REESE LIBRARY 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 . iSovn 
 

OF THE 
 
 [UNIVERSITY, 
 
A HISTORY 
 OF AMHERST COLLEGE 
 
 DURING THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF ITS 
 FIRST FIVE PRESIDENTS 
 
 FROM l82I TO 1891 
 
 BY 
 WILLIAM S. TYLER, D. D., LL. D. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY 
 
 RICHARD SALTER STORRS, D.D., LL. D. 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 FREDERICK H. HITCHCOCK 
 1895 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1894, 
 BY FREDERICK H. HITCHCOCK. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE first edition of this history appeared shortly 
 after the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of 
 the college, and was entitled " History of Amherst 
 College during its First Half Century, 1821-1871." 
 The present new edition has been written and revised 
 with particular reference to two objects, viz: first, 
 the continuation of the history so as to include the 
 close of Dr. Stearns' presidency and the entire ad- 
 ministration of President Seelye, thus making it a 
 history of Amherst under its first five presidents ; and 
 second, at the same time to abridge the work and make 
 it a smaller and less costly volume, which should be 
 within the means of every graduate. In thus abridg- 
 ing it, I have been under the necessity of omitting 
 the biographical sketches of the founders and bene- 
 factors, the trustees and faculty, and the personal 
 contributions of alumni of the college, which were a 
 characteristic feature of the first edition and gave it 
 variety, lifelike reality, and dramatic interest. But 
 whatever it may have thus lost in variety and in- 
 dividuality, we trust it has gained in fulness and 
 completeness as a history of the college. 
 
 My first thought was to write a separate book on 
 the religious history of the college. I might thus 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 have made both the literary and the religious history, 
 especially the latter, somewhat fuller and more satis- 
 factory in some particulars. But this separation 
 would have put asunder what God joined together. 
 A history of Amherst College without its religious 
 history would hardly have deserved the name. More- 
 over, at the age of fourscore years and four it were 
 unsafe to presume so much on the future. So I have 
 devoted my last two chapters to the religious history 
 of the college, and especially to that characteristic 
 feature, its revivals, leaving unsaid, for brevity's 
 sake, not a few things which I would gladly have 
 written of the measures, methods, and every-day re- 
 ligious life of the college. 
 
 Our readers will be pleased to find several pages of 
 the book occupied by a contribution from a favorite 
 alumnus and almost lifelong trustee of the college, 
 who knows its history and men and measures, and 
 who, as the golden-mouthed orator of the Brooklyn 
 pulpit, has such a marvellous and magic power of tell- 
 ing his story. If any of them question the taste of 
 the author in permitting a complimentary biographi- 
 cal sketch of himself to be prefixed to his own book, 
 there are two things to be said about it. In the first 
 place, "laudari a viro laudato" is an honor which 
 any man may justly prize. And in the second place, 
 the responsibility rests, not on the author, but on the 
 publisher, who insisted on the insertion of such a 
 sketch, partly, I flatter myself, out of sincere friend- 
 ship and affection for his old teacher, and partly, I 
 ween, in order to give wings to the publication, 
 wherein I admire his wisdom and wish him all the 
 success which he has so well earned by his unwearied 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 efforts to bring out the book in a form and style 
 worthy of the college of which he is an enterprising, 
 loyal alumnus. 
 
 It has been my singularly happy lot to be person- 
 ally acquainted with all of the five presidents, except 
 the first, the history of whose administrations I have 
 here written, to be associated with them in the 
 faculty, and to be honored with their confidence and 
 personal friendship. And I beg leave to present 
 them to my readers in this preface, as the Grecian 
 Helen introduced the heroes of Greece and the con- 
 querors of Troy in that inimitable preface, the Third 
 Book of the Iliad : 
 
 President Moore, portly and courtly, winning and 
 wise, laying wisely and well the corner-stone of the 
 great edifice that was to be reared, but nothing more, 
 contending manfully and heroically against the com- 
 bined forces of local prejudice, rival institutions, and 
 sectarian zeal, but falling in the struggle before his 
 beloved college had even been recognized as a college 
 by a charter from the legislature, dying like Moses 
 on Pisgah, in sight only of the promised land. 
 
 President Humphrey, stalwart, strenuous, and 
 strong, the honored and beloved pastor, the revival 
 preacher, the champion of temperance and home and 
 foreign missions, the very impersonation of common 
 sense, practical wisdom, and Christian principle; 
 laying broad and deep the foundations, giving the 
 college its distinctive and paramount religious char- 
 acter, rejoicing in a growth and prosperity so rapid 
 that it seemed miraculous, second only to Yale in 
 the number of its students, but overtaken almost as 
 suddenly by a reaction that was as inevitable as it 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 was disastrous, and in his retirement evincing a 
 magnanimity more grand than any success. 
 
 President Hitchcock, the man of genius and im- 
 agination, the Christian scientist who saw "the cross 
 in nature and nature in the cross," the great com- 
 moner, whose face was as familiar to all the farmers 
 of Massachusetts as his horse, his geological wagon, 
 and his chest of tools, who imparted to the college 
 his own scientific spirit and reputation; who enlisted 
 Woods, Lawrence, and Williston in its behalf, paid 
 off its debts and gave it its first scientific buildings 
 and its first permanent endowments, and, when he 
 had thus put the enemy to rout and secured the vic- 
 tory, fell back into the ranks and served as a com- 
 mon soldier to the end of his life. 
 
 President Stearns, the Christian gentleman, of 
 general culture, refined tastes, polished manners, and 
 perfect balance in all his powers and faculties, a 
 graduate of the ancient and venerable university of 
 Cambridge, for many years pastor of a church in the 
 near vicinity of Boston, and bringing with him a 
 happy union of the principles of his Puritan ancestry 
 with the dignified and courteous manners of those 
 cities, capturing by his patience and tact Dr. Walker, 
 Samuel A. Hitchcock, and David Sears, and intro- 
 ducing the era of new buildings and large endow- 
 ments, while at the same time he put a finishing and 
 polishing touch upon everything, and left, as his 
 motto for the college, "the highest attainments in 
 every branch of literature, science, and art, and all 
 for Christ;" and President Seelye, the Christian 
 philosopher, statesman, and educator, himself the 
 largest pattern of a man, physical, intellectual, moral. 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 and religious, and by precept and example, in the 
 classroom and the pulpit, by personal influence and 
 public administration, impressing that pattern upon 
 his students, teaching them as his greatest and best 
 lesson perhaps the art of governing, controlling, and 
 educating themselves, and every one making the 
 most of the best there is in him for the highest and 
 noblest ends. 
 
 Such is the royal line of succession, such the more 
 than princely inheritance, into which our sixth pres- 
 ident, Dr. Gates, has recently entered. We welcome 
 him to great expectations, great opportunities, great 
 advantages, and still greater labors and responsibili- 
 ties. Our hope, our expectation, our prayer is that, 
 conserving all that is good in the past and appropri- 
 ating all that is best in the present and future, Am- 
 herst, under his wise administration and with the 
 blessing of Heaven, may rise to an unexampled height 
 of prosperity and glory. And when the time shall 
 come for his administration to pass into history, may 
 he and his colleagues find a worthier, wiser, better 
 historian to record the facts and perpetuate the mem- 
 ory of the actors. 
 
(UNIVERSITY) 
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 INSTANCES can never cease to be remarkable, if only 
 for their rareness, in which a distinguished teacher, 
 having been associated with one institution of learn- 
 ing for sixty years, is permitted at the end of that 
 prolonged service to write the history of the institu- 
 tion, with the assured accuracy of an eye-witness, yet 
 also with the easy force and vivacity of one still in 
 his youth. This has been, however, the unusual 
 privilege of the honored scholar and the eminent 
 teacher by whom this admirable history of Amherst 
 college has been prepared. 
 
 Having been graduated with honor at the college 
 in 1830, and having served in it as tutor for the two 
 years from 1832 to 1834, he was appointed its Pro- 
 fessor of Greek and Latin in 1836 the professorship 
 being changed eleven years after into that of the 
 Greek language and literature. This professorship 
 he held continuously until two years since, when he 
 resigned it to get larger leisure for general studies 
 and literary labors ; and one fruit of this recent in- 
 terval of comparative leisure appears in the comple- 
 tion of this detailed and comprehensive narrative 
 of the inception of the college and of its subsequent 
 development. 
 
X INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 The exceptional qualifications of Professor Tyler 
 for this particular work will be instantly recognized 
 by those who know him, and who are themselves in 
 any measure acquainted with that progress of the 
 college which he so affectionately traces. Himself 
 educated in it, and the second of its graduates to be 
 appointed to the chair of a professor, he has been 
 personally familiar with each stage in its advance, 
 while he has always represented, at least as fully as 
 have any of the men from time to time associated 
 with him, its special moral, literary, and educational 
 tone. He has borne his large share of the burdens 
 which came with its former years of poverty and 
 weakness. He has rejoiced in the succeeding pros- 
 perities, to which he had himself effectively contrib- 
 uted. He has lived to see it firmly established 
 among those notable institutions for the higher edu- 
 cation which the country cherishes with gladness 
 and honor; and it is fitting that he should now bring 
 to completeness his long, zealous, successful work on 
 its behalf by making this enduring record of what 
 he has seen of it, and of what it has become. The 
 only special limitation to be feared in his survey is 
 that to which his modesty may constrain him, in pre- 
 venting him from giving a sufficient account of what 
 he himself has been in the college, and of what it 
 owes to his spirit and his labor. But many will be 
 able from personal recollections to supply such de- 
 fects , and they will not honor him the less for any 
 omissions in this direction which they may find. 
 
 It was the happy fortune of the writer of this Note 
 to be a member of the sophomore class at Amherst 
 in 1836, when Professor Tyler first came to his chair; 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. xi 
 
 and, in common with those who had leadership in 
 the class, he was thenceforth personally conversant 
 with the work of the new teacher until the " Com- 
 mencement" of 1839. He felt, as did the others, the 
 strong impulse which was brought by the then young 
 professor not only into the department of classical 
 studies, but into the entire life of the College. It 
 was an impulse to faithful work, to vigorous think- 
 ing, to investigation of subjects quite outside of cus- 
 tomary text-books, to direct and energetic forms of 
 expression. It was an impulse, especially, toward a 
 deepened and an invigorated moral and religious tone, 
 in the classes which successively felt its force. Some 
 of the sermons then preached by the Professor are 
 still remembered, in outline at least, by those who 
 heard them ; and the vital impressions left by them 
 have never faded. Above all, his keen personal in- 
 terest in his pupils, his watchfulness over them, the 
 excellent sense and practical wisdom which marked 
 his terse and witty counsels, the manly and com- 
 manding frankness with which he exhorted, encour- 
 aged, or rebuked, as either was needed, left remem- 
 brances not to be effaced or forgotten. 
 
 The relation of the faculty to the students in 
 American colleges was at that time more nearly a 
 paternal relation than it has been in late years, or 
 is likely ever again to become. Possibly this was 
 still more marked at Amherst than commonly else- 
 where. The college community there was never a 
 large one, embracing at most not more than two hun- 
 dred and fifty students and teachers. The average 
 age of those entering college was undoubtedly less 
 than at present. The modern scheme of elective 
 
Xll INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 studies was wholly unknown; and the emulation in 
 athletic exercise between classes and colleges, which 
 now fastens such eager attention, was then as much a 
 thing of the future as were telephones or typewriters. 
 The governing aspiration of leading minds in the col- 
 lege was for success in studies, for enlarged thought- 
 power, for a more facile and vigorous literary skill, 
 and for ease and energy in debate. 
 
 The aim of those to whom were committed the 
 various offices of instruction and discipline was there- 
 fore largely a moral aim not solely, or chiefly, to give 
 particulars of knowledge in science, philosophy, or 
 good letters, but to do this in constant subordination 
 to the virile training of mental power, with the 
 building up of symmetrical and strong character. As 
 President Stearns indicated, I think, in his inaugural 
 discourse of forty years since, the accepted purpose 
 of the college was to produce the highest manhood 
 among those who came under its tuition ; and every 
 teacher was expected, and was inspired, to do his 
 best work for those set under him through personal 
 contact not only instructing them on themes and 
 by text-books, but imparting from himself an imme- 
 diate intellectual and moral vigor. 
 
 It is of course not possible to carry on this plan in 
 the larger institutions, where the students are now 
 numbered by thousands, each one being relatively 
 more mature than before; where each is at liberty, 
 within limitations, to select his own lines of study, 
 and of course his own instructors ; and where achieve- 
 ments on the ball-ground or on the boat-course are 
 those which stir surpassing enthusiasms. Perhaps 
 the earlier scheme was too narrow in comparison, 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. Xlll 
 
 and failed to put a just emphasis on important mat- 
 ters. But it had its own merits, and is still affec- 
 tionately remembered by those who recall it, even 
 while universities are becoming encyclopedic in 
 character, and have it for their controlling purpose 
 to give information on all sorts of subjects, with only 
 slight occasional relations between the teachers and 
 the taught. The distinct personal and moral effects 
 of the earlier plan were certainly in some respects 
 more significant than those now contemplated. Class- 
 fellowship under it became more intimate and more 
 animating than it now can be. There was a common 
 inspiriting college-life, which affected more or less 
 each one brought within its range ; while still the in- 
 dividuality of students was not destroyed or limited 
 was only, in fact, cherished and re-enforced by this 
 prevailing but unseen force. 
 
 It used to be thought, in some quarters, that the 
 only or the chief design at Amherst was to train 
 ministers for Congregational churches; yet in the 
 particular class to which allusion has been made were 
 those who after graduation became Episcopal clergy- 
 men, one of whom has been for twenty-five years an 
 honored Bishop in that communion. Another mem- 
 ber of it became a very distinguished Roman Catho- 
 lic priest and professor of theology, and now has a 
 place of honor and power in the Catholic University 
 at Washington. The two sons of another, himself 
 becoming a merchant, have since been graduated at 
 Oxford University, and are both at this time mem- 
 bers of the British Parliament ; while others of the 
 class have been eminent as lawyers, journalists, 
 physicians, medical professors, or in other depart- 
 
XIV INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 ments of civil life or educational work. In the class 
 which was in the senior year while this was in the 
 freshman, such a fitness for various future work was 
 still more strongly marked. It was small in number, 
 only thirty-eight being graduated in it: yet of its 
 members two became eminent as judges of the su- 
 preme courts in Vermont and in New York; two 
 were speakers of the House of Representatives in 
 Massachusetts, one of them becoming Governor of 
 the State ; others were medical authors and professors 
 of high repute, and two were as brilliant and distin- 
 guished professors in theological seminaries, at the 
 East and the West, as the half-century has known. 
 There was certainly no rubbing down of the human 
 material in their time in college to a particular form 
 or color. On the other hand, whatever was central 
 and characteristic in individual tendency and power 
 was but brought out more fully by the moulding and 
 impenetrating influence which pervaded the institu- 
 tion. 
 
 Under this general plan of education, none can any- 
 where have wrought more patiently, more faithfully, 
 or, on the whole, with more signal success, than did 
 Professor Tyler and those associated with him. Of 
 the group of those assembled in the faculty at that 
 earlier time, he alone remains to see the college in 
 its present conditions; and it can imply no invidious 
 comparison to speak of his work as representative of 
 that which was truest and best in the work of all. 
 While careful and critical in the details of scholar- 
 ship, and by no means unduly tolerant of failure in 
 these, especially when the failure had resulted from 
 indolence or heedless inattention, his principal aim 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. XV 
 
 was, as was that of his associates, to make capable, 
 robust, high-principled men, alive to truth, responsive 
 to duty, ready for good work of whatever sort, able to 
 endure hardness as he was himself, with a certain 
 strong passion for usefulness in the world, and not 
 afraid of what men might devise while they were 
 seeking direction from on high. If a lad of fifteen 
 or sixteen years, finding himself suddenly in strange 
 surroundings, failed to discern the larger opportu- 
 nities thus opened before him, the professor was 
 prompt and earnest in pointing them out and press- 
 ing him to improve them. The sluggish were stirred, 
 while those of keener aspiration were encouraged and 
 rewarded. If any one brought a persistently evil 
 force into the community, remonstrance and persua- 
 sion, when found ineffectual, were followed by speedy 
 and final removal. The distinctly incapable, whom 
 neither incitement could urge, nor sarcasm sting, nor 
 special assistances set permanently forward, had leave 
 to retire to other pursuits ; while of the most brilliant 
 and promising men punctuality, obedience and dili- 
 gence were required, as surely as of the dull. The 
 supervision was quiet and not obstrusive, but it was 
 constant, personal, efficient; and the impulses pro- 
 ceeding from it were inevitably afterward distributed 
 afar not only in pulpits, courts, and counting-rooms, 
 or in chairs of instruction in the older States, but 
 along the frontiers, and on remote and dangerous 
 missionary fields. The effects of such watchful, 
 kindly, and intelligent discipline have been really a 
 nobler memorial to those by whom it then was ex- 
 ercised than would have been any surpassing fineness 
 of scholarship in an elect few whom they had in- 
 
XVI INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 stmcted, or any rare and famous achievement in 
 scientific invention or research. 
 
 Of the history of the institution, as sketched in 
 this volume by an experienced and an accurate pen, 
 it is of course no part of the office of this Introduc- 
 tion to give even a summary. But one thing must 
 be noted, in justice alike to the living and the dead. 
 Almost every American college has had its special 
 heroic period, when means were scanty while aims 
 were high, and when narrowness of resources with 
 meagerness of equipment combined to lay oppressive 
 burdens on the heart and hope of those laboring in 
 it to accomplish great ends. In the older institu- 
 tions, such periods came in what is now their distant 
 past. In those more recent they have come in the 
 experience of men still living, by whom the stress of 
 them is still vividly remembered, one might almost 
 say is still painfully felt. At Amherst the time of 
 the heaviest burdens was no doubt in the two decades 
 between 1836 and 1856, and it seemed now and then 
 as if the college itself must sink under the strain. 
 Humanly speaking, only the faith and the steadfast 
 fortitude of those then holding office in it sustained 
 its life, and enabled it to come up from the bogs and 
 out from the shadows with fresh hope and a renovated 
 strength. The history of those years may be glanced 
 at in this volume ; but the reserve of the author has 
 no doubt imposed restraint on his pen, and the full 
 story can hardly be written while he is among us. 
 
 There was nothing unnatural in the crisis, severe 
 as it was. The college had been founded without 
 wealthy patrons, by many people of moderate means 
 subscribing small sums, in the midst of a frugal agri- 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. xvii 
 
 cultural district, when its remoteness from centers of 
 population and power was vastly greater than it since 
 has been. It had been founded especially to furnish 
 education to those not rich in this world's goods, and 
 founded in the impulse of a fervent and expectant 
 evangelical faith, which knew little of what was 
 needed for the complete equipment of a college, but 
 which felt itself to have all the promises on its side, 
 and which took small account of the difficulties that 
 must come difficulties only to be augmented by the 
 increasing repute of the institution. So it was as 
 certain as is the operation of any natural law that 
 times of sore struggle and poverty must be encoun- 
 tered, before it could attain a position of comparative 
 security and ease. It has not yet reached that, so far 
 as to be beyond the need of the constant aid of its 
 alumni, its friends, and of all who honor it for its 
 work's sake. But the period of its desperate strait 
 is over. Its funds and its equipment are not now 
 wholly inadequate to its work. Its buildings, libra- 
 ries, collections of art, and general apparatus are 
 not undeserving of respectful regard when matched 
 against those of older institutions. It has a distin- 
 guished and numerous faculty, and the prospect 
 before it was never larger or brighter than at present. 
 The lovely natural amphitheater in one of whose foci 
 it fortunately stands, between responsive ranges 
 of sentinel hills, and with the unsurpassed western 
 outlook which it always commands, seems to offer 
 the parable and the physical prophecy of its sure 
 foundations, and of the still expanding influence to 
 go forth from it in centuries to come. As Mr. Web- 
 ster is reported to have said of Dartmouth College at 
 
xvill INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 the close of his great argument on its behalf before 
 the Supreme Court in Washington, in 1818: " It is a 
 small college, but," as he added, "there are those 
 who love it!" May their number always increase, 
 and their labor in its service be crowned with ever 
 richer results ! 
 
 However long the college may continue, however 
 far its influence may reach, and howsoever rich it 
 may become, in accumulating funds, in a generously 
 enlarged physical equipment, in the men who as 
 teachers give it grace and renown, in the fame 
 which shall draw to it students from afar, it may 
 safely be predicted that none will ever have done 
 more to determine its character, to invigorate its life, 
 or to give tone to its widening influence, than did 
 those who were early associated in it as teachers and 
 guides; and it may with equal assurance be added 
 that of all those thus associated none will be remem- 
 bered with a more affectionate honor than will be 
 given to him who came to the college in his young 
 manhood, who faithfully wrought in it till fulness of 
 years gave him right to retire, and who now becomes, 
 with the assent of all, its most fitting historian. 
 
 He has nothing either tragical or splendid to re- 
 late in this volume. His story moves along common 
 levels of life and experience, appealing to the mem- 
 ory in some, but not at all to the general imagination. 
 The story is set forth with an engaging sincerity, 
 to which any impulse of literary ambition would be 
 utterly foreign. It does not aspire to attract multi- 
 tudes of readers, or to take a place among brilliant 
 and famous histories of the time. Yet an old-time 
 pupil, following attentively its reflective and stimu- 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 lating pages, remembering the strong personality 
 behind them, and indulging a reminiscent mood, 
 may not be criticised if now and then he catches in 
 his thought a self-repeating echo of ancient words, 
 once familiar, describing that great master of his- 
 torians whom the author of the narrative before us 
 long ago studied with enthusiasm, and whom he has 
 delighted to help many others fairly to interpret: 
 
 " Qui ita creber est rerum frequentia, ut verborum 
 prope numerum sententiarum numero consequatur; 
 ita porro verbis aptus, et pressus, ut nescias, utrum 
 res oratione, an verba sententiis illustrentur. " 
 
 RICHARD S. STORRS. 
 
 BROOKLYN, N. Y. , Nov. 27, 1894. 
 
^.SH LiUfl^l/jy^^ 
 OF THE \ 
 
 IVERSITY) 
 OF s 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Queen's College Project First Associated Action in 
 Regard to Amherst College Amherst Academy the 
 Mother of Amherst College The Charity Fund- 
 Question of the Removal of Williams College, . . i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Erection of the First College Edifice Inauguration of the 
 President and Professors and Opening of the College, . 16 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The First Presidency First Catalogue and Course of Study 
 The Literary Societies Early Amherst Death of 
 President Moore, 27 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 President Humphrey's Administration, from 1823 to 1825 
 Struggle for the Charter Legislative Investigation 
 Final Success Seal of the College, . . .41 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A Period of Rapid Growth, 1825-36 First Scientific Course 
 The Chapel Building Unsuccessful Appeals to the 
 Legislature Hours and Fines The President's 
 House, .......... 62 
 
XX11 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Period of Reaction and Decline Resignation of President 
 
 Humphrey 86 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Presidency of Dr. Hitchcock The Faculty Manage the 
 Finances First Foundations for Professorships New 
 Buildings Restored Prosperity Dr. Hitchcock's 
 Character, 109 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Presidency of Dr. Stearns Scholarships and Prizes 
 New Buildings The College Church The Beginning 
 of the System for Physical Education The Walker 
 and other Professorships Optional Courses, . .139 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Civil War Record of Amherst 's Heroes The Com- 
 memorative Chime of Bells The Semi-Centennial 
 Celebration, 181 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Difficulties in Selecting President Stearns* Successor 
 Professor Seelye's Election Successful Opening of 
 His Administration Additions % to the Faculty The 
 Administration of President Seelye Inauguration of 
 the u Amherst System" Remarkable Prosperity of the 
 College, 198 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The Burning of Walker Hall The Buildings Erected 
 during the Administration The "Amherst System" 
 Amherst College Reaches its Highest Prosperity 
 Resignation of President Seelye, .... 225 
 
CONTENTS. XX111 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Athletics Gymnasium Exercises and "the Doctor" In- 
 tercollegiate Games College Societies The Greek- 
 Letter Fraternities, . . . ' . . . .252 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Religious History of Amherst Earlier Colleges and Uni- 
 versities, Founded from Religious Motives Decline 
 of Religious Spirit Colleges for Education of Minis- 
 ters Revivals at Amherst from 1823 to 1853, . . 266 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Religious History Continued Seven Revivals in the First 
 Twelve Years of President Stearns' Administration 
 In the Remaining Years Two In President Seelye's 
 Two Change in the Form and Manner, Not in the 
 Spirit Cause of the Change Remedy, . . .280 
 
 APPENDIX, , 293 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Portrait of Dr. W. S. Tyler, .... Frontispiece 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 Amherst Academy, 4 
 
 First Congregational Meeting-house and Parsonage in 
 
 1788, 10 
 
 Amherst College in 1821, .... .18 
 
 Portrait of President Moore, . . . . . . 27 - 
 
 Amherst College in 1824, 34 
 
 Portrait of President Humphrey, 41 
 
 The Chapel and Dormitories, . . . . . .70 
 
 The President's House, 83 
 
 Portrait of President Hitchcock, 109 
 
 The Barrett Gymnasium, . . . . . . . 117 
 
 Woods Cabinet and Observatory, ..... 117 
 
 Portrait of President Stearns, 139 
 
 Appleton Cabinet, 146 
 
 Williston Hall, 149 
 
 The College Church .155 
 
 College Hall, 159 
 
 The Common, Looking toward Amherst College, . . 175 
 Portrait of President Seelye, . . ... .198 
 
 The Mather Art Collection, 220 
 
 Walker Hall, . .225 
 
 The Henry T. Morgan Library, 229 
 
 The Pratt Gymnasium, 231 
 
 The Chemical and Physical Laboratory Building, . . 233 
 Map of Amherst College Athletic Grounds, . . . 253 
 
 The Grand Stand on Pratt Field, 255 
 
 View from the College Library, 275 
 
 Map of Amherst College Grounds, 293 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE QUEEN'S COLLEGE PROJECT FIRST ASSOCIATED 
 ACTION IN REGARD TO AMHERST COLLEGE AM- 
 HERST ACADEMY THE MOTHER OF AMHERST COL- 
 LEGE THE CHARITY FUND QUESTION OF THE 
 
 REMOVAL OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE. 
 
 THE want of a college in the valley of the Connec- 
 ticut was felt previous to the Revolution. Sixty 
 years before the establishment of the Charity Insti- 
 tution at Amherst, and thirty years before the incor- 
 poration of Williams College, measures were taken . 
 for founding an educational institution in Hampshire 
 County. Some of the inhabitants of that county pre- 
 sented to the General Court, January 20, 1762, a 
 memorial asking for a charter for this purpose, and a 
 bill was brought in, which, though passed to be en- 
 grossed, was finally defeated. 
 
 But shortly after, Francis Bernard, by virtue of his 
 position as " Governor of the Province of Massachu- 
 setts Bay," made out a charter incorporating Israel 
 Williams and eleven others " a body politic by the 
 name of the President and Fellows of Queen's Col- 
 lege." This charter bears the date of February 26, 
 
2 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 1762, and the proposed college was to be in North- 
 ampton, Hatfield, or Hadley. 
 
 Nothing further ever came of this commendable 
 act of Governor Bernard. Sympathy for Harvard 
 College, at the time suffering from the loss by fire of 
 its library and philosophical apparatus, opposed the 
 establishment of another like institution in the prov- 
 ince, and the exciting times preceding the Revolu- 
 tionary War soon absorbed public attention to the 
 exclusion of other more peaceful. matters. 
 
 It was not, therefore, until a number of years later 
 that Williams College was founded, and still later 
 that we find on record the first associated action 
 looking toward the establishment of a college at Am- 
 herst. It was at a meeting of the Franklin County 
 Association of Ministers, held in Shelburne, in 1815. 
 This was six years before the college came into ex- 
 istence, and one year after the opening of Amherst 
 Academy, out of which the college grew. The as- 
 sociation, on mature deliberation, were of the opin- 
 ion that knowledge and virtue might be greatly sub- 
 served by an advanced literary institution situated in 
 their important section of the Commonwealth. They 
 were unanimousl) 7 * agreed that, all things considered, 
 the town of Amherst appeared to them the most 
 eligible place for locating it. 
 
 This decision is particularly worthy of notice be- 
 cause it was reached at a meeting held, not in Hamp- 
 shire County or even in the Connecticut Valley, but 
 among the mountains west of the valley, in which so 
 many great and good men have had their origin. In- 
 deed many of the members of the association rep- 
 resented churches which were very friendly to 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 3 
 
 Williams College, and one of the most prominent par- 
 ticipators in the discussion in favor of Amherst was 
 himself a trustee of Williams College. 
 
 Rev. Theophilus Packard, who was the prime 
 mover in this first associated action, and several 
 others of the earliest and most efficient friends of 
 Amherst College, were residents of Franklin County. 
 Rev. James Taylor of Sunderland became a member 
 of the corporation as it was first chosen and organ- 
 ized, and was a constant attendant of all its meet- 
 ings so long as he lived, a wise counsellor and a firm 
 supporter of the college in all the trials of the first 
 eleven years of its existence. Col. Rufus Graves, 
 its indefatigable agent, and Nathaniel Smith, its 
 most liberal donor in those early days, were both 
 members of Mr. Taylor's church, born in Sun- 
 derland and residing there when the establishment of 
 such an institution first began to be agitated. Dea- 
 con Elisha Billings of Conway, an educated man of 
 great zeal, wisdom and influence, threw himself into 
 the enterprise, and contributed largely to its success, 
 as will be seen very clearly a little later. 
 
 Amherst Academy was the mother of Amherst 
 College. The trustees of the academy became also 
 trustees of the college, and the records of the acad- 
 emy are the records of the college during the 
 first four years of its existence. The founding and 
 erecting of Amherst Academy kept pace with the 
 origin and progress of the last war with Great Britain. 
 The subscription was started in 1812, when that war 
 was declared; the academy went into operation in 
 December, 1814, the same year and the same month 
 in which the peace was signed ; and it was fully 
 
4 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 dedicated with illuminations and public rejoicings 
 in 1815, when the return of peace was known and 
 hailed with joy in this country, especially in New 
 England. The charter was not obtained, however, 
 till 1816, having been delayed by opposition in Am- 
 herst, and in the neighboring towns, of the -same 
 kind and partly from the very same sources as that 
 which the college encountered in later years. 
 
 It opened with more students than any other acad- 
 emy in Western Massachusetts, and soon attracted 
 pupils from every part of New England. It had at 
 one time ninety pupils in the young women's depart- 
 ment, and quite as many, usually more, in the young 
 men's. It was the Williston Seminary and the Mount 
 Holyoke of that day united. Mary Lyon, the founder 
 of Mount Holyoke Seminary, was a member of Am- 
 herst Academy in 1821. There were usually from 
 seventy-five to one hundred students in the classical 
 department, and in the first year of Simeon Colton's 
 administration, the writer, who was his assistant, 
 well remembers that we sent about thirty to college, 
 the larger part of whom entered at Amherst. Prior 
 to the existence of Williston Seminary, and during 
 the depression of Phillips Academy at Andover, in 
 the declining years of Principal Adams, if not still 
 earlier, Amherst Academy, without dispute, held the 
 first position among the academies of Massachusetts. 
 
 But the subsequent prosperity of Phillips Academy, 
 the establishment of Williston Seminary, and the rise 
 of normal schools and high schools in all the large 
 towns, gradually drew off their students and thus their 
 support from Amherst and other comparatively un- 
 endowed academies, till one after another of them 
 
AMhERST ACADEMY. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 5 
 
 became extinct. Amherst Academy did a great and 
 good work in and of itself, for which many who were 
 educated there and not a few who were spiritually 
 " born" there, will bless God forever. But the best 
 work which it did, and which, it is believed, will per- 
 petuate its memory and its influence, was the found- 
 ing of Amherst College. 
 
 In view of the elevated literary and Christian char- 
 acter of Amherst Academy, and its extraordinary 
 success as already described, it is not surprising that 
 its founders soon felt themselves called upon to make 
 higher and larger provision for educational purposes. 
 At the annual meeting of the board of trustees, on 
 the 1 8th of November, 1817, a project formed by 
 Rufus Graves, Esq. , was adopted for increasing the 
 usefulness of the academy, by raising a fund for the 
 gratuitous instruction of " indigent young men of 
 promising talents and hopeful piety, who shall mani- 
 fest a desire to obtain a liberal education with a sole 
 view to the Christian ministry." 
 
 A committee appointed for the purpose entered 
 with zeal and alacrity upon the effort to raise money 
 for the endowment of a professorship of languages, 
 and prosecuted it for several months. Their ardent 
 and indefatigable chairman, Colonel Graves, went to 
 Boston and other large towns, and labored day and 
 night to accomplish the object. But "they found," 
 in the language of Mr. Webster's narrative of the 
 proceedings, " that the establishment of a single pro- 
 fessorship was too limited an object to induce men to 
 subscribe. To engage public patronage, it was found 
 necessary to form a plan for the education of young 
 men for the ministry on a more extensive scale." 
 
6 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 These considerations determined the committee to 
 enlarge their plan, and to aim not merely at the en- 
 dowment of a professorship in the academy, but at 
 the raising of a fund which should be the basis of a 
 separate institution of a higher grade. They accord- 
 ingly framed and reported a " constitution and system 
 of by-laws for raising and managing a permanent 
 charity fund as the basis of an institution in Am- 
 herst, in the county of Hampshire, for the classical 
 education of indigent ) r oung men of piety and talents 
 for the Christian ministry." The board of trustees 
 at their meeting on the i8th of August, 1818, unani- 
 mously accepted this report, approved the doings of 
 the committee, and authorized them to take such 
 measures and communicate with such persons and 
 corporations as they might judge expedient. 
 
 The fund which was thus inaugurated became the 
 corner-stone of the Charity Institution and "the 
 sheet-anchor" of the college as it was often called 
 by the professors and friends of the college amid 
 the storms which it afterward encountered. No 
 document sheds so much light on the motives of the 
 founders of the institution as this constitution of the 
 charity fund. It therefore merits careful considera- 
 tion. 
 
 The constitution is drawn up in due form as a legal 
 document, l with much minuteness of detail, and with 
 
 1 Colonel Graves consulted Jeremiah Mason and Daniel 
 Webster as to the legal character of the constitution, and they 
 both said it was a legal instrument, binding in law on the 
 subscribers ; and so it was decided by the Supreme Court, 
 when, for the sake of testing it, one of the subscribers refused 
 to pay. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 7 
 
 every possible safeguard against the loss or perver- 
 sion of the fund, or the neglect of duty on the part 
 of those who are charged with the care and manage- 
 ment of it. The first article fixes the location of the 
 Institution at Amherst, and provides for the incor- 
 poration of Williams College with it, should it con- 
 tinue to be thought expedient to remove that insti- 
 tution to the county of Hampshire and to locate it 
 in the town of Amherst. The second article contains 
 a promise of the subscribers to pay the sums annexed 
 to their names for the purpose of raising a permanent 
 fund, to the amount of at least fifty thousand dollars, 
 as the basis of a fund for the proposed institution, 
 provided that, in case the sums subscribed in the 
 course of one year shall not amount to the full sum 
 of fifty thousand dollars, then the whole, or any part, 
 shall be void according to the will of any subscriber 
 on giving three months' notice. The third provides 
 that five-sixths of the interest of the fund shall be 
 forever appropriated to the classical education in the 
 institution of indigent pious young men for the min- 
 istry, and the other sixth shall be added to the prin- 
 cipal for its perpetual increase, while the principal 
 itself shall be secured intact and perpetually aug- 
 menting. Article fourth directs that the property 
 of the fund shall be secured by real estate or invested 
 in funds of Massachusetts, or the United States, or 
 some other safe public stocks. Article fifth vests the 
 management and appropriation of the fund, accord- 
 ing to the provisions of the constitution and by-laws, 
 in the trustees of Amherst Academy, until the con- 
 templated classical institution is established and in- 
 corporated, and then in the board of trustees of said 
 
8 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 institution and their successors forever. Article 
 sixth provides for the appointment of a board of 
 overseers of the fund, a skilful financier, and an au- 
 ditor. Article seventh requires the trustees to ap- 
 point a financier who shall be sworn to the faithful 
 discharge of his duty, under sufficient bonds, and 
 subject to be removed at their discretion. This 
 financier, however, shall not be their own treasurer, 
 that is, the treasurer of the Institution, who shall be 
 ineligible to that office. This article also prescribes 
 the duties of the trustees in regard to the fund, such 
 as examining candidates for its charities, keeping a 
 correct record of the amount of the fund, the manner 
 in which it is invested and secured, their receipts and 
 disbursements from it, and all their proceedings in 
 reference to it. Article eighth prescribes minutely 
 the duties of the financier in receiving and investing 
 moneys, managing and guarding the fund, paying 
 over the interest, as provided in article third, into 
 the treasury of the Institution, taking triplicate re- 
 ceipts, one to keep for his own security, one to de- 
 posit with the secretary of the board of trustees, and 
 the third with the auditor; keeping an accurate ac- 
 count of the whole fund and every part of it, and re- 
 porting the same annually to the board of trustees. 
 The ninth article provides that the financier shall be 
 paid from the avails of the fund a reasonable sum 
 for his services and responsibility. The tenth pre- 
 scribes the manner in which the overseers of the fund 
 shall be appointed and perpetuated, viz. : the four 
 highest subscribers to the fund shall appoint each of 
 them one, and the other three shall be elected by a 
 majority of the votes of the other subscribers who 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 9 
 
 may assemble for that purpose. Then the board 
 shall perpetuate their existence as such by filling 
 their own vacancies. In case the board shall at any 
 future time become extinct, the Governor and Council 
 of this Commonwealth are expressly authorized to 
 appoint a new board. Article eleventh provides for 
 the appointment of an auditor by the board of over- 
 seers, and prescribes at great length the duties of 
 that board. They are required to visit the institu- 
 tion at its annual commencement, to receive and ex- 
 amine the reports of the trustees and the auditor, and 
 to inspect the records, files and vouchers of the trus- 
 tees and the financier, and in view of all the facts, to 
 decide whether the fund has been skilfully managed, 
 and its avails faithfully applied according to the will 
 of the donors. Article twelfth prescribes the duties 
 of the auditor. Article thirteenth provides for the 
 amendment of the constitution and system of by-laws 
 by the concurrent action of the board of trustees and 
 the board of overseers, " so, however, as not to de- 
 viate from the original object of civilizing and evan- 
 gelizing the world by the classical education of indi- 
 gent young men of piety and talents," "nor without 
 the majority of two-thirds of the members of the said 
 board of trustees, and five-sevenths of the said board 
 of overseers." 
 
 Article fourteenth reads as follows : " In order to 
 prevent the loss or destruction of this constitution by 
 any wicked design, by fire, or by the ravages of time, 
 it shall be the duty of the trustees of said institution, 
 as soon as the aforesaid sum of fifty thousand dollars 
 shall be hereunto subscribed, to cause triplicate copies 
 of the same, together with the names of the subscrib- 
 
IO A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 ers and the sum subscribed annexed to each name, 
 to be taken fairly written on vellum, one of which to 
 be preserved in the archives of said institution, one 
 in the archives of said board of overseers, and the 
 other in the archives of this Commonwealth. And 
 in case of the loss or destruction of either of said 
 copies, its deficiency shall be immediately supplied 
 by an attested copy from one of the others. " 
 
 In order to secure the approval and co-operation of 
 the Christian community to an extent commensurate 
 with the magnitude of the undertaking, the trustees 
 of Amherst Academy, at a meeting held on the loth 
 of September, 1818, resolved to call a convention of 
 " the Congregational and Presbyterian clergy of the 
 several parishes in the counties of Hampshire, Frank- 
 lin, and Hampden and the western section of the 
 county of Worcester, with their delegates, together 
 with one delegate from each vacant parish, and the 
 subscribers to the fund. " 
 
 On the 29th of September, 1818, in accordance with 
 this invitation, the convention met in the church in 
 the west parish of Amherst. Thirty-seven towns 
 were represented, sixteen in Hampshire County, 
 thirteen in Franklin, four in Hampden and four in 
 Worcester. Most of the parishes were represented 
 by both a pastor and a lay delegate. Thirty-six 
 clergymen and thirty-two laymen composed the con- 
 vention. The constitution and by-laws of the pro- 
 posed institution were read, and, after some discus- 
 sion, the whole subject was referred to a committee 
 of twelve. In the afternoon, a sermon was delivered 
 before the convention by Dr. Lyman. The next 
 morning, September 30, the committee presented 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. II 
 
 their report. They express in strong language their 
 approval of the constitution, as the fruit of much 
 judicious reflection, and guarding as a legal instru- 
 ment, in the most satisfactory and effectual manner, 
 the faithful and appropriate application of the prop- 
 erty consecrated by the donors. They had no hesi- 
 tation in recommending Hampshire County as one of 
 the most eligible situations for such an institution. 
 In regard to the particular town in Hampshire 
 County, while they thought favorably of Amherst, 
 the committee were of the opinion that it would be 
 expedient to leave that question to the decision of a 
 disinterested committee appointed by the convention. 
 The preamble of this report, expressing the gen- 
 eral views of the committee, was promptly accepted 
 by the convention. But on those points in the reso- 
 lutions which touched the location of the institution 
 an animated debate arose and continued through the 
 morning and afternoon sessions. Able arguments 
 and eloquent appeals were made for and against fix- 
 ing the site definitely at Amherst. Local feelings 
 and interests doubtless influenced the speakers more 
 or less on both sides of the question. The most vio- 
 lent opposition came from some of the churches and 
 parishes in the immediate vicinity of Amherst. Sev- 
 eral delegates from the west side of the river, includ- 
 ing those from Northampton, contended ably and 
 earnestly in favor of locating the institution at North- 
 ampton. The discussion was carried from the con- 
 vention to the families where the members were 
 entertained, and there are still living those who well 
 remember that the excitement ran so high as to dis- 
 turb their sleep long after the hour of midnight. 
 
12 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 The people of Amherst were deeply moved. The 
 house was filled with anxious spectators. Business 
 was almost suspended. The academy took a recess, 
 and teachers and pupils hung with breathless interest 
 on the debate. " Until noon of the second day of the 
 convention," I use the language of one who was 
 then a student in the academy and an eye-witness, 1 
 " the weight of argument was in favor of North- 
 ampton, and things looked blue for a location in 
 Amherst. In the afternoon, Samuel Fowler Dickin- 
 son, taking his position in the aisle of the old church, 
 laid himself out, in one of the most powerful and 
 telling speeches which were made on this occasion, 
 gaining the full attention of the whole convention, 
 and no doubt greatly influencing many in their votes. 
 After which, George Grennell, who was secretary of 
 the convention, left his seat, taking his place in the 
 aisle, and also delivered a very powerful and effective 
 speech, still keeping the full attention of the conven- 
 tion. These two speeches produced a new and dif- 
 ferent feeling throughout the house, and the result, 
 when the vote was taken, was in favor of Amherst as 
 a location for the institution." 
 
 The enterprise was thus fairly launched, and the 
 raising of money was prosecuted with such zeal and 
 success that, at a special meeting of the trustees of 
 Amherst Academy, in July, 1819, a committee ap- 
 pointed to examine the subscription reported that 
 the money and other property amounted, at a fair 
 estimate, to fifty-one thousand four hundred and four 
 dollars, thus making more than the sum proposed in 
 less than the time allowed by the constitution. 
 
 1 D. W. Norton, Esq., of Suffield, Conn. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 13 
 
 As early as 1815, six years before the opening of 
 Amherst College, the question of removing Williams 
 College to some more central part of Massachusetts 
 was agitated among its friends and in its board of 
 trustees. At that time Williams College had two 
 buildings and fifty-eight students, with two professors 
 and two tutors. The library contained fourteen hun- 
 dred volumes. The funds were reduced and the in- 
 come fell short of the expenditures. Many of the 
 friends and supporters of the college were fully per- 
 suaded that it could not be sustained in its present 
 location. The chief ground of this persuasion was 
 the extreme difficulty of access to it. 
 
 At the same meeting of the board of trustees at 
 which Professor Moore was elected president of Wil- 
 liams College, May 2, 1815, Dr. Packard of Shelburne 
 introduced the following motion : " That a committee 
 of six persons be appointed to take into consideration 
 the removal of the college to some other part of the 
 Common wealth, to make all necessary inquiries which 
 have a bearing on the subject, and report at the next 
 meeting." The motion was adopted, and at the next 
 meeting of the board in September, the committee 
 reported that " a removal of Williams College from 
 Williamstown is inexpedient at the present time, and 
 under existing circumstances. " 
 
 But the question of removal thus raised in the 
 board of trustees and thus negatived only " at the 
 present time and under existing circumstances, " con- 
 tinued to be agitated. And at a meeting on the loth 
 of November, 1818, influenced more or less doubtless 
 lay the action of the Franklin County Association of 
 Congregational Ministers, and the Convention of 
 
14 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 Congregational and Presbyterian Ministers in Am- 
 herst, the board of trustees resolved that it was ex- 
 pedient to remove the college on certain conditions. 
 President Moore advocated the removal, and even 
 expressed his purpose to resign the office of president 
 unless it could be effected, inasmuch as when he 
 accepted the presidency he had no idea that the 
 college was to remain at Williamstown, but was au- 
 thorized to expect that it would be removed to Hamp- 
 shire County. Nine out of twelve of the trustees 
 voted for the resolutions, which were as follows : 
 
 " Resolved, that it is expedient to remove Williams 
 College to some more central part of the State when- 
 ever sufficient funds can be obtained to defray the 
 necessary expenses incurred and the losses sustained 
 by removal, and to secure the prosperity of the col- 
 lege, and when a fair prospect shall be presented of 
 obtaining for the institution the united support and 
 patronage of the friends of literature and religion in 
 the western part of the Commonwealth, and when the 
 General Court shall give their assent to the measure. " 
 
 In November, 1819, the trustees of Williams Col- 
 lege voted to petition the Legislature for permission 
 to remove the college to Northampton. To this ap- 
 plication, Mr. Webster says, "the trustees of Amherst 
 Academy made no opposition and took no measures 
 to defeat it." In February, 1820, the petition was 
 laid before the Legislature. The committee from 
 both houses, to whom it was referred, after a careful 
 examination of the whole subject, reported that it 
 was neither lawful nor expedient to remove the 
 college, and the Legislature, taking the same view, 
 rejected the petition. The trustees of Amherst 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. I 5 
 
 Academy, who had been quietly awaiting the issue 
 of the application, judged that the way was now open 
 for them to proceed with their original design ac- 
 cording to the advice of the convention, and at their 
 meeting in March, 1820, they took measures for col- 
 lecting the subscriptions to the charity fund, raising 
 additional subscriptions, erecting a suitable build- 
 ing, and opening the institution as soon as possible 
 for the reception of students. Thus the long and ex- 
 citing discussion touching the removal of Williams 
 College and the location of a college in some more 
 central town of old Hampshire County at length 
 came to an end, and the contending parties now di- 
 rected all their energies to building up the institu- 
 tions of their choice. 
 
 Few questions have agitated the good people of 
 Western Massachusetts more generally or more deeply 
 than this. Whether one college would have been bet- 
 ter than two for Western Massachusetts, and if there 
 was to be but one, whether that one should have 
 been at Williamstown, Northampton, or Amherst, are 
 questions which we are not now called to answer. 
 But that these good men had the best interests of 
 learning and religion at heart and were foreseeing 
 and far-seeing beyond most men in their generation 
 we have no doubt. They certainly did not overesti- 
 mate the importance of a college in Hampshire 
 County, and their wise plans and persevering efforts 
 have resulted, under the overruling providence of 
 God, in the upbuilding of two colleges, each of which 
 has far exceeded not only the one which then ex- 
 isted, but the most sanguine hopes of the founders 
 of either, in its prosperity and usefulness. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ERECTION OF THE FIRST COLLEGE EDIFICE INAUGURA- 
 TION OF THE PRESIDENT AND PROFESSORS AND 
 OPENING OF THE COLLEGE. 
 
 AT a meeting of the board of trustees of Amherst 
 Academy, May 10, 1820, it was voted "that Samuel 
 F. Dickinson, H. W. Strong, and Nathaniel Smith, 
 Esquires, Dr. Rufus Cowles, and Lieut. Enos Ba- 
 ker be a committee to secure a good and sufficient 
 title to the ten acres of land conditionally conveyed 
 to the trustees of this academy as the site of said in- 
 stitution by the late Col. Elijah Dickinson, and for 
 the special benefit of the charity fund ; to digest a 
 plan of a suitable building for said institution; to 
 procure subscriptions, donations, or contributions for 
 defraying the expense thereof; to prepare the ground 
 and erect the same as soon as the necessary means can 
 be furnished, the location to be made with the ad- 
 vice and consent of the prudential committee." At 
 this meeting it was further resolved " that great and 
 combined exertions of the Christian public are neces- 
 sary to give due effect to the Charity Institution ;" 
 and Joshua Crosby, Jonathan Grout, James Taylor, 
 Edwards Whipple, John Fiske, and Joseph Vaill were 
 appointed agents to make application for additional 
 funds, and for contributions to aid in erecting suit- 
 able buildings for the accommodation of students. 
 
 16 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. I/ 
 
 The committee proceeded at once to execute the 
 trust committed to them, secured a title to the land, 
 marked out the ground for the site of a building, the 
 present South College, one hundred feet long, thirty 
 feet wide and four stories high, and invited the hi' 
 habitants of Amherst friendly to the object to con- 
 tribute labor and materials, with provisions for the 
 workmen. With this request, the inhabitants of Am- 
 herst friendly to the institution, together with some 
 from Pelham and Leverett and a few from Belcher- 
 town and Hadley, cheerfully complied. Occasional 
 contributions were also received from more distant 
 towns, even on the mountains. The stone for the 
 foundation was brought chiefly from Pelham by gra- 
 tuitous labor, 1 and provisions for the workmen were 
 furnished by voluntary contributions. Donations of 
 lime, sand, lumber, materials of all kinds, flowed in 
 from every quarter. Teams for hauling, and men for 
 handling and tending, and unskilled labor of every 
 sort, were provided in abundance. Whatever could 
 be contributed gratuitously was furnished without 
 money and without price. The people not only con- 
 tributed in kind but turned out in person, and some- 
 times camped on the ground and labored day and 
 night, for they had a mind to work like the Jews in 
 building their temple, and they felt that they too 
 
 1 The same gentleman, a native of Pelham, who has recently 
 endowed the scholarship of the first class the class of 1822 
 more than fifty years ago brought the first load of stone upon 
 the ground as a free-will offering. "That gentleman was 
 Wells Southworth, Esq. , of New Haven, Conn. Those gran- 
 ite blocks are now in the foundations of the old South College." 
 Professor Snell's address at the Semi-Centennial. 
 
1 8 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 were building the Lord's house. The horse-sheds 
 which then ran along the whole line, east of the 
 church, and west of the land devoted to the college, 
 were removed. The old Virginia fence disappeared. 
 Plow and scraper, pick-axe, hoe, and shovel, were all 
 put in requisition together to level the ground for 
 the building and dig the trenches for the walls. It 
 was a busy and stirring scene such as the quiet town 
 of Amherst had never before witnessed, and which 
 the old men and aged women of the town, who par- 
 ticipated in it when they were boys and girls, were 
 never weary of relating. The foundations were 
 speedily laid. On the pth of August they were nearly 
 completed and ready for the laying of the corner- 
 stone. The walls went up, if possible, still more 
 rapidly. We doubt if there has been anything like 
 it in modern times. Certainly we have never seen 
 or read of a parallel. The story, as told by eye- 
 witnesses and actors, is almost incredible. " Not- 
 withstanding," says Noah Webster, 1 a man who was 
 not given to exaggeration, "notwithstanding the 
 building committee had no funds for erecting the 
 building, not even a cent, except what were to be 
 derived from gratuities in labor, materials, and pro- 
 visions, yet they prosecuted the work with untiring 
 diligence. Repeatedly, during the progress of the 
 work, their means were exhausted, and they were 
 obliged to notify the president of the board that they 
 could proceed no further. On these occasions the 
 president called together the trustees, or a number 
 
 1 Mr. Webster removed in 1812 from New Haven to Amherst, 
 where he spent ten of the most laborious and fruitful years of 
 his life on his great life-work, the American Dictionary. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 19 
 
 of them, who, by subscriptions of their own, and by 
 renewed solicitation for voluntary contributions, en- 
 abled the committee to prosecute the work. And 
 such were the exertions of the board, the committee 
 and the friends of the institution that on the ninetieth 
 day from the laying of the corner-stone, the roof 
 timbers were erected on the building." 
 
 "It seemed," exclaims President Humphrey, "it 
 seemed more like magic than the work of the crafts- 
 men ! Only a few weeks ago the timber was in the 
 forest, the brick in the clay, and the stone in the 
 quarry!" 
 
 The college well was dug at the same time and in 
 very much the same way that well from which so 
 many generations of students have since drunk health 
 and refreshment, and which is usually one of the 
 first things that an Amherst alumnus seeks when he 
 revisits his alma mater. And "when the roof and 
 chimneys were completed, the bills unpaid and un- 
 provided for were less than thirteen hundred dollars." 
 Here the work was suspended for the winter. But 
 it was resumed in the spring, and then the interior 
 of the building was finished by similar means, and 
 with almost equal dispatch. 
 
 By the middle of June the building was so nearly 
 completed that the trustees made arrangements for 
 its dedication in connection with the inauguration of 
 the president and professors, and the opening of the 
 institution in September. And before the end of 
 September, not only was the edifice finished, but 
 about half of the rooms were furnished for the recep- 
 tion of students, through the agency of churches and 
 benevolent individuals, especially of the ladies in 
 
2O A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 different towns in Hampshire and the adjoining 
 counties. 
 
 We must now go back to give some account of the 
 exercises at the laying of the corner-stone, the ap- 
 pointment of officers of the institution, and other 
 measures preliminary to the dedication and the 
 opening. 
 
 The following is the order of exercises at the lay- 
 ing of the corner-stone substantially as it was given 
 to the public shortly after the occasion : " On the 9th 
 of August, 1820, the board of trustees of Amherst 
 Academy, together with the subscribers to the fund 
 then present, a number of the neighboring clergy 
 and the preceptors and students of the academy, pre- 
 ceded by the building committee and the workmen, 
 moved in procession from the academy to the ground 
 of the Charity Institution. The Throne of Grace was 
 then addressed by Rev. Mr. Crosby of Enfield, and 
 the ceremony of laying the corner-stone was per- 
 formed by the Rev. Dr. Parsons, president of the 
 board, in presence of a numerous concourse of spec- 
 tators ; after which an address was delivered by Noah 
 Webster, Esq. , vice-president of the board. The as- 
 sembly then proceeded to the church, where an ap- 
 propriate introductory prayer was made by the Rev. 
 Mr. Porter of Belchertown, a sermon delivered by 
 the Rev. Daniel A. Clark of Amherst, and the ex- 
 ercises concluded with prayer by the Rev. Mr. 
 Grout of Hawley. The performances of the day 
 were interesting, and graced with excellent music." 
 
 On the same day, at a meeting of the subscribers 
 to the fund, they having been duly notified, the Rev. 
 Nathaniel Howe of Hopkinton being chosen moder- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 21 
 
 ator, and the Rev. Moses Miller of Heath, secretary, 
 the meeting was opened with prayer by the moder- 
 ator, and the following gentlemen were then elected 
 overseers of the fund, namely: Henry Gray, Esq., 
 of Boston, Gen. Salem Towne, Jr., of Charlton, Rev. 
 Theophilus Packard of Shelburne, Rev. Thomas 
 Snell of North Brookfield, Rev. Luther Sheldon of 
 Easton, Rev. Heman Humphrey of Pittsfield, and 
 H. Wright Strong, Esq., of Amherst. 
 
 The board of trustees of Amherst Academy at this 
 time, who acted as trustees of the charity fund, was 
 composed of the following members: Rev. David 
 Parsons, president; Noah Webster, vice-president; 
 Rev. James Taylor, Rev. Joshua Crosby, Rev. Daniel 
 A. Clark, Nathaniel Smith, Esq., Samuel F. Dickin- 
 son, and Rufus Graves. After the public exercises 
 of this occasion, Dr. Parsons resigned his seat in the 
 board, and Noah Webster was elected president of 
 the board. 
 
 By request of the trustees the address of Mr. Web- 
 ster and the sermon of Mr. Clark were both printed 
 and published. In reading them, no thought strikes 
 us so forcibly as the philanthropic, Christian, and 
 missionary spirit of the founders. 
 
 The connection between the Charity Institution 
 at Amherst, and those education societies which had 
 sprung up a little earlier and were born of the same 
 missionary spirit, could not but be very intimate and 
 productive of most important results. As early as 
 September, 1820, a committee of the trustees was 
 directed to correspond with the American Education 
 Society on the subject of the terms on which the 
 board might co-operate with that society in the edu- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 cation of their beneficiaries. At a meeting of the 
 board in November, 1820, the trustees passed a vote 
 authorizing the prudential committee to receive into 
 the academy as beneficiaries from education societies 
 or elsewhere, charity students, not exceeding twenty. 
 In June, 1821, they voted that persons wishing to 
 avail themselves of the charity fund as beneficiaries 
 should be under the patronage of some education so- 
 ciety or other respectable association which should 
 furnish to each beneficiary a part of his support, 
 amounting at least to one dollar a week, for which 
 he was to be furnished with board and tuition. They 
 required also, that every applicant should produce to 
 the examining committee satisfactory evidence of 
 his indigence, piety and promising talents. 
 
 As the constitution required that the charity fund 
 should forever be kept separate from the other funds 
 of the institution, and under another financier, at a 
 meeting November 8, 1820, the trustees appointed 
 John Leland as their agent to receive all donations 
 made for the benefit of the Charity Institution, other 
 than those made to the permanent fund. For this 
 office, which he held fourteen years, Mr. Lei and never 
 received a salary of more than three hundred dollars. 
 At the same time the commissioner of the charity 
 fund received only two hundred dollars per annum 
 for his services. It will be seen that the institution 
 commenced on a basis of economy, in reference both 
 to its officers and its students, which corresponded 
 with its charitable object. 
 
 At a meeting of the trustees of Amherst Academy 
 on the 8th of May, 1821, it was "Voted unanimously, 
 That the Rev. Zephaniah Swift Moore be, and he is 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 23 
 
 hereby, elected president of the Charity Institution 
 in this town. 
 
 " Voted, That the permanent salary of the president 
 of this institution for his services as president and 
 professor of theology and moral philosophy be 
 twelve hundred dollars, and that he is entitled to 
 the usual perquisites." 
 
 At the same time the trustees resolved to build a 
 house for the president, provided they could procure 
 sufficient donations of money, materials, and labor. 
 They also decided that the first term of study in the 
 institution should commence on the third Wednesday 
 of September. It is worthy of record that at this 
 meeting they passed a vote prohibiting the students 
 from drinking ardent spirits or wine, or any liquor 
 of which ardent spirits or wine should be the princi- 
 pal ingredient, at any inn, tavern, or shop, or keep- 
 ing ardent spirits or wine in their rooms, or at any 
 time indulging in the use of them. Thus early was 
 temperance as well as economy established as one of 
 the characteristic and fundamental principles of the 
 institution. It is an interesting coincidence that at 
 this meeting in May, when President Moore was 
 elected to the presidency, the Rev. Heman Humphrey 
 of Pittsfield, who was destined to succeed him in the 
 office, preached in accordance with a previous ap- 
 pointment "a very appropriate and useful sermon," 
 for which he received " an address of thanks" by vote 
 of the trustees. 
 
 In his letter of acceptance, dated Williamstown, 
 June 12, 1821, President Moore insists that the classi- 
 cal education of the students shall be thorough. " I 
 should be wholly averse," he says, "to becoming 
 
24 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 united with any institution which proposes to give a 
 classical education inferior to that given in any of 
 the colleges in New England. On this subject I am 
 assured your opinion is the same as my own, and that 
 you are determined that the course of study in the 
 institution to which you have invited me shall not 
 be inferior to that in the colleges in New England." 
 
 That the trustees were in perfect unison with the 
 president in regard to these vital points to which he 
 attached so much importance, they showed by voting 
 in their meeting on the thirteenth day of June that 
 the preparatory studies or qualifications of candidates 
 for admission to the Charity Institution, and the 
 course of studies to be pursued during the four years 
 of membership, should be the same as those estab- 
 lished in Yale College. And that the public might 
 not be left in doubt on these points, the president of 
 the board soon after gave public notice in the news- 
 papers, that " Young men who expect to defray the 
 expenses of their education, will be admitted into the 
 collegiate institution on terms essentially the same 
 as those prescribed for admission into other colleges 
 in New England/' 
 
 At the same session, the trustees elected the Rev. 
 Gamaliel S. Olds to be professor of mathematics and 
 natural philosophy, and Joseph Estabrook to be pro- 
 fessor of the Greek and Latin languages, and voted 
 that the president and professors elect should be in- 
 augurated and the college edifice dedicated with 
 suitable religious services on the Tuesday next pre- 
 ceding the third Wednesday of September, and that 
 Professor Stuart of Andover be invited to preach 
 the dedication sermon. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 25 
 
 At the time appointed, the i8th of September, 
 1821, the exercises of dedication and of inauguration 
 were held in the parish church. After introductory re- 
 marks by Noah Webster, Esq. , president of the board, 
 in which he recognized the peculiar propriety " that 
 an undertaking having for its special object the pro- 
 motion of the religion of Christ should be commended 
 to the favor and protection of the great Head of the 
 Church," and its buildings and funds solemnly dedi- 
 cated to his service, a dedicatory prayer was offered 
 by the Rev. Mr. Crosby of Enfield, and a sermon was 
 preached by the Rev. Dr. Leland of Charleston, S. C., 1 
 from the text: " On this rock will I build my church, 
 and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 
 President Moore and Professor Estabrook, 2 having 
 publicly signified their acceptance and their assent 
 to the confession of faith 3 which had been prepared 
 for the occasion, were then solemnly inducted into 
 their respective offices by the president of the board, 
 with promises of hearty co-operation and support by 
 the trustees, and earnest prayers for " the guidance 
 and protection of the great Head of the Church, to 
 whose service this institution is consecrated." A 
 brief address was then delivered by each of them, 
 
 1 " For special reasons, Professor Stuart declined to preach on 
 the occasion." Dr. Leland "was on a visit to his father, then 
 resident in Amherst." Dr. Webster' s Manuscript. 
 
 2 Professor Olds had signified his acceptance, but was not 
 present at the inauguration. 
 
 8 Of this confession of faith I find no record, except that it 
 was reported to the trustees by a committee appointed for the 
 purpose immediately previous to the exercises of inauguration. 
 The committee consisted of the Rev. Zephaniah S. Moore, the 
 Rev. Thomas Snell, and the Rev. Daniel A. Clark. 
 
26 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 and the concluding prayer was offered by the Rev. 
 Mr. Snell of North Brookfield. At the close of the 
 exercises a collection was made for the benefit of the 
 institution; and the corner-stone of the president's 
 house was laid with the usual ceremonies. 
 
 The next day, September 19, the college was 
 opened and organized by the examination and ad- 
 mission of forty-seven students, some into each of the 
 four regular classes. Of this number fifteen followed 
 Dr. Moore from Williams College, a little less than 
 one-third of the whole number at Amherst, and a 
 little less than one-fifth of the whole number in the 
 three classes to which they belonged in Williams 
 College. This was "a larger number, I believe," 
 says Dr. Humphrey, " than ever had been matricu- 
 lated on the first day of opening any new college. 
 It was a day of great rejoicings. What had God 
 wrought!" 
 
iSE 
 OF THE 
 [VERSITT 
 J 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE FIRST PRESIDENCY FIRST CATALOGUE AND COURSE 
 
 OF STUDY THE LITERARY SOCIETIES EARLY AM- 
 
 HERST DEATH OF PRESIDENT MOORE. 
 
 FIRST things, whether they are the first in the his- 
 tory of the world, or only the first in a country, or 
 a town, or an institution, besides their intrinsic 
 value, have a relative interest and importance which 
 justify and perhaps require the historian to dwell 
 upon them at greater length. 
 
