USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > New London > A centennial history, 1837-1937, Colby Academy, Colby Junior College > Part 11
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THE FIRST CENTURY OF COLBY
During all this time the new fund was being raised, and there were several men on the Board who could have tided the academy over its period of financial stringency so that the teachers need not have suffered and the pinch- ing in management need not have been so severe.
The following year Miss Dodge and three of the teachers resigned. Mr. Morton was re-elected acting principal at a salary of one thousand and fifty dollars. The trustees voted to put a mortgage of twenty thousand dollars on the school property in order to pay the ac- cumulated debt. Mr. Balch succeeded in raising a fund of seventy thousand dollars and was continued for a year as financial agent at a salary of twelve hundred dollars in order that he might secure scholarship money. The next year Mr. Morton resigned. The financial difficulties continued. The Board voted to sell the Springfield woodlot owned by the school to J. Eli Shep- ard for the sum of four hundred dollars, and at the same time agreed to buy from him one hundred cords of wood a year at the rate of three dollars and twenty-five cents a cord. It was also voted that all bills of the institution must be passed upon by two members of the executive committee before being paid by the Treasurer.
It was recorded in the minutes of the Board that President Dodge of Hamilton "spoke to the Board words of counsel resulting from his long experience as an edu- cator." Whether it was financial advice does not appear, but it is plain that the trustees could benefit from such counsel. They expressed appreciation to the teachers and sympathy in the trying events through which they had passed during the year; that did not cost anything.
By 1880 the Permanent Fund had reached a total of eighty-one thousand dollars. It was invested mainly in railroad bonds at a time when railroads were building rapidly and their securities were popular. These bonds paid an interest of seven and eight per cent, giving an
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N. T. GREENWOOD
HENRY BROWN
FRED S. HEATH
JOSIAH FERNALD
SOME TREASURERS OF THE BOARD
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مجيد
BENEFACTIONS AND BUILDINGS. 1860-1880
income from the Permanent Fund of more than five thousand dollars. The treasurer's report showed that students' tuition charges had brought in nearly eleven hundred dollars within a year; board and room rent had netted about thirty-one hundred, and nineteen dollars' worth of grass had been sold. This provided a total income of about ten thousand, eight hundred dollars, including subscriptions to the floating debt amounting to twelve hundred and fifteen dollars. The outgo during the same year included thirty-eight hun- dred dollars for teachers' salaries, nearly thirty-two hundred dollars on the boarding account, and interest charges in excess of fifteen hundred dollars, besides several hundred dollars of miscellaneous items and six hundred dollars paid on the floating debt. An insurance of thirty-two thousand, two hundred dollars was carried on the school property. The total debt by 1880 amounted to twenty-six thousand, one hundred dollars.
Every device that seemed reasonable was considered to improve the financial condition of the academy. Dr. Eaton took occasion in a trustee meeting to commend the Board for its efficiency in performing the annual business and on the character of its printed financial re- ports, but it could not make ends met. It was then (1882) that James B. Colgate came to the rescue and paid off the floating indebtedness of the school. With that drain upon resources removed it was possible to add small amounts to teachers' salaries.
Financial difficulties still pursued the management within the next few years. The trustees spent an evening in 1885 earnestly discussing how to get money. Four years later Dr. Gardner said at a meeting of the trustees: "A real exigency is upon us, and we must meet it as men; and for the raising of funds it would be of little use now to put a stranger into the field, cold and formal and carrying no prestige into the work. The school must
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now be cared for and nursed by its friends." In this exigency an appeal was made once more to Mr. and Mrs. Colgate, with the result that they agreed to pay off the school mortgage of twenty thousand dollars if the friends of the school would procure an equal amount, or they would give dollar for dollar up to thirty thousand dollars.
The subsequent story of Colgate munificence belongs to a later chapter.
