducting the school devotions has left a pro- 
 found impression upon many minds. The Rev. J. P. Gulliver, D. D., of Bing- 
 hamton, N. Y., thus describes the exercise of morning prayers : " Every eye 
 was fixed with respect upon Mr. Johnson as he entered the room. He as- 
 cended to the desk and pronounced a brief invocation, uniformly asking that 
 our devotions might be performed as ' seeing Him who is invisible.' Then fol- 
 lowed a few verses of Scripture, so read that a hidden radiance was made to 
 flash out of its depths, as when a skilful lapidary holds before you a gem sv> 
 7 
 
4^ EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 
 
 son, of saintly memory, beloved and revered by so many 
 present, sustained the moral, and promoted the intellectual, 
 development of the school. The advanced class had hith- 
 erto been called Senior, while the remainder of the school 
 had no class distinction. It was probably Mr. Johnson who 
 divided the classical students into Junior, Middle, and Sen- 
 ior classes, — distinctions which have ever since been re- 
 tained. His discipline was mild, yet very firm. The rev- 
 erential love which he inspired in his pupils was the real 
 source of his authority. Being poetic and almost devout 
 in his scholarship, accurate and elegant recitations trans- 
 ported him with delight, and he lavished upon the success- 
 ful pupil encomiums which ** the boy treasured as a coro- 
 net of jewels forever afterwards."^ On the other hand, 
 when his beloved classics were mutilated, the teacher felt 
 as though a sanctuary had been polluted, and sometimes ex- 
 pressed irritation and contempt. His repartees were often 
 very keen, and, as usually happens, tradition has ascribed to 
 him some which must doubtless be credited to men less em- 
 inent than he for wit tempered with kindliness. There was 
 scarcely a limit to the service which this eminent scholar 
 might have performed for the institution, had his body been 
 as vigorous as his mind ; but he was already the victim of 
 consumption and his vital powers were fast ebbing away. 
 It seemed as though he was taken in order to make room 
 for another, and a reminiscence from Rev. Dr. Gulliver 
 shadows forth the future of the school. "A young man 
 now appeared in our recitation-room as assistant to Mr. 
 Johnson, blushing like a girl and conducting his class in an 
 apologetic, deferential manner, — his name was Samuel H. 
 Taylor." During the last months of his life, the failing 
 principal gave up his classes entirely to Mr. Taylor and 
 other teachers, but his pupils would often carry their be- 
 loved instructor to his class-room that he might sit in his 
 
 adjusted that all its inner light beams upon your surprised vision. This prayer 
 transported us into that unseen world where he seemed habitually himself to 
 dwell, till he placed us before the great white throne in the very presence of 
 the Most High." 
 1 Rev. J. P. Gulliver, D. D., LL. D. 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 47 
 
 old chair and listen to the recitations which he could no 
 longer conduct. He passed away on the 9th of June, 1837. 
 What greater treasure has the academy than the memory 
 of holy men who have died in her service ? 
 
 The sad history of this teacher's waning life is varied 
 by one occurrence which, however solemn in the begin- 
 ning, has a comical aspect when viewed across the distance 
 of forty-three years. Three rebellions of the students oc- 
 curred during the history of the academy, and one of them 
 Mr. Johnson was obliged to confront.^ The occurrence was 
 so peculiar, so thoroughly in the spirit of that time, that 
 I ask a moment's attention to it. In June, 1835, during 
 the heat of the antislavery agitation, the eloquent George 
 Thompson, M. P., of England, came to this peaceful town 
 and lectured night after night in the old Methodist church, 
 long since removed, which then stood on Main Street, at 
 the foot of the hill. Young America awoke in earnest. 
 What can we do for the slave } The cause was first taken 
 up by the debating clubs. The Porter Rhetorical Society 
 of the seminary opened her guns ; she was answered by 
 a salute from the Social Fraternity ; the artillery of the Phi- 
 lomathean Society, always prompt in the cause of freedom, 
 roared in sympathetic chorus. The great remedy for sla- 
 very, hidden from all past ages, is now made known. We 
 must have an antislavery society in Phillips Academy. 
 The teachers were consulted. " Cannot the formation of 
 the society be postponed } " Perish the revolting thought. 
 Three millions of slaves are in bondage ; their longing eyes 
 are turned toward Andover hill ; their owners are seen to 
 
 1 The other two outbreaks occurred during Dr. Taylor's administration. 
 One was the famous " Catalogue Rebellion/' originating in a difference between 
 the academy teachers and certain members of the class of 1846, respecting the 
 style of school catalogue -to be issued that year. From small beginnings the 
 trouble increased to a mutiny, in consequence of which the leading members 
 of the class were expelled. The malcontents adroitly distributed false pro- 
 grammes among the audience assembled to attend the exhibition, and a witty, 
 but malignant, poem written by the chief conspirator, and called " The Phil- 
 lipiad," appeared in print soon after. Several copies of it still exist. The 
 third rebellion, resulting in the expulsion of a large number of students, oc- 
 curred during the winter of 1866. 
 
