USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > New London > A centennial history, 1837-1937, Colby Academy, Colby Junior College > Part 5
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In the main New London Academy was a town in- stitution but it included many students from other towns. Four of its trustees were New London men, in- cluding president, secretary, and two of the three mem- bers of the executive committee. Six members of the Board represented other towns, Claremont and New- port, Warner and Salisbury, Cornish and Hanover. Six of the ten trustees were ministers, an evidence that the academy was under religious supervision. In 1840 the number of trustees was increased to eighteen, with a larger proportion of them residing outside of New London.
The inner life of the academy was regulated carefully. No one was admitted who was not prepared to stay at least six weeks. Tuition must be paid in advance and no rebate was given if a pupil left school within four weeks of the end of the term. Tuition for English and common branches was three dollars and sixty cents, but it cost fifty cents more for the "classical and ornamental" branches and for higher mathematics. One would like to know whether natural theology and the geography
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of the heavens commanded a premium. Either sum seems ridiculously small, but it may be equated with the usual cost of board in those days and with the rela- tively low cost of everything. Attendance upon classes was compulsory and study hours were observed strictly, but there was time in between to run across the street to the store where Charles S. Sargent sold groceries, dry goods, and ready-made clothing, where doubtless school supplies could be purchased, and where it is not impossible that boys and girls might meet. All students were subject to "moral requisitions." This probably included a prohibition of all meetings at the store. All students were required to be present at the daily de- votional exercises of the school and to attend church on Sunday. Bible study was optional once a week, and as often composition and declamation were on the pro- gramme.
The ancient classics enjoyed a prestige over science and English branches, as they did in American colleges at the middle of the nineteenth century. They were prerequisite to admission into the colleges. In the an- nual catalogue of the school the name of every person who took Latin was followed by an asterisk and every name on the Greek list was marked with a double dag- ger. In the catalogue of 1842 seven boys and eleven girls studied Latin during the winter term, and nineteen boys and nine girls in the spring term. Four boys and three girls studied Greek in the winter, and eight boys and six girls in the spring.
If it were possible to draw aside the curtain of the years and call the roll of names printed in the annual catalogues of those first years, it would be surprising to find how many towns sent their quota of eager students. Boys and girls were housed all along the main street and in the neighboring farm houses. They sawed wood, scrubbed clothes, and washed dishes in their struggle to
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meet expenses. The charges for board and tuition were insignificant as compared with the present day, but there was little ready money in the homes from which they came and apples and potatoes were not acceptable in payment of tuition.
Little time could be spared for social gatherings and recreation was seldom given a thought. The landmarks of the school year were examinations and literary an- niversaries. Most students did not complete a definite course. When they became pupils in the school it was quite uncertain how long they would be able to attend, and they stayed as long as their funds lasted or until they had exhausted the educational opportunities that were offered. Then they left without any formalities.
The catalogue was little more than a list of students and a brief statement of the courses of study and the textbooks used. A few pages with a dark blue paper cover were all that was necessary. It is only as one reads between the lines that he comes to realize the hopes and fears and sacrifices that were embodied in the enroll- ment of the names of boys and girls who came from the hill farms and village homes of central New Hampshire, and who from New London went out to take their places as adult citizens in that and other states.
It is the unofficial life of a school that interprets it best, and New London Academy was no exception. It was customary in the academies of a century ago to organize literary societies and accumulate libraries for the use of the members. At the meetings of the societies debates and declamations were delivered and papers were read. At least once a year a more elaborate public exhibition would be attempted. In the New London Academy the annual exhibition was held in November. Then students exhibited their intellectual prowess and their parents and friends glowed with pride.
A programme of the annual exhibition in 1850 is
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ORIGINAL ACADEMY BUILDING 1837-
NEW ACADEMY BUILDING 1872-1892
COLGATE HALL
1912-
NEW LONDON ACADEMY. 1837-1853
among the archives of the Academy. The white paper cover was decorated elaborately with a flowery pattern in green, and four inside pages of delicate blue contained the lengthy programme of exercises. After music and prayer with which all such exercises were decorously introduced a "Latin Extract" was recited by M. P. Page. This was followed by a declamation on "Education" by H. M. Fales. Then came a feature which seems from its frequent use to have been the most popular form of entertainment. This was a dialogue entitled "The Yan- kee's Trip to Boston." Nine characters endeavored to visualize a scene which included as participants a Yan- kee, a dandy, - none other than Andrew J. Sargent, known to many generations of Colby students as "Cap- tain Jack," who in the course of the evening performed manfully in a variety of parts - a keeper of a hotel, a trader, a lawyer, a judge, and the necessary police. One would like to be able to move aside the curtain of the years and join in the applause which must have followed the Yankee's arrest and summons before the police court. But the dialogue was only the beginning of the programme, which must have kept the good people of New London out of bed far beyond their usual hour.
