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p. 160 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

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time winked at accepting those whose qualifications were doubtful. One alumnus of the Class of 1854 recalled:

 

We had students of every eligible age and previous condition of servitude, green blades and stubs; some with bald heads and corrugated cheeks, nearly fifty years old; some who couldn’t get a lesson; some who preached about as often as they recited and who used the name of the institution as a password rather than its facilities for qualifying themselves. The classes were medleys, not homogeneous. When students came from other institutions they were accorded class standings on ‘courtesy’ without examination.*

 
He also commented that some of the Seminary men tried to substitute “piety” for studies and outranked the smaller but growing number of “aliens,” or non-ministerial students. Returning from supplying in the churches, “jingling their pockets and sporting a gold watch or a set of furs,” the theologues excited the resentment of poverty-stricken “aliens” who, had to rely for their money on selling books or other vacation jobs.

Annual expenses for undergraduates rose from $93 in 1850 to $168 in 1869. The increase is explained principally by the rising cost of board-$1.25 per week in 1850 and $3.00 from 1864 to 1869. “Incidental Expenses” also advanced from $3.00 to $8.00, but tuition remained at $30.00, room rent at $9.00, and sacred music at $1.00. For students in the College who were preparing to preach, room rent was free. Seminary students likewise paid no room rent and, in addition, received their tuition; their other expenses were the same as those in the College. For the Grammar School, fees were identical with those in the College except for the lower tuition of $20.00. It was estimated in 1868 that a student could live “very comfortably and even genteely for about $250.”

The Stewards and their wives appear to have been successful in satisfying student appetites. There were mild objections to the fre­quency of “donation mutton” or dried cod fish, but one alumnus from the Class of 1856 recalled with pleasure “the plain yet toothsome hospitality” dispensed at the amazing low price of $1.25 per week and the clean dining room with its throngs of hungry yet gay and cheerful” boarders. The menus included flapjacks, molasses, potatoes, and coffee for breakfast, meat and apple pie at noon; and bread and butter, apple sauce, cookies and tea for supper.

* Madisonensis (Apr. 24, 1886), 176.

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Emily Taylor and co-education (p. 159)

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methods the library seems to have been quite generally neglected. Its collections, which numbered 8,000 volumes in 1850, had grown to only 9,821 by 1869. One student remembered it as consisting chiefly of German editions of Greek and Hebrew classics “which gave forth an unspeakable antique odor.” Modern literature was to be found in the libraries of the literary societies which, with that of the Society for Inquiry, boasted over 3,000 volumes in 1858.

The practice of awarding prizes to stimulate students’ intellectual ambitions was not instituted until 1867 when James J. Lewis, not yet a member of the faculty, donated a fund in memory of his brother, Captain George W. M. Lewis of Utica, the income to be given on an annual competitive basis to the senior who delivered the best original oration. President Dodge, perhaps influenced by the system of awards Wayland had introduced at Brown, founded prizes for the best prepared entrants to the freshman class. George B. Lasher, Class of 1857, also established prizes for Juniors who excelled in English composition. These awards have all been maintained to the present.

Student enrollment statistics furnish a good indication of the University’s prosperity. Starting with an attendance in all departments of 33 in the fall of 1850, the number reached 90 by August 1851. During the Taylor administration it increased to a high of 228 in 1855 and thereafter declined to a low of 117 in 1864. By 1869 the figure had climbed back to 162. Registration dropped off seriously in the College and Grammar School during the Civil War years, as might be expected, the low for the College being 56 in 1865 and 20 for the Grammar School in 1864. The average number of students per year in all departments for the period from 1850 to 1869 was 164.

Admission requirements for each of the three departments remained much the same as drawn up in the 1830’s. The Catalogues from 1869 on, however, called attention to the fact that “Students from all denominations of Christians are admitted to the Seminary.” But there is no reason to believe that any considerable number of non-Baptists sought to enter its doors. The only instance of “co-education” to be found is the presence of Emily Taylor, daughter of the President, in her father’s class in intellectual and moral philosophy.

