USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > New London > A centennial history, 1837-1937, Colby Academy, Colby Junior College > Part 16
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One such opportunity was improved when some of the boys decided that a certain sissy must be given a lesson that he would not forget. They could not wait for the slow process of self-discipline or the patient toler- ance shown by the faculty. With the customary disregard for consequences the unfortunate fellow was taken from his room, immured in a cistern, and kept there all night. The results were not all that was hoped for. When the boy appeared at breakfast the lady principal gave him a sympathetic welcome, and Principal Mckean was so disturbed that he suspended the miscreants for two weeks.
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The Colby Voice kept the student body informed of all these events, town as well as school. It served the purpose of literary magazine and local newspaper at "one dollar a year, payable in advance." Carder suc- ceeded George C. Chase as editor-in-chief. Among the literary features was an article on "Self-Control" by Mr. McKean and another on "Our Friends" by Webster Chester of the faculty; a series of stories called "Brent- wood Tales," two others entitled "How the Boys went to the Girls' Hallowe'en Party," and "Uncle Reddick's Ghost." Poetry was scarce, but X. Y. Z. contributed lines on "Habit" and later filled up space with these
Lines written to Philip
"Theez 4 lines Wot look so kweer R jest sot down 2 fill up heer."
The literary societies of the school were reorganized upon the advent of Mr. McKean in 1899. Instead of the older Philalethian, the Epsilon Pi Delta, and the Granite Debating Society, the boys joined forces in the newly formed Colby Council. At their meetings they debated and declaimed in the approved fashion of olden times, and they followed current events under the direction of one of their number. The girls transformed the Ladies' Literary Society into the Eurosophia Society, wrote es- says and criticisms of current literature and appreciations of biography and had plenty of music. One evening they devoted to the lives of William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. The Young Men's Christian Association and the Young Women's Christian Association cared for the religious interests of the school and helped to plan social events. The Council and the Eurosophians sometimes held a joint meeting as earlier generations of students had done, and on one occasion they debated the question
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that became a burning issue subsequently, "Resolved, That Colby Academy should not be co-educational." Did they not enjoy living together as one family? A glee club of eight students was formed among the young men, and sang "Salmagundi" as its maiden effort at a fair in the town hall.
The discipline of the school was administered kindly but firmly. Students were expected to remember that they were a family community in which each was to be friendly and co-operative. Everyone was expected to appreciate the advantages and observe the regulations of this community life. The Bible supplied the standards of moral training, and students were urged to take its principles personally as the rule of life and conduct. Living in accordance with these principles they should avoid profanity, falsehood, and wilful disobedience. The use of tobacco and liquor was forbidden, playing cards were taboo, and dancing was not permitted. Even when the trustees were in the throes of discussion over finance, they took time to authorize a notice to be posted in the gymnasium that dancing was prohibited. The old traditions were held firmly, and it was believed that "to trip the light fantastic" was not essential for a good time among well-bred young people.
Sometimes it seemed to the students that restrictions were foolish. The girls felt that it was unnecessary to wear coats on the campus lest the boys should see the bloomers that they had donned for basket ball in the "gym," but it was prescribed that bloomers could be worn during exercise only on condition that the boys should not be around. When the girls wished to have their photographs taken in "gym" costume the Principal agreed only on condition that the instructor should keep the negative and that only the girls should be permitted to have the photographs. Unfortunately one of the academy boys worked for the photographer, and later
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in the year when the girls attended open house in Colby Hall they discovered to their amusement and chagrin that a much enlarged copy of the basket ball photograph was hanging over the mantelpiece in the parlor.
Two of the boys went too far when they dared each other to climb a ladder into the girls' dormitory and call upon one of the girls. They warned her beforehand, but after they had negotiated the ladder successfully they were staggered to find the lady principal awaiting their arrival. It is needless to say that both students were expelled from the school, but they added to their no- toriety by hiring a horse to drive to Potter Place and on the way the horse dropped dead. As a consequence they were arrested and condemned to pay a fine. Lacking ready money they were obliged to leave their watches for security, and one of the teachers paid their fine.
