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riFTH PEESIDENT OT HAl^ilLTON COLLEGE 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 OF 
 
 Rev. SIMEON NORTH, D. D., LL. D. 
 
 FIFTH PRESIDENT 
 
 OF 
 
 HAMILTON COLLEGE. 
 
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 UTICA, N. Y. 
 Ei.Lis H. Roberts & Co., Printers, 6o Genesee Street. 
 1884. 
 
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 W.Y.Pub. Lalai. 
 
 
 i^XOhAHwatUd, 
 
SIMEON NORTH. 
 
 BoRi^ IN Berlln", Conn., September 7, 1802. 
 
 United with the First Congregational Church 
 
 IN Middletown, Conn., in May, 1818. 
 
 Graduated from Yale College in 1825. 
 
 Graduated from Yale College Divinity School in 1828. 
 
 Tutor in Yale College, 1827-9. 
 
 Professor of Greek and Latin Languages 
 
 in Hamilton College, 1829-39. 
 
 Married, April 21, 1835, Frances Harriet Hubbard, 
 
 WHO Died January 21, 1881. 
 
 Elected Fifth President of Hamilton College in 1839. 
 
 Trustee of Auburn Theological Seminary, 1840-49. 
 
 Ordained at Winfield, IST. Y., by the Oneida Association, 
 
 in May, 1842. 
 
 Received LL. D. from Western Reserve College 
 
 IN August, 1842. 
 
 Orator of Connecticut Alpha of Phi Beta Kappa in 1847. 
 
 Received S. T. D. from Wesleyan University 
 
 IN August, 1849. 
 
 Resigned the Presidency of Hamilton College in 1857. 
 
 Half-Century Annalist of Hamilton Alumni in 1879, 
 
 Died on College Hill, February 9, 1884. 
 
 Buried in Hamilton College Cemetery, February 12, 1884. 
 
Twice twenty years of prayerful toil, 
 And where is all tlieir garnered gold? 
 
 Full eighty years in mortal coil, 
 
 And where is all their struggle told? 
 
 No bank could store the priceless gain 
 
 Wrested from agonies and ills; 
 No rhyme could tell the joyful pain 
 
 Of triumphs bathed in tears and smiles. 
 
 Long summer's alchemy transmutes » 
 
 To gold the plowman's anxious sweat; 
 
 Autumn's gay leaves and blushing fruits 
 Enrich the laborer's coronet. 
 
 The elm that sees its aged form 
 
 Glassed in the bright Oriskany, 
 Hoards streno-th from sunshine and fierce storm 
 
 For loftier commune with the sky. 
 
REV. DR. SIMEON NORTH. 
 
 [Prom the Utica Mobning Hesald,] 
 
 On Saturday, February 9, 1884, at 4.30 p. m., Kev. 
 Dr. SiMEOK NoETH, formerly president of Hamilton 
 College, was released from suffering at tlie age of eighty- 
 one years and five months. His death followed an 
 attack of pneumonia which began on Saturday, 
 February 2. 
 
 A new generation has come upon the stage since Dr. 
 North's retirement from' the presidency in 1857. 
 Owing partly to ill health and partly to a keenly 
 sensitive nature, he has lived a quiet and secluded life 
 for more than twenty-six years. Yet he has kept 
 himself familiar with the best literature, and has 
 rejoiced in all the prosperities of the college. 
 
 Born in Berlin, Hartford County, Conn., September 
 7, 1802, he belonged to one of those large families now 
 widely dispersed, that have furnished marked illustra- 
 tions of the sturdy integrity and intelligence of New 
 England character. He was in the seventh generation 
 from JoHi^ North, whose name appears along with one 
 of the ancestors of President Noah Porter, among the 
 original proprietors and settlers of Farmington, Conn., 
 in 1653. The Farmington colony was the first offshoot 
 from the church-colony of Kev. Thomas Hooker, 
 of Hartford, Conn., which came from England in 1635^ 
 The Second Congregational church in Berlin — originally 
 
6 BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 a part of Farmington — was organized in 1775, and at 
 the head of its catalogue of 1,400 members, stands the 
 name of Deacon Isaac Noeth, great grandfather of 
 Hamilton's fifth president. He was baptized by Rev. 
 Samuel Goodrich, (the father of "Petee Paeley" 
 GooDEiCH,) who preached solid doctrinal sermons, in 
 silver knee-buckles and immaculate silk hose, under an 
 antique sounding board. 
 
 Dr. NosTH was graduated from Yale College in 1825, 
 with the valedictory oration. It was his good fortune to 
 earn this distinction when the leading men in the 
 faculty in Yale College were President Day, the elder 
 Professor SiLLniA^, Professors Olmstead, Goodeich, 
 and Kln^gsley and Tutor Theodoee D. Woolsey, who 
 was then at the outset of his almost unparalleled 
 career as a college officer. In 1825-6, while a member 
 of the Yale Divinity school, Dr. Noeth had the 
 advantages of a home in the family of Dr. Leo]S"AED 
 Bacois". In 1827 he was appointed to a tutorship in 
 Yale College, and in 1829 was elected to the chair of 
 ancient languages in Hamilton College. His ten years 
 of service as a professor were followed by his election 
 to the presidency in 1839, as the successor of Dr. Joseph 
 Penis^ey. His inaugural discourse was delivered in 
 the old Stone Church in Clinton, May 8, 1839, in 
 connection with the junior exhibition of the class of 
 1840; and it is noteworthy that four members of that 
 famous class were associated with him as trustees of 
 the college. They are Hon. Theodoee W. D wight of 
 !New York, Rev. Dr. Be:n^ey Kendall of IN'ew York,. 
 
BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 the late Kev. Dr. W. E. Knox of Elmira, and Eev. Dr. 
 L. M. Miller of Ogdensburg. Dr. Noeth held the 
 presidency until 1857, and gave diplomas to 661 
 graduates and honorary alumni in nineteen classes. 
 His connection with the college as professor, president 
 and trustee, covers the loog period of fifty-five years. 
 Of those who were trustees when Dr. Noeth accepted 
 the presidency. Judge Hee"ey A. Fostee, of Rome, 
 alone survives. In forcy years, by the death of his 
 colleagues, one after another, Judge Fostee passed up 
 from the bottom of the roll of trustees to the place of 
 chairman, which he now holds. Of the men who were 
 in the faculty when President Noeth took the helm, 
 only two are now living, Rev, Dr. B. W. Dwight, of 
 Clinton, and Rev. T. T. Beadeoed, of Metuchen, N. J. 
 
 In 1840, President Noeth was elected a trustee of 
 Auburn Theological Seminary, and held that office 
 nine years. He received the degree of LL. D, from 
 Western Reserve College in 1842, and that of S. T. D. 
 from Wesleyan University in 1849. 
 
 A list of President Noeth's published discourses on 
 special occasions, would include his inaugural address 
 in 1839, on "The American System of Collegiate 
 Education ; " " Faith in the World's Conversion," a 
 sermon before the Oneida County Bible Societ}^ in 
 1842; "Anglo-Saxon Literature," an oration before the 
 Connecticut Alpha of Phi Beta Kappa in 1847; " The 
 Weapons of Christian Warfare," a baccalaureate sermon 
 before the class of 1849; "Obedience in Death," a 
 sermon at the funeral of Professor Maeotjs Catlin, 
 
8 BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 September 13, 1849; and a sermon at the funeral of 
 Treasurer B. W. Dwight in 1850; "The Connection 
 "between a Useful Life and a Peaceful Death," 
 a sermon at the funeral of ex-President Het^ry 
 Davis, March 10, 1852; "Diligence in Business," a 
 baccalaureate sermon before the class of 1852. His 
 half-century letter of reminiscences in 1879 to the 
 Society of Hamilton Alumni, was his last contribu- 
 tion to the literature of the college. 
 
 The leading events in Dr. North's administration, 
 briefly stated in their historical order, were these : 
 
 1. The election in 1841 of Eev. Dr. Henry Mande- 
 viLLE to the chair of moral philosophy and rhetoric, 
 and through him the reorganizing of a popular branch 
 of instruction that has gained for the college a wide 
 celebrity. 
 
 2. The completion and occupation of North College, 
 or Dexter Hall, in 1843, with funds collected by the 
 president, after the building had stood for twenty years 
 in an unfinished condition. This building is now 
 undergoing thorough repairs, on an improved plan, and 
 will be hereafter known as the William H. Skinner 
 Hall. 
 
 3. The election in December, 1843, of Professor 
 Edward North to the chair of Greek and Latin, as 
 the successor of Professor John Finley Smith, deceased. 
 
 4. The election, in 1846, of Tutor T. W. Dwight to 
 the Maynard professorship, followed by the organizing 
 of the Maynard Law School. 
 
 5. The election of Dr. Oren Root in 1849, as 
 
BIOaEAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 the successor of Professor Maecus Catlin, and tlie 
 establishment of the cabinet of natural history in what 
 is now known as Kn'ox Hall. 
 
 6. The election of Treasurer O. S. Williams in 1850 
 as the successor of Dr. B. W. Dwight. 
 
 7. The improvement of the college campus and the 
 college cemetery in 1852, under the direction of three 
 curators, John C. HASTii^as, Professor Oeeis" Root and 
 Rev. A. D. Gridley. 
 
 8. The election of Rev. Dr. W. S. Cuetis to the 
 chair of moi'al philosophy in 1854, and the re-establish- 
 ment of the college church. 
 
 9. The founding of prize competitions in oratory, 
 chemistry, classical scholarship and English essays. 
 
 10. The building in 1856, with funds collected by 
 Dr. AvEEY, of the laboratory and the astronomical 
 observatory, since endowed by Edwin^ C. Litchfield. 
 
 To one familiar with the college as it now is, some of 
 these events will mark the beginning of a rapid 
 development, which, in spite of constant embarrassment 
 from inadequate means, has led the way to very useful 
 and sometimes brilliant results. In all prudent plans 
 for improvement. President Noeth heartily co-operated 
 with the trustees, faculty and friends of the college. 
 It was one of the rules of his official action that every 
 college officer should be supreme in his own depart- 
 ment, so long as he made no trespass on other 
 co-ordinate departments. He always felt that without 
 the cheerful support of a united faculty he was crippled 
 and well nigh helpless. He fully accepted the wisdom 
 
10 BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 whicli Professor Catlin once expressed in his own 
 axiomatic way, that "• The faculty should be a Jackson 
 unit." Naturally modest and self-distrustful, Dr. 
 North was always reluctant to antagonize his associ- 
 ates. Yet he was most heroic and unflinching in the 
 doing of a manifest duty, however disagreeable it 
 might be. 
 
 In dealing with students. President North wa& 
 unwearied in vigilance, patience, courtesy and paternal 
 kindness. He was never known to lose his self-control. 
 His unfailing faith, hope and charity formed a triple 
 cord that bound to his own heart the hearts of his 
 pupils. 
 
 There was a tenderness well nio-h romantic in the 
 friendship of President North and Professor Catlin. 
 It was a genuine, wholesome sentiment that rooted 
 itself in their daily lives as quietly and naturally as 
 the tree grows in a genial soil, and repeated itself at their 
 firesides. While widely apart in their studies, they 
 were closely together in religious and political tenets, 
 and in contempt for all shams, ostentations, trickeries, 
 and social hypocrisies. For eighteen years they lived 
 and labored side by side, making cheerful sacrifices for 
 the growth of the college, and finding contentment in 
 household joys and hopes. When in the autumn of 
 1849 President North preached the funeral sermon of 
 Professor Catlin, it was his farewell to much that was 
 dearest and sweetest in his life. 
 
 In 1833, Dr. North was married to Miss Frances 
 Harriet Hubbard, a daughter of jyr. Thomas Hubbard^ 
 
BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH. 11 
 
 Professor of Surgery in Yale College, and a sister of 
 Mrs. William H. Russell, of New Haven, Conn. In 
 the same year lie purchased the homestead on College 
 Hill which Professor Theodoee SxRONa had built^ 
 previous to his removal to Rutgers College. 
 
 His first married years in Clinton were full of 
 genuine enjoyment. The social life of College Hill had 
 its limitations, but it had also its serene contentments 
 and was broadened by the companionship of books and 
 whatever is most attractive in garden and landscape. 
 His only son, a beautiful, large-brained boy, born in 
 1842, died in 1851, just before reaching his ninth year, 
 and his parents were left to finish their days in the 
 shadow of a great hope broken. 
 
 Three years after resigning the presidency, Dr. 
 NoETH purchased the house " Over the Gulf," where 
 President Davis had ended his eighty-two years in 1852, 
 the house which Rev. Jaj^ies Eells, (father of Rev. Dr. 
 James Eells, now of Lane Seminary,) had built as a 
 boarding hall while treasurer of the Western Education 
 Society. Here in January, 1881, his wife was removed 
 from his side. Left alone, seemingly a recluse, his 
 daily reading kept him in sympathy with the progress 
 of the age in science, philosophy, and religious activity. 
 Here a sturdy nature yielded at last to the infirmities 
 of age. 
 
 Of his seventy-one classmates in Yale, not more than 
 twenty survive. His four brothers died many years 
 ago, and of his three sisters, the only survivor is Mrs.. 
 Lydia Huis-TiNGToisr Sewaed, wife of Rev. Dr. D wight 
 M. Sewaed, of Portland, Me. 
 
12 
 
 BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 
 There is no hyperbole in saying that Dr. Noeth had 
 a large share of the gifts and graces that win and hold 
 the affection of friends. Hearts that knew the unfail- 
 ing sunshine of his sweetness and nobleness of soul, his 
 unselfish constancy and largeness of generous sympathy, 
 will adopt Woedswoeth's tribute to the memory of 
 Chaeles Lamb, 
 
 " O, he was good, if ever a good man lived ! " 
 
 In his half-century letter to the Hamilton Alumni, 
 prepared less than a year ago, Thomas W. Sewaed, '33, 
 of Utica, gives his impression of Dr. Noeth's success as 
 a teacher from the student's point of view: 
 
 " Of Simeon North, professor of languages, I may say with 
 perfect sincerity and perfect propriety, and without a shade of 
 invidiousness, that of all the members of the faculty, he was the 
 one beloved. More than this of encomium it might be thought 
 indelicate to utter now, and it may be that more than this would 
 only offend the subject of it. He surely will accept this slight 
 tribute from one to whom he did not hesitate to give the meed of 
 praise, on the few occasions when it was deserved. Raised to the 
 presidency of the college in 1839, Dr. E'orth enjoyed a peaceful 
 and prosperous reign of eighteen years. In his secluded, green 
 retreat, where he calmly awaits the setting of life's sun, there can 
 be to him no higher compensation than to recount the many names 
 of those who took their diplomas from his hand, and afterwards 
 talked conspicuous in the world's light." 
 
FUNERAL SERVICES. 
 
 The funeral of ex-President Noeth took place in tlie 
 Chapel of Hamilton College, on Tuesday afternoon, 
 February 12th, in the presence of a large concourse of 
 college officers and students, neighbors of the deceased 
 and citizens of Clinton, graduates of the college, 
 relatives and friends from other places. The Board of 
 Trustees was represented by Hon. Heitky A. Fostee, 
 of Eome, Willam D. Walcott, of New York Mills^ 
 Hon. Ellis H. Roberts, of Utica, President Henry 
 Darling and Professor Edward North. Among the 
 Alumni present were Alexander Seward, William 
 M. White, and S. N. D. North, of Utica ; Rev. Dr. 
 Benjamin W. Dwight, Kev. Dr. Thomas B. Hudson, 
 Rev. F. A. Spencer, Rev. Dwight Scovel, Hon. 
 Bloomeield J. Beach, of Rome; Rev. Dr. ¥/illiam H. 
 Maynard, of Madison University; William F. Seward, 
 of Syracuse; Rev. Dr. N. W. Goertner, Professors 
 A. P. Kelsey, Oren Root, Jr., A. G. Hopkins, F. M. 
 BuRDicK, H. A. Frtnk, H. C. G. Brandt and G. P. 
 Bristol, of the College Faculty. The pall-bearers 
 were William D. Walcott, Rev. Dr. N. W. Goertner, 
 Rev. Dr. E. J. Hamilton, Professor A. P. Kelsey, 
 Professor Oren Root, Jr., and Professor H. A. Frink. 
 The services in the chapel were opened with prayer by 
 Rev. Dr. Henry Darling, the president of the college^ 
 after which the college choir sang the hymn, "Abide in 
 
14 FUKERAL SEEYICES. 
 
 Me." Professor Hopko^-s read selections of Scriptures; 
 and subsequently read a number of letters that had been 
 received, expressing regret at the inability of the 
 writers to be present, and testifying their high regard 
 for Dr. Noeth's character, ability, Christian virtues and 
 services to the college. Among them were the 
 following : 
 
 FROM EX-PRESIDEI^T BEOWN. 
 
 Beunswick, Bowdoin College, 10.30 Monday morning. 
 My Dear Professor North. 
 
 Your telegram is just this moment received, too late, I fear, 
 for any letter to reach you, 
 
 A faithful, sincere, noble and generous friend, a thorough scholar, 
 a pure-minded, humble Christian believer, truly too retiring and 
 self-distrustful, has gone to his rest. 
 
 There are few for whom I have had more entire respect, whose 
 opinions I have thought more sound, whose judgments I have felt 
 to be more weighty. His presence, though he was rarely seen, 
 was a benediction to the hill. His gentleness and goodness 
 rebuked and restrained our rougher ways. His spirituality 
 seemed to caiTy us always towards the highest and best. He has 
 entered into light and life ineffable and eternal. 
 
 With deep sympathy and affection, I am, sincerely yours, 
 
 S. G. Bkown". 
 Professor Edward I^orth. 
 
 TELEGEAM FEOM SE]S"ATOE JOSEPH E. HAWLEY. 
 
 Washington-, D. C, February 11, 1884. 
 
 President North has commanded my profound respect — I beg 
 leave to say my warm affection, these forty years. 
 
 Morally and intellectually he was symmetrically developed. 
 He was a scholar, a gentleman and a Christian. I regret that 
 duties here prevent my giving this testimony in person. 
 
 J. R. Hawlet, 
 
FimEEAL SEEYICE3. 15 
 
 EEOM KEY. DE. HEITEY A. NELSOIST. 
 
 Geneva, February, 1884. 
 My Dear Brother : 
 
 You know that I was, (as you were,) Dr. ISTosth's pupil both 
 when he filled the professorship of languages, and after he became 
 president. In both offices I have most pleasant memories of him. 
 My most grateful memories are not of his teaching, in any sense 
 of communicating knowledge, but of the educating power of his 
 psychic contact with my young, timid, bashful soul. His 
 encouragement, his sympathy, his helping me to find myself, was 
 like that of the eagle fluttering over her nest, and uplifting her 
 timid young more by her voice than by her wings. In all this I 
 associate with him, no less gratefully, the wise, trUe woman 
 who was one with him. In social life I needed just what she was 
 so deft in doing, even more than I needed him in the class-room 
 and chapel. 
 
 Most fraternally, 
 
 H. A. E'elsois-. 
 
 EEOM JUDGE MILTON H. MEEWIN". 
 
 Utica, ISr. Y., February 11, 1884. 
 My Dear Professor : 
 
 I am sorry that engagements elsewhere prevent my attending 
 the funeral of President North. 
 
 Permit me, however, to express my great regard for his 
 memory. The four years that I spent under his guidance and 
 instruction, left upon my mind many an impression of his 
 faithfulness and kindness. While he was intellectually of great 
 strength and power, and possessed rare culture and refinement 
 and moral worth, still to me his great kindness of heart was one 
 of the most prominent traits of his character. 
 
 The instructors of those days are passing away. May the few 
 that are left, long remain with us. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 M. H. Merwin. 
 
 Eev. Isaac N. Teeey, of New Hartford, then offered 
 prayer, after which President Daeling delivered the 
 following address : 
 
PRESIDENT DARLING'S ADDRESS. 
 
 Herodotus tells us that there was a tribe of 
 Thracians, the Trausi, who, "• when a child was born, 
 were accustomed to sit round about it in a circle, and 
 weep for the woes that it would have to undergo, now 
 that it had come into the world ; but that, on the other 
 hand, when a man died they buried him with laughter 
 and rejoicing; saying that now he was free from a host 
 of sufferings." And strange as this custom may appear 
 to us, it has, in the principles which underlie it, some- 
 thing which seems to us almost like a Scriptural 
 warrant. " A good name," says Solomon, '' is better 
 than precious ointment, and the day of death than the 
 day of one's birth." When life begins, everything is 
 an uncertainty. A battle impends, but who can tell 
 what will be its issue. When life closes, everything is 
 a certainty. The battle is over, and with the good the 
 victory has been won. 
 
 *^I praise the dead more than the living," says 
 Solomon, and the reason of this assertion is doubtless 
 to be found in the uncertainty of life's unfoldings. It 
 is not until death has settled and determined every- 
 thing about a man that we may fearlessly speak his 
 praise. 
 
 But the day of a man's death better than that of his 
 birth, may we not particularly emphasize such a state- 
 ment when death comes, not in the beginning, or even 
 in the maturity of life, when the battle has to all 
 appearances been but partly fought, and the character 
 has been but immaturely formed ; but when amid the 
 feebleness of an extreme old age, and in the maturity 
 
PEESIDENT DAELINa's ADDEESS. IT 
 
 of Christian experience, there has been for years 
 nothing, or not much to anticipate but life's close. 
 
 The mother of the two Wesleys, spared to the 
 venerable age of ninety, bade in dying her sons sing a 
 psalm of praise. And what but this could they do? 
 The coming home to glory of a saint, whose earthly 
 tabernacle had been battered and bruised by all those 
 infirmities which are incident to a life so long preserved, 
 could not but be to them a theme of pious thanks- 
 giving. And shall I make in the case of death still 
 another supposition; shall I conjecture that to anyone 
 this earth has become like a foreign land, and heaven a 
 native country, because of the frequent visitations of 
 death to the circle of his kindred and friends, surely 
 the day of such a man's death is better than that of his 
 birth, and we do well like that Thracian • tribe to bury 
 him with pious and thankful rejoicings. 
 
 And just here are to us all in the affliction that has 
 convened us to-day, the consolations of God. And 
 certainly they are neither few nor small. 
 
 I need hardly remark that 'Hong life" is in the 
 sacred Scriptures distinctly and frequently promised to 
 the righteous. ''With long life," said the Psalmist, 
 ''will I satisfy him and show him my salvation." 
 "Length of days," says Solomon, "is in her right hand 
 and in her left hand riches and honor." And to what 
 a remarkable degree was this blessing enjoyed by our 
 venerated and beloved friend? What the writer of 
 the Genesis says of Abraham, we may say of him, 
 " Then Abraham gave up the ghost and died in a good 
 old age, an old man and full of years." 
 
