USA > New York > Oneida County > Clinton > A historical sketch of Hamilton College, Clinton, New York > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
48
A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
the God of wisdom prove an eminent means of diffusing useful knowledge, enlarging the bounds of human happiness, and aiding the reign of virtue and the kingdom of the blessed Redeemer."
These great ends have never been lost sight of in all the nearly seventy years of our history. Most emphatically was the last great lesson emphasized by President Fisher in his inaugural dis- course, and faithfully has it been carried out by his successor in office. May yours be the happy mission of following these illus- trious precedents, and yours the high privilege in the coming years to send forth from this seat of science, learning and religion, bands of cultivated and ingenuous youth who in their daily lives shall illustrate and exemplify the lessons they shall here have learned, by exhibiting the full and matured fruits of a ripe scholarship, a highly cultured intellect, a noble manliness, a warm Christian heart, and an earnest and active Christian faith.
Representing, as I do, the Board of Trustees, I hesitate not to pledge to you their full and hearty support in every well-directed effort to enlarge the influence and enhance the reputation of our col- lege, and as their organ I now place in your hands the Charter, the Key and the Seal of this Institution. They constitute your investi- ture and are the insignia of your authority and power. The Charter is the fundamental law which governs us all ; the Key in an emble- matic sense is to be employed in opening that temple of knowledge and wisdom into which you are to invite and conduct its youthful votaries, and with the Seal you are to impress upon mind and soul imperishable lessons and undying records.
May all that we hope and you anticipate be fully and success. fully achieved, and may you receive, in the discharge of your high functions, the abundant and approving smile of that "God of wis- dom," whose presence and power the sainted Kirkland so ardently invoked.
ACCEPTING THE INSIGNIA OF OFFICE.
AT the conclusion of Judge Bacon's address, after receiving the Charter, Seal and Keys of the College, President Darling addressing the speaker, trustees and faculty, said that he accepted with diffidence and distrust from the representative of the Board of Trustees, the. insignia of his office as President of Hamilton
49
HAMILTON COLLEGE, CLINTON, N. Y.
College. He realized as clearly as any one that the presidency of a college like Hamilton is no sinecure. He had been embold- ened to assume the task by the urgent wishes and earnest encouragement of life-long friends and with the hope that it was the will of the Master. He had no promises to make on entering upon his duties, but pledged his best efforts and energies to the sacred trust that had been imposed upon him. He had heard with pleasure the well deserved and kindly references to his distinguished predecessor, President BROWN, and felicitated himself that his future home would not be so far distant from College Hill that he could not often avail himself of the valuable advice that his successful experience had so well fitted him to give.
This was followed by President Darling's Inaugural Discoursc. When Dr. Darling had finished his discourse, the students sang a
HYMN OF WELCOME.
Tune-PARK STREET. I. With grace to choose the Bible's creed, And follow it in word and deed, Straight on thro' good report and ill, God bless our Mother on the Hill.
II.
To be a shield when armies fail,
A beacon light when storins assail, Thro' days of darkness hoping still, God help our Mother on the Hill.
III.
With sons devout, in battle brave
To serve the Church, our land to save, With ranks that wait their Leader's will, God bless our Mother on the Hill.
IV.
Then welcome friends with helping hands, And welcome lore from distant lands ; Thrice welcome Leader, toil and drill,
- With Blessed Mother on the Hill. 1
ADDRESS OF THE REV. DR. UPSON.
The Rev. Dr. Anson J. Upson, and the Rev. Dr. Irenaeus Prime made addresses of fellowship. Dr., Upson said :
4
.
50
A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
President Darling :
. It is with sincere pleasure that I am permitted at this time to address words of fellowship and congratulation to you.
