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UN  1VLRSITY 
Of    ILLINOIS 


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in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Ghampaign 


http://archive.org/details/dartmouthlit88990dart 


DARTMOUTH  LITERARY  MONTHLY. 


THE 


Dartmouth'  Literary  Monthly 


-EDITED   BY- 


Students  of  the  Senior  and  Junior  Classes 


"§IBm 


VOLUME    IV 


HANOVER,    N.    H 
1890 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 
*  

1 

Poems  are  printed  in  Italics. 
A 

PAGE. 

*~After  Death, C.  F.  Richardson.        1 1 

3=  Alumni  Notes,   .     .     .CM.  Smith.     35,  78,  117,  160,  205,  253,  297,  336,  375 

Aspiration, J.  H.  Gerould.         7 

Aunt  Dorothea's  Resolve, W.  P.  Ladd.       90 

B 

Banquet  Song,  A C.  F.  Robinson.      101 

Bee  Hunt,  A E.  T.  S.  Lord.       98 

Browning  and  Tennyson, C.  F.  Robinson.     275 

By  the  Way,      .     .      J.  H.  Gerould.     25,  68,  109,  151,  196,  243,  289,  328,  367 

C 

Chair,  The    ....      G.  S.  Mills.     21,  64,  106,  147,  192,  234,  284,  323,  362 

Chinese  Life  in  San  Francisco, M.  D.  Barrows.     275 

Clock  Struck  Twelve,  The G.  O.  B.  Hawley.     306 

Colonel's  Story,  The G.  H.  Moses.     228 

Cow-Bells,  The C.  F.  Robinson.     233 

Crayon  Bleu,      .     .    C.  F.  Robinson.     31,  74,  113,  156,  200,  248,  293,  333,  371 

D 

Day  in  Marshfield,  A W.  C.  Belknap.  188 

Day  on  the  Rhine,  A J.  B.  Benton.  101 

Day's  Vicissitudes,  A J.H.  Gerould.  8 

Dennis  Duncan's  Story, J.  H.  Gerould.  50 

Down  in  the  Garden  Close, W.  B.  Forbush.  172 


Early  College  Athletics  at  Dartmouth, Frederick  Chase.       83 

Exchanges,  J.H.  Quint,  J.  B.  Benton,  H.  S.  Hopkins,  J.  H.  Gerould,  C.  F. 

Robinson,  G.  S.  Mills,  B.  Shirley.     34,  77,  116,  159,  204,  252,  296,  335,  374 


i 136368 


IV  CO  A  TENTS. 

F 

Frank  Chardon's  Experience, Barron  Shirley.  312 

H 

Hanover's  Bow  in  Literature,      . ..CM.  Smith.  137 

Hclene  Am  Klavier, .     .      C.  F.  Robinson.  60 

I 

I  Knew  not  What  Lacked  my  Song, W.  F.  Gregory.  219 

Illusion, W.  S.  Ross.  47 

In  Unlikeliest  Places, H.  H.  Piper.  90 

K 

Kehama's  Axe, Barron  Shirley.  269 

L 

Last  of  a  Legend,  The C.  A.  Perkins.  1 

Legend  of  Blood  Brook,  The W.  C.  Belknap.  358 

Longing, .     .      C.  F.  Robinson.  185 

M 

Mail-Bag,  The H.  S.  Hopkins.  239 

Man  from  Hanover,  The W.  D.  Quint.  341 

Marie  Bashkirtseff, C.  F.  Robinson.  167 

Marie  Th6rese, M.  P.  Thompson.  185 

Midwinter  Night's  Tragedy,  A G.S.Mills.  173 

Modern  College  Athletics  at  Dartmouth, C.  F.  Emerson.     213,  259 

N 

Nicolai  Gogol, Barron  Shirley.  346 

Notable  Correspondence,  A  . J.  H-  Gerould.  133 

P 

Pathos  in  Fiction, G.  S.  Mills.  301 

Personal  Journalism, F.  A.  Wood.  279 

Pre-Revolutionary  Oratory, W.  C.  Belknap.  351 

Punishment  of  Father  Jerome,  The M.  P.  Thompson.  355 

R 

Richard  Jeff eries, N.M.Hall.  312 

Rosebush,  The W.  F.  Gregory.  279 


CONTENTS. 


Some  Russian  Poets, Barron  Shirley.  220< 

Scotchman,  The, A.  A.  McKenzie.  180 

Sonnet,  A W.  A.  Bacon.  57 

Specialism, CM.  Smith.  47 

Story  of  Willow  Brook,  A W.  McDuffee.  141 

T 

Thistle-Down,  J.  H.  Gerould.     Index: 

Ad  Clerum,    .     .     .     .     • W.  B.  Forbush.  293 

After  Goethe, C.  F.  Robinson.  246 

A  Parting  Shot, C.  F.  Robinson.  154 

A  Query, W.  A.  Bacon.  112 

A  Song  of  Daisies, M.  A.  369 

A  Song  of  the  Season, Archibald  Blakeson.  246 

A  Suggestion, J.  H.  Gerould.  246 

A  Woman's  Tact, C.  F.  Robinson.  369 

Das  Herz, J.  H.  Gerould.  199 

Die  Lache  und  das  Schluchzen, M.P.Thompson.  112 

Fleches  d' Amour, J.  H.  Gerould.  154. 

From  the  Persian, W.  B.  Forbush.  293 

Hie  Jacet.     A  Lover, W.  B.  Forbush.  30 

In  the  Swamp, H.  S.  Hopkins.  73 

Lines  Written  in  a  Diary,       . W.  B.  Forbush.  72 

Mein  Herz,  Ich  will  dich  Fragen, C.  H.  Willey.  247 

Music, 199 

The  Old  Church, W.  B.  Forbush.  199 

The  Profile, W.  A.  Bacon.  72 

The  Return, Archibald  Blakeson.  332 

The  Skaters, D.  155 

True  Friendship, H.  H.  Piper.  29 

Two  Negatives  make  an  Affirmative, W.  A.  Bacon.  370 

When  Fields  are  Green C.  F.  Robinson.  29 

Tints  of  Azure, C.  F.  Robinson.  61 

U 

Upon  the  Mountain-Top, G.  S.  Mills.  18 

Utility  or  Futility  of  Examinations,  I., C.F.Richardson.  123 

*                                               II., A.  S.  Hardy.  125, 

III., J.  K.  Lord.  128 

IV., T.  W.  D.  Worthen.  131 


VI  CONTENTS. 

V 

Vigil  of  Rizpah,  The F.  L.  Pattee.  17 

W 

Washington  in  September,  1862, R.  B.  Richardson.  43 

**  Weal  through  Woe,"  The .     .  M.  P.  Thompson.  179 

Well  known  American  Homes, .     .      C.  F.  Robinson.  87 

What  of  the  Outlook? W.C.Belknap.  317 

White  Hills,  The C.F.Robinson.  317 

Woman's  Work,  A J.  H.  Quint.  12 

Word  for  Cooper,  A G.  S.  Mills.  57 

Wreck  of  the  C.  G.  Matthews, C.  F.  Robinson.  224 


THE 


Dartmouth  Literary  Monthly. 

»VoL  IV.  SEPTEMBER,  1889.  No.  1. 


Ot" 

BOARD    OF    EDITORS: 

J.  H.  GEROULD. 

G.  S.  MILLS. 

C.  F.  ROBINSON 

H.  S.  HOPKINS. 

J.  H.  QUINT. 
C.  A.  PERKINS,  Business  Manager. 

C.  M.  SMITH. 

THE   LAST  OF  A   LEGEND. 

In  the  days  when  the  New  Hampshire  railroads  extended  no 
farther  north  than  Concord,  and  the  Dartmouth  student  made  the 
rest  of  his  journey  by  stage,  there  stood  a  small  tavern  about  half 
way  between  the  village  of  West  Lebanon  and  Hanover.  It  was  a 
low-roofed,  dark,  forbidding  house,  where  the  stage-drivers  never 
consented  to  pass  the  night  if  there  was  the  slightest  possibility 
of  their  being  able  to  push  on  to  the  next  station  at  Orford  ;  for, 
like  many  inns  of  that  time,  it  had  a  story  connected  with  it 
which  made  the  superstitious  prefer  the  familiar  dangers  of  a 
drenching  storm  and  a  rain-washed  road  rather  than  the  imaginary 
horrors  of  a  night  beneath  its  roof. 

A  former  owner  of  the  tavern  was  suspected  of  having  murdered 
a  guest  under  circumstances  of  peculiar  cruelty,  torturing  his 
victim  to  make  him  sign  certain  drafts  in  his  favor,  taking  posses- 
sion of  the  valuables  about  his  person,  and  concealing  all  traces  of 
his  crime  in  the  rapids  of  the  Connecticut,  which  ran  almost  under 
his  windows.  In  those  rough  times  such  deeds  were  not  uncom- 
mon, inquiry  was  but  superficial,  and,  as  no  strong  evidence  could 
be  produced,  the  inn-keeper  was  never  brought  to  trial.  But,  as 
was  natural,  the  house  was  rather  avoided  thereafter,  and  little  by 
little  a  story  gained  credence  that  suspicious  sounds  and  sights 
had  been  observed  by  night  about  it,  gradually  giving  rise  to  hints 


2  THE  LAST  OF  A   LEGEND. 

of  ghosts,  which  were  eagerly  repeated  by  the  credulous  farmers 
of  the  neighborhood  ;  and  by  the  time  that  the  railroad  was  extend- 
ed to  Wells  River,  and  the  stage  route  abandoned,  no  house  on 
the  line  had  a  more  unenviable  reputation. 

Left  to  itself,  the  old  inn  gradually  fell  to  pieces,  and  soon  noth- 
ing was  left  but  the  moss-grown  cellar  and  the  hardy  clump  of 
lilacs  standing  guard  beside  the  obliterated  path.  But,  whether 
curious  legends  are  more  apt  to  be  treasured  up  by  college  stu- 
dents, or  whether  they  were  too  deeply  imbedded  in  the  minds  of 
the  neighbors  to  be  effaced  by  the  mere  lapse  of  time,  strange 
phenomena  in  relation  to  the  old  tavern  have  been  cropping  out 
at  intervals  for  the  last  twenty-five  years. 

Interested  by  a  classmate  who  had  stumbled  across  one  of 
these  stories,  toward  the  close  of  our  Sophomore  year,  three  of  us 
students  agreed  to  collect  what  material  we  could,  and  to 
investigate  the  cause  of  the  appearances  which  had  brought  the 
neighborhood  of  the  inn  into  such  ill  repute.  We  found  our  task 
much  easier  and  more  interesting  than  we  could  have  anticipated. 
A  little  skilful  questioning  of  the  stable-men  who  are  in  the  habit 
of  driving  students  down  to  White  River  Junction  to  take  the  morn- 
ing train,  supplemented  by  a  free-handed  distribution  of  cheap 
cigars,  sufficed  to  extract  from  different  sources  several  narratives 
which  bore  a  close  resemblance  to  each  other.  These  were  still 
further  confirmed  by  one  of  our  professors,  whom  we  visited  of  an 
evening,  and  purposely  drew  into  a  conversation  about  the  legends 
of  New  Hampshire  staging. 

Comparing  the  information  which  we  received  in  this  way  with 
what  we  could  learn  from  the  farmers  in  the  vicinity,  and  throw- 
ing aside  what  were  evidently  the  exaggerations  of  the  inventive 
narrators,  we  still  retained  a  consistent  story  which  we  were 
greatly  puzzled  to  explain.  The  facts  as  finally  collected  were 
these  : 

Previous  to  1875  nothing  definite  could  be  fixed  upon,  but  in 
the  spring  of  that  year  a  Senior  of  the  Chandler  Department  was 
driving  from  West  Lebanon  to  Hanover  in  company  with  a  young 
lady  whom   he  had    escorted  to  an  entertainment.     It  was  about 


THE  LAST  OF  A   LEGEND.  3 

half  past  twelve  when  they  rounded  the  curve  at  the  foot  of  Bald 
hill,  which  brings  one  in  sight  of  the  rapids  at  Olcott's  Falls.  The 
road  in  this  spot  is  sandy  ;  the  horse  was  walking  slowly  ;  nothing 
could  be  heard  but  the  roar  of  the  little  brook  which  crosses  the 
road  some  hundred  yards  ahead,  and  which,  swollen  by  the  recent 
rains,  was  hurrying  down  to  the  river  below.  Suddenly,  just  as 
the  carriage  came  abreast  of  the  clump  of  lilacs  which  marks  the 
position  of  the  old  tavern  cellar,  there  was  heard  a  noise  in  the 
woods  at  the  right  like  the  sharp  cry  of  a  child  in  distress.  The 
horse  reared  all  in  a  tremble,  gave  a  frightened  snort,  and,  despite 
the  whip  of  the  driver,  refused  to  stir.  The  cry  was  repeated 
near  at  hand,  and  the  short,  thick-set  figure  of  a  man,  wearing  a 
dark  cap  and  a  long  gray  overcoat,  darted  from  the  shrubbery, 
and,  passing  under  the  raised  hoofs  of  the  nearly  frantic  horse, 
crossed  the  road  and  seemed  to  sink  out  of  sight  in  the  field 
beyond.  Instantly  the  horse  began  to  run,  and  was  not  gotten 
under  control  until  Mink  brook  was  passed  and  the  long  hill  just 
outside  the  village  half  ascended. 

In  1878,  two  members  of  one  of  the  Greek-letter  fraternities, 
returning  unusually  early  from  an  initiation  banquet,  had  an 
experience  almost  identical  with  this.  One  of  them,  who  was 
considered  the  best  pistol-shot  of  the  college,  had  a  revolver  with 
him,  and  discharged  three  chambers  at  the  shrieking  figure, 
apparently  with  no  result. 

From  this  time  we  were  able  to  trace  the  successive  repetitions 
of  this  occurrence,  at  periods  more  or  less  varied,  up  to  the  very 
spring  of  1888,  just  one  month  before  we  began  our  investigations. 
The  phenomena  of  the  different  appearances  were  almost  always 
the  same.  They  took  place  upon  a  warm,  moonlight  night,  be- 
tween twelve  and  one  o'clock  :  first  the  cries  were  noticed,  then 
the  extreme  terror  of  the  horse,  and  finally  the  short,  thick-set 
figure,  always  dressed  in  the  same  way,  and  passing  close  at 
hand  in  front.  The  sudden  disappearance,  too,  of  the  figure  was 
often  remarked. 

To  account  for  these  appearances  we  framed  different  hypoth- 
eses, but  none   seemed  wholly  satisfactory.     The   common   story 


4  THE  LAST  OF  A   LEGEND. 

was,  that  the  old  inn-keeper,  unable  to  rest  in  his  grave  on  account 
of  the  crime  he  had  committed,  revisited  the  scene  of  his  misdeeds 
at  the  time  of  every  full  moon,  and  appeared  to  the  first  person 
who  passed  after  twelve  o'clock  on  that  night.  This,  of  course, 
we  were  wholly  unwilling  to  believe.  Whatever  faults  the  college 
student  may  have,  superstition  is  not  often  one  of  them,  and  yet 
we  could  not  conceive  of  any  human  being's  amusing  himself  by 
preying  upon  the  fears  of  his  fellows,  and  exposing  himself  to  the 
probability  of  being  shot  for  his  pains;  besides,  if  the  appearance 
was  human,  why  should  the  horse  have  feared  it? 

We  felt  that  we  could  not  solve  the  riddle  without  some  personal 
experience,  and,  as  one  of  us  was  soon  called  to  Boston,  we 
decided  to  meet  him  at  the  Junction  upon  his  return  by  the  mid- 
night train,  hoping  that,  as  the  time  of  the  month  was  most  favor- 
able, we  might  meet  with  an  adventure. 

Leaving  Hanover  early  in  the  evening,  we  drove  down  to  the 
brook  near  the  scene  of  action,  and  fastened  our  horse  while  we 
made  an  examination  of  the  land  on  both  sides  of  the  road.  It 
was  still  light,  and  the  most  careful  scrutiny  revealed  nothing 
suspicious.  Just  above  the  road  was  a  thicket  of  dense  shrubbery, 
succeeded  by  a  grove  of  pines  reaching  halfway  to  the  top  of  the 
hill.  The  little  brook  had  worn  for  itself  a  ravine,  some  ten  feet 
lower  than  the  surrounding  country,  and  at  the  bottom  of  this  it 
bubbled  along  over  a  ledge  of  dark  slate,  occasionally  relieved  by 
a  patch  of  golden  gravel.  We  examined  the  soft  banks  for  foot- 
steps, but  found  none.  The  branches  of  the  trees  seemed  unbroken, 
and  among  the  bushes  there  was  no  sign  of  any  recent  disturb- 
ance. Below  the  road,  toward  the  Connecticut,  was  an  open 
field,  where  was  the  cellar  of  the  old  tavern  and  a  pile  of  brick, 
probably  a  part  of  the  materials  of  the  chimney.  Toward  the 
north  the  ground  became  more  abrupt,  and  for  a  considerable  dis- 
tance a  rail  ran  along  the  side  of  the  road  to  guard  against  the 
possibility  of  an  accident.  Behind  the  field  was  a  scant  grove  of 
pines,  and  beyond,  the  rapids  of  the  river.  Here,  again,  we 
found  no  marks  of  the  presence  of  man.  Pushing  down  to  the 
shore,  we  watched  the  hurrying  stream,  and  the  great  logs  tossed 


THE  LAST  OF  A   LEGEND.  5 

like  straws  by  their  waves.  The  inn-keeper  certainly  could  never 
have  found  a  safer  place  to  conceal  his  crime. 

As  it  began  to  grow  dark  we  returned  to  the  wagon,  and  drove 
slowly  on  to  the  Junction.  Although  our  search  thus  far  had  been 
fruitless,  the  uncanny  game  we  were  playing  could  but  excite  our 
nerves,  and  the  innumerable  cigarettes  we  consumed  during  our 
long  four-hours  wait  failed  to  produce  the  soothing  effect  com- 
monly attributed  to  tobacco. 

Happily  the  train  was  on  time,  and  our  courage  rose  again  at 
the  merry  jokes  of  our  friend,  who  had  not  been  subjected  to  the 
depressing  influence  of  that  lonely  hunt  in  the  woods.  For  a 
reason  which  we  would  have  found  it  difficult  to  explain  if  our 
minds  had  been  directed  to  its  folly,  we  were  all  armed  with 
revolvers,  and,  as  we  left  the  village,  we  examined  them  carefully 
by  the  light  of  the  moon,  and  assured  ourselves  that  they  were  in 
good  order. 

Gradually  we  grew  more  quiet  as  the  spell  of  the  beautiful  even- 
ing came  over  us,  and  we  were  riding  in  complete  silence  when 
we  reached  the  woods  and  slowly  wound  up  the  hill  through  the 
sand.  As  we  turned  at  the  curve  and  saw  the  well  known  river 
bathed  in  moonlight,  we  stopped  a  moment  and  listened.  Strain 
our  ears  as  we  might,  we  could  detect  only  the  roar  of  the  rapids, 
the  drowsy  hum  of  the  night  insects,  and  the  whispering  needles 
of  the  pines.  Just  as  we  were  about  to  start  on,  our  horse  sud- 
denly reared  and  snorted.  Our  hearts  rose  in  our  throats,  as  at 
the  same  instant  we  heard  a  weird,  half-human  shriek,  and  from 
the  bushes  close  beside  us  there  bounded  a  short,  dusky  figure, 
and  leaped  across  the  road  before  our  trembling  horse.  Instantly, 
forgetting  all  the  dictates  of  reason,  we  drew  our  pistols  and  fired. 
The  reverberating  echoes  seemed  to  mock  us,  the  figure  disap- 
peared, and  our  horse  started  for  home  on  the  run.  Unable  to 
control  him,  and,  in  fact,  hardly  caring  to  make  the  attempt,  we 
hurried  on,  and  reached  Hanover,  in  a  strained  and  excited  con- 
dition, about  one  o'clock.  It  was  four  before  we  calmed  down 
enough  to  sleep,  and  then  only  to  repeat  in  our  dreams  the  expe- 
riences of  the  last  few  hours. 


O  THE  LAST  OF  A   LEGEND. 

The  daylight  brought  with  it  a  renewed  sense  of  security,  and 
it  was  with  more  or  less  shame  that  we  came  together  in  the  morn- 
ing to  endeavor  to  account  for  our  sudden  fright  at  the  gratification 
of  our  desires.  Hoping  that  a  visit  to  the  scene  of  our  unreason- 
ing terror  might  throw  a  little  light  upon  its  cause,  we  cut  our  ten 
o'clock  recitations,  and  plodded  wearily  over  the  three  miles  of 
dusty  road  which  had  seemed  so  short  in  our  flight  of  the  preceding 
night.  The  indistinct  outlines  and  dusky  shapes,  which  had  given 
such  beauty  to  the  landscape  by  night,  resolved  themselves  into 
the  prosaic  fences  and  sheds  of  the  land-poor  New  Hampshire 
farmer.  Under  the  glare  of  day,  no  place  seemed  more  unro- 
mantic  than  the  hot,  sandy  stretch  of  road,  bordered  by  disheart- 
ened-looking  trees,  where  our  hearts  had  beaten  so  fast  the  night 
before. 

Disgusted  with  ourselves,  and  with  the  sudden  feeling  of  super- 
stitious terror  which  had  made  us  so  completely  lose  our  wits,  we 
were  about  to  return  after  only  a  hasty  examination  of  the  neigh- 
borhood, when  one  of  us  chanced  to  espy  a  drop  of  blood  on  a 
leaf,  and  close  beside  it  a  broken  trail  through  the  bushes.  Not 
daring  to  conjecture  what  this  might  mean,  we  anxiously  followed 
the  footprints.  They  led  straight  on  through  the  bushes,  down 
suddenly  over  the  steep  bank,  and  lost  themselves  in  the  hard 
ground  beneath  the  pines.  Following  their  general  direction,  we 
ran  on  through  the  woods  and  hastened  to  the  bank  of  the  river. 
A  fluttering  bit  of  cloth  caught  our  eyes  on  the  shore  down-stream. 
With  fearful  hearts  we  hurried  to  it,  and  saw  the  whole  result  of 
our  mad  adventure. 

Grasping  a  bit  of  driftwood  in  his  clenched  hand,  with  his  face 
distorted  as  though  in  terrible  pain,  and  his  unclosed  eyes  turned 
full  against  the  blazing  sun,  lay  the  body  of  an  old  man.  His 
shirt  was  soaked  in  blood  from  an  ugly  hole  in  his  side.  A  little 
pool  had  formed  beneath  him  of  the  water  with  which  he  had 
bathed  his  wound  before  the  death  agony  came  upon  him.  In  his 
broad  shoulders  and  emaciated  limbs,  his  light  hair  and  grisly 
moustache,  and  the  look  of  vacuity  which  his  face  still  wore, 
though  distorted  in  death,  we  recognized  a  half-witted  old  man 


ASPIRATION.  7 

from  whom  we  had  often  bought  apples  and  cider  in  our  walks 
towards  Lyme ;  while  the  heavy  overcoat  beneath  him,  and  the 
dark  cap  which  we  found  after  a  search  among  the  brush,  left  no 
doubt  as  to  his  identity  with  the  figure  which  had  so  terrified  us 
the  night  before. 

What  could  have  brought  him  all  the  distance  from  his  lonely 
house  to  play  the  ghost  for  belated  travellers  in  this  quiet  spot? 
That  is  a  question  which  only  his  own  diseased  mind  could  answer. 
In  silence  we  closed  his  eyes,  and  withdrew  to  the  woods  to  dis- 
cuss what  was  to  come  next.  But  one  course  seemed  open  to  us. 
Raising  the  stiff  figure,  we  wrapped  it  in  the  overcoat,  bound  it 
about  with  cords,  filled  the  pockets  with  pebbles,  and  carried  it  to 
the  water's  edge  where  the  current  was  running  swiftest.  With  a 
great  heave  we  threw  it  far  out  into  the  river.  The  rapids  caught 
it,  tossed  it  once  aloft,  dripping  with  spray,  then  hurried  it  down 
out  of  sight  beneath  the  raging  waters. 

We  stood  on  the  shore  watching  the  spot  where  it  had  disap- 
peared. The  blazing  sun  beat  down  with  vertical  rays  upon  the 
heated  sands.  A  crow  flew  across  the  heavens  with  strident 
croak.  The  whistle  of  the  mills  above  called  the  tired  workmen 
to  an  hour's  rest.  The  river  flowed  on,  happy  and  smiling  as 
before,  calmly  oblivious  of  the  tragedy  it  concealed  beneath  its 
heaving  breast. 

C.  A.  P. 


ASPIRATION. 


While  cool  and  fragrant  woods  are  ringing 

With  songs  that  bid  the  morn  awake, 
And  through  the  mist  the  sun  is  flinging 

His  golden  shafts  athwart  the  lake, — 
First  dim,  then  clear,  I  see  arising 

Rude,  hoary  peaks,  like  prophets  old, 
Which  lead  the  soul,  low  plains  despising, 

Aloft  where  it  feels  free  and  bold, 

Where  zeal  for  wealth  and  fame  grows  cold. 

J.  H.  G. 


8  A  DAY'S  VICISSITUDES. 


A  DAY'S  VICISSITUDES. 

The  "  glories  of  our  blood  and  state  "  never  seem  more  shadowy 
and  unsubstantial  than  when  we  are  witnessing  some  vast,  Titanic 
power  at  work  in  nature.  Little  wonder  is  it  that  primitive  man, 
as  yet  perhaps  unable  to  reach  out  into  the  spirit  realm,  should 
make  a  god  of  the  sun, — for  was  not  this  the  potentate  that  marked 
out  his  hours  for  sleeping  and  waking?  Did  he  not  love  to  bathe  in 
its  beams,  and  did  not  its  light  stand  for  everything  good,  noble, 
and  beautiful  which  he  knew?  Though  we,  the  children  of  a 
sophisticated  civilization,  may  have  outgrown  any  such  feeling  of 
awe  and  veneration  in  the  presence  of  him  we  familiarly  term 
"  Old  Sol,"  yet  he  still  is  king  of  day,  and  as  regally  as  of  yore 
climbs  the  heavens  over  drifts  of  snowy  clouds,  or  floats  through 
seas  of  unflecked  blue  toward  the  golden  gates  of  the  west. 

What  a  chain  of  vicissitudes  follows  in  his  wake  !  Think  of  the 
changes  made  in  men's  affairs  while  his  car  is  once  crossing  the 
heavens, — of  the  ebb  and  flow  of  human  souls  upon  the  strands  of 
life,  of  the  currents  of  thought,  and  of  the  storms  of  war  and  pes- 
tilence that  are  sweeping  over  the  great  ocean  of  humanity  !  And 
no  less  are  the  changes  of  expression  that  flit  across  the  face  of 
nature,  and  the  haps  and  mishaps  that  befall  beast,  bird,  and 
insect. 

What  bard  has  not  sung  the  praises  of  the  morning  and  por- 
trayed the  glories  of  evening  !  Yet  how  scant  is  the  literature  that 
essays  to  catch  and  hold  the  subtle  spirit  of  midnight  and  the 
splendors  of  noontide!  Lowell  has,  indeed,  felt  the  charm  of  the 
former,  for  he  has  sung, — 

"  O  wild  and  wondrous  midnight ! 

There  is  a  might  in  thee 
To  make  the  charmed  body 

Almost  a  spirit  be, 
And  give  it  some  faint  glimpses 

Of  immortality." 

Bryant,  too,  has  left  us  a  vivid  picture  of  a  summer  noon  in  New 
England  ;  but  there  is  little  else. 


A  DAY'S   VICISSITUDES.  9 

Yet  how  deserving  of  a  poet's  pen  is  the  scene  which  greets  one 
who  walks  abroad  at  midnight !  The  purple  shades  of  evening 
have  been  dropped,  the  fires  which  burn  in  the  human  breast  have 
been  covered  by  sleep,  and  even  the  restless  wind  is  quiet  when 
the  stroke  of  midnight  falls  on  the  still  air.  Mists  are  rising  from 
the  river,  and  the  night-walker  feels  their  cool  damp  breath  upon 
his  cheek  as  he  descends  the  hill  and  crosses  the  meadow  where 
fire-flies  everywhere  glint  forth  and  disappear.  A  lonely  horned 
owl  in  the  distance  protests  in  solemn  tones  against  the  frivolities 
of  day,  and  asserts  the  dignity  of  night.  A  whipporwill's  weird 
cry  bursts  out  from  a  near  thicket,  startling  the  ear  in  its  sudden- 
ness and  force,  and  from  the  meadow  below  rises  the  orison  of 
the  frogs.  The  silence  that  broods  over  the  landscape  serves  as  a 
background  for  these  infrequent  sounds.  The  hearing  is  now  on 
tip-toe  with  expectancy;  sight  is  asleep.  The  half  audible  whis- 
per of  the  far-off  pines,  the  chipping  sparrow's  chain  of  notes, 
which,  like  the  exclamation  of  a  disturbed  dream,  it  utters  on  its 
perch  or  nest,  the  chirping  of  crickets  in  the  pathway,  are  all 
caught  up  by  the  ear,  and  blend  into  one  fine  harmony — nature's 
lullaby. 

At  length  "incense-breathing  morn"  appears,  and  nature 
awakens.  The  hours  fly  on  until  a  mid-day  languor  creeps  over 
the  earth,  and  nature  takes  her  siesta  of  noontide.  What  a  rest- 
ful season  is  the  summer  noon  !  The  shadows  contract,  and  lie 
curled  up  beneath  the  trees  ;  the  fields  shimmer  in  the  heated 
atmosphere  ;  a  whiff  of  sultry  air  lifts  the  leaf  of  the  maple  and 
sways  the  pendent  branch  of  the  elm;  a  hawk,  perchance,  soars 
aloft,  a  mere  fleck  in  the  azure, — but  the  song-birds  are  hushed, 
and  only  the  shrilling  of  locusts  and  the  lisping  of  crickets  relieve 
the  ear  in  the  depth  of  the  silence.  Then  over  the  hill  or  down 
the  valley  comes  the  sound  of  the  bell,  proclaiming  high  noon 
for  man  and  beast.  How  gladly  each  responds  to  the  call ! 
The  patient  oxen  erect  their  ears  to  drink  in  the  sweet  sound, 
and  cast  a  wistful  glance  around  as  if  to  observe  the  progress  of 
the  loading  of  the  hay.  The  mowers  in  the  meadow  wipe  their 
dripping  brows,  and  hasten   after  the   retreating  grass  to  the  end 


IO  A   DAY'S    VICISSITUDES. 

of  the  swath.  Then  the  sunburnt  haymaker,  with  scythe  slung 
across  his  shoulder,  quits  the  steamy  meadow,  sweet  with  the 
fragrance  that  hangs  over  the  half-cured  hay,  for  a  seat  in  the 
cool  farm-house.  Bobolink,  lurking  in  the  grass,  eyes  him  sus- 
piciously as  he  leaves,  and  seems  to  breathe  a  sigh  of  relief  that 
he  is  gone. 

Hush  !  Nature  reposes.  A  swallow  twitters  as  he  sweeps  in  a 
long  parabola  up  to  his  nest  against  the  rafters  of  the  barn;  pol- 
len-laden bees  buzz  dreamily  as  they  seek  the  hive  in  lines  of 
wonderful  straightness  ; — but  silence  everywhere  prevails. 

Noon  is  the  season  of  realism.  Things  of  the  sense  become 
paramount  then.  Yonder  tree,  and  the  stream  that  rushes  by 
sparkling  in  the  sunlight,  seem  now  real  things.  The  imagina- 
tion rests,  and  the  idealist  trusts  his  senses. 

But  at  midnight  the  imagination,  like  a  bird  of  night,  is  awake 
and  open-eyed.  The  materialist  thinks  upon  the  invisible.  The 
laughing  stream  and  the  swaying  tree  set  in  motion  a  train  of  fan- 
cies, and,  if  the  moon  lend  her  beams,  earth  becomes  a  land  of 
fairies,  and  sprites  dance  the  morris  in  every  meadow. 

How  much  of  the  world's  great  thought  has  been  produced  in 
the  stillness  of  midnight,  when  there  is  so  little  to  distract  the 
attention  and  clog  the  current  of  the  mind  !  A  Tennyson  then 
seeks  the  Muse  in  the  woods  and  fields,  or  a  Hugo  in  the  solitude 
of  sleeping  city  streets.  The  candle  of  genius  burns  most  bright- 
ly in  the  vigil.  Thoreau  meditates  by  the  pond  ofWalden,  and 
Cuvier,  buried  in  thought,  bends  over  his  work  in  his  study. 

"  The  dead  of  midnight  is  the  noon  of  thought, 
And  wisdom  mounts  the  zenith  with  the  stars." 

One  requisite  is  necessary  to  make  the  midnight  hour  complete — 
a  cloudless  sky.  If  the  heavens  are  veiled  at  night,  we  are,  so 
to  speak,  in-doors,  and  shut  off  from  the  universe.  The  imagina- 
tion seeks  to  fathom  the  clouds,  but  in  vain ;  yet,  if  a  rift  appears 
at  last,  our  thought  prances  through  it  like  a  loosened  colt,  rejoic- 
ing in  the  freedom  of  boundless  pastures. 

Like  the  gay  comrades  that  they  are,  midnight  and  noon  each 


AFTER  DEATH.  II 

delights  in  revealing  the  secrets  of  the  other.  Noon  parades  the 
petty  objects  of  our  little  sphere  that  her  more  sober  sister  would 
fain  hide  in  the  gloom  from  the  sight  of  mortals  ;  and  sable  mid- 
night, too,  when  she  comes,  removes  the  azure  veil  that  covers 
the  mystery  of  noon-time,  and,  lo  !  before  us  is  an 

"  Interminable  wilderness  of  worlds, 
At  whose  immensity  even  soaring  fancy  staggers." 

As  the  hours  on  untiring  wing  speed  around  our  planet,  to  the 
thoughtful,  sympathetic  spirit  each  brings  a  fresh  picture  of  the 
true,  the  beautiful,  or  the  sublime.  Nature  never  repeats  herself. 
In  the  humblest  landscape,  light  and  shade,  color  and  movement, 
are  ever  shifting.  "All  the  world 's  a  stage,"  and  the  checkered 
drama  of  human  life  goes  on  amid  scenes  continually  adjusted  by 
the  facile  hand  of  nature — a  drama  that  has  captivated  the  heart 
of  the  spectator  since  Homer  and  David  sang,  and  the  astrologer 
sought  to  divine  the  mysteries  of  the  universe. 

J.  H.  G. 


AFTER  DEATH. 

When  I  forthfare  beyond  this  narrow  earth, 

With  all  its  metes  and  bounds  of  now  and  here, 

And  brooding  clouds  of  ignorance  and  fear 
That  overhung  me  on  my  day  of  birth, 
Where  through  the  jocund  sun's  perennial  mirth 

Has  shone  more  inly  bright  each  coming  year, 

With  some  new  glory  of  that  outer  sphere 
Where  length  and  breadth  and  height  are  little  worth, 
Then  shall  I  find  that  even  here  below 

We  guessed  the  secret  of  eternity, 

And  learned  in  years  the  yearless  mystery ; 
For  in  our  earliest  world  we  came  to  know 

The  Master's  lesson  and  the  riddle's  key  : 

Unending  love  unending  growth  shall  be. 

C.  F.  Richardson. 


12  A    WOMAN'S   WORK. 

A  WOMAN'S  WORK. 

Some  forty  years  ago,  in  a  Nevada  mining  camp  situated  in  a 
deep  gorge  and  encompassed  by  lofty  mountains,  were  seated  a 
group  of  rough,  desperate  miners,  and  a  little  apart  a  slender 
young  lawyer,  with  a  somewhat  haughty  air,  deep,  magnetic 
voice,  and  keen,  searching  eyes,  and  withal  a  certain  steely 
morality  which  kept  him  above  cheap  cases,  but  left  his  conscience 
free  to  strive  for  self  and  position.  The  lawyer  had  gained  some 
reputation  for  several  hard  cases  successfully  carried  out,  the  last 
of  which  is  of  especial  note,  and  happened  somewhat  in  this  wise  : 

Women,  especially  beautiful  women,  being  rare  treasures  in  Cal- 
ifornia and  Nevada  at  that  date,  the  presence  of  two,  lately  come 
from  his  old  home,  New  York,  had  brought  our  young  friend 
and  a  companion  to  the  camp — purely  curiosity,  as  they  said. 

One  morning  as  they  entered  the  dining-room  of  the  hotel  their 
eyes  fell  upon  a  slender  woman's  figure  standing  at  the  further 
end  of  the  room,  as  if  waiting  for  some  one.  The  restless  dark 
eyes  wandered  from  one  door  to  another  with  eager  wistfulness. 
Now  and  then  a  caressing  movement  of  the  small  hands  kept  in 
control  a  wee  girl,  whose  dancing  eyes  and  jet  black  curls  gave 
promise  of  future  beauty  as  dangerous  as  the  mother's. 

The  gentlemen  were  seated  directly  opposite  the  chairs  evident- 
ly reserved  for  the  lady's  party,  and  as  the  one  for  whom  she 
looked  failed  to  make  an  appearance,  she  and  the  child  at  last  sat 
down.  Some  mutual  friend  introduced  the  gentlemen,  and  an 
hour  of  rare  pleasure  for  all  followed.  Men  of  intellect  and 
women  of  culture  learned  to  appreciate  each  other  in  those  Western 
wilds,  so  bereft  of  aught  congenial. 

That  night  a  horrible  murder  was  committed.  The  owner  of 
the  adjacent  mine  was  killed  in  cold  blood,  with  no  possible  prov- 
ocation, by  a  young  friend  of  his  with  whom  he  was  talking  in 
the  bar-room.  It  was  a  deliberate  act,  and  was  witnessed  by 
many,  the  lawyer  among  the  rest. 

In  the  morning  the  small  dark  hands  were  clasped  before  the 
lawyer,   and  the  strange,  wistful  eyes  were  pleading  with  him  to 


A    WOMAN'S   WORK.  1 3 

take  up  the  defence  of  the  murderer  of  her  husband.  In  the  midst 
of  her  grief,  which  seemed  to  hold  her  in  a  sort  of  stupor,  a 
firm  sense  of  justice  sent  her  to  plead  for  the  life  of  that  friend  of 
her  husband's.  They  had  been  close,  true  friends  for  years,  she 
knew  ;  she  was  confident  that  the  deed  was  the  result  of  insanity, 
but  could  bring  no  proof. 

Other  friends  the  young  man  had  none.  The  lawyer  under- 
took the  case,  talked  plainly  with  the  guilty  man,  telling  him  that 
the  only  possible  help  was  to  plead  insanity,  and  was  nearly  killed 
himself  by  the  wild  fury  of  the  criminal,  who  seemed  to  prefer 
death  to  such  a  charge.  Days  passed :  the  young  lawyer  still 
held  his  place  as  counsel  for  the  defendant,  but  was  despairing  of 
his  case.  Confident  himself  that  the  deed  was  committed  in  some 
wild,  ungovernable  impulse,  still  he  could  find  no  proof. 

At  last  the  night  before  the  trial  came.  It  was  mid-winter. 
Snow,  snow,  from  lofty  mountain  peak  to  lowest  reach  of  plain, 
stretched  before  the  window  from  which  those  thoughtful  eyes 
gazed.  Moonlight — deep,  luminous  moonlight — filling  the  majestic 
sweep  of  sky,  such  as  that  wild,  mysterious  region  only  knows, 
lay  about  him,  reached  up  and  up  till  it  seemed  like  some  ethereal 
influence,  something  too  pure  and  radiant  and  endless  to  be  of 
earth.  Suddenly  a  soft  knock  at  the  door  aroused  the  silent 
figure.  In  answer  to  his  call  the  tiny,  dark-eyed  child  he  had 
seen  that  first  morning  stood  before  him,  eager  and  breathless. 
Clasping  one  unresisting  hand  in  her  own  small  fingers,  she  led  him 
along  the  corridor  to  her  mother's  room.  At  the  door  he  paused, 
and  the  child  left  him,  and  darted  toward  her  mother,  seated  be- 
fore the  fireplace.  A  strange,  sudden  thrill  tingled  all  over  him. 
Cold  ambition  seemed  to  slip  from  him,  and  a  new,  stirring  energy 
to  usurp  its  place,  as  a  low  quivering  voice  reached  his  ears,  and 
those  haunting  eyes  searched  his  face,  reaching  down  to  his  very 
soul  with  their  deep,  intense  light. 

"  I  have  sent  for  you.  Have  you  been  able  to  do  anything — to 
prove  anything?  " 

"  No,  nothing.  To  all  appearances  yonder  man  will  to-morrow 
plead  guilty — and  die." 


14  A    WOMAN'S    WORK. 

"  Do  you  believe  him  guilty?" 

"  I  believe  him  to  have  acted  under  some  uncontrollable  mad- 
ness. I  believe  more  and  more,  as  I  study  him,  that  this  is  not 
the  first  action  of  a  similar  nature.  He  is  insane,  not  guilty.  But 
why  argue — why  plead?    He  denies  it." 

The  deep  eyes  turned  upon  his  as  the  trembling  question  came, — 
"  Will  you  telegraph  to  Mr.  Scott,  of  Boston,  for  a  history  of  his 
family,  getting  all  particulars?  I  am  confident  you  will  get  an  an- 
swer to-morrow  in  time." 

"  Mr.  Scott?  That  is  his  name?  What  is  his  address?  What  do 
you  know  of  him  ?  You  told  me  only  to-day  that  you  knew  noth- 
ing  of  the  man  or  of  his  family." 

"  Nor  do  I.  I  know  nothing.  I  know  no  address,  but "  and 

the  slight  figure  came  forward  a  step,  "I  know  your  answer  will 
come." 

"  Madness," thought  the  lawyer;  then  demanded  slowly,  "  How 
do  you  know  ?  " 

"I  do  not  know."  Then,  with  hands  clasped  wildly  over  her 
head,  "  Good  God  !  if  there  be  one,  make  you  believe  me  !  Why 
should  God  make  people  mad  with  strange  knowledge  which  they 
cannot  explain,  which  no  one  will  believe?"  Then,  with  a  sudden 
movement  of  pleading,  the  eyes  turned  upon  him  with  irresistible 
power.  "  Promise  me  you  will  try,  for  my  sake,  even  if  you  do 
not  believe." 

"  Mr.  Scott — Boston  ! — utter  madness  !  Why,  woman,  the  tele- 
gram in  this  state  of  the  weather,  with  the  wires  half  down,  would 
never  reach  its  destination  till  the  man  was  dead.  Who  could  find 
a  strange,  nameless  Scott,  if  it  did?" 

"  Promise  me,  for  my  sake.     I  shall  go  wild  if  you  do  not." 

A  keen,  pitiful  glance  convinced  him  of  the  truth  of  that  state- 
ment. A  sudden  rush  of  passionate  yearning  filled  his  soul.  With 
a  low,  steady  "Yes,"  he  turned  down  the  corridor  and  sought  the 
telegraph  office. 

Next  morning  court  convened.  The  prisoner  pleaded  guilty. 
The  statement  of  the  terrible  facts  of  the  case  was  laid  down, 
and  then,  almost  before  the  lawyer  had  begun,  in  absolute  dearth 


A    WOMAN'S    WORK.  1 5 

of  proof,  to  state  his  own  opinion,  the  office  boy  rushed  in  with  a 
bulky  telegram.  It  was  the  Boston  answer.  The  telegram  reached 
that  city  at  three  in  the  morning.  The  Scotts  by  the  score  had 
been  interviewed,  among  them  an  older  brother  of  the  prisoner  at 
the  bar,  who  for  ten  years  had  been  watching  for  traces  of  this 
long-lost  brother.  From  him  came  the  proof  of  insanity,  and 
similar  crime  in  the  family  for  generations. 

Magnificent  use  was  made  of  the  new  found  facts,  and  a  plea 
such  as  Carson's  court  had  never  heard  before  turned  the  fiery, 
indignant  hearts  of  that  mountain  mob,  till  the  crowd,  which  had 
gathered  eager  for  blood,  was  filled  with  pity,  and  with  a  half  hor- 
ror lest  each  might  himself  be  sometime  borne  on  to  a  like  deed  by 
some  wild,  momentary  impulse.  As  the  low,  vibrating  accents 
ceased  their  rapid  measure,  not  an  eye  in  the  room  was  dry.  A 
deep  silence  hovered  around  the  waiting,  breathless  crowd. 

Then  the  oppressive  silence,  broken  by  the  sadness  of  the 
prisoner's  self-condemning  avowal  of  his  woe ;  of  the  strange 
power  sweeping  over  him  which  he  was  powerless  to  meet ;  his 
confession  that  he  had  wished  them  to  kill  him  because  he  could 
not  kill  himself;  his  impassioned  plea  to  be  taken  back  to  the 
guard  from  which  he  had  escaped,  to  the  brother  whom  he  had 
fled, — moved  the  hearts  of  all. 

The  excited  enthusiasm  of  the  crowd  knew  no  bounds  that 
night.  They  gathered  for  a  tumultuous  expression  of  their  ad- 
miration. Hero  indeed  was  the  quiet  lawyer,  borne  high  upon  a 
platform  and  paraded  through  the  streets,  much  against  his  will. 
At  last,  escaping  from  the  jubilant  mob  of  admirers,  he  was  walk- 
ing towards  his  room,  when,  happening  to  pause  before  the  half- 
open  door  of  Mrs.  Mason's  room,  his  conscience  smote  him  that 
to  her  not  one  word  had  been  said ;  that  she,  the  sole  cause  of  the 
strange  success,  had  been  entirely  forgotten.  Yet  what  could  he 
say,  what  could  be  done? — and  a  new  sense  of  powerlessness  held 
him  motionless. 

The  slight  figure  was  seated  in  a  low  rocker  by  the  fire  again, 
with  no  light  but  the  flickering  of  the  burning  pine.  He  could 
see  the  swaying  chair,  and  hear  in  a  low  contralto  some   sweet, 


1 6  A    WOMAN'S   WORK. 

slow  lullaby,  and  while  the  woman's  face  was  turned  from  him, 
and  the  deep  eyes  were  evidently  gazing  into  the  mystic  glow  of 
the  fire,  the  rosy  beauty  of  the  baby's  face  was  thrown  into  strong 
relief. 

For  a  moment  he  stood  watching, — then,  as  if  drawn  by  a  spell, 
the  large  eyes  turned  and  met  his.  She  rose  quietly,  laid  the 
child  upon  a  chair,  and  came  forward.  The  lawyer  noticed  with 
pain  the  changes  wrought  since  that  first  day  he  had  seen  the 
woman.  She  seemed  so  sad  and  worn  in  every  movement,  the 
close  black  drapery  making  her  look  like  some  melancholy 
shadow,  with  a  world  of  woe  lingering  in  the  dark  eyes  and  about 
the  trembling,  childish  mouth.  She  stood  before  him  for  a  mo- 
ment, silently  meeting  his  gaze  with  a  steady,  far-away  gravity, — 
then  said  slowly,  "  I  cannot  express  to  you  the  sense  of  gratitude 
at  your  success,  or  my  admiration  of  a  power  so  grand,  so  worthy 
of  life,  as  that  you  exercised  to-day  over  the  fiendish  mob.  I  do 
not  need  to  repeat  those  assurances  of  success,  of  future  position 
and  fame,  which  have  already  been  crowded  upon  you,  and  which, 
even  though  your  heart  doubtless  claims  them  as  your  due,  must 
become  wearisome  by  reiteration.  May  the  power- that  ever  work- 
eth  for  good  keep  your  voice  and  heart  ever  to  the  right,  ever  true 
to  the  deepest  justice." 

She  paused  a  moment,  then  losing  all  control,  a  passionate 
gleam  blazing  in  her  eyes,  she  turned  from  him  with  a  quick, 
impatient  stamp  of  the  foot :  "  Oh  !  it  is  so  grand  to  be  a  man,  and 
be  able  to  be  and  do  !  Oh  !  the  awful  powerlessness  of  a  woman's 
life!" 

7-  H.  J£. 


THE    VIGIL    OF  RIZPAH.  1 7 

THE  VIGIL  OF  RIZPAH. 

II  SAMUEL,  21  :  10. 

The  night  was  falling,  drear  and  black  with  clouds  ; 
From  out  the  Gibean  deserts  sighed  the  wind, 
While  from  the  oaks  upon  the  barren  hill 
It  sobbed  and  wept  as  if  it  knew  the  woe 
And  anguish  which  they  hid  ;  for  by  the  rock 
Where  fell  the  blackest  shade,  seven  ghastly  oaks 
Were  bearing  on  their  arms  the  forms  of  men. 

The  wind  sobbed  on,  now  clanking  with  dull  sound 
The  deadly  chains,  now  swaying  to  and  fro 
The  fleshless  limbs,  the  bare  and  grinning  skulls,  * 

And  bearing  ghastly  odors  down  the  glen. 
Hark !  from  the  wild  the  eager,  yelping  cry 
Of  jackals  speeding  to  their  prey  ;  and  now 
The  demon  whine  of  foul  hyenas,  and 
The  croak  of  ravens  nesting  in  the  oaks  ! 
But  ere  they  reached  their  banquet  'mid  the  trees, 
From  out  the  shadows  came  a  woman's  form, 
With  wild,  dishevelled  hair,  and  garments  torn. 
"  Begone  !  "  she  cried — and  all  the  night  was  still. 

"  Alone,  O  God  !    Is  there  no  hand  but  mine 
To  guard  your  precious  ashes,  O  my  sons  ? 
Is  there  no  pity  in  the  hearts  of  men, 
That  here  upon  the  mountain  brow  alone, 
From  early  harvest  even  unto  now, 
My  hand  must  shield  your  cold  forms,  O  my  own  ? 

"  Was  it  for  this  I  bore  ye,  noble  sons  ? 
Was  it  for  this  my  mother's  love  was  spent, 
That  in  your  blooming  manhood  you  should  die, 
All  innocent  of  crime,  a  death  of  shame, 
To  rot  uncared  for  and  unwept  ?  O  God ! 
Why  take  my  all  to  sate  thine  awful  wrath  ? 
Why  should  they  die  when  but  their  father  sinned  ? 

"  Oh  !  I  had  dreamed,  and  fairest  dreams  were  mine  : 
You  were  my  all,  my  sons,  and  I  had  thought 
That  wealth  and  glory  would  be  yours,  and  you 
Would  cheer  my  failing  years.     But,  woe  is  me  ! 
Are  these  still  forms  my  sons,  my  noble  sons  ? 


1 8  UPON  THE   MOUNTAIN-TOP. 

"  O  God  !  my  heart  is  withered,  and  my  soul 
Is  like  a  tomb,  and  creeping  through  my  brain 
Are  slimy  things  that  make  my  life  a  hell. 
Is  there  no  end  unto  this  ghastly  watch  ? 
Is  there  no  pity  in  the  hearts  of  men  ?  " 

She  bowed  her  head  once  more  upon  the  rock, 

And  all  again  was  still  save  where  the  wind 

Sobbed  weirdly  in  the  trees,  and  far  away 

On  Hebron's  lonely  height  a  prowling  beast 

Amid  the  solitudes  sent  forth  his  cry, 

Or  now  and  then  there  creaked  the  ghastly  chains 

That  bound  her  sons,  and  black  clouds  hid  the  moon. 

F.  L.  Pattee. 


UPON  THE  MOUNTAIN-TOP. 

Pressing  heedlessly  through  the  briers  and  thistles  of  the  rough 
mountain  pasture,  skipping  lightly  from  stone  to  stone  embedded 
in  the  tumbling  crystal  of  the  mountain  brook,  pushing  through 
shrubbery  and  thicket,  stumbling  over  decayed,  half-hidden  logs, 
gnarled  roots,  and  moss-grown  rocks,  climbing  and  slipping, 
slipping  and  climbing,  but  always  up,  up, — at  last,  hot,  breathless, 
and  weary,  but  happy  in  our  triumphant  endeavor,  we  stand  upon 
the  summit. 

It  is  a  magical  August  afternoon.  Far  above  us  great  massy 
puffs  of  cloud  lazily  drift  across  the  glad  heaven,  their  snowy 
whiteness  giving  a  radiant  purity  to  the  azure.  Three  thousand 
feet  below,  almost  straight  down  as  the  plummet,  lie  stretched, 
within  the  encircling  guardianship  of  the  everlasting  hills,  the  soft, 
dimpling,  sun-smitten  waters  of  a  beautiful  lake,  its  thirty  miles 
of  length  of  most  irregular,  fantastic  form.  Over  thrifty  Canadian 
farms,  meadows  in  their  second  bright  robe  of  green,  russet- 
colored  ^orn-fields,  lustreless  areas  of  yellow  stubble  ;  over  wooded 
slope,  and  the  intervening  pleasant  valleys  where  nestles  as  a 
jewel  in  its  crown  the  flashing  mirror  of-  many  a  small  lake, 
or  interwinds  the  silver  gleam  of  river  and  brook, — far,  far  away 
we  look,  till  our  strained  vision  is  shut  in  by  the  pale  blue  of 


UPON  THE  MOUNTAIN-TOP.      '  1 9 

majestic  mountain  peaks  that  lose  themselves  on  the  mystical 
horizon.  Rapturously  our  arms  are  outstretched,  as  we  would 
clutch  to  ourselves  all  this  glory  and  wealth  which  lie  just  beyond 
us,  the  fairest  of  earth,  but  the  unattainable. 

Often  have  I  stood  upon  the  summit  of  nature's  monument  to 
God, — but  whether  upon  the  great  Washington,  or  upon  a  compan- 
ion peak  scarcely  less  regal,  or  amid  the  historic  beauty  of  the 
Catskills,  or,  as  to-day,  upon  some  lowlier  eminence,  it  has  ever 
been  the  mount  of  transfiguration  of  common  thoughts  and  aims. 
Drink  in  the  pure  air  as  it  comes  a  breath  of  heaven,  giving  a 
foretaste  of  the  vigor  of  eternal  youth ;  bathe  the  eye  in  the  sea  of 
harmonious  tints  and  colors,  looking  down  at  the  checkered  and 
varied  hues  of  the  landscape,  and  up  into  the  fathomless  depths  of 
the  blue;  feel  the  peace,  the  power,  the  purity,  the  beauty  of  the 
spirit  of  creation  ;  realize  that  you  are  of  it  and  should  be  like  it, — 
and  wonder  not  that  the  robe  of  your  sordid,  selfish  nature  has 
been  exchanged  for  a  white  and  shining  garment.  Get  thee  occa- 
sionally upon  the  mountain-top,  thou  dweller  in  the  low-lands  ! 
Your  restless  strivings,  doubt,  despair,  will  seem  of  petty  moment. 

Away  to  the  north  sounds  a  subdued  but  ominous  rumbling, 
and  we  note  an  inky  thunder-cloud  that  rapidly  grows  more  tumid, 
and  blackens  and  ruffles  the  smooth  surface  of  the  water  as  it 
sweeps  resistless  down  its  path  between  the  hills.  A  bald-headed 
eagle,  the  fierce  precursor  of  the  approaching  storm,  shoots  up 
before  us  with  a  wild  scream,  pierces  the  sky  until  he  seems  the 
size  of  a  swallow,  drops  a  little  below  the  level  of  the  mountain- 
top,  circles  on  even  wing,  and  falls  like  a  thunderbolt  into  the 
darkening  waters.  The  storm  is  now  furiously  lashing  the  lake 
directly  below,  while  we  experience  only  a  relatively  slight  wet- 
ting from  the  western  edge  of  the  cloud,  and  witness  a  sublime 
spectacle,  almost  from  behind  the  scene,  as  it  were.  The  seeth- 
ing, heaving  blackness  is  rent  in  every  direction  by  flash  upon 
flash  of  jagged  and  forked  fire.  Now  and  then  the  lightning 
seems  darting  all  about  us,  and  the  livid  glare  and  terrific  thun- 
dering, peal  following  upon  peal  in  one  prolonged  cannonade, 
does    not   so   much   affright    as    awe    and   bewilder  us.     As  our 


20  UPON  THE  MOUNTAIN-TOP. 

sense  of  security  deepens  despite  the  awful  majesty  of  the  sight, 
a  wild,  exultant  delight  seizes  us.  I  can  compare  it  only  to  the 
sensation  which  the  ice-yachtsman  experiences  when  hurtling 
through  space  faster  than  the  wind  which  carries  him.  It  is  a 
sort  of  temporary  madness,  when  one  ceases  to  think,  and  is  all 
feeling — a  recognition  by  the  spirit  of  man  of  its  elemental  kin- 
ship with  the  forces  of  nature. 

The  storm  has  long  since  passed  from  view,  and  a  holy  calm 
broods  upon  land  and  water.  The  shadows  are  stealthily  creep- 
ing from  the  hills  and  taking  possession  of  the  lake,  but  the  bald 
and  glistening  mountain-top  is  still  bathed  in  the  mellow  flood  of 
light.  Now  a  company  of  errant  sunbeams  steal  through  a  niche 
of  rock,  trail  their  gold  dust  down  the  dark  green  of  the  ravine, 
and  leave  a  shining  pathway  across  the  placid  waters.  The  still- 
ness of  the  air  seems  almost  preternatural ;  but  the  dearth  of  sound 
is  of  short  duration,  and  we  hear  the  resonant  whistle  of  the  steam- 
boat below,  while  the  lowing  of  cattle  driven  home  from  pasture, 
and  the  incessant  tinkling  of  a  cow-bell,  come  to  the  ear  in  softest 
and  clearest  tones.  Faster  and  faster  sinks  the  sun.  As  his  great 
red  disc  just  dips  below  the  horizon,  the  sunlight  lingers  lovingly, 
loth  to  relinquish  its  fair  possessions,  kissing  with  fading  warmth 
hill-top  and  valley,  gilding  spire  and  roof  with  purest  gold,  a 
parting  blessing  to  the  weary  and  unthinking  toilers  of  earth.  A 
moment  more,  and  the  bridegroom  has  returned  to  his  chamber. 
The  orange  deepens  into  a  crimson  flush,  which  climbs  higher  and 
higher  till  the  western  sky  is  all  aflame.  In  such  a  radiancy  of 
glory  might  the  soul  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  mansions  of  that  heav- 
enly city,  "  whose  builder  and  maker  is  God." 

G.  S.  M. 


The  Chair. 


In  this  pleasant  greeting-time,  the  Literary  Monthly  would 
share  the  hearty  welcome  accorded  old  friends.  Though  little  more 
than  an  infant,  entering  its  fourth  year  this  month,  its  growth  has 
been  a  lusty  one,  and  a  long  life  of  usefulness  and  honor  seems 
assured.  The  ability,  enterprise,  enthusiasm,  and  unflagging 
energy  of  the  initial  editorial  board  of  eighty-seven,  laying  such 
substantial  and  secure  foundation,  have  been  handed  down  to  each 
succeeding  class,  and  the  legacy  has  not  been  in  vain.  If  there  is 
not  at  the  present  time  in  the  college  such  pronounced  individual 
talent,  there  exists,  we  believe,  a  more  general  literary  interest, 
which  in  a  large  measure  can  be  traced  to  the  quickening  and  de- 
veloping influence  exerted  the  three  past  years  by  the  Lit.  The 
present  board  is  fully  aware  of  the  responsibility  resting  upon  it 
for  the  maintenance  of  this  growth.  It  brings  to  its  task  an  abun- 
dance of  enthusiasm,  and  the  willingness  for  hard,  faithful  work: 
it  has  confidence  in  the  result. 

On  one  thing  are  we  determined, — the  previous  high  standard 
of  the  Lit.  shall  be  maintained.  Now,  it  is  evident  that  this  can 
be  most  easily  accomplished  by  hearty  cooperation  on  the  part 
of  the  college  in  the  matter  of  contribution.  Too  often  has  the 
editor  been  forced  to  play  the  part  of  contributor  as  well.  It  is 
expected  and  right  that  the  editor  should  contribute  largely,  but 
it  is  neither  fair  to  him  nor  proper  for  him  to  do  all  the  contributing 
in  a  single  issue,  or  even  the  largest  part  of  it.  No  six  men  in 
a  college  of  the  size  and  excellence  of  Dartmouth  can  have  a  mo- 
nopoly of  thought,  or  of  the  ability  of  expressing  it.  They  may 
seem  to  have,  at  times,  because  of  the  indifference  or  indolence  of 
others,  and  unaided  they  may  acquit  themselves  with  credit  and 
sustain  the  literary  reputation  of  the  college  ;  yet  such  is  a  radically 
wrong  condition  of  affairs.  With  this  in  mind,  we  wish  the  Lit. 
-to  be  considered  not  as  the  exclusive  property  of  the  half  dozen 


22  THE  CHAIR. 

men  who  edit  it,  and  for  them  solely  that  they  may  show  their 
literary  paces,  but,  rather,  as  it  really  is,  the  possession  of  the 
college,  the  medium  through  which  can  be  mirrored  the  life  and 
culture  of  its  thinking  men. 

The  past  year  it  was  a  much  disputed  question  among  many 
of  the  college  publications  whether  or  not  it  is  the  suitable  thing 
for  a  magazine,  seeking  to  represent  the  best  literary  thought  and 
power  of  its  college,  to  admit  to  its  columns  other  than  under- 
graduate production.  It  was  argued  that  the  college  magazine 
transgresses  its  sphere  in  publishing  the  work  of  the  graduate.  If 
it  is  to  set  forth  the  activity  and  achievement  of  the  literary  mind 
of  the  college, — and  this  is  confessedly  the  aim  of  every  reputable 
publication, — to  permit  the  alumni  to  contribute  is  to  put  a  pre- 
mium upon  the  slothfulness  of  the  young  undergraduate  writer  by 
permitting  him,  when  so  inclined,  to  shove  off  upon  older  shoulders 
the  responsibility  which  is  his  own,  and,  also,  is  to  give  the  world 
a  false  impression  of  the  real  strength  of  the  college  in  literary 
lines. 

This  position  is  certainly  a  strong  one,  and,  when  slightly  quali- 
fied, we  think  a  correct  one.  However,  the  temptation  to  the 
non-observance  of  a  rigid  rule  of  exclusion  is  very  powerful.  It 
is  usually  an  easy  matter  to  procure  from  some  kindly  disposed 
alumnus  a  worthy  contribution,  which  will  help  wonderfully  in 
getting  out  a  good  number — the  heart's  desire  of  the  editorial 
board  ;  and  it  is  a  most  plausible  thought  that  in  this  way  pleasant 
relations  are  established  between  students  and  alumni.  The  nice 
adjustment  of  the  matter  is  something  of  a  problem,  but  we  think 
an  admirable  solution  was  found  in  the  past  policy  of  the  Lit., 
which,  in  general,  it  is  the  intention  of  the  present  board  to  con- 
tinue. Despite  the  best  efforts  of  contributor  and  editor,  the 
quality  of  any  strictly  undergraduate  publication  must  fluctuate, 
it  is  so  dependent  upon  varying  circumstances.  To  avoid  all  occa- 
sional appearance  of  weakness,  to  always  add  interest,  and  espe- 
cially to  link  mature  literary  culture  with  that  which  is  still  in  the 
formative  state,  from  which  connection  must  be  derived  greater 


THE  CHAIR.  23 

incentive  and  inspiration  to  the  student  body  for  better  work,  has 
been  the  object  of  the  Lit.  in  printing  in  most  numbers  of  the 
year  a  leading  article  from  the  pen  of  a  professor  or  other  promi- 
nent alumnus.  The  interest  which  these  papers  have  aroused  is 
a  sufficient  guaranty  of  the  complete  success  of  the  plan.  In  this 
way  the  alumni  have  representation ;  yet,  as  the  productions  are 
credited,  there  is  no  sailing  under  false  colors,  and  the  Lit.  re- 
mains distinctively  the  organ  of  the  undergraduates. 

But  what  of  minor  productions  of  alumni,  particularly  verse? 
This  question  is  raised  by  a  letter  we  have  received  from  the  sec- 
retary of  a  class,  who  desires  to  send  us  for  publication  short  poems 
by  members  of  his  class,  with  the  intent  that  they  may  thus  be 
permanently  recorded  among  the  productions  of  the  graduates  of 
Dartmouth.  We  desire  to  answer  the  question  squarely.  We  do 
not  solicit  such  contribution,  yet  will  gladly  receive  it  under  certain 
limitations,  and  may  publish  from  time  to  time  that  which  is  espe- 
cially fit  for  our  use.  It  is  evident  that  anything  of  remarkable 
merit  will  have  easily  secured  publication  elsewhere,  and  what 
is  not  eminently  worthy  we  would  not  consider  in  competition 
with  the  work  of  the  undergraduate,  which  it  is  our  especial  pur- 
pose to  encourage  and  foster. 


We  wish  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  to  ask  for  a  better  appre- 
ciation of  the  advantages  and  opportunities  afforded  by  the  Mail- 
Bag  department.  The  past  year  it  was  filled  but  twice.  This 
is  not  as  it  should  be.  There  are  college  topics  of  vital  interest 
under  constant  discussion.  Why  not  bring  them  into  prominence 
through  the  pages  of  the  Lit.  ?  That  would  ensure  a  more  intel- 
ligent understanding  of  all  their  phases,  and  of  the  various  opin- 
ions held  by  the  students.  Perhaps  many  fancied  abuses  would 
cease  to  exist,  and  yet  much  might  be  discovered  that  calls  for 
reform.  Again  :  In  no  better  way  can  the  alumni  keep  up  a  liv- 
ing interest  in  the  college  than  by  this  method  of  direct  commu- 
nication. We  have  noticed  that  very  often  graduates,  particularly 
those  of  long  standing,  display  an  ignorance  or  misapprehension 
of  the  work   or  affairs  of  the   college  that  is   as  natural  as  it  is 


24  THE   CHAIR. 

sometimes  amusing,  notably  upon  such  subjects  as  compulsory- 
church  service  and  athletics.  Now,  if  they  kept  more  in  touch 
with  the  student,  there  would  be  less  likelihood  of  any  misunder- 
standing or  misappreciation  on  their  part,  and  the  undergraduate, 
who  too  often  thinks  he  knows  it  all,  would  have  more  considera- 
tion for  the  views  of  those  who  see  differently.  It  is  even  well 
to  have  an  expression  of  erroneous  views,  for  it  will  inevitably 
lead  to  a  setting  forth  of  the  true  condition  of  things.  Let  us 
then  this  year  hear  from  all  who  have  decided  opinions  or  sug- 
gestions to  offer  concerning  college  matters  of  importance.  Such 
can  be  voiced  fairly,  courteously,  and  respectfully  in  the  Mail- 
Bag. 


"I  don't  see  how  Dartmouth  can  support  two  such  excellent 
publications,"  remarked  an  alumnus  to  the  writer.  There,  Brother 
Dartmouth,  is  a  compliment  we  are  right  willing  to  share  with 
you.  Our  relations  have  been  so  cordial  in  times  past  that  a  dis- 
continuance of  the  reciprocal  well-wishing  and  good  feeling  would 
be  wellnigh  impossible.  We  have  no  reason  to  quarrel,  so,  elder 
brother,  if  you  don't  put  the  chip  on  your  shoulder,  we  won't 
knock  it  off.  Really,  our  spheres  are  quite  different,  and  no  one 
is  better  aware  of  the  exact  distinction  than  we  ourselves.  We 
won't  attempt  to  define  the  difference.  However,  brother,  we  will 
whisper  in  your  ear  a  question  which  has  been  long  in  our  mind, 
— Why  do  n't  you  put  on  the  garb  of  a  weekly  ?  We  think  it 
would  be  immensely  becoming,  and  the  contrast  between  us  would 
be  still  more  striking  and  to  the  advantage  of  both.  Perhaps  we 
have  been  a  little  rash  in  disclosing  our  secret  thought, — but  you 
will  forgive  us,  brother  dear,  for  waxing  so  confidential :  we 
mean  it  all  in  good  part. 


By  the  Way. 


While  a  dignified  member  of  the  editorial  board,  enthroned  in 
the  "  Chair,"  is  dispensing  his  opinions  in  regard  to  weightier  mat- 
ters, we  confidentially  invite  the  reader  to  a  quiet  nook  in  the  open 
air,  or,  if  the  weather  should  so  advise,  to  a  seat  by  the  glowing 
hearth,  there  to  chat  familiarly  of  whatever  fancy  may  flit  across 
the  mind.  If  our  reader  should  ever  find  in  these  pages  "  by  the 
way,"  as  they  appear  from  month  to  month,  anything  to  make 
him  feel  as  if  he  were  walking  with  a  friend  under  the  open  sky, 
anything  that  may  unlock  the  secret  chambers  of  his  heart  or 
brighten  the  pages  of  his  memory,  we  shall  feel  ourselves  excus- 
able if,  in  diving  for  ideas,  we  at  times  bring  up  something  besides 
pearls. 


What  a  study  awaited  the  lover  of  human  nature  the  other  day, 
in  the  caravan  of  bronzed,  travel-stained  pilgrims  wending  their 
way  up  through  the  sandy  defile  that  led  them  to  their  college 
Mecca.  Lusty  upper-classmen,  whose  cheeks,  like  the  sunward 
side  of  a  pear,  are  the  index  of  ripe  health  within,  are  returning 
to  familiar  scenes  and  tried  friends.  Their  conversation  smacks 
of  the  sea  and  the  woods,  of  the  mountain  and  the  lake:  a  talk 
with  them  is  like  a  whiff  of  salt  air  or  a  mountain  breeze. 

Yonder,  a  little  apart  from  the  rest,  stands  one  who  is  making 
his  first  pilgrimage  to  Dartmouth.  The  town  that  wears  the  green 
after  his  dusty  journey  seems  a  veritable  oasis  to  him.  He  is  tired 
now,  and  has  little  thought  of  anything  except  a  place  to  rest, — but 
later,  how  like  a  mirage  his  surroundings  will  loom  up  before  him  ! 
He  had  a  mind  made  up  for  great  things,  and,  lo  !  they  are  just  as 
he  expected.  Welcome  him,  upper-classmen.  Show  him  that 
though  you  may  not  be  an  embryonic  president,  or  other  dignitary 
whom  he  takes  you  for,  you  are,  nevertheless,  a  manly,  intelli- 
gent, companionable  person.     If  he  is  green,  befriend  and  encour- 


26 


BY  THE   WAY. 


age  him,  for  the  more  verdant  he  is  now,  the  greater  are  his  chances 
for  growing  more  broad  and  robust  intellectually  while  among  us. 


What  an  effect  the  summer  vacation  has  in  clearing  away  the 
rust  of  the  rather  narrow  bachelor  life  of  the  student !  He  has 
plenty  of  facts  buried  deep  down  in  his  mind,  piled  in  helter- 
skelter,  one  over  another,  but  he  needs  conversation  and  discus- 
sion to  bring  them  to  the  surface  and  to  keep  them  bright.  His 
thoughts  may  be  nimble  enough  in  the  class-room,  but  he  lacks 
the  tact  and  self-reliance  which  changing  surroundings  and  new 
acquaintances  will  give  him.  The  mere  change  of  scene  is  a  boon 
to  the  tired  student,  for  the  mind  craves  fresh  pictures  of  nature 
and  novel  experiences  of  life,  such  as  vacation  affords.  Well  for 
him  who  has  enjoyed  these  weeks  of  rest,  who  comes  back  with 
elastic  muscles  and  alert  mind  !  Whose  prospects  could  be  brighter? 


As  we  were  whirling  along  the  banks  of  the  Merrimack, 
watching  on  its  surface  the  reflection  of  the  blue  sky  mottled  with 
clouds,  there  burst  upon  our  view,  not  a  "  host  of  golden  daffo- 
dils," but,  equally  deserving  of  Wordsworth's  praise  had  he  been 
fortunate  enough  to  live  in  America,  an  array  of  golden-rod,  its 
plumes  nodding  a  salute  to  every  summer  zephyr  that  passed. 

We  had  just  tossed  from  us  in  weariness  a  glowing  newspaper 
discussion  of  the  much  mooted  question  of  a  national  flower,  but 
the  irrepressible  and  almost  omnipresent  Solidago  stepped  forward, 
as  it  seemed,  to  plead  its  own  cause.  And  why  should  it  not  be 
the  flower  of  America?  We  would  cast  no  slurs  at  the  coy  and 
fragrant  arbutus  that  lurks  in  some  of  our  New  England  woods 
and  pastures,  leading  its  lover  on  many  a  wild  scramble  up  hill 
and  down  dale  to  reach  it ;  we  do  not  decry  the  beauty  of  the 
short-lived  blossom  of  the  mountain  laurel,  though  it  does  elude 
the  hand  of  the  artist  that  would  try  to  paint  it,  and  though  its 
haunts  are  few ;  nor  would  we  slander  the  honest  corn-plant, 
which,  we  believe,  is  named  as  a  candidate  for  this  high  position, 


BY  THE    WAY.  2>J 

not  only  by  those  who  love  a  plant  but  hate  a  weed,  but  also  by 
those  who  see  in  its  graceful  stalk,  waving  tassel,  and  verdant 
blade,  a  thing  of  beauty.  There  stands  Solidago.  Behold  her  ! — 
once  a  simple  yellow  weed,  banished  to  the  river  bank,  the  road- 
side, or  the  neglected  pasture,  but  now  the  subject  of  dinner-party 
and  newspaper  discussion  of  a  vast  nation  !  Surely,  I  mused,  we 
have  here  an  instance  of  a  wellnigh  perfect  social  equality  as  the 
product  of  our  democratic  ideas. 

The  golden-rod  is  cosmopolitan  also  ; — from  Atlantic  to  Pacific, 
and  from  Hudson's  bay  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  it  holds  sway.  One 
species,  Solidago  Alfina,  has  even  clambered  up  the  rugged 
slopes  of  Mount  Washington,  and  there  set  its  pure  gold  standard, 
bespeaking  the  wealth,  vigor,  aggressiveness,  and  beauty  of  our 
country  to  the  lonely  clouds  that  float  by  it,  and  to  the  keen  winds 
that  buffet  it  in  vain.  Long  live  the  golden-rod  !  Long  may  its 
"  graceful  tossing  plume  of  glowing  gold"  shed  sunshine  through 
our  land  ! 


There  are  some  ideas  which  have  taken  root  in  the  mind  of 
mankind  which  seem  to  have  sprung  from  no  germ  of  reality,  but 
which,  Topsy-like,  have  "just  growed  "  there.  One  of  these  is 
the  supposed  conflict  between  poetry  and  science.  Poets  and 
lovers  of  the  fanciful  have  sometimes  blamed  men  of  science  for 
reducing  their  pet  illusions  to  chemical  formulas,  and  explaining 
them  by  natural  laws.  They  have  ofttimes  shown  a  sort  of  self- 
satisfied  pity  for  the  sons  of  science.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
latter,  blinded  by  the  torch  of  their  own  wisdom,  have  treated 
lightly  the  products  of  poets'  minds,  and  have  looked  askance  at 
the  long-haired  individual  wandering  about  with  his  "  eye  in  a 
fine  frenzy  rolling." 

Though  these  may  have  been  true  poets  and  real  scientists,  we 
believe  that  they  were,  in  one  respect  at  least,  narrow  men,  for  is 
the  spirit  which  bids  the  poet  build  up  a  structure  of  beauty  out 
of  materials  which  the  mind  selects  for  use  different  from  or  hos- 
tile to  the  spirit  that  impels  the  naturalist  to  shape  a  structure  of 


28  BY  THE   WAY. 

truth  from  materials  which  have  lain  ready  in  the  mind?  The 
methods  of  both  are  similar.  While  the  one  deals  with  the  beau- 
tiful, the  other  seeks  after  and  propounds  the  truth  :  and  has  not 
Keats  said, — 

"  Beauty  is  truth,  truth  beauty  "  ? 

It  is  the  closet  naturalist,  whose  mind  is  hemmed  in  by  his  narrow 
study  walls,  not  the  keen-eyed  observer  of  nature  at  first  hand 
and  in  the  field,  who  does  not  grow  enthusiastic  with  all  the  ardor 
of  the  poet  over  the  beauty  of  the  flower  and  the  glories  of  the 
western  sky.  And  it  is  the  poet  whose  sympathies  have  wan- 
dered far  astray  from  the  heart  of  humanity,  or  whose  mind  has 
failed  to  comprehend  the  meaning  of  the  external  world,  who  lacks 
sympathy  with  the  men  who  are  striving  to  learn  more  of  life  and 
its  relations. 

It  is  the  poet's  mission  to  feel,  and  cause  others  to  feel,  that 
which  is  beautiful  and  true.  Science  will  guide  him  in  his  search 
for  these  things,  and  give  strength  to  the  wings  of  his  imagina- 
tion. The  scientist,  in  turn,  needs  the  poet's  constructive  imag- 
ination to  help'  build  his  theories  and  establish  the  foundation 
stones  of  his  knowledge.  Poetry  and  science  are  mutual  help- 
meets, not  enemies,  and  the  man  who  would  have  breadth  of 
culture  must  woo  them  both. 


We  look  out  upon  fields  that  are  losing  their  vernal  freshness, 
and  upon  leaves  ripe  for  nature's  harvesting.  The  landscape 
wears  a  blue,  autumnal  haze,  that  sits  softly  upon  it  and  mellows 
its  harder  lines,  toning  down  the  light  and  blending  it  with  the 
shade,  till  the  eye  loves  to  dwell  upon  the  picture  as  upon  a  deli- 
cate mezzotint.  Bryant's  lines  come  home  to  us  amid  the  cease- 
less flow  of  the  cricket's  melody, — "The  melancholy  days  have 
come."  Sad  only  to  those  who  reflect  upon  the  signs  of  mortality 
about  them,  these  are  to  the  poet  and  student  days  of  intellectual 
plenty  and  rejoicing,  when  one  grows  pensive  almost  against  his 
will.  While  spring  gladdens  and  refreshes  the  mind  with  scenes 
of  beauty,  autumn  deepens  and  enriches  it. 


Thistle-Down 


WHEN   FIELDS   ARE   GREEN. 

When  fields  are  green,  and  down  the  street 

The  city's  heat  and  dust  I  see, 
I  watch  the  rush  of  hurrying  feet 

With  sickening  heart — but  dream  of  thee. 

When  fields  are  green  and  breezes  strong, 
And  foam-topped  wavelets  beckon  me, 

My  light  canoe  I  guide  along 
Through  quiet  coves — and  dream  of  thee. 

When  fields  are  green  and  woods  are  cool, 
When  soft-eyed  kine  graze  on  the  lea, 

Down  by  yon  dimly  shaded  pool, 
I  sit  and  muse — and  dream  of  thee. 


When  fields  are  green  and  life  is  bright, 
For  thy  sweet  words  bring  hope  to  me, 

In  floods  of  soft  and  mellow  light 
I  lie  i'  the  grass — and  dream  of  thee. 


C.  F.  Robinson. 


TRUE   FRIENDSHIP. 

Two  bright  rain-drops  fell  together 
Toward  the  summit  of  a  hill  : 

Happy  passage  till  they  sever, 
Finding  each  a  separate  will. 

To  this  river,  to  that  river, 

Each  one  starts  his  different  way. 

"  Wait,"  cried  one,  "  I  must  deliver 
One  brief  word  while  yet  I  stay. 

"This  dear  friendship  sure  will  brighten 

All  my  journey  to  the  sea; 
Speak,  my  friend,  and  will  it  lighten 

Some  small  care  as  well  for  thee  ?  " 


Then  came  o'er  the  hill-top  flying 
Words  a  few,  but  none  more  sweet 

"  On  your  memory  I  'm  relying  ; 
May  we  in  the  ocean  meet." 


Henry  H.  Piper. 


30  THISTLE-DOWN. 

HIC   JACET. 


Here  lies  a  poor  rollicking  rover, 
Little  service  to  man  or  to  God ; 

So  carve  on  my  stone  just  "  A  Lover," 
And  let  me  lie  under  the  sod. 

The  rose  and  the  sweet-scented  clover 
Blossom  not  in  the  cypresses'  gloom, 

But  perhaps  the  white  dust  of  a  lover 
May  quicken  their  buds  into  bloom. 

Above  me  the  butterflies  hover, 
And  the  clouds  sail  like  ships  overhead ; 

Who  would  think,  in  such  peace,  that  a  lover 
With  a  heart  once  of  fire  lies  here  dead ! 

She  was  proud,  and  forever  she  strove  her 
Young  heart  to  keep  close  in  its  nest. 

I  have  lived  the  brief  life  of  a  lover, 
Now  I  can  sleep — it  is  best. 

And  in  winter  the  snowdrifts  will  cover, 
And  they  all — perchance  one — will  forget 

That  a  wandering,  way-weary  lover 

Sleeps  down  in  the  earth  here.     But  yet 

If  you,  ah  !  if  you  should  bend  over, 
With  that  smile  on  your  lips  as  of  yore, 

And  whisper  one  word — then  your  lover 
Would  live  life's  sweet-bitter  once  more  ! 


William  Byron  Forbush. 


Crayon   Bleu. 


Elementary  Lessons  in  Heat,  by  S.  E.  Tillman.  Philadelphia :  J.  B.  Lippincott  Com- 
pany.   $1.80. 

Designed  for  a  course  of  about  seventy  hours  in  the  United  States  Military  Academy. 
It  is  a  valuable  treatise  for  the  use  of  advanced  classes,  but  not  designed  for  exhaustive 
special  work.     The  chapter  on  "  Terrestrial  Temperatures  "  is  especially  valuable. 

Practical  Physics,  H.  N.  Chute,  M.  S.     Boston :  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. 

A  book  of  practical  experiments,  not  giving  the  exact  results  to  be  obtained,  but  so  sug- 
gesting to  the  mind  of  the  pupil  the  general  laws  to  be  verified  that  he  assumes  to  himself 
the  attitude  of  a  discoverer.  The  exercises  are  planned  to  be  performed  with  inexpensive 
apparatus,  and  there  are  many  suggestions  for  simple  expedients  to  save  costly  appliances  • 
The  problems  for  quantitative  determination  are  especially  valuable. 

La  Belle-Nivernaise,  Alphonse  Daudet.     Boston  :  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.     $0.40. 

This  edition  of  Daudet's  charming  idyl  is  by  James  Boi'elle,  senior  French  master  in 
Dulwich  college.  The  book  is  well  fitted  for  use  in  less  advanced  classes  in  high  schools 
and  preparatory  schools.  It  is  written  in  simple  sentences,  describing  for  the  author's 
son,  a  boy  of  ten,  the  story  of  the  loving  sympathy  of  the  poor  for  their  still  poorer  breth- 
ren. The  excellent  English  notes  strive  to  give  a  just  rendering  to  the  more  difficult 
idioms. 

Pages  Choisies  des  Memoires  du  Due  de  Saint-Simon,  edited  and  annotated  by  A.  N.  Van 
Daell,  Professor  of  Modern  Languages,  Mass.  Inst,  of  Technology.  Boston:  Ginn 
&Co.     #0.75. 

An  edition  of  a  few  choice  bits  from  the  productions  of  one  of  the  master  minds  of 
French  history.  The  editor  confesses  that  Saint-Simon  used  faulty  grammar,  and  syntax 
defying  every  rule,  "  but  no  one  has  better  shown  than  he  how  far  the  power  of  the  French 
language  can  go  to  express  contempt,  hatred,  indignation,  and  admiration."  There  is  an 
introduction  consisting  of  extracts  from  Rambaud  and  Taine,  and  an  appendix  giving 
interesting  facts  about  the  French  court  in  the  seventeenth  century.  It  will  prove  a 
valuable  book  for  advanced  French  classes. 

Practical  Latin  Composition,  by  William  C.   Collar,   head-master  Roxbury  Latin  school. 

Boston:  Ginn  &  Co.     $1.10. 

A  valuable  text-book,  based  upon  the  idea  of  continuity  in  the  exercises,  and  careful 
comparison  with  the  original  texts  from  which  they  are  drawn.  It  may  be  called  a  new 
departure  in  this  line,  and  if  conscientiously  followed  cannot  fail  of  being  successful. 

School  Iliad,  Books  I-III,   and  Vocabulary,  edited   by   Thomas  D.   Seymour,   Hillhouse 

Professor  of  Greek  in  Yale  College.     Boston  :  Ginn  &  Co. 

An  excellent  edition.  The  articles  on  the  style,  syntax,  dialect,  and  verse  of  Homer  are 
full,  well  arranged,  and  scholarly.  Those  on  epic  poetry  and  the  story  of  the  Iliad  will 
assist  the  student  in  gaining  a  general  view  of  the  subject.  The  notes  are  adapted  for  use 
in  preparatory  schools. 


32  CRAYON  BLEU. 

The  Distinctive  Idea  in  Education,  by  Rev.  C.  B.  Hulbert,  D.  D.     New  York :  John  B. 

Alden,     $0.05. 

This  "Elzevir"  is  a  treasure  indeed,  and  should  be  read  by  every  thinking  man.  "  The 
distinctive  idea  of  an  education  is  not  to  increase  what  a  man  knows,  but  to  augment  what 
a  man  is"  is  the  key-note  of  the  pamphlet.  Good,  honest,  hard  work  is  what  develops 
both  mind  and  body.  Education  is  a  progression,  a  leading  out  (educo)  from  what  one  is 
to  something  a  little  higher.  It  matters  not  how  this  is  accomplished,  whether  in  Harvard 
University  or  the  great  University  of  Common-Sense  :  the  world  knows  not  the  difference. 
It  is  a  ringing  appeal  to  true  manhood,  and  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every  teacher  who  is 
endeavoring  to  educate  boys  and  girls  into  true  men  and  women. 

Science- Teaching  in  the  Schools; by  William  North  Rice.     Boston:    D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. 

$0.25. 

This  little  "  Monograph  on  Education  "  contains  valuable  suggestions  and  plans  for  the 
study  of  science  in  the  public  schools.  The  author  takes  the  ground  that  science-teaching 
should  begin  in  the  grammar  school,  and  be  continued  throughout  the  course-,  whether 
classical  or  English.  We  cannot  forbear  quoting  from  his  characterization  of  a  youth 
educated  under  the  old  system  of  "  Read,  and  you  will  know."  He  says, — "  The  climax  of 
success  is  reached  when  the  little  monk  is  snugly  cloistered  with  his  books,  oblivious 
of  the  very  existence  of  a  world  of  light  and  music  around  him  ;  and  if  he  grows  up  to  be 
one  of  the  favored  few  who  are  permitted  to  enter  the  sacred  precincts  of  the  college,  and 
there  take  up  the  long  deferred  study  of  Nature,  he  finds  too  often  his  powers  of  obser- 
vation wellnigh  atrophied  by  long  disuse."  This  speaks  too  plainly  to  the  college  man  to 
need  comment.     The  pamphlet  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every  teacher. 

Contributions  to  American  Educational  History,  Nos.  3-7,  edited  by  Herbert  B.  Adams. 
No.  3.  History  of  Education  in  North  Carolina,  by  Charles  Lee  Smith.  No.  4.  History 
of  Higher  Education  in  South  Carolina,  with  a  Sketch  of  the  Free  School  System,  by  Colyer 
Meriwether,  A.  B.  No.  5.  Education  in  Georgia,  by  Charles  Edgeworth  Jones.  No.  6. 
History  of  Education  in  Florida,  by  George  Gary  Bush,  Ph.  D.  No.  7.  Higher  Education 
in  Wisconsin,  by  William  F.  Allen  and  David  E.  Spencer.  Washington  :  Department 
of  the  Interior,  Bureau  of  Education. 

These  government  pamphlets  are  valuable  histories  of  the  higher  educational  institutions 
in  the  several  states,  supplemented  in  the  first  four  by  short  articles  on  the  common 
schools.  They  are  well  illustrated  with  views  of  college  buildings.  An  especially  valuable 
article  is  that  on  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  and  the  state  universities  generally 
receive  due  attention.  No.  4  contains  many  interesting  sketches  of  men  prominent  in 
South  Carolina  history,  the  anecdotes  of  Francis  Lieber  being  interesting  in  the  extreme. 
They  are  to  be  followed  by  similar  monographs  from  other  states. 

Yale  Lyrics.  A  collection  of  verses  from  the  undergraduate  publications  of  Yale  Uni- 
versity. 1885-1889.  Edited  by  Samuel  Newman  Pond,  '89.  Cambridge  :  Riverside 
Press. 

Uniform  in  size  with  similar  volumes  issued  at  Williams  and  Dartmouth.  Contains  a 
list  of  "contributors,"  which  is  a  very  useful  addition  to  the  index  matter.  Compared 
with  the  volumes  mentioned,  Yale  Lyrics  represents  a  more  serious  style.  We  miss  the 
mirth  and  grace  of  "  Williams  Verses."  There  are  many  poems  that  end  in  a  homily. 
Vanity,  ashes,  and  mourning  weeds  are  seldom  the  most  apt  themes  of  the  undergraduate 


CRAYON  BLEU.  33 

verse-maker.  If  criticism  is  to  be  made,  we  should  strike  at  this  point, — the  book  is  not 
representative  of  the  best  and  most  characteristic  student  work,  either  at  Yale  or  else- 
where. We  cannot  see  how  such  perfect  work  as  "  Bessie  Allair  "  and  "  Down  the  Road 
to  Sally's  "  can  be  consistently  padded  with  pieces  containing  such  lines  as  "  But  with 
unending  sweet  cadence  the  sentiment  my  heart  had  filled,"  or  "  But  mocks  the  dull  impo- 
tence of  pain."  Omit  a  dozen  of  the  numbers,  and  a  charming  volume  would  remain. 
The  work  of  Messrs.  Boltwood,  Marsh,  and  Pond  sets  the  standard  of  excellence,  and, 
barring  those  pieces  used  for  filling,  the  volume  is  one  for  student  writers  to  be  justly 
proud  of.  o.  s.  D. 

Ginn  &  Co.  announce  The  Irregular  Verbs  of  Attic  Prose,  their  Forms,  Prominent  Mean- 
ings, and  Important  Compounds,  together  with  Lists  of  Related  Words  and  English  Deriva- 
tions, by  Addison  Hogue ;  also,  Euripides,  Iphigenia  among  the  Taurians,  edited  by  Pro- 
fessor Isaac  Flagg,  and  History  of  the  Roman  People,  by  Professor  W.  F.  Allen,  of  the 
University  of  Wisconsin, — to  be  published  soon. 

A.  S.  Barnes  &  Co.  announce  Three  Germanys,  by  Theodore  S.  Fay.  A  new  series  of 
Music  Readers,  prepared  by  Prof.  Benjamin  Jepson.  New  Word  Method  in  Reading,  by 
J.  Russell  Webb.  Songs  of  Praise,  edited  by  Dr.  Lewis  W.  Mudge.  Bible  Studies  for 
1890,  by  Dr.  Geo.  F.  Pentecost.  The  third  edition  of  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott's  Commentary. 
The  People's  Praise  Book,  edited  by  Rev.  Henry  M.  Saunders  and  Geo.  C.  Lorimer,  D.  D. 

Scribner's  for  August  contains  as  a  frontispiece  a  fine  portrait  of  Lord  Tennyson,  taken 
from  a  recent  photograph.  "  Tennyson's  First  Flight,"  by  Henry  Van  Dyke,  and  "  The 
Two  Locksley  Halls,"  by  T.  R.  Lounsbury,  are  interesting  reading.  Dr.  Dwight  con- 
tributes an  article  on  "  Form  in  Lawn  Tennis."  Mr.  Stevenson's  "  Master  of  Ballantrae" 
is  continued.  The  shorter  stories  are  especially  good  in  this  number.  They  are  "  Mem- 
ories," by  Brander  Matthews,  "  A  Pagan  Incantation,"  by  H.  H.  Boyesen,  and  "  The  New 
Poverty,"  by  George  Parsons  Lathrop. 

Lippincotfs  for  August  contains  "An  Invention  of  the  Enemy,"  by  William  H.  Babcock, 
Part  III  of  George  W.  Childs's  "  Recollections,"  "  Personal  Recollections  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,"  by  James  M.  Scovel,  "  Floods  and  their  Causes,"  by  Felix  L.  Oswald,  and  other 
articles  of  interest.  The  poems  are  "  A  Rhyme  of  Old  Song,"  by  Daniel  L.  Dawson, 
"  Tempora  Mutantur,"  by  Walter  Learned,  and  "  Destiny,"  by  Dora  Read,  Goodale.  The 
scientist  should  read  "  Why  I  Deny  Evolution,"  by  W.  G.  A.  Bonwill. 


Exchanges. 


The  quickly  revolving  wheel  of  time  has  brought  around  the  beginning  of  another  college 
year,  and  with  it  the  attendant  loss  of  old,  familiar  faces  and  the  arrival  of  new  ones ;  in  fact, 
everything  wears  such  an  appearance  of  newness  that  it  seems  almost  like  resurrecting  the 
mouldering  remains  of  antiquity  to  go  back  to  the  publications  of  last  year  and  call  them  up 
one  by  one  for  dissection.  However,  I  must  not  give  my  contemporaneous  brothers  of  the 
literary  world  the  opportunity  to  make  the  statement  made  by  an  exchange  when  I  was  an 
editor  of  a  high  school  paper,  by  name  "  The  Enterprise,"  which  was, — "  We  think  the 
'  Enterprise '  would  be  a  little  more  '  enterprising  '  if  there  were  not  quite  so  much  blank 
space  in  it." 

But,  with  my  limited  experience  and  knowledge  of  college  publications,  I  find  a  more 
studied  courtesy  in  the  treatment  of  exchanges,  and  my  fears  are  quieted ;  in  fact,  the 
fault  lies  in  the  opposite  direction,  and  we  often  see  ill-concealed  attempts  to  gloss  over 
the  glaring  faults  of  another  that  are  unnecessary  in  this  age  of  plain-speaking  and  prac- 
tical common-sense.  But  to  plough  up  the  sod  in  preparation  for  the  coming  year,  I  will 
mark  what  I  find  of  especial  interest  in  the  few  exchanges  which  fell  to  me  as  a  legacy. 

The  June  number  of  the  Williams  Lit.,  in  its  leader,  rakes  Mr.  Kennan  all  over  the 
coals,  and  leaves  him  buried  in  the  hot  ashes.  While  not  quite  agreeing  with  the  author 
of  "  Mr.  Kennan  and  Siberian  Prisons  "  in  some  of  his  statements,  yet  the  main  attack 
seems  justifiable.  The  American  public,  including  even  the  readers  of  The  Century,  is 
certainly  beginning  to  look  upon  the  Russian  Bear  as  not  such  an  abnormally  savage  ani- 
mal after  all.  Russia  has  made  great  strides  forward  during  the  last  century,  and  is  now 
but  little  behind  the  nations  of  western  Europe.  But  we  do  not  like  to  have  The  Century 
brought  out  as  aiding  and  abetting  Mr.  Kennan  to  paint  Russia  in  the  worst  possible 
colors.  Most  of  us  have  learned  to  love  The  Century,  notwithstanding  our  differences 
of  opinion  regarding  the  Siberian  articles,  and  dislike  to  see  it  so  mercilessly  abused. 

"  Some  Daily  Themes,"  in  the  Harvard  Advocate  of  June  7,  contains  one  or  two 
very  beautiful  little  sketches,  showing  how  much  can  be  made  out  o  f  simple,  every-day 
occurrences  when  couched  in  the  proper  language.  Much  of  the  poetry  of  the  Midnight 
Reveries,  however,  is  taken  away  by  the  general  "  damning  "  of  everything,  which  occurs 
on  the  same  page.  It 's  the  old  story  of  the  jolly  man  writing  the  morbid,  serious  stories, 
and  the  weazened  old  bachelor  penning  the  scraps  of  fun. 

The  June  number  of  the  Philips  Exeter  Lit.  comes  in  for  a  share  of  the  criticism  which 
the  September  (1887)  number  of  this  Lit.  applied  to  several  of  its  exchanges:  "The 
greater  number  of  exchanges  before  us  are  bristling  with  yards  of  Class  Day  poems,  ora- 
tions, and  Commencement  parts." 

The  Brunonian  for  June,  diving  into  the  unwieldy  mass  of  Matthew  Arnold's  criticism 
of  America,  has  fished  out  and  suitably  bewailed  the  fact  that  "  We  are  forming  for  the 
future  an  uninteresting  national  character;  a  Brown  professor  suggests  there  may  be 
something  in  the  climate  that  is  permeating  us  with  genuine  Indian  stoicism ;  romance 
and  fancy,  sentiment  and  tradition,  are  undeniably  yielding  to  the  demands  of  an  intense 
and  present  practicality."  True,  this  is  an  intensely  utilitarian  age,  but  an  "  intense  prac- 
ticality "  is  incompatible  with  stoicism.  Stoicism  is  absolutely  passionless,  while  the  fever- 
ish rush  and  tumult  of  American  life  almost  defy  portrayal. 


Alumni  Notes. 


That  this  department  may  be  as  interesting  and  valuable  as  possible,  we  solicit  contributions  from 
all.  Items  that  may  seem  unimportant  to  the  contributor  will  no  doubt  carry  to  some  readers  remem- 
brances of  happy  but  departed  days. 

Again,  at  the  beginning  of  another  year,  we  ask  aid  from  the  Alumni  in  making  this 
department  attractive.  We  ask  aid,  not  because  it  has  been  the  custom,  but  because  we 
feel  the  need  of  such  help  as  the  Alumni  alone  can  give.  We  would  carry  out  the  idea 
expressed  in  the  last  number  of  the  Lit.,  and,  instead  of  being  confined  to  the  newspapers 
for  these  items,  have  them  reported  directly  by  the  subjects  themselves,  or  by  any  friend 
of  the  Lit.,  thus  making  the  notes  more  personal  and  fresh.  No  particular  interest  attaches 
to  an  item  in  these  pages  which  was  seen  one,  two,  or  three  weeks  previously  in  the 
newspaper.  We  sincerely  hope  that  neither  lack  'of  interest  nor  over-modesty  will  cripple 
this  department  the  ensuing  year. 

The  following  is  the  necrology  for  1888-89 :  Hazen  W.  Adams,  1847  ;  Nathaniel  H. 
Arey,  1840;  George  H.  Atkinson,  1843;  Otis  Ayer,  1842  Med.  Coll.;  Granville  M.  Baker, 
1866  Med.  Coll. ;  Horace  C.  Baldwin,  1868  C.  S.  S. ;  Elijah  P.  Barrows,  1858  hon. ;  Henry 
L.  Bartholomew,  1864  Med.  Coll.;  Francis  D.  Bartlett,  1824  Med.  Coll.;  Samuel  N.  Bell, 
1847  ;  Enoch  Blanchard,  1852,  1857  Med.  Coll. ;  Silas  M.  Blanchard,  1842 ;  Geo.  A.  Blod- 
gett,  1884  Med.  Coll.;  John  S.  Brown,  1848;  Joseph  B.  Brown,  1845;  Edward  C.  Carri- 
gan,  1877;  George  W.  Chamberlin,  1880  Med.  Coll.;  Albert  P.  Charles,  1864;  Stephen 
W.  Clark,  1862;  John  Cochrane,  Jr.,  1887  Med.  Coll.;  John  B.  D.  Cogswell,  1850;  George 
Cooke,  1832;  Frederick  L.  Coombs,  1883;  Edward  Danforth,  1858  hon. ;  Silas  W.  Davis, 
1864,  1867  Med.  Coll.;  Wendell  Davis,  1857;  Joseph  F.  Dearborn,  1839;  Charles  Good- 
speed,  1881  Med.  Coll. ;  Thomas  Goodwillie,  1863,  1866  Med.  Coll. ;  Calvin  H.  Guptill, 
1839  Med.  Coll.;  Charles  G.  Hale,  1868;  Herbert  J.  Harriman,  1879,  1882  Med.  Coll.; 
Homer  O.  Hitchcock,  1851  ;  James  Holmes,  1838;  John  W.  Houghton,  1847  Med.  Coll.; 
John  P.  Humphrey,  1839;  Yorick  G.  Hurd,  1854  Med.  Coll.;  Gideon  S.  Johnson,  1835; 
John  G.  Ladd,  i860  Med.  Coll. ;  John  J.  Ladd,  1852;  Benjamin  F.  Long,  1831  Med.  Coll. ; 
Abraham  T.Lowe,  1816  Med.  Coll.;  Benjamin  Merrill,  1858  C.  S.  S. ;  Daniel  Moody, 
1877  Med.  Coll. ;  George  O.  Moody,  1863  Med.  Coll. ;  William  D.  Moore,  1839 ;  George 
S.  Morris,  1861  ;  George  W.  Morrison,  1850  hon. ;  George  W.  Niles,  1838  ;  William  T. 
Norris,  1875  hon.;  Bainbridge  C.  Noyes,  1867;  Winslow  S.  Pierce,  1841  Med.  Coll.; 
Caleb  W.  Piper,  1838;  William  Read,  1839;  Alphonso  J.  Robinson,  1848;  George  E. 
Ross,  1859;  Ira  Russell,  1841  ;  Charles  Sabin,  1828;  John  A.  Samborn,  1842  Med.  Coll. ; 
George  Sanborn,  1850  Med.  Coll. ;  William  T.  Savage,  1868  hon. ;  Forrest  Shepherd, 
1827 ;  Alden  Southworth,  1840 ;  Samuel  S.  Taylor,  1859 ;  Charles  Tenney,  1835  ;  S.  Her- 
bert Wade,  1873  Med-  Coll.;  Thomas  L.  Wakefield,  1843;  Eustace  V.  Watkins,  1850 
Med.  Coll. ;  John  T.  Wedgwood,  1862  Med.  Coll. ;  Alvin  C.  Welch,  1868  hon. ;  John 
Wentworth,  1836;  Lyman  White,  1846;  Henry  Winkley,  1880  hon.;  Bartholomew 
Wood,  1841. 

Of  the  seventy-four  Alumni  included  in  the  above  list,  thirty-three  were  born  in  New 
Hampshire,  fifteen  in  Vermont,  thirteen  in   Massachusetts,  seven  in   Maine,  one  each  in 


36  ALUMNI  NOTES. 

Connecticut,  Georgia,  Illinois,  South  Carolina,  England,  and  Scotland.  The  place  of 
death  of  fifteen  was  in  Massachusetts,- thirteen  in  New  Hampshire,  seven  in  Illinois,  six 
each  in  Maine  and  Vermont,  five  in  New  York,  four  in  Pennsylvania,  three  in  Connecticut, 
two  each  in  Florida,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  and  Ohio,  and  one  each  in  Colorado,  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  Indiana,  Nebraska,  New  Jersey,  Oregon,  and  the  Province  of  Ontario. 
The  average  age  of  the  seventy-three  whose  ages  are  given  is  sixty-three  years,  four  months, 
and  five  days.  Seven  were  between  thirty  and  forty,  seven  between  forty  and  fifty,  four- 
teen between  fifty  and  sixty,  seventeen  between  sixty  and  seventy,  twenty-two  between 
seventy  and  eighty,  five  between  eighty  and  ninety,  and  one  over  ninety. 

The  two  survivors  of  the  class  of  1820, — Hon.  Geo.  W.  Nesmith,  of  Franklin,  N.  H., 
and  Rev.  David  Goodwillie,  of  Vienna,  Ohio, — are  still  the  senior  Bachelors  of  Arts,  and 
are  now  the  oldest  surviving  graduates  of  any  department. 

The  sixty-seventh  annual  meeting  of  the  New  Hampshire  Historical  Society  was  held  at 
the  building  of  the  society  in  Concord  on  June  12.  The  president,  Hon.  J.  E.  Sargent  '40, 
presided.  The  recording  secretary,  Amos  Hadley  '44,  read  his  report,  which  was  accepted 
and  placed  on  file.  On  the  committees  then  appointed  were, — Charles  H.  Bell  '44,  I.  K. 
Gage  '76  hon.,  I.  W.  Hammond  '83  hon.,  J.  E.  Pecker  '58  C.  S.  S.,  and  Sylvester  Dana  '39. 
The  report  of  the  librarian,  I.  W.  Hammond  '83  hon.,  was  read,  and  showed  the  receipts 
during  the  year  to  have  been  1,754  pamphlets,  314  bound  volumes,  2  town  histories,  58 
bound  books  from  other  societies,  many  manuscript  sermons,  broadsides,  maps,  and  his- 
torical articles.  The  librarian  stated  that  the  rooms  had  been  open  to  the  general  public 
on  Tuesdays  and  Thursdays  of  each  week,  and  on  the  remaining  days,  Sundays  excepted, 
for  members  of  the  society.  He  recommended  asking  an  appropriation  from  the  state  to 
aid  in  making  the  library  still  more  "useful  to  the  public.  The  report  was  accepted. 
Among  the  officers  elected  for  the  ensuing  year  are, — for  second  vice-president,  John  J. 
Bell  '64  hon. ;  recording  secretary,  Amos  Hadley '44;  corresponding  secretary,  Sylvester 
Dana  '39 ;  librarian,  I.  W.  Hammond  '83  hon. ;  on  committee  on  publication,  A.  S.  Batch- 
ellor  '72;  on  library  committee,  J.  E.  Pecker  '58  C.  S.  S.  Among  those  elected  to  honor- 
ary membership  was  Prof.  Oliver  P.  Hubbard  '73  hon.  A  resolution  of  thanks  to  the 
retiring  president,  Hon.  J.  E.  Sargent  '40,  for  his  efficient  and  satisfactory  management 
during  the  past  two  years,  was  introduced  by  Amos  Hadley  '44,  and  was  unanimously 
adopted. 

The  sixtieth  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Institute  of  Instruction  was  held  at  Beth- 
lehem, N.  H.,  July  7-1 1.  At  the  opening  session,  Hon.  James  W,  Patterson,  state  super- 
intendent of  public  instruction,  welcomed  the  assembled  teachers  to  the  state,  and  went  on 
at  length  to  speak  of  the  great  and  increasing  responsibilities  of  their  calling.  At  the 
fourth  session,  held  July  11,  the  first  paper  was  read  by  Prof.  A.  H.  Campbell '77,  principal 
of  the  State  Normal  School  at  Johnson,  Vt.,  and  Senator  Blair  '73  hon.  spoke  on  "  Na- 
tional Aid  to  Education."  E.  C.  Carrigan  '77  was  remembered  tenderly  by  the  committee 
on  necrology. 

In  October  five  monuments  will  be  unveiled  on  the  Gettysburg  battle-field,  in  commem- 
oration of  the  conspicuous  valor  and  heroism  of  Vermont  soldiers  in  that  decisive  battle 
of  the  war  for  the  Union.  The  total  appropriations  made  by  the  state  for  monuments  and 
grounds  amount  to  $17,500,  and  in  addition  to  this  sum  contributions  aggregating  $4,118.50 
have  been  made  by  citizens  of  the  state.  Among  the  largest  contributors  are  Senator 
Justin  S.  Morrill  '57  hon.,  and  Col.  Franklin  Fairbanks  '77  hon.     The  legislature  placed 


ALUMNI  NOTES.  37 

the  state  appropriations  under  the  control  of  a  commission,  of  which  ex-Gov.  E.  J.  Orms- 
bee  '84  hon.  is  chairman,  and  on  which,  also,  are  Secretary  of  War  Proctor  '51  and  Judge 
Wheelock  G.  Veazey  '59. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  New  Hampshire  Sons  of  the  Revolution  was  held  in  Concord 
June  17.  Among  the  officers  elected  for  the  ensuing  year  was  Hon.  Isaac  W.  Hammond 
'83  hon.  of  Concord,  secretary  and  treasurer,  and  on  the  board  of  management  were  Hon. 
J.  G.  Hall  '51  of  Dover,  Hon.  W.  W.  Bailey  '54  of  Nashua,  and  Hon.  J.  W.  Patterson  '48 
of  Hanover.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  report  at  the  next  annual  meeting  upon 
"  New  Hampshire  at  Bunker  Hill,"  of  which  Hon.  J.  W.  Patterson  '48,  Hon.  George  W. 
Nesmith  '20,  Hon.  Isaac  W.  Hammond  '83  hon.,  Rev.  Samuel  L.  Gerould  '58,  and  Hon. 
L.  A.  Morrison  '84  hon,  are  members. 

On  the  special  committee,  appointed  by  the  speaker  of  the  New  Hampshire  house  of 
representatives  to  consider  the  advisability  of  an  appropriation  by  the  state  for  the  erection 
of  a  statue  of  General  Stark,  are  Hon.  Harry  Bingham  '43  of  Littleton,  Gen.  Gilman  Mars- 
ton  '37  of  Exeter,  and  Hon.  Samuel  D.  Lord  '50  of  Manchester. 

'13.  A  portrait  in  oil  of  Rev.  Joseph  B.  Felt,  LL.D.,  will  be  presented  to  the  college  by 
his  kinsman,  Hon.  Joseph  B.  Osgood,  of  Salem,  Mass. 

'24.  Rev.  Darwin  Adams,  who  died  at  Groton,  Mass.,  August  16,  at  the  age  of  87,  was 
born  in  Leominster,  Mass.,  and  was  the  oldest  son  of  Daniel  Adams,  a  well  known  physi- 
cian and  author  of  school-books.  He  graduated  at  Andover  Theological  Seminary  in 
1827.  His  ministry  was  spent  at  Camden,  Me.,  Alstead,  N.  H.,  Fayetteville,  Vt.,  Dun- 
stable and  Auburn,  Mass.  Mr.  Adams  married  Catherine  H.,  daughter  of  Rev.  Eli  Smith, 
of  Hollis,  N.  H.,  who  survives  him  ;  they  had  been  married  sixty  years.  He  leaves,  also, 
two  sons,  the  youngest  being  Rev.  D.  E.  Adams,  of  Pilgrim  Congregational  church,  South- 
boro',  Mass. 

'26.  Prof.  John  Kendrick,  of  Marietta  College,  Marietta,  Ohio,  died  July  23,  aged  86. 
He  first  took  a  professorship  at  Kenyon  College.  Stanley  Matthews,  ex-President  Hayes, 
and  other  eminent  men  recited  to  him  there.  In  1839  he  went  to  Marietta  College,  and 
held  an  active  professorship  until  1873.  He  was  the  last  surviving  member  of  his  class, 
which  numbered  thirty-six  at  graduation. 

'31.  Hon.  Moses  H.  Fitts,  who  died  recently  in  Santa  Rosa,  Cal.,  aged  82,  was  a  native 
of  Candia,  N.  H.  In  early  life  he  was  a  teacher  at  Elk  Ranch  Seminary,  at  Harper's 
Ferry,  Va.,  and  afterwards  at  Niagara  Falls  and  other  places  in  New  York  state.  He  was 
post-master  at  Lewiston,  N.  Y.,  four  years,  and  for  a  long  time  superintendent  of  public 
schools  in  Niagara  county,  N.  Y.,  and  he  also  filled  numerous  other  civil  positions.  He 
had  resided  in  California  about  fifteen  years,  and  left  a  family.  His  death  is  the  twenty- 
fifth  in  a  class  of  twenty-eight. 

'36  and  '61.  Pres.  S.  C.  Bartlett  and  Rev.  William  J.  Tucker,  D.  D.,  former  pastors  of 
the  Franklin-Street  Congregational  church  in  Manchester,  preached  there  in  August  during 
the  absence  of  the  pastor,  Rev.  C.  S.  Murkland. 

'38.  Joseph  J.  Gilman,  a  planter  of  Canton,  Miss.,  is  on  a  visit  to  Gilmanton,  his  native 
place,  after  an  absence  of  a  half  century. 

'39.  Rev.  Allen  Lincoln,  a  well  known  retired  Congregational  clergyman,  died  in 
Woburn,  Mass.,  July  5.     He  was  born  in  Cohasset  Nov.  24,  1813.     His  pastorates  were 


38  ALUMNI  NOTES. 

at  Gray,  Me.,  and  Saugus,  Mass.  In  Woburn  he  was  formerly  trustee  of  Warren  academy. 
A  widow  and  two  children  survive  him.  Mr.  Lincoln  attended  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
his  class  at  Hanover  last  Commencement. 

'39  Med.  Coll.  Dr.  William  Arms,  who  died  in  Duquoin,  111.,  June  21,  was  born  in 
Wilmington,  Vt.,  in  1802.  He  graduated  at  Amherst  in  1830,  and  in  1833,  immediately 
after  graduating  at  the  Andover  Theological  Seminary,  was  sent  with  Dr.  Croan  as  mis- 
sionary, by  the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  to  Patagonia.  Later  he  went  to 
Borneo  and  Java,  where  he  was  useful  and  effective  in  the  mission  field.  He  returned 
home  a  few  years  ago,  broken  down  in  health,  and  never  fully  recovered. 

'43.  Judge  Robert  I.  Burbank,  of  Boston,  and  family  are  at  their  summer  home  in 
Shelburne,  N.  H. 

'44  and  '71  hon.  Ex-Congressman  A.  A.  Ranney,  of  Bridgeport,  Mass.,  and  Prof.  Robert 
Fletcher,  of  Hanover,  made  addresses  at  the  annual  reunion  of  the  Fletcher  family,  held 
in  Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  August  28.  It  was  expected  that  Secretary  of  War  Proctor 
'51  would  attend  and  make  an  address,  but  he  was  unable  to  be  present. 

'48.  Capt.  William  Badger,  lately  retired  from  the  United  States  army,  is  on  a  visit 
to  his  old  home  in  Gilmanton,  N.  H. 

'49.  The  surviving  members  of  the  class  observed  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  their 
graduation  at  Hanover  last  Commencement.  Of  the  forty-one  who  received  the  degree  of 
A.  B.,  seventeen  have  died.  Among  the  latter  were  Judge  Marquis  de  Lafayette  Lane  of 
Maine,  and  Judge  Clinton  W.  Stanley  of  Manchester,  N.  H.  Prominent  among  those 
living  are  Chief-Justice  Charles  Doe,  LL.D.,  of  New  Hampshire,  Prof.  Mark  Bailey  of 
Yale  college,  John  Bell  Bouton,  author,  of  New  York  city,  Col.  Stephen  M.  Crosby  of 
Boston,  Prof.  Gideon  Draper  of  Tarrytown,  N.  Y.,  Brigadier-General  Joseph  O.  Huduet 
of  Chicago,  Prof.  Spencer  Marsh  of  Washington,  Samuel  W.  Mason  of  Boston,  and  Hon. 
John  P.  Newell  of  Manchester,  N.  H. 

'51.  According  to  computations  made  from  Prof.  Quimby's  surveys,  Massachusetts  is 
holding  760  square  miles  of  land  which  are  claimed  rightfully  to  belong  to  New  Hamp- 
shire. 

'51.  Secretary  of  War  Proctor  attended  Vermont's  annual  muster,  held  at  West  Ran- 
dolph, August  20-24. 

'56.  Judge  Caleb  Blodgett,  of  Boston,  and  family  are  spending  the  season  at  their 
summer  home, in  Canaan,  N.  H. 

'59.  Judge  Wheelock  G.  Veazey  was,  on  September  2,  appointed  one  of  the  members  of 
the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  by  President  Harrison.  His  appointment  was  urged 
by  Secretary  of  War  Proctor,  Dartmouth  '51. 

'59.  Col.  L.  B.  Eaton,  of  Memphis,  will  contest  the  seat  of  the  democrat  who  was 
declared  elected  last  fall  as  a  representative  to  congress  from  the  Tenth  Tennessee  district. 

'60.  Rev.  Arthur  Little,  D.  D.,  chaplain  of  the  Society  of  the  First  Artillery,  Eleventh 
Vermont  Volunteers,  spoke  at  the  third  annual  reunion,  held  in  St.  Johnsbury,  August  8. 

'6i.  Hon.  Henry  M.  Putney,  of  Manchester,  has  been  unanimously  appointed  by  the 
governor  and  council  for  another  term  of  three  years  as  a  member  of  the  New  Hampshire 
Board  of  Railroad  Commissioners. 


ALUMNI  NOTES.  39 

'63.  Mr.  Jesse  Johnson,  who  was  a  delegate  to  the  Chicago  convention  that  nominated 
President  Harrison,  has  been  appointed  by  the  president  United  States  district  attorney 
for  the  eastern  district  of  New  York. 

'64.  Prof.  Isaac  Walker,  of  Pembroke  academy,  will  supply  for  six  months  the  new 
Rye  church  at  Epsom,  N.  H. 

'65.  At  a  meeting  of  the  trustees  of  Dean  academy,  Rev.  H.  I.  Cushman,  D.  D.,  of 
Providence,  was  elected  secretary. 

'69  C.  S.  S.  Mr.  Henry  T.  Rand,  a  merchant  of  Springfield,  Mo.,  died  recently  at  Bed- 
ford, N.  H.,  aged  40.  He  was  a  graduate  of  the  Manchester  high  school.  He  had  been 
twice  elected  a  member  of  the  municipal  government  of  Springfield. 

'70.  Mr.  Lemuel  S.  Hastings,  of  Claremont,  has  been  elected  master  of  the  Nashua 
high  school,  at  a  salary  of  $2,000. 

'72.  George  B.  French,  of  Nashua,  has  resigned  as  a  member  of  the  commission  to 
revise  the  laws  of  the  state,  on  account  of  private  business. 

'73.  Prof.  J.  H.  Wright,  of  Harvard,  has  been  elected  one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  the 
American  Philological  Association. 

'76.  Prof.  Herbert  I.  Barton,  of  the  Normal  Illinois  University,  with  his  family,  has 
been  at  his  old  home  in  Newport,  N.  H. 

'78.  N.  H.  Ray  died  of  apoplexy  July  30,  in  Hyde  Park,  111.  He  was  prominent  in 
educational  work  in  the  West. 

'78.  Isaac  F.  Paul,  Esq.,  made  his  first  appearance  July  22,  in  court,  under  appointment 
as  attorney  to  the  board  of  police,  in  accordance  with  authority  given  by  the  legislature  at 
its  last  session.     Mr.  Paul  is  head-master  of  the  Boston  evening  high  school. 

'79.  C.  W.  French  is  writing  a  "  Popular  Life  of  Lincoln "  for  Funk  &  Wagnalls. 
Prof.  French  was  lately  married  in  St.  Joseph  to  Miss  Mary  C.  Heartt  of  that  city. 

'79.  ■  Joseph  N.  Chapman,  principal  of  the  Marblehead  high  school,  has  tendered  his 
resignation,  to  accept  a  similar  position  at  Pueblo,  Col. 

'80.  Prof.  D.  P.  Dame,  principal  of  the  Littleton  high  school,  has  been  pursuing  a 
course  of  study  in  chemistry  at  the  Harvard  summer  school. 

'80.  Hon.  W.  E.  Barrett,  of  Boston,  was  elected  one  of  the  vice-presidents  at  the  recent 
meeting  of  the  Home  Market  Club. 

'81.  Charles  H.  Howe,  principal  of  the  Adams  (Mass.)  high  school,  had  a  camp  for 
boys  from  July  10  to  August  7  at  Lake  Dunmore,  Vt. 

'83.  John  Pickard,  principal  of  the  Portsmouth  high  school,  was  married,  July  15,  to 
Miss  Jeanie  A.  Gerrish,  daughter  of  the  late  George  A.  Gerrish,  of  Boston,  at  the  home  of 
the  bride's  grandfather  in  Portsmouth.  The  bridal  couple  sailed,  July  17,  for  a  two-years 
stay  in  Europe. 

'83.  Edward  R.  Gulick,  sub-master  of  the  Lawrence  (Mass.)  high  school,  has  resigned 
to  enter  the  ministry.  He  will  take  charge  of  a  Congregational  church  in  Springfield, 
Mass. 


4-0  ALUMNI  NOTES. 

'83.  Rev.  John  Barstow,  of  Groton,  has  received  a  call  to  the  Congregational  church  in 
Glastonbury,  Conn. 

'83.  E.  H.  McLachlin  has  resigned  the  principalship  of  the  Westboro',  Mass.,  high 
school,  to  become  principal  of  the  graded  schools  in  Brattleboro',  Vt. 

'84.  A.  W.  Jenks  has  entered  the  General  Theological  Seminary,  New  York,  to  pursue 
a  course  of  study  for  Holy  Orders. 

'84.  W.  E.  Sargent,  of  Newport,  Vt.,  has  been  chosen  principal  of  the  high  school  at 
Franklin  Falls. 

'84  Med.  Coll.  Warren  P.  Blake  has  been  appointed  one  of  the  pension  examiners  at 
Rochester,  N.  H.,  by  Commissioner  Tanner. 

'86.  Frank  P.  Brackett  was  recently  married  in  Pomona,  southern  California.  Mr. 
Brackett  has  been  offered  the  Tutorship  of  Sciences  in  Dartmouth,  but  has  declined  the 
position,  as  he  prefers  to  remain  at  Pomona  as  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  Sciences  in 
Pomona  College. 

'86.  Thurston  will  continue  his  work  as  principal  of  the  high  school  at  La  Grange,  111. 
A  new  building  has  been  erected  for  the  school,  and  will  be  occupied  this  fall. 

'86.     O.  L.  Manchester  will  be  principal  of  the  high  school  in  Joliet,  111. 

'87.  W.  D.  Quint,  night  editor  of  the  Boston  Advertiser,  visited  Hanover  on  his  sum- 
mer vacation. 

'87.     Henry  Aiken  enters  Princeton  Theological  Seminary  this  fall. 

'88.  We  have  just  received  the  first  annual  report  of  the  class  of  '88.  Of  the  49  gradu- 
ates, 25  have  taught  more  or  less,  namely, — Avery,  Blake,  Blakely,  Brock,  Burnham,  Das- 
comb,  English,  Forbush,  French,  Gleason,  Gregory,  Hoyt,  Keoy,  Lawrence,  Livermore, 
Morrill,  Potter,  Powers,  Sawyer,  Short,  Simonds,  Stevens,  Whitcomb,  Williams  I,  Will- 
iams II. 

Business  of  various  sorts  has  occupied  7, — Artz,  Chandler,  Dunlap,  Fairbanks,  Walker, 
Watkins,  White. 

Law  studies  have  occupied  8, — Carpenter,  Chase,  Clark,  Fisher,  Gove,  Kelley,  Stokes, 
Short. 

Three  have  pursued  post-graduate  study, — Ely,  Gillette,  Hall.  Journalism  has  occupied 
Hall,  Lougee,  Shapleigh,  Simonds,  and  Weeks ;  and  farming  has  been  the  business  of 
Nelson  and  Williams  I.     Harlow  and  Forbush  have  preached. 

Of  the  15  graduates  of  the  Chandler  School,  4  have  taught, — Atwell,  Berry,  Bodwell, 
Denny ;  7  have  been  in  business, — Cobb,  Cunningham,  Hardy,  Hovey,  McCarthy,  Rand, 
Spalding;  2  have  worked  at  engineering, — Hazen  and  Richardson. 

'88.  G.  S.  Blakely  will  continue  as  Instructor  in  English  in  Worcester  academy, 
Worcester,  Mass.,  another  year. 

'88.  H.  S.  Carpenter  is  studying  law  with  Barlow  &  Wetmore,  206  Broadway,  New 
York. 

'88.  There  are  in  Chicago  and  immediate  vicinity  Stevens,  Hoyt,  Sawyer,  English, 
Fairbanks,  Spalding,  and  Hovey. 

'88.     John  W.  Kelley  is  studying  law  with  Frink  &  Batchelder,  Portsmouth,  N.  H. 


ALUMNI  NOTES.  4 1 

'88.     William  B.  Forbush  enters  Union  Theological  Seminary  this  fall. 

'89.     O.  S.  Davis  is  to  be  principal  of  the  high  school  at  White  River  Junction,  Vt.,  the 
coming  year. 

'89.  Dow  and  Smith  intend  to  begin  the  study  of  law  this  fall. 

'89.  Buck  will  be  principal  of  the  Hanover  high  school. 

'89.  Williamson  has  entered  Dartmouth  Medical  College. 

'89.  Curtis  has  been  appointed  Instructor  in  Mathematics  at  Holderness. 

'89.  Baker  has  been  elected  sub-master  of  the  high  school  at  Woonsocket. 

'89.  Warden  is  on  the  editorial  staff  of  the  Leader,  Great  Falls,  Mont. 

'89.  Robie  will  enter  the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Michigan. 

'89.  Ross  is  reading  law  with  Ide  &  Stafford,  St.  Johnsbury,  Vt. 

'89.  Miner  is  principal  of  Coventry  academy,  Coventry,  Vt. 

'89.     Willard  has  entered  the  employ  of  the  Connecticut  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany, at  Nashua,  N.  H. 

'89.     Bugbee  is  principal  of  Newport  academy  and  graded  school,  Newport,  Vt. 

'89.     C.  D.  Hazen  enters  Johns  Hopkins  University  this  fall. 

'89.     Flagg  is  principal  of  the  Richford,  Vt.,  high  school. 

'89  C.  S.  S.     Wellman  has  a  position  as  general  agent  for  Vermont  of  the  Connecticut 
Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company,  with  head-quarters  at  Burlington. 

'89  C.  S.  S.     Bard  is  engaged  in  railway  location.     Address,  Bellair,  Md.,  care  A.  R.  T. 
Leckie. 


F.  L.  BdNNE, 

33S  Washington  8t,t  @@®l@a8 


Constantly  in  Receipt  of  the  Latest  London  Novelties. 

PRICES  MODERATE.  FINEST  WORK. 

THE  LARGEST  STUDENT  TRADE  OF  ANY  HOUSE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Mr.  James  E.  Dennison  will  visit  Hanover  regularly  to  take  orders. 


STORRS  &  WESTON'S 

YOU  WILL  BE  SURE  OF  FINDING  THE 

Latest  Styles  of  Jems'  purnisliings  Jlpugfiout. 


ffle  qli?(i  ecqerjfs  t©i?  frje,  Jdlowi5  v^lofrjirjcr  fe«0. 


-VyTIE    CA-IET    <3-I"V"IE    "2"OTJ 

A  If o.   i   Fit,  wittont  m  Wmmmj   Price* 
CALL  AND  SEE  SAMPLES. 

Our  stock  of  Ready-made  Goods  will  bear  inspection.    OVERCOATS, 
ULSTERS,  and  SMOKING  FROCKS  a  specialty. 


THE 


Dartmouth  Literary  Monthly. 

Vol.  IV.  OCTOBER,  1889.  No.  2. 

BOARD    OF   EDITORS: 

J.  H.  GEROULD.  G.  S.  MILLS.  C.  F.  ROBINSON. 

H.  S.  HOPKINS.  J.  H.  QUINT.  C.  M.  SMITH. 

C.  A.  PERKINS,  Business  Manager. 


WASHINGTON   IN   SEPTEMBER,  1862. 

The  mere  fact  of  having  served  a  year  in  the  army  during  the 
late  war  has  been  a  source  of  increasing  satisfaction  to  me.  Hav- 
ing for  several  years  carefully  preserved  my  college  diploma  and 
my  discharge  paper  side  by  side  in  the  same  drawer,  I  find  myself 
caring  less  and  less  for  the  diploma,  and  more  and  more  for  the 
discharge  paper.  It  seems  so  easy  to  go  on  in  the  same  line 
beyond  the  scholastic  attainments  of  an  A.  B  :  but  I  can  only  call 
it  a  rare  piece  of  good  luck  that  at  the  critical  moment  I  performed 
the  simple  act  of  will  which  allowed  me  to  slip  in  as  a  participant 
in  the  great  event  of  the  century. 

Then,  too,  the  ranks  of  the  Bachelors  of  Arts  are  constantly 
being  swelled,  while  to  the  ranks  of  the  veterans  there  can'  be  no 
accessions.  By  and  by  the  few  survivors  will  perhaps  have  to 
give  up  £11  their  time  to  telling  "  how  fields  were  won."  When  I 
reflect  that  at  the  time  of  my  enlistment  I  had  not  reached  the  mil- 
itary age,  and  now  in  six  months  more  shall  have  passed  beyond 
it,  it  seems,  in  spite  of  youthful  feelings  that  declare  that  it  cannot 
be  true,  as  if  the  time  for  being  garrulous  had  already  come. 

It  was  not  my  fortune  to  be  in  any  great  battle.  A  stay  of  a 
few  days  in  Washington  was  as  memorable  as  anything  in  my  term 
of  service.  Our  regiment  came  to  Washington  on  the  12th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1862,  and  left  it  the  day  before  the  battle  of  Antietam. 


44  WASHINGTON  IN  SEPTEMBER,  1862. 

When  our  boat  touched  at  Fortress  Monroe  on  its  way  to  Norfolk, 
we  received  the  news  of  that  battle. 

The  statement  will  hardly  be  challenged  that  those  September 
days  before  Antietam  were  the  period  of  deepest  gloom  in  Wash- 
ington during  the  war.  With  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  to  be 
sure,  things  went  on  from  bad  to  worse  from  Antietam  to  Gettys- 
burg, but  the  Union  arms  were  gaining  ground  in  the  West, 
whereas  before  Antietam  the  horizon  was  dark  all  around.  In  the 
West,  after  that  dreadful  test  of  the  manhood  of  both  armies  at 
Pittsburg  Landing  in  the  early  spring,  nothing  had  been  done  by 
the  Union  army  worth  chronicling  except  the  hauling  of  Halleck's 
heavy  siege-guns  for  sieges  that  never  needed  to  be  made.  There 
was  nothing  to  offset  the  driving  back  of  McClellan  from  in  front 
of  Richmond  and  the  annihilation  of  the  army  under  Pope. 

The  gloom  that  at  this  time  rested  over  the  whole  field  of  oper- 
ations became  in  Washington  "darkness  which  may  be  felt."  It 
was  felt  by  all,  from  the  President  down  to  the  private  soldier. 
Lincoln  had  just  made  his  "  great  surrender,"  in  putting  the  army 
of  the  Potomac  a  second  time  into  the  hands  of  one  whom  he  did 
not  trust.  His  only  hope  now  was  in  what  McClellan  might 
accomplish.  A  glimpse  of  the  sad-faced,  noble  man,  thus  depend- 
ing and  waiting,  was  something  not  to  be  forgotten. 

The  elite  of  the  army  had  gone  on  into  Maryland  with  McClel- 
lan ;  but  that  larger  army  left  behind,  in  and  around  Washington — 
what  an  army  it  was  !  Perhaps  the  best  description  of  it  would  be 
to  say  that  it  was  tired.  Sometimes  an  individual,  after  hard  and 
continuous  work,  gets  so  tired  as  to  be  absolutely  incapable  of  any 
more  exertion.  This  was  about  the  condition  in  which  the  second 
battle  of  Bull  Run  left  the  Union  army.  It  was  McClellan's  great- 
est achievement  that  he  took  a  part  of  this  tired  army,  and  won  the 
battle  of  Antietam. 

But  the  most  tired  part  of  the  army  was  that  part  left  in  Wash- 
ington. Of  the  men  actually  engaged  in  the  defences  of  the  city  I 
will  not  speak,  but  only  of  those  who,  the  debris  of  an  army, 
swarmed  in  the  streets  and  squares.  The  campaign  just  closed  in 
front  of  the  city  had  closed  with  a  crushing  defeat.     Men  physi- 


WASHINGTON  IN  SEPTEMBER,  1862.  45 

cally  and  morally  disabled  were  everywhere.  They  had  rotted 
through  the  hot  July  days  with  McClellan  at  Harrison's  Landing, 
or  fought  a  continuous  losing  battle  under  Pope  in  August.  They 
had  witnessed  what  they  supposed  was  the  treachery  of  their 
brothers  in  arms,  in  the  bitter  feud  that  rent  the  army  over  the 
merits  and  the  treatment  of  McClellan. 

Washington  had  become  a  vast  hospital  with  a  minimum  of 
organization.  There  were  men  separated  from  their  commands, 
from  every  state  in  the  Union,  and  perhaps  from  every  nation  in 
Christendom.  There  were  seen  wounds  of  every  description,  and 
every  disease  known  to  medical  men.  There  was  doubtless  a 
large  percentage  of  shirks,  who  were  always  tired  when  there  was 
work  to  do,  who  regarded  Washington  as  a  harbor  into  which 
they  were  contented  to  glide  while  others  faced  the  storm. 

The  feeling  seemed  to  prevail,  and  found  for  the  most  part  open 
expression,  that  the  Confederate  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  was 
invincible.  It  did  require  a  sanguine  vein  in  one's  temperament  at 
that  time  still  to  believe  in  the  collapse  of  the  Rebellion.  The  citi- 
zens of  Washington  had  seen  hundreds  of  thousands  of  fine  troops 
pass  southward  to  the  front — men  enough  to  conquer  the  world, 
they  thought.  It  was  difficult  for  them  to  believe  that  these  un- 
promising looking,  jaded  veterans  ever  formed  a  part  of  those 
magnificent  organizations  which  had  marched  to  the  front  with  so 
much  alacrity. 

The  weather  was  a  feature  of  some  moment  in  the  appearance  of 
Washington  in  those  September  days.  Washington  can  be  hot 
in  September,  and  it  was  hot  then.  Along  with  the  heat  was 
dreadful  dust.  All  the  rain  of  that  year  seemed  to  have  fallen  in 
the  spring,  when  McClellan  was  in  the  swamps  of  the  Chickahom- 
iny.  Army  wagons  by  the  thousand  cut  up  the  streets,  and  envel- 
oped everything  in  dust.  There  was  no  question  that  the  mules 
and  horses  were  tired  with  good  reason. 

At  this  time  gold  and  silver  had  gone  out  of  circulation.  If  any- 
body had  had  a  gold  or  a  silver  dollar,  he  could  have  bought  with  it 
nearly  three  dollars  of  greenbacks,  the  legal  tender  paper  money. 
The  government  not  having  yet  introduced  the  fractional  currency, 


46  WASHINGTON  IN  SEPTEMBER,  1862. 

postage-stamps  had  to  be  used  for  small  change.  It  would  not  be 
difficult  to  find  a  better  medium  of  trade  than  postage-stamps  car- 
ried close  to  the  person  in  a  temperature  of  100  degrees  with  dust 
ankle  deep.  There  was  no  accuracy  attainable  in  estimating  the 
value  of  a  sticky,  dirty  lump  of  these,  which  the  offerer  might  aver 
was  worth  fifteen  cents  or  thirty  cents.  It  took,  generally,  quite  a 
thick  mass  to  buy  a  pie,  and  in  most  cases  the  man  who  got  posses- 
sion of  a  pie  in  this  way  took  as  much  stickiness  and  dirt  as  he  had 
passed  to  the  vender.  I  would  not  mention  these  postage-stamps 
and  these  pies,  did  they  not  seem  to  represent,  in  a  manner,  the 
quintessence  of  the  state  of  things  in  Washington  at  the  time. 

In  this  heat  and  dust  and  weariness,  a  new  regiment  fresh  from 
a  Northern  camp  looked  ridiculously  incongruous  with  its  sur- 
roundings. It  was  something  of  an  ordeal  to  fresh  soldiers  to  hear 
the  veterans  assert  that  the  capital  was  in  danger,  and  that  they 
did  not  care  to  save  it;  or  jocosely  remark  that  if  the  "  rebs"  got 
into  Washington,  the  weather  would  see  to  it  that  they  were  roasted 
out. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  had  Antietam  been  a  Confederate 
victory,  Washington  would  have  fallen,  and  recognition  of  the 
Confederacy  and  an  active  support  of  it  by  England  and  France 
would  have  followed  upon  the  loss  of  prestige  suffered  by  the 
Union  cause  in  the  loss  of  the  capital.  Antietam  cleared  the  air. 
If  it  was  a  dismal  failure  when  we  consider  that  McClellan  had 
enough  superiority  in  numbers  to  have  crushed  Lee  and  ended  the 
contest,  yet,  as  breaking  the  line  of  wonderful  Confederate  vic- 
tories, where  a  failure  to  break  it  meant  ruin,  it  was  a  victory. 

A  little  success  and  a  little  cooler  weather  put  new  life  into  the 
worn-out  soldiers,  and  many  men  who  talked  so  despairingly  in 
Washington  at  this  time  doubtless  did  good  service,  and  fell  bravely 
fighting  at  Fredericksburg  or  at  Chancellorsville. 

I  can  never  see  Washington  in  its  present  beauty  and  glory 
without  remembering  how  it  looked  in  the  days  of  its  distress. 

Rufus  B.  Richardson. 


SPECIALISM.  47 


ILLUSION. 

Close  to  my  ear  the  whispering  shell 

Tells  the  tale  of  its  ocean  sleep, 
And  the  lullaby  sung  as  the  restless  swell 

Sweeps  bounding  through  the  deep. 

Oh  no,  my  child !  the  murmur  you  hear 

Of  rhythmic  and  regular  motion 
Is  the  life-current  beating  on  the  ear 

Like  the  pulse  of  the  monster  ocean. 

The  stars  in  soft  ethereal  chime 

Speak  ceaselessly  to  our  race, 
And  tell  of  a  Time  engulfing  Time, 

A  Space  dissolving  Space. 

Oh  no,  my  son  !  'tis  the  soul  that  sings 

As  it  flies  through  the  swift  circling  aeon, 
That  our  mundane  thought  and  mundane  things 

Are  but  part  of  an  infinite  paeon. 

W.  S.  Ross. 


SPECIALISM. 


The  demand  for  specialists  is  becoming  more  and  more  imper- 
ative. Confronted  by  the  ever  accumulating  stores  of  knowledge, 
the  great  associations  in  business,  and  the  multiplication  of  appli- 
ances, one  is  compelled,  whether  seeking  occupation  in  the  fields 
of  scholarship,  or  advancement  in  business,  or  a  livelihood  in  the 
humbler  mechanical  pursuits,  to  choose  some  definite  department 
and  make  himself  proficient  in  it,  if  he  would  excel  at  all.  The 
temptations  are  great,  and  self-mastery  is  necessary.  The  calls 
are  almost  without  number,  while  man  is  but  one.  The  only 
hope  for  those  of  limited  abilities  lies  in  concentration  of  effort. 

"  Let  us  be  content  in  work 
To  do  the  thing  we  can,  and  not  presume 
To  fret  because  it 's  little." 

But  many  men  have  overcome  the  most  trying  circumstances, 
and  seemed  to  make  a  very  boon  of  their  limitations.  Bunyan  in 
a  narrow  cell  accomplished  his  greatest  work,  and  left  a  perpetual 


48  SPECIALISM. 

blessing  to  the  world  in  "Pilgrim's  Progress."  We  can  almost 
feel  thankful  to  the  injustice  which  thus  bound  him  to  this  task. 
Bonnivard,  pacing  back  and  forth  in  Chillon's  Keep  in  agony  of 
mind  for  the  welfare  of  his  little  country,  wore  in  the  rock  those 
marks  which  attracted  Byron,  and  through  his  beautiful  poem  will 
ever  "appeal  from  tyranny  to  God."  John  Eliot,  encouraged  by 
no  friend,  taught  the  Indians  how  to  pray,  and  alone,  in  declining 
years,  translated  the  entire  Bible  for  them.  So  example  after 
example  might  be  cited,  each  of  which  would  tend  to  show  that 
it  is  not  so  much  opportunity  as  concentration  which  tells. 