48 EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 
 
 tremble ; the lash is suspended until Phillips Academy shall 
 decide the issue. The walls of Jericho have been observed 
 to totter, and one blast from the academic ram's horn will 
 bring them down. Professor Stuart, however, did not see 
 it in this light. He suddenly met a youth in whom he was 
 interested : " Here, what are you in this business for } " 
 ** Because my conscience enjoins it," was the reply. '' Your 
 conscience ; talk about yotir conscience ; where did you get 
 your conscience } " ^ *' By hearing you preach two years," 
 answered the boy. Amid this wild confusion Osgood John- 
 son stood firm, the " decus et tutamen " of the state. The 
 use of the academy building was asked for a meeting in 
 which to form an abolition society. It was refused. The 
 Old South Church was refused also. The students then, 
 like the Covenanters, fled to the open air, and Indian Ridge 
 has ever since their day been sacred to the historian as 
 well as the geologist. A shower of rain drenched the skins 
 of the young abolitionists, and washed away much elo- 
 quence lost to the world forever ; but a memorial was ad- 
 dressed to the faculty, very long, but moderate and respect- 
 ful in tone, considering the intense excitement prevailing. 
 The news brought back to the seat of war George Thomp- 
 son, who expounded to the well-soaked and otherwise afflicted 
 saints the first chapter of Isaiah. Unhappy man ! At the 
 sound of exegesis. Professor Stuart took fire. He came for- 
 ward with "Philemon and Onesimus;'* seven thunders ut- 
 tered their voices, and the Greek accents, always hateful to 
 the young mind, were made to retard the progress of free- 
 dom. The issue was that one young man was expelled, and, 
 what is worse, he had no opportunity to give an address 
 to the school ; thirty-five others left the institution with a 
 qualified dismission. One youth returned the following week 
 
 1 Professor Stuart and his coadjutors felt the more strongly because the 
 " abolition " proceedings entirely diverted the attention of the students from a 
 revival which had just begun hopefully in the academy under their direction. 
 George Thompson and his friends had refused to postpone for a few weeks the 
 antislavery meetings, although urged by Professor Stuart an^^y^^ to do so 
 on account of the prevailing religious interest. Elements jj^^^^^Jcal situa- 
 tion of the period greatly increased also the prevailing ( 
 
 pone for a few w( 
 lart an^^jl^^ t 
 mts ij^^^^^Ec 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 49 
 
 penitent and humble. When asked : " What are you here 
 for ? " he replied, " The fact is, that when one gets ten miles 
 out of town, things look different." Conflicting opinions 
 have prevailed with regard to the conduct of the teachers 
 in this difflcult emergency. Those who are most intimately 
 acquainted with the relation of the academic instructors to 
 the trustees, to the seminary professors, and to the churches 
 in sympathy with the academy, are confident that the course 
 of Mr. Johnson was the only justifiable one. Especially is 
 he justifiable, because he was fair and impartial. He did 
 not allow the colonizationists more than the abolitionists 
 to unite in partisan societies. Yet there are those who, 
 looking at the occurrence in the light of subsequent events, 
 maintain that the scholars were the first to feel the breath 
 of the coming era, and anticipated the progress of freedom 
 more clearly than their conservative advisers. 
 
 SAMUEL H. TAYLOR, LL.D., 1837-1871. 
 
