;8GhoV^rcis<2s of ded(Cdxt\oo. :-:%V>- ^?i K'B Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/openingoflymanwiOOtyle as C3 Opening- of Lyman Williston Hall A DDRESS PROF. W. S. TYLER Exercises of Dedication SPRINGFIELD, MASS.: CLARK W.BRYAN & COMPANY, PRINTERS 187 7. M C^TooKC DEDICATION fLyman Villiston Hall ;13 Wednesday, November 15, 1876, was a memorable day in the history of Mount Holyoke Seminary. It was the day set apart for the dedication of Williston Hall, the new building of science and art. The build- ing was not only finished from basement to attic, but it was in a considerable measure already furnished with old collections and new contributions. And what was better and more surprising than all the rest, it was finished and thus far furnished without ex- ceeding the estimates ; without going beyond the limit of contributions and appropriations, without a dollar of indebtedness remaining and resting upon it, so that it could be dedicated honestly and honorably, without drawback or reserve. It was therefore a joyful service for Trustees and friends, teachers and pupils, to come together and dedicate it to Him whose it was by right before it was thus given to Him, and who had so prospered them in its erection. The occasion was one of hearty congratulation and devout thanksgiving. The Trustees met at 2 P. M., in their beautiful room 4 DEDICATION OF at the right hand of the entrance, chiefly to hear the report of the Building Committee, and to make suit- able acknowledgment of services and donations. It was a grateful and a joyful meeting, quite different from several that had been held in previous years to devise ways and means. Some of the resolutions which they passed will appear further on incorporated in this narrative. At 3 o'clock, teachers, pupils and invited guests were found assembled in readiness for the entrance of the Trustees in the Art Gallery, which occupies the entire upper story, and whose rooms, opening into each other by double sliding doors, made a very con- venient audience room, which was further rendered appropriate and attractive by the works of art that already adorned the walls. The services were introduced with the hymn, " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty," sung by the Semi- nary choir. The report of the Building Committee was then read by Hon. E. H. Sawyer of Easthamp- ton, prefaced with a few remarks by Professor Tyler, President of the Board, who said that such a building as that looked very suspicious in these times, and for Mount Holyoke Seminary, it certainly wore the ap- pearance of lavish, not to say extravagant expendi- ture, and required explanation — and as the Chairman of the Building Committee, Mr. A. L. Williston, was at once too modest a man, and too interested a party to tell the whole truth, he would call on another gentleman to report, who, next to the Chairman, knew the most of the history of the building. LYMAN WILLISTON HALL. 5 South Hadley, Nov. 15, 187G. Report of the Building Committee of Lyman Williston Hall, to the Trustees of Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. At the annual meeting of the Trustees of Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in July, 1873, after listening to statements made by A. L. Williston, Esq., accompanied with an offer from him to contribute seven thousand five hundred dollars, (subse- quently increased to ten thousand,) towards the erection of a building for '^ Science and Art," a Building Committee, con- sisting of Mr. Williston, Prof. J. H. Seelye and Dr. JST. G. Clark, was appointed with instructions to "form a plan, and devise ways and means, and if the way appeared clear, proceed to erect such a building." At the same time, in aid of the enterprise, liberty was given to draw upon any unajjpropriated funds of the Seminary for a sum not exceeding ten thousand dollars. At the next annual meeting, in July, 1874, Mr. Williston, Chairman, and in behalf of the Building Committee, presented a report recommending, as a result of his labors and investigations during the year, and the success that had attended the effort to raise the necessary funds, " That the Trustees proceed at an early day to erect the building." At tlie same meeting plans pre- pared by Messrs. Peabody & Stearns of Boston, were submitted, providing rooms for an Ichnological Cabinet, Natural History Cabinet, Art Gallery, a large Lecture room, and sundry recitation and study rooms, all much needed by the Seminary. The report of the Committee was accepted and the plans sub- stantially as prepared were adopted, and the Treasurer was authorized to advance, if necessary, a further sum from any un- appropriated funds in his hands, not to exceed ten thousand dollars. In accordance with the action of the Trustees, work was at once commenced. The grounds were surveyed and laid out with reference to the present location of Williston Hall, by Messrs. Bowditch & Copeland of Boston. The foundations were com- pleted in the Autumn of 1874. The corner stone was laid with simple but appropriate exercises June 1, 1875, a statement and narrative being read by one of the young ladies of the Seminary, and prayer being offered by Rev. Dr. Herrick of South Hadley. 