USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newbury > The first century of Dummer Academy. A historical discourse, delivered at Newbury, Byfield Parish, August 12, 1863. With an appendix > Part 11
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President Lord having opened the way, with a few eloquent remarks suggested by the occasion, and appropriate to it, and having alluded to the renowned Chief Justice Parsons, called upon his son, Theophilus, well known as a Professor in the Law School at Cambridge. The Professor's response was prompt, pleasing, patriotic, and prophetic. On receiving a similar call, the venerable Dr. James Jackson rose, amid loud and welcom- ing applause. He attempted to speak, but found the effort too great. Col. Samuel Swett, of Boston, another octogenarian, and one of Preceptor Smith's pupils, stepped alertly forward, on hearing the roll-call, and shook the sides of many, with his well-told stories. In a somewhat different style, the Hon. John S. Tenney, late Chief Justice of Maine, gave us some of his reflections and reminiscences, as a Byfield boy, and a foster- son of Dummer Academy.
XL.
APPENDIX.
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
At this point the choir stepped in and sung with good effect, the following ode, written by Mrs. Sarah Dole Peabody, now of Topsfield, but formerly of Byfield :
Welcome glad day -joyous and gay - . Welcome to young and old!
Happy are all at Dummer's call, This festival to hold.
Her sons from far, assembled are, Their best respects to pay ; While all around in tune is found To bless her natal day.
These elms so grave, their branches wave, Right jubilant to see
The boys who played beneath their shade Come back such men as we.
The meadows sweet, where erst our feet In play-time gayly sped,
Beg leave to say they here to-day Their softest carpet spread.
Old Parker's stream, with sparkling gleam, Looks up at every guest,
To hail each lad, who once was glad To lie upon his breast.
O glad are we once more to see Each well remembered place, Here to behold the friends of old, And schoolmates face to face.
Those school-days bright, what radiant light Is resting on them yet;
The trust-the truth-the hopes of youth, Who can or would forget?
If thoughts arise that dim our eyes, Commingling with our bliss;
Full well we know, tears must not flow On such a day as this.
But let us raise one voice of praise To Dummer for the past,
And may she live our sons to give Her lessons to the last
Judge Lord having left, the Hon. Asahel Huntington took the chair. After relating some of his experiences as Secretary of the Joint Commit- tee, and his efforts to discover where many of the alumni are living, he pro- ceeded to read a letter from President Charles King, of Columbia College, and son of Rufus. He also read a letter from Chief Justice Appleton of Maine, who was formerly an assistant in the Academy, under Mr. Cleave- land.
General Henry K. Oliver, Treasurer of Massachusetts, being called on in a bantering way, replied with equal banter, and then made a short but lively speech. Next came Rev. John Pike, who spoke for the Trus- tees, in words of congratulation for the past, and of hope for the future. Col. James W. Sever of Boston, a pupil of Dr. Allen, made a specch, partly historical, partly military, - reading at the close, a long letter from . somebody in Indiana.
Major Poore being loudly called for, in all parts of the Pavilion, came 'to the front,' and after a few glances at the past, called attention to some of the stern and solemn realities of the present crisis -dwelling for a moment, on the noble traits, bright martial promise, and untimely death of Brigadier General Frederic W. Lander, a Dummer Alumnus of 1838. To this touching call the Band responded with the Dead March in Saul - the vast assembly standing, meanwhile, in grateful commemoration of a patriot and soldier, who had been bravest of the brave.
Alfred Greenleaf, a student of Dummer under Sam. Adams - for many years a teacher in Salem, Mass., and in Brooklyn, N. Y., -where he still lives - talked several minutes, and was followed by Rev. John W. Chick- ering D. D., who was one of my first and brightest Byfield pupils. The Rev. Daniel P. Noyes, named heretofore, presented in brief and strik- ing comparison, the condition and prospects of the country at the be- ginning, and at the close of the century which dates from 1763, and closed with expressions full of confidence and patriotic hope. The Rev. E. L. Cleaveland then said a few words which struck the chords of pleasing and of tender memory.
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XLI.
APPENDIX.
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
CATALOGUES.
After music by the Band, James C. Peabody of Byfield, alumnus of 1839, by invitation, recited the following ode which he had composed for the occasion :
We come, to-day, from East and West; From seaside, and from hillside green; From tented field, in banners drest, And harvest field of silver sheen.
Like Islam's pilgrims, we behold Our Mecca in this classic shrine, Around whose walls in wreaths of gold, The laurels of a century twine.
We meet in bonds of peace to-day, Though all the world resound with wars; Wherever else he beareth sway, The Muses shall not bow to Mars.
For us, as for the Hebrew seer. The shadow on the dial's face Shall backward glide, for many a year, And boyhood's sunny realms retrace.
Once more on Grecian battle plains, We'll walk with Xenophon in hand, Or charmed with Virgil's lofty strains, Wander adown the shadow land.
Again we'll climb Ox-pasture's brow, And look forth on the eternal sea, Or dream on Parker's tide, below, What only in our dreams may be.
And here, 'mid Dummer's hallowed bowers, We'll quaff rich draughts of storied lore, And on the rosary of the hours Count all the by-gone century o'er;
And pray that down the coming time, This beacon light may brighter grow, Fed from the fount of truth sublime, Till lost in Heaven's eternal glow.
