USA > New York > Oneida County > Clinton > A historical sketch of Hamilton College, Clinton, New York > Part 6
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
In the spacious hall where now are gathered Prof. Root's inval- uable collections was a carpenter's shop. The south college was not half covered with crumbling stucco. The little college cam- pus was enclosed with a wooden fence and guarded all around by a row of ancient poplars. Now, without question, on yonder hill- side is the most beautiful college campus in all the land, and I have seen the most of them. No college in the State has a better library building. These and the other facilities I have named, are the accumulations of a single generation.
If you, Mr. President, could see this college as I saw it in 1840,
Prore THEci NY
SENIOR HILL- JUNIOR HILL. 50PMUMOKE HILL
PAOF BRANDT'S. VIEW ON CAMPUS.
GENERAL MASAGLA OF TRUNK LINE.
LABORATORY
TELESCOPE. LIAKAAY HALL. CHAPEL.
PROF. NORTH'S.
CLASS TREE AND STONE.
59
HAMILTON COLLEGE, CLINTON, N. Y.
and contrast it with what you see there to-day, it would strengthen your faith.
And when I remember how God has blessed this college with men of such ability and scholarship to preside over it, two of whom are living and honored here to-day; when I remember how, in spite of all the evident disadvantages of this position, faithful instructors have here given the best of their life to the education of hundreds of young men, and when, as I read your triennial cat- alogue, there rise before me so many living forms with their bright and beautiful faces, some of whom have gone down in the smoke of battle, and most of whom are blessing the world by their labors for God and man ; when I remember the many occasions where the influences of the Holy Spirit have been especially felt by the young men gathered in those old halls ; and the many times when great numbers have there been " renewed in the temper and spirit of their minds," and made "heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ ; " when I think of all these, I will not believe that God will let this College die! If I may say so, too much has been in- vested here for God to perinit it to be lost.
You have come here, sir, at a propitious time. The blessings of God have been recently poured upon this nation ; the avenues of trade are crowded with business. Commerce with foreign nations was never so prosperous. Streams of gold have been flowing into the coffers of the nation, till there is not room to contain them.
You have come at a propitious time to be president of this Chris- tian college. The assassination of our chief magistrate has brought out the latent Christian faith of this people as never before.
We do believe in prayer. We worship the God of our fathers. We are a Christian people, and we mean to sustain and develop Christian institutions. With one heart and mind we repeat the beautiful hymn of one of your own associates, suggested by the motto on your college seal, " Lux et Veritas :"
Welcome, thou servant of the Lord I Lift high the quenchless torch of truth ; With purest light from God's own word, Guide thou the steps of generous youth.
Be thine the high and holy part, Lessons to teach that heaven ward lead;
And thine the hungry mind and heart With daily bread of life to feed.
60
À HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
Allies unseen thy steps attend,
And saints redeemed thy service share ; Upward from many a Christian friend ' Ascends for thee the strength of prayer.
THE REV. DR. PRIME'S ADDRESS.
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Board of Trustees :
The college, the church and the country are to be congratu- lated on the event that marks this day and makes it memorable. A city set on a hill can not be hid, and a college with such a his- tory as Hamilton has, with its long line of illustrious presidents and professors, and a host of alumni adorning the Church and the State, must become a glory in the land, when it reflects the added luster of such a burning and shining light as this day appears in the firmament of learning.
As a trustee of two sister colleges I bring the hearty good wishes of both, and of all colleges that stand by the oracles of eternal truth and teach only what they know. In this day of conflict between truth and error, between knowledge and science, it is a cause for profound congratulation that this institution has installed in its presidential chair, a gentleman of honored lineage, a Chris- tian scholar, a stalwart divine, a man of large and liberal views, of strong common sense, with knowledge of men and letters, who will give high tone to the work of education, while he illustrates in his person and his life the dignity and benediction of sound, manly, religious learning. I have long known him in the coun- cils of the church of which he is one of the leaders, and of whose general assembly he is now the moderator. Among the five thou- sand ministers serving at her altars, not one is more admirably fitted to sustain, exalt and perpetuate the reputation of Hamilton College.
Supported by a faculty whose fame is identified with the stars, he will make this college, (bright as the past has been,) to shine more and more unto the perfect day.
The retiring president, Dr. Brown, rests on the well-earned rewards of a faithful, successful and honored administration. He carries with him the respect, affection and best wishes of the friends of Hamilton college. God grant that he and his beloved family may rejoice in his prolonged and increasing usefulness, till they rest from labor in the joy of the Lord.