After music D. F. Stevens declaimed on "The Elo- quence of James Otis," O. K. Russell on "The Impress- ment of American Seamen," and W. E. Davis on "Na- tional Glory," and then the audience was ready for a second dialogue. This time two principals and two seconds, keyed up to pitch by the martial declamations, participated in a duel, and when that was over "Jack" Sargent electrified the audience wtih an original decla- mation entitled "The Threat of the Indian Chief."
Following these melodramatics and a relief of sur- charged feelings by music two less disturbing recitations were given on "Founders of Boston" and "Mount Au- burn." Then the audience was invited to listen to an-
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other dialogue, this time on "A Few Phases in the Life of a Young Politician," an original composition. No less than twelve young men participated in this drama. Then after more music M. P. Page again had his inn- ings, displaying his versatility by discussing "The Char- acter of Washington" after he had played the part of a priest in the third dialogue.
The evening wore on with entertainments of similar character. A dialogue between King James and Rhod- erick Dhu, a lament on "The Fate of the Indians," a dialogue with the suggestive title of "The Gamblers," in which a Shepard and a Todd took the parts of a serv- ant and a widow, two more declamations and two more dialogues, brought the programme near its end, and then after a flourish of music and a valedictory address the audience went home and the lights went out.
Only one who has been through school exercises like these can know how much they meant to those who par- ticipated in them and those who constituted the audi- ence. To many an alumnus who reads the story come thronging memories of platform efforts and shaking knees, and after the evening was over the walk arm in arm with some attractive fellow student by the farthest way around to the fair one's abiding place.
The young women of the Academy enjoyed the meet- ings of the Ladies Literary and Missionary Association. Less boisterous in spirit than the men who participated in the Exhibition, they wrote thoughtful papers for the literary organ of the Association called The Clematis. The name of the paper was indicative of those graceful, clinging natures which were the ideal of gentility even in the North before the Civil War. Young women were inclined to plaintive expression when they wrote seri- ously and they sometimes became lost in their imagin- ings. An unknown author, who signed herself Cato, thus soliloquized for The Clematis: "Methinks I embark once
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more upon the fickle voyage of life, starting upon the babbling brook of youth over whose sparkling ripples of prosperity I sped . .. I grasp at unperjured flowers as they blossom upon the moss-clad banks of youth . . . Fancy wafts the youthful bark by fairies lavating breath to the shaded waters of childhood . .. Here these lovely flowers seem withered, as withers the human form when consumption's sallow hand fastens with unyielding grip on the slender fibrils of the heart, and their fragrance lost in the broiling caves of maturity gather around the freighted bark, and scatter the seeds of twilight, whose dying gleams impart these softening influences to the heart ... With the stencil of happiness dipped in its own light it traces upon the missing heart the indelible inscription that we are passing with its own dying light from the raging fires of sin and wrath and raging de- mons.
"Ah! yes, I love thee, twilight, For thy softening gleams impart Thy dear, thy dying influence To the depths of the musing heart."
Students of those days took life seriously because of the training of home and church, and because they shared early in life the family responsibilities. Most of them were reared on farms and had definite chores daily. They had not learned to think and act independently of their elders and they did not question the standards that were taught them. They hardly knew the meaning of recreation, so that their diversions were mainly literary or religious. Academy life as they knew it had none of the frills such as the twentieth century has added, but it was prized as the means of admission to a career of greater opportunity than they could possibly have if the school did not exist. When New London Academy seemed in failing health many a boy and girl saw a door closing in their faces.
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In those years of the middle of the century it began to seem as if the twilight was descending upon New London Academy, as if its life was a "fickle voyage upon the stream of time." It was feeling the same blight that had overtaken Hampton and Hancock academies. Al- though it had enjoyed the patronage of the Newport Association, the churches were not supplying the con- tributions that were needed. They were hampered by the loss of many families which were going west con- tinually. The novelty of the enterprise, which had helped during the early years, had passed. The town of New London alone could hardly be expected to meet the growing expenses of a large school. It had granted exemption from taxes on the property of the academy, and many of the citizens had contributed to the academy building, but these were not enough. The insignificant charges for tuition were not sufficient to meet the cost of teachers' salaries and provide for the upkeep of the building, and there was no endowment. When the gifts from the churches failed it seemed as if the days of the school were numbered. The friends of New London Academy faced the second half of the century with many misgivings.
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THE NEW LONDON LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION. 1853-1861
T IHE educational experiments at New Hampton, Hampton Falls, Hancock, and New London had made two things very plain. There was a demand for such schools and there were teachers capable of giv- ing a high grade of instruction, but an academy could have only a precarious existence without the security of permanent funds. The New Hampton Institution had had the longest existence, a period of thirty years, but it had a debt of twenty-four hundred dollars resting upon it in 1852, and only four thousand dollars had been sub- scribed towards an endowment of twenty thousand dol- lars. Although the academy had the moral support of the Baptist State Convention, the contributions of all the churches were insufficient to meet the needs of the school. A sense of frustration seemed to paralyze the trustees of the Institution.
