USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a history, Volume III > Part 23
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Some time before, his father had put the school into the charge of his eldest son, George. But George Meigs had suffered a nervous break- down, and the school was drifting without a leader. There was nothing left, therefore, but for John to come to the rescue. To undertake the responsibility of the school had not been his choice. He had meant to be a journalist. But he accepted his duty with good grace, and since the work had fallen to him to do, he set out to do it with all the strength he had.
An outline history of The Hill School from 1876 to 1911 gives the high points of more than a quarter century: 1876, reorganization of the school by Dr. John Meigs (thirty boys, three masters) ; 1882, coming of Mrs. Meigs to The Hill; 1883, accession of George Q. Sheppard to the faculty (sixty-two boys, six masters) ; 1886, purchase of "the cot- tage" and adjoining property ; 1890, accession of Alfred G. Rolfe to the faculty (one hundred and one boys, fifteen masters) ; 1895, completion of the "west wing" (one hundred and fifty boys, nineteen masters) ; 1900, completion of the "east wing" (two hundred and twenty-eight boys, twenty-six masters) ; 1904, dedication of the Alumni Chapel (two hun-
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dred and sixty-eight boys, thirty masters) ; 1910, completion of the "Upper School" (three hundred and forty-seven boys, thirty-eight mas- ters) ; 1911, death of Dr. John Meigs. Progress, however, was not unchecked, and several severe shocks of misfortune were sustained whose burden would have borne a less resolute soul to the ground. In 1884 and 1890 fire swept the school property to an extent that amounted to total destruction, and again in 1901 considerable loss resulted from the same cause. Pneumonia took toll from The Hill in 1902, and upon its heels followed a typhoid epidemic, leaving its mark graven as deep in the heart of John Meigs as in the five families to whom it brought death. During all of this time The Hill was increasing in reputation as a pre- paratory school unsurpassed as a laboratory of manhood and equal to the best in standards of scholarship.
There can be but a suggestion here of the manner in which the spirit of Dr. John Meigs pervaded the entire Hill, and overflowing these limits, made itself felt as a determining force in the lives of hundreds of boys who sat under his teaching and knew the privilege of his confidence and companionship. John Meigs had before him an exact conception of the ideal head master of a great school embodied in Thomas Arnold, of Rugby, and Edward Thring, of Uppingham. Their noble example was ever before him, and at The Hill he was responsible for an institution whose works, by all fair standards of comparison, approach closely the ideal institution that was their common goal. He realized well that for the effective transmission of high purposes to the great body of the boys it was imperative that he should be surrounded by a group of masters who were both ready and able to share his convictions as to what the school ought to be and to interpret those convictions in daily work. Older boys in the school were trained for leadership by bearing a certain burden of responsibility, and Dr. John Meigs' loyalty to boys who seemed to fail was in itself the strongest urge to renewed effort and ultimate success. To him education meant the awakening of moral forces as well as the training of mental powers, and this principle was wrought into the school. He entered into every department of the life of the boys, worked with them, romped with them, sang with them, and shared with them happiness and trouble, adding keener enjoyment to the one and unfailingly lightening the burden of the other. He believed in physical training as an aid to moral soundness, and from the earliest days at The Hill strict attention was given to the bodily well-being of his boys. His hatred of insincerity and sham was second only to his passion for purity, both of which left a life-long impression upon his associates in the school, pupils and masters. Religious loyalty was the goal of his ideals for the boys, and from many letters, speaking in heart- felt appreciation of the gentle yet compelling trust laid upon his boys, is taken this story from a Hill boy who came back to a commencement two years after he had graduated and then for the first time fully learned what the master of The Hill could mean to the spirit of those who came close to him :
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One does not easily speak of the greatest moments of one's life, but surely one may be forgiven for laying a sincere if belated tribute at the feet of a holy man of God. The years have come and gone, a whole generation of men has passed, but I have that great moment to look back at when I stood with his arm around my shoulder, on the little platform which used to be on the peak of the roof of the old building, watch- ing the sun set over the far away hills; and by some miracle I was able to forget myself and speak the things that are true and eternal if one sees them but once in a lifetime. And Oh! the tenderness and the kindness of the dear Professor! Many, many years have come and gone since that great soul for a moment raised the small, timid soul of the boy into a sense of companionship. It would be grossly out of place to attempt to set down here the consequences. But surely it may be accepted as the tribute of the boy's reverence and not set down to the egoism of the boy, grown to man, if I say that through all the wanderings of the years the light then kindled before my boyish eyes, though it has flickered, has never died; though it has been obscured, has never misled nor played me false; though it has lighted for me a different path from his, yet it may shine at last upon the same goal.
