USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > New London > A centennial history, 1837-1937, Colby Academy, Colby Junior College > Part 8
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Because most of the young men who attended the academy were not able to go on to college it was a part of the plan of the faculty to provide instruction for them in surveying, calculus, and mechanics, and they were at liberty to take the subjects of the Ladies' Collegiate Course. Courses in rhetoric and elocution were a part of the curriculum. The young women in the senior year received special instruction from the preceptress in the art of composition and men in the classical courses were "expected to declaim." It was expected of others also, but they might be excused. Lectures were given in natural science which were open to the whole school. By 1868 a regular scientific course was arranged as a preparation for advanced courses in college or for busi-
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ness. This included a thorough grounding in English subjects, French, the leading sciences, and higher mathe- matics. Bookkeeping, drawing, and composition and declamation were included also. It was the ambition of the trustees to make the New London Literary and Sci- entific Institution regarded throughout New Hampshire as a school of high grade.
All classes were examined at the close of each term. The topics or problems of the term were written on separate papers, and the pupils drew lots. The exam- inations were oral and were dignified by being held in the presence of the faculty or the examing committee appointed by the trustees. It was the privilege of these functionaries to ask questions in order to draw out the pupil, and it was not unusual for an examiner to dis- play considerable erudition in a certain subject, but it was noticeable that he did not court confusion in a de- partment with which he was not familiar.
The substance of the annual catalogue did not vary much from year to year, but courses of study received new classification and new titles. The Normal Course was discontinued after a time, but under the title of the College Preparatory Course provision was made for those who expected to teach. French might be substi- tuted for Greek, if desired, and history and geography and rhetoric were emphasized. In 1870 the title "College Preparatory" yielded its place to the "Classical Course," but the content of the course remained the same.
The trustees were willing to provide equipment of various kinds, though the funds available were very limited. They even appropriated five hundred dollars for the purchase of a grand piano, and they bought fire extinguishers after the new building was erected. Scien- tific apparatus slowly improved. A trustee committee, examining conditions in the school, reported a lively interest in natural history, and the trustees commended
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the teachers "for their interest in collecting specimens and other objects suitable for a Cabinet of Natural History," and were glad to encourage it if it did not interfere with pedagogical duties. It became possible to announce in the catalogue that "a collection of speci- mens in Geology and in Natural History has been com- menced, and already affords important means of illus- tration. Contributions are earnestly solicited from friends; and correspondence is desired by the teacher of Natural Science with parties wishing to make ex- changes." John S. Brown of Fisherville, now Penacook, one of the most devoted of the trustees, presented the Institution with a high power microscope.
An interesting experiment was an attempt to intro- duce an agricultural department into the school. A large proportion of the students were from rural homes, where they learned the practical skills of farming, but agricultural schools were gaining respect since the Mor- rill Act of Congress provided for the establishment of state colleges of agriculture. One of the friends of the academy, John Conant of East Jaffrey, went so far as to subscribe eleven thousand, five hundred and sixty-seven dollars to the funds of the Institution to purchase a good farm. The trustees commended him and he was elected to the Board. A minute was prepared for the trustees' records to the effect that "whereas it is in his heart to do yet more abundantly for the school in order to en- courage industry by the founding of an agricultural branch in connection with our Institution, therefore, Resolved, That we the Board of Trustees, present our most sincere thanks to John Conant for his great inter- est in our school, and will most heartily accept any further donation of his for the encouragement of agri- culture to any extent consistent with the interests of the Institution as now formed."
On the strength of this offer the trustees bought the
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farm of Richard H. Messer of New London and made plans for an agricultural course. Although no teacher of agriculture was added to the faculty an outline of an agricultural course was printed in the catalogue, with the following announcements: "This course of study has been added with the design of giving the needed mental discipline for our young men who intend to be practical farmers; it is the design of the Institution to co-operate with the Agricultural College of the State in this department of study. The course will comprise two years, the students reciting with the classes in the Scien- tific Course, thus giving the advantage of all needed stimulus to students in this department." Mathematics, bookkeeping, grammar and literature, the natural sci- ences and philosophy, were included in a two-year course of study.