In spite of these restrictions the Colby students were fond of the school that bred them, and they accepted the traditions without revolt.
Charles W. Findlay wrote "Old Colby Forever," Arthur F. Newell set it to music, and the students sang it with enthusiasm at a Saturday evening entertainment which closed the annual fair of the Athletic Association. One hundred copies were sold to the audience. It ran:
"Old Colby forever, the pride of our hearts, Thou'rt founded on truth and guarded with might, Thy gift to the world is the noblest of men,
Who have lived for the best and have battled for right.
We look on thy past with eyes of our love, And see the true standard thy sons have attained;
Our land gave them honor and owned them as men Whose love for the right has never yet waned.
With 'Onward' our watchword we'll press towards the mark, Under Colby's loved banner which ever floats high; And shoulder to shoulder united and true
We'll work with a will that can never say die."
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Reverend J. H. Robbins, Superintendent of the New Hampshire Anti-Saloon League, came up from Concord to give a stereopticon lecture on "Ten Nights in a Bar Room," which gave an inside glimpse that the students never had enjoyed before, but many of them were will- ing to sign the pledge and enroll in the Lincoln Temper- ance Legion. President William J. Tucker of Dartmouth pleased the students and faculty with the sane and sage discourse of a lecturer who took the world as he found it and did his best to lift it to high standards intellectually and morally. Other lecturers described "America's Wonderlands," "The Legacies of the Centuries," and "Picturesque India," and a good minister from Martha's Vineyard told of his varied experiences with "Wedding Bells."
In the year 1903 it was appropriate to celebrate the half century since the reorganization of the school in 1853, as the quarter centennial had been observed in 1878. The sixtieth anniversary of the original founding had been duly marked in 1897. That was only six years before. But Roman Catholic popes had found it profit- able to celebrate a jubilee every few years, and anniversa- ries provided an opportunity for publicity, even if the gifts of faithful supporters were not so large as could be desired. The occasion was used both to cement the bonds between the school and its alumni and to attract the at- tention of those who were benevolently minded among the public.
During Commencement week anniversary exercises were given a place on the programme alongside the usual exercises of the graduating classes, the annual dinner, and the ball game which was a feature of Commence- ment Day. On Tuesday afternoon the students and their friends gathered in the Academy building and listened to addresses which accompanied the presentation of the portraits of distinguished persons connected with the
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school. These included Mrs. Susan Colby Colgate, the first principal of the academy, and Mrs. Mary Prescott Hayden, who had been the first lady principal after the reorganization of the school. Five alumni were honored: John Q. A. Brackett, class of '61, at one time governor of Massachusetts, Benjamin Ide Wheeler, class of '71, President of the University of California, Albert S. Bickmore, class of '56, professor in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Reverend Adoni- ram J. Gordon, class of '56, a well known Baptist min- ister of Boston, and Charles Pillsbury, class of '59, who had distinguished himself in business in the city of Minneapolis. Mr. McKean referred to the sudden death of Captain Shaw, and unveiled a portrait of the man who had done so much to save the academy from dis- solution.
Following the presentations came an historical address by Reverend M. F. Johnson of Nashua, class of '72, on "Colby Academy in Life, as Makers of History." The speaker referred to the heroic efforts to maintain the old academy, the prosperous middle years and the mis- fortunes of the later period, but instead of going into details of the New London story he turned rather to the Baptist principles that underlay the educational at- tempts at New London and elsewhere in New Hamp- shire. He paid tribute to the local church in New London and its ministers and their helpful influence over the school, to the trustees of the academy and the men who had labored to give financial stability, and to the principal and teachers who touched the students at the most intimate points of contact. He honored the students, particularly those whose age made them steady- ing influences over the less experienced, and commended the principles and values that had resulted from athletics. Then he showed the results that had come from this center of intellectual life, the ministers and missionaries
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and teachers who had gone out from the institution to touch other lives constructively, the political leaders and legal representatives who learned self-control on the platform of the debating society, and the men who have become leaders in the business world.