In the fall of 1880 Professor Meigs (as he was always called from his first connection with the school, when the term served to distinguish him from his father, also Dr. Meigs), had gone to Durham, Pennsyl- vania, to visit beloved and life-long friends, the Raymonds, and there he met Miss Marion Butler, of New York. They became engaged in 1881. In 1881 and 1882 Miss Butler was studying abroad and was in Berlin in the winter of 1882. A little before the close of school in that year, Dr. John Meigs left The Hill to go across the seas for his bride. An old and intimate friend called his marriage "the great supreme bless- ing of his life," and in this wrote no mere phrase, but summed up a beautiful truth.
By the fall of 1905 there had begun to make itself felt the serious heart trouble which, with intervals of seeming improvement, grew worse until Dr. Meigs' death in 1911. He made every effort, by taking treat- ment in American sanitoriums and at German baths, to prolong his life by even a few years, so that he might more effectively place his life-work in such condition that others might carry it on. Temporary improve- ment was felt at times, but soon the ominous attacks of his heart returned, with increasing frequency and painfulness. On Monday, November 6, 1911, the Master of The Hill made the journey to the eternal home he had always seen with the eyes of faith. At the request of one of the school his grave was made in the chapel cloister floor, on the right of the entrance, with an exposure to the East and an outlook upon all the larger buildings.
So in the quiet cloister of the chapel his body lies; but over The Hill it is as though his spirit brooded still. And where, on many paths, they walk who have felt his touch, in truth, in manliness, in self-forgetting service, and in the power of that high consecration which lifts its eyes to God-there his spirit goes on far and living way beyond the school.
In 1914 Dwight R. Meigs, son of Dr. John and Marion (Butler) Meigs, became head master of The Hill School (see sketch following).
DWIGHT R. MEIGS-Such relationships between succeeding gen- erations of a family and an institution as have existed between three generations of the Meigs family and The Hill School are far more com-
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mon in the American world of affairs than in educational life. Founded by Dr. Matthew Meigs, brought to a splendid development and influ- ence by his son, Dr. John Meigs, and directed in its modern improvement and advancement by the grandson of the founder, Dwight R. Meigs, The Hill has become literally a family tradition, and although the head mastership has passed therefrom after seven decades of almost continu- ous service by the men named above, the intimate association and com- plete identification with its welfare has been in no manner weakened. Other chapters of this work tell the story of The Hill and the work of earlier generations in its upbuilding. There is here briefly reviewed the valuable contribution of Dwight R. Meigs to the shaping of the school as it now stands, recognized as one of the foremost preparatory institu- tions of the country.
Dwight R. Meigs, son of Dr. John and Marion (Butler) Meigs, was born at The Hill, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, August 12, 1884. He grew up with the school, for here his boyhood and early youth were spent, and he prepared for Yale University at The Hill, whence he was graduated in 1902, and at Hotchkiss. At The Hill he was quarter-back on the school football team. Being too young for college at the completion of his preparatory studies he went to Chicago and worked for a time in connection with the Ryerson iron and steel interests, matriculating at Yale in 1903, and being graduated in the class of 1907. Among his college interests were the business managership of the "Yale Courant," and he was also a member of the freshman football team, member of the 'varsity swimming team, which he captained in his junior year, and a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity, consistently maintaining a high standard of scholarship in addition to these numerous social and athletic activities.