During the past ten years our personal relations have been increasingly intimate. We have been Christian ministers in the same capital city. We have labored together as pastors of neigh- boring and affiliated churches. We have been bound together as members of the same ministerial brotherhood. We have often conversed together of things pertaining to the kingdom of God. We have often heartily united in many plans for the promotion of the kingdom of our common Lord. And now you have come into this new sphere of duty closely allied to my own. You have come under the influence of associations here that are not only hallowed in my memory, but which have blessed the larger por- tion of my life. Permit me most sincerely to congratulate the. college and yourself. And let me frankly say that I do this because, with some knowledge of the peculiar responsibilities of the place into which, as I believe, God, in his providence, has called you, I recognize also your peculiar fitness for this difficult and responsible and influential position.
Let me say, too, that I am not alone in the conviction, that by your scholarship, by your industry, by your energy, by your executive force, by your practical wisdom, for which Cicero has given us a single word-by your prudentia, in the past, you have already given abundant assurance of success in the immediate future.
Many of us, Mr. President, are familiar with your habits of exhaustive study. We recognize your self-controlled enthusiasm in the best things. Many of us appreciate your wisdom already shown in the development of youthful character and influence, and in the control and direction of powerful churches. We know how wise and strong you have been as a leader of men, upon the platform, and in the guidance of a great assembly. To those of us who are thus familiar with your career these characteristics are a presage of increasing influence and success in your new position. With such convictions as these, I need hardly repeat, it is for myself a real pleasure to recognize our fellowship, and to speak words of congratulation to you to-day.
And yet I do not for a moment suppose, that merely because of our personal relations, or because of any peculiar fitness in myself,
8
GEn* O ** ** O*, IvaBurg.3.
年,名字字字,创的风气,大学学习,$20.
$. PROV. A. J UP$ON, 7434
5I
HAMILTON COLLEGE, CLINTON, N. Y.
I have been called to address you now. Others are here who have long been identified with the history of this college, and who honor this occasion by their presence, who could speak to you with far greater impressiveness and eloquence.
THE COLLEGE AND THE REGENTS.
And yet, providentially, I have been so placed, in such relations, that I am enabled to convey to you congratulations much more significant than any merely personal words can express. The Regents of the University of the State of New York, who have the supervision of the colleges and academies of the State, have always cherished sentiments of peculiar esteem and regard for Hamilton College. Permit me, Mr. President, as a member of the board, to express to you and your associates, our heartiest con- gratulations and good wishes. The college received its charter from the Board of Regents nearly seventy years ago. In age you are the third college in the State. The distinguished statesman after whom your college is named, and who was one of its early patrons, was the author of the statute which organized the Board of Regents. Five members of the board are graduates of this college. Its efficient secretary and assistant secretary, for many years, are among your most honored graduates. The learning and influence of your officers of instruction and government, have often been recognized in the convocations that have been held in Albany under the auspices of the board. No educational papers there have been read of greater interest and value than those con- tributed from this college. And no college in New York has been more loyal to the educational interests of our own commonwealth, than has the college which bears the name of the great political genius of the State and the Union, Alexander Hamilton.
We have no doubt that the traditions of the college in this regard will be perpetuated by yourself. It is the earnest desire and present purpose of the Board of Regents to make their influ- ence increasingly felt in the higher education of New York, and to stimulate in every legitimate way the collegiate as well as the academical education of the State , so that the sons of New York need no longer neglect their own, so that the sons of New York need no longer cross the borders of their own commonwealth, to gain what they conceive to be the highest educational advan. tages.
52
A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
With these plans, we believe, that you, sir, and your associates will sympathize. And in this belief the Regents of the Univer- sity of New York congratulate themselves, as well as you to-day.
HAMILTON, AUBURN SEMINARY AND THE CHURCH.
And you will not be surprised, sir, that as a Professor in Auburn Theological Seminary, I bring you the fraternal greetings of its authorities, and of all our theological seminaries. You are an alumnus of Auburn Theological Seminary, and the first alum- nus of that institution who has been elected president of this col- lege. We feel ourselves honored by your election to this influen- tial position. The natural union of the seminary and the college is thus, we believe, recognized and emphasized. For the two are essentially onc. We have a similiar history ; we have largely the same friends ; we have a common constituency, a common patron- age and a similar purpose. Less than a hundred miles apart, rail- ways and telegraphs and telephones are rapidly enabling us to live within hearing, if not in sight, of each other.
