USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630-1913 > Part 9
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ment must have been alike for mind and body of a highly educational character. It is no wonder that such of the Indian pupils as did not take to the woods died of consumption, or that the New England boys who weathered these experiences left their mark as men.
The record of a visit made to the College in July, 1680, by two wandering Dutchmen from Friesland gives another curious sidelight upon conditions. Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter, who were making a tour of the Ameri- can colonies, made the following record in their diary for the date
"July 9th (1680), Tuesday .- We started out to go to Cambridge, lying to the N.E. of Boston, in order to see their college and printing-office. We left abt. six o'k in the morning, and were set across the river at Charlestown. We reached Cambridge abt. 8 o'k. It is not a large village, and the houses stand very much apart. The college building is the most conspicuous among them. We went to it expecting to see something curious, as it is the only college or would-be academy of the Protestants in all America; but we found ourselves mistaken. In ap- proaching the house, we neither heard nor saw anything mentionable; but going to the other side of the building we heard noise enough in an upper room to lead my comrade to sup- pose they were engaged in disputation. We entered and went upstairs, where a person met us and requested us to walk in, which we did. We found there eight or ten young fellows sitting around smoking tobacco, with the smoke of which the room was so full that you could hardly see; and the whole house smelt so strong of it, that when I was going upstairs I said, 'This is certainly a tavern.' We excused ourselves that we could speak English only a little, but understood Dutch or French, which they did not. However, we spake as well as we could .. We inquired how many professors there were, and they replied, not one; that there was no money to support one. We asked how many students there were. They said at first thirty, and then came down to twenty. I afterwards understood there are probably not ten. They could hardly speak a word of Latin, so that my comrade could not converse with them. They
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took us to the library, where there was nothing particular. We looked it over a little. They presented us with a glass of wine. This is all we ascertained there. The minister of the place goes there morning and evening to make prayer, and has charge over them. The students have tutors or masters. Our visit was soon over."
A new era for the College began in 1685 with the presidency of Increase Mather, a leader of very definite convictions and remark- able personal influence. He was the first of the presidents of the College who was born in America, and he was a striking illustration of the peculiar characteristics of the New England Puritans. He combined uprightness with shrewdness, wide learning with practical administrative ability, and spiritual intensity with business sense. For a generation his was the leading influence in church and state, and his biography is the history of the province during his time. He did not come to live in Cambridge, but continued as minister of the North Church in Boston. In 1688 he accepted a mission to England as one of the agents of Massachusetts which took him away from both church and college for several years. His masterful leadership was felt, however, in all the concerns of the College, while the specific work of instruction and government was carried on by the two tutors, John Leverett and William Brattle. The former of these later became president of the College and the latter was for twenty years minister of the Cambridge church. Mather was a student whose habit it was to spend sixteen hours a day in his library. As a preacher he was clear, attractive, practical and forcible,-sometimes rising to "such a Tonitruous Cogency that the Heavens would be struck with an Awe, like what would be produced on the Fall of Thunderbolts;" as an administrator so popular, that even in his old age "the Churches would not permit an Ordination to be carried on without him, so long as he was able to Travel in a Coach unto them." With all his multifarious labors as pastor, president and agent of the Province, he found time to publish books and pamphlets to the number of one hundred and sixty; and, at the end of all, he was honored "with a greater Funeral than had ever been seen for any Divine
in these (and some Travelers at it said, in any other) parts of the World."
New buildings began to appear. In 1700 Governor William Stoughton built a residence for students. This stood at right angles with Harvard Hall at its eastern end, and a small regular quadrangle was formed when the Province in 1720 built Massachusetts Hall facing Harvard. Of these three buildings Massachusetts still stands, the oldest building in the College Yard. Harvard Hall was burnt in 1764, and its successor is the present build- ing which bears the founder's name. The first Stoughton Hall was taken down in 1780, and later the present Stoughton Hall was built and preserves the name and memory of the original donor. A house for the occupancy of the President, the present Wadsworth House, was built at the rear of the meeting-house in 1726, and the gift of Madame Holden of London, and her children provided in 1744 for the chapel which now bears her name.