The course did not reappear in the catalogue the next year. The donor of the fund, instead of increasing his gift, reconsidered the whole matter and reached a de- cision that the plan was unwise. The trustees therefore released him from the obligations that he had taken, returned the Messer farm to its former owner, and shook off the dust of the field until a more auspicious occasion. The experiment was to be attempted again forty years later.
Superb as was the location of the school on New London hill, the administration did not capitalize it for advertising purposes until the catalogue of 1862- 1863. The trustees were slow to appreciate the impor- tance of advertising, starting with an appropriation of fifty dollars. They used the columns of the Watchman and Reflector for purposes of news, and obtained some free advertising in that way. About 1870 they awoke to the importance of advertising the advantages that the school possessed and one hundred and fifty dollars was appropriated for that purpose. The maker of the cata-
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logue grew eloquent when he wrote: "New London hill, on which this Institution is situated, is an extensive elevation nearly two thousand feet above the level of the sea. It is surrounded by ponds and lakes, the most extensive of which is Lake Sunapee at the foot of Mount Sunapee. It is the center of an amphitheatre of hills, among which is Mount Kearsarge, whose summit is seven miles distant from the Institution. Thus it is in the midst of the lake and mountain region of New Hampshire, so famous for the grandeur of its scenery and the salubrity of its climate." Mrs. Myra B. Lord, the historian of New London, was even more apprecia- tive of the location of the town when she wrote: "From this point the eye ranges over a landscape of wondrous beauty and diversity; for it is a unique feature of the town that while it has no mountains within its borders, its wealth of scenery is unsurpassed. Far away, beyond fertile valleys and gently rolling hills, rises an encircling chain of stately peaks and rugged summits that, tower- ing dark and grim, stand out in bold relief against the background of the sky, or, in varying tones of softest, deepest blue, grow fainter and fainter in the distance until they are merged in cloudland. What truer, grander inspirations could come into the lives of the young people who in future years should gather in this temple of learning, than those drawn from the everlasting hills, whose strength is as His that fashioned them in the dawning of creation."
"Oliver Optic," the popular writer for boys, was en- gaged to give a lecture at New London. He missed con- nections, was carried to Bristol, and was unable to reach New London that night after a drive across country until after the audience had dispersed. He made the journey again a week later and found zero temperature on the hill, but he delivered his lecture, visited classes, and was surprised at the intelligence and good manners
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of the students. He rode in an open sleigh to Potter Place, but he enjoyed his experiences, and appreciated New London, even in a winter wind.
Those who loved nature and knew Scripture were fond of talking about the "eternal hills" and of "Zion, beautiful for situation," and those who collected speci- mens for the Cabinet of Natural History became ac- quainted with the fields and woods of New London and vicinity. A few of them discovered minerals of some value in the strata of the rocks. But these attractions lay dormant as talking points, and no mention was made of the advantages offered by the highland country for hay fever sufferers or those who were sensitive to the damp air of the valley and seashore. It was ten years more before the information was published that "New London is ninety miles north of Boston, midway between Potter Place on the Northern Railroad and Bradford on the Concord and Claremont Railroad" and has daily stage connections with those points. Rather wisely perhaps nothing was said about the two hours required by the stage to make the journey from Potter Place, de- layed as the stage was by the delivery of mail and ex- press at Wilmot Flat and Scytheville, or of the long, cold ride from Bradford in the evening, sometimes by open sleigh, if the snow was deep. A committee of the trustees tried to add to student convenience by arrang- ing for a stage to Claremont at the opening and closing of each term. Boys and girls from the same communities frequently drove in together by private conveyance.