The faculty were sanguine over the first post-Removal student body, probably because they were pleased at having any to teach, and for a

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p. 158 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

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French and German for all students in place of certain Greek and Latin classes. After his departure in 1865 the faculty again absorbed modern language instruction until Edward Judson took it over in 1868.

Science teaching had been desultory, chiefly for lack of funds for equipment and well-trained instructors. Dr. Mather, until his retirement in 1867, and Professor Osborn, between them, carried the load as best they could. With the better financial conditions after the mid-’60’s the Trustees were in a position to heed the growing student interest in science. President Dodge and James B. Colgate were the foremost advocates for improvement. A room in West Hall, in part of the space formerly occupied by the chapel, was made available and apparatus purchased. With the appointment of Professor Bickmore to the chair of natural history, Osborn became Professor of Natural Science. Through Mr. Colgate’s generosity a museum of natural history was also established, its chief attraction being over 700 stuffed birds which Bickmore had collected, many of them during his Far Eastern travels.

The curriculum of the Seminary, like that of the College, remained stable. It stressed Biblical studies, ecclesiastical history, theology, and pastoral duties. The Catalogues of the 1850’s repeatedly carried the statement, “The Bible is the sale Text Book to which constant reference is made, and the doctrines taught are deduced and proved directly from the Inspired Record.” Readers were also informed that the theological works consulted included Turrentin, Calvin, Pictet, Edwards, Gill, and Fuller.

Two speakers at the Education Society’s meetings in 1854 reminded their hearers that the Seminary’s purpose was to train “able preachers of the gospel, rather than distinguished Christian scholars or authors.” Lest there be anxiety among the Baptists over the introduction of “heretical ideas,”a visitor in 1859 reported that the professors taught “good old Bible theology.”

The program of courses in the Grammar School was designed, as heretofore, primarily to prepare students for college. The most notable changes were the introduction of bookkeeping and penmanship for a few years in the ’50’s and the establishment in 1859 of an “English department” from which Greek and Latin were omitted and which lasted only three years.

Since most of the teaching was by lecture or textbook-recitation

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p. 157 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

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only for brief periods. Salaries in 1850 ranged from $600 to $800, but by 1869 they had reached $1,500 for professors and $2,000 and the use of his house for the President.

The traditional classical curriculum of the 1830’s and ’40’s underwent few changes. The classes in intellectual and moral philosophy, political economy, and evidences of Christianity continued to occupy a prominent place in the upper-class program. Taught for the most part by Presidents Eaton, Taylor and Dodge, they played a vital role in shaping student thinking in the fields now known as psychology, ethics, government, economics, and religion. Like similar courses in the curricula of other American colleges, they were designed to provide practical standards for deciding moral issues. Instruction was focused on the ideas of the “common sense” Scottish philosophers and the Englishmen, William Paley and Joseph Butler, plus the teachings of the Bible. Among the textbooks most often used were Francis Way­land’s Moral Science and Political Economy, Thomas C. Upham and Joseph Havens’s works on mental philosophy, and Butler’s Analogy.

In related courses under Professor Beebee, juniors studied Richard Whatley’s Logic and Lord Kames’s Criticism, and sophomores, Whatley’s Rhetoric; all three texts had been in use since the 1840’s. Professor Lewis introduced Henry Copee’s Logic and Karl W. F. von Schlegel’s History of Literature. To supplement regular classroom instruction, he required all students of the College to attend special exercises in the chapel once a week at which they read their essays and gave original orations. The response to his drill was enthusiastic and its effect was soon evident in the high quality of the performances at the literary societies’ public exhibitions.

