Chapter 8

Mistakes go in pairs. It was a mistake for a body of Protestant ministers to meddle in the matter of the succession to a generalship in the army, and it is a mistake for the _Catholic Standard_ to make this the occasion for invidious statements in reference to the service of Catholics in the late war. "Never," it says, "was any company or any regiment or brigade that entwined on its colors emblems of the Catholic faith, and on the eve of a battle knelt to receive absolution from a Catholic priest, recorded but as first to advance and last to retreat. And since then, whether in barracks or in camp, ... you look in vain for any disgraceful record of Catholic privates and officers." We submit that neither caste nor class nor sect has any place in determining the relative merits of the brave soldiers who fought in the Civil War. In camp, and upon the field of battle, they stood side by side, not as New Yorkers, Vermonters, Germans, Irishmen, Catholics, or Protestants, but as patriotic Americans. Some of these, perhaps, were better soldiers because they were devout Catholics, and others because they were earnest Presbyterians or Methodists, and this for the reason that those who fear God are the readier to face duty, brave danger, and die for country. No: our army is not an army of Catholics, Baptists, etc., but an army of Americans.

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Is it true that "a very large part of our free education system is devoted to teaching the principles of Nihilism, the absurdities of evolution, the crudities of the nineteenth-century philosophy, weakest and most watery of all the philosophies of the ages"? Dr. William C. Prime makes this claim in the New-York _Journal of Commerce_, and then says, "Of what use it is to read the Bible in the morning, and teach in the afternoon that the Bible is a poor fiction, perhaps some one can explain. That this is precisely what many common schools and free educational institutions are doing, may be discovered with little difficulty." With due deference to the opinion of our genial _confrère_, we cannot accept his conclusions. We have yet to learn of any public school in which flouting at the Bible or religion enters into the matter of instruction, and we apprehend that the number of teachers who thus misuse their office really constitutes so small a fraction of the teaching community as to be hardly worthy the learned doctor's attention. As a matter of fact, by far the greater number of American teachers in public schools and private schools, whatever their faults otherwise, are men and women who are either Christians, or filled with a reverent regard for the Bible and its teachings.

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When Daniel Webster was a youth of eighteen, in college, he wrote to a friend these suggestive words: "I am fully persuaded that our happiness is much at our regulation, and that the 'Know thyself' of the Greek philosopher meant no more than rightly to attune and soften our appetites and passions till they should symphonize like the harp of David."

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Perhaps no one ever paid a finer tribute to conscience than John Adams, when, after advising his son John Quincy to preserve above all things his innocence, he said, "Your conscience is the minister plenipotentiary of God Almighty in your heart. See to it that this minister never negotiates in vain."

EDUCATION.

When in any of the chief activities of human life it becomes necessary to adopt new methods, or to make some new application of old and well-tried principles, it is always best that change should be discriminating, gradual, and slow; and perhaps nowhere does this maxim demand recognition and respect more imperatively than in educational reform. We are not disposed to find fault with those who contend for the authority and sway of the progressive spirit of the present as against the spirit of the past. In science, art, literature, education; in religion, morals, philosophy, theology, every genuine gain in depth, breadth, and fulness is to be hailed with a thousand welcomes. It would be a pity if an unenlightened veneration for the traditions and principles of a superannuated conservatism were allowed to rob the world even of the smallest portion of the benefit of a single new and useful idea.

The needs and duties of each age require that intelligence should steadily advance, and in the field of truth there is always something valuable left for the latest gleaner. No one is fitted for the duties of to-day who dreads the spirit of free inquiry that breathes around him, and fearlessly addresses its questions in every direction. Especially should new and better hints be welcomed as to the true science and method of instructing the youthful mind. Patience, delicacy, intelligence, and skill are nowhere required more than in this.

But while it is true that each generation must have liberty to do its work in its own way, no generation can afford to despise or disparage the wisdom and experience of previous ages, or to institute reforms which revolutionize the methods and the principles of the past. The intellectual triumphs and achievements which are the goal of one age are indeed no more than the starting-point of the next; but the links of connection must be preserved unbroken. The conditions of a successful and symmetrical development of the mental powers are substantially the same in every land and time, and there are great principles which, however variously we may apply them, can never in themselves be violated or discarded with impunity. So far as the new education so strenuously advocated in our day honors and observes the eternal laws of the mind, we can afford to contemplate the new ventures with equanimity, if not with hope; but there is reason to fear that the almost unlimited freedom of individual choice as to subjects of study accorded to young and inexperienced minds in colleges where new departures have been taken is scarcely compatible with the compliance those laws rigidly require.

