USA > Maine > Androscoggin County > History of Androscoggin County, Maine > Part 22
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AN HONORED NAME. - Providentially, at this time several such men had large sums of money invested in Lewiston, who, both for the sake of the city and for the cause of education, had taken a generous interest in the seminary. Foremost of these was Mr Benjamin E. Bates. Possessed of great wealth, he had cherished the thought of devoting a good part of it to the benefit of mankind through an institution of learning. Taking the seminary into his favor, he encouraged the project of changing its character. In 1863 he offered to give the trustees $25,000 if they would raise $75,000 towards making it a college. The next year he made them the munificent offer of $75,000 more, on condition that they would raise $25,000. These conditions having been met to his satisfaction, Mr Bates paid the college $100,000, and became its honored founder.
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In view of his first proposition, the trustees voted that the college should bear his name, an honor as unexpected by Mr Bates as it was deserved. For in this, as in all his many subsequent favors to the college, Mr Bates was governed by philanthropic and Christian motives. He understood the value to our country of Christian colleges, and looked upon the opportunity of aiding a small denomination to found such a college as a happy way of executing one of his benevolent intentions. It may be questioned if he could have found for his money a wider field of usefulness. To his distinguished liberality in thought and deed the college owes its existence. Without his benefactions the labors of Mr Cheney would have been unavailing.
OTHER DETAILS. - In 1864 the trustees secured from the legislature of the state an act changing the name of Maine State Seminary to BATES COLLEGE, and allowing all the property of the seminary to become the property of the college, the same as if the college and seminary were one. In addition to this, the state made a grant of land to the college, valued at $20,000. This grant was accompanied by the provision that the state should control ten scholarships in the college, giving free tuition to as many needy students, the children of soldiers falling in the war having the preference.
The course of study adopted was made very similar to that of other colleges in New England. Invitations to enter the freshman class were sent out. The terms of admission were not made low for the sake of attracting students. It was determined by the government that the college should be of the same grade as that of other New England colleges.
It is interesting to notice what were the standard requirements for admission to New England colleges in 1863.
THE TERMS OF ADMISSION. - Latin - Virgil's ÆEneid, nine books; Virgil's Bucolics and first two Georgics; Hanson's Cicero, Sallust and Cæsar; Arnold's Prose Composition, twenty-four exercises; Andrew's & Stoddard's Latin Gram- mar. Greek-Xenophon's Anabasis, five books; Homer's Iliad, first book ; Greek Grammar. Mathematics - Arithmetic, Robinson's ; Algebra, first six sections, Smyth. English-Ancient and Modern History; Ancient and Modern Geography ; English Grammar.
Sixteen joined the first freshman class, of whom eight continued through the course. At the end of the first four years the classes stood : seniors, 8; juniors, 7; sophomores, 9; freshmen, 24; whole number, 48.
The first catalogue of the college gave the faculty as follows: Rev. Oren B. Cheney, A.M., President; Levi W. Stanton, A.M., Professor of Greek Language and Literature; Selden F. Neal, A.M., Professor of Mathematics ; Jonathan Y. Stanton, A.M., Professor of Latin Language and Literature ; Horace R. Cheney, A.B., Tutor in Latin and Mathematics.
In 1865 Professor Neal resigned to enter upon the practice of medicine, and Tutor Cheney also resigned that he might begin the study of law. The next
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year Professor L. W. Stanton accepted the principalship of an institution in Byfield, Mass. The places thus vacated were filled by temporary instructors, and by the permanent professors of whom mention is made in another place.
COLLEGE AND SEMINARY SEPARATED. - When the college opened the seminary remained as a department of the college, sharing with it Parker and Hathorn Halls, the grounds, library, and apparatus. As the college classes grew, the mistake of associating, in this way, students of all grades of advance- ment began to be recognized, and a complete separation of the college and seminary was declared to be necessary. Hence, in 1867, a site then near but now within the college campus was selected, and a commodious brick building, 100 x43 feet, three stories high, was constructed, at a cost of $30,000, and named Nichols Hall in honor of Mr Lyman Nichols of Boston. Here, the next year, the seminary took up its abode, under the control of its own faculty and board of trustees. By a new seminary charter the college was required to pay the seminary not less than forty, nor more than fifty thousand dollars.
