Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-06-29
saeo TOO resss.
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Of one Of the most celebrated 81 his pupil
| and associates.
As to him, an observation may well b.
added. In his address of 1858 Profes,o
Packard quotes Chief Justice Jay a. say
Ing that the French Revolution ..banishet
six stockings and good manners; :" but h,
furnished In himself throughout the sixty
ive year, Of his devotion to the college anc
its work, indubitable proof that, though
knee Dreeches had disappeared, the Latter
part OF the opinion of the Chief Justice
must be limited in its application or be over
ruled.
The wide and varied learning, the accu
rate scholarship, the critical and incisive
intellect of Goodwin, continued in othe,
helds Of usefulness, the hi III distinction
which accompanied bis efforts here, while
ms remarkable power 10 debate gave him
deserved weight in the councils of the
church OF which he was a member.
No mist separates the memories of these
early laborers in this vineyard from the
later time. They live not simply in the pub
lished works by which most of them won
great distinction-not simply in the reputa-
ton acquired by the excellence of cir
teaching, but in the sweet remembrance
Of those daily lives of faithfulness to duty,
throug h which precept re csived its chiefest
value from example.
The charter established college .sfor
the purpose of educating youth, by the ap
preparation Of its income'.in such manner
az shall most effectually promote virtue
and piety and the knowledge of such of the
languages, and of the useful and liberal
arts and sciences as shall be hereafter d.
rected from time to time by said corpora
ton"
Those we're the days-I trust, in every
fundamental sense, they still are with us
when all alike regarded virtue and riety as
essential elements of education and reli gion
as the chief cornerstone of an educational
institution.
1t was impossible that any other view
could be entertained. Religion of some
kind has been the basis of education of
whatever kind and at whatever time and
as the things Of truth, of honesty, of justice,
of purity, Of loveliness. and Of good report
were the acknowledged ends Of education,
thesesswere to be attained only through the
spiritual forces of the Christian religion by
which human culture had been preserved
and through which it was to reach its high
est development.
The charter did but adopt the language
of the constitution of the State, which de-
clared not only that knowledge, wisdom, and
virtue were necessary for the preservation
Of the peoples rights and liberties, but also
that the peoples happiness and good order
and the preservation of civil government
essentially depended upon piety, religion,
and morality.
Persuaded of these truths, il was in their
enforcement that the godly men to whose
care the infant years of the college were
committed found their inspiration and their
hope.
A certain narrowness has been attributed
to them, but the strength of a foundation
depends upon the carrying quality of which
it is composed, rather than its breadth.
"If this institution" said Hawthorne, in
that early novel, which his fame has not al
lowed to be suppressed, "did not offer all
the advantages of older and prouder semi
naries, Its deficiencies were compensated to
its students by the inculcation of regular
habits, and of deep and awful sense
of religion which seldom deserted
them in their course through life"
1t does not appear that the Sc
verify of the presentation Of religious
truths prevented him from indulgibg in the
youthful pleasures of the time, but in this
reference is there not to some extent a key
to the sombre undertones of the works of
thi, great artist? Dill not the influence to
which he alludes impress itself upon hi,
and find exp. esson in the
treatment Of the profound problems of life,
the nature or sin, its relation to crime, the
IS - tLo .lrro
of existence, the law Of repentance, the
cure for the SHINING soul, with which he
deals in those masterpieces of fiction!
No doubt intellectual discipline aud not
religious instruction is the object of the
modern college, but the importance of re-
ligious influence on the life and character
of the student has never been underrated
here, and the golden strand still runs
through the cable that moors the college to
its anchorage, and marks it as one of the
ships of the King.
The requirement of the observance of the
Lords day and attendance at chapel exer-
cises ard upon public worship still obtains,
and the reli, ious atmosphere of the earlier
years still pervades those which have sue
ceeded.
II worship be necessary, and decay
marks the nation which neglects 1t, that
necessity has not been weakened in the ad-
vance Of science the increase in business
and political activities; the multiplication
of human wants and the means Of their
qualification; the progress of man in the So
luton of the problem of self-government.
Physiology demonstrated the experiment
of Revolutionary France of one day in ten
to be made quate for the rest required by
nature, and the soul demands no less for
its repose.
True, the President of the United States
would not now be halted by the
..tythingman" for violation of law in
riding to church on Sunday morning,
nor would the student be fined "for unnec-
essary walking on the Sabbath" but less
rigor in the enforcement leaves the rule I'M
changed, and the reasoning has not lost its
force, that so outward obedience may
come to foster inward; for submission be-
comes habit, and habit inclination, and in-
clination love. and love piety, and thus,
though Of mean origin, may grow up SEN
timent that shall be high. no less than
sacred sentiment inspiring mans spirit
with all that is holy on the holy day
Naturally the first two presidents, Nc
Keen and Appleton, both scholars with
marked aptitudes for college government,
are chiefly remembered as men of piety.
HoEaav t;o,1 oil ton .,arlv to leave partic-