The  ancients,  it  is  said,  had  seven  sciences,  but  the  number  has 
been  greatly  increased.  If  a  man  try  many,  he  can  but  travel  in 
the  beaten  paths  which  yield  nothing  new.  If  he  would  find 
fresh  treasures  for  his  fellow-men,  he  must,  with  singleness  of  pur- 
pose, go  beyond  into  the  unexplored.  If  Newton  towards  the 
close  of  life  could  say, — "  I  seem  to  have  been  only  like  a  boy 
playing  on  the  seashore,  and  diverting  myself  in  now  and  then 
finding  a  smoother  pebble  or  a  prettier  shell  than  ordinary,  whilst 
the  great  ocean  of  truth  lay  all  undiscovered  before  me,"  it  surely 
will  require  the  skill  and  concentrated  purpose  of  a  Columbus 
to  discover  the  treasure  islands  below  the  horizon  in  this  untrav- 
ersed  sea. 

The  professions,  also,  have  been  multiplied.  The  old  ones 
have  been  divided  and  subdivided  into  branches,  to  work  out  and 
administer  which  men  are  devoting  themselves  exclusively.  The 
world  is  greatly  indebted  to  some,  as  Jenner  and  Pasteur,  Morse 
and  Whitney,  for  the  development  of  one  idea.  Indeed,  he  may 
be  accounted  a  benefactor,  a  genius,  who  helps  his  fellows  by  the 
perfecting  of  one  discovery  or  invention,  the  chronicling  of  one 
original  thought. 

The  departments  of  business,  too,  have  been  so  increased  in 
numbers  and  extent  that  they  open  many  avenues  of  labor.  Men 
in  mercantile  life  devote  their  entire  time  to  studying  and  sup- 
plying some  particular  want  or  whim  of  people.  Railroad- 
ing, telegraphing,  banking, — every  form  of  business,  in  fact, — 
each    calls  for    a    man's  whole  time    and    most  careful    attention 


SPECIALISM.  49 

if  success  is  to  be  achieved;  for  there  are  men,  and  able  men, 
who  are  making  a  specialty  of  each  of  them.  Choose  one,  stay 
by  it,  and  success  is  almost  sure  to  follow.  There  are  remarkable 
instances,  of  course,  of  those  who  have  gained  a  large  measure  of 
success  in  several  lines  of  study  or  of  business,  but  they  are  men 
of  far  more  than  average  abilities,  and  they  have  generally  devoted 
themselves  unremittingly  to  one  line,  and  mastered  it  before  turn- 
ing to  the  others.  So  it  is,  also,  in  the  mechanical  pursuits.  It 
is  a  good  blacksmith,  a  good  carpenter,  a  good  mason,  according 
as  time  and  patience  have  been  invested  in  learning  the  trade. 
A  Jack-at-all-trades  has  come  to  mean  a  jackanape  at  all. 

Perseverance  counts  for  much.  It  is  the  unswerving  plodder 
on  the  straight  road  who  is  most  sure  to  reach  the  goal.  "  Suc- 
cess," wrote  one,  "  in  a  majority  of  instances  depends  on  knowing 
how  long  it  takes  to  succeed."  Another  wrote, — "There  is  no 
road  too  long  to  the  man  who  advances  deliberately  and  without 
undue  haste  :  there  are  no  honors  too  distant  to  the  man  who  pre- 
pares himself  for  them  with  patience." 

As  men  devote  themselves  to  specialities,  the  call  for  specialists 
becomes  louder.  The  supply  but  increases  the  demand.  While 
a  man  devotes  himself  to  one  thing,  he  is  dependent  upon  other 
men  for  the  supplies  for  his  body,  his  mind,  and  even  his  soul. 
He  is  quick  to  detect  the  best  source.  If  a  man  is  having  trouble 
with  his  eyes,  he  will  consult  the  skilful  oculist  rather  than  his  gen- 
eral physician;  if  his  ears  are  failing,  he  will  seek  advice  of  the 
aurist ;  if  a  railroad  corporation  wants  counsel,  it  will 'go  to  the 
lawyer  who  has  made  a  special  study  of  railroad  law  ;  if  parties 
have  a  case  before  the  supreme  court,  they  will  get  constitutional 
lawyers  to  plead  their  cause, — and  so  on  through  all  the  vocations 
of  life.  Men  are  being  driven  into  specialities  by  the  accumula- 
tion of  materials  and  by  the  demand  for  proficiency. 

But  as  we  hear  this  call  for  specialism  rising  far  and  near,  we 
must  not  forget  that  a  certain  liberalism  is  as  necessary  to  the 
larger  success.  As  President  Bartlett  wrote, — "One  limitation  is 
indeed  imperative,  that  all  specialism  shall  stand  on  the  basis  of 
a  previous  liberalism,  and  shall  never  cut  the  bonds  of  a  friendly 


50  DENNIS  DUNCAN'S  STORY. 

alliance."  Man  does  not  live  to  toil  only,  but  to  enjoy.  Appre- 
ciation is  necessary  to  enjoyment,  education  to  appreciation.  Let 
the  education,  therefore,  be  broad.  The  preparation  for  life's 
work  may  be  commenced  too  early.  As  many  avenues  of  knowl- 
edge as  possible  should  be  tried  for  a  little,  that  one  may  appre- 
ciate much,  and  come  by  and  by  into  the  greatest  sympathy  and 
closest  touch  with  those  in  different  walks,  thus  gaining  the  high- 
est conception  of  his  own  and  adding  most  to  it.  The  specialty 
should  not  be  made  a  Procrustean  bed.  Above  all,  a  man  ought 
to  be  larger  than  his  vocation.  A  liberal  specialism  should  be 
sought.  C.  M.  S. 

DENNIS  DUNCAN'S  STORY. 

I  was  a  wild  lad  in  those  days.  The  good  men  of  Holchester 
and  their  wives  were  wont  to  say  that  surely  I  must  have  a  devil ; 
and  had  I  been  unlucky  enough  to  have  been  born  a  woman,  I 
know  not  but  they  would  have  hanged  me  for  a  witch. 

The  fact  was,  my  looks  went  a  great  way  against  me,  for  of  all 
keen  gray  eyes  mine  were  the  hardest  to  look  into  without  shrink- 
ing. Now  I  was  in  no  wise  to  blame  for  this,  as  my  poor  father 
had  just  such  eyes,  and,  withal,  a  violent  temper  which  knew  no 
restraint.  This  was  the  reason  for  the  base  rumor  everywhere 
afloat  in  my  boyhood,  that  I,  Dennis  Duncan,  was  the  son  of  a 
murderer,  my  father  having  disappeared  from  our  home  in  bonnie 
Scotland  about  the  time  that  a  fearful  murder  was  committed  in 
our  little  town — by  whom,  the  Lord  only  knows. 

Well  can  I  remember  how  my  mother  wept  over  me  when  father 
left  her,  praying  God  to  shield  him  and  us  from  the  false  accusers ; 
but  circumstances  were  against  us,  and  the  taunts  I  got  on  my 
father's  account  were  hard  to  bear.  I  grew  up  with  a  fearful  tem- 
per, for  my  sensitive  soul  was  kept  continually  sore  by  the  gibes 
of  my  companions. 

Our  parting  nearly  broke  my  mother's  heart,  for,  when  I  was 
just  sixteen,  with  a  tear  in  my  eye  I  bade  her  farewell,  and  worked 
my  way  across  to  the  settlement  of  the  Massachusetts  colony  called 


DENNIS  DUNCAN'S  STORY.  5 1 

Boston.  Going  north  with  the  king's  officers  into  the  king's 
woods, — now  a  part  of  our  glorious  Union,  be  it  remembered, — to 
search  out  pine  masts  for  the  royal  navy,  and  to  blaze  them  with 
the  king's  mark,  I  was  so  ill  treated  by  the  insolent  Britisher 
whom  I  served  that  I  swore  I  would  serve  him  no  longer,  and  so 
left  him  to  care  for  his  own  tent  and  to  get  his  own  water. 

After  following  an  old  hunting  trail  of  the  Indians  a  whole 
night — for  it  was  full  moon,  be  it  noted — I  pushed  on  till  the  close 
of  day,  when  I  saw  the  smoke  of  a  house  in  the  goodly  town  of 
Holchester. 

I  cannot  stop  here  to  describe  how  weak  and  footsore  I  was, 
nor  how  kindly  I  was  cared  for  by  good  Mother  Eastman, — for 
such  I  would  always  call  her,  whether  she  would  have  me  or  no. 
It  is  enough  to  say,  that  though  Solomon  Eastman  could  scarcely 
endure  me,  and  his  children  shunned  me  like  an  ogre,  he  at  last 
consented  to  his  wife's  entreaty  to  keep  me,  and  I  was  hired 
until  I  should  be  twenty-one,  getting  for  my  services  food  and 
clothing,  with  instruction  in  the  catechism,  in  knowledge  of  which 
I  was  sadly  lacking,  besides  a  promise  of  four  weeks  of  schooling 
each  winter. 

My  life  heretofore  seems  to  me  to-day  to  be  like  the  course  of  a 
dismantled  ship,  such  as  I  have  heard  sailors  tell  of,  drifting  loose 
and  wild  in  mid-ocean.  Abandoned  and  shunned  as  dangerous 
by  all,  it  is  turned  hither  and  thither  by  every  fitful  blast  of  wind, 
till  it  goes  to  pieces  on  the  shore  of  a  desert  island.  But  now 
there  came  a  turn  in  the  tide  of  my  life,  and  a  guiding-star  ap- 
peared that  I  hoped  would  lead  me,  manned  by  my  better  feelings 
and  piloted  by  a  sturdy  will,  into  a  safe  haven.  The  one  thing 
that  I  thought  might  keep  me  from  going  to  pieces  on  the  rocks 
was  nothing  else  than  Deacon  Blackstone's  dark-haired  daughter, 
Hannah. 

The  first  time  that  my  look  fell  upon  her  sweet  face  was  at 
church,  the  very  next  Sabbath  after  I  came  to  my  master  East- 
man's,— for  he  was  a  pious  man,  and  would  sooner  lose  a  dozen 
dinners  than  one  meeting  at  the  church,  and  this  I  learned  to  my 
sorrow.     There   she  sat  among  the   maidens  in  the  east  gallery, 


52  DENNIS  DUNCAN'S  STORY. 

which  was  the  women's,  while  I  was  opposite  in  the  men's,  and  I 
verily  believe  that  the  stoniest  heart  in  the  world  could  not  have 
resisted  her  charming  face  as  I  saw  her  that  morning. 

When  I  climbed  up  the  stairs  under  the  western  porch  and 
entered  the  men's  gallery,  there  was  but  one  person  in  the  world 
for  whom  I  cared  a  farthing,  barring  mistress  Eastman,  and  that 
person  was  my  mother,  whom  I  loved  as  my  own  life.  Now  this 
was  because  I  had  not  then  seen  Hannah,  for  when  I  had  glanced 
forward  at  the  great  high  pulpit  with  winding  stairs  on  either  side, 
at  the  seat  below  in  front  where  the  deacons  sat,  at  the  row  of  pews 
along  the  walls  where  sat  the  'squire,  the  captain  of  the  minute- 
men,  the  school-master,  and  other  great  men  of  the  village,  as  I 
learned  later,  and  at  the  pews  in  the  centre,  I  turned  at  last  toward 
the  opposite  gallery  where  Hannah  Blackstone  was  sitting,  like  a 
rosebud  in  a  bunch  of  daisies  ;  and  she  held  my  eye  till  everything 
else  vanished  out  of  my  sight.  This  could  not  last  long,  however, 
for  presently  the  minister  arose  and  the  services  began. 

I  must  confess  that  my  hearfc,  as  well  as  my  senses,  was  even 
less  attentive  to  divine  service  that  day  than  it  was  wont  to  be — 
which  was  very  little,  I  assure  you  ;  so  when  the  parson  began,  in 
a  slow,  mournful  voice,  to  read  the  line  of  the  hymn  which 
was  to  be  sung  through  by  the  congregation  before  he  would  read 
the  next,  as,  for  example,  "  Hark  !  from  the  tombs  a  doleful  sound," 
I  wished  him  well  through,  so  that  I  might  see  Hannah  Black- 
stone  open  her  pretty  lips  and  sing. 

A  year  passed  by,  and  though  I  served  my  master  Eastman 
faithfully,  and  tried  for  Hannah's  dear  sake  to  keep  my  temper 
while  in  his  presence,  I  could  never  please  him.  The  old-wives 
of  the  village,  too,  as  they  got  their  heads  together  of  an  evening, 
would  invent  strange  tales  of  my  mysterious  appearance ;  and  it 
was  they  who  set  the  story  afloat  that  I  was  in  league  with  the 
devil,  and  had  an  evil  eye.  I  cannot  tell  how  anxious  I  was  lest 
this  story  should  fall  upon  the  ear  of  Hannah  Blackstone,  as  I 
knew  it  must,  and  how  much  more  anxious  I  became  lest  she 
should  credit  it. 

Every  Sabbath  morning  she  walked  from  her  home,  which  over- 


DENNIS  DUNCAN'S  STORY.  53 

looked  the  lake  about  a  mile  from  the  village,  and  every  week  she 
sat  opposite  me  at  church  ;  yet  only  twice  or  thrice  during  the  year 
did  I  have  the  blessed  privilege  of  addressing  her.  The  time 
which  did  my  heart  the  most  good  was  one  Sunday  when  the  dea- 
con, her  father,  being  ill,  her  mother  stayed  at  home  to  attend  him, 
and  my  Hannah, — for  so  I  had  come  to  call  her  when  by  myself, — 
rode  to  meeting  alone.  She  was  somewhat  early,  and  it  chanced 
that  I  also  was  in  good  season,  and  was  standing  alone  by  the 
horse-block  where  her  father  was  wont  to  dismount  and  help  down 
his  wife  from  the  pillion.  I  had  waited  there  before,  ready  to  offer 
a  helping  hand  to  the  deacon  or  his  wife  in  case  of  need,  thus 
hoping  to  win  the  good-man's  favor ;  but  now  how  my  hopes  rose 
and  my  heart  beat  to  take  by  the  hand  the  fairest  of  all  women,  to 
my  mind — his  daughter  Hannah  ! 

I  shall  never  forget  the  smile  that  she  gave  me  that  day  as  I 
took  her  soft  little  hand  in  my  great  brawny  one  to  help  her  down, 
and  offered  to  tie  her  horse  at  a  post  hard  by.  If  it  would  not 
seem  vain,  I  must  say  here  that  I  was  as  well  made  a  }roung  fellow 
as  ever  swung  an  axe,  tall  and  strong — my  mother  even  used  to 
call  me  handsome — but  somehow  my  stern  gray  eye  always  told 
against  me  ;  and  now,  with  my  heart  in  my  throat,  I  had  been 
trembling  lest  my  doom  might  be  sealed  by  a  frown. 

But,  no  !  Hannah  had  not  believed  the  silly  rumors  about  me, 
and  the  skies  never  seemed  brighter  to  me  than  that  afternoon  as 
I  walked  home  to  my  master  Eastman's,  after  helping  Hannah 
mount  at  the  horse-block,  and  watching  her  as  she  rode  down  the 
north  trail  toward  her  home. 

It  was  but  a  few  months  later  that  the  minute-men  were  riding 
through  the  country,  and,  as  I  was  doing  Solomon  Eastman's 
milking  one  June  morning,  Dea.  Blackstone,  who  was  one  of  the 
minute-men,  reined  up  his  foam-covered  horse  at  the  door  and 
shouted,  "  To  arms  !  The  men  are  mustering  at  the  village  :  lose 
no  time  !  "  and  wheeling  about  struck  spurs  to  his  horse  and  gal- 
loped down  the  road.  My  master  at  once  took  down  the  musket, 
powder-horn,  and  bullet-pouch,  and  handed  them  to  me,  and,  after 
Mistress  Eastman  had  put  up  a  loaf  of  bread  and  a  few  things  I 


54  DENNIS  DUNCAN'S  STORY. 

would  need,  he  bade  me  God-speed,  saying  that  if  I  could  serve 
the  country  I  would  be  serving  him. 

I  cannot  tell  here  of  all  the  things,  good  and  ill,  that  befel  me 
in  my  wanderings.  The  men  used  to  say  I  fought  like  a  Horn — 
and  then  I  was  pleased,  not  for  my  own  sake,  but  because  I  thought 
of  one  who  I  hoped  would  like  me  the  better  should  she  hear  of  it. 

It  was  the  memory  of  her  bonnie  face  that  cheered  me  up  in 
those  long  night-watches  before  the  battle  of  Bennington,  and  the 
thought  of  her  that  helped  me  in  that  bloody  fight.  I  need  not 
tell  here  of  our  victory,  nor  how  it  was  I  earned  a  furlough 
by  my  daring — a  rest  I  sorely  needed  by  reason  of  my  long  ser- 
vice in  the  army ;  and  with  a  glad  heart  I  set  out  southward. 

It  was  a  Sunday  morning  when  I  reached  the  village  of  Hol- 
chester,  and,  wearied  with  journeying  the  greater  part  of  the 
night,  I  turned  my  steps  towards  the  meeting-house.  How  pleas- 
ant and  homely  it  all  seemed — the  plain  white  building  with  its 
great  door  in  front,  porticos  on  the  east  and  west  sides,  and  the 
horse-blocks  and  posts  beside  it!  Back  of  it  lay  the  grave-yard, 
and  in  front  a  stump-covered  common.  Now  this  common  was 
thought  by  the  stricter  folk  to  be  neutral  ground,  where  witches 
and  other  evil  spirits  could  be  made  to  take  their  flight  to  regions 
where  they  would  be  more  welcome  than  in  Holchester,  for  at  the 
western  end  stood  the  whipping-post,  and  the  stocks  hard  by  warned 
the  profane  and  the  Sabbath-breaker  lest  he  fall  into  temptation. 

It  so  chanced  when  I  reached  the  meeting-house  that  Parson 
Gray,  who  mustered  a  small  army  of  children  with  his  wife  as  aide- 
de-camp,  was  about  to  lead  the  way  up  the  aisle  and  begin  the 
service.  The  burden  of  the  people  had  gone  in  already,  and  the 
parson,  deigning  to  ask  me  what  success  Providence  had  granted 
our  arms  in  the  north,  I  told  him  briefly  of  our  good  fortune,  and 
went  to  my  own  seat. 

And  now,  though  I  blush  to  make  it  known,  I  must  tell  of  a 
most  disgraceful  plight  into  which  I  fell.  In  the  first  place  Han- 
nah, for  some  unwonted  reason,  was  away,  else  this  thing  would 
never  have  been  ;  for  when,  with  throbbing  heart,  I  stepped  into 
the  gallery  and   saw  she  was  not  there,   my  hopes  fell  flat  and  a 


DENNIS  DUNCAN'S  STORY.  55 

drowse  began  to  creep  over  me.  In  the  midst  of  the  sermon  sleep 
got  such  control  of  rrry  powers  that  I  tried  in  vain  to  shake  it  off. 
I  fell  asleep  in  church  !  What  happened  next,  or  how  long  I  was 
in  this  state,  I  know  not,  but  the  first  thing  that  I  felt  was  a  tick- 
ling upon  my  face.  It  was  the  fox-tail  brush  of  the  tithing-man, 
trying  to  awaken  me.  I  think  I  passed  my  hand  over  my  face, 
and  sank  into  a  deeper  slumber.  A  thud  fell  upon  my  pate  ;  an- 
other and  another.  This  was  enough.  My  father's  blood  boiled 
in  my  veins.  I  sprang  to  my  feet,  looked  my  tormentor  in  the 
eye,  and  quick  as  a  flash  dealt  him  a  fiery  blow.  My  head  swam  ; 
I  reeled,  and  half  dazed  was  carried  out  of  the  church.  Though 
I  would  tell  the  whole  tale,  I  cannot  dwell  on  scenes  like  this. 
They  locked  me  up  in  the  sheriff's  house  till  the  next  morning, 
when  the  town  fathers  resolved  that  I  be  exposed  in  the  stocks 
that  day,  being  allowed  bread  and  water  only. 

More  like  a  child  than  a  brawny  soldier,  I  was  led  to  the  stocks 
at  daybreak  of  that  Monday.  But  my  proud  heart  was  not  wholly 
broken,  though  all  strength  had  left  my  limbs,  for  I  had  not  tasted  a 
victual  for  hours,  and  could  not  rest  for  the  wound  in  my  feelings. 

I  will  pass  over  the  bitter  scenes  of  the  day,  and  the  taunts  that 
the  youth  of  the  village  cast  in  my  teeth  as  they  stood  about  me  as 
if  I  were  their  fallen  foe,  though  the  Lord  knows  I  would  never 
have  wilfully  harmed  a  hair  of  their  foolish  heads,  and  only  once 
or  twice  had  my  temper  made  me  do  aught  to  frighten  them,  and 
that  only  after  it  had  been  aroused  by  gibes. 

But  there  was  one  thing  that  befel  me  in  the  stocks  that  day 
which  I  must  not  pass  over,  as  it  not  only  showed  me  how  good  a 
heart  my  pretty  Hannah  had,  for  I  knew  that  well  enough  already, 
but  also  that  Hannah  Blackstone  thought  more  of  me  than  even 
my  mistress  Eastman  did.  This  was  how  it  happened  :  The  sun 
showed  that  it  was  past  noon  by  about  three  hours.  Those  who 
had  come  to  see  how  Dennis  Duncan  looked  in  the  stocks  had,  I 
supposed,  all  gone  home,  when  who  should  appear  before  me  but 
Hannah  ! 

"Poor  Dennis,"  she  said,  "I  know  you  were  n't  to  blame,  for 
father  has  learned  all  about  what  you  did  at  Bennington,  and  how 


56  DENNIS  DUNCAN'S  STORY. 

tired  you  were  when  you  reached  here."  I  had  been  sitting  in  a 
half  stupor,  having  grown  sullen  and  numb,  but  when  she  spoke  I 
blushed  to  the  roots  of  my  hair,  and  my  heart  jumped  into  my  throat. 
I  could  scarcely  control  myself  when  she  told  me  how  she  heard 
that  Eastman  wished  never  to  see  me  again ;  and  when  she  said 
that  her  father  was  coming  to  take  me  home  with  him,  I  could 
scarcely  answer  her,  for  my  heart  was  so  full. 

At  sunset  the  sheriff  came  to  release  me,  and  sure  enough  there 
in  the  midst  of  the  crowd  was  Deacon  Blackstone,  with  an  extra 
horse  already  saddled  by  him.  In  silence  he  brushed  the  wonder- 
ing crowd  away,  helped  me  to  mount  my  horse,  and,  leaving  the 
crowd  to  explain  these  strange  actions  as  they  might  choose,  struck 
into  the  trail  that  led  to  his  home. 

When  we  reached  his  door  I  was  carried  in,  as  I  learned  later, 
unconscious.  It  was  many  an  hour  later,  when,  waking  from  a 
deep  sleep,  I  saw  the  face  of  the  village  doctor  bending  over  me, 
and  heard  Hannah's  dress  rustle  as  she  passed  my  bedside. 

But  I  must  draw  the  tale  to  a  close.  Good  Deacon  Blackstone 
obtained  from  Gen.  Stark  a  lengthening  of  my  furlough.  Through 
those  long  August  afternoons,  when  the  doctor  said  each  day  that 
I  was  better  than  before,  Hannah  sat  by  my  bedside,  as  she  said 
she  liked  to  do,  and  busily  plied  her  needle  as  I  told  her  strange 
adventures  that  befel  me  and  my  comrades  in  the  war.  ■ 

It  was  the  evening  before  I  was  to  start  back  for  the  army,  when 
Hannah  and  I  were  walking  along  the  shores  of  the  little  lake 
hard  by  her  father's  dwelling,  that  I  told  her  how  her  face  had 
come  up  before  me  while  I  stood  on  guard  at  night,  and  how  the 
thought  of  her  was  the  one  thing  that  kept  up  my  courage  in  the 
fight.  I  will  tell  you  no  more  about  that  moonlight  walk,  but  it 
was  late  before  we  said  good-night,  and  on  the  morrow  when  I  set 
out  on  my  journey  I  was  happy  indeed.  And  later,  when  a  packet 
of  letters  came  for  the  soldiers,  there  often  was  one  directed  in 
neat  handwriting  to  Capt.  Dennis  Duncan,  closing  in  a  few  tender 
words  which  told  me  that,  God  permitting,  Hannah  Blackstone 
would  some  day  be  my  wedded  wife. 

J.  H.  G. 


A    WORD  FOR   COOPER.  57 

A  SONNET 

TO  THE  SOLDIERS  OF  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

O  stalwart  band  that  never  knew  defeat ! 

You  did  not  fight  for  pleasure,  or  for  pay, 

But  proudly  boasted  that  beneath  the  sway 
Of  pure  religion's  power  you  bore  the  heat 
Of  battles  with  the  strong,  and  scorned  retreat. 

And  when  you  saw  the  enemy's  array, 

As  if  already  they  were  in  dismay, 
Triumphantly  you  hastened  forth  to  meet 

Their  mighty  columns  with  a  joyful  shout. 
A  stern  morality  and  holy  fear 

Were  always  present  in  your  camp  throughout, 
Where  each  one  bowed  in  prayer  with  heart  sincere. 

Courageous  soldiers  were  you,  and  devout, 
Who  held  the  liberties  of  England  dear. 

W.  A.  Bacon. 


A  WORD  FOR  COOPER. 

Anniversaries  of  men  and  events  big  with  importance  in  the  his- 
tory of  our  country  are  thickly  strewn  through  these  latter  years 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  Perhaps  it  is  because  of  their  fre- 
quency that  so  little  attention  has  been  paid  the  centenary  of  the 
birth  of  the  first  American  novelist.  Here  and  there  in  our  news- 
papers and  magazines  has  appeared  a  notice  of  the  occurrence  of 
this  event  on  the  15th  of  last  September,  and  in  some  instances  a 
trite  eulogy  of  Fenimore  Cooper  has  been  appended  ;  but  the 
general  spirit  of  indifference  manifested  at  this  time  towards  the 
great  American  pioneer  in  fiction  is  in  marked  contrast  to  the 
ecstatic  enthusiasm  often  displayed  over  the  birthday  of  some 
noted  living  author.  We  can  readily  account  for  this.  In  the 
first  place,  no  author,  living  or  dead,  has  been  so  well  weighed  in 
the  balances  of  a  popular  and  a  judicial  criticism  as  Cooper.  His 
excellences  and  defects,  both  as  man  and  author,  have  been  so 
carefully  and  persistently  pointed  out,  and  there  is  such  unanimity 
of  opinion  regarding  him  after  these  many  years,  that  really  there 
is  nothing  more  to  be  said.     Again  :  In  this  day,  when  psychol- 


58  A    WORD  FOR   COOPER. 

ogy  and  fleshly  naturalism  are  running  a  race  in  the  field  of  fic- 
tion, the  applause  of  the  partisan  onlookers  is  reserved  exclusively 
for  their  favorites.  Those  of  the  realistic  school  of  Tolstoi,  How- 
ells  &  Co.,  and  the  worshippers  of  the  psycho-religious  romance, 
turn  up  their  aristocratic  noses  at  the  prolix,  simple,  homely  story- 
teller whom  our  grandfathers  hated  and  adored  by  turns. 

If  this  be  the  legitimate  result  of  a  cultured  literary  appreciation, 
yet  in  the  very  process  of  the  refinement  of  our  taste  we  may  for- 
get the  starting-point.  It  has  been  noticed  and  remarked  that  the 
student  novel-reader  will  at  the  beginning  of  his  college  course 
call  at  the  library  desk  for  Cooper  and  Scott,  and  will  work  up 
until  we  find  him  an  enthusiastic  admirer  and  appreciative  critic 
of  George  Eliot,  and  Hawthorne,  and  Balzac.  True  perspective 
throws  into  clear  relief  the  beauty  and  richness  of  artistic  creation. 
Tedious  verbosity,  cheap  philosophizing,  unevenness  in  draw- 
ing characters  many  of  which  are  overdrawn  and  manufactured 
in  the  lump,  personalities  and  inconsistencies  incorporated  into 
the  story — the  glaring  faults  of  Cooper's  novels — seem  all  the  more 
glaring  and  inexcusable  when  contrasted  with  the  fine  work  of  a 
master  of  the  higher  fiction,  the  fiction  which  deals  with  the  most 
subtle  and  delicate  analysis  of  motives  and  actions,  a  profound 
philosophy  interpreting  the  human  soul.  Yet  with  all  our  delight 
in  thus  tracing  cause  and  effect  and  studying  the  relations  of 
things,  do  we  never  think  with  longing  regret  of  the  simple  story 
of  adventure  that  so  fascinated  and  absorbed  us? 

Well  do  I  remember  the  time  when  I  first  tasted  of  Cooper. 
Oliver  Optic  and  Mayne  Reid  from  that  moment  never  regained 
a  place  in  my  affections.  I  have  often  questioned  if  ever  I  have 
enjoyed  reading  so  much  as  in  those  wonderful  days.  Little 
thought  was  there  of  the  niceties  and  accuracies  of  character  por- 
trayed, and  of  the  philosophy  of  life.  The  mind  was  not  spurred 
to  intellectual  activity  ;  it  was  intoxicated  with  the  story.  Leather 
Stocking  as  deer-slayer,  pathfinder,  pioneer,  and  trapper — true, 
noble,  philosophical  soul — was  a  hero,  if  ever  there  was  one,  to  loom 
up  majestically  before  the  mind  of  a  boy  !  I  know  of  no  character 
in  fiction  that  will  live  longer  in  the  memory  than  Natty  Bumpo. 


A    WORD  FOR   COOPER.  59 

"  The  men  who  have  given  to  one  character  life 
And  objective  existence  are  not  very  rife; 
You  may  number  them  all,  both  prose-writers  and  singers, 
Without  overrunning  the  bounds  of  your  fingers, 
And  Natty  won't  go  to  oblivion  quicker 
Than  Adams  the  parson  or  Primrose  the  vicar" 

says  Lowell  in  his  "Fable  for  Critics."  It  is  the  unique,  heroic 
individuality  of  the  character,  completely  harmonizing  with  its 
local  setting,  that  is  so  enduring.  But  of  the  other  figures  in  the 
"Leather  Stocking  Tales"  one  cannot  forget  the  mighty  Dela- 
ware chieftain,  the  brave  Chingachgook,  a  crafty  red  man  who 
possessed  true  nobility  of  soul,  or  the  equally  noble  and  courage- 
ous Uncas,  or  Hardheart,  or  the  faithful  June,  or  the  simple- 
minded,  devoted  Hetty,  or  even  the  rough,  reckless  Hurry  Harry, 
the  woodsman  of  such  gigantic  stature  and  strength.  Occasion- 
ally a  wise  critic  tells  us  Cooper's  Indian  never  lived.  Ah  !  well, 
we  know  better,  and  think  that  perhaps  the  wise  critic  is  one  of 
that  unsavory  class  that  believes  no  Indian  good  but  a  dead  one. 
We  must  admit  that  Cooper  fashioned  his  women  all  of  the  same 
clay,  yet  they  exemplify  the  humbler  womanly  virtues,  and  we 
will  forgive  them  for  not  being  of  varying  temperaments,  and  par- 
agons of  intellectuality.  Such  would  hardly  have  been  the  fit 
companions  of  trappers  and  Indians. 

For  thrilling,  absorbing  interest,  the  notable  scenes  in  the 
"Leather  Stocking  Tales"  and  in  the  "Sea  Tales"  are  unsur- 
passed. For  instance,  who  can  read  the  account  of  Hurry  Harry's 
furious  rough-and-tumble  fight  with  the  fierce  Hurons  in  the  float- 
ing cabin  of  old  Hutter,  and  not  feel  himself  an  eye-witness  of  the 
terrific  struggle  ?  As  a  boy  of  twelve  I  remember  reading  it  and  re- 
reading it,  with  bated  breath,  until  I  was  an  active  participant  in  the 
gory  fray.  Not  even  the  duel  between  the  Saracen  and  the  Cru- 
sade* in  "The  Talisman,"  nor  the  storming  of  the  castle  of  Front- 
de-Boeuf  in  "  Ivanhoe,"  makes  a  stronger  impression  upon  the 
youthful  mind.  And  in  "  The  Pilot,"  where  the  frigate  is  handled 
safely  through  the  shoals  by  the  unknown  Mr.  Gray,  one  finds  no 
racier  and  more  stirring  description  in  the  English  language. 

Upon  the  vastness  of  the  sea  and  in  the  trackless  forest,  amid 


60  HELENE   AM  KLA  VIER. 

the  phenomena  of  nature,  with  sailor,  Indian,  and  frontiersman  as 
companions,  Cooper  reigns  supreme.  Incident  crowds  upon  inci- 
dent, and  we  see  in  panoramic  review  vast  pictures.  Detail  and 
finish  are  wanting,  but  if  we  look  with  telescopic  eye  we  find  the 
outline  bold  and  strong  and  free.  As  our  literary  taste  ripens 
we  may  prefer  the  microscopic  search  to  which  the  great  novelists 
of  the  modern  day  invite;  yet  we  should  not  forget  our  indebted- 
ness to  the  romanticist  Cooper  of  the  generation  past. 

I  believe  the  reading  of  Cooper  marks  the  budding  point  of 
many  an  one's  literary  taste,  and  it  may  prove  his  intellectual  sal- 
vation. There  is  a  wholesomeness  and  a  vivifying  breeziness  in 
Cooper's  work,  savoring  of  the  woods  and  sea  he  loved  so  well, 
which  invigorate  and  make  strong  the  maturest  mind,  and  will,  so 
long  as  man  and  nature  feel  the  same  life-throb. 

G.  S.  M. 


HELENE  AM  KLAVIER. 

Her  graceful  form  all  robed  in  white, 

Crowned  with  a  wealth  of  midnight  hair — 

She  deftly  frees  the  quiv'ring  might 
Yon  great  piano  prisons  there. 

A  touch: — the  grumbling  thunder  rolls, 
And  livid  lightnings  cleave  the  air : 

Slow,  softer  now — the  vesper  tolls, 
And  tired  peasants  kneel  in  prayer. 

The  green  boughs  wave,  the  fountains  plash, 
Arcadia's  breath  is  in  the  breeze ; 

With  twittering  flirt  and  noisy  dash 
The  song-birds  mate  among  the  trees. 

Thus  calm  and  storm  obey  her  will, 
Her  fingers  hope  and  fear  control, 

While  rapturous  passion,  fierce  or  still, 
Waves  its  deep  surges  o'er  my  soul. 


C.  F.  R. 


TINTS  OF  AZURE.  6l 


TINTS  OF  AZURE. 


Come  with  me  to  a  hill  that  I  know  well.  It  is  not  hard  to 
climb.  We  will  leave  the  high-road  through  a  rickety  old  set  of 
bars,  and  go  through  this  stony  pasture,  where  a  flock  of  nearly  a 
hundred  sheep  have  engineered  out  fine  foot-paths  for  us,  up  a 
long  ascent,  surprising  the  white  bunches  of  wool  on  every  side, 
around  a  sharp  curve  and  along  a  comparatively  level  space,  till 
we  stand  where  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  the  region  made  his 
rude  house.  The  spot  is  now  marked  only  by  a  weedy  cellar,  and 
a  magnificent  old  willow  branching  out  almost  from  the  ground, 
its  spreading  limbs  affording  delightful  seats  whereon  to  rest  for 
a  moment.  The  man  who  built  his  house  in  this  lonely  place  had 
the  soul  of  a  poet,  if  not  of  a  painter.  For  just  cast  your  eye  to 
the  north.  The  whole  horizon  is  a  line  of  blue  mountains.  Foot- 
hills of  various  shades  of  green  and  brown  are  in  the  foreground, 
away  down  at  our  feet  stretches  a  chain  of  lakes,  and  just  back  of 
them  are  white  houses  and  a  village  spire. 

Up  we  go  again,  scrambling  over  granite  ledges  and  through 
scraggy  birches,  through  whose  interstices  we  see  occasional 
glimpses  of  the  distant  mountains.  I  will  bring  you  out  suddenly 
on  a  bare  ledge,  and  a  sudden  turn  to  the  north  places  you  before 
the  eternal  guardians  of  our  Granite  State.  How  could  I  stop  to 
name  them  all, — Moosilauke,  Lafayette,  Twins,  Chocorua,*Kiar- 
sarge,  Ossipee  : — who  that  knows  them  not  cannot  appreciate  the 
full  power  of  their  individualities  !  To  be  sure,  the  invidious 
Whiteface  obtrudes  his  ugly  scar  between  us  and  the  Presiden- 
tial range.  But  there  they  are,  all  lesser  lights,  but  yet  lights. 
Old  Moosilauke  stands  without  peer  among  solitary  peaks.  He 
crouches  like  a  lion  on  a  great  pedestal  of  foothills,  whose  founda- 
tions seem  to  sink  to  measureless  depths,  ever  broadening  down 
into  the  bottom  lands.  Lafayette  is  erect,  manly,  strengthen- 
ing, like  its  great  namesake,  with  finger  pointing  silently  upward 
as  if  calling  man  to  a  higher  liberty  of  thought.  O  Liberty  ! 
How  fitting  that  our  granite  hills  should  bear  the  names  of  thy 
great  champions  !     For  truly  they  incite  in  every  one  who  beholds 


62  TINTS   OF  AZURE. 

them  a  longing  for  freedom — a  wild  sense  that  there  is  something 
nobler  and  grander  in  man's  life  than  the  mere  struggle  for  exist- 
ence. Are  not  their  heaven-pointing  crags  the  type  of  the  ideal 
in  our  landscape?  Old  Whiteface  truly  shows  the  marks  of  fierce 
struggles  in  his  striving  -heavenward,  but  he  has  finally  come  off 
victorious  in  spite  of  a  great  rent  extending  from  top  to  bottom, 
widening  as  it  descends,  and  gleaming  from  this  distance  white  as 
snow.  For  miles  around  the  children  babble  of  "The  Slide," 
when  they  know  no  other  object  in  the  landscape.  What  an 
urbane  family  are  those  mountains  of  Sandwich  and  Campton 
and  Waterville  !  They  seem  so  polished  and  gracious  and  self- 
possessed,  like  a  cultivated  circle  of  choice  friends  !  Yet  I  doubt 
not  a  closer  acquaintance  might  show  them  to  be  the  veriest  old 
giants,  rough  and  forbidding.  Distance  could  make  even  the 
Brobdingnags  attractive, — and  these  mountains  have  broad,  gen- 
erous proportions,  well  rounded,  such  as  always  look  well  a  little 
way  off,  no  matter  what  may  be  the  polish  of  the  surface.  Cho- 
corua  ! — as  thy  jagged  rocks  rise  before  me  there  comes  to  my 
mind  that  story  which  memories  of  childhood  have  fastened  for- 
ever to  thy  name  !  I  see  the  last  red  man  fleeing  with  bloody 
hands  from  the  fast  following  settler.  He  reaches  the  crest;  the 
pale-face  presses  him  close.  He  leaps  from  the  crag,  but  ere  he 
springs  he  throws  a  blighting  curse  on  all  the  country  around. 
To  this  day  the  mountain  he  cursed  lies  bare  to  wind  and  rain ; 
and  cattle,  so  the  stage-driver  told  me,  as  I  rode  by  his  base  one 
winter's  day,  can  live  little  more  than  two  seasons  in  the  pastures 
at  his  feet.  And  here  is  Ossipee,  one  of  those  comfortable,  well- 
to-do  looking  mountain  ranges.  Look  through  that  gap  between 
Chocorua  and  Ossipee,  just  over  the  eastern  end  of  Red  Hill :  if 
the  day  is  clear,  I  promise  you  a  sight  of  a  distant  peak  almost 
hidden  by  intervening  haze.  That  is  Kiarsarge,  the  famous 
mountain  of  North  Conway.  Red  Hill  is  in  the  foreground,  just 
covering  the  base  of  Chocorua.  The  hues  of  the  sunset  have  got 
into  that  hill,  as  it  has  stood  there  year  after  year  watching  old 
Sol  set  on  the  scene  he  is  so  loth  to  leave  !  At  all  times  of  year 
it  is   clothed  in  a  beautiful  soft  purple,  holding  up  to  the  inhab- 


TINTS  OF  AZURE.  63 

itants  the  promise  or  surety  of  beautiful  days.  And  the  lake,  O 
the  lake — "Smile  of  the  Great  Spirit!" — dotted  with  its  many 
islands,  its  silvery  sheet  gleaming  in  the  morning  sun,  or  growing 
strangely  dark  and  thoughtful  as  evening  comes  down  upon  it ! 
And  here  I  will  lead  you  to  a  little  loophole  in  the  trees  where 
you  can  look  from  an  almost  perpendicular  cliff  upon  the  outflow- 
ing river,  the  busy  manufacturing  towns,  and  the  "  Bay,"  down, 
down,  seven  hundred  feet  below  us  and  scarcely  a  mile  distant, 
and  beyond  more  mountains  and  hills  innumerable.  If  you  would 
see  this  scene  in  its  highest  beauty,  let  it  be  on  a  calm,  cloudless 
afternoon,  when  mountains  and  lakes  are  tinted  with  deepest 
azure,  and  no  sound  greets  our  ears  save  an  occasional  distant 
whistle  from  passing  train  or  boat,  and  then  tell  me  if  beauty  and 
strength  and  majesty  and  poetry  do  not  exist  in  this  great  globe 
we  call  our  earth  ! 

C.  F.  R. 


The  Chair. 


We  Dartmouth  men  very  often  fail  to  appreciate  the  reputation 
and  position  of  our  college  outside  of  New  England.  One  may 
be  a  graduate  of  some  years'  standing  before  realizing  the  extent 
of  the  name  and  fame  of  his  alma  mater,  and  then  this  realiza- 
tion is  not  complete,  but  is  ever  on  the  increase.  Additional  testi- 
mony to  the  widely  extended  influence  of  Dartmouth  has  of  late 
years  come  through  undergraduates  who  have  attended  conven- 
tions and  conferences  representative  of  the  college  world  of 
America.  It  has  been  noted  and  remarked  by  them  that  no  col- 
lege, hardly  excepting  the  large  universities,  seems  better  known 
in  the  South  and  West  than  our  own  Dartmouth.  A  study  of 
the  college  catalogue  for  many  years  back  shows  plainly  that 
Dartmouth  draws  its  supply  of  men  mainly  from  New  England, 
and  that  the  majority  of  these  come  from  New  Hampshire  and 
Vermont.  As  a  consequence  it  might  be  expected  that  the 
interests  of  the  college  would  be  local,  but  alumni  records  and 
recent  class  reports  tell  a  different  story.  These  reveal  the  fact 
that  a  very  large  proportion  of  each  class  leave  their  native  states, 
and  scatter  far  and  wide  through  the  country.  Wherever  they 
go,  winning  their  way  and  reaching  places  of  distinction  and 
trust,  their  success  is  in  a  large  measure  credited  to  the  college, 
and  rightly.  These  sturdy,  capable  New  England  boys,  whose 
work  again  and  again  proves  that  the  appellation  of"  Dartmouth 
graduate  "  is  synonymous  with  the  qualities  of  push  and  energy 
that  are  building  up  our  country  and  making  it  the  greatest  of 
nations,  are  living  advertisements  of  the  worth  of  our  grand  old 
college. 


Each  year  Dartmouth  holds  its  own  in  respect  to  numbers,  and 
little  more.  While  this  is  certainly  a  condition  of  affairs  which 
warrants   no   complaint,  yet  it  would   seem   more  indicative   of  a 


THE  CHAIR.  65 

future  meet  for  the  glorious  past,  if  there  were  a  marked  increase 
in  the  size  of  each  entering  class.  The  supply  from  the  Eastern 
states  is  unfailing,  but  Dartmouth  ought  to  receive  more  support 
beyond  the  confines  of  New  England.  We  have  mentioned  the 
wide  dispersion  of  graduates.  Very  many  of  them  are  engaged 
in  educational  work,  and  their  influence  could  be  exerted  legiti- 
mately to  great  advantage  for  their  college.  The  surprising  mul- 
tiplication of  colleges,  excellent  in  their  way,  in  the  West  and 
South,  necessarily  draws  from  the  older  and  better  equipped  East- 
ern institutions,  and  the  competition  for  patronage  is  very  fierce. 
Each  college  must  depend  for  its  continued  welfare  upon  the  faith- 
fulness and  loyalty  of  its  alumni.  As  Dartmouth  men  are  noted 
for  their  enthusiastic  devotion  to  their  alma  mater,  we  should  see 
abundant  proof  of  it  in  accessions  from  those  parts  of  the  South 
and  West  where  our  graduates  are  located.  Some  of  our  young 
alumni  are  just  now  having  great  opportunities  offered  them. 
Let  them  give  evidence  of  their  faith  and  love. 


Already  has  a  little  interest  been  shown  by  '92  in  competition 
for  the  three  places  on  the  editorial  board  to  be  filled'  at  the  close 
of  the  year.  It  is  our  hope  that  this  may  not  prove  to  be  merely 
a  temporary  and  spasmodic  interest,  but  one  which  will  steadily 
strengthen.  An  appreciation  of  the  importance  and  honor  of  a 
position  as  Lit.  editor,  and  of  the  personal  advantage  it  carries 
with  it,  should  be  sufficient  to  induce  every  man  who  has  talent, 
aspiration,  and  the  willingness  for  work,  to  put  forth  an  earnest 
effort.  We  have  a  word  of  practical  encouragement  and  advice 
to  offer. 

Who  can  write?  It  is  impossible  at  first  to  single  out  from  a 
class  those  who  have  talent  for  composition.  Athletic  and  schol- 
arly men  come  here  heralded,  or,  if  not,  it  usually  requires  less 
than  a  year  to  find  them  out.  Seldom  is  this  the  case  with  the 
men  who  become  the  "  literary  men"  of  the  college.  A  genius, 
certainly,  cannot  hide  his  light  under  a  bushel,  but  this  species  of 
the  literary  homo  is  rarely  among  us.  Again  and  again  has  it 
seemed    as  if  the  vigorous   thinkers   and   able  writers  of  a  class 


66  THE   CHAIR. 

were  developed  from  men  who  gave  little  indication  at  the  begin- 
ning of  their  course  of  possessing  anything  which  others  lacked. 
Yet  had  these  men  been  thoroughly  known,  their  almost  surprising 
development  would  not  have  appeared  unlikely.  In  nearly  every 
instance  they  were  men,  if  not  of  wide,  at  least  of  careful,  reading  ; 
men  of  critical  literary  taste  ;  but,  above  all,  they  were  men  who 
were  not  afraid  of  hard,  faithful  work.  Without  the  first  two 
characteristics  it  is  doubtful  if  there  would  have  been  much 
growth  of  literary  ability ;  but  the  last  qualification — capacity 
for  work — was  an  absolute  essential,  and  the  great  factor  of  suc- 
cess. In  contrast,  some  men  seem  to  feel  it  a  disgrace  to  spend 
time  upon  anything.  They  talk  about  dashing  off  a  sonnet,  or 
reeling  off  a  story  in  a  couple  of  hours,  or  finishing  an  essay  in  an 
evening.  We  have  seen  those  who  always  worked  in  this  way, 
and  did  good  work,  although  their  work  seldom  rose  above  par, 
but  nine  out  of  every  ten  are  utterly  incapable  of  writing  decent 
English  with  such  methods  of  composition.  Nothing  is  more 
annoying  and  exasperating  to  an  editor  than  to  have  thrown  upon 
him  for  careful  inspection  work  that  is  simply  worthless  because 
hastily  prepared.  Often  he  finds  in  it  the  germ  of  what  might 
have  grown  into  a  really  creditable  production,  and  sorrow  is 
mingled  in  his  cup  of  indignation.  It  is  not  a  sign  of  smartness  to 
produce  a  mediocre  article  in  a  day ;  it  is  a  sign  of  sense  and 
ability  to  conceive  and  prepare  a  well  written  article  in  a  month. 
It  is  the  former  class,  rather  than  the  latter, — the  man  who  knows 
what  good  writing  is,  and  is  willing  to  try  to  write  well,  though  it 
may  cost  him  many  a  nervous  frenzy  and  period  of  discourage- 
ment, rather  than  the  more  brilliant  but  erratic  and  less  reliable 
individual,  who  thinks  to  make  up  in  smartness  all  else  he  lacks, — 
that  we  seek  to  enlist  among  competing  contributors  to  the  Lit. 

Let  no  one  who  has  the  least  desire  to  become  a  writer  for  the 
college  press  think  himself  incapable.  He  should  try  his  wings: 
perchance  they  may  prove  stronger  than  he  thinks.  Indeed,  no 
man  knows  what  is  in  him  until  he  has  tested  himself.  Men  of 
'92,  give  yourselves  a  fair  trial,  and  we  shall  have  little  difficulty 
in  finding  you  out ! 


THE  CHAIR.  67 

We  commend  the  live  interest  manifest  in  foot-ball  circles. 
Good  management,  continued  and  hard  training  on  the  part  of  the 
players,  and  the  generous  financial  support  of  the  college,  are 
telling  factors  in  success.  Let  there  be  no  doubt  this  year  as  to 
who  merits  the  pennant. 

We  would  not  seem  to  fall  into  a  rut  of  self-glorification,  yet  we 
must  say  we  have  reason  to  be  proud  of  that  college  spirit  which 
nothing  daunts,  which  rallies  every  time  with  as  good  grace  and 
will  after  the  disappointment  of  pet  hopes  as  after  unqualified 
success.  Pluck  and  perseverance  are  as  noble  characteristics  for 
a  college  as  for  an  individual. 


We  think  we  have  noticed  a  gradual  improvement  in  the  chapel 
speeches  the  last  three  years.  Not  that  one  class  has  excelled 
another  in  the  number  of  remarkable  addresses,  but  the  average 
quality  seems  to  be  higher  each  succeeding  year.  The  spirit  of 
indifference  often  prevalent  is  yielding  to  a  right  appreciation  of 
individual  responsibility  for  a  creditable  appearance.  It  is  hard 
to  realize  why  it  should  ever  be  otherwise.  If  one  but  think  it,  he 
has  the  opportunity  of  his  college  course  to  raise  himself  in  the 
estimation  of  all  his  fellows.  Men  may  joke  about  the  easy  way 
so-and-so  got  through  the  trying  ordeal,  but  they  would  respect 
so-and-so  infinitely  more  if  he  had  been  equal  to  the  occasion. 
Indeed,  a  man  ought  to  have  more  self-respect  than  to  presume  to 
appear  before  the  college  and  offer  a  few  maudlin  remarks  as  his 
part  of  the  most  important  rhetorical  exercise  of  the  course.  One 
need  not  be  an  orator  or  a  literary  man  to  appear  well  upon  the 
old  chapel  stage.  Surely  in  three  years  a  man  must  have  inter- 
ested himself  in  some  particular  subject.  Whether  it  be  in  the 
field  of  science,  philosophy,  or  literature,  or  even  if  it  be  only  a 
practical  every-day  topic,  let  him  bring  to  bear  upon  it  all  his 
power  of  mind,  and  he  and  the  college  will  derive  the  benefit. 


By  the  Way. 


Come  with  me  a  moment,  friend,  across  the  broad  moorlands  of 
France,  that  sweep  down  into  valleys  carpeted  in  velvety  green, 
dotted  here  and  there  with  flocks  and  herds,  to  the  village  of  Barbi- 
zon,  where  Millet — the  great  Millet — lived,  felt,  painted,  and  died. 
It  is  near  sunset :  a  peasant  woman  and  lad  are  busy  harvesting 
their  crop  of  potatoes  in  a  tilled  field.  A  loaded  barrow  is  by 
their  side.  Over  the  russet  plain  in  the  background  rises  a  church 
spire.  But,  hark  !  The  evening  chime  rings  out  from  the  steeple, 
and  we  see  the  dim  forms  of  woman  and  boy  bowed  devoutly  in 
prayer.  It  is  a  simple  scene,  yet  the  bystander  is  moved  to  follow 
the  example  of  the  blue-bloused  peasant  lad,  and  reverently 
remove  his  hat.  Such,  in  words — poor  words  that  tell  but  half 
the  tale — is  what  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  has  just  paid  five 
hundred  thousand  francs  for  upon  canvas.  The  Angelus,  by  all 
critics,  is  considered  the  noblest  of  Millet's  works.  It  touches  the 
deepest  chord  of  the  human  heart, — the  religious  sentiment.  In  a 
copy,  they  say,  the  spell  of  Millet's  work  is  broken,  but  when  I 
first  saw  in  an  etching  those  dark  figures  standing  still  in  that 
lonely  field,  those  plain,  sober  faces  bent  in  heartfelt  prayer,  I,  too, 
seemed  to  hear  the  distant  carillon,  and  felt  a  thrill  of  sympathy 
for  the  silent  worshippers. 


Millet  was  the  Wordsworth  of  French  painting.  Breaking 
away  from  the  toils  of  classicism,  he  sought,  like  Wordsworth,  to 
represent  the  scenes  about  him,  animating  them  with  a  vivid  imagi- 
nation, and  breathing  into  them  his  own  spirit.  The  peasant  was 
his  hero — his  model ;  and  the  artist  sought  not  to  paint  him  in  the 
colors  of  the  realist,  merely  as  a  healthy  animal  or  a  picturesque 
object,  but  as  a  creature  of  joys  and  sorrows. 

Dimness  of  outline,  freedom  from  detail,  mystery,  harmony  of 
grouping,  and  withal  exquisite   coloring,  are  Millet's  characteris- 


BY  THE   WAY.  69 

tics.  With  these  methods  of  treatment,  in  addition  to  a  masterly- 
skill  and  sympathetic  nature,  Millet's  works  have,  since  his  death 
fourteen  years  ago,  raised  him  from  comparative  obscurity  to  the 
highest  place  among  modern  French  artists. 

A  great  painting  like  this  of  Millet's  is  not  merely  a  thing  of 
beauty,  a  delight  to  the  eye  and  mind,  but  it  is  an  educator,  refin- 
ing, ennobling,  and  fitting  for  higher  enjoyment. 

Far  removed  from  art  collections  and  musical  centres,  we  in  our 
grand  old  "fresh-water"  college  have  been  in  great  measure 
denied  such  advantages  for  self-culture,  but  surely  and  steadily 
they  are  coming.  A  chapel  of  well-nigh  perfect  beauty  now 
welcomes  us  every  morning,  and  the  student  no  longer  waxes 
boisterous  in  the  face  of  hacked  and  frowning  benches,  but,  recog- 
nizing the  peaceful  beauty  of  the  place,  he  respects  it,  and  it  helps 
him  to  be  decorous  and  refined.  Next  will  come  the  art  building, 
and  what  a  host  of  refining  influences  will  attend  it ! 


Well,  my  good  friend,  I  fear  I  have  wearied  you  with  this  long 
homily  ;  and  why  on  earth  should  I  keep  you  in  this  stuffy  study 
while  just  without  October  is  distributing,  gratis  as  it  were,  pack- 
ages of  sunshine  and  fresh  air  to  all  who  will  accept.  In  this  case, 
certainly,  there  is  a  prize  in  every  package,  a  charm  warranted  to 
ward  off  every  sort  of  physical,  mental,  and,  I  may  as  well  add, 
moral  disease.  You  probably  know,  or  at  least  have  heard 
of,  people  who  take  their  respective  allowance  of  dyspepsia  as 
regularly  as  their  hearty  meals,  and  thank  Providence  for  afford- 
ing them  such  excellent  means  for  disciplining  their  individual 
patience.  Now  you  and  I  would  take  exception  to  this,  and  I 
think  we  can  agree  that,  if  we  get  to  be  sick  and  melancholy, 
either  we  or  our  parents  are  in  large  measure  to  blame  for  it. 
The  campus,  the  fields,  and  the  woods  are  nature's  own  dispen- 
saries :  fresh  air  and  sunlight  are  her  pills,  and  they  are  always 
sugar-coated. 


7o 


BY  THE   WAY. 


These  are  the  days  when  Dame  Nature  is  renewing  her  youth. 
How  blithe  she  looks,  decked  in  scarlet  and  gold !  Quite  a 
contrast,  is  it  not,  to  her  plain,  green  apparel  of  every  day.  Yet 
so  gradually  do  the  mystic  forces  at  work  in  her  laboratories 
change  the  leaf-green  of  each  fibre  to  crimson,  that  we  scarcely 
note  the  increasing  blush  of  the  leaf,  and  we  daily  wonder  at  the 
mysterious  flight  of  time. 


As  we  stroll  along  these  country  roads  we  find  that  we  are  not  the 
only  travellers  on  the  way,  for  in  these  birches  with  yellowing  leaves 
are  resting  troops  of  merry  voyagers  from  the  north.  It  is  near 
mid-day,  and  they  seem  to  be  taking  their  ease  about  their  way- 
side inn,  for  many  of  our  birds  of  passage  spend  the  night  upon 
the  wing,  in  order  to  rest  and  to  feed  by  day.  What  a  multitude 
of  new  faces  and  outlandish  garbs  are  to  be  seen  !  For  instance,  a 
nuthatch  from  the  north  country,  wearing  a  red  waistcoat,  has  just 
arrived,  and  is  stopping  over  to  visit  his  stay-at-home  cousin  with 
the  white  bosom  ;  and  there  they  both  are,  talking  it  all  over  in 
dry,  rasping  voices,  as  they  pry  into  the  crevices  in  the  bark  of 
yonder  tree. 

The  warbler  -pater  familias  has  put  on  his  fall  suit  of  subdued 
tints,  called  together  kindred  and  friends,  and  is  now  bound  for 
Florida  and  the  Isthmus.  What  a  family  of  these  wood-warblers 
there  is  !  They  seem  like  Smiths,  or  Browns,  for  you  meet  them 
everywhere.  A  black-throated  warbler,  virens  by  name,  Green 
in  plain  English,  looked  in  through  my  study  window  this  morn- 
ing as  he  was  inspecting  the  elm  just  without,  and  I  thought  of 
what  messages  he  might  deliver  to  our  friends  scattered  along  the 
way  to  Nicaragua  and  the  south.  Perhaps  when  the  lion  comes 
to  eat  straw  like  the  ox,  and  at  night  to  lie  down  with  the  lamb, — 
when  the  perfection  of  society  so  long  dreamed  of  comes  about, — 
we  may  be  able  to  utilize  the  birds  of  passage  as  our  messengers. 
How  romantic  it  would  be  to  send  a  note  to  that  Lalage,  in  Florida 
or  Texas,  under  the  wing  of  a  tender-voiced  blue-bird,  that  would 
deliver  the  message  promptly  in  the  morning,  and  sing  pensively  a 


BY  THE   WAY.  7l 

strophe  or  two  expressive  of  the  tender  passion  of  him  who  sent  it ! 
Or,  if  you  should  wish  for  display,  you  might  engage  an  oriole  to 
sing  a  serenade  by  the  loved  one's  window  of  a  morning,  and  on 
departing  to  tuck  under  the  lattice  a  perfumed'  card  bearing  your 
name  !  Remember,  my  friend,  that  some  of  our  every-day  facts 
were  once  mere  vagaries. 

*  * 
It  would  certainly  be  pleasant  to  introduce  to  you  some  of  our 
worthy  bird-friends  now  stopping  at  these  wayside  inns ;  but  we 
would  have  space  only  for  names,  and  a  mere  register  is  dull 
indeed,  for  who  would  care  to  read  of  Mr.  Zonotrichia  albicollis, 
wife,  and  five  children,  all  of  the  White  Mountains,  etc.,  etc., 
unless  he  could  meet  the  white-throated  sparrow  face  to  face, 
shake  hands  with  him,  so  to  speak,  and  listen  to  the  rendering  of 
that  pleasant  song  of  his  which  you  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing 
last  summer  at  the  base  of  Mt.  Washington. 


This  reminds  me  of  the  fact  that  our  song-birds  are  not  all  mute 
at  this  season  of  the  year,  as  some  of  our  friends  who  write  books 
would  have  us  suppose.  Every  morning  in  early  October  you 
may  hear  the  song-sparrow  or  the  robin  singing  blithely  by  the 
roadside,  not  an  impassioned  love-song,  probably,  but  the  out- 
pouring of  a  heart  full  of  domestic  felicity  and  the  pleasures  of  life. 


How  little  we  know  or  suspect  of  what  is  going  on  about  us  ! 
Migratory  birds,  like  a  huge  tidal  wave,  are  sweeping  down  our 
valleys  and  along  the  hillsides  toward  the  South,  yet  we  are 
scarcely  aware  of  it.  In  this  stagnant  pool  by  the  roadside  battles 
are  being  fought,  a  myriad  creatures  are  dying  and  springing  into 
life  each  moment ;  yet  the  unaided  eye  can  never  look  upon  these 
scenes,  and  we  pass  by,  as  ignorant  as  before.  The  dictum, 
"  Man  wants  but  little  here  below,"  may  be  open  to  question,  but 
one  thing  is  certain,  so  far  as  the  material  universe  is  concerned 
he  gets  but  little,  either  of  knowledge  or  of  power. 


Thistle-Down 


LINES  WRITTEN  IN  A  DIARY. 

"  The  pages  of  life." — Leaves  of  the  rose 

And  soothing  nepenthe  in  dreamland  that  grows, 

White  of  the  lily,  the  golden-rod's  gleam, 

And  lotus  that  lies  on  the  dark  moving  stream 
That  through  the  fair  kingdom  of  summer-time  flows. 

Free  wind  of  the  mountain,  soft  zephyr  that  blows 
Sumptuous  with  spices,  and  breezes  that  doze 
On  the  white  breasts  of  maidens, — these  rustle,  supreme, 
The  pages  of  life. 

The  glimmer  of  smiles,  the  sweet  laughter  that  goes 
From  light-laden  hearts,  the  sorrows  and  woes 
That  embitter  love's  wine,  the  passions  that  seem 
The  blossoms  of  souls,  that  blight  and  that  beam, — 
These  form,  dark  and  bright,  for  what  purpose  God  knows, 
The  pages  of  life. 

William  Byron  Forbush. 

THE  PROFILE. 


I  stood  beside  the  Profile  lake, 

And  watched  that  face  by  evening  light, 

And  felt  my  deepest  nature  wake, 
Responsive  to  the  noble  sight. 

I  watched  it  long;  then  turned  away, 

And  walked  some  distance  toward  the  Flume; 
Then  looked  again. — The  mountain  lay 

Deserted  in  the  evening  gloom. 

No  longer  could  I  see  that  face, 

And  yet  the  granite  all  was  there, 
And  I  had  merely  left  the  place 

Where  rightly  all  its  parts  compare. 

Nor  is  it  of  that  face  alone 

That  our  own  view  may  rob  our  sight : 
We  daily  leave  some  joy  unknown 

Because  we  do  not  look  aright. 


W.  A.  Bacon. 


THIS  TLE-D  O  WN.  7  3 


IN  THE  SWAMP. 


Over  the  waves  of  the  deep  lagoon 
Steals  a  ray  from  the  rising  moon  ; 
Within  the  narrow  band  of  light 
Each  little  wavelet  sparkles  bright, 
And  dances  along  in  careless  glee 
Mid  the  tangled  roots  of  bush  and  tree, 
And  murmurs  softly  among  the  sedge 
Springing  up  at  the  water's  edge. 
The  air  is  still,  and  the  night-winds  sleep 
In  their  ocean  caves  in  the  vasty  deep. 
Now  and  again  the  air  is  stirred 
By  the  piercing  scream  of  some  startled  bird ; 
While  from  afar  the  wolf's  wild  howl 
Answers  the  hoot  of  the  midnight  owl. 
The  copperhead,  coiled  in  the  matted  fern, 
Hisses  and  swells  till  his  dull  eyes  burn 
With  a  baleful  glow,  two  points  of  light 
Shedding  their  hatred  through  the  night. 
The  waters  tremble,  and  widening  rings 
Show  the  presence  of  shapeless  things 
That  lurk  by  day  in  their  watery  lair, 
Shunning  the  sunlight  and  scorching  air  : 
For  the  fierce,  hot  rays  and  scorching  breath 
Nature  has  taught  them  are  sure,  swift  death. 
Over  the  tops  of  the  spectral  trees, 
Comes  the  sigh  of  a  rising  breeze. 
All  night  long  the  swamp  is  awake; 
Nature  is  teeming  in  woods  and  lake 
With  life  of  a  thousand  different  kinds, 
While  over  all  the  whispering  winds 
Discourse  sweet  music,  that  human  ear, 
Too  gross  and  earthly,  may  not  hear. 
Faint  in  the  east  the  first  pink  blush 
Of  approaching  morn,  and  a  deepening  flush 
Tinges  the  sky  with  a  mellow  red. 
The  swamp  is  asleep,  for  the  night  has  fled. 


H.  S.  H. 


Crayon   Bleu. 


Indoor  Studies,  by  John  Burroughs.     Boston  :  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.     $1.25. 

A  charming  collection  of  essays  on  scientific  and  literary  subjects,  the  titles  being, — 
"  Henry  D.  Thoreau,"  "  Science  and  Literature,"  "  Science  and  the  Poets,"  "  Matthew 
Arnold's  Criticism,"  "  Arnold's  View  of  Emerson  and  Carlyle,"  "  Gilbert  White's  Book," 
"A  Malformed  Giant,"  "  Brief  Essays,"  "An  Egotistical  Chapter."  Mr.  Burroughs  is 
before  all  things,  a  literary  man.  Even  his  science,  which  his  reason  forces  him  to  believe 
in,  he  accepts  as  faulty  unless  it  gives  scope  to  the  imagination  and  the  poetical  powers  of 
the  mind.  He  is  a  preacher  of  the  great  gospel  of  truth,  and  finds  that  gospel  embodied 
in  Carlyle,  Emerson,  and  Arnold.  Emerson  he  praises  for  the  originality  of  his  genius,  for 
the  new  and  helpful  germs  of  thought  which  lie  scattered  through  his  works,  though  often 
in  too  loose  connection.  Carlyle  he  characterizes  as  a  Hebraist,  a  doer,  yet  representing 
to  his  time  the  German  culture  and  a  fine  intellectuality.  Arnold  is  the  representative  of 
Hellenism,  a  believer  in  institutions  rather  than  in  individuals,  a  lover  of  good  proportion 
rather  than  striking  individuality.  Thoreau  he  admires  as  a  new  and  interesting  type  of 
writer,  and  withal  a  great  genius,  but  deplores  his  lack  of  human  sympathy.  Perhaps  the 
thing  we  look  for  with  the  most  interest  in  a  scientific  man  of  high  literary  tastes,  like 
Burroughs,  is  his  attitude  towards  religion.  We  quote :  "  Our  hearts,  our  affections,  all 
our  peculiarly  human  attributes,  draw  back  from  many  of  the  deductions  of  science.  We 
feel  the  cosmic  chill.  We  cannot  warm  or  fill  the  great  void.  The  universe  seems  orphaned. 
This  is  the  reason  why  many  people  who  accept  science  with  their  understanding  still  repu- 
diate it  in  their  hearts  ;  the  religious  beliefs  of  their  youth  still  meet  a  want  of  their  natures  " 
(p.  223).  Again,  he  says, — "  In  the  decay  of  the  old  faiths,  and  in  the  huge  aggrandisement 
of  physical  science,  the  refuge  and  consolation  of  serious  and  truly  religious  minds  is  more 
and  more  in  literature,  and  in  the  free  escapes  and  outlooks  which  it  supplies  "  (p.  137). 
Yet  again  :  "  Reason  is  not  the  basis  of  a  national  religion,  and  never  has  been.  It  is  very 
doubtful  if  the  disclosure  of  a  scientific  basis  for  the  truths  of  religion  would  not  be  a 
positive  drawback  to  the  religious  efficacy  of  those  truths ;  because  this  view  of  them  would 
come  in  time  to  supplant  and  to  kill  the  personal  emotion  view,  which  worship  requires." 
It  would  seem  to  the  thoughtful  observer  that  perhaps  science  is  not  killing  the  old  faiths 
after  all,  and  that  Mr.  Burroughs  does  not  really  believe,  in  the  depths  of  his  heart,  that 
it  is  doing  so.  It  is  hard  to  find  fault  in  one  of  our  breeziest  and  most  charming  essayists  ; 
yet  we  would  say  that  a  little  more  compactness  and  a  little  less  repetition  would  remove 
all  danger  of  the  style's  becoming  tiresome. 

The  Irregular  Verbs  of  Attic  Prose,  by  Addison  Hogue.     Boston:  Ginn  &  Co.     $1.60. 

In  order  to  give  a  good  foundation,  this  book  first  treats  fully  the  parts  of  regular  verbs. 
'I  h(  11  follows  a  list  of  irregular  verbs,  treated  in  a  complete  and  scholarly  manner,  giving 
important  compounds  as  well,  with  carefully  selected  English  meanings  and  English  deriva- 
tives, where  such  exist. 


CRA  YON  BLEU.  75 


Cynewulfs  Elene,  edited  by  Charles  W.  Kent,  M.  A.,  Ph.  D.,  Professor  of  English  and 
Modern  Languages,  University  of  Tennessee.     Boston  :  Ginn  &  Co. 

An  old  English  poem,  written  about  825,  with  Latin  original,  notes,  and  complete  glos- 
sary. The  beautiful  story  of  the  Emperor  Constantine's  vision  of  the  cross,  his  subse- 
quent devotion  to  Christianity,  with  just  enough  of  the  imaginary  to  impart  a  fanciful 
charm. 


Songs  of  Praise,  edited  by  Lewis  W.  Mudge.     New  York  :  A.  S.  Barnes  &  Co.     $50  per 

100. 

A  new  prayer-meeting  book  containing  503  hymns  and  21  doxologies,  and  all  the  best 
known  standard  tunes.  It  is  very  fully  indexed,  all  the  hymns  being  classified  by  tunes, 
authors,  composers,  Scripture  texts,  subjects,  and  first  lines.  It  is  a  well  printed  volume, 
strongly  bound  in  cloth. 

Euripides ;  Iphigenia  among  the  Taurians,  edited  by  Prof.  Isaac  Flagg.     Boston:  Ginn  & 

Co.     $1.60. 

One  of  the  valuable  college  series  of  Greek  authors.  The  foot-notes  certainly  do  not  err 
in  respect  of  lack  of  fulness,  and  the  text  is  carefully  edited.  There  is  an  introduction 
describing  the  plot  and  metre  of  the  play.  The  book  is  in  use  under  Professor  Richardson 
in  the  Sophomore  class. 

Syllabus,  English  Literature  and  History,  by  A.  J.  George,  A.  M.      Boston :  D.  C.  Heath 

&Co. 

A  very  valuable  pamphlet  for  use  in  the  class-room,  with  blank  pages  for  notes,  and  a 
short  addition  of  more  prominent  names  in  American  literature.  It  will  aid  in  the  philo- 
sophical study  of  history  and  literature. 

Papers  of  the  American  Historical  Association,  Vol.  Ill,  No.  2,  Proceedings  in  Washington, 
December  26-28,  1888,  by  Herbert  P.  Adams,  Secretary  of  the  Association.  New  York: 
G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.     $1.50. 

Contains  historical  papers  of  great  value,  the  series  on  "  The  North-west,"  and  "  Ameri- 
can Trade  Relations  before  1789,"  being  especially  interesting  to  the  student  of  American 
history.  The  book  is  published  in  unusually  fine  form,  giving  a  sense  of  luxury  in  the 
simple  turning  of  the  pages.  It  is  a  pamphlet,  designed  to  be  bound  with  a  preceding 
number. 

The  Essentials  of  Method,  by  Charles  D.  Garmo,  Ph.  D.  (Halle).     Boston :  D.  C.  Heath 

&Co. 

Treats  of  the  essential  form  of  right  methods  in  teaching  from  a  psychological  basis. 
While  the  subject  is  treated  in  a  strictly  scientific  way,  purely  technical  terms  are  usually 
well  explained  for  the  benefit  of  teachers  not  versed  in  psychology.  A  few  valuable  appli- 
cations are  given  as  examples. 


6  CRAYON  BLEU. 


The  Century  for  September  has  a  fine  portrait  of  Chief-Justice  Marshall  for  a  frontis- 
piece. The  Lincoln  article  describes  the  election  of  1864.  In  "  Italian  old  Masters," 
Masaccio  is  the  subject,  and  a  fine  engraving  of  a  detail  from  one  of  his  frescos  is  given. 
George  Kennan  gives  "  The  History  of  the  Kara  Political  Prison."  "  Uncalendared  "  and 
"  Life  "  strike  the  fancy  among  the  poems.  In  fiction,  George  W.  Cable  contributes 
"  Attalie  Brouillard,"  and  Anna  Eichberg  King  a  quaint  Dutch  story  called  "  Jufrow  van 
Qtppn  "      "  Tlip  PVipmnh  of  flip  Exodus  "  IS  a  valuable  archaenlocnral  naner. 


Scribbler' s  for  October  opens  with  Joseph  Thompson's  account  of  his  journey  across 
Masai-land  in  1883.  "  The  Master  of  Ballantrae,"  by  Stevenson,  and  "  In  the  Valley,"  by 
Harold  Frederic,  are  continued.  "  Electricity  in  War,"  by  W.  S.  Hughes  and  John  Millis, 
is  a  continuation  of  the  valuable  series  on  electrical  subjects.  "  The  Miniature,"  by 
W.  M.  Bangs,  and  "Jacob's  Faults,"  by  Francis  Loveridge,  are  the  short  stories.  The 
end  article  is  Donald  G.  Mitchell's  "  A  Scattering  Shot  at  Some  Ruralities  " — a  fine 
characterization  of  our  old  New  England  towns. 

Lippincotfs  for  October  contains  "Creole  and  Puritan,"  by  T.  C.  DeLeon,  "Correspond- 
ence of  John  Lothrop  Motley,"  by  S.  B.  Wister,  "  The  Trials  of  a  Magazine  Editor,"  by 
Junius  Henry  Browne,  and  minor  articles  and  poems. 

We  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  The  Granite  Monthly,  The  Golden  Rule,  The  Dial,  The 
Journal  of  Education,  and  Our  Dumb  Animals.  Lack  of  space  prevents  further  notice  of 
them. 

We  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  following  books,  which  will  receive  further  mention 
in  our  next  issue :  Benjamin  Franklin,  by  Morse,  and  A  Girl  Graduate,  by  Celia  Parker 
Woolley,  from  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. ;  7000  Words  often  Mispronounced,  by  Phyfe, 
Great  Words  from  Great  Americans,  Christian  Theism,  by  Purington,  Monopolies  and  the 
People,  by  Baker,  Hansa  Towns,  by  Helen  Zimmem,  and  Zschokke's  Tales,  from  G.  P.  Put- 
nam's Sons;  General  Hi 'story,  by  Myers,  from  Ginn  &  Co.;  and  Selections  from  Words- 
worth, from  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. 

Ginn  &  Co.  announce  The  Method  of  Least  Squares,  by  G.  C.  Comstock,  Professor  of 
Astronomy  in  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  to  be  published  this  fall ;  D.  C.  Heath  & 
Co.  announce,  Sept.  20,  Sept  Grand  Auteurs  du  XLXe  Sifcle  ;  Lamertine,  Hugo,  de  Vigney, 
de  Mussel,  Theophile  Gautier,  Merimee,  Coppee ;  also  a  translation  of  Lindner's  Empirical 
Psychology,  by  Chas.  De  Garmo,  Ph.  D.,  of  the  Illinois  State  University.  They  also 
announce  that  on  Sept.  9  they  admitted  to  their  firm  Mr.  Charles  H.  Ames,  Amherst  '70, 
who  has  been  identified  with  the  Prang  Educational  Company  from  its  beginning. 


Exchanges. 


As  I  sit  down  preparing  to  write,  I  brush  aside  college  publications  of  every  size  heaped 
up  in  confusion  before  me  on  my  desk.  Williams  Weekly  is  at  the  top;  Harvard  Lam- 
poon peeps  out  with  its  red  face  from  between  a  Brunoniait  and  a  Tech.  ;  while,  almost  con- 
cealed by  a  number  of  Amherst  Students,  I  discover  a  few  trim  "  Lits."  from  sister  colleges. 
Surely  here  is  material  enough  for  a  long  article,  and  with  confidence  I  open  my  first 
number.  Commencement !  Editors'  Adieux !  !  Base  Ball  Records !  !  !  The  papers  be- 
neath show  no  improvement ;  I  have  nothing  but  last  year's  publications  to  review,  and 
not  one  of  recent  date  !  In  despair,  I  am  about  to  throw  down  my  pen  and  leave  my  de- 
partment vacant,  when  I  notice  a  few  unfamiliar  faces  by  my  side,  and  gladly  find  that 
they  are  fresh  from  the  office. 

The  first  that  I  pick  up  is  the  Frankfort  Parallax,  attired  in  a  cover  of  a  hideous  tint  of 
red,  and  with  headings  in  poorly  chosen  type.  Glancing  further,  I  notice  innumerable 
errors  in  printing,  which  would  ruin  any  publication  whatever  the  merit  of  its  articles.  Is 
the  proof-reader  unknown  to  the  sanctum  of  the  Parallax  ?  And,  by  the  way,  where  is 
Frankfort  ?  A  glance  at  "  Parallactions,"  where  I  see  such  weighty  observations  as 
"  Rats  !  "  "  Did  you  see  it  ?  "  and  "  Billy  was  left !  "  and  the  geographical  location  is  set- 
tled, as  is  the  Parallax  in  my  waste-paper  basket. 

Here  is  a  better  constructed  fortnightly,  coming  from  an  Eastern  college, — the  Coopers- 
ville  Chronicler, — a  "  literary  "  publication  carried  on  by  undergraduates.  I  open  it,  ex- 
pecting a  treat  in  the  shape  of  crisp,  breezy  stories  or  dainty  verse,  but  alas  for  my  hopes ! 
All  that  I  find  is  a  couple  of  essays — say  rather  school-boy  compositions — on  "  Persever- 
ance "  and  "Virgil,"  written  in  a  system  of  paragraphing  which  suggests  a  combination  of 
Walt  Whitman  and  Josh  Billings,  with  corrected  spelling.  Again  disappointed,  I  send 
the  Chronicler  to  join  the  Parallax. 

The  Ilium  Item,  my  next  choice,  makes  no  pretension  to  literary  merit,  but  is  simply  a 
newspaper.  The  interesting  season  of  the  college  year  over,  the  Item  appears  to  have 
made  a  great  effort  to  fill  up  its  columns.  The  most  trivial  affairs  bring  forth  editorials 
fierce  enough  to  settle  the  worst  international  complications.  Demosthenes  has  thirty 
hours  instead  of  twenty-four,  and  a  three-column  protest  is  printed  and  signed  "  Ninety- 
one  ; "  while  among  the  locals  I  read  that  "Brown,  '90,  spent  Sunday  out  of  town ;  "  "Price, 
'93,  rides  a  bicycle  ;  "  and  "  Jones,  '91,  is  thinking  of  buying  a  dog" — facts  very  important 
of  course  to  students  at  Ilium,  but  of  no  significance  whatever  to  me. 

I  reach  out  for  another,  but  find  only  Weekly,  Lampoon,  Tech.,  and  their  associates.  I 
turn  to  my  basket  for  a  second  look  at  Parallax,  Chronicler,  and  Item,  but  see  only  the 
remains  of  my  essay  on  the  "  Originality  of  Shakespeare's  Thought."  My  review  had  been 
merely  a  dream. 


Alumni  Notes. 


That  this  department  may  be  as  interesting  and  valuable  as  possible,  we  solicit  contributions  from 
all.  Items  that  may  seem  unimportant  to  the  contributor  will  no  doubt  carry  to  some  readers  remem- 
brances of  happy  but  departed  days. 

The  annual  session  of  the  General  Association  of  Congregational  and  Presbyterian 
Churches  of  New  Hampshire  was  held  at  the  Second  Congregational  church  at  Exeter,  on 
September  3,  4,  and  5.  Rev.  S.  L.  Gerould  '58,  the  statistical  secretary,  made  his  report ; 
Rev.  Moses  T.  Runnels  '53  read  a  paper  orr  the  "  Relation  of  the  Sunday-school  to  Home 
Evangelization  ;  "  and  Hon.  John  J.  Bell  '64  hon.  discussed  the  "  Duty  of  the  Church 
with  Reference  to  the  Reforms  of  the  Day."  Rev.  Charles  E.  Milliken  '57  delivered  a 
sermon. 

Among  the  Dartmouth  men  who  attended  the  encampment  of  the  Grand  Army  at  The 
Weirs  were  Gen.  J.  N.  Patterson  '60,  Maj.  A,  B.  Thompson  '58,  Thomas  J.  Whipple  '67 
hon.,  and  Col.  Thomas  Cogswell  '63.  Col.  Cogswell  was  elected  president  for  the  ensuing 
year.  In  accepting  the  office  he  addressed  the  association  in  a  most  happy  manner,  thank- 
ing his  comrades  for  the  honor  they  had  conferred  upon  him,  and  pledging  his  earnest 
efforts  toward  securing  the  continued  prosperity  of  the  association.  It  is  said  that  no  vet- 
eran of  the  state  is  more  popular  with  the  old  soldiers  than  Col.  Cogswell. 

At  a  session  of  the  governor  and  council,  held  in  Concord,  September  13,  the  Forestry 
Commissioners  were  appointed,  among  whom  are  Joseph  B.  Walker  '83  hon.,  of  Concord, 
and  George  B.  Chandler  '82  hon.,  of  Manchester.  A  board  of  managers  of  the  New 
Hampshire  Soldiers'  Home  was  also  appointed.  On  the  board  are  A.  B.  Thompson  '58, 
of  Concord,  and  Daniel  Hall  '54,  of  Dover. 

At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Concord  &  Montreal  Railroad  directors  the  following  perma- 
nent officers  were  elected :  President,  ex-Gov.  Frederick  Smyth  '65  hon.,  of  Manchester  ; 
clerk,  William  M.  Chase  '58  C.  S.  S.,  of  Concord;  and  on  the  Executive  Committee, 
Benjamin  A.  Kimball  '54  C.  S.  S.,  of  Concord. 

The  Third  Vermont  Regimental  Society  held  its  fourth  annual  reunion  at  White  River 
Junction,  Tuesday,  October  1.  The  annual  address  was  delivered  by  O.  S.  Davis  '89. 
Ex-Gov.  Samuel  E.  Pingree  '57,  of  Hartford,  is  chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee  of 
the  society. 

'23.  The  children  of  the  late  Rev.  Charles  Walker,  D.  D.,  keep  the  old  Walker  house 
in  Pittsford,  Vt.,  and  all  go  there  each  summer  to  pass  their  vacations.  It  is  a  company  of 
persons  of  rare  intellectual  attainments.  There  are  the  Rev.  Geo.  L.  Walker,  D.  D.,  pas- 
tor of  the  Centre  church  at  Hartford,  Conn. ;  Hon.  Stephen  A.  Walker,  United  States 
district  attorney  of  southern  New  York;  Dr.  Henry  Walker,  an  eminent  physician  of^New 
York  city;  and  the  Rev.  George  N.  Boardman,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  president  of  the  Chicago 
Theological  Seminary,  husband  of  the  daughter. 


ALUMNI  NOTES.  79 

'24.  The  death  of  Rev.  Darwin  Adams  left  Edwin  Edgerton,  of  Rutland,  Vt.,  the  only 
survivor  of  his  class. 

'36.  Gen.  Daniel  E.  Colby,  of  New  London,  is  one  of  the  largest  tax-payers  in  the  town. 
His  name  stands  third  on  the  list. 

'39.  Rev.  O.  B.  Cheney,  D.  D.,  of  Lewiston,  Me.,  was  chosen  moderator  at  the  twenty- 
seventh  triennial  session  of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Freewill  Baptists  of  North 
America,  lately  held  at  Harper's  Ferry,  W.  Va. 

'41 — '41  Med.  Col.  A  window  in  memory  of  Prof.  Thomas  R.  Crosby  will  be  placed  in 
St.  Thomas  Episcopal  church  at  Hanover. 

'42.     Dr.  William  G.  Perry,  of  Exeter,  is  taking  a  trip  abroad. 

'44 — '47  Med.  Col.  Charles  Haddock,  a  leading  physician  of  Beverly,  Mass.,  was  stricken 
by  apoplexy  recently  while  on  a  professional  visit  to  Centreville.  Dr.  Haddock  is  medical 
examiner  for  that  district,  and  was  also  recently  appointed  examiner  of  pensions  for  Essex 
county. 

'45  Med.  Coll.  William  Everett,  of  Quincy,  Mass.,  has  been  nominated  by  the  Demo- 
crats to  represent  the  First  Norfolk  District. 

'46.  Rev.  A.  H.  Quint,  D.  D.,  of  Allston,  Mass.,  is  assisting  in  the  preparation  of  a 
history  of  Durham,  N.  H.  4 

'49.  Hon.  John  P.  Newell,  of  Manchester,  who  has  been  supplying  the  Congregational 
pulpit  at  Litchfield,  has  been  compelled  to  resign  on  account  of  impaired  health. 

'51.  Prof.  Daniel  Putnam,  principal  of  the  Michigan  State  Normal  School,  and  mayor 
of  Ypsilanti,  has  been  visiting  his  brother,  Mr.  Wm.  Putnam,  of  Woburn,  Mass. 

'53.  Rev.  William  I.  Palmer,  D.  D.,  fifteen  years  pastor  of  the  Second  Congregational 
church  at  Norwich,  Conn.,  has  resigned  his  pastorate  on  account  of  ill-health. 

'54.  Col.  Daniel  Hall  was  orator  at  the  dedication  of  the  soldiers'  monument  at  Derry, 
October  1. 

'56.  Hon.  William  H.  Haile,  of  Springfield,  Mass.,  was  nominated  by  acclamation  for 
lieutenant-governor  by  the  Republicans  of  that  state  in  their  late  convention.  Mr.  Haile 
was  born  in  Chesterfield.  He  served  in  the  New  Hampshire  legislature  in  1865,  1866, 
and  187 1,  and  in  1881  was  mayor  of  Springfield.  He  sat  in  the  Massachusetts  senate  in 
1882  and  1883. 

'60.  Prof.  Albert  S.  Bickmore,  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  started 
last  June  on  a  tour  through  Alaska,  British  Columbia,  and  Washington  Territory,  to 
gather  data  for  his  lectures  this  winter  to  the  teachers  of  New  York.  He  has  lately  returned, 
well  and  in  excellent  spirits,  after  having  made  such  a  trip  as  few  men  may  boast.  He 
has  seen  some  of  the  wildest,  grandest  scenery  of  North  America,  and  in  the  three  months 
of  his  absence  has  travelled,  not  including  incidental  excursions  from  points  of  interest, 
12,438  miles.  His  description  of  his  travels  is  most  vivid  and  fascinating.  In  closing,  he 
says, — "  The  most  comprehensive  ice  view  I  have  enjoyed  in  Europe  was  from  the  Gorner 
Grat  above  Zermatt.  No  single  peak  ever  appears,  however  far  one  may  wander,  that  rivals 
in  awful  severity  the  Matterhorn.  But,  excepting  that  mountain  alone  from  the  view  at  the 
Gorner  Grat,  this  group  of  new,  and   as  yet  unnamed,  Selkirks  was  nearly  as  impressive, 


80  ALUMNI  NOTES. 

because  these  mountains  were  so  much  nearer,  and  therefore  subtended  a  so  much  greater 
angle,  and  appeared  so  overhanging.  The  full  beauties  of  the  group  were  somewhat 
veiled  by  smoke,  but  the  setting  sun  gave  a  pink  tint  to  the  white  ice,  and  mellowed  the 
harsh  character  of  the  jagged  rocks,  while  white  cumuli  and  high  cirri  that  floated  above 
the  peaks  caught  more  of  the  prismatic  hues  of  the  setting  sun.  Last  year  appears  to  have 
been  the  first  time  these  attractions  were  ever  witnessed  by  white  men,  and  this  year  only 
three  tourists  besides  our  party  have  been  over  the  summit  and  down  to  the  cabin  where 
we  passed  the  night.  This  glimpse  of  the  yet  unknown  glaciers  in  these  mountains  leads 
me  urgently  to  recommend  geologists  and  geographers  to  visit  them  whenever  possible, 
and  affords  us  the  satisfaction  of  realizing  that  our  tourists  and  Alpine  climbers  need  not 
cross  any  ocean  to  enjoy  mountain  wonders  like  those  of  Switzerland,  for  they  lie  hidden 
by  the  Rocky  Mountain  and  Cascade  ranges  in  the  midst  of  the  snowy  Selkirks  of  British 
Columbia."  On  the  return  trip,  Prof.  Bickmore  and  party  stopped  at  Toronto,  where  he 
read  a  paper,  describing  in  part  his  travels,  before  the  Section  of  Geology  and  Geography 
of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  Prof.  Bickmore's  first  lec- 
ture to  the  teachers  was  given  October  12. 

'61.  Hon.  George  A.  Marden,  of  Lowell,  Mass.,  was  renominated  unanimously  by  accla- 
mation for  treasurer  and  receiver-general  by  the  Republicans  of  that  state. 

'63.  Hon.  Wilder  L.  Burnap,  of  Burlington,  Vt,  lately  received  a  $25,000  fee  for  win- 
ning the  Noyes-Burton  will  case,  in  which  $2,000,000  was  involved.  Mr.  Burnap  had  as 
opponents  Senator  Edmunds  and  Hon.  E.  J.  Phelps. 

'64.  Rev.  Charles  D.  Barrows,  formerly  pastor  of  the  Kirk  Street  church,  Lowell,  Mass., 
and  at  present  pastor  of  the  First  Congregational  church,  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  was  the  re- 
cipient a  few  days  ago  of  a  letter  from  Mrs.  C.  B.  Alexander,  expressing  her  interest  in  his 
work,  and  donating  $10,000  for  a  new  organ  for  their  use  as  a  token  of  her  regard  and  in 
memory  of  her  father. 

'64.  Dr.  George  H.  M.  Rowe,  superintendent  of  the  Boston  City  Hospital,  has  just 
returned  from  a  vacation  in  Europe,  where  he  visited  many  hospitals.  He  says, — "  Of  all 
the  hospitals  that  I  visited,  I  do  n't  know  of  one  that  can  compare  with  our  Boston  City 
Hospital,  the  Massachusetts  General  or  the  Johns  Hopkins  hospitals." 

'64.  Hon.  John  P.  Bartlett  presided  as  toast-master  at  the  banquet  tendered  to  the 
Providence  Light  Infantry  Veteran  Association  of  Amoskeag  Veterans,  Oct.  2,  at  Manches- 
ter. Among  those  who  made  addresses  were  Senator  Blair  ^1  hon.,  Hon.  Joseph  C. 
Moore  '84  hon.,  and  Hon.  Henry  E.  Burnham  '65. 

'66.  Hon.  H.  C.  Ide,  of  St.  Johnsbury,*Vt.,  recently  received  severe  injuries  by  being 
thrown  from  his  carriage.     He  has  been  under  treatment  at  the  Burlington  (Vt.)  hospital. 

.  '66  Med.  Coll.  Dr.  O.  B.  Way,  of  Claremont,  has  been  chosen  president  of  the  Western 
New  Hampshire  Musical  Association. 

'69  C.  S.  S.  Prof.  D.  F.  Thompson,  of  Lansingburg,  N.  Y.,  is  at  Hopkinton,  Mass., 
collecting  material  for  a  lineal  history  of  Edward  French,  who  settled  in  Salisbury,  Mass., 
in  [640. 

'70.  Dr.  Charles  E.  Woodbury  has  resigned  his  position  as  superintendent  of  the  Rhode 
Island  hospital. 

'70.  Hermon  Holt  is  president  of  the  Tremont  Club,  a  literary  organization  lately 
formed  at  Claremont. 


ALUMNI  NOTES.  8 1 

'72.  Prof.  T.  W.  D.  Worthen  is  preparing  a  new  algebra  for  collegiate  use.  The  Fresh- 
man class  are  at  present  using  it  in  manuscript  form. 

'y2-     Rev.  J.  M.  Dutton,  of  Great  Falls,  has  returned  from  his  European  trip. 

'j2-  Sebron  T.  Conlee,  who  died  recently  of  apoplexy  at  Kansas  City,  aged  43  years, 
was  a  native  of -^STew  York  state.  After  graduating  from  college,  he  taught  elocution  in 
Boston,  and  at  the  Baptist  Theological  Seminary  at  Newton  for  a  time.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  Suffolk  bar,  and  for  several  years  practised  law  in  Boston,  and  later  in  Minneapolis. 
Last  winter  he  removed  to  Kansas  City,  and  was  there  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  at 
the  time  of  his  death.     A  wife  and  one  daughter  survive  him. 

'74.    Alfred  W.  Beasley  has  been  elected  principal  of  the  Peoria  (111.)  high  school. 

'75.  Samuel  B.  Wiggin,  of  New  York,  son  of  Mr.  E.  R.  Wiggin  '48,  of  Boston,  died  in 
the  former  city  Sept.  6.  He  was  born  in  Maine.  After  studying  at  the  Columbia  Col- 
lege Law  School,  he  engaged  in  practice  in  New  York,  and  for  a  time  in  San  Francisco. 
His  wife  was  Miss  Kate  Douglass,  the  authoress,  of  Boston. 

'76.  Henry  H.  Piper  graduated  last  spring  from  the  Boston  Dental  College  with  the 
highest  honors.  ■  He  received  the  first  prize  for  best  mechanical  skill,  and  also  a  special 
prize  for  passing  the  best  examinations  during  the  entire  college  course.  He  has  opened 
an  office  in  Somerville,  Mass. 

'77.  Charles  B.  Hammond  has  been  appointed  a  member  of  the  examining  board  of 
surgeons  for  soldiers  in  the  matter  of  pensions  at  Nashua. 

^y.     Albert  G.  Cox  is  principal  of  the  graded  school  at  Hartford,  Vt. 

78.  M.  L.  Stimson,  missionary  of  the  American  Board  in  China,  is  visiting  with  his 
wife  at  Dover.     Mr.  Stimson  preached  in  Hanover,  Oct.  6. 

'79.  Hon.  Hiram  D.  Upton,  of  Manchester,  speaker  of  the  house  of  representatives, 
will  build  a  summer  home  at  Pine  Cliff,  Sunapee  lake. 

'80  Med.  Coll.  Dr.  M.  T.  Stone,  of  Troy,  has  been  made  president  of  the  Cheshire 
County  Medical  Society. 

'81  Med.  Coll.  Edward  H.  Currier,  of  Manchester,  was  elected  one  of  the  vice-presi- 
dents of  the  New  Hampshire  Pharmacy  Association  at  its  recent  annual  session.  He  was 
also  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  and  one  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Papers  and  Queries. 

'81  Agr.  Coll.  Prof.  G.  H.  Whitcher  delivered  addresses  at  the  Bradford  and  Newbury 
Fair  and  at  the  annual  exhibition  of  the  Hancock  Agricultural  Association. 

'81.  Rev.  M.  W.  Adams,  recently  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church,  Hopkinton,  Mass.,* 
and  who  has  just  closed  a  post-graduate  course  at  Andover  Theological  Seminary,  has 
received  an  appointment  as  instructor  in  Greek  at  the  Atlanta,  Ga.,  University. 

'82.  Herbert  L.  Smith,  M.  D.,  has  left  the  Boston  City  Hospital  and  opened  an  office 
in  Boston  at  571  Tremont  St.,  cor.  Union  Park. 

'83.     Edward  H.  Gulick  has  been  supplying  the  Congregational  pulpit  at  Woodstock, Vt. 

'83.  Rev.  John  Barstow  has  resigned  his  pastorate  of  the  Union  Congregational  church 
at  Groton,  Mass.,  to  accept  the  call  lately  given  him  by  the  church  at  Glastonbury,  Conn. 


82  ALUMNI  NOTES. 

'84.     Fletcher  Ladd  has  opened  a  law  office  in  Boston.     His  address  1534  School  street. 

'85.     George  C.  Kimball,  formerly  of  Farmington    has  been   appointed  instructor  in 
Greek  and  Latin  in  the  Brewster  academy  at  Wolfeborough. 

'85.     W.  N.  Cragin,  of  Bethel,  Vt,  has  been  chosen  superintendent  of  education  at 
Laconia. 

'87.     Fernald  had  charge  of  a  hotel  at  Nahant  this  summer. 

'88.     Gregory  has  been  in  Hanover  a  short  time.     He  remains  in  his  former  position, 
principal  of  Sawin  academy,  Sherborn,  Mass.,  the  coming  year. 

'88  T.  S.  C.  E.     Charles  H.  Cheney  will  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation  of 
Prof.  Bellinger  in  Norwich  University,  Northfield,  Vt. 

'88.     Fisher  has  been  visiting  in  Danville,  Vt.     He  returns  to  the  study  of  law  in  Wash- 
ington this  fall. 

'89.     Blair  has  visited  Hanover.     He   has  been  appointed   clerk  of  the  senate  Com- 
mittee on  Labor,  and  will  go  to  Washington  about  November  1. 

'89.     Thompson  has  a  fine  position  as  principal  of  the  high  school  at  Great  Falls,  Mont. 

'89.     Earle  has  been  tendered  the  professorship  of  English  Literature  and  Rhetoric  in 
the  University  of  Indiana. 

'89.     Blakely  has  received  an  appointment  as  instructor  in  English  and  financial  mana- 
ger of  Central  Turkey  College,  at  Aintab.     He  expects  to  be  abserft  two  or  three  years. 

'89.     Sanborn  is  reporter  on  the  Springfield  (Mass.)  Union. 

'89.     Barrett  is   instructor  in  English  in   Hopkins    academy,  Oakland,    Cal.      Salary, 

$1,000. 

'89.     Frost  is  teaching  at  Eastport,  Me. 

'89.     Wheat  has  been  appointed  a  teacher  in  the  high  school  in  Washington,  D.  C. 

'89.     Perkins  is  at  home  this  fall,  at  South  Berwick,  Me. 

'89  non-grad.     Arthur  Chase,  Jr.,  entered  the  Episcopal  Theological  Seminary  at  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.,  this  fall. 

'89  C.  S.  S.     Riley  has  been  appointed  an  instructor  in  the  New  Hampshire  Normal 
School  at  Plymouth. 


THE 


Dartmouth  Literary  Monthly. 

Vol.  IV.  NOVEMBER,  1889.  No.  3. 

BOARD    OP   EDITORS: 

J.  H.  GEROULD.  G.  S.  MILLS.  C.  F.  ROBINSON.  \ 

H.  S.  HOPKINS.  C.  M.  SMITH. 

C.  A.  PERKINS,  Business  Manager. 


EARLY  COLLEGE  ATHLETICS  AT  DARTMOUTH. 

College  athletics,  in  an  organized  shape,  as  the  term  is  now 
understood,  are  of  comparatively  recent  growth  at  Dartmouth. 
For  bodily  exercise  in  the  earliest  years  of  the  college,  resort  was 
had  to  the  pursuits  of  agriculture  and  other  forms  of  manual  labor. 
In  order  (says  the  first  code  of  college  laws)  that 

"  the  channel  of  their  diversions  may  be  turned  from  that  which  is  puerile,  such  as  play- 
ing with  balls,  bowls  and  other  ways  of  diversion,  as  have  been  necessarily  gone  into  by 
students  in  other  places,  for  want  of  an  opportunity  to  exercise  themselves  in  that  which  is 
more  useful  .  .  .  it  is  earnestly  recommended  to  the  students  .  .  .  that  they  turn 
the  course  of  their  diversions,  and  exercises  for  their  health,  to  the  practice  of  some  man- 
ual arts,  or  cultivation  of  gardens  and  other  lands  at  the  proper  hours  of  leisure." 

But  these  "puerile"  games  of  balls  and  bowls  could  not  be 
wholly  repressed ;  and  there  was  besides,  especially  by  the  Indian 
scholars,  canoeing  and  skilful  skating  upon  the  river.  Of  the 
agility  and  endurance  of  these  Indian  boys  several  anecdotes  have 
come  down  to  us.  It  is  said  of  one,  that  being  engaged  in  a  game 
of  ball  near  the  middle  of  the  Common,  he  heard  cries,  and  ob- 
served a  commotion  about  the  college  well,  situated  then  at  the 
side  of  the  road  close  to  the  spot  where  Reed  Hall  now  is.  Divin- 
ing instantly  that  some  one  had  fallen  in,  he  ran  at  the  top  of 
his  speed,  and,  without  slackening  his  pace,  leaped  upon  the 
bucket  that  hung  from  the  "sweep,"  and,  grasping  the  pole, 
plunged  with  it  into  the  well  (some  thirty  feet),  where  he  found 
and  rescued  a  little  girl. 


84  EARLY  COLLEGE  ATHLETLCS. 

A  favorite  exercise  in  times  somewhat  later,  of  which  for  a  long 
period  we  find  constant  mention — though  it  was  pursued  with  a 
little  reserve,  generally  at  night — was  the  so  called  "  cow  hunt- 
ing," the  protection,  that  is,  of  the  unfenced  Common  from  the 
invasion  of  the  village  cows.  Even  the  Religious  Society  had 
occasion  now  and  then  to  discipline  its  members  for  countenancing 
this  "  detestable  practice." 

The  common,  or  "  College  Green," — its  correct  official  name, — 
was,  in  the  original  plan  of  the  village,  devoted  by  the  college  to 
students'  diversions  in  connection  with  other  public  uses,  and  the 
games  of  ball  there  indulged  are  duly  recognized  by  the  ancient 
records  of  the  town  in  legalized  derogation  of  ordinary  police  reg- 
ulations. The  common  was  first  fenced  in  1836,  thus  discontin- 
uing the  highway  that  till  then  diagonally  traversed  it. 

That  the  fashion  of  the  games  was  varied  at  times  we  may  well 
believe,  but  in  the  very  early  years  we  have  no  definite  informa- 
tion about  it.  A  print  of  a  little  before  the  year  1800  shows 
us  the  common  as  a  promenade  for  ladies  and  gentlemen,  with 
a  game  of  wicket  in  progress,  to  which,  however,  the  prome- 
naders  appear  to  be  paying  little  attention.  Not  much  can  be 
told  of  the  students'  amusements  before  a  period  by  comparison 
modern. 

The  distinctive  Dartmouth  game  was,  however,  till  very  lately, 
from  time  immemorial,  the  grand  old  game  of  foot-ball,  not  the 
modern  exclusive  and  violent  Rugby,  but  the  free,  joyous,  and 
exhilarating  pursuit  of  the  ball  all  over  the  Green  by  every  student 
according  to  the  measure  of  his  inclination  and  powers.  The  tra- 
ditional division  of  parties,  or  "  sides,"  made  every  one  an  active 
member.  The  first,  or  "  Old  Division,"  pitted  the  Seniors  and 
Sophomores  against  the  Juniors  and  Freshmen.  The  two  great 
literary  societies — "  Socials"  and  "  Fraters" — furnished  another  ob- 
vious division  ;  and  both  of  these  arrangements  of  parties  brought 
out  often  earnest  and  persistent,  but  generally  good-natured, 
rivalry.  Another  favorite  division  of  later  years  put  New  Hamp- 
shire against  the  world,  in  which  the  New  Hampshire  boys  were 
usually  quite  able  to  hold  their  own. 


EARLY  COLLEGE  ATHLETICS.  85 

Prior  to  about  1850  the  ball  consisted  of  a  leathern  case  inflated 
by  a  bladder.  The  modern  rubber  ball  came  then  into  use,  and 
was  found  at  first  too  light  for  the  sturdy  muscles  of  Lord  and 
Bell  and  Johnson,  who  were  able  to  land  it  at  a  single  kick  from 
the  warning  ground,  westerly  of  the  centre  of  the  Common,  quite 
over  the  eastern  fence,  and  into  the  college  yard.  For  a  short 
time  then  the  game  was  played  lengthwise  of  the  Green,  till  the 
champions  consented  to  restrain  their  powers. 

The  fame  of  the  Dartmouth  game  was  great  in  other  colleges, 
and  none  in  those  days  had  courage  to  compete.  The  rules  of 
the  game  were  simple,  directed  to  prevent  violence  and  to  restrict 
the  propulsion  of  the  ball  wholly  to  the  foot.  Abuses  which  crept 
gradually  in  compelled  at  last  the  interference  of  the  college 
authorities  to  formulate  and  enforce  a  more  stringent,  though 
slightly  different,  code. 

Foot-ball  flourished  best  in  the  autumn.  Spring  and  summer 
brought  other  familiar  games — base-ball  of  the  old  style,  go-as- 
you-please,  and  wicket  and  cricket  and  quoits,  and  now  and  then 
oddities  of  play  that  for  a  time  would  excite  great  emulation. 
Boxing  and  fencing  have  often  found  admirers,  and  military  drill 
has  been  periodically  popular.  About  1791  arms  for  this  latter 
purpose  were  furnished  by  the  state  ;  and  in  1820,  and  again,  be- 
tween 1834  and  1844,  the  "Dartmouth  Phalanx"  was  one  of  the 
choice  companies  of  the  state  militia,  but,  sad  to  tell,  at  both 
periods  disbanded  under  pressure  of  discipline.  Their  hand- 
some blue  banner,  long  preserved  in  the  college  "Cabinet,"  has 
lately  disappeared.  The  military  spirit  revived  about  1855  in  the 
"  Dartmouth  Invincibles,"  and  displayed  itself  with  great  credit  in 
the  class  of  1859. 

Gymnastics  were  introduced  in  a  small  way  by  the  erection,  in 
1852,  by  a  few  enthusiasts,  in  the  ravine  east  of  the  observatory, 
of  a  frame  popularly  called  a  gallows,  by  some  the  "Freshman's 
Gallows,"  perhaps  because  a  Freshman  did  in  fact  at  that  time 
ruin  his  health  for  life  by  too  violent  exercise  upon  it.  The 
apparatus  consisted  of  nothing  but  two  suspended  ropes  with 
rings,  and  a  horizontal  bar.     There  is  a  hint  of  something  of  this 


88  WELL  KNOWN  AMERLCAN  HOMES. 

every  vine.     One  feels  as  much  at  home  here  as  when  turning  the 
leaves  of  the  easy-going,  wisely  contemplative  Sketch-Book. 

How  natural  it  seems  that  Otsego  Hall  should  be  built  on  the 
site  of  an  old  block-house  !  The  remains  of  two  deserters  shot 
during  Clinton's  expedition,  and  a  rusty  old  swivel,  were  dug  up 
inside  the  limits  of  the  grounds.  We  think  of  the  active  boy  in 
the  early  days  of  the  republic,  when  western  New  York  meant 
the  West,  rowing  on  the  beautiful  lake,  or  hunting  in  the  forests 
which  had  not  yet  wholly  succumbed  to  the  hand  of  man  ;  and 
then  the  man,  after  roving  for  years  on  the  high  seas,  establishing 
his  literary  reputation  and  travelling  in  Europe,  came  back  to  the 
home  of  his  childhood  to  spend  his  later  days.  This  great,  ample 
house,  built  of  bricks  transported  some  distance  especially  for  it, 
containing  a  hall  of  baronial  dimensions,  floors  of  original  forest 
oak,  has  hanging  around  it  the  associations  of  seventeen  works 
of  fiction  and  several  historical  works.  There  is  the  charm  of 
Leather-Stocking  lingering  in  the  noble  rooms,  and  the  spirit  of 
Uncas,  the  last  of  the  Mohicans,  lurks  around  the  shores  of  the 
beautiful  lake. 

In  the  historic  town  of  Concord,  on  the  banks  of  its  placid 
river,  stands  a  house  that  one  of  our  greatest  dreamers  has  made 
immortal.  "Between  two  tall  gate-posts  of  rough-hewn  stone 
(the  gate  itself  having  fallen  from  its  hinges  at  some  unknown 
epoch)  we  beheld  the  gray  front  of  the  old  parsonage,  terminating 
the  vista  of  an  avenue  of  black  ash  trees."  It  is  a  receptacle  of 
the  shadows  and  romances  of  past  days.  Here  the  famous  parson 
looked  out  upon  the  battle  at  the  bridge  ;  here  the  parishioner 
called  for  his  kindly  advice  ;  here  for  several  years  dwelt  a  dark- 
haired,  melancholly-eyed  man,  silent  as  the  grave,  who  sat  inside 
that  cozy  study,  or  floated  down  the  quiet  waters  in  the  still  of 
evening.  From  this  house  appeared  tales,  weird  and  strange, 
with  a  dreamy  fascination  for  every  fancy-loving  man.  But  it 
seemed  to  the  villagers  that  the  tales  were  about  all  that  ever 
issued  from  that  silent  house,  for  day  after  day  passed  without 
signs  of  life.  To  be  sure,  the  golden-haired  Una  did  occasionally 
take  an   airing  in  her  little, wicker  carriage,  but  the  old  knocker 


WELL   KNOWN  AMERLCAN  HOMES.  89 

became  weary  from  lack  of  use.  What  need  to  speak  longer  of 
the  "  Old  Manse,"  whose  mosses  are  so  well  known  to  every  lover 
of  letters?     Hawthorne's  personality  surely  lingers  about  it. 

In  the  same  peaceful  old  town  stands  another  house,  a  plain, 
square  dwelling,  surrounded  by  firs  and  pines,  whose  sighing 
made  sweet  music  for  the  retired  merchant  who  left  Boston  to 
gain  the  breezes  of  the  country.  Here  lived  for  years  one  whose 
wisdom,  philosophy,  and  integrity  are  well  typified  by  the  con- 
venient and  firmly  built  mansion.  Here  met  that  brilliant  band  of 
philosophers  which  so  nobly  held  up  the  standard  of  literature  in 
the  days  before  the  war.  What  room  has  not  clinging  to  it  the 
memory  of  some  gem  of  thought  wrought  out  within  its  walls? 
The  library  with  its  collection  of  books  for  use  rather  than  orna- 
ment, the  chamber  where  the  night  awoke  calm  contemplation — 
every  room  speaks  to  us  of  Emerson. 

Let  us  turn  now  to  a  homestead  alive  with  every  human  inter- 
est, the  old  Cragie  Mansion.  Washington,  in  the  time  of  the 
siege  of  Boston,  occupied  the  roomy  study  on  the  ground  floor, 
and  the  chamber  directly  overhead.  Into  this  chamber  came,  in 
1837,  a  young  professor  in  Harvard  University,  who  was  to  make 
himself  felt  as  akin  to  the  whole  world  by  the  human  sympathies 
of  his  verse.  Pleasant  years  were  those  he  spent  in  the  fine  old 
house,  so  full  of  associations  of  the  past.  Pleasant  indeed  must 
have  been  the  glimpses  he  caught  of  the  fine  old  lady  who  was 
the  last  survivor  of  the  Cragie  household.  The  house,  after  her 
death,  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  poet,  and  has  been  sung  by 
him  in  many  of  his  poems.  We  think  almost  unconsciously  of 
< 'Grave  Alice  and  laughing  Allegra,  and  Edith  with  golden  hair," 
stealing  down  the  stairs  which  had  resounded  to  the  tread  of  the 
Father  of  his  Country,  or  the  child  throwing  aside  its  playthings 
and  running  to  the  open  door,  from  which  Longfellow  drew  such 
lessons  of  life  in  the  poem  "  To  a  Child."  Is  there  a  note  in  the 
great  chord  of  human  sympathy  and  love  that  has  not  been  struck 
by  our  great  poet?  And  so  there  clings  about  his  home  the  ear- 
nest, sincere  affection  of  a  great  people,  and  the  admiration  of 
peoples  beyond  the  sea.  C.  F.  R. 


pO  AUNT  DOROTHEA'S  RESOLVE. 

IN  UNLIKELIEST  PLACES. 

I  looked  for  the  fair-fringed  gentian 
In  the  haunts  where  once  it  grew, 

But  I  found  no  trace  in  the  likeliest  place, 
Though  I  searched  till  the  falling  dew. 

So  back  I  turned  to  the  city, 
And  was  nearing  the  busy  throng, 

When  the  waning  light  revealed  to  my  sight 
The  flower  I  had  sought  so  long. 

I  was  weary  and  full  of  disquiet ; 

I  longed  for  the  highest  and  best ; 
And  I  failed  to  find,  in  the  friends  once  kind, 

An  answer  which  gave  me  rest. 

But  there  came  to  me  in  my  trouble 

A  friend  I  had  cast  aside, 
And  I  thought  of  the  day  when  the  dusty  way 

Could  give  what  the  fields  denied. 


Henry  H.  Piper. 


AUNT   DOROTHEA'S   RESOLVE. 

Madame  Bedinger  had  the  true  Southern  idea.  That  is  to  say, 
she  was  proud.  And  that  was  what  made  the  whole  trouble. 
She  was  proud  of  the  Old  Dominion,  its  history,  its  great  names, 
past  and  present ;  of  her  family,  its  traditions,  and  its  fair  fame  ; 
and,  above  all,  of  the  only  living  male  descendant  of  her  particular 
branch  of  grandfathers  and  great-grandfathers,  namely,  Henry 
Bayern.  All  of  which  was  harmless  enough  in  itself  had  it  not 
been  for  another  troublesome  peculiarity  of  the  Madame,  which 
was  that  she  was  determined  to  have  her  own  way. 

If  all  the  truth  must  be  told,  Madame  Dorothea  Bedinger  was 
not  at  all  times  sweet  and  forgiving  and  lovable.  Not  that  her 
old  heart  was  n't  a  real,  kind,  loving,  human  heart  way  down  in 
its  depths,  nor  that  it  had  never  warmed  with  affection  and  kindly 
feeling  towards  any  of  God's  creatures.  Henry  would  have  told 
you  far  differently.  But  the  rest  of  mankind  in  general,  and 
little  Annie  in  particular,  had  had  less  opportunity  to  find  it  out. 
For  this  little  waif  Madame  seldom  found  a  kind  word.  Her 
treatment  of  her  actually  bordered  on  cruelty.     But  the  poor  child 


AUNT  DOROTHEA'S  RESOLVE.  91 

was  wont  to  console  herself  with  an  expression  she  had  caught 
from  the  chastisements  of  her  mistress,  "  She  was  only  a  worthless 
little  Northerner." 

The  estimate  of  Madame's  character  which  was  held  by  the  out- 
side world  was  in  confirmation  of  what  I  have  said.  Yet  they 
really  knew  nothing  about  it.  Her  seclusion  was  something  most 
had  given  up  trying  to  penetrate.  Her  pride  of  itself  was  not 
conducive  to  her  popularity.  And  then,  as  I  have  said,  Madame 
was  crabbed  and  disagreeable. 

It  was  n't  so  much  her  fault,  after  all.  She  had  had  a  hard  life — 
a  very  hard  life.  A  life  in  which  joy  had  too  often  been  turned 
into  sorrow,  anticipation  into  disappointment,  fortune  into  misfort- 
une. At  least,  so  Madame  herself  thought;  but  perhaps  she 
looked  at  the  dark  side. 

Her  girlhood  was  passed  in  the  exhilarating  out-door  life  of  a 
Southern  plantation.  At  eighteen  it  was  suddenly  realized  that 
her  intellectual  culture  had  been  too  much  neglected,  and  she  was 
sent  North  to  school.  The  two  years  passed  in  a  beautiful  New 
England  town  was  a  valuable  experience  in  itself,  from  its  very 
contrast  to  all  with  which  her  life  had  been  previously  occupied. 
Education  and  experience  were  by  no  means  all,  however.  She 
was  graceful  and  charming.  Admirers  from  among  the  sterner  sex 
were  not  wanting.  One  was  handsome,  gay,  gallant.  Love  was  the 
consequence.  Papa's  consent  was  asked  and  obtained;  and  a  lapse 
of  three  years  found  her  the  wife  of  a  successful  Boston  merchant. 

But  George  Bedinger's  strength  was  unequal  to  the  demands  of 
his  work,  and  ill-health  was  in  a  few  years  followed  by  death. 
The  war  broke  out,  and  it  was  considered  inexpedient  for  the 
young  widow  to  return  to  Virginia.  Boston,  however,  soon  proved 
hardly  the  place  for  so  extreme  and  aggressive  a  loyalty  to  the 
Southern  cause  as  Madame  Dorothea  maintained.  Battle  single- 
handed  and  against  such  overwhelming  odds  could  hardly  be 
satisfactory.  Time  proved  no  attenuant  of  Madame's  intense  par- 
tisanship, or  of  the  bigotry  of  her  adversaries.  She  therefore  at 
length  took  the  wise  resolve  to  withdraw  from  the  surroundings 
she   had   herself  rendered  so  uncongenial.     Her  hatred  towards 


92  AUNT  DOROTHEA'S  RESOLVE. 

Boston  and  all  that  was  Northern  became,  and  always  remained, 
bitter  and  intense,  and  a  lapse  of  two  weeks  found  Madame's  per- 
son entrusted,  where  her  sympathies  had  been  so  long  enlisted,  to 
the  protection  of  the  stars  and  bars. 

War  brought  to  her  an  undue  portion  of  misery  and  misfortune. 
Father,  only  brother,  friends,  property,  all  were  swept  away  in 
the  brief  three  years ;  only  the  old   estate  remained,  and   herself, 

and one  thing  more,  her  brother's  little  six-year-old  boy,  Henry 

Bayern.  Her  attachment  for  him  from  the  first  was  strong.  In 
short,  Henry  had  ever  been  the  "  apple  of  her  eye." 

This  is  the  history,  as  briefly  as  I  can  sketch  it,  of  Madame 
Bedinger.  I  have  not,  however,  accounted  for  the  membership  in 
the  household  of  little  Annie  Lorrimer.  It  came  about  in  this 
wise.  A  sister  of  Mr.  Bedinger,  whom  Madame  had  never  even 
seen,  died,  leaving  the  child  an  orphan.  Friends  willing  to  un- 
dertake her  bringing  up  were  not  found  ;  relatives  there  were  none. 
The  only  thing  seemed  to  be  for  Aunt  Dorothea  (she  never  con- 
sented to  any  one's  calling  her  that  but  Henry,  however)  to  take 
the  helpless  little  thing  into  her  own  home.  She  did  it  unwill- 
ingly, as  she  took  pains  to  have  it  known.  And  one  might  well 
doubt  whether  Annie  had  ever  kindled  a  spark  of  affection  in 
Aunt  Dorothea's  bosom. 

"  Annie,"  Henry  had  sometimes  said  to  her,  when  he  perceived 
that  her  sensitive  little  nature  had  been  suffering  from  one  of 
Madame's  ill-judged  fits  of  anger,  "why  is  auntie  so  cruel  to 
you?     She  is  always  kind  to  me.     I  would  gladly  suffer  for  you." 

"  Do  not  talk  so,"  she  said.  "  Madame  has  done  so  much  for 
me  !  I  do  not  do  right,  else  she  would  not  scold  me.  She  is  very 
much  kinder  to  me  than  any  one  else  could  be,  and  I  am  only  a 
worthless  little  Northerner,  too."  This  last  was  said  in  the  utmost 
humility  and  sincerity,  for  the  poor  child  hardly  knew  what  the 
words  meant. 

Perhaps  the  one  thing  which  was  Annie's  greatest  delight  was 
to  do  something  or  say  something  to  please  Henry.  He,  on  his 
part,  was  never  anything  but  kind  and  tender  and  loving  towards 
her.     He  was,  in  fact,  the  only  real  sympathizing  friend  she  had 


AUNT  DOROTHEA'S  RESOLVE.  93 

ever  known.  Their  fondness  for  each  other,  as  it  had  been  nat- 
ural and  affectionate  from  the  first,  grew  into  a  stronger  attachment 
as  time  went  on.  He  inspired  in  her  an  almost  reverential  love  ; 
while  his  devotion  to  her  was  like  that  of  brother  to  sister.  It 
was,  in  short,  the  sweet,  simple,  innocent  love  of  childhood. 

Few,  probably,  of  the  neighbors  (if  such  those  living  in  prox- 
imity to  the  estate  of  Madame  Bedinger  maybe  called)  but  had 
thought,  as  they  saw  the  two  grow  up  from  childhood  to  youth, 
and  on  to  the  very  verge  of  manhood  and  womanhood,  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  there  being  sometime  between  them  a  stronger  tie  than 
that  of  mere  childish  friendship.  Whether  it  was  that  their  inti- 
mate companionship  had  been  an  influence  in  forming  each  other's 
character,  or  that  a  kind  Providence  had  so  ordered,  it  was  a 
common  remark  that  they  seemed  made  for  each  other.  To 
Madame  Bedinger,  however,  at  least  as  far  as  could  be  judged 
from  any  outward  expression,  such  a  possibility  as  that  just  re- 
ferred to  had  never  suggested  itself.  The  old  gossips  of  the 
neighborhood  had  gotten  nearer  the  truth  than  they  generally  did, 
when  they  shrewdly  guessed  that  in  the  privacy  of  her  closet 
Madame's  teeth  sometimes  set  together  and  her  lips  closed  firmly, 
and  a  certain  ungentle  light  shone  in  her  eye,  while  she  mentally 
resolved  that  so  long  as  any  temporal  or  moral  authority  remained 
hers  such  thing  should  never  be.  A  careful  observer,  could  he 
have  had  access  to  the  family  life  for  but  a  short  time,  would  have 
become  convinced  that  such  thoughts  were  often  in  the  mind  of 
Madame  Bedinger.  Her  treatment  of  Annie  was  different  from 
what  it  had"  been  in  earlier  years,  but  was  almost  as  severe.  The 
girl  was  shown  no  indulgence.  Her  position  was  that  of  a  humble 
domestic.  She  was  allowed  to  associate  with  Henry  when  he 
desired  it,  but  such  companionship  Madame  steadily  discouraged 
or  prevented  by  every  means  at  her  command. 

The  parties  most  interested  had  not  the  least  suspicion  of  all  the 
trouble.  Of  love  in  its  real  significance  they  knew  nothing. 
Aunt  Dorothea's  perversity  was  taken  as  a  matter  of  course. 
Neither  attempted  to  account  for  it,  as  neither  ever  had,  and  both 
were  ignorant  of  its  latest  and  most  unfortunate  significance. 


94  AUNT  DOROTHEA'S  RESOLVE. 

Hence  it  was  that  Henry  was  quite  astounded  one  morning 
when  conservative,  obstinate,  unprogressive  Aunt  Dorothea  an- 
nounced her  intention  to  send  him  to  Richmond  to  start  in  business, 
agreeably  to  a  proposal  that  had  been  made  to  her  by  an  old 
family  friend.  That  was  Madame's  solution  of  the  difficulty.  Re- 
membering her  own  experience,  and  having  no  apprehension  as 
to  Henry's  ready  position  in  the  society  of  the  capital  city,  she 
trusted  to  his  own  good  judgment  in  the  selection  of  a  fair  part- 
ner from  some  one  of  the  first  families  of  the  Old  Dominion.  But 
let  us  not  do  the  old  lady  an  injustice.  It  was  high  time  the 
young  man  was  striking  out  in  life  for  himself. 

The  idea  was  by  no  means  altogether  uncongenial  to  the  boy  him- 
self. The  restlessness  and  vague  ambitions  of  youth  had  been  his 
in  all  proper  proportion,  and  he  was  already  more  than  half  sus- 
pecting that  the  little  midland  county  in  which  was  situated  the 
ancestral  homestead  was  rather  a  limited  field  for  a  life  work.  Yet 
the  parting  from  scenes  and  surroundings  familiar  to  him  since 
childhood  was  a  matter  of  deep  regret.  The  thought  of  leaving  lit- 
tle Annie  behind  caused  him  much  pain.  To  be  living  apart  from 
her,  unable  to  confide  in  her  the  plans  and  joys  and  disappointments 
of  every-day  life  and  to  get  from  her  sympathy  and  comfort,  would 
be  a  new  experience  for  him.  Yet  this  was  selfish,  for  how  much 
greater  would  be  her  loneliness  !  He  was  going  out  into  a  new 
life,  to  form  new  interests  and  connections,  while  she  must  go 
trudging  on  in  the  same  old  way,  yet  with  him  gone  from  her 
whose  life  had  hitherto  been  inseparable  from  hers. 

"You  seem  so  happy  and  cheerful,  one  would  suppose  you  were 
yourself  setting  out  on  a  pleasant  journey,"  he  said  to  her  one  day, 
as  she  was  busy  making  things  ready  for  his  departure. 

"Your  happiness  is  mine,"  she  answered.  "What  can  ever 
make  me  happier  than  that  you  should  succeed  in  the  world?" 

"  But  won't  you  be  lonesome,  little  sister?  " 

"  Oh,  I  shall  want  to  see  you  very  much,  but  there  will  be  still 
much  to  occupy  me,  you  know.  Madame,  your  aunt,  is  getting 
old,  and  I  have  more  and  more  to  do.  And,  then,  I  shall  write 
you  a  long  letter  every  day,  and  think  of  you  so  much  !  "     It  was 


AUNT  DOROTHEA'S  RESOLVE.  95 

the  simple,  thoughtful  expression  of  her  love,  a  love  strong  enough 
to  sustain  her  under  a  grief  which  otherwise  she  could  not  have 
concealed. 

Despite  the  cares  and  excitement  attending  Henry  Bayern's  first 
week  of  city  life,  he  often  found  his  thoughts  returning  to  the 
home  he  had  just  left.  Thought  of  little  Annie,  and  of  the  cheer- 
less life  she  must  be  leading,  caused  him  frequent  pain.  Yet  in 
her  letters  he  could  never  perceive  the  least  indication  of  any  dis- 
content. They  were  as  uncomplaining  and  cheerful  as  her  own 
sweet  little  self  always  was,  telling  him  every  commonplace  detail 
of  each  day's  life,  and  breathing  through  every  word  the  same 
simple  tenderness  and  affection.  By  degrees  he  came  to  look 
forward  to  the  reading  of  them  as  the  pleasantest  experience  of  the 
whole  day.  Every  word  was  noted.  Every  thought  was  studied. 
He  re-read  them  more  than  once,  and  gathered  from  them  an 
inspiration  for  his  own  work.  He  was  surprised  to  find  the  annoy- 
ance it  caused  him  one  morning  when  her  letter  failed  to  reach 
him  at  its  regular  time.  All  manner  of  conjectures  and  forebod- 
ings started  up  in  his  brain,  and  it  was  a  great  relief  when  he 
found  that  the  cause  was  only  a  delay  in  the  mails. 

In  short,  Henry  had,  almost  without  knowing  it,  fallen  in  love. 
The  old  boyish  fondness  had  been  transformed,  slowly  but  surely, 
into  the  ardent,  passionate  love  of  manhood.  He  wondered  he 
had  never  perceived  that  Annie  was  really  the  prettiest  girl  in  the 
world.  He  came  to  feel  the  true  nobleness  of  her  character  as  he 
never  had  before.  His  whole  attitude  towards  her  changed.  She 
was  no  longer  a  mere  child,  to  whose  inmost  feelings  and  affec- 
tions he  held  a  sort  of  claim  ;  she  had  become  a  woman,  whose 
love  must  be  sought  and  won.  Before  her,  whom  he  had  been 
wont  to  command,  love  made  him  powerless.  It  was  a  self- 
imposed  weakness,  from  which  he  would  fain  have  risen,  but 
could  not.  She  had  always  been  his  superior  in  heroism  and 
humility  and  patience,  so  now  the  mere  conventional  bonds  of  cir- 
cumstance or  accident  had  lost  their  power,  and  he  bowed  before 
a  truer  nobility. 

His  letters  increased  in  length  and  frequency  and  intensity.    He 


96  AUNT  DOROTHEA'S  RESOLVE. 

poured  out  his  love  in  passionate  sentences  which  a  few  weeks 
before  would  have  seemed  to  him  impossible.  But  he  met  with 
no  response.  The  tone  of  her  letters  was  even,  respectful,  loving, 
sympathizing ;  but  it  was  not  satisfying  to  the  fire  that  burnt 
within  him.  Could  he  speak  plainer?  No.  It  must  be  that  she 
did  not  love  him. 

At  this  juncture  news  was  received  that  Aunt  Dorothea  had  met 
with  a  severe  accident,  and  was  on  the  point  of  death.  At  last  he 
was  to  return  to  the  old  home,  but  on  how  sad  an  errand.  Poor 
Aunt  Dorothea  !  Was  he  to  lose  her  who  had  made  him  all  that 
he  was  in  the  world;  had  given  him  almost  life  itself;  the  only 
one,  he  said,  who  ever  really  loved  him? 

For  that  week  and  the  week  after  the  world  seemed  passing 
before  him  in  a  sort  of  dream.  He  neither  felt  deeply  nor  thought 
definitely.  All  he  knew  was  that  he  performed  each  duty  faith- 
fully, and  left  the  result  with  a  higher  Power.  Had  it  not  been 
for  Annie  he  would  have  broken  down  completely.  He  resigned 
himself  to  her  as  to  one  stronger  than  himself.  Love  had  given 
way  to  despair.  He  realized  that  her  love  was  something  too 
pure  and  sacred  to  be  desired  by  such  as  he.  What  he  had  already 
said  seemed  profanation,  and  he  was  almost  ashamed  of  it  and 
wondered  that  he  could  ever  have  uttered  it.  Only  the  last  words 
of  Aunt  Dorothea  came  to  him  as  a  sort  of  oasis  in  the  desert  of  his 
despair:  "I  have  wronged  you  both.  Marry  her.  She  will  be 
a  wife  worthy  of  you."  And  then  the  old  lady  passed  on  to  a 
happier  world. 

Almost  a  week  had  sped  by,  and  they  were  sitting  on  the  porch 
talking  with  each  other  as  they  had  so  often  done  in  earlier  days. 
Not  quite  as  it  once  was,  though,  for  there  had  some  way  arisen  be- 
tween them  a  sort  of  barrier,  a  feeling  of  reserve,  which  had  never 
been  there  of  old.  He  knew  he  was  responsible  for  it.  He  up- 
braided himself  for  the  selfish  impetuosity  that  had  desecrated  what 
should  have  been  hallowed  ground.  Silence  had  been  golden.  He 
longed  for  the  old  childhood  days,  days  that  would,  alas  !  never 
be  theirs  again.  The  old  bond  was  broken,  and  he  knew  by  all 
her  conduct  to  him  it  could  never  be  replaced.     He  knew  what 


AUNT  DOROTHEA'S  RESOLVE.  97 

she  would  say  to  him  :  "  You  are  good  and  handsome,  and  would 
make  me  very  happy,  but  I  cannot  love  you.  Let  us  be  friends, 
as  when  we  were  children." 

Suddenly  something  whispered  to  him, — "  But  how  win  her  if 
you  do  not  speak  to  her?  " 

"  Annie,"  said  he  at  last,  choking,  and  his  voice  trembling,  "  I 
am  not  good  and  noble  as  you  are." 

"Not  so,  Henry,"  she  answered,  smiling,  "you  are  much  bet- 
ter and  nobler  than  I." 

"  No,  I  am  not  worthy  to  live  under  the  same  roof,  to  breathe 
the  same  air,  to  tread  the  same  earth  with  you."  He  spoke  as  in 
a  dream,  not  hearing  what  he  said. 

"Do  you  say  that  to  make  me  weep,  Henry?"  Then,  after  a 
pause,  she  added, — "  But  why  do  you  say  that?  You  do  not  love 
me  as  you  used  to  do  once,  Henry." 

He  was  on  his  knees  at  her  feet.  "  Oh,  Annie,  has  this  poor 
tongue  then  told  you  so  little?  Do  you  not  know  I  love  you? 
Can  you  not  see  the  fire  that  is  consuming  me — to  which  the  love 
I  once  felt  is  as  nothing?  That  was  but  the  shadow,  of  which  this 
is  the  terrible  reality.  Oh,  believe  me,  and  if  you  can  say  noth- 
ing more,  say  you  pity  me." 

She  turned  away  and  hid  her  face  in  her  hands.  She  was 
trembling  with  emotion,  but  he  did  not  notice  it. 

"I  know  your  thoughts,"  he  continued,  emboldened.  "You 
have  a  tender  heart,  but  you  do  not  love  me.  You  say  the  old 
friendship  is  enough." 

All  at  once  she  turned  around.  She  looked  at  him  reproach- 
fully, yet  smiling  through  her  tears,  and  said, — "Ah,  Henry, 
have  you  never,  then,  suspected  that  I  loved  you?" 

Let  the  moments  that  followed  be  sacred  to  themselves.  Enough 
that  in  their  happiness  Aunt  Dorothea's  cruel  and  relentless  reso- 
lution was  forgiven  and  forgotten.  And  let  us  trust  that  on  this 
happiness,  which  her  resolution  had  delayed  but  only  intensified, 
the  good  spirit  of  the  old  lady  now  looked  down  with  her  blessing. 

Wm.  P.  Ladd. 


98  A   BEE   HUNT. 

A  BEE  HUNT. 

My  grandfather  always  kept  several  hives  of  bees,  and  I  remem- 
ber one  year  when  a  fine  large  swarm  came  out  towards  the  last 
of  May.  I  was  at  school  at  the  time,  and  on  reaching  home  at 
noon  found  that  the  rather  delicate  operation  of  hiving  the  bees 
had  been  already  performed. 

Bees  are  fastidious  fellows.  To  watch  them  pouring  forth  from 
the  parent  hive  at  the  time  of  swarming,  to  see  them  hurrying  and 
scurrying  this  way  and  that,  fairly  clouding  the  air  with  their  host, 
yet  every  individual  displaying  a  lively  example  of  restlessness 
and  instability,  one  would  suppose  their  movements  most  promis- 
cuous and  indiscriminate.  But  wait  a  little  before  pronouncing 
judgment.  See  !  the  cloud  grows  densest  toward  that  apple-tree, 
and  soon  there  will  be  attached  to  the  high  forked  branch  a  solid 
pendant  mass  of  bees. 

The  wise  ones  tell  us  that  the  swarm  issues  from  the  over- 
crowded hive  at  the  command  of  the  old  queen,  angry  at  the  pro- 
duction of  a  rival  from  the  royal  cell  where  she  has  been  nur- 
tured and  protected  by  the  workers  for  weeks.  They  further 
tell  us — for  have  they  not  seen  it  with  their  own  eyes  ? — that  the 
queen,  after  flying  about  a  short  time  in  the  air,  alights,  and  by 
the  peculiar  noise  she  makes  with  her  wings  attracts  all  the  swarm 
to  her.  When  they  have  settled  down,  clinging  to  the  branches 
and  to  each  other,  the  sharp,  nervous  war-cry  which  prevailed 
while  they  were  swirling  through  the  air  gives  place  to  a  quiet, 
contented  hum, — not  the  busy  murmur  of  peace,  but  the  subdued 
sound  of  a  bivouac  under  arms.  While  they  are  gathered  here,  one 
accustomed  to  them  can  approach  with  safety  even  within  a  foot 
or  two,  and  the  old  bee-keeper  standing  near  and  listening  will 
say,  " There!  hear  that  sharp  tone  now  and  then,  higher  than 
the  general  hum?  That's  the  queen  !"  Now  begins  the  delicate 
operation  of  offering  them  a  hive  so  sweet  and  so  well  suited  to 
their  taste  that  they  will  adopt  it  for  their  house.  It  often  happens 
that  despite  the  most  careful  preparations  and  treatment  they  will 
none  of  the  patent  things  of  man's  devising,  but  break  camp,  fill 


A    BEE  HUNT.  99 

he  air  as  at  first,  and  make  for  a  home  of  their  own  choice  in  the 
woods. 

At  noon  this  particular  swarm  had  seemed  quiet ;  but  when  I 
was  returning  from  afternoon  school  I  heard  the  large  dinner-bell 
ringing  at  a  lively  rate,  and  the  sound  of  vigorously  beaten  tin 
pans.  At  once  I  suspected  that  the  bees  were  leaving,  as  I  had 
heard  my  grandfather  tell  how  they  used  to  throw  sand  in  the  air 
and  make  a  furious  hubbub  to  distract  the  attention  of  the  bees 
from  the  tones  of  the  queen  who  was  leading  them  away.  I  be- 
lieve he  was  inclined  to  consider  it  nonsense  ;  but  in  this  case  he 
decided  to  leave  no  stone  unturned,  or,  rather,  pan  unbeaten,  to 
save  this  early  and  valuable  swarm.  I  arrived  just  in  time  to  see 
the  low  floating  cloud  sail  over  the  field  like  a  fog-drift,  rise  with 
the  pasture  hill,  drop  on  the  farther  side  away  down  the  slope,  and 
fly  out  of  sight  over  brook  and  meadow,  just  above  the  tree-tops 
of  the  woods  which  extend  without  a  break  for  a  mile  or  two 
towards  the  east.  My  grandfather  said  it  was  of  no  use  to  follow 
them,  so  we  made  up  our  minds  that  so  much  was  lost. 

The  time  for  hoeing  came  and  went,  the  mows  were  filled  with 
fragrant  hay,  and  the  early  grain  was  threshed.  As  usual  there 
were  a  few  days  when  the  farmer  could  take  breath.  One  bright 
day,  my  grandfather,  hearing  that  a  party  of  us  schoolboys  was 
soon  to  start  for  the  mountains,  said  that  he  had  a  plan  for  some 
sport  nearer  home.  That  very  afternoon  we  would  try  to  find  the 
swarm  of  bees  that  flew  away.  I  had  almost  forgotten  about  them  ; 
but  he  quoted  the  old  proverb, — 

"A  swarm  of  bees  in  May  is  worth  a  load  of  hay, 
A  swarm  of  bees  in  June  is  worth  a  silver  spoon, 
A  swarm  of  bees  in  July  is  not  worth  a  fly." 

