USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Haverhill > Haverhill Academy, Haverhill, N. H. Centennial Anniversary and Reunion, also dedication of new building, August 4, 5, 1897 > Part 6
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Miss Susie Child recalled, in a few very fitting words, Haver- hill academy under the principalship of J. II. Dunbar, in the early eighties, paying glowing but just tribute, to his remark- able qualities as a teacher, and expressing her gratitude to the trustees and townspeople for their interest in the academy and students of those days.
A very interesting sketch of Prof. Edwin A. Charlton, by Huntington Porter Smith, was read by Mrs. C. II. Morrill, and a mumber of enjoyable letters from absent alumni, by Mrs. Rogers and Mrs. C. II. Morrill, in a manner which did full jus- tice to their excellence and commanded the closest attention.
Songs were rendered by Mrs. Margaret Laurie Hibbard and Mrs. Anna Diekerman Davis, which added largely to the en- joyment of the programme.
A poem by Rev. James McLaren was very beautifully read by Miss Mary Louise Poor, and made a most pleasing impres- sion.
The exercises in the church were then closed with the sing- ing of a parting hymn, written by F. P. Batchelder, and ren- dered by a double quartette.
The audience then adjourned to Pearson Hall for an informal reception. Refreshments were served in the upper rooms of the building, and the remainder of the evening was passed most pleasantly.
About 10 o'clock, the younger element repaired to the new school building, with the orchestra, where two delightful hours were passed in a little dancing.
This proved a happy closing to the reunion, which all united
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in declaring. an unqualified success from beginning to end. Many were the regrets expressed that the end came so quickly, and many among the old students did not hesitate in stating that the two days, flown so quickly by, comprised one of the 'pleasantest events in their lives-"red letter" days, whose memory would be an increasing pleasure through the coming years.
LETTER FROM JUDGE NOAH DAVIS. UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT.
PONTIAC HILLS, N. Y., June 29, 1897.
To the Honorable Board of Trustees of Haverhill loudemy:
GENTLEMEN : I am grateful for the kind remembrance which your invitation imports, and I would gladly accept it if the condition of my health and other circumstances permitted.
There is little or no prospect of my being able to make a journey to Haverhill at the time named, even if I were free to do so. Several months ago, I accepted a similar invitation to attend the semi-centennial celebration of the Academy of Albion, in Watertown, N. Y. (where I used to reside), at about the same time as yours is to occur. If my health per- mits, I must go there. It will be quite impracticable to attend both, even in these days of steam and electricity. I recollect I was more than a fortnight once in making the journey between the two places. I carried then on my young brain a photograph of beautiful Haverhill which has never faded away.
A few years ago ( the year before the house in which I was born was burned down), I visited Haverhill. I found my photo- graph ahnost a perfect one. It would not be so now, as you have placed on the site of that honse your new academical building. I fancy this is the loveliest site in your village, with an outlook of marvellous beauty, and I feel a sense of pride in the thought that New Hampshire may hereafter send forth from the schools of the new academy many men and women fully able to main-
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REV. WILLIAM R. WEBSTER.
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tain the reputation for virtue, truth, justice, liberty, and law which in her past history has been her crowning glory.
Sincerely regretting that I cannot promise to come to your reunion, I shall always be
Your grateful friend,
NOAH DAVIS. S. P. CARBEE, President.
TYLER WESTGATE, Secretary.
THE CHURCH AND THE SCHOOL AS THE CHIEF ORGANIZING FORCES OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION.
REV. WILLIAM R. WEBSTER.
The foundation of character is in the home. Character is what we are. When the united head are at once king and queen, priest and priestess in their own household, when love is the bond of union, and the law of love the rule of conduct, when purity is the guardian of peace, when the daily repasts are partaken with thankfulness and sanctified with the word of God and prayer; in such homes we see something of Eden restored, and there some of the fruits and flowers of Eden may be expected to grow.
