Evening star., 1907-08-26
THE OLD MOODY HOME
Where the Evangelist Spent
His Happiest Hours.
CARRYING ON HIS WORK
Great Growth of the Seminary for
Young Women.
MANY APPLICATIONS DENIED
Manual Labor Required of the Stu
dents - Thirty States and Nine
foreign Countries on the Rolls.
BY WILLIAM +. CURTIS.

NORTHFlELD Mass, August 10, 1907.
Immediately hack of the old homestead in
which Mr.. Moody was born, on the summit
Of a grassy knoll called Round Top
shaded by group of noble naples, are two
modest gravestones. One of them bears this
inscription:
Dwight Lyman Moody.
Is3i-lS99
He that doeth the will of God
abideth forever
The other stone. which is precisely similar,
IS marked as follows:
~ Emma G Revell;
Wife of Dwight Lyman Moody,
His servants shall Him,
And they shall reign forever and ever"
The graves are inclosed by simple iron
chains attached to granite posts The site
was selected by Mr.. Moody himself at the
death of his wife, and he buried her there
n 1898. 1t is part of the Alexander place
which he purchased in 1915 because Widow
Moody's' hens scratched up her neighbor's
gard IN, as l told you in Saturdays letter.
From the summit of the knoll three
states can be seen-Massa chusetts, Vermont
and New Hampshire-and the vista up and
down the Connecticut valley is sublime.
During the spring, summer and autumn
months religious services are held at sunset
every evening around Mr.. MoOdy'S grave.
They are callsd The Re und Top service"
The speakers stand at his headstone and the
audience gathers around upon the grass.
Many famous men have spoken at that
sacred ,!-9n, end it has been the scene of
aspiration.
The Moody HON estead in which the great
evangelist was born Is small white frame
house of two stories sitting on a hillside
and overlooking a wide range of the Con-
necticut valley. with the river at the foot of
he hill. 1t was built by grandfather Isaiah.
who lived there and died there and left the
place 20 his son Edwin, who occupied 1t all
his life, and there his son, Dwight L.
Moody. was born. Moody's mother died
there also. Four generations of Moodys
have occupied II, and II Is now the home of
Mrs. George Moody. widow of the eldest
brother. The evangelist never lived there
after he left home to seek his fortune in
Boston, although he spent his vacations
there with his mother until he bought the
adjoining Alexander place, related in
previous letter.
Where Mr.. Moody Was Happy.
His hours of rest during the last twenty
two or three years of his life were spent
on the piazza of the Alexander farm house.
from which his eye could sweep radius of
thirty or forty miles of the Connecticut
valley and the Green mountains, of which
ii never tired. There was no place where
Mr. Moody was happier and none from
which he derived more genuine satisfaction
than from this country home. His son
Paul lives there now.
Mr.. Moody left three children-W. r.
Moody, who is the general manager of the
two permanent schools and of the summer
conferences a Northfeld; Paul Moody, who
IS professor of biblical history and litera-
ture in the seminary in the Mount Hermon
School for Boys and the summer Bible
school, and Mrs A. E. Fit, whose husband
is principal of the Moody Institute at Chi
ago.
Round Top Knoll is the center of cam
GUS of about GOO acres. belonging to the
Northfield Seminary. About 250 acres are
farmed and the rest is woodland. About
sixty acres are under cultivation, raising
vegetables for the table of the hotel and
the dormitories, and the remainder is In
meadows and pastures for the keep of a
nerd of about 100 thoroughbred cows,
which furnish milk and butter for the
hotel the students and the boarders. There
is here. you see, a very large establish
ment. and nearly all the manual labor Is
done by students. There altogether
about twenty buildings connected with the
wOmans seminary, and nine Of them are
lormitories, accommodating from forty 10
ninety girls each. In the center is the au-
ditorium. an imposing building seating
100 people which is used for the religious
exercises of the seminary during the win
ter and for the summer schools and con-
fereuCes which occur here during Vaca-
lions. The school terms continue for thir-
y-siX weeks. The remaining sixteen weeks
are occupied with a long and interesting
program. In addition to the dormitories
there are recitation rooms of various sizes,
gymnasium. where physical exercise Is
compulsory. and other buildings for school
work Mrs. Russell Sage. who takes
great interest in the institution, has given
money for the erection of chapel and
music hall
Seminary for Young Women.
The Northfield Seminary for young wom-
an had a rather romantic origin. While
Mr. Moody was driving one day in 1876
with his invalid brother Samuel. they
passed a little cabin on the mountain side,
where n mother and two daughters We're
hntc 70
support themselves and the husband and
father who a helpless paralytic. The
sight made a deep impression upon Mr..
Moody. who learned, upon inquiry, that
from lack of education the women were
not qualified to earn their living in@ any
other way. He also learned, while making
this inquiry. that the rural districts, even
OF enlightened New England, which is sup
posed to be the center of civilization. were
full OF sim'ay young women and girls, who
were practically deprived of high school
advantages and had no opportunity Tor
growth or development
Two years later" said his son. Mr. W.
r Moody. who told me this story, father
began to develop plans for doing some
thing for a few such people. which had
been suggested to him by Mr.. Samuel
Moody The object was TO qualify the
young women in the neighborhood to earn
a good living. In his experience Mr..
Moody had recognized the evils OF free
scholarship and determined that he would
avoid these in the new enterprise by re-
,Iuiring each student to pay one-half the
actual cost of board and tuition. Thus he
could hep poor and deserving girls who
were striving to help themselves, and. at
the same time, foster a spirit of self-reli-
ance.
The seminary's Beginnings.
.~The first building had six recitation
rooms and an assembly hall that would ac-
cornmodate fifty students, and that was
about the limit proposed by Mr.. Moody.
The school opened in November. 1879. with
twenty-five young women. and, he had
no means TO erect a dormitory, he lodged
them in his own house. The three chief
features OF the school were the low
rharse of 500 a year for board and tuition.
the attention given TO the study of the
English Bible and the requirement that
each student should devote at least one
hour a day In domestic work, doing her
share of the cooking, sewing and house.
keeping.
these three principles still preserved
and Northfield Seminary continues TO carry
out the purpose for which it was originally
intended II has educated more than 1000
Young women. the majority OF whom came
from the country districts of New England
and New York About - per cent are
farmers daughters; next in number are
The daughters OF country ministers and
ha nf -