The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1901-03-02
S||RS Up Old Cambridge
HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS RE-
NVED BY CELEBRATION OF
). WESTINGHOUSE BIRTHDAY
REVOLUTIONARY BARRACKS
1t Is Recalled by Group Of Ven
cradle Bui1dings-Wadswor
Houxe and President Lang
don's Prayer.

+ CAMBRlDC1Ei, Mass. Feb. A:-Tne
chief historical associations of Old Cam
bridge are annually revived hy the cela-
Eration Of Washington's birthday. In
Brattle street is the old Vassall house,
Washingtor's headquarters during the
siege of Boston, and the home of Henry
WadsWorth Longfellow. Farther out is
l-oWell's Elmwood, another historic man
sion of Revolutionary times Near the
common is the ancient elm, suffering a
yearly loss of vitality through sheer old
age, but still with an appearance at least
OF sturdy strength, under which Wash.
lngton took command Of the American
army. The common lying across the
street from the Harvard yard was the
scene of the American encampment, and
the yard itself still contains five of the
buildings which looked down upon those
stirring times. Within q few years only
the old Holmes house. the birthplace of
the autocrat, from the steps of which
President Langdon, of Harvard, offered
prayer for the success Of the troops on
their way to Bunker Hill, has had to be
torn down for the better accommodation
Of Richardson's beautiful building for the
law school,
No Northern town, perhaps, outside of
Philadelphia and Boston, contains more
important memorials of these opening
days of the Revolution. In the yard one
can call up in Imagination almost the
exact picture of the American encamp-
nnent in the group of old halls wnlcn tneu
as now were clustered over against the
common Here are Massachusetts, Har-
ward and Hollis halls, and Holden chap
81, with Christ church, IN which Wash
ington attended service, not far away.
Still in the yard-although not compre-
hended in the same view as the other
buildngs-is Wadsworth house, the resi-
cence Of nine Harvard presidents, III
which Washington's headquarters were
established for the first week or so FOL
lowing his arrival from the South.
When George I'LL, "glorying In the
name of EngliShman," assembled the
throne Harvard Loyalty responded in
congratulatory volume of English and
Latin verse. Only a few years after the
senior class was voting to take its de-
grees in the manufactures of the coun-
try" and wore homespun accordingly as
protest against the oppression OF king
and parliament. The temper of revolt
thus established was turned soon after
for lack of other material, perhaps,
against the administration of the college
ITSELF. In 176S a very fair-sizcl rebellion
against the president and professors
broke out. A Tree of Liberty''-in iml-
tation of the Liberty Tree of the Boston
patriots--was designated, and the three
lower classes requested to be discharged,
while the seniors asked that they might
be sent to New Haven to receive their
degrees from Yale!
Next year, however, internal dissen-
sion seems to have been forgot in dis
like of the common foe across the water
A military company was recruited from
the students, calling itself the Marti-Mer-
curian band, with the motto, Tam Marti
guam Mercurio," indicating that war as
well as scholarship was the proper duty
of the American undergraduate in the
time Of his countrys peril. Blue coats
faced with white; nankeen breeches,
white stockings, top boots and cooked
hats composed the uniforms.
The general court of Massachusetts
came to Cambridge to sit at this time,
resenting the presence of British troops
and cannon in Boston. The deliberations
were in Harvard hall, still in exterior ap-
pearance almost exactly the same as
then. James Otis made one of his i'm
passioned harangues-to use the good old
phrase-and the students crowded to hear
him. Turning to them he babe them re-
member that their turn to resist oppres-
sion might soon come. One cannot help
being glad that he did not omit to quote
Horace's line, "Dulce ct decoru1n est pro
patr1a mori'' Not an eye but was wet"
we are told; mot breast but throbbed
with patriotic emotion Otis had grad
uated from Harvard in 174S, and knew his
audience
In ITO the general court came again to
Cambridge. By this time, according to
the testimony of one of their elders,
the young gentlemen"-the student
body" as it is now referred to-had
quite caught the spirit of the tines
Their declarations and forensic dis
putes breathe the spirit of liberty. This
mas always been encouraged, but they
have sometimes been wrought up to such
a pitch of enthusiasm that it has been
difficult for their tutors to keep them
within bounds; but their tutors are fear
full Of giving too great a check to a dis
position which may hereafter fill the
country with patriots, and choose to
leave it to age and experience to check
their valor.' Toryism was not popular
in this academic stronghold of the New
England Theocracy." ss:s 4 nm
i War gradually grew a sterner and
nearer thing, however, than forensic de-
bate, or even the orations of a great
patriot like Otis. The Massachusetts
committee of safety ordered the students
to be removed from the college in order
that the buildings might be used for bar
racks for the militia which was gather
ing before Boston. A little later the H.
brary and philosophical apparatus were
sent 10 AnQOVer.l pe Out VI LSti III :
way. Massachusetts and Hollis halls. of
those yet standing were used for the SOL
,diers Massachusetts contains now only
lecture rooms, but Hollis is still dor
mitory Edward Everett, William Hick-
ling Prescott, Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Charles Francis Adams. Charles Sumner,
Wendell Philips and Henry D. Thoreau
arc among the students who have lived
in it at one period or another of their col
lege life-not to mention the. later stu
dent ,(cf the class Of 1889, Charles An
gier by name, whose table, we are told,
was always supplied with wine, brandy
and crackers, OF which his friends were
at liberty to partake at any time. and
whose memory has been kept green by
the pen of John Holmes, the quiet-livinS
brother of oliver Wendell.
Naturally, the soldiers were not too
careful of their new quarters. But the
general court saw to it that the college
was no loser by it's sacrifice. An appro-
priation was made to put in order the
various buildings. The bill for repairs on
Massachusetts was as follows: a
20 brass knob-locks for cham
4 Der doors at Us. .!.................l2 . ~
) knob latch for chamber door I;
go box locks for studies at As. u o
4 large stock lock for cellar
door L.
81 rolls of paper at 5s Cd. ........17 o
80 yards of paint at 2s........... O
Other dana geS ....................-lssS3 g s q
Total 40 @
| President Langdon's prayer is an incl.