 Dr. SiMEOisr Noeth, born in Berlin, Conn., September 
 7, 1802, was in his eighty-second year when he entered 
 into rest. What a good old age, an age not simply 
 
18 PEESIDEIfT DAELIl^a's ADDRESS. 
 
 beyond the allotted days of man's pilgrimage here, 
 which are three score and ten, but the four 
 score years that are sometimes by reason of strength, 
 added. Difficult is it for us to realize such a 
 life as to the extent of its duration — eighty-two 
 years. When President ISTorth was born, JSTapoleon, 
 as the first consul of France, had just taken his 
 seat in its senate, and Thomas Jefeeesois' had been 
 with us but a little more than a year in the presidential 
 chair. His birth antedates the regency of Geoege IV 
 in England, and synchronizes almost exactly with the 
 ministry of the younger Pitt. It occurred when the 
 states of our union were but sixteen, and the number 
 of our people but a little more than six millions. It 
 was before the disco\^ery of the safety lamp, the intro- 
 duction of gas into houses, the construction of the 
 telegraph, and the application of steam to machinery. 
 It was before the first missionary sailed from our 
 country to preach to the heathen the everlasting 
 gospel; and when it is believed that there did not exist 
 in the world a single society having for its sole object 
 the distribution of the sacred Scriptures. Indeed, a 
 life of four score years and more, how large is the 
 actual proportion it bears to our whole Christian era. 
 A continuous chain of such lives stretching back into 
 the past, would only need a little more than a score of 
 links to briog it to the song of the angels at the advent. 
 And I count this fact as no little occasion for 
 gratitude and thanksgiving to-day. The author of that 
 beautiful hymn, "I Would Not Live Always," when 
 himself an octogenarian, pronounced its sentiment as 
 unchristian. And when we think of life in its 
 capacities for enjoyment, and learning, and usefulness, 
 it is no sin to covet four score years for ourselves, ncr 
 
PEESIDENT darling's ABDEESS. 19 
 
 to rejoice when God lias given such a life to those we 
 love. 
 
 But so long a life, what must almost of necessity 
 have been its domestic and social bereavements, 
 bereavements which at the time gave the keenest poign- 
 ancy, yet so detached the soul from its dwelling place 
 here, as to make it not only easy to die, but even to 
 make death a welcome messenger. 
 
 I have sometimes seen in an open field a solitary tree. 
 It once belonged to a forest. Other trees stood all 
 about it, drinkiDg in their life from the same soil, stretch- 
 ing out their branches in the same atmosphere, and 
 mutually helpful of each other against every storm. 
 But one after another these trees fell before the ax of the 
 woodman, time thinned the forest, until at last, solitary 
 and alone, with none to keep it company, its fellows all 
 gone, stood that tree. How like this is sometimes 
 human life. Indeed, here is a sort of counter^iart to 
 the blessedness of old age. We live when in youth in 
 numerous companionships, but as we go on in life one 
 after another of these fall away. The friends of our 
 childhood disappear. Our contemporaries in the race 
 of life pass away. The loved ones of our family go 
 out into the darkness and we are alone. 
 
 How eminently true was this of the beloved man 
 who has just fallen asleep in Jesus. He stood among* 
 us like a solitary tree in an open field. The generatioQ 
 to which he belonged had passed away and left him 
 behind. Graduated from Yale College as the first 
 scholar of his class in 1825, his name in the triennial 
 has for years been among the few in his class, that were 
 not starred. And of those still nearer to him, how 
 plaintively could he say "lover and friend hast thou 
 put far from me and mine acquaintance hast thou hid 
 
20 PEESIDEN-T DARLma's ADDEESS. 
 
 in darkness." He was like Rachel, weeping for her 
 children and refusing to be comforted because they 
 were not, " and like Ezekiel the desire of whose eyes 
 was taken away with a stroke." 
 
 When death comes in early manhood, or even in the 
 full maturity of our years, one of the saddest facts about 
 it is the many tender ties that it breaks. But with our 
 venerated friend these ties had already been very 
 largely sundered, and his own generation passed away, 
 he seems rather in dying to have gone to his friends, 
 than to have been taken from them. 
 
 But I would not speak alone of the consolations of 
 God in this affiiction, consolations so great, as to 
 niake us like that Thracian tribe,- almost rejoice as we 
 cany out this man of God to his burial. 
 
 "A good man," says Solomon, "leaves an inheritance 
 to his children's children." And the writer of the 
 Hebrews exhorts us to be followers of them, who 
 through faith and patience have inherited the promises. 
 
 Behold then that inheritance of character, bequeathed 
 us by this venerable man, and that faith and patience 
 which he manifested while on earth, and which now 
 that he is gone, we are to follow. 
 
 In Matthew Aeis^old's Culture and Anarchy, that 
 disciple of what he calls " sweetness and light," com- 
 plains of ripe scholarship and high official position as 
 being too often connected with hauteur, or with an 
 overweening self esteem and arrogance. And I suppose 
 the complaint may be true. For Mr. Field in his 
 reminiscences of authors, complains of Woedswoeth 
 when he came dovvm from Grasmere to London, as seek- 
 ing too assiduously the compliments of his literary 
 friends ; and while everyone admires Dr. Samuel John- 
 son as a writer, very few, I suppose, would desire him 
 
PRESIDENT DAELIlMa's ADDEESS. 21 
 
 as a friend. Indeed, the gentle virtues of meekness, 
 quietness, humility, good v/ill, how seldom do we 
 find them united with those sterner traits of character 
 which make for men a name in their generation. And 
 yet after all, these are the true jewels of the soul i 
 
 The private walks, the secret acts, 
 If noble, far the noblest of their lives. 
 
 And it was their possession which in a very marked 
 degree beautified and distinguished the character of 
 our departed friend. ^' There is no hyperbole" in say- 
 ing that Dr. Noeth, (I quote these sentences from the 
 pen of another), " had a large share of the gifts and 
 graces that win and hold the affection of friends. 
 Hearts that knew the unfailing sunshine of his sweet- 
 ness and nobleness of soul, his unselfish constancy and 
 largeness of generous sympathy, will adopt Woeds- 
 woeth's tribute to the memory of Chaeles Lamb : 
 
 O, he was good, if ever a good man lived." 
 
 In the constitution of the apostolic company, I can 
 not doubt but that it was the divine purpose to bring 
 out the complete circle of truth, by a large variety of 
 character. Christianity is not so disobliging a system 
 as that it must mould every constitution into one 
 fixed shape. It rejoices in diversity and grafts its 
 heavenly spirit on constitutions the most contrasted. 
 But who ever knew this venerable man of God, that 
 did not see in him an apostolic likeness, a likeness not, 
 . indeed, to the ardent, vehement, and impetuous Peter, 
 but to that apostle whom the Master, at John's 
 baptism, saw under the 'Q.g tree, and of whom he said^ 
 '^Behold an Israelite, indeed, in whom is no guile." 
 And what praise could be greater than this. Our dear 
 Saviour was very much more like Nathaniel than 
 
22 PRESIDEIs'T darling's ADDRESS. 
 
 Peter. He did no sin, neither was guile found in his 
 mouth. And it is here that Christianity makes issue 
 with the whole world on the question of human great- 
 ness. To bear evil and wrong, to be gentle when 
 nature burns with a fierce heat, and pride clamors for 
 redress, not to be vexed or fretted by cares, or petty 
 injuries, but to abide in contentment and serenity of 
 spirit is to be a true advocate and apostle and pillar of 
 faith. 
 
 They also serve, who only stand and wait. 
 
 But lest all this should be regarded as something 
 constitutional, or as if it was but the outcome of a sort 
 of natural goodness, let me emphasize the serene and 
 quiet beauty of his religious character and life. I have 
 spoken of the scholarship of our times as too frequently 
 connected with what Matthew Ari^old calls an over- 
 weening self esteem and arrogance, I may add what is 
 of vastly greater importance too, its connection with 
 religious unbelief Learning, alas, is not always in our 
 day the handmaid of Christianity. It is sometimes her 
 antagonist. But it was not so with our veoerated, 
 bdoved friend. No, deeply persuaded of his own 
 participation in the common ruin of the race, and of 
 the insufficiency of any works or sacrifice of his own, 
 to propitiate a Holy God, he sought salvation through 
 the blood of the Lamb, and made the righteousness of 
 Christ the sole ground of his hope of pardon and 
 eternal life. And though his natural timidity led him 
 rarely to speak of his personal religious experience, and 
 never with any measure of boastfulness, yet the 
 influence of Christianity revealed itself in the whole 
 man, like a light behind a beautiful transjDarency, un- 
 seen itself, but illuminating every line of the artist's 
 cunning handiwork. 
 
PRESIDENT DAELIISTG S ADDRESS. 
 
 '- 28 
 
 It could be detected in Ms temper, conduct, mariners, 
 speech. 'No trumpet or phylactery was needed to 
 announce its presence. His humbleness of mind, his 
 overflowing kindness, his prompt and generous interest 
 in everything that pertained to the Kingdom of Christ 
 and the glory of his great name, the whole tone of his 
 conversation betrayed the commerce of his soul with 
 heaven, and revealed the fact that he had been with 
 Jesus. 
 
 And this faith in Lord Jesus Christ began with Dr. 
 ISToETH in the early years of his life. It antedates his 
 college course. Since his death a solemn prayer of 
 consecration has been found among his private papers. 
 It is dated December 20, 1820, six months before in 
 Middletown, Conn., he made a public profession of his 
 faith in Jesus. The paper upon which it was written 
 is now yellow with age, and bears clear indications of 
 the fact that he was wont often to read it. 
 
 It is the prayer of a young man of eighteen, just' 
 beginning his preparation for college, and is the secret 
 of his whole after life of piety. "To Thee, O God, I 
 this day make an entire surrender of myself I con- 
 secrate to Thee my powers of body and mind to be 
 spent in Thy service, and so as to promote Thy glory. 
 Henceforth may it please Thee, O God, to count me 
 among Thy covenant children. Be Thou the Guide of 
 my youth, the Strength of my riper years, and teach 
 me so to number my days that I may apply my heart 
 ■unto wisdom. KeejD me from the follies and vanities 
 of the world, and make me through life the instrument 
 of Thy glory in doing good to the souls of men. And 
 when I have done and suffered all which thou requirest 
 of me in this world, wilt Thou support me in the 
 agonies of dissolution. As Thou dost now in the 
 
24 PEESIDENT DAELINO'S ADDEESS. 
 
 morning of life enable me to devote myself to Thee,, 
 so, O Lord, wilt Thou give me strength to spend my 
 last breath in Thy service and praise." 
 
 Beloved friends and officers and students of Hamilton 
 College — now gathered round the remains of one who, 
 for more than half a century, was identified with the 
 interests of this institution, and has been one of its 
 professors and presidents and patrons, let us together 
 bless God for such a life, and remember as we look 
 upon that coffin that there is the goal toward which all 
 human things in this world converge. 
 
 Be the day weary, or be the day long, 
 At length it ringeth to even song. 
 
 After the singing of another hymn. Dr. DAELi^a 
 introduced Hon. Ellis H. Robeets, of Utica, as a repre- 
 sentative of the board of trustees of Hamilton College 
 and a member of its executive committee. 
 
ADDRESS OF HON. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. 
 
 Fitting it is tlaat some voice from the board of trus- 
 tees of Hamilton College should here bear testimony ta 
 the memory of ex-President Simeoi^ Noeth. For his 
 lifework was in the college; to his latest hour the 
 .college was dear to his heart, and to it his thoughts 
 and his prayers were given. He will sleep in the college 
 cemetery, where rests that great apostle to the Six 
 Nations who laid deep and strong the foundations upon 
 which others have built so wisely; with Backus, the 
 ■first president whom the enduring stone as well as the 
 more lasting records of his labors, represent as a man 
 distinguished in piety, accomplished in all learning, and 
 most dear to the alumni ; with Noeton, earliest and per- 
 haps foremost among professors ; with Davis, the second 
 president, in letters and in religion optimemeritus, aggres- 
 sive and self-willed ; with Catliis", for whom our deceased 
 friend cherished an affection passing the love of women; 
 with Mais^deville, whose oratory continues to be an in- 
 spiration here, and with so many others who have here 
 served the college and their generation. These walls 
 will stand as a part of his monument, and in the hearts 
 of thousands of alumni his memory will endure with 
 the fragrance of grace and of virtue. 
 
 Others in the board, and certainly the distinguished 
 senior member, Judge Fostee, who sits on this platform, 
 have knovf n the ex-president longer and more intimately, 
 and could trace his active career more in detail, and por- 
 tray the peaceful beauty of his declining years with more 
 of the colois which should adorn them. The task has 
 been assigned, the sad privilege has been accorded to- 
 
'26 ADDEESS OF HOIS". ELLIS H. EOBEETS. 
 
 me. The pulpit has paid and will pay its tributes, and 
 sermons will assert the appropriate lessons ; I will try 
 not to trench upon professional ground. If I could bor- 
 row from him who lies before us, the severity of his 
 taste, the purity of his language, the calmness and accu- 
 racy of his analysis and judgment, you would recognize 
 the lines of a character in which scholars might well 
 delight, and from which the friends of truth and of 
 religion might take example and encouragement. I do 
 not forget that this audience consists in large part of 
 those who have beheld President Noeth as one removed 
 from the struggles and labors of life. To all of us he 
 seemed to have reached to more than the Nirvana of 
 the Buddhist, to much of the rest and peace which few 
 can hope for until they enter the abode of the blessed 
 immortals. For him the burdens of life were dropped 
 one by one, the ties of earth were put off gradually, as 
 if the Master had relieved him with almost partial favor 
 of every earthly claim, and bestowed upon him many of 
 the beatitudes, until now at last^ he 
 
 "In enlarging paradise 
 Lives a life that never dies." 
 
 ISTearly forty years ago a lad looking upon academical 
 distinctions with reverence, I was struck by the form 
 and bearing of the departed ex-president. The tall 
 stature, the arrowy erectness, the calm grace, the genial 
 dignity, the modest self-poise, bespoke many of the qual- 
 ities of the ideal scholar, the typical president. The 
 impression of the moment was justified by the record of 
 long service. The testimony of his pupils is uniform 
 that he won their affections while he exercised an influ- 
 ence on character and career. He won his position by 
 no extraneous arts. He was above everything else, a 
 teacher, identified with the college, and content with 
 
ADDEESS OF nON, ELLIS H. EOBEETS. 27 
 
 the laurels it could bestow, witli the rewards which as 
 a teacher he could earn. Indeed I do him wrong, to 
 speak of laurels or rewards in his case, for he labored 
 with an unselfishness which seemed to be part of his 
 existence. He sought neither return nor honor, save 
 those which came from duty well performed. He had 
 learned beyond any other person whose career has been 
 S]3read before me, 
 
 "Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil," 
 
 and instinctively without cant and without any sense 
 of self-sacrifice, he awaited the verdict of the Eternal 
 Justice, 
 
 "As he pronounces lastly on each deed, 
 Of so much fame in heaven expect thy meed." 
 
 In 1799 President Dwight of Yale College visited 
 Samuel Kieklajsid here at the academy which he was 
 striving to sustain for the settlements on the far 
 frontier and the neighboring Indians. Tutor Day, 
 afterward president of Yale, was the companion of this 
 enterprising traveler. President Dwight bears testi- 
 mony of the views which he obtained of this region in 
 his published travels. He saw a wilderness on the 
 extreme limits of this state, for he could not then pierce 
 his way through to Niagara as he had intended. How 
 the young mind of President Day was illuminated by 
 this vision of the promised land we can well imagine- 
 How ready he must have been to send the brightest 
 and most promising of his pupils to a field which 
 civilization would grasp as one of its gardens and most 
 fruitful fields, it is easy to surmise. This is matter of 
 history. Hamilton Oneida Academy was manned from 
 the outset for many years, almost entirely from Yale 
 College. Kiekland chose his early associates except 
 
28 ADDEESS OF HOZS". ELLIS H. EOBEETS. 
 
 Professor Notes from that institution. Presidents 
 Backus, Davis, Dwight, were graduates of Yale. The 
 experience of taking a president educated abroad had 
 been gained in the case of Dr. Pe^-jstet, and the 
 trustees turned once more to a graduate of Yale College, 
 in the person of him whom we mourn to-day, for ten 
 years a professor here, for the fifth president. 
 President Noeth was a loyal son of that mother of 
 colleges, and he brought with him here much of that 
 which is most solid and excellent in Yale methods and 
 Yale purposes. 
 
 Born in Berlin, Connecticut, of one of the early 
 Puritan families, Simeon Noeth carried with him to 
 college the training which made New England in that 
 day the cradle of the churches, and the nursery of 
 higher education. He found at New Ha^en an array 
 of teachers such as are rarely assembled at any 
 institution, such as earned foi* Yale College the meed 
 of usefulness and service which it has steadily 
 maintained. Day, ripe and fruitful, was president; 
 the elder Sillimais- with the grace of the old school, 
 was organizing chemistry into a science; Olmstead 
 was teaching natural philosophy witb a courtesy which, 
 captivated his students ; Goodeich was illustrating the 
 eloquence which he taught and the knowledge of 
 words which he put into the great dictionary of which 
 he was, after the death of Webstee, the editor. Ke^gs- 
 ley was rendering Latin charming by his humor and his 
 geniality, and youngest then but greatest of them 
 all, that true scholar and foremost teacher, Theodoee 
 D. Woolsey, afterwards president, was a tutor. 
 Young NoETH sat at the feet of such Gamaliels, was 
 illuminated by such exemplars, followed in the foot- 
 steiDS of such students, of such masters in class-room 
 
ADDRESS OF HOIN^. ELLIS H. ROBERTS. 29 
 
 and torch -bearers in tlie movement of our learning and 
 our tliouglit. He was graduated with the first honors 
 of his class. He passed into the theological school 
 and heard Taylor and Fitch discuss with their 
 marvelous power the vast questions of creed and faith, 
 of life and character. How well he was equipped his 
 instructors testified when they called him to be a tutor 
 in the college, and in two years recommended him for 
 this outpost of learning and of the church. 
 
 In 1829, young North was appointed to the chair of 
 ancient languages in Hamilton College. Although, as 
 he testifies, he was considering a call from one of the 
 best parishes in Connecticut to become its pastor, he 
 promptly accepted the appointment. He came to a scene 
 of trouble. In his half century annals he narrates the 
 situation. He tells us — "Ten of the trustees had re- 
 signed; of the permanent officers of the college only 
 two remained — President Dayis and Professor Noyes. 
 Of the students but nine were left, and these were 
 members of the two lower classes." It is not strange 
 that Dr. LAi^siNa, one of the trustees, declared: "It 
 was impossible to keep the ship afioat, and they ought 
 to clear the deck, take in the sails, and let her drift 
 under bare poles." Under circumstances so tryino- the 
 young professor entered upon his duties, and for ten 
 years labored to make the ship seaworthy, and direct 
 its course aright. His success is proved by the choice 
 of the trustees after trying two other presidents to 
 raise him to the head of the college, and w^hile calling 
 him into the board to confer on him the executive 
 management. The results demonstrated the wisdom of 
 the choice. In his inaugural address he insisted upon 
 the need of planting good seed for sturdy oaks, not 
 seeking sudden development for gourds and mush- 
 
30 ADDEESS OF HOIS'. ELLIS H. EOBEETS. 
 
 rooms. Plis language deserves to be graven on tlie 
 breastplates of all who are charged witli tlie adminis- 
 tration of the college : 
 
 "He who plants the acorn, may indeed see it 
 germinate and grow, but he knows that posterity alone 
 will look up to the full grown oak. In the mean 
 while it will have planted deep its roots in the 
 rugged soil, and spread out wide its arois in the face of 
 heaven. The thunderbolt may then fall upon it, but 
 it will stand. The tempest may battle with its trunk 
 and howl throus^h its branches, but it will remain 
 unbroken. Thus should it be with the colleges. 
 They who plant and who foster them in their infancy, 
 should feel that they are laboring for coming genera- 
 tions, and take care that their work is so accomplished 
 that posterity may have occasion to bless them for 
 their labors." 
 
 Yale College has contributed much to the building 
 up of colleges in many states. Among its contribu- 
 tions to such institutions the gift of President Noeth 
 to Hamilton has been one of the most fruitful and 
 beneficent. He brought hither as professor and as 
 president the best qualities of the Yale training. He 
 brought sincerity, accuracy, devotion to learning for its 
 own sake, the conviction that colleges are not for a 
 day but for all time, that while they cling to the past, 
 they mnst look to the future for their harvests. He 
 looked upon education in its higher phases not as a 
 mere instrument to get wealth or promote ambition, 
 but as the conservator of truth and the discipline of 
 life. He regarded the duty of training the man more 
 important than teaching the trade of the mechanic or 
 the vocation of the lawyer, the doctor or the preacher. 
 In his terse speech he was accustomed to declare that 
 
ADDEESS OF HOl^T. ELLIS H. EOBEETS, 31 
 
 "A college is not a commercial agency." He loved the 
 classics, and be believed tlie experience of tlie centuries 
 is worthy of study, careful and conscientious. On this 
 rock he built. If outside of the oldest institutions 
 Hamilton is the best representative of classical culture 
 to-day, the credit is due to the wisdom and zeal of 
 President North. Whatever the demands of the 
 present, of the swift currents of active life, the past 
 will never die. Mankind will always find its lessons 
 in that treasure house. The scholar will always 
 delight to meditate with those who have brought 
 thought into systems, who have created language, who 
 have reveled in the mysteries of imagination when its 
 fields and methods were fresh; he will seek to begin 
 at the beginning to criticise the movements of nations 
 and the march of ages. 
 
 For two years after President North came to the 
 college no classes were graduated. From that low ebb, 
 from a faculty consisting only of two members besides 
 himself, he saw the growth of faculty and classes, of 
 buildings and of departments, with a rapidity limited 
 only by the resources placed at the disposal of the 
 trustees. Instead of the single professor whom he 
 found here, the faculty included six before the close of 
 his term. The classes which had suffered an utter 
 breaking up before his arrival, grew to average seven- 
 teen graduates for the 'Q.ve years from 1831 to 1835. 
 In the first six years of his presidency they attained 
 an average of twenty members, and before his 
 resignation the average of six years was nearly twenty- 
 four graduates. Numbers are only one sign of health 
 and vigor. Every other testimony was afforded of 
 advance during the service of President North. The 
 endowments were increased, the departments were 
 
32 ADDEESS OF HOIS'. ELLIS H. EOBEETS. 
 
 extended, the buildings were improved, prizes were 
 established. The administration bore mucli and 
 excellent fruit. It was not noisy or belligerent, it 
 mingled firmness with gentleness; and if the hand was 
 mailed, it was always covered with velvet. 
 