 The first edifice of the Charity Institution, as we 
 have seen in the foregoing chapter, was the present 
 South College. Although it was erected so rapidly 
 and finished and furnished to so great an extent by 
 voluntary contributions of labor and material, it was 
 one of the best built, and is to this day one of the 
 best preserved and most substantial of all the build- 
 ings on the grounds. The rooms were originally 
 large, square, single rooms, without any bedrooms, 
 and served the double purpose of a dormitory and a 
 study. A full quarter of a century elapsed before 
 bed-rooms were placed in South College. Some of 
 the rooms, besides serving as sleeping-rooms and 
 studies for their occupants, were also of necessity 
 used for a time as recitation-rooms for the classes. 
 Thus the room of Pindar Field and Ebenezer S. Snell, 
 the two seniors who for some time constituted the 
 senior class it was the room in the southwest corner 
 
 27 
 
28 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 of the fourth story was the senior recitation-room, 
 and there President Moore daily met and instructed 
 his first senior class. Four chairs constituted the 
 whole furniture and apparatus of this first recitation- 
 room. The library, which at this time was all con- 
 tained in a single case scarcely six feet wide, was at 
 first placed in the north entry of the same building, 
 the old South College. 
 
 Morning and evening prayers were at first attended 
 in the old village "meeting-house," which then occu- 
 pied the site of the observatory, and was considered 
 one of the best church edifices in Hampshire County. 
 The relations between the students and the families 
 in the village were in the highest degree confidential 
 and affectionate, and the letters which the author has 
 received from the alumni of those halcyon days, al- 
 though the writers have already reached their three- 
 score years and ten, still read very much like love- 
 letters. 
 
 The bell of the old parish meeting-house continued 
 to summon the students to all their exercises till, ere 
 long, one was presented to the college. A coarse, 
 clumsy, wooden tower or frame was erected between 
 the college and the meeting-house to receive this first 
 college bell. This tower, then one of the most re- 
 markable objects on College Hill, became the butt of 
 ridicule and was at length capsized by the students, 
 and the bell was finally transferred to the new chapel. 
 
 The growing popularity and prosperity of the in- 
 stitution soon made it manifest that it would require 
 more ample accommodations. In the summer of 
 1822, the president's house, now owned and occupied 
 by the Psi Upsilon Society, was completed. About 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 2Q 
 
 the same time a second edifice was commenced, and a 
 subscription of thirty thousand dollars was opened 
 to pay debts already contracted, to finish the new 
 building, and to defray other necessary expenses. At 
 the opening of the second term of the second colle- 
 giate year in the winter of 1822-23, this edifice, the 
 present North College, was already completed and 
 occupied for the first time. The rooms were not all 
 filled, however, and, for some time, unoccupied 
 rooms were rented to students of the academy. 
 Still "no room was furnished with a carpet, only 
 one with blinds, and not half a dozen were painted." 
 
 The two corner rooms in the south entry and fourth 
 story of this new building, being left without any 
 partition between themselves or between them and 
 the adjoining entry, were now converted into a hall 
 which served at once for a chapel and a lecture-room, 
 where lectures on the physical sciences followed the 
 morning and evening devotions, thus uniting learn- 
 ing and religion according to the original design of 
 the institution, but where the worship was some- 
 times disturbed by too free a mixture of acids and 
 gases. The two middle rooms adjoining this hall 
 were also appropriated to public uses, one of them 
 becoming the place where the library was now de- 
 posited, and the other the first cabinet for chemical 
 and philosophical apparatus. 
 
 A semi-official notice in "The Boston Recorder," 
 dated October i, 1821, announces that "a college 
 library is begun, and now contains nearly seven 
 hundred volumes. A philosophical apparatus is pro- 
 vided for, and it is expected will be procured the 
 coming winter." 
 
30 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 The first lectures in chemistry were given by 
 Colonel Graves, who had been a lecturer in the 
 same department previously, at Dartmouth College. 
 These lectures were delivered in a private room used 
 as a lecture-room in South College. It was quite 
 an enlargement and sign of progress when Professor 
 Eaton began to lecture to all the classes together in 
 the new hall in the new North College. 
 
 The first " Catalogue of the Faculty and Students 
 of the Collegiate Institution, Amherst, Mass.," was 
 issued in March, 1822, that is, about six months 
 after the opening. It was a single sheet, about 
 twelve by fourteen inches in size, and printed only 
 on one side, like a hand-bill. In this, as in many 
 other things, Amherst followed the example of Wil- 
 liams College, whose catalogue, issued in 1795, ac- 
 cording to Dr. Robbins, the antiquarian, was the 
 first catalogue of the members of a college published 
 in this country. The faculty, as their names and 
 titles were printed on this catalogue, consisted of 
 Rev. Zephaniah Swift Moore, D.D., president and 
 professor of divinity; Rev. Gamaliel S. Olds, 
 A.M., professor of mathematics and natural philos- 
 ophy; Joseph Estabrook, A.M., professor of lan- 
 guages and librarian; Rev. Jonas King, A.M., 
 professor of oriental literature; and Lucius Field, 
 A. B., tutor. But the professor of oriental lan- 
 guages was never installed, and the instruction was 
 all given by the president with two professors and 
 one tutor. The president was not only the sole 
 teacher of the senior class, but gave instruction also 
 to the sophomores. The number of students had 
 now increased from forty-seven to fifty-nine, viz. : 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 31 
 
 three seniors, six juniors, nineteen sophomores, and 
 thirty-one freshmen. But dissatisfied with this 
 hand-bill, they issued in the same month of the 
 same year (March, 1822), the same catalogue of 
 names, in the form of a pamphlet of eight pages, 
 which contained, besides the names of the faculty 
 and students, the requirements for admission to the 
 freshman class, an outline of the course of study, 
 and a statement of the number of volumes in the 
 libraries of the institution and of the literary so- 
 cieties. 
 
 The requisites for admission into the freshman 
 class were the ability to construe and parse Virgil, 
 Cicero's Select Orations, Sallust, the Greek Testa- 
 ment, Dalzel's Collectanea Graeca Minora, a knowl- 
 edge of the Latin and Greek Grammars, and Vulgar 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Course of Study. First Year. Livy, five books, 
 Adam's Roman Antiquities, Arithmetic, Webster's 
 Philosophical and Practical Grammar, Graeca Ma- 
 jora, the historical parts, Day's Algebra, Morse's 
 Geography, large abridgment, and Erving on Com- 
 position. 
 
 Second Year. Playfair's Euclid, Horace, expur- 
 gated edition, Day's Mathematics, Parts II., III. 
 and IV., Conic Sections and Spheric Geometry, 
 Cicero de Officiis, de Senectute and de Amicitia, 
 Graeca Majora, Jamieson's Rhetoric, and Hedge's 
 Logic. 
 
 Third Year. Spheric Trigonometry, Graeca Ma- 
 jora finished, Enfield's Philosophy, Cicero de Ora- 
 tore, Tacitus, five books, Tytler's History, Paley's 
 
 Evidences, Fluxions and Chemistr 
 
 LSE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CVERSITY 
 
32 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 Fourth Year. Stewart's Philosophy of Mind, 
 Blair's Rhetoric, Locke abridged, Paley's Natural 
 Theology, Anatomy, Butler's Analogy, Paley's 
 Moral Philosophy, Edwards on the Will, Vattel's 
 Law of Nations, and Vincent on the Catechism. 
 
 Each of the classes had once a week, for a part of 
 the year, a critical recitation in the Greek Testa- 
 ment. All the classes had weekly exercises in 
 speaking and composition. The library belonging 
 to the institution contained nine hundred volumes, 
 and society libraries about four hundred volumes. 
 This catalogue was printed by Thomas W. Shepard 
 & Co., Northampton. 
 
 The annual catalogue for the second year, 
 printed by Denio & Phelps, at Greenfield, in Octo- 
 ber, 1822, was a pamphlet of twelve pages, and in 
 addition to the matter contained in that of the pre- 
 vious year, comprised the names of the overseers 
 of the fund, a brief calendar, and a statement of the 
 term bills and other necessary expenses. The over- 
 seers of the fund, whose names appear on the 
 catalogue, are Henry Gray, Esq., of Boston, Hon. 
 Salem Towne, Jr., of Charleton, H. Wright Strong, 
 Esq., of Amherst, Rev. Samuel Osgood of Spring- 
 field, Rev. Theophilus Packard of Shelburne, Rev. 
 Thomas Snell of Brookfield, and Rev. Luther Shel- 
 don of Easton. The faculty is the same as in the 
 previous catalogue, except that the names of Wil- 
 liam S. Burt, A.B., and Elijah L. Coe, A.B., appear 
 as tutors. They were both graduates of Union Col- 
 lege. The number of students had now increased to 
 ninety-eight, viz: 'senior sophisters," five; " junior 
 sophisters," twenty-one; sophomores, thirty-two, 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 33 
 
 and freshmen, forty. The students' rooms are also 
 registered, N. standing for North College, and S. 
 for South College, on the catalogue. 
 
 The term bills, comprising tuition, and room -rent, 
 were from ten to eleven dollars a term. Beneficiaries 
 did not pay any term bills. Board was from one 
 dollar to one dollar twenty-five cents a week, 
 wood from one dollar fifty cents to two dollars a 
 cord, and washing from twelve to twenty cents a 
 week. "Motives of economy and of convenience/' 
 writes Dr. Chapin of the class of '26, "influenced 
 the first class of students very largely in coming to 
 Amherst. We all made our own fires and took the 
 entire care of our rooms ; most of us sawed our own 
 wood. My college course cost me eight hundred 
 dollars, which was a medium average, I should 
 think. The college grounds were rough and un- 
 adorned, and during all of my course had little done 
 to improve them. Each spring we had our * chip 
 day/ when the students in mass turned out to 
 scrape and clear up the grounds near the buildings." 
 
 The two literary societies, the Alexandrian and 
 the Athenian, were organized soon after the opening 
 of the institution. The members of the college 
 were all allotted to the two societies in alphabetical 
 order, the two seniors, Pindar Field and Ebenezer S. 
 Snell, placing themselves or being placed at the 
 head, the former of the Athenian and the latter of 
 the Alexandrian Society, and then reading off the 
 names of the members of the lower classes alter- 
 nately to the one or the other in the order of the 
 catalogue. Mr. Field was chosen the first president 
 of the Athenian Society, and Mr. Snell the first 
 
34 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 president of the Alexandrian. The first meetings of 
 the societies were held in No. 3 and No. 6 in the 
 north entry of South College. In April, 1822, the 
 students in their poverty raised a small contribution, 
 less than $100, and sent Mr. Field to Hartford to 
 purchase a few books which were the beginning of 
 a library for the two societies, for they were then 
 not rival but affiliated societies and had their library 
 in common. 
 
 Prof. Charles U. Shepard of the class of '25 has 
 contributed the following graphic sketch of men and 
 things at Amherst in those early days : 
 
 " Amherst as it was then would be a strange place 
 to the residents in Amherst of nowadays. The good 
 clergymen who petitioned for its prosperity in 
 'college prayers ' delighted to call it 'a city set upon 
 a hill;' but they would have described its fashion 
 with quite as much exactness had they put forward 
 its claims to celestial notice as 'a village in the 
 woods/ Something more than a score of houses, 
 widely separated from each "other by prosperous 
 farms, constituted Amherst centre. Along two roads, 
 running north and south, were scattered small farm- 
 houses, with here and there a cross-road, blacksmith's 
 shop, or school-house by way of suburb. The East 
 Street, however, formed even then a pretty cluster of 
 houses, and had its meeting-house with a far comelier 
 tower than it boasts at the present day. 
 
 " But the fine dwellings, public or private, of that 
 early time had their features, whether tasteful or the 
 reverse, greatly concealed by the wide prevalence of 
 trees. Primal forests touched the rear of the college 
 buildings; they filled up with a sea of waving 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 35 
 
 branches the great interval between the village and 
 Hadley; toward the south they prevailed gloriously, 
 sending their green waves around the base and tip 
 the sides of Mt. Holyoke ; to the east, they overspread 
 the Pelham slope; and they fairly inundated vast 
 tracts northward clear away to the lofty hills of Sun- 
 derland and Deerfield. It was a sublime deluge, 
 which, alas! has only too much subsided in our day." 
 
 After some appreciative notice of the instructions, 
 character, and influence of Presidents Moore and 
 Humphrey, and the chemical and botanical lectures 
 of Prof. Amos Eaton, Professor Shepard concludes: 
 " Such were our chief advantages as I now recollect 
 them. At the time we rated them highly ; few left 
 Amherst for other colleges. Nor do I know that any 
 have since regretted connecting themselves with the 
 infant institution. There were doubtless deficiencies 
 to be regretted. In the larger and older universities 
 we might have found better teachers and richer stores 
 of libraries and collections, but in some unknown 
 way, perhaps in the enthusiasm of comparatively 
 solitary effort, compensation was made ; and, on the 
 whole, we may doubt whether higher life success 
 would have attended us had we launched from other 
 ports. " 
 
 The students of Amherst, in those early days, were 
 comparatively free from exciting and distracting cir- 
 cumstances. There were then here no cattle-shows 
 or horse-races, no menageries, circuses, or even con- 
 certs of music. They had no " Greek Letter" socie- 
 ties, no class day, and no class elections and class 
 politics to divide and distract them. They came 
 here to study, and they had nothing else to do. They 
 
36 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 felt that their advantages were inferior to those of 
 older and richer institutions, but for that very rea- 
 son they felt that they must "make themselves/' 
 
 The " Exercises at the First Anniversary of the 
 Collegiate Charity Institution at Amherst" were held 
 in the old "meeting-house" on the 28th of August, 
 1822. After sacred music, and prayer by the presi- 
 dent, a salutatory in Latin was pronounced by Eben- 
 ezer S. Snell. His classmate, Pindar Field, deliv- 
 ered the concluding oration in English. There was 
 no valedictory. The members of the junior class, 
 then six in number, helped them to fill up the pro- 
 gram with a colloquy, two dialogues, and several 
 orations. A poem was also delivered by Gerard H. 
 Hallock, who was then principal of Amherst Acad- 
 emy. As the institution had no charter, and no au- 
 thority to confer degrees, testimonials in Latin that 
 they had honorably completed the usual college 
 course were given to the two members of the senior 
 class. The exercises were then closed with sacred 
 music and prayer. The subjects of the two dialogues 
 were "Turkish Oppression," and "The Gospel Car- 
 ried to India." The last, which was written by Pin- 
 dar Field and acted by the two seniors with the help 
 of one of the juniors, was an intentional argument 
 and appeal in favor of foreign and domestic missions. 
 
 The first revival of religion occurred in the spring 
 term of 1823, about a year and a half after the open- 
 ing of the institution. The number of students was 
 now over a hundred. The president's house was 
 completed. Two edifices crowned the " consecrated 
 eminence," and a subscription of thirty thousand 
 dollars was being successfully and rapidly raised to 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 37 
 
 defray the expenses. The prosperity of the institu- 
 tion exceeded the most sanguine hopes of its found- 
 ers. But at this time President Moore was suffering 
 from ill-health. The amount of labor which he had 
 been performing for nearly two years, together with 
 the responsibility and anxiety that pressed upon him, 
 was enough to break down the most vigorous consti- 
 tution. In addition to his appropriate duties as 
 president and as chairman of the board of trustees, 
 he heard all the recitations of the senior and in part 
 those of the sophomore class, performed several jour- 
 neys to Boston to promote the interests of the insti- 
 tution, and solicited in a number of places pecuniary 
 aid in its behalf. The revival, while it gladdened 
 his heart beyond measure, greatly added to his labors 
 and responsibilities. His constitution, naturally 
 strong, was overtaxed by such accumulated labors 
 and anxieties, and had begun to give way percepti- 
 bly before the attack of disease which terminated 
 his life. 
 
 On Wednesday, the 25th of June, he was seized 
 with a bilious colic. From the first, the attack was 
 violent, and excited fears of a fatal termination. 
 " During his short sickness," we quote the language 
 of Prof. B. B. Edwards, a loving and beloved pupil, 
 one of the converts in the recent revival, " the college 
 was literally a place of tears. Prayer was offered 
 unto God unceasingly for him. We have never seen 
 more heartfelt sorrow than was depicted in the 
 countenances of nearly a hundred young men, all of 
 whom loved him as their own father. But while 
 they were filled with anxiety and grief, Dr. Moore 
 was looking with calmness and joy upon the pros- 
 
38 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 pects which were opening before him. While flesh 
 and heart were failing him, Christ was the strength 
 of his heart and the anchor of his soul. And when 
 his voice failed and his eyes were closing in death, 
 he could still whisper, 'God is my hope, my shield, 
 and my exceeding great reward. ' " 
 
 He died on Monday, the 2pth of June, 1823, in the 
 fifty-third year of his age. The funeral solemnities 
 were attended on the Wednesday following, in the 
 presence of a great concourse of people from Amherst 
 and the surrounding region. An appropriate sermon 
 was preached by Rev. Dr. Snell, of North Brookfield. 
 
 " By nature a great man, by grace a good man, and 
 in the providence of God a useful man, a correct 
 thinker and a lucid writer, a sound theologian, in- 
 structive preacher, and greatly beloved pastor, a wise 
 counsellor and sympathizing friend, a friend and fath- 
 er especially to all the young men of the infant col- 
 lege in which he was at the same time a winning 
 teacher and a firm presiding officer, Dr. Moore filled 
 every station he occupied with propriety and raised 
 the reputation of every literary institution with which 
 he became connected.' 1 Such, in brief, is the char- 
 acter of the first president of Amherst College as it 
 was briefly sketched in the funeral sermon by Dr. 
 Snell, who knew him intimately both in the pastorate 
 and in the presidency, and who was incapable of 
 exaggeration. 
 
 So profound was the sympathy of the senior class 
 with their beloved president, that they were reluc- 
 tant to take any part in commencement exercises at 
 which he could not preside. And so dark, in their 
 view, was the cloud which rested on the infant semi- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 39 
 
 nary, that, reduced almost to despair, they were on 
 the point of closing their connection with it .and 
 graduating at some other institution. Accordingly, 
 at the close of the funeral services, the class appeared 
 before the board of trustees, and asked to be released 
 from all participation in any commencement exer- 
 cises, and from all further connection with the col- 
 lege; but, at the urgent solicitation of the board, 
 they consented to stand in their lot. They never re- 
 gretted their perseverance in spite of all untoward 
 circumstances, even to the end, in consequence of 
 which they have not only been reckoned as alumni 
 of Amherst College, but counted among its heroes 
 who stood by it in the day of adversity, and consti- 
 tuted its second class. David O. Allen, of this class, 
 claimed to be the oldest graduate of Amherst, having 
 received the degree of A. B. the first of any one, on 
 this wise : While teaching school in Leominster, in 
 the winter vacation of his senior year, he applied for 
 the situation of principal of Groton Academy, then 
 a flourishing institution, and got the appointment. 
 But after obtaining it, he found that a by-law of the 
 academy required the principal to be a graduate of 
 a college. Amherst, having no charter, could at 
 this time confer no degrees. What was to be done? 
 He went to President Moore with his trouble. After 
 much consultation, President Moore gave him testi- 
 monials to the president of Union College. Mr. 
 Allen went there privately, joined the senior class, 
 passed the senior examination, and returned with a 
 diploma in his pocket, while as yet his classmates 
 were scarcely aware of his absence. After complet- 
 ing his course at Amherst, he taught the academy 
 4 
 
40 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 at Groton, paid up his debts, earned money in ad- 
 vance for his theological education at Andover, and 
 afterward became one of the most honored of our 
 American missionaries, and the author of the well- 
 known work on "Ancient and Modern India." 
 
OF THE 
 
 ^UNIVERSITY! 
 
Xf es 
 UNIVERSITY, 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PRESIDENT HUMPHREY'S ADMINISTRATION, FROM 1823 
 TO 1825 STRUGGLE FOR THE CHARTER LEGISLA- 
 TIVE INVESTIGATION FINAL SUCCESS SEAL OF THE 
 
 COLLEGE. 
 
 IN July, 1823, Rev. Heman Humphrey was chosen 
 to the presidency. His ministry of ten years in 
 Fairfield, Connecticut, had been eminently useful 
 and successful. He had now been nearly six years 
 pastor of the church in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His 
 labors in both these places had been blessed with re- 
 vivals of religion of great power. He was already 
 recognized as a pioneer and leader in the cause of 
 temperance. He was a zealous champion of ortho- 
 doxy, evangelical religion, Christian missions, and 
 of all the distinctive principles of the founders of 
 Amherst College. In recognition of his high stand- 
 ing as an able divine and an efficient pastor he had 
 just received the honorary degree of Doctor of 
 Divinity from Middlebury College. Although a 
 Berkshire pastor, and a trustee of Williams College, 
 he felt the force of the reasons for its removal, and 
 when that plan was defeated by the action of the 
 Legislature, he could not but sympathize with the 
 high purpose and auspicious beginning of the insti- 
 tution at Amherst. 
 
 On the i5th of October, 1823, Dr. Humphrey was 
 inducted into the presidency. It marks a character- 
 istic of the institution, perhaps also of the age, that a 
 
 41 
 
42 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 sermon was preached on the occasion. The preacher 
 was Rev. Richard Salter Storrs, of Braintree, Massa- 
 chusetts. " It was a discourse of scope, adaptation, 
 eloquence, and power ; in all respects of such engross- 
 ing interest as to make it no easy task for the 
 speaker who should come after him. The wise 
 sophomores entertained serious doubts whether the 
 president could sustain himself in his inaugural. 
 But this feeling soon subsided, and we were relieved 
 of all our sophomoric fears and anxieties, as the presi- 
 dent-elect, with a master's hand, opened the great 
 subject of education education physical, mental, and 
 moral, holding his audience in unbroken stillness for 
 perhaps an hour and a half. If we were captivated 
 by the eloquent preacher, we were not less impressed 
 with the teachings and philosophy of the man who 
 was to guide our feet in the paths of literature, 
 science, and heavenly wisdom. That discourse estab- 
 lished in our minds his fitness for the position ; at 
 once he seized upon our confidence and esteem. " 1 
 
 Cool and impartial criticism, after the lapse of 
 almost half a century, can but justify the admira- 
 tion which President Humphrey's inaugural inspired 
 in the minds of those who heard it. Perhaps nothing 
 has ever proceeded from his pen which illustrates 
 more perfectly the strong common sense, the prac- 
 tical wisdom, the sharp and clear Saxon style, the 
 vigor of thought, fervor of passion and boldness, 
 coupled sometimes with marvellous felicity of expres- 
 sion, and the healthy, hearty, robust tone of body, 
 
 1 Manuscript letter of Hon. Lincoln Clark, of the class of 
 '25. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 43 
 
 soul, and spirit, which the Christian public for so 
 many years admired and loved in Dr. Humphrey. 1 
 
 The number of students at the time of Dr. Hum- 
 phrey's accession to the presidency was nineteen 
 seniors, twenty-nine juniors, forty-one sophomores, 
 and thirty-seven freshmen total, one hundred and 
 twenty-six, of whom, we learn from the cover of the 
 inaugural address, ninety-eight were hopefully pious. 
 The faculty, at the commencement of the new ad- 
 ministration, consisted of the same persons who were 
 thus associated with President Moore, with the addi- 
 tion of Samuel M. Worcester as tutor. On the cata- 
 logue of the next year, published in November, 1824, 
 we find the name of Rev. Nathan W. Fiske in place 
 of Joseph Estabrook, as professor of the Latin and 
 Greek languages; Samuel M. Worcester, teacher of 
 languages and librarian ; and Jacob Abbott, tutor 
 all names familiar afterwards as professors under the 
 charter. The new president seems to have made no 
 change in the studies of the senior class, except that 
 Locke disappears from the list and Vincent's Cate- 
 chism is definitely announced for every Saturday a 
 place which it continued to occupy through Dr. 
 Humphrey's entire presidency. Instruction was also 
 offered in the Hebrew, French and German lan- 
 guages, to such as wished it, for a reasonable com- 
 pensation. The president was still the sole teacher 
 of the senior class. He instructed them in rhetoric, 
 logic, natural theology, the evidences of Chris- 
 
 1 The writer will be pardoned for adding that he has a 
 special and personal reason for an affectionate remembrance 
 of this inaugural, since it was the reading of it in a distant 
 state that brought him to Amherst College. 
 
44 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 tianity, intellectual and moral philosophy, and polit- 
 ical economy. He also presided at the weekly dec- 
 lamations in the chapel, and criticised the composi- 
 tions of one or more of the classes. He preached on 
 the Sabbath, occasionally, in the village church so 
 long as the students worshipped there; and when a 
 separate organization was deemed advisable, he be- 
 came the pastor of the college church and preached 
 every Sabbath to the congregation. He also sus- 
 tained from the first, I believe a weekly religious 
 lecture on Thursday evenings. He early drew up 
 the first code of written and printed " Laws of the 
 Collegiate Charity Institution, "the original of which 
 is still preserved in his own handwriting, and labored 
 to introduce more perfect order and system into the 
 still imperfectly organized seminary. At the same 
 time he was compelled to take the lead in a per- 
 petual struggle for raising funds and obtaining a 
 charter. 
 
 Under such circumstances it is not surprising that 
 Dr. Humphrey did not at once command the highest 
 respect and veneration of the students in the chair of 
 instruction. Accustomed to love and almost worship 
 his predecessor, they very naturally drew compari- 
 sons to his disadvantage. Dr. Moore had been a 
 teacher for the larger part of his life. Dr. Hum- 
 phrey had no experience in the government or the 
 instruction of a college. His strength at this time 
 was in the pulpit and the pastoral office. The stu- 
 dents also contrasted his plain manners, his distance 
 and reserve, with the courtly air and winning address 
 of his predecessor. Hence, while he enjoyed their 
 respect as a man, their confidence as a Christian, and 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 4$ 
 
 their admiration as an eloquent preacher, as a teacher 
 and a president he was not popular with his earlier 
 classes. 
 
 A joke perpetrated about this time has taken its 
 place as a classic among the most famous of Amherst 
 stories, and deserves to be narrated here, not only as 
 illustrative of Dr. Humphrey's character and admin- 
 istration, but because it proved a turning-point in 
 his reputation. The story cannot be better told than 
 in his own words : " One morning as I came into 
 prayers, I found the chair preoccupied by a goose. 
 She looked rather shabby to be sure, nevertheless it 
 was a veritable goose. Strange as it may seem, she 
 did not salute me with so much as a hiss for my un- 
 ceremonious intrusion. It might be because I did 
 not offer to take the chair. As anybody might ven- 
 ture to stand a few moments, even in such a presence, 
 I carefully drew the chair up behind me as close as 
 I safely could, went through the exercises, and the 
 students retired in the usual orderly manner, not 
 more than two or three, I believe, having noticed 
 anything uncommon. In the course of the day it 
 was reported, and as soon as they found out what had 
 happened, they were highly excited and proposed 
 calling a college meeting to express their indigna- 
 tion that such an insult had been offered by one of 
 their number. The hour of evening prayers came, 
 and at the close of the usual exercises I asked the 
 young gentlemen to be seated a moment. I then 
 stated what I had heard; and thanked them for the 
 kind interest they had taken in the matter, told them 
 it was just what I should expect from gentlemen of 
 such high and honorable feelings, but begged them 
 
46 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 not to give themselves the least trouble in the prem- 
 ises. 'You know/ I said, 'that the trustees have just 
 been here to organize a college faculty. Their in- 
 tention was to provide competent instructors in all 
 the departments, so as to meet the capacity of every 
 student. But it seems that one student was over- 
 looked, and I am sure they will be glad to learn that 
 he has promptly supplied the deficiency by choosing 
 a goose for his tutor. Par nobile fratrum.' " The 
 effect may well be imagined. 
 
 Rev. T. R. Cressey, of the class of 1828, writes: 
 44 The president's 'Par nobile fratrum, ' with its accom- 
 panying bow of dismissal, was instantly followed by 
 a round of applause. And such shouts of derision as 
 the boys raised while they went down those three 
 flights of stairs, crying, * Who is brother to the goose?' 
 'Who is brother to the goose?' The question was 
 never answered. But from that hour presidential 
 stock went up to a high figure, and never descended 
 while I had any personal acquaintance with Amherst 
 College." 
 
 We must now go back a little, and trace the efforts 
 to obtain a charter from their beginning. The first 
 application to the Legislature of Massachusetts for 
 a charter was made in the winter session of 1823. 
 The petition of President Moore was referred to a 
 joint committee of the two houses on the i7th and 
 i8th of January. On the 25th of January the com- 
 mittee reported that the petition be referred to 
 the next General Court. But so far from being re- 
 ferred with the usual courtesy, the report was not 
 accepted, and the petition was unceremoniously 
 rejected by both houses, nearly all the members 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 47 
 
 voting against it, including the representative from 
 Amherst. 1 
 
 Such uncourteous and unreasonable opposition only 
 increased the number and zeal of the friends of the 
 college. Nothing daunted, they resolved to renew 
 their application for a charter at the very next ses- 
 sion. Accordingly in June, 1823, a petition was 
 presented by Rev. Dr. Moore, Hon. John Hooker 
 and others of the trustees of Amherst Academy, 
 requesting that they might be invested with such 
 corporate powers as are usually given to the trustees 
 of colleges. 
 
 At the same session of the Legislature a memorial 
 was presented from the subscribers of the charity 
 fund, praying that the request of the trustees to be 
 invested with corporate powers might be granted. 
 The petition and memorial were referred to a joint 
 committee from both houses of the Legislature. Of 
 this committee, consisting of seven members, six 
 agreed in a report in favor of the petitioners having 
 leave to bring in a bill. 
 
 After listening to remarks by the chairman of the 
 joint committee in favor of their report, without 
 further discussion, the Senate voted on Monday, June 
 9th, to refer the consideration of the report to the 
 
 1 An old feud between the East and West Parishes, originat- 
 ing in party politics and personal animosities, extended its 
 influence to the college. The Amherst representative in the 
 winter session of 1823 was a member of the East Parish, and 
 a " Democrat. " The next two years the town was represented 
 by a member of the West Parish, who voted for the charter. 
 In this quarrel the East Street was familiarly called "Sodom," 
 and the West " Mount Zion. " 
 
48 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 next session of the same General Court, 1 and on 
 Tuesday the loth, the House of Representatives 
 concurred with the Senate in so referring it. Just 
 fifteen days after, President Moore sickened, and, 
 after an illness of only four days, died, his death be- 
 ing hastened, no doubt, if not caused, by repeated 
 disappointments and delays in the incorporation of 
 the college, and his toils and cares now devolved on 
 his successor. 
 
 On Wednesday, the 2ist of January, 1824, accord- 
 ing to the vote of reference passed at the summer 
 session, the report of the joint committee in favor 
 of granting a charter came up in the Senate, and it 
 was debated during the greater part of three days by 
 twelve of the ablest members. The longest and one 
 of the ablest speeches in behalf of the college was 
 made by Hon. Samuel Hubbard, of Boston. He said 
 that the objections against the charter, so far as he 
 had learned, were four, all founded on local or petty 
 considerations : First, that another college was not 
 needed. Second, that Williams College would be 
 injured. Third, that it was inexpedient to multiply 
 colleges. Fourth, that the petitioners would ask 
 for money. In answer to the first objection, he ar- 
 gued that there was a great want of men of educa- 
 tion and piety and morals ; and that this want was 
 felt by the good people of the Commonwealth, as 
 proved by their voluntary contributions to the insti- 
 tution at Amherst. " There is seldom an instance 
 of a college being founded like this, by the voluntary 
 
 1 At this time, the Massachusetts Legislature held two an- 
 nual sessions, the summer session commencing in May, and 
 the winter session commencing in January. 
 
UNIVERSITY) 
 
 V OF 
 
 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 49 
 
 contributions of thousands. Out of the fifty colleges 
 in England, there is not one but what was founded 
 by an individual, except Christ College, in Oxford." 
 In answer to the second objection, he pointed to the 
 fact that the number of students at Williams College 
 had increased from an average of sixty or seventy to 
 one hundred and eighteen, and that of Amherst be- 
 ing one hundred and twenty-six, the two institutions 
 contained more than three times the previous average 
 at Williams. In reply to the third objection, he in- 
 sisted, as many other senators did, that small colleges 
 are better than large ones, and two hundred students 
 can be governed and instructed much better than four 
 hundred. In answer to the fourth objection, several 
 preceding speakers had argued that granting the 
 charter did not involve the necessity or the duty of 
 giving money ; but Mr. Hubbard said, " What if it 
 does? Such grants do not impoverish the state. 
 The liberal grants which have been made to Harvard 
 and Williams are the highest honor of the state, 
 and have redounded to the good of the people." 
 
 Meeting boldly and on high ground the prejudice 
 against Amherst as an orthodox institution, Mr. 
 Hubbard declared that " all that is great and good 
 in our land sprang from orthodoxy. This spirit of 
 orthodoxy animated the Pilgrims whom we delight 
 to honor as our forefathers. It has founded all our 
 colleges and is founded on a rock." 
 
 More than one of the speakers reminded the Senate 
 that Amherst represented not only the orthodoxy, but 
 the yeomanry of Massachusetts, and they must be 
 prepared to give an account of their votes to the mass 
 of the people. "If we refuse a charter," said Hon. 
 
50 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 Mr. Fiske, " how are we when we leave this hall, 
 how are we to face the mass of population who are 
 interested in this college? They will say, 'You in- 
 corporate theaters, you incorporate hotels, you have 
 incorporated a riding-school. Are you more accom- 
 modating to such institutions than to those which are 
 designed to promote the great interests of literature, 
 science, and religion?' " 
 
 "By refusing a charter," said Hon. Mr. Leland, 
 " the great body of country citizens are wantonly de- 
 prived of the privilege of a college. Something 
 more than the feelings of orthodoxy will be awak- 
 ened. The people will feel that there is a disposition 
 on the part of Government to maintain an aristocratic 
 monopoly. And rely upon it, your next election will 
 bring persons here who will acknowledge the rights 
 of the people. " 
 
 The vote was at length taken, on Friday, January 
 23d, and the question being on the acceptance of the 
 report, giving leave to bring in a bill, twenty-two 
 out of thirty-seven voted in the affirmative. 
 
 On Tuesday, January 27th, the subject was taken 
 up in the House of Representatives, and debated 
 with much earnestness on that and the three follow- 
 ing days and then postponed till the next week. On 
 Tuesday, February 3d, it was resumed, and further 
 discussed, and the question being taken on concur- 
 ring with the Senate, it was decided in the negative 
 by a majority of nineteen votes out of one hundred 
 and ninety-nine. 
 
 "So, "said the editor of the "Boston Telegraph" 
 (Gerard Hallock), " the House declined to incorporate 
 the college. Although the result is not such as the 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. $1 
 
 numerous friends of the college could have wished, 
 it is certainly no discouraging circumstance that so 
 great a change has taken place in the views of the 
 Legislature on the subject, and especially in the views 
 of the community. Let the same spirit go on for a 
 few months longer, and the institution at Amherst 
 will be, what it doubtless ought to be, a chartered 
 college/' 
 
 Grieved, but not disheartened by this result, the 
 guardians and friends of the college resolved to renew 
 the application and began at once the preparations 
 for a third campaign. The first campaign document 
 was an announcement of their intention to apply 
 again to the Legislature for a charter, together with 
 a concise statement of the reasons why such a peti- 
 tion ought to be granted. This document, signed by 
 President Humphrey, and bearing date March 12, 
 1824, was published in more than thirty newspapers 
 in all parts of the Commonwealth. And such was 
 the sympathy manifested by the press, and such also 
 the increase in the number of students, that a con- 
 undrum, started by the " Greenfield Gazette," went 
 the rounds of the newspapers : " Why are the friends 
 of Amherst College like the Hebrews in Egypt? 
 Because the more they are oppressed, the more they 
 multiply and prosper." 
 
 The petition of the trustees was backed by a peti- 
 tion of the founders and proprietors which was 
 signed by about four-fifths of the subscribers to the 
 charity fund. And these were further supported by 
 more than thirty petitions from as many different 
 towns, and signed by more than five hundred sub- 
 scribers to other funds. In the Senate, the petition 
 
52 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 was promptly referred to a committee of three, to be 
 joined by the House. In the House an attempt was 
 made to prevent even a reference. But after con- 
 siderable discussion this was almost unanimously 
 voted down, and a committee of four members was 
 joined to that already appointed by the Senate, and 
 all the petitions, together with a remonstrance from 
 Williams College, were referred to this joint com- 
 mittee. 
 
 On Monday, May 3ist, President Humphrey ap- 
 peared before the joint committee, and, in the pres- 
 ence of a crowd of spectators, pleaded the cause of 
 the petitioners in a speech which was as entertaining 
 as it was unanswerable, and which Hon. Lewis 
 Strong, of Northampton, a competent and impartial 
 judge, pronounced to be probably the ablest speech 
 which was made in the State House during that ses- 
 sion of the Legislature. On the following day, 
 after an examination of witnesses, Homer Bartlett, 
 Esq., of Williamstown, appeared on the part of the 
 opposition and spoke against the incorporation, and 
 was followed by Hon. Mr. Davis, solicitor-general 
 of the State, in an able and eloquent plea in favor of 
 granting the charter. On Thursday, the committee 
 reported that the petitioners have leave to bring in a 
 bill. This report was brought before the Senate the 
 same day, and accepted without any opposition. On 
 Friday, the subject was taken up in the House, and, 
 after considerable debate, assigned to eleven o'clock 
 on Tuesday of the ensuing week. Thus the consid- 
 eration of the matter was put off to within five days 
 of the close of the session. When it came up again 
 on Tuesday, a desperate effort was made to secure 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 53 
 
 first an indefinite postponement, and then a reference 
 to the next session. Both these motions having been 
 negatived by a large majority, the House adjourned 
 to four o'clock in the afternoon, when an animated 
 and earnest discussion ensued, which continued till 
 a late hour in the evening, and was resumed at nine 
 o'clock the next morning. 1 "It was strenuously 
 argued in opposition, chiefly by members from Berk- 
 shire and our own neighborhood, that a third college 
 was not wanted in Massachusetts; that according to 
 our own showing, we had not funds to sustain a col- 
 lege; that nothing like the amount presented on 
 paper would ever be realized; and that there was 
 reason to believe that many of the subscriptions had 
 been obtained by false representations." 3 
 
 Under the influence of such suggestions a resolu- 
 tion was brought forward to refer the report of the 
 joint committee, and all the papers relating to the 
 subject, to a committee of five members with power 
 to send for persons and papers, to sit at such time 
 and place as they should deem expedient, and to in- 
 quire in substance, first, what reliable funds the in- 
 stitution had ; second, what means had been resorted 
 to by the petitioners, or by persons acting in their 
 behalf, to procure subscriptions, and, third, what 
 
 1 One of the ablest advocates of the claims of the college, in 
 this debate, was Bradford Sumner, Esq., of Boston, who was, 
 I believe, a partner of Judge Hubbard, in the law. On the 
 other side, Rev. Mr. Mason, of Northfield, a rum -selling and 
 pugnacious Unitarian minister, read a speech an hour long, 
 which was full of scorn about "orthodoxy," "hopeful piety," 
 and "evangelizing the world." 
 
 2 Dr. Humphrey's Historical Sketches. 
 
54 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 methods had been adopted to obtain students; this 
 committee to report to the House at its next session. 
 After a warm discussion which lasted for three days, 
 and when nearly sixty of the members had already 
 gone to their homes, on the loth of June, 1824, this 
 resolution was adopted by a vote of one hundred and 
 nine to eighty-nine, and the committee of investi- 
 gation was appointed. 
 
 The committee, nominated by the chair, " were all 
 intelligent, fair-minded men, but not one of them 
 sympathized with us in our well-known orthodox re- 
 ligious opinions. This, we thought, might, uninten- 
 tionally on their part, operate against us. But in 
 the end it proved for our advantage. " l 
 
 The investigating committee having given notice 
 that they would meet at Boltwood's Hotel in Am- 
 herst, on Monday, the 4th of October, that was to be 
 the scene of the next act in the drama, and this part 
 of the story can not be better told than in the lan- 
 guage of Dr. Humphrey, who was the chief actor 
 in it. 
 
 " Rarely has there been a more thorough and 
 searching investigation. All our books and papers 
 were brought out and laid upon the table. Nothing 
 was withheld. Every subscription, note, and obliga- 
 tion was carefully examined, and hardly anything 
 passed without being protested by the able counsel 
 against us. Colonel Graves, our principal agent 
 in obtaining the subscriptions, was present and close- 
 ly questioned. A lawyer who had been employed 
 to look up testimony against us was there with the 
 affidavits which he had industriously collected, and, 
 
 1 Dr. Humphrey's Historical Sketches. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 55 
 
 at his request, a large number of subpoenas were sent 
 out to bring in dissatisfied subscribers. The trial 
 lasted a fortnight. The room was crowded from day 
 to day with anxious listeners. Were we to live or 
 die? Were we to have a charter, or to be forever 
 shut out from the sisterhood of colleges? That was 
 the question, and it caused many sleepless nights in 
 Amherst. Whatever might be the result, we cheer- 
 fully acknowledged that the committee had con- 
 ducted the investigation with exemplary patience 
 and perfect fairness. When the papers were all dis- 
 posed of, the case was ably summed up by the coun- 
 sel, and the committee adjourned. 
 
 " Many incidents occurred in the progress of the 
 investigation which kept up the interest, and some 
 of which were very amusing, but I have room for 
 only two. Among our subscriptions there was a very 
 long list, amounting to several hundred dollars, of 
 sums under one dollar, and not a few of these by 
 females and children under age. On these, it was 
 obvious at a glance, there might be very considerable 
 loss. This advantage against us could not escape 
 gentlemen so astute as our learned opponents. It 
 was reported, and I believe it was true, that they sat 
 up nearly all night drawing off names and figuring, 
 so as to be ready for the morning. Getting an ink- 
 ling of what they were about, three of our trustees 
 drew up an obligation, assuming the whole amount, 
 whatever it might be, and had it in readiness to meet 
 the expected report. 1 The morning came; the ses- 
 
 1 A copy of this obligation is still preserved. The names 
 of the trustees affixed are J. E. Trask, Nathaniel Smith, and 
 John Fiske. 
 
56 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 sion was opened; the parties were present; the 
 gentlemen who had taken so much pains to astound 
 the committee by their discovery were just about 
 laying it on the table, when the obligation assuming 
 the whole amount was laid on the table by one of the 
 subscribers. I leave the reader to imagine the scene 
 of disappointment on the one side and of suppressed 
 cheering on the other. It turned out to be a fair 
 money operation in our favor. 
 
 " The other incident was still more amusing. 
 When the notes came up to pass the ordeal of in- 
 quiry and protest, one of a hundred dollars was pro- 
 duced from a gentleman in Danvers. 'Who is this 
 Mr. P.?' demanded one of the lawyers. 'Who 
 knows anything about his responsibility?' 'Will 
 you let me look at that note, sir?' said Mr. S. V. S. 
 Wilder, one of our trustees. After looking at it for 
 a moment, taking a package of bank-bills from his 
 pocket he said: 'Mr. Chairman, I will cash that 
 note,' and laid down the money. It was not long 
 before another note was protested in the same way. 
 'Let me look at it,' said Mr. Wilder. 'I will cash it, 
 sir, ' and he laid another bank-bill upon the table. 
 By and by a third note was objected to. 'I will cash 
 it, sir, ' said Mr. Wilder, and was handing over the 
 money when the chairman interposed: 'Sir, we did 
 not come here to raise money for Amherst College, ' 
 and declined receiving it. How long Mr. Wilder' s 
 package would have held out I do not know, but the 
 scene produced a lively sensation all around the 
 board, and very few protests were offered afterwards. 
 
 "The appointment of this commission proved a 
 real windfall to the institution. It gave the trus- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 57 
 
 tees opportunity publicly to vindicate themselves 
 against the aspersions which had been industriously 
 cast upon them, and it constrained them to place 
 the charity fund on a sure foundation. The in- 
 vestigation, to be sure, cost us some time and trouble, 
 but it was worth more to us than a new subscription 
 of ten thousand dollars." l 
 
 On the 8th of January, 1825, the question was 
 called up in the House, and the report of the inves- 
 tigating committee was presented and read. After 
 reporting the results of their investigations in the 
 matters of fact referred to them, wherein they for the 
 most part exonerate the trustees, officers, and agents of 
 the institution of the charges against them, the com- 
 mittee said in conclusion : " The refusal of the Leg- 
 islature to grant a college charter to Amherst will 
 not, it is believed, prevent its progress. Whenever 
 there is an opinion in the community that any portion 
 of citizens are persecuted (whether this opinion is 
 well or ill grounded) the public sympathies are di- 
 rected to them ; and instead of sinking under opposi- 
 tion they almost invariably flourish and gain new 
 strength from opposition. Your committee are 
 therefore of opinion that any further delay to the in- 
 corporation of the Amherst institution would very 
 much increase the excitement which exists in the com- 
 munity on this subject, and have a tendency to in- 
 terrupt those harmonious feelings which now prevail 
 and prevent that union of action so essential to the 
 just influence of the State." 
 
 1 In these quotations from Dr. Humphrey, I have followed in- 
 discriminately his Historical Sketches and his address in 1853, 
 according as the one or the other was the more full and graphic. 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
58 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 After repeated consideration and adjournment, 
 with protracted and earnest debate day after day in 
 the House, the question of accepting the report of the 
 committee and giving leave to bring in a bill was at 
 length brought to a vote on the 28th of January, and 
 the yeas and nays being ordered, it was decided in 
 the affirmative by a vote of one hundred and fourteen 
 to ninety-five. The next day, January 29th, the 
 Senate concurred with the House. And on the 2ist 
 of February, 1825, the bill, having been variously 
 amended, passed to be enacted in both branches of 
 the Legislature, and having received the signature 
 of the lieutenant-governor, Marcus Morton, on the 
 same day, became a law. Thus, after a delay of 
 three years and a half from the opening, and a strug- 
 gle of more than two years from the time of the first 
 petition, the institution at Amh erst received a charter 
 and was admitted to a name as well as a place among 
 the colleges of Massachusetts. 
 
 The charter conferred upon the corporation the 
 rights and privileges usually granted to the trustees 
 of such institutions. Two or three provisions only 
 were peculiar, and as such worthy of notice. The 
 charter provides that the number of trustees shall 
 never be greater than seventeen, and that the five 
 vacancies which shall first happen in the board shall 
 be filled as they occur by the joint ballots of the 
 Legislature in convention of both houses ; and when- 
 ever any person so chosen by the Legislature shall 
 cease to be a member of the corporation, his place 
 shall be filled in like manner, and so on forever. 
 This provision, quite unprecedented in the history of 
 Massachusetts charters, was not in the bill as first 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 59 
 
 reported, but was introduced as an amendment in the 
 course of the discussion. It was as illiberal as it 
 was unprecedented. It should be remembered, how- 
 ever, to the credit of subsequent Legislatures, that 
 they usually appointed to such vacancies according to 
 the nomination or the known wishes of the corpora- 
 tion, and in no instance filled them with persons ob- 
 noxious to the faculty and friends of the institution, 
 and in 1874, the Legislature passed an act provid- 
 ing that the five trustees heretofore chosen by the 
 Legislature shall hereafter be chosen by the gradu- 
 ates, subject to such rules, as may be adopted by the 
 board of trustees and the alumni association. Ac- 
 cording to these rules, these trustees are chosen one 
 every year and hold office for five years, thus provid- 
 ing for the continual infusion of fresh blood from the 
 alumni into the corporation. 
 
 It was a glad day for Amherst when the charter 
 was secured. President Humphrey and his asso- 
 ciates, who had remained in Boston watching with 
 intense anxiety the progress of the bill, returned 
 home with light hearts. The messenger who first 
 brought the news was taken from the stage and car- 
 ried to the hotel by the citizens. The hotel, the col- 
 lege buildings, and the houses of the citizens were 
 illuminated, and the village and the college alike 
 were a scene of universal rejoicing. 
 
 On the 1 3th of April, the trustees under the charter 
 held their first meeting in Amherst, organized the 
 board and appointed the faculty. The first annual 
 meeting of the board under the charter was held on 
 the 22d of August, 1825, which was the Monday pre- 
 ceding commencement. At this meeting a code of 
 
60 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 laws was established for the government of the col- 
 lege, 1 a system of by-laws adopted to regulate the 
 proceedings of the trustees and their officers, and 
 the organization of the faculty was changed by the 
 establishment of new professorships and completed 
 by the choice of additional professors. The salary 
 of the president was fixed at twelve hundred dollars 
 with the usual perquisites. The salaries of the pro- 
 fessors, as they were voted at the first meeting of the 
 board, varied from eight hundred dollars to six hun- 
 dred dollars. At the annual meeting, those which 
 had been voted at six hundred dollars were raised to 
 seven hundred dollars. 2 Rev. Edward Hitchcock 
 was chosen professor of chemistry and natural his- 
 tory, with a salary of seven hundred dollars and the 
 privilege of being excused for one year from per- 
 forming such duties of a professor as he might be 
 unable to perform " on account of his want of full 
 health." Mr. Jacob Abbott was appointed professor 
 of mathematics and natural philosophy, with a salary 
 of eight hundred dollars, "one hundred of which, 
 however, are to be appropriated by him annually, 
 with the advice of the other members of the faculty, 
 toward making repairs and additions to the philo- 
 sophical apparatus." Mr. Ebenezer S. Snell was 
 
 1 These laws were essentially the same which had been pre- 
 viously established for the government of the Charity Institu- 
 tion. They seem to have been drawn up by Dr. Humphrey, 
 in whose handwriting the original copy still exists. 
 
 2 At the annual meeting in 1827, it was voted that the pro- 
 fessors receive each a salary of eight hundred dollars : and, 
 as a rule, the professors have ever since all received the same 
 salary. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 6 1 
 
 chosen tutor in mathematics with a salary of four 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 It was now voted to confer the degree of Bachelor 
 of Arts on " any young gentlemen who have previ- 
 ously received testimonials of their college course in 
 this college. " The same degree was then voted to 
 be conferred on twenty-two young gentlemen of the 
 senior class (1825) who had been recommended by the 
 faculty. 
 
 The seal which was affixed to the diplomas was 
 procured by the president and professors, to whom 
 that duty was assigned by the trustees at their first 
 meeting, and being approved and adopted by them 
 at their first annual meeting, it has remained ever 
 since the corporate seal of the college. The device 
 is a sun and a Bible illuminating a globe by their 
 united radiance, with the motto underneath: " Terras 
 Irradient. " Around the whole run the words : " SIGILL. 
 COLL. AMHERST. MASS. Nov. ANG. MDCCCXXV." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 A PERIOD OF RAPID GROWTH, 1825-36 FIRST SCIEN- 
 TIFIC COURSE THE CHAPEL BUILDING UNSUCCESSFUL 
 
 APPEALS TO THE LEGISLATURE HOURS AND FINES 
 THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE. 
 
 THE year which began in September, 1825, was the 
 first entire collegiate year of Amherst College. With 
 this year our history enters on a new epoch. The 
 new organization of the faculty dates from this time, 
 since not only the new officers now commenced the 
 duties of their office, but those who had been mem- 
 bers of the faculty before had hitherto served the col- 
 lege for their old salaries and in their old depart- 
 ments. The faculty at this time was constituted as 
 follows: Rev. Heman Humphrey, D.D., president, 
 professor of mental and moral philosophy and pro- 
 fessor of divinity; Rev. Edward Hitchcock, A.M., 
 professor of chemistry and natural history; Rev. 
 Jonas King, A.M., professor of oriental literature; 
 Rev. Nathan W. Fiske, A.M., professor of the Greek 
 language and literature, and professor of belles- 
 lettres; Rev. Solomon Peck, A.M., professor of the 
 Hebrew and Latin languages and literature; Sam- 
 uel M. Worcester, A.M., professor of rhetoric and 
 oratory; Jacob Abbott, A.M., professor of mathe- 
 matics and natural philosophy; Ebenezer S. Snell, 
 A.M., tutor of mathematics. The first catalogue 
 which bears the names of this faculty was printed 
 
 62 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 63 
 
 in October, 1825, by Carter & Adams, who established 
 the first printing-press in the town in 1825. The 
 catalogues, which had hitherto been printed abroad, 
 were henceforth printed in Amherst. 
 
 On the catalogue for 1825, John Leland, Esq., ap- 
 pears as treasurer, and Rufus Graves as financier. 
 In 1826 the constitution of the charity fund was so 
 altered by the concurrent action of the board of trus- 
 tees and the board of overseers in the manner pro- 
 vided for in article 13, that the office of financier of 
 that fund and that of treasurer of the college could 
 be united in one person; and from 1826 John Leland 
 was both treasurer and financier till 1833, when 
 Lucius Boltwood was appointed financier and John 
 Leland retained the office of treasurer. 
 
 From one hundred and twenty-six, in 1823, the 
 number of students increased, the next year, to one 
 hundred and thirty-six; in 1825 it rose to one hun- 
 dred and fifty-two, and from that time it went on in- 
 creasing pretty regularly, with a slight ebb in 1830 
 and 1831, for a period of eleven years, till rising to 
 its spring-tide in 1836, it reached an aggregate of 
 two hundred and fifty-nine. For two years Amherst 
 ranked above Harvard in the number of students, 
 and was second only to Yale. Thus was the senti- 
 ment of the committee of investigation confirmed, 
 that institutions almost always flourish under per- 
 secution whether apparent or real, and gain new 
 strength from opposition. 
 
 If we inquire into the causes of this rapid and ex- 
 traordinary growth of the college, the most obvious, 
 and, for a time, the most powerful, was unquestion- 
 ably the violent opposition which it encountered. 
 
64 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 This brought it into immediate notice in Massachu- 
 setts. This soon made it known and conspicuous 
 through the whole country. This enlisted the sym- 
 pathy and support not only of those who held the 
 same religious faith, but of all who love fair play 
 and hate even the appearance of persecution. Local 
 feeling, sectional jealousy, the envy of neighboring 
 towns and of parishes in the same town, the interest 
 of rival institutions, sectarian zeal and party spirit, 
 hostility to orthodoxy and hatred of evangelical re- 
 ligion, all united to oppose the founding, the incor- 
 poration, and the endowment of the college; and the 
 result was only to multiply its friends, increase the 
 number of students, and swell the tide which bore it 
 on to victory and prosperity. 
 
 In 1835, t wo years before the close of our period, 
 Jonathan B. Condit and Edwards A. Park became 
 professors. The former was connected with the col- 
 lege only three years, and the latter rendered the 
 service of only one ) r ear and one term. At the re- 
 signation of Professor Park, in 1836, Professor Fiske 
 was transferred from the Latin and Greek chair to 
 that of intellectual and moral philosophy, and W. 
 S. Tyler was chosen professor of the Latin, Greek, 
 and Hebrew languages and literature. 
 
 The number of students was increased for a year 
 or two by the introduction of a new course of study 
 running parallel to the old. 
 
 This "parallel or equivalent course," as recom- 
 mended by the faculty, differed from the old, first, 
 in the prominence which was to be given to English 
 literature ; second, in the substitution of the modern 
 for the ancient languages, particularly the French 
 
(UNIVERSITY) 
 
 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 65 
 
 and Spanish, and should room be found hereafter, 
 German or Italian, or both, with particular attention 
 to the literature in these rich and popular languages; 
 third, in mechanical philosophy, by multiplying and 
 varying the experiments so as to render the science 
 more familiar and attractive; fourth, in chemistry 
 and other kindred branches of physical science, by 
 showing their application to the more useful arts and 
 trades, to the cultivation of the soil, and to domestic 
 economy; fifth, in a course of familiar lectures 
 upon curious and labor-saving machines, upon 
 bridges, locks, and aqueducts, and upon the different 
 orders of architecture, with models for illustration ; 
 sixth, in natural history, by devoting more time to 
 those branches which are now taught, and introduc- 
 ing others into the course; seventh, in modern 
 history, especially the history of the Puritans, in 
 connection with the civil and ecclesiastical history of 
 our own country; eighth, in the elements of civil 
 and political law, embracing the careful study of 
 the American constitutions, to which may be added 
 drawing and civil engineering. 
 
 Ancient history, geography, grammar, rhetoric, 
 and oratory, mathematics, natural, intellectual and 
 moral philosophy, anatomy, political economy and 
 theology, according to the plan, were to be common 
 to both courses. The requirements for admission 
 were also to be the same for both courses, not ex- 
 cepting the present amount of Latin and Greek, 
 and the faculty strenuously insisted that the new 
 course should be fully " equivalent" to the old, that 
 it should fill up as many years, should be carried on 
 by as able instructors, should take as wide and ele- 
 
66 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 vated a range, should require as great an amount of 
 hard study or mental discipline, and should be re- 
 warded by the same academic honors. 
 
 Besides the new parallel or equivalent course, the 
 faculty earnestly recommended a new department for 
 systematic instruction in the science of education, 
 and they further suggested a department of theoreti- 
 cal and practical mechanics. 
 
 At a meeting of the board in December, 1826, 
 they adopted the new system substantially as recom- 
 mended by the faculty, and not long after the 
 faculty drew up a plan of the studies, arranged in 
 parallel columns wherever the two courses differed, 
 and published it, together with other matter usually 
 contained in the annual catalogue, and announced 
 that this system was expected to go into operation at 
 the beginning of the next ensuing collegiate year. 
 
 At the commencement of that year (1827-28) 
 the whole number of students rose from one hun- 
 dred and seventy to two hundred and nine, and the 
 freshman class, which the previous year contained 
 fifty-one, now numbered sixty-seven, of whom eigh- 
 teen are set down on the catalogue as students " in 
 modern languages." So far forth the experiment 
 promised well. In regard to the number of students, 
 it was at least a fair beginning. But now com- 
 menced the difficulties in the execution of the plan. 
 These were found to be far greater than the trus- 
 tees or the faculty had anticipated. The teacher of 
 modern languages, a native of France, was not very 
 successful in teaching, and was quite incapable of 
 maintaining order in his class, so that the faculty 
 were compelled to appoint one of the professors to 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 6/ 
 
 preside at his recitations. The professors and tutors 
 on whom it devolved to give the additional instruc- 
 tion, although willing, as they declared in their re- 
 port, "to take upon themselves additional burdens," 
 had their hands full already with other duties, and 
 found unexpected difficulties in organizing and con- 
 ducting the new course of studies. The college was 
 not sufficiently manned for the work it had under- 
 taken, and was too poor to furnish an adequate 
 faculty. Truth also probably requires the state- 
 ment that the new course, which was the favorite 
 scheme of one of the professors, was never very 
 heartily adopted by the rest of the faculty, who, 
 therefore, worked in and for it with far less courage 
 and enthusiasm than they did in the studies of the 
 old curriculum. Moreover they discovered, as the 
 year advanced, that the new plan was not received 
 by the public with so much favor as had been ex- 
 pected, that they had probably overestimated the 
 popular demand for the modern languages and the 
 physical sciences in collegiate education. The stu- 
 dents of the new course were not slow to perceive all 
 these facts. They soon discovered the fact, whatever 
 might be the cause, that they were not obtaining an 
 education which was in reality equivalent to that 
 obtained by other students. 
 
 The next year, 1828, the freshman class fell back 
 to fifty-two, just about the number of two years be- 
 fore; and of these so few wished, or particularly 
 cared, to join the new course, that there was no divi- 
 sion organized in the modern languages. Those 
 who had entered the previous year, gradually fell 
 back into the regular course. The catalogue for the 
 
68 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 year 1828-29 retains no trace of the new plan, ex- 
 cept the parallel columns of the old and new courses 
 of studies. At their annual meeting in 1829, the 
 trustees voted to dispense with the parallel course 
 in admitting students hereafter, and made French 
 one of the regular studies. At the same meeting, the 
 professor who was the father of the scheme resigned 
 his professorship. Thus not a vestige of the experi- 
 ment remained, except that the class with which it 
 was introduced graduated in 1831 the largest class 
 that had ever left the institution. Thus ended the 
 first attempt to introduce the modern languages and 
 the physical sciences as an equivalent of the time- 
 honored system of classical culture in our American 
 colleges. The plan, as it was presented in the reports 
 of the faculty, was exceedingly attractive and prom- 
 ising, and with ampler means and under more favor- 
 able circumstances might probably have been sus- 
 tained and thus anticipated by half a century much of 
 the success which now attends our elective courses. 
 
 With so large a number of students, and that num- 
 ber constantly and rapidly increasing, the officers of 
 the college soon found the place too strait for them, 
 and began very naturally to look about for more 
 ample accommodations. The most immediate and 
 pressing want was felt to be that of a more conven- 
 ient and suitable place of worship. " When I entered 
 upon my office, in 1823," says President Humphrey, 
 "the students worshipped on the Sabbath in the old 
 parish meeting-house on the hill. I soon found that 
 the young men of the society felt themselves crowded 
 by the students, and there were increasing symptoms 
 from Sabbath to Sabbath of collision and disturbance. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 69 
 
 I accordingly told the trustees that I thought it would 
 be safest and best for us to withdraw and worship by 
 ourselves in one of the college buildings till a chapel 
 could be built for permanent occupancy. They au- 
 thorized us to do so, and I have never doubted the 
 expediency of the change on this and even more im- 
 portant grounds." l 
 
 The chief reason which the venerable ex-president 
 in his " Historical Sketches" proceeds to urge in favor 
 of a separate congregation and place of worship for 
 students, is the greater appropriateness, directness, 
 and impressiveness of the preaching which can thus 
 be addressed to them. He deemed it a great loss of 
 moral power to preach to students scattered among 
 a large mixed congregation. 
 
 But the old chapel, laboratory, and lecture-room, 
 and room for every other use, in the upper story of 
 North College, could not long accommodate the 
 growing number of students, even for morning and 
 evening prayers, still less the congregation for Sab- 
 bath worship. The subject of a new chapel came 
 before the board of trustees at their first meeting 
 under the charter. They were encouraged to con- 
 sider the subject and form some plans in respect to 
 it by a legacy of some four thousand dollars or more 
 which Adam Johnson of Pelham had left to the col- 
 lege for the express purpose of erecting such a build- 
 ing. But his will had been disallowed by the Judge 
 of Probate, and an appeal from his decision was now 
 pending in the Supreme Court. At this time, there- 
 fore, they only voted that in case the will should be 
 
 1 Historical Sketches in manuscript. 
 
70 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 established, the prudential committee be instructed 
 to proceed with all convenient dispatch in the erec- 
 tion of a chapel building. They furthermore au- 
 thorized that committee to borrow any further sum of 
 money which they might deem requisite for that 
 purpose, not exceeding six thousand dollars. "At 
 the annual meeting in August, 1825, the call for a 
 chapel and other public accommodations had become 
 too urgent to be postponed without sacrificing the in- 
 terests of the college. In this emergency the trus- 
 tees could not hesitate. They saw but one course, 
 and they promptly empowered the prudential com- 
 mittee to contract for the erection of a chapel build- 
 ing," 1 and also a third college edifice, if they deemed 
 it expedient, at the same time authorizing them to 
 borrow such sums of money as might be necessary 
 therefor, of the charity fund, of banks, or of indi- 
 viduals. 
 
 The work on the Chapel was commenced early in 
 the spring of 1826, and so far completed in the 
 course of the season that on the 28th of February, 
 1827, it was dedicated. Dr. Humphrey preached 
 the dedication sermon. His text was: "Hitherto 
 hath the Lord helped us." "Five years ago," he 
 says, "there was one building for the accommoda- 
 tion of between fifty and sixty students ; four years 
 ago there were between ninety and a hundred young 
 men here ; one year ago, there were a hundred and 
 fifty ; and now there are a hundred and seventy. It 
 is scarcely two years since the seminary was char- 
 tered, and yet I believe that in the number of under- 
 
 1 Dr. Humphrey's dedication sermon. 
 
cc 
 O 
 
 I 
 O 
 
 UJ 
 
 I 
 h- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 71 
 
 graduates it now holds the third or fourth rank in 
 the long list of American colleges! God forbid that 
 this statement should excite any but grateful emo- 
 tions. It is meet that we should carefully look over 
 this ground to-day, that the inscription may be indeli- 
 bly engraved on our hearts * Hitherto hath the Lord 
 helped us.' " 
 
 Meanwhile the decision of the Judge of Pro- 
 bate had been reversed, and the will of Adam 
 Jolmson established by the Supreme Court and, 
 at the annual meeting of the board in August, 
 1828, it was voted that in testimony of their grateful 
 remembrance of his munificent donation, the apart- 
 ment occupied as a chapel should forever be called 
 Johnson Chapel, and that the President be requested 
 to have the words, "Johnson Chapel, " inserted in 
 large and distinct characters over the middle door 
 or principal entrance of the apartment. 
 
