Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-14
At PHILLIPS EXETER
Founder of Famous College
Was Austere and Frugal.
HE SOAKED HIS BACK LOG
And Gave Tenth of Income as Celes-
tial Insurance.
NOTED MEN AMONG ALUMNI
Institution Slumped for Awhile, But
Was Rejuvenated by Prof.
Amen of Ohio.
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Record Herald.

E@h II I1IN. ~. H. aus uot ie'' I'O'-
Early in the history of Exeter a young
man came here from Massachusetts to
| teach school, His name was John Phillips.
He had graduated at Harvard College, had
studied theology and had been ordained as a
minister, but a ma tural timidity and BASH
| fulness that could not be overcome kept
| him out of the pulpit, and after teaching
for one or two years he went into business.
He was frugal, Shrewd and far-sighted
| He was an austere man and demanded the
| interest in full upon his loans the day 1t
was due. He was far from popular in the
| community, but was universally respected
| for his high principles, his integrity and his
benevolence, because like so many of those
| stern and penurious old Puritans, he gave
one-tenth of his income to the Lord, not
under impulse, but as a deliberate ex-
| preston of his principles. or, perhaps. as
premium a policy of insurance against
eternal fire. When he was twenty-four
years old he proposed to the belle of Exc
ter. She rejected him as uncongenial and
he married her mother a few months later.
a wealthy widow forty-one years old. The
marriage turned out to be happy one, for
Notwithstanding the difference in their ages
Mr.. and Mrs. Phillips were congenial and
sympathetic His housekeeper said of him:
Mr.. Phillips is good man and soaks
the back log in water over night"
He became colonel of the provincial mi
litia and occupied such a conspicuous posi-
ton in the community that he insisted upon
an exhibition of respect from his neighborS.
He required that every boy and young man
should touch his hat and that every young
woman should drop curtsey upon passing
his house. which tribute was always paid
him AS a man of wealth he was naturally
conservative at the outbreak of the revo-
luton and was counted a tory but he
did nothing to oppose the struggle for liber
ty. So far as is known he maintained an
q ifitda
but his influence In the community was
such that his reputation was not impaired.
He was a liberal patron of Dartmouth
College and a trustee of that institution.
He founded profesSorship OF divinity there
which Is still maintained, and in recognition
OF 1t was made doctor of laws. In con-
| nection with his nephew. Mr.. Samuel Phil
lips of Massachusetts, he founded Phillips
Academy a Andover shortly after the close
of the revolution In 1882 he founded Phil
lips Exeter Academy, and his endowment
was the largest ever made up to that time
for educational purposes in America. 1t re-
tained that distinction for many years,
even into the nineteenth century.
He Was Solemn Soul
Phillips Exeter Academy opened it's doors
in 1873 and was the subject of great solicit
tude on the part of its founder. He wrote
its constitution with his own hand and
required that the document should be read
at each meeting of the board of trustees
to remind them of the purpose of the
founder and the responsibilities that rest
upon them. 1t was intended as AN acad-
envy for. the purpose of promoting pety
and virtue and shall be ever equally
open to youth of requisite qualifications
from every quarter. Its government Is
vested in a self-perpetuating board of trus-
tees, not more than seven. nor less than
four in number, including the principal a
majority to be laymen, and not inhabi-
| tants of Exeter. The principal must be a
n n 1anfa
similar to those held by the founder. who
was a member of the Congregational
Church, or The standing ORDER as it was
called in his time. One of the four prnc-
pals was an Episcopalian, but the others
have been CongregatiOnalists.
| The first was DR.. Benjamin Abbott, who
served from 1873 to 1888, even half CEN
fury. and his successor, DR.. Gideon Soule.
surpassed him by two years, serving from
1893 to 1890 The administration of these
two men, therefore. covered two years more
than century, which Is probably unique
in the history Of educational institutions.
Some of It's Graduates.
They educated and prepared for college
many of the foremost men In this nation.
At Dartmouth, Daniel Webster stands at
the head of the alumni roll, followed by
Edward Everett George Bancroft, John A.
Dix, John P. Hale, Paul Chadbourne, pres-
dent of Williams; President William De
Witt Hyde of Bowdoin: Bushrod Washing
ton Augustine Washington, Robert I. Lin
coin Francis Mghtfoot Lee Lewis Cass,
Amos Tuck, Benjamin F. Butler. Jared
Sparks and HIdreth, the historians; George
8. Morrison. the engineer; Parkman, the
scientist, and many others of equal repu-
tation. When the roll was called BY Gov.
Prescott of New Hampshire twenty years
ago the list of the alumni stood as fol-
| lows:
| Ambassadors and plenipotentlaries. ...........