Towanda daily review. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1879-1921, 1881-08-22

The following sketch Of former principal
of the old Towanda Academy, WHO died last
week, will be read with interest by our older
citizens and those who were pupils of Mr..
GUM more than thirty years ago. The no.
tice is taken from the New York Her0ld of
last Thursday.
Frederick W. Gum, principal of ''The
GunncrY" School in Washington. Ct, died
at his home yesterday. Although not strictly
Il public man, Mr.. Gums character and at
tainmGnts made him man Of considerable
influence, and the pronounced originality Of
his professional ideas gave him celebrity as Il
teacher. He was born in Washington in 1916
and was graduated at Yale College with the
class of 1887, together with Chief Justice
Waite, cX-Sccretary Of State Evarts, Profess
>ors Slliman and Lyman, Hon. Edwards
piewepOnt and others. The success of the
school that he started shortly after gradual
ton was nterfcrcd with by his advocacy of
abolition principles, in behalf of which he
was most active, speaking in public and as
sisting in the escape of runaway slaves. The
expulsion of Mr.. Gunn's fatLer from the Con-
grcgational Church, for espousing the same
cause. was followed by the persecution of the
son. who was forced to seek Il living by teach
ing in Pennsylvania for Il time; but he short
" returned and lived it down, becoming ONE
of the most h0nored citizens of Connecticut.
have been chronicled by DR.. Holland in hi
Arthur Bonnicastle,' where Mr.. Gum and
the "GuunCry.H appear as tAlr. Bird and tt G
Birds Nest" and by w. Hamilton Glenn, the
Artist, in hi, ''Pastoral Days" in which with
ppn aud pencil he celebrated his alma mater
under the name Of The SnuggeTy," kept by
Mr.. Snug in Snug Hamlet. For many years
Mr. Gum would have no rules for the regu-
ton of his pupils: but governed them on the
theory that boys rs well as men know i'll
StInciyely the difference between right and
wrong, and he held them responsible for cor
rect behavior. His pUnshmcntS were always
unique and were designed rather for the cor
rcctjon of the faults than for the infction
of pain or penalty. He delighted in nature,
and / o ,seSsed Il wonderfully intimate knowl-
edge of forest and field, of plant and bud life,
and in his generous readiness to impar his
knowledge he was to all his friends some
thing better than Il Burroughs or Il Thorcau.
His pupils were encouraged IN every way to
faniariZc themselves with nature. He
guarded against the danger OF a free use OF
fire arms by the following order =" Never
permit boy TO aim an unloaded gun at YOU
ii YOU do not knock him down I will thrash
YOU. Never mind the loaded guns, they new
cr hurt any one it is the empty ones that do
all the mischief" Every wear he took the
BOYS into camp, and " Gums Camp" was
one of the features of summer life at Lake
Waramang. In teaching the classics Mr..
Llnh Sou3Hl hI>t 10 uIaht MS St!lOIdlS ldHlll-
ar with the literature Of the authors in hand
leaving more thorough grammatical train
me until the writer's style and the scope OF
his work were we'll comprehended. large
benevolencc. the extent, Of which few per
sons knew, interfrred with his acquiring
w alth, although his i1sttut on was flourish.
ing and prosperous. Among the patrons OF
The Gunnery'' were Henry Ward Beechcr
Mrs Stowe, General John &. Fremont, Scna.
tor Platt, Senator Dixon. DR.. j. G. Holland,
a. S. Barnes, John r. Howard and others
Mr.. Gunn was married in 1917 to Miss Abby
Brinsmade, daughter of General Brinsmade
OF Connecticut. Their only son died several