USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Atkinson > An address before the alumni of Atkinson (N.H.) Academy, August 24, 1887 > Part 3
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I have long known the principal events of his life, they have come down among our family traditions ; but in reading his diaries a few weeks ago I was newly impressed with the remarkable char- acter of the man. He was, indeed, as our chairman has said, " a man of wisdom, power, and generosity." His life was one of marvellous activity, often of the most varied kind. He was both a clergyman and a farmer, and his duties, many of which were self-imposed, brought him into intimate contact with nearly every one in his parish. He was a citizen in the best sense, not only joining in all matters of public concern, but guiding the energies of the people toward the highest ends and to the most enduring results. He believed with his Puritan fathers that a happy, enlight- ened community should rest upon the church and school as a foun- dation, and his life was almost wholly spent in carrying out this idea within the circle of his influence. The church was his appointed care, but this Academy was second only to it in his heart and in his labors. His benevolence, considering his circumstances, was surprising. During the whole forty years of his ministry here
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his salary was but $250 a year and occasionally a few cords of wood, but with this and what he could raise on his small farm he was the largest patron of the Academy, he was continually help- ing needy students, and his hospitality was most bountiful.
But what was most apparent in his character was its vigorous, rugged strength. His loyalty to duty was unflinching. His judg- ment was clear and sound, and his practical wisdom made him the courted adviser of the whole community. Before he acted he assured himself that he was right, and he was in the habit of carrying through what he set out to perform. He always meant what he said, and his people knew that in him they could find one to be entirely trusted. He was a Puritan in principle, a Puritan at heart, though the sternness and dogmatism of the traditional Puritan of Plymouth were somewhat softened and beau- tified in him by liberality and love. This rugged character did not have that austerity and coldness which often accompany it. His generosity and open-heartedness, his happy, genial disposition, made him loved as well as revered by those who knew him.
Although he was often hard pressed to sustain his family on his scanty income and often annoyed by troubles in his parish, the calm serenity of his character seemed to remain unruffled through it all. His deep piety and the love of his work kept him always happy, always kind. And as we look at him he seems, as Goldsmith says of his village preacher,
" As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale and midway leaves the storm, Though round its head the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head."
Although his money and his labors were of the utmost im- portance to the Academy, yet it seems to me that the long period of his personal influence and example, and the memory of them, have been his greatest legacy to it. Not in the number of men, but in the type of men graduated by any school, consists its great- ness, and he by example as well as by precept set and upheld the high standard which it has been the honor of this Academy to maintain. His presence was an inspiration to its students. His memory has been a constant benediction. For in him were em- bodied those qualities which have made our people and our race
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the greatest among the peoples of the earth. He had the indomi- table spirit and tireless energy of his barbarous Teuton ancestors, who crushed the wealthy, luxurious nations of Europe ; those Teutons of whom Kingsley said, " Though they had iron in their hands, they had iron in their blood." He had the staunch character and earn- est piety of his Puritan ancestors of England and Massachusetts, of whose heritage we are all so justly proud. It was by such men as he that our New England civilization was established, that our churches and schools, which are its corner-stones, were founded. By the strong arms of such men as he our institutions were sup- ported in their infancy, and upon such characters their mainte- nance will ever continue to depend ; characters in which adherence to principle and the right rises superior to expediency and self-inter- est, and in which the love of God and mankind triumphs over the love of money and position. Well were it for our country and well were it for the young men of our country, in whose destiny her destiny is locked up, if they had within them more of the spirit of Parson Peabody of Atkinson.
General Peabody: A man of great influence and a valuable friend to the institution.
Response by the Hon. George Cogswell, of Bradford, Mass.
MR. COGSWELL'S RESPONSE.