 Besides the chapel proper, the chapel building 
 contained originally four recitation -rooms, a room 
 for philosophical apparatus, and a cabinet for miner- 
 als on the lower floor, two recitation-rooms on the 
 second floor, a library room on the third floor, and a 
 laboratory in the basement. These recitation-rooms 
 were named after the departments to which they 
 were appropriated, for example, the Greek, Latin, 
 mathematical or tablet l rooms on the first floor, and 
 the rhetorical and theological rooms on the second, 
 and they were far in advance of the recitation-rooms 
 of the older colleges in size, beauty, and convenience. 
 The college library was soon removed from the 
 
 1 So called because the walls were covered with blackboards. 
 6 
 
72 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 fourth story of North College to the room intended 
 for it in the third story of the Chapel, and the room 
 not being half filled by it, the remaining half, viz., 
 the shelves on either side of the door, were for 
 some time set apart respectively for the libraries of 
 the Alexandrian and Athenian societies. When bet- 
 ter accommodations were furnished many years later 
 for the mineral cabinet, the recitation-rooms l of Prof. 
 R. H. Mather and Prof. J. H. Seelye took the place 
 of the tablet room, the old cabinet, and a part of the 
 adjoining entry, and the rhetorical and theological 
 rooms gave place to the small chapel. And when 
 Williston Hall provided for the chemical department, 
 the old laboratory, so long the scene of Professor 
 Hitchcock's brilliant experiments and coruscations of 
 genius, was given up to storage and other neces- 
 sary but comparatively ignoble uses. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the trustees in August, 
 1827, it was voted that the prudential committee be 
 directed to take immediate measures for erecting 
 another college building for the accommodation of 
 the students, similar to those already erected, and 
 cause the same to be completed as soon as may be, 
 provided that in their judgment a suitable site for 
 such building can be obtained. 
 
 The site was soon selected, and before the com- 
 mencement of another collegiate year, the building 
 was completed so as to be occupied by students for 
 
 1 Now occupied by Professor Richardson and Professor Mon- 
 tague. Professor Cowles now occupies the old mathematical 
 room, so long the scene of Professor Snell's recitations and 
 lectures. The lower story of the chapel building is now devot- 
 ed entirely to ancient and modern languages (1894) . 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 73 
 
 the year 1828-29. This new dormitory was better 
 adapted to promote the health, comfort, and conven- 
 ience of students, especially in its well-lighted and 
 ventilated bed-rooms, and its ample closets, than 
 either of the other buildings, and was perhaps a bet- 
 ter dormitory, as being built on a better plan, than 
 any that then existed in any other college. It had, 
 however, the disadvantage of running east and west, 
 instead of north and south, so that the rooms on the 
 north side were never visited by the sun, and no 
 such rooms are fit to be inhabited. Still it was for 
 many years the favorite dormitory and its rooms 
 were the first choice of members of the upper classes, 
 not a few of whom, on their return to Amherst, look 
 in vain for the North College of their day * as the 
 centre of some of their most sacred associations. In 
 the winter of 1857 it was destroyed by fire, and its 
 site is now occupied by Williston Hall. 
 
 It was in connection with the site of North Col- 
 lege that the process of grading the college grounds 
 began, which, during so many years in the poverty 
 of the college, was carried forward by the hands of 
 the students, sometimes by individuals working out 
 of study hours, and sometimes by a whole class vol- 
 unteering to devote a half-day or a whole day to the 
 work. Or, if the process began earlier, we now 
 find it receiving a special and grateful recognition 
 on the records of the trustees, who, at their annual 
 meeting in August, 1827, "having noticed with 
 much satisfaction the improvements made in the 
 
 1 From 1828 to 1857, this was called North College, and the 
 present North was called Middle College during the same 
 period. 
 
74 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 college grounds, and hearing that these were effected 
 principally by the voluntary labors of the students," 
 passed a vote expressing the " pleasure they felt in 
 view of these self-denying and benevolent exertions 
 to add to the beauty and convenience of the institu- 
 tion." The same enterprise and public spirit also 
 gave birth soon after to a gymnasium in the grove, a 
 bathing establishment at the well, and a college band, 
 which, for many years, furnished music at exhibi- 
 tions, commencements, and other public occasions. 
 
 During the summer term of 1828, the students, with 
 the approbation of the faculty, organized a sort of 
 interior government, supplementary to that of the 
 faculty, and designed to secure more perfect order 
 and quietness in the institution. A legislative body, 
 called the " House of Students," enacted laws for the 
 protection of the buildings, for the security of the 
 grounds, for the better observance of study hours, 
 and similar matters. Then a court, with a regularly 
 organized bench, bar, and constabulary, enforced the 
 execution of the laws, tried offenders in due form 
 and process, and inflicted the penalties affixed to 
 their violation. The plan worked smoothly and use- 
 fully for about two years, but at length a certain 
 class of students grew restive under the restraints 
 and penalties which were imposed ; for 
 
 None e'er felt the halter draw 
 With good opinion of the law. 
 
 And in 1830, after a most animated, and on one 
 side quite impassioned, discussion in the whole body 
 of the students, a small majority of votes was ob- 
 tained against it, and the system was abolished. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 75 
 
 Our readers will see in the House of Students an an- 
 ticipation of the later College Senate. 
 
 When the Chapel and North College were finished, 
 the trustees found themselves deeply in debt. In- 
 deed the college came into existence as a chartered 
 institution with a debt of eighteen thousand dollars, 
 the greater part of which, however, was liquidated 
 by the thirty thousand dollar subscription. The 
 erection of the Chapel added some eleven thousand 
 dollars to the burden. 1 North College cost ten 
 thousand dollars more. The purchase of the lot of 
 land belonging to the estate of Dr. Parsons, on 
 which the president's house and the library now 
 stand, and the share taken in the new village church 
 that the college might have a place to hold its com- 
 mencements, swelled the sum still higher. 
 
 An effort was made to meet this indebtedness at 
 the time by private subscriptions and donations, 2 
 but the amount raised in this way was not even 
 sufficient to pay the bills for North College. For 
 the remaining and now constantly increasing indebt- 
 edness, no resource seemed to be left but an appeal 
 to the Legislature. The first application to the 
 Legislature for pecuniary aid was made in the win- 
 ter session of 1827. The petition signed by Presi- 
 dent Humphrey, in behalf of the trustees, sets forth 
 the pressing necessities of the institution, and how 
 they had arisen, asks nothing more than the means 
 
 1 The building cost fifteen thousand dollars, four thousand 
 of which was contributed by the Johnson legacy. 
 
 2 It was in this effort that Rev. Mr. Vaill was first appointed 
 agent of the college with a salary of eight hundred dollars, 
 viz., at the annual meeting of the trustees in August, 1829. 
 
76 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 of defraying the expenses already incurred for the 
 accommodation of its increasing number of pupils, 
 and such further aids and facilities for the communi- 
 cation of knowledge as are indispensable to its con- 
 tinued prosperit)", and urges no claim except the un- 
 paralleled private munificence and individual efforts 
 by which it has been sustained, and the duty de- 
 volved upon the Legislature by the constitution, 
 and cheerfully discharged by them in reference to 
 the other colleges of the state, to foster institutions 
 of learning established by their authority, and gov- 
 erned in no small measure by trustees of their own 
 choice. This petition was referred to a committee of 
 both houses, who gave the petitioners a patient hear- 
 ing, and manifested a willingness on their part to aid 
 the college, but " they found the state of the public 
 finances incompatible with such aid," and hence felt 
 constrained to make an unfavorable report. This re- 
 port was accepted by both houses, and there the 
 matter rested for four years. 
 
 In the winter session of 1831, the trustees came 
 before the General Court again with substantially 
 the same petition, made more urgent by increasing 
 necessities, but only to meet with substantially the 
 same result. The committee, consisting of Messrs. 
 Gray and Lincoln of Worcester, from the Senate, and 
 Messrs. Baylie of Taunton, Marston of Newbury- 
 port, and Williams of Northampton, from the House, 
 recognized the necessities of the institution, as also 
 its merits and success. Indeed they made an admir- 
 able argument in favor of a grant, but, with a non 
 sequitur which surprises the reader, they concluded 
 with a recommendation that for the present, at least, 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 77 
 
 the grant shall be withheld The last two sentences 
 of their report read as follows- "The degree of 
 public estimation which the college enjoys is evi- 
 denced by the unexampled success which has attended 
 the exertions of its officers, and which has placed it, 
 as regards the number of its pupils, in the third rank 
 among the colleges of the United States. Your 
 committee are not unmindful of the obligation which 
 the constitution imposes on the Legislature to cher- 
 ish and foster seminaries of learning, and if the 
 present state of the treasury would justify it, they 
 would not hesitate to recommend that a liberal en- 
 dowment should be granted to Amherst ; but under 
 existing circumstances it is their opinion that the 
 further consideration of the petition of Amherst 
 College for pecuniary aid be referred to the first 
 session of the next General Court." This report 
 met the prompt acceptance of the Senate, and, on 
 the same day, the concurrence of the House. 
 
 At the first session of the next General Court, which 
 commenced in May, 1831, the petition of the trustees 
 and the report of the committee of the last Legisla- 
 ture were referred to a joint committee, consisting of 
 Messrs. Lincoln and Brooks, of the Senate, and Messrs. 
 Huntington of Salem, Bowman of New Braintree, 
 and Hayes of South Hadley, of the House, who were 
 unanimously of the opinion that the public interest 
 required that pecuniary aid be afforded to Amherst 
 College, and submitted a resolve for that purpose. 
 The resolve gave the college fifty thousand dollars 
 in semi-annual instalments of two thousand five 
 hundred dollars each, but, owing to the shortness of 
 the summer session, the subject was again postponed. 
 
78 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 The state being now in funds, it was not doubted 
 that a grant would be obtained as soon as the Gen- 
 eral Court could have time to act deliberately upon 
 the subject. Accordingly a new petition was drawn 
 up by authority of the trustees and presented in 
 January, 1832. It was referred to a highly respecta- 
 ble committee, who adopted substantially the favor- 
 able report of previous committees, and unanimously 
 submitted the same resolve. 
 
 When their report came before the House for dis- 
 cussion in committee of the whole, the college was 
 attacked with great acrimony on the one hand, and 
 defended with distinguished magnanimity and ability 
 on the other. Mr. Foster of Brimfield, Mr. Buck- 
 ingham of Boston, Mr. Bliss of Springfield, and Mr. 
 Calhoun of Springfield, who was a trustee and who 
 was then speaker of the House, spoke ably and elo- 
 quently in the defence. Others desired to be heard 
 on the same side. But the majority was impatient 
 for "the question." The vote was taken. It went 
 against the college with "fearful odds," and on mo- 
 tion of Mr. Sturgis of Boston the whole subject was 
 indefinitely postponed. Thus, after a suspense of 
 five ) r ears, during which they had obtained the fa- 
 vorable reports of four successive committees of the 
 Legislature, were the hopes of the trustees blasted 
 in a moment, and the debts of the college returned 
 upon them with a weight which it was impossible 
 any longer to sustain. 
 
 After this result no time was lost in calling a spe- 
 cial meeting of the trustees to consider what was 
 to be done in this critical emergency. The board 
 met on the 6th of March. It was an anxious day, 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 79 
 
 and direction was sought of Him who had hitherto 
 succored the college in all its perils. Letters full 
 of hope and encouragement were read from influen- 
 tial friends in different parts of the State, urging 
 them without delay to appeal to the public for the 
 aid which the Legislature had so ungraciously re- 
 fused. They accordingly resolved to make an im- 
 mediate appeal to the friends of the college, asking 
 for fifty thousand dollars as the least sum which 
 would relieve it from debt and future embarrassment. 
 A committee of their own body, consisting of the 
 president, Hon. Samuel Lathrop and Hon. William 
 B. Banister, was appointed to publish the appeal, and 
 President Humphrey, Professor Fiske, Rev. Joseph 
 Vaill, Rev. Sylvester Holmes of New Bedford, Rev. 
 Calvin Hitchcock of Randolph, and Rev. Richard S. 
 Storrs of Braintree, were appointed agents to solicit 
 subscriptions. 
 
 The appeal met with a prompt and hearty re- 
 sponse. The people of Amherst put their shoulders 
 again to the wheel and raised three thousand dollars 
 they had given little short of twenty thousand 
 dollars in money before. President Humphrey vis- 
 ited Boston the first week in April, and in a few days 
 had raised a subscription of seven thousand dollars 
 there. A subscription was started spontaneously 
 among the Amherst alumni at Andover fifty-seven 
 out of one hundred and fifty-three students at An- 
 dover at this time were alumni of Amherst and 
 they in their poverty subscribed from ten to twenty- 
 five dollars apiece. 
 
 Under the influence of such arguments and appeals, 
 evangelical Christians through the State rallied to 
 
80 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 its support with such cordial good will that we 
 find them congratulating each other and the college 
 on the rejection of its petition by the Legislature. 
 At the commencement in August it was announced 
 that thirty thousand dollars had been subscribed. It 
 was feared that the remaining twenty thousand dol- 
 lars would come with great difficulty, but the 
 work went bravely on to its completion, and on 
 the last day of the year, December 31, 1832, the 
 news being received that the whole sum was made up 
 and the subscription was complete, the students ex- 
 pressed their joy in the evening by ringing the bells 
 and an illumination of the college buildings, thus 
 celebrating with the beginning of a new year what 
 they believed to be a new era in the history of the 
 college. 
 
 During the presidency of Dr. Moore, and the first 
 ten years of Dr. Humphrey's administration, the old- 
 fashioned system continued unchanged, according to 
 which morning prayers and the morning recitation 
 were not only held before breakfast, but were held at 
 hours varying from month to month, sometimes 
 changing almost from week to week, according to the 
 season of the year, so as to bring the recitation at 
 the earliest hour at which it could well be heard by 
 daylight. The breakfast hour was thus very late in 
 midwinter, and yet the light in cloudy weather was 
 often very imperfect for the morning recitation. 
 In 1833, by vote of the faculty, the bell for morn- 
 ing prayers was fixed at a quarter before five in sum- 
 mer and a quarter before six in winter. And this 
 was done at the request of the students, a large ma- 
 jority of whom petitioned for the change. This fact 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 8 1 
 
 is worthy of note, as illustrating the character and 
 spirit of the students at the time. And the arrange- 
 ment of recitations and study hours, which was thus 
 introduced, and which continued for many years, was, 
 in some respects, preferable either to that which pre- 
 ceded, or to any which has followed it. The student's 
 working day was thus divided into three nearly equal 
 parts, in each of which two or three hours were set 
 apart for study, and each period of study-hours was 
 followed immediately by a recitation. Recitations 
 at intervening and irregular hours were carefully 
 avoided, and in order to avoid them, the tutors, and 
 to some extent the professors, did not confine them- 
 selves to one department, but heard different divi- 
 sions of the same class at the same hour, in the 
 morning perhaps in Greek, at noon in Latin, and in 
 the afternoon in mathematics. 
 
 The observance of study-hours was enforced with 
 much strictness by college pains and penalties, 
 among which fines were perhaps the most frequent. 
 This was the day when fines were in vogue in all the 
 colleges, and when in Amherst College the system 
 rose to its highest (or sank to its lowest) pitch of 
 perfection. Fines were imposed for exercise or bath- 
 ing in study-hours, for playing on a musical instru- 
 ment, for firing a gun near the college buildings, for 
 attending the village church without permission. In 
 short, fines seem to have been the sovereign remedy 
 for all the ills that the college was heir to. The 
 records of the faculty in these days preserve the 
 memory of fines imposed on students who now adorn 
 some of the highest places at the bar, on the bench, 
 and in the pulpit, to say nothing of the medical pro- 
 
82 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 fession. This much at least may be said to the 
 credit of the faculty, that they were impartial in 
 their administration; for we find a vote recorded 
 imposing a fine of fifty cents a week on any member 
 of the faculty who should fail to visit every week 
 the rooms of the students assigned him for such pa- 
 rochial visitation! But Professor Fiske entered his 
 protest, and this vote was soon rescinded. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the trustees in 1832, a 
 change in the vacations, which had been discussed at 
 the two preceding annual meetings, was adopted, 
 and went into effect the next collegiate year. The 
 vacations had hitherto been four weeks from the 
 fourth Wednesday of August (commencement), six 
 weeks from the fourth Wednesday of December, and 
 three weeks from the second Wednesday of May. 
 They were now changed to six weeks from the 
 fourth Wednesday of August, two weeks from the 
 second Wednesday of January, and four weeks from 
 the first Wednesday of May. The most important 
 feature of the change was that the long vacation, 
 which had hitherto been in the winter, was hence- 
 forth to be in the autumn. The new arrangement 
 was ideally better, perhaps, both for officers and 
 students, inasmuch as the autumn is the pleasanter 
 season for recreation, and the winter more suitable 
 and convenient for study. But it was quite unsuit- 
 able and inconvenient for that large class of students 
 who had been accustomed to help themselves by 
 teaching in the winter. The trustees provided that 
 they might still be allowed to teach twelve weeks of 
 each college year, including either of the three va- 
 cations, and it was hoped that they might find select 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 83 
 
 schools in the fall as remunerative as common 
 schools in the winter. But the experiment proved 
 unsuccessful, and, after a trial of eight years, in 1840 
 the college returned to a modified and improved 
 plan, of which, however, the essential principle was 
 a long winter vacation. This plan was gradually 
 superseded by the present arrangement, which pro- 
 vides for a vacation of ten weeks in the summer. 
 
 At their annual meeting in 1833, the trustees 
 voted to relinquish the old practice of having a fore- 
 noon and afternoon session at commencement, sepa- 
 rated by the corporation dinner, and at the com- 
 mencement in 1834 the new system of one session 
 was introduced, which has ever since continued, to 
 the entire satisfaction of all concerned. 
 
 In consequence of some sickness in the president's 
 family, the impression prevailed that the president's 
 house, which was built for Dr. Moore in 1821, was 
 damp and unhealthy. At a special meeting of the 
 board in October, 1833, trie Trustees requested the 
 prudential committee to ascertain how much of the 
 recent fifty thousand dollar subscription would re- 
 main after the payment of the college debts, and in 
 case there should prove to be a sufficient balance, 
 they authorized the committee to make immediate 
 arrangements for the erection of a new house, at an 
 expense not exceeding five thousand dollars. On 
 investigation, the prudential committee estimated 
 that after discharging all debts there would be a bal- 
 ance in the treasury of about four thousand dollars, 
 which, with the sum realized by the sale of the old 
 house, would be sufficient to cover the expense of 
 the new. They accordingly sold the old house for 
 
84 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 two thousand five hundred dollars, and commenced 
 the erection of a new one on land recently purchased 
 of the Parsons estate, directly opposite the college 
 edifices; and "during 1834 and 1835 the house was 
 built, not by contract, but by day's work, and the 
 consequence was that when the bills were all in 
 they amounted to about nine thousand dollars." 1 
 
 At the annual meeting of the trustees in 1834, 
 they voted to appoint a special agent for the imme- 
 diate collection of the balance of the fifty thousand 
 dollar subscription, and directed the prudential 
 committee " to proceed with all convenient dispatch 
 to erect an additional college hall, provided they 
 can procure funds for the purpose by donation, or 
 by loan upon the security of a pledge of the building 
 to be erected and its income, for the repayment." 
 During the years 1835 and 1836, the process of grad- 
 ing the grounds in front of the existing edifices and 
 preparing a site for a new hall at the south end of 
 the row was commenced and carried forward at an 
 expense of two or three thousand dollars. But the 
 hall was not erected, doubtless for the very good 
 reason that the funds could not be obtained, and the 
 site was reserved for the erection of the Appleton 
 Cabinet under more auspicious circumstances. 
 
 At the same meeting of the board (1834), the tui- 
 tion was raised one dollar a term. At the annual 
 
 1 Reminiscences of Amherst College, pp. 58, 59. Dr. Hitch- 
 cock not only complains of the amount of the bills for which, 
 during Dr. Humphrey's absence in Europe, no one was will- 
 ing to be responsible, but he declares his preference for the 
 old house, especially in regard to its location. The old house 
 is now owned and occupied by the Psi Upsilon Society. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 85 
 
 meeting in 1836, there was a further addition of one 
 dollar a term, thus making the tuition at this time 
 eleven dollars a term, and thirty-three dollars a year. 
 At the same timej:he salaries of the professors were 
 increased from eight hundred dollars to one thou- 
 sand, and a corresponding increase was made in the 
 salary of the president. The tutors' salaries re- 
 mained as they had been for a few years previous, 
 viz., four hundred and fifty dollars. The last votes 
 at the meeting, one or two of mere form excepted, 
 were as follows: "Voted, that the prudential com- 
 mittee be directed, in view of the urgent necessities 
 of the college, to apply to the Legislature of this 
 Commonwealth at their next session for pecuniary 
 aid. Voted, that should the application to the Leg- 
 islature fail of success, or should it be deemed by 
 the committee inexpedient to make such application, 
 the prudential committee be further authorized to 
 adopt any such measures as may by them be deemed 
 expedient for procuring aid from such other sources 
 as may seem to promise the desired relief. " 
 
 The number of students at the close of the period 
 now under review, that is, in 1836, was large, and the 
 college was in a highly prosperous state. The 
 faculty was strong and popular, the standard of 
 scholarship, culture, and conduct was high, and not 
 a few of the most distinguished names on our general 
 catalogue are names of men who were graduated 
 during these years. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PERIOD OF REACTION AND DECLINE THE ANTI-SLAVERY 
 
 AGITATION AND REBELLION OF STUDENTS THREAT- 
 ENED BANKRUPTCY PUBLIC DISFAVOR RESIGNA- 
 TION OF PRESIDENT HUMPHREY. 
 
 THE largest aggregate number of students that 
 Amherst College enrolled on its catalogue at any 
 time previous to 1870-71 was in the collegiate year 
 1836-37, when the number was two hundred and fifty- 
 nine. The next year, 1837-38, it had fallen to two 
 hundred and six, and so it continued to decrease regu- 
 larly, till in 1845-46 it was reduced to one hundred 
 and eighteen, less than half the number nine years 
 before. 
 
 The number entering college began to diminish 
 some three years earlier. The largest number was 
 in 1833-34, when there were eighty-five freshmen, 
 and the whole number of admissions was one hun- 
 dred and six. The next year, 1834-35, there were 
 seventy freshmen, and the whole number of admis- 
 sions was ninety-nine. From this time, the number 
 entering college continued to decrease, till in 1843-44 
 the freshmen numbered only thirty-two, and the 
 whole number of new members was only forty-two. 
 
 Some of the causes which produced this remarka- 
 ble decline are sufficiently obvious. In the first 
 place it was doubtless to some extent a natural reac- 
 tion from the equally remarkable and almost equally 
 rapid increase of numbers in the previous history of 
 
 86 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 8/ 
 
 the college. As the tide of prosperity had risen 
 very fast and high, so it sank with corresponding 
 rapidity to a proportionally low ebb. The growth 
 had been unprecedented, abnormal, and not alto- 
 gether healthy. The causes which produced it were 
 in part temporary, and so far forth the effect could 
 not be enduring. These causes had not indeed 
 ceased to operate, but they had lost in a measure 
 their pristine power. The first alarm, excited by 
 the defection of Harvard College and the churches 
 in that section, had in a measure subsided. Zeal for 
 orthodoxy and evangelical piety was no longer at a 
 white heat. The passion for missions and the edu- 
 cation of ministers had somewhat cooled. Revivals 
 were less frequent in the churches. The revivals 
 which marked the twenty years between 1815 and 
 1835 had given birth to the college, and nourished 
 it with a copious supply of young men recently con- 
 verted and full of zeal for the work of the ministry 
 and of missions. As revivals grew less frequent and 
 powerful, one of the principal sources of the pros- 
 perity of Amherst College began to fail. 
 
 The growth of the institution had unavoidably 
 changed somewhat its relations to the community 
 around it. The people of the village were still 
 friendly to the college, but they had ceased to re- 
 gard it as their own offspring or foster-child; they 
 could no longer welcome and cherish its two hundred 
 and fifty students as pets or wards in their own 
 families; the halcyon days of primitive and almost 
 pastoral simplicity, when their apple-orchards and 
 walnut-groves, their parlors and firesides, their 
 homes and hearts were open to the members of the 
 7 
 
88 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 college generally, almost as if they were their own 
 sons, had gone never to return. Board was perhaps 
 fifty per cent, higher than it was at the opening of 
 the college. The influx of wealthy students, by 
 changing the tastes and habits of the community, 
 had increased in a still greater percentage the inci- 
 dental and unnecessary expenses. The term-bills, 
 including tuition and room-rent, which, at the first, 
 were only ten or eleven dollars per term, had now 
 risen to seventeen dollars, and the maximum of nec- 
 essary college expenses, including board, fuel, and 
 lights, which in 1834 was stated in the catalogue at 
 ninety-six dollars a year, was estimated in 1837 at 
 one hundred and fifty dollars. This was still con- 
 siderably less than at Harvard or Yale, but the dif- 
 ference was less than it formerly was, and the ex- 
 penses at Amherst were now greater than they were 
 at some of the other New England colleges. Rela- 
 tively the economy of an education at Amherst was 
 considerably less than it had been, and economy is 
 no small argument, especially with the class of stu- 
 dents who flocked to Amherst in crowds in the ear- 
 lier years of its history. 
 
 A still more important change had gradually come 
 over the relations between the students and the 
 faculty. The circumstances under which the col- 
 lege originated made its officers and students more 
 like one great family than they were in the older 
 and larger institutions, more so probably than they 
 were in any other college. The government was 
 truly a paternal government, and the students cher- 
 ished a remarkably filial spirit toward the president 
 and professors. But when Amherst came soon to 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 89 
 
 be the largest college in New England, with a sin- 
 gle exception, when it contained more than two hun- 
 dred and fifty students of all characters and habits, 
 from all ranks and classes of the community, and 
 from all parts of the United States, it was no longer 
 practicable to maintain so familiar and confidential 
 relations, it was no longer possible to administer the 
 government in the same paternal way, it was no 
 longer possible that the students should cherish just 
 the same filial feeling and spirit toward the faculty. 
 The men who composed the faculty might be the 
 same, it was the same president and the same lead- 
 ing older professors, under whose auspices the col- 
 lege had attained so soon to so large a growth, that 
 were now administering the government and giving 
 the instruction; yet they could not but draw the 
 reins a little tighter, they could not exercise the 
 same personal supervision, the same fatherly watch 
 and care over two hundred students which they had 
 extended to one hundred. They were not the same 
 students, they were not of the same age, class and 
 condition in life ; upon an average they were younger 
 and richer and less religious when they entered now 
 than they were ten or fifteen years earlier in the 
 history of the college; but even if they had been 
 the very same individual students, they could not 
 come so near to their officers, nor stand in the same 
 near and confidential relations, nor cherish quite the 
 same feelings of personal regard and affection, as 
 when they were fewer in number and were in some 
 sense joint-founders of the institution. There are 
 evils, difficulties, and dangers inevitably connected 
 with a large college, as there are with a large board- 
 
90 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 ing school, which almost preclude the possibility of 
 its realizing the ideal of a college, or doing in the best 
 way its whole and proper work; and among these 
 the wall of separation which rises up between the 
 faculty and the students is not the least. 
 
 Accidental circumstances about this time contrib- 
 uted to widen the breach. One of these was the 
 anti-slavery excitement. This affected Amherst 
 more than it did most of the Eastern colleges ; for 
 while it had an unusual number of Southern students 
 between 1830 and 1840,* it had also a larger propor- 
 tion than most of the colleges of that class of stu- 
 dents who were strongly, and some of them violently, 
 opposed to slavery. It was during this decennary, 
 as our readers will remember, that the anti-slavery 
 excitement, which temporarily subsided after the 
 Missouri Compromise, broke out with fresh violence 
 and agitated the whole country. The "Liberator, 11 
 started in Boston by William Lloyd Garrison for the 
 express purpose of agitating this question, was es- 
 tablished in 1831; the New England Anti-Slavery 
 Society (afterwards the Massachusetts) in 1832, and 
 the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. In 1834, 
 George Thompson came over from England and his 
 clarion-like voice rang through the land, and in 
 1835 Mr. Garrison was dragged through the streets 
 of Boston by an infuriated mob and saved from a 
 violent death only by incarceration in the city jail. 
 
 1 Among these were Benjamin M. Palmer of South Carolina 
 and Stewart Robinson of Virginia, who became so conspicuous 
 in the history of the late war. Mr. Palmer was a member of 
 the class of '35, but graduated prematurely in his junior year. 
 Mr. Robinson graduated with honor in the class of '36. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 9! 
 
 Such exciting scenes could not but deeply move the 
 feelings of young men in our colleges and profes- 
 sional schools. It was under such circumstances 
 that a colonization society and an anti-slavery so- 
 ciety were formed among the students at Amherst, 
 the latter in the summer of 1833, and the former a 
 short time previous, perhaps not more than two or 
 three weeks. Thus the college was divided as it 
 were into two hostile camps, and the war raged as 
 fiercely between these opposing forces in their classic 
 halls as that between the Greeks and Trojans of 
 which the young men read in the Iliad, and it lasted 
 quite as long before it fully came to an end. The fac- 
 ulty seeing that fellow-students, and even Christian 
 brethren, were thus set in hostile array against each 
 other, feeling that the college was not founded to be 
 a school of moral or political reform, and fearing 
 that its reputation as well as its peace and pros- 
 perity might thus be endangered, at length inter- 
 posed, and endeavored to persuade the members of 
 both societies to dissolve their organizations. The 
 members of the colonization society complied with 
 this request. The members of the anti-slavery so- 
 ciety returned answer that they could not conscien- 
 tiously dissolve the society by their own act, begged 
 the privilege of at least holding the monthly concert 
 of prayer for the slave, and, if they must needs dis- 
 band, prayed the faculty to do the work them- 
 selves. The faculty consented to their holding the 
 monthly concert of prayer and the continued exis- 
 tence of the anti-slavery society on certain condi- 
 tions, but after protracted deliberation and discus- 
 sion the members of the society decided that they 
 
92 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 could not conscientiously either disband the society 
 or comply with the conditions for its continued ex- 
 istence. It only remained for the president, in be- 
 half of the faculty, to say to them: "As you can- 
 not comply with the conditions, your society must 
 cease to exist." 
 
 It cannot be doubted that the anti-slavery excite- 
 ment impaired somewhat the confidence and affec- 
 tion of a large portion of the students (and those the 
 most ardent and earnest students of the college) for 
 the faculty, and especially alienated some of the 
 most zealous of them from the president, who was 
 the organ of communication, and was regarded as 
 the author of the policy that was pursued. 1 
 
 But the opposition to the system of distinctive and 
 honorary appointments in college, which sprang up 
 about the same time, lasted longer and was still 
 more unfortunate in its influence. As early as 1834, 
 the junior class, under the influence of the dissatis- 
 faction attendant as usual on the appointments for 
 the junior exhibition, petitioned the trustees at 
 their annual meeting to abolish the system. Upon 
 this petition, the trustees voted, " That we think it 
 inexpedient to make any alteration at present on the 
 subject of said communication, but we recommend 
 that the faculty correspond with the other colleges on 
 this subject and obtain such information as may be 
 communicated for such improvement hereafter as 
 
 1 The an ti- slavery men of this period were under the im- 
 pression, right or wrong, that the sympathies of Professor 
 Hitchcock were with them, although the act of suppression 
 was communicated expressly as "the unanimous vote of the 
 faculty." 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 93 
 
 occasion may require." At their annual meeting in 
 1836, a petition was again presented, signed by 
 nearly, if not quite, all the members of the three 
 upper classes, asking for the abolition " of the pres- 
 ent system of appointments in this institution," and 
 suggesting, instead, that "such a division and ar- 
 rangement be made that all may have parts assigned 
 them, and alike enjoy the benefits arising from such 
 performances," or that "each of the three literary 
 societies in college should be permitted to have an 
 annual exhibition." 1 The action of the trustees 
 upon this petition is thus entered on their records : 
 "A petition having been presented to this board 
 signed by numerous members of Amherst College, 
 praying for the abolition of the system of appoint- 
 ments adopted in this college, Voted, that this 
 board deem it inexpedient to make any change at 
 present in the system provided for by the college laws 
 on this subject." 
 
 Meanwhile the faculty began to be besieged by 
 petitions from individual students asking to be ex- 
 cused from performing the parts assigned them on 
 the ground of conscientious opposition to the system 
 of honorary distinctions, and for a time the fac- 
 ulty granted these requests. At length it became 
 apparent that there was, if not a conspiracy, a set 
 purpose on the part of many students, some of them 
 
 1 This petition is preserved in the college librar)'. It is an 
 immense document some five feet long and a foot and a half 
 wide, bearing in bold and large hand the autograph signatures 
 of men now distinguished in every walk of life, and remind- 
 ing the reader in more ways than one of the original Declara- 
 tion of Independence. 
 
94 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 perhaps really conscientious, but others manifestly 
 only disappointed in their own appointments, or 
 otherwise disaffected, to break down the system, and 
 that if they would have any exhibitions or commence- 
 ments, they must insist upon the performance of the 
 parts assigned for public occasions with the same firm- 
 ness and on the same principles as they required the 
 recitation of lessons or the performance of any other 
 assigned duty. They therefore declined to excuse ap- 
 pointees simply on the ground of conscientious scru- 
 ples without the assignment of some other reasons. 
 
 Among those who were excused in the summer of 
 1835 was one who had been appointed one of the 
 prize speakers from the freshmen, and having re- 
 quested to be excused "on grounds of conscience," 
 his request was granted. Two years later, the same 
 student received an appointment for the junior ex- 
 hibition. Instead of performing the part assigned 
 him, he sent in a paper to the faculty, in which he 
 not only refused to perform, but expressed his refusal 
 in disrespectful language, and .after an ineffectual 
 effort by the president to obtain a retraction, the 
 faculty voted to require of him a written acknowl- 
 edgment, under penalty, if he refused, of being re- 
 moved from college. 
 
 The student refused to make the required acknowl- 
 edgment, and was accordingly removed from college. 
 
 The entire class, with a single exception, 1 now 
 
 1 David N. Coburn of Thompson, Conn., later Rev. Mr. 
 Coburn of Monson, Massachusetts. At least one other mem- 
 ber of the class, I believe, was not at college at the time and 
 took no part in these transactions, viz. Edward Blodgett of 
 Amherst, now Rev. Mr. Blodgett of Greenwich. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 95 
 
 rallied to the support of their classmate and joined 
 issue with the faculty by passing the following 
 resolution and sending to Gorham's friends a letter 
 to the same effect : 
 
 "Resolved by the junior class, June 24, 1837, that 
 in our opinion William O. Gorham has made every 
 concession which duty and justice require, and in 
 refusing to concede more we heartily approve of his 
 .principles. " 
 
 The next morning this resolution was found writ- 
 ten or painted on the wall in front of the chapel, 
 where it was read by all the students as they went 
 in to morning prayers. The faculty were soon 
 called together to consult in this emergency. They 
 felt deeply that it was a solemn crisis for them- 
 selves and for the college. They began their consul- 
 tation by asking counsel of God in prayer. After 
 much anxious deliberation they came to the conclu- 
 sion that such action by a class in college was sub- 
 versive of all government, and that they must meet 
 the issue with firmness or resign the helm into the 
 hands of students. They therefore " voted to re- 
 quire a confession of all the members of the junior 
 class who have taken measures inconsistent with their 
 obligations to obey the laws of college." The con- 
 fession is in the following words: 
 
 " It being an acknowledged principle that no stu- 
 dent who is permitted to enjoy the privileges of a 
 public literary institution, and who has promised 
 obedience to its laws, has a right to do anything to 
 weaken the hands of its faculty or in any way to 
 nullify any of their disciplinary acts, I deeply regret 
 that I did, without due consideration, vote for areso- 
 
96 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 lution and sign a paper which tended to both these 
 results; and I hereby promise to abstain from all 
 similar interference in the government of Amherst 
 College." 
 
 The class hesitated and delayed, and it seemed for 
 a time as if the whole class would refuse to sign the 
 paper and be sent away. But by the interposition 
 of Gorham's friends, who were also friends of the 
 college, he was induced to sign the confession re- 
 quired of him with a trifling verbal alteration, and 
 then his classmates promptly followed suit and 
 signed the acknowledgment and promise required 
 of them. 
 
 But the effect on the college was immediately dis- 
 astrous. From this time, class after class went out 
 with more or less of the spirit of disaffection and 
 spread it through the community. Year after year 
 too many of the graduates went forth, not to invite 
 and attract students, but to turn them away by re- 
 porting that the government was arbitrary, the 
 president stern, severe, unsympathizing, unprogres- 
 sive, and even in his dotage, although, as Dr. Hitch- 
 cock remarks, 1 his subsequent history shows that he 
 was as well qualified, physically, intellectually, and 
 spiritually, as he had ever been for the place, and 
 the professors, some of them at least, incapable, un- 
 popular, and unfit for the office, although the work 
 of instruction was never more ably or faithfully, 
 never so assiduously and laboriously performed as 
 at this very time. 
 
 The president was the self-same man under whose 
 
 1 Reminiscences of Amherst College, p. 124. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 97 
 
 wise and able administration the college had risen 
 to such unexampled prosperity. The professors 
 were, for the most part, the same men under whose 
 government and instruction the Institution had pre- 
 viously prospered, who, when the tide turned after- 
 wards, were as popular as it often falls to the lot of 
 faithful professors to be, and whose lives have be- 
 come identified with the history of the college. It 
 is not necessary to mention their names. The 
 tutors of this period were some of the best scholars 
 that have ever been graduated here. Not a few of 
 them have since become distinguished as educators, 
 authors, men of science, eloquent preachers, and able 
 jurists. Six of them have been professors in this 
 and other institutions, viz., Charles B. Adams, 
 Thomas P. Field, John Humphrey, William A. Pea- 
 body, Roswell D. Hitchcock, and George B. Jewett. 
 It was during this period that the Graeca Majora 
 was dropped from the curriculum, and Homer, 
 Demosthenes, and the tragic poets began to be read 
 continuously as entire books instead of extracts, 
 and the Greek and Latin languages were for the first 
 time taught analytically in their relation to each 
 other and their cognate tongues and in the light of 
 comparative philology. At this time, to wit, in 
 1837-38, the whole system of monitorial duties, ex- 
 cuses for absence, marks for merit and demerit, the 
 merit roll, reports to parents, punishment of de- 
 linquents and honorary appointments, was revised, 
 reformed, methodized, made at once more just and 
 more efficient, and those principles and rules estab- 
 lished which, not without amendment of course, but 
 substantially, have regulated the practice of the 
 
98 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 college in this important matter ever since. A cir- 
 cular letter was also prepared and sent to the parents 
 of freshmen and other new students, which ex- 
 plained the temptations and dangers of college life, 
 invited the co-operation of parents and friends, and 
 thus contributed much towards a better understand- 
 ing among all the parties concerned in the education 
 and training of the college. Such a letter continued 
 to be sent with good effect for many years after the 
 emergency out of which it sprang had passed away. 
 About the same time, a course of general lectures in 
 the chapel on study, reading, literature, and college 
 life was inaugurated, in which all the faculty in 
 rotation bore a part, and which proved highly ac- 
 ceptable as well as useful to the students. In short, 
 necessity proved the mother of invention and sharp- 
 ened the wits of the faculty to discover and apply 
 many new ways and means of promoting the welfare 
 of the students, and, if possible, the prosperity of the 
 college. These efforts, it is believed, were appreci- 
 ated by the undergraduates, and they were quite 
 contented and satisfied with the government and in- 
 struction of the college. But the spirit of disaffec- 
 tion was still spreading among the alumni, infecting 
 some of the older as well as the younger graduates, 
 and extending through the community; and the 
 number of students still continued to decrease. 
 
 At length the feeling of discontent and dissatis- 
 faction began to find expression through the press. 
 The causes of the decline of the college were dis- 
 cussed in newspapers and pamphlets, and writers 
 who were confessedly graduates and professedly 
 friends of the institution, published to the world 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 99 
 
 that the alumni were dissatisfied with the manage- 
 ment of the college, and it never would prosper with- 
 out a thorough reform, not to say a complete revolu- 
 tion. Those were dark days for Amherst College 
 days of cruel trial and suffering for its officers. The 
 trial of living on a half-salary a few years later was 
 nothing in comparison. Some of them carried the 
 sting of it to their dying day, and it still lingers in 
 the memory of the survivors. 
 
 If the college had been rich and independent, it 
 might have borne this trial. Indeed, if the college 
 had been independent, it would have been saved the 
 greater part of the trial, for complaints would then 
 have been in a great measure silenced, and disaffec- 
 tion nipped in the bud. But " the destruction of the 
 poor is their poverty." Poverty increased the disaf- 
 fection itself as well as sharpened the sting of it, 
 and the disaffection, by diminishing the number of 
 students, increased the poverty of the college. For 
 it had not at this time a single dollar of endowment, 1 
 and no college, however large or prosperous, re- 
 ceives for tuition one-half of what it costs. The 
 two subscriptions which had already been raised, 
 the one of thirty thousand and the other fifty thou- 
 sand dollars, were" immediately exhausted in the 
 payment of debts and other unavoidable expenses. 
 The college was, therefore, actually running in debt 
 at the time of its largest prosperity, and the debt 
 went on increasing as the number of students con- 
 tinued to diminish, till the outgoes exceeded the in- 
 come by fully four thousand dollars a year. 
 
 1 The Charity Fund went wholly for the support of benefi- 
 ciaries. 
 
100 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 Application was made to the Legislature for pecun- 
 iary aid in three successive years, viz., 1837, 1838, 
 and 1839. In each instance a joint committee of both 
 houses reported strongly in favor of the college, and 
 recommended in 1837 a grant of twenty-five thousand 
 dollars in ten annual instalments, in 1838 a grant 
 of fifty thousand dollars, and in 1839 a reference to 
 the next Legislature on the ground that there were 
 then no funds in the treasury. 
 
 In 1837 and 1838 the bill failed, both years in the 
 House, being rejected in the latter year by a vote 
 of 154 nays to 132 yeas. It is worthy of note, as 
 illustrating the change of public sentiment in Hamp- 
 shire County in comparison with former Legisla- 
 tures, that only one negative vote was now cast in 
 the whole county. In 1839 the petition was referred 
 to the next Legislature as recommended by the com- 
 mittee. 
 
 Despairing of aid from the state, the trustees soon 
 conceived the project of raising one hundred thou- 
 sand dollars by private subscription. This was 
 thought to be the smallest sum that would relieve 
 the college of existing embarrassments and leave a 
 balance for endowments sufficient to make the in- 
 come equal to expenditures. Rev. William Tyler, 
 of South Hadley Falls, was first appointed an agent 
 for obtaining subscriptions, and by his labors at 
 different times during the years 1839 and 1840 some 
 four or five thousand dollars were raised, chiefly in 
 Amherst. At the annual meeting of the trustees in 
 the latter year, it being thought that the shortening 
 of the winter vacation had operated unfavorably by 
 keeping away that class of students who were neces- 
 
u JN x v XJ.TI i / 
 
 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. IOI 
 
 sitated to help themselves by teaching, the vacations 
 were changed back again to six weeks in the winter, 
 two in the spring, and four in the summer, the Com- 
 mencement, however, being placed on the fourth 
 Thursday of July instead of the fourth Wednesday of 
 August. But the number of students still continued 
 to diminish. 
 
 In 1841 the eyes of all turned to Rev. Joseph 
 Vaill, who had already proved himself a firm support 
 and a successful agent of the college in more than 
 one emergency, as the only person who could success- 
 fully perform the herculean labor of raising the money 
 which was indispensable to its very existence. He 
 accepted the office of general agent to which he had 
 been invited by the trustees at their annual meeting 
 in 1841, with the same salary as the professors, was 
 dismissed from his pastoral charge, removed to Am- 
 herst, and for nearly four years devoted himself to 
 unwearied labors and plans for the external affairs 
 and especially the pecuniary interests of the college. 
 In August, 1845, he was able to report subscriptions, 
 conditional and unconditional, to the amount of 
 sixty-seven thousand dollars, of which over fifty-one 
 thousand dollars had been collected by himself and 
 paid into the treasury. By reckoning in ten thou- 
 sand dollars, given during this time by David Sears, 
 eleven thousand dollars known by him to have been 
 bequeathed by will to the college during the same 
 time, and fifteen thousand dollars which he had the 
 written assurance of an individual's "full intention" 
 to pay for the founding of a professorship, the sum 
 of one hundred thousand dollars was made up, and 
 this statement was so far satisfactory to the subscrib- 
 
102 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 ers that the majority of those whose subscriptions 
 had been conditioned on the raising of the entire 
 sum of one hundred thousand dollars, now made them 
 unconditional. 
 
 But deduct from the fifty-one thousand dollars 
 which had been actually paid into the treasury by 
 Mr. Vaill at the close of his agency in 1845, the debt 
 which was reported to the Legislature as fifteen 
 thousand dollars in 1838,* the excess of the outgoes 
 above the income in the interval of seven years at 
 the rate of three or four thousand dollars a year, and 
 the salary and expenses of the agent, which exceeded 
 four thousand dollars, and it will be seen that very 
 little remained for endowments or even to counter- 
 balance a future excess of expenses. And yet the 
 annual expenses far exceeded the annual income, 
 and the number of students still continued to dimin- 
 ish. Things could not long go on in this way. To 
 raise money by subscription was only to throw it 
 into a bottomless morass which must after all before 
 long swallow up the institution. This was palpable 
 to all eyes, and was uttered from the lips of many. 
 The trustees felt it. They chose a standing com- 
 mittee of retrenchment. They reduced the number 
 of tutors, formerly four, to one. With their con- 
 sent, they deducted one hundred dollars each from 
 the salary of the President and the general agent, 
 and two hundred from that of each of the .professors. 
 But all this was quite inadequate. The college still 
 continued to flounder and sink deeper in the mire. 
 The general agent at length saw that the only ade- 
 
 1 Twelve thousand dollars in 1839. No one seems to have 
 known just what it was. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 103 
 
 quate remedy was to bring the expenses within the 
 revenue ; and he laid before the faculty the sugges- 
 tion, with an outline of the plan, which was adopted 
 by them and ere long turned the tide in the opposite 
 direction. 
 
 But before this remedy was tried or, perhaps, 
 thought of, the clamor had become loud and distinct 
 among the alumni and in the community for changes 
 in the faculty, and a change of administration. The 
 first officer who was sacrificed was Professor Fowler, 
 a gentleman of much learning and many accom- 
 plishments, but "unpopular," and, as the students 
 said, who certainly had the means of testing his 
 capacity in this respect, unable to maintain order in 
 his lectures, recitations, and rhetorical exercises. 
 Under the double pressure of the clamor of graduates 
 and the complaints of undergraduates, he resigned 
 his professorship to the trustees, at a special meet- 
 ing in December, 1842. 
 
 But this did not appease the clamor or meet the 
 emergency. A more shining mark was aimed at. 
 A more costly sacrifice was demanded. And at a 
 special meeting of the corporation in Worcester, in 
 January, 1844, with the trustees all present, under 
 the pressure of the emergency, and doubtless in an- 
 ticipation of the event, President Humphrey, in a 
 letter which shows his rare magnanimity and self- 
 sacrificing devotion to the " beloved institution with 
 which he had been so long connected," tendered his 
 resignation, to take effect whenever his successor 
 should be ready to enter upon the office. 
 
 The trustees, constrained by a felt necessity and 
 doubtless with sorrowing hearts, accepted the resig- 
 
104 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 nation, and through a committee consisting of Mr. 
 Calhoun, Dr. Nelson, and Dr. Alden, returned the 
 following answer: 
 
 " Resolved, as the unanimous sense of this board, 
 That Dr. Humphrey retires from the presidency of the 
 college with our sincere respect and affection, which 
 have been steadily increasing from the commence- 
 ment of our mutual intercourse ; that we express to 
 him our gratitude for his invaluable services- as the 
 head of this institution, our highest regard for his 
 character as a successful teacher, a faithful pastor, 
 and a single-hearted Christian ; that our prayers will 
 accompany him, that his rich intellectual resources 
 and his humble piety may still be devoted for years 
 to come, as they have been for years past, to the 
 welfare of his fellow-men ; and that we invoke upon 
 him the continued favor and blessing of Heaven. 
 
 " Resolved, That one thousand dollars be presented 
 to Dr. Humphrey on his retirement, in addition to 
 his regular salary. " 
 
 The first gleam of sunshine from without which 
 had rested upon the college for several years, dawned 
 upon it in the darkness and sorrow of this meeting at 
 Worcester, in the donation of ten thousand dollars by 
 Hon. David Sears of Boston, which was the begin- 
 ning of his munificent " Foundation of Literature 
 and Benevolence," and not only the largest donation, 
 but the first donation of any considerable magnitude 
 that had ever been given at once by a single indi- 
 vidual. 
 
 But the college was not yet lifted out of the mire. 
 That was to be the result of many years of wise and 
 patient self-denial and labor. Two vacancies in the 
 
. A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. IO5 
 
 faculty had at length been created. Now began the 
 more difficult task of filling them. At the same 
 meeting in Worcester at which they had accepted the 
 resignation of Dr. Humphrey, the trustees chose Prof. 
 E. A. Park, of Andover, president, and reappointed 
 Rev. J. B. Condi t, of Portland, professor of rhetoric 
 and oratory, together with the pastoral charge of 
 the college church. But both of these gentlemen 
 declined their appointments. At the next annual 
 meeting in August, 1844, the trustees chose Rev. 
 Prof. George Shepard, of Bangor, president, and 
 Rev. Jonathan Leavitt, of Providence, professor of 
 rhetoric and oratory, together with the pastoral 
 charge of the college church. Professor Shepard 
 declined the presidency. Rev. Mr. Leavitt so far 
 accepted the professorship as to call a council to con- 
 sider the question of his dismission; but the council 
 declined to dismiss him simply because he did not 
 press it, and it was generally understood that he did 
 not press it because on visiting Amherst his heart 
 failed him in view of the difficulties which beset the 
 college. 
 
 At this meeting, Hon. William B. Banister and 
 Hon. Alfred D. Foster resigned their places as mem- 
 bers of the board. Henry Edwards, Esq., of Boston 
 was elected in the place of Mr. Banister. At the 
 urgent request of the board, Mr. Foster consented 
 to withdraw his resignation. But a correspondence 
 with Rev. Mr. Vaill about this time, and his conver- 
 sations at a later day with Professor Hitchcock, show 
 that he had little hope that the college could be 
 maintained as anything more than an academy. 
 
 At a special meeting of the corporation in Amherst 
 
IO6 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 in November, Rev. Aaron Warner was elected pro- 
 fessor of rhetoric and oratory, with a salary of one 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 At another special meeting at Amherst in Decem- 
 ber, the professors laid before the trustees the propo- 
 sition, suggested probably by Mr. Vaill, that they 
 would accept the income of the college, be the same 
 more or less, in place of their salaries, and pay out 
 of it also all the necessary running expenses of the 
 college, on condition that they be allowed to regu- 
 late these expenses and run the college, and with the 
 understanding that the agency for the solicitation of 
 funds should cease, and with the expectation that 
 Professor Hitchcock would be appointed president. 
 The trustees accepted the proposition of the faculty 
 as modified and set forth by themselves, and on this 
 basis they elected Rev. Edward Hitchcock, LL.D., 
 president and professor of natural theology and 
 geology. In order to provide for the partial va- 
 cancy thus created in Professor Hitchcock's depart- 
 ment, they at the same time elected Prof. Charles 
 U. Shepard, of New Haven, professor of chemistry 
 and natural history, "to take effect provided Pro- 
 fessor Hitchcock accepts the presidency." 
 
 These appointments were all accepted, and on the 
 1 4th of April, 1845, the president-elect was inducted 
 into his office, the retiring president, at the request 
 of the trustees, performing the ceremony of induc- 
 tion and in due form handing over the keys to his 
 successor, the former having previously delivered a 
 farewell address, and the latter following with his 
 inaugural. It would have been the personal prefer- 
 ence of Dr. Humphrey to continue in office till com- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. IO/ 
 
 mencement, and thus at the close of the year and 
 amid the concourse of alumni and friends usually 
 convened on that occasion, to take leave of his " be- 
 loved college" and her sons, so many of whom loved 
 and honored him as a father. But it was thought by 
 friends of the " new departure" that the delay might 
 embarrass the financial arrangement, and perhaps 
 affect unfavorably the incoming class. And with 
 characteristic magnanimity and self-abnegation, he 
 hastened to put off the robes of office and with his 
 own hands to put them upon his successor. In his 
 farewell address he says: "The period having ar- 
 rived, when, by the conditions of my resignation, I 
 am to retire from the responsible post which I have 
 occupied for twenty-two years, it was my wish si- 
 lently to withdraw with many thanksgivings to 
 God for his smiles upon the institution with which 
 I have been so long connected, and fervent supplica- 
 tions for its future prosperity. But having been 
 kindly and somewhat earnestly requested, by the 
 standing committee of the board, to prepare an ad- 
 dress for the present occasion, I have allowed myself 
 to be overruled, I hope not for the first time, by a sense 
 of public duty. It has been a maxim with me for more 
 than forty years, that every man is bound to avail him- 
 self of all such opportunities for doing good as Provi- 
 dence may afford him, with but a subordinate 
 regard to his own personal feelings or convenience." 
 He then proceeds to narrate concisely the history 
 of the college from the beginning, especially its 
 religious history, insisting with great earnestness 
 and eloquence, as he did in his inaugural, on a 
 truly Christian education in truly Christian col- 
 
108 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 leges as the hope of the country, the church, and the 
 world, and closes with devout aspirations, with almost 
 apostolic benedictions on the college and its beloved 
 church, its honored trustees and guardians, his re- 
 spected and beloved associates in the immediate gov- 
 ernment and instruction, the beloved youth over 
 whose morals, health, and education it had been his 
 endeavor to watch with paternal solicitude, and the 
 esteemed friend and brother to whom he resigned the 
 chair, and with whom he had been so long and so 
 happily associated. There is an almost tragic 
 pathos and sublimity in these valedictory words and 
 last acts in the public life of this great and good 
 man. Few scenes in history, or the drama even, 
 have in them more of the moral sublime. The 
 sympathizing spectators hardly knew whether to 
 weep over the sad necessities which environed the 
 close of his administration or to admire and rejoice 
 in the moral grandeur and Christian heroism of the 
 man. And the feelings of the writer in narrating 
 these events have been somewhat the same as those 
 with which the disciples of Socrates listened to his 
 last conversations, as Plato describes them in the 
 Phaedon, " feelings not of pity, for they thought him 
 more to be envied than pitied, nor yet of pleasure, 
 such as they usually experienced when listening to 
 his philosophical discourses, but a wonderful sort of 
 emotion, a strange mixture of pleasure and grief, 
 and a singular union and succession of smiles and 
 tears." 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PRESIDENCY OF DR. HITCHCOCK THE FACULTY MAN- 
 AGE THE FINANCES FIRST FOUNDATIONS FOR PRO- 
 FESSORSHIPS NEW BUILDINGS RESTORED PROSPER- 
 ITY DR. HITCHCOCK'S CHARACTER. 
 
 THE presidency of Dr. Hitchcock opened with au- 
 spicious omens. The donation of Hon. David Sears, 
 made the previous year (1844), was now just begin- 
 ning to manifest its benignant influence, and, being 
 the first large gift by an individual donor for the pur- 
 pose of an endowment, gave promise of other dona- 
 tions for like purposes. On the very day of the new 
 president's inauguration, Hon. Samuel Williston of 
 Easthampton, by a donation of twenty thousand dol- 
 lars, founded the Williston professorship of rhetoric 
 and oratory. The plan for preventing any further 
 increase of the debt which was formed before the 
 retirement of President Humphrey, but was condi- 
 tioned on the election of Dr. Hitchcock to the presi- 
 dency, having received the sanction of the trustees 
 and the written assent and co-operation of all the 
 professors, went into effect at the commencement of 
 the new administration. According to this plan, the 
 income of the college, administered and appropri- 
 ated by the permanent officers themselves with all 
 the wisdom and economy of which they were mas- 
 ters, after deducting all the necessary current ex- 
 
 loq 
 
110 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 penses, was divided among them as their salary and 
 means of support. This, while it ensured economy 
 and inspired courage at home, enlisted sympathy 
 and restored confidence abroad; and a series of 
 measures followed which, during the less than ten 
 years of Dr. Hitchcock's presidency, extinguished 
 the debt, added an astronomical observatory, a 
 library, and two cabinets of natural history to the 
 public buildings, secured the permanent endow- 
 ment of four professorships, together with valuable 
 books and immense scientific collections, and doub- 
 led the number of undergraduates. 
 
 These remarkable results, however, were not to be 
 reached at once, nor without a previous season of 
 trial and struggle, of disappointment and discourage- 
 ment. The immediate increase of numbers which 
 was anticipated from a change of administration 
 was not realized. On the contrary, the year 1845-46, 
 which was the first collegiate year of the new presi- 
 dency, opened with the same number of freshmen as 
 the previous year, and with an aggregate of one 
 hundred and eighteen students instead of one hun- 
 dred and twenty-one. In 1846-47, the aggregate was 
 only one hundred and twenty, and there was an in- 
 crease of only one in the freshman class. Mean- 
 while there was no further addition to the funds, 
 and the president was receiving for his salary at the 
 rate of five hundred and fifty dollars, and each pro- 
 fessor at the rate of four hundred and forty dollars a 
 year. One at least of the trustees (one of the wisest 
 and most honored, though not the most hopeful and 
 courageous) was still doubtful whether it would not 
 be wiser to turn the college into an academy (for a 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. Ill 
 
 good academy was better than a poor college) ; and 
 what was still more discouraging and even alarming, 
 some of the most influential students were so doubt- 
 ful of the perpetuity of the institution that nothing 
 but the personal solicitation of the president in- 
 duced them to stay and graduate. No wonder if, 
 under such circumstances, the president and profes- 
 sors were sometimes desponding, and the very lights 
 sometimes seemed to burn blue at our faculty 
 meetings ! 
 
 We now resume the general history of the college. 
 
 Being in Cambridge at the inauguration of Presi- 
 dent Everett in January, 1846, Dr. Hitchcock im- 
 proved the opportunity to call on Mr. Sears, in the 
 hope of inducing him to erect a building for scien- 
 tific purposes, which was greatly needed. But he 
 met with so little encouragement that he told Hon. 
 Josiah B. Woods of Enfield, with whom he fell in on 
 his return, that he had made up his mind to two 
 things: i. To go back to Amherst and labor on for 
 the college, as long as he could keep soul and body 
 together; and 2. Never to ask anybody for another 
 dollar! Mr. Woods told him that he was quite too 
 much disheartened, and that he thought he could 
 raise the whole or a part of the money needed for 
 the erection of such a building. Thus did hope and 
 relief spring from the very bosom of despair; for 
 this was the beginning of the effort which resulted 
 in the rearing on "Meeting-house Hill" of the 
 Woods Cabinet and Lawrence Observatory. And 
 the scientific reputation of Dr. Hitchcock, together 
 with his self-sacrificing labors, and the self-denial of 
 his colleagues, was the very fulcrum and standing 
 
112 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 place (the TTOU <rr<5 of Archimedes) by means of which 
 Mr. Woods raised the money. He went to Hon. 
 Abbott Lawrence, and other men of like character 
 and standing in Boston and Lowell, and told them 
 it was a shame for such a man as Dr. Hitchcock, who 
 stood at the very head of American savants, to toil 
 and starve in Amherst. They were at first inclined 
 to doubt whether Mr. Woods had not overrated Dr. 
 Hitchcock's rank and reputation among men of sci- 
 ence. But he quoted the authority of Mr. Lyell, 
 whom he had heard say that the doctor knew more 
 of geology and could tell it better than any other 
 man he had met on this side of the Atlantic. " If 
 you still doubt it, however," said Mr. Woods, " I will 
 bring him down here, and you shall see for your- 
 selves." It was with great difficulty that Dr. Hitch- 
 cock was induced to show himself under such cir- 
 cumstances. But he went down ; these gentlemen 
 saw him, and were charmed alike by his wisdom and 
 his modesty. Hon. Abbott Lawrence subscribed 
 one thousand dollars; the balance of the money was 
 soon forthcoming; and by the removal of prejudice 
 and the enlightening of the public mind in influen- 
 tial circles in and around Boston, the way was pre- 
 pared for obtaining a grant from the Legislature. 
 
 Meanwhile, however, the president in his despon- 
 dency and almost despair had discovered another 
 and still richer mine. He gives the following ac- 
 count of it himself in his valedictory address: 
 
 " In the discouraging circumstances in which I 
 was then placed, I came to the conclusion that I 
 must resign my place. Yet I felt apprehension that 
 in the condition of our funds no one worthy the 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 11$ 
 
 place would feel justified in assuming it. I there- 
 fore determined to make an effort to get a professor- 
 ship endowed. And where was it more natural for 
 me to look than to one who only a short time before 
 had cheered us by the endowment of a professorship? 
 
 u It had become so common a remark among the 
 officers of Amherst College, that if any respectable 
 friend should give us fifty thousand dollars, we should 
 attach his name to it, that I felt sure it would be 
 done ; and I recollected, too, the last words of Pro- 
 fessor Fiske when he left us: * Amherst College will 
 be relieved ; Mr. Williston, I think, will give it fifty 
 thousand dollars, and you will put his name upon 
 it.' I felt justified, therefore, in saying to him, 
 that if his circumstances would allow him to come 
 to our aid in this exigency by founding another pro- 
 fessorship, I did not doubt this result was to follow. 
 He gave me to understand that in his will a pro- 
 fessorship was already endowed, and that he would 
 make it available at once, if greatly needed. Nay, 
 he offered to endow the half of another professorship, 
 provided some one else would add the other half. 
 But as to attaching his name to the college, he felt 
 unwilling that I should attempt to fulfill that prom- 
 ise, certainly during his life. 
 
 "The half professorship thus offered was soon 
 made a whole one by Samuel A. Hitchcock, Esq. , of 
 Brimfield. And, oh ! what a load did these benefac- 
 tions take from my mind ! For several years, each 
 returning commencement had seemed to me more 
 like a funeral than a joyful anniversary, for I saw 
 not how the downward progress of the college was 
 to be arrested. But now, with the addition of thirty 
 
114 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 thousand dollars to our funds, I began to hope that 
 we might be saved. But the kindness of Providence 
 had other developments in store for us. 
 
 "These events occurred in the winter of 1846,* 
 while the Legislature of Massachusetts was in session. 
 We had often appealed to them unsuccessfully for 
 help; and I feared that, when the generous benefac- 
 tions of individuals should be made public, we 
 should seek in vain in that quarter for the aid which 
 should in justice be given us. I therefore requested 
 permission of the trustees, by letter, to make one 
 more application to the government. They allowed 
 me to do it, and the result was a donation from the 
 state of twenty-five thousand dollars. The passage 
 of the resolve met with less opposition than on for- 
 mer occasions. Perhaps the following incident, 
 communicated to me by a member of the Legisla- 
 ture, may appear to the Christian to be connected 
 with this fact : 
 
 " The bill for aiding Amherst College came up on 
 Saturday, and met with strong and able opposition, so 
 that its friends trembled for its fate. On Saturday 
 evening, a few members of the Legislature were in the 
 habit of meeting for prayer. That evening the bill 
 for aiding the college formed the burden of conversa- 
 tion and of supplication, and each one agreed to 
 make it the subject of private prayer on the Sabbath. 
 Monday came, the bill was read ; but to the amaze- 
 ment of these praying men, opposition had almost 
 disappeared, and with a few remarks it was passed. 
 How could they, how can we, avoid the conviction 
 
 1 The writer must mean 1846-47. It was in 1847 that the 
 grant was voted by the Legislature. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 11$ 
 
 that prayer was the grand agency that smoothed the 
 troubled waters, and gave the college the victory, 
 after so many years of bitter opposition and defeat?" 
 