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A NEW regime began in Colby Academy soon after the Quarter Centennial. The next decade is that of three unusual teachers, James P. Dixon, the new principal, Mr. Peaslee and Miss Smiley. It was com- parable with the early triumvirate of Dr. Gardner, Pro- fessor Knight and Miss Prescott. Mr. Dixon was a mas- ter of the Greek language and literature, which he taught, as did Dr. Gardner. Mr. Peaslee was efficient in the department of science and mathematics, which had be- longed to Professor Knight. Miss Smiley, who had re- turned to New London as lady principal after the departure of Miss Dodge, was beloved by the girls and was a skillful teacher, as Miss Prescott had been. These three moulded the character of the school for a period of eight years, establishing traditions that remained long after they were gone. Then Mr. Peaslee was lured away to the Durfee High School at Fall River. Miss Smiley continued for two years longer when she too withdrew.
These three had the assistance of several others. Mary E. Chase, who taught modern languages, Ellen A. Kim- ball, teacher of grammar and rhetoric, and Emma E. Newhall, the music teacher, remained for several years. Seymour I. Hudgens was on the faculty for two years, and was active in building up the library by securing gifts of books. He was succeeded in the department of German and English by Edward E. Whitford, who re- mained for six years and was popular among the stu- dents. William A. Wilbur, a Brown graduate, served for a year as teacher of Latin and Ethics.
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Best known among the women teachers after Miss Smiley was Martha E. Learnard, a graduate of the academy in the class of 1870. Her initial task was to teach French and English when she came in 1884, and this was her department for five years while Miss Smiley remained. During a year's absence Laura E. Parker, a Colby graduate and an experienced teacher, took her place as instructor in French and taught mathematics. Miss Learnard returned and remained as first lady teacher for five years longer, giving instruction in Latin. Mary E. Burpee, who had graduated in the class of 1885 at Colby Academy, became teacher of history and libra- rian after three years, and continued a member of the Colby faculty for eight years, with an intermission of a year spent at Radcliffe College. Eliza M. Greenwood was for three years in charge of the music department, and was succeeded for a long term of years by Mrs. Frances H. Keil.
From time to time small additions were made to equip- ment. The trustees authorized Mr. Dixon and Miss Smiley to provide desks for one of the recitation rooms "to aid students in getting studious habits and making profitable use of time." Small amounts were spent for scientific apparatus. Once the management was so ex- travagant as to invest one hundred and fifty dollars in a cabinet of minerals. Professor A. L. Bickmore, an alumnus of the class of 1856, used his influence with Professor Charles S. Sargent of Harvard University to secure for the academy a collection of native New Eng- land woods. Friends of the school in Dover and Great Falls made the scientific department a present of a tele- scope valued at two or three hundred dollars. Reverend N. F. Tilden of the Board of Trustees was appointed a committee of one to buy a new piano for the academy, and the boys in Colby Hall were given permission to ex- change the old piano for an organ, if they would raise
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any additional money that might be needed. For the next few years, as long as the room was used for the Young Men's Christian Association, the Colby Hall boys enjoyed pumping the organ and singing songs both suit- able and unsuitable for organ accompaniment.
Mr. Dixon and Miss Smiley both believed that experi- ments were worth making to increase comfort and effi -- ciency in the school, but Mr. Dixon was usually the more cautious. On one occasion he thought that it would be worth while to use a part of the brick building to house boys. It was his proposal that wooden partitions be put in, not that surer segregation could be effected but be- cause they could be removed easily if the experiment did not prove successful. Miss Smiley was watchful of the health of the girls, concerned about sanitation and the care of the sick, and eager for better facilities for physical exercise. She asked the trustees to give attention to these matters, and they appointed a special committee to act with the executive committee, but "at as small an expense as possible." Miss Smiley could not persuade the "sanitary committee" to give her all she wanted, but the trustees provided her with an oil stove to be used at her discretion, repaired the walls of the sick room, and made improvements in the girls' gymnasium in the base- ment. They also appeased her by voting that she be authorized to spend "as she may desire or deem wise whatever sums of money she may collect for croquet ground, flower garden, etc., on the south side of the brick building," and they instructed the sanitary committee to drain the ground for croquet, which at that time was a fad in eastern America.