 It was never from any failure of President Noeth, 
 it has never been from any lack of plan or purpose on 
 the part of the trustees, that the college has not added 
 even in greater degree to its equipment and to its 
 facilities. President Noeth always had faith beyond 
 the present, had confidence beyond the attainments of 
 to-day, for the college for which he did so much. The 
 most enthusiastic friend of Hamilton can not portray a 
 more glowing future for the institution than the ex- 
 president cherished in his hopes and in his prayers. 
 
 President Noeth was especially at home in the class- 
 room, was essentially a teacher. He wrote with 
 singular purity of style and even vfith reserve of 
 ornament. He preached with earnestness and with 
 effect. But he would himself be judged as a teacher. 
 His sympathy, thought, hopes, were as wide as the 
 world. He sought to impress the world by his 
 instruction within its own sphere. He had not a 
 destructive element in his character; he was con- 
 structive in all of his qualities. 
 
 It is over twenty-six years since he retired from the 
 presidency of the college. He has remained all the 
 while a member of the board of trustees. He has been 
 a useful counselor and one of the pillars of the board. 
 To all of his successors he has shown a loyalty which 
 has never wavered. He gave to the sturdy and elo- 
 quent FiSHEE, in his positive and decided administra- 
 tion, wise and cordial support. To President Beown, 
 that courteous gentleman whose scholarship is not his 
 
ADDEESS OF HOl^. ELLIS H. EOBEETS. 33 
 
 greatest charm, and whose genial modesty enhances the 
 merit of his worth and of the services which he 
 rendered to the college and to this entire community, 
 President !N"oeth was a constant friend and affectionate 
 adviser. I need not testify how ready your predecessor 
 has been to assist your administration, President 
 Daeling, in every way within his power. 
 
 During this generation the dead president has stood 
 with us but above us. In his quiet studies he has ex- 
 emplified the sufficiency of Christian character for this 
 life at least. His repose has been the stillness of deep 
 waters. He seemed to enjoy the view of the better land 
 which that Greek hero returned from the shades to 
 portray to her who mourned him. If not in words the 
 message which his life has given us is this : 
 
 " He spoke of love, such love as spirits feel 
 
 Id worlds whose course is equable and pure ; 
 
 No fears to beat away, no strife to heal, — 
 The past unsighed for, and the future sure; 
 
 Spake of heroic arts in graver mood 
 
 Revived, with finer harmony pursued ; 
 
 ^' Of all that is most beauteous, imaged there 
 In happier beauty ; more pellucid streams. 
 
 An ampler ether, a diviner air 
 
 And fields invested with purpureal gleams ; 
 
 Climes which the sun, who sheds the brightest day 
 
 Earth knows, is all unworthy to survey. 
 
 " Yet there the soul shall enter which hath earned 
 That privilege by virtue." 
 
 But he would rebuke the heathen hero. He would 
 place his trust not on virtue, but on faith and the 
 merits of a E-edeemer. Here surely we can speak of a 
 complete life, of a character rounded, and without 
 
34 ADDEESS OF HON. ELLIS H. EOBEETS. 
 
 fracture or artifice. His character was a crystal. It is 
 not eulogy to say that his wish was in all his years: 
 
 " Write me as one that loves his fellow-men." 
 
 The response is that he was beloved by his fellow-men 
 who were brought into contact with him. The alumni 
 who were his pupils will not measure words in esti- 
 mates of his merits and capacity. They will pour out 
 their affection towards him. At this hour the temper 
 becoming this place is that which he would invite if his 
 lips could speak to us : 
 
 " Weep awhile, if ye are fain, 
 Sunshine still must follow rain ; 
 Only not in death — for death, 
 Now I know, is that first breath 
 Which our souls draw when they enter 
 Life, which is of all life center." 
 
 I seem to speak in his presence. He warns me to 
 indulge in no excess of compliment here at this hour. 
 
 As I am tempted to quote of him, ''the good great 
 man " has " three firm friends," his modesty checks me, 
 for he would protest against the attribution of greatness. 
 Yet we have caught a glimpse of the magnitude of his 
 labors and of their fruits. Let us be content to speak 
 of him as one whose goodness approached the level of 
 greatness, and then we may say truly: 
 
 " Greatness and goodness are not means, but ends ! 
 
 Hath he not always treasures, always friends. 
 The good, great man ? Three treasures, love and light, 
 
 And calm thouo-hts, reo^ular as infant's breath — 
 And three firm friends, more sure than day and night — 
 
 Himself, his Maker, and the angel Death. " 
 
 Yes, and more. The friends of the dead president 
 are such of his teachers and classmates as survive; 
 
i 
 
EEMAEKS OF JUDGE HEITEY A. EOSTEE. 35 
 
 wherever the sons of Hamiltoa are found ; wherever 
 the pupils who sat at his feet remain ; wherever those 
 who have listened to his words of courtesy and wisdom, 
 still cherish the truth; wherever those who have studied 
 his character reflect on his virtues — there are those who 
 love and honor him. Yet it is true in the highest 
 sense, he has 
 
 "Three firm friends — more sure than day and night, 
 Himself, his Maker, and the angel Death." 
 
 President Daeli^o then introduced Hon. Hei^ey A, 
 FosTEE,* of Eome, president of the board of trustees. 
 
 Judge FosTEE said that he had come not intending 
 to take any other part than that of a reverent and 
 sympathetic listener. He was glad of the opportunity, 
 however, to add to what had been so well said, his 
 personal tribute to the memory of Dr. Simeoi^ IN'oeth. 
 He had known the ex-president since 1836, when he 
 
 *In 1836, when Hon, Henry A. Foster was elected to a seat in the board 
 of trustees, he found among his fellow-trustees such prominent men as Ex- 
 President Henry Da^ts, of College Hill; Hon. John J. Knox, of Augusta; 
 Hon, Joshua A, Spencer, Hon, Charles P, Kirkland and Judge Hiram 
 Denio, of Utica; Hon, S, Newton Dexter, of Whitesboro; Hon. James R. 
 Lawrence, of Syracuse, and Professor S, B, Woolworth, of Homer. 
 Judge Foster heartily enlisted with these and other trustees in efforts to im- 
 prove the college and its facilities for advanced study. In his unselfish devo- 
 tion to the college, personal ease and advantage were forgotten. Whatever 
 of honor and prestige he gained was gain not more for himself than for the 
 college. He had been appointed Surrogate of Oneida County in 1827, before 
 he was 37 years of age. He had been elected a State Senator in 1830, and 
 a Member of Congress in 1836, In 1840 he was again elected to the State 
 Senate, and was appointed United States Senator in 1844. In 1863 he was 
 elected to the bench of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. In all 
 judicial and civic trusts, his integrity, fidelity and commanding ability were 
 never questioned, Hammond's Political History places him at the head of 
 the State Senate of 1844. This leadership in forensic power was due to the 
 rapid and effective action of his intellect, his retentive memory for facts, and 
 skill in their use, his sharp and caustic style of repartee, and his unques- 
 tioned purity of character. 
 
36 EEMAEKS OF JUDGE HENEY A. EOSTEE. 
 
 first entered tlie board of trustees of Hamilton Col- 
 lege, taking the place of one of the six trustees who 
 had run away from the embarrassments and forebodings 
 which then hung over the institution. Dr. Noeth 
 was then the professor of the ancient languages, and 
 three years later the speaker had been one of the 
 trustees who supported the election of Dr. I^oeth to 
 the presidency. He had always, as a friend of the 
 institution, rejoiced in that action. President Noeth 
 took up his duties at a time when the fortunes of 
 Hamilton College were at their lowest ebb. The 
 event proved that he was the ideal man for the 
 resuscitation of the institution. Its progress was 
 steadily upward during the eighteen years of his 
 administration, and when he resigned his trust, in 1859, 
 it was to leave the college safely and permanently 
 launched on its career of usefulness and prosperity. 
 He desired to say that his knowledge of Dr. Noeth 
 compelled him to most heartily approve of all that had 
 been said to-day regarding the personal character and 
 traits of the beloved ex-president. The speaker had 
 known many men whom he respected ; a lesser number 
 whom he admired, a still smaller number whom he 
 both admired and loved. President Noeth was one of 
 these few. 
 
 Judge FosTEE spoke feelingly and impressively. 
 
 Eev. Dr. Thomas B. Hudsoi^ then very briefly 
 addressed the audience, the benediction was pronounced 
 by Rev. Dr. Hamilton, and the college students, 
 forming in line of procession, followed the body of the 
 ex-president to his grave in the college cemetery near by. 
 
 The services at the grave were conducted by E-ev. 
 Dr. Hudson. 
 
TEIBUTES FKOI HAMILTON ALUMNI. 
 
 FEOM HOIS". THEODOEE W, D WIGHT, LL. D., 
 
 Warden of Columbia College Law School. 
 
 It is a matter witli me of great regret that I was so 
 far distant from my home when President Noeth died, 
 that I was unable to participate in the impressive exer- 
 cises at his funeral. It will be a melancholy consola- 
 tion to me to say a few words, summing up my impres- 
 sion of the character and career of my departed friend. 
 
 I knew Dr. Noeth well. I was a student under him 
 for three years, was tor sixteen years. a member of the 
 faculty, then was associated with him as a college trus- 
 tee. My acquaintance with him commenced nearly fifty 
 years ago, and was continued until his death. 
 
 I. The quality that struck me most in my acquaint- 
 ance with him was accurate, profound, and earnest 
 scholarship. In all his manifold work he stands out 
 before me most clearly as a professor of Greek. Hav- 
 ing myself in early life a passionate love for Greek, I 
 found in him one who could fully satisfy my desires. 
 The academic instruction of that time was not very 
 thorough, so far at least as it was accessible to the men 
 I knew. It rather tended towards fluency of transla- 
 tion than to thoroughness of scholarship and critical 
 study. Dr. Noeth set himself resolutely against this 
 tendency. No student could win his favor in a high 
 degree who did not appreciate the niceties of con- 
 struction and the force of those expressive particles 
 which add so much to the beauty and strength of the 
 Greek language. At the same time, he was alive to 
 the poetic or literary sentiment, the ineffable charm and 
 
38 TEIBUTES FEOM HAMILTON ALUMNI. 
 
 grace of style and diction of the great authors, on whose 
 works he commented. He led the most reluctant stu- 
 dent along the difficult paths of his department with a 
 winning and persuasive manner which awakened inter- 
 est, even w^here it did not arouse enthusiasm. I recall 
 an instance of his happy method. As long ago as 1839 
 the college authorities established for a short period 
 elective studies, now so prevalent. Four of the class 
 to which I belonged elected Greek. When we asked 
 Mm for our text-book, he said with a genial smile that 
 we would have " Longinus on the Sublime." We were 
 completely disconcerted, for Longinus had the reputa- 
 tion of being the most difficult Greek known to modern 
 man. This occurred before the day of accessible trans- 
 lations. It implied the hardest kind of mental labor. 
 He was, however, so earnest, so eager that we should 
 understand it, so capable in explanation, and so success- 
 ful in exposition, that the dreaded book became a de- 
 light, and to the present moment " Longinus " is the 
 Greek word to which the memory recurs with especial 
 pleasure. Had Dr. Noeth continued in the Chair of 
 Greek, he would have left a great name among the ac- 
 complished scholars of our time in their special depart- 
 ment of study, which in spite of all modern attack, has 
 for ages been, and will continue to be, the most potent 
 instrumentality for the development of mental force 
 and literary grace. 
 
 The influence of his studies was strongly felt in his 
 style as a writer and a preacher. This was free from 
 all exuberance and redundancy of expression, clear, 
 picturesque, and forcible. He was an excellent critic, 
 and made fruitful suggestions to his students, leaving a 
 lasting influence upon the work of their later lives. 
 
 II. A marked feature of his character was a jDerfect 
 kindliness of spirit and charm of manner. He was a 
 
TEIBIJTES FKOM HAMILTOIS' ALUMIN^I. 39 
 
 thorougli gentleman. Meeting bim almost daily for so 
 many years, and sometimes on occasions that would try 
 one's temper, I never heard an ill-natured word, nor saw 
 the slightest evidence of temper — not even impatience. 
 His winning smile, which on due occasion would develop 
 into a joyous laugh, disclosed the uniform, kindly qual- 
 ity of his nature. After he left the professorship for 
 the presidency, he held a delicate and most difficult po- 
 sition. The presidency of a college like Hamilton is a 
 far more trying place than that of a larger institution 
 like Yale or Harvard. The president is but one of a 
 number of officers. He has no veto power. His vote 
 counts for no more than that of his humblest associate. 
 He must frequently submit to a line of policy Avhich his 
 judgment condemns. Yet the public, not appreciating 
 the situation, will hold him responsible for the failure 
 of a course of action thus forced upon him by his asso- 
 ciates. In a larger institution the burden of adminis- 
 tration does not rest upon the president alone, but is 
 shared with others. A president at Hamilton tlius 
 needs a true equilibrium of qualities. Kindness, firm- 
 ness, patience in listening, promptness in action, willing- 
 ness to take on the necessary responsibility, cautiousness 
 and conservatism, must be so exquisitely blended as 
 to produce a symmetrical and successful administration. 
 Who shall possess these qualities in such proportion as 
 never to err in excess or deficiency ? JSTo one. Perfect 
 success is impossible. An approximation to it only 
 can be expected. The administration of Dr. Nokth was 
 criticised in some quarters because it was said to exhibit 
 kindness of feeling at the expense of force. I confess 
 that at the time I shared, to some extent, in this criti- 
 cism. Later experience and reflection have largely 
 modified these views. Kindness of spirit, nay, an affec- 
 
40 TEEBUTES FROM HAMrLTOE" ALUMl^I. 
 
 tionate disposition towards the students on the part of 
 the college officers, will be in the future the predominat- 
 ing feature in the government of an American college.. 
 The reciprocal affection and respect on the part of stu- 
 dents thus generated, is the true source of governmental 
 power. A wise and able man will not allow, on this 
 account, government to degenerate into laxness. On the 
 other hand, he will use the influence he thus obtains as 
 the instrument of a firmer administration."^ 
 
 Combining the qualities of President Noeth in my 
 memory, I think that he unites in an uncommon degree 
 what Matthew Aejs'old has made so familiar to us by 
 the expression, "Sweetness and light." There was in 
 him an abundance of culture and ripe scholarship, soft- 
 ened by gentleness of disposition and a profound regard 
 for the feelino-s and interests of others. His intellect 
 illuminated his sentiments, while his affections lent grace 
 to his masculine understanding. 
 
 III. Another very strong element in President 
 Noeth's character was his interest in young men, par- 
 ticularly in his former students. Few of these did he 
 ever forget or fail to watch their future career with an 
 affectionate interest. Before the age of sixty he retired 
 from active life, as the poet of old, to his " Sabine farm," 
 where from his quiet outlook he studied the affairs of 
 the world with an absorbing and philosophical interest. 
 
 * Henry W. Shaw, better known in the newspapers as " Josh Billings," 
 was for several years a student in Hamilton College, and is good authority on 
 the personal influence of the late President North. Vv'hen he was asked how 
 he managed to climb up and down the chapel lightning-rod without breaking 
 his Sophomoric neck, his solemn visage was lighted up with a cheerful re- 
 ply : "So you too have been in Hamilton College. You see, I was full of 
 the devil there, that was what was the matter with me. There was a Greek 
 and Latin man in the faculty, who had studied Socrates to some purpose. 
 He didn't go to work to kill the boy and leave the devil. His plan was just 
 contrary to that, to kill off the devil and leave the boy." Certainly this is 
 the case with "Josh Eiliings," who is still a boy with the devil left out. 
 
TEIBUTES FROM HAMILTON ALUMNI. 41 
 
 Whenever I met him iu later years, I was surprised at 
 the extent and accuracy of his knowledge of current 
 affairs. He was particularly familiar with all the 
 achievements of his students in their later years, and 
 referred to them in conversation with interest and high 
 satisfaction, even though his acquaintance with them 
 dated far back into his own early life. In a conversation 
 with me not long ago, he mentioned that when a tutor 
 in Yale College he was an instructor of Judah P. Ben- 
 jamin, ex-Secretary of State, of the Confederate States, 
 and now the leading barrister in England, and that Mr. 
 Benjamin happening at the moment to be in want of 
 pecuniary means, he had had the opportunity to supply 
 them. This was spoken of incidentally and as a source 
 of genuine pleasure in memory."^ 
 
 I believe that there is no man living in Oneida county 
 who combines the leading characteristics of President 
 
 * Among the Freslimeii admitted to Yale College in 1827, was a comely, 
 black-eyed, quick-witted boy of Jewish extraction, who came from Charles- 
 ton, S. C, and was catalogued as J. Peter Benjamin. In those days every 
 Yale student had his guardian in the faculty, who looked after his finances 
 and other matters. Tutor Simeon North was made the guardian of Fresh- 
 man Benjamin. It was no sinecure to be the guardian of that freshman. 
 He quickly went to the head of his class, as well in scholarship as in frolic 
 and popularity. He was a favorite with all, but his purse was lean, and he 
 was always in financial straits. Before the end of sophomore year, Benja- 
 min suddenly disappeared, and his scanty assets of furniture and books came 
 into the hands of his college guardian. Two of these books, one a Hebrew 
 psalter, another a Berkleian prize-book, inscribed by President Day for excel- 
 lence in scholarship, are still preserved in Dr. North's library, and are 
 highly prized as memorials of a chapter in the romantic career of one who 
 afterwards appeared in public life as United States Senator from Louisiana, 
 and then as Secietary of State for the Southern Confederacy. Mr. Benjamin 
 became a very prominent solicitor in London. The London Times 
 published its regrets that he is not on the bench, where the very 
 highest legal ability is needed. If Mr. Benjamin ever recalled those far-off 
 college days, when he was, like Walter Scott, " wayward, bold and wild," 
 it must have been with something of gratitude for the patient tutor and 
 guardian, who allowed brilliant achievements in the class-room to atone for 
 midnight fun and bank account largely overdrawn. Mr. Benjamin's death 
 occurred in Paris, May 7, 1884. 
 
42 TEIBUTES FEOM HAMILTOIS" ALIJMI^I. 
 
 North, regard being liad to his thorougli and wide 
 classical scholarsliip, excellence of literary style, vigor 
 of expression, sweetness of disposition, affectionate 
 nature, genuine modesty, witli an accompanying ten- 
 dency to withdraw from public observation, sound judg- 
 ment, wise cautiousness, tranquil wisdom, and an intelli- 
 gent Christian faith, based on the Puritan creed of his 
 ancestors. It is in no ordinary sense true that his de- 
 parture has left a vacancy which will not be filled, and 
 which those who knew him will not cease to reo^ret. 
 
 Farewell, gentle, kind, and manly nature; in the 
 world, but not of it; the elevated hillside in Kirkland, 
 sloping toward the east, withdrawn from the clang and 
 bustle of business, and yet a quiet and comprehensive 
 outpost' of observation of it, is a reminder of your ap- 
 propriate resting-place ! 
 
 Theodore W. D wight, 
 
 Columbia College Law School. 
 New York, February 21, 1884. 
 
 FROM DA:^^IEL HUI^TI^^OTOI^, LL. D., 
 
 President of the American Academy of Design. 
 
 49 East 20th Street, 
 New York, March 23, 1884. 
 My Dear Professor North: 
 
 I loved and revered Eev. Dr. North deeply. He 
 treated me as kindly and tenderly and generously as 
 though I had been his son. But for his thoughtful, 
 affectionate treatment, while I was a Sophomore on Col- 
 lege Hill, I should undoubtedly have been suspended. 
 He saw my passion for j)ainting, how it was absorbing 
 my thoughts and distracting my mind from study, and 
 secured for me an honorable commendation to the art 
 department of the University of the City of New York, 
 
TKIBUTES FROM HAMILTON ALUMNI. 43 
 
 then under the direction of Professor S. F, B. Moese. 
 Professor Latheop joined with him in this kind con- 
 sideration. I remember the Elliott portrait of Dr. 
 NoETH very well^ and that 1 attempted to copy it, hut 
 of course it was quite beyond me."^ The half-century 
 
 * When the portrait of Professor Chables Avery, by Daniel Hunting- 
 ton, was presented to the Memorial Hall, the late Rev. Dr. A. D. Gridley 
 made an acknowledgment of the gift in words that are worth repeating : 
 
 " This makes the third specimen of this painter's work now in possession, 
 of the college, all of which are highly prized. Indeed there is a fourth, which 
 in its way and in its place is esteemed of no little value. We refer to the portrait 
 of TwiTCHELL, the college sweeper, which was one of the first attempts of 
 Sophomore Huntington in the limner's art. It appears that the visit of Elliott 
 to Clinton in the year 1833, to execute the likeness of President Davis, awoke 
 in young Huntington a passion for oil painting. And so, possessing him- 
 self of a few colors and brushes, and guided by some rudimentary hints from 
 Elliott, he began to make all sorts of ' counterfeit presentments.' His room- 
 mate and a few of his class-mates consented to sit for him. And one day, as 
 ' Prof. TwiTCHELL ' was going his dusty rounds, he was quite willing to rest 
 awhile in the artist's room and be booked for immortality. This portrait, 
 painted upon the panel of a closet door, is now preserved in the Memorial Hall 
 of the college, and with the others of this painter's maturer works, happily 
 illustrates the wide difference between then and now. If any one is seeking 
 for realistic art in its pure essence, let him go and see ' Prof. Twitchell.' 
 
 The other portraits in Memorial Hall by the same hand, viz., of Eev. Dr. 
 Edward Robinson, and Hon. S. N. Dexter, and Professor Avert, are 
 works of acknowledged ability. They are sufficiently unlike in technical 
 treatment to show that the painter is not confined to one unvarying method, 
 yet their execution shows in every part the hand of a master. The new por- 
 trait of Dr. Avery, we think, will be ranked among the best of Hunting- 
 ton's productions. The pose of the figure, the admirable drawing of the 
 features, the rich and transparent texture of the surface, the luminous, yet 
 mellow, flesh tints, the animated, yet chastened expression— all combine to 
 form a painting of rare merit, one which is an honor to the artist, and a valu- 
 able possession for the college in whose behalf its subject so long and usefully 
 labored. 
 
 One can hardly fail to discover in this artist's v/ork the influence of his 
 first teacher. There is something of Elliott's boldness of touch and freedom 
 of handling and richness of coloring. Yet upon these qualities there is super- 
 induced a certain refinement and culture which Elliott did not possess. 
 Huntington does not flatter his subjects by making them pretty women and 
 handsome men ; but he studies to find out their better selves, the ideal after 
 which they are striving, and sublimates their every-day form and features 
 with this elevated expression. So, too, being himself a gentleman, he can 
 not help impressing a certain air of dignity and well-bred grace upon those 
 whose features he delineates." 
 