After many years residence in this republic people are nn- willing to live in a monarchy ; some say that it would kill them. We are glad we have no royalty and no aristocracy ; we have no use for them. The only lord that ever came to this coun- try, that is to stay, was Lord Cornwallis. Washington re- lieved him of his sword, and no one has come here since to claim it. It does not require a title to denote the nobleman. But if the town of Haverhill had such titles to bestow, we should be glad to-day to recognize our noble benefactor, James II. Pearson, Esq., for his generous contributions to the place of his nativity, in restoring and adapting the old academy build- ing to meet the intellectual and social wants of the people, and we will cherish the memory of the departed Sammel F. South-
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ard, Esq., whose liberal bequest created the possibilities of this splendid structure to be now dedicated as a temple of sci- enee.
The historian records that "he was a citizen of sterling worth, kind and generous feelings, frank and manly bearing. Ile enjoyed the friendship and esteem of the leading men of this section, and he was a representative farmer of Grafton county. Socially he was plain and unpretending. He had an active, keen, inquiring mind, a clear and retentive memory." He was an attentive student and a true lover of nature; a devoted friend of the church and the school.
The examples of the good never die ; they are as inmortal as the minds they impress, as the events and interests they influence.
The church is the great quickener of the intellect of man more than any other power on earth. I do not forget that we live in this age of science and philosophy and newspapers, and the general diffusion of knowledge everywhere; but the masses of men, in this day of general intelligence, are more largely beholden to the pulpit and to the church for their intellectual awakening than to all other sources combined.
Not only in this but in every moral reform, popular enthusi- asm, newspaper advocacy, appeals of voluntary associations must be supported by the enlightened conscience of the nation, and now everywhere the nation is girding itself to wrestle with the Hydra. The struggle is on, and never shall we have tem- perance and righteousness and peace in the land with this Hydra scotched and throttled and dead, until the enlightened conscience of the nation embodied in the church and the school, rises and decrees it. We have entered upon a new era in intellectual activity, and have new duties. There never were before so many heads at work in any nation as in this Ameri- can nation. Reading, thinking, planning, speculating on all subjects, investigating, questioning are the common occupa- tions of the great majority. Think of the printed pages that would carpet every street and highway in all the land every month in the year.
Count the hundreds of thousands of libraries, public and private, with literally tens of millions of volumes within hand
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reach of our great people. Enumerate the connon schools that stand like endless armies of veterans around every city and town and hamlet. Passing up and down these long lines you can see the high schools, academies, seminaries and colleges ; the line of officers who direct and inspire these vast hosts ; while here and there on the summits of society stand the grand commanders, the universities, who plan the campaign and issue the orders for moving forward and onward. Glance at the United States school forces. Let your mind take in of this vast elevating system the single item of teachers; 439,151 trained, qualified men and women, who have passed examina- tions more or less thorough in quite a large range of prepara- tory work. Neither Rome, nor Egypt, nor Greece in all the glory of their wisdom could furnish a single sage or philoso- pher who could pass the simplest examination to which these teachers have been subjected. What a host ! 439,151. More than ten times as many as there were citizens of Athens when she ruled Greece and dictated laws to mankind ! Must they not be enrolled among the ruling forces of the nation? More than thirty times the number of the immortal legion that, under Xenophon, ent its way through a continent of barbarians. Is it too much to expect them to help mightily in cutting away through the continents of ignorance that acemulate on om shores? More than twelve times as many as there were soldiers in the army of Hannibal when he slid down the sides of the Alps into the plains of Italy and made Rome shiver with mortal fear? May we not confidently hope that this host of teachers will make Rome shiver again? More than fifty times as many as there were soldiers that followed Caesar over the Rubicon to the conquest of the world. Surely these trained legions must be counted in the rugged business of widening and strength- ening the empire of thought in the civilization of the world.
Now, turn with me, for a moment, from this brilliant, re- sistless force, and run your thoughts along the endless lines of enrolled pupils in the schools of the republic. There they are, 16,100,000. No finite mind can measure it. Five times as many as there were inhabitants in the thirteen colonies, when our fathers won liberty for mankind on the fields from Lexing-
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ton to Yorktown. Standing in this presence nothing is impos- sible for liberty, for order, for civilization.
