USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Vol II > Part 5
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ciples and influence of the Equitable Fraternity in Williams College." The debate failed, but the cause which its advocates declined to risk in a public discussion triumphed. Eight years later, October 6, 1863, the few remaining members passed a vote " declaring the Anti-Secret So- ciety of Williams College dissolved." There were then eight secret societies in college, and the number has now ( 1905) increased to eleven, with a membership of 248, while the total number of undergraduates is 434. A generation or two ago these organizations occupied rented if not indifferent quarters. At the present time they own some of the most costly and attractive houses in the town. The advantages of com- fort, of prestige and social distinction which they afford, are evident. Not less evident is the fact that they draw a pretty sharp line of demarca- tion through the college world, and are the source, first and last, of no little chagrin and heart-burning.
Meanwhile the isolation of Williamstown was slowly lessening. Not until 1859, when the Troy and Boston Railroad was opened, did the town possess any public conveyances other than stage coaches. But the railroad failed to please everybody. Among the croakers was the editorial writer in the Williams Quarterly for February, 1854, who probably represented a considerable local sentiment. "The quiet, rural character of our little village," he complained, " is about to be changed. The stages which now carry into town heaped loads of students at the beginning of every term, seeming to cut us off from all the busy, bustling world and to leave us here alone among the solemn hills, soon will be remembered only by old graduates. Already the road is surveyed. * Perhaps it will benefit the town. But we doubt," and he goes on to quote with approbation a correspondent who declared that the most " detestable " event that can befall a country town
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is the advent of a railroad. This lugubrious correspondent seems to have been a pre-Ruskinite in rural æsthetics.
At the commencement of 1886, the fiftieth anniversary of his elec- tion to the presidency of the college, Dr. Hopkins delivered an address in which he called attention to the fact that, of the total number of graduates, which then amounted to 2,860, he had taught 2.229. Many of these men have achieved distinction in the various walks of life- in business, in the professions and in literature. It is obviously impos- sible to present in this connection any adequate account of them. Noth- ing more will be attempted than a passing reference to three or four of this honorable company who are no longer living. In the line of scholarship, the first name is undoubtedly that of Professor William D. Whitney, of the class of 1845-president of the American Oriental Society and of the American Philological Association, Knight of the Prussian Order Pour le Mérite, editor-in-chief of the "Century Dic- tionary," author of numerous works on Oriental and linguistic subjects. Two of President Hopkins' pupils rose to a national prominence in politics-Jolin James Ingalls, of the class of 1855, senator from Kansas for three terms; and James Abram Garfield, of the class of 1856, twen- tieth president of the United States. Senator Ingalls was a notable figure in the debates of the upper house. The galleries were thronged whenever he spoke. His oratory, always clear, luminous, clothed in admirable English, sometimes rose to a stately and polished eloquence. In power of sarcasm and invective he had few rivals, and it is said that he never lost an opportunity to indulge in this rather troublesome gift. Even in his college days it seems to have been quite fully developed, and did not tend to increase his popularity. An article of his, " A Brace of College Characters," which left nothing to be desired in the line of vituperation, appeared in The Williams Quarterly for September,
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1855. The article began at a furious pace and kept it up to the end. " All over the world may be found a class of bifurcated things by courtesy called men, cringing apes who cut peas with a two-pronged fork; man-milliners who sell their birthright for pins and ribbons ; posture-masters who smirk and diddle; vitalized tailors' models; animated wig and whisker blocks: locomotive essence shops ; peripatetic epitomes of whatever is mean in conception and con- temptible in practice!" Senator Ingalls had another and a poetic side, which appears in his well-known sonnet "Opportunity," and in his touching " Threnodia: A tribute to the memory of Chester Butler." The poet who sang
" The God-beloved die young: but not in vain Their early fate, their incompleted years ; For hope survives the grave, the loss, the pain, Though memory smite the Horeb heart to tears. A holy spell of power Speaks from their tomb, for consolation given : 'Earth has the fragrance of the perfect flower, The fruit matures in heaven.'"
is quite other than the politician who sneered at the " purification of politics as an iridescent dream."
