CHAPTER XXXIII. EDUCATIONAL MATTERS OF INTEREST IN VARIOUS STATES. MASSACHUSETTS. GIFTS TO NORTHAMPTON, MASS.-A STRIKING RECORD OF BENEFACTIONS. [The city of Northampton, Mass., which had in 1890 a population of less than 15,000 inhabitants, has been the recipient, mainly during the last half century, of donations for educational, religious, and charitable purposes amounting in all to nearly $4,500,000. The following summary of these donations, and details regarding the more notable of them have been taken from an address by H. S. Gere, before the Community Club of Northampton, April 13, 1897.] The first gift to the town was made in 1783 by Maj. Joseph Hawley, the distinguished patriot and statesman, who gave certain lands for the benefit of the public schools. These lands have been sold and the income has been yearly devoted to the purpose for which they were given. The fund now amounts to $3,000. The second gift, in which the town has only a joint interest, was made in 1845, by Oliver Smith, of Hatfield, the founder of the Smith charities, of which further mention will be made later in this paper. The third gift was made in 1852, by Jenny Lind Goldschmidt, who had spent her honeymoon here on Round Hill. Just previous to her return to Europe she gave a concert in the town hall, the proceeds of which were $936.93. Of this sum she gave $700 to the Young Men's Institute, and that was the beginning of the present Clarke Library. The balance she gave to President William Allen, to be disposed of in charity. Since then gifts to the town, or to public institutions within the town, have come in quick succession. One of the most loyal citizens that Northampton ever had was John Clarke. He spent his entire life here and was from his boyhood a merchant on Shop Row until he became a banker. He was an old-time country storekeeper and had oldfashioned ways of living and doing business. He amassed a large fortune, which he bestowed upon his native town. The Clarke Library is largely the result of his liberality. While living he gave $5,000 for the Memorial Hall Building, and $50,000 to the Clarke Institution for Deaf Mutes. By his will he gave $2,000 to the Young Men's Institute, $40,000 to the Clarke Library, and $234,000 to the Clarke Institution. In addition to the sum given by Mr. Clarke to the library and Memorial Hall, there were given by outside parties, through the solicitations of our publicspirited citizen his nephew, Christopher Clarke, the sum of $25,000 for the Memorial Hall Building. Of this sum $5,000 was given by George Bliss, of New York, and $3,500 by E. H. R. Lyman, of Brooklyn, both natives of Northampton. Charles E. Forbes, a lawyer and ex-judge of the supreme court, left one of the largest estates ever acquired in Northampton, all of which he gave to the town for the establishment of a library. The trustees received from the executors of his estate these sums: The library building is finely located and was built with reference to the great future demands that will be made upon it. This is one of the most useful gifts that the town has received. To aid in maintaining this library Dr. Pliny Earle, for many years the head of the State Lunatic Hospital located here, gave his whole estate, amounting to over $60,000. Cooley Dickinson, of Hatfield, left his entire estate of $71,196 to found the Dickinson Hospital, for the benefit of the inhabitants of Northampton, Hatfield, and Whately. Whiting Street, of Smiths Ferry, gave $25,000 to the town of Northampton "for the relief and comfort of the worthy poor," and $25,000 more contingent upon the decease of certain of his relatives. He also gave $1,000 to Smith College, $1,000 to Clarke Institution, and $1,000 for Memorial Hall lot. The State Lunatic Hospital was opened to patients in 1858. The work of building occupied two years and three months, and the original cost was $315,000. Extensive improvements have been made from time to time. The grounds have been enlarged from 175 acres at the outset to nearly 500 acres at the present time. The buildings have also been enlarged and improved, so that the entire outlay has been $630,550. The hospital has been very ably managed and is now at the height of its prosperity and usefulness. Florence has contributed its share to the city's gifts. Samuel L. Hill and Alfred T. Lilly have each given large sums. Mr. Hill gave to the erection of the Florence High-school Building, Cosmian Hall, and to establish the kindergarten school, $178,000, and Mr. Lilly gave to Cosmian Hall, the kindergarten, and Smith College, $138,000. A beautiful academy of music, thoroughly equipped, was built by E. H. R. Lyman, at a cost of about $100,000, and presented to the city as a token of his loyalty to the place of his nativity. Mr. Lyman has