The necessity of education is grounded in considerations that must commend themselves not only to the statesman, but to the citizen of average patriotism and wisdom, and should lead to co-operation for the accomplishment of the end in view.
The government should not ally itself with the church in the sense of establishing a national church, or of uniting church and state; but it should remember that without the church it would not survive a decade, and regulate itself accordingly. Religious education, comprising the daily reading of the Bible in the schools, and daily prayer to Almighty God, and instruc- tion in the moral virtues, and in the results of viciousness, should be ordained by law and enforced all over the land. It is time to return to the practice of the patriots of other days, and give religion the right of way in the government, in the schools, and among the people.
We make no war upon churches or religions convictions. Every man has a right to be a Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Congregationalist, or Methodist. But palsied be the hand raised to strike at, or the tongue moved to declare against, our American institutions. We cannot tolerate sectional feeling in this country. The flag must be the emblem of liberty, equal rights, and national unity to every man everywhere. A star for every state and a state for every star. I hope the day will speedily come when no other flag can, with safety, be unfurled on these shores. Let the stars and stripes float on all occasions and for all interests from sea to sea.
Fellow citizens, what a privilege to have a hand in moulding the institutions of to-day. Is it not an ambition worthy of the immortals to build our lives into such a structure, which is not a tomb for the dead but a temple for the living? Let us em- late the patience of God, and do our work at our best- bring to perfection whatever we have in our pattern, whether it be the broad name of the king himself emblazoned over the great dome, or only some hidden lily of the valley in some obscure place, and we shall be rewarded by him who guides not only the leaping lightning to its mark, but also the timid dove to her nest.
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HON. SAMUEL B. PAGE.
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DEDICATORY ADDRESS.
ION. S. B. PAGE, LL. D.
MY FRIENDS : I heartily thank you for this warm reception. Yesterday you were gathered here to "ring ont the old"; to-day, under like smiling skies, you have assembled to "ring in the new." Then you revelled in the rich memories of the past ; now you interehange congratulations as you prefigure the glorious promise of the future. The old academy, your AAlma Mater, herself arrayed in new and grand apparel, stands a witness to the dedication of her beautiful daughter,-strong in her youth and' peerless in her loveliness-as she starts upon her century of devotion to the cause of liberal and enlightened education.
The history of the foundation of our New England acade- mies begins early. Fresh from their enforced sojourn in the " Low Countries," the Pilgrims brought to this newly-discoy- ered continent something of the spirit of the schools of Hol- land,-certainly it was not of Britain --- and from the very cabin of the Mayflower dates the establishment of institutions for the liberal education of the prospective nation.
After providing a place of public worship, the next step was the building of the school-house, and then, in their order and in quick succession, the high school and the college. In due time, as the colonists extended their borders and planted sparse and scattered settlements in the wilderness, these remoter and poorer communities, finding themselves unable to maintain pub- lie high schools, but possessed of a fervid desire for greater edneational privileges, evolved the idea of founding in central localities a class of schools of which Haverhill academy was a type, to which young men and women from a score of outly- ing towns might come and fit themselves for college of the pro-
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fessions, or for a. keener and healthier appreciation of the duties and enjoyments of every-day life,-in the store or shop, in the field or by the hearthstone.
In many instances then, as now, the establishment of these institutions was made possible, or furthered, by private benefi- cence ; indeed, nearly all our New Hampshire academies re- ceived endowments from some private source at the very ont- set, and many of them still bear the honored name of their patron.
I cannot fail here to call your attention to the animating spirit that created and maintained these schools. It was that of the largest liberality consistent with good order and moral- ity. The purpose to be attained was instruction and mental development ; not mere pedagogy. The widest liberty of thought and opinion was encouraged. The pupils were to be fitted for kings and queens of a republic, and self-reliance and independent thought are the attributes of royalty. The voice of John Robinson, declaring, that " Not unto Calvin, nor unto Lnther, nor unto any other man, hath God revealed all his truth," was constantly sounding in the ears of teacher and scholar alike, and the fact recognized that new truths are daily revealed in the growing development of civilization.