Various members of the faculty, as the need arose, gave private lessons in French and German in addition to their regular duties, until qualified students relieved them of the burden in the middle ’50’s. Jean F. P. Wehrung, a native of Strasbourg, France, who was a student in the Academic Department, gave instruction in German, and Auguste Armagnac, of Port au Prince, Haiti, also in the academic department, instruction in French. In 1855, Carroll E. I. Dudley, a freshman with a flair for language, inaugurated the teaching of Spanish which he seems to have learned while residing-in the Southwest with a missionary uncle. Modern language instruction remained a sideline, however, until Professor Knapp’s appointment when the faculty prescribed

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p. 156 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

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competence in teaching and his “high moral worth” made a most favorable impression, it was made permanent by request of his colleagues. He read and spoke French, German, Spanish, and Italian and had a good knowledge of Russian and Arabic. For use in his courses he produced a French grammar and reader. In 1865 the Trustees regretfully accepted his resignation. His career was to include professorships at Vassar, Yale and the University of Chicago.

Professor Ezra S. Gallup, who had taught the Classical languages since 1850, left in 1867. Newton L. Andrews, Class of 1862 and a Seminary graduate, Principal of the Grammar School since 1864 and Latin Professor since 1865, and Edward Judson, then studying in the theological department, took over Gallup’s classes. Andrews became Professor of Greek in 1868; a position he was to hold with great distinction for fifty years. Judson, son of Adoniram Judson, the noted missionary to Burma, had lived as a boy in Professor Dodge’s home and after three years in the college transferred to Brown where he graduated in 1865. He was Professor of Latin and Modern Languages at Madison from 1868 to 1874.

Three more appointments made in. 1868 completed the faculty roster: John J. Lewis, Professor of Logic and English Literature; Albert S. Bickmore, Professor of Natural History; and James M. Taylor, Instructor .in Mathematics. Lewis a former student at Madison (1860-63) and a Hamilton College alumnus of the Class of 1864, assumed part of the instruction formerly given by Professor Beebee so that the latter might devote all his time to civil and ecclesiastical history. He was an effective and highly esteemed member of the faculty until his death in 1884. Professor Bickmore, Class of 1860 at Dartmouth, had been an assistant to Louis Agassiz at Harvard and was well-known for his scientific articles and his Travels in the East Indian Archipelago. His two-year stay on the campus gave a notable impetus to instruction in science. Taylor, the last of the appointees, on graduating from-the College in 1867 had entered the Seminary where he completed the course two years later. It was in mathematics, however, that his real bent lay as his career of over fifty years as teacher and author revealed.

Most appointments to the faculty from 1850 to 1869 were made to the rank of full professor; there were exceptions-“adjunct professor,” lecturer, instructor, and tutor-for a few men who held these positions

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p. 155 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

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of Biblical Criticism and Interpretation in the Seminary and Professor of Evidences of Revealed Religion in the College met a cordial reception from President Taylor and the entire faculty. Son of a daring, impetuous Salem clipper-ship captain and a gentle, pious mother, he graduated at the age of twenty-one from Brown where President Wayland had grounded him in religion and logical, practical reasoning. During his student days at Newton, President Barnas Sears developed in him a genuine allegiance to intellectual freedom. His fiery temper and firm will he usually concealed, but both were constant. After four years of teaching he went to Germany to work under the theologians, Tholuck and Dorner; none of his colleagues had been able to enjoy the advantages of foreign study and travel. Members of his classes found, on his return, that his theology was somewhat misty, a characteristic which they laid to the German influences. In 1861 he followed Professor Spear as Librarian and served until 1868. The most valuable and significant period of his career both as teacher and administrator unfolded after he became President.

Phillip P. Brown, on his graduation in 1855, succeeded Professor Osborn as Principal of the. Grammar School. Prior to entering the sophomore class he had been in charge of a Choctaw mission school in the Indian Territory and later of the preparatory department of Shurtleff College, Alton, Illinois, where he was also enrolled as a student. He left the Madison campus in 1862 to become colonel of the 157th Regiment of New York Infantry, which he commanded with bravery at Gettysburg.

