3 73 . 746 ft SSk A STATEMENT OF ITS HOPES A RECORD OF ITS ACHIEVEMENTS “A thousand hands have labored long Mighty visions to fulfill. To shape a dream, to stablish strong This our city on The Hill; In those fair visions we believe, What years have builded we receive, And ours shall be the charge to leave Our high honor higher still.” TF. R. Bowie, igoo . JOHN MEIGS THE HILL SCHOOL J- A Statement of Its Hopes A Record of Its Achievements A pamphlet prepared by the Foundation Com- mittee of the Alumni Association on the occasion of the change of status of The Hill from a privately owned to an endowed School. POTTSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA 1920 TRUSTEES OF THE HILL SCHOOL Honorable Joseph Buffington Pittsburgh, Pa. John Lewis Cochran .... Chicago, 111. William S. Clawson Philadelphia, Pa. Dk. William Darrach .... . New York City General T. Coleman du Pont . Wilmington, Del. Dr. Charles J. Hatfield Philadelphia, Pa. President John Grier Hibben . Princeton, N. J. Honorable Robert S. Lovett . New York City Dwight R. Meigs, Secretary .... Pottstown, Pa. Honorable John George Milburn . New York City Professor George H. Nettleton New Haven, Conn. President Charles A. Richmond . Schenectady, N. Y. Principal Alfred E. Stearns Andover, Mass. C. Chauncey Stillman .... . New r York City Clarence A. Warden, President . Philadelphia, Pa. [ PAGE FOUR ] THE HILL AN ENDOWED SCHOOL FTER sixty-nine years of private ownership, The Hill School has passed into the hands of its Alumni. A charter has been granted vesting ownership and control of the School in a Board of Trustees. The School has thus become an endowed institution, not a corporation for profit. In order adequately to meet its new responsibilities as a servant of the public in the field of secondary education, the School needs a Foun- dation Fund of not less than 31,000,000. It is the aim of this book to justify the claim of the School to public interest and support by giving an account of the corporate change that has been effected; by indicating the advantages thereby secured and the responsibilities thereby assumed by Alumni and friends; and by briefly setting forth the history and achievements of The Hill. [ PAGE FIVE ] VIEW FROM WEST DRIVE The Hill School Alumni Association FOUNDATION COMMITTEE CLARENCE A. WARDEN, Chairman M. H. BOWMAN, JR., Executive Chairman H. H. VREELAND, JR., Executive Secretary WILLIAM S. CLAWSON, Treasurer 650 Real Estate Trust Bldg. PHILADELPHIA, PA. Telephone Walnut 1922 November 5, 1920. To The Hill School Alumni: Believing that every Hill School Alumnus is interested in the transfer of The Hill School to Alumni control, and in the plans for the future of the School, we are enclosing a copy of a pamphlet prepared by the Founda- tion Committee of the Alumni Association. It is proposed shortly to make an appeal for contributions to what will be known as the Foundation Fund, which will be the nucleus of a permanent endowment and will enable the putting into effect of many of the desired policies. The efforts of the Board of Trustees and the Foundation Committee to complete the Foundation Fund will be of no avail without the hearty co-operation of all Alumni, who we feel will cheerfully meet the demands for assistance which will be made upon them. Cordially yours, CLARENCE A. WARDEN, President , The Hill School Alumni Association. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/hillschoolstatemOOhill P A R T I A FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE The Proposal for Alumni Control INCE its founding by the Rev. Matthew Meigs, in 1851, The Hill School has been privately owned and privately administered. John Meigs, however, who came to The Hill in 1876, looked forward to the time when the School should become an endowed institution. He recognized the fact that permanence and stability could only thus be secured. Among the Alumni the same feeling was gradually developing. Proud of the School and of its long and honorable history, they were jealous for its future. They wished to insure for all time its opportunity for nation- wide service. They felt that the School should have those opportunities to develop which only Alumni support could give. It was under the impulse of this feeling that the Alumni Executive Committee first investigated the possibility of transferring the owner- ship and control of The Hill School from a profit-making corporation to a corporation not for profit controlled by the Alumni body. They found upon inquiry that the present Head Master shared his father’s earlier belief that a large preparatory school like The Hill was too important a trust to be administered by a proprietary head. The Alumni Executive Committee therefore submitted the question to the general Alumni meeting held last May, and a motion to take the necessary steps for effecting the transfer