Student life on the hill in the 'sixties had a flavor of its own. Most of the students were from the country towns of the region and shared the same interests and customs. Not a few of them were near enough to go home over Sunday and bring back provisions from the farm, which made it easier for them to board themselves, as many undertook to do.
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One boy from a neighboring town kept a diary in which he recorded faithfully the weather, the incidents of school life and his own personal reactions, especially with reference to the girls, and occasionally a brief record of outside happenings, particularly interesting murders. He seems to have been considerably affected by the weather. Apparently during the first term of his attendance at the academy it rained most of the time, and he was correspondingly depressed. At length comes the entry: "It has snowed and blowed all day." During the first term he roomed at the home of one of the dea- cons of the church, but he changed to another location at the foot of the hill. He liked it better there because it was more homelike. When company came the boys were invited downstairs and given a share in the good time. When vacation came he wrote to know if he could return to the same place, and the landlady replied: "You may come for three dollars a week board. I could have let your room, but I would rather have back a boy that I know is all right."
Friendships were made quickly, and sometimes they lasted for a lifetime. The boy of the diary came back for the second year and found a new room-mate. After they had become well acquainted he confided to his diary: "My chum is as good as ever I had, and we (at least myself) enjoyed each other's company much. I in- tend to room with him next term if we both come." He records his own studious habits, how he sat up until "1016 o'clock" when everybody else was abed and got up the next morning at 41/2 A. M. to study more. And then he wrote: "Horace grows tougher, but my will in- creases in proportion." Later he was able to record: "We completed Ars Poetica today. We are to take The Odes next. It is exceedingly cold."
The same lad was very frank in expressing his opinion of his teachers, more so doubtless than if he had ex-
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pected his remarks to be read. He wrote of one of the faculty: "The new teacher who has been expected for a long time arrived last Saturday. Her name is, I be- lieve, B --. She is going to have my Algebra and Ge- ometry class. She has got terrible black eyes." He was equally outspoken about the girls in the school. "A -- is a fine girl," he confided to his diary, "the smartest in our class, in my opinion as smart as there is in school. As I read over the pages of the first part of this diary I am surprised that I ever thought as much of Nzib. She is a good girl but an old maid, as I call any one over eighteen, and I guess she is; A -- is ten days younger than myself, so I had a good time."
In spite of the strict regulations the boys and girls managed to see considerable of one another. They met daily in classes, and they wrote notes to one another. They made it a point to ride together on the stage when they left on vacation, and they managed to connect on the way back. During the term they had opportunity to meet at exhibitions and public meetings, and occasion- ally at a town festival or anniversary celebration. A rather extensive entry in the diary tells of an unhappy experience at one of these festivals. It reads: "It com- menced at half past ten in the forenoon. The exercises in the church lasted about three hours. We went to the Town Hall and got some refreshment, then went to the ' boarding-house and stayed about two or three hours, until the supper bell rang. We started to come home and Miss B -- shut the door in the girls' faces. They went up to Miss G -- 's and got some supper. We went to Prof. and asked for a 'levee,' which he granted. Ac- cordingly we went and rang the bell. I started after M -- , but met her with John H --. Felt a little kind of riled and did not go up at all, but went down in the Mathematical room and stayed till it was done, and brooded in silence. I hardly know what to think of it."
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When the occasions did not come the boys made them. About the middle of one of the terms a band came up from Bradford to give a concert in town. It was soon after the close of the Civil War and band concerts were much in vogue. The students besieged the Principal of the school for permission to attend, but he refused. This was a spur to disobedience, and some of the boys went to the concert and hired the band to serenade the girls, and they fell in behind the procession and helped in the celebration. The girls expressed their appreciation by waving their handkerchiefs. Where could the Lady Principal have been?
A new society was formed for singing practice, with a constitution and by-laws and a full corps of officers. On another day the boys organized a ball club. Base- ball had become very popular in the army camps, and after the war the soldiers brought it back to the villages all over the country. There were no match games at New London as early as that, but the boys had their organizations, appointed their captains, and played among themselves for hours at a stretch.