Something was continually getting out of order. The ice house gave out. The bathroom in the Dixon resi- dence went on strike. These matters the trustees referred to the committee on repairs. There was water in the stable of Colby Hall that ought not to be there. Suitable
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quarters were needed for fowls and swine. The girls sometimes fell ill. They could not reasonably be criti- cised for it, but lest they might indulge in a rest cure the trustees decided to make a nominal charge of fifteen cents a day for extra care if they had to be waited on.
The trustees were so discouraged over current ex- penses that they turned over the boarding-house and the land that the school owned to Mr. Dixon and Miss Smiley to be managed at their discretion. They were called into consultation when other teachers were to be engaged. Soon after the period began the teaching force was reduced to four, not including the music, and it was voted by the trustees that the Principal might call to his aid, if needed, the most efficient scholars in the senior class to teach the primary classes. This was an unfortu- nate depreciation of standards, and the measure passed the Board by a small majority. Mr. Dixon found himself so overburdened that he obtained permission from the Board to employ Sherman L. Whipple, son of Dr. Whipple of New London, who had made a record for scholarship at Yale University, to take charge of his classes "during such brief periods as sickness or special business as executor may compel his absence."
The idea of using the boarding-house as a summer hotel when the school was not in session seemed good to Mr. Dixon and he proposed it to the trustees, but they were not yet ready to try the experiment.
Before the decade was over Colby Academy felt the groundswell of the demand for a more practical educa- tion that was being felt all over the country. Popular interest in applied science was creating a pressure against the classics and a demand for a reduction of hours de- voted to Latin and Greek even in the College Prepara- tory Course. The rapid growth of the cities and the multiplication of business offices called for business courses in the schools. Business appliances like the
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telephone and the typewriter and the increased use of stenography opened the way for young women in busi- ness offices. Among the constituents of Colby Academy there was also a demand for easier terms of admission so that students might enter the academy directly from the district schools.
At an October meeting of the Board in 1885 the trustees considered several recommendations of the com- mittee on curriculum with regard to these demands. The committee favored the introduction of a preparatory course, which would smooth the way for students from district schools. It was felt that in that way the number of students might be increased and the influence of the Academy be extended, but even more, they said, "be- cause we believe there are many young men and women desirous of securing a better education who are debarred from our public schools because of their age and also from Colby because of the conditions of entrance." The colleges even were establishing preparatory courses; that was an added reason for academies to do the same. The committee also believed it "to be a fact, under the present order of things, that many of the graduates of Colby have been very deficient in the primary elements of a good English education, because forced to begin at too high a grade." The committee continued: "We believe that there is a demand on the part of the farmers and tradesmen and mechanics that such provision be made in our schools that their sons and daughters be given what they term a practical business education, that they be taught more of that which immediately relates to the spheres of life at which they must live and work, and less of Greek and Latin, German and ancient History, etc."
It was therefore recommended first, that a Preparatory Department be set up adapted to the wants of those who would come from the district schools; second, that the
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regular courses be revised so that there would be two departments: (1) collegiate, (2) literary and scientific; third, that the collegiate course be subdivided to fit the needs of the men and women; fourth, that the literary and scientific courses include more electives; and fifth, that these courses be advertised attractively in the annual catalogue. The committee wished it understood in the Board that it would not wish "to belittle the school in the estimation of any one, nor lower the standards of the graduating classes. While we would make provision for those who have enjoyed few educational privileges, we would also seek to advance the general grade of the school."
A committee on the revision of the course reported in June, 1886. In spite of the lack of funds the committee believed that a classical and a scientific course were im- perative. Back in 1874 the trustees had voted that "Gentlemen will be allowed to substitute one or more of the modern languages, or an equivalent of mathe- matical or scientific studies, in place of the Greek lan- guage," and young women might take Greek as a part of the modern language requirement. The scientific course would prepare for such occupations as machinists, civil engineers, druggists and physicians. The committee then recommended an enlargement of the scope of the scientific course, with emphasis on the physical sciences and mathematics. The committee held the conviction that it would be unwise even if funds permitted to con- tinue to teach such subjects as logic and metaphysics and ethics, and advanced English and German, attempting to combine "common school, academy, college and theo- logical seminary," even if there were money enough to warrant it, and therefore recommended that they be dropped.