of the School was unanimously passed. oAttitude of the Former Owners Towards The Transfer N considering the proposal of the Alumni for the transfer of the School to a new corporation not run for profit, the former owners realized the definite advantages to be gained, and were willing to make the financial sacrifice necessary to secure them. They wanted above all else to insure per- petuity to the School which three generations of their family had served. In September, 1920, the School property was officially appraised for purposes of insurance at over 31,520,000. The real estate was conserv- atively valued at 3180,000. The total assets of the School were thus in excess of 31,700,000, exclusive of name and good will. Stock, common and preferred, in the old corporation was outstanding to the amount of 3550,000. The bonded and other indebtedness was about 3650,000. There was thus an equity in the property of over 3500,000. In taking over the School, the Board of Trustees, acting in accordance with the authorization of the Alumni Association, issued 3550,000 of bonds to the former owners in lieu of stock. These bonds are subject to all existing liens. No cash consideration was involved. The stockholders, in turn, donated their entire equity of over 3500,000 to the new corporation; and, at the same time, the Meigs family turned back to the original donors the School chapel, which was, in 1904, pre- sented personally to “Professor” and “Mrs. John” by the Alumni. These two gifts constitute one of the largest and most generous contri- butions ever made to secondary education. The name and good will of the School, of course, go with the gift, and are a part of it. Thus one-third the valuation of the School property, acquired through sixty-nine years of labor and self-sacrifice, is entrusted to the keeping of those who should best know the value of such a gift — the sons to whom The Hill has always been a beneficent, if sometimes a stern, mother. PAGE EIGHT Reasons for the Change INCE the School has been so successful and so useful under private ownership, why should any change be effected? The following are some of the reasons: (1) The ultimate future of an institution that is de- pendent on the length of life of an individual cannot be assured. Only a duly constituted board of trustees elected under con- ditions securing permanency can guarantee perpetuity. (2) Private ownership and family control of a great school is, in these days of endowed institutions of learning, an anomaly. Prior to the transfer, The Hill remained, with one exception, the only large school carried on by private management for private profit. (3) The maximum of enthusiastic alumni devotion is essential to the life and growth of any school or college. Hill boys have been loyal to the School in the past, but their loyalty will increase now that the School is actually their own. (4) Bequests and donations are not made to private institutions run for profit. The Alumni and the owners of The Hill both realized that they could not longer afford to let The Hill remain at a disadvantage in this respect, when other preparatory schools are yearly in receipt of large benefactions. (5) The privately owned school must necessarily charge a consider- ably higher tuition fee than the endowed school if it is to have equivalent resources with which to carry on educational work of like standard of merit and at the same time provide a reserve for future requirements. Every school has its net earned revenue. The endowed school has this revenue plus its income from endowment or bequests. The privately owned school has this revenue minus the return necessarily paid to the owners. (6) There is needed an endowment fund, which only a non-profit- making corporation is in a position to solicit from its alumni and friends. [ PAGE NINE ] THE WEST WING — DECORATED FOR THE HOTCHKISS GAME ^PART II ^ THE FUTURE IRMLY to establish the School on its new basis and furnish adequate working capital, a Foundation Fund of not less than $1,000,000 is needed. Of this sum $300,000 has already been promised. The Alumni Association and the Board of Trustees confidently appeal to the Alumni and friends of the School for the completion of the fund. Part of the amount raised is to be invested as the nucleus of a per- manent endowment, including the establishment of scholarships, and the remainder devoted to the completion of Memorial Hall, to working capital, and to such physical improvements as may later be necessary. THE NEED FOR A FOUNDATION FUND Reduction of Tuition Charge The present increase in the cost of living, coupled with the fact that the entire income of The Hill is derived from tuition charges, has necessitated of late a considerable increase in tuition. The present charge of fourteen hundred dollars prevents many parents desiring to send their sons to a preparatory