The exercises closed with a symposium on "The Fac- tors that Make a School." Reverend Clarence E. Clough, class of '91, spoke of the students, Dr. Horace Willard, former principal, of the teachers, Reverend O. C. Sar- gent, of the trustees, and Reverend George Bullen, D.D., pastor of the New London church, of the church and school. Josiah E. Fernald made a statement about the Jubilee Fund, and Reverend N. L. Colby, President of the Board, gave "A Look Forward." Music was furnished by the Academy Glee Club.
The Jubilee celebration was made an occasion for im- proving the financial condition of the school. Finance did not cease to cause anxiety, though the situation was less desperate than it had been. A campaign was under- taken with a bid for publicity in the newspaper press. As a part of this campaign two special editions of the Franklin Journal-Transcript were issued, one on the fifth of March, 1903, and the other on the sixteenth of July. A descriptive article, illustrated with photographs, ex- plained the academy and its courses of study. Nathaniel W. Colby of the faculty discussed "Present Administra- tion." Reverend O. C. Sargent, Secretary of the Baptist State Convention, wrote a history of the "Baptists of New Hampshire in Education," which included the story of Colby Academy, and Miss Adelaide L. Smiley told the tale of "Colby Academy and Missions." Long columns were given to notes of alumni, interspersed with photo- graphs of distinguished sons and daughters. An apprecia- tion of Captain Shaw was accompanied with a biograph- ical sketch of Reverend E. H. Lovett, D.D., who had been appointed financial secretary, and a plan of the
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campaign that was being launched. Dr. Lovett was fresh from several financial campaigns for educational institutions in the West, where he was successful in rais- ing endowment funds for Ottawa University, Kansas City Theological Seminary and others.
The second issue of the paper was ablaze with Com- mencement, an account of the celebration, and printed reproductions of the leading addresses. Photographs of the buildings vied in interest with portraits and sketches of such men as President Dodge of Colgate University, Governor Colby and Professors Gardner and Knight. Trustees and faculty were not forgotten and every effort was made to stir the loyalty of alumni and friends and to loosen the straps that bound their old-fashioned pocket books. Reverend C. M. Emery took the place of Dr. Lovett as financial secretary, but the raising of money did not stop.
At Commencement a Jubilee Fund was undertaken in connection with the celebration which resulted in cash pledges of seventeen thousand, six hundred and forty-two dollars, which reduced the net indebtedness to a little more than three thousand dollars. Mrs. Col- gate offered to give dollar for dollar finally in order to realize ten thousand dollars, thus clearing the academy of debt and leaving a cash balance of approximately sixty-five hundred dollars. About the same time James B. Colgate died after serving for thirty-one years as a member of the Board and for twenty-five years as chair- man of the committee in charge of the Permanent Fund. The trustees expressed their appreciation of his friendly service. They had to record also the passing of Robert Colby, who had sustained the traditions of the Colby family regarding the academy and had served on the Permanent Fund committee.
With the removal of the indebtedness James C. Col- gate, who represented the interests of both father and
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mother in the welfare of the academy, agreed to return the property of the academy which he had acquired by mortgage foreclosure in 1902. He gave a deed of the land and buildings with several conditions attached, which must be met if the deed was to be valid. The principal condition was that the property must be used by the academy for educational purposes and the school must keep out of debt. If these conditions were not met, the property would revert to the Colgate family.
As the years passed it was plain that Principal Mc- Kean was leading the school efficiently and making his impression on individual boys and girls. He was active in the church and the community, and made the school respected throughout the state. In 1902 the trustees were so well satisfied that they engaged him as principal for a term of three years at an advanced salary. By 1904 the attendance had increased to more than a hundred students. There was need of more room and of better furnishings and plumbing, especially if there were to be no new buildings. These improvements received the attention of the trustees, and they arranged with Charles E. Shepard for a better water supply. They voted to appropriate not more than two thousand, three hundred and fifty dollars from the Jubilee Fund to a Repair and Equipment Fund. Somewhat later they decided to use cash on hand and all amounts paid into the Jubilee Fund for refunding scholarship funds that were depleted.