Garfield came to Williams from Hiram Institute in Ohio. This step he always regarded as peculiarly fortunate. The beauty of the Northern Berkshires appealed to him strongly, and many traces of its influence appear in his contributions to the College Quarterly, which were rather frequent. Two of his poems which appeared in this period- ical-" Memory " and " Autumn "-have more than ordinary merit. The following lines from the latter show it at its best :
" The weather god, descending from the skies, Has reached the mountain tops and decked their brows With glittering frosty crowns, and breathed his breath Among the trumpet pines, that herald forth His coming."
Thompson Memorial Chapel.
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His essays in The Quarterly indicate a relatively wide range of lit- erary interest-an elaborate review of the life and writings of Karl Theodor Körner being one of the best of them. Though he was a good general scholar and took a great interest in debating, the personality and teaching of President Hopkins were the paramount factors in his undergraduate life. He had a great affection for the college, and was on his way to attend the commencement of 1881 when Guiteau shot him. " Next to the assassination of Lincoln," wrote Senator Hoar in his Autobiography, " his death was the greatest national misfortune ever caused to this country by the loss of a single life."
Scarcely less notable in its way was the career of General Samuel C. Armstrong, of the class of 1862, who in 1868 founded Hampton Institute. This school and its graduates (Booker Washington is one of them) are probably doing quite as much as any other agency in the field toward a solution of our vexed race problems. General Armstrong used to say that the inspiration and method of his work came from Mark Hopkins and Williams College.
In 1872, when he had reached the age of seventy, Mark Hopkins resigned the presidency, and Professor Paul A. Chadbourne, of the class of 1848, was chosen as his successor-a sort of position not wholly new to him, as for brief periods he had been president of the Massa- chusetts Agricultural College and of the University of Wisconsin. President Chadbourne was a man of slender frame, with a fine, scholarly head-versatile and incessantly active. Though a manufacturer, a student of theology and medicine, his proper work lay in the domain of science. He had a passion for exploration, leading an expedition to Newfoundland in 1855, to Florida in 1857, to Greenland, Iceland and Norway in 1859, and again to Greenland in 1861. He began his work
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at Williams in 1853, when he was appointed professor of Chemistry and Botany.
At the inauguration of President Chadbourne the most notable ut- terance was undoubtedly Dr. Hopkins' address of welcome. It was natural that in these valedictory words, which marked the conclusion of his thirty-six years' presidency, he should speak of the past as well as the future. An emphatic note in his address was the warning against crude, indifferent, inexperienced teaching. " A college is like a light- house," he said. "The structure may be vast but if the light at its top be dim, it is good for nothing." His own teaching had been the para- mount feature in the college for nearly four decades. Before his time the dominant intellectual interest had been scientific, a consequence largely of the distinguished ability of Professor Chester Dewey and the brief but brilliant lectureship of Amos Eaton. With the advent of Mark Hopkins the intenser interest of Williams students shifted to philosophy.
President Chadbourne entered upon his work with characteristic energy and confidence. Whether he fully realized the difficulties of the situation is somewhat doubtful. His administration was the connecting link between the old and the new Williams-a function that necessarily involved some irritations and disappointments. He was an attractive teacher, but his relations to the students seemed to change for the worse when he became president. It is quite possible that he attempted a system of supervision more rigid than wise. At all events, in 1877 the members of the faculty undertook police duties in addition to their other labors. They served in rotation as "officers of the day," and were expected to bring to book collegiate disturbers of the peace. This uncomfortable business was undertaken at the request of the presi- dent, who had managed it himself during the preceding five years and
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with no large success. I desire to be "relieved," he said, "from a portion of that supervision which I had found it necessary to exercise since I came here as president. Freedom of the students does not require neglect." Whether he may have carried the policy of supervision to excess or not, President Chadbourne never spared him- self in his work. "I have shrank from no labor or trouble," he could say with entire truth, "in seeking the welfare of the college." In it all he had a gallant bearing which compels our admiration. Much was accomplished in the nine years of his administration-the building of Goodrich Hall and Clark Hall, the improvement of the campus, and a substantial increase in the enrollment of students. The capital service. however, which he rendered to the college was the fact that he rein- forced the faculty by the addition of several men of an exceptionally high grade who served the institution for longer or shorter periods-
Professor Fernald, Professor Safford, Dean Edward H. Griffin, Pro- fessor Charles A. Young, President Remsen, and Dr. Lewellin Pratt. When he laid down his office in 1881 there was no " faint praise " in the official eulogy. "Whatever may be the glory of the future." said the Rev. Dr. Prime, speaking in behalf of the trustees, "no brighter record of the prosperity of the college will be found upon any page than that made brilliant by your administration."