Mr. President, - When I look upon the distinguished men on my right, on my left, and in front, I realize that no speech is ex- pected of me. Yet I thank you for this opportunity to say, being the only surviving child of Dr. William Cogswell, that I fully appreciate the value of General Peabody's recommendation in connection with the appointment of my father and his pupil, then only twenty-one years of age, to the honorable position at West Point mentioned in the address of this morning, resulting three years later in his appointment, at the age of twenty-four, as chief medical officer of the regular army of the United States.
In the address of the morning we had the high and honorable record of a man endowed by nature with great powers of mind and body, given in eloquent and eulogistic language ; yet I am com-
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,
pelled to say that General Peabody had another side, whose shadows were not tinged with a silver lining. His atheistic views and ready repartee, connected with great fondness for practical jokes, often proved very annoying to good Sir Peabody, his minister. His debts as he grew older became very pressing, and he was often pushed to his wits' end to extricate himself from the demands and threats of his creditors. It must be remembered that there were no courts of insolvency at that time, where a debtor could settle for ten cents on a dollar. Yet for many years he kept his creditors at bay by the greatest urbanity and still more often by most skillful tricks and arts. In 1791 Dartmouth College conferred on him the honorary degree of Master of Arts. This honor was recognized by the people of New Hampshire, for they said there was no one who was master of more arts than was General Peabody.
Mr. President, it would not be quite right for me to close without alluding to my connection with Atkinson 'Academy. Sixty-eight years ago I became a pupil, and continued from time to time till 1827, attending school fall and spring, teaching school in winter, and working on the farm in summer. This was the general practice of all the pupils belonging to the town. They were all successful teachers, being engaged in the same district for several winters in succession. Our preceptors were, for a short time, John Vose (ranking with Master Moody of Dummer, Dr. Abbott of Exeter, and Dr. Taylor), Francis Vose, Jacob Cummings, and Stephen Far- ley, all of whom left an impress on us for good. I cannot close without calling some of the familiar names associated with me during these nine years: the Grovers, Pages, Dows, Knights, Noyeses, Clarkes, Littles, Greenoughs, Bassetts, Walkers, Todds, and Cogswells, all of whom have filled every position in life to which they have been called with success and honor, without a stain upon their character. The remembrance of those years on this day is filled with pleasure, yet slightly tinged with sadness, which I cannot better express than by the lines of Scotia's favorite bard, always true to nature and to the finer emotions of the soul :
" Still o'er these scenes my mem'ry wakes, And fondly broods with miser care; Time but th' impression stronger makes, As streams their channels deeper wear."
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Dr. William Cogswell : A man of indomitable will, energy, and per- severance. From his early manhood to the last hours of his life he was a true and constant friend to Atkinson Academy.
Response by Mr. Francis Cogswell, his grandson, superintendent of schools in Cambridge, Mass.
MR. COGSWELL'S RESPONSE.
Mr. President, -I cannot add anything of special interest to what has already been said in regard to my grandfather. He died when I was less than four years old ; and, though I have a distinct recol- lection of once walking by his side, of course I have no personal knowledge of his traits of character. I can readily believe, however, that he was a man of indomitable will, for it is the law of descent that the peculiar characteristics of the parent shall go down from generation to generation ; and, if you will allow me to speak confi- dentially, I will say that I have never heard it intimated that there was any lack of will on the part of a Cogswell, and of course I include all in whose veins the Cogswell blood runs.
To show that the founders were men of energy and perseverance, it is only necessary to remind you that this institution had its begin- ning but a few years after the close of the Revolutionary War, when a financial stress was upon the country. It required men of energy and perseverance to carry such an undertaking, at such a time, to a successful completion. My grandfather gave the land for the first building. This shows his early interest; and it is said, that near the close of his life, the trustees, at his request, met with him in his own house, because he was too feeble to go to the usual place of meeting. The fact, moreover, that after my grandfather's death his widow and children manifested an abiding interest in the school, gives emphasis to the statement, "that from his early manhood to the last hours of his life he was a true and constant friend to Atkinson Academy."