But as " New times demand new manners and new men," so new educational methods and means are developed by changed conditions, and nearly all of our old academies in New Hamp- shire have anticipated you in the step you take to-day. The demand of this. generation is free ednation, placed equally within the reach of the laborer's child and the heir of a for- tune. All God's children are of equal stature in His kingdom ; so are they all sons and daughters of this great republic, and entitled to an equal share in a common heritage.
A year or two ago, -in the heat of a partisan conflict, to be sure, but in the quiet conclave of a house of Protestant bishops. where none but words of truth and soberness are supposed to be spoken-a Western bishop enunciated the startling proposi- tion that the safely of republican institutions was imperilled by the over-education of the working men and women of the land ; that they were in danger of knowing too much; that for them
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"ignorance was bliss; " that for them, not a little, but much. knowledge was a dangerous thing; and that in a state of com- parative ignorance they were far more likely to be " content in that state of life" to which they were called. Such doctrines inight meet the approval of a hierarch, an antocrat, or fit into an aristocratic government; but in a republic they are more incendiary than the utterances of Louise Michel or Herr Most.
From the bosom-out of the great heart of the common peo- ple reared in free schools; from the little red school-house upon the hillside; from our country academies and colleges- have sprung the men and women who have been the pride and glory-yea, the salvation-of this republic. Looking in the faces of the great heroes and statesmen of this nation, -whether in those earlier days that tried men's souls, in which this people were made free, or in these later days, when through travail of blood and suffering we built up anew the walls of our temple- and contemplating their nobility of soul and patriotic devotion and self-sacrifice, this learned bishop must stand awed and dumb-stricken in his presumption.
But I am presuming upon your patience. Wearing your rib- bon of honor, an alumnus by brevet, I must not prove ungrate- ful and abuse my privilege. Before I close, however, I must pay a tribute of respect, in loving memory, to the noble yeoman whose generous heart dictated the gift that made the erection of this elegant building possible, and thereby gave a new lease of life to this honored institution. The name of Samuel F. Sonthard will be forever graven upon the tablets of your hearts and the hearts of your children, and all who in the years com- ing shall enjoy the fruits of his wise and timely benefaction. His, a typical New England life and manhood ; his, a heart of oak, yet, withal, tender as a woman's! " Generations yet unborn shall rise up and bless him."
And to your brother almunus whose open and unsparing hand has so tastefully and completely renovated and equipped the elder building, -well, I think he already has his reward. In conferring so much pleasure upon others, he is, if I can read his countenance aright, already enrolled among the " thrice blessed." I must insist, however, that such completeness and
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nicety of detail could hardly have been attained by him, with all his inspiration of love for his old school and towir, unaided. I think I see in it, also, the deft hand and loving heart of a woman.
And, now, we dedicate this building to the uses for which it was designed. It will soon open its doors under the happiest auspices. Supported upon the either hand by the board of trustees and the town board of education, it only requires, to ensure a snecessful existence, the sympathy and support of the citizens of this village. My friends, open your arms. open your hearts, open the doors of your houses, open the blinds that now darken your parlors and chambers ; let in the sunlight, let in the boys and girls; it will warm you up, revivify you, and lengthen your days ! And after a year brightened by young faces and enlivened by youthful voices, you will even more deeply and sin- cerely thank God that he put it into the hearts of Sonthard and Pearson to do this good work in your midst.
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SUSAN WADE CHILD
Was born at Bath, N. It , December 4, IS65. Attended Haverboll Academy in I851-'s3. Graduated from Wellesley College in 18:0. She has Since taught four years in the Clara Conway Institute, Memphis, Tennessee, one of the leading chools for young ladies in the South, and two years in the High School at Canton, N. Y. She is at present a teacher of Greek and Latin in the Classical High School of Lyn, Mass. In June, Ist7, she received from Wellesley College the degree of Master of Arts for advanced work in Greek.
REMINISCENCES.
SUSAN WADE CHILD.