Members of the faculty came and went, but young and promising teachers could not be expected to stay long at such salaries as Colby Academy could pay. Mrs. Mary N. Ashmore came from Pillsbury Academy, Min- nesota, to take the position of lady principal and music teacher. Alice O. Dow served two years as teacher of French, German and English, and Alice C. Woods was instructor in mathematics and English. In 1905 Mr. Mckean resigned. The trustees tried to induce him to
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remain, but he refused to reconsider and went to Union College, Schenectady, where he gave loving and effective service for many years as a member of the faculty.
The fall of 1905 saw a faculty on New London hill that was new in most cases. Justin O. Wellman was the new principal, while Mrs. Wellman filled the position of lady principal and taught certain classes in English. Mr. Wellman came from the principalship of Ricker Classical Institute at Houlton, Maine. The trustees had sufficient confidence in him to elect him for a term of three to five years with promise of an annual increase in salary. Mrs. Wellman, like her husband, was a graduate of Colby College and had shared with him the ex- perience of four years at Ricker. Arthur L. Field came to New London to teach Latin and Greek fresh from Brown University where he graduated magna cum laude. Arthur L. Young had graduated from Brown the year before, and after a year's experience in teaching in Pennsylvania he married and arrived in New London ready to teach the sciences and to live with his bride in Colby Hall. In due time they moved to the Heidelberg where a baby boy was born, whom his parents promptly named Colby. The Voice bade him hearty welcome: "Three cheers and let them be hearty ones for the 'boy of the Heidelberg' . .. With him our total registration this fall is one hundred and fifteen students, although as yet we have not seen him in class." So many students were in attendance that a number of them had to find quarters at Hotel Sargent.
Interesting things were happening in town. Mr. Field played interlocutor at a minstrel show which was staged by an academy troupe as part of the annual fair of the Athletic Association. The fair was a decided success, netting two hundred and fifty dollars for the association. It included the usual features of such events, and a basket ball game between Colby and her ancient rival,
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Kimball Union Academy, which Colby won 33 to 19. Elizabeth Bickford, class of '98, was married in the Baptist church to Fred Alvord of Boston. William Clough, class of 1900, had gone to Dartmouth Medical College. Walter Bucklin, class of '97, was practising law in Boston. Anthony C. Burpee, member of the Board, died in New London in his eighty-eighth year and Oren D. Crockett was elected trustee in his place. Sarah A. Wells, class of '95, was married to Frank S. Shepard four days before Horace C. Stanley, class of 1901, married Lura V. Gay.
In a small town few events are too trivial to awaken public interest. If the mail stage was late it incommoded students who expected mail. If the town clock went on strike those who were without watches could not ac- curately reckon their chances of being called to recite before the bell rang. Within a week of each other Andrew J. Kidder's house burned down at the Four Corners and the drug store fell a prey to the flames across the street from the academy buildings. These were most disturbing to the quiet that was desirable for the con- ning of textbooks. When nothing else brought dis- traction the Ladies' Aid Society of the church prepared some sort of an entertainment, and of course the students must show their sympathy for a good cause by attending. On a certain May day teachers and students helped to dig a ditch for a gas pipe from the street to the church, to be rewarded with hot coffee and doughnuts by the ladies of the church.
The Baptist church changed pastors in 1907. Rever- end William A. Farren had served the church during the 'nineties, and had been succeeded by Reverend George Bullen, D.D., formerly of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and later a professor at Newton Theological In- stitution. His ministry had been very acceptable be- cause he could speak and advise out of a long experience.