6 DEDICATION OF The superstructure was commenced in the Spring of 1875, and finished in 1876. The Committee have expended in the construction and fur- nishing of Lyman Williston Hall, sums as follows, viz. : For the foundations, $1,826 57 " Grading the grounds, etc., 676 32 " Carpenter and mason work, ...... 33,564 57 " Heating and ventilation, 3,421 07 " Cabinets, cases, brackets, lecture table, etc., . . 7,094 25 " Chairs, desks and tables, 450 60 " Laboratory tables, 235 09 " Blackboards, 122 61 " Plumbing for laboratory and lecture rooms, . . 71 05 " Architects' commissions, 2,556 61 $50,017 74 They have received to balance the expenditures, sums from the following sources, viz : Contributions to the building fund : — A. Lyman Williston, Mrs. C. L. Williston, E. A. Goodnow, . Mrs. Emily G. Williston E. H. Sawyer, G. & C. Merriam, W. O. Grover, Orrin Sage, . Emerson Gaylord, Mrs. W. V. Graves, Mrs. Lucy Lyman, Mrs. W. O. Grover, H. P. Haven, Thomas W. Williams, Sereno Gaylord, J. H. Southworth, William Whiting, . Lorenzo Gaylord, . D. L. Harris, D. B. Wesson, E. AVight, . Mrs. Susan Bronson, George W. Prentiss, C. C. Lyman, Amount carried forward, $10,000 00 2,500 00 2,000 00 1,000 00 1,000 00 1,000 00 1,000 00 1,000 00 900 00 500 00 500 00 500 00 500 00 500 00 500 00 500 00 500 00 500 00 400 00 300 00 300 00 250 00 250 00 250 00 $26,650 00 LYMAN WILLISTON HALL. / Amount brought forward, .'^26,660 00 A number of friends in sums of $100.00 and less, eacli, 4,204 22 $30,914 22 From the Treasurer of Mt. Holyoke Seminary, advanced as per vote of Trustees, 19,103 52 Total, $50,017 74 Other subscriptions have been made that will be paid hereafter. It is not known that any bill remains unpaid, or that is not in- cluded in the statement now made. The contributions to the building fund have many of them been secured from friends of the Seminary, b}^ the interested labors of the Principal, her associates, and the students. In ad- dition to his large pecuniary contribution, the Treasurer and Chair- man of this Committee has, during the progress of the work, given many days of personal care and labor to the supervision and completion in detail of this beautiful and useful building that so appropriately bears his name. EDMUND H. SAWYEE, For and in Behalf of Building Committee . The Secretary of the Board, Prof. Edward Hitch- cock, then read a resolution adopted by the Trustees as follows: Resolved, That in accepting the report of tlife Building Com- mittee just read, the Trustees desire to put upon record their grateful acknowledgments to the Committee for the efficiency with which the whole matter of Lyman Williston Hall has been conducted from its beginning to its close, and especially to the Chairman of the Committee, not only for his generous gifts, but also for the wise planning and counsel and laborious superintend- ence with which he has attended it. The President of the day now called attention to the splendid painting of the Hetch Hetchie Canon, by Bierstadt, which hung in a conspicuous place on the walls, and which had been presented to the Art Gal- lery by Mrs. E. H. Sawyer and Mrs. A. L. Williston, and by way of explanation read the following letters from the donors and from the artist : 8 DEDICATION OF Miss Ward and Ladies of the Faculty of Mt. Holyoke Seminary : As guardians of the treasures to be gathered in your beautiful art building, we beg your acceptance of the accompanying pic- ture by Bierstadt, whose noble gift of a large proportion of its appraised value has made it possible for us to secure it. We enclose the artist's own description of his work, which we are sure will prove an added charm as well as aid to your appre- ciation of its merits. It is our hope that this fine painting, as one expression of the best in American art, will prove an inspiration to your pupils, and that Mt. Holyoke Seminary, with her lofty moral and intellectual standard, now supplemented by art-models of the best and truest forms, will long continue to offer oppor- tunities for the highest culture. Very truly your friends, S. J. SAWYEE, November 15, 1876. S. T. WILLISTON. New York, November 3, 1876. Mrs. Sawyer and Mi's. Williston — Dear Ladies : — You have thanked me for becoming a con- tributor to the fund for the purchase of my own picture, but how could I do less when influenced by your own generous spirit ? Indeed, I wish I could have done more for South Hadley. I hope some day to see the picture there and to know that it has been a source of pleasure to those who have had access to it. The scene is laid in the Hetch Hetchie Canon, California, which lies some twenty miles north of the Yosemite, and is rarely visited by the tourist, because of its inaccessibility. It is smaller than the more famous valley, but it presents many of the same features in its scenery and is quite as beautiful. The season I have chosen is late Autumn, when distant objects are mellowed by a golden haze and when the grass is dry and yellow. A few elk, now unfortunately becoming rarer every year, are coming up the valley in quest of one of the few mount- ain streams that the long, dry season has not quenched. In early times the deer were very numerous — as many as a thousand head often being seen