44 TEIBUTES FEOM HAMILTOK ALUMISTI. 
 
 letter of the class of 1833, by Thomas W. Seward, is 
 a racy performance, and recalls the wit, and genial 
 humor of his brother, Alexander Seward, whom I 
 well knew."^' 
 
 Judge D wight's article on President North is very 
 interesting, and expresses with great force and beauty 
 the wonderful variety of traits which were united in 
 his character. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 D. HUJS^TIT^GTOI^. 
 
 FROM REV. DR. L. MERRILL MILLER, 
 
 Pastor of the Presbyterian Claurcli in Ogdensburg. 
 
 OoDEiiSBURo, N. Y., April 12, 1884. 
 M^ Dear Sir : 
 
 Had I heard opportunely of the decease of m.j life- 
 long, very constant friend, President North, I should 
 have made it a grateful duty to have been at his burial. 
 
 * The passage in Mr. Seward's letter here referred to, is as follows : 
 ''Coincident with the coming of President Dwight, was the arrival — in 
 company with two or three collegians from a western village — of a young 
 portrait painter, twenty years old, perhaps, and as handsome, doubtless, as 
 young manhood is ever seen to be. He set up his easel in one of the rooms 
 of Col. Johnson's tavern and boarding house, and modestly displayed two or 
 three of his own compositions, from scenes in the Vicar of Wakefield. It 
 seems the young man knew vshere to go for inspiration. He stayed on Col- 
 lege Hill nearly, if not quite a year, painting no end of students' likenesses,. 
 in cabinet size, together with some larger portraits of the college faculty and 
 others. All these pictures were remarkable for their fidelity to nature, and 
 very fairly met the requirements of art technicalities. During his leisure 
 hours — which were sometimes many — ^he assimilated perfectly to college life, 
 and, by congenial spirits, was fairly idolized. He stayed far beyond the time 
 demanded by professional engagements, made sundry arrangements at sun- 
 dry times to go away, 
 
 "And often took leave, yet seemed loth to depart." 
 Fortunately, his departure was not made before he had recognized, in one of 
 the original spirits, an infant brother in art, whose steps he first guided in 
 the path since trodden with so great renown. This brief sketch may go no 
 further: Many of you are already reminded of Chakles Loring Elliott 
 and Daniel Huntington." 
 
TEIBUTES FEOM HAMILTON ALUMNI. 45 
 
 You know how lie welcomed Professor Finley Smith 
 and myself to a home circle of rare excellence and attrac- 
 tion. Not given to " much talking," yet at home he 
 always, in an effective way, sought the pleasure and 
 ■welfare of those within his influence. His bright eye, 
 intelligent face and manly presence were in themselves 
 attractive to us all. His general knowledge, Christian 
 character and tenderest sympathy with us and for us 
 drew our hearts to him in love and confidence. He 
 was always the same, cheerful, hopeful, and truthful, 
 amid joyous hours and themes, as well as in the sad and 
 trying elements of the depressed college life into which 
 he was called ; and in which his ripe scholarship, integ- 
 rity and fidelity and manly bearing gave new energy 
 to its feeble pulses and established it in hope and 
 activity and success. 
 
 In the heavy sorrow that came to his house when 
 death bore away the comfort and dependence of future 
 years, brightly shone forth the virtues of grace and 
 piety in his resignation and in the staying strength, 
 with which he comforted others and held them to hope 
 and patience. 
 
 His example was always a manly and effective plea 
 to trust in the power of Christ to make a glad and 
 happy home. Those who knew this home could have 
 no higher and purer wish than to hope for one like it 
 as their own possession in future years. 
 
 The strength of his private life and the source of 
 success to the college, during his administration, are 
 sufficiently indicated by the following incident: A 
 student was taking a quiet walk through the south 
 ravine, and passed out of it into the grounds of 
 President Noeth. Going by the barn on the premises 
 he heard a voice in earnest and wrestling prayer. He 
 
46 TETBUTES FEOM HAMILTOIS^ ALUMIS^I. 
 
 delayed long enough to ascertain that the voice was that 
 of President Noeth, and that his petition was for the 
 interests of the college and the students in their after 
 life. 
 
 I received a letter from the Ex-President, in reply to 
 one on the occasion of his eightieth birthday. It was 
 full of the cheer of a long tried and consistent Christian. 
 Though his family were all gone, yet he knew only 
 the same old spirit of kindness to his friends — grateful 
 trust in the glorious Saviour, and a clear hope of the 
 reunion in the better land. 
 
 I am sure that my stay of two years, in that intellec- 
 tual and bright Christian home, on College Hill, is 
 chief among the many choice influences which continue 
 to this day a blessing with me in all the varied walks 
 of life. 
 
 We know that "the memory of the just is blessed,'^ 
 not only from the divine word, but as well, when we 
 consider such a life as that of our departed President. 
 And we need only add for ourselves, may we too have 
 the death of the righteous and have as good a hope of 
 the future with him amons; the blessed forever. 
 
 Your loving friend, 
 
 L. Meeeill Millee. 
 
 Of the Allegan Journal and Tribune. 
 
 Allegan, Mich., February 17, 1884. 
 My Dear Classmate: 
 
 I read with something of pain and something of 
 pleasure of the death of Dr. Noeth. I could not be 
 sorry that a good man at a great age had gone to a 
 better world. How pleasantly I remember him — that 
 
TEIBUTES FEOM ' HAMILTOIT ALUMIS'I. 47 
 
 erect form, keen, yet pleasant blue eye, kindly smile, 
 perfect courtesy, ricli toned voice, energetic manner, 
 manly bearing, so expressive of dignity, force, beauty 
 and love. He had a rare combination of good qual- 
 ities. How impressive v^as bis manner at prayers, bow 
 kindly bis way in the class-room. Never bad I a teacber 
 for wbom I bad more affection. He stands out 
 among tbose Hamilton men of forty-five years ago tbe 
 one most admirable, a dear object to my imagination 
 in tbe far off years. Wbat an interesting thougbt, to 
 tbink of two ex-presidents dying so old, in tbe same 
 bouse. I used to tbink Dr. Davis tbe most venerable 
 man I bad ever set eyes on. It is a consolation, by tbe 
 way, tbat as one grows old be grows venerable, perbaps 
 venerated. Tbe Tltica HeraWs obituary speaks of 
 Professor Catlin-, wbo was not less esteemed by me 
 tban President Noeth. Had he lived to old age, he 
 would have been one of tbe first among tbe honored 
 men of tbe country. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Gr. A. MOEGAIT. 
 
 FEOM EEV. DE. JAMES EELLS, 
 
 Professor of Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Theology in Lane Seminary, 
 
 Cincinnati, Ohio. 
 
 JjKke, Semiis'Aey, February 15, 1884. 
 My Dear Professor: 
 
 "^ "^ I am glad tbat our dear Ex-President lived 
 so long and gave so many tbe advantage of coming in 
 contact with bis beautiful, modest, yet no less effective 
 life. 1 have never bad anything but pleasure from tbe 
 remembrance of my personal association with him, and 
 as though it were but a little time ago the sweet influ- 
 ences of bis character and counsel felt when I was in 
 
48 TEIBtJTES FKOM HAMILTON ALUMNI. 
 
 college, reach over the intervening forty years, to be a 
 blessing still. It has been sometimes said that President 
 NoETH governed entirely by negative peculiarities, but 
 I do not think so. There is positive power, oftentimes, 
 in what are called the passive characteristics of men, 
 and I have not known a man who knew how to make 
 what he was tell so directly on the execution of his 
 plans as did he. It was not wholly an unconscious in- 
 fluence, though never exerted with much display ; nor 
 was it a " masterly inactivity," for which he was dis- 
 tinguished. There have been few like him, covering so 
 much that was vigorous and energetic and positive 
 with so much that was lovely and gentle and winning, 
 and giving out the mingled product as his power over 
 men. I have known little of his later years, but do not 
 doubt that old age was adorned in him with all the 
 mellowed Christian graces, and that his faith grew the 
 stronger as his natural force abated. Your own loss 
 must be great, now that he has gone, but in the many 
 and oft-repeated changes of our later life, my dear Pro- 
 fessor, we must not forget that we are fast coming 
 towards the ranks of old men, and those who walked 
 life's ways with us before the zenith and under the 
 meridian must fail us rapidly, as all move on the 
 decline towards the setting sun. How beautiful the 
 truth that the setting sun on our earthly horizon is its 
 rising in a sky, over which it will never pass entirely, 
 but the shining will be that of high noon forever ! God 
 be praised for such a promise and hope which arch the 
 bow of a blessed immortality over the graves of our 
 friends who die in Christ, and give to ourselves to feel 
 the quickening powers of the world to come ! 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 James Eells. 
 
TRIBUTES FROM HAMILTOIS" ALUMNI. 49 
 
 FROM REV. DR. THOMAS B. HUDSOIS'. 
 
 Pastor of the Presbyterian Churcli in Clinton, 
 
 Clinton^ February 15, 1884. 
 
 My Dear Professor North : 
 
 It was a cause of regret to me, on tlie occasion of the 
 ifuneral of President North, that the protracted char- 
 acter of the exercises and the lateness of the hour, 
 made it seem wise to decline speaking, in spite of your 
 request to the contrary. It was not from any reluctance 
 to join with others in paying my tribute of respect and 
 affection to the memory of the beloved dead. I count 
 it a rare privilege and a great honor, that for a period 
 of more 'than twenty-one years, I have been permitted 
 to enjoy the acquaintance, and to some extent the 
 society, and I think I may say, for a portion of the 
 time, certainly during the last fourteen years, the warm, 
 personal friendship of such a man as Simeok Eorth. 
 The first time I ever met him was in the summer of 
 1847; and it was in circumstances, not in themselves, 
 perhaps, especially adapted to beget in one, situated as 
 I was, a feeling of personal attachment, and yet that 
 was the result, on my part, at least, and not only of 
 attachment, but of profound admiration — a feeling 
 which has grown stronger with subsequent years. 
 That meeting was in the President's study on College 
 Hill, when I appeared before him to pass my examina- 
 tion for admission to the Freshman class. With what 
 feelings I had anticipated that meeting, I need not say, 
 but I found it, like a good many other trials in this 
 world, far more formidable and painful in the anticipa- 
 tion than in the reality. The pleasant smile and the 
 kindly tone, and the cordial grasp, with which he 
 greeted me, dissipated, at once all my fears and anxie- 
 
50 TEIBUTES FEOM HAMILTOIT ALUMI^I. 
 
 ties, and I felt that I was in tlie presence of one who 
 was the very personification of gentleness and nobleness. 
 
 Of course, it was impossible for me as a student, to 
 know him as I have learned to know and love him 
 since. Three years of more intimate association with 
 him in the faculty, only confirmed and deepened all 
 previous impressions, and revealed to me more fully the 
 great beauty and refinement — the great loveliness and 
 unselfishness of his character. 
 
 Fourteen years ago last September, when I came to 
 Clinton as Pastor of the Stone Church, whose pulpit he 
 had himself in former years so often and so acceptably 
 filled, among the first to greet and welcome me to 
 that position, was the venerable and beloved ex-Presi- 
 dent, and among the mementos of that anxious day, 
 when the pastoral relation was formally constituted, 
 and I had promised, with fear and much trembling, to 
 assume the great responsibility, there are none that I 
 cherish to-day with warmer interest and gratitude than 
 his hearty, " God hless you^ my 'brother^'' as he grasped 
 my hand in both of his, at the close of the exercises. 
 It was an inspiration and encouragement to me because 
 I knew it was prompted by a sincere and earnest 
 desire — the ''fervent," and I did not doubt, the 
 " efi'ectual prayer of a truly righteous man, which avail- 
 eth much with God." 
 
 It has been seldom, however, that we have been per- 
 mitted, during recent years, to see him in the house of 
 God. The increasing infirmities of age have very 
 closely confined him to his quiet home. This retire- 
 ment, perhaps, has not been so great a trial to him, as 
 it mio-ht be to others, for he was fond of that kind of 
 life. He always shrank from contact with the outside 
 world. He was not indifi'erent, however, to its condition 
 
TRIBUTES FROM HAMILTON ALUM]N"I. 51 
 
 and needs, nor ungenerous in Ms charities. He had a 
 large heart, and an open hand, and none ever sought 
 his sympathy and help in vain. 
 
 In my occasional interviews vrith him, in his secluded 
 home, he always inquired with greatest interest after 
 the religious welfare of the church and community, and 
 in many ways, showed how dear to his heart was the 
 cause of Christ. 
 
 With patient, unmurmuring submission to the divine 
 will, he bore the intense sufferings of his final sickness, 
 and to use his own words, "greeted the coming of the 
 night of death as the precursor of a bright and more 
 glorious day, in that beautiful world of which God 
 himself is the light, and where the sun of glory and 
 peace shall never go down." There may we all meet 
 him, and with him share the blessedness of that 
 heavenly world, 
 
 " "Where endless day excludes the night, 
 And pleasures banish pain." 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 Thomas B. Hudson, 
 
 FROM REV. DR. HERRICK JOHNSON, 
 
 Professor of Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Theology in the Theological 
 Seminary of the Northwest, Chicago, 111. 
 
 159 Cass St., CmcAao, February 19, 1884. 
 My Dear Professor North : 
 
 Permit me to place amidst the memorials to the 
 honored dead my heart-felt tribute. Our class of '57 
 counted it their distinction that they were the last 
 whose diplomas bore the honest signature, 
 Simeon North, 
 
 Prceses. 
 
52 TEIBUTES FEOM HAMILTOIS^ ALUMNI. 
 
 We found him on the confines of that mellow golden 
 age in which he lingered so many beautiful years before 
 God gave him immortal youth again. All the rich 
 fruit of his scholarly years was at our service, and the 
 quality of what he gave us got greater value from 
 the rare and genial courtesy by which he made it sub- 
 servient to our use. 
 
 President North matched a fine intellect with a fine 
 soul. He showed the thorough scholar and the thorough 
 gentleman. He was conspicuously illustrative of the 
 harmony of the profoundest convictions and the sweet- 
 est amenities. We all held him in a high and dear 
 regard, and it is one of the chief honors of the college 
 and one of the most grateful memories of the alumni 
 that he was so long and so worthily and so helpfully 
 identified with the institution. 
 
 Hi;reick Johnson. 
 
LETTER OF THE HALF-CENTURY ANNALIST, 
 
 FOR THE YEAR 1879.* 
 
 To the Society of Alumni of Hamilton College : 
 
 The duty of acting, on this occasion, as the semi-cen- 
 tennial annalist of Hamilton College, has been assigned 
 to me, doubtless because, though not an alumnus of the 
 college, this is yet the 50th anniversary of my connec- 
 tion with it, and besides, as no class went out from the 
 college in 1829, there is no graduate of that year, to 
 whom the duty could be assigned. 
 
 The last contribution to the early history of the 
 college was from members of the class of 1828, viz.: 
 from Hon. H. P. Noeton and Kev. Dr. C. P. Wcsra. 
 During that year and the one preceding, I was acting 
 as a tutor in Yale College, and in connection with 
 classes which have since given some eminent men to 
 
 * The Half-Century Letter is a thing peculiar to Hamilton College Com- 
 mencements. It is read at the annual meeting of Alumni, and has come 
 to be regarded by returning graduates as one of the most interesting features 
 of the anniversary week in Clinton. The plan of appointing for each year 
 and each class a Half-Century Annalist, originated in 1865. An attractive 
 and valuable contribution to the History of Hamilton College might be made 
 by publishing in a volume the nineteen letters which have thus far been 
 presented. A complete list of these Half-Century Annalists includes the 
 following names: 
 
 George Bristol, '15, Clinton; Hon. David J. Baker, '16, Springfield, 
 111.; Hon. Edmund A. Wetmore, '17, Utica; Hon. Gerrit Smith, '18, Peter- 
 boro; Rev. John Barton, '19, Clinton; Prof. Charles Avert, '20, Clinton; 
 Prof. Zenas Morse, '21, Wyoming; Rev. Hiram H. Kellogg, '22, Mount 
 Forest, 111.; Prof. Farrand N. Benedict, '53, Parsippany, N. J.; Hon. 
 David McMaster, '24, Bath; Hon. George W. Clinton, '25, Buffalo; Hon. 
 Joseph S. Bosworth, '26, New York; Rev. Asa S. Colton, '27, Princeton, 
 N. J.; Hon. Henry P. Norton, '28, Brockport; Rev. Dr. Simeon North, 
 29, Clinton; Rev. Dr. Daniel D. Whedon, '30, New York; Hon. John Coch- 
 rane, '31, New York; Rev. Dr. Ferdinand De W. Ward, '32, Geneseo; 
 Thomas W. Seward, '33, Utica; Hon. Thomas A. Clarke, '34, Yonkers. 
 
54 HALF-CENTURY LETTER. 
 
 the Presbyterian Churcli and to American scholarsliip. 
 When the official notice of my appointment as professor 
 of languages in Hamilton College reached me, I had 
 under consideration a call for settlement in one of the 
 best parishes in Connecticut. Without hesitation, how- 
 ever, I decided to accept the professorship, although I 
 had little knowledge of central New York, and still 
 less of the history and condition of Hamilton College. 
 This decision I made, because, while it seemed to open 
 a field for useful labor, it also promised to gratify what 
 in those times was with me, almost a master passion, 
 fondness for the pursuits and employments of academic 
 life. With the official notice of my appointment, I 
 received also a request, that in case of acceptance, I 
 would attend the commencement exercises of the year, 
 then to be held in the month of August, and deliver 
 an inaugural address. I made my first journey up the 
 valley of the Mohawk, in the stage coach of those times, 
 and presented myself at the college on the day before 
 commencement. It was with much surprise that I 
 learned there was no senior class to graduate, and with 
 still greater surprise that I heard an account of the 
 causes which had driven most of the students from the 
 college, and most of the professors from the chairs 
 which they had occupied. These causes, it was stated, 
 had arisen in a long and bitter controversy between 
 the President, Dr. Henry Davis, on the one side, and 
 prominent members of the Board of Trustees on the 
 other. As stated by General Kirkland, then president 
 of the board, " the captain of the ship and the crew 
 could not agree, and it was therefore impossible to keep 
 the vessel on her course ;" and as said, and seriously 
 maintained by another prominent member of the 
 board. Rev. Dr. Lansing, in whose views other clerical 
 
HALF-CEl^TIJRY LETTER. 55 
 
 members of the board were known to sympathize, 
 ^' under the circumstances, it was impossible to keep 
 the ship afloat, and they ought, therefore, to clear the 
 deck, take in the sails, and let her drift under bare 
 poles." 
 
 If allowed to cany out the figure used by these emi- 
 nent gentlemen, I can truly say, that in my first intro- 
 duction to Hamilton College it presented the appearance 
 of a bark, which, on a voyage apparently successful and 
 prosperous, had suddenly been overtaken by a tempest, 
 which had swept her deck, and shattered her timbers, 
 and set her afloat, as a dismantled wreck upon the 
 waters. To dismiss the figure — I found that ten of the 
 trustees of the college had resigned; that of the 
 permanent officers of the college, but two remained, viz. : 
 Dr. Davis the president, and Dr. Notes, the professor 
 of chemistry ; and that of the students but nine were 
 left, and these, members of the two lower classes — that 
 immortal nine^ as they have sometimes been justly 
 termed, who held their places, and regularly discharged 
 their duties, while others forsook the institution — the 
 nine who thus made themselves a connecting link 
 between the college as it was in the early times of its 
 prosperity, and as it has since been, in the times of 
 its later growth and advancement. I hold that 
 among the friends of Hamilton College, these students 
 are worthy of being held in perpetual remembrance, 
 and as a means of contributing to this remembrance, 
 I take pleasure in here recording their names. 
 They were: O. S. Williams, Bejstj. H. Cad well, 
 J. A. WooDEUFF, Daniel D. Peatt, Thomas T. Davis, 
 JoKN CocHEAi^E, HuET H. Beoj^soit, John Dean and 
 Samuel Eells. 
 
56 HALF-CENTIJEY LETTEE. 
 
 The years 1829 and 1830 present a break in the reg- 
 ular succession of graduated classes. The reasons for 
 this break may be found in the circumstances stated 
 above. Those who may desire a more full and minute 
 statement of these circumstances will find it in a 
 pamphlet, now rarely met with, but doubtless to be 
 found in the college library, entitled ^'Darns' Narra- 
 tive of the Embarrassments and Decline of Hamilton 
 Colleger 
 
 Without attempting to repeat what Dr. Dayis in this 
 pamphlet has given in detail, it may not be without 
 use here to say, that after Dr. Davis had entered upon 
 his office, as the head of the colleo^e, and while the in- 
 stitution was rapidly growing in public estimation, and 
 in the number of its students, two great mistakes were 
 made. The first was an interference, on the part of the 
 trustees, by means of a committee, in the internal man- 
 agement and discipline of the college, in a case of wrong 
 doing among the students, which called indeed for dis- 
 cipline, but which should have been managed and dis- 
 posed of by the faculty alone. This interference, though 
 it did not at the time interrupt the progress of the 
 college, left in the minds of many connected with it 
 seeds of dissatisfaction which years after bore fruits of 
 bitterness and discord. The second mistake was a de- 
 cision of the trustees, with, I believe, the concurrence 
 of the faculty, to expend in the erection of new college 
 edifices the permanent funds of the institution — funds 
 which should have been kept intact and in reserve for 
 the support of the college instructors and for the other 
 current expenses. This, indeed, is a mistake often re- 
 peated in the history of American colleges, and destined 
 doubtless still to be repeated as long as colleges shall 
 be multiplied in the land, as if accumulations of brick 
 
HALF-CENTTJET LETTEE. 57 
 
 and stone and mortar, piled up in the form of tasteful 
 edifices, could make a college worthy of the name, with- 
 out adequate support for a board of instruction and 
 other helps for students in the form of libraries and 
 apparatus. 
 
 In carrying out the above mentioned resolution, to 
 erect new college buildings, the College Chapel and 
 Kirkland Hall were commenced and completed much 
 as they now stand. The North college edifice, after- 
 wards known as Dexter Hall, was also commenced ; but 
 to the surprise of all concerned, when the walls and 
 the roofs were finished it was found that the college 
 funds were exhausted and that the treasurer was with- 
 out money for the farther prosecution of the work. So 
 the building was left to stand — windows and doors 
 boarded up — until 1842, at which time, by a subscription 
 started and circulated by myself, means were provided 
 for its completion. 
 