 It is hardly necessary to add, what Dr. Hitchcock 
 believed as fully and insisted on as strenuously as 
 any of us, that prayer, in this case, was accompanied 
 by exertion, and faith by works ; and " by work 
 faith was made perfect." In proof of this, we have 
 only to notice the rare, and not accidental, number 
 of distinguished graduates and other friends of 
 the college who were at that time members of the 
 Legislature. Hon. Wiliam B. Calhoun was presi- 
 dent of the Senate. Among the senators, most of 
 whom were friendly, it is not invidious to name 
 Jonathan C. Perkins, an alumnus, and Joseph Avery, 
 one of the founders and trustees of Mount Holyoke 
 Seminary, as especial friends. In running the eye 
 over a list of the members of the House of Represen- 
 tatives, we notice the names of Henry Edwards of 
 Boston, Otis P. Lord of Salem, Alexander H. Bul- 
 lock of Worcester, John Leland of Amherst, John 
 Clary of Conway, Henry Morris of Springfield, and 
 Ensign H. Kellogg of Pittsfield. Mr. Woods, who 
 watched the bill pretty closely, said that to no one 
 in the Senate was the college more indebted than to 
 Hon. C. B. Rising, one of the senators from Hamp- 
 shire County, who, when it was proposed uncere- 
 moniously to reject the petition, rose and spoke 
 manfully and ably in defense of the institution. 
 
 In 1847, Hon. David Sears also made an addition, 
 large, liberal, and unique, to the Sears Foundation 
 of Literature and Benevolence. By what considera- 
 tions he was influenced may be seen from his letter, 
 
Il6 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 which was read at the dedication of the Woods Cab- 
 inet and the celebration which was connected with 
 it : " While the benefactors of the college are thus 
 honored," says he, "the faculty of the college 
 should come in for their share of gratitude. I have 
 been a silent, but not inattentive observer of them. 
 I have been informed of their devotion to their liter- 
 ary labors, of their self-denials, of their voluntary 
 surrender of a part of their moderate salaries, re- 
 serving only enough for a bare subsistence, to re- 
 lieve the college in its necessity. Such disinterested 
 zeal stands out brightly, and merits an honorable 
 record." 
 
 While money was thus flowing in from individual 
 donors and from the treasury of the state, Professor 
 Adams presented to the college his great zoological 
 collection, and Professor Shepard offered to deposit 
 his splendid cabinet as soon as a fireproof building 
 could be erected suitable to receive it. 
 
 "See now," says Dr. Hitchcock as he reviews this 
 period in his Reminiscences, "see how altered was 
 the condition of the college! More than one hun- 
 dred thousand dollars had flowed in upon it in endow- 
 ments and buildings in a little more than two years, 
 as follows : 
 
 Williston Professorship of Rhetoric and Oratory, . $20,000 
 Graves Professorship of the Greek Language and 
 
 Literature, 20,000 
 
 Hitchcock Professorship of Natural Theology 
 
 and Geology, . . . . . . . 22,000 
 
 Donation from the State, . . . . . 25,000 
 
 Sears Foundation, 12,000 
 
 The Woods Cabinet and Observatory, . . . 9,000 
 
 ,000 
 
OF THE 
 
 [UNIVERSITY^ 
 
 CALIFORNIA- 
 
THE BARRETT GYMNASIUM. 
 
 WOODS CABINET AND OBSERVATORY. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 1 1/ 
 
 " Along with the pecuniary aid there came also a 
 rich profusion of specimens, either presented or on 
 deposit, whose value is poorly expressed in money. 
 If only half their present value, we must add from 
 thirty-five to forty thousand dollars to the above sum. 
 Was it enthusiasm in me to speak of the change as 
 follows: 'Our debts were cancelled and available 
 funds enough left to enable us to go on with economy 
 from year to year and with increased means of in- 
 struction. The incubus that had so long rested upon 
 us was removed; the cord that had well-nigh throt- 
 tled us was cut asunder, and the depletion of our 
 life-blood was arrested. Those only who have 
 passed through such a season of discouragement and 
 weakness can realize with what gratitude to God and 
 our benefactors we went on with our work. ' 
 
 " The great additions to our fund, made in the lat- 
 ter part of 1846 and the first part of 1847, were not 
 made public till after a special meeting of the trus- 
 tees, which took place July 6, 1847. This was the 
 most delightful trustee meeting I had ever attended. 
 Those venerable men, Drs. Fiske, Packard, Vaill, 
 Ely, Ide, William B. Calhoun, and John Tappan, 
 George Grennell, Alfred Foster, Samuel Williston, 
 Linus Child, David Mack, Ebenezer Alden, and 
 Henry Edwards, whom Dr. Humphrey and myself 
 had so often met with a discouraging story of debt and 
 an empty treasury, were now for the first time to be 
 told of God's wonderful goodness in turning our cap- 
 tivity and answering their long-continued and ear- 
 nest prayers. They were to have a little respite, be- 
 fore they died, from the incessant demands upon their 
 beneficence and labors with which they had ever been 
 
Il8 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 met. It was a matter of high gratification to see how 
 happy they were in their subsequent visits to Amherst, 
 to see how everything was altered for the better as the 
 fruit of their long toil, and sacrifice, and prayers." 
 
 The chief business of this meeting of the trustees 
 was the appropriation of the newly received grants 
 and donations, and the naming of the new buildings 
 and professorships. The first appropriation was for 
 the payment of the debt, then amounting to twelve 
 thousand four hundred and sixty-five dollars, for this 
 was the sore and heavy burden, and Mr. Sears had 
 wisely made it a condition of his donations that the 
 college must pay its debts before it could receive the 
 full benefit of his foundation. The debt was paid 
 partly from the funds of the college and partly from 
 the grant of the state. The remainder of the 
 twenty-five thousand dollars granted by the state 
 was appropriated to the endowment of the Massa- 
 chusetts professorship of chemistry and natural his- 
 tory. The term bills were reduced from forty-eight 
 to forty-two dollars a year, and it was voted to remit 
 the full amount of the regular term bills to indigent 
 students preparing for the Christian ministry. The 
 new cabinet received the name of Hon. Josiah B. 
 Woods, and the observatory that of Hon. Abbott 
 Lawrence. The professorship of natural theology 
 and geology, endowed by Hon. Samuel Williston 
 and Samuel A. Hitchcock, Esq., was named from 
 the latter; the professorship of Greek and Hebrew, 
 endowed by Mr. Williston, was named the Graves 
 Professorship, with a double reference to the maiden 
 name of Mrs. Williston and to Colonel Graves, one of 
 the founders; and a new professorship of Latin and 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 119 
 
 French, temporarily endowed, was called the Moore 
 Professorship, in honor of the first president. Ar- 
 rangements were made for making tip in full the defi- 
 cient salaries of the president and professors, and the 
 sum of twelve hundred dollars was appropriated for 
 repairs and placing blinds upon the college edifices. 
 
 No man ever knew better than Dr. Hitchcock how 
 to make the most of any success in the way of public 
 impressions. The placing of blinds upon the win- 
 dows of the dormitory buildings was a stroke of pol- 
 icy for impression on the students, equal to Napoleon's 
 gilding the dome of the Invalides for dazzling the 
 eyes of the Parisians, although under very different 
 circumstances. Not less suited to please students 
 was his policy of making to them the first formal 
 and public announcement of all these donations and 
 the action of the trustees. The scene is thus de- 
 scribed in the Reminiscences : " The meeting closed 
 in the afternoon, and as the students were yet igno- 
 rant of the whole matter in which I knew they felt a 
 deep interest, I took the opportunity at evening 
 prayers to read the votes, and I shall never forget 
 the scene that followed. At first they did not seem 
 to comprehend the matter, and they gave no demon- 
 stration of their feelings, especially as two of the 
 trustees were present. But as the successive an- 
 nouncements came out, they could not restrain their 
 feelings and began to clap, and by the time the last 
 vote was read, the clapping was tremendous, and 
 when they were dismissed and had reached the outer 
 door of the chapel, they stopped and the cheering was 
 long and loud." 
 
 At the annual meeting of the trustees in August, 
 
120 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 * 
 
 1847, they appointed "a committee to consider in 
 what manner we should testify our gratitude to God 
 and our benefactors, in view of recent favors to the 
 college." They reported that, "at such time as the 
 president and professors shall regard as suitable, a 
 public meeting be held in Amherst, with an invita- 
 tion to the friends and benefactors of the college to 
 be present, and that Hon. William B. Calhoun be re- 
 quested to deliver an address on the occasion." The 
 meeting was deferred till June 28, 1848, in order to 
 connect with it the dedication of the new cabinet and 
 observatory, which would not be finished and filled 
 with specimens at an earlier date. The occasion was 
 one of deep interest. The president's address of wel- 
 come was in the same strain of wonder and gratitude 
 to God and our benefactors which we have seen in the 
 foregoing pages. Mr. Calhoun in his address of com- 
 memoration and dedication said : " The waning for- 
 tunes of this institution have for years brought to our 
 hearts gloom, despondency, almost despair. Heaven 
 again beams upon us with blessings. To Heaven let 
 us not cease to offer the incense of thanksgiving. 
 We render our thankfulness and gratitude to all our 
 benefactors. We leave behind us the night of gloom 
 through which we have passed. We receive the col- 
 lege into the fellowship of new and animated hopes. 
 The massive structures upon which are inscribed the 
 names of the generous donors, rising up in the midst 
 of this landscape, these hills and valleys of unsur- 
 passed grandeur and beauty, are now dedicated to the 
 cause of science and truth. Long, ever may they 
 stand thus dedicated. Here may science remain 
 tributary to virtue, freedom, religion. Here may 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 121 
 
 there be inscribed on all these walls and in every 
 heart, Christo et Ecclesice." 
 
 In response to the call and remarks of President 
 Hitchcock, brief addresses were made by Governor 
 Armstrong, Mr. Woods, Mr. Williston, Professor 
 Silliman, Professor Shepard, Professor Redfield, and 
 President Wheeler, and letters were read from ex- 
 President Humphrey, Prof. B. B. Edwards, Mr. 
 Sears, Mr. Lawrence, Mr. Gerard Hallock, and 
 others. It was a day of great rejoicing, and in the 
 name of all who participated in this festival of joy 
 and gratitude, in the name especially of the generous 
 donors whose benefactions were thus celebrated, and 
 whose names are inscribed upon those walls and 
 tablets, the writer of this history here enters his pub- 
 lic protest against any hasty or needless removal of 
 these buildings. Dedicated to science and religion, 
 and inscribed with the names of the generous donors, 
 we can not but say with the distinguished orator of 
 the day, " Long, ever may they stand, thus dedicated, 
 and thus inscribed." 
 
 At the dedication of the observatory, President 
 Hitchcock remarked: "We should be very faithless 
 and ungrateful to doubt that the same Providence 
 which has done so much for us the past year will 
 send us a fitting telescope if it is best for us to have 
 one, and send it, too, just at the right time." In his 
 valedictory address he was able to say: "This 
 prediction, through the liberality of Hon. Rufus 
 Bullock, has been fulfilled, and a noble telescope has 
 just been placed in yonder dome, which, through 
 the great skill and indefatigable industry of Alvan 
 Clark, Esq., who has constructed it, is one of the 
 
122 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 finest instruments of its size that ever graced an 
 observatory. In the hands of Mr. Clark it has al- 
 ready introduced to the astronomic world two new 
 double stars never before recognized one of which 
 is probably binary. " 
 
 After the first three years of his administration, 
 having already succeeded beyond his most sanguine 
 hopes in relieving the college from debt, and estab- 
 lished it on a solid pecuniary foundation, while at 
 the same time he saw it increasing in numbers, and 
 enjoying a literary and religious prosperity corre- 
 sponding with its financial condition, President 
 Hitchcock might well have said, " Now lettest Thou 
 Thy servant depart in peace." He now began to 
 press upon the trustees a wish to retire from the 
 presidency. But instead of listening to his sugges- 
 tion, they pressed him to recuperate his health and 
 spirits by a tour in Europe, and in the spring of 1850 
 he and Mrs. Hitchcock reluctantly set out on their 
 journey. He travelled through Great Britain, France, 
 Belgium, Switzerland, and a portion of Germany; 
 explored the geology of those countries, examined 
 the agricultural schools, in the discharge of a com- 
 mission unexpectedly received from the government 
 of Massachusetts; visited and studied the scientific 
 collections, the galleries, and museums; observed 
 with equal interest the natural features and the 
 moral and religious aspects of the countries ; attended 
 the meeting of the British Association for the Ad- 
 vancement of Science at Edinburgh, and the Peace 
 Congress at Frankfort-on-the-Main, and returned 
 home, " having been absent one hundred and fifty- 
 eight days, and travelled ten thousand six hundred 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 123 
 
 and forty-seven miles" (these details are character- 
 istic), and having expended for himself and wife less 
 than two hundred dollars over and above what he re- 
 ceived from the government and from individuals 
 with whom he travelled, or fell in, and who insisted 
 on defraying portions of his expenses. On reaching 
 Amherst, he was received at the entrance of the town 
 by the students, who gave him an enthusiastic wel- 
 come, and in the evening expressed their joy by an 
 illumination of the college buildings. 
 
 Encouraged by the Sears foundation, a portion of 
 whose income was restricted to the purchase of books, 
 by a liberal donation from George Merriam, Esq., of 
 Springfield, and by an informal meeting of a few 
 friends of the college in Salem (Judges Perkins and 
 Huntington, and Richard P. Waters, Esq.), Professor 
 Edwards brought the subject before the trustees at 
 their annual meeting in 1850, and they authorized an 
 immediate effort to procure means for erecting a 
 library, and increasing the number of books. Pro- 
 fessor Edwards was chairman of the committee on 
 whom this duty was devolved. The work of raising 
 the money was commenced by Professor Tyler, who 
 started a subscription (where subscriptions in behalf 
 of the college have most frequently taken their start) 
 in the town of Amherst. Three thousand dollars were 
 raised on the spot before any effort was made else- 
 where. Another thousand was raised in the vicinity, 
 chiefly in the neighboring churches. Mr. Merriam 
 had already given his pledge of fifteen hundred dol- 
 lars. Mr. Williston, who, in this as in all the other 
 efforts in behalf of the college, was the largest bene- 
 factor, stood ready with a donation of three thousand 
 
124 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 dollars. But the larger and more difficult part of the 
 work was done by Mr. George B. Jewett, who, when 
 he commenced it, was a teacher of a private school in 
 Salem, but soon after was made professor of Latin 
 and modern languages. Among the largest sub- 
 scriptions out of Amherst were those of David Sears 
 and Jonathan Phillips of Boston. When the sum of 
 fifteen thousand dollars was procured, ten thousand 
 was devoted to the building, and the remainder to the 
 purchase of books. The building was planned by 
 the same architect as the cabinet and observatory 
 (Mr. Sykes). It was begun in 1852, and finished in 
 1853. Professor Edwards, alas, did not live to see it 
 completed. His friend, Professor Park, had the 
 melancholy satisfaction of delivering an address at the 
 dedication. The erection of this building, which now 
 contains only the reading room, the committee room, 
 and the working rooms of the present library, intro- 
 duced a new era in the architecture on the college 
 hill. Hitherto brick had been the sole material. The 
 library, according to the suggestion of Professor 
 Edwards, was of stone, thus inaugurating what might 
 be called the age of granite. And it was scarcely 
 less a new epoch in regard to the new books that 
 were placed on the shelves, and the new facilities 
 which were now afforded for reading and study. 
 
 At a special meeting of the trustees at Amherst, 
 October n, 1852, they established a scientific de- 
 partment, designed to meet the wants of graduates 
 who wish to pursue particular branches of science 
 and literature beyond the regular four years' course, 
 and of other young men who desire to study some 
 subjects without joining the regular classes. This 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 12$ 
 
 department grew naturally out of the rich and ex- 
 tensive cabinets and the valuable laboratory which 
 the college possessed, together with the rare cluster 
 of scientific professors gathered here under the au- 
 spices and guidance of a scientific president. As 
 adopted by the corporation and published in the 
 catalogue for 1852-53, the 'department comprised nine 
 branches, which were to be taught chiefly by the 
 regular professors of the ordinary college course 
 (although two or three other gentlemen resident in 
 the town were called in to supplement deficiencies), 
 as follows: i. Geology by the President; 2. Mathe- 
 matics, Natural Philosophy, and Engineering by 
 Professor Snell; 3. Chemistry by Professor Clark; 
 4. Agriculture by Rev. J. A. Nash; 5. Mineralogy 
 by Professor Shepard; 6. Zoology by Professor 
 Adams; 7. Botany, without any special professor; 
 8. Psychology and History of Philosophy by Professor 
 Haven ; 9. Philology by Professors Tyler and Jewett, 
 and English Literature by Professor Warner. The 
 department was to be entirely independent of the 
 regular college course, but students were to be 
 allowed to attend any of the regular courses of lec- 
 tures. 
 
 The plan went into operation in January, 1853. 
 In 1853-54, there were twelve scientific students; in 
 1854-55, there were seventeen ; in 1855-56, there were 
 none reported, and in 1857-58, the plan drops out of 
 the catalogue. In the triennial, only seven men are 
 recorded as having so completed the course as to re- 
 ceive the degree of bachelor of science. 
 
 This experiment differed from that of the " parallel 
 course" twenty years previous in that the scientific 
 
126 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 department was entirely independent of the regular 
 college course, instead of being parallel and incor- 
 porated with it, and, not professing to be an equivalent 
 for it, did not confer the same academic degree. But 
 it came to nearly the same issue, and that partly, if 
 not chiefly, for the same reasons. The work of in- 
 struction was devolved almost entirely on the profes- 
 sors in the regular course, who already had as many 
 duties and responsibilities on their hands as they 
 could faithfully and successfully discharge. More 
 money and more men were requisite to make it a suc- 
 cess, and even with these the older institutions in or 
 near the large cities have the advantage over Am- 
 herst in regard to purely scientific, as also in regard 
 to professional, education. The practical lesson of 
 these experiments seems to be, let Amherst adhere 
 to her original and proper work, the educational work 
 of a New England Christian college. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the trustees in August, 
 1853, President Hitchcock offered to make a donation 
 to the college of his collection of fossil foot-marks, 
 valued by Professor Shepard at thirty-five hundred 
 dollars, on condition that the friends of the college 
 would raise five or six hundred dollars for the in- 
 crease of the collection, and the trustees would make 
 the necessary arrangements for the permanent exhi- 
 bition of it in the geological cabinet. Before the 
 offer was made, the first condition had already been 
 met through the agency of Dr. Hitchcock himself. 
 Of course the trustees were not slow to comply with 
 the second condition, and thus the Doctor's private 
 ichnological cabinet became the property of the 
 college, just as his mineralogical and geological cab- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. I2/ 
 
 inets had been given to the college, fifteen years pre- 
 viously, on very similar conditions. These cabinets 
 are now of inestimable value, especially the ichno- 
 logical, which is, perhaps, the choicest and richest of 
 the kind in the world, and so, besides attracting 
 thousands of ordinary visitors every year, has made 
 Amherst a kind of Mecca to geologists and savants of 
 all nations. It would have been easy, and perhaps 
 perfectly right, for Dr. Hitchcock to have kept it in 
 his own hands, increasing it constantly by purchase 
 and exchange and leaving it as his private property. 
 But that was not his way. It was characteristic of 
 him rather to give it to the college, without imposing 
 any other conditions, except such as would make it 
 more valuable and useful. 
 
 At the same time Mr. Edward Hitchcock, Jr., pre- 
 sented to the college his collection of Indian relics, 
 the fruit of half a dozen years' industry, and then 
 consisting of seven hundred and twenty-one speci- 
 mens, stipulating only that the collection should be 
 placed in suitable cases, and should never be merged 
 with any other collection. Thus was the foundation 
 laid for the Gilbert Museum of Indian Relics. 
 
 At a special meeting of the trustees at Amherst, 
 November 21, 1853, Professor Aaron Warner resigned 
 the professorship of rhetoric and oratory, and Rev. 
 Thomas P. Field, then pastor of a Presbyterian church 
 in Troy, N. Y., was elected to fill the vacancy. Three 
 days after this meeting of the corporation, President 
 Hitchcock addressed a letter " to the Hon. Nathan 
 Appleton and other executors of the will of the late 
 Hon. Samuel Appleton," rehearsing the donation and 
 growth of the zoological collections of Professor 
 
128 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 Adams, describing the history and value of his own 
 collection of fossil foot-marks, which he further en- 
 forced by the testimonies of Dr. Gould and Professor 
 Agassiz, explaining the inconvenience, the utter in- 
 adequacy, and also the insecurity of the rooms in 
 which these collections were now deposited, and 
 modestly inquiring whether the erection of a suitable 
 building to receive and protect them all would not 
 come within the scope of the liberal bequest of two 
 hundred thousand dollars which Mr. Appleton left for 
 the purposes of literature, science, and benevolence. 
 For an entire year Dr. Hitchcock received no answer 
 to this letter, and he had relinquished all hope that 
 it would meet with any response. 
 
 Meanwhile his health and spirits, somewhat re- 
 cruited by his foreign tour, had relapsed to such a 
 degree that he felt he could no longer endure the 
 burden of the presidency, and must insist on being 
 relieved. With this view he summoned a special 
 meeting of the trustees in Boston on the nth of 
 July, 1854, and there resigned his office into their 
 hands, assigning as his only reason " the inadequacy 
 of his health to sustain the labors, especially those 
 pertaining to the government of the institution." It 
 was voted " that the resignation of President Hitch- 
 cock be accepted, to take effect when a successor can 
 be appointed, and that his services be retained in the 
 professorship of natural theology and geology." 
 At the annual meeting of the board, August 7, 1854, 
 Rev. William A. Stearns was chosen president and 
 professor of moral philosophy and Christian theo- 
 logy. On Tuesday evening, November 21, 1854, 
 Dr. Stearns was installed pastor of the college 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 129 
 
 church by an ecclesiastical council of which Rev. 
 Dr. Vaill was the moderator, and Rev. Dr. Blagden 
 scribe. The sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. 
 Leavitt of Providence. Dr. Hitchcock gave the 
 charge to the pastor. The right hand of fellow- 
 ship was presented by Rev. Mr. Paine of Holden, 
 and an address made to the college by Rev. Dr. J. 
 S. Clark of Boston. On Wednesday, November 22d, 
 the inaugural services were held in the village 
 church. After singing by the college choir and 
 prayer by Rev. Dr. Clark, an historical address was 
 delivered by the retiring president, including the 
 ceremony of giving the college seal, charter, etc., as 
 an act of induction to his successor, and closing 
 with the announcement of a donation of ten thousand 
 dollars to the college from the trustees of the late 
 Samuel Appleton, for the erection of a cabinet of 
 natural history. Dr. Hitchcock had relinquished 
 all hope of such a donation. He had written his 
 farewell address in this state of mind. After describ- 
 ing the rich zoological collections of Professor Adams 
 with the testimonies of Professor Agassiz and Dr. 
 Gould to their unequalled scientific value, he had 
 written : " Yet this fine collection is spread into 
 three apartments and is imminently exposed to fire. 
 To secure a new building to receive it, with the still 
 more exposed collection of fossil foot-marks, has long 
 been with me an object of strong desire and effort; 
 and it is among the deepest of my regrets, on leaving 
 the presidency, that it remains unaccomplished." 
 
 "Thus had I written," he continues in the address 
 as he delivered it, " thus had I written only a few 
 days ago, and thus had I expected to leave this sub- 
 
130 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 ject to-day. But a kind Providence has ordered 
 otherwise. Last evening a letter was received, an- 
 nouncing the gratifying intelligence that the trus- 
 tees under the will of the late Hon. Samuel Apple- 
 ton of Boston had appropriated, only ten days ago, 
 ten thousand dollars of the sum left by him for sci- 
 entific and benevolent purposes to the erection of 
 another cabinet the Appleton Zoological Cabinet 
 by the side of the Woods cabinet on yonder hill." 
 Thus he, who in his experiments in the chemical 
 laboratory was always expecting to fail, but never 
 did fail, was now successful beyond his most sanguine 
 expectations, for as usual he had asked for the small- 
 est sum that could possibly answer the purpose, and 
 he received nearly twice as much as he asked; and 
 the close of his administration was marked, like its 
 beginning, by donations that surprised himself 
 scarcely less than they delighted the friends of the 
 institution. 
 
 Dr. Hitchcock's address was followed by a few 
 beautiful and appropriate remarks from Col. A. H. 
 Bullock of Worcester, communicating the doings of 
 the trustees in reference to the aforesaid donation. 
 Mr. Bullock's remarks on the reception of this gift 
 were received with universal and hearty applause. 
 Two or three degrees were conferred by the retiring 
 president, among others one on Alvan Clark, Esq., of 
 Cambridge, maker of the magnificent telescope re- 
 cently presented to the college by Rufus Bullock, 
 Esq., of Royalston, Mass. After a few minutes' re- 
 cess, a Latin oration of a congratulatory character 
 was delivered, according to appointment, by Hasket 
 Derby, a member of the senior class. The closing 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 13! 
 
 exercise was the inaugural address by the new 
 president. 1 
 
 If Dr. Humphrey was our Moses, the giver of our 
 laws and institutions, Dr. Hitchcock was our Joshua, 
 who led us into the promised land, conquered our 
 enemies by making them friends, and gave us secure 
 and permanent possession of houses that we did not 
 build, vineyards and olive-yards that we planted not. 
 It is not difficult to discern the distinctive features 
 of this portion of our history. It was in many re- 
 spects a new era, and that in no small measure the 
 result of a new policy. It was the end forever, 
 let us hope of living beyond our means and running 
 in debt. Dr. Hitchcock had seen and suffered the 
 effects of that process some of the most impressive 
 pages in his " Reminiscences" 2 are those in which he 
 describes the Sisyphean labor which it imposed, and 
 the fatal consequences to which it led; and he 
 adopted at the outset the rule to which he rigidly 
 adhered, and which he earnestly recommended to all 
 public institutions, to erect no buildings and make 
 no improvements until the funds were actually ob- 
 tained. 
 
 It was the end of general subscriptions to meet 
 current expenses. It was the beginning of endow- 
 ments by large donations from individuals. 3 It was 
 the beginning of grants by the state. It was the age 
 
 1 See Discourses and Addresses at the Installation and In- 
 auguration of the Rev. William A. Stearns, D.D., as Presi- 
 dent of Amherst College, and Pastor of the College Church. 
 
 2 See pp. 122-24, 138-42. 
 
 3 Mr. Sears' first donation was made before the close of Dr. 
 Humphrey's presidency. But it came unsought, and was only 
 such an exception as proves the rule. 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
132 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 of growth and expansion in cabinets, collections, and 
 materials for the illustration of the physical sciences. 
 Our archaeological museums also owe their origin 
 to this administration. At the same time and this 
 fact deserves the attention of those who may have 
 supposed that Dr. Hitchcock was a one-sided presi- 
 dent, and gave the institution growth and impulse 
 only in one direction it was the period in which 
 the library building was erected, and new books were 
 placed on the shelves of such a kind, and to such an 
 extent, as to make it almost a new library. 
 
 Last, not least, it inaugurated the reign of compar- 
 ative peace. From the commencement of Dr. Hitch- 
 cock's presidency, there was less of hostility abroad 
 than there had ever been before, and more than for 
 many years previous of peace, quietness, content- 
 ment, and satisfaction at home. This was partly the 
 result of a change of time and circumstances, and 
 partly of a more paternal, perhaps we might say 
 fraternal, administration suited to the times. While 
 he was true and faithful to the faculty and govern- 
 ment under his predecessor, and bore with the spirit 
 of a martyr the opprobrium and harm of measures 
 and methods of discipline which he did not approve, 
 it was no secret that he preferred a more conciliatory 
 policy. During his own presidency, the majority of 
 the faculty were often inclined to a more rigid dis- 
 cipline. And the trustees were unanimously of 
 the opinion that, if the administration could be im- 
 proved in any particular, it was by greater firmness 
 and strictness in the enforcement of the laws. Yet 
 President Hitchcock continued to the last to believe 
 in and rely on moral suasion, and personal, social, 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 133 
 
 and Christian influence, as the sceptre of his power. 
 Perhaps he had no more faith than his colleagues in 
 the good sense, right disposition, and honorable pur- 
 pose of the students, or in the goodness of human 
 nature generally, for he was a firm believer in the 
 doctrine of total depravity. But he certainly had 
 less faith in the efficacy of the rod, either in family 
 or college government. He could give as many 
 reasons as Plutarch for " delay in the punishment of 
 the wicked," and not the least among these was 
 that therein he imitated the patience and forbearance 
 of the Deity. 
 
 He magnified the civilizing and refining influence 
 of the family upon students. He did not believe in 
 the dormitory system. 1 If he had been called to 
 establish a new institution, he would have had no 
 dormitories. Having dormitories in Amherst Col- 
 lege, he did all he could to counterbalance their evil 
 influence. To this end, as well as for the increase of 
 personal acquaintance and influence, he introduced 
 the custom of inviting the freshmen, soon after enter- 
 ing college, to meet the families of the faculty and 
 others from the village, at his own house; and al- 
 though the sophomores sometimes surprised and 
 grieved the good man by improving the opportunity 
 to enter their rooms and turn them topsy-turvy, and 
 perhaps pile up their beds in his own front yard, yet 
 he never gave up his faith in the "freshman levee," 
 or in the influence of cultivated Christian families 
 in town over college students. In accordance with 
 this same general idea, the senior levee, which un- 
 der the presidency of Dr. Humphrey was only a col- 
 
 1 Cf. Reminiscences of Amherst College, p. 143. 
 
134 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 lation at the president's house at noon, immediately 
 after the close of the senior examination, was at once 
 changed by Dr. Hitchcock into a social party in the 
 evening. 
 
 The professors and tutors who were associated 
 with Dr. Hitchcock in the government and instruc- 
 tion were, for the most part, one with him in aim 
 and spirit some added much to the lustre of his 
 presidency ; and were he to write the history of his 
 own administration, he would ascribe a large share 
 of its success to their hearty and able co-operation. 
 Aaron Warner, Nathan W. Fiske, Ebenezer S. Snell, 
 Charles U. Shepard, William S. Tyler, Charles B. 
 Adams, Henry B. Smith, William A. Peabody, Joseph 
 Haven, George B. Jewett, William S. Clark, and 
 Thomas P. Field, make up the entire list of the pro- 
 fessors who at different times composed his faculty. 
 The list of the tutors comprises Rowland Ayres, 
 David Torrey, Lewis Green, Marshall Henshaw, 
 Francis A. March, Albert Tolman, Leonard Hum- 
 phrey, William Howland, Henry L. Edwards, Wil- 
 liam C. Dickinson, John M. Emerson, Samuel Fiske, 
 George Howland, and John E. Sanford with Lyman 
 Coleman, Jabez B. Lyman, instructors; William B. 
 Calhoun, James L. Merrick, and John A. Nash, 
 nominally lecturers or instructors, and Lucius M. 
 Boltwood, librarian. 
 
 Three of these professors died, still in office, dur- 
 ing the presidency of Dr. Hitchcock. One of them 
 was the ripe scholar and veteran professor who, al- 
 most at the beginning of that presidency, went up 
 from the city where our Lord was crucified to walk 
 the streets of the New Jerusalem. Professor Fiske 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 135 
 
 was an accurate and refined scholar, a deep thinker 
 and clever reasoner, a powerful preacher, a patient 
 and thorough teacher, an acute metaphysician, and a 
 profound theologian, whom God did, and man did not, 
 make a doctor of divinity. He was not a popular 
 preacher. But no man has ever preached to the 
 reason, the conscience, and the hearts of students in 
 Amherst College with such overwhelming power as 
 Professor Fiske, especially in times of deep religious 
 interest. Another who seemed born for a collector 
 and classifier of all facts in natural history, the youth- 
 ful Aristotle of our lyceum, went to the West Indies 
 partly for his health, but chiefly to enlarge his scien- 
 tific collections, and there fell a sacrifice to his zeal 
 for science when he had only just commenced his 
 career of discovery, though he had already achieved 
 more for his favorite studies than many a savant 
 accomplishes in a long life. 1 
 
 A third, scholarly and refined, full of hope and 
 promise, had just entered his professorship, and just 
 begun to inspire his class with his own enthusiasm 
 for the language and literature of the old Romans, 
 when he was suddenly stricken down by the de- 
 stroyer. 2 
 
 The value of Dr. Hitchcock's presidency to the 
 institution can not be overestimated. His weight of 
 character and his wise policy saved the college. Hav- 
 ing accomplished the object for which he accepted the 
 office, he resigned the command with far greater 
 satisfaction than he took it, and fell back again into 
 the ranks rose again, let us rather say, for so he 
 
 1 Prof. C. B. Adams. 
 
 2 Prof. William A. Peabody. 
 
136 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 viewed it, to those unclouded heights of science and 
 religion on which he had before delighted to stand, 
 but which now appeared to him more beautiful than 
 ever as he looked back upon the region of clouds and 
 storm through which he had passed. At the request 
 of the trustees he retained the professorship of nat- 
 urar theology and geology. According to his own 
 proposal, he received only half the usual salary of a 
 professor. He held this professorship almost the 
 same length of time as he had occupied the presi- 
 dential chair, between nine and ten years. For some 
 years he lectured on his favorite themes with his 
 characteristic ardor bordering on enthusiasm. He 
 delivered lectures before lyceums and addresses on 
 public occasions. He revised his principal works 
 and published new ones. The second edition of his 
 "Religion of Geology," considerably enlarged, was 
 issued in 1859 ; the thirty-first edition of his " Elemen- 
 tary Geology," re-written, appeared in 1860, and the 
 third edition of the "Phenomena of the Seasons," 
 with additions, in 1861. In 1859, the faculty and 
 students presented him with a beautiful service of 
 silver plate, which gratified him much as an expres- 
 sion of the gratitude and affection of those whom he 
 had so tenderly loved and so faithfully served. The 
 same year he was brought to the borders of the grave. 
 Physicians and friends despaired of his life. If he 
 had died then, the world would have said, it was a 
 completed life. But not so heavenly wisdom. Be- 
 fore Heaven could say to him, " Servant of God, well 
 done," he must live on through five more years of 
 suffering, years of dying they almost seemed to him, 
 still writing and publishing, still, like the aged Athe- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 137 
 
 man sage, learning many things, still interpreting 
 nature and studying his own frame so fearfully and 
 wonderfully made, still lecturing to his classes even 
 after he was too feeble to go to them and therefore 
 invited them to'come to him, still making large and 
 choice collections for his cabinets, still caring and 
 planning for his beloved college, still toiling to en- 
 large the boundaries of science, still watching with 
 jealousy his own heart, the spiritual condition of the 
 college, and the interests of evangelical religion, 
 all the while battling heroically with death and " him 
 that has the power of death," and nobly illustrating 
 the triumph of mind over matter, of faith and phil- 
 osophy over all the powers of darkness even in the 
 last extremity. All his life-time he had been more 
 or less subject to bondage through constitutional de- 
 pression and fear of death. But he died leaning his 
 head on the Cross of Christ almost visibly present by 
 his side, and wondering at the riches of redeeming 
 and sustaining grace. At the time of his death, 
 which was on the 27th of February, 1864, he had not 
 quite reached the age of seventy-one. On the 2d of 
 March, a great congregation, consisting of the faculty 
 and students, trustees and alumni of the college, 
 scientific men and clergymen from every part of the 
 state, together with great numbers of people of all 
 classes from Amherst and the neighboring towns, 
 assembled in the village church to attend his funeral 
 and thence followed the body to its last resting-place 
 in the cemetery. The spot is now marked by a plain 
 granite obelisk bearing, together with the dates of 
 his birth and death, this simple and truthful inscrip- 
 tion: 
 
138 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 EDWARD HITCHCOCK, 
 
 PASTOR IN CONWAY, 
 
 PRESIDENT AND PROFESSOR IN AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 A LEADER IN SCIENCE, 
 
 A LOVER OF MAN, 
 
 A FRIEND OF G OD, 
 
 EVER ILLUSTRATING 
 "THE CROSS IN NATURE, 
 
 AND 
 NATURE IN THE CROSS. " 
 
 But his best and most enduring monument is in 
 his work in the college which he restored, and in 
 the influence which he exerted upon the church and 
 the world by his tongue and his pen, and through 
 the life and character of his three or four thousand 
 pupils. Nor can the history of Mount Holyoke 
 Seminary, any more than that of Amherst College, be 
 written without large reference to Dr. Hitchcock, of 
 whose family Miss Lyon was a member when she 
 was laying broad and deep her plans for founding it, 
 and whose tongue and pen were among the chief 
 organs for communicating those plans to the public. 
 These two institutions will perpetuate his name and 
 his influence so long as they faithfully represent that 
 idea science and religion which was the motto of 
 his life. 
 
^UNIVERSITY, 
 
 OF 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE PRESIDENCY OF DR. STEARNS SCHOLARSHIPS AND 
 
 PRIZES NEW BUILDINGS THE COLLEGE CHURCH 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE SYSTEM FOR PHYSICAL EDU- 
 CATION THE WALKER AND OTHER PROFESSORSHIPS 
 
 OPTIONAL COURSES. 
 
 PRESIDENT WILLIAM AUGUSTUS STEARNS was born 
 in Bedford, Mass., March 17, 1805. His father, Rev. 
 Samuel Stearns of Bedford, and both his grand- 
 fathers, were ministers of the gospel. His brothers 
 are well known as distinguished teachers and preach- 
 ers. He was prepared for college at Phillips Academy, 
 Andover, and graduated with honor at Cambridge, in 
 1827, with such classmates as Professor Pel ton and 
 Rev. Dr. Sweetser. He went through the full course 
 of theological study at Andover, in the same class 
 with Dr. Brainerd of Philadelphia, Dr. Joseph S. 
 Clark, President Labaree, Professor Owen, and 
 Professor Park the class of '31. After teaching a 
 short time at Duxbury, he was ordained December 
 14, 1831, pastor of the church at Cambridgeport, 
 where he remained almost twenty-three years, hon- 
 ored and beloved by all his people as an able preacher 
 and wise pastor, identified with the public schools of 
 Cambridge, and greatly interested in Harvard Uni- 
 versity, and sustaining influential relations to the 
 cause of education and religion in Boston and vicinity. 
 139 
 
140 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 This brief general statement will suffice to show how 
 different President Stearns's antecedents were from 
 those of either of his predecessors, and how these, 
 together with the breadth and balance of his char- 
 acter and his culture, qualified him to supplement 
 and complete their work. 
 
 The inauguration of President Stearns, of which we 
 have already given an account, took place on Wednes- 
 day, the 22d of November, 1854. After some grace- 
 ful allusions to the origin and early history, the 
 founders and former presidents of Amherst College, 
 of which he expressed the highest appreciation 
 though he himself was not an alumnus, and of which 
 he asked to be accepted as a true son though by 
 adoption, the inaugural address proceeds to define the 
 end or aim of education, which is to produce in the 
 person educated " the highest style of man," and then 
 to discuss the most essential ways and means, physi- 
 cal, intellectual, moral, and religious, by which that 
 end is to be accomplished. We shall see further on 
 how no'' a few of the ideas which the president thus 
 developed in his inaugural were realized under his 
 administration. The key-note of the address is con- 
 tained in the concluding sentences: "Young gentle- 
 men, your highest attainment is the attainment of 
 right relations toward God, and a concordance with the 
 other harmonies of the universe. There is one great 
 Central Life whose pulsations are beating through all 
 created worlds. When in addition to a profound and 
 brilliant scholarship, attended with high moral and 
 social excellence, and wise physical self-control, yon 
 come into sympathy with this great Life, so that your 
 spirit answers to that Spirit, as the pulsations of the 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 14! 
 
 wrist keep time with those that are throbbing in your 
 heart, then will you be truly educated, then will you 
 have reached the highest order of man." 
 
 In the evening after the inauguration the students 
 expressed their good will to the new president and 
 their expectation of a prosperous and happy presi- 
 dency by an illumination of the college edifices. 
 "Welcome to President Stearns" was blazoned in let- 
 ters of brilliant light across the entire front of Middle 
 (now North) and South Colleges, and as he stood in 
 front of Woods Cabinet, admiring the brilliant specta- 
 cle, they gathered spontaneously around him, extem- 
 porized an address of welcome through a member of 
 the senior class, and drew from him a ready and hearty 
 response. 
 
 It will be remembered that one pleasant incident 
 of the exercises of inauguration day was the an- 
 nouncement of a liberal donation from the estate of 
 Hon. Samuel Appleton, for the erection of a zoologi- 
 cal and ichnological museum. President Hitchcock 
 had made the request a year previous, and had given 
 up all expectation that it would be granted. There 
 is reason to believe that confidence in the wisdom of 
 the new president conspired with admiration for the 
 genius and science of his predecessor in securing the 
 donation. However that may be, the time of the an- 
 nouncement was not accidental, and the donation, 
 while it formed a brilliant and appropriate finale to 
 the retiring administration, furnished also an auspi- 
 cious omen for the incoming presidency. Nor did the 
 omen prove fallacious. The Appleton gift was only 
 the beginning of a succession of donations and be- 
 quests, which amount in the aggregate to nearly eight 
 
142 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 hundred thousand dollars, and which mark the presi- 
 dency of Dr. Stearns beyond even that of Dr. Hitch- 
 cock, as the period of large and liberal foundations. 
 
 Even the Legislature turned a comparatively will- 
 ing ear to our petitions, and twice more opened, 
 though not very wide and apparently for the last 
 time, the treasury of the Commonwealth to supply 
 the wants of Amherst College. The aid from the 
 state in 1859 was granted the more readily doubt- 
 less because other institutions shared in it, and some 
 of them more largely than Amherst College. The 
 bill which became a law April 2, 1859, provided, 
 that after a certain sum had been received into the 
 state treasury from the sale of the Back Bay lands in 
 Boston, one-half of the proceeds of subsequent sales 
 should be added to the Massachusetts school fund, 
 and the other half appropriated in certain propor- 
 tions, as it accrued, to five institutions of learning in 
 the Commonwealth, until the Museum of Compara- 
 tive Zoology should have received an amount not ex- 
 ceeding one hundred thousand dollars ; Tufts College, 
 fifty thousand dollars; and Williams College, Am- 
 herst College, and the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbra- 
 ham, twenty-five thousand dollars each. No part of 
 these appropriations was to be paid, however, until 
 satisfactory evidence had been furnished by each in- 
 stitution that it had raised an equal sum by subscrip- 
 tion, or otherwise, from some other source. It was 
 further provided in the bill, that each of the three 
 colleges should establish three free scholarships. 
 These conditions were promptly complied with on 
 the part of Amherst College, and the first instalment 
 of six thousand dollars and a little more was paid 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 143 
 
 over in September, 1861, and the remainder of the 
 twenty-five thousand dollars in September, 1863. 
 On the 2yth of April, 1863, after repeated solicita- 
 tions by Dr. Hitchcock in person, the Legislature 
 made another special grant of two thousand five hun- 
 dred dollars to the department of natural history. 
 Here ends the history of grants from the state in 
 aid of Amherst College. Two appropriations of 
 twenty-five thousand dollars each and one of two 
 thousand five hundred dollars scarcely a third part 
 of what the state has granted to Williams, and not a 
 tithe of its donations to Harvard! 
 
 Of all the donations and bequests that have ever 
 come to Amherst College those of Dr. W. J. Walker 
 were the most surprising, because they came from 
 so unforeseen and unexpected a source. A graduate 
 of Harvard, and a resident of one of those cities in 
 the vicinity of Cambridge whose property seems to 
 be almost the birthright and inheritance of that uni- 
 versity, Dr. Walker wished and intended to endow 
 the medical department of his alma mater. Not 
 finding her sufficiently facile and pliant to his wishes, 
 he turned his attention to other colleges, and began 
 to give to them with a liberality which was fitted 
 and doubtless intended to show the authorities at 
 Cambridge how much they had lost. One of these 
 colleges was soon dropped from the list of his bene- 
 ficiaries for a similar reason. President Stearns had 
 the discernment to see the substantial excellence of 
 Dr. Walker's ideas, and he had the wisdom to humor 
 and guide his plans, instead of opposing or question- 
 ing them, and thus to enlist him more and more 
 zealously in the service of the college. The result 
 
144 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 was that he gave Amherst at different times and for 
 different purposes one hundred thousand dollars in 
 his life-time, drew in forty thousand dollars from 
 other sources by making that the condition of his 
 own donations, and left in his will a legacy, the 
 annual income of which has averaged more than six 
 thousand dollars. The condition just alluded to 
 seemed at the time not only unfortunate, but imprac- 
 ticable and appalling. But thanks to the wisdom of 
 President Stearns and the benevolence of the friends, 
 chiefly old and tried friends of the college, the forty 
 thousand dollars was raised. Messrs. Samuel Wil- 
 liston, Samuel A. Hitchcock, and' James Smith, of 
 Philadelphia, gave ten thousand dollars apiece, and 
 Messrs. Alpheus Hardy, Henry Edwards, Ebenezer 
 Alden, Moses H. Baldwin, and others made up the 
 remaining ten thousand dollars, thus exhibiting a 
 generosity the more praiseworthy and thankworthy, 
 because their charities were to be merged in a 
 "Walker Building Fund," and their own preferences 
 were sacrificed for so great an interest of the insti- 
 tution. 
 
 The presidency of Dr. Stearns is emphatically the 
 period of scholarships and prizes. Aside from the 
 distribution of the income of the charity fund, 
 which really constituted so many ministerial scholar- 
 ships and is now actually called by that name, there 
 was not a single scholarship in existence at the be- 
 ginning of his administration. Eleazar Porter, Esq., 
 of Hadley, has the honor of having established the 
 first scholarship in Amherst College. This was in 
 1857. Before the close of the administration there 
 were more than fifty scholarships over and above 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 145 
 
 those from the charity fund in the gift of the college, 
 varying in annual income from forty to three hun- 
 dred dollars each, and distributing each year over 
 four thousand dollars among the students. 
 
 The only prizes that existed prior to the adminis- 
 tration of President Stearns were those for elocution, 
 and these had usually been merely nominal, and 
 were paid out of the college treasury. The first reg- 
 ular prizes given by an individual for successive years 
 were given by J. H. Sweetser, Esq., a former resi- 
 dent of Amherst then residing in New York city. 
 These were given under the presidency of Dr. Hitch- 
 cock. In 1857 Hon. Alpheus Hardy of Boston estab- 
 lished the Hardy prizes for improvement in extem- 
 poraneous speaking; and now we have some two 
 thousand dollars distributed every year as prizes for 
 excellence in nearly all of the several departments. 
 
 Of the twelve college edifices that stood on College 
 Hill at the time of his death, six were added during 
 the presidency of Dr. Stearns. And the style and 
 character of these, as compared with the earlier 
 buildings, is more remarkable than their number. 
 The last three were built of stone, the Pelham or 
 Monson granite, and the last two, at least, in a plan 
 and style of architecture worthy of a material that 
 is at once so rich and so enduring. The new college 
 church alone cost as much as the whole five edifices 
 that came down from previous administrations ; and 
 Walker Hall cost as much as all the other buildings 
 on College Hill together, exclusive of the college 
 church. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that 
 President Stearns found the college brick, and left it 
 granite. 
 
146 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 The first building erected after the accession of 
 President Stearns was the Appleton Cabinet. This 
 was built in 1855. The building committee consisted 
 of Prof. Edward Hitchcock, Mr. Samuel Williston, 
 and Prof. William S. Clark, and Mr. H. A. Sykes was 
 the architect the same under whose direction the 
 Woods Cabinet and the library had been built. It was 
 the preference of Dr. Hitchcock that this edifice should 
 be placed on the west side of the Woods Cabinet, 
 where the danger from fire would have been less, and 
 where it would have been in convenient contiguity 
 with the geological specimens. The building com- 
 mittee acceded to his views and wishes, and at first 
 located it there, but their opinion was overruled by 
 that of the Prudential Committee, on the ground 
 that the appearance would be unsightly. Mr. Luke 
 Sweetser, who for many years has been a resident 
 member of the prudential committee, remonstrated 
 with special earnestness against that location, and, in 
 order to remove the chief argument in its favor, vol- 
 unteered to put up a lecture-room as an appendage 
 to the Woods Cabinet, if it could be done for a thou- 
 sand dollars. This view prevailed, and the Appleton 
 Cabinet was placed on the south wing of the dormi- 
 tories, thus taking the place of a new South College, 
 which had long been contemplated to balance the old 
 North College, then on the site of Williston Hall, 
 and the geological lecture-room was at the same time 
 attached to the Woods Cabinet. Mr. Sweetser de- 
 clined having his name affixed to it. 
 
 In 1857 the Woods Cabinet received another ap- 
 pendage in the Nineveh Gallery, which was erected 
 by Enos Dickinson, Esq., of South Amherst, on "the 
 
o 
 
 t 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 147 
 
 site of the old church, where for thirty years he had 
 attended meeting, where he was baptized and made 
 a profession of religion," and of which he remarked 
 to Dr. Hitchcock, " that if he should desire to leave 
 his name anywhere on earth, that would be the 
 spot." 1 The building cost five hundred and sixty- 
 seven dollars. It is a small room, but it is probably 
 as large as that in the palace of Nimroud from which 
 the sculptured slabs were taken. The contents cost 
 some six hundred dollars. Their money value is at 
 least as many thousands, and their value to the col- 
 lege as educators and as memorials is beyond calcu- 
 lation. The sculptured slabs, six in number, some 
 of which now adorn the entrance to the college 
 library, came from the palace of Sardanapalus ; the 
 seals, cylinders, and bricks from Nineveh and Baby- 
 lon ; the coins of gold, silver, and copper, a thousand 
 in number, mostly ancient, and commencing with 
 those of Alexander the Great, were all procured and 
 sent at great labor and expense by Dr. Henry Lob- 
 dell, missionary to Assyria, of the class of '49, who, 
 in December, 1854, made his sixth visit to Nimroud 
 in order to dispatch the sculptures, and who died at 
 Mosul, the site of ancient Nineveh, on the 25th 
 day of March, 1855. For the gallery and its contents 
 the college is indebted ultimately and entirely to the 
 agency of Dr. Hitchcock, who encouraged Dr. Lob- 
 dell to send the specimens, raised the money to pay 
 all the expenses, superintended the whole business, 
 and in short manifested scarcely less interest in these 
 footprints of former generations of men, than in the 
 ichnolites of the pre-Adamic earth in his own cabinet. 
 
 1 "Reminiscences of Amherst College." 
 
148 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 The next public buildings were the result of a 
 calamity which, as not unfrequently happens, proved 
 a blessing in disguise. One cold and stormy night 
 in the winter of 1857, when the northwest wind blew 
 almost a hurricane and the thermometer was many 
 degrees below zero, the old North College caught 
 fire in a student's room. The occupants of the room 
 and nearly all the occupants of the building were in 
 attendance on the meetings of the literary societies 
 in the Middle and South Colleges. Before they 
 could give or get the alarm, the fire had progressed 
 so far as to forbid even the attempt to extinguish it. 
 All efforts were directed toward saving the other 
 buildings. Had the wind been in the north or north- 
 east, this would have been impossible. Being in the 
 northwest the flames and burning fragments were 
 for the most part driven to the eastward ; otherwise, 
 in spite of all exertions, Middle College must have 
 taken fire, and to all human appearance the chapel, 
 South College, and the newly-erected Appleton Cab- 
 inet would all have been swept away by the con- 
 flagration. By midnight or a little later, North Col- 
 lege with no small portion of its contents the 
 furniture and books of students had gone up in a 
 whirlwind of flame or had been reduced to ashes. 
 Such was the uproar of the elements that night that 
 the writer in his own house in the edge of the village, 
 not half a mile away, heard no alarm and knew noth- 
 ing of the calamity till, early the next morning, he 
 was summoned to a faculty meeting called for con- 
 sultation in the emergency. When he arrived on the 
 ground, nothing remained but the blackened brick 
 walls enclosing a heap of smoking ruins. The fire 
 
[UNIVERSITY, 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 149 
 
 was an undoubted blessing in that it enlisted the 
 sympathy of friends and ere long gave us two better 
 buildings in its stead. The appeal of the faculty in 
 behalf of the students, some of whom had lost every- 
 thing but what they had on their persons, met with 
 so prompt and hearty a response that ere long we 
 issued a card saying that no more was needed. And 
 scarcely had the ruins ceased to smoke, when, with 
 characteristic promptness as well as generosity, Mr. 
 Williston, that unfailing friend of the college, vol- 
 unteered to erect on the site a new edifice containing 
 a chemical laboratory, rooms for the libraries and 
 the meetings of the two literary societies, and an 
 alumni hall, if the trustees would engage, with the 
 insurance and additional subscriptions, to replace 
 the lost dormitory on another site. This condition, 
 which, like Dr. Walker's in regard to Walker Hall, 
 was, of course, intended only to double the benefac- 
 tion, was accepted by the trustees, and the new build- 
 ings were both erected in 1857, the same year in 
 which the old dormitory was burnt. Both edifices were 
 built under the general direction of Mr. Williston, 
 Mr. Charles E. Parkes of Boston being the architect, 
 and Professor Clark and Mr. Luke Sweetser being 
 associated with the former as building committee in 
 the erection of East College. Thus, to express in 
 Dr. Stearns' own language the "great blessing" 
 which resulted from the "great catastrophe," "two 
 new buildings sprang up from the ashes of the old, 
 one of them Williston Hall, so comely in appearance, 
 so convenient in arrangement, so generously be- 
 stowed, and so full of invitation to the returning 
 graduate as he comes up from the village to the 
 
ISO A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 college grounds; the other, East College, which the 
 prophets represented as destined to be taken down 
 and rebuilt, or moved bodily to another spot." l 
 
 The dedication of the two buildings, delayed for 
 several reasons, took place on the i9th of May, 1858. 
 The trustees held a special meeting on the occasion. 
 Mr. Williston and Mr. Sweetser reported the results 
 of their labors, and formally delivered the buildings 
 into the hands of the trustees. President Stearns, on 
 the part of the trustees, made a suitable response. 
 Prayer was offered by Rev. Dr. Vaill, and Rev. 
 Henry Ward Beecher delivered an address, in which, 
 as fitly as eloquently, he discoursed on institutions 
 as a means of perpetuating influence. 
 
 The next building was the gymnasium, now aban- 
 doned for a more modern building. This was com- 
 menced in the autumn of 1859, and completed in the 
 summer of 1860. Hon. J. B. Woods, Prof. W. S. 
 Clark, Hon. Samuel Williston, and the president 
 were appointed a committee, with full powers to col- 
 lect funds, procure plans, select a site, and erect the 
 building. " Subscriptions were obtained by Prof. 
 W. S. Clark, Prof. W. S. Tyler, and some others, to 
 the amount of about five thousand dollars. For the 
 other five thousand dollars the college resorted again 
 to borrowing." 2 The building was planned by the 
 same architect as Williston Hall and East College, 
 Mr. Charles E. Parkes of Boston. President Hitch- 
 cock says: "It is massive in appearance, without 
 
 1 Address of Welcome. 
 
 2 Dr. Hitchcock's "Reminiscences." The trustees had al- 
 ready borrowed five thousand dollars to supplement the sub- 
 scriptions for East College. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. I$I 
 
 much architectural beauty, though in conformity 
 with architectural rules." To the eye of the writer, 
 it is one of the most beautiful buildings on the col- 
 lege campus. It has the beauty of fitness and the 
 beauty, rare in our day, of a severe simplicity. The 
 builders had the good sense and good taste to return 
 to the use of stone, 1 instead of brick, in which their 
 example has been followed in subsequent buildings, 
 and will be followed, we trust, in all coming time. 
 Upon the completion of the building, the name of 
 " Barrett Gymnasium" was given to it, from Dr. 
 Benjamin Barrett of Northampton, who had contrib- 
 uted liberally toward its erection. Dr. Barrett after- 
 ward put in at his own expense a gallery at the west 
 end, for the convenience of spectators, and contrib- 
 uted more or less each year while he lived, for re- 
 pairing the building, improving the apparatus, and 
 ornamenting the grounds. And at his death, in 
 1869, he left in his will a legacy of five thousand 
 dollars, the income of which is to be annually ex- 
 pended for similar purposes. 
 
 The principal of the Walker building fund, one 
 hundred thousand dollars, was filled up in 1864, and 
 at a special meeting of the trustees in November, 
 1866, they appointed a building committee of their 
 own number. This committee consisted of Presi- 
 dent Stearns, Hon. Samuel Williston, Hon. Alpheus 
 Hardy, Hon. Edward B. Gillett, and Samuel Bowles, 
 Esq. 8 The corner-stone of the building was laid on 
 
 1 The same that was used in the library building, viz. , the 
 Pelham gneiss or granite. 
 
 2 A committee, consisting of the president, Professor Snell, 
 Professor Seelye, Hon. S. Williston, and Hon. A. Hardy, was 
 
 II 
 
152 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 the loth of June, 1868; and it was not till the 2oth 
 of October, 1870, that Walker Hall was opened with 
 appropriate ceremonies. Thus more than six years 
 had elapsed since the money was raised, and more 
 than seven, almost eight, years since Dr. Walker 
 made his first offering of twenty thousand dollars in 
 January, 1863, before the edifice was completed and 
 set apart for its scientific uses : tarn diu Roma conde- 
 batur. But it was right and wise to take a long time 
 in building a structure that was expected to endure 
 a long while. There was an intrinsic difficulty in 
 uniting and harmonizing so many diverse interests. 
 The whole department of mathematics and astron- 
 omy, the recitations, lectures, and apparatus of the 
 professor of natural philosophy, the Shepard Cabinet 
 of Mineralogy, and rooms for the trustees, the presi- 
 dent, and the treasurer, were all to be brought be- 
 neath one roof, and what seemed for a time quite im- 
 practicable, nearly all these rooms must needs be, 
 where all the living rooms of a house in this climate 
 ought to be, on the south side. When these conflict- 
 ing interests were all reconciled there still remained 
 the scarcely less difficult question of a convenient 
 and beautiful location. The college campus, though 
 sightly, is far from being " siteful ;" and a site satis- 
 factory to all concerned, and suitable for such a 
 building, was found at length only by the purchase 
 and annexation of three or four additional acres on 
 the north side. 
 
 appointed at a special meeting of the board in Boston, in 
 January, 1863, to procure plans and estimates. But a build- 
 ing that should cost only forty thousand dollars was then con- 
 templated. The plan was afterward enlarged to meet the 
 enlarging views and the increasing liberality of Dr. Walker. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 153 
 
 Several architects and landscape-gardeners were 
 consulted in the settlement of these vexed questions. 
 More than one architect also presented plans for the 
 building. The plan which best satisfied the parties 
 chiefly concerned, and indeed the only plan which 
 solved the almost insoluble difficulties of the problem 
 and united beauty with convenience, was that of 
 George Hathorne, of New York. This plan was 
 adopted, and he became the architect of the building. 
 The contract for the masonry was given to Richard 
 H. Ponsonby, and that for the carpenter work to C. 
 W. Lessey. The immediate oversight was entrusted 
 to William A. Dickinson, Esq., of Amherst. The 
 laying of the corner-stone with due form and cere- 
 mony took place on the forenoon of Class Day, June 
 10, 1868. Hon. Edward Dickinson presided and in- 
 troduced the services. Prayer was offered by Rev. 
 Dr. Vaill. The stone was placed with appropriate 
 ceremonies by the senior class, who had desired to 
 honor their Class Day by this act and had selected a 
 committee of their number for the purpose. A hymn 
 was sung by the college choir. A paper was read by 
 President Stearns, making some statements respect- 
 ing the character and design of the building, to- 
 gether with notices of Dr. Walker and the principal 
 donors. After a few extemporaneous remarks by 
 Hori. Alpheus Hardy and Professor Snell, the exer- 
 cises were concluded by singing the doxology and 
 the pronouncing of the benediction. 
 
 After an interval of two years and four months, 
 on the 2oth of October, 1870, the formal opening of 
 Walker Hall took place. The order of exercises was 
 as follows: In College Hall Music by the orches- 
 
154 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 tra; Introductory prayer by Rev. Mr. Dwight of 
 Hadley; Address by President Stearns; Commence- 
 ment hymn, "Let children hear the mighty deeds." 
 In Walker Hall Music by the band ; Statement by 
 W. A. Dickinson, Esq. ; Prayer by Rev. Dr. Paine 
 of Holden ; Statement by Professor Snell ; Speeches 
 by members of the board of trustees and by gentle- 
 men from abroad; "Old Hundred," by the audience. 
 
 The opening of Walker Hall removed the last ves- 
 tige of scientific instruction from the old chapel 
 building, where all the departments dwelt together 
 for so many years, and left literature and philosophy 
 the sole occupants. Two things are illustrated by 
 this part of our history, first the progress of division 
 of labor in the college, and secondly the growth of 
 the institution in all its departments. 
 
 The original don at; on of thirty thousand dollars 
 for the college church was made in 1864. Seven or 
 eight years elapsed before the edifice was finished. 
 The delay was partly to give time for the increase of 
 the building fund, and partly owing to the difficulty 
 of fixing the location, but chiefly, as in the case of 
 Walker Hall, with the intention of building well 
 rather than building quickly. 
 
 The question of location long occasioned much 
 perplexity, and opinions differed widely on the sub- 
 ject. The unanimous verdict of the most distin- 
 guished architects decided the question in favor of 
 the present site, just in the rear of East College, but 
 necessitating at some time the removal of that build- 
 ing. "It might seem," says President Stearns in 
 his address at the laying of the corner-stone "it 
 might seem to our old graduates and to others who 
 
OF THE 
 
 .UNIVERSITY 
 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 155 
 
 have not studied the case, an unexpected and singu- 
 lar movement, to pass over, as we have done, into 
 what was regarded heretofore as the back-yard of 
 our college grounds, and crowd the new edifice into 
 the very mouth of the dormitory which has for some 
 years crowned the knoll. But looking from East 
 College, destined some time or other to be removed, 
 let me say to each one who doubts the propriety of 
 the location, Circumspice. Think of a pleasant Sab- 
 bath morning as our young men and families of 
 many generations of the future throng to the house 
 of prayer and see the beauty of the Lord spread over 
 the mountains and the intervale before us and the 
 quiet homes nestling within it, and tell me, will not 
 nature furnish inspirations to praise? If we need 
 further reason, it may be expressed in the brief 
 words of Mr. Williston, who has often surprised me 
 with the breadth and wisdom of his views on such 
 subjects. When the advice of the best architectural 
 and gardening skill in the country had been obtained, 
 and reasons set forth, and the final question was put 
 to that gentleman, Shall we plan the building for 
 present convenience or for a hundred years to come? 
 his immediate response was, 'Five hundred years to 
 come!'* The committee to whom by vote of the 
 trustees in 1869 the whole subject was referred, con- 
 sisted of President Stearns, William F. Stearns, Esq., 
 Messrs. Williston, Hardy, and Gillett, and Mr. W. 
 A. Dickinson. William A. Potter, Esq., of New 
 York, was the architect. The church was erected 
 under the personal oversight and direct superintend- 
 ence of President Stearns, to whose watchful eye and 
 excellent taste, scarcely less than to the art and 
 
156 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 science of the architect, the building owes its per- 
 fection. 
 
 The corner-stone was laid on the 22d of September, 
 1870, with the following order of exercises: Prelim- 
 inary Statement by the President; Introductory 
 prayer by Prof. W. S. Tyler ; Address by Rev. Chris- 
 topher Gushing, of Boston ; Placing of the stone by 
 the senior class (Class of '71); Hymn, "Christ is 
 our Corner-Stone ;" Prayer by Rev. J. L. Jenkins, 
 of Amherst ; Doxology ; Benediction. 
 
 The following passages from the president's pre- 
 liminary statement should be put on record as show- 
 ing his views and those of the donor, William F. 
 Stearns, Esq., in regard to this edifice: " We have 
 assembled to place the corner-stone of an edifice, 
 which, in accordance with the great idea of the col- 
 lege, 'the highest education and all for Christ,' is to 
 be, when completed and dedicated, the college 
 church. In pursuing this principle which has al- 
 ways actuated some of us, a desire has long existed, 
 since we have public worship together, to hold the 
 religious services of the Sabbath, as other churches 
 do, in a retired, consecrated Sabbath home, from 
 which all the studies and distractions of the week 
 should be excluded, and where the suggestions of the 
 place should assist us to gather in our thoughts, and 
 in the enjoyment of sacred silence to confer with 
 God. 
 