It is not so much of the founders, however, that I would speak as of their work. A cup of water given to a thirsty man will supply his immediate want, but open a living spring, and all who thirst may drink and be refreshed. The founders of this Academy might have educated their own children in other schools, but, standing on
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a higher plane than that of self-interest, they saw the needs of the community, and for a hundred years a good education has been within the reach of every boy and girl living in Atkinson and its vicinity. I doubt not that these men with prophetic vision saw much of what has since been accomplished, and yet nothing is more true than that no man knows the full effect of his words or of his acts. Only a few weeks ago I was present at the ordination of a young man to the ministry. The clergyman who gave him the right hand of fellowship told us of the influence which led to his own entrance into this sacred calling. He had begun the study of medi- cine, and being in New York one Sunday, thought he would go to Brooklyn and hear Dr. Storrs. The sermon was from the text, " He loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." The clergy- man said, " As Dr. Storrs unfolded the theme in his masterly way, the conviction was borne in upon me that I must preach the gospel." He went from that meeting with his plans for life changed, but Dr. Storrs knows not that the influence of that sermon is widening with every returning Sabbath day.
The history of this Academy in all that pertains to its exterior life and growth has been fully brought before us. It is a grand history, and yet the thought comes to me, that beyond what has been written, it has a history which no man can write. If we who are present should speak from our own experience of the benefits received here, days instead of the hours allotted to this occasion would be required ; and, were it possible to bring together all who have been members of this school, these days would need to be lengthened into months. I could tell you of the satisfaction that came to me as a boy in being able to say that Preceptor Vose was my teacher, even though it was but for a single day. Every boy in Atkinson reverenced that man. His life was a constant inspiration. I could speak of Greeley, and were I a painter, I could place before you on canvas his thoughtful face, for it has been as distinctly before me down through the years as when I looked upon it as his pupil ; and all my thoughts of him have made me feel that " Life is real, life is earnest." I might speak to you of others, but I must not prolong my words.
Let me say in closing, that, with my present knowledge of teach- ers and institutions of learning, I unhesitatingly affirm that Atkinson
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Academy, during the years when its work was best known to me, was a school of great excellence. In recent years much has been said about the teaching of English literature. It was my privilege to study Young and Milton in this school, under my esteemed teacher and life-long friend Mr. Todd, and I can say, after abundant opportunities for judging, that I have listened to no better instruc- tion.
This school has been a blessing to the town and to the world. The question that comes to us to-day is, Shall the work begun a hundred years ago be carried on through the years to come, and the privileges which we and our fathers enjoyed be transmitted to future generations ? In many ways men seek to perpetuate their names, but all history shows that he who would be held in grateful remem- brance beyond the circle of his immediate friends, and the time in which he lives, must bind himself to the hearts of the people by his unselfish acts. May we who honor the founders of this Academy, and the men by whose fostering care it has been sustained -and there are those among the living and among the recent dead whose names will never be forgotten-may we, I say, see to it that the interests of this institution do not suffer through our neglect.
The Learned Professions : The sons of Atkinson Academy have done honor to their Alma Mater ; God and the Bible were the first thoughts of the founders.
Response by the Rev. W. D. Herrick, of Amherst, Mass.
MR. HERRICK'S RESPONSE.