The new Williams, if this phrase is the proper one to indicate the latter day conditions of the college, got definitely under way in the administration of Franklin Carter, who succeeded Dr. Chadbourne in 1881. The new president graduated at Williams in the class of 1862, was professor of French and Latin from 1863 to 1868 and of Latin from 1868 to 1872. Then resigning his chair, he accepted that of German at Yale in 1872, which he held until he became president of Williams College.
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In this sixth administration in the history of the college, which continued for twenty years, notable additions were made to the plant- the Field Memorial Observatory, the Lasell Gymnasium, Morgan Hall. Hopkins Hall, the Thompson Chemical Laboratory, the Thompson Bio- logical Laboratory, the Thompson Physical Laboratory, and Jesup Hall. The productive funds were increased from $300,000 to $1,290.869.10. And there was a corresponding gain in the number of students. Dur- ing the administration of President Fitch the classes at graduation averaged twenty-two; of President Moore, fifteen ; of President Griffin, twenty-one; of President Hopkins, forty-one; of President Chadbourne, thirty-four; of President Carter, sixty-two. In the catalogue of 1881 sixteen names appeared on the faculty pages, and twenty years later they had increased to thirty-five.
President Chadbourne declared in his inaugural address that he intended to make no change in the policy of the college. It seemed to him that what it needed was enlargement of resources rather than modification of methods. His successor, however, began his adminis- tration with a definite abandonment of the required system. It was a conservative, tentative measure, as the elective studies were confined to the senior year and embraced only two-fifths of the work. Besides, it was not absolutely an innovation, as there had been an elective ele- ment in the Williams curriculum from an early period. In 1874 the faculty appointed a committee to investigate the subject, but nothing came of the movement. During the first fifteen years of the new pro- gramme the scope of elective studies gradually increased until it com- prised about four-fifths of the senior and junior subjects, and allowed certain options among the sophomore subjects.
A second important modification of the curriculum in President Carter's administration was the abrogation in 1893 of the requirement
Interior Thompson Memorial Chapel.
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of Greek for the degree of A. B. This requirement had prevailed since 1799. As was to be expected, this step has caused marked changes in the entrance subjects presented. In 1893, the year when the measure went into effect, only four freshmen who were candidates for a degree entered without Greek. But subsequent years show a large increase in this class of students. For the period 1893-1902 it amounted to forty per cent. of the candidates for a degree. In 1905 the proportion rose to about fifty-two per cent.
The centennial of the college, celebrated October 8-10, 1893, was the most conspicuous public event in the administration of President Carter. The weather, an important element in a country anniversary of this character, was superb. Never were mountain and vale more splen- didly arayed. The machinery of the affair, from first to last, moved smoothly and successfully. Delegates from many colleges and univer- sities and some four hundred of the alumni were in attendance. Presi- dent Carter discharged the exacting duties of presiding officer at the public assemblies with signal tact and grace. The Rev. Dr. Henry Hopkins, of the class of 1858, preached the centennial sermon, and ex-Chancellor Canfield, of the class of 1868, delivered the centennial oration. Great was the contrast which this anniversary, with its spec- tacular academic processions and its array of distinguished guests, pre- sented to the celebration fifty years before. That seems relatively crude and provincial-except when we call to mind the oration of Mark Hopkins.
President Carter offered during his entire administration a course in Theism for seniors. A teacher of the first rank, there was no lack of keenness, intellectuality or stimulus in his handling of the difficult questions which that subject involves. When he laid down his office
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trustees, faculty and alumni all joined in a hearty recognition of his great services in rebuilding and modernizing the college.