 " Some of the views of the donor in furnishing the 
 means for the college church were thus expressed to 
 the trustees at the time they were given, and in the 
 same spirit they were gratefully accepted by them. 
 i. The church is to be used by the college for strictly 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 157 
 
 religious observances, especially for Christian wor- 
 ship and preaching, and for no other purpose. 2. 
 The preacher shall always profess his full and ear- 
 nest belief in the religion of the Old and New Testa- 
 ments as a supernatural revelation from God, and in 
 Jesus Christ as the divine and only Saviour, 'who 
 was crucified for our sins and raised again for our 
 justification/ and generally for substance of doctrine 
 in the evangelical system or gospel of Christ as un- 
 derstood by the projectors and founders of the col- 
 lege. 3. The preacher in the pulpit, and in all the 
 exercises of this church, shall exhibit that sobriety, 
 dignity, and reverence of manner and expression 
 which becomes the sacredness of the place, and is 
 in keeping with those solemn emotions which true 
 Christians are supposed to experience." 
 
 The college church, not less than Walker Hall, 
 embodies an idea and a department. A new depart- 
 ment, as we shall see further on, was founded the 
 same year in which funds were set apart tor building 
 the church. The college church represents this de- 
 partment, gives it as it were a body and a form, and 
 expresses the idea, not only of a place set apart ex- 
 pressly for the Sabbath worship and service, but also 
 of a professorship whose undivided energies should 
 be sacredly devoted to the religious welfare of the 
 college. Combining in its architectural plan and 
 style the beautiful and the useful of successive ages, 
 it represents the religion of the college as uniting all 
 that is true and good in the past history of the church 
 with whatsoever things are pure and lovely in our 
 own age; and being unquestionably the brightest 
 architectural jewel on the brow of College Hill, it 
 
158 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 fitly expresses the paramount excellence and im- 
 portance of the religion of Christ in college education. 
 
 After the close of the war, several unsuccessful ef- 
 forts were made to secure a suitable memorial for 
 those students who had sacrificed their lives for their 
 country. A public hall adorned with relics and 
 trophies of the war, a lecture room and professorship 
 of history, a monument on the grounds, a monumen- 
 tal group of statues and tablets within doors, all 
 these were contemplated, some of them voted by the 
 alumni and attempted, but all, for different reasons," 
 proved unsatisfactory, or at least unsuccessful. This 
 difficult question found at length an unexpected and 
 most satisfactory solution in connection with the col- 
 lege church. A chime of bells of unsurpassed excel- 
 lence, placed in the tower by George Howe, Esq., of 
 Boston, whose own son, a graduate of Amherst, fell 
 a sacrifice to the war, answers the double purpose, 
 to use the language of President Stearns, of " throw- 
 ing out upon the breezes the sweet invitation of 
 Christian psalmody to worship on the Lord's day, 
 and of commemorating in patriotic and soothing 
 melodies, on appropriate occasions, the nobleness of 
 our sons and brothers who honored the college, while 
 they shed their blood for Christ and dear native 
 land." 
 
 Before any provision was made or expected for a 
 new church, the rooms in the old chapel building 
 had become so deformed and dilapidated that thor- 
 ough repairs were absolutely necessary. These re- 
 pairs were made gradually, under the superintend- 
 ence of W. A. Dickinson, Esq. They cost nearly as 
 much as the original building. But they gave us 
 
s 
 Of THE 
 VERSITY 
 J 
 
COLLEGE HALL. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 159 
 
 possession of rooms far surpassing the original ones 
 in convenience and elegance. The form of the 
 rooms underwent little or no change. But they were 
 entirely refitted, frescoed, and furnished, and the 
 recitation rooms, beginning with the Greek room, 
 and extending gradually to the others, being adorned 
 with maps and charts, photographs and engravings, 
 bronzes and marbles illustrative of Greek and Roman 
 art and antiquities, became teachers, no longer of 
 rudeness and slovenliness, but of order, truth, and 
 beauty. While the chapel proper was undergoing 
 repairs, the present Art room, in Williston Hall, 
 served as our place of worship. 
 
 When the village church had completed their new 
 and costly church edifice on Main Street in 1867, the 
 trustees purchased the old edifice in which they al- 
 ready owned a share, in consideration of its annual 
 use for commencements, thoroughly remodelled and 
 repaired it externally and internally, thus divesting 
 it in a great measure of its " astonishing" ugliness, 
 and so acquired College Hall, one of the most con- 
 venient and useful buildings on the college grounds. 
 
 While the college had thus been erecting or acquir- 
 ing these convenient and beautiful buildings, a cor- 
 responding improvement had been going vnparipassu 
 in the college grounds. Mr. Williston, Dr. Barrett, 
 Mr. Hayden, and others made donations for this pur- 
 pose. Appropriations were voted from time to time 
 from the college treasury. Early under the presi- 
 dency of Dr. Stearns, the ground south of the grove 
 was carefully prepared for cricket and base-ball. 
 The annexation of a part of the Boltwood farm, and 
 the grading about Walker Hall and the college 
 
160 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 church, involved great changes in the college grounds 
 and became the occasion of the greatest improve- 
 ment that has been made in them, by providing new 
 drives and walks, furnishing more convenient access 
 and entrance, and opening to visitors more inviting 
 views of the buildings, with charming vistas of the 
 eastern hills in the background. 
 
 In 1868, Leavitt Hallock, Esq., having purchased, 
 together with the farm of which it was a part, the 
 grove formerly known as Baker's Grove, between 
 Pratt and Blake fields, and near which the students 
 for a time had a ball ground, and having adorned it 
 with drives and walks, gave it in trust to the college 
 on the single condition that the trustees should pre- 
 serve, improve, and keep it forever as a public park. 
 The trustees gratefully accepted the donation and 
 gave it the name of Hallock Park. It contains some 
 seven acres of ancient and venerable oaks and pines, 
 such as can scarcely be found anywhere else in 
 western Massachusetts. 
 
 If now we turn our attention to the departments of 
 instruction, we shall find that they kept even pace 
 with these improvements in the buildings and 
 grounds. During the presidency of Dr. Stearns, three 
 new departments were established, represented sev- 
 erally by the three then most recent buildings, viz. : 
 the department of hygiene and physical education, 
 by the Barrett Gymnasium ; that of mathematics and 
 astronomy by Walker Hall; and that of Biblical 
 history and interpretation and the pastoral care, by 
 the college church. 
 
 Physical education was a prominent topic in the 
 inaugural address of President Stearns. After in- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. l6l 
 
 sisting on the natural connection between bodily dis- 
 arrangement on the one hand and intellectual infe- 
 riority as well as moral perversity on the other, and 
 contrasting the perfection of physical form, health, 
 and strength developed by the palastra and the gym- 
 nasium in ancient systems of educationjtvith the par- 
 tial deformity, the languid step, stooping shoulders, 
 cadaverous countenances, and physical degeneracy 
 induced by neglect of bodily training in modern 
 times, he says : " Physical education is not the lead- 
 ing business of college life, though were I able, like 
 Alfred or Charlemagne, to plan an educational sys- 
 tem anew, I would seriously consider the expediency 
 of introducing regular drills in gymnastic and calis- 
 thenic exercises." The idea, thus early conceived 
 and expressed, grew in the president's mind with 
 every year's experience, till it became a new de- 
 partment. In each successive annual report to the 
 trustees he called their attention with increasing 
 earnestness to the failing health and waning strength 
 and in some instances the premature death of stu- 
 dents, especially in the spring of the year, as in his 
 opinion wholly unnecessary. In his report for 1859, / 
 he says : " If a moderate amount of physical exercise 
 could be secured as a general thing to every student 
 daily, I have a deep conviction, founded on close ob- 
 servation and experience, that not only would lives 
 and health be preserved, but animation and cheerful- 
 ness, and a higher order of efficient study and intel- 
 lectual life would be secured. It will be for the con- 
 sideration of this board, whether, for the encourage- 
 ment of this sort of exercise, the time has not come 
 when efficient measures should be taken for the erec- 
 
162 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 tion of a gymnasium, and the procuring of its proper 
 appointments." The trustees accordingly chose a 
 committee, consisting of the president, Dr. Nathan 
 Allen, Henry Edwards, Esq., and Hon. Alexander H. 
 Bullock, who reported at once in favor of an immediate 
 effort for erecting a gymnasium. The building was 
 completed, as we have seen, in 1860. At the same 
 time, the trustees, at their annual meeting, in 
 August, 1860, voted to establish a department of 
 physical culture in the college, and elected John W. 
 Hooker, M.D., of New Haven, Conn., the first pro- 
 fessor in the department. Dr. Hooker was an excel- 
 lent gymnast and did much to inaugurate the new 
 system and inspire the students with interest in it. 
 But owing to ill-health and other causes his connec- 
 tion with the college ceased after a few months. 
 During the interregnum in the spring of 1861, taking 
 advantage of the excitement which preceded the war, 
 Col. Luke Lyman of Northampton was employed to 
 give instruction and training to students in military 
 tactics and exercises. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the trustees, in August, 
 1 86 1, Dr. Edward Hitchcock, Jr., a graduate of the 
 college, and of the Medical School of Harvard Uni- 
 versity, was appointed professor in this department. 
 And to his science, skill, patience, and rare tact in 
 managing students, under the wise and efficient 
 direction and cooperation of President Stearns, we 
 are indebted for the remarkable success in Amherst 
 College of a department which almost everywhere 
 else has proved a failure. The characteristic and 
 essential features to which it owes its success are 
 two: In the first place, the gymnasium is only part 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 163 
 
 "and parcel, or, if you please, the head and front, of a 
 department of anatomy, physiology, and physical 
 culture, which is committed to an educated physician 
 and man of science, who is specially charged with 
 the health of the students, as other professors are 
 charged with the several branches of mental educa- 
 tion. In the second place, unless excused by the 
 professor for special reasons, every student is re- 
 quired to exercise under the professor in the gymna- 
 sium half an hour daily for four days in the week, 
 just as much as he is required to attend the recita- 
 tions and lectures in any other department. One 
 other characteristic has contributed largely to the 
 popularity and success of Dr. Hitchcock's manage- 
 ment of gymnastic exercises. He knows how to in- 
 termingle recreation and amusement with the severer 
 drill of the gymnasium, maintaining military order 
 and discipline during a portion of each half-hour, 
 and then allowing them to break up into sections or 
 squads, and take such exercise and recreation as they 
 choose, so that the classes come to the gymnasium 
 with much of the same relish and zest with which 
 they go to the ball ground, and go through a part of 
 their exercises, as well as leave them, often with 
 laughter and shouts. 
 
 The attractiveness of the exercises in the gymna- 
 sium to the public was and still is seen in the num- 
 ber of visitors. "From September, 1866, to the 
 close of the college year in July, 1867, there were 
 present at these exercises five thousand nine hun- 
 dred and fifty-eight persons as visitors, and from 
 September, 1867, to July 10, 1868, the number was 
 four thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, more 
 
164 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 than one-fourth of whom were ladies ; and the aver- 
 age number of visitors present at each exercise was 
 over ten for both years." l In his report for 1869-70, 
 the professor reckons the yearly average of visitors 
 as four thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. 
 It is probable that the number is still larger now. 
 The prize exhibitions, which occur once or twice a 
 year, always draw crowds of spectators. 
 
 In summing up the results of the experiment in 
 1869, Dr. Allen, to whose professional knowledge 
 and constant supervision as one of the trustees this 
 department owes more than to any one else, except 
 President Stearns and Professor Hitchcock, testifies 
 to a decided improvement in the countenances and 
 general physique of the students, in the use of their 
 limbs and physical movements generally, in their 
 cheerfulness and buoyancy of spirits, in their sani- 
 tary condition and in their vital statistics, besides 
 many incidental advantages, such as elevating the 
 standard of scholarship, preventing vicious and 
 irregular habits, and aiding the government and dis- 
 cipline of the institution. 
 
 The department of mathematics and astronomy, 
 including the professorship, the instructorships and 
 the prize scholarships, was not only founded by Dr. 
 Walker, but shaped to meet his views, and carefully 
 defined in the terms and conditions of the several 
 endowments. The documents in which the founder 
 defines his views and wishes, and which constitute 
 the statutes of the foundation, are spread out at 
 
 1 See "Physical Culture in Amherst College," a pamphlet by 
 Dr. Nathan Allen, published at the request of the trustees, 
 1869. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 165 
 
 length on the records of the trustees, where they fill 
 twelve entire, closely written folio pages. The first 
 document which accompanied the endowment of the 
 Walker professorship of mathematics and astronomy 
 contains a minute description of the ends for 
 which, and the ways in which, in the opinion of the 
 founder, mathematics should be taught, under the 
 heads of arithmetic, geometry, algebra, and trigo- 
 nometry. 
 
 In accordance with these views, William C. Esty, 
 of the class of '60, was chosen instructor in 1862, 
 and in 1863 professor of mathematics and astron- 
 omy. His trial for the professorship was the calcu- 
 lation of the orbits of the satellites of Jupiter a 
 work which had never before been done, and which 
 occupied him for two years. The examination was 
 by Professor Pierce, of Harvard College, by whom 
 also the subject had been assigned or rather sug- 
 gested for the choice of Mr. Esty. 
 
 The Walker instructorship was founded in 1863. 
 It provides for the appointment by the trustees of 
 some recent graduate of superior scholarship and 
 promise, as a special instructor or tutor, to give in- 
 struction to select divisions of the sophomore and 
 freshman classes. The characteristic features of 
 this foundation are: i. Small divisions, each consist- 
 ing of not more than ten or twelve students; 2. No 
 instructor to be employed longer than three years, 
 but another to be chosen to take his place from those 
 graduates who have availed themselves of the bene- 
 fits of this provision and are esteemed by the trus- 
 tees of the college as most deserving. 
 
 The same year in which the funds were given for 
 
 \UNIVERSITY, 
 
 OF 
 
l66 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 the College Church, 1864, another gentleman, without 
 any knowledge of that donation, offered to the trus- 
 tees, in a letter to the president, the sum of twenty 
 thousand dollars as a foundation for a professorship 
 of the pastoral care. The same gentleman had pre- 
 viously had some correspondence with Dr. Hitch- 
 cock as well as with Dr. Stearns on the same subject. 
 At their annual meeting in July, 1864, the trustees 
 gratefully accepted the foundation and appointed the 
 president and Dr. Vaill a committee to confer with 
 the donor, and prepare proper statutes and plans for 
 the pastorate. At a special meeting of the board in 
 November, 1866, the statutes, as approved by the 
 donor, were reported and adopted by the trustees. 
 They provide that the professor shall be designated 
 as the " Samuel Green Professor of Biblical History 
 and Interpretation and of the Pastoral Care," and 
 that he shall be the pastor or associate pastor of the 
 college church. His duties shall be to preach on 
 the Sabbath such portion of the time as the trustees 
 may think most conducive to the well-being of the 
 college; to be responsible in connection with and 
 under the direction of the president for the proper 
 conducting of all other religious meetings in the col- 
 lege, provided, however, that in the management of 
 this work as well as in the preaching on the Sabbath, 
 such assistance may be expected from other profes- 
 sors as shall help to secure the wisest and most pow- 
 erful Christian influence upon the whole institution ; 
 to organize and conduct, or superintend the conduct- 
 ing of, Bible classes; to seek out young men as they 
 come to college, and exert a personal religious influ- 
 ence of Christian friendship upon them ; and to give 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. l6/ 
 
 such instruction in Biblical history and interpreta- 
 tion as the trustees may direct. 
 
 During his life, the founder of this professorship 
 was not willing to have his name mentioned. But 
 since his decease there is no objection to the an- 
 nouncement that the founder was that life-long 
 friend of Amherst College and of every good cause, 
 John Tappan, Esq., of Boston. And he named 
 the foundation the Samuel Green Professorship 
 in memory of his beloved pastor, the first pastor 
 of the Union Church, Essex Street, Boston, 
 and afterwards one of the honored secretaries 
 of the American Board of Commissioners for 
 Foreign Missions. 
 
 While jiew departments of instruction were thus 
 springing up in the college, the old departments 
 were not stationary. All the branches of the physi- 
 cal sciences were not only supported now on the 
 Walker foundations, but derived fresh life and 
 strength from the new and rich soil into which they 
 were transplanted. 
 
 In 1869, the trustees voted that Professor Snell 
 have liberty to draw on the Walker Legacy Fund for 
 an amount not exceeding three thousand dollars, to 
 be expended within two years for the purchase of 
 apparatus. Thus after many long years of hope 
 deferred and personal toil and skill to make appar- 
 atus out of nothing, and with no place to put it in 
 when it was made, he enjoyed the satisfaction, not 
 only of having a beautiful and convenient room with 
 suitable shelves and cases for the deposit of the old 
 apparatus, -but also of seeing new and choice instru- 
 ments, works of art as well as illustrations of sci- 
 
 12 
 
168 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 ence, frequently arriving wherewith to exhibit his 
 new and beautiful experiments. 
 
 The department of chemistry, like the department 
 of mathematics and physics, migrated during the 
 presidency of Dr. Stearns, leaving the basement of 
 the old Chapel, which in 1827 seemed so ample and 
 magnificent and was in fact in advance of the labor- 
 atories in other and older colleges, and finding new 
 quarters on the first floor of Williston Hall, fitted 
 and furnished by the wealth and liberality of Mr. 
 Williston, to satisfy the demands of Professor Clark, 
 young, ambitious, and fresh from the laboratories of 
 Europe. Provided with an excellent working as 
 well as lecturing laboratory, conducted by scientific 
 and enthusiastic professors, with the cooperation 
 sometimes of able assistants and the constant sym- 
 pathy of an appreciating and progressive president, 
 this department expanded with its accommodations 
 and appliances, was allowed more time and oppor- 
 tunity under the presidency of Dr. Stearns than was 
 afforded it even under his scientific predecessor, 
 gave increasing attention to analytic and organic 
 chemistry and work in the laboratory, and, in short, 
 endeavored not without success to keep pace with 
 the rapid progress of chemistry and the kindred sci- 
 ences. From 1854 to 1856 Professor Clark was 
 aided in analytic and applied chemistry by the rare 
 talents, taste, and science of Dr. John W. Mallet, a 
 graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and of the Uni- 
 versity of Gottingen. Dr. Newton S. Manross, 
 another of Mr. Clark's fellow-students in Professor 
 Wohler's laboratory at Gottingen and a doctor of 
 philosophy of that university, gave excellent instruc- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 169 
 
 tion here in this and the related sciences in 1861-62, 
 the first year in which Professor Clark was absent as 
 an officer in the War of the Rebellion, and, following 
 his beloved professor to the war, lost his life in the 
 battle at Antietam. In 1867 Professor Clark re- 
 signed his professorship in order to accept the presi- 
 dency of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, 
 and after a year's interregnum, in which Mr. J. H. 
 Eaton, of the class of '65, lectured with marked suc- 
 cess, in 1868 Prof. E. P. Harris of the class of 
 '55, then professor at Beloit College, was appointed 
 in his place. In 1869, this department, at the same 
 time with that of physics, struck its roots into the 
 Walker Legacy Fund, and Professor Harris was 
 authorized, with the advice and approbation of the 
 prudential committee, to expend a sum not exceed- 
 ing fifteen hundred dollars in refitting and refur- 
 nishing the laboratory. And thereafter not only 
 whole classes were faithfully instructed in the gen- 
 eral principles of the science by his able lectures, 
 but under his inspiring guidance the laboratory 
 proper has been filled to its utmost capacity with 
 enthusiastic elective students engaged in analytic 
 experiments. 
 
 Botany has continued to be taught, as in former 
 years, by the professor of chemistry. Indeed Pro- 
 fessor Clark bore the title of " Professor of Chemis- 
 try, Botany, and Zoology" from 1854 till 1858. In 
 1858, Professor Tuckerman was appointed professor 
 of botany. Only a few classes, however, enjoyed his 
 instructions in this science, in consequence of an in- 
 creasing difficulty of hearing, which rendered it in- 
 convenient and disagreeable for him to teach classes. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 For the same reason, however, he only devoted him- 
 self with less interruption and more enthusiasm to 
 one branch of botanical science, viz., the lichens, in 
 which he long reigned almost sole monarch among 
 American savants and published to the world the 
 results of his long and patient microscopic studies of 
 specimens which he gathered in person or by proxy 
 from all the mountains and glens of the western con- 
 tinent. "Tuckerman Glen" in the White Mountains 
 was discovered by him in these explorations, and 
 will be a lasting monument of his devotion to this 
 science. 
 
 On retiring from the presidency, Dr. Hitchcock 
 expressed to the trustees his willingness to retain 
 the professorship of natural theology and geology, 
 giving at least twenty lectures, and from twenty-five 
 to thirty recitations in geology ; twenty-five lectures 
 and ten or twelve recitations in anatomy and physi- 
 ology; twenty-five recitations in Butler's Analogy; 
 and from ten to twenty lectures in natural theology ; 
 being released from the government and police of 
 the college and from attending faculty meetings; 
 preaching and officiating at prayers in his turn with 
 the other professors; and receiving as his salary six 
 hundred dollars one-half the sum received by the 
 other professors. This proposition was thankfully 
 accepted by the trustees, and Professor Hitchcock 
 returned with the freshness of a first love to his 
 lectures and recitations, to geological excursions, ex- 
 plorations, and naming of mountains, to the collec- 
 tion and classification of specimens and the devel- 
 opment and perfection especially of his favorite 
 branches, ichnology and natural theology. It was 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. i;i 
 
 with enthusiastic delight that he saw the Appleton 
 Cabinet completed, and the first floor filled with 
 classified and labeled foot-marks in which the eye 
 of his science and imagination could see the gigantic 
 birds, saurians, and batrachians of the primeval 
 world marching down the geologic ages, and the 
 second floor filling with shells of mollusks, casts of 
 the megatherium, skeletons and skins of the gorilla 
 and other animals, and stuffed or preserved speci- 
 mens of the animal creation in regular gradation 
 from the lowest to the highest orders of the animal 
 kingdom. In 1858, Mr. Charles H. Hitchcock, of 
 the class of '56, was appointed lecturer on zoology 
 and curator of the cabinet. In 1860, as Dr. Hitch- 
 cock's health declined, an addition was made to his 
 salary that he might employ such assistance as he 
 might think needful and expedient, and from that 
 time, his son relieved him by performing more and 
 more of his duties until his death in 1864. In 1870 
 Mr. Benjamin K. Emerson, a graduate of the class 
 of '65 and a doctor of philosophy of the University 
 of Gottingen, was appointed instructor in geology, 
 and at a meeting of the trustees in Boston, Febru- 
 ary 7, 1872, the title of the Hitchcock Professorship 
 was changed from that of Geology and Natural The- 
 ology to that of Geology and Zoology; and Benja- 
 min K. Emerson was elected to the professorship. 
 Meanwhile natural theology was provided for by 
 ample instructions from the president and the pro- 
 fessor of mental and moral philosoph) r , as well as by 
 the able and popular lectures of Dr. Burr on this 
 special subject. 
 
 Mathematics and the ancient languages have both 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 been compelled to yield, these last few years, to the 
 demands of the age and give tip some of the time 
 which they formerly occupied to the physical sci- 
 ences and the modern languages. Yet there never 
 has been a time when the major part of each succes- 
 sive class has been more enthusiastic and successful 
 as students of the classics, nor when we have been 
 able to make a few so good classical scholars. While 
 insisting as strenuously as ever on a thorough drill 
 and mastery of the grammar and lexicography of the 
 languages by the freshmen, we have been able, with 
 the admirable helps that now exist, to study both 
 ancient and modern languages more in the light of 
 comparative philology, and at the same time to read 
 the classics more in their relations to history and 
 philosophy and as a means of higher culture in what 
 are justly called "the humanities/' 
 
 Two changes have been introduced which affect 
 especially this department, and which, without ques- 
 tion, have been both marks and means of progress. 
 They were introduced by the Greek professor. The 
 one is the introduction into the recitation rooms, not 
 only of maps and charts, but of photographs, engrav- 
 ings, casts, models of ancient edifices, copies of an- 
 cient statuary in marble, bronze, and terra cotta, 
 busts of authors and the great men of antiquity in 
 short, all such sensible illustrations as will lend to 
 classical studies something of the reality and vivid- 
 ness which specimens and experiments give to the 
 physical sciences, and will help students to repro- 
 duce men and things as they were in olden times. 
 The other sign and means of progress is a higher 
 grade of instruction in the lower classes secured by 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 173 
 
 more permanence and more division of labor among 
 the instructors of those classes. Formerly in this as 
 in other colleges, the two lower classes were taught 
 almost entirely by tutors. For many years now the 
 instruction in Greek and Latin has all been given by 
 professors. 
 
 Subject to change as other departments, the de- 
 partment of rhetoric had three different incumbents 
 during the presidency of Dr. Stearns. Rev. Thomas 
 P. Field, of the class of '34, was chosen professor in 
 this department at a special meeting of the trustees 
 held in Amherst, November 21, 1853, just a year pre- 
 vious to the ordination and inauguration of Presi- 
 dent Stearns, and in the spring of 1856 he resigned 
 the professorship, having held it only a little over 
 two years. His rare good sense and genial spirit, 
 his refinement of taste and manners, his extensive 
 and thorough acquaintance with English literature 
 and his high and just appreciation of the old English 
 classics, qualified him well for a professorship in col- 
 lege, and especially for the professorship of rhetoric 
 and English literature. 
 
 Mr. James G. Vose, a graduate of Yale of the 
 class of '51, was chosen professor in this department 
 at the annual meeting of the trustees in August, 
 1856, and his resignation was accepted by the board 
 at a special meeting in Boston in March, 1865. 
 With many of the same qualifications for the office 
 as his predecessor, and continuing to hold it between 
 eight and nine years longer than any who had pre- 
 ceded him except Professor Worcester and Professor 
 Warner Professor Vose grew every year in the re- 
 spect and affection of the students, endeared himself 
 
174 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 greatly to his colleagues in the faculty, and was im- 
 pressing himself more and more on the style of 
 thinking and writing in the college. No one can 
 look carefully and discriminately over the schedules 
 of Commencements and exhibitions without seeing 
 his influence in the choice of subjects and the ex- 
 pression of the titles of the pieces while he occupied 
 this important chair. Ordained as an evangelist not 
 long after he became professor, 1 by a council con- 
 vened by invitation of the college church, he 
 preached with increasing frequency and interest in 
 other churches, and feeling more and more the infe- 
 licities of college life and the attractions of the min- 
 istry and the pastoral office, he yielded at length to 
 this growing preference, and the college lost a good 
 professor, but Providence and Rhode Island gained 
 perhaps a better bishop whose wisdom and spirit and 
 influence in the churches prove him to be in the true 
 apostolical succession. 
 
 At the same special meeting in Boston, March 8, 
 1865, at which they accepted the resignation of Pro- 
 fessor Vose, the trustees " made unanimous choice of 
 Rev. L. Clark Seelye as Williston Professor of 
 Rhetoric," whereby Springfield lost a Congrega- 
 tional bishop greatly honored and beloved, but the 
 college gained a professor of rhetoric and oratory and 
 English literature who, although he came with the 
 avowed expectation of staying only a few years and 
 then resuming the ministry, proved himself more 
 and more the right man in the right place, until in 
 1873, he accepted a place for which he was perhaps 
 
 1 He was ordained in 1857. He had previously preached 
 only as a licentiate. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 1 75 
 
 still better adapted, the presidency of Smith College 
 in Northampton. 
 
 With the trifling exception of a choice between 
 French and German in the third term of sophomore 
 year, there were no optional studies prior to the 
 presidency of Dr. Stearns. In 1859-60, "annuals" 
 having now taken the place of the " senior examin- 
 ation" on the whole course, " elective studies in the 
 several departments" took the place of reviews pre- 
 paratory to that examination in the third term of 
 senior year. Since that time they have been intro- 
 duced gradually into the studies of the junior year. 
 They are still confined for the most part to the last 
 two years of the course. There is no disposition in 
 any of the present faculty to make the college an 
 American university (sit venia verbo!) or to sacrifice 
 any of the humanities or the disciplinary studies 
 which constitute the essential characteristics of the 
 American college. 
 
 Conservative and at the same time progressive in 
 his ideas of the college curriculum, President Stearns 
 presided in the Board of Trustees and the faculty 
 and administered the government of the institution 
 with the same even balance, uniting dignity with 
 unfailing courtesy and kindness, tempering justice 
 and firmness with gentleness and parental love, calm 
 however stormy the elements might be around him, 
 yet alive to every breath of feeling, impulse, or as- 
 piration in young men, ruling in the hearts of all 
 connected with the college, and guiding its affairs 
 with a wisdom that seldom erred, and a patience and 
 faith that never failed. 
 
 As "Professor of Moral and Christian Science," 
 
176 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 President Stearns, during the greater part of his 
 presidency, taught the senior class Butler's Anal- 
 ogy, and lectured on the Hebrew theocracy and its 
 records, with particular reference to the arguments 
 and objections of modern skeptics. Having become 
 professor also of Biblical history and interpretation, 
 he adopted a more modern text-book, and by way of 
 supplementing its defects and imperfections, ex- 
 tended the range of his oral and written lectures. 
 For a few years, he also instructed the seniors in 
 constitutional law. With this exception, his teach- 
 ing was confined to a single term the second term 
 of the senior year. This is less instruction than was 
 given by any of his predecessors very much less 
 than used to be given by President Moore and Presi- 
 dent Humphrey, or any of the earlier presidents of 
 New England colleges. But we have only to look 
 at the other work which he did in raising funds and 
 erecting buildings, in administering the discipline, 
 and looking after the necessities of poor students, 
 in the pastoral care and the representation of the 
 college before the public in all the countless and 
 endless details of business that now devolve on the 
 president of any great and growing college and we 
 see not only a justification of this undesirable fact, 
 but a necessity for it. And in the success and per- 
 fection, with which all this work was done ; in the 
 rare felicity, free from outbreaks and almost from 
 friction, with which the internal government and 
 discipline (never before so fully conducted by the 
 president and never before conducted so well) was 
 administered ; in the steadily increasing number of 
 students (since the war) till it had reached at the 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 177 
 
 semi-centennial a larger aggregate than at any for- 
 mer period ; and in the general growth, prosperity, 
 and reputation of the institution in all these we 
 see a proof of the wisdom and excellence of the ad- 
 ministration. 
 
 On Thursday, June 8, 1876, Dr. Stearns died, still 
 in office (the only president of Amherst College that 
 has died in office except the first), having held the 
 office a greater number of years than any other ex- 
 cept the second, who was president about the same 
 length of time. 1 The closing scenes of his life are 
 narrated in the following extracts from the com- 
 memorative discourse by the author of this history. 
 The last year was doubtless the most fruitful year 
 of his long and useful life. The last spring term 
 saw his prayers answered and his labors blessed in 
 what he considered, and we also felt, to be the great- 
 est and best of all the revivals that had crowned his 
 college work, if not the greatest and best in the whole 
 history of the college. The last Sunday that he 
 officiated and at the last sacrament which he admin- 
 istered, he received to the communion the largest 
 number of young men that he had ever admitted at 
 one time to the college church, the richest harvest 
 of new-born souls that he had gathered into the 
 garner of the Lord. The last time that he met the 
 students was at morning prayers where he had so 
 often interceded for them with their Heavenly 
 Father, like Abraham, the friend of God, like Is- 
 rael, the prince of God, and in much of the spirit as 
 
 1 Dr. Moore was president a little over two years ; Dr. Hum- 
 phrey, twenty-two; Dr. Hitchcock, nine; Dr. Stearns, twenty- 
 two; Dr. Seelye, fourteen. 
 
1 78 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 well as in the name and for the sake of the Son of 
 God Himself. This time, however, as he rose to 
 offer prayer he grew faint and fell into the arms of 
 his colleagues, but soon recovering, he walked to 
 his home, supported on either side by some of the 
 students. His family felt no immediate alarm. 
 His friends who called in the course of the day saw 
 no signs of speedy death. He kept about the house 
 through the day, suffering some pretty sharp pains 
 at times in his back and shoulders, but talking with 
 his usual cheerfulness and playfulness, listening to 
 the reading of a book, reading himself in the news- 
 paper, and apparently apprehending no immediate 
 danger. He was walking about the room five min- 
 utes before his death ; he had just taken up a news- 
 paper when suddenly he laid it down, remarking that 
 he felt a strange sinking, dropped upon the sofa, 
 and before the family could gather about him, he 
 was gone. He had lived so near the heavenly gates 
 it is no wonder that at a single step he entered and 
 was with the shining ones. It was an ideal death to 
 crown an almost ideal life. All who knew him 
 could but exclaim, "Let me die the death of the 
 righteous, and let my last end be like his." He 
 himself had often expressed a wish, if agreeable to 
 the will of God, thus to die. It was not a death, it 
 was only a departure from the line of battle to the 
 trophy, from the contest to the crown. Nay, call 
 it rather a translation. He walked with God and 
 was not, for God took him. Nothing else was 
 wanted to round out to the full so beautiful, useful, 
 honored, and happy a life. True, he had other 
 thoughts and plans. He had written his resignation 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 179 
 
 of the presidency it was to be contemporaneous 
 with the graduation of his youngest son and he was 
 to retain for the present the pastorate and the Sam- 
 uel Green professorship of Biblical interpretation. 
 But he had lived more than his three-score years 
 and ten and filled them full with sound and heroic 
 service, and the Master gave him a full and free dis- 
 charge, bidding him rest from his labors and enter 
 at once upon his honors and rewards, saying with 
 almost audible voice: 
 
 "Servant of God, well done ! 
 
 Rest from thy loved employ ; 
 The battle fought, the victory won, 
 Enter thy Master's joy." 
 
 On Tuesday of the next week the funeral service 
 was held in the College Church. Only one week 
 from the next Sabbath was the beginning of Com- 
 mencement week. With characteristic promptness 
 and yet may we not believe by a special provi- 
 dence? he had finished the preparation of his bacca- 
 laureate sermon on his birthday, the lyth of March, 
 and presented it to Mrs. Stearns as a surprise gift 
 and birthday present. At the request of the faculty 
 and family this was read by President Seelye of 
 Smith College. The text was in Deut. xxviii. i, 
 15. It was a centennial discourse (1876) and a 
 strong appeal addressed to the reason, the con- 
 sciences, and the hearts of the young men, espe- 
 cially the graduating class, and urging them with 
 more than usual fervor and power to the faithful 
 discharge of their civil, social, and political, as well 
 as religious, duties. Eloquent and impressive in 
 itself, under these circumstances it was a voice from 
 
180 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 the grave and the spirit world, nay, a voice from 
 heaven and God, which those who heard it, and es- 
 pecially the members of the graduating class, will 
 never forget. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper 
 in the afternoon of the same day, when the graduat- 
 ing class commune with their pastor, with each 
 other, and with their Christian brothers for the last 
 time, was a season of rare sacredness and solemnity 
 and made still more interesting by the admission to 
 the church of converts of the recent revival. Com- 
 mencement week seemed more like a prolonged fu- 
 neral than like the usual festival. The president's 
 chair stood vacant and wreathed in mourning; a 
 dirge introduced the exercises, and oh, how we 
 missed his voice in the opening and closing prayers, 
 his presence in all the exercises! The richest 
 legacy which he has left to his family, the college, 
 and the community, is his character and life a char- 
 acter which was confessed by all who knew him to 
 be a more convincing argument for Christianity than 
 whole volumes of " evidences," a life which was felt 
 by all who saw it to be more winning and persua- 
 sive than the most eloquent sermon, and a mem- 
 ory at once more precious and more imperishable 
 than foundations or buildings of marble and granite. 
 Amherst College will be rich and sure to accomplish 
 its mission so long as men like President Stearns 
 and Professor Snell continue to be its presidents and 
 professors, and so long as trustees, faculty, and stu- 
 dents cherish their memory and feel, as they cannot 
 but feel, their hallowed influence. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR RECORD OF AMHERST'S HEROES THE 
 COMMEMORATIVE CHIME OF BELLS THE SEMI-CEN- 
 TENNIAL CELEBRATION. 
 
 Two events of peculiar interest and importance, 
 for which we have found no place in the foregoing 
 pages, belong to the history of President Stearns 's 
 administration, namely, the Civil War and the Semi- 
 centennial Celebration. To these we must now de- 
 vote a short chapter before proceeding to the subse- 
 quent history. 
 
 No class of men, as statistics prove, contributed to 
 the grand army which saved the Union and the na- 
 tion in the Civil War in so large proportion to their 
 numbers, and none contributed an element of such 
 military value and moral power, as the graduates 
 and under-graduates of our colleges. Several of 
 the colleges in the Middle and Western States were 
 closed for a longer or shorter period during the war; 
 and the Eastern colleges felt scarcely less the deple- 
 tion of their numbers and the diminution of their 
 strength. It is sufficient honor for Amherst not to 
 have fallen behind her sisters in devotion to the 
 cause it is her pride and glory to have borne her 
 full share in the burdens and sacrifices, if not in the 
 honors and rewards, of this patriotic and heroic ser- 
 vice. 
 
 181 
 
1 82 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 At the first outbreak of hostilities, before the war 
 had actually commenced, with the ardor characteris- 
 tic of youth and college life, the under-graduates of 
 Amherst volunteered their services and offered a 
 company to the governor. On that dark and porten- 
 tous Sunday in April, 1861, which followed the fall 
 of Fort Sumter, and the attack of the mob upon the 
 Massachusetts regiments passing through Baltimore 
 on their way to Washington, when other troops from 
 Massachusetts and New York, forbidden to pass by 
 that thoroughfare, were making their way slowly by 
 way of Annapolis, and when it was feared that the 
 rebels might already have seized upon the capital, 
 the writer of this history preached in the College 
 Chapel on themes suited to the circumstances, and 
 in a strain intended to inspire courage, heroism, and 
 self-sacrificing devotion. And while the professor 
 was preaching, or at least as soon as he had done, 
 the students were already practising what he 
 preached. They drew up a form of enlistment which 
 some fifty or sixty of them subscribed, and in which 
 they offered themselves to the military service of the 
 country in this emergency, deeming it a Christian 
 duty not unbecoming the Lord's day to enlist in 
 such a war, and adopting as their own the sentiment 
 which they so much admired in their ancient clas- 
 sics: Duke et decorum est pro f atria mori. The presi- 
 dent's son was the first to put his name to this paper; 
 a son of one of the professors was the next to enter 
 the lists. The governor declined to accept the prof- 
 fered service, at the same time intimating that the 
 day might come when duty would call them to the 
 sacrifice. The immediate peril soon passed by, and 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 183 
 
 a general military drill tinder a competent military 
 officer ' took the place of the proposed company of 
 volunteers. But both the young men specially 
 alluded to above afterwards enlisted, and one of 
 them was among the earliest sacrifices which our 
 college offered on the altar of the country. Many 
 of the other volunteers, I know not just how many, 
 found their way into the army, some before and 
 some after their graduation. Seventy-eight names 
 are recorded on the roll of under-graduates who 
 served in the army or navy of the United States in 
 the course of the war. Our classes, which had been 
 steadily increasing in numbers for several years, 
 were now so reduced that some of them seemed al- 
 most like the thinned ranks of an army after a battle. 
 One of the professors set the example of volunteering 
 early in the war, and it was followed by one other 
 officer of the college and by many of the students. 
 Prof. William S. Clark, commissioned as major of 
 the Twenty-first Regiment of Massachusetts Volun- 
 teers, August 21, 1 86 1, and promoted rapidly to the 
 rank of lieutenant-colonel and colonel, fought in most 
 of the principal battles of the first two years of the 
 war till his regiment was reduced to the merest skele- 
 ton. His friend, Dr. N. S. Manross, who for one 
 year filled the vacancy in the faculty occasioned by 
 his absence, at the end of the year followed him to the 
 war, and at the very opening of his first battle, the 
 battle of Antietam, he fell as he was leading on his 
 company to the conflict. Thus two of the officers of 
 college went directly from the chair of the professor 
 
 'Col. Luke Lyman, of Northampton, afterwards colonel 
 of the Twenty-seventh Regiment. 
 
 Of THE 
 
1 84 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 to the tent and the field of battle. Two other mem- 
 bers of the faculty were represented in the army by 
 sons who were also sons of the college. Three sons 
 of the lamented Professor Adams enlisted, two of 
 whom early lost their lives in the service. Add to 
 these connecting links the almost four-score students 
 who left their classes, most of them for the purpose 
 of entering the army, and many more who engaged 
 in the service immediately after their graduation, 
 and it will be readily seen how many bonds of sym- 
 pathy and interest were thus established between the 
 college and the camps and battle-fields during the 
 war. Every mail was expected with anxious inter- 
 est. The newspapers were watched, especially after 
 every battle, and the lists of the killed and wounded 
 were examined with trembling solicitude. In some 
 instances false alarms were thus communicated, occa- 
 sioning much distress or anxiety at the time, but 
 followed by speedy relief, and attended perhaps with 
 not a little amusement. Colonel Clark was reported 
 first as captured and then as killed in the battle of 
 Chantilly. A telegraphic dispatch was even sent to 
 the army giving directions for sending on his body. 
 But the colonel soon answered it himself, saying that 
 he still had need of it for his own use, and a few 
 days later he presented himself in person at the door 
 of one of the professors with whom Mrs. Clark was 
 passing a few days, and ringing the bell, inquired if 
 the Widow Clark was there ! l 
 
 1 Colonel Clark denied having returned this answer, I be- 
 lieve. But he would have been very likely to return such an 
 answer ; if not true to the letter, it bears internal evidence of 
 'verisimilitude. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 185 
 
 Sometimes the sad intelligence, conveyed by 
 newspaper, letter, or telegraph conveyed perhaps 
 through the medium of a friend and broken as kindly 
 and tenderly as possible to the afflicted individual or 
 the bereaved family was too soon confirmed by the 
 arrival of the lifeless body. Then followed the 
 funeral service, the great congregation in the chapel 
 or the church, the prayers and dirges, the address or 
 commemorative discourse, and the long procession 
 of students and citizens, mourners all, to the place 
 of burial. Amherst was witness to not a few such 
 scenes in the course of the war. 
 
 The " Roll of the Graduates and Under-Graduates 
 of Amherst College who served in the Army or Navy 
 of the United States during the War of the Rebel- 
 lion," printed in 1871, records the names and in brief 
 the services of two hundred and forty-seven men, of 
 whom seventy-eight were under-graduates and one 
 hundred and sixty-nine were graduates. When the 
 semi-centennial catalogue was issued in 1872, the 
 number of graduates, then more fully ascertained, 
 had grown to one hundred and ninety-five. Among 
 these were six former tutors of the college. Two of 
 these sacrificed their lives in the service. 1 Of the 
 two hundred and forty-seven names on the roll, 
 ninety-five, or nearly thirty-nine per cent of the 
 whole, enlisted as privates. Some of them were im- 
 mediately elected to some office and received com- 
 missions. The greater part of the others were pro- 
 
 1 Dr. Charles Ellery Washburn of the class of '38, tutor in 
 1841 and 1842 ; and Rev. Samuel Fisk of the class of '48, tutor 
 from 1852 to 1855, author of "Dunn Brown Abroad," and 
 " Dunn Brown in the Army. " 
 
1 86 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 moted to one grade or another, and generally to 
 successive grades, as the reward of meritorious con- 
 duct or faithful service. Amherst furnished in all 
 thirty-five chaplains, some of whom were pastors of 
 some of the largest and best churches in the city or 
 the country, and not a few sacrificed their health and 
 periled their lives in the service. 
 
 The college furnished thirty or more surgeons to 
 the war. 
 
 Passing from chaplains and surgeons to other 
 officers, we find on inspecting the roll and noting 
 their rank at the close of their service, three briga- 
 dier-generals (two of them major-generals by brevet), 
 nine colonels, twelve lieutenant-colonels, nine majors, 
 twenty-five captains, seventeen first lieutenants, sev- 
 enteen second lieutenants, nineteen sergeants, five 
 corporals, besides a few ensigns, color-bearers, and 
 several adjutants, quartermasters and paymasters of 
 different ranks. Not a very brilliant show of supe- 
 rior officers in comparison with some of the less 
 clerical colleges of the East, or some of the more 
 belligerent institutions of the West, but showing a 
 proportionate number of promotions far beyond the 
 average among soldiers drawn from the community 
 generally, and thus illustrating forcibly the value of 
 the higher education in the military service. Never 
 before nor since, not even in the Prussian army in 
 the late Franco-German war, were there so many 
 bayonets that could read, and so many shoulder-straps 
 that could think, as there were in the army of the 
 United States that put down the great rebellion; and 
 to this element of intellectual and moral power no 
 other communities contributed so largely as the col- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. l8/ 
 
 leges, and among the colleges none more than Am- 
 herst. 
 
 Thirteen of our soldiers were confined in rebel 
 prisons, some of them dragged in succession through 
 two, three, or four of those places of more than fiend- 
 ish torture, and two of them welcomed death as a 
 blessed deliverance from the starvation, insults, and 
 cruelties, worse than death, to which such prisoners 
 were subjected. 
 
 The classes that graduated soon after the opening 
 of the war, as might have been expected, furnished 
 the largest number of recruits for the service. In 
 this respect '62 is the banner class, thirty of its 
 members having gone to the war; '61 and '63 each 
 sent twenty-three; '64 furnished fifteen; and '65 
 twenty-one for the service. The class of '65 lost the 
 largest number; six of its members died in the ser- 
 vice, four of whom died of mortal wounds received 
 on the field of battle; '63 lost four men, three of 
 whom were killed in battle; '64 lost the same num- 
 ber. The other classes above named lost one or two 
 men each upon an average. 
 
 The graduates of the older classes were, of course, 
 all above the military age, and could not be expected 
 to furnish many soldiers. But not a few of them, as 
 we learn from our correspondence, made up for the 
 deficiency by sending their sons to the service. The 
 oldest graduate whose name appears on our roll was 
 Rev. Timothy Robinson Cressey of the class of '28, 
 who went himself as chaplain of the Second Regi- 
 ment of Minnesota Volunteers, and took with him 
 five sons into the service. 
 
 " In all," he writes, " we served fifteen years in the 
 
1 88 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 war, were in twenty different battles, and all returned 
 in safety without the loss of a life or a limb. All 
 still live, and four of us are preaching Christ crucified, 
 in four different States, Minnesota, Michigan, Illi- 
 nois, and Iowa." 
 
 Rev. William A. Hyde of the next class ('29) 
 writes : " I had four sons in the war two of them in 
 nearly all the war. One of them suffered 4 deaths 
 oft' in rebel prisons for about ten months. He saw 
 Libby, Danville, Andersonville, and Florence in that 
 time." 
 
 Rev. Benjamin Schneider, D.D., of the next class 
 ('30), the veteran missionary at Aintab in Western 
 Turkey, and the venerable father and bishop of all 
 the Protestant churches in that section, had three 
 sons and a son-in-law in different stages of educa- 
 tion in this country, one of them, William Tyler 
 Schneider, a member of Amherst College, all of 
 whom went to the war, three in the army and one in 
 the navy; and his oldest son, James, a young man of 
 rare promise who was preparing to rejoin his father 
 in the missionary work, and who entered the army 
 in the spirit of a missionary, lost his life in the service. 
 
 The names of all under-graduates who lost their 
 lives in the service were, by vote of the trustees, 
 enrolled among the graduates of their respective 
 classes. Special favor and indulgence were extended 
 freely, when asked, to all under-graduates who served 
 in the army, and returned to college. 
 
 Through the wisdom of President Stearns and the 
 liberality of his friend, the late George Howe, Esq., 
 of Boston, the college rejoices in a monument such 
 as exists nowhere else to commemorate the fallen 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 189 
 
 heroes of the war, viz., a memorial chime of bells 
 placed in the tower of the College Church, which 
 began to give forth their music at the Semi-Centen- 
 nial Celebration, and which, in all coming time, 
 while they fitly introduce the services of the Sabbath 
 and accompany the exercises of our literary festivals, 
 and grace all occasions of special interest, will always 
 be associated with the heroic lives and martyr-like 
 deaths of our brave soldiers, and, by perpetuating 
 their memories, stimulate future generations of stu- 
 dents to follow their example. Among the fallen 
 whose memory will thus be perpetuated is a son of 
 the liberal donor, Sidney Walker Howe, of the class 
 of '59, who was killed in the battle of Williamsburg, 
 May 5, 1862, only a few months after he entered the 
 service. The gun captured in the battle of New- 
 bern, and bearing the names of those who fell in that 
 battle, stands in the vestibule of the Art Museum. 
 Thus coming generations will be reminded of the 
 virtues and sacrifices of our brethren who lost their 
 lives in the War of the Great Rebellion. And so 
 long as a single classmate or college-mate shall sur- 
 vive, we will enshrine him in the memory of our 
 hearts. And often as we meet at our annual re- 
 unions and call the rolls of our respective classes, 
 when their names are called, their surviving class- 
 mates will respond for them : " Dead on the field of 
 battle"" Died for their fatherland." 
 
 The war closed in 1865, leaving the college sadly 
 depleted in numbers, and with many mourners. But 
 in the years immediately following under the care 
 of President Stearns new life came to take the place 
 of that which was lost, the classes gradually filled up, 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 and the happy prosperity of former times was re- 
 newed and increased, as we have described in the 
 preceding chapter concerning President Stearns's 
 administration. 
 
 One event of importance, however, immediately 
 following the sixties remains to be named the Semi- 
 centennial Celebration. 
 
 The alumni and friends of a college whose founda- 
 tions were laid in a religious faith and consecration 
 so nearly akin to those of the patriarchs and proph- 
 ets of olden times might well keep the fiftieth anni- 
 versary of its opening as a "jubilee." 
 
 The first steps towards associated action were taken 
 by Prof. Roswell D. Hitchcock of New York city. 
 He brought the subject before the alumni at their 
 annual meeting, July 8, 1868, and at his motion the 
 following resolutions were adopted : 
 
 " Whereas our Alma Mater in three years from 
 now will have completed her first half-century; 
 therefore 
 
 " Resolved, That the trustees of the college be re- 
 quested to make provision for the celebration of that 
 event. 
 
 "Resolved, That Prof. William S. Tyler, D.D., be 
 requested to prepare a history of Amherst College, 
 which shall be ready for delivery at Commencement, 
 1871, and that he be requested also to address the 
 alumni on that occasion. 
 
 " Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed 
 to confer with the trustees and with Professor Tyler, 
 and to act as a committee of arrangements for our 
 approaching semi-centennial." 
 
 In accordance with this last resolution, Prof. R. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. igi 
 
 D. Hitchcock, W. A. Dickinson, Esq., and Prof. 
 R. H. Mather were appointed such a committee, to 
 whom, at the annual meeting of the alumni, July 13, 
 1870, Professors Edward Hitchcock and J. H. Seelye 
 were added. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the board, July 9, 1868, 
 the foregoing action was approved by the trustees, 
 and the prudential committee was authorized to 
 confer with the committee of the alumni. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the trustees, July 13, 
 1870, a special committee, censisting of the president 
 and Doctors Paine, Sabin, and Storrs, was appointed 
 to make arrangements, conjointly with the committee 
 of the alumni, for the celebration of the jubilee of 
 the college in 1871. 
 
 There was some discussion and some difference of 
 opinion among the alumni and friends of the college 
 as to the proper time for the celebration. As the 
 first Commencement was held in 1822, the Com- 
 mencement in 1871 would be not the fiftieth but the 
 forty-ninth anniversary of that day, and it seemed to 
 some, at first thought, that the celebration should 
 be at the fiftieth Commencement, which would be in 
 1872. But it was the opening of the college to re- 
 ceive students, and not its first Commencement, which 
 its friends desired to celebrate, and as it was agreed 
 that Commencement week would be the most suitable 
 and convenient time for the celebration, the conclu- 
 sion was quite unanimously reached that the Com- 
 mencement of 1871, although it would occur some 
 two months earlier than the exact anniversary of the 
 opening, should be the time. 
 
 Not a few of the alumni reached Amherst the Sat- 
 
192 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 urday previous to Commencement, and remained till 
 Friday or Saturday of the next week, that they might 
 have time to recall old recollections and keep a week 
 of jubilee. The exercises of the week were opened 
 as usual on Sunday by the Sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper in the Chapel in the morning, and the bacca- 
 laureate sermon in College Hall in the afternoon. 
 President Stearns very appropriately took for the 
 text of his baccalaureate, Leviticus xxv. 10, "Thou 
 shalt hallow the fiftieth year," and discoursed on the 
 religious history and characteristics of the college, 
 paying at the same time a feeling and generous 
 tribute to the men, especially the members of the 
 faculty, who, through poverty and reproach, had 
 stood by it in its dark and trying hour. 
 
 Monday and Tuesday were devoted as usual to the 
 prize exhibitions and declamations, and to the ex- 
 ercises of Class-day, the out-of doo'r performances of 
 the latter, however, being nearly drowned out by 
 copious showers which were to purify the air for the 
 next day. 
 
 Wednesday from early morning to a late hour in 
 the evening was given up to the jubilee. The day 
 dawned auspiciously, and continued clear and bright, 
 yet cool and comfortable even to its close. It seemed 
 made it doubtless was made for the occasion. In 
 the exercises of the morning, Hon. Samuel Williston, 
 the generous benefactor of the college, fitly presided. 
 The exercises were opened with prayer by Rev. E. P. 
 Humphrey, D.D., of Louisville, Ky., of the class of 
 '28, and the eldest son of the second president. The 
 assembly then joined in singing the doxology, 
 "Praise God from whom all blessings flow," 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 193 
 
 after which followed the address of welcome by Presi- 
 dent Stearns, and the historical discourse by Professor 
 Tyler. 
 
 In the afternoon, Hon. A. H. Bullock of the class 
 of '36, presided, and addresses were' made by the 
 presiding officer, by Professor Snell, '22, Dr. Edward 
 P. Humphrey, '28, Rev. H. N. Barnum, 1 '52, Rev. 
 H. W. Beecher, '34, Prof. E. A. Park, Prof. R. D. 
 Hitchcock, '36, and Waldo Hutchins, Esq., '42. 
 
 The addresses, both of the forenoon and afternoon, 
 besides being printed in full at the time in The 
 Springfield Republican, have been published in the form 
 of a pamphlet, and, having been sent to the alumni 
 generally, have doubtless been read by most of thQ 
 readers of this history. It is therefore quite unnec- 
 essary that they should be made the subject of analy- 
 sis or remark. A letter from Dr. R. S. Storrs, of the 
 class of '39, which was read by Henry Ward Beecher, 
 is also contained in this pamphlet, together with the 
 addresses of Prof. H. B. Hackett, '30, Bishop Hunt- 
 ington, '39, Hon. H. S. Stockbridge, '45, Willard 
 Merrill, Esq., '54, and George C. Clarke, Esq., '58, 
 which were not delivered for lack of time. 
 
 The exercises were held beneath a spacious tent 
 which was spread under the shadow of the trees in 
 the grove where the students of Amherst, through 
 all their generations, have found exercise and recrea- 
 tion, have walked and talked, have sat and conversed 
 or meditated, and where every object that met the 
 eye, whether in the grove or on the grounds, or in 
 the distance, called up old memories, revived hal- 
 lowed associations, and spoke with scarcely less power 
 
 1 Of the Turkish Mission. 
 
194 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 than the speakers, to their minds and hearts. The 
 audience was large and the tent well filled in the 
 morning. In the afternoon, it was full to overflow- 
 ing, and it was calculated that there were at least 
 three thousand persons in it, besides many who stood 
 around the open sides, or sat in their own carriages 
 on the grounds. 
 
 Nearly seven hundred of the alumni were present, 
 that is, almost one-half of the whole number of living 
 graduates a number two or three times larger than 
 had ever before attended Commencement, and " a 
 larger proportion, probably, than ever assembled at 
 any American college." Every class was repre- 
 sented. One-third of the first class ('22) was present 
 one-half of its living members. That half was 
 Professor Snell. He lamented in his address the 
 absence of the other half, which he modestly and 
 playfully declared to be "the first half, the oldest 
 half, the greatest half, and the best half" the Rev. 
 Pindar Field. All the surviving members of the 
 second class ('23) were present, viz. : Rev. The- 
 ophilus Packard and Rev. Hiram Smith, both from 
 the far West; '24, '26, and '27, were each represented 
 by three persons, about one-third of the surviving 
 members, and these came from almost as many differ- 
 ent States and belonged to nearly as many different 
 occupations as there were persons. The class of '25 
 was the only class except that of Professor Snell, of 
 which there was but a single representative present, 
 and he came from Conway in obedience to a tele- 
 graphic dispatch sent by some zealous brother 
 alumnus that every class might be represented. Six 
 out of seventeen survivors represented '28, '29 was 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 195 
 
 represented by five out of nineteen, '30 by ten out of 
 sixteen, '31 by fifteen out of thirty -seven, and '32 
 by nine out of twenty-three. So much for the first 
 decade. In the second decade ('32-' 42), the largest 
 number present was from '39, viz., sixteen out 
 of thirty-seven living members; and the largest 
 proportion was from '36, viz., thirteen out of 
 twenty-eight. The average attendance from the 
 classes of this decade exceeded thirty-five per cent 
 of the living members. In the third decade the per- 
 centage was but little more than twenty-five. In the 
 fourth decade it ran up nearly to fifty per cent, and 
 in the last period, as might have been expected, it 
 rose to considerably more than half the living mem- 
 bers. The largest number from any one class was 
 from '69, who by special request granted by special 
 favor of the trustees, received their second degree in 
 1871, and who were represented by thirty- three mem- 
 bers. Next to '69 stood '65, being represented by 
 twenty-nine members. These facts, which may per- 
 haps be reckoned among the " curiosities of the jubi- 
 lee," have been gathered from the cards which were 
 hung, one for each class, in the reception room in 
 Walker Hall, and to which the names of the alumni 
 were transferred as fast as they registered them, so 
 that each alumnus might know who of his class were 
 present, and where they were to be found. These 
 cards or scrolls (for they are more than a foot 
 square) have been preserved, and will be among the 
 curiosities of literature in coming ages. The original 
 register in which the alumni entered their names 
 as they arrived may also be seen in the library, and 
 is an autograph book of rare and unique interest. 
 
196 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 The alumni came from every part of our own 
 country and from every quarter of the globe. Class- 
 mates and friends who boarded together, perhaps 
 roomed together, perhaps sat side by side for four 
 years, but who had not seen each other for ten, 
 twenty, thirty, forty, almost fifty years, met as 
 strangers, gazed in each other's faces, heard each 
 other's voices, and perhaps did not discover a trace 
 of the features or even the tones once so familiar, or 
 did perhaps catch a ray, and at length, with the help 
 maybe of a hint or allusion from a bystander, began 
 to conjecture the person; but when the discovery 
 was made, they rushed into each other's embrace. 
 Many such scenes of bewilderment marked these 
 meetings and greetings in which the language was 
 often little more than a strange mixture of laughter 
 and tears. Wednesday evening was given up to a 
 reunion in College Hall, and much of the night was 
 spent in class meetings of such deep and thrilling 
 interest as only they who have been present at such 
 meetings know, and even they cannot fully tell. 
 
 They seem to have gone away pleased with them- 
 selves and each other, proud of their mother, loving 
 their brothers^ feeling that they had a good time, 
 and fully persuaded that whoever should keep the 
 centennial jubilee of the college in 1921 would have 
 a still better time and find a great deal more to ad- 
 mire and rejoice in. 
 
 Several of the classes left behind them class schol- 
 arships as an expression of their gratitude and filial 
 devotion. The plan as originated by Prof. R. D. 
 Hitchcock contemplated at least one by each class. 
 His own class set the example by establishing 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 197 
 
 three. 1 The catalogue issued in the fall of 1871, 
 next after the jubilee, announces fifty scholarships 
 in all, of which about half were not on the previous 
 catalogue, 2 and several other class scholarships as 
 established in part. When the harvest is all gathered 
 in, perhaps the result will be not less than fifty 
 scholarships of one thousand dollars each, which, 
 with Mr. Williston's donation, will make up the 
 handsome sum of one hundred thousand dollars of 
 free-will offerings resulting directly or indirectly 
 from the jubilee. 
 
 1 Including that established by Governor Bullock. 
 
 2 Several of these are not class scholarships. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES IN SELECTING PRESIDENT STEARNS's SUC- 
 CESSOR PROFESSOR SEELYE'S ELECTION SUCCESS- 
 FUL OPENING OF HIS ADMINISTRATION ADDITIONS 
 
 TO THE FACULTY THE ADMINISTRATION OF PRESI- 
 DENT SEELYE INAUGURATION OF THE " AMHERST 
 
 SYSTEM" REMARKABLE PROSPERITY OF THE COL- 
 LEGE. 
 
 THERE were several novel and important features 
 in the accession of Professor Seelye to the presidency. 
 He was the first and only alumnus of the college who 
 has attained to that distinction. He was the first 
 professor on the literary and philosophical side of the 
 faculty to be elevated to that office. But aside from 
 these incidental novelties a new question arose for 
 the first time in connection with his nomination and 
 election. In the appointment of his predecessors it 
 was taken for granted, as a matter of course, that the 
 president of Amherst College must be a clergyman 
 that he was to be the head of the college in its 
 spiritual interests as well as in literature and science, 
 and that he must be chosen with primary reference 
 to his Christian character and his influence in the 
 religious education of the students. When Professor 
 Seelye was elected, there was a minority of the trus- 
 tees, and perhaps a majority of the faculty, who were 
 at first in favor of the appointment of a distinguished 
 
 198 
 

 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 199 
 
 layman, who might give dignity to the office and 
 bring reputation to the college. And this movement 
 was prevented from being successful and becoming 
 an accomplished fact by circumstances so remarkable 
 that I cannot but regard them as special providences 
 deserving to be recorded by the historian of the col- 
 lege among the magnalia of its early history. 
 
 I have therefore taken not a little pains to ascer- 
 tain the facts from original and authentic sources, 
 and put them on record till such times as they can 
 be incorporated with the history of the college with- 
 out injury to the feelings of any of the actors, which 
 will probably not be until not only myself but they 
 also have passed off the stage. Meanwhile the fol- 
 lowing general statements may perhaps be recorded 
 without impropriety in this history. 
 
 In justice to those who favored such a departure 
 from the precedents and traditions not only of Am- 
 herst, but of all our older colleges, it should be re- 
 marked that the recent establishment of a professor- 
 ship of the pastoral care, whose incumbent should be 
 the pastor of the College Church, or associate pastor 
 with the president, doubtless seemed to them to ren- 
 der it less important that the president should be a 
 clergyman and one who would be especially inter- 
 ested in the Christian education of the students. 
 
 President Stearns died suddenly, as we have nar- 
 rated in a preceding chapter, on Thursday, June 8, 
 1876. He had fully determined to resign the presi- 
 dency at the approaching Commencement, and had 
 already written his resignation. He wished, how- 
 ever, and expected, to retain for the present the pas- 
 torate and the Samuel Green professorship of Biblical 
 
200 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 interpretation. This was the more natural and proper 
 because the founder of the professorship had ex- 
 pressly provided in his will that Dr. Stearns should 
 perform the duties of the office and have the income 
 of the fund during his life. Only one week prior to 
 his death he had an interview with his friend, Hon. 
 Alpheus Hardy, in Boston, in which he disclosed to 
 him his plan and purpose, and desired him to com- 
 municate the same to the trustees at their approach- 
 ing meeting and carry the measure through the 
 board, adding that it was with this view that he had 
 induced the trustees not to accept Mr. Hardy's resig- 
 nation of his trusteeship tendered the year previous, 
 and there was no other member of the board to whom 
 he could so freely and fully confide a matter of so 
 great importance. Mr. Hardy accepted the trust in 
 the same spirit of confidence and friendship in which 
 it had been committed to him, and then asked Presi- 
 dent Stearns if, in view of the trust thus reposed and 
 thus undertaken, he would be willing further to make 
 known to him his views in regard to the question 
 who should be his successor in the presidency. Presi- 
 dent Stearns then expressed himself with great 
 frankness to his friend, and gave him the names of 
 three men, all clergymen and all alumni of the college, 
 either of whom he thought would fill the place well, 
 and one of whom he hoped might succeed him in the 
 presidential office. One of those names was that of 
 Professor Seelye. Just a week after that interview 
 Mr. Hardy took up a newspaper in New York, and 
 read of the sudden death of President Stearns. 
 