It was at this juncture that the Baptists of Vermont put their hands in their pockets and promised an en- dowment fund of twenty thousand dollars and suitable buildings, if the Academy would remove to their state. The trustees, seeing no prospect of a secure future in New Hampshire, were favorable to such action, and in 1852 the Baptist State Convention of New Hampshire voted reluctantly "that it is necessary and desirable that the real and personal estate belonging to the Academical and Theological Institution at New Hampton be sold and the avails of the sale be applied to the payment of the debts and liabilities of said corporation and that the
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trustees of such institution are hereby requested to do so." The New Hampshire Baptists transferred their in- terest in the school to the Northern Educational Union, which had been formed in Vermont.
As a consequence of the action taken the Baptists of New Hampshire were bereft of an academy distinctly their own, since the schools at Hampton, Hancock, and New London had either ceased to function or were on the point of extinction. New Hampton Institution seemed to be assured of a future at least for a time, but it would be somewhere in Vermont. Reverend L. A. Dunn, a graduate of the theological department at New Hampton and pastor of the church at Fairfax for more than twenty-five years, exerted every effort to have it moved to that town and was successful. The school reopened at Fairfax, Vermont, on the thirtieth of August, 1853, with fourteen theological students and one hundred and twenty-six others. Dr. Smith, who had continued as head of the New Hampton school since 1833, and Dr. Upham, who had been connected with it since 1846, continued with the school in its new location. Dr. Smith remained in his position until 1861 and was succeeded by Dr. Upham as principal for five or six years longer, but the same lack of money that had blighted the academies in New Hampshire led in time to a decline in the fortunes of the old school. After the Civil War most Vermont Baptists transferred their in- terest and support to Vermont Academy at Saxton's River, which opened in 1876 with an endowment of one hundred thousand dollars. It had no theological department, but that part of the school at New Hamp- ton had been discontinued in 1870. The people of Fair- fax sustained their school as a town academy until 1893, and four years later the buildings and their contents went up in flames.
The New Hampton Institution had had a worthy
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career. In its halcyon days as a school of New Hamp- shire Baptists it enrolled as many as three hundred stu- dents a year. As late as 1847 it had twenty-eight young men studying for the ministry, thirty-two young men in the classical department, and sixty-three in the Eng- lish department, making a total of one hundred and twenty-three; with one hundred and fifty young women this meant a grand total of two hundred and seventy- seven. The courses were ample. The theological prep- aration was four years long, though only the last two years were exclusively in theological subjects. The classical department prepared students for college, and a normal course of two years was offered to young women.
More than six thousand students passed through the New Hampton classrooms during the adminis- tration of Dr. Smith. A school with such a record as that cannot be called a failure. Who can estimate the sum of impressions made upon the lives of six thousand students? If the mental virility and stimulated ambition and added usefulness of even the undistinguished alumni could register themselves, the worth of the Smith administration, which lasted for more than a quarter of a century, would have been highly appreciated. Certain of the theological students became leaders in the Baptist denomination. Ezekiel Robinson went to Brown Uni- versity and Newton Theological Institution and after a term in the pastorate became president of Rochester Theological Seminary and professor of theology. Later he was called to Brown to be president of the college and professor of philosophy. He was honored by both Brown and Harvard with the degree of doctor of laws. Elias L. Magoon was born in Lebanon, New Hampshire, went to New Hampton for his academic education, to Waterville for college, and to Newton for his theological training. Then Richmond, Cincinnati, New York, Al-
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bany, and Philadelphia claimed him as pastor of churches. Joseph C. Foster filled several pastorates and then became one of the editorial staff of the Watchman. Daniel C. Eddy held important city pastorates, was editor and writer, and for a time served in the Massa- chusetts legislature and was speaker for one term. Wil- liam H. Eaton held a distinguished position in the New Hampshire Baptist Convention, was pastor at Nashua and Keene, and as financial agent was successful in raising endowment funds for Colby Academy and New- ton Theological Institution. With such human prod- ucts as these, so useful in religion and education, it seemed a pity that the Baptists of New Hampshire would not maintain the school.
The failure, if such it was, could not be laid at the door of faculty or trustees. Eli Smith, Ephraim Knight, and Susan Colby made their mark on hundreds of young men and women. The school was under the oversight of two boards, trustees and overseers. The board of thirteen trustees included ten ministers, a local physi- cian, and two laymen who could write "Honorable" before their names. The chairman of the Board was Reverend Ebenezer Cummings, D.D., who served later as chairman of the academy at New London for many years. A majority of the nine overseers were laymen.