Of the 1,230 ministers who have pursued their studies in Auburn Theological Seminary, 277 were graduates or undergrad- uates of Hamilton College-a number large enough to indicate that we are very closely related and reciprocally interested in each other's prosperity. We would not be divorced, and you will not divorce us. Of the 1,230 ministers who have pursued their pro- fessional studies in Auburn Seminary, 999 have been college-bred men. We believe in college-bred ministers, and so do you ; and therefore we can not fail to be greatly interested in each other's work.
We bid you and your associates, Mr. President, Godspeed in all your efforts to add to the resources of this college, and to per- petuate and increase the thoroughness and breadth of its scholar- ship. No talents can be too great, no learning can be too profound, no culture can be too thorough to consecrate to Christ and His. church.
And let me, in the name of the Christian ministers and churches of the State, welcome you to this position into which God has called you. This is a college founded by a Christian missionary, for the advancement of " the kingdom of the blessed Redeemer "- the " light " of the gospel has illuminated its halls-the " truth " of the gospel has been taught by its instructors. Of its 2,200
53
HAMILTON COLLEGE, CLINTON, N. Y. .
graduates, 625 have been Christian ministers. May it ever be a Christian college. Palsied be the tongue that, in yonder chairs of instruction, shall ever deny the truth as it is in Jesus !
The Christian people of this State, sir, welcome you to your high place, as a representative Christian minister. For they are thus assured that the truth here taught will be expressed in words that have no uncertain sound.
And more than this: Most of us are thoroughly convinced that a Christian college must look largely for its support and patron- age to some particular Christian denomination, to which it stands in 'a kind of representative relation. We believe " it is a strong guaranty of the permanence and success of a college to be entrenched in the affections and sympathies of a Christian people. who feel a special responsibility as to its fortunes, and a special joy and pride in its fame and influence." Sectarian peculiarities should not be offensively obtruded ; a narrow, proselyting spirit should be condemned ; conscientious convictions should not be rudely assailed in the public and official instructions given ; and yet the influence of the college in this direction should not be indefinite and negative, but pronounced and positive. The relig- ious tone of the institution should be clearly defined, so that patrons may know the kind of influence that in this respect will surround their sons; so that donors may be sure their gifts will · not be diverted. In that most intelligent commonwealth on our eastern border, large sums that have been given in the past to "Christ and the church," are in danger to-day of being transferred to the agnostics. By pursuing a policy of uncertainty or indiffer- ence in this direction, a college gains nothing, and loses much.
Do not misunderstand me; a college will not depend, for its prosperity, exclusively upon the religious sympathy of its patrons and friends. By no means. A college will also depend largely for its prosperity upon its location, upon its scholarship, upon its reputation for good learning and thorough instruction, upon its libraries and other appliances for education, upon the good will of its alumni, upon the sympathy and affection that will gather round it in the progress of years.
And yet, prominent among these sources of prosperity, perhaps leading them all, are those conscientious convictions that bind to
54
A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
it patrons and friends with hooks of steel. For a Christian col- lege to disregard altogether this source of life and power, is suicide !
Because we believe that you, sir, sympathize with these views, the Presbyterian ministers and churches of this State greet you to-day. You believe as we do, that the relation between the Pres- byterian Church and this college is reciprocal, and should be close and permanent. The church needs the college, and the college needs the church.
Both propositions are true-one is as true as the other. Why not have a Nassau Hall ? Why not have a Princeton College in New York, as well as in New Jersey? Your location is similar. The organization of the University of the State, under the super- vision of the Regents, pre-supposes that cach of the colleges shall represent some phase of religious opinion. Why not concentrate here the same abundant wealth and learning and culture that have made the College of New Jersey increasingly renowned all over the earth ? Why not gather here a similar reservoir of Christian influence, that shall fertilize the world ?
THE COLLEGE AND THE ALUMNI.
But, Mr. President, as one of the graduates of this college, I am also permitted to represent the alumni, and greet you with cordiality as our leader.