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Although not a member of the Board of Trustees, his influence had its weight with the school administration. His successor was Reverend Charles H. Wheeler of Danvers, Massachusetts. Mr. Wheeler gave some biblical instruction in the school and made the boys and girls a part of his parish. New interest in religion among the citizens of the town brought many of them into church membership. In 1909 Mr. Wheeler was succeeded by Reverend Horace B. Sloat, a graduate of Acadia Univer- sity and Newton Theological Institution. He baptized fifty into church membership during the three years of his pastorate. Like his predecessor he taught academy classes in the Bible.
The district schoolhouse at the corner, where town boys and girls had been going through the grammar grades, gave place to a modern school building, and the free library of the town, which had been started in 1897, was moved from Grange Hall to new quarters.
On a September afternoon a company of four boys started on a drive and tramp to the summit of Mount Kearsarge, where they planned to camp out and see the sunrise. They took along a tent, bedding and food enough for healthy appetites, drove up the side of the mountain to where the Winslow House used to be, and at last dumped their paraphernalia on the top of the mountain about sunset. They watched the changing sky, the hills and lakes, and the hilltop village that they knew so well, saw lights twinkle in the cities to the south as well as in the canopy of heaven, devoured their supper of sandwiches, cake and bananas, and retired to the evergreen couches that they had made. The moonlight and unaccustomed noises kept them awake for some time before they slept, and they woke in time to compare the rising of the sun with the going down of the same. It must have been after such an experience that A. S.,
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class of 1909, wrote his contribution to the anthology on "Kearsarge":
"Kearsarge is a monarch of mountains, He rules o'er the vales and the hills; He wears his crown with a lofty frown When the lightning around him thrills.
Sometimes he is sad and thoughtful And sighs through a mist of tears; His granite head bows low in dread, And he broods o'er the sorrow of years.
When sunshine covers the landscape His heart feels its genial glow, His laughter shakes the dimpling lakes And he smiles on his subjects below.
Kearsarge is a righteous old ruler Through sunshine and winds that blow; Though hard his heart yet he does his part And ever to duty is true."
Meantime Colby Academy was prospering. Attend- ance of students showed a steady growth. There were one hundred and twenty-three in the year 1906-'07, one hundred and thirty-two the next year, and one hundred and forty-nine the year following. Thirty-nine of them came from Massachusetts. The academy had not lost its power of attraction, though modern high schools had made academies far less necessary than seventy years earlier. Various interests at the academy in New London were strengthened by new events and organizations. One year an athletic exhibition was prepared with the intention of making it an annual event. The next year a senior-junior play was staged in the town hall to raise money for graduation and other expenses. The produc- tion was Dickens's "Cricket on the Hearth," and the students made prolonged preparation for it through the winter term. It was hoped that dramatics might become
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an annual feature of the school year. A senate was organ- ized to train students in parliamentary procedure, politi- cal issues were discussed, and on the eve of the presi- dential election in 1908 a meeting was held in the chapel to thresh out the merits of parties and candidates and a brass band added to the excitement. Republicans, Democrats, Socialists and Prohibitionists, all had their champions, but when a poll was taken William H. Taft captured seventy-five out of a total of ninety-two votes cast.
In that same year Colby boys engaged in three inter- scholastic debates. The discussion with Proctor Academy took place in the New London town hall. Each team had three speakers, and they debated the resolution, "That members of the national Senate should be elected by popular vote." Colby had the negative side of the argument and in the opinion of the judges won the debate. The debate with Tilton Seminary was on an- other question, but one of public interest. This time it was "Resolved, that further restrictions on immigra- tion would prove detrimental to the American people," and the Colby debaters took the affirmative on the ques- tion. They won by a two to one vote of the judges. The same question was debated by a different team of three in competition with Kimball Union Academy, in which Colby had the affirmative, and was decided in Colby's favor by a similar vote. These three victories were a good advertisement of the Colby Council and the coaching by faculty members. A few years later Colby joined a de- bating league of sixteen preparatory schools to contend for a prize offered by Dartmouth College.
While the debaters were representing Colby on the platform, boys' and girls' teams were having a success- ful basket ball season. The academy girls defeated the Franklin High girls by a decisive score, then the boys overwhelmed the Algonquin Athletic Club of Franklin.
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