also been a generous friend of the college and other institutions of the town. Deacon J. P. Williston was a liberal giver to the town. He gave $8,000 toward the erection of the old high-shool building, $3,000 toward the erection of a chapel for the First Church, $6,000 for the Center Street schoolhouse, and generous sums to the Florence Church and the chapels at Hospital Hill, Bay State, and Leeds. Deacon George W. Hubbard gave nearly the whole of his estate of about $90,000 to Smith College, the Dickinson Hospital, and the Old Ladies' Home, besides making generous donations while living. Among others who have been generous givers to public uses here may be mentioned, Mrs. Tenny, to Smith College, $10,000; E. A. Brooks, to the Edwards Church, $2,000; Ansel Wright, to the Unitarian Church, $3,000, and Edward C. Bodınan, to to the Edwards Church, $7,000. SMITH COLLEGE Miss Sophia Smith, of Hatfield, left the greater portion of her estate, one of the largest ever accumulated in this section, to found the college in this city which bears her name. The estate at her decease in 1870 amounted to $475,000. The amount received by the college was $386,608, to which was added the $25,000 paid by the town as a condition of the bequest. Since its opening the college has received many gifts, among which are those made by Winthrop Hillyer, a Northampton merchant, of about $100,000, and Alfred T. Lilly, a manufacturer at Florence, who bore the entire expense of erecting Lilly Hall. Mr. Hillyer built the art gallery which bears his name. Deacon George W. Hubbard gave to the college the bulk of his estate, amounting to about $80,000. The college was opened for pupils in 1874. There were 13 young women in the first class. To-day there are 930 names on the roll of students, and the college ranks as the leading college for the higher education of women in the world, having a larger number of students than any other institution of its class. You may well ask, What has brought about this wonderful growth? A number of causes have contributed. The popularity of the plan of colleges for women has done much. The cottage system of accommodating the students has been an aid. The able corps of college professors and assistants, both male and female, have been a power in the upbuilding. A sound local public sentiment in its behalf has been of value. But greater than any one, and perhaps greater than all, has been the admirable management of President Seelye. For its development he has labored unceasingly, with truly heroic zeal and splendid ability. He has himself been a constant inspiration to the students, and he may well look upon the results of his quarter century's work here with pleasure and satisfaction. That the college has been of great benefit to this community we have but to look at the large increase in the value of the real estate in its vicinity. The market value of real estate in that section has doubled, and in some instances trebled. And what it has been to all, to tradesmen, liverymen, mechanics, and others, may be seen from the authoritative estimate that of about 850 of the students each spends here yearly for all purposes, including tuition, board, and various expenses, not less than $500, making an annual revenue to the institution and the people of the town from this source alone of the sum of $425,000. In view of these facts, is it worth while for the citizens of this city to spend much time in considering the question of taxing college property? What the college has been to this community in a financial point of view it has equaled in a social and literary way. Its presence has been an uplifting force and a power for good which this people truly appreciate and for which they are profoundly grateful. THE SMITH CHARITIES. One of the most remarkable wills ever executed in this country is that of Oliver Smith. The mind that conceived it was a rare product of this century. The charities it founded have proved of great practical value in helping the worthy poor and stimulating habits of industry in the boys and girls bound out under its provisions. Oliver Smith died December 22, 1845, leaving an estate of $370,000. This he gave to the towns of Northampton, Amherst, Hadley, Hatfield, Williamsburg, Greenfield, Deerfield, and Whatley for certain charitable objects, prominent among which are gifts to poor widows; loans of $500 each to poor boys after an apprenticeship of three years to some mechanic or farmer, the loans to become gifts after five years of good behavior; marriage gifts of $300 to poor girls who shall have served an apprenticeship as domestics in families of farmers or mechanics; marriage gifts of $50 each to indigent young women; and for an agricultural school. This fund has increased from year to year until