The Portland daily press., 1876-07-21
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BOwdOin College; Then and Now,

10 the Editor. Of the Press
Your correspondent attended the commence
ment exercises last week at Brtinswick, and
being an old graduate Of Bowdoin, naturally
compared the old with the new
In 1926 occupied d room in Maine Hall
with Drummond, now U. s. Judge; but since
then the hall has been burned and new one
on different plan has taken its place, so no
longer see the Maihe' Hall'of my college days.
Nothing marks the spot where stood the little
chapel whose bell so ofted disturbed my morn
ing dreams. Further on, where the Presidents
house stood, is a. blank. I'm that house the
writer was occasionally iaterEawed .bya small.
gathering of gentlemen called ''ther goyera-
ment," 1 am sorry to say, very. little to the
satisfaction of the interyiewers, ,Hoy little
those scholarly men KNEW OF boy nxsurerS- -
In vain look for the hotel which stood near
the corner of the college campus; it was
great convenience to persons visiting the col
lege, and handy place for anniversary sup
pers. The old meeting-house too, has gone by
the board, and has been replaced by Quaker
colored edifice whose aspire -ations have EVIL
IDENTIFY been nipt by an untimely frost. In the
rear of the church and not far away, stood the
humble domicile of ''Ma'am Mis-" the colored
woman who supplied us with simple refresh.
ments, the strongest stimulant being spruce
beer. There is no such building now, and
probably among the college boys of to day
there is no tradition of the house or its occu-
pants. In vain I call for "Peter' to do an
errand; long ago he answered that call TO
which all living men must respond.
Professor panbard 10 tba nn1u Yaroon
left who links the present with the past of
fifty years ago. Teaching the dead languages
has not been to him unhealthy. We had
on board the Savannah brilliant young
officer who was dying of consumption. The
commodore attributed his i'll health to his hav-
ing spent so much time on the dead languages.
The hale appearance, the erect figure, and the
spry step Of Prof. Packard, who has been pro.
fessor of Greek for more than half a century,
retutes the theory OF our illustrious commo-
dore.
Twas sorry to hear nothing CT the old litera
ry societies-the Athenaum and Peucinian.
Judging from the posters on the trees, infer
that secret societies with Greek letter names
have supplanted them. This ought not to be;
and when the men who govern Bowdoin Col
lege have gown wiser, they will follow the lead
of Princeton and suppress all secret societies.
Whatever in them is worth preserving can be
transferred to the Athenaum and Peucinian.
In regard TO the exercises on commencement
day, there was a remarkable absence of enthu-
siasm as compared with fifty years ago. Then
commencement was the gala day of the year
for the people of Brunswick and all the region
round about. And the ladies on the Kennebec
who made society so brilliant in the towns on
that river from Bath to Augusta, were always
well represented in the galleries of the old
church And when the procession filed into
the church, there was great excitement to see
the young gentlemen in gowns. How royalty
Col. Eastabrook with red sash and sword and
cooked hat marshalled the procession, and how
instantly the hubbub ceased when he, with the
voice for Major General commanded ''si-
lence." That was q vast crowd that filed the
church to oyerflowing in those days. But now
you fed a quiet audience, not filling the
church, and as decorous in behavior as il wait
ing the entrance of funeral procession. The
young gentlemen who spoke acquitted them
selves well, but the task would have been east
er if they had had the sympathy of the audi
ence.
Tne concert on the evening of Wednesday
was bit of extravaganza which ought not to
be repeated. Two dollars for a ticket is taxing
ones friends too heavily. 1t would be bet
ter for the students to show their friends
and the public to what extent they have ad-
vanced in the art of pleasing, Let there be an
entertainment made up of reading and music,
the performers to be the best in college without
regard to classes, and 1 will venture the pre-
diction that it will be the most popular of all
exercises of commencement week.
July 10, 1876. j. s. of Maine.