HISTORICAL RECORD.

[_By sending to the editor brief contributions suitable for use in this department, readers will greatly add to its completeness and value._]

Jan. 25.--About one hundred and fifty members of the Old Colony Historical Society were present at the society rooms in the State House, and listened to the concluding portion of Hon. Colin M. Ingersoll's paper entitled "Leaves from the Diary of a Young Man in St. Petersburg, 1848-49." Among those present were ex-Gov. English, Hon. C. B. Bowers, ex-Mayor Robertson, Rev. Mr. Leonard, Dr. Ayers, Judge L. E. Munson, Capt. C. H. Townshend, and many other well-known gentlemen, besides a party of friends of Mr. Ingersoll from New York. The paper was a rare treat. A vote of thanks was tendered the speaker, on motion of ex-Mayor Robertson, and interesting remarks were made by Prof. Baldwin.

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Feb. 10.--The annual dinner of the Washington Association of the Bowdoin Alumni took place at Welcker's. Some thirty-five persons sat down, among them Hon. Hugh McCulloch, Hon. L. D. M. Sweet, Senator Frye, Hon. W. W. Rice, Judge W. B. Snell, Gen. Ellis Spear, Col. J. H. Gilman, U.S.A., Rev. J. S. Sewall, D.D., Gen. John Marshal Brown, Mr. Israel Kimball, and Rev. S. M. Newman. The following officers were elected: President, Commodore Horatio Bridge; Vice-Presidents, Israel Kimball and Judge William B. Snell; treasurer, I. N. Whitney; Corresponding Secretary, Prof. J. W. Chickering, and Recording Secretary, James C. Strout.

The Bowdoin Alumni Association of New York also ate their annual dinner, and elected officers as follows: E. B. Merrill, president; Francis R. Upton, secretary; D. F. H. Dillingham, treasurer.

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Feb. 10.--About one hundred sons of the Granite State, the majority of whom belong to the New Hampshire Club, assembled at the Quincy House, Boston, under the presidency of Hon. J. C. Moore, of Manchester. Among the company were many distinguished gentlemen, invited because they were natives of the State, and among these were: Senator J. Gault of Hookset, Naval Officer A. O. Kent, Gen. J. L. Stevenson, Speaker J. Q. A. Brackett, Mr. Charles F. Morrill of Manchester, Mr. George B. Clifford of Grand Forks, Dak., Gen. Charles H. Burns of Wilton, Landlord Crufts of the Maplewood House, Bethlehem, Mr. A. A. Folsom of the Boston & Providence Railroad, Mr. A. A. Copp of Nashua, Dr. A. H. Hayes of Alton, Gen. F. S. Nickerson, and Mr. Charles Pattee of Boston, Mr. Walter C. Taft, superintendent of the New York & Boston Dispatch Express Company, and Mr. H. B. Dwight, superintendent of the Adams Express Company.

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Feb. 15.--At an adjourned meeting of the Maiden Historical and Genealogical Society the following gentlemen were unanimously elected permanent officers of the society for the ensuing year: President, Hon. E. S. Converse; Vice-Presidents, Hon. J. K. C. Sleeper, Hon. L. L. Fuller, Hon. Marcellus Coggan; Corresponding Secretary and Librarian, George D. B. Blanchard; Recording Secretary, George D. Ayers; Treasurer, Thomas Lang. These officers are constituted a Board of Directors of the society.

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Feb. 22.--The annual meeting of the Cape Cod Historical Society convened in Lyceum Hall, Yarmouthport, Hon. Charles F. Swift in the chair. The treasurer's report showed the society to be in good financial condition. Steps were taken to celebrate the two hundredth anniversary of the formation of Barnstable County, which occurs some time in June. These officers were chosen: President, Hon. Charles F. Swift, Yarmouthport; Vice-Presidents, Thomas P. Howes, Dennis, S. B. Phinney, Barnstable, Alonzo Tripp, Boston, E. S. Whittemore, Boston, James Gifford, Provincetown; Treasurer, Samuel Snow, Barnstable; Secretary, Josiah Paine, Harwich; Executive Committee, J. C. Howes, Dennis, Eben B. Crocker, Barnstable.