As graduates of Hamilton College, we, sir, consider ourselves to be a very respectable body. More than two thousand two hun- dred men have marched in our ranks, and to-day our little army among the living is seventeen hundred strong. Some of us have stood before kings. Many of us, we think, have been useful to the State as executive officers and law-makers. Some of us upon the bench, we believe, have faithfully administered justice and enforced the laws. We know that others of our number have become deservedly trusted financiers; and others still have wielded a wide influence in the marts of trade. Many have healed the sick, and many more, in this land or in foreign countries, have cared for the souls of men.
On the roll of our army are the names of many scholars and teachers, and some distinguished authors. We have certainly made our voices heard from the pulpit and from the platform, at the bar and in the senate.
1, EMMONS CLARK, 42. COM ?" AEG, M Y. S. U. S. SENATOR HENRY 6. PATEL, '42.
6. HOR, ILINU ROOT, '54,
7. PROP. LOWARO F. B. ORTON, '+8.
2
4
3
6
8
& V. B. SE^^TOK CAN'L O. PRATT, 181.
4 CHAS. DUDLEY WARNER, 'S1.
G. U. S. AENATOR J. R. HAWLEY, '47.
1. HON. THEO. W. DWIGHT, '40.
55
HAMILTON COLLEGE, CLINTON, N. Y.
To be sure, not many years ago, in the city of New York, there was a closely contested competition by under-graduates in the department of public speech, in which very many of the leading colleges of the country took part. To be sure, in advertising the competition, they did placard, all over the city, the name of our little college at the very end of the list of colleges, in very small letters, entitling us "and Hamilton." We could find no fault with the arrangement or the style. It was very natural.
Neither could we blame our enthusiastic boys if, at the end of the competition, when the victory was gained by one of their number, they did-taking him on their shoulders and carrying him out of the hall-shout till the welkin rang, somewhat in derision, the no longer humiliating words, "and Hamilton."
But we would not make too much of trifles. We would not be too sensitive. We are among the smaller colleges. And yet every one may have wondered why our remarkable merit has not been recognized invariably by the authorities of our own college. Some may have wondered why some graduate has not been made president ! There is no mystery about it. Hamilton graduates are all otherwise engaged. The business in which they are employed is too important to be left !
Besides, they know by experience that their own little college does not need their help. It is attractive enough to draw to itself the very best in the land. Have we not drawn five of our presi- dents from one of the two largest colleges in the country? And did not the second of these five deliberately prefer to succeed Azel Backus here rather than Timothy Dwight at New Haven? Did it not require the combined power of both the universities of Dublin and Glasgow to educate for us our fourth president ! And have we not attracted another, one of her most cultured sons from the halls of Dartmouth ? And now we have to thank Amherst College for another leader. And in truth, we are grateful. With no affectation we can seriously say, that with all our own ability and learning, these imported instructors have done us good. They have given us ideas which, perhaps, we ourselves might never have originated. They have introduced new methods of education which the experience of other colleges has proved to be useful. While correcting our faults, they have not been blind to our merits.
Mr. President, our salutations are fraternal. It is a cheering
56
A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
indication of the increasing heartiness of our people, that more than our fathers, we are recognizing our college relations and expressing our attachment. Graduates are gathering in larger numbers every year, to celebrate college anniversaries. The alumni of Hamilton College share this spirit of the times, in their desire to express in every possible way their enthusiastic attachment to their educational home. We want to be enthu- siastic. We do not want to be ashamed of our enthusiasm. We are glad to have more and more substantial reasons for it, in the ability, the learning and the accurate scholarship of yourself and your associates. We want to have more and more substantial reasons for it, in the surpassing excellence of the education here given.
The graduates of this college are not rich. So far as I know there are not many millionaires among us. If there be the benevolent eyes of our financial commissioner-our college pro- curator will soon discover them! The graduates of Hamilton College are not rich. But we are wealthy in the treasures of our good-will and affection for this venerable college. We love our mother on the hill. We can never forget what she has done for us. God bless her !