together. With an apology for not having written sooner, owing to my absence from town, I have the honor to be, ladies, Very respectfully yours, ALBERT BIEESTADT. LYMAN WILLISTON HALL. \) The follo^ving resolution was next read by the Secretary : Resolved, That t]ie Trustees of Mount Hoi yoke Seminary desire to express to Mrs. E. H. Sawyer, Mrs. A. L. Willistoii and Mr. Bierstadt their grateful appreciation of the most timely and valuahle contribution they have made to the Art Gnllery. The generous offering of so choice a work of art by so emi- nent an American artist, fitly crowns this happy occasion, when we dedicate the beautiful hall to the promotion of high Christian learning in this Seminary. The address by Professor Tyler followed. The dedicatory prayer was then offered by President J. H. Seelye^ of Amherst College ; and the services closed with the singing of the doxology. In the evening, the Seminary Hall was transformed by fairy hands into a suitably furnished and grace- fully ornamented parlor, and trustees, teachers, pupils and invited guests spent the evening together in cordial greetings and mutual rejoicings. Lyman Williston Hall, so called in honor of Mr. A. L. Williston of Northampton, is situated on a sightly spot, in the rear and to the north of the main build- ing. It is built of brick, four stories from the ground, with gabled roof, and is beautifully finished within with ash. The building is warmed with steam and furnished with speaking tubes which connect with all parts of the building, and with electric bells, which are rung simultaneously with those in the main build- ing. In the basement, besides the chemical store- rooms, is a room for fossil tracks, which already con- tains 100 slabs, including a fine specimen from the '' Moody quarries " of the Otozoum Moodii with fiNQ tracks, and also a large number of specimens of tracks of reptilian birds. On the first floor are the botanical 10 DEDICATION OF and zoological lecture rooms, a Trustees' room and a professor's study, with the philosophical and chemical lecture room in the rear, connecting with the labora- tory, furnished for chemical work on one side, and on the other with the philosophical cabinet. On the floor above are the geological, zoological and miner- alogical cabinets. In the first of these is a set of casts of the entire collection of Professor Wafd of Roches- ter, and a skeleton of the extinct New Zealand bird^ Pala^teryx eleiohantopus, obtained by Prof. C. H. Hitchcock of Dartmouth College, and mounted by Dr. Edward Hitchcock of Amherst. There is a rare collection of corals in the cases of the zoologi- cal cabinet, and in New York a collection of 115 birds from India is awaiting the order of the Semi- nary. They were collected by Rev. Mr. Fairbank, a missionary, and the collection contains no duplicates. The geological lecture room on the same floor, is large and pleasant, and on one wall is frescoed a 15x22 geo- logical map of the United States, projected by Pro- fessor C. H. Hitchcock, and executed by Morgan of Springfield. It embodies the results of the latest sci- entific researches, and is the one which took the prize at Philadelphia, where, after October 15, it was exhibited in the government building. The upper story is devoted to works of art, and, besides the gallery itself, there are rooms which will be suitably furnished, and used for study and drawing. The gallery already contains several gems of art, including, besides the Bierstadt above described, engravings of Selous's celebrated paintings repre- senting Jerusalem in her grandeur and in her fall, the gift of the class of 1861 ; " The Morning Glory," an exquisite marble medallion on an easel, con- LYMAN WILLISTON HALL. 11 tributed by the class ol" 1871 ; three bronzes, "His- tory," " Poetry " and " Music,-' from the class of 1865 ; and photograjDhs of the Sistine Madonna group, the gift of Dr. and Mrs. Lawrence of Marble- head, besides several paintings and portraits from va- rious donors. ADDRESS PROFESSOR TYLER, PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES. We are here to-day to dedicate our new building of Science and Art. The occasion suggests two in- quiries. Why should the study of Science and Art be pursued and fostered in Mount Holyoke and other Seminaries ? And why should a building, erected for these purposes, be dedicated to the Most High with prayer and religious services ? The time allotted to these exercises will permit only the briefest possible answer to these questions. And you will not expect to hear, nor shall I attempt to say anything original or brilliant, witty or wise, novel or profound. The objects of study in an institution like this are chiefly two : the acquisition of knowledge, and the discipline of the mind. Both these objects are ac- complished by the study of Science and Art ; and this is the direct and primary reason why the Trust- ees of Mount Holyoke should provide for the study, why the teachers should teach these branches, and why the pupils should pursue them. It is the physi- cal sciences to which these beautifully finished and PROFESSOR TYLER. 