 At the annual meeting of the trustees, June 27, 
 1876- only three weeks after the death of the presi- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 2OI 
 
 dent a committee was appointed to take into con- 
 sideration the presidential vacancy and report at a 
 meeting to be held in Boston not later than the first 
 week in August. This committee found themselves 
 beset with difficulties. They differed among them- 
 selves, both as to the general question whether the 
 president should be a clergyman, and in their per- 
 sonal preferences in regard to the most suitable can- 
 didate for the office; and this difference of wishes 
 and feelings in the committee represented or reflected 
 a corresponding difference in the whole board. The 
 members of the faculty were officially consulted, and 
 it was found that they were about equally divided, 
 half of them favoring strongly the appointment of 
 Professor Seelye, and the other half preferring some 
 other candidate, the scientific professors, as a general 
 fact, being unfavorable, and those in the departments 
 of literature and history favorable to the appoint- 
 ment of Professor Seelye. Besides their fear that 
 he would not do justice to science in the presidency, 
 there were personal and general grounds of opposi- 
 tion both in the faculty and in the Board of Trustees. 
 He would not be popular with the students. He 
 could not sympathize with young men. He would 
 be autocratic, overbearing, and severe in the admin- 
 istration of the government. He would not be, he 
 could not be expected to be, impartial in his relations 
 to the faculty. In short, it was a pity to spoil a good 
 professor in order to make a poor president. 
 
 Political prejudices also came in to aggravate the 
 difficulty. Professor Seelye was at this time a mem- 
 ber of Congress, having been elected in 1874 over 
 the nominees of both the great parties by the inde- 
 
202 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 pendent votes of republicans and democrats. He 
 had already served through the first session of the 
 Forty-fourth Congress with distinguished success, and 
 was bound in honor to represent his constituents in 
 the coming second session, and what further political 
 possibilities, probabilities, temptations, and aspira- 
 tions might lie before him in the future no one could 
 tell. He had been suspected at one time, very un- 
 justly, of aspiring to supersede Dr. Stearns in the 
 presidency of the college. Now perhaps he would be 
 tempted to aspire to the presidency of the United 
 States. There was a strange fascination in the at- 
 mosphere of Washington which it was not easy for 
 those who had once breathed it to resist. Professor 
 Seelye would of course be solicited to be a candidate 
 for a second term in the House of Representatives, 1 
 and would naturally desire re-election, and this might 
 open the way to the- Senate, to a place in the Cabinet, 
 to no one knew what honors. Under such circum- 
 stances it was not at all likely that he would accept 
 the presidency of the college, if it was offered him. 
 After much discussion, at the close of a long^ session 
 which came perilously near to ending without any- 
 thing being done, the committee at length agreed 
 to open a correspondence with him and offer him the 
 nomination on certain conditions. The correspond- 
 ence was opened, but it only multiplied and aggra- 
 vated the difficulties. The office of representative 
 
 1 If this question of the Amherst presidency had come up 
 three or four months later, if, for instance, President Stearns 
 had died in September, instead of in June, President Seelye 
 would in all probability have been committed to a continuance 
 in political life, and would have been lost to the college. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 203 
 
 in Congress had come to him unsought and uncondi- 
 tioned ; why should he submit to any conditions 
 now? No pledges were required of him then; why 
 should they be asked of him now? 
 
 The whole thing wore too much the aspect of a 
 bargain, and a bargain for a place was to him an un- 
 speakable abhorrence. He had never in his life 
 lifted a hand or paid a penny for a place, and it 
 would be soon enough for him to say whether he 
 would accept the presidency of Amherst College 
 when it was freely and fully offered to him. In tlie 
 course of the correspondence, which was prolonged 
 and some of it spicy, it became apparent that while 
 the professor had little taste or inclination for poli- 
 tics, he had a positive dislike and disinclination to 
 many of the peculiar and perfunctory duties of a 
 college president, which nothing but a manifest call 
 of Providence and an imperative sense of duty could 
 induce him to undertake. 
 
 But I have already gone more into the details of 
 this transaction than I intended, perhaps more than 
 was prudent or necessary. Suffice it to say, that the 
 committee was at length led, it is needless to say 
 how, to offer him a unanimous call ; tlie professor 
 was led to see, it is not necessary to say under what 
 influences, that it was a call of duty and of God ; and 
 at a meeting of the board held in Boston on the 28th of 
 July, 1876, the trustees by a unanimous vote elected 
 him president and professor of mental and moral phil- 
 osophy in Amherst College. And it is now quite un- 
 necessary to tell in detail how completely experience 
 has falsified the fears and forebodings of those who op- 
 posed the election of Professor Seelye to the presi- 
 
204 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 dency. It was feared that he would be partial to 
 literature and philosophy, and unfriendly to science. 
 One of the first acts of his administration was to take 
 measures for the purchase by the college of the 
 Shepard cabinet and to raise by his own personal 
 efforts the large sum of money by which it was pro- 
 cured. This was soon followed by the inauguration 
 of the department of biology and the Stone endow- 
 ment. It was feared that he would be partial to his 
 particular friends in the faculty, and harbor resent- 
 ment against those who opposed his election. So far 
 from that, the language of the Tyrian queen would 
 seem to have been his motto: 
 
 Tros Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine agetur. 
 
 It was said that he would be dictatorial and severe 
 in his administration of the government, unsympa- 
 thizing and so unpopular with the students. " The 
 New System" of self-government at Amherst, which 
 is the admiration of Amherst students and the envy 
 or the model of other colleges, is the best and the 
 sufficient answer to this allegation. Indeed they 
 who feared any such thing of President Seelye could 
 have known little of Professor Seelye's devotion of 
 time, talents, attainments, and personal services to 
 individual students. This grand secret of his power 
 and usefulness as a teacher had only a freer scope 
 and wider sway and higher appreciation when he 
 became president. They had more reason who ap- 
 prehended that his sovereign contempt and scorn for 
 everything unworthy of a man and a scholar might 
 make him impatient of the follies and imperfections 
 of students. But responsibility brings patience and 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 205 
 
 forbearance, and this fear proved to be utterly 
 groundless. It was said that he would have neither 
 talent nor disposition to raise money for the college. 
 The Shepard cabinet, the Parmly Billings professor- 
 ship of hygiene and physical education, the Chester 
 W. Chapin endowment of the presidency, the Stone 
 professorship of biology, the Marquand instructorship 
 in elocution, the Winkley professorship of history, 
 the rebuilding of Walker Hall after the conflagra- 
 tion, the Pratt gymnasium, the Henry T. Morgan 
 library, the munificent donation of Mr. D. Willis 
 James for the general purposes of the college coming 
 into the treasury after his resignation, but given out 
 of special regard to him, and hence named the Seelye 
 Fund all these and other gifts of which a more defi- 
 nite statement will be given on a subsequent page, 
 rise up before us and testify how utterly without 
 foundation, and diametrically opposite to the truth, 
 this prediction was. True, several of these gifts, 
 perhaps most of them, were not solicited, but the 
 witness they bear is only the more unequivocal and 
 the more eloquent because the gifts were the spon- 
 taneous expression of the confidence and good will 
 of the donors. 
 
 In short, I believe that the same wise and kind 
 Providence that has raised up his predecessors, all 
 excellent men, and each with gifts and graces suited 
 to the exigency, made President Seelye, and educated 
 him, and sanctified him, and by all his antecedents 
 prepared him, in the first place to be a great and 
 rare educator, and then to be president of Amherst 
 College and guide it in the accomplishment of its 
 great work ; and so God did not permit His plan and 
 
206 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 purpose to be thwarted by the disinclination of the 
 candidate himself, by the doubts and mistakes of 
 good men and friends of the college, or by outside 
 temptations, however strong, to other spheres of 
 action. 
 
 President Seelye's election took place, as we have 
 already said, in July, 1876, and he entered upon the 
 duties of the office in September at the beginning of 
 the next collegiate year. But in accordance with his 
 understanding with the trustees he completed his 
 term of service in Congress by sitting through its 
 second session, leaving the acting presidency mean- 
 while in the hands of Prof. W. S. Tyler ; and he was 
 not inaugurated until the close of his first year. The 
 inauguration took place at Commencement, June 27, 
 1877. The public exercises consisted of prayer by 
 Rev. Edmund K. Alden, D.D., of Boston, the address 
 on the part of the trustees and the delivery of the seal 
 and the keys of the college by Rev. Prof. Roswell D. 
 Hitchcock of Union Theological Seminary in New 
 York, and the inaugural address of President Seelye. 
 Dr. Hitchcock spoke with characteristic felicity, begin- 
 ning as follows: "The whole college bids you wel- 
 come to its highest seat, trustees, alumni, teachers 
 and students are all united and earnest in the persua- 
 sion of your eminent fitness for the new position, 
 united and earnest also in the expectation of your emi- 
 nent success. You are no stranger here, and nothing 
 is strange to you. Made president of the college after 
 eighteen years of constant and conspicuous service 
 in one of its departments of instruction, the element 
 of novelty is almost wholly wanting. Retaining the 
 chair in which you have earned your fame, you now 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 2O/ 
 
 merely add to its familiar duties that general over- 
 sight of the institution with which you must be al- 
 most equally familiar. 
 
 " You are also well across the threshold of the new 
 office. The class that graduates to-morrow carries 
 with it the memory of your first presidential year. 
 And neither you nor we have anything to ask for but 
 a repetition of the year's record for many and many 
 a year to come. 
 
 " The college is happy and proud to be led at last 
 by one of its own alumni. Your four predecessors 
 were all providential men. The four administra- 
 tions lie in our history like so many geological de- 
 posits. The future need not contradict nor criticise 
 the past, but a robust vitality instinctively asserts 
 itself in better and better forms. We salute you, 
 therefore, at once as the fifth and as the first of. our 
 Amherst presidents." 
 
 The inaugural address is equally characteristic. 
 Its subject is " The Relations of Learning and Relig- 
 ion." It begins with stating the fact, that "Am- 
 herst College was founded by Christian people and 
 for a Christian purpose. . . . From President Moore, 
 in whose saintly zeal the earliest students of the 
 college found both instruction and inspiration, to 
 President Stearns, whose purity and faith surrounded 
 his presence like a halo, ennobling him and enlight- 
 ening and elevating all who had contact with him, 
 the controlling purpose of the college has been to 
 provide the highest possible educational advantages, 
 and to penetrate these with a living faith in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and a supreme devotion to His 
 kingdom. And in all this Amherst College is not 
 
208 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 peculiar. Other institutions of learning have been 
 founded and carried forward with the same purpose. 
 The schools of the Christian world trace their actual 
 historical origin to the Christian church." 
 
 The middle and main staple of the address is the 
 author's philosophy of the subject, which is briefly 
 this: There is no inherent law of progress in human 
 nature. Over by far the larger portion of the globe, 
 and by far the larger portion of mankind, retrogres- 
 sion reigns instead of progress, and this is true as 
 we look back through all ages. So far as records of 
 history go, no nation ever originated its own prog- 
 ress. No savage has ever civilized himself. The 
 lamp which lightens one nation in its progress has 
 always been lighted by a lamp behind it. Civiliza- 
 tion comes to a people not from itself, but from an- 
 other, not from within but from without, not from 
 below but from above, not from the many and bad 
 but from the few and the wise and the good, ulti- 
 mately from heaven and Christ and God. In the 
 history of human knowledge science is always pre- 
 ceded and quickened by art, yet art does not sponta- 
 neously originate. While the mother of science, she 
 herself is the child of religion. Architecture, sculp- 
 ture, painting, poetry, music, it was a religious im- 
 pulse which gave to all these their first inspiration. 
 There is no high art, there is never a great genius, 
 uninspired by some sort of a religious sentiment and 
 impulse. As the seed whose growth shall fill the 
 fields with plenty and also the earth with beauty, 
 slumbers in the earth in darkness, and with no signs 
 of life till the warmth of the sun comes nigh, so all 
 the thoughts of men, with whatever capabilities of 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 209 
 
 art and science endowed, lie dormant in the soul till 
 some divine communication stirs the soul with the 
 sense of its accountability and its sin and kindles it 
 with a longing for the favor of its God. 
 
 And the conclusion of the whole matter is this: 
 " A Christian college, if it is to be in the long run 
 truly successful in the advancement of learning, will 
 have the Christian name written not alone upon its 
 seal and its first records, but graven in its life as in- 
 effaceably as was the name of Phidias on Athene's 
 shield. It will seek for Christian teachers and only 
 these men in whom -are seen the dignity and purity 
 and grace of Christ's disciples, and whose lips instruct 
 while their lives inspire. It will order all its studies 
 and its discipline that its pupils, through the deep and 
 permanent impulse of a life by the faith of the Son 
 of God, may be led to the largest thoughts and 
 kindled to the highest aims with an energy undying, 
 and an enthusiasm which does not fade. It will not 
 be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ nor remiss in 
 preaching that gospel to its students, 'till they all 
 come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge 
 of the Son of God unto a perfect man. ' " 
 
 With such views of the relation of learning and 
 religion, and fully believing, as he did, that the presi- 
 dent of a college should be its religious as well as its 
 secular head, it is not surprising that he chose to be 
 the pastor of the College Church. He was installed 
 in the pastoral office in June, 1877, even before he 
 was inaugurated in the presidency, an ecclesiastical 
 council, consisting mainly of the pastors and dele- 
 gates of the neighboring churches, being invited by 
 the College Church to assist in the installation ser- 
 
 E LiB 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY, 
 
2IO A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 vices, and a sermon being preached by Rev. Dr. R. S. 
 Storrs of Brooklyn, a graduate of the college, and a 
 member of its Board of Trustees. At the same time, 
 magnifying the pulpit and the pastoral office as an 
 educating power, and feeling that there was work 
 enough in that line to task the energies of more than 
 one man, and that work could not be fully done with- 
 out some one being charged with the special respon- 
 sibility of it, he welcomed an associate pastor in the 
 Samuel Green professor of Biblical history and 
 interpretation and pastoral care. According to the 
 will of the founder of this professorship, it will be 
 remembered, its incumbent must be either pastor or 
 associate pastor of the College Church, and, while it 
 was expressly provided that Dr. Stearns should hold 
 the professorship together with the presidency, it 
 was required that after him the two offices should be 
 separated, and during the presidency of Dr. Seelye 
 he continued to be the pastor of the church, and the 
 Samuel Green professor was the associate pastor. 1 
 Besides the president and the professor of the pas- 
 toral care, several other professors who were clergy- 
 men occupied the college pulpit in turn, as they had 
 been accustomed to do from the beginning, thus se- 
 curing that variety which is so attractive to young 
 men, and at the same time enlisting the professors 
 directly in ministering to the spiritual welfare as 
 
 1 Experience at length convinced President Seelye that the 
 professor of the "pastoral care" ought to be the pastor of the 
 College Church, and in one of his later annual reports to the 
 trustees he states to them this conviction, saying that while 
 personally he should prefer to be himself the pastor, the pas- 
 toral office was essential to the free and full discharge of the 
 duties of the Samuel Green professorship. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 211 
 
 well as the intellectual culture of the students. This 
 arrangement may not be as acceptable to students as 
 that which now prevails of inviting popular preachers 
 from abroad to occupy the pulpit several Sundays 
 every year. But it had its counterbalancing advan- 
 tages. While providing a good measure of variety 
 it did not minister to mere curiosity and love of 
 novelty, and it did secure in a greater degree unity 
 of instruction and impression, adaptation to the pre- 
 vailing and changing wants of the audience, and 
 concentration of the whole power and influence of 
 the faculty upon the Christian character and life of 
 the college. President Seelye believed in the forma- 
 tion of character and the education and training of 
 the whole man as the chief end of the college, in the 
 pulpit as a great power in such education, and in 
 ministers as by their own training, character, and 
 life an educating guild, class, or profession. He had 
 no sympathy with the now prevailing and growing 
 prejudice against clerical presidents and professors, 
 still less with the clamor and outcry among college 
 students against so-called compulsory attendance 
 upon church and chapel Cervices. Much as he en- 
 joyed teaching his favorite philosophy to the senior 
 class, he delighted still more in preaching the word 
 of God and the gospel of Christ to the whole college. 
 And he preached usually without notes, but never 
 without much thought and prayer, the great central 
 truths of Christianity with a depth of thought, a 
 breadth of learning, a power of reasoning, a wealth of 
 expression, and a fervor of feeling which lifted his 
 hearers quite above themselves and the world into the 
 very presence of God and of things unseen and eternal. 
 
212 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 The first incumbent of the Samuel Green professor- 
 ship and the office of associate pastor with President 
 vSeelye was Rev. Thomas P. Field, who entered upon 
 the duties of the office in 1878. Dr. Field had gained 
 a wide experience and won an enviable reputation 
 both in college and in the pastoral office, having been 
 both a tutor and the professor of rhetoric and oratory 
 in Amherst, and pastor of churches successively in 
 Danvers, Mass., Troy, N. Y., and New London, 
 Conn. By his attractive person, sympathetic nature, 
 courteous manners, high scholarship, wide and varied 
 culture, and his success as a teacher and a preacher, 
 he was admirably fitted for the place. But to borrow 
 his own language in his brief history of Amherst 
 College written for the bureau of education, " as no 
 more preaching was required of him than of the 
 other preaching professors, as the president continued 
 to be the pastor of the College Church, and as there 
 were difficulties in the way of pastoral visitation not 
 found in other parishes, the first incumbent of the 
 professorship was a professor rather than a pastor. 
 He gave instruction in the Hebrew language and 
 literature, gave some lectures on Biblical history and 
 on examples of Christian character, and taught classes 
 in natural theology and the evidences of Christianity, 
 devoting as many hours to such instruction as the 
 other professors did in their departments. This did 
 not seem to be precisely the original object of the 
 professorship, but came as near to accomplishing the 
 same as appeared to be practicable under the cir- 
 cumstances, with the continual consciousness, how- 
 ever, on the part of the incumbent that something 
 better might be attempted and done. With that 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 213 
 
 feeling he resigned the professorship in 1886, and 
 after a few months Rev. George S. Burroughs, of 
 New Britain, Conn., was appointed." With superior 
 talents, fine scholarship, courteous manners, an ami- 
 able spirit, Christian zeal, and a heartfelt desire for 
 the temporal and eternal welfare of the students, Dr. 
 Burroughs labored with rare fidelity, earnestness, 
 and enthusiasm as pastor, preacher, and teacher, and 
 accomplished much for the upbuilding of the College 
 Church and the advancement of Christian learning. 
 His success as a Bible teacher in inspiring even irre- 
 ligious students with enthusiasm in the study of the 
 Scriptures was remarkable. In the pulpit and the 
 work of the pastor he found it more difficult to real- 
 ize his high ideals, and when, in 1892, he was invited 
 to the presidency of Wabash College, the conscious- 
 ness of this difficulty perhaps conspired with the 
 attractions of the new sphere of usefulness in induc- 
 ing him to accept the call. 
 
 President Seelye was wise and happy in his choice 
 of new professors. His first question in regard to 
 a candidate was not, Is he popular, has he a high 
 reputation and a great name, is he already distin- 
 guished as a scholar and a teacher? but, What sort of 
 a man is he, is he a real, true, and complete man? 
 He must be a Christian of course, for " the Christian 
 is the highest style of man." He must be a scholar, 
 for how can he teach what he does not know? He 
 must be apt to teach, for teaching, not discovery or 
 original research, is the business of the college pro- 
 fessor. It is well that he should be a discoverer, 
 with a mind open to receive the truth, all truths 
 whether new or old, although the man who knows 
 
214 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 the most, and has made the greatest discoveries, is 
 not always the best teacher. But first of all, and 
 above all, he must be a man, and full of a noble am- 
 bition to make others men, for to make men is the 
 chief end of a college education. Or if, as the old 
 Greek philosopher said of his countryman, the candi- 
 date is not yet a full-grown man, he must give prom- 
 ise of becoming such, and of being able, by precept 
 and example, to make others such as he himself 
 aspires and promises to be. Hence President Seelye 
 sought his professors chiefly not among those who 
 had done their work and won their reputation in 
 other institutions, but among the graduates of Am- 
 herst, whom he personally knew and upon whom he 
 had placed his own shaping hand, and let them grow 
 under his own eye and influence from instructors to 
 assistant professors, and from assistants to associates 
 and heads of departments. Accordingly there was 
 a time in his administration when the writer of this 
 history could speak of all the faculty as having been 
 his pupils, and the president could have said to his 
 ablest professors, as the aged Phoenix did to the hero 
 of the Iliad: 
 
 "Great as them art, my lessons made thee brave. 
 A child I took thee, but a hero gave." 
 
 By taking its teachers, for the most part, from the 
 ranks of its own graduates, and paying, as a rule and 
 a principle, the same salary to all regular professors 
 after due trial and full approval, Amherst has escaped 
 envyings and jealousies, divisions and contentions 
 in the faculty, and secured a substantial unity, a 
 fraternal sympathy, a hearty cooperation, and a stead- 
 fast adherence to the ideals of the college, which 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 21$ 
 
 have contributed not a little to its peace and pros- 
 perity. 
 
 Elihu Root, professor of mathematics and natural 
 philosophy; Anson D. Morse, professor of history; 
 Henry B. Richardson, professor of German ; John 
 M. Tyler, professor of biology;. Charles E. Garman, 
 professor of mental and moral philosophy ; David P. 
 Todd, professor of astronomy; John F. Genung, pro- 
 fessor of rhetoric ; Henry A. Frink, professor of ora- 
 tory ; William L. Cowles, professor of Latin all these 
 were inaugurated in their professorships under the 
 administration and on the recommendation of Presi- 
 dent Seelye. All but two of them are graduates of 
 Amherst. Only one of them had been a professor in 
 another college. All but one were men who, after 
 having pursued studies preliminary to their pro- 
 fessorships at home and abroad, began their teach- 
 ing in Amherst, gained their experience and their 
 reputation in Amherst, have been identified with 
 Amherst in their own education and their education 
 of others. All superior scholars, all consistent and 
 devoted Christians, all students, workers, teachers, 
 educators making a business of teaching and magni- 
 fying education as the highest calling, some of them 
 known also as authors of text- books, writers for the 
 magazines, and lecturers in the cause of university 
 extension, they have all been a success, an honor to 
 the college and an ornament to their profession. 
 
 President Seelye himself continued to teach for 
 some years after his elevation to the presidency, in 
 the department of intellectual and moral philosophy 
 which he had so adorned as a professor. Finding 
 his labors too exhausting, and seeing in Mr. Garman 
 15 
 
2l6 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 a philosopher of his own school and a teacher after 
 his own heart, he at first divided the work of teach- 
 ing the senior class equally with him, and ere long 
 resigned it entirely into his hands. And he has been 
 heard to say that, by introducing the spiritual phil- 
 osophy into the college, and leaving the department 
 in the hands of such a teacher, he has conferred a 
 greater benefit on the institution than all his other 
 services. And Prof. W. B. Smith, of Union Theo- 
 logical Seminar} 7 , gave the sanction of his great name 
 to this high estimate of the value of this department 
 as it exists in Amherst College. 
 
 President Seelye has always insisted that the 
 strength of a college lies, not in magnificent build- 
 ings, elegant grounds, large endowments, or a large 
 number of students, but in the high character and 
 able and faithful work of its faculty. Hence his 
 great care in the choice of professors, the weighty 
 responsibility which he devolved on every teacher 
 for the good order and high scholarship of his classes, 
 and the kind sympathy and cordial support which he 
 gave to every teacher in the faithful discharge of his 
 duties. And the whole faculty in return, the older 
 members as well as the younger men, were united 
 as one man in love and loyalty to their president, 
 sustained him in harmonious and happy faculty 
 meetings, and stood by him, shoulder to shoulder, in 
 the execution of measures which he perhaps had 
 originated and they had approved. 
 
 Three professors of sterling worth died in office 
 during the presidency of Dr. Seelye Ebenezer 
 Strong Snell, Elihu Root, and Richard Henry 
 Mather. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 217 
 
 Professor Snell was altogether a unique personage 
 in the history of Amherst College, and deserves a 
 fuller portraiture than can be given in this history. 
 We can only refer those who wish for an outline sketch 
 of his life and character to our original work. Here 
 it must suffice to say that he was born in North 
 Brookfield, Mass., October 17, 1801, and died Sep- 
 tember 1 8, 1876, and was therefore a little short of 
 seventy-five at the time of his death ; that he was the 
 first student that was admitted and among the first 
 that were graduated at the college, and the first tutor 
 and the first professor among the alumni, and gave 
 it more than fifty years of study and labor and care 
 and painstaking, of the ablest instructions and the 
 best services that have ever been given to Amherst 
 or any other college; that, as professor of mathema- 
 tics and natural philosophy, for exactness, clearness, 
 and method in teaching, and skill as an experimental 
 lecturer, he cannot be surpassed; that, by his own 
 mechanical ingenuity and handicraft and his pro- 
 gressive mastery of the science, with a comparatively 
 trifling expenditure of money by the college, he kept 
 his cabinet abreast of the most costly apparatus of 
 the richest colleges in the land, while, at the same 
 time, he invented and constructed not a few machines 
 illustrative of mechanics and physics which were not 
 then to be found in any of them ; that a vein of quiet 
 humor and a felicitous turn of expression conspired 
 with his modesty, simplicity, and kindness to make 
 him one of the most genial of companions and col- 
 leagues, as well as one of the most admired and be- 
 loved of teachers, while his pupils felt the constant 
 presence and power of something better than any 
 
2l8 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 teaching, lecturing, or preaching in his true, pure, 
 and exemplary Christian life. 
 
 Elihu Root, who succeeded Professor Snell in the 
 professorship of mathematics and natural philosophy, 
 was born in Belchertown, September 14, 1845, and 
 died in his native place, December 3, 1880. He was 
 only thirty-five at the time of his death, and had been 
 only four years professor of mathematics and natural 
 philosophy ; and one of these years he was only as- 
 sistant professor. But he had distinguished himself 
 before his appointment by his high rank as a scholar 
 in Williston Seminary, by winning several prizes in 
 college and delivering the valedictory oration at his 
 graduation, by his success as a teacher at Williston, 
 and as an instructor at Amherst, by five years of 
 successful study of philosophy and physics at Gottin- 
 gen, Leipsic, and Berlin in Germany, and not least 
 perhaps by his able thesis on dielectric polarization 
 when he received the degree of Ph.D. at Berlin. 
 And it is not easy to say whether he was more ad- 
 mired in college for his profound knowledge of 
 physics and mathematics, or more beloved for his 
 pure, beautiful, and noble character and life. But, 
 alas, his bodily health and strength were not equal 
 to his aspirations, and exertions and, like a flower 
 nipped in the bud, he was cut down in the very begin- 
 ning of his life-work. 
 
 "Oh, what a noble heart was here undone, 
 When Science's self destroyed her favorite son ! 
 Yes, she too much indulged thy fond pursuit ; 
 She sowed the seeds, but Death has reaped the fruit." 
 
 Professor Root was succeeded by Dr. Marshall 
 Henshaw, not, however, with the title of professor 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 2 19 
 
 of mathematics and natural philosophy, but only as 
 lecturer in that department. He was graduated at 
 Amherst with high honor in the same class with 
 Prof. Francis A. March, the class of 1845. He had 
 been a successful and highly honored professor of 
 mathematics and natural philosophy in Rutgers Col- 
 lege under President Frelinghuysen. He had been 
 the principal of Williston Seminary fourteen years, 
 teaching the senior class on the classical side in Latin 
 and Greek, and lecturing to the seniors on the Eng- 
 lish side in physics with singular ability and success, 
 and raising the seminary to a height of prosperity 
 and renown which it has never before or since 
 reached. In his annual report to the trustees in 
 1883, after Dr. Henshaw had, by the experience of 
 two years, proved his rare ability and skill both as a 
 teacher and a lecturer, President Seelye recommended 
 that he should be appointed professor of natural phi- 
 losophy, saying, " He has all of Professor Snell's 
 remarkable skill and ease in the handling of his ap- 
 paratus in the lecture room, and a more extensive 
 knowledge of the latest developments of the science 
 of physics than Professor Snell in his later life was 
 able to maintain; and while he does not equal Pro- 
 fessor Root, as very few do, in the highest attain- 
 ments of science, he 'exceeds him in clearness and 
 interest and force as a lecturer." But the trustees 
 did not make the appointment, the professorship of 
 natural philosophy was not filled during President 
 Seelye's administration, and Dr. 1 Henshaw contin- 
 
 1 Dr. Henshaw received the degree of Ph.D. from the Uni- 
 versity of New York in 1863, and that of D.D. from Amherst 
 in 1872. 
 
220 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 ued to do the work of a professor under the title of 
 lecturer till, in 1890, increasing bodily infirmities led 
 him to resign. 
 
 Richard Henry Mather was born in Binghamton, 
 N. Y., February 12, 1835. The blood of some of the 
 best families of New England the Mathers, the 
 Masons, the Whitings, the Edwardses flowed in his 
 veins. He was graduated with highest honors both 
 at Williston Seminary and at Amherst College, de- 
 livering the salutatory oration at the former and the 
 valedictory at the latter at his graduation. To the 
 discipline of the preparatory school and the college, 
 he added the culture derived from repeated travel 
 and study in foreign lands study in Germany and 
 Athens, travel at different times in Italy, Greece, 
 Egypt, and Palestine. An accomplished scholar, an 
 inspiring teacher, an eloquent preacher, a skilful 
 man of affairs, a delightful companion, neighbor, 
 and friend, with a personality that charmed all who 
 knew him or met him, and made them his friends and 
 the friends of the college, he loved Amherst more than 
 he loved himself, gave it thirty-one years of able, 
 faithful, and devoted service, subordinated to it all his 
 personal ends, consecrated to it all his gifts, graces, 
 and attainments, procured for it donations, endow- 
 ments, and educational appliances. The Mather Art 
 Collection was his gift as well as his monument. He 
 raised all the money and made all the purchases for 
 the singularly rich and choice selection. The rare 
 architectural perfection of the new library building 
 was largely due to his excellent taste, sound judg- 
 ment, and remarkable business efficiency in superin- 
 tending the enlargement. The John R. Newton 
 
OF THE 
 
 [UNIVERSITY, 
 .CALIFORNIA- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 221 
 
 professorship of Greek was the gift of one whom he 
 had attached to himself and to the college by his 
 preaching and his personal attractions. But his most 
 precious and enduring memorial was in the minds, 
 and hearts, and life, and character of his numerous 
 pupils. He taught them not merely the language, 
 archaeology, and art of the Greeks, not merel) r their 
 poetry, and history, and philosophy, but their litera- 
 ture, and life, and morals, and religion. Nay, every 
 lecture and recitation was a lesson in " the humani- 
 ties," in human nature and human life, in the art of 
 living, and living well. Hence he was a power in 
 the government of the college, as well as in its edu- 
 cation. President Seelye loved him and leaned upon 
 him, and it was a sad hour and a sore trial to the 
 good president when, on returning from a voyage to 
 Europe for his own health, his first news was the 
 death of his friend and brother, and his first public 
 service was in officiating at his funeral. It was an 
 irreparable loss to the college, a profound grief to 
 troops of friends, and a sore disappointment to him- 
 self. He had spent the previous year in travel and 
 study, partly in Germany, but chiefly in Greece and 
 the island of Sicily, amid the monuments of Grecian 
 architecture and sculpture and the scenes of Grecian 
 life, and returned enriched with new materials for 
 his work, inspired with new enthusiasm for his call- 
 ing, fondly hoping, fully expecting to begin a new 
 epoch, and that the most fruitful and brilliant in his 
 life. Alas, he came back to suffer in a prolonged and 
 painful sickness, to die a lingering and living death. 
 But in that sickness and death he taught us lessons of 
 resignation, fortitude, patience, and faith more im- 
 
222 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 pressive and more sacred than he could have taught 
 in all the lectures and sermons of a long life. 
 
 We cannot conclude these sketches of the Amherst 
 faculty under the administration of President Seelye 
 without alluding to the somewhat tragical but truly 
 heroic element which Professor Crowell has con- 
 tributed to our history in his blindness. A distin- 
 guished graduate of Phillips Academ}% Andover, in 
 1849, and of Amherst College in 1853; teacher of 
 Latin and Greek in Williston Seminary from 1853 to 
 1855 ; tutor in Amherst College in 1855-1856 ; student 
 of theology at Andover in 1856 to 1858; professor of 
 Latin and instructor in German at Amherst from 1858 
 to 1864, professor of the Latin language and literature 
 from 1864 to the present time, and dean of the faculty 
 since 1880, he has given to the college more years of 
 able, faithful, and acceptable service than any other 
 professor, except Professors Snell and Tyler, and his 
 name now stands, next to that of the president, at 
 the head of all the active members of the faculty. 
 Meanwhile he has been representative in the Massa- 
 chusetts legislature one year, and for very many 
 years the compiler of the triennial catalogue and 
 the obituary records of the college. He prepared also 
 the " Roll of Members of Amherst College serving in 
 the Army and Navy of the United States during the 
 Rebellion," wrote the "History of the Town of Es- 
 sex," and edited school editions of "Cicero de Sen- 
 ectuteet Amicitia," " Cicero de Officiis," "Cicero de 
 Oratore," the " Andria and Adelphi of Terence," and 
 "Selections from the Latin Poets." In 1885 Pro- 
 fessor Crowell, after prolonged and acute suffering, 
 lost the sight of both his eyes. Yet he has not only 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 223 
 
 continued his instructions with unabated ability and 
 success, but is now preparing new and improved 
 editions of his classical text-books which give no 
 evidence of impaired vision, enters new fields of 
 study and teaching such as law and patristic Latin, 
 keeps himself and his department fully abreast of 
 the learning and spirit of the times, and, what is 
 perhaps most wonderful of all, maintains his cheer- 
 fulness, humor, and buoyancy of spirits, and mingles 
 in society and walks the streets, guided, of course, 
 by the same eye and hand of wife, or daughter, or 
 colleague, which have helped him in his literary 
 labors, with an erect attitude and a quick and firm 
 step which suggest to a stranger no thought that he 
 is bereft of sight. Well might the trustees, at their 
 annual meeting in 1886, express to Professor Crowell 
 by vote, and put it on record in their minutes, " their 
 gratification that he has been able to resume and 
 carry forward so successfully through the year the 
 duties of his department," a resolution which has been 
 more than justified every year of the seven years that 
 have since intervened. 
 
 The college is indebted to President Seelye for the 
 selection and appointment of a model librarian in 
 the person of Mr. William I. Fletcher, who is perfect 
 master of his art and profession, and knows how to 
 teach it both by precept and example, who has ren- 
 dered a service of inestimable value to all libraries 
 and all colleges by preparing and printing an index 
 of general literature corresponding to Poole's index 
 of periodicals, who has made himself useful and agree- 
 able not only to his own guild and college, but to the 
 college church, the town of Amherst, and the cause 
 
224 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 of education and religion generally, and yet seems to 
 be always at his desk, always at the service of every 
 officer and every student, and always able and will- 
 ing to assist every reader, so far as it can be done by 
 books, in his investigations. 
 
:VERSITY) 
 OF y 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE BURNING OF WALKER HALL THE BUILDINGS ERECTED 
 
 DURING THE ADMINISTRATION THE " AMHERST 
 
 SYSTEM" AMHERST COLLEGE REACHES ITS HIGHEST 
 PROSPERITY RESIGNATION OF PRESIDENT SEELYE. 
 
 WHILE the character and work of the faculty was 
 foremost and uppermost in the thought and care 
 of President Seelye, he was not inattentive to the 
 buildings, the grounds, the funds, the campus, the 
 curriculum, the scholarship and deportment of 
 the students, the general administration of the col- 
 lege. The first necessity for special attention to the 
 buildings was occasioned by a great calamity which 
 befell the college. The fact is thus recorded by Rev. 
 Dr. Dwight, secretary of the Board of Trustees, on 
 the first page of the second volume of their records : 
 " On the night of the 29th of March, 1882, fire broke 
 out in Walker Hall, the most costly and beautiful 
 edifice of Amherst College ; and all its very valuable 
 contents were destroyed, with the exception of such 
 as were secured in its vault. Among other articles 
 that were lost was the second volume of the records 
 of the Board of Trustees, containing the minutes of 
 their meetings from the Commencement of 1868 to 
 the Commencement of 1881. Of these minutes all 
 that are now extant are a few scattered portions of 
 the original drafts, accidentally saved by the secre- 
 
 225 
 
226 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 tary, which, fragmentary as they are, it has been 
 thought advisable to preserve." 
 
 On a subsequent page the secretary says : " Of the 
 meetings of the board in the years 1876-77-78 no 
 "record remains. " Of the meetings of the board in the 
 other years recorded in the book that was burned, 
 the diligence and skill of the secretary have given us 
 a record which, like other records from his hand, is 
 a model of accuracy and elegance, and which, frag- 
 mentary as it appeared to him, seemed to us to be 
 very complete. 
 
 Would that some superhuman wisdom and power 
 might have restored to us with equal completeness 
 the other treasures that were destroyed by the fire! 
 But alas, outside of the safe nothing was preserved. 
 Not a person could enter the burning building. From 
 the moment when the fire was discovered, probably 
 almost from the moment the building took fire, the 
 interior from roof to basement was wrapped in one 
 universal sheet of flame. The mathematical diagrams 
 of Professor Esty, the astronomical calculations of 
 Professor Todd the work of years, the official 
 papers and private studies of President Seelye, the 
 apparatus of Professor Snell, much of it the invention 
 of his own brain and the work of his own hand, all 
 went up in flame and smoke. The minerals of Pro- 
 fessor Shepard a collection of gems, a cabinet of 
 singular beauty and priceless worth even these min- 
 erals, strange to tell, were reduced to ashes ; scarcely 
 a trace of them could be found in the debris after 
 long and diligent search. It was vacation. The 
 faculty were mostly out of town. The writer of this 
 history was in Plainfield, N. J. He read the news 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 22/ 
 
 in the morning paper, and, for a time, it seemed 
 almost as if Amherst College itself had gone up. 
 Walker Hall had cost as much as all the other build- 
 ings put together. President Seelye was in Bethel, 
 Conn. He was at first almost overwhelmed by the 
 intelligence. The calamity was the harder to bear, 
 because the property was insured for less than half 
 its value the building for only $35,000, when it cost 
 $TOO,OOO; the contents for only $15,000, though Pro- 
 fessor Shepard valued his collection alone at $75,000, 
 and the college had actually paid $40,000 for it. It 
 cost $10, ooo to replace Professor Snell's apparatus, 
 though much of it could not be replaced in the esti- 
 mation of the professor and the college. Still in one 
 week the president had procured from a single friend 
 of the college a subscription, which, together with 
 the $50,000 insurance, enabled him to restore the 
 building. At a special meeting of the Board of 
 Trustees held in Boston, May 2, 1882, it was voted 
 that Walker Hall be rebuilt at the earliest date prac- 
 ticable, and that the president, the treasurer, Pro- 
 fessor Mather, and Mr. A. L. Williston be the build- 
 ing committee. The two lower stories were rebuilt 
 substantially on the same plan, and devoted to the 
 same uses as before. The mineralogical collection, 
 which before occupied the third story, having been 
 so largely destroyed, and there being an urgent 
 necessity for more recitation rooms, that story was 
 chiefly devoted to that purpose, and was reconstructed 
 on an entirely different plan and in a different style 
 of architecture. The whole edifice was rebuilt in 
 accordance with the vote of the trustees, "at the 
 earliest date practicable," but with more solid ma- 
 
228 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 terials and more perfect finish than that which pre- 
 ceded it, and as nearly fire-proof as possible, seem- 
 ingly regardless of cost, but with supreme regard at 
 once to permanence and elegance. And before an- 
 other year came round, Walker Hall stood again on 
 its old site, more than ever the archives, the treasury, 
 the capitol, the acropolis of Amherst College. Be- 
 sides the lesson of trust in God in the darkest hour 
 which the history of this calamity teaches us, it 
 should have taught us, we trust it has taught us, two 
 lessons of worldly wisdom: i. To beware of, or at 
 any rate handle with more care, those inflammable 
 materials which are so often used to paint and varnish 
 floors, and which are generally believed to have been 
 the cause of this fire. 2. College buildings, build- 
 ings generally which are built with charity funds, 
 should always be insured for their real value. 1 
 
 On the 1 2th of March, 1888, six years after the 
 burning of Walker Hall, on the night of the famous 
 blizzard, fire broke out in the block down town in 
 which Mr. Edward Dickinson had his office through 
 all the years in which he was treasurer of Amherst Col- 
 lege, and which was at this time occupied by his son 
 and successor in the office, Mr. W. A. Dickinson, and 
 destroyed all his books and papers, except the con- 
 tents of two safes. These books, pamphlets, and 
 papers were rich in materials for the history both of 
 the town and the college, and Mr. Dickinson was at 
 this very time engaged in classifying and arranging 
 them in due order to be preserved for the use of the 
 
 1 At the same special meeting in which they voted to rebuild 
 Walker Hall, the trustees of Amherst voted that the insurance 
 on the college buildings be increased to $300,000. 
 
UNIVERSITY] 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 22Q 
 
 future historian. The college suffered no pecuniary 
 loss by their destruction, for papers of pecuniary 
 value were in the safe. But as materials for history 
 this collection probably surpassed in value any other 
 in the town, and the town and college sympathized 
 with Mr. Dickinson deeply in the loss. The college, 
 however, has this compensation: The destruction 
 of the office down town necessitated the removal of 
 the treasurer's office to Walker Hall, where it is near 
 the office of the president and the room in which the 
 trustees and the faculty hold their meetings, and 
 where it is convenient of access to all the members 
 of the college. 
 
 At the same special meeting of the Board of Trus- 
 tees at which it was voted to rebuild Walker Hall it 
 was also voted to proceed with the enlargement of 
 the library building; the same gentlemen were ap- 
 pointed the building committee, the two buildings 
 were in process of construction pari passu at the same 
 time and were completed in the course of the same 
 year, and it may be doubted which of the two is the 
 more remarkable for architectural beauty and adapta- 
 tion to the use for which it was intended. The en- 
 largement of the library building, or the erection of 
 a new one, had become a necessity. Not only were 
 the shelves of the old building already full, but stacks 
 of books encumbered and filled the floor which was 
 intended for a reading-room. It was doubtless easier 
 to plan for an entirely new building. But that would 
 cost more money, and would leave the old building, 
 which had many conveniences and attractive associa- 
 tions, useless and forsaken. And thanks to the wis- 
 dom of the building committee and the skill of the 
 
230 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 architect, Mr. Francis R. Allen, who is a graduate 
 of the college, a plan was conceived which utilized 
 the old building, provided amply for present and 
 future enlargement, presented an exterior of great 
 architectural beauty and symmetry, and furnished 
 one of the best, most convenient, and most useful 
 library biiildings that can be found in this or any 
 other country. The first story of the old edifice was 
 retained for the working-rooms of the librarian and 
 his assistants ; the second story and main body of it 
 was given up entirely to the reading and consulting 
 room, with tables and chairs for readers and writers 
 occupying the floor, and shelves on the walls for a 
 working library, and books illustrative of the several 
 departments of instruction and the daily studies of 
 the students, while the general library and the mass 
 of the books was provided for by the addition in the 
 rear of a crystal palace containing seven stories of 
 fire-proof stacks of shelves in which every book is 
 within reach of a person standing on the floor, and 
 tables and chairs are furnished in every story for the 
 convenience of readers and writers. Finally, to give 
 architectural unity and beauty to the whole structure, 
 a vestibule or portico is prefixed which constitutes 
 the entrance to the building, contains an ornamental 
 stairway to the upper stories, and is itself adorned 
 in the lowe A story by the Nineveh sculptures let into 
 the walls. The students are allowed free access not 
 only to the reading-room, but, with the permission 
 and under the guidance of the librarian and his as- 
 sistant, they are admitted to the free use of the gen- 
 eral library for the pursuit of special studies; and 
 they do not abuse the privilege. Perhaps there is 
 
UNIVERSITY) 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 231 
 
 no one thing in which the growth and progress of 
 the college is more strikingly manifest than in the 
 extent to which faculty and students, with the help 
 of our accomplished librarian, use the college library, 
 and make it useful in the work of education. And 
 it is pleasant to be able to add that, while the library 
 is so much more used and useful than it was in the 
 earlier years of our college history, the friends of the 
 college are endowing it with more ample means of 
 usefulness. Among other gifts, too numerous to 
 mention, the following deserve especial notice: A 
 gift of $5,000 made by David Sears of Boston in 1864 
 toward the erection of a new or the enlargement of 
 the old library building, which, by the accumulation 
 of interest and the addition of other contributions, 
 had grown in 1881 to $25,000; the bequest of $5,000 
 by Dr. Ebenezer Alden of Randolph, who from 1841 
 to 1874 was a wise and faithful trustee of the college 
 and watched the library with ceaseless vigilance, 
 and bequeathed this sum expressly toward its proper 
 care and administration; the bequest of $50,000 by 
 Joel Giles of Boston as a permanent fund for the in- 
 crease of the library ; and the munificent legacy of 
 over $80,000 by Henry T. Morgan, which, with a wis- 
 dom as remarkable as his liberality, he gave without 
 limitation to be expended at the discretion of the 
 trustees, and which could in no other way be so 
 suitably commemorated as by giving his name to the 
 library building. 
 
 The first action in regard to a new gymnasium was 
 
 taken in the same fruitful and happy special meeting 
 
 of the trustees in Boston in May, 1882, in which the 
 
 rebuilding of Walker Hall and the enlargement of 
 
 16 
 
232 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 the library building had their origin. At this meet- 
 ing it was voted that "the library building commit- 
 tee, together with Dr. Hitchcock and Mr. Charles 
 M. Pratt, be a committee to select plans and recom- 
 mend measures for the erection of a new gymnasium, 
 and to report at Commencement. " And at the annual 
 meeting at Commencement, it was voted " that the 
 committee heretofore appointed to superintend the 
 construction of a new gymnasium be empowered to 
 go forward with its erection, it being understood 
 that the expense of its erection will be defrayed by 
 Mr. Charles M. Pratt, of Brooklyn, and that the edi- 
 fice, when built, be known as the Pratt Gymnasium." 
 So many difficulties and delays, however, arose in 
 regard to the site, the grading, the construction, and 
 the heating of the building, that it was not finished 
 until the autumn of 1884. But when it was finished 
 and furnished, it was admired as one of the most 
 perfect buildings of its kind and for its purpose that 
 can anywhere be found, and it has been used with 
 great satisfaction not only as the headquarters of the 
 department of gymnastics and hygiene where Dr. 
 Hitchcock reigns supreme, but as the trys ting-pi ace 
 where the trustees, faculty, alumni, and guests and 
 friends of the college gather from year to year for 
 their Commencement dinners; and what will perhaps 
 be still more fresh in the memory of some of the 
 alumni, the place where, as under-graduates, they 
 met the under-graduates of Smith and Mount Hoi- 
 yoke in their so-called promenades. 
 
 The history of the building enterprises of President 
 Seelye's administration would be incomplete without 
 some allusion to two or three others which he recom- 
 
j"^ ^-^'^l^rlS^^r^^P 
 -^'^-^m^''^-'^. 
 
 " ^\-^< .% " 
 
 THE CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL LABORATORY BUILDING, 
 
 Irwr^W--' 
 <rj*J$^ ^;^ 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 233 
 
 mended again and again to the action or the considera- 
 tion of the trustees, but was unable to carry into execu- 
 tion, e.g., the addition of a biological laboratory and 
 a larger lecture room to the Appleton cabinet, which 
 he recommended in 1886 and again in 1887, but which 
 was not completed till 1891 under the administration 
 of his successor; the reconstruction of the Barrett 
 Gymnasium, and its adaptation for a mineralogical 
 cabinet, which he urged year after year, but which re- 
 mains still unaccomplished; and the erection of anew 
 chemical laboratory commensurate with the growth of 
 the college and the wants of the department, to which 
 he adverts over and over again as an imperative neces- 
 sity, but which waited the Fayerweather bequest for 
 pecuniary means and the energy of President Gates 
 for its accomplishment. This generous bequest, 
 from which the college has received $70,000, and 
 would have received more if the intentions of the 
 testator had been faithfully executed, has enabled 
 the trustees to erect a magnificent scientific building, 
 or rather two buildings, the one for chemistry and 
 the other for physics, which together with the en- 
 largement of the scientific .apparatus, the increase of 
 the teaching forces, and the changes in the curriculum 
 and in the requirements for admission in these depart- 
 ments, and perhaps also the renovation of North and 
 South Colleges, have brought in a larger number of 
 students than the college has ever had before. But 
 these things do not come within the scope of the 
 present history. 
 
 Gifts and bequests to the college were numerous 
 and generous under President Seelye's administra- 
 tion more numerous and generous some years than 
 
234 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 in any other year of its history. Thus in 1882 he 
 enumerates eight or ten gifts, bequests, and promis- 
 sory notes, some large and some small, amount- 
 ing in all to $270,000, which the college had re- 
 ceived during the past six months; and in 1884 
 nearly as many more actual payments, amounting to 
 $150,000. The sum total of donations and bequests 
 during the administration of President Seelye ex- 
 ceeded even that of President Stearns and amounted 
 to more than $800,000.* 
 
 Meanwhile the college grounds were enlarged 
 without expense to the college, by the purchase of 
 several acres on its eastern front, and graded and laid 
 out in walks and drives and building sites according 
 to a plan furnished by Mr. F. L. Olmsted, which 
 gives the whole campus a beauty corresponding with 
 the unsurpassed beauty of its surroundings. 
 
 All this extension of grounds, enlargement of 
 buildings, and increase of funds was only the shadow 
 and shell of a corresponding growth in the faculty, 
 the curriculum, the course of instruction, and the 
 general administration. " Education," says the presi- 
 dent in his annual report to the trustees in 1886, "is 
 not by buildings, or apparatus, or books, but by the 
 living teacher, and he can do only a small part of 
 his work upon classes, but must be brought closely 
 into contact with individual pupils. This involves 
 small sections and therefore, with a large number of 
 students, many teachers. To increase our number 
 of teachers, even faster than our number of students 
 
 1 At the close of this volume a more detailed statement may 
 be found. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 235 
 
 has increased, 1 has been of late what I have no doubt 
 is the wise policy of the college. Ten years ago, 
 when I entered upon the presidency, the faculty num- 
 bered seventeen members; now they are twenty-six. 
 The professorships of German, biology, and logic, 
 the associate professorships of mental and moral phil- 
 osophy, of astronomy, of rhetoric, and of Latin, have 
 all been established in the last decade. Ten years 
 ago we had four teachers in Latin and Greek ; now we 
 have six. Ten years ago there were but two teachers 
 in the English department; now there are three. 
 There were then but three teachers in the depart- 
 ments of mathematics, physics, and astronomy; now 
 there are four. Three teachers then gave all the in- 
 struction in the natural sciences, where four are now 
 employed. A new teacher has been added in phil- 
 osophy, and also one in political economy. This 
 increase in the number of teachers has permitted a 
 larger subdivision of the classes, and has made possi- 
 ble a great increase in elective studies. Ten years 
 ago hardly any optional work could be taken, while 
 now the major part of the studies for junior and 
 senior years are elective. And yet we are making 
 haste slowly with these elective studies. We insist 
 that a student shall not be encouraged to make his 
 college course professional. Breadth and not atten- 
 uated length is what we are endeavoring to secure." 
 
 The president's care for the health and efficiency 
 of his faculty and his supreme reliance on them as 
 
 1 In 1888 he reports the average number of students for the 
 last twelve years as 339, while the average for the previous 
 twelve years was 267 quite an increase, but not a percentage 
 of increase equal to that in the number of teachers. 
 
236 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 the strength of the college are emphasized by fre- 
 quent appeals for increased salaries, and repeated 
 recommendations of a rule whereby, after seven years 
 of able and faithful service, every professor should 
 be allowed a year's absence on half salary for rest or 
 improvement by travel and study. Such a rule has 
 never been formally enacted in Amherst College. 
 But the same result has been secured, in part at least, 
 by the readiness of the trustees to grant such leave 
 of absence, when it is asked ; and many of the pro- 
 fessors have gained a new lease of life and health, 
 and new resources for teaching, by a year or part of 
 a year of absence. 
 
 The great increase of elective studies above men- 
 tioned was only one of a series or succession of chang- 
 es gradually introduced under this administration, all 
 tending towards a larger liberty among the students, 
 a happier relation and heartier cooperation between 
 them and the faculty, and a larger measure of self- 
 government and self-education in every department 
 of the college. Thus students were admitted to col- 
 lege without examination on certificates from such 
 preparatory schools as had proved themselves worthy 
 of such confidence by sending us such students, and 
 only such, as were well prepared. And the process 
 of sifting out the unworthy and incompetent was 
 carried on through the first term and the first year 
 under the eyes of the faculty themselves, and by the 
 hands of those who had the immediate instruction 
 and government of the freshman class. This was 
 felt to be due both to the preparatory schools and the 
 college, just and fair to the candidates, and it was 
 found to be satisfactory in its results to all concerned. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 237 
 
 A corresponding change was made in the examina- 
 tions of the college course. Amherst had already led 
 the way in dispensing with biennials and senior ex- 
 aminations in the whole curriculum, which all the 
 colleges now know to have been a sham and a plague. 
 And now she introduced the system of " examination 
 reviews," that is, a review, say, once in every two 
 or three weeks, on a particular subject or part of a 
 subject as the case may be, with the understanding 
 that the review is also to be marked as an examina- 
 tion, to be followed, at the discretion of the professor, 
 by an examination of some kind on the work of the 
 term. For example, in the study of Homer, at the 
 completion of a book, we would have an examination 
 review of the book, and at the close of the term, per- 
 haps, a written examination or reading at sight of 
 the work of the term. This practice gave rise to the 
 rumor, which went abroad, that Amherst had given 
 up all examinations, whereas the method in fact se- 
 cured the maximum of the benefits of frequent ex- 
 aminations and reviews with the minimum of cram- 
 ming, cribbing, and mere memorizing which are 
 ordinarily attendant upon examinations. 
 
 A change in the marking system accompanied the 
 change in regard to examinations. Some of the 
 teachers had been accustomed to mark every recita- 
 tion, while others had marked no recitations. It now 
 became the rule to mark examination reviews and 
 not recitations. And instead of attempting to fix 
 the rank of every individual student by minute divi- 
 sions on a scale of a hundred as formerly, five grades 
 of scholarship were established and degrees were 
 conferred upon the graduating classes according to 
 
238 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 their grades. If a student was found to be in the 
 first or lowest grade, he was not considered as a can- 
 didate for a degree, though he might receive a cer- 
 tificate stating the facts in regard to his standing; if 
 he appeared in the second grade the degree of A.B. 
 was conferred upon him rite; if in the third, cum laude; 
 if in the fourth, magna cum laude; while if he reached 
 the fifth grade he received the degree summa cum 
 laude. The advantages of this course, as stated to the 
 trustees by the president, are that it properly dis- 
 criminates between those who, though passing over 
 the same course of study, have done it with great 
 differences of merit and of scholarship, and that it 
 furnishes a healthy incentive to the best work with- 
 out exciting an excessive spirit of emulation. 
 
 The new system of administration, of which the 
 above is a part, is so original and peculiar that it is 
 known as the Amherst System, and, in justice to 
 President Seelye, who is its author, we state the system 
 and the reasons for its introduction in his own words. 
 In his annual report to the trustees in 1881 he says: 
 
 " The year has been marked by some significant 
 changes. At its beginning I proposed to the faculty 
 a new scheme of college administration to obviate 
 some difficulties long apparent in the relations of 
 faculty and students. These difficulties have been 
 largely due, I judge, to the fact that the system of 
 college administration in our country remains essen- 
 tially the same as it was a hundred and fifty years 
 ago, while during this time the age of our students 
 has been slowly but steadily advancing until it aver- 
 ages now some three or perhaps four years more than 
 it did a century and a half since. The college, as 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 239 
 
 originally established and as subsequently continued, 
 stood, in theory, as in loco parentis to the student, but 
 the student was considered not as a youthful son to 
 be brought into confidential and affectionate com- 
 munion with his parent, but as a child, probably 
 wayward and certainly incapable of self-direction, 
 and to be guided and restrained by the constant con- 
 trol of parental authority. This was probably very 
 well suited to a condition and time when, as was true 
 in some of our prominent colleges, a student could 
 graduate having completed the whole course at thir- 
 teen, and when a salutary discipline was found in 
 corporal punishment ; but it is a very untoward sys- 
 tem to maintain over a body of young men old enough 
 to possess the rights and incur the obligations of self- 
 government. Scores of our students are legal voters 
 in our civil elections. Having had for some time a 
 growing conviction that this system of college man- 
 agement needed now some radical modifications, it 
 seemed best to make a trial of these. The first aim 
 was the point of view from which the relations of 
 the faculty and the students could be correctly ap- 
 prehended. It was quite clear that these relations had 
 ceased to be those of parent and child. They were 
 more nearly those of older and younger brothers, in 
 which the older is a helper and guide to the younger, 
 and controls him through his own acceptance of rules 
 which he sees to be right rather than his submission 
 to authority in matters whose Tightness he does not 
 see. Rules are, of course, indispensable, but it makes 
 a wide difference whether these rules come as an 
 enactment which the authority of the faculty is to 
 maintain, or whether they shall be accepted by the 
 
240 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 student in an agreement which his own free choice 
 is interested to fulfil. The attempt was therefore 
 made to formulate a system of administrative rules 
 which should simply express what every student 
 would recognize as true and obligatory, and whose 
 force in constraining reluctant wills should lie not in 
 any punishment inflicted by the faculty, but in what a 
 student should see from the nature of the case if these 
 rules should be disregarded. ... It would certainly 
 be better for the student at the age he has now 
 reached, and in the immediate preparation he is mak- 
 ing for the responsibilities of manhood, if he could 
 be led to feel the necessity of self-government. It 
 would be better also for the faculty to feel that their 
 influence over the student was not to be supported 
 by any machinery or outward appliances, but could 
 only be maintained by their own power of individual 
 inspiration. 
 
 " The system after having been thoroughly consid- 
 ered received the hearty approval of the faculty, and 
 was unanimously adopted. . . . The result has been 
 better than any one ventured to anticipate. It is, I 
 believe, the unanimous conviction of the faculty that 
 they have never known a year when so much honest 
 work has been done in the college, and with so 
 healthy results, as in the year now closed. The at- 
 tendance upon college exercises has surprised us all. 
 It was a part of the system that excuses for absence 
 from recitations or lectures should no longer be ren- 
 dered. The students were informed that absences 
 from these exercises, whatever their cause, are ab- 
 sences all the same, indicative of a certain lack in 
 the work regularly and properly required, which ex- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 24! 
 
 cuses, however justifiable, could not change in the 
 least, and for which, therefore, they were wholly ir- 
 relevant. The college prescribing a certain course of 
 study and giving a certain diploma at its close, it was 
 said to the students that this diploma should obviously 
 express nothing more and nothing less than the exact 
 facts in the case, and therefore, if the course prescribed 
 had not been fairly and fully followed, it would be 
 wrong to give a diploma testifying to the contrary. 
 
 " Lest the system should seem too rigorous or too 
 little flexible, it was deemed best to allow a certain 
 latitude of absences which a student might take 
 without interfering with his standing, and this was 
 fixed at one-tenth of the whole number of exercises 
 in a given department for a given term. The result 
 of this was in one point somewhat unexpected and 
 not altogether satisfactory. It was found that the 
 students were very economical in the use of these 
 absences, carefully avoiding in some cases the least 
 expenditure of them till the close of the term, when 
 in many instances they took them all together, thus re- 
 ducing the length of their term by so much as the per- 
 mission would allow. The faculty felt that, undesir- 
 able as this was, it was the less of two evils, and that, 
 if a student were to take his absences at all, it would 
 be better for him to do this in a lump than to string 
 them along at irregular times during the term. The 
 students have been told upon this point that the 
 faculty, though giving this limited latitude of ab- 
 sences, deem it unwise for the student to take it in 
 any case when it can be avoided, and that they will 
 take pains that their instruction shall be as valuable 
 at the end as during any part* of the term. During 
 
242 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 the term just ended the attendance continued much 
 better to the close than during either of the two 
 preceding terms." 
 
 The rules of administration under this system are 
 few and simple, in striking contrast with the in- 
 numerable specifications of transgressions and pen- 
 alties in the " College Laws" of former days, and are 
 substantially contained in this single paragraph : " A 
 student whose recommendations have been approved 
 and whose examinations have shown him capable of 
 admission to Amherst College, is received as a gen- 
 tleman, and, as such, is trusted to conduct himself in 
 truthfulness and uprightness, in kindness and re- 
 spect, in diligence and sobriety, in obedience to law 
 and maintenance of order and regard for Christian 
 institutions as becomes a member of a Christian col- 
 lege. The privileges of the college are granted only 
 to those who are believed to be worthy of this trust, 
 and are forfeited whenever this trust is falsified. 
 
 " On his admission the student signs a promise so 
 to conduct himself, and, failing to do so, thereby 
 breaks his contract and severs himself from his con- 
 nection with the college. In deciding the question 
 whether students have thus broken their contract 
 and severed themselves from the college, the faculty 
 judged it wise to associate with themselves, in the 
 immediate government of the college, a body chosen 
 by the students themselves, to which questions of 
 college order and decorum are referred, and whose 
 decisions, if approved by the president, are binding 
 on the college. This body is called the College Sen- 
 ate, and consists of four seniors, three juniors, two 
 sophomores, and one -freshman, chosen by their re- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 243 
 
 spective classes. 1 At the meetings of the senate, 
 which are held regularly once a month, the president 
 of the college presides. This movement towards self- 
 government has been thus far justified by its results." 
 
 So said the faculty in the annual catalogue issued 
 at the close of the first year after its introduction. 
 And the same verdict is repeated in every annual 
 catalogue from that year to the present time. In his 
 annual report for 1882, President Seelye says: "The 
 results of the new system of administration, of which 
 I made a detailed report to the trustees one year ago, 
 have been, during the year now closing, most satis- 
 factory. The faculty recently made a careful exam- 
 ination of these results and were unanimous in their 
 judgment that the workings of the system have been 
 favorable both as respects the regularity of attendance 
 and the standard of scholarship. The system has 
 attracted a wide attention, and we find that some 
 colleges, by which it was at first sharply criticised, 
 are beginning to adopt some of its more important 
 features." 
 
 The next year he speaks still more positively and 
 particularly of the results of the system in Amherst, 
 and its adoption in some of its features by other 
 colleges : " The demeanor of the students has been 
 well-nigh unexceptionable. We have had no hazing, 
 none of the old-time college pranks or disturbances, 
 none of the unseemly disorders in the village which 
 have sometimes prevailed with us and are not infre- 
 
 1 This feature of the " Amherst System" has been suspended 
 by the resignation of the members of the Senate. It is be- 
 lieved, however, that sooner or later it will be restored, not as 
 an essential but a desirable part of the system. 
 
244 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 quent in college towns. Our students have done their 
 work during the year with remarkable diligence and 
 decorum. The new system of administration meets, 
 after the third year of its trial, the same favor among 
 the faculty and the students which has been accorded 
 it from the first. We all feel that it has greatly pro- 
 moted kindliness of feeling and of intercourse be- 
 tween the faculty and the students and among the 
 students themselves, that it has raised the standard 
 of manliness and manly conduct through the college, 
 that the grade of scholarship and the regularity of 
 attendance have both been increased, and that there 
 has been a manifest uplifting of the whole tone of 
 the college. We do not regard the system as any 
 longer an experiment." 
 
