Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-06-29

power; to the VI ion of the colonies, and to
the formation of the new government; es.
pecially the part he took in respect of the
grant to Congress of that unifying power
the regulation Of commerce with foreign
nations and between the several states; his
distinction in the cultivation of science and
letters; his intimate relations with Wash.
ington and Franklin; his unaffected piety
and his Christian death; these things carry
their own lessons and give cause for felici
tation that they are inseparably connected
with the day we celebrate.
James Bowdoin, the son, succeeded tc
close terms of friendship with Washington
as the welLknown incidents of his accom-.
panying the general when he threw up his
redoubts on Dorchester Heights, and hi.
taking him to dinner at his grandfather
after the evacuation, sufficiently show. The
historian and the orator have alike recorded
that the best that the market afforded fol
that dinner was a piece of salt beef, bu,
have left the cooking to conjecture-a vita
consideration according to Hawthorne, who
declares that when he dealt with that article
of diet in culinary way, it was so artist
cally done that It seemed irreverential to
eat it.
But the second Bowdoin, although filling
responsible public positions, including those
of Minister to Spain and to France, to ac-
ceptance, must always be chiefly remem-
bered here for the wise munifcence with
which he sought TO advance the cause Of
letters, in the perpetuation of his fathers
memory and the family name. Beyond the
mere 0estowal Of land and money, his dis
sn IS -
gifts marked the liberal culture in the ex.
tension of which he was engaged when
called home from foreign travel and foreign
study by the newb from Lexington.
Thus, as we are told by his eulo2ist at the
annual commencement of 1912, he formed
his collection of minerals and metals and
the models of cry stallography deposited
with them, for the use of the college, be-
cause, "appreciating the value of a knowl-
edge of minerals in new country like this,
he was anxious to give every possible ia
cility to this study and he endowed a
professorship of mathematics and natural
and experimental philosophy. Yet he
could hardly have anticipated that, but a
few years after his death, the first
American work on mineralogy would
carry the name of Cleaveland and
of Bowdoin throughout the civilized
world; or that the college could boast in its
centennial year, in the Searles Science
Building, of better facilities for teaching
the sciences than any college of its size
possesses. And so when he bestowed his
collection of paintings and original sketches,
that the ennobling influences of this and its
kindred arts might be Joined to those of
ell, bo L. l,ol
forward to the realization of his hopes in
the splendid endowment which has just been
dedicated.
1t was enough that he knew that fruit
will sooner or later be brought forth from
seed sown in good ground, with an honest
and good heart, though the sower may not
himself, be able to estimate, or be spared
see, the harvest.
The classic pen of President Woods has
embalmed for us the scene of the inaugura-
ton of the first President and the first pro-
fessor, the ceremonies being conducted, for
the most part, in Latin, on a stage erected
in the woods. 1--WE may well imagine" he
says, ''that even the whispering pines of
the forest, and the sylvan creatures in
habiting it, were hushed into silence, as
they heard for the first time the language
of the Augustan age and of the world of
letters, here pronounced in sonorOus periods
and with polished utterance-here where
the war whoop of the Indian had so recent
ly resounded. And what else
than the first notes of the Orphean harp
were these classic words, uttered on this
rustic stage in the forest, by which new
domain was here annexed to the world of
letters, and fountain of Christian
culture purer than Helicon was
opened here in this dry and
thirsty land" Thus at one graphic stroke
the old and the new were brought together,
and, with the creation of the instrument
tality, the culture of the centuries shown
to be within the grasp of the subduer of
the forest and the soil.
This was in 1902, for various delays had
accompanied the realization of the endow-
ment, the erection of buildings, and the
organization of corps of instruction but
we are celebrating the planting of the tree,
and the eight years during which the sap
was commencing to run, and before the
branches and leaves began to put forth and
the fruit to form, have rightfully been
included in the computation. Our book of
remembrance COHtdluo tutIlcs VI tue suuS
giles of that period, which are part of the
life we are commemorating.
Nothing can be added to the picture
drawn by DR.. Woods, with characteristic
cally artistic touch, of the use of Massachu-
setts hall for the accommodation of the
President and his family, as well as the
eight students composing the first class,
while also furnishing chapel and recitation
rooms. The vision of the good shepherd
leading his little flock with his staff is
charming, although, as the rapring of the
Presidents cane on the stairs summoned to
PRAYERS and recitation alike, the impressive
disciplinary suggestion thus conveyed may
have obscured the sweetness of the pastoral
relation to some of the fold.
We must remember that at this time the
wilderness covered the larger part of the
country, and that, although Portland and
Wiscasset were flourishing seaports, Bangor
was a hamlet, and Hallowell and Augusta
were just peeping from the forest. Access
to the latter from Brunswick was on horse
back, and, according to Professor Packard,
it was deemed great exploit, when in 1903
or 1904, that passage was accomplished in
sulky by Judge Parker of the supreme
court on his eastern circuit-Judge Parker,
who, elected to the presidency of the col
lege BY the board of trustees, was preserved
by the rejection of the overseers, to sue
ceed Theophitus Parsons as chief justice of
M ssac chm setts as was DIR. Mott. nv a like