Litchfield enquirer., 1881-09-01
Mr. Frederick ". Gum.

Washington had lost its most~noted, liberal, influential citizen, we should sta,e bat .oa1toi tine truth. A1nai of original ideas himself, lid found way ofimpressin sthose idieas notshnl, on those immediasely abQrt iim, and jonsthe school to which his peculiar talent gave so widf Puritan con.aunity, sottening themin.o free, dom of social intereour e,@and aaliberaiity of opinion seldom found in etired New Eng land township, very intelligent though it's peo- ple often are This was not the work Of years merely; it was the work o a lifetime wrought out under difficulties such as men striving for radical changes always meet, and only under peculiarly fortunate circumstances conquer.
 Mir. Gum came to manhood n stirring times. Bmn, Oct. 4th, 1875, he graduated from Yale College in 1877 His father, always held in high esteem and for yeas Deputy Sheriff of the county, was dead, but both his brothers were staunch Aboliaionists and the young col legian took his stand by their side. What 1t meant to be an Abolitionst then, in the town of Washington all incident will illustrate The minister of the Congregational society at that time was an able, and in most respects an es- timable man, but he held most bigoted pro slavery views. Sunday after Sunday he thund ered against the new ideas, and in vindication of the div inc right of slavery. From the Lev itical law and from the practice of Paul he ar gued out hisposiio witha a relentless logic that iv,0 oyFynxy The stronger his argument from the Bible, the more sceptics he made among the -Abolitionists who heard inn. It was an old yet an ever recurring blunder. He had thrown the bible in the path of progress: some who went that way went around it; others went over it. But the Abolitionists were not idle. They called in lecturers who denounced slavery as bitterly as the parson supported it. In 1889 came the woman speaker, Abby Kelley. The Sunday after her arrival, when the lady was herself present, MT. Hayes preached sermon from q text about ''that woman Jezebel'' which we should not like to quote entire, charging her with improper, and impliedly with criminal misconduct.* As a result of such preaching several Abolition members withdrew from the church and never returned toit. M ASs
 In 1887 and '38 MT Gum caught school in New Preston In 1889 he opened his first ac- ademy school in Washington. It began with about t'2e usual number of day scholars, but gradually dwindled. The teacher, though much liked as an instructor, was outspoken in his anti-slavery opinions he was strong temper ance man; he taught that the world was not made in six natural days, and he entertained and expressed other hereticA 'views2all of which led to the withdrawal of scholars, till finally only five or six attended his last winter school in 1S43 He then taught again for sev- eral years in New Preston 5 hfN
 In 1848 Mir. Gum married Miss Abi gail Irene, daughter of Gen. D. B. Brinsmade How courageous an act it was on her part, only those can guess who know how completely his radical views regarding slavery, temperance and religion, had to all appearance ruined his prospects. Tine year before his marriage, Mr. Gann had opened school in Towanda, Pa, with Orville H. Platt (now U. s. Senator) as an assistant. After two years, however, he determined to return and make another effort in his native place. He did so, now having the powerful helpof the younger members of his wife's family, always influential For two or three years it was sharp fight, but abolition views, if not spreading, had become much less obnoxious, and finally, instead of the Abolition ists, it was the pro-slsivery parson who had to give way. The vote of dismission was carried in society meeting, but the church still chung to the pastor who had been settled oyer them for twenty three years. There was series Of church trials; several of the Abotionists wiio had practically withdrawn from the church some years before were excommunicatcd two most estimabe ladies were disciplined for ''pro. miscuous" dancing, whist playing, acting in tableaux, or something of the sort Several opposition schools were set up, but Mir. Gum now held his own. Soon the passage of the Kansas Nebraska bill made half the Northern people Abolitionists, and if there was opposi tlon it Was from political minority. E'
 In. the meantime Mir. Gunn,s& boarding school, starting as such in 1850, began to bear peculiar character and to attract peculiar support. It became known as school where boys manhood and muscle as well as his brain were developed. The Abolitionists were true to the man who had so long, at such cost identified himself with their cause Mr. Beecher and Mrs. Stowe sent their children there, and the 'Gunnery'' grew to be an institution in wide and high repute and decided financial success. The queer old Academy building Was abandoned; new buildings were erected every one an original creation, often in hexa gonal or other unusual shape. The adjoining grounds and grove was tastefully trimmed and laid out. There were grand theatricals for which 'local" talent was subjected to selec. tion so judicious and a training so severe as to produce surprisingly good results. At last a fine hall was built. with stage, scenery, piano and other appliances; stbe church, no longer hostilesuliitingsia esbuildingA enterprise, and occupying a chapel room below.
 Ii was during his period of early strusgieannd failure that we knew Mir. Gum best Of his period of success and of the Gunner'y proper
 we can onllyaeak at secona hand. ..though al
 ways regarding the old school with an in1teres, and our old teacher with. an affection that al his ''old boys"-seem le feela The description. of the Gunhsry to be found in Dr. Hollands "Athur Bonlicastle, and W. Hamilton Gibscn's Snug Ha.Alet," are warm and we believe ju.t tribute tq the unique merits oi the school. Like Arnold of Rugby MT. Gum was born teacner. He knew all the crooks and turns of one boy nat,rei he nonld dksxlnnak tniZe wiGn their enthusiasms he could n.eres, them in the subjects which hteresfed hfm. He could even breath lie efnto the drvv bones of : dead language. and yteaelsprailsao see poetry behind atAthe parsing ana scanning antpSuizt' zling diversions of Virgil. Af.ec forty year
 we vivi0ly femeinber now he interested us i, the story of .1e Iliad, tsansl&tlns ne interview between Hector and Andromche, and othe
 passages; and hoy, $ year, Or two afers W,