MR. PRESIDENT, TRUSTEES AND FRIENDS :- Such rich harvests from the fields of reminiscence have been placed before you that there is little need of another handful. Yet as one of those who shared its advantages in the early years of the revived Academy, it is a pleasure to pay trib- ute to it for myself and my compan- ions of those days.
The distinguished gentlemen who have so ably portrayed the Academy of older days have given us a fresh appreciation of on inher- itance, and a keener realization that we must indeed do well if we would keep green the laurels won for Haverhill Academy by its students of former years.
I am sure I voice the sentiments of all who were pupils of the Academy in the eighties, when I testify to the efficiency, gen- erosity, and never failing interest of its board of trustees dur- ing those years, and the thoroughness of work done in the Academy.
We have complete proof of the ability and faithfulness of the four gentlemen who served as principals from 1880-90. All who were students of the man who held that position first, after the new Academy threw open its doors, Mr. J. H. Dimbar, must have listened with pleasure to the tribute paid him by the historian last evening. Those who have since had intimate acquaintance with educational institutions of the best kind, are glad to testify to his remarkable powers as a scholar and instructor.
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In obtaining hard work from his pupils, and in imparting knowledge forcibly for permanent retention, he was unsur- passed. He did not bestow upon his classes milk for babes, but the strong meat that stood by his scholars in after years, ' in college, in business, and in professional life.
But dne tribute should also be paid to his able assistant, Miss Grace Woodward, whose presence at this reunion has given the scholars of that time so much pleasure.
She was a remarkably good teacher, a firm, but gentle disci- plinarian, and a kind friend to all her pupils. She did much to make the inner machinery of the school run smoothly and with- out friction.
Good trustees, good teachers, and, as we considered them, a sufficiently good school building and school equipments, in expressing our thanks for these is not our debt of gratitude paid? No, it must reach out further than this, to the citizens of Haverhill Corner, who, by their interest in the school, their cordial and never failing hospitality, their unselfishness. and their sympathy with teachers and pupils, made the years of our school life furnish us with the pleasantest recollections of a life- time.
The same ladies, whose forethought, publie spirit, and enter- prise have been visible for the past two days, extended us a welcome, and not the least among the pleasures of a return to Haverhill is the privilege of grasping them by the hand and calling then friends.
Trustees, citizens, friends, one and all, we bid you Godspeed for the future, assuring you not once but many times that never
"Shall auld acquaintance be forgot."
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
Arthur Livermore, son of the late Hon. Arthur Livermore of Holderness, N. H., was born in Lowell, Mass., in 1810. He attended Haverhill Academy from December, 1819, to Septem- ber, 1821, and from the latter date to the autumn of 1821,
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intermittently. . He graduated at Dartmouth college in 1829, and was admitted to the bar in 1833. He was appointed con- sul, during the administration of President Pierce, to London- derry, Ireland, which honorable position he held for several administrations. His present address is, Brampton House, Manchester, England.
REMINISCENCES.
HON. ARTHUR LIVERMORE.
Eighty-seven winters have made me distrustful of the accuracy of my memory, and charitable towards those who may feel obliged to be even more distrustful. But I am disposed to trust myself as far as this, that I shall not misrepresent the general lines of the subject matter of my reminiscences, and if the children of those whom I shall have, occasion to mention, shall feel aggrieved by what I have to say, I must ask them to think of the unfortunate limner, who was required to paint the portrait of his patron withont shadow, but beaming with absolute light. The good man did not know that form could not be represented without shadow, and that due mixture of light and shade was absolutely necessary to establish the individuality of the picture, or distinguish it from one of the man in the moon.
On the 24th of December, 1819, I was brought with my younger brother from my father's house in Holderness, distant thirty miles, over rough, frozen ground in an open wagon, in charge of a kind neighbor, Capt. Robert Cox, consuming every minute of that short day in the passage, and in tears and suffer- ing from the intense cold, to the house of our grandmother, Mrs. Bliss. On the Monday following we entered Haverhill Academy. My father had written from Washington to his friend, Dr. Ezra Bartlett, to instruct the preceptor of that school to fit ns both for college. I then wanted a few days of being nine years old, and my brother was near two years younger. But my grandmother deemed the instructions of
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