Since  proverbs  are  always  true,  our  swarm  by  this  time  must 
have  gathered  a  large  store.  A  "  bee  line"  is  no  myth,  for  they 
keep  unswervingly  in  the  same  direction.  So  we  kept  on  in  the 
direction  they  had  taken  from  the  spot  where  we  had  lost  sight  of 
them,  examining  closely  the  trees — shaggy  hemlocks,  hollow 
maples,  gnarled  oaks,  and  stubs  of  old-growth  pines.  Thus  we 
worked  on  in  our  difficult  search  for  at  least  three  hours.     I  began 


IOO  A   BEE  HUNT. 

to  think  we  were  beaten,  and  that  it  was  of  no  use  to  go  on  further  ; 
but  my  grandfather  said  it  was  "  now  or  never,"  and  we  would 
keep  on  till  half  past  five.  A  few  minutes  more,  and  we  came  out 
into  an  opening  in  a  pasture  which  had  once  been  used  for  a  field, 
for  heaps  of  stones  were  piled  up  here  and  there,  and  around 
them  blackberries  were  growing.  My  grandfather  sat  down  to 
rest,  bidding  me  take  a  final  look  into  the  swampy  valley  which 
lay  a  little  below  and  beyond.  I  was  quite  thoroughly  discour- 
aged, but  picked  my  way  along  over  the  rotten  trunks  of  trees 
that  had  fallen  in  the  moist  moss,  soft  and  soothing  to  tired  feet. 
There  was  really  only  one  tree  there  which  could  afford  bees  an 
asylum,  the  rest  being  short  young  pines  and  bushes.  The  top 
of  this  tree,  a  yellow  birch,  stood  out  conspicuous  from  its  sur- 
roundings. Its  roots  were  buried  beneath  the  moss-covered  mud 
of  the  swamp;  its  trunk  was  apparently  compact,  and  rose  sheer 
forty  feet  without  any  limbs,  and  was  covered  for  the  last  ten  feet 
by  just  the  remnant  of  branches.  I  scanned  it  up  and  down,  but 
my  eyes,  so  often  disappointed,  were  bound  to  be  disappointed 
again  in  the  waning  light.  Just  as  I  was  turning  I  saw  a  moving 
speck,  then  another  and  another,  against  the  sky,  almost  at  the 
branches.  The  bees  were  entering  the  tree  twenty-five  feet  from 
the  ground,  where  years  before  a  branch  had  broken  off,  and  per- 
haps "  squirrels  and  flickers  had  begun  excavation  in  the  decay- 
ing wood."  It  took  but  a  moment  to  make  a  distinguishing  mark 
on  the  trunk  with  the  hatchet  I  carried. 

Not  caring  to  follow  Burroughs  in  taking  the  risk  of  cutting  the 
tree  down  and  opening  the  hive  at  once,  we  waited  till  Novem- 
ber's first  snow,  and  then,  with  our  neighbor's  permission,  felled 
the  tree,  with  a  cross-cut  saw  cut  out  the  portion  containing  the 
bees,  and  carried  it  home  on  the  sled.  The  cavity  which  they  had 
filled  was  over  a  foot  in  diameter  and  seven  feet  in  length.  One 
comb  in  particular  I  remember,  filling  up  one  edge,  was  shaped 
like  a  two-edged  sword,  four  feet  in  length,  the  transparent  comb 
filled  and  sealed  over.  The  bees  had  already  consumed  part  of 
their  store,  but  we  estimated  the  amount  we  secured  at  seventy 
pounds.  E.  T.  S.  Lord. 


A   DAY  ON  THE  RHINE.  IOI 

A  BANQUET  SONG. 

Quam  bonum,  quamque  jucundum,  fratres  habitare  in  unum. 

"  How  sweet  when  brothers  dwell  in  harmony." 

So  sighed  the  weary  monk,  when,  worn  with  pain, 

His  frame  with  torture  racked,  he  died  to  gain 
A  martyrdom  by  truth  and  sanctity  ; 
O'er  all  his  soul  poured  soft  the  melody 

Of  music  sweet  when  sang  the  white-cowled  train, 

And  nave  to  chancel  echoed  back  again 
The  brotherhood's  low,  soothing  minstrelsy. 
So  we,  whose  years  are  bright  and  few, 

Whose  hearts  with  youth's  strong  pulse  throb  cheerily, 

Who  seek  the  truth  of  being  earnestly, 
Chant  the  old  song  to-night  with  fervor  new, 

While  arch  and  rafter  sound  back  joyously, 

"  How  sweet  when  brothers  dwell  in  harmony." 

C.  E.  E. 


A  DAY  ON  THE  RHINE. 

A  rainy  day  brings  discomfort  to  the  traveller,  of  whatever 
nationality  he  may  be  ;  and  the  little  knot  of  tourists  waiting  at  the 
pier  at  Coblentz,  one  August  morning,  were  certainly  no  excep- 
tion to  the  rule.  Although  we  spoke  a  variety  of  tongues,  yet  the 
same  idea  was  expressed  by  each  one  of  us,  and  made  additionally 
emphatic  by  the  number  of  languages  in  which  it  was  repeated. 
How  abominable  for  it  to  rain  !  This  day  of  all  days,  too  !  Of 
course,  as  is  the  way  with  all  travellers,  we  had  dreamed  for 
weeks  of  the  delights  of  the  ride  up  the  Rhine.  Legends  and 
history  crowded  our  thoughts,  and,  in  a  dim  sort  of  way,  chivalry, 
vineyards,  and  Cook's  tickets  had  danced  before  our  eyes,  which 
now  met  only  rain-clouds  hiding  everything  from  sight. 

Then  the  Niederwald  came  slowly  to  her  place  at  the  pier,  and 
we  hurried  aboard,  not  to  take  possession  of  the  best  positions  for 
scenery,  but  to  get,  if  possible,  a  place  under  the  awning  spread 
over  the  deck,  where  we  might  have  an  occasional  view  of  the 
river  banks  should  the    clouds  clear   away  for  good,  or  should 


102         .  A   DAY  ON  THE   RHINE. 

there  come  a  temporary  lull  in  the  rain.  We  had,  to  be  sure,  the 
possibility  of  riding  in  the  cabin,  but  the  very  thought  of  that  was 
absurd.  Spartan-like,  it  was  our  duty  to  undergo  the  discomforts 
of  the  moment  if  only  that  some  day  we  might  say,  "  When  we 
passed  St.  Goar  " — or  "  When  we  first  came  in  sight  of  Bingen  ;  " 
and  so  we  settled  down  in  our  spattered  seats,  turned  up  our 
coat  collars,  and  shivered  until  time  for  our  little  boat  to  start  off 
on  its  day's  journey. 

A  sharp  toot  from  the  whistle,  and  we  were  started  at  last, 
which  fact  we  fully  realized,  as,  little  by  little,  the  unsavory  atmos- 
phere of  Coblentz  became  diluted  with  the  pure  air  of  the  country, 
and  soon  we  had  nothing  to  remind  us  of  the  stifling,  muddy  city 
but  the  grim  fortress  of  Ehrenbreitstein  as  it  frowned  upon  us  from 
a  distance.  The  city,  with  its  protecting  Gibraltar  and  its  attrac- 
tive environs,  makes  an  extremely  pleasant  place  for  an  extremely 
short  visit,  and  the  traveller  is  sure  to  hail  with  delight  pure  air 
when  once  he  can. 

The  inevitable  types  of  tourist  life  were  huddled  under  the  awn- 
ing around  us  :  here  sat  the  exclusive  Briton  with  a  number  of 
valises  placed  on  stools  around  him,  a  huge  pile  of  wraps  and 
sticks  occupying  two  more  behind  him,  so  thoroughly  walled  in 
by  his  personal  belongings  that  he  was  in  reality  as  well  separated 
from  the  others  as  if  he  were  comfortably  leaning  back  upon  the 
luxurious  cushions  of  his  first-class  carriage  at  home.  Free  from 
all  that  might  disturb,  he  leisurely  opened  his  copy  of  the  London 
Times,  and,  buried  deep  in  its  pages,  passed  the  entire  forenoon 
supremely  oblivious  of  all  else.  At  a  little  distance  from  him  sits 
the  lady  who  speaks  nothing  but  English,  whose  baggage  has  in 
some  way  miscarried,  and  who  tries  in  a  most  -frantic  manner  to 
make  a  stupid-looking  German  deck-hand  understand  what  she 
wants.  After  listening  attentively  for  some  five  minutes  to  her 
high-pitched  eloquence,  he  interrupts  her  with  a  torrent  of  gutteral 
oratory,  until  he,  in  turn,  is  broken  in  upon  by  the  woman.  So 
the  conversation  continues,  German  and  English  alternately  and 
simultaneously,  until  some  neighbor  intercedes  to  secure  quiet  for 
the  others.     Beside  a  pillar  sits  the  American  young  lady,  good 


A  DAY  ON  THE   RHINE.  IO3 

looking,  to  be  sure,  but  dressed  very  showily,  with  a  fortune  in 
diamonds  on  her  fingers  and  at  her  ears.  As  long  as  she  is  silent 
it  is  a  delight  to  watch  her,  but  when  she  opens  her  dainty  mouth, 
and  all  over  the  steamer,  rising  superior  to  the  noise  of  the  rain, 
can  be  heard  every  word  she  speaks  with  that  peculiar  intonation 
so  common  to  many  Americans,  one  turns  to  the  bank  to  see  if 
a  nasal  echo  does  not  come  shouting  back  from  the  forests.  At 
one  side  is  a  German,  happy,  good-natured  fellow,  who  does  not 
care  the  least  for  castle  or  mountain,  whose  only  anxiety  is  that 
the  waiter,  running  about  attired  in  an  ill-fitting  dress  suit,  may 
keep  his  mug  well  filled  with  beer. 

An  exclamation  of  delight  rises  from  every  one  as  the  magnifi- 
cent castle  of  Stozenfels  comes  into  view,  with  its  turrets  and  well 
tended  grounds  ;  but  neither  the  Englishman  could  be  persuaded 
to  glance  up  from  his  Times,  nor  the  German  from  his  mug  of  beer. 
The  rest  of  us,  however,  rush  to  the  rail,  but  only  to  be  driven 
back  by  a  fresh  gust  of  rain. 

As  we  sail  along,  the  castles  increase  in  size  ;  the  cliffs  upon 
which  they  rest  rise  more  and  more  abruptly  from  the  water's  edge, 
and  the  background  of  crag  and  forest  seems  grander  than  any 
that  have  preceded.  Wherever  there  could  be  found  a  few  acres 
of  level  space  at  the  foot  of  the  banks  on  either  side  of  the  river 
there  would  be  a  little  village  often  nestling  cosily  under  the 
shadow  of  some  castle  above  it,  and  as  we  passed  many  of  these 
little  hamlets  a  boat  would  put  out  from  the  shore,  our  steamer 
would  stop  its  wheels  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  the  number  of 
shivering  pleasure-seekers  on  the  Niederwald  had  received  an 
addition  of  one  or  more. 

There  were  portions  of  the  way  that  were  improved  by  the 
clouds  and  the  rain  ; — the  castles,  backed  up  by  solid  forest  and 
perched  upon  a  cliff'  high  in  air,  frowning  down  upon  the  passen- 
gers sailing  up  the  river,  were  made  more  gloomy  and  majestic  by 
the  sombre  character  of  the  day  ;  but  on  the  other  side  of  the  river 
the  miles  of  fruit-laden  vineyards  covering  the  eastern  bank  needed 
the  smile  of  bright  sunshine  to  set  them  oft' to  the  best  advantage. 
So  it  was  that  we  lost  and  gained  at  the  same  time. 


104  A   DAY  ON  THE  RHINE. 

The  place  most  to  be  remembered  of  the  day,  is  the  spot  where, 
on  opposite  banks  of  the  river,  are  two  villages,  the  trimmest  and 
neatest  of  any  that  we  passed — St.  Goar  and  St.  Goarshausen. 
Overlooking  the  one  is  the  now  ruined  castle  of  Rheinfels,  the 
most  imposing  remnant  of  mediaeval  Germany ;  while  over  the 
other  is  the  "  Cat,"  very  little  behind  its  neighbor  in  romantic 
interest. 

Soon  we  reach  a  turn  in  the  river,  and  our  well  thumbed 
Baedeckers  and  charts  tell  us  that  we  are  about  to  come  in  sight 
of  the  Loreley  rocks  ;  so  we  turn  towards  the  eastern  bank,  where 
we  see  crags  rising  perpendicularly  in  the  air  some  five  hundred 
feet,  while  the  muddy  river  runs  in  circling  eddies  at  their  base. 
Now  our  Germanic  neighbor,  for  the  first  time,  looks  down  from 
his  beer  mug,  glances  at  his  chart  of  the  river,  and  then  bellows 
out  in  tones  loud  enough  to  overturn  the  very  rocks,  "  Ich   weiss 

nicht  was  soil  es  bedeuten  dass  ich   so "     The   exertion  is  too 

much  for  his  parched  throat,  and  he  beckons  to  the  waiter  to 
bring  him  at  once  a  new  supply  of  beer,  and  with  refilled  mug  in 
hand  he  proceeds  with  his  song,  stopping  for  punctuation  every 
now  and  then  with  a  few  gulps  of  his  well  loved  drink,  until  all 
the  verses  are  delivered.  Shades  of  Heine  !  I  stopped  my  ears 
as  best  I  could,  and  tried  to  imagine  a  dainty,  bewitching  nymph 
sitting  on  the  rock  just  above  that  dirty,  muddy  water,  and  singing 
so  sweetly  as  to  entice  the  fisherman  to  row  into  the  dangerous 
eddies.  Would  she  have  a  mug  of  beer  to  refresh  her  voice  with? 
Just  as  I  had  driven  away  this  irreverent  thought,  suggested  by 
the  thirst  of  my  Teutonic  neighbor,  and  was  actually  picturing  the 
scene  as  it  was  before  steamboats  and  personally  conducteds  flocked 
up  the  river,  I  heard  a  shrill  toot  from  the  depths  of  the  rock,  and 
out  from  a  tunnel,  unnoticed  up  to  this  time,  rumbled  a  clumsy 
nineteenth  century  freight  train.  I  would  try  no  more,  for,  with  a 
railroad  track  on  either  side  of  the  river  and  a  rain-storm  pelting 
down  from  above,  it  was  hard  indeed  to  paint  the  Rhine  of  chivalry 
and  legend. 

Just  then  the  waiters  passed  around,  announcing  that  the  table 
dKhote  was   about  to  be  served  in  the  cabin,  and,   as  we  had  all 


A   DAY  ON  THE  RHINE.  105 

become  thoroughly  tired  of  having  little  to  see  but  the  storm  with- 
out, the  tables  were  quickly  filled,  leaving  the  deck  comparatively 
deserted.  The  first  course  was  barely  over  before  the  rain  stopped, 
and  when  we  had  half  finished  the  meal  the  clouds  had  nearly 
vanished  from  the  sky.  We  ate  in  true  American  railway  restau- 
rant style,  twisting  and  turning  at  every  bite  to  see  if  we  were 
passing  anything  worthy  of  notice  ;  and  it  was  not  long  before  we 
hurried  on  deck,  but  only  to  find  that  almost  the  last  bits  of  the 
romantic  Rhine  had  been  left  behind  while  we  were  at  dinner. 
It  hardly  seemed  ten  minutes  before  we  were  passing  the  Mouse 
Tower  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  and  approaching  the  peaceful 
little  village  of  Bingen ;  while  across  the  river  one  could  see  the 
colossal  statue  of  Germania  drawing  her  sword  over  the  vineyards 
of  RiidesheimerBerg,  which,  terraced  and  graded  with  the  utmost 
care,  was  made  to  utilize  every  portion  of  the  mountain-side  for 
the  production  of  that  wine  for  which  it  has  become  so  celebrated. 
With  this  point  grandeur  leaves  the  river.  The  basin  expands, 
and  we  seem  almost  as  if  sailing  through  a  chain  of  little  lakes ; 
the  banks  become  mere  hills,  if  they  rise  at  all  from  the  water's 
edge, — and  having  seen  it  for  five  minutes,  we  have  seen  as  much 
as  is  possible  in  riding  the  eighteen  miles  from  Bingen  to 
Mayence.  J.  B.  B. 


The  Chair. 


Again  has  Mr.  Howells  given  forth  his  dictum  upon  true  art  in 
fiction  !  We  have  learned  to  be  expectant  of  these  periodical  out- 
bursts, and  it  is  interesting  to  note  them.  This  time,  as  the  reader 
of  the  Editor's  Study  in  the  November  Harper's  will  observe,  it  is 
the  consideration  of  Jane  Austen  and  her  work  that  enables  Editor 
Howells  to  shoot  his  arrows  of  criticism  at  Dickens,  Thackeray, 
George  Eliot,  and  all  that  mighty  train.  That  "  Miss  Austen  was 
great,  and  her  novels  beautiful,"  one  would  not  dispute,  but  the  state- 
ment that  the  art  of  fiction  has  declined  from  her  through  all  the 
English  novelists  that  have  succeeded  her, — is  it  not  most  amazing  ? 
It  seems,  however,  that  Miss  Austen,  nearly  a  hundred  years  ago, 
dealt  with  human  nature  just  as  our  own  Howells  deals  with  it  in 
this  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century.  A  wonderful  anticipa- 
tion, a  wonderful  vindication  of  the  Howells  idea  !  Miss  Austen 
was  a  realist,  then,  and  in  this  connection  we  are  given  a  new 
definition  of  realism,  which  is  "nothing  more  and  nothing  less 
than  the  truthful  treatment  of  material."  If  only  Scott,  Dickens, 
and  all  the  rest  had  known  how  to  be  realistic,  if  they  had  only 
dealt  with  their  material  truthfully,  if  they  had  only  lived  after 
Mr.  Howells  and  not  Mr.  Howells  after  them,  no  matter  if  they 
had  been  a  bit  stupid,  their  realism  would  have  saved,  glorified, 
immortalized  them.  Mr.  Howells  is  nothing  if  not  entertaining 
and  original.  Still  again  we  are  told  that  "  the  gradual  advance- 
ment of  civilization"  among  the  "poor  islanders  "—the  commis- 
erating term  designating  our  British  cousins  who  read  and  admire 
these  erring  novelists  mentioned  above — will  some  day  come  to 
appreciate  the  truth,  that  is  when  they  get  it  into  their  stubborn 
English  heads  that  sense  and  good  taste  demand  that  they  should 
sink  their  "  personal  preferences,"  and  read  novels  upon  "  princi- 
ple." Superb  conceit !  Or  shall  we  give  the  genial  editor  of 
Harfer's  the  credit  of  being  much  like  the  man  who  talks  simply 
because  entranced  with  the  music  of  his  own  voice? 


THE  CHAIR. 


I07 


But  a  word  for  Jane  Austen.  We  would  not  sully  her  fair  fame 
by  leaving  her  impliedly  stigmatized  with  an  epithet  which  is  often 
used  now  as  a  term  of  opprobrium.  Realist  she  was,  but  a  model 
in  genius  Mr.  Howells  can  follow  only  in  the  single  way  of  deal- 
ing truthfully  with  material.  At  this  time,  when  the  modern  novel 
so  palls  upon  the  taste,  one  can  do  no  better  than  to  read  Miss 
Austen's  novels  of  English  society,  that  deal  with  commonplace 
things  and  commonplace  characters,  yet  in  such  an  exquisite  way 
as  to  charm  rather  than  weary  the  reader.  "  Pride  and  Preju- 
dice," "  Sense  and  Sensibility,"  and  "  Emma,"  constitute  a  trio  of 
remarkable  novels.  Indeed,  the  first  we  have  seen  again  and 
again  honored  as  one  of  the  world's  best  hundred  books  in  lists 
compiled  by  eminent  critics. 

Last  month  we  offered  a  few  general  suggestions  concerning 
contributors  and  contributions  to  the  Lit.  A  more  specific  state- 
ment as  to  the  kind  of  contributions  desired,  and  a  little  further 
advice,  may  be  helpful  to  those  who  have  the  literary  instinct  and 
the  disposition  to  work,  but  are  somewhat  at  a  loss  with  regard  to 
just  what  to  write.  Essays,  sketches,  stories,  poems,  cover  the 
whole  field  of  college  literature.  Naturally  not  a  few  will  attempt 
the  essay,  for  it  is  the  particular  form  of  writing  in  which  they 
have  had  the  most  training  in  the  preparatory  school.  Very  good  ; 
nothing  is  more  acceptable  than  a  proper  essay,  one  that  is  well 
conceived  and  carefully  written.  The  chances  of  its  acceptance 
will  depend  upon  the  choice  of  a  subject,  originality  of  treatment, 
and  literary  execution.  A  suitable  subject  is  very  essential.  The 
tendency  of  the  ambitious  young  essayist  is  to  attempt  too  much,  to 
go  beyond  his  depth,  and  yet  there  should  be  an  avoidance  of  the 
commonplace.  In  general  a  literary  subject  should  be  chosen,  or 
else  one  that  bears  directly  upon  the  broader  college  interests. 
The  sketch  is  shorter,  admits  of  lighter  treatment,  and  may  well 
be  attempted  before  the  essay,  as  the  latter  presupposes  extensive 
reading  and  more  or  less  critical  ability,  which  usually  come  later 
in  one's  college  course.  The  best  story  possesses  an  ingenious 
plot,  set  forth  in  graphic  description.  But  ability  in  word-paint- 
ing and  in  imaginative  construction  are  very  often  not  conjoined, 


108  THE   CHAIR. 

and  then  the  story-teller  must  make  up  in  one  what  he  lacks  in  the 
other.  To  tell  a  good  story  is  no  easy  thing,  and  one  had  better 
content  himself  with  the  less  ambitious  form  of  the  sketch  until  he 
feels  sure  of  his  power  to  entertain  in  spinning  a  story.  As  to  the 
verse,  that  which  is  graceful,  dainty,  and  artistic  is  especially 
sought.  Whatever  kind  of  composition  is  chosen,  it  should  be 
remembered  that  naturalness,  simplicity,  and  sincerity  are  the 
fundamental  qualities  in  good  writing,  and  without  these  the  other 
graces  of  composition  cannot  exist. 


The  wave  of  popular  protest  against  compulsory  church  service 
which  has  swept  over  so  many  colleges  the  last  few  years  has  not 
yet  reached  Dartmouth,  and  it  certainly  ought  not,  now  that  we 
have  such  a  beautiful  college  church.  The  old  church,  with  its 
white,  staring  walls  and  generally  dingy  interior,  was  little  calcu- 
lated to  inspire  with  feelings  of  reverence  and  worship  each  Sab- 
bath morning  ;  but  if  the  artistic  beauty  of  the  renovated  church 
does  not  help  enkindle  in  one  the  spirit  of  "  sweetness  and  light," 
he  must  be  sadly  out  of  joint.  It  is  hard  to  conceive  of  more  taste- 
ful improvements  than  those  which  the  college  church  has  under- 
gone. The  old  colonial  structure  is  unaltered,  and  thus  historic 
associations  are  not  destroyed,  yet  the  work  of  architect  and  artist 
has  produced  a  building  which  is  a  true  temple,  in  its  harmony  and 
simplicity  of  design  and  delicate  richness  of  furnishings.  The 
contrast  between  its  beauty  and  that  of  the  chapel  but  adds  to  the 
charm  of  both.  Surely,  we  have  much  to  show  the  visitor  beside 
the  natural  beauty  of  our  college  town.  It  has  often  been  the  com- 
plaint here  that  desired  changes  come  most  slowly,  but  it  must  be 
admitted  that,  when  they  do  come,  they  are  eminently  satisfactory. 


We  announce  the  resignation  from  the  editorial  board  of  Mr.  Quint 
of  the  Junior  class,  who  has  left  college.  This  vacant  editorship  is 
thrown  open  to  competition  extending  through  the  year,  the  place 
to  be  filled  at  the  time  of  the  election  of  the  editors  from  the  present 
Sophomore  class  next  May,  or  possibly  before,  should  one  early 
show  himself  to  be  properly  qualified  for  a  position  on  the  board. 


By  the  Way. 


Now  come  the  days  when  we  look  out  from  our  study  windows 
upon  leafless  elms  and  maples,  weaving  strange  fabrics  against  the 
sky,  and  see  the  campus,  deserted  more  and  more  as  the  weeks  go 
by,  losing  loyalty  in  that  it  neglects  now  to  wear  the  college  color, 
and  dons  a  humble  brown. 

As  we  stand  watching  one  of  the  last  foot-ball  games  of  the  year, 
how  the  cold  breath  of  Boreas  makes  one  shiver !  The  fallen 
leaves  feel  it  too,  and  go  scurrying  along  the  side-walk,  now  stop- 
ping to  make  a  "touch-down",  and  then  on  again  like  so  many 
"half-backs,"  dodging  exultantly  by  some  sedate  professor,  who 
is  passing,  as  if,  forsooth,  he  were  in  the  wild  game  himself:  on 
they  sweep  toward  some  invisible  goal,  while  I  turn  to  watch  the 
Rugby  on  the  campus. 

*     * 

Once  more  we  would  fain  renew  our  acquaintance  with  books,  not 
from  a  sense  of  duty,  nor  from  a  fear  of  "  flunks,"  but  because  they 
win  us.  When  a  bright,  living  novel  and  an  easy-chair  league 
together  of  a  November  evening,  who  can  resist  them?  Books  in 
summer  were  always  a  sort  of  side  show.  The  real  entertainment 
was  in  the  great  tent  which  we  call  out-doors  :  the  tennis  court,  the 
river,  woods,  lake,  and  mountain,  were  the  star  attractions, — and 
how  we  grumbled  when  it  was  all  closed  on  account  of  rain,  and 
books,  behind  closed  doors,  were  the  best  amusement  offered  !  But 
now  the  scales  are  turned,  and  the  intellectural  palate  craves 
something  more  substantial  than  the  novels  of  Ouida  and  Haggard. 


There  are  said  to  be  some  fellows  in  college  so  unsociable  as  to 
pass  four  years  within  five  minutes' walk  of  hundreds,  yes,  even 
thousands,  of  the  most  sociable  spirits  the  world  has  ever  seen,  and 


IIO  BY  THE   WAY. 

yet  these  same  persons,  either  from  ignorance  that  such  pleasant 
company  is  so  near  at  hand,  or  from  the  strictures  placed  upon 
their  time  by  a  few  aristocratic  and  formal  text-books,  never  get 
even  a  bowing  acquaintance  with  the  would-be  friends  that  smile 
down  from  the  shelves  of  the  college  library. 

Fortunately,  these  men  are  few ;  and  there  is  another  class 
who  cultivate  a  wide  circle  of  acquaintances  among  the  books. 
Fiction  finds  the  most  suitors  ;  History  has  a  large  share  of  atten- 
tion ;  Essays,  Biography,  Science,  Travel,  and  Philosophy  each 
have  a  few  admirers, — but  alas  for  Poetry  !  The  queen  of  the  arts 
seems  to  have  lost  her  charms,  and  her  star  shines  dimly  just  now 
at  Dartmouth. 


Having  a  geological  turn  of  mind  the  other  day,  I  stopped  in  my 
walk  to  examine  the  strata  of  an  out-cropping  ledge  ;  and  as  I  was 
noting  the  huge  layers  of  rock,  here  plunging  down  vertically  into 
the  soil,  leaving  one  to  wonder  how  deep  they  might  extend,  and 
there  twisted  as  if  squirming  under  the  pressure  of  a  giant  hand,  I 
fell  to  musing.  How  like  these  layers,  which  crust  over  our  planet, 
are  the  incrustations  upon  the  great  world  of  truth,  which  we  know 
as  thoughts  ! 

Philosophers  have  sunk  their  wells,  lowered  their  spiritual  ther- 
mometers and  hygrometers,  and  drawn  their  subtle  conclusions  as  to 
what  was  below  the  crust,  but,  poor  men,  their  readings  have  failed 
to  agree,  and  their  theories  widely  differ.  Yet  we  have  the  thought 
crust,  much  the  same  as  it  was  in  Plato's  and  Aristotle's  time,  thick- 
ened a  little  since  then  in  places,  but  the  same  old  soils,  grubbed  over 
year  after  year  by  new  thinkers.  One  unearths  a  crystal  here,  or 
chips  off  there  a  fossil,  long  embedded  in  the  old  rocks,  and  these  are 
forthwith  brushed  up  and  exhibited  to  the  public  as  original  thoughts. 
Now  and  then  a  Goethe  or  a  Bacon  appears,  having  such  an  apti- 
tude for  this  kind  of  gem  hunting  that  his  less  favored  brethren 
exclaim,  A  man  of  originality  ! — but  carefully  examine  his  glitter- 
ing treasures,  and  you  see  they  have  been  only  repolished  and 
reset  by  their  finder. 


! 


BY  THE    WAY.  Ill 


What  a  place  for  character-study  is  the  students'  boarding-club  I 
The  recitation-room  affords,  at  best,  an  artificial  state  of  existence, 
in  which  one's  knowledge  is  at  dress  parade  ;  but  at  the  club-table 
the  student  is  at  home  and  himself,  free  to  differ  with  his  text- 
books, professors,  or  even  his  landlady's  methods  of  cooking,  if  he 
be  so  minded. 

What  a  diversity  of  characters  appear  in  this  boarding-house 
comedy  !  Take,  for  instance,  that  taciturn  youth,  a  fellow  whose 
recognition  of  the  need  of  bodily  sustenance  is  wonderful  to  behold, 
whose  thoughts  are  so  bent  on  the  priceless  value  of  time  as  not  to 
allow  the  discussion  of  less  important  matters,  and  should  an  utter- 
ance struggle  out,  perchance,  a  blush  of  surprise  follows  it  upon 
the  face  of  its  unwilling  liberator.  Our  friend  is  afflicted  with  a 
disease  which  is  likely  to  attack  any  one  earlier  or  later,  usually 
earlier,  and  may  even  be  epidemic  in  a  whole  club,  with  what 
detriment  to  digestion,  and  with  what  a  sepulchral  effect  to  a  dining- 
hall,  the  most  of  us  know  from  experience. 

There  is  another  individual  whom  we  have  met,  whose  ideas  are 
like  the  sands  of  the  sea  for  number,  and  I  might  add,  much  like 
them  for  weight  and  size  also.  His  jokes  must  be  good  if  we  con- 
sider how  they  have  stood  the  test  of  time, — in  fact,  he  is  indispen- 
sable to  every  well  regulated  boarding-club.  Between  these  indi- 
viduals at  the  two  extremes,  we  have  those  in  whom  the  elements 
of  silence  and  talkativeness  are  mixed  up  in  any  number  of  pro- 
portions,— but  how  could  we  do  without  any  of  them?  They  are 
just  as  nature,  with  a  little  help  from  culture,  has  made  them,  and 
what  more  could  we  ask  of  them  than  that  they  cultivate  such  a 
free  and  easy  manner  as  invites  companionship  and  conversation  I 


Thistle-Down 


DIE  LACHE  UND    DAS  SCHLUCHZEN. 

Roaring  and  fighting, 

The  round  turrets  smiting, 
Eric  the  Red  loves  the  sound  of  the  gale ; 

O'er  his  battles  he's  laughing, 

As  he  sits  slowly  quaffing, 
Blowing  the  foam  from  his  flagon  of  ale. 

Soughing  and  sighing, 

Like  breath  of  one  dying, 
Frega,  his  wife,  hates  the  sound  of  the  blast  ; 

O'er  her  boys  she  is  crying, 

For  their  bodies  are  lying 
Slain  in  the  battles  of  days  that  are  past. 

Marshall  P.  Thompson. 

A   QUERY. 

Deep  is  the  sea ;  yet  its  secrets 

Doth  man  from  its  bosom  wrest. 
Tell  me — can  one  ever  fathom 

The  depths  of  the  human  breast? 

Far  are  the  stars ;  yet  their  distance 

Can  man  in  his  wisdom  teach. 
Tell  me — can  mortal  e'er  measure 

How  far  his  thought  doth  reach  ? 

W.  A.  Bacon. 


Crayon   Bleu. 


Benjamin  Franklin,  by  JohnT.  Morse,  Jr.     American  Statesmen  Series.     Boston:  Hough- 
ton, Mifflin  &  Co. 

One  of  the  most  excellent  books  of  this  excellent  series.  Mr.  Morse  laments  that  such 
a  busy  life  must  be  narrated  in  the  narrow  space  of  four  hundred  pages.  Yet  he  has 
accomplished  perfectly  the  purpose  of  writing  a  biography  of  Franklin  in  his  connection 
with  measures  of  statesmanship.  To  carry  out  this  purpose,  it  was  necessary  to  pass  over 
lightly  many  parts  of  his  life  which  are  of  interest  to  the  general  reader.  The  author  con- 
fesses that  he  does  not  wish  his  book  to  take  the  place  of  Parton's  biography.  He  does 
intend  it  to  fill  a  place  in  the  American  Statesmen  series,  which  would  seem  inexcusably 
empty  without  a  life  of  one  who  did  more,  perhaps,  than  any  other  besides  Washington,  in 
achieving  our  national  independence.  The  book  is  especially  rich  in  facts  concerning 
Franklin's  residence  abroad,  as  agent  of  Pennsylvania  in  England  and  as  minister  to 
France.  We  have  learned  to  look  with  expectancy  on  any  book  bearing  the  blue  and  gold 
uniform  of  this  series  ;  and  in  this  work  we  are  not  disappointed. 

Zschokke's  7 ales.     New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.     $1.00. 

Comprises  "Adventures  of  a  New  Year's  Eve,"  "The  Broken  Pitcher,"  "Jonathan 
Frock,"  and  "  Walpurgis  Night."  This  "  Knickerbocker  Nugget"  is  composed  of  transla- 
tions from  an  author  who  won  a  place  among  the  German  classics  by  his  bright  stories. 
They  are  truly  charming,  the  narration  being  swift  and  easy,  the  incidents  interesting,  the 
tone  pure.  A  more  puzzling  scene  of  confusion  than  is  caused  by  the  watchman  and  prince 
changing  characters  on  New  Year's  Eve  would  be  hard  to  imagine.  "  The  Broken  Pitcher" 
is  a  charming  idyl.  "  Jonathan  Frock"  turns  upon  the  common  hatred  of  the  Jews,  and 
how  love  conquered  it  in  a  particular  case.  "  Walpurgis  Night"  is  as  horrid  a  dream  as 
could  be  well  pictured.  The  volume  is  a  worthy  successor  to  the  literary  nuggets  that 
have  preceded  in  this  series. 
Selections  from    Wordsworth,  with   notes,  by  A.  J.  George,  M.    A.     Boston  :  D.    C.  Heath 

&Co. 

The  selections  are  so  made,  that  the  growth  of  Wordsworth's  power  as  a  poet  is  well 
shown,  the  poems  being  arranged  chronologically.  The  sonnets  are  collected  apart  from 
other  poems.  The  notes  are  suggestive  rather  than  complete,  and  aim  to  supplement 
rather  than  introduce.  This  edition  will  be  found  an  excellent  one  for  use  in  the  class- 
room. It  is  not  necessary  to  speak  here  of  the  ennobling  influence  which  the  simple, 
unaffected  words  of  the  master  poet  of  the  common-place  may  be  made  to  exert  on  the 
young  mind.  In  our  humble  opinion,  more  attention  to  plain,  homely  virtue,  and  less  to 
metaphysical  inquiry  on  the  part  of  the  authors  of  to-day,  would  prove  an  efficient  antidote 
to  the  common  taste  for  the  sensational  trash  which  floods  the  market. 

General  History,  by  Myers.     Boston:  Ginn  &  Co.     $1.62. 

This  volume  is  based  upon  the  author's  Ancient  History,  and  Mediaeval  and  Modern 
History,  and  is  issued  in  uniform  style.     The  narrative  is  often  changed,  and  fine  illus- 


ii4 


CRAYON  BLEU. 


trations  set  off  the  text,  yet  one  who  has  read  or  studied  Myers  will  find  here  the  same 
terseness  of  style,  the  same  condensation  and  forward  movement  of  the  narrative.  The 
book  is  furnished  with  topical  headings  and  numerous  maps,  well  fitting  it  for  use  in 
schools  and  colleges. 

A  Girl  Graduate,  by  Celia  Parker  Woolley.     Boston  :  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.     $1.50. 

One  thing  can  be  said  in  favor  of  this  new  novel :  the  tone  throughout  is  helpful  and 
uplifting.  The  gradual  development  of  the  impetuous  school  girl  into  the  kind  and 
thoughtful  woman  is  well  delineated,  while  many  forms  of  social  folly  are  shown  in  their 
true  light.  Of  course,  as  the  title  would  indicate,  the  book  has  a  heroine,  and  the  move- 
ment of  the  plot  is  well  hinged  upon  her  growth.  It  is  a  realistic  study  of  village  lifer 
where  the  sturdy  and  honest  influences  predominate.  There  is  not  a  character  in  the  book 
who  has  not  many  good  points.  The  failures  of  the  work  are  in  the  method  of  treatment,, 
in  the  fulness  of  details,  often  wearisome  and  seldom  essential.  Yet,  on  the  whole,  this 
work  deserves  the  success  of  the  author's  preceding  work,  "  Rachel  Armstrong." 

Teacher's  Manual  of  Geography,   by   Jacques    W.    Redway.      Boston :    D.    C.    Heath   & 

Co.     $0.50. 

In  two  parts.  I,  Hints  to  Teachers;  II,  Modern  Facts  and  Ancient  Fancies.  This  book 
will  help  the  teacher  explain  many  points  difficult  for  the  scholar  to  understand.  The 
second  part  is  a  mine  of  general  information  on  geographical  subjects. 

Topics  in  Geography,  by  W.  F.  Nichols.    Boston  :  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.    $0.50. 

Shows  what  is  best  omitted  and  what  best  taught  in  geography.  Statistics  are  avoided, 
relative  dimensions  rather  being  taught.  It  is  the  work  actually  done  in  the  author's 
school,  and  so  carries   with  it  the  weight   of  actual  trial.     The  binding  is  uniform  with 

Redway 's  Manual. 

Great  Words  from   Great  Americans.     New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.     $1.00. 

Contains  in  a  neat  and  handy  form, — The  Declaration  of  Independence,  The  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  Washington's  circular  letter  of  congratulation  and  advice  to  the 
governors  of  the  thirteen  states,  Washington's  inaugural  and  farewell  addresses,  Lincoln's 
inaugural  and  Gettysburg  addresses,  and  fine  portraits  of  Washington  and  Lincoln.  It 
puts  in  convenient  form  documents  to  which  every  American  should  have  ready  access. 

7,000   Words  often  Mispronoimced,    by  W.   H.   P.  Phyfe.      New   York  :  G.    P.    Putnam's 
Sons.     $1.25. 

"A  complete  hand-book  of  difficulties  in  English  pronunciation,  including  an  unusually- 
large  number  of  proper  names,  and  words  and  phrases  from  foreign  languages."  Each 
word  is  spelled  phonetically  in  giving  the  pronunciation,  and  helpful  remarks  are  made 
with  many.     The  list  is  preceded  by  a  short  treatise  on  English  and  foreign  sounds. 

The  Atlantic  for  November  contains  valuable  political  articles  on  "  Character  of  Democ- 
racy in  the  United  States,"  by  Woodrow  Wilson,  and  the  "  French  in  Canada,"  by  Eben 
Greenough  Scott.  Historical  articles  are,  "Allston  and  His  Unfinished  Picture,"  extracts 
from  the  journals  of  R.  H.  Dana,  and  "The  Nieces  of  Mazann,"  by  Hope  Notnor. 
"  Some  Romances  of  t  e  Revolution"  is  an  interesting  literary  sketch.  "The  Begum's 
Daughter"  and  "The  Tragic  Muse"  are  continued.  The  verse  is  good,  and  the  book, 
articles  unusually  interesting,  containing  notices  of  some  of  the  best  books  of  the  year. 


CRAYON  BLEU.  115 

The  Century  for  October  contains  "  In  East  Siberian  Silver  Mines,"  by  George  Kennan, 
"  Moliere  and  Shakespeare,"  by  C.  Coquelin,  a  valuable  dramatic  article  with  frontispiece 
portrait  of  Moliere,  "Base-ball  for  the  Spectator,"  by  Walter  Camp,  accompanied  by 
instantaneous  photographs.  Maria  Mitchell  gives  interesting  "  Reminiscences  of  the 
Herschels."  Three  articles  on  phases  of  industrial  education  answer  the  demand  of  the 
times.  The  fiction  is  good,  and  the  verse  excellent,  "Songs  of  Ireland"  being  novel 
and  pleasing. 

Scribner's  for  November  contains  "  Where  Emin  Is,"  by  Col.  H.  S.  Prout  (Baroud  Bey), 
"The  Effect  on  American  Commerce  of  an  Anglo-Continental  War,"  by  J.  Russell  Soley, 
''  Electricity  in  Relation  to  the  Human  Body,"  by  M.  Allen  Starr,  M.  D.,  "  A  New  Field  of 
Honor,"  a  description  of  modern  sanitary  corps  in  battle,  by  James  E.  Pilcher,  "Goethe's 
House  at  Weimar,"  by  Oscar  Browning.  The  review  of  Marie  Bashkirtseff's  strange 
diary  is  interesting.     The  fiction  and  verse  are  below  the  usual  standard. 

Lippincotf  s  for  November  has  for  its  complete  novel  "  A  Belated  Revenge,"  by  Robert 
Montgomery  Bird.  Other  notable  articles  are  "  William  Cullen  Bryant,"  by  R.  H.  Stod- 
dard, "  Handwriting  and  Writers,"  by  William  S.  Walsh,  and  a  decidedly  one-sided  dis- 
cussion of  "  Does  College  Training  Pay  ?"  which  question  is  answered  in  the  negative  by 
D.  R.  McAnally. 

The  National  Magazine  for  November  will  contain,  among  other  articles,  "  Comparative 
Philology."  by  Prof.  Scheie  de  Vere  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  "  Political  Science,"  by 
Prof.  R.  M.  Smith  of  Columbia,  and  "  Shakespeare,"  by  F.  W.  Haskins,  Ph.  D.,  Chan- 
cellor of  the  new  national  University  of  Chicago.  The  magazine  promises  valuable  scien- 
tific and  political  articles  for  future  issues. 

Ginn  &  Co.  announce  the  publication  of  "  Elementary  Mathematical  Tables,"  by  A. 
Macfarlane,  D.  Sc,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Physics  in  the  University  of  Texas.  These  tables, 
logarithmic,  circular,  exponential,  etc.,  are  mostly  four  places. 

Christian  Theism,  Monopolies  and  the  People,  Hansa  Towns,  Translations  at  Sight,  The 
Eastern  Nations  and  Greece,  The  Story  of  Boston,  Corson's  Introduction  to  Shakespeare,  and 
The  State  will  receive  mention  in  our  next  issue. 

The  Granite  Monthly  for  September  and  October  contain  sketches  of  Hon.  Hiram  D. 
Upton,  Dart.  '79,  and  Granville  P.  Conn,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  Dart.  Med.  Coll.  '56.  The  Jour- 
nal of  Education  continues  "The  Essentials  of  Psychology,"  by  A.  E.  Winship.  "  Our 
Book  Table"  is  a  valuable  department  of  this  excellent  periodical.  We  are  glad  to  see  the 
straightforward  Americanism  displayed  in  regard  to  the  teaching  of  patriotism  in  our 
public  schools.  Education  maintains  its  high  standard.  The  Dial  is  a  valuable  critical 
monthly.  We  are  glad  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  The  Golden  Rule,  Sunday  School 
Times,  and  Our  Dumb  Animals. 


Exchanges. 


It  seems  a  pleasure  to  tear  from  their  wrappers  old,  familiar  friends,  who,  from  a  year 
or  so  of  acquaintance,  have  come  to  be  welcome  guests  at  our  table.  A  glance  at  the  title- 
page  discloses  names  which  are,  almost  without  exception,  new  to  us;  but  upon  reading  the 
work  of  the  new  editors,  we  find  that  they  are  to  go  on  upon  the  lines  laid  down  by  their 
predecessors  in  their  respective  sanctums ;  and  so  we  realize,  with  pleasure,  that  our 
friends  are  back  again  once  more,  and  practically  unchanged. 

The  Williams  Lit.  for  October  opens  with  an  interesting  series  of  "  Legendary  and  His- 
torical Sketches  of  Williams,"  followed  by  a  palinode,  which,  through  its  weakness  in  de. 
sign  and  crudity  of  execution,  seems  entirely  out  of  place  in  the  magazine.  The  remain- 
der of  the  verse  is  excellent,  the  translator  of  Uhland's  Spring  Songs  reproducing  perfectly 
in  his  lines  the  meaning  and  rhythm  of  the  German,  while  "  Before  My  Fire  "  is  clear  and 
graceful  in  style,  and  its  thought,  diction,  and  movement  are  blended  in  remarkable  harmony. 

The  articles  contributed  to  the  October  number  of  the  Vassar  Miscellany  show  a  great 
similarity  in  style,  but  one  in  particular,  "  The  Mountain  Lake,"  makes  us  ask  if  it  is  pos- 
sible that  here  is  reflected  the  anxious  and  expectant  attitude  of  the  Vassar  maiden.  That 
is  our  conclusion  upon  reading  such  interrogations  as  "  What  is  man  like,  O  breezes  ?  Is 
he  like  us,  and  shall  we  love  him  ?  "  No,  girls,  we  are  not  exactly  like  you,  but  we  trust 
that  the  time  will  come  when  you  will  love  us,  or,  at  least,  be  sisters  to  us.  "  An  Even- 
song "  presents  an  everyday  scene,  with  finely  drawn  word  pictures,  but  the  description  of 
the  ascent  of  Mount  Pilatus  is  decidedly  unsatisfactory  in  design,  faulty  in  construction, 
and  brings  out  but  a  small  part  of  what  is  possible  from  such  a  subject. 

The  Yale  Lit.  begins  its  new  volume  with  a  collection  of  articles  of  a  more  practical 
stamp  than  is  usually  to  be  found  in  college  publications.  The  leading  feature  in  the  num- 
ber is  the  DeForest. Prize  Oration,  "  The  Quakers  of  the  Seventeenth  Century,"  an  ex- 
tremely well  written  article,  with  possibly  a  touch  of  the  Emersonian  in  its  construction, 
which  is,  however,  excusable  when  one  considers  the  amount  of  material  to  be  compacted 
into  the  small  space  of  such  a  paper :  the  clean,  finished  style  of  the  piece  is  truly  de- 
lightful. The  critique  of  Austin  Dobson  is  evidently  written  by  one  who  has  caught  the 
inspiration  of  the  poet,  and  in  his  prose  we  perceive  that  same  delicacy  of  touch  which  is 
to  be  found  in  the  work  of  the  foremost  master  of  vers  de  societe.  The  poems  in  the 
number  seem  of  uneven  merit,  the  excellent  and  the  commonplace  meeting  too  frequently 
to  please,  but  in  "  Optimism  "  we  have  a  thought  intelligible  to  the  ordinary  reader,  and 
expressed  in  finished  verse. 


Alumni   Notes. 


That  this  department  may  be  as  interesting  and  valuable  as  possible,  we  solicit  contributions  from 
all.  Items  that  may  seem  unimportant  to  the  contributor  will  no  doubt  carry  to  some  readers  remem- 
brances of  happy  but  departed  days. 

It  is  doubtful  if  any  other  state  in  the  Union  can  show  a  better  array  of  eminent  native- 
born  citizens,  or  of  sons  who  have  attained  eminence  in  other  states,  than  Vermont.  She 
can  justly  feel  proud  of  the  list.  Dartmouth  has  helped  her  fit  many  of  her  sons  for  these 
high  positions,  and  honored  many  more.  Among  these  Vermont  Dartmouth  men  are  two 
vice-presidents,  William  A.  Wheeler  '65  hon.,  and  Levi  P.  Morton  '84  hon. ;  a  president  of 
the  Senate,  Stephen  R.  Beadley,  1786;  two  cabinet  officers,  Jacob  Collamer  '55  hon.,  and 
Redfield  Proctor  '51  ;  one  member  of  the  inter-state  commission,  W.  G.  Veazey  '59  ;  one 
minister  abroad,  Geo.  P.  Marsh  '20;  one  Register  of  the  Treasury,  S.  B.  Colby  '36;  and  a 
chief  clerk  of  the  Pension  office,  A.  W.  Fisher  '58.  Among  Vermonters  who  have  repre- 
sented other  states  in  the  House  of  Representatives  are  A.  H.  Cragin  '61  hon.,  E.  A. 
Plibbard  '63  hon.,  and  Ossian  Ray  '69  hon.,  New  Hampshire  ;  W.  A.  Field  '55,  and  A.  F. 
Ranney  '44,  Massachusetts  ;  James  Wilson  '05,  and  Levi  P.  Morton  '84  hon.,  New  York  ; 
Thaddeus  Stevens  '14,  Pennsylvania  ;  Geo.  W.  Cate  '61,  Wisconsin. 

The  Tilton  &  Belmont  Railroad  was  lately  opened  with  appropriate  ceremonies  at 
Belmont.  The  arrival  of  the  first  train  was  greeted  by  the  ringing  of  bells  and  firing  of 
cannon.  A  lunch  was  served  at  the  station,  after  which  the  citizens  and  visitors  gathered 
around  the  piazza  of  Brown's  hotel,  from  which  addresses  were  made.  Among  the  speakers 
were  ex-Gov.  Smyth  '65  hon.,  of  Manchester,  S.  B.  Page  '68  hon.,  of  Haverhill,  Col. 
Thomas  Cogswell  '63,  of  Gilmanton,  Col.  Whipple  '64  hon.,  of  Laconia,  and  Capt.  William 
Badger  '48. 

The  commissioners  appointed  by  Gov.  Goodell  to  revise  the  laws  of  New  Hampshire 
are  successful  lawyers,  and  all  graduates  of  Dartmouth.  They  are  W.  M.  Chase  '58,  W. 
H.  Cotton  '72,  and  G.  B.  French  '72.  Mr.  French  has  resigned,  giving  as  a  reason  the 
pressure  of  private  business.  The  Independent  Statesman  has  this  concerning  the  commis- 
sion :  "The  governor  and  council  have  acted  promptly  in  appointing  this  important 
commission,  and  the  gentlemen  selected  are  recommended  as  well  qualified  for  the  arduous 
duties  devolving  upon  them.  W.  M.  Chase  is  a  well  known  attorney  and  counsellor.  He 
is  of  a  diligent,  painstaking  turn  of  mind,  has  had  a  large  experience,  and,  if  he  is  willing 
to  forego  the  profits  of  a  lucrative  practice  to  hold  the  position,  he  will  discharge  its  duties 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  public.  William  H.  Cotton,  of  Lebanon,  is  a  man  who  fulfils  the 
expectations  of  his  friends.  He  is  also  one  of  the  younger  members  of  the  bar,  who  has 
gained  for  himself  honorable  standing  in  his  profession.  He  will  bring  to  his  work  good 
legal  training,  and  will  be  found  to  be  an  efficient  member  of  the  commission.  George  B. 
French,  of  Nashua,  is  one  of  the  bright  young  men  of  the  state.  As  a  lawyer  he  easily  took 
front  rank  at  the  bar,  and  he  has  an  acknowledged  reputation  as  a  discreet  counsellor.  He 
has  a  good  legal  mind,  and  his  work  will  be  a  credit  to  himself  and  the  bar."  The  revision 
of  the  statutes  now  in  use  went  into  effect  Jan.  1,  1879,  and  is  known  as  the  General  Laws. 


Il8  ALUMNI  NOTES. 

In  the  commission  was  Hon.  Levi  W.  Barton  '48,  of  Newport.  The  compilation  in  use 
previous  to  the  General  Laws,  and  the  commissioners,  were  as  follows :  1790,  Laws  of  New 
Hampshire,  Jeremiah  Smith  '04  hon.,  Nathaniel  Peabody  1791  hon.,  and  John  S.  Sher- 
burne 1776,  whose  revision,  which  was  enacted  in  February,  1791,  continued  in  great  meas- 
ure to  be  the  basis  of  our  statute  laws  until  the  enactment  of  the  Revised  Statutes  in  1842, 
when  the  work  was  done  by  Hon.  Samuel  D.  Bell  '54  hon.,  and  Hon.  Chas.  J.  Fox  '31, 
with  whom  was  associated  Hon.  Joel  Parker  'n,  who  was  unable  to  take  any  active  part 
in  the  revision.  The  General  Statutes  of  1867  were  compiled  by  Hon.  Samuel  D.  Bell  '54 
hon.,  of  Manchester,  and  Hon.  Asa  Fowler  '33  of  Concord.  The  work  of  the  present 
commission  will  be  to  compare  and  collate  the  General  Laws  of  1878  with  the  laws  passed 
at  the  sessions  since  that  time. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Profile  &  Franconia  Notch  Railroad,  held  at  Concord 
lately,  these  Dartmouth  men  were  elected  directors  :  B.  A.  Kimball  '54  C.  S.  S.,  and  J.  P. 
George  '78,  of  Concord,  and  W.  M.  Parker  '71,  of  Manchester.  At  a  subsequent  meeting 
the  directors  organized,  with  Mr.  Kimball  as  president,  and  Mr.  George  as  clerk. 

'35  Med.  Coll.  Dr.  David  A.  Grosvenor,  who  has  practised  his  profession  at  Danvers, 
Mass.,  since  1839,  died  on  Friday,  Sept.  27,  from  the  effects  of  a  shock  received  three  days 
before.     He  was  born  in  Manchester  77  years  ago. 

'39.  Dr.  Ralph  Butterfield,  secretary  of  the  class,  has  sent  the  following:  "This  class 
numbered  sixty-one.  Seventeen  of  the  twenty-two  survivors  were  present  in  Hanover  at 
the  last  Commencement,  and  celebrated  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  their  graduation. 
Those  present  were, — Rev.  Ephraim  Adams,  Iowa,  Joseph  Badger,  Gilmanton,  Prof.  Cyrus 
Baldwin,  Hill,  N.  C.  Berry,  Boston,  Dr.  Ralph  Butterfield,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  Prof.  C. 
C.  Chase,  Lowell,  Mass.,  Rev.  J.  Bowen  Clarke,  Boston,  Judge  Sylvester  Dana,  Concord, 
George  N.  Eastman,  Farmington,  Allen  Lincoln,  Woburn,  Mass.,  Dr.  William  Govan, 
Stony  Point,  N.  Y.,  Lyman  Mason,  Boston,  Dr.  F.  E.  Oliver,  Boston,  Rev.  Charles 
Peabody,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  Rev.  Dr.  Alfred  Stevens,  Westminster,  Vt.,  Rev.  M.  H.  Wells, 
Northfield,  Mass.,  and  Dr.  David  Youngman,  Boston." 

'39.     Geo.  N.  Eastman  has  been  elected  president  of  the  Strafford  county  bar. 

'4i-'45  Med.  Coll.  Dr.  Jesse  P.  Bancroft,  of  Concord,  who  was  recently  seized  with  ill- 
ness while  conducting  a  meeting  of  the  New  England  Psychological  Society,  of  which  he 
is  president,  has  been  removed  to  his  home,  and  is  steadily  improving. 

'42.  Rev.  Allen  Hazen,  formerly  of  Deerfield,  Mass.,  has  accepted  a  call  to  Hartland, 
Vt.,  and  moved  thither. 

'44-'47  Med.  Coll.  Dr.  Charles  Haddock,  a  well  known  physician  of  Beverly,  Mass.,  has 
died.  His  death  was  not  unexpected  after  the  recent  severe  shock  of  apoplexy.  Dr.  Had- 
dock was  born  at  Hanover  sixty-seven  years  ago.  His  father  was  a  clergyman,  and  a 
professor  in  Dartmouth.  Dr.  Haddock  entered  first  upon  his  practice  in  a  small  New 
Hampshire  town.  In  1847  ne  went  to  Beverly  and  settled  in  practice,  residing  there  ever 
since,  winning  a  high  reputation  for  his  medical  skill  and  his  knowledge  of  surgery.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  and  Essex  South  Medical  Societies.  He  was  surgeon 
of  the  Eighth  Regiment  during  its  nine  months  campaign  in  the  Carolinas,  and  was 
surgeon  of  the  Second  Corps  of  Cadets  for  several  years.  He  has  been  medical  examiner 
for  Beverly  District  since  the  office  was  created,  and  was  chairman  of  the  Board  of  United 
States  Pension  Examiners,  having  been  recently  appointed.  Dr.  Haddock  was  a  genial 
man,  social  in   his  tastes,  a  keen  sportsman,  and  a  lover  of  the  woods.      As  a  surgeon 


AL  UMNI  NO  TES.  1 1 9 

"he  stood  among  the  most  skilful,  and   his  opinion  was  often  sought.     He  leaves  a  widow 
and  one  son,  Dr.  Charles  W.  Haddock 

'46.  Rev.  A.  H.  Quint,  D.  D.,  preached  the  sermon  at  the  dedication  of  the  handsome 
new  church  which  succeeds  the  old  meeting-house  at  the  corner  of  Main  and  Wellington 
streets,  Worcester,  Mass. 

'47.  Dr.  S.  T.  Brooks,  of  St.  Johnsbury,  Vt.,  read  a  paper  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
State  Medical  Association,  held  at  Burlington,  Oct.  10. 

'51.  Secretary  of  War  Proctor  has  leased  for  a  term  of  years  the  residence  of  Mrs.  B. 
F.  Grafton,  Seventeenth  street  and  Massachusetts  avenue,  Washington.  This  house  is 
said  to  be  one  of  the  finest  in  the  city,  and  is  surrounded  with  spacious  grounds.  The 
interior  is  superbly  finished,  and  the  residence  has  recently  been  refurnished  throughout. 
Secretary  Proctor  and  his  family  have  taken  possession,  and  it  is  expected  that  their  home 
will  be  the  scene  of  many  brilliant  social  gatherings  this  winter. 

'51.  The  examining  surgeons  for  pensions  in  Grafton  county  have  organized,  with  Major 
H.  B.  Fowler,  M.  D.,  of  Bristol,  president. 

'53.  The  resignation  of  Rev.  M.  T.  Runnels,  at  East  Jaffrey,  was  accepted,  with  resolu- 
tions of  much  regret,  by  the  people  whom  he  has  served  faithfully  for  somewhat  over  three 
years. 

'54.  Rev.  S.  L.  B.  Speare  read  a  paper  on  "The  Advantages  of  Long  Pastorates"  at 
the  thirty-fourth  annual  meeting  of  the  General  Congregational  Association  of  Minnesota, 
lately  held  in  St.  Paul.  Mr.  Speare  finds  a  warm  welcome  in  his  new  pastorate  with  the 
Pilgrim  church,  Minneapolis. 

'57  C.  S.  S.  Prof.  C.  C.  Rounds,  Ph.  D.,  principal  of  the  Normal  School  at  Plymouth, 
has  returned  from  Europe,  where  he  has  been  as  state  commissioner  from  New  Hampshire 
to  attend  the  Paris  Exposition. 

'58.  A  handsomely  prepared  and  appropriate  memorial  pamphlet  of  the  late  Rev.  Ben- 
jamin Merrill,  of  the  Congregational  church  at  Swanzey,  has  been  published.  It  contains 
the  resolutions  of  respect  passed  by  the  Monadnock  Association  and  the  Cheshire  County 
Conference  of  Congregational  Ministers,  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the  Chautauqua  Circle 
of  Swanzey,  extracts  from  letters  of  sympathy,  and  published  tributes. 

'59.  The  surviving  veterans  of  the  Sixteenth  Vermont  Volunteers  have  decided  to  erect 
a  regimental  monument  on  the  Gettysburg  battlefield.  This  memorial  will  mark  the  spot 
where  the  Sixteenth,  under  the  command  of  Col.  Wheelock  G.  Veazey,  made  the  brilliant 
and  successful  charge  on  the  flank  of  Wilcox's  Brigade  immediately  following  the  move- 
ment on  Pickett's  Division  made  by  Stannard's  Brigade,  of  which  the  Sixteenth  formed  a 
part.  The  charge  by  Col.  Veazey's  regiment  was  one  of  the  most  effective  and  decisive 
movements  made  by  any  organization  in  the  battle. 

'59.  Rev.  W.  R.  Cochrane,  D.  D.,  preached  the  sermon  at  the  installation  of  the  new 
pastor  at  Westmoreland.     Rev.  E.  PI.  Greeley,  D.  D.,  '45,  also  had  a  part  in  the  service. 

'59.  Dr.  Edward  Cowles,  of  Somerville,  Mass.,  is  one  of  the  trustees  of  Clark  Uni- 
versity. 

'60.  Judge  Chase  read  a  very  interesting  historical  sketch  of  the  college  church  at  its 
reopening,  October  26.      Prof.  Ruggles  '59  also  made  a  short  address. 


120'  ALUMNI  NOTES. 

'61.  George  A.  Marden  delivered  an  address  at  the  annual  reunion  of  the  Thirty-third 
Massachusetts  Regiment  Association. 

'61.     H.  J.  Crippen  has  been  elected  treasurer  of  the  Republican  Club  of  Concord. 

'63.  Hon.  Frank  P.  Goulding,  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  has  been  appointed  a  trustee  of 
Clark  University. 

'65.  Rev.  H.  I.  Cushman  was  appointed  on  the  Board  of  Visitors  for  Tufts  college  at 
the  recent  meeting  of  the  trustees. 

'67.  Elisha  B.  Maynard,  of  Springfield,  Mass.,  was  nominated  by  the  Democrats  for 
attorney-general.  Mr.  Maynard  was  born  at  Wilbraham,  Mass.,  Nov.  21,  1842.  His 
father  was  a  farmer,  and  the  boy  worked  on  the  farm  until  1856,  when  his  parents  moved 
to  Springfield..  After  graduation  he  studied  law  with  Stearns  and  Knowlton,  of  Spring- 
field, and  was  admitted  to  the  Hampden  county  bar.  He  then  spent  one  year  in  going 
through  the  West  and  South,  joining  a  surveying  expedition  of  the  Atchison,  Topeka  & 
Santa  Fe  Railroad  in  the  spring  of  1869.  In  the  fall  he  returned  to  Springfield,  and  has 
practised  law  since  then,  being  at  present  in  partnership  with  Hon.  C.  C.  Spellman.  Mr. 
Maynard  has  served  in  the  Springfield  common  council,  and  has  been  city  attorney.  In  1878 
he  was  elected  to  the  legislature,  and  was  elected  mayor  in  1887,  and  reelected  the  follow- 
ing year,  serving  with  honor  to  the  city  and  to  the  Democratic  party,  of  which  he  has  ever 
been  a  staunch  member. 

'71.  Prof.  M.  D.  Bisbee  read  an  able  paper  on  "  The  Pulpit  and  Pew  "  at  the  recent 
annual  convention  of  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  churches  held  in  Exeter.  Rev. 
J.  M.  Dutton  '73,  of  Great  Falls,  made  an  address,  and  the  secretary,  Rev.  E.  H.  Greeley 
'45,  read  the  annual  report. 

'71.  Hon.  Albert  R.  Savage  has  lately  been  elected  supreme  dictator  of  the  Knights  of 
Honor.  Mr.  Savage  was  born  at  Ryegate,  Vt.,  December  8,  1847.  He  was  principal  gf 
the  Northfield,  Vt.,  high  school  from  1872  to  1875,  wnen  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and 
began  the  practice  of  law  at  Lewiston,  Me.  He  was  county  attorney  from  1881  to  1885, 
judge  of  probate  from  1885  to  I889>  and  is  now  mayor  of  Auburn,  Me.  He  is  connected 
with  several  important  business  enterprises  in  Maine,  has  always  enjoyed  a  large  and 
lucrative  practice,  and  is  considered  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  the  Pine  Tree  state. 

'72.  Charles  A.  Jewell  was  elected  to  membership  at  the  recent  annual  meeting  of  the 
American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  Hon.  Franklin  Fairbanks  '77  hon.  was  also 
elected  a  member. 

'72.  Bishop  Talbot,  of  Wyoming,  was  one  of  the  principal  speakers  at  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Convention. 

'72.  Alfred  R.  Evans,  of  Gorham,  has  been  elected  secretary  of  the  newly  organized 
Phillip  Brook  Improvement  Company. 

'73.  George  H.  Adams  has  been  elected  president  of  the  Pemigewasset  National  Bank, 
at  Plymouth.  Mr.  Adams  has  been  a  director  of  the  bank  since  its  organization,  and  a 
member  of  the  Finance  Committee  for  several  years. 

'73.  Rev.  Joseph  B.  Clarke  is  teaching  at  Hanford,  Cal.,  and  also  supplying  the  pulpit 
of  the  Congregational  church  there. 

'74.  Hon.  Samuel  L.  Powers  of  Newton,  Mass.,  handsomely  entertained  at  his  home 
the  members  of  the  Delta  Kappa  Epsilon  National  Convention  while  in  session  in  Boston. 


ALUMNI  NOTES.  121 

'74.  Frank  S.  Streeter  has  been  elected  clerk  by  the  directors  of  the  Lake  Shore  Rail- 
road. 

'75.  William  S.  Forrest,  of  Chicago,  is  the  leading  counsel  for  the  defendants  in  the 
Cronin  case. 

'jb.  E.  C.  Stone  is  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Brownsville  Clipper,  a  weekly  Republi- 
can paper  at  Brownsville,  Pa. 

'76.  Arthur  Hay  is  employed  in  the  inspector's  room  of  the  Western  Electric  Company 
in  Chicago.     His  home  address  is  227  South  Clinton  street,  Chicago. 

'76.  B.  J.  Wertheimer  is  a  very  successful  attorney  and  counsellor-at-law.  His  address 
is  349  La  Salle  street,  Chicago. 

'76.     Rev.  F.  W.  Ernst  is  principal  of  Dow  academy  at  Franconia. 

'76.  F.  G.  Gale  is  located  at  Waterville,  P.  Q.  He  is  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Gale  & 
Sons,  manufacturers  of  Dominion  wire  mattresses. 

'76.     Rev.  W.  S.  Sayres  is  located  at  Montevideo,  Minn.,  where  he  is  a  missionary. 

'76.     P.  T.  Marshall  is  principal  of  the  high  school  at  Hudson,  N.  Y.     He  is  also  presi- 
dent of  the  Columbia  County  Teachers'  Association. 
'76.     Rev.  C.  S.  Sargent  is  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  at  Adams,  Mass. 

'77.  A.  H.  Campbell  is  principal  of  the  State  Normal  School  at  Johnson,  Vt.  He 
recently  received  the  degree  of  Ph.  D.  from  the  University  of  Vermont. 

'77  T.  S.  C.  E.  Edward  K.  Blanchard  is  at  Rich  Hills,  Mo.  He  is  chief  engineer  on 
the  Kansas  City  &  El  Dorado  Railroad. 

'78.  Rev.  H.  W.  Stebbins,  of  Athol,  has  received  calls  from  the  Congregational  church 
of  Hinsdale  and  the  Harvard  Avenue  Congregational  church  of  Medford,  Mass. 

•'78.  N.  W.  Norton,  of  Buffalo,  has  been  appointed  assistant  district  attorney  for 
northern  New  York. 

'78.  Prof.  William  Henry  Ray,  whose  death  was  noticed  in  the  September  number  of 
the  Lit.,  was  born  at  Barnet,  Vt.,  and  was  the  son  of  Rev.  Benjamin  F.  Ray  '51,  who  died 
when  William  was  14  years  of  age.  After  graduating  from  college,  Prof.  Ray  taught  high 
schools  three  years  in  the  East,  and  was  principal  of  the  Waukegan,  111.,  high  school  two 
years.  He  was  elected  principal  of  the  high  school  at  Hyde  Park,  111.,  six  years  ago,  and 
has  been  the  means  of  bringing  it  to  rank  first  in  the  state.  During  the  summers  he  took 
active  part  in  institute  work,  and  lectured  much  on  educational  matters.  When  he  first 
1  went  to  Hyde  Park  he  founded  the  Park  Side  Presbyterian  Mission,  which  has  proved 
very  successful.  He  was  a  great  worker  in  church  matters,  and  taught  a  large  class  in  the 
Sunday-school.  The  editor  of  The  Academy  writes  thus  of  Prof.  Ray  :  "  Versatile,  ener- 
getic, outspoken,  and  aggressive,  he  had  a  boyish  frankness  and  bonhomie  that  made  him 
very  lovable.  One  felt  at  once  that  he  was  a  man  to  trust  in  every  relation  of  life.  Inti- 
macy served  only  to  deepen  this  feeling.  To  his  work  and  success  as  a  teacher  there  are 
abundant  witnesses,  not  only  in  his  own  town,  but  throughout  Illinois,  where  he  had  come 
to  be  known  as  a  leader,  both  in  thought  and  action.  There  was  about  him  little  of  the 
conventional  school-master.  In  his  own  school  personality  counted  for  more  than  formal 
method,  and  his  personality  was  of  the  ideal  type.  He  was  so  sure  of  himself  and  of  his 
pupils  that  he  had  no  need  of  the  time-honored  barriers  which  teachers  of  weaker  power 
are  forced  to  raise  between  themselves  and  their  scholars.     There  was  with  him  no  parade 


122  ALUMNI  NOTES. 

of  discipline,  but  there  was  every  sign  of  perfect  control.  Outside  of  the  school,  he  was 
the  genial  companion,  the  ready  helper,  the  competent  man  of  affairs.  Without  pretence 
or  pedantry,  he  was  satisfied  to  pass  simply  for  what  he  was.  In  him  every  honest  man 
had  a  friend,  every  good  cause  a  helper." 

'81.  W.  B.  Greeley,  first  assistant  examiner  in  the  Patent  Office,  has  tendered  his 
resignation  to  take  effect  immediatelv. 

'81.  Rev.  G.  W.  Patterson,  of  the  Congregational  church  at  Bristol,  lately  baptized  fif- 
teen persons,  and  received  nineteen  into  membership. 

'82.     William  P.  Quimby  was  recently  married  to  Miss  Wills,  of  Gettysburg,  Pa. 

'83.  O.  H.  Gates  took  a  fellowship  at  Union  Theological  Seminary  this  year,  and  is 
now  in  Berlin,  where  he  expects  to  study  for  two  years  as  fellow. 

'84.  H.  B.  Hulbert  is  still  employed  as  a  teacher  in  the  Royal  Korean  College  at 
Seoul,  Korea. 

'85.     Frank  O.  Chellis,  of  Newport,  is  principal  of  the  high  school  in  that  place. 

'85.  Rev.  A.  Herbert  Amies,  assistant  pastor  of  the  Franklin  street  Congregational 
church  in  Manchester,  will  have  charge  of  the  new  Bethany  chapel  at  Goff's  Falls,  and 
also  the  mission  at  Londonderry,  both  of  which  have  recently  been  established  by  the 
above  named  church. 

'86.  F.  O.  WTood  has  left  the  Boston  Advertiser  and  gone  to  Montpelier,  to  take  full 
charge  of  the  Vermont  Watchman. 

'86.  Hans  P.  Andersen  has  returned  from  his  European  trip  greatly  improved  in 
health.     He  has  gone  to  his  new  field  of  labor,  Asheville,  North  Carolina. 

'87.     D.  S.  Ruevsky  is  in  the  Junior  class  of  Hartford  Theological  Seminary. 

'87.     M.  W.  Morse  is  in  the  Senior  class  of  Hartford  Theological  Seminary. 

'87.  G.  W.  Shaw  has  been  appointed  Professor  of  Science  and  Elocution  in  Pacific 
University,  Forest  Grove,  Oregon. 

'88.     Simonds  is  sub-master  of  the  Pottsville,  Pa.,  high  school.     Salary  $1,000. 

'88.     S.  B.  Nelson  has  gone  into  business  at  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

'88.     Sawyer  is  superintendent  of  schools  at  Waukegan,  111. 

'88  C.  S.  S.     Hazen  has  established  himself  as  hydraulic  engineer  at  Uva,  Wyoming. 

'88.  Gove  is  a  member  of  the  Junior  class  in  Columbia  Law  School.  He  has  been 
offered  a  membership  in  the  Columbia  Athletic  Club. 

'88.     White  is  with  the  Union  Investment  Company,  8  Congress  St.,  Boston. 

'89.     Bartlett  has  entered  Boston  University  Law  School. 

'89.     Morrill  is  assistant  superintendent  of  the  Kiesel  Fire  Brick  Company  at  Rochester.. 

'89.     Ellis  is  teaching  in  the  Peoria,  111.,  high  school.     Salary  $850. 

'89.     Allen  is  principal  of  the  Limerick,  Me.,  high  school. 

'89.  Ross  is  filling  a  vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation  of  one  of  the  teachers  in  St> 
Johnsbury  academy. 

'89.     Kendall  is  in  the  employ  of  the  Pa.  Insurance  Company  at  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
'89.     E.  B.  Davis  is  instructor  in  the  high  school,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J. 
'89.     Reynolds  is  with  the  Thomson-Houston  Electric  Company.     Address,.  13  Rollins- 
St.,  Boston,  Mass. 


THE 


Dartmouth  Literary  Monthly. 

Vol.  IV.  DECEMBER,  1889.  No.  4. 

BOARD    OF   EDITORS: 

J.  H.  GEROULD.  G.  S.  MILLS.  C.  F.  ROBINSON. 

H.  S.  HOPKINS.  C.  M.  SMITH. 

C.  A.  PERKINS,  Business  Manager. 


THE  UTILITY  OR  FUTILITY  OF  EXAMINATIONS. 

1. 

Examinations,  like  the  marking  system  and  many  other  educa- 
tional methods,  are,  of  course,  to  be  considered  simply  as  means 
toward  an  end.  That  end  is  the  development  of  the  student's 
powers,  or  the  proof,  by  adequate  tests,  of  the  satisfactory  nature 
of  his  acquirements. 

The  number  and  the  character  of  such  tests  must  depend  upon 
the  age  of  the  student,  the  grade  of  his  studies,  and  the  aim  of  the 
institution  with,  which  he  is  connected.  In  a  university,  proffering 
essentially  graduate  courses,  or  in  a  professional  school,  the 
marking  system  is  practically  unknown  ;  attendance  on  the  daily 
lecture  or  recitation  is  chiefly  voluntary  ;  and  the  fitness  of  the 
individual  to  receive  a  degree,  or  to  be  passed  forward  in  his  work, 
can  be  ascertained  only  by  periodic  examinations,  perhaps  accom- 
panied by  occasional  oral  questionings,  which  themselves  are  vir- 
tually examinations.  The  object  of  such  examinations  is  not  to 
impart  knowledge,  not  to  elicit  opinion,  but  to  ascertain  the  quan- 
tity or  quality  of  acquirement.  Such  examinations  must  neces- 
sarily be  severe  and  protracted;  nor  can  they  be  repeated,  save, 
of  course,  when  the  student  abandons  all  idea  of  getting  his  degree 
at  the  hoped-for  time,  or  when  he  returns  to  courses  of  study 
already  attempted. 


124  THE   UTILITY  OR  FUTILITY  OF  EXAMINATIONS. 

In  a  collegiate  institution,  however,  more  reliance  may  be 
placed  upon  daily  attendance,  recitations  from  a  text-book,  ques- 
tions and  answers  aiming  to  give  instruction  as  well  as  to  test  the 
student's  powers,  formal  and  informal  lectures,  personal  sugges- 
tions and  appeals,  or  any  system  of  required  attendance  and 
marks  for  proficiency.  Under  such  methods  examinations  maybe 
less  frequent,  or,  at  least,  less  severe,  for  there  are  other  means 
of  discovering  what  a  man  knows,  and  of  ascertaining  his  fitness 
to  continue  his  course  of  study. 

Which  general  method  is  better  for  a  man  or  an  institution  can- 
not here  be  discussed ;  but  the  student  should  clearly  remember 
that  he  cannot  have  the  advantages  of  both  at  the  same  time.  In 
the  university  the  examinations  must  be  rigid  and  final ;  in  the 
college,  or,  more  properly,  in  the  institution  that  believes  that  the 
best  results  are  attainable  by  constant  guidance  and  watchfulness, 
the  rules  for  attendance  and  the  standards  of  daily  accomplish- 
ment cannot  be  materially  mitigated  without  a  great  increase  in 
the  rigor  of  the  ultimate  tests.  The  question  for  the  Dartmouth 
student  is,  whether,  on  the  whole,  he  prefers  the  present  system, 
or  whether  he  would  like  greater  freedom  during  the  term,  fol- 
lowed by  a  severe  examination,  failing  to  pass  which  he  would 
receive  an  immitigable  order  of  entrance  into  a  lower  class,  or  of 
departure  from  Hanover,  when,  perhaps,  he  had  deemed  his  prog- 
ress entirely  satisfactory.  Under  the  university  or  strict  exam- 
ination system,  no  man  can  be  warned  of  deficiencies  prior  to 
examination,  for  no  instructor  knows  what  those  deficiencies  are. 
Those  who,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  would  like  to  see  the 
marking  system  abolished,  compulsory  attendance  done  away, 
and  themes  substituted  for  examinations,  fall  into  the  well  known 
desire  to  eat  cake  daily,  and  yet  to  have  it  remaining  minus  not  a 
plum,  at  the  end  of  the  term. 

As  for  themes  as  a  substitute  for  examinations,  circumstances 
alter  cases.  Formerly,  I  think,  we  had  too  few ;  now,  we  are  in 
danger  of  having  too  many.  Were  a  theme  to  be  asked  on  the 
utility  of  the  study,  say  of  Latin,  of  of  history,  or  of  mathematics, 
it  would  hardly  be  an  adequate  substitute  for  a  quiz  on  Quintilian, 


THE   UTILITY  OR  FUTILITY  OF  EXAMINATIONS.  1 25 

or  any  given  period  of  history,  or  book  of  mathematical  science. 
Yet,  in  other  cases,  the  end  sought  might  better  be  attained  by  a 
theme  than  by  any  number  of  questions. 

Let  each  instructor  at  any  time  decide  what  is  best  to  do,  and 
seek  by  all  available  means  to  develop  the  intelligent  aud  purpose- 
ful individuality  of  every  student. 

Charles  F.  Richardson. 

11. 

The  limited  space  at  my  command  forbids  any  extended  argu- 
ment, and  such  I  have  no  desire  to  make.  What  I  have  to  say, 
therefore,  takes  the  simple  form  of  statement — statement,  however, 
based  upon  personal  experience  under  definite  conditions.  With 
theoretical  considerations,  or  with  the  results  of  experience  under 
other  conditions,  I  have  no  present  concern. 

The  object  of  an  examination  is  two-fold  : 

First.  It  is  designed  to  inform  the  teacher  of  the  proficiency 
of  the  student.  Such  information  is  indispensable;  and,  if  the  in- 
struction be  given  by  lectures,  examination  (of  some  kind)  can 
alone  afford  it.  Under  the  recitation  system,  however  (and  to 
this  system  only  I  refer),  I  have  never  felt  the  need  of  this  source 
of  information.  In  other  departments  experience  may  lead  to 
other  conclusions  ;  in  shorter  courses,  or  with  larger  divisions, 
contact  with  the  individual  may  extend  over  so  brief  a  period,  or 
may  be  so  rare  an  occurrence,  that  the  instructor  is  practically  in 
the  position  of  the  lecturer.  In  short,  the  generalization  of  results 
reached  under  specific  conditions  is  unwarranted.  But  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  saying  that  under  the  conditions  of  my  practice, 
examinations  have  in  no  instance  proved  necessary  to  the  forma- 
tion of  a  judgment  upon  individual  proficiency,  and  have  in  no 
case  essentially  modified  judgments  previously  formed.  It  would 
be  strange  were  it  otherwise.  All  that  constitutes  individuality  of 
work  must  necessarily  be  brought  more  prominently  and  more 
persistently  to  view  in  this  daily  examination  (recitation)  than  in 
any  single  final  one.  As  a  "test,  the  former  is  more  searching, 
more  prolonged,  than  the  latter,  and  better  eliminates  the  errors  to 


126  THE    UTILITY  OR  FUTILITY  OF  EXAMINATIONS. 

which  single  impressions  are  liable.  I  would  go  further.  As  a 
source  of  information,  an  examination  is  not  only  superfluous,  but, 
also,  at  times,  embarrassing,  introducing  elements  which  disturb 
judgments  deliberately  matured  under  more  favorable  circum- 
stances. For  examinations  are  usually  accompanied  by  rules 
which  tend  to  convert  the  intelligent  teacher  into  the  formal  admin- 
istrator of  by-laws.  The  mechanical  necessities  of  a  system  which 
obliges  the  instructor  to  pass  an  examination  paper  whose  writer 
he  knows  to  have  been  studiously  neglectful  of  duty  and  oppor- 
tunity, to  pronounce  deficient  one  who  throughout  the  course  has 
given  evidence  of  conscientious  endeavor,  but  who  fails  to  meet 
the  examination  requirements  because  of  a  slow  rate  of  working 
power,  constitutional  nervousness  when  faced  by  a  time  limit,  or 
the  like,  are  exasperating  to  a  sense  of  justice,  and  fatal  to  its 
administration.  This  is  especially  true  of  written  examinations. 
The  written  form  of  examination  is,  I  take  it,  a  necessary  evil ; 
necessary,  because  the  time  required  for  an  adequate  oral  test  is 
lacking,  and  because,  therefore,  a  written  exercise  is  better  than  a 
short  and  inadequate  oral  one  in  which  luck  may  play  a  prominent 
part.  That,  as  a  means  of  finding  out  exactly  what  a  student 
knows  of  any  given  subject,  an  examiner  should  prefer  a  written 
statement  to  an  hour  or  even  half  hour,  face  to  face  with  the  can- 
didate, is  inconceivable.  For  such  written  statements  frequently 
raise  more  questions  than  they  answer — questions,  moreover,  which 
cannot  be  settled.  Is  this  error  clerical,  or  not — accident,  or 
ignorance?  Is  this  misconception  of  a  question  adroit  evasion,  or 
honest  blunder? — and  so  on  through  a  host  of  uncertainties  with 
which  every  examiner  is  familiar,  but  which  are  impossible  in 
direct  oral  examination.  That  papers  of  this  character  are  com- 
petent to  overrule  verdicts  based  on  daily  personal  contact  with  the 
pupil  is  certainly  doubtful. 

In  this  connection,  let  me  add,  the  most  competent  examiner  of 
a  written  paper  is  the  instructor.  There  is  an  implication  of 
greater  impartiality,  of  a  loftier  standard,  in  the  theory  of  a  special 
examiner,  which  is  extremely  seductive,  but,  I  believe,  phantas- 
mal.    In  the  lecture  system,  it  may  make  little  difference  who  the 


THE    UTILITY  OR  FUTILITY  OF  EXAMINATIONS.  1 27 

examiner  is,  provided  only  he  be  a  competent  one.  In  the  recita- 
tion system,  the  most  competent  examiner  is  the  instructor,  pro- 
vided only  he  be  a  competent  instructor.  He  expects  to  find  in 
the  papers  presented  to  him  the  characteristics  with  which  the 
class-room  has  made  him  familiar, — careless  statement,  depend- 
ence on  form,  lack  of  originality,  and  the  rest ;  and  as  the  daily  wit- 
ness of  the  student's  effort  to  correct  these  faults,  he  is  of  all  men 
best  able  to  evaluate  the  personal  equation  of  each  paper  and  pass 
judgment  on  the  ground  gained.  It  has  probably  been  the  lot  of 
every  instructor  who  has  had  experience  with  visiting  examiners, 
to  see  shallowness  undetected  and  real  merit  underrated. 

Second.  Examinations  act  as  a  spur  upon  the  student.  True  ; 
but  is  there  no  better  spur?  By  spur  is  meant  incentive  to  every- 
day tRox\.\  and  a  final  examination,  like  death,  always  seems  a 
long  way  off.  It  is  natural  to  defer  preparation  for  it.  The  evils 
of  cramming  are  its  notorious  outcome.  That  it  favorably  affects 
the  recitation  work  is  undeniable  ;  that  it  does  so  imperfectly,  and 
at  the  expense  of  some  of  the  best  elements  of  manhood,  training, 
and  culture,  is  currently  admitted  on  all  sides.  Human  nature 
being  what  it  is,  a  spur  we  must  have.  The  interior  forces  which 
prompt  to  high  ambition,  conscientious  discharge  of  duty,  and 
recognition  of  opportunity,  cannot  alone  be  relied  upon  in  the 
formative  period.  We  must  resort  to  external  aids,  but  such  as  do 
not  substitute  small  ends  for  great  ends,  false  ideals  for  right 
ideals,  and  which  do  not  sacrifice  the  spirit  to  the  letter  of  educa- 
tion. Exemption  from  examination  of  all  whose  daily  attendance  • 
and  achievement  are  satisfactory  to  the  instructor  seems  to  me  an 
adequate  substitute  for  a  final  examination.  It  lays  the  emphasis 
on  the  right  things.  It  is  a  condition  which  faithfulness  and  steady 
endeavor  can  meet,  but  which  trickery  and  fitful  effort  cannot. 
It  offers  no  temptation  to  dishonesty,  suggests  no  false  ideals  or 
standards.  It  promotes  uniformity,  not  irregularity,  of  work; 
tends  to  form  right,  not  wrong,  habits.  My  experience  leads  me 
to  value  it  as  a  spur  far  more  highly  than  an  examination.  Why 
not,  since  it  acts  every  day?  As  compared  to  the  old  road,  with 
its  five-bar  gate  at  the  end,  the  new  road  has  been  on  a  higher 


128  THE    UTILITY  OR  FUTILITY  OF  EXAMINATIONS. 

level  throughout,  and  progress  thereon  more  rapid  and  satisfac- 
tory. 

The  examination  of  a  student  who  fails  by  reason  of  absence,  or 
by  neglect  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  instructor,  is  clearly,  so 
far  as  the  term's  work  is  concerned,  neither  a  spur  to  the  former  nor 
a  source  of  information  to  the  latter.  It  is  of  the  nature  of  a  sec- 
ond opportunity.  Ample  time  to  prepare  for  it  should  therefore 
be  given,  and  it  should  be  oral  and  thorough. 

A  single  word  more  in  closing  this  too  brief  statement.  In  spite 
of  the  fact  mentioned  by  President  Adams,  that  the  lawyer  who 
crams  for  his  plea,  the  clergyman  for  his  sermon,  the  statesman 
for  his  speech,  the  professor  for  his  lecture,  do  so  for  ends  ex- 
terior to  the  actor,  and  not  for  their  own  improvement,  as  the  stu- 
dent should,  and  that,  therefore,  the  analogy  between  these  cases 
and  that  of  the  student  who  crams  for  examination  fails  at  the  vital 
point,  I  am  still  inclined  to  believe  that  the  power  to  momentarily 
grasp  and  retain  a  mass  of  detail,  undoubtedly  fostered  by  cram- 
ming, is  a  valuable  one,  and  that  it  would  be  fair  to  include  among 
the  advantages  if  not  the  objects  of  examinations  this  preparation 
for  a  test,  this  systematic  arrangement  of  knowledge  in  a  form 
to  meet  a  sudden  emergency.  This  advantage  is  far  from  off- 
setting the  disadvantages  of  examinations,  and,  moreover,  can  be 
otherwise  secured.  A  quiz  once  a  month  or  once  in  three  weeks, 
an  exercise  that  is  of  the  nature  of  an  examination  but  of  more 
frequent  occurrence,  is  far  better  adapted  to  secure  this  end. 
Such  exercises  also  strengthen  the  grasp  of  fundamental  facts  and 
principles,  favor  their  retention  by  the  memory  and  render  the 
memory  itself  more  alert,  and  would  presumably  be  of  greater 
service  in  other  departments,  whose  subject-matter  passes  out  of 
sight  day  by  day,  and  is  not,  as  in  mathematics,  more  or  less  con- 
stantly in  use. 

A.  S.  Hardy. 
in. 

The  subject  of  examinations  may  be  discussed  theoretically  with 
reference' to  their  place  in  a  system  of  education,  or  practically 
with  reference  to   their  employment  in  any  given  institution.     I 


THE  UTILITY  OR  FUTILITY  OF  EXAMINATIONS.  1 29 

shall  confine  myself  to  the  latter  side  of  the  subject,  basing  my 
remarks  upon  my  experience.  With  the  propositions  of  Professor 
Hardy  I  am  in  substantial  accord.  Yet  so  broad  a  subject  treated 
•so  summarily  must,  as  he  points  out,  offer  many  points  for  sug- 
gestion, and  taking  those  propositions  as  a  starting-ground,  I 
would  offer  the  following  considerations  : 

First.  While  it  is  true  that  daily  recitations  in  general  give 
an  instructor  a  better  idea  of  a  student's  work  and  progress  than 
a  brief  examination,  it  is  also  true  that  for  a  certain  class  of  minds 
an  examination  is  the  best  test.  Every  teacher  knows  by  expe- 
rience that  certain  students  always  do  better  in  examination  than 
in  recitation,  and  that  a  slight  confusion  of  statement  and  appar- 
ently of  thinking,  when  in  the  presence  of  an  instructor  and  a  class, 
give  way,  when  a  student  is  thrown  upon  himself,  to  a  clearness 
of  thought  and  an  accuracy  of  statement  that  are  superior  to  his 
ordinary  work.  That  mind  has  a  power  of  rallying  its  energies, 
of  using  its  various  stores,  and  of  making  a  sustained  effort,  that 
does  not  appear  in  the  lesser  calls  of  the  class-room,  and  yet  it 
forms  an  essential  element  of  its  strength.  In  connection  with  a 
marking  system,  examinations  are  very  desirable  for  that  class  of 
minds,  since  it  gives  them  an  opportunity  of  showing  in  competition 
an  element  of  strength  that  would  not  elsewhere  appear.  The 
brilliant  recitationist,  who  makes  ready  use  of  information  quickly 
obtained  and  insecurely  held,  is  often  surpassed  by  the  quiet 
scholar  of  a  more  painstaking  but  stronger  mind. 

Second.  The  element  of  chance,  which  in  any  given  exam- 
ination may  work  to  a  student's  disadvantage,  will,  in  the  long 
run,  equalize  itself,  and,  in  fact,  is  the  very  basis  of  examinations 
such  as  ours.  Examinations  for  which  sufficient  time  can  be 
given,  and  which  combine  both  written  and  oral  tests,  eliminate, 
so  far  as  the  matter  is  concerned,  the  element  of  chance  ;  but 
examinations  which  consist  of  one  or  two  selected  passages  of  an 
-author  read,  or  of  a  few  representative  questions,  depend  entirely 
for  their  value  upon  the  fact  that  on  the  average  they  will  touch 
alike  the  student's  knowledge  and  ignorance.  If  he  have  but  a 
half  mastery  of  a  subject,  his  chances  of  success  and  failure  are 


130  THE    UTILITY  OR  FUTILITY  OF  EXAMINATIONS. 

equal,  but  his  chances  of  success  improve  in  proportion  to  his  bet- 
ter acquaintance  with  the  subject,  till  familiarity  with  the  whole 
insures  success.  This  consideration  is  irrespective  of  the  way  in 
which  the  knowledge  is  obtained,  whether  by  honest  work,  by 
cramming,  or  by  dishonesty,  since  the  examination  indicates  the 
fact  of  knowledge,  and  only  by  inference  the  way  in  which  it  was 
obtained. 

Third.  Examinations  are  of  different  values  in  different  sub- 
jects. I  am  of  the  opinion  that  they  are  most  effective  in  certain 
elementary  courses  and  in  those  of  a  more  advanced  nature.  For 
instance,  in  the  rudiments  of  a  language  an  examination  may  best 
show,  as  it  were  by  a  bird's-eye  view,  whether  a  scholar  has  in 
hand  the  forms  of  conjugation  and  declension.  In  the  more  ad- 
vanced subjects,  his  ability  to  generalize  and  to  exhibit  in  sum- 
mary form  the  results  of  processes  is  brought  out,  while  in  the 
intermediate  stages  of  proficiency  and  mental  advancement  his 
work  can  best  be  judged  by  his  instructor  in  the  daily  meeting  of 
the  class-room.  Examinations  are  certainly  helpful  to  the  instruc- 
tor and  stimulating  to  the  student,  which  do  not  try  the  memory 
so  much  as  the  reasoning  powers.  I  once  knew  of  an  examina- 
tion paper  in  geology  something  as  follows:  "In  a  certain  place 
is  a  certain  kind  of  stone  in  which  is  embedded  a  peculiar  fossil : 
state  the  geological  history  of  the  stone  and  the  circumstances 
under  which  it  reached  that  place."  Such  a  paper  was  worth  a 
hundred  questions  following  the  line  of  text-book  instruction.  So 
in  history,  a  comparison  of  facts  is  often  far  more  valuable  than 
the  statement  of  the  facts  themselves.  In  such  subjects  a  thesis  is 
often  of  great  value  as  a  substitute  for  an  examination,  since  it 
indicates  the  student's  ability  not  only  in  generalization  and  state- 
ment, but  in  the  gathering  and  arrangement  of  materials,  and 
since  it  not  only  stimulates  work  for  the  class-room,  but  encourages 
the  taste  for  independent  study. 

Fourth.  The  value  of  an  examination,  restricted  by  the  gen- 
eral character  of  the  subject,  is  largely  determined  by  the  char- 
acter of  the  instructor.  He  may  make  it  almost  worthless  by  giv- 
ing it  a  purely  formal   and  perfunctory  character,  and  invite  the 


THE    UTILITY  OR  FUTILITY  OF  EXAMINATIONS.  131 

attempt  to  pass  by  cramming,  or  he  may  make  it  effective  by 
giving  it  such  a  form  that  cramming  will  not  help  in  passing,  or 
by  restricting  its  range  and  increasing  its  use  he  may  make  it 
more  of  a  quiz  or  a  topical  review. 

From  these  considerations,  and  the  principles  underlying  exami- 
nations suggested  by  Professor  Hardy,  I  believe  it  would  be  unwise 
to  abolish  examinations  entirely,  but  that  their  use  should  be  left 
very  largely  to  the  individual  instructor.  They  may  be  profitably 
employed  by  some,  and  omitted  by  others.  A  conscientious  in- 
structor will  know  by  what  means  he  can  best  stimulate  his  stu- 
dents, and,  also,  form  his  own  estimate  of  them.  That  examina- 
tions, however,  are  a  stimulus  is  undoubted  ;  and  in  withdrawing 
them  there  is  double  need  that  the  work  of  the  class-room  be  made 
thorough  and  exacting.  If  it  is  clearly  understood  that  there  is  no 
release  from  the  daily  discharge  of  faithful  and  honest  work,  and 
that  a  spurt  will  not  make  up  for  persistent  inattention,  the  stim- 
ulus of  examination  will  be  well  supplied. 

John  K.  Lord. 

IV. 

In  the  limited  space  allotted  to  my  views  on  the  subject  of  exam- 
inations, I  can  only  state  very  briefly  conclusions  arrived  at  in  an 
experience  mainly  mathematical,  and  hence  not  necessarily  of 
general  application. 

In  order  to  secure  the  best  results  in  any  course  of  instruction, 
the  instructor  must  keep  perfectly  informed  of  the  progress  of  the 
student.  The  greatest  success  cannot  be  reached  in  the  study  of 
any  subject  when  it  is  not  possible  to  examine  every  student  at 
every  exercise.  When  the  number  in  the  recitation  division,  the 
recitation-room,  and  the  time  available  for  the  recitation,  are  so 
adjusted  to  each  other  as  to  ensure  this  daily  understanding  of  the 
progress  of  the  student,  nothing  further  is  necessary  to  enable  the 
instructor  to  form  a  fair  estimate  and  record  of  the  work  done. 
When  such  a  record  is  satisfactory,  there  is  no  risk  involved  in 
accepting  it  as  sufficient  proof  that  the  student  has  acquired  the 
requisite  amount  of  knowledge  of  the  subject. 

As  a  rule,  the  large  number  in  our  recitation  divisions,  the  lim- 


132  THE    UTILITY  OR  FUTILITY  OF  EXAMINATIONS. 

ited  resources  of  our  recitation-rooms,  and  consecutive  recitations, 
which  necessitate  the  leaving  of  much  work  unfinished,  render 
occasional  examinations  on  portions  of  subjects,  or  final  examina- 
tions on  whole  subjects,  necessary  to  secure  a  uniformly  thorough 
knowledge. 

Examinations  on  portions  of  all  the  elementary  branches  of 
mathematics  have  a  decided  advantage  in  fixing  the  attention  upon 
facts,  principles,  and  methods,  which  are  important  in  the  further 
study  of  the  subject.  Even  in  final  examinations,  special  attention 
may  be  called  to  principles  to  be  applied  in  scientific  studies  later 
in  the  course. 

.  The  best  method  of  examination  is  a  combination  of  the  oral  and 
written,  which  is  only  practicable  for  small  divisions  under  the  con- 
ditions existing  with  us. 

The  oral  examination,  limited  to  a  few  minutes  and  a  few  ques- 
tions on  a  single  topic,  simple  or  difficult,  is  of  small  value  as  a 
test  of  knowledge,  and  is  only  fair  to  those  possessing  the  same 
degree  of  knowledge  of  every  part  of  the  subject,  usually  true 
only  of  the  two  extremes. 

The  written  examination  with  a  liberal  allowance  of  time,  with 
the  same  list  of  questions  for  all,  limited,  when  necessary,  to  a 
portion  of  the  subject  so  as  to  include  all  or  nearly  all  of  the  lead- 
ing topics,  is  the  fairest  and  best  test  available  for  us  at  present 
whenever  the  daily  recitation  does  not  for  any  reason  show  con- 
clusively a  satisfactory  knowledge  of  the  subject. 

7.   W.  D.   Worthen. 


A   NOTABLE   CORRESPONDENCE.  133 

A  NOTABLE  CORRESPONDENCE. 

In  the  year  of  our  Lord  1874,  there  was  introduced  to  the  Paris- 
ian public  a  modest  little  book  of  letters  which  met  at  once  with  a 
flattering  reception.  It  created  a  flutter  not  only  in  the  salons, 
where  each  new  literary  production  was  as  a  matter  of  course  dis- 
cussed and  weighed  in  the  literary  scales,  but  also  in  the  busy 
streets,  causing  the  politician  to  forget  his  candidate  and  party, 
and  impelling  him  to  stop  for  a  chat  with  his  friend,  or  even  with 
a  political  enemy,  about  the  brilliant  letters  of  Merimee  to  his 
unknown  correspondent. 

The  reason  for  all  this  interest  is  plain.  Prosper  Merimee, 
author,  statesman,  and  artist,  who  had  been  dead  for  four  years, 
had  lived  and  died  an  enigma  to  the  Parisians.  Displaying  an 
uncommon  talent  for  public  affairs — for  he  had  been  superintend- 
ent of  public  monuments,  and  even  senator — he  had  seemed  to  hold 
both  office  and  honor  in  light  disdain.  Born  with  an  aptitude  for 
painting,  he  had  died  only  a  dabbler  in  the  art ;  possessed  of  an 
uncommon  literary  genius,  he  chose  to  be  only  an  amateur  in  let- 
ters, and,  believed  by  his  friends  to  have  a  warm  heart,  his  feelings 
were  securely  hidden  beneath  a  mask  of  cynicism.  No  wonder 
that  all  Paris  was  wide  awake  with  interest  in  these  letters,  for 
through  them  it  thought  to  peer  into  his  secret  heart. 

We  read  the  letters  of  Merimee  not  alone  for  the  vivid  sketches 
of  men  and  women  of  the  times  which  adorn  them,  nor  for  the  wit 
and  brilliant  epigrams  with  which  the  pages  sparkle  ;  not  alone  for 
the  inkling  of  their  author's  life  and  character  that  they  afford,  but 
especially  for  the  romance  which  they  contain,  and  the  mystery 
which  hovers  about  the  beautiful  Incognita. 

Taine,  in  his  study  of  this  author,  said, — "  Two  distinct  person- 
ages exist  in  Merimee,  the  one  fulfilling  with  easy  propriety  the 
duties  and  acquitting  himself  with  grace  in  the  splendors  of 
society,  the  other  holding  himself  apart  and  above  his  second  half, 
whose  performances  he  regarded  with  a  bantering  or  resigned  air." 

How  clearly  can  we  mark  his  dual  nature  in  the  opening  letters 
to  the  Incognita  !     At  first  there  appears  the  cultivated  gentleman, 


134  A   NOTABLE   CORRESPONDENCE. 

distrustful  of  mankind  and  skeptical  even  of  man's  deepest  feel- 
ings ;  one  can  almost  read  a  cynical  smile  between  the  lines  as  he 
reproaches  her  for  delaying  to  answer  him,  or  chides  her  for  some 
little  foibles  like  her  love  of  dress  and  her  coquetry.  We  read  a 
little  further,  and  the  cynic  shows  himself  to  be  in  love,  yet  how  he 
struggles  to  conceal  it !  A  little  quibble  shows  that  he  is  jealous, 
and  consequently  furious  ;  his  mind  wanders  off  his  books  to  occu- 
py itself  with  such  weighty  matters  as  Incognita's  gloves  and  bot- 
tines; — these  certainly  are  symptoms  of  the  Liebes-schmerz,  but 
how  frankly  he  disavows  it,  or  maintains  that  he,  poor  man,  is 
the  inoffending  target  she  has  chosen  for  her  shafts  of  coquetry  ! 

Together  they  take  long  walks  in  the  forest,  or  visit  the  Louvre 
and  the  opera.  One  seems  indispensable  to  the  other,  and 
yet  they  are  perpetually  on  the  point  of  severing  the  bond  of 
friendship.  It  is  like  the  union  of  wind  and  wave  :  each  is  rest- 
less and  intractable.  Merimee  makes  a  caustic  criticism,  not 
aimed  to  wound  her,  but  springing  from  him,  as  it  were,  sponta- 
neously :  she  returns  the  fire,  and  for  a  time  a  cloud  seems  to 
overhang  the  friendship,  but  with  a  tender  word  from  her  it  fades 
away,  and  they  are  friends  once  more. 

The  love  of  an  earlier  day  blossoms  at  length  into  a  lasting 
friendship.  The  failing  health  of  Merimee  compels  him  each 
year  to  remain  longer  in  the  mild  climate  of  Cannes,  but  there  his 
Incognita  is  not  forgotten.  He  writes  her  at  Paris  of  the  honors 
he  is  receiving,  and  describes  famous  people  whom  he  meets ; 
from  Spain  and  Switzerland  he  sends  pen-pictures  of  the  scenery 
and  the  natives  ;  his  letters  from  England  are  full  of  quaint  com- 
ment on  what  he  sees.  For  example,  he  writes  from  London, — 
"  The  most  decided  impression  received  from  this  journey  is,  that 
the  English  people  are  individually  stupid,  but  an  admirable  peo- 
ple en  masse.  Everything  that  can  be  done  by  the  aid  of  money, 
good  sense,  and  patience,  they  do,  but  of  the  arts  they  have  no 
more  notion  than  my  cat."  Of  the  English  premier  he  writes, — "  In 
some  respects  Mr.  Gladstone  appears  to  me  to  be  a  man  of  genius, 
in  others  a  child.  There  is  in  him  something  of  the  child,  the 
statesman,  and  they^." 


A   NOTABLE   CORRESPONDENCE.  1 35 

No  celebrity  whom  he  meets  escapes  his  scathing  satire,  though 
some,  as,  for  example,  Bismarck,  seem  to  have  struck  him  more 
favorably  than  others.  After  describing  his  presentation  to  the 
king  and  queen  of  Portugal,  Merimee  adds, — "Another  personage, 
M.  de  Bismarck,  pleased  me  much  more.  He  is  a  tall  German, 
very  polite,  and  far  from  naif.  He  is  apparently  utterly  destitute 
of  soul,  but  all  mind.  He  made  a  conquest  of  me.  He  brought 
with  him  a  wife  with  the  largest  feet  beyond  the  Rhine,  and  a 
daughter  who  walks  in  her  mother's  footsteps."  We  can  do  no 
more  than  introduce  the  reader  in  this  brief  manner  to  these  letters 
of  Merimee,  while  we  turn  again  to  the  lively,  piquant  letters  of 
the  mysterious  Incognita. 

In  them  we  have  the  reflection  of  the  life  of  this  brilliant  woman 
for  thirty  years,  yet  we  know  neither  her  name  nor  family  connec- 
tions. From  her  letters  we  gather  these  few  facts, — that  she  was 
English  by  birth  though  thoroughly  French  by  education,  and,  at 
first  the  companion  to  an  English  lady,  she  inherited  a  fortune  and 
married.  Her  marriage  was  evidently  a  mesalliance,  and  why 
contracted  we  cannot  even  guess.  She  scarcely  seemed  to  know 
herself,  for  she  says, — "  Worst  of  all,  I  pity  the  unfortunate  man 
who  is  to  marry  me  !  Dieu  !  His  lot  will,  I  much  fear,  not  be  an 
enviable  one.  Women  of  my  nature  ought  not  to  marry  :  it  is  a 
mistake.     I  wonder  why  I  do  it?" 

However  strange  this  marriage,  we  cannot  doubt  that  the  rela- 
tions between  the  Incognita  and  Merimee  were  founded  on  true 
love,  and  cemented  by  tried  friendship.  When  at  the  first,  on  his 
request,  she  promises  to  be  his  friend,  she  continues, — "Any 
woman  can  be  a  wife  or  une  maitresse,  according  to  her  views  upon 
such  subjects,  but  so  few  can  be  a  true  friend  !  Will  you  think  me 
boastful  if  I  say  that  I  believe  I  possess  many  of  the  qualities 
which  go  to  make  a  real  friend? — not  the  weak,  pulseless  thing 
that  so  often  usurps  the  name,  but  an  honest,  loyal,  helpful  soul, 
that  lives,  and  feels,  and  suffers,  and  dares,  yet  does  not  change." 

We  might  turn  to  passages  which  show  that  this  mystery  in 
woman's  form,  who  married  she  knew  not  why,  this  "  lioness 
though  tame,"   as    Merimee   describes    her,  was    capable    of  the 


136  A   NOTABLE   CORRESPONDENCE. 

deepest  love,  which  she  expressed  in  all  the  ardor  of  a  southern 
nature  ;  but  we  pass  on.  The  black-eyed,  graceful  coquette,  whose- 
beauty  and  esprit  had  captivated  the  heart  of  more  than  Merimee, 
began  to  feel  the  weight  of  years,  and  there  is  something  pathetic, 
in  the  letter  which  tells  of  it :  "  Methinks,  mon  cher,  that  we  are- 
growing  old  ;  going  gently  down  the  hill  together,  you  and  L 
That  one  word  '  together '  takes  whatever  sting  there  may  be 
from  out  the  patent  fact,  for  fact  I  fear  it  is.  How  little  we  quar- 
rel now  ;  how  placid  and  tranquil  we  have  grown  !  You  say  far 
less  about  the  splendor  of  my  eyes,  but  write  instead  about  your 
doctor's  diagnosis  and  the  remedies  he  hopes  to  cure  you  with." 

The  suffering  which  constantly  racked  Merimee  when  near  his 
end  drew  out  from  the  deepest  nature  of  his  lover  beautiful  and 
touching  expressions  of  her  heartfelt  love,  from  which,  if  it  be  not: 
profanation,  we  will  quote :  "  Do  you  know  what  the  world 
would  be  for  me  with  you  not  here?  A  leaden  sky,  with  stars  and 
moon  and  sun  gone  out ;  flowers  without  scent  or  color,  tree& 
bare  of  foliage,  birds  with  no  note  of  song,  all  glad  things  turned 
to  mocking  memories.  Dear  God,  was  it  good  to  decree  this  awful 
final  trial  of  tearing  asunder  lives  grown  to  one,  of  wrenching; 
nerves  and  fibres  joined  and  twined  together  with  years  of  daily 
loving  sympathy,  only  that  one  may  go  forth  bruised  and  bleeding 
to  a  new,  uncomprehended  life,  all  solitary,  while  the  other  is  left 
to  live  on  the  old  existence  with  all  its  charm  crushed  out  and 
ended?" 

The  life  of  her  lover  and  teacher  was  fast  ebbing  away.  It. 
was  during  the  Franco-Prussian  war  of  '70,  on  the  eve  of  a  sec- 
ond reign  of  terror  in  Paris,  which  was  so  soon  to  be  bathed  in 
blood,  that  Prosper  Merimee,  with  failing  strength,  wrote  a  last 
letter  to  his  tried  friend,  the  Incognita.  Two  hours  afterward 
death  laid  its  icy  hand  on  one  whose  fine  intellect,  bright  wit,  and 
warm  heart  are  all  stamped  in  loving  characters  upon  the  pages 
of  his  correspondence,  and  with  whose  memory  will  ever  be  linked 
that  of  a  beautiful,  mysterious,  lovable  person,  whom  we  know- 
only  as  L'Inconnue. 

J.  H.   G. 


HA  NO  VER'S  BOW  IN  LITER  A  TURE.  1 3  7 

HANOVER'S  BOW  IN  LITERATURE. 

The  "  Memoirs  of  Stephen  Burroughs  "  was  undoubtedly  the  first 
bound  book  published  in  this  town.  It  was  "Printed  at  Hanover, 
New  hampshire,  by  Benjamin  True,"  in  1798.  There  is  probably 
but  one  copy  of  this  first  edition  here,  and  it  is  an  admirable  and 
highly  interesting  specimen  of  old-time  typography.  A  second 
edition  was  published  in  New  York  in  181 1,  and  a  third  in  Phila- 
delphia in  1848.  Burroughs  was  his  own  biographer,  and  wrote 
this  sketch  of  his  life  to  a  friend  in  twenty-eight  separate  letters, 
which  form  the  chapters  of  the  book.  He  began  writing  them  in 
1794,  when  twenty-nine  years  of  age. 

One  cannot  help  feeling  that  the  author  exaggerated  his  woes 
and  adventures  to  make  a  sizable  volume  and  an  interesting  story, 
although  in  his  first  sentence  he  wrote, — "  In  relating  the  facts  of 
my  life  to  you  I  shall  endeavor  to  give  as  simple  an  account  of 
them  as  I  am  able  without  coloring  or  darkening  any  circum- 
stance." Here  and  there  he  wandered  off  into  a  long  ethical 
discussion.  Some  of  these  discussions  are  bearable,  while  others 
are  exceedingly  ridiculous,  especially  when  you  consider  the  char- 
acter of  the  writer.  Some  of  his  views  must  have  been  quite 
anarchical  for  those  times.  His  style  was  very  flowery  and  often 
pedantic.  Many  poetical  quotations  head  the  chapters,  and  are 
scattered  along  through  to  show  the  author's  learning  and  fill  up 
the  space.  There  are  also  a  large  number  of  letters,  some  of 
which  are  interesting. 

Stephen  was  the  son  of  a  Presb}'terian  clergyman,  Eden  Bur- 
roughs, who  lived  in  Hanover,  and  was  for  forty  years — from  1773 
to  1813 — a  trustee  of  Dartmouth  college.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
integrity  and  much  learning,  and  Burroughs  wrote, — "  Were  any 
to  expect  merit  from  their  parentage,  I  might  justly  look  for  that 
merit."  Stephen's  thirst  for  amusement  at  anybody's  expense  was 
insatiable,  and,  though  reared  under  strictest  discipline,  he  very 
early  developed  traits  which  made  him  by  unanimous  declaration 
the  worst  boy  in  town.  He  relates  one  incident  to  show  what  kind 
of  fun  he  liked.    A  neighbor  of  his  father  had  a  fine  yard  of  water- 


138  HANOVER'S  BOW  IN  LITERATURE. 

melons  which  had  been  disturbed  for  three  or  four  successive 
nights.  The  old  man  being  of  a  hasty,  petulant  disposition,  deter- 
mined to  watch  his  melons  with  a  club  and  beat  the  thief.  One 
night  he  took  his  stand  in  a  convenient  place  for  watching,  un- 
known to  anybody.  Burroughs  becoming  by  accident  acquainted 
writh  the  old  man's  situation,  and  suspecting  his  intentions,  went 
to  one  of  his  sons,  a  young  man  of  about  twenty,  and  told  him  that 
he  had  seen  a  man  in  the  melon-patch  whom  he  suspected  to  be 
the  thief,  and  advised  him  to  go  cautiously  to  the  yard,  and  per- 
haps he  might  catch  him.  So  the  young  man  went,  but  no  sooner 
was  he  in  the  yard  than  his  father,  supposing  him  to  be  the  thief, 
rushed  from  his  hiding-place  and  severely  handled  the  poor  fellow 
before  he  found  out  his  mistake.  "This  scene  of  merriment,"  said 
Stephen,  "I  enjoyed  to  the  full." 

Such  scenes  he  continued  to  bring  about,  enjoy,  and  be  punished 
for,  until  his  fourteenth  year,  when  he  determined  to  seek  pleasure 
and  fame  in  the  army.  At  the  time  a  regiment  of  continental 
forces  was  passing  through  the  country ;  so  he  enlisted  in  an  artil- 
lery company,  attending  the  regiment,  as  a  private  soldier.  His 
father,  however,  frustrated  his  plans  by  obtaining  his  discharge 
and  taking  him  home.  He  ran  away  from  home  again  :  his  father 
took  him  back.  A  third  time  he  joined  the  regiment,  and  enlisted 
under  an  officer  who,  when  his  father  came  to  demand  him,  left 
Stephen  to  choose  between  going  and  staying,  and  he,  of  course, 
choose  to  stay  with  the  regiment.  But  he  was  soon  tired  of  mili- 
tary life,  so  he  decamped  for  Hanover,  and  his  father  wrote  to 
General  Washington  to  obtain  his  discharge. 

Soon  after  this  he  was  placed  under  the  care  of  Rev.  Joseph 
Huntington,  a  noted  instructor  of  those  times,  who  was  also  a 
trustee  of  Dartmouth.  With  him  he  stayed  a  year,  until  he  was 
fitted  for  college,  and  it  was  a  year  much  fuller  of  mischief  than  of 
classical  study.  He  was  admitted  to  Dartmouth  in  1781.  Here 
he  had  a  wider  field  for  action.  Reports  of  his  eccentricities  had 
preceded  him,  and  all  the  boys  awaited  an  outbreak;  but  he 
disappointed  them  for  some  time,  as  he  had  determined  to  do. 
One  story  of  his  college  life  is  especially  good.    The  Indians  were 


HANOVER'S  BOW  IN  LITERATURE.  1 39 

at  this  time  making  inroads  upon  the  frontier  settlements,  and  it 
was  feared  that  they  would  make   a   descent  upon  Hanover  and 
burn   the    college  and  adjacent   buildings,    so  that   the  minds  of 
people  were  full  of  fear  and  aroused  by  the  slightest  alarm.     One 
evening  Burroughs  and  several  companions  determined  to  visit  a 
melon-patch  in  the  vicinity.     When  they  had   helped  themselves, 
they  separated  to   more    easily  get  back  to  their  rooms   without 
being  detected,  as  it  was  against  the  rules  to  leave  one's  room  at 
night.     When   Burroughs   came  upon  the  campus  he  saw  a  man 
waiting  in  front  of  his  door,  evidently  suspecting  his  absence  ;  so 
he  turned  to  take  a  less  direct  route  around  the  buildings  and  avoid 
him,  but  the  man  had  seen  him  and  started  in  pursuit.    Burroughs 
and  one  who  was  with  him  rolled  up  their  gowns  and  tucked  them 
upon   their  backs,  that   they  might    run    easily.     Their  pursuer 
began  hallooing,  and,  sensible  that  they  would  be  caught  unless 
they  were  soon. out  of  the  way,  they  turned  a  short  corner  and  got 
back  to  their  rooms  undiscovered.     The  man  kept  hallooing  until 
the  boys,  Burroughs  among  them,  wTent  out  to  see  what  was  the 
matter.     He  told  them  that  he  had  found  two  men  carrying  packs 
on  their  backs  lurking  about  the  town,  and  that  they  were  proba- 
bly spies  from  the  Indians,  for  they  had  fled  on  seeing  him.     The 
town  was  alarmed,  the  militia  turned  out,  the  woods  were  scoured, 
but  nothing  could  be  found.     The  next  morning  there  began  to  be 
a  suspicion  that  some  of  the  boys  had  been  playing  a  trick,  and 
the  suspicion  fastened  upon  Burroughs,  who  saw  how  things  were 
going,  and   hastened  to  the  man  whose   melons   had  been  taken, 
and  told  him  that  since  he  knew  that  he  sold  melons,  he  had  taken 
some  late  the  night  before  without  disturbing  him,  and  had  now 
come  to  pay  him  for  them.     The   man  was  satisfied  with  pay,  and 
gave  him  a  receipted  bill.     Burroughs  was  straightway  summoned 
before   college  authority,  tried,  and  was   about  to  be  disciplined, 
when  he  arose  and  in  a  short  speech  justified  his  being  out  of  his 
room,  produced  the  receipted  bill  for  the  melons,  and  was  there- 
fore acquitted. 

He  left  college  in  the  middle  of  sophomore  year,  and  deter- 
mined to  go  to  sea.  He  went  to  Newburyport,  Mass.,  and  engaged 


1 40  HA  NO  VERS  BOW  IN  LITER  A  TURE. 

to  go  as  doctor  on  a  packet  bound  for  France.  The  voyage  was 
an  exciting  one.  Among  other  adventures  was  a  hard  fight  with 
a  privateer.  He  soon  decided  that  a  little  of  that  kind  of  life  was 
enough  for  him,  and  returned  to  Hanover.  After  a  short  stay  he 
started  out  to  visit  relatives  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  and, 
if  possible,  find  employment.  On  the  way  his  slender  resources 
became  exhausted,  and  at  Pelham,  Mass.,  where  he  heard  that  a 
minister  was  wanted,  he  made  application,  under  a  false  name,  for 
a  place  to  preach.  He  was  hired  for  four  Sundays  at  five  dollars 
a  Sunday.  At  the  end  of  that  time  he  was  liked,  and  hired  for 
eleven  Sundays  more.  He  drew  his  pay  in  advance,  as  he  was 
greatly  in  need  of  the  money.  Near  the  close  of  his  contract  the 
real  name  and  character  of  the  minister  became  known  in  Pelham, 
and  there  was  great  indignation.  Burroughs  fled  out  of  the  town, 
but  the  inhabitants  pursued.  At  last  he  sought  refuge  in  a  barn, 
and  mounted  the  hay-mow  to  have  an  advantageous  position  for 
meeting  their  assault.  The  crowd  filled  the  barn,  and  demanded 
that  he  go  back  and  vindicate  his  conduct,  but  especially  preach 
the  other  sermon  for  which  they  had  paid  him,  for  there  was  one 
more  due  them.  He  obtained  silence,  and,  without  stopping  for 
any  vindication  of  conduct,  proceeded  to  get  even  with  the  Pel- 
hamites  by  delivering  from  the  mow  his  farewell  sermon.  It  was 
also  told  of  Burroughs,  though  he  denied  the  story,  that  he  once 
engaged  to  preach  for  a  minister,  put  up  at  the  minister's  house, 
borrowed  his  clothes  and  his  watch  that  he  might  not  sit  up  too 
late  Saturday  night  preparing  his  sermon,  and  that  Sunday 
morning  no  clothes,  watch,  or  Burroughs  were  to  be  found,  but  at 
the  head  of  a  sheet  of  paper,  as  though  the  text  on  which  he  was 
about  to  write,  was, — "  Ye  shall  seek  me  early  and  shall  not  find 
me." 

He  next  entered  a  counterfeiting  scheme,  which  ended  in  three 
years'  imprisonment  at  Northampton  and  Castle  Island.  He  made 
several  desperate  and  almost  successful  attempts  to  escape,  but 
had  to  endure  the  full  measure  of  his  sentence.  After  his  release 
he  secured  a  position  as  teacher  at  Charlton,  Mass.,  and  mar- 
ried.    Here  he  conducted  himself  with  honor  for  some  time,  and 


A   STORY  OF   WILLOW  BROOK.  141 

enjoyed  friends  and  a  competence  ;  but  misfortune  again  overtook 
him,  and  he  was  thrown  into  jail.  He  escaped,  however,  to  Long 
Island,  where  he  engaged  in  teaching  for  several  years. 

Here  the  narrative  of  this  curious  old  book  ends.  From  a  note 
by  the  publisher  of  the  second  edition,  and  other  sources,  it  is  found 
that  Burroughs  afterwards  returned  to  Hanover,  where  he  lived 
with  his  father  until  a  disagreement  arose  between  them,  when  he 
went  to  Canada  and  revived  his  old  trade  of  counterfeiting.  Later 
in  life,  having  reformed,  he  joined  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
and  supported  himself  by  teaching  the  sons  of  wealthy  Canadians, 
at  his  home  in  Three  Rivers,  until  his  death  in  1840. 

C.  M.  S. 


A   STORY   OF   WILLOW   BROOK. 

In  the  southern  part  of  the  state  of  New  Hampshire,  just  at  the 
foot  of  the  long  hill  on  whose  broad  summit  the  old  town  of  Nor- 
way used  to  stand,  and  about  a  mile  south  of  the  present  busy 
manufacturing  village  of  that  name,  there  is  a  thoroughly  roman- 
tic spot,  beautiful  in  itself,  and,  in  this  neighborhood  of  old  asso- 
ciations, seeming  especially  suggestive  of  ancient  tradition.  Next 
to  the  road  is  a  small  patch  of  green  field,  across  the  further  end 
of  which  flows  a  little  brook,  its  banks  lined  with  willows,  while 
numerous  thickets  lend  a  charming  air  of  mystery  to  the  scene. 
Altogether  it  affords  a  most  enchanting  resting-place  to  the  pass- 
er-by. And  many  queer  visitors  has  Willow  brook  received  here 
in  times  past,  although  now  it  is  largely  given  up  to  bands  of  rov- 
ing gypsies  who  make  it  their  home  for  a  longer  or  shorter  period 
in  the  summer.  Numerous  stories  naturally  connect  themselves 
with  such  a  spot,  but  that  which  stirred  me  most  is  the  one  I  am 
about  to  relate. 

In  those  earlier  days  of  the  town's  existence  there  were  not  a  few 
queer  and  interesting  personages  among  its  inhabitants,  but  by 
far  the  most  remarkable  of  them  all  in  appearance  and  character 
was  John  Morley.  Tall  and  finely  formed,  of  commanding  aspect 
and  keen  intelligence,  he  was  from  the  first  one  of  the  leading 


142 


A   STORY  OF   WILLOW  BROOK. 


men  in  the  settlement.  His  sagacious  counsels  and  personal 
bravery  had  more  than  once  been  of  the  greatest  service  to  his 
fellow-citizens  in  their  struggles  for  existence  against  a  rigor- 
ous climate  and  a  savage  enemy.  But  in  spite  of  all  this,  John 
Morley  was  far  from  being  a  popular  man  in  the  community. 
In  some  way  there  seemed  to  be  a  hidden  but  most  unfortunate 
element  in  his  constitution,  which  repelled  those  with  whom  he 
came  in  contact  as  if  he  were  ever  surrounded  with  a  cloud  of 
some  invisible  substance  that  was  felt  to  be  unwholesome  to  the 
human  race.  Perhaps,  after  all,  it  was  but  the  appearance  of 
the  man.  A  peculiar,  deep  furrow  in  his  forehead  gave  to  his 
countenance  an  expression  of  severity,  and  the  long,  over-hang- 
ing brows,  the  firmly-set  lines  of  the  mouth,  the  prominent, 
strongly  marked  chin,  so  added  to  this  look  of  sternness  as  to 
make  the  man's  face  almost  harsh  :  he  thus  seemed  to  the  simple 
villagers  so  much  like  the  rugged  form  of  Mount  Washington, 
which  from  the  centre  of  the  town  could  be  seen  far  away  through 
a  gap  between  the  nearer  hills,  its  summit,  clad  in  gleaming 
white,  rising  strong  and  majestic,  yet  so  distant  and  so  cold.  One 
feature  of  the  man,  however,  has  not  as  yet  been  noticed.  When 
one  looked  carefully  into  the  clear,  deep  blue  eyes  of  John  Mor- 
ley, distrustful  and  piercing  though  they  had  become,  he  instinc- 
tively began  to  doubt  the  correctness  of  his  previous  impressions, 
and  to  feel  that  after  all  it  was  here  that  the  true  secret  of  the 
man's  nature  lay.  But  whatsoever  the  reasons  were,  the  fact 
remained,  that  in  all  that  community,  whose  rights  he  had  so 
often  courageously  and  successfully  defended,  there  were  but  two 
persons  whom  he  could  truthfully  call  his  friends  ; — and  thus  had  it 
ever  been  with  him,  as  he  more  than  once  remarked  to  himself. 

Born  in  a  small  village  in  the  north  of  England,  the  son  of  a 
poor  mechanic  who  had  already  more  mouths  to  feed  than  he 
could  well  provide  for,  even  before  this  last  addition  to  his  family, 
he  was,  in  his  very  entrance  into  the  world,  unwelcome  and 
seemingly  out  of  place.  Nor  did  this  unnatural  condition  of 
things  change  as  he  grew  older.  On  the  contrary,  each  day 
seemingly  developed  new  points  of  difference  between  himself  and 


A   STORY  OF  WILLOW  BROOK.  143 

the  world  around  him,  and  the  absolute  lack  of  congeniality  in  his 
surroundings  was  more  and  more  demonstrated.  The  result  was 
that  he  soon  began  to  shun  the  society  of  others  ;  and  the  rest  of 
the  family,  jealous  of  the  natural  superiority  which  they  instinc- 
tively felt  him  to  possess,  attributed  this  to  the  fact  that  he 
considered  himself  above  them,  and  called  him  proud  and  cold. 
They  little  knew  how  much  in  reality  he  craved  friendship  and  sym- 
pathy, how  necessary,  in  fact,  they  were  to  him  by  nature.  And  so 
the  mutual  dislike  increased  until  it  almost  became  a  fixed  hatred. 

As  soon  as  he  became  old  enough  to  work  he  was  set  to  learn  a 
trade ;  and  the  old  violin,  which  he  had  found  in  the  house  one 
day  while  he  was  yet  very  young,  and  had  learned  to  play  by 
means  of  the  occasional  help  of  a  violinist  in  the  village,  was 
taken  away.  Thoroughly  musical  by  nature,  he  had  found  in  the 
possession  and  use  of  this  instrument  the  one  bright  spot  in  his 
existence,  and  had  come  to  love  it  as  he  had  never  loved  a  human 
being,  so  that  the  loss  of  it  was  to  him  almost  like  the  death  of 
some  dear  friend.  He  soon  found,  moreover,  that  the  change  in 
his  life  in  other  respects  was  by  no  means  so  great  as  he  had 
hoped.  His  new  associates  kept  aloof  from  him  ;  the  scar,  which 
nature  had  placed  upon  his  forehead,  gave  his  countenance  an 
aspect  that  made  men  in  some  way  distrust  him  and  keep  at  a 
distance.  And  so  it  was  no?  long  before  this  life  became  even 
more  unbearable  than  his  former  one,  and  there  was  now  nothing 
to  relieve  it. 

At  length  he  came  of  age,  and  was  master  of  himself.  He 
straightway  determined  to  throw  off  forever  the  previous  hated 
existence,  with  all  its  associations  ;  and  before  a  year  had  passed 
he  had  begun  life  anew  in  another  world,  where,  he  said  to 
himself,  he  would  meet  with  a  different  class  of  people,  and  at 
last  find  his  proper  place.  But  he  soon  discovered  that  it  was, 
after  all,  the  same  old  story.  The  old  scar  on  the  forehead, 
the  severe  expression  of  countenance,  had  the  same  effect  here 
as  elsewhere,  and  though  by  reason  of  his  abilities  so  promi- 
nent a  man  in  the  town,  John  Morley  was  still  utterly  alone  in 
the  world.      As    a    realizing    sense    of    all    this    was    gradually 


144  A   ST0RY  0F   WILLOW  BROOK. 

brought  home  to  him,  a  cold,  sullen  despair  took  complete  posses- 
sion of  the  man,  although  outwardly  he  remained  the  same 
except  that  the  expression  grew  a  little  sterner,  and  the  blue  eyes 
somewhat  more  keen  and  distrustful. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  at  the  time  when  this  man  first 
became  acquainted  with  George  Barker  and  his  wife — a  young 
couple  who  had  lately  settled  in  Norway.  When  first  he  saw 
them  he  had  the  opportunity  of  doing  them  a  trifling  favor,  but 
one  which  they  never  forgot.  Frank,  generous,  kind-hearted 
people  as  they  were,  they  at  once  perceived  the  noble,  lovable 
qualities  in  the  man's  nature,  and  became  from  the  first  his  sincere 
friends.  He  was  naturally,  from  his  previous  experience  of  the 
world,  rather  slow  to  believe  in  the  reality  of  any  friendship 
towards  himself,  but  when  he  finally  came  to  appreciate  it 
thoroughly,  he  poured  forth  the  whole  strength  of  his  long  pent 
up  affections  in  his  devotion  to  the  only  two  beings  in  the  world 
who  had  ever  really  understood  him.  All  his  leisure  hours  now 
were  spent  in  the  company  of  his  new  found  companions.  They,, 
too,  were  musical,  and  the  old  violin,  which  he  had  brought 
from  England,  but  which  for  a  long  time  he  had  not  had  the/ 
heart  to  look  upon,  was  made  to  give  forth  its  sublimest  tones; 
and  it  seemed,  indeed,  to  comprehend  and  give  expression  to  the 
wonderful  change  in  its  master's  being.  As  time  went  on,  he 
almost  forgot  the  wretchedness  of  his  former  life,  and  began  to 
look  back  upon  it  as  to  an  unpleasant  dream,  now  indistinct  and 
unreal.  Yet  at  times  he  could  not  help  remembering  that  it  is 
the  brighest  summer's  day  that  calls  forth  the  blackest  clouds 
and  heaviest  showers,  and  his  mind  was  sometimes  filled  with  a 
certain  vague  foreboding  that  his  present  existence  was  altogether 
too  full  of  happiness  to  endure.  But  surely  this  feeling  must  have 
been  due  to  a  morbid  condition  of  the  mind ;  for  had  he  not 
already  had,  in  the  comparatively  few  years  he  had  lived,  much 
more  than  his  full  share  of  bitterness  and  pain  ? 

It  was  late  in  the  afternoon  of  a  bright,  clear  day  in  November, 
some  two  years  after  the  advent  of  George  Barker  and  his  wife 
into  the  community,  that  news  was  suddenly  brought  of  an  ex- 


A   STORY  OF  WILLOW  BROOK.  1 45 

pected  Indian  attack  upon  the  village  that  very  night.  As  usual 
John  Morley  was  relied  upon  to  organize  the  defence,  and  it 
was  decided  that  a  strong  party  under  his  lead  should  conceal 
themselves  in  the  thickets  at  Willow  brook,  and  that  at  the 
right  moment  they  should  surprise  and  conquer  the  advancing 
|  foe.  In  accordance  with  this  plan  the  chosen  party  descended 
the  hill  in  the  early  evening,  and  established  themselves  in 
ambush  silently  to  await  the  approach  of  the  enemy.  Clouds 
had  arisen  in  the  latter  part  of  the  day,  and  the  night  was 
intensely  dark  and  cold.  The  little  band,  as  it  lay  concealed 
within  the  thickets  of  willows,  could  scarce  discern  each  others' 
forms,  and  as  the  night  wore  on  the  sense  of  discomfort  and 
loneliness  became  almost  overpowering.  Hour  after  hour  passed, 
and  still  no  sign  of  the  approach  of  Indians  had  anywhere  ap- 
peared. The  weaker  ones  began  to  grow  faint-hearted,  and  to 
think  that  perhaps  the  intended  attack  had  been  given  up  ;  but  still 
the  little  company  stubbornly  maintained  their  silent  watch.  At 
length,  however,  a  slight  noise  was  heard,  as  of  some  one  stealth- 
ily approaching.  Instantly  everybody  was  on  the  alert,  every  eye 
was  strained  toward  the  point  from  which  the  sound  came,  every 
hand  grasped  tightly  its  musket ;  at  last,  it  seemed,  their  patience 
was  rewarded.  Suddenly  a  clump  of  bushes  in  front  was  seen  to 
move,  and  the  next  instant  the  dark  outline  of  a  man's  head  and 
shoulders  appeared  in  full  view. 

At  that  moment  John  Morley,  either  surprised  by  the  long 
period  of  suspense  and  fatigue  out  of  the  natural  coolness  of  judg- 
ment which  he  usually  exhibited  in  so  remarkable  a  degree,  or 
impelled  by  that  unseen  evil  genius  which  formerly  exercised 
such  a  powerful  influence  over  almost  his  whole  life,  raised  his 
musket  to  his  shoulder  and  fired.  The  mysterious  stranger  seemed 
to  stand  transfixed  for  an  instant,  and  then  fell  forward  dead,  after 
uttering  only  one  low  cry.  In  that  cry,  however,  they  recog- 
nized a  voice  that  all  knew  well,  and  that  many  had  learned 
peculiarly  to  love.  But  by  the  time  the  men  had  fully  realized 
that  George  Barker  was  forever  gone  from  among  them,  John 
Morley  had  disappeared. 


I46  A  STORY  OF   WILLOW  BROOK. 

*********** 

One  bright  moonlight  night  in  the  late  fall,  soon  after  the  vil- 
lage of  Norway  had  been  removed  to  its  present  location,  certain 
persons  who  were  passing  Willow  brook  were  greatly  terrified  at 
hearing  mysterious  groans  and  cries  which  seemed  to  issue  from 
the  bushes  near  by,  and  several  declared  that  they  had  seen  an 
apparition  from  the  dead  wandering  about  the  place.  And  these 
stones  were  certainly  not  without  some  foundation ;  for  the  next 
morning,  on  examining  the  spot,  they  discovered,  almost  hidden 
within  a  clump  of  bushes,  the  form  of  a  gray-haired  old  man 
lying  face  downwards  on  the  earth,  with  no  marks  of  violence 
upon  him  nor  anything  to  indicate  the  cause  of  his  death.  But 
as  they  raised  him  up  they  noticed  on  his  forehead  a  peculiar 
scar,  which  might  have  given  a  somewhat  unpleasant  cast  to 
his  countenance,  they  thought,  had  it  not  been  for  the  expres- 
sion of  gentle  benevolence  which  strangely  altered  the  former 
strong,  sharply-defined  features.  A  queer  procession  it  was  that 
followed  the  body  to  the  old  church-yard  on  the  hill  next  day. 
For  the  night  previous  a  party  of  Indians  visited  the  officers  of 
the  town,  and  related  how,  years  before,  this  person  had  wan- 
dered in  his  insanity  into  their  camp ;  how  they  had  received 
him  as  a  messenger  from  the  Great  Spirit  above  to  them,  had 
cared  for  him,  and  had  been  rewarded  by  unusual  prosperity 
and  the  especial  protection  of  the  Great  Spirit,  until  finally  they 
had  come  to  love  the  man  in  his  old  age  for  his  gentle  humil- 
ity and  for  the  favor  which  his  presence  brought  them.  This  sim- 
ple story  deeply  interested  all  who  heard  it,  and  permission  was 
finally  given  for  the  leading  men  of  the  tribe  to  attend  the  burial 
services  of  their  protector  sent  from  heaven.  A  strange  spectacle 
they  formed  as  they  stood  in  silence  around  the  grave,  and  their 
devoted  reverence  was  most  touching  to  witness.  Slowly  and 
sadly  at  last  they  withdrew ;  but  it  was  not  until  the  final  exter- 
mination of  the  Indians  of  all  that  region  that  the  traditions  con- 
cerning the  blessed  messenger  of  the  Great  Spirit,  who  once  came 
and  dwelt  among  them,  finally  ceased  to  be  remembered. 

Willis  McDuffee. 


The  Chair. 


The  oft-repeated  declaration,  that  Dartmouth  is  one  of  the  very- 
strongest  athletic  colleges  of  New  England,  has  been  verified  again 
and  again  since  the  entering  of  the  present  Senior  class.  A  base- 
ball and  a  foot-ball  championship,  two  general  athletic  champion- 
ships, and  in  the  other  four  cases,  once  tied  for  first,  and  twice 
a  close  second — all  within  three  years — is  a  most  remarkable 
showing.  And  we  have  had  no  mean  opponents — Williams,  Am- 
herst, Tech.,  and  the  others.  What  does  it  all  mean?  Now  that 
the  heat  of  our  enthusiasm  is  somewhat  spent,  and  the  exultant 
Wah-hoo-wah  is  but  a  pleasant  echo  "  ringing  down  the  halls  of 
time,"  and  we  are  calmly  reflective,  we  ask  the  question,  What 
does  it  signify?  Does  it  mean  simply  that  Dartmouth  brawn  is  of 
a  superior  quality?  Vastly  more.  No  one  questions  the  exist- 
ence here  of  superb  material  for  athletic  sports.  "  The  Dartmouth 
Giants,"  "The  Heavy  Weights  from  Dartmouth,"  etc.,  etc.,  is 
what  they  call  us  in  the  foot-ball  league ;  and  in  the  other  sports  at 
the  proper  season  equally  apt  terms  designate  our  prowess.  But 
the  secret  of  success  does  not  lie  wholly  in  the  brawn  and  specific 
brain  back  of  it.  All  credit  and  honor  to  our  hard-working,  faith- 
ful athletes  !  But  let  us  not  forget  to  pay  some  tribute  to  ourselves, 
to  the  college — all  who  compose  it — the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  high 
and  the  low,  as  the  preacher  would  say.  It  is  the  whole-souled, 
enthusiastic  support  of  every  man  in  college  that  puts  life  into 
athletics  at  Dartmouth,  that  gives  our  teams  the  impetus  which 
sweeps  them  onward  to  victory.  Note  the  crowd  that  gathers 
waiting  for  news  of  the  game  !  None  is  more  eager,  anxiously 
expectant,  than  the  man  who  carefully  counted  the  cost  before  he 
subscribed,  perhaps  only  a  dollar  (the  mite  which  means  so  much 
to  him),  to  help  on  the  cause  ;  but  he  had  his  share  in  the  glorious 
victory,  and  he  cheers  as  loudly  as  his  richer  neighbor,  and  be- 
lieves as  firmly  that  there  is  no  college  like  Dartmouth.     As  long 


I48  THE  CHAIR. 


as  this  remains  the  college  spirit,  as  long  as  we  feel,  think,  an 
act  as  one  man  in  relation  to  the  various  athletic  interests  of  the 
college,  not  allowing  invidious  criticism  or  favoritism,  the  out- 
growth of  petty  spites  and  jealousies,  to  creep  in,  as  it  often  has 
elsewhere,  to  warp  and  destroy  this  unity  of  college  sentiment,  so 
long  ought  we  to  retain  our  leading  position  among  the  colleges  of 
New  England  in  athletic  sports. 