6
61
HAMILTON COLLEGE, CLINTON, N. Y.
Mr. President, a few days in this valley of wondrous wealth and beauty, have revealed to me its admirable fitness as the site of a college of the first rank among American schools of learning. The principles and spirit of your inaugural address to which we have just listened with profound gratification, inspire the assur- ance that such must be the rank of an institution over which you preside. The valley of the Mohawk, unexcelled in fertility and prosperity, teeming with richness and intelligence, its thousand church spires drawing down the blessings of heaven, ought to complete the endowment of this college without a year's delay.
Rejoicing with you in the circumstances of cheer and hope under which you enter upon your high calling, and invoking the enthusiastic rally of the alumni, and the favor of Him whose knowledge is light and life, I pray that this day may be one which you, Mr. President and the college, will remember always with gratitude and pleasure.
The Benediction was pronounced by the Rev. Dr. L. Merrill Miller, of Ogdensburg.
MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL.
Since his inauguration President Darling has made earnest efforts to increase the endowment of Hamilton and widen its use- fulness. It especially behooves the Presbyterian Church, always deservedly regarded the staunch friend of Christian learning, to heed the loud calls of the Institution for larger endowments, because such numbers of Hamilton graduates are entering the ministry. In the Synod of New York, 1888, were fifty-nine Yale, fifty-eight Williams, fifty-five Amherst, eighty-six Princeton, and one hundred and thirty-eight Hamilton men. At the New York City Hamilton alumni dinner, in 1887, it was said that Hamilton furnished more men for the ministry than Yale. A large percent- age of Auburn Theological students came from Clinton. Union Theological Seminary, which has enjoyed the invaluable services . of Hamilton's eminent alumnus, Dr. Edward Robinson, and two of whose Presidents, Rev. Dr. Joel Parker and Rev. Dr. Thomas S. Hastings graduated at Hamilton, always has a large representa- tion from the College on its rolls. Hamilton names are also found in the catalogues of other " Schools of the Prophets," both among professors and students. If the church will do as much for the old institution at Clinton as the institution has done for the church,
62
A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
the college will soon receive an abundance of " the yellow dust which men call gold," to convert into sanctified learning.
COLLEGE PROFESSORS.
Hamilton has been fortunate in having among its professors such scholars and teachers as Dr. Josiah Noyes, Dr. James Had- ley, Prof. Seth Norton, Dr. Theo. Strong, Dr. John Wayland, brother of President Wayland, of Brown University, Dr. Charles Avery, Prof. Marcus Catlin, Dr. T. W. Dwight, Dr. Henry Mande- ville, Dr. Anson J. Upson, the Rev. Wm. N. McHarg, Dr. Ellicott Evans, and Dr. Oren Root, who gathered during his professorship the splendid collection of minerals and geological specimens which now form the "Root Collection" in Knox Hall. His son, Edward Walstein Root, was for a brief period Child's Professor of Agricultural Chemistry, but in the prime of his manhood and usefulness he was stricken, and his promising life brought to a close. Other members of the Faculty, Hamilton Alumni will remember with gratitude. Among them, The Rev. Dr. N. W. Goertner, the kind-hearted College Pastor, and the successful Commissioner, who in his appeals for funds once said : "There is none so poor that he is not able to do something. If he cannot bring a wreath with which to crown the head of the good old mother, let him at least pluck a single flower and place it on her brow or lay it on her bosom, accompanied with the earnest prayer that God's blessing may continue to rest upon her." Those who were privileged to enjoy the instruction of another faithful Pro- fessor, the Rev. Dr. John W. Mears, will never forget his love of letters and of the state.
Professors A. P. Kelsey, Oren Root, Jr., A. G. Hopkins, H. C. G. Brandt, Arthur S. Hoyt, Anthony H. Evans, and Clinton Scollard of the present Faculty are Hamilton men. Upon the last has fallen the mantle of song. He is one of the American poets, who is helping to make the land "a nest of singing birds." Dr. A. H. Chester is a graduate of Union and Columbia, and Dr. Edward J. Hamilton, of Hanover College.
EDWARD NORTH, L. H. D., LL. D.