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March 3.--Annual meeting of the Dedham Historical Society. The Act of the General Court, empowering the society to hold real estate to the amount of $25,000, was accepted, as was the bequest of land and money from the late Hannah Shuttleworth. A memorial sketch of the late Judge Colburn was read by Erastus Worthington, Esq. The society chose officers as follows: President, Henry O. Hildreth; Vice-president, Alfred Hewins; Recording Secretary, John D. Cobb; Treasurer and Librarian, J. H. Burdakin; Curators, Erastus Worthington, Henry W. Richards, Don Gleason Hill, J. H. Burdakin, Elijah Howe, Jr.; Auditors, George F. Fisher, A. Ward Lamson; Chronicler, Don G. Hill; Historiographer, J. H. Tuttle.

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March 9.--Meeting of the Bostonian Society. The essayist was J. M. Hubbard, whose subject was "Boston, in 1710, Preparing for a Small War." It appeared during the reading that the military enterprise on hand was the capture of Port Royal, in Nova Scotia, then in the hands of the French. The reason why Boston was peculiarly interested in it was that this Nova Scotia harbor was a resort and head-quarters for a great number of French privateers, which made short cruises along this coast, capturing many merchant-vessels and fishing-craft, greatly to the injury of the commerce of Boston. The English Government accordingly sent hither a small fleet with a body of marines, expecting that the force would be augmented by troops raised in the Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire provinces. The whole expedition was to be commanded by Colonel Francis Nicholson, who came in the fleet from England. To provide for the requirements of the local forces the Provincial Council of Massachusetts ordered that £15,000 in bills of credit of the province be printed, which was a ready way to raise the money.

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March 9.--The _Concord Monitor_, in announcing the result of the vote on this day on the question of calling a constitutional convention, says that New Hampshire towns have been directed to vote on the expediency of calling a constitutional convention by the Legislatures of 1799, 1806, 1813, 1820, 1832, 1833, 1837, 1844, 1846, 1849, 1857, 1860, 1862, 1864, 1868, 1869, 1875, 1883, resulting in the conventions of 1850-1 and 1876-7. The proposition had a sufficient majority this time.

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March 10.--An explosion on the tug-boat "John Markee," in Boston Harbor, instantly killed the entire crew, consisting of five men.

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March 12.--At a special meeting of both branches of the Cambridge City Council, a special committee was appointed on the part of the city government to confer with the committee on the part of the citizens relative to a suitable observance of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the departure for the seat of war of Co. C, Third Regiment of Infantry, of Cambridge. This was the first volunteer company organized for the war of the rebellion in the city. Ex-Mayors Montague, Saunders, and Harding, ex-Aldermen Thurston and Chapman, and Mr. J. W. Merrill, made short addresses, urging the necessity of making the 17th of April a day of local pride for Cambridge. The following committee on the part of the citizens was chosen: ex-Mayors Bradford, Harding, Montague, and Saunders, ex-Alderman F. L. Chapman and D. H. Thurston, and Messrs. George H. Howard, J. C. Wellington, and L. B. Porter. On the part of the City Council there were chosen Mayor Russell, Aldermen Hincks and Lindsay, and Councilmen Kemp, Ivers, Coveney, and President Corcoran.

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March 15.--At a meeting of the committee having in charge the preparations for the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the city of Lowell, the following programme was agreed on, for April 1: In the morning, singing by public-school children, and address by C. C. Chase, former principal of the High School. In the afternoon, prayer by the Rev. Owen Street; address by Mayor Abbott; oration by the Hon. F. T. Greenhalge; in the evening, addresses by ex-mayors.