, 


It  has  been  rather  amusing  to  the  outsider,  this  flinging  of  taunts, 
these  accusations,  protests,  denials,  this  display  of  testimonials, 
certificates,  and  affidavits,  which  have  been  indulged  in  by  jeal- 
ous rival  universities  of  late,  furnishing  variety  to  the  annual  foot- 
ball squabble.  It  recalls  memories  of  childhood,  when  "  You 
do  n't  play  fair,  and  I  won't  play  any  more  with  you,  so  now  !  "  was 
an  expression  that  conveyed  a  profound  meaning  to  little  minds, 
and  was  fraught  with  the  most  tremendous  consequences.  But 
really,  while  the  truth  of  the  old  adage,  that  "  They  who  live  in 
glass  houses  should  not  throw  stones,"  seems  likely  to  be  vindi- 
cated by  a  smashing  and  crashing  all  around,  it  is  high  time  that 
thoughtful  attention  were  directed  to  the  evil  of  professionalism  in 
inter-collegiate  athletics,  and  therefore  praise  be  to  Harvard  for 
taking  the  initiative.  This  evil  has  been  growing  apace  the  last 
few  years,  and,  more  than  anything  else,  it  has  tended  to  bring 
inter-collegiate  contests  into  disrepute  among  those  who  had  at 
least  a  suspicion  of  the  truth.  Now  is  the  time  to  root  it  out.  If 
the  college  conscience  cannot  be  touched, — and  to  touch  it  seems 
sometimes  difficult,  for  the  reason  that  the  control  of  the  various 
forms  of  athletics  is  practically  in  the  hands  of  an  autocratic 
few,  whose  leadership  is  followed  blindly  by  the  great  body  of 
under-graduates, — it  then  rests  with  the  faculties  or  graduate  com- 
mittees to  see  that  there  is  honesty  and  fair  play.  But  why  should 
not  the  good  sense  and  fair-mindedness  of  the  Young  American 
collegian  assert  themselves?  We  believe  they  will,  and  that  the 
issue  of  the  whole  matter  will  be  the  reelevation  of  all  inter-colle- 
giate contests  to  their  former  dignity  as  trials  of  skill,  strength,  and 
endurance  between  athletes  who  contend,  not  for  the  mere  sake  of 


THE   CHAIR.  149 

winning,  or  as  a  matter  of  dollars  and  cents,  but  for  real  love  of 
manly  sport.  Thus  far  our  own  skirts  have  not  been  stained, 
and  the  victories,  therefore,  of  the  past  few  years  are  doubly  sweet. 


The  Chair  is  very  well  aware  that  the  average  college  student 
is  not  particularly  interested  in  purely  literary  subjects.  He  may 
read  this  or  that  article  that  appears  in  the  pages  of  the  Lit.  ;  but 
the  strongest  incentive  for  so  doing  is  furnished  by  the  name  ap- 
pended :  he  reads  because  of  his  personal  interest  in  the  author. 
With  a  view  to  making  the  Lit.  valuable  and  in  fact  indispensa- 
ble to  every  man  in  college,  we  have  planned  to  print  in  most,  if 
not  all,  the  remaining  issues  of  the  year  articles  upon  prominent 
college  topics.  It  was  with  this  thought  that  we  published  last 
month  the  paper  upon  "  Early  College  Athletics  at  Dartmouth." 
The  symposium  in  the  present  number  speaks  for  itself.  We  hope 
to  publish  similar  symposia  from  time  to  time.  In  February  will 
appear  an  article  on  "  Modern  College  Athletics  at  Dartmouth," 
by  Prof.  C.  F.  Emerson.  These  papers,  in  addition  to  their  pres- 
ent interest,  will  be  found  very  valuable  as  historical  records  for 
future  reference. 


"  Poeta  nascitur,  nonfit."  Trite  as  it  is,  and  true  as  most  people 
think,  it  is  working  the  very  mischief  with  us.  Away  with  "belief 
in  the  old  saw  !  We  must  make  some  poets,  and  that  right  speed- 
ily, would  we  maintain  the  excellent  reputation  won  by  Darmouth 
versifiers,  whose  best  work  is  embodied  in  that  creditable  little 
volume,  "  Dartmouth  Lyrics."  Indeed,  the  lack  of  good  verse 
from  the  college  at  the  present  time  is  simply  appalling.  Gentle 
reader,  buy,  borrow,  or  steal  "Tom  Hood's  Rhymester,"  read 
carefully  the  introduction,  turn  to  the  dictionary  of  rhymes,  and 
pour  yourself  out  in  verse.  Send  the  product  to  the  Lit.,  and 
what  we  don't  publish  we  will  burn. 


The  longest  term  of  the  year  has  passed  into  history.  How 
short  at  first  thought  it  seems ;  yet  when  one  stops  to  think  of  all 
that  has  occurred  in  the  life  of  the  college,  of  all  that  he  person- 


I50  THE  CHAIR. 

ally  has  experienced  and  accomplished,  he  really  wonders  how 
fifteen  weeks  could  contain  it.  But  now  the  last  bit  of  book  knowl- 
edge has  been  snugly  stored  away,  or  forgotten.  The  last  exami- 
nation has  been  passed,  trunks  are  packed,  and  with  clear  con- 
sciences and  light  hearts,  provided  bills  are  paid  and  slim  purses 
still  show  ticket-purchasing  power,  we  are  up  and  away, — some  to 
plunge  into  a  whirl  of  winter  gaiety,  others  to  experience  more 
quiet  pleasures,  but  all  to  feel  and  enjoy  freedom  from  restraint, 
and  to  drink  deep  of  holiday  happiness.  As  the  editor  throws 
aside  his  weary  pen,  he  is  tempted  to  give  a  little,  perhaps  un- 
necessary, advice.  Don't,  student  friend,  do  any  mental  work 
in  the  four  weeks  coming.  Do  n't  -plan  to  do  any  work.  There 
has  been  a  deal  of  nonsense  written  about  improving  the  flying 
minutes.  If  you  have  been  the  right  kind  of  man,  you  have  im- 
proved a  sufficient  number  to  last  one  while.  Relax  ;  let  the  cob- 
webs gather  in  the  nooks  and  crannies  of  your  brain.  You  will  be 
able  to  brush  them  away  easily  enough,  and  feel  all  the  better  for 
it  the  middle  of  January  next.  To  one  and  all,  the  Lit.  wishes  a 
very  Merry  Christmas  and  the  happiest  of  New  Years. 


By  the  Way. 


I  am  convinced  that  one  of  the  greatest  obstacles  to  the  rise  of  a 
literary  spirit  in  Dartmouth  is  to  be  found  in  what  may  be  styled 
literary  bashfulness.  Go  and  ask  the  man  who  had  that  interest- 
ing .and  well  written  theme  in  the  English  course  why  he  does  n't 
write  for  the  Literary  Monthly  or  the  Dartmouth,  and  you  will 
find  his  reason  not  in  lack  of  time  or  material  for  writing,  but  in  a 
certain  distrust  of  his  own  abilities.  He  would,  certainly,  like  to 
write,  and  thinks  he  needs  the  practice,  but  as  for  his  writing  any- 
thing fit  to  appear  before  the  public,  what  a  ridiculous  notion  ! 

That  students  are  critical,  even  if  not  cynical,  no  one  doubts  in 
the  least,  but  what  boots  it  if  one  of  these  exacting  personages, 
who  is  unable  to  write  a  single  sentence  in  good  English  himself, 
does  think  this  story  or  that  essay  a  bit  dull  because  it  does  not 
precisely  suit  his  fastidious  fancy?  And  what  matters  it,  either,  if 
somebody  rails  at  that  bit  of  verse  crouching  tremblingly  in  an 
obscure  corner  of  the  Lit.,  or  makes  supercilious  remarks  con- 
cerning the  one  from  whose  brain  it  fluttered  out  into  the  cold, 
critical  world  of  college  journalism  ! 


What  a  collection  of  burdens  the  modern  novel  has  to  bear  !  In 
olden  times,  when  a  man  had  lofty  thoughts  to  express,  a  dream  to 
record,  a  foreign  travel  or  a  philosophical  subject  to  write  up,  he 
was  accustomed  to  court  the  Muse,  and  with  her  friendly  assistance 
there  would  be  spun  out  long,  tedious  pages  of  stately  pentameter, 
which  swung  itself  along  with  that  old,  eighteenth-century  gait 
which  Pope  and  Dryden  affected  in  their  intellectual  perambula- 
tions. But  how  the  times  have  changed  !  These  old  poetical  dis- 
quisitions, in  which  our  grandfathers  took  such  delight  when  the 
long,  cold  winter  evenings  came,  and  which  they  settled  down  to 
read  by  the  blaze  of  the  fire-place  or  the  tallow  dip,  are  now  as 


152  BY  THE   WAY. 

much  out  of  fashion  as  our  grandfather's  periwig  and  knee-buck- 
les, and  are  banished  to  the  dusty  shelf,  safe  from  all  but  the  nos- 
ings of  the  book-worm,  be  he  biped  or  hexapod. 

But  this  is  the  age  of  the  novel,  and  how  onerous  are  its  duties ! 
The  novel  seems  to  have  ceased  to  be  a  mere  work  of  art,  with 
beauty  as  its  one  excuse  for  being.  Such  a  butterfly  existence, 
th£y  say,  is  hardly  meet  for  it  in  such  a  work-a-day  world  as  this ! 
It  is  found  to  be  a  convenient  vehicle  for  religious  ideas,  for  phil- 
osophical speculations,  and  for  moral  precepts,  and  forthwith  it 
becomes  the  go-cart  of  the  propagandist,  laden  with  the  delectable 
wares  of  the  high-minded  novelist. 

Whether  or  not  we  would  condole  with  Agnes  Repplier,  in  de- 
ploring this  lapse  from  true  art,  as  she  has  done  in  a  recent  num- 
ber of  the  Atlantic,  we  cannot  but  be  struck  with  the  inevitable 
fact  that  the  novel  is  seeking  to  become  our  photographer,  our 
school-master,  our  preacher,  and  our  prophet ;  and  that  the  people 
want  the  novel  to  preach,  to  teach,  and  prophesy  is  well  shown 
by  the  popularity  of  such  works  as  the  religious  novels  of  to-day, 
and  that  rather  unique  book,  "  Looking  Backward." 


As  I  laid  down  Bellamy's  dream  of  the  twentieth-century  Bos- 
ton the  other  evening,  I  bethought  me  to  take  down  from  the  shelf 
a  similar  work,  which  for  nearly  three  and  a  half  centuries  has 
been  more  or  less  read  and  admired,  but  which  to-day  is  known 
little  more  than  in  name.  A  queer  old  tome  is  Raphe  Robinson's 
English  translation  of  Utopia,  that  bears  the  ancient  date  of  155 1  ! 
As  we  read  the  quaint  language,  we  wish  that  Sir  Thomas  had 
had  a  little  more  faith  in  his  mother  tongue,  for,  though  the  original 
Latin  may  be  stately  and  flowing,  I  cannot  help  thinking  that 
More  himself  would  have  handled  the  vernacular  to  somewhat 
better  advantage. 

*     * 
It  is  a  certain  Raphael  Hythloday  who  is  supposed  to  describe 
the  Utopians  and  their  favored  island,  and,  though  some  things 
which  the  worthy  man  tells  may  somewhat  tax  our  credulity  or 


BY  THE   WAY.  153 

not  correspond  exactly  to  our  ideas  of  what  a  well  ordered  state 
should  be,  we  may  find  in  these  ancient  pages  much  that  will 
instruct  as  well  as  amuse. 

For  the  benefit  of  those  who  have  not  happened  to  read  Utopia, 
for  in  these  days  so  much#must  remain  unread,  I  would  chat  for 
a  moment  of  this  creation  of  More's  fancy.  The  island  of  Utopia 
was  shaped  like  a  half  moon,  between  the  horns  of  which  a  snug 
harbor  was  enclosed,  inaccessible  to  all  but  the  natives.  Upon  it 
were  fifty-four  cities,  in  which  the  houses  "  be  curiously  builded 
after  a  gorgeous  and  gallant  sort,  with  three  stories,,  one  over 
another,"  and  garden  plots  in  front.  These  houses  are  exchanged 
occasionally,  and  one  may  either  dine  at  home  or  at  a  public  hall, 
a  la  Bellamy.  Here,  for  two  years  at  a  time,  they  live  at  ease, 
working  but  nine  hours  a  day,  and  each  morning  at  an  early  hour 
attending  lectures,  though  it  was  the  good  fortune  of  the  Utopian 
youth  that  attendance  at  them  was  not  compulsory. 

At  the  end  of  a  two  years  sojourn  in  the  city,  one  must  remove 
to  the  country  to  engage  in  agriculture,  the  methods  of  which, 
I  have  no  doubt,  have  somewhat  improved  since  then,  for  oxen 
were  their  only  beasts  of  burden,  serving  also  as  coach  horses 
when  one  saw  fit  to  go  abroad.  They  seem  to  have  already 
invented  the  machine  now  called  an  incubator,  which,  as  Mr. 
Hythloday  naively  remarks,  was  considered  a  "  marvellous  poli- 
cy "  for  egg  hatching,  and,  moreover,  the  brood  was  trained  to 
follow  men  and  women  instead  of  a  hen. 

Though  I  can  recount  but  few  of  the  quaint  ideas  to  be  found  in 
this  curiosity  of  literature,  its  solution  of  the  money  question, 
which  certainly  is  ingenious,  deserves  a  word  in  addition.  The 
precious  metals  are  put'  to  the  most  degrading  uses,  fetters 
for  criminals  and  rings  to  mark  slaves  being  made  from  them ; 
pearls  and  diamonds,  if  any  chance  to  be  found,  are  made  the 
playthings  of  children, — and  thus  young  Utopia  is  brought  up  to 
despise  the  almighty  dollar. 

Viewed  merely  as  a  literary  curiosity,  this  "  Looking  Back- 
ward "  of  the  sixteenth  century  is  full  of  interest,  though  its  ideas 
are  generally  crude,  if  not  ridiculous. 


Thistle-Down 


A    PARTING   SHOT. 

Cupid  played  one  summer's  day 
Down  by  the  wind-tossed  sea  : 

His  rosy  arms  flung  wide  the  spray, 
And  wavelets  kissed  his  knee. 

So  busy  he,  he  did  not  see  # 

A  surf-topped  water  wall 
Which  pounced  on  him  in  savage  glee,, 

And  drenched  him,  wings  and  all. 

The  little  god  in  sorry  plight 

Now  fluttered  on  the  sand, 
Too  wet  to  run,  too  wet  for  flight, — 

I  caught  him  in  my  hand. 

I  warmed  him  by  my  cottage  fire, 

I  toasted  him  with  wine, 
While,  playfully,  with  gay  desire, 

He  pressed  his  cheek  on  mine. 

An  open  window  caught  his  eye — 
He  'scaped  me  like  a  flash  ; 

His  bow  and  arrows,  lying  nigh, 
He  seized  with  noisy  dash. 

But  ere  he  went  he  aimed  at  me 
A  burning,  love-tipped  dart : 

So  now  I  sit,  all  cheerlessly, 
And  nurse  my  bleeding  heart. 


R. 


FLECHES   D'AMOUR. 

Fair  Phyllis's  book  lay  in  her  lap, 

Her  thoughts  were  far  away; 
So  Cupid,  passing,  thought  mayhap 

He  'd  for  one  moment  stay 
To  try  the  roses  on  her  cheeks, 

If  they  be  true  or  no. 
She  blushed  anon  ;  he  'gan  to  seek 

What  made  the  ruddy  glow. 


THISTLE-DO  WN.  1 5  5 

He  flngs  her  silken  hair  awry ; 

Sips  nectar  from  her  lips  ; 
At  length  he  spies  her  limpid  eye, 

And  toward  its  brink  he  trips. 
While,  by  a  slender  lash  he  clings 

With  both  his  hands,  a  look 
Far  down  within  her  soul  he  flings. 

Soon  Phyllis  winked,  which  shook 

Rash  Cupid  off; — alas  !  he  sank 
In  those  unfathomed  deeps 

Where  he  was  drowned ;  and  for  this  prank 
Sweet  Phyllis  ever  keeps 

Hid  in  her  eye  his  every  dart. 
Now,  when  she  smiles  or  sighs, 

At  me,  poor  victim  of  her  art, 
A  flashing  arrow  flies. 

G. 

THE  SKATERS. 

First  a  few  black  specks  we  see  ; 

Then  a  gleam 

Plainer  seen ; 
Now  we  hear  their  shouts  of  glee : — 
Thus  the  skaters,  in  their  flight, 
Come  in  sight. 

On  they  come  with  laugh  and  shout ; 

Now  rush  past, 

First  and  last, 
Till  the  long  line  stretches  out 
Up  the  river's  shining  waste, 
In  its  haste. 

Faintly  now  the  sounds  come  back 
On  the  air. 
Only  where 
Gleam  the  skates  we  mark  their  track; 
Now  they  urge  their  headlong  flight 
Out  of  sight. 

D. 


Crayon   Bleu. 


Monopolies  and  the  People,  by  Charles  Whiting   Baker,  C.  E.      New  York  :    Putnam's. 

$1.25. 

This  book  discusses  in  a  frank  and  thoughtful  way  the  burning  question  of  the  day.  It 
concludes  that  the  tendency  of  modern  civilization  is  towards  monopoly ;  excessive  com- 
petition in  fields  of  natural  monopoly  is  wasteful;  the  only  remedy  is  in  the  legalizing  of 
monopolies,  and  government  control  of  the  same  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  monopoly.  It  concludes  with  the  following  suggestive  sentence : 
"  Though  the  robust  spirit  of  partisanship  may  seem  for  a  time  to  have  crowded  out  from 
men's  hearts  the  love  of  their  country,  surely  that  love  still  remains ;  and  in  the  days  of 
new  import  which  dawn  upon  us,  in  the  virtue  of  patriotism  will  be  found  a  sufficient 
antidote  for  the  vice  of  monopoly.'1'1 

The  Hansa   Towns,  by  Helen  Zimmern.     New  York:    Putnam's.    Story  of  the  Nation's 

Series.     $1.50. 

The  name  of  the  series  and  of  the  author  are  sufficient  to  guarantee  a  faithful  and  inter- 
esting history  of  the  Hanseatic  League — that  first  dawning  upon  modern  times  of  the  great 
federal  principle.  It  is  the  first  history  of  the  league  to  be  written  in  English ;  and  the 
United  States,  receiving  so  great  an  impetus  in  its  foundation  from  the  principles  of  the 
Hanseatic  League,  should  be  proud  of  the  honor  of  having  it  published  within  her  borders. 
The  work  is  illustrated,  with  maps,  and  is  well  bound. 

Story  of  the  City  of  Boston,  by  Arthur  Gilman,  M.  A.     New  York:  Putnam's.     $1.75. 

The  third  of  the  new  series  entitled  "  Great  Cities  of  the  Republic,"  the  two  preceding 
volumes  being  the  stories  of  New  York  and  Washington.  The  work  takes  up  in  a  graphic 
and  interesting  way  the  internal  history  of  the  growth  of  the  great  city,  from  its  humble 
beginning  in  Governor  Winthrop's  time  to  the  present.  It  is  handsomely  illustrated,  and 
furnished  with  maps.  Especially  valuable  is  the  history  of  the  development  of  the  ideas  of 
religious  and  political  liberty.  The  lead  taken  by  Boston  in  the  Revolutionary  War  makes 
it  necessary  that  the  history  of  this  period  should  be  full  and  exact,  and  the  author  has 
well  met  the  demand.  In  external  appearance  the  book  is  attractive,  and  merits  a  place  in 
the  library  of  every  son  or  admirer  of  New  England,  with  whose  history  that  of  Boston  is 
so  closely  wrapped  up. 

Christian   Theism,  by  D.  B.  Purington,  LL.  D.     New  York:  Putnam's.     1.75. 

A  valuable  and  exhaustive  discussion  of  the  arguments  for  Christianity,  arranged  by  the 
analytic  method.  A  finely  bound  book,  printed  in  large,  clear  type.  The  author's  method 
is  especially  clear  and  convincing. 

Jacques  Bonhomme,  by  Max  O'Rell.     New  York:  Cassell  &  Co.,  Limited.     $0.50. 

The  witty,  observant  Frenchman,  after  holding  the  mirror  up  to  the  face  of  John  Bull 
and  Brother  Jonathan,  turns  to  his  own  country,  and,  with  the  advantage  of  long  residence 
abroad,  discusses  the  salient  points  of  the  life  of  his  average  countryman.     The  French  he 


CRAYON  BLEU.  1 57 

describes  as  cheerful,  industrious,  contented,  bound  by  family  ties,  and  voluntarily  giving 
themselves  up  to  a  large  degree  of  government  control.  From  his  picture  the  Anglo-Sax- 
on would  deprecate  the  lack  of  thoughtfulness  and  boldness  as  national  traits.  He 
would  commend  the  universal  industry  and  content,  so  much  different  from  his  own 
restless,  headlong  dash  for  wealth.  Mr.  O'Rell  has  given  an  authoritative  picture  of 
typical  French  life.  To  this  he  has  added  sketches  on  "  John  Bull  on  the  Continent  "  and 
"  From  My  Letter-Box."  His  style  is  charming,  and  his  books  are  valuable  for  their 
acuteness  of  observation  and  for  their  correctness  of  judgment. 

Introduction   to  the   Study  of  Shakespeare,  by  Hiram   Corson,    LL.  D.      Boston:   D.    C. 

Heath   &   Co. 

"  The  study  of  his  works,  in  its  highest  form,  could  be  made,  if  properly  pursued,  to 
contribute  to  the  stimulating,  strengthening,  and,  what  is  most  important  of  all,  mar- 
shalling into  more  or  less  cooperative  action,  the  moral,  intellectual,  emotional,  analytic, 
and  synthetic  powers."  In  this  sentence  we  find  the  key-note  to  Corson's  study  of  Shake- 
speare. He  wishes  to  train  the  spiritual  powers  to  perceive  the  truths  given  by  the  great 
master  of  intuitive  truth ;  the  artistic,  to  understand  the  means  by  which  Shakespeare's 
drama  was  made  the  most  perfect  work  of  art  in  literature.  His  means  are  various ;  mat- 
ter of  introductory  nature  is  followed  by  special  analyses  and  studies  of  some  of  the  prin- 
cipal plays.  The  chapters  on  Shakespeare's  Verse,  Distinctive  Use  of  Verse  and  Prose, 
and  The  Latin  and  Anglo-Saxon  Elements  of  Shakespeare's  English,  give  a  good  insight 
into  the  artistic  methods  of  the  style.  A  more  valuable  book  for  the  Shakespearian 
scholar  has  not  appeared  for  many  a  day. 

The  State,  by  Woodrow  Wilson.     Boston  :  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.     $2.00. 

Discusses,  first,  the  probable  rise  and  development  of  government,  then  gives  histories 
of  the  governments  of  all  important  states  of  ancient  and  modern  times,  and  finally  ends 
with  several  chapters  on  the  nature  and  scope  of  government.  The  work  is  comprehensive 
in  nature,  and  is  well  elaborated.  It  will  doubtless  become  a  standard  work  on  the  sub- 
ject.    Selections  might  be  advantageously  used  in  classes  of  civil  government. 

Passages  for  Practice  in  Translation  at  Sight,  by  John  Williams  White.     Boston  :  Ginn  & 

Co.    $0.60. 

Short  selections  from  Attic  Prose,  with  a  condensed  summary  of  the  meaning  of  each 
selection,  preceded  by  valuable  hints  for  reading  at  sight.  It  will  be  found  a  good  text  for 
college  sophomores. 

The  Eastern  Nations  and  Greece,  by  P.  V.  N.  Myers.     Boston  :  Ginn  &  Co.     $1.10. 

To  be  followed  by  Rome,  by  William  F.  Allen,  the  two  designed  as  parts  of  an  ancient 
history  for  schools  and  colleges.  It  is  well  supplied  with  illustrations  and  maps.  Egypt, 
Chaldea,  Assyria,  Babylonia,  The  Hebrew  Nation,  Phoenicia,  Lydia,  Persia,  and  Greece 
form  the  subjects,  and  their  history  is  written  in  Mr.  Myers's  inimitable  way. 

The  Atlatitic  for  December  contains  "  The  old  Bunch  of  Grapes  Tavern,"  by  E.  L.  Byn- 
ner,  "  December  out  of  Doors,"  by  Bradford  Torrey,  "  Architecture  in  the  West,"  by  Hen- 
ry Van  Brunt,  "  Delphi,  the  Locality  and  Legends,"  by  William  Cranston  Lawton,  "  Border 
Warfare  of  the  Revolution,"  by  John  Fiske,  "  School  Vacations,"  by  N.  S.  Shaler,  books 
reviews,  continued  stories,  and  poems.  It  is  a  notable  number  for  the  strength  of  its 
articles.  The  first  chapters  of  "Sidney,"  a  serial  story  by  Mrs.  Deland,  author  of  "John 
Ward,  Preacher,"  are  announced  for  the  January  number. 


158  CRAYON  BLEU. 

Scribner's  for  December  opens  with  a  valuable  article  on  tenement-house  life,  entitled 
"  How  the  Other  Half  Lives,"  by  Jacob  A.  Riis.  The  two  short  stories,  "  Mrs.  Tom's 
Spree,"  by  H.  C.  Bunner,  and  "  A  Midwinter  Night's  Dream,"  by  Henry  A.  Beers,  cer- 
tainly have  the  charm  of  novelty,  the  latter  especially  leaving  on  one  a  most  eerie  sensa- 
tion. The  poem  entitled  "  Happiness,"  by  Edith  Wharton,  is  a  clever  bit  of  verse,  and 
"  Contemporary  American  Caricature"  gives  reproductions  of  some  of  the  best  cartoons  of 
the  day.  "  The  Age  of  Words,"  by  E.  J.  Phelps,  is  a  discussion  of  the  times  as  shown  by 
current  literature. 

During  1890  The  Century  Magazine  (whose  recent  successes  have  included  the  famous 
"  War  Papers,"  the  Lincoln  History,  and  George  Kennan's  series  on  "  Siberia  and  the 
Exile  System  ")  will  publish  the  long  looked  for  Autobiography  of  Joseph  Jefferson,  whose 
"  Rip  van  Winkle  "  has  made  his  name  a  household  word.  No  more  interesting  record  of 
a  life  upon  the  stage  could  be  laid  before  the  public.  Mr.  Jefferson  is  the  fourth  gen- 
eration of  actors,  and,  with  his  children  and  grandchildren,  there  are  six  generations  of 
actors  among  the  Jeffersons.  His  story  of  the  early  days  of  the  American  stage,  when,  as 
a  boy,  travelling  in  his  father's  company,  they  would  settle  down  for  a  season  in  a  Western 
town,  playing  in  their  own  extemporized  theatre, — the  particulars  of  the  creation  of  his 
famous  "  Rip  van  Winkle,"  how  he  acted  "  Ticket-of-Leave  Man  "  before  an  audience  of 
that  class  in  Australia,  etc., — all  this,  enriched  with  illustrations  and  portraits  of  contem- 
porary actors  and  actresses,  and  with  anecdotes,  will  form  one  of  the  most  delightful 
serials  The  Century  has  ever  printed.  Amelia  E.  Barr,  Frank  R.  Stockton,  Mark  Twain, 
H.  H.  Boyesen,  and  many  other  well  known  writers  will  furnish  the  fiction  for  the  new 
volume,  which  is  to  be  unusually  strong,  including  several  novels,  illustrated  novelettes,  and 
short  stories.  "  The  Women  of  the  French  Salons  "  are  to  be  described  in  a  brilliant  series 
of  illustrated  papers.  The  important  discoveries  made  with  the  great  Lick  telescope  at  San 
Francisco  (the  largest  telescope  in  the  world)  and  the  latest  explorations  relating  to  pre- 
historic America  (including  the  famous  Serpent  Mound  of  Ohio)  are  to  be  chronicled  in 
The  Century.  Prof.  George  P.  Fisher,  of  Yale  University,  is  to  write  a  series  on  "  The 
Nature  and  Method  of  Revelation,"  which  will  attract  every  Bible  student.  Bishop  Potter, 
of  New  York,  will  be  one  of  several  prominent  writers  who  are  to  contribute  a  series  of 
"  Present-day  Papers  "  on  living  topics,  and  there  will  be  art  papers,  timely  articles,  etc., 
and  the  choicest  pictures  that  the  greatest  artists  and  engravers  can  produce. 

Lippincotfs  for  December  contains  the  complete  novel  "  All  He  Knew,"  by  John  Hab- 
berton.  We  notice  economic  articles  on  "  Building  Associations,"  by  Thomas  Gaffney,  and 
"  The  Power  of  the  Future,"  by  Charles  Morris.  "  Fiddler  Rake's  Fiddle  "  is  a  Virginia 
sketch. 

We  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  Journal  of  Education,  The  Dial,  Education,  The  Granite 
Monthly,  The  Sanitary  Volunteer,  The  Golden  Rule.     Lack  of  space  forbids  further  notice. 

We  have  received  Elementary  Mathematical  Tables,  by  Macfarlane,  from  Ginn  &  Co. ; 
Natural  History  Object  Lessons,  by  Ricks,  Niels  Klin's  Wallfahrt  hi  die  Unterwelt,  Vic- 
tor Hugo's  Bug  Jargal,  and  Lindner's  Empirical  Psychology,  from  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. ; 
Liberty  and  a  Living,  by  Hubert,  and  Benjamin  Franklin's  Autobiography,  from  G.  P.  Put- 
nam's Sons ;  Marie  Bashkirtsejfs  Journal,  from  Cassell  and  Co. 


Exchanges. 


A  card  received  from  one  of  our  advertisers  last  week,  bearing  the  succinct  request, 
"  Please  see  that  your  mailing-clerk  adds  our  name  to  his  list,"  reminded  us  that  even  the 
tightest  wrapper  may  sometimes  slip  off,  or  the  plainest  directions  fail  to  carry  our  publi- 
cation to  its  destination ;  so  we  will  not  complain  that  several  of  our  most  interesting 
exchanges  are  long  overdue,  and  that  consequently  we  must  this  month  shorten  the  space 
usually  devoted  to  the  papers  of  other  colleges. 

The  Amherst  Lit.  is  always  sure  to  be  interesting,  and  that  of  November  is  no  exception 
to  the  rule.  "A  Mysterious  Character"  is  a  clever,  well  written  story  of  a  man  in  the 
advanced  stages  of  kleptomania.  "  A  Summer  Studio,"  a  sketch  of  an  artist's  holiday 
work-shop,  seems  well  up  to  the  standard  of  the  paper ;  while  "  Snyder's  Story,"  with  its 
fair  but  deceitful  heroine  who  wears  two  engagement  rings  at  the  same  time,  suggests  that 
its  author  must  have  been  suffering  from  indigestion,  or  from  that  disease  which  is  popularly 
supposed  to  make  an  attack  upon  every  typical  Junior.  Is  it  a  mere  coincidence  that  the 
summer  vacation  is  followed  throughout  the  college  press  by  tales  of  disappointed  love  ? 
and  that  when  the  Christmas  holidays  are  over  we  have  the  annual  outburst  of  sentimental 
effusions  which  wind  up  amid  the  peals  of  marriage  bells  ?  Cannot  some  one  write  us 
a  story  of  a  treacherous  woman  who  did  not  rival  Venus  in  beauty,  or  of  a  disappointed 
lover  who  did  not  waste  his  life  in  retailing  his  sufferings  to  any  chance  acquaintance  met 
in  his  daily  occupation  ? 

The  Hamilton  Literary  Monthly  for  October  contains,  in  "  The  History  and  Romance  of 
the  Nile,"  the  successful  prize  essay,  a  production  of  more  than  usual  merit.  It  is  followed 
by  a  long  poem  by  an  alumnus,  and  articles  on  college  education  for  business  men,  and  the 
two  Fredericks,  II  and  III.  The  "  Editors'  Table  "  contains,  among  other  matter,  three 
pages  of  locals  which  seem  a  little  out  of  place  in  a  literary  magazine. 

We  were  glad  to  learn,  by  the  receipt  of  the  Philips  Exeter  Literary  Monthly  for  Octo- 
ber, that  the  reports  circulated,  to  the  effect  that  this  periodical  would  be  obliged  to  sus- 
pend publication,  were  without  foundation.  "  Marguerite,"  the  first  article,  illustrates  well 
the  tendency,  above  alluded  to,  of  writing  stories  of  disappointed  affection  when  the  chill 
days  of  autumn  are  upon  us.  We  trust  that  with  the  springtime  the  author's  fancy  may 
turn  more  lightly  to  its  thoughts  of  love,  and,  while  waiting  for  the  change,  a  few  chapters 
from  the  life  of  Arthur  Pendennis  might  prove  instructive  reading. 

The  Harvard  Monthly  has  an  attractiveness  peculiarly  its  own.  Departments  which  in 
other  monthlies  give  a  decided  relish  to  the  contributed  matter  are  wanting,  but  one  is 
never  disappointed  in  the  contents  of  the  Monthly,  which  are  alway  weighty  and  instructive, 
the  articles  seeming  usually  the  product  of  mature  minds.  "  Harvard  and  the  Continental 
Universities,"  in  the  November  number,  makes  clear  the  distinction  between  what  may  be 
called  the  continental  and  Anglo-American  university  systems.  "  On  the  continent  the 
universities  exist  for  the  advancement  of  learning,  and  they  secure  that  end  by  teaching 
those  who  wish  to  be  taught.  In  England  and  in  America  the  universities  exist  for  the 
advancement  of  learning  and  sound  morals  alike."  A  most  excellent  translation  of  Henrik 
Ibsen's  "The  Lady  of  the  Sea"  has  been  running  in  the  November  and  December  num- 
bers." 


Alumni  Notes. 


That  this  department  may  be  as  interesting  and  valuable  as  possible,  we  solicit  contributions  from 
all.  Items  that  may  seem  unimportant  to  the  contributor  will  no  doubt  carry  to  some  readers  remem- 
brances of  happy  but  departed  days. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Vermont  Bar  Association  was  lately  held  at  Montpelier.  The 
literary  exercises  took  place  at  the  Washington  county  court-house.  Some  seventy-five 
members  of  the  association  were  present,  including  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court.  A 
paper  on  "  The  Life  and  Services  of  the  late  Charles  H.  Heath,  of  Montpelier,"  written  by 
Ashton  R.  Williard  '79,  was  read  by  Secretary  George  W.  Wing  '66.  Among  those  admit- 
ted to  membership  in  the  association  was  D.  J.  Foster  '80,  of  Burlington.  Among  the 
prominent  members  of  the  Vermont  bar  in  attendance  were  ex-Gov.  S.  E.  Pingree  '57,  ex- 
Gov.  E.  J.  Ormsbee  '84  hon.,  C.  A.  Prouty  '75,  and  Hon.  Jonathan  Ross  '51. 

Among  the  new  members  elected  to  the  Massachusetts  legislature  are  Hon.  N.  W.  Ladd 
'72»  °f  Boston,  and  Hon.  George  Fred  Williams  '72,  of  Dedham.  Among  the  members  re- 
elected are  Hon.  Henry  T.  Dewey  '78,  and  Hon.  C.  F.  Kittredge  '63,  of  Boston. 

The  Windsor  County  Teachers'  Institute  held  a  three  days  session  recently  at  White 
River  Junction,  under  the  direction  of  State  Superintendent  E.  F.  Palmer  '62.  Nearly  one 
hundred  teachers  were  present.  Among  other  parts  on  the  programme  were  "  Methods  in 
Arithmetic,"  Supt.  J.  H.  Dunbar  '79;  "  Methods  in  Algebra,"  Prin.  O.  S.  Davis;  "  General 
Exercises  in  Ungraded  Schools,"  Supt.  W.  H.  Taylor  '87  ;  and  a  discussion  of  "  The  School 
Law,"  by  Supt.  Palmer  '62.  O.  S.  Davis  '89  argued  the  affirmative  of  the  question,  "  Shall 
the  English  or  the  Roman  Pronunciation  of  Latin  be  taught  in  our  High  Schools  ?  "  Prin- 
cipal A.  G.  Cox  yjy,  and  Principal  F.  N.  Newell  '84,  discussed  the  question,  "  Shall  the  Ele- 
ments of  Latin  and  Greek  be  taught  from  an  Introductory  Book  ?  "  A.  H.  Campbell  ^7 
also  delivered  an  address.  Principal  E.  A.  Burnett  '87  and  Principal  G.  E.  Johnson  '87 
had  parts  in  the  Ludlow  Institute,  held  just  previous  by  Supt.  Palmer. 

The  thirty-sixth  annual  meeting  of  the  New  Hampshire  State  Teachers'  Association 
was  lately  held  at  the  state-house.  Prof.  Isaac  Walker  '63,  of  Pembroke  academy,  acted 
as  secretary.  Hon.  J.  W.  Patterson  '48,  state  superintendent,  welcomed  the  teachers  to 
Representatives  hall,  and  spoke  on  "  What  has  the  Public  a  Right  to  Expect  from  Its 
Schools  ?  "  Among  the  other  exercises  was  an  illustrated  address  on  "  Geography,"  by 
Chas.  F.  King  '67,  of  Boston,  master  of  the  Dearborn  school.  Prof.  J.  F.  Colby  '72  spoke 
on  "  The  Study  of  the  History  of  New  Hampshire."  W.  S.  Parker  '68  C.  S.  S.,  master  of 
the  Everett  school  in  Boston,  treated ^the  question,  "  How  Shall  we  Manage  the  Trouble- 
some Boy  ?,"  and  E.  H.  Davis,  superintendent  of  schools  in  Chelsea,  Mass.,  talked  on 
"  Reading  and  Language." 

'33.  Hon.  Edward  Spalding,  M.  D.,  has  been  chosen  president  of  the  Pennichuck  Water 
Company,  of  Nashua. 

'34.     Ex-Gov.  Currier  has  been  elected  president  of  the  Manchester  Art  Association. 

'34.  Hon.  Daniel  Clark,  of  Manchester,  judge  of  the  United  States  district  court,  has 
celebrated  his  80th  birthday. 


ALUMNI  NOTES.  l6l 

'36.  Judge  Alpheus  R.  Brown,  a  well  known  citizen  of  Somerville,  Mass.,  died  recently 
of  apoplexy.  He  was  born  in  Hopkinton,  November  3,  18 14.  After  graduating  from  col- 
lege, he  was  appointed  principal  of  Hopkinton  academy,  where  he  had  fitted.  Later,  Mr. 
Brown  gave  up  this  position  to  enter  at  Lowell,  as  student  at  law,  the  office  of  Hon.  W. 
Smith  and  William  F.  Smith.  In  the  year  1839  Mr.  Brown  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of 
Middlesex  county.  In  1862  he  removed  his  office  to  Boston,  being  then  a  partner  of  Ed- 
ward A.  Alger.  In  1852  he  was  elected  to  the  Massachusetts  legislature  from  Lowell,  and 
in  1853  he  was  chosen  from  Dracut  as  member  of  the  Massachusetts  convention  charged 
with  the  task  of  revising  the  constitution  of  the  commonwealth.  Later  he  was  nominated 
by  the  Democrats  for  congress,  but  was  defeated.  He  was  also  one  of  the  delegates  to  the 
presidential  convention  of  1864.  In  Lowell  he  held  the  office  of  city  solicitor;  in  Somer- 
ville he  was  associate  justice  of  the  district  court.  His  industry,  integrity,  and  ability  were 
noted.     Two  children  survive  him. 

'36  Med.  Coll.  M.  C.  Greene,  formerly  of  Boston,  died  in  West  Somerville,  Mass., 
November  20,  aged  79  years. 

'40.     George  P.  Hadley  will  write  a  history  of  Goffstown. 

'4i-'45  Med.  Coll.  J.  P.  Bancroft,  ex-superintendent  of  the  State  Asylum  for  the  Insane, 
at  Concord,  has  published  the  address  which  he  delivered  on  "  Separate  Provision  for  the 
Recent,  the  Curable,  and  the  Appreciative  Insane,"  at  the  last  annual  meeting  of  the  asso- 
ciation of  medical  superintendents  at  Newport,  R.  I. 

'43.  Daniel  C.  Pinkham,  who  recently  died  at  Lancaster,  was  born  in  Jackson,  March 
29,  1820.  He  fitted  for  college  at  Lancaster  academy.  He  read  law,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  Jefferson  county,  Wisconsin,  where  he  was  clerk  of  the  circuit  court.  Removing 
to  California,  he  was  surveyor  and  civil  engineer  of  El  Dorado  county.  Returning  to  Lan- 
caster, he  was  clerk  of  the  courts  in  Cobs  county  from  1856  to  1868.  Later  he  was  engaged 
in  mercantile  pursuits.  He  leaves  a  family.  His  death  is  the  thirty-ninth  in  a  class  of 
seventy-six. 

'44.  Volume  nine  of  the  collections  of  the  New  Hampshire  Historical  Society  has  just 
been  issued,  and  is  a  handsomely  printed  book  of  440  pages.  Among  its  features  most  in- 
teresting to  Dartmouth  men  is  the  correspondence  from  1765  to  1787  between  President 
Eleazar  Wheelock  and  others  connected  with  the  college,  and  John  Phillips,  LL.  D.  The 
Publication  Committee  consisted  of  ex-Gov.  Charles  H.  Bell  '44,  Isaac  W.  Hammond  '83 
hon.,  and  A.  S.  Batchellor  '72. 

'45.  Arthur  F.  L.  Norris,  one  of  the  oldest  members  of  the  New  Hampshire  bar,  died 
November  1,  aged  68  years.  He  was  a  native  of  Pittsfield,  and,  after  graduation,  read  law 
with  his  uncle,  the  late  Senator  Moses  Norris  '28,  and  began  practice  with  him  in  1846. 
Mr.  Norris  practised  his  profession  from  1854  to  1875  in  Lowell,  Boston,  and  Lynn,  and 
for  several  years  tried  as  many  jury  cases  as  any  lawyer  at  the  Massachusetts  bar,  being 
eminently  successful  as  an  advocate.  He  removed  to  Concord  in  1876,  and  continued 
active  practice  until  a  year  ago,  when  failing  health  compelled  him  to  relinquish  it.  He  left 
a  widow,  four  daughters,  and  five  sons. 

'46.  Rev.  A.  II.  Quint  and  Judge  Isaac  W.  Smith,  of  the  board  of  trustees,  will  compile 
the  second  general  decennial  catalogue  of  the  college,  to  be  issued  next  year. 

'50.  Judge  Alfred  Russell,  of  Detroit,  Mich.,  is  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  vacan- 
cy in  the  United  States  supreme  court. 


162 


ALUMNI  NOTES, 


'51.  Secretary-of-War  Proctor  has  resigned  the  presidency  of  the  Vermont  Marble 
Company. 

'54.     Hon.  W.  W.  Bailey  has  been  chosen  president  of  the  Fortnightly  Club  of  Nashua. 

'54.  Gen.  John  Eaton,  late  commissioner  of  education,  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  the 
recent  Lake  Mohonk  conference. 

'56.  Rev.  Dr.  J.  L.  Merrill,  of  St.  Louis,  has  received  a  call  to  the  Second  Parish  at 
Portland,  Me. 

'56.  The  name  of  Hon.  W.  H.  Haile,  of  Springfield,  on  the  Republican  ticket  in  this 
canvass,  has  been  a  distinct  element  of  strength.  Mr.  Haile  is  an  unusually  capable  busi- 
ness man,  of  experience  in  public  affairs,  sterling  integrity,  and  ripe  judgment.  He  is  a 
good  type  of  the  citizen  the  old  Bay  State  delights  to  honor,  and  he  is  certain  to  discharge, 
to  the  entire  acceptance  of  the  people,  the  duties  of  the  second  executive  office  of  the 
commonwealth. — Boston  Journal. 

'56.  Col.  Edward  Woods,  of  Bath,  has  resigned  the  office  of  solicitor  of  Grafton  county. 
He  has  been  elected  president  of  the  newly  organized  Lisbon  Savings  Bank  and  Trust 
Company. 

'56.  Hon.  Henry  L.  Parker  was  reelected  president  of  the  Worcester  (Mass.)  County 
Horticultural  Society  at  its  recent  meeting. 

'56  C.  S.  S.  Henry  S.  Marcy. has  been  appointed  general  manager  of  the  Fitchburg 
Railroad.  Mr.  Marcy  has  been  in  railroad  business  for  many  years.  He  was  once  master 
of  transportation  of  the  Sullivan  road.  Later  he  was  superintendent  of  the  Rutland  &  Bur- 
lington road.  In  1865  he  was  appointed  general  freight  agent  of  the  Rensselaer  &  Saratoga, 
which  position  he  held  for  that  corporation  and  its  lessor,  the  Delaware  &  Hudson  Canal 
Company,  up  to  1886,  when  he  was  made  traffic  manager.  Mr.  Marcy  is  a  director  in 
several  branch  railroads  operated  by  the  Delaware  &  Hudson,  and  is  a  director  or  trustee 
in  several  corporations  in  which  he  is  interested. 

'59.  Rev.  F.  S.  Fisher,  who  has  served  for  several  years  as  chairman,  of  the  committee 
of  the  Vermont  church  choir  guild,  at  his  own  request  was  excused  from  further  service  at 
the  recent  meeting  at  St.  Albans,  after  a  unanimous  vote  of  thanks  had  been  given  him. 

'59.  Rev.  J.  A.  Sanderson  died  recently  at  Plymouth,  aged  55  years.  .  His  death  resulted 
from  a  paralytic  stroke.  He  was  born  in  Lowell.  After  graduating  at  the  Berkeley  Divin- 
ity School,  he  had  charge  of  parishes  in  Eastport,  Me.,  Wickford,  R.  L,  and  Pierrepont 
Manor,  N.  Y. ;  and  he  served  as  assistant  in  the  Church  of  the  Messiah  in  Boston.  He  be- 
came rector  of  Christ  church,  Plymouth,  in  1878,  and  retired  from  active  service  several 
years  ago. 

'61.  Rev.  W.  J.  Tucker  preached  the  sermon  at  the  ordination  of  George  F.  Kenngott, 
in  the  Congregational  church  at  Newport.  Rev.  E.  H.  Greeley  '45  and  Rev.  F.  D.  Ayer 
'56  took  part  in  the  service.  # 

'62.  Rev.  Henry  P.  Lamprey,  lately  of  Waterford,  Vt.,  has  accepted  a  call  to  the  Con- 
gregational church  at  Ossipee. 

'62.  Horace  S.  Cummings  is  vice-president  of  the  Republican  State  Association  of  New 
Hampshire  Republican  residents  in  Washington.     Ex-Senator  Cragin  '61  hon.  is  president. 

'63.  Hon.  Charles  A.  Pillsbury,  the  extensive  flour  manufacturer  of  Minneapolis,  and 
family  have  been  visiting  at  Goffstown. 


ALUMNI  NOTES.  1 63 

'64.  Edward  F.  Johnson  was  unanimously  renominated  for  mayor  by  the  Republicans 
of  Woburn,  Mass. 

'65.  Hon.  Henry  F.  Burnham  was  lately  chosen  president  of  the  Lincoln  club  of  Man- 
chester ;  Edwin  F.  Jones  '80,  secretary ;  and  Hon.  Nathan  P.  Hunt  '66,  treasurer. 

'66.  Rev.  Levi  Rodgers,  of  the  Memorial  Congregational  church  in  Georgetown,  has  ten- 
dered his  resignation. 

'67.  Rev.  C.  H.  Merrill,  of  St.  Johnsbury,  secretary  of  the  Vermont  Missionary  Society, 
has  issued  the  first  number  of  a  new  monthly,  called  the  "  Vermont  Missionary."  It  is  the 
purpose  of  this  paper  to  direct  attention  specifically  to  the  history,  work,  condition,  impor- 
tance, and  needs  of  Vermont  churches. 

'67.  Rev.  Howard  F.  Hill,  Ph.  D.,  has  closed  his  labors  as  rector  of  Christ  church, 
Montpelier,  Vt,  after  ten  years  of  faithful,  earnest,  conscientious,  and  effective  work.  Dur- 
ing his  residence  in  Montpelier  he  has  been  superintendent  of  schools,  chaplain  of  the 
house  of  representatives,  chaplain  of  the  First  regiment  of  National  Guard,  and  a  trustee  of 
the  University  of  Vermont.  He  was  one  of  the  clerical  deputies  from  Vermont  to  the  Gen- 
eral Convention  of  the  Protesant  Episcopal  church,  held  in  New  York,  and  went  from  there 
to  Amesbury,  Mass.,  to  become  rector  of  St.  James's  church. 

'72  Med.  Coll.  Hon.  Charles  A.  Tufts,  of  Dover,  has  been  elected  president  of  the  state 
board  of  pharmacy. 

'73.  Rev.  John  M.  Dutton,  of  Great  Falls,  delegate  to  the  World's  Sunday-school  Con- 
vention in  London,  was  one  of  the  principal  speakers  at  the  New  Hampshire  Sunday-school 
Convention,  lately  held  at  Newport. 

'73.  Rev.  F.  E.  Clark,  D.  D.,  founder  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  organization,  addressed 
the  fourth  annual  convention  of  Christian  Endeavor  societies  of  Vermont,  recently  held  in 
Rutland.     Rev.  J.  L.  Sewell,  '77,  also  delivered  an  address. 

'75.  Charles  W.  Emery  has  been  chosen  president  of  the  Canterbury  Educational  Asso- 
ciation. 

'75.  Rev.  Joseph  R.  Flint,  of  West  Tisbury,  Mass.,  has  accepted  a  call  to  Killingly, 
Conn. 

'76.     William  H.  Gardiner,  of  Chicago,  has  taken  a  trip  through  Indian  Territory. 

'77.  Dr.  C.  B.  Hammond  has  been  chosen  secretary  of  the  newly  organized  board  of 
pension  examiners  in  Nashua  district. 

'78.  Rev.  Herbert  W.  Stebbins  was  lately  installed  pastor  over  the  Howard  Avenue 
Congregational  church,  in  West  Medford,  Mass.  Rev.  A.  H.  Quint  '46  delivered  the 
address  to  the  people. 

'78.  Rev.  T.  C.  H.  Bouton,  acting  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  in  Hopkinton, 
has  been  dismissed  from  the  pastorate  of  the  church  in  Dunbarton. 

'80.  Hon.  W.  E.  Barrett  has  been  elected  representative  from  Melrose  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts house.  Mr.  Barrett  is  a  candidate  for  the  speakership,  the  duties  of  which  office 
he  discharged  so  efficiently  and  intelligently  at  the  last  session. 

'81.  W.  B.  Greeley,  who  lately  resigned  his  position  in  the  patent  office,  will  practise 
law  in  New  York. 


164 


ALUMNI  NOTES. 


'83.  Leon  D,  Bliss  was  lately  ordained  and  installed  as  assistant  pastor  of  the  Cenl 
Congregational  church  in  Worcester,  Mass. 

'84.  Arthur  W.  Jenks,  of  Concord,  who  has  recently  entered  the  Episcopal  Theologi 
Seminary  in  New  York,  has  been  appointed  organist  and  choir-master  in  Christ  Chur 
Tarrytown. 

'85.     We  have  received  the  following  pleasant  letter  from  Foster  : 

The  undergraduate  finds  many  ways  of  letting  the  alumnus  know  what  the  coll< 
is  doing.  He  may  send  him  a  dun  for  the  Dartmouth ,  which  he  has  already  paid  with) 
receiving  any  papers.  He  may  tell  him  the  college  wants  to  put  the  nine  in  a  cage  so  t! 
they  won't  get  broken  up  for  the  second  game  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston.  He  may  wi 
asking  for  a  story  "  such  as  you  used  to  write  in  college  ;  "  or  just  as  he  hurries  off  fo 
pleasure  trip  he  may  send  a  note  to  a  busy,  hard-worked  man  in  his  profession,  for  copy 
the  next  Lit. 

Still  it  is  pleasant  to  chat  about  old  and  new  Dartmouth,  even  if  you  have  to  steal 
time.  Last  night  I  wrote  to  my  old  college  chum,  who  is  to  be  married  next  week  a 
then  settle  over  a  church  in  New  Hampshire.  We  graduated  as  many  years  ago  ai 
takes  the  "  average  man  "  to  go  through  college,  in  the  class  of  '85,  well  remembered 
the  faculty.  One  of  the  best  things  Prof.  Hitchcock  ever  said  was  when  we  presented  li 
with  an  elegant  ice  pitcher  after  a  hilarious  course  in  zoology, — "  I  have  always  noti< 
that  the  class  of  '85  is  apt  to  do  unexpected  things." 

As  I  wrote  to  my  chum,  I  took  down  my  old  college  scrap-book,  with  its  collection  of  p 
grammes,  invitations,  etc.,  and  went  through  my  Commencement  programme,  checking  1 
married  men  of  my  class,  and  found  my  reverend  friend  to  be  the  twelfth,  so  far  as  I  kn< 
How  that  compares  with  other  classes  I  don't  know.  We  started  in  well,  however, 
one  man  was  married  before  we  graduated,  and  another  two  days  after  Commenceme 
As  I  looked  over  the  memorabilia  of  four  years  ago  it  gave  me  once  more  the  old  hor 
sick  love  for  the  days  in  college.  You  college  men  grumble,  doubtless,  as  we  did,  thou 
you  have  n't  such  excellent  rendezvous  for  grumbling  as  we  had  when  we  slapped  ourseb 
to  keep  warm  in  the  old  chapel,  and  were  informed  that  it  was  entirely  comfortable,  a 
that  "  if  we  could  n't  go  to  chapel  there  we  could  go  to  sorne  other  college," — I  thinl 
was  n't  the  place  that  was  warmer, — but  you  will  wish,  even  the  grumblers,  in  after  yea 
that  you  could  have  a  little  bit  of  the  old  college  life  back,  no  matter  how  pleasantly  y 
may  be  situated  in  life.  It  seemed  as  if  we  ought  to  have  done  more,  as  if  it  were  a  lc 
time  and  none  of  us  had  become  of  world-wide  celebrity,  as  I  thought  of  the  married  m 
and  their  families  and  homes.  I  looked  over  the  Commencement  programme,  and  I  coi 
recall  very  little  of  the  matter  which  had  seemed  so  good  to  us  as  we  took  it  from  the  u 
ful  books  in  the  library,  or  as  we  stole  away  behind  Reed  or  the  new  library  building  af 
we  had  done  our  last  escort  duty  on  Wednesday  night  and  had  nobody  but  stars  in  c 
audience. 

Of  course  I  remember  that  Lyf  ord  quoted  some  poetry  in  the  valedictory  that  we  thou£ 
so  unusually  good,  and  that  Dick  Hovey  was  very  dramatic  in  his  Victor  Hugo  oratii 
That  reminds  me  that  Dick  Hovey  is  writing  a  novel, — woke  John  Tucker  up  in  the  nis 
to  read  it  to  him,  much  to  John's  disgust,  last  winter.  Dick's  lectures  a  year  ago  on  t 
Philosophy  of  Dante,  at  the  School  of  Philosophy,  in  Connecticut,  were  considered  remai 
ably  fine.  Lyf  ord  none  of  us  had  heard  from  for  twelve  months,  and  none  of  us  could  \ 
news  of  him  till  this  fall.  I  had  a  letter  from  him  written  at  Salida,  Colorado,  Sept. 
So  many  Dartmouth  men  have  been  anxious  to  hear  about  him  that  I  believe  a  bit  of  yc 


ALUMNI  NOTES.  1 65 

columns  will  be  well  used  with  some  news  of  him.  For  the  first  six  months  after  he  was 
obliged  to  leave  his  school  at  Cheshire,  Conn.,  and  go  to  Colorado  on  account  of  his  lungs, 
it  was  a  life-and-death  struggle.  Finally  the  climate  prevailed,  and  he  got  better  rapidly, 
and  is  now  himself  again.  It  has  been  so  long  since  we  have  heard  from  him  that  I  think 
he  will  pardon  me  for  quoting  some  things  eminently  Lyfordian.  He  writes, — "  My  physi- 
cian ordered  me  into  the  mountains  at  the  beginning  of  the  hot  weather,  and  the  months  I 
have  spent  there  have  done  me  untold  good.  To  breathe  this  air  is  like  imbibing  '  Sabean 
odours  from  the  spicy  shore  of  Arabie  the  blest,'  or  like  drinking  nectar  from '  Hebe's  golden 
cup.'  The  last  two  months  of  my  stay  in  Denver  I  was  able  to  do  some  private  tutoring, 
and  I  was  very  successful  in  obtaining  pupils.  I  think  I  shall  return  to  Denver  the  last  of 
next  month  and  resume  my  pupils.  Whom  do  you  suppose  I  met  one  day  in  Denver  ? 
None  other  than  David  Annan  !  Wasn't  I  surprised  ?  We  spent  three  days  together,  and 
then  he  went  to  his  work,  a  surveyor  on  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  somewhere  in  Colo- 
rado. I  must  remain  in  Colorado  for  the  present.  It  is  exile  in  one  sense,  yet  no  exile 
could  ask  for  a  more  delightful  place  of  banishment.  Sunshine  all  day,  and  at  night  the 
grand  gloom  of  these  majestic  mountains  wrapped  in  eternal  silence  !  My  physician  wishes 
me  to  be  a  little  careful  for  one  year  more,  and  then  I  will  have  my  health  fully  estab- 
lished." 

Such  news  will  rejoice  every  man  from  '82  to  '88  who  knew  Lyford,  and  most  of  them 
did  know  him.  His  address  is  Salida,  Colorado.  Lyford,  of  course,  reminds  one  of  "  Gil- 
sey,"  alias  "Billie"  Bates  '85.  As  I  looked  out  of  a  car  window  in  Switzerland  this  sum- 
mer, whom  should  I  see  but  Bates  with  a  friend — it  did  n't  mean  a  young  lady  in  this  case — 
and  a  pupil  from  the  school  in  Brooklyn  where  Bates  is  teaching.  As  we  crossed  Lake 
Brienz  that  night  we  sang  a  great  many  of  the  old  Dartmouth  songs  we  had  sung  together 
four  and  eight  years  ago.  Bates's  voice  is  as  sweet  and  as  pleasant  to  sing  with  as  it  ever 
was.  He  was  looking  first-rate.  This  is  his  second  trip  across,  and,  as  he  lives  with  a 
German  family  in  Brooklyn,  and  speaks  German  fluently,  he  is  quite  cosmopolitan.  He 
evidently  has  done  some  fine  work  in  his  .teaching. 

I  am  impressed  with  the  fact  that  Dartmouth  men  make  good  teachers.  It  seems  inbred 
in  the  Dartmouth  atmosphere.  I  have  felt  very  strongly  from  my  own  experience  that  a 
course  in  pedagogy  is  a  great  necessity  at  Dartmouth.  By  the  way,  if  anyone  wants  to  see 
history  taught  in  a  rational  and  suggestive  way,  let  him  visit  the  Everett  school  in  Boston, 
and  if  possible  have  a  talk  with  Head  Master  Walter  S.  Parker,  a  Dartmouth  man. 

Stanley  Edwards  Johnson  '87  was  another  Dartmouth  man  I  met  going  over  on  the 
Etruria  this  summer.  He  is  on  the  Springfield  Repiiblican,  and  speaks  of  Howard  '84  as 
doing  remarkably  fine  work,  and  writing  most  of  the  editorials  on  economic  questions. 
Wallie  Mooers,  who  made  me  a  call  last  spring,  and  who  is  now  teaching  in  Ashland, 
Mass.,  says  he  thinks  Merrill  Goddard  is  probably  earning  the  best  income  of  any  man  in 
the  class.  Perhaps  Bayley,  from  whom  I  had  a  visit  about  an  hour  after  Mooers  had 
gone,  may  be  making  more  out  of  his  Dakota  investments.  I  think  he  must  have  done 
very  well.  He  is  looking  as  if  Western  life  had  agreed  with  him.  I  suppose  most  '85 
men  have  heard  of  the  sad  and  sudden  death  of  his  father.  Bayley  was  in  Lexington, 
Mass.,  in  the  spring. 

How  you  must  rejoice  in  the  new  hotel,  along  with  the  sidewalks,  library,  and  chapel.  I 
met  yesterday  a  landscape  gardener  and  contractor  who  lived  in  Hanover  thirty  years  ago, 
and  remembers  the  days  when  cows  and  horses  peered  out  from  the  top  floors  of  Dart- 
mouth hall,  and  when  the  faculty  had  to  go  down  after  breakfast  and  select  their  gates  from 
the  pile  in  the  middle  of  the  campus.     And  yet  our  fathers  maintain  that  there  was  never 


1 66  ALUMNI  NOTES. 

much  cutting  up  when  they  were  in  college  in  the  good  old  days !  Apparently  all  the  mis- 
chief was  done  when  nobody  went  to  college.  Like  all  Hanoverians,  my  contractor  pro- 
claimed himself  a  good  Dartmouth  man.  His  stories  reminded  me  of  those  told  by  Bill 
Avery,  who  used  to  move  me  with  his  big  wagon  and  his  "  team  of  cattle,"  as  he  called  his 
two  small  horses.  I  wonder  if  he  still  "  moves."  He  used  to  tell  me  that  when  Long 
John  Wentworth  was  in  college  he  was  like  a  king,  and  the  whole  college  did  as  he  said, 
and  mischief  was  done,  or  stopped,  at  his  word.  From  the  days  of  '85  back  to  Long  John's 
days  is  a  long  stretch, — so,  with  the  best  wishes  for  the  excellent  LlT.,  I  send  this  gossip 
from  '85. 

'8y.     Walter  S.  Scruton  has  resigned  the  principalship  of  the  Hillsborough  Bridge  high 
school. 

'88.     Married,   November  21st,   at  Linden,   Mass.,  Charles   R.   Spaulding  and   Harriet 
Hall.     Address,  355  Chicago  Avenue,  Chicago,  111. 

'89.     A.  C.  Boyd  is  studying  law  in  the  office  of  Downes  &  Curran,  Calais,  Me. 


THE 


Dartmouth  Literary  Monthly. 

Vol.  IV.  FEBRUARY,  1890.  No.  5. 

BOARD    OF   EDITORS: 

J.  H.  GEROULD.  G.  S.  MILLS.  C.  F.  ROBINSON. 

H.  S.  HOPKINS.  C.  M.  SMITH. 

C.  A.  PERKINS,  Business  Manager. 


MARIE  BASHKIRTSEFF. 

The  subject  of  this  article  was  born  of  noble  Russian  parentage 
November  n,  i860.  Her  parents  separated  when  she  was  a  child, 
and  she  remained  under  the  care  of  her  mother.  At  the  age  of 
ten  the  family  commenced  to  travel,  and  from  that  time  on  their 
life  was  one  of  change  from  place  to  place — Vienna,  Baden  Baden, 
Nice,  Rome,  Paris.  In  the  latter  place,  at  the  age  of  seventeen, 
Marie  began  to  study  art,  and  continued  in  that  study  until  she 
was  carried  away  by  consumption,  in  October,  1884,  after  having 
won  decided  success  at  the  Paris  Salon. 

Her  diary,  which  is  at  present  attracting  such  attention  in  the 
world  of  letters,  begins  when  the  writer  was  twelve  years  of  age. 
It  was  her  purpose  to  write  everything,  frankly  and  without  con- 
cealment. Such  an  open  avowal  of  a  woman's  every  thought, 
such  merciless  self-analysis,  is  not  found  elsewhere  in  the  litera- 
ture of  the  world.  There  is,  perhaps,  a  certain  egotism,  which 
makes  her  misfortunes  seem  terrible  calamities,  her  successes 
wonderful  triumphs.  But  who  does  not  exaggerate  for  the  time 
the  affairs  which  affect  himself  most  closely?  And  she  was  a 
creature  of  extremes.  What  might  seem  to  more  phlegmatic 
natures  slight  jars  to  the  nervous  system,  made  her  burst  into 
tears.  Poetry,  music,  art,  dress,  and  the  enjoyments  of  social  life, 
carried  her  into  a  transport  of  ecstasy.     We  can  do  no  better  than 


1 68  MARIE  BASHKIRTSEFF. 

to  follow  this  remarkable  life  more  carefully,  with  quotations 
selected  almost  at  random. 

At  the  age  of  twelve,  at  Nice,  she  writes, — "  O,  my  God! 
grant  me  happiness  in  this  life  and  I  will  be  grateful !  But  what 
am  I  saying?  It  appears  to  me  that  I  have  been  placed  in  this 
world  in  order  to  be  happy  ; — make  me  happy,  O,  my  God  !  "    She 

has  seen  on  the  street  a  certain  nobleman,  the  Duke  of  H ,  and 

has  conceived  a  strong  love  for  him,  and  constantly  prays, — "  God 

grant  that  the  Due    de  H may  be   mine!"     She    has    great 

hopes  of  being  a  singer.  She  says, — "I  was  made  for  triumphs 
and -emotions  :  the  best  thing  I  can  do,  therefore,  is  to  become  a 
singer.  If  the  good  God  would  only  -preserve,  strengthen,  and 
develop  my  voice,  then  I  should  enjoy  the  triumph  for  which  I 
long.  I  then  should  enjoy  the  happiness  of  being  celebrated  and 
admired;  and  in  that  way  the  one  I  love  might  be  mine.  If  I 
remain  as  I  am,  I  have  but  little  hope  of  his  loving  me  ;  he  is 
ignorant  even  of  my  existence.  But  when  he  sees  me  surrounded 
by  glory,  in  the  midst  of  triumphs  !  Men  are  so  ambitious  !  To 
see  thousands  of  persons,  when  you  appear  upon  the  stage,  await 
with  beating  hearts  the  moment  when  you  shall  begin  to  sing  ;  to 
know  as  you  look  at  them  that  a  single  note  of  your  voice  will 
bring  them  all  to  your  feet ;  to  look  at  them  with  a  haughty  glance 
(for  I  can   do  anything) — that  is  my  desire.     And   then,  in   the 

midst  of  all  this,  Monsignor  le  Due  de  H will  come,  with  the 

others,  to  throw  himself  at  my  feet,  but  he  shall  not  meet  with  the 
same  reception  as  the  others.  Dear,  you  will  be  dazzled  by  my 
splendor,  and  you  will  love  me  !  "     Alas  !  for  her  girlish  dreams, 

her  voice  is  ruined  by  an  incurable  disease.     The  Duke  of  H 

marries,  in  sublime  ignorance  of  his  little  admirer.  Her  grief  at 
this  is  as  great  as  her  anticipated  triumph .  When  her  governess 
informed  her  that  the  Duke  was  to  marry,  she  says, — "  I  put  the 
book  closer  to  my  face,  for  I  was  as  red  as  fire ;  I  felt  as  if  a  sharp 
knife  had  pierced  my  heart.  I  began  to  tremble  so  violently  that 
I  could  scarcely  hold  the  volume.  I  was  afraid  I  was  going  to 
faint,  but  the  book  saved  me.  My  God,  save  me  from  despair! 
My  God,  pardon  me  my  sins  ;  do  not  punish  me  for  them  !     All  is 


MARIE  BASHKIR TSEFF  1 69 

ended  !  ended  !  "  This  at  the  age  of  twelve  !  In  1880  she  inserted 
in  her  pages, — "All  this  re-read  in  1880  -produces  no  effect  on 
me  whatever  " 

For  a  few  years  life  goes  tranquilly,  with  music,  dress,  and 
travel.  In  Paris,  August  27,  1874,  sne  writes, — "I  love  Paris, 
and  it  makes  my  heart  beat  with  emotion  to  be  here.  I  want  to 
live  faster,  faster,  faster!  ('I  never  saw  such  a  fever  of  life,'  D. 
says,  looking  at  me.)  It  is  true  :  I  fear  that  this  desire  to  live 
always  at  high  pressure  is  the  presage  of  a  short  existence.  Who 
knows?  Come,  I  am  growing  melancholy.  No,  I  will  have 
nothing  to  do  with  melancholy." 

In  1876,  at  Rome,  she  has  an  affair  with  Pietro  A ,  which 

afterwards  causes  her  much  disgust.  This  young  count,  the 
nephew  of  a  cardinal,  falls  madly  in  love  with  her.  She  is  in- 
spired by  his  devotion  with  a  certain  responsive  feeling,  which  she 
afterwards  declares  is  not  love — only  the  reflection  of  his  love  to 
her.  The  whole  story  of  her  affair  with  him  is  written  out,  and 
she  says, — "  I  told  my  mother  everything."  The  culmination  is  a 
secret  meeting  in  the  passage-way  leading  from  their  apartments, 
where  she  talks  over  with  him  the  subject  of  marriage,  and  finally 
allows  him  to  kiss  her.  Ever  after  she  repents  this  action,  declar- 
ing that  she  did  not  love  him,  nor  did  she  tell  him  so,  except 
impliedly.  Later  she  says, — "  The  love  one  inspires  and  the  love 
one  feels  are  two  distinct  sentiments  which  I  confounded  together 
before.     Good  Heavens  !  and  I  once  thought  I  was  in  love  with 

A with  his  long  nose.     How  frightful ! "    But  what  vexes  her 

all  the  more  is  that  Pietro,  won  over  by  the  opposition  of  his  rela- 
tives, gives  up  the  suit.  She  is  chagrined  and  enraged  with  her- 
self, and  never  after  visits  Rome. 

The  autumn  of  1876  she  spent  with  her  father  in  Russia,  in  an 
attempt,  afterwards  successful,  to  reconcile  her  parents.  There 
she  was  loved  by  her  cousin  Pacha,  a  blunt,  open-hearted  Russian, 
and  eagerly  questioned  him,  for  the  purpose  of  finding  out  the 
nature  of  love.  She  pities  and  respects  him,  and  admires  his  hum- 
ble, respectful  affection,  and,  withal,  treats  him  kindly. 

In   September,   1877,  she    makes    the   resolution  to    remain   in 


170  MARIE  BASHKIR TSEFF. 

Paris  and  devote  her  life  to  the  study  of  art.  Then  follow  years 
of  hard  work  and  rapid  advancement.  In  art  she  progresses  rap- 
idly. One  constant  note  of  jealousy  appears — jealousy  of  Breslau, 
a  young  woman  who,  by  longer  study,  was  able  in  many  instances 
to  outstrip  her  younger  competitor.  She  complains  that  Breslau's 
surroundings  are  more  conducive  to  art  than  hers.  The  demands 
of  society  take  her  time.  She  is  much  troubled  by  an  approach- 
ing deafness,  pronounced  by  the  doctors  incurable.  And  all  the 
time  can  be  seen  on  the  pages  the  signs  of  advancing  consumption. 
Imprudently,  she  refuses  to  go  to  the  south,  and  works  away  at 
her  art.     She  wins  triumphs. 

In  1883  she  receives  a  mention  from  the  Paris  Salon.  Her  pict- 
ure is  reproduced  by  the  illustrated  papers.  It  is  a  striking  street 
scene — two  gamins  walking  along  with  clasped  hands,  one  looking 
straight  ahead,  the  other  regarding  the  passers  by  with  dark  eyes 
full  of  youthful  gravity. 

In  1884  she  wins  the  success  of  her  life  with  "  The  Meeting  "—a 
picture  of  half  a  dozen  street  urchins  discussing  some  important 
question  in  a  deserted  lot.  It  receives  the  honor  of  being  hung 
on  the  line.  Awarded  a  medal  by  the  popular  voice,  it  fails  to 
receive  that  honor  from  the  committee,  presumably  from  personal 
reasons.  But  the  success  is  brilliant,  and  the  young  artist  finds 
herself  on  the  road  to  fame.  Her  course  is,  however,  cut  short  by- 
disease  and  death.  A  sad  picture  is  that  of  the  last  days  of  her- 
self and  ofBastien  LePage,  the  gifted  artist  whose  kindred  soul, 
together  with  hers,  leaves  a  world  full  of  bright  promise  of  a  most 
brilliant  future.  Here,  for  the  first  time,  Marie  finds  the  meaning 
of  true  friendship.  Hitherto  she  had  been  cold,  reserved,  self- 
centred.  Bastien  LePage,  calling  out  at  first  a  sort  of  distant 
hero  worship,  at  last  calls  out  her  deepest  personal  affection.  A 
few  extracts  show  the  course  of  their  friendship. 

"  Sept.  13.  We  are  friends  ; — he  likes  me  ;  he  esteems  me  ;  he 
finds  me  interesting."  ''Sept.  18.  That  tyrant  of  a  Bastien  Le 
Page  will  insist  upon  my  taking  care  of  myself;  he  Wants  me  to 
be  rid  of  my  cold  in  a  month  ;  he  buttons  my  jacket  for  me,  and  is 
always  careful  to  see  that  I  am  warmly  clad."     "  Oct.  1.     Bastien 


'MARIE  BASHKIR TSEFF.  171 

LePage  goes  from  bad  to  worse.  I  am  unable  to  work.  He  is 
dying,  and  he  suffers  intensely.  When  I  am  with  him  I  feel  as  if 
he  were  no  longer  of  this  earth ;  he  already  soars  above  me  ;  there 
are  days  when  I  feel  as  if  I  too  soared  above  this  earth."  "Oct. 
16.  I  cannot  leave  the  house  at  all,  but  poor  Bastien  LePage  is 
still  able  to  go  out,  so  he  had  himself  brought  here  and  installed 
in  an  easy  chair,  his  feet  supported  by  cushions.  I  was  by  his 
side  in  another  easy  chair,  and  so  we  remained  until  six  o'clock. 
I  was  dressed  in  a  white  plush  morning  gown,  trimmed  with  white 
lace,  but  of  a  different  shade.  Bastien  LePage's  eyes  dilated  with 
pleasure  as  they  rested  on  me.  '  Ah,  if  I  could  only  paint,'  he 
said,  and  I "  "  Oct.  20.  Although  the  weather  is  magnifi- 
cent, Bastien  LePage  comes  here  instead  of  going  to  the  Bois. 
He  can  scarcely  walk  at  all  now  :  by  the  time  he  is  seated  in  the 
easy  chair  the  poor  fellow  is  exhausted.  Woe  is  me  !  And  how 
many  porters  there  are  who  do  not  know  what  it  is  to  be  ill !  For 
the  last  two  days  my  bed  has  been  in  the  drawing-room,  but  as 
this  is  very  large,  and  divided  by  screens,  -poufs,  and  the  piano, 
it  is  not  noticed.  I  find  it  too  difficult  to  go  up-stairs."  The  trans- 
lator adds, — "The  journal  stops  here.  Marie  BashkirtsefT  died 
eleven  days  afterward,  on  the  31st  of  October,  1884." 

The  journal  is  not  merely  the  record  of  a  life,  in  all  its  details — 
sometimes  tiresome  ;  it  is  filled  with  intelligent  and  shrewd  criti- 
cisms upon  subjects  (  literary,  artistic,  and  philosophical.  The 
author  shows  throughout  the  very  fire  of  inborn  genius.  The  high 
artistic  nature  displays  itself  on  every  page.  There  is  always  a 
petty  egotism  and  an  unbridled  ambition,  which  becomes  at  times 
disgusting,  yet  the  entire  novelty  of  the  plan,  and  the  success  in 
carrying  it  out,  make  the  volume,  as  Gladstone  has  called  it,  "A 
book  without  a  parallel." 

C.  F.  Robinson. 


172  DOWN  IN  THE  GARDEN  CLOSE. 


DOWN  IN  THE  GARDEN  CLOSE. 

As  I  passed  through  my  pleasant  garden, 

All  in  the  glad  spring-time, — 
'T  is  a  cloistered  spot  where  my  soul  is  warden, 

And  its  walls  no  thief  can  climb, — 
My  heart,  that  lay  like  a  peaceful  dove 

In  a  nested,  slumbering  doze, 
Found  it  had  wings,  and  the  wings  were  love, 

Down  in  the  garden  close. 

Down  in  the  garden  close, 
(Do  the  walls  not  interpose  ?) 

With  dainty  feet, 

Comes  a  lady  sweet, 
Down  in  the  garden  close. 

My  garden  walks  are  bright  in  the  sun ; 

'T  is  summer,  the  birds  sing  gay ; 
The  delicate  vines  o'er  the  warm  earth  run, 

And  the  leaves  look  up  to  the  day. 
But  of  all  the  blossoms  on  the  earth's  broad  breast, 

The  fairest  flower  that  grows 
Is  the  one  that  stands,  the  queen  of  the  rest, 

Down  in  my  garden  close. 

Down  in  the  garden  close 
You  '11  find  a  pure  white  rose. 

Its  incense  rare 

Fills  the  dreamy  air, 
Down  in  the  garden  close. 

Across  the  path  drift  the  dry  leaves  sere, 

The  birds  and  the  Summer  are  fled, 
My  plants  are  dead  with  the  dying  year, 

The  flowers  their  bloom  have  shed, 
And  the  queen  lies  low  in  a  soft,  still  sleep, 

Safe  from  the  wintry  snows, 
But  never  again  will  the  sunshine  creep 

Down  in  my  garden  close. 

Down  in  the  garden  close 

The  wind  with  a  wild  wail  goes. 

Its  chilly  gust 

Stirs  the  soft  grave  dust, 
Down  in  the  garden  close. 

William  Byron  Forbush. 


A   MIDWINTER  NIGHT'S   TRAGEDY.  1 73 

A  MIDWINTER  NIGHT'S  TRAGEDY. 

It  was  not  a  very  large  sum,  only  $150,  but  the  firm  had  waited 
long  and  patiently,  and  when  the  old  codger  sent  word  that  he 
would  pay  up  on  New  Year's  Day  if  some  one  came  for  the  money, 
we  were  glad  enough,  and  accordingly  I  was  deputed  collector. 
There  is  no  railway  or  stage  connection  with  the  little  village  of 

M ,  at  the  northern  or  Canadian  end  of  the  lake,  thirty  miles 

distant,  so  I  thought  myself  fortunate  in  securing  a  chance  to  ride 
to  my  destination,  planning  a  homeward  skate  up  the  lake  by 
moonlight,  thus  combining  pleasure  with  business.  I  found  my 
man  in  the  village  saloon,  and,  after  my  interview  with  him,  sat 
down  amid  the  hangers-on  of  the  place,  made  some  inquiries  with 
regard  to  the  condition  of  the  ice,  and,  with  more  ostentation  than 
wisdom,  as  I  afterwards  thought,  announced  my  intention  of  skat- 
ing the  length  of  the  lake  that  night,  and  naturally  boasted  a  little 
of  making  rapid  time.  Having  displayed  to  the  curious  loungers 
who  gathered  about  me  the  mechanism  and  beauty  of  my  club 
skates,  and  chatting  a  little  more  as  best  I  could  in  a  mongrel 
language  of  Canadian  French  and  English,  I  left  the  room  for 
my  midnight  trip. 

It  was  an  attractive  sight  at  the  foot  of  the  long  hill  that  led 
down  to  the  lake  basin.  A  skating  carnival  was  in  progress. 
The  little  village  had  poured  forth  young  and  old  on  this  New 
Year's  eve,  and  the  bay  was  thronged  with  struggling,  tumbling, 
gliding  humanity.  Great  fires  were  built  here  and  there  on  the 
ice,  which  were  constantly  fed  with  brush  and  odds  and  ends  of 
wood  by  the  shouting  youngsters,  who  seemed  so  many  imps  tend- 
ing infernal  fires,  as  the  flames,  flaring  more  fiercely,  lit  up  their 
grotesque,  grimacing  features.  Warmth,  not  light,  was  the  object 
sought  by  this  illumination,  for  the  moon  was  at  its  full,  and  its 
cold  flood  of  light  was  sufficient  to  suggest  the  picturesqueness  of 
the  gay-colored  garments  of  the  maidens,  and  the  red,  blue,  white, 
and  yellow  tasselled  toques  of  the  men  and  youths,  as  all,  laugh- 
ing and  jabbering  gleefully  and  incessantly,  sported  hither  and 
thither.     I  could  not  forbear  attempting  to  astonish  the  natives 


174  A   MIDWINTER  NIGHT'S   TRAGEDY. 


a  bit,  for,  to  tell  the  truth,  I  feel  a  little  secret  pride  in  the  ease  and 
grace  with  which  I  execute  a  few  pet  twirlings  and  flourishes.  An 
hour  was  thus  spent  to  my  great  satisfaction,  when,  discovering  it 
was  nearly  eleven  o'clock,  I  struck  out  boldly  up  the  lake,  think- 
ing, with  the  little  wind  at  my  back  blowing  from  the  north,  to 
make  easily  ten  miles  an  hour,  and  reach  home  about  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning. 

A  moonlight  midwinter  night !  The  witching  spell  cast  over  the 
earth  by  the  moon  is  potent  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  but  the 
solitary  stillness,  the  intense  loneliness,  of  a  midwinter  night  are 
peculiarly  affecting  to  some  natures.  In  June,  as  you  gaze  moon- 
ward  and  starward  till  your  eyes  swim  and  your  thought  is  abash- 
ed, humoled,  confounded,  it  is  life  that  encompasses  you ;  the 
great  heart  of  nature  throbs  at  your  feet,  and  the  thousand  and 
one  sounds  of  animate  and  inanimate  creation,  merged  into  one 
grand  soothing  lullaby  of  song,  compel  you  to  forget  your  iden- 
tity and  become  merely  an  insignificant  part  of  what  you  see 
and  feel  and  hear.  But  at  midnight  in  January  you  are  the  one 
living  soul  in  the  universe  ;  the  moon  is  a  burned-out  cinder ;  the 
stars  have  no  warmth  ;  they  offer  no  companionship  ;  their  twink- 
ling is  a  brilliant  but  lifeless  glitter ;  the  earth,  too,  is  lifeless  and 
shrouded;  everything  but  yourself  is  dead,  and  stark,  and  cold. 

"Alone  !  alone  ! — all,  all  alone  !  "  I  muttered  to  myself  as  I  sped 
along,  the  clear  metallic  ring  of  the  steel  on  the  ice  the  only  sound 
to  break  upon  the  frosty  night.  To  the  left  the  low  rolling  hills, 
snow-clad,  gleamed  and  sparkled  in  answer  to  the  moon-flashes 
from  the  long  expanse  of  glass  stretching  irregularly  ahead, 
while  on  the  right  rose  rough,  and  mottled  black  and  white,  a  pine- 
covered  rocky  ridge  which  ascended  into  a  long,  smooth-topped 
mountain,  the  outline  curiously  suggesting  an  elephant's  back, 
then  sloped  low  again,  finally  to  break  abruptly  into  a  high,  white- 
capped  peak,  standing  calm  and  cold,  the  grim  guardian  of  the 
solitude.  The  beauty  of  the  landscape  was  the  lonely,  unearthly 
beauty  of  death,  and  the  cold  brightness  of  the  moonlight,  flood- 
ing the  lake  and  penetrating  everywhere  save  close  to  the  right 
shore,  which  was  shadowed  by  the  overhanging  trees,  only  made 


A   MIDWINTER  NIGHT'S   TRAGEDY.  1 75 

more  weird  the  sense  of  utter  loneliness.  This  feeling  might  have 
become  really  oppressive  but  for  the  peculiar  exhilaration  of  the 
gliding  motion  which  skating  affords. 

I  had  settled  into  a  slow,  steady  stroke,  and  was  listening  indif- 
ferently to  the  monotonous  music  of  the  steel,  when  suddenly  from 
some  distance  back  came  a  sharp,  strange  sound,  insignificant, 
yet  startling  as  the  report  of  a  pistol.  There  was  nothing  in  sight, 
and  after  a  moment  of  queer  suspense  I  laughed  aloud  at  the  be- 
trayal of  such  an  unreasoning  inclination  to  nervousness,  but  nev- 
ertheless quickened  my  pace.  Was  I  the  only  thing  capable  of 
marring  the  stillness  of  this  winter  night?  Indeed,  I  must  be  in  a 
strangely  strained  and  excited  condition.  It  might  have  been  the 
snapping  of  a  tree  on  the  mountain-side,  or  very  likely  it  was  the 
cracking  of  the  ice  along — but  there  it  was  again  !  Surely  there 
could  be  no  mistake — it  was  the  ring  of  a  skate,  and  it  was  not  my 
own  !  Again  I  could  see  no  one.  Far  back  in  the  distance  the 
little  settlement  was  discernible  as  a  dark  huddled  mass  of  build- 
ings, but  between  us  lay  only  moonlight  and  ice,  not  the 
smallest  object  that  could  be  taken  for  a  living  creature.  Per- 
plexity and  astonishment  left  no  room  for  fear.  Pursued  by  a 
phantom  on  skates  !  Ah  !  there  was  something  diagonally  across 
to  the  right  shore  just  behind  a  fallen  pine,  and  in  the  shadow  of  a 
projecting  cliff,  but  it  was  motionless.  "  Hallo,  there  !  "  I  shouted. 
"  Lo,  there  !"  came  back  quick  and  startling  the  warning  echo, 
but  there  was  no  other  answer.  I  wheeled  around  and  fled  panic- 
stricken.  Glancing  over  my  shoulder  I  saw  the  object  was  follow- 
ing rapidly,  and  that  it  was  a  man. 

With  a  flash  it  all  came  to  me,  and  instinctively  I  clutched 
my  breast  pocket.  The  public  money  transaction,  the  loud  and 
foolish  talk  in  the  saloon,  the  dallying  among  the  skaters — folly 
and  carelessness  were  to  reap  the  penalty.  But  what  meant  this 
skulking  on  the  part  of  the  pursuer?  Why  did  he  not  attack  at 
once  and  boldly  ?  Here  and  there  on  the  farther  shore  glared  a 
dull  red  eye,  the  lamp  in  the  farm-house  window.  The  eye  con- 
veyed a  message,  and  this  was  the  answer.  Human  habitation, 
help,    rescue   were   being    left   behind.     Home    and   safety  were 


176  A   MIDWINTER  NIGHT'S   TRAGEDY. 

ahead,  but  between  was  wilderness,  and  I  was  plunging  on  into 
the  night.  It  was  too  late  to  draw  back,  nor  would  I  have  gone 
ashore  if  it  had  been  feasible.  My  heart  beat  fiercely  ;  but  muscles 
were  tense,  and  nerves  were  strung,  and  mind  was  resolute.  A 
stern  chase  and  a  long  chase  it  might  be,  but  if  the  devil  must 
catch  the  hindmost,  this  time  the  devil  would  catch  himself. 
Weaponless,  I  could  run  away ;  and  the  flashing  blades  cast  up 
the  white  powder-puffs  with  a  vehement  vindictiveness.  The  last 
red  eye  had  gone  out,  and  on  either  side  was  unbroken  forest.  A 
glance,  as  I  had  expected,  revealed  my  fellow-traveller  out  from 
under  the  hiding  of  the  shore,  and  coming  down  the  middle  of  the 
lake  literally  on  the  wings  of  the  wind. 

There  is  something  about  being  tracked  and  followed  that  will  chill 
the  stoutest  heart.  Every  hunted  thing,  from  the  innocent  animal 
to  the  desperate  criminal,  feels  it  and  quails.  Perhaps  it  is  the 
consciousness  of  relentless  fate,  or  inexorable  vengeance  pressing 
on,  against  which  all  resistance  must  in  the  end  prove  futile.  But 
nature,  through  the  instinctive  working  of  the  law  of  self-preser- 
vation, will  never  voluntarily  give  up,  and  even  when  escape  is 
absolutely  hopeless  the  vain  struggle  is  continued.  At  first,  under 
the  thrill  of  excitement  at  the  prospective  adventure,  and  having 
a  sense  of  a  power  hardly  natural,  as  the  slightest  additional 
muscular  effort  seemed  attended  by  remarkably  increased  rapidity 
of  movement,  my  hope  had  been  buoyant  enough,  but  now  the 
feeling  mentioned  above  was  creeping  over  me  with  a  benumbing 
effect.  It  had  seemed  an  easy  matter  to  throw  off  with  a  burst  of 
speed  this  steadily  dogging  pursuer,  but  it  was  now  too  evident  that 
I  was  no  longer  gaining,  if,  indeed,  I  had  gained  at  any  time. 

I  thought  of  many  things.  The  novelty  of  the  situation  was 
uppermost.  Scene — a  desolate  lake  surrounded  by  more  desolate 
mountains  and  woods.  Time — midnight.  Spectators — moon  and 
stars.  Dramatis  -personae,  pursuer  and  pursued — two  dark  forms 
flying  through  the  moonlight,  the  one  two  hundred  yards  in 
advance  of  the  other.  Then  came  the  thought  of  possible  danger 
ahead.  Already  I  had  crossed  several  narrow  "  reefs,"  and  it  was 
known  to  me  that  occasionally  a  "  reef"  was  found,  even  in  cold- 


A   MIDWINTER  NIGHT'S   TRAGEDY.  1 77 

est  weather,  stretching  entirely  across  the  lake,  wide  enough  to 
engulf  a  team.  If  I  should  be  brought  to  bay, — well,  that  was 
the  only  alternative  to  a  suicidal  plunge  into  icy  water.  I  thought 
of  all  the  cases  of  highway  robbery  of  which  I  had  ever  heard  or 
read,  but  could  not  recall  one  like  this.  All  had  taken  place  in 
vulgar,  prosaic  surroundings — in  dark  streets,  narrow  alleys,  or 
upon  some  lonely  country  road.  And  then  I  thought  of  the  noto- 
rious ruffian,  "  Black  Jack,"  a  gigantic  Canadian,  a  terror  and 
nuisance  to  the  farmers  living  near  "  the  line,"  of  whom  many 
desperate  deeds  were  told,  but  who  had  been  convicted  only  once, 
and  that  for  a  minor  offence  on  the  American  side.  But  why 
should  I  think  of  him?  Perhaps  because  he  was  the  embodiment 
of  all  the  lawlessness  in  the  region.     Nevertheless  I  shuddered. 

On,  on  we  flew.  I  was  losing,  but  dared  not  look  back,  for 
every  misstroke  meant  a  loss  of  yards.  Nearer  and  nearer  sound- 
ed the  pursuit.  The  inevitable  was  at  hand,  but  I  struggled  on. 
Muscles  that  had  seemed  like  springs,  tireless,  had  become  inelas- 
tic, unresponsive  ;  each  push  forward  was  rather  a  drag  backward  ; 
my  feet  were  weighted  with  lead ;  breathless,  there  was  a  choking 
sensation  at  the  throat ;  the  rushing  ice  made  me  dizzy ;  the  stars 
were  in  a  wild  dance.  Was  I  falling?  It  was  purely  mechanical 
motion  ; — lifeless,  effortless,  exhausted,  I  was  borne  on  by  mere 
momentum.  A  "  reef"  !  The  water  flew  up  in  a  shower  of  spray, 
but  ice  was  beneath,  and  I  floundered  on  and  on. 

How  long  this  was  kept  up  I  do  not  know,  possibly  for  several 
miles.  The  quick,  vicious  click,  betokening  short  and  powerful 
strokes,  sounded  close  behind.  His  hoarse,  labored  breathing 
was  audible,  and  was  it  fancy  that  I  felt  his  hot  breath?  In  despair, 
venturing  for  the  first  time  to  look  back,  whether  because  of  an 
inequality  or  seam  in  the  ice,  or  merely  on  account  of  an  unfortu- 
nate twisting  out  of  balance,  at  that  instant  I  stumbled,  half 
recovered,  and  fell  upon  my  knees,  dimly  conscious  of  having 
recognized  in  my  pursuer  a  burly,  athletic  figure,  black-bearded, 
and  carrying  a  short,  heavy  club. 

"  Black  Jack  !  "  The  ejaculation  was  hardly  out  of  my  mouth, 
when,  unable   in  his  fierce  rush  to  stop  or   avoid  me,  his  skate 


178  A   MIDWINTER  NIGHT'S   TRAGEDY. 

clashed  upon  mine,  and  his  heavy  weight  was  hurled  headlong 
and  sprawling.  A  groan  and  a  smothered  curse  came  from  the 
sliding,  prostrate  mass,  but  not  caring  to  make  an  investigation, 
with  a  frantic  scramble  I  was  up  and  away. 

The  fall  and  shock,  together  with  the  positive  identification  of 
the  border  ruffian,  imparted  new  strength  and  energy,  the  desper- 
ation of  realized  fear,  but  all  speedily  disappeared  in  one  grand 
collapse  a  moment  later,  when  the  familiar,  ringing  click  was 
renewed  in  terrifying  nearness.  He  was  not  injured  then,  but 
determined  to  hunt  me  down  !  The  next  mile  was  a  repetition  of 
the  others,  and  then  a  sudden  and  awful  catastrophe  ! 

Again  had  he  closed  upon  me, — again  had  I  experienced  the 
same  terrible  sensations  of  failing  breath  and  strength, — when  right 
ahead,  within  five  feet,  was  the  ripple  of  open  water.  Not  an  in- 
stant for  thought.  A  desperate,  plunging  leap,  and  I  left  the  ice, 
fully  expecting  to  drop  to  the  bottom  of  the  lake,  but  helpless  to 
prevent  it.  One  gasping  breath,  and  I  had  landed  on  the  further 
side  of  the  "  reef,"  unnerved,  bewildered,  trembling,  but  saved, 
almost  miraculously  as  it  has  since  seemed.  There  was  a  loud 
cry  behind,  a  great  splash,  and  then  silence. 

He  was  clinging  apparently  by  the  tips  of  his  fingers  to  the  ice, 
with  head  and  shoulders  only  out  of  water.  His  cap  had  fallen 
off,  and  the  moonlight,  streaming  full  upon  his  ghastly  face,  reveal- 
ed such  a  sight  as  I  trust  never  to  see  again.  The  wild,  bulging 
eyes,  the  fierce,  scared,  appealing  look,  the  wide  open  mouth, 
the  thick,  repulsive  lips,  moving  impotently,  for  no  sound  escaped 
them,  can  never  be  blotted  from  remembrance.  O  God  !  I  see 
that  awful  face  as  I  sit  here  writing.  I  see  it  whenever  I  gaze 
from  my  window  upon  the  lake.  I  see  it  many  a  night  upon  a 
sleepless  pillow.  It  haunts  my  dreams.  But  God  knows  I  was 
not  to  blame.  True,  there  was  a  moment  of  inaction,  but  I  could 
not  help  it ;  I  must  have  been  in  a  stupor.  I  know  that  I  cast 
myself  down  and  crawled  towards  him,  reached  out  to  grasp  his 
hand — and  it  wasn't  there! 

The  stars  glittered  pitiless.  The  cold,  dead  moon  sailed  on 
and  on.     The  wind  ruffled  the  black  water.     A  tree  crashed  at 


THE  "WEAL    THROUGH   WOE."  1 79 

the  base  of  the  rugged  mountain.     The  ice   cracked, — cracked 
again.     Then  all  was  silence,  and  death. 


The  Boston  and  Montreal  evening  papers  the  following  day  con- 
tained this  simple  telegraphic  despatch,  which  some  of  you  may 
have  seen,  as  you  have  seen  many  another  without  even  a 
passing  thought:  "Jean  Lassarde,  a  French  Canadian  lumber- 
man, was  drowned  while  crossing  Lake  M ."  That  was  all,  and 

it  was  better  so.  Nothing  good  could  have  been  said  of  "  Black 
Jack,"  and  it  was  charitable  thus  simply  to  record  his  death.  It 
were  needless  to  say  my  story  was  believed,  and  no  blame  has 
ever  been  attached  to  me.  But  it  will  be  a  life-long  regret — the 
thought  that  possibly  I  might  have  saved  him. 

G.  S.  M. 


THE  "WEAL  THROUGH  WOE." 

I  am  weary  and  sad, 

Said  good-wife  Mag  ;  its  just  a  year  ago 
Since  my  boy's  white  ship,  on  her  maiden  trip, 

Was  christened  the  "  Weal  Through  Woe." 

But  never  a  word 

Has  come  to  me,  let  the  spray  drive  fast  or  slow 
From  over  the  sea,  as  it  rolls  so  free, 

Of  the  fair  ship  "  Weal  Through  Woe." 

Then  she  turns  and  weeps, 

As,  with  saddened  hearts,  the  neighbors  whisper  low 
Of  the  news,  come  down  from  the  fishing  town, 

That  wrecked  is  the  "  Weal  Through  Woe." 

But  when  they  go  in 

To  bear  the  news,  they  see,  by  the  sunset  glow, 
Poor  Mag  is  asleep,  and  her  slumber  deep 

Has  brought  to  her  "  Weal  Through  Woe." 


Marshall  P.  Thompson. 


l8o  THE  SCOTCHMAN. 


THE  SCOTCHMAN. 


It  is  perhaps  asserting  a  good  deal  to  say  that  the  Scottish 
peasantry  is  probably  the  finest  and  noblest  in  the  world.  The 
grandeur  and  sublimity,  and,  I  might  say,  the  sternness  of  the 
scenery,  more  than  anything  else,  creates  in  them  that  solemn 
reverence  for  which  they  are  noted.  Mountains  and  torrents, 
precipitous  crags,  and  the  dash  of  the  ocean  beating  on  the 
hard  rocks,  all  become  the  occasions  of  intellectual  and  moral 
power.  Probably  no  country  in  the  world,  in  proportion  to  its 
size,  has  produced  so  many  eminent  men  from  the  humbler  ranks 
of  life — men  who,  from  the  most  adverse  circumstances,  have 
forced  their  way  to  fame ;  the  sons  of  shepherds  and  of  weavers, 
lowly  born  and  sternly  reared,  becoming  great  lawyers  and  great 
linguists,  great  poets,  great  soldiers,  and  great  orators. 

The  Scottish  character,  although  not  very  easily  sounded,  in 
connection  with  the  dialect,  is  an  interesting  study.  The  first 
thing  that  will  usually  impress  one  is,  that  the  Scotchman  is  a  man 
who  is  always  "keeping  up  a  terrible  thinking" — a  kind  of  man 
engaged  in  a  perpetual  soliloquy  with  himself.  "  Why  do  you 
talk  to  yourself  so  much?"  was  asked  an  old  Scotchman.  "  For 
two  reasons,"  he  replied.  "  One  is,  that  I  like  to  talk  to  a  sensible 
man ;  and  the  other  is,  that  I  like  to  hear  a  sensible  man 
talk."  It  is  undoubted  that  to  most  English  readers  the  Scottish 
dialect  is  more  or  less  of  a  mystery  :  it  very  frequently  draws 
an  impenetrable  veil  over  the  richest  humor  of  Burns  and  Scott, 
and  prevents  the  reader  from  entering  into  and  following  the 
course  of  a  dialogue.  To  be  sure,  a  dialect  is  not  pure  English, 
and  should  not  be  used  for  itself  alone,  but  any  one  who  has  lis- 
tened to  the  Scotch  dialect,  and  understood  it,  will  agree  with  the 
writer  that  it  is  very  rich  and  expressive.  No  doubt  the  power  of 
the  Scottish  dialect  is  due  very  largely  to  its  strong  and  earnest 
accent,  and  in  the  great  use  of  vowel  sounds.  A  customer  in- 
quires if  a  certain  piece  of  cloth  is  wool.  "Ay  oo,"  replies  the 
merchant  (meaning  Yes,  wool).  "A  oo "  (all  wool).  "Ay  a 
oo"  (yes,  all  wool). 


THE   SCOTCHMAN.  l8l 

A  recent  poet,  Robert  Leighton,  has  put  the  difficulties  of  the 
Scottish  dialect  into  very  pleasant  verse,  of  which  I  will  give  a 
short  extract : 

"  They  speak  in  riddles  north,  beyond  the  Tweed, 
The  plain  pure  English  they  can  deftly  read ; 
Yet  when  without  the  book  they  come  to  speak, 
Their  lingo  seems  half  English  and  half  Greek. 
Their  jaws  are  chafts  ;  their  hands  when  closed  are  neives  ; 
Their  bread 's  not  cut  in  slices,  but  in  shelves  ; 
Their  armpits  are  their  oxters  ;  palms  their  luifs  ; 
Their  men  are  chields  ;  their  timid  fools  are  cuiffs  ; 
Their  lads  are  callants,  and  their  women  kimmers  ; 
Good  lasses  denty  queans,  and  bad  ones  limmers  ; 
They  thole  when  they  endure,  scart  when  they  scratch  ; 
And  when  they  give  a  sample  its  a  swatch  ; 
Scolding  xsjlylin,  and  a  long  palaver 
Is  nothing  but  a  blither  or  a  haver  ; 
This  room  they  call  the  but  and  that  the  ben, 
And  what  they  do  not  know  they  dinna  ken  ; 
In  keen,  cold  days  they  say  the  wind  blaws  snell, 
And  they  have  words  that  Johnson  could  not  spell. 
To  crack  is  to  converse,  the  lifts  the  sky, 
And  bairns  are  said  to  greel  when  children  cry ; 
When  lost  folk  ever  ask  the  way  they  want 
They  speir  the  gate  ;  and  when  they  yawn  they  gaunt ; 
Beetle  with  them  is  clock ;  a  flame  's  a  lowe ; 
Then  straw  is  slrae,  chaff  catif,  and  hollow  howe  ; 
A  mickle  means  a  few  ;  muckle  is  big  ; 
A  piece  of  crockery  ware  is  called  &pig" 

During  one  of  the  earlier  visits  of  the  royal  family  to  Balmoral, 
Prince  Albert,  dressed  in  a  simple  manner,  was  crossing  one  of 
the  Scottish  lakes  in  a  steamer,  and  was  curious  to  note  everything 
relating  to  the  management  of  the  vessel,  and,  among  other  things, 
the  cooking.  Approaching  the  galley,  where  a  brawny  High- 
lander was  attending  to  some  culinary  matters,  he  was  attracted  by 
the  savory  odor  of  the  pot  of  hodge-podge  which  the  Highlander 
was  preparing. 

"  What  is  that?"  asked  the  prince,  who  was  not  known  to  the 
cook. 

"  Hodge-podge,  sir,"  was  the  reply. 

"  How  is  it  made?  "  was  the  next  question. 


1 82  THE    SCOTCHMAN. 

"Why,  there's  mutton  intilVt,  and  turnips  intilVt,  and  carrots 
intilVt,  and " 

"  Yes,  yes,"  said  the  prince,  "  but  what  is  intilVt?" 

"Why,  there's  mutton  intilVt,  and  turnips  intilVt,  and  carrots 
intilVt,  and— — " 

"Yes,  I  see,  but  what  is  intilVt  f" 

The  man  looked  at  him,  and  seeing  that  the  prince  was  serious, 
he  replied,  "There's  mutton  intilVt,  and  turnips  intilVt,  and ': 

"Yes,  certainly — I  know" — urged  the  inquirer;  "  but  what  is 
intiWt intilVt  f  " 

"  Mon,"  yelled  the  Highlander,  brandishing  his  big  ladle,  "  am 
I  no'  tellin'  ye  what 's  intilVt  f     There 's  mutton  intilVt,  and " 

Here  the  interview  was  brought  to  a  close  by  one  of  the  prince's 
suite,  who  fortunately  was  passing,  explaining  to  his  royal  high- 
ness that  "intilVt"  simply  meant  "into  it,"  and  nothing  more. 

This  anecdote  well  illustrates  some  of  the  difficulties  which  one 
who  is  not  familiar  with  the  dialect  will  get  into  in  understand- 
ing it. 

That  the  difficulties  are  not  all  in  the  meaning  of  words,  but  in 
construction  and  idiom  as  well,  a  few  examples  will  show.  If  a 
Scotch  person  says,  "Will  you  speak  a  word  to  me?"  he  means, 
"Will  you  listen?"  But  if  he  says  to  a  servant,  "I  am  about  to 
give  you  a  good  hearing,"  that  means  a  severe  scolding.  A  legacy 
to  any  charitable  fund  or  institution  is  called  a  mortification.  It  is 
singular  to  hear  one  say  "Take" — that  is,  shut — "the  door  after 
you,"  or,  "  She  looks  very  silly,"  that  is,  weakly  in  body.  To  hear 
it  said  of  a  thing  that  it  is  "  out  of  sight  the  best,"  means  that  it  is 
"out  and  out."  To  "change  your  feet,"  your  shoes  and  stock- 
ings. "He  has  fallen  through  his  clothes,"  is  away  of  saying 
that  he  has  grown  thin  and  his  clothes  do  not  fit  him. 

A  Scotchman  and  his  son,  a  lad  often  or  twelve,  put  up  at  a 
hotel  for  dinner.  When  ready  to  start,  the  gentleman  told  the 
boy  to  go  and  have  the  horse  put  into  the  buggy.  Giving  the 
order  literally,  the  stableman  smilingly  looked  at  him  a  moment, 
and  then  asked  him  if  he  would  help.  Oh,  certainly,  he  would  be 
glad  to  help.     "Well,  where  do  you  want  him — under  the  seat?" 


THE    SCOTCHMAN.  1 83 

You  may  be  sure  the  boy  always  had  the  horse  hitched  to  the 
buggy  after  that. 

The  Scottish  character  has  certainly  shown  that  Sidney  Smith 
was  very  far  wrong  when  he  said  that  "  a  surgical  operation  was 
needed  in  order  to  put  a  joke  into  a  Scotchman's  head."  The 
humors  of  the  Scottish  character  abound  in  thousands  of  illustra- 
tions. "Jeanie,"  said  a  staunch  old  Cameronian  to  his  daughter, 
"Jeanie,  my  lass,  it's  a  very  solemn  thing  to  be  married."  "I 
ken  that  weel,"  said  the  sensible  lassie,  "but  it  is  a  great  deal 
solemner  not  to  be."  The  best  humor  is  of  a  sly  and  subtle  kind. 
Even  the  humor  of  Burns  and  Scott  is  often  of  this  order.  A 
speaker  once,  addressing  an  audience,  used  the  word  "  phenome- 
non." This  was  a  word  which  some  of  them  did  not  understand. 
Some  one  interrupted  the  speaker  with,  "  Hed  on  a  wee  bit;  I 
dinna  ken  what  that  means."  "  Weel,"  said  the  speaker,  "  did  ye 
ever  see  a  coo?"  Oh,  yes,  he  had  seen  a  coo.  "Weel,  that's  no 
a  phenomenon.  Did  ye  ever  see  an  apple-tree?"  Yes,  he  had 
seen  an  apple-tree.  "  Weel,  that's  no  a  phenomenon  ;  but  if  you 
ever  see  a  coo  hind  feet  foremost  up  an  apple-tree,  that's  a  phe- 
nomenon." 

A  droll  kind  of  slow  movement  of  character  gives  a  hint  of  a 
good  deal  of  humor.  Indeed,  this  cautious  and  canny  slowness  of 
character  is  enjoined  in  the  well  known  Scottish  proverb,  "  Naeth- 
ing  should  be  done  in  haste  but  gripping  fleas."  It  is  no  doubt 
owing  to  this  queer  slowness  in  the  character  that  we  have  among 
Scottish  stories  so  many  of  the  ludicrous  which  are  not  humorous. 
The  humor  of  some  stories  needs  a  bit  of  knowledge  to  apprehend 
the  altogether  unconscious  humor  which  comes  out  from  the  nar- 
rator. It  has  been  said,  that  of  all  the  sciences,  it  is  a  difficult 
task  to  make  a  Highlander  comprehend  the  value  of  mineralogy. 
There  is  some  sense  in  astronomy :  it  means  the  guidance  of  the 
stars  in  aid  of  navigation  ; — there  is  sense  in  chemistry  :  it  is  con- 
nected with  dyeing  and  other  arts; — but  "chopping  off  bits  of 
rocks,"  that  is  a  mystery.  A  shepherd  was  sitting  in  a  Highland 
i  inn,  and  he  communicated  to  another  his  experiences  with  "one 
of  they   mad  Englishmen."     "There  was   one,"  said  he,   "who 


184  THE   SCOTCHMAN. 

gave  me  his  bag  to  carry,  by  a  short  cut,  across  the  hills  to  his 
inn,  while  he  took  the  other  road.  Eh  !  it  was  dreadfully  heavy, 
and  when  I  got  out  of  his  sight  I  determined  to  see  what  was  in  it, 
for  I  wondered  at  the  unco'  weight  of  the  thing ;  and,  man,  it's  no 
use  for  you  to  guess  what  was  in  the  bag,  for  ye'd  ne'er  find  out! 
It  was  stanes." 

"  Stanes  !"  said  his  companion,  opening  his  eyes,  "  Stanes  !" 

"  Ay  !  just  stanes." 

"Well,  that  beats  all  I  ever  knew  or  heard  of  them.  And  did 
you  carry  it  ?  " 

"  Carry  it !  Mon,  do  you  think  I  was  as  mad  as  himself?  Nae, 
nae,  I  emptied  them  all  out,  but  I  filled  the  bag  again  from  the  cairn 
near  the  house,  and   I  gave  him  good  measure  for  his  money  ! " 

I  think  the  following  will  need  no  explanation  :  There  was  an 
odd  old  character  in  Glasgow,  by  name  John  Marshall,  who  was 
very  fond  of  his  glass,  but  was  equally  desirous  of  preventing  the 
sweet  aroma  being  discovered  in  his  breath.  Meeting  a  physician 
one  day,  with  whom  he  was  intimate,  he  asked  him  if  he  knew  oJ 
a  specific  certain  to  overwhelm  the  smell  of  whiskey.  The  doctoi 
readily  answered,  "Oh,  yes,  I  can  tell  you,"  and,  tapping  Mr. 
Marshall  gently  on  the  shoulder, — "Johnny,  my  man,  if  you  take 
a  glass  of  whiskey,  and  dinna  want  ony  one  to  ken  it,  just  take 
two  glasses  of  rum  after  it,  and  the  deil  ane  will  ever  suspect  ye  ol 
having  tasted  a  drap  o'  whiskey." 

It  is  true,  the  Scotchman  is  pugnacious,  very  pugnacious.  He 
has  been  nursed  in  storms,  both  physically  and  morally ;  his  life 
has  been  usually,  for  many  ages,  a  life  of  hard  discipline.  Hence 
feats  of  daring  became  the  end  of  existence.  The  history  of  the 
country  is  a  story  of  stirring  events  which  have  tended  to  foster 
this  characteristic.  It  is  also  true  that  the  Scot  is  a  man  of  terrible 
prejudices  :  he  is  made  of  stern  stuff.  It  must  be  frankly  admitted 
that  there  is  no  man  more  easily  offended,  more  thin-skinned,  one 
who  cherishes  longer  the  memory  of  an  insult,  or  keeps  up  with 
more  freshness  a  personal,  family,  or  party  feud,  than  the  genuine 
Highlander ;  yet  where  can  we  find  a  more  congenial  companion 
or  a  more  faithful  friend? 

A.  A.  McKenzie. 


MARIE   THERESE.  1 85 


LONGING. 

When  thy  fair  face  is  far,  so  far  away, 

When  all  alone  I  struggle  through  life's  throng, 

And  all  around  me  rises  cheering  song 
From  gentle,  happy  souls,  content  and  gay, 
Who,  toiling  in  the  sunlight  of  the  day, 

Find  other  souls  whose  faithful  love  and  strong 

Sustains  and  helps  them  all  the  way  along — 
When  marriage  bells  sound  near  me  on  the  way — 

My  heart,  too,  e'er  is  light,  for  well  I  know 

Thy  love  eternal  is  for  me,  for  me  ; 
Yet,  like  the  undertone  of  unseen  woe, 

Which  ever  threads  the  brighter  melody, 
Like  echo  of  a  sob,  distraught  and  low, 

My  soul  calls  out,  "  O  Love,  I  long  for  thee." 

C.  F.  R. 


MARIE  THfiRfiSE. 

"  Oh  !  "  cried  Marie  Therese.  Sister  Felicia  frowned,  the  others 
giggled.  They  are  very  much  like  children — these  sisters — and 
Marie  Therese  had  been  startled  by  a  mouse  that  had  run  across 
the  floor. 

"  Ah,  little  one,  this  will  never  do,  never  do  ! "  said  Sister  Feli- 
cia.    "  You  are  very  much  of  a  coward,  I  fear." 

Marie  Therese  said  nothing  :  she  knew  she  was  a  coward.  She 
trembled  and  grew  sick  at  the  sight  of  a  wounded  soldier, — and 
there  were  very  many  of  them  in  Metz  that  summer, — and  every 
time  the  great  cannons  of  Prince  Karl  made  the  doors  and  win- 
dows rattle  she  would  hide  her  face  in  her  hands,  and  wait  anx- 
iously for  the  answering  boom  from  Forts  Quelan  and  Quentin. 
They  always  seemed  to  her  like  great  hounds,  baying  and  growl- 
ing, eager  to  spring  at  the  throats  of  the  Germans, — did  these 
forts.  And  very  often  she  wondered  at  the  use  of  it  all :  she  felt 
sure  that  it  had  been  better  for  every  one  before  all  this  fighting 
and  bloodshed.  And  she  wished  they  could  have  good  white 
bread  to  eat  in    place  of  the    horrid  stuff  that  was  doled  out  to 


1 86  MARIE    TBERESE. 

them  now.  There  was  no  doubt  about  it,  Sister  Therese  was  a 
sad  coward. 

Slowly  the  long,  hot  summer  days  wore  away.  On  the  east  old 
Steinmetz's  veterans,  though  sulky  from  the  withdrawal  of  their 
general,  grimly  waited  for  their  prey.  The  greensward  all 
along  the  Moselle  grew  ridged  and  furrowed  by  the  intrenchments 
of  the  Prussians.  Closer  and  closer  drew  the  net,  louder  and 
louder  sounded  the  buzzing  of  bullets — the  new,  terrible  insects 
that  flew  back  and  forth  over  the  hedges  ;  while  everywhere  lay 
the  unburied  corpses  of  men  and  horses. 

One  morning  toward  the  end  of  August,  a  party  of  French, 
under  the  charge  of  a  sergeant,  marched  out  from  one  of  the  city 
gates — wild-eyed,  bronzed  fellows  they  were — and  softly  as  cats 
they  hurried  away  toward  a  German  outpost,  where  they  suspected, 
from  the  sounds  of  revelry  the  night  before,  that  a  store  of  good 
things  had  arrived  from  home.  In  a  word,  they  were  hungry,  and 
bent  on  "  spoiling  the  Egyptians."  Warily  as  Indians  they  crept 
along ;  already  they  were  within  a  few  rods  of  the  earth-works, 
and,  with  a  rush,  were  upon  them,  bayoneting  and  shooting  the  poor 
Saxon  boy-soldiers  who  had  fallen  asleep  over  the  goodies  from 
mothers  and  sweethearts,  little  dreaming  that  their  awaking  would 
be  far  away  from  the  battle-swept  fields  of  Lorraine  ! 

The  triumph  of  the  French  was  but  brief,  for,  roused  by  the 
noise,  a  squadron  of  Uhlans  came  riding  fast  and  hard  to  the 
relief  of  their  companions.  The  red-trousered  soldiers  fired  one 
volley  at  the  advancing  horsemen,  and  hurried  away  toward  the 
shelter  of  the  city.  The  French  cannoneers  on  the  advanced  posi- 
tions opened  fire  to  cover  their  retreat,  and  the  Prussians  answered 
in  kind,  rapidly  shelling  the  retreating  detachment — very  few  in 
numbers  now,  and  straining  every  nerve  to  reach  the  first  angle 
of  the  French  outworks.  Nearer  and  nearer  they  came  ;  they  were 
almost  in  safety ;  they  could  hear  their  friends  cheering  them  on, 
and  were  about  to  give  an  answering  yell,  when,  hissing  and 
smoking  like  a  very  demon,  a  great  iron  shell  fell  not  ten  feet 
from  them.  Without  a  word  they  dropped  on  their  faces,  and 
waited  for  what  seemed  certain  destruction. 


MARIE   THERESE.  1 87 

II. 

Marie  Therese  had  concluded  to  venture  on  a  walk  that  morn- 
ing. Everything  was  so  still  and  quiet  as  she  passed  along,  the 
sunshine  so  bright,  and  the  sky  so  blue,  that  she  almost  forgot 
where  she  was,  and  strayed  farther  and  farther.  At  length  she 
found  herself  among  the  forts  ;  she  even  patted  the  great,  black 
siege-guns,  and  chatted  pleasantly  with  some  of  the  officiers. 

Suddenly  she  saw  a  puff  of  smoke  way,  way  off  in  front,  and 
then  that  dull  boom  that  had  always  frightened  her  so.  In  a 
moment  there  was  an  answering  shot  from  the  French,  and  then 
a  perfect  pandemonium  began.  She  sank  to  the  ground  in  terror, 
while  the  soldiers  were  soon  kept  too  busy  by  the  Prussian  artil- 
lery to  notice  the  little  Sister  of  Charity,  as  she  cowered  down, 
trying  to  make  herself  as  inconspicuous  as  she  could. 

Just  then  that  great  shell,  with  its  smoking  and  hissing  fuse 
landed  in  front  of  the  French  detachment.  A  cheer  rose  from  the 
Germans  ;  the  French  hid  their  faces,  and  waited. 

Suddenly  a  little  gray  figure  was  seen  to  dart  over  the  parapet, 
and  run  swiftly  down  the  slope  toward  the  sputtering  shell.  Even 
the  Prussians  stopped  firing,  and  stood  watching.  Swiftly  the  lit- 
tle gray  figure  sped  on,  and,  in  a  moment,  bending  over  the  terri- 
ble thing,  before  any  one  could  see  it,  had  broken  the  fuse,  and 
the  French  were  saved. 

And  then — Frenchman  and  Saxon  and  Prussian  altogether  gave 
such  a  cheer  as,  I  warrant,  had  never  before  rung  down  the  valley 
of  the  Moselle  ;  and,  regardless  of  discipline,  the  soldiers  of  Metz 
came  swarming  over  the  ramparts  to  bear,  with  sobbing  and 
cheering  and  laughing,  poor  little  Marie  Therese  into  the  city. 

The  war  passed  away  after  awhile,  and  the  soft  wind,  as  it  blew, 
bore  no  sounds  of  tumult  to  the  citizens  of  the  famous  old  town. 
Far  away  from  its  streets  and  houses,  in  a  quaint,  ivy-grown  con- 
vent in  the  south  of  France,  a  timid  little  woman  in  gray  some- 
times screams  as  a  mouse  runs  across  the  stone  floor,  but  no  one 
calls  her  a  little  coward  now,  for  on  her  breast  gleams  the  cross  of 
the  Legion  of  Honor  ! 

It  is  Marie  Therese.         .  Marshall  P.  Thompson. 


1 88  A   DAY  IN  MARSHFIELD. 


A   DAY  IN   MARSHFIELD, 


During  a  short  stay  in  Marshfield  not  long  since,  I  availed  my- 
self of  the  opportunity  to  visit  the  "  Webster  Place."  Having  read 
but  very  little  of  Mr.  Webster's  life  at  Marshfield,  I  was  struck 
with  the  vivid  remembrance  which  every  one  of  that  vicinity  has 
of  the  old  man's  declining  years.  "I  saw  him  here,  or  there,'* 
says  one.  "  I  heard  him  say  this,  or  that,"  says  another.  "  I  was 
a  boy  then,  but  I  remember  very  well  that  magnificent  speech  he 
made  us  farmers  from  the  hill  in  front  of  his  house.  How  those 
deep  black  eyes  got  aflame ;  how  his  voice  echoed  in  the  hills, 
clear  as  a  trumpet."  "  A  great  and  good  man,"  is  the  verdict  of  all. 

From  a  very  brief  acquaintance,  one  almost  believes  that  the 
people  thereabouts  think  themselves  favored  of  fortune  that  they 
have  lived  in  the  same  town  as  the  great  expounder  of  the  consti- 
tution. They  seem  to  look  with  Pharisaical  contempt  upon  the  folk 
of  Duxbury,  Hanover,  and  the  outlying  towns  ;  and  it  is  with  an 
effort  that  they  refrain  from  expressing  pity  for  the  visitor  ignorant 
of  their  stock  of  lore.  "  And  who  can  tell  me  the  most  concerning 
Mr.  Webster's  life  here?"  I  inquired,  while  in  conversation  with 
one  of  the  summa  gens,  whose  acres  actually  border  on  the  Web- 
ster estate.  "  Old  Porter  Wright  probably  knows  more  about  that 
than  any  other  man  living.  But,"  he  added,  with  conscious  pride, 
"  any  of  us  can  tell  you  more  than  you  will  find  in  all  the  books." 
"Porter  Wright?"  "Yes,  sir,  he  was  for  years  Mr.  Webster's 
foreman."  "  Lives  in  this  town?"  "  Oh,  yes,  only  half  a  mile 
round  the  bend  yonder." 

So  I  went  in  quest  of  Porter  Wright,  whom  I  found  living 
in  a  small,  old-fashioned  house  something  like  a  mile  from  the 
coast,  yet  commanding  a  splendid  view  of  the  ocean.  Mr.  Wright 
has  a  vast  store  of  Webster  reminiscences,  and  is  withal  a  very 
companionable  man.  Under  his  gnidance  I  visited  the  "Web- 
ster Place." 

How  every  point  of  historic  interest  reiterates  that  trite  observa- 
tion, that  "  the  man  hallows  the  place,  and  not  the  place  the 
man."     Faneuil  Hall  and  the  Old  South  Church  to  the  American 


A   DAY  IN  MARSHFIELD.  1 89 

ear  still  echo  the  eloquent  words  of  Otis  and  the  Adamses  ;  Get- 
tysburg is  ever  repeating  those  few  but  earnest  sentences  of  a 
martyred  president ;  and  Marshfield  does  and  will  continue  to 
eulogize  America's  greatest  orator.  In  the  home  of  a  great  man, 
gone  to  his  rest,  one  feels  a  reverence  as  for  a  holy  place  ;  and, 
as  the  home  is  of  no  interest  except  in  its  associations  with  the 
dead,  the  visitor  can  scarcely  rid  himself  of  the  thought  that  by 
right  the  spirit  of  the  dead  inhabits  there. 

Since  Mr.  Webster's  decease,  in  1852,  there  have  been  many 
important  changes  in  the  old  homestead.  The  original  house, 
built  in  the  year  1765,  first  seen  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Webster  in  1824, 
and  purchased  in  1832,  was  burned  in  the  winter  of  1878.  This 
was  a  severe  loss,  not  alone  to  the  curious  visitor,  but  to  history 
itself,  for  a  part  of  Mr.  Webster's  library,  the  effects  of  Major 
Webster — religiously  preserved  as  he  himself  had  last  arranged 
them  before  leaving  for  the  Mexican  war  from  which  he  never 
returned — and,  in  short,  nearly  every  heirloom  of  the  family,  per- 
ished in  the  flames.  The  new  house,  built  on  the  site  of  the  old 
one,  is  some  rods  to  the  north  of  the  highway,  which  runs  nearly 
east  and  west.  One  can  sit  on  a  porch,  facing  the  east,  and,  over 
a  cranberry  bog  and  its  bordering  alders,  see  the  ocean  "  a  mile 
off,  reposing  in  calm  or  terrific  in  storm,  as  the  case  may  be."  It 
was  of  this  east  porch  and  its  comforts  that  Mr.  Webster  often 
thought  in  the  weariness  of  public  life,  and  often  let  escape  the 
sigh,  "  Oh,  Marshfield  and  the  sea,  the  sea  !" 

Near  the  inner  terminus  of  the  winding  carriage-way,  leading 
from  the  road,  stands  the  "noble,  spreading  elm,"  under  which 
Mr.  Webster  passed  so  many  peaceful  hours.  Although  some  of 
its  branches  were  blackened  in  the  fire  of  1878,  it  still  enjoys  a 
thrifty  old  age.  Not  far  from  this  denizen  primeval,  stand  two 
weeping  elms  which  were  planted  by  Mr.  Webster  "asa  kind  of 
memorial  to  the  memory  of  a  lost  son  and  daughter — Edward  and 
Julia."  They  stand  so  near  together  that  the  branches  intertwine, 
and,  with  very  little  imagination,  one  hears  whispered  words  of 
affection  ;  for  the  wind  is  always  sighing  in  accents  almost  human. 

"  Do  you  see  that?  "  said  Mr.  Wright,  pointing  to  rising  ground 


I90  A  DAY  IN  MARSHFIELD. 

to  the  north  of  the  highway.  "Every  citizen  of  Marshfield  has 
cause  to  remember  that  hill."  "  Indeed,  and  why  so?  "  "  From 
that  very  hill,  sir,  Mr.  Webster  made  us  farmers  a  great  speech. 
It  was  in  '52,  sir,  soon  after  his  defeat  for  the  presidential  nomina- 
tion, when  he  was  being  escorted  home  from  Kingston  by  his 
neighbors  and  fellow- farmers.  Oh,  that  was  a  great  day  !  One 
hundred  and  fifty  teams,  a  hundred  on  horseback,  and  every  one 
else  afoot — a  procession  two  miles  long,  sir.  A  great  day  !  And 
then  that  speech  he  made  !  Why,  he  talked  to  us  as  though  we 
were  senators  instead  of  farmers.  '  My  prayers  are,  that  the 
Almighty  Power  will  preserve  you  and  shower  down  upon  you 
and  yours  the  blessings  of  happy  affection  and  peace  and  prosper- 
ity.' Every  man  who  was  there  remembers  those  words  as  though 
they  were  spoken  but  yesterday.  They  were  the  last  he  ever 
uttered  in  public."  As  the  old  man  talked,  he  seemed  to  live 
again  in  the  scenes  of  old  ;  his  gray  eyes  kindled  anew,  and,  as 
the  woods  and  the  hills  returned  his  words,  old  echoes,  lying  dor- 
mant these  many  years,  seemed  awakened. 

The  Webster  estate,  barely  comprising  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  when  first  it  came  into  Mr.  Webster's  possession,  numbered 
eighteen  hundred  before  his  death.  Mr.  Webster  had  a  predilec- 
tion for  proportions  ;  everything  must  be  on  a  large  scale.  In  this 
respect  he  has  been  rightly  called  the  Walter  Scott  of  America: 
however,  he  never  had  that  gentleman's  mania  for  building,  for 
he  lived  twenty  years  in  the  same  old  colonial  house. 

At  my  request,  Mr.  Wright  pointed  out  a  field  in  which  the 
famous  Daniel  Webster  plow  was  used.  This  plow  was  made 
at  the  direction  of  Mr.  Webster  by  Seth  Weston,  a  jack-at-all- 
trades,  and  Jabez  Hatch,  the  village  blacksmith.  It  was  an 
unwieldy  affair,  requiring  two  or  three  men  to  hold  it  and  four 
yoke  of  oxen  to  draw  it.  The  curious  Dartmouth  reader  may,  by 
braving  a  few  cobwebs,  see  this  plow  very  choicely  preserved  in 
the  basement  of  Culver  Hall. 

The  visitor  of  a  day,  intuitively,  as  it  were,  visits  the  favorite 
resort  and  shaded  walk  haunts  wonted  to  the  living,  and,  last  of 
all,  repairs  to  the  tomb  of  the  dead. 


A   DAY  IN  MARSHFIELD.  1 9 1 

Somewhat  to  the  north  and  west  of  the  house  lies  the  burying- 
yard  of  the  Websters.  This  we  reached  after  a  half  mile's  travel 
over  a  farm  road  by  no  means  the  smoothest,  and  were  obliged 
after  arriving  to  scale  an  iron  fence  before  coming  near  enough  to 
read  the  inscriptions.  A  very  modest  block  of  granite  distin- 
guishes the  tomb  wherein  lie  Mr.  Webster,  his  two  wives,  his 
sons,  and  daughter.  In  the  same  yard  is  a  block  of  slate-stone 
bearing  the  name  of  Gov.  Winslow  of  colonial  fame.  This  yard, 
destined  more  and  more  to  be  a  Mecca  to  the  admirers  of  great- 
ness, at  present  presents  hardly  a  creditable  appearance.  The 
grass  is  clipped  but  once  a  year — at  the  annual  haying ;  there  are 
no  walks  ;  and  that  universal  attendant  of  the  grave — the  flower — 
which  speaks  of  love  to  every  passer-by,  is  wanting  in  all  its 
species.  One  feels  that  genius  is  remembered  of  her  adorers  but 
for  a  short  time. 

As,  after  a  few  brief  hours,  I  turned  from  the  "Webster  Place" 
for  good,  I  thought  how  one  must  needs  go  again  and  again  before 
learning  every  lesson  that  historic  associations  teach.  Mr.  Web- 
ster himself  once  said, — "Superficial  observers  see  nothing  in 
Marshfield  but  rocks  and  sands  and  desolation  ;  as  one  uninitiated 
runs  his  eye  over  the  picture  of  an  old  master,  and  wonders  what 
folks  can  see  that  is  pleasing  in  such  a  grim  and  melancholy  look- 
ing thing.     Marshfield  must  be  studied." 

W.  C.  Belknap. 


The  Chair 


"  The  Moral  Aspect  of  College  Life,"  in  the  February  Forum, 
by  President  Adams,  is  very  timely,  following  so  recently  after  the 
much  noted  discussion  engendered  by  the  editorial  comment  in 
The  Nation  upon  a  letter  from  "a  mother,"  pleading  earnestly 
for  a  moral,  meaning  a  comparatively  temptationless,  college. 
President  Adams  adds  simply  the  weight  of  his  authority  in  being 
in  line  with  other  experienced  educators,  as  regards  expressed 
belief  and  opinion  in  the  matter.  Now,  why  shall  we  not  hear 
from  the  student?  In  one  respect  he  is  a  more  competent  author- 
ity :  his  point  of  view  is  from  within,  his  knowledge  is  complete, 
and  if  he  be  unprejudiced,  discriminating,  and,  in  a  measure,  phil- 
osophic, his  testimony  should  be  reckoned  at  least  eminently 
valuable,  if  not  conclusive.  But,  obviously,  the  great  disadvan- 
tage is  that  such  testimony  is  merely  local :  no  accurate  and  fair 
generalization  can  be  made  unless  it  is  assumed,  as  often  it  is, 
and  perhaps  in  the  main  not  improperly,  that  the  college  youth  is 
much  the  same  everywhere  ;  that  colleges  differ  vastly  more  in 
their  curricula  than  in  the  character  of  their  students.  A  sym- 
posium upon  the  subject,  comprising  expression  of  opinion  from 
representatives  of  the  foremost  colleges  and  universities  of  the 
country,  would  be  very  interesting  reading,  however  delicate  and 
impracticable  the  scheme,  though  we  suspect  there  would  be  a 
tendency  to  rivalry — perhaps  carried  to  an  amusing  extent — in 
making  out  as  good  a  case  as  possible  for  one's  "  dear  old  col- 
lege." Yet  a  little  transparent  whitewashing  would  really  be 
better  than  a  slanderous  attack,  such  as  might  befall  at  the  hand 
of  a  disreputable  "Alec  Quest." 

But  this  is  drifting  away  from  our  intent  at  the  start.  Hiding 
behind  that  impregnable  bulwark,  the  editorial  "we,"  though 
simply  for  custom's  sake,  it  is  permissible  for  us  to  give  expression 


THE   CHAIR.  193 


to  some  plain  and  honest  words.  We  are  in  perfect  accord  with 
President  Adams  in  thinking  that  the  moral  aspect  of  college  life 
is  far  from  being  so  gloomy  as  it  is  often  thought  by  those  stand- 
ing without  college  walls.  It  is  candidly  admitted  that  excesses  of 
one  sort  and  another  occur  in  college  life,  yet  they  are  made  worse 
than  reality  by  unwarranted  publicity,  and  are  neither  so  numerous 
nor  so  bad  as  would  be  found  to  exist  with  any  equally  large  body 
of  young  men  not  under  the  wholesome  and  corrective  influence 
imposed  by  intellectual  discipline,  to  say  nothing  of  that  coming 
from  more  or  less  special  athletic  training,  or  even  such  as  comes 
simply  from  an  intellectual  atmosphere.  But  granted  all  this, 
which  is  the  conclusion  reached  by  merely  a  broad  and  general 
survey  of  college  morality,  not  enough  stress  is  laid  upon  the 
-peculiarity  of  college  ethics  in  relation  to  the  moral  aspect  of  col- 
lege life.  This  feature  of  the  question  President  Adams  touches 
upon  and  dismisses  in  a  short  paragraph,  exhibiting  but  one  phase 
of  it,  which  is  not  all  inclusive  of  the  subject.  And  this  peculiar- 
ity of  college  ethics  is  what  the  outsider  knows  very  little  about. 
Perhaps  he  has  a  vague  idea  that  the  college  student  has  his  own 
peculiar  notions  of  right  and  wrong  in  respect  to  certain  things  ;  but 
his  knowledge  is  not  definite,  and  he  is  led  to  judge  of  college 
morality  solely  by  what  is  reported  in  the  newspapers,  or  what  he 
chances  to  hear  of  the  gross  excesses  of  this  or  that  "  fast  set." 
Now,  we  think  it  would  be  well  to  centre  more  light  upon  some 
false  ideas  of  right  and  wrong,  too  often  held  by  not  always  a  small 
proportion  of  the  student  body  in  our  colleges,  for  to  our  mind  just 
here  is  the  real  weakness  of  college  morality,  the  real  undermin- 
ing of  character,  the  real  danger  to  be  dreaded  by  anxious  parents. 
A  very  small  number,  comparatively,  are  subjected  to  temptations 
to  dissipation,  but  hardly  a  man  remains  in  college  a  year  without 
being,  unconsciously  if  you  will,  but  none  the  less  really,  influ- 
enced in  his  ethics,  the  change  always  being  a  relaxation  of  high 
ideas  of  honor  and  duty. 

It  were  needless  to  specify  what  is  meant.  Every  college  man 
knows  what  things  many  are  apt  to  view  for  four  years  in  an  en- 
tirely different  light  from  what  they  did  before  entering  college,  or, 


194  THE  CHAIR- 

if  home  training  was  defective,  from" what  they  recognized  to  be 
the  ethical  standards  of  a  moral  community — a  community  believ- 
ing in  and  practising  law  and  order ;  a  community,  we  mean,  that 
would  have  a  man  brought  before  the  police  court  whether  he 
stole  $1,000,  or  a  $i  sign  or  a  50-cent  thermometer;  a  community 
that  thinks  a  man  not  smart,  but  an  unsafe  rascal,  if  he  betrays 
confidence  reposed  in  him,  "  cribbing"  his  way  to  rank  and  posi- 
tion ;  a  community  that  stamps  a  man  who  violates  deliberately 
his  pledged  word  worthy  only  of  contempt  and  ostracism. 

This  color-blindness,  or  distortion  of  vision,  is  infectious.  It 
spreads  rapidly.  What  was  condemned  a  -priori  comes  to  be 
regarded  with  mild  disapproval,  then  by  some  as  a  necessary 
thing,  and  by  others  still  as  the  cute  and  proper  thing.  We  are 
tempted  to  quote  Pope's  familiar  lines,  so  applicable  to  this  process 
of  degeneration,  but  will  spare  the  reader.  But  it  may  be  depre- 
catingly  replied,  these  rigid,  Puritanical  ideas  are  all  very  well  in 
their  way,  but  "  a  college  boy  will  be  a  college  boy,  you  know." 
We  agree,  if  you  mean  that  the  college  boy  must  have  his  good 
time,  his  fun,  his  larks  ;  but  if  you  mean  it  is  pardonable  for  him 
to  be  mean  and  dishonest,  if  you  mean  he  can  offend  against  uni- 
versally accepted  standards  of  honor  and  truth,  if  you(  mean  he 
can  infringe  with  impunity  the  civil  law  of  the  land,  simply  because 
he  is  a  college  boy, — and  this  is  exactly  what  you  do  mean  when 
you  condone  such  offences  as  we  have  impliedly  but  plainly 
enough  characterized, — it  is  unnecessary  to  make  answer.  The 
point  is  right  here  :  Despite  the  fact  that  from  time  immemorial  a 
certain  divinity  has  hedged  in  the  college  student,  despite  the  fact 
that  to  him  are  accorded  certain  special  prerogatives,  it  yet  re- 
mains incontestable  that  he  is  not  so  privileged  as  to  be  exempt 
from  obedience  both  to  the  higher  ethical  law  and  also  the  civil 
law,  which  are  accepted  by  ordinary  mortals,  which,  indeed,  are 
accepted  by  college  men  themselves  the  minute  they  step  outside 
the  sacred  precincts,  and  find  that  they  are  not  so  much  graduates 
of  this  or  that  college  as  citizens  of  the  republic,  men  of  the  world, 
having  at  one  bound,  as  it  were,  outgrown  their  four  years' 
delusion. 


THE  CHAIR.  195 

A  study  of  the  subjects  for  the  Grimes  and  Lockwood  Prize 
essays,  just  announced,  discloses  their  variety.  A  man  cannot 
well  excuse  himself  with  the  plea  that  no  one  of  these  subjects  is 
adapted  to  his  line  of  thinking  and  style  of  composition.  It  is  a 
free-for-all  race,  the  honor  of  success  is  great,  the  money  recom- 
pense is  ample,  the  personal  benefit  to  be  derived  from  a  special 
course  of  reading  and  thinking  is  of  almost  inestimable  value ; 
therefore  let  every  man  who  can  think  a  thought  of  his  own  and 
pen  it  grammatically  compete.  A  word  of  advice  will  be  pat. 
May  10th,  like  Commencement,  heaven,  a  fortune,  and  other  good 
things,  is  yet  a  long  way  off.  Delay  is  fatal.  At  least,  choose 
your  subject,  meditate  upon  it,  dream  about  it,  and  when  the  prop- 
er time  comes,  you  can  write  readily,  will  not  be  forced  to  think 
yourself  a  fool,  and  eventually  give  up  in  despair  and  disgust. 
Men  very  often  have  good  intentions  in  these  matters,  but,  like 
New  Year's  resolutions,  their  intentions  do  not  last,  and  the  compe- 
tition in  consequence  suffers.  At  various  times,  the  last  few 
years,  there  have  been  complaints  of  the  lack  of  abundant  and 
spirited  competition.  This  year  do  not  take  it  for  granted  that 
this  or  that  man  is  sure  of  the  prize.     Give  the  judges  a  chance  ! 


We  regret  the  unavoidable  postponement  of  the  promised  article 
on  "Modern  College  Athletics  at  Dartmouth."  It  will  appear, 
however,  in  our  next  issue. 


We  have  earlier  in  the  year  solicited  support  from  the  college 
in  the  way  of  contribution,  but  have  spared  any  reference  to  that 
indispensable  support  specified  on  the  inside  page  of  the  cover  of 
the  Lit.  Still  we  have  not  forgotten  that  t^e  college  editor,  with 
all  other  honest  mortals,  must  pay  as  he  goes,  and  in  view  of  this 
fact  would  now,  once  for  all,  remind  our  readers  that  our  Business 
Manager  dearly  "  loveth  a  cheerful  giver." 


By  the  Way. 


It  occurs  to  me  this  evening,  as  I  turn  on  the  steam,  draw  the 
window-shades,  and  sit  down  in  my  easy-chair,  hoping  that  you, 
my  reader,  will  in  imagination  find  a  comfortable  seat  near  by, — 
it  occurs  to  me,  I  was  sa}ring,  that  too  little  recognition  is  given  to 
that  principle  of  education  called  absorption.  Some  friend  of  cult- 
ure has  said  that  the  opportunity  merely  to  lean  against  college 
walls  in  four  years  could  scarcely  help  brushing  into  a  man's 
head  a  sort  of  refinement  that  is  bound  to  distinguish  him  from 
the  common  run  of  humanity. 