The report of this committee was laid on the table. A year later in June another committee on the revision
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THE DIXON DECADE. 1879-1890
of the curriculum, which included Mr. Dixon and Miss Smiley, recommended English grammar, arithmetic, elementary algebra, bookkeeping, United States history, and elementary physiology for the preparatory course in conformity to the law of the state for public school instruction. The preparatory course was regarded by students as dull. Grammar and arithmetic, bookkeeping and United States history, offered no inducements. The only study that had any thrills was physiology, when the skeleton was taken out of the closet. But if the studies were uninteresting, there was all the more urgency to es- cape from the grind as soon as possible. The committee approved too the proposed college preparatory and aca- demic courses, with the increase of scientific studies; but did not approve the elimination of the higher courses such as philosophy. They agreed to the extension of the elective principle with proper safeguards. These recommendations were adopted by the Trustees.
A committee on Instruction and Instructors reported in favor of tightening up the courses and saving ad- ditional expense, by relieving the Principal of psy- chology and ethics and giving him Latin as well as Greek, making those languages effectively taught in preparation for college, and that two men teachers be retained, one for the sciences and mathematics and the other as teacher of German and whatever else was required. Three lady teachers should be engaged, one to teach French and to aid in Latin, another to teach vocal and instrumental music, and a third for English and other subjects as needed. The faculty should be directly responsible to the Principal and the office of lady principal should be abolished. Consideration of the report was delayed, and at length a committee was appointed to attend to the duties recommended in the report in connection with the General Secretary.
As early as 1880 the Trustees considered the advisa-
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bility of having alumni representation on the Board. A number of the trustees had graduated at New London but there was no official recognition of the alumni as entitled to representation, and nothing was done about it. In 1889 the alumni, who by this time were well or- ganized, pointedly asked for recognition on the Board. It was stated that the action of the alumni was not in- tended as a criticism of the way in which the Board was constituted but was caused by a desire for closer co- operation between the Alumni Association and the Trus- tees. It was hoped that a conference between them at the next Commencement might have happy conse- quences. Thus beset the trustees requested the alumni to submit a nomination of not less than three alumni, from which the trustees "may select to fill vacancies in the Board." Two years later ten alumni representatives were included in the Board of twenty-four members.
While the trustees were troubled with financial and administrative problems and were being annoyed by criticism, school affairs continued to monopolize the attention of the students. They were attending classes more or less cheerfully, meeting frequently at the ses- sions of the literary societies, cultivating virtue at the meetings of the Total Abstinence Society, organized in 1881, practising music in the Pierian Club or giving con- certs and cantatas by the Orpheus Club, and preening themselves in a climax of glory on the Commencement płatform.
The class of '86, bearing as its motto: "We shall not pass this way again," presented among its Commence- ment speakers William Preston Houston who gave the salutatory oration, and Edwin P. Stickney, who also delivered an oration with the title "Man's Work Lives after Him." Herman W. Wätjen spoke eloquently on "Socialism, with an address to the Philalethian Literary Association." All three of these young men made their
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mark in later years in their respective professions. Alma E. Fowler of New London had the crowning honor of the valedictory with an essay on "Our Inheritance."
The Commencement programmes of several successive years are of special interest because of the later activities of the participants or because of the subjects discussed in their graduation parts. In 1887 Winfred N. Donovan had the salutatory oration. George W. Hodges discussed "The Labor Question as a Factor in Politics." The American Federation of Labor was then in the first flush of its success, and Hodges was alive to its significance. William E. Stanley of New London argued on "The Duty of Prohibition," a timely topic since the Prohibition Party had helped to defeat James G. Blaine for the presidency three years before. Clara Bell Messer of New London gave the valedictory address on the intriguing theme
"A yellow cowslip by the river's brim A yellow cowslip was to him, And it was nothing more."