Before going abroad for further study in England, Mr. Meigs spent a year in social settlement work with Graham Taylor at the "Chicago Commons," and in 1908 he entered Merton College, Oxford, specializing in English literature during 1908-1910 and the spring term of 1911. His devotion to athletics continued at Oxford and he played on the Merton College football team and the 'varsity tennis, hockey and swimming teams, while for two years he was captain of the Merton College tennis team. This last named department of athletics he fostered and notably improved at The Hill, for he coached the school tennis team for seven years, beginning in 1912, and in that time the school team won five interscholastic championships, losing only one to another school team during the period of his coaching. Amid the countless duties of head master of a large school he found time to play on the Merion Cricket Club tennis team in Philadelphia inter-club matches for three years, helping to win the championship each year, and gaining No. 9 ranking in the Philadelphia and suburban district.
In November, 1911, while at sea returning to America, Mr. Meigs received a wireless message announcing his father's death. He at once entered upon the management of his father's estate, and his special work in connection with The Hill began when he took up intensively the study
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of the business and financial aspects of its direction in association with Allen D. Hoffer and the office staff. Meantime he became president of the Pottstown Young Men's Christian Association, and in 1913 led the campaign for a building fund of $125,000, resulting in the erection of the present home of the association, with a membership of 1400-the most conspicuous landmark in the social and civic life of the town. Thus with many varied activities he filled the years previous to his assumption of the position of head master in 1914 with hard work, and finshed the long period of preparation for duties of leadership of the school. In January, 1913, announcement had been made of the election of Mr. Meigs as assistant head master under Mr. Rolfe, who was at that time formally made head master. Together the two men ably adminis- tered the affairs of the school until June, 1914, when Dwight R. Meigs became the third head master of his family.
The period from 1914, when Dwight R. Meigs entered upon the responsible duties of the head mastership, until his resignation in 1922, marked an administration of remarkable progress that will always stand out as a preeminently great period in the long life of The Hill. The physical manifestations of this progress were the building of the dining hall, the music house, the Dell theatre, the out-door swimming pool, the remodeling of the school office, the moving and remodeling of the infirm- ary, the renovating of the head master's study, and finally, the erection of Memorial Hall, whose cornerstone was laid by former Secretary of War Baker on November 1, 1919. The last named building is a center of daily school life, completing the great campus quadrangle begun by the old Middle School and continued by Alumni Chapel and the Upper School. It not only serves the constant uses of school exercises, but also stands, a gem of architecture, as an enduring memorial to the school's war heroes. In all this extensive building campaign the practical needs of the school, present and future, were the prime consideration, but it is worthy of remark that every structure erected under Dwight R. Meigs' supervision made a distinct improvement in the general architectural beauty of The Hill. In addition to this building new property was acquired to provide for future expansion, and land was also purchased for a golf course and for the school farm.
Turning from these more conspicuous milestones in the forward march of the school under Mr. Meig's leadership to another department of his work of prime importance, it is interesting to note the prominent and famous men of national and international reputation who were brought to The Hill as speakers. These included General Wood, Irvin S. Cobb, Henry Reuterdahl, Captain Ian Hay Beith, and John Masefield. Not less notable was the standard of sermons the school was privileged to hear during these years. The late Canon Henson, of Westminster Cathedral; Bishop Charles D. Williams, of Michigan; and the head masters of Andover, Exeter, St. Paul's School and St. Mark's School; Bishop Hughes, of Massachusetts ; President Butler, of Columbia; and President Hibben, of Princeton, were among the notable ministers and
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divines who preached from Alumni Chapel pulpit from time to time, not to mention the great names already on the roll of The Hill preachers.