" The Hamiltonian " for 1888, published a brief biographical sketch of Professor Edward North, L. H. D., LL. D., a nephew of
1
3
5
10
7
1. PROF. E. J. HAMILTON, (HANOVER)
1. PAOF OREN HOOT, JR., '56.
6. PROF. A. G . HOPKINS, "SB.
7. PROF. A. S HOYT, *12.
$ ASS'T PROF. A. M EVANS, 'AZ.
2
6
8
2. PROF A. P. KELACY, '44,
1 PROV A. A CHESTEN (UNION AND COLUMBIA ).
6 PROT # C. S. GRANDE, ·FZ.
F ASS'T PROF. CLINTON ECOLLARD, 'B1.
10. TUTOR M. A. YANCL, 'EL.
63
HAMILTON COLLEGE, CLINTON, N. Y.
Ex-President North. As student, professor, and trustee he has been identified with the college fifty years. To his hillside home, known as the thoughts of many graduates gratefully go.
The biographer writes.
" We are sure that the present number of 'The Hamiltonian ' will come with a special pleasure to every alumnus of Hamilton because of the excellent likeness which we present of Professor Edward North. Several years ago when that gifted and brilliant lecturer, Mr. William Parsons, delivered to a Clinton audience his lecture upon 'Homer,' after being introduced by Professor North, he at once began: "In bringing this old Greek before you"-when he was interrupted by a storm of applause. The puzzled lecturer could hardly understand that to the sons of Ham- ilton his opening words did not suggest
'The blind old bard of Scio's rocky isle,'
but a more modern poet, teacher and man of letters. And so we believe that the " boys," gray-haired as well as young, scattered all over our state and country, will dispense with all titles of dig- nity as they look upon this face, and exclaim with words, not of irreverence, but of affection : " there's old Greek!" Men immersed in business cares, and whose heads are sprinkled with silver, will fancy that they sit once more upon the old pine benches of twenty years ago, and try to catch the music of Homer's verse. They will catch once again the echoes of a voice once so familiar in the class-room, as it summoned them with its lingering but musical monotone to render an Idyl of Theocritus or a strophe of Greek tragedy. They will listen once more to the lecture on the old Greek Lexicon, and vow that the dog-eared and thumb-stained volume shall be their companion through life.
Professor North's professional career covers considerably more than half of the period of the entire life of the College. He has served under four presidents-Drs. North, Fisher, Brown and Darling-and his recollection as a student goes back to the time of Dr. Penney, who was fourth in office from Dr. Backus. He has held office for a period longer by ten years than any other officer who has ever been connected with this College. He las been identified, therefore, with all that is best in her history ;
64
A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
with the period of her greatest growth and expansion. He knows her history and embodies her traditions and spirit more thoroughly than any other alumnus of Hamilton. He has known, and lived and labored with some of the self-sacrificing men who stood by the cradle of our alma mater. The campus has been beautified, new buildings have been added, the course of instruction has been enlarged and modified, the constitution of the corps of instructors has been entirely changed ; while Professor North, though still in the vigor of life, remains, connecting the present. with the past, and giving a sort of permanence and continuity to the college history. When Louis XIV. said ' L'etat, c'est moi,' he expressed something more than a mere feeling of conceit and arrogance. In a good sense he might have meant, "I embody the spirit, I feel the pulse, I think the thoughts of my people; the life of the state flows through my veins; my heart beats in tune with the popular heart." In a humbler way may it be said that Professor North represents the college. He is the most prominent figure in the foreground. His life has long run parallel with her life. She has no more steadfast friend and servant. She has no better expo- nent of her culture. The alumnus who thinks of the college thinks first of him. These two pictures-the school of learning and the loyal instructor-are seldom separated in the consciousness of the graduates of Hamilton.
When Professor North entered upon his work the Faculty was constituted as follows: President, Simeon North ; Professor of Chemistry, Charles Avery ; Mathematics, Marcus Catlin; Rhet- oric and Moral Philosophy, Henry Mandeville; Tutor, Theodore W. Dwight. To this list of distinguished names that of Edward North was added, as Professor of Greek and Latin. This was in the year 1843. So that in June, 1888, he will have completed the forty-fifth year of his service. Other instructors have held office for long periods, and have come in contact with hundreds of young men, but in these respects Professor North's career is unique.
A COMPARATIVE STATEMENT.
1
A comparative statement may be interesting, showing the term of office of various instructors and the number of students who received diplomas while they were in office :
65
HAMILTON COLLEGE, CLINTON, N. Y.