it now amounts to nearly $1,300,000, but the amounts available for charity are now more fully paid out yearly than during the first twenty-five years after the testator's decease. To show the extent of these charities, there had been paid out since the will was probated to May 1, 1896, these sums: The payments considerably exceed the present principal of the funds. It is probable that no system of charities was ever more wisely devised than this of Oliver Smith. The gifts to widows and indigent young women have been of great assistance to them, while the gifts to apprenticed boys and girls have served to inculcate in them habits of industry and good behavior. There has been no unseemly strife in the management of the institution, and the people of the towns interested have shown a commendable interest in administering the great trust in a spirit of loyalty to the evident benevolent intent of the testator. As the time when the agricultural school provided for by the will is approaching, being only eight years distant, it may be of interest and profit to see just what this school is to be. The fund originally set aside for this school was $30,000. To this was added $10,000, which was given to the American Colonization Society on a condition which was forfeited. This fund was to accumulate for sixty years from the death of the testator, and then be used by the town of Northampton for the establishment of the Smith Agricultural School. The fund now amounts to about $217,000, and at the expiration of the sixty years-on December 22, 1905-it is estimated that it will exceed $300,000. Two farms, or lands sufficient for two farms, are to be purchased for the school; one for a "pattern farm, to be so improved in practical details as to become a model," and the other for an "experimental farm, to aid and assist the labors and improvements of the pattern farm in the art and science of husbandry and agriculture." So much of the fund as may be necessary to purchase these farms and erect suitable buildings thereon is to be paid to the town, and thereafter only the income of the remainder can be paid for the maintenance of the school. Connected with this school there will be a "school of industry, for the benefit of the poor." Poor boys are to be admitted and educated, and when 21 years of age EDUCATION REPORT, 1895-96. shall be paid $200 each as a loan "to enable them to commence business for themselves," and at the end of five years of good behavior such loans shall become gifts. The management of this school shall be by "three discreet freeholders, one of whom shall be a practical husbandman and one a mechanic," who "shall annually be chosen by ballot in legal town meeting.' Maj. Joseph Hawley. J. P. Williston.. John Clarke: For cemetery, Memorial Hall. Clarke Library Summary of gifts to Northampton. Clarke Institution. Memorial Hall contributions. Samuel L. Hill: Florence Schoolhouse. Cosmian Hall. Florence Kindergarten. Judge Forbes, library. Dr. Pliny Earle, Forbes Library. Episcopal church.. Old Ladies' Home. Sophia Smith, for college. A. T. Lilly, for college.. Geo. W. Hubbard, for college. Samuel H. Dickinson, for college. Other gifts for college.. Florence Kindergarten.. Cosmian Hall. E. H. R. Lyman, Academy of Music. Whiting Street, for worthy poor.. George W. Hubbard: Dickinson Hospital. Old Ladies' Home. State Lunatic Hospital. Emerson H. Draper: Lewis L. Draper, Methodist Episcopal church. 630,550 14,000 Old Ladies' Home. Dickinson Hospital. Methodist Episcopal church. Dr. Pliny Earle, Old Ladies' Home Old Ladies' Home, first contributions. Ansel Wright, Unitarian church.. E. A. Brooks, Edwards Church. Edward C. Bodman, Edwards Church. Clarke Institution. Memorial Hall lot.. E. H. R. Lyman, Memorial Hall lot. Roscoe Green and Mr. Lippett, Clarke Institution. Grand total.. 4,443, 970 PENNSYLVANIA. WHAT IS HIGHER EDUCATION? CHARLES DE GARMO, Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania. Higher education has not seldom been thought to mean the acquisition of æsthetic graces through classical learning. It may more properly be defined as the comparative study of all subjects. The graces are only a by-product; classical language is but one of many means. Higher education not only refines, it produces in the man a new order of thinking, a more efficient power of doing. Elementary education seizes facts; higher education seizes their meaning. Through the comparative study of all subjects it enables us to perceive relations that lie beneath the surface. It enables us to use the tools of knowledge given by elementary education and to pass beyond the seeming to the real. The senses tell us that the sun goes round the earth, but the educated reason knows better. of water may seem pure, but contain the germs