attractive, well-built stone houses on the Hill, “Claremont,” “Woodland Height,” and “Beech Grove” (also called “Inwood”). “Claremont” and “Woodland Height,” which were situated so as to command sweeping vistas through the woods toward the west and the village and the valley to the north, were among the most admired residences in the vicinity. Mrs. Eaton supplemented the natural beauty of her home by a fine garden of flowers and shrubs, some of which the eminent botanist of Union College, Professor Isaac W. Jackson, gave her. Down in the village, on Broad Street, the A. C. Kendricks and the Raymonds were for a few years neighbors, and other friends lived near by.
Kindred spirits, these young professors and their gifted and gracious wives dispensed a warm hospitality. Winter sleigh rides, summer rambles, picnics in the surrounding woods, and tea parties gave zest to their social life. One evening a week they spent at each other’s homes reading aloud translations from German authors or Shakespeare, Dickens, and other favorites. This reading group they called the “U. D. C.” (Utile Cum Dulce). For a few years the men formed a cooperative organization for supplying themselves with periodical literature. Happy memories of these free and cordial social contacts remained with the members of the group and their families long after they were scattered in later years.
Social life in Hamilton was necessarily influenced by the isolation of the community; its residents, like those of any country village, depended largely on their own efforts for diversion and amusements. Utica