Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-06-24

from us during the year we, have been
| called to lament
| The world is prone to judge some
what of the quality of educational
work by its apparent results, of the
| character and standing of a college by
the practical achievements and influ-
cnce in the struggles of life of those
who receive its diplomas. Judged and
measured by this criterion, neither this
college nor its children need shrink
from comparison with that of any 9TH
or institution in New England. OF like
purpose and endowment. Its lumi-
| nous record of more than threc-quar-
ters of a century afforded by that
sound mental discipline Of its students
which regards the larger influence as
we'll as immediate utility. by the ster-
ling character hencficent lives and
honorable distinction of so large d
proportion of its graduates. i'm their re-
spective callings and professions, en-
| titles it to a full share in the common
glory of New England life. where, I'M
der the popular enlightenment result
ing from the system Of public schools
early transplanted in its virgin soil
broader culture of its higher insti:u-
| lions the love of liberty and learning.
| the reverence for law and justice. the
strength and nobility OF character. and
all the best products of modern civili-
cation have grown and flourishcd like
the lilies of the field or the common
flower beside the cottage door
But the personal recolIcctions clus-
tprinp
| nearly half a century ago have waited
too long upon the occasion to which
this hour is devoted. Under the spell
of awakened memory many of the
scenes and incidcnt;; of those earlier
| days reapp"ar with such vividness of
present reality that we now seem re-
turning to meet ourselves as we then
| were; and among the youngest of the
SO young men and boys matriculated
in the summer Of 1859 for the class Of
1863 | see for the first time. passing
up the walk from the street to South
College. in the company Of two class
mates from the fitting school, a blithe
and radiant youth with the bloom Of
health upon his ruddy check and
cheerful confidence in the agility OF
his step and the alertneSs of his man
| ncr. He was we'll fitted for admission
to Watervillc College at Hebron Acad-
cmy and the Maine State Seminary.
and has just received notice that he
has passed q successful examination
and is admitted without conditions
His name was Percival Bonney and he
was the only child Of William Lowell
and Adclinc French Bonney of Minot
III the county of AndroScoEgin, where
PcrciVal was born, September IA, 1912
His parents were natives of Turner IN
the same county. He was descended
in the ninth generation from Thomas
Bonney who came from Sandwich,
Kent County, England, to this coun-
try in 1884. and established home in
Pembroke. Mass, where the descend
ants are still numerous. This first
American ancestor was one Of the i'm
mortal $4,000 that emigrated from Old
England to New England, in the great
Puritan Exodus between 1920 and
1910. They came from the sturdy and
steadfast middle class, the finest rural
gentry and yoemanry that had ever
existed in any country. They came i'm
those
Grand historic years when liberty
and their coming changed the current
Of civilization not only in New Eng
land but on the American Continent.
After dwelling at length upon Judge
l'nnncy'S ancestry and the sterling
traits of character which he inherited.
Judge WhitchOuse went on as follows:
Although majority of the sixty
three members of his class who were
in college in 1860 and 1861 were some
what his seniors in years and four or
five of them. several years older and
ripper in experience, notably Frank S.
Hcseltine, afterward Colonel in the
Civil War and now a prominent law
yer i'll Boston; William III. Fogler. also
Colonel in the Army and afterward
Judge of the Supreme Court of
Maine; MarceIus l.. Stearns. after
ward Governor of Florida: II. N. Nut
ting; w. =. Thompson, and several
others, it is no diSrespect to any of
them to say that there was no member
OF the class who had read history more
extensively or held in memory more
distinctly its prominent outlines, cs-
pc"ially in our own American Repub-
nc; and no ono of the class was MOI I.
deeply Interested in the current his
tory of 1860 and 1861 or had a more
intelligent conception of the causes.
rear and remote, which preceded the
Soul-stirrinG events of the winter and
early spring of 1861, and eliminated
in the Civil War.
ANA later. on that historic April
morning, BOnney was the excited mes
Scnger that brought from the bulletin
board to the College that portentous
dispatch, Rebels are firing upon Fort
sumter: war is here" The air was
already charged as with an electric
battery and this message came like
tn" electric shock. The thrill of in
diEnation and horror with which II
Was received by the students. and the
mighty shout Of approval which greet
CT the Presidents call for troops. can
not be here described. To the great
mass or the people today the scenes
thcn enacted arc but shadOwy memo
RES Of vague traditions. But no more
magnificent outburst of exalted pa
trlotlSm was ever witnessed in auy
age or country; and among the fore
most of those who came forward