13 partly furnished halls are chiefly devoted ; and what are the subjects of investigation and study in the physical sciences ? These bodies, so fearfully and wonderfully made, and so mysteriously connected with our souls which are our real selves ; the earth on which we stand and build, which we cultivate and adorn, and from which we draw our nourishment, the elements and forces which compose it, and the changes which it has undergone in all its past history, together with the countless forms of vegetable and animal life that now^ live and move upon its surface, and the infinitely greater number and variety of once living forms that lie buried in its unfathomed strata ; the wide and deep sea wdth its swelling tides and surging billows and fathomless abysses, wherein vegetable and ani- mal life grows and swarms not less than on the land, and that ceaseless flow of waters springing from the ocean, which descend in showers, and burst forth in fountains, and run in brooks and rivers, clothing the earth with verdure and giving life to man and beast ; the air we breathe, and which is not only the breath of all life, but the medium of speech, eloquence and song, and thvis the means of education, of mental, moral and religious inspiration, of intercommunication not only between man and man, but also between man and his Maker ; the light wherewith we see, and which not only reveals to us beings and things around us and gives them color and expression, but on wings infinitely swifter than the wind, wings swift as the lightning, yet soft as the zephyr, brings us intelligence of what was ages ago in worlds whose distance from us numbers can not express and imagination can not conceive. Such are some of the great facts or truths which constitute the subject-matter of the physical 14 ADDRESS OF sciences. And Science not only observes isolated facts, but classifies and correlates them, interprets their meaning, discovers the laws that govern them, and the principles that underlie them, and aims ulti- mately to group facts, truths, laws, principles and particular sciences into one grand system as orderly and harmonious as the suns and systems that com- pose the Material Universe, revealing to us on the one hand those infinitesimal atoms and subtle forces which elude the sharpest senses, and on the other those cosmic worlds, orbits and spheres of attraction whose vastness so transcends comprehension as to give us the best conceptions we can form of the infi- nite. At the same time all the way from the infini- tesimal up to the infinite, throughout the whole realm of nature, from the minutest atom that glistens in the sunbeam before our eyes, or eludes our vision in the pebble at our feet, to the most magnificent suns and systems that sweep through the remotest regions of space, in all the departments of physical science from chemistry up to astronomy, from miner- alogy and geology up to the anatomy and physiology of man, every molecule in the mineral, every limb and leaf in the plant, every organ in the animal, not less than every planet in the solar system and every solar system in the universe, is arranged in such mathematical order, is constructed so fully on mathe- matical principles, is so clothed in mathematical forms, or rather so pervaded with mathematics as its inform- ing principle and spirit, that five centuries and more before the Christian era Pythagoras declared oiumber to be the first principle of all things, the soul of man and of the universe ; and Plato taught that God ge- ometrizes. PROFESSOR TYLER. 15 Surely nothing need be added to show that these sci- ences deserve a phice as a part of the curricuhim in our higher seminaries of learning. While they thus open an illimitable field of interesting and valuable knowl- edge, and so accomplish the first object of study in a course of liberal education, it is equally manifest that they fulfill the second demand and furnish an admira- ble discipline for the mind, first in the observation of the facts and phenomena of nature, and then in the inductive and deductive reasoning by which these facts are classified, correlated and interpreted, and not only interpreted but mathematically demonstrated sometimes in advance of observation, d^^ndi prophesied with unerring certainty before their actual discovery. Perhaps there are no studies more improving, so far as they go, and certainly there are none more inspir- ing than the mathematical and physical sciences, as they are now pursued and taught in their intimate and indissoluble relations to one another. We do not wonder that some of the best minds in our colleges and higher seminaries catch some of the enthusiasm of the original discoverers in these sciences — of Ar- chimedes who ran through the streets crying EvQjjxa when he discovered the relation of the sphere to the circumscribing cylinder, or of Tyndall when he de- monstrated and measured the steady and resistless flow of the glaciers in their deep channels down the Alps. I have felt the inspiration myself (if you will pardon a personal allusion), and when I was a student in college, I was an enthusiastic admirer and partisan of the mathematical and physical sciences. At the same time I cannot forget, and I trust, the teachers and pupils of Mount Holyoke will never forget, that there' are other, yes and higher