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 2
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Besides the soil, the rocks, and a few of the trees, the only objects here which have the slightest smack of antiquity are, the old clock in the Academy, -these an- cient portraits,-and the Mansion House itself. The pre- cise date of the structure is not known. Tradition has always ascribed its erection to the Lieut. Governor, and there is every probability in its favor. It is not very likely that this event preceded Mr. Dummer's marriage in 1714, nor that it was delayed long after his return. My belief is that it dates back as far, at least, as 1720. That is a monstrous anachronism which somebody has put up over the door-a chronological falsehood -which should
* The picture had come down in the heir-loom way to a Mrs. Osgood of West Newbury, who presented it to the Academy in 1822. The Governor and his lady were thus re-united after a separation of sixty years.
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THE MANSION-HOUSE.
be painted out as soon as possible. No stranger can see it there and not suppose it to be the date of the house.
In his history of Newbury, our indefatigable Alumnus, Joshua Coffin, informs us that in October, 1716, Governor Shute, being on his way to Portsmouth, was met by the Newbury troop, and by them escorted to the house of Lieut. Gov. Dummer, where he passed the night and "was finely entertained." Whether it were in this house, or in the house which preceded it, that Gov. Shute and Presi- dent Leverett slept that night, there can be no doubt that the means of entertainment were ample and elegant.
Gov. Dummer did not live here. I mean to say that this was not his home. With a good house in Bos- ton, he was not very likely to spend his winters in By- field. Built evidently for summer use, all the wood on the farm (and it was well wooded then) could not make the house comfortable in the cold season. I speak from knowledge. I never recall my first winter there, without a shiver. That we did not all freeze up solid, I still regard in the light of a miraculous preservation. (+)
But here, undoubtedly, the family spent their summers. There was no Saratoga or Newport then for the rich and fashionable. Those who had country seats went to them -and those who were less favored stayed at home in town,-except when they were so fortunate as to get a private invitation. In his own quiet mansion, -on his own verdant and shady grounds-Mr. Dummer, whether in or out of office, could always find retirement and repose, -and the care of his fine farm was probably no more than he needed in the way of occupation and excite- ment. That old Mansion House has done good ser- vice to the school, though it would have been incompara- bly better, in point of economy and utility, to have re- placed it seventy five years ago, by a more commodious structure. But the associations which constitute its high- est claim on our admiration and regard, lie a good way
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THE MANSION-HOUSE.
back of the period when Moody lived there with his noisy boys. They belong to the time when it was the summer home of gentle wisdom and rare virtue-the seat of open and refined hospitality-a place of convivial, so- cial, and intellectual enjoyment, seldom equalled. The Visitor's Register, or Record of Guests, at the Dummer House, during the first half of the 18th century, if such a record were kept, has not come down to us. Not- withstanding this deficiency, I venture to enumerate a few of the distinguished persons who were wont to sit and chat in those wainscoted parlors, to sleep in the tapes- tried chambers, to drive, to ride, to walk over these roads and through these grounds, in the mild summer days and the moon-lit evenings, considerably more than a hun- dred years ago.
Here then might be seen the venerable Joseph Dud- ley, late Chief Magistrate of the Province, father of the hostess, son of that staunch Puritan Governor, who helped Winthrop and Endicott and Bradstreet and Bellingham to lay the deep and broad foundation of the Colony-himself a man of large and varied experience, learned, able, ac- complished, and courtly ; - and Madam Dummer's gifted brother PAUL, Attorney General for awhile, then Chief Justice-a profound theologian, and yet so eminent in science that the Royal Society of London made him one of their fellows; - and his accomplished brother, William Dudley,-a strong, brilliant, eloquent man-who had been a warrior and a Judge-for many years Speaker of the House, and then long and eminently useful as a member of the Council. Here sometimes came his kinsfolk the SEWALLS, great luminaries of the Bar and the Bench-and her brave cousin, Edward Tyng, of the British Navy, high in rank and honor, not to mention others more remote of the same aristocratic name. And did not Mrs. Dum- mer's sister Mary, who lived down by the Merrimac, often drive up, of an afternoon, and take toa at the Mansion
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MANSION -HOUSE. WILL.
