Evening star., 1883-10-24

At the last meeting of the Massachusetts, His
torca! Society the Rev. DR.. George E. Ellis
spoke as follOwsin regard to the proposed statue
of John Harvard at Cambridge:
LAS was announced at the last commence
ment, Harvard College is to receive the valuable
gilt OF a statue commemorative of the hOnOred
man whose name it bears. The gift is from a
generous benefactor, Gen. Samuel J. Bridge, an
adopted alumnus of the college. A very exact
ing demand is to be made upon the genius and
skill of the artist who is to represent in bronze
the form and lineaments of q Young scholar of
whose personal appearance We have no repre-
sentatiOns, relic. or even description. The work
must be wholly ideal guided by a few suggestive
hints, all of which are in harmony with grace.
dellcacy, dignity, and reverential regard. The
occasion renews the sense of regret SO often re-
allied and expressed in scholarly circles, that a
secret and silence as yet unprecedented or voiced
cover the whole ffe history, in the mother
country. of him who planted learning i'm the
New England wilderness. We know neither
his birthtime. nor birthplace, nor lineage nor
parentage. His name appears on the entry
book at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. i'm 1925
he was matricnlated there as pensiOner that is,
one who can pay his own charges. July Z, 1851
The signature for his bachelors degree is dated
1884, and that for his mastery degree In 1856
There all that we know of John Harvard in
England stops. He is called Reverend here
and was known as preacher But we are in
ignorance whether he had beer especially or
dained in England and there is no record
of his ordination, as a dissenting teacher,
there or here. The artist would know the
number of his years. We cannot tell them. All
that we have to guide us is that, suppOsing him
to have been of the average age Of twenty on
taking his bachelors degree, he would have
been twenty-sev:n N at his death here. Milton,
who was born in 1908. was matriculated at the
same university, though at another college
Christ's, which he entered in 1924, at the age of
sixteen. But he did not reach a degree. The
statue of Harvard might well represent him in
the loose robe and hood of master of arts. But
to clerical habits the Geneva costume would
be more appropriate. We do not know at what
port OF exit, in what vessel at what date or with
what cOmpaniOnship Harvard embarked for this
country. nor the time of his arrival.
His presence here is first recognized by his
admission as an inhabitant Of tCharlestown,
August /, 1857, and as sometimes minister Of
Gods Word in that town. assisting Mr. Symmes
the pastor OF CharlestOWn church, of which Har-
ward and his wife were admitted members. He
received grants of land from the town, and on
April 20 1888 was on committee to consider
of some things tending toward body of laws
The site of the house which he built is known
Judge Sewall speaks of sleeping in it. 1t was
probably burned in the battle June II,
17'5. Harvard died Of consumption in
Der %. n. s., 1858. only little more than
year after the first mention of his presence in
New England By nuncupative will, of which
there is no record or administration, he is said
to have left all his library and half Of his estate
being ESOO. to the college, which the court had
two years previous voted to establish at the
New Town., after his gift called Cambridge.
Such is the ambiguity of language that it seems
impossible to decide whether the whole or the
half of his estate was fSO0. Nor do the ac-
counts and receipts Of the bursars of the college
satisfactorily settle the doubt. II Harvard was
possessed of Fl 600 it was a very large estate
for those days. Probably it was invested in
England, causing delayed and fragmentary re-
fnrns ~