studies. Language 16 ADDRESS OF and history and philosophy are higher than chemistry and geology and astronomy, as man is more exalted than nature ; and ethics and religion are higher than even the humanities, as the moral is superior to the merely intellectual, and as the Infinite Spirit is prior and paramount to any and all of his intelligent creatures. The science of man culminates, crowns and in a sense includes the science of nature, as man himself domi- nates nature and contains all its elements and forces in his own mysterious microcosm. And the science of God comprehends all other science, as God himself is the source and sum of all being and all knowledge. The reasons why we should study Art are so similar to those for which we should study Nature, that we need not dwell upon them. It develops and disci- plines the same faculties of observation and reason, together with other and in some respects higher fac- ulties, viz., those of taste and imagination, which are not only intellectual and rational, but also emotional, and thus more nearly moral. And it presupposes, demands and cherishes the same interesting and valu- able knowledge, the knowledge of nature in all her myriad forms and aspects, together with the fur- ther and higher knowledge of man in his whole com- plex nature and being. Art is nature and man ideal- ized, penetrated with the idea of the artist, suffused with his feelings, transfigured by his imagination. The true artist, like the true poet, is a maher^ as the old English called him, a TTon^riig in the language of the Greeks, or as Bailey more exactly expresses it, God's under-msker, who, by his original, inventive and creative genius, under-makes or reproduces a world of ideal beauty and grandeur out of the chaos into which our world has fallen. A thing of beauty, PROFESSOR TYLER. 17 you know, is ;i joy lorever. To liavc seen it, to have studied and eonipreliended it, to have been inspired and possessed by it, not only deHghts the mind, but enriches and adorns it. The study of art, including poetry, oratory and music as well as painting, sculpt- ure and architecture, is the study of the highest ideals Avhicli the genius and the imagination of man have ever created. Such studies, properly pursued, can hardly be otherv^ise than inspiring, transforming, puri- fying and ennobling. And yet truth and justice require me to add in reference to the fine arts, as I have already said in regard to the physical sciences, that there are higher studies, as there are higher faculties, than those of taste and imagination, as the true and the good are more exalted and more exalting than the beautiful. Ethics is higher, philosophy is higher, religion is higher. And the exclusive or the excessive study of art, cultivating the taste and the imagination to the neglect of the conscience and the heart, may fmnish the higher nature, derange the proper balance and due proportion of the faculties, and prevent the forma- tion of a harmonious and lofty character, as it did in the education of the ancient Greeks as a nation. It is no such estimate or study of science and art for which we plead, although such is doubtless the ten- dency, and perhaps one of the most dangerous ten- dencies of education in modern times. Alas for our children and youth when they are taught, in the fam- ily or in the school, to exalt knowledge above wisdom and virtue. Alas for our country when the people come to admire beauty more than goodness. Not so would we teach science and art. We would rather put them in their proper place, which is not that of 3 18 ADDRESS OF mistresses but of handmaids in the family of knowl- edge, not of principals, but of assistants in the school of wisdom. Science and art naturally dwell together. They belong to the same family. They are co-workers in the same work and to the same end. Science observes the facts, discovers the laws and establishes the prin- ciples. Art develops the rules and applies them to practice. Science lays the foundations and art builds the superstructure, or, as we have it in this building, science dwells in the basement and lower stories, art in the upper story and the attic. Such an edifice as this, built of enduring materials, scientifically con- structed and artistically finished, devoted to the uses at once of science and art, embodies an idea which is befitting to any institution, but especially to a semin- ary for the education of young women. There is in the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, a building called the "Woman's Pavilion," where the useful and the beautiful productions of woman's handi- work are brought together and exhibited. And in that pavilion, nothing has attracted so much atten- tion and admiration as that work of art in which one of the homespun and yet most useful products of fe- male industry, the chief product of the dairy, has been fashioned by a woman's hand, into an almost living- representative of her own sex. The beauty of the medallion consists largely in its fitness to the place it occupies, in the idea which it there embodies and ex- presses. The beautiful building in which we are now assembled, in so large measure the product of woman's thought and toil and tact, is our centennial offering. Who will say that it is not as beautiful as the work of art at Philadelphia, and far more useful and enduring ? PROFESSOR TYLER. 