Name.
Length of Service.
No. of Students.
Charles Avery,
35 years,
969
Oren Root,
35
"
·1,058
Simeon North,
28
"
639
Anson J. Upson
25 "
806
Marcus Catlin,
15
"
372
Samuel G. Brown,
15
494
Ellicott Evans,
22
731
Edward North,
45
">
1,450
The entire body of living alumni numbers about 2,600. It is evident, therefore, that considerably more than half of this num- number have received instruction at the hands of Professor North. Probably two-thirds of the students graduated in the classical course have thus come in contact with him, since the aggregate number given above includes also the graduates of the law school.
Professor North's services to the College have been inestimable and varied. His work as an instructor has had a pronounced and permanent value; yet this is but one of the many lines of activity in which he has done good service to the College, to its graduates and to the general cause of education. In public addresses, in contact with schools and teachers throughout the State, in the work of the convocation at Albany, his influence has been quietly but deeply felt. He has often been the unknown power to whose influence or advice were due many of the move- ments in the academic world. A quasi power of appointment to many of our New York schools has for many years resided in his hands, and the long and successful line of instructors in Robert College, Constantinople, found its origin, and in many cases its con- tinuance, in consultations with him. A more subtle influence,con- tributing positively to the strength of the College, has been found in Professor North's constant and varied correspondence with our alumni. The stroke of his pen has started a throb of interest in the almost fossil heart of many an alumnus beginning to be oblivious of his alma mater. Through the medium of these num- berless letters, the tide of sympathy and affection has been kept moving to and fro between the College and her widely -scattered sons. Not merely in the line of sentiment has this labor been of value. It has furnished us statistics of a most interesting so:t.
5
66
A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
It has kept us informed as to all matters of importance in connec- tion with the lives and labors of our alumni. The contributions under the head of ' Necrology ' and ' Alumniana,' in the " Ham- ilton Literary Monthly," have cost much time and labor ; and, though often overlooked by those in search of ' literature,' will be found hereafter to have a positive and permanent value.
Professor North's skill and success as an instructor have been founded upon his painstaking fidelity, his untiring patience and his inexhaustible sympathy with young men, even with the dull and indolent. Dr. Arnold once blazed out in wrath upon a pupil who was making bad work of a passage in Greek, but was silenced at once by the reply : 'I am doing as well as I can, sir.' Our modern interpreter of Thucydides is not provoked, even by dull- ness, to the language of satire or anger. The patience which assisted the feebly equipped student of thirty years ago over the perplexing archaisms of Homer, or through the bewildering forms of the dialect of Theocritus, is still unexhausted and still finds ample room for exercise. 'The poor,' said Dr. Upson with reference to scholarship and not to property, ' the poor ye have ever with you;' and such poverty has ever found abundant sym- pathy and help in the incumbent of the Greek chair. But above and beyond all this there is another fact which may serve to explain the success and the charm which have attended upon the instruction of Professor North. There is a subtle power, it is said, in every foreign language, which eludes and defies an attempt to transfer a master-piece from such a language to our own. It is at least true that it requires a poet to translate a poet. In Professor North the power of imagination and of poetic, expression is highly developed. His style of composition in prose has an indefinable element of music and rhythm. Though often using polysyllabic words, his language is certainly melo- dious. His ventures in song have given proof of a power to array thought in a graceful and poetic garb.
His power of expressing truth in striking and epigrammatic forms is rare, and is witnessed in the list of class mottoes running through more than a quarter of a century. These mottoes, if collected, would form a series of maxims, inspiring and practical, equal almost to those of Cato or of Benjamin Franklin. They illustrate a power of felicitous expression, in Greek as well as in English, which few men possess. This happy faculty appears in
67
HAMILTON COLLEGE, CLINTON. N. Y.
the class-room interpretation of the Greek poets. The flavor of the original is not lost in the English version. The musical Greek is also musical English. The Greek compound, which, in the hands of a novice, contains nothing but a crude jargon, becomes, in the hands of the master, smooth and melodious. The poetic rendering, the happy collocation of words, the apt phrase, the coinage even of new expressions to meet the demands of the original, are all. familiar to those who have studied under Dr. North. He is permeated with the spirit of Greek life and letters, and his style of thought and composition is quite as much Attic as English. But we must leave memory to do the rest of the work and to add the finishing touches to this very adequate and frag- mentary sketch. These few words will serve to start lines of thought which will call up in many minds pleasant recollections of the past. May the sons of Hamilton long find it their priv- ilege to study the masterpieces of Greek literature under the guidance of a scholar so genial and so wise as Dr. Edward North."