Mr. President, -It is just thirty-seven years the 26th day of last March since, coming from the somewhat rough conditions of my earlier life, I entered into what was then to me the majestic, awe- inspiring, and overwhelming presence of Mr. William C. Todd, then and through all my subsequent course here the popular preceptor of this Academy. I have often since thought he must have regarded me as very unpromising material out of which to construct a man. Diffident, timid, awkward, I walked for the first time into this old Academy, with the utmost fear and trembling, not knowing what might befall me here. However that may have been, the duty devolves upon me to-day of responding for the clergy. Having
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within a short time had occasion to make myself familiar with the conduct of our New England clergy whose lives and ministry are contemporaneous with the existence of this Academy, I may be allowed to recall some facts gleaned from their lives that come now to mind. Reference was made in the admirable address of our president to-day, to the spirit of self-sacrifice in which the founda- tions of this Academy were laid one hundred years ago. This spirit was very prominent in the clergymen of our country, notably in New England, at that time and onward. As an illustration, we have an instance of this self-denying spirit in the conduct of the Rev. Jona- than French, of Andover, Mass. It is related of him that at a meeting of the board of trustees of Andover Academy, of which he was a member, Mr. Adams, its master, presented a petition for an addition of one hundred dollars to his salary, which was already eight hundred. Dr. Pierson, president of the board, opposed the petition violently. Finding that the motion was about to prevail, and relying upon the aid of Mr. French, whose restricted pecuniary means he well knew, he asked him for his opinion on the subject. " Well," said Mr. French, "if I must give my opinion, I am obliged to say I am in favor of the grant. I know what living in Andover is. Why, sir, I have three hundred and fifty dollars a year, and I cannot live upon that." And yet the salary of Mr. French in 1809 was quite the average of the salaries of our clergy at that time and for many years after.
Mr. Quincy, who lived for eight years in the family of this same clergyman, says, "In these halcyon days of table luxuriance it is impossible to conceive the restrictions in point of food, and the few comforts which at that period we were enabled to command. Fru- gality was the necessity of the time and the law of the household. The only bread we tasted was Indian or rye or a mixture of both. Mr. French, on the Sabbath, had the special privilege of white or flour bread, because, as he said, " the rye and Indian gave him the heartburn." Think of this, you who are fed with " the finest of the wheat " ! " A learned gospel minister" preparing two long sermons each week upon a diet of " Boston brown bread," with a salary of three hundred and fifty dollars per year ! And yet these were the men who, with the aid of their frugal parishioners, founded these colleges and schools of learning.
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And this sacrifice they endured, as they declared, " that learning might not be buried in the grave of our fathers in the church and in the commonwealth." These New England clergymen were men who accustomed themselves to regard no pecuniary sacrifice too great and no hardship too severe so that they might thereby lay deep and strong and broad the foundations of good learning and wholesome culture. I sincerely believe that these clergymen, who were themselves, many of them, eminent in learning, were what Lord Bacon calls " foundation men," men who breathed their own spirit of learning upon the communities in which they held their long pastorates, and who inspired the youth of their flocks to aim at the loftiest ideals in church and state.
As one of our most prominent college presidents has well said, " The historical fact has always been, that the higher has first descended upon and breathed its inspiration into the lower, before the latter has shown any impulse to improvement. In our process of education, the higher schools have not grown out of the lower and do not rest upon them; but the higher school is historically first, and the lower one is not its precursor, but its product." These men of whom I am speaking were rcal lovers of sound learn- ing for themselves and their children. They were men who had an understanding of their times, and knew well how to open and guard these many fountains of learning that had their origin in their day. In spite of all that flippant tongues in recent times may say derog- atory to them, they filled well and royally a most important place in originating and fostering schools of learning like this whose cen- tennial we observe to-day. Historically considered, the clergymen of New England, some of them graduates of this Academy, were factors and forces of prime importance in the formation and molding of these institutions of learning, under whose benign influences we now rejoice.
Had I the time and you the patience, I could easily demonstrate the fact that, in all matters of sclf-sacrifice, learning, patriotism, and piety, the clergy, for whom I am compelled so fccbly to respond, were and ever have been the foremost men of their timcs. Why, the elder President Adams said to a French statesman that "Ameri- can independence was mainly due to the clergy; that their well- known devotion to the cause of liberty and the habitual deference
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paid to their opinions imbued all ranks and classes with one common sentiment of resistance to oppression."
