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 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11
He had, to begin with, certain qualities of intellect, heart, and temperament, which made it comparatively easy for him either to curb or to stimulate the youthful mind. His knowledge, if not very extensive, was positive, precise, and at his fingers' ends. During his first twenty years as Master of Dummer School, he was MASTER to all intents and purposes. Uncontrolled by outside directors, he de- vised his own modes of procedure, and carried them in- to effect without help and without interference. No mis- taken notions of parents or of Trustees compelled him to promise-much less to undertake-the absurd task of carrying young boys through the whole circle of the sci- ences. He had the good sense to see that in the ear- lier stages of education-if not, indeed, in every stage- manner and quality are infinitely more important that va- riety and quantity. Fortunately he was in a position to give practical efficiency to his theoretic convictions. At that age when by the happy constitution of our na- ture, words are most readily caught and most tenacious- ly retained ; when the memory is in advance of the · judgment, and when linguistic acquisitions are easier and more agreeable than ever afterward, he set his boys to studying Latin. He knew that the thorough prosecu-
29
MASTER MOODY.
tion of one solid study, could not fail to prepare the pupil for successful application in all other departments of learning. It was all-important that he should begin right. I have heard many au ingenious and able argu- ment in favor of classical learning, and have listened to those who, in their advocacy of what they were pleased to call a practical education, denounced as wasted time and worse than useless, all attention to the ancient languages, on the part of boys not destined to some learned profession. But to my mind, one such example and illustration as that we are now considering, goes far towards settling the ques- tion. Master Moody's boys came to this school from every class in society, and every condition in life, and with the usual variety of disposition and of talent. After a few years of judicious, careful, thorough training, chiefly in the Latin language, they left for the farm, the sea, the count- ing room, or the professions, with or without the College
course. Of these men, an unusual proportion were suc- cessful in life, and not a few became distinguished. They
carried away from this spot, not, indeed, a large stock of acquired knowledge-but what was incomparably more val- uable-minds so formed to habits of independent thought and of careful, exact, thorough learning, as made all subse- quent acquisition comparatively easy and certain. But ought not education to be practical ? I hear some one ask. Certainly -without that quality it is good for nothing. But when-where-I would like to be informed-has there lived an equal number of men, more absolutely, more sensibly, more usefully practical, than those who began life here, during the first quarter of the century, whose close we celebrate ?
Let it not be imagined that Mr. Moody was a mere classical drill-sergeant, or that his sole power as an edu- cator lay in his knowledge and skill as a teacher of lan- guage. If, wondering at the great and long enduring in- fluence, which he exerted over his pupils, you should ask me in the words of Lovell Edgeworth-
اسواقـ
30
MASTER MOODY.
"How" did "he rule them -by what arts ?"
Edgeworth should give the answer :
"He knew the way to touch their hearts."
There was no lesson which he urged more frequently or more successfully on his boys, than that of resolute confidence in their own abilities. Crede quod possis et potes, was the cheery, soul-strengthening maxim which he had constantly on his lips, and which no pupil of his ever forgot. Im- bued himself with the noblest views of life and duty, punctual, upright, conscientious and benevolent-and, more than all, a christian, humble and sincere ;- his best en- deavors, aims, and influence were of the moral kind. Without this, those pupils would never have turned out the men they were.
Of all the five hundred and twenty-five boys who were here under Mr. Moody, only one individual is known to survive. This gentleman-Deacon JONATHAN PERLEY of Sa- lem-a native of Byfield, and member of the School dur- ing the last year or two of Master Moody's .stay-says he well remembers the old gentleman's appearance, as he sat in his desk, in a loose, large-sleeved woolen gown, and with a tasseled cap on his head .*
I can allude-and only allude to a few of the most prominent names in the roll of Master Moody's pupils. I have already mentioned THEOPHILUS PARSONS and RUFUS KING. They stand indeed at the head of the list -the men of whom Moody was with reason most proud. Yet
how unlike :- the latter, able, showy, ambitious - powerful in the Senate -skillful in diplomacy - and as much at his ease in the drawing rooms of Princes, as when he was playing with his comrades on this school-green - plung- ing foremost of the divers from Thurlow's Bridge - or sitting and chatting at old Deacon Hale's long table. Parsons, with a power of intellect and stores of knowl-
*Mr. Perley was sitting on the platform, and at the Speaker's request, rose and stood for a moment. The exemplary and venerable old man survived the Centennial occasion only a few weeks. He was 85 years old.