THE LATIN SCHOOL. - Three years prior to this separation, the college preparatory class in the seminary had been formed into a distinct body of students, called the Latin School, having for its special work, by a three years' course of study, to fit students for college. Without involving any immediate change in the character of the seminary, this action had the effect to bring into special prominence this department, and to make it attractive to the ambitious student. The influence of the college upon the seminary was generally recognized to be in favor of the Latin School as of the first import- ance. This department soon became the heart of the institution. Ere long the idea of discontinuing the seminary in the interests of the Latin School was broached. Hence it came about that, the next year after the seminary took possession of Nichols Hall, the Ladies' Department was discontinued, and, together with $5,000, was presented to the Maine Central Institute, a new Free Baptist school in Pittsfield, Maine. The Latin School was retained and this, with the remaining property of the seminary, was given over to the college. Then the charter of the seminary was surrendered.
The endeavor to carry on a seminary in connection with the college, after the manner of not a few successful institutions in the West, proved unsatis- factory, and was at length abandoned. The various changes through which the institution passed before its final state was evolved were not made without some opposition. Ardent friends of the seminary, in the name of which the enterprise was started, were not all ardent for the college, and some of them viewed its absorption of the property of the seminary, and its willingness to have the seminary given up, as wanting in good faith. Time, however, vindicated the wisdom of the trustees, and changed this feeling into one of cordial acquiescence in all the measures adopted, and of approval of the results effected.
COBB DIVINITY SCHOOL, BATES COLLEGE.
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The college was now in a fair way of enlargement and prosperity. Its friends multiplied rapidly and generously remembered it. It steadily increased in patronage, the catalogue of 1866-67 showing, in the first four classes, forty-eight students; that of 1869-70 showing seventy-seven.
THE COBB DIVINITY SCHOOL. - The Maine State Seminary was discon- tinued at the close of the summer term, in 1870. The next autumn, the college government opened, in the vacated Nichols Hall, a theological depart- ment. The first charter of the college allowed it to give instruction in law, medicine, and theology, but expressly prohibited it from opening a distinct school in either of those branches. Obtaining a new charter with this restrictive clause left out, the young college, notwithstanding all that was upon its hands, assumed the further responsibility of opening a theological department.
To understand the causes of this act, reference to some denominational matters of that day must be made. In 1870, the Free Baptist Education Society was supporting a theological school of its own, in the beautiful village of New Hampton, N. H. For several years an effort had been going on to give the school a more complete equipment, but it had met with a limited success. A better location, a suitable building, more men in the faculty, and additions to the library were imperatively demanded. The opening of the college, necessitating a thorough canvass of the churches for funds, seriously interfered with the endeavor to find means for improving the condition of the theological school. The trustees of the college had, from the first, sought the approval of the Education Society upon their great undertaking, and were now in communication with its officers to prevent collision of methods or measures.
Negotiations for the removal of the school to Lewiston were at last begun, and were carried almost to completion. The society agreed to remove the school and pay the income of its funds, $42,000, towards its support, on con- dition that the college should provide a building for its exclusive use, and add two men to the faculty ; the men to be nominated by the society and elected by the trustees of the college. It was further stipulated that two-thirds of the college corporation should consist of persons connected with the Free Baptist denomination. To these terms the college authorities, at the annual meeting in 1870, voted to accede, and then adjourned for one month to give the society time to select men for the additional professorships.