The  very  contact  with  scholarly  and  well  informed  professors, 
which  fortunately  is,  nowadays,  becoming  more  and  more  per- 
sonal, and  still  more  intimate  relations  with  fellows  of  marked 
abilities,  who  are  beginning  to  love  knowledge  for  its  own  sake, 
must  in  some  degree  open  the  eyes  of  the  youth  who  goes  to  col- 
lege simply  because  he  is  sent,  and  give  him  a  glimpse  of  the 
world  of  ideas.  In  short,  there  are  few  men  who  can  resist  the 
epidemic,  knowledge,  when  it  gets  into  the  air.  It  is  a  disease 
which,  if  there  is  anything  in  heredity,  I  trust  flesh  is  heir  to.  In- 
dolence and  whiskey,  separate  or  mixed,  are  sometimes,  as  you 
suggest,  tried  as  prophylactics ;  but  I  have  never  heard  them  rec- 
ommended. 


As  I  drew  forth  from  my  post-office  box  to-day  sample  copies  of 
the  Anarchist's  Friend,  the  Socialist,  Free  JLove  Champion,  and 
Truth  Rampant,  or  publications  of  similar  names,  which  I  am 
fortunate  enough  to  forget .  at  this  moment,  kindly  sent  by  their 
respective  publishers  for  the  edification  of  the  members  of  the 
Senior  class,  as  I  looked  in  vain  for  a  letter — it  was  the  14th,  by 
the  by — I  resolved  to  take  my  first  opportunity  and  say  a  good 


BY  THE   WAY.  1 97 

word  for  old  St.  Valentine,  whose  name  and  day  seem  to  be  fall- 
ing sadly  out  of  our  sight.  Doubtless  the  old  gentleman  has  in 
times  past  carried  things  a  little  too  far,  and  we  are  now,  as  it 
were,  in  the  trough  behind  the  wave ;  but  when  you  remember 
those  first  valentines  of  your  school-days,  all  done  in  paper  of  the 
pinkest  of  hues,  and  inscribed  with  the  most  touching  of  rhymes 
which  you  conned  over  and  over  again  in  school-time  when  you 
should  have  been  learning  the  products  and  exports  of  New  Zea- 
land, I  think  you  will  echo  with  me  the  sentiments  of  Charles 
Lamb,  who  says  in  his  hearty  way, — "  Hail  to  thy  returning  fes- 
tival, Old  Bishop  Valentine  !     Great  is  thy  name  on  the  rubric  !" 

* 

Among  the  points  in  regard  to  Brother  Jonathan,  brought  out 
before  American  audiences  in  the  past  few  weeks  by  that  witty 
Frenchman,  Paul  Blouet,  better  known  to  us  as  Max  O'Rell,  is 
one  which,  in  substance,  is  this  :  Poor,  busy  Jonathan  considers  it 
a  waste  of  time  to  sit  down  for  the  sole  purpose  of  exchanging 
ideas  and  banter  with  his  friend.  Suppose  he  has  now  bolted  his 
breakfast,  and  is  bound  for  town.  A  neighbor  sits  by  his  side, 
brim  full  of  fellow-feeling  for  Jonathan,  interested  in  him  and  his 
family,  with  a  half-dozen  fresh  jokes  on  tap,  informed  in  regard  to 
the  latest  news,  domestic  and  foreign.  Suppose,  my  friend,  that 
we  sit  opposite.  Now  what  will  these  cultivated  friends  do?  Sim- 
ply this  :  Jonathan  makes  the  original  and  edifying  remark  that 
this  is  unusually  cold  weather ;  David  assents, — and  thereupon 
they  coolly  unfold  their  respective  morning  papers.  The  current 
of  sociability  is  frozen  over,  and,  I  might  add,  covered  with  a 
newspaper. 


As  I  was  ruminating  over  this  and  other  interesting  facts  and 
fancies  arising  therefrom,  it  struck  me  that  our  friend  O'Rell  had 
perhaps  never  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  American  college 
student  on  the  latter's  native  heath.  Doubtless  the  gentleman  has 
some  idea  of  Jonathan,  Jr.,  undergraduate,  gained  from  the  press 


198  BY  THE   WAY. 


and  generally  accepted  by  the  public,  picturing  to  himself  a 
brawny,  over-athletic  youth,  much  given  to  controversies  with  the 
college  faculty,  courting  suspensions  and  shunning  recitations, 
and,  withal,  a  personage  who  is  far  from  sociable.  But  what  dis- 
torted images  of  the  truth  these  preconceived  ideas  of  ours  some- 
times are  !  The  college  student,  as  you  and  I  know  him,  has  truly 
found  the  lost  art  of  chatting  for  its  own  sake.  He  may  be  ever 
so  unsociable  at  times,  but  when  a  Saturday  night  comes,  there  is 
a  knock  on  your  door,  Jonathan,  Jr.,  steps  in,  with  a  "  How  are 
you,  old  man?"  and  that  very  moment  the  Saxon  reserve  which 
the  professors  talk  about  steps  out.  Books  are  laid  aside,  and  an 
intellectual  menu  is  before  you,  beginning,  perchance,  with  the 
prospects  of  the  ball  team,  continuing  with  reminiscences  of  the 
past  summer,  garnished  with  allusions  to  those  girls  of  his  (always 
excepting  his  "best"  one),  and  closing  with  your  discussing  to- 
gether the  immortality  of  the  soul.  It  is  on  such  occasions  as  this 
that  Jonathan,  Jr., — a  truly  interesting  person,  if  you  know  him 
well, — turns  himself,  figuratively  speaking,  inside  out. 

Here  you  have  a  causerie  such,  I  imagine,  as  would  delight  the 
heart  of  a  Frenchman,  in  which  literature,  science,  politics,  and 
nonsense  are  discussed  with  equal  gusto, — a  bar  of  justice  acknowl- 
edging no  human  superior,  where  any  individual,  from  the  college 
carpenter  to  the  president  of  these  United  States,  is  likely  to  be 
weighed  and  found  more  or  less  wanting. 


Thistle-Down 


MUSIC. 

Child  of  the  stars  is  she,  sister  of  Light, 

Spirit  of  joy  to  worlds  unnumbered  given  : 
She  stoops  to  earth  in  her  resistless  flight, 

And  soars  at  will  with  captive  souls  to  heaven. 

DAS  HERZ. 

FROM   THE   GERMAN. 

Within  the  heart  are  set  apart 

Two  rooms,  where  Joy  and  gloomy  Sorrow  dwell. 

Joy  wakes  in  hers  :  ne'er  Sorrow  stirs, 
But  slumbers  softly  in  her  quiet  cell. 

Speak  low,  O  Joy,  lest  we  destroy 

The  sleep  that  over  Sorrow  holds  its  spell ! 

J.  H.  G. 

THE  OLD  CHURCH. 

Behind  our  new  church,  on  the  hill, 

The  old  church  used  to  stand, 
As  grim  and  rough  as  an  old-time  saint, 
Stained  by  age,  but  never  by  paint, 

With  a  willow  on  either  hand. 

A  traveller,  passing  by  that  way, 

As  he  looked  the  edifice  o'er, 
With  a  sense  not  quite  so  devout  as  keen, 
Is  said  to  have  murmured,  "  God's  house  I  've  seen, 

But  never  His  barn  before  1  " 

William  Byron  Forbush. 


Crayon   Bleu. 


American  War  Ballads  and  Lyrics,  edited  by  George  Cary  Eggleston.     New  York:  Put- 
nam's.     2  VOls.      $2.50. 

The  Putnams  have  given  us  in  this  "Knickerbocker  Nugget  "  a  rare  treat.  It  is  the  ideal 
collection  of  American  war  songs,  bound  in  the  well  known  uniform  of  blue  and  gold,  and 
showing  in  its  typographical  and  illustrative  work  the  highest  perfection  of  the  printer's 
art.  The  selections  are  typical  of  the  American  war  poetry,  from  the  days  when  Captain 
Lovewell  laid  down  his  life  in  battle  with  the  Indians  in  1725,  to  the  last  sad,  tender  words 
over  the  graves  of  "  The  Blue  and  The  Gray."  All  the  old  battle  songs  are  there,  from 
"John  Brown's  Body"  to  "  Marching  Through  Georgia,"  as  well  as  the  inspired  words  of 
patriotism  which  aroused  the  North  after  Sumter  was  fired  on,  words  which  came  from 
the  lips  of  such  men  as  Stedman,  Stoddard,  Holmes,  Bryant,  and  others.  Nor  is  "  Dixie  " 
forgotten,  and  the  "  Bonnie  Blue  Flag  "  is  given  its  proper  place.  Indeed,  some  of  the 
poems,  which  are  followed  by  the  designation  Southern,  are  among  the  tenderest  and  most 
poetical  in  the  book.  The  sufferings  of  the  South  command  our  pity,  as  their  fierce  deter- 
mination at  the  outset  calls  for  our  admiration.  Of  course  it  would  be  useless  to  assert 
that  all  the  selections  have  poetic  merit.  The  compiler  frankly  admits  that  many  were 
chosen  for  the  place  they  occupied  in  the  hearts  of  Americans,  rather  than  for  any  great 
merit  of  their  own,  and  the  selection  aims  to  represent,  so  far  as  possible,  all  phases  of  our 
martial  poetic  energy.  One  is  pleased  to  find  that  our  songs  always  reflect  the  patriotic, 
courageous  spirit  of  our  country.  There  is  scarcely  a  mean  or  ungenerous  line  in  the 
whole  book.  No  better  book  can  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  American  youth  to  make 
the  spirit  of  patriotism  burn  within  him. 

Marie  Bashkirtseff;  the  Journal  of  a  Young  Artist.     Translated  by  Mary  J.  Serrano.     New 

York :  Cassell  &  Co.,  Limited,     $2.00. 

A  fine  edition  (with  good  type  and  imitation  vellum  binding)  of  this  book,  which  is  cre- 
ating such  a  sensation  in  the  world  of  letters.  It  contains  a  portrait  of  the  author,  and 
reproductions  of  some  of  her  paintings.  A  further  notice  will  be  found  in  the  body  of 
this  magazine. 

Natural  History  Object- Lessons,  A  Manual  for  Teachers,  by  George  Ricks,  B.  Sc.    Boston: 

D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. 

Recognizing  the  universally  poor  equipment  of  teachers  for  science-teaching  from  lack 
of  special  training,  this  manual  in  its  350  pages  aims  to  provide  material  for  object-lessons 
and  to  illustrate  methods.  In  a  clear,  concise  manner  it  discusses  plants  and  animals, 
treating  of  the  economic  bearings  of  the  subject  in  a  thorough  and  perhaps  too  extended  a 
manner.  It  adopts  Rev.  J.  G.  Wood's  system  of  classification,  which  is  somewhat  anti- 
quated in  its  arrangement  and  particulars.  The  discussion  of  anatomy  and  physiology  is 
excellent,  as  are  the  specimen  object-lessons  to  which  the  latter  part  is  devoted.  The  de- 
fects are  minor,  and  it  is  well  calculated  to  aid  teachers  who  lack  scientific  training. 

G. 


CRA  YON  BLEU.  20 1 

Elementary  Mathematical  Tables,  by  Alexander  McFarlane,  D.  Sc,  LL.  D.,  Professor  of 

Physics  in  the  University  of  Texas.     Boston  :  Ginn  &  Co.     $0.85. 

A  set  of  thirty-one  tables,  mostly  to  four  places,  carried  out  farther  for  more  exact  func- 
tions. Besides  the  ordinary  tables,  there  are  addition  and  subtraction  logarithms,  ra- 
dians, reciprocals,  powers  and  roots,  multiples,  circumference  and  area  of  circle,  content 
of  sphere,  hyperbolic  logarithms,  interest  and  annuity  tables,  least  divisors,  exponentials, 
&c.  It  will  be  found  an  invaluable  assistant  in  practical  work  where  great  accuracy  is  not 
required. 

Liberty  and  a  Living,  by  Philip  G.  Hubert,  Jr.     New  York;  Putnam's. 

"  The  record  of  an  attempt  to  secure  bread  and  butter,  sunshine  and  content,  by  garden- 
ing, fishing,  and  hunting."  The  details  of  Mr.  Hubert's  book  are  mainly  uninteresting, 
and  his  pessimistic  views  of  city  people  in  general  seem  to  indicate  a  mind  that  sees  the 
mere  exterior  of  those  whose  culture  is  less  than  its  own,  without  entering  with  sympathy 
into  their  inmost  feelings.  Yet  the  book,  doubtless,  reflects  truthfully  the  opinion  of  the 
author,  and  comes  to  us  like  a  fresh  breeze  from  garden  and  seashore.  The  chapter  on 
"The  Life  Worth  Living,"  with  its  characterization  of  Thoreau,  is  delightful  reading. 
Here  the  author  is  in  full  sympathy  with  his  subject,  and  gives  us  a  keen,  faithful  critique 
of  the  unique  opinions  of  our  great  American  hermit. 

The  Autobiography  of  Benjamin  Franklin.     New  York :  Putnam's  Knickerbocker  Nugget 

Series. 

A  careful  edition,  with  notes  by  John  Bigelow.  The  painstaking  study  of  the  annotator 
gives  us  valuable  hints  to  enable  us  to  understand  all  the  circumstances  under  which  the 
great  statesman  wrote.  An  edition  which  should  combine  the  qualities  of  beauty  and  con- 
venience has  long  been  needed.  This  the  publishers  have  furnished  in  the  most  attractive 
guise  of  a  "  Knickerbocker  Nugget,"  a  name  that  is  fast  becoming  synonymous  with  a  rare 
treat  to  the  book  lover. 

Lindner's  Empirical  Psychology,  translated  by  Chas.  DeGarmo,  Ph.  D.  (Halle).     Boston : 

D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.    $1.10. 

This  is,  we  believe,  the  first  translation  into  English  of  a  work  which  has  been  going  the 
rounds  of  the  schools  of  Germany  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  The  study  of  Psychology  in 
America  has  followed  the  abstract  method  perhaps  too  closely.  The  study  of  the  Herbar- 
tian  method — the  inductive  method  of  the  natural  sciences  applied  to  psychology,  as  found 
in  this  book — will  prove  a  help  to  the  pupil  in  understanding  the  great  phenomena 
of  the  human  mind,  to  the  teacher  in  deriving  better  systems  of  pedagogy.  The  author 
never  transcends  the  region  of  experience  in  the  facts  on  which  his  system  is  based. 

The  Elements  of  Astronomy,  by  Charles  A.  Young,  Ph.D.,  LL.  D.  (Dart.  '53).      Boston: 

Ginn  &  Co.     #1.55. 

The  great  success  of  Prof.  Young's  General  Astronomy,  which  has  been  used  in  over  one 
hundred  colleges  within  a  year  of  its  publication,  has  induced  him  to  issue  a  new  work, 
designed  for  use  in  high  schools  and  academies.  Much  of  the  material  is  the  same  as  in 
the  General  Astronomy,  but  it  is  entirely  rewritten  for  the  benefit  of  less  advanced  students. 
The  style  is  clear,  the  information  accurate,  the  illustrations  well  chosen.  We  notice,  as 
additions  which  are  especially  valuable,  maps  of  the  moon  and  of  Mars,  a  photograph  of 
the  great  nebula  of  Andromeda,  and  a  complete  uranography,  with  maps  of  the  constella- 
tions to  500  south  latitude.     The  description  of  the  constellations  is  complete  enough  to 


202  CRAYON  BLEU. 

enable  the  learner  to  trace  them  in  the  heavens.     We  predict  for  this  an  even  greater  suo 
cess  than  that  which  the  General  Astronomy  enjoyed.     It  is  used  here  in  the  Junior  class. 

Early  Britain,  by  Alfred  J.  Church,  M.  A.     Story  of  the  Nation's  Series.     New  York 

Putnam's.     $1.50. 

A  story  of  the  history  of  Britain  from  the  earliest  time  to  the  Norman  conquest.  It  is  i 
good  condensation  of  abundant  material,  written  in  a  very  interesting  manner,  giving  2 
fairly  complete  story  of  the  early  years  of  English  History.  It  is  especially  interesting  ir 
displaying  to  us  Anglo  Saxons  the  character  of  the  people  who  were  our  ancestors,  and  ii 
tracing  the  gradual  development  to  some  degree  of  civilization.  It  is  well  illustrated  anc 
printed,  and  furnished  with  maps. 

Aeschines  Against  Ctesiphon,  edited  on  the  basis  of  Weidner's  edition,  by  Rufus  B.  Richard 
son,  Professor  of  Greek  in  Dartmouth  College.  Boston:  Ginn  &  Co.  $1.50.  Paper 
$1.20. 

This  book  has  received  thorough  trial  here  by  use  in  the  Junior  class,  and  has  beer 
found  especially  valuable  for  purity  of  text,  and  for  comparative  and  critical  annotation 
The  introduction  and  appendix  are  full  of  valuable  information,  systematically  arranged 
The  college  takes  pride  in  the  work  of  Prof.  Richardson  in  the  College  Series  of  Greel 
Authors. 

Niels  Khm's  Wallfahrt  in  die  Unterwelt,  by  Hoi  berg;  Bug  Jar  gal,  by  Hugo;  La  Metro 
manie,  by  Alexis  Piron ;  Jeanne  a"  Arc,  by  Lamartine.     Boston  :  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co 
Paper. 
This  series  of  French  and  German  authors,  at  prices  ranging  from   15  to  40  cents,  i.< 

edited  by  prominent  educators  of  the  country,  and  may  be  relied  upon   as  faithful  text; 

for  use  in  colleges  and  schools.     The  notes  are  enough  to  be  helpful  and  not  burdensome 

The  print  is  large  and  clear,  and  the  whole  appearance  of  the  volumes  neat  and  attractive 

Money,  by  James  Piatt,  F.  S.  S.     New  York :  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons.     $0.75. 

This  is  the  authorized  American  edition  of  a  book  which  has  passed  through  nineteer 
English  editions.  It  may  be  characterized  as  a  thoroughly  sound  and  careful  study  of  th< 
interesting  subject  of  money  in  all  its  phases.  The  ethical  bearings  are  especially  wel 
discussed  incidentally  throughout  the  work. 

The  Atlantic  for  January  opens  with  Margaret  Deland's  new  serial,  "  Sidney."  Sidney 
proves  to  be  a  charming  young  lady,  evidently  in  need  of  beingf"  waked  up,"  and  the  first  in 
stalment  furnishes  abundant  material  for  bringing  about  this  desired  end.  "  The  Tragi( 
Muse  "  and  "  The  Begum's  Daughter  "  still  continue.  The  feature  of  the  month,  however 
is  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes's  "  Over  the  Teacups,"  a  chat  with  the  readers  about  the  declining 
years  of  life,  in  the  best  style  of  our  loved  Autocrat.  "English  Love  Songs,"  by  Agnes 
Repplier,  is  an  interesting  study.  "  A  Precursor  of  Milton  "  brings  to  light  a  writer  littk- 
known,  Avitus  of  Vienne.  Mr.  Cook  has  given  us  a  valuable  biographical  study  of  Johr 
Dickinson-  Mr.  Aldrich's  "  Echo  Song  "and  Mr.  Burn's  Sonnet  are  especially  poetical 
in  different  lines.     The  Contributors'  Club  continues,  as  ever,  the  cream  of  the  magazine. 

The  Century  for  February  continues  the  highly  interesting  "  Autobiography  of  Joseph 
Jefferson,"  and  concludes  the  "  Abraham  Lincoln  "  papers,  the  publication  of  which  marks 
an  epoch  in  magazine  publication.  Frank  R.  Stockton's  laughable  "  The  Merry  Chan- 
ter "  continues  in  his  happiest  vein.     "  A   Side  Light  on  Greek  Art "  gives  engravings  oi 


CRAYON  BLEU.  203 

recently  discovered  terra  cotta.  Among  the  poems,  especially  good  in  this  number,  "  To 
Youth,"  by  Orelia  Key  Bell,  "  Old  Age's  Ship  and  Crafty  Death's,"  by  Walt  Whit- 
man, and  "  Abraham  Lincoln,"  two  sonnets  by  Stuart  Sterne  and  James  T.  McKay,  respec- 
tively, are  especially  meritorious.  "  The  Pursuit  and  Capture  of  Jefferson  Davis  "  and 
"  A  Corner  of  Old  Paris  "  deserve  mention. 

Scribner's  for  January  opens  with  a  valuable  paper  on  "  Water  Storage  in  the  West," 
discussing  an  important  engineering  question.  H.  C.  Bunner  gives,  in  "  An  Old-Fashioned 
Love  Song,"  a  most  charming  piece  of  verse.  W.  C.  Brownell's  "Notes  and  Impressions 
of  the  Paris  Exposition  "  are  very  apt.  A.  F.  Jacassy  commences  a  series  of  African 
studies  with  "  Tripoli  of  Barbary."  "  The  Beauty  of  Spanish  Women,"  by  Henry  T.  Finck, 
the  author  of  "  Romantic  Love  and  Personal  Beauty,"  shows  the  results  of  careful  obser- 
vation. The  electricity  article  is  "  Electricity  in  the  Household."  A  new  department 
opens  with  the  year,  "The  Point  of  View,"  intended  to  give  discussions  of  questions  of  the 
day  and  matters  of  general  interest. 

In  The  Journal  of  Education  we  notice  a  series  of  articles  by  F.  L.  Pattee,  '88,  on 
"  Methods  in  Teaching  Astronomy."  This  paper  continues  to  publish  many  articles  of 
intense  educational  interest.  Recently  we  notice  particularly  short  abstracts  of  Larkin 
Dunton's  Boston  lectures  on  the  Science  of  Education.  The  book  news  and  educational 
notes  are  very  full  and  valuable. 

Education  is,  as  ever,  the  valuable  magazine  for  teachers.  It  contains  in  a  recent  num- 
ber a  short  article  on  Clark  University. 

Lippincotf s  for  February  opens  with  "  The  Sign  of  the  Four."  The  January  number 
contains  "  Milicent  and  Rosalind,"  with  a  portrait  of  the  author,  by  Julian  Hawthorne. 

We  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  Second  and  Third  Reading  Books,  from  J.  B.  Lippin- 
cott  Co. ;  Harvard  Studies,  Vol.  1,  The  Method  of  Last  Squares,  and  Goodwin's  Greek 
Moods  and  Tenses,  from  Ginn  &  Co. ;  The  State  and  Federal  Governments,  The  New 
Arithmetic,  Sept  Grand  Auteurs,  and  French  Literature,  from  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. ;  The 
Garden,  from  Putnam's. 


Exchanges. 


Surrounded  as  the  editor  of  a  college  literary  monthly  is  with  so  much  to  divert  hi 
attention  from  pure  literature,  on  one  hand  encouraged  and  stimulated  to  quench  his  thirs 
for  knowledge  by  plunging  into  the  depths  of  metaphysics,  on  the  other  invited  by  the  fai 
prospect  that  lies  before  him  in  the  fields  of  history  and  science,  he  feels  at  times  that  i 
were  better  to  lay  aside  the  pen,  and  bend  his  energies  toward  acquiring  general  culture. 

Truly  the  editorial  machinery  is  not  without  its  waste.  More  or  less  hack-work  is  neces 
sary,  which  is  of  small  service  to  the  editor.  He  must  of  necessity  read  some  rubbish,  and 
whether  his  words  drop  thickly  and  fast  from  his  brain  upon  the  page,  or  only  float  througl 
his  mind  like  clouds,  he  yet  must  write. 

However,  besides  the  chastening  which  his  style  gets  by  constant  use,  besides  the  critica 
insight  which  practice  gives  him,  and  the  honor  which  attaches  to  his  position,  the  literar; 
editor  confers  upon  the  college  a  feature  which  is  invaluable,  and,  we  think,  indispensable 
It  is  during  these  college  days,  if  ever,  that  college-bred  men  begin  their  real  literary  work 
it  is  then  that  their  taste  is  formed  for  better  or  for  worse,  and  their  style  begins  to  shapi 
itself.  It  lies  within  the  scope  of  the  literary  monthly  to  bring  literary  work  within  th 
reach  of  these  men,  to  encourage  them  and  perfect  their  style. 

A  college  monthly  should  be  the  mirror  wherein  the  very  best  talent  and  taste  of  th 
college  are  reflected.  If  it  does  that,  it  is  successful ;  if  it  does  not,  it  is  a  well-nigh  tota 
failure. 

Princeton  has  such  a  mirror  as  this  in  the  Nassau  Lit.,  the  December  and  January  num 
bers  of  which  now  lie  before  us.  The  poetry  of  the  January  number  is  good,  the  Bain 
Prize  poem,  "  Don  Roderick,  or  The  Entrance  of  the  Moors  into  Spain,"  deserving  especia 
mention.  Our  modern  college  poets  are  so  given  to  short  unambitious  pieces,  "  soft  noth 
ings,"  exemplifying  pure  form  devoid  of  substance,  that  it  is  a  pleasure  to  read  a  poen 
that  essays  a  loftier  flight,  and  deals  with  narrative  and  description.  It  is  well  handled 
and  shows  a  promising  writer.  The  two  poems  of  the  November  number  are  not  especiall; 
meritorious. 

The  stories  in  this  number,  however,  are  excellent.  The  prize  story,  "After  the  Storm 
Haven,"  is  quite  above  the  ordinary  run  of  college  stories.  The  plot  is  within  the  compas: 
of  the  author's  powers ;  his  style  is  well  adapted  to  the  piece,  and  the  subject  is  given  ; 
sympathetic  treatment.  "  Fate,  or  Coincidence  ?  "  is  of  quite  a  different  cast,  but  good  h 
its  way.  The  essay  on  "  Literary  Criticism  "  is  especially  commendable,  and  the  depart 
ments  are  well  supported. 


Alumni  Notes. 


That  this  department  may  be  as  interesting  and  valuable  as  possible,  we  solicit  contributions  from 
all.  Items  that  may  seem  unimportant  to  the  contributor  will  no  doubt  carry  to  some  readers  remem- 
brances of  happy  but  departed  days. 

The  seventh  annual  meeting  and  banquet  of  the  Grafton  and  Coos  Bar  Association  was 
held  at  Lancaster,  January  31.  A  large  number  of  lawyers  were  in  attendance.  The 
meeting  was  called  to  order  at  the  court-room  in  the  county  building  at  2  o'clock.  Prof.  J. 
F.  Colby  '72,  who  was  to  have  read  a  paper  on  "  Ballot  Reform,"  was  absent  on  account  of 
sickness.  Judge  W.  S.  Ladd  '55  and  others  discussed  the  question,  and  the  following 
resolution  was  passed  : 

Resolved,  That  reform  in  the  method  of  voting  at  our  public  elections,  similar  to  what  is 
commonly  known  as  the  Australian  system,  ought  to  be  adopted. 

A  biographical  and  memorial  address  on  Col.  Thomas  J.  Whipple  '67  hon.  was  then 
delivered,  and  Hon.  Chester  B.  Jordan  '82  hon.  gave  a  memorial  sketch  of  Daniel  C. 
Pinkham  '43.  Papers  on  various  legal  topics  were  also  read.  Hon.  Harry  Bingham  '43  and 
Jason  H.  Dudley  '62  were  elected  vice-presidents  for  the  ensuing  year.  At  8  o'clock  the 
annual  dinner  was  served.  Among  those  present  were  Attorney-General  Daniel  Barnard 
'65  hon.  of  Franklin,  Hon.  E.  A.  Hibbard  '63  hon.  of  Laconia,  Hon.  W.  S.  Ladd  '55  of 
Lancaster,  Hon.  Alvin  Burleigh  '71  of  Plymouth,  Frank  S.  Streeter  '74  of  Concord,  Hon. 
Ossian  Ray  '69  hon.,  Jason  H.  Dudley  '62,  Hon.  A.  S.  Batchellor  '72,  Ira  A.  Chase  '77  of 
Bristol,  and  Hon.  B.  F.  Whidden  '40. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Manufacturers  and  Merchants'  Mutual  Insurance  Company 
of  New  Hampshire  was  held  at  Concord  January  28.  Among  the  officers  elected  were  the 
following:  E.  G.  Leach '71,  president;  I.  W.  Hammond  '83  hon.,  vice-president ;  A.  B. 
Thompson  't;8,  I.  W.  Hammond  '83  hon.,  E.  G.  Leach  '71,  G.  H.  Adams  '72,  C.  M. 
Stevens  '78,  C.  E.  Carr  '75  C.  S.  S.,  F.  N.  Parsons  '74,  J.  H.  Dudley  '62,  and  S.  W.  Rol- 
lins '46,  directors. 

The  annual  reunion  and  dinner  of  the  Chicago  Alumni  Association,  one  of  the  oldest  and 
most  loyal  bodies  of  college  graduates  in  the  West,  was  held  in  the  Union  League  Club, 
Thursday  evening,  January  16.  Despite  the  ravages  of  le  grippe,  then  holding  high  car- 
nival in  Chicago,  and  the  unfortunate  coincidence  whereby  the  Sons  of  New  Hampshire 
assembled  on  the  same  evening,  some  thirty-five  alumni  were  present,  and  the  meeting 
resulted  in  a  distinct  gain  in  their  already  high  enthusiasm  and  affection  for  their  college. 
Hon.  E.  D.  Redington  '61  presided ;  Charles  R.  Webster,  Esq.,  '82,  was  toast-master,  and 
Dr.  W.  H.  Marble '83,  secretary.  Prof.  Charles  F.  Richardson '71  represented  the  college, 
and  described  its  present  equipment,  teachers,  students,  good  work,  and  needs.  The  trus- 
tees' circular  letter  was  read,  and  elicited  favorable  comment.  Other  addresses  or  speeches 
were  made  by  President  George  A.  Gates  '73,  of  Iowa  college  (in  eloquent  eulogy  of  the 
late  F.  A.  Bradley '73,  of  Chicago)  ;  Col.  F.  W.  Parker,  principal  of  Cook  County  Normal 


2o6  ALUMNI  NOTES, 

School;  Prof.  E.  C.  Dudley  '73,  of  Chicago  Medical  College;  Louis  Bell,  Ph.D.  '84, 
lately  professor  of  physics  in  Purdue  University ;  W.  W.  Patterson,  C.  S.  S.  '68 ;  Prof. 
C.  F.  Bradley  '73,  of  the  Garrett  Biblical  Institute,  Northwestern  University,  and  others. 
Among  those  present  were  Dr.  Addison  H.  Foster  '63,  and  Rev.  Henry  Willard  '51,  son 
of  the  founder  of  the  Willard  professorship  of  rhetoric  and  oratory,  to  be  filled  next  Com- 
mencement. Of  the  younger  classes,  '82,  '83,  '84,  '85,  and  '88  were  represented.  Several 
members  of  the  association  are  prominent  in  the  affairs  of  the  University  Club,  soon  to 
move  into  attractive  quarters. 

The  Alumni  Association  of  Boston  met  at  the  Vendome  on  the  evening  of  January  15, 
and  enjoyed  one  of  the  best  dinners  in  its  history.  Col.  M.  O.  Adams  '71  acted  as  toast- 
master,  and  speeches  were  made  by  President  Bartlett  '36,  Lieutenant-Governor  Haile  '56, 
J.  B.  Richardson  '57,  C.  H.  Tucker  '73  Agr.  Coll.,  Rev.  Arthur  Little  '60,  Hon.  G.  A. 
Marden  '61,  Hon.  W.  E.  Barrett  '80,  and  G.  F.  Williams  '72.  At  the  business  meeting  the 
following  officers  were  elected  :  President,  J.  B.  Richardson  '57  ;  vice-presidents,  A.  A. 
Ranney  '44,  W.  J.  Forsaith  '57,  M.  O.  Adams  '71,  and  W.  E.  Barrett  '80;  secretary,  T.  W. 
Proctor  '81 ;  treasurer,  C.  Q.  Tirrell  '66;  committee  for  three  years,  J.  F.  Paul  '78,  S.  P. 
Smith  '82 ;  chorister,  B.  Tenney  '83. 

The  Alumni  Association  of  Washington  held  its  15th  annual  dinner  and  reunion  Feb.  6. 
Over  fifty  enthusiastic  Dartmouth  men  were  present,  and  had  an  unusually  good  time. 
The  officers  elected  were  Philip  Walker '80  C.  S.  S.,  president ;  F.  R.  Lane '81,  A.  P. 
Greeley '83,  vice-presidents ;  W.  Quimby  '83  secretary;  E.  G.  Kimball '81  historian;  C. 
S.  Clark  '82  chorister.  At  the  banquet  letters  were  read  from  President  Bartlett  '36,  Vice- 
President  Morton  '81  hon.,  and  Judge  Miller  '48.  There  was  general  regret  at  the  presi- 
dent's absence,  and  his  letter  was  received  with  great  applause.  The  toasts  responded  to 
were  "  Dartmouth  as  an  Educator,"  Hon.  W.  G.  Veazey  '59;  "  Dartmouth  Men  in  Execu- 
tive Branches  of  National  Government,"  Secretary  Proctor  '51 ;  "  Dartmouth  Men  as  Leg- 
islators," Hon.  Nelson  Dingley  '55  ;  "  Dartmouth  Men  in  Science,"  Dr.  W.  W.  Godding 
'54 ;  "  Dartmouth  Men  in  Legal  Profession,"  Gen.  R.  D.  Mussey  '54 ;  "  Honorary 
Degrees,"  Hon.  O.  C.  Moore  hon. ;  "Army  and  Navy,"  Dr.  H.  M.  Wells  '57  ;  "Journal- 
ism," Hon.  A.  W.  Campbell  non-grad.  The  guests  were  W.  B.  Greeley  '81,  J.  C.  Dore  '47, 
J.  P.  Fulsome  '54,  and  Hon.  J.  W.  Mason,  Hon.  A.  W.  Campbell,  Dr.  G.  A.  French,  V. 
E.  Hodges,  Charles  R.  Dodge,  non-graduates. 

The  annual  meeting  and  dinner  of  the  New  York  Alumni  Association  took  place  at  Del- 
monico's  on  the  evening  of  Jauuary  24.  Resolutions  of  regret  were  adopted  on  the  death 
of  Frederick  Chase,  the  late  treasurer  of  the  college.  These  officers  were  chosen  for  the 
coming  year :  President,  Gilman  H.  Tucker  '61  ;  secretary,  Harold  G.  Bullard  '84  ;  corre- 
sponding secretary,  Herbert  S.  Carpenter  '88 ;  treasurer,  Ernest  H.  Lines  '82 ;  musical 
director,  Addison  F.  Andrews  '78.  At  the  dinner  toasts  were  responded  to  by  George  A. 
Marden  '61  of  Massachusetts,  Charles  L.  Dana  '72,  Charles  R.  Miller  '72,  Francis  Brown 
'70,  and  H.  L.  Smith  '69. 

At  the  recent  annual  meeting  of  the  Phoenix  Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Company,  the  fol- 
lowing were  elected  officers :  L.  S.  Morrill  '65,  A.  B.  Thompson  '58,  A.  R.  Evans  '72, 
directors  ;  L.  S.  Morrill  president,  and  A.  B.  Thompson  vice-president. 

The  alumni  of  the  New  Hampshire  College  of  Agriculture  and  Mechanic  Arts,  in  Boston 
and  vicinity,  recently  had  their  eleventh  annual  dinner  at  Young's  hotel.  Mr.  Harvey  L. 
Boutwell  '82  presided,  and  there  were  twenty-five  members  present.     Prof.  C.  W.  Scott '74 


ALUMNI  NOTES.  207 

was  among  the  guests.  At  the  business  meeting  E.  M.  Willard  '75  was  elected  president ; 
A.  H.  Woods  '85,  W.  W.  Kimball  '76,  R.  F.  Burleigh  '82,  and  W.  F.  Flint  '77,  vice-presi- 
dents; E.  H.  Wason,  secretary  and  treasurer;  H.  L.  Bullard,  corresponding  secretary; 
George  H.  Whitcher  '81,  E.  P.  Dewey  '82,  and  Homer  Brooks  '77,  executive  committee. 

The  Fire  Underwriters'  Association  at  its  recent  annual  meeting  elected  the  following  to 
office  :  A.  B.  Thompson  '58,  B.  A.  Kimball  '54  C.  S.  S.,  L.  S.  Morrill  '65,  E.  G.  Leach  '71, 
I.  A.  Chase  '77,  and  A.  R.  Evans  '72,  directors ;  A.  B.  Thompson  vice-president. 

A  portrait  in  oil  of  Hon.  Mills  Olcott  1790  has  just  been  presented  to  the  college  by  the 
widow  of  the  late  president,  Samuel  G.  Brown  '31.  Mr.  Olcott  was  the  son  of  Lieutenant- 
Governor  Peter  Olcott  1790  hon.,  of  Vermont.  He  was  treasurer  of  the  college  from  1816 
to  1821,  and  a  trustee  from  1821  to  1845.  One  of  his  daughters  was  the  wife  of  Rufus 
Choate  '19,  another  of  Hon.  Joseph  Bell  '07,  and  another  of  Hon.  William  H.  Duncan  '30. 

'20.  Hon.  George  W.  Nesmith  has  been  chosen  president  of  the  Congregational  society 
in  Franklin. 

'24  Med.  Coll.  Thomas  Bassett,  for  sixty  years  a  prominent  physician  of  Rockingham 
county,  died  recently  at  Kingston.  He  was  born  Aug.  12,  1797.  For  fifty  years  he  was  in 
litigation  with  the  Salisbury  Manufacturing  Company,  of  Salisbury,  Mass.,  over  the  rights 
of  the  company  to  flow  his  land  bordering  on  the  Powow  river.  The  case  went  several 
times  to  the  supreme  court  on  questions  of  law,  and  is  the  most  prolonged  suit  ever  known 
in  New  Hampshire,  if  not  in  New  England.  The  suit  began  with  Daniel  Webster  '01  as 
counsel  for  the  plaintiff,  who  was  succeeded  by  John  Sullivan  '49  hon.,  John  S.  Wells  '57 
hon.,  Amos  Tuck  '35,  and  Gilman  Marston  '37. 

'33.  Dr.  Edward  Spalding  has  been  elected  one  of  the  directors  by  the  Jackson  Com- 
pany of  Nashua. 

'^.  Dr.  Daniel  Bateman  Cutter,  of  Peterborough,  died  recently  at  nearly  eighty-two 
years  of  age.  He  was  born  in  Jaffrey,  May  10,  1808,  and  was  the  oldest  of  nine  children, 
being  a  brother  of  Hon.  E.  S.  Cutter  44,  of  Nashua,  and  Isaac  J.  Cutter,  Esq.,'52,  of  Boston. 
He  fitted  for  college  at  Kimball  Union  Academy,  studied  medicine  at  Harvard  and  Yale, 
and  began  practice  in  Ashby,  Mass.,  in  1835.  After  a  couple  of  years'  practice  he  was 
induced  to  settle  in  Peterborough,  where  he  ever  afterwards  lived.  He  was  always  promi- 
nent in  town  affairs.  He  was  for  many  years  superintendent  of  schools,  and  a  member  of 
the  legislature  and  constitutional  convention  in  1852.  He  was  active  in  the  organization 
and  management  of  the  Peterborough  Savings  Bank.  He  also  published  a  history  of  Jaf- 
frey. 

'36.  President  Bartlett  delivered  an  address  at  the  quarterly  session  of  the  Merrimack 
Valley  Congregational  Club,  held  at  Haverhill,  Mass. 

'40.  Rev.  E.  F.  Slafter  lately  read  a  paper  before  the  Bostonian  Society  on  "  The  Dis- 
covery of  America  by  the  Norsemen." 

'40.  George  P,  Hadley  read  an  interesting  paper  on  "  Former  Town  Houses  "  at  the 
dedication  of  the  new  town  hall  at  Goffstown. 

'43.  Lorenzo  Clay,  of  Gardiner,  Me.,  died  January  30  of  paralysis  of  the  throat,  aged 
72  years.  Mr.  Clay  was  born  at  Candia.  After  graduating  he  taught  school  in  Vermont, 
and  went  to  Gardiner  in  1845,  forming  a  partnership  with  Hon.  George  Evans  in  the  prac- 
tice of  law.     He  was  a  very  successful  lawyer,  especially  before  a  jury,  his  preparation 


208  ALUMNI  NOTES. 

being  always  careful  and  accurate.  He  had  been  county  attorney  of  Kennebec  county, 
and  also  representative  in  the  legislature,  besides  holding  many  places  of  trust  in  munici- 
pal matters.     He  leaves  a  widow  and  three  children. 

'44.  Amos  Hadley,  Ph.  D.,  of  Concord,  delivered  the  annual  address  before  the 
Unitarian  Female  Benevolent  Association  of  that  city. 

'45.  William  Henry  Leland  Smith  died  recently  at  his  home  in  Dorchester,  Mass., 
after  an  illness  of  three  months.  Mr.  Smith  was  well  known  in  the  Masonic  and  yachting 
circles  of  Boston,  as  well  as  in  the  business  world.  Born  at  Ludlow,  Vt.,  Nov.  16,  1824, 
he  was  taken  at  an  early  age  to  Lowell,  Mass.,  where  he  received  his  preliminary  educa- 
tion. After  graduating  from  college  he  attended  the  Harvard  Law  School,  and  received 
his  degree  of  LL.  B.  in  1848.  He  at  once  began  the  practice  of  law  in  Dorchester,  and  there 
remained  except  for  a  short  interval.  During  that  interval,  in  1866  or  '67,  he  became  the 
first  mayor  of  the  city  of  Corry,  Penn.  In  Boston  Mr.  Smith  has  been  trustee  of  the 
Dorchester  Yacht  Club,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  Commodore  of  the  Boston  Yacht 
Club.  He  was  Past  Master  of  Mt.  Lebanon  Lodge,  Past  H.  P.  of  St.  Paul's  R.  A. 
Chapter,  a  member  of  Boston  Council  R.  and  S.  Masters,  a  member  of  Boston  Com- 
mandery  K.  T.,  of  which  body  he  was  recorder.  He  was  one  of  the  California  pilgrims 
of  the  latter  body.  He  was  Grand  King  of  the  Grand  R.  A.  Chapter  of  Massachusetts 
in  1858,  of  Knights  Templars  in  i858-'6o. 

'46.  Isaac  W.  Smith,  LL.  D.,  of  the  board  of  trustees,  has  been  appointed  by  the  board 
to  superintend  the  publication  of  the  second  decennial  catalogue.  He  has  selected  Prof. 
C.  F.  Richardson  '71  to  aid  him  in  the  work,  and  has  appointed  John  M.  Comstock  '77, 
of  Chelsea,  Vt,  editor. 

'47.  A  portrait  of  the  late  ex-Congressman  Samuel  N.  Bell,  of  Manchester,  is  to  be 
presented  to  the  trustees  of  the  public  library  in  Manchester,  of  which  the  deceased  was 
treasurer  from  its  organization  to  his  death. 

'47.  Hon.  Charles  C.  Colby,  of  Stanstead,  P.  Q.,  who  has  been  appointed  a  member  of 
the  Dominion  cabinet,  is  said  to  be  the  first  American  who  ever  entered  the  Canadian 
parliament.  He  has  been  in  parliament  for  the  past  twenty-five  years.  He  was  elected 
deputy  speaker  two  years  ago,  and  was  instrumental  in  getting  the  Canadian  Pacific  Rail- 
road through,  going  to  England  and  France  to  secure  subscriptions  for  that  purpose.  He 
is  one  of  the  directors  of  the  new  South  American  companies,  and  is  one  of  the  principal 
movers  in  the  new  chemical  phosphate  company,  which  proposes  to  utilize  the  waste  cop- 
per in  the  mines  along  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railroad. 

'49.  A  portrait  of  the  late  Judge  Clinton  W.  Stanley,  of  the  New  Hampshire  Supreme 
Court,  will  be  presented  by  Mrs.  Stanley  to  the  state,  to  be  hung  in  the  capitol  at  Con- 
cord. 

'51.  Judge  Jonathan  Ross  has  been  elected  vice-president  of  the  First  National  Bank 
of  St.  Johnsbury,  Vt. ;  Col.  Franklin  Fairbanks  77'  hon.  was  reelected  president. 

'53.  At  the  recent  meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  in  Boston,  Rev.  Henry  Fairbanks 
presented  the  needs  of  the  rural  districts,  telling  of  a  careful  canvass  of  forty  typical  towns 
in  Vermont,  in  all  of  which  there  were  no  church  services.  The  facts  were  classified  and 
exhibited  on  large  colored  charts. 

'55.     Hon.  Walbridge  A.  Field  is  vice-president  of  the  Vermont  Association  of  Boston. 


ALUMNI  NOTES.  209 

'56.  Lieutenant-Governor  Haile  of  Massachusetts  says  he  shall  not  be  a  candidate  for 
governor  to  succeed  Gov.  Brackett.  He  is  quite  content  with  his  present  position,  and  if 
allowed  to  remain  there  during  Gov.  Brackett's  term  of  service  he  will  then  gladly  retire. 

'56.  Ex-Gov.  B.  F.  Prescott  has  been  elected  president  of  the  Bennington  Battle  Monu- 
ment Association. 

'57  C.  S.  S.  Prof.  Charles  C.  Rounds,  principal  of  the  Normal  School  at  Plymouth, 
has  accepted  an  invitation  to  deliver  an  address  before  the  graduating  class  of  Robinson 
Academy  at  Exeter,  and  is  to  present  the  diplomas. 

'57.  Ex-Gov.  Samuel  E.  Pingree  was  chosen  one  of  the  delegates  from  the  Department 
of  Vermont  G.  A.  R.  to  the  National  Encampment,  to  be  held  in  Boston  next  August. 
Dr.  Gates  B.  Bullard  '55  Med.  Coll.  was  also  elected  a  delegate. 

'58.  Joseph  W.  Fellows  has  been  elected  chairman  of  the  corporation  of  the  Masonic 
Orphans'  Home  in  Manchester. 

'60.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Second  church,  Dorchester,  Mass.,  the  reports  pre- 
sented showed  a  year  of  unusual  interest  and  success.  The  present  membership  of  the 
church  is  461,  of  whom  75  have  joined  since  the  coming  of  the  present  pastor,  Rev.  Arthur 
Little,  D.  D.,  who  left  the  New  England  church,  Chicago,  to  accept  the  pastorate  of  the 
Second  church  one  year  ago.  The  church  has  enjoyed  great  prosperity  since  the  coming 
of  Dr.  Little,  whose  faithful  work  and  genial  presence  have  endeared  him  to  his  people. 

'60.  Frederick  Chase,  treasurer  of  the  college,  died  after  a  brief  illness  at  his  home  in 
this  place,  January  19.  His  strength  had  been  so  taxed  by  work  during  the  last  few  weeks, 
that  when  attacked  by  disease  he  was  unable  to  rally  from  it.  The  news  of  his  death  was 
a  shock  to  all,  and  the  wide  circle  of  those  who  knew  him  mourn  a  great  loss.  He  was 
one  who  confined  his  labors  neither  to  the  town  nor  to  the  college,  but  included  both,  as  well 
as  the  county  and  the  state.  His  pleasant,  genial  bearing  toward  the  students,  his  mani- 
fested interest  in  their  undertakings,  and  his  kindly  advice  and  help  to  many  personally, 
endeared  him  to  all.  Mr.  Chase  was  born  at  Hanover,  September  2,  1840,  and  was  the 
son  of  Prof.  Stephen  Chase  '32.  He  was  fitted  for  college  partly  here  and  partly  at  Phil- 
lips Academy,  Andover,  Mass.  After  graduating  from  college  he  studied  law  in  the  office 
of  Hon.  Daniel  Blaisdell  '27  of  Hanover,  for  several  months,  and  then  was  appointed  as 
clerk  in  the  office  of  the  second  auditor  in  Washington.  This  position  he  held  three  years, 
when  he  was  transferred  to  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  where  he  soon 
became  chief  clerk".  While  thus  engaged  he  still  pursued  his  legal  studies,  and  graduated 
from  Columbia  College  Law  School  in  1867.  Soon  after,  he  resigned  his  position  in  the 
treasury  department  and  became  head  of  the  legal  firm  of  Chase,  Hartley  &  Coleman,  of 
Washington  and  New  York.  The  firm  was  very  successful,  but  Mr.  Chase  was  compelled 
by  ill-health  to  sever  his  connection  with  it  in  1874.  In  1875  ne  was  elected  treasurer  of  the 
college,  and  the  year  following  was  appointed  judge  of  probate  for  Grafton  county,  both  of 
which  positions  he  held  at  the  time  of  his  death.  He  has  also  been  president  of  the  Han- 
over Aqueduct  Association  for  fourteen  years.  Judge  Chase  had  a  great  taste  for  histori- 
cal research,  and  had  for  the  past  seven  or  eight  years  been  collecting  valuable  material 
for  a  history  of  the  college  and  the  town,  the  first  volume  of  which  is  wholly  written,  and  a 
part  of  it  in  the  hands  of  the  printer.  The  second  volume  is  mainly  prepared,  needing 
only  correction  and  revision.     An  aged  mother,  a  widow,  and  five  children  survive  him. 

'61.  Hon.  George  A.  Marden  received  the  honor  of  an  invitation  to  attend,  as  a  guest 
and  speaker,  the  dinner  of  the  New  England  Society  of  New  York,  on  Forefathers'  Day. 


2IO  ALUMNI  NOTES. 


He  has  also  accepted  an  invitation  to  make  an  address  at  the  annual  banquet  of  the  New 
Hampshire  Lincoln  Club,  to  be  held  in  Concord  on  February  14. 

'63.  Col.  Thomas  Cogswell  was  elected  department  commander  at  the  recent  state 
encampment  at  Manchester.     George  E.  Hodgdon  '61  was  elected  senior  vice-commander. 

'63.  The  senate  has  confirmed  the  nomination  of  Jesse  Johnson  as  United  States  attor- 
ney for  the  Eastern  District  of  New  York. 

'63.  The  Hon.  W.  L.  Burnap  has  been  elected  one  of  the  delegates  of  the  Vermont 
Republican  League  to  the  National  League  meeting,  to  be  held  at  Nashville,  Tenn., 
March  4. 

'63  Med.  Coll.  George  E.  Pinkham  has  been  appointed  pension  examining  surgeon  at 
Lowell,  Mass. 

'64.  John  Luther  Foster,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Lisbon,  died  at  his  home  January  17. 
He  was  born  September  15,  1837.  After  graduation  he  went  to  Charleston,  S.  C,  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  war,  with  Major  I.  O.  Dewey,  as  pay-master's  clerk.  He  afterwards 
read  law  with  Morrison  &  Stanley  in  Manchester,  and  practised  his  profession  for  a  time 
in  Boston  and  at  Littleton, — being  judge  of  the  police  court  at  the  latter  place  for  some 
time.  He  removed  to  Lisbon  about  ten  years  ago,  where,  in  addition  to  the  discharge  of 
the  duties  of  his  profession,  he  has  held  various  positions  of  honor  and  responsibility.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  last  constitutional  convention,  was  for  years  chairman  of  the  board 
of  education,  and,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  chairman  of  the  board  of  selectmen.  He  leaves 
a  widow  and  three  children. 

'65  Med.  Coll.  J.  R.  Cogswell,  of  Warner,  has  been  chosen  president  of  the  Kearsarge 
Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Association,  representing  about  fourteen  towns. 

'66.  Henry  C.  Ide,  of  St.  Johnsbury,  Vt.,  is  spending  the  winter  in  the  South.  Although 
improved  in  health,  he  has  never  fully  recovered  from  his  carriage  accident  of  last  spring, 
and  complete  rest  from  all  business  cares  is  deemed  necessary. 

'70.  Principal  C.  E.  Putney  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  the  Teachers'  Institute,  held 
under  the  direction  of  State  Superintendent  Palmer  '62,  at  St.  Johnsbury,  Vt.,  January  16. 
A.  H.  Campbell  '77,  of  the  Johnson  Normal  School,  also  delivered  an  address. 

'71  C.  S.  S.  Dr.  Charles  A.  Fairbanks  has  been  elected  city  physician  of  Dover.  Dr. 
Fairbanks  has  also  been  chosen  president  of  the  Strafford  District  Medical  Society. 

'71.  Judge  Charles  W.  Hoitt,  of  the  Nashua  municipal  court,  has  resumed  his  duties 
after  a  long  sickness. 

'73.     George  H.  Adams,  of  Plymouth,  has  been  appointed  deputy  by  Collector  French. 

'74  Med.  Coll.  Charles  Warren  Hackett,  a  well  known  physician  of  Maiden,  Mass., 
died  recently  at  his  home  there.  He  had  only  lately  recovered  from  an  attack  of  pneu- 
monia. Mr.  Hackett  was  born  at  Falmouth,  and  had  resided  in  Maiden  twelve  years.  A 
widow  survives  him. 

'74.  Prof.  C.  H.  Pettee  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Executive  Committee,  for  a  two- 
years  term,  at  the  recent  meeting  of  the  State  Grange,  held  in  Manchester.  Hon.  John  D. 
Lyman  '69  hon.,  of  Exeter,  was  elected  to  his  fifteenth  year  as  lecturer. 

'76  Med.  Coll.  Solomon  Walker  Young,  of  Pittsfield,  formerly  a  well  known  resident 
of  Lynn,  Mass.,  has  died  at  his  home  after  a  very  brief  illness  from  bronchitis.    Dr.  Young 


ALUMNI  NOTES.  211 

came  of  a  sterling  old  Portsmouth  ancestry,  both  of  his  parents  coming  from  thei-e.  He 
was  born  at  Alexandria.  His  early  school  life  was  very  limited,  but  he  was  an  indefatiga- 
ble student.  At  fifteen  he  was  nearly  ready  to  enter  college.  He  attended  one  term  at 
Gilmanton  Academy  and  one  at  the  academy  at  Pittsfield,  of  which  he  was  principal  for 
one  year.  Thence  he  went  to  Exeter,  but  failing  health  prevented  him  from  completing 
the  course.  There  he  evinced  a  marked  taste  for  poetry,  and  he  began  to  write  in  verse, 
composing  several  short  poems  of  merit.  This  taste,  first  manifested  at  the  age  of  sixteen* 
developed  rapidly.  From  eighteen  to  twenty-two  he  wrote  much,  and  cultivated  his 
acquaintance  with  the  standard  poets  with  great  assiduity.  He  abandoned  teaching,  but 
went  to  work  at  the  shoemaker's  bench,  and  learned  the  trade  thoroughly.  He  was  mar- 
ried at  nineteen,  and,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion,  enlisted  in  the  Twelfth  New  Hamp- 
shire Volunteers,  in  Capt.  Barker's  company,  from  Barnstead  and  Gilmanton,  and  took  part 
in  the  operations  in  the  Shenandoah  valley  and  in  the  Battle  of  Fredericksburg.  Returning 
from  the  war  in  1864,  after  his  wife's  death,  he  again  resumed  his  old  occupation  as  teacher, 
and  in  1866  entered  upon  the  study  of  medicine.  He  went  to  Lynn,  Mass.,  in  1869,  and 
continued  his  studies  with  Dr.  David  Drew  '42,  and  attended  lectures  at  the  Harvard 
Medical  School  in  187 1  and  1872.  He  did  not  engage  in  general  practice  for  several  years 
after  graduating,  but. continued  to  receive  young  students.  His  first  practice  was  in  Lynn, 
where  he  drew  around  him  a  large  circle  of  friends,  attracted  by  his  geniality  and  peculiar 
magnetism.  Failing  health  led  him  to  return  to  his  old  home  in  this  state  at  the  end  of  a 
year,  and  he  settled  in  practice  at  Barnstead,  from  which  he  removed  to  Pittsfield 'subse- 
quently. While  in  Lynn  he  warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  the  workingmen,  and  was  ever 
a  loyal  champion  of  the  rights  of  labor.  In  this  state  Dr.  Young  became  a  very  successful 
practitioner.  He  again  exercised  his  poetical  gifts,  and  "  Legends  and  Lyrics,"  a  volume 
of  poems  from  his  pen,  is  in  press,  and  was  about  to  be  issued.  He  wrote  but  little  in 
prose,  and  his  writings  were  confined  to  practical  essays  on  the  labor  question  and  con- 
tributions for  the  newspapers.     He  leaves  two  children. 

'76.  The  Fourteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  class,  recently  published  by  the  secretary, 
Mr.  William  H.  Gardiner,  contains  thirty-four  pages  of  very  interesting  matter.  We  give 
the  addresses  of  the  graduates  represented  :  J.  E.  Abbott,  Byculla,  Bombay,  India  ;  H.  M. 
Andrews,  New  York;  W.  A.  Barr,  Bergen  Point,  N.  J. ;  R.  P.  Barrett,  Hot  Springs,  N.  C.j 
H.  J.  Barton,  Normal,  111. ;  G.  H.  Bridgman,  Elizabeth,  N.  J. ;  W.  H.  Brooks,  Holyoke, 
Mass.;  E.  D.  Brown,  Minneapolis,  Minn.;  C.  E.  Gate,  Haverhill,  Mass.;  L.  C.  Clark,  San 
Francisco ;  A.  B.  Crawford,  Oldtown,  Me. ;  F.  W.  Ernst,  Franconia ;  S.  M.  Fairfield,  New 
York;  T.  Flint,  Brooklyn;  John  Foster,  Manchester;  H.  M.  French,  Concord;  W.  C. 
Frost,  Colorado  Springs,  Col. ;  F.  G.  Gale,  Waterville,  P.  Q. ;  S.  C.  Gamble,  Circleville,  O.; 
W.  H.  Gardiner,  Chicago;  G.  Goodhue,  Dayton,  O.;  E.  A.  Greeley,  New  York;  R.  F. 
Hall,  New  York  ;  F.  H.  Hardison,  Somerville,  Mass. ;  L.  V.  Haskell,  Stromsburg,  Neb. ; 

A.  Hay,  Chicago ;  C.  B.  Hibbard,  Laconia ;  E.  T.  Hodsdon,  Schuyler,  Neb. ;  J.  M.  Holt, 
Marshalltown,  la. ;  T.  C.  Hunt,  Riverside,  Cal. ;  E.  A.  Jones,  Stoughton,  Mass. ;  F.  L. 
Justice,  Logansport,  Ind.;  A.  H.  Kenerson,  Boston  ;  J.  Kivel,  Dover;  M.  E.  McClary, 
Malone,  N.  Y. ;  F.  M.  McCutchins,  Boston ;  J.  F.  McElroy,  Albany,  N.  Y. ;  P.  T.  Mar- 
shall, Manistee,  Mich. ;  S.  Merrill,  North  Cambridge,  Mass. ;  L.  W.  Morey,  Lowell,  Mass. ; 
W.   R.  Patterson,  Chicago;    H.  G.  Peabody,  Boston;    H.  H.  Piper,  Somerville,  Mass.; 

B.  H.  Roberts,  North  Chili,  N.  Y. ;  H.  D.  Ryder,  Bellows  Falls,  Vt. ;  E.  P.  Sanborn,  St. 
Paul,  Minn.;  C.  S.  Sargent,  Adams,  Mass.;  W.  S.  Sayres,  Montevideo,  Minn.;  F.  B. 
Sherburne,  Lowell,  Mass.;  J.  W.  Staples,  Franklin  Falls;   L.  L.  Stimpson,  Boston;  E.  C. 


212 


ALUMNI  NOTES. 


Stimpson,  Aspen,  Col.;  E.  C.  Stone,  Waynesburgh,  Pa.;  F.  P.  Thayer,  Boston ;  H.  F. 
Towle,  Brooklyn;  G.  H.  Tripp,  Fairhaven,  Mass. ;  William  Twombly,  Washington,  D.  C; 
W.  B.  Vanderpoel,  New  York;  B.  J.  Wertheimer,  Chicago;  C.  W.  Whitcomb,  Boston; 
R.  P.  Williams,  Boston;  C.  H.  Woods,  Daggett,  Cal. 

'79.     Ashton  R.  Willard,  of  Boston,  has  an  able  and  scholarly  article  in  the  New  Eng- 
land Magazine  for  January,  entitled  "  The  New  England  Meeting-house,  and  the  Wren 
.  Church."     The  article  is  highly  praised   by  literary  critics,  and   abounds   in   interesting 
reminiscences  of  Boston. 

'79.  Hiram  D.  Upton,  of  Manchester,  has  been  elected  treasurer  of  the  Lake  Sunapee 
Hotel  Company,  and  Charles  H.  Bartlett  '81  hon.  a  director.  The  company  is  to  purchase 
the  Runals  House  and  enlarge  it. 

'81  Med.  Coll.  G.  H.  Powers,  of  Acworth,  has  been  chosen  president  of  the  Union  of 
the  Young  People's  Societies  of  Christian  Endeavor  in  Sullivan  county. 

'83.  Rev.  John  H.  Sellers,  recently  of  Goffstown,  has  accepted  a  call  to  Grace  Episco- 
pal church  at  Brookfield,  Mo. 

'83.  Rev.  Edward  L.  Gulick  was  recently  ordained  pastor  of  the  Union  Congregational 
church  at  Groton,  Mass. 

'83.  Rev.  W.  H.  Marble,  late  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  in  Enfield,  has 
located  at  Wallace,  Kansas. 

'84.  Rev.  James  C.  Flanders,  of  Claremont,  has  accepted  the  rectorship  of  Christ's 
church  at  Montpelier,  Vt. 

'85.  Rev.  A.  H.  Armes  has  been  ordained  as  an  evangelist,  and  licensed  to  preach  at 
Goff's  Falls  and  Londonderry. 

'87.  M.  W.  Morse  has  received  the  first  award  of  the  John  S.  Wells  fellowship  in  the 
Hartford  Theological  Seminary. 

'88.  R.  N.  Fairbanks  was  married,  January  1,  to  Camilla  Van  Kleeck  in  the  Collegiate 
Reformed  Dutch  Church,  New  York  city. 

'89.     J.  I.  Buck  was  married,  January  18,  to  Ellen  K.  Jerauld  at  East  Harwick,  Mass. 

'89.     John  C.  Ross  is  reading  law  with  Ossian  Ray  '69  hon.,  of  Lancaster. 

'89.  E.  I.  Ross  has  accepted  a  unanimous  call  to  supply  the  pulpit  of  the  Congrega- 
tional church  at  Wentworth  for  a  year. 

'89.  J.  R.  Perkins  is  principal  of  the  Mechanic  Falls  high  school,  Androscoggin  county, 
Maine. 

'89  C.  S.  S.     Andersen  is  in  the  publishing  business  in  New  York  city. 

'89.  Barrett  has  resigned  his  position  in  Hopkins  academy,  Oakland,  Cal.  He  has  been 
offered  the  managing  editorship  of  a  paper  in  Oregon. 


THE 


Dartmouth  Literary  Monthly. 

M  IV.  MARCH,  1890.  No.  6. 

BOARD    OF   EDITORS: 

I  H.  GEROULD.  G.  S.  MILLS.  C.  F.  ROBINSON. 

H.  S.  HOPKINS.  C.  M.  SMITH. 

C.  A.  PERKINS,  Business  Manager. 


MODERN  COLLEGE  ATHLETICS  AT  DARTMOUTH. 

1. 

The  article  in  the  November  number  of  this  magazine,  on 
w  Early  College  Athletics  at  Dartmouth,"  by  the  late  lamented 
fudge  Chase,  class  of '60,  has  rightly  drawn  the  line  between  the 
early  and  the  modern.  The  erection  of  the  Gymnasium  in  i866-'7, 
through  the  generosity  and  thoughtful  kindness  of  the  Hon. 
George  H.  Bissell,  class  of '45,  marks  the  transition  from  the  irreg- 
ular, spasmodic,  and  unscientific  athletic  training,  to  the  system- 
atic, methodical,  and  symmetrical  training  which  is  becoming  more 
and  more  woven  into  the  very  fabric  of  college  education. 

It  is  impossible  for  one  not  conversant  with  the  condition  of 
things  at  that  time  fully  to  appreciate  the  enthusiasm  manifested  by 
the  students  at  the  opening  of  Bissell  hall.  Rules  and  regula- 
tions, controlling  and  limiting  the  exercises,  were  issued,  and  were 
found  necessary  to  prevent  excessive  use.  Regular  exercises  in 
the  "  light  gymnastics"  were  required  of  all  the  students  for  a  half 
hour  on  four  days  in  the  week  throughout  the  year,  under  the 
guidance  and  direction  of  an  expert  in  physical  training,  Mr.  F. 
G.  Welch,  who  had  been  called  from  Yale  college  to  open  the 
Gymnasium,  and  to  give  an  impetus  in  the  right  direction. 
Under  Mr.  Welch's  leadership  the  regular  exercises  flourished, 
and  were  popular  with  the  students.     Considerable  attention  was 


214  MODERN  COLLEGE  ATHLETICS  AT  DARTMOUTH. 

also  given  to  the  so  called  "  heavy  gymnastics"  and  to  boxing: 
the  writer  well  remembers  putting  on  the  gloves,  and  going  within 
the  ropes,  to  meet  another  member  of  Dartmouth's  present  faculty, 
at  a  tournament  given  in  the  Gymnasium.  Exhibitions  were  fre- 
quently given  during  the  spring  term  in  Bissell  hall,  which 
attracted  large  and  enthusiastic  gatherings ;  and  the  gymnastic 
exhibition  given  on  the  Campus  on  Wednesday  afternoon  of  Com- 
mencement week  called  together  the  largest  assembly  of  the  week. 
This  exercise  was  considered  so  important  and  attractive  that  it 
was  deemed  worthy  of  a  place  on  the  regular  schedule  of  the  exer- 
cises of  the  great  Centennial  Celebration  of  the  college  in  1869. 

The  salutary  influence  of  the  Gymnasium  and  of  the  regular 
instruction  given  in  it  was  clearly  recognized  by  the  resident 
physicians,  as  well  as  by  the  non-resident  lecturers  at  their  annual 
visits,  as  manifested  by  the  improved  physiques,  and  the  generally 
healthy  and  vigorous  condition,  of  the  students.  From  an  editorial 
in  a  periodical  issued  by  the  students  in  the  spring  of  1867, 1  quote 
the  following  : 

"  Dartmouth  has  now  a  Gymnasium  which,  taken  as  a  whole, 
has  no  equal  in  New  England.  We  believe  that  the  advantage  of 
physical  training  will  be  perceived,  not  only  in  our  base-ball  and 
other  muscular  contests,  but  even  in  the  literary  ability  and  gen- 
eral character  of  the  students." 

With  such  an  impetus  given  to  physical  training,  occasioned  by 
the  facilities  afforded  by  the  then  well  equipped  Gymnasium,  no 
one  was  surprised  at  the  interest  naturally  taken  in  general  athletic 
sports.  The  students  were  eager  for  opportunities  to  try  their 
strength  and  skill  with  other  collegians  in  contests  of  various 
kinds. 

Judge  Chase  spoke  highly  of  foot-ball,  when  played  as  the  dis- 
tinctive "  Dartmouth  game,"  and  it  had  many  good  features,  but 
its  limitations  occasioned  its  discontinuance.  When  played  as  the 
"  Social  and  Frater"  game,  or  as  "  Old  division,"  it  was  exhilarat- 
ing and  healthful  in  all  respects ;  but  in  other  forms  there  were 
many  unfortunate  results  attending  it,  which  at  various  times  com- 
pelled its  prohibition  by  the  faculty.     The  game,  especially  when 


MODERN  COLLEGE  ATHLETICS  AT  DARTMOUTH.  215 

between  members  of  the  two  lower  classes,  almost  inevitably 
resulted  in  rough  and  protracted  "  rushes"  which  were  injurious 
to  person  and  destructive  to  property.  Without  the  attendant 
excitement  of  the  rush,  the  game  soon  found  few  enthusiastic 
admirers,  and  was  abandoned.  It  should  be  said  that  the  game, 
though  "under  the  ban"  for  a  series  of  years,  was  revived  in  the 
autumn  of  187 1  by  the  adoption  of  a  series  of  new  rules,  prepared 
by  a  committee  and  accepted  by  the  college,  which  changed  the 
style  of  playing  very  much.  Under  these  rules  the  game  was 
played  for  several  years  with  varying  success,  until  the  advent  of 
Rugby  a  few  years  since,  which  has  entirely  supplanted  it,  except 
as  a  means  of  calling  out  the  new  men  at  the  opening  of  the  col- 
lege year.  Graduates  of  ten  or  more  years'  standing,  on  their 
return  to  Dartmouth,  express  regrets  at  the  disappearance  of  this 
old  game  ;  but  they  must  remember  that  the  conditions  and  require- 
ments in  athletics  have  so  changed  that  it  does  not  meet  the  wants 
of  the  modern  athlete,  and  hence  has  given  way  to  other  forms  of 
sport. 

Class  feeling  ran  high  twenty  years  ago,  and  foot-ball  often 
fostered  and  increased  this  spirit.  At  the  same  time  there  was 
springing  up  in  the  colleges  of  the  land  a  desire  for  intercollegiate 
contests.  As  the  Dartmouth  game  was  played  in  no  other  college 
or  town,  there  was  no  opportunity  for  the  students  to  test  their 
skill,  except  among  their  own  numbers.  ,  They  naturally  turned 
their  attention  to  such  sports  as  would  bring  them  in  touch  with 
other  collegians.  Boating  and  base-ball  offered  these  attractions 
to  a  greater  degree  than  the  old  game  of  foot-ball,  and  hence 
were  destined  soon  to  supplant  it  in  popular  favor. 

The  proximity  and  attractions  of  the  graceful  Connecticut  had 
for  a  long  time  been  recognized  by  a  few  among  the  students,  and 
several  private  canoes,  with  a  few  class  boats,  were  to  be  seen 
gliding  smoothly  on  its  surface  between  1865  and  1872  ;  but  it  was 
not  till  September  of  the  latter  year  that  a  college  boat-club  was 
duly  organized.  Enthusiasm  ran  high,  and  contributions  to  the 
amount  of  $2,000  were  secured  with  no  great  difficulty  from  the 
undergraduates,  alumni,   and    friends    of  the   students.     A   boat- 


214  MODERN  COLLEGE  ATHLETICS  AT  DARTMOUTH. 

also  given  to  the  so  called  "heavy  gymnastics"  and  to  boxing: 
the  writer  well  remembers  putting  on  the  gloves,  and  going  within 
the  ropes,  to  meet  another  member  of  Dartmouth's  present  faculty, 
at  a  tournament  given  in  the  Gymnasium.  Exhibitions  were  fre- 
quently given  during  the  spring  term  in  Bissell  hall,  which 
attracted  large  and  enthusiastic  gatherings ;  and  the  gymnastic 
exhibition  given  on  the  Campus  on  Wednesday  afternoon  of  Com- 
mencement week  called  together  the  largest  assembly  of  the  week. 
This  exercise  was  considered  so  important  and  attractive  that  it 
was  deemed  worthy  of  a  place  on  the  regular  schedule  of  the  exer- 
cises of  the  great  Centennial  Celebration  of  the  college  in  1869. 

The  salutary  influence  of  the  Gymnasium  and  of  the  regular 
instruction  given  in  it  was  clearly  recognized  by  the  resident 
physicians,  as  well  as  by  the  non-resident  lecturers  at  their  annual 
visits,  as  manifested  by  the  improved  physiques,  and  the  generally 
healthy  and  vigorous  condition,  of  the  students.  From  an  editorial 
in  a  periodical  issued  by  the  students  in  the  spring  of  1867, 1  quote 
the  following  : 

"  Dartmouth  has  now  a  Gymnasium  which,  taken  as  a  whole, 
has  no  equal  in  New  England.  We  believe  that  the  advantage  of 
physical  training  will  be  perceived,  not  only  in  our  base-ball  and 
other  muscular  contests,  but  even  in  the  literary  ability  and  gen- 
eral character  of  the  students." 

With  such  an  impetus  given  to  physical  training,  occasioned  by 
the  facilities  afforded  by  the  then  well  equipped  Gymnasium,  no 
one  was  surprised  at  the  interest  naturally  taken  in  general  athletic 
sports.  The  students  were  eager  for  opportunities  to  try  their 
strength  and  skill  with  other  collegians  in  contests  of  various 
kinds. 

Judge  Chase  spoke  highly  of  foot-ball,  when  played  as  the  dis- 
tinctive "Dartmouth  game,"  and  it  had  many  good  features,  but 
its  limitations  occasioned  its  discontinuance.  When  played  as  the 
"  Social  and  Frater"  game,  or  as  "  Old  division,"  it  was  exhilarat- 
ing and  healthful  in  all  respects ;  but  in  other  forms  there  were 
many  unfortunate  results  attending  it,  which  at  various  times  com- 
pelled its  prohibition  by  the  faculty.     The  game,  especially  when 


MODERN  COLLEGE  ATHLETICS  AT  DARTMOUTH.  215 


between  members  of  the  two  lower  classes,  almost  inevitably 
resulted  in  rough  and  protracted  "  rushes"  which  were  injurious 
to  person  and  destructive  to  property.  Without  the  attendant 
excitement  of  the  rush,  the  game  soon  found  few  enthusiastic 
admirers,  and  was  abandoned.  It  should  be  said  that  the  game, 
though  "under  the  ban"  for  a  series  of  years,  was  revived  in  the 
autumn  of  187 1  by  the  adoption  of  a  series  of  new  rules,  prepared 
by  a  committee  and  accepted  by  the  college,  which  changed  the 
style  of  playing  very  much.  Under  these  rules  the  game  was 
played  for  several  years  with  varying  success,  until  the  advent  of 
Rugby  a  few  years  since,  which  has  entirely  supplanted  it,  except 
as  a  means  of  calling  out  the  new  men  at  the  opening  of  the  col- 
lege year.  Graduates  of  ten  or  more  years'  standing,  on  their 
return  to  Dartmouth,  express  regrets  at  the  disappearance  of  this 
old  game  ;  but  they  must  remember  that  the  conditions  and  require- 
ments in  athletics  have  so  changed  that  it  does  not  meet  the  wants 
of  the  modern  athlete,  and  hence  has  given  way  to  other  forms  of 
sport. 

Class  feeling  ran  high  twenty  years  ago,  and  foot-ball  often 
fostered  and  increased  this  spirit.  At  the  same  time  there  was 
springing  up  in  the  colleges  of  the  land  a  desire  for  intercollegiate 
contests.  As  the  Dartmouth  game  was  played  in  no  other  college 
or  town,  there  was  no  opportunity  for  the  students  to  test  their 
skill,  except  among  their  own  numbers.  .  They  naturally  turned 
their  attention  to  such  sports  as  would  bring  them  in  touch  with 
other  collegians.  Boating  and  base-ball  offered  these  attractions 
to  a  greater  degree  than  the  old  game  of  foot-ball,  and  hence 
were  destined  soon  to  supplant  it  in  popular  favor. 

The  proximity  and  attractions  of  the  graceful  Connecticut  had 
for  a  long  time  been  recognized  by  a  few  among  the  students,  and 
several  private  canoes,  with  a  few  class  boats,  were  to  be  seen 
gliding  smoothly  on  its  surface  between  1865  and  1872  ;  but  it  was 
not  till  September  of  the  latter  year  that  a  college  boat-club  was 
duly  organized.  Enthusiasm  ran  high,  and  contributions  to  the 
amount  of  $2,000  were  secured  with  no  great  difficulty  from  the 
undergraduates,  alumni,   and    friends    of  the   students.     A   boat- 


2l6  MODERN  COLLEGE  ATHLETICS  AT  DARTMOUTH. 

house  was  built  just  north  of  the  east  end  of  the  river  bridge, 
known  as  the  "  Ledyard  Free  Bridge,"  two  practice  boats  were 
purchased,  and  the  services  of  the  noted  John  Biglin  secured  foi 
training  a  crew.  After  about  three  weeks'  practice,  two  crews 
were  selected  to  enter  upon  active  and  systematic  training,  from 
which  the  contesting  crew  at  the  next  summer  regatta  was  to  be 
chosen.  These  crews  practised  on  the  river  till  driven  off  by  the 
severity  of  the  weather,  when  they  repaired  to  the  Gymnasium  tc 
pull  600  strokes  twice  a  day  through  the  winter  upon  sixty  pounc 
weights.  With  such  faithful  work  in  training  during  the  winter, 
it  was  not  surprising  that  the  interest  in  boating  continued  tc 
increase,  till,  by  the  last  of  June,  fully  $3,000  was  raised  for  boat- 
ing purposes,  and  a  strong  crew  selected  for  the  Intercollegiate 
Regatta  at  Springfield,  Mass.,  to  be  held  July  17,  1873,  the  firsl 
in  which  Dartmouth  was  represented  by  a  crew.  Though  eleven 
colleges  competed,  only  three — Yale,  Wesleyan,  and  Harvard — 
came  in  ahead  of  Dartmouth,  giving  a  position  quite  gratifying 
for  the  first  attempt.  A  glance  at  the  men,  strong,  robust,  and 
vigorous,  would  show  any  boating  critic  that  only  skill  and  expe- 
rience were  needed  to  pull  Dartmouth  to  the  front.  The  crew 
was  referred  to  by  the  New  York  Tribune  as  "  a  crew  of  giants, ,: 
in  a  letter  minutely  and  glowingly  descriptive  of  the  Dartmouth 
men,  which  appears  in  full  in  The  Anvil  of  July  10,  1873. 

The  fourth  position  in  the  first  regatta  was  quite  encouraging  to 
the  students,  and,  soon  after  the  opening  of  the  autumn  term,  crews 
were  selected  in  the  different  classes,  and  put  in  practice  for  class 
contests  to  be  held  later  in  the  term.  These  class  races  were 
very  popular,  and  attracted  many  visitors  to  the  river  banks,  arous- 
ing renewed  interest  in  this  manly  sport.  From  among  these  men 
was  selected,  in  the  summer  of  1874,  a  "  Varsity"  crew,  which,  at 
Saratoga,  in  July,  took  the  fourth  position  again  among  nine  boats. 
In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  the  class  races  were  continued 
with  more  enthusiasm  than  ever,  and  during  the  last  week  in 
October  was  rowed  the  most  interesting  and  exciting  race  ever 
witnessed  in  this  region.  It  was  between  the  classes  of '75  and 
'77  ;  and  though  the   Sophomores  took  the  lead  at  the  start,  the 


MODERN  COLLEGE  ATHLETICS  AT  DARTMOUTH.  217 

Seniors  pulled  their  boat  clearly  to  the  front  by  the  end  of  the  first 
mile.  From  this  point  the  race  was  very  close  and  exciting,  but 
finally  the  Seniors  were  unable  to  hold  their  position,  for  the  Sopho- 
mores passed  them,  and  reached  the  finish  line  first,  thus  winning 
the  college  pennant  for  1874.  (This  pennant,  now  among  the 
relics  in  Culver  hall,  is  highly  prized  by  the  '77  men  when  they 
return  to  Dartmouth.)  Excitement  ran  high,  and  the  victorious 
crew  were  drawn  through  the  streets  of  the  village  in  triumph  by 
their  rejoicing  classmates. 

To  show  the  position  taken  by  the  college  authorities  in  regard 
to  the  subject  of  boating,  let  me  quote  from  a  newspaper  report  of 
the  "Convention  of  the  New  England  College  Association,"  con- 
sisting of  ten  colleges,  and  represented  by  their  president  and  a 
delegate  from  the  Faculty,  held  in  Hanover  the  last  of  October, 
1874  :  "  We  are  informed  that  the  convention  agreed  that  '  although 
boating  lowered  the  standard  of  the  men  engaged  in  it,  yet  the 
college,  as  a  whole,  is  greatly  benefited  by  it,  and  that  the  facul- 
ties would  not  interfere  in  the  matter.'" 

The  following  summer  found  another  strong  and  vigorous  crew 
at  Saratoga  to  contend  for  the  college  honor,  and  it  made  the  best 
showing  that  Dartmouth  was  privileged  to  make  in  the  Intercol- 
legiate Regattas,  for,  as  it  proved,  it  was  the  last.  Though  at  the 
close  of  the  race  the  Dartmouth  boat  was  in  the  inevitable  fourth 
place,  it  stood  second  at  the  first  half-mile  stake  (Cornell  first), 
second  at  the  mile  stake  (Harvard  first),  at  the  next  half  mile, 
third,  and  at  the  two  and  a  half  mile  stake  Dartmouth  held  the 
second  place  again,  with  Cornell  first.  For  the  last  half  mile  the 
roughness  of  the  water  and  the  low  position  of  the  outriggers  of 
the  Dartmouth  boat  prevented  spurting  and  compelled  the  crew  to 
pull  at  the  ordinary  stroke,  which  allowed  the  Harvard  and  Colum- 
bia crews  to  pass  them  ;  and  yet  they  were  only  seventeen  sec- 
onds behind  the  winning  Cornell  men.  Such  good  work  by  the 
Dartmouth  crew  was  surprising  to  the  outside  world,  but  some- 
what disappointing  to  many  of  us  who  stood  on  the  shore  of  the 
lake,  knowing  well  the  strength  and  power  of  endurance  of  the 
Dartmouth  men. 


2l8  MODERN  COLLEGE  ATHLETICS  AT  DARTMOUTH. 

Owing  to  unfortunate  dissensions  among  the  different  clas 
crews  in  reference  to  the  "  Varsity"  men  taking  part  in  these  con 
tests,  and  to  indifference  on  the  part  of  men  best  fitted  by  natura 
ability  to  participate  in  the  contest,  no  crew  was  sent  to  Saratog; 
in  1876,  and  thus  a  death-blow  was  inadvertently  struck  at  the  lif 
of  boating  at  Dartmouth.  The  class  races  in  the  autumn  contin 
ued,  however,  for  this  year,  and  to  these  were  added  single  scul 
races,,  which  attracted  considerable  attention  ;  but  with  the  threat 
ened  breaking  up  of  the  Intercollegiate  Boating  Association  b] 
the  withdrawal  of  Yale  and  Harvard,  the  interest  waned,  an< 
boating  was  destined  soon  to  become  a  thing  of  the  past.  Thi 
advent  of4'  general  athletics"  at  this  time,  of  which  we  shall  speal 
in  detail  later,  was  also  potent  in  detracting  from  boating  interests 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  Dartmouth  labored  under  man] 
difficulties  from  her  situation,  so  remote  from  other  colleges  an< 
from  opportunities  to  witness  and  participate  in  such  contests 
The  late  opening  of  the  river  in  the  spring,  the  three  weeks  whicl 
must  be  allowed  for  the  annual  "running  of  logs,"  and  the  trans 
fer  of  Commencement  from  July  to  June,  all  conspired  to  limit  th( 
time  of  practice  of  the  crews  to  a  very  short  period,  and  renderec 
successful  competition  for  aquatic  honors  in  the  summer  quite  im 
probable  ;  and  so,  when  the  heavy  gale  of  wind  in  January,  1877 
together  with  the  great  weight  of  snow  on  the  roof,  demolishec 
the  boat-house,  carrying  destruction  to  all  the  property  of  the  Dart- 
mouth navy,  boating  was  doomed.  Not  even  the  well  knowr. 
energy  and  enthusiasm  of  Mr.  Carrigan,  '77,  could  bridge  ovei 
such  a  disastrous  chasm. 

In  closing  this  very  inadequate  account  of  the  interest  in  boat- 
ing at  Dartmouth  during  the  "  Seventies,"  permit  me  to  speal 
briefly  of  the  present  outlook.  The  building  of  the  new  dam  a 
Olcott  Falls  in  1882-3,  which  causes  the  water  to  set  back  foi 
ten  miles  or  more,  has  greatly  improved  the  river  for  all  boating 
purposes,  and  already  many,  especially  among  the  faculty  anc 
citizens  of  the  place,  are  beginning  to  appreciate  the  beauties  anc 
attractions  of  our  noble  river,  as  evidenced  by  the  appearance  o: 
twenty  or  more  pleasure  boats  on  its  waters,  and  also  of  a  smal 


/  KNEW  NOT  WHAT  LACKED  MY  SONG.  219 

steam  yacht.  May  we  not  expect,  at  no  distant  day,  to  find  the 
students  organizing  a  Boating  Association  simply  for  class  con- 
tests, to  be  restricted  to  the  autumn  term  and  limited  to  Dart- 
mouth? This  would  not  necessitate  a  great  annual  expense,  and 
would  certainly  give  healthful  and  invigorating  exercise  to  a 
goodly  number  for  the  autumn  months. 

No  Dartmouth  man  must  be  allowed  to  forget  that  it  was  here, 
from  these  classic  halls  and  from  the  banks  of  our  on-rushing 
river,  that  one  of  America's  most  famous  explorers  set  out  on  a 
voyage  fraught  with  promises  of  great  good  to  the  world,  and 
which,  though  of  compartively  short  duration,  resulted  in  wonder- 
ful discoveries.  The  name  of  John  Ledyard  will  ever  be  asso- 
ciated with  this  college  and  the  river  on  whose  waters  he  launched 
forth  in  a  canoe,  cut  out  by  his  own  hands  from  a  tree  which  he 
felled  just  north  of  the  bridge.  Let  no  oarsman  at  Dartmouth 
fail  to  acquaint  himself  with  the  exploits  of  his  great  and  famous 
predecessor. 

Charles  F.  Emerson. 


I  KNEW  NOT  WHAT  LACKED  MY  SONG. 

I  knew  not  what  lacked  my  song, — 

I  had  polished  my  metres  with  care, 

I  had  planned  that  strength  should  be  there, 

And  sweetness  come  forth  from  the  strong. 

I  knew  not  what  lacked  my  life, — 

I  had  dreamed  it  unruffled  should  flow, 

I  would  scorn  restless  passion  to  know, 

And  rise  above  discord  and  strife. 

But  my  life  only  turbulence  knew, 

And  my  song  was  both  soulless  and  vain, 

Till  o'er  me  chanced  steal  such  a  strain 

As  I  deemed  mortal  hands  never  drew. 

The  spirit  I  caught  from  the  melody  sweet, 

And  it  gave  to  my  song  what  I  sought; 

Of  my  life,  too,  a  poem  is  wrought, 

By  love — the  fair  minstrel  hath  made  it  complete. 


Warren  A  Gregory. 


220  SOME  RUSSIAN  POETS. 

SOME  RUSSIAN  POETS. 

Three  great  modern  literatures — the  English,  French,  and  Ger- 
man— are  universally  recognized.  The  existence  of  a  fourth  is 
not  so  readily  conceded,  but  the  giant  of  eastern  Europe  has  pro- 
duced a  literature  which  is,  at  last,  extorting  recognition.  The 
galaxy  of  typical,  poetical  stars  in  this  firmament  consists  of  Lom- 
onosofF,  Derzhavin,  Poushkin,  and  NekrasofF.  Previous  to  any 
of  these  there  was  poetry  in  Russia,  of  course,  but  it  was  usually 
written  in  Latin,  and  always  in  the  pseudo-classicist  style  which 
has  sat  so  heavily  on  other  literatures. 

The  first  to  interfere  with  this  system  was  the  son  of  a  poor 
White  Sea  fisherman,  born  in  171 1.  After  long  struggles,  Lom- 
onosofF,  by  his  own  efforts,  obtained  an  education  in  Germany, 
where  he  became  imbued  with  Voltairean  tenets,  and  aimed  at 
universality.  LomonosofF's  greatest  service  to  Russia  was  not 
in  his  literary  works  in  themselves,  albeit  often  worthy  of  praise, 
but  in  writing  Russian,  breaking  the  way  for  others,  introducing 
the  sciences,  and  refining  the  language.  His  style  is  usually 
stilted,  pompous,  obscure  ;  yet  Belinsky,  Russia's  foremost  critic, 
says,  "  His  thoughts  are  for  all  mankind;  the  magic  of  his  lan- 
guage for  us  alone."  He  rises  to  poetry  in  "The  Lord  and 
the  Judge,"  whose  opening  stanza,  Bowring,  "  the  polyglot 
translator,"  renders  thus  : 

"  Gods  of  the  earth  !  ye  kings  who  answer  not 
To  men  for  your  misdeeds  and  vainly  think 
There  's  none  to  judge  you :  know  like  ours  your  lot 
Is  pain,  death: — ye  stand  on  judgment's  brink." 

One  may  easily  imagine  that  these  verses  and  others  in  the 
same  vein  were  not  agreeable  to  the  Autocrat  of  All  the  Russias ; 
and  the  poet  suffered  for  them.  He  died  in  penury,  pursued  to 
the  last  by  envy,  malice,  and  superstition — merely  another  case  of 
"  He  asked  for  bread,  and  they  gave  him  a  stone,"  for  to-day  he 
is  revered  as  the  founder  of  Russian  literature. 

At  fifty  years'  distance  came  Derzhavin,  the  panegyrist  of  the 
great,  whose  Ode  to  God  has  been  more  widely  translated  than 


SOME  RUSSIAN  POETS.  221 

my  other  lyric.  LomonosofF's  departure  from  strict  pseudo-clas- 
sicism consisted  chiefly  in  his  adoption  of  the  vernacular  for  ex- 
pression :  in  form  and  spirit  it  was  the  same.  Derzhavin  ven- 
;ured  to  differ,  very  little  at  first,  but  more  and  more  as  he  grew 
)lder,  with  Boileau's  canons. 
The  famous  Ode  begins  (Bowring's  translation), — 

"  O  thou  Eternal  One !  whose  presence  bright 
All  space  doth  occupy,  all  motion  guide : 
Unchanged  through  Time's  all-devastating  flight, 
Thou  only  God !  there  is  no  God  beside." 

Derzhavin  too  often  sullied  his  genius  by  fulsome  flattery  of 
'the  powers  that  be,"  unlike  his  great  predecessor.  Derzhavin's 
style  was  remarkable  for  its  clear  and  lively  pictures,  and  in  the 
)des,  in  which  he'  especially  delighted,  did  much  to  relieve  the 
'  Hark  !  from  the  tombs"  tone  so  prevalent  in  Russian  literature, 
rom  which  even  he  is  not  wholly  free.  The  Russian  Pindar  deals 
)ften  with  homely  subjects;  indeed,  he  says,  "My  muse  cares 
lot  to  deck  herself  in  gorgeous  robes,  and  I  sing  no  pompous  song." 

"  Watches  us  one  and  all, — the  mighty  Tsar, 
Within  whose  hands  are  lodged  the  destinies  of  a  world; 
Watches  the  sumptuous  Dives, 
Who  makes  of  gold  and  silver  his  idol  gods; 
Watches  the  beauty  rejoicing  in  her  charms; 
Watches  the  sage,  proud  of  his  intellect ; 
Watches  the  strong  man,  confident  in  his  strength; 
And  even  as  he  watches,  sharpens  his  scythe." 

[From  "  Monody  on  Prince  Mestchasky."] 

LomonosofFand  Derzhavin  together  paved  the  way  for  Poushkin. 

There  are  a  few  poets — Homer,  Virgil,  Dante,  Shakespeare,  Mil- 
:on,  Burns,  and  a  few  others — who  are  identified  with  their  national 
iterature,  national  life — are  of  it.     Among  these  stands  Poushkin. 

Russia's  master  poet  was  of  noble  lineage,  and  enjoyed  every 
'acility  of  education  and  culture  that  the  country  afforded.  His 
iarliest  work,  "  Rouslan  and  Ludmiela,"  caused  a  revolution — 
was  one.  It  dealt  a  death-blow  to  the  worn  out  classicism  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  The  author  said,  "It  breathes  Russia." 
rhe  prelude  runs, — 


222  SOME  RUSSIAN  POETS. 

"  I  sang,  and  singing  forgot  the  wrongs 
Of  blind  fortune  and  cunning  foes, 
The  false  treachery  of  fickle  woman, 
And  the  fussy  calumnies  of  fools." 

A  too  free  expression  of  political  opinions  resulted  in  his  banish- 
ment to  the  Caucasus.  That  chain,  rising  sheer  from  the  wide 
extended  steppes,  did  not  fail  to  exert  its  usual  influence  on  a 
poetic  mind. 

"  Eternal  thrones  of  snow, 
Whose  summits  gleam  to  the  gaze 
Like  one  unbroken,  motionless  chain  of  clouds." 

His  most  famous  work,  "  Evyenie  Oneguin,"  is  a  Russian,  not 
a  Russianized,  Childe  Harolde,  a  Moscow  roue,  who  meets  on  his 
travels  a  maiden  in  whom  he  unwittingly  inspires  such  a  passion 
that  she  proffers  her  love,  which  is  rejected.  Tired  of  wandering, 
Oneguin  returns  to  Moscow,  and  meets  her,  the  wife  of  a  general 
and  the  reigning  belle.  In  his  turn  he  falls  in  love,  proffers  his 
suit,  and  is  rejected  thus  : 

"  I loved you; — and  what  was  my  reward? 
.     .     .     my  blood  runs  cold 
Even  at  the  bare  remembrance  of  that  icy  look 
And  the  homily  you  read  me." 

"  .     .     .     and  now  you  must 
I  implore  you,  you  must  leave  me. 
I  know  that  in  your  heart  you  own 
The  stern  dictates  of  truth  and  honor. 
I  love  you, — why  seek  to  play  the  hypocrite  ? 
But  I  am  given  to  another, 
And  will  forever  remain  true  to  him." 

Poushkin's  minor  pieces  almost  defy  enumeration.  The  most 
prominent  is  Poltava.  The  theme  is  that  which  Byron  has  taken 
in  Mazeppa,  but  Poushkin  represents  that  character  as  the  reverse 
of  all  that  is  good.  Critics  say  that  for  the  witchery  and  grace 
with  which  it  describes  the  sensuous  delights  of  the  Chersonese, 
the  "Well  of  Bakchi-Serai"  is  unsurpassed.  Poushkin's  work 
has    defects  :    Shakespeare's  has  :  but  the  beauties   of  both   only 


SOME  RUSSIAN  POETS.  223 

shine  the  more  from  the  contrast,  and  Poushkin's  genius  was  but 
ripening  when  he  fell  in  a  duel,  thirty-eight  years  of  age.  From 
the  marvellous  work  of  the  young  man,  we  can  imagine  what  the 
world  lost  by  his  death — "  what  might  have  been." 

The  last  of  the  galaxy  of  stars,  the  poet  of  the  people,  the  dar- 
ling of  young  Russia — NekrasofF.  He  had  neither  the  art  of 
Poushkin,  nor  the  fire  and  passion  of  SermontofF,  nor  the  tawdry 
tinsel  of  many  writers,  but  he  appealed  to  the  people.  He 
touched  on  a  chord  of  every  Russian  breast — a  grim,  sad  chord — 
when  he  sang, — 

"  I  am  on  the  Volga  :  what  groan  echoes 
O'er  the  deep  waters  of  the  great  Russian  river  ? 
That  groan  with  us  is  called  a  song." 

NekrasofF,  and  NekrasofF  alone,  sings  of  the  moujiks.  Only  he 
among  Russia's  greater  poets  knew  their  virtues  and  their  failings, 
their  pleasures  and  their  sorrows.  He  was  of  them.  Stern  neces- 
sity kept  him  among  the  lower  classes  after  early  youth,  and  he 
learned  their  misery  and  degradation — the  misery  and  degradation 
of  Russian  peasants. 

Writing  poetry  filled  with  passionate  devotion  to  his  country 
and  large-hearted  sympathy  for  the  poor,  the  moujiks,  most  blindly 
patriotic  and  long-suffering  of  men,  loved  him  as  their  friend, 
their  only  one  in  literature.  Wrapped  in  that  intense  gloom  which 
overhangs  the  Russian  mind,  his  poems  were  national  to  the  core. 
His  "To  whom  is  life  worth  living  in  Russia,"  is  the  classic  of 
Ivan  and  his  fellows.  Not  blinded  as  many  were  by  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  serfs,  he  yet  says,  hopefully, — 

"  If  thou  wilt — remain  a  moujik  all  thy  life, 
If  thou  canst — soar  to  heaven  with  an  eagle's  flight, 
Many  of  our  fondest  hopes  will  be  deceived  : 
The  mind  of  man  is  cunning  and  inventive 
I  know  :  and  in  place  of  slavery's  chains 
Men  will  easily  forge  a  hundred  others : 
So  be  it ;  but  the  people  shall  have  strength  to  break  them, 
And  my  muse,  with  joy,  salutes  the  dawn  of  liberty." 

Barron  Shirley. 


224  THE    WRECK  OF  THE   C.  G.  MATTHEWS. 

THE  WRECK  OF  THE  C.  G.  MATTHEWS. 


It  was  Paul  Owen's  wedding  night.  The  bride  had  praised  him 
for  his  long  constancy.  For  he  had  been  very  faithful.  For 
years  he  had  worked  hard  to  enable  himself  to  support  a  wife,  and 
all  the  time  it  had  been  one  woman  he  had  in  mind.  And  she  had 
been  faithful,  too.  When  Paul's  schooner  was  on  the  Banks,  or 
in  the  Bay  of  Chaleur,  she  had  waited  patiently  for  his  return,  or 
shuddered  with  uncontrollable  anxiety  as  the  great  waves  came 
rolling  in  even  to  the  farthest  end  of  the  sheltered  harbor  of 
Wiscotta,  and  the  dark  storm-clouds  scurried  before  the  north-east 
gale.  Paul  had  worked  himself  up  to  the  position  of  skipper, 
while  he  and  his  brother  Silas  realized  a  respectable  profit  from  a 
small  grocery  store  which  furnished  the  spicy  products  of  the  trop- 
ics to  the  comfortable  homes  of  fishermen  and  farmers.  So,  when 
he  had  returned  from  the  Banks  early  in  the  fall  of  '42  with  his 
schooner  well  loaded  down  with  fish,  he  had  found  Caroline  Law- 
son  ready  to  reward  his  years  of  faithfulness  by  setting  the  twenty- 
first  of  September  as  the  wedding-day.  Happy  indeed  was  Paul 
that  day,  as  he  came  by  the  frames  where  his  crew  were  mak 
ing  fish — spreading  the  great  cod  out  to  dry  in  the  warm  autumn 
sun ;  happy  was  he  in  the  knowledge  of  the  possession  of  good 
things  gained  by  his  own  efforts ;  and  happier  still  was  he,  when 
he  and  his  wife  sat  by  the  hearth  of  his  newly  furnished  dwelling 
on  that  night,  and  with  thankful  hearts  talked  over  the  long  years 
of  waiting,  and  the  future  which  looked  so  bright. 

11. 
Paul  dreamed  a  dream.  The  bridal  chamber  seemed  filled  with 
light.  His  heart  throbbed  with  the  thrill  of  some  bright  heavenly 
presence.  Brighter  grew  the  radiance,  until  in  the  midst  of  it 
stood  a  being  most  divinely  fair.  Tall  and  majestic  it  seemed,  and 
from  its  face  shone  love  and  mercy,  mingled  with  justice.  Before 
it  stood,  in  meek  submission,  two  men,  strong  and  self-poised  in 
the  consciousness  of  good  deeds.    Paul  looked  a  little  more  closely, 


THE  WRECK  OF  THE  C.  G.  MATTHEWS.  225 

and,  with  the  impersonality  of  a  dreamer,  recognized  in  the  two 
forms  his  brother  Silas  and  himself.  He  now  saw  that  the  angel, 
for  such  he  judged  the  radiant  being,  held  in  his  hand  a  little  cake, 
most  pleasant  to  look  upon,  and  emitting  a  delicious  fragrance. 
The  angel  advanced  to  the  older  man,  and  said,  in  a  voice  that 
rang  like  the  tones  of  a  distant  bell,  '«  Silas,  thy  master  hath  seen 
thy  faithfulness  :  receive  thy  reward.  Take,  eat !  "  Paul  could 
imagine  what  strange  doubt  his  brother  entertained.  He  stood 
mute,  motionless,  and  seemingly  withdrawn  within  himself.  He 
did  not  stretch  forth  his  hand.  Was  it  from  humility?  The  bright 
presence  turned  to  the  younger  form.  "  Paul,  thou  too  hast  been 
faithful  in  many  things.  Take,  eat !  Thy  master  would  reward 
thee  !"  Then  in  his  vision  he  saw  the  young  man  advance,  his 
face  glowing  with  the  reflection  of  the  divine,  and  accept  the  cake. 
By  one  of  those  strange  transitions  of  dreams,  he  found  himself 
eating  it.  It  was  bitter  in  the  mouth,  but  it  filled  him  with  a  feel- 
ing of  infinite  rest  and  strength.  "It  shall  be  well  with  thee," 
said  the  vision  as  it  vanished.  "  In  just  ten  years  thou  shalt  be  in 
heaven." 

in. 

Of  course  Paul  told  his  dream.  It  became  a  matter  of  tradition 
all  through  the  quiet  little  town  as  the  years  went  by.  He,  in  the 
meanwhile,  was  living  a  gentle,  unostentatious  life.  Many  a  poor 
fisherman's  widow,  ekeing  out  a  scanty  living  until  the  son  should 
begin  to  follow  the  sea,  received  the  bounties  of  his  store  without 
being  pressed  by  fear  of  immediate  and  enforced  payment.  His 
schooner  took  her  choice  of  the  able  men  of  the  town,  so  high  was 
his  reputation  for  open  and  generous  dealing.  He  seemed  to 
prosper  notwithstanding  his  generosity  ; — his  boats  came  in  heavily 
laden  with  the  spoils  of  the  deep;  the  ventures  which  he  sent  to 
the  West  Indies,  that  great  mart  of  New  England,  were  uniformly 
successful.  The  years  went  by.  Paul  had  been  married  eight 
years,  when  the  firm  of  Owen  Brothers  launched  a  fine  new 
schooner,  the  C.  G.  Matthews.  Proud  in  her  coat  of  white  paint 
and  her  new  canvas,  she  rode  the  water  like  a  swan.  In  the  sea- 
son of '51  she  showed  herself  the  finest  boat  that  had   ever  gone 


226  THE  WRECK  OF  THE   C.  G.  MATTHEWS. 

out  of  Wiscotta  harbor.  She  stood  her  course  firmly  right  int« 
the  eye  of  the  wind,  or  dashed  away  freehauled,  leaving  her  olde 
competitors  far  behind.  In  the  Bay  of  Chaleur  she  had  an  unusua 
run  of  luck,  and  returned  in  the  early  part  of  September,  heavih 
loaded,  and  with  her  crew  in  fine  health  and  spirits.  What  wonde 
that  the  summer  of '5  2  saw  her  start  out  with  the  flower  ofth< 
village  aboard  her  !  There  were  sun-bronzed  men,  with  wives  an( 
children  to  wait  for  their  return.  There  were  young  men,  witl 
the  promises  of  the  brightest  and  prettiest  girls  of  the  town  to  shar< 
the  competence  they  hoped  to  wrest  from  the  winds  and  the  waves 
In  short,  this  shipload  of  young  men  was  noted  far  and  wide  fo; 
being  the  cream  of  Wiscotta. 

The  hour  of  departure  was  always  a  sad  one  in  that  little  fishing 
town.  Wives  clung  to  departing  husbands,  sweethearts  lookec 
up  with  pride  and  mingled  anguish  into  the  fond  eyes  that  migh 
tarry  so  long — mayhap  forever — away  from  the  ones  they  lovec 
to  look  upon.  More  sad  than  usual  was  the  crew  of  the  "  C.  G.' 
They  could  not  explain  it.  It  was  like  those  wonderful  panics 
that  seize  upon  a  troop  of  horse,  or  upon  an  army  of  their  more 
rational  brothers.  In  spite  of  all  the  light  of  New  England  cult- 
ure, pervading  the  mass  of  the  people  to  the  very  lowliest,  ever}; 
man  of  the  crew  had  a  touch  of  superstition  about  him,  and,  strange 
to  say,  as  they  stood  there  on  the  deck  of  the  fine  new  schooner, 
and  watched  the  shores  which  held  all  they  loved  fade  from  sight, 
every  man  had  in  his  heart  the  consciousness  that  Skipper  Owen's 
time  was  up  on  the  twenty-first  of  September.  But  then,  they 
could  easily  get  a  full  haul  of  fish  and  return  before  that  time  ! 

IV. 

The  summer  days  wore  on.  September  came  with  all  its  uncer- 
tainty. The  "  C.  G."  was  not  in  luck.  The  same  was  true  of 
the  John  Campbell,  a  lumbering  old  hulk  which  made  about  as 
much  leeway  as  headway,  and  whose  captain,  Silas  McKown, 
was  noted  for  wanting  "plenty  of  sea  room."  For  several  days 
in  September  the  two  Wiscotta  schooners  lay  side  by  side  in  the 
Bay  of  Chaleur.     The  fishing  went  on  in  a  listless  sort  of  way,  for 


THE  WRECK  OF  THE   C.  G.  MATTHEWS.  227 

;he  season  was  nearly  over,  and  the  daily  haul  was  becoming 
nsignificant.  It  was  in  these  days  that  the  crew  of  the  "  Camp- 
bell" learned  that  there  was  great  dread  of  the  "  line  storm"  on 
ward  the  "  C.  G."  The  crew  all  knew  that  "  skip's  time  was  up 
)n  the  twenty-first,"  and  urged  him  to  set  sail  for  home.  But  sev- 
eral empty  barrels  argued  the  other  way  to  Paul  Owen,  and  he 
aughed  in  a  gentle  way  at  the  fishermen,  and  said  they  would  go 
when  the  barrels  were  full.  And  so  they  stayed  on  until  a  sort 
■){  indifference  came  over  the  brightyoung  fellows,  as  they  laughed 
Hid  sang  their  sailing  songs.  The  evening  of  the  twentieth  was 
:alm  and  pleasant,  and  the  air  had  a  peculiarly  resonant  quality, 
rhe  older  and  graver  men  on  the  "Campbell"  heard  the  singing 
)n  the  "  C.  G."in  the  cool  of  the  evening.  The  fresh  young  voices 
-ang  out,  until  the  gray-bearded  Skipper  McKown  took  his  pipe 
from  his  mouth  to  listen.  A  single  voice,  clear  and  full,  sang  the 
irst  line,  and  was  answered  by  the  chorus  in  a  strain  weird  and 
sweet,  rising  and  falling  like  the  placid  waves. 

"  Were  ever  you  in  Mobile  Bay  ?" 

"  O  yes,  oh  !  O  I  have  been  in  Mobile  Bay, 
A  hundred  years  ago  !" 
"  Were  ever  you  in  Baltimore  ?" 

"  O  yes,  oh  !  O  I  have  been  in  Baltimore 
A  hundred   years  ago  !" 

"  Pretty  gay  crew  on  the  C.  G.  this  year  !"  said  John  Newbegin 
to  Skipper  McKown,  as  he  leaned  over  the  gunwale  and  gazed  into 
the  rosy  west,  whence  the  singing  came.  "  Ya-a-s,"  was  the  non- 
chalant response,  "but  they'll  want  plenty  of  sea-room  afore 
mornin',  or  I  miss  my  guess.     There  's  a  storm  a-brewin' !" 

The  morning  came,  and  with  it  a  gale  from  the  north-east. 
Skipper  McKown  headed  for  the  open  sea,  and  as  the  "  Camp- 
bell" went  out  around  the  rocky  point,  in  flew  the  "  C.  G."  under 
close  reefed  mainsail,  foresail,  and  jib,  headed  for  the  shore  !  She 
was  showing  her  townsmen  her  sea-going  qualities  !  Had  Paul 
Owen  lost  his  head?  As  they  went  by,  derisive  shouts  of  laughter 
were  heard,  and  some  one  said  he  distinguished  the  words  "  Old 
Sea-Room"  as  a  sort  of  chorus  from  the  staunch  ship  that  dared 


228  THE  COLONEL'S  STORY. 

the  very  winds  and  waves.  The  gale  blew  and  increased.  Great 
waves  came  rolling  into  the  bay.  The  beautiful  C.  G.  Matthews 
was  never  again  seen  by  any  one  who  survived  that  terrible  day. 
Old  Silas  McKown  stood  lashed  to  the  tiller  for  hours,  with  his 
own  hand  directing  the  course  of  the  ship  which  held  his  all. 
Nobly  she  battled  for  "sea-room,"  and  she  got  it.  But  on  that 
night  the  promise  of  the  angel  was  fulfilled,  and  Paul  Owen  was 
in  heaven.  Alas  for  wives  and  sweethearts,  mothers  and  sisters, 
he  went  not  alone  !  For  on  the  record  pages  of  more  than  one 
family  Bible  can  be  found  the  simple  words,  following  a  name  full 
of  the  touch  of  strength  and  youth, — 

Lost  at  Sea, 
On  board  the  C.  G.  Matthews, 
In  the  great  gale  of  Sept.  21,  1852. 

C.  F.  R. 


THE  COLONEL'S  STORY. 

It  was  a  hot  summer's  day,  and  the  dull  and  dusty  town  of  Old- 
tavern,  distinguished  because  two  great  railroad  lines  cross  each 
other  there,  and  notorious  only  because  of  its  cramped  and  dirty 
hotel,  and  its  still  more  cramped,  and,  if  possible,  dirtier,  rail- 
road station,  grew  beneath  the  sweltering  August  sun  more  dull 
and  infinitely  dustier.  At  the  station  the  shining  network  of  rails 
seemed  to  writhe  and  twist  beneath  the  intense  heat,  until,  to  the 
fevered  imagination  of  the  spectator,  they  seemed  a  horrid  brood 
of  serpents. 

There  was  no  discernible  sign  of  life.  The  warped  plank  of 
the  platform  becoming  intolerable  to  the  baggage-master's  dog,  he 
had  betaken  himself  to  the  woods,  where  he  would  at  least  be  cool 
even  if  the  mosquitoes  forbade  him  rest.  The  employes  of  the 
road  had  disappeared,  but  the  hum  of  voices  behind  the  ground- 
glass  window  of  the  ticket-office  told  that  they  were  not  far  off. 


THE  COLONEL'S  STORY.  229 

As  the  distant  scream  of  a  whistle  indicated  the  approach  of  the 
1  o'clock  train,  the  window  of  the  ticket-office  was  thrust  upward 
with  a  crash,  and  the  flushed,  perspiring  countenance  of  the  station- 
agent  appeared  behind  the  grating  as  he  peeped  out  into  the  empty 
waiting-room.  Amost  simultaneously  the  door  of  the  office  was 
opened,  and  the  baggage-master,  a  typical  Yankee,  clad  in  faded 
blue  drilling  overalls  and  jacket,  his  head  surmounted  by  an  offi- 
cial cap  bearing  the  title  of  his  office,  appeared.  After  stretching 
himself  to  make  sure  that  he  was  wholly  awakened,  and  giving 
vent  to  a  prodigious  yawn,  he  lumbered  (no  other  word  will 
express  it)  to  the  platform,  and,  with  an  unnecessary  amount  of 
noise,  rolled  a  baggage-truck  up  to  meet  the  coming  train. 

As  the  train  slowed  up  beside  the  platform,  the  telegraph  opera- 
tor, who  was  none  other  than  our  red-faced  acquaintance,  the 
ticket-agent,  came  out  with  the  usual  batch  of  instructions  for  the 
engineer  and  the  conductor.  This  last  named  personage,  as  he 
took  the  yellow  envelope  from  the  operator's  hand,  said, — "  Last 
car,  special,  got  to  be  side-tracked  here  to  wait  for  the  3  147 
express  on  the  Eastern  &  Western." 

''All  right,"  responded  the  operator,  as  he  returned  to  the  com- 
parative cool  of  his  office.  While  the  train-men  were  placing  the 
car  in  the  required  position,  the  baggage-master  rolled  his  truck 
back  to  its  original  place,  and,  after  shouldering  rather  apatheti- 
cally the  lank  mail-bag  which  had  been  contemptuously  flung 
upon  the  platform  by  the  mail-agent,  disappeared. 

From  within  the  car  thus  left  alone  might  be  heard  the  murmur 
of  voices,  mingled  with  bursts  of  laughter,  and  occasionally  punc- 
tuated by  emphatic  profanity.  A  look  within  would  have  revealed 
about  twenty  gentlemen,  some  resplendent  with  blue  broad-cloth, 
brass  buttons,  and  gold  lace,  the  rest  attired  in  conventional  citi- 
zen's clothes.  They  were  the  governor  of  a  New  England  state, 
his  military  staff  and  immediate  official  family,  who  had  been 
doing  duty  as  personal  escort  to  the  nation's  chief  magistrate  as  he 
crossed  the  territory  of  the  commonwealth  on  his  way  to  an  Eastern 
watering-place. 

More  than  half  of  them  were  smoking,  nearly  all  were  talking, 


23O  THE   COLONELS  STORY. 

and  all  were  mopping  their  faces  with  feverish  zeal.  The  ques- 
tion under  discussion  was  how  to  procure  lunch,  and  many  plans 
were  suggested.  After  the  proposition  to  send  the  commissary- 
general,  who  owed  his  preferment  to  a  well  managed  primary 
rather  than  to  military  skill,  on  a  foraging  expedition,  had  been 
vetoed  by  his  excellency,  a  fat  and  jolly  man  in  the  uniform  of  a 
colonel  exclaimed,  "  Let 's  send  P.  S.  out  to  reconnoitre  !" 

This  suggestion  was  hailed  with  applause,  and  all  joined  in  cry- 
ing, "P.  S.,  P.  S.,  the  commander-in-chief  wants  you." 

At  the  call,  a  youth  who  had  been  quietly  sitting  in  a  corner  oi 
the  car,  endeavoring,  with  horribly  grotesque  facial  contortions  to 
induce  a  villanous  cheroot,  presented  to  him  by  the  secretary  oi 
state  and  warranted  genuine  Havana,  to  draw,  threw  the  weed  oul 
of  the  car  window,  and  lounged  lazily  down  the  aisle  till  he  stood 
before  the  governor,  whose  private  secretary  he  was. 

Receiving  orders  from  his  chief  to  "  Find  something  to  eat,"  sup- 
plemented by  the  fat  colonel  by  a   "and quick,   too,"  the 

youth  stepped  from  the  car-platform,  leaped  lightly  across  the  net- 
work of  rails,  sprang  upon  the  platform,  and  darted  into  the  wait- 
ing-room, where,  in  his  haste,  he  tripped  over  a  box  filled  with 
sawdust,  and  which  served  as  a  cuspidor  for  those  who  needed  tc 
use  it.  The  noise  made  by  the  youth  in  falling  brought  the  puf- 
fing ticket-agent  upon  the  scene,  and,  in  response  to  an  inquiry  as 
to  where  lunch  could  be  obtained,  he  vouchsafed  only  an  enig- 
matic jerk  of  his  thumb  over  his  shoulder,  and  disappeared  into  his 
sanctum  once  more. 

Glancing  through  the  window  in  the  direction  indicated  by  the 
ticket-seller,  the  youth  saw  a  dreary  looking  building  whose  piazza- 
roof  sustained  this  legend  :  "  Elm  Hotel,  by  Isaac  Skillings." 

Hastening  to  the  house,  the  young  man  entered  what  seemed  tc 
be  office,  wash-room,  bar-room,  and  parlor  at  once,  where  he 
found  a  rudely  dressed  old  man  asleep  upon  a  settee.  After 
shaking  the  old  fellow  until  he  opened  his  eyes,  P.  S.  said,  "  Can 
you  get  up  a  lunch  for  twenty  people?"  "  Huh?"  said  the  old 
man,  as  he  roused  to  a  sitting  posture  and  rubbed  his  eyes. 

The  young  man  repeated  his  question. 


THE   COLONEL'S  STORY.  23 1 

"  I  guess  so,"  replied  the  old  man,  who  was  none  other  than  the 
landlord  himself,  as  he  shuffled  across  the  floor,  opened  a  door, 
and  called,  "  Emmerline  !" 

"  W-h-a-t's  wanted?"  replied  a  shrill  voice  from  within. 

"  Kin  you  git  up  lunch  for  twenty  pussons?" 

Such  a  demand  upon  the  larder  was  evidently  surprising  to  its 
custodian,  for  in  a  few  seconds  a  black-eyed,  sharp-featured, 
frowzy-headed  woman  made  her  appearance,  and  demanded 
sharply,  "  Pa  Skillins,  be  you  crazy?" 

The  old  man  nodded  to  the  boy,  who  stepped  forward  and 
explained  the  situation.  When  he  had  concluded,  the  woman 
stared  at  him  in  amazement,  and  finally  said, — "  Well,  if  it 's  the 
Guv'ner,  I  s'pose  he  '11  hev  ter  hev  it ;  but  you  tell  him  notter 
'spect  nothin'  great."  Having  thus  delivered  herself,  she  retreated 
through  the  still  open  door,  slammed  it  in  the  youth's  face,  and 
began  vigorously  to  rattle  the  crockery  in  the  inner  room,  while 
P.  S.  returned  to  the  car. 

Five  minutes  later  the  entire  party  were  seated  upon  the  piazza 
of  the  hotel  anxiously  awaiting  the  result  of  Emeline's  clatter, 
when  Col.  Wadleigh,  who  had  suggested  the  successful  plan, 
broke  the  silence  with, — "  I  just  happened  to  remember  that  it  was 
here  that  I  had  a  thrilling  adventure  years  ago." 

"  Tell  us  about  it,"  exclaimed  all,  as  they  drew  nearer. 

"Well,"  said  the  colonel,  as  he  threw  away  the  stub  of  his 
cigar,  "  it  was  fifteen  years  ago  last  March,  when  I  found  myself 
upon  the  station  platform  down  there,  about  9  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing. I  was  then  a  county  commissioner,  and  had  taken  a  person 
to  the  insane  asylum.  I  stood  upon  the  platform  for  a  few 
minutes  talking  about  the  case  with  the  station  agent,  an  acquaint- 
ance of  mine.  I  noticed  a  man  whose  appearance  I  did  not  like, 
listening  to  our  conversation,  but  I  thought  nothing  of  it.  Finally 
my  friend  departed  for  the  village  to  attend  to  some  business,  and 
I  entered  the  waiting-room  to  wait  for  the  next  train  for  home.  I 
found  no  one  in  the  room,  but  immediately  the  door  opened,  and 
the  suspicious  stranger  entered. 

"  I  observed  at  once  that  he  eyed   me   suspiciously,  and  the 


232  THE    COLONEL'S  STORY. 


presentiment  came  over  me  that  he  meant  mischief.  He  began 
edging  about  as  if  wishing  to  get  behind  me,  but  I  moved  about 
the  room  trying  to  keep  him  in  front.  His  wicked,  ugly  look  con- 
vinced me  that  I  was  in  the  presence  of  a  man  who  meant  me  no 
good. 

"  Suddenly  he  stopped,  and  in  a  second  whisked  a  revolver  from 
his  pocket.  I  was  unarmed,  and  nothing  lay  within  reach.  The 
thought  flashed  through  my  mind  that  I  must  grapple  with  him. 
Before  he  could  fire,  I  seized  the  arm  having  the  weapon,  and 
held  it  with  both  hands.  He  was  a  much  larger  man  than  I,  and 
possessed  great  strength.  Fortunately  for  me  I  was  endowed  with 
a  good  deal  of  strength  myself.  Five  times  we  crossed  and 
recrossed  the  room  in  the  struggle.  His  left  hand  was  free,  and  he 
pounded- the  side  of  my  head  at  every  step,  but  I  kept  my  grip 
realizing  that  my  life  was  at  stake.  I  put  into  that  grip  all  the 
pressure  I  could  summon,  and  it  was  not  a  little.  His  arm  began 
to  relax,  and  then  the  revolver  fell  to  the  floor.  In  a  second  I  had 
possession  of  it,  and  the  madman,  for  such  he  was,  was  covered. 
In  an  instant  he  turned,  sprang  through  the  door,  and  was  gone. 

"  I  roused  the  neighborhood,  and  telegraphed  the  officers  up  and 
down  the  line  to  apprehend  him.  After  a  while  he  was  taken,  but 
it  required  four  men  and  a  desperate  struggle  to  secure  him.  His 
name  was  Brown,  from  East  Kingston.  On  his  person  were  found 
two  large  knives,  which  he  had  not  thought  to  use  in  his  encoun- 
ter. He  was  committed  to  the  insane  asylum  at  Harmony,  where 
he  proved  to  be  one  of  the  worst  men  ever  sent  there.  I  still  have 
that  revolver :  it  is  a  six-shooter,  and  every  chamber  was  loaded." 

"  Ahem,"  said  the  secretary  of  state,  giving  that  deprecatory 
little  cough  that  always  prefaced  his  dryest  efforts  in  the  story-tell- 
ing line,  "  that  reminds  me  of  a " 

"  Dinner,  gents  !"  announced  mine  host  Skillings,  as  he  shuffled 
through  the  open  door. 

And  the  secretary's  tale  was  left  untold. 

G.  H.  Moses. 


THE  COW-BELLS.  233 


THE  COW-BELLS. 

Old  Winter's  joys  are  many;  keen  and  bracing  is  his  air, 

Tracing  forms  of  grace  and  beauty  on  the  window-pane ; 
Yet,  when  days  begin  to  lengthen,  and  the  twilight 's  shining  fair, 
I  long  to  hear  the  tinkle  of  the  cow-bells  once  again. 
Jingle,  jangle,  through  the  tangle 
Of  the  bramble  down  the  lane, 
Shady  trees  and  gentle  breeze, 
Falling  waters,  breaking  seas, — 
How  I  long  to  hear  the  cow-bells  once  again ! 

Right  merrily  the  sleigh-bells  sound  upon  my  ear  to-night; 

Up  the  river  whirl  the  skaters,  each  bound  first  the  goal  to  gain, 
Each  nerve  with  rapture  tingles ; — yet,  for  all  the  gay  delight, 
I  long  to  hear  the  bell-cow  browsing  down  the  brook  again. 

Tinkle,  tankle,  round  her  ankle  » 

Swirls  the  brooklet  down  the  lane. 
In  the  bush  the  hermit  thrush 
Sings  his  plaint  so  quaintly  lush — 
How  I  long  to  hear  the  cow-bells  once  again ! 

When  low  the  storm-cloud  hovers,  and  the  wind  goes  roaring  past, 

When  patter  on  the  window  dashing,  splashing  drops  of  rain, 
Then  hearth  and  light  are  cozy,  but  my  heart  cries  out  at  last, 
I  long  to  wander  where  the  cow-bells  jangle  once  again ! 
Jangle,  jingle,  through  the  dingle 
Sound  the  cow-bells  up  the  lane. 

Zephyrs  blow  and  sweet  springs  flow, 
O'er  the  sky  the  swallows  go — 
How  I  long  to  hear  the  cow-bells  once  again ! 

C.  F.  R. 


The  Chair. 


The  introduction  of  extemporaneous  speeches  into  the  English 
course  of  last  term  suggested  the  relative  importance  with  us  at 
the  present  time  of  the  art  of  composition  and  the  art  of  speaking. 
It  is  a  matter  of  common  felicitation  that  the  college,  owing  largely 
to  the  instruction  and  the  inspiring  influence  of  our  professor  of 
English,  has  made  much  rapid  advancement  the  last  few  years  in 
literary  ways ;  that  there  is  a  steady  growth  among  the  students  in 
literary  taste,  capacity,  and  work.  This  we  rejoice  in  as  an  augury 
of  the  future,  and  would  not  have  changed.  But  has  there  not 
been  a  corresponding  loss  of  speaking  talent?  By  speaking  talent 
we  mean  the  ability,  not  to  make  a  set  speech,  to  deliver  an  oration 
or  address  memoriter ,  but,  rather,  to  speak  without  regular  and 
minute  preparation,  comprehensively,  logically,  forcibly,  in  well 
chosen  English,  upon  any  subject  reasonably  familiar.  It  is,  of 
course,  difficult  to  compare  this  specific  ability  of  the  average 
Dartmouth  student  of  to-day,  and  of  ten,  twenty,  or  more  years 
ago,  yet  careful  observation  and  thought  would  convince  most 
minds  that  the  proportion  of  ready  and  eloquent  speakers  among 
recent  graduates  is  markedly  less  than  of  old.  This  must  be  true 
if  tradition  is  correct,  and  if  the  many  orators  in  the  pulpit,  at  the 
bar,  and  in  legislative  bodies  and  congressional  halls,  of  whom 
Dartmouth  is  justly  proud,  possessed  and  displayed  their  talent  as 
undergraduates . 

It  would  not  be  correct  to  say  that  the  greater  attention  to  liter- 
ary composition  has  been  the  cause  of  this  degeneracy  of  speaking 
ability ;  yet  the  two  are  very  intimately  related,  and  that  there  has 
been  a  positive  influence  of  the  one  upon  the  other  must  be 
admitted.  Long  ago  it  was  the  ambition  of  every  student,  well 
read  and  an  able  thinker,  to  excel  upon  the  platform  in  oratory  or 
debate  ; — now  the  larger  proportion  prefer  to  be  known  as  "  literary 


THE  CHAIR.  235 


men :"  they  seek  distinction  in  print.  Consequently  undergrad- 
uate literature  flourishes,  but  the  tendency  of  undergraduate  ora- 
tory is  to  languish :  the  two  conflict,  and  the  new  fashion  drives 
out  the  old.  The  Greek  letter  fraternities  have  had  not  a  little  to. 
do  with  this  change.  Their  literary  basis  is  more  than  that  of  a 
simple  debating  club,  and  debates  and  oratorical  contests  form  the 
smaller  part  of  the  work  of  the  fraternity  men.  It  is  hard  to  say 
whether  the  increased  number  of  college  publications  has  been  a 
cause,  or  a  result,  of  this  change;  probably  both,  for,  while  their 
thriving  existence  is  indicative  of  the  amount  and  quality  of  volun- 
tary undergraduate  literary  work  done,  their  constantly  enlarg- 
ing scope  encourages,  and  in  fact  necessitates,  an  increase  of  this 
kind  of  work. 

Now,  we  are  not  for  a  return  to  the  old  relative  balancing  of 
literature  and  oratory.  Literature  is  receiving  its  due  at  last,  and 
oratory  of  the  fulminating,  bombastic,  spread-eagle  style  has  been 
relegated  to  the  high  school  colleges  of  the  far  South  and  West, 
from  which  in  turn  it  will  disappear ;  but,  nevertheless,  we  believe 
the  present  trend  is  carrying  us  too  far  in  the  other  direction. 
Not  one  whit  less  of  literature,  but  more  of  oratory,  is  our  plea. 
Men  in  a  college  such  as  ours  are  taken  as  they  are,  educated, 
developed,  and  polished  on  their  natural  lines  ; — their  individuality 
is  preserved ;  their  special  aptitudes  are  noticed  and  encouraged ; 
each  man  has  an  equal  chance  with  his  fellow.  That  is  the  theory, 
but  its  practical  working  is  defective.  Scholars,  and,  latterly, 
would-be  journalists,  find  the  best  of  training  here ;  but  the  men 
who  are  to  be  preachers,  lawyers,  and  statesmen,  whose  success 
depends  so  largely  upon  their  effectiveness  as  public  speakers, 
manifestly  have  not  like  advantages.  We  would  give  much  credit 
to  the  work  of  the  Greek  letter  fraternities,  but  we  do  not  think 
them  adequate,  unaided,  to  furnish  sufficient  training  for  public 
speaking.  They  are  too  small  for  such  a  purpose.  There  are  six 
in  the  college  proper,  and  their  average  membership  is  between 
thirty  and  forty.  The  best  speakers  are  apportioned  among  them, 
and  these  men  never  have  the  chance  to  meet  each  other  in 
forensic  combat.    A  debating  union  inclusive  of  the  whole  college, 


236  THE  CHAIR. 


gs 


meeting  but  several  times  a  term  or  even  less,  that  the  gatherings 
might  be  notable  and  enthusiastic,  would  serve  the  purpose  we 
have  in  mind.  The  larger  audience,  the  greater  number  of  dispu- 
tants, the  weightier  responsibility  resting  upon  the  individual 
speaker,  the  greater  rivalry,  and  greater  triumph  to  be  achieved, 
would  bring  out  much  latent  talent,  nerving  every  man  to  do  his 
best,  and  the  discipline  afforded  would  be  of  the  most  thorough 
character.  We  do  not  think  such  an  institution  at  all  practicable, 
for  the  present,  at  least.  The  revival  of  interest  in  extempora- 
neous speaking  must  first  come  from  an  incentive  furnished  in  the 
college  course,  such  an  incentive  as  is  given  excellence  in 
declamation  by  the  oratorical  contest  of  Commencement  week. 
The  truth  is,  Dartmouth  is  behind  the  times.  In  the  other  leading 
colleges  of  the  country  there  has  been  a  reawakening  to  the  vital 
importance  of  extemporaneous  speaking,  and  in  some  of  them, 
notably  at  Amherst  and  at  Princeton,  prizes  are  offered  to  stim- 
ulate interest  and  competition.  We  hope  it  will  not  be  long  before 
some  wise  alumnus  will  supply  a  permanent  fund  to  be  used 
similarly  here.  But,  meantime,  drill  in  extemporaneous  speaking 
might  be  a  part  of  the  regular  curriculum.  When  the  new  chair 
of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory  is  filled,  we  shall  look  for  earnest  effort  in 
this  direction. 


It  is  a  very  interesting  account  we  have  recently  received  of 
certain  customs  in  our  Western  colleges.  The  collegian  of  the 
wild,  wild  West,  which  is  not  so  far  west  after  all,  is  so  imbued 
with  the  true  frontier  spirit,  that  of  a  holiday  he  turns  for  recrea- 
tion and  amusement  to  gentle  sport  in  which  he  figures  as  the 
cowboy  or  Comanche  Indian.  In  Indiana  the  braves  are  on 
horseback,  and  are  armed  with  revolvers,  loaded  clubs,  wagon 
spokes,  and  sand-bags — a  queer  admixture  of  weapons,  perhaps, 
but  indeed  they  prove  very  serviceable.  In  Illinois  they  have 
their  little  powwow  on  the  roof  of  a  building  or  some  equally 
aerial  place,  and  toss  each  other  off  in  their  delightful  playful- 
ness. To  be  sure  there  is  some  shedding  of  blood,  and  broken 
heads,  backs,  arms,  and  legs,  are  rather  numerous,  but  it  is  all 


THE   CHAIR.  237 

such  a  glorious  exhibition  of  "sand"  and  "class  spirit"!  The 
freshmen  said  they  would,  the  sophomores  said  they  (the  fresh- 
men) would  nH.  This  was  very  proper,  of  course  :  there  was 
nothing  else  to  be  done  :  it  must  be  fought  out  on  that  line,  for 
class  honor  must  be  vindicated,  whatever  mayhap.  And  then 
too,  the  day  hallowed  it  all !  How  eminently  fitting  to  commemo- 
rate the  birthday  of  the  revered  George  Washington,  the  ideal 
democrat  and  patriot,  by  such  an  energetic  display  of  patriotism 
and  democracy !  Surely,  we  unenthusiastic,  slow-going  East- 
erners, who  know  nothing  better  than  a  poor  little,  humble  horn, 
or  hat,  or  cane  rush  now  and  then,  must  award  the  palm  to  our 
Western  cousins. 


Soberly  speaking,  such  an  exhibition,  in  these  Western  college 
outbreaks,  of  bloodthirstiness,  rioting,  fighting,  slaughter,  pro- 
tracted, bitter,  and  terrible,  is  almost  beyond  credence.  It  simply 
emphasizes  the  innate  savageness  of  human  nature,  which  despite 
external  trappings  will  reveal  its  ugliness  occasionally,  and,  in 
application  to  the  particular  case  at  hand,  it  testifies  that  the  "  col- 
lege man"  is  sometimes  more  of  a  boy  who  needs  a  sound  spank- 
ing on  the  parental  knee,  than  a  man,  well  balanced,  judicious, 
and  dignified.  But  we  must  conclude  there  is  more  than  a  slight 
difference  between  the  make-up  of  the  Western  collegian,  and  the 
undergraduate  of  a  sober,  classic  New  England  college.  Rough, 
albeit  harmless,  fun  thrives  at  times  with  us,  but  such  desperate 
rowdyism  and  vulgar  brawling  are  happily  unknown.  Let  us  trust 
that  as  the  path  of  civilization  and  culture  westward  takes  its  way, 
the  time  will  come  when  that  heavenly  state  "  where  law,  life,  joy, 
and  impulse  are  one  thing,"  may  be  more  nearly  approached  by 
all  our  colleges,  young  and  old,  small  and  great. 


The  relation  of  what  we  commonly  term  "  class  spirit"  to  the 
welfare  of  the  college  is  naturally  suggested  by  the  foregoing,  and 
perhaps  a  little  home  application  of  the  idea  may  be  in  point.  The 
common  argument  used  to  advocate  a   continuance   of  "  rushing" 


238  THE   CHAIR. 


is,  that  a  loyal,  intense  li  class  spirit"  is  fostered  thereby,  accru- 
ing in  the  end  to  the  general  good  of  the  college.  The  weight 
of  the  argument  is  not  to  be  denied,  and  the  present  senior 
class,  from  the  vantage-point  reached  after  four  years,  think 
they  can  detect  a  tendency  of  the  class  tie  to  weaken  since  the 
gradual  disappearance  of  the  "  rush."  This  was  aptly  illustrated 
a  few  weeks  ago  in  the  mass  meeting  of  the  students,  where  the  old- 
time  enthusiastic  rivalry  between  the  two  lower  classes  was  entirely 
absent.  Now,  the  Chair  is  not  in  favor  of  reviving  the  "  rush  :"  in 
truth,  we  are  glad  to  see  it  go.  While  we  are  not  exactly  willing  to 
call  it  "  a  relic  of  barbarism,"  yet  we  are  persuaded  it  has  no  place 
in  this  era  of  college  reform  and  progress  :  at  any  rate,  whether  we 
will  or  no,  the  "  rush"  is  doomed  at  Dartmouth,  and  no  spasmodic 
effort  to  keep  it  on  its  feet  for  a  while  longer  will  save  it.  But  we 
do  sincerely  regret  the  weakening  of"  class  spirit"  which  appar- 
ently follows  as  a  consequence,  and  we  dread  the  possibility  of  the 
condition  coming  about  that  has  elsewhere,  which  makes  class 
distinction  one  in  name  only.  The  problem,  then,  is,  how  to  retain 
a  healthy  "  class  spirit"  without  these  traditional  class  conflicts. 
We  think  the  answer  will  be  found,  as  it  has  been  already  in  a 
measure,  in  legitimate  class  contentions  in  the  various  forms  of 
athletics.  Not  only  in  base-ball  as  heretofore,  but  also  in  foot- 
ball, general  athletics,  and,  possibly,  as  Prof.  Emerson  suggests, 
in  boating.  We  are  optimistic  enough  to  think  that  the  new 
order  of  things  will  be  much  better  than  the  old  ;  that  the  "  class 
spirit "  we  seek  to  preserve  will  be  purified  of  the  evils  which  have 
vitiated  it  greatly,  becoming  none  the  less  genuine,  but  less  nar- 
row, unreasonable,  having  less  of  the  "  class-right-or-wrong  " 
element,  and  more  of  loyalty  to  the  college — that  hearty  loyalty 
which  puts  the  name  and  interest  of  dear  old  Dartmouth  before  all 
else. 


We  take  pleasure  in  announcing  the  election  of  Mr.  H.  S.  Hol- 
ton,  '91,  as  assistant  business  manager  for  the  remainder  of  this 
year,  and  business  manager  of  next  year's  Lit. 


The  Mail-Bag. 


Students  and  Alumni  are  earnestly  requested  to  contribute  to  this  department  letters  bearing  upon 
the  interests  and  welfare  of  the  college.  The  usual  restriction  holds  good,  however,  that  the  editors 
do  not  necessarily  endorse  all  views  herein  expressed. 

Chicago,  Feb.  3,  1890. 

Dear  Lit.  :  In  a  recent  issue  you  appeal  to  alumni  to  make 
a  more  frequent  use  of  the  "Mail-Bag"  as  a  medium  of  com- 
munication ;  and  a  month  later,  in  discussing  the  reasons  for 
the  slow  increase  of  numbers  at  Dartmouth,  you  use  the  following 
language  :  "  Very  many  of  them  [Alumni]  are  engaged  in  educa- 
tional work,  and  their  influence  could  be  exerted  legitimately  to 
great  advantage  to  the  college." 

Since  you  thus  offer  an  invitation  to  discusssion  in  your  pages, 
and  almost  at  the  same  time  suggest  a  fit  subject,  I  am  led  to 
attempt  the  ungrateful  task  of  giving  one  reason  why,  in  my 
opinion,  the  legitimate  influence  you  mention  is  not  in  some  cases 
exerted  to  the  advantage  of  our  Alma  Mater. 

That  much  may  be  done  by  teachers  in  guiding  students  to  a 
desired  choice  of  a  college  is  undoubted,  and  that  Dartmouth  men 
have  not  been  idle  in  this  respect  any  one  must  admit  who  will 
read  discriminatingly  the  catalogues  of  past  years.  Alumni  have 
given  such  advice  to  those  who  looked  to  them  for  guidance,  not 
only  because  of  a  natural  partiality  for  the  college  of  their  own 
preference,  but  chiefly  because  they  could  honestly  say,  that,  all 
things  being  considered,  Dartmouth  offered  advantages  equal  if 
not  superior  to  those  of  her  rivals,  and  at  a  less  cost.  They  could 
point  to  the  courses  of  instruction  in  the  various  departments,  and 
claim  for  each  a  preeminence  in  its  field.  Where  could  better 
training  be  obtained  in  the  classics,  philosophy,  political  science, 
mathematics,  and  modern  languages?  No  recent  graduate,  I  feel 
sure,  would  fail  to  use  similar  arguments  now,  but  if  there  was  a 


24O  THE  MAIL-BAG. 

time  when  one's  choice  of  a  college  was  made  without  inquiring 
further  than  in  regard  to  the  above  branches,  that  day  has  passed. 
Suppose  the  question  is  asked,  What  of  the  advantages  offered 
in  the  sciences,  both  theoretical  and  natural?  It  is  in  reply  to  such 
inquiries  as  this  that  I  think  many  have  been  forced  to  admit, 
though  unwillingly,  that  unqualified  praise  cannot  be  bestowed  on 
the  departments  having  charge  of  the  important  subjects  men- 
tioned. Certainly,  no  graduate  who  has  labored  under  positive 
disadvantages  in  his  subsequent  work  on  account  of  inefficient 
scientific  instruction  could  give  a  downright  approval  of  the  equip- 
ment in  this  line  furnished  by  his  college.  That  this  lack  of  con- 
fidence in  one  great  department  is  beginning  to  have  its  effect  on 
the  supply  of  Dartmouth  freshmen  the  writer  has  no  doubt.  The 
wonderfully  increased  regard  in  which  the  sciences  are  held,  and 
the  awakening  in  their  study  have  affected  the  whole  country,  and 
perhaps  no  section  more  than  the  West.  Thorough,  practical, 
scientific  investigation  is  given  an  equal  importance  with  classical 
and  mathematical  discipline.  The  question  for  us  is,  Is  Dart- 
mouth able  to  meet  the  demand?  '88. 