House ? And did not her husband, old Captain Joseph Atkins, whose youth had been spent in the naval service of England, tell many a long story in the small sitting- room, of grand sea-fights with the French, and how they took Gibraltar ? And then, there were the Powells, the Dummers, the Moodeys, the Bradstreets, the Denisons, the Woodbridges, the Willards, and the Savages, more or less related, but pleasant, worthy people, who must have been occasional visitors at the old Dummer Mansion, during the first thirty or forty years of its existence. (5)
Have I not adduced enough to awaken some interest in the venerable structure ? Ought it not to be preserved with pious care ? Would it not be a shame if such a house should be given over to squalor and neglect ? If such grounds should be surrendered to the dominion of bushes and burdocks ?
William Dummer died on the tenth of October, 1761, being 84 years old. His will, made seven years before, was approved soon afterwards. By this instrument he set apart his dwelling house and farm in Newbury for the establishment of a grammar school to stand forever on the farm. The property was given in trust to Messrs. Foxcroft and Chauncey of Boston, and to Mr. Nathaniel Dummer of Newbury, and to their heirs and assigns for- ever,-the rents and profits to be employed in erecting a school house and in support of a master. The ap- pointment of this officer was entrusted to a Committee of five Byfield free-holders, to be chosen annually at the regular parish meeting, and who were to act in conjunc- tion with the minister for the time being. The master, once elected, was in for life, unless on the ground of in- competency or immorality, the Overseers of Harvard Col- lege should see fit to remove him. The ability to read English well was the simple condition of admission to the school.
In conformity with the will, the Trustees put up, dur-
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THE MOODY FAMILY.
ing the year 1762, a small school building. It was in the humble style and on the moderate scale which character- ized the country school houses of that day :- a square, one-story structure, not much more, I think, than twenty feet on a side, and stood nearly on the site of the pres- ent academic edifice.
. At the annual meeting of Byfield parish in March, 1762, the committee of five free-holders was undoubtedly chosen, though the record of that meeting is lost. The Committee found, probably, no difficulty in making a se- lection. Their choice fell upon SAMUEL MOODY, then mas- ter of the grammar school in York.
This remarkable man belonged to a family that might well be called remarkable.
WILLIAM, the immigrant ancestor, was one of the first settlers near the mouth of the Parker. Here lived his son SAMUEL, some of whose descendants have been dis- tinguished. Another son, JOSHUA, of Portsmouth and Bos- ton, was a christian minister of the noblest type,-a mild, unbigoted, heroic Puritan,-who resisted on the Piscataqua the tyranny of Cranfield, and who afterwards in Boston, during that reign of terror, the witchcraft delusion, did all he could to stem the torrent of superstitious frenzy. CALEB, third son of the pioneer, was a freeman and repre- sentative of Newbury, who showed his mettle in opposi- tion to the usurpations of Andros, and was imprisoned for it. This patriot confessor was the great grandfather of Master Moody. His grandfather, SAMUEL MOODY, was that singular man, who for half a century served and ruled the first parish of YORK, and who was so famous through all NEW ENGLAND, for his exalted piety, his im- plicit faith, and his intense oddity. Nor was 'Faithful Moody' more of a phenomenon in those days of excen- tricity and wonder, than his son JOSEPH, known through- out the country as 'HANDKERCHIEF MOODY.' You have heard the story. After graduation at Harvard, he set-
4
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MASTER MOODY.
tled in York - became town-clerk, Register of Deeds - County Judge-and performed every duty acceptably and well. Unfortunately for him he had an uncommon 'gift of prayer ;'- his father, in consequence, over-persuaded him to go into the pulpit-and got him settled in Upper York. From that ill-judged step and ill-starred hour, his mind began to grow unsettled, and a miserable hallucination, like that which tormented the poet Cowper, took possession of his soul. From this time he seldom appeared in public, and never without that mysterious bandanna drawn be- fore his face, from which he derived his sobriquet. This
amiable monomaniac was the father of our Preceptor.