It is only a few days since some of our people were up at Ben- nington, unvailing a monument in commemoration of the great battle fought there in the Revolutionary War. I would like to tell you of the patriotic conduct of the Rev. Thomas Allen, first pastor of the church in Pittsfield, Mass., who acted as chaplain on that memorable occasion. It is said of him that " after fervent prayer in the presence of the army," he joined the ranks by the side of his brother, saying to him, " Joseph, you load, and I will fire." Being asked after the battle how many he had killed, he said he could not tell, but he hoped he had prevented some from being killed, for, “ observing a flash often repeated in a bush near by, which seemed to be succeeded by the fall of some one of our men, I leveled my musket, and, firing in that direction, put out the flash." But with my soul replete with gratitude and praise for the clergy of our own land, I must, nevertheless, cease longer to dwell upon their noble characters and heroic deeds.
Friends of my youth and of this beloved Academy, it affords me the keenest pleasure to be here to-day, to renew old acquaint- ances and to revive some very pleasant memories which this occasion recalls. I see here many faces once familiar, but now almost passed out of my recognition. My one great regret at this hour is that I do not meet here my old teacher, Mr. Todd, than whom a better instructor I have never met. I am sorry that he regards loyalty to his duties in the House of Representatives, - whose membership his wisdom, learning, and love of humanity so admirably adorn, - as paramount to his loyalty to this old Academy, once so flourishing under his wise and considerate leadership. It would have given me rare pleasure to take him by the hand on this occasion and express again to him my gratitude for the aid and encouragement he afforded me while a pupil in this Academy.
My wish for this Academy is that it may enter upon its second century with larger encouragement for future success than it now has. Would that it might have many more wealthy and influen- tial friends than it now possesses, who would regard it as a most worthy act to increase largely its present endowments and so put it abreast of the educational demands of the times. My observation
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of our present public school system leads me to wish that we might have a less number of high schools and more and better equipped academies, in which our youth who desire might obtain such a diversified education as their future work in life might require.
As I close, I find my feelings regarding my student life here very well expressed by a little anecdote which I read yesterday. A young lady was dying. Her friends, standing about her bed, asked her if she had anything to say, any regrets to make. After a some- what lengthy pause, she said there was one regret she would like to express, and that was that she did not eat more plum-cake at her sister's wedding. So I may say of myself that I regret that I did not make a better use of my time and opportunities while a student in this Academy.
Law and Order : Were among the fundamental principles taught at this institution.
Response by the Hon. Lewis W. Clark, of Manchester, N. H., justice of the supreme court of New Hampshire.
The Ladies : Polly Peabody and the scores of intelligent, beautiful, and pure girls whose presence and society did so much to mend the manners and improve the hearts of the somewhat rough spec- imens of incipient manhood on the opposite benches.
Response by Mr. Joseph Dana Bartley, of Bridgeport, Conn.
MR. BARTLEY'S RESPONSE.
It was a happy day for our dear old Academy when Polly Peabody was allowed the privilege of studying with the boys. It would be impossible to recount all the benefits resulting from the policy thus inaugurated, not only in this, but in the many other institutions where co-education has prevailed. I well remember the brilliant and accomplished young ladies, my contemporaries. As they reeled off page after page of Butler's Analogy and Wayland's Moral Science, with elegance and precision, I used to feel like asking, "How can you do it ?"
Surely this Academy has reason to be proud of the record of
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its girls. From the time of Parson Peabody's daughter to the present, it has left its impress of culture on many noble women, and has, through them, exerted a wide influence in church and school and mission field, and no less in the homes of those whose lot it has been to " fill the sweet, safe corner by the household fire." It is a matter of congratulation that the influence of that honored man who for so many years watched over and fostered the interests of this institution with a devotion truly paternal is con- tinued in a daughter, who efficiently performs the duties of a place of responsibility on the board of trustees. May the future Polly Peabodys prove worthy successors to the long line of honored and beloved ones of the past.
And Farmers : The founders of Atkinson Academy were all farm- ers ; while they graced other professions, they tilled their own farms. We have one of their descendants with us to-day, who, although bred to the law, still cultivates the broad fields of his father and great-grandfather. He can describe to us the pleasure of making two blades of grass grow where one grew before.
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