When the next Commencement came in 1888 Albert E. Hylan, who planned to go on to Brown and Newton, contributed the salutatory oration with address to the Philalethians; Melissa Aldrich, who was looking for- ward to Christian service as a missionary, wrote an essay on "The Upward Look"; and Mary S. Currier, who later on was to teach at Colby Academy and elsewhere, read an essay entitled "It is not all of Life to Live."
The students had their indoor entertainments. On the thirtieth of April, 1889, the school observed with an evening reception the one hundredth anniversary of the inauguration of George Washington as president of the United States. This celebration was in the form of a drama, in which Albert Daggett impersonated Washing- ton, Fred Farwell took the part of Chancellor Livingston, who administered the oath of office, and A. G. Sargent
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represented John Adams, the first vice president. Miss Parker, Lady Principal, was Lady Washington. She stood in the receiving line with two of the students and welcomed the guests who were introduced by Washing- ton, Hamilton and others. Those present enjoyed them- selves with promenades, Colby's customary substitute for dancing, and music enlivened the evening.
Endless were the possibilities of music to furnish en- tertainment as well as instruction. From the early days of the academy, poor as it was, there was an attempt to keep a place for the "ornamental branches" in the cur- riculum. Music and drawing and painting were a part of the ideal of polite learning, and while people in the country towns lacked training or fine appreciation they knew that the aesthetic had its value. They liked to sing and the literary programmes in the academy were replete with vocal and instrumental music. They prac- tised on the seraphine and the piano and enjoyed the bass viol accompanying the choir on Sunday. They did not shrink from aspiring to render cantatas, and they chased one after another through the intricacies of old fugues. The course in piano playing invited to finger gymnastics, inverted and reversed arpeggios, common chords in all keys, Schumann's novelettes and smaller pieces, scherzos, polonaises, and impromptus, and con- cert pieces by Raff, Scharwenka, Moskowski, and Rhine- burger. It was possible to enjoy concerted playing for four, six, and eight hands, as a sort of concession to those who were not permitted to hold hands on the stairs or in the moonlight.
One of the features of Commencement week in 1888 was the annual matinee of the music department, occur- ring at three o'clock in the afternoon under the direction of Eliza M. Greenwood, teacher. The exercises opened with a chorus by the Orpheus Club. A piano quartette performed valorously with its chords and arpeggios. A
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vocal quartette composed of Mary E. Burpee, R. B. Greenwood and A. B. and Fred Farwell pleased the audi- ence with their selections. Mattie R. Kidder rendered a vocal solo, Florence M. Heald and Mary E. Burpee sang a duet, and then Hattie A. George won the admira- tion of the audience with a concerto in G Minor, and Mabel H. Prescott brought the programme to a con- clusion with recitative and aria. The presentation of certificates to graduates of the course followed.
Students and townspeople both enjoyed the annual concert given by talent from outside the town on the evening of Commencement Day. It was a specially en- joyable occasion regardless of the music, because rules were relaxed for once and the young men were allowed to spend their hard-earned dollars on the fair damsels of their choice. Wulf Fries delighted with his 'cello, and the Schubert and Temple quartettes made melody divine, but they paled into insignificance afterward when the longest way around was the shortest way home and the moon's pale beams smiled in sympathy.
Under the direction of Mrs. Frances Keil a variety of programmes was offered to the students and the towns- people. Three days prior to the Centennial reception an Old Folks Concert was given by the Orpheus Club and attracted a large audience in spite of rainy weather. Nothing in the way of weather daunted the hill folk of New Hampshire, even when winter was changing into spring and the mud was deep.
At the anniversaries in June the Club repeated the cantata of Ruth the Moabitess, which had been received with enthusiasm in the winter. The first scene repre- sented Judea in a time of famine. A chorus sang. Robert Greenwood came as a messenger of plenty in Moab and pleaded with the people to pray for help. Florence G. Sargent represented a Jewish maiden in the scene. The second scene showed Naomi, Orpah and Ruth,
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