 It is quite unnecessary that the writer should add 
 his testimony to that of the president. His report is 
 aot merely the partial attestation of the author of the 
 system to the work of his own hands ; it is the unani- 
 mous verdict of all the faculty and all the students. 
 I have never yet seen the teacher or the student who 
 would wish to return to the old system. The new 
 system is imperfect, of course, like all the works of 
 men. It admits of, and doubtless will receive, modi- 
 fication and improvement as the result of longer ex- 
 perience. It needs careful watching and wisdom in 
 its execution. But the old system of permits and 
 penalties, of excuses and evasions, of government 
 without representation, of stepmotherly prohibitions 
 and stepfatherly punishments, of mutual distrust and 
 suspicion, of separate interests and hostile plans and 
 purposes, has gone in Amherst, and has gone or is 
 going in other colleges, never to return. The day 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 245 
 
 of common interests and mutual confidence and 
 hearty cooperation, the day of representation of the 
 alumni in the Board of Trustees, and of under- 
 graduates in the faculty, the day of larger liberty 
 and more self-government, the day of elective studies 
 and manly development and practical preparation for 
 the duties of citizenship under free institutions, has 
 come in Amherst and is coming coming to stay in 
 all our colleges, and we may thank President Seelye 
 for hastening its dawn. The faculty of Amherst 
 never did a wiser thing than when, early in his ad- 
 ministration, they committed the immediate govern- 
 ment of the college largely, we might almost say 
 entirely, into his hands. He took council with his 
 faculty, considered their wishes, and profited by their 
 wisdom and experience. He associated a represen- 
 tative body of the students with himself in deciding 
 questions of college order, deportment, and decorum. 
 But he held the reins in his own hands, and his ad- 
 ministration proved or illustrated two maxims in the 
 science of government: that executive government 
 is best administered by one head, and that that gov- 
 ernment is best which governs the least. Radical as 
 the changes were which he introduced, he ruled with 
 great moderation, and great peace and prosperity 
 were the results to the college. Gentleness tempered 
 by firmness characterized his administration and 
 shaped it to suit the character of individual students. 
 His patience saved many a wayward student, his gen- 
 tleness made many an unpromising student good and 
 great. His firmness never feared or hesitated, when it 
 became necessary to say to the individual student or 
 the whole college, Thus far shalt thou go and no far- 
 
246 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 ther. He knew every student personally, recognized 
 him wherever he met him, and called him by name, 
 in most cases by his Christian name, as if he were a 
 younger brother. Socratic in his method of teach- 
 ing, he was Socratic also in his personal influence 
 and his strong personal hold on young men. This 
 took a good deal of time, but it was time well spent. 
 His time belonged to the college, and was given 
 without sparing and without grudging to the service 
 of the faculty and the students. He made it a rule 
 never to be out of town in term time unless he was 
 constrained to be absent by manifest duty or impera- 
 tive necessity. He taught less and less in the class- 
 room. When he entered upon the presidential office, 
 he insisted on retaining the professorship of philoso- 
 phy as a proper adjunct of the presidency and a 
 channel of the greatest and best educational influ- 
 ence. But experience taught him that the work of 
 this most important professorship and the burdens of 
 the presidency of a modern college, and the duties 
 of the office as he understood them, were more than 
 any one man could carry, and when he found a man 
 after his own heart to teach philosophy he first trans- 
 ferred to him one-half of the senior class, alternating 
 the divisions with him every other day, and then 
 handed over to him the instruction of the whole class 
 and the responsibility of the department. This left 
 him only the " question box" one hour every week, 
 an exercise which he continued as long as he con- 
 tinued to be president, teaching the class how to ask 
 questions as well as how to answer them, and dis- 
 cussing with them subjects of the greatest moment 
 in literature, science, and art, in politics, ethics, and 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 247 
 
 religion, with so much learning and power that, 
 through the week, they looked forward to that hour 
 with an interest which attended no other college ex- 
 ercise. His knowledge of books was as wide and 
 profound as his knowledge of men and things. It 
 was said of the old Greek philosopher Carneades, that 
 he could repeat from memory the contents of any 
 book in the libraries as accurately and freely as if he 
 were reading from the book itself. Very similar to 
 this was the confidence which faculty and students 
 reposed in President Seelye 's knowledge of books. 
 But he made very little direct use of books, in teach- 
 ing. He first absorbed the books, text-books, and 
 books of illustration, into himself, and then impressed 
 himself upon his pupils. In Raphael's School of 
 Athens, a knot of youthful philosophers had sent one 
 of their number for a book ; but meanwhile Socrates 
 had solved the question, and now we see them wav- 
 ing away the returning messenger, and pointing to 
 Socrates, as much as to say, Behold, he is the book! 
 At the time of his election to the presidency, Dr. 
 Seelye had a strong desire to write books on some 
 parts of church history and philosophy which had 
 not been treated to his satisfaction, and this was one 
 reason why he hesitated about accepting the presi- 
 dency. But he sacrificed this very natural and worthy 
 ambition. He accepted the presidency and devoted 
 his life to the work of an educator. Like the great 
 Athenian philosopher and educator, he wrote his 
 books in the minds and hearts, the characters and 
 lives, of his students, where they will live forever. 
 
 Dr. Seelye had translated and published Schweg- 
 ler's " History of Philosophy" while he was pastor of 
 17 
 
248 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 the church in Schenectady. He revised and edited 
 Hickok's "Mental Science" and "Moral Science" 
 while he was professor, and rewrote the " Moral 
 Science" during his presidency. That remarkable 
 little volume, " The Way, the Truth, and the Life- 
 Lectures to Educated Hindus," which, within the 
 compass of a hundred pages, contains so much of the 
 sum and substance of the Gospel, and not the evidence 
 only but the very essence of Christianity, was written 
 at Bombay after the lectures were delivered, at the 
 request of those who heard them, and issued from 
 the press in Bombay at the expense of one who was 
 himself an eminent Brahmin scholar. This was in 
 1873, two or three years prior to his entrance upon 
 the presidential office. This was followed, soon after 
 his return from India, by another "small book on 
 a great subject," " Christian Missions," which was first 
 delivered as lectures in several of our principal theo- 
 logical seminaries, and then printed in a volume. 
 His speeches in Congress were always listened to 
 with marked attention and profound respect, although 
 they were too independent of party always to com- 
 mand the majority of votes. He usually acted with 
 the Republicans, but in the famous contested elec- 
 tion he stood almost alone in the Republican ranks 
 in voting against seating Mr. Hayes in the presiden- 
 tial chair. As a member of the Committee on Indian 
 Affairs he was a stalwart champion of Indian rights, 
 and his speeches on this subject adorn the congres- 
 sional records. His occasional addresses, such as his 
 election sermon before the governor, council, and 
 legislature of Massachusetts, his sermon before the 
 American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 249 
 
 sions at Minneapolis, his annual address as president 
 for several years of the American Home Missionary 
 Society, and his baccalaureate sermons were printed 
 and published in various forms, and deserve to be 
 reprinted for their permanent value as profound dis- 
 cussions of the great principles which underlie gov- 
 ernment, society, education, and religion. The same 
 may be said of the numerous articles which he was 
 in the habit of writing during his whole life for the 
 reviews, magazines, and newspapers on the great 
 questions of the times, such, for example, as these: 
 "The Electoral Commission," "Counting the Elec- 
 toral Votes," "The Moral Character in Politics," 
 " The Need of a Better Political Education," " Dyna- 
 mite as a Factor in Civilization," "The Gospel to be 
 Preached First in Our Great Cities," "The Currency 
 Question," "Christian Union," "Should the State 
 Teach Religion?" "The Sabbath Question," "The 
 Bible in Schools," "Prohibitory Laws and Personal 
 Liberty," "Punishment, its Meaning and Ground," 
 "The Recognition of God in the Constitution," 
 "Growth through Obedience," "Our Place in His- 
 tory." These and the like vital questions always 
 interested him profoundly, and he always discussed 
 them, whether with the tongue or the pen, in the 
 threefold light of universal history, a profound spirit- 
 ual philosophy, and an earnest, enlightened, evangeli- 
 cal Christianity. And he was usually inclined in 
 theory and in practice to adopt the most advanced, 
 the broadest and deepest, the most profoundly spirit- 
 ual and intensely evangelical views of these great 
 questions, so much so that he sometimes seemed to 
 be unpractical, and by some persons was thought an 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 extremist, although he retained the confidence of his 
 fellow Christians in practical matters so fully that 
 they placed him at the head of their great missionary 
 agencies, and when they wished to formulate a new 
 creed for the denomination in which they could all 
 unite, he was made chairman of the " Creed Com- 
 mission/' and is understood to have drafted the form. 
 Plato has the reputation of being an extremist 
 and is doubtless open to the charge of carrying 
 his political and ethical philosophy to extravagant 
 lengths. President Seelye was a philosopher of the 
 Platonic school, and his doctrines, his sentiments, 
 his style even is shaped, colored, tinged at least by 
 that of Plato. But he called no man master. He 
 could say with Aristotle, and even more justly than 
 he: Amicus Socrates, amicus Plato, magis tamen arnica 
 veritas; and to President Seelye, Jesus Christ was 
 emphatically and alone the Truth, the Way, and the 
 Life. 
 
 We were accustomed to speak and to think of Dr. 
 Seelye through all his earlier life as the healthiest, 
 heartiest, strongest, most robust man in the faculty, 
 the very ideal of a large, strong, healthy man in 
 every particular, physically, intellectually, morally, 
 and spiritually. On the 5th of March, 1881, Mrs. 
 Seelye was taken from him, and he never seemed to 
 recover fully from the shock. A part of himself was 
 taken up to the better world, and so tender was the 
 tie, so indissoluble the union, so perfect the oneness 
 of the present with the future life, that he could 
 never think of marrying again. 
 
 In the winter of 1885 he was himself sick with a 
 severe attack of erysipelas which brought him to the 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 251 
 
 very borders of the grave. Subsequently to this, a 
 disease of the nervous system, largely hereditary, 
 and partly the result of overwork, care, and responsi- 
 bility, gradually developed itself, increasing slowly 
 from year to year till at length it interfered not only 
 with his comfort but his ability to discharge the 
 duties of his office. He consulted the ablest physi- 
 cians in his own country ; he went abroad twice for 
 medical advice and rest and change, but to no pur- 
 pose, till at length his friends and the friends of the 
 college yielded reluctantly to his conviction of the 
 necessities of the case, and he tendered his resigna- 
 tion. The college ought to have had the service of 
 at least four more of the best years of his life before 
 reaching the limit of threescore years and ten. But 
 he bowed serenely, cheerfully to the will of God, 
 cooperated heartily with the trustees in the selection 
 and inauguration of his successor, and placed the 
 keys of the college in his hands with those noble 
 words: "Truth and freedom truth coming from 
 whatever direction and freedom knowing no bounds 
 but those the truth has set have ever been the light 
 and the life of this college, and we do not doubt, from 
 your work and worth, from your open eye and open 
 heart, that they will continue to be the glory and the 
 strength of your entire administration. " The present 
 administration inherits the good will and the bene- 
 diction of that which preceded it, and may the bless- 
 ing go down through many generations of wise and 
 good presidents, the worthy heirs to such an inherit- 
 ance, till time shall be no more. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ATHLETICS GYMNASIUM EXERCISES AND " THE DOCTOR" 
 
 INTERCOLLEGIATE GAMES COLLEGE SOCIETIES 
 
 THE GREEK-LETTER FRATERNITIES. 
 
 THE college is indebted to President Stearns, as 
 we have seen in the chapter on his administration, 
 for the introduction of the system of gymnastics and 
 physical education for which it has since become so 
 highly distinguished, and for the erection of the 
 Barrett gymnasium by which it was in his day so 
 well and worthily represented. But the department 
 of hygiene and physical culture has since had a 
 growth and development, of which no one at that 
 time could have had a conception, and which is fitly 
 represented by the Pratt gymnasium and the Pratt 
 field of athletics, the Pratt gymnasium having cost 
 over $60,000, the Pratt field more than $35,000, and 
 the whole plant of the department, including build- 
 ings, grounds, apparatus and endowments, mounting 
 up to the magnificent sum of $i77,ooo. 1 
 
 The Amherst system of required exercise in the 
 gymnasium of all the classes, half an hour daily four 
 days in a week, under the direction and control of an 
 experienced physician, has been maintained substan- 
 tially as it was instituted in 1860, with only such 
 
 1 This includes the Parmly Billings professorship of $50,000, 
 founded by Hon. Frederick Billings in memory of his son. 
 
 252 
 
OF THE 
 
 [UNIVERSITY, 
 
AMHERST COLLEGE ATHLETIC GROUNDS. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 253 
 
 changes as the wisdom and experience, let me rather 
 say the tact and genius, of Dr. Edward Hitchcock 
 have devised, and the growing pecuniary resources 
 of the department have enabled him to accomplish, 
 for its enlargement and improvement from year to 
 year. With all the extension and multiplication of 
 optional studies, these exercises have never been 
 made elective. If anything is "compulsory" in 
 Amherst, it is the gymnastic exercise just as much 
 so as attendance on any lectures or recitations, quite 
 as '* compulsory" as morning prayers or church ser- 
 vices, and not less imperative, unless excused by the 
 professor in special cases, than breakfast, dinner, 
 and supper. During the fall and winter terms and 
 a part of the spring term, every class is obliged, four 
 days in a week, to go through a dumb-bell drill 
 that was learned at the beginning of the course. 1 
 Being done with piano accompaniment, these exer- 
 cises are not monotonous, especially as no two of 
 them are alike, and as each is composed of a large 
 variety of movements. Every spring there is held 
 in the gymnasium a prize exhibition, at which the 
 three lower classes compete in marching and dumb- 
 bell drilling, for a prize. This causes the class ex- 
 ercises to be conducted during the last part of the 
 winter with a marked degree of energy, steadiness, 
 and punctuality. The principal interest has been 
 created by the rivalry between the classes, especially 
 the junior and sophomore, to have the larger number 
 of points and win the prize of $100. In addition to 
 
 1 For some of these details, I am indebted to a magazine ar- 
 ticle recently published with the approval of the Department. 
 
254 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 these class exercises, the department stimulates an in- 
 terest in athletics by holding every fall an out-of-door 
 athletic meet and every winter a heavy gymnastic 
 exercise. At both events the individual prize-win- 
 ners are given medals, and the class scoring the 
 largest number of points at the former receives a 
 barrel of cider, which is disposed of with many cere- 
 monies, and at the latter has its numerals placed on 
 one of the banners hanging on the walls of the gym- 
 nasium. Does not the success of these contests 
 among our own students prove the practicability of 
 finding at home exercise and recreation that are al- 
 together wholesome and sufficiently exciting, and 
 yet free from the temptations and dangers, the ex- 
 penses and excesses that are inseparable from inter- 
 collegiate games and the visits of masses of college 
 students to other colleges and our large cities? 
 
 But these intercollegiate games are just now all 
 the fashion and the passion of the times, and Am- 
 herst is swept along with the tide. For a short time, 
 from 1869 to 1875, the boating "craze" prevailed, 
 and in 1872 the Amherstcrew won the intercollegiate 
 race over a three-mile course at Springfield against 
 the crews of Harvard, the Massachusetts Agricul- 
 tural College, Bowdoin, Williams, and Yale. But 
 the distance of the college from the river forbade 
 the necessary practice, gradually damped the ardor 
 of the crew, and after a few years they withdrew 
 from the contests. 
 
 Since 1875 the chief interest has centred in the 
 intercollegiate ball games, baseball in the spring 
 and early summer, and football in the autumn. 
 Amherst has played with each of the New England 
 
OF THE 
 
 ^UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 255 
 
 colleges, belonged to different leagues, and con- 
 tended with varying alternations of successes and re- 
 verses, sometimes, though rarely, defeating Harvard 
 and Yale, bearing off her full share of honors in her 
 contests with other colleges, and generally, I be- 
 lieve, though not without some exceptions, sustaining 
 a good reputation with the public, not only as ath- 
 letes but as gentlemen. Amherst is a member of 
 the American Intercollegiate Athletic Association, 
 at the meeting of which in 1890 her representatives 
 took two first prizes and one second, and also of the 
 New England Association, in which Amherst won the 
 championship in 1888 and 1890. It is only quite 
 recently that she has entered the lists in lawn ten- 
 nis, and she has not gained distinction in that line, 
 although one of her sons, Mr. C. A. Chase, as the 
 result of his practice in Amherst, has, since his 
 graduation, won several trophies, including that of 
 the championship of the West. 
 
 The effect of the system of physical education on 
 the health, strength and general appearance of the 
 students is proved by the physical tests and actual 
 measurements of the department, and indeed it is 
 visible and palpable to the senses of the casual ob- 
 server. Statistics kept by the department for the 
 last thirty years show a sensible diminution in the 
 percentage of sickness and deaths, and a palpable 
 increase in the average strength of students as meas- 
 ured by the most approved strength-tests. And 
 any one who has been familiarly acquainted with the 
 college for half a century cannot but be struck with 
 the manifest improvement in \hz physique of the stu- 
 dents. I cannot accept without many grains of al- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 lowance the graphic characterization of the typical 
 college student of the last generation by President 
 Walker, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 
 in his oration before the Phi Beta Kappa society of 
 Harvard University at a recent commencement. 
 "The college hero of those days," he says, "was 
 apt to be a young man of towering forehead, from 
 which the hair was carefully brushed backwards and 
 upwards to give the full effect to his remarkable 
 phrenological development. His cheeks were pale ; 
 his digestion pretty certain to be bad. He was self- 
 conscious, introspective, and indulged in moods, as 
 became a child of genius. He had yearnings and 
 aspirations; and not infrequently mistook physical 
 lassitude for intellectuality, and the gnawings of dys- 
 pepsia for spiritual cravings. He would have 
 greatly distrusted his mission and his calling had he 
 found himself at any time playing ball. He went 
 through moral crises and mental fermentations which 
 to him seemed tremendous. From the gloomy re- 
 cesses of his ill-kept and unventilated room, he peri- 
 odically came forth to astound his fellow-students 
 with poor imitations of Coleridge, De Quincey and 
 Carlyle, or of Goethe in translation." 
 
 Now this is, of course, overdrawn and exagger- 
 ated. If the orator did not intend to exaggerate 
 when he wrote it, he would probably acknowledge 
 now that it was at least high colored. It savors of 
 that rhetoric or fine writing which he so much dis- 
 parages and decries as " the be-all and end-all of 
 the college training of those days," but which, in 
 its legitimate use and best form, so highly adorns 
 this oration. It is drawn, we must think, less from 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 257 
 
 memory than from imagination, which, quite as 
 much as memory, is "the mother of the Muses," the 
 maker of science as well as literature and art, and 
 without which General Walker himself could not 
 have made such a splendid success of the institute 
 over which he presides. But we fully agree with 
 him when he says that the improvement wrought in 
 the physique of our college students by the introduc- 
 tion of gymnastic exercises does not need to be 
 shown statistically: it is manifest to the eye of the 
 most casual observer. And we heartily approve of 
 the strong plea which he makes in behalf of a well- 
 regulated system of physical education in our col- 
 leges, while we admire his wise and discriminating 
 suggestions in regard to the regulation, restriction, 
 improvement, and perfection of intercollegiate ath- 
 letics. I agree entirely with President Walker, 
 of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, when 
 he says that college athletics wonderfully light up 
 the life of our people ; that they stimulate an inter- 
 est in gymnastics among those students who do not 
 engage in competitive contests, and also throughout 
 the general community ; that they call for more than 
 mere strength and swiftness they demand also 
 courage, coolness, steadiness of nerve, quickness of 
 apprehension, resourcefulness, self-knowledge, self- 
 reliance, ability to work with others, power of 
 combination, co-operation, obedience to orders, 
 subordination of selfish impulses, and something 
 akin to patriotism and public spirit. And as an 
 indispensable means for the attainment of these 
 ends, he urges that regard for fair play, that respect 
 for the rights of an opponent, that deference to the 
 
258 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 decisions of the umpire, which are so conspicuous in 
 English athletics; the complete abolition of the un- 
 sportsmanlike system of organized cheering by great 
 bodies of collegians grouped together for the pur- 
 pose ; the training of audiences as well as students to 
 appreciate the finer points, to applaud good work by 
 whomsoever done, and to be as virtuous as a Greek 
 chorus, and the cooperation of alumni to give wis- 
 dom, weight and temper to the action of undergrad- 
 uates; and last, not least, perhaps hardest of all, the 
 education of faculties to avoid petty dictation on the 
 one hand, and to sustain the claims of scholarship 
 and enforce the right discipline of college on the 
 other. 
 
 A good step toward the realization of these ideals 
 in Amherst was taken in 1870, when the Amherst 
 athletic board was organized, consisting of three 
 members of the faculty, one of whom shall be the 
 professor of hygiene and physical education, three 
 alumni of the college, Mr. F. B. Pratt, donor of the 
 new field, and three undergraduates namely, the 
 presidents of the baseball, football and athletic 
 associations. Recently, delegates from various 
 football associations have been in session to revise 
 the rules of that game and provide remedies and 
 checks against some of its worst and most brutal 
 features, and to make it less dangerous without mak- 
 ing it less lively and interesting. Meanwhile the 
 newspaper press is crying aloud for reform. And 
 the president of our oldest and greatest university, 
 while testifying to the advantages which have re- 
 sulted from the great development of athletic sports 
 within the past twenty-five years, protests against 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 259 
 
 the overtraining and overstraining, the danger of 
 serious bodily injuries, the extravagant expenditure 
 of time and money, the excessive excitement of in- 
 terest and feeling, and the morbid craving for popu- 
 lar applause and perchance pecuniary profit, which 
 are attendant especially upon the intercollegiate 
 football games at the present time, and suggests sev- 
 eral changes which would at least diminish the ex- 
 isting evils, such for example as these: that there 
 should be no freshman intercollegiate matches; no 
 games to be played on any but college fields, be- 
 longing to one of the competitors, in college towns; 
 no professional student or player should take part in 
 any intercollegiate contests; no football to be played 
 until the rules are so amended as to diminish the 
 number and the violence of the collisions between 
 the players and to provide for the enforcement of the 
 rules; and intercollegiate contests in anyone sport 
 should not take place oftener than every other year. 
 
 If some such changes as these could, with one con- 
 sent, be introduced, it would seem that the evils at- 
 tendant upon the games might be avoided without 
 abolishing the games themselves. And thus at 
 length the ideal which President Walker suggests 
 in concluding his oration might perhaps be realized, 
 art may be elevated to a far higher and nobler 
 place than it has hitherto reached in the thoughts 
 and affections of our people, and the vision of the 
 Apollo may rise to the view of thousands in this 
 fair land as once erst it rose before the thronging 
 multitudes of Olympia. 
 
 The history of physical education in Amherst can- 
 not be written without reference to the man who has 
 
260 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 been the making of it from the beginning, and who, 
 thanks to the kind Providence that has preserved 
 him through all these years, is still the head and 
 front, the spirit and soul and body of the depart- 
 ment. Amherst graduates cannot think of their col- 
 lege gymnastics and athletics without being re- 
 minded of Dr. Hitchcock; gymnastics without him 
 would be like Hamlet's play with Hamlet's part left 
 out. Dr. Hitchcock is at once the mainspring and 
 the regulator of the class exercises. Dr. Hitchcock 
 takes the gauge of every individual student and 
 tells him how to secure a sound mind in a sound body. 
 Dr. Hitchcock, by his measurements, has contributed 
 largely toward making gymnastics a science and an 
 art. Dr. Hitchcock, by his personal presence at in- 
 tercollegiate games, has done much to guard the 
 health and life of the players, the morals and man- 
 ners of all our students. Is any one sick, he sends 
 for " the Doctor. " Does any one sham sickness, " the 
 Doctor " is sure to find him out. Is any one morbid 
 or morally diseased, " the Doctor" can furnish the 
 diagnosis and prescribe the remedy. Is the college 
 in a disorderly or unhealthy state, socially or spirit- 
 ually, no one is so sure to know it or so wise to cure 
 it as " the Doctor. " u The Doctor's" eye and hand are 
 on every wheel and band and cog of the college ma- 
 chine, to keep it in place and in motion and perform- 
 ing its proper part. " The Doctor" there is only 
 one " Doctor" (" Doc" for short) in the vocabulary 
 of Amherst students " the Doctor" is always pres- 
 ent at morning prayers and the weekly prayer meet- 
 ing, and no one takes part, his own or perchance 
 another's, in these services more happily or more ac- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 26 1 
 
 ceptably than he. No member of the faculty is 
 invited so frequently to local alumni associations. 
 No one is welcomed so heartily, no one is seen or 
 heard with so much pleasure, no one anywhere can 
 make a more apt, pat, witty, or happy after-dinner 
 speech than Dr. Hitchcock. In short, "the Doctor" 
 is an omnipresent spirit of health and life, of cheer- 
 fulness and happiness, of good sense and good will, 
 of all that is good and gracious in every place and 
 everything that concerns the college with which he 
 has so long been connected. Long live Dr. Hitch- 
 cock ! O king, live forever ! 
 
 The history of -our college societies during the first 
 half century of the institution is written in the 
 first edition of this history, in President Hitch- 
 cock's " Reminiscences of Amherst College," and 
 still more fully in Mr. Cutting's " Student Life in 
 Amherst," and those who wish to read it in detail 
 must go to those sources. But these societies have 
 had such a development and attained such promi- 
 nence and influence during the last twenty years, 
 that I cannot conclude this history without a brief 
 sketch of their growth and progress. 
 
 The two literary societies, Alexandria and Athe- 
 nae, which, from the very beginning, divided the stu- 
 dents almost equally between them and exerted an 
 influence on the taste and style of writing and speak- 
 ing of their members scarcely second to that of the 
 professors, and which, I ventured to hope, would live 
 as long as the college itself, have not realized that 
 hope. They have become extinct ; their libraries in 
 which the members took so much pride and pleas- 
 ure have been merged in the college library, and 
 
262 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 their archives are preserved only in the archives of 
 the college. The Society of Inquiry also, which, 
 beginning with the opening term of the college, 
 counted in the roll of its members the leading min- 
 isters and missionaries of more than fifty classes, and 
 provided the commencement with an almost uninter- 
 rupted succession of annual addresses from distin- 
 guished orators and divines for more than half a cen- 
 tury this venerable society still exists and bears the 
 name of the "Hitchcock Society of Inquiry," but it 
 has dropped its distinctive character, and become 
 one of nearly a dozen societies, chiefly Greek letter 
 societies, for literary culture or general social im- 
 provement and enjoyment. The Greek letter so- 
 cieties have increased in number and influence, till 
 almost all the students belong to them. The fol- 
 lowing is a list of the names of the fraternities, with 
 the dates of the Amherst Chapters in the order of 
 their establishment: 
 
 Alpha Delta Phi 1837 
 
 Psi Upsilon . . . . . . 1841 
 
 Delta Kappa Epsilon ..... 1846 
 
 Delta Upsilon 1847 
 
 Phi Beta Kappa 1853 
 
 Chi Psi 1864 
 
 Chi Phi 1873 
 
 Beta Theta Pi 1883 
 
 Theta Delta Chi 1885 
 
 Phi Delta Theta 1888 
 
 Phi Gamma Delta 1894 
 
 Five of these societies, it will be seen, have been 
 introduced at Amherst within the last twenty years. 
 
 These fraternities are a connecting link between 
 the colleges and universities of our country, a 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 263 
 
 bond of union between the States, and a medium of 
 mutual acquaintance and intercommunion between 
 educated and educating men, with many of the ad- 
 vantages and some of the dangers and evils attendant 
 upon Masonic lodges and other secret societies. 
 The chapter houses, which some of them rent and 
 others own, having bought or built them for them- 
 selves, draw kindred spirits together, give them a 
 home in college for which they care and in which 
 they feel a pleasure and a pride, and exert an influ- 
 ence at once powerful and salutary in the govern- 
 ment, education, and social culture of undergraduate 
 students, while they furnish also a rendezvous and 
 a hospitable reception to graduates when they re- 
 visit their alma mater. A band of brothers feeling 
 a lively interest in the reputation of their chapter 
 and in the character and conduct of all its members, 
 by their social gatherings, their literary exercises, 
 their mutual personal influence, and above all by the 
 watch and care of the older and wiser over the 
 younger, less mature, and perhaps less studious 
 members, they guard the morals, correct the faults, 
 stimulate the ambition, cultivate the manners and 
 the taste, elevate the scholarship, in a word form the 
 character and fashion the life of the membership, 
 and thus contribute no unimportant element to the 
 order, decorum, scholarship, and culture of the 
 whole college. In fact, they act an important part 
 in that system of self-government and training for 
 the duties of citizenship in a free country in which 
 Ainherst is taking the lead among American col- 
 leges. President Seelye relied much on their co- 
 operation and influence in his administration. In 
 
 18 
 
264 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 his annual report to the trustees in 1887, he says: 
 " Besides other helps toward the good work of the 
 college, important service is rendered by the soci- 
 eties and the society houses. No one now familiar 
 with the college doubts, so far as I know, the good 
 secured through the Greek letter societies as found 
 among us. They are certainly well managed. Their 
 houses are well kept, and furnish pleasant and not 
 expensive houses to the students occupying them. 
 The rivalry among them is wholesome, kept, as it 
 certainly seems to be, within excessive limits. The 
 tone of the college is such that loose ways in a soci- 
 ety or its members will be a reproach, and college 
 sentiment, so long as it is reputable itself, will keep 
 them reputable." A distinguished classmate of 
 President Seelye, the Honorable Wm. G. Ham- 
 mond, lately chancellor of the law department in 
 Iowa University, and now dean of the law school in 
 Washington University, Missouri, in a recent ad- 
 dress at a convention at Amherst of one of these 
 societies, suggested the possibility and desirable- 
 ness of a further development of them into some- 
 thing like the colleges in the English universities. 
 Of course, such societies, like everything else in 
 this imperfect world, are liable to perversion and 
 abuse. The purest stream may be polluted, and then 
 it will breed sickness and death instead of life and 
 health. Like our whole system of self-government, 
 they need watching, lest they become nurseries of 
 indolence, ease, pleasure, extravagance, dissipation, 
 vice, instead of the opposite virtues. Their charac- 
 ter and influence will depend very much on the char- 
 acter of the college in which they are established. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 265 
 
 In Amherst their influence has been and is unques- 
 tionably favorable to good morals, order, decorum, 
 gentlemanly deportment, and scholarly attainments. 
 Nothing else would be tolerated, if for no other rea- 
 son, because anything else would be unpopular in 
 the college, and so fatal to the reputation and pros- 
 perity of the society. It is not denied that the soci- 
 eties add somewhat to the expenses of their mem- 
 bers, but not largely : any large expenditure is extra, 
 and is provided for by voluntary contributions of 
 alumni and members that are able to make them. 
 It is acknowledged that there is in some of the soci- 
 eties too much fondness for promenades, dances, and 
 other amusements, especially in the winter term, 
 the Congregational Lent, which is the most appro- 
 priate and favorable season for religious interest. 
 But drinking and carousing are not tolerated in the 
 society houses ; prayer meetings and pastoral visits 
 are welcomed, and there is no better place than 
 these houses for the propagation of religious influ- 
 ences. It may not be easy to sanctify and appropri- 
 ate college athletics and college societies and make 
 the most of the best there is in them, but it is an ob- 
 ject well worthy of the most patient and persevering 
 effort, for, if the effort is successful, they will be 
 among the most potent influences for good in the 
 college of the future. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF AMHERST EARLIER COLLEGES AND 
 UNIVERSITIES, FOUNDED FROM RELIGIOUS MOTIVES 
 
 DECLINE OF RELIGIOUS SPIRIT COLLEGES FOR 
 
 EDUCATION OF MINISTERS REVIVALS AT AMHERST 
 FROM 1823 TO 1853. 
 
 OUR readers are familiar with the fact that Har- 
 vard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, all our older colleges 
 and universities, were founded by religious men, 
 from Christian motives, and largely for the educa- 
 tion of ministers of the Gospel. But in the latter 
 part of the eighteenth century religion and morality 
 suffered a sad decline. After the American and 
 French Revolutions, the dams and dikes seemed to 
 be swept away, and irreligion, immorality, scepti- 
 cism, and infidelity came in like a flood. The col- 
 leges were of course deeply affected by the prevailing 
 spirit of unbelief and impiety. In Yale College, 
 only eleven undergraduates are known to have been 
 professors of religion in 1795 ; about four years later, 
 the number was reduced to four or five, and at one 
 communion only a single undergraduate was present. 
 A graduate of the class of 1783 remembered only 
 three professors of religion in the class of 1782, and 
 only three or four in several of the other classes. In 
 the darkest time, just at the close of the century, 
 there was only about one church member to a class. 
 
 266 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 267 
 
 In Harvard College the facts were much the same. 
 And the state of things in the churches was no better. 
 A young man who belonged to the church in that 
 day was a phenomenon almost a miracle. 
 
 But in the nineteenth century a new era began in 
 the religious history of churches and colleges an 
 era of revivals and conversions, of home and foreign 
 missions, of active, earnest, and aggressive piety in 
 ministers and Christians, of prayer for colleges, a 
 great increase in the number of graduates from the 
 older colleges entering the ministry and the work 
 of missions, and the establishment, especially in the 
 West, of new colleges, we might perhaps say a new 
 species of Christian colleges, by the united and spon- 
 taneous efforts of evangelical Christians with more 
 express reference to a general revival of religion and 
 the conversion of the world. Amherst was among 
 the first of these colleges. It was born of the spirit 
 of revivals and missions. It is not strange, there- 
 fore, that its religious history has been largely a 
 history of revivals, and our readers will not think it 
 strange if revivals constitute the principal theme of 
 this chapter. A few words, however, must first be 
 said in regard to the origin of the College Church. 
 
 During the first four years, the college attended 
 church with the people of the village in the old meet- 
 ing-house, which then stood at the top of the hill 
 over against the site of the present college building, 
 very nearly on the spot where the Woods cabinet and 
 Lawrence observatory are now situated. It was in 
 1825, shortly after the grant of the charter, that the 
 first measures were taken for the establishment of 
 a separate college church. The origin of this move- 
 
268 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 ment and the motives of the original members are 
 thus stated in the church records: 
 
 " It having appeared to many of the pious friends 
 of Amherst College that the existence of a church in 
 that seminary would tend in a high degree to pro- 
 mote the great object which its founders and bene- 
 factors had chiefly in view, viz., to advance the 
 kingdom of Christ the Redeemer, by training many 
 pious youths for the gospel ministry ; several of the 
 students also having expressed their desire to be 
 formed into a church specially connected with the 
 college, and the officers of the college having signi- 
 fied their approbation of such measure, the subject 
 of founding a church was laid before the trustees at 
 their special meeting in April, 1825, by the presi- 
 dent. The trustees, therefore, passed the following 
 resolutions, viz. : That Rev. Heman Humphrey, 
 D.D., Rev. Joshua Crosby, and Rev. James Taylor 
 be a committee to consider the expediency of estab- 
 lishing a college church in this institution, and 
 to proceed to form one if they should deem it 
 expedient. 
 
 " The above-named committee assembled at Am- 
 herst, on the seventh of March. 1826, and after de- 
 liberation on the subject referred to their wisdom 
 and discretion, they resolved themselves into an ec- 
 clesiastical council. 
 
 " The council then voted to proceed to form a church 
 on the principles of the Congregational platform, of 
 such persons desiring it as should upon examination 
 be judged by them to be entitled to the privileges of 
 church membership, and should be able heartily to 
 assent to the following articles of faith and covenant." 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 269 
 
 Then follow the creed and covenant, which are in 
 substance the same with those of Orthodox Congre- 
 gational churches generally in New England at that 
 time. 
 
 Thirty-one persons, all students, and members of 
 each of the four classes, were then " examined by the 
 council, and having publicly assented to the preced- 
 ing articles and covenant, after an appropriate ad- 
 dress by Dr. Humphrey, were solemnly constituted 
 the Church of Christ in Amherst College. The 
 Church was then commended in prayer to the cov- 
 enanted blessings of the one God, the Father, Son, 
 and Holy Ghost." 
 
 The style of the church is worthy of notice. Al- 
 though founded upon the principles of the Congrega- 
 tional platform, it has never assumed any denomina- 
 tional name, but has alwa} y s been styled " The Church 
 of Christ in Amherst College." The form for ad- 
 mission of members to the church was so changed 
 under the presidency and pastorate of Dr. Stearns, 
 that members have since been received on their as- 
 sent to the Apostles' creed and acceptance of the 
 doctrines of Christianity as generally held by our 
 Congregational churches. The covenant remains 
 unchanged to this day, and Dr. Burroughs introduced 
 the practice of receiving into covenant and fellowship 
 with the college church students who wished to com- 
 mune with us without being dismissed from their 
 churches at home. Many have thus entered into 
 covenant with the church, on the basis of letters of 
 recommendation, without dismission, from Presby- 
 terian, Baptist, Methodist, and other churches, not 
 excepting in a few instances even the Catholic 
 
2/0 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 Church. This practice brought them into more in- 
 timate and responsible relations to one another and 
 the members of the college church, and made our 
 communion Sabbaths seasons of wider and deeper 
 interest. 
 
 The church remained almost a year without a pas- 
 tor, Dr. Humphrey acting meanwhile as permanent 
 moderator. In February, 1827, after careful con- 
 sideration and conference with the trustees by com- 
 mittees, the church, with the full approval of the 
 trustees and the faculty, resolved that it was ex- 
 pedient to complete its organization by the election 
 and installation of a pastor, and by a unanimous vote 
 they chose Dr. Humphrey their first pastor. The 
 installation took place on the 24th of February, 1827, 
 in connection with the dedication of the new college 
 chapel. 
 
 The first revival occurred in the spring term of 
 1823, about a year and a half after the opening of the 
 college. The whole } T ear and a half preceding had 
 been a gradual preparation for it. The religious 
 students spent whole days in fasting and prayer. 
 The annual concert of prayer for colleges was held 
 for the first time in February, 1823. This was ob- 
 served in the college and was a day of deep and sol- 
 emn interest. President Moore's address to the stu- 
 dents on this occasion was peculiarly appropriate and 
 happy. His appeal to those who thought religion 
 unmanly and prayer degrading was like a nail 
 " driven by the master of assemblies." " Was Daniel 
 ever more noble than when he prayed in defiance of 
 King Darius' threats? The pious students were 
 among the most important instruments in carrying 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 2/1 
 
 forward the work." 1 "They held early morning 
 prayer meetings, and would sometimes, even in study 
 hours, go into each others' rooms and spend a few 
 moments in prayer. At no time in the day perhaps 
 could a person go into an entry or pass into the 
 fourth story without hearing the voice of prayer from 
 some room." * 
 
 Prayer meetings were held at nine o'clock in the 
 evening in each entry, also at other times and in 
 other places. Inquiry meetings were held by the 
 officers of the college. At the result of the revival 
 twenty-three conversions were counted, leaving only 
 thirteen without a personal faith and hope in Christ. 3 
 Among the converts in this first revival were, in the 
 senior class, Rev. David O. Allen, the first missionary 
 among the Amherst graduates, and Theophilus Pack- 
 ard, the first president, and for many years, of the 
 Amherst Alumni Association, and in the junior class 
 .Rev. Bela B. Edwards, the distinguished professor 
 of biblical literature in Andover -Theological Semi- 
 nary, and Rev. Austin Richards, D. D., who received 
 the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Dart- 
 mouth and was for thirty years pastor of the church 
 in Nashua, N. H. Besides the conversion of the 
 larger part of the unconverted, nearly one-quarter of 
 all the members of the college, the influence ex- 
 tended to those who were not reckoned as converts. 
 Thus Edward Jones, the colored student of the class 
 of 1826, who was counted among the unconverted at 
 the close of the revival, soon after his graduation 
 
 1 Manuscript letter of Rev. Theophilus Packard, class of '23. 
 2 Rev. Justin Marsh, class of '24, manuscript letter. 
 3 Manuscript letter of Dr. A. Chapin, class of '26. 
 
2/2 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 went out as a missionary to Sierra Leone and became 
 one of the leading educators of that African state. 
 A powerful revival existed in the Academy and the 
 village church, whether as effect or cause I do not 
 know ; probably it was in part both effect and cause 
 of the religious interest in the Collegiate Institution. 
 
 The next revival, the first under the presidency 
 and pastorate of Dr. Humphrey, was in 1827, of which 
 we take the following brief narrative from a com- 
 munication to the Christian public, under date of 
 May 15, 1827, by the president himself: 
 
 " A year ago the church was partially revived, and 
 a little cloud seemed for a few days to be hovering 
 over the seminary, but it soon disappeared. This 
 year, the last Thursday of February, was observed 
 in the usual manner as a day of fasting and prayer 
 for the outpouring of God's Spirit upon colleges. 
 The following week our new chapel was dedicated, 
 and a pastor was set over our infant church. Both 
 these occasions were marked with uncommon inter- 
 est and solemnity. At length there was a shaking 
 among the dry bones. The impenitent began to be 
 serious, to be alarmed, to ask, 'What shall we do to 
 be saved?' and then to rejoice in hope. By the 2oth 
 of April, five or six in the freshman class appeared 
 to have a new song put into their mouths, and from 
 that time the work advanced with surprising rapidity 
 and power. Convictions were in general short, and, 
 in many cases, extremely pungent. Of the thirty in 
 college who perhaps gave some evidence of faith and 
 repentance and who are beginning to cherish hope, 
 twenty at least are supposed to have experienced re- 
 lief in the space of a single week. 'It is the Lord's 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 273 
 
 doings and marvellous in our eyes. ' As this gracious 
 visitation seemed to demand a public acknowledg- 
 ment to the great Head of the Church, before we 
 separated at the close of the term, a religious service 
 was appointed as the last exercise, and a very appro- 
 priate and impressive discourse was delivered in the 
 chapel by the Rev. Dr. Woodbridge, of Hadley." 
 
 The following extract from a letter of Rev. A. 
 Tobey, D.D., of the class of '28, will show the light 
 in which this revival was viewed by the students : 
 
 " The whole college was so influenced, that through 
 the first of the year it had an entirely different aspect. 
 Our class, then juniors, was essentially changed in 
 character. Two who had been decidedly sceptical, 
 Kidder and Winn, became decided and earnest Chris- 
 tians. Humphrey, 1 the president's oldest son, had 
 been altogether irreligious, wild and negligent of all 
 study, except in the rhetorical department and gen- 
 eral literature. He became, for the rest of his course, 
 correct in his conduct, serious and earnest as a Chris- 
 tian, diligent and faithful as a student. The change 
 as to interest in religious things was also marked in 
 other cases, such as Fuller, Hunt, 2 Lothrop, 3 and 
 Spotswood. 4 Among those who joined the church as 
 the fruit of this revival were some of the foremost 
 men of the class. 
 
 ! Rev. E. P. Humphrey, D.D., professor and president in 
 Danville Theological Seminary. 
 
 2 Rev. Daniel Hunt of Pomfret, Conn. 
 
 3 Hon. E. H. Lothrop, Speaker of Michigan House of 
 Representatives. 
 
 4 Rev. J. B. Spotswood, D.D., long pastor of Presbyterian 
 Church in New Castle, Del. 
 
274 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 "Of the class before us (1827), I suppose McClure, 1 
 was the most remarkable instance of conversion. I 
 mean publicly the most remarkable. Perhaps the 
 conversion of Timothy Dwight, 2 really the first 
 scholar in his class, may have been as interesting 
 to those who knew him well. In the class after us 
 (1829), the most marked and externally wonderful 
 change was in Henry Lyman, 3 who was afterward 
 the martyr missionary, with Munson, killed by the 
 Battahs of Sumatra. Lyman had been one of the 
 worst, of 'the boldest in wickedness, apparently defy- 
 ing the authority of God ; but when he came under 
 the pressure of God's truth and spirit, he became as 
 ardent and bold for Christ as he had before been in 
 opposition to all good. " 
 
 A very full and interesting narrative of this revival 
 forms the principal part of one of the chapters in 
 Prof. Jacob Abbott's " Corner-Stone. " 
 
 The next year, viz., during the latter part of the 
 spring term of 1828, another season of revival was 
 enjoyed, '* highly interesting (in the language of the 
 church record, which is in the handwriting of Profes- 
 sor Fiske), although not so rapid or powerful as that 
 of 1827. But the Holy Spirit manifestly descended, 
 and it was supposed that about fourteen members 
 of college experienced his regenerating influences." 
 
 The revival of 1831 occurred in the spring, like all 
 
 1 Rev. A. W. McClure, D.D., Secretary of American and 
 Foreign Christian Union. 
 
 2 Timothy Dwight, tutor and missionary, died in 1838. 
 
 3 For Mr. Ly man's account of his own conversion and 
 other incidents of this revival, see his journal and letters in 
 the memoirs by his sister, Miss Hannah Lyman, principal of 
 Vassar College. 
 
OF THE 
 
 [UNIVERSITY, 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 2/5 
 
 those which preceded it, but it began earlier in the 
 term than those of 1827 and 1828. The concert of 
 prayer for colleges, the last Thursday of February, 
 prepared the way for it. The sudden sickness and 
 death of a member of the senior class produced a 
 deep and solemn impression. The seriousness began 
 in that class and among its leading members, not a 
 few of whom were then without hope in Christ. 
 Deeply convinced of the vanity of the highest worldly 
 good and of the folly and criminality of an irre- 
 ligious life, these leading men, one after another, re- 
 nounced the world and consecrated themselves to the 
 service of their Redeemer. Thus the influence spread 
 silently and gradually through and from the senior 
 class, by a law as natural as that by which water 
 runs down hill, and flowed through the college. At 
 the communion in May, seven, and at that in August, 
 nineteen, members of the college, twenty-six in all, 
 were gathered into the college church as the fruits 
 of this rich harvest season. How many joined other 
 churches I do not know, but, according to my best 
 recollection, between thirty and forty were reckoned 
 as converts. The village church was blessed at the 
 same time with a revival of great power and interest. 
 In the five years beginning with 1827 and ending 
 with 1831 there were three revivals. Three years 
 now succeeded without what is technically called a 
 revival, although more than once during the interval 
 the church was revived, and during each of the three 
 years there were occasional conversions and additions 
 to the church by confession at almost every com- 
 munion. At length, in 1835, when no class remain- 
 ing in college had witnessed one of these favored 
 
 OF THE * >, 
 
 ^UNIVERSITY, 
 
 OF 
 
2/6 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 seasons, the institution was again blessed by a copious 
 outpouring of the Spirit, which was gratefully ac- 
 knowledged, as was usual in those days, in the rec- 
 ords of the faculty and of the church, and as the result 
 of which thirteen were added to the church before 
 the close of the term, among whom were Clinton 
 Clark, valedictorian of the class of '35, afterward 
 tutor; William A. Peabody, salutatorian of the same 
 class, afterward professor; John Humphrey, George 
 P. Smith, Alexander H. Bullock, and Daniel W. Poor. 
 
 There were revivals also in the spring term of 1839 
 and in the summer of 1842, this last being the only 
 one in the whole history of the college which oc- 
 curred in any other than the spring term. 
 
 In his farewell address, which is largely taken up 
 with the religious history of the college, President 
 Humphrey says: " Amherst College has been blessed 
 with seven special revivals of religion. No class has 
 ever yet graduated without passing through at least 
 one season of spiritual refreshing. All these revivals 
 might be called general, as they changed the whole 
 face of things throughout the college." And in this 
 connection he gratefully acknowledges his obligation 
 to the professors, all of whom, with a single excep- 
 tion, were preachers, for preaching in rotation with 
 himself on the Sabbath and in the stated evening lec- 
 tures. "The faculty," he says, "have always felt it 
 to be no less their duty than their privilege to attend 
 the stated evening lectures, and after its close they 
 have made it their practice to retire immediately to 
 one of their rooms and spend an hour together in 
 prayer and consultation upon the religious state and 
 interests of the college. " 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 277 
 
 Less than a year after Dr. Hitchcock's accession 
 to the presidency, during his first winter term, there 
 was an interesting revival, which brought into the 
 College Church many members of the two lower 
 classes, and a few from the junior class; nearly all 
 the senior class were, already Christians. Among 
 the additions to the church we cannot but notice the 
 names of William C. Dickinson, Charles Vinal Spear, 
 John W. Belcher, William S. Clark, Samuel Fisk, 
 Francis S. Howe, Thomas Morong, Henry J. Patrick, 
 and Charles H. Hartwell. And among the means 
 which were employed, besides plain and pointed 
 preaching on the Sabbath and at the Thursday even- 
 ing lecture, there were special services, usually 
 preaching on Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday evenings; 
 and in this preaching Professor Fiske is remembered 
 as preaching with overwhelming power, and the more 
 remembered, because it was his last work, as the 
 entry in the church records of this addition is the 
 last of the kind, and indeed, with a single exception, 
 the last of any kind that is preserved in the hand- 
 writing of that honored and lamented professor. It 
 should be added, that President Hitchcock opened 
 his own house on Monday evenings for a meeting, 
 partly for inquiry and partly of conference on ques- 
 tions of practical piety and personal religion, to which 
 all students were invited, which first filled the study 
 and at length crowded the large double parlors, and 
 which had a great influence on the origin and prog- 
 ress of the religious interest. 
 
 In the winter and spring of 1850, there was another 
 general revival, in which there were over thirty 
 " hopeful conversions" among the students, and which 
 
278 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 made no small addition to the numbers and the 
 strength of the church. Including some from the 
 families of the faculty, there were thirty-three per- 
 sons who together presented themselves at the altar, 
 almost filling the broad aisle of the chapel, all in the 
 bloom of youth, and who now for the first time dedi- 
 cated themselves by their voluntary consecration to 
 the service of their Maker, Redeemer and Sanctifier. 
 
 The year 1853 is reckoned among our seasons of 
 spiritual harvest, although the religious interest was 
 not so deep or so general, nor the ingathering so 
 abundant as in some other revivals. 
 
 And lest the emphasis which we have given to 
 these seasons of revival should be misinterpreted, it 
 should be here remarked that the records of the 
 church show that there were at this period additions 
 to the church by confession every year and at almost 
 every communion. Thus at the communion in April, 
 
 1849, just about a year before the great revival of 
 
 1850, eight persons among the leading scholars and 
 men of influence in their respective classes, three of 
 them since distinguished educators in New England, 
 made a public profession of their faith in Christ. At 
 the communion next preceding, in February, 1849, 
 one person, then a member of the sophomore class, 
 stood up alone and avouched the Lord to be his God 
 thenceforth and forever. And these sentences from 
 a letter written in September, 1870, from the shores 
 of the Mediterranean, show what most impressed 
 this young man on entering college and what kind 
 of influences brought him from a wilderness of error 
 and unbelief into the fold of Christ : " First impres- 
 sions are lasting. And my first impression of Am- 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 279 
 
 herst College has never left me. We (H. and myself) 
 had come from Ohio by the way of Lake Erie and the 
 Canal, and seen not a little of rough and profane so- 
 ciety on the way. What we witnessed on entering 
 the college was such a contrast to all this and indeed 
 to all we had been accustomed to in our own previ- 
 ous observation and experience, that it seemed as if 
 we had passed into another world. The solemn, 
 cheerful, and intellectual air of the president and 
 professors at morning and evening prayers, and the 
 religious tone, not of voice but of heart and life, in 
 the majority of the students led me into a new train 
 of thought, gave me new views, and made me ere 
 long a new man." 
 
 The freshman who was thus led to be a believer 
 in Christ, the sophomore who thus stood up alone to 
 declare himself on the Lord's side, is now the presi- 
 dent of the Syrian College in Beirut, who is leading 
 on the combined assault of learning and the religion 
 of Christ Jesus against Mohammedanism in its strong- 
 holds. In the same letter he adds his testimony also 
 to the power and genuineness of revivals in Amherst 
 College. "These revivals," he says, "stamped upon 
 my mind the conviction that Amherst College be- 
 lieved in the reality of the religion of Christ. There 
 was no diminution of the usual amount of study; 
 hence the excitement for there was great excitement 
 was rational, the heart and the intellect moved on 
 together. Twenty years have proven that those 
 who then embraced the truth were sincere; for they 
 are found many of them to-day, in various parts of 
 the world, spending their maturer years in preaching 
 Christ." 
 
 19 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 RELIGIOUS HISTORY CONTINUED SEVEN REVIVALS IN 
 THE FIRST TWELVE YEARS OF PRESIDENT STEARNS* 
 ADMINISTRATION IN THE REMAINING YEARS TWO 
 
 IN PRESIDENT SEELYE'S TWO CHANGE IN THE 
 
 FORM AND MANNER, NOT IN THE -SPIRIT CAUSE 
 OF THE CHANGE REMEDY. 
 
 DURING the first twelve years of Dr. Stearns* presi- 
 dency there were seven seasons of special religious 
 interest, thus averaging more than one for every two 
 years. At no time during this period was there an 
 interval of more than two years without such a sea- 
 son, and in one instance two successive years were 
 thus blessed. 
 
 The years 1855, 1857, 1858, 1860, 1862, 1864, and 
 1866, have usually been reckoned as years of revival, 
 although there was no very broad line of demarca- 
 tion between some of these years and some of those 
 that have not been so reckoned ; for there was not 
 one of these latter years in which there was not some 
 quickening in the winter term, and I believe none in 
 which there were not in the course of the year some 
 hopeful conversions. 
 
 Of the revival in 1855, as of those a few years 
 earlier, we have the testimony of a college president 
 in the Levant, who was a member of the senior class 
 
 280 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 28 1 
 
 at that time. 1 We have space only for a, few sen- 
 tences: 
 
 "We had some noon class meetings which will 
 never be forgotten by those who attended them, when 
 we wept and prayed together until it seemed we were 
 bound together by such cords of love and sympathy as 
 unite saints and angels in heaven. This may seem 
 a strong expression. It was exactly what we felt, 
 and no one who has not been in a college revival can 
 realize the truth of it. There can be nothing like it 
 out of college. 
 
 " The genuineness of this feeling was manifested 
 when we came to the usually exciting class elec- 
 tions. Our meeting was free from any exhibition of 
 selfishness or party feeling. Class Day lasted from 
 eight o'clock one day until half-past six the next day. 
 It commenced with a social prayer meeting and closed 
 at morning prayers when we all came into the chapel, 
 and the president gave us his blessing. 
 
 "When we entered college, out of sixty-three in 
 our class only twenty-two were Christians. When 
 we graduated, out of fifty-four, forty-eight were pro- 
 fessors of religion. In all there were twenty-four 
 conversions in our class during our college course." 
 
 Several of the best scholars and leading men in 
 the senior class, at the beginning of the year, were 
 not only without hope in Christ, but opposed to evan- 
 gelical and personal religion. One of these excited 
 great interest. The writer of this history had re- 
 peated interviews with him, and followed up personal 
 
 *Rev. George Washburn, President of Robert College, in 
 a letter based on a journal kept at that time. 
 
282 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 conversation with written appeals. Never have I 
 seen such bitterness of feeling, coupled with such ac- 
 knowledged and utter wretchedness. He cursed the 
 day of his birth, and was almost ready to curse his 
 best friends, the name, sacred in the history of mis- 
 sions, which he bore, the parents that gave him birth, 
 and the God who made him for a life of sin and mis- 
 ery. Like Saul of Tarsus, he breathed out threaten- 
 ings and slaughter against the church. But like Saul 
 of Tarsus it was at length said of him " Behold, he 
 prayeth." The next morning his whole appearance, 
 as well as character and spirit, was changed. From 
 that time he labored to build up what he before 
 sought to destroy. Three years later this Saul of 
 Tarsus was with us, an officer of college, a co-laborei 
 in the revival of 1858 a very Paul the Apostle in 
 the boldness, force of reasoning, and fervor of elo- 
 quence with which he prayed men to be reconciled 
 to God. And now he is one of the most able, earnest 
 and useful among the pastors in our Congregational 
 churches. 
 
 The revival of 1858 exceeded in power and interest 
 any other in the period now under review, if not any 
 other in the whole history of the college. We have 
 space only to record the results as they were given 
 to the public by President Stearns not long after the 
 event : 
 
 " Nearly three-quarters of our number were previ- 
 ously professors of religion, about twenty of them 
 having taken their stand publicly on the side of 
 Christ some months before. Of the remainder be- 
 tween forty and fifty have been hopefully converted 
 during the term, leaving less than twenty in the 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 283 
 
 whole college undecided. Of the senior class but 
 three or four remain who have not commenced the 
 Christian life; of the junior class, but one, and he an 
 inquirer; of the sophomore class, four or five; of the 
 freshmen, nine or ten. The reformation of character 
 and manners was not less remarkable than the re- 
 newal of hearts." 
 
 The ) T ear 1866 was a memorable year in the relig- 
 ious history of the college, exceeding even 1858 in 
 the number of those who began a new Christian life, 
 and hardly surpassed by it in the deep interest of the 
 scenes and events of the revival, though differing 
 much from that season in the apparently spontaneous 
 beginning and quiet progress of the work. 
 
 Since 1866 revivals have been less frequent and 
 less powerful in Amherst, as also in other colleges 
 and churches, than they had been in the previous 
 half-century. But in the last spring term of the last 
 year of his life, as we have already said in a previous 
 chapter, the prayers of President Stearns were an- 
 swered and his labors were blessed in what he con- 
 sidered, and we also felt to be, perhaps the greatest 
 and best of all the revivals that had crowned his 
 college work and one of the greatest and best in the 
 whole history of the college. On the last Sunday 
 that he officiated, and at the last sacrament of the 
 supper that he administered, he received to the com- 
 munion the largest number of young men that he had 
 ever admitted at one time to the college church, thus 
 setting the seal to his testimony to the reality and 
 worth of revivals of religion and bringing to a fitting 
 close the work of a long, useful, and happy life. 
 
 In 1878, the second year of President Seelye's ad- 
 
284 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 ministration, the records of the college church show 
 the admission of twenty-seven members by profession 
 at one communion, and of three members at each of 
 three subsequent communions. Four years later, in 
 1882, there was a season of especial religious interest, 
 which he thus gratefully acknowledges in his annual 
 report to the trustees : 
 
 " We have had many blessings during the year, 
 the chief of which has been a deep and pervasive re- 
 ligious revival during the winter term, whose power 
 has been seen with only blessed results through the 
 year. Without any undue excitement and without 
 any interruption to our college work, the whole col- 
 lege has been evidently lifted thereby to a higher 
 plane of both moral and religious action." 
 
 It appears from the records of the church that six- 
 teen persons were admitted to its membership as the 
 immediate result of this revival, and nearly as many 
 more at other communions in the course of the year. 
 In none of his subsequent reports does President Seel- 
 ye speak of anything that he calls a revival, and as it 
 has already been said that revivals were less fre- 
 quent in the last half of President Stearns' adminis- 
 tration, so we must acknowledge that they were less 
 frequent and less powerful under the administration 
 of President Seelye. There were times of refreshing 
 and rejoicing every year in connection with the day 
 of prayer for colleges. The church was revived and 
 strengthened, and additions were made from time to 
 time to its members as well as its strength. But 
 there were not such seasons of universal thoughtful- 
 ness and seriousness, of anxiety and deep conviction 
 of sin on the part of the irreligious, of earnest and 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 285 
 
 importunate prayer among Christians, of numerous 
 conversions and great rejoicings as are technically 
 called revivals. And a corresponding change had 
 taken place also in the churches. The time was 
 when, in our Congregational and Presbyterian 
 churches, it was expected that the children and youth 
 in Christian families would grow up out of the church 
 and without personal religion. And when they came 
 into the church it would be only after a long period 
 of deep distress and conviction of sin, followed by 
 marvellous light and peace and joy. Such angular 
 and spasmodic conversions, as they have been some- 
 times called, would, of course, cause wonder and joy 
 in the congregation, and spreading through the com- 
 munity would bring large numbers into the church, 
 until they came to be regarded as the chief if not 
 the indispensable means of its growth and prosper- 
 ity. Indeed, there were times when conversions that 
 were not attended by such feeling and excitement 
 were looked on with suspicion as hardly genuine. 
 These views have gradually changed and at length 
 passed away. Under the influence of Christian nur- 
 ture and training the children of Christian parents 
 are now expected to grow up as Christians, to enter 
 the church in early youth or childhood, and it is 
 deemed a matter of little moment whether they know 
 the time when they began the Christian life. Of 
 course, in such churches with such views revivals 
 have greatly changed their character, or ceased to 
 exist. In Christian families the very materials are 
 wanting for such revivals, for those spasmodic con- 
 versions do not occur, and there will be revivals only 
 in the etymological and strictly proper sense of the 
 
286 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 word, as a renewal and quickening or a development 
 and manifestation of the Christian life in the church, 
 together with the bringing in of those who have 
 never been in the fold of Christ or, as prodigal sons, 
 have wandered away from it. Such a change as we 
 have imperfectly described has gradually come over 
 our Christian colleges. In the earlier years of the 
 history of Amherst, such young men as Bela B. Ed- 
 wards, Alexander McClure, Henry Lyman, Edward 
 P. Humphrey, Jonathan Brace, Ebenezer Burgess, 
 Asa S. Fiske, Charles Hart well, etc., came to college 
 from Christian families but without hope in Christ, 
 without personal piety, some of them bitterly hostile 
 to evangelical and experimental religion, and con- 
 tinued so until almost the close of their college 
 course. And when in their senior year it was an- 
 nounced that, perhaps after prolonged darkness and 
 distress or violent opposition, they had been con- 
 verted and come out positive and strong on the Lord's 
 side, of course it produced a prodigious impression, 
 and large numbers followed in their footsteps. But 
 the same men coming to college in these days would 
 in all probability have come as members of the 
 church, and although their influence would have been 
 great for good, they could not have been the means 
 of so powerful an impression, and the very materials 
 for such a revival would be wanting. 
 
 A large proportion of those who come to Amherst 
 from Christian families in these days come as mem- 
 bers of Christian churches. Indeed, there has been 
 slow and gradual increase in the percentage of church 
 members at their entrance, almost from the begin- 
 ning. The percentage of -church members in the 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 287 
 
 class of '86 at their entrance was 54; in the class of 
 '87 it was 50; in the class of '88 it was 68; in the 
 class of '89 it was 67. This large percentage of 
 church members at their entrance, together with an 
 increasing number of students who come from fam- 
 ilies that are not religious as the college grows older 
 and larger, is probably the principal cause of the 
 change which we have noted in regard to revivals. 
 
 It is a change of form and manner rather than of 
 principle and spirit. Then there was more of excite- 
 ment and intensity of feeling; now there is more of 
 Christian work and associated action. Then revivals 
 and conversions were more matters of observation 
 and remark; now they excite less attention, won- 
 der and admiration ; while there is perhaps more 
 consistency, steadfastness and perseverance, certainly 
 there never was a time when the whole college, the 
 trustees, the faculty, and the great body of the stu- 
 dents were more decidedly and positively Christian 
 in their faith and practice; strong in faith, rich in 
 good works, steadfast and immovable, always abound- 
 ing in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as they know 
 that their labor is not in vain in the Lord. 
 
 There are other causes at work, which are unfa- 
 vorable to revivals, such as the growth of the college, 
 the increasing number of the faculty and the stu- 
 dents, the number and variety of elective studies, 
 which make the faculty and students no longer 
 the unit they once were in their instruction and their 
 moral and religious influence, the weakening to some 
 extent, though by no means so much as in the larger 
 universities, of the tie which unites classmates to 
 each other and once made it easy to propagate relig- 
 
288 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 ious interest through classes all these are adverse 
 circumstances. 
 
 There are two causes, which, although they are 
 good and useful in themselves, tend to impair the 
 feeling of personal responsibility which the faculty 
 of Amherst College used to feel for the religious 
 character of the students. The faculty used to have 
 charge of the Thursday evening meeting and of the 
 special meetings on other evenings in times of re- 
 vival. But this responsibility is now divided be- 
 tween a few of the professors and the Christian stu- 
 dents, especially the members of the Young Men's 
 Christian Association. Moreover, a large proportion 
 of the faculty used to take their turn in preaching in 
 the college pulpit. This duty is now devolved on 
 the pastor or associate pastor and the distinguished 
 preachers from abroad, who are invited to occupy the 
 pulpit from time to time. Of course, there are great 
 advantages in both these arrangements. But they 
 have also their incidental dangers and temptations, 
 especially to shirk responsibility for the religious 
 education of the students. 
 