-
31
MASTER MOODY.
edge which made him appear like a colossus among pig- mies, yet seemingly unconscious of it all - looking with contempt on popular favor, and indifferent even to fame- sternly just - implicitly obedient to the voice of duty - and wholly unconcerned as to the color, quality, and con- dition of his wardrobe.
Mr. King left Byfield for college in "74, and removed from Newburyport to New York in '88. Some twenty years after this a handsome coach drawn by four fine horses was seen to stop in the road opposite Deacon Hale's, -a portly gentleman followed by two or three young ladies sprang from the vehicle, came quickly to the house, the door of which stood open - went di- rectly up stairs, and somewhere on the wood, or on the lead, pointed to the name "Rufus King," cut there by his own hand nearly forty years before.
The pronunciation of Latin words according to the rules of quantity was one of the points which Moody en- forced with great strictness. Sometimes, in later years, when Parsons was on the Bench, and some lawyer mis- placed the accent in his Latin quotation, the Judge would lean forward and whisper to the Reporter (Mr. Tyng) "This brother of ours did not learn his Latin under Master Moody."
Professors PEARSON, WEBBER and SMITH were all of them natives of Byfield. In their efforts for an education, the advent and presence of Dummer School was undoubtedly the moving cause. For what those eminent men achieved in behalf of good learning, at Andover, in Cambridge, and at Hanover, how much was due to their incomparable in- structor here !
The distinguished lawyer WILLIAM PRESCOTT and Chief Justice SAMUEL SEWALL were fitted for College here; so also were Judge SAMUEL TENNEY of Exeter, and NATHAN- IEL GORHAM, who became President of Congress.
From a host of other men who rose to distinction in
32
MASTER MOODY.
civil and political life, I take only the name of SAMUEL PHILLIPS of Andover :- not for the positions of trust and honor which he held with so much credit to himself and advantage to the community, - but for his agency in es- tablishing those two noble institutions, Phillips (Exeter) and Phillips ( Andover) Academies. The funds came indeed from his father and his uncle-but it was wealth which would have descended to himself. He not only consented to the investment, but advised and urged it-an example of dis- interestedness which has seldom been equalled in our selfish world. We rejoice in the prosperity of these great schools. But, is it certain that they owe nothing :- is it certain that they do not owe everything to Gov. Dummer and Master Moody ?
The list of Moody's pupils contains one titled name. DAVID OCHTERLONY, born about 1757, was a Boston lad of respectable family. But the Ochterlonys, in our dis- pute with England, adhered to the royal side, and expa- triation was the necessary consequence. They probably left Massachusetts, when the British army took its final departure, and they never returned. David soon made his way to the banks of the Ganges, and engaged in the mili- tary service of the East India Company. The time was auspicious, the field of action most favorable for young men of talent and ambition. In those numerous marches, bat- tles, sieges, and conquests, by which a Company of mer- chants won for England her vast Asiatic empire, Ochter- lony soon became distinguished, and rose from the grade of simple lieutenant, to that of Major General. In due time, he was rewarded with the honor of Knighthood - admitted to the Order of the Bath - and advanced to po- sitions of high civil and military command. Among the great men who rose from obscurity to eminence in the East India service, SIR DAVID OCHTERLONY seems to have been one of the very few who passed unspoiled through the perilous trial of sudden prosperity and irresponsible
33
MASTER MOODY.
power. His name, at least, is not found among the op- pressors of "trampled Hindostan." There is the best reason to believe that he was not more respected for the great ability with which he discharged every civic, mil- itary, and diplomatic trust, than for the generosity and nobleness of his character. A stately monument in the vicinity of Calcutta still proclaims the admiration and gratitude, with which Hindoos as well as Englishmen re- garded a Boston boy, who laid, perhaps, the firm founda- tion of his virtues and fame on this spot, and under the teachings of our Master Moody.