school from considering The Hill, and results in the School’s drawing its boys from a comparatively restricted clientele. It is desirable to broaden this clientele by reducing tuition. This can be done only by means of the returns from a liberal endowment. [ PAGE ELEVEN ] Scholarships While the spirit of The Hill has always been democratic, the student body, unquestionably, needs the leavening presence of a larger number of boys of limited means who possess ability, earnestness of purpose, and stalwart character. The Hill has at present only nine boys holding competitive scholar- ships which include full tuition, while eleven others receive a certain tuition rebate on what are generally termed confidential scholarships. On the other hand, Hotchkiss, a typical endowed school, has at present forty full and ten partial competitive scholarships; Exeter has eighty. It is the plan of the Trustees to devote a considerable portion of the Foundation Fund to the establishment of scholarships. Specific gifts for the founding of memorial or other special scholarships would be a natural consequence. PAGE TWELVE Masters’ Salaries and Retiring Allowances O single influence can do more to make or mar a school than the character of its masters. The present high regard in which the School is held is largely the result of the labor of the men who comprise its teaching staff. In few other educational institutions do the faculty give so much of themselves to the students as do The Hill masters. These men must be adequately paid, and for increase in salaries commensurate with recent advances elsewhere, income from an endowment fund is needed. Young men must be yearly attracted to the profession of teaching it the supply of able masters is to keep pace with the need. They will enter the profession only as they are given an adequate return for the service rendered. It is the intention of the Board of Trustees, as soon as the Foundation Fund assumes sufficient proportions, to grant to all members of the faculty after a stated period of service and in order of seniority, a leave of absence with pay, for the purpose of refreshment through study and travel, thus enhancing their value to the School; also to provide retiring allowances for those masters who have grown old in the service of The Hill. Here again additional income is needed; endowment only can supply the need. PAGE THIRTEEN ALUMNI CHAPEL — FROM THE WEST LAWN Needs for Physical Equipment Immediate EMORIAL HALL, planned as a lasting monument to the memory of the thirty-nine Hill boys who sacrificed their lives in the World War, was begun in 1919 as a gift of the Alumni and friends of the School. This building must be completed immediately, for reasons of necessity as well as sentiment. The Auditorium and the Library which Memorial Hall will provide are essential to the best life and work at The Hill. There is no auditorium now except the makeshift Common Room. The present library space is insufficient. The Trustees have determined to press forward with the construction of Memorial Hall as fast as contributions to the Foundation Fund will permit. Future A new dormitory for the Lower School to replace the “Cottage” is of great importance. There should be constructed on the School grounds masters’ houses in numbers sufficient to care for the married masters now living in town. The bringing of all the teaching staff together on The Hill could hardly do other than to make for School solidarity. Some of the masters now live so far from the School campus that they are not readily accessible to the boys at all times. The present Schoolroom, Common Room, and Gymnasium are all inadequate for the purposes which they serve, and should eventually be replaced by more commodious and dignified buildings. [ PACE FIFTEEN ] THE FUTURE POLICY OF THE SCHOOL CCORDING to the terms of the new charter, the Trustees, fifteen in number, are elected in groups of five for terms of three years. Three are elected annually by the Alumni, and two by the Board. This method of election will secure the service as Trustees of experienced educators not neces- sarily Hill graduates, men whose trusteeship will tend to broaden the policy of the School. Under the new management there will be few changes. The general policy of the School as to standards of conduct, scholarship, discipline, and extra-curriculum activities will be continued, with an extension of the present system of student self-government. There is no intention of permitting the number of boys to increase beyond the present enrollment. Under the former organization the School was under the direct control of a Head Master elected by and responsible to the stockholders; under the new organization the Head Master is elected by and is responsible to the Board of Trustees. On September 16th the Trustees, at their first regular meeting, elected