 The exhaustion of the college funds gave occasion 
 to a long series of special meetings of the Board of 
 Trustees. Those meetings calling out, as they did, a 
 a great diversity of views in regard to the management 
 of the college, had their culmination in a crisis which 
 well-nigh brought the institution to the verge of ruin. 
 Among the many plans proposed to meet the case, one 
 was to give up the college to the faculty and allow them 
 to manage it in their own way, but depending wholly 
 upon the receipts from students for their support. 
 Another was to change the course of instruction, by 
 throwing out to a large extent, the study of ancient lan- 
 guages and higher mathematics, and substituting in 
 their place studies supposed to be more popular and 
 more practical — converting thus the college into a high 
 school, in the hope of drawing in a larger number of 
 
58 HALF-CENTUEY LETTEE. 
 
 students, thus increasing the receipts of the institution 
 for tuition — a plan afterwards partially carried out by 
 its advocates in the Oneida Institute. Still another 
 plan was to dismiss the faculty, shut up the doors of 
 the college, and wait for further developments. Against 
 all these 23lans Dr. Davis and Secretary Williams, the 
 father of Treasurer O. S. Williams, set their faces as a 
 flint, and I believe it is to the persistency and firmness 
 of those gentlemen, under circumstances of great em- 
 barrassment and in the face of a most determined oppo- 
 sition, that central JSFew York is indebted for the fact, 
 that Hamilton College still exists, and still holds an 
 honorable place among those higher institutions of 
 learning, which are justly regarded as the pride and 
 ornament of the State. 
 
 I have already mentioned, that with the announce- 
 ment of my appointment to the department of languages, 
 I received an invitation to attend the commencement 
 exercises of 1829. On that occasion inaugural addresses 
 were delivered by Professor J. H. Lathkop, the professor 
 elect to the department of mathematics and natural 
 philosophy, and by myself, on subjects appropriate to 
 our several departments. These inaugural addresses, 
 with an address from Tutor Maltbie before the Society 
 of Alumni, with the two customary orations from can- 
 didates for the second degree, made up the exercises of 
 the day. 
 
 On the evening preceding commencement I had the 
 pleasure of hearing, in the old church then standing in 
 the center of what is now the village park, declamations 
 from the nine students who for the year then closed, 
 had constituted the freshmen and sophomore classes. I 
 had been accustomed to attend similar exercises for 
 many years at Yale, but it was my impression at the 
 
HALF-CENTUEY LETTEE. 59 
 
 time, that I had rarely heard better speaking on such 
 an occasion, and never, speaking characterized by greater 
 strength, and manliness, and self-possession on the col- 
 lege stage. 
 
 At the close of the vacation, which now followed, 
 and with the opening of the next college term, Professor 
 Latheop and myself entered upon our several depart- 
 ments of instruction, with Dr. Davis and Professor 
 Notes, and Tutor Maltbie, as our associates. At the 
 same time there was an addition of twenty or more 
 new students — making about thirty students in the 
 three lower classes, and in regular attendance during 
 the year. At the close of the year, an exhibition from 
 the junior class was substituted for the usual 
 commencement exercises, and as at this time, the com- 
 mencement of 1830 — the juniors became seniors, and 
 there was an addition of a new freshman class, tke 
 entire machinery of the college organization, with its 
 four classes, and its curriculum of undergraduate studies 
 came into full operation. With the commencement of 
 1831, the regular succession of graduated classes was 
 resumed, and has never since been interrupted. 
 
 I have sometimes taken pleasure in referring to the 
 history of the two or three years which have now 
 passed in review, not because of embarrassments and 
 difficulty successfully met and overcome ; but, because 
 of the subsequent history of the young men who then 
 made up the college community. In the two classes of 
 1831 and 1832, there were graduated in all, but 
 twenty-two students; and any one who will take pains 
 to make the examination, will find that rarely, in the 
 same number of students, in this, or any other college, 
 can a greater proportion be found who have made an 
 honorable record for themselves in professional life, or 
 
60 HALF-CEIS^TUEY LETTER. 
 
 wlio Lave done more to reflect honor upon tlie institu- 
 tions which have given them their preparation for the 
 active duties of life. In this list will be found Othttiel 
 S. Williams, who for almost thirty years as the treas- 
 urer of the college, has managed its concerns, and 
 everywhere fixed the impress of his influence upon the 
 business department of the institution. Among them 
 will be found Professor Asahel C. Ke^deick, the pride 
 and the ornament of a neighboring institution. There, 
 will be found Daniel D.-Peatt, once a senator in con- 
 gress; also Samuel Eells, a distinguished member of 
 the legal profession and the founder of a literary associ- 
 ation, now widely extended into other colleges. There, 
 will be found the names of JoHisr Cocheane, Thomas T. 
 Davis, Heney B. Payne and John Dean, all successful 
 lawyers, and all members of congress. There, too, will 
 be found the names of John C. Undeewood — a United 
 States judge in northern Virginia — Hieam Van Vechten 
 WiLLSON, a judge of the supreme court of northern 
 Ohio. And there, too, not to mention others, will be 
 found that generous benefactor of Hamilton College, 
 and patron of learning — Edwin C. Litchfield, who, 
 amid the cares of a successful business career, has con- 
 nected his name inseparably with the progress of 
 astronomical science. 
 
 A history of Hamilton College for this period would 
 be incomplete without a brief notice of the attempt to 
 change its location. During the years of its decline 
 there were not a few of its professed friends, and among 
 them some of high standing and of wealth in the city 
 of Utica, who professed to believe its misfortunes were 
 attributable to its location. They professed to believe 
 that a remedy might be found in a removal of the 
 college to Utica — a city which even then had become 
 
half-ce:n^tuey lettee. 61 
 
 one of the great centers of wealth and of influence in 
 the State of New York. In this opinion it is known, 
 President Dwight himself sympathized, and that he 
 did much to encourage it while soliciting subscriptions 
 in the city. The feeling, at length, became so general 
 that under the influence of prominent citizens of Utica, 
 large meetings were held for the purpose of devising 
 ways and means of bringing about the desired change. 
 Counter meetings were held in Clinton, followed by 
 strong protests addressed to the Board of Trustees. 
 A special meeting of the Board was convened in the 
 summer vacation of 1835, for the purpose of delibera- 
 tion and for a decision of the matter in dispute. At 
 that meeting Geeeit Smith, then an influential member 
 of the Board, made one of his characteristic speeches — 
 maintaining, in accordance with the ground set forth by 
 Dae-iel Webstee in the famous Dartmouth College case, 
 that after a college had received its charter, for a given 
 location, and accepted its endowments while occupying 
 that location, no power on earth can annul its charter 
 by removal or otherwise, without a violation of the 
 great law of contracts. The question which then came 
 before the trustees for decision was a very grave one, 
 because it was known that in relation to it there was 
 a difference of views among the Faculty of the College, 
 as well as among its friends throughout the country. 
 The trustees promptly met the question, and gave 
 their decision in the negative. This decision against 
 the proposed ^removal, gave rise to important changes. 
 One was the resignation of President Dwight, and the 
 election of Dr. Joseph Penistt, as President of the 
 College. 1 f Another was the alienation of many who had 
 before given their support to the college. Still another, 
 was an almost entire failure of the subscription made 
 
62 HALF-CEJSTTURY LETTEE. 
 
 in Utica for tlie relief of the iDstitution This was fol- 
 lowed by a long course of litigation, in which the col- 
 lege came out the losing party, and the result was, that 
 a subscription of $50,000, secured by President Dwight, 
 yielded but $40,000 as finally collected and invested. 
 
 The facts here stated, have long since ceased to be 
 matters of interest in this community, yet they explain, 
 at least in part, why the recovery of the college from 
 its low state of dej^ression, was slow and gradual. 
 
 A full account of its financial condition and progress 
 for the last half-century, would be a most important 
 chapter in the history of the college — a chapter full of 
 important lessons, and admonitions. Such a contribution 
 to its history, it is not my province now to give, I may 
 be permitted, however, to refer to two or three points 
 connected with this branch of our subject. After the 
 exhausting of its funds and its consequent crisis of dis- 
 aster in 1828, the first token of reviving strength came 
 to the college from the will of William H. Matnard. 
 That under the existing circumstances, Mr. Mayi^aed 
 should have left the bulk of his property to Hamilton 
 College, must be accounted one of the most remarkable 
 acts of that remarkable man. In 1827 Mr. Maynaed 
 was elected a trustee of the college. As if in disgust 
 at the contentions which he witnessed in the board, he 
 resigned his seat in 1828. Yet, in executing his will, 
 before his death in 1832, while acting as a member of 
 the court of appeals in New York city, he gave the 
 greater part of his property to Hamilton College for the 
 endowment of a new department of instruction, which 
 has since proved one of the most useful and attractive 
 features of the college. I well remember how the 
 announcement of this bequest threw a gleam of sun- 
 shine over the clouds which then enveloped the college. 
 
-Liig'ij3yH.J3.HaLi. 
 
 
HALF-CEISTTURY LETTER. 6^ 
 
 Its moral effect upon the college itself, and upon the 
 surrounding community far outweighed the pecuniary 
 benefits. It showed that one who had long stood 
 before the people as a leader in the legal profession of 
 our State — one, familiar with the affairs of the college 
 from its foundation, notwithstanding the adverse 
 circumstances under which it was then resting, had yet 
 full faith in its ultimate success, and in the measures 
 then in progress for its renewed prosperity. 
 
 Nearly allied to this act of Mr. Maynard, both in its 
 effect upon the college and upon the community, was a 
 similar act of generosity in the endowment of the 
 department of languages, by that noble spirited citizen 
 and life-long friend of Hamilton College — S. JSTewtoist 
 Dexter.*^ Up to the time when this endowment was 
 made, the salaries paid to the college professors were 
 but $800. Finding this sum inadequate to my support, 
 
 S. Newton Dexter was born in Providence, R. I., May 11, 1785. He died 
 in WMtestown, November 18, 1862. His father Andrew Dexter, was the 
 first manufacturer of cotton goods in the United States. His grandfather, 
 Saimuel Dexter, of Boston, left a bequest to Harvard College, the income 
 of which now goes to the Professor of Biblical Literature. His great-grand- 
 father, Rev. Samuel Dexter, a graduate from Harvard in 1720, was 
 pastor of the Congregational Church in Maiden, Mass., where he died in 
 1775. S. Newton Dexter was prepared for college under the instruction 
 of Rev. Caleb Alexander, Mendon, Mass., who afterwards prepared the 
 way for the chartering of Hamilton College by gathering funds and shaping 
 public opinion. Soon after his admission to Brown University, Mr. 
 Dexter gave up his plans for study, to accept a business engagement in 
 Boston. In 1815 he removed to Whitesboro, where he lived for forty-seven 
 years. In 1824, he undertook a very heavy contract on the Chesapeake and 
 Delaware Canal. This occupied five years, and involved an expenditure of 
 over two millions of dollars. In 1829 he became the agent of the Oriskany 
 Manufacturing Company, and in 1832 the agent of the Dexter Manufactur- 
 ing Company of Pleasant Valley. In 1835 he was elected a trustee of 
 Hamilton College, and in 1838 president of the Bank of Whitestown. In 
 1840 he was appointed one of the Canal Commissioners and in 1850 one of 
 the Managers of the State Lunatic Asylum at Utica. His first wife was 
 Laura Northrup, of Athens, to whom he was married October 26, 1811. 
 His second wife was Mrs. Martha Raymond Gold, to whom he was 
 married February 3, 1848. 
 
64 HALF-CENTUEY LETTEE. 
 
 I had sent in my resignation of the department of 
 languages, to the board of trustees, with the intention of 
 accepting a similar department of instruction then 
 offered me in another institution. The board did not 
 accept my resignation, but as an inducement for con- 
 tinuing my connection with the college, offered for my 
 support the income of the new endowment, just then 
 made by Mr. Dextee. Under these circumstances I 
 withdrew my resignation and continued to occupy the 
 department of languages until 1839. And I speak of 
 this the more particularly, because this endowment 
 made by Mr. Dextee, becoming immediately available, 
 was not only the first step toward a permanent provis- 
 ion for the department of languages, but also toward 
 a more generous compensation for the labor of other 
 professors. 
 
 One other item marks another step taken toward a 
 permanent support of the institution. In 1833 Rev. 
 Seeeno Edwaeds Dwight was elected President of the 
 College. Previous to this election, his brother, Dr. 
 Benjamiit W. Dwioht, who in so remarkable a degree 
 combined the qualities of the scholar, the Christian 
 gentleman and the exact man of business, had for some 
 time been acting as treasurer. Under their direction and 
 with the assistance of Professor Chaeles Aveey, the 
 enterprise was commenced and successfully carried 
 through of securing for the college subscriptions to a 
 permanent fund of $50,000. In carrying forward this 
 enterprise President Dwigiht spent one year in present- 
 ing the claims of the college before the public, while 
 the more laborious part of the work in obtaining the 
 pledges of money was undertaken by Professor Aveey. 
 Before the close of the year, those pledged amounted to 
 the proposed sum of $50,000. The labor of collecting 
 
HALF-CENTUEY LETTEE. 65 
 
 and investing this fund devolved upon Treasurer 
 Dwight; and so successfully was tliis done by him 
 that for many years, and until after the accession of 
 Dr. FisHEE to the presidency, this fund constituted the 
 main support of the institution. The pledges of money 
 by which it was created were mostly obtained by Pro- 
 fessor AvEEY, and I take pleasure in here adding that 
 while the long period of his subsequent connection 
 with the college, as one of its professors, was filled with 
 labors eminently useful to the institution, in none of 
 those labors did he contribute more to its permanent 
 success and prosperity than by what he did in that 
 year with President Dwight as the financial agent of 
 the college. 
 
 The sketch now given of Hamilton College in the 
 years referred to, would be incomplete without some 
 reference to the aspect and condition of the buildings 
 and grounds. Those who know the college only as it 
 now appears, can have little idea of its appearance as 
 seen by a -stranger in the times to which I have referred. 
 Of the buildings now standing on the college premises, 
 the only three in use, or in such a state as to be fit for 
 use, were the college chapel, Hamilton Hall and Kirk- 
 land Hall, while the grounds outside of the college 
 yard, known as the Campus, were open lots used only 
 for cultivation and pasturage. The process by which 
 the college premises have been made to put on their 
 present appearance, has been a process of slow and 
 gradual improvement. Besides the changes in the aspect 
 of the older buildings, much has been done under the 
 direction of the committee having that matter in charge; 
 for the re-arranging and improvement of the grounds, 
 and in the provision of new buildings and increased 
 facilities for instruction, in the chemical and astronomi- 
 
66 HALF-CENTURY LETTER. 
 
 cal departments. The means for making these improve- 
 ments were mostly obtained bytlie sale of scholarships, 
 an effort commenced in 1852, on the recommendation of 
 the college faculty, and with the sanction of the trustees ; 
 but made successful by the combined labors of Prof 
 Charles Avery and the late Dr. Lathrop, of Auburn. 
 A large sum was thns raised and expended in fixed and 
 permanent improvements which have entirely changed 
 the aspect of the college, and which have given to its 
 grounds a beauty and attractiveness not surpassed, it is 
 believed, by those of any other institution in the land. 
 My own connection with the college as an officer of 
 instruction — though not as a trustee, was terminated in 
 1857. That year, it is well known, like the year 1873, 
 was one of financial distress and disaster to the whole 
 country. That it brought serious embarrassment and 
 stringency to the college treasury can be no matter of 
 surprise to those who still remember the financial diffi- 
 culty which in that year pervaded every department of 
 business enterprise throuo'hout the land. How this 
 embarrassment has been met and partially overcome, is 
 well known to all the friends of the institution. It has 
 been to me personally an occasion of rejoicing, and of 
 increased interest in the prosperity of the college, that 
 so many of those, who were once my own pupils, and 
 with whom I was formerly conversant in the relations 
 and duties of college life, have most generously contrib- 
 uted to its means of support ; and this, not only in the 
 ordinaiy process of adding to its funds, but by so 
 adding to them as to connect their names permanently 
 with its jDrizes for the higher grades of scholarship, with 
 its departments of instruction liberally endowed, and 
 with the very buildings which occupy the college 
 grounds — destined there to last and be remembered, I 
 
HALF-CENTURY LETTER. 67 
 
 trust, as long as Hamilton College shall continue to 
 exist. 
 
 In 1839, when called upon to assume new duties and 
 responsibilities in the college as its presiding officer, I 
 had occasion, in my inaugural address, to use the follow- 
 ing language : 
 
 ^'Many of those elements of prosperity in colleges 
 which are the most unfailing are those which time only 
 can produce. That fruit of their labors which results 
 from the affectionate regards of a wide and influential 
 circle of alumni, they can not hope immediately to real- 
 ize. Most colleges, too, find it matter of painful expe- 
 rience that it is not until they have become so far 
 established as to assume the importance of fixed points 
 in the eyes of the community, that its members are 
 accustomed with confidence to look to them as places 
 of education, while they give to them a steady attach- 
 ment and support. In these elements of prosperity, 
 and in the moral and classic associations which are 
 clustered around theni, the colleges that were early 
 planted in our country, are a thousand fold richer than 
 in the silver and gold, with which almost two centuries 
 have replenished their treasuries. The scholars who 
 have enjoyed their advantages, look back to them with 
 pleasing remembrances from the cares and toils of active 
 life. When as fathers they lead back to them, for edu- 
 cation, the children of their hopes, it is a matter of 
 rejoicing that they are able to commit the care of their 
 offspring to the same foster mother, that cherished 
 their own intellectual infancy. After the colleges have 
 secured such an interest in the hearts of many alumni 
 and many parents, they rest upon a foundation far 
 surer than any which mere wealth or popular feeling, 
 excited by temporary causes, can ever afford. But such 
 
68 HALF-OENTUEY LETTEE. 
 
 a foundation time and persevering labor only can im- 
 part. The friends of youthful colleges like our own 
 must be contented to toil and wait. for it. He who 
 plants the acorn, may indeed see it germinate and grow, 
 but he knows that posterity alone will look up to the 
 full grown oak. In the mean while it v/ill have planted 
 deep its roots in the rugged soil, and spread out wide 
 its arms in the face of heaven. The thunderbolt may 
 then fall upon it, but it will stand. The tempest may 
 battle with its trunk, and howl through its branches, 
 but it will remain unbroken. Thus should it be with 
 colleges. They who plant, and who foster them in 
 their infancy, should feel that they are laboring for 
 coming generations, and take care that their work is so 
 accomplished that posterity may have occasion to bless 
 them for their labors." 
 
 Forty years have now passed since I had occasion to 
 use this language, and in the review of these years, in 
 their relation to Hamilton College, I find abundant 
 illustration and confirmation of the sentiments then 
 expressed. Kot one of these years has passed without 
 adding to the number of its graduates, and thus 
 increasing those elements of strength and of power 
 which are only found in the loyal and unwavering 
 attachment of a numerous and w^idely extended circle 
 of alumni. 
 
 Did time permit, and the proprieties of this occasion 
 allow, I would here gladly add extended notices of the 
 many ofEcers and instructors with whom, during the 
 twenty-eight years of my active service in the college, I 
 became associated, and with whom I labored in the reg- 
 ular routine of its duties. Some of these, viz : the two 
 treasurers of the college, Otht^iel Williams, the elder, 
 and Beistjamin W. D wight; and of its instructors, Pres- 
 
HALF-CENTURY LETTER. 69 
 
 ident Davis, Dr. Notes and Professor Catliis" — names 
 ever to be loved and revered, it was my lot to follow 
 to their graves, and by funeral disco m^ses to share in 
 the public tokens of respect paid to their memory. 
 
 Others, and these not a few^ having left the college^ 
 because they found elsewhere more inviting fields of 
 usefulness, have lono; since in those fields reached the 
 end of their labors. It is thus that Dr. Seeewo E. 
 Dwight, for two years the president of the college, and 
 Dr. Joseph Peist^ey, for four years his successor; Pro- 
 fessors Lathrop and Hadley and Maltbie and Way- 
 land and Smith and Mandeville ; Tutors H. P. Bris- 
 tol and I. H. Brayton — all once holding honored 
 places in the list of our instructors are now found on 
 the catalogue with the significant mark, which indicates 
 that they too have finished their lives of labor and of 
 usefulness. The bare mention of their names and I 
 here record them with deep sentiments of respect for 
 what they have been, and what they have done, is 
 enough to show how many elements of power and of 
 influence in the years which are passed have contributed 
 to the growth and progress of our college, and how 
 much in all cases, drawn from the lives and the labors 
 of individual men is requisite to the building up of a 
 great and well constituted institution of learning. That 
 Hamilton College may thus continue and go on and 
 prosper, is the earnest wish and prayer of the subscriber, 
 
 Simeon North, 
 
OBEDIENCE IN DEATH. 
 
 A DiscoTJKSE, Delivered in the Chapel of Hamilton Coi> 
 
 LEGE, September 13, 1849, at the Funeral of 
 
 Professor MARctis Catlin. 
 
 BY EEV. SIMEOI^ I^OETH, D. D. 
 
 Deuteronomy 32 : 48—50. And the Lord said nnto Moses that self-same 
 day, Faying, Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto Mount Nebo, which 
 is in the land of Woab, and is over against Jericho ; and behold the land of 
 Canaan which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession. And die in 
 the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people as Aaron 
 thy brother died in Mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people. 
 
 Subjection to death is an incident which the Author 
 of our being has attached as a condition to life itself. 
 It is so recognized by all who live ; and yet, it is with 
 widely diflPerent sentiments, that by different minds 
 this condition is contemplated. By not a few, it is 
 regarded as a matter of stern, but unwelcome neces- 
 sity — a necessity for v/hich they seem to be aware of 
 no sufficient reason, and to which they submit as to all 
 physical evils, because from its dominion they have no 
 power to escape. With silent apprehension they see 
 the work of death going on around them, as one 
 and another fall from their places, and disappear from 
 the spheres of life and activity, in which they have been 
 accustomed to move, and to make themselves known 
 and felt among men. In their view, death is an indef- 
 inite something in the track of their coming experience, 
 which is simply to be met. When in the prospect of 
 their own departure, they see the signs of dissolution 
 gathering around them, they either sink down into a 
 hard and gloomy despair, or strive to rally themselves 
 
hL^^TLTOi^f COLLE&E, 
 
OBEDIENCE IN DEATH. 
 
 71 
 
 into a state of unnatural and fool-hardy indifference. 
 This then is one of the aspects under which death is 
 contemplated by men — a stern and unwelcome necessity. 
 It is a widely different aspect of the subject which 
 is presented in our text; and which we are invited to 
 contemplate, in the experience and example of that em- 
 inent servant of God, the leader and law-^^iver of Israel. 
 As here viewed, it is seen to be a matter of religious 
 obedience; an event indirectly involving the highest 
 obligations and duties resting upon man as an account- 
 able being. A few considerations will show that this 
 is the only true and proper view to be taken of the 
 subject of death. 
 