10 And its fffnrss is its liip^licst beauty. The idea whieh it represents is that of Science and Art in a woman's Seminary, united and consecrated to Religion. Sci- ence and Art are sisters, and Religion is mother of them both. But Ave are anticipating our second question : Why should a building, erected for purposes of sci- ence and art, be dedicated with prayer and religious exercises to the honor and service of the Most High ? 1. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; and everythimj which comes into our possession, and which we call our own, should be consecrated to the All-maker, the All-owner, the All-giver, as in a higher sense his. Our public edifices, like our homes and hearts, should all be temples of God, dedicated by prayer, hallowed by perpetual song, and ever open for his incoming and indwelling. 2. The physical sciences, like all other science, are only so many parts and parcels of that science of God of which He is at once the main subject and the chief object, the original author and the ultimate end. And they can be fully known only in connection with the knowledge of God. They can be best studied in his illuminating presence and in the light of his counte- nance. God is not only the original author and ulti- mate end of all science, but of all high and true art also ; He is the supreme artist, the supreme architect, the supreme mathematician, the supreme author. He is the essence of beauty and grandeur, as well as the sum of wisdom and knowledge, " whose being is all beauty, whose breath is nuisic, and his thunder too." What clue can there be to the understanding of a book like an intimate acquaintance with its author ? What help to the appreciation of any work of art like 20 ADDRESS OF daily commimion with the artist ? What guide to the knowledge of nature or man like the knowledge and the love of Him who is the maker of both ? What inspiration to the pursuit of science or art like his constant worship and service ? Hence not only have divines taught^ that to pray well is to study tvell — bene orasse est bene studuisse, but poets have sung: The tindevout astronomer is mad; and the founders of the modern physical sciences have said that the kingdom of man founded in science is like the hingdoni of heaven : it can he entered only in the character and spirit of a little child. The great Author of science and art is at the same time the great Teacher, and He teaches chiefly — in the highest sense He teaches only those who are of a humble, teachable, prayerful, be- lieving spirit. 3. Our colleges and higher seminaries have for the most part been founded by Christian men and women, for Christian purposes, and in a Christian spirit. All the older universities, colleges, and academies, both of the Old World and of the New, were the offspring of the churches and were in an important sense religious institutions. " Even the mottoes and devices of the college seals bear witness to this fact." I quote the language of President Stearns at the opening of Walker Hall. " The first and temporary seal of Har- vard contained three open bibles with a syllable of the word Veritas upon each of them ; its second tempo- rary seal, the same three bibles, with the words, In Chris ti Glofiam ; the words which characterize its permanent and present seal are Christo et Ecclesiae. Yale has one open bible with the Hebrew w^ords of the high-priest's breast-plate, Urhn and llmmmim, inscribed in Hebrew letters upon it, and the Latin PROFESSOR TYLER. 21 words. Lux et Veritas, Jiroiind it, signifying, probably, that liglit and truth arc to be obtained by inquiring of the Lord. Brown University has a red cross on a white field between four open books, illuminated by a sun rising amid clouds, bearing the motto, In Deo Sjyeramns. Amherst College exhibits on its seal an open bible with a full-orbed, unclouded sun pour- ing down upon its pages, and the words beneath it. Terras irradienty signifying that learning and re- ligion with their united radiance shall enlighten all lands." It is not strange that such institutions founded by such persons and for such ends should have had the established custom of opening their halls as well as inaugurating their officers with dedicatory religious services. Of late the rise of State Universi- ties has gradually led to some infringement or neg- lect of this custom ; and the most recent, and one of the richest of our Universities (I say it more in sorrow than in anger) has not only dispensed with all religious services at its opening, but the opening address was delivered by a foreign savant, or scien- tist, who has quite outraged the religious sentiments of Christian people on both sides of the Atlantic, and who, in developing his idea of University education on this occasion, had not a word to say of religion or God, and indeed left no place for either in his scheme. Mount Holyoke Seminary set out with other aims, started in a more excellent way, and still cherishes a very different spirit. From foundation to turret, every stone has been laid in prayer, and it becomes her well to dedicate every building to the honor and service of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. 