The Rev. George T. Dole spoke feelingly of the well remembered earlier time, when he and others were at Dummer School, and hoped its fate had not been prefigured in that famous 'one-horse-shay,' immortalized by genius, which ran just a hundred years, and then went all to smash. For a tid-bit to wind up with, the venerable antiquary, Joshua Coffin, read a paper which he had dug up in some of his excavations. It was a petition to the General Court from Nathaniel Byfield, to whom the parish owes its name. Byfield had but just got over and got married, when he was conscripted and ordered to go out into the woods and fight Indians. He thought it hard, and begged for a year at home, to comfort his spouse - basing his claim for such indulgence on scripture rule - Deuteronomy, 24, 5, quod vide, all ye, who are now in similar predicament.
Having expressed their thanks to the Committee of Arrangements - to the Chief Marshal and his Aids-to Mr. Stevens and his assistants - and to the Rail Road Companies which had remitted, in part, their fares, - the assembly broke up and went home. I have attended, in my time, many public festivities, but can recall no occasion of the kind, brighter in its passage, or more pleasing in its remembrances, than this FIRST CENTENNIAL DAY of Dummer Academy. Heaven grant that it do not prove the LAST!
CATALOGUES.
A printed catalogue of the School for 1840, 41, has the names of 57 students, and also contains the By-laws then in force. The instructors were Frederic A. Adams and Phineas Nichols. A similar catalogue ap- peared in 1856, reporting 55 scholars as the whole number for the aca- demic year. The pamphlet of 1858 has 58 names, and makes the aver- age attendance of that year a fraction over 35. These publications were made under the supervision of Mr. Henshaw.
There may have been other annual catalogues of the Academy, but the three named above are all that have come to my knowledge. In 1844, a catalogue of the Academy, prepared by Wm. D. Northend, Esq., was published under the direction and at the expense of the Society of
XLII.
APPENDIX.
CATALOGUES. CONCLUSION.
the "Sons." This pamphlet of 23 pages gives the names of 1416 indi- viduals, who had been members of Dummer School and Academy, previ- ously to 1844. Although Mr. Northend's catalogue is far from being perfect, he deserves much credit for what he accomplished. As the Trus- tees had neglected to provide a Register or Book of Entries, with suitable ruling, each master kept his own record, in the way he found most con- venient. I found when I went to Byfield, two manuscript catalogues, nearly identical. One of these has disappeared - the other now lies before me. I suppose that Moody kept a record of his pupils as they came, from which, not long before he left, this alphabetical list was made. It gives simply the name and residence, with H. C. or D. C. appended to those who went from Byfield to Cambridge or to Hanover. As no dates are given, we learn from it nothing in regard to the time when these persons attended the school. The names are recorded in the large, round, clerkly hand, not uncommon then -so easy and so pleasant to read-so rarely met with now.
On the blank spaces that were left, and in the same alphabetical manner, Preceptor Smith entered the names of his pupils, and after these come Mr. Abbot's, including those who belonged to Dr. Allen's two years. There is nothing to show who were at school under both masters, or to which of the two, the others should respectively be allotted. The names of those who were pupils of Samuel Adams were added by me from a list which he kept. Of the sixty one accredited to him, twenty seven - if I remember rightly - were subsequently my pupils also. From 1821 to 1843, the students are given in Northend's catalogue, under the years in which they entered.
A republication of this catalogue, corrected and brought down to the close of the school century, is much to be desired. Such a catalogue ought to have been prepared and printed in season for delivery at the centennial celebration, but, unfortunately, no one seemed to have leisure for the work. The catalogue should give, so far as the same can be as- certained, the name, residence, occupation, offices and honors of nearly or quite two thousand alumni. To prepare such an account, however, is no short nor easy task, and can hardly be expected from any one as a mere labor of love. Let the Trustees and the Society take up this work, dur- ยท ing the present stage of suspended animation. The time is favorable, and the thing itself is not only due to the past, but may be of large advantage in the future.
CONCLUSION.
That the present condition of the Academy is far from prosperous, and its prospects none of the brightest, must be admitted by all. I am far, however, from agreeing with those who regard the venerable institu- tion as ruined and hopeless. It has been running down for a good while, and it will take time and patience, as well as energy, judgment and pru- dence, to build it up again. Let it rest awhile. The accumulating reve-
APPENDIX.
XLIII.
CONCLUSION.
nue of a few years, if not spent in repairs, will enable the school to re- sume operations. Even now, a man with something of Master Moody's courage and strength, might safely assume the charge, provided he could have it on similar terms.
In bringing to a close this attempt at a history of the Academy, I feel that I am leaving almost untouched the larger and better portion of its record. Of the many hundreds who were connected with the school only as pupils, a few of the earliest and most distinguished have been named. What numbers remain who deserve an honorable mention, I need not suggest. From any thing like a comprehensive notice of these, I have, as already intimated, been precluded by the magnitude and difficul- ties of the task. Selection, in such a case, is a delicate if not an in- vidious affair, and so - however reluctantly - I must leave unnamed not a few, who laid at this Academy, the foundations of character and success, and who have more than repaid with lives of usefulness all that they owed to Dummer School.
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