Mr. Dwight R. Meigs as Head Master, and he will continue in the position he has filled for the past six years. There has been no change in the personnel of the administrative staff, nor in the membership of the Senior Faculty. “Mrs. John,” “Miss Elizabeth,” and other members of the family remain at the School. The Hill School is what it is by virtue of what it has been. It was organized on a firm foundation, and it has been steadily building and improving on its past. Its policies have been fixed from the first. “It is neither the fad of any social set, nor the pet of any religious denomi- nation.” Family, faculty, students, and alumni have aided in shaping and in conforming to that policy of thoroughness which characterized the management of John Meigs. That policy is adhered to today; it will be the fundamental basis of the policy of the future. f PAGE SIXTEEN •»f PART III«- A RECORD OF HILL SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT OTHING can justify public support of a school except its record. It is not sufficient to say to the Alumni, “The Hill School is now yours; give it your support.” They may well reply, “Does the record of the School justify our interest in it? Is it an enterprise in which the public may invest with reasonable certainty that there will be returned adequate divi- dends in service to the public? Does it take average boys and train them to be more useful to the nation than they would otherwise be? What has the School done? What is it doing? What are its potentialities for the future?” These are legitimate questions, which it is the purpose of the following record to answer. FOUNDATION AND GROWTH The Hill School, with its student body of nearly four hundred boys, its faculty of fifty masters, and its property conservatively valued at over #1,700,000, did not spring full-grown into being. From the modest begin- ning made in 1851 by the Rev. Matthew Meigs, the School has developed year by year. When John Meigs, known affectionately as “Professor,” came to The Hill in 1876, the School was small, and its plant inadequate. There were a dozen students and two assistant masters. Six years later he married, and with the advent of “Mrs. John” there entered into the life of the School that influence which was to do so much in molding the spirit and shaping the purposes of The Hill. PAGE SEVENTEE N AIRPLANE VIEW OF THE HILL Within seven years after John Meigs took over the School, the students numbered forty-five, the faculty four; within nine years there were sixty- five students; within eleven years, ninety; within twenty years, one hun- dred and fifty boys and thirteen masters. Parents all over the country were beginning to recognize The Hill as one of the leading preparatory schools. Buildings and equipment kept pace with enrollment. Twice destroyed by fire before 1891, the School was each time rebuilt. Adjacent property was gradually acquired, until there are now one hundred and forty acres, providing numerous playing fields, twenty-five tennis courts, and a golf course. The original School building, a pre-Revolutionary stone mansion, still stands, but it is now only a small unit in the School plant, with its modern dormitories, classrooms, gymnasium, and swimming pools. In 1904 the Alumni Chapel was dedicated. In 1910 the Upper School, housing one hundred and seventy-two boys, was erected. In 1914 the Dining Hall was built. John Meigs died in 1911. From 1911 to 1914 Alfred G. Rolfe was Head Master. Since 1914 the great work which John Meigs so firmly established has been carried on under the able administration of his son, Dwight R. Meigs, the present Head Master. [ PAGE NINETEEN ] AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE SCHOOL N training boys for college and for life, The Hill School has always given paramount attention to physical develop- ment, scholarship and character. Physical Development To insure the bodily vigor so necessary to success in life, the School has an excellent equipment and organization. Few schools have playing fields so numerous or so fine; few have an athletic system as sane, as complete, as far-reaching in its wholesome results as that which is admin- istered at The Hill by Michael F. Sweeney, revered and loved by gener- ations of Hill boys. The School has its own physician, two resident nurses, and a well- equipped infirmary of fifty beds, with segregated contagious wards. A member of the Physical Department, through daily inspection of boys, co-operates with the Medical Director in safeguarding the health of the School. [page twenty] Scholarship STABLE faculty is essential to high standards of scholar- ship. Eighteen of the masters at The Hill have been asso- ciated with the School for more than a decade. Hill masters are experienced teachers. Their work with boys is intimate and painstaking. The classes are small, as there