To  the  Editors  of  Dartmouth  Literary  Monthly : 

It  is  with  regret  that  I  notice  the  decline  of  an  organization 
most  intimately  connected  with  the  daily  life  of  the  college,  and 
one  which  in  the  past  has  played  a  very  important  part  in  one  of 
the  principal  college  exercises,  by  means  of  the  enjoyment  as 
well  as  profit  which  it  has  lent  to  that  exercise.  I  refer  to  the 
chapel  choir.  Since  the  entrance  of  the  present  senior  class,  that 
choir  has  manifestly  been  growing  weaker  each  year,  until  at 
present  the  morning  chapel  service  is  frequently  conducted  with- 
out any  choir  whatever,  or  with  such  a  small  one  as  practically  to 
amount  to  the  same  thing  ;  while  the  opening  piece  in  the  Sunday 
evening  service,  which  formerly  contributed  so  largely  to  make 
that  the  most  profitable  and  enjoyable  of  all  the  religious  exercises 
that  we  had,  is  too  commonly  omitted  altogether,  or  its  place  sup- 
plied with   some  simple,   worn-out  hymn.     When  on  some  rare 


THE  MAIL-BAG.  24 1 

Kcasion  a  good  selection  is  attempted,  the  faulty  and  even  dis- 
:ordant  rendering  of  it,  owing  to  lack  of  material  or  of  practice, 
Dften  causes  us  to  doubt  whether  the  omission  of  that  part  of  the 
service  is  not,  after  all,  preferable. 

All  this  is  the  more  deplorable  when  we  consider  that  during 
this  very  period  of  deterioration  the  general  musical  culture  repre- 
sented in  the  college  has  been  constantly  on  the  increase.  Within 
the  last  three  years  a  Glee  Club  has  been  formed  here  which  has 
proved  thoroughly  successful,  and  has  reflected  credit  on  the  col- 
lege, having  been  materially  strengthened  and  improved  each  year 
of  its  existence.  For  the  past  two  years  a  regular  musical  instruc- 
tor has  been  provided  for  the  whole  body  of  the  students,  and  one 
whose  reputation  and  abilities  are  of  the  highest  class.  How,  then, 
can  we  account  for  the  fact  that  all  these  influences  have  not  made 
themselves  felt  more  on  the  music  given  us  in  the  chapel?  Surely 
there  is  something  wrong.  Certainly  some  effort  should  be  made 
at  once  to  interest  in  this  subject  the  abundant  musical  talents 
which  the  college  possesses,  so  that  we  shall  not,  as  at  present, 
be  largely  deprived  of  the  abilities  of  so  many  of  our  best  musi- 
cians. Let  us  hope  that  steps  will  be  taken  in  this  direction  as 
soon  as  possible  by  those  having  the  matter  in  charge,  and  that 
the  worship  in  our  beautiful  chapel  will  long  continue  to  exert  the 
elevating  and  refining  influence  upon  the  students  of  Dartmouth 
which  it  has  done  in  the  past. 

M.    L. 

Hanover,  N.  H.,  March  4,  1890. 


To  the  Editors  of  the  Lit. :  At  the  risk  of  broaching  a  subject 
which  may  appear  hackneyed,  I  wish  to  appeal  to  the  good  sense 
of  the  college  on  a  topic  which  should  never  need  to  be  even 
hinted  at  among  those  who  wish  to  be  thought  gentlemen.  We 
notice  every  year,  for  about  six  weeks,  the  freshmen  are  not 
accustomed  to  our  habits,  and  use  the  reading-rooms  for  a  general 
place  of  rendezvous.  This  might  be  excused  :  but  some  of  the  stu- 
dents, we  are  sorry  to  say,  forget  that  they  are  not  freshmen,  and 


242  THE  MAIL-BAG. 

disturb  those  who  visit  the  rooms,  with  a  sincere  desire  to  read,  by 
constant  talk  and  noise.  Perhaps  we  should  attempt  to  blunt  our 
nerves  for  the  sake  of  those  who  wish  a  warm  room  to  talk  in ! 
But  the  writer,  with  many  others,  thinks  that  a  reading-room  should 
be  a  reading-room,  and  not  a  general  social  gathering-place.  Is 
the  spirit  of  literary  culture  declining  at  Dartmouth,  or  why  are  the 
distinctively  literary  rooms  of  our  finest  building  so  abused? 

A  Reader. 


By  the  Way. 


The  individual  whose  function  in  these  pages  is  to  button-hole 
passers-by,  after  they  have  received  their  regular  dose  of  wisdom 
and  counsel  from  the  Chair,  and  to  invite  them  into  his  own  corner 
for  a  chat,  was  lounging  the  other  evening  in  the  room  of  a  good 
friend,  the  lights  and  shadows  of  whose  college  life  for  four  years 
have  been  cast  on  the  self-same  walls,  which  in  the  course  of  time 
have  become  so  dear  to  him,  that,  as  he  assures  me  with  heartfelt 
sincerity,  each  spot  on  the  ceiling,  each  abrasion  of  the  wall-paper, 
is  to  him  a  souvenir,  recalling  to  mind  pleasant  pictures  of  the 
past, — so  closely  has  the  warp  of  his  life  interwoven  itself  with  the 
woof  of  his  apartments. 

Here,  as  freshman,  he  had  dreamed  dreams  of  future  greatness, 
built  air-castles  with  a  foundation  of  cobwebs  ;  here  he  had  ofttimes 
sat  down  with  pulses  beating  a  little  more  quickly  than  usual  because 
of  some  brilliant  recitation  just  made,  chuckling  softly  to  himself 
because  he  had  not  been  called  on  some  hard,  half-learned  para- 
graph, or  perhaps,  with  a  scowl  and  a  heavy  heart,  to  think  that 
he  had  not  looked  at  that  ill-starred  place  which  had  fallen  to  him. 
Truly,  this  den  is  the  dearest  place  in  college  to  him  !  Here  are 
his  books,  the  companions  of  his  winter  evenings  :  yonder  are  his 
tennis-racket,  his  gun,  his  boxing  gloves  ;  and  what  tales  they 
tell  him,  as,  with  feet  carefully  resting  on  the  table,  he  listens  to 
the  March  winds  .howling  without,  and  dreams  of  fresh  green 
fields  and  of  a  campus  dried  and  warmed  by  the  sweet  breath  of 
May! 

Then,  to  add  a  finishing  touch  to  the  picture,  there  is  his  good 
chum,  who  has  studied,  walked,  talked,  and  sympathized  with  him. 
They  have  read  the  same  books,  discussed  the  same  topics,  felt 
the  same  joys  and  sorrows,  and,  as  I  seem  to  see  them  now,  sitting 
there  together,  the  laurels  that  maybe  they  aspire  to  win  amid  the 
dust  and  perspiration  of  the  Commencement  arena  fade  into  mere 
shadows. 


244  BY  THE  WAY- 


Yet  more  of  us  are  nomads,  who  each  year  pitch  our  tents  anev 
with  a  chance  to  look  at  the  college  from  a  slightly  different  angle 
or  to  see  through  our  new  surroundings  the  reverse  side  of  th( 
coin.  It  takes  no  long  time  for  one  to  adjust  himself  to  a  nev 
environment,  to  learn  where  he  may  borrow  hatchets  and  screw 
drivers,  and  how  he  may  otherwise  make  himself  at  home. 

The  college  man  comes  into  focus  easily.  In  fact,  it  is  a  ques 
tion  whether  or  not  it  is  best  for  him  to  stay  out  his  course  withii 
the  walls  of  a  single  college.  If  one's  love  of  his  Alma  Mate 
blinds  him  to  her  faults,  and  glosses  over  the  fact  that  elsewhen 
there  are  better  professors  and  means  of  instruction,  narrowness  i; 
bred.  If  colleges  were  thrown  into  more  active  competition  b] 
the  passing  of  students  from  one  site  to  another,  as  is  done  in  Ger 
man  universities,  the  stagnation  in  some  "  fresh  water"  college; 
of  which  we  have  heard  would  be  broken  up,  and,  either  incapa 
ble  instructors  would  have  to  pack  their  valises,  since  to  succeec 
in  the  struggle  for  existence  the  college  could  not  keep  "  cheaj 
help,"  or  else  the  classic  manes  of  a  defunct  "  university : 
would  stare  out  of  bleared  window-panes,  crouch  at  night  01 
mossy  roofs,  and  sigh  to  the  tune  of  creaking  sashes. 

While  Dartmouth  has  been  able  successfully  to  receive  the  bloo( 
of  other  colleges  by  this  method  of  transfusion,  I  would,  as  a  frienc 
who  has  dropped  in,  suggest  with  all  humility  that  she  occasion 
ally  have  her  own  pulse  counted  to  see  if  it  be  full  and  regular 
If  any  tonic  at  present  is  needed,  and  I  were  writing  after  the  styl( 
of  the  advertising  fiend  instead  of  trying  to  entertain  you,  I  woulc 
in  that  case  refer  you  to  our  Mail-Bag  columns  in  this  number 
where  Dr.  '88  prescribes,  but  I  would  have  no  one  think  for  i 
moment  that  such  is  my  ungrateful  purpose. 

Yet  there  is  less  danger  of  stagnation  on  the  part  of  a  college 
than  of  its  students. 

I  believe  it  is  usually  assumed  that  the  college  man  goes  ou 
into  the  fields  of  literature  and  science  to  reap  a  harvest  of  knowl- 
edge, or  at  any  rate  to  learn  the  use  of  his  sickle.  Perhaps  il 
would  be  safe  to  say  that  nine  tenths  of  those  who  climb  the  walls 
supposed  to  surround  the  above    mentioned  fields,    have  one   01 


BY  THE  WAY.  245 

both  of  these  ends  in  view,  while  the  remaining  tenth  have  brought 
their  brown  jug  along,  proposing,  the  boss  out  of  sight,  merely  to 
have  a  high  time  under  the  trees  in  playing  poker  with  the  brown 
jug's  assistance.  Leaving  the  latter  worthies  to  their  own  ruin  for 
the  present,  suppose  we  examine  the  sickles  of  the  other  nine  tenths. 
You  will  be  struck  with  the  carelessness  with  which  these  precious 
instruments  are  used.  Many  a  man  seems  to  think  it  a  waste  of 
time  to  keep  his  sickle  sharp,  and  so  he  hacks  away  to  the  end  of 
the  field.  He  of  whom  I  speak  is  the  proverbial  "  plugger  ;"  he  gets 
his  grain  all  down  at  last,  but  what  hackly  work  he  makes  of  it ! 
His  neighbor,  who  takes  pains  to  keep  his  mental  apparatus  bright 
and  keen  by  proper  regimen  and  recreation,  finishes  his  swath 
long  before  our  friend  of  the  rusty  blade,  and  does  it  handsomely. 


Yet  there  is  an  element  in  the  character  of  the  typical 
"  plugger,"  or  "dig"  as  he  is  known  in  some  circles  outside  of 
Dartmouth,  which  is  a  sine  qua  non  to  success,  and  one  day,  when 
this  quality  has  pushed  him  up  one  rung  after  another  to  the  top  of 
the  ladder,  you  will  be  apt  to  forget  his  faults  and  follies,  and  to 
praise  his  perseverance  and  grit.  Then,  too,  he  has  learned  the 
value  of  time  ;  and  the  fact  is  very  likely  to  slip  our  minds  that  the 
passes  we  hold  over  the  road,  the  rails  of  which  are  hours,  are 
good  for  one  trip  only,  and  that  this  division  of  the  road  is  limited. 

DeQuincey,  in  his  charming  essay  on  Conversation,  in  which 
the  claims  of  this  art  as  a  means  of  intellectual  culture  are 
gracefully  set  forth,  computes  the  time  available,  to  one  of  our 
species  blessed  with  long  life,  for  the  cultivation  of  that  which  is 
most  august  in  him,  as  a  solid  block  of  about  eleven  and  a  half 
continuous  years.  You  recall,  also,  how  pleasantly  he  illustrates 
the  loss  of  time  by  the  pearl  necklace,  whose  fair  owner,  floating 
quietly  in  her  boat,  awakens  suddenly,  and  looks  down  into  the 
still  depths  to  see  pearl  after  pearl  slipping  off  into  the  abyss 
below,  each  as  it  goes  carrying  a  separate  remorse  to  the  heart  of 
its  possessor  ; — but  pardon  this  homily  :  I  wanted  merely  to  point 
to  the  fact  that  the  studious  individual  known  in  college  parlance 
as  the  plugger,  has  the  market  value  of  this  pearl  by  heart. 


Thistle-Down 


AFTER  GOETHE. 

Iphigenie  auf  Tauris,  11.  300-303. 

Iph.     "  I  dread  to  loose  the  tongue  from  'customed  bonds. 
To  free  the  soul  from  secret  long  time  kept, 
For,  once  entrusted,  it  can  ne'er  return 
To  dwell  within  the  deepest  heart  of  hearts, 
But  spreads  in  widening  rings,  to  harm  or  bless 
Its  former  owner,  as  the  gods  direct." 

A  SUGGESTION. 

It  was  sad  to  hear  him  mumbling 

Down  the  street  to-day, 
For  they  say  his  brain  is  crumbling, — 

Reason  's  fled  away. 

In  his  mind  bright  thoughts  once  nested  ; 

From  his  eyes  they  peeped, 
And  upon  his  brow  they  rested, 

From  his  lips  they  leaped. 

But,  although  the  nest  is  shattered 

That  the  birds  despise, 
Are  their  notes  of  song  not  scattered 

Down  soft  summer  skies  ? 

A  SONG  OF  THE  SEASON. 

Down  the  street  rude  March  winds  blustered ; 

Through  bare  boughs  blew  clouds  of  snow ; 
Dainty  Mag,  whose  ringlets  clustered 

O'er  bright  eyes  that  flashed  below, 
Sped  along,  all  unattended, 
While  my  lonely  way  I  wended 

Where  the  pavements  icier  grow. 

Quick  my  heart  beat,  as  I  spied  her 

Rest  her  tiny  hand  for  aid 
On  the  ancient  elm  beside  her. 


THISTLE-DOWN.  2tf 

Swift  I  stepped  to  her,  and  said, 
"  Lean  on  me,  sweet  maid,  forever, 
And  't  will  be  my  fond  endeavor 

Firm  to  stand  through  storm  and  shade." 

In  a  trice  she  looked  up,  smiling : 

"  Prove  thyself,  dear  sir,"  she  cried ; 
"  Prove  that  thou  art  not  beguiling; 

Walk  just  this  once  by  my  side. 
Should  it  seem  that  thou  art  able 
Now  to  walk  with  footsteps  stable, 

I  will  to  thee  my  heart  confide." 

Well,  we  both  went  down  together, 

Pretty  Margaret  and  I : — 
Now,  through  fair  and  stormy  weather, 

When  we  go  down  town  to  buy 
Frills  and  feathers,  furs  and  laces, 
I  let  Mag  select  the  places 

Where  she  walks,  and  you  know  why! 

Archibald  Blakeson. 

MEIN  HERTZ,  ICH  WILL  DICH  FRAGEN. 
From  Heine. 

O  Heart !  I  have  a  question  : 

What 's  love  ?     Come,  now,  speak  on  : 
"  Two  souls  with  one  thought  only, 

Two  hearts  that  beat  as  one." 

And  tell  me  whence  love  cometh : 

"  It  comes,  and  that  is  all." 
Tell,  too,  how  love  departeth  : 

"  Nobody  can  recall." 

But  when  is  love  the  purest  ? 

"  For  self  to  have  no  care." 
And  when  is  love  the  deepest  ? 

"  In  stillest  course,  't  is  there." 

And  when  is  love  the  richest  ? 

"  In  giving,  this  it  proves." 
Please  tell,  too,  how  love  talketh  : 

"  It  does  not  talk,  it  loves." 

C.  H  Willey. 


Crayon    Bleu. 


, 


Wyndham  Towers,  by  Thomas  Bailey  Aldrich.     Boston  :  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 

Anything  from  the  pen  of  one  of  our  sweetest  lyrical  writers  is  sure  to  be  appreciated 
but  aside  from  the  name  of  the  author,  we  think  Mr.  Aldrich's  last  poem  the  best  narra- 
tive poem  that  has  appeared  for  many  a  month.  The  conception  is  simple, — Cain  and  Abel 
over  again.  But  here  the  direct  cause  is  a  woman,  and  the  murderer  is  shut  into  the  secret 
closet  while  trying  to  hide  his  dead,  and  perishes  in  that  ghastly  presence.  The  plot  calls 
for  the  treatment  of  a  master,  and  it  receives  it.  With  all  the  quaintness  of  the  Eliza- 
bethan authors,  whom  he  professes  to  follow,  and  all  the  delightful  imagery  which  the 
author  has  shown  in  previous  works,  he  gives  us  a  feast  of  poetry.  We  would  like  to 
quote  at  length,  but  we  forbear.  Mr.  Aldrich  is  a  poet  who  charms  by  the  simplicity  of 
his  style.  We  do  not  need  to  stop  to  inquire  about  the  meaning,  but  receive  the  delight  of 
pure  beauty  and  poetry,  without  the  intellectual  application  required  by  more  philosophical 
writers.  Yet  in  this  work  we  see  his  power  as  a  psychological  student,  and  the  character 
sketch  of  Darrell  Wyndham, — 

"  Suspicious,  morbid,  passionate,  self  involved, 
The  soul  half  eaten  out  with  solitude," — 

although  short,  is  masterly.     Bound  in  parchment  and  cloth,  the  book  is  most  attractive  to 
the  eye. 

A  Yarikee  in  King- Arthur's  Court,  by  Mark  Twain.  New  York:  Charles  L.  Webster  &  Co. 
The  conception  of  Mark  Twain's  new  book,  doubtless  already  familiar  to  most  of  our 
readers,  is  the  transposition  of  a  Connecticut  Yankee  into  the  court  of  King  Arthur. 
Once  there,  his  scientific  knowledge  enables  him  to  pose  as  a  magician,  and  by  his  powers 
to  gain  control  of  the  executive  power  of  the  kingdom.  He  gradually  works  in  all  the  mod- 
ern improvements, — electric  lights,  telephone,  Gatling  guns,  &c.  But  he  finds  the  power  of 
popular  opinion  too  strong,  and  when  the  interdict  of  the  church  comes,  he  is  obliged  to 
use  his  last  resources  in  defending  Merlin's  cave  against  the  chivalry  of  England.  He 
is  wounded,  and  Merlin  comes  as  an  old  woman  to  dress  his  wounds,  casts  an  enchant- 
ment about  him  that  makes  him  sleep  thirteen  hundred  years,  to  awake  in  the  nineteenth 
century.  The  work  does  not  strike  one  as  primarily  a  humorous  production.  It  is  a  sat- 
ire upon  the  English  reverence  for  aristocracy.  So  true  is  it  that  the  best  humorist  knows 
the  nearest  way  to  the  hearts  of  men,  that  the  passages  which  touch  upon  the  condition  of 
the  laborer  and  slave  often  rise  to  the  sublimest  heights  of  pathos.  There  seems  to  be  a 
tendency  to  give  us  all  the  horrible  details  of  gilded  corruption,  that  is,  to  say  the  least,  dis- 
tasteful to  the  American  mind.  Aside  from  this,  the  book  is  masterly  in  its  conception 
and  execution.  Even  if  we  shudder  to  think  of  the  rough  hand  of  desecration  being  laid 
upon  the  beautiful  legends  of  Camelot  and  the  Table  Round,  we  must  rejoice  to  acknowl- 
edge the  great  advance  in  the  recognition  of  universal  brotherhood  since  the  sixth  century. 

The  Garden,  as  Considered  in  Literature  by  Certain  Polite  Writers,  with  a  critical  essay  by 

Walter  Howe.     New  York  :  Putnam's.     $1.00. 

This  Knickerbocker   nugget  contains  selections  from  the  two  Plinys,  Lord  Bacon,  Sir 
William  Temple,  Addison,  Pope,  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montagu,  Thomas  Whately,  Gold- 


CRA  YON  BLEU.  249 

smith,  Horace  Walpole,  and  John  Evelyn.  Each  selection  is  a  masterpiece  of  literature, 
and  the  whole  is  a  thing  of  artistic  beauty.  It  is  a  book  to  be  enjoyed  by  the  lover  of 
good  literature,  as  well  as  by  the  lover  of  gardening.  The  critical  essay  in  introduction 
is  a  scholarly  and  pleasing  piece  of  work. 

Harvard  Studies  in  Classical  Philology,  edited  by  a  committee  of  the  classical  instructors 

of  Harvard  University.     Boston  :  Ginn  &  Co.     $1.00. 

This  is  the  first  volume  of  a  series  which  bids  fair  to  be  exponential  of  the  highest 
American  scholarship.  Among  the  eleven  valuable  monographs  on  philological  subjects, 
we  mention  as  especially  readable  to  the  ordinary  scholar,  "  The  Fauces  of  the  Roman 
House,"  by  Prof.  Greenough,  "De  Ignis  Eliciendi  Modis  Apud  Antiauos"  Scripsit  Morris 
H.  Morgan,  and  "  The  Social  and  Domestic  Position  of  Women  in  Aristophanes,"  by  Her- 
man W.  Haley.     Prof.  Goodwin  also  contributes  some  valuable  studies  in  Greek  syntax. 

Greek  Moods  and  Tenses,  Rewritten  and  Enlarged,  by  Prof.  W.  W.  Goodwin.     Boston : 

Ginn  &  Co.     $2.15. 

The  reputation  of  the  former  editions  of  this  book  is  so  great  that  all  we  need  say  of  the 
new  edition  is,  that  it  is  much  improved  in  every  way,  and  is  much  enlarged.  It  has  be- 
come one  of  the  indispensables  to  the  Greek  scholar. 

The  Method  of  Least  Squares,  by  George  C.  Comstock.     Boston  :  Ginn  &  Co.     $1.05. 

Gives  in  a  book  of  sixty-eight  pages  a  treatment  of  this  subject  so  essential  to  the  prac- 
tical observer  in  all  lines  of  physical  science.  The  analytic  proof  of  the  fundamental  for- 
mula is  omitted,  its  correctness  being  assumed  from  experimental  data.  The  practical 
methods  derived  therefrom  are  well  elaborated,  however,  and  all  the  subordinate  proper- 
ties are  demonstrated. 

The  Second  and  Third  Reading  Books,  by  Eben  H.  Davis.     Phil. :  J.  B.  Lippincott  Co. 

A  finely  graded  series.  The  Second  Book  opens  with  conversational  stories,  is  fol- 
lowed by  tales  from  the  classics  told  in  a  way  to  attract  children.  The  Third  Book  is 
made  up  of  selections  of  prose  and  poetry  from  the  better  class  of  juvenile  writers,  well 
adapted  to  follow  the  Second  Book,  and  to  lead  the  pupil  to  a  love  for  the  best  literature. 
Each  book  has  several  full-page  illustrations  designed  to  aid  in  language  teaching. 

The  New  Arithmetic,  by  300  authors.     Boston  :  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.     $0.85. 

Essentially  a  modern  arithmetic.  It  aims  to  give  the  student  a  good  knowledge  of  the 
theory,  at  the  same  time  teaching  correctness  of  mechanical  work  and  mental  accuracy. 
Careful  training  with  the  aid  of  some  such  book  would  be  highly  appreciated  by  many  who 
were  educated  by  those  old  methods  which  prescribed  mechanical  processes  to  the  weak- 
ening of  mental  accuracy  in  the  student. 

State  and  Federal  Governments  of  the  United  States,  by  Prof.  Woodrow  Wilson.     Boston : 
D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. 

A  chapter  from  Prof.  Wilson's  larger  work  on  "  The  State,"  published  separately  with  a 
view  for  use  as  a  text-book.  It  may  profitably  be  used  as  a  guide  to  the  practical  work- 
ings of  our  government,  both  state  and  federal. 

Ans  dem  Staat  Friedrichs  des  Grossen,  von  Gustav  Freytag.     Boston:  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. 

$0.30. 

An  edition,  annotated  by  Prof.  Herman  Hager,  of  this  valuable  work  on  Frederick's  life 
and  times. 


250  CRA  YON  BLEU. 

German  Reader,  by  Edward  S.  Joynes.     Boston :  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. 

A  reader  for  beginners.  The  selections  are  well  graded,  the  first  being  interlinear,  and 
the  last  more  difficult.  The  prevailing  tone  is  that  of  the  best  German  literature,  the 
names  of  Goethe,  Schiller,  and  Heine  appearing  very  often.  It  has  full  notes  and  vocabu- 
lary.    The  book  will  be  used  here  in  the  Sophomore  class. 

Primer  of  French  Literature,  by  F.  M.  Warren.     Boston:  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. 

Valuable  as  a  catalogue  of  French  works,  and  a  guide  to  the  most  obvious  qualities  to 
be  found  in  each  writer,  without  any  pretence  to  full  critical  study  of  particular  authors. 

Sept  Grand  Auteurs  du  Dix-Neuvieme  Siecle,  by!  Alcee  Fortier.     Boston :  D.  C.   Heath 

&Co. 

Lamartine,  Victor  Hugo,  Alfred  de  Vigney,  Alfred  de  Musset,  Theophile  Gautier,  Pros- 
per Merimee,  Francois  Coppee.  A  series  of  lectures  in  French,  originally  delivered  at  the 
Tulane  University  of  Louisiana.  The  French  is  sufficiently  easy  to  be  read  at  sight  by 
less  advanced  scholars,  and  the  historic  work  is  excellent. 

The  Public  School  Music  Course,  by  Charles  E.  Whitney.     Boston :  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. 

A  well  graded  series  of  six  Music  Readers,  for  use  in  Public  Schools,  from  the  lowest 
primary  to  the  highest  grammer  grades.  The  first  five  are  twenty-five  cents  each,  the 
sixth,  fifty-four  cents.  The  selections  and  solfeggios  are  well  chosen.  In  the  sixth,  the 
degree  of  difficulty  becomes  sufficient  for  any  class  of  a  grammar  school.  Some  very  beau- 
tiful songs  are  found  between  its  covers. 

Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Education,  1887-88.      Washington :    Department  of  the 

Interior. 

It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  topic  in  the  educational  field  which  this  report  does  not  cover, 
and  cover  well.  The  most  interesting  innovation  in  the  work  of  the  Bureau  of  Education 
for  this  year  was  the  beginning  of  the  publication  of  a  series  of  works  upon  higher  educa- 
tion in  the  various  states.  The  monographs,  written  with  this  idea  in  view,  bid  fair  to  be 
valuable  additions  to  American  history. 

The  Atlantic  opens  with  articles  on  "  The  Trials,  Opinions,  and  Death  of  Giordano 
Bruno,"  by  William  R.  Thayer,  and  "  Woman  Suffrage,  Pro  and  Con,"  by  Charles  Worces- 
ter Clark.  "  The  Value  of  the  Corner,"  by  George  Parsons  Lathrop,  tells  in  a  pleasing 
way  of  the  value  of  solitude.  "  Loitering  Through  the  Paris  Exposition  "  is  one  of  the 
best  of  the  articles  on  this  topic  which  have  been  appearing  in  American  magazines.  We 
are  ever  more  pleased  with  Dr.  Holmes's  "  Over  the  Teacups."  This  month  he  decries 
the  great  craze  of  verse-making  in  his  own  inimitable  manner.  The  poem  on  Tennyson  is 
particularly  good. 

The  three  most  noticeable  articles  in  The  Century  for  March,  after  the  regular  serials, 
are  "  Gloucester  Cathedral,"  by  Mrs.  Schuyler  Van  Rensselaer,  illustrated  by  Joseph  Pen- 
nell ;  "  A  Municipal  Study  of  Glasgow,"  by  Albert  Shaw ;  and  "  Some  Wayside  Places  in 
Palestine,"  by  Edward  L.  Wilson.  The  fiction  and  poetry  are  good.  The  parable  entitled 
"  Posthumous  Fame  ;  or,  A  Legend  of  the  Beautiful,"  by  James  Lane  Allen,  is  a  powerful 
piece ;  the  Sonnet  on  Robert  Browning,  by  Agnes  Maule  Machar,  is  a  good  piece  of  ele- 
giac work.  "  The  Merry  Chanter  "  and  "  The  Nature  and  Method  of  Revelation  "  close 
in  this  number. 


CRA  YON  BLE  U.  2  5 1 

Scribner's  for  March  contains  the  first  number  of  "  In  the  Footprints  of  Charles  Lamb," 
by  Benjamin  Ellis  Martin,  to  be  concluded  in  the  April  number.  It  is  a  valuable  study, 
and  is  finely  illustrated.  "  A  Forgotten  Remnant  "  of  the  Seminole  Indians  receives  atten- 
tion from  Kirk  Munroe.  "  John  Ericsson,  the  Engineer,"  becomes  even  more  interesting. 
"  A  Deedless  Drama,"  by  George  A.  Hibbard,  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  magazine  sto- 
ries of  the  year.  The  "  Point  of  View  "  is  showing  itself  the  peer  of  similar  departments 
in  other  magazines. 

Lippincott 's  contains  the  complete  novel,  "Two  Soldiers,"  by  the  well  known  author 
Charles  King,  of  the  U.  S.  army.  Julian  Hawthorne's  article  on  "  Nathaniel  Hawthorne's 
Elixir  of  Life  "  continues,  showing  very  clearly  the  way  in  which  the  great  author  wrote. 
Edgar  Fawcett  contributes  a  long  poem  on  "  The  Tears  of  Tullia,"  succeeding  very  finely 
with  his  classic  theme. 

Ginn  &  Co.  announce  Elements  of  Structural  and  Systematic  Botany,  by  Prof.  Douglas 
Houghton  Campbell  of  Indiana  University,  to  be  published  in  April ;  The  Best  Elizabethan 
Plays,  with  introduction  by  William  R.  Thayer,  to  be  published  in  April ;  and  Directional 
Calculus,  by  Prof.  E.  W.  Hyde  of  the  University  of  Cincinnati,  to  be  published  in  April  or 
May. 

D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.  announce  De  Mussefs  Pierre  et  Camille,  edited  by  Prof.  O.  B.  Super, 
Carlisle,  Pa.,  and  A  Eirst  Reader,  by  Anna  B.  Badlam. 

Charles  Scribner's  Sons  announce  that  they  have  acquired  from  Mr.  Henry  M.  Stanley 
all  the  American  rights  for  his  personal  narrative  of  the  expedition  for  the  relief  of  Emin 
Pasha.     An  article  by  Mr.  Stanley  on  this  subject  will  appear  in  Scribner's  Magazine. 

We  have  received,  and  reserve  for  further  notice,  Dr.  Muhlenberg  and  The  North  Shore 
Watch,  from  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.,  and  Health  Notes  from  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons. 


Exchanges. 


,  What  is  the  ultimate  object  of  the  Exchange  Department  in  college  papers  ?  the  editor 
muses  to  himself,  as  he  looks  in  despair  upon  a  table  littered  with  various  effusions  in  cov- 
ers grave  and  gay,  from  the  sober  brown  of  the  Yale  Lit.  to  the  bright  crimson  of  the  fool's 
cap  and  bells  on  The  Lampoon's  knight  of  vanity.  We  doubt  not  some  editors  regard  it 
a  good  way  of  filling  space,  if  we  are  to  judge  by  the  contents  of  their  magazines.  Some 
take  the  common  idea  that  it  is  a  sort  of  "  You  tickle  me  and  I  '11  tickle  you  "  affair,  and 
seek  to  gain  praise  for  themselves  by  bestowing  it  judiciously  upon  their  contemporaries. 
But  we  doubt  not  every  editor  would  say,  if  asked  what  is  the  ideal,  that  it  is  the  correc- 
tion of  our  faults  by  the  criticisms  offered  by  others,  and  the  gaining  of  a  cosmopolitan 
spirit  for  the  substance  of  our  publications,  so  apt  to  reflect  the  purely  local  and  narrow. 
Not  infrequently,  we  say  with  modesty,  the  editor  learns  to  pity  himself  as  he  sees  other 
editors  evidently  laboring  under  well  known  difficulties,  and  failing  in  points  where  he 
himself  has  so  often  tried  in  vain  to  succeed.  We  wish  to  propound  one  question  before 
passing  to  particulars.  Why  is  it  that  the  average  publication  represents  not  the  college, 
but  the  editors  ?  Why  do  not  the  students  outside  the  sanctum  lend  a  helping  hand  more 
often  ? 

College  and  School  seems  destined  to  succeed  where  The  Collegiaii  failed,  perhaps  be" 
cause  the  former  takes  up  a  much  broader  field,  and  one  not  distinctively  literary.  In  the 
March  number  of  the  first  named  periodical,  we  notice  an  article  on  the  "  Tendency  of  the 
New  England  College,"  by  Prof.  Ruggles  of  the  Chandler  school.  It  is  an  able  article, 
showing  the  drift  of  the  colleges  of  the  East  towards  universities.  This  same  March  num- 
ber has  a  very  interesting  article  on  the  "  Home  Journal  and  its  Editor,"  in  which  are  in- 
teresting reminiscences  of  George  P.  Morris  and  N.  P.  Willis,  in  their  long  partnership. 
"  The  Editor's  Note  Book,"  conducted  by  Clinton  Scollard,  is  always  fresh  and  interest- 
ing, and  "  Among  the  Colleges  "  is  a  valuable  summary  of  news.  We  hope  this  bright 
face  has  come  to  stay. 

We  always  enjoy  the  Yale  Lit,  with  its  look  of  comfortable  antiquity  and  its  strong  arti- 
cles. The  February  number  is,  however,  slightly  disappointing.  Commencing  with  two 
or  three  excellent  articles,  the  last  part,  especially  "  New  England  Life  in  Poetry  and  Fic- 
tion," gives  only  poor  suggestions  of  what  articles  on  the  rich  topics  treated  might  afford. 
We  wish,  however,  to  commend  the  excellent  verse.  "  Phyllis  and  Corydon  "  is  taking, 
and  the  "  Song  "  is  full  of  poetic  beauty. 

It  is  a  general  impression  of  ours  that  the  Hamilton  Lit.  and  Bates  Student  exist  mainly 
for  the  purpose  of  printing  prize  essays  and  similar  productions.  The  latter  journal  is 
tired  of  love  poetry  for  the  nonce,  and  says, — "  It  would  be  certain  to  be  as  good  mental 
exercise  for  the  writer  to  try  his  hand  at  something  new,  as  to  continue  forever  in  the  same 
ruts."  Beauty  for  the  sake  of  beauty  is  evidently  unknown  in  that  land  of  co-eds.  Men- 
tal exercise !  Much  better  write  a  debate  on  "  Will  Bismarck  be  a  Greater  Historical 
Character  than  Gladstone  ? "  for  that  purpose,  our  dear  friend  ! 

We  are  glad  to  see  by  the  Brunonian  that  Brown  is  to  have  a  Literary  Monthly.  We 
wish  to  compliment  the  Brunoniaiz  on  its  verse  in  the  last  issue. 


Alumni  Notes. 


That  this  department  may  be  as  interesting  and  valuable  as  possible,  ive  solicit  contributions  from 
ill.  Items  that  may  seem  unimportant  to  the  contributor  "will  no  doubt  carry  to  some  readers  rememm 
ranees  of  happy  but  departed  days. 

The  Sons  of  New  Hampshire  in  Chicago  held  their  first  annual  banquet  recently.  A 
;ood  many  Dartmouth  men  were  present.  B.  F.  Ayer  '46,  the  president,  acted  as  toast- 
naster.  Letters  were  read  from  Senators  Blair  '73  hon.  and  Chandler  '66  hon.,  and  Gov. 
joodell  '89  hon.  Col.  F.  W.  Parker,  principal  of  the  Cook  County  Normal  School,  re- 
ponded  to  the  toast,  "  On  the  Merrimack  Fifty  Years  Ago  ;  "  Rev.  W.  A.  Bartlett  '82,  who 
vas  unable  to  be  present,  sent  a  paper  on  "  Dartmouth  College  ;  "  and  "  The  New  Hamp- 
ihire  Press — Like  her  Territory,  Small  but  '  Rocky,'  "  was  responded  to  by  Charles  H. 
3am  '71. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  New  Hampshire  Trust  Company,  held  in  Manchester,  the 
ollowing  were  elected  directors:  James  A.  Weston  '71  hon.,  James  F.  Briggs  '83  hon., 
:harles  H.  Bartlett  '81  hon.,  Benj.  A.  Kimball  '54  C.  S.  S.,  William  M.  Chase  '58  C.  S.  S., 
ind  Hiram  D.  Upton  '79.  James  A.  Weston  was  elected  president,  Charles  H.  Bartlett 
/ice-president,  and  Hiram  D.  Upton  treasurer.  On  the  executive  committee  are  James  A. 
Weston,  Charles  H.  Bartlett,  James  F.  Briggs,  and  Hiram  D.  Upton. 

Among  the  Dartmouth  men  who  attended  the  recent  reunion  of  the  former  students  and 
eachers  of  New  Ipswich  Appleton  Academy,  were  Rev.  John  Herbert  '71,  Rev.  Perley  B. 
Davis  '74  hon.,  Dr.  C.  F.  P.  Bancroft  '60,  Prof.  C.  F.  Emerson  '68,  Hon.  Charles  H.  Burns 
74  hon.,  F.  H.  Hardison  '76,  M.  O.  Adams  '71,  Henry  H.  Piper  '76,  and  Rev.  A.  F.  New- 
:on  '74.  Rev.  John  Herbert,  chairman  of  the  executive  committee  which  had  arranged  for 
:he  reunion,  presided.  Rev.  P.  B.  Davis,  Dr.  Bancroft,  Prof.  Emerson,  and  Hon.  Charles 
H.  Burns  made  short  speeches.  On  motion  of  Mr.  Davis,  the  following  resolution  was 
idopted  by  rising  vote,  first  of  the  former  pupils  of  Prof.  Quimby  '51,  and  then  of  all: 
rl  We,  the  former  pupils  of  Prof.  E.  T.  Quimby,  assembled  in  reunion  with  other  alumni 
Df  New  Ipswich  Appleton  Academy,  in  Boston,  February  25,  1890,  recalling  with  thankful- 
less  the  valuable  service  he  rendered  us  in  the  institution  over  which  he  so  long  and  so 
efficiently  presided,  desire  hereby  to  profess  our  profound  sorrow  at  the  sad  tidings  just 
borne  to  us  of  the  sudden  increase  of  his  prolonged  illness,  and  to  testify  that  our  grateful 
memories  and  our  deepest  sympathies  shall  attend  him  until  the  weakness  and  weariness 
of  earth  shall  be  exchanged  for  the  rest  of  heaven."  More  than  one  of  the  speakers  de- 
plored the  fact  that  a  gathering  such  as  the  present  was  so  rare,  and  Messrs.  Herbert, 
Burns,  Davis,  Emerson,  and  Adams  were  appointed  a  committee  to  consider  the. advisa- 
bility of  forming  a  permanent  organization  for  the  purpose  of  having  more  frequent  meet- 
ings in  the  future.  By  unanimous  vote  Mr.  Herbert  was  designated  by  the  meeting  for 
the  first  president  of  the  association,  should  one  be  formed.  The  singing  of  a  reunion  ode, 
written  by  F.   H.   Hardison,  ended  the  exercises.     After  the  reception,  the  committee 


254  ALUMNI  NOTES. 

reported,  advising  the  formation  of  "  The  Appleton  Academy  Association."  Executive  am 
reception  committees  were  elected.  To  the  former,  H.  H.  Piper,  and  to  the  latter,  Rev 
P.  B.  Davis  and  Rev.  A.  F.  Newton,  were  chosen. 

At  the  70th  annual  meeting  of  the  White  Mountain  Medical  Society,  held  recently  a 
Woodsville,  the  president,  Dr.  G.  W.  McGregor  '78  Med.  Coll.,  of  Littleton,  delivered  ai 
address  upon  "  Timely  Topics."  Papers  were  read  by  Dr.  G.  S.  Gove  '59  Med.  Coll.,  0 
Whitefield,  and  Dr.  E.  Mitchell  '67  Med.  Coll.,  of  Lancaster. 

A  Dartmouth  College  Lunch  Club  has  been  formed  in  Boston,  with  some  seventy  mem 
bers.  The  object  of  the  club  is  to  hold  meetings  every  Saturday  afternoon  for  a  socia 
time.  The  first  meeting  was  held  at  the  Boston  Tavern.  George  Fred  Williams  '72  pre 
sided,  and  Isaac  F.  Paul  '78  was  secretary. 

Hon.  James  F.  Joy  '33,  of  Michigan,  has  secured  ex-Congressman  Hall  '51,  of  Dover 
as  counsel  in  the  legal  contest  over  the  will  of  the  late  Benjamin  Thompson,  of  Durham 
The  contesting  heirs  have  retained  Hon.  John  Kivel  '76,  of  Dover. 

'33.  Dr.  Edward  Spalding,  of  Nashua,  was  elected  treasurer  pro  tern,  of  the  college  a 
the  recent  meeting  of  the  trustees. 

'38.  Hon.  James  Barrett  has  been  elected  president  of  the  Rutland  (Vt.)  County  College 
Graduates'  Association.  He  has  also  been  elected  one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  the  Ne\ 
England  Historic  Genealogical  Society,  as  has  Hon.  Joseph  B.  Walker  '83  hon.,  of  Con 
cord. 

'39  Med.  Coll.  Asahel  Kendrick,  who  died  at  West  Randolph,  Vt.,  February  21,  wa 
born  at  Hanover,  December  25,  1806.  After  studying  medicine  here  and  in  Troy,  N.  Y, 
he  began  practising  at  Warren,  Vt.  Forty-two  years  ago  he  went  to  West  Randolph.  Hi 
was  a  successful  and  highly  respected  physician.  He  left  a  widow  and  one  daughter,  th 
wife  of  Rev.  E.  E.  Herrick  '79  hon.,  of  Milton,  Vt. 

'40.  Jonathan  Everett  Sargent,  who  lately  died  at  his  home  in  Concord,  has  been  ; 
prominent  man  in  the  state  for  many  years.  His  biographer  in  the  History  of  Merrimacl 
and  Belknap  counties  has  said  of  him, — "Judge  Sargent,  now  of  Concord,  has  been  wel 
know  throughout  the  state  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Besides  an  extensivi 
legislative  acquaintance,  he  has,  as  judge  of  the  different  courts  and  as  chief-justice  of  th< 
state,  held  terms  of  court  in  every  shire  town  and  half-shire  town  in  the  state.  He  ha: 
been  emphatically  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune,  and  by  his  energy  and  perseverana 
has  reached  the  highest  post  of  honor  in  his  profession  in  his  native  state.  He  is  genia 
and  social  with  his  friends ;  he  loves  a  joke,  and  belongs  to  that  small  class  of  men  '  wh( 
never  grow  old.'  He  loves  his  home,  his  family,  and  his  books.  No  man  enjoys  the  stud] 
of  history  and  of  poetry,  of  philosophy  and  of  fiction,  better  than  he,  while  law  and  the 
ology  come  in  for  a  share  of  attention.  He  is  a  kind  neighbor,  a  respected  citizen,  a  ripe 
scholar,  a  wise  legislator,' an  upright  judge,  and  an  honest  man."  Judge  Sargent  was  borr 
at  New  London,  October  23,  1816.  He  fitted  for  collge  at  Hopkinton  and  Kimball  Unior 
academies.  Immediately  after  graduation  he  began  the  study  of  law  with  Hon.  Williarr 
P.  Weeks  '26,  of  Canaan.  In  the  spring  of  1841  he  went  South,  and  taught  in  the  Alexan 
dria  (Va.)  high  school  and  in  a  family  school  in  Maryland,  in  the  meantime  pursuing  his 
legal  studies  with  Hon.  David  A.  Hall,  of  Washington.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  ir 
the  courts  of  the  District  of  Columbia  in  April,  1842,  and  returned  to  New  Hampshire  the 
following  September.     He  continued  his  studies  with  Mr.  Weeks   until  July,  1843,  w^er 


ALUMNI  NOTES.  255 

he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  the  superior  courts  of  judicature  in  this  state.  After  his  ad- 
mission to  the  bar,  Mr.  Sargent  formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  Weeks  at  Canaan,  which 
continued  until  1847,  when  he  removed  to  Wentworth  and  entered  upon  what  proved  to 
be  a  very  lucrative  practice.  For  ten  years  he  held  the  office  of  solicitor  of  Grafton  county. 
In  April,  1855,  Mr.  Sargent  was  appointed  a  circuit  judge  of  the  court  of  common  pleas, 
and  when  the  old  courts  were  abolished  and  new  ones  established  the  following  June  he  was 
made  an  associate  justice  of  the  new  court  by  Gov.  Metcalf  '23,  and  acted  as  such  until  the 
court  was  abolished  in  1859.  He  was  then  appointed  to  a  place  on  the  bench  of  the  su- 
preme court,  where  he  remained  fifteen  years.  In  March,  1873,  upon  the  death  of  Chief-Jus- 
tice Bellows  '59  hon.,  he  was  appointed  to  the  vacancy,  and  held  the  place  until  August,  1874. 
Judge  Sargent's  written  opinions  are  contained  in  sixteen  volumes  of  the  New  Hampshire 
reports,  from  the  39th  to  the  54th  inclusive.  In  1874  he  resumed  the  practice  of  law  in 
Concord  in  company  with  William  M.  Chase  '58  C.  S.  S.,  and  the  partnership  continued 
for  five  years.  Mr.  Sargent  had  a  long  and  honorable  legislative  experience.  He  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  house  from  Wentworth  for  three  consecutive  terms ;  in  1853  ne 
was  speaker.  He  was  president  of  the  senate  in  1854.  In  1876  he  was  elected  to  the  con- 
stitutional convention  from  ward  5,  Concord,  and  served  as  chairman  of  the  judiciary  com- 
mittee. He  represented  the  same  ward  in  the  house  in  1877  and  1878.  He  was  chairman 
of  the  committee  to  revise  the  General  Statutes  in  1877,  one  of  his  associates  being  Hon. 
Levi  W.  Barton  '48,  of  NewpoVt.  Judge  Sargent  took  a  deep  interest  in  historical  mat- 
ters. He  delivered  the  address  on  the  celebration  of  the  100th  anniversary  of  the  incor- 
poration of  his  native  town,  New  London,  June  25,  1879,  ar,d  also  a  memorial  address  at 
the  college  Commencement  in  1880,  on  the  late  Hon.  Joel  Parker  '11.  He  was  grand 
master  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Free  and  Accepted  Masons  in  1864  and  J865.  He  has  been 
president  of  the  N.  H.  Centennial  Home  for  the  Aged  for  ten  years.  He  has  been  one  of 
the  directors  of  the  National  State  Capital  Bank  for  several  years,  and  president  and  a 
member  of  the  investment  committee  of  the  Loan  and  Trust  Savings  Bank  since  its  com- 
mencement in  1872.  The  college  gave  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  in  1869.  Juclge 
Sargent  was  twice  married,  and  a  wife  and  son  and  daughter  survive  him. 

'43.  Hon.  Harry  Bingham,  of  Littleton,  is  away  on  his  annual  trip  to  Florida,  where  he 
will  spend  several  months. 

'44.  Hon.  A.  A.  Ranney  discussed  "  The  National  Guard  "  at  a  recent  dinner  of  the 
New  England  Club. 

'46.  Rev.  A.  H.  Quint,  D.  D.,  acted  as  moderator,  and  gave  the  charge  to  the  people,  at 
the  settlement  of  the  pastor  over  the  North  Congregational  church  in  New  Bedford  lately. 
Rev.  Arthur  Little,  D.  D.,  '60,  delivered  the  sermon. 

'48.  Hon.  J.  W.  Patterson  read  a  paper  on  "  State  School  Systems  ;  What  is  the  best 
Plan  of  Organization  ? "  at  the  first  session  of  the  Department  of  Superintendence  of  the 
National  Educational  Association  in  New  York.  He  also  delivered  an  address  at  the  ded- 
ication of  the  Memorial  hall  and  public  library  at  Wolfeborough. 

'49.  Hon.  Stephen  M.  Crosby  has  been  elected  treasurer  of  the  newly  chartered  Back 
Bay  Incandescent  Light  Company  of  Boston. 

'50.  Samuel  Dearborn  Lord,  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Manchester,  died  recently.  He 
was  a  native  of  Epsom.  Mr.  Lord  was  for  two  terms  clerk  of  the  city  council,  for  two 
years  city  solicitor,  and  for  eight  years  in  the  legislature,  where  he  was  clerk.     He  was 


256  ALUMNI  NOTES. 

also  for  eight  years  on  the  Board  of  Education.     He  was  a  member  of  the  New  England 
Meteorological  Society,  and  delivered  and  published  numerous  addresses  on  meteorology. 

'51.  Elihu  Thayer  Quimby  died  February  26,  at  the  home  of  his  son,  Dr.  Charles  E. 
Quimby,  '74,  in  New  York.  Prof.  Quimby  was  born  at  Danville,  July  17,  1826.  After 
graduating  from  college  he  was  principal  of  the  Appleton  Academy  for  three  years,  when 
he  was  elected  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  Dartmouth,  which  position  he  held  until  1878. 
During  this  time  he  published  an  algebra  for  collegiate  use.  For  many  years  he  had 
charge  of  the  United  States  coast  and  geodetic  survey  in  New  Hampshire.  He  also 
directed  the  survey  recently  made  for  the  establishment  of  the  boundary  between  New 
Hampshire  and  Massachusetts.  He  left  a  widow  and  two  sons,  Dr.  Charles  and  William 
P.  '82,  a  lawyer,  of  Gettysburg,  Pa. 

'55.  Judge  William  H.  H.  Allen,  of  Claremont,  has  returned  from  his  Southern  trip, 
which  he  took  for  the  benefit  of  his  health. 

'57  Med.  Coll.  J.  H.  Sanborn,  of  Franklin  Falls,  has  been  elected  president  of  the 
Centre  District  Medical  Society.  Dr.  L.  W.  Peabody  '67  hon.,  of  Henniker,  is  vice-pres- 
ident. 

'58.  Rev.  L.  H.  Adams,  accompanied  by  his  wife  and  daughter,  sailed  for  his  mission 
field  in  Turkey,  February  22. 

'58.  Hon.  A.  B.  Thompson  has  been  reelected  president  of  the  Capital  Fire  Insurance 
Company. 

'59.  I.  N.  Carleton,  Ph.  D.,  has  been  elected  president  of  the  Merrimack  Valley  Con- 
gregational Club. 

'59.  Prof.  Luther  T.  Townsend,  D.  D.,  of  Boston  University,  recently  delivered  a  very 
earnest  and  scholarly  address  before  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of  Boston  on 
"  The  Necessity  of  Christian  Young  Men  in  Politics  and  Business." 

'61.  Rev.  W.  W.  Dow,  of  Portsmouth,  has  accepted  a  call  to  the  Congregational  church 
at  Winchendon,  Mass.,  where  he  was  formerly  located. 

'62  C.  S.  S.  Prof.  John  R.  Eastman  was  elected  "Alumni  delegate"  to  visit  the  college 
next  June,  at  the  recent  meeting  of  the  Washington  Association.  This  action  was  taken  in 
accordance  with  the  circular  letter  issued  by  the  trustees.  Judge  Bond  '55  was  also  men- 
tioned for  the  position,  but  declined  in  favor  of  Prof.  Eastman. 

'63.     Col.  Thomas  Cogswell,  of  Gilmanton,  will  be  orator  on  Memorial  Day  at  Pittsfield. 

'64.  Dr.  J.  L.  Hildreth  has  resigned  his  position  on  the  Cambridge,  Mass.,  School 
Committee. 

'66.  Rev.  William  B.  T.  Smith,  of  St.  Luke's  church,  Charlestown,  has  recently  visited 
Fort  Payne,  Ala.,  where  he  organized  an  Episcopal  society. 

'70.  Rev.  Francis  Brown,  D.  D.,  of  Union  Theological  Seminary,  took  a  principal  part 
in  the  meeting  of  the  New  York  Presbytery,  defending  the  report  of  the  committee  con- 
taining the  suggested  changes. 

'71.  Alvin  Burleigh,  of  Plymouth,  has  been  appointed  judge-advocate  on  the  staff  of 
Department  Commander  Cogswell  '63. 

'71.     Hon.  A.  R.  Savage  has  been  reelected  mayor  of  Auburn,  Me. 


ALUMNI  NOTES.  2$J 

'72.     Hon.  G.  F.  Williams  made  a  speech  at  a  dinner  of  the  Orpheus  Musical   Society 

itely. 

'73.  Rev.  J.  M.  Dutton,  of  Great  Falls,  preached  the  sermon  at  the  installation  of  the 
astor  of  the  Congregational  church  at  Craftsbury,  Vt.  Rev.  C.  B.  Hulbert,  '53,  of  East 
[ardwick,  Vt.,  gave  the  charge  to  the  pastor. 

fjy  C.  S.  S. — '79  T.  S.  C.  E.  At  the  end  of  the  introduction  to  the  Zone  Catalogue  of 
le  Argentine  National  Observatory,  Cordova,  is  the  following  concerning  the  late  Chal- 
ters  Williams  Stevens  :  "  In  this  work,  for  the  successful  completion  of  which  he  had 
irnestly  and  laboriously  toiled,  it  is  fitting  that  a  word  be  said  to  commemorate  his  useful 
Fe.  Born  in  New  Hampshire  April  4,  1852,  and  graduated  from  Dartmouth  college,  he 
as  engaged  for  a  time  upon  the  triangulation  of  his  native  state.  He  came  to  Cordova 
;  the  beginning  of  the  year  1879,  since  which  time  his  assistance  in  the  Observatory  has 
;en  constant  and  invaluable.  He  was  endowed  with  unusual  physical  and  mental  vigor, 
id  a  peculiarly  cheerful  temperament,  and  his  life  was  an  example  of  blameless  integrity." 

'79.  Hon.  Hiram  D.  Upton  is  one  of  the  directors  of  the  newly  formed  board  of  trade 
i  Manchester.  Hon.  G.  Byron  Chandler  '82  hon.  is  president,  and  Ex-Gov.  Cheney  '75 
3n.,  vice-president. 

'79.  Ashton  R.  Willard  has  written  another  article  for  the  New  England  Magazine 
oon  "  Recent  Church  Architecture  in  Boston,"  a  richly  illustrated  article,  which  well  sup- 
lements  the  one  on  old  New  England  meeting-houses  in  the  January  number. 

'80  Med.  Coll.  M.  T.  Stone  has  been  appointed  on  the  board  of  pension  examining  sur- 
50ns  at  Keene  for  Cheshire  Co.  A.  B.  Thurston  '81  Med.  Coll.,  and  W.  H.  Aldrich 
5  Agr.  Coll.,  are  also  on  the  board. 

'80.  On  learning  of  the  death  of  Speaker  Barrett's  little  son,  the  Massachusetts  House 
lopted  the  following  resolutions  : 

Whereas,  This  House  learns  with  sorrow  of  the  death  of  the  only  child  of  the  Speaker, 
is  infant  son,  William  E.  Barrett,  Jr., — 

Resolved,  That  the  heartfelt  sympathies  of  the  members  of  this  House  are  hereby  ex- 
;nded  to  the  Speaker  and  to  Mrs.  Barrett. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  sent  by  the  clerk  to  Hon.  W.  E.  Barrett 
id  Mrs.  Barrett,  and  that  these  resolutions  be  extended  upon  the  journal  of  the  House. 

'81.  Rev.  G.  W.  Patterson,  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church,  Bristol,  has  resigned, 
'uring  his  pastorate  of  two  years  twenty-two  have  united  with  the  church  by  confession 
id  six  by  letter. 

'81  Agr.  Coll.  Prof.  G.  H.  Whitcher,  Director  of  the  Experiment  Station,  read  a  paper 
\  "The  Growth  and  Nutrition  of  Plants"  at  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Horti- 
lltural  Society. 

'83  Med.  Coll.  George  Bowen  Emerson,  of  Dover,  died  lately  at  the  age  of  thirty-six. 
[e  was  born  at  Barnstead,  Mass.  He  practised  in  Bath,  Me.,  until  last  March.  A  widow 
id  one  child  survive  him. 

'84.  Rev.  George  M.  Woodwell,  pastor  of  the  First  Congregational  church  of  Wen* 
im,  Mass.,  has  tendered  his  resignation,  to  take  effect  April  1. 

'86.     Arthur  Fairbanks  has  been  appointed  an  instructor  in  the  college. 


258  ALUMNI  NOTES, 

'87.     Charles  W.  Bickford,  who  has  been  the  past  year  at  the  head  of  the  Meredith  Vil- 
lage high  school,  has  accepted  a  position  in  the  Manchester  schools  at  a  salary  of  $1,000. 

'88.     Forbush  is  acting  as  instructor  in  Latin  and  Greek  in  the  University  grammar 
school,  473  Broadway,  New  York. 

'88.     Gregory  lately  delivered  a  lecture  at  Sherborn,  Mass.,  on  "  The  Philosophy  of  Wit 
and  Humor." 

'89.  Newton  is  sub-master  in  the  evening  school  in  Maiden,  Mass. 

'89  C.  S.  S.     Doane  is  teaching  at  Green's  Landing,  Me. 

'89.  A.  E.  and  G.  B.  Kingsbury  are  teaching  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

'89.  Boyd  is  teaching  at  Red  Beach,  near  Calais,  Me. 

'89.  Bradish  has  taken  a  position  with  the  Citizens'  Savings-Bank  of  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

'89.  Dartt  is  day  clerk  at  Hotel  Victoria,  Boston. 

'89.  Kennard  is  studying  law  with  the  city  solicitor  in  Manchester. 

'89.  Willard  has  been  at  home  settling  the  estate  of  his  father,  who  died  very  suddenly. 


THE 


Dartmouth  Literary  Monthly. 

Vol.  IV.  APRIL,  1890.  No.  7. 

BOARD    OF   EDITORS: 

J.  H.  GEROULD.  G.  S.  MILLS.  C.  F.  ROBINSON. 

H.  S.  HOPKINS.  C.  M.  SMITH. 

C.  A.  PERKINS,  Business  Manager. 


MODERN  COLLEGE  ATHLETICS  AT  DARTMOUTH. 

11. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  true  origin  of  our  "National 
Game,"  base-ball,  whether  it  grew  out  of  "  round"  ball,  with  a 
trace  of  the  "  English  "  in  it,  or  was  developed  from  so  called  "  cat- 
ball,"  which  is  more  probable,  it  gained  recognition  at  Dartmouth 
in  the  autumn  of  1865  by  the  organization  of  a  college  base-ball 
club,  composed  of  thirty  members.  In  order  rightly  to  understand 
the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  students  in  this  organization,  allow 
me  to  quote  from  carefully  penned  words  of  some  of  its  original 
members,  as  expressed  in  the  Dartmouth  sEgis,  of  October,  1865  : 

To  supply  the  deficiency  occasioned  by  the  lack  of  interest  displayed  in  the  foot-ball 
game,  the  college  organized  a  base-ball  club,  which  promises  fair  for  the  future.  Its  mem- 
bers were  selected  from  all  the  classes,  and  every  inducement  taken  to  make  it  a  perma- 
nent organization  and  one  eminently  adapted  to  take  the  place  of  foot-ball.  It  is  our 
belief  that  foot-ball  must  cease  to  exist  as  a  college  game.  The  time  and  the  advancing 
interests  of  old  Dartmouth  demand  it.  .  .  .  Dartmouth  has  ever  watched  over  the 
intellectual  interests  of  her  sons  with  a  zealous  care,  but  the  physical  culture — equally  as 
important — has  been  neglected  altogether.  .  .  .  It  is  with  a  full  appreciation  of  the 
requirements  of  the  college,  in  this  respect,  that  the  base-ball  club  was  organized  ;  and 
while  we  cannot  disguise  the  unfeigned  reluctance  with  which  we  part  from  the  old  foot- 
ball game,  yet,  let  us  enter  into  this  new  organization  with  a  spirit  that  will  insure  success. 

From  this  humble,  yet  spirited  and  almost  prophetic,  beginning 
has  arisen  the  deeply  interesting  game  which  so  absorbs  the  atten- 


l6o  MODERN  COLLEGE  A  THLETICS  A T  DARTMOUTH. 

tion  of  most  collegians  during  the  summer  months.  For  the  first 
few  years  after  the  organization,  attention  was  given  principally  to 
class  nines  and  contests,  though  a  College  Nine  was  early  selected, 
and  games  played  with  outside  clubs, — for,  in  the  autumn  of  1866, 
victories  are  chronicled  for  Dartmouth  over  the  Concord  and 
Portsmouth  clubs. 

As  early  as  the  summer  of  1866  arrangements  were  made  with 
Amherst  college  for  a  match  game,  which  was  played  on  Dart- 
mouths'  grounds,  and  in  which  Amherst  won,  with  a  score  of  40  to 
10.  The  following  summer  the  Dartmouths  visited  Amherst,  and 
returned  the  compliment,  winning  by  a  score  of  30  to  24.  The 
third  and  concluding  game  of  the  series  was  played  in  June,  1868, 
on  neutral  ground,  at  Brattleboro',  Vt.,  and  won  by  Dartmouth. 
The  writer  has  a  vivid  recollection  of  the  look  of  surprise  and 
despair  depicted  on  the  faces  of  the  opposing  nine  when  the  first 
ball  struck  by  the  Dartmouths  went  flying  so  far  over  the  centre- 
fielder's  head  that  the  striker  made  the  circuit  of  the  bases  and 
was  resting  complacently  with  the  remaining  eight  before  the  ball 
could  be  returned  to  the  in-field.  This  hit  doubtless  struck  the 
key-note  for  that  game,  as  10  runs  were  accredited  to  Dartmouth 
before  the  Amhersts  took  the  bat.  The  final  score  stood  47  to  20  in 
Dartmouths'  favor,  after  3  hours  and  40  minutes'  playing. 

In  a  game  with  the  Kearsarge  club,  at  Concord,  N.  H.,  in 
June,  1868,  which  lasted  four  hours  and  a  half  for  a  game  of  eight 
innings,  the  score  stood  58  to  13  in  Dartmouth's  favor,  netting  13 
runs  in  the  first  inning,  and  22  in  the  last.  Such  large  scores 
seem  quite  amusing,  and  cause  surprise  to  modern  players,  but  it 
must  be  remembered  that  this  was  before  the  era  of  "  curve" 
pitching.  The  record  kept  of  the  playing  was  "equally  amusing,  as 
the  number  of  "  fly-catches,"  made  and  missed  by  each  player, 
was  put  down. 

From  the  many  runs  made  and  length  of  time  required  for  a 
game,  one  can  form  a  good  idea  of  the  style  of  playing,  and  of 
the  interest  to  those  witnessing  the  game.  The  hard  work  was 
not  then  limited  mainly  to  the  pitcher  and  catcher,  as  now,  but  all 
had  a  share  in  it ;  and  this  explains  why  the  call  for  better  batting 


MODERN  COLLEGE  A  THLE TICS  A  T  DARTMO UTH.  26 1 

is  often  heard  in  modern  times  by  the  older  class  of  attendants  at 
ball  games. 

By  the  autumn  of  1867  the  game  had  won  such  a  place  in  the 
esteem  of  the  students,  that  the  editors  of  the  JEgis  are  led  to 
say, — 

Our  national  game,  base-ball,  is  a  manifold  blessing  to  our  college.  It  has  performed  an 
important  mission  in  bringing  about  the  change  of  sentiment  which  has  brought  the  classes 
to  a  better  feeling  toward  each  other.  It  is  an  absorbing  amusement  and  exciting  exer- 
cise. .  .  .  The  assiduous  practice  of  our  various  clubs  cannot  fail  to  raise  the  standard 
of  our  playing  very  high. 

The  uninterrupted  success  of  the  first  three  and  a  half  years 
with  clubs  in  northern  New  England  rendered  the  Dartmouths 
somewhat  venturesome,  and  a  few  signal  defeats  were  necessary 
to  hold  the  men  down  to  careful  and  scientific  practice.  Accord- 
ingly the  Dartmouths  arranged  a  game  with  the  Harvard  nine,  at 
Lowell,  Mass.,  early  in  June,  1869.  Stopping  at  Concord  on 
their  way  down,  they  received  additional  courage  from  a  decisive 
victory  over  the  local  club  there,  and  entered  the  field  in  Lowell 
with  high  hopes  ;  but  they  little  understood  the  kind  of  material 
they  were  facing.  Such  pitching,  batting,  base-running,  and 
general  scientific  playing  completely  nonplussed  most  of  the  men, 
who  had  never  seen  anything  of  the  kind,  and  they  could  do  noth- 
ing; many  did  not  reach  the  first  base  during  the  game,  and  no 
one  the  home  plate,  except  as  he  stood  upon  it  to  attempt  to  hit 
the  ball. 

•  This  defeat,  38  to  o — the  worst  Dartmouth  ever  suffered — was 
doubtless  a  blessing,  though  in  disguise,  at  the  time.  Follow- 
ed, as  it  was,  by  one  on  the  home  grounds,  in  the  same  month, 
at  the  hands  of  the  Bowdoins,  it  led  to  a  fuller  understanding  of 
the  game  and  to  the  necessity  of  better  and  more  systematic  train- 
ing. The  impression  made  upon  the  college  at  the  time  is  well 
shown  by  an  advertisement  in  the  sEgis  of  that  summer  : 

For  sale — at  the  office  of  the  sEgis,  nine  gray  uniforms,  with  green  trimmings,  one  doz- 
en base-balls,  twenty  hard-wood  bats,  one  set  of  bases,  nearly  new,  two  or  three  canvas 
shoes.     The  owners  of  the  above  are  already  sold. 

The  temporary  depression  caused  by  these  signal  defeats  of  the 
college  nine  soon  wore  away.     Their  effect  on  the  members  of  the 


262  MODERN  COLLEGE  A  THLE  TICS  A  T  DAR  TMO  UTH. 


nine  participating  was  to  call  forth  renewed  effort  and  an  earnest 
determination  to  retrieve  the  past.  Whether  or  not  the  nine,  as  a 
body,  believed  in  all  the  motto  on  the  college  ball — "  Or  a  et 
labor  a" — I  would  not  venture  to  declare,  but  I  am  quite  positive 
that  they  subscribed  to  the  sentiment, — "  Omnia  vincit  labor  " 

After  weeks  of  close  and  business-like  practice,  the  college  nine 
met  the  Bowdoins  on  their  own  grounds,  in  October,  of  the  same 
year,  and  won  with  the  decisive  score  of  40  to  19,  which  called 
forth  from  the  editors  of  the  ySgis  the  following  comment : 

It  is  with  unfeigned  pleasure  that  we  chronicle  the  recent  victory  of  our  college  nine  in 
their  contest  with  the  Bowdoins.  There  is  nothing  like  well  earned  laurels  to  improve  the 
morale  of  a  club,  and  we  are  confident  that  our  boys  will  make  this  success  the  stepping- 
stone  to  a  more  spirited,  and  consequently  a  more  successful,  style  of  playing.  Base-ball 
is  decidedly  the  most  prominent  department  of  our  athletics,  and  the  men  that  represent 
us  must  be  alive  to  every  requirement  of  their  position,  and  never  hope  to  bolster  up  a 
precarious  reputation  with  the  prestige  of  past  success. 

The  above  enumeration  of  match  games,  won  and  lost,  gives  a 
very  inadequate  idea  of  the  bearing  of  base-ball  upon  the  general 
athletic  training  of  the  college.  These  are  only  incidents  by  the 
way,  though  important  ones,  for  they  serve  as  goals,  or  shining 
marks,  which  invite  young  men  to  press  on  with  renewed  energy 
in  the  hope  of  successful  attainment.  Back  of  these  contests,  one 
should  observe  the  amount  of  healthful,  out-door,  vigorous  exer- 
cise which  is  secured  by  the  great  body  of  students  in  the  various 
class  and  practice  games.  In  these  early  years,  four  and  even 
five  games  of  base-ball  might  be  observed  at  the  same  time,  pro- 
gressing with  more  or  less,  generally  more,  mixing  up  of  the  out- 
fielders. 

By  the  summer  of  1870  base-ball  had  established  a  claim  to  a 
permanent  place  among  the  athletic  contests  of  the  college,  at  the 
hands  of  such  skilful  players  as  Messrs.  Morse  of '68,  Thompson 
of  '69,  Edgell  and  Wilson  of  '70.  But  for  eight  years  it  progressed 
very  slowly,  and  experienced  several  ups  and  downs,  especially 
when  boating  was  at  its  height,  and  also  when  the  "  general  ath- 
letics "  began  to  absorb  attention.  During  these  years,  series  ol 
games  were  arranged  and  played  with  neighboring  clubs,  and 
also  with  Bowdoin,  Amherst,  and  Tufts  college  nines,  with  only  a 


MODERN  COLLEGE  A  THLE TICS  A  T  DAR TMOUTH.  263 

moderate  degree  of  success.  Just  in  proportion  as  interest  in 
boating  decreased,  a  renewed  interest  in  base-ball  was  observed  to 
increase,  and  by  the  autumn  of  1878,  with  strong  players  in  the 

classes  of  '80,  '81,  and  '82,  much  enthusiasm  was  aroused  and  a 

t- 

decisive  stand  taken  in  the  sport,  which  has  not  been  seriously 
departed  from  since. 

The  numerous  games  played  during  the  autumn  of  1878  and 
the  spring  and  autumn  of  1879,  notably  those  with  the  Brattle- 
boro's,  from  whom  were  won  two  balls  on  one  day,  and  with 
Harvard,  Brown,  and  Amherst,  prepared  the  college  for  entering 
with  much  zest  into  the  formation  of  an  Inter-Collegiate  Base-Ball 
Association.  Accordingly,  in  December,  1879,  Dartmouth  sent 
delegates  to  Springfield,  who,  in  connection  with  delegates  from 
Amherst,  Brown,  Harvard,  Princeton,  and  Yale,  organized  the 
American  College  Base-ball  Association.  Two  games  were 
played  with  each  college,  and  many  were  close  and  exciting. 
Dartmouth  won  both  games  from  Harvard  by  decisive  scores,  but 
could  not  overpower  Princeton  and  Brown,  and  was  forced  to  be 
content  with  third  place.  Yale  had  withdrawn  on  account  of  a 
question  concerning  professionals  on  her  nine,  but  was  readmitted 
the  next  year.  Dartmouth  continued  in  this  league,  with  the 
exception  of  1883,  till  1886,  when  she  resigned.  Considering  the 
great  difficulty  experienced  in  securing  practice  with  strong  teams, 
on  account  of  distance  from  professional  clubs,  Dartmouth  has  no 
occasion  to  be  ashamed  of  the  showing  she  was  able  to  make  in 
this  league  of  skilful  players.  During  the  summer  of  1886  Dart- 
mouth played  fourteen  match  games  with  college  and  professional 
teams,  and  won  ten  in  the  series. 

In  the  spring  of  1887  Dartmouth  took  her  old  place  in  the 
American  College  Association,  and  the  league  consisted  of  Am- 
herst, Brown,  Dartmouth,  and  Williams, — Harvard,  Princeton,  and 
Yale  having  withdrawn  to  form  a  triangular  league  by  themselves. 
By  dint  of  hard  work,  after  very  faithful  practice  and  careful 
management,  Dartmouth  won  ten  of  the  twelve  games  played, 
which  secured  the  pennant,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  all 
Dartmouth's   friends.     No   one   present   at   the    games   with   the 


264  MODERN  COLLEGE  A  THLETICS  A T  DARTMOUTH. 

Williams  nine  in  Hanover  will  ever  forget  those  close  and  excit- 
ing contests.  Excitement  ran  so  high  that  several  observers 
of  the  games  were  obliged  to  leave  the  grounds,  fearing  the 
nervous  strain.  As  it  required  eleven  innings  to  decide  the  last 
game,  which  practically  settled  the  championship  for  1887,  great 
praise  is  due  the  players  for  their  brave  and  cool  work  to  the  end. 

In  1888  Brown  withdrew  from  the  league,  and  Trinity  came  in 
to  fill  the  place,  remaining  two  years,  but  has  now  withdrawn, 
leaving  the  league  triangular.  For  the  past  two  years  Dartmouth 
has  played  strong  ball,  but  Williams  proved  even  stronger,  and 
secured  the  pennants.  .  The  prospects  for  the  present  year  are 
quite  favorable.  Systematic  training  and  faithful  work  ought  to 
secure  the  pennant  for  1890. 

Though  base-ball  has  undoubtedly  been  the  most  attractive 
branch  of  athletics  for  the  past  twenty  years,  and  has  been  the 
direct  cause  of  a  greater  amount  !of  out-door  exercise,  for  the  gen- 
eral body  of  students,  than  all  other  forms  of  athletics,  yet  other 
kinds  of  sport  have  asserted  their  claims  at  times,  and  temporarily 
overshadowed  the  national  game.  Boating,  which  for  a  few  years 
only  eclipsed  base-ball,  has  already  been  spoken  of. 

In  1875  there  arose  here  quite  suddenly  a  lively  interest  in 
"general  athletics,"  so  called,  occasioned  in  part,  at  least,  by 
the  good  work  done  in  this  line  by  a  few  Dartmouth  students  at 
"  Glen  Mitchell,"  on  the  day  following  the  boat-race  at  Saratoga, 
where  such  sports  had  been  introduced,  as  a  sort  of  supplement  to 
the  regatta,  by  the  various  colleges  participating.  When  it  was 
decided  to  institute  such  a  contest  here,  and  a  day  had  been  set 
apart  for  the  purpose,  enthusiasm  was  not  lacking,  and  train- 
ing became  quite  general.  Strangers  visiting  the  town  could  not 
understand  the  curious  things  they  saw.  Students,  in  all  manner 
of  dress  or  z^dress,  walking,  running,  jumping,  vaulting,  were  to 
be  seen  at  all  hours  and  in  unaccustomed  places.  When  the  day 
arrived  for  the  sports,  Hanover  assumed  a  gala-day  appearance, 
and  the  gathered  throngs  about  the  campus  almost  rivalled  the 
assemblage  at  Commencement.  More  than  150  entries  were  regis- 
tered for  the  contest,  so  general  was  the  interest.     With  such  an 


MODERN  COLLEGE  A  THLE  TICS  A  T  DAR TMO UTH.  265 

introduction  of  the  sports  on  October  13  and  14,  1875,  **  ^s  no  won- 
der that  they  have  been  continued  to  the  present.  Every  year  since 
has  witnessed  at  least  one,  and  most  have  two,  such  field-days  or 
"meets."  Many  good  records  have  been  made  and  held  over 
other  colleges  of  the  size  of  Dartmouth.  In  a  few  instances  men 
have  been  sent  to  Mott  Haven,  where  they  acquitted  themselves 
well  and  to  the  credit  of  the  college. 

The  argument  that  is  often  raised  against  base-ball,  and  espe- 
cially boating,  namely,  that  only  few  participate,  and  hence  they 
alone  derive  any  benefit,  cannot  be  advanced  against  this  form  of 
athletics.  Though  in  later  years  the  number  of  participants  has 
somewhat  diminished,  the  number  securing  benefit  from  such 
exercise  is  still  very  large,  and,  with  the  additional  inducement  of 
the  Inter-Collegiate  Contests,  inaugurated  in  1887,  there  is  no 
good  reason  why  the  majority  of  the  students  will  not  be  attracted 
by  this  branch  of  athletics. 

The  record  made  by  Dartmouth  in  the  three  annual  gatherings 
of  the  New  England  Inter-Collegiate  Athletic  Association  is  one  to 
reflect  great  credit  upon  her  athletes.  At  the  first  "  meet/'  in  May, 
1887,  with  seven  colleges  competing,  she  won  six  of  the  seventeen 
first  prizes,  to  four  by  Amherst  and  three  by  Williams,  and  thus 
secured  the  pennant  for  1887. 

In  1888  Dartmouth  would  have  won  the  pennant  but  for  an 
unfortunate  accident  in  one  of  the  last  contests.  The  knocking 
down  of  a  hurdle  by  another  contestant  caused  Dartmouth's  man 
to  fall,  and  thus  lose  the  first  place.  Amherst  won,  with  seven 
first  prizes,  Dartmouth  having  six. 

In  1889  Dartmouth  outdid  herself,  and  even  surpassed  the  ex- 
pectations of  the  most  confident,  taking  eight  first  prizes  and  three 
seconds ;  while  five  firsts  were  accredited  to  Amherst,  and  three 
to  Williams.  This  praiseworthy  result  can  be  ascribed  only  to  the 
thorough  training  and  faithful  work  of  the  participants,  and  from 
it  should  be  learned  a  great  lesson  in  college  life,  that  "  what  is 
worth  doing  is  worth  doing  well." 

No  careful  observer  of  these  sports  can  question  seriously  their 
value  to  the  great  majority  of  the  participants.     Ignorance  of  the 


266  MODERN  COLLE GE  A THLE TICS  AT  DAR TMO UTH. 

first  principles  of  physiology  and  hygiene  may  lead  some  to 
excessive  exertion,  but  proper  care  and  training  will  soon  reduce 
such  cases  to  a  minimum,  if  not  entirely  remove  this  objection.  A 
marked  improvement  in  this  line  has  been  noticed  here  in  the  past 
few  years,  and  the  outlook  for  the  future  in  the  line  of  "  general 
athletics  "  is  quite  favorable. 

The  last  branch  of  athletics,  which  has  asserted  its  claim  to 
recognition  by  becoming  of  sufficient  importance  and  interest  to 
the  students  to  be  deemed  worthy  of  a  place  among  the  inter-col- 
legiate contests,  is  the  Rugby  game  of  foot-ball.  As  early  as 
1875,  when  "  general  athletics"  and  boating  were  the  prominent 
features  in  athletics,  Rugby  was  discussed,  and  some  attempt  was 
made  to  organize  a  team.  When,  in  October,  1875,  an  invitation 
was  received  from  the  Tufts  college  eleven  to  play  them  a  friendly 
game,  by  the  rules  adopted  by  Harvard  and  Yale,  the  Dartmouths 
were  obliged  to  decline,  as  not  sufficiently  versed  in  the  rules 
to  warrant  their  playing.  For  the  next  five  years  more  attention 
was  given  to  this  sport,  and  many  interesting  games  were  played 
between  the  college  classes  ;  but  in  November,  1880,  the  Dart- 
mouth Rugby  Foot-Ball  Association  was  duly  organized,  and  a 
university  eleven  selected,  under  the  captaincy  of  Mr.  Howland 
'84.  Soon  after  this  organization,  members  of  the  Senior  class, 
managing  the  Dart?nouth^  said, — 

No  year  has  passed  since  we  have  been  in  college  in  which  more  or  less  effort  has  not 
been  made  to  introduce  here  the  Rugby  game  of  foot-ball.  The  interest  has,  however, 
always  proved  to  be  spasmodic,  and  the  game  has  never  found  many  admirers.  This  is 
the  record  of  the  past ;  but  this  fall  has,  if  we  can  judge  by  appearances,  witnessed  the 
awakening  of  an  interest  in  this  sport  which  will  be  more  than  temporary. 

In  spite  of  this  hopeful  view  of  the  game  and  of  its  future  pros- 
pects, Rugby  was  destined  to  have  bitter  experience  in  establish- 
ing itself  in  the  affections  of  the  general  body  of  students,  and  in 
securing  that  moral  and  financial  support  which  is  essential  to 
success.  It  required  six  or  seven  years  of  strenuous  effort  on  the 
part  of  its  devoted  friends  to  remove  prejudice  against  it,  on 
account  of  the  almost  inevitable  roughness  of  the  game. 

During  these  years  several  interesting  games  were  played  with 


MODERN  COLLEGE  ATHLETICS  AT  DARTMOUTH.  267 

college  teams,  in  and  out  of  town,  but  Dartmouth  was  not  con- 
nected with  any  league  till  the  autumn  of  1887,  when  she  was 
admitted  to  the  Eastern  College  League,  consisting  of  Amherst, 
Trinity,  Institute  of  Technology,  and  Stevens  Institute.  At  the 
close  of  the  first  season  Dartmouth  stood  second,  Technology 
being  first.     Dartmouth  lost  one  game,  tied  one,  and  won  two. 

In  1888  the  league  remained  the  same,  excepting  that  Williams 
took  the  place  of  Trinity.  Dartmouth,  continuing  to  improve  its 
playing,  was  able  to  tie  with  Technology  for  first  place,  each  of 
these  teams  losing  one  game  ;  and  the  lateness  of  the  season  pre- 
vented the  playing  off  the  tie. 

In  the  autumn  of  1889  training  was  begun  at  an  early  date,  and 
with  an  evident  determination  to  win  if  faithful  and  constant  work 
would  accomplish  the  desired  object.  As  a  result  the  team  won 
every  league  game  played,  though  it  played  three  of  the  four 
games  away  from  home,  and  thus  secured  the  pennant  against 
evident  disadvantage. 

To  show  the  present  position  of  Dartmouth  in  inter-collegiate 
athletic  contests,  let  us  sum  up  her  standing  in  the  three  leagues 
to  which  she  now  belongs,  and  in  which  she  has  taken  active  part 
for  the  past  three  years  : 

In  1887  Dartmouth  won  the  pennant  in  "  general  athletics  " 
and  in  base-ball,  and  stood  second  in  Rugby. 

In  1888  she  tied  for  leadership  in  Rugby,  and  stood  second  in 
" general  athletics  "  and  in  base-ball,  with  good  records  in  each. 

In  1889  she  won  the  pennant  in  "  general  athletics  "  and  in 
Rugby,  and  stood  third  in  base-ball. 

Such  a  showing  cannot  fail  to  be  gratifying  to  all  lovers  of  ath- 
letic exercise  and  to  all  who  appreciate  the  value  of  physical  cult- 
ure, for  back  of  these  contests  are  the  strong  physiques  and  the 
powers  of  endurance,  not  only  of  the  contestants,  but  of  a  much 
larger  number  who  have  been  induced  thereby  to  take  additional 
out-door  exercise. 

There  is  still  another  branch  of  athletics  which  gives  healthful 
and  invigorating  exercise,  and  in  a  very  short  time,  and  which  is 
available  to  nearly  every  student.     Lawn-tennis  was  commenced 


268  MODERN  COLLEGE  ATHLETICS  AT  DARTMOUTH. 

here  early  in  the  "  Eighties,"  but  no  college  association  was 
formed  till  the  summer  of  1884.  Nearly  twenty  courts  have  been 
marked  out  on  the  campus  some  years,  and  the  lively  movements 
over  the  entire  field  present  an  interesting  spectacle. 

Tournaments  between  the  classes  have  been  held  in  the  autumn 
and  sometimes  in  the  summer,  and  much  interest  has  been  mani- 
fested in  the  game,  and  considerable  skill  shown.  The  interest  in 
this  sport  and  the  skill  in  playing  are  constantly  increasing,  and,, 
though  no  serious  attempt  has  been  made  to  join  any  inter-col- 
legiate league,  it  is  probable  that  the  near  future  will  witness  to 
the  accomplishment  of  such  a  result.  The  small  number  required 
for  a  game  and  the  slight  expense  necessary  are  two  strong  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  tennis,  and  these  will  no  doubt  insure  its  con- 
tinuance for  a  series  of  years. 

The  two  standard  arguments  against  devoting  so  much  atten- 
tion to  athletics,  namely,  the  consumption  of  much  time  and  the 
expenditure  of  large  sums  of  money,  cannot  be  absolutely  denied 
nor  refuted.  But  these  things  can  be  regulated  and  controlled ; 
and,  moreover,  they  must  be  compared  with  the  advantages  aris- 
ing therefrom.  The  strong  physique  and  the  vigorous  health 
which  properly  conducted  athletic  sports  produce,  will  certainly 
have  a  potent  influence  on  succeeding  generations.  No  one  who 
has  carefully  watched  the  growth  of  athletics  in  colleges  for  the 
past  twenty  years,  as  the  writer  has,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
steady  decrease  in  the  spirit  of  hazing  and  other  class  molesta- 
tions, can  fail  to  ascribe  to  these  sports  and  contests  an  important 
factor  in  producing  these  desired  results. 

The  selection  of  the  best  athletes  indiscriminately  from  all  the 
classes,  to  make  up  the  college  teams,  removes  an  unfavorable 
factor  in  class  feeling,  and  at  the  same  time  encourages  a  favor- 
able element  in  class  loyalty  ;  and  this  has  exerted  a  most  desirable 
influence.  The  enforced  temperance  and  the  freedom  from  indul- 
gence in  all  objectionable  things,  which  are  requisite  for  the 
proper  training  of  a  team,  have  a  strong  influence  on  the  morale 
of  the  college.  The  very  constitution  of  our  active  American 
youth  demands  that  a  "  safety-valve"  be  provided,  and  athletics 


KE HA  MA'S  AXE.  269 

furnish  this  in  the  least  objectionable  form  that  has  yet  been  pre- 
sented. 

For  the  proper  control  and  regulation  of  these  sports  there  has 
been  suggested  the  formation  of  an  "  advisory  board,"  to  consist 
of  undergraduates,  graduates,  and  members  of  the  faculty,  and 
there  is  considerable  force  in  the  suggestion.  Such  a  board,  com- 
posed of  seven  members — three  undergraduates  from  the  upper 
classes,  two  recent  graduates,  and  two  members  of  the  faculty — - 
ought  to  be  able  to  look  at  the  question  from  all  sides,  and  to  exert 
a  salutary  influence  in  eliminating  objectionable  features. 

But  the  greatest  need  in  the  line  of  athletics  and  physical  culture 
which  Dartmouth  has  is  the  gift  of  $50,000.  Ten  thousand  dollars 
is  needed  to  put  the  gymnasium  in  the  best  of  order  for  training 
purposes,  equipping  it  with  all  necessary  modern  apparatus,  and 
providing  much  needed  bath-rooms  with  other  accessories.  The 
remaining  $40,000  would  establish  a  chair  of  physical  culture. 
The  occupant  of  this  chair  would  be  the  college  physician,  lectur- 
ing on  physiology  and  hygiene,  and  having  control  of  the  physical 
welfare  of  the  students.  Who  can  estimate  the  value  of  such  an 
equipment  and  its  influence  on  the  future  prosperity  of  Dartmouth 
graduates?  Charles  F.  Emerson. 


KEHAMA'S  AXE. 

In  the  centre  of  New  Hampshire  rises  lone  Kearsarge.  Its  bald 
peak  is  the  daily  weather-gauge  of  the  country  about.  In  hay 
and  harvest  time  every  farmer  of  the  region,  on  rising,  looks  out  to 
see  if  the  storm  signal,  the  "  cap,"  rests  on  old  Kearsarge.  On 
the  north-eastern  side  it  slopes  rapidly  down  to  the  little  valley  of 
the  Blackwater. 

In  the  northern  part  of  what  is  now  New  Hampshire  there  once 
lived  the  powerful  nation  of  the  Pigwackets.  They  were  a  proud, 
fierce  race,  who  are  supposed  to  have  been  the  remnant  of  the 
vanguard  of  the  wild  race  that  swept  the  mound-builders  into 
oblivion.  Their  traditions  were  preserved  with  jealous  fidelity. 
The  chief  of  these  related  to  a  war-axe,  obtained  heaven  knows 


270  KEHAMA'S  AXE. 

how,  or  where,  or  when.  This  axe  bore  on  its  face  a  rude  picture, 
symbolic  of  a  race,  which  they  declared  was  their  own,  subduing 
the  world.  While  this  axe,  the  tradition  said,  remained  with  the 
tribe,  prosperity  would  attend  them ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  its 
loss  would  occasion  dire  disaster.  It  was  guarded  with  the  exact- 
est  care.  Only  juvenes  were  permitted  to  hold  the  position  of 
keeper,  and  they  were  required  to  pass  through  various  ordeals 
and  tests  of  strength  and  courage.  The  penalty  for  its  loss  was 
death.  Shortly  before  this  story  opens,  the  chief's  son,  Kehama, 
had  obtained  the  position.  His  chief  rival  was  his  intimate  com- 
panion, Ojibwa,  who,  with  outward  show  of  resignation,  vowed 
vengeance  for  his  defeat. 

A  hundred  and  fifty  miles  to  the  south,  on  the  intervales  of  the 
Merrimack,  where  the  river  makes  the  great  "  horse-shoe  bend," 
was  the  seat  of  the  Penacooks.  The  village  was  protected  by  a 
stockade  across  the  neck  of  the  horse-shoe.  It  was  a  fine  situa- 
tion for  an  Indian  tribe,  giving  abundant  opportunities  for  the 
women  to  hoe  corn,  for  the  men  to  hunt  and  fish.  Mikanowa, 
the  Penacook  chief,  had  one  child,  a  daughter,  Cowissee,  "the 
light  of  the  tepee,"  whom  all  the  young  chiefs  of  the  tribe  desired, 
in  their  cold-blooded  way,  to  obtain  for  a  spouse,  thinking  to  pos- 
sess the  prettiest  squaw  in  the  tribe  and  a  sure  road  to  the  old 
chiefs  heart. 

Each  tribe  was  accustomed  in  the  spring  to  repair  to  the  source 
of  the  Merrimack  to  catch  and  dry  fish  :  the  men  cast  the  nets  or 
plied  the  spear,  while  the  women  cleared  the  nets  and  cleansed  the 
fish.  One  morning,  on  a  jaunt  to  search  out  new  pools  full  of  the 
salmon  and  shad,  prey  for  his  spear,  Kehama  spied  Cowissee  as 
she  stood  a  little  apart  from  her  clans-women  gracefully  tossing 
the  catch  back  to  the  rude  drying-boards.  Cowissee's  supple 
movements  and  airy  ways  charmed  him,  as  maidens  of  other 
colors  have  charmed  men  before  and  since.  In  an  apparently 
absent-minded  way  he  strolled  on,  and,  coming  close  to  the  silvery 
heaps  on  the  river  sand,  looked  up.  Of  course  he  was  surprised, 
but  lovers — and  he  was  already  one — are  at  such  times.  Regain- 
ing his  composure,  he  looked  at  Cowissee  in  the  stolid  Indian  way 


KE HA  MA'S  AXE.  2^JI 

till  he  caught  her  eye.  For  the  first  time  these  two  goodly  spec- 
imens of  a  splendid  race  beheld  each  other,  the  one  tall,  dark, 
lithe,  with  long  black  locks,  with  an  unquailing  eye,  the  haughty, 
imperious  gaze,  now  softened  as  it  fell  on  the  maiden  before  him ;, 
the  other,  a  queenly  savage,  with  prominent  cheek-bones  and  coal 
black  eyes,  wearing  the  rough,  but,  withal,  gracefully  draped,, 
garments  of  her  race.  Her  eyes  drooped,  her  head  bent  forward.. 
Kehama well,  soon  there  were  two  tossing  fish. 

From  that  time  on  it  was  noticed  that  Kehama  was  invariably 
of  the  opinion  that  the  best  fishing  pools  were  where  the  Pena- 
cooks  were.  The  rest  is  easy  to  guess.  The  tribal  laws  of  each 
nation  forbade  the  union  of  a  member  of  the  tribe  with  one  of 
foreign  stock,  but,  as  .axe-bearer,  Kehama  had  won  the  right  to 
have  any  one  wish  he  might  make  that  year  gratified,  if  its  accom- 
plishment lay  in  the  power  of  the  tribe.  He  chose  the  possession 
of  Cowissee,  and,  the  Pigwacket  warriors  supporting  their  future 
chief  loyally,  Cowissee  was  stolen,  much  to  her  delight,  and  the 
whole  tribe  decamped  for  the  mountains. 

Then  there  was  war,  Indian  war,  war  in  which  every  leafy- 
covert  may  contain  a  foe  that  knows  no  pity.  For  a  twelve-month 
forays  were  directed  from  the  intervales  of  the  Merrimack  against 
those  of  the  Saco,  and  vice  versa.  Both  parties  wearied  of  the 
struggle  ;  and  in  early  fall,  when  the  mountain-sides  were  becom- 
ing resplendent  with  the  gaudy  tints  that  flame  in  the  forests  of  the 
cooler  zones,  when  the  cool  breezes  sweeping  through  the  Gate- 
way of  the  Mountains  refreshed  spirits  jaded  by  the  burning  heats 
of  a  New  England  summer,  the  Pigwacket  sachems  sent  out  a 
war  party  to  finish  the  contest.  Laden  only  with  a  store  of 
parched  corn  and  their  weapons,  the  braves  began  their  march. 
They  proceeded  across  to  the  Connecticut,  down  to  the  Mas- 
corny,  sending  runners  ahead  that  no  wily  band  of  Penacooks 
might  ambush  them.  While  the  boughs  overhead  waved  in  the 
balmy  air,  and  underfoot  the  golden-rod  and  daisy  made  the 
meadows  gay,  they  marched  on.  A  runner  from  down  the  Con- 
necticut announcing  that  he  had  seen  a  large  war-party  of  their 
foes  go  against  the  Mohawks,  then  on  one  of  their  eastern  raids, 


^72  KEHAMA'' S  AXE. 

they  pressed  on  with  redoubled  energy  across  the  foothills  of  Car- 
digan to  the  north-eastern  side  of  Kearsarge.  Meeting  the  Black- 
water,  they  followed  it  and  the  Contoocook  down  to  the  plain, 
where  were  the  palisades  of  their  enemies. 

In  the  early  dawn  of  the  next  morning  they  tried  to  storm  the 
fort.  It  was  one  of  those  mornings  that  are  the  glory  of  the  New 
England  year,  moderately  chilly,  when  the  air  sends  the  blood, 
vitiated  by  summer  heats,  tingling  through  the  veins.  Under  foot 
the  dry  grass  crackled  and  snapped,  as  if  it,  too,  were  expressing 
joy  at  release  from  dog-day  thraldom.  The  birds,  soon  to  take 
wing  for  the  South,  carolled  gaily  in  the  treetops.  The  rays  of 
the  sun,  rising  over  the  eastern  hill  in  a  blaze  of  golden  glory, 
glinted  the  tips  of  the  chevaux-de-frise,  which  was  the  garrison's 
main  reliance,  and  turned  the  rippling  surface  of  the  stream  to  a 
shimmering  sheen  of  silver.  As  though  this  were  the  signal,  the 
warriors,  bursting  forth  from  the  long,  dry  meadow-grass  in  which 
they  had  been  hiding,  rushed  for  the  wall.  As  they  entered  the 
cleared  space  in  front  of  the  palisade,  the  tall,  lithe  Kehama  in 
the  lead,  swinging  his  axe,  a  shower  of  arrows  came  hurtling 
from  the  sentinels,  that  disconcerted  the  assailants.  Repeatedly 
did  Kehama  lead  his  forces  on,  but  it  was  useless.  A  blockade 
was  the  result.  To  the  besiegers  this  meant  little,  for  fish  and 
game  were  plenty  in  river  and  woods,  and  they  were  camping  in 
the  midst  of  the  Penacook  corn-fields.  Their  only  fear  was  of  the 
war-party  gone  west. 

With  the  besieged  it  was  different,  for  in  their  lines  were  the 
women  and  children  of  the  nation.  A  storming  of  the  palisade 
meant  the  death  or  absorption  of  these  by  the  Pigwackets,  and  the 
blotting  out  of  the  Penacook  tribe.  Impatiently  they  awaited  the 
return  of  the  war-party,  anxiously  eyeing  the  while  their  fast 
diminishing  store  of  food.  When  it  was  nearly  gone,  there  being 
no  sign  of  a  returnof  the  western  expedition,  the  chief  of  the  com- 
pany determined  to  sally  forth  while  the  warriors  were  still  strong 
and  spirited,  to  endeavor  to  so  wreaken  the  enemy  that  they  would 
be  unable  to  continue  the  blockade.  After  a  fierce  harangue,  he 
led  his  warriors  into  the  open. 


KEHAMA'S  AXE.  273 

The  surprised  Pigwackets  eagerly  accepted  the  challenge. 
Inferior  in  numbers,  if  not  in  valor,  the  Penacooks  are  being  borne 
back.  They  are  at  the  stockade,  and  soon  there  will  be  an  awful 
slaughter  or  a  great  enslavement.  But,  hark  !  The  Penacook 
war-whoop  down  there  in  the  forest !  The  Mohawk  expedition 
has  returned  victorious.  A  few  minutes  will  bring  their  friends 
within  sight ;  the  battle  will  have  to  be  fought  anew.  Kehama 
and  his  warriors  recognize  this.  Mutually  actuated  by  the  event, 
both  parties  fight  more  desperately  than  ever,  but  Kehama's  efforts 
are  of  no  avail :  the  war-party  comes  up,  and  sullenly  the  Pig- 
wackets draw  off. 

The  second  battle  began  next  morning,  and  lasted  the  day. 
Towards  twilight  the  Pigwackets,  intent  on  chastising  the  maraud- 
ers, resumed  the  battle,  but  it  was  a  running  fight  this  time. 
Judging  that  the  war-party  was  so  large  that  its  return  defeated 
would  spread  panic  in  the  northern  village,  the  Penacooks  deter- 
mined to  follow  it  up  and  destroy  the  tribe.  Back  over  the  old 
course  went  pursuers  and  pursued  to  a  little  meadow  under  the 
shadow  of  the  old  Kearsarge,  where  the  Pigwackets  determined 
to  halt.  Though  hard  pressed,  such  was  their  courage  that  they 
forced  back  their  pursuers.  By  his  great  exertions  Kehama  had 
proved  himself  the  hero  of  the  band,  but,  fatigued  by  his  unrelax- 
ing  efforts,  toward  the  close  of  day  he  fell  in  a  swoon.  When  he 
revived,  the  contest  was  still  raging,  but,  too  weak  to  bear  any  part, 
he  was  bewailing  the  inactivity  to  which  he  and  his  cherished  axe 
were  doomed,  when  Ojibwa  came  up  and  offered  to  take  the  axe 
into  the  forefront  and  gladden  the  warriors  by  the  sight  of  its 
gleaming  blade. 

Kehama  hesitates.  If  Ojibwa  should  lose  the  axe  !  if  he  should 
prove  traitor  ! — but  they  had  been  tepee  companions,  and,  thinking 
that  their  late  rivalry  could  not  have  embittered  his  opponent,  he 
entrusts  to  him  the  precious  weapon.  On  receiving  it  Ojibwa  goes 
off  as  though  for  the  front,  but,  once  out  of  Kehama's  sight,  steals 
to  the  rear  and  drops  it  near  a  rivulet  crossing  the  meadow. 

Repulsing  their  foes,  the  Pigwackets  camped  on  the  field. 
Kehama  was  missing.  Braves  were  sent  out  in  all  directions  to 
find  the  axe-bearer.     He  was  found,  and  carried  to  camp.     Next 


274  KEHAMA' S  AXE. 

morning  the  warriors,  thronging  to  greet  him,  found  that  the  axe 
was  missing.  Wonderment  and  distrust  came  upon  them  as  they 
listened  to  his  story  of  the  loan  to  Ojibwa — and  the  latter's  denial. 
The  two  were  bound  and  carried  along  to  the  Saco  village  in  the 
quiet  return.  Kehama  was  brought  before  the  assembled  sachems 
to  account  for  the  loss  of  the  axe.  Passionately  he  recounted  the 
story  of  the  expedition,  the  part  he  had  taken,  and  the  loan  to 
Ojibwa,  who  stoutly  denied  the  fact.  Kehama  was  adjudged 
guilty.  Stripped  of  the  ensigns  of  his  position  as  axe-bearer,  he 
was  led  to  the  stake,  where  he  suffered,  with  the  wonted  stoicism 
of  his  race,  all  the  torments  that  wrath  and  fiendish  malignity 
could  invent,  maintaining  to  the  last  that  Ojibwa  had  betrayed 
him.  In  his  dying  moments,  endowed  with  sudden  strength, 
Kehama  prophesied  that  the  woman  and  place  Ojibwa  had  plotted 
for  should  be  his  for  a  short  time  only;  that  "a  people  whose 
faces  are  like  the  crest  of  yonder  peak  shall  come  across  the  mov- 
ing water,  and  ye  who  kill  me  shall  be  as  naught." 

"Twas  the  sunset  of  life  gave  him  mystical  lore, 
And  coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before." 

Ojibwa  having  succeeded  to  Kehama's  rank,  which  was  but  the 
casket  whence  the  jewel  was  gone,  and  shortly  after  to  the  posses- 
sion of  Cowissee,  the  desire  for  whom  had  prompted  the  treach- 
ery, eventually  perished  in  a  battle  with  the  Abenakis  on  the  head- 
waters of  the  Kennebec. 

The  great  battles  at  the  Penacook  fort,  and  the  havoc  along  the 
retreat,  so  weakened  both  parties  that  the  white  settlers,  a  hundred 
years  later,  found  them  easy  victims. 

Thus  was  the  tradition  fulfilled. 

In  18 — ,  under  the  shadow  of  the  old  Kearsarge,  in  the  pleasant 
Mitchell  meadow,  near  the  edge  of  the  brook  that  joins  the  Black- 
water,  a  few  rods  away,  a  ploughman,  one  bright  May  day,  when 
all  the  world  was  redolent  of  spring,  and  the  birds  trilled  as  gaily 
as  on  that  autumn  day  so  many  years  before,  found  in  the  new- 
made   furrow  an  Indian    axe-head.     On   its  face  it  bore   a  rude 

picture,  symbolic  of  a  race  subduing  the  world. 

Barron  Shirley. 


CHINESE  LIFE  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO.  275 


BROWNING  AND  TENNYSON. 

Two  busy  men  one  day  did  chance  to  meet, — 
Their  mission  aye  to  bless  the  human  race. 
"  What  doest  thou  ?  "  said  one,  "for  from  thy  face 

I  see  shine  forth  high  motive,  strong  and  sweet." 

"  I  build  a  road  among  the  mountain  peaks, 
Where  all  is  power  and  beauty,  and  the  air 
Is  pure  and  clear.     A  great  bridge  rises  there — 
And  here  a  trestle  ; — all  of  grandeur  speaks. 

"  Here  men  shall  come,  forget  the  dreary  plod 
Of  sordid  toil,  6hall  wonder  at  the  plan 
So  masterfully  wrought,  and  say  '  Can  man 
Than  in  these  heights  e'er  rise  more  near. to  God  ? ' 

"  And  thou  ? "     "  I,  too,  dear  friend,  do  build  a  road 
Through  valleys  deep,  where  winding  rivers  flow, 
Through  woodlands  where  the  bright  wild   flowers  blow, 
Through  meadows  near  the  peasant's  rude  abode. 

"  Both  high  and  lowly  people  travel  here, 

Breathe  the  faint  perfumes,  feel  the  cooling  shade  : 
Deep  in  each  heart,  half  song,  half  prayer  is  said, 

'  How  sweet  is  daily  toil  when  God  is  near  !  '  " 


C.  F  R. 


CHINESE  LIFE  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO. 

A  short  time  since  the  telegraphic  columns  of  the  Eastern  papers 
contained  the  information  that* the  San  Francisco  supervisors  had 
)assed  a  law  making  it  illegal  for  Chinamen  to  live  in  the  portion 
)f  the  city  which  they  have  for  years  considered  their  especial 
)ossession.  What  that  means  to  that  Western  city  no  one  can 
)egin  to  realize  who  has  not  had  the  opportunity  of  investigating 
his  home  of  the  Chinaman.  Bitter  has  been  the  discussion 
>etween  the  two  portions  of  the  country  on  this  subject,  and  San 
^rancisco  has  had  to  endure  a  great  deal  of  harsh  criticism  from 
hose  whose  knowledge  of  the  matter  emanated  principally  from 
heir  own  imaginations. 

The  Chinaman  is  so  essentially  a  part  of  the  foreign  population 
hat  the   appearance  of  one  on  the  street  fails  to  excite  any  such 


276  CHINESE  LIFE  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO. 

commotion  as  is  often  noticed  in  other  cities.  This  in  itself  argues 
no  harm  to  the  city,  as  every  cosmopolitan  city  has  a  majority  of 
foreigners.  But  the  Chinaman,  unlike  the  other  nationalities, 
never  assimilates  anything  of  American  ideas  or  customs.  He  is 
always  a  Chinaman,  with  the  same  customs  and  principles  that 
governed  him  in  Asia  acting  as  his  ruling  guide.  And  this  char- 
acteristic is  what  has  made  him  of  such  interest  to  all  Americans. 

The  Chinamen  whom  one  meets  in  the  daytime  on  the  streets  of 
San  Francisco  are,  as  a  rule,  either  vegetable  venders  or  laundry- 
men.  The  former  carry  two  enormous  baskets,  one  suspended  from 
each  end  of  a  bamboo  rod  from  four  to  six  feet  in  length.  These  two 
baskets  contain  quantities  of  vegetables  and  fruits  sufficient  to  make 
a  very  heavy  load,  which  is  balanced  by  the  centre  of  the  rod  on 
one  shoulder,  and  John  goes  shuffling  along  the  street  at  an  awk- 
ward gait,  between  a  walk  and  a  run,  for  hours.  The  laundryman 
is  too  common  a  sight,  even  in  the  East,  to  require  a  description. 

But  to  meet  the  Chinaman  where  he  can  be  most  appreciated, 
it  is  necessary  to  visit  him  in  his  own  domain,  which  he  is  so  soon 
to  lose.  There  one  sees  the  true  character  of  the  man,  and  obtains 
a  good  insight  into  his  mode  of  living.  Within  a  section  of  the  city 
not  a  quarter  of  a  mile  square,  it  is  estimated  that  thirty  thousand  of 
this  strange  race  exist.  In  this  portion,  which  twenty  years  ago 
was  the  most  fashionable  quarter  of  the  city,  John  Chinaman  reigns 
supreme.  Here  everything  is  Chinese  ; — the  narrow  streets,  the 
stores,  the  joss  houses,  and  the  odors  especially,  are  Chinese.  It  is 
a  somewhat  trite  remark,  but  still  very  true,  that  one  walking  in  a 
street  in  Chinatown  can  easily  imagine  himself  in  an  Asiatic  city, 
for  everything  is  indicative  of  a  different  race  from  our  own. 
American  meats  and  articles  of  all  kinds  are  scorned,  and  Chinese 
dried  meats  are  brought  to  this  country  and  offered  for  sale  in  the 
stores  which  we  pass  as  we  walk  along  the  street.  In  these 
stores  the  merchants,  some  of  them  very  well  to  do,  are  counting 
up  their  profits  on  wooden  frames,  similar  to  the  frames  with  col- 
ored beads  which  every  boy  can  remember  as  an  aid  to  him  in 
learning  to  count.  We  meet  only  Chinamen  as  we  walk  along, 
excepting  perhaps  a  few  sight-seers  like  ourselves  ;  and  we  notice 


CHINESE  LIFE  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO.  2  J  J 

this  peculiarity,  that,  when  two  or  more  are  walking  in  company, 
they  walk  in  singe  file.  No  language  greets  the  ear  but  the  gut- 
teral  intonations  of  unintelligible  Chinese.  Here  and  there  we 
meet  with  venders  of  fruits  and  candies,  with  their  stands  on  the 
sidewalk,  then  a  cobbler  also  at  work  on  the  sidewalk.  From  a 
window  overhead  issue  most  discordant  sounds  of  tin  pans  and 
squeaking  fiddles,  which  furnish  intense  enjoyment  to  our  friend 
the  Chinaman,  but  which  grate  on  our  sensitive  American  ears. 

This  we  may  consider  the  interesting  side  of  Chinese  life.  The 
disgusting  side  can  be  met  with  by  entering  any  house.  There, 
crowded  together  in  the  smallest  of  rooms,  they  live  in  the  midst 
of  filth  and  poverty.  The  rooms  are  arranged  with  tiers  of  bunks 
placed  far  enough  apart  for  a  man  to  lie  down,  and  in  this  man- 
ner fifty  men  can  be  crowded  into  a  room  which  three  Americans 
would  consider  cramped  quarters.  And  so  they  lie  down  and 
smoke  until  the  fumes  of  the  opium  drown  their  senses  and  they  fall 
asleep.  Disagreeable  as  this  seems  even  above  ground,  it  is  not 
restricted  thus.  Underground  dens  abound  where  it  seems  im- 
possible for  a  breath  of  fresh  air  ever  to  penetrate,  and  where 
hundreds  are  living  who  seldom  see  the  light  of  day.  These 
features  of  Chinatown  are  disagreeable  to  dwell  upon  ;  but  the  vis- 
itor who  would  really  see  the  life  there  must  make  a  thorough 
trip,  and  he  must  go  with  an  officer  as  a  guide,  for  little  value  is 
placed  upon  life  in  these  dark  corners  and  narrow  lanes.  The 
trip  usually  ends  with  the  theatre,  which  is  the  amusing  feature. 
The  stage  has  no  curtain,  and  the  orchestra  is  the  same  that  we 
heard  rehearsing  at  an  open  window,  and  gives  forth  the  same 
heartrending  shrieks  and  wailings.  The  play  is,  of  course, 
"Greek"  to  the  American  part  of  the  audience,  but  it  has  its 
amusing  features.  When  an  actor  dies,  he  remains  prostrate 
upon  the  stage  long  enough  to  show  that  fact,  and  then  the 
absence  of  a  curtain  obliges  him  to  rise  and  walk  away  in  a  most 
life-like  manner.  The  audience  never  smiles  through  the  whole 
performance,  but  sits  stolidly  gazing  at  the  stage. 

The  Chinaman's  great  festival  is  his  New  Year.  This  great 
celebration   occurs  in  February,  and  lasts  for  a  week.     During 


278  CHINESE  LIFE  IN  SAN  FRANCISCO. 

this  time  Ah  Sin  is  in  his  glory.  All  his  town  is  decorated  with 
lanterns  and  flags.  Twice  a  day,  at  a  time  granted  by  the  city 
authorities,  a  general  rejoicing  takes  place,  when  the  feeling  is 
demonstrated  by  an  explosion  of  fire-crackers  that  would  make  the 
New  England  small  boy  look  upon  his  Fourth  of  July  as  a  failure. 
From  the  tops  of  the  houses  ropes  or  wires  are  stretched  across 
the  streets,  and  from  these  are  suspended  strings  of  crackers 
nearly  touching  the  ground.  These  are  all  exploded  at  the  given 
time,  and  the  result  must  be  left  to  the  imagination.  Suffice  it  to 
say,  that  the  noise  can  be  heard  in  every  part  of  the  city.  At  this 
time,  too,  Ah  Sin  is  holding  his  reception.  Many  Chinamen  are 
employed  as  domestics,  and  they  invite  their  employers  to  visit 
Chinatown ;  and  with  all  his  faults,  John  is  very  generous.  He 
makes  presents  to  all  his  friends,  and  offers  them  the  best  of  wines 
and  Chinese  nuts  and  candies  ;  and  as  his  visitor  takes  his  depart- 
ure Ah  Sin  stands  at  the  door,  bowing  in  the  humblest  fashion, 
with  a  smile  on  his  face  which  shows  how  thoroughly  he  enjoys 
the  honor  of  being  host. 

As  no  modern  novel  seems  complete  without  the  death  of  one  or 
more  of  the  characters,  so  let  us  follow  Ah  Sin  to  his  last  resting- 
place.  He  is  accompanied  to  his  grave  by  a  procession  of  car- 
riages like  any  American.  The  first  vehicle  is  a  wagon  contain- 
ing a  roast  pig  and  fruits  to  be  placed  in  the  grave  with  the 
deceased  for  his  nourishment  when  he  awakes.  The  driver  strews 
along  the  route  of  the  procession  strips  of  tissue  paper  with  Chi- 
nese characters,  which  are  to  act  as  a  charm  to  keep  His  Satanic 
Majesty  from  their  dead  friend.  Next  comes  the  hearse,  or,  more 
often,  a  wagon,  with  a  plain  box.  Then  follow  the  carriages,  from 
one  of  which  the  ever-present  orchestra  discourses  sweet  strains, 
which  would  almost  have  the  effect  of  awakening  the  deceased  if 
he  had  an  ear  at  all  musical.  Having  interred  their  friend  and 
left  him  his  repast,  the  procession  returns,  the  drivers  racing  all 
the  way  home. 

With  this  solemn  rite  let  us  take  leave  of  John  Chinaman,  who 
is  least  appreciated  where  he  is  best  known. 

M.  D.  Barrows. 


PERSONAL   JOURNALISM.  279 

THE  ROSEBUSH. 

Adapted  from  the  German  of  Ferrand. 

'Neath  a  rosebush,  sleeping,  a  young  child  lies. 

The  buds  are  swelling  with  breath  of  May, 

As  far  away,  in  her  dream-thought  play, 
She  sports  with  angels  in  paradise. 
The  years  pass  on. 

By  the  rosebush  stands,  in  the  gladsome  morn, 

A  maiden  now,  perfume-caressed, 

Her  fair  hand  pressed  on  her  heaving  breast, 
By  her  wondrous  new  love-bliss  o'erborne. 
The  years  pass  on. 

By  the  rosebush  now  a  mother  kneels  : 

The  rose  leaves  soften  in  evening's  rays, 

While  by-gone  days,  in  memory's  maze, 
Brim  the  eyes  with  the  grief  a  bereaved  one  feels. 
The  years  pass  on. 

Despoiled  and  lonely,  the  rosebush  moans, 
As  the  autumn  wind  waves  the  rose  leaves  all, 
Till  withered  they  fall,  in  a  rustling  pall, 
On  a  peaceful  grave  that  a  secret  owns. 
The  years  pass  on  ! 

Warren  F.  Gregory. 


PERSONAL  JOURNALISM. 

The  newspapers  of  the  United  States  are  more  personal  to-day 
than  ever  before,  and  they  will  be  more  personal  to-morrow  than 
they  are  to-day.  Not  only  are  the  departments  of  gossip,  such  as 
that  over  which  "  Taverner"  of  the  Boston  Post  presides,  more 
common  than  ever,  and  are  regarded  as  so  important  features  of 
first-grade  papers  that  it  has  been  found  profitable  to  call  to  them 
the  best  talent,  but  in  the  body  of  the  news,  local  and  general,  the 
personal  idea  stands  out  in  every  heading  and  in  almost  every 
line.  Reporters  come  to  know  the  value  of  peculiarities  in  public 
men  and  women,  and  incidents  of  their  private  lives,  and  with  a 
scent  that  is  unfailing  they  find  them  out.     The  Washington  cor- 


28o  PERSONAL  JOURNALISM. 


., 


respondent  who  can  serve  up  the  greatest  number  of  dishes 
this  kind,  with  the  concomitants  that  make  them  palatable,  is  on 
the  wave  of  success,  and  is  quoted  by  the  country  press.  Man- 
aging editors  are  constantly  racking  their  brains  for  assignments 
that  shall  keep  their  papers  to  the  fore  in  gossip. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  give  facts  in  this  line.  These  state- 
ments will  not  be  denied  by  intelligent  readers  of  newspapers. 
But  a  couple  of  illustrations  will  not  be  amiss  in  making  the  point 
clear.  I  took  up  the  New  York  Herald  of  a  recent  date,  and 
glanced  at  one  of  its  six-column  pages.  There  were  three  "dis- 
play-headed" articles  on  it.  One  called  attention  to  "Mrs.  Par- 
nell  in  Destitution ;"  another  was  a  sketch  of  the  life  and  work 
of  John  Rogers,  whose  name  as  the  maker  of  statuettes  is  familiar 
to  every  one,  but  about  whom  little  was  generally  known ;  and 
the  third  told  in  racy  language  of  the  evolution  of  Geronimo  from 
a  wild  Indian  to  a  Sunday-school  teacher.  Each  story  had  an 
interesting  personage  as  the  peg  on  which  it  hung.  Again  :  When 
the  new  magazine,  the  Arena,  made  its  appearance,  with  the  name 
of  B.  O.  Flower  on  the  cover  as  its  editor,  an  opportunity  was 
given  the  Boston  Record  to  send  one  of  its  young  men  to  the 
Arena  sanctum  to  look  over  the  new  literary  light,  and  tell  its 
readers  something  of  his  ways  and  looks  and  life.  Mr.  Flower  is 
a  young  man  who  had  done  nothing  of  note  before,  and  lives  in 
seclusion  among  his  books.  Had  he  brought  out  his  Arena  in 
London,  the  English  public  would  have  had  to  read  a  London  let- 
ter in  an  American  paper  to  have  known  anything  about  him. 

Why  the  journalism  of  the  United  States  is  so  thoroughly  per- 
sonal is  a  question  that  strikes  back  so  far  into  race  peculiarities 
that  the  best  minds  of  the  day  can  find  in  it  plenty  of  substantial 
food.  A  female  writer  in  the  Forum,  speaking  as  an  English 
woman,  attempted  to  throw  some  light  on  the  subject  a  few  months 
ago.  She  concluded  that  there  is  a  broad  line  of  demarcation 
between  American  and  English  taste,  and  that  the  English  take 
such  a  deep  interest  in  social  and  political  problems  for  their  own 
sake  that  a  man  or  a  woman  in  that  country  is  interesting  person- 
ally only  as  he  or  she  is  identified  with  some  movement,  while  to 


PERSONAL  JOURNALISM.  28 1 

the  American  public  persons  are  interesting  in  themselves.  Pos- 
sibly there  is  something  in  this.  At  least  it  would  seem  that  there 
is  decidedly  less  interest  in  movements  in  this  country  than  in 
England,  if  we  may  believe  the  affirmation  of  Leonard  Bacon, 
that,  although  the  intelligence  and  morality  of  the  Northern  states 
are  in  the  Republican  party,  the  leaders  of  the  Democratic  party 
appear  to  be  the  only  men  who  are  really  in  earnest  in  advocat- 
ing reforms  which  are  generally  admitted  to  be  desirable.  But, 
whatever  may  be  the  fact  in  reference  to  movements,  the  interest 
here  in  persons  is  genuine.  With  much  that  is  vulgar  curiosity, 
and  of  the  nature  of  the  sewing-circle  spirit, — the  normal  condi- 
tion in  a  comparatively  new  country, — the  people  of  the  United 
States  find  a  wholesome  pleasure  and  a  decided  profit  in  learning 
something  about  their  neighbors,  especially  their  more  fortunate 
and  distinguished  neighbors.  An  Englishman  would  call  it  all 
American  impudence  ;  but  there  is  certainly  a  well  marked  dis- 
tinction between  the  impertinent  and  the  proper  in  personal  infor- 
mation. The  newspapers  understand  it  perfectly,  and  the  public 
claims  its  own  by  every  right  of  nature.  To  be  distinguished  in 
any  way  above  his  fellows  makes  a  man  in  a  sense  public  prop- 
erty. The  public  cannot  but  feel  that  the  elements  of  character 
that  have  lifted  one  above  the  many  are  its  for  analysis  and  use. 
Is  not  the  interest  of  the  American  people  in  persons  due  to  a  rec- 
ognition of  the  fact  that  "  the  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man"? 
and  when  Hon.  E.J.  Phelps  said  that  "men,  not  principles," 
should  be  the  shibboleth,  did  he  not  voice  the  uncrystallized  judg- 
ment of  an  intelligent  and  self-respecting  people?  Emerson  is 
authority  for  the  remark  that  "  every  man,  in  the  degree  in  which 
he  has  wit  and  culture,  finds  his  curiosity  inflamed  concerning  the 
modes  of  living  and  thinking  of  other  men."  Judged  by  this 
standard,  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  generously  endowed 
with  both  wit  and  culture. 

Personal  journalism  has  been  an  American  growth  until  recently. 
But  a  few  shoots  have  been  transplanted,  and,  much  to  the  horror 
of  our  conservative  friends  across  the  water,  they  are  growing 
very  rapidly  on  the  soil  of  Old  England.     Mr.  Stead,  formerly  of 


282  PERSONAL   JOURNALISM. 

the  Pall  Mall  Gazette,  conducted  his  paper  somewhat  after  the 
American  idea,  and  T.  P.  O'Connor's  Star  has  the  real  Yankee 
dash.  The  London  edition  of  the  New  York  Herald,  too,  has 
opened  wide  the  eyes  of  its  staid  contemporaries.  These  papers 
are  extensively  read,  we  are  told,  and  in  that  fact  our  countrymen 
will  perhaps  find  consolation.  A  proper  interest  in  the  affairs  of 
other  people  is  not  only  natural,  but  is  an  evidence  of  well  bal- 
anced, unselfish  character.  It  has  taken  the  English  people  a 
long  time  to  learn  this. 

There  are  many  qualities  that  contribute  to  the  making  of  a  fin- 
ished newspaper  man  ;  but  the  one  that  is  preeminent  and  essen- 
tial is  a  knowledge  of  men.  The  successful  editor  must  know 
what  people  want,  and  he  must  know  how  to  get  it.  To  strike 
the  right  proportion  in  length  and  prominence  of  position  of  news 
that  will  commend  his  paper  to  the  average  reader,  and  to  know 
what  editorial  discussion  will  come  closest  to  that  average  reader; 
require  insight  into  the  sympathies  and  interests  of  all  classes. 
Unless  a  managing  editor  instinctively  sees  tendencies  in  the  dif- 
ferent social  divisions,  his  judgment  will  be  sadly  lacking  in  par- 
ticular cases,  and  the  readers  of  his  paper  will  not  get  what  they 
want.  But  it  is  one  thing  to  know  what  is  wanted,  and  another 
to  be  an  adept  at  getting  it.  In  other  words,  a  first-class  man- 
aging editor  is  not  necessarily  a  marked  success  as  a  reporter, 
and  the  converse  is  true  of  course.  As  a  rule,  it  can  be  said  that 
the  managing  editor  must  be  comprehensive  and  far-sighted — 
must  know  men  in  masses  and  classes.  A  good  reporter  need  not 
possess  these  attributes  so  essential  to  the  managing  editor,  but 
his  ability  to  "  size-up"  and  "  pump"  the  particular  men  who  have 
locked  up  in  their  minds  the  information  or  fragments  of  informa- 
tion that  he  is  after — this  faculty  is  of  prime  importance.  He  may 
not  be  able  to  write  forcibly,  or  even  grammatically,  but  he  can 
learn  in  time  to  do  that,  or,  if  he  cannot,  some  one  else  can  do  it 
for  him ;  but  the  man  who  recognizes  a  piece  of  news  at  first 
sight,  and  is  so  much  a  master  of  men  that  he  can  draw  from  un- 
willing lips  what  he  knows  the  public  will  read,  has  the  chief 
requisite  of  a  newspaper  man,  and,  with  industry  and  proper  train- 


PERSONAL   JOURNALISM.  283 

ing,  his  success  is  assured.  Delano  Goddard,  once  editor  of  the 
Boston  Advertiser,  by  a  few  questions  to  which  the  briefest 
answers  were  given,  could  learn  the  facts  of  an  intricate  and  im- 
portant piece  of  news,  and  would  write  it  out  so  accurately  and 
fully  that  his  informant  would  never  dream  that  the  paper  had 
found  its  news  in  that  short  conversation.  In  Mr.  Goddard  the 
managerial  and  reportorial  functions  were  combined,  as  indeed 
they  usually  are  in  the  best  newspaper  men. 

President  Eliot  hits  the  nail  on  the  head  when  he  says  that  an 
academic  education,  leading  to  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts,  with 
history,  political  economy,  and  modern  languages  as  specialties, 
is  the  best  theoretical  training  that  an  aspirant  for  newspaper  hon- 
ors can  have.  A  college  course  has  a  value  in  forming  the  style 
of  a  man,  but  this  is  not  of  the  first  importance.  Style  is  a  gar- 
ment that  readily  fits  itself  to  the  thought  of  a  man  who  has  some- 
thing to  say.  The  academic  training  has  its  chief  value,  I  take 
it,  in  giving  the  student  a  clearer  idea  of  life,  and  the  men  and 
women  who  make  it.  The  graduate  who  finds  himself  in  touch 
with  humanity,  and  who  has  a  tolerably  clear  idea  of  what  the 
purpose  and  destiny  of  the  race  are,  is  constantly  finding  on  his 
right  hand  and  on  his  left  something  that  excites  his  liveliest 
interest,  and,  putting  it  in  attractive  shape,  he  finds  that  the  earn- 
est men  and  women  with  whom  he  is  in  thorough  sympathy  are 
interested  too.  He  knows  men,  knows  what  they  want,  knows 
how  to  get  it,  and  by  these  signs  he  conquers.  If  I  am  incorrect, 
will  some  Dartmouth  newspaper  man,  whose  experience  has  led 
him  to  a  different  conclusion,  tell  me  wherein  I  err? 

F  A.  Wood,  '86. 


The  Chair. 


By  the  recent  appropriation  of  the  trustees  of  the  college,  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  building,  long  wished  for  and  long  expected,  is 
assured.  At  writing,  but  $1,900  is  lacking  to  the  necessary 
amount,  $15,000,  and  the  earnest  and  vigorous  efforts  put  forth  to 
secure  this  balance  must  result  in  immediate  success.  President 
Bartlett  should  have  the  thanks  of  the  college  for  his  enthusiastic 
work  in  behalf  of  the  project ;  nor  should  be  forgotten  any  among 
the  faculty,  students,  and  friends  of  the  college  who  have  given 
to  or  worked  for  the  building.  Indeed,  the  near  realization  of 
common  hopes  and  plans  should  be  made  a  matter  of  rejoicing  and 
congratulation  all  around.  The  great  advantages  of  a  Y.  M.  C. 
A.  building  are  almost  too  apparent  to  need  mention.  Ever  since 
1882,  when  the  Christian  Fraternity  became  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  which  was  a  transformation  from  a  simply 
local  religious  society  to  an  organization  with  definite  plans  and 
methods  of  aggressive  Christian  work,  the  insufficiency  of  the 
present  quarters  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  has  been  painfully  apparent. 
The  change  from  the  stuffy  little  room  in  Thornton  to  a  commo- 
dious and  beautiful  building,  thoroughly  fitted  and  arranged, 
ministering  to  physical  and  intellectual  comforts  and  to  social  inter- 
course, as  well  as  providing  for  the  needs  of  the  spiritual  man,  will 
mark  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the  life  of  the  college.  The 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  despite  many  inconveniences  and  positive  draw- 
backs, has,  for  the  last  eight  years,  steadily  grown,  and  to-day  it 
possesses  a  most  sturdy  vitality.  In  view  of  this  fact,  we  can  with 
unbounded  confidence  predict  the  result :  we  shall  have  a  build- 
ing to  bear  witness  to  the  importance  of  Christian  work,  give  it 
greater  prominence  and  greater  dignity  in  the  eyes  of  all,  promote 
Christian  fellowship,  unify  the  Christian  elements  of  all  depart- 
ments, broaden  the  scope  of  the  Association  in  countless  ways,  and 


THE  CHAIR.  285 

furnish  a  head-quarters  and  home,  irrespective  of  other  ties,  for  the 
entire  student  body.  Cornell,  Yale,  Princeton,  Hamilton,  Johns 
Hopkins,  Toronto,  already  have  buildings,  and  the  testimony  to 
the  great  benefits  accruing  to  the  college  therefrom  is  enthusiastic 
and  unanimous.  Dartmouth,  in  this  respect,  is  bound  to  keep  up 
with  the  times. 

Hardly  an  exchange  of  late  but  has  had  an  article  upon  that 
common  vice  of  college  life,  "  cribbing,"  while  an  item  to  the  effect 
that  an  ' '  anti-cribbing  society"  has  been  formed  in  a  prominent 
New  England  college  has  been  given  widest  possible  circulation 
through  the  college  press.  We  are  at  a  loss  to  understand  the 
reason  for  this  sudden  and  wide-spread  agitation  of  a  commonly 
supposed  "  delicate"  subject ;  but  without  useless  questioning  in 
this  regard  we  hail  the  discussion  gladly,  and  would  have  our  part 
in  it.  It  is  high  time  there  were  a  reformation  among  college 
men  in  respect  to  the  minor  moralities  :  it  is  here,  as  we  pointed 
out  in  the  February  Chair,  lurks  the  real  danger  to  character, 
exists  the  real  weakness  of  college  ethics.  This  particular  matter 
of"  cribbing,"  if  any,  demands  honest  and  careful  attention,  and  the 
college  paper,  whether  it  seeks  to  mirror  or  mould  college  thought 
— and  the  ideal  college  paper  does  both — is  within  its  legitimate 
sphere  in  uttering  no  uncertain  sound.  We  doubt  if  a  single  man 
in  college  can  be  found  who  questions  that  "  cribbing"  is  wrong  in 
principle  ;  but  not  a  few,  from  association  and  circumstances,  fail  to 
see  it  as  a  serious  evil,  a  blot  upon  college  morality  that  should 
have  radical  erasement.  This  view  is  a  result  of  the  laissez  faire 
attitude  of  college  men  in  general.  "  It  is  none  of  my  business," 
is  a  common  saying  ;  but  it  is  one's  business  to  frown  down  deceit, 
to  condemn  trickery,  to  call  dishonesty  by  its  right  name.  It  is  a 
mistaken  idea  of  good  fellowship  to  think  it  insists  that  one  pardon 
in  another  a  fault  he  would  not  commit  himself;  not  only  that, 
but  wink  at  it,  treat  it  as  a  good  joke,  admire  the  cleverness  of  the 
wrong-doer,  take  delight  in  his  success.  We  do  not  mean  that 
men  should  break  friendship  for  a  pernicious  habit ;  but  if  friend- 
ship is  so  slight  a  thing  as  to  snap  because  of  outspoken  feeling, 


286  .  THE  CHAIR. 

it  is  better  broken  than  kept :  honor  and  true  friendship  never 
conflict.  This  is  a  radical  position.  We  believe  in  radical  posi- 
tions in  such  matters.  We  are  convinced  that  anything  savoring 
of  espionage  on  the  part  of  the  professor  is  wrong  in  principle  and 
unsuccessful  in  operation.  We  are  also  convinced  that  putting  a 
man  upon  his  honor  is  right  in  principle,  but  largely  unsuccessful 
in  operation,  for  there  are  some  men  who  seem  to  have  no  honor. 
With  the  Nassau  jLz'L,  we  believe  the  only  effective  remedy  for 
the  habit  of  "  cribbing"  is  a  strong  college  sentiment  against  it. 
Honor  is  not  always  wholly  lost  when  it  seems  so  :  a  spark  of 
honor  may  be  fanned  into  a  blaze.  We  advocate  no  "  anti-crib- 
bing  society."  Such  an  organization  is  a  confession  of  the  weak- 
ness of  individual  moral  power.  We  simply  insist  that  men  of 
high  honor  live  up  to  their  noble  ideals  ;  that  they  demand  in  their 
friends  what  they  require  of  themselves.  It  is  as  easy  to  set  a 
right  fashion  as  a  wrong  one,  if  there  is  equal  determination. 
When  "  cribbers"  come  to  see  that  they  are  losing  not  only  the 
respect  of  their  fellows,  but  also  their  social  position,  when  they 
feel  they  are  gradually  being  ostracized,  frozen  out  of  the  compan- 
ionship of  honorable  men,  "  cribbing"  will  be  a  thing  of  the  past. 


In  this  connection  we  would  mention  that  other  evil,  local 
in  its  nature,  and,  we  are  glad  to  say,  much  less  general  in  the 
college,  but  yet  at  times  gross  in  its  manifestation,  that  of  break- 
ing the  scholarship  pledge.  For  rank  dishonesty  and  meanness, 
the  man  that  violates  thus  deliberately  his  pledged  word  has  not  a 
peer.  It  is  gratifying  that  there  is  a  pronounced  college  senti- 
ment against  such  action,  that  the  offence  is  reckoned  despicable 
by  the  college  at  large  ;  and  yet  it  is  surprising  that  it  should 
exist  at  all.  That  this  abuse  is  not  entirely  done  away  with  we 
think  due  largely  to  the  same  inherited  sentiment  among  some, 
which,  while  of  course  not  justifying,  tends  to  excuse  and  make 
light  of  what  is,  in  plain  words,  flagrant  violation  of  honor  and  of 
truth. 

And  does  it. not  all  grow  out  of  a  false  conception  of  the  relation 


THE   CHAIR.  287 

of  the  college  and  the  student?  Alma  Mater  and  in  loco  parentis 
are  pleasant  phrases;  but,  if  understood,  to  some  college  men  the 
idea  conveyed  means  practically  nothing.  From  the  time  of 
entering  to  the  time  of  graduation,  it  seems  a  constant  endeavor 
with  these  to  "get  the  better  of"  the  college,  to  "outwit"  the  fac- 
ulty. They  seem  possessed  of  a  mediaeval  notion  that  they  are 
for  four  years  in  durance  vile  ;  that  their  instructors  are  tyran- 
nical inquisitors ;  that  if  they  can  manage  to  hoodwink  the 
authorities,  glory  and  praise  will  fall  to  their  lot.  It  is  a  healthful 
sign  of  the  times  that  the  spirit  of  true  democracy  is  becoming 
prevalent  in  all  our  colleges  ;  that  the  ideal  relation  of  student  and 
professor,  and  of  both  to  the  college,  is  appreciated  and  practised  ;: 
but  that  there  is  still  a  lingering  trace  of  the  old  superstition  is. 
made  evident  by  such  disobedience  as  we  have  instanced  to  col- 
lege and  ethical  law. 

It  is  a  common  cry  of  the  student  that  oldtime  restrictions  upon 
his  actions  be  removed  ;  that  he  be  treated,  not  as  a  boy,  but  as  a. 
man  among  men.  The  demand  is  just :  it  has  been  granted. 
What  restrictions  are  still  imposed  are  reasonable,  necessary  to 
any  government,  and  consistent  with  individual  rights  and  perfect 
individual  freedom.  Instead  of  incoherently  and  hysterically 
clamoring  against  fancied  abuses  and  deprivations  on  the  part  of 
those  in  authority,  let  the  college  man  devote  his  energies  to  reform- 
ing himself.  All  is  not  as  it  will  be,  it  is  true;  but  the  main 
progress  has  not  been  on  the  part  of  the  student.  When  he  takes 
a  good  stride  in  advance,  it  will  then  be  time  for  him  to  demand 
still  further  progress  all  along  the  line. 


We  congratulate  Brother  Dartmouth  on  attaining  such  a  hale 
and  dignified  age.  Fifty  years  in  college  journalism  is  a  mighty 
span,  and  the  half  century  of  existence  of  the  Dartmouth  has 
been  a  most  honorable  one.  We  heartily  commend  the  enterprise 
of  the  management  in  getting  out  a  special  commemorative  num- 
ber, but  we  regret  very  much  the  lack  of  careful  editing.  Typo- 
graphical errors   in   such  profusion,  inaccuracies  in  punctuation, 


288  THE   CHAIR. 

and  ungrammatical  English  are  very  annoying,  and  mar  the  gen- 
eral excellence.  During  the  entire  year  the  Dartmouth  has  suf- 
fered more  or  less  from  carelessness  in  these  respects.  Clear- 
ness of  thought,  accuracy  of  expression,  and  general  reliability 
are  the  prime  requisites  of  the  college  paper.  We  trust  that  these 
faults  may  not  be  allowed  to  continue  :  their  avoidance  ought  to 
be  a  very  easy  matter. 


We  wish  to  emphasize  the  closing  suggestion  in  Prof.  Emerson's 
very  interesting  article.  The  college  cannot  do  in  these  matters 
as  it  would  for  lack  of  funds  :  it  has  ever  been  thus.  It  is  a  great 
pity,  with  such  a  record  in  athletics  and  with  such  superb  athletic 
material  as  we  have  and  shall  have,  that  we  are  in  the  particulars 
pointed  out  so  handicapped.  The  need  is  imperative  that  Dart- 
mouth be  not  left  out  of  the  movement  among  the  best  colleges 
increasing  the  facilities  for  general  athletic  culture,  and  placing 
its  control  in  specially  competent  hands.  Where  is  the  generous- 
minded  alumnus  to  make  the  endowment,  or  even  a  part  of  it? 
Dartmouth  appeals  to  her  devoted  foster  sons. 


The  competition  for  the  three  Junior  editorships  of  the  Lit.  will 
close  the  20th  of  May.  We  are  not  satisfied  with  the  quantity  of 
competition.  There  should  be  more  competing.  No  one  is  yet 
sure  of  a  place,  and  there  is  abundant  opportunity  for  any  Soph- 
omore, of  literary  instinct,  by  careful  and  diligent  work  to  win  the 
honor. 


By  the  Way. 


The  April  winds  are  magical, 
And  thrill  our  tuneful  frames  ; 

The  garden  walks  are  passional 
To  bachelors  and  dames. 


Good  fellow,  Puck  and  goblins 

Know  more  than  any  book ; 
Down  with  your  doleful  problems, 

And  court  the  sunny  brook. 
The  south-winds  are  quick-witted, 

The  schools  are  sad  and  slow, 
The  masters  quite  omitted 

The  lore  we  care  to  know. 


What  an  epitome  of  the  Easter  holidays  are  these  lines  from 
Emerson  !  The  Concord  philosopher  was  preeminently  the  stu- 
dent's poet,  and  knew  well  how  to  express  the  student's  changing 
moods.  No  wonder  is  it,  then,  that,  scattered  among  his  subtle 
thought  and  sober  philosophy,  we  find  such  interludes  as  this,  the 
genuine  outburst  of  a  pent-up  spirit  at  the  touch  of  April  sun- 
beams, mirthful  in  its  expression,  and  laden  with  sights  and  sounds 
of  spring. 


The  college  has  so  often  been  described  as  a  microcosm  that  to 
speak  thus  of  our  little  world,  with  its  round  of  duties  and  studies, 
its  cares  and  its  pleasures,  each  year  bringing  new  faces  in  place 
of  old  and  familiar  ones,  with  recurring  cycles  of  good  ball-play- 
ing, good  scholarship,  and  a  strong  literary  spirit,  followed  per- 
chance with  a  backward  stroke  of  the  pendulum  and  a  period  of 
depression,  would  perhaps  be  a  trite  statement  of  the  case.  From 
the  self-sufficiency  of  this  little  cosmos  of  ours,  from  absorption  in 
its  duties  and  from  the  isolation  of  our  position,  there  springs  a 


290  BY  THE   WAY. 

tendency  to  forget  the  greater  world  without,  and  to  lose  interesl 
in  its  present  history.  I  have  been  struck  by  the  lack  of  informa- 
tion in  regard  to  recent  happenings  at  home  and  abroad  shown  by 
the  average  student.  This  lack  is  perhaps  excusable,  considering 
how  little  time  he  has  for  general  reading,  but  the  indifference 
shown  to  such  matters  is  hard  to  overlook. 