And, Mr. President, these, my old friends and neighbors, among whom I have lived so long, will not think me presumptuous if I say to you, for them, that you will not long be a stranger in this beautiful valley. Your experience will be very different from my own, if you do not receive a cordial welcome to their hearts, their homes and their churches. You will never know, in this world, some of the best of these. God has taken them. I wish you could have know them as I did. How such men as Judge Will- iams and Dr. Gridley would have encouraged your heart and strengthened your hands ! But their helpful influence remains. It has entered largely into the formation of the character of this community, and will not pass away.
Not only in this immediate vicinity, but in the city near us, and throughout Central New York, the influence of the college is felt and recognized. It has educated many who might not otherwise have received a collegiate education. The obligation is largely felt. It is acknowledged. It can be appealed to successfully.
I have thus endeavored to express to you, Mr. President, the cordial greeting of those who are sincerely interested in the pros-
57
HAMILTON COLLEGE, CLINTON, N. Y.
perity of this seat of learning. I may not have echoed the senti- ments of every one. But whatever infelicities may have charac- terized what has been said, however we may have failed to express the convictions of all, one thing, I hope, is evident-that for myself and those I represent, we belong to neither of two classes : We have no sympathy with one class who have no faith in the college, nor with another class who expect too much of it.
There are those who have but little or no faith in this college. If it lives, if it drags out a half lifeless existence, it far surpasses their expectations. And, therefore, they are content with any facilities or with any results. They wonder how anybody can give anything to such a hopeless enterprise. They wonder how anybody can accept a place among its officers of instruction or government. If they give anything to it themselves, or send any one here to be educated, it is under compulsion. They have no faith in it.
And, on the other hand, there are those who expect too much. Great numbers should throng its halls. Its course of study should be enlarged into the curriculum of a university. They compare it with institutions four times as old, and wonder why this stripling has not the vigor and the power of mature manhood. They remember that dear, precious old myth, about Minerva springing full-armed from the brain of Jupiter, a myth that they have heard repeated every commencement since their childhood, and some- how they expect the college will realize it. In their desire to accomplish so much they do not appreciate what has already been done.
COLLEGE IMPROVEMENTS.
Now I need not say that for myself and those I represent, we do not sympathize with either of these two classes. I preach to-day no doctrine of despair. We have faith in the college because of what has already been done, and we would have rea- sonable expectations only for the future. We would obey the exhortation of the psalmist and not "forget all His benefits." We would not murmur so much over what we have not as to for- get what we have. Mr. President, you have doubtless already discovered that many improvements are here needed, and many enlargements may here be made. But I think you would be greatly encouraged in your good work if, in your mind's eye, you
58
A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
could carry, as I do, the picture of yonder college as I saw it in 1840, in my boyhood, when my name was first enrolled in one of its classes. Why, sir, the cold, bare and dingy room into which I was introduced was enough to depress the exuberant spirits of the most irrepressible sophomore. . There is no such room there now. I had left a pleasant home in the city of Utica, and the first thing they asked me when I entered the room was whether I had brought my mantel piece.
In those days rough brick jambs were thought to be good enough for college boys. They don't think so now. But I had to buy a wooden mantel piece, and I tied it to the chimney with nails and strings.
In those days the north end of the college campus was a desert, stript of all its verdure. There were no flowers. There was no observatory then. Our "royal Dane," our glorious cannoneer, was not then " assaulting the skies " with his artillery.
North college, Dexter Hall, had been half finished, but the stu- dents were chopping up the inside for kindling wood. The col- lege chapel, in its artistic proportions one of the most graceful buildings in the State, was in the inside just as rough and marred and sculptured as such rooms used to be, but are not now. To find the library, I climbed up into the third story of the chapel, where the little collection of books was mixed up with geological and mineralogical specimens. Genesis and geology, if not recon- ciled, were in close proximity there.
The chemical laboratory was down in the cellar of the chapel. Our venerable friend, Professor Avery, then in the maturity of his powers, was doing his best down there to analyze light, in the midst of darkness. The now convenient laboratory was unbuilt.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.