is one teacher for every eight boys in the School. Boys are taught how to study. A weekly conditional system and recognition accorded high scholastic standing, and the system of Form Groups, whereby each boy is directly under the supervision of a master, tend to produce results that justify the enviable reputation which The Hill has long maintained for sending to college boys who are unusually well prepared. During the Academic year ending June, 1920, the general scholarship of the School based on the weekly grades reached the highest numerical average ever attained. In scholarship, The Hill is not resting upon its laurels. [ PAGE TWENTY-ONE ] CLASS DAY— PLANTING THE IVY Character ONTACT between masters and boys is close and friendly. There is, on the part of the masters, careful supervision of the younger boys, with every opportunity for counsel and direction. In the upper forms supervision is somewhat relaxed. In the Fifth Form, a modified type of self- government prevails, and in the Sixth Form the honor system is added to a larger degree of self-government, so that boys may gradually be prepared for the freedom of college life. The extra-curriculum activities of Hill boys are many and varied, and contribute in marked degree to the upbuilding of independence and self- reliance and that executive ability which reacts so favorably on scholar- ship. Editorial and business management of School periodicals; man- agerships of the general athletic organization and of the seven school teams; participation in interscholastic athletics; membership in and direction of the debating clubs, the musical and the dramatic clubs, and the civic club; all these enable many boys of only average promise to develop unusual ability. Appeal is made to the boys to do right for the sake of the right. An independent and self-reliant solution of moral problems is encouraged. More and more it is the policy of the School to develop and appeal to the boy’s ethical sense; less and less to rouse and appeal to the purely emo- tional side of his religious nature. The result is that Hill boys have the reputation for straightforward character and bearing. The purely religious exercises of the School are simple, dignified and impressive. The Young Men’s Christian Association, officered and conducted by the boys themselves, is an important factor in shaping the opinion of the student body and maintaining School morale. The influence of “Mrs. John” in the upbuilding of character in Hill boys is now supplemented by the helpful interest of the wives of many of the married masters, no less than twelve of whom are in residence in or near the School. [page twenty-three] REALIZATION OF AIMS AND PURPOSES HE primary aim of Hill School training is the preparation of boys for college; the ultimate purpose is the preparation of boys for life. How well or how ill the School does its work may be deduced from a study of the records of Hill boys. Preparation for College In preparing boys for college The Hill School has had an enviable record for more than forty years. It is to be expected, of course, that boys specially prepared for the college examinations will make a better showing than other candidates. It should be remembered, however, that the high school boy who takes the college examination is the boy of unusual attainment. Less than 5% of all high school graduates go to college; and this small percentage naturally comprises the few who are both brilliant and ambitious. The Hill candidate, however, is merely the average boy, not distin- guished above his fellows by the mere fact of going to college (practically all Hill boys go to college) nor by outstanding brilliance of mind. In the following comparative statement, therefore, it should be noted that the record of The Hill School is set over against the combined record of all other preparatory schools and of the chosen high school candidates. Last year the College Entrance Examination Board published statis- tics showing that of all examination books read for the decade ending 1919 only 52.3% were rated 60 (passing grade) or above. The Hill record for the same ten years was 87.6%. In the best year of the ten , The Hill record was 95%. The Board’s statistics show that in 1919 of all examination books read only 2.9% were graded 90 or better. The Hill record for 1919 was over 6%. The Hill record for 1920 was 16.1%. In the Board examinations held last June, twenty Hill candidates received the highest ratings given in specified subjects. [page twenty-four] Hill Boys in College Within a period of six years, The Hill had three presidents of Phi Beta Kappa at Yale. Five years ago the record for scholarship at Princeton, establisheci more than a hundred years ago by Aaron Burr, was broken by a Hill graduate. This year a former Hill boy won the highest honors in scholarship at West Point. Five years