Ochterlony was not the only military man who formerly studied, and played, and, perhaps, fought a little, on this ground. MAJOR ANDREW MCCLARY fell on Bun- ker Hill, and CAPT. FREDERIC FRY was an officer in the Army of the Revolution. No name in the traditions of the School is more famous than that of EDWARD PREBLE -the most gallant, perhaps, of all our early naval heroes. The story of his behavior in a position of apparent dan- ger, is related in Sabine's Life of Preble, and was once familiarly known here. As characteristic of two very pe- culiar persons, I give it, as I used to hear it, though not exactly as told in Sparks' Biography. You know that military titles in those days were much thought of, and always scrupulously applied. Mr. Moody generally dubbed his pupils with the prefixes borne by their fathers. Young Preble, whose sire was a Brigadier of considerable note, was falsely charged with some offence, of great atroc- ity in the Master's view, who, believing it true, seized the fire-shovel, a large flat-bladed implement of home-make, rushed rapidly to the place where Preble sat, and brought it down with great force and much show of passion, very near to the boy's head. Then, returning to his seat,-the look of anger all gone -he pleasantly said- "Boys, did you observe the Brigadier, when I struck ? He never winked. He'll be a general yet."
M
34
ISAAC SMITH.
Must I apologize for having dwelt so long on this · first bright era and golden age of the academy ? If our history has any lesson of special value to the present or to coming times, it is to be found, I believe, in the ex- ample just referred to. What higher aim in life, need any man propose to himself, than to perform a work like that which was done here in those early years of the School ? In what other way can an influence be gained, so extensive, so potent, so salutary ? When we see such men as Moody, and Fellenberg, and Arnold, throwing their whole mind, and heart, and soul, into the work not of merely teaching, but of educating, strengthening, and refining youth- ful intellect and youthful affections, -thus breathing a new life and a loftier spirit into an entire generation of the young, - and then sending them forth like leaven into the great mass of the community, to raise, to sweeten, and to utilize it: - the spectacle is not merely beautiful and de- lightful -it partakes of the sublime. (5)
Mr. Moody's resignation took effect on the 25th of March, 1790. On the ninth of the following month, the Rev. ISAAC SMITH was elected his successor. Mr. Smith was the son of a respectable Boston merchant of the same name, and a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1767. Having prepared himself for the Christian minis- try, he went to Europe-travelled extensively on the con- tinent, and made a long stay in England, where he secured the friendship of Doctors Price, Kippis, Toulmin, and others - eminent men in their day - and with whom he long kept up a friendly correspondence. Returning, he
But the was made (1774) tutor in Harvard College. eventful Spring of '75 brought to Cambridge a good many persons who had no idea of engaging in the study of sci- ence, or the classics. When the college chapel and the students' dormitories were converted into officers' quarters and an army was camping on the college grounds, it is not strange that Tutor Smith thought it about time to leave.
.
一
35
1563428
ISAAC SMITH.
It was little more than a month after the battle of Lexington when he sailed from Marblehead for England, in the vessel which carried over the Greenes and the Cop- leys, and other persons of note who did not incline to take part in the revolution. After a sojourn of several months in London, during which he was in habits of friend- ly intimacy with the Hutchinsons, the Sewalls, and other distinguished loyalists then living there in exile, he went to Sidmouth, a little sea-side town in the County of Dev- on, and about ten miles from Exeter, where he was soon ordained minister of a small dissenting congregation. Of his associations and manner of life there, we get some idea from the letters and journal of his countryman and friend, Samuel Curwen. To enjoy the society of Mr. Smith, as well as to secure cheap board, Judge Curwen took up his abode at Sidmouth for a time-and afterwards lived in Exeter. During this period they were much together, and made several horseback excursions in company. The details of those rides-the aspect of the country-the ob- jects of curiosity and interest which they saw-and the hospitalities which they received-were minutely jotted down at the time, and may be found in the pages of that ami- able and interesting journalist. As we read the letters and the diary we come to the conclusion that Mr. Smith had a comfortable home in that rude village - that his parochial labors were light - that his social relations were agreeable - that his spirit was mild and tolerant - his creed broad and liberal. From other sources I have learned that he left there a name which was long remembered and mentioned with affection and respect.
Mr. Smith returned to his native land in the spring of 1784. In 1789, he was appointed Librarian at Cam- bridge, and while in that office prepared for the press the first printed catalogue of the College library. (6)
After his election as Preceptor, a year elapsed before he entered on his work, and the school meanwhile was closed. This was the first of those long vacations which
36
Z
ISAAC SMITH.
our Academy has been, I may almost say, in the habit of taking, from that time to the present. This may be re- garded as bringing into education, something similar to the old fallow system in agriculture-under which the ground was, at certain intervals, left untilled and unseeded for a time. Possibly, some may think that the dispersion of a school at the commencement of the idle term, is an evil, which can hardly be compensated by any gain to the fund from accumulated income. Indeed, I would not recom- mend the system to Exeter or to Andover - but our Academy has had, in this regard, some facilities not enjoyed by those popular schools.