4. This building we owe especially as a thank-offer- 22 ADDRESS OF ing to God. Of all our buildings none has sprung from so small and insignificant a conception, and yet grown to such ideal completeness and such perfect finish in the execution. The first idea five years ago, you remember, was merely an astronomical observa- tory, and that, perhaps, a mere appendage to the main building. And now, behold, the most costly and elegant of all our edifices, a model of architectural grace, especially the grace of fitness, wisely planned and beautifully finished, occupying the finest site in all our grounds — in one word, a temple in which science and art, all the physical sciences and the fine arts can dwell harmoniously together, where they can gather all their treasures and where priestess and votaries can meet to inquire together at their oracles, and worship together at their altars. Let it not be a temple without a God. God forbid that we should not dedicate it to Him. The effort to raise the money for this building, also, for a long time seemed most unpromising. The times have been hard from the first, and constantly growing harder. An accomplished agent was employed for months to solicit funds, but wath very little success. And now it is a mystery to me where in the world the money came from. We know well enough who gave the first ten thousand (although we hardly dare whisper his name), and we shall never cease to love and honor him. It was the same humble, modest, sensi- ble, wise manufacturer who has gotten up the plans, superintended the construction and put on the finish ; whose hand, as well as time and money, we see in every part, and whose name, therefore, in spite of himself, trustees, teachers and pupils have spontane- ously, irresistibly and unalterably fixed upon the PROFESSOR TYLER. 23 edifice. We know also the donors of several otiier generous gilts varying from two thousand dollars down to one hundred, and we shall never forget them. But whence came the rest — some twenty- five or thirty thousand dollars still remain to be ac- counted for. How was this raised ? It seems to me little short of a miracle. True, quite a large sum was a surplus that had accumulated in the treasury. But how did Mount Holyoke happen to have a surplus, when our older and richer institutions, with their large funds and their so much higher charges, are so many of them running in debt every year ? And whence came the remainder ? Were the windows of heaven opened, and did it drop down from above ? Or did it come on the wings of the wind from the four quar- ters of the globe ? Yerily, our beautiful hall seems to have been nourished and fed very much as the prophet of Israel was fed at the brook Cherith, by the ravens, or rather by the white- winged doves. Here, too, we are afraid to mention names or even to go into particulars, lest we offend the modesty of these swift- winged messengers and cunning workers. But we must be allowed to say that foremost among these collecting agents is one to whose large plans and far- seeing thoughts we are as much indebted for the idea of this building as we are to her steadfast and un- yielding purpose for its execution, and who has shown the same wisdom and skill in raising money which she has long exhibited in teaching and presid- ing over this institution. And she has found willing and efficient helpers in those who are associated with her in the government and instruction, especially those who are particularly interested in the depart- ments of art and the physical sciences. 24 ADDRESS OF The number of donors, while it has added much to the labors of the collectors, has really increased the value of the donations. I am told that as many as five or six hundred different persons have contributed either money to the building fund or specimens and articles for the collections. I am thus reminded of Miss Lyon's plans and efforts for founding the Semi- nary and erecting the first edifice. She says : " There are but two ways to accomplish such an object. One is to interest one, two or a few wealthy men to do the whole ; the other is to interest the whole New Eng- land community. The first method, if done at all, could be done sooner and with comparatively little labor. The second would require vastly more time and labor ; but if it were accomplished, an important and salutary impression would be made on the whole of New England." So with our building. If some one man could and would have furnished all the funds needed, as they have for some of the magnificent dor- mitories recently erected for Yale and Cambridge, the process would have been much quicker and easier. There would have been a great saving of time and la- bor and anxiety. But none of us — teachers, pupils, trustees, friends — none of us would have felt half the interest in the building that we now feel. Now with the contributions, we have the hearts, the prayers and good wishes of several hundred donors and workers, not only in every part of New England but all over the world. I am even more surprised at the furnishing than at the finish of this building. I expected to see a beau- tiful building with ample rooms and accommodations, but with bare walls and empty shelves. What else could we have expected ? But what do our eyes see ? PROFESSOR TYLER. 