ago, at one time, fifteen Hill boys were chairmen of edi- torial boards in different colleges. Two years ago, at Yale, the chairman of every editorial board but one was a Hill boy. During the years 1910-19, twenty-one chairmen and business man- agers of Yale publications, and thirty-two editors, were Hill boys. Since 1915, at Princeton, seven chairmen of editorial boards and twenty-one editors have been Hill boys. Six Hill boys have been class presidents at Princeton in the past five years. In 1915 Hill boys were at the head of the student religious organiza- tions at Yale College, The Sheffield Scientific School, and at Princeton. Within the past twenty years ten Hill boys have been captains of major sport teams at Yale and Princeton. During the past dozen years more than seventy-five Varsity letters have been awarded Hill boys at these two universities alone. In one year at Yale, when Freshmen were allowed to compete on Varsity teams, two Hill boys, Bowman and Shevlin, won their letters in baseball, football and track in their freshman year — an unparalleled achievement. The fame of Hill athletes is proverbial. There hang on the walls of the School Common Room three pictures of which every Hill boy is proud. Two are groups of Hill boys at Yale, in each picture seven men in foot- ball uniform wearing the coveted “Y,” the awards of a single year. In the picture of the Yale Freshmen squad of 1918 are ten Hill boys. TWENTY-FIVE ] PAGE COMMENCEMENT PLAY DELL THEATRE Hill Boys in Life After College O enumerate without comment the records of Hill gradu- ates in business, in the professions, and in philanthropic and religious work, would exceed the limit of space allotted to this pamphlet. The list of occupations engaged in by old Hill boys is a long one, and is suggestive of the versa- tility of the Alumni body. Of the two thousand living Alumni, approximately forty are min- isters or missionaries; seventy-five are in educational work; thirty are journalists; fifteen are authors; one hundred are lawyers or judges; seventy are physicians; forty-five are artists or architects; sixty are engineers; ten are in the diplomatic service; and others are found in almost every walk of life. An evidence of the valuable literary work Hill men are doing is to be found in that section of the Library set apart for books written by Alumni of the School, in which are forty volumes. [page twenty-sf.ven] DURING THE WAR — THE SCHOOL BATTALION Alumni in the World War HE service flag of the School, which hangs in the Dining Hall, shows 987 blue and thirty-nine gold stars. Over one- half the alumni were in the service, not including those engaged in government, state and diplomatic work, a record which few educational institutions can equal, and which none perhaps can excel. With more than two hundred reports still incomplete, the files of the Alumni Association show one hundred and fifty-six citations and ninety- six decorations given to Hill boys. Among these are: The Legion of Honor 5 The Croix de Guerre 33 The American Distinguished Service Cross 13 [ PAGE TWENTY-NINE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FUTURE time has come when the Alumni and friends of The Hill can transmute into vivid reality the spirit of the school song. They are now able as never before “To shape a dream, to stablish strong This our city on The Hill.” The generosity of the former owners in turning over their equity in the School property to the Trustees is a direct challenge to Alumni loyalty and support. In giving thus liberally the former owners are doing only what they have been doing in the past. They have turned back earned profits into the School year after year for betterment and expansion. Nor is this all: they have given themselves. John Meigs, indeed, laid his life on the altar of the School. He died before his time, his powerful and rugged physique bankrupt through its too prodigal expenditure in the service of the School and its boys. Now the School belongs to the Alumni; it is their own to do with as they will. Through official action and legal enactment they have taken title to the School property, assets and good will. Is it not time, then, for the Alumni to give with a proportionate prodigality, with open heart and free hand? The Alumni are largely what they are because of the School. When John Meigs and his family were givings Hill boys were getting. Let Hill boys give now. The many friends of the School will wish to assist the Alumni in this enterprise. Are there any parents of former Hill boys who feel that their debt of gratitude to the School is paid? For those sons who at The Hill became strong, who under her stern but kindly discipline became men, can any mere tuition fee be a proper recompense? The appeal of The Hill is not restricted to any clientele. It is a national school in its scope and appeal. Its boys come