The period preceding the entry of the United States into the World War and at the time of actual conflict brought new problems and respon- sibilities to the head master's desk, which were met with the wisdom and ability that Mr. Meig's co-workers had learned to expect at all times. By the lecturers brought to the school, by the introduction of talks on current events by members of the faculty, and by encouraging general reading among the students, he kept constantly before the boys of The Hill the highest ideals of intelligent patriotism, thus preparing them for America's entrance into the conflict and for the duties of good citizens at all times. Immediate and especial war activities were inaugurated in April, 1917, with a course of military training conducted by William H. Weiss, George D. Robins, and T. R. Hyde, who regularly drilled the cadets during the spring term. Then, in a memorable speech at the alumni banquet in May, Mr. Meigs outlined his fully prepared plans for a summer military camp on The Hill grounds, a camp which became a vivid reality in June, July and August.
Before commencement Mr. Turner, of the faculty's and the sixth form, had built a mess-shack and general headquarters for the military work in Sampson's Woods, near the golf course, work on the military farm had begun, and old army tents had been secured for the canton- ment. More than a hundred boys, mostly from The Hill, took advantage of the opportunity thus afforded to gain preliminary training for the United States army. By the expenditure of much toil and much money Mr. Meigs had thus initiated a voluntary system of drill for our boys which was of the greatest use and which brought to the school no little fame of the highest sort.
Through the summer months of 1917 this camp flourished under the commandant, Major Macy, of the United States Marines ; H. H. Saylor, 1898; Russell Drowne, 1916, and others who gave their time and effort to the cause. A West Point cadet drilled the infantry, hikes were organized, war games were played, and sham battles were fought night and day. In the long vacation of 1918 an even better organized and better managed military camp occupied the same ground under the command of Major Griffith, of the United States army, and barracks replaced the old tents as shelter. More West Point cadets were engaged as drill instructors, and two officers of the Canadian army taught the elementary principles of modern trench warfare. Both these camps were models of modern, sanitary, highly disciplined centers of war training. Then through the years from 1917 to 1919 the entire school was under compulsory military training. The boys took active part in the drives instituted for the benefit of the Red Cross, the Liberty loans and the sale of War Saving Stamps. The spirit of war-time economy and thrift was encouraged to the highest point among the students. In conjuction with all the distractions of the crisis, an excellent standard of scholar- ship was somehow maintained.
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Opportunity is lacking in an article of this nature to dwell at proper length upon the many ramifications of Mr. Meigs' influence in connection with The Hill. There can only be suggested the part he played in establishing friendly and mutually helpful relations with other schools, his considerate cooperation with his colleagues, the extent of his personal service to under-graduates, and his valuable activity among the alumni. These topics are the making of a volume. There is but one further subject, and that one of unsurpassed significance, to be here considered as the outstanding event of Mr. Meigs' administration, the transfer of the school to the alumni and the establishment of the Foundation Fund. The energy and enthusiasm of Mr. Meigs was chiefly instrumental in clearing away the obstacles in the path of this procedure, in consequence of which, and the generosity of the Meigs family, The Hill opened its seventieth year in September, 1920, as an endowed institution, governed by a board of trustees under the leadership of Clarence A. Warden, 1896. The terms of this transfer, as published by the trustees in November, 1920, are as follows:
In September, 1920, the School property was officially appraised for purposes of insurance at over $1,520,000. The real estate (more than 145 acres) was conserva- tively valued at $180,000. The total assets of the School were thus in excess of $1,700,000, exclusive of name and good will. Stock, common and preferred, in the old corporation was outstanding to the amount of $550,000. The bonded and other indebtedness was about $650,000. There was thus an equity in the property of over $500,000.
All of the above stock was owned by members of the Meigs family, with the exception of approximately $150,000 of the common stock, $75,000 of which was held by ten of the older masters associated in the work of the School, and a like amount by those who had purchased it at the time of the original incorporation. Annual dividends on this stock have regularly been paid at the rate of 6 per cent. on the pre- ferred and 5 per cent. on the common.
