Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1912-06-18
ACADEMY ALUMNI MEETING
Cranston and Other Officers Reelected-Changes in
Teaching Staff Announced by Principal Trrel

day, the annual meeting of the Nor
witch Free Academy Alumni associa-
ton was held on Monday evening at
the Slater Memorial, with a pro-
gramme which made the gathering one
of the pleasantest in the many that
the association has held.
The Reception Committee.
In the early part Of the evening the
returning alumni were GREETED by the
reception committee in the annex to
the Memorial, its members selected
from many different classes 80 that
eli periods of the school life might find
welcoming hand upon their home
coming to their alma mater
The committee comprised Mrs.
Charles A. Burnham, Mrs. A. A.
Browning, Mrs. Frederick 7. Syming-
ton. Miss Charlotte CULVER. Mrs. f.
w Browning, Charles H. Haskell, Miss
Annie E. Vaughn, Mr. and Mrs F. w.
Lester Mr.. and Mrs. c. D. Geer, Prof.
and Mrs. H. A. Tirrell Mrs q. S. Wor-
cester Mr.. and Mrs. Joseph T. Fan
ming, Mrs. Walter NJ. Buckingham,
Miss Lucy NJ. Greenman. Mrs. w II.
Dat. Mr.. and Mrs. Julian Williams
Miss F1orine t. Scofield. Raymond
Sherman, Miss Florence Carpenter,
William E. Perry.
Officers Reports.
About o'clock, after a selection by
the Academy orchestra in the hall,
President Frederic H. Cranston called
the meeting to order, and the minutes
of Secretary Walter E. Gilbert were
read by him and approved by .the
meeting.
Treasurer Guy B. Dolbeare made his
annual statement, showing S104 re-
Ia5
ships, S416 from pledges to alumni
building fund, which with the previ-
Gus balance on hand made total re-
ceived of s77.96. The balance now on
hand is $706.09. of which about $4S6
is in the alumni building fund. The
reports were accepted.
Responses from Many Glasses.
President Cranston reminded the
alumni that the school had been max
ing history in the years that were
gone. and with that thought in view it
was the idea tonight that the pro-
gramme should contain responses from
members representing classes separat-
eddy five year periods, each speaker
to relate somthing of the school and
its best known graduates in the period
Of which they spoke.
Fifty Years Ago.
AS the first speaker he introduced
F. ]. Leavens, g. who responded with
his characteristic humorous touch
that started the train of recollections
appropriately.
Secondary schools, he said, are quite
prone to pattern after colleges, where
one of these customs was to gather up
the graduates of so years ago and
range them up on the platform as a
sort of horrible example 80 as to show
others what they may come to If they
only take time enough. He suggested
that it was probably in some such way
that he appeared, and he went on to
speak in a pleasant way of old time
names like Charlie Hale and Billy
Hamilton, and he also gave an inter
esting account of what he called the
first alumni meeting of the Academy
held so years ago. Mr.. Leavens closed
amid burst of applause with an orig
inal adaptation of Tennyson's Ring
Out. Wild Bells
For the class of 1857 Mrs Harriet
S. Blackmar responded with refer
ence to Prof. Hutchinson succeeding
Prof Smith as principal, while her
class was IN school She mentioned
Richard McCloud 50, Edward 0. VOL
colt 66. Frank Thurston Brown S.,
Judge Gardiner Greene So, Rev. E. w.
Selden SO, Rev. G. f. Martin IS. Prof.
F. F. Jewett '6S. and Prof. Charles R.
Lanman 81 as distinguished graduates
of classes in school during her class
life Her bright talk was vigorously
applauded.
From '73 to IT.
Attorney Joseph T. Tanning, now
corporation counsel of the city of Nor
witch. responded for the class of rs
and interested his hearers with his ap-
preciative words upon the labors Of
/ those years He said in part:
/ When l entered the Academy, back
/ in the shadows of what seem like
medieval times, l remember the SOL
emn impression made on my plastic
mind by the sight of the giants, as
/ they seemed to me, the demi gods and
! heroes who composed the senior class
/ es. OF course, time the great Ieveler,
! in due season reduced their stature
| somewhat, but they have always been
( to me the superior division of the
| forces which have been marshaled here
throughout the years in devotion to
! bright ideals, a cultured life and the
honor of alma mater. They seemed
/ the fitting bodyguard of those exalted
| beings who made up the teaching
! corps. There were six teachers at the
/ beginning-in 1872. After about'a year,
/ on account of financial conditions.
| there were only four teachers. up to
! the time of my graduation in 1876: but
| have never witnessed more unselfish
| or telling service to others than was
rendered during that period by those
/ four highminded and overworked in
structors, Prof. William Hutchinson
/ Frank 7. Brown. Miss Shipley and
Miss Lucy Blackman.
Tribute to Professor Hutchinson.
/ 1t always seemed to me that Pro-
| fessor Hutchinson was the original
from which the picture of the Olym-
! plan Zeus. in the histories, was taken
| He seemed so far above all other pub.
lie men of his day that it was easy
| to couple him with the most powerful
of those who dwelt on high Olympus
! And his greatness lay not so much in
( his intellectual power and his varied
| scholarship as in the boundless sym
pathy of a generous heart and an af-
! feetionate interest, sincere and long
| enduring, which cheered the students
| while they drew their inspiration from
his instruction and example here, and
followed them when they took their
places in the years of their maturity
And those who taught with him in
those trying times are entitled to all
the praise which belongs to the worker
who cares for others more than for the
material gain which is a lure to So
many.
In the five classes from 1873 to 1871
both inclusive there were seventy-six
graduates. Not paying any attention
to myself, that made the average if
tenn. But it was the class of 1874
with membership of twenty three
which puffed up the average. Thai
was the largest graduating class up tc
that year. Let me recite some genera
| figures, which will recall conditions
that show notable contrast with the
impressive statistics of present times
In 1878 there We're ten boys and five
GIRLS in 1874. seven boys and 16 girls;
IN 1875, nine boys and four girls: In
1875, seven boys and six girls; in 1877
six boys and six girls.
OF these rs, in the five classes. 2t
have died.