Early in 1902 the board of trustees elected Dr. Henry Hopkins, of Kansas City, Missouri, as Dr. Carter's successor, and he entered upon the duties of this office at the next commencement. During the interim, Professor John H. Hewitt served as acting president. The inauguration in June drew to Williamstown a great throng of gradu- ates and friends of the college. who gave the new administration an enthusiastic greeting. Its advent was also signalized by a substantial increase of professors' salaries, which the generosity of Francis Lynde Stetson, of the class of 1867, and of Frederick Beach Jennings, of the class of 1872, made possible.
A matter of large importance-the revision of the curriculum- was taken up at the outset, and a group system adopted. To a certain extent the system is reactionary and abridges the freedom of choice. In this scheme the studies of freshman year, which, like those of the older curriculum, deal mainly with language and mathematics, are re- quired. The studies of sophomore, junior, and senior years are elective. but under conditions more or less restrictive. In the first place, students who enter with Greek take one year of work in the classics after fresh- man year, and those who enter without French or German take two years of work in one of these languages. Then all candidates for a degree must complete before graduation a major course, which com- prises two years and a half of work in one of fourteen prescribed de- partments. They must also complete two years of work in each of the three groups-languages, philosophy, and sciences-into which these departments are divided. The conditions which may be considered restrictive affect somewhat more than three-fifths of the work. An- other feature of the present system is the requirement of a grade of
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seventy per cent. in not less than half the courses as a condition of graduation. The curriculum is arranged on a four years' basis, but it is possible for students of superior scholarship to complete it in three years.
The following tables give an approximate idea of the changes which have taken place in the curriculum since 1821. Courses marked with an asterisk are offered for a half-year only. .
CONSPECTUS OF COURSES FOR THE COLLEGE YEAR 1821-1822. I II III LANGUAGES
PHILOSOPHY SCIENCES
English I (English Gram- History I (Antiquities and *Chemistry I
mar and Blair's Les-
American Geography) Mathematics I (Arithme-
sons)
*History 2 (Eastern Geog- tic and Algebra)
*English 2 (Philosophy of raphy) Mathematics 2
Rhetoric)
*Philosophy I (Logic) Mathematics 3
Greek I Greek 2
*Greek 3
Hebrew ( Elective)
Latin I
Latin 2
*Latin 3
CONSPECTUS OF COURSES FOR THE COLLEGE YEAR 1904-1905. I II III SCIENCES
LANGUAGES
PHILOSOPHY
Dante (4)
Art I Art 2
*Astronomy 2
*English 2 (4) *and
*Economics I
*Biology I (4)
*English 3 (4)
Economics 2
Biology 2
English 4a (Themes)
*Economics 3
Biology 3
English 4b (Themes)
*Economics 4
*Chemistry I (4)
English 5
*Government I
*Chemistry 2 (5)
English 8
*Government 2
*Chemistry 3a
*English 9
*Government 3
*Chemistry 3b
*English 10
*History Ia (4)
Chemistry 4
*English 12
*History Ib (4)
Geology I
*English 13
*History 2 History 3
*Geology 2b
French I
History 4
Mathematics I (4)
French 2 (3 or 4)
*History 5
Mathematics 2 (4)
French 3 (3 or 4)
*History 6
Mathematics 3
German I
*History 7 Philosophy I
*Mathematics 4b
German 4 (4)
*Philosophy 2
* Meteorology
German 5
*Philosophy 3
*Physics I (4)
Greek I (4)
*Philosophy 4
Greek 2 (3 or 4)
*Philosophy 5
Greek 3
*Philosophy 6 (4 tintil
Italian Renaissance
Christmas ;
counting as
Latin I
Latin 2 (4)
Latin 3
*Oratory I
*Oratory 2
Also Elocution, Hygiene and Physical Training.
*Geology 2a
*English 14
*Mathematics 4a
German 2
Anatomy
English I (2)
*Natural Philosophy Philosophy 2 (Evidences of Christianity)
Philosophy 3 (Paley, Stew- art, etc.)