After the departure of the Baptist school to Vermont the plant at New Hampton was bought by the Freewill Baptists. In 1854 their biblical training school was trans- ferred thither from Whitestown, New York, and re- mained until it was removed to Lewiston, Maine, and made a part of Bates College in 1870. New Hampton Academy continued to exist as a Freewill Baptist school, a friendly rival of Colby Academy at New London.
Once it had been decided to relinquish the school at New Hampton it was a problem how to conserve the educational interests of Baptists in the state. The de-
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nominational leaders met at Concord to discuss what should be done. One can seem to see them wrestling with the problem. Some of them had been trustees of New Hampton, and they were disturbed over the lack of interest in Christian education. Yet one cannot wonder that men who farmed the cold acres of the Granite State, felled trees in the forest, and made their living with difficulty, did not sense the importance of an intellectual training which they never had enjoyed. One or two individuals must have been there who re- called the high hopes with which the New London Academy started only a few years before and thought of the Academy building idly waiting for visitors to its classic halls.
The conclusion was reached that the need of a school was unquestionable and that a resolute effort must be made to provide it. When the question of location was considered the decision was made in favor of New Lon- don. There were several reasons for such a decision. New London was centrally located. It was among beau- tiful and healthful surroundings, one of the high hill towns of the state. It was eight miles from the railroad, but that meant that the vices of the cities would be less likely to reach the hills. The moral and religious repu- tation of New London was enviable, and it was under- stood that there were no disreputable places in town. Besides these considerations an academy building and an abundant goodwill for education were available.
With all these advantages the case of New London was a strong one, yet the decision might not have been fav- orable without the strong influence of Anthony Colby, who had enjoyed the prestige of a term as governor of the state, and of Reverend Ebenezer Dodge, the suc- cessor of Reverend Mark Carpenter as the New London minister. Mr. Dodge was at that time a young man thirty-four years old. He had been educated at Brown
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and Newton, and after two years as a teacher of theology in a Kentucky seminary had spent two years as pastor of the Baptist church at New Hampton. In 1849 he had been called to New London. He came to the hill at a time when there was need of a constructive policy for a church that had been torn with dissension over the issue of slavery. One group in the church was very insistent that the church should take a strong anti- slavery position, and it made so much disturbance that an ecclesiastical council was called and advised the ex- clusion of the disturbers from the fellowship of the church. As a result of such action about forty of the former members organized a Free Church of the Baptist order and erected a meeting-house at the Four Corners where they persisted in their course for several years. It was a time when passions ran high, the Baptists of the nation had recently broken apart over the question of slavery into Northern and Southern divisions, and even a Free Baptist Missionary Society was formed and sent Reverend Jonathan Goble as a missionary to Japan, a man remembered as the inventor of the jin- rikisha.
Mr. Dodge had the qualities that were needed at such a juncture. He had a pleasing personality, an impres- sive figure, fully equipped, as the historian of the church expressed it, "by nature, by grace, and by education." "He at once commanded the attention and even the admiration, of the whole people, by his earnest and thoughtful utterances and by his dignity and simplicity of demeanor. He was the right man in the right place at the right time." As an educated man he appreciated the value of the Academy to the community, and as a former pastor at New Hampton, he realized fully what the loss of that school was to the denomination. As he called on several of his parishioners the subject must have been discussed, and the influence of the young
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pastor was always for a solidly established school on New London hill. It is easy to understand the presence of Colby and Dodge at the Concord conference and the decision that was made in favor of New London. The active part played by Mr. Dodge was prophetic of his own future as well as that of New London Academy, because that same year he was invited to become profes- sor of Biblical Criticism and Interpretation in Hamil- ton Theological Seminary and professor of Evidences of Christianity in Madison, later Colgate, University. After eight years in that duplex chair he was transferred to the chair of theology, retaining his university posi- tion, and in 1878 he was elected president of the uni- versity. From New London hill he rose steadily to an eminent position among the college teachers and ad- ministrators of the country.
The enterprise that Mr. Dodge had encouraged crys- tallized promptly. As soon as the conference at Concord had cast the weight of its opinion into the scales in favor of New London, the trustees of the New London Acad- emy held a meeting. The old charter still held good, there was an academy building on the hill, and there were hundreds of young people eager to go to school. The trustees promptly reorganized by electing Reverend Ebenezer E. Cummings, D.D., of Concord as president. His experience as the executive head of the New Hamp- ton board qualified him for the position and he con- tinued to bear upon his heart and shoulders the inter- ests of the academy at New London for a quarter of a century. Through him the Baptists of the state might be enlisted to aid in the support of the school. General Luther McCutchins of New London, representative of local interests, was chosen as treasurer, and Reverend Oren Tracy, formerly of New London and then of Con- cord, was made secretary. He could balance the local
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and the state interests, and he had been one of the trustees of the New Hampton Institution.
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