This
glance at the family tree shows that it was no common current that ran in his veins, and accounts, in some mea- sure, both for what was healthy and what was morbid in his cerebral organization. After he graduated at Cam- bridge in 1746, he took charge of the York grammar school, which he raised to a high degree of celebrity. Though this was only a public town school, its reputation was such that it attracted scholars from other places. Many who rose to usefulness and honor passed through the plastic hands of Mr. Moody, during the 16 or 17 years that he taught in York. I shall only allude to Joseph Willard, who owed to Mr. Moody the idea and the possibility of obtaining a liberal education, and who laid, under Moody's careful training, the foundations of that ability and learning, which made him the best Greek scholar of his day, and qualified him to preside over the first seat of learning in the country. I have alluded to the first day of the school. It opened becomingly with devotional service and sermon by the Rev. Mr. Par- sons. Twenty eight scholars were in attendance. Among them was the late venerable Dea. Benjamin Colman, who lived to be more than ninety years old, and was proba- bly then the sole survivor.
No document or record remains to show the terms
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MASTER MOODY.
and conditions under which Mr. Moody took the charge. Still we know very nearly what they must have been. He had the Mansion House to live in, and might turn it to profitable account by boarding some of the boys. He had also all that he could get from a large and valuable farm. He was permitted moreover to collect from his pupils a, moderate tuition fee-at least such was his prac- tice. Being unmarried, he brought hither from Newbury- port, his brother Joseph, who had been more observant of the primal duty. . Joseph took charge of the Mansion House,- boarded the Master-boarded the boys,-and car- ried on the farm. It was a very convenient arrangement. Joseph seems to have been Steward, Major Domo, and outside manager general. Samuel had, literally, no care beside his school. This soon filled up. For a good
many years, there were from 70 to 80 boys in the school, and from 20 to 25 boarders in the Mansion House. How the Master contrived to pack them in his diminutive school- room, and how the Steward managed to lodge and to feed them in a building which would now seem crowded with half that number, are problems which I shall not attempt to solve. Certainly no such concentration of juvenile hu- manity would be tolerated now.
We should not forget that there were causes for this extraordinary prosperity, besides the ability and fame of the Master. For more than a score of years, it was the only institution of the kind, and had, therefore, the whole field to itself. With advantages of education much in- ferior to those which it actually afforded, scholars might have flocked to the school, since they could go no where else. This we can readily concede without abating a jot from the great merits of Master Moody. Those merits were of a character to make themselves known and appre- ciated anywhere and at any time. If boys did sometimes come to Dummer School because it held at that time a monopoly in the educational line, they remained because they found there all which they could desire.
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MASTER MOODY.
For nineteen years Mr. Moody literally conducted the school in every respect. The Trustees under the will did nothing, and had nothing to do. The Parish Com- mittee was annually chosen, but their office was little more than a sinecure ;- and the Overseers of the College were never called upon to consider the delicate question of senile incompetence. But, although matters thus far had worked well, it was becoming evident that they could not always go on thus. To what extent the Parish Committee could exercise the visitatorial and the super- visory power, was not made clear by the Will, and had been a question of much doubt and discussion in the
parish. Mr. Moody himself was getting old, and could not hold out much longer. To accomplish fully the be- nevolent intentions of Mr. Dummer, a good deal more was needed than he had provided for-more, perhaps, than it had been in his power to provide for. And hence the
act of incorporation. The petition came from the Rev. Dr. Chauncey, at that time the only survivor of the three original Trustees. You will readily excuse me from re- citing the act of 1782. Its main feature is the creation of a Board of Trustees ( fifteen in number) who have the control of the property, the appointment of teachers, and the management of the school. Mr. Moody was retained as Master by the provisions of the act, which secured to him his office under the original tenure.
From this time we have a written record of all offi- cial proceedings. There is, however, no evidence of any immediate or important change in the character of the in- stitution, or in the general conduct of its affairs. The name had, indeed, been altered from the plain, honest, sensible title of "Dummer School" to the far more ambi- tious and far less appropriate style of "Dummer Acade- my," and that strong, old word, 'Master,' which is still thought good enough for the President of a College in Oxford and Cambridge, was converted into the tamer des-
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MASTER MOODY.