*Physics 2 (5) Physics 3
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These changes in the curriculum naturally involved some modi- fications in methods of instruction. From the opening of the college until the advent of Professor Amos Eaton in 1817, text-books seem to have been used almost exclusively. Four years later we find that Mineralogy and Botany were taught mainly, and Chemistry and Nat- ural Philosophy partly, by lectures. This method of instruction gradu- ally increased until 1841, when it was announced in the catalogue that lectures would be given on Natural Philosophy, Anatomy, Mineralogy, Botany and Geology, Chemistry, Moral Philosophy, Greek and Latin Literature, Rhetoric, Political Economy, and International Law. While we cannot estimate the exact percentage of lectures and text-books in the instruction, it is safe to say that the latter greatly predominated, the former being without question largely incidental. These conditions, with the inevitable fluctuations that attend college life, remained prac- tically unchanged for forty years until the formal admission of elective studies into the curriculum. Since the adoption of the elective system, text-book courses have lost ground. In the year 1903-04 they em- braced thirty-two per cent of the instruction, the mainly lecture courses forty-six and the purely lecture courses twenty-two.
The Commencement of 1905 stands out as altogether exceptional in the history of the college. Various gifts, quite out of the ordinary, were announced, which included liberal contributions by Mr. Stetson for a further increase of professors' salaries, and by Senator Crane, A. C. Houghton and an anonymous donor for a Berkshire dormitory. Then there was the dedication, with elaborate ceremonial and a sermon by President Charles Cuthbert Hall, of the chapel which Mrs. Frederick Ferris Thompson had built in memory of her late husband, a trustee of the college and one of its largest benefactors. A more beautiful academic building can hardly be found in this country. The tower,
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noble and commanding, visible for miles around, adds a new and im- pressive feature to the landscape. Besides, the presence of President Roosevelt, accompanied by Secre- tary of State Root, ex-Ambassa- dor Choate. and the multitude which their presence attracted, gave an unwonted cclat to Com- mencement day. The contrast be- tween the college anniversary in 1843 and that in 1893 has already been noticed. But the contrast between the Commencement of 1905 and that of 1838, two years after Mark Hopkins became presi- dent, is even more striking. Na- thaniel Hawthorne happened to be in Williamstown on Commence- ment day, 1838, and has left in his " American Note Book " a lively account of what he saw. He found people coming to town in buggies. barouches and chaises. Students wearing badges of the rival societies filled the tavern. Near the meeting house where the Commencement exercises were held, congregated peddlers, ven-
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Tower of Thompson Memorial Chapel.
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dors of gingerbread and the like. One of the peddlers sold his wares at auction, and amused Hawthorne so much by his merry, lively tongue, by his quick wit and by his original elocution-" a queer, humorous recita- tive "-that he could have stood, we are told, and listened to him all day. Another man in the attendant crowd caught his attention-" a round- shouldered, bulky, ill-hung devil " by the name of Randall, who was the better or the worse for liquor, and made no little disturbance. Indeed, the outside attractions were so great that he does not seem to have gone into the church at all, where he might have heard twenty-two orations on a vast variety of subjects, ranging from " The Influence of Deductive and Inductive Habits on the Character " to " The Effect of Music on the Feel- ings." The old order has indeed changed. The booths, the hucksters' wagons, the auctioneers, and the ill-hung drunken devils have disap- peared, and we find in their place the pomp and circumstance of elaborate academic ritual.
In addition to changes on the campus already mentioned, many others have been effected during the last three years, or are still in progress-the establishment of a central heating plant, the moderniza- tion of the interior of West College, the conversion of the old chapel into a recitation building, the renovation and reconstruction of Griffin Hall, the restoration of Morgan Hall, which was damaged by fire in November, 1904; a new baseball cage, and extensive improvements in the gymnasium. In the meantime the college has made large purchases of real estate on Main street and elsewhere.
But, through all changes of campus and curriculum, the character and purpose of Williams have remained essentially the same. It con- tinues to be what it always has been-the brief alliance with the Berk- shire Medical Institution excepted-a college of liberal arts with no affiliated professional or graduate schools. This alliance began in 1823
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and came to an end in 1829. It was brought about by the refusal of the legislature to grant the Medical School a charter except upon the condi- tion that its degrees should be conferred by the president and trustees of Williams College. In 1829 the legislature dissolved the connection on the ground that the school had no further occasion to borrow prestige from another institution. So far as the college was concerned, this affiliation seems to have been of slight importance. It accomplished little more than the addition annually of a few pages to the catalogue and a score of medical students to the number of candidates for a (legree.
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