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March 15.--The regular monthly meeting of the Methodist Historical Society was one of unusual interest. Rev. Hebron Vincent, of Edgartown, occupied the chair, and Rev. C. L. Goodell, of Providence, presented and read an interesting sketch of the rise and progress of Methodism in Rhode Island, bringing out particularly the history of the Chestnut Street Church, of which he is the present pastor, and whose semi-centennial was recently observed. Rev. Dr. Chadbourne, of Charlestown, found in the files of the _Columbian Sentinel_ for 1806 the following: "On Thursday morning Mrs. Maria Odiorne, aged 29, wife of Mr. George Odiorne, eldest daughter of the Rev. Jas. Creighton of London, Eng. Her funeral will proceed from the dwelling of Mr. O., in May Street, this afternoon at half-past three o'clock, which the friends and acquaintances are requested to attend." The interest of the Methodist fraternity in this lady arises from the fact of her being the daughter of one of Mr. Wesley's most intimate friends and associates, and whose home was the scene of this great man's oft-repeated visits when she was but fourteen years of age. Her husband, Mr. George Odiorne, met her in London on one of his business trips across the ocean, and they were married there, she accompanying him to his American home. Her son, James Creighton Odiorne, born at his grandfather's house in London, graduated at Yale College in 1826, and was one of the founders of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, among whose members was the late William Lloyd Garrison, and of which Oliver Johnson, Esq., is the only living member. The next meeting of the Society occurs on Monday, April 12. Rev. L. B. Bates will present a sketch of the late Rev. Lewis Bates.

NECROLOGY.

Feb. 2.--John D. Philbrick, late superintendent of the Boston public schools, and one of the leading educators of the country, died Feb. 2. The funeral services, which took place at the home of the deceased in Danvers, Mass., were attended by a large representative body of educators from Boston and other cities. Rev. C. B. Rice, a past member of the State Board of Education, officiating. The train from Boston which arrived at noon was crowded with masters and other friends of the deceased, who came to join the bereaved community in the last sad rites. The committee from the Boston Evening High School consisted of Richard F. Sullivan, William J. Haines, William D. L. McKissick, John W. Mooney, William F. Donovan, ex-School Committee, Charles Hutchins, W. H. Learnard, Jr., Dr. E. T. Eastman, and others.

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Feb. 16.--Calvin S. Harrington, Professor of Latin in Wesleyan University, died at his home in Middletown, Conn. He was born May 17, 1826, in St. Johnsbury, Vt.; was graduated from Wesleyan University in 1852; 1852 to 1855 he was teacher of Latin in New Hampshire Conference Seminary, Sanbornton Bridge, N.H.; 1855 to 1860, principal of same; 1861 to 1863, Professor of Greek, and 1863 to his death, professor in Wesleyan University.

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Feb. 18.--John B. Gough, the famous temperance orator, died in Philadelphia. He was attacked by apoplexy Monday, February 15, while lecturing on "Peculiar People," in Philadelphia. When he arose to address the crowded gathering he was feeling well, and for forty minutes he spoke with his usual fire and eloquence. Then suddenly his head dropped upon his chest, and he fell prostrate to the floor.

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Feb. 19.--Edward Learned, one of the most prominent citizens of Berkshire county, died at his home, in Pittsfield, Mass., of disease of the heart. He was sixty-six years old, and a native of Watervliet. He was a Representative to the Legislature in 1857, and a Senator in 1873 and 1874.

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Feb. 25.--Death of John Smith, a well-known manufacturer of Andover, Mass. He was nearly ninety years of age, and for years maintained a personal interest in the town, in which place he first settled on arriving in this country from Scotland. His detestation of the pro-slavery preaching of the day led him, with others, to form the Free Christian Church in 1846. He was also a generous supporter of educational interests, and large sums went from his hand to the infant colleges of the West, as well as to older institutions.

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Feb. 28.--Mary Jane Welles, widow of the Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy under Presidents Lincoln and Johnson, died at her residence in Hartford, Conn., aged 69 years. She was a daughter of Elias W. Hale, who graduated at Yale College in 1795, and subsequently was one of the original settlers of Lewistown, Penn. She married Mr. Welles in 1835.