While the resources of the College were thus slowly upbuilt by the liberality of friends both in America and in England, yet the narrowness of its concerns may be illustrated by the follow- ing extract from the Records of the Corpora- tion: "April 8, 1695. Voted, that six leather chairs be provided for the use of the library and six more before the Commencement, in case the treasury will allow of it." Another extract from the Records gives a curious side- light upon college manners: "June 22, 1693. The Corporation having been informed that the custom taken up in the college, not used in any other universities, for the commencers to have plum cake is dishonorable to the college, not grateful to wise men, and charge- able to the parents of the commencers, do therefore put an end to that custom, and do hereby order that no commencer or other scholar shall have any such cakes in their studies or chambers and that if any scholar, shall offend therein the cake shall be taken from him and he shall, moreover, pay to the College twenty shillings for each such offense." It is hard to see why plum cake was so dangerous and disreputable, but the Records show that Commencement Day was increasingly becom- ing a time of public disorder. By the middle of the eighteenth century it had become neces-
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sary for the Corporation at Commencement time to procure the attendance of justices of the peace, a police guard by day and a watch by night for several days together.
The usefulness of the College in Mather's presidency is indicated by the record of the graduates of that period. One hundred and thirteen young men left the College to be- come the minis- ters of the New England churches. Seven became judges of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts; three, judges of the Supreme Court of Con- necticut, and two, of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire. Two governors and two lieutenant- governors of provinces, one president of Yale and one president of Harvard are also among the graduates of this time.
In 1701 the College came under the charge of Rev. Samuel Willard, who ex- ercised the func- tion of president under the title of vice-president. This was an- other way of getting around the requirement that the president should live in Cambridge. Dr. Willard was minister of the Old South Church in Boston and continued in his pas- torate while in charge of the College. He was succeeded in 1707 by John Leverett, who had been connected with the College as student,
MASSACHUSETTS HALL
HARVARD HALL
tutor and member of the corporation for many years.
In the valuable diary of Judge Sewall is found the following picturesque account of Leverett's inauguration :
"Midweek, Jany. 14, 17078. Went to Cam- bridge in Mr. Brigg's Coach, with Col. Town- send, Mr. Brom- field, and Mr. Stoddard. Mr. Em. Hutchinson went in his own Charet, taking Mr. Wadsworth with him. Capt. Belcher carried Mr. Secretary in his Calash. Mr. Pemberton carried his Bror in his Slay over the Ice; Mr. Mico carried Mr. Treasurer Brattle. Mr. Col- man there: Majr Genl Winthrop, Col. Elisha Hutch- inson, Mr. Foster, Mr. Sergeant, Dr. Mather, Mr. Cot- ton Mather, Mr. Bridge, Mr. Allen not there. The day was very pleasant; Col. Philips, Mr. Rus- sel in his black cap, Col. Lynde met us from Charlestown; Mr. Bradstreet, An- gier, there, Mr. Woodbridge of Meadford, Mr. Neh. Hobart. In the Library the Govenour found a Meeting of the Overseers of the College according to the old Charter of 1650, and re- duced the Number [of the Corporation] to seven; viz. Mr. Leverett, President, Mr. Neh. Hobart, Mr. Wm. Brattle, Mr. Ebenezer Pemberton, Mr. Henry Flint, Mr. Jonathan Remington,
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Fellows; Mr. Tho. Brattle, Treasurer. The Govr prepar'd a Latin Speech for Installment of the President. Then took the President by the hand and led him down into the Hall; The Books of the College Records, Charter Seal and Keys were laid upon a Table running parallel with that next the Entry. The Govr sat with his back against a Noble Fire; Mr. Russel on his Left Hand inermost, I on his Right Hand; President sat on the other side of the Table over against him. Mr. Neh. Hobart was called, and made an excellent Prayer; Then Joseph Sewall made a Latin Oration. Then the Govr read his Speech, and (as he told me) mov'd the Books in token of their delivery. Then President made a short Latin Speech, imparting the diffi- culties discourag- ing, and yet that he did Accept; Govr spake further, assuring him of the Assistance of the Overseers. Then Mr. Edward Hol- yoke made a Latin Oration, standing where Joseph did at a Desk on the Table next the Entry at the inside of it, facing the Govr. Mr. Dan- forth of Dorchester pray'd. Mr. Paul Dudley read part of the 132 ps. in Tate and Bradey's version, Windsor Tune, clos'd with the Hymn to the Trinity. Had a very good Diner upon 3 or 4 Tables: Mr. Wads- worth crav'd a Blessing, Mr. Angier return'd Thanks. Got home very well. Laus Deo."