Meanwhile the project was critically examined by leading men in the denomination. Complaints were made against it on the ground of its giving undue control of the school to the college. Hence, when the corporation reassembled in July, President Cheney represented to it that the measures agreed upon as a basis of co-operation with the Education Society were not satisfactory to many, and were likely to create a prejudice against the college among some of its proper friends and patrons. On his recommendation the trustees reconsidered their action, voted to start a theological school of their
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own, and to ask the Education Society to surrender its school and appropriate the income of its funds in aid of needy students studying for the ministry, but to give the use of its library to the new institution. The college agreed to open its school in the autumn, with three men in the faculty, and to add a fourth man within three years. Rev. John Fullonton, D.D., and Rev. John J. Butler, D.D., professors in the former school, were elected to chairs in the new. To these was added, temporarily, Professor Hayes of the college faculty, who was to teach in both departments. Readily accepting this surprisingly liberal offer, the Education Society took the step asked of it, and left the way clear for the college to initiate its new enterprise.
The school opened in Nichols Hall, at the beginning of the fall term of the college, with fourteen students present. Professor Fullonton taught Hebrew and Ecclesiastical History; Professor Butler, Theology and Homiletics; Pro- fessor Hayes, English and Greek Exegesis. Rev. James A. Howe, A.M., was added to the faculty, in 1872, as Professor of Theology, and Thomas Hill Rich, A.M., as Professor in Hebrew. The next year, Professor Butler accepted a call to a professorship in the theological department of Hillsdale College. In 1890, Rev. Alfred W. Anthony, A.M., took the chair of New Testament Exegesis and Criticism. Since the school has been in operation, the annual average attendance has been twenty-one, and thirty-eight per cent. of the students have been college graduates.
In 1887, the name was changed to Cobb Divinity School, in recognition of the catholic spirit and generous act of Hon. J. L. H. Cobb, of Lewiston, in giving to the institution $25,000. Probably this is the only instance in our country of a divinity school of one denomination named in honor of a member of another denomination. This donation, joined with others specially con- tributed for the divinity school, has secured to it a foundation of its own nearly sufficient for its entire support. The interests of the Free Baptist churches in New England were appreciably promoted by uniting their divinity school with their college; and the college, in turn, has been benefited even more, both because its right to appeal to the churches has thus been reinforced, and because through the divinity school the college became more widely advertised, and more distinctly a center of denominational attraction.
GROWTH OF THE COLLEGE. - The decade from 1870 to 1880 was one of steady growth in patronage. The catalogue of 1879-80 shows a total of students, in the academical department, of one hundred and forty-one, or nearly double the number ten years before. During this time, also, four men were added to the college faculty: In 1872, Mr George C. Chase, A.M., as Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature; in 1873, Rev. Uriah Balkam, D.D., as Professor of Logic and Christian Evidences;1 in 1875, Mr Oliver C.
1 At the time of his election Professor Balkam was a retired clergyman, who had at an earlier date been pastor of the large Congregational church in Lewiston. In view of his scholarly attainments,
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Wendell, A.M., as Professor of Astronomy ;2 in 1876, Mr John H. Rand, A.M., as Professor of Mathematics. The library and apparatus were steadily increased, receiving annual appropriations from the college treasury, $600 being the standard sum of expenditure for them. The cabinet collections were also, to some degree, enriched, both by occasional purchases, and by valuable gifts from friends.
The external appearance of the college was not forgotten. A lot of land separating the site of the divinity school from that of the college was pur- chased, at a cost of $13,838, and added to the campus. The gymnasium was built and partly equipped, at a cost of $4,000 ; a building for the Latin School was constructed at a cost of $7,000; and a house for the president bought for $15,000.
This increase of land and buildings, of facilities, students, and professors, were signs to the public of a healthful development of the college and of an intelligent adjustment of its affairs to secure its present and future interests. But during this period there was written an altogether different chapter of history. In spite of these appearances of prosperity, for a period of fifteen years, beginning in 1870, the college was battling against a financial storm of increasing severity, threatening the destruction of the institution.