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March 6.--The Rev. Henry Martyn Grout, D.D., pastor of the Trinitarian Congregational Church in Concord, Mass., died in Boston after a brief sickness. He was born in Newfane, Vt., May 14, 1831. He entered Williams College in 1850, and was graduated in 1854. Dr. Grout entered the ministry in September, 1858, when he was ordained and installed as pastor of the Orthodox Church in Putney, Vt. After preaching there, at West Rutland, Vt., and Springfield, Mass., he moved to Boston, and became a member of the editorial staff of the _Congregationalist_, which position he filled with great credit to himself and the paper during Dr. Dexter's absence abroad. He had occupied the pulpit of the church in Concord since 1872.

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March 8.--The Rev. Nicholas Hoppin, D.D., rector of Christ Church, Cambridge, from 1839 to 1874, died suddenly. He was born in Providence, R.I., Dec. 3, 1812, and grew up in St. John's Church, of which the famous Dr. Crocker was rector, and was one of a large number of young men whom Dr. Crocker induced to enter the Episcopal ministry. He was graduated from Brown University in 1831. He was a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, and of the American Oriental Society. He was at his death, with the exception of the Rev. T. R. Lambert, the oldest Episcopal clergyman in Massachusetts.

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March 9.--Colonel William S. Clark, ex-president of Amherst Agricultural College, long associated with the educational and agricultural interests of the State, died at his home in Amherst, Mass., of Bright's-disease, after a painful illness of three years. He was born in Ashfield, July 31, 1826, and was graduated at Amherst College in 1848. He studied chemistry and mining at the Gottingen University, received the degree of Ph.D. in 1852, and received the degree of LL.D. from Amherst in 1874. In 1877 Colonel Clark was invited by the Japanese Government to organize the Imperial Agricultural College, where he passed a year, leaving the institution in the most flourishing condition.

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March 10.--Death at her home in South Boston of Mrs. Julia Romana Anagnos, wife of Michael Anagnos, and eldest child of the late Dr. Samuel G. and Mrs. Julia Ward Howe. She was a woman of broad, intellectual mind, and a writer.

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March 10.--Sudden death of H. B. Safford, postmaster of White River Junction, Vt., treasurer of the State Agricultural Society, and a leading citizen of the State.

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March 11.--Death of Charles Powers, a prominent citizen of Somerville, and the senior member of the grain-elevator firm of Powers, Melvin, & Co.

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March 13.--Hon. Peter Buchanan, of Barnet, Vt., died at his residence in McIndoe's Falls Village, aged seventy-eight years. He was of Scotch descent, and inherited many of the sterling qualities of his race. He was born in Barnet, where he always resided, and held nearly every office within the gift of his fellow-townsmen. He represented the town in the Legislature in 1876, and was twice elected Assistant Judge of the Caledonia County Court.

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March 15.--Death of Prof. Edward Tuckerman, LL.D., of Amherst College. He was born in Boston in 1820, was graduated at Union College in 1837, at the Law School in 1839, and at Harvard in 1847. In 1854 he came to Amherst as lecturer on history, and the next year was appointed to the professorship. Three years later he became Professor of Botany.

INDEX TO PERIODICAL LITERATURE.

[First numeral refers to foot-note and name of periodical. Second numeral to page. Date of periodical is that of the month preceding this issue of the New England Magazine, unless otherwise stated.]

ACADEMIC AND EDUCATIONAL. Biological Training in Colleges. _Prof. W. G. Farlow._ 5, 577.--Health and Sex in Higher Education. _John Dewey, Ph.D._ 5, 606.--Boston University School of Law. _Benjamin. R. Curtis._ 8, 218.--The School-house in American Development. _Rev. A. E. Winship._ 10, 387.--Knowledge which Earns Bread. _Sarah K. Bolton._ 10, 394.--The Philosophical Phase of a System of Education. _Chas. E. Lowrey._ 10, 397.--The Ancient-Modern Language Controversy. _Minna Caroline Smith._ 10, 405.--The Problem of Woman's Education. _Nicolo D'Alfonso._ 10, 420.--Relation of the High School to the Community. _David W. Hoyt._ 10, 429.

ARCHITECTURE. Japanese House-building. _Prof. E. S. Morse._ 5, 643.--Recent Architecture in America, City Dwellings. _Mrs. Schuyler van Rensselaer._ 7, 677.--Some Notable Vanes. 1, 193.--At the White House. _Hester M. Poole._ 19, 170.--The Old Guard Ball.--How the Metropolitan House can be made Beautiful. 19, 184.