 I. Let then the fact be noticed, that in our text sub- 
 mission to death is made a subject of special and specific 
 command. By a series of marked interpositions from 
 Heaven, Moses had been raised up, and qualified for 
 the position, to which he had been assigned by Provi- 
 dence, and which he tilled with such consummate 
 ability. At a time, when he was ignorant of the career 
 of glory and distinction, which God had marked out 
 for him, he chose rather to cast in his lot with his en- 
 slaved countrymen, than to be known as a member of 
 the royal family, in the court of Egypt. From the 
 place of a shepherd, he became, by divine appointment, 
 an ambassador of Pharaoh, bearing a message which 
 God had commanded him to announce. Having suc- 
 cessfully prepared the way, for the escape of his coun- 
 trymen from the house of bondage, he led them through 
 the perils of the sea and the wilderness, and after long 
 years of wandering and suffering brought them safely 
 to the borders of the promised land. During all this 
 time, he had been the medium of communication be- 
 
72 OBEDlETSrCE IN DEATH. 
 
 tween God and the people of Israel. He Lad received 
 and pronmlgated the law, and appointed the sanctions 
 by which its authority was to be supported. He had 
 organized a government, and taught the people that 
 their own happiness was to be found only in obedience 
 to its exactions. He had marked out the great features 
 of the Jewish ritual, and made known in what ways 
 God was to be approached and worshiped. He had 
 also habituated the people to the discipline and patient 
 endurance of the camp; and prepared them for those 
 conflicts, through which it was necessary for them to 
 pass, before they could come into full possession of the 
 promised land. When these things had been accom- 
 plished, his work was done. His eye, we are told, was 
 not yet dim, nor his natural force abated ; and yet, for 
 reasons which God deemed sufficient, this was made the 
 end of his wanderings, as well as the close of his exist- 
 ence upon the earth. By the special command of God, 
 he went up from the plains of Moab into Mount Nebo, 
 and having there, from Pisgah, its loftiest summit, sur- 
 veyed tho. land of promise, yielded up his life, and was 
 gathered to his people. 
 
 Now in these facts drawn from the history of Moses, 
 we deem this worthy of special notice, that every step 
 which was taken by him, preparatory to the teimina- 
 tion of his career, was taken in a spirit of unhesitating 
 obedience. It was this, which prompted the blessing 
 which he pronounced upon the people, and the song of 
 exulting praise in which he magnified the goodness that 
 had thus far in safety led them on their way. It was 
 in this spirit, that he transmitted to Joshua, as his suc- 
 cessor, the authority, which by divine appointment he 
 had hitherto exercised as learler and commander of 
 Israel. It was befitting that the closing act of such a 
 
OBEDIENCE i:tT DEATH. 73 
 
 life should also be an act of religious obedience, and it 
 was hence that by special appointment from God, he 
 betook himself to the mountain top; and with none 
 present to witness the transaction, but the Being who 
 had appointed the time and the place, there closed his 
 earthly existence. 
 
 II. In the second place, let it also be noticed, that 
 not only in the example of our text, but in the illustra- 
 tions and general teachings of the Bible, death is 
 presented as an event, for which definite preparation is 
 to be made. Life itself is there indeed exhibited as a 
 continued preparation for death. All the duties with 
 which life is tilled up; especially, the duties devolving 
 upon man as a moral being, are presented as bearing 
 directly upon the work of preparation for that event 
 which in the progress of every such being is held up 
 as the grand crisis of his existence. In his moral and 
 spiritual relations, every man is bound to be what 
 Moses was, the friend and servant of God. Nay more, 
 under the light and teachings of the gospel, every man 
 is bound to be the friend and follower of Jesus Christ. 
 It is by becoming such, and living as such, that prepa- 
 ration is to be made for death ; and a distinct item in 
 the work of this preparation is to be found in every- 
 thing which enters essentially into the life and 
 character of a sincere and faithful follower of Christ. 
 In the retrospect of a life spent in sin, does he sincerely 
 repent and resolve that henceforth he will consecrate 
 himself to the service of God? That is an element in 
 the work of preparation of vv^hich we are speaking. In 
 view of his lost condition as a sinner, and his utter 
 inability to atone for past offences by satisfying the 
 claims of God's justice, does he exercise unwavering 
 faith in the blood of Jesus Christ? That is another 
 
74 
 
 OBEDIENCE IN DEATH. 
 
 element, in this Work of j)reparation. In view of his 
 own weakness and bis inability successfully to combat 
 the enemies of his salvation, does he cherish a humble 
 sense of dependence upon God's assistance, and the 
 guidance of God's spirit? Here is another feature of 
 the same great work. In his daily walk and conversa- 
 tion as a Christian, does he strive to cultivate and 
 exemplify before others the graces of the Christian 
 character, walking as Christ walked, and living as he 
 also lived? Is his a life of habitual communion and 
 intercourse with God, by prayer, by meditation, by 
 worship, and by the diligent use of other appointed 
 means of inter-communication between God and man ? 
 Is his a course of active and devoted obedience to the 
 will of Gcd, in the consecration to his service, of time, 
 and talents, and influence, and property; nay, of life 
 itself? Here, then, are other grand elements in the 
 work referred to; and it is thus, that whatever comes 
 within the sphere of man's accountability as a moral 
 being, whatever pertains to him as a child of God, and 
 a follower of Jesus Christ, should be recognized as 
 having a place in the great business of making himself 
 ready for the hour of death. This is the peculiarity of 
 his being, if like those of the Jewish lawgiver, his days 
 are spent in the service of his Maker, that the very 
 process of living is itself a preparation for dying. 
 This relation of the one to the other, God himself has 
 appointed, by prescribing the duties with which life is 
 to be filled up; and it is thus that he is teaching us to 
 regard the termination of life, as an event with which 
 high and sacred obligations are connected. 
 
 HI. In the third place, let it be observed that not 
 only is death an event for which preparation is to be 
 
OBEDIET^CE IN DEATH. 
 
 75 
 
 made in the discbarge of religious duties; but one, in 
 the prospect and experience of which peculiar and 
 appropriate feelings are to be exercised. It appeals to 
 the sensibilities of our nature, not less than to its capa- 
 bilities for duty and action. Nor is it a blind and 
 indiscriminate appeal which is thus made. It is not 
 simply, that we should be agitated with emotion in the 
 near prospect and experience of death ; but that our 
 emotions should be those which are appropriate to 
 beings like ourselves, under such circumstances — beings 
 moral, accountable and immortal; beings deserving to 
 perish on account of transgi'ession, and yet capable of 
 being saved through faith in the atoning blood of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 1. Among the feelings thus to be exercised, we 
 should recognize, as not least important, a cheerful 
 resignation and acquiescence in that will of the Creator, 
 which has made us subject to death, and w^hich has 
 fixed the time and place of its occurrence. That is a 
 memorable instance of such acquiescence already 
 noticed in the example of our text. After long years 
 spent in w^anderings over the desert, and in struggling 
 with hardships almost without a parallel, the Jewish 
 lawgiver, with the j)eople entrusted to his guidance, had 
 reached what seemed a near approximation to the end 
 of their journeyings. The promised land was now in 
 view. The object for which he had toiled, and prayed, 
 and suffered seemed just within his reach, when he was 
 summoned to the heights of Nebo, and required there 
 to yield up his breath. He recognized in that sum- 
 mons the voice of Jehovah. A repining vv^ord fell not 
 from his lips, No rebellious feeling found place in his 
 heart. The last act of his life was an act of cheerful 
 
76 OBEDIEN^CE IN DEATH. 
 
 obedience ; and in this is found an example which all 
 may well strive to imitate. Knowing that God has 
 fixed the boundaries which we may not pass; and that 
 by his Providence, he is most wisely controlling the 
 issues of human existence ; assured as we must be if we 
 are his children, and possess the spirit of Moses, in his 
 solitary death upon the mountain top, that God knows 
 both in regard to life, and the termination of life, what 
 is best for us, and for others, we are to submit even in 
 death without a murmur. At his bidding we are to 
 hold ourselves ready to embark upon the tide of his 
 Providence, though we may know it will quickly bear 
 us to the end of our course. Nor should we linger or 
 hesitate, notwithstanding we may have earthly hopes 
 long cherished just budding into fruition, and schemes 
 of enjoyment, and enterprise, and usefulness that seem 
 just reaching the point of successful accomplishment. 
 God's glory even, the honor and advancement of his 
 cause may seem to be involved in the consumma- 
 tion of these hopes and schemes ; yet should we remem- 
 ber that he who raised up Joshua as a leader in Israel, 
 and a successor to Moses, can take care of his own 
 cause; and if need be, can find other agents for the 
 accomplishment of his purposes. 
 
 2. But while we thus acquiesce in the appoint- 
 ment, which has made us subject to death, and which 
 has fixed the time and place of its occuri-ence, there 
 should also be childlike trust in the goodness and wis- 
 dom of the Being, who has made this appointment. 
 This is none other than that sentiment of faith, the 
 exercise of which is so constantly inculcated in the 
 word of God, and of which such memorable examples 
 are found, not only in the experience of Moses, but in 
 
OBEDIET^CE 11^ DEATH. 77 
 
 the lives of the earlier fathers and founders of the Jew- 
 ish church. 
 
 "By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out 
 into a place which he should afterwards receive for an 
 inheritance, obeyed; and he went out not knowing 
 w^hither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land 
 of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in taber- 
 nacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the 
 same promise : For he looked for a city which hath 
 foundations, whose maker and builder is God." The 
 appointment, which separated him from the home of his 
 fathers, and which required him to become an exile 
 and a w^anderer in a far distant land, doubtless seemed 
 to the patriarch strange and mysterious. Yet he ques- 
 tioned not the wisdom, or the goodness of that appoint- 
 ment. His faith in both possessed the power of an 
 influential and practical principle; and therefore, while 
 going out into a land of strangers, and sojourning there, 
 he still trusted in the providence of a covenant-keeping 
 God ; looking still and ever for a city to come, whose 
 maker and builder is God. There can be no emerg- 
 ency in the history of a moral being, in which the 
 exercise of this faith is not appropriate and necessary. 
 Most of all is it necessary in that emergency so trying 
 and fearful which separates the soul from the body — • 
 that crisis, which forms the transition between time 
 and eternity, and which marks the boundaries between 
 probation and the infinite realities of a retributive 
 state. Human succor is then no longer available. 
 Earthly dependencies then lose their power to afford 
 support. The tabernacle, in which the soul has dwelt, 
 and through which, as by a thousand ties, it has been 
 connected with the material world, is about to be taken 
 down. An untried ocean is before it, and unless, in 
 
78 OBEDLE]S^CE I2s^ DEATH. 
 
 the exercise of an unwavering faith, it can find sure 
 ground, on which to rest the anchor of its hopes, it will 
 be driven and bufi'eted by overwhelming fears, and 
 perhaps, as in a night of clouds and rayless darkness 
 go down, and disappear from the eyes of men. 
 
 3. But, among the feelings appropriate to the hour 
 of death, in those who come to that hour fully prepared, 
 are also joyful anticipations, in the prospect of those 
 rewards which are in reserve beyond the grave. Such 
 rewards have been jDledged, and made sure in the 
 promises of Him who can not lie. "To him that over- 
 cometh," says Jesus in the language of the revelator on 
 Patmos, " will I o-rant to sit witli me with mv father in 
 Ms Throne." And yet again he says, " Write, blessed 
 are the dead, which die in the Lord, from henceforth : 
 Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their 
 labors, and their works do follow them." It is the 
 right, and the privilege of all, to whom these assurances 
 are addressed, to rise above the bondage of their fears^ 
 in the prospect of death. We do not say, that all such 
 may be able to triumph, and exult as did the apostle, 
 when he exclaimed, '^ Oh death, where is thy sting? 
 Oh grave, where is thy victory ?" Such exultation is 
 not vouchsafed to all true disciples ; not even to all, 
 who like Paul, are conscious of having fought a good 
 fight, of having finished their course, and kept the faith. 
 Their view of the Canaan of rest, like that of Moses, 
 may be unclouded, but they may not be able to lift up 
 the voice in songs of triumphant gladness. They not- 
 withstanding forego their right and their privilege, as 
 the servants of him, who was himself triumphant over 
 death ; they abandon their birthright as the new-bo]'n 
 children of Jesus Christ, and with him heirs to an 
 
OBEDIENCE IN DEATH. 79 
 
 inheritance, incorruptible and eternal in the heavens, if 
 they do not dismiss their fears, in the near approach to 
 death; nay, if they do not cherish a joyful hope of 
 glory, and honor, and immortality beyond the grave. 
 Provided they have in full exercise the faith, which has 
 been described ; if that faith, when directed to the 
 scenes of the future world, is able to clothe those scenes 
 in forms of living realit}^, why should they not be 
 joyful, in prospect of the change which awaits them ? 
 They may feel the currents of life slowly ebbing away. 
 In the failing of their senses, all material objects may 
 become dim and indistinct. They may feel upon their 
 bodies, a hand whose power they can not resist, taking 
 away the supports of their earthly habitation ; unloos- 
 ing its framework, and giving up to decay, and disor- 
 ganization, the very materials of which it is composed ; 
 and yet theirs is the assurance of having that within 
 them, which death can not reach, nor the grave confine — 
 something, by virtue of which they are recognized as 
 God's immortal creatures, and heirs to an inheritance 
 higher and better than all the delights of sense: nay, 
 than all the gifts of the earth, could they be made a 
 lasting and unfailing possession. From the crumbling 
 wreck of its earthly habitation, from the scenes and 
 material forms, with which it has been conversant, but 
 which are now as objects waning in the distance, the 
 soul of him whose trust is in God, may look away to 
 mansions in the heavens, knowing that they have been 
 provided by Jesus Christ himself, and that as a city of 
 celestial workmanship, whose maker and builder is God, 
 their foundations shall never fail. 
 
 The topics, to which our attention has thus been 
 directed, in the discussion of our text, derive special 
 interest and appropriateness from the circumstances of 
 
^0 OBEDLEIS^CE IN DEATH. 
 
 the present occasion. In his Providence, God has 
 removed from this community one of its most promi- 
 nent members, and from this College one of its most 
 honored and successful teachers. While we bow with 
 Christian submission to this dispensation, it becomes us 
 to gather up the lessons of instruction which it gives, 
 and to impress those lessons upon our minds, for our 
 own improvement; and especially, as incentives to dili- 
 gence in the great work of preparing for the time of 
 our own departure. 
 
 In the history of one whose days, like those of Pro- 
 fessor Catliis", have been spent in the quiet and retire- 
 ment which usually characterize the student and 
 college instructor, we are not to look, as in the history 
 of those whose sphere of action is the camp, the popular 
 assembly, or the senate house, for incidents that startle 
 by their brilliancy ; or that surprise and over-awe by 
 the magnitude and grandeur of their results. To him, 
 notwithstanding, belongs a field of effort no less useful 
 and important ; and if measured by their ultimate bear- 
 ings, his too are achievements no less worthy of 
 remembrance, and commemoration. 
 
 Professor CATLiiir was born in 1805, at Winfield, in 
 Herkimer county, in our own State. In 1823 he 
 became a member of the Freshman class, in this College. 
 Of the incidents of his college life, we have learnt but 
 little, except as testified by those who were his instruct- 
 ors, that he was characterized by those qualities of dili- 
 gence, and regularity, and perseverance in the pursuit 
 of knowledge, which ever mark the successful student. 
 While as a general scholar, he was distinguished among 
 the best of his associates, he was pre-eruinent in that 
 department of study, which he has since so diligently 
 cultivated, and of which, as an officer of the college, he 
 
OBEDIEIsrCE IN DEATH. 81 
 
 ias been so successful and eminent a teacher. While 
 a member of the Sophomore class, and in the progress 
 of a college revival, he received his first religious im- 
 pressions : or rather, those impressions, which first 
 resulted in a saving change of character, and which 
 brought him, as a humble penitent, and believer in 
 Christ, to the indulgence of a well grounded Christian 
 hope. The profession of religion, which he soon after 
 publicly made, he has ever since adorned with a stead- 
 iness, and consistency, and it is believed, with an ever 
 growing attachment and devotion to the Savior's cause, 
 which have rendered his a most impressive, and in- 
 structive example to all who have known him. After 
 the completion of his college course, he spent several 
 years as a teacher of a select school in New Jersey. In 
 1831, he was elected a tutor in this college; and in 
 1834, appointed to the Professorship of Mathematics 
 and Astronomy, then vacant — a department of instruc- 
 tion which he held, and the duties of which he con- 
 tinued to discharge, to the time of his death. 
 
 Such, briefly, have been the incidents of Professor 
 CATLi]?f's life. The language of studied eulogium would 
 be unsuited to the solemnity of this occasion. We 
 should yet fail in justice to the eminent worth of our 
 deceased friend, did we not say, that in all the rela- 
 tions in which he has lived and acted, his has been an 
 example worthy of the Christian disciple and the 
 Christian scholar— an example too, worthy of being 
 imitated, and held in lasting remembrance, by the many 
 who have known and loved him. With what fidelity 
 and conscientiousness he has discharged the many 
 duties resulting from his domestic and social relations 
 is well understood by those who hear me, and I need 
 not commemorate the excellencies of character, which 
 
82 OBEDIEJS^CE IIS^ DEATH. 
 
 were tlius manifested. As little, need 1 speak of Ms 
 strong and vigorous intellect, rendered doubly vigorous 
 "by constant use and cultivation : of his extensive and 
 scholar-like attainments, especially in that department 
 of study to which he was chie^y devoted : of his simple 
 and unaffected yet dignified manners : of his kind, con- 
 ciliating deportment, both in his intercourse with his 
 fellow instructors, and with the classes which enjoyed 
 his instructions : of his fidelity, and steadiness, and emi- 
 nent ability in discharging his official and professional 
 duties, as a college instructor : nor, finally of that simple 
 hearted, devoted piety, which was at once the crowning 
 virtue of his life, and his preparation for a happy and 
 peaceful death. It has been, in the manifestation of 
 these virtues, not simply on rare and great occasions, 
 and with the studied design of impressing the multi- 
 tude, and winning for himself the applause of a momen- 
 tary, and factitious distinction ; but in the hourly 
 intercourse and the business of every day, and common 
 life, that Professor Catle^ has become known in this 
 community, and has secured for himself a lasting place 
 not only in our respect for him, as a man of science and 
 high professional attainments, but in our cherished 
 regards toward him, as a citizen, a friend and a 
 Christian brother. 
 
 The closing scenes of Professor Catlin's life were 
 characteristic of his mind, and in beautiful harmony 
 with its well known habits and peculiarities. Though 
 possessed of keen sensibilities, his was a mind of singu- 
 lar calmness, and self-control, a calmness, which as in 
 waters that are still, is the index of unseen depths 
 below. His, too, was the habit of doing in its season 
 whatever his hand found to do, and it was but natural 
 that these characteristics should be exemplified in the 
 
OBEDIEIS^CE IN DEATH. 83 
 
 closing Lours of his life. Soon after lie was seized by 
 Ms last illness, apprehensive of its character, and as if 
 anticipating its fatal termination, he applied himself 
 with his accustomed self-possession, to what he deemed 
 a necessary adjustment of his worldly affairs, and the 
 setting of his house in order for the time of his depart- 
 ure. He communicated with his pastor in regard to 
 his 0¥/n state, and his religious feelings in the prospect 
 of what was before him. He gathered about him his 
 family, and gave to all the council which was appro- 
 priate to their ages and circumstances. In the ordi- 
 nance of baptism, he dedicated those who had not yet 
 received this rite to the care and guardianship of a 
 covenant-keeping God. These things accomplished, 
 his work was done, and when at length death 
 came, it found him ready and prepared, waiting with 
 the Christian composure and resignation of one who 
 knows in whom he has trusted, and who feels that the 
 anchor of his hopes is on the rock, and will not slide. 
 Who will not feel, in view of these facts, that there is 
 not only instruction, but moral beauty in the death of 
 the Christian ? Who will not exclaim, in the words 
 which God has inspired : " Let my death be that of 
 the righteous, and let my last end be like his !" 
 
 In conclusion, we deem it appropriate to recur to the 
 general subject of discourse, and to derive from it con- 
 siderations, fitted at once to console and to instruct 
 under this dispensation of God's providence. 
 
 1. It teaches not only the duty of submission to that 
 arrangement, by which we are ourselves made subject 
 to death, but submission under all the bereavements 
 occasioned by death, in the circle of our friends. 
 Heavy and painful, as such bereavements may be; 
 
84 OBEDIENCE IIS" DEATH. 
 
 overwhelming as may seem the calamities, which they 
 bring, yet he who has appointed such bereavements and 
 calamities among the allotments of our earthly pil- 
 grimage, is ever ready to afford sustaining grace and 
 support. It is his own promise, that his strength shall 
 be made perfect in the weakness of his children. It is 
 his own assurance, that he giveth relief to the widow 
 and the fatherless. It is in the words of paternal love 
 and tenderness that he says to the mourning and 
 stricken spirit, "Fear not, for I am with thee. Be not 
 dismayed, for I am thy God." We commend these 
 assurances, as grounds of consolation to the mourning 
 and afflicted of every name, on this occasion. We 
 would ourselves derive support from them, under a 
 sense of common bereavement. 
 
 2. Let us also remember, in view of this dispensa- 
 tion, that the death of the wise and the good, should 
 ever prove an occasion of admonition and instruction 
 to the living. As contemplated in this discourse, death 
 is not a mere necessity, to be met and submitted to in 
 our 23assage to the future, because it can not be shunned. 
 The Stoic may so regard it, but not the Christian disci- 
 ple. It has ever been so exemplified, in the experience 
 of the worldling and the unbeliever, but not so in that 
 of him who met his fate on the heights of Nebo, nor of 
 him by whose example we are warned and instructed 
 on this occasion. 
 
 As here witnessed, death is seen to be a great event, 
 of high and momentous import — the grand crisis and 
 consummation of our mortal existence, the closing up 
 of earthly accounts and responsibilities, the sundering 
 of earthly ties and relations and friendships ; and as a 
 consequence of all this, a transition to a state of change- 
 
OBEDIEITCE IX DEATH. 85 
 
 less retributions in the world of spirits. Under this 
 aspect of it we may gather instruction from the scenes 
 here passing before us. Our friend and brother, though 
 dead and silent, still speaks to us in the councils of 
 wisdom and heavenly instruction. He speaks, in the 
 memory of a life diligent and well spent in the service 
 of God and of man. He speaks in the virtues and 
 graces by which, through years of Christian fidelity 
 and diligence he adorned his profession, as a disciple of 
 Jesus Christ, He speaks, in the spirit of obedience 
 and of acquiescence in his Father's will, with which lie 
 met the summons of death, and shed over the dark- 
 ness of the grave the hallowed light of a Christian's 
 hope, and the glory of a Christian's destiny. 
 