The year of inter-regnum between Moody and Smith was devoted to repairs of the Mansion House and School-House - which I can well believe, they sorely needed. With what ceremonies of inauguration, or show of pupils, Mr. Smith began, on the 25th of March 1791, I am un- able to state. For a dozen years or more, the school was well attended. Its master was a learned, amiable, good man - as all acknowledged. Its reputation had long been high, and parents trained by Moody very naturally sent their sons to a school which had done so well for them. During the last decade of the 18th century and the first years of this century, Salem and Newburyport had much commercial intercourse with the West India Islands, and one consequence of it was, that many Creole boys were sent to Massachusetts for an education. Of
these alien youth, Dummer Academy had its full share - principally from the islands of Martinique and Guadaloupe. For reasons, which will at once occur, these animal exot- ics from the torrid zone, could not be a very desirable class of pupils.
From various causes, the institution under Mr. Smith, soon became a very different thing from what it had been in its first and better days. From a purely classical school of the most decided character, and the best disci-
-
37
ISAAC SMITH.
pline, it degenerated into an easy, miscellaneous kind of establishment, where matters and things - not to say the boys themselves - went on pretty much in their own way. It was, I presume, soon evident to all careful observers, that Mr. Smith, however competent to give instruction, was deficient in those essential qualities, by which boys are impelled and controlled. In every considerable num- ber of pupils, there will be some, who are not only will- ing but desirous and determined to make the most of their time and opportunities. Such boys found in Isaac Smith a pleasant and profitable teacher. Not so with the idle, the roguish, and the vicious. These abused his easy, good nature-shirked their duties-and played all manner of tricks on the kind-hearted, unsuspecting old man. From persons who witnessed or perhaps even abetted those pleasing performances, I have heard stories, which made me laugh, I confess; - but never-let me say this in extenuation of my offence - never, without an indignant regret that the young rascals generally eseaped the drub- bing they so richly deserved.
. desk.
In the latter years of Mr. Smith's stay here, the at- tendance was variable and small. During my own short connection with the school in the Autumn of 1808, we counted up, I think, not quite a dozen, and I need not say that we had plenty of room. One of my studies was Virgil. At stated times, the whole class, consisting of one pupil, went up for recitation to the Preceptor's There he sat in his soft-cushioned, square-seated, round-backed arm chair - a short, nice, rubicund, but kindly and scholarly-looking old gentleman. As the recitation pro- ceeded, you may well suppose that it was very gratify- ing to me to see how much confidence he had in his pupil. Gradually his large round eyes would close - his head would droop -and there would be every outward indication that he was taking a comfortable nap. Now and then, however, if the translation was not very bad,
1
.
38
ISAAC SMITH.
he would murmur a sleepy assent. And in fact I had reason to think that he followed me all along - for when- ever I made an egregious blunder, it woke him instant- ly.
His good humor was sometimes pleasantly displayed, under circumstances that might have embarrassed other men. At one time, when his school had nearly reached the vanishing point, some person in a neighboring town innocently asked him how many pupils he had. Mr. Smith at once assumed a puzzled expression of face, as if engaged in a computation of some difficulty, and then with a double twist of the mouth and a prolonged ut- terance of the indefinite and conjectural adjective, replied -"I have s-o-m-e ONE."
Mr. Smith came to Byfield, a bachelor, well advanced. The idea of getting married had, perhaps, never occurred to him. When here, however, with a house on his hands and boys to be taken care of, the desirableness of a fe- male assistant became very apparent. Accordingly, he began to look round, and before long obtained, or thought he obtained, the consent of an estimable lady to become Mrs. Smith, and preside in the Mansion House. To pre- pare for this important change, he bought a small tene- ment, which he moved and set up on the farm for the use of the tenant- that important individual having thus far always lived in the Governor's mansion. He also made many improvements in the Mansion House and grounds, which he put into the nicest order and at his own expense. The object of this elaborate preparation, was, of course, known, and raised not a little, the ex- pectations of the neighborhood. Whether he held any communication with the lady, while all this was going on, I cannot say. I only know that when every thing was ready -he went to fetch her-and came back without her. He never tried again.