STORM AND STRESS. - The first necessity of a college is income. Inexo- rable are the demands for it. Buildings, students, professors, are of no avail without it. The college must have money, and that in a liberal measure. Starting on an inadequate foundation, Bates, at once, had to begin a struggle for existence. With its expenditures brought down to the lowest figure, they would, year by year, stubbornly overrun the receipts. The gifts of friends, though generous, could only supplement other sources of income. The tuition, according to the settled policy of the college to assist poor students, was kept at $36 a year, the lowest tuition charged by any college in New England; and this, too, in many cases of need, was freely given to the student. The room- rent receipts from Parker Hall, the only dormitory, did not pay four per cent. on its cost. The main source of revenue, the endowment fund, in 1869, the year before the divinity school was opened, when swelled by room rent, tuition, and all gifts for current expenses, allowed the expenditures to exceed the receipts by the sum of $2,567. When the trustees dared to add to their
Professor Stanton conceived the idea of connecting him with the college, and solicited money in Lewiston, principally from the members of Dr Balkam's former parish, towards endowing the chair of Logic and Christian Evidences, for his occupancy. This effort was so far successful that in the autumn of 1873, Dr Balkam began his work as an instructor, taking for that year the classes of Professor Hayes, who was studying abroad. On the fourth of March, in the next spring, while riding to the college to meet his class, Professor Balkam was thrown from his horse and instantly killed. His death brought upon the college the loss of a teacher of superior ability and scholarship, who was adding greatly to its attractiveness and worth.
2 Professor Wendell, on account of ill health, was compelled to retire at the end of the year.
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already heavy responsibilities the support of a theological school, they saw a reasonable prospect of an immediate increase of the resources of the college. Instead of any increase, however, the year of opening the divinity school was signalized by the failure of two of the generous patrons of the college, involv- ing a loss to it of $25,000. The support of the theological faculty together with that of the increased college faculty, added to the outlay for improve- ments before noticed, soon carried the aggregate excess of expenditures over income to an alarming extent. In 1876 the floating debt amounted to $81,292. The next year it was $5,000 more, with the invested funds of the college reduced to nearly $120,000. The outlook of the institution grew more and more menacing, except as relieved in a measure by promises of aid.
By another characteristically generous act, Mr Bates early came to the assistance of the struggling institution. February 21, 1873, President Cheney received word from him that if within five years the college would raise $100,000, he would give it an equal sum. At the same time the college was encouraged to expect that half the amount required of it would come from another generous source. Hence, with $50,000 to raise, the college went zealously to work. Its needs were too pressing to admit of delay. The Free Baptist Education Society subscribed $25,000. In a little more than a year, by strenuous solicitations, the subscription called for by the college was declared complete.
Then it was found that, owing to the prevailing business depression, the anticipated gift of $50,000 could not be secured. This great sum was thrown back upon the college for it to raise. A limited field, at best, was that open to appeals for Free Baptist enterprises, and this field had just been canvassed. The stagnation of trade increased the difficulty of soliciting money. The endeavors of the college to accomplish its object were tireless and heroic. The very life of the college seemed to depend on getting this promised fund. A donation of $10,000, made by the president, at commencement, in 1876, finished the subscription. Again there was great rejoicing. In view of the general prostration of business, the payment of Mr Bates's subscription was delayed. Meanwhile, some of the pledges made to the college had suffered from the financial distress of the time. Before the matter was settled, on January 14, 1878, within five weeks of the limit of time allowed for meeting the terms of his offer, Mr Bates suddenly died.
The college knew that to deal with the law was not to deal with a per- sonal friend. Therefore it carefully reviewed its subscription list, converted unsettled pledges into cash or legal notes, and, with the utmost confidence in the validity of its claim against Mr Bates's estate, awaited the day of settle- ment. By counting a bequest of $40,000 that fell to the college in 1874, with the other sums received, it could show that, in the given time, it had raised in notes, cash, and other securities, $143,785. The legality of the claim was
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doubted by the executors of Mr Bates's will, and the courts sustained them in their doubt. Not until five years after the death of Mr Bates was the case finally decided, and then the college was non-suited. The decision of the supreme bench against the college rested on a point not considered by either party in the trial. The gift of the Education Society carried with it the condition that the money should be available for the use of the college so long as the teachers supported by it, in whole or in part, " should be approved by the executive committee of the society." No evidence was offered to show that in view of these terms Mr Bates would accept this money as a permanent gift to the college. Hence, by not allowing this sum to stand, nor legal notes to be counted as dollars, the courts ruled that the conditions of Mr Bates's pledge were not fulfilled.