President Leverett was a man of science and a man of affairs. He had studied both law and theology. He had been Speaker of the House of Representatives, a member of the Council, a judge of probate, and finally a justice of the Supreme Court. He was one of the first persons in America to be chosen a member of the Royal Society in England. We have no means of judging directly of his attainments for he left no written works behind
WADSWORTH HOUSE
him, but we may justly estimate by the respect and affection which he inspired among his contemporaries. Mr. Pierce said of him: "He had a great and generous soul. His attainments were profound and extensive. He was well acquainted with the learned languages, with the arts and sciences, with history, philosophy, law, divinity and politics. He possessed all the attractions which are conferred by the Graces, being from the sphere in which he always moved a gentlemen as well as a scholar and a man of business." Under President Leverett the number of undergradu- ates rapidly increased, and in the twenty-two years of his presidency more young men were graduated at the College than in all the years before. Not quite half of these gradu- ates became min- isters.
The chief event of this period was the establishment of two professor- ships, one in divin- ity and the other in mathematics. These were the gift of Thomas Hollis, a London merchant who partly for the love of civil and religious liberty and partly through his acquaintance in London with Increase Mather, made the College the chief recipient of his bounty. Hollis's gifts began in 1719. His children inherited his interest and continued his bene- factions. It is a curious fact that Hollis was a Baptist, yet he was of so liberal a spirit as to found a theological professorship without any sectarian bias. Besides his own large donations Hollis frequently obtained for the College the assistance of his friends and family.
In May, 1724, President Leverett suddenly died. It was an important and difficult matter to find a successor. It is not strange that Cotton Mather desired and expected the office and it is not surprising that he was passed- over in the choice. Rev. Joseph Sewall was
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elected; chosen for his piety, Mr. Mather wrote. The Old South Church was unwilling to give him up, and he declined the office. The Rev. Benjamin Colman, of the Brattle Street Church, was then chosen, and the friends of the College sought to secure from the General Court a fitting salary for the president, and one which could be depended upon. The effort failed, and Mr. Colman declined the office. Several months passed before another election was made, when the Rev. Benjamin Wads- worth, of the First Church, was chosen. He declared his reluctance to accept the office, and his preference to remain with his church. His church finally consented that he should accept the call to the new position, if he judged it to be his duty. He consented to be made the president of the College, and the General Court granted him one hundred and fifty pounds "to enable him to enter upon and manage the great affair of that presidency, and a committee was appointed to look out a suitable house for the reception of the Presi- dent," and to inquire into the financial con- dition of the College.
Wadsworth in his diary describes his in- auguration, which occurred on Commence- ment Day morning (July 7, 1725) in the meeting-house, as follows:
"The Walk or Procession from ye college to ye meeting House was as had been usual, viz. The Bachelours of Art went first, two in a rank; and then ye Masters, all bare-headed; then I followed, walking single as President; next the Corporation and Tutors two in a rank, then the Honble Lieutenant Governour Dum- mer & Council, next to them ye rest of ye Gentlemen. When in ye meeting House, I entered a Pew with ye Lieutenant Governour and several of ye Council. The Revnd Mr. Benja. Colman went into ye Pulpit and began with prayer. Then ye Lieutenant Governour Installed me in ye Presidents office (ye college Keys, Seal, Records lying on a Table in ye Pew) He said to me:
" 'Revd Sir
"'You being duly elected & approved to be ye President of Harvard College, I do accord- ingly in ye name of ye overseers, invest you with ye Government thereof, in ye same extent as any [of] your Precessors Presidents
of Harvard College have been heretofore vested ; and delivered to you ye Keys, with these Books & Papers as Badges of your Authority, con- fiding that you will govern the Societies with Loyalty to our Sovereign Lord King George and obedient to his laws, and according to ye Statutes & Rules of ye said College.'
"Hereupon, before I left the Pew I answered memoriter in English. I then entered the pulpit and having pronounced (without any Reading, or notes) my oration in Latin; I then called for ye Salutatory oration. Sir Brown made it. That being ended ye Batche- lours disputed on one question, and I then gave them their degrees at ye end of ye fore- noon, exercises: wch being finished, we re- turned to College as was usual."
