The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-06-27

College Ia ConStantlnopie, A. ii. Weld,
who while principal wrote his famous
Latin text books, and Gen. Edward Rus
sell, the first secretary in the olden times
and one OF the richest and leading men
OF this part of the State. His long term
OF service is now rivalled by that of Bar
nabas Freeman. of Yarmouth, who has
been treasurer for so years.
In 1881 the trustees decided to enlarge
the curriculum and festa blished three
courses. English, College Preparatory
| and Modern Languages. The Academy
| always has been and is non-sectarian
and liberal and fully abreast OF the
times Many denominations are repre-
sented on the present board of trustees.
bout four years ago the Rev.B
t. Snow, secretary of the Maine Sunday
School Union. became the principal of
the famous old academy and has cop
tlnued such until the present time with
eminent satisfaction to all concerned.
GEN. HOwARD'S GRAFTON.
DIR. Spear then introduced Gen. o. NJ.
Howard with brief and appreciatiye
mention of his life and his fame and as one
whose name since 1861 had been almost
household word. The audience loudly APP,
plauded as Gen. Howard stepped upon the
platform, and rose in body as a further
| mark of respect and appreciation.
| He said that now he came to Yarmouth
not old North Yarmouth, as he used to
know it. In lS43 his parents brought him
there in pung. He wore suit of grey, the
first suit he ever had. His mother made it
on the loom and he himself helped make the
yarn from wool that came from their own
sheep on the farm at Monmouth. The same
treasurer was there then as now, Mr.. Barna-
bus Freeman. He was glad to learn that
a wa Ylfp fr vat ls,S,
tie would look him up after the meeting
A man must be honest who has been a
treasurer fifty years.
Mr.. Weld of Yields lexicon fame, was then
principal. In all his military career he was
never SO frightened as in the dignifed
presence of Mr.. Weld. He was poor boy
and boarded with the other boys lin com
mons" They lived well, too. They only
paid 70 cents week. but they lived we'll.
They only had butter once a week and meat
also. But they lived we'll He said that
Spencer Wells made wonderful record He
got two years study in one. He wouldn't
sit down while studying, because then he
went to sleep, but be stood UP and thus
could get along with only five hours sleep.
But hs made mistake. He couldn't do
good work at Bowdoin, and it wasnot1 long
before he was in the insane asylum 1t
would have been better had he studied less
but why did Il come here to this
| academy. He went first to Halloweil, then
to Monmouth In neither was there but
very little classical work. He was told that
| III he wanted to get good fit'' for college
he must go to old North Yarmouth. This is
| significant of what is necessary today as
! we'll as then. Bnt why is there falling off
| in attendance of late years? People are
| getting restless. They are beginning to be-
| leive Horace Greeley's doctrine of more
practical study and less dead languages
That is all wrong. Horace Greeley's one
defect was his lack of classical training. He
regretted it all his life. Other things being
| equal the classical man is the strongest
man.
| But there should not be hours of searching
after Greek roots. His two sons he sent to
Andoyer. One of them did not graduate
He could not learn languages. He sent the
boy to France. He learned French in three
| months. He went to Germany and soon
mastered the German language and per-
| fected 1T by marrying a nice German girl.
That was the young man who; couldn't
1 learn languages. It's the right method
| that's necessary. Give your pupils the right
| methods for learning languages and your
| school will be full
| he referred to his experience as Commits
| sloner of freedmen after the great war, and
! how people objected to methods of educating
them, and exclaimed in disapproval at the
| establishing of negro colleges. But if you
| don't have colleges, other schools are sure
| to suffer. The colleges are an example be-
| cause they are thorough.
| But they say what's the use of the
academies now? Here's the Chautauo ia
| course. 1t is very nice. 1t lifts UP the
people. 1t begets intelligence. But don't
lose the other for that. Don't give UP the
academy. But what's the use of the
| academy, if you can get it all in the English
| Of Chautauqua? You can't get it all in Eng
| lish, When you work out the Latin sentence
| you've done mighty work for your mind.
| There's nothing that will ever take the
place of the training of Latin and Greek
But the newspaper gives everything now |!
Yes, know they do. I've seen them with
| forty pages, more than man could read all
day Sunday. There is nothing more danger
GUS than this perpetual skimmiig of news
papers. People who do 1t finally stop read
ing at all. Newspaper and novels! oh let
us get down to solid work. The young man
who gets more reading by hard work will be
always benefited by it.
Gen. Howard closed with an impassioned
| declaration of what the war saved for out
nation. "Oh, its the American family that
we saved for the world!'' The negro didn It
have any family, had no children and nc
wife. Oh, thank God that there's no longer
slave in this land. And it is the Ameri.
can schools that we saved. I've worked for
the schools as hard as any one, and then
there's the churches that were saved. Every
man loves the church if he's got no wrong
in his heart. And there's the other great
institution that was saved-the town meet
ing. May God help us that the time may
come when there shall be a free, fair ballot
all over this great land. 40
Another selection of music was a fitting
prelude to the poem that was next dc.
livered by Hon. F. M. Ray of Westbrook
of the class of SO. 1t was a. long poem and
was clearly read and closely listened to-
The pressure upon our columns alone pre-
vents the necessary attention that should
be paid to it in the report. of this 81 eat
reunion-that is. it's publication.
The benediction was pronounced by Rev
Mr.. Dinsmore. i'i'
| Af+ar fha II, +fa- al,x,as1,r IN, -.