The effort to meet those conditions, however, had brought to the college treasury $100,000, and had proved to be the salvation of the institution. Increased by this amount on the one hand, diminished by the amount of many annual deficits on the other, the funds of the college still remained obstinately insufficient. The poverty of the college rested heavily on the faculty. For twelve years they each sacrificed a fifth of their salaries towards keeping down the debt. At their request Professor Chase was induced to act as an agent for the college during vacations, if not for a longer period. His efforts were especially valuable. By his labors, in connection with those of the president, it came about that, in 1884, the treasurer's books, for the first time since 1868, showed, on current expense account, a slight balance on the right side. The expenditures were $18,729.28, the income $18,800.80, leaving the balance $71.52. But a balance so small as this is with difficulty kept from shifting sides. The next year the familiar story was repeated -a deficit of $840.
While the current expense account was brought within control, the permanent fund did not always show a stability in harmony with its name. In 1884, for instance, two notes, valued at $12,000, belonging to that fund, became worthless ; on the other hand, during the same year, $5,000 were added to the fund, leaving it, with all debts of the college paid, $157,037, or less than half the sum needed by Bates for a generous life. The equipment of the college was not complete ; the management was rigidly economical ; expenses were kept at the lowest scale; wants accumulated : desirable improvements were deferred; the salaries of the professors remained severely meager. But, at last, a prospect of relief appeared.
RELIEF. - The financial relief of the college, so long desired, came about through another conditional promise of money, and by another liberal bequest. In 1886, Hon. J. L. H. Cobb, of Lewiston, proposed to give $25,000 to the college if it would raise $75,000. This offer was followed by that of another gentleman to add to the sum thus obtained $30,000, the gift to be used for an astronomical observatory. While the college was engaged in finding the
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money for securing these. pledges, a bequest of $40,000 fell to it, and, as bequests were not to be included in the $75,000 to be raised, the funds of the college were by so much the more increased.
To lighten the work thus imposed upon the college, the Free Baptists of New England were invited to endow a chair in the divinity school, to be named the Fullonton professorship, in honor of Professor John Fullonton, D.D., who, for more than fifty years, has served his denomination as an instructor of its youth. This proposition was heartily seconded by all the old pupils of the revered professor. The churches were canvassed by two students who, in the course of a year, secured, generally in small sums, a good part of this endow- ment fund. The remainder will doubtless be made up in a short time.
At the end of two years the college had met the conditions to Mr Cobb's generous offer, when his noble purpose was promptly executed, and the college found itself brought into a safe position.
BENEFACTORS AND BENEFACTIONS .- Since the building of a college is the building of a public and permanent institution, the persons by whose liberal gifts its foundation is secured are entitled to such public and lasting honor as the pages of its history can give. It is a pleasant as well as a just act to put on record the names of some of the generous givers to Bates College. Institutions owing their existence to funds gathered as were those of Bates, become indebted to a multitude of donors of small sums worthy of grateful and enduring remembrance. Of such benefactors Bates has a long and illumined roll. The aggregate of their gifts formed no small part of the capital of the college at the beginning of its history. Its growth in years made imperative enlargement in every direction. Enlargement meant larger expenditures, and larger expenditures, the necessity of larger receipts. So inexorable have been the calls for money in equipping this young institution, so wide and strong the ever-flowing and deepening current of expense, that only the munificent gifts of wealthy friends could have availed to arrest the flood and keep it from overwhelming the college. Though the endowment of Bates is still small, not reaching to an approximate equality with that of most New England colleges having only one department, and conducted on a higher scale of charges, yet it has probably known more widely than they the warmth of philanthropic hands and hearts. And to these the college is specially indebted for its record, and for all its promise of usefulness.
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