The Portland daily press., 1875-07-08

They went forth in the vigor OF youth, with
strong hearts and high hopes to be their own
masters and to act their part in life, after
having been under tutors and governors Cor four
years within those college bounds Thirty
seven of us went out in 1926, and now a call
has been made for US to assemble again ON the
lapse of so years. Mason fell in three years,
Martin and Vose in six, Mellen in nine Pierce
in ten, and Cilley in 13 years; and others have
been dropping off, one by one, ever since. j. S.
Hon. S. p Benson, the Hon. ]. w. Bradbury,
j. Abbott, Horace Bridge, G. H. Coolridge,
NJ D., Prof. N. Dunn, Joseph Eveleth, VIM.
Hale, esq.,, Henry Wordsworth Longfellow,
the Hon. Cullen Sawtelle, the Rev. Dr. ID.
Shipley, VIM. Stone and one or two others have
been spared. We went forth with elastic step
and youthful glow. but return slow in pace,
timeworn in visage, and whitened with age.
There is no resisting the work of half century.
And he is fortunate, or rather is providentially
favored, who even lives so long: he must not
complain if Time has set his hand pretty heavi-
ly upon him during the course of those years.
AS to rank Little took the first part and de-
livered the valedictory, and l think it was the
even before the Senior year. He always SEEM
ed to be master OF his lessons and he bad
remarkably happy faculty of expressing him.
self in the recitation room; for let it be remem-
bored, in those days there were no blackboard
demonstrations. If there had been, upques-
tionably the grades would have been somewhat
changed. Everything was oral. Little vas
fluent In speech, but not rapid; distinct in
articulation, and happy In his choice of words.
Ciley was the reverse of this in some respects
he hesitated, and although he be always came
out right in the end it not unfrequently
seemed as if he would inevitably fail; ;
| but in debate he was more fluent than Little.
| Cilley ranked among the best debaters in col
| lege. Life has shown goodly amount of tai
ent that stood below Little 1t is likely that he
| took his rank from his faculty of delivery in
| the classroom, and not simply from his better
| knowledge of his studies. That was doubtless
| the peppercorn that turned the scale in his
| favor. He studied law, but am not informed
| what his success in his profession was He
| finally became President of a railroad compa-
ny. The truth is, eminence in any profession
| implies close application and hard toll; and
| for these there is nothing better than the spur
| of need. Little lacked this incentive. He was
ito the manor born," reared in affluence and
| am told, he inherited wealth. He died ia
| 1862.
| The class of 1926 is called q famous class. 1t
has given to the world Hawthorne and Long
| fellow. think it was regarded as a marked
| class in college. Even its number was uau-
| sual. 1t was larger than any class that had
| ever before been graduated at that college. and
| larger than any that was graduated there for
| 12 wears afterwards. The ore which immedi-
| ately preceded it contained only 13 members
| Our class at one time numbered AZ men, but
| two died before the course was finished, and
three left college. John s. G. Abbott was a
| good Scholar amiable in disposition, and
| sides being good general scholar, possessed
| the ability to pat upon seventy nine scrap of
paper more ideas than any other man in the
class. Longfelow was accounted a good poet
before he left college, and Cilley aud Haw-
| thorne gave promise of what they were to do.
| In college, Hawthorne was quiet, thought
full, honest young man. 1 can remember nv
| surprise when heard that he was in Custom
| house; but Salem was not the whole world,
| The old philosophers explained the falling of a
| own place." and so it was in the end with
Hawthorne. He went to bis own place-Liter-
| ature
Ciey, there are tears for him-so promising,
| so popular. Tears for his death, and tears for
the manner of his dying He fell, as it is we'll
known, in duel while a Representative in
| Congress. Pierce was u literary man and
would have made his mark as writer, had he
| been spared.
Samuel p. Benson had an excellent standing
in the class. He studied law, and was elected
to Congress. He is still living.
James w. Bradbury was one of the best
scholars in the class. Having had the advan-
tage of Judge Shepley's instruction in the
| study of the law, he came to the bar under very
favorable circumstances, especially as the
| Democratic party were ready to receive such a
recruit with open arms. He took high rank as
| young lawyer from the start, and in few
| years dCQulreu an eAlenSlV6 ana lucrative Drac-
tice. In 1885 he was appointed County Attor-
ney, and held the office for three years. He
was always an active and efficient member OF
the Democratic party, and his culture and
character led his political friends to elect hin,
to the U. S. Senate in 1876. He has ALWAYS
been a warm friend of his Alma Mater, serving
for many years IN the Board of Overseers, and
since 1860 as a trustee. And in 1872 the col
lege, in acknowledgement of his fidelity to its
interests, as well as to his learning in the law
conferred upon him the degree of LIZ D.
Richard Bradford practiced medicine and
died in Auburn in 1874. He was man of
positive Christian character, and retained hi:
love for the classics to his dying day.
Horace Bridge is in the naval service Haw
thOrne wrote a journal OF our African Cruis.
err from his ionrnal.
Stephen Longfellow, the poets brother, died
in 1850 at the age of As
| Prof. Nathaniel Dunn entered the Sophomore
year in 1922. He was the first teacher in the
Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, Mass, iu
1926, He has delivered lectures in Rutgers
Female College recently, and is still living.
| Among those who entered the ministry were
| Alden Boynton, Elisha Bacon, Thos. Dyer,
Patrick II. Greenleaf and David Shpley. Cul'
len Sawtele has been in Congress and is tstil
living. Chas. j. Abbott is a lawyer at Castiue
John d. Kinsman, NJ. D., studied law and
went to Wisconsin to recover his health, hui
died in 1850. VIM. Hale is a merchant i'm Do
yer, N. H., and Joseph III. Newman and Heze
kiah Packard we've in the book trade and hay,
both died. Chas. Smell entered upon the prac
tice of medicine in Bangor, and died suddenl,
in 1858.