In  these  days,  when  the  world  moves  so  rapidly,  we  can  scarcely 
keep  pace  with  the  times  except  through  the  newspapers.  I  know 
it  is  the  fashion  for  people  of  culture  to  decry  the  daily  press,  and 
to  remark,  as  well  they  may,  about  the  unreliability  of  the  news- 
paper ;  but  the  fact  remains,  that  to  it  we  must  go  for  data  for  our 
thinking,  which  no  man  who  would  keep  abreast  of  the  times  can 
do  without. 


Among  the  evils,  however,  which  newspapers  bring  in  their 
train,  is  a  habit  into  which  news-readers  and  devourers  of  novels 
are  quite  apt  to  fall, — I  mean  that  mechanical  method  of  perusal  in 
which  the  mind  plunges  along  the  page  bound  for  the  foot  of  the 
column,  shying  at  thoughts  which  rise  up  by  the  wayside,  and 
heedless  of  everything  in  the  rear.  The  habit  so  grows  on  one 
that  the  mind  loses  power  to  come  into  focus  anywhere,  and  it  is 
needless  to  state  that  the  impression  on  the  sensitive  plate  of  the 
memory  is  a  mere  blur. 


Of  course  such  a  manner  of  reading  excludes  what  is  called 
meditation,  if  you  please  so  to  call  solid  thought'on  what  has  been 
heard  or  read ;  and  on  this  point  I  think  we  must  hold  a  different 
view  from  that  entertained  by  Prof.  Shaler,  who,  in  discussing  in 
the  Atlantic  not  long  since  the  demands  upon  the  modern  youth's 
time  made  by  his  studies  and  athletics,  calmly  rules  out  meditation 
as  scarcely  befitting  a  healthy  lad  of  the  present. 

Truly,  the  day  of  sentimental  reverie  and  Spanish  castle-building 


by  The  way.  291 

has  passed  away,  yet  although  the  world  is  running  at  high  press- 
ure just  now,  especially  on  this  side  the  Atlantic,  ideas  are  still  its 
motive  force,  and  one  who  leaves  his  college  with  crude  and  care- 
lessly shaped  thoughts  will  find  himself  able  to  raise  but  very  little 
breeze.  There  is  a  tribe  of  Indians  in  the  West,  unlettered,  un- 
taught, and  almost  unvisited  by  whites,  yet  travellers  remark  upon 
the  shrewdness  and  correctness  of  their  opinions.  They  are  peo- 
ple who  think  for  themselves,  not  by  proxy.  Their  logic  is  not 
second-hand,  adopted  from  the  last  newspaper  article  written  on 
the  subject  under  discussion,  but  it  is  their  own,  and,  consequent- 
ly, telling.  You  need  not  be  told  that  they  are  a  meditative 
people. 


I  am  convinced  that  the  reason  why  talking  is  nowadays  classed 
among  the  lost  arts,  and  why  speaking  and  debating  in  college 
seem  to  have  declined,  is,  that  with  our  trying  to  read  much  we 
think  little.  We  lack  the  ability  to  turn  the  eye  of  the  mind 
inward,  to  form  for  ourselves,  as  Isaac  Disraeli  so  aptly  puts  it, 
an  artificial  solitude.  The  memory  is  like  a  picture  gallery,  the 
walls  of  which  are  covered  with  beautiful  scenes  which  the  mind, 
our  inner  artist,  has  gathered  together  and  hung  there.  In  nooks 
and  corners  are  stored  treasures  of  fact  and  gems  of  wisdom. 
How  necessary  are  these  moments  of  meditation,  in  which  we  may 
clear  away  the  dust  from  our  memory-pictures  and  brighten  the 
medallions  and  jewels  of  the  mind  ! 


Thistle-Down 


AD  CLERUM. 


The  minister  stood  in  the  minister's  place, 

And  the  little  boy  sat  in  the  pew ; 
The  minister  dealt  with  a  doctrinal  case, 

And  the  little  boy  wished  he  was  through. 

The  minister  showed  from  his  learning  and  lore 

The  point  he  was  proving,  and  then 
Triumphantly  asked,  "  What  shall  I  say  more  ? "     . 

Said  the  little  boy,  "  Say  Amen" 

FROM  THE  PERSIAN. 

I  led  my  herd  upon  the  hill  for  grass, 

And  there  one  day  I  found  a  dainty  maid. 
My  heart  was  wild  with  love  :  "  My  pretty  lass, 

Give  me  a  kiss,"  I  said. 

"  Lad,  give  me  money."     "Ah,  but  that  I  lack, 

It 's  in  my  purse,  that  in  my  wallet.     See  ? 
In  sooth  my  wallet 's  on  my  camel's  back, 

And  my  camel 's  at  Sari." 

Said  she,  "A  kiss  of  mine  ?    My  kisses  lie 
Behind  my  lips,  and  they  're  locked  with  a  key ; 

The  key  is  with  my  mother,  who 's  hard  by 
Thy  camel  at  Sari." 

William  Byron  Forbush. 


Crayon   Bleu. 


The  North   Shore   Watch   and  Other  Poems,   by  George  Edward  Woodberry.     Boston  : 
Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.  # 

The  advent  of  a  new  poet  is  too  rare  an  event  in  the  literary  world  to  be  passed  by  has- 
tily, yet  we  do  not  feel  able  to  give  to  Mr.  Woodberry's  work  the  space  it  demands.  The 
first  thing  we  notice  is  a  slight  obscurity  of  expression  and  references.  Then  we  are 
enchanted  with  a  richness  and  beauty  of  diction,  and  at  times  a  strength  rising  almost  to 
grandeur.  The  North  Shore  Watch  is  an  elegiac  poem  in  Alexandrine  metre  on  a  dead 
classmate.  It  wearies  a  little,  yet  the  imagery  is  fine  in  places.  In  Agathon,  modelled 
after  the  Greek,  we  see  the  workings  of  the  highest  spiritual  love  in  a  poet's  breast.  In  it 
Mr.  Woodberry  is  at  his  best.  In  My  Country  he  shows  a  patriotism  and  hope  for  his 
country's  future  which  is  seen  later  in  the  sonnets.  The  latter  are  by  far  the  most  quota- 
ble verses  of  the  book  : 

"  I  know  a  nation's  gold  is  not  man's  bread." 
"  Who  founded  us  and  spread  from  sea  to  sea 

A  thousand  leagues  the  zone  of  liberty, 

And  built  for  man  this  refuge  from  his  past 

Unkinged,  unchurched,  unsoldiered." 
"  And  o'er  the  broad  sea  dost  think  to  tame 

God's  young  plantation  in  the  virgin  West  ?" 

In  the  lyrical  poems  which  follow  the  sonnets  the  general  level  is  lower,  but  "  Be  God's 
the  hope,"  is  a  strong  piece. 

The  Ae6is,  published  by  the  class  of  '91,  Dartmouth  college.     Hanover,  N.  H. :  The  Lake- 
side Press,  Portland,  Me. 

On  the  whole,  the  new  Aegis  is  a  very  creditable  production.  As  a  reference  book,  it  is 
nearly  perfect.  The  sketches  of  the  college,  of  Prof.  Ruggles,  and  of  Mr.  Hitchcock,  are 
interesting  and  valuable.  The  "grinds"  must  be  taken  all  together,  the  stale  with  the 
bright,  and  are  perhaps  as  good  as  the  average  of  those  in  college  annuals.  Some  are 
extremely  bright,  and  others  extremely  flat.  We  are  inclined  to  think  that  some  of  the 
"  grinds  "  on  members  of  the  faculty,  however  applicable,  are  beneath  the  dignity  of  a  col- 
lege class.  We  should  remember  that  the  Aegis  usually  goes  outside  of  Hanover.  But 
be  that  as  the  editors  say.  Externally  the  book  is  attractive.  Typographically  it  lacks  the 
clearness  of  a  first-class  press.  The  paper  is  poor.  The  quality  of  the  artistic  work  is 
uneven,  but  mostly  commonplace.  The  Hand  of  Justice  seems  to  us  by  far  the  brightest 
illustration.  The  title-page  and  the  Commencement  Ball  are  graceful  sketches.  Repre- 
senting the  other  extreme  is  Noah's  Ark,  which  lacks  both  originality  and  artistic  finish. 


294  CRAYON  BLEU. 

Dr.  Muhlenberg,  by  William  Wilberforce  Newton,  d.  d.     Boston :  Houghton,  Mifflin  & 

Co. 

The  new  "American  Religious  Leader  "  series  promises  to  be  a  fit  successor  to  "Ameri- 
can Men  of  Letters  "  and  "American  Statesmen,"  from  the  same  firm.  The  life  of  Dr 
Muhlenberg,  the  great  Episcopal  leader  of  the  century  in  America,  is  well  written  and 
deeply  interesting.  Muhlenberg  was  the  founder  of  institutionalism,  and  the  constant 
worker  towards  evangelical  Episcopalianism,  who  advanced  so  far  the  present  standard  of 
his  church.  This  book  will  be  especially  valuable  to  all  members  of  that  church,  and, 
indeed,  to  all  churches,  embodying  as  it  does  its  most  progressive  ideas. 

A  Short  History  of  the  Roman  People,  by  William  F.  Allen.     Boston  :  Ginn  &  Co.    $1.10. 
This  is  part  second  of  Ancient  History  for  College  and  High  Schools,  part  first  being 
The  Eastern  Nation  and  Greece,  by  Myers.     It   is   a   condensed    and  practical   history, 
designed  for  class-room  work,  illustrated  with  the  well  known  fulness  of  this  historical 
series,  and  furnished  with  good  maps. 

Historische  Erzdhlungen,  by  Dr.  Friedrich  Hoffman.     Notes  by  H.  S.  Beresford-Webb. 

Boston  :  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.    $1.25. 

These  tales  treat  of  Conradin  of  Swabia,  the  end  of  Charles  the  Bold,  the  execution  of 
Louis  XVI  and  his  Queen,  and  the  Franco-German  War  (i870-'7i).  The  style  is  clear, 
and  presents  no  difficulties  to  the  average  German  scholar.     The  notes  are  full. 

Proceedings  of  the  Department  of  Superintendence  of  the  National  Educational  Association 
at  its  meeting  in  Washington,  March  6-8,  i88g.  A  valuable  educational  pamphlet,  giving 
the  addresses  of  the  most  noted  educators  in  the  country  on  such  subjects  as  Manual 
Training,  Training  of  Teachers,  Examinations,  &c.  Also,  The  History  of  Federal  and  State 
Aid  to  Higher  Education  in  the  United  States,  by  Frank  W.  Blackmar,  Ph.  D.,  being  one 
of  the  contributions  to  American  Educational  History,  which  are  being  edited  by  Herbert 
W.  Adams.     Washington :  Department  of  the  Interior,  Bureau  of  Education. 

The  Atlantic  for  April  opens  with  "  Some  Popular  Objections  to  Civil  Service  Reform," 
by  Oliver  T.  Morton.  It  will  be  concluded  in  the  next  number.  Mr.  Morton  takes  up  the 
objections,  many  of  them  in  the  language  of  senators  and  representatives,  and  shows  their 
fallacies.  He  demonstrates  that  the  reform  is  towards  democracy,  not  towards  aristocracy, 
in  the  civil  service.  "  Trial  by  Jury  of  Things  Supernatural,"  by  James  B.  Thayer,  is  a 
history  of  several  interesting  witchcraft  trials  in  England  and  Scotland.  H.  C.  Merwin  con- 
tributes a  piece  on  "  Road  Horses."  The  four  serials  continue,  "  Over  the  Teacups  "  lead- 
ing in  merit.  In  the  literary  department  "  New  York  in  Recent  Fiction  "  is  noticed. 
"  Some  Old  Saws  Reedged "  in  the  Contributor's  Club  is  most  amusing.  Mr.  T.  B. 
Aldrich  is  at  his  best  in  the  short  poem  entitled  "  In  Westminster  Abbey,"  and  the  pessi- 
mistic tinge  in  poetry  is  well  represented  by  "At  Sea,"  by  James  Jaffrey  Roche.  Albert 
Shaw  writes  of  "  Belgium  and  the  Belgians." 

The  Century  for  April  continues  "  The  Autobiography  of  Joseph  Jefferson "  and 
"  Friend  Olivia."  In  the  former,  Mr.  Jefferson  tells  how  he  came  to  play  Rip  Van  Winkle, 
and  there  are  several  portraits  of  him  in  that  role.  "  The  Slave  Trade  in  the  Congo 
Basin  "  opens  fearful  revelations  of  barbarity  in  that  region.  Georges  Berger,  Director- 
General  of  the  Paris  Exhibition,  gives  some  "  Suggestions  for  the  Next  World's  Fair." 
John  La  Farge  writes  from  Japan  of  the  "  Shrines  of  lyeyasu  and  Iyemitsu,"  with  illustra. 


CRA  YON  BLEU.  295 

tions  of  Japanese  decorative  art.  F.  W.  Putnam  contributes  a  valuable  archeological  arti- 
cle, "  The  Serpent  Mound  in  Ohio,"  and  Charles  de  Kay  gives  a  historical  sketch  on  the 
Old  Poetic  Guild  in  Ireland."  "A  Programme  for  Labor  Reform,"  by  Richard  T.  Ely 
deals  well  with  this  difficult  subject.  "  The  Ideal,"  by  Katharine  Lee  Bates,  is  an  unusually 
strong  poem,  and  James  Whitcomb  Riley  is  at  his  best  in  "  The  Little  Man  in  the  Tin- 
shop."  A  valuable  short  essay  is  "A  World-Literature,"  by  Thomas  Wentworth  Higgin- 
son. 

Scribner's  for  April  opens  with  Archdeacon  Wrangham's  translation  of  Horace's  Ode  to 
Sestius,  illustrated  with  a  very  graceful  frontispiece  by  J.  R.  Weguelin.  It  is  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  similar  selections  and  illustrations  from  Horace's  Odes.  The  Oriental  article  is 
"  Tadmor  in  the  Wilderness."  Frederick  W.  Whitridge  contributes  the  first  of  "  The  Rights 
of  the  Citizen  "  series,  treating  of  him  as  a  householder.  Joseph  Wetzler  writes  of  "  The 
Electric  Railway  of  To-Day."  "  Wagnerianism  and  the  Italian  Opera,"  by  William  F. 
Apthorp,  is  a  thoughtful  article.  The  fiction  and  poetry  are  passably  good.  The  Point  of 
View  treats  philosophically  of  "  The  Paradox  of  Humor  "  in  a  way  that  is  at  least  worthy 
of  study. 

Lippincotf  s  for  April  opens  with  "A  Cast  for  Fortune,"  by  Christian  Reid.  It  is  a  most 
charming  Mexican  story.  The  plot  is  interesting,  the  imagery  rich,  and  the  tone  elevating. 
"  Nathaniel  Hawthorne's  '  Elixir  of  Life,' "  by  his  son,  Julian  Hawthorne,  is  completed.  It 
has  been  a  valuable  contribution  to  biographical  literature.  Wilson  Barrett  contributes  an 
article  on  Hamlet,  and  Henry  Blackburn  writes  on  Recent  Art  Progress. 

D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.  announce  the  publication  in  "  Old  South  Leaflets  "  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  Switzerland  and  the  Constitution  of  Ohio,  which  will  be  followed  by  similar  editions 
of  the  constitutions  of  European  Countries  and  representative  states  of  the  Union.  Ginn  & 
Co.  announce  the  publication  of  Sidney's  Defence  of  Poetry,  edited  by  Albert  S.  Cook,  of 
Yale  University,  Prof.  A.  S.  Hardy's  Elements  of  the  Calculus,  Method  of  Rates,  to  be  ready  in 
May  or  June,  and  Harvard  Historical  Monographs.  No.  2,  An  Introduction  to  the  Study 
of  Federal  Governments,  by  Albert  Bushnell  Hunt,  Ph.  D.,  Assistant  Professor  of  History  # 
G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons  will  publish  in  twelve  handsome  volumes  the  Story  of  the  Nation 
Series.    They  will  be  sold  by  subscription. 

We  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  Report  of  the  N  H  State  Board  of  Health,  from  the 
secretary  of  the  board ;  also,  Lessing's  Minna  von  Barnhelm,  edited  by  Primer,  and 
Goethe's  Sesenheim,  edited  by  Huss,  from  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. 


Exchanges. 


College  and  School  for  April  is  devoted  almost  entirely  to  "recollections  of  Gen.  Spinner. 
It  opens  with  a  very  interesting  letter  on  "  Old  School  Days  in  the  Mohawk  Valley,"  by 
Gen.  Spinner,  followed  by  many  entertaining  anecdotes  and  reminiscences  of  the  "  Watch 
Dog  of  the  Treasury." 

The  Williams  Lit.  for  March  contains  several  good  things  in  prose.  "  Gabriel "  is  the 
best  of  the  stories.  It  is  decidedly  fantastic,  and  the  denoument  is  dramatic  and  startling 
enough  to  please  the  lover  of  the  sensational  in  fiction.  "  Sidder,"  too,  is  worthy  of  com- 
mendation.    The  verse  is  rather  weak,  but  that  has  been  a  universal  failing  this  year. 

The  March  number  of  the  Nassau  Lit.  is  fairly  good,  containing  nothing  of  remarkable 
strength  and  nothing  really  poor.  The  Nassau  is  distinguished  for  its  general  evenness. 
The  humorous  story,  "  Idealism  versus  Realism,"  is  rather  strained.  "  Eventide "  is  a 
pretty  sonnet.  The  editorials  are  comprehensive  and  thoughtful.  "  Literary  Gossip  "  sel- 
dom fails  to  interest.  The  description  of  English  university  life  gives  an  amusing  and 
instructive  insight  into  student  life  at  Oxford. 

The  Southern  Collegian  for  March  appears  in  a  new  dress.  The  design  on  the  cover  is 
most  appropriate  and  tasty.  The  number,  on  the  whole,  is  rather  ordinary.  "Causa 
Mortis  "  is  not  bad. 

The  Harvard  Monthly  is  grappling  with  the  athletic  question  in  a  frank  and  manly  way, 
as  the  leader  and  two  communications  in  the  April  issue  show.  The  poetry  is  unusually 
good,  "  A  Chorus  of  Wagner  "  being  a  finely  polished  and  powerfully  conceived  sonnet, 
and  "  Somewhere,"  a  more  ambitious  attempt,  carrying  well  throughout  the  maddening 
thought  of  a  wasted  opportunity  for  a  life  happiness.  We  judge  from  the  editorials  that 
Harvard  is  getting  enough  of  the  thesis  method  of  study. 

We  have  heretofore  always  spoken  in  commendation  of  the  Philips  Exeter  Lit.,  for  lit- 
erary enterprise  in  a  fitting  school  seems  in  itself  commendable,  and  to  need  special 
encouragement.  Yet  it  is  not  an  easy  matter  for  school-boys  to  sustain  successfully  a 
purely  literary  paper,  and  we  have  sometimes  doubted  whether  it  is  wise  for  them  to 
attempt  it.  We  are  somewhat  surprised  that,  after  having  for  a  year  or  two  past  done  so 
fairly  well,  Phillips  Exeter  Academy  should  send  out  such  a  weak  production  as  the  March 
number  of  the  Literary  Monthly.  "  The  Race  Problem  "  is  treated  in  a  most  ignorant  and 
cold-blooded  way.  A  flippant  style  generally  prevails  throughout  the  number.  More  care 
should  be  taken  in  the  editing  and  proof-reading.  Some  strange  and  amusing  mistakes 
appear  in  the  exchange  department.  Perhaps  "  The  Influence  of  Secret  Societies  "  ac- 
counts for  the  poor  state  of  literary  affairs  just  now  at  Exeter.  You  can  and  should  do 
better  next  time,  would  be  our  word  of  advice  to  the  Exeter  Lit. 


Alumni  Notes. 


That  this  department  may  be  as  interesting  and  valuable  as  possible,  we  solicit  contributions  from 
all.  Items  that  may  seem  unimportant  to  the  contributor  will  no  doubt  carry  to  some  readers  remem- 
brances of  happy  but  departed  days. 

Judge  Robert  R.  Bishop  '79  hon.  presided  at  the  third  biennial  dinner  of  the  Phillips 
Academy  Alumni  Association  of  Andover,  which  was  served  April  10,  in  Boston.  Among 
those  seated  at  the  head  table  were  Dr.  C.  F.  P.  Bancroft  '60,  the  principal ;  Judge  David 
Cross  '41,  of  Manchester;  and  ex-Gov.  Frederick  Smythe  '65  hon.,  of  Manchester.  Judge 
Bishop  made  a  short  speech  in  opening  the  after-dinner  proceedings,  and  ended  by  pre- 
senting, in  a  very  eulogistic  manner,  Dr.  Bancroft,  who  discussed  the  prosperity  and  needs 
of  the  academy.    Judge  Cross  followed  with  a  complimentary  speech. 

Maj.  Charles  H.  Bartlett  '81  hon.,  the  new  commander  of  the  Amoskeag  Veterans  of 
Manchester,  has  appointed  as  surgeon  Dr.  George  D.  Towne  '75  C.  S.  S.,  and  as  com- 
missary sergeant  R.  W.  Welch  '72. 

'33.  Samuel  Locke  Sawyer  died  at  his  home  at  Independence,  Mo.,  March  29,  after  a 
short  illness.  Mr.  Sawyer  was  a  native  of  Mount  Vernon,  where  he  was  born  November 
27,  1813.  He  was  a  son  of  Aaron  F.  Sawyer  '04,  who  was  an  eminent  lawyer,  and  a  man 
of  large  influence.  Judge  Sawyer  fitted  for  college  at  Kimball  Union  Academy.  He  stud- 
ied law  at  Amherst,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1836.  He  moved  to  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
where  he  taught  school  for  one  year,  and  then  went  to  Lexington,  Mo.  Here  for  eighteen 
months  he  acted  as  clerk  in  the  land  office,  after  which  he  began  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion, forming  a  partnership  with  Hon.  Charles  French.  This  was  the  beginning  of  his 
prosperity,  and  his  progress  henceforth  was  steadily  upward.  In  1848  he  was  elected  to 
the  office  of  circuit  court  attorney  of  the  Sixth  Judicial  District,  which  included  Lafayette, 
Jackson,  Cass,  Pettis,  Bates,  Johnson,  and  Saline  counties,  of  Missouri.  Mr.  Sawyer  was 
a  Whig,  and,  although  the  district  was  strongly  Democratic,  his  personal  popularity  was  so 
great  that  his  election  was  insured.  He  was  reelected  in  1852  without  opposition.  In  1861 
he  was  chosen  as  a  delegate  to  the  Missouri  Constitutional  Convention.  In  1863  he  be- 
came associated  with  William  Chisman  in  the  practice  of  law,  and  in  1866  the  firm  removed 
to  Independence.  Three  years  later  both  members  retired  from  practice  ;  and  a  short  time 
afterwards  Mr.  Sawyer  took  active  control  of  the  banking-house  of  Chisman,  Sawyer  &  Co. 
When  Jackson  county  was  made  the  Twenty-Fourth  Judicial  District  in  187 1,  Mr.  Sawyer 
was  appointed  judge.  His  services  were  so  highly  appreciated  on  the  bench,  that  in  1874 
he  was  renominated  by  both  political  parties,  and  was  reelected  without  opposition.  His 
duties  were  so  exacting  that  his  health  failed,  and  he  was  compelled  to  resign.  His  resig- 
nation was  received  with  regret  by  the  members  of  the  bar,  and  they  adopted  resolutions  of 
a  highly  complimentary  character,  which  were  spread  upon  the  rolls  of  the  circuit  court. 
In  1878  he  was  elected  to  congress  on  the  independent  Democratic  ticket,  defeating  the 
regular  nominee.  He  served  but  one  term,  and  since  his  retirement  has  lived  a  quiet  life 
at  Independence.     He  was  vice-president  of  the    Missouri  Alumni    Association.     Judge 


298  ALUMNI  NOTES, 

Sawyer  was  highly  respected  by  all  members  of  the  legal  profession,  and  while  on  the 
bench  was  noted  for  kindness  and  consideration.  In  politics,  in  his  later  life  he  was  a 
Democrat,  but  he  was  not  a  politician.  He  married,  in  1841,  Miss  Mary  Callaway,  and 
two  sons  and  two  daughters  survive  him. 

'33.  Joseph  Dow,  the  well  known  historian  of  Hampton,  died  recently.  He  was  born 
at  Hampton  April  12,  1807,  being  the  younger  of  two  sons  of  Josiah  Dow,  and  a  lineal 
descendant  of  Capt.  Henry  Dow,  prominent  in  the  provincial  history  of  New  Hampshire, 
Immediately  on  leaving  college,  Mr.  Dow  became  principal  of  Pembroke  academy,  where 
he  remained  four  years,  when  he  was  invited  to  take  charge  of  Gardiner  (Me.)  Lyceum, 
Subsequently,  Mr.  Dow  taught  the  academies  at  East  Machias,  Me.,  Pompey,  N.  Y.,  and 
elsewhere,  but  retired  from  teaching  in  1862,  and  settled  permanently  in  his  native  town. 
He  received  a  major's  commission  from  Gov.  Isaac  Hill  in  1837.  During  his  professional 
life  he  fitted  for  college  many  young  men  who  became  eminent.  Mr.  Dow's  tastes  were 
always  literary,  and  more  especially  historical.  While  a  young  man,  his  attention  was 
turned  to  the  history  of  his  state  and  town.  On  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  set- 
tlement of  the  latter  he  delivered  the  historical  address,  which  was  published.  He  has 
since  written  a  history  of  Hampton,  which  now  lies  in  manuscript,  awaiting  a  favorable 
opportunity  for  publication.  Genealogy  has  been  a  favorite  branch  of  his  studies,  and  he 
has  long  been  cited  as  authority  in  the  tracing  of  ancestries.  He  was  elected  a  correspond- 
ing  member  of  the  New  England  Historic  Genealogical  Society  in  1845,  tne  Year  °*  ]ts 
incorporation ;  was  a  member  of  the  New  Hampshire  Historical  Society  many  years,  and 
its  president  in  i860.  In  early  life  it  was  Mr.  Dow's  intention  to  study  law,  until  circum- 
stances led  to  teaching  as  his  profession,  yet  during  his  life  he  has  done  a  large  amount  of 
probate  and  other  legal  business.  He  was  in  commission  as  a  justice  of  the  peace  from 
1840  to  1887,  more  than  half  that  time  being  of  the  peace  and  quorum  of  the  state.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  State  Constitutional  Convention  in  1876.  In  local  public  affairs  he 
always  bore  an  active  part  until  prevented  by  age.  He  has  been  a  deacon  of  the  Congre- 
gational church  since  1857,  and  was  clerk  of  the  church  twenty-one  years.  In  1835  he 
married  Miss  Abby  French,  who  died  in  1870.     Three  children  survive  them. 

'35.  Rev.  Jacob  Chapman,  of  Exeter,  is  assisting  in  the  preparation  of  a  genealogy  of 
the  Lane  family.  Mr.  Chapman  recently  celebrated  his  eightieth  birthday,  and  was  the 
recipient  of  many  valuable  gifts. 

'43.  Joseph  Emerson  Swallow  died  very  suddenly  at  his  home  at  Windsor,  Mass., 
recently.  He  was  born  April  21,  181 7,  at  Nashua.  His  theological  education  was  begun 
at  Andover,  and  completed  at  Union  Theological  Seminary.  He  was  settled  in  various 
places  in  Maine,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  New  York,  including  Wilmington,  Stone- 
ham,  Nantucket,  and  Edgartown.  In  his  early  ministry  his  health  was  not  good,  but  in 
the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  was  strong  and  vigorous.  His  erect  body  and  hoary  head 
made  him  an  unusually  fine  looking  man  at  seventy-two.  In  the  pulpit  he  was  a  man 
of  excellent  powers,  faithful  and  earnest.  He  was  first  married,  in  1848,  to  Miss  Maria  E. 
Gibson,  of  Townsend,  Mass.  They  had  three  children,  the  youngest  of  whom  is  living. 
In  1882  he  married  Miss  Carrie  B.  Marchant,  of  Edgartown,  who  survives  him. 

'44.  Ex-Gov.  Charles  H.  Bell,  of  Exeter,  has  nearly  completed  an  exhaustive  history- 
of  the  New  Hampshire  Bar. 

'45.  Rev.  Judah  Dana  is  supplying  the  pulpit  of  the  Episcopal  church  at  his  home  at 
West  Rutland,  Vt. 


ALUMNI  NOTES.  299 

51.  Luther  Eastman  Shepard,  a  well  known  lawyer  and  real  estate  dealer  of  Lowell, 
iss.,  has  died.  He  was  born  at  Raymond,  December  28,  1820.  In  early  life  he  taught 
Grafton  and  Westford  academies.  He  was  also  head-master  at  Franklin  academy.  He 
ves  a  widow  and  two  children. 

53.    Rev.  M.  T.  Runnells,  of  Jaffrey,  has  accepted  a  call  to  the  Congregational  church 

Charlestown. 

53.    Rev.  Dr.  C.  B.  Hulbert  has  closed  his  labors  with  the  church  at  East  Hardwick, 
He  has  been  troubled  with  a  bronchial  difficulty,  and  contemplates  a  trial  of  the  eli- 
te of  southern  Ohio.     He  expects  to  locate  in  Zanesville,  where  he  will  be  engaged  in 
rary  and  religious  work. 

54  C.  S.  S.  Hon.  B.  A.  Kimball,  of  the  Concord  &  Montreal  road,  has  been  appointed 
the  committee  to  superintend  the  building  of  the  Tilton  &  Franklin  line. 

56.  Lieut.  Gov.  Haile  was  one  of  the  speakers  at  the  first  annual  dinner  of  the  Boston 
inicipal  Club.     Speaker  Barrett  '80  was  one  of  the  invited  guests. 

56.  The  class,  through  the  efforts  of  ex-Gov.  Prescott,  will  present  to  the  college  a  por- 
it  in  oil  of  Oliver  Payson  Hubbard  '73  hon.,  of  New  York,  professor  emeritus  of  chem- 
y  and  pharmacy  in  the  medical  college.  Prof.  Hubbard,  who  is  now  chairman  of  the 
ird  of  overseers  of  the  Thayer  school,  is  on  his  fifty-fifth  consecutive  year  as  a  member  of 
:  college's  list  of  instructors. 

58  C.  S.  S.  Hon.  William  M.  Chase  is  president  of  the  new  board  of  education  in 
ncord. 

60.  Rev.  Arthur  Little  addressed  the  New  Hampshire  Club  in  Boston  at  the  regular 
eting  in  March.  Hon.  George  B.  Chandler  '82  hon.,  father  of  the  club,  made  a  brief 
iress. 

69.    George  J.  Cummings  is  principal  of  the  preparatory  department  of  Howard  Uni- 

■sity. 

69.  Charles  P.  Chase  was  unanimously  elected  treasurer  of  the  college  by  the  trustees 
their  last  meeting. 

69.  Dr.  F.  W.  Jones  is  a  member  of  the  school  board  of  New  Ipswich. 

70.  Ballard  Smith,  who  has  won  a  high  place  in  New  York  journalism,  having  been 
maging  editor  of  the  World^nd  its  London  correspondent,  was  married  some  time  since 
England  to  Miss  Butterfield,  of  New  York,  a  millionairess.  The  wedding  tour  was  to 
around  the  world,  with  Brindisi  for  a  starting-point. 

72.  Rev.  A.  W.  Ward  closed  his  labors  with  the  Congregational  church  at  Pembroke 
>ril  1. 

73.  Dr.  C.  F.  Ober  has  been  chosen  president  of  the  Milford  Improvement  Society. 

73.     Rev.  J.  M.  Dutton,  of  Great  Falls,  will  be  orator  on  Memorial  Day  at  Rochester. 

77-  A.  H.  Campbell,  Ph.  D.,  principal  of  the  State  Normal  School,  Johnson,  Vt.,  was 
rried,  March  27,  to  Miss  Carrie  L.  Kingsley,  of  Rutland,  Vt. 

77  C.  S.  S.  George  I.  McAllister,  of  Manchester,  will  be  orator  on  Memorial  Day  at 
ndonderry. 


300  ALUMNI  NOTES. 

'jj.  Died  in  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  March  16,  Helen,  infant  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  H 
L.  Moore. 

'78.  Rev.  Edmund  M.  Vittum  has  been  installed  as  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church 
at  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa. 

'79.  Hon.  Hiram  D.  Upton  addressed  the  New  Hampshire  Club  in  Boston  at  the  recent 
meeting,  as  did  W.  W.  Bailey  '54,  of  Nashua.  Fletcher  Ladd  '84  was  elected  to  member- 
ship. 

'79.     Hon.  Hiram  D.  Upton  will  be  orator  on  Memorial  Day  at  Jaffrey. 

'8 1.  Edward  N.  Pearson  was  promoted  to  the  position  of  managing  editor  of  the  Con- 
cord Evening  Monitor  and  the  Independent  Statesman,  April  1. 

'82.  Dr.  H.  L.  Smith  has  been  appointed  lecturer  on  surgery  at  the  Boston  Dental 
College. 

'84.  Rev.  George  M.  Woodwell,  recently  pastor  of  the  Wenham  Congregational  church, 
has  accepted  a  call  from  the  First  Congregational  church  at  York,  Me. 

'86.  J.  G.  Thompson  has  resigned  as  principal  of  the  Winchester  high  school  to  accept 
a  similar  position  at  Southboro',  Mass. 

'86.    A.  H.  Chase  has  been  appointed  principal  of  the  Concord  evening  school. 

'86.     Born,  in  Berlin,  a  daughter  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Arthur  Fairbanks. 

'87.  Dr.  Charles  L.  Eastman  made  an  eloquent  plea  for  justice  to  his  race  at  the  recent 
public  meeting  in  the  interest  of  the  Indians,  held  in  the  Old  South  meeting-house  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Boston  Indian  Citizenship  Committee  and  the  Massachusetts  Indian 
Association.  Dr.  Eastman  completes  his  three-years  course  at  Boston  University  this 
year,  and  then  he  will  go  back  to  his  people  as  a  missionary. 


THE 


Dartmouth  Literary  Monthly. 

Vol.  IV.  MAY,  1890.  No.  8. 

BOARD    OF   EDITORS: 

J.  H.  GEROULD.  G.  S.  MILLS.  C.  F.  ROBINSON. 

H.  S.  HOPKINS.  C.  M.  SMITH. 

C.  A.  PERKINS,  Business  Manager. 


PATHOS  IN  FICTION. 

"  What  is  the  greatest  novel?  "  is  one  of  a  class  of  very  common 
and  very  foolish  questions  we  see  asked  and  answered  often  in 
the  columns  of  even  reputable  literary  journals.  However  absurd 
such  an  attempt  to  select,  by  concurring  opinion,  the  preeminently 
great  work  of  fiction,  yet  the  result  is  most  suggestive,  as  one 
will  admit  who  has  studied  the  lists  of  the  best  ten,  or  fifty,  or  one 
hundred  books,  so  frequently  compiled.  It  is  evident  that  no  uni- 
form standard  of  criticism  and  selection  is  adopted,  or  can  be. 
The  basis  of  preferment  is  one  in  which  the  critical  spirit  has  little 
or  no  part,  being  rather  the  impression  made  upon  mind  and  heart 
at  the  time  of  reading.  Perhaps  to  others,  as  to  the  writer,  the 
single  element  of  pathos  appeals  very  strongly.  It  is  this  pathetic 
element  in  its  relation  to  a  truly  great  novel  that  we  wish  to  illus- 
trate and  emphasize. 

It  would  be  hard  to  define  just  what  is  meant  by  pathos  in  litera- 
ture. It  simply  defies  analysis  ;  in  fact,  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
searching  for  it:  like  humor,  it  is  self-revealed,  if  present.  Some- 
times a  subtle,  fine-drawn  distinction  is  attempted,  and  the  so  called 
properly  "pathetic"  is  discriminated  from  what  commonly  goes 
under  the  name  ;  but  this  is  part  of  a  trial  at  definition,  is  unneces- 
sary, and  must  be  unsatisfactory,  unsuccessful.     The  truest,  most 


302  PATHOS  IN  FICTION. 

real  things  of  life  are  often  poorly  defined ;  but  they  are  known, 
felt, — and  felt  is  just  the  word  to  apply  to  this  revelation  of  the 
pathetic.  When  the  simple  humanity  of  the  reader  is  responsive, 
when  the  springs  of  the  emotions  ar£  disturbed,  and  the  tears  are 
about  to  start, — whatever  causes  this  is  pathos. 

We  can  best  study  it  concretely.  There  come  to  mind  two 
novels,  strangely  similar  in  their  essential  idea, — the  one  English, 
the  other  French, — the  work  of  contemporaneous  novelists,  each 
of  equal  fame  in  his  own  land,  both  writing  of  the  people,  and  for 
them, — alike  in  this  alone.  The  novelists  are  Dickens  and  Hugo; 
the  novels,  the  "Tale  of  Two  Cities"  and  "  Les  Miserables," — 
the  most  powerfully  pathetic,  we  believe,  in  all  literature.  It  is 
the  very  sublimity  of  pathos  that  they  give  us.  Elsewhere  we  find 
touches  of  the  sorrowful  and  the  heart-stirring  ;  but  most  often  it  is 
a  rapid  play,  an  alternation,  of  emotions  and  passions,  a  kaleido- 
scopic mingling  of  all  the  elements — at  last,  a  perfect,  pleasing  pict- 
ure, and  the  impression  fleeting.  But  here  all  ends  in  the  gloom 
foreshadowed  from  the  beginning  ;  then  straightway  a  great  light 
shines  through  the  darkness,  and  the  glory  of  the  revelation  is 
unspeakable.  Sidney  Carton  and  Jean  Valjean  are  alike  in 
their  divine  self-sacrifice.  Recall  the  picture  of  the  wasted  life: 
the  man,  talented,  sinning,  weak,  but  yet  a  noble  nature  not 
embruted,  deliberately  planning  the  sacrifice,  turned  by  no  obsta- 
cle, and  finally  dying  heroically,  contentedly,  silently,  for  one  that 
he  loved.  "  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life,  saith  the  Lord  ;  he 
that  believeth  in  me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live  :  and 
whosoever  liveth  and  believeth  in  me  shall  never  die."  The  sur- 
passingly wonderful  words  of  the  God  man,  coming  back  from 
innocent  memories  and  thrilling  the  soul  of  Carton  interpret  the 
pathetic  dignity  and  grandeur  of  his  deed,  and  shed  a  hallowed 
light  about  the  character.  The  simple,  beautiful  incident  of  the 
poor  little  seamstress,  who  alone  knew  the  position  of  her  new- 
found friend,  and  the  touching  portrayal  of  their  mutual  sympathy 
and  pity  and  help,  as,  with  clasped  hands,  they  are  jolted  on 
through  the  jeering  crowd  to  the  bloody  guillotine,  is  but  a  single 
touch  upon  the  sublime  canvas,  breathing  of  human  love  and  devo- 


PATHOS  IN  FICTION.  303 

tion, — a  single  strain  of  a  sublimely  sorrowful  psalm  of  life.     The 
pathos  of  it  all  moves  to  tears. 

Or,  look  upon  the  other  picture  :  a  miserable,  desperate  convict 
has  all  the  world  against  him  but  one,  whose  kindly,  sympathetic 
words  and  forgiving  treatment  transform  the  brute  into  a  man  ; 
the  man  becomes  a  saint ;  under  the  relentless  curse  of  society, 
hunted,  punished,  still  the  divine  law  controls  his  life  ;  despised, 
maltreated,  he  bears  all  in  silence,  magnanimous,  charitable,  self- 
sacrificing  ;  dying  at  last,  grief-stricken,  broken-hearted,  even  mis- 
understood by  the  one  he  had  lived  and  suffered  for,  whom  he  had 
loved  better  than  his  own  life.  There  is  no  lovelier,  grander  fig- 
ure in  the  literature  of  fiction  than  this  same  deified  convict,  Jean 
Valjean.  The  reader  need  not  be  ashamed  if  he  find  himself 
weeping  with  the  sorrowing  Marius  and  Cosette,  as  the  life  of  the 
good  man  passes  away. 

It  is  significant  that  these  characters  are  not  reckoned  great 
characters,  that  is,  they  are  not  what  are  commonly  called  immor- 
tal creations.  Such  are  most  often  clever  portraitures  so  true  to 
life  in  the  minutiae  of  their  make-up  that  the  names  and  natures  are 
inseparable, — called  great  because  of  their  self-evident  realness. 
There  may  have  been  a  Sidney  Carton  ;  but  was  there  ever  a  Jean 
Valjean,  a  convict,  and  such  a  convict,  metamorphosed  into  a 
saint,  and  such  a  saint?  Both  are  rather  ideal.  Indeed,  in  re- 
spect to  "life-likeness"  they  fall  below  other  characters  in  the 
same  stories,  as  witness  Madame  Defarge  and  Monsieur  De  Gille- 
normand  ;  but  the  latter,  in  comparison,  contribute  little'  to  the  real" 
power  and  greatness  of  the  "  Tale  of  Two  Cities  "  and  "  Les  Mis- 
erables."  We  say  they  are  not  great  characters  in  the  common 
acceptation  of  the  term,  because  we  forget  them  as  characters,  and 
see  only  an  ideal  which  is  heroic,  Titanic.  This  ideal  is  inevita- 
bly pathetic.  It  is  the  action  and  the  life  which  are  human,  yet 
more  than  human,  that  cause  us  to  worship  in  tears  ;  it  is  the  sacri- 
fice and  the  suffering  which  God  in  the  flesh  himself  endured  and 
made  holy  that  stir  the  depths  of  the  soul. 

Not  all  tragedy,  as  this,  involves  the  pathetic ;  but  we  think  it  an 
axiom  that  there  is  no  pathos  apart  from  the  tragic.     All  life  is 


304  PA  THOS  IN  FICTION. 

tragic,  if  we  view  the  soul-drama,  and  pathos  is  inseparably  bound 
up  with  life  in  its  fulness  ;  there  is  a  profound  pathos  in  all  life 
exemplifying  the  infinite  truth.  "  Robert  Falconer,"  the  strongest 
of  all  George  MacDonald's  works,  well  illustrates  what  we  mean 
by  this  blending  of  the  tragic  and  the  pathetic.  We  watch  the 
growth  of  the  soul-life  of  the  boy  Robert;  we  fear  for  him;  we 
realize  the  stern  tragedy  of  the  crises  of  that  life,  so  much  depend- 
ing for  weal  or  woe  on  the  slightest  turn  of  the  balance  ;  we  are 
deeply  moved  at  his  struggles,  longings,  gropings, — it  is  all  so 
tragic  and  all  so  pathetic — tragic,  because  of  the  interests  at  stake, 
life  and  eternity — pathetic,  for  the  very  helplessness  of  the  life,  it 
is  bound  by  necessity,  it  must  suffer,  and  endure,  and  struggle. 

We  have  not  been  leading  up  to  an  argument  for  a  particular 
school  of  fiction  as  against  another.  We  do  not  say  there  has  been 
or  can  be  no  great  work  of  fiction  devoid  of  the  pathetic,  though 
we  think  there  are  very  few.  We  simply  wish  to  insist  that,  pathos 
being  inseparable  from  soul-life  in  its  struggles,  defeats,  and  vic- 
tories, the  novel  that  mirrors  the  deep  things  of  life,  that  sets  forth 
most  clearly  the  relation  of  man  to  God,  and  man  to  man,  which 
relations  are  so  often  pathetic,  is  truly  great.  The  literary  critics, 
from  a  strictly  literary  point  of  view,  might  declare  the  greatness 
of  "  Les  Miserables  "  and  the  "  Tale  of  Two  Cities  "  due  to  other 
reasons.  But  we  will  ever  think  them  wonderful  and  immortal 
beyond  many  because  of  their  appeal  to  our  deepest  sympathy. 
Wrong  and  suffering  are  the  common  lot,  and  love  triumphant  is 
that  which  saves.  "Robert  Falconer"  is  a  type  of  a  different 
kind ;  but  such  spiritual  novels,  though  they  lack  the  highest 
artistic  quality,  yet  are  great  to  each  one  who  sees  as  in  a  glass 
the  mingled  tragedy  and  pathos  of  his  inner  life. 

The  fiction  of  the  present  day  is  largely  deficient  in  the  pathetic, 
and  we  have  in  mind,  not  the  ephemeral  productions,  worse  than 
worthless,  glutting  the  book  market,  but  the  works  accepted  as  the 
best  products  of  the  greatest  novelists  on  both  sides  of  the  water. 
At  first  thought,  it  might  seem  strange  that  this  should  be  the  case, 
for  never,  as  now,  has  the  scope  of  the  novel  been  so  wide.  The 
original  type,  the  novel  of  mediaeval  France  and  Spain,  that  sim- 


PATHOS  IN  FICTION.  305 

ply  fed  and  exalted  the  imagination,  is  still  seen  in  many  a  fantas- 
tic and  improbable  tale ;  but  its  modern  successors  are  numerous 
and  varied.  Theology  and  sociology  are  dressed  up  in  the  garb 
of  fiction  ;  every  scale  and  condition  of  life  is  represented  and  in- 
vestigated ;  the  range  is  from  speculation  about  the  plans  and  acts 
of  the  Almighty  to  unadorned  portrayal  of  human  deviltry  and  hu- 
man devils.  Nothing  escapes  the  pen  of  the  novelist.  Why,  then, 
do  we  not  find  in  modern  fiction  the  pathos  of  human  life  ?  If  fiction 
scales  the  heights  of  religion,  if  it  plummets  the  depths  of  philoso- 
phy, if  it  sets  forth  sin  in  all  its  blackness,  injustice  in  all  its  gross- 
ness,  suffering  in  all  its  intensity, — why,  as  we  read  and  think, 
does  not  sympathy  glow  within  us  ?  why  are  we  not  moved  to  pity, 
perhaps  to  tears?  Now  and  then  there  is  a  heart's  response  to  some 
touching  incident,  swiftly  passing,  and  soon  forgotten ;  occasion- 
ally the  application  of  a  spiritual  truth  or  moral  law  reveals  the 
tragic-pathetic  side  of  human  life ;  but  we  are  never  stirred  as 
when  reading  the  master-piece  of  a  Hugo  or  a  Dickens.  The 
answer  is  simple  :  The  novelist;  of  to-day,  if  he  be  not  one  of 
those  worthy  and  select  few,  dreamers  of  fairy  tales,  is  either  a 
critical  man  of  affairs  who  puts  society  into  a  note-book,  or  a  phy- 
sician coldly  and  hideously  dissecting  the  world's  body  and  the 
world's  soul.  We  see  life  through  a  mirror;  but  it  is  a  spectral 
life — a  life  with  little  form  or  color,  that  is  hardly  flesh  and  blood. 
We  understand  this  life  in  all  its  parts,  and  in  their  relation  to  the 
whole  ;  but  we  understand  it  simply  as  a  mechanism.  The  knowl- 
edge is  not  such  as  to  cause  us  to  feel  those  things  which  make 
the  whole  world  kin. 

It  is  not  for  any  student  of  literature  to  think  every  one's  pref- 
erence should  conform  to  his  own.  Were  this  truth  realized,  there 
would  be  less  wrangling  between  advocates  of  different  schools  of 
fiction,  and  less  conceit  and  haughtiness  on  the  part  of  individual 
critics.  To  each  reader,  then,  that  kind  of  fiction  which  is  to  him 
most  pleasing  and  helpful !  But  we  think  there  are  but  a  few, 
who,  in  the  little  time  spared  from  more  weighty  reading,  love  to 
seek  stimulus  and  inspiration  in  pages  pulsating  with  the  warm 
heart  blood  of  a  sympathetic,  intensely  human  novelist,  one,  who, 


306  THE   CLOCK  STRUCK  TWELVE, 

grasping  the  true  meaning  of  life,  sees  the  inevitable  pathos  under- 
lying it  all,  and  mirrors  this  to  us.  In  such  contemplation  we  for- 
get the  shows  and  the  trappings  of  character,  the  semblances  of 
things,  the  incidents  of  truth  whether  correct,  or  no  :  we  see  only 
the  truth,  the  divine  truth  itself,  in  its  relation  to  humanity. 

G.  S.  Mills. 


THE  CLOCK  STRUCK  TWELVE. 

A    SKETCH. 

The  sky  is  cloudless  to-night,  and  the  moon  and  the  little  twink- 
ling stars  shine  with  unusual  brightness.  The  mellow  moon  bathes 
the  earth  with  her  soft  beams  that  peep  into  every  nook  and  cranny. 
How  happy  nature  seems  upon  this  night ! 

The  moon  shines  on  a  city, — a  city  so  still  that  one  can  imag- 
ine he  hears  the  very  stillness;  or,  perhaps  it  is  the  music  of  the 
spheres  as  they  revolve,  making  sweet  harmony.  Now  and  then 
a  dog,  off  in  the  distance,  startles  the  night,  or  footsteps, — nearer, 
nearer,  until  they  seem  the  tread  of  a  giant  Skrymir.    But  hark  ! — 

Ding — ong — u-um . 

Poor,  wakeful  wretches  start  as  if  some  avenger  had  surprised 
them  ;  here  and  there  the  lightly  slumbering  turn  uneasily  in  their 
beds ;  mayhap  that  bell  brings  a  message  of  joy,  of  sorrow,  of 
death ; — and  the  rest  of  the  world  sleeps  peacefully  on,  not 
knowing,  not  caring,  what  joys  and  sorrows  are  born  and  die 
with  that  stroke. 

Awake,  ye  sleepers  !  ye  who  have  lived  on  in  peaceful  thought- 
lessness ;  ye,  ignorant  and  careless  of  your  fellow-beings ;  ye, 
who  dwell  alone  in  that  narrow  world,  self, — and,  with  the  smiling 
moon,  look  down  upon  earth,  the  city,  while  the  clock  strikes — 

Ding — ong — u-um . 

Here  we  listen  to  firm  steps — honest  steps.  We  see  a  well 
dressed  gentleman,  a  business  man  perhaps  ;  he  walks  on  unhesi- 


THE   CLOCK  STRUCK  TWELVE.  307 

tatingly,  honestly.  What  cares  he  for  the  bell?  the  night?  Or 
does  he  note  its  beauty?  He  looks  up  to  the  moon  and  smiles; 
perhaps  the  moon  smiles  back.  The  striking  bell  he  hardly  hears. 
There,  in  poverty,  in  crime,  poor  creatures,  lost  souls  sneak  and 
dodge  along,  stealing  with  cat-like  movements  from  one  patch  of 
darkness  to  another,  glancing  apprehensively  hither  and  thither, 
as  if  they  feared  judgment,  or,  it  may  be,  death,  were  lurking 
everywhere,  ready  to  devour  them.  Poor  souls!  the  darkness 
hides  peril ;  the  light  brings  it.  The  night  is  dark,  the  body  dark* 
the  soul  is  dark.  No  escape  !  When  the  danger  from  earthly 
avengers  is  passed,  Death  comes,  and  hurries  them — where,  and 
to  what  judgment,  we  know  not. 

Ding — ong — u-um. 

Let  us  glance  in  at  this  window.  It  is  a  very  pleasant  room. 
An  open  grate,  with  a  cheerful  fire,  is  snugly  set  into  one  corner. 
Before  this  fire  sits  a  young  man.  Ah  !  some  terrible  thing  must 
have  befallen  him.  No  one  in  such  a  pleasant  room  could  be  as 
miserable  as  he,  unless  misfortune,  in  some  form,  had  visited  him.  It 
may  be  crime — perhaps  murder — which  has  placed  that  hard  look 
of  despair  upon  his  brow.  Poor,  unhappy,  young  man  !  surely  we 
pity  you.  If  you  had  but  thought  a  moment,  you  would  never 
have  committed  this  foul  crime.  But  as  it  is,  reputation  and  suc- 
cess are  lost  forever, — everlasting  punishment  for  a  moment's  pas- 
sion !  He  lifts  his  gaze  to  the  fire,  and  looks  moodily,  yes,  despair- 
ingly, at  the  little  tongues  of  flame,  those  powerful  conjurers  of 
fancy.  The  sight  seems  to  overmaster  him,  and  he  leaps  up, 
throwing  both  arms  wildly  into  the  surrounding  air,  and, — Ah, 
now  we  shall  know  his  crime! — and  mutters,  "Oh!  fool!  fool! 
Why  did  I  not  think?  A  moment  of  thought,  and  all  would  be 
well.  As  it  is;  I  am  ruined ;  my  happiness  is  gone  until  death. 
All  my  fault !  Mine  !  Oh  !  had  I  but  thought !  Then  we  should 
not  have  quarrelled ;  but  now  I  have  lost  her. 

Ding — ong — u-um . 

"  Horrible  !     But  true,  too  true  ! " 

We  are  looking  into  the  slums  of  a  great  city.     Lights  flare  from 


308  THE   CLOCK  STRUCK  TWELVE. 

cloudy  windows ;  from  dirty  cellars  fumes  of  liquors,  tobacco, 
filth  arise.  Down  there  we  dimly  see  forms  crowded  about. 
Men  in  rags,  with  hard,  crime-marked  faces,  with  eyes  which 
glare  like  those  of  wild  beasts — eyes  bleary  and  glazed — blood- 
shot eyes,  with  a  frame  of  purple  and  green.  Amid  cursings, 
long,  bony  claws  eagerly  snatch  the  glasses  filled  for  them.  Over 
there — why!  they  have  thrown  a  man  out  J  He  has  no  more 
money.  Just  glance  in  at  that  window.  Yes,  fifty  or  sixty  human 
beings,  all  sleeping  in  the  same  room  !     Their  lodging  costs  twelve 

cents  -per  noctem.     In  that  cellar  bar-room,  women no,  do  not 

call  them  that.  Here  and  there  in  the  gutter  is  seen  a  form.  See  ! 
It  rolls  over,  showing  a  face,  bloated,  grey, — but  human.  There, 
through  a  curtainless  window,  is  a  man, — a  brute,  beating  a 
woman. 

Ding — ong — u-um . 

O  welcome  sound  ! 

A  crowd  is  issuing  from  a  brilliantly  lighted  doorway.  There  has 
just  been  a  ball,  and  the  wealth  and  beauty  of  the  city  have  attended. 

Here  comes  a  tall,  young  man,  with  a  slender,  little  woman, 
laughing  gaily  at  some  bright  refartie  of  his.  "What's  the 
joke?"  cries  a  little  fellow  behind,  who  is  escorting  a  very  tall 
young  lady  to  her  carriage  ;  but  the  forward  couple  do  not  answer, 
and  he  loses  the  whole  enjoyment  of  the  evening  for  fear  they  have 
been  making  fun  of  him. 

Now  comes  forth  a  lady — you  have  often  seen  her — who  fusses 
about,  wondering  how  the  young  ladies  of  to-day  can  be  so  giddy, 
and  the  young  men  so  rude  and  ungentlemanly  ;  and  the  cross,  old 
papa  now  comes  out,  leading  his  pretty  daughter ;  while  one  or 
two  young  men  seem  to  be  in  pain,  from  the  expressions  upon 
their  countenances.  Now  we  see  an  old  gentleman,  with  beaming 
face,  and  his  dear  little  wife,  come  forth,  a  number  of  young  men 
carrying  her  wraps,  his  cane ;  and  we  conclude  this  must  be  one 
of  those  good,  social,  ever-pleasant  old  couples,  who  make,  some- 
times, the  very  enjoyment  of  an  evening,  who  must  be  had  if  you 

will  be  merry  and  happy.     And  here  come but  there  goes  that 

bell ! 

Ding — ong — u-u  m . 


THE   CLOCK  STRUCK  TWELVE.  309 

Here  is  a  fine  looking  gentleman.  By  his  easy,  self-assured 
step  we  at  once  perceive  him  to  be  a  rich  man,  a  merchant  retired. 
Now  he  turns  a  corner;  a  woman  touches  his  arm;  he  stops. 
She  is  shabbily  dressed,  and  looks  careworn  and  desperate. 
"  Oh,  sir  !  but  I  must  live  ;  I  must  have  money." 
"  Here !  And,  for  your  own  sake,  woman,  to-morrow  find 
something  to  do.  Do  n't  live  as  you  have ;  for,  remember,  death 
and  an  account  to  God  must  come  sooner  or  later."  And  now  he 
moves  on.  I  wonder  why  he  smiles  so  happily?  and  why  does  he 
hum  softly  to  himself  as  he  continues  his  journey?  He  has  done 
an  act  of  charity,  given  advice ;  and  the  latter  always  makes  man 

happy. 

Ding — ong — u-um . 

Through  two  windows. 

A  sweet  picture  it  is — a  fair  face,  oval  in  shape,  creamy  in  color, 
with  a  little  dash  of  crimson  on  each  cheek,  and  a  smiling  pair  of 
ruby  lips.  Two  dainty  little  doors,  fringed  with  black,  shut  from 
our  view  eyes  which  must  be  beautiful,  you  think.  I  do  not  know 
how  one  may  find  out,  for  she  will  not  wake.  Above  this  head, 
with  its  playfully  wandering  locks  of  jet,  rests  an  arm  encased  in 
a  snowy  sleeve,  from  the  lace  end  of  which  peeps  a  slender  hand 
— such  an  one  as  you  could  hold  in  yours  forever.  And  for  the 
background  of  this  picture  there  is  pure  white  in  every  direction. 
This  is  Innocence. 

*  ****** 

He  is  counting,  counting.  Now,  bathing  his  hand  in  the  gold 
and  jewels,  he  chuckles  and  grins;  now  he  glares  at  the  hoard; 
now  he  smiles  at  it,  murmuring  all  the  while, — "  My  dear  little 
darlings  !  "     A  miser  ! 

Ding — ong — u-um . 

A  man's  form.  Why  are  those  two  men  hurrying  up  to  him?' 
Ah  !  he  is  ill ;  he  is  staggering  a  little,  and  they  will  help  him. 
One  draws  something  from  his  pocket.  Thud !  A  sickening 
sound  !    Merely  a  little  robbery,  my  friends.     He  may  be  all  right 


3IO  THE   CLOCK  STRUCK  TWELVE. 

in  a  few  moments ;  or,  perhaps,  to-morrow  they  will  find  a  man 
dead,  robbed. 

Ding — ong — u-um . 

And  now  a  door  opens,  and  a  man  comes  out.  His  frame  is 
bent,  his  chin  almost  rests  upon  his  chest ;  but  he  is  not  an  old 
man.  He  is  well  dressed.  He  has  a  fine  face;  but  there  are 
lines,  careworn  marks,  that  tell  that  hope  has  just  been  super- 
ceded by  despair,  that  a  blow  has  fallen  which  he  has  been  strug- 
gling to  ward  off. 

"Oh,  ruined!  ruined!"  he  mutters  as  he  staggers  down  the 
stone  steps.     There  is  desperation  here. 

"  My  God  !     I  can  't  stand  it !  "    He  moves  on  as  though  dazed ; 
he  seems  dulled  to  all  the  beauty  of  the  night  about  him. 
"  But  I  know  a  way."     And  to-morrow  you  will  read — 
Shot  Himself  ! 
A  Man  Gambles  His  Life  Away. 
Ding — ong — u-um. 

O  night,  we  thank  thee  that  thou  canst  show  pictures  other 
than  that  which  has  just  passed  ! 

Kneeling  before  his  humble  couch  an  old  man  offers  praise  to 
God.  When  a  child,  his  mother  taught  him  thus  to  pray  ;  upon 
her  knee  his  head  in  reverence  lay ;  and  ever  since  he  has  con- 
tinued so  to  offer  thanks  to  Him,  or  ask  for  strength  to  bear  up 
under  trial  and  sorrow.  His  silvered  head,  upon  the  pillow  bent, 
is  hallowed  by  the  moon-beams  from  without.  Poverty  and  afflic- 
tion have  often  visited  him ;  but  still  he  trusts  and  venerates  his 
God. 

Ding — ong — u-um . 

How  peaceful  that  little  tyrant  sleeps  in  his  soft,  downy  cradle  ! 
Near  by,  nurse  lies  dreaming,  ready  at  the  slightest  call  to  wake 
and  run  to  him.  His  bed-chamber  is  luxurious  ;  all  his  surround- 
ings are  rich ;  everything  smiles  upon  him,  for  he  is  the  rich  man's 
son.  Ah  !  the  bell  forbids  us  linger  here.  It  has  still  another 
picture. 

Ding — ong — u-um . 


THE   CLOCK  STRUCK  TWELVE.  311 

A  little  street  Arab,  a  gamin,  startled  up  from  some  dark,  noi- 
some corner  of  the  slums,  is  wandering  with  feeble  steps  along  the 
streets.  Now  he  stops,  and  sits  down  upon  the  cold  stone  steps  of 
a  neighboring  building.  His  head  droops,  and  his  poor,  thin  little 
body  sways.  See  !  he  lays  his  weary  form  down  to  rest  upon  those 
steps,  for  his  strength  is  going,  going.  Poor  little  man  !  To-day 
he  was  selling  papers,  or  blacking  boots,  shouting  with  voice  as  vig- 
orous as  the  others  ;  but  as  night  approached,  there  came — a  some- 
thing, and  it  was  creeping  slowly  into  his  body.  Oh,  how  cold 
he  was  at  first !  but  now  he  is  all  aflame.  His  head  seems  about 
to  burst  asunder.     Oh,  how  he  aches  ! 

"  Here,  youngster  !  what  are  you  doing  here?  " 

He  looks  up.  Those  eyes,  so  wild,  so  frightened — will  they 
not  always  haunt  you?  His  head  drops.  Now  he  shivers ;  yet  he 
is  burning  up. 

"Oh,  Cop!  don't  club  me.  I'm  goin' to  get  out.  DonHyer 
see  I  'm  goin'?  " 

He  lifts  himself,  but  falls  back,  crying  huskily, — 

"  Cop!  Cop!     I  can't  go." 

"Why,  poor  little  kid!" 

Gently  the  policeman  bends  down,  and  takes  the  child  within 
his  arms. 

"Oh!     Do  n't  jug  me,  Cop!     Don't!" 

"  No,  no,  my  poor  little  fellow." 

The  policeman  sits  down  and  rests  the  lad's  head  upon  his  knee. 
He  knows.  That  great,  brawny  man  is  weeping,  and  the  child 
upon  his  knee  is  slowly  going. 

"O  God,  take  this  poor  little  fellow  to  thyself,  and" and 

the  child,  raising  himself  upright,  cries,  in  a  shrill  and  unearthly 
voice,  which  grows  fainter,  sinking  almost  immediately  into  a 
whisper, — 

"Oh!  I'm  goin'—" 

Ding — ong — u-um , 

and  the  twelfth  stroke,  my  friends. 

George  O.  B.  Hawley. 


312  FRANK  CHARDON'S  EXPERIENCE. 

RICHARD  JEFFRIES. 

"How  can  they  manage  without  me  ?  " — Field  and  Hedgerow: 

The  birds  have  missed  him,  and  the  winds  that  blow 
The  meadow  grass— the  winds  he  loved  so  well. 
Again  the  spring  will  weave  its  wondrous  spell ; 

The  golden  summer  days  will  come  and  go. 

Above  his  grave  the  English  flowers  will  grow, 
But  wind-swept  downs,  the  bees,  the  cowslip  bell, 
The  flying  cloud,  the  firs — their  solemn  swell 

His  fittest  dirge, — they  all  will  miss  him  so. 

Perchance  the  hand  of  God  for  him  unbars 

The  mysteries  divine  of  Life  and  Death ; 
Perchance  he  walks  through  fairest  fields  of  light. 
And  yet  he,  too,  must  miss,  beyond  the  stars, 

The  April  rain,  the  spring-time's  perfumed  breath, 
The  dreamy  stillness  of  the  summer  night. 

Newton  M.  Hall. 


'  FRANK  CHARDON'S  EXPERIENCE. 

My  old  friend  Dr.  Braddon  and  myself  form  a  club,  with  our 

two  selves  as  members,  that  has  lasted ah  !  let  me  see  ;  well, 

for  about  forty  years.  We  were  boys  of  sixteen  then,  poor  farm- 
ers' sons,  attending  school  winters  and  tilling  the  paternal  acres 
summers,  till  by  perseverance  we  acquired  a  fit  for  college.     We 

went  to   H to   learn   the   fine    arts.      What   a   revelation   it 

was  to  get  out  of  the  narrow  encompassings  of  the  hills  to  the 
quiet  college  town,  which  yet  was  an  echo  of  the  busy  world  with- 
out. But  old  graybeard  that  I  am,  I  am  getting  garrulous.  One 
bright  summer  day,  we  two,  just  past  sixteen,  in  the  midst  of 
fragrant  heaps  of  new-mown  clover,  while  the  noontime  rest  was 
relaxing  busy  limbs,  vowed  to  meet  and  chat  once  every  year. 
We  have  kept  that  pledge.  After  our  college  years  were  over, 
Dick — excuse  me — Dr.  Braddon  entered  a  medical  school,  and 
went  into  practice  in  New  York,  while  I  have  made  a  living  in 


FRANK  CHARDON'S  EXPERIENCE.  313 

the   intricacies    of  the    law,  with   between  whiles    saved    out  for 
literature. 

A  year  ago  it  was  the  doctor's  turn  to  provide  the  banquet. 
After  dinner,  while  we  were  enjoying  our  Havanas,  the  doctor 
began  telling  tales  of  his  life  in  the  medical  school.  One  was  so 
remarkable  that  I  venture  to  repeat  it. 

"When  I  was  in  the  medical  school,"  said  the  doctor,  "  it  was 
an  era  of  what  we  call  'fads'  now.  Every  one  was  absorbed  in 
some  mystical  scheme,  and  recitations  and  lectures  often  suffered 
in  consequence.  More  than  any  other  in  the  school  was  my  room- 
mate taken  up  by  these  theories.  I  wish  you  might  have  known 
him,  old  comrade  ;  he  was  engaged  in  some  queer  operations  all  the 
time.  Not  that  he  ever  gained  much,"  said  the  doctor  reflectively,  as 
he  tipped  his  chair  back  as  far  as  possible  and  thoughtfully  stroked 
his  iron-gray  beard,  meanwhile  gazing  at  the  ceiling  as  though  he 
thought  that  would  relieve  some  perplexity;  "in  fact,  he  was 
always  mistaken,  but  ever  ready  for  something  new.  The  fellow 
was  an  exceedingly  poor  scholar  in  college, — it  was  a  mystery 
how  he  went  through, — but  he  was  an  enthusiast  in  medicine,  and 
in  that  school  led  his  class'.  His  name  was  Frank  Chardon.  As 
I  was  saying,  it  was  a  period  of  what  they  call  '  fads '  now,  and  the 
chief  one  was  the  investigation  of  this  problem  :  '  Does  the  soul 
after  what  is  called  death  linger  in  any  portion  of  the  body?  If  so, 
where?  and  how  may  its  presence  be  ascertained?'  Frank  be- 
lieved such  a  notion  could  not  be  a  fallacy,  and  was  determined  to 
prove  it.     He  was  experimenting  all  the  time  with  chemicals  and 

cadavers.— What, — laughing?"  said  my  friend,  who  had  stopped 

to  take  a  fresh  light  and  a  few  puffs  before  resuming,  as  he  saw 
me  apparently  shaking.     "  I  won't  tell  you  the  rest,  then." 

I  hastened  to  reassure  him,  and  he  went  on. 

"To  resume,  Frank  was  deep  in  researches.  After  months  of 
persistent,  eager  plodding,  resulting  only  in  wasted  time  and  the 
littering  up  of  the  room  with  numerous  bottles  of  chemicals,  he 
became  discouraged,  and  I  was  wondering  what  he  would  be  up 
to  next,  when  one  day  he  went  out  of  the  room  wearing  his  great 
coat  with  its  capacious  pockets  filled  with  'foresaid  bottles,  saying 


314  FRANK  CHAR  DON'S  EXPERIENCE. 

he  had  some  arm  and  thigh  bones,  and  was  going  to  boil  them  and 
throw  in  the  whole  lot  of  chemicals,  and  see  what  would  happen. 
The  hours  flew  by  ;  no  Chardon.  He  was  absent  from  supper, 
and,  continuing  so  long,  his  absence  caused  wonder.  Finally, 
recollecting  that,  when  he  left  the  room,  he  said  he  was  going  to 
the  laboratory,  and  ascertaining  that  no  one  had  seen  him  since, 
in  company  with  three  other  fellows  I  went  down. 

"In  the  centre  of  the  room,  near  a  cold  heater,  on  which  was  a 
boiling  pot  containing  some  small  pieces  of  bone,  lay  Frank  Char- 
don, with  such  an  expression  on  his  features  as  I  devoutly  hope  I 
may  never  see  again.  We  all  quailed  on  seeing  it.  How  eerie 
it  was  in  that  lonesome  building,  at  that  late  hour  !  How  creepy 
we  felt  not  knowing  what  vision  had  prostrated  the  man  before 
us  !  At  length  we  took  courage  and  bore  him  from  the  building. 
After  bringing  Frank  to  his  room,  we  began  working  to  restore 
him  to  consciousness.  In  time  we  succeeded  ;  but  he  was  too  weak 
to  admit  of  questioning,  and  was  put  to  bed,  leaving  our  curiosity 
raised  to  the  highest  pitch.  When,  in  a  few  days,  he  was  again 
about,  many  were  the  questions  asked,  which  brought  non-com- 
mittal answers  ;  but  it  was  noticed  as  the  days  went  by  that  he 
could  not  be  persuaded  to  enter  the  lone  room  whence  we  took 
him. 

"A  month  later,  perhaps,  when  the  curiosity  and  wonder  re- 
garding the  event  had  died  away,  as  we  sat  one  evening  before 
the  fire  talking  over  men  and  things,  he  suddenly  said, — '  Dick,  I 
suppose  you  are  just  about  wild  with  curiosity  as  to  what  happened 
in  the  laboratory  that  day.'  I  looked  up  eagerly,  and  my  impa- 
tience must  have  blazed  out  pretty  clearly,  for  even  in  the  firelight 
he  noticed,  and,  laughing,  commended  my  patience  and  my  kind- 
ness in  not  worrying  him  with  queries. 

"  'Well,'  resumed  he,  'I  got  down  to  the  laboratory,  and  set- 
ting my  numerous  bottles  on  a  convenient  shelf,  went  up  stairs  to 
get  the  bones  I  told  you  of.  I  brought  them  down  stairs,  threw 
them  into  the  boiling  pot,  kindled  a  fire,  and  began  pouring  in  my 
chemicals.  Listlessly,  at  first,  I  dropped  them  in,  but,  as  I  noticed 
some   action,  grew  interested,  and   all  my  dreams  of  the  solution 


FRANK  CHARDOA'S  EXPERIENCE.  315 

of  that  problem  came  back  upon  my  mind.  Hastily  I  poured  in 
the  contents  of  the  remaining  phials,  and  a  sudden  change  came 
about.  There  was  a  mighty  gurgling  and  seething,  and  the  foam- 
ing mass  rose  even  to  the  rim.  After  a  space  of  fascinated  watch- 
ing, the  seething  and  foaming  ceased,  and  the  water  settled  down 
to  a  dead  calm,  with  that  tremendous  fire  roaring  underneath. 
Evidently  something  was  to  happen.  My  nerves  began  to  quiver 
and  thrill ;  a  nameless,  indefinable  dread  stole  through  my  veins. 
Presently  a  weird  form  began  to  emerge  from  the  mass,  and  rise, 
and  rise,  and  rise,  till  I  thought  'twould  never  stop.  I  could  see  the 
light  which  the  flickering  flames  threw  on  the  opposing  wall  through 
the  form  ;  and  as  that  strange  thing  drew  up  and  out,  a  fascination, 
a  mighty  terror  came  upon  me  :  my  knees  shook,  my  hands  trem- 
bled, a  universal  shudder  ran  over  my  body  as  I  gazed  on  the  thing 
which  gradually  assumed  the  shape  of  a  gigantic  man.  It  was  a 
wild  night  outside,  you  may  remember,  and  a  cold,  howling  New 
England  winter  wind  hurled  the  snow  furiously  against  the  panes. 
It  was  a  moonless,  starless  night,  and  overhead  swift,  driving, 
black  storm-clouds  passed  across  the  heavens.  Mightn't  I  have 
been  frightened?  I  was.  The  spirit  filled  out  into  a  human  shape, 
and  there  was  a  grewsome  silence.  Then,  through  chattering  teeth 
and  faltering  lips  I  ejaculated,  "What  are  you?"  Silence,  silence, 
silence!  Again,  "What  are  you?"  Silence,  silence,  silence! 
Once  more,  half  frozen  with  terror,  in  frenzied   accents,  "What 

are  you?"     Silence,  silence and,  clear  as  the  crack  of  doom, 

came  the  words,  "The  soul  thou  hast  sought."  I  sank  helpless 
to  the  floor.  My  dream  had  come  true.  "  One  of  Frank  Chardon's 
hobbies"  was  grim  reality.  It  went  on, — "And  now  who  art  thou, 
that  hast  dared  unloose  from  its  bonds  a  human  soul  that  has 
passed  its  primal  period?  What  right  didst  thou  have  to  penetrate 
into  the  mysteries  that  nature  intended  should  ever  be  mysteries? 

Wouldst  thou  force   me   to  tell  that  which  I   have that  small 

portion  of  the  Great  Beyond  mine  eyes  have  seen?  Never  will  I 
reveal  it.  And  now,  thou  unholy  profaner,  have  I  to  speak  for 
myself.  What  penalty  shall  I  exact  for  the  torture  I  suffered 
while  the  acids  worked   on  my  fetters?     Ay!    cower  before  me! 


316  FRANK  CHARDON'S  EXPERIENCE. 

What  visions  of  the  future,  what  dreams  of  unknown  powers  have 
I  conjured  up  in  thy  soul  that  shall  be  even  as  I  am?  Supersti- 
tious fears  shall  seize  thee  with  clammy  fingers,  and  thou  shalt 
shake  and  tremble  at  the  fancied  step  of  ghostly  feet,  and  brood 
hour  after  hour,  till  thou  shalt  feel  thyself  drawing  nigh  to  mad- 
ness. The  great  secret  hast  thou  penetrated,  but  the  way  thou 
dost  not  ken  ;  no,  nor  shall.  Let  no  more  trials  be  made,  or  an 
end  shall  come  upon  thee  such  as  thou  canst  not  dream  in  thy 
wildest  flight."  Thus  the  spirit  went  on  in  ravings  and  threats 
and  prophecies,  till  my  very  heart  seemed  about  to  freeze.  I  knew 
no  more.  Such,  Dick,  is  my  story  of  that  day  in  the  laboratory. 
We  will  never  refer  to  it  again,  if  you  please.' 

"That  was  his  story." 

The  doctor  ceased.  The  thrill  that  his  words  caused  made  my 
whole  body  quiver,  and  thought  reacted  on  thought  till  it  seemed 
I  could  almost  see  that  apparition  against  the  wall.  The  cigars 
were  out,  while  below  in  the  crowded  way  the  street  lamps  twin- 
kled, and  we  sat  and  sat,  alone  in  the  silence.  While  the  firelight 
formed  fantastic  figures  on  the  wall,  we  pondered  in  the  stillness 
on  the  great  secret  Frank  Chardon  had  discovered,  and  on  the 
spirit  that  had  whelmed  him  that  night  the  wind  seemed  to  rock 
the  world's  foundations.  Long  the  silence  continued,  but  finally, 
when  the  spell  was  growing  stronger,  and  methought  we,  too, 
would  see  that  form,  with  an  effort  I  broke  it  by  asking  what 
became  of  Frank  Chardon. 

He  replied, — "  For  a  long  time  he  would  not  go  near  the  labora- 
tory :  finally  he  did ;  but  he  was  cured  of  hobbies,  and  went  along 
in  the  ordinary  way ;  and  now,  as  I  told  you,  he  is  a  physician, 
with  a  large  income,  in  New  York  city.  But  he  has  never  saved 
a  cent ;  has  never  married  ;  has  never  had  a  home  ;  has  never 
sought  preferment  in  any  way, — he  never  will.  His  money  and 
time  alike  go  for  others'  benefit,  for  he  believes  there  is  waiting 
for  him  some  terrible  retribution  for  his  search  into  the  secrets  of 
nature.  He  goes  about  in  a  subdued,  sad  way,  awaiting  his  fate, 
and  doing  good  to  men,  whomsoever  he  may." 

Barron  Shirley. 


WHAT  OF  THE   OUTLOOK?  317 


THE  WHITE  HILLS. 

When  Horace  sang,  Soracte  stood 

Clothed  white  with  snow, 
While  lofty  spires  of  dark  fir  wood 

Waved  far  below. 
The  poet  saw,  and  struck  the  lyre 

To  praise  the  bowl, 
The  maiden's  charms,  a  blazing  fire, 

And  ancient  scroll. 

O  could  he  see  you,  granite  hills, 

Sublimely  grand, — 
Where  every  height  with  wonder  thrills 

Aloft  ye  stand, — 
He  'd  spurn  the  yielding  velvet  couch, 

And  bound  away 
Where  ye,  great  lions,  proudly  crouch, 

At  dawn  of  day  ; 

And,  gazing  from  your  loftiest  peak, 

Would  drink  the  wine 
Of  bracing  air  and  sights  that  speak 

Of  hand  divine. 
Ye  bring  the  message  full  and  clear 

From  God  to  man  ; 
Ye  feed  the  soul  with  wine  more  dear 

Than  Caecuban. 

C.  F.  R. 


WHAT  OF  THE  OUTLOOK? 

Says  the  author  of  "  Democracy  in  America," — "The  civiliza- 
tion of  New  England  has  been  like  a  beacon  lit  upon  a  hill, 
which,  after  it  has  diffused  its  warmth  around,  tinges  the  distant 
horizon  with  its  glow."  It  is  this  wonderful  formative  power  ex- 
erted by  New  England  over  the  entire  country  to  which  every 
impartial  historian  must  pay  tribute.  New  England  has  been 
proud  of  her  influence  in  high  places,  and  her  sons  are  wont  to 
boast  that  the  nation  exists  through  her  fidelity.  Can  this  be  the 
haughtiness  that  goes  before  a  fall? 


318  WHAT  OF  THE   OUTLOOK? 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  discuss  what,  and  how  potent,  this  influ- 
ence has  been,  but  to  raise  the  query,  How  long  can  New  Eng- 
land hold  her  position  as  queen  of  the  states?  Much  ink  might 
be  wasted  in  showing  that  New  England,  because  of  her  situa- 
tion and  lack  of  resources,  is  predestined  to  be  supplanted  by- 
better  favored  localities  in  the  Middle  and  Western  states ;  but 
oil  wells  and  coal  mines  never  made  a  people  free  and  powerful. 
It  is  the  mind  more  than  the  matter.  Disregarding,  therefore, 
minor  considerations,  it  must  be  patent  to  every  discriminating 
observer  that  New  England  is  suffering  a  decline  in  at  least  three 
important  respects, — vital  prosperity,  true  education,  and  morality. 
The  first  is  perhaps  alone  peculiar  to  New  England,  yet  the  others 
are  the  more  to  be  wondered  at,  in  that  Puritanism  was  dominant 
so  short  a  time  ago. 

The  term  "vital  prosperity"  may  be  explained  by  considering 
the  questions,  What  do  manufactories  and  commerce  signify? 
What  do  smoke-stacks  and  canvas  tell  us  of  the  ebb  of  culture  ? 
For  all  these,  may  not  Babylon  fall?  When  the  meaning  of  real 
prosperity  is  understood,  New  England's  decline  is  hardly  disputed 
save  by  political  stumpers.  With  all  the  outpourings  of  Canada, 
no  other  six  states  of  the  Union  had  so  small  a  percentage  of  in- 
crease in  population  in  the  last  decade,  and  in  the  previous  one 
there  was  an  actual  decrease  in  Maine  and  New  Hampshire.  That 
this  slight  increase  is  among  the  manufacturing  classes,  while  the 
rural  districts  are  fast  being  depleted,  is  also  ominous.  Deserted 
farms,  decaying  homesteads,  the  importation  of  Swedes,  argue  a 
lamentable  falling  off  in  the  ranks  of  the  farmers.  If  history  is 
our  school-master,  the  rural  population  is  the  sfina  of  every  com- 
munity and  people.  It  is  to  this  class,  with  its  orthodoxy,  wary 
of  innovation,  that  government  looks  for  perpetuity  in  peace,  and 
support  in  war.  Whatever  weakens  or  demoralizes,  undermines 
ascendency.  To  the  casual  observer  New  England  may  appear 
robust  and  fair;  nevertheless  she  has  a  disease  of  the  vitals. 

When  we  affirm  that  true  education  in  New  England  is  in  the 
wane,  we  do  not  arraign  the  public  school,  but  emphasize  the 
"true;"  yet  it  is  a  fact  that  the  tone  of  the  public  school   has 


WHAT  OF   THE   OUTLOOK?  319 

greatly  changed  even  in  this  generation.  Formerly,  the  church 
and  the  school  were  correlative  ;  now  the  gulf  between  them  is 
daily  widening.  Our  fathers  contended  that  all  education  ought 
to  be  subservient  to  religion.  Says  the  prelude  to  an  old  colonial 
law, — "It  is  the  chief  project  of  Satan  to  keep  men  from  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Scriptures  by  persuading  from  the  use  of  tongues." 
How  different  is  this  from  the  spirit  of  so  called  "  Liberalism," 
voiced  in  a  recent  decision  of  the  supreme  court  of  Wisconsin,  that 
the  Bible  has  no  place  in  the  public  school.  In  trying  to  eliminate 
religion,  our  school  boards  are  fast  eradicating  every  vestige  of 
moral  instruction. 

The  school,  however,  has  but  a  minor  influence  in  forming  the 
character  of  the  child.  It  is  the  home  and  its  associations  whose 
lessons  are  never  forgotten.  Margaret  Fuller  says, — "A  house 
is  no  home  unless  it  contains  food  and  fire  for  the  mind  as  well  as 
for  the  body."  How  do  the  old  and  the  new  New  England  home 
compare,  especially  in  the  quality  of  the  food?  In  the  one,  the 
family  altar  was  an  essential  feature  :  its  small  library  comprised 
works  of  an  historical  or  religious  nature.  Who  can  measure  the 
influence  for  good  which  such  a  book  as  Baxter's  "  Saints'  Rest" 
has  had  on  New  England  civilization?  In  the  other,  family  wor- 
ship is  more  a  matter  of  circumstance  than  of  principle.  A  taste  for 
unhealthy  literature  has  been  created,  or,  at  least,  stimulated  by  an 
avaricious  press.  Of  the  newspapers  published  in  New  England, 
the  census  classes  six  hundred  and  sixty-nine  as  devoted  to  "news 
and  family  reading,"  and  forty-eight,  including  Catholic  and  spirit- 
ualistic publications,  to  "religion."  Forty-eight  have  a  sprinkling 
of  religious  reading,  and  many  of  these  are  but  slimly  supported. 
Not  so  the  other  class.  The  deleterious  "family  story-paper," 
with  its  continued  stories  broken  off  in  the  midst  of  an  exciting 
plot,  are  freely  scattered  about  our  streets,  and  eagerly  read  by 
both  sexes  of  the  young  of  our  laboring  classes.  What  imbibing 
of  poison  could  be  more  fatal  to  moral  and  intellectual  growth  ? 

"  Give  me  an  hour  in  a  home,  and  I  will  tell  you  what  paper  the 
family  reads,"  says  an  eminent  divine.  But  this  craze  for  sensa- 
tion does  not  stop  with  the  newspaper  and  the  low  novel,   else 


320  WHAT  OF    THE   OUTLOOK? 

how  shall  we  explain  the  remarkable  sale  of  "Robert  Elsmere," 
"Looking  Backward,"  the  works  of  Tolstoi,  or  "The  Journal  of 
Marie  BashkirtsefF,"  with  its  revelations  which  the  most  audacious 
American  girl  would  blush  to  discover.  To  be  sure,  these  works 
are  not  under  the  ban  ;  yet  every  straw  tells  us  of  the  current.  It 
cannot  be  denied  that  influences  in  and  about  the  home  militating 
against  virtue  are  at  present  largely  educating  New  England 
youth ;  an  education  which  the  school  and  the  church  cannot 
counteract,  because  the  one  is  irreligious,  and  the  other  reaches 
but  a  small  percentage  of  the  people. 

The  moral  status  of  the  community  is  generally  judged  by 
the  prevalence  or  restriction  of  immorality.  Granting  this,  and 
that  New  England,  "the  hot-bed  of  Puritanism,"  is  not  behind 
the  rest  of  the  country  in  the  alarming  increase  in  the  percent- 
age of  crime,  what  lesson  is  taught?  It  is  that  the  supposition, 
entertained  by  so  many  of  our  educators,  that  crime  and  ignor- 
ance go  hand  in  hand,  is  prolific  of  much  evil.  That  it  is  a 
supposition  our  prison  records  show.  A  typical  case  :  Sing  Sing 
records  of  1886  show  only  nine  per  cent,  of  its  inmates  illiterate, 
while  a  very  large  percentage  was  academic,  or  college,  educated. 
"It  is  a  fearful  fact,"  says  the  "  Proceedings  of  the  Prison  Asso- 
ciation," convened  in  Boston  in  1888,  "that  a  large  proportion  of 
our  prison  population  is  of  the  educated  class."  Honesty  and 
virtue  are  by  no  means  strangers  to  the  poor  and  ignorant ;  yet 
our  school  management  generally  ignores  this  fact,  and,  in  the 
heroic  struggle  with  illiteracy,  forgets  that  the  child  has  a  spiritual 
and  moral  nature,  the  training  of  which  is  no  less  essential  to  good 
citizenship  than  the  training  of  the  mind  and  of  the  hand. 

We  also  claim  that  non-attendance  at  church  argues  moral 
deterioration.  Church  attendance  may  not  be  indicative  of  real 
piety,  yet  the  mere  effort  manifests  a  desire  for  nobler  things.  It 
cannot  be  disputed  that  in  proportion  to  population  the  attendance 
at  every  church,  except  the  Catholic,  is  yearly  growing  less. 
Statistics  put  the  church  going  population  of  Vermont  between 
thirty-five  and  forty-five  per  cent.  This  is  presumably  a  fair  esti- 
mate for  New  England  as  well, — a  poor  showing  compared  with 


WHAT  OF  THE   OUTLOOK?  321 

the  time  when  every  family  thought  attendance  on  divine  worship 
obligatory.  And  is  there  hope  from  the  fact  that  Catholic  attend- 
ance is  on  the  increase?  What  shall  we  say  for  a  moral  code 
which,  for  a  paltry  sum,  pardons  the  blackest  sin  and  absolves  the 
most  hardened  sinner?  Catholicism,  with  its  parochial  schools 
and  its  recognizance  of  a  supreme  foreign  potentate,  is  inimical 
to  the  liberty  to  which  we  are  heirs.  Yet  this  is  preeminently  the 
working  man's  church,  and  the  working  man  is  a  mighty  factor 
in  the  state. 

Is  the  question  asked,  What  is  the  cause,  and  where  is  the 
remedy?  History  tells  us  that  in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century  a  part  of  the  church  rebelled  against  the  leadership  of  the 
staid  Puritan ,  Jonathan  Edwards .  Never  since ,  has  Puritanism  been 
the  controlling  influence,  and  New  England  has  been  changing, 
wonderfully  changing.  The  old  New  England  is  fast  passing  away. 
Degenerate  Puritanism  cannot  cope  with  the  two  agencies,  emigra- 
tion and  immigration,  which  alike  sap  New  England  civilization. 
The  hordes  of  Ireland  and  Canada  are  upon  us.  Already  the 
Catholic  vote  controls  municipal  elections  in  Boston,  Lawrence, 
Fall  River,  and  many  minor  places.  Can  New  England,  while 
supplying  the  West  with  her  best  blood,  assimilate  these  incon- 
gruous elements  without  a  higher  standard  of  ethics,  a  purer 
political  and  religious  organization?  If  the  treatment  of  Hester 
Prynne,  Roger  Williams,  and  Massasoit  is  typical,  Puitanism  was 
in  practice  synonymous  with,  do  you  say,  bigotry?  Judge  not  too 
hastily ;  for,  in  spite  of  prejudice  and  the  reproaches  of  a  world, 
it  must  be  conceded  that  Puritanism  stood  for  purity  of  domestic 
life,  purity  of  faith,  and  square  dealing,  which,  as  Talmage  would 
say,  are  the  embodiment  of  "  old-fashioned  religion."  Certainly, 
this  generation  would  not  welcome  the  adoption  of"  the  Mosaic  or 
the  Blue  laws  as  a  civil  code,  or  a  return  to  the  age  of  stocks, 
ducking-stools,  and  inquisitions  when  a  private  misdemeanor  was 
a  public  offense,  and  none  but  subscribers  to  a  dogmatic  creed 
were  allowed  the  sacred  rights  of  citizenship.  At  the  mere  thought 
we  cry,  in  the  words  of  the  ritual,  "  Good  Lord,  deliver  us." 

But  back    of  the  fanaticism    and   bigotry  of  that  epoch  were 


322  WHAT  OF  THE   OUTLOOK? 

motives  and  principles  which  humanity  is  everywhere  contending 
for.  Society,  in  its  fierce  winnowings,  has  scattered  much  of  the 
wheat,  together  with  the  chafF.  To  the  Catholicism,  infidelity, 
and  mammonism  of  the  new  New  England,  these  words  are  a 
rebuke  and  warning:  "The  safeguard  of  morality  is  religion, 
and  morality  is  the  best  security  of  law,  as  well  as  the  surest 
pledge  of  freedom." 

W.   C.  Belknap. 


The  Chair. 


We  regret  very  much  the  positive  misstatements  which  have 
been  made  about  the  "  Commencement  question,"  and  the  general 
reckless  and  superficial  way — very  annoying  to  every  lover  of 
candor  and  fairness — in  which  the  whole  affair  has  been  treated  in 
certain  quarters.  It  had  been  the  intention  of  The  Chair  to  pass 
the  matter  over  entirely,  thinking  it  hardly  within  the  province  of 
the  Lit.  to  discuss  it ;  but  as  the  case  now  stands,  for  the  sake  of 
the  college,  and  in  behalf  of  a  large  portion  of  the  Senior  class,  we 
must  state  things  plainly.  We  trust  the  Alumni  who  read  this 
editorial  will  give  us  credit  for  honesty  and  truthfulness.  We  are 
writing  calmly  and  after  mature  deliberation,  with  the  single 
intent  to  give  exact  facts. 

From  the  strange  comments  in  circulation,  it  is  plain  that  the 
relation  of  the  church  building  to  the  college  is  not  understood  at 
all,  or  but  partly.  A  very  brief  summary  of  their  historical  rela- 
tionship is  as  follows  :  The  church  was  built  near  the  close  of  the 
last  century  by  private  subscription ;  after  thirty  years  the  col- 
lege obtained  part  ownership,  acquiring  the  right  to  the  use  of  the 
galleries  and  a  few  seats  in  the  body  of  the  house  for  seating  the 
students;  when  the  church  was  repaired  in  1877,  many  pews 
were  purchased  by  the  college  and  a  rearrangement  of  the  seating 
of  the  students  was  made ;  in  1881  the  control  of  the  church 
building  formally  passed  from  its  proprietors,  the  pew-owners, 
into  the  hands  of  the  Dartmouth  Religious  Society,  with  the  under- 
standing that  this  arrangement  would  not  prejudice  the  right  of 
the  college  to  use  the  building  for  college  exercises. 
*  Recently,  as  all  know,  the  church  building  was  remodelled  and 
handsomely  renovated  at  a  cost  not  far  from  $10,000.  A  part  of 
this  money  was  raised  by  private  subscription,  but  the  larger  share 
of  the  expense  was  met  by  Mr.  Hiram  Hitchcock,  to  whose  wise 


324  THE   CHAIR. 

planning,  as  well  as  munificence,  we  are  really  indebted  for  the 
beautiful  church  that  we  now  have.  Naturally,  when  the  new 
church,  with  its  rich  and  delicate  furnishings,  was  ready  for  occu- 
pancy, the  ever  recurring  question  respecting  its  indiscriminate 
use  arose.  For  many  years  it  had  been  felt  that  the  church  was 
no  place  for  entertainments  and  exercises  of  all  characters — a 
sentiment  by  no  means  local,  but  in  accord  with  widely  prevalent 
opinion  and  steadily  growing  usage — and  now  seemed  the  time 
of  all  times,  the  very  opportunity  needed,  to  act  upon  conviction, 
and  prevent,  so  far  as  possible,  any  further  secularization  of  the 
church.  The  preliminary  step  was  the  refusal  of  the  church  for 
the  students'  lecture  course.  This  met  with  no  criticism,  and  was 
quietly  acquiesced  in.  When,  however,  it  was  learned  that  the 
use  of  the  church  would  be  refused  the  Senior  class  for  most  of  the 
exercises  of  Commencement  week,  a  petition  was  prepared  by  the 
class  and  presented  to  the  trustees  of  the  college,  which  was  re- 
ferred to  the  committee  of  the  Dartmouth  Religious  Society,  with 
whom,  as  is  seen  by  the  arrangement  in  1881,  the  decision  really 
rested.  This  committee,  in  conference  with  the  trustees,  after 
thoughtful  weighing  of  the  whole  matter,  unanimously  decided 
that  the  church  could  not  be  used  for  the  prize  speaking  contest, 
the  Commencement  concert,  and  the  exercises  of  Class  Day. 
Thereupon  the  Senior  class  voted  to  take  no  part  in  any  but  the 
required  college  exercises  of  Commencement  week.  So  much  for 
the  essential  history  of  the  affair,  mostly  familiar  to  the  under- 
graduate, but  not  understood  by  many  of  the  Ahftnni. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  this  judgment  of  the  trustees  and 
the  committee  of  the  Religious  Society,  their  motives  cannot  be 
questioned.  It  was  sincerely  regretted  by  them  that  they  felt 
obliged  to  refuse  the  petition ;  but  their  action  appeared  the  wise 
thing.  The  Chair  thinks  their  judgment  was  correct,  and  in  this 
opinion  we  believe  a  great  many  of  the  Senior  class  coincide. 
The  last  statement  is  not  so  paradoxical  as  it  seems,  when  the  real 
reasons  for  the  decision  of  the  Senior  class  to  have  no  Commence- 
ment are  understood.  The  denial  of  the  petition  was  only  the 
apparent  reason  :  it  simply  furnished   a   most  convenient  pretext. 


THE  CHAIR.  325 

Going  beneath  the  surface,  we  find  the  controlling  motive  with 
many  was  the  desire  to  be  rid  of  a  burdensome  class  tax;  the 
motive  animating  others  was  simply  the  desire  to  abolish  an 
obnoxious  Class  Day.  The  management  of  the  movement,  result- 
ing in  the  action  of  the  class,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  few  who 
had  reasoned  themselves  into  thinking  an  injustice  had  been  done  ; 
but  they  were  simply  unwitting  instruments  in  the  execution  of  the 
controlling  purposes. 

Careful  consideration  will  show  that  the  use  of  the  church  build- 
ing was  not  indispensable  to  the  successful  carrying  out  of  the 
entire  Commencement  programme.  The  indoor  exercises  of  Class 
Day  could  have  taken  place  most  appropriately  in  Bissell  hall ; 
indeed,  that  was  the  very  place  for  them.  Manifestly,  the  Com- 
mencement concert  would  be  at  some  disadvantage  in  the  same 
building,  but  we  think  this  disadvantage  very  little.  Bissell  hall 
is  large  enough  to  contain  any  audience  that  has  of  late  years 
attended  a  Commencement  concert ;  and  in  respect  to  any  extra 
expense  which  might  be  incurred  in  fitting  it  up,  or  any  pecuniary 
loss  resulting  from  holding  the  concert  there,  Mr.  Hitchcock  most 
generously  offered  to  meet  all  these,  besides  promising  to  provide 
the  best  organist  in  New  York  city,  who  would  furnish  music  on 
the  new  organ  (also  Mr.  Hitchcock's  gift)  for  all  exercises  in  the 
church.  The  prize  speaking,  as  a  college  exercise,  will  be  held 
in  Bissell  hall  at  real  disadvantage,  we  think ;  but  that  this  is  best, 
under  the  circumstances,  every  one  will  admit  who  knows  any- 
thing of  the  defacement  and  injury  certain  parts  of  the  church 
have  suffered  in  years  past  from  the  "  mixed  crowd"  that  always 
attends  a  ''free"  entertainment. 

It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  the  college  or  the  town  has  no 
hall  adequate  for  all  entertainments  and  secular  exercises  ;  but  we 
believe  it  is  now  bound  to  come  speedily.  If  the  use  of  the  church 
had  been  granted  for  expediency's  sake  until  the  erection  of  a  hall, 
the  hall  would  never  have  come  :  such  is  ever  the  way.  The  firm 
stand  made  preserves  a  church  in  which  every  lover  of  the  artistic 
and  the  beautiful  has  delight  and  pride,  takes  a  long  step  towards 
its  absolute  unsecularization,  and  makes  the  erection  of  a  much 


326  THE  CHAIR. 

needed  public  hall  a  certainty  of  the  immediate  future.  The 
measure  adopted  was  an  heroic  one,  but  the  case  called  for  it. 
We  believe  the  wisdom  of  this  radical  action  is  becoming  more 
and  more  apparent  as  the  days  go  by,  and  when  the  results  are 
all  seen,  none  will  question  it.  It  is  for  the  fair  minded  to  be  slow 
to  criticise,  and  to  weigh  all  things  before  reaching  an  opinion. 


We  are  persuaded  that  "no  Commencement"  this  year  is  a 
blessing,  perhaps  in  disguise.  The  breaking  of  these  old  customs 
in  college  life  destroys  certain  pleasant  associations,  and  violates 
much  sentiment  which  has  gathered,  particularly,  about  Class  Day. 
This  is  to  be  regretted ;  but  the  sacrifice  of  this  year's  Senior  class 
will  work  for  the  good  of  the  classes  to  follow ,  and  will  directly 
benefit  the  college.  Year  after  year  the  expenses  incident  to  Com- 
mencement have  been  growing  heavier ;  each  class  has  seemed 
bound  to  outdo  the  preceding, — to  have  finer  music,  more  costly 
programmes  and  invitations,  more  elaborate  decorations ;  the 
object  has  been,  apparently,  to  spend  much  money,  to  make  a 
great  show, — as  if,  indeed,  the  success  of  a  Commencement  were 
in  direct  ratio  to  prodigality  and  display ; — the  idea  of  artistic 
simplicity,  as  ever  most  appropriate  and  desirable,  has  been  lost. 
Now,  it  would  be  well  enough  for  a  graduating  class  to  be  as 
extravagant  as  it  pleased,  if  it  were  largely  composed  of  rich  men. 
But  such  has  never  been,  and  is  not,  the  character  of  classes  in 
Dartmouth.  It  is  no  disgrace  to  the  college,  and  it  is  simply  a 
statement  of  the  truth,  when  we  say  that  the  present  customary 
tax  imposed  to  meet  Commencement  expenses  is  a  severe  burden 
upon  more  than  half  the  members  of  the  average  Senior  class. 
Ninety  has  broken  a  precedent,  and  consequently  no  succeeding 
class  will  feel  obliged  to  respect  inviolate  custom.  A  retrench- 
ment in  Commencement  expenses,  then,  we  believe,  is  a  good 
result  to  come  eventually  from  what  may  seem  to  some  a  present 
misfortune. 


The  giving  up  of  Class  Day,  also,  may  lead  to  a  much  need- 
ed change.     Exercises  that  inherently  should  be  very  attractive 


THE   CHAIR.  327 

and  meritorious,  have  come  to  be  so  often  mediocre,  even  far- 
cical, in  character,  that  their  entire  abandonment  is  more  to  be 
desired  than  their  continuance  unaltered.  Originally  the  offices 
were  few,  and  men  were  elected  to  them  whose  marked  fitness 
for  the  places  and  ability  honored  both  class  and  college.  Now 
the  parts  are  many ;  and  while  some  are  always  well  filled, 
the  accompanying  dismal  failures  spoil  the  effect  of  the  whole. 
Partly  responsible  for  this  is  the  method  of  selecting  the  par- 
ticipants, barring  out,  by  a  custom  having  almost  the  force  of 
law,  all  who  have  obtained  Commencement  rank :  qualification 
for  an  office  seems  of  minor  importance,  is  frequently  never  con- 
sidered. "  Class  politics,"  however,  is  chiefly  responsible  for  the 
perversion  of  the  original  idea  of  Class  Day,  in  fact,  for  the  almost 
complete  ruin  of  all  the  value  and  interest  which  it  once  had. 
Time  and  again  has  the  spectacle  been  presented  of  an  election 
controlled  by  a  few  scheming  wire-pullers  who  have  contrived  to 
thrust  themselves  and  a  talentless  train  of  followers  before  the  eyes 
of  the  public.  We  think  it  time  to  cry  halt  to  such  procedure. 
The  methods  of  "  ward  politics  "  are  intolerable  in  college  life. 
If  intriguing,  trading,  and  trickery  are  to  fill  offices  which  should 
be  awarded  on  merit  solely,  the  sooner  and  more  completely  the 
occasion  of  such  a  wretched  condition  of  things  is  removed  the 
better.  Better  have  no  Class  Day,  than,  for  the  sake  of  a  little 
sentiment,  bring  discredit  upon  both  class  and  college.  We 
believe  most  thoroughly  in  the  idea  of  Class  Day ;  but  it  is  a 
Class  Day  of  comparatively  few  parts,  and  those  of  notable  char- 
acter, taken  by  men  chosen  outside  of  the  Commencement  list  pref- 
erably, but  not  necessarily,  who  are  of  universally  acknowledged 
ability  in  specific  lines, — a  Class  Day,  in  short,  not  designed  to 
distribute  crumbs  of  honor  to  ambitious  mediocrity,  but  representa- 
tive of  the  genuine  literary  and  oratorical  ability  of  which  every 
class  has  more  or  less. 


By  the  Way. 


It  is  with  some  trepidation  that  By-the-Way  proposes  to  intro- 
duce its  readers  to  the  works  of  one  whose  posthumous  praise  is 
now  being  rung  in  magazine  and  review,  whose  name  shines 
the  brightest  on  the  scroll  of  nineteenth-century  poets,  and  whose 
works  are  esteemed  not  only  for  their  dramatic  power,  which  none 
other  writer  since  Shakespeare  has  equalled,  but  also  for  the  help- 
ful, hopeful,  inspiring  teaching  which  they  contain.  The  trepida- 
tion of  By-the-Way  is  due  in  no  respect  to  any  lack  of  interest  in 
Robert  Browning's  works  themselves,  but  rather  to  the  fact  that 
many  of  By-the-Way's  listeners  need  no  introduction,  and  that  the 
uninitiated  are  ready  to  cry  out  "A  fad  !"  at  anything  recalling  to 
mind  the  mushroom  Browning  Clubs  that  are  now  springing  up  in 
every  would-be  hot-bed  of  literary  culture.  But  since  admirers  of 
Browning  are  always  glad  to  have  his  claims  faithfully  repre- 
sented, and  strangers  to  him  need  to  be  told  that  beneath  the 
"  Browning  craze''  there  is  a  strong  and  enduring  undercurrent  of 
sincere  regard  for  the  poet's  writings,  I  make  bold  to  offer  a  few 
considerations  as  to  why  this  current  exists. 


In  the  first  place,  I  wish  to  comment  upon  the  phenomenon 
itself.  Disregarding  the  froth  and  spume  which  the  soulless  fad- 
followers  represent,  drop  the  plummet  deep  down  into  the  current, 
and  you  will  discover  that  it  is  not  only  strong,  but' remarkably 
uniform.  In  other  words,  Browning's  readers  are  either  his  thor- 
ough-going disciples,  or  else  whole-hearted  disbelievers  in  him. 
I  would  as  soon  expect  one  standing  on  Goat  island  at  Niagara, 
and  looking  down  upon  the  roaring,  foaming  floods  below,  to 
remark  apathetically  that  he  was  quite  favorably  impressed,  as  to 


BY  THE  WAY.  329 

hear  one  who  had  read  thoroughly,  or  tried  to  read,  Robert 
Browning  saying  that  he  liked  the  poet  "  pretty  well." 

He  who  undertakes  to  read  these  works  for  the  first  time  is  nat- 
urally repelled  by  the  involved,  sometimes  rough  and  labored,  and 
often  very  artificial,  style,  as  well  as  by  the  allusions  which  de- 
mand of  the  reader  an  extraordinary  fund  of  general  informa- 
tion ;  but,  notwithstanding  this,  there  is  little,  excepting  perhaps 
Sordello,  which  the  student  of  the  average  mental  calibre  might 
not  understand  with  a  little  study,  and  I  know  of  no  author  of  mod- 
ern times  that  will  so  well  repay  careful  perusal  as  will  Browning. 

Here,  beneath  a  rough  shell,  are  wrapped  thoughts  about  men 
and  life  that  leave  a  wholesome  taste  upon  the  literary  palate,  not 
cloying,  but  exhilarating  and  stimulating.  There  is  not  a  weak 
note  among  all  the  poems ;  hopefulness  and  aspiration  breathe 
through  them. 


Yet  let  us  not  be  carried  away  with  enthusiasm  over  that  in  them 
which  we  cannot  understand,  for,  I  warn  you,  there  is  apt  to  be 
cant  afloat  in  regard  to  an  author  when  he  happens  to  be  in  the 
fashion ;  but  a  thoughtful  reader,  commencing  with  well  chosen 
works,  can  hardly  help  being  interested.  Some  of  the  longer 
dramatic  works  which  are  of  the  most  interest,  as,  for  example, 
Colombe's  Birthday,  Blot  in  the  'Scutcheon,  and  In  a  Balcony,  are 
perfectly  lucid,  while  some  of  the  shorter  poems  which  one  would 
naturally  take  up  at  first  might  puzzle  a  philosopher. 

So,  beginning  with  such  works  as  the  three  mentioned,  then 
reading  Pippa  Passes,  and  Paracelsus,  which,  although  it  is  a  trifle 
tedious  in  spots,  is  interesting  in  the  main,  and  continuing  with  a 
well  made  selection  from  the  shorter  poems,  one  will  soon  come 
to  admire  that  hopeful  spirit,  who  is  well  described  in  the  words 
of  one  of  his  last  poems,  the  Epilogue  in  Asolando,  as 

One  who  never  turned  his  back,  but  marched  breast  forward, 

Never  doubted  clouds  would  break, 
Never  dreamed,  though  right  were  worsted,  wrong  would  triumph, 
Held  we  fall  to  rise,  are  baffled  to  fight  better, 

Sleep  to  wake. 


330  BY  THE   WAY. 

Following  hard  after  that  trio  of  American  "Lyrics,"  the  suc- 
cess of  which  has  done  so  much  to  dignify  college  writing  in  gen- 
eral, and  to  reflect  credit  upon  Williams,  Dartmouth,  and  Yale  in 
particular,  comes  a  trim  competitor,  hailing  from  across  the  sea. 

It  was  a  very  pleasant  evening  that  I  lately  passed  in  getting 
acquainted  with  the  newcomer  from  Oxford,  and  thinking  that 
some  of  the  readers  of  By-the-Way  might  be  curious  to  hear  a 
word  in  regard  to  the  paces  and  points  of  the  English  University 
Pegasus,  I  have  promised  him  a  few  words  in  this  month's  chat. 


The  neatly  made  book  to  which  I  refer  is  entitled  "  Echoes  from 
the  Oxford  Magazine."  In  turning  over  the  leaves  one  is  at  first 
struck  with  the  fact  that  parody  is  the  prevailing  style  of  the  Brit- 
ish college  magazine,  and  that,  in  the  second  place,  when  the 
"well  of  English  undefiled"  runs  dry  in  the  college  town  of  Ox- 
ford, it  is  customary  to  resort  for  language  to  the  ancestral  founts 
of  Greece  and  Rome.  Imagine  original  Greek  and  Latin  odes 
appearing  regularly  in  the  columns  of  the  Dartmouth  or  Lit.,  and 
you  have  the  condition  of  affairs  in  conservative  Oxford,  where 
the  literary  oyster,  to  be  made  palatable,  needs  only  to  be  served 
on  a  half  shell  of  ancient  language. 

*         * 

In  a  word,  the  "  Echoes"  remind  one  of  a  masquerade.  Slen- 
der Oxford  thoughts,  tricked  out  in  the  garbs  of  Chaucer,  Cow- 
per,  Wordsworth,  Whitman,  and  Andrew  Lang,  brush  against 
those  of  Homer  and  Horace.  Some  of  the  verses  are  bright  and 
pleasing,  some  wear  their  borrowed  costumes  gracefully,  and  far 
be  it  from  me  to  hunt  in  their  sleeves  for  forced  rhymes,  or  to 
make  disparaging  remarks  about  their  burden  of  English  humor, 
that  fearful  and  wonderful  production,  which  we  Americans  are  so 
incapable  of  appreciating. 

Yet  here  and  there  are  traces  of  what  seems  very  like  genuine 
Yankee  humor,  as,  for  example,  an  Irish  song,  of  which  I  quote  a 
few  stanzas,  whence  the  reader  may  gather  the  thread  of  a  tragic 
tale. 


BY  THE    WAY.  331 

'T  is  pretty  to  be  in  Ballinderry, 

'T  is  pretty  to  be  in  Ballindoon, 
But  't  is  prettier  far  in  County  Kerry 

Courtin'  under  the  bran  new  moon. 
Aroon,  Aroon ! 

****** 

But  niver  a  stip  in  the  lot  was  lighter, 

An'  divvle  a  boulder  among  the  bhoys, 
Than  Phelim  O'Shea,  me  dynamither, 

Me  illegant  arthist  in  clock-work  toys. 

%  ifc  $£  ^  %  % 

An'  there  by  the  banks  of  the  Kenmare  river, 

He  tuk  in  his  hands  me  white,  white  face, 
An'  we  kissed  our  first  and  last  foriver — 

For  Phelim  O'Shea  is  disparsed  in  space. 

>F  7F"  7&  yfc  yfc  yfc 

'T  was  pretty  to  be  by  blue  Killarney, 

'T  was  pretty  to  hear  the  linnets  call ; 
But  whist !  for  I  cannot  attend  their  blarney, 

Nor  whistle  in  answer  at  all,  at  all. 

For  the  voice  that  he  swore  'ud  out-call  the  linnets 

Is  cracked  intoirely,  and  out  of  chune, 
Since  the  clock  work  missed  by  thirteen  minutes, 

An'  scatthered  me  Phelim  around  the  moon. 
Aroon,  Aroon  ! 

Space  forbids  more  extracts,  but  I  cannot  forbear  mentioning  a 
■clever  parody,  Chaucer  at  Oxenford,  done  in  the  venerable  poet's 
own  style,  and  hitting  off  admirably  two  extremes  of  college  men 
in  England,  the  aesthete  and  the  athlete. 


Comparing  the  poems  in  this  volume  with  the  Lyrics,  one 
cannot  fail  to  notice  the  diversity  of  both  subjects  and  methods. 
The  American  college  poem  usually  treats  of  some  theme  of  love, 
more  or  less  profound  ;  of  nature,  and  the  thoughts  which  it  in- 
spires;  of  fancies  set  free  by  some  trifling  circumstance,  face,  or 
other  object, — seldom  airing  classical  knowledge,  and  only  occa- 
sionally written  as  parody.  The  Oxford  poem,  to  judge  by  the 
present  volume,  is  rather  of  local  interest,  and  ultra-classical  in 
its  setting. 


Thistle-Down. 


THE  RETURN. 


Ye  dun-gray  clouds  of  twilight, 

That  veil  the  sinking  sun, 
Lead  on  the  shades  of  midnight 

When  filmy  dreams  are  spun. 
Come,  veil  my  lady's  terrace, 

That  'neath  her  chamber  lies, 
While  I,  o'er  roads  and  ferries, 

Will  speed  me  till  mine  eyes 
Behold  her  signal  gleaming 

Out  through  the  midnight  mist, 
Where  she,  my  sweet,  is  dreaming 

Of  waves  that  writhe  and  twist 
About  the  "  Wrathful  Rover," 

That 's  due  to  bring  to-night 
A  long  expected  lover 

Back  to  her  beckoning  light. 

What !  is  my  love  false-hearted, 

That  no  light  yonder  gleams  ? 
She  promised  when  we  parted 

That  I  should  see  its  beams. 

3|»  W  7f»  »!c  7fr 

My  fears  are  fast  retreating, 

For  Julian  prinks  his  ears, — 
There  at  the  stile  is  greeting, 

A  kiss,  and  smiles,  and  tears  ! 

Archibald  Blakeson* 


Crayon   Bleu. 


Heroic  Ballads,  with  Poems  of  War  and  Patriotism.     Boston:  Ginn  &  Co.     $0.50. 

We  meet  them  all  here, — the  old  battle  cries  that  used  to  stir  our  boyish  blood  until  we 
longed  to  emulate  the  brave  men  whose  deeds  they  celebrate.  Horatius  at  the  Bridge, 
Virginia,  Execution  of  Montrose,  The  Heart  of  the  Bruce,  Charge  of  the  Light  Brigade, 
Relief  of  Lucknow,  Chevy  Chase,  Burial  of  Sir  John  Moore,  and  many  others,  sixty-eight 
in  all,  bound  in  an  attractive  form,  with  notes,  make  a  most  desirable  book  to  place  in  the 
hands  of  an  impressible  boy. 

German  Conversation,  by  Prof.  A.  L.  Meissner.     Boston :  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.     $0.85. 

A  most  fit  companion  for  the  Joynes  Meissner  Series  of  German  text-books.  The  Eng- 
lish and  German  are  arranged  on  opposite  pages,  making  it  possible  for  the  student  to 
compare  idioms  accurately  and  rapidly. 

Goethe 's  Sesenheim,  edited  by  Huss.     Boston  :  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. 

This  is  a  selection  from  Goethe's  Dichtung  und  Wahrheit,  and  describes  his  acquaint- 
ance with  the  family  of  the  pastor  Brion  of  Sesenheim,  and  his  love  for  the  pastor's  daugh- 
ter Frederika.  The  family  itself  deserves  from  Goethe  the  comparison  to  the  famous 
Primrose  family,  and  the  daughter  has  been  rendered  immortal  by  frequent  reference  in 
the  works  of  the  great  poet. 

Minna  von  Barnhelm,  von  G.  E.  Lessing,  1763,  edited  by  Sylvester  Primer,  Ph.D.,  1890. 

Boston:  D.  C,  Heath  &  Co. 

This  is  one  of  the  finest  editions  of  German  texts  we  remember  to  have  seen.  Not  only 
is  the  introduction  full  and  the  notes  careful,  but  the  text  is  printed  in  a  type  large  and 
clear,  such  as  is  not  too  often  seen  in  German  texts.  We  congratulate  the  publishers  on 
the  fine  book  they  have  made. 

Report  of  State  Board  of  Health,  New  Hampshire  :  published  by  the  state. 

The  excellent  work  which  Dr.  Irving  A.  Watson  is  doing  as  secretary  of  the  N.  H. 
State  Board  of  Health  shows  that  his  office  proves  no  sinecure.  Aside  from  a  thorough 
report  of  the  sanitary  condition  of  the  state,  there  are  articles  on  Chest  Development  in 
Young  Persons,  Practical  Sanitary  and  Economic  Cooking,  and  Pulmonary  Tuberculosis. 
The  second  of  these  is  an  especially  good  treatise,  being  the  essay  which  took  the  Lomb 
Prize,  offered  by  the  American  Public  Health  Association.  Besides  practical  rules  for  all 
kinds  of  cooking,  the  essay  gives  a  bill  of  fare  for  a  family  of  six  at  different  times  of  year, 
and  designed  for  three  classes  of  families.  The  food  analysis  and  cost  are  carefully  given. 
We  commend  the  table  to  boarding-house  keepers  as  a  good  model.  The  treatise  on  Tu- 
berculosis is  technical,  and  gives  the  latest  views  of  the  disease. 

An  unusually  interesting  number  of  The  Century  is  the  May  issue.  It  opens  with  three 
articles  on  Washington  portraits  and  relics,  with  the  portrait  of  Washington  painted  by 


334  CRAYON  BLEU. 

James  Wright  as  a  frontispiece.  "  Two  Views  of  Marie  Bashkirtseff "  show  opposite 
phases  of  criticism  of  this  wonderful  book.  George  Kennan  speaks  of  the  Russian  cen- 
sorship of  the  press  in  "  Blacked  Out,"  showing  by  an  illustration  how  The  Century  arti- 
cles were  mutilated  in  the  mail.  Amelia  Gere  Mason  has  a  finely  illustrated  article  on 
"  The  Women  of  the  French  Salons."  "  Valor  and  Skill  in  the  Civil  War  "  discusses 
"  Which  was  the  Better  Army  ? "  and  "  Was  either  the  Better  Soldier  ?  "  Walt  Whitman 
contributes  a  Decoration  Day  song,  and  T.  B.  Aldrich  sings  "  I  Vex  me  not  with  Brooding 
on  the  Years." 

Scribner's  for  May  has  the  first  of  two  articles  on  "  Barbizon  and  Jean  Francois  Millet," 
with  illustrations,  and  a  fine  portrait  of  the  artist  as  a  frontispiece.  A  recent  phase  of 
American  associative  enterprise  is  illustrated  by  the  essay  on  "  Cooperative  Home-Win- 
ning," by  W.  A.  Linn.  T.  J.  Nakagawa  contributes  a  highly  interesting  piece  on  "  The 
Theatres  of  Japan."  John  Hay's  "  Distichs  "  are  almost  proverbial  in  their  method  of  state- 
ment. Karl  Erickson's  story,  "  Pernilla,"  opens  up  the  possibilities  of  the  Swede  settle- 
ments of  the  West  as  a  field  for  the  omnivorous  man  of  letters.  Eugene  Schuyler  has  a 
literary  sketch  on  "  Corinne,"  giving  many  interesting  incidents  in  Madame  de  Stael's  life. 

The  Atlantic  for  May  opens  with  a  biographical  and  literary  article  on  "  Henrik  Ibsen ; 
His  Early  Career  as  Poet  and  Playwright,"  by  E.  P.  Evans.  Historical  and  biographical 
articles  are  "  Sir  Peter  Osborne,"  by  Edward  Abbott  Perry,  and  "  The  Funeral  of  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots,"  by  Malcolm  Bell.  "  Rudolph,"  by  Viola  Roseboro',  is  a  graceful  sketch, 
but,  to  our  mind,  of  rather  light  merit  for  The  Atlantic.  Agnes  Repplier,  in  "  Literary 
Shibboleths,"  decries  the  tendency  to  attempt  the  reduction  of  humanity  to  one  dead 
level  in  literary  taste.  Anne  Eliot  begins  "  Rod's  Salvation,"  the  story  of  a  boy's  expe- 
rience under  the  influence  of  a  fast  young  man.  Mr.  S.  Weir  Mitchell's  poem,  "A  Psalm 
of  the  Waters,"  is  full  of  beauty  and  thought. 

Lippincotf  s  for  May  contains  the  novelette,  "A  Sappho  of  Green  Springs,"  by  Bret 
Harte.  There  are  several  good  articles  in  the  magazine  proper, — "  Karma,"  by  Lafcadio 
Hearn,  being  a  particularly  good  example  of  the  newjj"  poetry-in-prose  "  style  of  writing. 
"  The  Icicle,"  by  Edgar  Fawcett,  is  an  amusing  little  comedy.  We  are  glad  to  see  Mr. 
W.  H.  Johnson  answer  the  article  of  last  November  on  "  Does  College  Training  Pay?" 

Ginn  &  Co.  announce  a  new  book  in  the  Wentworth  Series,  entitled  Wentworlh 's  School 
Algebra,  to  be  ready  in  May.  Also,  Reference  Handbook  of  English  History,  for  Readers, 
Students,  and  Teachers.  By  W.  H.  Gurney.  To  be  published  in  May.  Political  Science 
and  Comparative  Constitutional  Law.  By  J.  W.  Burgess,  Professor  of  Constitutional  and 
International  Law  and  History  in  Columbia  College.  Two  volumes.  In  press.  And  The 
Nine  Worlds.  Stories  from  Norse  Mythology.  By  Mary  E.  Litchfield.  To  be  published 
in  May. 


Exchanges. 


We  hail  with  pleasure  the  advent  of  the  Brown  Magazine.  For  some  time  the  literary- 
spirit  at  Brown  has  been  showing  a  marked  increase,  and  one  result  is  the  trim  publication 
which  comes  to  us  appropriately  clothed  in  college  colors.  Our  sole  unfavorable  criticism 
of  the  first  number  is  one  of  arrangement,  not  of  matter.  Men  who  can  give  us  such 
charming  essays  on  current  matters  of  college  and  world  as  we  find  in  "The  Outlook"  and 
"  The  Brown  Study,"  should  devote  more  space  to  "  department"  or  editorial  work.  It  is 
the  experience  of  all  editors  of  college  papers  that  such  matter  receives  more  attention 
from  the  average  college  man  and  alumnus  than  the  work  of  a  purely  literary  nature,  how- 
ever meritorious.  We  would  suggest  in  a  spirit  of  kindness  that  our  new  sister  in  college 
journalism  would  find  it  to  her  advantage  to  enlarge  the  two  departments  above  named. 
The  literary  work  shows  evidence  of  careful  study  and  enthusiasm.  A  fine  critique  of 
Mr.  Woodbury's  new  book  of  poems  opens  the  magazine.  The  poem  "The  Lute  of 
Alfarahd  "  reflects  the  excellent  poetic  spirit  we  have  recently  noticed  in  the  Brunonian. 
"  Pythagoras  versus  Rousseau"  is  a  political  article  of  merit,  contrasting  two  experiments 
in  opposite  directions.  "The  Enchanted  Man"  is  a  good  example  of  the  insanity  story ; 
and  the  article  on  "  Old  and  New  in  Southern  Literature"  shows  familiarity  with  the  sub- 
ject, and  a  pure  critical  style.  We  congratulate  the  editors  upon  the  first  fruits  of  their 
efforts. 

The  value  of  the  editorial  department  is  well  illustrated  by  the  Amherst  Lit.  In  "  The 
Sketch  Book"  one  always  finds  something  novel  and  interesting,  and  the  "  Window  Seat" 
is  full  of  the  dreams  and  fancies  of  one  who  breathes  the  soul  of  poetry,  if  not  its  outward 
form.  We  cannot  always  speak  as  well  for  the  literary  work  of  the  magazine.  We  think, 
however,  the  April  number  a  decided  improvement  in  this  matter  over  recent  issues. 
"Shelley's  Relation  to  Humanity"  is  a  careful  study.  In  behalf- of  Dartmouth  we  thank 
the  author  of  the  charming  sketch  "  To  the  Back  Stretch  and  Beyond  "  for  the  implied 
compliment  to  our  industry  in  base-ball. 

Another  illustration  of  our  idea  is  the  Vassar  Miscellany,  which  devotes  only  a  short 
space  to  purely  literary  matter,  and  gains  much  charm  thereby.  "  Home  Matters,"  "Col- 
lege Notes,"  and  "  Personals"  are  fully  compiled,  and  will  one  day  form  valuable  mate- 
rials for  the  Vassar  graduate  who  wishes  to  discover  the  spirit  which  existed  in  her 
Alma  Mater  "back  in  the  90's."  That  the  Vassar  student  can  write  literary  matter 
equal  to  any  that  her  brothers  turn  out  is  shown  by  "  The  Story  of  a  Little  Princess"  in 
the  April  number,  a  beautiful  allegory  telling  of  a  pure  girl's  search  for  the  Beautiful,  and 
how  she  discovered  it  in  the  love  of  her  true  knight.  "A  Forest  Saga"  shows  familiarity 
with  Scandinavian  literature,  and  is  well  conceived. 

We  commend  the  Bowdoin  Orient  as  a  paper  which  represents  well  all  the  elements  of 
college  life.  It  is  full  of  life  and  interest  to  the  student,  breathing,  it  seems  to  us,  the 
very  essence  of  college  spirit.  To  our  mind,  however,  there  is  something  incongruous  in 
the  juxtaposition  of  the  pleasing  fancy  called  "  Luminous,"  and  the  too  evident  attempt  to 
be  "funny,"  "More  Luminous." 

The  Tuftonian  seems  to  us  rather  juvenile  for  a  college  paper.  A  little  more  time  and 
care  would  improve  it  very  much. 


Alumni  Notes. 


That  this  department  may  be  as  interesting  and  valuable  as  possible,  we  solicit  contributions  from 
all.  Items  that  may  seem  unimportant  to  the  contributor  -will  no  doubt  carry  to  some  readers  remem- 
brances of  happy  but  departed  days. 

An  enthusiastic  business  meeting  followed  the  last  monthly  dinner  of  the  Alumni  of  the 
Bay  State  at  the  Tremont  House,  Boston.  The  key-note  of  the  meeting  was  struck  by 
Rev.  Jonas  B.  Clarke  '39,  who,  in  a  vigorous  speech,  complained  of  the  inaction  of  the 
present  board  of  trustees,  and  urged  the  Alumni  to  some  steps  toward  claiming  their 
rights  in  the  appointing  of  trustees.  He  was  especially  earnest  in  his  appeal  for  memo- 
rial tablets  to  be  placed  in  the  library  in  honor  of  the  sons  of  Dartmouth  who  served  in 
the  Rebellion.  After  long  and  earnest  discussion,  action  in  regard  to  the  attitude  to  be 
taken  by  the  Alumni  of  Massachusetts  in  the  matter  of  appointing  a  successor  to  Judge 
Nesmith  on  the  board  of  trustees  was  deferred  until  the  next  meeting,  on  the  first  Satur- 
day in  June,  when  a  large  attendance  and  a  plain  statement  of  opinions  will  be  the  order 
of  the  day. 

Messrs.  Hudson  '59,  Farnham  '37,  and  Quint  '87  were  appointed  by  President  Paul  '78 
a  committee  to  communicate  to  the  president  of  the  Senior  class  the  following : 

That  it  is  the  sentiment  of  this  meeting  that  the  action  of  the  Senior  class  in  doing 
away  with  the  graduating  exercises  is  unwise. 

On  motion  of  Rev.  Howard  F.  Hill  '67,  of  Amesbury,  the  following  telegram  was  sent 
to  the  daughter  of  Judge  Nesmith : 

The  Dartmouth  Lunch  Club  affectionately  remember  the  genial  presence,  the  kindly 
memory,  and  loyal  service  of  your  late  father,  to  the  college. 

'20.  George  Washington  Nesmith,  who  died  at  his  home  at  Franklin,  May  2,  was  in 
his  eighty-ninth  year,  having  been  born  at  Antrim,  October  23,  1800.  He  was  of  pure 
Scotch-Irish  descent,  while  his  grandfather  was  one  of  the  New  Hampshire  soldiers  at 
Bunker  Hill,  and  his  father  was  a  leading  citizen  of  Antrim.  One  of  his  earliest  teachers 
was  Miss  Anstress  Woodbury,  a  sister  of  Hon.  Levi  Woodbury  '09.  Two  years  after 
graduating  from  college  he  began  the  study  of  law  with  Parker  Noyes  1796,  at  Franklin 
(as  it  was  afterwards  called),  and  in  August,  1825,  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  equal  partnership  with  Mr.  Noyes.  His  practice  soon  brought  him  a  good 
income.  He  drew  the  charter  of  Franklin,  and  gave  the  town  its  name  in  1828,  when  it 
was  formed  from  the  towns  of  Northfield,  Sanbornton,  Andover,  and  Salisbury.  He  was 
elected  to  the  legislature  in  1830,  at  the  time  this  question  of  the  union  of  the  towns  was 
in  hot  debate,  and  was  reelected  from  there  until  1847,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  years, 
and  again  reelected  in  1854,  187 1,  and  1872.  In  1850  and  1851  he  was  a  member  of  the 
constitutional  convention.  From  the  first  he  took  advanced  grounds  on  the  subject  of 
extending  the  system  of  railroads  through  the  state  and  in  granting  to  them  the  right  of 
way,  which  was  for  a  long  time  bitterly  contested.     He  was  one  of  the  projectors  of  the 


ALUMNI  NOTES.  337 

Northern  Railroad,  and  has  been  actively  interested  in  its  management  since  its  organiza- 
tion in  1845,  having  been  a  director  on  every  board,  and  for  eight  years  president  of  the 
corporation.  It  was  due  to  his  influence  that  the  road  was  built  through  Franklin  instead 
•of  up  the  Blackwater  river  through  Salisbury.  In  1852  and  1853  he  became  interested  in 
manufacturing  in  Franklin,  and  was  an  owner  and  director  in  the  woollen  factory  destroyed 
by  fire  in  1858.  December  31,  1859,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme 
judicial  court,  which  place  he  occupied  until  October,  1870,  when,  having  reached  the  age 
of  seventy,  he  was  retired.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Orphans'  Home  at  the  old 
Webster  place  in  187 1,  and  ever  since  has  been  president  of  the  organization,  and  its  most 
interested  and  influential  supporter.  Judge  Nesmith's  political  career  was  devoted  to  the 
Whig  and  Republican  parties.  He  was  one  of  the  controlling  spirits  of  the  old  Whig 
party,  which  he  represented  upon  the  electoral  ticket  in  the  Harrison  campaign  of  1840. 
He  was  also  among  the  fathers  of  the  Republican  party,  and  was  chosen  one  of  the  elec- 
tors to  cast  the  vote  of  the  state  for  Harrison  in  1888.  He  was  elected  a  trustee  of  the 
State  Agricultural  college  in  187 1,  and  has  been  president  of  the  board  since  1877.  He  has 
been  a  trustee  of  Dartmouth  since  1858.  The  college  has  never  had  a  more  loyal  and 
devoted  son,  or  one  who  has  given  more  time  to  her  advancement,  or  exerted  greater 
influence  in  shaping  her  policy.  Judge  Nesmith  was  married  in  1826  to  Miss  Mary  M. 
Brooks,  and  several  children  were  born  to  them.  It  was  said  of  Judge  Nesmith's  legal 
career,  that  he  closed  more  lawsuits  and  settled  more  litigation  than  any  other  lawyer  in 
the  state.  His  intimacy  with  Webster  was  one  of  his  most  pleasant  recollections,  and  he 
has  long  been  quoted  in  matters  relating  to  the  history  of  the  great  expounder.  His  death 
will  be  deeply  deplored,  for  his  honorable  life,  his  high  principles,  his  kindly  friendship, 
his  ripe  scholarship,  and  his  courteous  disposition  had  won  for  him  both  respect  and 
esteem  throughout  the  state. 

'20.  Rev.  David  Goodwillie,  D.  D.,  of  Vienna,  O.,  is  the  only  survivor  of  the  class. 
Mr.  Goodwillie  was  born  at  Barnet,  Vt.,  August  28,  1802. 

'30  Med.  Coll.  Benjamin  Woodman  died  recently  at  his  home  at  Hampstead.  He  was 
eighty-eight  years  of  age.     He  was  an  ex-representative  in  the  legislature  from  Strafford. 

'40.  Rev.  Harry  Brickett  resigned  his  pastorate  at  Thetford,  Vt.,  April  1,  the  end  of 
his  eighth  year  there. 

'41.  Hon.  G.  G.  Hubbard  recently  made  a  vigorous  argument  before  the  Judiciary 
Committee  of  the  house  against  the  International  Copyright  Bill. 

'42.     Dr.  J.  Baxter  Upham,  of  New  York,  has  assigned. 

'43.  Hon.  L.  D.  Stevens  has  been  chosen  by  the  Commercial  Club  of  Concord  to  look 
Into  the  advisability  of  publishing  a  new  history  of  that  city. 

'46.  Rev.  A.  H.  Quint  was  reelected  moderator  for  the  next  three  months  at  the  last 
meeting  of  the  Ministers'  Club  in  Pilgrim  Hall,  Boston. 

'48.  Col.  William  Badger,  of  Belmont,  will  soon  sail  for  a  year's  pleasure  tour  in 
Europe. 

'49.  Hon.  Stephen  M.  Crosby  attended  the  reunion  of  the  Massachusetts  senate  of 
1870. 

'50  Med.  Coll.  Albert  Alonzo  Moulton,  of  Tilton,  died  recently.  He  was  formerly  a 
very  prominent  physician.  He  was  a  surgeon  in  the  Fourth  N.  H.  Volunteers  during  the 
war.     He  leaves  no  family. 


33$  ALUMNI  NOTES. 

'53.  Prof.  C.  A.  Young  will  come  to  Hanover,  June  1,  with  his  family  to  spend  the  sum- 
mer. 

'56.     Hon.  B.  F.  Prescott  is  president  of  the  Provident  Mutual  Relief  Association. 

'56  Med.  Coll.  Hon.  G.  P.  Conn,  of  Concord,  president  of  the  New  Hampshire  Board 
of  Health,  read  a  paper  at  the  annual  session  of  the  Association  of  Railway  Surgeons  in 
the  United  States,  held  in  St.  Louis. 

'57.  Hon.  S.  E.  Pingree,  of  Hartford,  Vt.,  is  a  director  of  the  Cardiff  Coal  and  Iron 
Co.,  of  Cardiff,  Tenn. 

'58.  Rev.  S.  C.  Beane,  of  Newburyport,  Mass.,  will  deliver  the  baccalaureate  sermon  at 
Proctor  academy,  Andover. 

'58.  W.  L.  Thompson,  of  Lawrence,  Mass.,  will  be  Memorial  Day  orator  at  White- 
field. 

'59.  Benjamin  Lovering  Pease  died  recently  at  his  home  in  Chicago.  He  was  a  native 
of  Meredith,  and  was  fifty-five  years  of  age.     He  read  law  in  Manchester. 

'59.  Rev.  Frederick  S.  Fisher,  of  St.  Johnsbury,  Vt.,  has  accepted  a  call  to  the  Epis- 
copal church  at  Deposit,  N.  Y. 

'59.  Hon.  John  F.  Colby,  of  Boston,  will  preside  at  the  triennial  reunion  of  the  Alumni 
of  McCullom  Institute  at  Mount  Vernon.     Hon.  G.  A.  Marden  '61  will  be  orator. 

'60.  Rev.  Arthur  Little  will  deliver  an  address  Commencement  week  at  the  University 
of  Vermont. 

'60.  Ira  G.  Hoitt,  of  San  Francisco,  is  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  in  Cal- 
ifornia. 

'61.  Rev.  H.  P.  Page,  of  Centre  Harbor,  who  has  been  supplying  the  Congregational 
church  at  Canterbury  the  past  winter,  has  been  engaged  for  a  year. 

'63.  Hon.  Wilder  L.  Burnap  is  prominently  mentioned  as  candidate  for  state  auditor  of 
Vermont. 

'63.     Hon.  Charles  A.  Pillsbury,  of  Minneapolis,  will  spend  the  summer  in  Europe. 

'64.  Hon.  Eugene  Lewis,  of  Moline,  111.,  has  a  letter  on  the  "  Pardoning  Power"  in  the 
March  Century. 

'64.     John  H.  Albin  is  mentioned  as  one  of  the  largest  tax-payers  of  Henniker. 

'65.  Algernon  Benton  Baldwin  died  recently  at  his  home  in  Chicago.  He  was  a  native 
of  Hancock,  and  was  fifty  years  of  age.     He  graduated  at  the  Albany  Law  School  in  1868. 

'66  Med.  Coll.  O.  B.  Way  is  a  delegate-elect  from  the  Claremont  district  to  the  Ecu- 
menical Conference  of  the  Methodist  church. 

'67.  A  recent  number  of  the  Twentieth  Century  Review  contains  a  portrait  and  sketch 
of  the  life  of  F.  G.  Mather,  who  is  so  well  known  as  a  newspaper  editor  and  a  contributor 
to  magazine  literature. 

'67  Med.  Coll.  H.  P.  Watson  recently  delivered  a  lecture  in  the  Lyceum  course  at 
Haverhill  academy,  on  Patrick  Henry  in  the  American  Revolution. 

'71.     E.  G.  Leach  has  been  elected  a  director  of  the  New  Hampshire  Cattle  Company. 

'71  C.  S.  S.  Charles  G.  Johnson  is  president  of  the  Northwestern  Loan  and  Trust  Co., 
of  St.  Paul. 


ALUMNI  NOTES,  339 

'71  Agr.  Coll.  William  P.  Ballard,  of  Concord,  has  been  appointed  to  the  Board  of 
Examiners  for  the  State  Agricultural  college. 

'72.  Hon.  George  Fred  Williams,  of  Boston,  has  gone  to  Old  Point  Comfort  on  account 
of  a  throat  trouble. 

'72.  C.  H.  Sawyer  is  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  Tri-County  News,  published  at 
Peattsville,  Kan.     Mr.  Sawyer  also  carries  on  an  extensive  real  estate  and  loan  business. 

'72.  Henry  D.  Pierce  has  moved  from  Toledo  to  Oak  Park,  111.  He  has  charge  of  the 
Chicago  Marble  Company. 

'72  Med.  Coll.  W.  D.  Aldrich  has  been  elected  supervisor  of  the  town  of  Warrens- 
'burgh,  N.  Y. 

'73.  William  Guthrie,  a  well  known  lawyer  of  Albany,  N.  Y.,  died  April  16.  He  was 
born  in  Iowa  thirty-nine  years  ago.  He  graduated  at  the  Albany  Law  School  in  1880,  and 
practised  his  profession  in  San  Francisco  until  he  moved  to  Albany. 

'73.  Rev.  F.  E.  Clark,  president  of  the  United  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  is  attend- 
ing a  series  of  conventions  in  the  Western  states.  Large  and  enthusiastic  meetings  have 
been  held  in  Omaha,  Kansas  City,  Colorado  Springs,  Denver,  Salt  Lake  City,  and  Los 
Angeles. 

'•J2-  Rev.  N.  T.  Dyer,  of  Dighton,  has  received  a  call  from  the  Second  Congregational 
church  of  Medfield,  Mass. 

'74.     Rev.  A.  F.  Newton,  of  Marlboro,  Mass.,  will  be  orator  at  Harvard  Memorial  Day. 

'74.     Prof.  Scott  has  bought  a  house  on  College  street,  which  he  will  move  into  soon. 

'74.     W.  E.  Petrie  is  in  Union  Theological  Seminary. 

'76.     Herbert  J.  Barton  is  principal  of  the  high  school  at  Normal,  111. 