of typhoid fever; a financial policy A glass may promise relief to the country, yet involve its undoing; a grand act of unselfish philanthropy may appear to relieve misery, yet in the end augment it. The comparative study of knowledge has another peculiarity, in that each subject is a focus for large bodies of related facts. In the higher education botany is the subject of both organic and inorganic nature from the standpoint of the plant. It includes the related facts of physics, chemistry, geology, mineralogy, meteorology, physical geography, entomology (the fertilization of plants through the agency of insects), and other subjects. Each one of these branches becomes in its turn the focus for many of the same facts. It is the standpoint of observation that changes, not so much the facts to be observed. This is the reason why it is not so necessary in higher education to study a multitude of subjects. When the human sciences are taken up, we find that the same thing is true. History records the ideas and progress of men largely from the standpoint of political action; the history of art records the civilization of the various periods from the standpoint of æsthetics; that of education treats of the same set of facts, but the focus changes to the consideration of the development of the young. The same is true of the history of religion, of economics, of language. Life itself, both natural and institutional, is a unity of interesting forces. Everything is interwoven with everything else. Finance depends upon economics, economics upon science, science upon mathematics, government upon all of these plus the political genius of the people; the political genius of the people depends largely upon its language, its literature, and its history. All of these have had an evolution, a development through which alone they can be fully comprehended. No man can indeed master all knowledge, so marvelous are its riches; but every man can, according to his capacity and opportunity, master enough to make his thinking reliable. The college is open to him. Every great city in the land has its university, every library contains the possibility of higher training for those who will study. Higher education, like the Christian religion, is a fountain at which all who will may drink. SOUTH CAROLINA. GEN. FRANCIS MARION ON POPULAR EDUCATION. Dr. LEWIS R. HARLEY, Central High School, Philadelphia. The student of American history remembers Gen. Francis Marion as the dashing partisan leader of the Revolution, but the "Life of Gen. Francis Marion," by Brig. Gen. P. Horry, of Marion's Brigade, portrays another interesting side of his character. General Horry relates that in his last visit to Marion, in 1795, the partisan leader, in a lengthy conversation, discussed the value of free schools to the Republic. Marion claimed that the general ignorance that prevailed throughout the South divided that section, rendering it an easy prey to the British, who held it in their possession during the greater part of the Revolutionary struggle. The remarks of Marion read with all the freshness of a treatise on popular education composed in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, and they are worthy of reproduction here. General Horry remarked to Marion that he feared the legislature of Carolina would dread the expense of free schools, when Marion replied as follows: "What, sir! Keep a nation in ignorance rather than vote a little of their own money for education! Only let such politicians remember what poor Carolina has already lost through her ignorance. What was it that brought the British, last war, to Carolina but her lack of knowledge? Had the people been enlightened, they would have been united; and had they been united, they never would have been attacked a second time by the British. For after that drubbing they got from us at Fort Moultrie, in 1776, they would as soon have attacked the devil as have attacked Carolina again, had they not heard that we were a house divided against itself;' or in other words, had amongst us a great number of Tories; men who, through mere ignorance, were disaffected to the cause of liberty, and ready to join the British against their own countrymen. Thus, ignorance begat toryisın, and toryism begat losses in Carolina of which few have any idea. "According to the last accounts, America spent in the last war $70,000,000, which, divided among the States according to population, gives to Carolina about $8,000,000; making, as the war lasted eight years, $1,000,000 a year. Now, it is generally believed, the British after their loss of Burgoyne and their fine Northern army, would soon have given up the contest, had it not been for the foothold they 1 From the Pennsylvania School Journal, December, 1896. |