Under the transfer plan, as finally agreed upon, the Board of Trustees of the new Alumni Corporation acquired all of the property of the old corporation and assumed all the latter's debts and obligations. No cash consideration was involved. The former owners of the School turned over to the Trustees as a gift to the new corporation their entire equity in the property, amounting to more than $500,000 and accepted in lieu of their stock Sinking Fund Bonds of the new corporation, as follows : For preferred stock, $150,000, 6% bonds; for common stock, $400,000, 5% bonds.
The above issue of bonds is redeemable in whole or in part on any interest date at their face value and accrued interest, and they are likewise subject to redemption for purposes of the sinking fund on any such date. As a result of the change, Fed- eral taxes, amounting to approximately $10,000 a year, will be saved. A portion of this saving, namely $6,000, is to be applied by way of a sinking fund to the retire- ment of the above bonds, the 6 per cent. bonds to be retired first; bonds to be kept alive in the sinking fund for sinking fund purposes only. Through the operation of the sinking fund, all the 6 per cent. bonds will be retired within 16 years, and all of the bonds will be retired within 34 years from the date of their issue.
In the mortgage securing these bonds adequate provision is made enabling the issuance of prior obligation to care for the future development of the School.
From the above it will be seen that the new Alumni Corporation has been able to secure the ownership of The Hill without the necessity of making any cash payment, and that the savings in Federal taxes due to the operation of the new corporation on a non-profit basis will pay for the School in 34 years.
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Under date of January 23, 1922, Mr. Meigs addressed the governing body of the school, a portion of which is hereby given :
CLARENCE A. WARDEN, Esq.,
President of the Board of Trustees, The Hill School, Pottstown, Pa.
MY DEAR MR. WARDEN :
When the Board of Trustees last Autumn granted me a six months' leave of absence from official duties at School it was my hope that during this period certain adjustments in family business interests might be consummated, freeing me for the future from responsibilities of long standing which have increasingly interferred with the orderly progress of my work at The Hill. It seemed reasonable to expect that with the curing of these troubles, I should soon reach the eagerly awaited day when I could discharge the duties of Head Master in a manner and to a degree which cir- cumstances beyond my control had previously rendered impossible.
You can therefore imagine my intense disappointment in learning as the result of recent inspection trips in the South, followed by conference with my legal advisers, that I am only called upon to assume further obligations in the executorship of my father's estate, but that I must also quietly face the prospect of increasing my per- sonal supervision of an industrial enterprise in Tennessee, a large contingent interest in which comprises the estate's chief asset.
With these facts in mind I feel compelled to inform you officially of my dilemma and to assume the initiative in proposing a solution. If I remain at my administrative post I may imperil the welfare of an estate whose beneficiaries include four genera- tions of my family, but what is vastly more important, I shall be forced to divide between the executorship of my father's estate and the routine duties of the School the thought and time which a Head Master should unremittingly give to his official tasks. Surely we are not justified in thus endangering our School, for however smoothly The Hill is now running under the wise direction of Mr. Rolfe and the Faculty it must be our conviction that the School's best interests demand a more permanent basis of administration than is offered by a plan which presupposes my return to active duty at an uncertain date with a marked division in my duties. For my part, knowingly to prolong a situation which works a hardship in the evolution of School policies would belie the deep-rooted affection I feel of everything pertaining to the welfare of The Hill.
On the other hand, if I lay aside all though of personal preference and the par- donable hope of carrying further into the third generation the work which was estab- lished by my grandfather and so greatly enriched my father, my simple duty to the Trustees, alumni, masters and boys of The Hill becomes painfully clear. I must leave my work and my home in order to protect and strengthen the School; I must surrender the position I now hold at whatever individual cost and sacrifice, in order that there may come into office some one who can give single-minded attention to the Head Mastership, who shall bend every energy to the achievement of our high pur- poses and the realization of our fond hopes for the School. In this respect I shall at least have placed no stumbling block in its way nor consciously checked its increasing progress and power by retaining until a decisive hour such authority as conflicting demands will prohibit my using to the certain advantage of The Hill.
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