 The mantle of Johnson fell upon Samuel Taylor, " clarum 
 et venerabile nomen." What recent graduate of Phillips 
 does not find his heart leap at the sound of that name t 
 Affinities act even across the chasm of time. The spirit 
 of Taylor calls up that of Pearson. They stand confront- 
 ing each other like the two towers of a suspension bridge. 
 Across the deep they throw their chains of connection and 
 hold the academy up over the abyss of a century. The 
 academy was handsomely sustained by the immediate suc- 
 cessor of Dr. Taylor ; ^ her prosperity increases under the 
 present principal,^ yet the careers of the two great teach- 
 ers can never be exactly repeated. There was not in the 
 soul of Taylor much of the low material of scepticism or 
 doubt, he was not a Python formed from the mud, but, like 
 Apollo, the sun-god, with bow and shafts, he was born of 
 the light ; he was emphatically a man of faith, made up of 
 many faiths. A strong underlying belief in the possibili- 
 ties of human nature; a deep sense of that which the 
 
 1 Mr. Frederic W. Tilton, now of Newport, R. I. 
 
 2 Rev. Cecil F. P. Bancroft, Ph. D. 
 
so EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, 
 
 scholar can be made to be ; a reliance upon the power of 
 correct habits ; a thorough, heartfelt, unaffected belief in 
 the efficacy of classical literature as the great educating 
 force, with a partial failure to appreciate the developing 
 power of other studies ; a boundless confidence in his own 
 ability to instruct, causing some neglect in his oversight of 
 the work of his subordinates, combined to make this re- 
 markable man. Nature had given him the materials for 
 amassing a vast sum of money, or for acquiring reputa- 
 tion in almost any pursuit ; but to him might be applied 
 the epitaph given to John Howard, " Vixit propter alios." 
 He was content to stand at the base of the mountain and 
 furnish ropes and ladders by which others might climb. 
 Yet the momentum of his great life has passed into the 
 lives of others, and his spirit sends men into paths which 
 may be very different from those which he travelled him- 
 self. The Professor of German^ in Yale College carries 
 out, in his scholastic toils, the impulse received from the 
 great teacher of whom he was a favorite disciple. The 
 spirit of the departed educator still moves with power in 
 many other minds. It nerves the vice-president ^ of the 
 National Academy of Science to frighten away Red Cloud, 
 that he may dig from the prairies of Nebraska the bones 
 of Brontotherium and Dinoceros. It animates the author 
 of the " Monday Lectures " ^ to drive away the powers of 
 rationalism and low, enfeebling doubt, that he may dig for, 
 and distribute to men, the treasures of truth ; it inspires 
 the principal of Exeter academy ^ to do for others the work 
 which was done for himself ; it cheers the present principal 
 of Phillips Academy^ with the hope that through labors 
 and toils unutterable, he may wear, worthily, the mantle of 
 the great Elijah who hath been taken from us to the heav- 
 ens ; it urges you, my brother, the professor of elocution in 
 the three institutions,^ to remove every impediment from 
 
 1 Prof. Franklin Carter, of New Haven. 
 
 2 Prof. O. C. Marsh, Ph. D., of New Haven. » Rev. Joseph Cook. 
 
 * Albert C. Perkins, Ph. D. « Rev. Cecil F. P. Bancroft, Ph. D. 
 
 • Reference was here made to Prof. J. W. Churchill. 
 
EARLIER ANNALS OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY. 51 
 
 the utterance of truth, and to add to her power, intrinsi- 
 cally majestic, all the force and beauty of the oratorical art 
 The same great spirit gives direction to the lives of the 
 thousands of pupils whose minds he moulded, and goes 
 forth to affect all others who shall be influenced by them. ^^ 
 To the academy which he has exalted, a long succession 
 of noble men have ministered ; upon her altar they have 
 laid their myrrh, their frankincense, and their gold. She 
 is worthy. Child of the country, born with the nation's 
 birth, a succession of noble men have given to her of what 
 they had. Phillips gave her existence ; Pearson, breadth 
 and momentum ; Newman, worth ; Adams quickened the 
 flame of her devotion ; Johnson imparted a fine scholastic 
 spirit, like a delicate tint from . the brush of a great artist. 
 A succession of princely donors have maintained her. 
 Starting from Judge Phillips and his kindred, the line has \ 
 gone through George Peabody, of London, and many others, 
 down to Phinips,^ of the ninth generation, who by his im- 
 perial munificence crowns the work of his ancestors to-day. 
 "Phillips School," of 1778, flowing out of the sanctuary 
 like the waters of Ezekiel's vision, fed by many a tributary 
 stream, widening from a little rill to a mighty river, send- 
 ing her pupils on to all parts of the earth, giving verdure, 
 life, and beauty to the land through which she passes, each 
 alumnus and each friend helps to swell her current and 
 assists her now to sweep with stronger tide and deeper vol- 
 ume into a new century of life. 
 
 1 John C. Phillips, esq., of Boston, donor of $25,000 on the occasion. The 
 nine generations ure counted from George Phillips, the first American ancestor 
 (See page 55.) 
 
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