'77.  John  W.  Willis  is  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Willis  &  Nelson,  attorneys  and  coun- 
sellors at  law,  St.  Paul.     Address  :  N.  Y.  Life  Insurance  Building,  Room  509. 

'78.  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  Parkhurst,  editor  of  Zion's  Herald, — a  paper  which,  by  the  way 
under  its  present  management,  has  leaped  into  the  front  ranks  of  scholarly,  progressive, 
and  spiritually  stimulating  religious  journalism, — made  a  tour  of  the  South  not  long  ago, 
and  on  his  return  complied  with  an  invitation  to  deliver  an  address  on  the  race  problem 
before  the  Congregational  ministers  at  their  Monday  morning  assemblage  in  Pilgrim  Hall. 
His  attitude  was  both  stern  in  rebuke  of  outrages  committed  by  white  upon  black  men, 
and  broad,  sympathetic,  and  charitable  in  appreciation  of  the  circumstances  which  explain, 
while  they  do  not  excuse,  these  outrages.  Dr.  Parkhurst's  picture  of  negro  ignorance  and 
immorality  was  frightful ;  but  his  account  of  what  mission  schools  are  accomplishing  was 
hopeful. — Christian  Union. 

'78.  Rev.  T.  C.  H.  Bouton,  of  Hopkinton,  has  presented  an  organ  to  the  Congrega- 
tional society  of  that  place. 

'78  C.  S.  S.     J.  C.  Kingman  is  secretary  of  the  Cedar  Falls  Paper  Co.,  Cedar  Falls,  Iowa. 

'78.     Amos  H.  Carpenter  has  been  admitted  to  the  bar  in  New  York  city. 

'78  C.  S.  S.  C.  E.  Cloud  is  engaged  in  the  real  estate  and  insurance  business  at  160 
Rockaway  Ave.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

'80.  Dr.  F.  F.  Smith  is  practising  in  St,  Augustine,  Fla.,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Flor- 
ida State  Board  of  Medical  Examiners. 


34° 


ALUMNI  NOTES. 


'80.  Hon.  W.  E.  Barrett  addressed  a  recent  meeting  of  the  New  England  Paper  Trade 
Association  on  the  Southern  problem. 

'80.     E.  G.  Moore  is  teaching  German  in  a  Catholic  school  at  Garden  City,  Long  Island. 

'80.     C.  H.  Stout  is  principal  of  St.  Luke's  school,  Bustleton,  Penn. 

'81.  Rev.  G.  W.  Patterson,  who  has  moved  to  Hanover,  preached  in  the  college  church 
April  27. 

'81.  Rev.  James  E.  Odlin,  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  at  Goffstown,  has  ten- 
dered his  resignation  to  take  effect  July  1.  He  was  installed  as  pastor  of  the  church  July  ij 
1886. 

'82.     M.  L.  Sanborn  is  attorney  and  counsellor  at  law,  27  Tremont  Row,  Boston. 

'82.  Hon.  Seth  P.  Smith  was  elected  president  of  the  New  England  Association  of 
Theta  Delta  Chi  at  the  recent  annual  meeting  in  Boston. 

'82  C.  S.  S.  J.  N.  Drew  is  manager  of  the  Carson  French  Machine  Co.,  21  Hamilton. 
St.,  Boston,  Mass. 

'83.     H.  A.  Drew,  of  Lincoln,  Neb.,  is  visiting  at  his  old  home,  Colebrook. 

'83.     Burt  Chellis  is  engaged  in  extensive  building  operations  at  Claremont. 

'84.  C.  O.  Thurston  was  married  recently  to  Miss  Bertha  A.  Brown,  of  Newport.. 
Address :  Kingston,  Penn. 

'84.  Rev.  Thomas  Bakes  has  resigned  from  St.  Andrew's  church  in  Lowell,  Mass.,  on 
account  of  his  health,  and  will  go  to  a  different  climate.  He  has  been  called  to  Omaha, 
Neb.,  to  be  assistant  to  the  bishop. 

'85.     Richard  Hovey  is  in  New  York,  fitting  for  the  stage. 

'86.  J.  G.  Thompson,  principal  of  the  Southboro  (Mass.)  high  school,  has  been  elected 
superintendent  for  one  year  of  a  new  school-district,  comprising  the  towns  of  Shrewsbury,. 
Northboro,  Southboro,  and  Berlin. 

'86.  William  L.  Quimby,  recently  of  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  has  entered  into  partnership 
with  Hon.  H.  C.  Ide  '66,  in  law  business  at  St.  Johnsbury,  Vt. 

'86.     K.  H.  Goodwin  has  entered  the  employ  of  a  publishing  house  in  Chicago. 

'86.     J.  W.  Knapp  is  travelling  for  a  New  York  business  firm. 

'86.     F.  T.  Vaughan  is  studying  law  with  Hon.  Ira  Colby  '57,  at  Claremont. 

'8y.     F.  P.  Cleaver  is  professor  of  elocution  at  Lyndon  Institute,  Lyndon  Centre,  Vt. 

'87.  W.  P.  Buckley,  of  Littleton,  will  complete  his  law  studies  in  the  office  of  Bingham,, 
Mitchell  &  Fletcher. 

'88.  Hall  has  recently  had  three  articles  in  the  Christian  Union  on  "  New  England  Fac- 
tory Life." 

'88.     Watkins  and  Walker  have  gone  into  the  real  estate  business  at  Cardiff,  Tenn. 

'88.     Pattee  has  been  appointed  Census  Enumerator. 

'88.     Stokes  is  studying  law  in  Denver,  Col.     Address  :  Essex  Building,  Lawrence  St. 

'89.     Blair  has  been  in  Hanover  for  a  few  days. 

'89.  Philbrick  is  in  the  Boston  &  Maine  railroad  offices  in  Boston.  Residence,  Sum- 
mer St.,  Maiden. 


THE 


Dartmouth  Literary  Monthly. 

Vol.  IV.  JUNE,  1890.  No.  9. 

BOARD    OF   EDITORS: 

J.  H.  GEROULD.  •  G.  S.  MILLS.  C.  F.  ROBINSON. 

H.  S.  HOPKINS.  C.  M.  SMITH. 

C.  A.  PERKINS,  Business  Manager. 


THE  MAN  FROM  HANOVER. 

Nearly  coincident  with  the  publication  of  this  magazine  the 
Man  from  Hanover  will  make  his  appearance  at  the  gates  of  the 
city.  His  Seniority  has  given  him  wisdom,  and  he  knows  some- 
thing of  the  battle  he  is  to  wage.  He  knows  of  that  outer  wall  of 
prejudice  against  youth  in  the  serious  matters  of  life  that  surrounds 
the  town;  that  this  rampart  must  be  passed  first  of  all.  Here  he 
will  find  two  methods  open  to  him.  He  may  either  stand  boldly 
forth  and  ply  his  battering-ram  against  the  hard  barrier,  or  he 
may  steal  over  the  wall  at  some  unprotected  spot  and  gain  the 
inside  by  reason  of  his  acuteness.  The  first  method  creates  an 
uproar,  and  makes  the  world  look  at  him  ;  the  second  is  less  glo- 
rious, but  is  also  at  less  cost  of  muscle  and  nerve  force.  And 
then,  once  inside,  the  Man  from  Hanover  knows  of  the  wander- 
ings he  must  make  through  the  streets  by  day  and  by  night ;  the 
Juggernaut  car  of  the  law,  whose  wheels  he  must  stay  while  he 
clambers  on  rather  than  falls  before ;  the  printing-presses  he  must 
make  silent,  that  the  editor  may  listen  to  his  demand  for  oppor- 
tunity to  illumine  the  world ;  the  stock-tickers  he  must  still,  long 
enough  for  him  to  get  the  rudiments  of  Napoleonic  financiering ; 
the  theological  debates  he  must  quench,  while  the  church  listens  to 
his  plea ; — in  a  word,  he  has  heard  before  now  of  the  difficulties 


342  THE  MAN  FROM  HANOVER. 

that  are  to  be  overcome  before  he  can  gain  a  foothold  in  the  pro- 
fessions that  abound  in  the  city  he  has  come  from  the  green  valley 
of  the  Connecticut  to  conquer.  His  roll  of  Latin-inscribed  sheep- 
skin is  not  a  magic  wand,  he  himself  is  not  a  Prince  Charming, 
and  the  way  to  fame  is  over  stony  roads,  and  through  jostling 
crowds  every  man  of  which  is  filled  with  the  rough  instinct  of 
self-preservation.  All  these  things  the  Senior  knows  by  heart; 
he  would  intuitively  feel  them  even  though  they  were  not  dinned 
into  his  ears  at  every  Commencement  time.  But  the  question  that 
is  instantly  suggested  by  this  train  of  thought  is  not  quite  so  self- 
evident.  It  is  this  :  What  are  the  qualifications  of  the  Man  from 
Hanover  to  begin  the  battle  and  win  what  he  desires? 

In  the  first  place,  it  may  be  said,  in  a  general  way,  that  he  will 
come  down  from  his  Alma  Mater  with  a  sound  body.  The  west 
wind  that  blows  from  over  the.  Norwich  hills  has  been  always 
laden  with  health  and  vigor ;  the  uncompromising  cold  of  winter 
has  been  an  annual  tonic  to  every  fibre  of  the  system ;  the  incon- 
veniences that  are  often  the  cause  of  small  social  rebellions  have 
themselves  been  masked  benefits.  The  sun,  the  sky,  the  out-of- 
door  rusticity  of  the  place,  have  been  all  along  building  up  an 
energetic  physique.  Dissipation  has  not  sapped  the  body ;  the 
thing  in  its  true  form  is  not  known  up  there  on  the  Connecticut. 
Our  Senior  may  fondly  believe  that  at  times  he  has  been  a  very 
wild  fellow  indeed ;  he  will  live  to  smile  at  himself,  perhaps  to 
wish  himself  as  clean  as  in  those  days  when  he  seemed  to  be  so 
"rough,  and  dev'lish  sly."  Nor  has  his  mind — thank  Heaven — 
become  blase,  and  filled  with  a  dreary  pity  for  the  nobler  and 
higher  efforts  of  life.  Prof.  Wentworth,  of  Exeter,  that  splendid 
mathematician  and  brusque  man  of  affairs,  once  said  to  me, — 
"What  I  have  especially  noticed  and  admired  in  Dartmouth  men 
is,  the  total  absence  of  the  feeling  that  life  is  not  worth  living,  and 
that  a  college  Senior  has  passed  through  about  everything  worthy 
of  experience  and  only  blankness  is  ahead."  This  description 
holds  as  good  for  the  class  of  1890,  I  am  sure,  as  for  any  class 
and  all  classes.  The  latest  alumnus,  then,  will  begin  his  work 
with  a  healthy  body,  and  a  healthy  mind  as  its  tenant.     The  good 


THE  MAN  FROM  HANOVER.  343 

old  stock  from  which  Dartmouth  draws  the  majority  of  her  sons 
will  prove  itself  over  and  over  again.  As  to  his  moral  nature, 
not  much  need  be  said  just  at  this  time.  I  am  speaking  of  bread- 
winning  now ;  and  if  a  man  has  a  conscience,  and  uses  it  with  a 
tolerable  perspective  of  what  is  due  to  his  environs,  he  need  not 
fear  as  to  what  effect  his  views  on  the  hereafter  will  have  upon 
his  rise  in  the  world.  I  would  hesitate  to  recommend  for  almost 
any  position  a  man  whose  morality  was  so  intense  as  to  monop- 
olize all  his  mental  activities.  We  have  all  seen  him.  But  the 
Dartmouth  man,  I  sincerely  believe,  will  bear  an  average  com- 
parison with  any  for  honesty  and  a  good  healthy  perception  of 
what  is  demanded  from  him,  and  what  he  ought  to  get  in  return. 
There  are  no  valid  reasons,  so  far  as  his  college  is  concerned, 
why  he  should  be  a  knave ;  there  are  a  great  many  why  he 
should  not. 

But  what  of  the  intellect  of  the  Man  from  Hanover,  and  his 
power  to  use  it?  What  has  his  college  done  for  him  in  getting 
him  ready  to  grapple  with  the  problems  of  the  world  in  which  he 
finds  himself,  to  have  a  clear  perception  of  cause  and  effect,  and 
to  become  master  of  events  to  a  limited  human  extent?  This 
question  and  its  answer  are  all  in  all.  A  man  may  be  a  physical 
splendor  and  a  mental  apology,  a  moral  saint  and  a  grievous  intel- 
lectual sinner.  I  remember  well  my  first  feeling  of  exultation, 
on  leaving  college  and  getting  into  my  work,  on  finding  that  there 
were  no  more  measuring  machines  to  go  under  in  order  to  deter- 
mine how  near  the  rear  of  a  procession  I  was  to  be  placed ;  I  was 
glad  to  find  that  the  only  measurement  at  all  in  use  was  to  ascer- 
tain the  size  of  that  small,  though  somewhat  important,  region 
along  the  top  of  the  skull ;  that  if  Six  Feet  was  found  deficient, 
Five  and  a  Half  Feet  marched  ahead  of  him  with  the  full  consent  of 
everybody. 

The  mind  of  the  Man  from  Hanover  maybe  primarily  described 
as  having  "momentum."  It  will  go  out  against  the  surrounding 
facts  of  life  with  a  good  degree  of  energy  and  intensity  of  pur- 
pose. Just  why  this  is  so  has  not  always  logically  appeared ;  but 
the   fact  has  been   accepted  in  the  past,  and  holds  true  to-day. 


344  THE  MAN  FROM  HANOVER. 

"  Dartmouth  spirit"  is  not  a  meaningless  coinage;  it  has  always 
stood  for  a  directness  and  a  sincerity  of  purpose  that  have  made 
themselves  felt  everywhere.  Perhaps  it  is  breathed  in  with  the 
New  Hampshire  air ;  perhaps  it  steals  out  from  those  grim  old 
class-room  walls ;  or  perhaps  it  is  due  to  the  quality  of  mental 
training  that  comes  from  over  those  unsightly  desks,  before  which 
we  have  all  stood  as  before  a  bar  of  justice.  In  addition,  the 
average  Man  from  Hanover  will  come  to  his  task,  with  the  knowl- 
edge that  he  must  do  his  own  rough-hewing  without  the  golden 
smile  of  Dame  Fortune  at  such  an  early  stage  of  the  game, — an 
impetus  of  necessity,  but  a  very  good  one  for  all  that,  in  starting 
a  young  fellow  in  his  career ;  and  in  the  case  of  our  Senior,  it  will 
fill  him  with  the  desire  to  deal  some  sledge-hammer  blows  at  the 
destiny  he  has  set  about  carving.  This  feature  of  his  make-up  he 
should  try  to  repress  somewhat.  The  Dartmouth  man  lacks 
savoir  faire,  to  use  a  much  maltreated,  but  exactly  appropriate, 
phrase.  Whatever  virtues  that  ''loveliest  village  of  the  plain" 
possesses,  she  does  not  teach  her  temporary  children  the  finer  and 
subtler  touches  that  would  do  so  much  at  the  outset,  and  which 
must  be  learned  eventually  for  complete  success.  There  are 
various  little  social  amenities  which  the  student  has  not  dreamed 
of  in  his  Hanoverian  philosophy.  He  will  need  them  as  truly  as 
he  will  need  that  restless  energy  and  vigorous  mentality  of  his. 
He  cannot  always  forge  thunderbolts. 

But  with  all  its  energetic  moving  force  and  ability  to  overcome 
obstacles,  the  mind  of  the  Man  from  Hanover  is  certainly  lacking 
in  one  respect :  it  has  not  the  power  of  making  new  roads  :  on  the 
old  lines  it  is  wholly  capable,  but  it  does  not  explore.  The  aver- 
age Dartmouth  man  is  not  original.  He  makes  a  thoroughly  good 
teacher ;  he  is  a  competent  lawyer ;  he  solidly  adorns  the  pulpit ; 
he  is  beginning  to  appear  as  a  newspaper  man ;  but  all  these 
things  he  does  mainly  as  they  have  been  done.  So  we  find  no 
Dartmouth  poets,  no  novelists,  no  free-thinkers  (in  the  best  sense, 
of  course),  no  great  inventors  or  scientific  discoverers.  Dart- 
mouth has  founded  no  cults,  no  theologies,  and  her  }^ounger  men 
seem  no  more  likely  to  help   do  so  than  the  older  ones.     This 


THE  MAN  FROM  HANOVER.  345 

lack,  it  seems  to  me, — and  the  discovery  is  not  mine, — is  partly 
traceable  to  the  methods  of  instruction  in  the  college.  Spite  of 
faculty  disclaimers,  which  we  have  all  heard  from  time  to  time, 
freedom  of  thought — or  better,  perhaps,  freedom  of  its  expres- 
sion— is  not  very  warmly  received  at  Hanover.  Of  course  in 
mathematics  and  the  other  exact  sciences  this  is  neither  expected 
nor  desired ;  a  sublime  faith  in  Euclid  and  Hardy  is  just  as  condu- 
cive to  correct  thinking,  as  any  attempts  to  prove  that  what  they  say 
is  untrue.  But  in  other  branches,  like  political  economy,  history, 
psychology,  and  that  minute,  but  pungent,  smattering  of  theology 
which  the  senior  class  enjoys  each  year,  it  is  not  possible  to  go 
alone.  The  marking  system  steps  up  and  tells  you  that  although 
you  may  advance  protection  ideas  while  studying  a  free-trade 
book,  your  rank  will  suffer  in  the  ratio  of  your  ability  to  present 
your  views  ;  that  you  may  look  askance  at  certain  psychological 
assertions  if  you  choose,  but  must  prepare  for  the  reflex  action  on 
your  marks  ;  that  you  may  even  dare  to  doubt  some  of  the  learned 
Dr.  Hopkins's  opinions,  but  beware  the  Ides  of  Commencement! 
In  one  or  two  class-rooms  there  are  shining  exceptions  to  this 
condition  of  things,  and  I  recall  them  with  positive*  gratitude. 
That  the  general  tendency,  however,  is  as  I  have  said,  few  Dart- 
mouth men  will  deny.  This  can  by  no  means  prevent  the  success 
of  the  Man  from  Hanover ;  but  the  perfect,  college  method  should 
allow  freedom  without  license,  and  should  weave  its  bonds  quietly 
of  silk,  not  forge  them  noisily  of  steel.     The  world  will  be  quick 

to  feel  the  difference. 

W.  D.  Quint. 


346  NICOLAI  GOGOL. 

NICOLAI  GOGOL. 

The  literary  world  has  been  rocked  with  praises  or  criticisms  of 
Tourguenief  and  Tolstoi.  These  masters  have  assumed  the  lead- 
ership of  modern  fiction.  During  the  last  five  years  they  have 
been  all  the  rage,  while  Gogol  and  Dostoyevsky  have  lingered  in 
comparative  obscurity.  Anna  Karenina,  Virgin  Soil,  War  and 
Peace,  Fathers  and  Sons,  have  been  translated  and  translated, 
commented  on,  criticized,  lauded,  while  Crime  and  Punishment, 
with  its  dense  background  of  horror  no  novel  has  ever  surpassed, 
and  Tar  ass  Bulba,  which  Guizot  calls  the  only  modern  epic 
worthy  the  name,  have  lain  almost  forgotten  on  the  shelves  of  the 
bookseller. 

To  those  who  have  only  contempt  for  Gautier's  maxim,  "Uart 
■pour  Vart,"  the  first  of  Russia's  great  writers  was  Nicolai  Gogol. 
He  was  a  Ukraine  Cossack,  but  two  removes  from  the  last  of  the 
Polish  wars  :  to  a  Russian  this  accounts  for  his  peculiarities.  His 
is  a  melancholy  story,  one  of  the  saddest  in  literature.  A  thought- 
ful, religiously  inclined  man,  his  early  hardships  and  associa- 
tion with  a  fanatic  artist  in  Rome  caused  him  to  go  to  wild  ex- 
tremes of  self-mortification.  But  he  fulfilled  his  mission.  He  had 
satirized  the  bureaucracy  that  sits  like  a  nightmare  on  Russia's 
breast.  He  had  exposed  one  of  the  many  dark  sides  of  Russia's 
44  peculiar  institutions."  He  had  disclosed  to  public  gaze  much 
folk-lore  of  Little  Russia.  Some  say  his  powers,  weakened  by 
ascetic  severity,  were  waning,  and  mayhap  it  is  well  he  died, 
while,  to  the  public,  his  abilities  were  at  their  zenith.  He  is  the 
acknowledged  leader,  in  point  of  date  at  least,  in  the  Russian 
branch  of  the  path  of  realism.  The  humorous  portions  of  Gogol's 
works  were  written,  as  a  relief,  while  the  morbid  gloom  of  the 
Russians  mind  was  settling  in  ever  deepening  intensity  on  the 
author's  soul.  Story-telling  was  Gogol's  forte.  In  Old-Fashioned 
Farmers  he  reached  the  height  of  the  art.  None  but  a  master 
could  make  interesting  the  barrenness  of  the  narrative,  painful  in 
its  minuteness  of  detail. 

Nicholas   reigned    absolute ;    the   Decembrists    were    crushed. 


NICOLAI  GOGOL.  347 

Years  of  mental  torpor  settled  on  Russia.  The  times  demanded  a 
protester.  He  came.  Nicolai  Gogol  was  the  unflinching  pro- 
tester, the  stern  denouncer  of  the  Russian  aristocracy,  with  its 
brutishness  thinly  veneered  with  Western  culture.  Down  came  a 
whirlwind  of  wrath.  The  ridiculed  feared  their  merciless  critic, 
and  swooped  down  upon  him ;  but  in  spite  of  its  satire  Nicholas 
was  pleased  with  The  Revisor,  and,  it  is  said,  laughed  till  the  tears 
ran.  For  once  the  bureaucrats  were  thwarted.  Gogol's  expe- 
rience of  one  year  in  a  government  office  soon  after  his  arrival  in 
St.  Petersburg  furnished  him  with  material  for  his  tales  of  tchinov- 
nik life,  including  this  comedy  and  a  tale,  Le  Manteau.  Akakia 
Akakievitch  was  a  tchinovnik  perennially  occupied  in  copying  doc- 
uments in  a  neat  hand,  who,  like  the  rest  of  his  class,  vegetated 
through  existence.  His  scanty  wage  was  not  enough  to  enable 
him  to  provide  himself  with  a  sufficiency  of  fuel,  and  he  wore  day 
and  night  a  cloak  that  in  the  course  of  time  boasted  more  patches 
and  colors  than  Joseph's.  Akakia's  sole  ambition  was  to  purchase 
another  cloak.  For  this  he  scrimped,  scraped,  and  starved.  At 
last  he  is  enabled  to  obtain  the  coveted  mantle.  He  lays  it  at  the 
foot  of  his  bed  when  he  retires,  still  wearing  the  old  one,  and 
awakes  to  find  it  gone.  After  this  there  is  no  joy  in  life  for  the 
old  man,  and  he  fades  away.  The  theme  gives  Gogol  chance  to 
represent  the  utter  barrenness  of  tchinovnik  life. 

Of  all  Gogol's  works,  Poushkin  most  admired  On  the  JVevsky 
Prospect.  Pieskareff,  walking  on  the  Nevsky  Prospect,  meets  a 
beautiful  woman  whose  acquaintance  he  makes.  Learning  the 
shameful  story  of  her  life,  he  i^  filled  with  a  desire  to  reclaim  her, 
and  to  this  end  marries  her  only  to  find  out  too  late  that  his  idol  is 
viler  than  the  commonest  clay.  He  commits  suicide.  The  pow- 
erful portrayal  of  PieskarefFs  mental  agonies,  and  the  magical  de- 
scriptions of  winter  in  St.  Petersburg,  are  what  charmed  Poushkin. 

The  height  of  his  attainments  in  the  line  of  beauty  Gogol 
reached  in  Tarass  Bulba,  one  of  the  series  of  tales  descriptive  of 
Little-Russian  life,  entitled  Evenings  in  a  Farm-house  near  Di- 
kanka.  The  two  sons  of  Tarass,  Ostap  and  Andre,  come  home 
from  the  Kiev  seminary,  and  instead  of  welcoming  them,  rough 


348  NICOLAI  GOGOL. 

old  Tarass  ridicules  their  academic  garb  till  he  makes  Ostap 
furiously  angry,  and  the  latter  threatens  to  thrash  him  though  he 
be  his  father.  Tarass  accepts  the  challenge,  and  father  and  son 
begin  to  pummel  each  other.  Tarass  is  so  pleased  with  his  sons 
that  he  determines  to  take  them  next  morning  to  the  syetch  for 
enlistment.  The  mother,  who  is  heart-hungry  for  her  children, 
protests,  and  is  rudely  told  to  let  men's  affairs  alone.  Arrived  at 
the  camp,  they  find  an  expedition  against  Dubno  on  the  tapis. 
In  this  town  dwells  the  girl  with  whom  the  collegian  Andre  fell  in 
love  at  Kiev.  For  her  he  deserts  everything,  and  goes  over  to 
the  Poles.     In  the  thick  of  battle  he  meets  his  father. 

4 'And  he  saw  before  him  nothing,  nothing  but  the  terrific  figure 
of  his  father.  '  Well,  what  are  we  to  do  now?'  said  Tarass,  look- 
ing him  full  in  the  face.  'To  betray  thy  faith!  to  betray  thy 
brother !  Dismount  from  thy  horse,  traitor !  Stand !  do  not 
move! 'cried  Tarass.  'I  gave  thee  life;  I  slay  thee!'  Andre's 
face  was  deadly  pale.  His  lips  moved  slowly  as  he  uttered  some 
name,  but  it  was  not  the  name  of  his  mother,  country,  or  kin;  it 
was  the  name  of  the  beautiful  Polish  girl.  Tarass  fired.  His 
manly  face,  but  now  full  of  power  and  a  fascination  which  no 
woman  could  resist,  still  retained  its  marvellous  beauty,  and  his 
black  eyebrows  seemed  to  heighten  the  pallor  of  his  features. 
'What  a  Cossack  he  might  have  been,' murmured  Tarass;  'so 
tall  his  stature,  so  black  his  eyebrows,  with  the  countenance  of  a 
noble,  and  an  arm  strong  in  battle  !'" 

Soon  afterwards  Bulba  and  Ostap  are  surprised  by  a  party  of 
Poles.  Bulba  escapes,  but  Ostap  is  made  prisoner,  carried  off  to 
Warsaw,  and  condemned  to  die. 

"'O  my  son  Ostap!  O  Ostap,  my  son!'  Bright  and  wide 
rolled  the  Black  sea  at  his  feet.  The  gulls  shrieked  around  him 
while  he  sat  motionless,  his  white  hairs  glistening  like  silver,  and 
the  great  tears  rolling  down  his  furrowed  cheeks." 

Tarass  cannot  endure  it,  and  in  company  with  a  Jew,  Yankel, 
disguised,  makes  his  way  to  Warsaw,  where  he  finds  Ostap  on  the 
scaffold,  and  the  latter,  dismayed  at  the  sea  of  hostile  faces,  cries 
out, — 


NICOLAI  GOGOL.  349 

'"O  my  father!  where  art  thou?  Dost  thou  see?'  'I  see, 
my  son  !' resounded  through  the  dead  silence,  and  all  the  thou- 
sands trembled  at  that  voice." 

In  the  story  of  Andre's  love  for  the  fair  Polish  girl  are  many 
dainty  touches  that  leave  a  sweet  memory  in  the  reader's  mind. 
The  vivid  pictures  of  the  struggle  of  Audie  between  love  and 
duty  are  marvellous. 

In  the  days  of  serfdom  proprietors  paid  a  head-tax  on  their 
serfs,  the  number  being  that  returned  by  the  preceding  census. 
On  this  fact  hinges  the  plot  of  Dead  Souls.  One  Tchitchikoff, 
hitting  on  the  idea  that  proprietors  would  gladly  sell  the  names 
of  their  dead  souls  {souls  is  Russian  for  serfs),  thus  avoiding  pay- 
ing the  tax,  goes  about  the  country  buying  these  names  with 
intent  to  borrow  money  on  them,  and  with  it  buy  real  lands  and 
serfs.  This  gives  Gogol  opportunity  to  depict  the  social  condition 
of  various  portions  of  the  empire.  Said  Poushkin,  after  perusal, 
"  Great  God  !  I  did  not  dream  Russia  was  such  a  dark  country." 
Gogol's  works  are  by  no  means  entirely  objective,  and  this  one, 
written  in  Italy,  is  especially  marked  with  the  author's  personality. 
Gogol's  love  for  Russia  never  waned.  Every  chapter  speaks 
of  it. 

"Russia!  Russia!  My  thoughts  turn  to  thee  from  my  won- 
drous, beautiful,  foreign  home.  Nature  has  been  unlavish  in  her 
gifts  to  thee.  No  grand  views  to  cheer  the  eye  or  inspire  the 
soul  with  awe  !  no  many-windowed  cities,  with  their  lofty  palaces 
planted  on  precipices,  embowered  in  groves  and  ivy  that  cling  to 
the  walls  amidst  the  eternal  roar  of  waterfalls  !  No  traveller  turns 
back  to  gaze  on  huge  masses  of  mountain  granite  that  tower  in 
endless  succession  above  and  around  him.  All  with  thee  is  open, 
level,  and  monotonous.  And  yet,  what  is  this  force  which  attracts 
me  to  thee?  Why  are  mine  ears  filled  with  the  sounds  of  thy  sad 
songs  as  they  are  wafted  along  thy  valleys  and  huge  plains? 
What  are  those  melancholy  notes  that  lull,  but  pierce  the  heart 
and  enslave  the  soul?  Russia,  what  is  it  thou  wouldst  with  me? 
I  feel  my  thoughts  benumbed  and  mute  in  presence  of  thy  vast 
expanse.     What  does  that  indefinable,  unbounded  expanse  fore- 


350  NICOLAI  GOGOL. 

tell?  And  threateningly  the  mighty  expanse  surrounds  me, 
reflecting  its  terrible  strength  within  my  soul  of  souls,  and  illum- 
ing my  sight  with  unearthly  power.  What  a  bright,  marvellous, 
weird  expanse  !" 

In  Dead  Souls  and  The  Revisor  Gogol  dealt  sturdy  blows 
against  two  great  Russian  evils, — serfdom  and  the  official  corrup- 
tion with  which  the  country  is  honeycombed.  In  the  second  part 
of  Dead  Souls  he  intended  to  depict  an  ideal  Russia  ;  but  the  hand 
directed  by  a  mind  enfeebled  by  fasting  and  mortifications  burned 
the  manuscript,  and  there  was  left  to  the  world  merely  an  incom- 
plete copy,  from  which  it  is  impossible  to  judge  what  would  have 
been  the  completed  work. 

It  were  well  for  the  reader  whose  mind  revels  in  the  majestic 
beauty,  the  wondrous  pathos,  of  Tarass  Bulba,  to  think  of  the  tor- 
tured spirit  that  opened  the  gates  of  realism  in  Russia,  that  pre- 
pared the  nations  for  a  hearing  of  the  mouthpiece  of  the  religion  of 
submission. 

It  were  well  for  the  reader  who  rejoices  that  there  was  one  man 
in  Dead  Souls  and  The  Revisor  to  prick  the  festering  sores  of  the 
Russian  body  politic,  to  pause  and  meditate  on  the  sad  career  of 
Nicolai  Gogol ;  to  drop  a  tear  to  the  memory  of  the  saintly  man 
and  patriot  who  in  his  last  hours  prayed  that  his  works  might  per- 
ish from  the  earth  as  "the  products  of  a  pitiable  vanity  before  I 
had  learned  the  true  mission  of  man  ;"  whose  last  lines  were,  "  I 
have  studied  life  as  it  really  is,  not  in  dreams  of  the  imagination  : 
and  thus  I  have  come  to  a  conception  of  Him  who  is  the  source  of 
all  life." 

Barron  Shirley. 


PRE-REVOLUTIONARY  ORATORY.  35 1 


PRE-REVOLUTIONARY   ORATORY. 

To  make  high  claims  for  early  New  England  oratory  may  seem 
ludicrous,  yet  the  impartial  student  of  our  pre-revolutionary  his- 
tory will,  unless  a  dullard,  discover  flashings  of  genius  worthy  of 
extended  notice  and  praise. 

Not  to  advance  premises  to  be  bolstered  up  by  hook  or  by 
crook,  but  briefly  to  review  the  oratorical  pretentions  and  accom- 
plishments of  our  fathers  of  three  and  four  generations  ago,  is  the 
object  of  this  paper.  At  the  outset  we  are  confronted  by  the 
query,  What  of  the  men,  what  of  their  environments,  to  what 
extent  are  we  their  debtors?  No  loyal  New  Englander  has  read, 
or  will  ever  read,  the  story  of  the  Mayflower  and  its  sequel  with- 
out his  heart's  firing  anew,  and  himself  being  made  a  truer  patriot 
and  better  citizen. 

The  people  of  the  West  and  South,  fearful  for  the  realization  of 
their  own  ambitious  dreams,  find  a  selfish  pleasure  in  calling  their 
cousins  of  New  England  '*  proud  and  jealous."  Be  it  so  !  We  are 
the  descendants  of  no  mean  ancestry.  If  we  are  proud  of  our  his- 
tory and  of  our  influence,  it  is  a  pardonable  pride.  If  we  are  jeal- 
ous of  our  reputation  and  power,  we  have  reasons  for  being  so. 
Who  shall  estimate  what  percentage  of  Western  thrift  and  enter- 
prise is  due  to  New  England  influence?  To  her  the  Western 
states  are  largely  indebted  for  their  best  blood,  their  institutions, 
their  ideals  of  liberty. 

What  moulding  influence  environment  had  with  the  American 
colonists  is  an  open  question  ;  but,  undoubtedly,  the  old  saw,  that 
"They  who  change  their  skies  do  not  change  their  dispositions," 
is  as  true  now  as  in  Horace's  day.  Yet  the  landing  on  an  inhos- 
pitable shore  of  those  one  hundred  and  one  pilgrims,  exiles  for 
conscience's  sake,  the  consciousness  of  being  surrounded  by  sav- 
ages whose  dark  hearts  were  lighted  by  no  ray  of  human  sympa- 
thy, that  terrible  first  winter,  and  the  subsequent  oppression  of  the 
mother  country,  made  impressions  not  to  be  forgotten  in  one  gen- 


352  PRE-REVOLUTIONARY  ORATORY. 

eration.  If  the  occasion  discovers  the  orator,  and  his  ability  is 
judged  by  the  effect  his  words  produced,  we  can  little  doubt  that 
many  eloquent  discourses,  scorning  the  narrow  limits  of  a  log 
auditorium,  echoed  in  the  surrounding  forest. 

However,  our  knowledge  in  this  direction  is  largely  traditional. 
Not  considering  crises,  which  afterwards  pass  into  history  as 
epochs,  it  must  be  conceded  that  principle  and  convictions  play  an 
important  part  in  the  oratorical  productions  of  any  people.  Speak- 
ing of  the  Puritans,  Professor  Richardson  says, — "  They  gave  up 
lesser  pleasures  for  the  great  inward  joy  of  self-surrender  to  the 
right,  as  they  understood  it."  Principle,  if  by  principle  we  mean 
the  standing  by  one's  convictions,  was  well-nigh  inherent  with  this 
pious  people.  "  We  are  the  chosen  ;  to  us  alone  are  the  oracles 
of  the  Almighty  delivered  "  was  the  boast  of  early  New  Engend- 
ers,— a  narrow  conception  of  the  Creator's  magnanimity,  yet  one 
which  developed  no  mean  type  of  manhood. 

Outside  the  ministry,  education,  as  that  term  is  generally  used, 
was  very  limited ;  but  no  family  was  without  a  Bible  or  a  wonder- 
ful knowledge  of  its  contents.  Doubts  of  its  canonicity,  or  the  pro- 
portion of  inspired  or  uninspired  passages,  troubled  them  not  in  the 
least.  All  was  inspired,  the  veritable  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord." 
Not  only  was  the  Bible  read  and  studied,  but  much  of  its  contents 
was  committed,  and  its  phraseology  was  continually  in  the  mouths 
of  priest  and  parishioner.  The  spirit  of  its  teachings  permeated 
every  sphere,  private  and  public.  When  we  remember  that  in  all 
literature  critics  find  nothing  equalling  the  Scriptures  in  pathos 
and  eloquence,  we  can  in  a  measure  imagine  what  an  influence 
they  must  have  had  on  this  isolated,  deeply  religious  people. 
Every  sermon,  every  prayer-meeting  harangue,  was,  to  a  degree, 
imaginative,  eloquent,  persuasive,  and,  in  the  same  degree,  ora- 
torical. Even  now,  among  our  more  fanatical  religious  denomina- 
tions, there  are  the  same  manifestations.  Who  has  attended  a 
camp-meeting  and  not  had  his  soul  stirred  by  the  impromptu 
efforts  of  an  ungainly  farmer  or  of  an  unlettered  woman  !  Many 
unsung  benefactors,  for  the  most  part  illiterate  save  in  a  knowl- 
edge of  Holy  Writ,  yet  competent  to  instruct  nobles  in  the  finer 


PRE-KEVOLUTIONARY  ORATORY.  353 

qualities  of  civilization,  have  given  a  moulding  touch  to  New  Eng- 
land history. 

Because  of  the  tendencies  of  the  times,  the  young  men  of  educa- 
tion and  promise  chose  the  church  :  as  a  result  many  of  the  first 
ministers  were  but  a  short  time  since  academians  in  Oxford  or 
Cambridge.  Although  they  were  men  of  wide  learning  and 
superior  mental  calibre,  their  attainments  did  not  affect  their  faith 
or  their  creed.  Then  there  were  no  Andover  controversies,  and 
few  are  the  instances  where  clergymen  were  arraigned  for  heresy. 
To  the  great  majority,  hell  and  heaven  were  literal  truths.  Now 
would  the  preacher  describe,  in  tone  and  gesture  most  rapturous, 
that  heaven  in  the  skies,  and  again,  perhaps  in  the  same  dis- 
course, harrow  the  soul  with  a  picturing  of  the  unspeakable  hor- 
rors of  a  hell  in  the  nether  somewhere.  The  problems  of  life  and 
death  had  for  him  an  awful  import. 

This  much  may  be  considered  characteristic  of  all  early  New 
England  preaching.  But  if  we  wish  to  go  into  details  and  trace 
individual  lives,  we  learn  comparatively  little  for  a  certainty. 
There  are,  however,  a  few  marked  exceptions.  The  work  and 
influence  of  the  Mathers,  Edwardses,  Dwights  are  treated  of  at 
length  in  the  meagre  literature  of  the  times.  Who  can  read  one 
of  the  preserved  discourses  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  the  pages  dis- 
figured by  theological  nomenclature  as  they  are,  without  feeling 
that  he  stands  in  the  presence  of  a  master  mind  !  Through  these 
few  scholarly  addresses  the  author  seemed  to  say, — I  come  with 
a  message  and  in  a  strength  not  my  own.  The  Almighty  hath 
given  me  knowledge  of  mysteries,  and  I  cannot  hold  my  peace. 

Were  these  men  not  orators  in  the  truest  sense,  who  were  so 
intensely  earnest,  and  who  for  two  centuries  exerted  a  wonderful 
influence,  largely  through  the  medium  of  the  pulpit?  Did  they 
not  have  a  handicap  over  modern  preachers,  not  one  in  ten  of 
whom  can  give  an  intelligent  statement  of  his  own  belief,  and 
much  less  vouch  for  that  of  his  congregation?  The  Puritan 
preacher  discoursed  of  spirit  and  of  matter,  of  the  now  and  'of  the 
"  to  be,"  and  had  enthusiastic  auditors.  To  meet  the  degenerate 
standard  of  to-day,  the  preacher  must  carry  about  him  an  encyclo- 


354  PRE-REVOLUTIONARY  ORATORY. 

pgedia  of  current  knowledge  from  which  to  make  weekly  deals, 
casting  in  withal  a  few  proverbs  on  morality  for  tradition's  sake. 
There  is  a  tacit  understanding  between  him  and  his  congregation, 
and  each  party  knows  when  the  bounds  are  transgressed.  From 
the  very  circumstances,  other  things  being  equal,  the  old  time 
divine  must  have  been  the  less  trammelled,  the  more  effective 
speaker,  and  so  the  greater  orator. 

But  public  men  were  not  limited  in  their  choice  of  a  profession 
to  the  ministry  alone.  The  religious  element  in  Puritanism  domi- 
nated during  the  first  century  and  a  quarter,  but  when  the  breach 
between  the  colonies  and  the  mother  country  had  sufficiently  wid- 
ened, the  sterner  political  element  manifested  itself.  To  what 
extent  the  religious  element  has  made  America  what  she  is,  we 
cannot  say :  the  political  is  more  tangible.  England  might  scorn  a 
few  long-winded,  bigoted  fanatics,  organized  into  an  ecclesiastical 
body,  but  when  these  same  fanatics  spoke  of  inalienable  rights 
and  civil  polity,  she  could  but  hear.  The  observation,  that  the 
occasion  which  brought  to  the  front  New  England's  galaxy  of 
brilliant  orators  is  unparalleled  in  history,  is  almost  a  common- 
place, but  none  the  less  true.  What  praise  is  there  when  an 
Athens  or  a  Rome,  itself  the  highest  type  of  contemporary  civ- 
ilization, repels  barbarian  hordes?  Nor  can  the  pre-revolutionary 
epochs  be  compared  with  that  pending  the  abolition  of  slavery,  for 
it  is  human  to  fight  harder  for  one's  own  liberties  and  to  wax  more 
eloquent  over  them  than  over  those  of  another.  It  was  New  Eng- 
land that  made  the  initiatory  move  for  a  colonial  congress.  It  was 
in  New  England  that  the  tyrannical  measures  of  George  III  were 
most  fearlessly  denounced,  and  the  first  blood  of  that  fearful  strug- 
gle was  spilled.  What  nerved  a  mere  handful  of  settlers  to  stand 
against  the  most  powerful  and  civilized  nation  of  the  world, — what 
brought  about  results  so  glorious  ?  The  exigencies  of  the  times  ! 
But  what  are  times  and  exigencies  without  the  masterly  inter- 
preters which  they  invariably  produce?  The  exigencies  of  1775 
gave  us  Adams,  Otis,  Quincy,  and  Warren,  than  whom  the  world 
has  not  produced  greater  patriots. 

Without  the  earnest,  godly  preachers  of  1620  we  could  not  have 


THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  FATHER  JEROME.  355 

had  the  political  pilots  of  1775  5  an<*  these,  in  turn,  were  exemplars 
for  Webster  and  Sumner.  Without  that  organization,  Puritanism, 
of  which  they  were  the  product  and  champions,  which  unloosed 
the  tongue  and  steeled  the  arm,  it  is  highly  probable  that  we,  as 
an  independent  nation,  would  not  exist.  A  time  may  come  when, 
with  greater  emergencies,  greater  and  more  eloquent  men  will 
mount  the  bema,  but  certain  it  is  that  for  results  destined  to  be 
felt  for  ages  to  come,  early  New  England  public  speakers  have 
few  peers  in  history. 

W.    C.  Belknap. 


THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  FATHER  JEROME. 

Long  ago,  in  one  of  those  years  whose  date  is  so  difficult  to 
remember  that  no  one  ever  attempts  it,  there  stood  in  southern 
Italy  the  rich  and  famous  monastery  of  the  Four  Evangelists. 
For  many  years  had  the  country  rung  with  the  piety  of  its 
monks  ;  far  and  near  had  gone  the  news  of  the  miraculous  cures 
wrought  by  its  holy  relics,  and  throngs  of  pilgrims  had  come  from 
distant  lands  to  worship  at  its  shrine. 

As  the  years  rolled  on  the  monastery  prospered  in  material 
things  as  well.  Grateful  persons,  who  had  been  cured  at  its  altar, 
gave  it  bountiful  alms ;  the  nobles  and  princes  of  the  district, 
proud  of  its  reputation,  and  wishing  to  make  their  future  welfare 
secure,  showered  upon  it  lands  and  gold  in  profusion ;  and  one 
day  the  monastery  awoke  to  find  itself  the  richest  land-owner  in 
all  Italy.  From  its  great  gates  stretched  away  acre  after  acre, 
groaning  with  the  abundance  of  their  harvests.  Broad  pasture 
lands  supported  flocks  and  herds  that  rivalled  those  of  Abraham 
in  number  and  condition,  while  the  hillsides  beyond  the  intervales 
were  fairly  purple  from  the  great  bunches  of  grapes  whose  rich 
juice  would  soon  be  stored  away  in  the  deep-groined  wine  cellars 
of  the  fathers,  the  contents  of  which  alone  were  worth  an  earl's 
ransom. 


35^  THE   PUNISHMENT  OF  FATHER  JEROME. 

Laid  away  in  the  treasury  of  the  monastery  were  cups  and 
chalices  of  purest  gold ;  on  its  altar  gleamed  jewels,  ravished 
from  the  crowns  of  Eastern  kings  ;  and  garments  of  the  finest  silk 
clothed  the  holy  images  of  its  four  patrons. 

"  When  riches  come  in  at  the  door,  holiness  flies  out  at  the  win- 
dow." With  their  increased  wealth  the  brethren  had  grown  sadly 
deficient  in  those  acts  of  piety  which  in  its  earlier  days  had  ren- 
dered the  monastery  famous  in  the  land.  No  more  was  the  sharp 
whistle  of  the  lash  heard  at  midnight,  as  some  penitent  scourged 
himself  in  travail  of  spirit:  instead,  the  popping  of  corks  sounded 
through  the  long  corridors  as  the  monks  grew  merry  in  the  even- 
ing ;  and  the  rich  harmonies,  that  came  floating  out  on  the  night 
air  to  be  borne  to  the  ears  of  the  country-people  resting  from  their 
labor,  were  more  often  the  strains  of  some  wild  drinking-song  than 
the  notes  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  that  of  old  had  swelled  in 
beauty  along  the  stately  nave  of  the  chapel.  Surely  the  monas- 
tery of  the  Four  Evangelists  was  in  a  bad  way. 

One  morning,  or,  speaking  more  correctly,  noon,  when  the 
brother  appointed  for  the  task  went  to  waken  the  abbot,  he  found 
him  stiff  and  cold  in  his  bed.  On  the  carved  stand  by  the  bedside 
was  a  half-emptied  bottle  of  wine  that  the  poor  old  abbot  would 
never  finish,  and  on  the  foot  of  the  bed  a  new  gown,  woven  of 
the  finest  stuff  from  the  looms  of  Flanders,  that  the  abbot  would 
never  don.  He  was  dead,  and  the  monks  mourned  him  sincerely. 
The  splashing  of  the  great  fountain  in  the  courtyard  seemed  to  be 
but  the  repetition  of  their  sobs  as  they  laid  him  away,  with  a  suit- 
able inscription,  among  his  predecessors. 

But  "speed  the  parting,  welcome  the  coming  guest:"  on  the 
next  day  a  knock  resounded  on  the  monastery  gate,  and  it  was 
whispered  from  lip  to  lip  that  the  new  abbot,  sent  by  his  holiness 
the  pope,  had  arrived,  and  was  craving  admission.  When  the 
gates  swung  back,  they  revealed  a  thin,  spare  figure,  clad  in  a 
gown  of  coarse  stuff,  and  seated  on  a  mule  whose  thinness  rivalled 
that  of  its  master.  "  Peace  be  with  you,"  said  the  new  arrival. 
"  And  with  you  be  peace,"  responded  the  eldest  and  most  rubi- 
cund of  the  monks.     "  And  now  to  prayer,"  said  the  new  abbot. 


THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  FATHER  JEROME.  357 

The  brethren  shuddered.  Such  a  thing  had  been  unheard  of 
in  the  monastery  of  the  Four  Evangelists  for  years.  There  was  a 
look,  however,  in  the  eyes  of  the  new  master  that  brooked  not  con- 
tradiction. So  off  they  shuffled,  with  many  a  grumble,  to  the  chapel. 

That  evening,  after  making  sure  that  Father  Jerome,  the  new 
abbot,  was  safely  employed  at  the  other  end  of  the  building,  the 
monks  came  together  to  have  a  final  jollification,  and  to  bid  fare- 
well to  the  old  regime.  Pyramids  of  bottles,  filled  with  fiery 
liquors  from  many  lands,  covered  the  table,  while  great  flagons  of 
ale  and  beer,  brought  over  the  seas  from  England,  foamed  and 
frothed  as  they  were  handed  about  from  monk  to  monk.  How 
they  drank  !  How  they  shouted  !  How  their  mellow  old  voices  sang 
ribald  songs, while  the  sculptured  arches  rang  and  echoed  in  unison  ! 

"  Be  still!"  The  new  abbot  stood  in  the  doorway.  In  one 
hand  he  held  a  scourge,  and  in  the  other  a  flickering  taper,  whose 
light  seemed  all  the  dimmer  in  the  glare  of  the  monk's  eyes.  At 
last  he  spoke  ;  like  a  lash  the  stinging  words  fell  among  them. 
He  used  his  voice  as  if  it  were  a  scimeter  of  polished  steel ;  he 
made  them  cringe  and  double  and  writhe  and  plead  for  his  mercy, 
and,  finally,  he  forbade  them,  as  a  penance,  the  use  of  wine,  in 
any  form  whatsoever,  for  a  full  year,  "  not  even,"  he  said,  carried 
away  by  his  fury,  "  at  holy  communion."     Then  he  left  them. 

That  night  Father  Jerome  could  not  sleep.  His  conscience 
troubled  him  sore  :  had  he  committed  a  sacrilege  in  forbidding  the 
use  of  wine  at  communion?  He  felt  that  he  had,  and  he  sighed 
and  sobbed  as  he  turned  on  his  narrow  bed. 

Thud  !  A  knock  shook  the  oaken  door  from  top  to  bottom  :  it 
slowly  yielded,  and  four  majestic  figures  stood  in  the  room.  '«  Rise, 
follow  us,  blasphemer !"  said  a  sepulchral  voice.  Father  Jerome 
rose  ;  the  figures  advanced  and  seized  him  ;  quickly  they  bore  him 
from  the  room  ;  swiftly  they  carried  him  down  the  stairs  and  across 
the  silent  courtyard  to  where  the  splashing  fountain  showered  its 
drops  of  silver  in  the  moonlight.  Then  one  of  them  spoke : 
"  We,  the  Four  Evangelists,  are  about  to  punish  thy  presumption 
against  the  table  of  the  Lord." 

There  was  a  scream, — a  splash. 


358  THE  LEGEND   OF  BLOOD  BROOK. 

When  the  abbot  emerged,  dripping,  from  the  water,  the  court- 
yard was  free  from  any  being  whatsoever  except  the  abbot's  mule, 
that  stood  by  the  fountain,  with  a  placard  hanging  from  his  neck 
on  which  was  written  in  large  letters  Depart! 

The  abbot  mounted,  and  slowly  rode  away  from  the  monastery 
gate  into  the  beautiful  country  beyond  just  as  the  bell  in  the  great 
square  tower  rang  out  the  twelve  strokes  of  midnight. 

All  but  four  of  the  monks  gathered  at  an  early  hour  next  day  to 
greet  the  new  master.  Great  was  their  surprise  when  it  was  told 
what  a  miracle  had  occurred  the  night  before.  Orders  were  given 
not  to  disturb  four  of  the  monks  whose  devotions,  said  the  verger, 
had  kept  them  up  late  the  previous  evening. 

The  next  abbot  that  came,  warned  by  the  experience  of  his 
predecessor,  let  things  go  on  in  the  good  old  way.  But  even  to- 
day, when  the  beautiful  moonlight  rests  on  the  old  towers  and 
walls,  long  since  fallen  to  ruin,  the  peasants  will  relate,  with 
hushed  voices,  how  the  Four  Evangelists  punished  Father  Jerome. 

Marshall  P.    Thompson. 


THE  LEGEND  OF  BLOOD  BROOK. 

Blood  brook  is  but  one  of  the  many  streams  having  their  rise 
in  the  Green  Mountains,  and  tributary  to  the  Connecticut.  As 
with  the  others  of  its  kind,  at  one  time  it  reflects  in  its  clear  waters 
the  beauties  of  a  cloudless  sky,  and  at  another,  the  blackness  of 
the  storm.  It  did  glide  over  the  declivity  with  ecstatic  rhythm: 
but  now  it  shrieks  and  moans  as  though  it  were  the  medium  of 
restless  spirits. 

The  fertile  acres  on  either  side  this  stream,  christened  Blood, 
have  yielded  their  harvests  for  nearly  two  centuries,  and  the 
stream  itself  has  for  as  long  a  time  turned  the  mill-stone  ;  yet,  pre- 
sumably, never  has  a  human  eye  traced  all  its  winding  course  or 
beheld  its  sparkling  source  in  the  far  solitude  of  the  mountains. 
The  mapping  of  the  Nile  or  the  Congo  is  hardly  less  a  conjecture. 
And  whence  the  origin  of  this  strange  nomenclature  ?     Of  what 


rr 
b 


THE  LEGEND  OF  BLOOD  BROOK.  359 

fortune  or  misfortune  is  the  name  of  this  meandering  rivulet  or 
yonder  foaming  torrent  a  memorial?  A  legend,  like  all  legends, 
the  product  of  aoristic  repeatings  of  a  real  incident,  in  its  own 
mythic  way,  accounts  for  the  christening. 

It  was  in  the  early  days,  when  Vermont  had  but  the  beginnings 
f  a  history,  that  a  settlement  was  made  in  the  vicinity  of  this 
rook.  Isolated  and  forgotten  by  many,  these  pioneers,  drawn 
thither  by  conscientious  scruples  and  an  illusory  El  Dorado,  have 
become  the  revered  progenitors  of  a  numerous  posterity. 

Among  the  less  than  twoscore  souls  of  this  embryo  township 
there  were  two  between  whom  came  to  exist  a  close  and  tender 
intimacy.  James  Dana  and  Alice  Lamb  had  met  almost  daily 
during  the  two  years  of  their  wild  life  in  the  forest. 

James,  a  warm-hearted,  patriotic  back-woodsman,  one  of  that 
famous  fraternity  to  which  Green  Mountain  boys  point  with  pride, 
was  a  gallant  to  win  the  heart  of  a  maiden  far  less  susceptible 
than  Alice.  His  was  the  strong  arm  that  felled  the  forest  about 
the  paternal  cabin  ;  his  the  unerring  eye  that  brought  down  the 
fleet  deer.  Did  a  marauding  band  of  Iroquois  become  too  bold, 
he  was  the  one  chosen  to  humble  their  arrogance  ;  and  the  sub- 
limest  instinct  of  humanity,  sympathy  for  the  failings  and  misfor- 
tunes of  others,  was  with  him  inherent. 

Alice,  artless  and  pure,  her  features  like  the  early  dawning, 
made  most  winning  by  a  maidenly  modesty,  was  truly  a  flower  of 
the  wilderness,  the  joy  of  noble  womanhood. 

James  Dana,  impulsive,  and  quick  to  appreciate  the  admirable 
in  even  a  rough  character,  was  by  no  means  insensible  to  these 
graces  in  a  woman.  From  the  day  when  first  they  met  at  the 
church  service  he  had  entertained  for  her  a  love  real  and  engross- 
ing. Diffidence,  so  frequently  indicative  of  true  affection,  made 
their  first  meetings  mutually  embarrassing  ;  but  furtive  glances  and 
coy  demeanor  presently  discovered  to  at  least  two  souls  this  secret 
of  the  heart. 

It  is  the  old,  old  story,  a  drama  in  which  ever  and  anon  the 
scene  is  shifting,  yet  always  the  same.  Many  were  the  evenings 
of  the  long,  cold  winter  passed  pleasantly  by  the  blazing  log  of 


360  THE  LEGEND   OE  BLOOD   BROOK. 

the  fire-place.  After  they  had  played  their  simple  games  for  the 
hundredth  time,  and  the  evening  caller,  having  told  his  marvellous 
tale  of  the  wild-wood,  had  gone  his  way  into  the  cold  without,  they 
might  still  have  been  seen  sitting  by  the  smouldering  embers. 

It  was  one  of  those  evenings,  cold  and  bleak.  The  wind,  hav- 
ing wrestled  in  vain  with  the  oak  and  the  pine  of  the  mountain, 
swept  through  the  valley,  dashing  the  snow  against  the  pane,  and 
causing  those  within  to  shudder  and  thank  God  for  a  home.  As 
the  fitful  gusts  came  down  the  spacious  flue,  provoking  the  charred 
log  on  the  andiron  to  evince  a  mutual  joy  by  shooting  out  little 
tongues  of  flame  whose  mellow  light  made  most  entrancing  the 
fair  face  beside  him,  James  Dana  vowed  fidelity  to  her  whose 
woman's  heart,  with  a  woman's  tenderness  and  fervor,  responded 
to  the  passionate  yearnings  of  his  own. 

Soon  came  pacific  spring,  when  the  fleecy  guardian  of  the  wild 
flower  is  transformed  into  nurture  for  its  fragrance.  Then  were 
these  two  lovers  often  seen  strolling  by  that  nameless  stream, 
where  it  glided  along  its  pebbly  bed,  meandering  with  gentle  rip- 
ple through  the  alluvial  fields  of  the  farmers.  Often  they  won- 
dered that  not  ten  poles  away  its  tameness  was  suddenly  trans- 
formed to  all  the  foam  and  fury  of  a  miniature  Niagara,  truly  pan- 
tomimic of  a  lover's  vicissitudes. 

Thus  passed  trippingly  by  those  days  of  the  spring.  It  might 
seem  "  that  the  angels  not  half  so  happy  in  heaven"  were  envious 
of  their  almost  more  than  human  affection,  for,  one  day  in  the 
early  seed-time,  a  report  that  Alice  Lamb  had  been  captured  by  a 
squad  of  Indians  passing  from  one  to  another  of  the  farmers  with 
regular  accretions  caused  the  wildest  confusion.  The  fact,  too, 
that  half  the  males  of  the  settlement,  including  Dana,  were  twenty 
miles  away,  enhanced  their  dismay.  However,  the  available 
force,  both  men  and  boys,  armed  with  guns,  axes,  clubs,  or  what- 
ever weapon  came  first  to  hand,  was  quickly  mustered  ;  but  the 
pursuit  was  not  long,  for  by  the  brook's  brink  they  found,  not  a 
captive,  but  a  corpse.  Whether  she  had  fallen  a  victim  to  the  ca- 
price of  her  captors,  or  had  been  maliciously  murdered,  has  never 
been  known.     Be  that  as  it  may,  by  a  hazel  bush,  whose  roots 


THE  LEGEND   OF  BLOOD  BROOK.  361 

were  laved  in  the  stream  at  its  side,  where  she  expected  the 
return  of  the  foragers,  the  fair  lover  was  keeping  her  last  watch. 
The  virgin  blood,  pure  as  the  heart  whence  it  came,  oozing  from 
a  deadly  wound  in  the  breast,  had  slowly  found  its  way  down  the 
bank  to  the  water,  and  been  hurried  on  to  mingle  with  the  ever- 
changing  sea.  The  pale  form,  most  lovely  in  life,  yet  beautiful 
in  death,  in  due  time  was  buried  in  the  rude  church-yard  with 
simple  but  touching  obsequies. 

Time  passed  apace,  and  the  small  Vermont  settlement  became 
a  respectable  village.  Each  new-comer,  before  he  had  been  in 
the  place  twenty-four  hours,  was  sure  to  hear  the  story  of  "  Crazy 
Jim."  This  curiosity  lived  in  a  small  log  hut  some  ways  from  the 
village,  and  was  known  far  and  near  as  a  harmless  monomaniac. 
He  preferred  the  society  of  the  dead  to  that  of  the  living,  for  he 
was  often  seen  at  a  certain  unmarked  grave  in  the  cemetery, 
sometimes  kneeling  as  in  deep  devotion,  and,  again,  mumbling 
inaudibly  as  though  holding  communion  with  the  winds.  Who 
will  say  what  visions  of  angels  soothed  his  grief!  This  strange 
man,  the  creature  of  affliction,  more  and  more  became  an  aversion 
to  the  good  folk  of  the  neighborhood.  The  youngsters  of  the 
street  had  as  lief  meet  the  real  Black  Man  of  the  Woods  as  by 
night  to  see  that  bushy  hair,  those  glassy  eyes  and  skinny  hands. 

But  the  last  scene  in  this  tragic  career  was  soon  to  be  enacted. 
One  raw,  cold  morning  the  stiffened  body  of  "  Crazy  Jim  "  was 
found  at  the  much  frequented  grave.  The  hands  were  clasped  as 
in  prayer,  and  the  serene  expression  of  the  face  was  at  once 
remarked  by  the  few  who  remembered  the  happy  years  of  long 
ago.  With  the  mere  semblance  of  ceremony,  and  with  never  a 
tear,  he  was  buried  by  the  side  of  his  betrothed ;  but  where  that 
grave  is,  only  the  stars  above  and  the  wind  that  bore  away  the 
dying  whisper  know. 

This  is  the  legend,  the  only  memorial  of  a  remarkably  passion- 
ate lover.  But  to  those  who  understand  its  language,  in  mourn- 
ful accents  the  little  brook  is  forever  telling  the  pathetic  origin  of 

its  name. 

W.  C.  Belknap. 


The  Chair. 


We  are  occupying  the  Chair  for  the  last  time.  Soon  it  will  he 
in  readiness  for  the  new  occupant,  and  our  possession  will  be  but 
a  memory — a  pleasant  memory,  which  will  linger  long.  Many 
are  the  associations,  many  the  experiences,  of  our  halcyon  college 
days  to  be  fondly  recalled  and  cherished  in  the  uncertain  years  to 
come.  Not  the  least  of  these — we  had  almost  said  the  greatest, 
and  perhaps  it  would  not  have  been  so  terrible  a  slip — have  been 
those  growing  out  of  our  two  years'  connection  with  the  Lit.  The 
friendships  of  the  sanctum  have  been  congenial  and  helpful ;  its 
duties,  by  no  means  light,  have  provided  a  drill  properly  estimable 
only  by  the  initiate  himself;  the  whole  editorial  man  has  been 
developed,  he  has  grown.  We  think  ourselves  fortunate  above 
many.  Have  we  at  times  felt  the  burden  of  responsibility  a  trifle 
irksome?  The  task  completed  has  but  given  the  greater  satisfac- 
tion, and  the  very  revelation  of  our  own  limitations  has  added 
priceless  knowledge  to  our  store. 

In  presenting  to  our  readers  with  this  number  the  completed 
fourth  volume  of  The  Literary  Monthly  we  have  neither  boast 
nor  apology  to  offer.  Yet  it  is  natural  to  look  backward.  We 
may  not  have  attained  the  ideal  of  which  we  thought  and  dreamed 
in  our  early  editorial  days,  but  we  seldom  attain  our  ideals : 
faithful  struggle  towards  the  impossible  marks  the  perfection  of 
duty ;  we  are  content  simply  to  render  an  account  of  a  faithful 
stewardship.  Whatever  our  minor  policies  and  purposes,  we 
have  had  these  two  great  aims  :  the  one,  to  represent  the  literary 
thought  and  work  of  the  college,  and  thereby  foster  the  animating 
literary  spirit ;  the  other,  to  exalt  the  worth  and  fame  of  dear  old 
Dartmouth.  If  you,  kind  reader,  judge  us  successful  in  this,  we 
are  more  than  satisfied,  and  are  ready  to  depart  and  be  personally 
forgotten,  remembered  only  in  our  slight  contribution  to  the  un- 
ceasing growth  of  our  beloved  Alma  Mater. 


THE  CHAIR.  363 

For  some  time  the  Chair  has  been  minded  to  protest  against 
certain  harm  done  the  college  by  those  who  should  be  its  best 
friends.  It  is  almost  beyond  credence,  the  number  of  strange 
stories  respecting  the  government  and  affairs  of  the  college  that 
obtain  circulation  among  the  alumni  and  friends  of  Dartmouth. 
Some  of  this  misinformation  is  doubtless  due  to  the  unmeaning 
carelessness  of  the  under-graduate  in  sending  home  and  elsewhere 
idle  and  foolish  gossip  which  has  no  excuse  for  being ;  but  the 
chief  source  of  these  circulating  false  statements  is  well  known. 
We  have  endured  in  silence  long  enough  ;  there  is  a  limit  to  our 
forbearance.  In  simple  justice  to  the  parties  offended  against,  for 
the  sake  of  a  long-suffering  college,  and  in  the  name  of  all  who 
have  at  heart  the  best  interests  of  Dartmouth,  we  emphatically 
condemn  the  splenetic  attacks  made  by  a  particular  Boston  paper 
upon  the  management  of  the  college.  We  voice  the  sentiment  of 
the  under-graduate  body  when  we  repudiate  the  author  of  these 
utterances,  and  all  like  him,  as  real  friends  of  the  college.  It 
requires  no  keen  judgment  to  detect  the  difference  between  the 
expression  of  a  petty  spite,  a  despicable  personal  animosity,  and 
rational  criticism  ;  but  there  are  always  a  few  who  have  not  even 
this  discernment.  It  all  affords  a  marked  illustration  of  the  abuse 
of  the  power  of  the  press,  "  a  degenerate  press,"  about  which  we 
have  been  hearing  so  much  of  late,  and  which,  let  us  trust,  the 
Dartmouth  journalist  of  the  future  will  do  much  to  reform. 


May  we  have  the  ear  of  the  wise  alumnus  for  a  moment? 
Loyalty  to  Dartmouth  is  his  watchword.  The  enthusiasm  which 
bubbles  over  in  the  after-dinner  speaking  and  after-dinner  cheer- 
ing of  many  a  gathering  of  alumni  is  equally  a  manifestation  of 
heartiest  loyalty  to  the  college  with  the  still  more  demonstrative 
proceedings  of  the  student  when  celebrating,  in  the  inspiring 
"  Wah-hoo-wah,"  bell-ringing,  or  bonfire,  the  honor  and  prowess 
of  Dartmouth.  For  this  we  are  glad.  Then  let  us  all  join  hands 
in  our  endeavor  to  keep  Dartmouth  in  the  fore.  The  under- 
graduate usually  considers  pennant-winning  as  his  way  of  glorify- 
ing the  college  in  the  eyes  of  the  world ;  failure,  which  must  come 


364  THE   CHAIR. 

occasionally,  but  leads  to  more  determined  effort  next  time  ;  it  is 
the  Dartmouth  spirit  to  keep  at  it — never  to  say  die.  By  work  the 
under-graduates  prove  their  loyalty  to  the  college.  Now,  may  we 
gently  remind  the  alumnus  that  work  is  what  is  required  of  him? 
Enthusiastic  talking  and  cheering  on  stated  occasions  is  a  splendid 
thing,  but  it  is  not  enough  :  it  alone  has  never  won  any  pennant, 
and  it  alone  will  never  materially  help  the  college.  Our  fellow- 
alumnus, — for  we  may  anticipate  a  few  flying  days  and  consider  our- 
self  one  of  that  innumerable  and  glorious  company  that  has  jour- 
neyed forth  from  these  "Groves  of  the  Academy," — shall  we  not 
work  unitedly  in  all  ways,  and  with  all  our  might,  for  Dartmouth? 
We  need  not  specify  some  of  the  ways  of  common  work  ;  they  will 
be  apparent  to  every  thoughtful  alumnus.  But  we  will  just  hint 
how  not  to  work  indirectly  against  the  interests  of  the  college, 
when  we  may  think  we  are  working  for  them.  We  have  a  ten- 
dency at  times,  even  after  our  most  enthusiastic  public  demonstra- 
tions, to  fall  into  a  rut  of  grumbling  and  growling.  We  are  not 
suited,  and  we  complain,  find  fault.  Is  not  this  all  wrong?  In 
the  first  place,  as  so  often  happens,  our  point  of  view  may  be  a 
poor  one  ;  we  may  have  been  misinformed,  our  judgment  may  be 
hasty,  our  conclusions  erroneous.  In  the  second  place,  if  our 
knowledge  be  complete  and  accurate,  and  we  find  that  which  we 
must  disapprove,  it  is  to  be  remembered  there  is  a  proper  method 
of  criticism,  a  legitimate  way  of  seeking  a  remedy.  "Vain  bab- 
blings" and  "doubtful  disputations"  are  to  be  shunned.  Espe- 
cially should  we  guard  against  the  spirit  of  small  criticism.  This 
never  constructs ;  it  is  death  to  any  attempt  at  whole-souled, 
united  effort. 


The  unusual  number  of  Commencement  men  this  year  has  led  to 
much  discussion  of  the  present  system  of  Commencement'appoint- 
ments.  It  is  unquestionably  a  great  betterment  of  the  old-time  rule, 
which  provided  that  a  third  of  the  class  should  speak.  The  prin- 
cipal criticism  in  recent  years  has  been  upon  the  undesirability  of 
retaining  the  debate  as  a  feature  of  the  exercises.  The  Chair  does 
not  intend  to  rehearse  the  threadbare  arguments  upon  this  point ; 


THE   CHAIR.  365 

"but  we  would  suggest  what  seems  to  us  a  decided  improvement  over 
the  present  order,  viz.,  a  further  reduction  of  the  number  of  parts, 
and-  a  longer  time  limit.  Eight  speakers,  with  ten-  or  twelve- 
minute  speeches,  we  think  would  give  a  much  more  satisfactory 
Commencement  than  twelve  speakers  with  seven-minute  speeches. 
It  is  the  orator  himself  that  chiefly  appreciates  the  value  of  a  little 
more  time,  but  in  this  case  the  audience  would  unconsciously 
share  in  the  appreciation.  We  well  understand  the  desirability  of 
brevity  and  compactness  in  all  literary  effort  (editorial  experience, 
at  least,  has  taught  us  this  lesson),  and  especially  in  public  speak- 
ing, but  ten  minutes  is  the  shortest  possible  time  in  which  to  treat 
adequately  and  impressively  such  subjects  as  are  usually  given 
the  Commencement  orator.  Nowhere  outside  of  college  is  a  dis- 
course less  than  double  this  length  thought  suitable  upon  formal 
occasions.  If  the  graduation  exercises  were  simply  for  the  sake 
of  perpetuating  an  old-time  custom,  if  they  were  thought  a  mere 
matter  of  form,  a  necessary  evil,  it  would  seem  best  to  abolish 
them  entirely,  as  has  been  done  in  several  prominent  institutions, — 
give  the  Senior  his  diploma,  and  let  him  go.  But  they  are,  we 
believe,  still  designed  to  reward  marked  merit  and  ability,  and  to 
show  to  all  of  what  the  Dartmouth  Senior  is  capable  in  writing 
and  speaking.  Then,  why  not  give  him  the  best  possible  oppor- 
tunity for  the  display  of  his  power?  As  it  is,  it  has  come  within 
our  observation  that  many  Commencement  men  have  little  enthusi- 
asm over  their  parts,  look  upon  the  work  as  a  grind,  and  lack  in 
ambition  to  put  forth  their  best  efforts.  Giving  due  recognition  to 
personal  peculiarities,  yet  we  can  safely  say  that  this  state  of  mind 
is  often  due  to  the  feeling  of  being  handicapped  at  the  start.  Now 
and  then  a  man  is  found,  who,  scorning  all  limitations,  is  bound  to 
make  the  most  of  his  opportunity  ;  but  such  action  is  hardly  fair 
to  the  rest,  who  abide  by  the  strict  conditions. 


We  announce  with  pleasure  the  election  of  Messrs.  W.  C.  Bel- 
knap, B.  Shirley,  and  M.  P.  Thompson  to  the  Junior  editorships 
of  next  year's  Lit.     The  election  of  the  third  man  from  '91  to  fill 


366  THE  CHAIR. 

the  vacancy  made  early  in  the  year  we  hope  to  announce  in  the 
daily  Dartmouth  of  Commencement  week. 

We  are  glad  to  leave  the  Lit.  in  such  excellent  hands,  and  feel 
it  needless  to  bespeak  for  next  year's  board  of  editors  the  encour- 
agement and  support  it  will  richly  deserve.  We  are  authorized 
by  its  management  to  make  this  announcement :  A  new  depart- 
ment, of  the  nature  of  a  monthly  chronicle  of  events,  will  be  added. 
It  is  believed  such  a  department  will  prove  especially  serviceable 
to  the  alumnus,  as  it  will  inform  him  accurately  of  the  principal 
happenings  at  his  Alma  Mater  throughout  the  year. 


We  have  received  a  letter  from  a  Lit.  reader,  in  which  excep- 
tions are  taken  to  certain  statements  made  in  the  article  entitled 
"What  of  the  Outlook,"  printed  in  our  May  issue.  Had  the  com- 
munication not  been  anonymous,  we  would  have  been  pleased  to 
print  it.  Our  Mail-Bag  department  is  open  to  such  letters,  but  we 
must  insist,  in  every  case,  upon  knowing  their  authorship,  retain- 
ing it,  however,  if  so  desired,  from  publication.  If  the  writer  of 
the  letter  will  communicate  with  the  author  of  the  article,  it  will 
be  for  the  advantage  of  both. 


By  the  Way. 


If  the  reader  to  whose  taste  for  literary  morsels  By  the  Way  has, 
during  the  past  year,  striven  to  cater,  finds  that,  as  the  skies  are 
growing  brighter,  the  fields  greener,  and  all  out-doors  more  invit- 
ing, his  literary  appetite  fails,  and  the  campus  and  the  woods  tempt 
him  more  than  he  can  resist,  let  him,  if  he  has  reached  this  point 
in  his  journey  through  these  pages,  carefully  lay  the  Lit.  upon 
the  centre-table,  there  to  remain  until  a  rainy  day,  and  go  out  at 
once,  where  his  thoughts  have  gone  before  him,  into  the  open  air; 
for  to  read  with  flagging  interest  is  a  waste  of  precious  time,  and 
these  days  of  June  are  truly  golden  days. 


This  is  a  time  sacred  to  dolce  far  niente,  and  how  unwittingly 
we  pay  homage  to  the  god  of  idleness.  It  is  now  as  natural  to 
sink  into  a  siesta  under  the  college  elms,  to  watch  through  half- 
closed  eyes  the  oriole  as  he  plays  about  his  nest,  pendent  in  the 
lithe  branches  that  every  wind  stirs,  and  to  follow  the  cloud  as  it 
floats  lazily  across  the  blue  depths  beyond,  as  it  was  a  few  months 
since,  when  frost  crystals  were  sparkling  in  the  morning  sun,  to 
move  briskly  along  over  the  creaking  snow. 

Hanover  is  an  ideal  place  for  a  lazy  man  in  summer,  when,  as 
has  been  implied,  laziness  is  man's  normal  and  legitimate  state. 
Whether  by  having  provided  a  friend  to  pull  one  way  he  lays 
aside  his  boat's  oars  and  drifts  down-river  with  the  current,  busy- 
ing his  indolent  soul  with  watching  the  play  of  light  and  shade  in 
the  trees  that  crowd  the  steep  banks ;  whether  he  dreams  away  an 
afternoon  at  the  top  of  some  long  slope,  whence  he  can  see  away 
down  the  valley  the  farmers'  wagons  creeping  along  behind  a 
cloud  of  dust,  and  blue  Ascutney  in  the  background,  or  contents 
himself  with  a  doze  on  the  college  lawn, — he  can  find  nowhere 


368  BY  THE   WAY. 

else  more  congenial  spirits,  more  frank,  unpretending,  and  interest- 
ing companions,  than  these  other  lazy  fellows  that  "  love  to  lie  i'  the 
sun  "  under  the  clear  blue  skies  of  Hanover. 


I  have  been  setting  forth  the  philosophy  of  a  new  regime  in  the 
book-realm,  that  is  soon  to  be  ushered  in  by  the  last  guns  of  Com- 
mencement. A  revolution  is  even  now  under  way.  Whole  de- 
tachments of  heavy  artillery,  as  it  were,  of  literature, — books  of 
philosophy,  mathematics,  and  the  like, — are  marching  off  to 
imprisonment  in  the  dark  recesses  of  the  book-case,  and  up  comes, 
in  light  array,  the  usurper,  the  summer  novel !  Bookseller,  maga- 
zine-maker, news-editor  are  alive  to  the  situation,  and  have  put 
sober  fact  under  a  ban,  while  fancy  and  fiction  have  become  uni- 
versal favorites.  Indeed,  if  we  stop  to  think  of  it,  the  novel  holds 
a  powerful  sway  in  these  latter  days.  It  is  no  longer  the  feeble 
pretender  of  the  time  of  Sir  Charles  Grandison  and  Pamela,  that 
gathered  about  itself  a  scanty  following  :  in  a  world-wide  insur- 
rection it  has  taken  us  by  storm.  Japan,  Australia,  South  Amer- 
ica at  last  have  a  part  in  the  movement,  and  who  knows  how  soon 
we  shall  see  among  the  faces  of  the  fair  authoresses  that  adorn  the 
covers  of  the  modern  railroad  novel  of  the  Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox 
stamp  the  smiling  physiognomy  of  the  Greenland  damsel,  or  the 
ebon  countenance  of  a  modern  Cleopatra  ! 


And  now  once  more  our  tents  are  struck  and  folded  !  Caravans, 
one  facing  northward  and  another  looking  toward  the  south,  are 
forming.  Refreshed  with  drinking  at  the  wells  of  learning  here, 
we  are  prepared  to  set  out  over  the  desert.  The  mountains  beyond, 
that  seem  to  loom  up  in  the  distance,  maybe  realities  ;  they  maybe 
mirages. 

Well  for  those  who  are  to  halt  once,  twice,  or  thrice  again  on 
this  pleasant  spot ;  and  to  those  whose  camels  are  headed  toward 
the  mountains,  Bon  voyage! 


Thistle-Down 


A  WOMAN'S  TACT. 

"A  woman's  tact " — the  graceful,  spotless  sail 
That  shifts  all  ways  to  catch  the  veering  gale, 
And  yet,  unswerving,  constant,  through  the  foam 
Drives  the  firm  keel  o'er  rough  seas  to  its  home. 

C.  F.  R. 


A  SONG  OF  DAISIES. 

My  lover  came  to  me  one  day, — 

My  strong,  my  true,  my  handsome  lover ; 
He  plucked  some  daisies  by  the  way, — 

My  kind,  my  true,  my  tender  lover ; 
I  placed  the  flowers  upon  my  breast, 
But  granted  not  his  earnest  quest ; 
My  hand  unto  his  lips  he  pressed, — 

My  good,  my  true,  my  noble  lover. 

My  lover  went  o'er  land,  o'er  sea, — 

My  bold,  my  true,  my  daring  lover  ; 
I  thought  he  'd  ne'er  come  back  to  me, — 

My  firm,  my  true,  my  manly  lover. 
The  daisies  died,  and,  laid  away, 
All  tied  up  with  a  ribbon  gay, 
They  waited  him,  tho'  far  away, — 

My  dear,  my  true,  my  absent  lover. 

He  came  again  when  skies  were  blue, — 

My  brave,  my  true,  my  earnest  lover  ; 
He  told  me  that  his  heart  was  true, — 

My  staunch,  my  true,  my  faithful  lover. 
I  showed  the  daisies,  dried  and  dead. 
He  clasped  me  to  his  breast,  and  said, 
"  When  daisies  come  again  we  '11  wed," — 

My  own,  my  true,  my  smiling  lover. 

M.  A. 


3  70  THISTLE-DO  WN. 


TWO  NEGATIVES  MAKE  AN  AFFIRMATIVE. 

Among  the  wooded  Vermont  hills, 
Where  springs  send  forth  their  sparkling  rills, 
Within  a  mossy  little  cot 
That  graced  a  lone,  secluded  spot, 
Lived  three  old  maids  of  slender  frame ; 
And  one  was  blind,  and  one  was  lame, 
And  one  was  hard  of  hearing. 

The  place  was  known  for  miles  about, 
And  travellers  often  would  dismount, 
For  food  or  lodging  over  night. 
And  thus  one  day,  with  axes  bright, 
It  happened  that  three  choppers  came ; 
And  one  was  blind,  and  one  was  lame, 
And  one  was  hard  of  hearing. 

They  stayed  a  day  ;  they  stayed  a  week. 
New  color  graced  each  maiden  cheek. 
The  deaf  loved  deaf,  the  blind  loved  blind, 
The  lame  took  what  was  left  behind; 
And  all  were  happy  just  the  same, 
Though  two  were  blind,  and  two  were  lame, 
And  two  were  hard  of  hearing. 

They  married,  and  within  a  year 
Three  infants  came  their  life  to  cheer ; 
Nor  did  those  happy  children  share 
The  lot  their  parents  had  to  bear  : — 
The  rule  of  negatives  o'ercame — 
And  none  was  blind,  and  none  was  lame, 
And  none  was  hard  of  hearing. 

B. 


Crayon   Bleu. 


William  Cullen  Bryant,  by  John  Bigelow.     American  Men  of  Letters   Series.     Boston : 
Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co. 

It  is  fortunate  that  we  have  for  Mr.  Bryant's  biographer  one  who  was  for  years  asso- 
ciated with  him  in  the  office  of  The  Evening  Post.  Looking  at  the  many  aspects  in 
which  the  versatile  poet  presents  himself  to  us,  we  cannot  expect  to  see  his  poetry,  and 
still  less  his  prose,  exhaustively  criticised.  But  in  giving  a  thoroughly  exact  and  graphic 
account  of  Mr.  Bryant's  life,  Mr.  Bigelow  has  succeeded  admirably,  and  has  added  another 
to  the  long  list  of  successes  already  made  by  books  of  this  famous  series. 

A  Waif  of  the  Plains,  by  Bret  Harte.     Boston:  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.     $1.25. 

This  little  book  gives  the  history  of  a  manly  little  boy  almost  deserted  on  the  prairies  in 
the  old  gold-seeking  days.  The  pictures  are  painted  in  the  well  known  vivid  style  of  our 
favorite  Western  author.  Throughout  all,  the  picture  of  Clarence  stands  out  most  prom- 
inently. Constantly  smarting  under  a  sense  of  injustice,  sprung  from  refined  parentage, 
the  little  boy  ever  shows  himself  worthy  of  admiration.  We  are  uncertain  as  to  the  other 
prominent  character,  Susy.  It  seems  to  be  the  author's  purpose  either  to  exhibit  a  weak 
character  to  contrast  with  the  strong  one,  or  to  satirize  mildly  woman's  acceptance  of 
homage  as  her  due.  Certain  enough  it  is  that  little  Susy  receives  all  the  favors,  while 
Clarence  takes  all  the  neglect,  yet  thrives  thereon  until  he  grows  strong  in  manliness.  It 
is  a  charming  piece  of  work,  scarcely  long  enough  to  be  called  anything  but  a  story. 

The  Master  of  the  Magicians,  by  Elizabeth  Stuart  Phelps  and  Herbert  D.  Ward.     Boston  : 

Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.     $1.25. 

Who  would  have  thought  of  making  the  prophet  Daniel  the  hero  of  a  novel !  Yet  the 
old  Bible  narrative,  with  sundry  additions  and  changes,  in  the  hands  of  these  masters  makes 
a  fascinating  story,  full  of  movement  and  passion.  The  depiction  of  the  elevating  influence 
of  the  Jewish  purity  in  the  midst  of  Babylonish  corruption  gives  the  book  a  raison  d'itre 
outside  of  the  mere  function  of  furnishing  amusement  for  a  few  idle  hours.  Daniel's 
character  is  of  course  the  masterpiece  of  the  work.  Closely  approaching  it  is  that  of 
Lalitha,  the  Jewess ;  and  Arioch,  captain  of  the  king's  guards,  is  great  in  a  Babylonish 
way. 

The  Mistress  of  Beech  Knoll,  by  Clara  Louise  Burnham.     Boston :  Houghton,  Mifflin  & 

Co.     $1.25. 

A  thoroughly  American  novel.  The  heroine,  one  of  the  dashing,  captivating  Western 
women  whom  our  European  neighbors  admire  while  they  criticize ;  the  hero,  one  of  our 
strong  characters,  a  veritable  chestnut  burr  until  opened  bv  the  magic  of  love.  Phyllis 
Flower,  the  pretty  country  maiden,  and  Tony  Bellows,  the  spoiled  young  man  of  society, 
make  some  lively  scenes  with  their  fresh  young  life.     The  tragedy  is  added  by  the  terrible 


372  CRA  YON  BLE  U. 

suffering  of  Philip  Terris  and  Rebecca  Raymond,  parted  in  youth  by  Philip's  sense  of  duty 
to  his  fiancee,  to  whom,  weak  and  a  hypochondriac,  he  became  all  the  more  devoted  as  a 
husband  from  the  very  fact  of  his  love  for  Rebecca.  One  cannot  help  being  affected  by 
the  terrible  suffering  of  the  brain  fever,  in  whose  wanderings  he  disclosed  to  his  wife  the 
facts  of  the  case,  and  is  inclined  to  feel  that  she  is  not  treated  fairly  in  being  taken  away 
by  death  to  leave  her  husband  and  Rebecca  together.     It  is  a  strong  book. 

Horatio  Nelson,  by  W.  Clark  Russell.     New  York  :  Putnam's.     $1.50. 

A  well  compiled  work,  showing  especially  the  connection  of  the  great  admiral  with  the 
naval  supremacy  of  Great  Britain.  It  is  the  first  of  a  new  series  designed  to  follow  the 
popular  "  Stories  of  the  Nations,"  which  will  be  called  "  Heroes  of  the  Nations."  In  the 
way  of  binding  and  illustration,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  it  is  superior  to  the  former 
series.  Mr.  Russell  has  gathered  much  material  in  a  systematic  manner,  including  many 
facsimiles  of  letters,  and  reproduction  of  portraits  and  paintings. 

Edward  Burton,  by  Henry  Wood.     Boston  :  Lee  &  Shepard.     $1.25. 

A  book  written  to  show  the  wholesomeness  of  idealism  and  of  optimism.  Judged  merely 
as  a  novel,  it  is  not  equal  in  style  or  plot,  and  perhaps  not  in  character  sketching,  to  many 
that  the  present  produces.  But  the  light  of  idealism  which  pervades  the  whole,  leaves 
upon  the  mind  a  helping  glow.  The  religion  of  the  book  is  of  a  very  pure  and  spiritual 
nature  ;  various  theories  are  discussed  by  the  characters  in  the  light  of  advanced  thought. 
The  author  is  known  to  the  literary  and  scientific  world  by  his  book,  "  Natural  Law  in 
the  Business  World."  His  last  attempt  deserves  the  greatest  success  in  the  line  he  has 
chosen.     His  aim  is  to  help  mankind.     His  work  will  attain  that  end. 

Best  Elizabethan  Plays,  edited  by  W.  R.  Thayer.     Boston:  Ginn  &  Co.     $1.40. 

Contains,  with  preface   and   bibliography,  the  following  English  Classics :   The  Jew  of 
Malta,  by  Marlowe;   The  Alchemist,  by  Jonson;  Philaster,  by  Beaumont   and   Fletcher; 
The  Two  Noble  Kinsmen,  by    Fletcher   and    Shakespeare ;    and  The  Duchess  of  Malfi,  by 
Webster.     It  is  well  bound,  the  type  is  large  and  clear,  and  short  foot-notes  explain  anti- 
quated and  obsolete  expressions. 

Exercises  in  Erench  Syntax,  by  F.  Storr.     Boston :  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co. 

A  careful  and  complete  course  in  French  syntax,  with  illustrative  sentences. 

The  feature  of  the  June  Scribner's  is  Mr.  Stanley's  article  on  the  "  Emin  Pasha  Relief 
Expedition."  Although  but  a  few  brief  pictures  of  the  dark  places,  it  reads  like  a  romance, 
and  a  terribly  tragic  one  at  that.  Russell  Sturgis  contributes  an  architectural  piece  in 
"  The  City  House."  The  long  promised  serial  "  Jerry  "  opens  well,  albeit  one  of  the  prev- 
alent dialect  stories  that  threatens  to  stretch  out  "  through  the  year."  Charles  P.  Sawyer 
writes  on  "Amateur  Track  and  Field  Athletics,"  and  Barrett  Wendell  has  a  powerful 
dramatic  poem,  "  Rosamond." 

A  literary  article  on  "  The  Novel  and  the  Common  School,"  by  Charles  Dudley  War- 
ner, a  historical  study  of  the  time  of  Ambrose,  entitled  "  The  Turn  of  the  Tide,"  a  political 
article,  by  Hannis  Taylor,  on  "  The  House  of  Representatives :  its  Growing  Inefficiency 
as  a  Legislative  Body,"  a  sociological  one  on  the  "  Eight  Hour  Law  Agitation,"  by  Gen. 
Francis  A.  Walker,  a  bright  sketch  by  Agnes  Repplier,  "  A  Short  Defence  of  Villains," 
Mrs.  Deland's  "  Sidney,"  and  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes's  "  Over  the  Teacups,"  form  variety 


CRAYON  BLEU.  373 

enough  for  one  month.  Yet  these  and  still  more  are  found  in  the  June  Atlantic.  The 
review  of  "  God  in  His  World  "  is  well  worth  reading,  if  one  has  not  read  the  wonderful 
book  criticized. 

"The  Anglomaniacs"  an  unsigned  serial,  begins  in  the  June  Century.  It  gives  good 
promise.  "  The  Women  of  the  French  Salons  "  is  continued,  with  a  fine  ornamental  bor- 
der around  each  page,  besides  several  full-page  portraits.  The  frontispiece  for  the  month 
is  an  engraving  of  Walter  Besant.  Beside  the  serials,  notable  pieces  are  "  London  Poly- 
technics and  People's  Palaces,"  by  Albert  Shaw,  "  Track  Athletics  in  America,"  by  Wal- 
ter Camp,  and  "Comparative  Taxation,"  by  Edward  Atkinson.  "Mere  Marchette  "  is  a 
most  pathetic  little  story,  and  "  Homer  and  the  Bible  "  is  a  powerful  piece  of  verse. 

The  usual  complete  novel  of  Lippincotfs  is  "  Circumstantial  Evidence,"  by  Mary  E. 
Stickney.  "The  Origin  of  Chinese  Culture  and  Civilization,"  by  Robert  Kennaway 
Douglas,  "  George  Henry  Boker,"  by  R.  H.  Stoddard,  and  "  Round  Robin  Talks,"  by  J. 
M.  Stoddart,  are  worthy  of  more  than  a  passing  glance. 

D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.  will  soon  publish  an  edition  of  three  of  Moliere's  comedies:  Le  Tar- 
tuffe,  Le  Bourgeois  Gentilhomme,  and  Le  Medecin  Malgre  Lui.  Also  a  Compendious 
French  Grammar,  by  Prof.  A.  H.  Edgren,  of  the  University  of  Nebraska. 


Exchanges. 


These  are  the  days  of  laziness.  The  cool  breezes  blow  in  through  the  closed  blind, 
which  shuts  out  the  heated,  dusty  world,  and  refreshened  we  gladly  turn  to  our  pleasant 
task.  Looking  into  the  familiar  faces  of  our  exchanges,  it  would  seem  as  if  the  brightness 
of  youth  and  the  cheerfulness  which  they  show  forth  were  more  in  keeping  with  June  than 
with  any  other  month  of  the  year.  Why  is  it  we  must  leave  our  native  tongue  to  find  the 
proper  mode  of  salute  as  we  part  for  the  summer  ?    Shall  it  be  au  revoir  or  aufiviedersehen  ? 

The  University  of  the  South  Magazine  comes  first  to  hand.  This  new  publication  opens  the 
second  number  with  an  article  on  Walt  Whitman.  With  the  opinions  expressed  we  agree, 
and  the  quotations  are  well  chosen  to  illustrate  the  purpose  of  the  writer.  But  the  style ! 
There  has  never  come  to  our  notice  in  a  college  publication  such  a  Saltus-like  use  of  the 
adjective.  How  the  agony  is  piled  on  !  There  is  also  a  tendency  to  magniloquent  indefi- 
niteness.  What  does  this  mean  ?  "  Inconceivable  pilings  of  detached  words,  formless 
pyramids  without  apex  or  foundation."  "  Formless  pyramids  !  "  Some  writer  on  style 
says  in  effect,  "  If  you  can't  get  emphasis  with  the  words,  stop  writing ; "  but  the  author  of 
this  article  has  adorned  his  effusion  with  a  superabundance  of  italics,  also  pronouns  of  the 
first  person.  The  succeeding  article  is  seriously  afflicted  with  inability  to  stick  to  the 
subject.  And  now,  dear  Magazine,  do  print  some  verse,  and,  to  carry  out  the  statement  of 
your  editorial  columns,  which,  by  the  way,  are  very  well  written,  cut  your  articles  short. 
The  departments  and  typography  are  good. 

The  Nassau  Lit.  maintains  the  quality  of  its  pen  unimpaired,  albeit  the  writers  seem 
addicted  to  sorrow  in  this  number.  The  verse  is  rather  common-place,  while  the  depart- 
ments are  good.  The  historical  sketch  of  satire  is  very  readable ;  but  why  did  the  writer 
mix  in  so  much  flimsy  foolishness  ?  The  Arassau's  "A  Word  to  Contributors  "  is  an  article 
in  this  number,  which  can  be  found  in  the  magazine  room,  and  is  something  we  would  like 
every  man  in  '93  to  read. 

The  last  number  of  the  Brown  Lit.  is  a  superior  one.  The  verse  vies  with  the  prose 
in  excellence.  We  have  previously  commended  the  improvement  in  Brown's  litera- 
ture, and  are  glad  there  is  no  falling  back.  The  magazine  is  a  worthy  representative  of 
Brown,  and  deserves  a  hearty  support  from  the  university.  Most  of  the  verse,  and  the 
article  on  Daniel  Manin,  are  above  the  college  average,  while  the  typography  does  not 
form  an  opposite  to  the  contents. 

The  conservative  Yale  Lit.  has  a  good  average  number,  in  which  the  graceful  poem 
"A-Maying  "  stands  out  prominently.  The  Portfolio  contains  some  very  delicate  sketches. 
All  we  would  ask  for  is  more  life  in  the  paper. 

The  Williams  Lit.  for  May  has  been  long  delayed,  but  it  is  a  superior  number.  The 
leading  article,  entitled  the  "  Rise  and  Decline  of  the  New  England  Devil,"  is  preeminently 
entertaining.  All  the  stories  are  commendable,  but  we  especially  like  "  Miss  Mehitable's 
Romance  "  for  its  easy  and  graceful  style  and  blending  of  humor  and  pathos. 


Alumni  Notes. 


That  this  department  may  be  as  interesting  and  valuable  as  possible,  we  solicit  contributions  from 
all.  Items  that  may  seem  unimportant  to  the  contributor  will  no  doubt  carry  to  some  readers  remem- 
brances of  happy  but  departed  days. 

Work  on  the  General  Alumni  Catalogue  is  being  pushed  rapidly  forward,  and  it  is  ex- 
pected that  it  will  be  completed  by  Commencement  time.  In  appearance  the  catalogue  will 
be  similar  to  the  last  one.  The  summary  is  as  follows  :  Bachelors  of  Arts  and  Bachelors 
of  Letters  4,872,  living  2,292;  Bachelors  of  Science  (Chandler  school)  397,  living  345; 
Bachelors  of  Science  (Agricultural  college)  136,  living  130;  Civil  Engineers  (Thayer 
school)  46,  living  43;  Doctors  of  Medicine  (Medical  college)  1,672,  living  844;  Recipients 
of  Honorary  Degrees  783,  living  250, — total,  7,729. 

The  college  has  lately  received  portraits  in  oil  of  Gen.  Samuel  Fessenden  '06,  Hon. 
Ichabod  Bartlett  '08,  Prof.  O.  P.  Hubbard  '73  hon.,  who  has  been  connected  with  the  col- 
lege over  fifty  years,  and  Rev.  Z.  S.  Barstow  '49  hon.,  who  was  a  trustee  from  1834  to 
1871. 

G.  P.  Conn  '56  Med.  Coll.  is  secretary  of  the  State  Medical  Society,  which  holds  its 
annual  meeting  in  Concord,  June  16  and  17.  Col.  George  Cook  '69  Med.  Coll.,  of  Con- 
cord, is  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements.  Dr.  Conn  is  a  member  of  the  com- 
mittee chosen  by  Hon.  G.  A.  Pillsbury  to  have  charge  of  the  fund  given  by  him  for  the 
erection  of  a  hospital  in  Concord.  M.  W.  Russell  '64  Med.  Coll.  is  also  on  this  com- 
mittee. 

At  the  meetings  of  the  53d  annual  conference  of  Congregational  churches  of  Grafton 
county  Rev.  Dr.  Leeds  '70  hon.  presided.  Among  those  who  made  addresses  were  Rev. 
George  W.  Patterson  '81,  of  Hanover,  who  discussed  "  The  Lord's  Day  as  a  Day  for  Bible 
Study,"  and  Rev.  W.  A.  C.  Converse  '57,  of  Piermont,  who  considered  it  as  "A  Day  of 
Spiritual  Impulse." 

Hon.  Mellen  Chamberlain  '44,  of  the  Boston  public  library,  Rev.  H.  A.  Hazen  '54,  of 
Auburndale,  Mass.,  and  Rev.  A.  H.  Quint  '46,  of  Allston,  Mass.,  attended  the  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  death  of  Gen.  Israel  Putnam,  observed  at  Danvers  May  19. 

The  fifty-third  annual  meeting  of  the  Caledonia  County  Conference  was  held  at  the 
South  church,  St.  Johnsbury,  Vt.,  May  27  and  28.  The  opening  sermon  was  delivered  by 
Rev.  Dr.  H.  N.  Burton  '53.  Rev.  C.  H.  Merrill  '67,  secretary  of  the  Vermont  Domestic 
Missionary  Society,  read  an  essay  on  "  Problems  of  the  Country  Church,"  and  Rev.  J.  C. 
Bodwell  read  a  paper  on  "  Family  Religion."  Among  the  officers  elected  were  Rev.  C.  H. 
Merrill,  moderator,  and  Rev.  J.  C.  Bodwell,  assistant  register. 

'20.  The  late  Hon.  George  W.  Nesmith  bequeathed  twenty  shares  of  stock  in  the 
Northern  Railroad  to  the  Congregational  Society  of  Franklin. 


376  ALUMNI  NOTES. 

'25.  The  recent  death  of  Prof.  John  F.  Emerson,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  leaves  but  one 
surviving  member  of  the  class  of  1825, — Mark  W.  Fletcher,  a  farmer  of  Wayne,  111. 

'27.  The  late  death  of  Rev.  Sewall  Tenney,  D.  D.,  of  Ellsworth,  Me.,  was  the  thirty- 
seventh  in  a  class  of  forty-one  in  1827  at  Dartmouth.  Those  remaining  are  Levi  Bartlett, 
M.  D.,  of  Skaneateles,  N.  Y. ;  Rev.  Thomas  Bellows,  now  a  farmer  in  Walpole;  Jos.  A. 
Eastman,  a  lawyer  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  and  Lyman  L.  Rix,  a  farmer  of  Tunbridge,  Vt. 

'27.  Sewall  Tenney,  one  of  the  oldest  clergymen  in  Maine,  died  Friday  at  Ellsworth. 
He  was  born  in  this  state  in  August,  1801.  He  studied  medicine  when  a  young  man,  but 
later  applied  himself  to  the  work  of  the  ministry.  Mr.  Tenney  received  his  special  educa- 
tion for  the  ministry  at  the  Andover  Theological  seminary,  where  he  graduated  in  1831, 
and  was  pastor  of  the  Ellsworth  Congregational  church  for  forty  years,  resigning  fifteen 
years  ago.  He  was  for  many  years  a  trustee  of  Bowdoin  college,  and  of  the  Bangor  Theo- 
logical seminary. 

'40.  Rev.  Harry  Brickett,  who  resigned  his  pastorate  at  Thetford,  Vt.,  will  move  to 
Hooksett. 

'46  and  '60.  Rev.  A.  H.  Quint  and  Rev.  Arthur  Little  are  members  of  the  committee  of 
the  American  Board  which  met  recently  in  Boston  to  investigate  the  methods  of  the  Pru- 
dential Committee.  In  an  article  on  this  committee  the  Boston  Journal  refers  to  Dr. 
Quint  as  "well  known  in  this  vicinity,  and,  in  fact,  everywhere  where  Congregationalism 
is  known.  He  is  undoubtedly  the  best  authority  on  Congregationalism  and  Congregational 
polity  in  this  country,  if  not  in  the  world.  Dr.  Quint  drafted  the  constitution  for  the  Na- 
tional Council  of  Congregational  churches  in  the  United  States,  and  presided  over  that 
body.  He  was  also  chairman  of  the  committee  that  called  its  first  meeting."  Dr.  Quint 
is  also  on  the  committee  which  has  charge  of  matters  relating  to  the  method  of  electing 
corporate  members. 

'46.  Dr.  Quint  will  resign  the  pastorate  of  the  Allston  Congregational  church  about 
October  1. 

'49  Med.  Coll.  Nathaniel  Shannon,  of  Charlestown,  Mass.,  died  recently,  aged  sixty-^ 
«ight  years.  He  was  the  son  of  Dr.  Thomas  Shannon,  of  Moultonborough.  After  prac- 
tising at  Loudon,  Cape  Elizabeth,  and  Portland,  Me.,  he  removed  to  Boston.  A  widow 
and  four  sons  survive  him. 

'51.  Hon.  Joshua  G.  Hall  has  been  chosen  president  of  the  Somersworth  Machine 
Company  of  Dover. 

'51.  Secretary  of  War  Proctor  has  presented  a  complete  set  of  maps  of  the  battles  of 
the  Civil  War,  about  fifty  in  all,  to  Chamberlin  Post  of  St.  Johnsbury,  Vt.  About  thirty 
members  of  this  post  were  in  Secretary  Proctor's  old  regiment,  the  15th  Vermont. 

'51.  Judge  Jonathan  Ross  delivered  an  address  at  the  graduating  exercises  of  Crafts- 
bury  academy,  Craftsbury,  Vt. 

'51.  Rev.  R.  B.  Foster,  lately  of  Cheney,  Kan.,  has  taken  charge  of  a  new  Congrega- 
tional church  at  Stillwater,  Oklahoma. 

'51  and  '55.  Secretary  Proctor  and  Hon.  Nelson  Dingley  were  speakers  at  the  banquet 
of  the  Home  Market  Club,  in  Boston,  May  31. 


ALUMNI  NOTES.  377 

'52.  Rev.  Dr.  G.  W.  Gardner,  of  the  Beth  Eden  Baptist  church,  of  Waltham,  Mass.,  is 
spending  a  two  months  vacation  at  New  London. 

'54  C.  S.  S.  B.  A.  Kimball  was  elected  a  director  at  the  recent  meeting  of  the  old  Con- 
cord Railroad  Corporation.     Hon.  Frederick  Smyth  '65  hon.  is  also  a  director, 

'56  Med.  Coll.  G.  P.  Conn,  of  Concord,  has  been  elected  a  vice-president  of  the  Na- 
tional Association  of  Railway  Surgeons. 

'56.  Charles  H.  Hersey,  of  Keene,  has  been  elected  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion for  the  Union  District. 

'57.     Henry  Ames  Blood   has  an  illustrated  poem,  "  The  Fighting  Parson,"  in  the  May 

Century. 

'58  C.  S.  S.  William  M.  Chase,  of  Concord,  was  elected  trustee  to  fill  the  place  of  Judge 
Nesmith  at  the  recent  meeting  of  the  trustees. 

'59.  Prof.  Luther  T.  Townsend,  of  Boston  University,  will  be  one  of  the  speakers  at 
the  Summer  School  for  College  Students  at  Northfield,  Mass. 

'59.  A  movement  has  been  started  in  Washington  to  make  Col.  Wheelock  G.  Veazey, 
of  Vermont,  the  next  national  commander  of  the  Grand  Army. 

'59.  John  Freeman  Colby,  of  Boston,  died  at  Hillsborough,  on  Saturday,  the  7th.  Mr. 
Colby  was  born  in  Bennington,  March  3,  1S34,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  fifty-six 
years  of  age.  Thrown  early  in  life  upon  his  own  resources,  he  determined  to  secure  an 
education, — supporting  himself  by  teaching  and  filling  the  office  of  librarian.  For  some 
years  he  was  principal  of  the  Stetson  high  school,  Randolph,  Mass.,  and  in  1865  was 
admitted  to  the  bar.  He  rose  steadily  in  his  chosen  profession.  In  i878-'79  he  occupied 
a  seat  in  the  common  council  of  the  city  of  Boston,  and  in  i886-'87  he  was  a  member  of 
the  legislature.  Mr.  Colby  was  an  influential  member  of  the  Union  Congregational  church, 
and  was  prominent  in  the  religious  circles  of  the  city.  As  a  man  he  was  noble  and  strong, 
as  a  citizen  faithful  and  respected,  as  a  lawyer  judicial  and  persevering,  and  as  a  Christian 
consistent  and  devoted.     He  leaves  a  widow  and  one  son. 

'60.  Rev.  S.  F.  French  has  received  a  call  from  the  First  Congregational  church  at 
Derry. 

'60.  Dr.  C.  F.  P.  Bancroft  addressed  the  Merrimack  Valley  Congregational  Club  at 
Lowell,  Mass.,  May  26,  on  "  What  are  the  Colleges  and  Schools  Doing?"  Rev.  Arthur 
Little,  D.D.,  delivered  an  address  at  the  same  meeting  on  "  What  is  the  Church  Doing? " 

'60.     S.  C.  Cotton  is  engaged  in  fruit  growing  at  Orlando,  Orange  county,  Fla. 

'61.  Hon.  George  E.  Hodgdon,  a  veteran  soldier  and  an  ex-mayor  of  Portsmouth,  will 
be  a  candidate,  it  is  said,  for  the  Democratic  congressional  nomination  in  the  first  New 
Hampshire  district. 

'6r.  Major  E.  D.  Redington  is  a  special  agent  for  the  Provident  Life  and  Trust  Com- 
pany, of  Philadelphia,  with  an  office  at  196  La  Salle  street,  Chicago. 

'62.  Henry  Marden,  who  died  recently  in  Turkey,  was  born  at  New  Boston,  December  9, 
1837.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Andover  Theological  Seminary,  and  had  been  a  missionary 
at  Marash  for  many  years. 


378  ALUMNI  NOTES. 

'64  Med.  Coll.  Arthur  Hervey  Wilson  died  suddenly  of  heart  disease  at  his  home  in 
South  Boston,  Mass.,  May  11.  He  was  born,  August  18,  1839,  at  Paxton,  Mass.,  and  was 
educated  in  the  Worcester  public  schools  and  Wilbraham  academy.  During  the  latter  part 
of  the  war  he  was  assistant  surgeon  of  the  Seventh  United  States  Veteran  Volunteers,  enter- 
ing the  service  in  May,  1865,  and  remaining  until  April,  1866.  Since  1881  he  has  been  a 
member  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  and  he  has  also  been  prominent  in  Grand  Army  circles.  Dr. 
Wilson  was  examining-surgeon  under  the  state  aid  law,  and  was  examining-surgeon  on  ac- 
count of  United  States  pensioners  from  1867  to  1871.  From  1869  to  1875  ne  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Boston  School  Committee ;  and  from  1867  to  1877  he  held  the  office  of  coroner. 
In  the  Massachusetts  legislatures  of  188 1  and  1882,  Dr.  Wilson  represented  the  South 
Boston  district,  and  served  as  house  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Public  Health.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society,  the  American  Medical  Association, 
the  South  Boston  Medical  Club,  and  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons,  England.  He  was  a 
member  of  St.  Paul's  Lodge  of  Free  Masons,  South  Boston ;  Bethesda  Lodge,  I.  O.  O.  F. ; 
Mount  Washington  Encampment,  I.  O.  O.  F. ;  Standish  Council,  Order  of  Tonti;  Dahl- 
gren  Post  2,  G.  A.  R.     He  left  a  widow  and  two  sons. 

'64.  Rev.  Bartlett  H.  Weston  has  been  called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  newly  organized 
Third  Congregational  church  of  Concord,  Mass. 

'56.  Hon.  H.  C.  Ide,  of  St.  Johnsbury,  Vt.,  is  a  prominent  candidate  for  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor of  that  state. 

'70.  Prof.  C.  E.  Putney,  of  St.  Johnsbury  academy,  has  been  reelected  president  of  the 
board  of  education  of  Caledonia  county. 

'72  C.  S.  S.  Leslie  C.  Wead  is  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Whitcomb,  Wead  &  Co.,  real 
estate  and  investment  brokers.     Office,  35  Equitable  Building,  Boston. 

'73.     A.  H.  Beede  is  a  teacher  of  languages  and  music  at  Winston,  N.  C. 

'74.  Dr.  Edward  J.  Brown,  of  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  was  married  recently  to  Miss  M.  P. 
Fullerton,  of  that  place.  • 

'74.  Charles  O.  Gates  is  treasurer  of  the  Cleveland  Baking  Powder  Co.,  81  Fulton  street, 
New  York. 

'75.     W.  J.  Noyes  has  charge  of  a  department  in  the  boy's  high  school,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

'75.  George  I.  Aldrich,  superintendent  of#schools  in  Quincy,  Mass.,  has  been  appointed 
a  member  of  the  state  board  of  education. 

'76.  Rev.  H.  M.  Andrews,  formerly  Congregational  pastor  at  Peacham,  Vt.,  has  been 
appointed,  by  the  Presbyterian  Board,  a  missionary  to  India,  and  leaves  for  his  new  field 
early  in  September.     He  will  probably  be  located  at  Suharunpore,  in  northern  India. 

'77  C.  S.  S.  C.  M.  Goddard  has  left  Plainfield,  N.  J.,  for  Boston.  He  has  been  ap- 
pointed electrical  inspector  for  the  New  England  Insurance  Exchange,  with  New  England 
for  his  special  field. 

'78.  Rev.  T.  C.  H.  Bouton,  of  Hopkinton,  will  preach  the  sermon  at  the  Merrimack 
County  Conference  of  Congregational  Churches,  which  is  held  at  Penacook,  June  10 
and  11. 


AL  UMNI  NO  TES.  379 

'79  C.  S.  S.  Prof.  H.  A.  Hitchcock,  of  the  Thayer  School,  has  purchased  a  residence 
on  Faculty  avenue,  which  he  will  soon  occupy. 

'79  C.  S.  S.     C.  C.  Hutchinson  is  mining  at  Congress,  Yavapai  county,  Arizona. 

'79  C,  S.  S.     F.  L.  Biddlecom  is  engineering  at  Ouray,  Colorado. 

'80.  Hon.  Thomas  Flint,  a  member  of  the  California  senate,  is  on  a  visit  to  Concord, 
where  he  formerly  resided. 

'80.  D.  P.  Dame  has  been  chosen  corresponding  secretary  of  the  lately  organized  Lect- 
ure Association  of  Littleton.     Hon.  G.  A.  Bingham  '69  hon.  is  president. 

'81  C.  S.  S.  Charles  W.  Healeyis  a  civil  engineer  on  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  Rail- 
road, and  can  be  addressed  at  Big  Stone  Gap,  Wise  county,  Va. 

'82.  Hon.  Seth  P.  Smith  has  been  elected  treasurer  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for 
Promoting  Good  Citizenship. 

'83  C.  S.  S.  William  C.  Hall  is  civil  engineer  for  the  Boston  Water  Works.  Address  : 
South  Framingham,  Mass. 

'85.  E.  T.  Critchett  has  been  reelected  principal  of  the  Duluth  high  school,  at  a  salary 
of  $1,600.     Address  :  326  Third  avenue  west,  Duluth,  Minn. 

'85.  Twenty  members  of  the  '85  club  of  Boston  held  a  social  reunion  recently  to  enter- 
tain Richard  Webb,  of  Portland.  Prof.  A.  E.  Briggs  presided,  and  John  H.  Colby  acted 
as  secretary.  The  speakers  were  Judge  N.  Washburne,  Rev.  A.  H.  Armes,  Dr.  E.  H. 
Allen,  and  others. 

'85.     Thomas   Leigh  is  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Jones  &  Leigh,  attorneys  at  law,  161 
Water  street,  Augusta,  Me. 
'85.     Nathan  Washburne  is  practising  law  at  Middleboro,  Mass. 

'85.  H.  L.  Parker  is  clerk  in  the  Census  Bureau  at  Washington,  and  also  attends  lect- 
ures at  the  Columbia  Law  School.     Address  :  204  Indiana  avenue. 

'85  C.  S.  S.  G.  E.  Melendy  is  an  architect,  with  office  at  204  Centre  street,  Orange, 
New  Jersey. 

'85.  Charles  W.  Floyd  is  practising  law  at  East  Bridgewater,  Mass. 

'86.  Arthur  H.  Chase,  who  was  recently  admitted  to  the  bar,  has  become  a  member  of 
the  firm  of  Chase  &  Streeter,  of  Concord. 

'87.     W.  S.  Ross  is  taking  a  post-graduate  course  at  Harvard. 

'87.  Morris  W.  Morse  is  among  those  graduating  from  Hartford  Theological  Seminary 
this  year. 

'87.  Eastman,  having  completed  his  course  at  the  medical  department  of  Boston  Univer- 
sity, will  soon  go  to  work  among  his  people,  the  Sioux  Indians. 

'88  C.  S.  S.     F.  S.  Berry  is  teaching  in  the  high  school  at  Farmington. 

'88.     W.  Williams  is  teaching  at  Mendon,  Mass. 

'88.     J.  A.  Cunningham  has  signed  as  pitcher  for  the  Utica  (N.  Y.)  base  ball  club. 

'88.     Chauncey  Gleason  is  teaching  in  the  Merrimackport,  Mass.,  grammar  school. 


■y 


T\°  nt^L^ 


■ r— \ —  -  m 


REPUBLICAN    PRE88    ASSOCIATION,    CONCORD,    N. 


£0e  <£>atimout§  &itttav%  (mon*0%. 

CONTENTS  FOR    JUNE,   1890. 

THE  MAN  FROM  HANOVER W.D.  Quint.  341 

NICOLAI  GOGOL  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         Barro?i  Shirley.  346 

PRE-REVOLUTIONARY  ORATORY         .         .         .          W.  C.  Belknap.  351 

THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  FATHER  JEROME        .         Marshall  P.  Thompson.  353 

THE  LEGEND  OF  BLOOD  BROOK        .         .         .         W.  C.  Belknap.  358 

THE  CHAIR 362 

BY  THE  WAY 367 

THISTLE-DOWN    .        .         .         .         .         .        ...        .        .         .        .  369 

CRAYON  BLEU 371 

EXCHANGES 374 

ALUMNI  NOTES 375 


The  Dartmouth  Literary  Monthly 

Is  published  each  of  the  nine  months  of  the  college  year  by  a  board  of  editors  from 
the  Senior  and  Junior  classes.  .Its  endeavor  will  be  to  represent  the  literary  spirit  of 
Dartmouth,  and  to  incite  the  students  to  more  careful  and  thorough  work  in  the  study 
of  literature. 

The  editors  from  succeeding  classes  will  be  chosen  according  to  merit,  as  shown  by 
competition.  In  this  choice,  some  member  of  the  Faculty  will  act  with  the  regular 
board. 

In  accordance  with  college  custom,  the  magazine  will  be  sent  to  each  student.  Those 
wishing  to  discontinue  it  will  please  notify  the  business  manager. 

Terms,  $2  per  year;  single  copies,  25  cents.     On  sale  at  the  Dartmouth  bookstore. 

All  communications  should  be  addressed  to 

C.  A.  PERKINS,  Business  Manager. 


HARRINGTON, 

HATTER, 

SCHOOL  ST., 

BOSTON. 


Specialte  : 
The  Production  of  Young  Men's  Hats 


latest 


5tyles. 


Your 
Commands  will  be  promptly  executed. 


JUSTLY 

PRONOUNCED 

SUPERIOR 

TO  ANY. 


^tf    '"v  ^  <«• 


FRENCH  SHIRTINGS, 

FLANNELS,  MADRAS,  g, 

ENGLISH  CHEVIOTS  AND  PURE  SILK 
SHIRTINGS. 


From  these  goods  we  carry  in  stock  or  make  to  spe- 
cial order,  for  Travelling  Shirts,  Railway  Cars,  Steam- 
er Wear,  Hunting  or  Yachting,  Office  Coats,  House 
Coats,  Bath  or  Sick  Room,  Ladies'  Blouse  Waists. 


LAWDNT    TEN1STIS 

Coats,  Shirts,  Trousers,  Caps,  Belts,  and  Sashes 


Seashore  and  Country  Outfits. 

Men's  and  Boys' 

Negligee  Shirts,  Gymnasium  Shirts, 

Fishing  Shirts,  Sweaters,  Guernseys, 

Rowing  Shirts,    Towels,  Wrappers, 

Bathing  Suits. 

NOTES  BEOS., 

Hosiers,  Glovers,  &  Shirt  Makers, 

Washington  and  Summer  Streets^ 

Boston,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 


COLLINS  &  FAIRBANKS 

(Successors  to  D.  P.  Ilsley  &  Co.) 
Shales   Specially    /\daphed    bo   Youn9    JAen. 


Opera  Crush  Hats,  Silk  Hat; 


Felt  Hats,  and   Cloth  Hats. 


CLUB  HATS  AND  CAPS  MADE  TO  ORDER. 

S®1©  Agents  fox  Hemiy  Heaths  andL  &.  J'.  White's  &@a<tai  Mats. 


Carter's  Restaurant, 

CARTER'S  BLOCK. 
OYSTERS  SERVED  ffl   EVERY  STYLE. 

All  Kinds  of 

Jfauifs,    |4ufs,    and 
(Jonfecfionen;, 

portticir/  wd  do/i\e5ti^  goMS, 

And  a  Choice  Line  of  Pipes. 
H.  L.  CARTER. 


ROYAL  CUMMINGS, 


Book  and  Job  Printer, 


White      River     Junction,     Vt., 


Solicits  work  requiring  care  and  skill. 


Facilities  have  been  largely  in- 
creased in  the  past  few  months. 


TR  /US. 


mixtures  lor  Pipe  or  Cigarette. 

Three  Kings, 

Turkish,  Perique,  and  Virginia. 

Mellow  Mixture, 

Turkish  and  Perique. 

Turkish  and  Virginia. 

Perique  and  Virginia. 

Genuine  Turkish. 


FLflp  GUTS,  Especially  Adapted  for  the  Pipe. 


Vanity  Fair,  Old  Gold,  Virginia   Flakes,    Monte  Cristo, 
Salmagundi,  The  Latest  Mixture,  Granulated  Mixture. 


PREMIERE    QUALITE    CIGARETTE. 

A  superb  article.  The  standard  of  purity  and  excellence.  The  faultless  union  of  two 
matchless  tobaccos  prevents  that  dryness  of  the  throat  usually  produced  by  smoking  other 
brands.  Do  not  allow  prejudice  to  prevent  you  from  giving  this  incomparable  Cigarette  a 
trial.     It  is  simply  perfection,  a  luxury,  and  not  a  low  priced  article. 

Our  Vanity  Fair  and  various  Smoking  Mixtures  are  the  finest  for  the  pipe. 

WILLIAM  S.  KIMBALL  &  CO.,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

SEVENTEEN   FIRST   PRIZE  MEDALS. 

2 


£ 


OMETHING   NEW 


IN    BOTH 


Jjife  and  Occident  Insurance, 

TEN-PAYMENT    ACCIDENT    POLICIES.— Insuring   against 
accident  up  to  70  years  of  age,  and,  if  desired,  returning  amount  of 
premiums  to  insured. 

ANNUITY    LIFE    POLICIES.— The  only  form  issued  which  fur- 
nishes a  regular  income,  and  the  lowest  in  premium  rate. 

Both    Forms    Copyrighted    and    Used    Exclusively    by 

THE  TRAVELERSJF  HARTFORD. 

Assets,  $10,992,000.    Surplus,  $2,248,000. 

[UNPAID   POLICY-HOLDERS    OYER    $16  500,000. 

J.  G.  Batterson,  Pros.     Rodney  Dennis,  Sec.    John  E.  Morris,  Ass't  Sec. 


Main  St.,  near  R.  R.  Depot. 


Geo.  JS.  Parr,  proprietor. 


Sotel  Wkfwidk, 

SPEINGFIELD,  MASS.  Terms,  $2.50  per  Day. 

Elevator  and  all  Modern  Conveniences.     Office  on  Ground  Floor. 


i\E&HrAHTHONT&CitPf^'?si\l 


I-591-PR0ADWAY- 


Tf)G  DAKCmOUCB 

PHHRMHCY, 


Head- Quarters  for 

Toilet  Soaps, 
Perfumery, 
Razors, 

Strops, 

POCKET  CUTLERY,  P0RTE-M0NNAIE8, 

Combs,  Tooth,  Nail,  and  Hair 
Brushes, 

FRUIT  &  PURE  CMDY. 


L.  B.  DOWNING, 

HANOVER,    N.    H. 


PARA  CASPA, 

A    WONDERFUL    REMEDY. 

Arrests  falling  hair  by  curing  disease  ;  grows  new 
hair  by  restoring  vitality  to  torpid  roots.  Dandruff, 
burning  and  itching  of  the  head,  are  usually  the 
precursors  of  premature  baldness,  and  are  also  a 
prolific  source  of  intense  humiliation,  worry,  and 
torture  to  thousands  of  afflicted  victims.  They  are 
all  curable  by  a  judicious  use  of  Para  Caspa. 

PARA  CASPA  is  recommended  as  a  toilet 
requisite,  and  a  universal  remedy  for  all  ordinary 
diseases  of  the  hair,  scalp,  and  skin.     For  sale  by 

M.  M.  AMARAL, 
¥oi^ofial  Sfti^t, 

Emerson's  Block, 

Hanover,  N.  H. 

Hair  Cutting,  Shaving,  Shampooing,  Sea  Foam, 
Hair  Dyed,  Razors  Honed,  and  all  pertaining  to  a 
first-class  Hair  Dresser  strictly  attended  to. 

Desiring  your  patronage,  I  remain  your  servant 
for  your  money, 

M.  M.  AMARAL. 

A  few  tried  razors  always  on  hand  for  sale  at 
reasonable  prices. 


{JoIkgF  Mtas. 

gsrai —m«HII«lll^— «—— ——■—■■■ 

I  G.  ROBERTS  &  CO., 

No.  17  Province  St.,  Boston, 

Album  Manufactory 

to  the  following  institutions : 

Dartmouth,  Bates,  Trinity,  Bowdoin, 

Tufts,    Amherst,    Mass.  Ag'l,    Maine 
State,  and    Williams    Colleges,  Wes- 

leyan,  Brown,  Colby,  Madison  (Wis- 
consin) and  Boston  Universities,  and 
Institute  of  Technology,  Boston. 


1&£^  We  have  manufactured  for  the  above 
institutions  for  nearly  every  class  for  eight 
years  past,  and  never  had  an  album  rejected. 


(SA^IPE^   B^OIPHBI^S, 


Dealers  in 


©ice  vfjarjiai&Sj 


Fruit,  Nuts,  Cigars,  Etc. 


(ttUfo  &o)vt&t  $x\u* 


AND    CARRY    FINE     STOCK. 


4 


iDPfflTeOSTOf  CLOTHING 


•&    w 
w 


EXCELLENCE  OF  MANUFACTURE 
STYLISHLY  MADE  GARMENTS 
EXTENSIVE~ASSORTMENT 
MODERATE  PRICES 


FEINEMAN  BEOS 

TAILORS 

ROCHESTER   N  H 


AAAA AAAA 

ww  W  w 


OAr  H  E  Feineman  representing  our  firm  will  be 

in  Hanover  at  intervals  during  the  seasons  :  : 
\  \  \  '.  \  \  '.with  a  full  &  complete  line  of  samples 

+4  -M"  -M-  «M-  -M- 


Road- Riders,  Students,  Visitors,  Commercial  Men,  and 
"  The  Boys  "  naturally  enough  go  to 

FOR  THEIR 

Ijuery  apd  Qoael?  5eruKe- 

Our  facilities  this  year  are  especially  good  for  Coach- 
ing Tatties,  Society  Suppers  Out,  Luggage 
and  Tarcel  Work. 

Ball    Club,   Rugby,    and     Tenuis    Teams    at    Most 
Reasonable  Rates. 

Order  Book  for  such,  and  all  train  work,  at  Hotel  Office. 

H.   T.   HCO'WE. 


D^IFTIM 

IM0TI^UMEHT0 


FOR   STUDENTS'  USE   FOR  ALL  KINDS  OF 

HIEDIfflfilGflL  AND  RRDHITECTURflL  DRAWING. 

Curves,  Triangles,  T  Squares,  Scales,  Drawing  and  Blue  Process  Papers, 
Pencils,  Brushes,  etc.,  also  every  description  of 

ARTISTS7     l^n^.TEJE^ILA.XjS. 

W.APSWOPIR "  POWWPP    &  GO., 

Manufacturers  of  and  Importers  and  Dealers  in 
ARTISTS'    A1NX>     DRAFTSMEN'S    SUPPLIES, 

82  and* 84  Washington  Street,  Boston.  263  and  265  Wabash  Ave.,  Chicago. 

Send  for  Catalogue.    Special  Rates  to  Students. 

6 


JXa^g/TOiU 


(Successors  to  BigeLow  &  Co.) 

HATTERS 
««NEW  ENGLAND  COLLEGES 


TO  THE 


♦Jteaty's  lpT)doT)  J-Jats.* 

Mackintoshes, 

Umbrellas, 

Ganes. 

407  Washington  Street,  Boston, 


Mr.  "W.  Gr.  HALL  will  show  samples  at  Hanover  daring 

the  College  year. 

8 


F.  L.  DUNNE, 


338  Washington  St.,  Boston, 


IJIP©K1IJI€I   fffllli 


Constantly  in  Receipt  of  the  Latest  London  Novelties. 

(PRICES  MOCDECR^TE.<XXXXXXX>FIMEST  WOfeK. 
THE  LARGEST  STUDENT  TRADE  OF  ANY  HOUSE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Mr.  James  E.  Dennison  will  visit  Hanover  regularly  to  take  orders. 


STORRS  &  WESTON'S 

YOU  WILL  BE  SURE  OF  FINDING  THE 

latest  Styles  of  Gents'  Furnisoings  Torouajont. 


WE  ARE  AGENTS  FOR  THE  DOVER  CLOTHING  CO. 


"W©  Qstm  give  y©m  a   Ei©.  I  flit,  witbout  a  Faaey  Prie©. 

CALL   AND   SEE   SAMPLES. 

Our  stock  of  Ready-made  Goods  will  bear  inspection.    OVERCOATS, 
ULSTERS,  and  SMOKING  FROCKS  a  specialty. 

9 


N.  A.  FROST, 

Watches,  Jewelry,  Clocks, 

f§old  and  jfountain  Ifend, 
-i  Cutlery,  Base-ball  and  Tennis  Supplies,  v- 

And  other  goods  adapted  to  the  needs  of  students. 

Pine    Watches    Promptly 

Repaired    and    Warranted. 

We  are  Special  Agents  for 

A.  G  SPALDING  &  BROTHEPvS, 

OF  CHICAGO  AND  NEW  YORK, 
The  Acknowledged  Leaders   of  the  Sporting  Goods  Trade. 


N.  G.  WOOD    &    SONS, 

(Established  1848) 


AND 


AIERMN  WATGH  DEALER?, 

Opp.  Jordan,  Marsh  &  Co.'s, 

467  Washington  Street,  Boston. 


6>iar  Specialties  : 

American  Watches,  Diamonds,  Sterling  Sil- 
ver Ware,  French  Clocks  and  Bronzes, 
Fine  Plated  Ware,  Jewelry  and 
Fancy  Goods. 

Silk  Umbrellas  &>  Gold  and  Silver  Headed  Canes 
in  large  variety. 

DESIGNS  AND   ESTIMATES  MADE  FOR   PRIZES, 
CLASS   PINS,    ETC. 

The  Price  of  every  Article  marked  in  Plain 
Figures. 


GEORGE  W.  RAND, 

— Dealer   in — 


r 


URNITURE. 


Coffins  and  Caskets, 
SPRING     BEOS, 

CORNICE  POLES,  DRAPERY  CURTAINS, 

PICTURE  FRAMES,  ETC. 


Furniture  Repaired  ai?d  Varnished. 


%%  All  kinds  of  Job  Work  connected  with 

FURNITURE  AND  UPHOLSTERY 
done  at  short  notice  and  in  the  best  manner. 


IO 


A  GOOD  PLACE  FOR  A  MUSIC  LOVER 

Is  alongside  of  the  counter  of  a  DITSON  COMPANY  MUSIC  STORE.  A  few  hours 
may  be  profitably  spent  in  examining  our  exceptionally  good  new  publications,  and  select- 
ing for  the  1890  campaign. 

From  our  64-page  list  of  books  (which  please  ask  for),  we  name  a  few  books  out  of  many. 

EXAMINE   FOR  SINGING  AND  CHORUS  CLASSES: 

Song  Harmony.  (60  cts.,  $6  doz.)     Emerson. 

Royal  Singer.  (60  cts.  $6  doz.)     Emerson. 

American  Male  Choir.  ($1  or  $9  doz.)    Tenney. 

Jehovah's  Praise.  ($1  or  $9  doz.)     Emerson. 

Concert  Selections.  ($1  or  $9  doz.)    Emerson. 

Or  our  excellent  Cantatas : 

Dairy  Maid's  Supper.    (20  cts.,  $1.80  doz.)    Lewis. 
Rainbow  Festival.    (20  cts.,  $1.80  doz.)    Lewis. 

EXAMINE  OUR  SUPERIOR  SCHOOL  MUSIC  BOOKS  : 

Song  Manual,  Book  1.     (30  cts.,  $3  doz.)     Emerson. 

Song  Manual,  Book  2.     (40  cts.,  $4.20  doz.)     Emerson. 

Song  Manual,  Book  3.     (50  cts.,  $4.80  doz.)     Emerson. 

Kindergarten  and  Primary  Songs.  (30  cts.,  $3  doz.) 
United  Voices.     (50  cts.,  $4.80  doz.)     Emerson. 

EXAMINE  OUR  NEW  PIANO  COLLECTIONS. 

Popular  Piano  Collection  ($1),  27  pieces;  Popular  Dance  Music  Collec- 
tion ($1);  and  many  others.     Also 
Popular  Song  Collection.  ($1.)  37  songs.    Classic  Tenor  Songs.  ($1). 
Song  Classics.  (Sop.  $1.)  (Alto,  $1.)  50  songs.    Baritone  Songs  ($1). 

•Any  Book  JfKailed  for  Retail  Pi- ice. 

OLIVER  DITSON  COMPANY,  Boston. 

lihe  fiotman  fihotoqraphic 

3  PARK  ST.  AND  184  BOYLSTON  ST., 
BOSTON . 


CLASS  PHOTOGRAPHERS  :  Dartmouth  '88,  Amherst  '89,  Phillips  Exeter  Academy, 

Phillips  Andover  Academy,  Newton  High  School,  Chelsea  High  School, 

Somerville  High  School,  Punchard  High  School, 

School  of  Oratory,  etc.,  etc. 


THE  MOST  RELIABLE   PHOTOGRAPHIC  ESTABLISHMENT 

in  the  country,  and  unequalled  in  its  success  with  colleges  and  schools. 

ALWAYS   GUARANTEEING   AND    PRODUCING  UNIFORMLY 
GOOD   AND   ARTISTIC   PICTURES. 

GROUPS     -A-HXTID     VIE-WS     .A.     SPECIALTY. 

// 


qiffl^Jlhh'S)  r>^  gfuJi*, 

Chase    Block,    15    North    Main    Street,    Concord,    N.    H., 

Is  probably  one  of  the  finest  Galleries  in  the  country.  Built  expressly  for  him,  up  one 
flight,  it  contains  all  the  improvements  that  twenty-five  years  of  experiment  and  study  can 
suggest. 

Operating  I^oom  Witt}  two  ]4ortt?  Isi^fs. 

TWO  DRESSING-ROOMS. 

Work-rooms  supplied  with  hot  and  cold  water  (a  great  advantage  in  the  Printing  De- 
partment).    Entire  establishment  heated  by  steam  and  hot  water. 

All  the  Latest  Designs  in  Backgrounds  and  Accessories. 

Mr.  Kimball  gives  his  personal  attention  to  all  patrons.     Students  are  cordially  invited 
to  call  when  in  the  city. 


Dartmouth  Book-Store. 


€.  p.  SqKSl^S,  Pfop'r. 

(Successor  to  Hanover  Paper  Company  and 
N.  A.  McClary.) 

A  Full  Line  of  Stationery,  Foun- 
tain, Stylographic,  and 
Gold  Pens. 

The  Paul  E.  Wirt,  the  only  perfect  foun- 
tain pen  in  the  world. 

DorpesbiG     and      ^|rpporbed     Qigaps 
alWays    on    jpand, 


EMERSON  BLOCK, 


HANOVER. 


IRA  B.  ALLEN, 


Livery  Stable. 


(sj©©<2l    "j^eetrrjs     erf    It/ogL 
erafe    llpices. 


Stages  to  and  from  all  Trains. 


12 


A.  SHUMAH  &  Car 

flJslE  AJMD  JVIEDIUJvl  eb>OTJH!j^G, 

READY-MADE  OR  MADE  TO  ORDER 

In  all  the  fewest  and  Most  Stylish  Fabrics. 

Especially  adapted  to  Young  Gentlemen's  Wear. 


COK.  WASHINGTON  AND  SUMMEK  STS., 


BOSTON,    MASS 


WHAT  JOHN   C.   WHITTIER  SAYS: 

I  find  The  Iadella  pens  so  kindly  sent  me  the 
best  I  have  used  for  a  long  time.  Indeed,  I  think 
they  are  a  great  improvement  upon  any  now  in 
the  market,  and  every  writer  who  uses  them  will 
like  myself,  heartily  thank  thee  for  them. 

I  am  truly  thy  friend,        John  G.  Whittier." 
If  your  Stationer  does  not  keep 

THE  TABELLA  A-tzt&^?  PENS 

Send  us  his  business  card  and  10  cts.  for  samples  of  13 
^   styles.    ST.  PAUL   BOOK  AND  STATIONERY  CO.. 
ST.    PAUL,    MINN.,    or   HENRY   BAINBRIDGE  b 
CO.,  NEW  YORK  CITY.     Mention  this  Paper. 


Prof.  Loisette's 

MEMOBf 

DISCOVERY  AND  TRAINING  METHOD 

In  spite  of  adulterated  imitations  which  miss  the 
theory,  and  practical  results  of  the  Original,  in  spite  of 
the  grossest  misrepresentations  by  envious  would-be 
competitors,  and  in  spite  of  "base  attempts  to  rob"  him 
of  the  fruit  of  his  labors,  (all  of  which  demonstrate  tho 
undoubted  superiority  and  popularity  of  his  teaching). 
Prof.  Loisette's  A  rt  of  Never  Forgetting  is  recognized 
to-day  in  both  Hemispheres  as  marking  an  Epoch  in 
Memory  Culture.  His  Prospectus  (sent  post  free)  gives 
opinions  of  people  in  all  parts  of  the  globe  who  have  act- 
ually studied  his  System  by  correspondence,  showing 
the-t  his  System  is  vsed  only  wlci/e  being  studied,  not 
afterwards;  that  any  bonk  can  be  learned  in  a  single 
reading,  ■mind-wandering  cured,  etc.  For  Prospectus, 
Terms  and  Testimonials  address 
Prof.  A.  LOlSiSTTE,  237  Fifth  Avenue,  N.Y 


Jiof.     Lioiselte's     Memory    System     is     creating 

i-ater  interest  than  ever  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  per- 
illing to  improve  their  memory  should  send  for  his 
nspecturt  free  as  advertised  above. 


]3IIsM^B  p#Isk 


itiitiiiiiimimiiniiiniiiinit 


New  Rooms 

Newly  Furnished. 

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiii 

•      CHOICE  CIGSRS 

—  AND  — 

TOBACCO 

lllllllllliltlllllllllllllllllll 

HENRY  E.  SANBORN, 

Proprietor. 


<£jf7r-  00  4.^  dNOKfl  00  A  MONTH  canbe 
Kp/0,— ' '  10  £pZ0Ui'— 'made  working  for  us. 
Persons  preferred  who  can  furnish  a  horse  and 
give  their  whole  time  to  the  business.  Spare  mo- 
ments may  be  profitably  employed  also.  A  few 
vacancies  in  towns  and  cities.  B.  F.  JOHNSON  & 
CO.,  1009  Main  Street,  Richmond,  Va. 


T5eF.^G.Bjpp 


and 


Banjorines 


II 


il!!!':i 


II'1!! 


The  only  instruments  combin- 
ing all  the  latest  inventions  and 
improvements  with  the  most  ele- 
gant workmanship.  Many  other 
makers  infringe  and  imitate  our 
acknowledged  improvements. 

Silver  medal  over  all  competi- 
tors in  Boston,  1887. 

Send  for  catalogue,  and  be  sure 
and  correspond  with  us  and  save 
money. 


^:^ 


FAIRBANKS  I  COLE, 

BufflJ®  Makers,  Teacher, 

121  Court  st.  and  178  Tremont  st., 
BbSTON,  MASS. 


■ 


MISTS9  Mil* 


IMPORTERS, 


Of  evei^y 

description 

raited  fop 

all  k>pan^^ 

of  aptw°p^. 


St    HDHMS, 

-       37  CORNHILL,  BOSTON. 


Catalogues  free  on  application.     For  prices  and  other  information,  apply  to  G.  F.  Sparhawk,  Mrs. 
Tabor's,  Hanover,  N.  H. 


WINTER  ULSTERS 

WINTER  SUITS 


WINTER  OVERCOATS 
FALL  DRESS  SUITS 


BRINES 
THE  HARVARD 
TAILOR 


ENGLISH  SCOTCH  PANTS  ENGLISH  MACKINTOSHES 

SPORTING  GOODS 

Orders  taken,  and  goods  to  be  found  at  C  L.  Weeks's,  '92,  Miss  Powers's  house,  Hanover,  N.  H. 


<5Ia55  Ptyoto^rapfyer 


D^rlmoulR    . 

1  59  an! '90 


* 


* 


Will  commence  about  November  6th  to  make 
the  sittings  for  Class  Portraits. 

Special  rates  for  students  will  be  given  to 
those  who  choose  to  avail  themselves  of  the  opportu- 
nity which  he  will  offer. 

Orders  for  Pastels,  Crayons,  and  Water-Color 
Enlargements  given  special  attention. 


Sittings  will  be  made  in  the  Langill  studio.