The subject of the declining state of the Academy
i
1
39
BENJAMIN ALLEN.
arrested the attention of the Board in the summer of 1807, and the report of a committee appointed to inves- tigate the matter, suggested the probable reasons and proposed one or two very mild remedies. This seems to have been the only public action taken in regard to the depressed condition of the School. That something more had passed, of a private nature, may be inferred from the modest and touching communication of Mr. Smith, dated April 18, 1809, in which he resigned the post. That resignation was of course accepted, and acknowledged in a letter full of compliments and over-flowing with good wishes.
Mr. Smith returned to Boston, where he served for many years as Chaplain of the Alms House. His de- clining days were made comfortable and happy by the kindness of friends and relatives, and for twenty years longer, he lived on-a man of singular purity, gentleness, and piety, - venerated and beloved by all who knew him. It was, I think, in the second year of my resi- dence here, that he visited Byfield for the last time. I still recall with pleasure the opportunity then afforded me of showing the good old man how truly I esteemed and honored him. He died in 1829, at the age of eighty.
Among the youths who were here during the Precep- torship of Isaac Smith, many became highly useful and re- spectable men, while a few rose to great eminence. One of his earliest and best scholars was PARKER CLEAVELAND, a Byfield boy. His interest in this favorite pupil followed him with letters of kind counsel through College, and of friendship afterward. In 1802, he invited Mr. Cleaveland, ( then teaching that famous school in old York, which Moody had taught forty years before, and with a success not inferior to Moody's ), to become his assistant here. This was declined, but in the following year, Mr. Cleave- land had charge of the Academy for six weeks in the ab- sence of the Preceptor. I can add that Mr. Smith lived
-
.40
BENJAMIN ALLEN.
to see his pupil attain to a distinguished place in the ranks of science, with a reputation as teacher, lecturer, and author, not surpassed by any of his American contemporaries.
Smith had another pupil whose high praise it is to have stood for many a year at the head of his profession in Massachusetts, and whose presence to-day we may well regard as the crowning felicity and honor of this hap- py occasion. Need I pronounce the name of Dr. JAMES JACKSON ?
Of the same period was PATRICK TRACY JACKSON-a name of renown in the commercial and manufacturing an- nals of our country,-a man who was not less eminent in the circles of business, than were his gifted brothers in their professions of medicine and of law.
We find also among the pupils of Mr. Smith, the names of Judges Alfred Johnson of Maine and Eben. G. Bradford of Pennsylvania - of Professors George Otis of Cambridge and Thomas C. Searle of Hanover-of the Rev. Doctors Abijah Blanchard, Samuel Osgood, and John M. Bradford-of Moses and James Bowdoin Bradford, James Chute, Paul Couch, Paul Jewett, Henry C. Knight, Daniel Lovejoy, Joseph Merrill, Obadiah Parsons, and Nathaniel Todd, all Reverend men, and worthy, doubtless, though they did not reach the dignity of the Doctorate. Several other names belonging to this period have been mentioned, or will be mentioned elsewhere.
On the resignation of Mr. Smith, the Rev. JACOB ABBOT, of Hampton Falls, was elected Preceptor, -there being at the time a strong probability of his acceptance. His parishioners, however, finding that he was about to leave them, became suddenly sensible of his value, and refused to let him go.
In October, 1809, Dr. BENJAMIN ALLEN was appoint- ed to the vacant place. He had been a Professor in Union College, and brought testimonials of the highest kind from President Nott, Chief Justice Kent, and others.
1
41
BENJAMIN ALLEN.
A letter from John Thornton Kirkland and Joseph Ste- vens Buckminister introduced him to the Trustees. Dr. Allen entered on his work, December 6, 1809, and re- mained here somewhat less than two years. Uncommon power and success attended his stay, short as it was. Under his vigorous administration and thorough drill, the school was restored to something like its former glory. As an elementary teacher of the Latin and Greek lan- guages, Dr. Allen has, probably, had few superiors. I have repeatedly conversed with good scholars, who had their first training under Dr. Allen. Their testimony was uniform ; - thoroughness, unvarying thoroughness, being the characteristic, on which they dwelt with peculiar emphasis. Dr. Allen made all his boys learn the Latin and Greek
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.