The literary societies flourished, giving the boys abundant opportunity to think and write. The diarist was a youngster of fifteen, who belonged to the Eu- phemian Society. At one meeting he spoke a declama- tion on "The Three Hundred of Leonidas," and later became one of the dependables of the organization. "P -- and myself," he wrote, "discussed the question at the public, whether we are under deeper obligation to our warriors than statesmen. Myself on the affirma- tive. The President decided against me, yet all say un- justly. I aimed at sense, P -- at fun and slur. All right, I understand." In the Euphemian Society they dis- cussed in debate such questions as: Does the prevailing system of public lectures in the principal cities of the country deserve our support? Does the present aspect
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of American affairs tend to prove that the United States has not arrived at the height of her power? Does spirit- uous liquor cause more evil than money? Which affords the better field for eloquence, the bar or the pulpit?
The boy who spoke on Leonidas was proud of the fact that the Euphemians had fifty members, while the United Friends had only about twenty. The Friends had a new pin as a badge and they presented Professor Knight with one, but they had a public meeting which the Euphemian boy pronounced "a slim concern." His own society had a private meeting about the same time which he declared "pretty good." He went to a public meeting of the ladies' society, which was "holden" once a term; that he decided was "very good."
The poor fellow met with minor misfortunes. He forgot his watch on a trip home and left nearly all his money, "all but two or three cents." About the same time he broke his lamp. But he went to a donation party at the minister's where he met the girls. The minister realized one hundred and thirty dollars in provisions and other necessities.
It was one of the fashions of the time for boys and girls to possess small autograph albums in which names of friends were inscribed, often accompanied with an expression of tender sentiment. These went the rounds of the halls, and the number of names indicated the popularity of a student. The boy remembered that he had written in fifty of them. "They are all the go now," he wrote.
A trip to Mount Kearsarge had its thrills for boys and girls in their teens. On one of these occasions the diarist wrote: "Has been as eventful as any day I ever witnessed. This morning according to our expectations we started for the mountain. The teams got full and P -- and myself gave up our seats to the teachers. We went all over town after a team, but found none. We got a ride
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home to Sutton and found a team of Dr. Fitz's and got up there to the top about two .. . We started to come home about four. We came back to our house this eve- ning. It has not cost me a cent."
The teachers in the academy did not enjoy so much freedom from responsibility as the Sutton boy. The administration of Principal Gow was disturbed by the war. Attendance declined to an average of one hundred ยท and eight students a term, and in 1864 only three young men and six women graduated. After three years an in- vitation came from the Baptist church in Gloucester requesting Mr. Gow to become pastor, and he resigned as principal, although school affairs were running smoothly. He was succeeded by Reverend Artemas W. Sawyer, who had been a boy in New London and in the old academy when his father, Reverend Reuben Sawyer, was pastor of the village church. Mr. Sawyer arrived at a time of discouragement, but the skies cleared with the end of the war and his administration of five years was a successful one. Miss Smiley was promoted to be lady principal at a salary of four hundred dollars, but she soon resigned to go elsewhere.
Numerous changes in the teaching force were dis- ruptive of the inculcation of standards. It was necessary for the trustee committee on instruction to search for a new lady principal. They found one in Lucy A. Flagg of Massachusetts who undertook to teach Latin, moral science and rhetoric. Helen A. Bissell replaced Julia P. Brooks as teacher of mathematics, and Elizabeth H. Brown surrendered her classes in French and English to Cornelia A. Dunn. Mrs. Angelina G. Everett became teacher of music to remain in that position for the next twelve years. One wonders if these estimable ladies found the winds of New London too boisterous, if greener pastures lured them away - some of them mar-
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ried - or whether the small salaries were a discouraging factor.