Dr. Wadsworthserved for twelve years, and then came Edward Holyoke, the minister of Marblehead. Dr. Holyoke had graduated in 1705, and had been tutor, librarian, and fellow in the college. His theological convic- tions were apparently more tolerant or at least less aggressive than those of some of his predecessors. To the inquiry of Governor Belcher, Mr. Holyoke's neighbor, the Rev. John Barnard, answered: "I think Mr. Hol- yoke as orthodox a Calvinist as any man; though I look upon him as too much of a gentleman, and of too catholic a temper, to cram his principles down another man's throat." "Then I believe he must be the man," replied the Governor. He was inaugu- rated September 28, 1737. The General Court agreed to pay to the Society which had thus given up its pastor one hundred and forty pounds, "to encourage and facilitate the settle- ment of a minister there." With Holyoke served a group of remarkable men. His own term of service covered thirty-two years. Edward Wigglesworth, the first Hollis pro- fessor of divinity, served for forty-four years, a learned, sagacious and gentle scholar, whose literary taste was of the highest order and whose theology was for his day extraordinarily liberal. John Winthrop was for forty-one years the Hollis professor of mathematics, and sustained the highest reputation for scien- tific attainment. He was also distinguished as a faithful public servant and maintained his family tradition of leadership in the com-
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munity. With these gentlemen, as tutor, Henry Flynt served for fifty-five years. It is noticeable that all four of these teachers acted together for seventeen years, and three of them for twenty-seven years. It was during this period that the men who afterwards reflected the greatest distinction upon the College were educated there. Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Jonathan Trumbull, Timothy Pickering, Joseph Warren, Artemas Ward, James Otis, Josiah Quincy and William Eustis were not inconspicuous in the patriot councils of their generation, and all of them were graduates of the institution which General Gage after- wards denounced as "the nest of sedition." Here the patriot leaders were nurtured; here they read of freedom and chivalry; here, in their impressible youth, they breathed to- gether the spirit of liberty which characterized the place and the time.
The burning of Harvard Hall in the winter of 1764, with the consequent loss of the library and all the scientific apparatus, was an event of signal importance alike for the College and the community. We are fortunate in having a graphic contemporaneous account of this event. The following letter, referring to the completion and dedication of Hollis Hall and to the disastrous fire, was written by Margaret Holyoke, the daughter of President Holyoke. She was the wife of John Mascarene who had been for some time in England on business.
"Cambridge, Jan. 30th, 1764.
"To Mr. John Mascarene, London:
"My Dearest, No. 74, my last to you, was by Bioll, and Keating, the latter of which I can't yet learn whether it sailed or not, in those letters I answered all yours by Hatch, Hooper, Jarvis, and Dixey, and enclosed agreeable to your Desire Arms, Invoice, Inventory, memorandums, Patterns, measures, &c. &c., all of which I hope will get safe to hand, for I think I would not have the pester of such another collection for a good deal. ...
"And now my Dear I shall begin with your matter of fact writing. First then our Friends are all well, our new College is Finished, and a Beautiful Building. The thirteenth of this month the General Court were invited to dine
at College, at which time it was called Hollis Hall, in gratitude to the late and present worthy gentleman of that name. Since that time the Small Pox has been in Boston in 20 familys which has drove a third almost of the people out of Boston, and the General Court ad- journed to the College, the Council to the Library, and the house to the Hall where they have met for the dispatch of Public Business till last Wednesday, for on Tuesday night about 12 o'clock, in the severest snow storm I ever remember I heard the cry of Fire, one moment brought me to the window, when (I) saw the old Harvard College on fire, and it was with the utmost difficulty they savd the other Buildings. Stoughton was on fire an Hour, Massachusetts catchd in three places, and Hollis Hall is burnt much, at the South- west corner. There was nothing savd in old College, except a bed or two. The whole Library, except some Books lent out and Mr. Hollis's last donation, were demolished, the whole apparatus. Mr. Hancock who lodged out, on account of the storm lost everything except the cloths he had on, this is a most terrible accident, this Library in which were so many valuable Books, ancient manuscripts, the Labour of the Learned, and the work of ages, in a few hours turned to ashes. Our College is now poorer than any on the Conti- nent-we are all real mourners on this occasion and I doubt not your attachment to alma mater, will make you feel sorrowful upon this conflagration. As to Father he had very near lost his life on the occasion, the snow was in drifts in many places four and five feet high, papa went thro it all with nothing more upon him than he sits in the house, the President's house was in great danger the wind was strong at N west the latter part of the time, and in short if Stoughton had gone all the houses in town to the Eastward of the College would have gone. I think I never saw so great a strife of elements before, it is supposed the Fire began in the Beam under the hearth of the Library, the Gov'r & a great number of the court assisted in extinguishing the Fire, it being vacation and no person in the college, the Fire was past stopping in Harvard before it was perceived. I hope the K-g will give something to repair the loss as he has never