25 Not walls covered with works of the great masters and shelves iilled with scientific collections, oi" course, but no manifest loant of paintings and engravings, some of them of great value and interest in them- selves, and all of great interest as memorials or sou- venirs ; and no palpable deficiency in the means of teaching and illustrating the physical sciences — no bare walls and almost no empty cases ! If we had been told five years ago that we should ever have so costly, so convenient and so beautiful a building as Willis ton Hall, we should have been utterly incredu- lous. If anybody had predicted that we should not only have a building ample and complete for all the departments of science and art, but we should have the basement well stored with fossil foot-marks, and the Geological museum as full of casts of strange pre-Adamic creatures as Noah's ark was of antedilu- vian animals, and the Mineralogical and Botanical rooms furnished with specimens from every quarter of the globe, and an Art gallery in which one of Bierstadt's masterpieces, fresh from the International Exhibition, should be the nucleus and center of attrac- tion, we should have been still more unbelieving. I am sure we shall never forget those good ladies to w^hose taste and generosity we are indebted for this splendid work of art, nor the artist whose sympa- thy with them and friendship for the Seminary placed it pecuniarily within their reach, nor the missionary graduates who have not forgotten the Seminary in far-off lands, nor the teachers and pupils whose swift feet and cunning hands have gathered these speci- mens here in so short a time and arranged them so tastefully within these ' walls, in these cases and on 4 26 ADDRESS OF these shelves. We shall enshrine them all in the memory of our hearts. But after all due acknowledgment and recognition of human agencies, I think we shall all be ready to say, as I heard one of the former Principals say yesterday ; it is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Shall we not, then, dedicate it to Him ? Again I say, God forbid that we should not. And God forbid that we should make an idol of it and worship the gift while we forget and ignore the Giver. Never let there be any Godless or Christless sci- ence or art taught within these walls. I once heard a gentleman, and a gentleman, too, of liberal views as well as great wealth, who had given his scores of thousands to found a College on the Bosphorus, express some fear that Mount Holyoke Seminary was departing somewhat from its primitive simplicity and economy, as well as old-fashioned piety ; and in- stanced, as an illustration, the splendid procession of robes and scarfs at the anniversary. He had only heard of it, however ; he had never seen it ; if he had he would as soon have thought of censuring a vision of white-robed angels. No, there is nothing too good, there is nothing too beautiful, there is nothing too costly for Mount Holyoke Seminary that its kind friends choose to give it, and the good Lord chooses to send it. Only let it be useful as well as beautiful ! Only let Holiness to the Lord be written upon it ! That is what we are here to-day and at this hour to do. And let no man in the years or the ages yet to come, ever dare to obliterate the writing, or deface, or blot, or blur the inscription ! Let each and all of us respond heartily, as I doubt not we all can and will, to the language of Miss Lyon PROFESSOR TYLEIl. 27 in a letter which she wrote to Miss (Jrjint, (ai'ter wards Mrs. Banister,) in October, 1835: ^^ How often have I endeavored to consecrate all the ])art, all the inter- est which God has given me in this contemplated in- stitution, most sacredly and solemnly to his service ! And how often have I endeavored to pray that no one who has anything to do in building it up may ever call aught his own. Oh, that every one who puts a finger to the work by giving the smallest contribution of time, of money, or of influence, might feel that this is a work of solemn consecration, a work to be reviewed in eternity ! " Such was the spirit of the founder of Mt. Holyoke Seminary ! May such ever be the motives of every trustee, teacher, pupil and benefactor ! With such views and feelings, do we who now represent the Seminary, and all who have had anything to do with the erection or the replenishing of this edifice ; yes, and all who have at any time and in any way ever contributed to the founding or the upbuilding of the Seminary — for the early founders and donors, we doubt not, are in spirit present and acting with us on this occasion — with such views and feelings do we now dedicate this building to the honor and service of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Long may it stand a beautiful and truthful sign and symbol of the idea and the fact, that in this Seminary science and art are ever sacredly devoted to the cause of pure and undefiled religion ! LYMAN WILLISTON HALL. MOUNT HOLYOKE SEMHSTAR^Y, South Hadley, Mass. 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