 Let us treasure up and garner in our hearts these 
 teachings of a wisdom better than all human learning. 
 Let us be admonished of the hour of our own departure, 
 and hence gather fresh incentives to diligence in that 
 work of preparation, for which life has been given, and 
 without which life itself will be forever lost. 
 
PROFESSOR CATLIFS HOME-LIFE. 
 
 My Dear Sir : 
 
 In reply to your request to send you my recollec 
 tions of the home-life of Professor Catliis^, I would 
 say that anything that I can do will only be 
 fragmentary and unsatisfactory, at best, after the lapse of 
 so many years. I conceived from the first a high idea , 
 of Professor Catlin's true, strong and almost faultless 
 manhood, of his very marked natural abilities, of his 
 extensive attainments, of his exact and careful scholar- 
 ship, of his far-sighted intuition and grasp of mathemati- 
 cal and kindred sciences, of his finely moulded and trans- 
 parent character — an idea which everything in his 
 professional and daily life confirmed and deepened. In 
 such a light he stood out before my mind during 
 nearly four years of intimate daily acquaintance and 
 intercourse with him. His mind was so clear, and his 
 faculties where under such admirable discipline that he 
 never seemed to fail of grasping whatever topic he was 
 considering. He seldom failed in judgment, and never 
 seemed to lose an idea once his. In preparing for 
 college he went through the Latin Grammar in eight 
 lessons, and was admitted after two terms of prepara- 
 tory study. Many of his students will remember the 
 marvels he would accomplish with the Differential and 
 Integral Calculus. So rapid and almost unerring were 
 his mathematical intuitions and deductions that a 
 problem could hardly be stated before he would give 
 the solution. The writer was once with him in the 
 garden when a gentleman from New England called 
 to submit a difficult problem, which other mathema- 
 ticians had tried in vain to solve. When asked to state 
 the problem, the gentlemen went through with a long 
 
PEOFESSOE CATLm's HOME-LIFE. 87 
 
 oral statement. With that expression peculiar to him, 
 when his mind was concentrated on a difficult question, 
 Professor CATLm asked for a second statement. After 
 hearing it the second time, he promptly replied that 
 the problem involved a contradiction of terms, and 
 could not be solved. Then in a few words he clearly 
 explained, the whole difficulty. 
 
 The deep interest Professor Catlh^t felt in all 
 related to the best interests of the college, his extensive 
 influence in its behalf, and the esteem in \^hich he was 
 ever held by students and all associated with him in 
 the work of instruction were marked evidences of his 
 wisdom and worth in a far wider field than that of his 
 own department. In his home-life, as well as in all 
 relations to the college and the chair he so truly 
 adorned, he was almost an ideal character. The 
 reserve under which he sometimes held himself in 
 public, were entirely thrown offi in his home. Here all 
 his best qualities, his mental, moral and social 
 characteristics were given their fullest play. His 
 imagination, wit, humor and emotional nature, his rich 
 stores of fact and illustration were freely used. 
 Benignity, refinement, contentment were here blended, 
 revealing him as the devoted husband, the loved and 
 loving father, the esteemed and delighted host. His 
 large intelligence and appreciation of the vital 
 questions then agitating society, gave him the mastery 
 of very profitable themes for conversation. While he 
 lived for the colleo:e and the sfood of all who came 
 under his influence, the central inspiration of his life 
 was in his own home. This. was a well organized and 
 admirably sustained Christian household. Nothing was 
 lacking here that is essential to an orderly, refined and 
 elevating family life, crowned by all that is sacred in 
 religion. Family government was as instinctive and 
 
88 PEOFESSOR CATLIN's HOME-LIFE. 
 
 unforced as that of the dass-room. The Sabbath in hi& 
 family was marked by the same Christian propriety 
 and beauty that characterized his secular and domestic 
 life. The week done, books and periodicals where 
 removed and their places supplied by those of a 
 religious character. Family worship was never 
 omitted. This was always a scene of order, quiet- 
 ness and tender interest. His last illness was very 
 sudden and painful, yet his abiding trust was firm and 
 peaceful to the end. The college has lost many gifted 
 sons. It could lose but one Maecus Catliis'.'^ 
 
 Byeoi^ Boswoeth. 
 
 * Professor Catlin died October 11, 1849. After thirty-four years of 
 singular devotedness to the duties of a mother, Mrs. Philena Hunt Dean 
 Catlin was buried beside her husband in the college cemetery, October 19, 
 1883. She was born in Deansville, September 1, 1810, and died in London, 
 England, June 16, 1883. 
 
 In no sense was Mrs. Catlin an ordinary woman. Even a casual acquaint- 
 ance would recognize her pronounced and most excellent qualities of 
 intellect and heart. She found new resources in the presence of sudden 
 peril and diificulty. She knew how to bring about desirable results by the 
 
 exercise of 
 
 " The reason firm, the temperate will, 
 Endurance, foresight, strength and skill." 
 
 To those who enjoyed her friendship during the many changes, trials, and 
 joys of her long life, her rare example of cheerful, and hopeful endeavor 
 will be a comfort and a good inspiration. Her daily life was in keeping 
 with her descent from a Quaker father and a Huguenot mother, and one of 
 her last commands to her children was that they "Must try to make the 
 rough things smooth." While she was always a true woman, with no lack 
 of womanly gifts and household graces, she was not without the sterner 
 qualities that make resistance to wrong and oppression. She believed in the 
 proper use of influences and agencies for protecting the young, the tempted 
 and the friendless. She loved the Bible, and held fast to all hopes and 
 duties that are sustained by faith in the Bible. She loved her country, even 
 when it was a love that called for Spartan patriotism. She loved the college 
 where her husband, her two brothers and one of her sons were prepared for 
 eminent usefulness, and where her son-in-law. Professor H. C. Gr. Brandt, now 
 fills the chair of the German and French languages and Philology. 
 
^graved ly X Q B-attr e 
 
 S.T- 
 
 yTcjS^. 
 
 SECOND PBESIDENT OF HAl/IILTON COLLE&i:. 
 
A USEFUL LIFE AND A PEACEFUL DEATH. 
 
 A Discourse, Delivered ijt the Chapel of Hamilton 
 
 College, March 10, 1852, at the Funeral of 
 
 Rey. Henry Dayis, D. D. 
 
 BY EEY. SIMEOIS^ IS^OETH, D. D., LL, D. 
 
 Acts 13 : 36. — For David, after lie had served Ms own generation, by tlie 
 will of God, fell on sleep and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. 
 
 These words constitute a part of the address of St. 
 Paul, in the Synagogue of Antioch. His theme on this, 
 as on other occasions, was Christ and him sacrificed. 
 His object was, to enforce upon the consideration of his 
 hearers the claims of Christ as the true Messiah ; and 
 this he did, by a reference to the incontestible fact of 
 his resurrection, and his triumph over the corruption 
 of the grave. From the Psalmist he quotes the declara- 
 tion — " Thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to see corrup- 
 tion." And this he argues must have been a prophetic 
 annunciation of the Messiah's resurrection : since the 
 Psalmist could not have used this language respecting 
 himself, for the reason stated in our text. "For David, 
 after he had served his own generation, by the will of 
 God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and 
 saw corruption." 
 
 I direct attention to these words for the inci- 
 dental circumstance which they so clearly bring to 
 view — viz.: the connection between a useful life, and a 
 peaceful death. The reference which they make to the 
 death of the Psalmist, is in the use of the very appro- 
 priate emblem of sleep : and they naturally suggest, as 
 topics befitting this occasion, t/ie characteristics of a use- 
 
 wmm 
 
90 A USEFUL LIFE AND A PEACEFUL DEATH. 
 
 ful life, like iliat of the Psalmist : the characteristics of 
 a peaceful deaths lihe that which ivas allotted to him : and 
 the relation ^vhich such a life and such a death sustain 
 to each other. 
 
 I. Id describing a useful life, I shall bring into view 
 those features only which are suggested by the terms 
 of our text. 
 
 (1.) It is appropriately represented as a 6'c?/'?j^0(?. In 
 that service the Psalmist discharged the duties and 
 fulfilled the ends of a most useful career. In every part 
 of his life, he was characterized by unremitted diligence 
 and activity. The high station which he occupied he 
 seemed never to regard as ground of exemption from 
 the toils of a laboiious life ; and the ample means of 
 indulgence, which that station placed at his command, 
 had no power to seduce him into indolence, or to with- 
 draw him from those high and sacred duties, to which 
 in the providence of Grod he had been summoned. 
 
 Thus too with every devoted child of God : if he 
 fulfills the obligation of his profession, and is faithful 
 to himself and to others, his life will be one which may 
 be fitly represented as a service : and it is hence, doubt- 
 less, that this language is so often employed, as descrip- 
 tive of the Christian life in the New Testament. In 
 addressing the Romans, the apostle Paul says, "For 
 God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the 
 gospel of his Son." To the Colossians he says, " Know- 
 ing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the 
 inheritance ; for ye serve the Lord Jesus." In the 
 opening of his gospel, St. Luke represents this as the 
 very end and purpose of our redemption through Jesus 
 Christ. His language is, "that he would grant unto 
 
A USEFUL LIFE AIS^D A PEACEFUL DEATH. 91 
 
 US, that being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, 
 we might serve him, without fear, in holiness and right- 
 eousness before him, all the days of our life." The 
 sacred writers thus habitually conceived of the Christian 
 life, and spoke of it as a service. They did so, doubt- 
 less, not only because the claims of Christianity are high 
 and exclusive, demanding the consecration of the whole 
 man, but because their own experience of that life had 
 taught them to regard it as one of toil and exhausting 
 labor. To them it proved indeed a service, tasking 
 both mind and body, exposing them to perils by sea 
 and landj and resulting finally in the sacrifice of life 
 itself. 
 
 (2.) A second characteristic of a useful life is, that 
 it is directed to tlie service of oneh own generation. 
 With what truth this is ascribed to the life of the 
 Psalmist, must be obvious to every reader of the Bible. 
 The record of his life is one continued record of labors, 
 having for their end the good of the people, who had 
 been entrusted to his government and care. It was for 
 this object that hie subjected himself to the hazards of 
 warfare in the open field, as well as the arts of those 
 secret enemies, who under the guise of pretended friend- 
 ship, were so often plotting his destruction at home. 
 For this object he labored in the council, devising 
 means for advancing the glory and j^i'osperity of his 
 beloved people. For this he spent days and nights in 
 the communings of the secret place, seeking the guid- 
 ance of that wisdom, and the support of that strength, 
 which God only was able to impart. And how useful 
 was his life, thus spent in the service of his generation, 
 we may infer from the success v/hich attended his ad- 
 ministration, and from the prosperity which crowned 
 
92 A USEFUL LITE AND A PEACEFUL DEATH. 
 
 his people, and made Jerusalem, during his own and 
 the subsequent reign the glory of the whole earth. 
 
 This feature, which so remarkably distinguished the 
 life of the Psalmist, is characteristic of every useful life. 
 It may indeed be the lot of few, to move in a sphere of 
 usefulness so wide and conspicuous: and few may have 
 the means of projecting and executing plans of useful- 
 ness on a scale so 2:rand and mao;nificeut. Yet to no 
 Christian, not even the humblest, can be denied the 
 privilege, if he will but aspire to its possession, of being 
 useful to the generation in which providence has cast 
 his lot. He can at least be diligent in business, and 
 by the right use of that strength which God has given, 
 can confer benefits upon others. In his habitual w^alk, 
 and in his intercourse with others, he can diffuse around 
 the savor of a meek and quiet spirit — exemplifying thus 
 the virtues and graces of the Christian character. Nay, 
 he can do more than this. By his interest at the throne 
 of grace, he can move the arm that moves the w^orld; 
 and thus, by his humble petitions, he may give impulse 
 and direction. to that agency which is vrorking out the 
 moral renovation of the age in which he lives. All this 
 may be done by the humblest disciple, so that it is to 
 no exclusive privilege — no royal prerogative, that refer- 
 ence is made by the sacred writer, when he says of 
 David, that lie served Ms own generation, 
 
 (o.) A third characteristic of a useful life is, that it 
 is directed and regulated by the divine will. Of David 
 it is said not only, that he served his own generation, 
 but that he did it hy the will of God; and this brings 
 into view^ another important and notorious fact in rela- 
 tion to that distinguished personage. In what he was 
 accustomed to do, he recognized his obligations, and his 
 
A USEFUL LIFE AITD A PEACEFUL DEATH. 93 
 
 accountability to divine government. He made not his 
 own will the rule and standard of his conduct, but the 
 will of God. He spent his life in labors for his genera- 
 tion, not because of the ultimate relation of those labors 
 to his ovv^n aggrandizement, but because of their subser- 
 vience to the honor and glory of Grod. His life indeed 
 presented occasional exceptions to what is here said : 
 but when we affirm that his was not the obedience of 
 a perfect conformity to divine law, we only say that his 
 were the frailty and instability of our own common 
 nature. Notwithstanding such occasional exceptions, 
 his was a most memorable and illustrious example of 
 devotedness to his Maker's will. It was in obedience 
 to that will that he achieved those results, so useful 
 and glorious to the generation in which he lived ; and 
 it was the consciousness of this, which enabled him, so 
 often and triumphantly, against the slanders and plot- 
 tings of his enemies, to appeal to the sincerity and rec- 
 titude of his purposes before God. 
 
 What was thus true of the Psalmist must in some 
 degree be true of all who are entitled to a reputation 
 for usefulness, in their day and generation. What they 
 do they are accustomed to do by the will of God. His 
 law is recognized by them as the standard of human 
 conduct. Losing sight of self and selfish aims and 
 motives, they find in the authority of God and 
 in God's glory at once the rule and the end of their 
 doings, — the high standard which regulates all their 
 aims, and the glorious object, towards which those aims 
 are directed. 
 
 II. I pass on to notice that our text represents a 
 peaceful death under the similitude of sleep. It is not 
 here alone that this similitude is employed. Both in 
 
94 A USEFUL LIFE A^^D A PEACEFUL DEATH. 
 
 the Old Testament and the New, it is often used as 
 descriptive of the death of the righteous ; and this, it 
 would seem, not merely because, between sleep and 
 death, in all cases, there may be traced many points of 
 analogy, such that the one may justly be deemed an 
 emblem of the other; but because, in the case of the 
 good man, who dies peacefully after having spent a 
 useful life, this analogy is peculiarly striking. 
 
 (1.) It implies a calm and peaceful state of mind. 
 It is only when the mind has been brought into such a 
 state, that sleep will deign to visit the couch of him, 
 who at night seeks repose, after the toils and labors of 
 the day. Those toils and labors must be forgotten: 
 the fever of his brain must be quieted : the excitements 
 of appetite and passion must subside, and then sleep 
 will come and spread her dominion over both mind and 
 body. It is thus that death comes to him who gives 
 himself up to his final repose, after the engagements of 
 a useful life, spent in the service of his generation. 
 Calm and collected in mind, at peace with himself, and 
 at peace with others, he lies down, and yields himself 
 up to the approach of death, as if he were going to his 
 nightly repose. 
 
 (2.) But our text also implies, by the analogy which 
 it brings into view, a state of readiness for death, as if 
 one wished repose from the toils and exhaustion of a 
 laborious and diligent life. It was thus with the 
 Psalmist. The measure of his days had been spent. 
 Its end had been accomplished. The benefits which he 
 had conferred upon his generation, and which, through 
 his instrumentality, were still in reserve for posterity, 
 had marked his life as one of unparalleled usefulness. 
 
A USEFUL LIFE AND A PEACEFUL DEATH. 95 
 
 His work was done, and he was therefore ready to 
 depart. The powers of nature were exhausted, and 
 needed repose. Such a feeling of readiness was ex- 
 pressed "by the apostle to the gentiles, when he declared, 
 that he had fought a good fight, that he had kept the 
 faith, that he had finished his work ; and therefore, 
 under the assurance that there was in reserve for him a 
 crown of life, he was willing to depart and be with 
 Christ, as that which he deemed the far better and hap- 
 pier lot. When death comes upon those who are thus 
 ready, it is aptly likened to the approach of sleep after 
 the toils of a laborious day, giving sweet release from 
 those toils, while they are permitted to rest in the con- 
 sciousness of having faithfully performed the work 
 which God had assigned them to do. 
 
 (3.) The analogy of our text suggests another fea- 
 ture of the Christian's hajopy death, the expectation 
 of being revived, and of again rising to the joys 
 and pursuits of a new existence. It is with this expect- 
 ation that the weary and exhausted lie dow^n to their 
 nightly repose. ISTor is their expectation vain. Na- 
 ture's sweet restorer re-animates the wasted spirits, re- 
 invigorates the exhausted strength, and with the light 
 of a new day they are prepared for new duties. How 
 like to this is the feeling, w^ith which the good man 
 after a long and useful life, lies down upon the bed of 
 death, and gives himself up to the repose of the grave ! 
 He knows that repose will not always continue. In 
 the ceaseless round of nature, which through successive 
 years he has watched, he has seen decay and death but 
 the precursors of renewed life. Suns and stars have set 
 in darkness, but he has seen them rise again with undi- 
 minished light. The face of nature has been made bare 
 
96 A USEFUL LIFE AND A PEACEFUL DEATH. 
 
 and desolate by the approacli of winter, but in turn he 
 has seen the coming of spring, with its covering of flow- 
 ers ; and of autumn with its har\^est of fruits. The seed 
 which he has committed to the earth has become dis- 
 organized, and sunk to decay; but he has seen the 
 germ of a new plant or a new tree survive, striking 
 downward its roots, and upwards its branches, and thus 
 rising to the beauty and glory of a new existence. 
 
 Now the Bible has taught him that he himself is not 
 destined to be an exception to this law of re-animation 
 and of renewed life, which he has seen pervading the 
 universe. In the school of Christ he has learnt that 
 the noblest of God's works — this complex nature of 
 matter and of mind — of body and of spirit, though sub- 
 ject to death, shall yet survive the corruption of the 
 grave, and shall rise to a new and more glorious exist- 
 ence. He has heard the apostle exclaim, in the conclu- 
 sion of his triumphant argument for the resurrection of 
 the dead, " Behold I show you a mystery. We shall 
 not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a mo- 
 ment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump : for 
 the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised 
 incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this cor- 
 ruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must 
 put on immortality." With this assurance, founded upon 
 the united testimony of nature and revelation, the 
 Christian believer can no more doubt, when he lies 
 down in the darkness of the grave, that he is destined 
 to a renewed and more glorious existence, than he can 
 doubt that when he sees the sun going down at night 
 it will again rise on the morrow. Such a doubt he can 
 not harbor, without distrusting the voice of universal 
 nature, and without denying the truth of Him who can 
 not lie. This is his consolation and support in the hour 
 
A USEFUL LIFE AND A PEACEFUL DEATH. 
 
 97 
 
 of death : and thus to him is reserved the blessed ter- 
 mination of a faithful and useful life. 
 
 III. But our text suggests a third thought, the con- 
 nection between a useful life and a peaceful death, as 
 these have now been described. 
 
 (1.) We may infer the reality of such a connection, 
 not only from the examples of the Bible, but from the 
 general experience of Christians. I mean not indeed, 
 that either the one or the other affords proof that use- 
 fulness in life of course gives exemption from those dis- 
 eases of the body, or from the effect of those malignant 
 passions among men, which often subject the best 
 and most virtuous to the violence of sudden death. 
 And yet, in whatever form death may come to those 
 who have the consciousness that their lives have been 
 spent in the service of God, it will come divested of its 
 most terrible features. This is attested by the voice 
 of Scripture and experience. There is that in their 
 own bosoms which enables them to survey the grave 
 with calmness. Death may come to them as it came to 
 the aged Simeon, and as it came to many, whose record 
 is on the pages of the Bible — by the gradual decay of 
 old age, and amid the attentions and alleviations of 
 sympathizing friends, and each of them will be able to 
 say, "let now thy servant depart in peace." It may 
 come as it came to thousands of the early Christians, by 
 violence, with the shouts and mockery of infuriated 
 multitudes, and yet, even at the stake, and amid the 
 flames and tortures of martyrdom, will they be able to 
 say, " O death where is thy sting !" The records of 
 virtue and of piety from the beginning of time, are full 
 of illustrations of what I have now said. They are- 
 
98 A USEFUL LIFE A^T> A PEACEFUL DEATH. 
 
 furnished by the death-bed scenes, in which terminated 
 the lives of patriai'chs and prophets, and apostles, nay, 
 of the good of every age and generation of the world — 
 all speaking one and the same language, and all testify- 
 ing the one and the same important fact, that if men 
 will be useful in life they shall he happy in death. 
 
 (2.) But the connection between such a life and 
 death as we have been contemplating, may also be seen 
 from the relations w^hich they sustain to each other, as 
 cause and effect. Under that constitution of things 
 which has been fixed by the Creator, the one is the 
 appropriate preparation for the other, and naturally 
 results in it. Death has thus been made the dividing 
 point between time and eternity : the place of transition 
 between man's season of trial and his state of retribu- 
 tion. It is the teaching of inspiration, that as the tre€ 
 then falleth, so it shall lie : tbat he that is unjust shall 
 be unjust still, and he that is filthy shall be filthy still. 
 This then is the hour for painful or joyful retrospection. 
 The remembrances of a useful life, or of days spent in 
 alienation from God, and without profit to man, then 
 throng the chambers of the soul, and crowd themselves 
 upon its quickened attention. The future too is then 
 forced upon its contemplations. Its anticipations are 
 thrown onward to the day of account, and still 
 onward to the ages of retribution. Here then may 
 be seen the connection of which we speak. Those 
 remembrances will be joyful, and these anticipations 
 full of hope, if they have been treasured up through a 
 life of usefulness in the service of God. They will be 
 cheerless and painful, and the fit precursors of a lost 
 eternity, if they have resulted from a misspent and 
 squandered existence, and if to this crisis of our being 
 
A USEFUL LIFE Al^D A PEACEFUL DEATH. 99 
 
 we brino- the bitter consciousness of havino^ so lived as 
 to accomplish none of the high objects for which life 
 has been given. The death of the Psalmist is described 
 as sweet and peaceful ; such was the natural termina- 
 tion of a life spent in the service of his generation, 
 according to the will of God. The anticipations of the 
 apostle in looking forward to the hour of his departure 
 were joyful and triumphant, because he was conscious 
 he had kept the faith, and that there was laid up for 
 him a crown of rejoicing in heaven. 
 