New York alumni, who were at the Astor House re-union years ago, will not soon forget Dr. North's poem on Hamilton Col- lege-the poem closing with these lines :
" All hail to the Dame whose voice on the Hill, Wakes her sons to survey thought's kingdom at will; And arms them to wield in their glad golden youth, Ithuriel's spear and the falchion of truth. Then crown Alma Mater with honors forever ; Let her plenty and peace flow deep like a river ; Let her names be all sweet, Homeric and tender, Bright-throned, silver-footed, fair Learning's Defender."
DR. C. H. F. PETERS.
"The Hamiltonian " recently gladdened many graduates by placing before them the pictured-face of Dr. C. H. F. Peters, Director of the Litchfield Observatory, and Professor of Astronomy in Hamilton College more than thirty years. The great Astron- omer has indeed written his own name and that of the College among the stars. Forty-seven of the asteroids were discovered by him. Only scholars can appreciate the prodigious work he has done in preparing his "star charts " which include thousands of stars. In 1874 he was placed by the U. S. Government in charge of the party which in the U. S. Gunboat Swatara, went to New
68
A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
Zealand to observe the transit of Venus. The observations were very successful and complete. The King of Sweden has presented Dr. Peters with a gold metal for his discoveries concerning the sun, and recently he also received the Cross of the French Legion of Honor.
" The Hamiltonian," 1889, also gratified students and alumni by publishing a biographical sketch of
ALBERT HUNTINGTON CHESTER, E. M. PH.D.,
the fifth Professor of Chemistry in Hamilton College. Dr. Albert Huntington Chester, was born November 22d, 1843, in Sara- toga Springs, N. Y., where his father, Rev. Dr. A. T. Chester, was then pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. After two years in Union College, he entered the School of Mines in New York City, and was a member of the second class that was graduated from that department of Columbia College. The high distinction he had won as a student under Professors Egleston, Chandler and Newberry in the School of Mines, opened the way for his election in 1870, to succeed Professor E. W. Root. He at once removed to Clinton, and for eighteen years has discharged the duties of his professorship with fidelity, enthusiasm and the largest success. His routine of class work includes instruction and lectures in general Chemistry, in Analytical, Agricultural and Medical Chemistry, and in Mineralogy. The privileges of the laboratory are also open to graduates and special students, who are furnished with excellent facilities for chemical investigations, including the analysis of ores and technical products.
Professor Chester's conscientious and trustworthy work as a scientist has been honorably recognized in various ways. In 1876 he arranged the state collection of minerals at Albany. In 1882 he was appointed chemist to the New York State Board of Health, and performed valuable service in the analysis of articles of food. In 1884 he was called as an expert witness in the Jennie McGraw- Fiske will case, to value the collections of Cornell University.
In February, 1889, he was appointed by the Assembly of the State of New York, one of four experts to examine the new ceil- ing of the Assembly Chamber of the Capitol at Albany.
As a mining engineer, Professor Chester has made many explorations in distant localities, often in pathless solitudes, where questions of the highest importance were to be decided. In 1875
69
HAMILTON COLLEGE, CLINTON, N. Y.
and 1880 he was engaged in exploring the great iron deposits of the Vermillion district in Minnesota. An account of this work is given in the " Eleventh Annual Report of the Geological Sur- vey of Minnesota." Other explorations have been made in Ontario and Nova Scotia, in Michigan, Colorado, Nevada, Cali- fornia, Utah, Arkansas and Missouri. The investment of millions of dollars has been determined by Professor Chester's reports, and in no instance have his conclusions been found inaccurate or mis- leading.
Besides frequent contributions to scientifie periodicals, Professor Chester is the author of "A Catalogue of Minerals, Alphabet- ically Arranged, with their Chemical Composition and Synonyms." This book was published in 1886, by John Wiley & Sons, New York. His preparation for this work was made with great thor- oughness, and Dr. James A. H. Murray of Oxford, England, in the preface to the first volume of his " New English Dictionary on Historical Principles," makes acknowledgment of his obliga- tions to Professor Chester for valuable aid in the history of miner- alogical terms. His private library is enriched with many rare old books in his favorite departments of research.
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.