ignation of 'Preceptor.' The Trustees took charge of the property, fixed the tuition, and leased the farm. But Jo- seph was still tenant and steward, though required to be more careful how he cut off the wood. Here, for some years longer, was the same school, the same master, but no longer what they had been. Mr. Moody's declining use- fulness was due not to advancing age alone. His heredi- tary tendencies were beginning to appear. That nervous energy which had carried him triumphantly through so many years of successful toil, now rose often into unnatural ex- citement, which was sure to be followed by unnatural de- pression. Those marked idiosyncrasies which had long been elements of power and influence, put on, at length, a mor- bid type, and could be regarded only as symptoms of in- tellect disordered. His unfitness to remain had become generally evident, a good while before any one found cour- age to suggest it to the incumbent. In October, 1789, Mr. Moody addressed a note to the Board, proposing to resign at the expiration of his brother's lease, if that lease could be renewed for another year. The Trustees, in re- ply, accepted the resignation in form as tendered, but ad- vised that it should be made immediate, as an act due to the master, to the school, and to the public. His final resignation, to take effect on the 25th of March, 1790, was sent in soon after.
Mr. Moody survived his retirement from the school nearly six years. He was yet strong in body, and rode much on horseback around the country, calling on friends and former pupils; his large heart still beating with be- nevolent impulse, and his over-active brain full of grand, im- practicable schemes for the advancement of education, and the benefit of mankind. His death, which occurred at Ex- eter in December '95, was a fitting close to so remarka- ble life-it came
"with no fiery throbs of pain,
No cold gradations of decay;"
r
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MASTER MOODY.
but instantly, as he was walking the room, discoursing earnestly and volubly in Latin.
Our knowledge of this celebrated man is wholly tra- ditional. Except in the grateful memory of his pupils, he left no record or memorial of his scholarship and skill. But what better testimonial can any teacher have or de- ยท sire ? Some of those men I once knew, and often have I listened with 'ear attent' to their narratives and descrip- tions of school days. The theme on which they so fondly dwelt, was scarcely less interesting to me, and I have since regretted that I neglected at the time to pen the conver- sation down. But the mental image made up years ago from those off-hand, fragmentary sketches, is still distinct, and must supply the lack of a more authentic portraiture.
A large and somewhat coarse exterior-motions which had more of vigor than of grace-that easy power of com- mand which marks some men as if "born to rule "-that liveliness of feeling, thought, manner, and speech, which more, perhaps, than any other quality commends manhood to boyhood-a professional zeal bordering on enthusiasm -the zeal which gives to its possessors a facility and an influence that minds more evenly balanced rarely attain- a sturdy will, persevering energy, great earnestness, and evident sincerity ;- such, I conceive to have been the promi- nent characteristics of Master Moody, as he appeared in his best days.
I have no reason to think that his scholarship extend- ed over a wide range of subjects. To mathematics and natural science, to common arithmetic, even, he made no pretension, and these branches, when taught here, were nev- er taught by him. He read the French language with ease and accuracy, so far as the sense was concerned, though it may be doubted whether his pronunciation con- formed to Parisian usage. It was in Latin and Greek- especially the former-that his strength as a scholar and teacher mainly lay. To these he gave his undivided at-
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MASTER MOODY.
tention and his whole soul. He was no Bentley, or Por- son, or Heyne. He never wrote, I am confident, a sen- tence of verbal criticism, or a line of classical annotation. There is no reason to suppose that he had read many of the ancient authors-still less that he was in the habit of gratifying a cultivated taste by excursions in the flow- ery fields of Greek and Roman literature. To fit his' boys for College and to fit them well, was his ambition and pride, and though a majority of his pupils stopped short of the collegiate course, still he believed, that even for them there was no other discipline of equal value. His acquaintance with the text books necessary to this end was minute, thorough and remarkably exact. Within those lim- its he was always and everywhere at home. So far, at least, no question of interpretation, of syntax, or of pros- ody, ever found him unprepared. These habits of accu- racy, of readiness, and of freshness, he kept up by con- stant exercise and unremitted application. One fact-in- credible as it seems-I had from authentic sources. He was in the habit of studying the French and Latin dic- tionaries, in regular course from A to Z.