 There are other temptations and dangers for which 
 we cannot shake off the responsibility. The grand 
 central doctrines of Christianity, the law and the gos- 
 pel, the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, atone- 
 ment and redemption, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, 
 and the great salvation are not preached now in church 
 and college with the simplicity, pungency, and power 
 which made them so potent in the revivals in the 
 first half of the present century, and which still make 
 them powerful in the hands of such evangelists as 
 Mr. Mills and Mr. Moody. The applications of 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 289 
 
 Christianity to society, government, and the common 
 affairs of this life have never been urged from the 
 pulpit with so much clearness and force as they now 
 are, and organizations are multiplied for carrying 
 the gospel to the masses of the poor, sinning and 
 suffering in our own land and to the perishing mil- 
 lions of heathendom. And this is well. We are 
 proud of our Beecher and our Parkhurst and our more 
 recent and less famous graduates who are the pastors 
 of institutional churches, who preach the gospel to 
 the poor, who live the gospel in the vilest and most 
 wretched parts of our great cities, as Christ came into 
 our sinful and miserable world to seek and to save 
 that which was lost. We admire their patriotism 
 and charity and philanthropy. We honor their self- 
 sacrifice and moral courage and martyr spirit and 
 heroic deeds which speak louder than words. But 
 are we not in danger of forgetting that all men are 
 lost, that this is a lost world, that there is another 
 world of righteous and eternal retribution, that or- 
 ganizations are only machines which cannot save 
 souls, and that men must be converted, sanctified, 
 and saved as individuals, not as communities or na- 
 tions? Is there not still greater danger that the 
 pressure of business and pleasure on the churches 
 and of study and amusement in the colleges will drive 
 out sober thought and serious attention to personal 
 religion. In those times of great and blessed re- 
 vivals, there was one term set apart and consecrated 
 especially to the religious interest of the colleges. 
 The winter term, in itself peculiarly adapted to such 
 use, was the appointed season for the day of prayer 
 for colleges, and was widely, we might say generally, 
 
290 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 devoted to that service, both in the colleges and the 
 churches, and that was the season in which almost 
 all those glorious revivals occurred which so glad- 
 dened the hearts of Christian parents and strength- 
 ened the hands of ministers and missionaries through 
 the land and the world. But now foot-ball has taken 
 possession of the first term, and base-ball of the third 
 term, and the junior promenade and the like social 
 pleasures, and concerts and lecture courses, are en- 
 croaching on the second term, and no time is left for 
 special attention to that which is the chief concern of 
 individual students and the vital interest of the whole 
 college. Must this be so? Ought it to be so? We 
 freely admit that we cannot expect just such revivals 
 as were the joy and strength of the college in its first 
 half-century. But why may we not have a portion 
 at least of the winter term as a longer day of prayer, 
 like a more spiritual and better Lent, consecrated 
 and set apart, not to cease from study, but from or- 
 dinary recreations and amusements, to stop and think 
 on higher and better themes, to pray and labor for 
 those things which it chiefly concerns us to know and 
 to do, to give to spiritual truths and eternal realities 
 the place and weight to which in their nature they 
 are manifestly entitled? 
 
 According to our last general catalogue (in 1892- 
 93), there were 3,428 alumni of Amherst, of whom 
 1,164 have been ordained clergymen and 120 foreign 
 missionaries. These statistics show that more than 
 one-third of the entire number of Amherst graduates 
 have been ordained clergymen. The percentage 
 of ministers, however, during the fifty years in- 
 cluded in this history (1840 to 1889 inclusive), has 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 2QI 
 
 been gradually diminishing. In the first quarter 
 century of that period (1840 to 1864), it was 32 per 
 cent; in the second quarter (1866 to 1889 inclusive), 
 it was 17 per cent; and in the last five years of that 
 period (1885 to 1889), about 15 per cent of graduates 
 and non-graduates entered the ministry. 1 
 
 This was to be expected in a college which was 
 founded expressly for the education of ministers, but 
 which has grown to dimensions altogether exceeding 
 the highest expectations of the founders. In one 
 point of view, of course, it is to be regretted ; in an- 
 other, it is a matter of rejoicing. We cannot but 
 regret that more of our graduates do not become 
 ministers; we cannot but rejoice that so many of 
 them are Christian laymen, workers for Christ in 
 business, in the professions, in all the common walks 
 of life. Would God, they were all either the one or 
 the other, and in our day we can hardly tell for which 
 the demand is the more imperative. 
 
 Doubtless the Master would say : " These ought ye 
 to have done and not to leave the other undone." 
 Must we always go from one extreme to another? 
 Why may we not be more like the primitive church, 
 into which large numbers were gathered on a single 
 day, and yet the Lord continued to add to them daily 
 
 1 Our readers who have read the article of Professor Pea- 
 body in The Forum for September, 1894, will see that the per- 
 centage of Amherst graduates entering the ministry in his 
 last period is considerably less. But his last period is the last 
 five years up to date, while that in our text is the last five years 
 of President Seelye's administration. At Amherst a good 
 many graduates enter the ministry after several years of 
 teaching or other ways of raising money. 
 
2Q2 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 of such as were being saved? But while we thus 
 recognize the fact that there are diversities of opera- 
 tions but the same Spirit, we need above all a deep 
 feeling of our entire dependence on that Spirit for 
 his regenerating, sanctifying, and saving power and 
 presence. " Ye shall receive power, after that the 
 Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be wit- 
 nesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and 
 in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." 
 
lSE 
 OF THE 
 IVERSITY 
 A 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 DONATIONS RECEIVED BEFORE THE OPENING 
 OP THE COLLEGE. 
 
 The establishment of Amherst College was made 
 possible by a subscription known as the Charity 
 Fund, amounting to $52,244. When the first build- 
 ing, South College, was erected, inhabitants of Am- 
 herst, Pelham, Leverett, Belchertown, Hadley, and 
 even more distant towns, gave stone, lime, sand, 
 lumber, and other materials, also labor, provisions 
 for the workmen, and the use of teams and tools. 
 Much of the furniture for the rooms was obtained in 
 this way ; and there were also some gifts of money 
 especially for the erection of this building. 
 
 DONATIONS RECEIVED IN PRESIDENT MOORE'S 
 ADMINISTRATION, 1821-23. 
 
 The chief donation of this period is known as the 
 Thirty Thousand Dollar Subscription. There were 
 various small gifts of money and articles, including a 
 bell, several pieces of apparatus, and books for the 
 library. 
 
 293 
 
294 APPENDIX. 
 
 DONATIONS AND BEQUESTS RECEIVED IN PRES- 
 IDENT HUMPHREY'S ADMINISTRATION, 1823-45. 
 
 Bequest of Adam Johnson for a chapel $4,000 
 
 Subscription of 1832 50,000 
 
 John Tappan, for essays on temperance 500 
 
 Subscription used for buying books about 3, 500 
 
 Subscription of 1840 to 1845 ; this includes $10,000 of 
 the Sears Foundation, $15,000 to be given for a 
 professorship, and $11,000 known to be set down 
 in wills of persons then still living 100,000 
 
 $158,000 
 
 DONATIONS AND BEQUESTS RECEIVED IN PRES- 
 IDENT HITCHCOCK'S ADMINISTRATION, 1845-54. 
 
 Williston Professorship of Rhetoric and Oratory. . . . $20,000 
 Graves Professorship of the Greek Language and 
 
 Literature 20,000 
 
 Hitchcock Professorship of Natural Theology and 
 
 Geology 22,000 
 
 Donation from the State 25,000 
 
 Sears Foundation 12,000 
 
 The Woods Cabinet and Observatory 9,000 
 
 Subscription for the Library Building and for books. 15,000 
 
 Appleton Zoological Cabinet 10,000 
 
 $133,000 
 
 Here should be mentioned, also, Professor Adams' Zoolog- 
 ical Collection, Professor Shepard's Cabinet of Minerals, Pres- 
 ident Hitchcock's Ichnological Cabinet, and the collection of 
 Indian relics given by Edward Hitchcock, Jr. 
 
 DONATIONS AND BEQUESTS RECEIVED IN PRESI- 
 DENT STEARNS' ADMINISTRATION, 1854-76. 
 
 Donation for the Sweetser Lecture-Room, 1855 $1,000 
 
 Donation for the Nineveh Gallery,* 1857 967 
 
 Subscriptions for East College, 1857, seq 5,ooo 
 
 Donation for Williston Hall, 1857 16,000 
 
 Hitchcock Scholarships, 1858 10,000 
 
 * Building and contents cost $1,167, f which only $200 was 
 paid out of the College Treasury. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Legacy of Dr. and Mrs. Moore, 1858 ................ $9, 175 
 
 Legacy of Asahel Adams, 1858 ..................... 4, 500 
 
 Subscriptions for the Gymnasium, 1859 ............. 3,55o 
 
 Donation of Messrs. J. C. Baldwin and A. Lilly, 1859. 4,000 
 
 Subscriptions of Alumni for the Library, 1859, seq. . 7,000 
 
 Legacy of Jonathan Phillips,* 1860 .................. 6, 500 
 
 Grants by the Legislature, 1861-3 .................. 27, 500 
 
 Walker Professorship of Mathematics and Astronomy, 
 
 1861 ........................................... 25,000 
 
 Walker Instructorships, etc., 1862 .................. 10,000 
 
 Walker Prizes, 1862-3 .............................. 2,000 
 
 Legacy of Richard Bond for General Treasury, 1863. 4,000 
 
 Donation of David Sears for Library Building,* 1863. 8,000 
 
 Walker Building Fund (Dr. Walker and others) , * 1 864. 140, ooo 
 
 Donation for College Church (W. F. Stearns), 1864.* 46,000 
 
 Samuel Green Professorship, 1864 .................. 25,000 
 
 Walker Legacy, 1866 .............................. 144,976 
 
 Donation of George H. Gilbert for books,* 1866 ..... 7,000 
 
 Legacy of Dr. Barrett for Gymnasium, 1870 ......... 5, ooo 
 
 Mr. Williston for Instruction in English Literature, 
 
 1869-71 ........................................ 3,ooo 
 
 Donation of Mr. Williston at Semi-Centennial, 1871. 50,000 
 Donation of Mr. Howe, Chime of Bells and Scholar- 
 
 ship, -1871 ...................................... 5,000 
 
 Increase of Charity Fund f ......................... 10,000 
 
 Increase of Stimson Fund .......................... 8,000 
 
 Mr. Hitchcock to increase his Professorship and 
 
 Scholarships, 1.869 ............................. 20,000 
 
 Recent Scholarships ............................... 35, ooo 
 
 Prizes not mentioned above ........................ 12,000 
 
 Increase of Collections in Natural History J ......... 8,000 
 
 Illustrations and Ornaments in Classical Recitation- 
 
 Rooms ......................................... 2, 500 
 
 Bust of Dr. Hitchcock and other Ornamental Statuary i, 500 
 
 Hallock Park, 1868 ................................. 2,000 
 
 Mr. Hitchcock, for Scholarships and Kindred Pur- 
 
 poses, 1872 .................................... 100,000 
 
 Total .................................. $769, 168 
 
 * With income added. f Added to the principal. 
 
 \ Estimated at $12,000 by the curator (Prof. E. Hitchcock), 
 but about $4,000 was paid for some of them out of State 
 grants already mentioned. Among the donations are the 
 megatherium, by Joshua Bates, Esq., of London ($500) ; the 
 skeleton and skin of the gorilla, by Rev. William Walker, 
 of the Gaboon mission (then worth in the market $2,000). 
 Some $600 was paid to Dr. E. Hitchcock, Jr., for specimens 
 in Comparative Osteology. 
 
296 APPENDIX. 
 
 DONATIONS AND BEQUESTS RECEIVED IN PRES- 
 IDENT SEELYE'S ADMINISTRATION, 1876-90. 
 
 Subscriptions to pay Shepard note : 
 
 Mrs. Samuel Williston $2,500.00 
 
 E. H. Sawyer 2,000.00 
 
 W. W. Scarborough 2,000.00 
 
 F. Gilbert 250.00 
 
 A. L. Williston 2,000.00 
 
 John C. Parsons 400.00 
 
 S. B. Chittenden 2,000.00 
 
 James B. Jermain 2,000.00 
 
 Harding, Gray & Dewey 100.00 
 
 William Whiting 5,000.00 
 
 James Y. Yates 500.00 
 
 John A. Burnham 3,000.00 
 
 Anonymous 2,000.00 
 
 E. A. Goodnow 1,000.00 
 
 $24,750.00 
 
 Collected by Professor Mather for the Mather 
 
 Collection of Art : 
 
 J. H. Southworth $2, 500.00 
 
 G. H. Whitcomb 250.00 
 
 Roland Mather 100.00 
 
 Mrs. Charlotte A. Johnson 50.00 
 
 James H. Welles' Estate 276.42 
 
 3,176.42 
 
 Lucius J. Knowles, legacy for Art Collection 5,000.00 
 
 Subscription for addition to the Library building : 
 
 Aaron Bagg $500.00 
 
 James Y. Yates 250.00 
 
 W. W. Scarborough 2,000.00 
 
 W. O. Grover 1,000.00 
 
 James B. Jermain 8,000.00 
 
 John A. Burnham 2,000.00 
 
 13,750.00 
 
 Dr. Eben Alden for care of Library . . 5,000.00 
 
 Joel Giles for books for Library 50,595.00 
 
 C. M. Pratt toward Gymnasium 35,275.00 
 
 Toward furnishing Gymnasium : 
 
 Frederick Billings $5,000.00 
 
 W. W. Scarborough 1,000.00 
 
 6,000.00 
 
APPENDIX. 297 
 
 For new Mineralogical Cabinet : 
 
 John A. Burnham $5,000.00 
 
 W. W. Scarborough 2,000.00 
 
 $7,000.00 
 
 Jonathan Brace legacy $2,000.00 
 
 William Reed legacy ($5,000 was re- 
 ceived in 1858) 5,000.00 
 
 Asa Otis legacy 25,000.00 
 
 Williston legacy 28,615.48 
 
 Mrs. V. G. Stone Professorship 50,000.00 
 
 Henry Winkley 50,000.00 
 
 Frederick Billings 50,000.00 
 
 D. Willis James Fund 100,000.00 
 
 Seelye Fund, given by D. W. James. . 100,000.00 
 
 Winkley Legacy 30,000.00 
 
 Mrs. Chester W. Chapin 50,000.00 
 
 H. T. Morgan's bequest 80,556.72 
 
 Dr. William J. Walker's estate 11,357.89 
 
 Frederick Marquand and his estate. .. 15,000.00 
 
 Frederick Billings, for general use... 5,000.00 
 
 Welles Southworth gift 5,000.00 
 
 Class of 1880 Fund, for general use 365.00 
 
 Latin Prize Fund 2, 524.93 
 
 Class of 1878 Latin Prize Fund 200.00 
 
 Parmly Billings Senior Latin Prize 
 
 Fund 1,100.00 
 
 Chemical Fund of 1861 1,010.96 
 
 Thomas McGraw, for apparatus for 
 
 astronomical department 150.00 
 
 L. Hamilton McCormick, for new 
 
 clock in chapel 650.00 
 
 613,430.98 
 
 Chemical Laboratory Building Fund : 
 
 E. A. Strong $1,400.00 
 
 J. E. Sanford 500.00 
 
 D. Willis James 10,000.00 
 
 J. S. Brayton 500.00 
 
 H. D. Hyde 2, 500.00 
 
 E. W. Peet loo.oo 
 
 G. H. Whitcomb 5,000.00 
 
 20, ooo . oo 
 
 E. W. Bond, toward rebuilding Walker 
 
 Hall i, ooo. oo 
 
 Gift of Robt. M. Woods and sister 5,630.66 
 
 Pratt Athletic Field and grand stand, 
 
 with grading and furnishings, by 
 
 F. B. Pratt 25,446. 57 
 
298 APPENDIX. 
 
 Scholarships : 
 
 James S. Seymour $5,000.00 
 
 Quincy Tufts 2,000.00 
 
 Mrs. S. P. Miller 1,000.00 
 
 Class oi 7 1856 1,000.00 
 
 Dolly Coleman Blake 842. n 
 
 Class of 1858 1,000.00 
 
 Class of 1869 1,000.00 
 
 David and G. Henry Whitcomb. . . 12,000.00 
 
 Moses Day 5,000.00 
 
 Rev. Henry S. Green 1,000.00 
 
 Class of 1865 1,008.31 
 
 Class of 1845 987.98 
 
 Classes of 1829, 1835, 1838, 1866, 
 
 1867, and 1870 502.26 
 
 Class of 1862 (Henry Gridley 
 
 Scholarship) 2,000.00 
 
 Mrs. Valeria G. Stone 25,000.00 
 
 Mrs. Alice T. March (Thomas Hall 
 
 Scholarship) 1,000.00 
 
 Lucius J. Knowles 3,000.00 
 
 Charles Thayer Reed 2, 500.00 
 
 $65 , 840. 66 
 
 Grand total $826, 398. 60 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 299 
 
 NUMBER OF THE FACULTY AND STUDENTS YEAR BY 
 YEAR.* 
 
 Year. 
 
 Faculty. 
 
 Seniors. 
 
 Juniors. 
 
 Sopho- 
 mores. 
 
 Fresh- 
 men. 
 
 Total of 
 Students. 
 
 1821-22 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 19 
 
 31 
 
 59 
 
 1822-23. 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 21 
 
 32 
 
 40 
 
 98 
 
 1823-24 
 
 6 
 
 *9 
 
 29 
 
 41 
 
 37 
 
 126 
 
 1824-25. . . . 
 
 8 
 
 25 
 
 41 
 
 31 
 
 39 
 
 136 
 
 1825-26 
 
 8 
 
 33 
 
 24 
 
 45 
 
 50 
 
 152 
 
 1826-27 
 
 ii 
 
 24 
 
 40 
 
 55 
 
 51 
 
 170 
 
 1827-28 
 
 9 
 
 42 
 
 47 
 
 53 
 
 57 
 
 199 
 
 1828-29 
 
 8 
 
 40 
 
 47 
 
 72 
 
 67 
 
 226 
 
 1829-30 
 
 10 
 
 32 
 
 74 
 
 47 
 
 53 
 
 207 
 
 1830-31 
 
 10 
 
 61 
 
 40 
 
 50 
 
 37 
 
 188 
 
 1831-32. . . . 
 
 8 
 
 39 
 
 40 
 
 50 
 
 60 
 
 189 
 
 1832-33.... 
 
 10 
 
 4i 
 
 50 
 
 64 
 
 72 
 
 227 
 
 1833-34 
 
 10 
 
 44 
 
 50 
 
 60 
 
 85 
 
 239 
 
 1834-35.... 
 
 12 
 
 44 
 
 52 
 
 77 
 
 70 
 
 243 
 
 1835-36.... 
 
 12 
 
 4i 
 
 63 
 
 72 
 
 76 
 
 252 
 
 1836-37.... 
 
 13 
 
 60 
 
 50 
 
 73 
 
 76 
 
 259 
 
 1837-38.... 
 
 12 
 
 40 
 
 59 
 
 57 
 
 50 
 
 206 
 
 1838-39.... 
 
 14 
 
 57 
 
 48 
 
 47 
 
 37 
 
 189 
 
 1839-40.... 
 
 12 
 
 47 
 
 43 
 
 4i 
 
 38 
 
 169 
 
 1840-41. . . . 
 
 12 
 
 30 
 
 35 
 
 40 
 
 52 
 
 157 
 
 1841-42. . . . 
 
 12 
 
 28 
 
 27 
 
 43 
 
 44 
 
 142 
 
 1842-43 
 
 12 
 
 21 
 
 34 
 
 42 
 
 32 
 
 129 
 
 1843-44 
 
 9 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 29 
 
 32 
 
 124 
 
 1844-45 
 
 II 
 
 30 
 
 27 
 
 30 
 
 34 
 
 121 
 
 1845-46 
 
 9 
 
 26 
 
 23 
 
 35 
 
 34 
 
 118 
 
 1846-47. . . . 
 
 9 
 
 19 
 
 30 
 
 36 
 
 35 
 
 120 
 
 1847-48 
 
 ii 
 
 29 
 
 36 
 
 35 
 
 50 
 
 150 
 
 1848-49. . . . 
 
 12 
 
 33 
 
 29 
 
 52 
 
 52 
 
 166 
 
 1849-50 
 
 12 
 
 25 
 
 43 
 
 55 
 
 53 
 
 176 
 
 1850-51 
 
 II 
 
 41 
 
 52 
 
 49 
 
 40 
 
 182 
 
 1851-52.... 
 
 II 
 
 43 
 
 43 
 
 4i 
 
 63 
 
 190 
 
 1852-53.... 
 
 12 
 
 42 
 
 35 
 
 61 
 
 57 
 
 195 
 
 1853-54 
 
 II 
 
 33 
 
 54 
 
 58 
 
 56 
 
 201 
 
 1854-55.... 
 
 18 
 
 53 
 
 59 
 
 59 
 
 66 
 
 237 
 
 1855-56.... 
 
 15 
 
 49 
 
 50 
 
 65 
 
 54 
 
 2X8 
 
 1856-57.... 
 
 15 
 
 45 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 64 
 
 229 
 
 1857-58.... 
 
 13 
 
 52 
 
 49 
 
 54 
 
 66 
 
 221 
 
 * Special and graduate students are not included. 
 
300 
 
 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 NUMBER OF THE FACULTY AND STUDENTS YEAR BY 
 YEAR (Continued} .* 
 
 Year. 
 
 Faculty. 
 
 Seniors. 
 
 Juniors. 
 
 Sopho- 
 mores. 
 
 Fresh- 
 men. 
 
 Total of 
 Students. 
 
 1858-59.... 
 
 16 
 
 47 
 
 53 
 
 61 
 
 74 
 
 235 
 
 1859-60. . . . 
 
 16 
 
 48 
 
 56 
 
 71 
 
 67 
 
 242 
 
 1860-61 
 
 17 
 
 51 
 
 56 
 
 60 
 
 53 
 
 220 
 
 1861-62 
 
 17 
 
 58 
 
 49 
 
 50 
 
 78 
 
 235 
 
 1862-63 
 
 18 
 
 42 
 
 42 
 
 76 
 
 60 
 
 220 
 
 1863-64 
 
 16 
 
 30 
 
 58 
 
 54 
 
 50 
 
 192 
 
 1864-65 
 
 14 
 
 57 
 
 56 
 
 64 
 
 ^45 
 
 222 
 
 1865-66.... 
 
 17 
 
 54 
 
 51 
 
 44 
 
 54 
 
 203 
 
 1866-67 
 
 16 
 
 49 
 
 44 
 
 62 
 
 70 
 
 225 
 
 1867-68.... 
 
 16 
 
 4i 
 
 61 
 
 69 
 
 73 
 
 244 
 
 1868-69.... 
 
 18 
 
 57 
 
 58 
 
 7i 
 
 65 
 
 251 
 
 1869-70. . . . 
 
 19 
 
 53 
 
 64 
 
 63 
 
 75 
 
 255 
 
 1870-71. . . . 
 
 20 
 
 65 
 
 49 
 
 76 
 
 7i 
 
 26l 
 
 1871-72.... 
 
 21 
 
 49 
 
 65 
 
 68 
 
 62 
 
 244 
 
 1872-73.... 
 
 29 
 
 59 
 
 67 
 
 60 
 
 82 
 
 268 
 
 1873-74.... 
 
 20 
 
 66 
 
 57 
 
 86 
 
 94 
 
 303 
 
 1874-75.... 
 
 23 
 
 50 
 
 80 
 
 ^87 
 
 108 
 
 325 
 
 1875-76.... 
 
 21 
 
 74 
 
 79 
 
 98 
 
 84 
 
 335 
 
 1876-77.... 
 
 20 
 
 79 
 
 86 
 
 80 
 
 75 
 
 320 
 
 1877-78.... 
 
 23 
 
 82 
 
 77 
 
 81 
 
 85 
 
 325 
 
 1878-79.-.. 
 
 23 
 
 76 
 
 75 
 
 90 
 
 9 2 
 
 333 
 
 1879-80 
 
 23 
 
 72 
 
 83 
 
 79 
 
 in 
 
 345 
 
 1880-81 
 
 24 
 
 79 
 
 69 
 
 107 
 
 82 
 
 337 
 
 1881-82 
 
 27 
 
 65 
 
 96 
 
 86 
 
 96 
 
 343 
 
 1882-83 
 
 28 
 
 94 
 
 79 
 
 97 
 
 82 
 
 352 
 
 1883-84 
 
 28 
 
 81 
 
 86 
 
 83 
 
 7i 
 
 321 
 
 1884-85 
 
 31 
 
 83 
 
 78 
 
 70 
 
 103 
 
 334 
 
 1885-86 
 
 32 
 
 77 
 
 74 
 
 IOI 
 
 105 
 
 352 
 
 1886-87.... 
 
 31 
 
 70 
 
 98 
 
 94 
 
 68 
 
 330 
 
 1887-88 
 
 32 
 
 90 
 
 99 
 
 66 
 
 93 
 
 348 
 
 1888-89 
 
 31 
 
 98 
 
 70 
 
 94 
 
 93 
 
 355 
 
 1889-90 
 
 30 
 
 66 
 
 86 
 
 88 
 
 103 
 
 343 
 
 1890-91 .... 
 
 32 
 
 84 
 
 90 
 
 100 
 
 73 
 
 347 
 
 1891-92. . . . 
 
 32 
 
 84 
 
 91 
 
 70 
 
 84 
 
 329 
 
 1892-93. . . . 
 
 34 
 
 88 
 
 73 
 
 87 
 
 134 
 
 382 
 
 1893-94.... 
 
 36 
 
 70 
 
 80 
 
 119 
 
 134 
 
 403 
 
 1894-95.... 
 
 36 
 
 81 
 
 124 
 
 119 
 
 no 
 
 434 
 
 * Special and graduate students are not included. 
 
A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 301 
 
 *d 
 
 c 
 
 bo 45 
 
 o a 
 
 3 S 
 
 73 S 
 
 T3 Pn 
 
 1 
 I 
 
 <D 
 
 bO 
 
 s a' 
 
 88 
 
 bflrt'g rt 
 
 .5 "'So of 
 
 J^j CO r I CO 
 
 w S 
 
 Pn 
 
 o o o o o 
 
 o o o o o 
 
 o o o o o 
 
 * o" o ^> o 
 
 g"" 
 
 ,0 
 
 - 
 
 g C 
 C ^> 
 O T3 
 
 ' 
 
 : Jg'i f 2]*S 
 
 i 
 
 CO CO CO CO CO CO CO 
 
 CO COCOCOCOCOCOCOCO 
 
302 
 
 A HISTORY OF AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 MEMBERSHIP OF FRATERNITIES IN RECENT YEARS. 
 
 
 1889. 
 
 1890. 
 
 1891. 
 
 1892. 
 
 1893. 
 
 1894. 
 
 1895- 
 
 A. A. $... . 
 
 32 
 
 36 
 
 36 
 
 37 
 
 38 
 
 1Q 
 
 40 
 
 *. Y 
 
 37 
 
 33 
 
 38 
 
 34 
 
 39 
 
 42 
 
 37 
 
 A. K. E 
 
 37 
 
 34 
 
 35 
 
 47 
 
 42 
 
 16 
 
 3-2 
 
 A. T 
 
 33 
 
 34 
 
 31 
 
 25 
 
 29 
 
 35 
 
 35 
 
 X. * 
 
 25 
 
 22 
 
 18 
 
 22 
 
 22 
 
 24 
 
 2Q 
 
 X. 4> 
 
 36 
 
 33 
 
 33 
 
 29 
 
 2Q 
 
 20 
 
 ^6 
 
 B. 9. n 
 
 26 
 
 28 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 34 
 
 34 
 
 37 
 
 e. A. x 
 
 35 
 
 33 
 
 34 
 
 31 
 
 32 
 
 34 
 
 1^ 
 
 4>. A. e 
 
 29 
 
 27 
 
 ?8 
 
 ?6 
 
 31 
 
 34 
 
 38 
 
 4>. T. A. (Established 1893) . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total in fraternities.. 
 
 289 
 
 280 
 
 785 
 
 783 
 
 2q6 
 
 317 
 
 320 
 
 Non-society men 
 
 69 
 
 fy 
 
 67 
 
 51 
 
 9 
 
 115 
 
 114 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total in college 
 
 358 
 
 54.4. 
 
 -3C2 
 
 a-34 
 
 -386 
 
 412 
 
 414. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 TUITION FEES PER ANNUM FROM 1821 TO 1895. 
 
 1821 to 1833 
 
 $10 to (i>n* 
 
 1864 to 1868 
 
 $4^ 
 
 1833 to 1834 
 
 27! 
 
 1868 to 1871 
 
 75 
 
 1834 to 1836 
 
 30 
 
 1871 to 1875 
 
 90 
 
 1836 to 1847 
 
 33 
 
 1875 to 1886 
 
 IOO 
 
 1847 to 18^^ 
 
 10 
 
 1886 to 
 
 no 
 
 1855 to 1864 
 
 <i6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 *This included room-rent, lights, etc., and varied accord- 
 ing to the room occupied. 
 
 f Beginning with 1833, the tuition fee paid for nothing but 
 tuition. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 ABBOTT, Jacob, tutor, 43; pro- 
 fessor, 60; mentioned, 62, 274 
 
 Absences, allowance, 241 
 
 Academy, turning the college 
 into, considered, no 
 
 Adams, Charles B., tutor, 97; 
 Professor, gives his zoological 
 collection, 116; death, 135; his 
 sons in the Civil War, 184; 
 mentioned, 125, 134 
 
 Admission, requisites in 1822, 31; 
 by certificate, 236 
 
 Alden, Dr. Ebenezer, gift, 144; 
 gift for the library, 231; men- 
 tioned, 104, 117 
 
 Alden, Rev. Edmund K., D.D., 
 mentioned, 206 
 
 Alexandrian Society, organized, 
 33; library, 32, 34, 72; end, 261 
 
 Allen, Rev. David O., claim to 
 be first graduate, 39; men- 
 tioned, 271 
 
 Allen, Francis R., architect of 
 library, 230 
 
 Allen, Dr. Nathan, mentioned, 
 162; quoted, 163, 164 
 
 Alumni, subscription by those at 
 Andover, 79; criticise the col- 
 lege publicly, 98; number, 290 
 
 American Education Society, 
 mentioned, 21 
 
 Amherst, town, aid of inhabi- 
 tants, 17; relations with the 
 college, 87; starting place for 
 subscriptions, 123 
 
 Academy, rise and ca- 
 reer, 3-5 ; its trustees plan the 
 Charity Institution, 6; call a 
 
 convention to consider their 
 plan, 10; do not oppose re- 
 moval of Williams College, 14; 
 mentioned, 36, 47 
 
 Amherst System described, 238- 
 4i 
 
 Anti-slavery excitement, 90-92; 
 societies of students, 91 
 
 Appleton Zoological Cabinet, 
 donation obtained, 127, 129; 
 erected, 146 
 
 Appointments for exhibitions, 
 dissatisfaction with, 92-96 
 
 Athenian Society, organized, 33; 
 library, 32, 34, 72; end, 261 
 
 Athletic Board, 258 
 
 contests, 254; value and 
 
 needs, 257, 258 
 
 Ayres, Rowland, tutor, 134 
 
 BAKER, Lieut. Enos, mentioned, 
 16 
 
 Baldwin, Moses H., gift, 144 
 
 Band, college, 74 
 
 Banister, Hon. William B., men- 
 tioned, 79, 105 
 
 Barnum, Rev. H. N., mentioned, 
 
 193 
 
 Bartlett, Homer, mentioned, 52 
 Barrett Gymnasium, built, 150 
 Barrett, Dr. Benjamin, gifts and 
 
 bequest to gymnasium, 151; 
 
 gift for improving grounds, 159 
 Baseball ground laid out, 159 
 Bathing establishment, provided 
 
 by students, 74 
 Beecher, Rev. Henry Ward, 
 
 mentioned, 150, 193, 289 
 
304 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Belcher, John W., mentioned, 
 
 277 
 
 Bell and Tower, 28 
 Bernard, Gov. Francis, charters 
 
 Queen's College, I 
 Billings, Dea. Elisha, mentioned, 
 
 3 
 
 Billings, Parmly, professorship, 
 252 n. 
 
 Blodgett, Rev. Edward, mention- 
 ed, 94 n. 
 
 Boltwood, Lucius, mentioned, 63 
 
 Boltwood, Lucius M., librarian, 
 
 134 
 
 Bowles, Samuel, mentioned, 151 
 
 Brace, Jonathan, mentioned, 286 
 
 Buildings, first stone, 124; in Dr. 
 Stearns' presidency, 145 
 
 Bullock, Hon. Alexander H. t 
 presides at the Semi-Centennial 
 Celebration, 193; establishes a 
 scholarship, 197 ;/. ; mentioned, 
 130, 162, 276 
 
 Bullock, Hon. Rufus, gives a 
 telescope, 121, 130 
 
 Burgess, Ebenezer, mentioned, 
 286 
 
 Burr, Dr., lectures on natural 
 theology, 171 
 
 Burroughs, Rev. George S., 
 D.D., appointed to the Samuel 
 Green professorship, 213; be- 
 comes president of Wabash 
 College, 213; mentioned, 269 
 
 Burt, William S., mentioned, 32 
 
 CALHOUN, Hon. William B., ad- 
 dress of commemoration, 120; 
 lecturer, 134; mentioned, 104, 
 H5, H7 
 
 Catalogue, first, 30; reissued, 31; 
 for 1822-23, 32; for 1824-25, 
 43; for 1825-26, 62 
 
 Chapel, considered, 69; built, 70; 
 cost, 75 n.\ renovated, 158 
 
 Chapin, Dr. Alonzo, quoted, 33, 
 271 
 
 Charity Fund, devoted to bene- 
 ficiaries, 99 n. 
 
 Charity Institution, founded, 6; 
 
 constitution, 6; convention to 
 consider the project, 10; loca- 
 tion decided, 10, n ; subscrip- 
 tion raised, 12; further meas- 
 ures taken, 15; committee on 
 site and building appointed, 
 16; building erected, 17-19; 
 corner-stone laid, 20; relations 
 with education societies, 21; 
 first president elected, 22; 
 course of study to be thorough, 
 23; dedication and inaugura- 
 tion exercises, 25; opened for 
 students, 26; first catalogue, 
 30; first anniversary exercises, 
 36 
 
 Charter, first application to Leg- 
 islature, 46; second applica- 
 tion, 47-51; third application, 
 5 I ~5^; granted, 58; peculiar 
 provisions, 58; organization of 
 trustees under, 59 
 
 Chemistry, apparatus provided, 
 29; first lectures, 30; depart- 
 ment removed to Williston 
 Hall, 1 68; receives a grant from 
 the Walker Legacy Fund, 169; 
 new laboratory, 233 
 
 Child, Linus, mentioned, 171 
 
 Chip day, 33 
 
 Church, college, building erected, 
 154-58; preachers in, 210; es- 
 tablishment, 267-69; member- 
 ship, 269; first pastor installed, 
 270 
 
 Church, W T est Parish, withdrawal 
 of college from, 68 
 
 Civil War, enlistments of profes- 
 sors and students, 183; grad- 
 uates and undergraduates who 
 served in, 185; number of offi- 
 cers, 1 86; deaths in the service, 
 187; undergraduates who died 
 in the service enrolled as grad- 
 uates, 188 
 
 Clark, Alvan, mentioned, 121, 
 130 
 
 Clark, Clinton, mentioned, 276 
 
 Clark, Rev. Daniel A., men- 
 tioned, 20, 21, 25 n. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 305 
 
 Clark, Hon. Lincoln, quoted, 42 
 Clark, Prof. William 8., sub- 
 scription to build gymnasium, 
 150; resigns, 160; service in 
 the Civil War, 169, 183; re- 
 ported killed, 184; mentioned, 
 125, 134, 146, 150, 168, 169, 
 277 
 
 Clarke, George C., mentioned, 193 
 Classical department, changes, 
 
 171-73 
 
 Coburn, Rev. David N., men- 
 tioned, 94 . 
 
 Coe, Elijah L., mentioned, 32 
 
 Coleman, Lyman, instructor, 134 
 
 College Hall purchased, 159 
 
 Collegiate Charity Institution. 
 See Charity Institution. 
 
 Colton, Simeon, mentioned, 4 
 
 Commencement, afternoon ses- 
 sion abolished, 83; time 
 changed, 101 
 
 Condit, Rev. Jonathan B., ap- 
 pointed professor, 64; men- 
 tioned, 105 
 
 Connecticut valley, college want- 
 ed in, i, 15 
 
 Course of study in 1822, 31; in 
 1824-25, 43; parallel course, 
 64-68; in 1837-38, 97 
 
 Cowles, Dr. Rufus, mentioned, 
 16 
 
 Cowles, Prof. William L., men- 
 tioned, 72 n., 215 
 
 Cressey, Rev. Timothy Robin- 
 son, and his sons in the Civil 
 War, 187; quoted, 46 
 
 Crew, wins intercollegiate race, 
 
 254 
 Crosby, Rev. Joshua, mentioned, 
 
 16, 20, 21, 25, 268 
 Crowell, Prof. E. P., his labors 
 
 for the college, 222 
 
 DEBT of the college, 99, 102, 117, 
 
 118 
 
 Degree of A. B., grades, 238 
 Derby, Hasket, mentioned, 130 
 Dickinson, Hon. Edward, men- 
 tioned, 153, 228 
 
 Dickinson, Col. Elijah, men- 
 tioned, 16 
 
 Dickinson, Enos, gives the Nine- 
 veh Gallery, 146 
 
 Dickinson, Samuel Fowler, men- 
 tioned, 12, 16, 21 
 
 Dickinson, William A., mention- 
 ed, 153, 154, 155, 158, 191, 
 227, 228, 229, 232 
 
 Dickinson, William C., tutor, 
 134; mentioned, 277 
 
 Donations, meeting for com- 
 memorating, 120; list, 293-98 
 
 Dwight, Timothy, mentioned, 
 274 
 
 Dwight, Rev. Dr., quoted, 225, 
 226 
 
 EAST and West Parishes, feud, 
 47 n. 
 
 East College erected, 149 
 
 Eaton, Prof. Amos, mentioned, 
 30, 35 
 
 Eaton, J. H., instructor in 
 chemistry, 169 
 
 Edwards, Prof. Bela B., chair- 
 man of committee on library 
 building, 123; death, 124; 
 mentioned, 121, 271, 286; 
 quoted, 37 
 
 Edwards, Henry, gift, 144; 
 mentioned, 105, 117, 162 
 
 Edwards, Henry L., tutor, 134 
 
 Elective studies, 175, 235 
 
 Ely, Rev. Alfred, D.D., men- 
 tioned, 117 
 
 Emerson, Benjamin K., ap- 
 pointed instructor in geology, 
 171; appointed professor, 171 
 
 Emerson, John M., tutor, 134 
 
 Estabrook, Joseph, elected pro- 
 fessor, 24; inaugurated, 25; 
 librarian, 30 
 
 Esty, William C., appointed in- 
 structor, 165; professor, 165; 
 mentioned, 226 
 
 Examinations, system changed, 
 237 
 
 Exercise, required, 252; effect, 
 255 
 
306 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Expenses of students, 33, 84, 88, 
 118 
 
 FACULTY, fine provided for, 82 ; 
 assume financial management, 
 106, 109; benefited by David 
 Sears, 116; increase, 285; leave 
 of absence, 236 
 Field, Lucius, tutor, 30 
 Fayerweather bequest, 233 
 Field, Rev. Pindar, first presi- 
 dent of the Athenian Society, 
 33; graduation, 36; mentioned, 
 27, 34, 194 
 
 Field, Rev. Thomas P., tutor, 
 97; professor, 127; resigns, 
 173; Samuel Green professor, 
 212; resigns, 213; mentioned, 
 
 134 
 
 Fines, 81, 82 
 
 Fisk, Rev. Samuel, death in the 
 Civil War, 185; mentioned, 
 
 .277 
 
 Fiske, Asa S., mentioned, 286 
 
 Fiske, Rev. John, D.D., men- 
 tioned, 16, 55, 117 
 
 Fiske, Rev. Nathan W., Pro- 
 fessor of Latin and Greek, 
 43; transferred to chair of 
 philosophy, 64; character, 134; 
 mentioned, 62, 79, 82, 134, 
 277; quoted, 113, 274 
 
 Fiske, Samuel, tutor, 134 
 
 Fletcher, William I., services as 
 librarian, 223 
 
 Foster, Hon. Alfred D., men- 
 tioned, 105, 117 
 
 Fowler, Prof. William C., resig- 
 nation, 103 
 
 Franklin County Association of 
 Ministers, suggests a college at 
 Amherst, 2 
 
 Fraternities, Greek letter, when 
 established, 262; influence, 
 262-65; number of members, 
 302 
 
 Freshman levee, 133 
 
 Frink, Prof. Henry A., mention- 
 ed, 215 
 
 Fuller, Edward J., mentioned, 2 73 
 
 GARMAN, Prof. Charles E., men- 
 tioned, 215 
 
 General Court, See Legislature, 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 Genung, Prof. John F., mention- 
 ed, 215 
 
 Gifts in President Stearns' ad- 
 ministration, 141; in President 
 Seelye's administration, 233 
 
 Gilbert Museum, beginning, 127 
 
 Giles, Joel, gift for the library, 231 
 
 Gillett, Hon. Edward B., men- 
 tioned, 151, 155 
 
 Goose joke, 45 
 
 Gorham, William O. , case of, 
 94-96 
 
 Government, system revised, 97; 
 the Amherst System, 239-41; 
 its success, 243-45 
 
 Graves, Col. Rufus, labors to ex- 
 tend the usefulness of Amherst 
 Academy, 5; financier, 63; 
 mentioned, 3, 21, 30, 54, 118 
 
 Graves Professorship, 116, 118 
 
 Gray, Henry, mentioned, 21, 32 
 
 Green, Lewis, tutor, 134 
 
 Green, Samuel, Professorship 
 founded, 166; provision that it 
 be held by Dr. Stearns, 200; 
 the professor associate pastor, 
 210; views of President Seelye 
 on, 210 n. 
 
 Grennell, George, mentioned, 12, 
 117 
 
 Grounds, grading, 73; extensive 
 improvements, 159, 234 
 
 Grout, Rev. Jonathan, mention- 
 ed, 16, 20 
 
 Gun captured at Newbern, 189 
 
 Gymnasium, provided by stu- 
 dents, 74; building provided, 
 150; Pratt Gymnasium built, 
 231 
 
 HACKETT, Prof. H. B., men- 
 tioned, 195 
 
 Hallock, Gerard H., mentioned, 
 36, 50, 121 . 
 
 Hallock, Leavitt, gives Hallock 
 Park, 160 
 
INDEX. 
 
 307 
 
 Hammond, Hon. William G., 
 mentioned, 264 
 
 Hampshire County, memorial of 
 1762, I 
 
 Hardy, Hon. Alpheus, gift, 
 144; establishes prizes, 145; 
 mentioned, 151, 153, 155, 
 200 
 
 Harris, E. P., appointed profes- 
 sor of chemistry, 169 
 
 Hartwell, Charles H., mention- 
 ed, 277, 286 
 
 Harvard College, mentioned, 2, 
 49, 63, 87, 267 
 
 Hathorne, George, architect of 
 Walker Hall, 153 
 
 Haven, Prof. Joseph, mentioned, 
 125, 134 
 
 Hayden, gift for improving 
 grounds, 159 
 
 Henshaw, Dr. Marshall, tutor, 
 134; lecturer, 218; recommend- 
 ed by President Seelye, 219; 
 resigns, 220 
 
 Hitchcock, Rev. Calvin, men- 
 tioned, 79 
 
 Hitchcock, Charles H., appointed 
 lecturer on zoology, 171 
 
 Hitchcock, Rev. Edward, D.D., 
 appointed professor, 60; elect- 
 ed president, 106; solicits a 
 building from Mr. Sears, in; 
 his scientific standing benefits 
 the college, in; mode of an- 
 nouncing donations, 119; pro- 
 poses to resign, 122; sent to 
 Europe, 122; gives his collec- 
 tion of fossil footmarks, 126; 
 applies for part of Samuel Ap- 
 pleton's educational bequest, 
 127; resigns the presidency, 
 128; value of his labors, 131, 
 135; his conciliatory policy, 
 132; books, 136; death, 137; 
 labors for Mount Holyoke 
 Seminary, 138; his part in the 
 Nineveh gallery, 147; opens 
 his house for religious confer- 
 ence, 277; mentioned, 62, 72, 
 84, 92 n., 105, 146, 170; 
 
 quoted, 96, 112-15, 116-18, 
 119, 121, 129, 147, 150 
 
 Hitchcock, Edward, M.D., gives 
 his collection of Indian relics, 
 127;. appointed professor of 
 physical culture, 162; services 
 and popularity, 259-61; men- 
 tioned, 191, 232, 253 
 
 Hitchcock, Rev. Roswell D., 
 D.D., tutor, 97; suggests the 
 Semi-Centennial Celebration, 
 190; proposes class scholar- 
 ships, 196; address to Presi- 
 dent Seelye on his inaugura- 
 tion, 206; mentioned, 193 
 
 Hitchcock, Samuel A., joins in 
 founding a professorship, 113, 
 116, 1 18; gives $10,000, 144 
 
 Hitchcock Professorship, title 
 changed to Geology and Zool- 
 ogy, 171 
 
 Holmes, Rev. Sylvester, men- 
 tioned, 79 
 
 Hooker, Hon. John, mentioned, 
 
 47 
 
 Hooker, John W., M.D., ap- 
 pointed professor of physical 
 culture, 162 
 
 House of students, 74 
 
 Howe, Francis S., mentioned, 
 277 
 
 Howe, George, gives chime of 
 bells, 158, 188 
 
 Howe, Rev. Nathaniel, mention- 
 ed, 20 
 
 Howe, Sidney Walker, death in 
 the Civil War, 189 
 
 Howland, George, tutor, 134 
 
 Howland, William, tutor, 134 
 
 Hubbard, Hon. Samuel, speech 
 in favor of incorporation, 48 
 
 Humphrey, Rev. Edward P., 
 D.D., mentioned, 192, 193, 
 273, 286 
 
 Humphrey, Rev. Heman, D.D., 
 elected president, 41; in- 
 augural address, 42; labors, 
 43; compared with President 
 Moore, 44; goose joke, 45; 
 speech for incorporation, 52; 
 
308 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 criticised by alumni, g6; re- 
 signs, 103; inaugurates his suc- 
 cessor, 106; farewell address, 
 107; mentioned, 21, 23, 35, 121; 
 quoted, 19, 26, 45, 53, 54-57, 
 68, 70, 107, 272, 276 
 Humphrey, John, tutor, 97; 
 
 mentioned, 276 
 
 Humphrey, Leonard, tutor, 134 
 Hunt, Rev. Daniel, mentioned, 
 
 273 
 Huntington, Bishop, mentioned, 
 
 193. 
 
 Hutchins, Waldo, mentioned, 193 
 Hyde, Rev. William A., his 
 
 sons in the Civil War, 188 
 
 IDE. Rev. Jacob, D.D., men- 
 tioned, 117 
 
 Insurance on college buildings 
 227, 228 
 
 Investigation by committee of 
 the Massachusetts House of 
 Representatives, 53-57 
 
 JEWETT, George B., tutor, 97; 
 obtains subscriptions for li- 
 brary building, 124; professor, 
 124; mentioned, 125, 134 
 
 Johnson, Adam, mentioned, 69; 
 will established, 71 
 
 Jones, Edward, mentioned, 271 
 
 KIDDER, Corbin, mentioned, 273 
 King, Rev. Jonas, mentioned, 
 30, 62 
 
 LATHROP, Hon. Samuel, men- 
 tioned, 79 
 
 Lawrence, Hon. Abbott, gift, 
 112; mentioned, 121 
 
 Laws for the college adopted, 
 60; modern substitute, 242 
 
 Leavitt, Rev. Jonathan, offered 
 a professorship, 105 
 
 Legislature, Massachusetts, peti- 
 tioned for aid, 75, 76, 78, 100, 
 114; grants $25,000, 114; 
 other gifts, 142 
 
 Leland, John, college treasurer, 
 
 63; mentioned, 22, 115; speech 
 on incorporation, 50 
 
 Leland, Rev. Dr., mentioned, 
 25 
 
 Library, first accommodations, 
 28; removed to North College, 
 29; number of volumes in 
 1822, 32; removed to chapel 
 building, 71; erection of build- 
 ing, 123; enlarged, 229; use 
 of books, 230; gifts for, 231 
 
 Lothrop, Hon. E. H., men- 
 tioned, 273 
 
 Lobdell, Dr. Henry, procures 
 Assyrian collection, 147 
 
 Lyman, Henry, mentioned, 274, 
 286 
 
 Lyman, Jabez B., instructor, 134 
 
 Lyman, Col. Luke, appointed in- 
 structor in military drill, 162 
 
 Lyman, Rev. Dr., mentioned, 
 loo 
 
 Lyon, Mary, mentioned, 4, 138 
 
 McCLURE, Rev. Alexander W., 
 
 D.D., mentioned, 274, 286 
 Mack, David, mentioned, 117 
 Mallet, Dr. John W., instructor 
 
 in chemistry, 168 
 Manross, Dr. Newton S., in- 
 structor in science, 168; death 
 in the Civil War, 169, 183 
 March, Francis A., tutor, 134; 
 
 mentioned, 219 
 Marking system changed, 237 
 Marsh, Rev. Justin, quoted, 271 
 Mason, Jeremiah, mentioned, 6;/. 
 Massachusetts Professorship (the) 
 
 founded, 118 
 
 Mathematics and astronomy, de- 
 partment founded, 164 
 Mather, Prof. Richard Henry, 
 death, 216; his life and labors, 
 220; mentioned, 72, 191, 227, 
 229, 232 
 
 Mather Art Collection, 220 
 Memorial bells, 158 
 Merriam, George, gift, 123 
 Merrick, James L., lecturer, 134 
 Merrill, Willard, mentioned, 193 
 
INDEX. 
 
 309 
 
 Middle College, 73 n. 
 
 Military drill introduced, 162, 
 
 183 
 Miller, Rev. Moses, mentioned, 
 
 21 
 
 Ministry, percentage of gradu- 
 ates in, 290 
 
 Modern language course, stu- 
 dents in, 66 
 
 Montague, Prof. W. L., men- 
 tioned, 72 n. 
 
 Moore, Rev. Zephaniah Swift, 
 advocates removal of Williams 
 College, 14; elected president 
 of the Charity Institution, 2; 
 accepts the presidency, 23; in- 
 augurated, 25; labors for the 
 college, 37; death, 38, 48; 
 grief of senior class, 38; pro- 
 fessorship named after him, 
 1 19; mentioned, 13, 39, 47 
 
 Morgan, Henry T., bequest, 231 
 
 Morong, Thomas, mentioned, 
 277 
 
 Morse, Prof. Anson D., men- 
 tioned, 215 
 
 Morton, Marcus, mentioned, 58 
 
 Mount Zion, 47 n. 
 
 NASH, Rev. John A., lecturer, 
 
 134; mentioned, 125 
 Nelson, Rev. Dr., mentioned, 104 
 Newton, John R., professorship, 
 
 220 
 
 Nineveh Gallery, given, 146 
 North College, old, built, 29; 
 
 burnt, 148; new, built, 72; 
 
 cost, 75; renovated, 233 
 Norton, D. W., mentioned, 12 n. 
 
 OBSERVATORY, Lawrence, in, 
 116, 118 
 
 Olds, Rev. Gamaliel S., elected 
 professor, 24; mentioned, 25 n. 
 
 Olmsted, F. L., plans college 
 grounds, 234 
 
 Osgood, Rev. Samuel, mention- 
 ed, 32 
 
 PACKARD, Rev. Theophilus, 
 
 D.D., mentioned, 3, 13, 21, 
 32, 117 
 
 Packard, Rev. Theophilus ('23), 
 mentioned, 194, 271; quoted, 
 270 
 
 Paine, Dr., mentioned, 191 
 
 Palmer, Benjamin M., mentioned, 
 90 n. 
 
 Parallel course, 64-68 
 
 Park, Rev. Edwards A., profes- 
 sor, 64; offered the presidency, 
 105; mentioned, 124, 193 
 
 Parkes, Charles E., architect of 
 college buildings, 149, 150 
 
 Parkhurst, Rev. C. H., men- 
 tioned, 289 
 
 Parsons, Dr. David, mentioned, 
 20, 21, 75 
 
 Patrick, Henry J., mentioned, 
 277 
 
 Peabody, William A., tutor, 97; 
 professor, 135; death, 135; 
 mentioned, 134, 276, 291 n. 
 
 Peck, Rev. Solomon, mentioned, 
 62 
 
 Peirce, Prof. Benjamin, men- 
 tioned, 165 
 
 Phillips, Jonathan, gift for the 
 library, 124 
 
 Physical culture department, 160- 
 64 
 
 Physics, new laboratory, 233 
 
 Poor, Daniel W., mentioned, 276 
 
 Porter, Eleazar, establishes first 
 scholarship, 144 
 
 Potter, William A., architect of 
 college church, 154 
 
 Pratt, Charles M., gives the Pratt 
 Gymnasium, 232 
 
 Pratt, F. B., mentioned, 258 
 
 Prayer by friends in State legis- 
 lature, 114 
 
 Prayers, college, held in old meet- 
 ing-house, 28; in scientific lec- 
 ture-room, 29; hour changed, 
 80 
 
 President's house, first, corner- 
 stone laid, 26; finished, 28; 
 second, built, 83 
 
 Prizes, 145, 253 
 
3io 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Psi Upsilon Society, mentioned, 
 28, 84 n., 302 
 
 QUEEN'S College, charter for, I 
 Question box, 246 
 
 REDFIELD, Prof., mentioned, 121 
 
 Religion, first revival, 36; Am- 
 herst's orthodoxy defended, 49; 
 religious support of the college 
 wanes, 87; new era in the nine- 
 teenth century, 267; revivals, 
 270, 272, 274, 275, 276, 277, 
 278, 280, 282, 283, 284; new 
 mode of life, 285; increased 
 percentage of church-members 
 at entrance, 286; influences 
 unfavorable to revivals, 285-90 
 
 Resources, early, 35 
 
 Richards, Rev. Austin, D.D., 
 mentioned, 271 
 
 Richardson, Prof. Henry B., 
 mentioned, 72 ., 215 
 
 Rising, Hon. C. B., mentioned, 
 
 H5 
 
 Robinson, Stewart, mentioned, 
 90 n. 
 
 Root, Prof. Elihu, death, 216; 
 his achievements, 218; men- 
 tioned, 215 
 
 SABINE, Rev. Dr., mentioned, 
 191 
 
 Salaries of professors, 60 and n. , 
 85; reduced, 102; dependent on 
 income of college, 106, 109; in 
 1846-47, no 
 
 Sanford, John E., tutor, 134 
 
 Schneider, Rev. Benjamin*, D.D., 
 his sons in the Civil War, 188 
 
 Scholarships, first established, 
 144; established at the Semi- 
 centennial Celebration, 196 
 
 Scientific apparatus provided, 29 
 
 department founded, 124; 
 
 reasons for failure, 125 
 
 Seal of the college, 61 
 
 Sears, Hon. David, gift, 101, 
 104, 109; additional gift, 115; 
 condition of his foundation, 
 
 118; gifts for the library, 124; 
 231; mentioned, 121 
 
 Sears Foundation of Literature 
 and Benevolence, begun, 104; 
 increased, 115, 116; part for 
 books, 123 
 
 Seelye, Julius H., D.D., peculiar 
 features of his accession to the 
 presidency, 198-203, 247; ser- 
 vice in Congress, 201, 206, 
 248; character of his adminis- 
 tration, 204; inauguration, 206; 
 inaugural address, 207-9; m " 
 stalled pastor of the college 
 church, 209; his religious in- 
 struction, 21 1 ; mode of choos- 
 ing professors, 213; his teach- 
 ing of philosophy, 215; attitude 
 toward the faculty, 216; mode 
 of governing the college, 245; 
 gives up professorship of phil- 
 osophy, 246; use of books, 
 247; writings, 247-49; failing 
 health, 250; resigns, 251; men- 
 tioned, 72, 151 n., 191; quoted, 
 234, 238, 243, 264 
 
 Seelye, Mrs. J. H., death, 250 
 
 Seelye, Rev. L. Clark, appointed 
 professor, 174 
 
 Semi-Centennial Celebration, re- 
 solutions of alumni, 190; com- 
 mittees appointed, 191; exer- 
 cises, 192; addresses published, 
 193; alumni present, 194 
 
 Senate, College, 242; suspension, 
 243 n. 
 
 Senior levee, 133 
 
 Sheldon, Luther, mentioned, 21, 
 32 
 
 Shepard, Charles U., professor, 
 106; offers his mineralogical 
 cabinet, 116; mentioned, 121, 
 125, 126, 134; quoted, 34, 35 
 
 Shepard, Rev. George, offered 
 the presidency, 105 
 
 Shepard minerals, burned, 226; 
 valuation, 227 
 
 Silliman, Prof. Benjamin, men- 
 tioned, 121 
 
 Smith, George P., mentioned, 276 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Smith, Prof. Henry B., men- 
 tioned, 134 
 
 Smith, Rev. Hiram, mentioned, 
 194 
 
 Smith, James, gives $10,000, 144 
 
 Smith, Nathaniel, mentioned. 
 3, 16, 21, 55 
 
 Smith, Prof. W. B., mentioned, 
 216 
 
 Snell, Prof. Ebenezer Strong, 
 first president of the Alexan- 
 drian Society, 33; graduation, 
 36; appointed tutor, 60; 
 granted $3,000 for apparatus, 
 167; death, 216; his life work, 
 217; mentioned, 27, 62, 72 n., 
 125, 134, 151 ., 153, 154, 
 193, 226, 227; quoted, 17 
 
 Snell, Rev. Thomas, D.D., 
 mentioned, 21, 25 ., 26, 32; 
 quoted, 38 
 
 Societies, students', history and 
 influence, 261-65; statistics, 
 302 
 
 Society of Inquiry, character 
 changed, 262 
 
 Sodom, 47 n. 
 
 South College, erection, 17-19; 
 its rooms, 27; renovated, 233 
 
 Southworth, Wells, mentioned, 
 17 . 
 
 Spear, Charles Vinals, mentioned, 
 277 
 
 Spotswood, Rev. J. B., D.D., 
 mentioned, 273 
 
 Stearns, Rev. William Augustus, 
 appointed president, 128; his 
 inaugural address, 131, 140; 
 life, 139; his administration, 
 1 7 5~7 75 death, 177; last days, 
 177-79; funeral, 179-80; his 
 preparations for resigning the 
 presidency, 200; last revival, 
 283; quoted, 149, 154, 156, 
 161, 282 
 
 Stearns, William F., gives the 
 College Church, 156; men- 
 tioned, 155 
 
 Stockbridge, Hon. H. S., men- 
 tioned, 193 
 
 Storrs, Rev. Richard Salter, 
 D.D., mentioned, 42, 79, 191, 
 193, 210 
 
 Strong, H. Wright, mentioned, 
 16, 21, 32 
 
 Strong, Hon. Lewis, mentioned, 
 52 
 
 Stuart, Prof., mentioned, 24, 
 25 n. 
 
 Students, free from distractions 
 in early years, 35; numbers, 26, 
 63, 70, 85, 86; work on the 
 grounds, 33, 73; self-govern- 
 ment, 74; celebrate completion 
 of the subscription of 1832, 
 80; relations with faculty, 88- 
 98; welcome home to Presi- 
 dent Hitchcock, 123; welcome 
 President Stearns, 141; lay cor- 
 ner-stone of Walker Hall, 153; 
 of College Church, 156; offer a 
 company for the Civil War, 
 182 
 
 Subscription of 1832, 79 
 
 Subscription of $100,000 raised, 
 100-102 
 
 Sumner, Hon. Bradford, men- 
 tioned, 53 n. 
 
 Sweetser, J. H., gives prizes, 145 
 
 Sweetser, Luke, gives a geological 
 lecture-room, 146; mentioned, 
 149, 150 
 
 Sykes, H. A., architect of college 
 buildings, 146 
 
 TAPPAN, Dr. John, 117 
 
 Tappan, John, founds the Sam- 
 uel Green professorship, 167 
 
 Taylor, Rev. James, mentioned, 
 3, 16, 21, 268 
 
 Tobey, Rev. A., D.D., quoted, 
 
 273 
 
 Todd, Prof. David P., men- 
 tioned, 215, 226 
 Tolman, Albert, tutor, 134 
 Torrey, David, tutor, 134 
 Towne, Gen. Salem, Jr., men- 
 tioned, 21, 32 
 
 Trask, J. E., mentioned, 55 
 Treasurer's office burned out, 
 
312 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 228 ; removed to Walker Hall, 
 229 
 
 Tuckerman, Edward, appointed 
 professor of botany, 169 
 
 Tyler, Prof. John M., men- 
 tioned, 215 
 
 Tyler, Rev. William, mentioned, 
 100 
 
 Tyler, Rev. William S., D.D., 
 college service, ix-xi, xiv; ap- 
 pointed professor of Latin, 
 Greek, and Hebrew, 64; starts 
 subscription for library build- 
 ing-, 123; subscribes to build 
 gymnasium, 150; requested to 
 prepare a history of Amherst 
 College, 190; acting president, 
 206; mentioned, 4, 43, 125, 
 134, 156, 182, 193, 222 
 
 VACATIONS changed, 82,100 
 Vaill, Rev. Joseph, agent, 75, 
 101; mentioned, 16, 79, 105, 
 106, 117, 129, 150. 153 
 Vose, James G., appointed pro- 
 fessor, 173; became a bishop, 
 174 
 
 WALKER, Francis A., quoted, 
 256, 259 
 
 Walker, Dr. W. J., gifts and 
 bequest, 143; founder of de- 
 partment of mathematics and 
 astronomy, 164 
 
 Walker Hall, built, 151-53; 
 burned, 225; rebuilt, 227 
 
 Walker Instructorship, 165 
 
 Walker Legacy Fund, 167, 169 
 
 Warner, Rev. Aaron, appointed 
 professor, 106; resigns, 127; 
 mentioned, 125, 134 
 
 Washburn, Dr. Charles Ellery, 
 death in the Civil War, 185 
 
 Washburn, Rev. George, quoted, 
 281 
 
 Webster, Daniel, mentioned, 6 n. 
 
 Webster, Noah, mentioned, 18, 
 n.j 20, 21, 25; quoted, 5, 14, 
 18, 25 n. 
 
 Well, college, 19 
 
 W T heeler, President, mentioned, 
 121 
 
 Whipple, Edwards, mentioned, 
 16 
 
 Wilder, S. V. S., mentioned, 56 
 
 Williams, Israel, mentioned, I 
 
 Williams College, union with the 
 Charity Institution provided 
 for, 7; removal considered, 13- 
 15; remonstrates against incor- 
 poration of Amherst, 52; men- 
 tioned, i, 2, 3, 26, 30, 48, 49 
 
 Williston, A. L., mentioned, 227, 
 229, 232 
 
 Williston, Hon. Samuel, founds 
 Williston professorship, 109; 
 founds a second professorship 
 and half a third, 113, 116; gift 
 for library building, 123; gives 
 $10,000, 144; gives Williston 
 Hall, 149; gift for improving 
 grounds, 159; presides at the 
 Semi-Centennial Celebration, 
 192; donation in 1871, 197; 
 mentioned, 117, 121, 146, 150, 
 
 151, 155 
 Wines and liquors prohibited to 
 
 students, 23 
 Winn, Washington H., men- 
 
 tioned, 273 
 Woodbridge, Rev. Dr., quoted, 
 
 273 
 Woods, Hon. Josiah B., raises 
 
 money for buildings, in; men- 
 
 tioned, 115, 121, 150 
 Woods Cabinet, in, 118 
 Worcester, Samuel M., tutor, 43; 
 
 librarian, 43; professor, 62 
 
 YALE College, mentioned, 24, 63, 
 
 266 
 Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 
 tion, mentioned, 288 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
J^HE HANDBOOK OF AMHERST, MASSA- 
 CHUSETTS, prepared and published by FREDERICK II. 
 HITCHCOCK. Revised Edition, 1894. 200 pp., 70 Illustra- 
 tions. $1.10. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 AMHERST OF THE PAST. 
 
 The Hartford Revolt Settlement of Hadley A Glimpse at 
 Early Amherst A Town at Last Wars and Rumors of Wars. 
 
 THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY. By Mabel Loomis Todd. 
 The Beauty of an August Day Characteristic Flowers and 
 Birds Literature of the Valley Its Geology A Few Historical 
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 A FEW DELIGHTFUL DRIVES. 
 
 View from Holyoke Charming Hadley The " Meadow City" 
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 AMHERST OF THE PRESENT. 
 
 Its Situation Material Conditions Glimpses Along the Streets 
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 AMHERST COLLEGE. 
 
 A Glance at Its History The College of the Present The 
 Summer School of Languages A Tour of the College Buildings 
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 THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 
 
 Historical Notes Present Conditions The Experiment Stations 
 A Glance at the Buildings. 
 
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 The vicinity of Amherst is of interest to every New Englander, as many 
 events of historical interest are connected with that part of Massachusetts, and 
 for this reason the handsomely bound and printed volume just issued will be 
 welcome. Newton Graphic. 
 
 A handsomely illustrated book descriptive of the quaint college town of 
 Amherst. It goes beyond the mere guide-book not only in the excellence of the 
 illustrations but in the trustworthy historical sketch which constitutes its first 
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