from thirty-six states and from half a dozen foreign countries. Upon graduation from college, Hill boys scatter to every state and many foreign countries, doing the needed work of the world in business and the professions. In time of war they were prepared to serve; in times of peace and recon- [ PAGE THIRTY ] struction they are busy. An analysis of the School and of its Alumni body reveals a cross-section of the nation, with all its multifarious interests represented. These varied interests of the nation and the new and vital problems pressing for settlement need trained men. The late war showed even more clearly than previous wars the enormous national importance of the higher institutions of learning; first, in crystallizing patriotic sentiment, and second, in making that sentiment effective by exemplary sacrifice. The service records of our colleges and universities are proof that they stand as a great national asset in times of trouble. But the war showed also that college men were often handicapped by the lack of thorough training in fundamentals. The Adjutant General’s report is specific in naming superficial school training as the main reason why a great many men failed to make their patriotism effective. Colleges can function properly only when schools furnish them with boys thoroughly trained in body, mind and character; and schools which furnish such training can confidently expect public support, for the service they render is a national one. Without schools there can be no trained men; without trained men there can be no solved problems; without solved problems there can be no national stability. The schools are the major premise in every syllo- gism that attempts to deduce the future of America. The teacher is even more needed than the preacher. If the teacher forms aright, there will be little for the preacher to reform. The Hill School makes men and trains public servants, and thereby serves the nation. The Harvard professor was not far wrong who once said to a Hill master: “You secondary school teachers are doing the vital work of education. You form and fix the boy’s character during the most plastic period of his life; we college professors only scratch the surface.’’ There is, then, no better cause which the Alumni and friends of The Hill can support than the one which will aid the growth and widen the influence of their School, whose familiar and loved campus and ever- widening spirit of service should stand as a lasting and fitting memorial to the man who made it all possible — John Meigs. [ PAGE THIRTY-ONE ] The President’s House Cornell University Ithaca, New York September 14, 1920. I entertain a very high opinion of The Hill School, at which two of my sons were prepared for college. The pupils get a thorough education and have made a fine record in the college entrance examinations. Yet the body is cultivated as well as the mind, --daily exercise in the open air and healthful athletics being established features of the School. The moral and religious influences are of the highest. And the personal intercourse between the teachers and the boys, as well as the friendships among the boys themselves, make the social life of the School very delightful. I have long pointed to The Hill School as a model preparatory school THE SCHOOL OF RELIGION Yale University CHAS. R. BROWN, DEAN New Haven. Connecticut August 31, 1920. I have been familiar with the work of The Hill School for the last ten years. I was personally acquainted with Doctor John Meigs, who was Head Master when I first went to the School to preach to the boys. I have known inti- mately a number of the masters. The splendid equipment of the School, the fine quality of its teaching force, the clear strong emphasis upon thorough work, the general makeup of the student body and the bea,utiful Christian atmosphere in which the work is carried forward, all combine to make it an exceptional place for the training of boys. FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES HARVARD UNIVERSITY CAMBRIDGE 10 UNIVERSITY HALL The Hill School is unlike any other that I know, and is, so far as I can judge, one of the best schools in the United States Its teaching is thorough, its organization extraordinarily efficient, its purpose high. September 1, 1920. The Hotchkiss School Lakeville, Connecticut REV. II. G. IlVEIILER, M. A., I. ITT. D., HEADMASTER The Hill School has been a constant inspiration to me in my educational work from the time of my first visit to Professor Meigs more than thirty years ago, to the present time. In building up our work at Hotchkiss, we have kept one eye on the experience and efficiency of The Hill, and we owe much to the standards of The Hill, and the friendship of those who have made it the great school that it is. The relations between the two schools have always been ideal . August 31, 1920. ft