The Trustees appointed Hezekiah Harvey as Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Pastoral Theology in the Seminary and Civil History in the College in 1857. He had graduated from the College in 1845 and the Seminary two years later and had served as village pastor. A saintly man, often in ill-health, he was an effective teacher for students preparing for the ministry. In 1861 he became Professor of Biblical Criticism and Pastoral Theology. On Harvey’s return to the pastorate three years later, Dr. Albert N. Arnold, a contemporary of Dodge’s at Brown and Newton, and a New Testament Greek scholar, succeeded him and remained on the faculty until 1869.

Perhaps the most brilliant faculty member of the ’60’s was William Ireland Knapp who, upon graduation in 1860, was given a one-year appointment as the first Professor of Modern Languages. Since his

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p. 154 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

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Gallup, a member of the Class of 1843 and a Seminary graduate. Eaton shared the Theological Department with Turney and taught intellectual and moral philosophy in the College. Spear became Professor of Hebrew and Latin and Gallup held the chair of Greek. William T. Biddle, Class of 1859, remembered as the leader in organizing students opposed to Removal and who was now preparing for a missionary career, was appointed tutor in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy for one year. The Trustees also retained Dr. William Mather to lecture in chemistry and geology.

The ablest of the new staff was Beebee. Though originally called to teach logic and English literature he subsequently had classes in sacred rhetoric and ecclesiastical and civil history. As a young man he attracted attention with his handsome strong features, keen eyes, and brown curly hair. Students in the ’50’s, particularly those underclassmen whose stumbling recitations sorely tried his patience, feared him as no other professor. His relations with students improved with the years though the undergraduates always held him in awe. His sensitivity to the correct use of language made taking an essay or oration to him for criticism an ordeal to be remembered. Vulgarity or unrestrained humor in his classes he refused to tolerate. “To lead the student on with alluring gentleness and graceful tact, or to burn out his dross with consuming fire, was equally within his power. He was a master of sarcasm but never used it to hurt.”

President Taylor, in his capacity as Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, took over Tutor Biddle’s classes in 1851. At the President’s request, Lucien M. Osborn was brought in to assist in mathematics and to have charge of the Preparatory Department, or Grammar School. A classmate of Professor Beebee’s and for one year a student in the Seminary, he had been principal of the Hamilton and Morrisville Academies. Except for the brief experience as disciplinary officer under President Eaton, his main interest was natural science. He was a very modest man and pitched his instruction at a rather elementary level. His course in astronomy inspired students with “the majesty of the Author of nature and life.” One of them also remembered the exceptionally high spiritual tone he imparted to the chapel services which he occasionally conducted.

The most noteworthy of the post-Removal faculty was Ebenezer Dodge. His selection in 1853 to succeed Edmund Turney as Professor

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p. 153 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

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East, West, and Alumni Halls, 1867, A1000-25, Campus 1872, p153

bonfire behind the unpartitioned building to the great irritation of people in the village who, seeing the flames through the parallel windows, had rushed up the Hill with buckets to save the structure. By 1862 the first and second stories, which contained a small chapel for everyday purposes, a library, and ten lecture ‘rooms, were at last completed and in use. Since Vogell’s accounts remained unsettled, it fell to Professor Spear to find the money to cover the discrepancies.

Also, through the efforts of Professor Spear in 1868 the University acquired a stone house and ten acres of land adjacent to the campus for the use of President Dodge. Seventeen ladies had contributed $6,000 to buy this property, Mrs. James B. Colgate being the largest donor with $1,300. With this addition, the University in 1869 possessed buildings and grounds worth about $60,000, an increase of approximately $20,000 over 1850.

Losing five out of seven professors to the new University and seminary at Rochester in 1850 posed a serious problem which the Trustees solved by calling three alumni to join Eaton and Spear in the first post-Removal faculty. They were Edmund Turney and Alexander M. Beebee, Jr., who have already been mentioned, and Ezra S.