The promptness and the exactness for which he was so remarkable, were the qualities which he required in his pupils, and which he labored, not in vain, to create. Of his peculiar methods and appliances, a few only are re- membered. His views of order in a school-room differed from those which usually prevail. Silence, there, he thought, was more distracting than noise. Accordingly, he not only permitted, but encouraged his scholars to study audibly. The buzz of sixty or seventy boys loudly con- ning their various tasks, not only filled the room, but could be heard at some distance from the house. New- comers unused to the practice were disturbed at first, but soon fell in with the current, and liked it well. This confused murmur made the recitation of classes and re- marks of teachers inaudible to the rest, and thus favored
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MASTER MOODY.
abstraction and attention. But surely under the cover of such a hubbub, there must have been a deal of talk and play among the boys. This was my thought when I heard the story, and it may be yours. But I mistook. So quick was the master's ear, that, no matter how intently occupied himself, he seldom failed to detect the unlawful tone-the surreptitious interlude-while his equally quick eye and hand soon arrested the unlucky offender.
I have no reason to think that his discipline was uni- form or always judicious. Wayward and impulsive, he some- times failed to control himself. But youth can appreciate, and not unwillingly forgives, even the passionate outbreaks of an honest, kindly, whole-souled instructor. For the in- dolent and vicious he had a large and diversified list of penalties, some of which were amusing to the lookers-on, if not always to the culprits. He would sometimes re- lax the reins of authority, allowing his scholars to close their books, while he told some diverting story -after which there would be a saturnalian license of the tongue,- the master himself, transformed for the moment into a laughing, rollicking boy. And then, a single tap of his finger-a single glance from his 'altered eye,' would quell the uproar, and put order, duty, reverence, again upon the throne.
Though he lived long before the days of gymnastic apparatus and instruction, he looked carefully after the amusements, the health, and the safety of his boys. In the matter of bathing his regulations were strict and pe- culiar. The time and the place were fixed by him. The state of the tide was carefully observed, and if the favor- able moment happened to come in the midst of school hours, he suspended work for awhile, and sent the boys out to bathe-so important in his view was the salubri- ous immersion. For greater safety he divided the school into two bands. The smaller lads and mere novices in swimming went by themselves to the Little River-a com-
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MASTER MOODY.
paratively shallow stream-while all who could be trust- ed in deeper water ran off in the opposite direction and plunged into the broader estuary.
We have. it on abundant testimony that with the ex- ception of his closing years at Byfield, his entire career as an instructor was preeminently successful. He could not, indeed, transmute lead to gold, nor was he so foolish as to attempt it. But he well knew how to mould and make the most of the intellectual material which came into his hand. The test of his ability is found in the unus- ually large proportion of his pupils who rose to distinc- tion and usefulness in all the walks of life. The vivid, the ineffaceable impression which he made on every mind that came under his direction, - evinced as it was by life- long expressions of admiration and gratitude,-is an evi- dence of worth, that nothing can impeach.
During the earlier period of my residence here, I was honored one day with a call from that truly great man, JEREMIAH MASON. The conversation soon turned upon Master Moody,-his peculiar methods and wonderful pow- er as an educator of boys. Many questions were put to me-more, I am sure, than I could satisfactorily answer. Mr. Mason told me that he had known several of the able and eminent men, who had been trained here, and that he had often heard them talk in glowing and grate- ful terms of their eccentric but admirable instructor. He instanced, especially, Mr. Rufus King, with whom he had served as Senator in Washington, as one from whose lips he had repeatedly heard the praises of Master Moody. Whatever were his merits or his peculiarities, added Mr. Mason, the teacher, whom such men as Parsons and King so esteemed and so remembered, must have had abilities and excellence of no ordinary character. The justness of this inference must, I think, be evident to all.
The great New Hampshire jurist was far from being the only man who has felt curious to know in what art
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MASTER MOODY.
or charm lay the secret of Master Moody's wonderful suc- cess. The inquiry is one of moment to all-but espec- ially interesting to every member of that respectable guild to which he belonged, and which his example has done so much to dignify and adorn. For the purposes of such an investigation, how pleasant it would be if we could put upon the stand, Presidents Willard and Webber-Professors Eliphalet Pearson, David Tappan, and John Smith,-or, bet- ter still-Chief Justice Parsons and Senator King. Their testimony on this point would certainly be instructive. But let us look at the question with such lights as we have. The view which I have been accustomed to take may be stated briefly as follows.
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