The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-08-03

century, the sum of R1 900 to be used in
 building a. handsome wooden dwelling
 house, barn, and outbuildings flor the
 reception and accommodation of the Reverend the President of Harvard
 College for the time being. But $5,000
 even in those days was not altogether
 sufficient for the purpose, and the. cor
 poration was compelled to add another $4,000 before it's new President had an official roof to shelter him. t1he Presidents house to dwell in,'' says an entry in President Wadsworth's Book Relating to College Affairs an old
 manuscript volume now preserved in
 the Harvard library, was raised May
 24, 1726. No life was lost, nor person
 hurt in raising it; thanks be to God for
 his preserving goodness. In ye Even- ing, those who raised ye House had Supper in ye Hall; after which we sang ye first stave or staff in ye 127 Psalm"
 Even after 1t had been raised" how ever, it was far from finished and the
 college appealed to the General Court for an addition to the original BLOOD.
 President Wadsworth, so said the l petitioners, ''can nowhere hire con- venient house for himself, and his
 family is divided, some dwelling in one house and some in another In fact, winter found the house unfinished, and another entry in President Wadsworth's diary tells us that in october some of
 our family lodged at ye New House
 built for ye President. Nov. at night I was ye first time I lodged there. The House was not half finished within" Nor was it wholly finished within till 1727, when the amount necessary to. complete it was paid out of the college treasury. S .2i, :. l Naturally, however, it is the military I history that clusters about the old gan- l brel-roofed structure that gives it it's l greatest interest 10 the modern visitor, l and the mind goes back, although not \ very easily, to the hot July days when l Cambridge was a fortified camp and the walls of the old house, echoing to the voice of Washington and his generals heard the beginning of the plans that | were to result iii the evacuation of
 Boston and the first victory of Ameri- can military strategy, carefully con- l sidered and worked out in detail, over
 the British forces The college itself had temporarily disbanded, not to re-
 assemble until after the military occu- l patton of Cambridge, and every avail
 able building had been turned into a I barracks for the colonial troops. Of i these buildings Massachusetts Hall and I WadsWorth House are still standing, and of the two latter, although less
 noticed by the casual visitor, has had
 the most varied history. For many
 years indeed it was the one Harvard l building into which every student
 entered every year of his college exis- tence,, not for the sake of historical l associations, but in order to pay his bills | at the bursar's office. Then, also, 1t | served for many years as the official
 residence of the various famous clergy
 men who have conducted services in the I Harvard chapel, and is thus associated
 with the beloved name of Phillips
 Brooks, as well as that of Gen Wash- | ington. zss -<@ S,- s..
 Aside from it's historical associations,
 Wadsworth House served during 120
 years as a home for the presidents of the college, and it has been said that
 probably no private mansion in
 America has seen so many illustrious
 personages under it's roof tree.'' It was
 occupied by Benjamin Wadsworth,
 Edward Hollyoke, Samuel Locke,
 Samuel Langdom, who temporarily
 retired to make wayfor Gen. Washing ton, Joseph Willard, Samuel Webber,
 John Thornton Kirkland, and Josiah ] Quincey. During one year of President
 Kirkland's administration, the old house
 was the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson,
 then acting in the now abolished office
 of Presidents freshman.". n.".-Cambridg (Mass.) Correspondence Springfield
 Republican. s%, .s.s'
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