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p. 152 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

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But by the late ’50’s, the long-time student interest in maintaining buildings and grounds seems to have given way to an enthusiasm for gymnastic exercises. Through their own endeavors they built a gymnasium in 1858 and equipped it with a trapeze, ropes and rings, and other apparatus. The next year the Trustees hired a janitor to keep the classrooms clean, shovel paths in winter and do other jobs students had usually done.

The need for an auditorium larger than the chapel in West Hall led to the construction of the Hall of Alumni and Friends. In 1858 Henry C. Vogell, Class of 1827, a University Trustee and pastor at Rome, New York, began soliciting subscriptions for a $20,000 building fund. The laying of the cornerstone took place the next year at commencement, with the presidents of Brown and Hamilton as honored guests. Since the Trustees had been unable to agree on a site, three having been considered, the ceremony took place on the north side of East and West Halls. Immediately afterward, however, they chose a location west of these structures. The Cottage Edifice which stood on part of the site was razed and by the following August the new three-story building, 107 feet by 75 feet, was nearly ready for the roof. Observers viewed with great interest the aerial tramway, suggested by Washington A. Roebling who later designed the Brooklyn Bridge, which conveyed the stone for the walls from the University quarry on the Hill above to the workmen below; as the staging was raised the lower end of the tramway was elevated.

One cornerstone, whether the original or not is unknown, carries the proud inscription: “Quod conamur perficimus“ (“We complete what we attempt”). These were brave words, for only the chapel, which occupied the entire third floor, was finished by August 1861. Vogell’s accounts had not balanced and the Trustees were obliged to borrow additional funds. Nonetheless, dedication exercises were held the day before commencement. The choir and congregation sang two original hymns by Samuel F. Smith, the author of “America.” The following stanza from the second was eminently fitting for the occasion:

 

Here may no Science, falsely named,
Thy sacred Word deny –
May error here be shunned and shamed,
In knowledge from on high.

 

The night prior to the exercises prankster students built a huge

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p. 151 – Recovery and expansion, 1850-1869

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seem to appeal to them but in 1863 these gentlemen and their brother, Robert, proposed that the University and the Education Society attempt to raise $70,000 and offered to match any sum collected up to $30,000. Of the total amount secured, about $15,000 was used to cancel the Society’s debt, $5,000 invested for the use of the library, and the balance, some $43,000 added to the endowment.

The largest single donation was received in 1865 when James B. Colgate and John B. Trevor gave $70,000. They provided that $40,000 be designated the Trevor Education Fund, the income to be used for scholarships for Civil War veterans or their sons, and the remainder to be set aside as a fund for the expenses of the Presidency. The next year they made another gift of $10,000 to constitute an investment fund for campus improvements. Mr. Colgate and Mr. Trevor were partners in James B. Colgate and Company, a large brokerage firm with offices in New York, Baltimore, and Washington. They dealt also in precious metals, and during the Civil War Mr. Colgate assisted the Federal government in maintaining its gold reserve. In addition to contributing to Madison University, Mr. Trevor was a generous benefactor to the University of Rochester.

By 1869 the University had an endowment of more than $180,000 and no indebtedness. Contributions from the churches for current expenses of the Education Society increased from less than $1,000 in 1865 to nearly $13,000, some four years later. To augment the existing University funds and to provide for repairs and new equipment, Treasurer Spear and others, in 1868, launched a successful campaign for a $100,000 “Jubilee Offering.” There were now ample resources for future expansion.

The campus in the 1850’s and ’60’s was still as rural as it had always been. Except for paths flanked by beautiful shade trees, every acre was either “plowed, mowed, or pastured.” An ugly unpainted board fence enclosed the grounds and broad stretches of meadow land which extended in almost every direction over the hills invited youths, disgusted with dull textbooks, for long walks on bright afternoons. In 1851 the students voluntarily laid a mile of hemlock plank walk from the foot of the hill to Broad Street and from the Boarding Hall to the Baptist meeting house and lined each side with maples. Their efforts, coming at a time when every gesture of confidence in the University strengthened morale, gained them the Trustees’ sincere appreciation.

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