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done anything for this College yet, and my Dear (tho I would not dictate to you) I believe if you was to try among your acquaintances for some donations by way of Books, or mathe- matical instruments, it will be very acceptable. Mr. Winthrop thinks that 3 Hd pd sterl'g would buy a compleat apparatus, and there are Books which are of no great act in a private gentleman's Library, which are ornamental and useful to an ancient and Public one. Cahill is generous, and loves show. Suppose you was to ask him-if he gives anything worth while, he will have the Public thanks of the College, and his name will be enrolled among the worthy Benefactors to this Seminary, and will live when the Buildings themselves are crumbled into Dust, but I need say no more, I know you will want no stimulus in this affair, our Country men at the Coffee house I doubt not if properly applied to, would subscribe something Hansome. Any wealthy lady that is minded to make her Fame immortal cant have a more favorable opportunity, thus my Dear, I have given you as good an account as I can of this terrible afair which would have been nothing hardly if the Library and appa- ratus had been saved. If I can get a paper wherein the account is ile sent it to you-and now partly to soften your grief and alleviate your sorrow, Ile tell you the proceeding of our worthy Court the next Day. The First vote that past was for rebuilding the College at the expence of the province Imediately, and two thousand lawful voted to begin with, and a sum to Mr. Hancock to repair his loss which with what of money Plate &c they have found in the Ruins, I hope will make his loss light, £10 lawful apiece to those scholars who lost their Furniture, and £40 lawful to the Buttler, all which is thot very handsome. 2 days after this they chose the Lieut Govr agent for this province to the Court of Great Britain, and it is said that he and his son Tom, and Couz Rogers, embarks in the spring, and I prophesy Forster will be made Judge Probate, if so Libera nos Domine. I had forgot when I told of the chrisning Hollis Hall that young Joe Taylor, the Capt Stone, a junior sophister, delivered a very handsome English oration before the whole Legislative Body, in Holden Chappel. Now to come home again my
Brother lost their little Polly the eldest child about three weeks ago, and good Deacon Whipple departed this life last week,-and Johnny Appleton has got the Small Pox at Salem. But we hear he has it very lightly, it is not yet determined whether the Small Pox will spread, they take the utmost care to prevent it-Mr. Flucker and wife are at papas till it is over and there is a number of others in town on the same account so that our little Cambridge looks quite alive, tho at this dead season of the year, and vacation into the Bargain. . . .
"I was much disappointed of making a visit to Boston. I intended to have spent a fort- night of this vacation with Mrs. Newall, who is continually urging me to come there. I thot to go to Capt. Handfields, and enquire about Adlam, who I think has not behavd like a man of Honor, tho he wers a Sword- Mr. Whitefield is on his journey here, from whom some Persons expect much-I have begd last Monday's paper of Mr. Flucker, which I shall enclose as this ship goes directly for London. You will find an inventory as near as they could remember, of the library and apparatus, to the end that those who are minded to give may know what-the College Bell is also gone. The vacation is lengthened out to I don't know what time. I am surprized you mention nothing of the national Ferment, which by an article in this paper, seems to be very great. I hope my Dear by this time your affair is Finished, and to your satisfaction, if not, I firmly believe it never will, without you give up part to get the rest. Procrasti- nation if the thief of time, year after year it steals, and leaves of life but little to enjoy. Alas how great a part of our short span since love and honor joined our Souls and Hands have wee been separated. Time, and distance, those foes to love upon earth, still keep between us and prevent our meetting, make haste old time and shake your heavy sands and bring the happy hour that makes us truly blest. Thou Ocean gently waft him over in safety to his native land and after all the toil and vexation of attending the great may he sit down in quiet and enjoy his Family and Friends. Here rest his little bark nor e'er by Poverty or dire Misfortune be thrown out
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