 (3.) But I urge one consideration more. The review 
 of a useful life, in the hour of death, will give additional 
 strength to the hope of a blessed immortality. Not 
 indeed, that the remembrance of good works, as a 
 ground of personal merit, can justly give strength to 
 suf;h hope. That hope, in the mind of a true Christian, 
 can rest only on the merits of Jesus Christ. And yet, 
 if it is anything: more than a spider's web, if it be truly 
 an anchor to the soul, the evidence of its having been 
 justly adopted and cherished will be found in the fruits 
 of a useful and consistent life. Faith in Christ, both in 
 life and in death, will be recognized as the only ground 
 of justification, and the only basis of Christian hope* 
 And yet every Christian knows, that the faith which 
 justifies also purifies the heart, and affords proof of its 
 strength and genuineness in the works of a holy and 
 obedient life. The conviction of this is never stronger 
 than in the hour of death ; for then, if ever, the soul is 
 awake to its condition, and looks anxiously at the 
 ground on which its hopes are resting. 
 
 The hope then which the Christian believer carries 
 to his death-bed, will find confirmation in the review of 
 a life, which, like that of the Psalmist, has been spent 
 L.ofG. 
 
100 A USEFUL LIFE AND A PEACEFUL DEATH. 
 
 in obedience to the will of God, and in the labors for 
 the good of his generation. In these labors, and in 
 that obedience, he will recognize the fruits of that 
 inward principle and the evidence of its reality, which 
 inspire him with joy, and which brighten his anticipa- 
 tions of an eternal existence. They will justify his 
 belief, that he has not been dreaming in the hopes 
 which he has cherished. They will afford him proof, 
 not to be mistaken, that his religion has been some- 
 thing more than the impulses of an unbalanced mind, 
 or the fictions of a wayward imagination. His rejoicing 
 in the review of his life, will be that of the apostle, 
 when he represents it as the testimony of his conscience, 
 that in sim^Dlicity and godly sincerity he had his con- 
 versation in the woi'ld. The hope which he had cher- 
 ished in life will hence be his support in death. He 
 will hold to it with augmented strength and confidence, 
 from his remembrance of what is past. It will 
 prove to him in this, the hour of his peril, an anchor to 
 his soul, sure and steadfast. 
 
 These topics may at all times be made appropriate 
 themes of meditation. We deem them especially so in 
 view of that event, which has furnished the cause of 
 our assemblage here. God has again visited our com- 
 munity with death ; and we are here assembled to pay 
 the last offices of respect towards one whom it becomes 
 us to honor — one, too, in the review of whose history 
 and experience, we may find a most signal illustration 
 of the connection between a useful life and a peaceful 
 death. 
 
 Dr. Hejstky Davis was born at Easthamton, Long 
 Island, September 15, 1770. In early life he enjoyed 
 the spiritual instructions of the Kev. Dr. Buell, an 
 eminent clergyman of that place, under whose ministry 
 
A USEFUL LIFE AISTD A PEACEFUL DEATH. 101 
 
 he became an early subject of divine grace, and testified 
 his interest in religion by a public profession of faith 
 in Christ. His elementary education was received at 
 Clinton Academy, in Easthamton, which was the first 
 incorporated institution of the kind in the State, and 
 for a time one of much usefulness and celebrity. He 
 entered Princeton College, while that institution was 
 under the presidency of Dr. Samuel Stai^hope Smith ; 
 but afterwards, leaving Princeton, he became a mem- 
 ber of Yale College, where he passed through the usual 
 course of undergraduate study, with great distinction 
 as a scholar and where he laid the foundation of that 
 discipline of mind and for those high attainments in 
 knowledge, by which he was prepared for stations of 
 distinction and influence. Here he became connected 
 in the ties of intimacy and friendship, with men, some 
 of whom were then members of his own class, and 
 others of contemporaneous classes in college, who like 
 himself, have occupied stations of great prominence in 
 the various departments of collegiate and professional 
 life. It deserves here also to be noticed, as a fact in 
 harmony with his whole subsequent career, that as an 
 undergraduate he proved himself, on all occasions, a 
 most unflinching friend of morality and religion ; and 
 that, as a member of an association formed in the 
 college he did much to arrest prevailing tendencies to 
 infidelity and irreligion- among his associates. He was 
 graduated with the highest honors of the institution as 
 a member of the class of 1796 — a class composed, at 
 its graduation, of thirty -three members. 
 
 Immediatel}^ after he was graduated he was appointed 
 a tutor in Williams College. After two years of ser- 
 vice in that institution he was appointed to the same 
 office in Yale, which he is known to have filled with 
 
102 A USEFUL LIFE AND A PEACEFUL DEATH. 
 
 great acceptance for five years. During this time he 
 was associated, in the Faculty of that college, with 
 President Dwight, the elder, and President Dat, and 
 also with Professors Sillijiai^, Kingslky and Stewaet 
 — men eminently distinguished among the professional 
 teachers and scholars of our country. On leaving his 
 tutorship he entered upon the study of theology, under 
 the instructions of Dr. Chaeles Backus, an eminent 
 clergyman then residing at Somers in Connecticut. 
 
 In 1801 Doctor Davis was elected to the Pi'ofessorship 
 of Divinity in Yale College; but his health having 
 been impaired he finally declined it. In 1803 he was 
 invited to the Professorship of the Greek Language in 
 Union College. In 1809 he was called to the Presi- 
 dency of Middlebury College — an office which he 
 accepted, the duties of which, with signal ability and 
 success, he discharged during a period of seven years. 
 In 1814 Dr. Davis was invited to re-occupy the Pro- 
 fessorship of the Greek Language in Union College, 
 which invitation he declined. In January, 1817, he 
 was elected President of Hamilton Colleo'e as the sue- 
 cesser of Dr. Backus ; and in the February following 
 received the same appointment at Yale, as successor to 
 Dr. Dwight, — both of which appointments he then 
 declined. The considerations by which he was influ- 
 enced in declining them I am not able to assign. The 
 distinguished ability with which Dr. Dwight and Dr. 
 Backus had discharged the duties of their several sta- 
 tions is well known ; and it should not be here unno- 
 ticed, as a fact which indicates the highest confidence 
 both in his capacity and in his character, that each 
 Institution, when bereft of its head, sought to repair 
 what the friends of each then deemed an irreparable 
 loss, by the election of Doctor Davis as its presiding 
 officer. 
 
A USEFUL LIFE AI!TD A PEACEFUL DEATH. 1 OS- 
 
 Ill July of the same year, the invitation from Hamil- 
 ton College was renewed ; and as then presented, Doc- 
 tor Davis became convinced, it was his duty to accept 
 it. He accordingly removed to this place, and immedi- 
 ately taking up his connection with Hamilton College, 
 retained his relations to it until the close of the year 
 1833 — a period of sixteen years. His office, as a mem- 
 ber of the Board of Trustees, and as the oldest and 
 presiding member of that body, he retained until the 
 year 1847. 
 
 During the latter period of his life, since he was con- 
 nected with our Institution, Doctor Davis came to be 
 more specially known in this community. For his 
 efforts and counsels, as well as his guardianship and 
 instructions, during this period, the college bas been 
 greatly indebted. 
 
 1. It was a period spent in arduous and incessant 
 labor, directed to the advancement and welfare of the 
 college. It was in the infancy of the institution that 
 he became its presiding officer — only four years having 
 elapsed from its organization as a chartered college. 
 But two of the five college edifices had then been 
 erected — the others having been commenced and mostly 
 completed during his connection with the college. The 
 Faculty, as then organized, though composed of men 
 of admirable ability and scholarship, embraced but few 
 instructors. Their labors were not only burdensome, 
 in the business of giving instruction, but were widely 
 diversified. The duties of Doctor Davis an an instructor 
 in the college, aside from his care and responsibility in 
 the general oversight of the Institution, aside too from 
 labors voluntarily assumed, in directing to it public 
 attention, and enlisting for its advancement public 
 
104 A USEFUL LIFE AND A PEACEFUL DEATH. 
 
 sympathy and support, are known to have been pecul- 
 iarly arduous, and such as Avere fitted to task to their 
 very utmost his powers of mind and body. During tha 
 long period of his connection with the college, he bore 
 this burden, not only with patience, but with most 
 manful and determined energy of purpose to the end. 
 
 2. This part of Doctor Davis' life was also marked 
 by severe and painful trials. These trials are known 
 to have been numerous, and to have arisen from appar- 
 ently disconnected and widely diversified causes : — in 
 part, from long continued and wasting disease, and the 
 pressure of heavy domestic afflictions ; and, in part, 
 from difficulties growing out of his official and ecclesi- 
 astical relations. 
 
 Though possessed of a constitution naturally vigor- 
 ous and capable of great endurance, its strength was 
 early impaired by sickness : and in consequence he was 
 compelled to decline a position highly honorable, which 
 gave promise of great usefulness, in one of the oldest 
 and most distinguished institutions of our country. 
 
 To this experience was added that of severe domestic 
 bereavements: first, in the loss of a beloved daughter; 
 afterwards in the death of a son, who bore his own name, 
 who had risen to influence and distinction in professional 
 life, but who in the prime of early manhood, was cut 
 down, while seeking for healtli in a foreign land. By 
 these bereavements. Doctor Davis was most deeply 
 affected. He loved his family, and mourned its bereave- 
 ments, as none but a parent can love, and as none but 
 a parent can mourn. I have said that Doctor Davis 
 was subject to trials, growing out of his relations to the 
 college as its presiding officer, and to its Board of Trust, 
 as one of its leading and prominent members. The- 
 
A USEFUL LIFE AIS^D A PEACEFUL DEATH. 105 
 
 proprieties of this occasion forbid that I should here 
 enter minutely into the origin and progress of these 
 difficulties. It is enough to say, that in consequence of 
 the exhaustion of the funds of the college in the erection 
 of its buildings, a crisis was reached which rendered 
 special means indispensable for its continued advance- 
 ment and support. It can not be accounted singular, 
 that in deciding upon the adoption of such means, at a 
 time when the college was comparatively new, honest 
 differences of opinion should have arisen. As little can 
 it be wondered, that men, accustomed to the exercise of 
 controlling influence in almost every department of social 
 activity and enterprise, should have been confident, and 
 some times pertinacious, in the views they entertained. 
 It was unfortunate for the college and especially trying 
 to those directly entrusted with its direction, that a 
 controversy thus arose, attended with much acrimony 
 and bitterness of feeling, and resulting in temporary 
 prostration and disaster to the institution. It would 
 ill become me, on this occasion to pass judgment upon 
 the merits of this controversy ; nor should I here have 
 adverted to it, had I not known, that in the part which 
 he acted. Doctor Davis was influenced by deep and 
 settled convictions of duty. He believed himself to be 
 contending, not only for the highest welfare of the 
 college, but for the preservation of great principles, vital 
 to the advancement of sound learnins: and education in 
 our country. No other period in the life of Doctor 
 Davis ever brought out so prominently those peculiari- 
 ties of character, by which he was so eminently distin- 
 guished — unyielding firmness and indomitable perse- 
 verance in the pursuit of what he believed to be right 
 and consonant with duty. There is a greatness of char- 
 acter, which shows itself iu the successful prosecution 
 
106 A USEFUL LIFE A^B A PEACEFUL DEATH. 
 
 of great and good enterprises, and which is conspicuous 
 while good fortune is in the ascendant. There is 
 another order of greatness which is seen in times of 
 adverse influence, and which finds within itself the 
 elements of perseverance and support, when ever}^ step 
 foward seems to be in the face of obloquy and opposi- 
 tion. It was the lot of him of whom I speak to exem- 
 plify both these kinds of greatness. 
 
 Another topic, relating to this part of Doctor Davis' 
 life, deserves a passing notice — especially as h stands 
 connected with circumstances in the history of the times, 
 which are known to have tested his high sense of duty, 
 and his willingness to encounter opposition, in what he 
 believed to be the way of its fulfillment. I refer to his 
 position in regard to religious revivals; or rather, in 
 regard to certain measures I'esorted to, for the promo- 
 tion of such revivals, then extensively practiced in this 
 and other parts of our State. In every work of divine 
 grace, marked by genuineness and due regard to Chris- 
 tian order, he had ever been accustomed to take a 
 deep and lively interest. Many such occasions, result- 
 ing in a rich harvest of spiritual blessings to our coun- 
 try and the world, are known to have attended his 
 official labors, both in his connection with Middlebury 
 College, and with this institution. Not a few of these 
 revivals were marked by peculiar manifestations of 
 divine presence, and divine power. As such. Doctor 
 Davis, like all true Christians, rejoiced in their progress. 
 It was against certain tendencies to perversion in the 
 employment of inexperienced and unauthorized men 
 as evangelists in the churches, and in the substitution 
 of what seemed like contrivance and human machinery 
 in the place of those converting and sanctifying influ- 
 ences which are from above, that he felt himself, in 
 
A USEFUL LIFE AISTD A PEACEFUL DEATH. 107 
 
 common with many others distinguished for piety and 
 wisdom in the land, constrained to take a firm and 
 decided stand. It was their conviction, that in these 
 incidental and unnecessary features of those revivals, 
 were to be discerned the elements of what might after- 
 wards ripen into fruits of discord among Christian 
 brethren, of division and weakness in Chi'istian 
 churches and of impaired influence and stability in 
 the Christian ministry. Subsequent results and devel- 
 opments have shown that those anticipations were 
 entertained not without reason. Whatever of acrimony 
 a,nd of unkind feeling marked the religious controver- 
 sies of those times has long since passed away. Occu- 
 pying as we now do another point of observation, and 
 in the review of v^hat then took place, we think we can 
 see, that then, as at other times, there were prevailing 
 tendencies to opposite extremes, and that men who 
 were one in interest, and in the bonds of a common 
 faith, sometimes repelled each other, until they had 
 unconsciously become the occupants of extreme and 
 opposite ground. Be this as it may, we can not doubt 
 the deep sincerity of those, who were engaged in the 
 controversies of those times, and whose views of truth 
 and of duty sometimes led them to occupy positions of 
 antagonism towards each other. No man, it is believed, 
 was ever more honest in his convictions of duty, than 
 was Doctor Davis in the ground which he then occu- 
 pied. It was his fortune to incur much censure from 
 persons who had little appreciation of his real position 
 and motives. We believe that public sentiment, guided 
 by experience, has long since awarded to him, not only 
 the merit of sincerity, but of a sagacity and wisdom in 
 the foresight of ultimate results 
 
108 A USEFUL LIFE AISTD A PEACEFUL DEATH. 
 
 (3.) The life of Doctor Davis was one of great use- 
 fulness. The ways in which his influence was exerted 
 were numerous and diversified. Thirty- five years of 
 his active life were spent in the business and pursuits 
 of a college instructor. During this time almost as 
 many successive classes must have come under his 
 instruction. He enjoyed a most distinguished reputa- 
 tion, and deservedly ranked among the ablest profes- 
 sional teachers of our country. The young men who, 
 as the alumni of this and other colleges, have gone out 
 from under his instruction, to fill the various depart- 
 ments of professional life, and to act their parts in other 
 spheres of influence, must have been exceedingly numer- 
 ous. Among them are found the names of not a few, who 
 have won for themselves high places among the useful 
 men and the distinguished scholars of our country. 
 Among them are those who carry science and skill to 
 the ministrations of the sick room, and the alleviations 
 of the dying bed — those, whose instructions are listened 
 to by bands of gathered pupils in university-halls and 
 in schools of professional and scientific learning — those, 
 whose voices are heard at the bar, on the bench, and in 
 the senate house — those, v^ho fill the pulpits of our 
 land — those, who in the islands of the ocean, and on far 
 distant continents, in the dark places of the earth, are 
 holding up the light of the gospel amid the worshipers 
 of idols. Our aged friend has indeed finished his course t 
 but his works, in the impress of his own mind upon 
 the minds of his pupils, still remain and follow. By 
 the voices of others his words are still uttered, and in 
 the far distant places of the earth still speak perpet- 
 uated lessons of wisdom and duty. 
 
 The position which Doctor Davis occupied, gave him 
 influence in many other spheres of activity and of use- 
 
A USEFUL LIFE AND A PEACEFUL DEATH. 109 
 
 fulness. By Lis counsels and his personal influence, lie 
 had much to do with the organization and early direc- 
 tion of the Auburn Theological Seminary, and of the 
 Western Education Society — Institutions which have 
 been instrumental in training up and preparing for their 
 w^ork, those who, as pastors and v/ell furnished minis- 
 ters of the Gospel, are now tilling hundreds of pulpits 
 in this and in other States. Not only was he prominent 
 among those who projected these institutions ; but as 
 a leading Director in the one, and President of the 
 Board- of Trust in the other, he gave to them his time 
 and his efforts, as well as his counsels and the results 
 of his enlarged wisdom and experience. 
 
 In those benevolent institutions, too, of our country, 
 which so distinguish the times in which we live, — the 
 Bible and Tract, the Domestic and Foreign Missionary 
 Societies, — Institutions so eminently useful in the diffu- 
 sion of moral and religious truth, and which seem now 
 to be employed as God's chosen agencies in carrying 
 forward the triumphs of his cause among men, Doctor 
 Davis ever evinced a most lively interest. With the 
 American Board of Commissioners for Foreio-n Missions 
 he became connected as a corporate member in the sec- 
 ond year of its existence. From those first beginnings, 
 when it was almost unknown in the land, and when its 
 influence was a rivulet in some obscure place upon the 
 mountains, he saw it flowing out from its fountain head. 
 He was one in that band of devoted men, — now mostly 
 recorded among the men of a by-gone race, — who 
 watched its early progress, who guided its course — 
 directing it ever in wider and yet wider channels, until 
 at length it became a broad and mighty current, bear- 
 ing upon its bosom God's richest blessings for this and 
 other generations. 
 
110 A USEFUL LIFE AI^D A PEACEFUL DEATH. 
 
 So long has Doctor Davis resided in this community; 
 80 well and widely has he become known, not only as a 
 great and good man, but as an ornament in the church 
 and in the republic of letters, that for me to eulogize 
 his character, seems but the holding up of light in the 
 face of the snn. Were I to voice the impressions made 
 upon my own mind, during an acquaintance of long 
 continued and frequent intercourse, I should say, 
 that to him belonged the capacities of a naturally 
 strong and original mind — capacities, cultivated and 
 improved by habits of most diligent and persevering 
 study : that his were attainments of a comprehensive 
 and varied learning: that he possessed not only warm 
 affections, but uncommon energy and decision of charac- 
 ter: that he was unbending in his devotion to princi- 
 ple, and persevering in the pursuit of v>'hat be believed 
 to be right : that he was most exemplary and courteous 
 in all the relations of social and domestic life : and that 
 with these characteristics, were blended the graces and 
 virtues of a truly consistent and Christian life. To 
 affirm that Doctor Davis had his faults, is but to ascribe 
 to him the frailty of our common nature. We account it 
 no duty to prove that of him which is true of all men^ 
 the wisest and best, this side of heaven. Be it rather 
 ours to emulate his virtues, and to follow him, so far as 
 he foUov/ed Christ. 
 
 Let us remember, in conclusion, that it is only by 
 lives controlled by God's authority, and directed to the 
 good of our fellow-men, that we can be prepared for a 
 peaceful and happy death. In his providence, God 
 may have given us our sphere of influence, in the 
 business of instructing others — in the high office of 
 proclaiming the glad news of salvation through Jesus 
 Christ, or it may be in widely different departments of 
 
A USEFUL LIFE AND A PEACEFUL DEATH. Ill 
 
 activity and effort. It may be a life of long continued 
 service, or it may be a race that shall quickly be run. 
 It may be one talent, or many, which God has entrusted 
 to our improvement. It .matters not what diversities 
 like these the providence of God may have created. 
 There is yet a law of our being that life is the pre- 
 cursor of death, and that if we would come to the hour 
 of death peaceful and happy, we must reach it, as did 
 our aged friend, from a life spent in doing good to the 
 generation, with which our lot has been cast. This, we 
 say, is a law of our existence, fixed and changeless as 
 the being of Him who lias imposed it. Let no man 
 think he can stifle its voice, or disregard its authority. 
 Let no man imagine he can throw off its high and 
 imperative obligations. Let us carry the remembrance 
 of it witli us in every scene of our existence upon 
 earth. Let its high incentives to duty make us faith- 
 ful and diligent in our Master's service. And then too 
 with us, as with him, whose example is this day before 
 us, the termination of life may be peaceful and happy. 
 Our death may be that of the righteous, and our last 
 end like his. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Pagb. 
 
 Annalists, List of Half-Centuky, 63 
 
 ^*A Useful Life ajst* a Peaceful Death," 89 
 
 AvEKY, Dk. Charles, 9, 43, 53, 64, 66 
 
 Benjamin, Hon. Judah P., 41 
 
 BoswoETH, Letter from Pev. Byron, 86 
 
 Brandt, Prof. H. C. G., 88 
 
 Brown, Letter from Rev. Dr. S. G., 14 
 
 Catlin, Prof. Marcus, 10, 47, TO 
 
 Catlin, Mrs. Philena H. D., 88 
 
 Darling, Address of President Henry, 16 
 
 *' Dartmouth College Case," 61 
 
 *' Davis' Narrative," 56 
 
 Davis, President Henry, 89 
 
 Dexter, Hon. S. .Newton, 35, 43, 63 
 
 D wight, Letter from Hon. Theodore W., 37 
 
 Eells, Letter from Pev. Dr. James, 47 
 
 Elliott, Charles L., 43 
 
 Foster, Judge Henry A., 7, 35 
 
 Funeral Sermons, by President North, 70, 89 
 
 Funeral Services, 13 
 
 Ha^vley, Senator Joseph R., 14 
 
 Hopkins, Prof. A. G., 13, 14 
 
 Hubbard, Dr. Thomas, 10 
 
 Hudson, Dr. Thomas B., 36, 49 
 
 *' Immortal Nine," Names of the, 65 
 
 Johnson, Letter from Dr. Herrick, 61 
 
 Lansing, Dr. D. C, 29 
 
 Litchfield, Edwin C, 9, 60 
 
 Mandeville, Dr. Henry, 8, 25 
 
 Maynard, Hon. W. H., 62 
 
 Merwin, Letter from Judge M. H., 15 
 
 Morgan, Letter from G. A., 46 
 
 Morse, Prof. S. F. B , 43 
 
 Nelson, Letter from Dr. H. A., 15 
 
 " Obedience in Death," Sermon on, 70 
 
 Religious Revivals, 106 
 
 Roberts, Address of Hon. Ellis H., 25 
 
 Shaw, Henry W., 40 
 
 Teery, Rev. Isaac N., 1&