Knight and Shattuck remained as the solid nucleus of the faculty. Laban E. Warren came fresh from college to reinforce the ranks of the men teachers. For the first time the trustees appointed a teacher of elocution, Mrs. Harriette M. Miller, but after two years she too flitted away to other rostrums. For two years the place of a painting and drawing teacher was allowed to re- main unfilled. Perhaps the fine arts of the hand seemed less important for the time than the art of vocal ex- pression. In 1869 the error was righted. Miss Davis was gone, and Mary O. Carter assumed the heavy responsi- bility of being principal of the Female Department and teacher of moral science, rhetoric, painting and drawing. She must have had a busy time of it, teaching ethics by precept and illustrating it by discipline, instructing in the canons of good literature and correcting the effusions written by her wards, limning on canvas the beauties of flower and foliage and trying to make the dawning intelligence of amateur artists see the ideal in the real.
Reverend A. M. Bacon, A.M., came to relieve Mrs. Miller of the elocution. Just why a man should have been selected is not clear. It would be a satisfaction to go behind the scenes and ferret out the reasons for the changes that took place, but history has left no record. It may well be that the girls received too much of the instructor's attention, and that budding orators were not given enough encouragement. Or possibly Mr. Bacon may have been particularly available in an in- terim between pastorates. Any minister was supposed to be qualified to instruct in public speaking, especially since ministers were expected to be eloquent. Elegance in writing and impressive utterance in the pulpit or on the platform were preferred to more forceful, straight- forward speech. So Mr. Bacon, buttressed with his A.M.
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fore and aft, sailed the seas of rhetoric and taught the secrets of his skill to the pupils who followed in his wake.
In the same year that Mr. Bacon arrived Principal Sawyer completed his term as principal. He had a flat- tering offer to go to Acadia College as president and professor of mental and moral philosophy. He had taught mental philosophy with both Greek and Latin in the academy, and it was not easy to fill his place sat- isfactorily. No principal was elected until January, 1870. The trustees voted approval of the management of the Institution during the interregnum by Knight and Warren. Then Reverend F. W. Towle of Claremont, one of the trustees, was chosen to fill the position. He was voted a salary of twelve hundred dollars, to be in- creased one hundred dollars a year until it reached fifteen hundred dollars, but for some reason another selection was made in July, when it was voted by the trustees that Horace M. Willard be made headmaster with the title of president instead of principal. Unlike his predecessors Mr. Willard was not a minister but an educator by profession, and his selection was an indica- tion that the educational standards of the school would not be allowed to decline. Mr. Willard was to teach Latin and Greek and his salary was to be fifteen hundred dollars.
Teachers might come and go but classes and examina- tions went on forever. Public examinations came late in July. The boy of the diary again throws light on school events. Writing on the twenty-fifth of the month, he says: "A great many strangers are in the place. It has been exceedingly warm. A shower this afternoon. Our Latin was examined this morning from 8 until 91/2. I was not called up at all. There are twenty-four in the class, only eight recited. At 912 the Geometry class was examined; all of us came off first rate except Miss H -- of Warner who failed. I pitied her really, but that was
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all I could do. She deserved better. I got a little con- fused and missed one or two questions."
In the evening the young man attended the annual lecture delivered before the United Societies by Rever- end Doctor Foljambe of Boston, which seemed to him "splendid." He had one unpleasant experience when he found that the girl he planned to escort to the lecture was spoken for earlier, but he comforted himself with the sage reflection: "My time will come as I have often said before. Think just as much of her as ever."
As the heart and the intellect were both confused on the same day, so events in the world's history mingled with his personal interests. "News came today," he wrote, "that the Atlantic cable, which they tried to lay some time ago but failed, has at last succeeded and is now in operation. This is the greatest wonder of the nineteenth century. News came on the cable today that the great Continental war in Europe, which has been raging for some time, Prussia and Austria being the principal powers, is settled in favor of the former; in every battle the eagles of Austria have been scattered and defeated."
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